lightyear, the endgame dissertation
You know that post along the lines of "Lightyear as a movie was okay but then you learn it was a video length essay rebuke against Endgame Steve's ending and it is chef's kiss"...it is 100% on the money.
First thing's first, I never got into the Toy Story franchise, and in fact I found it pretty hard to connect with most of the Pixar movies, despite how much accolade they get.
Lightyear by itself is...par. It's got humour, it's got heart, it's got a solid central message around friendship.
But when you put it in the context of a Endgame critique then you realise how much BURN it packed in there.......
(Massive spoilers under cut)
I want to start this off by saying Izzy is adorable and she had a solid character arc that wasn't overshadowed by Lightyear's. She went from bluster to feeling inadequate to forcing herself to confront her worst fears for a friend. Two separate character arcs in one movie, imagine that, Marvel!
The premise is that Buzz makes a mistake during an emergency launch and strands the entire crew on a semi-hostile planet. Feeling immense guilt that he's ruined the mission (and thereby, much of the team's dreams of being "Space Rangers"), Buzz commits himself to running dangerous solo missions to trial fuel combinations that could get the ship off the planet. With each trip he approaches hyperspeed, he experiences time dilation, and he is so focused on his mission that he barely notices his best friend (Alisha) ageing until he comes back one time and realises she had already passed on.
When Buzz finally finds the right fuel combination, he's 80 years in the future. The crew and their descendants have truly settled into the planet, but in recent weeks the planet has been invaded by a ship of ominous looking robots.
He meets his best friend's grand-daughter, Izzy, and her crew of misfits. Then for the next 40 minutes, Buzz learns he doesn't have to do things alone, and that he doesn't have to shoulder all the responsibility on his own.
And as he learns this, he gets transported up to the spaceship to meet the villain who is, I kid you not, Old Man Buzz. Old Man Buzz came from the same past as young Buzz, but he almost got arrested on one of his return journeys and became so disillusioned with the world, he flew off into hyperspeed and realised he could jump back and forward in time. Old Man Buzz knows the pain young Buzz suffers, and entices him with the prospect of going back in time before a mistake was ever made. It is also worth noting that young Buzz has friends that he is shown to now depend on and trust, while Old Man Buzz only has himself and in his drive to achieve his mission, destroys his only 2 semi-sentient robot companions (Sox and Ivan).
What follows is the greatest dissertation against Endgame I have ever fucking seen in live motion.
Old Man Buzz says that Alisha will get to be a Space Ranger again and young Buzz pointing out that "but...she won't have her family. She won't have Izzy". Old Man Buzz says dismissively "She's not going to miss anyone if she never meets them in the first place" and young Buzz looking absolutely SHOOK by those words, realising this old man was going to wipe out 80 years of lived experiences so he can have his past. Young Buzz then tries to appeal to the old man's rationality and point out that Alisha had an entire life and Old Man Buzz dismisses it as "what kind of life is that?!" because he has in his mind what kind of life she should have, while refusing to acknowledge the life she had was fulfilling and full of joy. Old Man Buzz presses him with "You don't want to live like this Buzz, waking up with the same nightmare, haunted by your mistake, but you can finally let go of that."
And Buzz does, by walking away from Old Man Buzz and refusing to go back to the past. Buzz owns and then forgives himself for that past mistake (and accepting fallibility and forgiving oneself is a recurring theme in this movie, not just for Buzz, but for the other characters too) by accepting the present it has created, because he realises there are good things about the present worth living for.
"You're going to erase everything!" Young Buzz yells at Old Man Buzz as he preps the crystal, "People's family, their friends. My friends."
As much as Buzz misses the friendships of his previous life, he values the connections he has made in the here and now and he doesn't want to erase them for what has already passed.
Buzz defeats Old Man Buzz by destroying the fuel source, i.e. the only hope of Buzz going back in time, and the day is saved by everyone coming together to help each other instead of Buzz struggling to do it on his own (and also why Old Man lost because he only had himself and his robots, who he didn't value).
In the end, Izzy asks Buzz about the now destroyed fuel source, "Your mission...you've always wanted to go home."
Buzz smiles, "You know, for the first time in a long time, I feel like I am home."
AND SUCK ON THAT, ENDGAME.
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Fluffbruary begins
Day 1. DOWNY
So we collectively agree that we would be fascinated with the feeling of turts scales, right? And now I cant stop thinking that for turtles we would also feel somewhat strange and pleasant.
---
They are different. Not in a bad way. But still.
This thought was bugging you for several weeks at this point drowning any of the fun activities with the turtles in greyish colours.
Sure, they were different, and you loved them as they are - chaotic kind-hearted boys trying their best to keep this city safe.
The problem was that this observation suddenly opened a flood gate to the unwanted thoughts on how they would not want you. More specifically, the man of science himself. And that broke your poor heart bit by bit.
And as you though that all this heart turmoil good enough not to be noticeable.
The purple wearing turtle prided his analytic ability as it proved right yet again as he cornered you in his lab.
---
-Pardon, I am what??
-Scoff, downy. Definition - meaning something of the nature of or resembling down; fluffy; soft. You've mentioned at least on 23 occasions before how you, and I quote, "Find my scales strange but awfully nice to your human touch." - he tentatively reached out to grasp your delicate hands in his bigger ones. - and to me, you are downy, soft, delicate. Although I would lie, if I said I was not disappointed in how thick you can be in terms of the current relationship between us.
You sputtered out a strangled noise of indignation at his statement as he louvered himself so his snoot was now mere millimeters from your rapidly blushing face and bared his teeth in a familiar arrogant manner:
-Though, it makes it even cuter.
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the Amphibian Pride Parade 2022
Thank you to everyone who joined! I hope everyone had a nice pride month
The full resolution is way too big for tumblr so here is a google drive link with higher res versions
And credits under the cut!
Amadeus (@mischievous-tree), @angel-lepus, @anonfromyourasks, @aro-oranges, @bagumbo, @bisociallyawkwardandbi, @booknerd133, @bucketjoke, @cloudless-starry-night (#ribbit1547), @copper-skulls, @crrog, @cryptid-moose, @cyrustheartist, Kestel (@dark-roasted-kestel), @error-is-bae, @everythingswrongwithme, @fiomide, @froggyfroo-art, @gardeninthevoid (with and drawn by @arcadiancrows), @glitrahasconsumedme, @gluteeni, @gooseartblog, @half-guitarist, @hazelhawthorne, @hecksee, @hockey-stick-handle, @hoot-prime, @hummingirls, @indiigo, @infiniteorangethethird, @kitsch-klutz-kerfuffle, @laptoparmageddon, @lillianofthedaffodils, @lizard-garbage, Lou (@crazy-girl-in-the-mirror), @luminousjellyfishy, @lunashadow-bun, @marcylore, @maskedblackfox, @mercworm, @mintymallo, @mosserz, MyPencilDraws, @navii-blu @reallyprofoundkryptonite, @sagethegremlin, @scarsofbeauty, @seareuslazarus, @shittybraindrawings, @slemhosta, @spookiestfrost, @squidthechaotickid, @sunstonesparkart (and @felinenthusiast), @tenmillionmice, @the-almighty-steve, @thebespectacledhyacinth, @tisdonuts, @twixxxxy, @widdlegoblin, @withapinchofyellowasafoetida, @yearning-and-arson, @your-local-autistic, @your-strange-internet-person, @zukriuchen
+ me and one anonymous submission
sorry to the few people tumblr didn't let me tag. your blogs are linked instead!
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