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davids-cartoon-corkboard · 4 years

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I have said a Lot about the “Raph is a system” theory over the past several months, so this is something of a compilation post. It’s got some new stuff, it’s got some old stuff. (You’re reading Part 1) (Part 2 is here) (Part 3 is here)

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Firstly, “system” is the term for someone with Dissociative Identity Disorder, or DID. (The term can also apply to some folks with OSDD.) Someone might develop DID after experiencing long-term trauma at an early age- roughly five or six years old. To paraphrase the DSM-V:

1. We’ve seen three (possibly four) distinct personality states who speak, act, and perceive others differently.

2. The personality states, or “alters”, don’t necessarily share memory, and Donnie insinuated in “The Clothes Don’t Make the Turtle” that Raph has a bad memory in general.

3. Problems arise when alters don’t get along or aren’t on the same page. That none of them seem to be quite aware they’re a system doesn’t help either; it’s hard to work on communication and cooperation when you don’t know they need to be worked on!

4. This whole situation isn’t a normal part of a broadly accepted cultural or religious practice, or just Raph playing make-believe. (Though I wonder if he had “imaginary friends” when he was younger...)

5. It’s also not because Raph’s been smoking the devil’s lettuce or whatever. “Pizza Puffs” was one long weed joke and he was the only one “sober” (not poisoned) throughout! We don’t see this happen to other mutants, so it’s not a bizarre side effect of mutagen either.

(I’ve seen a few people joke that Mikey has “multiple personalities”, but that’s a tad yikesy and also just plain incorrect. His “doctor” personas are something he does deliberately, and youngest siblings are just Like That.)

So yeah, Raph is pretty heavily DID-coded. We’ve seen four alters so far:

“Host” Raph (HR): He’s our everyday Raph. A “host” is an alter who fronts most of the time and takes care of “business as usual” situations. They are often unaware of past traumatic events, such that they can appear “normal”. (Ex: the host of a child who lives with an abusive parent could be unaware of the abuse. Otherwise, they might cry or be uncooperative whenever the parent is near, further invoking their wrath. This unawareness allows them to be a “good child”, and stay under the parent’s radar sometimes.) Some systems have more than one host, but that the others have shown up so rarely in this story suggests HR is the only host (for now?).

Savage Raph (SR): Debuting in “Man vs. Sewer”, he’s a survival-oriented alter. HR probably could have defeated the Sando Brothers on his own under normal circumstances, but being in the middle of a breakdown doesn’t do much for your fighting skills. SR got pulled to the front to deal with them instead.

“Red” Raph (RR): “Red” is just a placeholder since we don’t actually know his name yet (or even if he has one, not all alters do), though I’ve also heard folks call him “Angel”. He’s got a “tough love” approach to problem-solving, which was probably a helpful thing in the past. LDM were no doubt rowdy children! We were (officially) introduced to him in “Pizza Puffs”.

Mind Raph (MR): MR could just be a manifestation of HR's thought process via Cartoon Goofery, but that possibility doesn’t give me anything to work with so I’m ignoring it. He’s pretty similar to HR, maybe a tad more upbeat. We (officially) met him in “Raph’s Ride-Along”.

When “Pizza Puffs” first aired, I was like “ah yes, this is the alter who has the cranky edgelord tendencies we’ve seen in previous iterations of Raph. He probably broods on rooftops in the rain when he’s in a bad mood.” Combining that with the whole “Red Angel” thing gives off some Batman vibes. And, of course, SR is similar to the Hulk. Those two heroes are pretty different, but they do have one major thing in common...

A sudden, violent loss. Given how prevalent rushing water is throughout “Man vs. Sewer”, I’m thinking a flood came through and separated Raph from his family. (You could probably argue that turbulent water symbolizes a turbulent subconscious? 🤷) Again, DID stems from long-term trauma, so Raph must have been gone for... a while. A couple of months, maybe more? It’s hard to say exactly; we have a little wiggle room when applying human developmental psychology to a human/turtle mutant. Since Splinter still needed to care for the other three, he wouldn’t have been able to devote much time to searching for Raph, and the New York City sewers go on for miles and miles. The longer Raph was alone, the more convinced he would have been that the others had drowned and he was the only survivor.

How old would he have been? I know the turtles are “different ages”, but they were all mutated at the same time so I’m pretty sure Splinter was just like “the littlest one is the youngest, the biggest one is the oldest, and the medium-sized ones are the middle children.” They’re all probably fourteenish by “Finale”. Back in “MvS”, Leo said, “You know how savage Raph gets when he’s alone”. He didn’t say anything like, “You know how savage Raph gets when he’s alone ever since such-and-such an incident happened”. This suggests that LDM straight-up don’t know something traumatic happened to Raph; they were too little to retain concrete memories of that time. In their minds, Raph has always been like this. Draxum isn’t known for his patience, so even though he wasn’t able to immerse the hatchlings in mutagen for long, they probably mature a bit faster than humans. And since humans usually can’t remember anything from before four years of age, three sounds about right for the turtles, though they would have been stronger and steadier on their feet than any human toddler. I doubt Raph would have survived otherwise.

I think he’s sort of... “stuck” back in that trauma. Catching food, building a fire, making a weapon, and getting camouflage aren’t the behaviors of someone who’s only been gone for a few minutes.

When SR called for help, I don’t think he was expecting anyone to answer.

But Raph did manage to hang onto something as he was swept away! It wasn’t much, but that little ragdoll gave him comfort while he was scared and alone.

(The rabbit design on Bruce’s pajamas is probably a coincidence, but...)

Raph seems the type to have sympathy for odd-looking toys. His knockoff Mrs. Cuddles plushie was the emotional crutch he needed back then.

And then he was separated from that as well. Lowkey associating Mrs. Cuddles with this traumatic event would explain why HR was so scared of her. That he doesn’t remember the trauma means he has no context for this fear, making it seem silly and baseless to him (and to the rest of his family), which is why he denied being scared at all in the first part of the “Mrs. Cuddles” episode. It would also explain why he collects teddy bears instead these days, they are a “safe” toy. (The moral of the story is to not make fun of triggers that seem silly.)

(I wonder what would happen if Mrs. Cuddles encountered Savage Raph? Perhaps he’d be quite sympathetic towards such a lonely little raggedy thing! Timestuck as he is, he probably wouldn’t question why a stuffed animal can talk... and it wouldn't be hard for her to persuade her “new bestest fwiend” to get rid of some “mean ol’ nasty sewew monstews” for her.)

That whole “sewer monsters” thing suggests Raph ran into... something while he was wandering alone. Y’all have heard those rumors about alligators living in the New York City sewers, right? Encountering Leatherhead could trigger a flashback.

It would be pretty easy to introduce Leatherhead into the narrative. One of the episodes the Rise crew had planned was titled “The Island of Dr. Noe”, and alligators have very impressive teeth. The Mirage comics had a story where Leatherhead and several cryptids were brought to an island to be hunted for sport.

Noe seems to have quite a few cronies/friends/rivals he could entertain this way. Since he’s got that obsession with Raph, Noe captures him as well, knocking him out with those darts so he can’t waste his energy trying to escape too soon. (Let’s just assume everyone’s powers are glitchy because they all hit another wave of puberty, meaning they can’t just curbstomp the lower-level villains lol.)

HR wakes up on the island and, of course, starts to panic because he’s lost and alone. While wandering, he runs into Leatherhead, which would trigger a flashback to getting attacked by that alligator all those years ago. But Leatherhead doesn’t want to fight! He’s just as scared and confused as HR is, and could really use a partner to help him survive this island.

HR and SR come into conflict because Leatherhead is/isn’t/is/isn’t/is/isn’t a threat. HR eventually wins out, reasoning that even if Leatherhead is that alligator, it wouldn’t be fair to judge him for what he did back when he was an animal.

But time and dissociation can make memories unclear. That our first look at Leatherhead was in Draxum’s “bluh bluh I’m gonna mutate all the humans” bit in “Bug Busters” means he’s a human-base mutant. He wasn’t the alligator back then, but the hunter tracking it. Leatherhead isn’t one of Noe’s targets, he is one of Noe’s guests! And he wants no one to interfere with his quarry, so he’ll play nice long enough for him and the snapper to take out the rest of the hunters and the freaks. Then the two of them will have the island all to themselves...

Years and years ago, Jack Marlin was a big game hunter prowling the New York City sewers in search of an alligator. He did manage to find and kill one, only to realize it had also been hunting! He had inadvertently saved the strangest little turtle creature.

Marlin had become too skilled at this point, the hunt held no challenge for him. This turtle sounded very young, and he was quite big and strong already. An adult could be tough and intelligent enough to entertain him. Marlin tried to get Raph to lead him back to “the others”. But Raph had been lost for some time, and as far as he knew, his family was dead. Hearing that put Marlin in quite the sour mood. A little mutant snapper is a better catch than none at all, so Marlin tried to haul Raph off. Raph fought back and bit off Marlin’s hand. He escaped, but lost his rabbit in the scuffle. Marlin retreated as well, taking some time to recover, scheme, and hunt other game. (And to pocket that rabbit. The blood loss had made him woozy, and he wanted to have some kind of proof he hadn’t just hallucinated the snapper.) Perhaps he turned that alligator’s hide into a vest, which provided the genetic material for his mutation when he eventually got bit by an oozesquito. Like his Mirage counterpart, Marlin didn’t take losing a limb as a sign he should retire, and instead got a tricked-out prosthetic. Who knows what he could do with it in such a mystic setting as Rise.

Raph eventually reunited with his family, but those distrustful, high-strung survivalist traits he had picked up weren’t helpful anymore. He once again had to be the good and patient big brother who didn’t bite when someone play-tackled him or shook him awake at three in the morning because they’d had a nightmare. Those two states gradually got partitioned off more and more, and now they know little, if anything, about each other.

So Leatherhead and HR are chasing away some mothmen or whatever, and things are going pretty well... until one of them knocks Leatherhead over and a familiar ragdoll rabbit falls out of his pocket. SR realizes that Leatherhead is Marlin and switches in to fight him off again. They’re evenly matched, or perhaps SR is even in danger of losing, when LDM arrive to provide support. Leatherhead is enough of a tactician to know that he should retreat. Donnie and Mikey pursue him while Leo stays behind, placing the rabbit in his stunned brother’s hands. “Remember when Pops made this for you? You were always really gentle with it, ‘cause he wasn’t good at sewing back then...”

(This thing really needs patching up, he’s got sewing stuff for whenever he needs to fix his bears/Blue isn’t a threat on his own/Wasn’t he just back at the lair?/Blue gave back the rabbit/Why does he feel like he got hit by a train?/Blue doesn’t want to fight?/ ...Leo?) And that’s enough for HR to switch back in. He’s probably missing memory from his whole time on the island, so while Leo does his best to tell him what happened, they don’t have enough puzzle pieces between them to truly figure out what's going on.

They defeat the bad guys, release the cryptids, save the day, etc. (Leatherhead managed to lose Donnie and Mikey in the woods. A battle for another day.) Once they return to the lair, HR gets help from Draxum to modify the memory spell from “E-Turtle Sunshine” so he can try to fill in the gaps. Surely he wouldn’t get rejected by his own subconscious... right?

Cue part three in the saga of Raph Punches Himself In The Face. SR isn’t happy that HR is essentially trying to poke at an improperly-healed wound, and attempts to chase him off. HR assumes that SR is just a psychic white blood cell like the Lou Jitsu constructs in Splinter’s mind, and retaliates.

But, of course, fighting is not the answer here. All that accomplishes is giving the body bruises. Eventually HR realizes “stay away” and “back off” are a little different than “get out”, and that SR is just scared. So HR tries another tactic. Over the following days and weeks, he tunes in to calmer memories and just sort of... talks. About what happened yesterday, about his teddy bear collection, about how he finally managed to get a good picture of that pizza pigeon. It takes a while to establish a connection, and even then, it’s spotty at best. Using the spell too much can cause headaches and nightmares. There are days when SR is nearby, and days when he’s not there at all. But he shows up when he can.

And then there’s awkward, stilted conversation and questions neither of them know how to answer and questions neither of them want to answer and more scrapes and bruises and strained silences and apologies, but they finally, finally reach a compromise. SR still doesn’t let HR near those memories, but he tells HR what happened as best he can. (The audience would see those memories, with SR as a voiceover.) Afterwards, HR still visits the mindscape that’s starting to become more solid. They talk some more, they watch light and shadow flow around them, they listen to half-forgotten lullabies on scratchy old cassette tapes. Eventually, HR doesn’t even need to use the memory spell, meditation is enough.

They’ll never get along all the time. But it’s a start.

(SR is going to be so clingy when it finally clicks for him when he finally lets himself believe that his family is alive.)

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This took eight million years lmao. Parts 2 and 3 will come out eventually, they’ll focus more on MR and RR. Let me know if I need to tag this stuff as anything.

The usual disclaimer applies, I am not a system or a mental health professional so if you’re one or both of those things then feel free to give me some of that good good constructive criticism.

#you called for help... but nobody came.#rottmnt #rottmnt theory #the 'raph is a system' theory #rottmnt raph #savage raph #mrs. cuddles #leatherhead #jack marlin #plot bunnies free to a good home lmao #long post

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bers1990 · 3 years

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Before i go any further, make no mistake, i own nothing. I don't own the clip art pictures i used, i don't own the show and i certainly don't own the characters. The only thing i own are the younger characters and that's about it. I guess you could argue that i also own the adult designs for Zak and his wife, but that's debatable. Like the title says, this is a future portrait of the Saturday family, and it's a full family portrait, which means it includes more than just Zak, his wife and his 3 children. It also includes his parents, his Uncle Doyle and his 3 cryptid "siblings". I'm aware that Doc, Drew and Doyle don't look any older, even though Zak is roughly in his 40's or so, and i admit, that was my faux pas. I suppose one could argue that it makes no difference how Fiskeron, Komodo and Zon all look at this point, since very few animals show signs of aging any way. But i was going to at least give Doc, Drew and Doyle gray streaks in their hair, maybe a small wrinkle or two, anything that would reflect them aging 27 years (they would still be in tip top shape though, of course). Anyway, let's go around and get some more information about the Saturday family of the future: Left to Right: Dr. Solomon "Doc" Saturday - Even though he's going on late 60's to early 70's, Doc Saturday is still the adventurous yet science and reason minded man he's always been. Though, in recent years, he's allowed his love for his work and inventions to gain more influence over him, and needless to say, that's begun to put some strain on his marriage. Drew Blackwell-Saturday - Still as feisty as ever, even when between the ages of late 50's to early 60's, Drew Saturday has begun to devote more of her time to the archaeologist aspect of her career, which she had long set aside for many years. This has allowed her more time to get in touch with her emotions and, needless to say, it helped bring about a storm to her marriage with Doc. Komodo Saturday - Thanks to the genetic engineering that he went through early on, Komodo Saturday is still alive and kicking, with old age only creeping up on him in minor ways (e.g. being out of breath when he moves so little). At one point, Komodo and his fellow cryptids; Zon and the Fiskerton Phantom (Fisk), all had a strong and inseparable bond with their adopted human "brother", Zak Saturday, who returned their loving feelings in full. However, as time went on, the strength of this camaraderie began to weaken, as Zak started to spend more of his time with the woman who would one day be his wife and, eventually, started a family with her. The strong bond is still present though, just in different ways. In Komodo's case, it's in him acting as the nanny and nursemaid to Zak's daughter, Carol, whom he protects fiercely. Carol Drew Saturday - As i've said numerous times in the past; this is my fan-made daughter for Zak Saturday. She is very good at planning things out before acting and is a true prodigy when comes to dealing with Cryptids. However, like her father, she is often prone to allow her impetuous nature get the better of her, causing her to do things that, under more cool-headed circumstances, she would never think right. Carol has always been close to her father, to the point where she inherited his original "Claw" as her own signature weapon. But if there was one person was a close second in terms of bond, that would be Komodo, her nanny and ever vigilant protector. By the way, as i'm sure you can already tell, Carol owes her middle name to her paternal grandmother, something that she is proud to know. Zakery Thomas Saturday - At one point, he was the scrappy and adventurous little boy of Doc and Drew Saturday gifted (or cursed) with telapathic powers over cryptids. Now, he's the stern, no-nonsense and physically imposing Beta of the Saturday pack (set to take Doc's place as patriarch of the family). Having lost none of the skills he had as a child, as well as gained a few new ones, Zak is still just as formidible an opponent as ever. Though, just like his own father before him, Zak's paternal instincts are his strongest trait, right alongside his loyalty to his wife. Ulraj Elija Saturday - Named after both his ancestor, Elija Saturday and his godfather, the King of Kumari Kandam, Ulraj is the first born child of Zak Saturday. Being the eldest, Ulraj constantly feels the need to be the responsible and level-headed one of the litter, to the point where he acts as the leader of his siblings. For the most part, he is leadership material, and is rather mature, responsible and level-headed. But, unfortunately, those very qualities have also led him to be a tad self-righteous; he almost always thinks that his way is right. Still though, his inner sense of humilty does keep that aspect of his character in check (more or less). He inherited the Saturday genius gene and is quite the aspiring inventor because of it. Whenever he has the time, he is usually seen using a blowtorch on something or wrenching something tighly. He even designed his own modest suit of armor which is both protective yet light to move in, proudly sporting the Saturday family logo on the chestplate. I'm well aware that his hair makes him look like Zak Monday, that's why i gave him the suit of armor in the first place. Fiskerton Saturday - Still the same lovable giant furball he's always been, this 8-foot tall Gorilla-Cat remains the most unique and mysterious member of Saturday family, as well as its main muscle. At one point, Fiskerton and Zak were as thick as thieves, along with Komodo and Zon. Though, out of all of them, Fiskerton had the strongest bond with Zak. This cameraderie began to weaken, however, as Zak began to start a family of his very own. But Fisk remained as loyal as ever, and even took an active interest in the development of Zak's eldest son, Ulraj, often trying to keep him humble. Wadi Saturday - Ever since they first met as 11-12 year old children, Wadi's chemistry, and general relationship, with Zak Saturday has always been erratic at best. On the one hand they had a few qualities that made them similar, but on the other hand, they tended to bicker and clash quite a bit. It wasn't until Zak's 13th Birthday that the two of them realized that all of this was the result of a growing romance, one that officially began when Wadi kissed Zak on the cheek. The two of them began a long distance relationship after that and it lasted for a good long time, many years in fact. But Zak and Wadi were not hopeless romantics, they were well aware that their relationship was no different than anyone else's. Which means, like anyone else's, it could come to an end for any reason at all. How long the two of them thought about this, they would never tell the other, but think it they both did. Still though, both ultimately decided to burn that bridge when they came to it, and did their best to keep their minds in the present when it came to their relationship. Surprisingly enough, Zak and Wadi's love for each other never once wavered and ultimately led to Zak proposing to Wadi when they were both between the ages of 23-24. She gladly accepted this proposal and they were married as soon as possible, much to the delight of their respective families. As far as Wadi's personality goes, it's relatively the same as it was years ago; she's still pretty assertive yet relatively soft-spoken at the same time. She has also become more open about her feelings towards Zak, now that she knows how he feels about her. But the biggest change to Wadi is that she's gained more control over her kleptomania; now she will only steal something if the situation calls for it (like getting a dangerous object away from a villain). Like her mother-in-law, she is a fiercely protective mother (though she's not as over-bearing), she will do anything to protect her three children, even pummel someone into submission. Maboul Farhan Saturday - The youngest of Zak and Wadi's littler, as well as the most timid, is little Maboul Farhan Saturday. Needless to say, he was named after his maternal grandfather, a fact that he is very proud of. In fact, out of all of his siblings, Maboul is the most in touch with his Hassi and, subsequently, Arabian heritage. He has done all he could to learn the ways of his people and, because of this, has developed a strong bond with his mother. She even passed on to him her treasured Thieves Yo-Yo, much like how Zak passed down his "Claw" to Maboul's sister, Carol. Now, personality-wise, Maboul is a rather meek and timid child, which makes it pretty easy for his siblings to sway him. However, when the situation calls for it, he will at least try to be assertive. Fortunately, he will always have the protection of his "aunt", Zon, on his side. BTW, Maboul's middle name. Farhan, is actually Arabic for "happy", because that's how his parents felt when he was born. Zon Saturday - With exception of being the de facto nanny of Maboul, Zon is relatively the same, though, i'd imagine her skin and wings would be more rusty looking by this point. Much like her two adopted "brothers", she used to be very close to Zak Saturday in his youth. But when Zak started to spend more and more time with his growing new family and spent less and less time with her, Fiskerton and Komodo, Zon eventually tried to cope with this by forming a bond with one of Zak's kids, Maboul grew closest her and they've been inseparable ever since. Doyle Blackwell - Doyle's pretty much the same guy he's always been, nuff said. Though, he is somewhat more concerned about the frequent issues his older sister and brother-in-law are having. He is also just as close to his great nephews and great niece as he was with Zak.

