#probably some of the best voice acting in the franchise

[charlie-artlie]

🐰🪤

#five nights at freddy’s #fnaf #security breach #security breach ruin #fnaf cassie #fnaf gregory #m.x.e.s. #fnaf helpi #fnaf ruin spoilers #very very slight but just in case #anyway your honor i love her #probably some of the best voice acting in the franchise #uhg. ruin was so good. #arts #oops its super late but im posting it anyway

[wannaeatramyeon]

Jake Kim x Reader: Cinema

G/N. Soft and fluffy feat Big Deal a lil.

 "You on a date, boss?"

Jake says yes without missing a beat, flashing you a grin and snaking his arm around your waist.

He sees the smirk on Jason's face, the light nudge Lineman gives Brad, and the pride and approval on Jerry's face.

The grin soon melts away though, when Brad follows up with "You going to see Rocky XX too?" and Jake only just manages to hide his grimace.

The answer to that is also yes. But he would prefer to not have a date crashed by the rest of the crew.

Heavens above, you're patient enough with Big Deal and so sweet to everyone. Gotten to know the street and the occupants like the back of your hand, spending more evenings and weekends there than not. 

However. Even with how much Jake lives and breathes Big Deal, he misses some one on one time with you.

Away from everyone, he thinks as he takes in the sight of his boys in front of him. He can't exactly tell them to go away though, can he? A rare weekend off work where they get to just be.

He succumbs to his fate. 

Imagines everyone huddled on the one row together. Seated next to each other. Cosy. A family affair instead of a romantic date. Probably won't be able to sneak you some kisses here and there-

"We're not seeing Rocky!" comes the unmistakable sound of Lua's voice. "We're going to watch The Boy and The Pigeon! Enjoy your film!"

She disappears as quickly as she arrives. A whirlwind of hair and a force of nature. Giving you both a small wave, mind laser focused on reading the goddamn room and shoving the boys towards a different screen.

"B-but we already got the tickets!"

"I wanted to see Rocky XX!"

"Why does Jake think seeing Rocky is romantic anyway?!"

Why?

To be honest, the Rocky franchise died off somewhere along V. Who knows how the hell these films are still being greenlit. Nevertheless, the newest one is a low stakes film where Jake doesn't care what happens apart from you cuddling up to him and some kisses if he's lucky.

It's calculated and planned and Jake mentally pats himself on the back for how things have turned out.

Except-

What he didn't expect was the score to be good, the script to be great, the choreography to be amazing, and the acting to be even better. Neither of you could take your eyes off the screen. You laughed and cried and gasped together. 

Thoughts of cuddling and kissing and even making out completely out the window as you're both on the edge of your seat for the entire two hours.

It was fantastic. Perhaps the best movie he has ever seen (and he could practice some of those moves too).

You're both still talking about it as he walks you home-

"When he came back as a zombie to fight that vampire?"

"And the lizard joins the fight to win the title?" Jake chuckles, at your enthusiasm more than anything else, "Yeah. I liked that."

But as your apartment appears on the horizon, he can't help but think that maybe this was a bit of a waste. That the day is over and as good as the film was, maybe he should have arranged something else, after all it’s been a while since both your schedules have aligned.  A date where you can actually talk and be in each other's company. Instead of being captivated by the screen, your attention could have been held by him.

Jake tries to shake off the doubts and recapture the lighter mood from seconds ago.

He's not entirely successful.

You realise something is amiss.

You peer over at your boyfriend. His sudden subduedness. The small line forming between his eyebrows that you hate so much, because it means he's unhappy about something. You pause mid step and he stops alongside you.

"Don’t overthink it. I had fun," you tell him. You always have fun with him. "Thank you."

Jake's smile returns when he sees the expectant look in your eyes. The way you stretch up towards him. press yourself into his space, and he leans down; meeting you halfway.

Your lips lightly press to his, eyes closing, eyelashes fluttering on his cheeks and his own falling shut. Strong arms encircle you, pulling you ever closer, deepening the contact.

There'll be a next time, your kiss reassures him.

You tastes like popcorn. Sugar and butter and salt. Sweet and savoury and perfect.

#admiring respectfully once again #respectfully might be a lie #lookism #lookism x reader #lookism webtoon #lookism manhwa #lookism fic #jake kim #jake kim x reader #kim gimyung x reader #kim gimyeong x reader #wannaeatramyeon

[cvrnelians]

summer boy

yandere ken x reader: In which Ken kidnaps a journalist reader in an attempt to make her fall in love with him.

Evidently, it’s not going quite as smoothly as he’d hoped.

warnings: obsessive behavior, kidnapping, minors DNI.

Ken tried his best to understand, you could tell. It happened a handful of times each day—whenever you got upset or angry, or provided him with a tidbit of information he’d never heard before. You could practically see the gears turning in that empty little blonde head of his. Every time he caught you crying (which was a daily occurrence at this point), several things were guaranteed to happen.

1. He stared at you in complete and utter shock.

“Good morning, world renowned journalist Barbie,” he exclaimed, making his way towards the bed. In his hands was a tray of fake breakfast food and an empty coffee mug. 

It was unnerving. Ever since you arrived here, strange things had been happening. You weren’t even the slightest bit hungry, and as each day passed, your skin started feeling weird. You weren’t even sure how to describe it. It was almost like...

Plastic.

His eyes widened when he caught sight of you. You hadn’t seen your reflection in days, but you were fairly certain you looked like a mess—hair disheveled, eyes red and puffy from crying. You turned away from him and laid down on your stomach, pulling a pillow over your head.

“Good morning, world renowned journalist Barbie!” he repeated, as if the only reason you didn’t respond was because you didn’t hear him the first time. But you had. You most definitely heard him the first time.

“Leave me alone.” Your voice was muffled as you pressed your face up against the sheets. “And don’t call me that. I’m not a Barbie, and I’m not a world renowned journalist. I’m nothing.”

He was silent for a few seconds, like he was trying very hard to come up with the right thing to say; probably whatever was least likely to set you off. 

“You’re not nothing,” he said. “You shouldn’t say that.” He set the tray down on the nightstand and backed up a few steps.

To think this all started with a simple assignment from your boss.

“Write me a fluff piece on the new Barbie theme park in Venice Beach.”

You had gone to Mattel headquarters to ask some executives more about the park, and quickly ran into Ken wandering around in the lobby. He beamed when he saw you, nearly sprinting over to greet you. It was borderline alarming.

“Hi, businesswoman Barbie! I mean, businesswoman human woman.”

Given his comfortability walking around the building and his general attire, you simply assumed he worked for Mattel. He said as much when you asked him about it. As you talked, he started saying all sorts of weird stuff. You hadn’t anticipated spending an entire day interviewing a Mattel employee method acting as a real life Ken doll. You expected this assignment to be fairly dull, so you were more than happy to play along—if anything, to entertain yourself in the process. Although he wasn’t the brightest man in the world, “Ken” did seem very knowledgeable about the Barbie franchise. As you strolled through the park together, he offered a constant stream of valuable input.

“Wow, this looks just like the roller coaster in Barbieland!”

“The ice cream here is really weird. Isn’t the ice cream here really weird? It’s so cold.”

“Why can’t people in the real world float down the stairs like we do?”

“Why do we have to wait in line? Why is there a line? Why are there so many people out here?”

Sadly, he also nearly drowned in the waterpark at some point. You had to talk him down from a full blown panic attack in the midst of this.

“I didn’t know I would…fall in...to the water. You can…w-walk on the pools…in…Barbieland.”

“It’s okay, Ken. It’s okay.” You placed a towel over his shoulders as he coughed and sputtered dramatically. 

As the day wound down, you took a walk along the beach and picked a nice spot to watch the sunset. 

“I want you to come with me.”

“Where?” you asked.

“To Barbieland.”

“Oh my god,” you laughed. “Ken, you can stop with the act. I got all the information I needed for the article. We’re just hanging out now.”

“No, I mean it! It’s not an act. I want you to come with me.”

You sighed and laid back in the sand. He laid down next to you.

“Alright. Let’s say this place is real. Why do you want me to come with you?”

Ken smiled warmly. “Because I love you.”

Your eyes nearly bugged out of your head. “Um. I’m sorry, what?” 

“I mean...I didn’t mean that. I meant, um. It’s just...you respect me.”

You laughed and shook your head. You sat up on your elbows, staring up at the sky. “Of course I do.”

“Thank you,” he said earnestly, placing his hand on his chest.

“From what you’ve told me, Barbieland sounds pretty idyllic. I would love to live there. But I’m not a Barbie. I’m human. I don’t think I belong there.”

“Sure, you do! You absolutely belong. I mean, we already have journalist Barbie but you can be businesswoman human woman journalist Barbie.”

“I don’t even know what to say to that." You pointed towards the sky. “Hey, do you have stars in Barbieland?” 

Ken sat up on his elbows also. It was like he was mirroring you. “Yeah. They don’t really look like the stars here, though. They’re more twinkly. And the constellations are a lot easier to find. I like them better—

“—in Barbieland,” you both said in unison.

The next few minutes were spent with you staring at the sky and Ken staring at you. It was kind of uncomfortable, but you had to admit you liked him. He was cute, if not a little dim. You were mainly hoping this whole Ken doll thing was an ongoing bit, that he was just really committed to his role at the theme park and he would drop it eventually. Otherwise, you were more than a little concerned.

“How about next time?” he asked. “The next time I see you, will you come with me?”

“Oh, so there’s gonna be a next time now?”

“If you’d like,” he said timidly.

“Sure. Why not? On our next date, I’ll go with you to Barbieland.”

“Yes! Will you excuse me for a second?” 

“Um, okay.”

He staggered a few feet away and crouched down behind a very tall, unoccupied lifeguard’s chair. Watching him try to disappear behind the large gaps between the steps was like watching someone struggle to find a hiding spot during a very tense game of hide-n-seek. A few seconds later, you heard a startlingly loud “SUBLIME!” echoing throughout the atmosphere. 

The next time you saw him about a week later, Ken was different. He wasn’t the same guy you met at Mattel headquarters. He wasn’t the same guy you spent the day with at Venice Beach. His clothes were a complete 180 from the pink pastels and light wash denim he had worn before. He was now wearing a ridiculous fur coat and heavy black sweatpants in the middle of the summer. He mentioned having gone back and forth between Barbieland and the real world a handful of times now, and started saying bizarre, offensive things about men and the patriarchy and…horses?

Most importantly, though, he had taken you on the strangest hot pink odyssey of a date you’d ever been on in your life. Safe to say, you tried to end the date—if that was even what it was—early.

Ken didn’t like that.

Not one bit.

“Ken, this is weird. Can you take me home?”

“But look around you! Barbieland is so much better now!” 

“No, I don’t…I don’t even know where we are, and I really want to go home now. This was a mistake.”

“I know you don’t know what it was like before, but I promise you, I’ve improved it. You said you wouldn’t belong in Barbieland, remember? But now since it’s so different, maybe you’ll feel like you do.”

“I don’t understand how we even got here, but I don’t like this. And I want to leave. Now.”

“Kendom. It’s called the Kendom, and it’s amazing. And you said you would come with me this time. You said so! You have to follow through on what you promised. You owe me.”

“Excuse me? I don’t owe you anything. I did come with you. Now I want to go.”

Ken didn’t like that very much, either.

