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dbphantom · 1 year

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Since I've seen you post a lot about it, what is this H20 AU of yours I see you talk about? Is it a crossover? A revamp of the show? Something else? I see it's plural in your bio :0. I gotta know more, I'm curious

bbbbbb OMG thank you for asking!!!

So the answer is kinda... yes? H2O is my special interest, has been since I was about 6, so it's pretty much what my life revolves around XD

I have... a few H2O AUs. Basically for each major thing I'm into I have an H2O au for that piece of media. Like Borderlands or FFXV (currently my two 'big' ones). If you go back far enough on my blog you will probably find others, like TAZ or RvB or Generator Rex when I was big into those. These you can consider the crossovers, though they're more like me transplanting H2O's concepts into the piece of media I'm fixating on at the time.

I also have an AU for the main show [H2O: Just Add Water], which you can consider a re-vamp. Technically, I have two, one I did solo and one I worked on with one of my besties, the latter of which incorporates Mako Mermaids stuff. I also have one for the cartoon. That is also an H2O au that is a revamp of the show! Mostly because the cartoon makes me really sad with how mean the girls are to Lewis. Like they can be mean in the OG show, too, but their cartoon counterparts are something ELSE, let me tell you…

The crossovers are a little like this:

youtube

The re-vamps are more like this [in the style of the cartoon because I kinda love it, but you didn't hear that from me]:

So if you're still curious, to elaborate on what an H2O AU is in crossover form:

Zane Flynt from Borderlands 3 is a merman [all the Flynt bros are, and they all have their own powers]. I have a Guardian OC, the Driver, who basically created the moon pools as a Vault defense experiment and 'moonstruck' in this AU is a unique form of Guardian possession (which I called before the games actually introduced it as a mechanic hehe) and moonstones are the same crystals as the ones in s3 of H2O.

The Flynt bros using their magic:

The Driver (my Guardian OC):

H2O AU also rewrites the plot of the main game a bit to make it make more sense, gives Zane an actual backstory + fleshes out the Black Ops Outfit he joins, and adds a couple new 'DLCs', like Junpai-7. Junpai-7 is the main area of events for the majority of the H2O-centric stuff, as it's the place with the 'first' moon pool, where the Driver has been stuck since the Eridians disappeared, and has a whirlpool Vault with a sea monster.

That Vault is opened with an Eridian Compass, which kinda works like a log pose from One Piece in that it constantly points to the location of the Vault, as well as opens it. About 30 years before the events of BL3, the Rogues are smuggling the compass to Mary Geoise (a place on Junpai-7... totally a one piece reference since Junpai-7 is all about pirates :P), and Zane takes a job from Cutlord Karuu [Pirate Queen] to get the compass from them. This is why Clay does not acknowledge Zane's existence in the main game, because Zane is an annoying little shit and steals the compass from them XD

The Eridian Compass:

The compass ends up getting lost and nobody gets the Vault open until 30 years later when the VHs head to Junpai-7 on recommendation of Digby Vermouth because of the Sun Fest going on (the people of Junpai-7 celebrate the sun because the moon is what the Driver uses to create merppl/control them via possession, and the residents hate it because she does crime with it). The whole plot of the 'DLC' is the VHs arriving for the Sun Fest, getting roped up in the Driver's plots, and finding the compass to open the Vault. Is fun.

Zane's return to Junpai-7:

The second 'DLC' story involves a new Siren named Minerva, the Wise Owl, who is a villain and her power is Phaseline. Basically, she can yank your lifeline out of your body and cut it with a pair of scissors, then attach it to her own. She walks around with a giant pair of magnetic scissors [to cut the line] that turn into two swords. Her scarf is her lifeline weaved into a bunch of stolen ones. This grants her the memories, lifespan, and experience of those she steals the lifelines from. She can also control the movement of the scarf with her powers. This DLC focuses on chasing her down in order to turn Vaughn back to normal (he got turned into a baby when she stole his lifeline, because her power can't actually kill someone). Basically, I wanted a villain with time powers, but without the bullshit that happens when you give someone time powers. Shenanigans happen when she steals Zane's lifeline instead of Moze's and leaves him as a 30 year old with no memory of the Crimson Raiders.

Minerva:

There are also other magical creatures in this AU because I think they're cool. Like the Hammerlocks are werewolves (there's a precedent with wereskags. technically.), Zer0 is a dullahan (like Celty from Durarara), and Troy Calypso is a psychic. All these guys correspond to a crystal, like how Sirens have Eridium. For example, psychics are powered up by the red Eridian crystals, explaining why Troy has two of them around his neck all the time :D

Werewolf Alistair, Dullahan Zer0, and Psychic Troy:

The girl on the top of the 2nd pic is Hiromi, who was the sniper in Zane's old Black Ops Outfit. She's also psychic. Two other characters I made for this AU are Nino and Emma, who were also part of that Squad. Emma was the leader, while Nino was more of a brawler type. Those two are also dating. That Black Ops Squad is where the triangle logo on Zane's jacket (and other things) originated from, it's their squad logo. I think that has been retconned because of New Tales, but I don't consider New Tales canon soooo... Also, each of them has an animal motif on the back of their jackets. Zane's is the spider he has in the game, Nino is a snake, Hiromi is a hawk, and Emma's is a praying mantis. They met on Pandora after Dahl abandoned the others there and Zane found them. They find and fix up an old Dahl ship called the Lorelei (H2O reference) and Zane joins the squad after that.

You can read that story here, but it's old so... forgive any awkward wording, please.

The Black Ops Squad + their jacket designs [I'm not fond of Nino's now, this is kinda old]:

Their backstory also includes the Obsidian Block, which was a corporation Zane mentions in his backstory ECHO log (with Barnabas) that is then never mentioned again. So you KNOW I had to flesh that out. They're a medical corporation, like Anshin, so a lot of their focus is on biotech and stuff like that. They're headed by the corporate AI Dr. Denman (another H2O reference). They have a CEO that changes every few years, but they're more of a figurehead than anything, because Denman runs the show. They also have a hired mercenary named Sophie (Will's sister in H2O :D), and the current CEO at the moment is Greg (Dr. Denman's assistant in H2O). Barnabas originally joins the Black Ops Squad halfway through their travels (after they ditch the Lorelei and get a different ship bc she breaks down on them), but ends up backstabbing them after Zane falls for him and reveals his secret because Barnabas wanted $$$ from the Obsidian Block.

Dr. Denman from the Obsidian Block, and Zane in his infiltration getup x2:

[The logo is incorrect... I misheard him on the ECHO recording ;-; it's the Obsidian BLOCK, not BLACK]

Um I am really sorry, I was going to also explain FFXV H2O AU, but this got WAYYYY too long, I'm sorry about that. FFXV H2O AU is almost similar to BL2 H2O AU except... kinda... not... at all... >~<

It involves a story rewrite, but the story changes for FFXV H2O AU (I call it Alkali) are way smaller until post-Altissia. I also add backstory for Ignis Scientia (you might notice a trend with characters that don't have definitive backstories XD) and flesh out his uncle (Celor Scientia- I gave him his name... and his personality... and his design...) because dude had 2 lines in the audio drama Parting Ways and um. I felt like that wasn't enough.

But yeah! That's the gist of it. I add merpeople and then go absolutely fucking wild with the lore to make it work in-universe :)

Take this silly comic as apology and also as thanks for making it this far:

💙💙💙💙

#IM SORRY THIS GOT REALLY LONG #if you'd like to know more about any of my other AUs I would be so so happy to do a write up just let me know :D #H2O AU #ask #thank you!!#i have to go now!!!!#but im always down to talk about h2o au 👀

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sims4royalsandimperials · 1 year

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Happy December! What were your favourite moments of 2022 on simblr? They can be from your blog or someone else’s <3

Hey, Ayanna. Happy December to you as well. After careful consideration, I have determined my top 5 moments of 2022:

Eleanore and Ibrahim tying the knot on @theroyalsims. After a controversial first engagement between the couple back in Al Simahara, having had it called off, Ibrahim relinquishing his title and Eleanore's being stripped, they went through hell and back, and they finally got their forever I do's. I'm just glad Eleanore reconciled with (almost) all her family in the process.

Niamh and Sebastian from @houseofcameliard. After Niamh was abducted, held hostage, she was rescued by Sebastian. Well long story short, they became a couple and got married. I love those two.

Helena and Cora reconciling in @thegrimalldis. Cora, being the daughter of the late Prince Nicholas (we still miss you, bro!) and Eliza, After her father's death, Cora... well, processed her grief... not so healthily. should say. She ended up being stripped of her titles, and found out she was pregnant. After giving birth to Mere, Helena visited her in the hospital, and they reconciled.

Pandora standing up to Abraxas in @olympianroyals. First off, lemme just say that Abraxas is a complete jackass, and Callista is no better. In fact, I'd say she a snobbish prissy bitch. Any-hooty, back to this scene, Abraxas practically called Sweet Miss Panda, his own granddaughter, a teen whore for carrying her YOUNGER SISTER, Iris, with her after the girls' parents accident, questioning the toddler's paternity as if Pandora was a TEEN MOM!! Wtf.jpg, Abraxas?! Pandora told his dumbass off for that and stormed away. Needless to say, this guy is just a Grade A asshole, and I'm sorry that Pandora, Daphne, and Iris have a grandfather like this. Seriously, fuck him!

And my #1 moment is *drum roll, please*:

NICKY AND MINNIE'S ENGAGEMENT!!! I've been following the collaboration between @simsroyallegacy and @officalroyalsofpierreland since 2020, before I started my own story, but OMFG, I'm so excited to see what the future holds for this couple!!! Well done, you two! And congrats, Nicholas and Minerva!!!!

Honorable Mentions:

From my own story - My gothy hidden princess, Susanna finally giving birth to Linnea. After some distress during the pregnancy and Ekant's near-tragic accident, Linnea was in the breach position and so Sue had to have a c-section, but thankfully, Nea was born without any further complications.

And, Kaya and Michael's Wedding. This wedding, like all mass-collab events, was a bitch to put together, but in the end, it was amazing! Michael is a really good man for Kaya, and he's a good adoptive father to her two kids.

#ask sims4royalsandimperials #thanks for the ask shug!#warwickroyals

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khaleesiofalicante · 2 years

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NOT YOUR ASK BOX BEING OPEN SKDBDKFKRKFK I HAVE STUFF TO SAY.

there's this thing i wanted to tell you since you released the epilogue, but i was too late.

so.

you know how the lb family refers to Minnie as MJ? like,,, minerva jude? yes. makes sense. very thoughtful.

however, the first time 'MJ' was used in tlnd, my dumbass brain went like:

'what does michael jackson have to do with tlnd?'

AND I COULDN'T FIGURE IT OUT UNTIL YOU MENTIONED IT IN ONE OF YOUR ASKS. GOD DID I FEEL STUPID.

i watched kinnporsche.

because of apo.

i remember you sharing the link to a compilation of apo with cats with us a few weeks ago. i watched this shit everyday for about a week, and then i was like, hey, let's just watch kp to see more of apo!

and bitch now i'm obssessed with this series and i follow all of the cast members on insta and i bought merch and and-

yeah. i regret nothing.

AND THIS SCENE IS SO ACCURATE.

BECAUSE THAT'S THE EXACT FEELING I GET WHEN I'M STARING AT APO. MAN'S SO BEAUTIFUL. WHICH IS WHY HE'S A PERFECT FANCAST FOR MAGNUS.

also his energy (from what i've seen in his interviews) perfectly matches magnus's. bro.

yeah sorry for ranting about apo for over 100 words it just had to be done.

and dude the mavid fic is so cute. it's so fun. it's so nice. it's so chill (though david isn't.)

glad you're back dani <3

Well I did include multiple Michael Jackson songs (one of max's fave artists) in the fics so he is still kinda there ;)

ALSO YES APO APPRECIATION. YES. YES.

I watch kinnporsche for Apo the same way I read tsc for Magnus. I said what i said :)

Have you seen this apo and cat video? i keep sending it to people because it's literally magnus okay???

