#Prettywitch Rants

[prettywitchiusaka]

Because the characters not knowing who they can trust, and people believing Rhodey might be a Skrull didn't do that!?

If they thought Maria Hill dying was essential to the story? Fine. If Cobie Smulders wanted out? Fine. Why couldn't she just die in Episode 4 alongside Talos? And wouldn't a better death be for her to take a bullet for Fury and tell him to keep going while she dies in his arms? Yeah, I like Fury and Talos acting like they're married, too. But Maria's not some one-off, she's Fury's right hand woman and best friend! A position she's held since the first Avengers film. She deserved a much better death than what she was given.

#marvel cinematic universe #secret invasion #maria hill #cobie smulders #Prettywitch Rants #Prettywitch Muses #bad writing #cliched writing #rip maria #you deserved better

[prettywitchiusaka]

Not gonna lie, while I wish Clea was in more of MoM beyond a cameo, I'm actually kind of glad she isn't the more I've thought about it.

Putting aside the fact that Michael Waldron is (apparently) SO media illiterate/lazy he thought the emotional core of DS1 was Stephen and Christine's lost romance (it wasn't), I really don't wanna know what Clea Strange would be like in his hands.

Much like her hubbie, Clea's one of those characters that, in the wrong hands, can come off as incredibly unlikeable. There's a lot more layers to her character than one might initially think, and I don't think has the skill to write a character like that, nor does he have the desire to learn how to write nuanced characters properly.

At best, his Clea would be bitchy and hypocritical. At worst, she'd probably be another one of Waldron's patented sexy, over-powered murder bot with no personality beyond being angry (he wants to fuck), and be bitchy and dismissive of Stephen for no reason until it's time for them to fall in love which...yeah, I don't know if you guys heard, but that's not how things are in the comics. Clea falls in love with Stephen for his inner beauty; she sees that he's a brilliant, brave and compassionate man and she loves him for that, and always will. More over, he's the man who taught her to love and she grew through their relationship as much as he did. To do anything else would be an insult to her character.

P.S. I know I keep going back to the "Waldron's horny" jab over and over, but come on! Look at how he writes Sylvie in Loki Season 1, and how he writes Wanda in MoM, and tell me Waldron doesn't have a fetish for that kind of woman.

#marvel cinematic universe #Prettywitch Muses #Prettywitch Rants #sort of #doctor strange #clea #clea strange #michael waldron #anti waldron #Prettywitch's Writing

[prettywitchiusaka]

Okay...So I watched the What If...? finale first thing this morning. I wanted so bad to believe the rumors weren't true, but they were. And this was (basically) my reaction;

In a way, I'm actually kinda glad I knew about the rumors, because I wasn't as surprised when it happened. I'm not even angry, angry, I'm just disappointed and pissed off, but in a tranquil way.

I think it also helps that I was out for most of today (I was helping a friend move to his new place), so I had time to reflect and let my thoughts simmer. And now that I have, I think I know what my problem with all of this is.

You see, I like the idea of the episode; I love Supreme's grief being so powerful that it consumed him and has taken the form of a literal demon, I love the idea of Supreme being in conflict with himself, and I love the implication he came to Peggy because he trusted her to stop him from doing something he'd regret down the line.

See, in my opinion, that's not a bad idea for an episode (in theory). No, the problem is the execution. If you want me to buy that Supreme has regressed due to guilt and loneliness, SHOW IT TO ME!!! Don't make me think he's asking a friend for help only to pull the rug out from under her! That's not good writing, that's just stupid and lazy!

And why is Supreme coming to Peggy of all people? Wouldn't it make more sense (as other people have pointed out) for him to face off against another Strange? But I digress.

So yeah, that's my major complaint of the episode, that they took the lazy way out with Supreme.

So with all of that said, is there anything I liked about the episode? Yeah, actually. And that something is Benedict Cumberbatch. I'll level with you people, I love Strange Supreme, and part of that is because of Ben's vocal performance. The way he plays Supreme is great; he's so petty and nihlistic and with zero fucks left to give...it's wonderful! I love it! I wouldn't be above watching the episode again for that alone. But if you ask me which Season of Supreme I'd prefer, I'll pick Season 1 every time.

