#and that’s without getting into the actual arcs and episodes of the show that’s just me rambling abt my personal discovery and interest init

[rachelsfav-queer]

Small little potential Wednesday season 2 plot point that I’ve seen some discussion for but honestly not nearly enough is Enid’s scars. Cause like, in the last episode, after everything goes down, Enid’s scars are prominent and clearly visible.

So I’m personally really hoping that they remain prominent, not just physically but also story-wise. I hope that they don’t just disappear with some lame excuse of “werewolf healing!” or whatever bullshit like that. I actually hope they become a centralized point of Enid’s arc in season 2, where she has to come to accept and love her own scars, no matter what others think of them.

I think that the beginning of season 2 should introduce the plot of Enid hiding her scars, maybe by growing her hair out more or maybe putting on way too much makeup or something like this. And then we need Wednesday to notice FUCKING IMMEDIATELY!!

And I don’t mean like, same day or anything like that. No, I mean IMMEDIATELY, okay? Like she enters Nevermore and Enid comes out to greet her with a hug, but Wednesday pulls back, not because of the hug, but because “Where are your scars?”

“Wh- what?”

“Your scars, from your battle with Tyler. You should be displaying them proudly, they are a symbol of your victory over that worthless scum. Where are your scars?”

And then we have Wednesday, throughout the season, trying to encourage Enid to show her scars. And perhaps, we even have a scene where Wednesday and Enid are in private and Enid isn’t hiding her scars. So Wednesday gets a complete view of them, and she decides to caress them carefully, trailing her fingers lightly across Enid’s cheek and forehead.

And Enid’s knees get weak, her eyes flutter closed as a deep rumble arises from her chest. “Wednesday…”

“Your scars, they are-” Wednesday hesitates, “They symbolize who you are, Sinclair. A survivor, a warrior. Don’t ever let the poison of others’ societal insecurities take this away from you.”

Enid opens her eyes and realizes she doesn’t see Wednesday, her roommate. She sees Wednesday, the girl she has longed to know and to protect. Enid sees Wednesday Addams, the girl who has put her life on the line for her time and again. Wednesday, who has become someone that Enid cannot imagine life without anymore. “You are too, you know? You’re so brave, Wednesday. And… you make me want to be brave too. So… don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not. Okay?”

“I will not… mi lobo,” Wednesday speaks with a softness that Enid now notices she’s only ever spared for her. Maybe… no, of course not. They’re just friends… really, really good friends.

So ummmm, oops. This got away from me a little bit… Anyway! You get my point! Wenclair should become canon through addressing Enid’s scars.

#rachel talks #wednesday addams #enid sinclair #wednesday x enid #wenclair #wenclair rambles #wednesday #wednesday netflix #wednesday series #wednesday season 2 #jenna ortega #emma myers

[andavs]

do you have any ideas for how you want eddie's arc to play out? this crazy spec is making me nervous too and i need some reassurance lol

Lol you're in luck because my ideal version I've come up with is the super boring one that no one I follow wants to see!

For me, the absolute best case scenario is that he’s seen Kim once or twice since they had dinner but he feels guilty about it and he’s acting cagey because he knows this is objectively weird and bad, so Buck clocks something’s going on.

If Buck and Kim have a scene, then maybe Buck sees them out together and approaches them so Eddie knows he’s caught and he can’t keep avoiding it. They talk about it and Ryan does some amazing face acting.

I have no idea how much Eddie we'll see in this next episode, but Step Nine is about making amends so Eddie comes clean to Kim and she’s obviously like what the actual fuck, but maybe there’s a moment before they part where she says “say to me what you’d say to her” and Eddie does get some kind of closure because Shannon died with so much left unsaid between them.

I would love to see Eddie break the fuck down about it when he's not alone on a beach, in a way we never saw him do with Shannon. He felt like he had to be the strong and stoic husband with her who never showed weakness, but now he's not that person anymore.

Then the next episode would be the Diazes in town for Chris’ eighth grade graduation or something and they’re all excited to meet Marisol but Eddie’s still all messed up and feeling so guilty. I could see his mom or someone really sincerely telling him how much happier he seems to really drive home that he wasn’t happy with Shannon and everyone around him could tell—and he's currently miserable so what the hell did it look like back then?

He does end things with Marisol, either by telling her what happened with Kim or just explaining that he’s still working through Shannon’s death and he’s not being fair to her. I'd try to come up with a scenario where Marisol gets to be angry and lay into him about this, but they haven't developed her character enough for me to really care how she feels about it. She's a lamp in a habit.

And then Eddie's free and available for whatever they're going to do to us in the finale!

I know this is ignoring whatever bombshells Ryan talked about, but if it gets much more twisted and weird than that, I honestly have no idea how they’d fit it into their usual three episode structure without ignoring a massive pile of very concerning mental health issues that exploded very suddenly.

#i've been thinking about this for the last hour and now i'm attached to it #i feel like the back half of this season is going to be real rough for me personally

[annabelle--cane]

there's a lot going on in the mag 58 supplemental, this one little scene does a lot of heavy lifting to set up martin and tim's arcs for the rest of the show, but I want to focus on these lines particularly because of how therapy comes back as a symbol in s4/s5.

broadly, in the context of the meta plot and not the individual statements, seeking therapy in tma is representative of trying to improve oneself and get out of a bad situation. later, when taking melanie to therapy, georgie suggests that jon should get some as well but, when asked, says she wouldn't be willing to escort him like she does with melanie, showing how she does wish the best for jon in theory but doesn't think he actually wants to get better, or at least that she's not sure enough to involve herself with him.

that view of jon doesn't come from nowhere, because here we have an instance of him rejecting that same offer, symbolically rejecting help in favor of digging himself deeper on his own (obligatory disclaimer that irl therapy is a very personal thing and says nothing about one's overall character, this is just an examination of a motif in fiction). the word choice of "he just says no" imo implies that martin has suggested this multiple times and jon keeps giving the same answer, continually reaffirming that he does not want outside assistance to pull him out of this spiral.

the fact that martin's the one advocating to go soft on jon despite repeated refusals for more sympathetic help is interesting to me, because I would guess that this conversation was instigated by jon aggressively confronting martin about trevor herbert two episodes earlier. we know he was stalking all three of his assistants, but that is the biggest and most threatening outburst we get from jon in this period, and in this conversation it is still martin being defensive and apologetic vs tim being frustrated and pissed off.

