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#this franchise has always been my guilty pleasure

girlwithamissingpearl · 7 months

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I understand things have been dry in Outlander land but even desert dry has me smh. Ladies, if you have to try that hard to shit all over SH, I’m not saying it makes you a hater but it sure as shit doesn’t make you a liker.

Back after a bit- admit it, we all need to occasionally take a break- I feel I needed to pace myself during the drought. But after a bit of scrolling, I felt compelled to dive right in. Isn’t this fandom about fun, entertainment and guilty pleasure? That’s why I’m here. So why the endless posts from the SH haters? Do people dislike SH, enjoy the snark or just think the man is stupid?

So just for fun (or insomnia) I thought I would play a short game of SH: Stupid, Smart or just SMH?

1. SH and Cons/Private events for $

Why do people have such a problem with SH trying to make a living? Most if not all actors part of a series or movie franchise participate. In my opinion SH is doing it now, so he won’t need to in his 60’s to pay the rent. While most fans are priced out of the more exclusive events, all I can say is the paying fans are the only ones that never complain. Supply and demand. If any charitable component is part of the deal, great. So can we finally put a line under this?

Verdict: Smart as hell

2. SH always “Shilling” SS to his Fans and on SM

Uhm, he is the brand. It’s his company. Can it be a bit much? Yes. Promotion to the fan base and the use of sm is marketing 101. In order for people to try the product they need to know about the product. We can disagree as to his methods or success to date, but fans are not the only ones buying bottles. As for the constant and consistent presence of AN with SH during events? Suddenly they are a couple? WTF. AN is a business partner. He owns part of the business. They both work hard promoting SS, and so far it looks like they will continue to release more SS. Ladies, don’t put your lawn chairs away yet!😉

Verdict: Smart

3. SH and boundaries with his fans

Regardless of the letter you attach to SH, he is a recognized actor around the world. Definitely a people pleaser, in imho, he will happily take a selfie with anyone. Obviously, he never wants to disappoint any fan, but his lack of boundaries and security at events can be cringe worthy at times. If a female actor was touched, mauled, or asked to sign fans boobs or t-shirts it would be a #me too moment. Someone, anyone in security or a handler needs to be bad cop if he won’t. How far is too far?

Verdict: Stupid with a side of SMH

4. SH as a Philanthropist and Charitable Causes

This one really bugs me. MPC has raised over $6m for charity. SH’s name attached to any cause raises awareness and $. The BS from the haters who discount this based on the fact SH apparently never donates his own money is petty nonsense. Gentleman’s ride is one example. Agree it was his female fans that made it happen. And? This is my only fandom but SH is held to an impossible standard. Apparently he is a hypocrite in his support for clean oceans because someone on his team had a catered lunch using single use plastics. Great topic for discussion, but the man didn’t throw the containers in the ocean. Also let’s not judge a person’s commitment based on sm posts. SH can literally, yes ladies literally never win. Thankfully the causes he supports do. I dare you to disagree.

Verdict: Smart

5A. SH’s dating life

According to an extremely ardent part of this fandom, SH has dated😉 every fit blonde 👱‍♀️ within a 250 mile radius of everywhere. I wish that someone would keep track of all the mysterious initials and lack of any literal proof of these women. This is where I separate the snark from the hater’s. While I’m in owe of the investigative skills of some, and enjoy the gossip-even though mom thought gossip was a sin, sorry mom- not all women aka initials welcome the attention. Any woman save CB that SH is remotely warranted or not attached to, has an avalanche of hate comments and 💩emoji in their future, welcome or not. Personally, I believe SH, goes out of his way to protect the people he cares about, and perhaps even those he may not. I think we can agree he is not a monk. However an actor is entitled to privacy. Ginger Jesus included.

5B. SH ‘s Sexuality

From the beginning, 3 years for me, I’ve read posts about someone who knew a friend of a friend of a bartender’s friend who knew for a fact SH had a boyfriend. WTF. You know the drought is real when this bullshit gets recycled. We all know the question has been asked and answered by SH. More than once. Next.

Verdict: SH keeping his private life private: Smart as hell.

6. SH and the use of all things Outlander related

If you don’t get it, I don’t have the time and am too lazy to explain it to you.

Verdict: Smart. Smart as hell

7. SH and CB

The only real problem here is obvious. And I don’t know why the fans or even the haters- btw, I use the term haters like I do profanity- perhaps not the best word, but like GFY, FU, MF, C, etc. I’m lazy and it saves time and no confusion to whom I address. So where the actual f&ck is the audition tape we all want to see? You know the part of which I speak. If only the fandom investigators could put aside any petty differences and uncover the SH, CB chemistry kiss tape? I’m not saying it will be a unifying and CTJ moment, but it would give SH fans something to make the drought less….thirsty.

No verdict necessary. 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨😚😉

And last but definitely not least…

8. SH and Thirst Traps

Ladies, because of Outlander and all things Outlander related, we’ve had the pleasure to observe SH from every view and lovely angle. Come on, if you 👀 closely it’s all there. Why the actual f&ck people in this fandom have a problem with his shirtless posts is beyond me. Not only is he promoting the results a good fitness regime can produce, he is literally, yes literally giving his fans something they want. And don’t even try me with- you’re treating him like an object. This is a 100% consensual relationship. And if the word “hater” seems harsh about the same gang that complains and shits all over his shirtless thirst traps, then please find me a better name.

Verdict: Smart as hell and thank you

So for those who may not get it, this post is silly and something for my handful of friends or any SH fan to have a laugh. If anyone has the patience to read the entire thing😉 So any comments are welcome, but to the people or person sending awful and cowardly anon messages: save your time. Or GFY. See what I did there?🤓

#outlander #outlander season 7 #sam cait #sam heughan #sassanach #men in kilts #men in kilts 2 #waypoints #clanlands

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theloversarcana · 6 months

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Random Ann headcanons because I’m bored

♡An absolute menace while driving, please don’t put her behind the wheel

♡(She has a lot of road rage and is pretty reckless when it comes to driving)

♡Is very scared of ghosts but Shiho keeps trying to get her to use a ouija board in old abandoned buildings

♡Has breakdowns often and can immediately be calmed down by the promise of Ben&Jerrys Phish Food ice cream

♡On that note, is a massive crybaby

♡Beautiful Princess Disorder (ifykyk)

♡Has to wear fake eyelashes 24/7 and feels naked without them

♡When she has enough energy to do makeup but not enough to do a full face her essentials are: winged eyeliner, fake lashes+mascara, blush, a red lip and her fav Fenty highlighter (Diamond Bomb in Rosé Rave)

♡Her parents are rich and she has expensive taste in most things, constantly tries to give her friends money and buy them things but they always refuse

♡(As she gets older her parents slowly stop sending her money and she has to learn to fend for herself)

♡Flips back and forth between “I am the most beautiful person in the world” and “I am so ugly I hate myself and I want to break every mirror in my house” very often

♡Has an absurdly large collection of candles

♡Is very indecisive (and picky) about her signature fragrance. Has tried many, many perfumes but still hasn’t found the perfect one so she smells different almost every day

♡Really bad ADHD, has medication but always forgets to take it

♡Her absolute fav color is red and she has to have everything in red. Pink is second but red will always be #1

♡Sanrio girlie through and through

♡Loves binging shitty reality tv shows like Too Hot to Handle, Jersey Shore, Say Yes to the Dress, and any Gordon Ramsey shows

♡Her guilty pleasure food is Chik-Fil-A (pretending Japan has it)

♡Her main music taste is 2000s-2010s pop (Ke$ha, Britney Spears, etc) but has a very large variety of music she likes

♡Her go-to breakdown song is What Was I Made For? by Billie Eilish (also she cried at least 4 times during the Barbie movie)

♡Shiho loves going to antique stores and trying to buy cursed objects which upsets Ann GREATLY

♡(A real interaction that happened) Shiho: *holding a crowbar* This object has really intense energy.. you think someone murdered someone with it? Ann: DONT YOU DARE THINK ABOUT BUYING THAT

♡Was a Legend of Zelda girlie as a kid and still loves the series. Zelda is one of her biggest kins

♡Mean girls is her favorite movie

♡Is a practicing pagan* with Hecate as her patron goddess

♡*I say practicing lightly because she often completely forgets about it and is terrible at keeping up with holidays, routines, rituals etc

♡Has a drinking problem

♡Vomits incredibly easily, accidentally vomited on Shiho once

♡Listens to true crime podcasts while doing her makeup

♡Uses said true crime podcasts for ideas for her plan in her head to murder Kamoshida and get away with it

♡Besides Zelda her other favorite franchises are Barbie, Studio Ghibli, Sailor Moon and Monster High

♡Ryan Gosling is her celebrity crush and she especially fell in love with him after seeing him as Ken

♡Is definitely dating Shiho but could also be dating Ryuji, Futaba and/or Goro (everyone loves her)

♡She is besties with Akira (though this is very specific characterization of Akira who is transfem and straight)

♡They’re strictly best friends but they have no boundaries. They will take baths together or make out because they’re bored and lonely

♡Had to cut her hair to a bob once because her split ends were getting so bad and she cried for a week

♡Is INCREDIBLY protective of her friends and will drop anything to help them. Has been the shoulder people cried on many, many times

#I know some people are offended by the beautiful princess disorder thing but it’s a joke I have BPD and humor is my coping mechanism #these are all hyper-specific because I’m an ann fictive and this is all just shit about Me lol #I know I’ve mentioned I’m an ann fictive like 50 times on this blog in the past week or so but I do not care ♥️#also sorry it’s so long oops!!#ann takamaki #persona 5 #p5

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ran-orimoto · 10 months

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I want to know you bettah. A favourite character and ship for each Digiseason

Funny, Anon!!!!!! ~~~~~ I don’t really have defined opinions on the series that come after the first four, with the exception of Appmon and Ghost Game. So, sorry if I will skip those other three!

Adventure 01

• Mimi: My princess💕. Along with Katara from ATLA, she’s my own definition of what a girl character should be written like, but I don’t think you want to read long explanations😂.

