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chaos0pikachu · 3 months

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I am here actually to appreciate your post. I saw a blogger’s post saying The sign would have been ‘successful’ had it got filled with fantasy and romance and limit action to 10%. I wondered why that person, who says BL is all about romance, watched a show whose genre is action. Then I saw your post about people watching many shows to stay in fandom and I agree. Also you are right about dramas with a complex story receiving heavy criticism. Everything (even lack of proper plot or conflict) is exempted in a romance drama. No wonder most BLs are confined to ‘2 boys and their jealous & crying moments, routine conflicts enhanced by Escola or leads explaining how important Nikon printer is for their relationship’

Well damn hit me in the feels with this appreciation I'ma get all shy and shit.

I always wonder if by "successful" people mean in terms of critical acclaim, story telling, or monetarily. When it comes to Thai shows - and some please correct me if I'm wrong - it's difficult to tell how "successful" they are terms of audience reach/monetarily because there's no easily verifiable information. Like, there's Youtube numbers sure, but The Sign as an example, aired on Channel 3 what were it's ratings total on that channel? Idk, does anyone know that? Sincerely asking lol

Personally the way I like to judge a piece of media is what I call the Roger Ebert method; he often judged films based not solely on whether they were "good" or "bad but by how successfully they accomplished their goals.

If you read his review of Space Jam while it's clear Ebert doesn't think the movie is high art, "You can watch the movie on the sports and cartoon levels, and also appreciate the corporate strategy that's involved. [...] It is difficult for an actor to work in movies that combine live action with animation, because much of the time he cannot see the other characters in a scene with him. But Jordan has a natural ease and humor, an unforced charisma, that makes a good fit with the cartoon universe."

Ebert praises that the film, while filled with obvious product placement and banking on both nostalgia for the toons & star power of Jordan, accomplishes it's goal of being a family for that can be enjoyed by adults and children, and also the ability to blend techniques of live action, animation and 3D rendering.

I bring this up specifically b/c when I see "reviews" of shows in BL - the most common form of meta I see in BL fandom as a whole and that's not a knock just an observation - it's usually always about the narrative. Nothing about the filmmaking. And if there is discussion about he filmmaking it's usually misinformed or worse misinforming - no that's not what aperture means, yaoi framing isn't really a thing in film, the t-shirt is really just a t-shirt, etc, etc.

And like I get why. Fandom is more about story, what the words on a page or what the characters on screen are doing and saying. It's easier to talk about the amazing communication two characters have b/c you don't really need a film knowledge to discuss that. Which is a factor in why I think shows with lower stakes, more streamlined and straightforward plots get praised at a higher, less diligent and harsh level, than shows that are a bit more daring. They're less challenging in structure, they take less risks, so there's less to critique, and there's less room for a show to disappoint.

There comfort food, rather than trying something new at the restaurant. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, again, this is just a general observation.

To me, The Sign is miles better than Cooking Crush on a simple technical level. I only watched one episode of Cooking Crush and I found it pretty mediocre at best from all technical points: acting, editing, cinematography, directing, storytelling.

This isn't to say Cooking Crush is "bad" or that even if Cooking Crush was "bad" people shouldn't like it. I don't give a fuck if people like it, good for you chase the things that spark joy! I like lots of "bad" media, have y'all ever watched Jason Takes Manhattan?

For me, The Sign, like Space Jam, accomplishes it's goals and those were ambitious goals. An action fantasy BL that actually lives up to that premise and looks good?? The fight choreography looks great considering the obviously budget??

Like one of my issues with Laws of Attraction - aside from how painfully disinterested those kisses looked - was the fight choreography was bad.

The characters very rarely land hits in a way that looks real, or even marginally real. I can only speculate they didn't hire a stunt coordinator and/or couldn't hire stunt doubles so there was a worry of injury on set (for both reasons).

This isn't a disparagement on the actor(s) either, like stunt work is difficult and it's important to have professionals on set who can walk an actor through the steps so both them and others don't get hurt. Jackie Chan is probably one of the best known actors alive for stunt work, but watch how many times he fumbles and potentially hurts himself to the point where other actors are actively worried for him:

youtube

So yeah I'm going to give The Sign it's fucking gold star stickers b/c aside from some missteps in the gun handling - to many one handed gun fights but even then it wasn't all the time and bullets ran out of ammo! Y'all don't know how exciting for me that was to see - the fight scenes look damn good.

I understand the work that went into them, I understand the pre-production time that it took for the crew and cast to learn that and filming them well is another beast too.

There's a couple scenes with shaky cam that I dislike, but god do I love that first long take in The Sign. I love how good the CGI looks overall again, considering what is probably less budget than Black Christmas (2019).

I'm admittedly, fucking picky about what I watch b/c I'm really lazy and prefer watching films in general. I don't really like TV all that much, but if I am watching a tv show I wanna be impressed with more than just the characters talking to each other. Especially if said show is 12 hours or more.

When I'm looking at a piece of media - a comic, a novel, a film, a tv show - I'm thinking about stuff like "what were it's goals, and did it accomplish them? How was the filmmaking? How was the narrative structure? What is the time/place/culture this was made in?"

I'm not sure if people are arguing if The Sign was "successful" in terms of narratively, monetarily, or critically.