I've said recently that I'm pretty sure martin believed jon was self harming and/or suicidal at this point, so I can see why he would be particularly willing to give jon slack and try to prevent any big conflicts, but that still contributes to his current narrative role of "guy who is treated the worst but ignores it because he's also the guy who cares the most." in that way, he's a foil for georgie; she cares, sure, but not enough to ignore (perceived) risks. martin pushes for jon to get therapy even as he lashes out and rejects help, and georgie won't involve herself when jon asks if she'd be willing to help him see a therapist.

this motif comes back around for a final complication in s5, when laverne, melanie's therapist, winds up as part of her cult. melanie's effort to get better and get out did have lasting effects, she is separated from the watcher/watched system and is coping a whole lot better than she would have before, but those personal efforts still weren't enough to fully get her out of the whole mess. no amount of individual action could remove her from this structural problem, her therapist helped her a lot but also now thinks she's a prophet.

which also comes back to the above scene. tim and martin both write off elias as useless in this situation, so they start sniping at each other and talking about how to stop jon from doing what he's doing without even really lingering on how the guy who is actually in charge and has power over them all is making it worse by neglecting his managerial duties. I'm sure jon could have done with some therapy at this point, but that would have only dealt with, like, 10% of the archive gang's current problems.

#tma #marina marvels at life #id in alt text

[quasi-normalcy]

I know I say that modern Star Trek hasn't really introduced very many original villains, but that's not quite fair., So...

Comprehensive list of new villains offered by modern Star Trek (post 2017)

BA'UL

Why They're villains: They oppressed the Kelpiens on Kaminar for thousands of years and lied about their origins. Pros: Notably creepy design, and notably creepy technology Cons: They can't really be used as recurring villains because the Kelpiens overthrew them at the end of the episode; 900 years later, they'd become allies.

CONTROL(technically borrowed from the novels, but whatever):

Why They're Villains: Did that standard basic bitch evil computer move where they tried to wipe out all organic life in the galaxy. Pros: Um...at least the writers got it out of the way so that they couldn't make that particular aspect of the novelverse canon.

Cons:

CONTROL sucks.

Seriously, at their best, they're just like...Diet Borg. Fuck CONTROL.

Can't come back because Emperor Georgiou murdered it up but good, yum yum. Not that you would want it to.

HIGHER SYNTHETICS:

Why They're Villains: "Just ring us up and we'll come kill all organic life in your galaxy", lol.

Pros:

Tentacular

Introduces some cosmic horror to the Star Trek universe.

Cons:

Kind of a generic doomsday villain.

Too powerful to really use them again.

GELRAKIANS:

Why They're Villains: Turn hostile if you show them wood.

Pros: Umm...

Cons:

Completely obsessed with crystals

Not really prime "recurring villain" material

DROOKMANI:

Why They're Villains: Extremely territorial about their salvage.

Pros: So far, they're the first villains on this list who have actually been recurring

Cons: They don't really seem like a threat to any ship more powerful than California class.

BADGEY:

Pros: "I will burn! Your heart! In a fiiiiiiiire!"

Why He's a Villain: Daddy issues.

Cons:

Kind of a one-note joke.

Ascended to a higher plane of existence so he can't be come back.

AGIMUS & PEANUT HAMPER:

Why They're Villains: He's a tyrannical supercomputer! She's just kind of a bitchy robot! Together they're...legitimately just making each other into better people?

Pros: They're kind of adorable?

Cons:

They're not really villains anymore

Peanut Hamper shouldn't even be on this list since Exocomps were from TNG.

SPECIES 10-C:

Why They're Villains: Gravitationally dredging the Milky Way for dark matter.

Pros:

Kind of a cool concept

Not a type of alien that Star Trek has really done before.

Cons:

Not really villains.

Extremely unlikely to recur.

TRANSWARP CONDUIT ALIENS:

Cons:

Why They're Villains: They, uh, opened up a big-ass transwarp conduit in the middle of Federation space for some reason.

Pros: Umm. They gave Agnes something to do in the finale.

Blatantly just created at the last minute to justify the presence of the Borg at the beginning of the season.

By the writers' own admission, they never had any actual intent to follow up on them, even though they really ought to.

They're a complete blank slate; even more so than the Higher Synthetics. Who are they? Dunno. What do they want? Dunno.

Honestly I don't even care about them, I just want to see more Jurati-Borg

VAU N'AKAT

Why They're Villains: They blame the Federation for destroying their planet in the future.

Pros:

It's nice to actually have an original alien species as arc villains for a change

I like the aesthetics of their technology

John Noble and Jameela Jamil both have really pleasant voices; like, I could listen to them all day

Space Goths

Drednok

Cons:

There's only, like, a hundred of them who came back from the future so it's not clear how much of a threat they can be without their living construct jiggerypokery.

I'm sure that this will get fleshed out in season 2, but they seem kind of underdeveloped as a culture at this point.

I assume that they'll probably make friends by the end of the series, so they probably can't be recurring antagonists elsewhere.

SHEPHERDS:

Why They're Villains: Ancient fundamentalists amorally protecting a holy comet on its path.

Pros: It was a good episode.

Cons: Unless you run into that one specific comet, they'll probably just leave you alone.

MAJALANS:

Why They're Villains: You know The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas? That.

Pros: It was a good short story.

Cons: Aside from ritualistically torturing a child to death every few years, they're kind of upstanding citizens of a the galactic community. Not really villain material.

HYSPERIANS:

Why They're Villains: Their evil queen keeps trying to trick her asexual son into losing his virginity.

Pros:

Their ship is really pretty.

The concept of Ren Faire larpers getting together to make a real kingdom is kind of hilarious.

Cons:

They're just another type of human

They seem to mind their own business when they're not trying to interfere in the sex life of one specific Starfleet engineer.

KROMSAPIODS:

Why They're Villains: They have a undeniable biological need to hunt

Pros: Kind of terrifying design

Cons: Catch-and-release hunters aren't really threatening.

MOOPSY:

Why It's a Villain: The Moopsy DRINKS YOUR BONES!!!

Pros: Moopsy!

Cons: Moopsy!

#star trek discovery #star trek picard #star trek lower decks #star trek prodigy #star trek strange new worlds

[fuckyeahaudiodrama]

✨APRIL/MAY LISTENS✨

hi i’m back, i’ve just finished my degree and do not have enough of a brain to write an in-depth of anything. but! here’s some of what i’ve been shoving in my earholes for the past month, in no particular order.

The Magnus Protocol — (season 1 ongoing) continues to blow my fucking mind. the sound design/music combo for this series is of particular note, it really just… mwah. elevates the text so much for me. i also continue to be impressed by how well this works as both a standalone series and as a delicious trail of candy for those of us who loved Archives. we’re halfway through s1 now and all i can think about is alice dyer.

Beef and Dairy Network — (ongoing @ 109 eps) a partially improvised absurdist comedy pod set in a world that is bizarrely obsessed with beef. my qpp listened to one episode and called it “distilled british humor” which feels… correct. i’ll be real, i’m actually mad at myself for not getting into this one sooner, but on the other hand having a long binge of it has been divine. i would kill to go to one of their live shows.

The White Vault — (5 seasons, 10 eps apiece) not including goshawk because i’ve barely started on that. but the main series… woah! god, i totally didn’t think this was going to be my thing but i could not put it down? the first season is definitely slower than i usually prefer but the characters kept me hooked and by season 3 the narrative completely took over my brain. i also love how well they sold the found audio format, it WORKS. gold fucking star, highly recommend.