• Michi: Mimi was a second mc by Taichi’s side. I feel like she had a mirror role in comparison with Taichi’s, as if she’s some sort of girl icon for the franchise. I don’t know how to explain it, but she has got so much presence in the anime, in the merch, in posters; she is voiced by AIM which allowed her to have her own ending, and somehow it feels like this fact makes her omnipresent in the history of the Digimon anime. Wishful thinking, but I like them together because of so many other reasons. THEY JUST CLICK SO WELL.

-Adventure 02

•Miyako: I know I know, she’s not that jewel of character when it comes to her writing, bur her concept has always intrigued me even when I didn’t know Digimon that well. She’s funny, clever, she’s connected with Mimi, she’s also got such a cute design ngl. Can I say she’s my favourite because of these shallow reasons? I think I will find many others when I rewatch 02.

• Daiyako: MY GUILTY PLEASURE. They’re so precious in each other’s regards, always being in the middle of teasing sessions but eventually showing to care about each other so much ? They can work platonically too, and I love pairings that are amazing both platonically and romantically.

-Tamers

KINDA HARD, I will admit it. I like the characters from Tamers but I don’t feel that connected to them. I used to have a huge adoration for Jenrya but it faded somehow. I like Ruki and Hirokazu but not that excessively. I relate to Juri sometimes but she has got so many moments that make me cringe out. It’s … A complex relationship…

• Takato: Again, I’m not THAT attached to him but he is a huge cinnamoroll and a great new beginning for the franchise. I like he’s so ordinary and creative, because…I can relate🤣. And I admit people often call me a girl Takato, sooooo🤣. Like you can see, I don’t have anything to say ahahahha.

• Rukato: MY BBIES, my bbies who are so pleasant at the sight too, thanks to their matching palettes. I confess I come from being a huge Jenruki shipper. Then, I’ve grown bored of those two and I’ve started getting so attracted by Ryouki and Rukato, but the latter eventually won especially because of Runaway Locomon. How could I keep myself from shipping those two after that film? I know there’s Jurato, but the future dramas made me dislike the way things develop…

-Frontier

• Junpei: my only prince son💕

• Junzumi.

SHOULD I REALLY SAY SOMETHING, C’MON🤣💕💕💕💕💕

- Appmon

• Eri: I like how she finally brought back a kind of digigirl who could be considered a real character with an interesting story, a nice and quirky personality, meaningful relationships. I had got tired of so many sexualized and pretty uninspiring digigirls (starting from Frontier era SIGH).

Eeeeh I don’t know. I liked Eri and Torajirou but I’ve discovered he’s 11 and she’s 14, so ehmmmmm. Even if the anime pushed it a bit, maybe it’s not the case to ship them ahaha.

I’ll go with • Haru x Yuujin because they are a parallel Jurato✨.

-Ghost Game

• Emma: I KNOW SHE IS NOT PART OF THE TRIO AND SHE APPEARED FOR LESS THAN AN EPISODE, but she ensnared me and makes me salty whenever I see her, because she would have been a perfect four member. Leave me alone, I need to cry and mope.

• Ruri x Kiyoshiro: The total flop this shipping was because in GG the kids had 0 interesting interactions and I want to cry again, because why is that anime so unfair. Still, I ship them, I don’t care. Ruri had her small teasing moments with Kiyoshiro and their personalities CLASH. Idk Ruri would take him to the worst night trips in forests, parks and he would tag along because Jellymon’s and Ruri’s personalities are so perfectly aligned!

Thank you for the ask!💕

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toskarin · 2 years

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I know you've talked about how Build Fighters is just fan service, but what do you think about the MS designs? I've always enjoyed them since they scratch the itch of having edgier/outlandish designs that you don't get in the Serious War Drama. That is, outside of things like the Zakrello.

Also, there's finally a 1/144 Wodom kit, and it's thanks to BF, so I give praise

I love them dearly. the Build series designs are actually some of my favourites in the entire franchise, just for how goofy some of them can be

also Build Fighters has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. when I say something is fanservice, sometimes I'm the fan it's made for lmao

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atlanticbones · 7 months

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WARNING:

SPOILERS FOR SAW X

Welp, time to embarrass myself...

Okay, so, two things to bare in mind:

1. This isn't really a legitimate review, just my initial thoughts right after seeing the film.

2. I've never seen a Saw movie in my life up until this point, so my opinion may have been different had I seen the previous movies. All I knew were the premise of the series and a decent idea of who John Kramer is supposed to be.

This movie was fucking great. Up until this point, I've never had much of an incentive to watch a Saw film, I only went to see this one because my friend invited me and I thought why the hell not. Turns out going to see it was the best thing that could have happened. Not only did it drastically improve my mood, but it also gave me an incentive to check out the other films in the series.

First of all, I've always have a soft spot for Red & Blue Oni dynamics, more specifically, when the two of them are allies. Seeing two opposite personalities interact in a friendly manner is always fun to watch. While it's not as pronounced as the likes of Ronnie & Bull (friendly) from NFSMW 2005 or Kaito & Kokichi (unfriendly) from NDRV3, there's definitely a hint of this with Kramer (Blue Oni) and Amanda (Red Oni), with Amanda being more emotional and vengeful and Kramer being more calm and focused on his, shall we say, questionable form of redemption.

5D Chess anime moments are a guilty pleasure of mine. They're ridiculous, but always fun to watch and genuinely exciting when done well. I think you already know where I'm going with this one, so let's just move on.

Again, I haven't seen any of the other Saw movies, so I could've had a different opinion had I seen them, but I found Kramer to be a genuinely lovable guy in this movie. I am well aware that he isn't a good person, after all, removing someone's eyes and snapping their fingers is way too extreme of a punishment for thievery, but most other things he does in this movie is shit that I can support. Him being a father figures to that kid and attempting to save said kid at the cost of his own life was fucking heartwarming.

John Kramer is definitely still a villain, there's no two ways about it, but I like this movie's bad vs bad, lesser of two evils (sort of) dynamic. John Kramer, as an anti-villain extremist who thinks what he's doing is for the greater good, up against Dr Pederson, a genuinely fucked up scumbag. Again, I haven't watched the other Saw movies, so idk if this happened in any of them, but I loved it here. It's a good way of making a fucked up villain like Kramer, more genuinely heroic while keeping him in character.

I also love the (I swear there's a word for it, I just don't know what it is) of the final girl. This trope often involves the killer being a pure evil monster who only wants to kill and hurt people and the final girl being a heroic ultimate good guy. At first it seems like the movie is going with this, with Kramer being unflinching towards the brutality of his traps and being in complete control of a nightmare scenario, whereas Pederson has a friendly demeanour and is usually seen with a sweet smile and when her and her associates are put in the traps, she appears to be encouraging them to beat each trap. But near the end, John Kramer, the murderer with a brutal history, attempts to sacrifice himself to save a random child's life and is a sweetheart towards him, whereas Dr Pederson, turns out to be a selfish prick who's willing to let those close to her die for her own sake (also, let's not even forget her scamming sick and diseased people). As a franchise that revolves around the trope of "who you are in the dark" this is a great way to do its tenth installment.

So yeah, overall, nice film. Sorry if I sounded like a fucking idiot, my media literacy (if that's even the right term) skills aren't that good. I am definitely going to check out the other movies in this franchise cause goddamn!

#saw 10 #saw x (2023)#saw franchise #saw #saw x

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lumi-waxes-poetic · 11 months

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"We'll always have Hogwarts": Regarding Shelving Problematic Favorites

As someone who has made the decision to shelve my Harry Potter fandom, and is still struggling to do the same with Twilight, I feel I should write this.

These are books and franchises that define a period of time for quite a few of us on Tumblr, it's safe to say, but their authors have unfortunately garnered a problematic reputation through implications in their worldbuilding and text, comments said and inferred, and company regularly kept. But this post is actually not about that. This is about dealing with this in as sane a way as can probably be managed, because if you're like me, you're already feeling like there's a big hole in your life.

Being a good ally does NOT require you to burn your already purchased merchandise, books, and blu-rays and what have you, or seek to actively poison good memories from important years of your life. That's not what allyship asks. It's asking how you choose to consider your interactions going forward -- we can't change the past, so don't burn it needlessly.

I grew up with Harry Potter, and Twilight has been a long time guilty pleasure. A lot of great times were had with great people as a result of these franchises. And I will always have that. YOU will always have that. There are always those who would demand that nothing less than absolute purity is required, and that you should totally and completely carve these things neatly from your life, as though with a precision scalpel. That is, of course, your choice to make, not anyone else's.

But really, what matters is that now that you know how minorities find and show these things as harmful to them, how you choose to interact going forward, and the most basic and essential fundamental request being made is that you try not to contribute money to that thing or creator in the future.

I will always have my Glittery R.Pats movies, and my beloved Harry Potter Collector's Edition Blu Ray set. And I will definitely still enjoy them from time to time -- a bit of nostalgia, as a treat.

But I won't partake in the Hogwarts Legacy video game. I won't interact with the long form revival shows for Harry Potter or Twilight. I chose allyship, and that means being willing to end one chapter and start another, but really, that's just how any half decent story goes too. We progress, and we outgrow things, but just because we aren't in that moment in time anymore doesn't mean we can't look back fondly on the good moments.

Or, to put it another way, I may not be 7 years old anymore, but I can still go back and watch old Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers stuff even if I'm not engaging with the franchise going forward as an adult. And no, it does not matter that I disengaged from it for different reasons, because the underlying principle is still the same: for one reason or another, we outgrow things and cease to largely interact with it going forward, but we still revisit that era, that moment, when it was still "ours".

The added bonus of choosing allyship here is it's also helping do your part in shaking the lazy Hollywood establishment out of its directionless ennui, wherein it is simply content to produce remake after reboot after terrible cash grab adaptation.

So, you benefit two causes, and it's as simple to do as making a conscious decision to find new things that you can love going forward while cherishing what you've already had. It's okay to miss things, but remember that "we'll always have Paris Hogwarts."