So, here you were: trapped within the confines of Ken’s…what did he call it? His mojocasadojo…thing?

His house. You were trapped in Ken’s gigantic plastic house.

“So, I’ve been thinking. It’s been a few days, I’m sure you’ve adjusted by now. I was thinking we could go for a drive today, get some ice cream. I can even show you what I do at beach!” he said proudly.

“I don’t care what you do at beach!” you snapped, whipping around to face him. The intensity in your gaze clearly startled him. He somehow never expected for you to be as irate as you were. “That’s not even a job. And your car—”

“Truck car,” he said pointedly.

“Your truck car doesn’t have an engine. How does it even run?” you sobbed, smacking your forehead into the mattress again. “This place doesn’t make any sense!”

You felt ridiculous, like a teenager refusing to get up for school. It was a bizarre dichotomy. In many ways your situation was, in fact, dire. You were stuck in a nightmare in which some strange, unhinged man kidnapped you and dragged you to an alternate universe. On paper, this all sounded very frightening. And it was.

But it was also borderline comical, given Ken was so…

Himself.

2. You spotted a flicker of empathy as you explained to him why you were crying.

“I don’t understand why you’re so upset,” he whined. “You should be happy. I want you to be happy.”

You rolled over and sat up with your back up against the headboard. “You trapped me here! How on earth are you so perplexed by this?”

Ken narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to one side. 

You sighed. “Confused,” you said flatly. “It means confused.”

“Perplexed,” he repeated, like he was trying the word on for size. He enunciated each letter and syllable. “Perplexed.”

“Ugh. Can you just—”

He smiled at you reverently. “You’re so smart, teaching me all these real world words. It’s just one of the many things I love about you. I love you so much.”

“Oh my god, we’ve been over this. You don’t love me. You don’t even know me.”

Ken gasped dramatically. 

3. He scrambled to put on a front of indignance, launching into a speech about how lucky you were to be there and how ungrateful you were being.

“Of course I love you! How could you say that? And you love me, too. Actually, you should be thanking me! You’ve got everything you could ever want here. I mean, we’ve got Scarface and Pulp Fiction special collector’s edition VHS tapes—”

“Oh my god,” you groaned, placing your head in your hands. “I can’t. I can’t.”

“—and a big, shiny truck car, and a boxing gym, and six mini fridges. We’ve even got our very own mojodojocasahouse. And you’ve got me, of course.”

“Wait a second. Our house?” you asked. 

“Yeah. Our mojodojocasahouse.”

“What? What do you think this is? You kidnapped me, Ken. I don’t even want to be here. You know that.”

“Yes, you do!” he yelled, making you jump. “This is what you do when you’re boyfriend girlfriend. Every night is our night and you both live together in a—”

“Dear god, please don’t say it again.”

4. Every time, without fail, he caved.

It didn’t take long for his resolve to shift into poorly disguised distress. It bothered and perplexed him, how unhappy you were. 

He just wanted to make things right.

“I don’t know what else to do,” he said pathetically, collapsing onto the bed next to you. He stared up at the sparkly pink ceiling and sighed. “I just want to make you happy. I’m trying my best.”

The weird part about all of this was that you actually believed him. And for a split second, you almost pitied him. Almost. There was something likable about Ken, even in spite of how maladjusted he had become. But then you came to your senses and acknowledged the reality of the situation. No matter how hard he tried to convince you otherwise, he had gravely wronged you, not the other way around. He was holding you here against your will and treating you like you were the bad guy because you weren’t entertaining his delusion. He was acting like this was all your fault.

And it certainly was not.

You wondered if a softer approach would prove more favorable. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and if you had to be a little manipulative in order to get out of this, you were willing to play nice. 

For now.

You sighed. “Ken, look. I don’t mean to be…mean.”

“You are being mean!” he pouted.

“And I’m very sorry for that. Here, let me—” You reached out and started playing with his hair. He smiled at you, shutting his eyes and leaning into it. After a few seconds, he splayed out on top of you, his chin pressing into your stomach.

“Okay,” you sighed. “If you really loved me—”

“Wow, I really like that. Please keep doing that.”

“If you really loved me, you would let me leave.”

He laughed. “I am letting you leave, silly. I asked you if you wanted to go for a drive.”

“I mean here. If you really loved me, you would let me leave Kenland.”

“Kendom. It’s the Kendom.”

“Okay, yeah. That. If you really loved me, you would let me go.”

His jaw ticked. “You don’t just leave people you care about,” he said resolutely. “You don’t ignore them.”

“Going by that logic, if you really cared, you wouldn’t ignore my requests.”

“I told you no, and what I say goes.”

“But you’re not even listening to what I have to say!”

“I don’t have to. I know what’s best for us, and I get to make the decisions.”

“Why?

“Because I’m the man. And that’s just how it is.”

You were both quiet for a few seconds.

“That’s fucking absurd, Ken.”

“Fucking absurd?” he parrotted. “I’ve never heard that before. I’m learning so many real world words today! What does that mean? Fucking absurd.”

“Ughhhhhhh,” you groaned, closing your eyes and leaning back against the headboard.

A few seconds later, you felt a slight pressure near your nose and ears. Your hands jutted out in surprise. You opened your eyes to Ken sitting a little too close to your face, except now the entire room was cast in a hazy pink filter. 

“It’s okay,” he said, grabbing your wrists. “I got you sunglasses. Y’know, for later on when we go to—”

“Beach,” you both said in unison.

“Exactly,” he grinned. “So let’s have breakfast and get ready. Okay?”

It bothers and perplexes him, how unhappy you are. 

Evidently, just not enough to let you go.

#ken x reader #dark!ken x reader #yandere ken x reader #dark!ken #yandere ken

[lyinginbedmon]

Oh lordy is there bad things going down across the VTuber space right now so I’m gonna try and unpack them for ease of comprehension.

Real quick: A VTuber is essentially just a regular livestreamer but instead of a facecam they have a custom model (usually made of layered images but also often a full 3D object) that tracks their face and such. Big tiddy anime girl representation to say the least but it’s a very creative space.

Next: Silvervale, Silver for short. Silver is one such big tiddy anime (wolf) girl, who is part of a corporate group of VTubers called VShojo. I probably don’t need to describe much more for the purposes of this post.

Hogwarts Legacy is a video game based in the bigotry-entrenched universe of the Harry Potter franchise by notorious face-of-transphobia Joanne K. Rowling. Since its announcement in 2018, trans individuals and groups have quite rightly highlighted numerous ethical and moral problems with the game ranging from the inherent bigotry of the setting, to the involvement of literal far-right YouTubers in its development, to just the basic stuff like its success greenlighting further instalments all while Rowling pockets royalties to (expressly) further fund her anti-trans projects (which includes her writing Literally being read into record to quash things like the Equality Act).

The general advice, which would be true regardless of your actual thoughts on the game or franchise, was to just not play it. That way Rowling makes less money, fewer future games are made, and nobody gets hurt as a result. You end your day $60 better off that you can spend on some other big game that isn’t basically radioactive.

To say the Video Gamers did not take that advice well would be an understatement, but things get really ugly when a streamer who otherwise professes to creating a calm and friendly atmosphere, who makes claims to being an ally, gives in and plays the Wizard Game. I’m not going to say that people haven’t been harassed for playing it, almost certainly someone has, but I just don’t have the data to be certain that it goes much further than just posting “trans rights” in chat.

Enter Silvervale. Despite half a decade of advance warning that she shouldn’t play this game, she played it anyway. Live on camera. The community she’d fostered for years didn’t take this well either, and the stream ended early amid purported harassment from the chat. Silver wasn’t the first VTuber to play the Wizard Game, but she was one of the first English-speaking ones.

Things could have just quietly ended there, but Silver then returned to streaming with more of the game and a statement that she had been “harassed” by “freaks and degenerates” on Twitter. Not her best choice of words, but the damage was done.

Because of the 5-year leadup to the Wizard Game releasing, the right-wing mob had already noticed the controversy around it and had made Huge investments into buying and promoting the game as well as spewing vitriol against anyone who even slightly suggested that doing so was in poor taste. They naturally then flocked to Silver’s defense and, following her unfortunate description of “marginalised people making their discomfort known as they had declared they would Years in advance” using language straight from 1930s Germany, started directly attacking any streamer who voiced their intent not to play the game however detailed their reasoning.

As a brief aside, there’s some confusion over how Silver’s chat moderation is set up, seemingly blocking such phrases as “trans rights are human rights”. Some say it’s an overzealous automod, others that her moderators are actually blocking the phrases, it’s unclear and not hugely worth focusing on here. But I mention it because it’s one of the common points made as people state their side on this issue.

This has essentially made Silver the face of transphobic bigotry in the VTuber community, whether or not she actually considers herself aligned with such bigots. Multiple smaller and independent trans VTubers have completely stopped streaming because of the bile being spewed at them by people with the likes of #IStandWithSilver in their bios. The overlaps between accounts on social media posting in her defense and numerous far-right hate movements is as undeniable as it is unpleasant to catalogue.

And boy that’s just the foundation of this whole sorry affair.

Another VTuber who is part of the same company as Silver, VShojo, is Apricot (more commonly called Froot). Froot not only decided to vocally not play the Wizard Game, but to post a tweet saying that she would personally donate to UK trans children’s charity Mermaids for every like the tweet received. She added that her brother is trans and she supports him immensely.

So the bigots that leapt to Silver’s defense very predictably started calling Froot a paedophile and child groomer, which is more or less what they label every pro-trans individual ever these days. Froot had to lock replies on her charity post and her post about her brother as a result, though the tweets remain up.

Most recently, a third peer in VShojo called Ironmouse came to Silver’s defense specifically in opposition to the alleged harassment she received which, again, anyone could have seen coming in the last 5 years by googling the Steam page for this game.

And honestly, at this point, whatever actually happened to Silver in that first stream is completely irrelevant because she’s become the rallying cry of people who actively want to exterminate the entire trans community from cradle to grave and literally beyond. And so much of it could be resolved or at least get the wind out of its sails if she took 5 minutes to just apologise for and disavow everything that happened in her name after she decided to keep playing the Wizard Game.

But, and I say this with no disrespect to Silver, I’m not holding my breath.

#long post #vshojo #vtubers #drama #wizard game #I've been trying not to just constantly talk about this issue #but the disk horse just keeps getting WORSE

[lineycantdance]

For all the people clamoring for a book/movie/prequel about Haymitch's Games, why is there virtually ZERO fanart of the 2nd Quarter Quell? Young Haymitch who was canonically a baddie? Maysilee Donner, the OG owner of the Mockingjay pin whose death Katniss explicitly compares to Rue's? Where y'all at?

Suzanne dedicates 3-4 pages in ch 14 of CF to describing Haymitch's Games. We know what the arena was like, how most of the tributes died (bloodbath killed 18, volcanic eruption killed 12), we know how Haymitch outlasted 47 other tributes, we know how he won and why the Capitol was unhappy with his victory.

PLEASE the fact that the arena was designed to look picturesque and enticing but every temptation, from the flowers and fruit, to the butterflies and even the water itself, was toxic like some kind of twisted Garden of Eden???? Gotta hand it to the Gamemakers, that's so scrumptiously evil!

Also, I'm sorry to bring this back to my girlie Maysilee, but the fact that she wasn't killed by another tribute but by flamingo mutts minutes after she broke off her alliance with Haymitch and just as soon as he figured out the force field... Ohhh the Gamemakers did her so dirty!