Jackie the Ripper — (3 seasons, 5 eps apiece) put this one aside for a rainy day and binged it all at once. deeply wish there was more of it. it’s a raunchy crime drama with a downtrodden detective at the helm who i SWORE i wouldn’t root for but ended up doing so anyway. do recommend! if it sweetens the pot, the protag has the same VA as watson in the currently popular Sherlock & Co.

The Mistholme Museum — (6 seasons, soon to be complete) people have been recommending this to me for years and i just never got around to it, but on the bright side — it was an incredible binge. anthologies aren’t my strong suit but i found the framing device really strong and, crucially, it develops a meta plot that balances really well. biggest strength for me was the narrator, but i can’t explain why without spoiling some key plot developments. just trust me.

Wake of Corrosion — (4 seasons, final ongoing) very cool apocalyptic suspense/horror. i initially loved this show for the dynamic between the two leads, who are brothers trying to reconnect on a solitary camping trip when the world decides to go wonky. i ended up loving the worldbuilding as well. final episode drops very soon.

Neon Inkwell: The Pit Below Paradise — (miniseries, ongoing) this one has a bit of a western vibe and heavy religious/culty overtones, which isn’t my favorite genre. but i think each of the main characters has been developed really well thus far. + many fun cameos from members of the production team, those are really fun to try and spot :)

Twits: A Steampunk Distraction — (2 seasons, 5 eps apiece) very silly comedy of errors from the pov of a bumbling aristocrat. can’t say too much without giving the end of s1 twist away. i highly recommend it if you’re looking for some lighthearted listening. the ending credits are also very cute.

Planet Arcana — (ongoing @ 71 eps) i’m so bad at TTRPGs but this one has such a unique setting, i’m just captivated. tarot-flavored sci-fi adventure for anyone interested. i’ve made it through the first arc and the party has already experienced a crazy amount of development; stoked to see what happens next.

Selene — (ongoing) anthology about a spooky little town with a vintage vibe. single narrator, quite talented. i’m not always easily invested in anthologies but the narrator here really sells it for me, and (!) i think he writes children — both their thought processes and dialogue — very realistically. which is my grandest compliment.

Camp Here & There — (s1 complete @ 33 eps, hiatus?) i put off listening to this for a rainy day because i’d heard nothing but rave reviews and they weren’t lying. this is quite literally the ONLY pod i’ve come across that completely captures the same magic that WTNV did for me on first listen. the creator is kinda going thru it so idk if s2 is going to happen but i really hope so. even if not, s1 is very worth listening to. it’s wacky and sinister and i just love the narrator, it’s hard not to.

We’re Alive: Scout’s Honor — (8 ep miniseries, complete) imagine WA from the perspective of some awkward tweenagers. what’s not to love? the gore is really heightened by each characters’ stage of emotional development. i especially loved the conclusion but i won’t spoil it here ;)

Among the Stars and Bones — (2nd season ongoing) sci-fi drama with a solid first season, really nice narrative tie-up, but the second season was SUCH a glow-up nonetheless! + the most memorable karim kronfli performance of all time IMHO.

#audio drama #podrecs #i thought that this would be a cute lazy sort of graphic to make and the layering was actually a nightmare #so i kind of gave up but i hope it looks. okay #anyway these are all great shows and i’m happy to talk more about them in future #i’ll have a brain again soon. i think

[invested-in-your-future]

What was it exactly that ruined RWBY after volume 3? Was it the death of the author or the creators simply lost touch with their work?

I think I talked about the changes and issues within the narrative before, so I'll just stick to the overall problems with the shift from V3 to V4.

Honestly? The author's passing might have an impact, but it shouldn't have this level of impact.

It's easy to attribute all the success to Monty and just pretend the show was doomed without him. Then why did V3 still come out extremely good? Clearly, there was still talent here - Dillon Goo carried V3 fights on his back, and the story continued - nothing instantly fell apart.

And yet the show did fall apart.

So, what happened?

Were they blindsided by Monty's passing? Were they too inexperienced? Did the hard shift in direction destroy the show's setting? How about the employee burnout?

In reality, I think it's a combination of all of those and more.

They were caught off-guard.

No matter how big Monty's actual role was, people at RT are still human beings.

Death of a friend can turn one's life upside down and fast - understandably, the company would struggle to continue after losing someone so integral to their identity back then.

The way Volume 4 is structured instantly shows that the rest of the staff got blindsided by having to continue the show - V4 is designed to spin its wheels, buying them time while they try to figure out what to do. It's averse to any characterization for the lead four or any change in status quo, and even the lore bits we DO get during V4 are very vague (because the showrunners have no idea what to do).

You can literally imagine them all running around behind the scenes frantically trying to see how they can pick up from where v3 left off and delaying, delaying, delaying.

The issue, however, is that at some point, that kind of stalling becomes their whole MO rather than a temporary thing.

The show effectively stalls any sort of payoff for anything from the first three volumes, shying away from addressing anything within its original identity.

After a while, it's not like they didn't have time to figure things out or turn things around yet - it's that they decided this stalling issue works fine as-is - even as far as V9.

The relationships never quite progress - Blake and Yang have been in limbo since V3, for example.

The characters never progress or regress - how many times did the show "hint" at Ruby's distress for years, promise Blake's growth, or have Yang on the verge of some big moment of self-reflection?

It's not even JUST that it shifted away from its original identity as a contemporary tech-fantasy show - while it absolutely DID do that, the issue is that the showrunners have no idea what shape the show's identity OR aesthetic should take OR how to do it.

The show just stalls because it works even if viewers start to dwindle, and they don't have to do anything that would "alienate" people (Like, let's say, addressing the elephant in the room that is Yang and Blake).

A staggering amount of effort is made to NOT progress things and to have characters go through all these locations without really changing at all.

Things happen but not really.

What did Ruby's journey from Patch to Mistral accomplish for her as a character? What did Blake's journey to Menagerie accomplish? How about Yang's journey to find her offscreen bandit mother? How about Weiss getting taken back by her father?

Nothing.

What did the conflict in Atlas accomplish? Were characters affected or changed in any way? Did Weiss finally have her story arc? Did Ruby face herself?

Nothing.

You could literally change up the end of V3 with them dropping into the future of Vacuo and you wouldn't miss a single story beat.

We don't know MORE about the world OR the characters, really - the dumb Brother Gods plotline revelations can be summed up in half an episode.

Mistral's fate, Vale's fate, Atlas falling? That can be done offscreen - it's not like the show hasn't already offscreened far more important things

Of course, the show DIDN'T just skip that padding so it still has to get the major story beats in as everyone moves through locations.

But those story beats happen in the weirdest way possible.

Why?

There is ego involved, yes.

Miles didn't have to add up the brother gods subplot he had dreamt up one day.

Miles didn't have to keep pushing Jaune into the front of the show at the cost of the actual leads.

It's no secret that the show would always work this way where one of the people involved would posit an idea of how they think something could be cool if it happened - Monty was pretty notable for wanting to have Raven fight Team JNPR in the Fall of Beacon for example, and he refused to elaborate.

