#where it's bad because there's absolutely no soul under the cgi

[thewiglesswonder]

The thing about Repo!: yes, it is bad. It's extremely bad. But, crucially, it's bad in a way where you can tell everyone who made it put their heart, soul, and entire pussies into making it, and that is what makes it a masterpiece.

#it's not bad like how marvel movies are bad #where it's bad because there's absolutely no soul under the cgi #it's bad in a fun way. a zydrate way #wig's words #repo #repo! the genetic opera

[the-celluloid-correspondent]

Quickie Reviews

The Little Mermaid: Directed by Rob Marshall (2023)

Ariel, daughter of King Triton, longs to find out more about the world beyond the sea. While visiting the surface, she falls for the dashing Prince Eric. To see him again, she makes a deal with the witch, Ursula, which she gives her voice to go to the surface.

I will be forever haunted by the horrors that I witnessed while watching Disney's failed adaptation of The Little Mermaid. This is the latest of the live action Disney adaptations, and by far one of the worst. For one, it was horrifying to watch. The CGI creatures that gazed my eyes were the stuff of nightmare. Furthermore, none of the musical numbers had the soul of the original as they felt artificial and fake. Scuttlebutt was so horrid that it made me wish I was deaf. Disney please hire someone else besides Lin-Manuel Miranda for the new songs. There are other artist who are as equally as talented as he is.

The acting was boring and uninspired. Halle Bailey does has a lovely singing voice, but when she is forced to act, her performance becomes incredibly flat. She lacked the charm and quirks of Ariel. Melissa McCarthy and Jessica Alexander were really the only two who stood out in their respective performances. However, the biggest crime that this movie commits is its complete failure of understanding the original story. What the filmmakers deem to be "improvements" to the story, ultimately undermined the message of the original. They wrote out Prince Eric from the story, thus losing the message to show Triton that not all human are bad. This theme any many others are lost, because the writers thought they could do it better. Can't wait to see the shitshow that will be Snow White.

My Rating: D

*********************************************

Hunger: Directed by Sitisiri Mongkilsiri

A talented young street-food cook pushes herself to the limit after accepting an invitation to train under an infamous and ruthless chef.

Hunger is a strange mashup between Whiplash and The Menu as it tries to tackles the perfectionist cook in the world of elites. However, Hunger fails to understand what made those films so special. In those two is explored the abusive mentors and the toxic relationship of wanting to be perfect. As well as explore wealth inequality in the arts. But Hunger, only explores these themes on the surface level. It feels artificial with its commentary as it is presented in a very black and white manner. As well as none of the emotional moments leading up to the exploration of themes feel shallow and unearned. This is especially evident in the movies final act.

With that stated, Hunger is still at least entertaining. There are many engaging scenes and points where the movie hit its strides. Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying gives a good performances as the aspiring cook. However, Nopachai Jayanama stole the show as Chef Paul. He owns every scene with his intimidating and commanding presence. The cooking sequences were mouthwatering as I could taste the food that was being prepared. Overall, Hunger is an interesting watch that could have been really good, but it never really comes together in the end.

My Rating: C+

*****************************

Red, White & Royal Blue: Directed by Matthew Lopez

After an altercation between the Presidents Son and a British Prince, the two must learn to respect one another for the sake of their own countries relations. However, during their reconciliation, the two slowly begin to bond into more than just friends.

As previously stated, I am not a fan of rom-coms. I find all of them to be the same and harmful as they normalize toxic relationships. So, after hearing all the praise of Red, White & Royal Blue, I decided to check it out. Safe to say that it is your standard rom-com that follows all the tropes beat per beat, but this time through a gay lens. It's a cute movie that will absolutely please the LGBT+ community, but it's just not for me. Both Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galizine do a good job as the star crossed lovers, but their performances do come across as cheesy as points. Overall, if you are a fan of this genre, you are going to adore this movie. If not, then it's better to skip.

My Rating: B-

#film #cinema #movies #movie #filmmaking #filmmaker #moviemaking #moviemaker #cinephile #cinematography #film is not dead #film community #film review #movie review #film critic #movie critic #the little mermaid #ariel #halle bailey #rob marshall #hunger #red white and royal blue

[whythehellnaut]

Why’s Little Mermaid remake review

I know people love to hate the Disney live action remakes for one reason or another but I'm still willing to give them a chance if there's any probability that it'll be a quality experience.  The new Little Mermaid follows suit with all of the remakes by being nowhere near as good as the original, but I think falls in the upper tier of them, as it has enough strengths to make it worthwhile and not all a soulless cash grab.  I mean, don't get me wrong, it's definitely a cash grab that no one really asked for, but there's also effort put into it that I didn't see in remakes like Lion King and Beauty and the Beast.  Ultimately it's a mixed bag but with a decently solid end product.

I should start with the performances, as that's the category that feels the most mixed to me.  Halle Bailey gives a rather poor acting performance as Ariel in my opinion- she emotes enough in the first half but her lines feel half-hearted, or like she's focusing too much on sounding like Jodi Benson's voice without having a believable delivery.  That said, she's clearly cast for her singing ability because her performance of Part of Your World is so amazing that it gave me chills on multiple occasions.  I don't exaggerate when I say she is the closest you'll ever hear to Jodi Benson's performance from a musical standpoint.  Javier Bardem was clearly cast for Triton because of his booming voice, however he phones in all of his lines and is totally lifeless.  Bardem is a good actor, so I blame the director here.  Melissa McCarthy as Ursula is fantastic casting and she's very much into the role, but she comes off as cheesy sometimes in her delivery, which, again, I have to blame the director for.  Jonah Hauer-King as Eric is probably the best actor of all of them, as he was convincing throughout it, and gave life to a character that historically was forgotten as a side character.

As a musical, it succeeds pretty well, with some caveats.  As I mentioned, Part of Your World is goddamn amazing and absolutely needs to be heard, but the other renditions aren't bad either.  Daveed Diggs does pretty well as a singer for Sebastian's songs, and Poor Unfortunate Souls sounds pretty good, although I noticed McCarthy's lips didn't line up well for the lip-sync.  The chef song was removed, but three new songs by Lin Manuel Miranda replace it.  Eric gets a song that sounds pretty good, but is definitely shoehorned in, as nothing important to the plot happens during the song, and nothing would be lost with its removal.  Ariel gets a second song, which is very welcome, as such a beautiful singing voice deserves more than just one iconic song- an issue I had with the original film.  This one is solid as well, and is sung over Ariel's first encounter with humans on land, ending with a great moment that I won't spoil, but I'll say it invokes some positive emotions.  The last one is Scuttle's song, sung by Awkwafina, and is pretty lousy, in my opinion, not just because her rapping voice sounds grating, especially in context, but it's the final song of the movie, meaning they pulled a "Frozen" by not having any showstoppers to follow the silly comic relief song, ending the film on an awkward note.  The visuals for the songs range from wild, vibrant, and dynamic in Under the Sea, (which I think is an improvement from the original) to dark, dull, and lifeless in Poor Unfortunate Souls.  The CGI is subpar, thanks to Disney's poor treatment of their visual effects department, but the cinematography often makes up for it with some great angles and camera movement, so, again, everything feels like a mixed bag.

I think my biggest complaint on the movie is a change they made to the second act, where they add an effect to Ariel's curse that makes her forget that she needs to receive a kiss from Eric.  This results in a very underwhelming romance that lacks all of the charm of the original.  Instead of smiling brightly and acting energetic around Eric, Ariel now seems mentally distant and simply absorbing knowledge of the surface world with slightly amused half-smiles.  There's so much energy missing from this portrayal that even Sherri Stoner, the 1989 model for Ariel, exuded.  It causes the romance to feel less genuine and more forced.  Kiss the Girl comes off as more focused on convincing Eric to go for it simply because Ariel is too lethargic to try it herself, rather than getting through the nervousness.  It's a little uncomfortable when you have the original for reference.  That said, I do appreciate a few changes they made to the script, like leaving out Ariel complaining that, at 16, she's mature enough to get married, and having her learn from her mistake and become a hero later on, as those were two complaints many people had about the original.

Considering how many people are anti-Disney lately, I don't recommend this to everyone.  While it can't compare to the animated version, it does just enough right to be serviceable and an enjoyable outing, but specifically for people who are huge Disney fans (not unlike myself) or who don't mind the money grubbing remakes coming out of their studio.  I think there are enough positives here to make up for the low points, but I won't defend it as much as I do with the Aladdin remake, which I found to be a great film experience overall.

#movie review #little mermaid #the little mermaid

[peach-pops]

Famous S/O HC

This is very self-indulgent cause I’m the type to make up fake scenarios where I’m famous and going on interviews and press tours asfjdks. If you guys want, I’ll make more of these! Oikawa+Tsukishima underneath the cut!

How The Haikyuu Boys Find out that You’re Famous

-Bokuto- (Pro-Athlete) 

Bokuto knew you were an athlete but he had NO IDEA that you were super famous. Like he always thought it was normal for people to come up to you after your game to ask for pictures or autographs ??? 

I mean that’s why he was so drawn to you because of how much passion you had for your said sport cause duh he could relate

One day when you two were out at the mall, he told you that he needed to get new shoes to work out in and so the two of you went into the Nike store so he could look around

He was looking through the shoe aisle and after almost two hours of looking through the same shelves, he finally found a pair he liked (shopping with him is so time-consuming but that’s for a different day) 

when he found a pair he liked, the two of you made your way to the cashier to pay for his shoes. As the cashier was ringing Bokuto up, his eyes traveled up to the large poster/banner that was directly behind the cashier’s area and smiled to himself

It was a colorful promotional banner with a bunch of top athletes from around the world and as he’s looking at the banner, he sees this girl and he nudged you like,” Babe, she looks like you!” 

You look up from your phone and sure enough, you’re plastered on the wall posing with other athletes

“ Oh yeah, I didn’t think this shoot would come out until next month.”

Bokuto didn’t even process what you just said but my dude behind the cash register stopped scanning the shoes to turn his head to the banner and he turned PALE. 

He even does a double-take cause hold up, is there seriously a pro athlete in front of him?

“ Oh my god...You’re Y/N L/N!”

“ How do you know my…” Bokuto furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the banner again and he even squinted like hold up

AND IT ALL SUDDENLY CLICKS FOR HIM

“ Y/N? That’s you!” 

“ Yeah-”

Bokuto can’t even believe it and he totally spaced out when you take a selfie with the guy behind the register with the banner in the background like UMMM HIS GIRLFRIEND IS FAMOUS WHAAAAAA

“ YOU’RE ON A NIKE POSTER OH MY GOD! LOOK YOU’RE ON THIS MAGAZINE WHA-”

Dude is totally making a scene in this store but he does not give a single fuck

As he’s walking you back home, he’s looking up all of your stats and even watches a compilation called “ 100 times Y/N L/N was a beast!” and he’s just shooketh 

“WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME YOU WERE A FREAKING PRO ATHLETE??”  

“ I didn’t think it was a big deal I mean, you’re pretty famous too babe.” 

“ I DON’T HAVE A PROMOTIONAL BANNER WITH NIKE!” 

He’s not salty at all he’s just a bit emo cause he felt bad that he never even noticed before

As your fame grows, so does Bokuto’s with his volleyball career. You and him are described as a powerhouse couple and it really hypes the two of you up like THE POWER YALL POSSESS TOGETHER ON AND OFF THE COURT/FIELD/WHATEVER

Lots of training together and joint interviews together like Wired autocomplete or your favorite ~THIRST TWEETS~

“ ~Bokuto could spike a volleyball in my face, crack my nose in two different places, and I’d thank him~ oh my god that’s horrible I would never do that.”

“ I mean, you’ve done it before haven’t you?”

“ That was different anyway, your turn Y/N!” 

*passes that clunky ass bucket*

“ ~Y/N L/N, please tie me up and- oh my god this is too dirty I can’t! My mom will watch this!” 

If you’re a pro volleyball player, you two get compared a lot and it bugged you at first since you felt like you two were two very different in terms of playing style but after a while, you both started to encourage the idea of your own playful rivalries like comparing stats and wins

But if you’re in a different sport, you two get asked questions like who’s sport is harder or what it would be like if you two switched sports like??? But because you two are in different fields, you both have such major respect for each other cause you can’t even imagine how much hard work it is 

He absolutely does not mind it at all when fans approach you two if you guys are on a date. He knows how important your relationship with fans are, especially if they’re younger girls who look up to you as a role model

Bokuto will fall in love with you all over again whenever you crouch down to a younger fan ughhhghgh

He doesn’t care for the paparazzi to be honest. he knows it comes with the territory but he will get a bit protective if they start to get too close to you 

“ Hey, we’re just trying to get back home so just let us through please,” but if it continues, he will not give a single fuck about being nice,” dude, what did I just say? Back off!” 

Mad!bokuto will be the death of me

He knows how stressful it is being a pro athlete but he will always remind you how proud he is of you and if he ever sees you overworking, he will make sure you take a day off even if that means just napping together all day

Long story short, Bokuto would be amazing to have by your side as you’re navigating being in the public eye and you may quote me on that

-Oikawa- (Actress)

This attention whore I swear 

So Oikawa knows that you act but he doesn’t know that you’re an actress (which is basically the same thing) 

Like as a kid you were in commercials and you had a small role in a tv show but it wasn’t like it was super popular. 

But what Oikawa didn’t know was that a couple months before you two started dating, you were flown out to America to star in an upcoming and highly anticipated movie 

since you were under a contract, you weren’t allowed to talk about it until the trailer dropped and it ate away at you because all you wanted to do was tell people especially your boyfriend 

ANYWAY He decided to take you on a date to the movie theatre and as you two were getting popcorn, these girls came up to you two 

“ Hi! Is it okay if we can get a picture with you?”

“Of course, how could I ever turn down my lovely fans-”

“ No, not you, Y/N!” 

Oikawa is just flabbergasted as the girls hand their phone to him so he can take a photo of you with your fans he deadass thinks it’s some prank

After the girls left, he gave you a weird-ass gaze and asked you what that was about but you just shrugged and told him that maybe it was because of ur mini part in that one tv show

So he thinks nothing about it and teased you that it was so cute how you had a mini fanbase and you weren’t going to lie, it was pretty freaking cool 

You guys entered your theatre and got settled into your seats as the movie trailers started to play. 

(Oikawa loves watching trailers like this dude is the type to take you 45 minutes before the movie actually begins JUST to make sure he doesn’t miss anything)

As you’re chilling in your seat, you see the trailer to your movie so you do your best to keep your eyes on your boyfriend and the screen at the same time cause you want to see his reaction

The trailer plays and Oikawa seemed to be interested in the movie but again, it’s like any normal trailer UNTIL he hears your voice coming from the screen and he immediately sits up in his seat 

“ Wait- was that your voice?”

“ My voice?”

“ Nevermind, I think I’m going crazy-”

AND THEN HE SEES YOU ON THE SCREEN! Since it’s a trailer it was just about five seconds of an intense/dramatic scene but it’s enough for Oikawa to lose his mind

“ OH MY GOD THAT IS YOU!”

This prompts some people in the audience to shush him but Oikawa doesn’t care

“ OH SHUSH THAT’S MY GIRLFRIEND! Y/N! THAT’S YOU!”

“ Toru oh my god yes that’s me but stop screaming or they’re gonna kick us out!” You whispered loudly as Oikawa clamped his hand over his mouth 

He’s so happy and he’s beaming with pride so he pulls out his phone and  records the trailer to post it in his group chat cause duh he wants to show the boys how proud he is but when he sees you kissing someone else for .6 seconds, Oikawa just (ㆆ_ㆆ) and stops recording

“ Are you okay babe?”

“ Was that real or CGI?”

“ The building crumbling is all CGI-”

“ No...the kiss.”

THIS DUMBASS LMAO HE’S SO SALTY AND JEALOUS 

“ Why didn’t you tell me you were this good?” 

“ I- I was always this good! But I couldn’t say anything, I’m under a contract!”

“ But you could’ve told me! I wouldn’t have told a soul!” 

That’s a whole ass lie, if he knew, he would’ve bragged about it to Iwaizumi 

But foreal, Oikawa is such a supportive boyfriend like as months pass and your following gets bigger, he just gushes cause yep that’s his famous girlfriend ( he will 100% use you sometimes for clout)

this dude LOVES bragging to his friends that he’s dating a famous actress. Like he was always showing you off and hyping you up before but it gives him such an ego boost when people find out the two of you are dating

Oikawa is an attention whore like I said so you know whenever the paparazzi appears, he eats it up and will pose which is SOO embarrassing like pls why do u do this

But there are some days where you don’t want to get recognized and he 100% understands so the two of you will wear disguises as to not get recognized. One time you two ended up getting caught so he just grabbed your hand and the two of you SPRINTED back to the subway

He will have all of your movies on DVD and if your movie is on a streaming service, he will buy a membership JUST so he can watch your movie

Sometimes you’ll come over to his house and he’ll always try to make you watch your movie for the millionth time 

“ Toru, can we please watch something else?” 

“ But my extremely talented and beautiful girlfriend is in this movie why would I watch anything but this?” 

Don’t be fooled he WILL skip through any kissing scenes or scenes where your character shows any type of affection to another character

LOVESSS tagging along with you to photoshoots, interviews, red carpet events ALL OF IT

Red carpet events give him a chance to dress up and lowkey his outfit is always one of the best there. He won’t outshine you per se but fans actually look forward to see what he’ll be wearing and he’s not even in any of the movies I- 

Your schedule gets pretty busy once your career takes off and even though there are certain time periods where you’re across the world, it won’t stop him from sending huge bouquets to your set 

Basically, Oikawa is such a supportive boyfriend and is overall so proud of how you managed to juggle your studies with your acting career 10/10 best boy 

-Tsukishima- ( Musician/Singer)

You and Tsuki had only been dating for a bit and since it was all still new, he kept it on the down-low because the last thing he needed was his teammates pestering him about a girl 

Tsuki knew you liked to sing and write songs but you never told him about how well known you were simply because he never asked

He just assumed it was a side thing for you UNTIL he showed up to practice and some of his teammates were huddled around Noya watching something on his tablet

“ Move your elbow! I can’t see-”

“ Watch your hand-”

“ Shush! I can’t hear her-”

“ What are you idiots watching?” Tsuki asked as he craned his neck to look at the screen

No one answered him so he started to watch the music video and low and behold, your face popped up on screen singing along to your lyrics that he’s heard a million times

Tsuki is a bit taken aback cause why is his girlfriend in such a high production video and why is his heart feeling some type of way seeing you in that outfit

Like lemme just take off my glasses and see that again ( •_•)>⌐■-■

” Where did you guys get that video?”

“ What do you mean, it’s online? She’s trending right now-”

“ God all of her songs are so good I want to see her live-” 

“ I can’t believe she goes to school with us-”

“ I wish she would step on me-”

“ Hey, don’t talk about my girlfriend like that,” Tsuki said dryly as he glares at the back of Noya’s head, which prompted everyone to turn around

“ You’re dating Y/N L/N? Ha! That’s funny Tsuki!” Tanaka laughed as he slapped Tsuki in the back harshly

At first, even Tsuki was questioning himself like wait, is he even sure you’re dating? cause this girl in the music video was NOT the same girl he was on the phone with last night

 If you had asked Tsuki 10 seconds ago if he would ever reveal to the guys he was dating someone, he would say helllll no but now that he knew about this, he didn’t care about keeping the relationship a secret especially if they were thirsting over his girl

He had all the proof in the world that he was dating you but took the salty approach to prove it to them. He pulled out his phone and shot you a text even though you were in class

Tsuki: Come to the gym right now

Y/N: is everything ok?

Tsuki: just come quickly

You left your class to “use the restroom” and practically rushed to the gym thinking that something was wrong with your boyfriend. You slid into the gym, causing the boys to look up from the tablet and you ignored their shocked faces

“ Where’s Tsukishima?” 

The boys slowly did a doubletake from the music video back to you to make sure they were seeing correctly and even though you were a bit embarrassed to hear your song playing in the background, you were just worried about Tsuki

Tsuki walked out to you from behind the guys and you rushed over to him

“ Babe, what’s wrong?” 

“ BABE?!” 

The boys were shocked and the second years practically FAINTED in your presence 

Tsuki pulled the tablet from Noya’s cold, dead hands and showed you the screen,” Care to explain this?” 

“ I- Um, it’s my music video…”

“Well are you famous or something?” 

“ I wouldn’t say famous…more like upcoming artist?” 

And then the next week you’re a nominee for the VMA’s asjfkghdk

 honestly out of Oikawa and Bokuto, he probably handles it the best on the outside, he doesn’t make too big of a deal out of your fame but on the inside he’s can’t even believe it

He doesn’t go around shouting to the world that he’s dating the Y/N L/N but he has his own ways of supporting you. He’ll listen to your songs whenever he’s walking in the hallway or doing homework at home and he’ll catch himself liking tweets that are about you as long as they’re positive

He’s def the type to argue with people online if they say mean comments and will report/block them before you can even see it 

IDC how much he tries to hide it, he is deadass ur biggest fan. Tsuki will tease you about how nervous you act during interviews/award shows but he will ALWAYS go with you to ease your nerves even if he had prior plans

If you ever write a song for him, he gets SO RED AND EMBARRASSED so pls do that 

Will def call you baka for doing so but deep down, he’ll fall in love with you even more cause you’re able to put into words how he feels about you 

I don’t think he’ll be too comfortable with you posting about him but he knows he can’t do anything about people taking photos of the two of you out together in public

Tsuki would never be rude to your fans though like if you were recognized during a date, he wouldn’t make a fit and will take photos of you and your fans to speed the process along

He HATES HATES HATES the paparazzi’s like it’s one thing for fans to come up to you when yall are in public but he gets mad when the paparazzi harasses you with questions/pictures/comments

“ Y/N! Turn around and give a smile!” 

“ Not right now, I’m sorry.”

“ Oh come on, don’t be shy! Just show the camera a little skin!”

“ How about you shut the hell up before I smack that camera out of your face.”

Head empty, no thoughts, just thinking about Mad!tsuki

It’s a big adjustment for Tsukishima that he has a girlfriend in the entertainment sphere but he knows how hard you’ve worked for it and he would never tell you to stop living your dream 

Sometimes he’ll feel insecure because you’re so successful and he doesn’t want to hold you back but since he can’t imagine being without you, he just pushes those thoughts away and enjoys every minute with you 

#haikyuu #haikyuu!! #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu!! x reader #haikyuu headcanon #haikyuu!! headcanon #bokuto x reader #bokuto headcanon #oikawa x reader #oikawa headcanon #tsukishima x reader #tsukishima headcanon #bokuto scenario #bokuto imagine #kotaro bokuto x reader #kotaro bokuto headcanon #bokuto hc #fukurodani headcanon #fukurodani x reader #toru oikawa x reader #toru oikawa headcanon #aoba johsai x reader #aoba johsai headcanon #seijoh #karasuno #karasuno x reader #tsuki x reader #tsuki headcanon #kei tsukishima x reader #kei tsukishima headcanon

[salanderjade]

Some WoT thoughts

slight spoilers so I'll put it under a read more to be safe....

Never did I ever think I'd get to see Nynaeve al'Meara in living breathing real life but damned if that isn't what's happened. Zoe Robbins has this character down cold. Her scenes with Lan in ep 3 made my whole life worth it. I didn't wanna ship so early in the run but I love them. I love her. Screaming at trollocs, trying to stab someone out of the blue, "I said you could ask; I didn't say I'd answer", saying that's a threat while tied to a tree with a gag hanging around her neck. I could go on and on but lets move on, shall we.

I didn't want to love Barney Harris as Mat. I really didn't since we know he's a one and done. However I am damned and he is perfect and I don't know if I want to savor the perfection or cry because we only get 8 or so eps to enjoy it. Yes...there is a change to his backstory and yes it aggravated me but all things being what they are...the core of the character is there and being fleshed out admirably. When he screamed where's the girls and ran out into the battle, my brain was thundering with...a hero insisting with every breath that he's not. I saw Mat every minute that Barney Harris was on screen and I love every bit of it.