#I READ TSC FOR THE PLOT TOO BUT LIKE YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!#tlnd

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the-cheerful-pessimist · 3 months

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Fire Emblem Pilgrimage pt 3: Mystery of the Emblem

Welcome back to the mistake where I play every mainline Fire Emblem game, in order.

(I skipped Book 1 and I feel no shame. I can't play FE1 three times for this project, I'm sorry.)

"Remember all those cool new mechanics in FE2? Let's just throw them all away. We're keeping massive weapon ranges, though. But only for the enemy units. Sorry."

That being said, this is still leagues about FE1. Inventory management is streamlined (you get separate weapon and item inventories which is honestly overkill), shops work as expected, you can trade items around without ending your turn... lovely.

The level design kinda holds the game back unfortunately. Midgame is fine, but the end levels are either flooded with meteor mages + catapults, or nothing but Devil-axe barbarians and dragons. Medeus was also a breeze, especially since his attack didn't have good accuracy (though Hardin was stupidly powerful due to his high stats and speed).

By far the best parts of the game were the writing and the pixel art. All the character sprites and faces have so much personality, and the visual design of the final Medeus fight goes hard. The writing is hilarious, though it might be unintentional (or due to the english patch I'm using). I love how Marth is kind of an idealist idiot.

Overall, it was a bit of a slog. Several levels came down to Meteor RNG, and you'll spend probably half of your turns just moving units towards the battle or waiting for Marth to travel from the villages to the seize point. I'm glad I played it, but I don't think I'd play it all the way through again.

Favorite Character(s):

Michalis the CHAD. His entrance (in book 2) is absolutely hilarious: he flies his wyvern directly into a castle, yells at the guy in charge, gets the guy to give up Minerva (who was being held captive), says he hates all of them, and then just leaves. Then Marth spends the whole chapter trying to fight his way to the castle to rescue Minerva who isn't even there anymore. Absolute madlad.

Xane got a massive glowup in terms of design (though his power was slightly nerfed). Love his personality here, and that he gets to be a main speaking character for 3 levels. Bro casually drops the wildest lore imaginable, then says "dont worry about it". Also the fact that he's a divine dragon who just yeeted his dragonstone is neat.

Favorite Units:

MERRIC'S STILL GOT IT! The magic boi himself, and he's still great. He protecc (healing staffs), he also attacc (tomes), but most importantlly, he gives everyone their turn bacc (Again Staff is OP)

TIKI. Love my girl. The dragon designs go hard in this game, and her divine dragonstone is effective against all dragons, which made the endgame levels much more manageable. She also took down Medeus when Marth's Falchion barely did scratch damage.

Favorite New/Unique Mechanic:

Look. I like mount/dismount. I just don't like forcing dismount in some areas.

Manaketes fully transforming for a few turns instead of just during combat!

THE AGAIN STAFF. Only 3 uses but man. It gives every other unit in the army another turn, which is MASSIVE. By chaining with a dancer, you can do Some Shenanigans.

Least Favorite Part:

Meteor mages + catapults make every turn RNG. If they double your unit or attack a weak one, they're dead. But sometimes they didn't attack at all even though I had units in range. I hated how unpredictable and cheap it made the endgame levels feel.

Why were all the final boss maps inside. Forced dismount is annoying at best, but now lances are useless and all my units have lower move.

Needing to visit villages AND seize with Marth sucked. Spent like 10 turns on every map just moving him around.

#fe3 #fire emblem mystery of the emblem #pixel art #scorpion's fire emblem pilgrimage #up next: fire emblem genealogy of the holy war

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ripslingerfan13 · 8 months

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Chapter 1 Coming Out

Alright Frederick! You can do this! You can do this!

13 year old Prince Frederick is currently in the middle of ‘his’ bedroom standing in front of his two older brothers sweating bullets at the moment. He had called them here because he had something very important to tell them. You’ve been practicing in front of the mirror for months now! You can do this! “So lil bro, what did you call us here for? It sounded pretty important?” Lance asked quizzically, casually leaning against the head of Frederick’s bed. “You look very nervous Frederick? Whatever it is you have to say you can tell us, you know we won’t judge you.” Blaine spoke reassuringly, noticing just how tightly Frederick was squeezed his own arm and how hard he was shaking. Though Blaine did have the slightest suspicion he knew exactly what Frederick wanted to tell them, he didn’t want to push. But Frederick just started shaking even more as the tears threatened to fall. W-What if they hate me?! What if they call me a freak and they don’t want anything to do with me?! Frederick bit his lip. I can't do this! This was a bad bad idea! I-I can’t tell them I just can’t!

Frederick held his head down, hugging himself tightly as his breathing started to get a little too fast for Blaine’s liking. Maybe just a little push wouldn’t hurt? So he stood up and made his way over to Frederick, wrapping him in a gentle hug, before taking his brother’s hand and placing it against his chest. “Frederick, try to relax, follow my breathing and take slow deep breaths.” Frederick looked up at his eldest brother, tears in his eyes as he did his best to try and follow Blaine’s heartbeat. “Now just listen to my voice. Breathe in 1 2 3 4 5, now exhale 1 2 3 4 5.” Frederick did just that as Blaine repeated the exercise two more times, Frederick’s breathing eased up as a small smile spread across his face. That’s right. These are ‘my brothers’ I’m talking about. Despite the fact that we hardly spend any time together because of their duties…they still care. Finally relaxing, Frederick returned the hug resting his head on his brother’s shoulder. There’s nothing to worry about. Taking a deep breath…Frederick said it.

“I-I’m trans…”

Blaine chuckled a bit before replying “I know.” “Wait what?!” Frederick’s head shot up as ‘she’ stared at her eldest brother in shocked surprise. “Y-You know? When?! How?!” Blaine laughed again ruffling her hair a bit “Sorry to spoil your surprise, little sister, but you weren’t exactly subtle. Though it did take me a while to figure it out and I was really confused before then.” Blaine led her over to the bed setting Frederick between them as she leaned back into the hug. “So what gave me away?” “Well…”

As Blaine explained Frederick realized that she indeed was not subtle in the slightest…

“It first started when I noticed that makeup kept falling out of your pockets whenever we passed in the halls. At first I thought they were just random gifts for mother…until I noticed that ‘you’ had been wearing it. You didn’t do so good at wiping it all off.” That’s right Frederick first started out with wearing makeup and it always made her feel a little more confident in herself whenever she looked at herself in the mirror. But of course she only wore it in her room and would always wipe it off before leaving. “Ok, guess I’ll have to be more careful and make extra certain I wipe everything off. I’m surprised you’re the only one who noticed.” Frederick giggled lightly “Next.” “Well…one day I went to Mother’s room to talk, but instead found you trying on her dresses.” Blaine chuckled lightly as he patted his sister’s back “Maybe I should start locking the door from now on?” Frederick’s cheeks started turning red with embarrassment. “I was really confused after that and honestly didn’t know what to think?” Frederick groaned, covering her face with her hands. “You must have thought I was some kind of creep!” A tiny bit of fear started to creep up inside her and she felt her chest tighten up a little bit. “Never Frederick.” Taking a deep breath and letting it out “Ok, let’s just get this over with…what really gave me away?” Blaine smiled softly pulling her into a side hug and patting her head giving his sister the reassurance she needed. “Well I really couldn’t wrap my head around it after seeing you in a dress and decided instead of making myself go crazy trying to figure it out I would just ask you straight forward.” Gulp! Frederick shuddered a bit knowing just what he was about to say Oh No! “So I went to your room to talk and well…I overheard you talking to yourself and shamefully decided to eavesdrop. I apologize for that, and so I overheard you ‘practicing’ in front of the mirror.”

Frederick pulled away and pulling her leg close buried her face in her knees. Cheeks as red as tomatoes. “Urgh!!! Why did I even bother trying to hide it in the first place?! I was doing a terrible job! If you hadn’t found out Father definitely would have!” Tears started to well up and fall down her cheeks at even the mere thought of her father finding out, utterly terrified of what he might do to her. Blaine pulled her back into a hug, rubbing her back as he tried to calm down his baby sister.

Lance had been quiet this whole time confused but seeing Frederick crying decided to ask. “Um guys…what’s ’trans’?” Frederick froze before shuddering and Blaine honestly wanted to smack him right then and there. “Really Lance?” Though to be honest he really isn’t all that surprised that Lance has no clue what being ‘trans’ means, since it was never a thing that their father bothered to teach them. The only reason Blaine knows and understands is because he actually went and asked someone after meeting a trans man or should I say ‘boy’ at a piano recital when he was younger. He had asked the boy a question mistakenly calling him ‘her’ and not understanding why he was so offended. So after the recital Blaine had gone to their favorite maid, a lovely older woman around her mid 70s whom they call ‘Nana’ (pronounced No-nu.) And she very calmly and easily explained everything to him and the very next day Blaine apologized profusely and explained that he had no knowledge about trans folk and never meant to insult him. The boy forgave him and they ended up becoming pretty good friends, they aren’t that close just sorta in the middle.

Now back to the present…

“Ok Lance, now how do I explain this…trans is…um being trans is when someone feels as though they’re in the wrong body.” Blaine started, trying to find the right words to say. “Wrong body?…Wait?! Is Frederick a shapeshifter?!” Lance shouted in shock and Blaine slapped himself as Frederick snorted a little “No Lance, Frederick is ‘not’ a shapeshifter.”

Frederick couldn’t help but laugh as Blaine tried and failed to explain transgender to their clueless middle brother… After a while though Blaine’s eye twitched and in the end slapped a hand over his brother’s mouth and simply stated “She’s a girl Lance and that’s that! Please don’t make me try to explain it again!” “Ok!” Lance replied in his usual peppy clueless tone.

Well, I’ve made it through the first hurdle…let's just hope I can make it through the rest?

(Note: For some reason every-time I try edit the post won’t go public so I can’t show the parts that are italicized.)

#cpc #cpc fanfiction #cpc frederick #cpc blaine #cpc lance #cursed princess club #fanfiction #ao3 works #read on ao3 #transgirlfreddie!#transgender #transgirl #lgbtq

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millenium-blog · 2 years

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Harry Potter : Emma Watson raconte son coup de foudre pour Tom Felton sur le plateau

le 3/01/2022 à 00h:00 par Steevens

Harry Potter : Emma Watson raconte son coup de foudre pour Tom Felton sur le plateau Warner Bros/Instagram @EmmaWatson

A dix ans, l'interprète de Hermione craquait complètement pour celui de Drago Malefoy.

Retour à Poudlard, l'émission spéciale enregistrée par la Warner Bros pour fêter les 20 ans de Harry Potter au cinéma, arrive sur HBO Max le samedi 1er janvier, et le lendemain en France sur Salto, mais les premi��res révélations sont déjà partagées par les journalistes anglophones. Digital Spy publie ainsi les mots d'Emma Watson (Hermione) à propos de son partenaire de jeu Tom Felton (Drago Malefoy), pour qui elle a eu un coup de foudre sur le tournage du premier film, Harry Potter à l'école des sorciers.

Âgée de 10 ans au moment où elle a été choisie pour interpréter la jeune héroïne, elle a craqué pour son collègue de 13 ans, et si ce n'est pas la première fois qu'elle évoque ce crush d'enfance, elle se souvient ici précisément de leur rencontre, et en profite pour démentir la rumeur voulant qu'ils soient sortis ensemble durant leur adolescence : "Je suis entrée dans la pièce où on s'entraînait. Notre exercice du jour, c'était de faire un dessin de Dieu, de la manière dont on le visualisait, et Tom avait dessiné une fille avec une casquette à l'envers, juchée sur un skateboard. Je ne sais pas comment le dire autrement, je suis simplement tombée amoureuse de lui. J'avais pris l'habitude, en arrivant dans les coulisses, de regarder le planning du jour. Je savais que son personnage avait le numéro 7 et si son nom apparaissait à côté de son numéro, je savais que je passerais une journée extra." Elle ajoute qu'il ne s'est jamais rien passé entre eux romantiquement parlant, "jamais, jamais, jamais", mais qu'ils sont restés amis et qu'ils "s'adorent" depuis l'expérience Harry Potter.