#stephanie meyer #jkr #jk rowling #moving on #letting go #growing up

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dastardlydandelion · 2 months

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Tagged by @foxgirlontherun!

Last Song: technically the credits by arrows in action as used in this fantastic lottienat edit, but the last song i listened to in full was the hearse by matt mason.

Favourite colour: black. 🖤

Last movie/TV show: the golden girls reruns.

Sweet/spicy/savoury: depends on my mood but right now, spicy!

Relationship status: single but with prospective boo in sight! currently working on wooing strategy.

Last thing that I googled: did some digging about the attitude brand's laundry products. i personally like the way it smells and it's marketed as eco-friendly, but it's always good to double check these things since companies are known to mislead. but attitude products consistently get a B grade and up from the EWG and the detergent i was using met the strictest standards, so i'm going to stick with it!

Current obsession: oof, nothing *good* honestly. mind's a bit of a mess atm.

Last book: just finished 'the kite runner' by khaled hosseini for a class (i am extremely delayed in getting my degree, fml) and enjoyed it even though i cried like every other chapter. FINALLY finished 'it all began with a scream' by padraic maroney in my personal time. it's about the making of the scream franchise and wow! it was a very informative and yet also fun read. although i do wish there had been more than a paragraph dedicated to scream: resurrection and that the author would've reached out to those involved, as i truly think the story was underrated even if i readily admit the show itself is bad lmao. my sweet guilty pleasure garbo. 🗑💘

Looking forward to: national banana bread day, on february 23rd! i hope to go see my grandma and bake with her, and eat some nice warm bread in the bathtub (she has a very nice bathtub).

i tag whoever wants to do this! followers, feel free to say i tagged you, no pressure but the invitation is open!

#foxgirlontherun #ask game

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contentcompendiumrw · 8 months

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Paranormal Activity 4-6: Thoughts

Paranormal Activity 4:

Paranormal Activity 4 is where the original novelty of the series kinda begins to wain off a bit and it becomes very, oddly conveluted. The film for one, isn't really scary, any semblence of the sound design from the prior films that really allowed for tense moments to, feel tense is just gona. I find it interesting that the addition of sound, air, noise in silence so to speak is more horrifying than, the lack of iot approach taken here. The characters are, fine, I like Alex and Ben enough but they ain't Dennis or Micah. Here more than ever the situation seems very, spontaneous and random. I fail to understand why Hunter was, adopted, just for a second child to regather him for the coven. especially when the film begins stating their whereabouts are unknown. The Kinect thing was always a bit odd but I really do think it had very missed potential. I only noticed Tobey once, I just felt there was some missed potential even if it was just a bizarre little tie in (Dragula goes hard tho props to that being the first, incorperation of literally any song in the series) I do find it very funny that Katie has decided her signature move is just a quick neck snap, nice callback to the best part of 2 being, Daniel's death.

5/10

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

I don't follow the fandom, so, I'm really unsure where people sit on this one in particular. It's not scary that's for certain and seems to be where most people dropped off the boat in fairness. It's kind of a guilty pleasure film for me though, however only under the circumstance that I view it as a comedy as supposed to a horror film. I enjoy the switch up culturally from, white ass Americans to Mexicans, it allows for a different feel to the film from the rest and having it be a bit more primative, allows this to be the first purely handheld film of the franchise which, can be disorienting but strurally, again, it's different. They have a few still moments but I appreciate the constant action, it allows for a different kind of tension because the film keeps ramping up and giving smaller more channeled scares as supposed to, a lot of nothing like in 4. Jesse and Hector as protagonists, are very randomly fucked with like the family prior however they do have some genuine bro chemistry that's nice to see. I guess I like sarcasm with my Paranormal Activity. (I blame Shane Madej) It's also nice to see the posession of a character, that isn't just like Katie who gets real tired and zoned out, and it comes with some perks, the ghost (I don't believe it's Tobey this time) initially seeming like a positive only to lead to the film getting darker and darker allowed for really solid pacing. I guess my biggest irk is the ending. On an initial watch like, yeah it's neat and makes you go 'Wait what? Huh???' But I don't see the purpose of it. There were real stretches to get it to connect with the others and I don't think it needed to, it could have just been a story about another family getting ruined by the Coven. Watch it as a comedy and this one's kinda crazy.

6/10

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension

I believe the second you can see the ghost is, the second the original concept is firmly dead. It seems The Marked Ones really wanted to be different but this one really fell back in to, the security of the original formula but with none of the tension. It tried to have the creepy girl idea from 3, an extension of the Kinect idea without the marketing gimmick from 4, the slow posession of someone from Marked Ones and, literally The Exorcist, and of course brought back the original nightly forumal of 1. A film attempting to be the culmination of everythjing before can sometimes work, however it doesn't here. It's just got no substance and tries to be too much. I believe focusing on the idea of the tapes revealing the future and focusing on that would have been a good shot, but it felt like such a muddled mess I genuinely have very little to say on it. Every prior fiml, does everything this does, a little bit better. I cannot think of a single thing I really liked abou it...Maybe I suppose, the visual effects given it has the most out of all the films and I wanna give it something.

3/10

I am not done with this franchise just yet, there is of course one more film: Next of Kin and I will be watching that and because I'm a little silly, will also Watch Paranormal Activity: Tokyo Night. I believe it's just a Japanese remake however I do enjoy me some Japanese Horror so, hopefully it will be a nice palette cleanser afer Next of Kin.

#paranormal activity #series #film review #movie #movie review #Paranormal activity 4

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shihalyfie · 3 years

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With Digimon Ghost Game starting, I thought about how different it is from previous Digimon series, though it's still undoubtedly Digimon... and then I realized all Digimon series are like that. So I wonder, what do you think sets each Digimon series apart from the rest?

I think both Ghost Game but also the reboot have been a wake-up call for people in terms of realizing that likes, dislikes, and tastes are subjective, and I think it's especially important in terms of this fanbase that is so obsessed with this idea you can objectively rank things by quality -- especially when each series is often deliberately trying to have its own identity, so it's arguably apples and oranges -- and forcing this idea of what's Good and Not Good on everyone else (especially when there's a nasty double standard phenomenon where Adventure and often Tamers get to be so impervious to criticism that people conveniently forget they're perfectly capable of being scrutinized for a lot of things they're weaker in). Very frustrating to see everyone who likes less popular series treated as if they have to accept that they like a "badly written series" for some things and everything else is a guilty pleasure, which I find to be incredibly dumb.

The most important take-home here is that the fact each series has its own identity is always going to be the main factor in what makes it "good" or not to you, not some arbitrary bar of comparison that's based on some narrow-minded view of "good writing" (which is usually unreasonably based on Adventure). For instance, the reason why 02 is so important to me is because (see below), to me, it has the highest amount of meaningful, important life lessons and themes that it wanted its audience to remember, to the point that I frankly do not care about where the plot goes in comparison. That may not be the case for everyone else, and that's fine, but should my tastes be called unreasonable for that? I think we're also coming to realize that because of Adventure (and kind of 02)'s precedent, so many people have been judging series purely by how intimate their individual character development style is, but this is unfair because Adventure and 02's ridiculous level of character depth to psychological detail is extremely unusual and unrealistic to expect of others; Adventure and 02 only achieved this by practically considering the plot utterly subservient to its character arcs, and it's arguably why they have some of the weakest "plots" in this franchise. It's so bizarre that I can see character development in other Digimon series that outstrips even most kids' anime on the market, but it's not as much as Adventure's so apparently it's bad. And, moreover, as it turns out, some people have priorities other than characterization; just because Adventure had that as its strength doesn't mean that's the only thing anyone should care about. Is the plot fun? Is there a meaningful message besides characters (also important to me)? Do you vibe with the tone being dark, or being silly? How much do you care about resourceful usage of Digimon lore? That kind of thing. Everyone is different, so that's why everyone has their own priorities. If you’re someone who prefers darker content, you may not realize that writing good and well-timed comedy is actually a very, very difficult task, especially when said comedy simultaneously has meaning (in comparison, it’s surprisingly easy to write “dark” but shallow content).

I think it's fair to like every Digimon series for its own thing, depending on your personal tastes. I can't speak for everyone, but my impressions are that it has to do with the following:

Adventure: Significantly easier to understand than 02 due to its more straightforward plot, and focus on individual character development ("individualism" being a strong point here). In terms of characters, it goes a lot into some very real social problems (the divorce around the Ishida and Takaishi families and the pressures surrounding Jou, for instance) in a very realistic manner. Also, it has that sense of mystique and absurdism to the Digital World that's both whimsical but also mysterious, and while 02 has it too, Adventure's the isekai story that has it the most.

02: The first is its focus on the importance of human relationships and the compelling group dynamic unparalleled in this franchise, and the second is its important themes and life lessons that I think are some of the strongest in said franchise. I have a whole tag for the ridiculous amount of nuance packed into every detail and dialogue line for this series, and I think every time I've rewatched an episode I've learned something new about it because there are so many things that clearly wanted to be said in each line. The entire series is basically an unpacking of the feelings of insidious self-hatred and the crushing feeling of being subject to society's expectations, and ones that are so deep-seated that you often don’t even have a single answer to how to unpack it (for instance, Miyako hardly has a tragic single event in her backstory, but she says and does a lot of things that'll be painfully familiar to those who have experienced chronic anxiety). Almost every plot point can be said to connect to each character arc in some way, and the mantras for appreciating and treasuring your own life and living life the way you will make this, in my opinion, the strongest series in terms of speaking to those who struggle with this kind of existential crisis for reasons of depression or otherwise. (Oops, I think I went too passionate about this; my biases are obvious...)

Tamers: I think it forms an interesting study and unpacking of the kinds of things you take for granted in Digimon or the monster-collecting genre in general, and an examination of how they'd work in a real-world context (although 02 had a focus on daily life, it didn't quite merge the Digimon and the real world factors until very late in the series). Also, probably the second highest on "hard sci-fi" (the only one that outstrips it is probably Appmon, but Appmon has a very different, more simplified take on it).