Honestly, for a character with connections to many established characters in the trilogy, (she was Madge's aunt, Katniss's mom's best friend, AND Haymitch's ally) and who is the originator of an object which was both a testament to the intergenerational dynamics in the series and whose symbolic significance is central to the entire HG franchise, we know very little about Maysilee.

Maysilee's family ran a sweet shop, she owned a pet canary (a songbird used to detect poisonous gas in coal mines) which was bequeathed to Katniss's mother after her death, and she had a twin sister who eventually married the Mayor but suffers from chronic pain, presumably because she remains devastated by her sister's death.

These details establish Maysilee as someone distinctly of the well-off merchant class of D12, and they evoke notions of frivolity, excess, and indulgence. Arguably so does the pin which is described as a family heirloom made of solid gold in the book. And yet, these details also speak to the simple joys in life that should be luxuriated.

Katniss's mother receiving the songbird foreshadows her falling in love with Katniss's father as well as his eventual death in the coal mines. Similar to the cakes in the Mellarks' bakery that Prim so admired, sweets represent joy, beauty, and pleasure, even if rare and fleeting.

Candy as both a source of temptation and pleasure, the canary as both a melodious songbird and detector of poison, plus the fact that the 2nd QQ arena was a poisonous paradise, I feel like these dualities had to be intentional! Maysilee's weapon of choice was poisonous darts. She was both beautiful and lethal.

I would like to imagine that Maysilee had something of a rebellious streak as the original owner of the Mockingjay pin. I would like to imagine that she probably had some important things to say given that the last thing the Gamemakers did to her was rob her of her voice.

Maysilee stuck her neck out for Haymitch and rescued him from a Career tribute before their alliance was formed. I would also like to imagine that, even though she died in the arena, her legacy lives on in the little and big acts of defiance exhibited by the other characters around her.

Her spirit lives on in Katniss's mom who moved from the merchant sector to the Seam to be with Katniss's father. In Madge who brings Gale her mother's medicine after he's whipped for hunting illegally. In Haymitch who becomes a key figure in the rebellion. And obviously in Katniss who risks her life for Prim, Rue, and Peeta.

We're all familiar with the origin story of the Mockingjay as a crossbreed between the mockingbird and a Capitol muttation—the Jabberjay which was intended to gather rebel intelligence but backfired. The Mockingjay thrived outside of the Capitol's control and thus became a symbol of anti-Capitol resistance.

It's called a MOCKINGjay because it made a mockery of the Capitol's failings. Sometimes mockingbirds are called nightingales but Suzanne intentionally used the former in the portmanteau of her fictional bird species because she literally spells things out with her naming conventions!

Thus, any character who acts in defiance of the Capitol's expectations or designs is akin to a Mockingjay. It's Haymitch avoiding other tributes as much as possible and only winning by exploiting the arena's forcefield—the D1 girl's axe backfires, and she's taken out by her own weapon. It's Katniss holding out the berries and refusing to win on the Gamemakers' terms, forcing their hand to let both her and Peeta live. It's Reaper using the Capitol flag for his makeshift morgue.

It's all the tributes who gave solace, comfort, dignity, and respect to other tributes in their deaths (this happens A LOT but notice that all the D12 Victors do this). It's Thresh sparing Katniss for taking care of Rue. It's Peeta playing with the intent of helping Katniss win. It's Mags volunteering for Annie, it's Finnick resuscitating Peeta, etc. It's anyone risking their life or livelihood for someone else's sake. It's care, compassion, and even love persisting in the most brutal of circumstances.

For me, taking risks to care for others is what flies in the face of the Capitol ideology that people are inherently prone to war, violence, and destruction. This is especially true when it happens in the Games which are premised upon an "every man for himself" and "kill or be killed" mentality.

For me, taking risks to care for other people is the power of the Mockingjay symbol. It's also the meaning of the Hanging Tree song; risking everything for the chance of love and true freedom, even unto death. And that kind of hope is what rebellions are built on.

I just think that the Mockingjay pin means so much!!! I didn't even mention how, when Katniss pins it on her green shirt, she associates it with the freedom of being in the woods. It reminds her of her father whose singing voice was so beautiful that the mockingjays stopped to listen. The pin grounds her and makes her feel like she's taking a piece of home, a piece of her father into the arena.

Also, the pin is what makes Rue want to trust Katniss! For Rue, music is the one thing she can't live without, and back in D11 she sings to mockingjays to communicate that the working day is done. Katniss offers to give the pin to Rue, but Rue says she likes seeing it on Katniss better.

Also, let's not forget that the pin is a parting gift from Madge, Katniss's friend who truly cherishes her. As with the crowd who offers her the three fingered salute which she attributes to D12's respect for her father or Prim's loveableness, Katniss has difficulty recognizing that people like Madge already respect, admire, and care for her in her own right for her tenacity and bravery.

Madge is very insistent about informing Katniss that she's allowed a district token and implores her to wear the pin into the arena. This is likely a way of honoring her aunt who presumably also wore the pin as her district token. If so, then it's likely that Haymitch would have recognized the pin which may have given him an extra push to do his utmost to save Katniss because it reminded him of the girl he couldn't save.

Anyway, I feel like the intricacies of the mockingjay pin, its original owner, and its connection to the 2nd QQ are a little underappreciated. Like, this isn't even getting into the everlark parallels that write themselves... Please, Haymitch and Maysilee paved the way. They were the blueprint.

Personally, although I'm just as intrigued about the 2nd QQ as the rest of y'all, I'm fine with it being left up to the readers' imagination. There have been some great fan interpretations both in the form of fanfiction as well as the fan film by mainstay pro: https://youtu.be/7mUjssn86h4?si=PNH1rblPBp1Us5pg

I just find it kind of strange that, given how much interest there seems to be around Haymitch's Games, there isn't that much fan content, discussion, or analyses about them. Please feel free to contribute any thoughts, corrections, or reactions to this post!

#the hunger games #thg #the hunger games renaissance #thg meta #2nd quarter quell #50th hunger games #haymitch's games #mockingjay pin #haymitch abernathy #maysilee donner #maysilee donner appreciation post #it just means so much to me #but so much of this context was excised from the films lol #they completely shafted madge #thg ramble

[vioartemis]

We all go a little mad sometimes

(Amber Freeman x fem! Carpenter! Loomis! reader)

Summary: Being Billy Loomis' daughter and having the opportunity to continue your father's legacy with your girlfriend is enough to make you happy, until you realize that means your sister will probably hate you a/n: There's no logic at some point don't question it please TvT and don't get me wrong, I really like Sam, but I had to be mean to her in this ;-; Request is here :)) Warnings: blood, injuries, death, slight angst (?) (English isn't my first language, I'm sorry if there are mistakes or if something doesn't make sense TvT)

•°¯`•• 3 years before Ghostface appears again (2019) ••´¯°•

Tonight was a date night at your girlfriend's house. She wanted to watch Stab again. Not that you didn't like the movie, but you wouldn't mind watching something else for once.

There was something that upset you for a week or so, and this movie only made things worse. You knew Amber was a huge fan of the Stab movies, and you couldn't help but think it had an influence on your relationship.

"Baby? Everything's okay?"

You looked up at your girlfriend.

"Yeah I was just... thinking"

You gave her a reassuring smile. You weren't sure she was all convinced, but she didn't investigate more and went back to watching the movie, playing with your hair softly.

You didn't say anything for an hour, before let it out without any warning.

"You're not dating me just because I'm Billy's daughter right?"

She seemed surprised by your question. You sat up, now facing her.

"What? Of course not! Why would you think that?"

"I don't know... it's just... you're so pretty and fun and smart and amazing and everyone likes you and you could pull every fucking person on earth but you're dating me... I don't understand how someone like you can be interested in someone like me"

She seemed even more shocked than before.

"Baby..." she took your hands "I don't care who your father is, I didn't even know when we started dating. I fell in love with a beautiful girl, the most beautiful girl I've ever met. You're so kind, generous, talented, and you don't even see it. But I do. I love you for who you are, and you're an amazing person"

With that, she placed a gentle kiss on your lips. You were relieved.

•°¯`•• 2022 ••´¯°•

This part of the plan was the one you hated the most, even though you didn't have to do much. Amber and Richie were taking care of everything, you just had to pretend you were with Amber all night long while she was attacking Tara. Your sister.

You loved Tara almost as much as you loved Amber. But you had to make Sam come back to Woodsboro in some way, and one of her sisters getting hurt was the best thing you came up with.

When Amber came back that night, the first thing you asked was if Tara was okay. Stupid question knowing your girlfriend stabbed her 6 times.

"She's alive, don't worry"

Killing her wasn't part of the plan, you made it very clear. You sighed in relief.

"And you? Are hurt?" you asked

"I'm fine, just got kicked in the head, nothing bad"

She smiled at you and wrapped her arms around your waist, pulling you closer to her.

"Everything's going to be okay baby, soon we'll leave Woodsboro and start a new life together..."

She kissed you lazily, her eyes fluttering shut as she fell asleep.

"Welcome to act 3"

This sentence marked the begging of the last part of your plan. After Amber shot Liv, you faked running away like the others, only to lock yourself in a broom closet and put on a Ghostface costume.

You had to bring Gale inside of the house while Amber and Richie took care of Sam and Sidney.

"Oh so there's two of you. Again."

You turn on your voice changer.

"Three actually. We had to bring something new to the franchise. This time you're not surviving the massacre Gale, the fans don't like heroes that always make it."

You grabbed her arm and pulled her up.

"Let's go. You wouldn't want to miss the big finale would you?"

"You know, that's usually when they take off their mask and show who they are while explaining their plan"

"Guess I'm different then"

You pushed her toward the house. Everyone should be in the kitchen by now.

As you entered the hall, you made eye contact with your girlfriend, giving her the signal.

"Speaking of surprises... We have one for you" she smirked at Sidney and Sam

You pushed Gale inside the room for Richie to grab her arm, before stepping in too, turning your voice changer off.

"There's three of you...? But Y/n and Tara are going to call the police and send you all to jail you sick fucks! If you think they're going let you get away with that you've gone mad! " Sam spat

"We all go a little mad sometimes" you said, taking the mask off, revealing yourself

The expression on your sister's face almost made you pity her. Almost.

"How did I do?" you asked your girlfriend, a smile on your face

"Nailed it baby"

She walked up to you and kissed you tenderly.

"Y/n...?"

You turned around to face your older sister.

"You didn't think you could disappear for 5 whole years and come back as if nothing happened, did you?"

"I already told you I left because-"

"Because you're Billy Loomis' daughter and you wanted to protect us. I remember that. But guess what? I'm his daughter too! You didn't go that far in mom's diaries huh?"

"You've become exactly what I wanted to protect you from..."

"Sam Sam Sam... This has nothing to do with our dad. All of this is because of you. Because you left us alone with mom. She spent her time drinking to the point she passed out on the couch - when she was at home, which didn't happen that often. You left us alone. Do you have any idea how broken Tara was after you left? How broken I was? You were our model!"

You started to tear up. You had that on your heart for so many years, it felt good to let go.

Your girlfriend rubbed your arm, a worried expression on her face.

"You okay baby...?"

"Yeah, I'm... fine"

Richie and Amber explained their motive to the girls, before he sent her find Tara.

"She's not here!"