Rosamund Pike is absolutely Moiraine. Daniel Henney is absolutely Lan. I love their interpretation of the Aes Sedai/Warder bond. It was glorious

Didn't see Dana coming but she hit with one hell of a wrecking ball impact and I'm here for it.

Tinkers were meh. Whatever

That one scene with Perrin. I was screaming at the television at the top of my lungs....NO!!!! WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT???!!! Perrin was never my favorite in the books. but Marcus has just killed me dead with this performance. I adore him and Perrin by extension. But still....NOOOOOOO!!!! WHY?

Madeleine Madden as Egwene is perfection. I was a bit on the fence about the relationship with Rand being full on out there but I get it. I love how all the notes were played out. "You already did" killed my soul.

Weep for Manetheren....oh my heart. How the story of Manetheren's fall was included...YES!!!!

Few quibbles...some of the CGI was just cringy. Not bad enough to screech over but c'mon. The Winternight battle was epic. That being said....some of the eyes closed, arms outstretched, waving of arms in the midst of battle....yeah no. I was honestly wondering how it took them so long to get a knife in her. Like...really. At least keep your eyes open. Pacing in ep 1 was a bit off. Ep three was absolutely great. I hope the rest of the season has ep 3 pacing.

The most surprising quibble I have is about how the Red Ajah is introduced. I don't care that they showed Liandrian being an absolute nightmare but they've pretty much set the Red up as irredeemable in my opinion. She broke the Three Oaths without question when she blasted the walls and trapped the guy under the rubble. Readers will know she's a Dark Friend but the average viewer won't. Then to have Moiraine repeatedly saying we can't break the Oaths. Oh yeah...what about the Red Lady? She broke it all to hell and didn't even think twice. And how are we supposed to accept Pevara or Tarna or Teslyn later when the Red has already been tarred with this brush. I was shocked that this was an issue for me but it is.

What did you thing about the show? If you've read this far...then don't hesitate to let me know your thoughts. :)

#wot spoilers #spoilers #wheel of time spoilers #mat cauthon #nynaeve al'maera #nynaeve al'meara #wheel of time #the wait was worth it to get this mat and nynaeve #the wheel of time

[janiedean]

Just seen a post like "y r reylos upset? they kissed. I have a ship where they don't even meet" and I was ready to go "I Don't Know How To Explain To You That knowingly shipping a crackship and seeing a ship that's been set up since the beginning get turned into some emotionally manipulative little trick by hacks who dgaf abt the characters and only want to cash in on every single part of the fandom are very different things." But I gave up. Not worth the effort.

it’s not, but... honestly?

this thing is... like... I don’t want to say mildly worrying me, but... it is. (beware the next post won’t probably make much sense but bear with me this thing isn’t sitting well with me lmao)

I mean, like, let’s get it out of the way that I didn’t care for reylo either way until tlj and post-tlj I was like ‘oh okay they’re definitely the romance of the trilogy fine sounds nice I’ll be here being happy for them when they inevitably kiss’, because it’s like.. star... wars. I mean. sw is like the one franchise that until five days ago I’d have cashed in on being the ONE thing that would always end up cheesy/hopeful/not disappointing you know, so... I didn’t even consider that there was another way it could end. because it’s goddamn sw, redemption stories with happy endings are the damned brand.

so like... the fact that the thing was obviously set up and they tore it to shreds along with everything else in the movie is bad. like, bad. but people who didn’t realize how fucking insulting it was just... don’t seem to get that the moment you go watch movies whose brand is making you feel better about things and they turn into calvinism central NO HAPPINESS ALLOWED and they don’t even do it with sense - bc rots made no fucking sense at any point ever and that’s outside reylo - it just... makes you feel betrayed? like, again: in 2015 when I came out of the cinema the only thing I banked on was poe dameron not dying and I couldn’t care either way about kylo ren, but like - tlj made me care. as it was supposed to be. I was supposed to care about kylo ren’s pull to the light and guess what I did because that movie wanted me to, and it wanted me to do 2+2 and realize that he and rey were soulmates and fine I was down with that because I like myself a nice love story.

and then like... you give it to me, like that, and the moment you have the character who has had a shitty life, has been groomed since he was born if not before by Worst Person In The Galaxy if the new canon wants me to buy that - or by snoke but it’s the same -, is an abuse victim and is 100% sure that everyone hates him and no one understands him or wants to understand him, you make that character related to one of the most iconic ones in the franchise to the point that you tried to make han every other member of the trio tbh, you actually have that character taking his life in his hands after talking to han and like embrace what he always wanted to be and show that he’s actually happy with it (like ffs guys it’s also probs because adam driver is an excellent actor but you can see the ben solo vs kylo ren difference in the span of five seconds, and you’re supposed to root for ben solo to win ffs), have him actually win, have him being happy for the first time in the entire canon and then you kill him a second later with rey in tears over it except that then we forget to give him a funeral........... like.......... sorry but I feel robbed because as lowkey as my effort on banking on ben solo’s redemption was because I was sure it was coming and I took it for granted it still felt like they were being unnecessarily cruel. like, they could have killed him in ten other ways that wouldn’t make you feel like someone stabbed you in the kidney as another anon put it. but no, let’s give people the prospect of HEY THEY’LL BE HAPPY just to tear it away from them ten seconds later. like, what the fuck? that’s not what anyone signed up for.

especially when the entire thing was obviously set up for the happy ending. like, if you actually misread the audience so much that you think star wars audience wants grimdark when it’s a movie marketed at children then you don’t deserve the money you’re most likely getting paid.

like, again: as someone who wasn’t even diehard reylo or whatever even if I absolutely shipped it, I felt like these assholes took my money and punched me in the kidney since rey palpatine was a thing and the moment he died I about screamed fuck you out loud... along with most of the entire room which was screaming fuck you, because guess what, not a single person in that room actually was banking on the ben solo redemption to fail and each single person in the room was clapping when they kissed because we were fucking waiting for it already, and like......... obviously ppl shipping it are upset. they were given an unsatisfactory movie up until then that didn’t give the characters justice but which could have still been more or less decent if it saved the spirit of the entire thing... which it didn’t because sw is not fucking calvinist central and hasn’t ever been until now. and then they were given canon after being the target of the vilest shit (guys seriously I unfollowed antireylo people way before shipping reylo myself bc that crap was out of line for shipping fictional stuff)... just to have them take it away by killing the one character that was there to show you that there’s always hope for you to do the right thing?

like, let’s be fucking real: the message is that if you fucked up and want to be better it won’t ever be enough because sorry but you’ll never get another good start and if you care about someone who fucked up and want to help them be better it’s wasted time because people who want to do better can’t actually live and have a chance to keep on doing it.

and sorry but fuck that message with a chainsaw. the beautiful thing about this ship imvho was that in tlj it made it overtly clear how rey helped him out of being a genuinely nice person who listened to someone who thought no one ever would and at the same time kylo/ben couldn’t believe that someone actually said that he wouldn’t be alone either bc the two of them are extremely lonely people and feel that acutely....... and they even threw in the soul bond to make it extra obvious. it was a hopeful story because you had girl who never had anyone who was also innately good who could put her prejudices aside to see that someone who also went dark side because he thought no one loved him and then kept on being abused his entire life actually had good inside them and wanted to help him see that instead of writing him off as a lost cause. like. that was a good romance. nothing exceedingly new under the sun, but in sw it was pretty fresh and a good spin compared to the two other main love stories of the trilogy. also, anakin/padme was what it was and han/leia was immensely better but hey someone decided to kill off the entire original trio so whatever... and if these two ended well they’d have been a constant improvement, never mind the symbolism - you had anakin who was a no one and married a space princess but ended up tragically because he went to the dark side and she could do nothing for him, then anakin’s daughter who was a space princess and married han who is also technically a no one since he didn’t even have a surname on his home planet, and if rey/ben had actually not.. had that ending you’d have closed the circle with space prince descended from both anakin and leia being brought back from the dark side with the help of another no one and finally the damned skywalker line would have gotten one 100% happy ending because it was supposed to be the ending.

like.

that’s something that thematically made so much sense I didn’t even think they wouldn’t do it.

and they did. and guess what of course people are pissed. because this movie about ignored themes, its own canon (from tfa and tlj) and didn’t accomplish one single thing except chewie getting his damned medal.

which, while something we all hoped would happen at some point, is hardly the one thing you should accomplish in a star wars movie supposed to end the goddamned cycle and which eventually ended up being prequel-level if not worse. because I mean, objectively I think the phantom menace was actually a better movie, and I would rewatch this over 2 and 3 just because the cgi in this movie didn’t hurt my eyes, but as bad as lucas got with the prequels, he never did a single character as dirty as disney did all the characters here. no, not even padme, and he did do padme dirty.

tldr: if people don’t get why you’d be pissed at how this movie ended idk what to tell them... but shit if it’s not worrying me that people apparently can’t get that it was a disaster on each single level it could have been. peace.

#reylo #ben solo #rey #tros spoilers for ts #janie writes meta #i guess #otp: you're not alone; neither are you #i... don't even know waht i'm saying here but i'm angry haha #star wars for ts #sw negativity #Anonymous #ask post

[skekteksfurby]

So I finished His Dark Materials 2019 and I have Thoughts

Do not spoil anything beyond the first book for me as I’ve only read that one and still intend to go for the others. Yes, I have seen the Golden Compass adaptation as well and I still love it.

The Good:

Pacing is much better than in the movie. Because this is a series, we actually have time to let things sink in. The movie still is good to me, but we move all over the place in a really short amount of time. Series could be a tad slot at times, but overall did a better job with it.

The alethiometer isn’t referred to as a golden compass, how about that

Actually having the balls to go out and be clearly anti-church rather than just kinda barely addressing it but then mostly focusing on Lyra’s journey and hardly ever at the whole magisterium business. 

Good child acting. I liked the actress they got for Lyra, I really bought Roger for the role, and Will does a good job, too. Heck, he even starred in his own show which I also wrote my thoughts on.

Other actors do a good job too! It took a while for me to get used to not seeing the movie actors play these roles, but it went over pretty quickly. 

Soundtrack absolutely slaps

CGI on the daemons is really good! They emote well, lip sync works even though they’re, well, animals, use body language, etc. 

steampunk fantasy adventure with talking animals, what more do you want?

Iorek rocked. The performance and design may be different form McKellen-Iorek, but it still really works. 

Thank the gods or whatever is out there, they didn’t rename Iofur, something that was completely unnecessary in the movie

They kept the ending! I know that the movie probably couldn’t have included it since there was never going to be a sequel and it was a very downer one you probably couldn’t put in something geared largely towards families and children, but I’m glad they kept it here. All of it’s heartbreaking glory is there. 

Pan is adorable in all of his forms but especially his ermine and arctic fox form.

Protect Lyra, Pan, Will and his mother.

I loved Stelmaria in this. She’s beautiful and her presence is much bigger than in the movie.

The neutral:

Adaptational changes. Keep in mind it’s been years and by that I mean absolute years (like 10) since I last read the book, but I do recall certain details they changed. Mrs. Coulter has no blonde hair (which really works to connect her character to her golden monkey, if you ask me). I also don’t recall Kaisa being a raptor.

Set/environment design is really good, it just didn’t appeal to me personally. It still looks very much like our world, while this is supposed to be an alternate universe. I felt that the movie captured this really different look better. It was also a bit more colorful. I guess this fits the dark themes of the story more, but it just wasn’t for me.

The bear fight was... without armor? Which confused me? Isn’t the purpose of their armor to be protective during fights? They’re panserbjorne, the armor is their soul, a point they keep hammering in. So why the actual fight is without is beyond me. Maybe budget issues? Otherwise I wouldn’t know.

If you’re a christian (catholic specifically) chances are big you won’t like this due to... well... you probably know Pullman already. I however I not so I literally couldn’t care less.

I got a real/mood tonal whiplash from when the evil snake priest entered our world because I don’t remember that being in the book but then again it is probably to pre-establish Will and his issues because I know he turns up in other books. Just... took me a while to adjust to since I didn’t see it coming from a mile away (or ten).

The Bad (or rather, less good. I don’t think this show has really any downright bad things in it):

A severe... lack of daemons. Before you get started, I know it’s due to budgetary issues. But, again, for a world that’s supposed to be different from our own and where daemons are like the most important things in their lives as they’re people’s very souls, there’s too little of them. Pantalaimon is shown in plenty of scenes, obviously, since he’s our main character. Other major characters have their daemons shown in the background often as well, but for things like big crowd scenes or random extra’s, there’s way too little of them. It just makes the world feel kind of inconsistent since they mention everyone has one, yet the majority of background characters are depicted without a daemon. I can buy the excuse that some people have small ones they can tuck away like the evil priest dude with his snake, but come on, nearly all of them? There was such a wide variety of daemons in the book and even the film, and here we just have the ones of our main characters and some very minor background daemons, which are also very often birds, too. Just feels very lacking, since daemons are a very important element to this story and world.

With this comes another complaint... children daemons shift too little. Pan in the movie was a very dynamic character, constantly changing his form to either his mood or to suit his need. Here he has only a few forms I counted, and he barely uses them (I also think we rarely got to see him or any daemon shapeshift?). The demon forms I recall are: ermine, marten, arctic fox, moth and maybe bird. In the book, he goes all over the place, even becoming a dragon at one point. Just kind of disappointing, but, again, probably due to budget restraints.

Again just bringing up the lack of difference I feel between the two universes shown. I really got less of the impression that this was a different place like the movie showed. May have been intentional, just really didn’t appeal much to me. Part of me loved the world the movie depicted so much because it looked much more out-there, colorful and fantastical, and there were more daemons shown and the architecture, vehicles, etc. looked vastly different from our own in a lot of places.

Not sure if I can shove this under complaints, but this series kinda implies Mrs. Coulters daemons isn’t connected to her? We never see her directly talk to it, she hits it without being affected, they can go far distances from one another... I’m honestly not sure if this was the case in the books and I think they were still connected in the movie, but, again, not sure? Just wondering why they chose to do this if it isn’t the case.

no ian mckellen or christopher lee. i know the latter is dead but still sad they’re not in it they would’ve made good roles.

But overall this is a great show and I cannot wait for season 2 (has that been confirmed? I don’t even know)! Looking forward to seeing what lies beyond Lyra’s universe in whatever one she ends up next (presumably ours/Will’s).

#tekrim text #his dark materials #philip pullman #the golden compass #lyra belaqua #lyra silvertongue #pantalaimon #iorek byrnison #mrs coulter #lord asriel #so i finished blank and i have thoughts #hdm spoilers #his dark materials spoilers

[eyeslikefoxglove]

Episode 8 - WangXian go on a date & DON’T BLINK

Hello there, welcome to another Untamed commentary. To put everyone in the mood, it is Friday evening, one of those grey rainy days interrupted briefly by by brilliant burst of sunlight. I’m having a snack (chopped mango with yoghurt and a homemade matcha latte with honey), I just washed my hair, I’ve exfoliated, masked and moisturised. And everyone in this household is doing their own thing (napping, watching tv shows, more napping), I’m in a very good mood, so let’s go ahead with episode 8.

I think I’ve never commented on the intro credits before, I’ve seen people say they prefer to skip them because they find them spoilery, which they undoubtedly are. However, besides the absolutely stunning cinematography what I feel they aimed for is confusion. You’ve got this guy who’s kind of dark, but he’s crying and playing the flute, then some people are trying to kill him in some scenes, but in others he’s fighting back to back with the same guys and then there’s black smoke everywhere... I feel that, if I saw the credits I’d be intrigued enough to actively look for the drama and find out what the deal with the guy with the flute is.

And let me repeat something from the previous episode:

BUNBUNS. LOOK AT THE BUNBUNS

HOW’S WWX CUTER THAN THE BUNBUNS. THEY’RE BUNBUNS.

DONT FUCKING DO IT. Oh but these three with the bunbuns just melt my heart. STAY WITH THE BUNBUNS FOREVER AND NOTHING BAD WILL HAPPEN.

JC: gentlemen’s don’t hold bunbuns.

JC: *proceeds to be soft and cute and gentle with the bunbun he’s holding*

Ok but stoic serious no-nonsense LWJ stopping to say goodbye to the bunbuns? That’s fucking adorable.

FR tho, people who are “tough/cold/unapproachable” being super soft with tiny creatures is my damn kryptonite. It’s like, Ben Solo, being a super-beefcake with a lightsaber, a terrible past, too much attitude... and a kitten on his shoulder, I would 100000% ignore the bit where he was a super effective killing machine and go “aww. you like cats!”

As a lover or thunderstorms at night when everything is still and quiet I would’ve stabbed WC up a nostril just on principle, so props to LXC for not murdering that clown. Never mind threatening his baby brother.

I LOVE SHIJIE’S UNWAVERING FAITH IN HER XIANXIAN.

Aaaaaand let’s have a moment to admire LWJ/Wang YiBo in blue.

Ok, done.

OH MY GOD. I’d forgotten this bit was in here. So you know when WWX has just caught up with LWJ and he throws him a loquat and complains about LWJ leaving him behind? I love the bit when he’s calling the Lans petty, and LWJ just goes “boring” and sweeps past him with this tiny sassy smirk and leaves WWX fucking processing for a second. I live for that kind of LWJ and that’s partly what my TimeTraveling!LWJ was based on.

WWX: *ties them with magic* isn’t this neat?

LWJ, internally: so he’s a genius dumbass, I’m fucked.

Ok now that we are a bit in I can safely say this is one of my favourite episodes. No, it is not because it is pretty much an episode-long WangXian date. How dare you.

LWJ’s internal monologue: I can’t believe in so in love with this dumbass. I’m moron-sexual the gods help me.

JC being a good bro and JYL being the fucking queen of the universe like she always is.

(Another moment to appreciate LWJ/Wang YiBo in blue)

I feel LWJ’s aversión to crowds on a spiritual level.

I also feel NHS excelling just in what he likes so much. I mean, I was never a terrible student, but looking back at just the last six years in Med School my marks skyrocketed from a passing grade in stuff like physics and biophysics to top marks in things like neurosurgery; just due to the fact that I find neurosurgery way more interesting than physics.

THE PETAL SHOWER SCENE IS STUNNING. Also, if you don’t think WWX already had a crush on LWJ (and I am talking in The Untamed/CQL verse, I know that in the books he still thought he was straight) I’m pretty sure this is filmed just so we’d have visual confirmation that he is indeed crushing so hard. And I still don’t know if NHS is wingmaning or third wheeling. (Both? Both? Both? Both is good.)

I mean, NHS goes onto his “LWJ is stunning” monologue, and then WWX gives him kind of a disbelieving look. BUT THEN, he glances at LWJ (again being showered in flowers bc he wasn’t gorgeous enough on his own) and his face turns considering, he makes a stupid joke, and he goes back to looking at LWJ with the softest smile. I will fight anyone that dares tell me CQL!WWX hasn’t been crushing on LWJ since the Cloud Recesses.

//Sidebar LWJ’s looks adorably in awe at the petal shower this whole time.

Aaaaaand plot happens.

Oooof! The contrast between all the colourful flowers before and the burned blackened garden now. Ooooof.

Ok but that shadow bird is fucking cool and I want one.

WC’s head piece (guan?) makes me think of the Disney designs for Pain and Panic.

I know is wishful thinking, but if I wonder how different things would’ve been if WQ had snapped and offed WC when he was taunting her with the safety of her family.

Can I take a moment to rave about how clever WQ is? I mean, she’s already worried and scared for her family, she had absolutely no warning before JC ran into her and yet she managed to pull off that ruse to warn him about WangXian and NHS being in trouble in what, a few minutes? She’s so cool.

Ok, full disclosure here, I can’t see elderly people being sad, scared or worried, it reminds me of my maternal grandparents whom I adored and I get super sad.

(My dad still has his parents but they are terrible to my mum, dad and me, so they get no sympathy)

Funny story: I almost fell backwards the first time I heard “grandmother” used as a respectful term to an elderly lady back when I was living in Bulgaria (I moved back to Spain like a week ago, I’m over the moon to be home y’all). You don’t do that in Spain, calling someone who’s not your grandma “grandma” is really fucking rude.

Aaaaaand none of these knuckleheads know how to speak with a person in shock. They get a pass because all teens are knuckleheads in some measure but...

But if I heard a terrified lady muttering about soul snatching I’d fuck right off that village tbh. I’d take my chances sleeping in the woods with the roaming serial killers.

[it just started storming, I love this!]

Sure! Let’s stay the night in a cave with a creepy anthropomorphic statue that’s supposed to snatch souls. I’m sure it’ll be ok.

NHS is the only one with a Braincell here. (NHS is my adorable Slytherin son and I love him)

Y’all might not have noticed but I have not I’m not going to comment on the quality of the CGI/special effects/monsters. I’m aware this is a tv show and it doesn’t have the same budget as idk, a Marvel movie. I’m ok with them not being that believable. Same with unbelievable sword moves, I know shit all about sword fighting and even less about xianxia. Y’all might even be lucky enough to avoid my “bodies don’t work that way” rants, because again, everyone has magic, why would medicine be any different.

[brief interlude here, I had to go cat-hunting because we couldn’t find one of the cats, she likes to make a break for it sometimes, it’s a full on thunderstorm outside, almost sundown and she’s solid black. We found her in the basement exploring. Two of the other ones are in the kitchen with my mum and my big scaredy boi is under my bed. Also, this storm just reminded me that my dad is fixing the attic so I can have a “loft” next year when I start my residency and I can’t wait to fall asleep to rain up there.]

NOT THE TIME TO FLIRT WWX. NOT THE FUCKING TIME.

What LWJ says: stay alert (in case the statue moves again)

What I hear: Don’t Blink!

Oh come on! Zombies now? Fuck right off, let them sleep!

And that was episode 8! Thank you for reading.

#cql #the untamed #mdzs live action #mdzs #foxglove watches cql #foxglove watches the untamed #lan wangji #wei wuxian #wangxian #nie huaisang #foxglove has a cat #well foxglove has four #and now she actually lives with all of them

[venus-says]

Kamen Rider Ghost Movies and Specials

It's very amusing that I'm covering a horror movie here, but that isn't a part of the Ghost series.

It is time to (kinda) close the book on the Ghost season.

I gotta be honest, I wasn't looking forward to doing this, and I was both very disappointed and also very surprise. It was a fun journey, with a few questionable choices, but still fun nonetheless.

But before I get to the works that belong under this umbrella, we'll dive into something a bit different at first...

Kamen Rider: THE FIRST & Kamen Rider: THE NEXT

So, while looking at the list of Ghost's movies I saw that Kamen Rider 1 was on the list and that it was also technically part of the canon. I debated if I should watch it or not since, after all, my knowledge of the OG Kamen Rider is pretty much below basic and I was very afraid I would be missing in a lot of stuff. I was well aware I wouldn't be able to watch the actual show right now and I didn't want to read the wiki so I was about to give up on the idea when I looked at my notes and I saw that Kamen Rider THE FIRST and THE NEXT were a thing, and I thought this would fit in perfectly with the amount of time I have right now. I knew THE FIRST was a remake/adaptation of the original TV show and the manga and THE NEXT was its sequel so this would probably give me enough context to watch Kamen Rider 1.

And I wish I had done some more research before watching these movies because I feel like watching THE NEXT was a mistake.

Like, while I can't attest how truthful to the source material THE FIRST is, it was pretty much one of those compilation movies. The impression I had was that they choose the most crucial moments in a "The Best of" format and just glued that together and sold it as a movie. Which was not really a problem because it was pretty much a very solid movie, despite the cuts that leave a lot of gaps between each point. It lacked a lot of information, like how Hayato got to Shocker, and it kinda wasted time with the plotline of the kids from the hospital that didn't get a proper payoff, but it was still an entertaining movie. I love the action scenes, I'm not a specialist in this matter but it was really refreshing seeing a fight scene that was pretty much all done with practical stunts and very little CGI. This movie made me really curious to watch the original show, I know this is not exactly what I'll get whenever I watch it, but it left the "I want more" taste in my mouth.