Is it so surprising someone like Miles or Kerry would want to "add their own touch"? So what if those ideas clashed with literally everything in the setting before - be it narratively or aesthetically?

But there was something else that changed.

Before V4 the people involved would come up with something and then work it into the plot. While imperfect, there was a possibility of a somewhat healthy dynamic where, with, likely, actual pushback between those involved - Monty never did get his "Raven fights everyone" scene after all, no matter how cool it could have been.

After V3 that dynamic was gone, obviously.

The creative element of the show fell apart, but Miles and co seemed to keep going like nothing happened - and at some point rather than a bunch of people discussing possible paths for the show, it turned into a situation where Miles or someone else would propose an idea and then it would happen.

As the show grew in scope so did the necessity for actually making those desired elements fit into the story. It was no longer about "hey we can't really justify Raven randomly showing up and fighting team JNPR" - there were Kingdoms and multiple locations and dozens of characters involved now.

They just lost their friend who proposed the show in the first place, they struggled to make the show continue and they were clearly inexperienced running something as big as this.

Yet instead of growing, learning, or hiring people, they seem to have been content with just dumping what Miles wanted into the show without worrying about narrative structure, set-ups, payoffs, characterization, and so on.

The weird medieval aesthetic of various locations no longer fits the contemporary modern setting of the first three Volumes? So what.

The magicky ridiculous cheese of brother gods was the polar opposite of a more grounded setting before it? So what.

The decision to not show actual character progression and growth that could be Yang's recovery arc because "it was boring"? This would make any writer or college professor scream because that's now how you characterization, that's not how you do pay off or ANYTHING, but yet again -so what?

Why?

They were unwilling to learn and to accept critique.

Listening to staff commentary for the show (even before Monty's passing) there's one thought that would persist - "Wow, they sure sound content and prideful with not knowing their things and just going with the flow."

RT drank their own Kool-Aid - "Oh we are just a small indie group of friends - look how scuffed our production and decision-making is."

It was impossible not to notice back then - people would point that out all the time.

Yet instead of improving and changing and learning and, honestly, growing up, Miles or someone else would just throw some backhanded remark and continue.

A group of amateur film-makers can grow and develop, but RT were so proud of their status as being this industry underdog where it's just a group of friends(despite that not being the case for YEARS at that point), that they were unwilling to make necessary changes in their work culture, approach or, well, anything.

I keep coming back to Miles watching Land of Lustrous and going "Oh, I don't get it." and that's it - there's no self-betterment or willingness to "get it" showcased and that's emblematic of RT culture as a whole.

Whether there was talent in the company (there was), it wouldn't matter if people at the top would stomp their feet and refuse to learn or improve. Even V9 staff had quite a few talented animators involved - did not help.

They were too caught up in the "youtube machinima bro culture" RT's size had long since grown out of.

They were "a bunch of friends, just a bunch of indie amateur people creating content", and they were proud of it and of how scuffed everything was.

So what if at that scale of the company, the culture would end up creating genuine issues with power dynamics, harassment, over-work, inefficient production, employee burnout, resource wasting, and so on?

The working conditions drove away most of the talent they had left over the course of next few years.

(Un)Surprisingly being stuck in a frathouse mentality lasting decades is a really good motivator for actual talented people within the company to quit and work elsewhere. Who would have thought?

One logical path forward would be to hire actual industry professionals, right? They could have created a writer's room, hired management experts, a proper HR department, hired sensitivity readers, outsourced researching various topics, etc, right? Miles and Co could keep pretending to be auteurs while competent people would get paid to do what needs to be done and course-correct them.

Easy, right?

Well.

They were unwilling to hire professionals.

Reminder that it took RT till around Atlas arc to have anything resembling a writers' room, they still refused to hire actual sensitivity readers to ensure they don't end up writing something blatantly ableist or just outright all-around problematic.

In the cases where professionals were involved, the people in charge just ignored all suggestions (otherwise Volume 8 and 9 would have been stopped at brainstorming phase and changed - I refuse to believe no one took a look at it and said "this will crash harder than Genlock Season Two")

I have no doubts people at the core of RT wanted to honor their friend's legacy and make right by them, but...

If "everything was fine" and who they were was fine and no critique mattered then why change anything or listen to outside voices?

And thus they continued.

Overall

It's a mix of variety of issues, really. It's actually kind of fascinating RT managed to have so many things go wrong.

#rwby #rwde #ruby rose #yang xiao long #rwby analysis #rooster teeth

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

My main problem with that episode was just that I feel like they hyped up the beatles aspect of it so much (you can even find doctor who magazines in shops in England that have posters inside them that parody "with the beatles" album cover with the Beatle actors and the doctor and ruby) and they did so little with it. The actors didn't really feel like John and Paul in most scenes, we saw and heard basically nothing of George and Ringo, and we didn't see them play off each other.

They put the beatles in an episode and neglected to have them interact with each other, the thing that's arguably the thing most distinct about them.

Like I know it's only a 40 minute episode but come on. It could've been done better. AND the secret chord could've been the Damn A Hard Day's Night Chord, or the final chord of A Day In The Life. To make the Beatles aspect of it more significant.

Also the way the only thing that was different in a London without music was smog? Really? Nothing more???

Jinx Monsoon was incredible tho what a stellar performance. (Sorry for the long rant I just had t h o u g h t s )

THE WAY I HAD THE SAME THOUGHT ABOUT THE CHORD???? I was yelling for the AHDN chord. Why was it just the most normal major chord ever? For an episode that started off saying interesting, accurate stuff about music theory, I just felt really let down as a music lover (as opposed to a Beatles fan particularly). Like I was like "genius????? that's not a genius chord what the FUCK" It could have not been the AHDN one too (though that was perfect and right there – also would be something where no copyright strike could possibly be justified, while being PERFECTLY iconic) just something that actually felt like interesting music.

Look, I understand Doctor Who is here to be Doctor Who, not biblically-accurate Beatles RPF. That being said, it didn't even try to create interesting – if perhaps inaccurate – characters for John and Paul that you could learn to root for as the episode progressed. The two DW episodes I'm thinking of the most here are the Shakespeare and Van Gogh one, which similarly centered the historical person's artistry as the thing that ultimately saves the day. The premise of this episode made that task harder, granted, but it's so easy to include the Doctor going on an extended rant about what makes them great or whatever. He did that a little, but he basically just named two songs and left it at that lol. And it was about the fucking piano not them as musicians/writers.

TO BE CLEAR: I'm not saying this because I think the show needs to pay them tribute or whatever, I'm saying that if the narrative treats them as geniuses that are the only ones capable of sending Maestro back, I think the episode should maybe in some sense try to demonstrate this genius (slowly build it up over time!!! what!!! a fucking character arc perhaps???). And you're right, they clearly made a lot of hype around this being a Beatles episode and then didn't really want to actually protray them. They were off-screen for most of the episode and completely unaware of the plot! Why? Like genuinely, why am I meant to care about this piano chord scene when the characters in it have been absent from the plot for the past twenty minutes of runtime and their only purpose before was essentially to provide exposition on the conflict of the episode? I DON'T GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did think Jinkx did a good job, but I also found Maestro was so… one-note (lol). It didn't to me feel justified to spend so much time with just the villain, when Maestro is just… kind of one-dimensionally evil. Like, it's entertaining, yes, but when you combine it with my above issue it just feels hollow, if that makes sense. Having Maestro actually interact with the musicians they're sort of running dry would have been fun, I think? Honestly would have been way better than zeroing in on Ruby, and given Jinkx her flowers without sidelining the Beatles aspect.