#the secret saturdays #Fanart

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luci-cunt · 4 years

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An incomprehensive guide to why you should read T.J Klune’s book Wolfsong

Mostly for my very best friend in the whole wide world: @moonsandstarsaregay <33 and with 100% too many AFtG references i’m sorry

*AHEM*

A plot summary: Ox has been told his whole life he’s slow and gonna get shit for it. He lives in a sleepy little nowhere town in Oregon and is perfectly content never leaving and working in the garage for the rest of his life. His dad sucks, his mom’s a gem, and one day the house that’s (almost) always been empty at the end of the street gets filled by a family that’s just a little on the wrong side of weird–the Bennetts. They all immediately fall in love with Ox because he’s literally the most perfect mc you’ll ever meet, and he learns that not everyone actually sucks he’s just been looking at the wrong people.

And so what if they’re also a very powerful and well known werewolf pack–I mean WHATTTTTT

There’s monster fighting, drama, adventure, romance(*), adventure, angst (Oh GOD is there angst), badassary, and just so much good shit.

The Main Character:

I could talk just about how Ox is portrayed until the day I DIE. He doesn’t have an arc where he magically becomes ‘normal’ or anything, instead he just surrounds himself with people that treat him better and finds that he doesn’t need to change. He has a heart of gold and does kind things just because he is kind. He’s the definition of a soft giant, and again, the book starts and he’s roughly 10ish (with flashbacks to younger) and it ends with him in his late 20s early 30s so he definitely grows and matures but he doesn’t change because he doesn’t NEED to.

[More reasons to read + warnings/ disclaimers + a snippet below cut so I don’t bother y’all with a hella long post XD

You should probs read the warnings before you read the book just FYI]

Writing Style: If the style of the Knife of Never Letting Go intrigued you but you couldn’t get past the first chapter then this is the book for you. Ox is a bit simple–In the best way possible–and the book is from his perspective. His thoughts are stated outright and he takes most things people say very literally. This doesn’t change and that’s the best part. I LOVE this about it and I was TERRIFIED that Klune was going to write Ox in this style for only the first couple chapters and then suddenly switch to him being some snarky genius, but he doesn’t!!! Honestly idk how to describe it, you’ve just got to read it.

If that doesn’t convince you:

- First of all, werewolves, who doesn’t love em?

- Second of all gays, like, everyone, no one is straight. That one side character who shows up once? Yeah, no, she shows up twice and the second time she has a girlfriend. The main characters? All gay, and if they aren’t gay in this book they will be in the next one.

- FOUND FAMILY

- It’s basically AFtG but gayer and softer? but not??

- Very realistic characters, they make stupid mistakes and people react accordingly

- Kelly and Carter and literally the best things in the world I would fucking murder for both of them and I’m pretty sure Kelly is confirmed by the author to be ace (btw they aren’t twins so you can’t even accuse me of being in love with every blond and kinda tragic set of twins I come across fuck off XD)

- OX STATES VERY BLATANTLY THAT HE IS BISEXUAL

- Very endearing coming out scenes

- Gordo Livingstone is perfect in just about every way and he’s also like if Neil and Seth were combined and grew up to be Wymack. ajsdf;lk just a dumbass gay trying really hard to be a good dad while also vehemently denying it. (Oh and yeah he literally had a boyfriend who he’s currently pissed at so)

- MC is not a genius and that’s not treated like a bad thing

- Please just read it I need more people to scream about it with me

Some warnings:

- it’s werewolves, there’s gore, obsessive use of the word “alpha” and lots of wolf-ish tendencies. Most of it comes across as fucking adorable, but ngl, sometimes it’s just a tad weird.

- people have v tragic backstories. None of it is worse than AFtG but it’s still very intense, more on the side of gore/ violence/ some torture than heavy non/con but there’s some mentions of that. (More vague allusions/ threats rather than graphic scenes don’t worry)

- *the only thing that really wigged me out about these books is the fact that the main couple have a 6 year age difference. Any way you spin that it’s weird, but I think it was handled as well as you can??? (idk man I’m still wigged out about that even tho they don’t actually DO anything until both of them are in their twenties but STILL)

- it is VERY angsty. I mean, the soft moments are SICKENINGLY soft and there’s some of the best comedy/ cute shit I’ve ever seen but–god the ouch stuff HURTS. If you don’t want to cry over a book I wouldn’t recommend reading this.

In conclusion:

If you wanted LGBT adventure content here it is!!! I mean, if it’s the sex scenes you’re about (or against XD) there’s only really two, one is the epilogue and one is about 2/3rds through the book but from what other people who actually understand sex say it’s NICE XDD also just a very nice character moment? I didn’t read all of it but from what I read it was v nice, they’re wholesome and stupid, I love them.

I actually really liked the romance? It’s v realistic and got the vibe of “neither of us have good self-confidence but I will DIE proving to you that you’re worth the entire world.” There’s very, very sappy and drawn out declarations of love, it’s adorable, sometimes a little weird (looking at you Joe), but altogether wholesome. There’s also a wee bit of possessiveness but it’s mostly(?) treated as the “uuuuhhhh, that’s not gonna go over well you need to chill” trait it should be.

It’s intense, and the last time I physically could not stop reading and stayed up all night just to finish a book was AFtG so...

It is quite a bit longer than AFtG tho, like, it took me the same amount of time to read just Wolfsong that I read all three of the AFtG books in. Sometimes it drags a little, especially in the middle, but it’s all worth it. Also if you don’t like drawn out “you will apologize on my terms because you fucked up on yours” kinda things I don’t think this is for you.

I loved it, the characters are to die for and the villains make my blood boil. I cried, and laughed and sobbed and screamed. 12/10

Here’s a lil bit to give you a taste:

Here’s a link to the Goodreads page if you want more details

And here’s a link to where you can buy the book ;)

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fivefingerdustpunch · 3 years

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Rules

|• 18+ only and If I suspect foul play/you’re younger I’ll be able to tell and will ask for verification. This also includes followers, who I will check on at random to make sure. (As I grow on this account I might ask for ages/ 18+ to be displayed on description or l block but we’ll see what I wind up writing.)

|• Patience is a virtue, I will strive for weekly replies and I expect (about) the same. If you’re not feeling the chemistry? I understand. But you do have to let me know; I’m not above changing it up or politely wrapping up our work. And of course this applies to me, I am the keeper of my own pleasure.

|• Smut is 100% optional I will have a tag on here called #MunShiggyHeadcanons which will be for people who follow me and of course these can vary all the same. But just so we’re clear; sex/p*rn is optional and I prefer if that is written elsewhere/in DMs on discord.

|• Keeping that in mind, smut is also something I consider personal in some regards. If I do not like you/know you enough it’s safe to say I will not start up something to that extent first thing. The writer/mun is Gray, demi, and picky.

|• Basics of Basics, don’t be a bigot. Following tumblrs TOS, don’t be homophobic, toxic, a fuckin Nazi, racist, terfs and transphobes get auto-blocked too. Ablest, ageist, or if you’re just gross? Bye.

|• Basics of Basics pt. 2, don’t be a prick. Shigaraki is a villain, but I reserve rights to move a tad bit OOC. The man is legitimately mentally unstable in canon, so know that ultimately some creative license will take place to make the character operable.

|• Writer reserves the right to change these rules or set other boundaries in the future. Keep in mind, if you don’t read these rules and break one later… (unless it’s a big misunderstanding/couldn’t find rules); I still might cut it.

|• If you don’t have rules or limits on your page? I’ll probably ask you for them in dms. Whatever you give me will be my guideline unless spoken of and confirmed/or you change them and we’ve confirmed I know the details.

|• Free use clause, unless your character is entirely an OC all characters are free use. This does not mean I’ll god-mod/use your character; but it does mean that what we write here unless explicitly expressed otherwise, is public domain. I personally won’t use your stuff without explicit permission (for art, fanficiton, or as starters or for personal use etc etc.) But it’s the internet and people are… people. (Be warned.)

|• Author/Mun’s/My triggers, last but hardly least. Authors triggers, don’t be alarmed I’m actually pretty chill in this regard I have a few things that can flip that brain switch too hard. Obviously I won’t write and will not be accepting prompts, fiction, or anything with: pure noncon, inc*st, r*pe, underage shit, ( 18+ age gaps are okay within reason/at authors discretion), graphic sexual reproductive/genital gore, (god even saying that makes me cringe dude), and whipping with belts, or heavy/extreme whipping and/or violence including belts. Please just, be mindful.

|• Added note/disclaimer (10/15/21) It will be no secret that I write many characters of many fandoms. For the sake of the nature of tumblr and it’s inane amount of fiction wars? I want to be clear and concise on; I always try to tell my partners of the characters I write! Here are some that I’ll write (no I don’t actually condone murder or abuse, or the bad things characters do): Shigaraki, Dabi, Toga (non romantically), Mr. Compress, AFO, All Might, Endeavor, Present Mic, Hannibal Lecter, Darth Maul… seriously! So many characters of many fandoms, so do not take it personally that I write fiction. Thank you.

#rules #deathpunch rules #about me #shigaraki tomura #shigaraki #shigaraki rp #Shigaraki roleplay #shigadabi #shigadabi rp #shigaraki x dabi roleplay #open

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chameli · 4 years

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This is for the lovely Olivia @changshapatrol and anyone else who wants to get to know Divya or relive their childhood memories of her. This list mostly includes her Hindi films because due to lack of subtitles, I haven’t seen a lot of her Telugu ones (although I really want to!!!). This took me forever to write, so I hope you find something that appeals to your tastes. Click the title of the film to watch it. Enjoy!

Bobbili Raja | 1990 | Telugu: First things first, the songs are SO good. This is Divya’s debut film and she plays a spoiled rich girl named Rani. Her character is annoying at first, but she gets better as the film progresses. Rani is in love with Raja, but their relationship is vehemently opposed by Rani’s shrewd politician mother. The chemistry between Divya and Venkatesh is cute. They bicker a lot at first, get caught up in hijinks, but then fall in love.

Dil Ka Kya Kasoor | 1992 | Hindi: Divya plays the role of Shalini aka Shalu, a wealthy girl who has a passion for poetry. She is secretly in love with her classmate Arun, who despises her due to her rude behavior. This is one of her finest performances and she absolutely carries the film on her shoulders. Shalu is a complex character whom Divya played beautifully. She goes from being a brat, to a heartbroken girl who realizes she will never have her love, then finally someone who does not have much time to live. The ending is a tad bit dramatic, but oh well. Suresh Oberoi is endearing as Shalu’s older brother/father figure and Manjeet Kullar as her loving bhabhi. The songs are absolutely beautiful and melodious.

Deewana | 1992 | Hindi: The film that catapulted Divya into stardom. Despite a massive age difference with Rishi Kapoor, I think they actually had great chemistry. Divya is excellent as Kajal, a sweet yet sassy girl who is obsessed with her favorite singer, Ravi Kapoor. They fall in love, get married, and have a fairytale romance until her husband is murdered on their honeymoon. As the widowed Kajal, Divya expresses her grief and pain through her beautiful eyes. The once spunky girl is now a somber widow, until love finds her again. She looks absolutely adorable with SRK, who was then a newcomer. This is one film I can never get tired of watching. The ending still gets me to this day. The soundtrack is full of gems which still hold a place in my heart. Divya absolutely shines in this film.

Dil Aashna Hai | 1992 | Hindi: This is the story of Sitara, a cabaret dancer who is in search of her birth mother. However, she finds out it could be one of three very influential women. I’m not sure why this film was a flop, but I enjoyed it. Divya was fantastic and definitely held her own against the three more established actresses she shared space with. That being said, I really enjoyed the scenes showing the ladies bonding with Divya. They were so sweet. SRK plays the supportive love interest but he’s mostly in the background. He and Divya look incredibly adorable together, especially in the title song.

Geet | 1992 | Hindi: Divya is Neha, a popular singer who is sabotaged by her sleazy manager, played by the perpetually gross Shakti Kapoor. She then retreats to a small village where she meets Raja, her biggest stan (seriously, the guy is kind of a stalker). He paints posters for her concerts, but he wasn’t present at the last show where tragedy struck. Neha wants to put everything behind her but Raja keeps pestering her until she’s had enough. She plays a nasty trick on him, but they resolve their issues and become friends. I thought the hero was super annoying at first, but then I had a change of heart because he’s super endearing as he helps Neha claim what’s rightfully hers. The soundtrack is fantastic and so are the picturizations. I also really liked Divya’s clothes and styling in this film.

Dil Hi To Hai | 1992 | Hindi: This is actually a Jackie Shroff film, but Divya is an important character as well. Jackie plays identical twin princes: Harshvardhan, who is expected to take the throne and Govardhan, who is dorky and cowardly. Harshvardhan is fed up with his parents’ expectations, so he switches places with his twin and runs away. He and his royal adviser (played by the iconic Kader Khan) settle in a basti. He pretends to be a regular guy and meets Bharati (played by Divya), who HATES rich and privileged people. The other heroine is Shilpa Shirodkar, who is SMOKIN’. The main thing I really liked about this film is that they address mental health issues. Harsh feels trapped and lonely; he wants a life outside of the palace and riches. He just wants to be a regular person. His father basically tells him how to live his life, but Harsh wants to choose his own destiny. Simultaneously, Govardhan learns to be more confident. This is something I haven’t really seen in the 90s, tbh. I like this film and I think it’s really underrated.

Kshatriya | 1993 | Hindi: Oh boy. This film has a HUGE starcast and a complex plot that spans two generations. But you know what? I love it. I constantly watch this one a lot and I don’t know why. The songs are wonderful and Divya has a small part, but she’s as charming and effervescent as ever. Basically it’s about two warring kingdoms who’ve suffered through their own Romeo & Juliet tragedy, and now are even more bitter towards each other. Divya’s love interest is Sanjay Dutt (YUCK!) and her character is very bubbly and cute. Especially in the song Main Khichi Chali Aayi Piya. There’s loads of violence, melodrama, and action but I enjoyed it. It was also Divya’s last release while she was alive.

