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wilygryphon · 10 months

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Some ML fans are hoping that Season 6 will make everything from the season 5 finale clearer, that the finale is supposed to set up the next season. Respectfully, I disagree. Setting up the next season should be a secondary purpose of the finale. The primary purpose should be resolving at least some of the previously-built-up plotlines. Especially when the finale is supposed to resolve a multi-season arc, particularly in defeating the overarching villain and dealing with all of the plot points that were directly tied to them, particularly when one of the main protagonists (the villain's son) is left out of the whole thing and never told the truth about both his father (who he's finally started to stand against) and the villain he's been fighting for five seasons. Doing a poor job of wrapping up those plot points should not mean that the next season is left to deal with what should have already been tidied up. Sequel baiting should not override finishing the story that was already being told. There is a reason why Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 were criticized for putting too much focus on setting up sequels.

Compare this season finale to Kingdom Hearts III, another "end of an era" installment and the resolution to the Xehanort Saga. That game put a lot of focus on setting up the next saga, but it never forgot what its purpose was. Everyone who was lost and left to a bad fate in previous installments was rescued and made whole. Each villain was given a proper sendoff, even the ones who we would expect to see again. Everyone got to face their particular nemeses again and in some cases vanquish them personally. (Roxas, Axel and Xion fought Xemnas and made peace with Saïx; Aqua and Ventus faced Terranort and Vanitas again, and Terra reclaimed his body and eliminated that incarnation of Xehanort for good; Riku AND Riku Replica overcame the physical manifestation of their dark past selves and mistakes; Sora and Riku (as well as Mickey) defeated Ansem and Xemnas once and for all, and they also defeated Young Xehanort even though the earliest version of the villain was unconcerned; and Sora, Donald and Goofy fought and defeated Master Xehanort. Re:Mind even gave Kairi the chance to fight by Sora's side and defeat another incarnation/Replica of Xehanort.) Now let's talk about the final battle. Sora, Donald and Goofy, with all of their friends helping keep Kingdom Hearts stable, fought and defeated Master Xehanort. Despite being barely able to stand, Xehanort did not want to give up, before Sora and the heart ghost of Master Eraqus convinced him to let go. What did Xehanort do then? He entrusted the light to Sora and gave him the χ-blade, then faded away to enter the afterlife with his old friend. Then Sora fixed everything, and went off to recover Kairi while sacrificing himself.

Would you look at that? Kingdom Hearts III resolved all of its major plot points while still setting up future conflicts. No one kept secrets from their friends, everyone had their moments of catharsis, the villain was not vindicated even if the game turned around to try to make his goals sympathetic at the last minute, and the heroes. Actually. Won.

Oh, and while there are still mysteries and things left to interpretation, the game still made a point to clarify what was going on in front of us.

A later episode in a season can make earlier episodes make sense, but it shouldn't be left to the next season to explain things that the season finale refuses to resolve. If the next season is necessary to make this season good, this season was not and never will be good.

#ml rant #ml recreation #ml season finale #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts iii #there are a lot of works that one could compare to this show and have them rank higher than this #ml writing salt #ml writing critical #ml fandom critical

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sheacouleecametoslay · 1 year

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Season 5 (2013)

Season 5 is a turning point for RPDR. It's when the show shifted focus from fashion queens to comedy queens, with Jinkx's win signaling that shift. Indeed, Seasons 2/3/4 had a secondary design challenge following the Snatch Game, but Season 5 removes that. Instead, another acting challenge (the telenovela) appears in the latter half. This is also the last time immunity is given out. It's the last season to use the old "Cover Girl" transition (where the marquee and the judges panel are shown). And that Hollywood tour bus in the premiere has to be the last time the queens leave the studio for a challenge right? Meanwhile, we get our first rapid-fire runway during an overly long maxi-challenge; although the Roast didn't have one. And the Roast makes its first appearance. There's a couple other new challenges. Episode 2 involves lip syncing to iconic Untucked moments (they sure loved to do odd challenges in episode 2 back then). But it was a fun challenge, and multiple queens did well in it. The other new one is the Ballet, which I also thought turned out well despite initial low expectations. As for the returning staples, I only found Jinkx, Alaska and Roxxxy funny in the Snatch Game. I didn't like the singing challenge format this time (the whole group charity single). The Dumpster Diving design challenge had some rough runways. And the children's TV show was kinda cringe. The Fragrance Ad was probably the best branding challenge we've seen so far though (ignoring Aubrey O'Day's involvement). And the courtroom scenes for the finale music video were fun. I liked the make-up done in the dark mini-challenge too. The water tank photoshoot in the premiere maybe wasn't the best idea though. Makeover uncomfortable moment watch: Jinkx's partner saying he killed Judy Garland... uh... Otherwise, Season 5 probably has the most understandable boot order of any season. Just about every queen went home when they should've. Which left a star-studded top 6 (I mean 2nd-6th place all returned in AS2 and the winner... will eventually win a second time). It might be the most famous top 6 from the regular seasons. This year also has the first ever Double Sashay Away, which was a shocking moment. Especially since it's only happened one other time (I'm not counting Season 14). This season seems to have the most drama too. There's two main sources: the Alyssa vs Coco past-history rivalry, which was a fun feud. It all started with that dramatic music during Coco's entrance lmao. Jinkx vs Roxxxy is the other rivalry, which was more annoying than anything. Serena and Jade had their squabbles too. And it was an explosive year for Untucked. The Serena ChaCha vs everyone and the Alyssa vs Jade ("backrolls") fights being the most memorable. The Ro-Laska-Tox clique is another defining aspect of this season. They're the villain clique, but Roxxxy is the only member who annoys me. Overall though, I do think this is one of the best seasons. The cast is entertaining. The acting/comedy challenges feel more significant. There's some great lip syncs. And Jinkx is such a satisfying winner.

Queens Ranking: 14. Penny Tration Imagine being voted onto the show by the fans only to be the first boot. Penny must've had a good campaign because she did not deliver. That Dumpster Diving runway looked very uhh... sloppy and inexperienced. That front slit. That uneven padding. That make-up. And then she gave some amateur moves in the lip sync and kept turning around because she didn't know the words. I also didn't really get a sense of who she is or what her drag style is. 13. Vivienne Pinay She just seemed to complain in every confessional, particularly about her fellow contestants like Serena and Roxxxy. She had this uptight attitude about it. She also had basic runways every week. She wasn't selling it in the kid's TV show. She looked basic playing American's Next Drag Superstar in the Ballet. And she was the worse one in that Britney lip sync. 12. Roxxxy Andrews The Villain of the Season, but too toxic of a Villain to get behind. She was so upset that the show was steering away from fashion queens towards comedy queens. She had this relentless, tiresome resentment towards Jinkx because of it. She kept wishing Jinkx would fail and even gave an empty apology. She also went on this ridiculous rant in the final 3 episode. I thought the judges were overpraising Roxxxy at times too. Her Tamar Braxton in Snatch Game was great, and Tasha Salad was fine, but I'm not sure if "where my people at" and her facial expressions in the telenovela are *that* outstanding. Her Roast, meanwhile, started off mean and ended unconfident. And then she had Ru gagging over the wig reveal in the lip sync. Her runways were solid though - the pink theme, the licorice outfit, the top 3 dress. I almost gave her the win for the Sugar Ball, but I didn't like the Sweet 16 marshmallows. The Makeover win was mainly for the double reveal and padding. 11. Honey Mahogany Utterly forgettable. The Double Sashay was deserved and welcomed - it got rid of the two most "meh" queens on the cast. Honey's runways were all in the same style with that overflowing caftan. Her entrance was my least fave too. And her Diana Ross impersonation in the Ballet wasn't anything like Diana. I didn't feel like I got to know Honey that well either. I do think she "won" that lip sync though. And her best moment was playing Mystique Summers Madison in the Untucked challenge. 10. Serena ChaCha What a delusional trainwreck. Serena had half the cast SEETHING at her. She randomly during their make-up session. She clapped back at Penny, Vivienne and Jade all in one go. She screamed again in Untucked to get attention ("I request the floor ladies"), and was at the center of an iconic Untucked fight. She then called "ghetto" a language and yeah... that's not okay. She was pretty bad in both challenges too. For someone who just graduated art school, her Dumpster Diving look has to be one of the worst runways I've ever seen. Meanwhile her Raja impersonation was very weird and she acted like it was an artistic interpretation lol? Her Panama Carnival in episode 2 was better, but Michelle was right about the panties. She also did the same splits position for both lip syncs. 9. Jade Jolie Her fashion choices were... choices. Her entrance look was too busy, her first runway had that tacky NBC peacock logo, and her last runway had multi-colour hair attached everywhere. While in the 4 episodes in between, she mostly gave passable acting/comedy performances that avoided the bottom. Her Taylor Swift in Snatch Game was at least believable even if it wasn't funny. But ultimately, I think the judges didn't want to lose Coco or Alyssa in episode 6, so they put Jade in the bottom 2 as a sacrificial lamb. Either way, it was her time to go. She had the smallest role in the singing challenge and she didn't really sell it. Personality-wise, Jade was this giggling, sneering, passive aggressive s**t talker, who got into a bunch of drama with Alyssa (culminating in the whole "back rolls" thing). She was also cheering when Serena left. She got snarky with Coco for not picking her. And she had some attitude over her assigned role in episode 2. 8. Monica Beverly Hillz Monica wasn't that visible but that's because her head wasn't in the game at all. She came out as transgender in front of the judges and it was such an emotional moment. She pulled it out in the following lip sync too. But then she looked defeated during the next episode's lip sync. I mean, I didn't like her Dumpster Diving look. She didn't embody Jiggly Caliente that well. And she stumbled over her lines in the kid's TV show. But my heart was rooting for Monica just the same. 7. Detox I have neutral feelings on Detox - don't love her, don't hate her. She shared two personal, emotional traumas, but she had this snobby "I've had it" attitude. She seemed the most invested in Ro-Laska-Tox. She paired up Alyssa and Coco to sabotage them; and then denied doing so. And her track record underwhelmed - she was only top 3 in two challenges - her rooster character and the "HEROINE" perfume ad; both of which were funny. Her Roast was too, but she was flustered during that. Otherwise, her Kesha in Snatch Game was raunchy (peeing on stage really?) She was dropping flags in the Makeover. And her telenovela character changed voices at one point. Still, she gave us those jaw movements in the Cher lip sync while twirling in the jellyfish outfit. She had my second favourite entrance. Her black dress that showed her ass when she turned around was well-played. Her Best Drag runway was great too. But not all of her runways landed - she was worst in the Sugar Ball for me. 6. Ivy Winters Ivy sure had a low-key edit for a Miss C winner. Were the fans shipping her and Jinkx? I mean, she was super nice, she had amazing sewing skills, and RuPaul said her name in a memorable way. But she wasn't the most telegenic. There's a reason why I said star-studded Top 6 and not Top 7. She was the odd-one-out there. But yeah, Ivy's Dumpster Diving Couture looked well-made. The butterfly on stilts, her Divalicious look and her black-and-white photo dress were among my fave runways of the season too. And she made those herself! As for the challenges, she was fun as Lady Bunny in the Ballet. But she missed the president prompt while playing Marilyn Monroe in the Snatch Game, her Roast was tame, and her Fragrance concept was flimsy. I also didn't agree with her winning the singing challenge. 5. Lineysha Sparx An initial front-runner who crashed and burned mid-season. She could've (and probably should've) won the first two challenges. I thought her Dumpster Diving Couture - the wallpaper dress with the shoe in her hair - was better than Roxxxy's. She did win in episode 2 though with a spot-on Tyra Sanchez impersonation. But then she faded after that. She translated everything into Spanish for the kid's TV show, and she had to play Diana Ross in the Ballet... without knowing who Diana Ross was. It seemed like the edit was setting her up for disaster, but both performances were comfortably "safe". Her ultimate demise was the Snatch Game. She practiced Michelle Obama in front of Ru and it was flat as a pancake. She then switched to Celia Cruz, but she sounded unsure of herself in the game show. Also, despite the early exit, Lineysha was one of the top runway queens of the season. She didn't give much negative energy either. 4. Coco Montrese Sometimes I live for Coco's reads and being a drama-magnet, other times I found her unlikeable. Like when she dismissed Jinkx's style. But I laughed when she got snippy at Detox during the singing recording. Maybe it's the editing. I didn't care whether or not she was playing the victim, the Alyssa feud was fun. As for the challenges, I thought Coco's Dumpster Diving Couture with all the movie set junk was creative. She was very expressive playing Lashauwn Beyond. And she went in a unique direction for the Roast by playing Ru's cousin which paid off. Her telenovela runway was one of my faves too. Plus she was a top tier lip sync assassin, even winning 3 of them. But she had an "over it" attitude in the team challenges; particularly the ventriloquist dummy and singing with Alyssa. Her Fragrance Ad had too much leopard as well, and her lines with Wilmer in the telenovela were shaky (they could've edited out that awkward pause). In the end, Coco's story was over the moment Alyssa left. Her make-up on her Makeover partner was pretty busted. 3. Alaska I was conflicted on whether to push Alaska down because of her association with Sh*ron on that cruise, but I'm going to be a hypocrite I guess. Alaska excelled at the comedy and acting challenges, and she worked hard to be a top-rated queen. Her story was feeling the pressure to live up to Sh*ron's legacy. She wouldn't let Ro-Laska-Tox distract her from it. And she delivered most of the time. If Jinkx wasn't on the cast, Alaska would've been a solid winner. The season started with her walking out on the mini-challenge, but then she turned it out with her recycling bag Dumpster Diving Couture. I didn't care that she was in boy drag for the kid's TV show, she was a good host. Her opening act in the Ballet was overlooked. Her Lady Bunny in Snatch Game was funny; as was her Roast. I think she could've won the Dumpster Diving and the Roast as well. I also enjoyed her bloody pink outfit, the red perfume runway, and her cotton candy couture in the Sugar Ball. We'll see how I feel about Alaska in AS2 though. 2. Jinkx Monsoon FINALLY, a winner I can get behind again. Despite having to overcome an entire clique at the Final 4, Jinkx is actually an obvious winner based on track record. She was highly praised in all but two episodes - the first and last ones. Actually, Jinkx could've realistically won 6 challenges this season and I wouldn't have questioned it. The Snatch Game is her peak moment - she managed to make an obscure celebrity funny; and she played it smart by interjecting. Her other win was the telenovela where she stole the scene. In fact, Jinkx stole the scene in the singing challenge too, but I guess the judges wanted Ivy to have a win. She could've won the Roast, the perfume ad, and the Makeover as well. She just understands acting. Her characters are fully realized. She uses schtick, but it's never cringe. I also didn't agree with Michelle's constant criticisms over her runways. I didn't think her early ones were that bad. Jinkx would later shock me with her dia de los muertos look. Her Candy Couture turned into a mess though, but of course the Final 4 lip sync was switched to save her. Otherwise, she was so sweet with her Makeover partner. And "Water off a duck's back" is relatable to anyone with anxiety. 1. Alyssa Edwards My new all-time fave. Alyssa may have been in the bottom a lot, but she gave many memorable quotes - "Oh she really came that way? Alright"; "Girl look how f**king orange you look girl"; "Alright. Oh I see where this is going"; "What the hell are you squirping like a chirping like a bird outside the window?"; "Backrolls?". It's just the way she talks; and it doesn't sound contrived. Her Coco rivalry was fun, and she even had a side rivalry with Jade. She openly read people at every opportunity, but it didn't feel mean-spirited. In the competition, Alyssa gave a great Shangela impersonation and an impressive Ballet performance. But then the Snatch Game began a downward spiral. Her Katy Perry was so bad that Ru got rid of immunity for good and told her to tweet an apology... which was a bit much. Her singing was half-hearted, save for her mannerisms. Her Roast didn't get the audience laughing. Her "Alyssa's Secret" concept didn't make sense as a perfume. And her telenovela performance involved weird facial expressions and bad orgasms. Alyssa had resigned herself to lip syncing to the end by that point though; which isn't an ideal strategy. Her runways were mid at best as well. She even reused her entrance look in one of them. But her personality outweighs her track record. Favourite entrance: Ivy Winters Challenge ranking: 1. RuPaul Roast 2. Sugar Ball 3. Untucked re-enactments (Lip Syncing) 4. Ballet about RuPaul's life (Choreo) 5. Snatch Game 6. Fragrance Advert (Branding) 7. "The Beginning" Music Video 8. Telenovelas (Acting) 9. Dumpster Diving Couture (Design) 10. "Super Troopers" Makeover 11. Children's TV Shows (Improv) 12. "Can I Get An Amen?" group singing Lip Sync ranking: 1. Alyssa Edwards vs Coco Montrese ("Cold Hearted") 2. Coco Montrese vs Jade Jolie ("I'm So Excited") (love watching the Pointer Sisters bop along) 3. Alyssa Edwards vs Roxxxy Andrews ("Whip My Hair") (Roxxxy won btw) 4. Detox vs Jinkx Monsoon ("Malambo No. 1") (WAW AH WAW AH WAW) 5. Detox vs Lineysha Sparx ("Take Me Home") 6. Coco Montrese vs Monica Beverly Hillz ("When I Grow Up") 7. Coco Montrese vs Detox ("(It Takes) Two to Make It Right") 8. Alyssa Edwards vs Ivy Winters ("Ain't Nothin' Goin' on But the Rent") 9. Monica Beverly Hillz vs Serena ChaCha ("Only Girl (In The World)") 10. Top 3 Lip Sync ("The Beginning") 11. Penny Tration vs Serena ChaCha ("Party In The U.S.A.") 12. Honey Mahogany vs Vivienne Pinay ("Oops!... I Did It Again")