Like I said, before; even if the rumors are true, at least we'll always have Season 1 tentacle boy.

Bottom line, Strange Supreme deserved a lot better, and Marvel really needs to stop doing Doctor Strange dirty in general.

#marvel cinematic universe #what if...? #doctor strange supreme #review #sort of #meta #analysis #Prettywitch Rants #Prettywitch Watches TV #Youtube #benedict cumberbatch

[prettywitchiusaka]

Also, I don't hate Peggy, but I'm getting really tired of them trying to shove Captain Carter down our throats.

We get it, Marvel! You wanted Captain Carter to be the breakout character of this series, and that ended up being Strange Supreme! So maybe you should listen to your audience instead of pissing them off because, shock of all shocks, sometimes we actually make good points.

#Prettywitch Watches TV #Prettywitch Rants #marvel cinematic universe #what if...? #captain carter #doctor strange supreme

[prettywitchiusaka]

So in light of Rachel Zegler tanking the Snow White remake before it even comes out, does anyone else think Bob Iger should find someway to turn this movie into a tax write-off and lock it away in the Disney Vault?

Because I don't care if you wanna do a different take on an established IP. All I ask is that you actually...you know, watch/read the source material, not piss all over it and act like it's so out of touch. Especially when the reality is that most women, no matter how ambitious they are, would like someone special in their life...and that's okay!

#Prettywitch Rants #Prettywitch Muses #Prettywitch Observes #Disney #snow white #snow white remake #rachel zegler #controversy #i swear #this kid is gonna get blackballed so hard if she doesn't shut up #also #i'm starting to think #Hollywood #is stuck in #End of Evangelion #and they need a #rebuild of evangelion #moment #which i feel is coming #mark my words

[prettywitchiusaka]

Also, this is a minor nitpick, but I cannot believe that Professor X of all people is actually arguing, "Well, maybe The Goddess is doing a good thing!"

Leans in...

No, Charles! No, she wasn't! I know your whole schtick is that you're a Martin Luthor King Jr. expy and so you'd rather things be peaceful, but you're a telepath with limited mind-control abilities. You should know some woman brainwashing your friends into being her loyal subjects and making villains docile (without their consent) is a bad thing!

This is like arguing, "Well maybe Doctor Doom did a good thing when he kidnapped The Purple Man and turned his mind-control powers into a frequency that he used to brainwash the world and made himself Earth's Emperor! He was doing things to improve humanity!". Yeah! And he still kidnapped a man and brainwashed the entire world into being his slaves! Zebadiah Killgrave might be a monster! But he still has rights!

#Prettywitch Reads Comics #Prettywitch Rants #infinity crusade #professor x #charles xavier #doctor doom #emperor doom #purple man #zebadiah killgrave #meta #analysis

[prettywitchiusaka]

I know everyone was pissed at Wanda being the villain of Multiverse, as was I. But you know, I think it actually could have worked if Wanda had been he villain of an Avengers film or Special Presentation like what was originally planned, NOT a Doctor Strange film.

Because my biggest thing isn’t that Marvel decided to make Wanda a villain, it’s that they played their hand too early and now they’ve missed the opportunity to adapt the classic Nights of Wundagore arc from the comics.

And instead of doing that, Feige lets Waldron make Wanda the villain without any build-up or time to breathe from Wandavision, thus pissing everyone off. It’s almost like if they’d just stuck with Nightmare for the villain they wouldn’t have had this problem.

...

Yeah, I’m still bitter my boy didn’t get to fight Marvel’s flamboyant, dream warlord. What of it!?

#marvel cinematic universe #doctor strange in the multiverse of madness #Prettywitch Rants #scarlet witch #marvel comics #nights of wundagore

[prettywitchiusaka]

Okay, so I just made a (delayed) post about how I went to see The Marvels on opening weekend and enjoyed it (which is true). At the same time, I know that it's not doing well at the box-office.