Frontier: A series that lies somewhere between Adventure's scale of individualism and 02's scale of group dynamic, and one more discussing the feeling of having your heart hardened from being an outcast, and what it takes to accept the idea of opening yourself up to others again. Recommended for those who like transforming hero and magical girl stories, too. From the Digimon perspective, also the one with the most detailed and consistent Digital World mythos.

Savers: I think this is the series that most drives home "life is complicated" (i.e. there isn't a single mastermind behind everything) in the most tasteful manner, because while it drives home the point that you can't just simplify everything into a good side and a bad side, some bad things really are evil (hi, Kurata), and it doesn't change the fact that everyone's responsible for cleaning up the fallout. The portrayal of the evils of government bureaucracy is probably the most realistic out of any of these series.

Xros Wars: For those who like fun, most of all! For those who like seeing Digimon finally get more of the spotlight and individuality since so much of it had been geared and biased towards the humans prior to this. For those who really like worldbuilding, and, after all, this is called Xros Wars, so it's interesting to see shakeups on the usual formulas in the form of the different factions and their priorities. Hunters is very different in tone, but I do think they have some of these aspects in common; that said, it being closer to having single partnerships brings it a bit closer in line to conventional Digimon partnerships, and it also has more of a picture of daily life. Also, as much as Tagiru is probably your-mileage-may-vary since he's not exactly a very nice kid (I get it if you don't vibe with that), which may also rub those hoping for not nice kids to become nice the wrong way, I do have to say I find him to be one of the funniest characters in this entire franchise, and you'd be surprised how hard good comedy is to write.

Appmon: Probably one of the strongest theme narratives besides 02, since it has a very clear and obvious theme about the importance of kindness in a world where technology is dominating and we're almost encouraged to strip the feelings out of everything. (Bonus for more straightforward plot than Adventure or 02 while still retaining a lot of its elements in terms of how to characterize them.) Also the first series to be speculative about the near future instead of taking place around the time it airs, and it's very obvious it wants to provide important and necessary commentary about what we need to do in the incoming era, especially as a lot of what it has to say becomes increasingly relevant.

Reboot: For those who like Digimon mythos and null canon -- this is probably the only series to show it off in this level of detail -- and the kind of cool action fights that would usually be saved for the climax in prior series (and animated in much more intimate detail with battle choreography than prior series would have). There are a lot of people into this franchise who felt like it genuinely was not making enough use of its Digimon roster and its potential because it kept going back to the old standbys (especially Adventure-based ones), so it was a huge relief for that crowd to see attention finally being paid.

#digimon #shiha's ask box #demonoflight #digimon multi series talk

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chrisevansluv · 3 years

Note

Here is the 2012 Detail Magazine interview with chris evans:

The Avengers' Chris Evans: Just Your Average Beer-Swilling, Babe-Loving Buddhist

The 30-year-old Bud Light-chugging, Beantown-bred star of The Avengers is widely perceived as the ultimate guy's guy. But beneath the bro persona lies a serious student of Buddhism, an unrepentant song-and-dance man, and a guy who talks to his mom about sex. And farts.

By Adam Sachs,

Photographs by Norman Jean Roy

May 2012 Issue

"Should we just kill him and bury his body?" Chris Evans is stage whispering into the impassive blinking light of my digital recorder.

"Chris!" shouts his mother, her tone a familiar-to-anyone-with-a-mother mix of coddling and concern. "Don't say that! What if something happened?"

We're at Evans' apartment, an expansive but not overly tricked-out bachelor-pad-ish loft in a semi-industrial nowheresville part of Boston, hard by Chinatown, near an area sometimes called the Combat Zone. Evans has a fuzzy, floppy, slept-in-his-clothes aspect that'd be nearly unrecognizable if you knew him only by the upright, spit-polished bearing of the onscreen hero. His dog, East, a sweet and slobbery American bulldog, is spread out on a couch in front of the TV. The shelves of his fridge are neatly stacked with much of the world's supply of Bud Light in cans and little else.

On the counter sit a few buckets of muscle-making whey-protein powder that belong to Evans' roommate, Zach Jarvis, an old pal who sometimes tags along on set as a paid "assistant" and a personal trainer who bulked Evans up for his role as the super-ripped patriot in last summer's blockbuster Captain America: The First Avenger. A giant clock on the exposed-brick wall says it's early evening, but Evans operates on his own sense of time. Between gigs, his schedule's all his, which usually translates into long stretches of alone time during the day and longer social nights for the 30-year-old.

"I could just make this . . . disappear," says Josh Peck, another old pal and occasional on-set assistant, in a deadpan mumble, poking at the voice recorder I'd left on the table while I was in the bathroom.

Evans' mom, Lisa, now speaks directly into the microphone: "Don't listen to them—I'm trying to get them not to say these things!"

But not saying things isn't in the Evans DNA. They're an infectiously gregarious clan. Irish-Italians, proud Bostoners, close-knit, and innately theatrical. "We all act, we sing," Evans says. "It was like the fucking von Trapps." Mom was a dancer and now runs a children's theater. First-born Carly directed the family puppet shows and studied theater at NYU. Younger brother Scott has parts on One Life to Live and Law & Order under his belt and lives in Los Angeles full-time—something Evans stopped doing several years back. Rounding out the circle are baby sister Shanna and a pair of "strays" the family brought into their Sudbury, Massachusetts, home: Josh, who went from mowing the lawn to moving in when his folks relocated during his senior year in high school; and Demery, who was Evans' roommate until recently.

"Our house was like a hotel," Evans says. "It was a loony-tunes household. If you got arrested in high school, everyone knew: 'Call Mrs. Evans, she'll bail you out.'"

Growing up, they had a special floor put in the basement where all the kids practiced tap-dancing. The party-ready rec room also had a Ping-Pong table and a separate entrance. This was the house kids in the neighborhood wanted to hang at, and this was the kind of family you wanted to be adopted by. Spend an afternoon listening to them dish old dirt and talk over each other and it's easy to see why. Now they're worried they've said too much, laid bare the tender soul of the actor behind the star-spangled superhero outfit, so there's talk of offing the interviewer. I can hear all this from the bathroom, which, of course, is the point of a good stage whisper.

To be sure, no one's said too much, and the more you're brought into the embrace of this boisterous, funny, shit-slinging, demonstrably loving extended family, the more likable and enviable the whole dynamic is.

Sample exchange from today's lunch of baked ziti at a family-style Italian restaurant:

Mom: When he was a kid, he asked me, 'Mom, will I ever think farting isn't funny?'

Chris: You're throwing me under the bus, Ma! Thank you.

Mom: Well, if a dog farts you still find it funny.

Then, back at the apartment, where Mrs. Evans tries to give me good-natured dirt on her son without freaking him out:

Mom: You always tell me when you think a girl is attractive. You'll call me up so excited. Is that okay to say?

Chris: Nothing wrong with that.

Mom: And can I say all the girls you've brought to the house have been very sweet and wonderful? Of course, those are the ones that make it to the house. It's been a long time, hasn't it?

Chris: Looooong time.

Mom: The last one at our house? Was it six years ago?

Chris: No names, Ma!

Mom: But she knocked it out of the park.

Chris: She got drunk and puked at Auntie Pam's house! And she puked on the way home and she puked at our place.

Mom: And that's when I fell in love with her. Because she was real.

We're operating under a no-names rule, so I'm not asking if it's Jessica Biel who made this memorable first impression. She and Evans were serious for a couple of years. But I don't want to picture lovely Jessica Biel getting sick at Auntie Pam's or in the car or, really, anywhere.

East the bulldog ambles over to the table, begging for food.

"That dog is the love of his life," Mrs. Evans says. "Which tells me he'll be an unbelievable parent, but I don't want him to get married right now." She turns to Chris. "The way you are, I just don't think you're ready."

Some other things I learn about Evans from his mom: He hates going to the gym; he was so wound-up as a kid she'd let him stand during dinner, his legs shaking like caged greyhounds; he suffered weekly "Sunday-night meltdowns" over schoolwork and the angst of the sensitive middle-schooler; after she and his father split and he was making money from acting, he bought her the Sudbury family homestead rather than let her leave it.

Eventually his mom and Josh depart, and Evans and I go to work depleting his stash of Bud Light. It feels like we drink Bud Light and talk for days, because we basically do. I arrived early Friday evening; it's Saturday night now and it'll be sunup Sunday before I sleeplessly make my way to catch a train back to New York City. Somewhere in between we slip free of the gravitational pull of the bachelor pad and there's bottle service at a club and a long walk with entourage in tow back to Evans' apartment, where there is some earnest-yet-surreal group singing, piano playing, and chitchat. Evans is fun to talk to, partly because he's an open, self-mocking guy with an explosive laugh and no apparent need to sleep, and partly because when you cut just below the surface, it's clear he's not quite the dude's dude he sometimes plays onscreen and in TV appearances.

From a distance, Chris Evans the movie star seems a predictable, nearly inevitable piece of successful Hollywood packaging come to market. There's his major-release debut as the dorkily unaware jock Jake in the guilty pleasure Not Another Teen Movie (in one memorable scene, Evans has whipped cream on his chest and a banana up his ass). The female-friendly hunk appeal—his character in The Nanny Diaries is named simply Harvard Hottie—is balanced by a kind of casual-Friday, I'm-from-Boston regular-dudeness. Following the siren song of comic-book cash, he was the Human Torch in two Fantastic Four films. As with scrawny Steve Rogers, the Captain America suit beefed up his stature as a formidable screen presence, a bankable leading man, all of which leads us to The Avengers, this season's megabudget, megawatt ensemble in which he stars alongside Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., and Chris Hemsworth.

It all feels inevitable—and yet it nearly didn't happen. Evans repeatedly turned down the Captain America role, fearing he'd be locked into what was originally a nine-picture deal. He was shooting Puncture, about a drug-addicted lawyer, at the time. Most actors doing small-budget legal dramas would jump at the chance to play the lead in a Marvel franchise, but Evans saw a decade of his life flash before his eyes.