In reality we can only really speculate on how successful a Thai BL is based on data that's not not entirely accurate - social media, youtube stats, awards, etc - and even then most of that is based off international audience.

I can glean that 2gether was successful for gmmtv b/c it got a second season and a film, pretty much skyrocketed Bright and Win's individual careers but again, and created a cross country alliance for activism. But even all that is still speculation not facts (except the alliance that's a real thing that happened lol).

[This is all regardless of my own feelings regarding the show which is not kind. But feelings have nothing to do with individual discussion about how monetarily successful or accomplished a show is or isn't.]

Like it might be valid speculation on both shows but it should always come with a disclaimer of - these are not facts. Also, what is "popular" or "successful" can and will be dependent on individual countries too.

Take Cutie Pie for example, I would argue that it wasn't super "successful" here with American fans, but given how overwhelmingly popular Zee and NuNew are in both Thailand and Korea, I would then argue that the show was a success in Thailand and Korea. So was Cutie Pie "successful" or not? I would say yes!

Because "success" isn't and shouldn't be measured only by how western fans receive a piece of media.

In regards to The Sign, I'd argue it appears to be very successful with only the partial data I have at hand - social media which includes places like twitter, facebook, tumblr, the success of their sold out showing for the finale, a special episode, etc. If people argue it was unsuccessful in terms of narrative, well that's debatable and I have no interest in debating why the show is good except in terms of technical filmmaking and storytelling.

And even then it's a pointless debate like or dislike whatever just don't lie or mislead people regarding film terminology and techniques or harass people because they did like A Thing or clog up the tags with annoying posts about how you didn't like said Thing.

Overall, I don't give "reviews" on things I watch either positive or negative cause, well, I'm lazy lol, I don't believe putting how much I hate a show in it's tags and a thorough rating system would be to much work. I actually like how My Drama List rating system works, I just find most reviews on it to be Annoying lmao. Like giving Kinnporsche a 5 or below is absolutely bonkers to me but whatever es lo que es. But I also don't think my thoughts and opinions on shows are that valuable in terms of discussion.

These are mostly my general thoughts on fandom at large and it's not directly at any particular people its just observations at large across various social media platforms.

I think if you like more squeecore shows that's totally gucci, I just wish didn't proposite that 1) those are the only valid shows in terms of BL/queer media and 2) didn't overhype them to such sky high levels

#the sign the series #chaos pikachu speaks

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calliecat93 · 5 years

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Top 5 Things That I Disliked ABout RvB: Singularity

(Top 5 Likes Post Link)

Well, it’s been about four months since RvB17 concluded. The shortest season in the series thus far, RvB17 has had overall very positive reception with good humor, compelling drama, and nice character development. I enjoyed it… but I would be lying if I said I loved it unconditionally. And I’d be lying even more if I said that it was better than the sadly often derided S16. The season has its pros and it has its cons, as every season of the show does. The cons this time probably annoy me more than some due to what I like and dislike, so that’s important to know before going further into this post.

So, it’s time for another Top 5 Likes/Dislikes about the recent RvB season! Now normally I do this shortly before the upcoming season, so why am I doing this now and not when RvB18 starts? Well, I’ve had a lot of these on my mind for a while, and after completing a recent rewatch, I want to go ahead and get it all out. To compensate, when RvB18 does roll around I’ll likely do a post about the past three seasons, and maybe some other stuff like what I’d like to see. And of course, as always, this is just my opinion and I will be as fair as possible, so take everything that I say with a grain of salt.

Anyways, let's get the part that I always hate doing done first: the Top 5 Dislikes.

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I hate being negative. I really, really do. Overall, S17 was a very enjoyable season and I liked it in spite of its flaws, as I do with most media that I get into. But I do have issues, more so than I did 15 and 16, and I do want to talk about them. Most of you who’s followed my blog probably already know them, but I’m gonna try to be more detailed about why I disliked it. So we’ll start with something nit-picky, and work our way up. So let's get started with...

#5. Execution of the time travel/The Everwhen

This one is probably the most minor, but the whole thing just… confuses me. So for those unaware, the Everwhen is essentially a giant time portal that allows you to possess your past self at any point in time. This is… not a bad concept at all. It’s a really cool one and they use it to great effect by going to various points in the show’s history. Then using the past variations of Halo also makes us more invested since we recognize those periods. And while I wish we got to see more moments in those periods that we didn’t see, the few that we got in Episode 5 with Wash and Carolina was very well done. I only have two real issues with the Everwhen. First being an excuse for the mass amount of nostalgia banking, but at least it served a purpose… well, the Freelancers did. The Mercs were totally unnecessary. But that can easily just be a me thing and I get that it made a lot of fans happy, so I won’t harp on it. The other reason though is the reason why it made this list.

The execution is confusing as Hell when you really think about it.

First, how does this exist? I guess we’re supposed to believe that Chrovos made it, which I guess that I can buy. But aside from a line in Episode 1 about how the Reds and Blues time period was the backswing that caused the paradox, there isn’t really anything about how this gateway suddenly exists. Which presents another problem, the Reds and Blues inside it. Okay, so the paradox happened and it messed their memories up. That I understand… but why are they having deja vu in the past?! Shouldn’t they have been like Wash was? In some period where they did and didn’t break time? I get that they were in the middle of the paradox while Wash had been in the present, but in that case, how did they get knocked back to the past? At first, I assumed that Chrovos put them there, which would have made sense in order to keep them out of the way. But that’s never said. The implication is that they just got put there randomly, but because of Wash’s state, it really doesn't make any sense for them to be there.