Now I do think that the Actors Strike and poor marketing (coupled with inflation & Disney's terrible streaming practices that've strip-mined their IPs) contributed to that. I also think that it sadly comes down to something else entirely; word of mouth. WOM for The Marvels has been meh at best, or bad at worst. Which is kind of a big deal for a film that's budgeted at $220 million after re-shoots. Whether those re-shoots were warranted or not, they shouldn't have happened so late into production, or rather, post-production. Which leads me to an uncomfortable belief I've held for awhile now; I think it might be time for Kevin Feige to go.

Don't get me wrong, I think Feige is one of the great success stories of Hollywood. What with how hard he worked to not only become an expert on Marvel Comics, but also to see it actualized on screen. And yeah, I do feel empathy for the guy; it can't be easy being stretched so thin by corporate demanding you make around the clock content no matter how bad the end product is. In fact, I wouldn't be shocked if Disney forced him to tie all the shows into the movies no matter how little sense it makes. But I feel like both Joe Quesada and, to a less extent, Ike Perlmutter before him, Kevin has begun to abuse his power. I don't know if it's because he was emboldened by the success of Endgame or what, but it seems like a lot of the problems we've been seeing with the films as of late (and some of the shows) are a direct consequence of Kevin's meddling. The result is a convoluted mess of a saga that feels less organic than The Infinity Saga, which was built up over a decade. Not in two-three years and certainly not as micromanaged as this string of projects has been.

Bottom line, I think it might be time for Kevin to step down pass his Baseball Hat onto a James Gunn type; someone who'll actually let the writers and directors do what they want (within reason) and only intervene when something isn't working early in production, or if something in the test screening doesn't work. GotG Vol. 3 worked because it was the film that Gunn wanted to make. Same with Wandavision and Wakanda Forever. Whereas films like MoM, while it made a lot of money, would've likely been better received by critics and audiences if Kevin hadn't meddled like he did, there.

#Prettywitch Muses #Prettywitch Rants #kevin feige #marvel cinematic universe #Phase 4 #Phase 5 #The Marvels #something has to give #and it's probably gonna be soon

[prettywitchiusaka]

Look, I know people are complaining about She-Hulk twerking for reasons of “I don’t want my kid seeing this!”, and...yeah. I agree. Not every superhero show is going to be for kids and yes, kids don’t need to be exposed to twerking.

I will say this, though; at least Jen’s a grown ass woman.

Yet the Powerpuff Girls reboot had two pre-teen girls twerking (while under hallucinogenlike mind-control)...and that somehow made it past Cartoon Network censorship!

I’m not saying these same people didn’t complain about that when said episode came out, I’m just saying. 

TL;DR: Jen is an adult and will engage in adult activities. So if you don’t want your kids watching it, then don’t let them watch it and leave it at that. Nobody cares you don’t your kids watching She Hulk, Ben! Because there’s FAR worse examples I can use. Trust me! 

#Prettywitch Muses #Prettywitch Responds #Prettywitch Rants #she hulk #marvel cinematic universe #for the record #when I say ben #i mean #ben shapiro

[prettywitchiusaka]

I think I’ve decided that, with the exception of the blogs I follow and vise versa, I think I’m going to steer of any Marvel tags that aren’t Doctor Strange related.

Why? Because I’m so sick and tired of everyone being so negative about Marvel (and the MCU in particular) all the time.

Take Secret Invasion; I loved the first episode and went into the tags to see what other people were thinking...and apparently, with the exception of a few posts, all anyone was talking about was the AI opening and the cliffhanger involving Maria Hill. Nothing wrong with that, I’m holding out for them to pull a Winter Soldier with her later in the story, and I understand people being upset with Marvel using AI in the midst of how controversial it’s become. But there’s so much good stuff in that first episode (in my opinion) that I feel got lost in the shuffle of the controversy.

Look, people are going to have their criticisms and that’s fine. I have criticisms of Marvel, and I’ve shared some of them in the past. But it’s hard to feel like everything’s slowly getting better when (nearly) everyone online is saying no it’s not. I feel like I‘m on a sinking ship and I don’t want to feel like that, constantly. I just want to enjoy what I love and have my own opinion and that’s what I’m gonna do...or at least try to form now on.