Side-note, but weirdest thing I'm noticing about this season is that RTD is doing the companion-mystery thing so many people hated about Moffat but like. he is NOT as good at it lmao.

#ask #anon #meta #(sorta lmao) #doctor who

[badolmen]

If I made a video essay covering every episode arc and the overall storyline and themes of Darker than Black would that be too self indulgent?

#ra speaks #personal #darker than black #dtb #tag rambling #yes I’m making it for me ™ but it’s also an absolutely massive project like #the video introduction I’ve drafted is 2.5 pages font size 11 1.5 spaced. it’s a lot of text. #and reading it out loud definitely takes longer than 20 minutes #and that’s without getting into the actual arcs and episodes of the show that’s just me rambling abt my personal discovery and interest init #but my real reason is that the wikia has some glaring inconsistencies/shortcomings in terms of its summaries and descriptions plus a lot of #subjective interpretations posited as canonical fact #which y’know I could remake the wikia piece by piece in a doc.wiki format #but to do that I’ll need a thorough rewatch with notes on all canonical events and circumstances as portrayed through the media itself #instead of through a personal lense #sorry I looked up video essays for dtb on YouTube and one of the first literally criticizes the show for something that’s #explicitly addressed in episode 9 like sir did you even fucking WATCH the show how is this the most popular video on the show

[hauntingblue]

Why do they say dragon is luffy's father but doesn't look much like him... I mean it is true but why point it out... in that way he doesn't look like garp either

#i thot we were gonna get baby luffy but no.... old man luffy..... #also the opening is so intense 'dreams save all of us' and the arc starts with luffys dream i might throw up #zoro and brook staying behind to protect them from the government.... yeah.... VEGAPUNK AND DRAGON??? ACTUALLY FLABBERGASTED #maybe vegapunk is part of the rev army but then he modified kuma on the behalf of the gov??? thats so cruel..... #talking tag #watching one piece #episode 1094 #the fucking opening..... dream save all of us like okay damn it goes hard #incredible how they just take the hit from the laser.... minor injuries that's all... seraphim jinbe has mr pink's power??? #how come sanji hasnt immediately jumped on the seraphim like god. and nami not being able to hurt children yeaaahhhh ROBIN GO OFF!!! #zoro conveniently being the only one who doesnt see the seraphim..... come on.... #york what an icon i wish thay were my job too. eat shit sleep amazing #900 YEARS AGO???? EMPTY CENTURY TIME!!!!!!!! LETSGOOOOO D LORE D LORE D LORE #episode 1095 #and that is IT for today. yesterday i watched like 5 today we are measured. #<- this is when you find out i stack episodes on my posts even if i dont watch them one after the other... #i am sensitive rn and the preview has ohara and robin crying i am not making it out of this one folks #YEAH YEHA THE KINGDOM (OF THE D I AM SURE) VS THE WORLD GOV usopp hitting his head against the floor akdjka #clover and noland have to be related the flora on head has to be genetic or smth #also now they showed lulusiq being obliterated we can assume imu was responsible for destroying this advanced kingdom right #THE BOOKS FROM OHARA MADE IT????!!!!! DRAGON IN OHARA??? THEY HAVE THEM??? BUT THEIR BASE BURNED???? #luffy calling the robot robo ace. should i end it all rn be honest. and the robot turned on. nvm someone was in there #vegapunk meeting with luffy knowing dragon oof also ohara was in the west blue???? wow #episode 1096 #that giant was the one in dressrosa??? hierjudin??? omg dragon without his tattoo... 33?? damn he is 55 now... #OMG JAGUAR D SAUL GIANT FROM ELBAF????? VEGAPUNK DIDNT JOIN THE REVILUTIONARIES??? SELL OUT!!! #dragon pacifist???? god this lore. sanji didnt know about ivasan??? the books are in elbaf... with saul.... omg.....robin ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ #jinbes face reacting to vegapunks fruit ajdjsjs did vegapunk cut off his head? is he stupid?? -luffy #vegapunk wants to make wikipedia.... omg lucci already too... the robot attacked marie geoise ✍️✍️✍️ #episode 1097

[builtlikeastickofcelery]

me when i see someone make the most insufferable tt post absolutely bashing 2012 for no fucking reason other than the fact that they want rise to be good but they don’t understand that multiple iterations can all be good. all of it can be good. saying multiple things are good don’t make you favorite thing bad. please.

#rise can be good without other iterations being bad #for reference the post was smth like #‘Rise leo watching all of 2012 be bad at each others weapons’ #and its just RTHGHGCGSG THAT IS A FUCKING SEASON ONE EPISODE #AND ALL their WEAPONS are WILDLY DIFFERENT IN TERMS OF RANGE AND TECHNIQUE? #Obviously they won’t have mastery over them immediately #Because they aren’t supposed to start out perfect at everything!! #Worst part is this also comes up in rise when they get their asses kicked in the premiere! #And that’s with the weapons they’ve presumably trained with all their lives #just augh. Rise is good without all other iterations being bad #Plus they’re wildly different in terms of formatting aswell #Rise is so episodic and we almost never see them doing actual weapon training #because that’s not the tone of the show; it’s supposed to be spontaneous and fun #In 12 we DO See a lot of training because it fits the show’s aesthetic #And establishes character arcs or relationships #gughghghg #I can try and elaborate on this tomorrow #Or like in august

[lord-radish]

So it turns out that 8 seasons of The Blacklist is bordering on too much. Not because I don't still enjoy it, but because it's got a relentless myth arc that doesn't have nearly enough resolution the longer it goes on.

I think there's a trope on TV Tropes called the Chris Carter Effect, named after the showrunner of the X-Files, where a show will keep adding onto its myth arc until the show implodes and people stop watching because they don't care what the mystery is any more. It took one turn too many, kept people on the hook for so long that they ate through the bait and decided they didn't want to be reeled in.

For the most part, I think shows that do this aren't wholly planned out. I think Lost was a big example of this in the 2000's, it was written as it was being filmed and the ending disappointed because they couldn't possibly resolve everything in a way that made sense - it was never written to make sense. From what I hear, the X-Files pulled the same move of building up this myth arc even when it was revived. Some shows thrive on that "down the rabbit hole" feeling without actually having an endgame.

I don't think The Blacklist is that kind of show. It is absolutely a "rabbit hole" type show, it's a conspiracy thriller - what I mean is that I think it has an endgame that it's had set in stone since at LEAST season four. The issue is that it just isn't giving up the goods, and the conflict is now being built on top of that tension instead of resolving the tension. It's beginning to get frustrating.