"What do you mean she's not here? She's can't have gone far!"

"I can't find her!"

Suddenly, you heard her scream. You got up immediately.

"You handle handle them?"

He gave you a "who do you think I am?" look. You didn't waste more time and ran to where you thought Amber was.

You found her on the floor, Tara on top of her, hitting her with her crutch. You grabbed her by the waist and pinned her to the floor, gently.

"Y/n...? You-"

Her eyes widen at the sight of the black robe you were wearing. She started to struggle against you.

"Tara- stop- please-"

You tried to keep her still. But to do so, you had you push on her abdomen. She hissed in pain. You didn't like hurting her. You felt really bad, and she should've see it in your eyes, because she stopped moving.

Amber went back into the kitchen, and you could hear her scream again. You gave a hesitant look to your sister, not sure she wouldn't move if you let go of her.

"Please don't do anything stupid... I don't want you to get hurt..."

You got up quickly and ran to the kitchen, where Gale and Sidney were fighting Amber. You stabbed Gale before she could see you and pushed her away from Amber. Her head hit the counter, and she fell on the floor.

You didn't have time to check if she was dead or not, due to your head being hit by a pan, hard. You fell on the floor and passed out almost immediately.

When you woke up, you found yourself in the back sit of Amber's car. You were alive, with a big headache, and next to you...

"Tara...?"

Her eyes were red. She cried.

"Baby? How do you feel?"

You turned to Amber, driving.

"Yeah... and you?"

"Couldn't be better! We made it baby!"

She had a wild smile on her face.

"And you...?" you asked your sister

"I lost a sister... and my friends..." she had tears in her eyes

You took her hand in yours.

"I'm... sorry... you think you can forgive me...?"

"... You're all I have left... and I love you... but... that might be hard..."

You were praying she would forgive you one day, and were decided do to all you could to make sure she would be happy in your new life.

#scream #scream 5 #amber freeman #amber freeman x reader #amber freeman x fem reader

[dappledpaintbrush]

If it becomes more than a dream, what do you think a Super Paper Mario movie would be like?

Please write down everything you have to say, it doesn't matter if it's a 100 page essay I would like to read it.

When I finally get not only yapping permission, but also yapping endorsement

I think about the SPM movie a LOT. Not because I think it’s going to happen but because I’m insane. I also think it works better as a show, but I always must migrate to thinking of it as a movie lol. I talk a lot I’m gonna divide my thoughts into sections (Again, I’m turning off reblogs because reblogging an ask gets rid of the read-more, I’m sorry!! It’s for the best LMAO)

Rating:

I would LOVE if they addressed it like the FNAF movie. I remember people talking about how “oh it’s gonna be for kids because it’s a kid’s franchise and they’re gonna make more money if they made it for kids” but they made it PG-13 and. Everything was fine. They made a shit ton of money and everything was fine. Point is, I think SPM would work best as a PG-13 movie. And yeah it sounds like that one clip of SpongeBob and Patrick screaming in terror on a baby rollercoaster, but SPM does have elements that would be Difficult to put in a movie format and still make it rated PG. With the game, it can be passed off as cartoon mischief and thus be E for everyone, sure, but in a movie? I don’t see it. And let me clarify- I know they could make the hypothetical SPM movie be rated PG and still have its original plot, but I believe that is only if they cut down on a lot of things and make it very goofy and overall remove the heart of the story. But do I think it would be fucking PEAK as a PG-13 movie? Hell yeah. They could have a lot more leg-room to truly pay homage to the game, which is known as one of Mario’s darker stories for a good reason.

But do I believe they would make it PG-13? No. Definitely PG. Again, I know this is a Mario game and it’s not some super evil sick twisted story oh my god cover your eyes little timmy blah blah blah, but STILL. Pulling off some of its core scenes on the big screen where there’s SO much more detail in the animation and the voice acting etc etc etc would be hard to accomplish without making said scenes less impactful or even shallow. And if you still think I’m being dramatic, the mario movie is rated PG. The Mario movie. And all Mario did was get punched and got a bruise on his eye. I’m sure if there was a storyboard scene of him, Luigi, Bowser, and Peach getting set on fire and going to the afterlife, it would have been SCRAPPED. OR, it would have absolutely no emotion other than “erm… THAT just happened!” Take your pick.

All in all, if it were to happen, the SPM movie will lose some things. Nintendo would NEVER allow Mario to be in an PG-13 movie. It’s unfortunate :(

Speaking of the Afterlife:

Nintendo will have to cut out the Underwhere, Overthere, Grambi, and maybe even Luvbi and Bonechill. OR, completely revamp that whole thing to make it as religiously ambiguous as possible. No fucking doubt about it. At ALL. I can already see the change.org petition run by a Christian mother screaming at Nintendo for blaspheming God and making a joke out of heaven and hell “which are very real and you’re teaching kids it’s some silly fake thing in a fake Mario movie BUT NO PEOPLE HAS TO KNOW THEY WILL BURN FOREVER IF THEY DONT OBEY!!!” (Note: just in case it wasn’t obvious, I am mocking the Christian mother in the quotation marks). I’m surprised Nintendo even got away with it in the first place, ESPECIALLY regarding Luvbi and Bonechill. I put “maybe” regarding those two because it’s likely 2 and 2 won’t be put together about who inspired their characters, but at the same time. It probably will. Yeah it definitely will

Bonechill is directly inspired by Satan, and Luvbi makes indirect references to Jesus. Regarding Bonechill, to quote from his Wiki:

“Tippi's tattle says that Bonechill may have once been a Nimbi, which is supported by the fact that he has feathered wings on his back. This fits into the overall motif of The Underwhere and The Overthere, which draw heavily from both Ancient Greek mythology and the Christian religion. In particular, the concept of a fallen angel (Nimbi) is inspired by the Biblical story of Lucifer, who became the devil after betraying God. Furthermore, in Dante's Inferno (of the epic Italian poem, the Divine Comedy), Lucifer (now known as Satan) is depicted as a giant, six-winged beast imprisoned in ice in the deepest circle of Hell. This is all paralleled by how Bonechill has six wings, was imprisoned deep below the Underwhere, and is a self-styled "master of the cold dark" who uses ice breath to attack and is "something of an evil celebrity in certain circles of the Underwhere". Similarly, his being released during an apocalyptic event (the emergence of The Void) may be derived from the Book of Revelation, where Satan escapes from hell and he and his army are battled and defeated in heaven.”

Do you see that shit. Do you think Nintendo would risk doing this in a movie, let alone ever again in any game?The backlash would be INSANE. And they could easily call Luvbi a blasphemous mockery of Jesus because she sacrificed herself to save the world, AND CAME BACK LATER😭😭😭😭😭

Anyways, yeah. In the SPM movie, that whole chapter of the game is what’s going to be changed the most. It likely will be solely based off Greek mythology with no Christian themes involved. Or even LESS than that if they’re too scared. God I wish they weren’t. That chapter is one of my favorites in the whole game (mostly bc it’s crazy to me how Nintendo didn’t chicken out of making it), and it sucks so bad to know it’ll likely be almost nonexistent if the SPM movie were to happen.

Run-Time:

This game is. Long.

In my perfect world, I like to think of it as one big grand movie and it’s the longest animated movie ever made and it’s animated by Dreamworks in the style of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and it has 5/5 stars and critics are crying and screaming of joy and everybody who clowned on this game has personally showed up to my door to apologize for their wrongdoing and beg for my forgiveness. But unfortunately we can’t have everything we want

I don’t think they will cut out any of the dimensions, I just think that most side plots will be rushed through like a montage :/ It’s why I think it will work best as a series. Every episode could be dedicated to a Dimensional Door. But that also means it’ll likely have less of a budget which sucks

Blumiere and Dimentio:

Something will have to change.

First of all, Blumiere. I don’t exactly know HOW, but they will have to change about his story. The game itself has already gotten criticized for “romanticizing a toxic relationship” between Blumiere and Timpani, and that criticism will be MAGNIFIED with a blockbuster film. Again, I don’t know how the will do it, but they’ll have to adjust that plot to please the masses more than likely. It fucking sucks. But this is modern Nintendo. They are going to go the safest route possible.

That’s not the only thing regarding Blumiere that will have change. Yk how the game also gets criticized for giving Blumiere a happy ending but not Dimentio despite the fact that, regardless of their motivations, they both tried to kill everyone? That criticism will also be magnified with the release of a movie. They’ll have to modify the story to make Blumiere’s actions significantly less evil than Dimentio’s, which could be accomplished through making it so that Blumiere is mind-controlled by the Dark Prognosticus. OR, they’ll have to give Dimentio a happy ending too, whether that be he survives and changes his ways (BOOOOO🍅🍅🍅), or he also gets the “he’s alive somewhere” treatment like Blumiere and Timpani did. However, in order to accomplish that successfully with an audience of five years olds, they’ll have to directly talk about Dimentio’s own tragic backstory with as much weight as they do Blumiere’s. And l. Don’t see that happening. It would be absolutely CRAZY if it did and I would probably pass out in the theatre if we got to see the Pixl Creator, but yeah, it’s unlikely.

Mr. L:

Some good news! I see them making Mr. L recognizable

They probably won’t.

BUT THEY LIKELY WILL

In the first movie, Mario and Luigi’s bond was shown in ways they have rarely done before. Their love and care for one another is clearly shown, not just “that’s my brother Luigi wahoo!” or something. I mean come on, think of the hug scene. And you mean to tell me in the 2nd or 3rd or idk movie, Mario can’t recognize him with a blindfold on? Be serious

In a game, yeah haha funny gag, but in a movie, it’ll be met with more annoyance than anything and it’ll be really disingenuous, and it already does get that criticism in the game where it’s arguably “more acceptable.”

Conclusion:

There’s a lot more that can be discussed, but this is all I’ve put a significant lot of thought into about what I think the SPM movie would be like if I thought about it realistically. Basically, if it’s gonna truly be an SPM movie, Nintendo’s gonna have to grow a backbone. But even then, I still think it would be a great movie, especially in the eyes of those who haven’t played the game and thus don’t have the same “ARGHH BUT YOU FORGOT FLIP-FOLK NUMBER FORTY TWO” mentality that I have LMAO. And even THEN, I still think it would be a great movie. Nintendo will just have to be reaaaally careful to adapt to the limitations (that they put on themselves 💀) and still make it a movie about Super Paper Mario.