#Prettywitch Rants #Prettywitch Muses #marvel cinematic universe #secret invasion #Prettywitch Watches tv

[prettywitchiusaka]

Yeah...so when I was rambling the other day about shows whose idea of meta “jokes” is just announcing an old tired cliché you’ve seen in every show or movie said work is trying to be a parody of, Velma was exactly the kind of show I was talking about!

Characters announcing things you’ve seen before or commenting on how “stupid” said cliché or “observation” is, as if they were people in an online chatroom and not characters in a show. 

It’s annoying!!!

#Prettywitch Rambles #Prettywitch Rants #prettywitch's philosophies on writing #hbomax #velma #velma scooby doo #meta #meta humor #velma dinkley

[prettywitchiusaka]

Also, what the hell possessed them to cut the Little Wooden Head sequence!? It’s so sweet, and cute, and beautifully animated, and show how much Gepetto loves his creation and...just...LOOK at it!

Why, Zemeckis!? WHY!!!?

I’ll shut up now.

#Prettywitch Watches Movies #Prettywitch Rants #pinocchio #pinocchio 2022 #robert zemeckis

[prettywitchiusaka]

I have mixed reactions to the fan theory that Stephen is actually The Harvestman.

My inner fangirl screams: Yes! Give me brainwashed Stephen! I want Clea to storm the Gates of the Underworld and save her hubbie with the power of love! Like she was the dark, eldritch Sailor Moon!!!

And my inner writer screams: No! No! No, Jed! What are you doing!? Just let Clea have her own arch enemy that isn’t tied to her fucked up family!

#marvel comics #Clea #Clea Strange #Doctor Strange #stephen x clea #strange volume 3 #Jed Mckay #marvel fan theory #the harvestman #Prettywitch Rants #sort of

[prettywitchiusaka]

So I meant to make this post last week, but, gonna be honest, I wasn’t feeling super great up until a few days ago.

Now that I’m starting to feel like myself again (and with the recent announcement regarding who will be writing Secret Wars), I figured that now is the time to make an addendum to my post about today’s writers (at least in Hollywood, anyway) don’t seem to do any research, be it for adaptational purposes, or just to enhance their own work to make it better/flesh out the world and characters a little.   

And honestly, I feel like Michael Waldron is a perfect example of this (with Jessica Gao being a close second).

I’ve made no secret that I have very mixed opinions and feeling regarding Multiverse of Madness, mostly staked in my love of Doctor Strange in general, and his MCU counterpart in particular. I tend to be a lot kinder to it than most, as I do think it’s a decent film that needs another rewrite or two before it could’ve been something great. But let’s be clear, I actually don’t entirely blame Waldron for what went wrong with this film. From what I know about the production, it really seems like Kevin Feige is the real villain of Multiverse.

I recently discovered watching MauLer’s take down of the film (I skimmed through it, tbh) that, as Waldron puts it, he was hired by Feige to come on board shortly after Derrickson left. Now that part I knew, as I’d been keeping up with the film’s production on and off since the initial announcement back in 2019. What did surprise me, though, was that they already had sets being built when Waldron came on board, meaning that not only were they still building sets that were made for the Jade Bartlett draft, it also meant that shooting was set to start soon. This meant Waldron was left to write a new draft with very little time to prepare (three weeks) according to him. And...well, this is where I’m actually going to defend the man for a moment.

Do I blame Waldron for performing the job he was hired to do? No. Unless your Harlan Ellison or (maybe) John Hughes, NOBODY can write a polished shooting script for a big budget film in three weeks. It simply doesn’t happen, and I put the blame entirely on Feige for that one. It’s INSANE for him to think that Waldron (or anyone for that matter) could turn in something worthy of being called a Doctor Strange film in that timeframe, especially when he’d already wasted time, resources and freaking MONEY creating standing sets and character designs for the original script that was discarded because he wanted his precious Multiverse saga, and couldn’t be bothered to wait another film or two before getting to that.

So yeah, I don’t blame Waldron for that.

That being said...I do blame Waldron for what happened after. 

It’s no secret that the film industry (Marvel included) was shut down for a bit due to Covid, and Multiverse was no exception. This means Waldron was given a second chance. He could watch the first DS film, read some comics, do a quick wiki search and figure out which Doctor Strange comics are essential to the character and which ones he should read to write a new draft. You think he did any of that? Nope. Of course he didn’t.