Season ranking so far: 5 > 4 > 2 > 3 > 1 > AS1

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picturejasper20 · 3 years

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Debunking common misconceptions about the Ben 10 Reboot.

A mutual of mine asked me if could write a post debuking common critiques people have of the Ben 10 Reboot. Some of these critiques are based of misconceptions and misinformation about the show while others are more subjective, meaning there are a matter of personal opinions.

I’m going to divide this post in different sections. In each section i’m going to try debunking a misconception and explain why i think this isn’t correct. If anyone wants to give their opinion on the subject, feel free to reblog the post or leave a comment.

I’m going to add a ¨Read More¨ since it’s going to be a long post.

1) ¨The reboot only has fart jokes as humor¨

I’m not sure from where people got this idea that the only type of humor the Reboot has are toilet and fart jokes. Does it has some jokes that are based on this? Yes! But Reboot’s humor has more variety than that.

Many of the jokes come from the characters´ reactions to certain events, how silly some situations are and from the dialogue. For example: Episodes focused on Xingo as the antagonist have tons of slaptick and old cartoon humor.

Since the series doesn’t take itself too seriously, it uses this to its advantage to make fun of tropes, franchises and popular culture. It also has many references to current trends such as youtube and social media, things that the new generation is more familiar with.

If these jokes land or not is up to debate but to say the Reboot only has fart jokes is a bit of a stretch.

2) ¨The Reboot has no plot or worldbuliding¨

This is one of the weirdest arguments for me because if you watch the show you’ll know this isn’t the case. The show has a main arc as well as some subplots.

I think people get this idea due to how the show is mainly episodic in season 1 unlike the rest of the seasons. The thing is that even season 1 has continuity that is quite important if you want to understand the rest of the series. It introduces villains as well as secondary characters that become important in future episodes. It also has tons of character development for the main protagonists, so, skipping this season would mean missing out their character growth.

By the end of season 1, Ben gets a new Alien called Gax which is the same species as the original Vilgax. It turns out this alien was half of Vilgax’s original power and Vilgax was trying to get it back. The finale is has interesting surprises and plot twists that change the status quo of the series in some ways.

In season 2 is mainly about Vilgax teaming up with other villains to steal the Omnitrix from Ben. These episodes are quite entertaining and help to develop the main characters. What’s more is that Ben gets a new alien called Shock rock and isn’t able to transform into Upgrade, which becomes important in the season finale.

I could talk about Kevin’s character arc, Charmcaster, Glitch, the Forever Knight’s arc, Animo subplot and tons of other stuff. My point is that saying that ¨the Reboot has not plot¨ would be a huge misconception about the show. It would make more sense if someone complained about how its episodic structure hurts and distracts from the main story arc and it would have helped the series to not have so many episodes centered around the characters going on random adventures.

3) ¨Shock Rock is a cheap copy of Ghostfreak¨

When i first heard about this complain it suprised me a bit. Look, i get why a person could think that "Shock Rock is just Reboot's Ghostfreak" since they share similar stories.

However there are a few differences between the two:

Ghostfreak was possesed by an evil entity, Zs'Skayr, who later escaped from the Omnitrix and did terrible things. This was so horryfing for Ben that for a long time he didn't turn into ghostfreak out of fear of their conection with Zs'Skayr.

In the original series it wasn't really explained how Zs'Skayr got inside the Omnitrix and for how long he was concious about being trapped.

Shock Rock was introduced as a result of a terrible glitch caused by the Omnitrix being rebooted. They replaced Upgrade's DNA pod and allowed Ben to give the aliens stronger versions of themselves.

Shock Rock isn't completely evil and never really tries to escape from the Omnitrix. All that they did was to build that tower to send a signal to the Fulmini. Once the protagonists reboot the Omnitrix again, Ben was able to transform into Shock Rock without any problem.

Both aliens are a bit similar but on a deeper analysis they have different execution in their respective series.

4) "Glitch is a copy of Ship".

This is one i get why people complain about it. Glitch and Ship have many parallels in common. (Both being mechamorphs, they are both sidekicks)

The main difference is that Ship acts like a pet and is able to transform into many electronic devices. On the other hand, Glitch lives inside the kart and can't transform in the same way that Ship does. (However he can in the future, years after developing his powers).

Their backstories and origins differ. Ship was born from a mechamorph that needed help after he crashed his own ship. Glitch was the result of Ben using Upgrade to reboot the Omnitrix in the season 1 finale which forced Upgrade to fuse with Ben's DNA to survive.

Another point i want to add (based on speculation) is that Glitch resembling is Ship seems to be very intentional. I think the creators wanted to Ship to appear again in the Reboot. So they decided to create Glitch.

Keep in mind that the Reboot makes tons of references to the original series and its sequels. It wouldn't be suprising if Glitch is a reference to Ship.

5) "Max is not clever/ is dumb"

I don't really got the impression of reboot Max being "dumbed down". He is one of the characters that acts almost exactly as he does in the original series.

I think this complain come from Max being less serious in this series: He isn't so strict with the kids and gives them more freedom to do what they want. He is also more open minded and has less "black and white" mentality that he had in the original series.

He is still almost the same character, just more easy going and down to earth in comparison. He still acts as a guide for Ben and Gwen. He still has a few arguments with Ben for not listening to him in some episodes.

@theangrycomet made a post a few weeks back about Reboot Max. I think people should check their post because they explain many things that i mention here in more detail.

Here is a link to their post: X

6) "They cancelled Omniverse because of the reboot"

This one is a somewhat old argument. Again, i don't know where people got this idea that reboot was the main reason they cancelled Omniverse.

I have been trying to find an article that could explain the reason behind its cancellation. All i was able to find were fans talking about how it ended because of the low number of toys getting sold. Nothing about the reboot.

It could one of the things lead to Omniverse being cancelled but not the only main factor.

If anyone has more information about this feel free to leave a link in the comment section or by reblog.

7) "Ben is out of character in the reboot"

This something i don't really get at all. Reboot Ben behaves pretty much the same way he does in the OS. He is still cocky, stubborn, competitive, impacient and gets into a trouble.

Is it because he appears to be nicer in this series? If it is because of that then i personally like this change. I found Ben to be more likable in this version. As well as capable of regretting his actions and learning his lessons.

Reboot Ben is a complex character. It has so much development that i would find it difficult for me to sum it up in just one post.

I think fans get this impression since they are more used to Alien Force Ben than OS Ben. That's why they believe Reboot Ben is acting OOC when in reality is he isn't much different from the OS Ben.

If anyone has a better explanation, please leave it in the comments section/reblog.

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Okay, those are the most common misconceptions i found after talking with some mutuals. While a few things are a matter of doing fact checking, others are based on my perspective on the series.

Keep in mind that i don't think the Reboot is perfect by any means. It has its issues like slow pacing in the first season or characters that are annoying.

However, if someone wants to give a serious critique, they should try doing a bit of research and fact-check to see if their points are valid. Otherwise,they might look misinformed at best and making bad faith arguments at worse. That's all.

#ben 10 reboot #ben 10 2016 #ben 10 shock rock #ben 10 reboot vilgax #ben tennyson reboot #glitch ben 10

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agentnico · 2 years

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Hawkeye - Season 1 (2021) Review

A Christmas themed Marvel show?? Last time that happened we got Iron Man 3. Okay, take that as a good thing or a bad thing, but that’s what we’re getting!

Plot: Former Avenger Clint Barton has a seemingly simple mission: get back to his family for Christmas. Possible? Maybe with the help of Kate Bishop, a 22-year-old archer with dreams of becoming a Super Hero. The two are forced to work together when a presence from Barton's past threatens to derail far more than the festive spirit.

Marvel and Disney continue on in their venture to churn out as much superhero content as humanly possible, with this year alone releasing 4 movies and 5 Disney+ series. Am I smelling superhero fatigue coming round the corner? Okay, let’s be honest, superhero fatigue has been present for a good while now, however it’s hard to admit that some of these Marvel projects actually turn out really good. I hear Spider-Man: No Way Home is truly amazing and I will most certainly go check it out once I break out of COVID isolation like a phoenix rising from the ashes, or more appropriately like a spider swinging from its web! But for now, let’s talk about the new Marvel Disney+ show Hawkeye, that had its season finale yesterday. Did I like it? Did I hate it? Who the hell cares?! Make your own decisions! Don’t listen to me or anyone else! Have your own identity, and don’t succumb to listening to other people’s opinions! Get a life!! Okayyy????? That being said I do still love talking all things movies and TV, so I’m going to talk about it anyway and you can choose to read or not. The choice is in your hands. However please do read so I don’t feel like I am just writing this to myself whilst sitting on my couch in my PJs having spent 7 days in isolation already.