But I think I get why it was like this. On The SHizno Podcast, Jason explained how the original pitch was that the Reds and Blues were going to be in a simulation of Blood Gulch that Chrovos put them in. Think S9 when Epsilon was in the Memory Unit… which it being too similar is one of the reasons why that plan got rejected. It probably explains why they used Halo 2 Anniversary in the S16 finale if the simulation plan was still in effect when Joe wrote it. But that would explain why they were in the past and having memory issues while Wash wasn’t. And it being a simulation is what I thought it was... until Huggins was able to move through it without going through the portal, which made everything even more confusing. As much as I get being too similar to S9, I can’t but feel that it would have been the better move and not given me a headache over how this stupid Everwhen worked. Because it being a simulation and not the actual timeline made a heck of a lot more sense.

Ultimately, this is Number 5 because as I said, it’s nitpicky. Time travel is a mess no matter how it’s utilized, so I’m pretty lenient on it because thinking about it too hard is painful and not worth it. Plus it may just be my own stupidity confusing me. Still, it DID bother me and it made Episodes 7 and 8 especially a pain in the ass to watch through. But since again it’s overall more nitpicky, I’ll leave it at Number 5.

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#4: The Simmons Labyrinth

Yeah, we all knew that this was going to be on here. What’s left to be said that I haven’t talked about already? I think we all know why this was hated. First, it isn’t funny. I mean don’t get me wrong, the delivery of the joke was fine, but the joke itself sucked and made no sense for Simmons’ character. Say what you want about Grif’s Labyrinth, whether you saw it as good or terrible, but at least it made sense for his character. Simmons… is afraid of aliens cutting off his private parts. I’m…. fairly sure that RvB has done a joke like that before, and it was likely better there. Plus it didn't fit the tone. All the Labyrinths, even Grif’s, were portrayed as either serious or at least uncomfortable for the victim. I guess they wanted something to lighten the mood, but… it failed. Badly. It just took me out of it until we got back to Carolina’s. Even knowing Jason’s original plan of the alien being Simmons dad, while that would have been more impactful, still would have been treated as the final cut was and still would have taken me out of it.

What could have been done instead? IDK. Could have had Simmons relive one of his many embarrassments in high school. Could have been focused on the test anxiety that made him fail and get shipped off to Red Boot Camp. It could have been one of the many traumas that his dad inflicted on him, like being forced on the women’s volleyball team or something. All of those are still lighter than some of the other Labyrinths and could have had a comedic edge, but it still tells us something about Simmons and would make sense for him. I… am still trying to figure out how what we got fits Simmons at all or tells us anything about him. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

The reason that this is Number 4 is because the scene was ultimately brief and Simmons didn’t exactly have a major role up to that point. It was incredibly stupid and not funny, but IDT it ruined his character or anything. Plus at this point, I and many others have gone on about it and there is really nothing left to say until we see what happens in the future. Jason seems to be aware of the critiques, and I imagine that others behind the show would also be aware by now. Maybe it'll be taken into account in future seasons and they’ll finally give Simmons the attention that he deserves.

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#3. Huggins

Ho boy, I’ve been waiting to let this out since the season ended. So for those who were reading my blog when S16 was airing, you know that Huggins was one of my favorite parts of said season. She was likable and fun, her friendship with Grif was adorable and helped his character massively, and she was just a bundle of joy who made me smile every time that we saw her. Her death, while I knew even then it was likely a fakeout, was a huge shock and had me praying that it being a fakeout was correct. Which it was! I was so happy… until we saw how she was actually handled this season.

Personality-wise, Huggins was fine. Her being able to go through time made sense and was even referenced in S16. But… well, she’s used to discovering that Black Holes lead to the beginning of time, goes through time to find the paradoxes that Genkins made, and… that’s it. In other words, Huggins was nothing but a damn plot device. I have a problem with character shafting, but this one was just unfair. Maybe Jason couldn’t think of anything else to do with her? Maybe her VA wasn't available for much? Maybe they didn’t have the budget to animate since Miles did say that they had a slightly smaller budget at RTX? IDK. There’s any number of reasons why, but it was annoying nevertheless. I mean Huggins only appeared in THREE EPISODES, and the first was only at the very end. After Episode 8, she just… disappeared.

There’s a lot of reasons why I hated this. First, just dropping a character like that despite her clearly being important and prominent is an insult to the character. I have issues with how the Reds and Blues were shafted aside from Donut, Wash, and Carolina, but at least they were still around. Huggins leaves to go find paradoxes in Episode 8 and then is gone. Last we hear of her is in the finale from Donut. But the bigger issue is that, if you remember, she was understandably angry at Grif for deciding to go with the plan to save Wash, even though he knew what would happen. It happened and… there’s zero reconciliation. None. Yes, Grif was happy to see her. Yes, he clearly felt remorseful. Yes, he did apologize. But Huggins never really forgave him, saying that she can't be mad at him at the moment because of the larger picture. But it was pretty clear that, while not enraged, she was still unhappy with him… and they don’t allow the two to talk? At all?! After everything in S16, we couldn’t get closure on that?! Really?!