This is what I mean about how we’re heading into an age of writers who don’t seem to do any research. Instead of studying Bartlett’s draft extensively, reading up on some comics, hell, maybe even phoning up Benedict and consulting with him on basic DS lore, he doesn’t do any of that. Instead, he just makes up his own plot and makes Wanda the villain because “Marvel wanted a Multiverse movie, so I had to figure out who’d be a threat to it”, even though he could’ve easily re-worked Nightmare into his plot if he’d been bothered to look up anything about the character. I mean, dreams are established to be windows into the lives of one’s Multiversal selves, how hard would it have been?

And before anyone chimes in and says “Well, he was probably busy with other projects”, I’m sure he was. But guess what? If you’re a professional writer in any capacity? You’re ALWAYS working on several assignments at once. Especially if you’re freelance. And yeah, sometimes you don’t always turn out something great. Sometimes you have several projects going on, and you have to whip up something that’s not your best due to time constraints. It happens. But if you’re passionate about writing, you’ll still put in the time and effort to make something worthwhile. You’ll do research and try to understand the material you’re writing about. And if fail that’s fine, because at least you tried.

And Waldron very clearly didn’t. 

I’d hate to say “Don’t quit your day job”, but if you don’t want to put in the effort to improve your craft than maybe you should stick to being a producer, Waldron!

#Prettywitch Rants #prettywitch's philosophies on writing #research #writing #marvel cinematic universe #doctor strange in the multiverse of madness #michael waldron #anti waldron #just realized another issue with waldron's writing #as i was typing this #he and a lot fo writers today are fucking lazy! #kevin feige #side note #fuck feige

[prettywitchiusaka]

Okay, I’ve complained before about Stephen’s (supposed) “greatest desire” in House of M.

The idea that he’d rather be a psychologist instead of Sorcerer Supreme without any build up (as far as I know).

Or even just the fact that he’s not with Clea despite what happened in the Illuminati mini that was also written by Bendis. Mind you, I’m convinced Bendis doesn’t know anything about Stephen’s history or Stephen as a character, but that’s neither here nor there.

It almost makes me want to write a fanfic where Stephen is living his “ideal” life. He’s practicing medicine and magic, Clea’s living with him and is his partner, most of his friends who either died or were forgotten by other writers like Sarah Wolfe & Rintrah are in touch with him, and while he still faces magical threats the burden of Sorcerer Supreme is not as heavy as it once was.

Then Team Wolverine shows up to tell him yeah, none of this is real. He resists it at first, but then slowly realizes they’re telling the truth and he reverts to his true self again and vows to help them stop Wanda.

This then leads to Stephen “confronting” Wanda, trying to make her see reason and assure her wants to help her. She responds with the following.

“I thought you were happy, Stephen. I gave you everything you ever dreamed of. I even let you be with your wife.”

And Stephen, furious she’d bring that up but still remembering why he’s here, clenches his fist, takes a deep breath and says the following.

“That wasn’t real, Wanda.”

And he’s still pissed, so while his words are sincere his tone is one of restrained fury.

Not sure where it would go after that, but yeah. That’s my take on how I would have made Stephen’s part in House of M more compelling.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. 

#marvel comics #Doctor Strange #house of m #Prettywitch's Fanfiction #Prettywitch Muses #Clea #stephen x clea #scarlet witch #Prettywitch Rants #brian michael bendis

[prettywitchiusaka]

What sucks is that I actually really like the concept of the series.

Velma loves solving mysteries but the revelation that she’s too clever, plus her mother’s disappearance left her traumatized. So when she tries solving an actual mystery, her anxiety manifests in the form of literal ghosts and demons, leading to some really creepy animation.

That’s not a bad premise in my opinion, and if you were going to do a (slightly) more adult take on Scooby-Doo while still being a comedy, I think it could’ve  worked in better hands. 

Unfortunately, the show is trash and as a result, it’s the delicious, overflowing fudge at the bottom of this shit sundae.

#Prettywitch Rants #Prettywitch Rambles #prettywitch's philosophies on writing #trauma #PTSD #anxiety #velma #velma scooby doo #velma dinkley