What he remembers thinking is this: "What if the movie comes out and it's a success and I just reject all of this? What if I want to move to the fucking woods?"

By "the woods," he doesn't mean a quiet life away from the spotlight, some general metaphorical life escape route. He means the actual woods. "For a long time all I wanted for Christmas were books about outdoor survival," he says. "I was convinced that I was going to move to the woods. I camped a lot, I took classes. At 18, I told myself if I don't live in the woods by the time I'm 25, I have failed."

Evans has described his hesitation at signing on for Captain America. Usually he talks about the time commitment, the loss of what remained of his relative anonymity. On the junkets for the movie, he was open about needing therapy after the studio reduced the deal to six movies and he took the leap. What he doesn't usually mention is that he was racked with anxiety before the job came up.

"I get very nervous," Evans explains. "I shit the bed if I have to present something on stage or if I'm doing press. Because it's just you." He's been known to walk out of press conferences, to freeze up and go silent during the kind of relaxed-yet-high-stakes meetings an actor of his stature is expected to attend: "Do you know how badly I audition? Fifty percent of the time I have to walk out of the room. I'm naturally very pale, so I turn red and sweat. And I have to literally walk out. Sometimes mid-audition. You start having these conversations in your brain. 'Chris, don't do this. Chris, take it easy. You're just sitting in a room with a person saying some words, this isn't life. And you're letting this affect you? Shame on you.'"

Shades of "Sunday-night meltdowns." Luckily the nerves never follow him to the set. "You do your neuroses beforehand, so when they yell 'Action' you can be present," he says.

Okay, there was one on-set panic attack—while Evans was shooting Puncture. "We were getting ready to do a court scene in front of a bunch of people, and I don't know what happened," he says. "It's just your brain playing games with you. 'Hey, you know how we sometimes freak out? What if we did it right now?'"

One of the people who advised Evans to take the Captain America role was his eventual Avengers costar Robert Downey Jr. "I'd seen him around," Downey says. "We share an agent. I like to spend a lot of my free time talking to my agent about his other clients—I just had a feeling about him."

What he told Evans was: This puppy is going to be big, and when it is you're going to get to make the movies you want to make. "In the marathon obstacle course of a career," Downey says, "it's just good to have all the stats on paper for why you're not only a team player but also why it makes sense to support you in the projects you want to do—because you've made so much damned money for the studio."

There's also the fact that Evans had a chance to sign on for something likely to be a kind of watershed moment in the comic-book fascination of our time. "I do think The Avengers is the crescendo of this superhero phase in entertainment—except of course for Iron Man 3," Downey says. "It'll take a lot of innovation to keep it alive after this."

Captain America is the only person left who was truly close to Howard Stark, father of Tony Stark (a.k.a. Iron Man), which meant that Evans' and Downey's story lines are closely linked, and in the course of doing a lot of scenes together, they got to be pals. Downey diagnoses his friend with what he terms "low-grade red-carpet anxiety disorder."

"He just hates the game-show aspect of doing PR," Downey says. "Obviously there's pressure for anyone in this transition he's in. But he will easily triple that pressure to make sure he's not being lazy. That's why I respect the guy. I wouldn't necessarily want to be in his skin. But his motives are pure. He just needs to drink some red-carpet chamomile."

"The majority of the world is empty space," Chris Evans says, watching me as if my brain might explode on hearing this news—or like he might have to fight me if I try to contradict him. We're back at his apartment after a cigarette run through the Combat Zone.

"Empty space!" he says again, slapping the table and sort of yelling. Then, in a slow, breathy whisper, he repeats: "Empty space, empty space. All that we see in the world, the life, the animals, plants, people, it's all empty space. That's amazing!" He slaps the table again. "You want another beer? Gotta be Bud Light. Get dirty—you're in Boston. Okay, organize your thoughts. I gotta take a piss . . ."

My thoughts are this: That this guy who is hugging his dog and talking to me about space and mortality and the trouble with Boston girls who believe crazy gossip about him—this is not the guy I expected to meet. I figured he'd be a meatball. Though, truthfully, I'd never called anyone a meatball until Evans turned me on to the put-down. As in: "My sister Shanna dates meatballs." And, more to the point: "When I do interviews, I'd rather just be the beer-drinking dude from Boston and not get into the complex shit, because I don't want every meatball saying, 'So hey, whaddyathink about Buddhism?'"

At 17, Evans came across a copy of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha and began his spiritual questing. It's a path of study and struggle that, he says, defines his true purpose in life. "I love acting. It's my playground, it lets me explore. But my happiness in this world, my level of peace, is never going to be dictated by acting," he says. "My goal in life is to detach from the egoic mind. Do you know anything about Eastern philosophy?"

I sip some Bud Light and shake my head sheepishly. "They talk about the egoic mind, the part of you that's self-aware, the watcher, the person you think is driving this machine," he says. "And that separation from self and mind is the root of suffering. There are ways of retraining the way you think. This isn't really supported in Western society, which is focused on 'Go get it, earn it, win it, marry it.'"

Scarlett Johansson says that one of the things she appreciates about Evans is how he steers clear of industry chat when they see each other. "Basically every actor," she says, "including myself, when we finish a job we're like, 'Well, that's it for me. Had a good run. Put me out to pasture.' But Chris doesn't strike me as someone who frets about the next job." The two met on the set of The Perfect Score when they were teenagers and have stayed close; The Avengers is their third movie together. "He has this obviously masculine presence—a dude's dude—and we're used to seeing him play heroic characters," Johansson says, "but he's also surprisingly sensitive. He has close female friends, and you can talk to him about anything. Plus there's that secret song-and-dance, jazz-hands side of Chris. I feel like he grew up with the Partridge Family. He'd be just as happy doing Guys and Dolls as he would Captain America 2."

East needs to do his business, so Evans and I take him up to the roof deck. Evans bought this apartment in 2010 when living in L.A. full-time no longer appealed to him. He came back to stay close to his extended family and the intimate circle of Boston pals he's maintained since high school. The move also seems like a pretty clear keep-it-real hedge against the manic ego-stroking distractions of Hollywood.

"I think my daytime person is different than my nighttime person," Evans says. "With my high-school buddies, we drink beer and talk sports and it's great. The kids in my Buddhism class in L.A., they're wildly intelligent, and I love being around them, but they're not talking about the Celtics. And that's part of me. It's a strange dichotomy. I don't mind being a certain way with some people and having this other piece of me that's just for me."

I asked Downey about Evans' outward regular-Joe persona. "It's complete horseshit," Downey says. "There's an inherent street-smart intelligence there. I don't think he tries to hide it. But he's much more evolved and much more culturally aware than he lets on."

Perhaps the meatball and the meditation can coexist. We argue about our egoic brains and the tao of Boston girls. "I love wet hair and sweatpants," he says in their defense. "I like sneakers and ponytails. I like girls who aren't so la-di-da. L.A. is so la-di-da. I like Boston girls who shit on me. Not literally. Girls who give me a hard time, bust my chops a little."

The chief buster of Evans' chops is, of course, Evans himself. "The problem is, the brain I'm using to dissect this world is a brain formed by it," he says. "We're born into confusion, and we get the blessing of letting go of it." Then he adds: "I think this shit by day. And then night comes and it's like, 'Fuck it, let's drink.'"

And so we do. It's getting late. Again. We should have eaten dinner, but Evans sometimes forgets to eat: "If I could just take a pill to make me full forever, I wouldn't think twice."

We talk about his dog and camping with his dog and why he loves being alone more than almost anything except maybe not being alone. "I swear to God, if you saw me when I am by myself in the woods, I'm a lunatic," he says. "I sing, I dance. I do crazy shit."

Evans' unflagging, all-encompassing enthusiasm is impressive, itself a kind of social intelligence. "If you want to have a good conversation with him, don't talk about the fact that he's famous" was the advice I got from Mark Kassen, who codirected Puncture. "He's a blast, a guy who can hang. For quite a long time. Many hours in a row."

I've stopped looking at the clock. We've stopped talking philosophy and moved into more emotional territory. He asks questions about my 9-month-old son, and then Captain America gets teary when I talk about the wonder of his birth. "I weep at everything," he says. "I emote. I love things so much—I just never want to dilute that."

He talks about how close he feels to his family, how open they all are with each other. About everything. All the time. "The first time I had sex," he says, "I raced home and was like, 'Mom, I just had sex! Where's the clit?'"

Wait, I ask—did she ever tell you?

"Still don't know where it is, man," he says, then breaks into a smile composed of equal parts shit-eating grin and inner peace. "I just don't know. Make some movies, you don't have to know…"

Here is the 2012 Detail Magazine interview with chris evans:

The Avengers' Chris Evans: Just Your Average Beer-Swilling, Babe-Loving Buddhist

By Adam Sachs,

Photographs by Norman Jean Roy

May 2012 Issue

"Should we just kill him and bury his body?" Chris Evans is stage whispering into the impassive blinking light of my digital recorder.

"Chris!" shouts his mother, her tone a familiar-to-anyone-with-a-mother mix of coddling and concern. "Don't say that! What if something happened?"

Evans' mom, Lisa, now speaks directly into the microphone: "Don't listen to them—I'm trying to get them not to say these things!"

"Our house was like a hotel," Evans says. "It was a loony-tunes household. If you got arrested in high school, everyone knew: 'Call Mrs. Evans, she'll bail you out.'"

Sample exchange from today's lunch of baked ziti at a family-style Italian restaurant:

Mom: When he was a kid, he asked me, 'Mom, will I ever think farting isn't funny?'

Chris: You're throwing me under the bus, Ma! Thank you.

Mom: Well, if a dog farts you still find it funny.

Then, back at the apartment, where Mrs. Evans tries to give me good-natured dirt on her son without freaking him out:

Mom: You always tell me when you think a girl is attractive. You'll call me up so excited. Is that okay to say?

Chris: Nothing wrong with that.

Mom: And can I say all the girls you've brought to the house have been very sweet and wonderful? Of course, those are the ones that make it to the house. It's been a long time, hasn't it?