That was what pissed me off. It pissed me off for Grif’s character, but trust me I’ll be going more into that shortly. But for Huggins, it pretty much just says ‘yeah, we are only bringing this character back for exposition and nothing more’. I know many hated S16, but Huggins was easily one of the factors that people enjoyed. I enjoyed it. As I said, her and Grif’s relationship was easily my favorite part of it and I still enjoy rewatching all of their interactions. IDK if she’ll be back in later seasons. I really hope so because, at the very least, she and Grif should reconcile. But even so, she deserved better than what she got. She was a good character, and she deserved better than what she got. I shouldn't be wondering if her remaining dead would have been a better alternative afterwards. I really shouldn’t. So… hopefully future seasons can maybe fix things, but for now, this remains a major problem for me.

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#2. Grif Character Shafting

In general, Season 17 had a BAD case of character shafting. Now it’s a huge ensemble cast, so not everyone is going to be able to get attention. I wasn’t that upset that characters like Sarge, Caboose, and Simmons (even if that doesn’t excuse his Labyrinth) not getting much attention because they had already been more lowkey in this story arc. I didn’t mind it with Tucker wither since he got PLENTY of attention with Chorus. Hell, I honestly wish that they kept Wash and Carolina more lowkey because they ALWAYS get the majority of the focus, but for S17’s story it’s understandable why they would so I can forgive it. But you should probably NOT shaft a character who has been one of the central focuses in an ongoing story arc and still had a ton of character development that had to be wrapped up.

You know… like Grif.

Yeah, I won’t lie. While I thought that Grif acted IC and everything… they really dropped the ball with him. I wouldn’t mind that much had S15 and 16 not happened. Those are two seasons that gave Grif a ton of character development. He was essentially the main protagonist in S16, the one most involved in the plot despite how much he tried not to, and began resolving his issues. He went from doing everything in his power to avoid the plot, to openly confronting it and even rejecting the pizza that he had wanted so bad. He was the only one who knew what was about to happen after openly being mocked by Genkins, and despite his best efforts, he failed to stop it…

...and this got aBSOLUTELY NO FOLLOW UP? WHAT THE HELL?! THat’s like if, after Season 11, Tucker acted like none of the events during S11 affected him and didn’t grow as a leader and a soldier. It would come off as super weird since 12 followed the aftermath of S11 and would have been a huge disservice to the character and his development. That’s how it felt here with Grif. At first, it looked like they may show stuff since Grif DID believe Donut at first. But he had to ignore it since Donut isn’t allowed to be listened to. When he got his memory back, everything should have been hitting him then and there. There should have been more anger and probably some guilt about how even when he tried, he still failed and now they have even more bullshit to deal with. But they just… bizarrely ignore it.

I wouldn’t say that Grif regressed, but the fact that there is NO follow-up to his development in a storyline that allowed said development to begin with is a disservice. I get it, they only had 12 episodes and Donut and Wash were the more important. I understand that. And hey, S18 could follow up on it. But there still should have been something. Maybe the reveal about him lying about the enlistment was supposed to be that. Which I did like that… but that was not enough imo. He didn’t reconcile with Huggins. There’s no follow-up about how he failed to stop the paradox. Even for someone as lazy as Grif, we should still be seeing some emotions there. His Labyrinth, while I ultimately don’t hate it and I do see how it can apply to his character, probably should have been something stronger like being stuck back on Iris with the volleyballs mocking him or something.

Character shafting does have to happen in an ensemble cast. But Grif should NOT have been one of them. IDK how they could have incorporated him better while still keeping everything intact, but it’s still frustrating. Again, maybe S18 can provide something. I hope that at least Grif is allowed to reconcile with Huggins and realize that he should actually talk about his issues because I do think that his scene with Kai was an important moment for him. Whether you like to hate the retcon, it makes sense for his character to run away and he’s actually offering to talk about it. Okay, it’s more for Kai’s sake than his own, but he’s still willing to talk about his feelings, which is not something that I could have seen him done without his S15 and 16 development. Hence why I think that is S18 has him be more willing to talk to say Kai or Simmons and about how much S15 and 16 really did affect him instead of trying to brush it aside by calling himself hateglue, he can have a complete character arc. But as far as S17 goes, there’s no excuse for it and was a big problem for me.

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Honorable Mentions

Aka, the things that annoyed me, but not by much or I didn’t feel were bad enough to add onto the list.

Tucker not taking responsibility/talking to Wash: It was his idea to go and save Wash despite knowing the consequences, so he’s as guilty as Carolina imo. There should have been more focus on that, and about him reconciling with Wash and accepting what had to happen. The fact that they had zero interaction was bizarre tbh. But it isn’t as big of a deal as other things, so I kept it off. Consider this Number 6.

Character shafting: I hated it, and everyone outside Donut, Wash, and Carolina felt wasted. But it’s already a huge cast, so it was bound to happen and Grif’s was the one that manly pissed me off. So I spared it.

Nostalgia banking: That’s a me thing, so I didn’t feel it was fair to add it, especially since it overall did serve a purpose.