THE NEXT on the other hand, while it was more of a "film" rather than a "compilation", it was also less of a Rider movie, they had riders on it, but it felt like they weren't the main focus. The feeling I had while watching it was that the producers either read the Helter Skelter manga, or watched Perfect Blue, or they saw one of those conspiracy theories of artists who don't seem to age that died and were replaced and wanted to make a horror movie that would deal in with the cruelty of the entertainment world, but they got denied and were put in to make the sequel of THE FIRST without wanting it, so they picked their original idea and shoved Kamen Rider into it as a secondary element that feels like it doesn't belong in that movie, and in the end, it fails at both. Admittedly, the horror portion was pretty good, I would be interested in watching it. It was the rider portion that was a letdown, it was pretty much just some random action, and while watching that girl fighting with a chainsaw was cool as hell there wasn't much background stuff to justify all of that and put some meaning on it. And there's also the terrible final scene with that awful CGI fire that was cringy as hell. If you want some advice, skip this one, it's not worth it.

Kamen Rider Ghost: Legendary! Riders' Souls!

Because I was left with the feeling that I got no useful information after watching THE NEXT, I decided to do something that I never do that is watch the web specials they release for each movie in the hopes that I would have enough context to watch Kamen Rider 1 without a problem. And well... I didn't expect them to be so pointless. Like, they have enough content to be its own TV movie and it's all just to explain how they got the Rider Eyecons, AND THAT'S IN THE MOVIE FOR LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES!!!!!!!!!! And like, these form changes are so useless that if they had taken that out of the movie it wouldn't make a difference!!! I swear to god, why do they still think this kind of stuff is cool? UGH

I don't have much to say because this was pretty much just a boss rush, but I have to say this. PLEASE STOP BRINGING FINAL BOSSES BACK, they're final bosses for a reason goddammit, they're not cannon fodder! When you bring a final boss back anytime you have a chance it just loses the cool effect it could have. Please, Kamen Rider, stop, we get it, you love your own franchise, you don't need to keep doing this circle jerk all the time when you wanna do something cool that serves as an homage to your own history.

Kamen Rider 1

Complains aside, finally the actual first Ghost movie, in the Ghost Movies and Specials post.

And this was a great movie, probably my favorite thing that came out of Ghost. This movie is exciting, it has things for both old and new fans, the plot is pretty decent, the action is a lot of fun, and the emotional beats work very well. I felt in love with Takeshi after this movie, he's such a cool guy, and I really like the actor, it was always a joy seeing him on the screen, his whole thing with Mayu was great, it was very endearing, and when Takeshi dies I really felt it, and the only reason why I'm okay with them bringing him back is that I like him so much and I didn't want to see him die. If THE FIRST made me want to watch the original series, seeing Takeshi in this movie made me want that even more.

I expected the Ghost cast to be the low point of this movie, and while my biggest complaint is about a thing related to the Ghost lore, I overall liked seeing Takeru tag along with Takeshi. To the surprise of a total of 0 people, Makoto was useless again, but honestly, his participation in this movie is so minor it doesn't even bother me. I also like that the villains of the movie were Shocker and Nova Shocker and not that white-suit guy from the specials. Having both Shockers there fighting not only the riders but also each other earned a lot of points with me, I particularly love how Nova Shocker decided to do their thing by embracing capitalism and becoming a corporation because corporative people are the scariest and I love when they make villains based on that.

But I think what I like the most of this movie is that brings up to discussion a theme that I always thought the show should've tackled on TV that is the importance of life, and all that Love&Peace talk about how we're all connected, and that we're connected to nature, that is connected to the world, and yadda yadda yadda. Yes, it's a pretty old speech and everything, but it's one of the subjects that match the most with what I believe is the premise of this show, and while I love that this is a part of this movie, it's pretty sad that none of this bleeds out to the TV show.

And talking about things that are pretty sad, the element I liked the least was the thing that Mayu had a very powerful Eyecon that has been dormant inside her. I understand this is a Ghost movie and they wanna use their gimmick, but they could've used Takeru's gimmick of going full ghost mode and start fo follow Mayu while invisible instead of making the final villain just another MOTW. I honestly think the conflict between Shocker and Nova Shocker was enough to make everything they wanted to do, on the scale they envisioned, without having to add anything related to the villains of this season.

Regardless of the complaints, this is worth watching, for sure, and I wish I hadn't wasted my time with THE NEXT and the specials because I wish I could've met this movie way sooner. XD

Ghost: The 100 Eyecons and Ghost's Fateful Moment

This movie... was a choice. I feel like I have nothing to say about this movie, it was empty, it was pretty much a copy of the Wizard and the OOO's movies merged together, there were a lot of depiction of historical figures that would probably leave some people turning on their graves, they tried to make not just one but TWO familiar dramas and both of them failed in being interesting or having a good pay off at the end, and if all of that wasn't bad enough, guess what? Takeru died again! And was "revived" once more! Yay! I swear, this movie is so frustrating, I just wanna forget it exists.

Well... at least the new Napoleon and Darwin forms looked good I guess.

The Legend of Hero Alain

Now, what wasn't a frustration was Alain's special series! I absolutely love being able to see different points of view of the same story, and being able to see that from the perspective of who became my favorite among the riders of this season was a true delight. I do think episode 4 was a bit useless and if they wanted to make an epilogue they could've done something better, but the other 3 episodes are pretty good.

In particular episodes 2 and 3, that are from the time around his redemption arc, were very touching and a huge part of that is obviously from the presence of the best character of this show, the #1 takoyaki lady, Fumi-san, who once again was here giving her wisdom and passing down some of the messages the TV show tried to pass but that it failed completely. And even though I knew they would eventually hit a point where they would talk about her death, I was still hit by the feels like if they were a truck and I cried.

If I have to say two things that I don't like about these specials it would be that "Human Life Course" Takeru, Akari, and Onari had in episode 3, that was just ridiculous. And I'm not the biggest fan of having this thing of Alain and Fumi having a story that goes way back than what we saw in the show. But honestly, even with these problems, this is one of my favorite media that came out of Ghost.

Kamen Rider Ghost RE:BIRTH: Kamen Rider Specter

Last, and deservedly the least, is Specter's movie. And talk about a bad movie,

You would think that at least on his own movie Makoto would be important, play a big role, but even though he defeated the big bad in the end, he actually did nothing that couldn't have been done for another character. Heck, if you think about it, the real hero at the end of the day was Onari because it was sneaking around and stealing that gem that solved the main problem about clearing the sky atmosphere in the end. All Makoto did here was take a dumb decision after the other and is dreadful to watch.

I think the biggest problem of this movie is that it depends on us believing in feelings developed between two characters that know each other for less than three days and one of those characters is framed by the movie SINCE THE BEGINNING as a maniac villain. And our pay off of this is to believe Makoto forgive the guy who was conducting crazy experiments and that threatened to kill his beloved sister because he considered her a failure. Thanks, I hate it!

Oh yeah and we had power-ups for Necrom and Specter that came out of nowhere and we just have to buy it. At least Spector's new form looks pretty cool, despite me not buying the "sin" motif, I would like to have an opinion on Necrom's form, but it happened on a shitty rain scene and I couldn't distinguish any memorable feature while watching it.

All in all, this movie was another disappointment.

Well, that's it for Ghost. I wish I could have something good to say to sendoff this series, but I honestly don't so I'll just wrap-up here after all this post is already long enough. What are your thoughts on these? Have you watched any of them recently? Let me know in the comments down below. Stay healthy, stay safe, never stop resisting, thank you so much for reading, and until the next time. Bye~

#Kamen Rider Ghost #Kamen Rider THE FIRST #Kamen Rider THE NEXT #kamen rider

[we-are-what-they-grow-beyond]

some seriously self indulgent TROS thoughts that no one asked for: spoilers ahead!

(i’m gonna try tag every spoiler tag I can think of just in case anyone out there does care, but tbh this is really just for me lol)

the following is going to be a very ‘off the cuff’ series of ramblings so I apologise if it’s all over the place 

Overall.. I think I liked it? I left the cinema feeling euphoric, which is honestly all I wanted from ix. While there were very few immediate things that I took offence to as I was watching it [unlike TLJ] I have a bad feeling that some doubts about certain scenes and character choices are gonna creep into my brain in the next few days. Like the longer I think about it, the worse it’s gonna get.

The beginning was a mess. I think every single person who has seen it can agree on that much. There was so much exposition and heavy handed course correction from TLJ that it felt laboured and disjointed. The pacing was at this crazy breakneck speed.. we must have visited at least six different planets in the first fifteen minutes. I think that Poe’s ‘hyperdrive jumping’ [?] sequence really set the tone for the first act - just a constant barrage of different locations and characters.

And I understand that they had to do this. The events of TLJ left them no choice, they needed to establish every main character’s position [both physically and mentally], portray the current state of the war as well as rebuild a believable rapport between our core trio all within the first fifteen minutes if they wanted to give the last act any chance of sticking the landing. And to some extent I think they achieved this. In all that running around on different planets, bickering amongst the trio and the funny asides from Threepio - it really felt like something straight out of the OT. For the first time since TFA I cared about these characters. 

However. In doing this, they continually broke the cardinal rule of screenwriting; show don’t tell. While watching the first act I felt weighed down with information, like every five seconds another character would pop in with a monologue that sent them on another wild goose chase in which they had to find another hundred things that I would inevitably struggle to remember. ‘So now they need to go here, to see where Luke went, because he wanted to find this guy, who has this object, that will bring them to this other place, so that they can see Palpatine?’ It was so heavily reliant on dialogue alone that it ultimately lead to this sense of utter messiness. 

Where the film thrived was in it’s action set pieces. I adored the way the force was portrayed in this film. The scene in the desert in which Ben [yes Ben, but more on that later] and Rey pulled that First Order Transport out of the sky sent shivers down my spine. We have never seen the force used like this before and the amount of power Rey held was absolutely staggering. I loved it.

The saber battle on top of the Death Star was a visual highlight. Even though I felt like I’d seen most of it in TV Spots the urgency never went away. The moodiness of the water and mist cut through by the blue and red light was beautiful. 

The one shot of Poe, Finn and Chewie running through the Destroyer hallway felt like an echo back to everything that lies at the heart and soul of this saga.

We’ve been begging for more space battles and boy did we get a good one. When Lando and Chewie sauntered in on the Falcon with their thousands of rebel support ships set to the theme I was sobbing. There were so many little references in that one shot, from Rebels to Resistance to even Wedge Antilles - My heart swelled. 

But where I really broke was on Ahch-To. One of my biggest gripes with TLJ was its treatment of Luke. Every time I watch it again that shot of his submerged X wing infuriates me beyond measure as Johnson never chose to do anything with it [despite there being an obvious answer]. We finally got that scene in this film, the scene I was so desperate for; a callback to perhaps my favourite moment in the whole skywalker saga entangled with an apology for TLJ’s treatment of our favourite jedi master. Set to Yoda’s Theme, I felt like for a split second like I was watching Empire, and that meant the world to me. Thank you J.J.

The characterisation is perhaps the most divisive part of the film for me. It took so many risks, it’s going to take quite some time for me to properly digest them all. 

I want to start with our beloved Leia. The CGI, although perhaps not quite as seamless as some reviewers are making it out to be, worked well enough. With the knowledge of Carrie’s passing, it’s easy to poke holes in the performance - I found the beginning of her screen time particularly jarring, with her mostly addressing Rey with one word answers. I knew that there was supposed to be an emotional weight to all her scenes, as there she was, our princess, somehow miraculously on our screens for one final time. But I didn’t cry. I didn’t feel as if she was truly there in body or soul, and the emotional power of her scenes suffered as a result. Maybe in time, as we forget about the circumstances under which this film had to be made, this obvious detachment might fade away. And I sincerely hope it does, because the backstory they gave her is what truly deserves to be remembered about Leia in this film. The flashback scene of her training with Luke was glorious, the cgi really worked well here, and for the first time we saw Leia as a fully fledged jedi. This is something I could never ever have even imagined and I’m so pleased they did it, it would have meant so much to me as a young girl. As for her death, I believe they did the best they could with it. She ultimately died saving her son, protecting both the light and her family - two themes that have been so central to this entire forty two year saga. I don’t think they could have done much more. 

I was shocked to see Harrison in this, surprised isn't even the right word. But this bewilderment that I felt thankfully didn’t overshadow his integral role in the so called ‘Bendemption’ arc, in fact I think it really tied the whole thing together nicely. I have hated the idea of Kylo’s possible redemption since the moment we found out his true heritage during TFA, I thought it was too simple, too obvious. But the way in which it was dealt with here was wonderful. It showed Kylo to be entirely complex and ambiguous, and at the end of it we saw Ben for what he was, a young and vulnerable young man who ultimately made some terrible choices, the conflict in him was brilliantly acted. It was ultimately his parents that pulled him back to the light, not just Rey, and that fact alone saved this story arc for me. 

[I refuse to talk about the kiss. I hated it. It didn’t need to happen.]

Rey is a difficult one. Was the Palpatine bloodline convenient? Yes. Terribly so. Did it make sense story wise? Only kind of. But, I think it drew a definitive line under the nine film conflict which was ultimately at its core just Skywalker vs Palpatine, so in that sense I’m happy it happened in the way it did. 

[Sheev on an aesthetic level looked dreadful I thought. Proper rubbery. And the logistics of how he survived/who all those chanting followers were/where he got all those Imperial star destroyers from is extremely questionable. I try not to dwell on it.]

My mixed feelings about Finn and Poe cannot be overstated. The film did a good job at giving them more to do, we really got to see John and Oscar bounce off each other and at the end of the day, that is my kryptonite. However, Finn had little to no character development throughout the whole trilogy. All he did was figure out that he didn’t want to be aligned with the First Order anymore, deciding he wanted to fight for what is right. But the thing is, we saw him make that decision about ten minutes into TFA. It didn’t need to be rehashed again and again in every film. We wanted more - we wanted him to be force sensitive, we wanted him to form meaningful connections with others. On some level they delivered on that, we saw a little force sensitivity, he got his own back with Hux, he found his tribe in Jannah and the other deserters.. but it felt like an afterthought. Nothing was ever dwelled upon- even his confession to Rey [whatever it was] was completely forgotten about in the end. Finn as a whole felt like an afterthought. 

[Don’t even get me started on Rose, Kelly deserved so much more. I was embarrassed by the amount of screen time she had.]

As for Poe.. Oscar did a brilliant job in this, he successfully harkened back to our favourite scoundrel Han Solo stereotype and I felt that gave the trio’s dynamic a clear anchor. His interactions with both Finn, Threepio and Chewie as he kept crashing the falcon really made me laugh, it was nice to have some actual humour littered throughout, unlike the goofy slapstick stuff in TLJ. But.. the Zorii love interest and backstory made zero sense canonically. Zero. Aside from the ‘can i kiss you’ stuff being extremely contrived, there is physically no actual way Poe could have ever been a spice runner on this new planet that I can’t remember the name of. He lived on Yavin his whole life until he came of age to join the New Republic Navy, and from there Leia recruited him into the Resistance. This much has been documented in countless books and comics. J.J really decided to throw that all away so that they could what.. get that universal key thing? Did they even use it? Was there any other point of Zorii’s character other than that key? Not really. Don’t try to tell me that Kes and Shara’s son ran away from home to become a criminal for no reason. Just don’t. [He was still wearing Shara’s ring throughout and they didn’t do anything with it.. I wonder will we get more of an answer to this in the novelisation?]

[While I’m on the subject of the comics and novels, the decision to kill off Snap was brave. I really loved him in the comics and I’m sad he’s now gone and Karé is now alone. Not that any of that was mentioned but-]

Lando was used just the correct amount. I’m happy he got the ‘I have a bad feeling about this’ line, and I think any more screen time and we could have seen some holes in Billy’s performance. [sorry Billy]

Chewie had some great moments in this surprisingly. He was essentially just an extra in TLJ so it was quite refreshing to have him be a key player again. [I had forgotten about the clips from the trailer that showed him aboard the Destroyer, so when he ‘died’ I really thought he was dead for a moment and I was so angry that that was how he went lol.] But his reaction to Leia’s death was so touching and although it was a tad fan-servicey, I loved the fact that he finally got the medal he missed out on in ANH. It made me chuckle.

The same can be said of Anthony Daniels as C3PO and all of the other droids. I felt as though they really clawed them back into the mix this time - Threepio’s worrisome queries were wonderfully nostalgic and not to mention hilarious, and D-0 was a great new addition. The droids always brought a levity to star wars, it was their job, and they did this to great effect in this film. There was some questionable switching around of R2 and BB8 which I didn’t appreciate - there is absolutely no way that BB8 wouldn’t be Poe’s astromech for the battle against the Final Order but I’m willing to let it slide.. [also why was he on Tatooine with Rey at the end?]

It really sounds like I had more problems with this film than highlights, and I promise that’s not the case. In the end, it made me feel happy, like I was watching something akin to the OT again, and yes some parts of it were clumsy, but the heart of it was there. It all really comes down to whether or not you believe a film must be ‘good’ in order to be.. good. With something as big and sentimental as star wars I think it’s a lot more complicated than that. Return of the Jedi was an utter mess- but yet we all still worship it and the characters it gave us. Why can’t the same thing be said for TROS? It was clunky, but it was surprising, and powerful and fun. It gave us the characters we loved and some interesting new ones, some top-tier lightsaber battles and a conclusive ending to the saga that has defined so many lives. At the end of the day I think that’s all it needed to be. 

#star wars tros #tros #tros spoilers #star wars spoilers #the rise of skywalker spoilers #spoilers #star wars the rise of skywalker #sw #sw spoilers #star wars the rise of skywalker spoilers #do you think i have enough tags lmao #i just really don't want to spoil it for people #rey #kylo #finn #poe #idk i feel like i have enough now

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S3 Ep 11 pt 1: Mokuba Gets Kidnapped (Again)

I miiiight have to split this one in two?

A lot happens this episode, and when I cap things it’s mostly to help summarize what’s going on so these posts won’t be so freakin long but visually--a LOT happens this episode. So...there’s a few caps.

Anyways, I’m still trying to not think too much about what it is that Tristan has turned into. Considering that apparently you can exist here without a body it makes you wonder if their own minds are here at all or if we’re just following some shadow selves but again, it’s--that’s way too deep for Yugioh.

Been joking about the team getting turned into Heartless for a whole season and it actually happened. Sort of. Being turned into a monkey isn’t exactly the same as being turned into Darkness but if Yugi, Bakura, and Marik are any indication, being turned into Darkness on this show just means your hair gets kinda big and sometimes you almost (and often do) kill people.

Tristan’s CGI body is now running around and I’m not sure how that works.

Like if Tristan’s ACTUAL body is being stored somewhere, then the CGI body should have vanished, right? Like, his CGI body got incinerated by lava? Anyway, apparently, his body is absolutely fine, and now it’s being controlled by Nezbitt.

I’m glad he found the Kaibas at their familiar territory. Yes, that’s right, they all met up again, reunited after 10 episodes at their favorite place in the whole world. Guess where? Guess where they are?

It’s like meeting at the Cinnabon at the mall. They just all know where to go.

(read more under the cut)

And then Kaiba just kind of acts like he’s been expecting this for years. I mean...there’s reasons to expect that.

TBH if Tristan nabbed Kaiba in the shoulder with that broomstick, Would Kaiba even be able to feel it with all that padding? He’s got like football gear for shoulder pads up there.

We get no explanation of how Blue Eyes Wife made it to the VR zone. Probably willed itself out of pure love or whatever. But, don’t worry, Seto will have to choose cards from a pool just like everyone else at the end of this episode so uh...that’s about all we’ll see from her. Unless she was also in the pool, but I kinda doubt Noah gave Seto a Blue Eyes.

Just so weird that in the same episode she’s clearly here, but in 10 minutes from now, she’s not.

Anyways, everyone else finally shows up and they don't seem to be confused as to how Tristan is just fine when they just saw him die like...just now. They just left the place Tristan was dead and incinerated by 600000 degrees of lava and they were like “Oh good! We found him immediately! Hallelujah!” as if this isn’t very weird.

And...in a past life, Kaiba was the head of the House of York or...something? Like he was in the War of Roses or something? I forget exactly what y’all were saying Kaiba was up to in a past life in some video game spinoff when he and Yugi were European 500 years ago. Their family bloodline really got around.

ALSO, thing I just realized now I’ve actually read the wikipedia, Kaiba is supposed to have been Christian Rosenkruez in this game, which is amazing. Because, if you thought the Kaiba timeline was effed up before, just you wait, because Christian Rosenkruez was a freakin nut. We’re talking Indiana Jones type of nut. I’m pretty sure the game never brings this up, but Christian Rosenkruez is famous because so many people thought that he was the reincarnation of Lazarus.

LAZARUS.

Sorry, I’m like...kinda cracking up as I’m typing this. For those who don’t know your Christian/Middle Ages art, Lazarus is this guy, seen on the right. He’s always wrapped up like a mummy and with this expression like “woah, Jo, I’m alive!? Nice!” as at least one guy in the foreground plugs their nose because he smells like so freakin bad.

Yeah. So now, canonically, a past self of Seto Kaiba swore that he was once Lazurus. Who is...a real freakin nice guy, actually. Which--and this is my favorite part--this means that Lazarus--a real guy from the Bible--was also soul married to a Blue Eyes White Dragon. Hot damn.

I mean, this is a mess, but aesthetically though--Lazarus was a dead guy right? Like a revived mystical dead guy? Wrapped up like a mummy? In a crypt? If you don’t know too much about Christianity, it kinda fits right in with our whole vibe.

And if art twitter is anything to go by, the original fanart was bible stuff anyway, so anime and Bible stuff are absolutely and always interchangeable.

(Sorry, I was about to derail on another art rant hoo boy, a rant within a rant. You know, I hide a LOT of art discourse in these posts. Spicy times. Thanks for bearing with me, I’ve been holding that one in for a WHILE.)

But this is mostly amazing because, completely unintentionally, that means Seto Kaiba’s bloodline met freakin Jesus, y’all.

In fact, lets go over it, so Kaiba’s bloodline was Egyptian wizards who killed Pharaoh Yami (who ends up being Yugi’s bloodline), kinda forgot they were royalty or magical, went up to Jerusalem for a spell, hung out with Jesus and got helllla Christian, then ended up in Germany, fought Yugi who was British royalty for a hot minute, buried Rosenkrueuz in a very weird and mystical spooky sarcophagus, and then both families forgot they were super special royalty and somehow ended up in Japan where Kaiba got orphaned with no knowledge of any of this and got adopted by a crazy Gozaboro Kaiba who is now trying to kill them all with a VR game.

Anyway, if a past version of himself was in the War of Roses, dueling with actual swords should come naturally to him. Or at least would have come naturally if Tristan wasn’t so good with brooms.

(Bro’s Spicy Headcanon: Tristans wooden stick was originally a sword but they edited it out in development. Sure Wtv.)

And surprisingly, Joey got to do a hit in this version of Yugioh--like actually kicked a guy. On screen. And it was Tristan. Wow. Really thought that would get edited out, and I’m glad they left it in because lol this whole sequence is a mess.

Anyway, Tea gets hella mad at Joey because they don’t want him to kill Tristan although this body was in fact incinerated at the bottom of a lava pool not ten minutes ago, and so she decides to go after Tristan herself? Because she figures that Tristan’s body will not attack her? Maybe because Tristan’s body would be too afraid to attack Tea.

And this is Tea, so she is used to people going ghost, getting cray, and then passing out ten minutes later and being like “Oi, love! I seem to have made quite a fuss, again, innut!”

Please look at the bottom of this cap and admire that Joey kicked Tristan so hard, that his body bent a metal door completely the other way around.

That’s right, the motorcycle license is back, and now it gets to serve a purpose!

Guys, when they revealed that Tristan could drive a motorcycle I did not think that later this ability would be yet another insane way to abduct Mokuba.