#the blacklist #mind you I still like the show #and also frankly? I like what they're doing with elizabeth keen. haters fuck off #I'm at the point where seasons 1 and 4 are my favorite seasons. season 6 marked a significant decline imo #some of that is because of keen. some of it is because of reddington. I'm firmly on keen's side in that she's been drawn into this mess #and she hasn't had any agency or any relief from this waking nightmare that the past 8 years of her life has been #people on imdb are going 'shes the worst part of the show just kill her already' and it's so annoying #like she's a flip-flopping primetime TV protagonist. it comes with the territory y'know. she does her job as a character and it's fine imo #that's the worst part of the viewing experience so far - this fanbase that's frothing at the mouth insisting she's the worst part #I'm not entirely happy with her character arc either but the hate is just really shitty #ultimately the way the show handles her character can be poor #lots of character shilling while a list of her manipulating and hurting everyone else keeps adding up. that's a bit frustrating #that being said - as a relative civilian being groomed into the criminal lifestyle by a person who's clearly close to her #but never actually discloses his relationship to her? who is proven to be so deceitful past a certain point #that she can't even trust him after what he had her believe? #and trust me I know what the big fan theory about that is. the reason I'm watching the show is because of that. and I'm loving it #but elizabeth keen doesn't know that. and she's turning to extreme measures just to find closure for a mystery that reddington opened up #just by stepping into her life without telling her why. I 100% side with keen even if her character can be wonky #and her methods aren't great. I totally get why she's like this. and I don't like how other people react to her showing up for 2 minutes #by docking review points for the episode and saying they should kill her off. I'm really getting sick of that

[united-under-skyfall]

leverage is so fucking funny. man manages to find the most mentally ill and neurodivergent group of thieves on the market + an even more mentally ill guy whose literal job description was trying to chase all of them, and forces them into a found family speed-run by trying to blow them all up. they lowkey stage a full fucking country wide coup and are like eh 🤷 just another wednesday. this might be a fun place to vacation tho i guess. sophie shows up to her own funeral twice. they're so good at convincing people of their shit that they make a guy's body start reacting to an illness he doesn't have because it isn't real. go completely out on a limb and basically hand this one guy a new password for his computer so they can get into it and he goes with it. parker and hardison have straight up just "fake it 'till you make it"d into the fbi without even attempting to cover their tracks beyond just These Two Guys. half their clients never asked to be their clients and don't know they're their clients, and the other half are random people who find them who fuckin knows how, meanwhile no government agency can track them down without selling their soul to sterling. they make a point to have a dramatic scene w a Big Bad Shadowy Government Guy who doesn't actually get caught or brought to justice or anything telling them he's going to hunt them all down, and in any other show this would probably earn at least a minor arc later on but he literally never shows up again. an entire season finale hinged on a cake and a bunch of clams. they accidentally made eliot a celebrity not once, not twice, but three times. parker blew up her foster parents' house when she was like. nine. and it's hardly a footnote. hardison is just casually an artistic prodigy but it's only ever brought up for the most background of background gags. eliot's biggest beef with parker and hardison for like two and a half seasons is that they won't stop making weird food with lasers and refuse to realize they can't make a decent beer to save their lives. sophie's immediate response to being shot is to call her shooter a wanker. there's a character who has literally killed a man with a mop and they had the audacity to only put her in one episode.

#leverage my beloved <3 #ramble #leverage #i also feel the need to point out that. while yes sophie did show up to her own funeral twice. she also technically was the driver to bring #her own ''corpse'' to wherever interpol was sending it lmfao #re: eliot being made a celeb 3 times bc some people are confused—country singer; baseball player; hockey player #didnt count the knockout job bc i think that was p local focused? could be wrong #re: character who killed a man w a mop = mikel dayan (hitter from the two live crew job) #this post is getting people interested in leverage lets goooooooo #this post has also officially surpassed the number of people i expected to ever know or care about leverage by several thousands #bc even though logically i know it aired as an actual tv show over several years and a lot of people probably saw it #that does not compute in my head #leverage spoilers

[ominous-horse-noises]

still shaking over last night’s episode. now it’s this close to debut time, the gloves have come off for mnet, and it’s obvious they’re doing everything they can to push the k trainees over the g trainees.

the only g trainee to get a proper good edit in these last two episodes was haruto (and if it had to be anyone im glad it was him), and that was mainly because he was doing EVERYTHING, mnet had no choice. everyone else? evil edited or erased from the edit entirely (this is also the second time mnet has teased an episode with haruto’s hilarious antics and then NOT SHOWN THEM).

#like. we couldnt spare a moment from the continued gross sexualisation of yujin (A MINOR) for anyone else??? #you can say im biased bc im a jaystar. but what the FUCK was this episode for him #first he got barely any screentime in the filler. then we skipped him getting his position. then how he did in the evaluation. then recordin #all for the narrative of 'lee jeong ultimate all rounder!!!'. girl i like him but his vocals were FLAT live #and he had the most lines after jay #but they kept praising his average vocals all episode and shafted the most stable vocal on the show after hui #they shafted everyone actually. for the only k trainee on the team. the favouritism is so blatant that its disrespectful #him being put in the center for the posters when hao was the killing part??? that was so foul not even the favourite g trainee escaped it #circling back. i never expected jay to get first. but last? LAST? WHEN HE WAS CARRYING THE VOCAL PERFORMANCE ON HIS BACK? AFTER THOSE ADLIBS #AND THAT HE EXPECTED IT BC HE SAID PPL WERENT CHEERING FOR HIS PARTS #so i listened to the full performance video. and you can HEAR the audience go quiet when he sings #it was so heartbreaking esp bc he was the most friendly with the audience. and they betrayed him #this is the same crowd that voted for gyuvin's off beat rap over gunwook and hui so i expected bad things. but THIS? *WHAT* #anyway moving past that. smn got a full arc as i expected but i suspect some damage has already been done to matthew with knetz voters #they did well but their vocals were SO obviously polished in post. the only one i believe sounded that smooth and stable was seungeon #bc he always sounds like that. even in the training room. without trying. that's my titanium voiced baby!!! #im just going to. skip over the massive yujin focus (as usual) to say i was rooting for lipj in the beginning. but i hate her so much now #LEAVE THAT CHILD ALONE YOU FREAK. only solji stayed out of it. that's mother its true #lipj also only bringing jay up to make fun of him after the performance... i'll kill her i will #switch had the best atmosphere but i knew it was going to come last anyway bc it was the least favourite song of most people #i feel so bad for them esp for the trainees that got kicked out. but it was the expeccted result #phanbin earns that first place every time and i love him for it. he puts his blood sweat and tears into every team and it always pays off #KEITA LOSING CONFIDENCE BROKE MY HEART. he was the best rapper but he willingly volunteered for the worst part that put him in the back. #AND HES SHORT SO YOU CANT SEE HIM PAST SHUAIBO'S PARTY CITY HAIR EXTENSIONS MOST OF THE TIME #overall. over me winning made all the bullshit worth it- i seriously thought they might lose to smn or en garde- but the rest was... #justice for jay justice for g group and jail for all the weirdos being creepy to yujin #boys planet #boys planet episode 10

[emptyjunior]

Can I say how much I love how Ouran High School handles the rich boy/poor girl in love trope. 