Carolina guilt trips need to die: I forgive it here because it worked for the story and was well executed. But... writers, you’ve done Carolina guilt trips since at least S10. It’s lazy and boring now. Come up with something new for her. Let it die.

Donut being ignored: Mainly, I think they played it up too much. DOnut displayed no noteworthy flaws in this season, and pretty much everything revolved around him. On rewatch, this was annoying and made him seem better and more important than everyone else. That’s unfair. But after all the years where he got shit treatment, he earned it honestly, so I forgave it.

And that’s it! So onto Number One!

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I thought long and hard about what Number One could be. Grif Shafting almost made it, but again the finale scene did actually make me happy. As such, I had only one real option left…

#1. The 12 Episode Count

Imo, this is I think the cause of many of the problems with S17 that I have. This should not have been a 12 episode season. 15 maybe, like last time. But not 12. Now there’s any number of reasons that they decided to go with that. Miles did say at RTX that they had a slightly smaller budget, so maybe they just simply couldn’t afford to do more than what they were able to do. Maybe they just thought that 12 episodes wrapped up the story and that there was no need to exceed that number or try to avoid stressing themselves and others out more. Production is hard and not cheap and you’re not going to be able to do everything that you want or even need to be able to do. As such, I’m not angry at them for deciding this since most likely, they had to work with what they had available.

That being said, it is still a problem. A 12 episode season has both its pros and its cons. With the pros, they were able to keep an overall steady pace and focus on what needed to be focused on without having to extend it or cram in filler. But the cons are you have to cram in as much as possible with limited time and put aside the things that aren’t as important. Grif wasn't as important as the other things. Huggins wasn't as important as the other things. They didn’t have time to elaborate on all the time travel, so they did as much as they could and then focus on the story. And Simmons Labyrinth was just a bad idea and would have still sucked even with a longer episode total, so nothing to say there.

My point is, while I do think that 12 episode seasons could work for RvB, they probably shouldn't have done it in the middle of a story arc. Again, they might not have had a choice, but it’s still an annoyance. The first half was fine and the best of the season. But the second half felt much more rushed and overstuffed. Episodes 7 and 8 shoved in exposition and it came across as more confusing than informing. Donut forgave everyone FAR too easily and it didn’t feel like they genuinely felt sorry after being called out. Which made the moment where he did call them out feel slightly less impactful. Only slightly, Then we rush through fixing the paradoxes and The Labyrinth within like four episodes, which when watching all the episodes together really makes it and the ending feel really anti-climactic. It’s like they shoved a ton of character stuff within like ten minutes, but we don’t get to explore it naturally. A problem that I think 15 episodes would have helped solve, but 12… it just… was not enough.

If they do go with 12 episodes again, I think it’ll work better since they’ll have a new story arc that they cal plan properly for. They didn’t have that luxury here. That, on top of Joe having to leave and Jason having to take over writing duties. Which is another annoyance. IDK the circumstances obviously and not to diminish Jason, but Joe should have been allowed to finish his own damn story, the fans' opinion on if he was good or not be damned. But again for all I know he chose to walk out, so I’m not going to go any further than that. Considering what they did have, the fact that they did make a good product is to be admired. But there’s still a lot of problems imo. Ones that I think that the episode count ultimately caused most of. As such, it is the thing that I dislike about RvB17 the most.

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Again, this is only my opinion. There was a lot that I did like about RvB17, and when I write the Likes post I’ll gladly talk about them. That being said, I do think that this wasn't as good as 16 and IDC how many people think I’m insane for saying that. It had story issues, character issues, and the second half was ultimately just a mess. A fun mess, but still a mess. No, IDK how any of these could have been done better and IDT it’s so bad that it can’t be amended in later seasons. But overall, these issues did damper my enjoyment and things that I hope to see improved in the future.

Okay! Dislikes are done! Thank God! Now I can do the happy stuff! Hopefully, the Likes post will be ready in a few days. But thank you all for reading, and I hope that you enjoyed~

#rvb #rvb reviews

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nitrateglow · 7 years

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Disney has greenlit a brand new Star Wars trilogy for Rian Johsnon to helm, allegedly taking the franchise in an adventure totally separate from the characters and story we're familiar with. Do you think this is a good or bad sign on the quality of The Last Jedi, and do you think it's possible we can expect something great from this new trilogy, or just another studio executive's checklist like Rogue One?

Okay, so I admit I’m actually on board with this new trilogyidea, mainly because it’s set in a new galaxy and is unrelated to the Skywalkersaga. To me, a big problem of most post-1980s SW media is that a lot of itbanks on nostalgia and the iconography of the OT. But the setting is soexpansive that it makes you want to see more. I think this could be a greatopportunity to try new things and explore new kinds of stories—that is, ifDisney is okay with Johnson taking such risks. I hope they are. PLEASE do not half-ass the risk-taking, Disney!

Like one thing I always thought would be cool would be ifthere were different kinds of people using the Force, like people who aren’t necessarilyJedi. The only thing I liked about Rogue One was that monk guy, because itshowed that there are non-Jedi who use those abilities consciously. Like havedifferent orders of Force-users without the light-dark motifs necessarily. Idk I’mjust rambling at this point.

It does give me a little more hope for TLJ, though I amstill only cautiously optimistic. I tend to fall in love with movies when I don’texpect anything grand from them because then they can take me by surprise. I hopethis shall be the case with Episode VIII.