Lol what?

Moki just...hanging off the side there. Like...he’s not even strapped in. What is it with the kidnappers in this show having just no idea how to properly hold Mokuba? At least this time he isn’t being suspended from a helicopter but it’s still kind of of a lot?

And there goes Kaiba.

They reunite again for like...2 minutes after like 10 episodes and then bam, Kaiba is signing out immediately.

Unfortunately, there goes the only two people here that know how to drive motorcycles, so the rest of our team is just kinda stuck back here with Tristan in a monkey suit.

Because of perspective issues, Serenity appears to be like 2 feet taller than Yugi Muto, dang.

So I think I mentioned before that one of the reasons I was like “Yeah lets watch this show” is because someone tweeted that Yugioh had motorcycle dueling, and so when this happened I was like OMG they’re actually going to do it somehow, right now on this Sonic Adventure Highway. Finally! A motorcycle duel! I thought that was only in the spinoff I’m not going to watch!

I mean look at him go.

JK no motorcycle dueling in this series. My poor hopes. Dashed.

And he runs right into Kaiba’s coat from last season who is wearing just the thickest old timey Southern accent. Ah, I miss when his coat color was nearly his font color and it all made sense.

Bro pointed out that the best part of this scene is how small the motorcycle was compared to how big this fire is now. Like...they should just be able to walk around the fire at this point, right? Like it’s a highway with multiple lanes? What was even in this motorcycle? Nitro?

Anyway, this post will be very long if I don’t chop it in half, so get ready for next time, when we find out what this guy and his accent’s whole deal is. How many references will he make to grits and warm summer evenings? A lot, right? Like a lot?

Anyways, if you just got here, this is a link to read the recaps from Ep 1 S1

#Yugioh #Yu gi oh #recap #photo recap #S3 Ep11 #Does Mokuba have a requirement to get kidnapped every 10 episodes? #Seto Kaiba #Mokuba #Yugi muto #joey wheeler #tea gardner #tristan taylor #robot monkey #Seto Kaiba's Timeline gets more and borked every episode of this arc

[everydreamtilldawn]

Endgame Thoughts *Spoilers obviously and a whole lot of venting*

OK Endgame, here we go! The absolute disrespect to the audience, the actors, the characters, and all the other creators who put so much work and care into building characters and stories for the other movies and shows which led up Infinity War and Endgame. The Russos are so far up their own asses with how good they think they are. I'm so done with their pure spoiler free excuses. Not letting actors know what scenes they're in, who they're with - wasting oscar winning actors on their own bloated egos insisting adults can't be trusted not to cause a PR scandal over their fanfic. Those assholes put themselves into the canon as "the first canon gay character". Oh, Mr. Unnamed Guy 32 is the first gay character out of all these hundreds of people on screen? Oh Mr. Russo well we all better get on our knees and kiss your gay dick in thanks then you ass faced worthless shit for brain. What a fucking insult. Who has the actual nerve? Who actually has an ego so big they don't actually see the lgbt community and their issues as something to take seriously within their narrative - its like their heads have been under a rock the past few years thinking of only their wonderful, unbeatable movie that they have no idea gay people are main characters now and have their own movies elsewhere in the world. We're not nameless, background characters you dicks. The fact that 10 years led up to this is like spitting in the face of your audience and telling them exactly how little you actually care about them except for their money. Every bit of Endgame highlighted and emphasized the flaws that was the monstrosity that was Infinity War. Starting there - I will never get over the fact that the end battle of Endgame so clearly shows how awful the previous movie was. I think I've told you all the problems I have with IW before but to emphasize again - the "we don't trade lives" concept is still something I'm furious over. The fact that grand old captain america wasn't willing to kill Vision for the UNIVERSE but was ok with a few hundred Wakandan's dying for Vision to maybe live? Bullshit. AND that final battle? WTF so we're supposed to believe that in the... five?... ten minutes? after being snapped back to life all those people got off their asses? I can't even. They expect us to believe that when you put all those geniuses, warriors, battle proven tacticions, strategists and spies in a room that they still make all those obvious mistakes when they know the UNIVERSE is at stake? Where was that army of sorcerers in battle one? Why did Wong or whatever his name is really HAVE to protect that one sanctum even knowing the fate of the UNIVERSE was at stake? They had hours to plan. HOURS. If not days?!?!?!?!?! They went to different countries, they had time to sit and plan. They had time to call in the world's resources to prepare, to gather armies. Instead they fought with Wakanda and a handful of superheroes - why??? They literally knew the stakes, the only reason they didn't have the huge army battle scene in Infinity War is because Marvel wanted another movie. They wanted to make billions on Endgame cause they knew audiences would come back if they shock value killed half the universe and then brought them back for battle two but uhhhhhhh.... On your left was a great badass scene and all. But they had max like ten minutes to gather forces who legit just came back to life. Who sent out that distress call btw? Why did all these people NOW have a plan of attack and were gathered in preparation to fight?

Was it badass? Was the shot of Captain America alone against an entire army not iconic? OF COURSE. I loved that scene. I loved the women gathering around Peter and racing to fight against the army as one. It was legendary. There were some really funny, badass, and wonderful moments. But it was a bad story. It was bad writing. Working my way down from character murders that least upset me to most. Black Widow. She finally came to life in this movie. She was a leader, she had emotions, she was more than a catsuit, a sexy smile and a witty comment. I adored her. I despise her death. I hated that in the end she was still another pretty face lying sexily at the bottom of a pit for the life and will of a man. I’m half okay with her death, because it was almost justified. In this story where she was finally a fully-fledged and fleshed out person – she had wants and goals and those centered around protecting her family. The character she was in this movie didn’t even begin to exist until Endgame and it’s a tragedy that she was murdered before she even reached her full potential. But she did want to sacrifice herself so the universe could live again. She wanted Clint to go back to his family. She wanted to give her life for the only thing she loved. BUT Clint was the true perfect mirror for this narrative. Thanos sacrificing Gamora will never be okay. Gamora said it herself – that wasn’t love. That was glorifying abuse. Thanos never should have been given the soul stone under the ridiculous and unclear rules of the soul stone. Honestly, I’d believe Red Skull is just fucking with everybody at this point with how ridiculous those rules are. No way is what Thanos did love. I will come back to the Russos glorifying and being okay with child abusers when I get to Tony and his father. Clint would have been the mirror to Thanos in that moment. Instead of a father killing his daughter, it would have been a father dying for his daughter. His relationship to his daughter is even highlighted at the start of the movie and in his time travel moment. Clint hated who he’d become, he was ready and willing to sacrifice himself for his family and at that point he deserved it. As shown later with Tony – the theme of fathers sacrificing themselves is a relevant theme. So why Natasha in that moment. Why not the father? Why not the narrative mirror? Why the only woman on the team, the one who has grown to be a real person in the narrative and one who is now LITERALLY IMPORTANT TO THE STRUCTURE OF THE WHOLE WORLD AND THE UNIVERSE? She became the leader of the Avengers and expanded their reach across galaxies by communicating and coordinating with Rocket, Nebula, and Carol. She had a world to rebuild by coming home. It’s not like they’re going to give Clint his own redemption movie where he makes up for his half assed arc to becoming his Ronin character arc. I’m half okay with it, but I also think it was the completely wrong choice of which character to sacrifice.

THOR. The insult to Taika Waititi. The insult to Thor, Thor: the Dark World, and Thor: Ragnarok. The insult to Thor the character. Hell, the reversal on Thor -2.0 from Infinity War. Years of movies, years of work building this character. Them saying that not only does Thor, who finally learned to be the God of Thunder without his hammer, who took up Odin’s role and finally accepted his place as King, needed to be.... fixed?!?!?! They gave him back his eye for starters which reverses the whole meaning of him losing it in the first place. Of assuming the role of Odin, of King, of being Thor. Then they give him the axe and then the HAMMER. Thor moved on. Thor accepted himself. Thor in Ragnarok is proven to be stronger without the hammer than he was with it. Giving him the axe, making him obsessed with getting his hammer back, reverses three movie of character development. AND THEN. Making him FAT. Making him STUPID. Making him threaten children, abandon his people, abandon his duty, fall into a depression completely unlike his character who is a hardened warrior with deep emotional depth and understanding – a fucking soft hearted genius in his own right who was able to easily give forgiveness to Gamora and understanding that being the daughter of an abusive monster isn’t her fault. They have the audacity to spend a whole movie making fat jokes about him and decide to reverse him back ten year’s worth of character development. Oh hardy har, we’re such good writers. We understand posttraumatic stress and the mindset of heroes – look he’s drinking beer, and an alcoholic, and eat a salad you fat fucks. WTF. It wasn’t funny. It was mean. It was unnecessary. It was out of character like the Russos came up with it high on crack and refused to let it go. Thank god Chris H is a good enough actor not to show how insulting it must have been to have his character be paraded around in bad cgi and treated like he’s an idiot. Did the Russos not watch the other movies in the canon? Did they not care that Thor had become this deeply complex character who loved his people, would do anything for them, was ready to be King and lead – NO I guess they just don’t care. Like everyone who sat on their asses during the battle in Wakanda. It would have been amazing for Thor to have gone back in time to see his mother as the true and worthy King at last, if his final arc had been around idk his apprehension at how to lead his people after failing them, after them dying down to a few hundred. Having everything he could have been overshadowed by the Russos need for a running joke the entire movie is so very insulting. It shows just how little they think of the audience’s intelligence.

CAPTAIN AMERICA. The insult to women’s agency. I truly at this point think the Russos are lying fucks who have no respect for women. They’re sexists assholes. The insult to the entire team of Agent Carter. The insult to Peggy fucking Carter, the most badass woman who built herself up, who built Shield, who moved on, who had a life, a husband, children, who died in peace and was put to rest. Nope. Forget about everything she did. The Russos plot line is more important. Steve Rogers started out the movie saying how important it was to move on, and what does he do? Not move on. Lets highlight the insult that throwing in “the first gay character” is when facing the cowardice of switching Steve Rogers from being so obsessed with protecting Bucky Barnes that he threw away the shield, became a fugitive, and left the family and team he’d built in the future to chase after Peggy Carter who he HAD MOVED ON FROM. He kissed that one random blonde girl he had no chemistry with. He said goodbye and buried Peggy. Peggy had a life, she was happy. Did she miss Steve? Was she sad he “died”? Yeah. But now she doesn’t get a choice between the future she could have had and the one where Steve buts in and I guess Bruce didn’t have a discussion with Steve about splitting the path of time into multiple realities cause the Russos decided to fuck their own established logic and leave Steve in a new version of the past – where almost all the infinity stones are returned in their non-original forms, loki is fucking off with the tesseract and Thanos/his entire army/and Gamora are all in the wrong time never to forge the original war in the first place? They didn’t put a single scene between Steve and Bucky reconciling the past few years, Bucky’s dusting or the fact Steve was gonna go and never come back after ALL THAT. After Winter Soldier and Civil War, Steve said fuck Bucky, fuck the avengers, fuck this future that doesn’t have Iron Man, I want to go dance with a woman who HAD A LIFE WITHOUT YOU YOU ASSHOLE. I was touched by the old man Steve returning to give Sam the shield. I thought it was wonderful, I cried a little. But what about Peggy? What about the timeline? What about the rules????? Fuck it, there’s a gay character now and Thor is fat, the rules don’t matter anymore I guess.

Tony Stark.... deserved better. He is the true, real hero. The only hero. I don’t care about anyone else. Excluding his own 3 movies and Homecoming, Tony’s character was done so wrong in the Avengers movies by the writers, the audience and the other characters. So many people wrote him off as the person he pretended to be instead of the person he was. They saw selfishness and ego instead of the amount of sacrifice, the effort he gave into making the world a better place. He was such a good person. He grew so much. He gave his life for a world that never loved him, but that he never stopped loving. Natasha and Tony were the only people with something left to lose, but they were the ones who sacrificed themselves for a cold, uncaring universe and they deserved better. Tony finally had everything he never thought he would deserve – a wife, a daughter, a peaceful life at rest. All his wars were finished. He had everything to lose and he went into the endgame with the one condition that he would not give up what he had gained. And still they killed him. It was the only acceptable death for a hero like Tony Stark, but that doesn’t mean he deserved it. That doesn’t mean his daughter grows up without her father. That doesn’t mean its okay for that abusive, negligent asshole that was Howard Stark to get a last hoorah and be “redeemed” by a final conversation with his son. No. Tony had multiple arc, multiple points in his life where he had to rise above Howard and all that Howard stood for, all the ways Howard had hurt him and held him back. He was better than his father – going to be a better father than his father. Thanos and Howard will never, ever be men who should be looked upon as having loved their children enough for them to die in exchange for the greater good. It was so very satisfying for Tony to finally have it out at Steve for everything and I wish that scene had been longer. Tony deserved to live.

Final points. The timeline stuff, again, was bs. They insisted on not messing it up and still they messed up everything. The greater implications of all that is... astoundingly idiotic. Along with, why not just have Tony’s life ending snap send Thanos right back to the past along with the infinity stones to their rightful places and memories erased? If the infinity stones can do anything, such as kill half the universe, why not correct the flaws of the plot? I thought it was stupid that the only reason the time heist failed was because Nebula didn’t think about mind melding with her past self. The fact that’s even a thing... that happened. Really. The whole movie shouldn’t have existed let alone be three hours. They set such a great tone with the opening scene. It was tragic and heart wrenching and then seeing Natasha finally realized and the world broken. I can forgive dues-rat-machina bring Scott back cause I love Scott, but the time heist threw out all the tension. I didn’t feel the stakes, I felt like they stepped sideways into a whole different genre. That middle plot didn’t feel like a movie worth ending an era on. It felt cheesy and underdeveloped. Again – they had forever to plan. There was no time limit pushing them to go to the past immediately. They could have taken the time to think this out, cover every possible option – and they did. They’re shown doing that. So how, for the second time in these two movies, do these brilliant geniuses, tacticians and strategists believably fail to predict the outcome. And uhhhhhh did snapping all those people back account for the post snap casualties? Cause we saw helicopters flying into buildings, cars crashing, we were told that wars broke out and people went kinda crazy as they had a right to. The snap resulted in post snap causalities by the billions across the universe – had to have. So did all those people come back? What happens to the people who moved on and now have a 5 years younger mother/father/sister/brother/friend/loved one/wife/husband/etc to deal with who just blinked and suddenly half the people they care about are now five years older and the whole world is different? The sheer amount of housing and food crises that are about to begin post “snap 2: the snappening” are insane. And I get that its no fun to think about that in the fun of a big super hero battle and all that. But next movie will probably have zero mention of all that as shown by Peter’s entire class just moseying along on a European vacation in the next Spiderman. So Peter’s entire class got snapped, came back, and went on with their lives? The rest of the world’s infrastructure repaired itself in the time frame of Peter still being in High School? Yeah, right. But still – the fact that there’s an hour and a half of the movie that pauses all the tension and drama to be a comedy is just... whatever fine. It was funny. It was kinda cool, but it didn’t belong and it wasn’t necessary. Ok, I think I’m done.

#Avengers #Marvel #endgame spoilers #avengers endgame spoilers #avengers endgame #tony stark #natasha romanoff #thor #language warning #I say a lot of bad words and unkind things kiddo #you've been warned #Its been a few days and I'm still filled with rage #I did like a lot of parts of the movie #but I also hated a lot of the movie

[telekinetiq-a]

so here are my thoughts on DP and Mewtwo. SPOILERS AHEAD.

first, on DP in general:

overall, a good movie. solid B in general, A+ for visuals

really impressed with the graphics and CGI for the pokemon, including their designs and how they function in the world.

seriously one of my favorite things about DP is how creatively they set pokemon in the daily lives of humans, outside of battle.

amazing visuals in terms of the environment and how pokemon / people interact with and live in it. the urban settings? great. the ‘wilderness’ settings? also great. beautiful lighting too.

also great actors / voice acting.

what fell flat for me was the plot, especially in relation to the villain. it was either predictable or confusing, for the most part. and while I absolutely ADORE bill nighy, I feel like their choice to cast him kinda soured the movie for me, because bill is so good at playing villains and also plays them frequently, so the instant I saw him on screen and got the basic idea of what his character was about, I just knew he was the real bad guy. didn’t help that, as I said, wherever the plot wasn’t confusing, it was mostly predictable. also Howard’s motives are??? weak at best and utterly nonsensical at worst.

I could nitpick at the plotholes all day. or that irritating trope of misunderstanding causes one of the main characters to break away from the ‘group’ without looking for an explanation. I literally rolled my eyes in the theater during the entire scene of Pikachu ‘running away’ from Tim. IT’S A STUPID TROPE STOP USING IT UGH

I know the plot is based around the video game, which I never played, but it’s still just... ehhh?? I feel like Team Rocket being in it would’ve made it far more interesting and compelling, even if they weren’t the focus or the only bad guys.

as for my feelings and thoughts specifically on Mewtwo’s part in this movie:

thank you movie for once again asserting the fact that EVEN IN A REALITY WHERE ARCEUS, DIALGA AND PALKIA ARE KNOWN OF, MEWTWO IS STILL THE STRONGEST POKEMON IN THE WORLD. people started to debate that because Mewtwo was labelled the strongest back in Gen 1 and that with later Gen additions, he’d be out-powered, but he clearly isn’t. I am validated.

Mewtwo was in it less than I wanted but more than I expected, so that’s a win I suppose.

again, 10/10 on the visual side of things. I liked how he looked in the previews, and the movie did not disappoint. they did my son justice in this, as far as his appearance goes.

voice acting? while I still miss his original VA from MSB and see him as the one and only for it, I do really like what they did with Mewtwo’s voice, by overlapping a male and female voice to make him sound non-binary. really helps add to that alien, androgynous aesthetic, which I am all here for

the only gripe I have with his appearance is near the end of the movie when his mouth moves, under Howard’s control. it makes no sense because not only do I not see a psychic pokemon capable of physical speech (I have HCs regarding this for my blog), I also see no reason. if Howard can make use of Mewtwo’s other abilities, why the hell can’t he also use telepathy to speak like Mewtwo does? I know why they did it, to make an obvious distinction between when Mewtwo is talking vs when Howard is talking through him, but it’s still dumb and didn’t need to be done. that image of Mewtwo’s open-mouthed smile and talking with his mouth just... eugh! fuck no.

story-wise ... EH. there are things I liked about how Mewtwo was portrayed in this, and things I hated. I like how they connected him to his origins back in Kanto, it was one piece of dialogue but it meant the world to me. I also like how they didn’t butcher his character too much; he still sees humanity as evil but acknowledges there are good humans too.

that said, a lot of the things he did or said made little sense? like, I don’t think Mewtwo would go out of his way to protect Harry, because even though Harry helped to free him, he’s also the reason he was captured again in the FIRST place, and that alone would be enough to make Mewtwo bitter and distrustful and just leave Harry to his fate. he wouldn’t help or defend Harry but he also wouldn’t go after him for revenge either, because Harry did still free him at his own personal cost.

this new ‘power’ of Mewtwo being able to implant the soul of a human into a Pokemon is... weird. and honestly kind of dumb. also makes no sense, since ‘souls’ are not connected to telekinesis and there is no reason for Mewtwo of all creatures to have this power over soul-swapping. just??? what?? why?? erasing and manipulating memories and minds is one thing, but being able to “transfer” them around? even in a world of pocket monsters, that’s unrealistic.

ALSO WHY DID MEWTWO GIVE A SHIT ABOUT TIM? HOW DID HE EVEN KNOW ABOUT TIM? nothing was shown of Mewtwo reading Harry’s mind, unless he automatically does that when he does that transfer shit. so he shouldn’t even know about Tim. and again, even if he did, why. would. he. care? why did Mewtwo want “the son” brought to him? what was that supposed to signify? I JUST??? WHAT?

I’m a bit skeptical on Howard’s “invention” of a neural connector thing that allows him to enter and control Mewtwo’s mind. Mewtwo is the strongest pokemon in the world, and he’s a psychic, so naturally his mind is like... incREDIBLY POWERFUL? even if some kind of tech was created and capable of suppressing Mewtwo’s mind, I don’t think it’s something Howard (or any human) can just slip on and into like a fucking suit??? there would be a lot of risk involved, of Mewtwo overpowering you or messing with your own head in his own, or just interfering with your ability to use him. it’s not a plot device I’m completely against (on the contrary, under the right circumstances this would make for a very cool idea), I just think they made it far more simple than it should be.

one story element of Mewtwo’s that I do like is how the chemical R came from his genes, due to them containing the Berserk Gene (which fits nicely with HCs that I’ve already solidified for his character ages ago). it makes sense, especially considering Mewtwo was designed as a bio-weapon. I liked it a lot.

so yeah I will be taking some inspiration from the movie, but will definitely be diverging from canon in a bunch of places too. am I satisfied? eh. it was good eye candy, and it had my son in it, so yes. not completely, but yes.

#╰⦓⬤⦔╮⋯ ɪᴛ ʜᴜʀᴛ ɪᴛꜱᴇʟꜰ ɪɴ ɪᴛꜱ ᴄᴏɴꜰᴜꜱɪᴏɴ❗ ❜ ❪ OOC. ❫ #detective pikachu spoilers #pokemon spoilers #long post #THERE'S A LOT OF WRITING HERE

[thesffcorner]

Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Endgame is the latest and concluding  film to the first 10 years of the MCU. Endgame, takes place right after the events of Avengers: Infinity War, and follows the remaining heroes as they try and regroup after Thanos’ snap.

This is a film that, in some ways has been in the making for over 10 years. As such, there are a lot of expectations placed on it, and I don’t think it’s humanly possible to meet them all. For the most part, I enjoyed it; there were some issue with the pacing and characters arcs, but overall, this film is a masterpiece, if nothing else than it’s sheer scope. The Russos have set out to make a celebration of the entire Marvel universe, and in many ways there were successful. As an experience, watching the past 10 years of film-making being brought in and celebrated the way they are here was super positive, and though I found the story a bit lacking, I think it’s worth seeing if nothing else, then for that alone.    

Let’s be real though. You don’t want me to convince you to see this. You were already going to see it. Presumably, if you are here, you want to read what I thought about the film. So let’s cut to the chase, and under the cut and let’s get into my SPOILER FILLED thoughts.

Let’s start with the run-time.

This film, is a little less than 3 h long, and you FEEL, every single min of those 3 h. Part of the problem, is that there is no intermission; the other part is the structure. The first 40ish mins, are setting up where the characters are, the bulk of the film has to do with the Avengers going around collecting the stones, and then the third part is another 40 mins of a CGI battle that feels like it lasts an eternity. Helms Deep, ain’t got nothing on this; it’s so long it actually felt more draining than the almost identical hour long Battle of Wakanda for Infinity War. Then, when that’s over, we still have another 15-20 mins of tying up loose ends, and finally the film is over.

The film is too long. The issue is, I couldn’t tell what things could have been cut. The beginning set-up is slow, but it’s necessary to get us up to speed on where these characters are now, and if they have changed. While I found the battle needlessly long, it was cool to see the entire MCU come together, and every character  gets at least one little moment to shine, even if it’s just a few seconds long. There are dozens upon dozens of characters at the end, and the sheer enormity of the cast makes it impossible to have the battle be short, but I still think it could have been significantly truncated. After all we already saw a massive brawl in Infinity War; I don’t necessarily think we needed one here too, though I will admit that that’s probably an unpopular opinion.

The set-up at the start was imo, one of the better parts of the film. It’s incredibly depressing; the scene between Tony and Steve at Avengers HQ was harrowing; I liked the brief spike of energy when the Avengers go after Thanos, but it’s quickly deflated when he tells them the stones are gone. Then we get the ‘5 years later’ card, and it was like a blow to the face.

Having the bulk of the main plot set 5 years later was both a good and bad idea. On the one hand, 5 years is long enough for certain people to have moved on (some haven’t) and what little we get of what the world is like now was interesting. The best two story-lines for me were Thor Clint; I have been hoping we would get the Ronin story-line at some point in the MCU, and we get a glimpse of it here.