Chris: Looooong time.

Mom: The last one at our house? Was it six years ago?

Chris: No names, Ma!

Mom: But she knocked it out of the park.

Chris: She got drunk and puked at Auntie Pam's house! And she puked on the way home and she puked at our place.

Mom: And that's when I fell in love with her. Because she was real.

East the bulldog ambles over to the table, begging for food.

What he remembers thinking is this: "What if the movie comes out and it's a success and I just reject all of this? What if I want to move to the fucking woods?"

Shades of "Sunday-night meltdowns." Luckily the nerves never follow him to the set. "You do your neuroses beforehand, so when they yell 'Action' you can be present," he says.

And so we do. It's getting late. Again. We should have eaten dinner, but Evans sometimes forgets to eat: "If I could just take a pill to make me full forever, I wouldn't think twice."

Wait, I ask—did she ever tell you?

"Still don't know where it is, man," he says, then breaks into a smile composed of equal parts shit-eating grin and inner peace. "I just don't know. Make some movies, you don't have to know…"

If someone doesn't want to check the link, the anon sent the full interview!

#chris evans #cevans #Details Magazine #2012 #interview

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hypnoticwinter · 3 years

Text

The Guerrilla and the Video Game

The Far Cry franchise is one of my guilty pleasures. Guilty, because I know deep down that if someone professed to enjoy it, I’d look down my nose at them. If Call of Duty represents a sort of ‘fast food’ approach to multiplayer games, then Far Cry is its counterpart for singeplayer games. Ignoring the fact that Call of Duty has a singleplayer campaign; I don’t play very much CoD, so maybe that’s a contributing factor, but Far Cry games have always felt much more Call of Duty to me than the actual singleplayer campaigns of any Call of Duty I’ve played.

For those of you who aren’t really into video games, Far Cry is a franchise of first-person shooter games where you roleplay as an ‘average joe’ sort of character dropped into an extraordinary circumstance - an island full of pirates, all hunting for you; a version of Tibet with the serial numbers filed off, ruled by a psychopathic despot; a Montana filled to the brim with a Christian fundamentalist cult that believes Judgment Day is right around the corner and have gotten started early; and in the latest game, Far Cry 6, a fictional Latin American nation called ‘Yara’ which seems to be taking most of its cues from Cuba, or maybe what Cuba would be like if Kim Jong Un and his cult of personality were running the show.

Now, realistically, if you’re the average person dropped into these situations, you’re not going to be doing much except dying, or, if you’re lucky, keeping your head down and hoping nobody notices you. But Far Cry always contrives to make you the center of attention, even if the character you’re playing, like in Far Cry 3, is really nobody special. Somehow, you always end up leading the resistance against whatever fascist dictator is running the show, you rack up a bodycount of several thousand by the end of the game, and so on. But it’s a video game, so naturally that’s par for the course. I can overlook that.

One of the central and recurring themes in almost every Far Cry game is the notion of proving oneself, of reaching deep within in a moment of need and finding hidden reserves of inner strength, which, because it’s a videogame, manifest themselves in the ability to carry about 300 kilograms of ammunition, armor, and weapons without getting tired, use those weapons with accuracy better than any crack special forces soldier, and to sustain a huge amount of bodily harm and be totally fine. Every Far Cry game is, essentially, a really crappy bildungsroman, written and directed by Michael Bay.

I bought my copy of Far Cry 6 a few days ago and I’ve been taking stabs at it ever since. Because Far Cry games are all open-world themeparks, they invariably take a very long time to complete. I would estimate that after maybe about 5 or 6 hours of gameplay, I’m probably about 10% of the way through with everything in the game. They’re designed to soak up a great deal of your time, especially if you want to go everywhere and do everything. You can just blitz through the story, of course, and finish it in probably about 12 or 15 hours, but doing that has never made much sense to me. What’s the point in spending the money for a game that has so much stuff in it if you’re just going to ignore half of it?

One of the things I often do when I first start playing a new Far Cry game (i.e., before I have lost my patience with it and start abusing the fast travel system) is to walk everywhere. Cars? Don’t need them. Horses? Way too fast. Sprinting? Get lost. I walk on the side of the road and watch what happens. There are plenty of civilians, driving or walking by, on nameless errands, window-dressing to remind the player that this is supposed to be a living, breathing country with people going about their daily lives. Usually patrols of enemies will go by, to remind you that this living, breathing country is under the control of a cartoonishly despotic regime, which gives you carte blanche to murder these soldiers as they go by. After all, they’re going to shoot at you on sight, so it’s self-defense. And then you’ll see animals - to a far greater degree than you would in real life. Ever seen a grey wolf pop out of the woods and take down a deer a few feet away from an interstate highway, completely unfazed by the cars going by at 60 miles an hour? Play Far Cry 5 and you’ll see it within 10 minutes.

The point, of course, is to keep the player engaged. If Far Cry were realistic, you could walk for twenty minutes down to road, to whatever camp or outpost you’re scheduled to blow up or take over, and see absolutely nothing other than a car or two. Players would get bored, is the assumption, if the game were like that. So instead, during that same twenty-minute walk, you’ll see about three car accidents (completely unintentionally, as Far Cry NPCs are notoriously poor drivers), you’ll have killed a minimum of ten people, and you’ll have killed and skinned a few wolves or a bear or a tiger or something. It’s very engaging, in a turn-your-brain-off, caveman sort of way. It makes you feel a little like the Predator in the eponymous movie, because everything is very clear-cut - you see a civilian? Ignore them. You see an enemy? Kill them immediately. You see an alligator? Kill it and skin it and turn it into a wallet. There’s no just sneaking by and letting bygones be bygones - animals are insanely aggressive, and enemies are bloodthirsty to the point of suicide.

But Far Cry 6 does something different, something that I found actually surprised me, because in Far Cry 6, as long as you have your weapons holstered, enemies will not attack you, unless you go too close to them or you trespass into their bases. Sure, if you’re walking along the road and they’re going the other way, they’ll stop and they watch you go by, to make sure you’re not thinking of trying anything. They might even yell at you, give you a mean little voiceline to remind you that they’re the bad guys. But if you’re so inclined, you can walk right past them and they will go back to wandering down the same road as you are, going about the same monotony of their digital daily lives.

The first time I saw this behavior in action, I actually stopped and watched this NPC, a woman in a police uniform, carrying a pistol, walk by, until she went down a hill and out of sight. I let a couple more enemies walk by before, when the third passed me, I pulled a u-turn and walked along behind her for a while. Even though I’d gotten fairly close, she didn’t seem to notice me. And then a little prompt showed up in the middle of my screen, inviting me to press the middle mouse button to instantly kill this woman.

So, naturally, I pressed the button, and I watched an animation as my character (a supermodel-gorgeous Latina woman with an athletic build - the default female character) sprinted behind this policewoman and plunged a machete into her back, then pulled it out, grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around before slamming the machete into her neck so hard that I was surprised I hadn’t decapitated her.

And then I turned around and kept walking. I left the body right there, on the side of the road. Far Cry games these days let you see your torso and legs if you look down; when I did, I saw that I was absolutely covered in this woman’s blood. Another policeman walked by, not seeing anything out of the ordinary, and I pulled the same trick and killed him as well. This time I stabbed him hard enough that the point of the machete emerged from his chest.

A few moments later a police car rolled up. I was on the side of the road, having gotten distracted by a horse. I turned around, noticed that the woman in the police car was looking out the window at the body I’d left in the middle of the street. I also noticed that she wasn’t hostile to me at all. So I sprinted up to the car, pressed that middle mouse button when the prompt appeared, and watched as I shoved that machete vertically beneath her chin so hard that the point emerged from her forehead. She had a very shocked expression on her face. Then I threw her out of the car and got in it. I sat there for a moment, trying to put my finger on what I found so disquieting about this whole experience, and then I drove the car down the road a ways, away from the objective, and got out. A man on a horse wandered by; my character said hello to him and he said hello back.

The character you play as in Far Cry 6, whether male or female, has the same backstory - they’re ex-military. But just like in almost every Far Cry before it, Far Cry 6 falls into the same trap of not giving the protagonist a good enough reason to immediately drop everything and side with the Good Guys. At the beginning of the game, your character’s only concern is escaping Yara - how quickly they drop that desire and revel in bloodshed. Is immense brutality for a good cause a good act? It’s a question that can’t be answered.

Latin America as a whole has historically always been fraught with violence and tragedy and deprivation. Petty dictators, cartels, human trafficking, abuse of power on a systemic level. The Dominican Republic under Trujillo, Argentina under Videla. The killing of Oscar Romero, Operation Condor, the list is interminable. In the US, I think people, especially those without a connection to Latin America, consider all this to be in the past. Many of those countries, once ruled by military dictatorships, are now democracies. Does that mean that the Latin America of the 60s and 70s is dead and buried? I don’t know. I don’t know enough to judge. My knowledge is limited to a second-generation Dominican friend I had in high school, and from having read everything Junot Diaz ever wrote. I watched Romero in high school and was struck, however briefly, by the enormity of it, of the fact that the movie is, for the most part, unembellished. The education I got in my history classes about the region was woefully incomplete, but how could it not be? There is too much to learn if you really want to understand.

A while ago, when Battlefield 1 came out, I read an article that raised the question of whether or not the game was disrespectful to the memories of those who fought and died in World War I, whether creating a game about that war was disrespectful. The conclusion that the article came to was that it wasn’t, specifically because the game didn’t pull any punches in presenting the war as it was - at least in the singleplayer campaign. It was a somber and well-balanced presentation of the shocking brutality of World War I, and the article made the claim, which I agree with, that presenting things as they are cannot be disrespectful. Presenting the truth without commentary, for the viewer to draw their own conclusions on, cannot possibly be disrespectful.