#spm #super paper mario

[spiderdreamer-blog]

2023 at the Movies: A Year in Review

2023 has been an odd year for American cinema in particular, between overall tepid box office outside of a few big hits and the combination of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes affecting release dates as well as promotional tactics. (Just so we're clear, this is a Union Solidarity Blog) But it was a fascinating year artistically nonetheless, especially on the blockbuster end. What this list aims to achieve is sort of a capsule review of the theatrical releases I saw (not counting streaming-only films even if I ended up seeing theatrical releases ON streaming) and how I felt about them in capsule review form. And even then, there's still stuff I need to catch up on like Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Oppenheimer, Elemental, or Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Anyhoo, on with my list, in chronological release order:

John Wick: Chapter 4: Much like its titular hero, there are perhaps some signs that this franchise could benefit from taking a bit of a rest. Some of the worldbuilding is going from knowingly absurd to just plain absurd, and a couple early action beats, while fun (NUNCHUCKS), are a little familiar in terms of director Chad Stahelski's neon-as-fuck aesthetics. Ultimately, it's not too much to derail things, as Keanu Reeves proves a capable grounding lead like always, and the Parisian third act is giddy, comically overblown violence in the grand John Wick tradition that reaches an unexpected poignancy. The supporting cast might also be one of the best in the series; while Asia Kate Dillion's unflappable Adjudicator is missed from the last installment, we do receive Bill Skarsgard doing an OUTRAAGEOUS French accent as a smarmy villain you really want to see dead by the end of this, Donnie Yen as a clever, funny spin on the blind swordsman trope, Rina Sawayama is both badass and touching, Shamier Anderson stands out by dialing down, and my beloved Clancy Brown has some of the best implicit "are you fucking kidding me" reactions I've seen in a while.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie: I was honestly dreading this for a while. Illumination Entertainment is a perfectly cromulent animation studio who makes films that, with a couple exceptions, represent pretty much everything I dislike about American family filmmaking: loud, hyperactive, deficient of nutritional value, and did I mention loud? But the trailers started impressing me in terms of how well they adapted the candy-colored toybox Nintendo aesthetic to a wider theatrical scope. And if nothing else, casting Jack Black as Bowser would probably be pretty awesome (spoiler alert: he was). Thankfully, it manages to be an immensely entertaining, zippy adventure film that minimizes potential annoyances at nearly every turn. This is primarily thanks to a ready-to-play, enthusiastic voice cast (outside of Black, I particularly like Pratt and Day's brotherly dynamic and Anya Taylor-Joy doing a Disney Princess-esque comedy action spin on Peach), a smartly simple story structure, and leaving a lot of potential open for the future like Seth Rogen's lovable ready-for-spinoff-movies Donkey Kong. It may not rock the boat, but it was better than it had any business being, and that counts for a lot in my book.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: The Marvel Cinematic Universe and I are admittedly on a bit of a break. Not because they're doing anything WRONG per se, just that a lot of their shows and movies haven't enticed me as much in the past year. I did get out to see this, though, which is both the best all around MCU film since Endgame and very possibly the best film of its own trilogy. James Gunn pulls out all the stops emotionally for his Marvel swan song (godspeed to you over at the still-in-progress trashfire that is Warner Bros. Discovery, good sir), crafting a beautiful, resonant journey for all the characters. The ensemble cast fires on all cylinders, for one. While Bradley Cooper is the obvious vocal standout as Rocket takes center stage, it's assuredly the role of Chris Pratt's career (other non-Mario/Marvel directors, take note! You can in fact have this guy be funny, credibly tough, AND sympathetic instead of missing out on the other two), Zoe Saldana navigates a difficult emotional dance, Pom Klementieff finds real heart in Mantis, Dave Bautista is still one of our most interesting wrestlers-turned-actors in the choices he makes, Karen Gillan has slowly become of the MCU's MVPs as Nebula, Will Poulter is endearingly dunderheaded as a comedic take on Adam Warlock, and Chukwudi Iwuji proves a truly vile villain who exemplifies the maxim of "if you really want an audience to just HATE a motherfucker, have him torture cute animals". And of course Gunn's musical tastes remain impeccable, such as a Beastie Boys needle drop that prompts a truly bitchin' fight scene (oddly the second time this specific song happened this year in a Pratt-led vehicle). It's funny, it made me ugly cry at SEVERAL points, and I got to see a psychic cosmonaut dog beat people's asses with her mind. What more could I want?

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse: Into the Spider-Verse was a revolution and a revelation for what the American animated film industry could accomplish artistically and technically. How could a sequel possibly live up to it? Across does, against all odds, proving to be the Empire Strikes Back to the original's Star Wars in terms of going darker/more complex on the emotions and to greater visual heights (albeit with the caveat that maybe next time, we can manage the production better and not crunch people so much). Co-directors Justin K. Thompson, Kemp Powers, and Joaquim Dos Santos (who I've stanned as one of our best animation action directors from Justice League Unlimited through Voltron Legendary Defender) craft a propulsive narrative that asks big questions about who and what Spider-Man is. And while those will have to wait to be fully answered in the third installment, what it sets up is no less compelling or thrilling. Shout-outs in particular go to Hailee Steinfeld, who has to anchor this film with Gwen as much as Shameik Moore's still-iconic Miles; Daniel Pemberton for an outstanding score; Oscar Isaac for giving rich complexity to Miguel O'Hara, who could have felt like a boorish bully in lesser hands; and Jason Schwartzman for not just proving he transitions REALLY well into voicework between this and projects like Klaus, but being by turns pathetically funny and terrifying in ways I've never heard him be as the Spot. Can't wait to see where that goes next time in particular.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny: "Pleasant surprise" comes to mind. While I never hated Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as much as most, it was definitely a little underwhelming as a possibly final Indy adventure. (Not helping is that Steven Spielberg immediately turned around and made an infinitely better indy movie in the form of The Adventures of Tintin) So I was curious to see how going to the well for seemingly the real final adventure would work this time around. Thankfully, director James Mangold proves he has a good eye for creative action, even if nothing here quite reaches the heights of the original trilogy, and Harrison Ford does some of his best acting in ages as a weary, burnt-out Indy; one always got the sense that THIS was much closer to his heart than Han Solo. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is a terrific foil to him, joyously amoral (or so she says), while Mads Mikkelsen finds a new spin on coldly cruel cinematic Nazis; he has a tense reintroduction scene that had me squirming in my seat. Add in a slam-bang ending and a touching epilogue, and I'm pretty happy with where things end up for our favorite archaeologist. A solid B+, which we could use more of nowadays.

Also they Poochie-d Shia LaBeouf, which is hilarious to me on several levels.

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One: The Mission: Impossible franchise has undergone a curious metamorphosis from where it started as one of many oldies TV adaptations in 1996 to a purposefully old-school action franchise. Director Christopher McQuarrie has become a pro at these over the last three installments, and Dead Reckoning (now no longer a part one, as the back-in-production followup will be retitled) has lots to offer both large and small for action fans even outside of the continued spectacle of Tom Cruise Possibly Wants To Die On Camera. Obviously the big stunt sequences remain a draw, like a terrific car chase through Rome or the climactic journey onboard the Orient Express because trains are ALWAYS bitchin' locations in movies. But just as good are pleasures like a tense cat-and-mouse game in an airport where nobody's quite sure whose side Hayley Atwell's thief Grace is on, Henry Czerny coming back to the franchise after 27 years and looking as shiftily patriotic as ever, Pom Klementieff on this list for the second time looking really hot as she whoops ass, and Cary Elwes getting an unexpectedly choice exposition monologue. Plus the whole deal with the A.I. villain ended up being, uh, fairly relevant.

Barbie: A brilliant human comedy from an unexpected source. This could have gone wrong in so many different ways, I can easily imagine a version that's WAY more lugubrious and, crucially, much less funny. But director/co-writer Greta Gerwig has quickly become one of our best talents between this and the wildly-different-but-has-more-in-common-than-you'd-think Little Women (I also still need to see to heard-it's-excellent Lady Bird). With an infinitely clever script (I love in particular that the "real world" is just as ridiculous in its own way as Barbieland) and Sarah Greenwood's impeccable production design, Gerwig and her cast craft a feminist fable that remains light and funny even at its most strident and angry. Margot Robbie has never been better, hilarious and gut-punching by equal measure, America Ferrera ends up as the unexpected heart of the piece, and Ryan Gosling is absolutely hysterical as Ken while still making him intensely sympathetic. He and Robbie deserve Oscar noms in particular. No, I'm not kidding. Might expand this one to a full review at some point tbh.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem: I missed this in theaters and regret it immensely, given that this is a hilarious, cheerfully irreverent take on characters who've really managed a surprising amount of relevance in the modern age. Actually having teen actors voice the Turtles makes them feel so authentic, and they're matched well by an equally game cast like Ayo Edebiri's thoroughly modern April O'Neill, Jackie Chan as a more bumbling-but-heartfelt version of Splinter than usual, and Paul Rudd going full surfer bro as Mondo Gecko. And of course the scribbled-notebook underground comics vibe of the animation is a neat bit of full circle aesthetics if you know these guys' origins.

Wish: All of you are wrong and being dumb about this movie. It's not that I can't grok some of the criticisms as being legitimate, to be fair; for example, the songs, while very good on their own IMO, don't always hit the iconic level of a Frozen or Encanto. But the vitriol with which they've been expressed, and this odd narrative that Disney is in the toilet artistically and needs to nebulously "fix" things, is something I can't at all agree with. It's gorgeously rendered, for one; yes, I would potentially like to see a return to full 2D animated films for the studio at some point too. But if they're gonna experiment even marginally with CGI, I applaud co-directors Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn making it look this painterly as a starting point. And as with a lot of modern Disney, there's real richness and inner life to these characters. Ariana DeBose is a winning heroine as Asha, who feels distinct from other "princesses" by essentially being working class and unionizing the kingdom. And Chris Pine as Magnifico is a Disney Villain for the ages, blending real complexity in his relationships with scenery-chewing madness. (Also am I the only one who got major "studio executive/CEO" vibes off him?) If this is "mid" or "bland" Disney, I really question what some of y'all are seeing that I seemingly can't.

Also I liked the 100th anniversary references, sue me. The last one in particular gets points for quiet charm rather than grandstanding.

The Boy and the Heron: Hayao Miyazaki, anime's favorite grumpy old man, comes back out of retirement for like the fifth time. Seriously, remember when Princess Mononoke was supposed to be his last film 25+ years ago? I'll believe his "last film" is truly his last when he's in the cold, cold ground. Regardless of the continuing saga of Old Man Won't Retire Because He Seemingly Can't Be Alone With His Own Thoughts, this is a brilliant, haunting spectacle of animation that might be a new favorite for me. Some have called it confusing, whereas I go for "dreamlike", possibly his most to date. Nearly every frame is suffused with longing and melancholy (though this also has some of Miyazaki's best comedy in a while), and, oddly like Wish, this feels like a true career reflection, if a bit more fraught and questioning what legacy truly means. Joe Hisaishi contributes possibly his moodiest, most dissonant score, with little of the bombast or whimsical charm that typifies his music, but it works unfathomably well. Credit also to the dub, with Robert Pattinson as funny and menacing as you've heard, but Luca Pandoval is also excellent as our stoic lead Mahito, Florence Pugh manages to be both a total badass and a funny old woman (it makes sense in context, I promise), Christian Bale puts forth a fascinating two-step with his boisterous father, Gemma Chan and Karen Fukuhara nail some complex emotional turns, Willem Dafoe nearly steals the whole thing in under two minutes, Dave Bautista makes a real meal out of a part not much bigger than that, and Mark Hamill finds resonance as a tired old man.

#movies #analysis #criticism #disney animated canon #wish 2023 #tmnt mutant mayhem #john wick #atsv #mission impossible #the boy and the heron #barbie #the super mario bros movie #indiana jones #guardians of the galaxy volume 3

[jjnonken]

Been a while since I've posted. I've decided I hate Facebook again and for now I'm letting off steam here.

I said before that I'd deleted my long rant and just stuck to a mini-rant. Well, today I'm posting a long rant. Fair warning: This is a rant.