Thor was absolutely amazing; Hemsworth got his wish to have Thor be exactly like what he and Taika developed in Thor: Ragnarok.

The rest of this part was more than a little contrived. Scott getting released from the quantum realm by a rat, Tony figuring out the time travel in a single scene; it felt like the Russos just needed an excuse to get the characters from point A to point B, and went with the most uninteresting way to do it.

I had some issues with the main hook of this film, being time travel. First, I’m not a huge fan of time traveling stories; I tend to find their stakes are jumbled and rather low, they over-rely on common tropes, and almost never end in a satisfying way. I’d like to say that Endgame avoids this, but unfortunately it falls into some of the same traps, as all the films it tries to distance itself from.

There is a catch here in that the Avengers aren’t trying to prevent Thanos from snapping his fingers, but trying to collect the stones before he does. They even make a point of explaining why they can’t just travel back in time and steal the glove from Thanos before he snaps, in a pretty entertaining scene between Nebula, Rhodey, Scott and Hulk. I liked that they had to travel to a point in the past where at least one person had a direct contact with the stone, so they have a precise anchor in the time stream (and also it’s a clever way of going back to the battle of New York, Asgard, and Morag with the Guardians).

It was the part of the film I found most creative and had the most fun with. The team splits into 4 groups, and each group has to work around the obstacles of being in the past, with the group in New York being the funniest. Everything about the Battle of New York was great; the clever way in which they try and get the scepter and tesseract; trying to outwit Loki, Shield, Hydra and their own past selves. I can’t decide if I like the scene with Cap fighting himself more, or Scott giving Tony a heart attack; either way this was the most entertaining part of the film.

Hulk going to the Sorcerer Supreme and trying to convince her to give him the time stone was also good; I liked the reason why she didn’t want to give him the stone, and why she ultimately changes her mind. The idea that removing the stone would split an alternate reality where the Sanctuary failed at its job to keep Earth safe from dark magic was clever and we even see it in action, when Scott and Tony fail to get the tesseract, enabling Loki to escape, meaning in this new timeline, the Avengers failed to upper-hand Loki and lost the space stone.

Tony and Steve going back to the 70’s on Tony’s birthday to steal the tesseract from Shield/Hydra was also really fun. Hank Pym’s amazing 70’s hair was great, but the real standout was the scene between Tony and Howard; it was sad, funny and heart wrenching, and I’ll talk a bit more about it when we get to the characters.

Thor and Rocket go to Asgard to get the aether from Jane, which was likewise hilarious, both because Rocket and Thor as a tag team work really well, but also because it’s so clear that Natalie Portman refused to come back for Endgame, so they had to work around her, by reusing her scenes from Thor: the Dark World, and inserting Rocket. It was also really nice to see Asgard again, and like Tony, Thor too gets a really sweet and emotional scene with Frigga.

The third team is Nebula and Rhodey which was a fine pairing, but I feel that both characters were very underused. They bond a little over both having to rely on prosthetics to live, but most of this section is devoted to getting Thanos back into the film. Thanos being able to see what future Nebula could see through past Nebula’s cybernetic eye (something that maybe Nebula should have thought of before being the one to go to Morag, or at least warned the others about BEFOREHAND), was neat. However, another unpopular opinion of mine is that bringing Thanos back was unnecessary and only needlessly prolonged the film. We had too much Thanos in the last film, his story is over; I realize the Russos wanted him to have a rematch against all the Avengers combined when he’s not mortally wounded, but I would have gladly just watched the team traverse through the time-space continuum looking for the stones for 2 hours.

The final team was the one that actually made me mad. Clint and Natasha have to go to Vormir and get the soul gem. Okay… first off: why out of all the team members, do Clint and Natasha have to be the ones to go to Vormir? Wouldn’t it have made so much more sense for it to be Rocket? Nebula and Thor are indisposed, but they could have called Carol back, if nothing else than as back up, seeing as Vormir is in freaking space. Even without Carol, both Clint and Natasha could have easily done New York, considering they were there instead of Tony, Scott, Steve or Bruce.

Second, we are shown in the film, that the group is discussing what the best course of action would be, and they take notes on all the stones, and each person’s contact with the stones. When they were discussing Vormir, Nebula even says that that’s where Thanos killed her sister. So how come when they get there, Natasha and Clint are completely confused when Red Skull tells them one of them has to sacrifice so the other can get the stone?

Third, we have this ridiculous fight, between Clint and Nat about who will sacrifice themselves, and the Russos picked Nat? The ONLY female founding Avenger, the oldest member of the group along with Clint and Fury, and she does NOTHING this entire film, but throw herself in a pit to further Clint’s already massive man-pain over being a murderer and losing his family. This bit INFURIATED me; even if the reason Nat had to die was because Scarlet Johansson wanted to exit the MCU, there had to have been a better way to have her leave than killing her halfway through a 3 h movie, where her role up until that point had been sitting at a desk and crying.

Since I’m already talking about Natasha, let’s talk about the characters. In my review of Infinity War, I said that Nat, and Steve had such a small part, because the Russos were saving them for this film. For Steve that’s mostly true; his role is bigger, he gets some funny scenes, he gets some ‘character development’ (we’ll get to that). But Nat? What does she get? She’s overworking herself because she can’t move on, and is sad about Clint turning into a murderer. Then she sacrifices herself so Clint can get the soul stone and go back to his family, and it’s supposed to be a callback to when he didn’t kill her all those years ago, and had her join Shield. It was so reductive and uninteresting, and had nothing to do with her actual character. And don’t give me that ‘greater good’ bs; the Russos have been writing Nat for 4 films now, if they wanted her character arc to be about sacrificing for the greater good, they should have written it that way, dammit.

With Steve, like I said he gets a few touching moments, like running the support group, giving the rally speech before they go to the quantum realm, and getting up to fight Thanos after he has been beaten and his shield is broken.

But what was his character arc? Like Nat, the Russos have been writing Steven for 4 films now, and in every single one, they have failed to understand him as a character. They have had 4 films, and they still don’t know what to do with him. They seem to have this idea that Steve is just incapable of letting go: he can’t let go of the past, he can’t let go of the life he could’ve had with Peggy, he can’t let go of Bucky. He has spent 11 years out of the ice, has made a new close family with Tony, Nat, Sam, even Thor and Bruce, he’s even had a new love interest with Sharon, and he’s still completely stuck on the idea that his only chance at life was 80 years ago.

So here we have more of that: Steve can’t and won’t move on. He will risk his, and his friends’ lives for the slimmest of chances that things could go back to the way they were. That he can save everyone. It’s noble, but it’s not a character arc. Steve is exactly the same character he was in Captain America, and he has had no progress in 7 films.

He started out as someone who didn’t know his place in the world, and he ends this film by choosing to abandon his entire life and all his friends he worked so hard to bring back, in order to go back to Peggy. Everything he did in the present, all his friendships, memories, getting Bucky and Sam back, meeting Sharon, saving the world, none of it matters as much as being with Peggy. I’m sorry, but I just don’t buy it.

Moreover, this brings its own host of issues. If Steve went back in time, exactly when did he go? Before he crashed the plane? How did the bomb not detonate then? After he was frozen? Either way, in that timeline there are 2 Steve Rogerses. Did he just… convince Hydra not to dig him out? Did he kill his past self?

Was he still Captain America? If yes, then that should drastically change the timeline in the present day right? Things wouldn’t have happened the same way, so why would Hulk, Sam and Bucky be at that spot at that time? If the present timeline didn’t change, then how did Steve end up old and on the bench?

If he wasn’t Captain America in the past, how did he hide it? Did no one recognize him? Peggy did. Also, if Sharon exists in this timeline, then wouldn’t Steve have committed incest when he kissed her in Civil War?

I have the same timeline question for the rest of the cast. When Hulk snapped, he brought every person who disappeared, 5 years into the future, right? So is everyone 5 years older? If yes, then wouldn’t that make Peter Parker 19-20 years old? Why is he still in high school then?

If not, then how is Ned, and all of Peter’s other classmates exactly the same age? Did they all gets snapped? Every single person on that bus? That’s not random selection then now is it?

Clint, another character that the Russos don’t like or understand, didn’t fare much better. In the comics, he becomes the Ronin because Norman Osborn becomes President, and he creates a government sanctioned Avengers team full of criminals, where Bullseye is Hawkeye. He becomes Ronin to work illegally as an Avenger. Here it’s because his family got snapped, and because of that he is angry that some criminals remained alive, so now he’s killing them? What?

And then he just… gets his family back? And now everything is ok, and all those people he killed are completely forgotten?

Not to mention the absolutely infuriating scene, where Rhodey, Clint, Hulk, Thor and Steve, argue about whether Natasha is really dead or not. 5 men, argue about the ONE woman who had to sacrifice herself so they can all feel guilty and argue about it for 2 mins? This film really hates women, doesn’t it.

There’s a scene during the battle where Captain Marvel has to take the stones through Thanos’ army, and then all the female characters stand around her as back up, and it’s supposed to be this really empowering moment to see how far the MCU has come in representation.

Except it’s not, because having all the women fight CGI blobs for 1 min of a 3 h movie, while cool, doesn’t make up for the other 179 mins of shitty treatment of all your female characters.

Case in point: Gamora and Nebula. I really, really hated this plotline too. First, I hate that the Russos understanding of Peter Quill just seems to be that he’s an idiot. Great.

Second, since we can’t bring back Gamora from Vormir, we have Gamora from 9 years ago coming back to the present, so all the development James Gunn did with her character, he bonding with the Guardians, her relationship to Peter, he relationship with Nebula, all that is reconnected away. Thanks a lot guys! Way to completely negate years of development for the sake of your shitty plot twist!

Then we have Thor. I absolutely loved Thor in this film; he’s depressed, suffers from panic attacks, hides his pain with alcoholism, has put on weight, is very funny, and has the best interactions with all the cast. The scene in Asgard where he gets to talk to Frigga was beautiful; however, I wish he had gotten a scene with Loki or Jane, because that would have completed his arc. Like, it’s a bit strange that he seems to have forgotten that Loki died last film, and has no reaction when they sneak by his cell, but when he sees his mother he loses it?

While I do love Thor and Rocket, and I did think the final scene between Thor and Peter was funny, I just don’t want Thor in the Guardians films. Guardians already has a blonde, hot but dumb as bricks leading man, we don’t need two to compete for who gets to say the most dumb things this minute points.

Carol is barely in this film. She has 2 lines and 2 fight scenes, and I wonder why they even bothered. She is the strongest character in the MCU, and here she has a tug of war with Thanos for like 5 secs, before she gets swatted away, and isn’t in the rest of the film. They could have written her in if they wanted to, since she had contact with the tesseract in the 90’s, but nope. She’s off to space somewhere, because no girls allowed.

I don’t have much to say about Hulk. He’s in the movie. He says things. He has a single funny scene. He gets to do the snap. Yay.

Finally, we have Tony. The Russos love Tony Stark. I love Tony Stark. Tony Stark dies in this film. It’s made painfully obvious from the very first scene, and the film does everything it can to tug at your heart strings. And I still bought it.

First, we have him surviving a near death experience in space. Then when we cut to 5 years later, he has a daughter with Pepper, as well as a nice cabin in the woods. He doesn’t want any part in quantum traveling, because he got his second chance. He knows he won’t get a third.

I liked the scene where he and Pepper discuss what to do. It’s nice development for both of them; Tony has learned how to communicate with her, and tells her about the Avengers and the quantum travel. Pepper tells him that trying to get him to stop doing something is impossible for both of them. I also enjoyed all the scene between Tony and his daughter; they were sickeningly sweet.

Then we have the scene between him and Howard; I really loved that Tony still loves his dad, and doesn’t think he was a bad man even if they had a bad relationship. I also liked that Howard was worried about being a good father, since he knew he cared about work more than anything else in his world.

And then, to make things the worst, he gets a reunion with Peter, which was the final nail in the coffin. It was so emotional and seeing Peter say goodbye to Tony was even worse. He also gets the hero’s goodbye; he kills Thanos by snapping his finger and the gauntlet kills him. It’s the goodbye he deserves, and it’s the goodbye Nat deserved to have, but didn’t get.

So that’s it. Them’s my thoughts on this film. It was bittersweet, and it was mostly satisfying. I don’t expect that it could have possibly lived up to my expectations, but I am proven once again, that Marvel doesn’t really understand what I like about these movies.

It will be interesting to see how this changed universe will go on now: Thor’s in space, Sam is the new Cap, Tony and Nat are dead, and Clint is a murderer. I hope we get a lot more of Carol, T’challa, Hope, Steven, and Peter, but as for the OG Avengers, the ones that got me into this cinematic universe, this was a pretty decent, though not perfect send off.    

#avengers : endgame #avengers endgame review #moni talks #film review

[ladyseaheart1668]

Endless Summer Book 4: Daughter of Vaanu (Chapter 3)

Description: Alodia reconnects with the Catalysts and with Jake as she rediscovers her humanity.

CW: Some of it gets a little NSFW. There’s also discussion of physical assault and a scene with a medical examination and frank discussion of the body using clinical terms. Not sure if that actually needs a warning, but better safe than sorry. 

Chapter Three : Retcon

Sean

I don't sleep very deeply, slumped against the wall with Michelle in my lap. But it still takes me a minute to come awake when the shouting starts. Then someone starts shaking me wildly, which doesn't really help.

“Sean!” Michelle cries. “Sean, wake up!”

I try to ask her what's wrong, but my tongue is heavy and it comes out in a mushy mumble that I'm not sure sounds like anything.

“Sean, Allie's back!” Diego cries. “She's okay! Get it together, will you?!”

I finally shake off the last cobwebs of sleep, scrambling to my feet. Alodia stands tucked under Jake's arm. She looks exhausted, but she's smiling, and Jake is grinning like an idiot which is encouraging.

“You...you're really okay?”

“As far as I can tell, yeah.” She untangles herself from Jake and holds her arms out for a hug. I eagerly comply.

“It's so good to see you again. ...What the hell happened? Do you know?”

“I think so. ...But maybe it can wait until we're all together? I don't want to have to retell the whole story five times.”

I laugh. “On it. I'll go wake everyone up.”

Naturally, as they come awake, everyone's first impulse is to tackle Alodia with a flurry of hugs and questions. She finally manages to settle us all down long enough to explain. About how her consciousness separated from Vaanu's and reached back towards Earth, and how some energy that was presumably the Prism Gate activating had pulled her back and allowed her to manifest on the beach. ...How she had memories now of an entire lifetime spent on Earth. And the fact that she did not think the presence of a surviving crystal from the island would prevent her from continuing that new life where it had left off.

“...So...it's not like Vaanu's been broken all over again?” Raj asks.

“No more than Grace is broken for having had Reggie,” Alodia replies. “It's like I told Jake. I had become too much of my own person for Vaanu to fully take me back. I had my own thoughts and feelings and hopes and dreams, and trying to take me back ultimately proved to be like pushing a baby back into the womb after they've been born.”

“...Ew...” Craig mutters. I see Grace shudder slightly.

“Yeah, I'm with Craig,” Zahra agrees. “Also, I don't understand why you aren't still a massive paradox...even if you were my roommate freshman year.”

“Wait, what? She was?”

Zahra shrugs. “On paper, anyway. And only for the first semester. She crashed in Diego's suite most nights. ...Funny, at the time, I figured they were hooking up.”

“You wouldn't have been the first person to think so,” Diego says ruefully. “Allie was a pretty convincing beard when she consented to be one.”

“Hey, I chose Hartfeld because it was where you wanted to go,” Alodia protests. “It sucks that we somehow ended up in completely different suites our first year! I'm just glad that one kid moved into the frat house second semester. Meant I got his room.”

The three of them chuckle, until the strangeness of what they're actually saying hits them. “Yo, that's super weird,” Zahra mutters. “How long is that going to keep happening?”

“I...don't really know. In a way, this is sort of what Rourke was trying to do with Project Janus. ...Except that in this case, La Huerta is still here, and Rourke isn't emperor of the world, and the Vaanti are here and not imprisoned in underground camps...”

“What?!” Diego yelps. Alodia grimaces.

“Sorry. ...Weird Vaanu side-effect, I think. I have a...not quite memory of what would have happened if I let Project Janus go ahead. It...wasn't nice.”

“But that's not what has happened, here?” Aleister asks anxiously.

“No. I...think I still have a little bit of Vaanu's soul inside me, but no more than any child inherits from their parents. I don't have nearly as much power as Vaanu, or even as the Endless had while Vaanu was still on Earth. But...basically, I've been...retconned into the world's past like living CGI. ...I admit that I am an anomaly. But I don't have the power to unmake existence or create volcanos or anything like what Vaanu's arrival on Earth did. Thanks to all of you, I'm too human to manage it.”

“...But...if there is another crystal out there...” Quinn says softly.

“We can deal with one crystal,” Estela answers firmly. “We'll figure out what needs to be done with it when we get back.”

“...The biggest thing I think I need to apologize for is the fact that I think this isn't going to be easy on any of you. It was all of your needs meeting with Vaanu that willed me into being. I don't think you can forget what I was now that you know. You'll remember me from before La Huerta now, but I think you'll also never forget that there was a timeline where I didn't exist until we entered the time bubble.”

“Who cares?” Diego scoffs. Alodia reaches out to cover his hand with hers.

“It will be harder on you than anyone else. You'll have about twenty years worth of new memories alongside the old ones. Everyone else will only have met me when I got to Hartfeld.”

Diego shakes his head. “It's worth it to get my best friend back. Nothing matters as much as that.”

“But...” Grace hesitates. “Are you really sure that this won't cause a butterfly effect or anything?”

Alodia's gaze softens, growing distant. “...I'm not the first anomaly to ever exist. La Huerta itself was born from a violent event, and Vaanu's own trauma and pain, which is why it had so much impact. But most of us manage to slip into the world and move around unnoticed. ...Time knows what its doing. I exist like a rock in a stream. The water bends and reforms around me and mostly remains undisturbed.” She blinks and looks up to meet our eyes again, smiling sheepishly. “...Was that weird? Sorry...it's gonna take me a little time to settle back into myself.”

“You take all the time you need, Princess.” Jake kisses the side of her head. “There's no need to rush.”

For a moment, everyone is quiet. Tension crackles like electricity in the air. Then, it slowly starts to bleed away as everything she's told us sinks in. She's back. Our Alodia is back with us for good. Giddy elation floods in behind the tension. Craig bounces behind Alodia, grasping her firmly by the shoulders.

“Well, you feel solid enough, so I don't think you're a hologram.”

“She might be a robot, though,” Zahra adds. “Jake, have you checked her for wires yet?”

“Oookay, I don't want to know any more about their sex life than absolutely necessary,” Diego groans.

“Relax,” Michelle sniffs. “She has a pulse. I checked. ...Though, if you want, I could give you a quick physical just to make sure everything checks out.”

Alodia frowns thoughtfully. “You know...actually, I think I would like that. Just to put my mind at ease. Though...I feel human enough to be hungry. And...I actually have to pee really bad right now.”

“We should probably let you do that,” Diego chuckles.

“Yeah. I'll get started on breakfast,” Raj declares, hopping to his feet and practically skipping out the door.

“Let me give you a hand,” Quinn calls, following him out.

“Well, I guess if you're feeling all right, we won't be late to meet the Vaanti,” I remark. Alodia, already on her way to the bathroom, pauses, looking back eagerly.

“The Vaanti?”

“Yeah. It's kinda become tradition to spend three days here, and then four with the Vaanti before we go back home.”

She smiles. “I would love to see them again...”

“Well, we were hardly thinking of leaving you behind!” I laugh. “Go on now, attend to your bodily needs.”

“If you come to my room afterward,” Michelle adds, “I can give you a quick exam before breakfast.”

“All right. But...I may need you to show me which room is yours.”

“...Right. Noted. Okay, I'll wait out here.”

Michelle

I gather my medkit while Alodia finishes in the bathroom, and lead her to my room. I give her a robe to change into, and direct her into the bathroom. When she emerges with the robe over her shoulders, I gesture to the bed. She takes a seat.

“So are you officially a real, licensed doctor now?”

“I have a medical degree, but I'm still an intern. But I'll be a resident soon enough.” I pull on a pair of gloves and pick up my penlight. “Look straight ahead for me.”

“I have no doubt.” She obediently looks ahead while I check her pupils. They shrink normally under the light, and I pick up a tongue depressor to check her mouth and throat. I tip her head back and make a quick examination of her nostrils. She endures all this calmly, but when I put the otoscope in her ear, she fliches, recoiling slightly. I pull back.

“Does that hurt?”

“Not really.” She smiles sheepishly. “...Sorry...I just hate the feeling of having things in my ears. Especially pokey things. I know it's dumb.”

“Not at all. It's just instinct, not wanting pokey things near something as sensitive as your eardrums. Do you know how long it took me to train myself not to flinch while putting in contacts or applying eyeliner? Just take a deep breath. I promise I'll be quick.” I bend again to look in her ears. I feel her stiffen, but she holds still. I move around to the other side. “Besides, I've been an intern for nearly a year. Someone who flinches at an otoscope is a picnic compared to some patients I've had to deal with. Getting puked on because I use a tongue depressor on someone with a strong gag reflex is shockingly common.”

She chuckles as I put down the otoscope and palpate her cervical lymph nodes. “Do they warn you about that kind of thing as a premed?”

“Yeah, but it's still kind of a shock the first time.” I check her pulse and blood pressure, listen to her heart and lungs, test her reflexes. “Do you trust me enough to let me do a quick breast check and manual pelvic?”

She laughs. “Do you really have to ask after everything?”

“I'll have to put my fingers in your vagina to palpate your cervix, and it's probably going to be a little uncomfortable. Are you okay with that?”

“Michelle Nguyen, I trust you with my life. I can handle a little probing.”

I smile, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze. “Lie down then, and open your robe for me.”

She does as I tell her, and I palpate her breasts and her abdomen. Changing my gloves, I finish at her pelvis. When I carefully insert my fingers, she pulls in a sharp breath, her mouth twisting a little, but she doesn't flinch. I finish as quickly as I can and withdraw, pulling off my gloves.

“Everything looks and feels normal. You don't have a hymen, which I find noteworthy with your whole situation considered, but at your age, no other doctor is going to blink at that. In this timeline, I expect it went the way of most hymens.”

She chuckles at my choice of words. “I'm afraid I couldn't tell you if my other body had one. Never paid a whole lot of attention down there unless I was actually using it...”

“A mystery for the ages,” I tease. “In all seriousness, it’s only a curiosity to me because you’re a time anomaly and everything about you is kind of a curiosity. You can go ahead and get dressed, by the way.”

She slips behind the bathroom door to put her clothes back on. “...Do you happen to have any clothes I could borrow? What I've got on is fine for now, but if we're here for a whole week, I might want something to change into. ...I'm a little surprised I didn't turn up naked, honestly.”

“Oh, I'm sure we girls can all spare one outfit. You'll be set for the week.”

She reemerges, fully clothed. “So, can I pass for human, do you think?”

“If you're not human, it's a remarkable disguise from what I can see. Nothing out of place that I could find. Though...I think when we get back home, I'm going to find a way to get you into the hospital for a lab workup. Blood and urine samples and all that. At the very least, you should have a titer test.”

“A what test?”

“Titer. Check for the presence of antibodies. ...I have no idea how being a time anomaly is going to affect your immune system, whether this version of you has had childhood vaccines, when her last tentanus shot was...”

She laughs. “You would be the one to think of that,” she teases, but I can hear affection behind it. I grin.

“Well, you know, that's my job. And the last thing I want is for us to get you back only to have you die of measles or something.”

“...I can remember getting shots as a kid. And hating them, of course.”

“Of course.” I reach out to clasp her shoulder. “I hope you'll forgive me, but I think I'm going to be a little alarmist with your health for awhile. ...I think it's going to take everyone some time to stop being scared we're going to lose you again, and your physical health is the one thing I can take care of better than anyone else.”