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iammyowngodandmartyr · 7 years

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ask tag Game Rules: share 11 facts about you, answer 11 questions, tag 11 people, ask them 11 questions

LOLOLOL YEP IM DOING ONE OF THESE BC ITS STILL 2013 OK LET ME LIVE also i can feel my brain coming out of my ears and i physically can no longer study so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

was tagged by maisie @becausebarakat !! ty cutie <3 (btw im still hyped 4 whenevr that blue hair thing happens)

11 things abt me!! woohoo i lov self indulgent tag games

1. my favorite color is pink !! lets hear it for the femme dykes

2. i steal flowers from strangers gardens on the daily

3. i wear sunscreen every day AND SO SHOULD U ZOMG like there are many things in the world that arent entirely good or entirely bad but like,,,, skin cancer is dEFINITELY a villain ok it is Bad and Evil wear SPF 30 or abov epls

4. ill knit you socks for christmas

5. im actually a fake emo bc i only like the aesthetic and the music im actually a p happy dude

6. im also a fake emo bc i like country (pst danny schmidt and sam hunt are fab)

7. i either die on mars or i dont die at all

8. i love persephone more than you do

9. reason im a fake emo 3: i like the suburbs more than the city im sr y it isnt a choice i just like small towns i hold no resentment

10. ive been to 2 wtnv live shows i luv them ?? so much ??? the audiences have the highest concentration of ppl with dyed hair ive evr seen

11. i read tarot and am overly invested in astrology

11 questions 4 me:

1. if you could fuck any past president, who would it be?

DEFINITELY tippecanoe ahahhaha hholy shit i know it should be hamilton or something but

2. why ? hahahhaa im so sorry im bad at stuff like this

his name is actually president harrison he was famous for a battle at tippecanoe but he was old and weak and did his inauguration in the rain bc he wanted to prove he wasnt old and weak and died a month later from pneumonia lol poor kid

3. what are your other social medias?? promo yaself kids n i wanna follow you my dudes

sc: pandavibes

insta is private and has 0 followers bc its literally just a moodboard and full of selfies lol

ummm my depop ?? is ironicpink? ?????? uh i dont think i have much other social media wow am i truly a millennial ??????? does gmail count as social media? ???

4. fave netflix series atm?

ive been watching a lot of vampire diaries recently bc i fall hard for cw trash shows (i.e. gossip girl, supernatural ha ah aha i have no quality control)

5. alex gaskarth or jack barakat? haha lol hav fun

gonna go with jack bc hes a crude 9yo and i relate and also hes lebanese and my dad grew up in lebanon !! us hairy middle easterners gotta stick together

6. if you were a disney // pixar character who you think you’d be n why??

tinker bell !! petty n short n vindictive n spoiled and i spent a lot of my childhood researching fairies

7. which member in all time low do you think ur most like n why??

lol idk maybe jack ??? bc of aforementioned crude 9yo behavior and we have a shared affection for tight pants (and alex gaskarth) and also dont actually know the lyrics to anything

8. fave thing about ur face <3333

i luv my lips theyre not only practical but aesthetically pleasing and i appreciate that part of my dna

9. fuck marry kill : tyra banks, dr phil, paris hilton

who i s????? dr phil ????? a relvant human ??? i doubt it, kill him

marry tyra banks bc i have a strange sense of nostalgia whenever i watch antm

fuck paris hilton woop

10. what spooks you out the most?

idk christian fundamentalist are some spooky bitches

11. if you had a reality show made about you what would it be called??

America’s Next Top Disaster Boy

i tag : @buckaaayyyy @witchy-k1tten @elusive-lamb @gayplantnerd @wlfgangmozart @crimsonstory lol sry to drag u guys into this but its nearing finals season and we all have different ways of coping

11 questions for u:

1. favorite pastel color?

2. favorite author?

3. tell me abt a longterm goal of urs

4. favorite flower?

5. favorite artist? of any medium

6. which finger do you prefer to wear rings on?

7. where are you on the femme/butch spectrum?

8. which character would you give both kidneys and ur hippocampus for their happiness?

9. if you were in charge of the execution of trump and could do it ANY WAY YOU WANTED what would you do?

10. whats ur favorite scent?

11. whatre u looking forward to most in the summer?

WOOP HAV FUN

#lololol im trash 2 bad ur just gonna have to deal #then it was satisfaction that brought it back

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calliecat93 · 5 years

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RvB17 Episode 9 Review: Succession

You know something that's gotten on my last nerve dear readers? Nostalgia banking. What should be a good feeling about seeing something that you once loved and haven't seen in so long has now become a cheap cash0in for the media. It's now just lazy and downright insufferable with the constant reboots and remakes of nostalgic properties, like every Disney thing ever in the past decade. Why am I bringing this up? Because while it's nowhere near as bad as with other things, this season of RvB is very much counting on nostalgia to help win it over, just look at the Freelancer fan-service in Episode 5. It was fan-service that made sense in context in all fairness... but still fan-service. And that is the ONLY excuse as to why we're doing Felix again.

Alright, let's quit with the bitching and get to the reviewing.