Like I absolutely believe it’s discussions about classism and elitism to this Day still hold up! 

I will admit there is so much weird stuff in ouran😭, but we see the Handsome ‘Unlimited Money’ Male Lead a LOT in anime and I feel ouran gets a lot of points of the characterisation SO right, that a lot of other shows just don’t! 

Ouran does the whole love story/harem/all the boys want brown hair girl that we project on, trope. Like they do that, but they show that at the foundation, the root of all of it, those rich boys are JEALOUS. They aren’t approaching Haruhi with the need to protect and own her, at their core the rich are envious of her! Even though they have everything, they want what she has! 

Like we see in the real world with how the rich cosplay as poor! And say "ohhhh I'm so broke please venmo me for lunch" and wear their ripped jeans and strained sweaters and take pictures at the met gala with a box of McDonalds fries in their hand. 

The classist comments made towards Haruhi ARE comedic relief, but the joke isn’t on characters like Haruhi, the joke is on THEM. 

They are the ones who can’t do anything! They are the ones who are stilted and emotionally closed off! They are the ones who can’t make an instant coffee or go to a mall without help! 

THAT is why Haruhi is the center of this harem, why she is the one they’re chasing. They are jealous of her insight and world experience from living independently, from living a REAL life. That is her enviable trait. Haruhi GETS people! And they don’t. Their wealth has isolated them and now there is a barrier between these characters and the rest of the world and they have no idea how to navigate it. 

And this is the foundation of 90% of the problems/conflict in the show! 

The holiday ep when Hikaru has feelings because Haruhi reconnects with Nice Guy Arai? Hikaru says he doesn’t like this guy for all these reasons and most of them are like ‘he’s just some nobody from nothing who only knows Haruhi cause they went to some stupid public school together’. Like okay? Haruhi has all of those ‘bad traits’ as well but you still seem to like her?  

Because it’s not about that, it’s never about that, it’s not even about the love rival/romance angle (at least not completely).  

Hikaru is scared and embarrassed! He already was when they got there, when these rich boys crashed Haruhi’s summer to find out she is an employee here and she is working with her own two hands. This is not a break for her! And then he’s so worried when Haruhi and Arai find each other because what they have is so untouchable to him. Same background, same class, they can meet each other’s needs! And know the other's needs! And this is a chasm that Hikaru has no idea how to cross so he starts lashing out. 

And that episode concludes with Hikaru being told about Haruhi’s fear of thunderstorms, finally actually listening and empathizing with what that means, and then going to her and giving her the stuff she needs to deal with that problem (blanket, headphones, support, protection etc.). 

He has to LEARN that none of those poor people inherently know all this secret knowledge! They just care and ask each other stuff! You can ask Haruhi what she's afraid of and then help her with that! It was always this simple! Just because you’re not the same class as her and knowing her isn’t as easy as it is with people the same as you, doesn’t mean you’ll never know! Learn! Listen! Keep trying! 

Ouran shows their rich characters being hurt by their wealth. Their elitists mindset does NOT benefit them and they’re only narratively rewarded when they break out of it, THAT’S why the arcs are so good. 

(And also while we’re here, I LOVE when they do eps that show Tamaki’s character is actually a parallel of Haruhi’s. Tamaki grew up as an illegitimate child, hidden away in France with his mother. He knows what it is to not be at the top of the food chain, and he learns the skills to keep living! Tamaki is a survivor in a world run by a man who was ashamed of him and did not want him. That can destroy a child, but Tamaki doesn’t let it. He learns how to work people and he learns that belief in yourself is the most powerful asset someone can have. And this is the life experience he imparts onto Kyoya and this SAVES Kyoya, who was barreling towards a black pit of despair and chasing his father’s shadow. The ‘poor’ characters of this show have power that the rich people desperately desire, and in the end they learn that it’s not something you take it’s something you build for yourself.) 

#anyways yes kyoya and tamaki ARE the rich boy/manic pixie girl trope #ohshc #ouran #ouran high school host club #tamaki suoh #haruhi fujioka #kyoya ootori #hikaru #anime #manga #tropes #text post

[jadeacereigen]

I think an underrated aspect of Separation Arc and why it works so well is that once Mob finally stands up for himself and stops going to work, we think we can expect the following to happen:

Reigen quickly flounders at work but stubbornly denies he's incapable without Mob's help

Reigen eventually runs into a client who truly needs the help of psychic powers (e.g. the client is haunted by an evil spirit who cannot be exorcised with salt)

Reigen realizes that he truly needs Mob to not be seen as a fraud and that he shouldn't have taken him for granted

Reigen seeks out Mob and apologizes, Mob accepts his apology and agrees to work for him again

Except... that's not what happens. Reigen does get upset and lonely without Mob, but his business runs fine—in fact, Reigen's own ambition and smart thinking actually allow him to find greater success as a psychic. The only reason Reigen's public downfall even happens is because he was maliciously tricked by Jodo, he'd figured out on his own that the kid wasn't possessed! This and the fact that Jodo is seeking petty revenge for Reigen "humiliating" him (when Reigen actually saved his life no less) really makes us feel like Reigen's public mockery is unfair and unjustified... even though we've always known from the beginning that Reigen is a fraud.

Isn't that a strange turn of events?

Then we get to the press conference. It's possible that even if Mob hadn't helped him at the end, Reigen could've still managed to salvage some of his public image. He was calmly answering people's questions and answering truthfully, pointing out that they had no evidence he was a fraud and that no one had ever had an issue with his work before the show. But all of that stops mattering to Reigen when he realizes that despite all his efforts from childhood, he's still just a lonely, lonely man who has never had any idea what he wants to do in life. The only reason he kept running his psychic business in the first place was because Mob showed up in his dull life and brightened it up with his vivid color.

It is finally here, after all this time we've been spending with Reigen, that we both figure out the truth: Reigen needs Mob not because of his powers, but because Mob is his friend and inspires him to be better. And this full understanding of Reigen's complex character and deep connection with Mob is what hits all of us so hard in this episode, it's so painfully human and real and we would not have gotten all of this had the story just played out as expected.

Thus culminates the genius subversions of Separation Arc: despite having the world's attention all focused on him, Reigen only makes one honest apology to one boy. This boy might not even watching this at all—if he is, he's probably watching this with spiteful bitterness—but it's still important that this boy knows...

You've grown up so much. You know that?

#jade speaks #mp100 #mob psycho 100 #reigen arataka #idk man i be rambling

[adrinoir]

The Miraculous Movie was different than the series…and that’s okay!

I watched the movie this morning and loved it! I think it’s important to talk about the changes that were made and what impact they had.

How the characters were rewritten

There definitely was a difference in how the characters were written in the movie, and some of the redevelopment of characters was really good!