FRIENDS : JENNIFER ANISTON ET DAVID SCHWIMMER ÉTAIENT AMOUREUX DURANT LA SAISON 1 !

Felton révèle lui avoir appris que la jeune comédienne flashait sur lui quelque temps après. "Je crois que j'étais assis pour la coiffure et le maquillage ? Quelqu'un m'a simplement : 'Oui, elle crushe sur toi.' Je suis devenu très protecteur envers elle. Je l'ai toujours bien aimée, et ça continue encore aujourd'hui.'" Il a également partagé des photos des coulisses de Harry Potter sur son compte Insgram, en compagnie d'Emma Watson, mais aussi d'Alfred Enoch (Dean Thomas), de Daniel Radcliffe (Harry) ou de Maggie Smith (Minerva McGonagall).

#harry potter #emma watson #tom felton #us movie #movies

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inabottlelikelightning · 3 years

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10 fandoms, 10 characters, 10 tags :)

got tagged in this a While ago (@grenadinepeach thank u <3 <3 <3) and i thought i’d give it a shot since i’ve been in Quite a few fandoms

rules: show us your ten favorite characters from ten fandoms and then tag ten people to do the same.

1. theo raeken — teen wolf

yeah this can’t be a surprise to anyone. this man somehow inspired me enough to actually Start Writing. absolutely wild. love him to death. bamf dumbass. also it doesn’t hurt that he looks Like That.

honorable mentions: allison, lydia, kira. (sorry liam)

2. steve rogers — marvel

some of you may not know this about me but i was into marvel for Quite Some Time. i have to say 💓💗💖💞💝💘💕steve rogers 💞💓💗💖💕 in both the mcu and 616. and, like. avengers assemble. there is just something so.. [chefs kiss] about someone who has suffered So Much and still strives to just be a really good fucking person. i could write a whole essay on this mf. i love him a lot

honorable mentions: peter parker (SUCH a close second, not mcu because Yikes but aaaa 616 peter my beloved), peggy carter, miles morales, natasha romanoff

3. arthur ?????

i have seen inception an unspeakable amount of times and the most interesting thing is the Crumbs of information we have about all of the characters. he’s resourceful, he’s competent, he’s a great dresser. 10/10 don’t know anyone else who could take down a hotel full of men in a three piece suit with spontaneous changes in gravity. like godDAMN that’s attractive.

honorable mentions: i mean. there are only 7 total characters so, like.. eames i guess??

4. minerva mcgonagall — harry potter

oh MAN she was the Original bamf. screamed every time she came onscreen/on the page because i knew shit was about to go down. the only unproblematic character, and the only one fandom hasn’t absolutely Ruined. an accidental gem in the series, there’s no way joanne knew what she was doing here

honorable mentions: luna lovegood, neville longbottom, remus lupin

5. magnus bane — shadowhunters (TV)

okay so i just watched this series and good GOD it was so much better than the books. i felt like in the books magnus was always sidelined but the show really let him shine in all his warlock glory. absurdly powerful + very nice blazers + kickass eyeliner + amazing jewelry + cat dad + disgustingly kind + adopts various individuals as children as he goes through life because 💖💕💓💗found family💕💓💗💘. bisexual poc king. fucking love him, 17,000 exes and all.

honorable mentions: alec lightwood, izzy lightwood, raphael santiago

6. jared dunn — silicon valley

if you haven’t watched this show i would actually recommend it. it’s impressive. but jared is, by far, one of the FUNNIEST characters i have ever experienced in my whole life. the only reason he isn’t #1 on this list is because i feel a duty to everyone ^^ up there, but jared is. GOD. physical depiction of “perfectly pleasant and put together until he goes APESHIT”

honorable mentions: gilfoyle, bighead

7. crowley — good omens

true chaotic neutral at its finest. a bastard of a man, who Tries To Be Good Anyways. sad and pining. mortals believe he’s mafia, which is fucking hysterical to me. SINCE I STARTED THIS I FOUND OUT WE ARE GETTING A GOOD OMENS S2???? RISE TF UP

honorable mentions: aziraphale, anathema device

8. mazikeen — lucifer

she’s just.. uhhhh. she’s SO…… G O D. no words except that she’s the only reason i got through the 2nd season. so happy that she finally got a gf ❤️ she absolutely deserves it

honorable mentions: ella, trixie

9. toph beifong — avatar

absolute fucking legend. blind and kicked ass 24/7. this is my daughter and i love her very much. also apparently i’m an earthbender???? not too sure abt that one tho

honorable mentions: sokka, katara

10. alaric saltzman — the vampire diaries

okay couldn’t put a gif for this one bc of the tumblr limit but vampire hunter sticks around and acquires a vampire bro and a vampire daughter and trains a vampire hunter son and then acquires a vampire coparent to his 2 biological witch daughters… fantastic trope. i feel bad for him because his wives keep dying but he was a GIFT in the vampire diaries, no one did it like him

honorable mentions: bonnie bennett

tags: @attempted--eloquence @frustrateddumbbar @thecenturiestrickle @rohesiawrites @ttp5000 @cordelia---rose @songbvrd @li0nh34rt @edge0fmydesiree @lucilucialu

#theo raeken #❤️ steve rogers ❤️#arthur #minnie mcG #magnus bane #jared dunn #crowley #mazikeen #toph beifong #alaric saltzman

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riverdale-retread · 3 years

Text

Riverdale S5 E8 Lock & Key

5 Things I loved/ 3 Things to Consider

I loved this:

1. THE KEY PARTY was excellent and ultra high stratospheric camp, that you can only appreciate if you really know the show. Achieving this tone- ‘this isn’t how things are but wouldn’t it be so amusing if it was?’ - is very difficult, and I felt rewarded for the close attention I’ve paid to the show. Further, at this sex party they have a heavily pregnant lady, and the only person who is in any way apprehensive that he might get paired with her is Reggie - everyone else is like, It’s fine. And also? The majority of the invitees have ALREADY had sex with each other, and almost all of them are also currently cohabitants and/or coworkers and/or doing joint projects, in various states of married, long-term relationship, casual hookup and courting. Just, absolute catnip I tell you!

Sidebar: Again CHADWICK FUCKING GECKO being SANE, and objecting to Veronica drawing Archie’s key with - NOT WITH YOUR EX. I mean, why does this always happen to me??? Why am I *Chad*?

2. I loved Betty in this episode. Just fell in love with her like I am flippin’ Jughead.

#1: Betty is so very sexy. Wow I was so not ready. Her in the FBI T shirt & him in fire fighter gear! Yeah it’s good looking people in actual Halloween costumes, but what makes it work is Betty's reaction - electrified, then amused and looking forward to a good time. Love this for grown Betty.

#2: Betty is so very wounded and vulnerable, and by her estimation lovers / boyfriends will never stand by her, but friends will. I love me a character in romantic anguish.

And related, #3, and yes, this may be wishful thinking, but there are hints that Betty actually feels the impact of what she did to Jughead and Veronica in her Senior year. Why else would Betty think that engaging in an actual adult romantic relationship with Archie for real will cause the light to go out and the haven bubble to collapse? Oh Betty. She’s so accepting about Archie abandoning her immediately after she told him she wasn’t mentally/emotionally well because she feels both ruined and like a ruinous force.

Finally #4, the kindness and care Betty shows to her mother, who does not deserve it, made me respect her a lot.

Sidebar to give Archie Andrews a Demerit: Betty has a single emotion in front of Archie (waking up from a trauma nightmare) and Archie (who woke up from a trauma nightmare first thing after the time jump) is just unwilling or unable to provide the necessary commitment. He in fact decides RIGHT THEN that Betty needing extra support (of the kind he needs, in fact) means Veronica is the answer. (Archie, please redeem yourself. Tell me what’s happening with you soon).

3. The only reason the high camp works though is because there’s a grounding in reality, with believable human emotions providing a solid foundation, and boy this episode really delivered!

The shaky breath Jughead lets out after he says Billy (character in the novel he’s teaching) might be crazy right after he sees MOTHMAN. Love this detail. The shame and pain Jughead goes through, writhing with his whole little face, while confessing that he’d been a reckless drug user and drinker to Tabitha, who sweetly feels some of that pain with him, was heartrending.

The ‘you are a jackass’ face that Archie makes at Chad while also SMILING (because that is how he looks handsomest) in reaction to Chad dude-bro-ing him with ‘females’ and ‘podunk town,’ without even bothering to reply to his dickhead question, is wonderful.

And most heartbreaking - Fangs’ laughter that presages a dawning realization that Kevin really intends to implode (his words) their whole life and his gentle tone in trying to figure out what the hell his boyfriend is doing was very upsetting and wonderful. Apparently, over the past 8 years, Fangs has been trying to give Kevin everything he wanted - monogamy, non monogamy, the baby, the marriage - only to have it go up in smoke.

4. Now that the characters are older, they can meet a wider array of adults and I really appreciate this - the expansion of the world of the show. Who knows if she appears again, but I very much liked this anthropology professor who has segued into creating a support group for the disturbed people she meets while she pursues her very esoteric interest in alien encounters. Minerva the campy lesbian art collector who wants an Original Cheryl Blossom and Rick the gay trucker who is like, the most sexually easy going man in the history of humanity are really fun additions too.

5. And this last one is going to sound mean spirited but I love what is happening to Alice Cooper. She was so horrendous and monstrous to both her daughters - I mean between Betty and Polly it’s really hard to tell who had it harder from Alice - and she is having to atone for the damage she did to her smart, resilient girls by the peril that Polly is now in. Polly, despite being born in Riverdale, could’ve been another Betty in terms of accomplishment - academic and career - but Alice just bashed her head in, basically, and now look where we are. So, suffer for your sins, Alice Cooper.

3 Things to Think About

a) Toni has “a medical condition that makes it harder for her to get pregnant the older she gets.” This is called BEING A HOMO SAPIEN. I was so amused by this that I actually looked up the production notes and this episode was written by a woman (!) and directed by another woman (!!) and the scene is acted out by two women (!!!) one of whom was actually pregnant at the time in real life (!!!!) so now I’m like, Wait, is Cheryl…an immortal? Is Cheryl somehow not 100% homo-sapien and that’s why Toni says this?

b) I gathered yet more evidence that Archie is a Riverdale-HS-Sexual. Archie is in the teacher lounge at Riverdale High talking remodelling plans with Veronica, who says she needs big changes, and he immediately switches into Let’s Fuck mode. When Jughead innocently asks what the blueprints are for, Archie TOTALLY acts like he got cockblocked.

c) The long pointy-nailed manicures on the lesbian couple’s fingers REALLY bother me. More than 20-something almost-perfect-SAT scorers Cheryl and Toni not understanding that human fertility wanes with age. I will just say that.

#riverdale positivity #riverdale s5

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gumnut-logic · 3 years

Text

Minerva (Bit 4)

Bit 1 | Bit 2 | Bit 3 | Bit 4

Really just some brotherly fun :D I’ve posted a couple of snippets from this bit, but there is plenty more, a whole 1600 words worth :D

Thanks to @vegetacide and @scribbles97 for the reading and support ::hugs you guys::

I hope you enjoy this fluff :D

-o-o-o-

“Scotty! Bro! How ya doin’?”

Virgil had to smirk at his little brother. Gordon was acting like his hand had been caught in the candy jar.

“Gordon, what are you doing in Minerva?” One lowered just slightly. “Virg? What the hell? Gordon!”

“What?! He needed some fresh air!”

“He has two broken legs!”

“Yeah, but Grandma was cooking up a storm.”

“Oh.”

“Exactly.”

Virgil twisted his lips. “You do know I am a sentient being and can both speak for myself and make decisions on my own.”

“Did you hear something, Scott? There was interference on the line. Sounded like Virgil was claiming he was able to look after himself.”

The snort from the hovering Thunderbird was loud.

“Hey!”

Gordon actually cackled. “Sorry, Virg. Great at looking after everyone else, total shit at looking after yourself.”

The glare he shot his brother should have scalped him.

Gordon only grinned more. “We all have our strengths and weakness, bro.”

“Shut up, Gordon.”

Thunderbird One began lowering as if to come into land.