“Of course, Michelle. ...Honestly, I think I may need some coddling for awhile. This whole thing has been pretty disorienting. I'm going to need to cling to the people who love me best.”

“Well, you remember you said that when I insist on dragging you to the hospital every time you so much as cough. Ask Quinn how annoying I can be about that sort of thing if you don't believe me.”

She looks at me sharply. “Quinn? Is she...?”

“She's fine. Still no traces left of the Rotterdam's. But until I was sure it wasn't coming back, I made myself a huge nuisance.”

“How did she explain her mysterious recovery to her parents?”

“...I don't think she'd ever told them it had come back in the first place. They still think that experimental treatment her dad put her on is what did it.”

She doesn't immediately reply, and a knock at the door distracts us. “Hello?” Jake calls. “Everyone decent in there?”

“We're both decent,” Alodia calls back. “We're also wearing clothes.”

Jake pokes his head in. “Got a clean bill of health for her, doc?”

“She says everything's fine from what she can see,” Alodia replies. “But she does want me to provide a few meals for the vampires at the hospital when we get home.”

“Just routine stuff,” I assure him.

“She wants to make sure I've had all my shots.”

Jake frowns thoughtfully. “There's probably a record of that somewhere, right? I mean if she existed in the real world now...”

“That's true. She probably has a birth certificate and everything.”

“I know she has a passport. I remember checking it in Costa Rica. We can worry about all that later, though. Breakfast is ready and Raj insists that we eat it while it's hot.”

“You won't get any argument from me,” Alodia declares eagerly. “Let's eat!”

Alodia

Gathered around the breakfast table with my friends, sopping up creamy egg yolk with a soft cornbread muffin and listening to their stories of the last five years, I can't help but wonder if it is possible that I will ever be as happy as I am in this moment. This is the sort of moment the Endless fought to give me, blissful moments surrounded by the people who had willed me into being, who love me more than anyone in the world. But the cost of such moments would have been too high to bear. Though her hair was gray and her skin had gone slack with age, the Endless was a younger incarnation of my soul, selfish like a child is selfish, and rebellious. She had fought against Vaanu's desire to take her back. By the time I met Vaanu myself, I was ready to do what had to be done. To sacrifice my own happiness for the sake of the people who meant more to me than anything. They were and are worth the world. But they also deserve the world.

But, I suppose some things never change, because fighting Vaanu is the whole reason I am back here now.

And now, I do have it all. The world is safe, and the island is safe, and my friends are safe, and they know each other and I know all of them. I have a past to go home to, a life waiting for me with my dear friends and my husband at my side. There is a whole world of possibility stretched out before me, and I mean to explore it all. Though for now, I am content to bask in the love of my true family and the triumphs my sacrifice brought them.

Grace and Aleister, now married with their beautiful son. Quinn, healthy and thriving and running her charity. Sean a starting quarterback for the Condors, with his beautiful fiance well on her way to becoming the doctor she was always meant to be. Craig designs video games, Zahra has a band as well as a job as Rourke International's chief of security. Estela is living with her Tio in San Trobida, and Raj is a world-renowned chef with his own television show. My precious Diego is a professor and best-selling author, and my beloved Jake is free while the man who caused him so much suffering is a prisoner.

I let them guide me through the day, taking me on a tour of the manorhouse, playing in the pool and on the beach like we did those first days on the island. Except now we also take turns watching Reggie in the shallow end, and build sandcastles for him on the beach.

As night falls, Raj grills burgers for us and fixes drinks while Quinn supplies cupcakes. After Grace and Aleister settle the baby, we bring lounge chairs down to the beach and gather around a fire to watch the stars come out. Then, one by one, the others start to drift back inside to sleep. Soon, it's just me, Jake, and Diego left.

“I think I'm gonna make sure our room is ready for us,” Jake eventually declares, leaning over to kiss me. “Don't stay up too late, Princess.”

“I'll be in soon.”

“Promise?”

“I swear it by Andromeda.” He gives me another kiss, his hand lingering on mine as he drifts back to the manorhouse. For a moment, the only sounds are the crackle of the dying fire, the whisper of the waves, and the faint hum of life in the rainforest behind us. I study the stars above me. “...The sky's back to normal, isn't it? It's not the Hadean sky anymore.”

“Nope,” Diego confirms. “It's back to the modern era.”

“...Good...” I lean back in my chair, letting the plastic cradle my head. I laugh a little. “...I'm so goddamned happy right now, I can't even believe it. I had hoped that everyone would be okay, but I think it's all turned out better than I ever imagined...”

I feel Diego's hand on mine. “We're doing pretty well, and it's all thanks to you. But don't forget that for the last five years, we've been coming back to La Huerta to honor your memory.” His fingers tighten on my hand. “...I've really missed you, Allie...”

“I've missed you too, Diego. It was harder for me to leave you than anyone else.”

“...Don't tell Jake that.”

“If you think he didn't know that from the first moment he understood what I was, you don't know him very well. You were the first spark to meet Vaanu's energy and bring me to life. The others help shape me, but you were the spark of my creation. You're the missing piece of my heart. You're my best friend and you always will be. ...It broke me to pieces to learn that all those years we thought we were together were illusions. ...All those times you needed me, I wasn't really there for you...” I feel myself choking on a sudden wave of heartache.

“...But now you were,” he says softly. “Now those memories are real.”

I grip his hand, letting memories of our childhood together rush to the surface. “...Remember how upset we got when we realized we wouldn't be starting school together?”

“We threatened to run away to Idaho, as I recall.”

“Yeah. ...Why Idaho?”

“I think it was just the first place name that came to mind that sounded sufficiently far away. ...Remember how you used to be scared of the Seasame Street aliens?”

“They were so damned creepy! They made me long for your abuelita's telenovelas!”

He laughs. “Abuelita had no idea what was appropriate to put in front of children, did she?”

“Not at all. But thankfully, we were too little to understand most of it.”

“Still, I remember we used a lot of plotlines in our games. Like remember the time My Little Pony captured GI Joe to build an evil weather machine?”

“Why did she need GI Joe again?”

“Well, obviously because she didn't have any thumbs. Just hooves.” He makes his hands into fists and bumps them together, mimicking hooves. “Very hard to hold a screwdriver.”

I take another sip of my cocktail. “...Speaking of screwdrivers...remember that summer when we were fifteen and we got into my uncle's liquor cabinet?”

“And got totally sloshed on Kahlua? Of course. That was the night I came out to you, wasn't it.”

“Yeah. I remember belting 'If You Were Gay,' at the top of my lungs, and you whacking me with a pillow and telling me I couldn't sing.”

“Well, you couldn't,” he snickers. “God, I remember the hangover lasted two days. How the hell did we not get caught?”

“I got caught,” I reply before I even realize what I've said. He looks sharply at me.

“What?”

“...My aunt and uncle were out of town that week. You didn't get caught because we just told your parents you were staying with me, and by the time you went home, the hangover had worn off enough to hide it. ...But a few days after they got home, Uncle Rob realized the Kahlua was gone...” My stomach is clenching with remembered fear. I clutch Diego's hand. He squeezes back, sucking in a sharp breath.

“Oh, god...that was the night he...”

“...The only time in my life he ever hit me. We never got along great, especially when I got to be a teenager, but he never raised a hand to me before that night, and he never did again...”

“You never told me that it was about the missing Kahlua. You said it was about swiping some cash from his wallet.”

“I didn't want you to feel guilty about having gotten away with it when I didn't.” I close my eyes. The pure bliss of the last few hours is fighting to stay afloat amidst the sudden flood of unhappy memories. “...I guess I'm going to have to deal with bad memories along with the good...”

“...Yeah...like that time when we got mugged in LA.”

I shiver. “...I walked away with only a few bruises. They almost killed you. They almost didn't let me see you in the hospital until your mom gave me permission...”

“Do you remember that we met Jake's sister that day?”

“What? We di...” I cut myself off with a gasp as the face of the officer who responded to my frantic, tearful pleas to help my friend forms in my mind. Auburn hair, the calm voice speaking in a Southern drawl, asking what his name was. Without flinching at the blood trickling from his mouth, or the way he was whimpering, she knelt at his side, putting a hand on his shoulder. Diego, I'm officer Rebecca McKenzie, and you're gonna be just fine...

A long silence hangs in the air between us. Not awkward, but heavy in its way. Diego is the one to break it.

“...It's been really hard on him, Allie. Losing you.”

“I knew it would be. I didn't want to leave him.”

“I know. I know. I'm not trying to make you feel guilty or anything. ...I just...think you ought to know. He hasn't coped very well. It's not your fault, and it's not his. But he hasn't really felt like he's had anywhere to turn. I was lucky. I had Varyyn. But Jake...”

“What about Mike?”

He sighs. “Mike has had his own trauma to cope with. I think he and Jake have just been kind of...out of sync since Lundgren's trial ended. It's hard for them to lean on each other when they're both trying to run in different directions. Besides, without you there to ground him, Jake's just been...kind of aimless since the trial. He doesn't want to go back to the Navy after everything. He still has his pilot's license, but I don't think flying means what it used to mean to him.” He tips the last dregs of his cocktail down his throat and sets his glass on the sand beside him. “I dunno. Maybe a few more years down the line, he would have snapped out of it, or gotten past you... Losing you hit him hard. That's all I'm saying. It hit all of us hard, but he made you the center of his world. Same way I did at the start, when you first came into being. If I'd lost you at that point in my life, before I had Varyyn or any other friends for that matter, I would have been just as aimless.”  

I nod slowly. “...Thank you for telling me.” I glance back at the manorhouse and I immediately spot him on the balcony outside his room, silhouetted by the light from inside the room. He's watching me. Making sure I don't disappear again. “...I should go to him.”

“I think that would be wise. And I should come in and get some sleep. It's starting to hit me how little I slept last night.”

I grin as I get to my feet. “Need a hand up?”

“I will not say no.” I pull him to his feet, and we wrap our arms around each others' shoulders as we make our way back to the manorhouse. When we reach his room, we part. But not before he pulls me into a tight hug. “I love you, Allie. You'll always be my best friend.”

“I love you back, Diego. Forever.”

As I step into Jake's room, the fragant scent of jungle flowers wafts over me. I look down and see the carpet strewn with petals. Jake sits on the edge of the bed, bathed in the flickering light of a dozen candles. I smile at him.

“Mmm, romantic. But I am rather surprised that you're still fully clothed.”

“So are you,” he replies. “I wanted to be prepared, not presumptuous.”

“That's very considerate of you.” I let my hips sway as I approach him. “Let me be absolutely unambiguous.”

I straddle his lap, putting my hands on his shoulders, and bend to capture his mouth with mine. He kisses back, lifting my shirt and letting his hands roam underneath. Every place his fingers touch tingles with electric heat. I bury my fingers in his hair, kissing harder, nipping lightly at his tongue and lower lip. I rock my hips against his, teasing. We start to move faster. I lift my arms, breaking apart long enough to let him slip my shirt off. I grab the back of his, dragging it off over his head. We fumble to undo each others' pants.

“I want you,” I whisper huskily, bending to nibble at his earlobe. He cups my breast, making circles over the nipple with his thumb.

“I need you,” he whispers back.

I put my hand to his chest, pushing him down onto the bed. “I'm here.”

One arm wraps around my back, the other hand cups my bottom. His fingertips dig into my flesh. “I love you so much.”

I plant kisses on his chest and shoulders, biting at his collarbone. “I love you, Jake.”

In one swift motion, he flips me over, pinning me under the weight of his body and pressing his hips into mine. His pale blue eyes lock with mine, shimmering slightly in the candlelight. One hand comes up to cup my cheek, stroking it tenderly. “...Don't leave me, Alodia.”

His plea sounds so vulnerable, so fragile, that it briefly cools the heat flooding through me. I reach up to brush strands of shaggy brown hair from his face, tucking them behind his ears.

“Never. Never again.”

“Do you promise?”

“Do you remember what I said when you proposed?”

“...'To the stars and back'.”

“I've been to the stars. Now I'm back. I'm not leaving you until death drags me kicking and screaming from your side.”

There is still fear in his eyes, and I can't honestly blame him for it, but the smile playing around his mouth is genuine.

“You know you're really sexy when you talk fierce like that.”

“One of the many reasons why I do.” I grin drawing his hand down from my face to cover my breast again. “Now come on, Top Gun. Show me what you've wanted to do to me for the last five years.”

His fingertips trail down my torso, tracing the bony ridge of my pelvis toward my pubis. His thumb finds a sensitive spot and presses in just enough to make me gasp. He bends to nibble at my ear.

“I ain't planning on letting you keep quiet.”

“I don't plan on trying to keep quiet,” I reply. I can feel my blood rising again, boiling under my skin. “Don't be gentle with me, Top Gun. I've waited five years to feel like a human again, and I want to feel.”

“Princess, your wish is my command.”

I feel him sink into me, and I give into it, letting the motion of his body and the waves of pleasure rolling through my blood carry me. The lightning storm in Cetus' belly has got nothing on what's raging in my body and soul as I move with Jake, rediscovering sensations I have longed for since I touched the crystal pillar on the rooftop of The Celestial. Little bursts of pain wrapped in pleasure so powerful it almost hurts to bear it, an act sacred and holy and profound between two souls who make each other whole, messy and just a little rough between two humans driven by animal desire. When we're both spent, we lie in the afterglow with our hearts racing, heady with the high, peaceful and content, gasping for breath through burning throats, muscles aching and quivering, skin slick and stinking with sweat and fluid. We brush damp strings of hopelessly tangled hair off each other's foreheads and pant against each other's mouths, our lips groping wearily for their targets.

“...Sex is weird...” I mumble, barely realizing what I'm saying until I've said it. Jake snorts.

“Weird? That's your first thought after we make love for the first time in five years?”

“Give me a break, Top Gun. I haven't even had a body in all that time. I don't even know that it's actually been five years for me. To have a human body again after basically being stardust is...weird.”

“Okay, fair enough,” he laughs. He props himself up on his elbow to look down at me. His free hand cups my cheek, stroking it with his thumb. “Was it anything like you remembered?”

“Oh, better. It's just crazy how anything can feel that intense and not only not kill a person, but actually sometimes create a person. It's messy and it's really kinda violent, but it drives people so thoroughly. And even when you're so in love with the person you're having sex with that you would die for them, it doesn't actually make sex...pretty... There's still fluid and smells and weird noises and even weirder faces...”

“Well, this is certainly the weirdest pillowtalk I've ever engaged in,” he quips. He kissing me, smiling. “Tell me more about how sex is weird.”

I chuckle. “You know, in the broadest sense of the word, I was a virgin when we first made love, but I didn't actually know it. I had vague memories of falling in love with you a thousand times and making love to you a hundred thousand times, and I suppose I turned those times into false memories of other lovers, but it was always you. And if you had asked me to name the first person I'd ever had sex with, like really confronted me with the question, I'm not sure I could have given you a name.”

He frowns a little. “What about now? Think you could give a name now?”

“...If I could, would you want me to?”

“Only if you're comfortable telling me,” he replies, shrugging. “I'm a little curious if you can, but whether or not you can doesn't change anything. I'm not all that invested in whether or not I was your first or your only, so long as I'm the only one now. Besides, it's unlikely the name would mean anything to me.”

I smile. “You're the only one I want for the rest of my life, Jacob Lucas McKenzie. ...But my first was Erica Fishman. After the high school graduation dance.”

“Mmmm. Nope, don't know her. My first was Jennifer Lloyd.”

“Oh, really? She was my third!”

He laughs. “Nice try, Princess. She was a Louisiana girl who ain't ever left far as I know. In fact, she still lives in her old neighboorhood.”

“And I suppose it's impossible that she ever traveled to California or Massachusetts?”

“Just to tumble a beautiful valley girl? Guess I couldn't blame her.”

“I'm not a valley girl, Jake. I'm from Riverside, which is nowhere near the San Fernando Valley.”

“It's nearer the San Fernando Valley than Pearl Rive...” He trails off, frowning. “...What's wrong?”

Even though I've had ample time to catch my breath, I have suddenly found myself gasping, my heart hammering painfully against my ribs. I grit my teeth against an icy wave of fear that suddenly crashes over me.

“N-nothing...I just...” I find his hand and grip it. I find his worried gaze and hold it with mine. “I'm just a little panicky, I guess. ...The fact that I have a past now...and a future...I'm scared of it being snatched away...”

“Come here.” He lies down, drawing me into his arms and cradling me against his chest. His heartbeat thumps against my ear. “If you're not willing to leave, then I'm not letting anything take you, either. I got you, Alodia. You're safe with me. I love you.”

“I love you, Jake.”

In his arms, the dark thoughts at the edges of my mind retreat. I fall asleep holding him close as the candles flicker out one by one, smelling sweat and sex and jungle flowers.

#Endless Summer #playchoices #pixelberry choices #choices stories you play #Diego Ricardo Ortiz Soto #Jake McKenzie #sean gayle #raj bhandarkar #Craig Hsiao #aleister rourke #michelle nguyen #grace hall #zahra namazi #estela montoya #quinn kelly

[freechoicedreamer]

Body and Soul (Ch. 2)

AO3

A side note: a potential plea against the 'canon-compliant' claim - a fundamental premise set out to both stories of this alternate Final Season series - may come from the background seen on the thematic illustration of this chapter. It is a screenshot of the United Realms, as portrayed in one of the final scenes of OUAT series finale. Despite the clear visual evidence, I refuted the idea of all realms being this closely gathered around Storybrooke, seemingly as if they were mere aggregated parts of one single town. I based my assumption on the likelihood that practical production/logistics issues were more prevalent than the need to craft more carefully a setup that would not imply on geopolitical garbage and storytelling nonsense. To be honest, that came with no surprise, even for OUAT typical narrative patterns, well known for not going beyond a superficial and only apparent coherence; after all the series finale condition loosened the need of establishing a minimum continuity level. As a matter of fact, the image appears to be just an iconic concept instead of an accurate representation of a real (and reliable) geographic distribution of the united realms. Actually, it looks - more likely - as a random collage of castles and kingdoms (taken from some OUAT-CGI database) quickly assembled for just one single and short scene. In other words, one may argue that this conclusion is open to interpretation but I may counter argue that the concept all realms physically gathered like all-stuck-together has not been consolidated-by-a-solid-narrative enough to acquire the 'canon' status. In summary, in any feasible configuration, even taking into account the innumerable storytelling possibilities opened by the 'magic' combined with 'mixed fairy tales' formula, the realms should be, at least, a little bit more physically spread, say... throughout the territory of Maine, for instance. That would assure to each kingdom a minimum space to breathe without culturally suffocating their neighborhood neither being suffocated in reverse, thus preserving their original identity. That is the premise I chose to assume, as proposed by the thematic illustration on the previous chapter. 

Opening theme

There are people who paint it as the absolute absence of heat; there are those who imagine it as the infinite absence of cold. Neither cold nor heat, neither ice nor fire, there are souls who know it as the absolute absence of love, the pinnacle of hopelessness, the utter void of hatred, the utmost devastation of war, the despair of hunger and thirst, the desolation of loneliness, the consummation of envy, the slavery of the ego, and the corrosion of jealousy. For as far as these souls know, more than the absence of the breath of Life, more than Death itself, Hell is the lack of Significance.

*

Storybrooke, Sweet-Jones home

Emma and Emm are spending the afternoon together, one more afternoon in a recent row of three afternoons together at Hope's insistent requests, always justified as being “very important, Mommy”. Visiting Luna, Missy, Aunt Em, and the Belly Babies is the recurring excuse. Usually, Emma does not like to fulfill all requests for not spoiling her daughter too much but, given the current exceptional circumstances, she has found it best to give in to the girl’s wishes. And for her it is also nice, she loves talking to her sister. Each day the two realize how deeply bonded, by mysterious ties that transcend any purely familiar connection, they are. And so, here they are, sitting by the kitchen counter for a little snack while Hope runs around the house playing with the two pets. If times were different, Hope would be at Storybrooke’s Kindergarten so that Emma could work half term, but because of the exceptionalism of the moment, she took a leave of her Sheriff duties thus freeing herself to observe– and to protect - her daughter more closely.

“It's amazing how the loft became the exact expression of you and Key, Emm. I never imagined that you two would be able so soon to superimpose your personality on the legacy of who was once known as 'Mary Margaret'. The aggregated details are just a few pieces and touches here and there, such as the paintings on the walls, new curtains, a new rug, other quilt covers on the beds, but all the little details make up a whole that adds to the atmosphere in an incredibly harmonious way, not to mention the musical instruments on the mezzanine - where once was my room, creating a magical atmosphere. Your music is really magic, you know that, don’t you? It lights up the house."

"Thanks, Emma, coming from you the compliment has a special significance to me. While Mary Margaret lived here under a curse that prevented her of being close to her daughter, in a parallel reality, my mother was fulfilling the dream that was denied to yours: the dream of seeing her kid growing up, of being able to raise her daughter together with her Prince Charming. Therefore, it is a deep honor for me to live in this space, you know, it is with reverence that Key and I add such 'little details' to the vintage decor. You see…” she then starts to pointing to the objects, “these nautical-motivated paintings are all Key’s, except that canvas that we both painted ‘magically’ during the Sweet Suite adventure. There are also those oceanic-motivated frames and the big starfish, which is a magic connection with Alice - her and Robyn’s gifts to us, something like our ‘wedding gift’, and those two landscape paintings near the sofa, which are my Henry's gift. Other than that, the curtains, the bedspreads and the rug were manually woven on Hearty Island, one of my hobbies there. Now, about the magic music, I think you and I have it in our heart – and I know that not because I watched your ‘music in the heart’ story through the magic mirror, but because I feel it. Music is as much of your essence as it is of mine. Our stories may have shaped us differently: I may not have developed the warrior side towards being a bad-ass - as you use to say. Nor may you have not developed the domestic docility side, but in essence, our magic has the same origin, our essence has the same substance, our strength will always show itself – on its own style - when necessary."

“I agree with you, I also feel this connection with Music, even though I have not had a formal music education, I feel this force so deeply, like an explosion of feelings. You know, it is really impressive how mysterious this empathy between wish and non-wish versions is. For example, in my turn, I understand and deeply feel the loss of your parents and I know - I feel - that you understand on a deep level the difficulties I had in childhood mainly, to cope with the abandonment of my parents, unaware that through Music in my heart I was always connected to them. This degree of empathy doesn't just happen between us, look at our husbands, or even see how my parents feel connected to you and, I believe, to their deceased wish counterparts. This is an incredible mesh of love and union entwined after an evil wish of Split Regina - it’s really incredible..."

"Yes, it is a Mystery, one more in the Book of Mysteries: Split Regina... Back in Hearty Island, I used to hate her. I’m not very proud of that feeling, but it is the truth, I simply could not accept what she did. But… ironically, it was this wish, driven by dark feelings, that originated, in a distant past spread to the present, the duplication of worlds thus creating the wish and non-wish versions. She changed our lives with only one wish against you – and me. And then, I also hated the Good Queen because of her cruel method to bring your memories back – at least that’s how I used to think based on what I had watched. You know the story, thanks to the gods’ intervention, who kept me in touch with my parents’ souls, I could finally understand, accept, and forgive her. And thanks to all of that, Key and I could find each other, could live on its plenitude our true love. And then… there is also Wish Regina, the Evil Queen I grew up fearing and hearing about, now a reformed sorcerer in charge of the Social Assistance Ministry of the United Realms. Too many turns and plot twists with too many Reginas, don’t you think?” she asks playfully while watching Luna in Hope’s lap, both surrounded by a watchful Missy.

“Too many, I agree. I have had my own dose of struggle to deal with them, that is, rigorously speaking, with the first two of them, but I also have learned to cope, to accept and to forgive them… About their names, Killian told me that Captain Nemo suggested a numbering system to simplify their identification but they are still reluctant to accept that. Particularly, I think this may be a good ID system. Differently from the multiple wish/non-wish people, who come in pairs, in their case there are 3 of them!!" Emma chuckles.