As far as I can tell, there's no good news about the Borderlands movie. They've changed Commander Knoxx's character to be Atlas's daughter instead of General Knoxx, so I guess she'll be Commander Atlas now. That... doesn't matter. Of all the issues I have with this movie, whose daughter she is is probably the least important. Actually, it's not an issue. Her EXISTENCE is an issue, but not which NPC is her parent. Atlas isn't even an NPC, it's just a gun manufacturer, presumably named after its founder. We never see the founder(s) nor, as far as I can remember, hear any backstory. I'm not sure which problem they were trying to solve by the rename.

First problem: We do have to rescue Lilith, Athena, and one other who I won't mention due to spoilers. I can only think of those three. Lilith tells you to kill her if you can't save her... "Better dead than a damsel." Athena engineers her own rescue; you're just the muscle. So there's kind of a dearth of damsels in this franchise. The movie's premise is that Commander uh... Atlas?... needs to be rescued. So, right. Damsel in distress. Kind of immediately contradicts the lore of Borderlands, who has strong women who generally don't need rescuing.

Second is: why General Knoxx's er, I mean, Atlas's daughter? She's a new character. It's like BORDERLANDS ISN'T CHARACTER-RICH ENOUGH, we have to add more just to get the plot started.

Edit: She still shows credited as Commander Knoxx in my web search, including on IMDB. I saw Atlas in the last article I saw on the movie. It's possible it was simply mistaken. I note parenthetically that Knoxx works for Atlas Corporation, and the DLC he's in is Atlas-heavy. Could just be a mistake. Edit to the edit: The Wikipedia article premise mentions her as Atlas's daughter. But she's named Knoxx. I'm fucking confused; which is she?

Next: They have Kevin Hart playing Roland. Kevin Hart is a comedian. Roland is a serious, somber, straightforward guy who never jokes and never laughs, or even smiles. Any humor that happens in relation to him works because it plays off his sober sincerity.

Roland: Oh good, you're not dead. Lilith: That's his way of saying "Hi". Roland: Sorry. Hi.

Why do they need a stand-up comedian to play Roland? Either Hart is trying to branch out and do some serious acting, or... they're making a comedy.

OK, Cate Blanchett is doing Lilith. I don't know if she's the best choice, but I don't know who else I'd recommend. I guess I'm OK with that.

As for Tannis... I love Jamie Lee Curtis, but she's a scream queen that also does comedies. Tannis isn't FUNNY, she's TRAGIC. Again, there's humor, but it plays off her personality, which is informed by her severe social awkwardness. (She's pretty much coded autistic. I don't know if it's canon.) No doubt the trauma she's suffered has exacerbated any existing personality deficits. Or caused new ones. Can Curtis do a sober Tannis? I mean, play her seriously, not deadpan. I don't know. Again, I don't think she's meant to -- this movie is looking more like a comedy every day. Could be worse, but I'm not sure I'd pick her.

Next, we have Claptrap, who is introduced as "The wise-cracking robot" and played by... Jack Black, a comedic voice actor. Thing is, Claptrap does not crack wise. He's hilarious, but that's because, similarly to Roland and Tannis, the game plays off his naive sincerity. He's funny because he's so serious, but clueless. I haven't memorized every line in the entire franchise enough to instantly recall everything that every claptrap robot has said, but as far as I can remember, Claptrap has told MAYBE three jokes on purpose. One is self-referential, spoken by a claptrap who is supposed to be programming the game: "Borderlands? More like Memelands, am I right?" One is spoken right after a hatch is automatically locked, trapping you in the first map: "I hear that getting eaten by bullymongs isn't such a bad way to go." Was that one a deliberate joke? Don't know, so that's my "maybe." And the third is from a side mission called The Iceman Cometh. It's a moderately silly pun that any 10-year-old would be proud of. When you (as a character) don't react, he then EXPLAINS THE JOKE. When you still don't react, he LECTURES YOU on the nature of humor. TWICE. Naive sincerity, not cracking wise. So again, this suggests the movie being a comedy.

So, we have two of the four vault hunters from the first game, Lilith and Roland. The roles of Mordecai and Brick are interesting, in that THEY AREN'T THERE. Why?

Tiny Tina is. She's a psychotic young teen with a penchant for explosives. She's got a connection to Brick, who -- for some reason -- isn't in the movie. She's not the kind of person who needs a bodyguard -- she's the kind of person against whom YOU need a bodyguard. I only bring this up because... ... Krieg is her bodyguard in the movie. Why? I already mentioned her connection to Brick. Krieg doesn't have a connection to Tina, he has a connection to Maya. I don't know when this movie is supposed to take place in the Borderlands timeline, but if Lilith is retired, it'll be between the first and second. Possibly around the time of the Pre-Sequel. We don't see Krieg until BL2, where he's added as the last playable character after the original four plus Gaige. So the timeline doesn't make sense and Krieg's connection to Tina doesn't make sense and Krieg being Tina's bodyguard doesn't make sense. I don't know anything about the actors, I may look them up and try to watch some of their stuff.

Tina doesn't show in the game until BL2, but there's no reason to think she hasn't been around since Borderlands, we just haven't seen her. (But only after the events of BL:PS, since it's Jack's slag experiments on Tina's parents that kill them and drive her into being a vengeful little psychopath.) But Krieg doesn't show up until he becomes a vault hunter? OTOH until then he was living as a psycho... probably on Pandora. So I suppose the timeline might be OK, technically. I'll give them that one. But I still object to the Tina/Krieg connection.

Gina Gershon as Mad Moxxi: Gina is an attractive woman, doesn't have Moxxi's curves, and she's 61. She's pretty hot-looking but I'm not sure she really fits the character, physically. Can she do Moxxi's va-va-voom? Don't know.

Charles Babalola: I don't know him. I try not to get upset at race lifts; I'm used to Sir Hammerlock being the "great white hunter" stereotype, but I suppose it doesn't hurt anything if he's black. At least he's British. This is a weak protestation at most. EDIT: Several people have pointed out that he's canonically black, which I never noticed. Well, OK then, that one's on me.

Bobby Lee plays Larry. He's another stand-up comedian. There sure are a lot of those for a serious film, eh? Also, who the fuck is Larry?

Ryann Redmond as Ellie: nobody's going to match Ellie's unrealistic proportions, but Ryann seems like a reasonable choice physically; basically, you just need a plus-sized woman who can act. I don't know anything about her acting but I presume she's competent, at least. Ellie is a smartass, so wise-cracking from her is welcome. So how come they cast a stand-up comedian as Roland but a serious actress as Ellie? The cognitive dissonance is making my brain cramp.

And Eli Roth has left the project and declared that he does not want credit for his writing. THAT bodes well.

This is supposed to be canon. Canon my ass. This is a TRAVESTY. EDIT: Somebody said it's not supposed to be canon. I read that it is. I'll try to dig up the reference when I get a minute. EDIT 2: Sorry it took me so long, I was busy procrastinating. Now, in my memory, when the first announced the movie they claimed it would be "true to Borderlands", but of course that's changed. I must have skimmed over the more recent "canon" phrasing, sorry. Apparently it's changed to "canon for the Borderlands Cinematic Universe", which is not the same as canon to the games. To me that's seems a bit disingenuous, considering that as far as I can tell, the Borderlands Cinematic Universe consists of one unfinished movie. (And calling it a "Borderlands Cinematic Universe" also seems a bit conceited since their first -- and so far only -- entry has been in Production Hell for 9 years and hasn't even finished.) So my apologies for getting the "canon" claims wrong, but I'm still unhappy and I think they're making excuses. They've taken an Action Movie script, grabbed some names from the Borderlands franchise, and pretended that the result is a Borderlands movie. They did that with Sly Stallone and the first Judge Dredd movie, remember? (Maybe you don't, but I was a fan of the comics. Fortunately the second movie was much, much better.) This makes me think of Stallone's Judge Dredd. (Also the anime version of the Lensman, but that one's pretty obscure.)

Anyway, I have more, but I think I've said what I need to. I may watch the movie out of morbid curiosity. I'm not going to dislike it out of spite, I'm not that hateful. I'll try to give it a chance. I just don't like the odds.

#borderlands #borderlands movie #borderlands 2 #borderlands the pre sequel

[theinsanelycoolandzarming]

Fun fact about me: I used to be obsessed with DreamWorks trolls (the first movie).

I adored this franchise up until I stopped watching the beat goes on, when it ended I kinda forgot about it.

Some years later the 2nd one came out and let's just say I have mixed feelings about this film, I loved the songs and the message and the slight animation upgrade but at the same time I freaking hated the Greek dub

(none of the songs were translated, as opposed to the first movie which had translated every song very successfully and on top of that they changed Branch's voice actor and put a CELEBRITY in his place, the original voice actor for Branch was still in the movie by the way just as a different role, which makes me even more furious now that I think about it).

The final straw was when they made broppy canon. I'mma be honest with you, before the second film, I really shipped them like...

They were the only straight couple I shipped and I watched all the poor quality amvs and all that stuff. Yeah, now that I look back at it I'm like ew wtf but, ultimately I know why I shipped them, it was because I loved the dynamic they had in their platonic relationship.

I always wanted a best friend and their friendship was precious to me but back on those days the trolls fandom didn't value friendship as much as shipping so I thought that that was how I liked them to be. ( I was really young, so romance was confusing to me ).

I despised the moment when Poppy "friendzoned" Branch cause I don't believe in friend zone, I just think that the guys that are being "friendzoned" are being completely delusional and bad friends for having ulterior motives behind being there for the girl that they are friends with. Falling for your friend isn't bad if you don't act on it or act really jealous of their partners in my opinion.

I just really wanted them to stay friends and just that, maybe because I loved that or maybe to provide an example of a girl and a boy being friends in media without it turning into a romance (because I hate that trope, the we have to be together because we're the leading man and the leading woman trope).

I'm probably gonna watch trolls 3 ot of pure curiosity, just to see where the franchise is heading but I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna like it, like at all.