“Hey, don’t you dare land that tin can on the reef, Scott. Mel will have your hide, right after I kick your butt.”

“Keep your pants on, Fish, I’m well aware how attracted you are to my butt.” Thunderbird One pirouetted midair like the graceful craft she was under his brother’s hands, shifting towards the centre of the lagoon. Her landing struts unfolded from her fuselage.

“He’s not going to...” Virgil’s eyes widened.

But Gordon was grinning. “Oh, yes!”

A crack in the air and pontoons at the end of her landing gear inflated with a snap, One suddenly sprouting what looked like fat ski blades. Her front strut shot out extenders either side for stability and Thunderbird One settled on the calm ocean like the prim and trim bird she was.

“That’s not something you see every day. I thought Scott hated landing on water.”

Gordon snorted. “He does.”

“If Brains asks, it’s practise and equipment testing.” Scott’s voice was smirking on comms. In the distance his brother’s flight chair slid smoothly out of the cockpit to hang above the water. Scott reached beneath the seat and pulled out a package. With a yank of a cord, he inflated his own little lifeboat, chucked it onto the water surface, and lightly stepped onto it. He sat there fiddling for a bit, enough to have Gordon frowning across the water, but then Scott was moving in their direction.

“So, dropping by for a swim? Or just checking up on us?” Gordon’s voice was flippant, but Virgil sensed a touch of concern under it all.

“Does it matter?” As Scott got closer Virgil frowned. The blue of his uniform was smudged with something black.

A flick of the water seat’s controls and Gordon yelped as Virgil flew off the edge of the reef and splashed his younger brother with water as the contraption forced stability in a way it really wasn’t quite designed for. Virgil cursed as the seat hit its maximum speed which was little more than walking pace, a limitation he had put in there himself to stop Gordon from killing himself. But it got him across the water, however slowly, those few moments faster to his eldest brother. As Scott pulled up alongside him, Virgil raked him with his eyes.

His brother was filthy, but there were no obvious injuries. “What the hell happened to you?”

Scott rolled his eyes. “I’m fine. Took a bit of a tumble down a coal mine.”

“A coal mine? Are you okay?” Scott still looked a little off with his pencilled-in eyebrows still growing back. Wasn’t the first time one of them had had to use makeup to hide an injury from the world at large. Scott had more soot on his face than anything else. “Did you wear your helmet?”

His brother’s shoulders slumped with the most put-upon whole-body expression he could manage. “Of course, I did. I’m fine, Virgil. A few bruises and a lot of grime. That’s all.”

Virgil didn’t stop frowning as he grabbed a handle on the inflatable and held himself steady. “Why didn’t you go home and get cleaned up?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Just happened to find a brother with two broken legs sitting on a reef out in the middle of nowhere. What the hell are you doing out here, Virg? You’re supposed to be resting.”

“I am! I’m still sitting on my ass. Andre and Cecil, not to mention, Gords, have me wrapped up in bubblewrap. I’m fine!”

Scott arched a wonky eyebrow at him.

Virgil’s lips twisted and he combed his brother with his eyes for injury one more time before conceding. “Fine. We’re both fine.”

The grin that split Scott’s face was kind of worth it.

It was a sign of how involved they were in each other’s medical condition that they both startled as Gordon suddenly surfaced beside the boat. Their fish brother flicked his wet hair out of his eyes forcibly enough to get both of his brothers with the spray.

In the distance, and still on the reef, both Andre and Cecil were staring at them.

“Hey, bros.” Gordon pretty much hovered in the water like the water seat his movements were so practised. “How goes?” In others words, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ When both brothers just stared at him, his eyes narrowed. “Scott you’ve dragged Two Broken Legs out onto the water by your mere presence. You look like shit, he worries. Go back to A Little Lightning and get cleaned up. Meet you on the reef when you are more respectable.” The Fish’s glare turned to Virgil. “And you. You are giving Andre conniptions. You fall off this seat, there is drowning in your future. I know you know this because you drummed it into my head multiple times.” His brother parroted Virgil’s own words from years ago. “‘Its use must be accompanied by adult supervision at all times’. While I know ‘adult’ in my case can be a grey area, we didn’t hire two suitably respectable nurses for you to fly out of their reach and go drown yourself. Now, get your ass back on that reef before I throw it onto my boat, take you straight back home, and force feed you Grandma’s cooking!”

Virgil stared at Gordon. Okay, perhaps he had acted a little irresponsibly. Of course, Scott took the opportunity for what it was and turned his own glare on Virgil for reinforcement.

Gordon’s glower upped a notch at the lack of movement. “Now!”

“Okay, Gordon. Fine. Whatever.” Virgil somewhat meekly let go of the life raft and turned back towards the reef, the seat humming quietly beneath him. Gordon growled further words at Scott and a moment later the life raft took off for A Little Lightning.

It wasn’t often Gordon put his foot down, but it was usually a good idea to agree with him when he did.

But then it wasn’t like he could fall out of the seat, being strapped in an all.

The whole tone of his own thoughts screamed pout and Virgil was forced to acknowledge that yes, Gordon was right.

The aquanaut swam alongside him, quite capable of keeping up with the seat’s easy pace.

By the time they reached the edge of the reef, Virgil had worked himself up to an apology. “I’m sorry, Gordon.”

His brother had stopped swimming a little way back and was now wading. Looking down and watching where he put his feet, Gordon sighed. “Don’t beat yourself up about it, Virg. Just keep yourself safe and in one piece, and we won’t have any problems.”

Virgil brought the seat to a halt and turned to his brother. “Gords, thank you. For all of this.”

Gordon stopped and stared, a small smile curving his lips. “Anytime, bro.” And of course, he had to take it that step further. He flung his arms wide. “My boat is your boat. Mi Casa, es su casa. Yours, mine, ours. Happy families and all that.”

Virgil stared at his goofball brother a moment. Then a flick at the controls, he darted over, grabbed two armfuls of Gordon and hugged him until he squawked.

“Oh, god, Virg, getorff!” Gordon struggled, but even in the water, he was no match for heavy lifting biceps. If Virgil closed his eyes and just clung for a moment, he wasn’t going to admit it or care. If it wasn’t for the fact that the seat was on the verge of flipping, he would have hung on longer.

It was Gordon stumbling and righting him before he took a swim in the drink that finally broke the clinging.

“God, Virg, don’t you dare get all teary on me or I’m telling John the combination to your personal refrigerator.”

Virgil grinned, if a little sloppily. “He already knows and it is not what you think.”

“What, it’s not Two’s launch date?”

“What?” Oh shit.

Gordon’s grin split his face in half and he cracked up laughing. Virgil was reduced to grabbing at him again in either an attempt to throttle him or give him the biggest noogie since he hit adulthood. That explained the mystery of the damned banana caramel pie from last week. He’d have to change it again.

His brother ducked out of reach basically by throwing himself underwater. Sure, the water seat was designed to follow, but damnit! “You owe me pie! Cecil made that for me, you brat!”

Gordon just kick-splashed his brother and laughed harder.

-o-o-o-

TBC

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #Virgil Tracy #Gordon Tracy #Scott Tracy #Kermadec AU #minerva reef #minerva

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peachywander · 3 years

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Animaniacs

Ah yes, da warner bros and their sis uhh Dottie I think it was?

❤ Favorite Male: Yakko and Wakko equally bcs they're the best, we have comedy genius older bro and precious cinnamon roll <3

❤ Favorite Female: Dottie ofc (watch how she's gonna come after me bcs I called her Dottie)

❤ Favorite Pairing: Pinkie and the Brain <3

✖ Least Favorite Character: that police guy or idk and Minerva. Yeah she has a good design but she's really uninteresting as a character you get me

✔ Who’s most like me: Wakko by a mile, I'm a quiet weirdo that eats a lot lmao

❤ Most attractive: I wanted to say Hello Nurse or Minerva but personally I don't find either attractive

❤ Three more characters that I like: Pinky, Brain, Slappy Squirrel

#ask

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staliasjeronica · 3 years

Text

Riverdale S5 Ep8 Thoughts *Spoilers*

Thoughts under cut to keep tag smooth :)

- NOT KEVIN CHEATING ON FFANGS… so how exactly did they stay together for seven years I—FANGS DESERVES SO MUCH BETTER

- Betty and Archie 🥺🥺 this scene was a so much cuter than I expected

- Snarky!Jughead normally would have annoyed me but thankfully that wasn’t the case this time

- Oh yeah Juniper and Dagwood I forgot all about them tbh

- Imagine having a hot ass boyfriend like Fangs and CHEATING oh him. Oh… open relationship. Oh. Um. Sorry for the judging… anyways Fangs and Reggie when?

- Veronica hiring Archie yay besties!! Not her looking at his lips though...

- JERONICA INTERACTION AND AWKWARD BUGHEAD YAH

- Everyone saw this coming, Toni being the surrogate for Kangs. The engagement wasn’t something I thought about but it’s still not surprising.

- What is this over the top anger from Cheryl?? Toni not being able to have children the older she gets :(

- LUCY HALE??? Katy Keene is in this ep?

- BETTY IS GONNA TELL KEVIN!!!! Lol him being like “god please tell me we’re not gonna have to go through you and Jughead again ugh” same Kevin

- Jughead seeing the alien mmhm interesting

- “Or are you too distracted by my beauty?” okay Ms. Marble we know you’re absolutely gorgeous

- I don’t get why Cheryl’s acting like this, like Toni’s pregnancy has anything to do with her

- Chad being spotted with an heiress lol okay loser you have VERONICA FUCKING LODGE

- Not Veronica using Archie to make Chad jealous… no we don’t want Varchie!!!!!!!!!!

- So how exactly is a key party fucking with Toni?? Cheryl that makes no sense lol but whatever

- Betty’s nightmare and her calling the one person who’s ever made her feel safe UGHHH FUCK Barchie has me in a chokehold 🥺😭

- Is Archie gonna realize Betty is similar to him

- WE! DO! NOT! WANT! VARCHIE!!!! They’re not good for each other and having Archie suddenly out of nowhere talking about how there may still be something still between him and Veronica… because… she wanted a selfie….??? God fuck these writers they’re so!?!?! but honestly as long as Bughead stays dead idc they’re the biggest reason this show sucked ass

- How can Fangs not realize why Kevin is saying all of that… like isn’t it sus to him lol

- Jabitha muah

- Wait Jughead’s done DRUGS? Bro-

- I know we won’t get it bc they all hate Jeronica’s but I wish we could get a Jeronica key party kiss smh

- Veronica looks so good but I hate her using Archie like that

- Chad’s on a train back to Riverdale for a key party lol

- It’s so weird that Cheryl invites Reggie bc currently he’s their enemy rn

- Kevin and Betty actually talking like friends again <3

- Wow Fangs brought the guy Kevin was with in the beginning who’s NOT surprised? Also Minerva scheming with Cheryl is so…? sigh literally why

- Wow Veronica got Archie’s keys, who’s NOT surprised?

- Chad going to a key party to not let Veronica key party… lol what a loser.

- Rules are it has to be consenting but then she’d be okay with Jughead’s clearly drunk ass choosing which negates that… mmhm

- The Reggie and Fangs kiss was highkey very exciting and I wasn’t expecting it… You know you fucked up with writing a relationship when one kiss (Reggie and Fangs) was more exciting than the entire relationship…

- This Choni scene feels straight out of a horror movie… Toni feels trapped with Cheryl, how are they going to be able to get past this?? 😭😭😭

- Jabitha is so cute. Like it still annoys me that they’re literally what Jeronica would have been if given the chance and everyone who made fun of Jeronica’s is loving them

- Reggie being 100% straight </3 we can’t hc his sexuality anymore there goes my bi/pan brothers Reggie and Sweet Pea

- God poor Fangs…

- “I still have feelings for Veronica” man fuck this show we don’t want Varchie

- “We should make sense” Betty…??? you literally do you make sense than ANYONE

- But both of them thinking their darkness will eat each other up gives me hope though

- It’s annoying that Betty keeps calling Barchie an escape when that’s literally what her and Jughead solely were

- Tabitha’s toilet is so cute wtf

- Minerva and Cheryl’s kiss is so cute though, so aesthetically pleasing

- Veronica divorcing Chad as she should, finally. Though, to randomly have feelings for Archie again is not it smh

- Anyways, I’ll always manifest Jeronica Barchie endgame

- God they made Veronica so awful this episode I hate it sm

- This VA kiss wasn’t even as cute or hot like when they were teenagers lol sucks that they don’t have anything going for them anymore

- Stop potentially killing Polly </3

- What was that preview……….