Overview

Tucker has gone back to S11, at the moment where they lose half the team tot he Feds at Crash Site Bravo. The problem causing the paradox? Genkins has possessed Lopez Dos.0 and is making it so that the Reds and Blues win. As such, Tucker has to ensure that they lose and recreate the circumstances that lead to one of the worst days of his life. Damn,t hat's harsh bro. But he does it, even taking one of Genkins' attacks at point blank since Genkins still can't harm a shisno. Tucker takes him down, and as such aside from some minor differences, the overall conditions go as they are meant to. Genkins retreats.

The scene cuts to later, where Felix is talking to Tucker about what happened and it's still when he had his good guy facade. Tucker I going along with it... until he starts hearing voices telling him to kill Felix. The voice? Genkins, who jumped into the AI module in Tucker's armor. He tries to convince Tucker to kill Felix before he can betray them... but Tucker refuses. There's already a plan in place, and not even Genkins reminding him that it's Donut's plan deters him. He recalls how, since Chorus, he's tried to act as a leader should... but in reality, he just acted even more like an egotistical battle. But now he realizes that a leader is someone who steps up and does what needs to be done, something that Donut has so far done moreso than anyone else. Realizing that he's failed, Genkins retreats once more.

Tucker goes back to Iris, the agreed meeting point, where Donut already is. Sarge comes back briefly... where Donut informs him that he caused a Paradox, so Sarge goes away to... probably deal with that. This makes Donut concerned that maybe he didn't explain the plan too well... only for Tucker to tell him that he's doing perfectly fine. Donut's touched, though Tucker tells him to quit acting like an angsty bitch, so we can't get too happy feelsy. With that encouragement, Donut jumps to at some point in S7, where he confronts Genkins in The Meta. It is at this point that Donut points out something. Chrovos doesn't give power, she takes it. There is no guarantee whatsoever that she will hold up her end of the bargain with Genkins. Will Genkins really get the ultimate power that he wants? This seems to affect the Trickster God, as he jumps out.

Meanwhile, Wash and Carolina are talking at a cliffside where Carolina again apologizes for her actions in the last season. Wash is still forgiving, even kind of glad that he got to experience a period without brain damage for a little while. Yes my friends, there is still one more paradox that has to be fixed: the last one. The one that began all of this to begin with: Wash being shot. He knows that, in order to save the universe, it has to happen and he seems to have come to terms with it. Carolina is understandably not happy to hear this. She's downright tearful, but in the end, she understands that it has to be. Wash emphasizes that regardless of everything and no matter what happens, he loves Carolina before jumping. Carolina takes a moment to compose herself before she follows.

Back in Chrovos' domain, Genkins returns and Chrovos... she's not unhappy but she's not pleased either. Why? As it turns out not only are no new cracks forming, but all of the previous ones are now disappearing due to the damage being repaired. Only a small amount remains now, and Chrovos wants to know what's going on. Genkins reports about the Shisno being awake, which seems to... make Chrovos throw in the towel. Genkins has utterly failed and since she can't go and do anything herself, it means that soon the paradox will be undone, the Gods will have Genkins pay the price for his betrayal, and the only pleasure that Chrovos will get is it hopefully happening in front of her as she remains prison bound for all of eternity.

Genkins, however, says that he has a plan. He points out how Chrovos used time to bring back Donut and place him somewhere before. If he can do that tot he Reds and Blues, they'll be out of the way and Genkins can cause as many paradoxes as he wants. But he doesn't have the power to do this alone... so he asks Chrovos to give him a portion of her's. Chrovos is reluctant since she doesn't have much left as it is, but Genkins points out that all she has to do once freed is kill and adsorb the Reds and Blues energy, and she'll be restored. Genkins, likely out of desperation, complies and transfers the majority of her remaining power. This causes her to collapse, her armor even changing from black to white. She tells Genkins to hurry... but the Trickster God reveals his true intentions. He's going to go back, put the Reds and Blues out of the way, and weaken the prison... so that he can kill Chrovos and take over with the power that she gave him. Chrovos can only take in her error as Genkins goes back tot he Everwhen.

We cut to Season 15/S16's finale where Wash takes in his final moments before getting shot. He begins to walk forward, the others possessing their Season 16 selves, as Wash tosses aside his own gun and holds his arms out. We hear the sound of a gun go off as the scene cuts to black. But, this is not the end, as when the scene cuts back we see the pullet... frozen. In fact, everyone is frozen. Why? Genkins. He appears and informs the group that he's paused the moment for just a bit as he goes to take care of other matters. The bullet drops to the ground and Genkins bids the Reds and Blues farewell, off now that he has all of the time in the world.

Review

This is definitely better than the previous two episodes. IDK what it was about the last two, but they felt... rather rushed and all over the place. Like they wanted to do some character development stuff, but because they only have so much time they had to condense and squeeze it together and... that really made them a mess compared to the episodes before. But thankfully, this one put us back on track. It was emotional, raised the stakes in a way that I did not see coming, and has one Hell of a monster ending that left me utterly anxious. Compared to 7 and 8, which had good moments but was again very condensed and a Hell of a lot confusing, this one had me hanging on every second.