#long post #trolls #dreamworks #dreamworks trolls #trolls franchise #trolls the movie #trolls the beat goes on #trolls 2 #trolls world tour #trolls 3 #trolls band together #poppy #trolls poppy #branch #trolls branch #my thoughts

[fipindustries]

scott pilgrim vs the canon

boy you better have this tagged against spoilers because otherwise this is going to ruin a lot of stuff. all im going to say is, this show cannot be watched without having read the comic first so. keep that in mind.

scott pilgrim was the seminal work of my generation, it was the thing that defined us and the internet to a large extent after it came out in full back in 2010. now we are all here back again, in our late 20's, 30's and even 40's to take a second look at this franchise after everything that has been going on.

and this franchise had things to say.

i went in expecting scott pilgrim the comic, this time more lavishly (and faithfully) adapted than the movie could have ever been. suffice to say i was not dissapointed at all because i didnt get that in any way what so ever.

this is in some senses the modern cannibals of the scott pilgrim franchise, perhaps less cynical and bitter. this is an examination of this story from a slightly askew angle. this is a what if that takes itself to another level.

those who say that this "feels like fan fic" are half right, but if so i want to see what fan fics they are reading because i never saw a fanfic that take the world and its characters so wildly out of context, put them in outrageos new situations they would have never been in, do some genuine crack slash ships and yet still feel so genuine, so true to the original. just because none of what is happening here happened in the comic that doesnt mean these arent the characters we know and love and that this isnt the world and the mood and the vibe that that we all grew up with.

the brian lee o malley style is so incredibly hard to capture. its this wonderful mix of over the top anime/cartoony action mixed with incredibly grounded, down to earth, super chill vibe. we've seen the wonders that came out during the 2010's made by other artists inspired by it or directly trying to emulate it, and yet none of them were able to capture it quite right and this show is the bona fide real deal. it made me remember why scott pilgrim captured me so much back when i read it as a teenager, its a mood impossible to reproduce and yet reproduced all the same here in this show.

wonderful.

the animation is of course out of this world. the voice acting could do some work but im willing to let it slide considering that they went with the original cast from the movie.

this story feels almost like an answer to the observation many people made at the end of the comic and specially the end of the movie. that scott and ramona were obviously not meant to last. that they were still too young and too messed up as people and the relationship was probably going to end badly. the show examines all that with raw honestly and concludes at the end that, sure, maybe this is not going to work out. but that doesnt mean they shouldnt give it their best shot.

as i said at the beggining, this has to be understood as an addenum to the comic. it starts as an adaptation, it lulls you into thinking its a wacky what if and ends up being a covert sequel. with that in mind, this show understands that you already understand and know who scott is and what his deal is, so it chooses to focus squarely on ramona and the exes, and let me just say. the exes are the fucking break out stars of this show. i love every single one of them. the fact that each of them get their own little mini arc and a chance to either redeem or at the very least become genuenly sympathetic was absolutely brilliant. these guys are amazing.

this story in general just presents such a feel good, likeable, chill athmosfere, where even villains who seemed irredeemable can still have just a calm conversation with the hero and just chat for a while. share a coffee, wind down.

if i had one single complaint at all is that i was a little sad by the implication that scott wont learn his lesson at the end of the original story and will continue to be kind of a clueless immature douche. but it is tempered by the fact that this story still has a lot of sympathy for young scott and it makes the case that the guy still very much deserves a chance.

so yeah

loved it, great work, it tried to do something super weird and it somehow succeeded. good job 9/10

#scott pilgrim #scott pilgrim takes off

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Denzel Crocker

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Nickelodeon has produced some of the most iconic animated villains you could ever hope to find. Plankton, Vlad Masters, Zim, Princess Azula, Queen Vexus… The channel had way more hits than misses. But one of the most famous and iconic villains to come out of the channel was the fairy-obsessed teacher from Hell, Denzel Crocker.

The chief antagonist on The Fairly OddParents aside from the babysitter Vicky, Crocker was a cartoonish caricature of the sort of horrible figures a kid would need fairies to deal with in their life, making him something of the male counterpart to the aforementioned Vicky. Obsessed with slinging out Fs and capturing Timmy’s fairies to harness their powers, Crocker was a fun and hilarious enemy who brought the show all sorts of hilarious scenarios…

...Until he didn’t. Crocker is unique among Nickelodeon villains in that he underwent some of the most severe character decay you could ever see from a villain in a long-running franchise. But does it detract from his iconic status and make him a worse villain, or is it just a particularly ugly footnote on a truly fun antagonist?

Motivation/Goals: Mr. Crocker has one single mission in life, and that mission is to once and for all show everyone he isn’t a delusional madman by proving the existence of

His main target right from his first appearance is Timmy Turner, which leads to some really interesting situations. Crocker knows Timmy has fairies, but he can’t exactly prove it definitively, and so we get no end of zany schemes as he tries to prove fairies are real. And as weird and insane as he is, he actually comes fairly close quite a few times.

He also really loves to fail his students. Aside from the fairy obsession, this is his main character trait. Essentially, he is the worst teacher imaginable.

Performance: Crocker is performed by Carlos Alazraqui, one of the MVPS of voice acting; my man was Rocko (whose Modern Life you may be familiar with), the titular Lazlo of Camp Lazlo, Spyro in the original PS1 game, and even the Taco Bell chihuahua. His Crocker voice is honestly similar to his Rocko voice, albeit a lot more nerdy and conniving, and it certainly suits the put-upon scheming teacher. He really is one lucky son of a bitch, getting to voice two of the most iconic characters in Nickelodeon history… and also Winslow on CatDog.

Best Episodes: Crocker’s proudest moment is undoubtedly Abra-Catastrophe, where for a little while he actually manages to conquer the Earth after harnessing the power of Cosmo and Wanda. His epic duel with Timmy across time and space is about as cool as a villain could possibly get on this show.

Another contender is definitely “The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker,” which features Timmy going back in time and witnessing the events that molded his teacher into the man he is today. It turns out the reason he’s such a weirdo is because Timmy fucked everything up and caused him to lose his fairies, which just so happened to be Cosmo and Wanda. Not only is this a pretty great and hilarious example of a character creating their own enemy, it also somehow predicted a major plot point in Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox six years early. I’m not kidding, the book involves time travel and Artemis ends up having to mind wipe his younger self, and said mind wipe leaves a lingering trace of an idea to kidnap fairies. Eoin Colfer, you’ve got some explaining to do.

Best Quote: You’re really going to ask that? Seriously? It’s obviously

There is at least one other notable Crocker quote, one that became a meme because Mr. Crocker sounds like he’s saying something he… uh… doesn’t really have a pass to say:

Final Thoughts & Score: Mr. Crocker presents to me an interesting problem. You see, if we are going by the earlier seasons, Mr. Crocker is probably one of the best villains on Nickelodeon. He’s funny, he’s zany, he can be a threat when it’s called for, and he has one of the best episodes of the series as his focus as well as an awesome movie where he gets to be the big bad. By all accounts, he should get to sit up with some of the truly great villains in animation history!

But Crocker is also the subject of some of the most intense flanderization imaginable. TVTropes defines flanderization as “The act of taking a single (often minor) action or trait of a character within a work and exaggerating it more and more over time until it completely consumes the character. Most always, the trait/action becomes completely outlandish and it becomes their defining characteristic, turning them into a caricature of their former selves.” It’s pretty undeniable Crocker got hit with this hard compared to a lot of the other characters, which is saying something because everyone on the show ended up flanderizaed. The big issue is in the later seasons Crocker ended up overexposed and put in ridiculous situations that didn’t play well to his strengths as a character. What was once a beloved villain became a character that half the fans can’t stand and the other half love, and both answers are honestly valid considering what we’re presented with.

For comparison, Vlad Masters is another Butch Hartman villain who underwent flanderization, mainly because Hartman is incapable of not running character traits into the ground for the sake of “humor.” The difference there, and why I’d still say Vlad is a great villain while Crocker is something of a fallen titan is because of consistency. It’s hard to deny Crocker peaked pretty early in the show’s run with Abra-Catastrophe and “The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker,” while Vlad managed to stay consistently a threat up until “Phantom Planet” despite suffering from Butch Hartman’s trademark bad character decisions. You don’t ever really feel like Vlad’s fucking around, but Crocker? This dude became nothing but fucking around in the twilight years of the show. It also helps that Danny Phantom is a more serialized show with stronger continuity than The Fairly OddParents, which means Vlad developing in any direction is a lot more palatable than in a show where the episodes tend to be pretty standalone and negative continuity is used when needed.

I think the villain I’d most compare Crocker to is Sideshow Bob of The Simpsons. Both are great, iconic villains with fun vocal performances and all sorts of crazy schemes… But both also underwent serious flanderization that led to them being stretched pretty thin and their roles in their respective shows starting to make less and less sense as they appeared more and more. But while Bob is still one of TV’s greatest villains despite his motives decaying thanks to plenty of strong episodes and the sheer power of Kelsey Grammer, The Simpsons knows to use him sparingly, unlike poor Mr. Crocker.

All of this being said… does it really hold him back from greatness? Does how bad he became reflect on how great and fun he was originally? This was actually really hard, and I went back and forth for a long time. I considered having him as low as a six for his poor later appearances and as high as a nine for his early ones, but I think we need to meet in the middle somewhere. So for the first time ever, I’m giving out a fractional score, awarding Mr. Crocker a 7.5/10, leaning a little closer to an 8. The later years of the show certainly handled him badly, but they handled everyone badly, so it’s hard to single him out as the biggest problem. It definitely doesn’t help him score higher, but nothing can take Abra-Catastrophe away from him.

Oh, and I suppose should mention the live action Crocker played by David James Lewis in those dumb Drake Bell TV specials. To keep it brief, he is legitimately one of the best parts of those specials, nails Crocker’s mannerisms, and he can share that score up there.

#psycho analysis #Denzel Crocker #Mr. Crocker #The Fairly OddParents #Nickelodeon #Butch Hartman #carlos alazraqui

[jadethest0ne]

what are your fave versions of raph and donnie and why? since they're your favourites and all (you can pick more than one for each!)

Funny you should ask that since I actually talked with some friends about ranking our fave turtles by iteration. Here's what I wrote for both Raph and Donnie. Keep in mind that this is a tentative ranking since I haven't seen/read all TMNT versions. Also my favorites are subject to change since it tends to shift towards what my mind is on, and also I'm bad at picking favorites haha!

Donnie

Rise Donnie

1987 Donnie

2012 & 2003 Donnie (different vibes, very different reasons for liking them, but I do like them rather equally)

90s Donnie

Batman vs TMNT Donnie

2007 Donnie (you had like, two lines)

Rise Donnie definitely wins out here for me. I enjoy the more manic, mad scientist vibes, and I find his superiority-inferiority complex compelling. I think he has one of the most complete arcs of any Donnie in the franchise. I love his overall character design, too. Donatello from the 87 version is very fun though, and I think he's possibly the most morally ambiguous of the bunch. I feel like he would kill a man. Maybe I just like the darker Donnies [shrug]. Looking at this list again, I miiiiight put 2012 Donnie just slightly above 2003, probably just due to character design and I enjoy Rob Paulsen's performance of him (tho no shade at all to Sam Riegel).

Raph

Rise Raph & 90s Raph [stares at these two for a while] I can't choose okay?!

2012 Raph

1987 Raph

2007 Raph (the best part of this film)

Batman vs TMNT Raph

2003 Raph

Rise Raph is again on top, but also alongside the Raphael from the 90s films. Both of their stories and growth in their respective versions were emotionally moving for me and I have a lot of love for them both as a result. I love the twist on Raph's role in Rise, and I think the 1990s version is a near perfect summation of his character and personality. 2012 Raph was an easy second. He's a nice and rounded "jerk with a heart of gold" character. Sean Astin also knocks it out of the park with his voice acting!

Thanks for asking! I might include my rankings for Leo and Mikey in a later post if folks are interested

#jadethest0ne #ask #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #favorites #rankings

[oodlyenough]

last of us 1x08

I had fucked up dreams last night after watching this episode lmfao

Obviously this will talk about the content of the ep so general cw for attempted child sexual assault and uh cannibalism I guess

Overall, probably one of the best this season. Very faithfully adapted from the game, which is a neutral point, but I was impressed that for all I knew what was going to happen basically beat by beat I was still on edge.

Not sure if this is #unpopular or not but I found David MUCH creepier here (from a starting place of "very creepy already" in the game), and I also found his characterization overall to be better. I've never really been sure if in the game you're meant to ever trust him, but I never did, partly because Nolan North plays him with the slimiest voice imaginable, so him turning out to be a creep is kind of a no-shit moment.

Whereas I thought this David was much better at putting up a front, which in turn made him all the more terrifying. It was way too easy to imagine this David pre-apocalypse, teaching (UGHHH), ingratiating himself in the community, getting away with all of it because these kinds of men so often do. The slide "from teacher to preacher" god like of COURSE this mf would find a different way to gain power, control and access over people including/especially children... Ugh it was all 2 Real and that much more creepy.