#Riverdale #Thoughts #Spoilers

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slytherinlesbian3 · 4 years

Note

2: are you single or taken?

3: rant. Just do it.

5: how many accounts do you have?

11: what unusual talent do you have?

18: rant about your favorite musician

31: you can change one thing about your life right now. What would you be changing?

40: Answer with one of your school memes

WIFEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! 2: are you single or taken? -Who’s asking? Kidding. I’ve got a wife and a girlfriend. But, you know, whatever..

3: rant. Just do it. -Good god in heaven my latin teacher lmfaooo “Minerva comes down from the heavens and has a weaving competition” I DON’T CARE. “never appears naked” okay I zoned out for 2 seconds and I came back to that BRO HE WON’T SOTP TALKING FKESNMFJSDNFJSEND anyway I really miss my school. I miss walking through the hallways increasingly slowly because freshman year I didn’t wanna be late and now as a junior I’m like “lmao why y’all walkin so fast” also I REALLY want a sword also I need to finish chapter 2 I wrote so much and I didn’t finish my ramen so now it’s cold and my mountain dew is flat but my chest isn’t and these skittles taste like mints. He’s still talking about Minerva. What the fUc-

5: how many accounts do you have? -Tumblr? Or..........what. I have one tumblr account but two blogs. A YT account. like 4 Riot accounts, a pinterest account, 3 discord accounts, like.....what accounts

11: what unusual talent do you have? -I answered that here.

18: rant about your favorite musician -SHAWN PETER RAUL MENDES. HIS HAIR HIS EYES HIS FACE HIS SMILE HIS HANDS HIS MUSIC HIS GUITARS HIS GIRLFRIEND HIS LIFE HIS FEAR OF THE OCEAN THE FACT THAT HE CALLS HIS FANS MUFFINS NEW ALBUM DECEMBER 4TH I ORDERED THE CD IM CRYING HE’S SO PERFECT AND HE HAS COME SO FAR I’M SO IN LOVE WITH HIM (no het tho)

31: you can change one thing about your life right now. What would you be changing? -If I could change one thing about myself (since technically myself is a part of my life), I would change how I feel about things. If it weren’t about myself, I would most definitely change where I live. 40: Answer with one of your school memes (I’ll add it in a second jsnsjns)

#ask

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marcmyworks · 4 years

Photo

Ranking the films of the DCEU

Overall the DC Extended Universe does not have stellar or amazing films. Over the years DC tried to solidify crossover films, but this never seemed to quite work. Marvel Comics, having laid the groundwork for being able to tell stories across multiple films opened the doors for possibilities. Warner Bros., the studio who owns the DC Comics film franchises, however took this idea and unfortunately rushed the development of their core group of metahumans, The Justice League. Because of the success of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy it was also decided to create a bleak/sullen tone to these films, that most movie watchers found less enjoyable. Today I run through the currently released DC films and rank them from what I believe to be worst to best with potentially heavy spoilers. You have been warned.

Note: I will add more DCEU films as they appear in the Universe.

12. Suicide Squad (2016)

Suicide Squad is one of those films with so much promise and with an originally wonderful plotline. A team of anti-heroes are forced to team-up for the US government to stop foreign terrors, however the plot became muddied. Almost every character had to have a quick exposition backstory to explain how they became villainous and incarcerated, the villain of the film, who now even Director David Ayer agrees should have been the Joker, became the unknown and uninteresting Enchantress and the due to overwhelming amount of characters, the film lacked any depth or character development. This movie is a mess of CGI, and it under-utilizes its biggest star, Will Smith, and over-uses the character Harley Quinn, who though popular, does not add anything to the central plot.

11. (Joss Whedon’s) Justice League (2017)

The production drama behind Justice League is actually more well known than the movie itself. Wrought with a series of problems on and off the set, Justice League is a mess of a film. Director Zak Snyder had an original cut of the film, which at over 3 hours, was deemed by the studio ‘unwatchable’. He was dismissed before the film was completed; however, originally it was announced he has stepped down due to his daughter’s death. Warner Bros. brought in writer/director Joss Whedon to lighten the tone of the film, by shooting new scenes, changing the score, the colour grading and special effects, however the original cinematographer of Justice League has claimed only 10% of the original film remains in the theatrical cut.

Due to the massive reshoots, the film’s budget grew to $300 million USD, and became one of the most expensive films ever made. Unfortunately, due to the poor reviews and audience reception, the film made less than $700 million USD worldwide, which did not cover the costs of production and promotion, thus a sequel was scrapped. Since the film’s release, fans have been hounding Warner Bros. to release Zak Snyder’s original cut, even raising money to help with production costs, though the studio has stated they have no interest.

But getting back to the film, the final product is mostly a waste of money, sure the gathering of the team is interesting and the plot, though not great, is very much of the comics, however the visual effects are laughable at times, there are too many brooding ‘bro-ish’ male leads on the team, and the only real upside could have been an even better sequel, which as I mentioned is now quashed.

10. Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

The sequel to the original Wonder Woman was heavily anticipated, especially since the release date was pushed back several times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, this film lacks the simple elegant nature of the original and feels almost like a TV serial as opposed to a multi-million dollar action flick. Kristen Wiig stands out as Barbara Minerva/Cheetah, but her backstory is not really fleshed out, and rather her character feels wedged into the plot. The premise of the film revolves around a magic rock, which feels low in consequences. Overall it is a well shot film by Patty Jenkins, but the blatant amount of 'fromage' (is this trying to be like a cheesy 80s movie?) and plot holes really takes away from an enjoyable movie experience

9. Man of Steel (2013)

When this film first came out, I did not like it. After seeing the bigger picture of what Zak Snyder was trying to achieve with its sequel, I understand more why the film's tone was so dark. Before Man of Steel, Superman was always portrayed as a beacon of hope for the World, sort of a false god, who some would admire, and others resent. In Man of Steel it seemed the filmmakers were more interested in committing to the characters self-doubt and journey to discover who he really is. At times this really works, but it is only when the evil Kryptonian General Zod appears with his army does the film become a mess of CGI and explosions. Most of Metropolis is destroyed and yet Superman faces no consequences for his actions in this invasion. This still leaves me puzzled as to why the film would end this way. It also showed a much darker side to the character that was uncomfortable to watch at times.

8. Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Ultimate Edition) (2016)

I’ve decided to review the Ultimate Edition of this film, as director Zak Snyder stated this was his true vision for the film. Though it does run a bit long at three hours, BvS is a well-made film that at times does suffer from trying to be a bit too epic. The movie mostly works, setting the groundwork for why the two heroes must face-off however somehow this battle still seems quite shoe-horned at the very end, as it only lasts about seven- or eight-minutes max. That’s a lot of build-up for very little pay-off (especially with the lame/infamous ‘Martha’ moment that ends it). I will say the positive is what was my biggest negative in Man of Steel, the act of having god-like powers and using them so cavalierly in the mortal world. Where Man of Steel showed no consequences, this film is all about the extreme views on both sides.

Fans complained a lot about how Batman seemed to have no code of values in this movie, but I believe Ben Affleck’s portrayal was the closest to Frank Miller’s vision, back when he wrote the comic in the 1980s. Also, Tim Burton’s Batman seemed to have no problem killing in the original 1989 and 1992 films, it just wasn’t as blatant.

7. Aquaman (2018)

This film would be what I consider the fromage of the DCEU, however it somehow works. Though the acting isn’t great by any means, and the story is kind of generic, Aquaman is selling what is literally says on the tin; a bro-ish superhero, with fish-powers, must save the World from his evil brother, whose powers are similar to his. Aquaman isn’t my favourite character by far in the cinematic universe, but he does stay true to his portrayal in the comics, unkempt and brooding with a few quips here and there. I liked him far more in a solo film than I did in Justice League, as it seemed too many of the team had similar attributes and he just didn’t stand out. Black Manta, being one of my favourite comic book villains, was also excellently portrayed by Yahya Abdul-Manteen II. Aquaman works better than the previous films because it doesn’t need a lot of exposition and time to get to the root of the story.

6. Birds of Prey (2020)

Though a superior sequel to Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey at times tries too hard to be funny and innovative. The actual team only gets together in the last twenty minutes of the film, which leaves for a lot of build up with not a lot of payoff. Harley Quinn being the focus of the film, rather than the actual Birds of Prey, including Helena ‘Huntress’ Bertinelli, a character seeking out vengeance throughout the film, seemed like the writing team were more interested in making money off an established character. Overall the film is fun, simple and mostly effective. The stand-out is of course Ewan McGregor whose portrayal as the villain Black Mask is probably one of the most evil and interesting characters I have seen on screen in a long time.

5. Black Adam (2022)

Despite the mediocre reviews I enjoyed Black Adam for its mix of camp and action; as well bringing a Suicide Squad type hero, with Superman level powers, into the mix. The film itself is not groundbreaking and it’s actually the supporting characters, rather than Black Adam, who steal the show. Dwayne Johnson as the titular character isn’t that different than what he normally portrays, but it’s good to see him in a darker role.

4. Zak Snyder’s Justice League (2021)

After years of fan requests, an online petition and studio involvement, HBO Max financed the completion of director Zak Snyder’s original vision for Justice League. Though a bit lengthy at 4 hours (we really didn’t some of the slow-motion acoustic guitar scenes including Lois Lane getting coffee) the film is far superior to the original one released. It is considered that 85%-90% of the film is unseen footage, and the rest though previously seen has far different special effects. Steppenwolf, our main villain, is far more menacing and his plan much more devious. Overall a must watch, if you have a half day to watch TV.

3. The Suicide Squad (2021)

This film really should have been the original in the Suicide Squad series, as it really captures the dim-witted, violent and hilarious dynamic of the team. Guardians of the Galaxy writer/director James Gunn breathes new air into the franchise, by selecting some of DC Comics most forgettable villains and making them complex and interesting. Is the film perfect? No, but it's still a fun ride.

2. Shazam! (2019)

Finally a great film from this film series. Shazam is a character mostly known as the kids version of Superman, as he has similar powers, except they are bestowed by the greek gods (similar to Wonder Woman). By yelling “Shazam!”, 14 year old Billy Batson transforms into the superhero Captain Marvel (dubbed ‘Captain Sparklefingers’ and ‘The Red Tornado’ in this film due to an MCU film also released that year with the title Captain Marvel). The role of the hero is excellently portrayed by Zachary Levi who has a similar vibe to Ryan Reynolds, albeit less violent and more innocent, with Mark Strong playing the evil Dr. Thaddeus Sivanna, who wants the power of SHAZAM! The casting and plotline are fantastic and the undertones of abandonment and finding a family within unusual settings really was original, especially in a film targeted mostly towards teens. The theme is lighter than previous DC films and this greatly helps in making the movie more enjoyable.

1. Wonder Woman (2017)

Yeah, duh this is number one. Wonder Woman is not only accurate to the comics, starting the character’s origins during the first World War, but also manages to balance humour, the serious nature of war, action and a character’s origin without seeming too forced. Director Patty Jenkins, whose film credits include the character driven film Monster, was an excellent choice to bring Wonder Woman beyond being a cameo or making her a sex object. My one tiny critique (if I had to make any) was that the main German villain, (played by American actor Danny Huston) never speaks German in the film, even to his own command. This is so minimal, otherwise the film, to me, is perfect the way it is.

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alien-rainbow · 3 years

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By Your Side Until My Death(9/?)

Chapter 9: The World We Made

Available on AO3

Princess Artemis, the eldest daughter of the kingdom of Olympus is to be married to her childhood nightmare. In a land where anything remotely magical is banned, Zoë fears for her and Ladon's life but knows that she could never leave the princess's side if she tried. Magical beings, a forbidden romance, family secrets, and safety for magic all wait beyond the kingdom's borders.