My problem, the thing that had been nagging at me ever since I had started playing, is that Far Cry 6 does not present the truth without commentary. The nation the game is set in, Yara, is fictional. The dictator and his goons are overblown and unrealistic in their tyranny. And, although I can’t say how much of this is accurate and how much of this is pastiche, the characters within the game do not seem authentic to me. The women are fiery and irrepressable, and the men are stoic and brutal. They speak heavily-accented English and drop in a Spanish phrase or two every couple of sentences. I knew a bit of Spanish before I started playing, but now I know more - I know the word for pussy, coño (which the game translates instead as ‘asshole’). I even thought I heard a character call another a maricón, although I might have misheard. Everything is presented as a first-worlder might interpret Latin America, as a rosy, violent image of that old nostalgic era of repression and suffering. I don’t like it, even if I get to play as the good guy. Righteous fury doesn’t go very far with me, I don’t have the stomach for it.

I’m not Hispanic, and I don’t have family or friends in Latin America. If I did, I wonder what they would think of this game if they watched twenty minutes or so of gameplay. I wonder if they would be offended. I wonder if what I’m playing is the Panda Express version of Latin American culture, a thorough helping of eye-candy calculated to appeal to the Western audience who consume these games, but with nothing authentic at the core.

I wonder what I will take away from this game, when I finish it. I’m not disgusted or dismayed enough not to, I suppose; I spent good money on it and, if you remove everything else, and look at the gameplay, it’s fun - and isn’t the point of video games to be fun? But when I boot up Far Cry 6 and I play a couple more missions, I listen to these thick accents speaking English words, written by a man named Navid Khavari, who works for Ubisoft and (as far as I can tell from googling) lives in Canada, and I wonder how much authenticity matters, how much respect for the real lives and real countries this game is hearkening to matters. I wonder about how much I’ve been interrogating my experience with this game, all based off the unplaceable feeling that something is not right, that something is phony. I wonder how many people will do the exact same things I have but won’t notice anything amiss at all.

I wonder too about the number of women I’ve murdered in Far Cry 6 - and I use the word murder not to be melodramatic, but because that’s what it was. In so many of these situations, I didn’t have to shoot them, or stab them. I could have walked by and let them go. But I did it anyway, because it’s a video game and the point of the game is to kill everything that shows up with a red health bar instead of a blue one, preferably without thinking about it too much. But after the tenth or twentieth woman I hacked to death with a machete, I wondered about the fruits of diversity and representation in video games.

I don’t really want to kill women, even if they’re just digital. Maybe this is an odd sort of sexism - what makes it so much better to kill a man? Why are my compassion and misgivings reserved only for one gender? Is it just the novelty of killing so many women? Many video games, even modern ones, skew heavily towards male enemies. Why does it make me so much more uncomfortable to hear a woman cry out in agony as I murder her than it does if it’s a man? It’s already bad enough that I’m alright with murdering men! I don’t want to become alright with murdering women, even if it’s just in a video game.

Or maybe I need to stop being a coño. That’s the argument, isn’t it? You’re taking this too seriously, it’s just a video game. But how many people will play this video game? How many people who know nothing about Latin America and its troubled, tragic history, will be exposed to this sanitized and window-dressed experience and think, somehow, that there is any grain of truth at the bottom of it? It makes me sad, that’s all. If I care too much, if I’m a coño for caring, then so be it.

What justifies a killing? Every now and then I see headlines about vigilantes being brought to justice, vigilantes who’ve hunted down and murdered pedophiles, or have brought extrajudicial punishment to people who, perhaps, deserved it. Uniformly, these vigilantes are unrepentant; the one unifying thread between all of them is an immense and unyielding sense of conviction. They have, as far as they’re concerned, done the right thing. Even if they must be punished for it, they’ve done the right thing.

If we’re to take the world of Far Cry 6 seriously, would my character be able to sleep at night? Would my character feel the same conviction? I don’t know. I know I wouldn’t, if it were me, but I am a gentle soul. Far Cry 6 tries to excuse your actions - the dictator, Anton Castillo, is unapologetically despotic and evil, far in excess of anything realistic, and this cruelty runs, apparently, all the way down to his jackbooted thugs. They are callous, they punish and execute for little or no reason, actions pushed in your face as the player so you can swoop in and play the hero and save these helpless Hispanic men and women.

But I don’t buy this. Even in the cruelest of regimes, the people who are just trying to protect and feed their families and have no other way to do so than to sign up with the tyrant will at least break even with the koolaid-drinking True Believers. These overt displays of cruelty are a sort of pageant, pushed in your face so you can see how evil these people are, supposedly, and so you don’t feel bad about murdering them, if you even did in the first place. It’s a video game - why would you feel bad? Why would you think about it? Why would you care?

Why do I care?

I think I care because, after almost twenty years of playing video games, I’m starting to get tired of this. I’m getting tired of broad, blunt strokes used to excuse psychopathic behavior on the part of the player. I’m getting tired of playing Ted Kaczynski simulator, or Ruby Ridge simulator, or Waco simulator. I’m getting tired of cultures and people reduced to window dressing and nothing more.

There are so many people who argue very vehemently that video games are art, but I think this game, Far Cry 6, is a very good argument for why the vast majority of video games can’t be. It’s because a game like this, sitting firmly on the cutting edge, at least graphically speaking, is enormously expensive to produce. Far Cry 5, the previous installment, had a budget of between $80 and $130 million. How much for Far Cry 6? How many units does it have to sell to make a profit?

The figures must be enormous, and in order to turn a profit, the game has to be very careful not to offend anybody. Every demographic you alienate is a demographic that won’t buy the game, or at least won’t buy as many copies. This is why the game is so afraid to make a statement other than ‘fascism bad.’ Everybody knows fascism is bad! Everybody is aware at this point, and the people who aren’t are the fascists! You play as the Good Guy in Far Cry 6, a Good Guy who murders police officers and soldiers in cold blood when you could have let them walk by, a Good Guy in the strictest Hollywood action movie sense, who fights for American values despite never having set foot in America in her entire life, despite having plenty of reasons not to particularly like the US and what it stands for.

But, very tellingly, in Ubisoft’s quest not to offend, they have ignored the very demographic the game is about. I don’t think they care. I think that somebody looked at a chart of the market share and shrugged and said that it would cost more money to make it less offensive to this group, and that they don’t play video games anyway, or if they do they don’t play modern games because they can’t afford the hardware, so who cares?

I think that if I were Hispanic, if I were from Latin America, from Cuba or Ecuador or somewhere, and this were what Western media was portraying about my culture, I would care. Hell, I care and I’m none of those things. But the worst thing about Far Cry 6 is that it doesn’t matter if I care or not, and I suspect that it probably doesn’t matter if Latin America cares or not. We are, collectively, beneath Ubisoft’s attention. We don’t matter. And I suspect that Far Cry, and the gaming industry at large, will continue to trample over culture and history in its efforts to appeal more and more effectively to the Western middle-class who play these sorts of games, who buy the season passes and the collector’s editions. How many of them are going to be willing to hold Ubisoft to account? How many of them will even realize that there is something wrong with the way things are portrayed?

One of the weapons you can acquire in the game is a gun that shoots CDs. From just a physics standpoint, it’s ridiculous, of course, and from a military standpoint it’s even worse, but realism has never been Far Cry’s strong suit. One of the features of this weapon is that it plays music as you use it. And what song does it play when you pull the trigger? The Macarena.

This is what Latin American culture means to Ubisoft. This is what all the stereotypes and window dressing and dancing around real issues that they have done culminates in. They have taken an entire region and reduced it to the Macarena, an easily consumed meme that carries no more nuanced meaning than ‘haha those Hispanics sure are wacky!’

In Far Cry 7, I’m sure, we will still be murdering men and women and running roughshod over whatever ‘legally distinct’ country and culture it’s set in. And it will be okay, because we will play as the Good Guys, those ever-inoffensive Good Guys, those white middle-class male Westerners wearing the skin of Hispanic women, or Asian men, or whatever. And once again, nobody who matters will care.

#writing #criticism #far cry 6 #latin america #women #representation

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workingforitallthetime · 4 years

Text

svech: a very serious and responsible primer

ok @totally-necessary and @needsmore, i am gonna write you an andrei svechnikov primer and i am going to do my best to produce a work of responsible well-sourced expository prose instead of an embarrassing thirsty disaster like the rest of my andrei svechnikov blogging.

here is my introductory paragraph:

wait, no, give me another shot. i swear i can actually do this. here is my introductory paragraph:

HOW CAN I NOT LOVE THIS GOOD-NATURED FEARLESS JOYFUL SHOULDER-FRECKLED SEX KITTEN????? HOW CAN I DO ANYTHING BUT CRY ALL THE TIME?????

.......ok. sorry. let me try it again. i’ll do it right this time, i promise. here is my introductory paragraph:

once upon a time in siberia, two-year-old andrei svechnikov put on skates for the first time and cried because he couldn’t follow his big brother evgeny onto the ice. eventually evgeny’s coach let andrei join the team’s workouts, and then coach started giving the older players a hard time when andrei would beat them.

the backstory of the svech bros sounds a lot like every other hockey kid who didn’t grow up privileged: parents who worked multiple jobs and sacrificed and moved cities to make sure the kids got hockey opportunities. in interviews, the svechnikov brothers have referenced not knowing where food or clothes were going to come from, and they emphasize how close it made them. evgeny says:

Having a brother that we eat from one plate--sleep in one bed sometimes--we went through everything. It's just one person by your side always. It's like going hunting alone or with somebody.

they wear the same number. they talk every day. as soon as the season paused in march, evgeny drove to north carolina. lately, they’re hanging out in michigan. basically, if hockey is not being played, they are together. basically, if you are going to write a primer about andrei, the most important thing is evgeny.