Rang | 1993 | Hindi: This was the first film to be released after Divya’s death. Divya plays Kajal, a wealthy (and a bit spoiled) girl who lives with her mother Indu (Amrita Singh), awful grandmother (Bindu), and sweet yet passive grandfather (Kader Khan). Kajal falls in love with Yogi, which I can’t figure out WHY. Dude is so so bland and extremely unattractive. I guess he’s smart? Anyway, another girl is also in love with him. Pooja (Ayesha Jhulka) is a traditional, sweet girl who lives with her single father Ajay (Jeetendra). It turns out, the two girls are actually - *gasp* - SISTERS! But they have no idea and don’t find this out until way later. We get to see the dysfunctional relationships between all the characters: the parents, separated by a cruel streak of fate and misunderstandings. The sisters, in love with the same guy but unwilling to give him up. And finally, the grandparents: the passive husband who finally stands up to his witchy wife, who has ruined her daughter’s life and broke up her family. The songs are lovely, especially Tujhe Na Dekhoon and Tumhe Dekhen Meri Aankhein. There’s a really sweet tribute to Divya at the end which never fails to make me cry.

Shatranj | 1993 | Hindi: Divya’s last film. This is a remake of Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi. It’s a comedy/drama about three brothers who own a garage and hate women. Actually the older brother (played by Kader Khan) does, because of a childhood trauma involving his evil stepmother (rolling my eyes). So he raises his two younger brothers to follow suit. But they end up falling in love and try keeping it a secret from big brother. Jackie Shroff with Divya, who keeps showing up at the garage, and Mithun with Juhi (a very odd-looking pairing). It’s a fun yet drama filled comedy. I liked the scenes where the two couples are trying to make the older brother fall in love with the girl who’s obsessed with him. But the best thing about this film? Divya and Juhi, my two favorite actresses. Both ladies are absolutely stunning.

- Special Mentions -

Jaan Se Pyara | 1992 | Hindi: This is a cop drama which stars Govinda in a double role. Divya plays Sharmila, his girlfriend. She doesn’t have that many scenes but is an absolute delight none the less. Sharmila is feisty and sassy but also supportive and caring towards her man. Divya and Govinda have the best chemistry. I love their silly/playful bickering and banter. The scenes between her and the family are sweet as well. This film also has really great songs. My favorite Divya song EVER: Bin Tere Kuch Bhi Nahin. The picturization is lovely and the song is peak 90s romance. Chanchal Chandni has a sensual vibe while Taale Laga Le is super fun and upbeat. tbh I just watched Divya’s scenes and not the full film, so idk what happens.

Dushman Zamana | 1992 | Hindi: Okay, this film is just way too dramatic. Divya plays Seema, a rich girl who is actually nice and not bratty for a change. She’s in love with her schoolmate Vijay (the unattractive and untalented Armaan Kohli). Of course, he’s poor. And OF COURSE her father (Paresh Rawal) HATES him and constantly reminds Vijay he’s worthless. Paresh, who I usually think is a great actor, was way too much of a cartoon villain. The saving grace is that Divya looked extremely beautiful in this film. Plus, the song Mausam Pyaara Bheega Bheega is pure perfection.

Balwaan | 1992 | Hindi: Suniel Shetty’s debut film, so the typical action drama. Divya plays Deepa, his college sweetheart. She’s a spunky girl but oh so charming. Her scenes with Suniel are adorable. And the songs, omg. Divya’s outfits were super cute, especially in the song Jalta Hai Badan (which is really sensual and takes place in a library lmao).

Rowdy Alludu (which I really want to see!) and Dharma Kshetram have amazing songs. Divya looks like a dream. Too bad there aren’t any English subs and I don’t understand Telugu :(

So, that concludes my list. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy these films as much as I have!

#Divya Bharti #bollywood #film recommendations

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tammyhybrid21 · 4 years

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On Villain Impact

SO, Guess who just rewatched UP so that I could further expand on the tea brought up in the post that ask prompted! I mean, and some general comparison moments... with plot and tone and the possible inspirations... BUT--

We're not here to explore Paradise Falls today!

So let's take this in parts so I can give each villain(and one bonus) their dues. Starting with the Pixar villain who first traumatized me in 2009.

Charles Muntz

Sooo first of all, this guy is terrifying.

Like, out of all the villains I'm here to talk about, Muntz has reached that point that there's just... something wrong and broken by the time he actually shows up on screen in his movie. Well, not his movie but-- By the time we meet him, isolation has done a number along with his single minded focus on his goal.

Muntz is... not in a good state of mind AT ALL.

BUT--

I kind of want to take it back for a moment to what triggered this. Because here's the tea-- As we see, throughout the movie with Russel and Kevin, Muntz's find was real. Birb still around even. That skeleton he displayed-- and yet--

They decried it as fake. Something he fabricated. Which hello, here's some of my related tea-- Again, this is basically that whole-- issue of if it doesn't fit with known facts, along with some of the other issues regarding the palaeontology community in general that is-- not quite the same, but--

I have many, many dinosaur issues and some of them come from how long it took people to accept feathered dinosaurs, to the fact that there has been multiple cases of evidence that dinosaurs went extinct much more recently than what we're taught in schools(middle ages, medieval art and designs and just argh--), that are just-- REJECTED. Which even included a report about still images, art and designs that are very dinosaur in nature. Or hell, the comparison of dragon legends to how dinosaur skulls and appearances are--

Not to mention there have been and are still fiascos about dinosaur bones and the whole marrow and blood cells discovered in them. Which instead of maybe assuming that means they're younger than previously assumed they're assuming that means that decay rates are off, which... yeah sure. I don't really have a degree on that, but it sounds wrong when decay has more clear and obvious examples that have been more clearly witnessed, studied-- I mean there's a whole STUDY on decay--

BUT I'M NOT AN EXPERT AND THE EARTH HAS TO BE--

Anyway-- Fossils and bones have-- such a HUGE mess. From exhibits going missing, discoveries passed over time and time again because is "doesn't fit" what was previously know, there's a whole documentary that's one guy trying to explain how there's evidence of specific species actually just being sexual dimorphism and differences in age of just one species and being mocked by the rest of the community for that view--

You know fascinating stuff--

Among other things, like I remember so clearly a documentary that used to be around where they talked about a dig site where there were modern animals preserved with animals from so, so long ago-- along with trying to explain how the very existence of Dinosaur bones and fossils proved that the Great Worldwide Flood happened.

Which-- honestly on the flood, just look at how pretty much every culture has a Great Flood story and that's already proven that something happened. WHICH is all beside the point--

But this-- THIS--

Do you know how much this happens, happened, and still probably will happen in the future?! I mean shit-- people thought the KANGAROO was FAKE NEWS once upon a time. Among-- many other of Australia's animals... also like-- think about weird animals from your own country and imagine in the olden days, sure people could travel, but that didn't mean everyone would or could and just--

How many animals sound fake but then you see them?!

In any case, there's just a very subtle background flow to this movie in that ultimately, the TRUE villains hidden in the story are the Archaeology & Palaeontology communities. Scientists.

Which yeah, deviation from the main point of this post, so now that we have that background detail and rant. What impact does Muntz have as a villain. Well... very clearly he's terrifying. Like, I don't think I can overstate how much I was FREAKED OUT as a baby 11 year old seeing this movie for the first time, with exaggerated memories of fire and trauma and all-- and just-- Muntz is a Pixar villain.

Which yeah--

I don't actually really have to say much in regards to how he lingers and his presence is felt all through how the movie unfolds. Even from before this reveal-- there's that sense of wrongness when you're paying attention and you just think about how the dogs act.

And well-- there's something to be stated about this scene... and how it serves as a good lead in to the next villain I would like to talk about-- But for now...

Muntz' degeneration here is subtle. Traitors, liars, people after his discovery... and some serious isolation induced paranoia.

But the heart of his motivation is that long, long ago disgrace. It's been YEARS, of hunting and trying to find the one thing. Carl's entire lifetime from childhood. His entire goal-- and what a hell of a broken pedestal that creates... but arguably, he's from a somewhat tragic perspective when you actually think how fundamentally broken he's fallen when examining the facts.

From a lauded explorer-- adventurer... to this.

Fearing and calling anyone he meets liars.

Max Mordon

Soooo before anyone says that was an abrupt-- I think that this is the PERFECT place to transition over. Because the one immediately there is... some DRASTIC contrasts between these two, despite well. Some small similar vibes to generals.

Like seriously...

Not precisely the same... but like-- Brown hair, blue eyes... and the general frame of his hair style. Max just missed some of the points and has no moustache or anything. BUT--

Max is also in direct contrast in regards to motivations. At least to the prior villain of Muntz. BUT-- Max is kind of literally the kind of people that Muntz was paranoid about. Which isn't really played for subtly in the movie, which is unfortunate, but to be fair that's a hard thing to play subtle and with all the tropes we've been exposed to nowadays-- BUT--

Max basically fell into the trap of, pedestal to break, along with what I kind of call Scooby logic, in how his presentation gave him away as a villain. And also all the older mentor characters disapproving of him.

Basically he was doomed from the framing.

Which-- isn't really the movie's fault, and in the end I would argue it actually plays to his favour to be so obvious.

Sooo I can also actually focus on other things instead of the fact we all know! Like how THERE'S just... so, so much I could say about Tad's reactions to Max throughout the movie. But that will probably take away from the focus of this rant/analysis. BUT-- Yeah, Max is set up as pretty obviously trouble to EVERYONE but the main characters.

Which... I do have opinions for another rant about how Sara would have in any other context probably noticed his fake sooner-- but Max is... "media circus" and archaeology... and more really his pursuit is-- really, really straight forwards in the context of the movie and even the greater scope.

Max is after immortality, power, and prestige. Puts great pride on his title and claim to be the "Greatest explorer". And much unlike Muntz there is no sign of ANYTHING tragic or forgiving in his background. He wasn't screwed over by the system, rather he's here using the system to screw others other.

ALSO--

Max is savvy as anything.

Like-- I don't think people will quite understand my glee at how RUTHLESS this is. But in a similar vein to Muntz, Max isn't letting anything stand in the way of his goals. Not here-- directing the Odysseus to get rid of Freddy and Tad despite them ostensibly being "no threat", which yeah... not completely for Tad as later that comes back around-- BUT-- Max is just... SAVVY in that sense that he's not taking risks.

BUT then we also get him showing he's... really not as expert as he plays himself. Which sure, the Professor has studied for years, but still-- there's a kind of logic that's just-- well, in the Quipu room and even before entering the ruins... He's just-- not studied enough, or observing enough. Not without blind spots.

BUT--

I also want to for a moment just take a moment to have an aside on this:

I also don't know if this is something that people would notice. But-- when it comes to this moment, Max turns the tables... really quickly. Which half of that is just Mummy being kind of naïve himself here in this moment, like-- of all the decisions... but the other half is SOMETHING clicked in Max's mind on this--

But mostly I want to focus on that expression. He's so damn smug-- like he's got a plan, smug and smooth, ready to try and steal the advantage... and I have... opinions on other nuances that might be hiding in that smile. But-- well, it's just not something that can easily be covered all in this--

BUT

It's these two SIDES. And his clear motivation, that actually makes Max a really, really strong and interesting villain to speculate and think about. ALSO-- On the topic of my prior rant...

Max DEFINITELY is the kind of person who probably-- had the movie not unfolded as it did, just be likely to think Mummy was just "another discovery" and tool to use to boost his own reputation.

But as we all know-- ultimately it all came back down on him and backfired.

Jack Rackham

Is honestly the most bland and kind of... confusing almost part of The Secret of King Midas. Like, I almost get him, but then compared to Max, there's just... Nothing to really work with in terms of fanfiction for missing scenes, alternative takes on the universe and story-- and even for his basic motivation it feels like something is... missing or unexplained. Not quite paid off properly.

But then, a lot of things in the sequel kind of pan out in a weird way that I have... much to grumble on.

"So cute, the power of Midas goes way beyond wealth my dear"

"Midas' power, is the power of the GODS! The power to Rule the World!"

Aaaand then this feels like it doesn't actually get a proper explanation or framing or anything to explain what that even MEANS. It's kind of nebulous to how things pan out and unfold. Also, just in general for movie 2, we didn't see enough of Rackham for him to make a proper impact or landing...

Like, for all the world aside the romance subplot, Rackham's presence in this movie is the MOST FORCED THING. He just feels... incomplete, or like something is missing. And then worse, obligatory. With next to no impact aside a few expressions that only lead to more internal confusion and screaming because WHAT DOES THIS EVEN MEAN?! What was meant to be going on here?

And that stupid, stupid line--

Makes me wonder if there was some other factor supposed to be at play with the collar. Since honestly-- Just the touch of gold doesn't really speak highly to "the power of the gods".

Rackham... in comparison to Max is just-- so empty.

And again...

The last thing that just drives my confusion(along with a conspiracy based on framing, set pieces and other things) is this expression, and specifically who it's aimed at.

Bonus Tiffany & The Archaeological Community

So...

Hot take but-- Movie 2's villain should have been Tiff. Well, halfway anyway... And I have... already mostly ranted on the topic-- But not really enough to truly kind of get over my TRUE frustration. Which has now combined into how nebulous and almost... overloaded movie 2 feels the more I rewatch the rest of it.

BUT LIKE--

If there is one rule that we see time and time again when discoveries are made that challenge things. THEY ARE NOT ACCEPTED. People just like to think, to believe that we know the most about the past already. That there's a strict timeline to everything that happened. And if mythology and stories come into it-- Just for crying out loud--

The issue persists.

People denying anything that challenges the view already established. Up to and including the mishandling of archaeological digs and finds. Destruction of artefacts and we all know that the ones who get the brunt of it are the younger folks, those who're out of the "default" and well... ladies.

Which yeah-- not really surprising because sexism still stands and rings strong... but here...

DESPITE THE PAPYRUS BEING FOUND-- We didn't actually get to see the end result of that... And how it was taken beyond a giant presentation. There would have been authenticators-- people going over every INCH of that thing and then more-- so, so many people who would STILL call it fake.

Since we all know! Magic isn't real, myths didn't happen. So this must be some exaggerated story as well right?

WHICH ALSO-- Arguably this whole angle, the potential of the plot being just-- Driven by this-- It's more in line with the motives that are set up for Tiffany. The BIGGEST DISCOVERY in recent history. And also again, I can talk about some incomplete arcs, because this actually gives EVERYONE that little bit more room to breath.

Also serves as a bit more of a move on from movie 1 for Tadeo, first his hero(Max), wasn't all he appeared, and now-- the villain is okay, not exactly defined so much, more abstract in the community decrying the evidence. Denying-- Quite likely mishandling the papyrus since it can't really be what it claims.

Actually make the papyrus relevant, along with Sara's journal of notes on the project for more than one scene... and POSSIBLY EXPLAIN THAT LINE FROM RACKHAM.

Power of the Gods... and the mystery of Sara's kind of echo/response line to it.

“There are too many signs that the power of Midas shouldn’t be trifled with, I’m just saying that maybe the collar shouldn’t see the daylight”

We could have even still had that climax, just with some alterations, and let Tiffany come full circle in the theming. Set up and payoff, with even the legend being mirrored. But anyway... yeah.

Just in general, the villains most effective here are the ones who give us more than just that surface level empty sense. That have presence that's felt and echoes throughout the whole MOVIE and story. Which is definitely Muntz and Max, without them something is fundamentally lost.

Meanwhile Rackham is there, but he feels obligatory, without a proper explanation and if you removed him--

Tiffany could have become a mirror to Muntz in a similar way to Max-- BUT also much closer. She's set up PERFECTLY for it as well. Her adoration and eagerness, that bright hope yet. And it would be so easy to still have the main beats be the same-- Without much of an issue of the plot push either.

Rackham's sense of presence in the movie is so... dismal anyway--

And as for that climax. Well, you have to prove every aspect right?

BUT then it wouldn't make sense for Tadeo to make any kind of sacrifice there. To come full circle, it would need to be Tiffany. And the collar ACTUALLY could be sacrificed like in the legend and Tad first assumed.