Gabriel was by far the one who had the best redevelopment of his personality. Gabriel in the series is awful, as we all know.

In the series, he barely gives a shit about his own son, like there is absolutely nothing redeemable about his character. In every “what if” episode and the season 5 finale, Gabriel does not show any regret to hurting people, including his own son.

However, in the movie, Gabriel actually makes a better attempt to communicate with Adrien and, most importantly, feels strong regret when he hurt his son. He cries; he feels remorse for destroying Paris and injuring Adrien in the process. He hugs Adrien (along with the spirit of Emilie 🥹) and decides to stop being Hawk Moth. It was beautifully done. He got a redemption arc that he never got in the series. I know I personally felt so good watching that and seeing the relationship between him and Adrien being repaired.

Marinette was her usual clumsy self, but was written as having no friends at school because she embarrasses herself so much. In a way, it makes more sense than her being so popular like she is in the series. Kids in high school can be pretty judgy and ruthless. So it makes sense for the “clumsy girl” to be made fun of and judged by people who don’t know her well.

Adrien was different in a lot of ways. He wasn’t shown running to school to gain freedom. He wasn’t introduced as being a super model who’s friends with Chloe. Instead, he’s already going to the school, he’s already friends with Nino, and he happens to run into Marinette at the library. He doesn’t have that same chemistry with Marinette as he does in the series which is a bit odd that they took that away, but it does make sense that he’d turn her down when she asked him to the ball, since he loves Ladybug. In the movie, he very clearly sees Marinette as just a friend and it’s shown that he’s building a friendship with her without him developing a crush. It’s different but still wholesome, especially when he shows her the old family photo to her. Plus, it evens it out well since Ladybug obviously turns Cat Noir away but they’re still building up their bond, too. They both get turned down.

It was ehhh that Adrien was a bit too cocky at times as Cat Noir, but overall, his goofiness and self confidence is still pretty on brand for him. He was still very encouraging towards Ladybug but not overly flirtatious, pushing her to her limits. Instead, it was them lightly teasing each other and then playfully fighting. And, speaking of the playful fighting, their bond was stronger in the movie seeing as how they were shown spending more time together off duty and that they were treated as equals.

In the show, Cat Noir is automatically made sidekick and left in the dark about everything. But in the movie, he gets to meet Master Fu in disguise alongside Ladybug. Sure, he didn’t help Master Fu with his cane like he did in the series, but that didn’t matter since the lore was changed.

Alya was less annoying in the movie. Sorry. Don’t get me wrong, I love Alya in the series, but she’s so over the top at times with how obsessed she is over the heroes, blogging, and filming things for her blog. In the movie, she was toned down a lot and I liked that. It was also cute that Nino had a crush on her and just her, not Marinette first. Unlike the series, he wasn’t on that pipeline of guys who fell for Marinette since that pipeline doesn’t exist in the movie.

Tom was made out to be an embarrassment for Marinette which is honestly more realistic for a teenager. Most teenagers get pretty embarrassed by their parents, especially when they still treat them very childlike. And, I like that he went out to the fair to look for her since he heard there was danger. Marinette’s parents don’t usually go out to look for her or make sure she’s in her room when there’s danger afoot. So, I appreciate that they made Tom do that since he obviously loves Marinette a lot.

The rewriting of (some of) the lore

As I had mentioned in my previous section, the lore was rewritten, too. Instead of Master Fu being the one to pick Marinette and Adrien simply because they helped him, the kwamis sense that Marinette and Adrien are the right people to be Ladybug and Cat Noir. That was a much better way to write that, in my opinion.

Hawk Moth got ahold of the butterfly miraculous by mistake. That part wasn’t changed but also, it didn’t need to be.

The change of plot

The plot was very simple. It didn’t have a whole lot of crazy, in depth details like the show’s does. So, anyone who has never watched the show can easily understand and absorb what’s going on (I will be forcing my boyfriend to watch it with me since he’s never seen the show lol).

I like that it was very clear cut and easy to understand while still being intense and meaningful. It still summarizes a lot of what the series entails while fixing some issues in the plot development.

They didn’t doddle with Hawk Moth like they do in the show. He was a successful villain in his second attempt but then realized he should stop when he hurt his own son in the process.

Also, there was a reveal. It was a wee bit underwhelming, but I still think it was done well! It was a moment with just Marinette and Adrien alone, as it should be. And, it was cutesy and heartfelt. The fact that Marinette dressed like Ladybug for the ball (cutest dress ever imo) and Adrien dressed like Cat Noir was so cute. That’s what a lot of the fandom has been asking for and written about in fanfics, I feel like.

The romance between these two is most important. They didn’t need Kagami and Luka as 2nd love interests to throw things off track. Yes, I like these characters in the show, but they weren’t needed in the plot.

The music

I love musicals. I was a bit of a theater kid in high school, plus I’m obsessed with music lol. So, yes, I’m a bit biased when I say I love that they made this a musical.

I personally loved the music. I can tell a lot of good effort was put into it and I’ve already been listening to the songs on my Spotify. The song between Ladybug and Cat Noir in the theater “Now I See” and Cat Noir jumping on the clouds (literally, on cloud nine) singing “My Lady” was absolutely adorable and super romantic, which, as we know, is a big part of the show.

Even Gabriel’s song “Chaos Will Reign Today” was amazing! It conveyed a lot of emotion and turns into one of those dramatic villain songs. Keith Silverstein is clearly talented enough to sing for his own character and he did it well.

My only nitpick is that Marinette’s singer, Lou, has a very different voice than Christina Vee. So, Marinette sounds very different, much more mature-sounding when she sings and it kinda catches you off guard. I’m surprised they didn’t have Christina sing for her, but there must’ve been a reason why she didn’t. But, SQVARE sounded similar enough to Bryce Papenbrook when he sung for Cat Noir which i absolutely love.

Conclusion

I personally give this movie a 10/10 just because it made me smile the whole time, and it’s such a feel good movie. I’ll happily watch it again and listen to the soundtrack, especially on a day when I’m feeling down. It wasn’t perfect in every aspect, but it was perfect in a simple, heartwarming sense and that it can be watched by everyone, not only people who watch the series.

I understand if it made you cringe or you were moreso looking for a continuation of the series not a retelling. But, I prefer some simplicity which is a big part of what made me like it. Like I said, I know it wasn’t absolute perfection, but it was so frickin adorable and I can’t help but smile.

There’s a lot of differences but also plenty of similarities between the movie and the show. But understand they’re not meant to be the same and that’s okay! I don’t think the movie was horrible for most of the changes it made. In fact, I think most of them made sense and made it a bit more realistic (as I explained).

#miraculous ladybug #tales of ladybug and cat noir #miraculous #miraculers #adrien agreste #chat noir #ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #miraculous the movie #ladybug and cat noir: the awakening #miraculous the awakening #ml spoilers #ml analysis #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe #hawk moth #gabriel agreste #bryce papenbrook #keith silverstein #christina vee #miraculous movie