So first and foremost, a show that is called Hawkeye, you’d assume the front and centre character would be everyone’s favourite Avenger Clint Barton, played here again by Jeremy Renner. Yes, that Jeremy Renner who was super intense in The Town and makes one wonder how he can getaway with playing a family-friendly super-hero. However the Hawkeye show actually puts him secondary and instead proceeds to push Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop, a character that is meant to take up the mantle of the Hawkeye name and become the new young Avenger who is destined to have a prolonged contract with Marvel and make lots and lots of dollar. And Steinfeld is okay. Look, she’s a bit annoying is she not? Constantly fidgety and fast talking and acting like she’s a know-it-all even though there’s lots she still needs to learn. Okay, I’m being a bit harsh, she’s fine in this show, but within these 6 episodes her character development felt rushed and things kind of got handed to her very conveniently. And I say rushed and immediately find myself trekking back on my words, since looking at the show as a whole my main complaint is that nothing really happens in it. Well, stuff does happen, but it could have easily been told in a two episode narrative and the remainder is simply filler. There’s definitely some enjoyment to be found within the show, whether its the Avengers musical (titled Rogers: The Musical) or the LARP (live-action-role-playing) sequence to seeing Clint and Kate using various arrows with different add-ons like in a video game where you can use a weapon and add a special perk to them, that stuff was all cool to see. However as a whole I can’t say I really bought this show. I couldn’t really get engaged, especially as the story didn’t really go anywhere for me.

To complain further as that seems to be what I am doing in this review, there’s various nifty Marvel cameos here, with the returns of Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova (which was teased in the after credits of Black Widow) as well as a comeback of a certain other villain that shows that Disney and Marvel are finally acknowledging those Netflix shows they did a while back, and it was nice seeing these characters back, however I felt both were really underutilized. Yelena spends the time trying to kill Barton for assassinating her sister, and naturally they fight and then talk it out and then she buggers off. Sorry for the mild spoiler, but that entire arc felt so anti-climactic and predictable that it frustrated me. Same goes for the return of the Netflix villain, who suffered even more with being wasted, and his entire purpose in the show is so that the series could have that shock factor of a big surprise reveal at the end. Otherwise he doesn’t get much else to do here. That’s kind of how this show felt as whole, like it was just ticking boxes from a list. It didn’t feel natural or smooth like a good story should.

I’d say in my humble opinion Hawkeye is one of the lesser interesting Marvel shows to have come out this year, as even though the Christmas vibe and tone were welcome and very Die Hard-y, there was a lack of stakes and consequence. Heck, the main villains and foes in this are these red tracksuit bandits, who’s sole purpose of existence was to be punching bags for Barton and Bishop. So my apologies to Jeremy Renner from The Town, please don’t come after me, but I didn’t like Hawkeye. There, I said it!! I’ve expressed my opinion!! Said it out loud and clear!! Anyway, now my eyes are all set for Spider-Man: No Way Home! For that I cannot wait to see...

Overall score: 4/10

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reversemoon255 · 3 years

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Mashin Sentai Kiramager

I’ve always had the opinion that the best formula for a successful Sentai is to either lean heavily into the comedy or the drama. If your cast of characters is typically serious, when they encounter a humorous situation it’s all the funnier, and when you have a comedic cast and they encounter a dramatic situation it feels all the more dire. Now, this is certainly impacted by the acting, script, etc., but if you look back at some of the better seasons (Shinkenger, Go-Busters, ToQger), you’ll see that a lot of them have that type of lean. And Kiramager has the later feel, standing out as a good season with few low points; ultimately sitting in the upper half of the show’s history.

The Good: One of the big things I talked about when I went over Ryusoulger was the episodic nature of the writing. It felt like it was made to be inviting to first-time watchers for the majority of its run, regardless of their jumping-on point. Self-contained episodes, very few ongoing plot threads, and very trope heavy for the sake of introducing a new audience to the show’s basic concepts and themes. And while I like what Ryusoulger was trying to do, I feel that Kiramager takes those concepts and improves upon them.

While the majority of the episodes were still self-contained, the episodes in Ryusoulger were very focused on fighting enemies, the stresses and one-off characters, and very light development of the main characters with primary focus on Red and Gold. In Kiramager there is much more focus on the main cast, with almost every episode being used to develop a Ranger or their relationships between each other, with the lack there of being one of my biggest complaints with the last season. It also feels like there are more multi-parters and micro-plots throughout the show, which rewards me as a viewer for continuously watching the show, and we don’t get when things are more segmented.

Another of my big issues with Ryusoulger was how heavily it focused on their Red and Gold Rangers. They nixed that out the gate with this show, having a zeroth episode the focused on everyone except Red. And Jyuru was a good Red. Definitely a lot goofier than most, but had a strong personality, was willing to work with and defer to the rest of his team when he needed to, and developed a lot of confidence throughout the season. Tametomo was a lot of fun, too. He was the straight man to everyone else’s silly behavior, but could also pull off a strong gag by himself. He was also very intelligent and a great tactician. Sena was probably the weakest of the main cast, but that was only because her character was more one-note than the others. Upbeat and outgoing at all times, there were very few times where we saw a darker side to her, but those moments were handled well and displayed a depth to her character we could have used more of. And while she isn’t our first female Green, she is our first on a five-man team, and I enjoy seeing them swapping out the usual colors like that. Shiguru started the show as the most serious of the team, but quickly revealed himself to be a lovable goof. The juxtaposition between him trying to act cool and caving into his baser natures was very funny and made for an entertaining character. Sayo was skilled, determined, intelligent, but could also be air-headed. I would describe her as a Yellow Precure turned Pink Ranger, if that makes sense. She usually filled the role an episode demanded of her, but it never felt out of place for her. Takamichi was a decent character, but in a season of funny people, he was the least so. His habit of adding “Wonder” to everything was meh, but he certainly pulled through in the serious moments. I’m a little sad Mabushina’s development didn’t end with her also becoming a Ranger, but she was a good secondary. She could easily hold an episode on her own, and her voice and suit actresses both managed to do a great job of bringing a literal stone-faced character to life.

And then there’s the villains, who did a good job of being just as entertaining and in some cases be as deep as the main cast. Just about everyone was a pretty simple, but fun character that didn’t get too complex until near the end of the story when the core audience would be established. I have mixed feelings about this, as nothing felt too out of place, but it would have been nice to get some build up to this earlier in the story. Kurantula was the team monster maker, and was childish and over-the-top. Whenever he decided to go down and do the dirty work himself, they were usually his crazier schemes. Near the end of the show he expressed the desire to create because he enjoyed it, which put him at odds against his boss and aligned himself with the heroes for survival. Yadonna was a nice mid-addition, shaking up the established dynamic Kurantula and Garuza had. She was so over-the-top evil without being a monster that it was hilarious to watch. I’m a little sad at her ultimate fate, as I would have liked to have seen a turnaround after she was betrayed by Emperor Yodon; have her turn sides, maybe actually get some payoff for that crush Tametomo had. (Eh, there’s always the V-Cinema.) Garuza was the stick-in-the-mud that made everyone else get serious, but could still occasionally crack a joke. He was a great antagonist, and while I like that he turned around at the end, it really needed more buildup. Still, the fact that I wanted all the bad guys to turn face is a testament to how likable they were.

The Bad: I’ve already gone over a few of my problems, but let’s go over them in more detail. Characters have a tendency to be a little one note, like with Sena or Takamichi. Episodes where they explore the depth to those characters are good, but the standard episode has them basically the same character throughout.

And as I mentioned, the big developments for the villains were heavily regulated to the last few episodes. Kurantula didn’t have any signs of being in a slump until the last 5 or 6 episodes, and Garuza turning good isn’t brought up until the 3rd-to-last, and is a bit of a cop out. “Oh, I was brainwashed.” If that had been hinted at at all it wouldn’t be a problem, but I don’t recall any signs of it before episode 43.

Now, these aren’t terrible things, they just could have been done better. It’s part of the downside to the writing style they’ve been pushing to improve ratings. It’s definitely a step forward from Ryusoulger, and they addressed a lot of the issues I had with that season, but they haven’t quite found a pace balance that works for that style and for both new and old fans. If they try this style again with Zenkaiger, hopefully we’ll see some improvements on the formula, but at the same time, since it’s an anniversary season, I’d like if they had a more dynamic and connected story.

Won’t lie, climax was also a little meh.

Overall, Kiramager is definitely a great first Sentai, and a fun one for older fans if you like the more humorous seasons. It has good characters, good (but evil) villains, and silly plots. I really had to think hard about what I didn’t like about the show, and I doubt you’ll notice any of it while you’re watching.

And, as always, if you didn’t pick up any of the toys this year, here are my recommendations if you want to start collecting post-show: Kiramajin (fun toy, fun gimmick), 1 OR 2 copies of Express King (giant T-Rex AND a robot mode), and Zabyuun (adds a lot of play to Express King as well as Kiramajin). I like the toys from this season a lot, but a lot of them are weapons, Gigant Driller is a little disappointing, and Grateful Phoenix is cool but passable. Only go for him if you like what you already have.

#Super Sentai #Mashin Sentai Kiramager #Kiramager #Kirameiger #Review #Power Rangers

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yourpinkoverlord · 3 years

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Kotobukiya is asking for people to weigh in what the next MLP character they should turn into a Bishoujo figure should be.

Assuming they’re actually listening and going by most commonly said or something, here’s my prediction on who they’ll make based on the responses and some other factors.

Ones I’m pretty sure they will make at some point:

—Starlight Glimmer, 100%. On all sites I’ve seen discussing it (and especially Twitter) Starlight was requested the most. Plus she’s basically a main character from season 6 onward, it seems obvious.

—Trixie. She was brought up quite a bit + if they make Starlight, making Trixie to match her is an obvious next step (“You want to complete the pair, don’t you? So you need to spend more money, riiiiight?”)

—Princess Cadance. Not only was she brought up a lot but she feels like an obvious choice. They made Celestia, Luna, and Twilight (although not a very princessy version). Just need her to complete the Princess set.

—Derpy Hooves. Highly requested, and she’s basically the fandom mascot. And not only that, but who doesn’t like Derpy?

Ones that were brought up a bit but I’m more unsure about them actually getting made:

—The Dazzlings. While not as much as the first four, they were brought up by folks quite a bit. They’re known for their human designs so just like Sunset they wouldn’t need to design completely new human designs, just make new poses. If they make one they’d almost have to make the other two (and I don’t know how many people would only want one) so it’s an easy 3 to make. Plus, uh, the Bishoujo line has always been a bit horny, even with the MLP line (yeah) and Hasbro might let them get away with slightly more sexualized Dazzling figures considering they’re Sirens and the way they sung and were animated in RR so that might...be more convincing? I only put them under “unsure” because they were brought up a bit less than the others, and, well, they’re not ponies. But they may not care about that and even use their merch pony designs to go with the figure, who knows!

—Queen Chrysalis. At first I was surprised with how often she was brought up, but looking back, I think she’s overall the most popular villain. I’m putting her lower than the Dazzlings since she doesn’t already have an animated human design (she does have an EqG doll tho) so she’d basically be created from scratch, and unlike the Dazzlings she doesn’t have an obvious character to go with her. Except for maybe Cadance. Actually, a matching Cadance and Chrysalis would be pretty cool. Still putting her under “unsure” because she wasn’t said as often as some other characters.

—The Cutie Mark Crusaders. They actually weren’t recommended as often as I thought they would be. I’d assume they’d be slightly cheaper since they would be smaller (unless they made their adult designs or something). They’re still possible because they’ve been secondary characters since season 1 and were still recommended a decent # of times. But judging by other recommendations if they were made it looks like they would be made pretty late. And since I brought it up earlier I wanna say, judging by the other young-looking characters in the Bishoujo line, no, if they were made they probably wouldn’t be sexualized.

—Spike. He was mentioned in recommendations more often than the CMC, so that’s something. There’s just two problems: He’s not a pony and he’s not a girl. Now, the Bishoujo Horror line genderbent male horror characters so him being a boy isn’t necessarily an issue, but I just don’t know for sure if they would do this with the MLP line. And there’s still the issue of him not being a pony. They would have more freedom in designing him since he doesn’t have any official human designs at all (let alone a female one), but at the same time they would have to start from scratch. Plus there’s the question of: would there even be much interest in this figure? People are definitely recommending him but for most it’s more of an afterthought (long lists that include Spike at the very end). And while he’s pretty well-liked now, Spike still has a reputation of being disliked by the fandom as stuff left over from the early days. But still, he’s a main character so not completely off the table.