#THybrid Jones #Pixar #Up(Pixar)#Tadeo Jones #Max Mordon #Rackham(Tadeo Jones)#Tiffany(Tadeo Jones)#Charles Muntz #Villains #This is filled with salt tbh #Because I wanted to RANT #But also I got to expand a bit on some things that bothered me #BUT NOT ALL OF THEM #Because I need to finish a certain fic so I can frame some of my posts properly #There are two moments cherry picked in this post I want to rant further on especially #But only one I'm sort of halfway able to

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apricot-kingdom · 4 years

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Random Yugioh ideas/headcanons/au’s and basically things I just usually consider when writing them or ideas I had, mostly the Bakura’s and Ishtar’s Names used for yami’s and Hikari’s: Ryou (Hikari), Bakura (Yami Bakura), Thief (Thief King Bakura), Malik (Hikari), Tau (Yami Marik), Yuugi (Hikari), Yami (Yami Yuugi), Atemu (The pharaoh) Under the cut

if twins the Yami’s are the younger twins not the Hikari’s and usually Malik and Tau (Yami Marik) are usually the youngest despite being tallest. Yami isn’t necessarily always Yuugi’s twin, their the same age but Yuugi’s still just older and they found Yami one day either by him just showing up and them taking him in, or him being taken to Grandpa’s shop by someone who assumes the quiet boy is Yuugi

Thief (Thief King Bakura) is a huge family man, he’s ultra friendly, fluffy, happy and everything else. He’ll definitely hug you and befriend you. He’ll call you little brother or sister or just count you as family regardless, and whilst he holds a large section within himself full of hurt, hatred and everything else. And if he lets it out, you’ll definitely need damage control, so never hurt his family. He’ll be after you and you’ll regret even crossing him. He’s kinda short so it’s easy to just look past him, but he will not lose his second family, he will not allow that to happen. He’s absolutely terrifying when he desires to be, it’s hard to believe sometimes but his friends/family know better

Tau (Yami Marik) is a selective mute, it depends on the situation. (Au wise.) But most part its because of childhood trauma thinking his voice is demonic somewhat, but he’ll talk to you, its just more —more exclusive who he’ll talk to, or in another situation its because he wants to try being whole and in a way hearing his own voice, makes him kinda still feel apart of Malik. Either way he’ll only talk to you if he’s comfortable, otherwise he’ll write, ignore or sign to you. When he does speak, his voice is like venom, it’s always deep and somewhat scary/pissed off sounding or he has a smug amused tone he can use

Tau called Malik’s father Daddy, because the man was so formal, he knew it was damn childish. But it sure enough was a good blow to the man who desired to be called nothing less than father by his children and Master by Rishid (Rishid’s too good for him anyway). So Tau goes around calling him Daddy in the most cutesy childlike tone he can muster. He does so out of mere habit even years after killing the guy

Like Tau Yami (Yami Yuugi) is often silent, he’ll talk a lot to Yuugi. More so than anyone, and he’ll definitely speak up if someone needs defending. He’ll fight for the side he regards are right or for friends. However most times he only otherwise speaks to say things he finds absolutely important to do so, or ask an odd question now and again just about life, Bakura (Yami Bakura) can usually stir up an argument though

If Malik and Tau are twins, and both receive the initiation, unlike Malik, Tau gets demonic wings instead of angel ones

Tau has little to no interest in sex -sorry to people who write him purely as something that just really wants to sleep with Ryou or someone. I think he has more important things to him he needs to think about. Like firstly learning to move on from hate and become a whole person, learning to trust, learning basic human touch, he would much rather what people probably call vanilla things, holding his hand as you walk, leaning on him in movies, sleeping beside him in bed (this one is important because sleep is one of the most vulnerable states a person has and your trusting him), just trusting him, giving the benefit of the doubt, it confuses him but he just adores it. Surprisingly to most, these days when there’s no giant revenge scheme going on he actually really really enjoys the mundane things of life and finally receiving the love and care no one offered him in the first place

Tau changes his name a lot, he’s often concerns himself with being Malik, he does not want to be Malik. Not any more. He’ll let you know when he changes it, sometimes the name can last nothing more then that day, other times it can last months. There’s still one he usually circles back to regardless of all this and most times if others know he’s chosen a name he wants for a while they are more than willing to help him with getting it legally changed regardless of the amount of times they do it

Bakura/Thief have a motherly tendency/urge, Ryou is pretty caring in the sense he can play nurse, but Bakura/Thief have a strong protect my children type thing. They’ll make sure your fed, shower, do your teeth, get some sleep (they were bad at first because they forgot how much sleep someone should get), but all those basic things

Art wise: Ryou: He’s better at writing stories, and draws a chibi like thing now and again Bakura: He draws stick figures, and can’t draw well at all. He gets paint everywhere humanly possible but loves it and is slowly improving Thief: He does either complex Egyptian stuff or finger painting. No in between Malik: Prefers to take photos of other things Tau: He’s basically a professional, mostly avoids too much realism and goes more Manga style. It started as an anger management activity but he found he actually quite enjoyed it and it allowed him to express himself better

Bakura wears hearing aid’s (Au) I don’t really have a reason for why. I just started writing him with bad hearing and I incorporate into their backstory, so Ryou/Bakura’s Mum was completely deaf and thus didn’t hear the horn or any warnings and died in a car accident with Amane. Bakura’s not deaf completely but he does need hearing aids for the rest of his life and he can struggle hearing things too softly spoken or farther away sometimes

Malik is actually very camera shy. He loves taking photos of life to capture everything he was missing out on in childhood on film to keep forever. Except he hates to be in photos himself, he’ll avoid it if humanly possible. I think so because he always hid behind everyone to the very end of his arc, behind each of his minions and then just in the back of others minds, behind his brother and his Yami, stood behind the group going to the last duel, you know? (I mean he was trying to blend in the background during Rishid’s duel but I also don’t think despite his fashion he’s actually a very showy person, he enjoys being dramatic and such but can get put off by too large of crowds. I think this is slightly related to just his upbringing, he was brought up with just his family. So whilst he has a powerful personality, so many people can still be a concern to him. He just tries to not let it get in his way too much if plausible)

Bakura and Malik rely on each other for comfort more than anything just finally having someone there by their sides who has a great pain, something no one will probably ever fully understand. And they can talk about it the other will listen without hesitation, but they also understand you don’t always have to say something

Malik isn’t keen on horror, he’s low key traumatised from flashes of his fathers murder and his back, he respects others like it and can put up to it til a point and jokes about similar things but otherwise he’d prefer not to watch it if possible

Malik and Tau prefer cartoons over realism, it’s easier to understand and just more comforting, even if people comment their watching things way too young for them. F*** those people, they can watch what ever they want

Meat actually makes Malik and Tau sick from the lack of it in their diet so they don’t eat it purely on that basis and that’s how they grew up. No other reasoning behind it

Malik is actually stronger than Yami Marik, and as a villain he actually is one that has the support of family and friends to support this. Just hear me out on the strength thing, sure Tau takes over when he’s mentally torn and worn out. That’s because Malik’s in fact at his worse, usually he’s able to keep Tau locked away within him, so in a fight I do believe Malik would win even if I think Tau would have more visible muscle. Tau’s more about mind games and tricks to assist him

Also Yuugi is stronger than people give him credit for. He may be small and look a tad squishable. But remember he was in a burning building struggling between completing the puzzle, pulling the puzzle, holding onto it whilst his two friends one of which use to be in a gang pulled him desperately from it and he wouldn’t let go. They actually decided they had a better shot of pulling the metal spike out of the concrete or whatever that thing was made from then they did removing an almost passed out Yuugi from his puzzle. So I’d say Yuugi’s pretty damn strong

Hiroto and Ryuji fight over girls constantly but they are basically together and this is just them trying to flirt. Truthfully they can only flirt on those they aren’t actually interested in, they’re masters until it’s someone they like like and then it’s like c*** what do I do which is how they get with each other

Thief is the king of pick up lines, puns, flirting in general. Where Atemu can’t flirt to save his life and he tries hard but its barely recognisable and he almost always screws it up. Thief finds it amusing and loves that he tries. However on the other spectrum. They’ve been dating and living together for like a year now and Thief only just figured out because they were on a date and he said they should go on a date sometime. They’ve been acting as an exclusive couple up til this point, he just honestly didn’t notice it just enjoying the ride

despite dating and Thief going as far as to call Atemu his future hubby before they even get engaged. Sometimes Thief admits that a large part deep within him will always somewhat hate Atemu, and blame him. He’s tried moving on but sometimes it can just fire up. They don’t always talk about it sometimes they don’t just talk and merely sit together or sometimes he just gets upset and Atemu tries to just be there. Not always try to understand or even offer pointless advice more so just be there for Thief regardless And thief will also admit, sometimes he avoids saying Atemu’s name using all his childish nicknames he can make up because of their history. And sometimes even the name can just bring all that back up for him. He truly loves Atemu and it does make him feel guilty or upset but Atemu always reassures him its ok to feel the way he does Just a little bonus note: Thief’s death pack on Atemu has changed, he still declares if Atemu’s to be killed, he’ll be the one to do it. But now more so its, we’ll be together til death does us part and even then he promises Atemu he’ll never be able to get rid of him

Mai is Jonouchi’s big sister (Adopted). She took him in as her little brother and Serenity. They often fight over what’s on tv and she shows Serenity how to put on make-up and perfumes. Goes clothes shopping and stuff. She had a big house growing up but no one to share it with, but now she may not have as big as place but she’s got a proper family

Ryou’s Dad Hideki is the king of dad jokes

Whilst Amane was still alive and a baby, Ryou excitedly took her into school for show and tell. He was really proud of his sister from the day she was born and wanted all to see. In saying that he was protective of her with others, when anyone was around his little sister he was ensuring to watch them with her even falling over a few times from leaning too far to keep an eye on them

Bakura always makes friends by pure accident and he doesn’t realise for ages. Then he freaks out about it. Because. How. When why. What the. But then their his and they are never gonna go anywhere. That or if its where he shares a body with Ryou he does it originally for his own cover, but then after time he starts just going there in general and before he knows it and yes he doesn’t know it he’s friends with the lot of them. Plus sometimes Ryou just taps out with them and at first he got irritated because he didn’t want to deal with that but he doesn’t remember at what point he stopped even noticing if anything it made him happy When he realises he has a huge c*** moment and just takes a few days to process and figure it out in his head

Au Thief, his village did burn down or everyone was killed regardless. He’s still the soul survivor, and going to another town no one knows exactly what to do with him. But they figure out he had an Uncle currently in Egypt. So he’s taken to him, Hideki Bakura. An archaeologist. Hideki takes him back to Japan to meet his other two sons Ryou and Bakura, who he acts as an older brother too now

Thief and Atemu are mostly the shortest, however instead in Au’s. Their usually Yuugi and Ryou’s cousins who had to move in due to other things back home

When Ishizu tries to display things from their home, at the museum. Malik and Tau constantly steal them. With the excuse. ‘It was mine first and you stole it from me.’

Thief is blind in his scarred eye

Bakura’s first name is Florence, and no. This has nothing. NOTHING. To do with the abridged series. Its just his name, he got it from his mother. It was a family name and whilst he often hates it and loves Japan because you can use your last name without question. But no matter how many times he fills the paper work out to change it. He never does, he can’t. Deep down its apart of him and he actually does want to keep it. He likes it. People he’s close to can call him Florence or Flow for short (or Thief calls him Flow Flow)

Yuugi and Bakura like doing puzzles together it’s oddly calming and allows Bakura time to nut out his own thoughts and if either one wishes to speak they are both open minded to what is being said. They listen to piano music a lot during this time

Bakura hates to admit it but he actually really enjoys the mundane things, cooking, doing the washing, things that just remind him he’s alive

When Tau can’t express himself, emotionally or otherwise. Too frustrated or anything like that, he often draws animals to represent people finding it easier to explain that way rather than words, he’s a lion, Ryou’s a bunny, Malik a fox, Bakura a cat, etc. I kinda imagine him drawing them a bit like how they look in Kamy’s animal au. So others know to look for them in his books and if the lion ever looks down it's a good time to start trying to comfort him. Since he’s not always the best and expressing himself verbally he’ll scream maybe but otherwise he often keeps it bottled up somewhat like Malik did when he created him. So Ryou and such know to look at how the lions doing in his books because if its not doing well something might be wrong

Bakura, Yami (Yami Yuugi), Tau, Atemu, Thief and Malik were confused as frig when they were introduced to video games but after learning about them they are get every possible console to play them, in group games like Mario Kart and such, Bakura and Thief might stand in front of Yami or Atemu whilst playing or put his hands out, Malik pokes out his tongue. Thief can not sit still, sure he does try to get in Atemu and Yami’s way, but he still doesn’t always do so on purpose, he jumps up and kicks out, gets on the edge of his seat, jumps off the couch everything. Malik will talk and yell at the game and has been known between him and Tau to throw their controllers at the screen

Ryou gets sea sick easily, Bakura’s really confused at first when he jumps on a boat in Ryou’s body, he’s basically sick the entire time and from then on he knew to take the pills

Malik and Tau can’t swallow pills. They just can’t, they try really hard but their unable to force themselves to swallow and spit them out time and time again, they even try the hide it in your food and it doesn’t work

Thief is a neat freak, and he cleans when he’s pissed off these days. And since all his things are clean and in place he’ll break into his ‘friends’ places and clean and if someone’s home, he’ll rant to them. Atemu often makes a tea and just sits nodding. Whereas others like Bakura, Tau and such will purposefully make messes as he tries to clean so its a contest if they can mess it up faster then he can clean it Malik tells him off for touching his garage because it may look like a mess and sure it probably was but thats how he wanted it and he knew where his things were. Malik made a wall of people not allowed to clean it has two things under it, a note saying ‘ANYONE WHO IS NOT ME MALIK ISHTAR’ and then a photo of Thief which he wrote ‘ESPECIALLY YOU’ beneath beside the note

Diabound is kinda like a vampire, because whilst yes he’s a snake man he’s a snake so your telling me won’t bite anyone, he can fly and instead of turning into a bat he turns into a white snake and slithers up you the hugs warmly around your shoulders as he gets ready to bite (Not really a- anything? Just something I thought about kinda just figured I’d throw it on the end because why not?)

#decided I'd just post them #honestly I don't really think anyone will see these #so all good #yugioh #ygo #still procrastinating doing things #ishtars #malik #marik #apricot #ryou #bakura #yami bakura #I don't take any of these seriously and a lot probably wouldn't work in canon but still #I like them #if you have more feel free to share #if you like one of these in particular feel free to tell me #if you'd like I can put it in a seperate post #sorry for the random spam of my writing and stuff

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secretagentspydetectiveninja · 5 years

Text

Just a Friend

AO3

Growing up so alone had never been easy for Adrien.

Sure, he was rich. His room was filled with everything he could ever want, over the years changing from toy cars and stuffed animals to video games and basketball hoops. His family, though a little distant at times, were there for him – at least until his mother vanished, and the world got even lonelier.

Chloé helped, of course. He didn’t know anyone else around his age. She always seemed so very clingy, though, in a way he couldn’t quite understand. Was she like this with her friends at school too? He suspected she wasn’t, considering the way she spoke about her classmates, though Adrien didn’t exactly mind. The company was nice.

His life had never been normal. In a way, he wished it could be. There were so many things he had seen on TV, read about in books, things he was sure he could never experience if he never got out of the house. Was life out there really like that? Could it truly be an exciting adventure?

He’d been starting to be convinced that it would never be anything special.

Until he met Ladybug.

Adrien had wondered often about why Chloé stuck to him like glue, and after starting school with her and realizing that this was not normal behaviour, it confused him even more. But then again, Chloé seemed to be more open with her thoughts than most (even if most of those thoughts seemed to be… well, a tad cruel).

So perhaps it was common to feel so strongly about people. That happened in all the TV shows that Adrien had grown up watching, after all. Granted, most of those shows had been anime. But still. That counted, right?

He had been so sheltered, it had been impossible to really get to know anyone well enough to form any kind of relationship beyond the superficial, something that his fellow classmates already seemed to handle naturally. He wanted to make friends. He wanted to feel special to people.

And when he met Ladybug, he was sure she was the one.

She was so strong, so inspiring! The way she had stood up to Hawk Moth and taken down an akuma villain, Adrien just couldn’t stop thinking about it. She was so beautiful, too, so incredibly gorgeous, almost too bright to even look at directly.

In a way, she was almost too perfect. The fact that Adrien, as Chat Noir, could speak to her every single day if he wanted to, could work beside her as a team, could gain her trust and friendship and know that she was counting on him… it was all so perfect. Almost like living right inside one of those TV shows, where everything fell directly into place.

He and Ladybug were made for each other. Weren’t they?

It hurt when she didn’t love him back, not in the way that he had wanted. Was heartbreak supposed to make you cry? Adrien wondered if his lack of tears made him shallow, or selfish. He barely even knew who she was, after all! How could he have fallen in love with someone beneath a mask? And then not even have the decency to be upset enough about it?!

The biggest problem was that it didn’t make sense. They were the two crime-fighting heroes of Paris, the duo who could take down the worst of villains and still have time for a pun and a laugh.

How could Ladybug not love him, when everything had seemingly fallen into place so perfectly?

Adrien knew, deep down, that he didn’t know anything about real life relationships, not truly. Everything he had learnt was from anime, of all things. Not exactly realistic. So perhaps this, this beautiful love story for himself he had created in his head, wasn’t set in stone.

But he couldn’t admit it to himself. He loved her so much! He had tried so hard, for so long, had so much hope in his heart. To let it shatter… no, he couldn’t. Not yet. Not now.

Adrien wondered a little why Marinette could be so ditzy around him. Was she nervous? He was a model, after all, it did make sense. Or perhaps she was like this with everyone.

He didn’t mind, though. It was… kind of cute.

No regrets about making friends with her, then. That bright, spunky, clumsy classmate of his was a lot of fun to spend time with. It was the kind of friendship he had daydreamed about when younger, hugging a stuffed toy to his chest and wondering if he would ever have the chance to make it happen.

“She’s just a friend,” he told Plagg. He didn’t want it getting weird.

A friend…

Was the thought of that simple phrase supposed to warm his heart so much?

Chat Noir stared at the screen, shocked. When he had agreed to be interviewed on Nadja Chamack’s prime-time TV show, this hadn’t been what he was expecting.

Ladybug had kissed him?

Right on the lips, during the Dark Cupid attack apparently, and he had remembered none of it. All he could recall of that day was trying so hard to confess his true feelings for her, only to wake up after a spurt of possession and right in the middle of a battle.

“I wasn’t kissing you, I was saving you!” Ladybug insisted, only turning to him for a second before continuing to talk to Nadja.

She wasn’t kissing him, she was saving him…

He couldn’t wrap his head around it. Why had she kissed him?

And more importantly, why was he weirded out by it?

He had wanted to kiss her. Heck, he had tried for a Spider-man kiss so many times now, only for her to playfully push him away with a Not now, kitty. Kisses were for love. He knew that, everyone knew that. He loved her, so it only made sense that he wanted a kiss.

Never before had he actually thought about the real, physical act of kissing her.

And apparently it had happened. Should he feel happy about that? Sad that he had no memory of it, no matter how hard he tried? All he really felt was a vague sense of… unpleasantness. Like being a little kid again, and having to turn away whenever anyone in a movie kissed, because it was gross, and ugh, why would anyone do that.

But this was Ladybug! He should feel differently about her! After all, he was in love, right?

Wow, there were a lot of photos of Adrien on the walls in Marinette’s room. And in a few other places, too. He had seen it on TV, he had seen it close up as Chat Noir when fighting Troublemaker, and now he had confronted her about them himself.

She was a fan of fashion. She loved the clothes that he modelled. That was the reason.

Well, though Adrien did suspect that him being a rather aesthetically pleasing model maybe had something to do with it too, part of him was relieved. So far, every time someone had showed interest in him other than pure platonic affection, they got clingy. Chloé first, then Lila, then the millions of fans who chased him down on street corners.