I also though the way they dealt with the cannibalism was very good honestly. It would've been easy to purely justify it with "people are starving, and we're eating the dead" -- which is kind of what David says, but you can use the context clues to deduce that it's not just that they're eating their dead out of desperation, but that they are actively hunting people for food, he's keeping it a secret, it's, imo, clearly part of his sick power-tripping rather than necessity (as others pointed out, relatively inexperienced Ellie finds game very quickly and easily in one hunting trip lol).

I also thought the slight tension between David and James was interesting here -- obviously James is also a freak, lol, but their disagreement over how to handle Ellie and the general rift between them, as the episode goes on I think you do get the sense that even James is uncomfortable with this side of David and tried roundabout ways to talk him out of going after her or just about shot her in the head. (I keep wanting to joke that James is like "I can excuse cannibalism, but..." but frankly 1. one of these things IS worse than the other and also 2. in the end he still enables everything David does anyway! Bc of course he does. Isn't that how it always goes.)

This was definitely the big showcase for Ellie and for Bella Ramsey. (Watching people whine and cry about it, "two episodes of mostly Ellie wahhhhh" lmaooo shes the main character of the franchise losers, deal with it.) Ramsey was very good. Everyone's saying it but yes the primal screaming in that restaurant scene, ugh, chilling and excellent.

I did find the very first scene between Ellie, James and David had me wincing, like Ellie's tough guy voice was just so bad and felt like a kid play-acting ... but then I suppose that was probably the exact intent, that Ellie was trying to be threatening but wasn't capable of actually BEING threatening in that moment. There's a huge difference between that fake bravado and her (entirely justified) rage and violence later in the episode.

Joel was very Joel in this. I don't have much to say about him lol, it was nice to see Pedro's Joel go a bit unhinged, something we've heard tell of in various episodes but only seen scraps of before. "It's all right, I believe him" is such a memorable bit of the game and it just as chilling here.

Ok time for some criticisms:

They leaned HARD into the pedophile angle for David here. That was always in the game, but it was fairly subtextual, with more emphasis on the cannibalism. Here it was the reverse. Although disturbing, I generally didn't mind -- but I did feel the final scene, and specifically his dialogue in it, about "liking the fight" was just too Ick for me. Very HBO. I felt we didn't need it to know what he was going to do. (Then again audiences do miss the obvious all the time...)

I didn't really miss the infected fight in this episode. I saw people say that you need it to build a false sense of trust between David and Ellie but like... lmao idk I never trusted that guy for a single second. BUT I will say I *do* wish we saw more infected in the series overall. I know it's not about the zombies~ but they are still, uh, the reason all of this is going on, fundamentally. They're what makes rebuilding a functioning large-scale society near impossible, because it falters so easily with a simple misstep leading to infection and outbreak.

The ending felt a bit rushed. The Joel-Ellie reunion didn't hit me as hard as I wanted, although it seems to have resonated with the show fans. It's not an issue (for me) of him pulling her off David, or not -- I like the way it played out -- it's just... I dunno. Something about the way it ended on the two of them wandering off together, maybe? Maybe I liked the game's cut to black with her sobbing in his arms more?

I also felt that because they spent more time with David's community, there was a real glaring absence of them in the climax. These people have been under David's thumb for who knows how long, presumably with James + co as his enforcers. Now they're free but directionless. What comes next? Obviously, the show can't explore all of that, but questions like "why hasn't anyone tried to stop Joel in town" "why didn't anyone notice the fire" "where are other guards" etc... I think we could've used another scene with Hannah and her mom (who totally looks just like Mel from TLOU2, lmao).

AND the biggest one of all...

Feeling pretty :/ about the "violent heart" speech to Ellie. From David's POV, it makes total sense for him to say those things. He's trying to manipulate and groom her. I completely buy the dialogue, from him.

But I was left wondering if I the viewer was meant to agree, concluded that I am probably supposed to agree, and also that I ... don't. This has been a recurring criticism from me of the show's portrayal of Ellie. I've mostly tried to make my peace with it by acknowledging Show Ellie and Game Ellie are different characters evolving slightly differently and living slightly different lives yadda yadda... But I dunno. I guess I won't be able to say how I feel about it until I see s2 and s3 anyway lmao.

#the last of us #the last of us hbo #god this post is long af

[ruakichan]

So I tried out Tokyo Debunker. tl;dr: LOL that's how much?

I'm not really into otome/joseimuke cause I don't dig the self-insert/dating/tropey cast of boy characters aspect, so I appreciate that this game allows you to set a name for the heroine that isn't your IGN. Allowed me to enjoy the story as its own thing. And the story is about the most positive thing I can say.

The game looks mediocre and out of date, even by my lenient standards, though it's fully voice acted with a star-studded cast (JP) and story beats are highlighted by manga-esque cut scenes to supplement the talking heads VN visuals. But the character art is crude and simple (probably to make the live2d easier), most of the designs uninspired, and the GUI a confusing mess.

It's basically TWST but with horror, and where I had bounced hard off TWST's story and cast, the world presented here is interesting and most of the characters are charming. ...Although some are gratuitous expies of characters from other franchises. The blond screaming kid is basically that blond screaming kid from KNY, and he even has the same voice actor lol (edit: nope the guy just sounds like shimono) I keep expecting him to break out with some amazing power when he's asleep, and it'll have some of the best art in the game lol. But ignoring the ...homages..., I really enjoyed TD's tale, and that's what's keeping me going. There's also some fujobait teasing between the various boys; I straight up lol'd at a card you can get in VIP that is of two of them having a cigarette kiss.

Battle system is just a chibi battler with some music stages (lol), but I appreciate you can skip battles straight from the get-go, which is probably why they didn't bother with the graphics. The game also has an idle clicker base (though without the clicking), which is where you do the majority of your leveling and mat grinding (ie: it's done passively). There's (not live) PVP, but it's like pvp in dressup games. Looks like there's a guild raid boss open during certain times of the day. Guild system itself is eh. There just really is no actual, engaging gameplay.

The monetization is fucking hilarious. I am not one who flinches at spending, but holy hell this game is disgustingly offensive in not only the bazillion ways they monetize, but the cost. They have numerous USD100+ packages, things costing thousands of the diamond currency for progress (locked behind their own gacha), and a mixed summon pool that is less than half characters, with a total 1% ssr rate to pull gear cards or character cards--with gear having higher individual pull rates (you will be more likely to pull gear than a character). Pity for a character is 500, no banner carry over. Absolutely bonkers in this day and age. The ways to spend also include a VIP, sub VIP, weekly and monthly passes, tiered purchases, timed purchases, repeat purchases, rebate purchases... just LOL. I've played f2p games for over a decade, and I've never seen such an egregious amount of microtransactions.

Absolute cash grab. The moment I can't progress in the story due to paywall is when I'll uninstall. Really too bad since I am enjoying the story, and I'd like to know more about the cast (I regret getting the one who visually appealed to me as my starter card cause this pure, earnestly dense kid is smashing me in the face with his moe).

Anywho. Try, but don't spend. If you already play TWST, this is TWST at home but with demons and ghosts. Its troubled development history really shows, and I'd be shocked if it lasts a year. Would make a fun, brainless anime or manga though.

#roo gaming #lol dense naive types with a protective sense of justice really do be a thing for me #so i would die for lucas

[alismodworld]

Alright well I might as well give my thoughts on the movie

SPOILERS TURN BACK WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!

Okay we clear? Cool. So, The Super Mario Bros movie. It was good but I honestly had no doubt it wasn't gonna be good after seeing the trailers and the promos. Of course as with everyone else my only point of fear was Chris Pratt's voice, but while I was watching the movie I realized its actually okay. It never annoyed me and it even fits Mario somehow (yeah I said it come at me). Now that I'm thinking about it, if Charles Martinet was casted it really wouldn't have worked. Whenever we see Mario in the game he's always happy and bouncy, rarely ever serious or emotional so having a voice like that probably wouldn't have made the more serious parts of the movie work at all and at best I would've laughed at how ridiculous it was and at worst I would've been sinking far back into my chair. No disrespect to the guy at all, he does a phenomenal job in the games, but I just don't think he'd work too well in the movie. He does get a nod to in the movie which is great!

The movie is gorgeously animated and I love how the characters translated perfectly on the big screen. The backgrounds were spectacular. And the way the incorporate the elements of the games into the movie to create this world is *chefs kiss*. Everything makes sense and it's not too on the nose, it's believable.

It's a very simple movie, nothing too crazy and if you have very basic knowledge of the Mario franchise you'll get what's going on like how I did. All the characters acted perfectly to how I expected them to and nobody really annoyed me. My only problem is with Cranky Kong's voice. Sorry, but Fred Armisen's voice just doesn't match up with Cranky's appearance.

Jack Black absolutely killed it with Bowser. He was the perfect amount of comedy and intimidation. AND THE PEACHES SONG THREW ME SO OFF GUARD I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO BUT JUST SIT AND STARE!!

Also, PEACH! Oh my god I loved Peach in this movie!! I was scared and honestly expecting her to be too much of a "strong female character" rather than a strong character who happens to be female and she's definitely the latter. She's kind, she's helpful, she's patient, she cares deeply about her subjects, kingdom and everyone in general and she can kick serious ass too. I'm gonna be honest, in my years of playing Mario on and off I never really cared for Peach, IM SORRY TO SAY, I WAS DUMB KID! But watching her in this movie, I absolutely love her!!! AND SHE GOT LORE ON TOP OF THAT?!??

Also usually I hate the whole male character and female character get shoehorned together and end up falling in love trope, but here? PERFECT!! I also never really cared for Mareach but, I'm a changed woman and I never wanted two characters to get together so bad. I absolutely loved their chemistry as it was so organic. Of course they don't which I'm fine with but, maybe potential in the sequel?

All the action sequences were done great in my opinion and actually exceeded my expectations in some cases as I was genuinely expecting nothing but slapstick but we got a healthy amount of slapstick and serious action.

The final battle and climax was amazingly done!! Ugh that hug Mario and Luigi shared was amazing!!!

Okay now for what I didn't like

I wish we had more Luigi scenes. I understand that he's the one who's kidnapped and is basically the whole reason the movie happens but we got only a few scenes with him either running away or being trapped or integrated. I would've loved maybe a scene with him trying to be brave and find a way out or rally others to help each other escape which could've added to his character. Like it's called The Super Mario BROS movie...

Also Toad is just...there. I get he's the comic relief but he really doesn't do much other than tag along. The most I remember him doing was showing Mario to the kingdom, that's it. Idk maybe do something more to flesh out his character, why is he so eager to help Mario and Peach? Why is he an adventurer? What are his goals? Stuff like that.

Also no chain chomps...worst movie, 0/10, D-tier/j

I heard people were talking about the pacing which yeah it's a little fast but it's not too quick in my opinion. I think if they let certain scenes play out longer it would've benefited the movie.

But over all it's a really good movie. Not ground breaking but really good, happy, healthy fun. And I'm quite impressed considering it came from Illumination.

Here's to hoping this movie will pave the way to a Zelda movie!!

#the super mario bros movie #super mario #tsmbm #mario #luigi #princess peach #bowser #donkey kong #toad #spoilers