So... let us return to our nostalgia banking topic. As I said above, it's lazy and a cash-in at this point. Now this being a time travel season, I understand that we'd go back through some nostalgic moments. And again, in all fairness, the fan-service moments with the Freelancers were relevant and actually helped advance the plot without being forced. The Mercs though... while they thankfully didn't overpower the plot, going back to them... honestly had zero relevance in comparison. This is probably just me being salty because I've honestly just gotten sick of the Mercs because of how much they get hyped and such. They... or Fel9ix at least, have completed their roles and I want to move on form them. I want to move on to new stories and plotlines, hence why I want Church and Tex to stay dead too. There's this underlying feeling, to me anyway, that this season is relying on the past to get people into it, not moving forward. Although, last season tried that, and many people hated it, so what do I know?

Speaking of the reception to last year... yeah that is the only reason we have Felix and why we had a focus on Tucker. I feel like this moment was Jason, who wrote the episodes and therefore the Tucker scenes that fans had issues with including the infamous talk with Sister, apologizing for the Tucker 'derailment'. And yes, I put derailment in quotes. I know that some felt like Tucker was OOC in the previous season and to a degree S15. He was egotistical, womanizing, and people felt like it was a regression. There was a LOT of push-back on that, so having Tucker relieve one of his worst moments and have to outright re-create it and realize how much he's messed up as a leader up to now felt nice. It's Tucker not acting in a way that he thinks a leader should, but stepping up and doing what has to be done. It's a nice moment of character development and I really hope that it pleased the Tucker fans.

But... my issue is... I didn't think that Tucker was regressed in the previous seasons. He did step up when he needed to. Maybe not so much in 16, but he absolutely did in 15. He is a womanizing asshole, that part of his character had never been addressed at any point until then and yeah, it was a problem. And it's not like they demonized him, he was supposed to realize how bad he had gotten after Sister's verbal beatdown and when he realized what happened to Wash. Oh, and he has yet to take responsibility for proposing the plan that caused the paradox, to begin with, most of that has been on Carolina which is annoying. Don't get me wrong, it is good to see Tucker realize how he fucked up as a leader and can become better and this was a good moment to have him realize it. But it feels unnecessary to me because his character had been fine and we again have to have a nostalgia moment for it. IDK, it just... annoys me. It's a good moment, but I'm mixed about it for the above reasons.

Okay, let's try and talk positively now. Like Wash and Carolina having a moment Yeah, this was going to come sooner or later. We all knew that for this mess to be fixed, Wash was going to have to be shot. He's come to terms with it, knowing that it has to be for the universe's sake. That doesn't make it any less hard though. Carolina broke time to save Wash. Was it ultimately a bad decision? Yes. But it's understandable why she went that route. She made a mistake, one that she is still apologizing for, and wanted to spare Wash of the pain. Not out of guilt, but because she genuinely sees Wash as family and can't stand him being hurt. Jen Brown's absolutely tearful, heartbroken delivery was so perfectly done. You can feel how hurt Carolina is as she has to accept that her efforts were in vain, and outright made things worst. Wash has to be shot. He has to endure cerebral hypoxia. They can't undo the consequences, they have to live with them.

And you know what? Good. Mind you we still have three episodes to go... but I want Wash to keep the brain damage. Look, it sucks that it happened to him... but in the end, it happened. Brain damage is terrible, but you can keep living with it. Wash is still a strong, capable soldier and he still will be even with cerebral hypoxia. He'll only be broken if he allows himself to be. Will he struggle? Of course. Will he need more help now? That goes without saying. Does that make Wash any less of the character that he was? Hell no. Wash has proven multiple times that he can pull through some terrible shit, including having an AI try to kill itself while inside his head. Wash can, and will, get through this. Now again, we have time still so they could find an alternate solution... but I really, really hope that they stick to Wash being brain damaged. I think that there are plenty of people who can be inspired by him and it can take his character, and everyone else really, into some new directions that could be good. We'll see how it goes, but I do hope that they stick to this.

But of course, if it does happen, we're still going to wait a while. Why? Because Genkins is an asshole. Yeah, I... I did NOT see that moment coming. I guess I should have since Genkins is an absolute shit, but... no, I honestly did not see his betrayal of Chrovos coming. The guy really is the God of Tricks, huh? I almost felt bad for Chrovos... almost. Yeah, she still manipulated and hurt a ton of people with her actions so she's still a bitch who kind of had it coming. But Genkins having her power is far worst since he's just outright chaotic. Who knows what the Hell he's going to do now that he can control all of time and can kill Chrovos himself to have all the power to himself. I do kind of like how this was almost framed as a redemption, what with Donut pointing out the uncertainty of Chovos keeping her word. But nope! Genkins is just as evil, and he essentially killed the queen to take her crown. I hate Genkins with a burning passion... but he is a fantastic villain and I fucking love it.

Final Thoughts

We're three episodes away from the end, and I'm still not sure how this is all going to end. While I am certainly mixed on some of the time travel usage and on Tucker's moment, it was overall well handled. And any misgivings I had about it I can forgive for Wash and Carolina's moment and the Genkins betrayal. It was a great episode filled with emotion and surprise, and I am still coming down from it. Will the final few episodes be able to hold up? We shall see in due time... get it? Time reference? Haha... yeah... yeah, I'll just... end the review now. Tootles!

#rvb #rvb17 #rvb spoilers #rvb reviews #callie reviews

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