Even if Marinette did feel that way, she wasn’t showing it. Perhaps she knew Adrien needed the space. In any case, it warmed his heart so much, even just thinking about Marinette being there for him put an involuntary smile on his face – she was his friend, and he loved her all the more for it.

The first rejection from Ladybug had hurt. But Adrien couldn’t let a setback like that keep him down for long. The two of them had grown even closer since then, and if she couldn’t gain the affections of the boy who she loved in her daily life, then would she give him a chance?

The second rejection hit him hard.

He gave the rose to Kagami instead, the beautiful, haughty fencer who listened to him venting. She wasn’t someone he had really considered very much, far too hung up on Ladybug to even think about going for anyone else. Why would he, if he didn’t love them?

But what if he did love Kagami?

Duelling her was better than duelling anyone else. There was a certain ferocity to it, an electric edge, giving Adrien the same kind of adventurous buzz as he got when fighting villains as Chat Noir. It was so freeing to experience it as a civilian too, thanks to that one worthy rival who never went easy on him no matter what.

Change target.

Could he do that? Choose to love someone else?

He had to ask someone for help. Anyone in his household? No, never them. Nathaniel and Marc? Mylène and Ivan? Alya and Nino? Juleka and Rose?

No – Marinette.

His friend. She was the one he wanted help from. Something in his heart always pointed him at Marinette. Maybe he should listen.

Adrien sat in his limo, on the way back from the ice rink, mind whirling. He probably didn’t love Kagami. He couldn’t just choose to love her, after all, it didn’t work like that. Everyone had told him you couldn’t just pick and choose who you fell in love with. He still loved Ladybug.

Yet, she still didn’t love him…

Somehow, he was more confused than heartbroken, and that just confused him even more! Unrequited love was meant to hurt, wasn’t it? And it did! But in a way that he simply couldn’t describe, a way that he suspected was different from what he was meant to feel.

His life really wasn’t like an anime, no one’s was. Perhaps his love for Ladybug wasn’t quite the same either.

Of course he already knew love wasn’t like how they showed it in movies and TV shows, or all those melodramatic songs on the radio. They were just exaggerating. Getting all sweaty and nervous, butterflies in your stomach, wanting to kiss your crush all the time, unable to speak? As if that actually happened in real life!

It was more like… a deep admiration. Caring for a person. Enjoying time spent in their company. Emotions Adrien knew how to feel, but didn’t know how to say.

He was always so happy when he was with Ladybug. In fact, he had always been happy whenever he was with her.

It was starting to occur to him – perhaps he didn’t want any more from her than he already had.

And maybe, just maybe, that was why this unrequited love didn’t quite sting him the way it was supposed to.

What a day. First the return of so many previous akumas, a fight with Hawk Moth himself, and now having to leave the class picnic for some gala his father was making him attend. Even now with more freedom, he was more isolated than anyone else he knew.

But as he walked towards the limo he couldn’t get a smile off his face, the world around him seeming brighter and more cheerful than it had been before, and not because of the heroes’ triumph over Hawk Moth and his peacock helper.

But because Marinette cared about him.

It was hard to put into words how much her friendship meant to him. The thing was, Nino spent so much time with Alya these days, the two of them alone and Adrien unwilling to interfere when they seemed so happy together.

He had always found Nino so heartwarmingly funny, really – going all ridiculous over his crush on Marinette, now using any excuse to gush about Alya in a way that almost seemed too much. It certainly was cute. But somehow, Adrien wondered if it could possibly be sincere, when it seemed so much like a movie romance come true. He’d already learnt that life was not like movies, or books, or anime! Did people just act like it was, to seem more mature or something? Was Nino doing that?

Marinette was around, at least, and as much of a hero as a civilian could be. At this point he considered her almost the same way he considered Ladybug – a wonderful, valiant friend who he was honoured to spend time with, someone who cared about him and trusted him, someone fun to hang around.

She had grabbed his face and kissed his cheek, and part of him wondered why his classmates cheered so hard at such a cute display of friendship. From what he knew, most people didn’t really take friendship as seriously as he did. Maybe he was mistaken.

“Looks like she’s really got a thing for you,” Plagg drawled, hopping out of his pocket for a moment to stuff his face with Camembert.

Adrien shook his head, chuckling. “Nah, I told you, Marinette’s just a friend!”

“Mm, suit yourself.”

Just a friend… it felt a little unfair to call her that, as if being just a friend was worse, somehow. Friendship was wonderful! He’d been able to accept his friendship with Ladybug despite being in love with her, right? It didn’t break his heart, not like that. And Marinette’s friendship? The best gift in the world. It wasn’t just friendship. It was best friendship, true friendship, a friendship he was so grateful for having.

He loved spending time with Marinette. He loved it when she called him up to ask him to the movies with her (even if he wasn’t allowed to go), he loved it when they worked on their homework together in the library after school, he loved it when he went over to her place to play video games with her, and together they would laugh and chat and all Adrien’s worries would melt away for a little while.

In fact he felt the same way about her as…

He stopped.

Ladybug.

He felt that same way about Marinette as he did about Ladybug.

But surely that meant… was he in love with Marinette?

It didn’t make sense. Nothing about anything made sense. All the nonsense in TV shows, the ways his classmates acted, the way he felt with two of the most important people in his life – it made no sense at all!

Adrien tried to consider asking Marinette out, actually asking her out, like he had done with Kagami, like he had tried to do with Ladybug in the past before realizing he didn’t need it anyway. He properly thought about it this time.

And the truth was, he just didn’t want that with Marinette either.

Was it a pre-emptive, subconscious attempt at avoiding heartbreak? Was he supposed to be in love with Marinette? For everything people said about love not being a choice, it sure was feeling like one. He had chosen to not pursue Ladybug anymore, and any sadness about his love being unrequited had just melted away.

Maybe he wasn’t in love with Ladybug anymore, then. But his feelings about her hadn’t changed at all!

Was it possible…

He had never been in love with Ladybug?

No, surely that couldn’t be right. He had known it from so early on, hadn’t he? That Ladybug was the one for him.

But that, that had been the anime nonsense talking. That had been before he knew that actual, real life felt different. That had been him seeing how wonderful Ladybug was, how stunning, how beautiful, and believing that the only explanation for his admiration for her was love.

Of course, he did love her. The question was, was he in love?

It was impossible not to be hyperaware of everyone around him and their love lives, now that Adrien was trying to sort out his own. Nino explained to him in detail how his feelings changed while in the cage at the zoo with Alya, how the nerves suddenly hit, how his brain fogged up, all the clichés Adrien had written off as pure fiction.

He watched as Mylène and Ivan really did act all lovey-dovey with each other, constantly, never even bored, despite how oddly insincere it seemed. Surely that wasn’t real?

Chloé’s clinginess had long ended, and for that Adrien was glad. He cared about her, of course he did, after all they were friends, and Adrien loved his friends. But her previous affection had been stifling. Any romantic advances towards him had always seemed stifling, in fact.

And he did not go oblivious to his classmates’ blatant attempts to set him up with Marinette, despite the fact that he had already considered it, and come to the conclusion that he wasn’t in love with her – and hey, maybe never had been in love with anyone ever! – and then quickly getting rid of that thought from his mind because it was a little too heavy to think about for now.

All he wanted was to yell SHE’S MY FRIEND! at everyone, and know that no matter how much he insisted, no one was going to believe him. Because for everyone else, apparently life really was like an anime.

Well… most people. The only thing in Adrien’s bizarre confused mess of a mind that had actually made an ounce of sense recently was oddly enough, Alix’s, “Ugh, you guys are so gross!” But then again, that was just what she was like, no one ever bothered questioning it. She was just a weirdo.

But it did make Adrien feel just a little less alone.

So it was true. He hadn’t been in love with Ladybug. He hadn’t been in love with Marinette, either. Nor Kagami. Nor anyone else.

“Just the same as me!” Plagg said, before wolfing down another slice of Camembert.

But Plagg was a kwami, not a human, and things worked different. Adrien was a teenager. He had the growth spurts, he had the acne (well covered up by makeup), he had the mood swings and the insomnia and ticked all the boxes on the puberty checklist.

Except the box that said that teenagers got crushes, maybe on girls, maybe on boys, maybe on both.

Was there a box for neither?

The more he thought about it, the more he didn’t even want what every song on the radio said he was supposed to have. Getting all nervous around someone like that? Kissing them? Going all – all – mushy?

Those were all just things he had expected himself to do, and assumed that when the time came, he would want to. But what if he never wanted to? He wasn’t missing out, was he? Or was it some defect? Was he gay and subconsciously in denial?

His mind wouldn’t stop whirring. It was going to be a long night.

At 2am, he rolled over and picked his phone up, opening Google.

never been in love, he searched.

There were so many results. His tired eyes skipped past anything that didn’t make sense to his already swamped brain. There was an ad for André the ice-cream man there, and ugh, Adrien didn’t want to think about him and his obsession with romance right now–

There.

He clicked on a page and opened it, and read.

Then he read more, and more, and more. Pages and pages, as much as he could find.

Finally, at long last, things were beginning to make sense. Here, in the darkest hours of the night, all alone, he found a light. Something that explained why his experiences were not universal, why his life was not the anime it was supposed to be, why he seemed so different from everyone else, and why he’d had to convince himself that he was in love with Ladybug to feel anything resembling normal.

He was…

“Aromantic,” he whispered.

Yeah, that sounded nice.

He smiled to himself as he put the phone back down and closed his eyes. Aromantic.

As soon as Marinette walked through the door, Adrien leapt over and hugged her tight. It was unusual for him – he wasn’t the one normally initiating the hugging. That was Nino, or Chloé, or… well, Marinette.

“So you’re aro?” she asked.

Aro – oh, it still gave him a welcome spike of adrenaline whenever he thought of that word, the word that meant that there was a tick-box for people who didn’t fall in love, and that was okay.

“Yeah, I think I am!”

“Wow, I’m really happy for you!”

He let go and looked at her, a little more solemnly. “Are you okay with it then? A lot of people in our class told me that you had a crush on me, and so…”

She smiled, that wonderful, sunny Marinette smile. “Don’t worry about me. As you once said to me… I’m really glad you’re my friend.”

He almost teared up in relief. Hearing that phrase, hearing her call him a friend with such pride in her voice, it ripped all his fears away.

“I’m really glad you’re my friend too.”

That was just how he wanted it. Marinette was his friend, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

#on my computer i titled this 'arodrien acegreste' which tells you everything you need to know #ml spoilers #miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #miraculace #random stuff #aish writes #this is so self indulgent lol

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hero-tech-institute · 6 years

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Student Profile: Eijiro Kirishima

“Hey there! You can call me Eijiro Kirishima, or if you wanna go by Pro Hero names, the Sturdy Hero: “Red Riot”! I’m a proud, promising, and totally manly member of Class 1-A at U.A. High School, the main setting (for the most part, anyway) of Kohei Horikoshi’s hit manga and anime, My Hero Academia! Aside from being one of the core cast members of the series, I’m also just one of the many, many people in my home universe who have Quirks, superpowers unique to each person, and it’s one of the reasons why I’ve enrolled at U.A. High - and in the Hero Tech universe... well, I think you can guess. Oh, also, I look way more manly than most people my age, which means that I’m actually underage! So my portrayal in canon is probably not the best for ‘the bugs and the bats’ as the saying goes, so if you wanna try your hand at that then just talk to the HTI version of me and I’ll more than likely say yes. I’m a real challenge-seeker, so you can bet I’m not fussy when aged up!”

“As confirmed by my creator, I was 15 years old at the start of the series and am currently 16 as of the latest episode, as well as 5′7″ in height. My weight wasn’t defined in canon, but I’m a bit on the weighty side thanks to a lot of heavy-duty muscle, so let’s go with 160 pounds for now. While I do work out a lot, though, it wasn’t just my brute strength that got me to one of the highest-ranking Hero Training high schools in all of Japan - that honor actually goes to my Quirk, Hardening, which does... well, exactly what you think it does. Guess you can say I’m thick-skinned, heh! That and I can give myself a literal edge in battle, which is extremely useful! What does that have to do with my Pro name and amazing hair, though? Well, my idol since middle school, Crimson Riot, has a similar quirk to mine on top of the same manly life policy of living without regrets. The sheer amount of aspiration that I had to be like him changed me in a lot of ways, mostly for the better. Why else do you think I wanted to get into U.A. in the first place?”

“As far as my personality goes, let’s just say that once I started training to become a pro hero, there really was no going back. My drive to be like Crimson Riot and other big-name pros in every way possible has molded me into an outgoing, kindhearted, and honorable guy, and as someone who strives to make friends with everyone - in no small part because I was that determined to move past my younger days as an unconfident and unmanly little kid - I’ve made connections with and bought together everyone in Class 1-A, including Katsuki Bakugo of all people, who... well, let’s just say I’m the only person he’s nice to for a reason. At the same time, I still show hints of being self-deprecating, overconfident, and oblivious at times, thanks to a combo platter of my history of being a tad overshadowed (thanks a lot, Mina), my Quirk being straightforward - albeit not very flashy - and my habit of working out rather than sitting down with boring old books! Still, I’ve gone places since the old days, and I won’t have it any other way!”

“So, where does that take me as an HTI student? Well, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that as a sophomore in Sports and Exercise Science and a college star hero with the scholarship to go with it, I’ve gotten to know a ton of people on campus, both teachers and classmates, and a lot of them have shown the kind of strength, heroism, and manliness I hold with lots of respect. While Denki Kaminari, Mina Ashido, and the aforementioned Bakugo will always be my true companions from U.A., I’ve netted a lot of besties from outside my home series, too. Yang Xiao Long is probably the closest friend of mine outside of Class 1-A, being just as committed to being a hero as me, and her ability to grow from certain experiences in her canon was one of the things that allowed us to hit it off like it was nothing, that and she gave me a damn good fight when we first met. Have you seen her shotgun gauntlets?! If that isn’t manly, I don’t know what is! There’s also both genders of Corrin/Kamui, who are equally sweet and friendly although a little more mellow and philosophical than me, preferring to read rather than fight, though we all share the same ideals and strive to make the world a better, less treacherous place. We don’t always see eye to eye but when we do, no villain in the world can stop us. And of course, there’s Ben Tennyson. His character growth has actually been a slight reverse from mine, being way more cocky and overconfident when he was little and toning it down as a teenager, but he knows how to do the right thing, and has more than enough amazing shapeshifting powers to pull it off. Does whatever the Omnitrix or Ultimatrix does count as a Quirk? I haven’t studied that yet.”

“That's it for my info, I guess. I know the dean needs to read a little more into my home series but I’m sure he’ll get by with what he knows so far, and I’m sure he’s seen enough of me in action to keep me in character. Regardless, here’s to a truly manly time at Hero Tech, and a lot of both badass fight scenes and fluffy roleplay threads to come!”

#hero-tech-institute #Student Profiles #Muse Info #My Hero Academia #Boku No Hero Academia #Eijiro Kirishima

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seriouslycromulent · 6 years

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OK. So I finished binge-watching Black Lightning on Netflix and ...

... Oh my damn! I really didn’t want to give this show a chance because I’m vehemently anti-Berlanti-verse and just general anti-CW writing, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I’m on board for Season 2 when it airs this fall.

I think a part of the reason this show works for me more than the other Berlanti-verse shows is because of Mara Brock Akil. She’s the executive producer, and I’d like to believe it’s her influence and leadership that makes the dialogue and characterization on Black Lightning just 10x more realistic and engaging than the hokey after-school specials that make up the rest of the DCtv world on the CW.

Add to that the fact that the acting is far better than what I’d expect from the CW universe, and I have to say...

I only started the show yesterday, and I’m already on episode 10 (of 13) finished. And now my biggest complaint is why didn’t this show get a full season from jump? But I shan’t dwell on the could haves and should haves. Instead, let me share why I’m enjoying this series so much:

The superhero is over the age of 40. Thank goodness! For a network dedicated to high cheek-boned youth and their parental figures occasionally offering a word of cliched advice, I’m so happy to see something developed outside of that superhero trope.

The main superhero has to juggle an actual family and full-time job. Now, like most superheroes, we don’t see him doing his job nearly as much as he should be when the action gets going, but it’s still somewhat believable that a high school principal can afford the life that he leads and have a family without going:”Where is all this money and time coming from?”

Team Anissa all the way! Granted, she did her old girlfriend wrong, and deserved to be called out on it, but she’s easily my second favorite character on the show.

Speaking of family dynamic and Anissa, how much do I love the relationship Jennifer and Anissa have as sisters?! Like seriously. They remind me of real life sisters. Not “TV” sisters. Their dialogue and behavior toward one another -- whether they’re arguing or supporting each other -- is so on point, I feel like I’ve heard these conversations before in person between different members of my family.

The constant commentary on Black Lightning’s outfit is cracking me up. I like how every other episode someone on the street or in the neighborhood compares his outfit to something they saw in Parliament Funkadelic or Earth, Wind & Fire. :-)

Jill Scott. She was a wonderful surprise to the cast, especially in the role she played. I wish she had had more screen time because Ms. Scott just has the most magnetic presence, and I’ve never seen her get to play a role like this.

Ha! The Garfield High School mascot is a panther. I see what you did there!

Other cameos I’m feeling: Senator Nina Turner. Roland Martin. Antonio Fargas. I would love to see more of this type of diverse cameos in the future.

Again, I know this is a CW show, so the younger audiences are their bread and butter. But I really like the 1970s music they have playing during Black Lightning’s fight scenes. I feel like it’s a great tip of the hat to the comic book’s 1970s’ origins, and well, most of the songs are just great jams. I appreciate the hip hop music too, plus the original songs written clearly for the show. But the ‘70s music is a nice touch.