Thoughtfully, Emm caresses her belly, "yeah, coming in pairs..."

“Confirmed then?” Emma asks tenderly.

"Twins, indeed…" Emm nods. “We have to concede this one more credit to our little Pythoness’ account!”

“Yeah…” sighs little Prophetic Priestess’ mother, “get ready for a daily renewed surprise brought by your little products of squared True Love! Wait for squared surprises, in your case!” Emma grins reticently, noting in awe the tiny points of light Hope is creating in the air to entertain Luna and Missy, and then completes her question: “How are you feeling about that? How are you and Key dealing with the idea?”

“I’m feeling truly happy and scared at the same time. You see, it is intense in two extremes: extremely amazing but also really scary given the present uncertain context and then… things are changing so quickly that Killian and I… oh, rephrasing, Key and I, had no option rather than adjust ourselves really fast to the news. Perhaps, if the circumstances were different we would have more time to freak out about the prospect of being parents of twins. But given the scenario, we both went into ‘protecting offspring at any cost’ mode and then we calibrated our momentum in that direction.”

…

As the afternoon falls and the sisters’ conversation continues, Hope and the two pets eventually join them for a snack. Emm mentions that she and Key were positively surprised and became very fond of Dr. Stephen Maturin, not only because of their personal rapport with him but, also, for his patience to explain in details all medical procedures they will follow along the pregnancy. She confesses that, despite having had a good preparation about the modern world, it was not enough to provide all the knowledge related to what she would deal with. In this sense, Dr. Maturin’s empathy is natural since he experienced the same learning stages when he came from the Land of Untold Stories less than 10 years ago. In terms of adaptation, strictly speaking, Dr. Whale's entire medical team has been updating their skills because the 21st century medicine was recently introduced to them with the arrival of those who lived in Hyperion Heights.

…

“Mommy, why Daddy and Uncle Key did not come for a snack with us yet? They are hungry too and I miss them."

"They won't be long, Sweetie, first they had to meet with Grandpa David. They learned that two other kids of Storybrooke also had sad visions that same day you had a sad vision and, as it happened with you, they didn't like it at all."

"Aye, I did not like it, Mommy, too scary... Want to know why?"

“I do, only if you want to talk about it, Honey. If you are okay with that, tell Mommy and Aunt Emm, please, why nobody liked the vision…”

“Because.... it was dark, it had a green river... Hmmn, what more… it had other colored rivers… it had Mommy, Daddy, Hope, Uncle Key, Aunt Emm, Belly Babies, everyone and… all scared… and it had empty bodies and empty souls. Luna and Missy saw everything too, they told me what ‘body and soul’ is; I did not know before, but now I do.”

Exchanging glances with Emma and changing the subject of the conversation, Emm intervenes: "Speaking of emptiness, I'm seeing two empty bowls and one empty glass of juice, so... Who will want more rations with water and more juice with chocolate cake? Raise your hand, who has a hand, and wag the tail, who has a tail!!”

…

In the late afternoon, Killian and Key arrived and joined them at the snack table. Hope asked to bathe in Aunt Emm's tub and is now in the bathroom playing the game of ‘sailing the pirate ship’ while the two couples continue to talk. Emma comments about the girl's revelations and the brothers, in turn, tell them that Storybrooke's other two children also spoke about the world of the dead. Gradually the pieces of a huge puzzle begin to fall into place and some shapes and contours begin to unfold. In this way they already know that there is indeed a threat coming from the Underworld.

Embracing Key, head resting on his shoulders, Emm mutters under her breath: “It would be so good if my parents could talk to us now, as it happened on Hearty Island through the magic mirror...” Turning to Emma and Killian she explains: “even though it has been installed on the mezzanine next to the same musical instruments as before, the mirror never turned into a magic screen again. Maybe it was the case of going upstairs tonight and trying to contact them; I could sit at the piano, meditate, concentrate and then, if I am fortunate to be inspired, play a heart-dictated song… I really wish I could talk to them again, if only the gods gave them permission...”

Elysium, Islands of the Blessed, Wish White-Nolan’s home

Sitting on the lakefront pergola at Wish Charmings' home, Rumple, Belle, W. Snow and W. David silently watch the parade of images reflected by the calm water mirror. As if watching the scene, the whole landscape of the garden - birds, leaves of the trees, flower bushes… everything is quietly still. The only movement comes from the black and white images transmitted by the retinas of Luna and Missy in their dreamy state on Earth.

"Fascinating and disturbing," Rumple breaks the silence to comment. "So .... Every time Luna and Missy sleep on Earth they broadcast images, like journalists reporting to you the latest news?"

"Not always," Snow replies. "In general, they do not communicate at all, that is, if there is no transmission, we infer that there are no problems and we are released to our eternal rest in peace, even though there are times that they dream happy dreams and we can watch our Emma with the other Snow and David, or with her twin sister, their respective husbands, and Hope. Luna and Missy simply love the sweet little girl, a special child indeed, as far as we could observe..." she sighs, turning to the lake, worried with the sequence of projected images showing the scary visions shared by Luna, Missy, Hope and the other seer children.

"I have one question. Well, actually, I have several questions, but I will start with this one," Belle chuckles trying to lighten up their mood before continuing, "exactly, do you know who Luna and Missy are?"

David shrugs before saying, "to such a straightforward question, Belle, an equally straightforward answer: exactly, we don't know. Now, by inference, we know that they are beings of Light most likely sent by the gods to the Heart-shaped Island as a company to our daughter, to look after her. I believe the time will come when we will know the exact answer to your question but until then, the inaccuracies and doubts are many..."

Snapping her fingers, as if remembering useful information, Snow goes on. "We also have a mirror in our living room that has functioned as a magical screen transmitting colorful images from Earth; actually, it used to function as a screen when Emma was in the Heart-shaped Island, it never worked that way since Emma moved to Storybrooke," Snow remembers. "It was through this mirror that we were able to talk to her, you must remember when we told you the story."

"Yeah, we do remember," Belle confirms, "… and now that you mentioned it, you see, there is a mirror in our living room as well, but it has never worked as a window between worlds. So far it has been just a mirror..."

"We should confess something," Rumple interrupts Belle. "It’s about what brought us here. It all started with a philosophical talk about rules of incarnation, a curiosity that led us to wanting to talk to the gods about the subject and that, by its turn, ended up on us missing our son and triggering our memory about the story of your communication with your daughter. We know that it happened thanks to a divine intervention so, because of this sequence or reasoning, we decided to visit you. What happened during our teleportation to your house, on the light of these transmitted images, adds more relevance to the case: Belle felt an inexplicable concern, an intuition about a metaphoric storm getting close to Gideon, which should be enough to increase our initial need to meet the gods. Now, seeing these premonitory images clearly indicating a real threat originating from the Underworld hovering over the Earth – I assure you that the need has just become an urgency."

“Well, what I can tell you is that they found us…” David explains, thoughtfully searching his own words for clues on how they should act in the present situation. “To be precise, the gods found us. Actually, Zeus found us; he came to us and told about an intense outburst, from our Emma, addressed to the Sea gods from the sands of the Island. He said it was a completely justifiable outburst that deeply touched them to the point where he came to meet us in our house and allowed us to talk to her. The rest is history but I have no idea how we could try to contact the gods...”

“There is no need, they have already contacted us…” says a voice coming from the backyard, approaching the group. They all turn to the voice direction and meet a smiling Merlin, accompanied by his loyal Apprentice, Jack.

…

After everyone exchanged greetings, Merlin revealed the reason for his and Jack’s visit. He told them that Jack was meditating in the tower, where they live, when a mirror on the wall began to display the image of a cocoon opening and morphing into a transparent-winged butterfly. Almost in a trance, he called Merlin and they both witnessed the butterfly turning into a woman of extraordinary beauty.

She introduced herself as Psyche, the goddess of the Soul and the wife of Eros, the god of Love, and told them that she was, once, a mortal princess that became immortal because she drank the gods’ nectar of ambrosia. She then explained to Merlin that the origin of his full name, Merlin Ambrosius, dates back to the desert oasis where he was born. The first trees whose fruits came to be known as ambrosia were original from that oasis although, initially, they had no magical property. Only later, when planted in the orchards of Mount Olympus and irrigated with waters of the Holy Fountains, did the fruits acquire special properties, among them to confer immortality on those who drank the nectar produced from them. Psyche then reveals to Merlin that it was this nectar, drank in the Holy Grail, which made him an immortal Wizard. Or rather quasi-immortal, since immortality is not synonymous with invulnerability - and Merlin, better than anyone, knows this Truth.

"And why did you come to me to reveal this story?" Merlin asked.

"Because the Ambrosia trees from the Olympus Orchard are drying up, as well as the waters of the Holy Fountains. Some gods - my husband included, believe that the source of the problem lies in the Underworld Rivers, and we will need the help of the Elysium souls as well as some souls in the Underworld, under the command of Persephone, to locate and neutralize this source. If the problem spreads, everyone may be affected, especially the mortals, on Earth."

…

The visitors are already gone and W. David and W. Snow are now in their living room. Sit in front of the mirror - functioning again as a magic screen, they watch their daughter playing a piano piece she has dedicated to them. The harmonious notes cross the spaces until pulsating in sync with the two monarchs’ ethereal hearts and, although not seen by her, they feel that she feels their presence. Resigning themselves to what they are allowed, the two send to their  Emma - and to the two little points of light shining in her womb - the blessings of their eternal love.

“And they say rest in peace for all eternity…” David mutters.

“Yeah,” Snow chuckles, “they never mention the stormy weather in between two lulls.”

“What can we do, Snow? Psyche didn't explain much beyond what she briefly told Merlin. According to him, she only warned that we will be – her words – ‘activated’ when the right time comes. Until then ... what can we do, Snow?"

"We can listen to the music our daughter is dedicating to us, David; we can send our beloved ones all our best energy. We can keep in tune with the other Snow and David. In practice, they are our representatives on Earth and worship our daughter as their own. In addition to looking after our loved ones, we can keep the flame of Hope alight - theirs and ours...”

On Earth, sensing the presence of her parents, Emma raises her head and looks at the mirror. In a flash, she sees their smiling faces mouthing ‘I love you’ while their image dissipates.

Enchanted Countryside, White-Nolan’s home

“Neal!”

From the porch of the ranch headquarters Snow shouts for her son, whom she hasn't seen since early in the morning, at the breakfast table.

Looking around, she sighs. The Charming Farm is the fulfillment of an old dream of David combined with more room for the vibrant energy of a preteen practicing light magic and within easy reach for Snow on her way to work. They were well adapted to the routine of a country life close to an urban life but since David accepted Regina's invitation to the Ministry of Defense the farm has not been so carefully taken care of. Snow would not say it has been neglected; on the contrary, it would not be fair to belittle Anton's good work as a farm administrator, but the lack of David's almost magical touches everywhere - in the stable, in the pastures, in the corral - is remarkable. Exception, of course, for the magic bean plantation, always over zealously cared for by Anton. Although magic beans are no longer needed to open portals between realms, as they are now unified into the same time-space dimension, the delicious feijoada prepared with them by Snow for special occasions, an adaptation of the classic Brazilian feijoada - became famous. In fact, its fame crossed the borders of Storybrooke and for the Summer School closing dinner, in Camelot, in response to everyone's insistent requests, she prepared a cauldron of feijoada that deserved the highest praise. The ceremony just couldn't be as triumphant and joyful as Snow would have liked because of the worrying news that began to come from various parts of the United Realms…

PUFFF!!!!

Lost in thought, Snow jumps in fright at Neal's sudden appearance on the porch, surrounded by a pale blue cloud.

“Did you call, mom?”

“Neal, how many times do I have to ask you not to scare me like this? Yes, I called you, my boy. Although we are discussing in the Ministry about setting up a school recess while dealing with the current crisis, classes have not yet been suspended. Are you ready to go?”

“I do but… look, there comes Dad; he seems in a hurry - as always, recently.”

“Snow! I just got a call from Killian warning that Nemo is about to land on the northeast coast. He reported an anomaly in the Enchanted Sea on the same day as the premonitions. It seems that, with the exception of humans and humanoids, all other inhabitants of the oceans exhibited, during a few hours, a completely chaotic behavior as if in a collective trance, an underwater hysteria that only ended with Poseidon's intervention - neither Triton nor Ursula could contain the sea fauna fury - the seas have been very rough, it seems. If that happened with the creatures of the Ocean, now I’m worried about the inland creatures. I’ll call W. Robin, Merida and Kristoff asking for a report on the Enchanted Forest, the Enchanted Highlands’ and the Enchanted Mountains’ wildlife; maybe it’s the case for increasing the vigilance in these areas to protect the animals.”  

“Dad, you are thinking Wish Cruella may be behind all of it, isn’t it?

“Yeah… I'm suspecting she may be behind the erratic behavior of the sea creatures, indeed.”

“Then, Dad, I'm telling you what I am thinking. I think I should work on the protection spell that Gideon taught me so that Wilby won't be left defenseless. And I think we should leave him indoors, is that okay?”

“Agree about protecting Wilby, good idea, son. If you feel safe preparing the magic, go ahead, maybe we should ask Anton to help you in extending the spell to the other animals. Do you think you can manage that? You will be late today for school but it will be worth.”

“Sure Dad, be back in a minute!!” Neal answers already puffing himself into the house to get the ingredients he will need.

“David,” Snow says, “I do not want to increase the overall worry or to generate another panic wave but, is that a case to sanction a general school break?”

“Maybe, but we’ll have to talk to Regina and some ministers first. We will deal with that in Storybrooke, after Neal works in the protection spell, okay?”

…

On their way to Storybrooke, Snow and David talk about what they are working with and what they would love to do. David knows he is much needed in the present crisis but he wishes he could go back to his farm activities, he misses the country life. Snow is happy in her dreamy work, being able to promote a real revolution on Education…. They keep talking and end up commenting on the good partnership the two Killians are developing at Storybrooke’s PD, despite Emma’s temporary license, and that reminds them how the two Emmas are becoming as close as two close sisters. To be quite honest, they have to admit that not only the two Emmas are tightening their emotional bond, they feel that the ‘girls’ are more and more becoming their very dear twin daughters...

“David, because of the fuzz yesterday night caused by Hope’s description of her vision, I forgot to mention that Emm had called me earlier with good news: they are indeed having twins!”

“That’s great news, Honey,” David smiles at his wife and sighs, “at least one really, really good news.”

“Yeah… two more babies for us to love,” Snow completes, looking at the countryside landscape through the car window.

“Mom,” Neal cut them from the back seat, “isn’t that Zelena’s farmhouse entrance? Look, there is a car getting into there!”

“It’s Robyn’s,” David explains, “she and Alice are temporarily living there while deciding where to move for good, to finally settle down – I guess they are tired of being on the roads. They have traveled a lot in the Land without Magic since they got married.”

“Oh, that reminds me of another novelty, Charming. Did you know that Zelena and Chad are our neighbors now, I mean, sort of?” Snow asks.

“Really? How come? What about Chad, doesn’t he have relatives that will want to visit him?” David asks, impersonating his Defense Minister mode.

“Split-Regina didn’t enter into little details, we talked just a bit, while waiting for Neal and Coralline at the school door, but what I know is that Zelena and Chad moved to Portland, Maine, a couple of weeks ago. It seems that he got a transfer to the East Coast in a scheme that appears to be safe, David, no need to worry. Living in Portland will allow Chad’s relatives - as well as the couple’s friends from San Francisco - to visit them without any suspicion. Regina told me that their house is near Storybrooke’s town line, it looks like Zelena has created an amulet for Chad so that he may cross it whenever he needs regardless of whether she is with him, so they both have free access to the United Realms."

“This is so cool…” Neal smiles dreamily, “I would love to have a strategic base for horseback ridings and explorations outside the Realms…”

“You can get your little horse out of the rain for now, young man. As long as the current crisis is not abated, the only strategic base you are allowed to have is our home, next to your parents," David warns him playfully..

Portland, Maine, Zelena and Chad’s new home

“You were right, the view from the room at the tower top is really beautiful, Zelena: a panoramic view of the city and the sea. A view of Paradise, with this blue sky; and I can imagine how incredible it might be during starry nights, I’m sure they will love it!”

“I agree, it’s perfect for them. It’s not a hexagonal room with a balcony, like ours on the floor below, but it has the exact breadth of sight they asked for. It was really fortunate that we found this house in such particular coordinates and with such an architecture that satisfies Robyn's poetic request, and I quote:  an architecture that reminds towers but, at the same time, invokes free space, liberation; a tribute not only to Alice's experience of breaking free from her prison in the tower but also my passing ritual of giving up magic in favor of becoming an archer, thus embracing the dream of honoring my father’s memory: a tower symbolizing a springboard for us to fly freely.”

"Poetic… Robyn was quite inspired when specified her dreamy room in our home if we were to buy a house. Listening to this quoted description leave me with no doubt, they will love their towered room. The house is beautiful. To be honest, it’s a bit too much for just the two of us but it’s fitting to be always full of life and visitors. Besides Robyn and Alice, I hope to get more guests occupying our 4 bedroom house,” he turns to Zelena.

"They will come, from the Realms and from the West Coast, I’m sure. I will love to welcome your parents and our friends from San Francisco. This is a fresh start for us, Chad, but it is also continuity. I am happy to be here, near my family and friends from the Realms and, at the same time, to keep the door open for the world we built to ourselves in the Land without Magic."

All of a sudden, interrupting Zelena's words, a feminine voice echoes off the hexagonal tower walls: "the doors of this house are also open to the worlds below and the worlds above, Zelena!"

Petrified by fright, Chad can only move his eyes toward the woman's form materializing before him and his wife. "What the hell!?" he mutters.

"Technically, not necessarily a 'hell', Chad." Smiling, the beautiful woman walks slowly towards the couple and continues, "please, do not be scared, nor fear, I come in peace. Oh! What a bad behavior on my part... I did not knock neither introduce myself. Forgive my bad manners…  So, I ask permission to come in.  I’m Persephone," she bows extending both hands to them, “nice to meet you”.

“Persephone, as in…. the goddess? I mean, Greek Mythology? Really?” he asks incredulously taking one of her hands.

“Says the Wicked Witch’s husband!” Persephone replies with a small chuckle and immediately corrects herself, “actually, ex-Wicked Witch, nowadays, a respectable sorceress. It’s an honor to finally meet you, Zelena.”

“Yeah, sure, ah… permission granted, I guess, and, thanks… my pleasure too, Persephone.” Zelena and Persephone shake hands.  “I’ve wondered so many times about you and your whereabouts, you have no idea. Hades once spoke to me about you. Despite the hardships you couldn't quite solve, he said you were determined and firm…” Zelena returns the compliment and invites her to the living room on the first floor.

…

“You must be curious about my visit," Persephone explains, "it is natural to be so. I'm not planning to go around in circles, because time to lose is something we no longer have, but... I believe it is necessary for me to explain the context of my visit to you. As a start, I think it is important to make it clear that, in the time count, Hades and I broke up for over a thousand years. While in a marital life, our marriage arrangement was described in the literature with reasonable accuracy. I did in fact alternate - and still do - my stay on Earth and Underworld with a periodicity of six months, although the part that associates this alternation with the creation of the seasons has been very romanticized and mythicized. In other words, there are truths and there are myths related to that. Truths refer to the majority of storylines dealing with my relationships in a more personal level, the mythicized part, to the creation of the seasons. You see, I’m not affirming that there is no relation between the cycles of my stay and the seasons; I’m just saying that everything is much more complex and intricate than a metaphoric legend, or myth, describing something that is real but too complex for the rational mind to absorb completely… there are Mysteries and Secrecies that are so named for a reason; for decoding them one needs to combine wisely all sciences, all areas of human knowledge, so to speak...” she smiles reticently.

“But resuming this not so short ‘introduction’, in general Greek myths are about an early world; usually, they explore themes of parental treachery alternating with tales of filial betrayal,  love and loyalty - all the essentials of good plot-lines linking birth and cosmic creation. Seen today, they have become ancient stories and part of the ancient mythological worldview. But, believe me, gods and goddesses, existed then and still exist now. We may be known only for the ancient part of our existence, but we are still ‘around’. This way, to contextualize, Demeter is in fact my mother and Zeus, her brother, is, indeed, my father.  Athena, Aphrodite, Ares, Apollo, Artemis, Dionysus, Hermes, and Hephaestus are indeed my brothers and sisters. And Hestia, Hera, Demeter, Poseidon, Hades and Zeus are, indeed, brothers and sisters…”

“The moral code of your family is, indeed, quite different from ours,” Zelena mutters with high dose of sarcasm.

“Indeed,” Persephone agrees, with a wink, “but you must remember that we are talking about early human civilization. I understand that incest is a taboo now, but it was considered ‘normal’ and most prevalent in families of royal lineage to keep the bloodlines ‘clean and pure’. Non-royalty rarely participated in incest. Maybe that is the origin of all the drama in my family, that and our immortality, but, looking cautiously, even in many religions and traditions of nowadays, the myths of creation start with the narrative of incest…”

“You are right, when we really think about we see that most of them do start this way,” Chad concedes.

“Of course they do. The key is to never be too judgmental and keep in mind all historical and cultural context. We are talking about metaphoric stories explaining complex transcendental science. These stories usually use hyperbolic language to exaggerate some colors, or to emphasize some attributes. Take Hades, for instance. He was not as bad as they usually say, at least until the Olympian Crystal incident.  As the god of death and the Underworld, he suffered a bit from a bad image. He is often treated like the Greek version of devil, but that’s a bit of a stretch. To start, Hades never chose the Underworld as his domain. He and his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, drew straws to see who would be lord of what realm. Zeus drew the Heavens and the Upper world, Poseidon drew the Seas, and Hades drew the Underworld. As the Underworld rulers go, during the time we were married he was a pretty decent king. When Orpheus descended into the Underworld to retrieve his bride, Hades was moved by his pleas and agreed to let the woman go, on the condition that, when leaving, Orpheus wouldn’t look back. You know, he did, of course, and lost her – but that was not Hade’s fault. Today, when I think about it, I see how Hades started to downgrade into darkness because of that passage, which led him to cut the Ambrosia tree in the Underworld. That used to be the only tree of my garden - in that quadrant - that wasn't dry… But it is important to note that he was not responsible for the condemnation or redemption of souls. Those who died were subject to the judgment of demigods, not Hades. As for me, although he did in fact, tricked me to stay in the Underworld - he kidnapped me - after a deal with my father he became a respectful and good husband. Differently from most gods and goddesses, we were both faithful to each other – and quite possessive, I must confess. There was a time that he fell in love with a nymph and I turned her into a mint plant so that my husband wouldn’t be able to have her as a lover. That is not my most glamorous story, I know, but, as far as a marriage between gods goes, those were good times for us,” she sights reminiscent.

After a pause, while Zelena and Chad exchanged discreet glances but didn’t say a word, Persephone continues. “Anyway, things deteriorated fast between us because of that ancient crystal, shaped like a crude lightning bolt, the Olympian Crystal. Because of an old sibling rivalry, the crystal, which belonged to my father, was stolen by Hades. My father, by his turn, cursed Hades' heart and, since then, Hades changed radically. He could not love, he could not feel. You know the story, Zelena. For us, that's when we parted and he became the cruel, vengeful god without noble feelings. Only you, Zelena, was strong enough – and I admire you for that – to penetrate his petrified heart and break the curse with a true love kiss. You were able to see his remaining good, but even that was not enough to lead him into a redemption path. On the contrary, with his distorted mind he deceived you, he schemed against you and your sister, and he caused suffering and losses. Eventually, he ended up losing his immortality. Not even his soul could be saved and, sadly, disintegrated. The irony is that he ceased to exist because of the illegitimate power he wanted to possess. That was the end of Hades but that was not the end of Evil, and that is the reason of my visit today.”