—Discord. I saw him brought up a little bit. This could be a very metal figure, imagine how cool a (probably genderbent) human Discord could look. But I also saw a lot of people say it would probably look weird. Not a lot of people recommended him, he’s not a girl, he’s not a pony, he’s seems pretty hard to translate into a human design...there are a lot of things holding this possibility back. But he’s still a secondary character with a little bit of interest so he’s still a possibility.

—DJ Pon-3. Wasn’t actually brought up that much but she’s a pretty popular background pony and has even reappeared quite a bit because of it. Plus her design is pretty cool, that’s a plus.

—Octavia. If they make DJ Pon-3 making Octavia to go with her seems like an obvious choice. Usually when DJ/Vinyl was recommended Octavia was recommended along with her. Only problem here is that Octavia doesn’t appear nearly as much as DJ, and doesn’t have as much Hasbro love as DJ.

—Lyra Heartstrings. Was barley recommended, actually. I was surprised. But I guess it makes sense, her design isn’t a unique background pony design. Still, she’s pretty popular and has an EXTREMELY obvious character to go with. Speaking of...

—Bon Bon/Sweetie Drops. Like Lyra, was barely recommended. BUT, if you make Lyra, you gotta make Bon Bon. If you make Bon Bon, you gotta make Lyra. Two times the money. Has a spy backstory to work off of for the design. Pretty popular.

Annnnd those are my predictions. It looks like the MLP line is making bank for Kotobukiya, I mean why else would they keep expanding it? I love that they are but my wallet is crying.

Who do you think is most likely to be added? And who do you WANT to be added?

#mlp #my little pony #anime figure #Kotobukiya #Bishoujo #imagine if this line could continue well into G5 #I wonder if G5 Bishoujo figures are a possibility at all or if they’re sticking to G4

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supergay-supergirl · 4 years

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why supergirl season 5 was actually good: sort of an essay

This has been sitting in my sticky notes for months and I figured now that I have a Supergirl blog, I can actually post it.

People love hating on Supergirl Season 5. And I get it. I admit that it had a lot of problems. But I did like the season overall, and there's enough out there about Season 5’s problems, so here is a post about some things that were great about Season 5!

1. Lena’s Arc

Apparently everyone hates how this was executed, but I really liked it. I like how 5A allows her to scheme and lie and altogether explore the darker (Luthor) side of herself, because only after experiencing what she’s been afraid of becoming can she fully come to know herself. I like how in 5x07, she gets to scream and cry, to express to Supergirl how much she’s hurting, and how betrayed she feels. I like how in 5x13, Kara finally accepts that Lena joining Lex was not her fault, and that she didn’t deserve to be manipulated (“From now on, you’re accountable for your own actions.”). I like Lena’s growing obsession with erasing human pain through 5B and the fact that we know exactly where her motivations come from, and we feel for her because we’ve seen how much pain she’s in herself -- but at the same time, we can still oppose her ultimately villainous actions, which leads us to hope for her redemption. (A lot of this is due to Katie McGrath’s stellar acting as well.)

I love how the season shows just how much Lex’s continual abuse and manipulation affects her, and shows her standing up to him at the end. I wish they had focused more on Lena instead of pushing her aside in favor of Lex in 5B, but overall I liked how they expanded on the Luthor sibling relationship from Season 4, even if it was missing some of the complexity of the previous season. And finally, I love the way Lena fights so hard to regain Kara’s trust in 5x19 (and succeeds!). It felt like there was more of a balance between the two starting from 5x13, where previously it had always been Kara apologizing and trying to gain Lena’s trust.

2. Supergirl’s New Look

PANTS. PANTS. PANTS. PANTS.

For Season 4, Kara the Reporter got a more professional wardrobe as she began to mentor Nia, and the switch to pants feels like the same thing for Supergirl. It completes the transition from “young adult” to just “adult.” It may have been reasonable to call Kara a “girl” in Season 1, but by now, she is an adult woman, and I’m glad that her wardrobe reflects that.

I was opposed to Kara’s bangs at the beginning of the season, but they have definitely grown on me. Like the pants, I think they mark an important change in Supergirl’s character, one that is better appreciated by the audience than the characters. Now, when I rewatch previous seasons, I think, “Wow, Kara looks so different now.” I didn’t think that when I rewatched episodes after Season 4. The bangs are a way to identify Adult Kara as having changed a lot from how she was at the beginning, and like the pants, I feel like they complete her transition into adulthood.

(But are the writers expecting us to believe that nobody who knows Kara would be suspicious that Kara and Supergirl got bangs on the exact same day? Seriously.)

3. Eve Teschmacher

In Season 4, Eve Teschmacher was a brilliant, eager-to-please young woman who (whoops) turned out to be evil. And she was great. But I was dissatisfied with her betrayal because it came so out of the blue, and it was a complete 180 without much buildup at all. Season 5 gave her the humanity that she was lacking, first with her mom, then with her desperation not to have to kill. Not to mention, some pretty badass fight scenes.

4. J’onn’s Swagger

J’onn’s storyline in Season 5 is not nearly as deep as in Season 4, and I see that as a good thing. Season 4 J’onn was wonderful and necessary, but in a season that has a lot of strong development for Kara and Lena, it was nice to have a relatively static character who’s at a good place in his life. Season 4 let J’onn discover the man he wanted to be, and David Harewood brings a new confidence to Season 5 as a result of that. It’s fun to watch him strut around in his supersuit and say normal things as if they’re great proclamations. It’s nice to see the happy, healthy adult relationship between him and M’gann. The easy trust they have with each other causes them to act more like they’re married than dating, as opposed to the younger characters who are often caught up in relationship drama.

5. Kelly Therapy Face

All the characters need a therapist, and they finally got one! Well, Kelly is technically a psychologist, which I believe means she could be a therapist but is not necessarily? I don’t know things. Anyway, it’s nice to have a calm, supportive presence in the group, and this effect is helped by Kelly Therapy Face. Kelly Therapy Face is the face Kelly makes when she’s listening to you talk about your problems. Kelly Therapy Face and her generally calm presence bring down the interpersonal drama of the group and solidify the idea that all these people are growing into full adults, with adult relationships and adult responses to issues. Their emotions are stabilizing, they’re building stronger support systems, and they’re gaining a better understanding of how the world works and their places in it.

This is more of a Season 4 thing -- this season really didn’t give Kelly the screentime she deserved -- but I also love how even though Kelly acts as a source of support for others, her own fear and trauma are rarely glossed over (see: the end of 5x05). This gives Kelly a humanity and realistic quality that many emotional-support characters don’t get. It also shows the key difference between Dansen and Sanvers: whenever Alex and Maggie had conflict, they swept it aside rather than working through it, leading to their eventual breakup, but when Alex and Kelly have conflict, they listen to each other and try to fix it. In accordance with their adult-ness, Alex and Kelly also seem to be in agreement that it’s okay to have conflict in their relationship (“And I might not know every little detail about you yet, but I know you,” 5x02).

6. Reality Bytes

Calling attention to violence against trans folk, exploring Dreamer’s dark side, and showing the strength of Kara and Nia’s mentor-student relationship in one episode? Just. Yes. Either Nicole Maines was projecting a lot or she’s a really good actor (probably both), but either way, as a trans person, I felt this episode on a personal level: the anger, fear, and frustration at knowing that your community is being targeted and the people you’re supposed to trust (i.e. the police) are probably not going to do anything about it. Additionally, Kara and Nia’s conflict in 5x15, and the fact that Kara compares Nia’s experience to her own, is a great marker of how far Kara has come. In Season 1, Supergirl felt a similar anger and hurt when villains sought her out, but by now, she’s more at peace and can offer Dreamer reassurance and comfort.

7. Brainy’s Plot

Brainy’s storyline in Season 5 is nice because it manages to remain stable as an important, but secondary, plot. It enhances the sense that there’s more going on than we realize and gives us a view into the scheming of the villains, while not taking over too much screentime or audience brainspace.

8. Jon Cryer

As annoying as it is that the writers gave up a lot of Lena’s screentime to Lex, Jon Cryer’s performance in Season 5 is just wonderful. He can go from acting totally in control to screaming in a matter of seconds. Lex Luthor is witty, assured, and charming in a weird way. On the other side of his personality, he is a madman who cares about no one’s interests but his own. Jon Cryer’s acting manages to package all this great but conflicting writing into a brilliant, awful, occasionally sympathetic villain who has more than his share of awesome (and terrifying) scenes.

9. Alex’s Grief

I like that Alex gets to let go of her emotions a little this season and express herself. Especially when Jeremiah dies before 5x16, Alex has a really tough time (and a mention of her possibly drinking problem! Expand, please!). She tries to escape from the pain of real life through virtual reality, but eventually realizes that she has to face her pain rather than avoid it, which is a major theme of the season. What’s great about 5x16 and the next couple episodes is that the other characters allow her to grieve. They could have told her to get over it and see all the happiness in the real world — it would have fit with the theme — but instead, they support Alex as she grieves. They listen without judgement when she expresses her anger that Jeremiah left and forced her to take care of Kara. Kara and Kelly are (mostly) understanding when Alex doesn’t want to go to Jeremiah’s funeral, and when Alex arrives late at the end of the episode, Kara lets her know how much she appreciates that Alex came at all. Throughout her life, Alex hasn’t had much opportunity to be herself and express her emotions, an idea that’s repeated over and over again starting from her coming-out arc in Season 2 or even earlier. Now that Kara can for the most part take care of herself and Alex has a good support system, she finally gets the opportunity to be vulnerable.

10. Andrea Rojas’s Moral Ambiguity

Is Andrea good or bad? Neither. She’s a person who wants love, success, and money, who does sketchy things to promote her company but also fights fiercely for her father and cares about the safety of her technology. Before Andrea, Lena was the main morally ambiguous character, and she could be categorized as “playing for her own team.” However, Andrea goes a step further, crossing into a territory I would call “not playing a game at all.” She’s just a human being trying to have a good life, and that causes her to do good things, bad things, and everything in between. In a show that often accentuates the difference between heroes and villains (“Don’t let them down by stooping to his level,” 5x15), Andrea is a reminder that most people aren’t good or bad -- they’re just living their lives.

TL;DR: They’re all adults now and Lena needs a hug.

#supergirl #supergirl season 5 #kara danvers #lena luthor #j'onn j'onzz #kelly olsen #dansen #nia nal #dreamer #brainiac 5 #alex danvers #andrea rojas

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giveamadeuschohisownmovie · 4 years

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My pitch for an alternate version of the Star Wars sequel arc (Episodes 7-12):

(NOTE: Aside from some characters being reused, this is completely separate from the actual sequel trilogy)

1) All six movies comprise of one arc but episodes 7-9 and 10-12 can be seen as their own trilogies. Think of this like a TV show season; the first half of the season is different from the second half.

2) The initial main protagonists are Ben Solo and Rey Nebula, Luke Skywalker’s proteges and the top two students of the reformed Jedi Academy. However, there’s a change in protagonists after episode 9, which I’ll explain when I get there. The main protagonists from episodes 10-12 are Nico Palpatine (Emperor Palpatine’s granddaughter), Finn (a former stormtrooper), Poe Dameron (a Mandalorian bounty hunter), and Rose Tico (an inventor from Coruscant).

3) Episodes 7-9 focus on defeating the last of the Imperial forces (renamed “The First Order”) and Luke ordering the capture of Nico Palpatine, the last of Emperor Palpatine’s line. The trilogy is set up like a traditional Star Wars story; Empire and Sith are the villains while the Republic and the Jedi are the heroes. However, in episode 8, we start to see the cracks in the story. Nico, despite being a Palpatine, is revealed to be a scared, severely depressed young woman who is trying to escape her legacy. She’s not interested in the Sith or even avenging her grandfather, she just wants to live her life. In addition, it’s revealed that there’s unrest in the Republic with Leia’s government becoming more unpopular each day. The main concern is that, in their quest to stamp out all traces of the Galactic Empire, people are fearing that the New Republic is on the road to becoming a fascist dictatorship as well.

4) While all that is going on, Luke learns about this “Force boogeyman” who has resurfaced. This boogeyman, known as “The Equalist”, is a legendary figure who is feared by both the Jedi and the Sith. Apparently, they have survived for thousands of years (using the Force to extend their lifespan) and they have an intense hatred towards both orders of the Force. The Equalist is the main antagonist of the sequel series.

5) The big reveal in Episode 9: Rey Nebula, who was presented as the main heroine of the sequel series, is revealed to be “The Equalist”. She entered Luke’s academy with the intention of infiltrating the Jedi Order and destroying it from within, as well as getting close to Luke. In addition, she’s the one who has been influencing the political unrest in the New Republic. The reason for her hatred of the Jedi and the Sith is that she was part of an ancient order of Force users that predated the Jedi and the Sith (think: Dai Bendu). Her order, instead of emphasizing the differences in the Light and Dark sides of the Force, preached a “Grey” interpretation that believed the Light and Dark sides worked in tandem. Rey reveals that her order was destroyed by both the early Jedi and Sith as they felt threatened by the “Grey” interpretation of the Force.