Soooooo ... Khalil? Can I get your number? Because damn if that child ain’t fine.

In episode 10, when that lady tried to drop her A/C unit and microwave on top of Black Lightning in the alley ... I damn near spit out my water! And when she said her name was, “Rent. Car-Note-Electric” I almost fell out of my chair. See, that’s something you just would not hear on Supergirl or The Flash.

Like most CW shows, one of my biggest problems with Black Lightning in the beginning is that they don’t write transitions well. For the first 5 episodes, you constantly feel like they’ve cut a scene that had some important information or character development for a scene they left in. Legends of Tomorrow did this a lot. I mean, a lot. But thankfully, as I continued to watch this show, that trait seems to have disappeared a bit and has become less of an issue.

I’m a bit thrown every time Tobias Whale makes a derogatory comment about Black people, then turns around and makes a derogatory comment about White people. Is it purely the result of self-hate borne from an abusive upbringing? Or is there a tad bit of genuine Uncle Ruckus lurking beneath the surface there?

Even though her attitude sometimes gets on my nerves, I love the exploration of a character with superhero powers who doesn’t want to be a superhero. We rarely see that explored in the mass media adaptation of comic books, so it’s a nice swerve compared to the current slate of superhero fare where we either see people eagerly wanting to be superheroes or we see villains reluctantly become anti-heroes, then superheroes. Jenn’s desire to just be normal in the face of the possibility that she might have a higher calling in life is a great trope subversion.

The makeup on Gambi’s face while he was being beaten and after it had supposedly dried was not good. Dude, seriously. The makeup department dropped the ball on their end with those details. It didn’t look realistic at all and it was too over-the-top.

Another great trope subversion: The techie/hacker of this franchise is a man over the age of 60 instead of a teen or young adult under the age of 30. Sweet!

Can I just say the Pierce family is probably my favorite biological superhero family of all-time? Yes. Yes, I can.

Favorite line of the season: “You got to bring ass to get ass.” - Detective Henderson

Jefferson’s dad’s old house has a wood-encased floor unit television set with a push button remote. Awwww, that reminds me of my grandmother’s old TV set.

I wonder if Gregg Henry ever gets tired of playing bad guys?

Khalil’s dreadlocks look ... not ... good. Either that’s a really bad wig or whoever twisted his hair has a broken hand.

Ahhh, so Syonide does know how to aim for the forehead when she shoots. Could’ve fooled me when she was fighting Thunder that first time.

So I mentioned that Anissa/Thunder is my second favorite character. That means someone else is my first. And it is ... Gambi. I know. I know. Go ahead and take my Black Card away, but from the first episode on, all I wanted was an episode dedicated to learning his secrets. And not just secrets as they relate to Alvin and Jefferson. I still want to know about his past. Like, why did he say he was a “monster” to Proctor? He stayed in Freeland even after he left the ASA, but does he have family that’s missing him or looking for him? Did he look after Jefferson in an official capacity after Alvin died? Was he his legal guardian? Or was Jeff in foster care and visited Gambi a lot? That man has been some places and did some things, and I can imagine a ton of backstory there to fill in. Yes, I know he’s the only white guy in the cast of mostly minorities, but to be frank, that just makes me respect James Remar more. I’ve been a fan of Remar’s for years. I even got to meet him 2 years ago at a convention in Philadelphia. And the man’s IMDB page is ridiculously long. Seriously, check it out. So he’s not hurting for work. He’s not up and coming. He’s not an older actor struggling to keep his name in the game. He’s a respected character actor who has a very successful career. The fact that he probably has white actors telling him to turn down this project because he’s “above” it, but he’s on the show as the anchor just makes me proud to call myself a fan. Either way, Gambi is a cool cat with a terrible mustache, whose background is a mystery. And I’m a nerd who loves mysteries and lots of character development in my genre fiction TV shows. It’s a perfect match. But yeah, he’s the only white regular on the show, and he’s my favorite. You mad? Good. His role could’ve easily been played by another actor of a different racial/ethnic background and I would’ve felt the same about Gambi. I pretty much like all scenes with him in them, especially when Gambi interacts with Anissa or Jennifer. That cool uncle vibe is sweet, and I think it adds a nice layer to the family dynamic on the show. Anyway, enough about him ... For now.

To sum up, I highly doubt I’ll ever go back to watching Arrow. Now that Jeremy Jordan has left Supergirl, I doubt I’ll be checking in on that show anymore either. Legends of Tomorrow is just ... ugh. But because I love Matt Ryan’s John Constantine so much, I just know I’ll probably peep an episode here and there throughout the new season. And I’ll probably be disappointed because ... ugh. And The Flash? I know a lot of people on Tumblr love that show, so I’m going to play nice and say nothing about it.

But I’ll definitely be checking out Black Lightning season 2 and hoping that the common CW failings don’t work their way into the show. It’s a highly entertaining series, and a breathe of fresh air for this crowded genre. Here’s hoping season 2 is a full 22-episode season!

#black lightning #cress williams #james remar #china anne mcclain #fandom #christine adams #nafessa williams #marvin krondon jones iii

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thesheeplepeople · 6 years

Photo

One of the three new OCS I've created. I'm really proud of this drawing.

______

Name: Freya Nakamura

Gender: Female

Age: 17

Hair Color: Brown

Eye Color: Green

Skin Color: Fair

Nationality: Swedish

Sexuality: Biromantic Asexual

Love Interest: Currently None

Relationships:

-Liam Eriksson: Father, deceased -Kairi Nakamure: Adoptive Mother -Yuri Nakamura: Adoptive Younger Brother

Quirk: Corporeal/'Second Chance'

Description: Seconds after passing, the quirk user can attatch themself to a new form to continue living. It is a one use quirk, and the user will be stuck in the chosen body until death. Freya's new body is a robotic one created by her father.

Pros: This new form is much stronger than Freya's former body. She does not feel cold or heat to a bothersome extent. She has enhanced strength and speed.

Cons: As stated, she is stuck in this form. A negative is that unless her body is upgraded, she will remain the same height and age appearance until she dies. While the body grants her immunity from illness, she can still die from taking too much damage and aging. She can't remember much about how the body is made, so she relies heavily on the tech class for repairs.

Personality: While incredibly kind, Freya can be described as, well, 'robotic'. She doesn't understand the concept of sarcasm, and has a habit of staring when she doesn't get a joke. This isn't because of her android body, despite people joking that it is. She's just always beenlike that. As a scientist's daughter, she has a serious nature while working, and does tend to get annoyed when people try joking with her while she's busy. She has a 'big sister' attitude, constantly doting on and worrying about Yuri.

Likes: Sunflowers, Reading, Hot Tea, Exploring The School, Watching Yuri Smile

Dislikes: Seeing Yuri Cry, Rain (she rusts a tad), Jokesters, Failing

Her Story:

Freya Nakamura, born Freya Eriksson, was born in Sweden. She was a frail child, nearly always confined to her bed. Her legs were weak, so she used crutches to walk. Her father, Liam, was a popular scientist. His quirk was called Artificial Life, and was used to create small bots without the need of a computer to give them movement. He was contacted by heroes in Japan to create 'Hero Bots', artificial robots to help aging Heroes fight crime without having to rely completely on their own quirks. Freya always wanted to be a hero, despite appearing quirkless. To cheer his frail daughter on, Liam created a bot in her image. Freya was extatic, constantly sitting there, watching him build 'her'

One day, there was an incident. Nobody knows if it was an accident, or caused by villains. The labratory that Liam and Freya called home went up in flames, with the two inside. Knowing that his daughter would never make it out of the building, nor would he be able to carry her through the falling building, the two spent their last moments together. Their last breath together was when Freya's quirk activated. Before she could fully pass, her soul seeked out the object that meant the most to her: the body that Liam spent so long making just for her.

When Freya awoke next, everything was destroyed. All of her father's work, everything they owned. Even her father's body was nowhere to be found. Freya, finding that she was able to walk on her own now, travelled out of the rubble. Heartbroken, she sat there. Several heroes from Japan had heard that something horrible had happened, and they travelled to Sweden, where they found the android girl. She was all that was left of her father's research.

They took the girl back to Japan, where she was treated like the robot she seemed to be, talked to like she wasn't even there and talked about like she was an object for sale. Then, someone began to talk to her. A woman by the name of Kairi, who had said that she worked for the school UA. Not being able to take seeing the child talked about like a household item, Kairi took her out of that place and to where she lived, deciding right away to adopt the girl.

While she's not a student, you can often see Freya in the school, assisting her mother, a school psychiatrist, and watching over her brother.

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emm-roose · 7 years

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My Thoughts on Pirates 5

So, I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men tell no tales (or Salazar’s Revenge, depending on where you live), and though that has been three days ago by now, I just can no longer keep this in.

Under here, there will be spoilers and not-so-positive words on the movie. Read with caution.

So it’s surely not known to anybody here, but I’ve been an epic Pirates of the Caribbean fangirl when I was 12 years old. For YEARS, I’ve dreamed of going on an adventure with the sneaky and clever Jack Sparrow, the handsome and kind Will Turner, the Badass Elizabeth Swan. Then Will and Elizabeth left the movies, and the fourth was okay. Not great, but okay.

I kind of fell out of the fandom after the fourth movie: Penelope Cruz’ character kind of annoyed me the entire movie, and I was certainly not looking forward on watching another two-hour feature with her (though I obviously still was going to, because c’mon it’s Pirates, it’s my entire youth...)

And then she wasn’t in the movie; instead they introduced two entirely new characters; William Turner Jr. Jr. (okay no, Henry, I was trying to be funny but I wasn’t), and the familiar woman I’m sure I’ve seen before but just can’t place (and I’ve looked it up right after that and it was from The Maze Runner. I feel dumb now). Sure, cool, I’m open for that, except for the fact that Jack, Will AND Elizabeth still look to freaking young to have aged about twenty years. Where are those grey hairs, peeps, there don’t have to be many, but at least keep it realistic okay? Realistically, Jack was already much older than Will and Elizabeth, so he must literally be gray right now in multiple areas on his head. (that, or dead due to liver failure, but we know Disney won’t be going that way)

And here comes a new villain; he looks cool, he looks awesome, his hair looks like he’s permanently under water and I love it. Still; HERE COMES A VILLAIN EVEN MORE VILLAINOUS THAN THE PREVIOUS ONE OH NO WHAT SHALL WE DO? If this dude’s so evil evil over the top evil, surely mentions must have been made of this; How is Jack not the most popular Pirate in the entire world? He destroyed the Pirate Destroyer? Make him ultimate emperor of the Pirates, damn it.

In the flashback we see a young jack (which sometimes looked a bit creepy and out of proportion) defeating this biggest villain to ever villain, and receiving all of the stuff that makes Jack Jack. That includes the compass (which happens BEFORE he kills Salazar). The very same Compass he supposedly got from Tia Dalma (aka Calypso) as mentioned in Dead Men’s Chest in 2006. Now if this is just a continuity error or Disney just ignoring canonical events, we’ll probably never know. We can make up stories on how the compass got stolen and Jack went on a year-long quest to find it back, only to end up at Tia Dalma’s and finding it there. In the end, that isn’t even the biggest of my worries.

In this flashback we see a young and fresh Jack Sparrow - who hasn’t even earned the name Sparrow yet - using his brain, his wit and thinking out of the box to destroy his enemy. Soak in it, of course, because that’s the only real moment of Jack Sparrow you’ll ever see in this movie. The rest was more a weird and disappointing version of Jack Sparrow played by Johnny Depp who has probably quite obviously played the Mad Hatter one time too many.

Only, the Mad Hatter, too, was smart. This version of Jack was just plainly stupid. There was no cleverness, no pretend to be dumb but actually being the greatest genius of them all. All he did was getting caught one way or another, being locked up or tied up somewhere without being able to escape without any help, and literally losing his sword only two seconds in any fight (not that there were many fights this movie, but it’s safe to say that Jack doesn’t win any of them).

I mean, we’re talking about the guy who fought Davy Jones. The guy who fought Barbossa. Who fought Norrington and Will Turner at the same time! Who decided to spend his last few seconds attempting to kill the Kraken, knowing that he wouldn’t survive anyway. Sure, not in every fight does he get to keep his sword, but at least there he uses other ways to fight.

Now, we are quite a few years further; Jack probably hasn’t seen Will or Elizabeth in quite a long while (except if maybe Jack comes to drink tea at the Flying Dutchman to catch up - let me have my dreams okay?). Then suddenly Will’s kid shows up there, and it seems like Jack doesn’t even care at all. Sure, he can joke about how that demonic couple has spawned a kid (I’m not entirely sure what his actual words were here) because Jack is a jokester who doesn’t like to admit he cares. But Jack is also somebody who gave up his shot at eternity on the sea to save his (sort-of) friend. When he had the chance to stab the heart - and he really was going to do it - he instead helped Will doing it to save his life (kind of, because being undead isn’t really saving him either...). Even though many years have passed, not even a single bit of emotion went through Jack upon the mention of Henry being Wilizabeth’s son.

I should probably just discuss everything in a time-line because this is becoming messy. Let’s just start from the beginning.

We start with a scene where small-boy Henry goes to visit his father under the sea. The father who seems to have caught up to the Davy Jones’ curse in only one year (more or less), since he seemed perfectly fine in the after-credits of At World’s End in 2007. How did that even happen? How could Will possibly not follow his duty and guide the dead? Also, I’m pretty sure Elizabeth must have had a few heart-attacks if her kid just randomly runs away at night to drown himself in an attempt to try and talk to his father. Huh, maybe she should have tried the same to get to talk with her husband once in a while?

Skipping the scene where Henry is older and meets up with Salazar, we get to Jack’s introduction. He ends up appearing in a supposedly unbreakable safe. How he got there, nobody knows. Nobody probably cares, either. Now, I thought he was acting a bit weird back then already, but I just figured he was pretty drunk. His way of talking as just... off, sounding a tad bit too much like a combination of Willy Wonka and the Mad Hatter. There happens the whole scene with the bank, which was unrealistic and kind of funny, but also a little bit too long. of course, we can’t complain about everything, so I’ll just take that one as it is.

Jack ends up getting nothing out of the gold robbery, his crew decides to give up on him (which they probably should have done a long time ago), and Jack eventually gets even so desperate to get some rum that he gives away the compass.

Now that made an alarm bell in my head go off; why would Jack give up his compass for a stupid bottle of rum? Sure, he’s given it up quite a few times in the previous movies, but always with the intention of getting it back in an undetermined amount of time. And how can something so stupid as giving the compass away lead to Salazar being freed? What does this compass have in common with the guy in the first place? How does Salazar even know that after being stuck undead for so long??

Of course, I let that one slide because Jack is desperate, probably depressed, and not really aware of what he’s doing. It stung, but manageable.

Then, he doesn’t even get to drink his rum, instead being arrested the moment he walks outside. The compass is in the hands of a random barman (but not for long) and Jack is behind bars, to be hanged the next day.

Of course, Henry catches this happening, dresses up as a guard and goes to confront the guy he’s heard so much about. He was probably as disappointed as I was to find what Jack was really like in person (in this movie). Jack created a (useless) doll dressed as him (what even for?), ended up wearing no pants, and got in a small discussion with Henry before the young man comes up with a plan involving a very smart and beautiful girl that he met when he was injured.

Coincidentally, Jack and Carina are about to be executed at the same time. Jack talks and talks, being generally unfunny (in my opinion), until Henry comes up and announces that he’s actually the distraction, meaning that Jack had no idea about this plan in the first place. Jack’s previous crew comes to his rescue, and they manage to escape in their crappy boat which surprisingly still floats despite being called the dying seagull.

There are some hooker-jokes, more power struggles, Barbossa suddenly has the Compass thanks to a sea witch that came out of nowhere and got it out of nowhere, and ends up helping Salazar, only to doublecross him again later on.

Jack suggests a mutiny, ending up with him, Henry and Carina in a row boat on their way to a faraway island. Now here I thought; hey, he has a plan. He’s going to do something clever?

No, instead he’s going to make sexual jokes about a girl about thirty years younger than him, and not getting anything done other than accidentally getting stuck on a shark and tagging Henry along with it. They end up on an island where the undead can’t go, and ends up getting caught in a trap. This is now the second time he got himself caught, just to keep count. He wakes up during a wedding - his own wedding (what even?) and Barbossa is there to save the day because Jack is now officially too stupid to get himself out of anything anymore. Barbossa there decides to doublecross Salazar, takes Jack captive (which makes it the third time), and discovers that Carina is his daughter (he better never hear about Jack looking at her in her underwear).

Jack, during the entire ride, stays bound to the mast. By then I have even given up on the hope that he will get himself out of that. Instead, he’s trying to be a matchmaker and tries to get Hector to talk about being a father. I can’t even remember how he got out of the ropes but it was surely not by his own hands.

Meanwhile, the EITC arrives and questions Jack former crew. Right after that, they’re killed by Salazar, making their appearance even more insignificant really. Jack’s crew is somewhere I don’t remember at the moment.

More blablabla, Carina discovers the hidden island, the sea separates Moses-wise, and they find the trident. Jack battles Salazar-in-Henry (for only a few seconds) while Carina tries to get the trident out. After losing his sword, Jack just mostly tries to avoid Salazar and doesn’t put up much of a fight (if my memory serves me right, don’t shoot me if I’m wrong, I was really losing interest in the movie at this point). Much more blablabla, Salazar is out of Henry’s body, Jack gets stabbed, the new not-yet-couple breaks the trident and with that rids the world of every (current) curse on the sea (which would actually mean that Will would fall dead on the spot, right? Since he doesn’t have a heart anymore? No? Fuck logic then). Jack seems instantly healed, despite being stabbed in the chest. Barbossa saves the day by being badass as he is, and then sacrifices himself to kill Salazar, who is now human again.