“Are you implying that you came because you didn’t like me not only killing Hades but also disintegrating his soul and your father’s Crystal? Well, I’m sorry and not sorry at the same time. In my defense, I had no option, he was going to disintegrate my sister in the same way he tried to do with Robin right in front of us. You see, I did love Hades, but not to the point of living with the burden of Regina’s death. At the end of the day, after all struggles, many curses and turns of the world, here I am. I met a man who loves me as much as I love him and we built up a healthy and happy life together. Even Regina, despite not being allowed to live side by side with the love of her life, came out of all that victorious. She was able to save his soul by opening her heart to host his soul; in other words, their love was so strong that they could overcome the soul disintegration power of the Olympian Crystal, did you know that? ” Zelena vents, holding tight to her husband's hand.

“Yes, I did, they were impressively brave. And let’s be clear, I’m not here because of Hades or of what happened to him and the Crystal. As I told you, Hades and I rarely spoke or saw each other for over a thousand year. You see, the Underworld is big enough to ‘accommodate’ its King and its Queen in such a way that I always managed to keep my distance from him, mainly because I didn't approve his evil behavior. Only after his death I went back to where you and your friends have been, that place he called Underbrooke - a section of the Underworld he built to please you. There, I helped Arthur to reorganize the broken kingdom, as Arthur used to call it. Thanks to my intervention, Arthur was able to rescue and to retrieve the essence of some lost souls who had accidentally fallen or been thrown into the Lost Souls river before being judged and without deserving such a sad fate. Actually, to be extremely honest, my coming here is indirectly connected with Hades. Going straight to the point, I came because of Hades’ legacy, the evilness he planted in a land that cannot be called fertile unless the sowing is dry, hard, and… cruel. For Evil, the ground is fertile, and that is what Hades sowed. Unfortunately, it seems, the harvest has just began. In fact, the process started a few months ago, a period of great light and love for people from the United Realms thanks to the harmonious waves of the Sweet Suite. Meanwhile, the counterpart was being unfolded downstairs, so to speak, as reported to me by Arthur, when he noticed the first anomalies in the smoke coming from Tartarus.”

“Anomalies?” Chad, increasingly frightened and uncomfortable, interrupts to ask. “What kind of anomalies do you refer to? Could you be more specific?”

“Of course,” Persephone concedes, “I’ll get there. Continuing, I was talking about Arthur. Although he and I have taken every precaution in our bailouts, some lost souls not supposed to get free and to recover their evil ego managed to escape without our help, probably they were helped by the one who took over the Underbrooke’s City Hall and became a stumbling block in Arthur's path: Cruella Deville. Apparently obsessed with the idea of returning to Earth and taking revenge on Emma Swan, who killed her to save her son's life, after freeing some lost souls Cruella stole from the library of Hades one of the ‘Mysteries & Secrecies’ books accessible only to the gods and a few humans who get permission – in this case, granted by me to Arthur."

Taking a sip of tea, Persephone inhales and exhales deeply before continuing. "Here, a parenthesis is needed, since you and others have already been in the Underworld and may wonder about what I'm about to reveal. Despite having similar buildings, as you must know Storybrooke and Underbrooke do not share exactly the same layout - quite the contrary, actually. Particularly, downstairs, the public library - where Wish Belle, a soul with unfinished business, works - is adjacent to Hades's forbidden sector. Belle isn't allowed to get in there but she has been given permission to borrow some books from there. To read and decipher their ancient texts she uses a magical translator, a gift of mine, an appreciation for her good behavior and impressive achievements as a researcher. Now, closing the parenthesis and going back on track, Arthur and I found out that Cruella not only had stolen Belle's translator but had also broken the magic lock to the forbidden library. We managed to prevent her from stealing all banned books but one of them she hid and, especially with the help of two other souls, Pan, whom she rescued from the river of Lost Souls, and Wish Rumple, she managed to read - and learn - the content of a very specific Mystery & Secrecy tome: ‘How to clone human bodies’.”

“Is that a Mystery, or a Secrecy, really?” Zelena interrupts Persephone with a nervous chuckle. “I mean, not that I don’t believe the seriousness of what you are telling us, but I’ve seen so many wish and non-wished versions of people, or split versions, of whatever that it’s really doubtful this is such a mysterious secret…”

“There's a big difference between what you have seen and what I’m referring to: you have seen body-and-soul alternate versions of people, duplication even triplication of people in a so-called quantum process of magic involving the concept of infinite possibilities. I am referring to cloned bodies, you can think about them as empty bodies, ready to host deceased souls in a process that does not involve reincarnation as we know it. It does not involve a restart, a reset with forgetfulness and detachment of the past life, with the loss of ego for starting all over again aiming at a spiritual evolution. In short, their plan is to clone bodies – your bodies, before killing you so that in a fraction of seconds they will magically switch places with your souls which will force your souls to descend to the Underworld. This way, by taking  your place, they will enter your clones. They also plan to clone all gods’ bodies, after drying our source of immortality. The process of this kind of cloning involves a hibernation state of the cloned body until the new soul enters the empty ‘vehicle’.”

“Bloody hell…” Chad interjects.

“You have no idea how bloody this hell is,” Persephone acquiesces. “The anomalies refer, as I said, to a kind of smoke that may change Nature's behavior across all kingdoms - including the Underworld. They precede, as an alarm, the main and final cloning magic, which involves the use of a special fruit cultivated in the Olympus associated with water from a special fountain there. With them we have indications that our enemies are on their way, unfortunately. Although we managed to send Pan, Cruella, Gaston and James Nolan to Tartarus, attempting to avoid the problem, now we think that sending them may have increased the likelihood that it will occur. Wish Rumple hasn’t been judged yet and remains in Underbrooke, Arthur and I will see what we will do with him, but I guess sending him to Tartarus will not be a good idea…”

After a prolonged silence, during which Zelena and Chad processed the huge amount of information, Persephone concludes: “There are some facts that we don’t know yet, for example, it seems that they have a connection on the Upperworld, some sort of help coming from the United Realms, and we really fear that, led by Pan and Cruella’s souls, the condemned souls may be plotting from Tartarus. As I said, there are lots of things we still don’t know but we do know that the situation goes beyond what our power alone can handle. We need you, humans from Earth and souls from Elysium, to help us. There is a major disaster with proportions that I would not like to think about being forged and we need to prevent that. So, there you have it, the reason of this unexpected visit of mine. I came to ask for your help.”

Enchanted Seashore, Wish Regina and Roland’s home

“Roland, where have you been? After my sister Queen announced, this morning, the suspension of classes, I didn't see you anymore; I was starting to worry and thinking about using a location spell...  I waited but you took so long that I decided to have lunch first. Now… let's go to the kitchen, my dear, to warm up your food.” Wish Regina tells the 15-year-old as he begins to climb the back porch staircase.

"No need for worry, Gina, I won’t go too far from here, promise. I was in my other room, at the tree house and didn’t hear you calling because I was chatting with Lucy, Neal and Coralline. Neal and Aline are staying at Lucy's house while their parents are in a meeting with the Queen and the others, at the City Hall."

"I see…  Well, as you know, I attended this meeting via Web, as well as a few other ministers who did not travel to Storybrooke, but in my case I only needed to be present for 2 hours. We decided that, at the moment, the activities of my Social Assistance Ministry will remain in a standby mode, waiting for more information regarding the mysteries behind the children visions and the ocean ‘turbulence’. By the way, one of the absent ministers, Nemo, warned us that he is about to land near our house and I have, since then, been waiting for the Nautilus, cooking a few dishes, a couple of apple pies… I guess they shouldn't be long. Now, about you: seriously? 6 hours of chat?" she asks playfully. “Thankfully, the power consumption of the equipment developed by Nemo and the Dragon is 100% self-sustainable, otherwise people with magic in all United Realms, working in sync, would not be able to energize all transponders that the young people use!" she quips.

“I see no problem in talking too much. Adults can spend a whole day in conversations and meetings – which is accepted as normal. What about us? This is our world too, what happens now affects our future. The current crisis seems to be so serious that the four of us needed to get together to discuss our positions, nothing that won’t be coordinated with what you will decide, don’t worry. Adults are in charge - and we know that, but we needed to align our claims and we can help. Neal and Coralline have magic, Lucy is a True Believer and I am a champion Archer, not to mention our cunning intelligence! And do not forget:  as the senior of the group, I’m kind of their leader!” Roland responds proudly, already devouring a heated lasagna.

“We will see about that, young ‘senior’…" Regina’s reply would be longer but, fortunately for Roland, the conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Nemo, Liam Jr, Wish Brennan and Liam Senior, together with Ursula and W. Ariel, who traveled swimming by the Nautilus' side, “just for the fun of it!”

…

"Like Lieutenants Martin & Harris who, by the way, opted to have lunch and stay nested aboard, those four out there are becoming inseparable couples, if you know what I mean..." Brennan smiles muttering under his breath to be heard only by Liam Senior and Regina, the three sat on the oceanfront balcony. He refers to the couples walking arm in arm along the shore with the excuse of digesting Regina's hearty meal but, in fact, looking for an alone time. That is especially valid - it seems - to Liam Jr and W. Ariel, moving away as if in search of a more private corner.

“You prepared a real feast for us, Regina, everything was delicious,” L. Senior says, between sips of an herbal tea.

“Thanks, Liam. Knowing that six people were coming was an ideal excuse for me to try and forget about the problems. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to prepare anything special, I hope you stay long enough to enjoy something more elaborate. Oh yeah… something that doesn't involve seafood, out of respect for Ursula and W.Ariel. Maybe a cheese soufflé with a good red wine...” she plans dreamily. “You know, cooking for me is a therapy, especially when I'm just like now, really worried. There was a time when I used to vent going to the 'witch's cauldron', instead!!” Regina and L. Senior have a good laugh at that, and she goes on, “but now that my witchcraft times are past, my hobby is cooking, I love to try new recipes, combine new seasonings and condiments ... Sometimes I resent from not having a taste keeper more open to novelties, you know, since Roland is not that much given to spices - especially seafood, I must confess. Well, I love the sea, no wonder I chose to live in front of it taking care, obviously, to find a seaside location close to the Enchanted Forest, which is Roland's natural habitat.”

“Well,” Liam Sr. replies bluntly, “if registration for tasting your cuisine is open, I'll be the first in line to appreciate the Chef's production!”

Rubbing his beard thoughtfully, Brennan interrupts the flirtation to ask about Roland, and Regina goes on to explain how the two eventually got closer, and today share a bond resembling the one between a son and a mother.

…

Approaching the balcony, Ursula, accompanied by Nemo, asks:

"Regina, do you know why we came to your house before going to Storybrooke?"

“No, I don’t. Although I feel much honored by your visit, I must confess that I was curious about it,” Regina replies.

“The reason is simple and complicated at the same time, but I'll try to summarize it,” Ursula explains. “The location of your home is special. In fact, Nemo and I found out that some homes in the United Realms are very specially located. I do not know whether by the architects’ intuition or knowledge of occult sciences, or both, but many houses are located at points of telluric energy chakras and they are very useful as a communication channel for the members of my family. You probably know my family tree from literature – so you might know that I'm the daughter of Poseidon's union with Amphitrite and I'm Triton's sister. You might also know, I imagine, that I have many uncles, aunts, and cousins, including my cousin Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter. So… yesterday, Persephone telepathically contacted me to let me know that she was going to visit your half-sister, Zelena, at her new home in Maine. Although it is located outside the borders of the United Realms, Zelena chose a house positioned at one of these energetic crossing points to which I referred, and that opened Persephone's passage to the Earth plane coming from the Underworld. I don't know exactly the subject of their talk, but I do know that my cousin asked me to be at one of these energy points because she needed to talk to me too - with urgency - and the conversation would be lengthy, thus more complicated to sustain, via telepathy, if I were outside of them. In face of that, Nemo and I searched in his maps to locate the nearest point in relation to where we were – in other words, your home was the answer. And this is, my dear friend, the original reason that brought us to your welcoming house. The extra bonus, that is, our great time here and the opportunity to strengthen the emotional ties that bind us, might be a result of one of Cousin Eros’ romps,” Ursula mumbles and Nemo giggles.

“I see, interesting…” Regina replies, pensive. “Well, while Persephone doesn’t contact you, I invite the two of you to join us in our tea time and, then, if possible, I would like to know more about these energy lines and points, that is, if you or Nemo, or both, could teach us about them. If I got the idea roughly right, they may be useful for us to deal with what is coming even though we don’t know yet what it is.”

“I will tell what I can for now,” Nemo addresses the small audience, soon joined by Roland, Liam Jr, and W. Ariel, while Ursula quietly retreats to the living room, “so that Ursula may be free to relax and meditate.  Well… let’s start from a scientific fact: there are straight fault lines in the earth’s tectonic plates, to many people known as ley-lines. It’s also scientifically known that through these cracks the magnetic energies released are very powerful. Our ancestors have known about these lines for thousands of years: each culture on the planet has known about them yet with different names. Native Indians of this same region where we are right now, for example, used to call them spirit lines  because their electro-magnetic energy helped their Shamans to contact the spirits. The druids called them  mystical lines. In Wales, as in eastern countries, they were called dragon lines. For the aboriginal people of Australia these lines were known as dream lines. Throughout history all megalithic structures have been strategically built on top of these so called ley lines. These electro-magnetic lines may be seen as veins that receive energy from the sun, thus connecting and affecting every living thing on this planet. The atoms of our bodies, because they are surrounded by electrons, are connected to the earth’s electro-magnetic fields and our heart, as a battery, may be charged by them. Right now, Ursula is in the living room, meditating on one of these crossing points, or megalithic centers, to elevate her electrical aura, intellect, and connection to her higher self, which will activate her energy centers (or chakras).”

“Wow...” Roland exclaims softly.

“Of course there are dark forces that are knowledgeable of these lines and concentrate effort to manipulate these fields and to control or influence the geo-electrical grid. For this reason the access to this knowledge is not allowed to every mortal and few cultures have it completely mapped - the maps in my possession are a rare treasure, among the few out there with the complete grid involving all alternate and superimposed realms – such as the United Realms, which is superimposed to Maine, the Upper world, the Underworld and the Olympus. Around the world, multiple alternate realms, aligned to multiple cultures and traditions, are superimposed, which explains how Henry Mills, our Author, ended up in a realm with another Rapunzel, another Cinderella – which is made possible due to a magic quantum process of infinite possibilities.”

“I have a question, Sir!” Roland raises his hand.

“Go ahead, young man,” Nemo replies in a benevolent tone.

“How is it possible to converge, to the same time and space, characters and stories, known through literature for hundreds of years, which were, according to their origins, mismatched in time and in space? And how come that they all speak the same language - English, in our case?"

"Wow, I'm positively impressed with the complexity of your question... what's your name again, my boy?"

"Roland, sir."

"Very well. So, Roland, the ley lines - which I usually refer to as Earth’s meridians of energy, in an analogy with the millennial Chinese medicine, allow connections that mix time and space and activate, on those that are transported through them, the necessary adjustment of language skill and, sometimes, cultural adaptation. In other words, they equalize the inner communication channel of the person crossing a portal. This means that you need portals, like those opened by magic beans, like the ones I used to open, for the Nautilus, with kraken blood fuel - thanks to Ursula, this is a method I no longer use - or any other magical means to open portals between realms and dimensions. They translate different temporal and spatial planes to converge into the same plane. Before you ask – yeah, I’m seeing your eyes shining while your mind is processing the information - let me tell you one thing. Time travel in the same realm is far more complicated than that between planes of different realms and often requires dark magic. So, back to the convergence of characters originated from different times in History into a common space-time, you’ve got to remember that they are characters like all of us, right here and right now. We obviously know that these characters and stories are absolutely real – we are real!" Everyone laughs at that, before Nemo resumes, "the fact that we are known in the Land without Magic literature is also explained by the Earth’s meridian theory: during their dreams, writers, supposed to be our creators, travel through the dream lines and visit our original and very much real realms, they get to know real people that they turn into fiction characters, and by doing it the way they do, they frequently translate their dreams into mixed distortions of our real stories, you know the rest. In summary…” he sighs and pauses for a little while, “there you have it. Are you happy with my answer, Roland? "

"Very, Sir, thank you very much," the boy responds with a distant, dreamy look, sailing the waves of imagination fueled by Nemo's response.

Concluding his explanation, Nemo takes another sip of his tea and finally states, “to conclude, the Grid, with capital letter - that is how I call my maps, establishes higher levels of consciousness in a scale of 7 keys, but this is something to talk about in another day. Let’s hope Ursula will help us in understanding what is going on in our present situation and, also, in knowing what we should do to prevent chaos or to fight potential enemies.”

Underworld, Underbrooke

The air is dry, reddened by the pollution caused by a high dose of toxic gas spewing from chimneys spread along the sidewalks. However, for those who inhabit the decaying town, the existence of the permanent anomaly does not affect them yet: they do not properly breathe with lungs; though through their semi-densified souls, molded in the shape of the body they had on earth, runs a viscous liquid which - under the effect of torture, in Hades' time, gushed and bled.

The streets are empty; most of Underbrooke’s inhabitants are gathered in an assembly promoted by Arthur and Persephone, at the City Hall. The subject of the meeting may be or may be not new to everyone except for the two beings walking down Main Street: Wish Belle and Wish Rumple discussing and, in vain, trying to seek an understanding, a convergence of viewpoints.

…

"Rumple, no matter how hard you try to justify it, the fact is that you lied about not acting dominated by your Dark One persona. Dark Ones trick, Dark Ones lie! When Baelfire came back from Neverland, you tricked him and lied to me!"

Tousling his hair with his hands in exasperation, Rumple continues to argue. "Belle, we were a happy family until Regina killed Baelfire and you. We lived years of peace, harmony and love. What difference does a harmless lie make?"

"Harmless? Really? It's the cornerstone of everything that went wrong later, Rumple. It's the first domino, the first lie followed by a string of more lies. It means that all our happiness was grounded in lies. Our harmony was false, and I no longer know if your love was false too. Your love of power has corrupted your noblest feelings, Rumple.”

“How dare you?! Of course I loved you! I love you. Everything I did was because I loved you and Bael more than anything!” Rumple cuts her.

“Rumple, you know that I've always been able to see beyond the Beast, to see your primary light source despite your Dark One persona. The fact that you can't understand a truth as basic as this: our happiness was built on a lie, makes me wonder. It makes me think that you continue, even after you are dead, trying to delude yourself and, as a byproduct, to fool me too!"

"I lost everything Belle, I lost you, I lost my son, differently from the other Rumple I was left with nothing. My only option was to give up. I know I am worse now than I was when you died but ... I had no choice but to surrender to darkness. I lost Hope."

"Don't you see the pattern? Everything and everyone to blame but you! You're victimizing yourself again and we're going around in circles. I know it got harder for you after Bael and I died. But it was hard for me too! After dying we arrived here but he quickly moved on to the Islands of the Blessed. Meanwhile, with this hellish unresolved business called Rumplestiltskin, I've been here for almost 12 years now, always in a library, reading, studying the human psyche, and waiting for my unresolved, unfinished business to come in. Then you arrived, a soul completely darkened but … still, I still hoped, I still do, Rumple. I have not given up on you or on us. I wait because I'm your Hope. Can't you see, Rumple? You haven't lost Hope."

“Nah… you are the one not seeing, Belle. I know that I had lied to you and to Bael but I had good reasons. I did that so that I would be able to trick Regina and Hook by making them believe that she would cast the dark curse and he would follow me in a world where I would be vulnerable. I made them believe that I needed to go the Land without Magic to find my son when, in reality, I had already found him and we were secretly living in peace. All I wanted was Hook to cross the realms and be trapped there, staying there for the rest of his life. And why should I care in betraying Regina? She was Evil, she was a villain. So, I plotted with the fairies to capture her and to steal her magic – in one way or another, the result would be positive: the Enchanted Forest would get rid of two villains. What happened was not exactly what I envisioned, but it worked well, for a while at least. Hook moved to the other Enchanted Forest, to raise his daughter, and we neutralized the Evil Queen’s power - all realms benefited from that. I was convinced, and still am, that the end justifies the means - and the end was noble: to live in peace with you and my son, being a family of nobles with noble attitudes: charitable, generous, fair … Bael became a knight and married a Princess! We lived a happy life, we did!”

“Until we did not,” Belle sighs, and continues, “I don’t know what else I could do or say to make you see, Rumple. I don't know how far you still have in your soul traces of the connection with the Dark Ones lineage, or if it's all just you. I do not know how far you have not understood that lying is like non-consensual, abusive, sex; it is the absence of resonance, of transparency, of respect. There is no nobility where there is a lie. Nobility is, above all, a state of honesty, of sincerity. I’m not saying you did no good to a lot of people, I’m saying you did no good to yourself, mainly. Once I read a text, written by a man called Carl Gustav Jung, in his ‘Memories, Dreams and Reflections’, stating something like: You may feed the hungry, you may forgive an insult, and you may love your enemy…these are undoubtedly great virtues… But what if you should discover that the poorest of beggar and the most impudent of offenders are all within you, and that you stand in need of your own kindness; that you are the enemy who must be loved? What then?”

“Are you implying that I should love myself? Well, dearie, that would be the opposite of what you have always said when you accused me of being selfish, don’t you think?”

“Absolutely not, these are two different things and there you are again, trying to locate a loophole in my reasoning. I’m saying that you are your own enemy. Don’t trick me with your word playing, Rumple. You know what I meant. We are both too old and too dead for this kind of game.”

“One more reason for us to go back to Earth, to inhabit healthier and younger bodies, Belle...”

“Please, Rumple, not this nonsense again. I asked Arthur to come for a walk because he knows how and why I know the news he and Persephone are, right now, communicating to everyone and trying to find out who else, besides you, is behind the plan. He knows I’m aware of you being behind the sad news…”

“I still don’t see the sad aspect of it. You are neglecting a unique opportunity to keep your memories as Belle intact and be given the experience of a new life without repeating the same mistakes of the previous life. Look at my dark soul, I could evolve towards the light, don’t you see? I would be able to learn what still needs to be taught to me. Just imagine, you and I together, no dark magic this time, no magic at all, no tricks, and no lies: a new beginning – a reincarnation without forgetfulness. The prospect is fabulous: a new life in young bodies ready to express physically the pleasures of loving and being loved. Would you do that, Belle? For us, would you build with me a new life? Would you go back with me, if you knew that the cloning plan would work as it is supposed to work?”

Sighing, despite not breathing, just out of habit, Belle responds. “I love you, Rumple, I honestly do, I know – I sense – that underneath your darkness there are resilient seeds of goodness. But I could never go ahead with you in this craziness. And … you know what? I’m so tired; I need to evolve, I need to rest in peace.” Slowly, head down, Belle walks away from him, leaving Rumple completely alone.

…

"Fate behaves irrationally, and the energy of life inconveniently demands a gradient agreeable to itself; otherwise it simple gets dammed up and turns destructive. It regresses to former situations. […] Psychic energy is a very fastidious thing which insists on fulfillment of its own conditions. However much energy may be present, we cannot make it serviceable until we have succeeded in finding the right gradient. […] Life can flow forward only along the path of the gradient. But there is no energy unless there is a tension of opposites; hence it is necessary to discover the opposite to the attitude of the conscious mind. It is interesting to see how this compensation by opposites also plays its part in the historical theories of neurosis. Freud’s theory espoused Eros; Adler’s the will to power. Logically, the opposite of love is hate, and of Eros, Phobos (fear): but psychologically it is the will to power. Where love reigns, there is no will to power; and where the will to power is paramount, love is lacking. The one is but the shadow of the other: the man who adopts the standpoint of Eros finds his compensatory opposite in the will to power, and that of the man who puts the accent on power is Eros. Seen from the one-sided point of view of the conscious attitude, the shadow is an inferior component of the personality and is consequently repressed through intensive resistance. […] The conscious mind is on top, the shadow underneath, and just as high always longs for low and hot for cold, so all consciousness, perhaps without being aware of it, seeks its unconscious opposite, lacking which it is doomed to stagnation, congestion, and ossification. Life is born only of the spark of opposites…" (Carl G. Jung, Two Essays on Analytical Psychology)

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#Body and Soul #Ch 3