6) Some dialogue I came up with for Rey/The Equalist: “When the universe was first formed...do you think the Creators had a set of morals in mind for the Force? The answer is no...we were the ones who gave meaning to the Force. The problem is...we couldn’t agree which interpretation was correct and, as a result, millions of people died. Over a difference of faith. How pitiful.” / “The Jedi preaches that the Dark Side is evil. The Sith preaches that the Light Side is evil. But yet, despite the differences in your religions...you both agreed that my people were a threat. We were a threat...for believing that the Force was neither good or evil. For our beliefs, you sentenced my people to death.” --> author’s note: If this sounds like Pain from Naruto or Zaheer from Legend of Korra, I admit that they were inspirations for the Equalist.

7) Ben Solo goes from the main male protagonist to the secondary antagonist of the series. Although he starts out as an honorable Jedi, he becomes swayed by Rey’s mission to destroy the Jedi and the Sith once he learns their “hidden history” (namely, the destruction of Rey’s old order of Force users). He also becomes disillusioned by the New Republic when he learns about the war crimes and atrocities that the Rebels committed during the war with the Galactic Empire (history that was also buried by the New Republic). Ben feels betrayed as he was taught that the Jedi and Rebels were pure heroes, leading to him joining forces with Rey. So in this version, Ben’s turn to darkness comes from his inability to see the world through a grey perspective; he’s stuck in a black-and-white moral mentality that makes him unable to comprehend the nuances of war and politics, which then leads to him helping Rey in her dangerous revolution.

8) Nico Palpatine goes from a supporting protagonist to the main protagonist of the series. Although she’s treated with much hostility from Luke Skywalker in the beginning, Luke slowly warms up to her when he realizes she’s nothing like her grandfather. Also, when we get to know more about Nico, we learn that she has a strange connection to the Force. She’s as powerful as Emperor Palpatine but she doesn’t feel a strong connection to either the Light or Dark sides since she was never formally trained. As a result, she’s developed a sort of “Grey” relationship to the Force, just like Rey. However, Nico’s pure heart clashes with Rey’s thirst for vengeance, which leads to them becoming archenemies.

---------------------------> side note: my fancast for Nico is Jessica Henwick (Colleen Wing from Iron Fist)

9) Finn, Poe, and Rose are all elevated to co-protagonists in episodes 10-12. They start out as supporting allies in episodes 7-9 but are elevated in importance when they befriend Nico and form her inner circle. So if Nico is the Luke of the sequel series, Poe and Rose share the Han Solo role while Finn fills in the Leia Organa role. In this alternate version, Rose is an inventor who sells state-of-the-art weapons to the New Republic, Finn is a former stormtrooper who has enlisted in the New Republic’s army, and Poe is a Mandalorian bounty hunter who specializes in hunting down Sith lords.

10) Just as a side note, I pictured Finn being more important than Poe and Rose since he also has a subplot where he learns that he’s Force-sensitive.

11) Episodes 10-12 focus on Nico, Finn, Poe, and Rose trying to stop Rey, Ben, and their faction from destroying the Jedi, the Sith and the New Republic. We learn that Rey’s grand plan is to cause as much unrest in the New Republic as possible, causing the Republic to fall into a civil war. Combined with the ongoing war against the First Order, this would eventually lead to the Republic collapsing into complete anarchy. So as a stark contrast to the original and prequel trilogies, our main villain isn’t a fascist dictator but a vengeance-fueled anarchist who wants to destroy all traces of the Jedi and the Sith.

12) Fates of the OG trio: Han Solo is killed in episode 8 during a battle with the First Order. His death sends Ben Solo into full despair, which Rey takes advantage of. Leia Skywalker is killed in episode 10 by Ben. Leia tries to convince him that Rey is the real threat and, in response, Ben stabs her through the chest (so she gets Han’s death from TFA). Luke Skywalker heroically sacrifices himself in episode 12. He destroys a Death Star-type weapon that Rey had taken control of while still inside.

13) There’s a major time jump between episodes 9 and 10 because Luke Skywalker has taken on Nico Palpatine as his protege Episode 10 takes place six years after episode 9 in order to explain how Nico is suddenly a capable Jedi, as well as how Rey and Ben were able to raise an army while hiding in the shadows.

14) The ending scene of episode 11 is Luke Skywalker naming Nico Palpatine as the next Grandmaster of the Jedi Order. When Nico protests, saying that she should be disqualified due to her lineage, Luke reminds her that his father was Darth Vader. He says something along the lines of, “You may be a Palpatine by blood...but you’ve proven more than once that you are your own person.” He also says that the Jedi could benefit from Nico’s “Grey” view of the Force since she could teach about the Dark Side without falling into it and becoming a Sith.

15) Showdown in episode 12 is split between Nico’s confrontation with Rey and Ben, as well as the New Republic engaging the Equalist Army. Both conflicts are resolved in a way to symbolize that the galaxy is willing to make an effort for peace. First, the New Republic is assisted by the factions that were threatening to break away, signifying that Rey’s plan for complete anarchy has failed and that the New Republic is whole again. Second, after Rey is fatally wounded by Nico, both women decide to sit together in peace and discuss their place in the universe. Before she dies, Rey says that Nico has a chance to be better than her predecessors and to not repeat the mistakes of the past Jedi.

16) Ben survives but is imprisoned for life due to his actions in episodes 10-12.

17) Ending of the series: Nico takes her place as the new Jedi Grandmaster, Finn joins the Jedi Academy, Poe is made a leading general in the New Republic (the first Mandalorian to take on the position), and Rose becomes a Senator.

Some more thematic stuff I forgot to add:

* Aside from being “Grey Force” users, I wanted Rey and Nico to parallel each other in the sense that they both are the result of a hateful environment. Rey’s people were senselessly destroyed since their beliefs were feared while Nico’s very existence made her a target of the galaxy’s hatred.

* In the original trilogy, the main sin was pride. In the prequel trilogy, the main sin was envy. For this sequel series, the main sin is wrath (Luke hating Nico’s existence before getting to know her, Rey’s hatred fueling her anarchist campaign and Ben’s anger after learning the hidden history of the Jedi and the Republic)

* The first half is set up as a traditional Star Wars story in order to set up the contrast of the second half. We go from having a Skywalker as the main protagonist to a Palpatine as the lead, the main villain isn’t a Sith but someone who challenges the beliefs of both the Jedi and the Sith, and the conflict isn’t about toppling an empire but making sure the current regime survives the unrest.

* EDIT: Another thing I forgot to add. The conflict between Rey’s Grey Order, Jedi, and Sith was inspired by real-life religion. Rey’s order is a Pagan religion while the Jedi and Sith can be seen as parallels to Catholicism or Christianity (both orders believe in the Dark-Light belief of the Force, but differ on which side to follow). The destruction of Rey’s order is a parallel to the Inquisitions.

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tvdversefanfiction · 3 years

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Since i have done this 30day challenge on two of my other pages it was about time I did it for this page, starting firstly with The Vampire Diaries, The Originals and Legacies will soon follow I promise.

So if you do not already no I have zero chill and zero patience so instead of 30 days I just do it all in one go 😂 feel free to sound off in the comments with your opinions, open to reading others' opinions and share in the love for this fandom 💖

1 - Klaus Mikaelson 💖 my king, my heart, the unrequited love of my life (fictional ofcourse)

2 - (in order) Caroline Forbes 👑 Rebekah Mikaelson 👑 Katherine Pierce 👑

3 - Klaroline, always and forever 😍

4 - Bamon or Stexi 🤔 although Stexi was definitely a more loyal friendship and I didnt want them together as a couple like I did Bamon

5 - Claire Holt, Love her to pieces, love her interviews and her post and pre TVD and TO work as an actress.

6 - Joseph Morgan, my husband in my fantasies only 💖 fantastic actor who I cannot wait to see what he does next 😍

7 - Daniel Gillies and Paul Wesley, their bromance is both adorable, authentic and slightly homoerotic 🙊😈

8 - Bamon or Elenijah, Bamon id have legit loved to see as endgame over Delena anyday and Elenijah I'd have love to have seen explored at least.

9 - Although neither the originals or Katherine were in every episode they were far from secondary in my mind, so in terms of secondary I'd say Lexi for sure.

10 - 2 and/or 3, most of the originals arc and Katherine stuff was peak TVD for me.

11 - The 100th episode for so many reasons, the nostalgic lookback at previous characters, Klaroline finally getting it on, a Mebekah reunion and lots of Katherine 👑

12 - He is your first love, I intend to be your last 💖 Klaroline was all kinds of epic and how poetic is it that she wound up being his last love💔

13 - Caroline singing at her mothers funeral 💔

14 - Elena, I know she went through alot but who didn't in the TVDverse, she was the victim and stayed within that role from beginning to end and god was she depressing to watch. She was also largely hypocritical with her judgements over things she too was guilty off 🙄 the fact I loathe her and love Katherine shows the incredible acting range of Nina Dobrev though 💖

15 - Stefan, he is like Angel with the Angelus edge, id say the male elena but that would be harsh as he didnt piss me off nearly as much 😂 he was alright I suppose I just didnt care for him that much, if he died early I'd have been like meh! I couldnt buy evil stefan either instead it made me cringe which is weird because Paul Wesley plays unhinged so well in Tell me a story...oh and also Stefan killed Enzo, not once but twice and he can only blame the humanity switch for one of those kills 😡

16 - i did ship Delena till they got together and lost all their magic, i never shipped Stelena but they did suit each other better than Delena or the very ill advised Steroline which should have stayed a friendship! Bonnie and Jeremy made absolute no sense and had zero chemistry so on those grounds id say those two or Steroline, Steroline itches me up the wrong way the most tbf.

17 - Elena and Caroline, Caroline was the better friend hands down for both Bonnie and Elena but Elena always seemed harsher to Caroline and yet couldnt handle it when Caroline gave her tough love back especially over Delena which tbh Caroline was right....IMO anyways.

18 - I cannot say Candice, Nina, Kat or Claire are anything but amazing actresses so I would never say any of them...maybe the actress who played Liv Parker, she was always kind of one note to me although not terrible but nowhere near as good as the others....I could probably later think of someone else but for now I'll go with her.

19 - Zach Roerig, a typical answer from fans I've noticed but he was just so blah for 8 full seasons I totally get why Im not alone here...also so far him and Steven McQueen are the only ones from TVD to appear in Legacies...Jeremy's cameo i didnt mind, Matts however...like when is he going to die and stay dead already? Sorry matt fans 😂

20 - A good chunk of episodes in season 7, didnt like Elena but didn't like TVD without Elena...would've loved the actress to stay on and either play another role or make Katherine come back preferably 🤩

21 - Most of them I started liking then hating, or hating to liking then back to hating 😂 I dont think I hated anyone from beginning then loved them by the end so ill just give a love to hate, Alaric...I liked him in early seasons but thought he came to a natural end when he died...from 6 onwards after he came back he lost any appeal and felt like he was just there to have another dead ex, then to cockblock Steroline which tbf was a good deed but still didnt revive him 🤣 and I full out despise him in Legacies but I'll dig deeper into that come a Legacies themed version of this challenge 😂

22 - Damon wins hands down here, loved him in the pilot, love turned to like as the show went on and then Delena happened and completely destroyed his chracter, Bamon gave him a much needed revival but Elena soon dragged him down once more...his live for her was obsessive to me, unhealthy and toxic and he couldnt cope without it. BAMON would've fixed all this IMO

23 - Okay stick with me here as this one has multiple answers for me...I'd have rathered Caroline or Bonnie as the main character alongside the salvatores than Elena so thats answer one. Answer two would be I'd have loved Katherine to have been the mainstay doppelganger instead of Elena. Answer three would be more flashbacks of Lexi and her life away from the Salvatores would have been interesting. Last answer, Rebekah should have been in more episodes both on this and TO but I'll probs get more into that when I do TO.

24 - The romances, the vampires, the villains and the aesthetic of Mystic Falls 😍 if you follow my other pages you know obsessed im obsessed with the supernatural genre 🥰

25 - Too much time centred around Delena and Stelena, which I know was the main story of this show their love triangle but it didnt have to be...

26 - Elena daggering Rebekah, my heart broke for Rebekah and hardened towards Elena...her biggest hypocritical move of many too!

27 - Heres one so this post isnt all bashing poor Elena 🤣 i love when Elena and Stefan wind up drinking in that bar together having a good time as friends...honestly wouldnt habe minded more scenes centered on this friendship.

28 - Klaroline getting together in the woods and/or the Klaroline moment in the last episode where he donates money to the boarding school...tbh any Klaroline moment 💖

29 - Liz's death and funeral, my heart breaks for Caroline everytime and Damon too, loved Liz and Damon's friendship 💔

30 - Almost all Lily Salvatore scenes, the worst mother alongside Esther Mikaelson....their deaths make me so happy every single time and I will never apologise for that 🤣

#thevampirediaries #vampirediaries #tvd #tvdfandom #tvdverse #tvd30daychallenge #thevampirediariesopinions

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ecofinisher · 4 years

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Miraculous and Monster Buster Club comparision.