And that’s the whole freaking point; Barbossa kills Salazar. This entire movie has been brought to us with: Salazar wants his revenge on his arch-nemesis Jack Sparrow. Salazar wants Jack dead. Jack is being hunted by a monster he bothered in the past.

Now let me put up a few things

- Jack shoots Barbossa (the man who took his beloved Pearl from him and turned his crew against him), Will puts the medallion with blood back into the treasure to lift the curse, Barbossa dies

- Jack is hunted by a gigantic beast for an entire movie. When his ship is attacked his first instinct is to run off, but eventually he returns and throws a bad-ass shot to burn the Kraken’s tentacles and scare the beast off. In return, he’s being cuffed to the Pearl, unable to get away. When the Kraken then returns, Jack puts up his hat, picks up his sword and dives into the beast mouth with his weapon held up high, attempting to kill it but knowing he won’t be able to, thus dying in the process.

- Jack holds the heart of Davy Jones in his hand with a broken sword in the other, he watches the only (kind of) friend he has die, and literally puts the sword in said (kind of) friend’s hand to help him stab the heart.

- Jack orders the Pearl to engage in combat even though the Dutchman has just sunk to go against Beckett’s ship and there’s no possible way of surviving. When the Dutchman re-emerges, they together destroy Beckett’s vessel and scare off the entire fleet

- Jack tricks Blackbeard into drinking from the wrong cup to save a woman he cares quite a lot about (possibly Loves?), by playing immense mind tricks on them. Angelica gets more years, Blackbeard perishes.

- Jack hangs hopelessly on an anchor, doing nothing really other than climbing up, with his enemy on his tail. Eventually, Barbossa sacrifices himself to stab the bastard, killing Salazar and himself to save the others.

Now tell me, which one isn’t like the others?

Anyway, it goes on; we get the Wilizabeth reunion, which made me weep in my seat, literally crying like a baby that just lost her favorite toy. That moment broke my heart in a good way because they’re FINALLY together after all those years <3 <3. And then there’s Jack, being utterly disgusted at what’s happening there.

The Jack we had hoped would be reunited with Wilizabeth even for just a few seconds, is watching everything happening safely from the Pearl, making unnecessary comments on how disgusting it all is (I can just hope he’s joking there). The same Jack who watched Wilizabeth get together, who saw Elizabeth weep when Will died. The Jack who - yes I’m bringing this up again - gave up his chance at eternal life to save Will. I can understand if he doesn’t like Elizabeth, she did feed him to the Kraken after all. But I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one disappointed that there isn’t any interaction between the original trio.

In the end, Jack FINALLY gets the Pearl back (and now finally the discussion of whose ship the Pearl is is over, because that was honestly getting old after a while), Will somehow magically has his heart back into his chest and leaves his crew to figure it out on their own (what even happened to his father?), and goes to live with Elizabeth in a house that’s probably too expensive for them but ey, they’re pirates, who knows where they got the money from.

Suddenly comes in: Davy Jones (aka my most favorite villain of all time). Of course, only his shadow. At first they try to make it out as a nightmare of Will’s, but then they reveal the scales or whatever underneath his bed, teasing that it was in fact Davy Jones. For a supposed finale of a franchise, that doesn’t look too much like a finale to me.

Anyway, I need to add that everything I said here is how I experienced the movie as a long-time fan. This is all my opinion, and you shouldn’t be obligated to share it. People find it Jack’s best performance of all, but all I can say to that is; have they even watched the previous four movies? I feel like it’s the worst portrayal of Jack Sparrow of all times, and the tears I let out at the Wilizabeth reunion weren’t only out of happiness that my long-time OTP got back together, but also at the disappointment at how they literally butchered Jack Sparrow’s smart and innovative character in an attempt to make the comic relief even bigger than in the previous movies. To me, Jack was more of a mascot in here, while the others are the actual heroes. Jack doesn’t even deserve to look so badass in the poster, since he’s absolutely nothing like that in the movie at all. If they wanted to stay accurate to his character during this movie, they better should have had him stick out his tongue while trying to get the last drop of rum out of the bottle.

All in all, the movie wasn’t bad, but I’m not giving it a watch again in the future, instead keeping myself happy with the Jack I know and love from the first three movies (and kind of the fourth, but that’s not really one of my favorite movies so I’m probably only watching that one once every five years)

Anyway, do you agree? Do you disagree? Let’s start a debate (without fighting ofcourse)

#Spoilers #pirates of the caribbean spoilers #salazar's revenge #jack sparrow #they butchered his character #he was horrible to look at #I cried out of disappointment #wilizabeth #willizabeth #will turner #elizabeth swan #henry turner #carina smyth #carina barbossa #hector barbossa #captain salazar

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incorrectmlpquotes · 7 years

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I watched My Little Pony: Equestrian Girls (2013)

Or: This wasn’t what I signed up for when I started watching this show, but now I’m suckered in.

If I was better at planning things, I would have started with this review. But, here we are.

Some history As stated previously, I was not exactly excited to watch the Equestrian Girls movie (mainly because this commercial still haunts my nightmares). It was a lot better than I had expected, but that doesn’t mean it does;t have flaws. Lots and lots of flaws. The biggest of which being: this feels like fan fiction. Now, let me elaborate: I have seen a lot of people compare works to fan fiction implying that it’s bad or poorly written. That is not at all true or fair. Fan fiction can be complex and well-written and way more interesting than a lot of published fiction. But there are certain thing s a writer can get away with in fan fiction that doesn’t work in other writing. For example, in stories based on, say, a popular tv show, you don’t need to go into detail about a character’s appearance or characteristics because the reader already knows all of those details. A good writer uses a pre-established world and people to get right to the meat of a story and explore other aspects of them. That would be fine, except this movie was intended to be a back-door pilot to a new show. Let that sink in: they wanted to take a familiar and complex universe with a unique premise and make a high school au.

The high school au is actually an easy to understand phenomenon. The advice most given to young writers is “write what you know.” I’m not going to discuss whether or not this is good advice, but it does explain a few things. The average age for fan fiction writers is 12-20. What do people in this age know a lot about? The building they spend eight hours a day, five days a week for sixteen years sitting in, thinking about tv shows. Why shouldn’t they write bout their favorite characters doing the same? The problem arises when Hollywood executives who haven’t been in a high school for thirty years decide to screw up a simple concept by taking your favorite characters and using every high school cliche in the book. They do that so often in this movie, I made a bingo game for it. Feel free to play along:

Enough stalling, to the movie:

The film starts with the princess summit. If you didn’t see the (I can’t believe I’m writing this) controversial season three finale where resident brainiac Twilight Sparkle becomes a princess alicorn, too bad. This is not explained and will be a pretty important plot point. It is nice that they give some brief characterization at the beginning, but they don’t say the other Mane Six’s names. Didn’t this come out in theaters? A movie- even one based off a tv show- should provide this information so if someone who’s never seen the show watches it, they can understand the references. The Rugrats movies did it, the Wild Thornberrys movie did it, and this movie should have done it.

Perchance could this hooded figure that’s creeping about after dark be a villain? Meet Sunset Shimmer. She was Princess Celestia’s pupil who went rogue after her desire for great power overtook her good nature. Sound familiar?

No? Good

Ah plot contrivances . I understand that these are the bedrock to most movies based in magical universes, but it shouldn’t make me think “how convenient” every five minutes. Maybe I wouldn’t feel this way if it were actually explained what a moon means. They have days. They have months. They have years. HOW LONG IS A MOON? EXPLAIN YOUR UNIT OF TIME, EQUESTRIA!!!

Ok, Twilight’s reaction to being turned in to a human (?) is hilarious. I read that the writers made Spike a dog to avoid the weird dragon age implication, and it is pretty funny, but why does he know how she should act in this world? (And why does that outfit make her look like an anime character?)

I know they needed to get all the characters we the audience are familiar with into one long sight gag, but why is Diamond Tiara in a high school? How do ages translate in this universe? It’s things like this that reinforce the fan fiction argument

About the songs in this: they’re not great. They aren’t terrible by any means, but after season three (I actually quite enjoyed the songs in the finale) it’s a tad dissappointing

Over fourteen minutes in and we finally get to meet the Mane 6 doppelgängers and the villain antagonist of the piece. Aaaaand she’s a one-dimensional mean girl stereotype. Twilight can fight the literal spirit of chaos, but can she survive Regina George?

Actual Disney Princess Fluttershy. But how does she carry around any books without crushing those animals? My high school backpack would have squished Angel bunny

Princess Celestia: thousand year old omniscient being who raises the sun, demoted to a public high school principal. Not even a school board super intendant. It sucks to be you, babe. That design is beyond hideous btw

The instant they said “princess”, I just knew we were in for a ride. Look, that was the easiest comparison for what was going on in the MLP-verse, but the princess of a dance doesn’t really do anything. They get their pictures the school paper, and maybe the yearbook and that’s all. It’s not like she’s running for class president or something that would actually affect the student body

So are they seniors? There are three pictures of Sunset winning the title, so…

The moments of self-awareness are really jarring, especially because the principal just spoke to a new student without asking for transcripts or grades or anything

You know, maybe show a little more than just one scene of making Fluttershy cry (a feat so easy her pet rabbit does it on a regular basis) if you want me to believe that Sunset is so mean and scary. She’s not exactly Heather Chandler

If there is one phrase that needs to be expunged from screen-writers’ vocabulary, it is “rule the school.” It is quite possibly the single worst cliche I have ever seen and is usually the worst part of any high school movie. Maybe if Sunset was using her magic to control these people it would be different, but we don’t see that. The lunch room would be the perfect setting to showcase how she divides people in order to keep them weak (a la the Hunger Games), but no such luck

Some hilarious foreshadowing at the hands of Pinkie, and some flat exposition from Applejack. We get it! Sunset is a mean girl! Those exist, but it doesn’t make her an all-powerful villain! So far Rainbow Dash has been presented as a better antagonist than her. Your close friend can do more to stab you in the back than someone who’s shows up just complain about decorations

Sunset disrespected the cider! Kick her ass, AJ!

I’m really glad they found the only poorly-lit corner of the school to have the confrontation scene. But honestly, isn’t running unopposed kind of a pathetic way to win? Like, wouldn’t Sunset rather crush someone on her way to victory to establish dominance? The addition of the new mythos as to what happens when an element of harmony is brought to another universe is actually a nice addition, but I bet we won’t hear about it again until the climax

So the Main 6 5 were friends and something split them apart? I bet it must be something very serious to divide such a close friend group. Or perhaps a simple yet frustrating misunderstanding that ruins all suspense. Probably the latter. That photo of the younger characters is the most adorable thing i’ve ever seen, though

The moment I’ve been waiting thirty two minutes for: Rarity’s appearance! And it took me that long to figure out that they are basically all wearing the same outfit. I think this might be the case of designing for the merchandise before designing the characters: Doll skirts are waaaaaay easier to sew than doll pants, and those knee-high boots mean less anatomy to worry about. Did that toy line take off? I feel like I never see them in stores...

I suppose I should be asking why the school would care about someone they’ve never met doing something embarassing on a video, but in real life everyone would just assume Twilight was on drugs. Also, I’m pretty sure smear campaigns would get you disqualified from the race

So technology ruined their friendship. That’s not what’s said, but that is what’s being implied

This is the biggest example of how you can get by without detailed characterization in fan fiction but not published writing: the audience know what element each pony doppelgänger stands for because they’ve had three seasons to earn that trait. These characters have not. For the most part, none of them have even slightly acted like them. Rarity’s really the only one, being generous and helping someone she had never met hide from the crowd who has come to mock her shame. I suppose Fluttershy was kind, but Twilight stood up for her first and she was kind of just returning the favor. Applejack has’t had the chance to be honest (providing exposition does not count), Pinkie was visibly angry at one point, and and ending a friendship over a petty squabble is the exact opposite of loyalty. Rainbow Dash would not have ended the feud if Twilight hadn’t intervened. I know this is a seventy minute movie and they have to move the story along, but maybe have less montages and more exploration of character. Friendship is Magic parts 1 and 2 was only forty five minutes only and they managed to introduce a new world, characters, and a plot setup while keeping the story going

And just like that, the conflict is resolved. Rainbow’s design is HORRIBLE. What is up with that skirt? And more importantly: how does being bad at a sport mean you will be a good princess? Wouldn’t her willingness to fix a friendship say more about her character?

On to the annoying blue elephant in the room: I hate Flash Sentry. I hate him as a character plot device and I have no use for him. Here is what I have written in my notes for this scene:

Looking past the fact that only one main character has ever shown an interest in a romantic relationship, watching the normally competent and intelligent Twilight act awkward around a boy who (need I remind you) is a different species than she, makes me sick to my stomach. If you like him: fine. If you ship them: whatever. I do not care. This is not the worst ship I have seen come out of this show/movie, but he has no personality or character. He is generic “boy” character who could have been written out and the movie would have been the same. Every time he is in a scene, I roll my eyes and groan. That is all I’m going to say about him

Rarity being overly dramatic gives me life, but the speech about unity just beats you over the head with the movie’s message. I get the comparison, but being part of a school is not the same thing as being a part of a community or kingdom. The second you graduate, you stop caring about your high school. School pride is not the same thing as nationalism

So just to be clear: girl messes up using a copier = comedy gold. Group sings a frankly embarrassing song to the entire lunchroom = best thing ever, let’s vote for her. In real life, the principal would have just walked in and suspended all of them

Why on earth would they manually doctor the photos? It would be so much work to cut those things out. Is there no photoshop equivalent in this world? Why leave a paper trail? But, on the plus side, here is an actual dilemma! Twilight has to figure out another- Oh wait no, let’s resolve that instantly by having Blue Hair McThiscouldhavebeenliterallyanyone find the photos. It’s almost as if this scene was pointless.

Don’t flirt in front of the administer! Geez

Oh look, more conflict. Twilight has to get the crown and leave tonight. Maybe that scene did have a point. Some actual stakes, if this changed the plan to get the crown. But it doesn’t. We know they are going to redecorate the gym. This is just slowing down the plot and taking time away from developing the characters

This is a genuinely sweet scene with Spike. It is one of the best scenes in the whole movie, and it brings up a good point: Twilight feels alone because she is the only one who understands the full weight of what getting (or more importantly: possibly losing) the crown means, in this universe and her home. But she’s not alone because the people who are depending on her will support her and try to help no matter what the outcome is

HOW LONG IS THIRTY MOONS?!?!

Oh Pinkie Pie. You majestic creature

Oh my gosh, an actually appropriate reactions to a talking animal! Wow. Usually a movie like this would just have a character say, “huh, weird” and no one would react

So the conflict is once again resolved quickly. The problem is no more. This was slightly more satisfying because is did require other people to assist in fixing the gym, thereby bringing the divided school together, but it happened in one musical number. When you rush important plot points, they lose significance

Well, Twilight has six hours until she potentially loses her magic crown to the villain and is stuck in this world while Sunset takes over Equestrian, so IT’S TIME FOR A MAKEOVER MOTAGE!

The animals are helping Fluttershy get ready- this is proof she is a Disney Princess!

Ah yes, the formal cowboy hat. A staple of every dance

I don’t know anyone in real life who’s actually taken a limo to a dance

Remember how I said I wasn’t going to talk about Flash again? Well, I lied. His car screams “douche”, but his personality screams nothing at all because ewe know nothing about this character except he plays the guitar. Granted, that’s usually the amount of info we got about the love interest in a late nineties teen flick, but this isn’t one of those. Maybe instead of that soccer scene, they could have provided reasons for me to care about whether Twilight will dance with him. Just saying

The moment you’ve all been waiting for since it was set up in the first act has arrived. I know you were all on the edge of your seat wondering if Twilight would win.

Suspense is a tricky thing to do well. You need to build up to it without constantly reminding the audience to the point that they no longer care about it. There is a quote by Alfred Hitchcock that I’m not going to put in its entirety, but here’s the link, that basically says you can’t have a big Thing happen with no buildup. We know that something potentially bad could happen if Sunset gets the crown, but the majority of the movie has been about this darn dance. You almost forget just why Twilight wants to win, other than this is a high school movie. When you only leave fifteen minutes for the climax, with little to no build up (do we even know what Sunset can do?) it’s going to be unsatisfying. I might be putting way to much thought into this kids movie. But wait, no I’m not. This show is not one of the time-wasting cartoons of yore. It covers complex subjects and serious topics, so pardon me if I expect more out of them than cliche after cliche

In a rare display of actual villainy, Sunset offers Twilight a way home in exchange for the crown. This leads to one of the few scenes that shows her self-sacrifice: Twilight cares more about the safety of her home and her friends than her own comfort. I question what has Sunset actually accomplished there that’s so bad, but Twilight is acting noble (and I mean that in the most unsarcastic was possible)

And she just steals the crown. And becomes the most hilarious looking demon ever

How has no one pulled out their cell phone and videotaped this yet?

I question how effective the army of easily wounded humans would be against Equestrian, which is full of creatures who have magic, hooves, and stabbing horns, but whatever

What’s this? Could it be… the magic of friendship? Whoever could have guessed?

This magical pony transformation scene will really come back to haunt me (but at least no one said pony up)

If I’m being fair, this is basically what happened at the end of Friendship is Magic, part 2

So no one’s going to question what just happened? Has the internet desensitized them that much? Don’t act like you know what’s going on Celestia! And How are they going to explain the destroyed property to the insurance company?

Well, the evil has been defeated so it’s time for Twilight to go through the portal and return home. But not without a quick dance first

This scene is cute, I guess. And it is canon that Twilight can’t dance in horse form either

What was their backup plan if Twilight failed? Just wait around there?