- 3rd person, will be completed eventually, teen, not completed, Zartemis

READ PLEASE. Okay, so there was a lot of background going on in this chapter.

Cohorts: These are like the cabins, there are 20 of them for the 20 cabins in the PJO series, I decided to use greek names and move some people around if they are Romans. The only time I used Roman names is if the greek counterpart was part of the royal family.

Praetors: Two people who are elected from any of the twenty cabins and are (presidential system) like the president.

Centurions: These are like the vice presidents, but there are a lot of them. They can make decisions but need the approval of both of the Praetors but if 75% of the Centurions want an action to be taken, they can go forward without Praetor's approval. But Chiron can put a stop to anything he believes is really bad but for the most part, he just guides and observes.

Normal People are just called campers and each Cohort has a cabin that corresponds with gods and their skills. If you want the full list of Cohorts/Cabins and their god/skills, look at the endnotes (There is more explanation in the chapter too)

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Annabeth with the help of Will and commentary from Nico gave the girls a quick tour of the camp. The first stop was the big house where the leaders met to talk. The leaders consisted of one immortal, a centaur named Chiron, and a group of twenty centurions that represented the twenty different cohorts, and two elected praetors from any of the twenty centurions. The centurions were divided based on skill and dominant traits, and in some cases who you were born to.

Percy for example was one of the only members in cohort three, the cohort of water. People that lived in the cabin were closely related to Poseidon, the immortal of seas, or water nymphs, or were incredibly good when it came to any water activity.

Annabeth was a mortal who was incredibly good at changing any form of magic and was in Cohort 6, where the children of Minerva usually went. They were known for Strategic thinking and Leadership, Annabeth was the centurion. Nico is a child of Hades, the immortal Death, The Underground, and Darkness, and is the centurion of Cohort 13. His younger sister Hazle was the only other occupant of Cohort 13.

Will pointed to a solid gold cabin, which seemed to either reflect the sun or was glowing itself. Cohort 7 was for children born to Helios, the immortal of Day. Healing was another large part of Will's Cohort. Will told them that he was a few generations removed but was a descendent of Helios.

"So you have solar powers?" Athena asked after Will finished talking about his Cohort.

"I'm honestly a better healer but I can heal and control light," Will said smiling bright enough to rival the sun itself.

"He also glows," Nico said smirking at the puppy-eyed glare Will sent his way.

"That's not important," Will shoot back at the smaller boy.

"He's the best medic we have," Annabeth said trying to get the conversation back on topic. The two continued to quietly bicker but there was no real heat.

"So how long has Jason been here for?" Thalia asked out of the blue looking away from the two boys over to Annabeth.

"He's been here since he was a toddler, why?" Annabeth asked confused.

"His surname isn't by any chance Grace?" Thalia asked quickly. Nico stopped his conversation and turned to look intensely at Thalia. Artemis, just like Annabeth was confused by the woman's question. She knew that Thalia had a little brother who was said to have died in a wolf attack but besides that had no family that she cared about.

"Why do you want to know?" Nico said before Annabeth could answer.

"I don't see why you need to know?" Thalia said narrowing her eyes at the shorter boy. Before another fight could be started Annabeth jumped in to supply Thalia with her answer.

"Yes, his full name is Jason Grace," Annabeth said still looking confused but trying to stop an oncoming storm.

"Where is he now? Can I see him?" Thalia's voice was shrill and urgent.

"Probably at the arena sparring with Percy, and I guess so?" Will offered to take them while Nico stated that he would be coming with them. Reyna opted to go with Thalia saying that they would meet up later that night. With that, the four hurried off towards the arena.

"What was that about?" Annabeth asked after the group had disappeared from sight.

"I don't know..." Artemis said turning to Zoë who shrugged. Annabeth then continued on with the tour as if nothing had happened. She showed them the climbing wall which was cover in lava. The amphitheater where the campers met at night for a sing-along, campfire, and a variety of other things. The stables held more Asseros' and a few unmagical horses, and pegasi. They then walked past the cabins, each held one Cohort and a number of campers. They ended their trip by walking past the armory then heading to the arena.

They entered the opened roofed area to see Thalia and Jason stabbing at each other. Nico, Will, Percy, and the feather girl sat on the sides watching them spare. Thalia had her long golden spear out, her shield sat on one of the benches next to her brown leather bag. Jason on the other hand was fighting her with a golden gladius.

The three walked over to the group that was already sitting to watch the two dance around each other.

"What did we miss?" Artemis asked sitting down next to Reyna who turned to her with a sarcastic smile.

"Nothing much, except that Jason is Thalia's presumed dead little brother. And they are both the children of Jupiter, the immortal of the sky. But besides that, not much." Artemis and Zoë both gave out shocked reactions before turning to watch the two reunited siblings spar.

The match ended with Thalia disarming her brother and a golden spear pointed at his chest.

"I win," Thalia said grinning at her brother.

"My turn!" Percy yelled grabbing a bronze sword running up to the spot where Thalia had just stood.

"Water first," Jason said grabbing a cantine and drinking the water that poured from it. He then walked over to the blond positioning himself lower to the ground getting ready to go again.

"Bro... what if we had a homoerotic sword fight..." Percy said smiling like an idiot before striking, they exchanged a few blows before backing away giving the other time to think. "jk, jk," Percy said referring back to his earlier comment. The two exchanged a few more swings before Percy spook once again, "...Unless?" The ravenett struck once more causing Jason to get knocked to the floor.

"I am literally the straightest person here," Nico said shaking his head at the Percys comment.

"What do you mean by that?" Artemis asked. The elder princess was confused at their language, straight? homoerotic? And why no one else found it strange that the two boys were acting playfully romantic towards each other.

"By what?" Nico asked looking at her instead of the stone floor.

"Straight?" Artemis asked her cheeks burning as the others looked at her like this was a ridiculous question.

"Straight is another word for someone who likes the opposite gender," Annabeth explained.

"Are you implying that males can love other males? And females other females?" Athena asked astonished at the information.

"While yea, there's nothing wrong with loving who you want to love," Will said softly. "I mean Nico's my boyfriend," He said smiling and gesturing to the boy next to him. A blush covered the pale boy's cheeks as he mumbled something about 'Significant annoyance.'

"Really?" Zoë and Reyna said simultaneously.

"Yea, and don't let anyone ever tell you differently," Nico said his eyes darkening "Because they are wrong."

Artemis felt a weight lift from her that she never knew she was carrying. She had never been interested in being intimate with any male. The thought of marrying any man and having his children make Artemis sick. The news that this wasn't a bad thing, that she could love a female, a girl! It made her happier than she could say. Zoë, Reyna, and Thalia wore a similar expression. Athena just looked thoughtful and happily surprised.

Artemis turned to look at Zoë and smiled at the older girl, for some reason her aunt's words from the day before came back to her, "So who is it? I also know the face of heartbreak, whether you know it or not. " Artemis remembered telling her aunt that she loved no one, only for her aunt to ask her if she was sure. Then before her aunt could say who she believed her heart belonged to, Hermes had interrupted. Artemis wished now more than anything that she had gotten to hear her aunt's last words before they fleed.

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WHAT COHORT##BY BIRTH##TRAITS AND/OR POWERS##CENTURIONS##OTHER STUFF

Cohort 1: (Jupiter) Sky and Justice [Jason] Cohort 2: (Juno) Family and Unity [OC] Cohort 3: (Posiden) Sea and Freespirt [Percy] Cohort 4: (Demeter) Earth and Stability [Katie] Cohort 5: (Mars) War and Physical strength [Clarisse] Cohort 6: (Minerva) Strategic thinking and Leadership [Annabeth] Cohort 7: (Helios) Day and Healing [Will] {Apollo is his name in both Romand and Greek, I did what I could} Cohort 8: (Diana) Moon and Independence [Bianca] Cohort 9: (Vulcan) Medal and Inventions [Leo] Cohort 10: (Venus) Munlipltiveness and Indisisviness [Piper] Cohort 11: (Mercury) Trickery and Stealth [Connor] Cohort 12: (Bacchus) Madness and Facetious [Pollux] Cohort 13: (Hades) Death, The Underground and Night [Nico] Cohort 14: (Iris) Messenger and Color [Butch] Cohort 15: (Hypnos) Dreams and Self-preservation [Clovis] Cohort 16: (Nemesis) Balance and Vengeance [OC] Cohort 17: (Nike) Pride and Victory [Holly and Laurel] {They refused to pick one} Cohort 18: (Hebe) Forgiveness and Childress [Paolo] Cohort 19: (Tyche) Good Luck and Balance [Chiara] Cohort 20: (Hecate) Magic and thoughtful [Lou Ellen]

Praetors: Frank and Hazle

#zartemis #zoë nightshade #artemis #fanfic #fanfiction #fantasy AU #fantasy #magic #royalty au #ao3 fanfic #notes ao3 #read on ao3 #Nico di Angelo #percy jackson #jason grace

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weekendwarriorblog · 3 years

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The Weekend Warrior Christmas - New Year’s Edition – WONDER WOMAN 1984, NEWS OF THE WORLD, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI..., PIECES OF A WOMAN, HERSELF, SYLVIE’S LOVE and More!

Welcome to the VERY LAST Weekend Warrior of the WORST YEAR EVER!!! But hopefully not the last column forever, even though I already plan on taking much of January off from writing 8 to 10 reviews each week. It just got to be too much for a while there.

Because it’s the last week of the year, there are a lot of really good movies, some in theaters but also quite a few on streaming services. In fact, there are a good number of movies that appeared in my Top 10 for the yearover at Below the Line, as well as my extended Top 25 that I’ll share on this blog sometime next week. I was half-hoping to maybe write something about the box office prospects of some of the new movies, but after the last couple weeks, it’s obvious that box office is not something that will be something worth writing about until sometime next spring or summer.

(This column is brought to you by Paul McCartney’s new album “McCartney III” which I’m listening to as I finish this up… and then other solo Beatles ditties picked for me randomly by Tidal.)

First up is easily one of the most anticipated movies of the year, or at least one that actually didn’t move to 2021, and that’s WONDER WOMAN 1984 (Warner Bros.), Patty Jenkins’ sequel to the 2017 hit, once again starring Gal Gadot as Diana Prince. I reviewed it here, but basically the sequel introduces Wonder Woman arch-nemeses Barbara Minerva aka Cheetah, as played by Kristen Wiig, and Pedro Pascal’s Max Lord and how an ancient artifact gives them both their powers, as well as helps to bring Diana’s true love Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) back despite him having disappeared presumed dead in WWI. As you can see by reading my review, I thought it was just fine, not great and certainly not something I’d make an attempt to see a second time in a 25% capacity movie theater. Fortunately, besides debuting in around 2,100 movie theaters across the nation, it will also be on HBO Max day and date, which has caused quite a stir. Being Christmas weekend with no work/school on Monday, I can see it still making somewhere between $10 and 12 million, but I can’t imagine it doing nearly what it might have done with most theaters only 25-30% full at the maximum and that theater count being roughly half the number it might have gotten during the “normal times.”

Paul Greengrass’ Western NEWS OF THE WORLD (Universal) reteams him with his Captain Phillips star Tom Hanks, this time playing Captain Jefferson Kidd, a Civil War soldier who travels from town to town in the Old West reading from newspapers to anyone who has a dime and time to listen. After one such reading, he discovers a young girl (Helena Zengel) on her own, having spent the last few years with a family of Native Americans who were killed by soldiers. Together, they travel across America as Kidd hopes to bring the girl to her last surviving family members.

I already reviewed Greengrass’ movie for Below the Line, and I also spoke to Mr. Greengrass, an interview you can read that right here (once it goes live), but I make no bones that this was one of my favorite movies I’ve seen this year, and it’s not just due to the fine work by Greengrass and his team. No, it’s just as much about the emotion inherent in the story, and the relationship between the characters played by Hanks and Zengel.

I’ve watched the movie three times now, and I’m still blown away by every frame and moment, the tension that’s created on this difficult journey but also where it leaves the viewers at the end that promises that there can be hope and joy even in the most difficult and turbulent times. It’s a wonderful message that’s truly needed right now.