Just to be clear, I’m not comparing the show on what show is better and what not. I’m comparing the similarities between the two shows. I’ve came across a few Miraculers, that were also fans of the Monster Buster Club cartoon claiming that MBC (Monster Buster Club) had a few similarities to MLB (Miraculous Ladybug) due to the animation and the adventure. I had thought about it, since I belonged before to the MBC fandom too. (And still do, except the fandom is probably dead now)

So where do I start? Well just to summarize the shows for those who don’t know one/both of them:

[From left to right: Cathy Smith, Sam(antha), Chris(stopher) and Daniel (Danny) Jackson]

Monster Buster Club came out around 2008 and is a French-Canadian computer-animated TV show, which focused on a group of pre-teens (12-year-old) consisting of three human children and one so-called Rhapsodian (Fictional Alien species) whose also the protagonist of the show called Cathy Smith. Together with the three human teens named Chris, Danny and Samantha, they revive the old secret society named “Monster Buster Club” to fight together and protect their town from aliens, that invade it. Special about their town is, that 200 years ago it was founded by a man named Addison Single, who unbeknownst to the citizens was an alien in disguise and got defeat in the past by the former MBC. Also in this city, Cathy isn’t the only alien to be living there in disguise, but many other aliens are present.

[Left to right Tikki (A magical being called a “kwami”, that helps the person transform into a superhero), Marinette Dupain-Cheng, her alter ego Ladybug, Cat Noir, his civilian identity Adrien Agreste and his kwami Plagg]

Miraculous Ladybug is a French animated TV show, that debuted in 2015 and is set in the modern metropole Paris and is focused on the lives of the clumsy Marinette Dupain-Cheng and the famous teeny-model Adrien Agreste. Both wield a special magical jewelry, which is called a “Miraculous” which they use to transform into the superheroes “Ladybug and Cat Noir” The two don’t know each other’s identity, but funnily Adrien has a huge crush on Ladybug and in the civilian life he sees her as just a friend, while Marinette is obsessed with Adrien and sees Cat Noir only as his trustful crime-fight partner. Both students are around 14 years old in the show.

As superheroes they fight villains, that were akumatized by Hawk Moth. (He owns the butterfly miraculous, with which he can create supervillains by sending an akuma (Butterfly jinxed by Hawk Moth’s magic) and Hawk Moth’s miraculous sends people’s negative feelings such as anger, sadness and dissapointment and uses his akumas to follow them and akumatize them and they’re transformed by Hawk Moth into a specific-themed supervillain.

Now about the comparisons....Miraculous and Monster Buster Club have many things in common when it comes to the animation, the characters or other things and I wanted to list them down.

1: Logo shortcut.

The Unofficial Logo

The official Logo

Both the shows have a long name and they’re usually abbreviated by the fans or the writers by three letters, this case Miraculous LadyBug is shortened to MLB and Monster Buster Club into MBC. The minor difference here is that Monster Buster Club also used the shortcut on their logo, while Miraculous only kept the title.

2: Logo Switching up between scenes.

Both shows, when they skip to another part of the episode, both have the symbol appear on a background animated for 2-3 seconds, then disappear. MBC has the full title of the show, instead of the round symbol, which is the team’s recognition sign.

3: Transformation sequences

Both of the shows our main characters have a transformation sequence, where they turn from their civilian self into the secret identity. While Ladybug and Cat Noir look in their tight suits a little different than from their alter egos they can’t be recognized by their friends or citizens. Unlike the MBC they are also a bit covered, but if any of the classmates see them fighting around, they can recognize them without any problem. (I can’t recall at the moment the episode, but it was as Danny had tried to save his crush Wendy and failed, shortly afterward she had got angry at him as she recognized him immediately)

Monster Buster Club (Group transformation sequence) (French)

The show most of the times used the whole group to transform together, occasionally, they also have shown a single transformation sequence or two characters only)

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Miraculous transformation sequence (Adrien Agreste’s into Cat Noir) (French)

All the characters have single transformations and have the same specific transformation phrase (Plagg, Tranforme-moi) to say before they transform. The English dub is so far the only dub, where the superheroes have different phrases exp. Cat Noir’s is “Plagg, Claws Out!). Most of the phrases are based after their miraculous theme (Exp. Ladybug, Bee, Snake, etc)

youtube

4: Villains of the week trope

Each of the episode the main heroes fight a different villain, who mostly appear for one episode.

On Miraculous, most of them are just classmates, citizens or acquaintances of the protagonists that get akumatized by Hawk Moth, when they have a negative feeling and are fought by Ladybug and Cat Noir. In the end, the villain turns back into his civilian-self, most of the time they don’t remember, what had happened during the time they were absent.

[Akumatized villains counting from left to right, going from up to the bottom: Oni-chan, Reflekta, Horrificator, Miraculer, Party Crasher, Silencer, Weredad, Christmaster, Stoneheart, The Bubbler, Befana and Captain Hardrock]

At Monster Buster Club it usually starts with the presence of unknown people around the school or anywhere in the city or strange things happen around them and the group units together to find out, what’s going on and later near the end they figure it out and follow that alien to capture it in the end. Difference from the MBC, most of the extraterrestrials don’t change in the end of the episode and remain locked into a separate room in the secret clubhouse, where at some point one of the members (Mostly Chris) is there in the room inserting it into a special device to send the encapsulated ET away to the galactic authorities, that take care of them. Others get redeemed at the end of the show and get back to their home planet or stay on the earth, where they belong.

The aliens from left to right, up to bottom: Gilbert (Good), Jenny’s grandmother (Encapsulated), Mr. Gluten (Encapsulated), Glor Glenemore (Encapsulated), Zeborp (Good), Nosidda Single (Encapsulated), Doudo Hundletorph (Good), Mr. Bigshnell (Encapsulated)

5: Animated Intro

Both of the intros have the protagonists Cathy and Marinette narrate to us about “their world”, followed by their usual day-routine with school, fighting and afterschool.

Fun fact: Noam Kaniel worked on both of the intros. (Probably explains why I enjoy these two intros so much)

The intro of Monster Buster Club (English)

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The Intro of Miraculous (English)

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6: Cute, Cartoony 2D/3D backgrounds.

Wanna know, why I had last year suddenly had the urge to go back to the Monster Buster Club? It was those background images such as the pink bubbles behind a character, who’s in love. I had just bumped into my mind the show that I had seen that behind Danny from Monster Buster Club as he saw his crush, Wendy. When I went to check out again the episodes from the available ones on Youtube I saw also other types of backgrounds, that I had also seen in Miraculous too.

Here we got pinky bubble background behind Cathy

And here we got Adrien with a full-on bubble background.

Some also are transparent like this one here.

Paper sheet backgrounds:

Danny’s smart idea in trying to make money and his mind shown on the background as a notebook sheet.

Chloé, one of the secondary characters and her mind shown on the background also with a type of notebook sheet her childhood.

This are the ones, who are the most similar ones. Both have other ones, but a little different, but used for the same occasion.

Other backgrounds:

Weapon activation (Monster Buster Club)

Power activation (Miraculous)

Minor parts of a specific fight:

Running towards an Alien.

Dodging Hawk Moth’s punch

And a few more from both shows

Sorry boy, but she’s not your type.

Wanna make your character look like she can run fast? Just add smoke like on the roadrunner!

Your portable console getting stolen, while you’re trying to beat the high score, sure was the worst thing to happen to a 12-year old back in the 08′.

Marinette just found out that Hiro Hamada of Zag Heroes wrote a fanfic of her alter ego having a crush on a friend of hers. (The real plot twist: It’s a self-insert fanfic, where he’s Ladybug and not the real Ladybug *le gasp*)

You know what I miss about the time season 2 trailer got spoilered? That they had Marinette had this imagination of herself with Adrien as Hawk Moth posing similar to a Twilight Poster. Those were good times.

She had her life full planned, even had names for her kids and all, while people like me are living their life, not knowing what the hell is going to happen next week.

I don’t know, but this picture is hilarious :D (And for non-Miraculers, that small animal up there is an akuma)

I never got why they fence with one glove only. is this some Michael Jackson reference or something?

Yep, this is how weird Marinette’s imagination gets during the seasons. (Believe it or not, if they were in a relationship Kagami would definitely wear the pants there!)

7: Sorry if the last one turned a little long, but now the next part is inside both of the shows, the similar tropes the show shares. Well, many other shows have it too of course, but I felt the need to point it out. (Since I’m doing this post)

7.1: Male Protagonist is a jokester (Cat Noir and Danny) If it’s the right situation or not. They have always to crack a joke.

7.2 Tagalong kid - (John, Chris’ younger brother, Manon, Child Marinette babysits, Chris Lahiffe, the younger brother of Nino Lahiffe, Adrien’s best friend) - The three are from their personality different, but they have one or two moments, where they seem really annoying to the protagonist.

7.3 Alpha B’s. (Chloé and Wendy) - Both don’t treat the main characters right (Chloé almost everyone besides Adrien and Wendy is most likely alright with the classmates), both are girly girls, they gossip and use specific people for their own benefits. (Chloé using Sabrina and Wendy using Danny)

7.4 Wise old man (Hugo Smith, Cathy’s Grandpa and Master Wang Fu, the guardian of the miraculouses) - It’s quite funny how similar they look like, even the red shirt, their body size and nearly their hairstyle. About the wisdom, both help out the protagonists and are serious about harm.

7.5 Deep down still a child (Principal Rollins and Principal Damocles) - For the most of the students Principal Rollins seems like a very strict person, that came from the military service as she calls the students soldiers and uses words such as Company Halt, but she has been shown off-guard playing with a toy rhino panzer and a convoy in her office at the school. Principal Damocles, seems also like a strict Principal, that likes when students act correctly and warns them when they acted wrong (Such as not knocking on the door, before entering). After school, when all students are gone, he dresses up as an owl-themed superhero and acts as a superhero and tries to help out in the city, mostly ending in a catastrophy.

7.6 Nameless Background characters, that the fandom finds interesting. (Redheaded girl from MBC and Brunette boy a.k.a Just Anextra/Justin Extra from Miraculous) - The girl has like a few background appearances and like two sentences and a burst of laughter during the whole two seasons, Just/in has probably only one sentence so far I remember, otherwise, he appears at the backgrounds, sometimes also with other color palettes. (I think he also appears at the fencing group photo if I’m not wrong) Just Anextra/Justin Extra has two fanarts so far I know, done by fans and the girl had one or two edits, where the editor had given her the name Lola I think and she had another type of clothing and hair color. (Confession I’m not taking into the grave with me. When I was younger I shipped her with Nossida (His human form obviously), one of the main villains of the show and I even wrote a fanfic about them. I re-read it last year and laughed so hard at how weird it was) Honestly my first ones were just.....eugh!

7.7 Protagonist has allergies (Cathy and Adrien/Cat Noir) - Cathy is allergic to dogs while Adrien has allergies to feathers.

7.8 Excitable Protagonists (Cathy Smith and Marinette Dupain-Cheng) - Both girls are shown mostly happy and lucky throughout the show. Cathy still is the most optimistic and excitable one out of the two, due to her being a curious personality and is always fascinated, when she discovers new things on Earth, that she doesn’t know in her home planet.

7.9 Best friends between different cultures (Danny with Chris, Adrien with Nino, Cathy with Sam and Marinette with Alya) As many other TV shows would do: Two best friends of the same gender.

Cathy’s just doing an Abominable reference...joke, she confessed something, she should have done long way before.

Danny about to teach Chris how to act like a bad boy for the group’s plan.

I don’t remember what was here, except this is from season 1.

“Just be yourself” .- Nino Lahiffe (And Nathaniel there on the back sleeping on his table. I feel you, son)

That was all I had found out yet. There could be more out there, that I haven’t figure out yet, but I might do one of these posts again when I got more information and the shows, mostly MBC are more present in my memories.

#monster buster club #miraculous #miraculousladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #chat noir #ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #Nino lahiffe #alya cesaire #mlb #mbc #post #comparison post #similarities

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kolbisneat · 4 years

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MONTHLY MEDIA: October 2019

The spoooooooooookiest time of year is wrapping up but I’m not ready for it to go! Time to pop in A Nightmare before Christmas. Also this is how I spent the month of October.

……….FILM……….

Hotel Transylvania (2012) & Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015) Both are fun movies with killer animation and those music/pop culture jokes that immediately date them. I wish these were a little more evergreen, but I do appreciate how much further the animation was pushed in the sequel. It also does the dance-number thing that I’m just too old for.

Hocus Pocus (1993) It’s been yeeeeeeears since I watched this and I don’t hold much childhood fondness for it (Billy Butcherson was peak fear for me) so it was nice to find that this holds up well! The musical number, the animated cat, the jokes, they’re all far better than they have any right to be for a roughly 25 year old film.