Oh good, Twilight has the adventure of a lifetime so let’s end the movie on a really important note: talking about a boy. There’s your moral.

I know I nitpicked a lot (and overused “in real life”) but I do enjoy Equestria Girls. The first time I watched this movie, I was significantly more harsh than I should have been. It’s cute and mostly harmless, with some genuinely funny scenes. Despite the many many plot holes, it is an alright beginning to the series and most of the issues I took with this get resolved in later movies. The antagonist might me mostly absent and doesn’t play a huge role until the last fifteen minutes, but It’s worth sitting through this nonsense to see Sunset’s redemption arc. I don’t know how this would be as a standalone TV show, but there is a line of comics based on it that you can check out. 3.2/5 You know, for a universe that has a character named Cranky Doodle Donkey, Flash Sentry is still the worst name I have seen for a fictional character (and until I rewatched for this review, I thought his name was Flash Century). Here are some unused zingers I had for him: Flash Sentry sounds like a boy band from the early 2000s Flash Sentry sounds like a Flash Gordon fan fiction title Flash Sentry sounds like the name of a bankrupt film company Flash Sentry sounds like a character from Zoolander Flash Sentry sounds like a villain from Rocky IV Flash Sentry sounds like the name of a Fallout Boy song Flash Sentry sounds like the name of a horse that’s predicted to win the Triple Crown but trips during the Belmont … oh, I guess that joke’s not so funny when he’s actually a horse. But enough about me, what did you think? Were there too many scenes of Twilight not understanding the new world, or did those make the movie? Did Trixie have the best line in the entire movie? Will I get the sequel recap up in a timely manner?

#incorrect mlp quotes #mlp reviews #MLP Equestria Girls #equestrian girls review #MLP:FiM #incorrectmlpquotes

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gyromitra-esculenta · 7 years

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Days of Our Superhero Lives

Which is how I wrote a marvel telenovela. r76valentines First Date?

We Are Not

“This is seriously awkward.”

Reaper only raises one elegant eyebrow.

“This is awkward as shit,” Jack repeats. “I get the idea that you are a diabolical nefarious villain and I’m a kidnapped hero, but this,” he waves his hand around at the avenue, “this is simply weird and you are weirding me out at the moment, so, good job.”

“I don’t understand what is weird about our first date?”

“And this is exactly what I’m talking about. We are not dating.”

“Hush, darling, and place you order.”

Jack sighs in defeat and picks up the menu, squinting at the literally wriggling script.

“Do they have one in English?”

“No.”

“Do I even want to know what is on the menu?”

“Two house specials,” Reaper tells the tentacled thing that acts as their waiter. Or waitress. Jack won’t even try to guess if that thing that just chirped happily and snagged back the menus has a gender, and if yes, is it a gender that has any translation into Earth life. “And the good wine.”

Tentacle monstrosity chirps again and skitters away.

“So. This thing. What’s your fucking angle, Reaper?”

“I’m certainly trying to enjoy our first date,” Reaper extends his hand over the table. “Gabriel.”

It’s like talking with a head trauma victim, Jack decides. One very dangerous but befuddled head trauma victim.

“I… know?” Jack eyes him with suspicion, but at the expectant look, he finally shakes. “Jack.”

“Now, that wasn’t that hard, was it?” Yet he doesn’t let his palm go, circling lightly over the fair skin with his dark thumb. Jack stares and then lightly clears his throat.

“So. What is this place?”

“Just the most renowned restaurant on this side of the galaxy. The wait for the table could be even counted in decades.” Reaper chuckles, still holding his hand, and Jack tentatively tugs back, to no avail.

“Who did you kill then to get it?”

“They always have a table reserved for the royal family.” Jack almost chokes on his own tongue.

“What?”

“I’m the next Glorious Leader.” Reaper clarifies even if that explains absolutely nothing and Jack manages to dislodge his hand when the tentacle thing skitters back to the table with food that looks ridiculously colorful and not at all like something edible. He’s not going to dwell on the royal thing.

“But why this?”

“Well, my dear mother wants me to settle down, and then you yelled at me that I should buy you a dinner first.”

“That’s only an expression,” Jack rolls his eyes, exasperated. “Battle banter. You were trying to kill me then!”

“I do admit it might have appeared so,” Reaper has the audacity to chuckle, “but, to be truthful, for the longest time I thought the little shit was my mate, and to realize one’s mistake was to a slight miscalculation is frustrating.”

“It wasn’t even the first time!” In spite of all Jack accepts the offered glass of wine and downs it immediately – it’s sweet with a slight bitter tinge. Alcohol seems like a good coping mechanism considering the situation. A lot of alcohol, so he shoves the glass demandingly at Reaper for a refill.

“And I’m really sorry about that.”

“You are most definitely not. You are the most unapologetic person… villain… thing I’ve ever met! Both of you are.” Jack restrains himself from screaming.

“Possible. But we both do have a weakness for pretty blue eyes.”

“What?” Jack feels the traitorous blush creep up his cheeks. Dammit, he is past the age he was allowed to blush at any compliment, more so if the one complimenting him is their not-so-favorite villain du jour. Even if the said villain is a seemingly slightly younger version of his best friend he had a crush on long, long ago. “There’s nothing pretty about them,” he snaps and Reaper shakes his head.

“Handsome and captivating blue eyes. Better?” Jack downs the second glass of wine. He is absolutely sure the bottle was the same but now it has a sweet sourness and he swears he can taste the flowery smell.

“No, not at all.” This time he grabs the bottle himself and pours the drink up to the brim, and, fuck, he doesn’t give a flying fuck that Reaper just observes him with that smug look on his face. It’s all some twisted mind game he has to accommodate for the time being until he can somehow make it back home. Which, admittedly, might be hard, as he looks at the rings visible in the sky. “Does it always look like that?” He gestures with the glass upwards.

“Much more spectacular during the night, which should start… in around fifteen minutes. And try the sauce, it’s exquisite.”

“I can’t even tell what’s the sauce in this abomination.” Jack prods the contents of his plate with a fork.

“The blue and pink covering, yellow is icing. Try to eat something, darling, because the chef might not survive the night.”

“You mean… are you going to kill him?”

“Why would I?” This time Reaper does appear offended. “He might be just a tad devastated that my date did not like the food.”

“I’m not your date,” Jack punctuates every word with a jab of the fork into the mass on his plate. “I’m not going to repeat myself. You’ve kidnapped me, that’s all.”

“Of course, darling.” Reaper smiles which somehow intensifies the burning on his face. Jack decides to give the food a try, and he is positively certain he’s going to regret it. Only he doesn’t. It’s like a fucking summer sunshine if sunshine had a taste. Jack catches the falling fork just before it hits the edge of the table.

“Wow,” it comes a little too breathless but he is beyond caring at the moment. He goes for another bite and it only gets better – he can’t even imagine how. He’s blaming the wine. Yes. There must’ve been something in the wine he’s sipping even now.

“See, darling?”

“Stop calling me that,” Jack snaps at him again.

“And what am I supposed to call my mate then?” Reaper rolls his eyes under his glare.

“Don’t call me anything, because…” Whatever he wants to say dies off when the sun just goes out and for a split second there is solid darkness before the table begins to emit a soft glow. The city sprawled below them lights up but Jack just stands up and stares at the sky with the almost empty glass in his hand. The rings visible between the now blooming dark flowers sparkle and glitter with colors of the rainbow. It’s… breathtaking. Stunning.

Reaper slips to his side and at the moment the hand that lays on the small of his back doesn’t bother him that much, not when colors dance on the shining surface of the sky.

“I knew you’d like it.”

“Don’t speak. Don’t ruin it.” Jack scoffs at him but then there are warm lips on his mouth and it feels only right to reciprocate, to let the invading tongue in. It’s all the wine, yes, he is sure, even as he moans into the kiss that grows more heated with every passing second until there is a really persistent jarring sound that does not want to go away.

“I’m sorry,” Reaper mutters, pressing lips to the scar on his forehead. “I have to take it. Mother.”

Jack considers jumping off the terrace in a fleeting flash of sanity when the reality comes crashing back. With a bit of luck, he might die on impact. Because he was just making out with the villain they are all fighting against. The villain who is probably another dimension’s version of his fucking best friend (that admittedly did try to kill him that one time), and is now speaking animatedly to a glowing screen suspended in the air. The image of the woman gestures back at Reaper, her voice steadily gaining in squeakiness, and then another screen comes to life with a clip of them kissing. Jack finishes the rest of his glass in one gulp.

“Is that blurry red thing below a view meter?”

“That’s the death threats,” Reaper says offhandedly and returns to the discussion with the woman. Fucking fabulous. Jack grabs the bottle and checks if there’s anything left inside. Sadly, it’s empty. The falling to your death idea seems more enticing now and he sighs dejectedly, just as Reaper growls something and the screens disappear. “Sorry, darling. Shall we continue?”

“No,” Jack mutters trying to glare at him even as hands settle on his hips.

“Pay no attention to the security detail, darling,” Reaper smiles when a fucking starship stops to hover above them. Yes, it’s definitely the wine, Jack concedes as he gives into the kiss again.

“Jackie-boy, where were you, we were all worried, you just disappeared, poof, you’re not there!” Lena’s doubles all ask simultaneously except the one that makes a call to the base.

“I… I think I was on a date.” The chorus of ‘ooh’ and ‘who’ is intimidating. “I think… I think I made the gossip rags in another dimension. I don’t fucking want to think or speak about this whole affair.”

“Right. It was Reaper, right?” One of Tracers asks, the all-knowing smirk on her face.

“You tell anyone, I’ll track down and end each and every one of you, even in the future,” Jack hisses.

“Oh, scary,” they all giggle.

#sometimes i write #r76valentines #r76 #reaper76 #superhero!AU #what is this even #this is much fun #or how i wrote marvel #in terms of how confusing that is #and it will get worse believe me

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pink-earmuffs · 6 years

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MULTI ARC REVIEW POST - read between 11/17 and 2/5/18

Shadowsong - ARC VIA Netgalley

Read: 11/05/17; Release: 1/6/18

“Six months after the end of Wintersong, Liesl is working toward furthering both her brother’s and her own musical careers. Although she is determined to look forward and not behind, life in the world above is not as easy as Liesl had hoped. Her younger brother Josef is cold, distant, and withdrawn, while Liesl can’t forget the austere young man she left beneath the earth, and the music he inspired in her. When troubling signs arise that the barrier between worlds is crumbling, Liesl must return to the Underground to unravel the mystery of life, death, and the Goblin King―who he was, who he is, and who he will be. What will it take to break the old laws once and for all? What is the true meaning of sacrifice when the fate of the world―or the ones Liesl loves―is in her hands?”

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the follow up to Wintersong. Within the first novel I found myself deeply impressed with the level of mythology and world building that had taken place. This one is no exception and I found myself getting the answers that the first book had promised and a little more. Satisfying conclusion to a great two book series and I can’t wait to see what else Jones might write.

Pretty Dead Girls - ARC VIA Netgalley

Read: 11/10/17; Release: ½/18

“Beautiful. Perfect. Dead. In the peaceful seaside town of Cape Bonita, wicked secrets and lies are hidden just beneath the surface. But all it takes is one tragedy for them to be exposed. The most popular girls in school are turning up dead, and Penelope Malone is terrified she’s next. All the victims so far have been linked to Penelope―and to a boy from her physics class. The one she’s never really noticed before, with the rumored dark past and a brooding stare that cuts right through her.There’s something he isn’t telling her. But there’s something she’s not telling him, either. Everyone has secrets, and theirs might get them killed.”

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Mean girls meets Pretty Little Liars meets parts of Heathers in this one. The pacing was a tad off but I felt like it was worth my time. Murphy definitely knows/has down the teen speak and the mentality of the girls that seem completely vapid and shallow. However I love how vague some parts were while managing to pull together a solid ending. A light read, but fun.

By The Book - ARC VIA Netgalley

Read: 11/15-16/17; Release: 1/6/18

“An English professor struggling for tenure discovers that her ex-fiancé has just become the president of her college—and her new boss—in this whip-smart modern retelling of Jane Austen’s classic Persuasion. Anne Corey is about to get schooled. An English professor in California, she’s determined to score a position on the coveted tenure track at her college. All she’s got to do is get a book deal, snag a promotion, and boom! She’s in. But then Adam Martinez—her first love and ex-fiancé—shows up as the college’s new president. Anne should be able to keep herself distracted. After all, she’s got a book to write, an aging father to take care of, and a new romance developing with the college’s insanely hot writer-in-residence. But no matter where she turns, there’s Adam, as smart and sexy as ever. As the school year advances and her long-buried feelings begin to resurface, Anne begins to wonder whether she just might get a second chance at love. Funny, smart, and full of heart, this modern ode to Jane Austen’s classic explores what happens when we run into the demons of our past…and when they turn out not to be so bad, after all.”

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I usually love retellings but this just seemed to go all over the place with no clear direction. I liked certain aspects of it and as someone else pointed out I was a little blind sided by the fact that there’s very little to no interaction by the people you think are the main couple and the ending does feel slightly tacked on.

Black Chuck - ARC VIA Netgalley

Read: 12/05-06/17; Release: 04/3/18

“Psycho. Sick. Dangerous. Réal Dufresne’s reputation precedes him. When the mangled body of his best friend, Shaun, turns up in a field just east of town, tough-as-hell Réal blames himself. But except for the nightmares, all Ré remembers is beating the living crap out of Shaun the night of his death. Shaun’s girlfriend, sixteen-year-old Evie Hawley, keeps her feelings locked up tight. But now she’s pregnant, and the father of her baby is dead. And when Réal looks to her to atone for his sins, everything goes sideways. Fast. The tighter Evie and Réal get, the faster things seem to fall apart. And falling in love might just be the card that knocks the whole house down.”

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The cover intrigued me but I found myself disappointed about the story as a whole. I found that certain elements didn’t pan out or give clear answers and despite the creepy atmosphere and the interesting aspects with the history I just couldn’t get into the novel very much at all.

Protogenesis - ARC VIA Netgalley

Read: 12/08/17; Release: 4/5/18

“With her unusual violet hazel eyes hidden behind heavy glasses, American teenager Helene Crawford is the kind of student that always has an answer; yet, she doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere. One fateful day, life as she knows it comes to a grinding halt. There was a fire. Her mother is gone. But something is not right…The Greek Mafia may be involved. Vivid dreams of ancient deities consume her sleep. A maze of clues leads her to believe that her mother is still alive… She must go to Greece. The answers to her perilous quest lie there, as Helene braves into the unknown of a new life, torn between two Greek guys and a new world that literally awaits her.And who knows, maybe the Greek gods and goddesses are on her side… or maybe not. After all, nothing is as it seems.”

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sci-fi and mythology mixed together sounded great but this book felt too long winded and even though I enjoyed certain parts of this I still found it hard to want to finish this one.

The Lost Plot - ARC VIA Netgalley

Read: 1/03-04; Release: 1/9/18

“In a 1920s-esque New York, Prohibition is in force; fedoras, flapper dresses, and tommy guns are in fashion: and intrigue is afoot. Intrepid Librarians Irene and Kai find themselves caught in the middle of a dragon political contest. It seems a young Librarian has become tangled in this conflict, and if they can’t extricate him, there could be serious repercussions for the mysterious Library. And, as the balance of power across mighty factions hangs in the balance, this could even trigger war. Irene and Kai are locked in a race against time (and dragons) to procure a rare book. They’ll face gangsters, blackmail, and the Library’s own Internal Affairs department. And if it doesn’t end well, it could have dire consequences on Irene’s job. And, incidentally, on her life…”

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I usually love Cogman’s writing style but this book feels like it’s shoehorned in on the rest of the series so far or meant to be a side story in the universe that she’s already created. This was a good story but I didn’t feel like it fit in with all of the other novels. I did miss the Vale character but understood why he wasn’t there. And while I did like the backdrop of this novel I didn’t really feel like I enjoyed this book the way I did with the ones before it. The love interest thing also took an interesting turn and I’m not sure how to feel about that but at the same time some of it seemed foreshadowed in other books. Overall, not as good as the others but still mildly enjoyable even if it feels disjointed.

The Belles - ARC via Netgalley

Read: 2/2-5/18; Release; 2/6/18

“Camellia Beauregard is a Belle. In the opulent world of Orleans, Belles are revered, for they control Beauty, and Beauty is a commodity coveted above all else. In Orleans, the people are born gray, they are born damned, and only with the help of a Belle and her talents can they transform and be made beautiful. But it’s not enough for Camellia to be just a Belle. She wants to be the favorite, the Belle chosen by the Queen of Orleans to live in the royal palace, to tend to the royal family and their court, to be recognized as the most talented Belle in the land. But once Camellia and her Belle sisters arrive at court, it becomes clear that being the favorite is not everything she always dreamed it would be. Behind the gilded palace walls live dark secrets, and Camellia soon learns that the very essence of her existence is a lie, that her powers are far greater, and could be more dangerous, than she ever imagined. And when the queen asks Camellia to risk her own life and help the ailing princess by using Belle powers in unintended ways, Camellia now faces an impossible decision. With the future of Orleans and its people at stake, Camellia must decide: save herself and her sisters and the way of the Belles, or resuscitate the princess, risk her own life, and change the ways of her world forever.”

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this review copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was gorgeous. The world building was great and left me impressed there were certain things I could have done without (tw: assault animal violence) but what I really like about this was that it was unique and something I hadn’t really read before. I liked the first half but found the second half dragging along even as the ‘villain’ was revealed and I felt the first half of the novel was really great especially with all the building and the background that’s given with the discussion about what it takes to be a Belle and how they’re looked at as objects instead of people and how the hierarchy is done. There were certain aspects of the novel that I had to reread to understand but after a while I got what the terms were implying. I did like this but I didn’t love it however I would read a sequel.

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