Listen, I’m not gonna recommend going to a movie theater if you don’t feel it’s safe – I’ve already spoken my peace on this at a time when COVID numbers were much lower – but this is a movie that I personally can’t wait to see in a movie theater. I honestly can’t see the movie making more than $3 or 4 million in the open theaters considering how few people are willing to go to movie theaters. Obviously, this isn’t as big a draw as Wonder Woman, but it is a fantastic big screen movie regardless.

Also opening in theaters this Friday is Emerald Fennell’s directorial debut PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN (Focus Features), starring the wonderful Oscar-nominated Carey Mulligan as Cassie Thomas, a woman who has revenge on her mind. Cassie spends her nights picking up guys in bars by pretending she’s so drunk she can barely walk, then humiliating them and presumably worse. When she encounters an acquaintance from med school in the form of Bo Burnham’s Ryan, the two begin dating, though he ends up awakening a darker side to Cassie that seeks revenge for something that happened back during their school days. (Honestly, if you’re already sold, just skip to the next movie. That’s all I want you to know before watching it.)

I was ready to love Fennell’s movie when it opened with a disgusting shot of gross stock market bros in loose-fitting suits gyrating in slow motion before one of them tries to pick up a totally soused Cassie at the club. It’s a scene that really plays itself out quite well, and then leads into Mulligan’s character allowing another clear scumbag (played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, maybe as a slight-older McLovin?) before turning the tables on him as well.

There’s going to be a lot of talk about this movie after people see it, since it’s one of those great films that begins a lot of conversations. I imagine most women of a certain age will love it, but some men might see themselves in some of the characters (even Burnham’s) and wonder whether Cassie just won’t take crap from any man or if she’s a full-on misandrist. One thing we do know a lot is that she does this sort of thing a lot, and there’s something from her past that has driven her involving something that happened to her female friend in med school. I’m going to stop talking about the plot here, because I definitely don’t want to spoil anything who hasn’t seen the movie, but the second half of the movie is as deeply satisfying as Tarantino’s Kill Bill in terms of the surprises.

You’ll realize while watching what a treat you’re in for when you first watch Mulligan’s amazing transformation from pretending to be drunk to being completely cognizant and just all the emotions we see her go through after that. Of course, we never really know what she’s actually doing to the guys she lets pick her up -- she keeps a notebook with guy’s names and a quizzical counting system, so we can only imagine.

Fennell’s screenplay is fantastic but her work as a first-time director in maintaining the the tone and pacing of the movie is really what will keep you captivated, whether it’s the amazing musical choices or how Cassie dresses up to lure men. There’s also a great cast around Mulligan whether it’s comic Burnham in a relatively more serious role, but one that also allows him a musical number. (No joke.) Fennel’s amazing casting doesn’t just stop there from, Jennifer Coolidge as Cassie’s mother to Laverne Cox as Gail, her workmate/boss at the coffee shop – both of them add to the film’s subtle humor elements. Alfred Molina shows up to give a show-stopping performance, and Alison Brie also plays a more dramatic role as another one of Cassie’s classmates. I can totally understand why the Golden Globes might have deemed the movie a “comedy/musical” (for about two days before going back) , but putting so many funny people in dramatic roles helps give Promising Young Woman its own darkly humorous feel. All that darkness is contrasted by this sweet romance between Cassie and Ryan that’s always in danger of imploding due to Cassie’s troubled nature.

The biggest shocking surprise is saved for the third act, and boy, it’s going to be one that people will be talking about for a VERY long time, because it’s just one gut punch after another. I loved this movie, as it’s just absolutely brilliant – go back and see where it landed in my Top 10. As one of the best thrillers from the past decade, people will be talking about this for a very long time

Promising Young Woman hits theaters on Christmas Day, and presumably, it will be available on VOD sometime in January, but this is not one you want to wait on. If you do go see it in theaters, just be safe, please. No making out with random men or women, please.

Regina King’s narrative feature debut, ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI... (Amazon Studios), will ALSO be in theaters on Christmas Day, and though I’ve reviewed it over at Below the Line, but I’ll talk a little more about it here just for my loyal Weekend Warrior readers.

Yet another movie that made my Top 10, this one stars a brilliant quartet of actors -- Kingsley Ben-Adir, Leslie Odom Jr., Aldis Hodge and Eli Goree—as four legendary black icons: Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, Jim Brown and Cassius Clay, on the night after the last of them wins the World Boxing Championship against Sonny Liston in February 1964. The four men meet in Malcolm X’s hotel room to discuss what’s happening in their lives and the world in general, as well as Clay’s decision to join the Nation of Islam, just as Malcolm X is getting ready to leave the brotherhood due to philosophical differences with the group. In fact, all four men have philosophical differences that are discussed both in good humor and in deep conflict as they disagree on their place in a white-dominated world in a year before the Civil Rights Act would be signed.

First of all, there’s no way to talk about this movie without discussing the Kemp Powers play on which it’s based, and we can’t mention that without mentioning that Powers also co-wrote and co-directed Pixar’s Soul, which will be available on Disney+ this Friday. It’s a fantastic script and King put together a fantastic cast of actors who really give their all to every scene. In the case of Leslie Odom, Jr., you really can believe him as Cooke, especially in a number of fantastic performances pieces. Likewise, Goree looks a lot like Clay both in the ring and out, carrying all of the swagger for which he would become more famous as Ali.

I’ve seen the movie twice already and if you’ve looked at my Top 10, then you already know this is another one that made my cut, so I don’t think I need to give it a much harder sell. I’m sure you’ll be hearing a lot about this one on its journey to Oscar night when hopefully, King becomes the first woman of color to be nominated in the directing category. Or rather, she’ll probably tie for that honor with Nomadland director Chloé Zhao.

If you don’t feel like going to theaters for this one, you’ll be able to catch it on Amazon Prime Video on January 15, too… you’ll just have to wait a little longer.

Also, the new Pixar animation movie, SOUL, directed by Pete Docter (Up, Inside Out) and co-directed by Kemp Powers (remember him?), will hit Disney+ on Christmas Day, and I reviewed it here, so I probably don’t have lot more to say about it, but it’s great, and if you have Disney+, I’m sure you’ll be watching it.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a screener for Matteo Garrone’s PINNOCHIO (Roadside Attractions), which also opens in about 700 theaters on Christmas Day. This adaptation stars Robert Benigni as Geppeto, who famously starred as Pinocchio in his own version of the classic fairy tale from 2002. That other movie was “Weinsteined” at a time when that just meant that a movie was ruined by Harvey Weinstein’s meddling, rather than anything involving sexual assault.

Another great movie hitting streaming this week is Eugene Ashe’s SYLVIE’S LOVE, which streams on Amazon Prime Video today. It stars Tessa Thompson as Sylvie and Nnamdi Asomugha (also a producer on the film) as Robert, who meet one summer in the late 50s while working at Sylvie’s father’s record store. He is a jazz musician who is on the rise, but their romance is cut short when he gets a gig in Paris but she refuses to go with him. Also, she’s pregnant with his child. Years later, they reconnect with her now being married with a young daughter (clearly Robert’s) and they realize that the love between them is still very real and true.

This is the first of three movies I watched this week where I went in with very little knowledge and absolute zero expectations. Like everyone else on earth, I am an avid fan of Ms. Thompson’s work both in movies like Thor: Ragnarok and smaller indies. She’s just a fantastic presence that lights up a screen. While I wasn’t as familiar with Asomugha’s acting work – he’s produced some great films and acted in a few I liked, included Crown Heights – there’s no denying the chemistry between the two.

What’s kind of interesting about the movie is that it combines a few elements from other great movies released this week, including Soul and A Night in Miami, but in my opinion, handles the music business aspect to the story better than the much-lauded Netflix movie, Ma Raimey’s Black Bottom. Frankly, I also think the performances by the two leads are as good as those by Boseman and Davis in that movie, but unfortunately, Amazon is submitting this to the Emmys as as “TV movie” rather than to the Oscars, so that’s kind of a shame.

This is a movie that’s a little hard to discuss why I enjoyed it so much without talking about certain scenes or moments, or just go through the entire story, but I think part of the joy of appreciating what Ashe has done in his second original feature film is to tell the story of these two characters over the course of a decade or so in a way that hasn’t been done before. That alone is quite an achievement, because we’ve seen many of those types of movies over the years (When Harry Met Sally, for instance).

What I really liked about Sylvie’s Love over some of the other “black movies” this year is that it literally creates its own world and just deals with the characters within it, rather than trying to make a big statement about the world at the time. Maybe you can say the same about Soul in that sense, but you would be absolutely amazed by how much bigger an audience you can get by telling a grounded story in a relatable world, and then throw in a bit of music, as both those movies do.

So that’s all I’ll say except that this will is now on Amazon Prime Video , so you have no excuse not to check it out while you wait for Regina King’s equally great One Night in Miami to join it in mid-January.

Hitting Netflix on Christmas day is Robert Rodriguez’s WE CAN BE HEROES, his sequel to his 2005 family film The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl – not his best moment -- which follows the kids of the Heroics, a Justice League-like super group. They’re all in a special school for kids with powers but they have to step up when the Heroics are captured by aliens. Want to know what will happen? Well, you’ll just have to wait for Christmas Day for when my review drops to find out whether I liked it more or less than Rodriguez’s earlier film which SPOILER!! I hated.)

The first thing you need to get past is that Shark Boy and Lava Girl are now man and wife, and just that fact might be tough for anyone who only discovered the movie sometime more recently. There are other familiar faces in the Heroics like Pedro Pascal, Sung Kang, Christian Slater, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and more, so clearly, Rodriguez is still able to pull together a cast.

The movie actually focuses on YaYa Goselin’s Missy Moreno, daughter of the Heroic’s leader (Pascal) who has also retired. Just as aliens are invading the earth, Missy is put into a school of kids with superpowers, all kids of various Heroic members. Sure, it’s derived directly from The X-Men and/or Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, so yeah… basically also the X-Men. We meet all of the kids in a great scene where we see them using their powers and learn their personalities, and honestly, they really are the best part of the movie.Probably the most adorable is Guppy, the very young daughter of Shark Boy and Lava Girl, played by Viven Blair. Oddly, Missy doesn’t have any powers so she feels a bit fish-out-of-water in the group even though, like her father, she proves to be a good leader.

As much as I really detested Rodriguez’s Shark Boy and Lava Girl movie, I feel like he does a lot better by having a variety of kids in this one, basically something for everyone, but also not a bad group of child actors. (There’s also a fun role for Adriana Barraza.) There are definitely aspects that are silly, but Rodriguez never loses sight of his audience, and wisely, Netflix is offering this as a Christmas Day release which should be fun for families with younger kids who might see this as their first superhero movie.

More discerning viewers may not be particularly crazy about visual FX, all done as usual in Rodriguez’s own studio but some of them look particularly hoaky and cheap compared to others. (I mean, that’s probably the appeal for hiring Rodriguez because he’s able to do so much in-house. In this case, he got all four of his own kids involved in various capacities of making the film.)

We Can Be Heroes is clearly a movie made for kids, so anyone expecting anything on part with Amazon’s The Boys will be quite disappointed. It’s probably Rodriguez getting slightly closer to Spy Kids than he has with any of his other family-friendly movies, but one shouldn’t go in with the expectations that come with any of the much bigger blockbusters released these days. Personally, I enjoyed that fact, and I totally would watch another movie with this superteam.

Michel Stasko’s BOYS VS. GIRLS (Gravitas Ventures) is a fun retro-comedy that follows a war between the male and female counselors at Camp Kindlewood, which has just gone co-ed. At the center of it all is Dale (Eric Osborne) and Amber (Rachel Dagenais) as two teens who are in the middle of a meet-cute romance in the middle of a inter-gender competition called “Lumberman vs. Voyagers,” which I have no idea whether it’s a real thing or not.

I probably should have known I’d like this one from the catchy New Order-ish song in the opening credits, but listen, Wet Hot American Summer is one of my all-time favorite movies, and that was basically made to satirize ‘80s movies like Meatballs. This one falls more towards to the latter in terms of humor, but it also feels authentic to the ‘80s summer camp experience.