JOKER (2019) I’d read enough glowing and scathing reviews going into this that I really wasn’t expecting much. The cinematography and soundtrack are both excellent, and it really got the spirit of the character in the third act. It really did follow the origin story format and while it’s new to see this be applied to a villain, I’m not sure I needed it in my life. I also really just want a fun Batman movie, you know?

……….TELEVISION……….

GLOW (Episode 3.04 to 3.10) Another fantastic season. It struck a good balance of tying up loose threads while still having a clear vision for the final season. Just such a good character drama. I’m interested to see if there’s more wrestling again next season, but I really wouldn’t mind either way.

American Horror Story: 1984 (Episode 9.01 to 9.06) Okay so I’m only half watching this while my partner watches it (I play my Switch beside her and accidentally look up at the goriest moments). The aesthetic is great and the music is fun. The plot also seems to be fairly coherent so far, even if I’m only half paying attention.

……….READING……….

Tea With a Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy (Complete) I picked this up from a thrift store knowing very little about it. It was super light on fantasy but was a fun, albeit dated, technology-based mystery.

The Children’s Home by Charles Lambert (Complete) It’s tricky describing this book. It’s almost surreal and the story feels secondary to the prose. It’s not the type of novel I typically pick up but I’m glad I did. It follows a recluse as he takes in children that start appearing in and around his home. I think it’ll be one of those books that I didn’t love reading, but will stay with me for a long time.

The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg (Complete) Simply wonderful. The story follows two lovers and the stories one tells to protect the other. It’s romantic and heartbreaking and each short story has that fairytale vibe (charming yet full of danger). The art is equally fantastic and really I can’t recommend it enough.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The IDW Collection Vol. 7 by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz, and so many more (Complete) I think it would’ve been bold to wrap up the series after volume 6 but I understand the nature of the beast. With that said, I appreciate it took a little time to get to where it wants to go and it’s still a fun world. It also continues to really bog itself down with the plight of humans and I appreciate it grounds the world but ho boy are April’s family boring when compared to mutants, demons, and aliens.

Paper Girls Vol. 4 & 5 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson, and Jared K. Fletcher (Complete) Reading two volumes in quicker succession turned out to be a good decision. If anything I’d recommend waiting until all 6 volumes are collected and read that, if you can. It’s been such a wild ride and I really hope they stick the landing in the end. Excellent so far and highly recommend.

Superior Spider-Man Vol. 5 & 6 by Dan Slott, Ryan Stegman, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Humberto Ramos, and so many more (Complete) What a great series! The themes of the series are a little looser towards the end (in favour of a big, bombastic climax) but it still works. Or maybe it just doesn’t hit you over the head with it (there’s maybe one throwaway line by the main villain that ties it all together so it’s easy to miss). I’d love to see this collected as well and also recommend to any Spider-Fan with some established understanding of this world’s characters.

……….AUDIO……….

Cavern of Secrets (Podcast) This has been on hiatus for years and now that it’s back, I realize how much I missed it. Solid interviews and having a Canadian host is always nice.

……….GAMING……….

Maze of the Blue Medusa (Satyr Press) Oof we had a player get both arms crunched in an accident and it’s still affecting the group. As they delve deeper they’re discovering how dangerous the maze can truly be.

A Red & Pleasant Land (Lamentations of the Flame Princess) The group wandered into a settlement and had A LOT of questions answered. Like the last 10 sessions were a blur and suddenly it all came into sharp focus. I’m keen to see what happens next time.

Curse of Strahd (Wizards of the Coast) The party is nearly out of this haunted house and has defeated a sacrifice-made monster of unspeakable horror! Now for them to try to escape.

Breath of the Wild (Nintendo) Playing on Master Mode has completely changed how I play. As has the Korok mask and the hero’s path. Still so fun and rewarding.

And that’s it! As always, I’d love to hear recommendos for stuff to read, hear, play, and watch and I’ll see you in November.

Happy Thursday!

#Monthly Media #Rambles #Kolbisneat #Andrew Kolb

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themattress · 4 years

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Battle of the Seasons

Voltron: Legendary Defender: Seasons 1-2 vs. Seasons 3-6 vs. Seasons 7-8

This show was a mess in terms of creative management. Seasons 1-2 were created as the first season, Seasons 3-6 as the second, and Seasons 7-8 as the third. Not only did Netflix do some weird shit with the numbering when they decided to distribute them, but the core staff in charge of the show kept on shedding members as it went on. Seasons 1-2 were run by producers Joaquim Dos Santos, Lauren Montgomery, Benjamin Kaltenecker, Ki Hyun Ryu, Chris Neuhahn, Jae-Myung Yoo, the Koplar brothers (Robert and Ted), and Randy Dormans, while the head writer was Tim Hedrick, with the secondary head writer being Joshua Hamilton and the tertiary head writer May Chan. But in Seasons 3-6, the bottom half of those producers left, and May Chan was replaced by Mitch Iverson. Finally and perhaps worst of all, in Seasons 7-8, Tim Hedrick departed and his whole road map thrown away.

So, how did the seasons, as created, turn out? For simplicity’s purpose, I will now refer to Seasons 1-2 as Act 1, Seasons 3-6 as Act 2, and Seasons 7-8 as Act 3 going forward.

Act 1: Six young men from Earth (it seems; one of them is a girl in disguise) are transported to a distant world in space by a mysterious lion mech. There they meet Princess Allura of Altea and her assistant Coran, and learn that they are meant to be the Paladins of Voltron, pilots of the six lion mechs who can combine into the powerful Voltron, defender of the universe. Their mission is to liberate planets from the oppressive Galra Empire and defeat the evil Emperor Zarkon, all while undergoing character development and bonding as a family.

Act 2: Both sides of the conflict are struggling after the loss of Shiro and Zarkon respectively. Keith inherits Shiro’s lion, Lance gets Keith’s lion, and Allura gets Lance’s lion, all while Zarkon’s son Prince Lotor takes the Galran throne and begins working toward a diabolical scheme to harness the power of Voltron for himself. And when Shiro and Zarkon reappear, then things really get complicated, and the roller coaster ride of events begins in earnest.

Act 3: After being caught in a time warp and launched a few years into the future, the Paladins head back to Earth in order to reconstruct the Castle of Lions. Once they arrive and liberate it from Galran control, they and their new allies are faced with one final challenge: Honerva and her new breed of Robeasts that are working toward a terrifying objective.

I think that Act 1 is very strong, and it’s no wonder that it launched the show to success so quickly and created such a passionate fandom around it. All of the main heroes are likable and they all get their due in terms of character arcs, the villains are threatening, the worlds and creatures are imaginative, and the animation and music top-notch. Many of the episodes can seem stand-alone and even frivolous when taken on their own, but they all add up to a greater whole and ultimately conclude in an absolute blast of a finale. A majority of fans seem to share the consensus that Act 1 was the show at its best; that it never got better than this.

I........disagree.

Act 2, in my humble opinion, is where the show peaked in quality. See, once half of the producers left, the other ones left seemed to want something else from the show than how it was before. However, Tim Hedrick was still the head writer and was still intent on following the road map he had created for the series when he first came on board. On top of that, executives higher up than the producers also wanted certain things to happen. Therefore, a compromise was made, and the result is the most interesting the show has ever been.

Keith starts out as the new leader to replace Shiro but he does a lousy job at it, and when Shiro returns Keith steps down and outright leaves the Paladins to go on his own journey with the Blade of Marmora, and through this journey his character develops into the leader that he couldn’t while actually out in the field with the Paladins. Shiro begins suffering from several incidents that hint that something dark is going on with him, leading to the revelation that he’s actually a clone of the real Shiro, which leads to a dramatic, superbly-animated confrontation between him and Keith. Allura begins tapping into her innate powers and potential as a ruler and a hero, Lance begins to accept that maybe he just isn’t the guy Allura is looking for, Pidge reunites with her family, Hunk starts bringing people together through his sheer goodness, the Paladins get a whole coalition of allies to work with, Zarkon dies, Hagarr rediscovers her true identity as Honerva, and we get the best, most interesting villain in the entire series with Prince Lotor, a brilliant manipulator who deceives characters and viewers!

And Act 1′s already amazing finale gets blown out of the water by Act 2′s, with the dimension-jumping battle between Voltron and the Sincline Beast being something truly legendary.

But then we get Act 3, and....yeah. The funny thing is that I actually think that many of the episodes are still good...when taken on their own merits. But unlike Acts 1 and 2, they do not add together into an effective larger whole. The larger whole of Act 3 is an absolute dumpster fire, and the reason is because Tim Hedrick had departed and, by their own admission, Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery threw out his road map for Act 3 and remade it from the ground up to match what they wanted out of it...which wasn’t what many fans wanted because it doesn’t match up with what came before. The trajectory of most of the characters is a mess, with even the ones with potential being flubbed in execution (both Allura and Honerva come to mind), and HUGE wastes of obvious opportunities (you could’ve had Lotor back and torn between being a Quintessance-possesed monster man ala his father and being his old self who wants to help Allura and subvert his mother’s plans, but no, he’s just a corpse and an ambiguous one-episode ghost respectively?) Hunk of all characters was the only one who came out looking more impressive than he did before rather than less.

And of course we have the ending, which is far from the worst ending I’ve ever seen, but also far from the best and is outright laughable compared to Act 1 and Act 2′s conclusions. The final battle against Honerva was weak and rushed, Allura’s sacrificial death came out of nowhere, and much of the “where are they now?” epilogue fell flat, especially the final shot they decided on which felt laughably desperate and pandering (who even was that guy!?)

So, when all is taken into consideration, it’s Act 2 (Seasons 3-6) that is the best, followed by Act 1 (Seasons 1-2) by an admirable margin, and then by Act 3 (Seasons 7-8) by a wide mile.

#Battle of the Seasons #Voltron: Legendary Defender #Opinion #Analysis #Comparison

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curestardust · 4 years

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if you want: some more serious stuff (but also badly placed gags) / and everything else Slayers y’all know the deal by now

S01 (x) | S02 (x) | M01 (x) | M02 (x) | M03 (x)

“Slayers Try” is unfortunately one of the weakest seasons thus far rivaling even Season 01′s drastic tone shifts.

The problems start at the beginning when we actually get to the new adventure (or saving-the-world-again-part-3). The set-up itself is fun and completely fits with how the previous Slayers seasons were with some nonsense and Lina Dragon Slaving half a town. We’re introduced to a new character, Filia, who seems like the shy and wise priest character similiar to Sylphiel but is actually incredibly hot-tempered and can be pissed off with just a few words (her tenacity truly rivals Lina’s and those are big words).

Turns out Filia is a Golden Dragon and a priestess of the Fire Dragon King who prophesied the ending of the world and thus they went on a search to find a human who can help them fight whatever was going to happen. That is, of course, Lina. There we go the usual route of nonsense, epic fights and some drama.

In my review of the previous season I specifically noted how it kept up the perfect balance between serious and comedy. Now the same reason is why this season feels disjointed. There are really unnecessary gags during scenes that are supposed to be serious and after the big mid-finale, there’s like 5 episodes of complete filler nonsense. They are fun of course but they completely destroy the built up seriousness and put the main plot completely on hold. Zelgadis even says “I guess the stupidity ends with this episode” at the end of this filler compilation and you know something is going on when even the characters make comments like that. And it wasn’t the only time, Lina actually says the line “Are we at the finale yet?!” multiple times. Seems the writers knew and tried to play it off as your typical Slayers gag but meta jokes weren’t this frequent, ever.

The second main problem is the villains. They are “Overworlders” and their physical bodies don’t actually manifest in the Human world, meaning that spells don’t work against them. You know, SPELLS, one of the selling points of the whole anime and Lina’s specialty?? They work in magic somehow but it doesn’t carry the same impact as Lina Ragna Blade-ing a 20 story Demon Boss.

Filia at the end of the anime says “I’ve done nothing so far just stood by the side and watched.” and it’s a meaningful statement in the moment but also.... uh yeah, girl. Like you literally barely did anything. There’s also a secondary kinda-sorta plot line with Xellos (a monster) and Filia (who serves the gods) and their rivalry. This is supposed to culminate in a meaningful moment in the ending when they combine their powers with Lina’s but their rivalry plotline pretty much went to the wayside after the middle of the anime. And it was mostly just them screaming and insulting each other anyway so it never felt actually serious. Speaking of Xellos though, he almost carries this season with his personality and actions and it was amazing.

If there ever was a weird ending to one of my reviews, this will be one. As, when I first started re-watching Slayers one of my main thoughts were “fish people”. Just, fish people. As a fantasy, we don’t get an explanation to the antropomorphic animals wandering about but the fish people absolutely take the cake. Imagine a fish. Now put long legs and arms on it and a human face in the front. That’s what they look like. During the filler episodes there was one that has haunted me for over 15 years. I couldn’t remember what it was about. Now that I’ve rewatched the episode I’m still just as confused and terrified as I was watching this as an 8 year old. The following picture is from this episode and I’ll provide no further explanation.