It helps that the grown-ups at the camp are played by the likes of Kevin McDonald from New Kids on the Block, Colin Mochrie from Whose Line is It Anyway and others, but it’s really about the younger cast playing teen boys and girls in the throes of puberty, something we all can in some way relate to. The young cast play a series of stereotypical young but there are a lot of funny tropes within them, as each of the cast is given a chance to deliver some of the funnier gags. This isn’t necessarily high-brow humor, mind you, but I love the fact that you can still make a movie about a time where you could still make fun of girl’s periods in school. (I’m kidding. I just put that in there cause I feel like I need to throw things like that into this column just to see if anyone is ACTUALLY reading it.)

The presumably Canadian Stasko is another great example of an independently-spirited filmmaker who has an idea for a fun movie and then just goes about making it, regardless of having big stars or anything to sell it besides many funny moments that can be featured a trailer, so that those who like this kind of movie will find it. Listen, Wet Hot American Summer wasn’t a huge hit when it was released. I still remember it having trouble getting a single screening at the multiplex in Times Square when it was released but over the years since it became sort of a cult hit (kind of due to Netflix having it to rent on DVD, I think).

Besides a fun script and cast, Stasko also find a way to include tunes that sound so much like real ‘80s songs we would have heard on the radio but aren’t quite the big hits that would have cost him thousands of dollars, but I really just enjoyed the heck out of the tone and overall fun attitude that went into making this movie.

Also on VOD now is Ian Cheney and Martha Shane’s fascinating and funny doc, THE EMOJI STORY (Utopia), which I saw at the Tribeca Film Festival when it was called “Picture Character.” (That’s what “emoji” in Japanese means, just FYI.) As you can guess it’s about the origins and rise of the emoji as a form of communication from its humble beginning in Japan to becoming one of the biggest trending crazes on the globe. I’m not that big an Emoji guy myself – I tend to use the thumbs up just for ease, but I do marvel at those who can put together full thoughts using a string of these symbols, and if you want to know more about them, this is the movie you should watch.

Now let’s cut ahead to some of the movies that will be opening and streaming NEXT week…

Hitting select theaters on Wednesday, December 30 and what really is my “FEATURED FLICK” for this column is Hungarian filmmaker Kornél (White God) Mundruczó’s PIECES OF A WOMAN (Netflix) before its streaming premiere on Netflix January 7.

Written by Kata Wéber, who also wrote Mundruczó’s earlier film, it stars Vanessa Kirby (The Crown) and Shia Labeouf as Martha and Sean Weiss, a Boston couple who lose their baby during a particularly difficult home birth and follows the next year in their lives and how that tragic loss affects their relationship with each other and those around them.

As you can imagine, Pieces of a Woman is a pretty heavy drama, one that reminded me of the films of Todd Field (Little Children, In the Bedroom) in terms of the intensity of the drama and the emotions on screen from the brilliant cast Mundruczó put together for his English language debut. I’m not sure I could use the general plot to sell anyone on seeing this because it is very likely the worst possible date movie of the year after Netflix’s 2019 release, Marriage Story, but it’s just as good in terms of the writing and performances.

At the center of it is Kirby – and yeah, I still haven’t watched The Crown, so shut up! I’ll get to it!!! – who most of us fell in love with for her role in Mission: Impossible - Fallout, but what we see her go through as an actress here really shows the degree of her abilities. But it also shows what Mundruczó can do with material that (like many movies) started out as a play. For instance, one of the first big jaw-dropping moments is the home birth scene that goes on for a long time, seemingly all in one shot, and Kirby is so believable in terms of a woman going through a difficult birth, you’d believe she has had children herself. (She hasn’t.) I also don’t want to throw Shia Labeouf under the bus right now just because that seems like the trendy thing to do. (Without getting it, I believe FKA Twigs… but that doesn’t deny the fact that Labeouf is just the latest great actor that everyone wants to cancel.)

Anyway, to change the subject, we have to talk about Ellen Burstyn, who plays Martha’s meddling mother, who is quite clingy and overbearing, so when the couple lose their baby, she steps in to take to task the midwife she deems responsible (played by the highly-underrated Molly Parker). Or rather, she hires a family lawyer (Sarah Snook) to take her to court to get compensation for the loss of her daughter’s baby. The film’s last act culminates as their case goes to court.

Again, the film covers roughly a year after the tragedy and deals not only with how Martha and Sean’s relationship is affected and how it emotionally affects Martha in particular, but also how others around them start behaving towards them. It feels so authentic and real that you wonder where the screenwriter was drawing from, but Mundruczó has more than prove himself as as filmmaker by creating something that is visually compelling and even artsy while still doing everything to help promote the story and performances over his own abilities as a director. Doesn’t hurt that he has composer Howard Shore scoring the film in a way that’s subtle but effective.

Listen, if you’re looking for a comedy riot that will entertain you with funny one-liners and pratfalls than Pieces of a Woman is not for you. This is a devastating movie that really throws the viewer down a deep spiral along with its characters. The first time I watched it, I was left quite broken, and maybe even more so on second viewing. (As we get closer to Oscar season… in four months … I hope this film will be recognized and not just thrown under the table due to Labeouf’s involvement. That would be as big a tragedy and misjustice as much of what happens in the movie.)

So yeah, in case you wondered why this also made it into my prestigious Top 10 for the year, that is why. :)

Also in theaters on Wednesday, December 30 is another terrific drama, the Phyllida Lloyd-directed HERSELF (Amazon Studios), co-written and starring Clare Dunne, as Sandra, a mother of two young girls, trying to get out of an abusive marriage, while making ends meet and providing shelter for her kids. One day, she learns about a way that she can build her own home, and one of the women she cares for offers a plot of land

Another movie that I really didn’t know much about going into, other than Phyllida Lloyd being a talented filmmaker whose movie The Iron Maiden, which won Meryl Streep her 500th Oscar, I enjoyed much more than the popular blockbuster hit musical, Mamma Mia! This is a far more personal story that reminded me of Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake, a smaller and more intimate character piece that shines a light on British actor Clare Dunne, who as with some of the best and most personal movie projects, co-wrote this screenplay for herself to act in.

There are aspects to the film that reminds me of many other quaint Britcoms in terms of creating a story where one person’s challenge is taken up by others who are willing to help, and in this case, it’s Sandra’s desire to build a house for her two quite adorable daughters while also trying to keep it secret from her abusive ex.

Dunne’s performance isn’t as showy as some of the other dramatic performances mentioned in this very column, but she and Lloyd do a fine job creating an authenticity that really makes you believe and push for her character, Sandra, surrounding her with characters who can help keep the movie on the lighter side despite very serious nature of spousal abuse (which also rears its ugly head in Pieces of a Woman). Oh, and don’t get too comfortable, because this, too, leads to an absolutely shocking and devastating climax you won’t see coming. (Well, now you will… but you’ll still be shocked. Trust me.)

Still, it’s a really nice movie with the house being built clearly a metaphor. I know there’s a lot of truly fantastic movies discussed in this week’s column but don’t let this wonderful British drama pass you by, because you can tell it’s a labor of love for everyone who made it.

Herself will be in theaters for roughly a week starting December 30 before streaming on Prime Video on January 8.

In select theaters and on VOD on New Year’s Day is Roseanne Liang’s WWII thriller SHADOW IN THE CLOUD (Vertical/Redbox Entertainment), starring Chloë Grace Moretz as Flight Officer Maude Garrett, who is assigned to deliver a top-secret package on the B-17 bomber “The Fool’s Errand” with an all-male crew that throws her into a turret “for her own safety.” She ends up getting trapped down there as the plane is attacked by a creature that no one believes is out there, as they fight back against the unseen enemy, many secrets are revealed.

This is yet another movie I didn’t know that much about other than it has Moretz on an airplane, but there’s so much about the movie that both had me scratching my head but also has me quite deliriously amused that filmmakers could get away with some of the craziness that we witness. Maybe it’s not a surprise that the movie was co-written by Max Landis -- not exactly the most beloved screenwriter in Hollywood these days, and certainly not a critical favorite.

Again I really didn’t know what to expect so after Moretz’s character gets on the plane and is trapped in the turret under the plane, I thought that maybe I was seeing something similar to the one-location thriller 7500, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, which I wasn’t too big a fan of even though the actor was good. Moretz continues to be quite a phenomenal actor, but the mix of Mahuia Bridgman-Cooper’s music, which borrows as much from Soulwax (look ‘em up on Spotify) as John Carpenter, and the sexist attitude by the male crew towards Garrett made me unsure of what the movie was meant to say.

Much of the movie just has Moretz on her own with the men’s voices over the comms, which is not something that could possibly sustain a whole movie. Part of it is borrowed from a very well-known episode of “The Twilight Zone,” in fact.

but fortunately, it breaks from out of that deceit but then just starts getting crazier and crazier. I’m not even gonna tell you about what happens or what’s in the box Garrett is carrying or where things go, because honestly, I don’t think you would believe me.

I haven’t seen any of Ms. Liang’s previous films but when you realize how much crazy stuff she’s able to get way with, I’ll be really interested what she does next. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen any movie that’s quite as crazy as Shadow in the Cloud or one that makes me want to watch it again for that very reason.

Oscar-winning Icarus director Bryan Fogel’s doc THE DISSIDENT (Briarcliff), which opens in theaters Friday then will be On Demand January 8, follows the horrific assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey in September 2018, thought to be the work of the Saudi kingdom and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aka MBS.

I’m really fascinated by movies like this one and Ryan White’s recent Assassins – both which could be in the Best Documentary race at the Oscars in April, by the detective and investigative work done by both filmmakers to get to the bottom of murders that shouldn’t be possible and find those that are responsible. I’ll admit that I didn’t really pay much attention to this story when it was happening a few years back, so I don’t know how much of the details are new and exclusive to Fogel’s doc. He does get access to Kashouggi’s fiancé Hatice who had gone with Jamal to the Saudi embassy in Turkey to get proof that he was single and could marry when he vanished for days and then turne up dead.

Fogel also meets with another Saudi dissident now living in Quebec who goes through the events that led up to Kashouggi’s murder that involved a social media campaign against the journalist within a country where 80% of the population is on Twitter (!).

This is another fascinating doc by Fogel that I’m sure some will be more interested in due to its subject, but when it comes to investigative pieces that really take a deep dive into news from the headlines, Fogel has created another unforgettable doc. (Also, it was absolutely little surprise to me that Fogel’s film is co-written by Mark Monroe, who has been involved with some of the best docs I’ve seen over the past 15 years or so… just look up his IMDB credits!)

Opening at the Film Forum Virtual Cinema in New York for a one-week qualifying run is Russia’s movie for Oscar consideration, Andrei Kochalovsky’s DEAR COMRADES! (NEON), a black and white dark dramedy set in 1960s Kruschchev-era Russia. It involves a strike by locomotive workers when the government raises food prices, leading to chaos and a massacre that leaves a Communist party loyalist, Lyuda (played by Julia Vysotskaya) who the film then follows. Unfortunately, I had a choice of either writing this column or watching this two-hour movie. I opted for the former (obviously) but I do hope to get to this later in the week and should be adding more on this movie once I do.

Also streaming in Film Forum’s Virtual Cinema starting next Wednesday, December 30, is Mario Monicelli’s 1960 film, The Passionate Thief.

Unfortunately, I also wasn’t able to get to Two Ways Home (Gravitas Ventures), In Corpore or Fire Will Come, which will open in Metrograph’s digital ticketing system.

Metrograph will also continue showing Tsia Ming-Liang’s Goodbye, Dragon Inn, Fruit Chan’s Made in Hong Kong, and lots of great programming over the holidays. It would be a great time to get yourself or a loved one a digital membership for just $50! (James Gray is also programming some of his own films like Little Odesssa and other favorites, like Richard Quine’s Strangers When We Meet, over the holidays.)

By the way, if you read this week’s column and have bothered to read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com or drop me a note or tweet on Twitter. I love hearing from readers … honest!

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