[6/10] (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

#dusty reviews #slayers #slayers try

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multimetaverse · 5 years

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Andi Mack 3x13 Review

Mount Rushmore or Less was a gut punch of an ep. Let’s dig in!

Positives:

The Tyrus scenes in the beginning were very nice. Great callback to the somersault scene and it was nice to see them be so open flirty with each other. That ‘Cyrus my man’ line was pretty telling. It’s clear that TJ isn’t ashamed of his feelings for Cyrus but is afraid of being outed as his crush on Cyrus is becoming obvious enough for someone like Kira to pick up on (and Andi and Buffy on the texts)

I do wonder if matching outfits for Cyrus and a boy is a red line for Disney; they never did let Cyrus wear his Space Otters jersey after all

Some really strong performances tonight. Luke did an excellent job showing TJ’s weariness and sorrow in his last scene. Josh was another mvp tonight

First time TJ has said sorry

The one nice thing I’ll say about Kira is that she really jumped to the top of the Andi Mack villains list. She pretty clearly wanted to get back at Buffy by messing with Cyrus and TJ and is desperate to play on a team again. She picked up on TJ’s crush pretty quickly and knew just the right buttons to press to scare TJ. Now I don’t think the show will actually delve into homophobia and she’ll ultimately be redeemed but it’s going to be very hard to do so in the 3 eps she has remaining especially since Raquel was only on set for one day each in 3x15 and 3x21

I believe that this is the first time we’ve ever seen a secondary character have scenes with a tertiary character without a main character present. It was necessary to give us a peak into TJ’s head but it might also set the stage for Kira to redeem herself by turning into an ally for TJ which is horrifying that TJ might have to rely on her but it may be the only way to redeem Kira

Kira really is an evil Buffy; just the complete opposite of how Buffy has supported Cyrus this whole time in regards to his sexuality

If the show can actually explore TJ’s fear of being outed it would be an amazing story line but I am deeply skeptical that the show will be allowed to do so

Marty is finally back for good. I really liked his re-introduction; they did an excellent job of reintegrating him into Buffy’s life and the show as a whole very quickly, it makes total sense that he’ll be at the wedding. The writers were wise to not ruin Muffy this ep too; they’ll have their ups and downs of course but their dynamic really helped lighten this ep. Glad they mentioned he had a girlfriend upfront but it’s not like Buffy or Marty are letting that stop them

Marty seems written more like Garren now than he was in S1 and S2 with that ‘Yoo’ bit

The contrast between Marty and Buffy having fun in the costume and Andi and Cyrus looking distraught was darkly funny

This ep showcased once again that Buffy is the glue holding the Good Hair Crew together. She was the go between for Cyrus and Andi and got Marty to join as a replacement

Andi and Amber’s friendship wasn’t ruined this ep which is nice

Glad that Buffy understood why Cyrus wanted to match with TJ but I really wish we weren’t still stuck in subtext

I liked the shazam and shrek references tonight

Jonah was very on brand when he didn’t acknowledge Marty being back in the group at all; just like the gun drama it has no bearing on him

I’m glad that Bex and Bowie were upfront with Andi. It’s delusional to think that not getting married won’t have serious long term effects on their family but it’s in character for them

We got a Jandi and Tyrus parallel tonight with both Jonah and TJ disappointing Andi and Cyrus

Glad that they clarified that Jibby is sunk

Negatives:

The show has barely been able to tell Cyrus’ sexuality story line and I really doubt they’ll be able to do TJ’s any justice especially when he has just 3 appearances left. They really need to let TJ look back in ep 15 because the audience needs to know he’s actually gay for this to have any impact. A lot of his arc is going to be off screen and the rest is likely to be very very coded and will probably look more like a peer pressure story line to the kids than anything else

And shouldn’t Cyrus be getting a story line like this? He’s out to his 3 closest friends but not to his parents or the world and we’ve never even caught glimpses of how he feels about that

It’s so funny how they can do anything else with TJ but have him get together with Cyrus. At this point he’s had way more character development than Jonah

Presumably Kira will eventually help Tyrus get together if she’s to be redeemed but what a waste of Tyrus’ story line to have her inserted into it for no real reason; they could easily have kept Tyrus from canoning until the finale by other means

Jonah sucked this episode. His refusing to do the costume came out of nowhere and really just made him look like a bad friend to Andi. He’s like a goldfish, he just keeps making the same mistakes in his various relationships and never learns any lessons

Not a fan of Marty blaming Buffy for him icing her out and her not calling him out. I get that the show doesn’t have time to waste with these two but it’s sloppy. Also not a fan of us never getting actual confirmation that Wuffy is over

Looking Ahead:

I’m sure this ep will age much better once we get the remaining 8 eps but this was an awful ep to enter a hiatus on. The hype for most of the ships and story lines was destroyed tonight and having that angsty shot of Cyrus and Andi looking so sad be the last we’ll see for a while is not going to bring the audience back for 3c

Well now we know why Josh began publicly doubting the endgame after filming ep 13; he never would have doubted that the endgame was TJ but there’s no way they’d get together before the finale after the events of this ep

Buffy fainting next week looks dramatic; we’ll see what comes of it

Raquel confirmed that she’s in 5 eps this season and we already knew about 15 and 21 so there must be a third where she didn’t post from set like she usually did. If she’s going to be shadowing TJ the whole rest of the season she’d show up in ep 19 but if she’s meant to have scenes with Buffy again or even Cyrus she could show up in 16 or 17 as well

It’s a sign of how little we’re going to get of Cyrus and TJ’s story that TJ and Kira only have 3 eps left while Amber has 6 and Marty has at least 4 but possibly 5 with these new reshoots. Ep 15 is likely to be a wash unless we get a look back or Kira realizing the hurt she’s caused but hopefully ep 19 has some good moments

This ep is probably a pretty good template of what the finale will look like in terms of juggling characters and story lines except that it will be even more crowded as Bex and Bowie will have more screentime and Celia likely has some screen time as well (the writers really do seem to act like they’re writing for an hour long show with the 5 or 6 plot lines they juggle each ep)

That Marty never interacted with TJ this ep and given that TJ hasn’t met Amber and they don’t share eps until the finale it’s likely that the Tyrus confession scene is in the last 10 minutes of 3x21 as the party is winding down and with only Buffy and Andi and Jonah knowing that they get together when they return from the backyard into a now empty house (though Kira may have learned off screen that TJ is gay by this point). It seems unlikely that the show will allow TJ and Cyrus to get together and then immediately be out to Marty and Amber and possibly Bex and Bowie when they haven’t had even brief scenes together this season

Well hopefully we don’t have to wait longer than a couple of months for 3c to air and hopefully the re-shoots go smoothly. Pretty wild that we only have 8 eps left; we’re in the home stretch now Ladies and Gentlemen

#Andi Mack #Tyrus #TJ Kippen #Cyrus Goodman #Kira #Muffy #Buffy Driscoll #Marty from the party #Jonah Beck #Bexie #Bex Mack #Bowie Quinn #Andi Mack Reviews #Andi Mack Meta #Andi Mack Season 3

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123movieess · 4 years

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The Flash: Marathon - Review

It's funny to think how little we knew about the future direction of The Flash coming into the second half of Season 6. Crisis on Infinite Earths had been casting a huge shadow over the series, to the point where we didn't even know if Barry Allen would still be alive come January. And even once it became clear Grant Gustin's Barry wasn't the one sacrificing his life to save the multiverse, there was still the question of what conflicts and villains would drive the series post-Crisis. Thanks to "Marathon," we now have a much clearer sense of how the series will move forward from the crossover. This episode deftly balances the need to reflect the events of Crisis while also building a clear path forward.

Surprisingly, the tone of "Marathon" isn't as lighthearted as you might expect now that Barry has just been given a second lease on life. Apart from that early CC Jitters scene, this episode is a fairly glum exploration of how the various members of Team Flash are moving forward from Crisis. This does feel like an appropriate choice, however. With multiple heroes having sacrificed everything to save the multiverse, a lighthearted, feel-good midseason premiere would probably ring hollow. This goes back to one of the main strengths of Season 6 - it's better at tone management and knowing when to be funny and when to let the drama carry the day.

The Flash

"Marathon" is also notable for featuring Arrow's David Ramsey in his first guest role since that show wrapped. I'm sure we were all hoping this episode would follow up on Arrow's big cliffhanger, but the script is very careful to place this episode's events before the Diggle family's departure from Star City. Instead, Dig plays a more understated but still important role, helping Barry come to terms with Ollie's death. I appreciate how this storyline subverts expectations by revealing there's no actual mystery at all and Ollie's final gift is truly just that - a gift to commemorate a friendship that helped establish the Arrowverse as we know it today. Plus, it never gets old watching Dig deal with Speed Force-induced motion sickness.

In another surprise, welcome twist, Iris is turning out to be the driving force of the show's post-Crisis status quo. Her ongoing investigation and partnership with Esperanza has never really been one of the more compelling pieces of the Season 6 equation, but this episode goes a long way toward changing that. While a bit plodding at first, there's a growing sense of danger and unease as Iris digs deeper into the mystery of McCulloch Technologies and invites both physical and legal disaster. That culminates in a very satisfying stinger scene that makes the identity of the series' latest big villain abundantly clear.

Along the way, we also get a surprisingly different take on Doctor Light, one that doesn't seem particularly beholden to any prior comic book incarnation. While it's a little strange seeing Kimiyo Hoshi depicted as a ruthless assassin when she's always been the heroic counterpoint to the fiendish Arthur Light, she does make for a fun secondary antagonist in this episode. And with the Arthur Light version having recently appeared in Titans, it stands to reason The Flash may have been limited to using Kimiyo.

The promise of an ongoing Team Flash vs. Mirror Master storyline is extremely appealing. For all that this series has done to refine the Arrowverse formula and showcase speedster villains like Reverse-Flash and Zoom, it's never really taken advantage of the full scope of Flash's rogues gallery. Specifically, the Flash Rogues have always felt like an afterthought. Captain Cold and Heat Wave barely spent any time as villains at all before reforming and shifting over to DC's Legends of Tomorrow. The rest have been used as minor, forgettable footnotes.

Even Mirror Master suffered that fate back in Season 3, with the Sam Scudder version of the character being used as a one-and-done threat to Central City. Mirror Master deserves better, and it seems that he's finally getting better. The twist being that the classic Evan McCulloch version is being transformed into Eva McCulloch, a billionaire inventor who now exists as some sort of warped, journalist-snatching mirror demon. And as with the previous Bloodwork arc, the hope is that the the condensed nature of this storyline will prevent too much fluff and filler from gumming up the works.

Barry and Dig's quest aside, the lingering effects of Crisis are most clearly felt in Cisco's emotional journey. "Marathon" is great about exploring both the humor and the tension that arise in trying to come to terms with a new world built on the ashes of multiple worlds. Having Supergirl and Black Lightning as permanent neighbors is great, but what about all the new and resurrected villains that have appeared alongside them? That's to say nothing over Cisco's guilt and regret over taking the metahuman cure. That's the tricky thing about the old great power and great responsibility mantra. Do superheroes get the luxury of a happy, peaceful retirement? Can they even appreciate that retirement when it comes? These are interesting questions to explore, particularly in light of how Smallville's Clark Kent was portrayed in Crisis.

Carlos Valdes delivers what is easily the episode's strongest performance, especially late in the game where his guilt begins to overwhelm him. It's a welcome reminder that Cisco is far more than just the obligatory snarky tech whiz, but a character who's grown and evolved and suffered every bit as much as Barry himself over the course of six years.

I do wish "Marathon" gave us a better sense of what Cisco's Arrowverse future entails. There were rumors last year that Valdes was leaving the series after Season 5's finale. Clearly that rumor didn't pan out, but maybe there was a kernel of truth to it? It's hard to tell if Cisco's absence is temporary as the series builds toward a new status quo for the character, or if Cisco is being phased out so Valdes can pursue other projects. It would be a shame if Cisco exits the picture just as the series is finally finding its footing again.

One thing is clear - Nash Wells is now being positioned as Cisco's temporary replacement on Team Flash. Having a Wells as a more permanent presence on the series is always a nice thing, particularly one who isn't as aggressively annoying as Season 5's Sherloque. While this episode highlights the fact that his adventurous swagger is a mask for his loneliness and guilt over his role in Crisis, there are some concerns regarding Nash's current characterization.

For one thing, it's a little bizarre seeing him revert to his old Nash persona so soon after his turn as Pariah. I'm not clear on how much time was supposed to have passed between Nash's disappearance and his return as Pariah, but he definitely had the air of a man haunted by countless years of watching his failure play out in front of him. Neither the writing nor Tom Cavanagh's performance reflect the full weight of that experience. If anything, Nash seems more bothered by his daughter's estrangement than his role in the death of the old multiverse.

On that note, do we really need another running subplot about Harrison Wells trying to reconnect with his daughter? It's a redundant plot twist, and seemingly unnecessary given how much drama this character already has to process. The hope is that Nash can better find his place in the team Flash dynamic in this second half of Season 6, but there are reasons for concern right now.

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