(my theory is that evgeny is at least part of the reason andrei does not like it when dougie and foegs joke about him being their kid brother. it’s the only joke i’ve ever seen svech refuse to roll with.)

evgeny got drafted by the red wings in 2015 (round 1, 19th overall). he started out with the AHL affiliate in grand rapids, and in 2016 mama svech packed up andrei and moved from russia to michigan. andrei played a season for the muskegon lumberjacks in the USHL. he led the team in scoring and was named USHL rookie of the year. the next season he was the first selection in the CHL import draft, and played for the barrie colts.

ok, so while we’re knocking out the backstory, i want to note that svech’s full name is Andrei Igorevich Svechnikov. don’t tell me that’s not sexy.

furthermore, the very spelling of andrei is sexy. i had a russian-speaking colleague once who had a son named andrei and she would say his name with a little lift at the end. not like the i added another syllable, just like a little caress. i hear it that way when i type it. it makes me happy to type that i at the end. andrei. andrei.

oh sorry, did i veer off topic?

the carolina hurricanes selected andrei second overall in the 2018 draft. he looked just as dumb as everybody always does in their draft night jersey photos, but here’s his draft day suit:

oh wait, can’t pass up the opportunity for a combine photo

did i say COMBINE? i meant JAWLINE

wait one more photo from the combine, just because he looks especially dead poets society in this one:

upon moving to raleigh, andrei emphatically wanted to live alone, which seems unusual for an 18-year-old entering the NHL and is therefore fertile ground for all sorts of headcanons. he keeps his floors very clean and gets mad when his buddies won’t take their shoes off. i am not making this up. he lives in the same apartment complex as dougie hamilton, warren foegele, joel edmundson (rip), and teuvo teravainen. andrei does not cook and he’s constantly calling them to see who wants to go out to eat.

in that last video i linked you can see foegs stumble and jump off his scooter just before he hits the gate to their parking garage. then the gate rises like magic and svech glides straight through. this is an unsubtle metaphor for andrei svechnikov’s entire athletic existence.

svech purportedly does not play video games, which is wild to me. instead, he practices magic tricks. again, i am not making this up.

wait i’m sorry it’s been at least ten minutes since i looked at a picture of andrei svechnikov holding a bunch of kittens

ok where was i.

svech had a pretty solid rookie season in 2018-19, but you can look up the numbers elsewhere if you want them. he was the first player born this century to score in the NHL but we don’t like to think about his 2000 birthdate. he played on a line with jordan martinook for a lot of that first season, and you can read more about that romantic nonsense in the ship primer i’ll be writing next. more recently the canes have settled into a top line of svech, sebastian aho, and teuvo teravainen, which is a pretty deadly combo.

one incident of note from svech’s rookie season is that he got knocked the fuck out by alex ovechkin. we’ll be talking more about that in the ship primer too, but if you want the video it’s here.

here, have a little celly:

svech’s most touted accomplishment is scoring the NHL’s first-ever Michigan-style lacrosse goal. this article has a very good description of how it worked. the postgame interview from that game is so endearing it makes me want to claw my face off. he’s talking so fast (for him) and he keeps repeating that his brother taught it to him, just absolutely determined to make sure everyone knows this milestone belongs to evgeny too.

also, this season, he scored the first playoff hat trick in franchise history.

the thing about andrei svechnikov is that nobody has a bad word to say about him. everybody thinks he’s an amazing player (”skilled and tenacious yet loose and creative”) and everybody compliments his work ethic (shooting pucks for hours after practice or a game) and journalists call him a “transcendent star.” everybody says he’s a great person. everybody calls him special. jordan martinook says svech never has a bad word to say about anyone.

ok it’s kitten time again!

more svech facts of note:

drives a black mercedes, poorly. “he wants to win on the road, too,” says foegs.

his voice gets very soft when he is uncertain about something but he’s loud when he wins a card game. (”GOOD NIGHT, BROTHER! SEE YOU NEXT GAME!”)

loves french toast for breakfast.

guilty pleasure is milkshakes.

if he was an animal, he’d be a bear (”like a russian bear.”)

does monster summer workouts with ivan provorov

look how fucking cute he is

the invaluable social media team over at hurricanes hq understands the svech content the world needs. i’m gonna tackle some more of this in the ship primer, but here are the best ones:

who’s your daddy? this video features svech confusedly asking “daddy?”, which is literally everything i ever want in fic or in life. once he finally understands he’s expected to choose between two teammates, he chooses the one who’s his buddy. and then after he’s catcalled from offscreen, he slouches down in his chair and changes his answer. “both,” he mutters, looking unbearably smug. “both.”

cookie face. it takes marty a very entertaining 49 seconds to eat the cookie. then svech hacks the game and wins in 7 second flat. “he’s good at everything,” marty marvels from offscreen.

this is a terrible concept for a video but it does feature svech and dougie doing the famous scene from stepbrothers, and svech giving a sweeping bow. i will forgive him for wearing a duke hat but only because he wears a tarheels hat in the three amigos video above.

has it been too long since a kitten photo? it’s definitely been too long since a kitten photo.

in conclusion, andrei svechnikov is a massive life-ruining problem and also he is perfect. i love him.

#whew #svech primer #hawk fic

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drabsyo · 3 years

Note

Hey! I’m new to the fleurmione fandom and I’m loving it here. I just stumbled upon the ship while scrolling through tumblr. Are there fleurmione fics that you would recommend I read? I would really appreciate your recs

So far I’ve read Aucune Defense Pour Toi, Saving Souls & Healing Hearts, and the Dusk of Summer series- all of which where amazing

Ah! Certainly, anon ;) Also welcome!!

Fleurmione fic rec p.2 💙💖✨📚 p. 1 here.

What We’ve Missed by lipeviez

(Oh gosh, this one. Beautiful. Angsty. Passionate. Hello?? I raved about this for an entire week, and had to reread it twice after reading it the first time. I think this one is definitely one of the best. Rated M for My Favorite and MMMM.)

Summary: Hermione detested failure. She hated entering a new situation where she wasn’t absolutely confident in her abilities to succeed. Dating women was one such new situation. She decided to arrange a no strings encounter but was not prepared for the feelings and memories it dredges up, feelings she thought she’d buried after she lost touch with a certain Frenchwoman.

Falling Towards Something (It Might Just Be You) by thewaywedo33

(Hello angst-trip! But so, so worth it. Into that high stakes, high tension setting? Well this one takes the cake. Beautifully written in Hermione’s third person perspective. You won’t regret reading this one. Fleur Delacour has never been more alluring, magnetic, enigmatic.)

Summary: At the Battle of Hogwarts Hermione discovers Fleur is not who she thinks she is. As they are drawn together again and again, Hermione might just discover she herself is no longer the same person either.

The Dress by waxwing_Saint

(Fleur and Hermione, happily married. Married couple things. Shortest one in the list, but the idea of these two living a blissfully domestic life is 💖. Please know that this is Rated E.)

Summary: The Minister For Magic and her lover secret away in the middle of a gala and find a quiet little stairwell all to themselves.

Cherry Blossoms Across Your Lips by Sosh_022

(This one is new and on-going, but I’m already obsessed. The culture. The plot. The rivalry. The characterization. HERMIONE. Brilliant. One for the bookmarks definitely!)

Summary: Hermione, Harry, and Draco have been nominated to represent Hogwarts in the biggest wizarding competition of all time - the Triwizard Tournament. Teams of three from nine wizarding schools all around the world will gather together to compete for a chance at eternal glory, fame, and money. It's here within the jade green walls and everblooming gardens of Mahoutokoro where Hermione and Fleur meet again. AKA an HP AU with HP characters. Voldemort never happened. Everyone is a seventh year student.

Witnessed here in Time and Blood by whistle.the.silver

(Definitely one of the classic Fleurmione reads. Poetic, painful, intricate. Shell Cottage has never felt more like home, has never felt this safe before, has never felt this torturous. I’d listen to To Build A Home by The Cinematic Orchestra while reading this. The fic is written in Hermione’s POV, but To Build A Home grants us a glimpse into Fleur’s perspective, at least that’s what I think! Not a lighthearted read but worth reading every word and so much more.)

Summary: When Shell Cottage receives a motley group, Fleur and Bill do their best to ensure their safety. In the weeks that follow, wounds are healed and plans are concocted. Fleur and Hermione find themselves coming to a new understanding of one another.

Our Minds Work in Mysterious Ways (But We Like It Like That) by InsomniacAndBi

(Another awesome AU by InsomniacAndBi. Always been a fan of investigatory crime documentaries and series, and if you are too, then this is perfect.)

Summary: Fleur was always an observer in life, choosing to watch and not get involved. So, she wasn't entirely what she was doing in a dingy old cottage with five other students whose minds worked in the same, odd ways as her own. An Au inspired by the Naturals book series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.

Hear No Evil by The_Lochness_Monster

(Another on-going fic, but absolutely brilliant. I just love this so much.)

Summary: There were three things that Hermione knew with absolute certainty: she despised ungraded homework, her front teeth were too large for her face, and she would never hear. Deaf Hermione AU.

Oath of Silver by i_shall_wear_midnight

(Because I can never get enough of the Witcher franchise, and this fills the void of longing for a wlw Witcher story.)

Summary: Fleur hires a witcher and then decides to keep her.

Cruel Intentions by Perpetual_Nonsense

(Okay, so... you know those rather cliché The Bet, I-Dare-You-To-Woo-This-Person stories? Well here you go. I swear. With this one, you’re in for a ride. This entire fic plays like a MOVIE, and if that isn’t everything, I don’t know what is. Watching those coming of age/teen romance films a guilty pleasure of yours? Read Cruel Intentions.)

Summary: Fleur Delacour is a seductive, manipulative heiress who gets what she wants when she wants it. Bored with her life, she decides she needs a challenge and sets her sights on Hermione Granger, the golden girl, during the Triwizard Tournament. She plans to take Hermione's virginity by the third task; Hermione has other plans.

I did my best to compile complete ones, except for the other two because I’m already so in love with those. I excluded the other classics like the ones you’ve mentioned but I’m pretty sure there are tons more out there, these are just the ones I’ve completed reading and tend to reread a lot. It got a bit long again... But please, I hope you have a happy reading! :)

#fleurmione #fleur delacour #hermione granger #hermione x fleur #fluermione fic recs #thank you for this ask anon!#and welcome to the fleurmione fandom!#always so excited to hear when there's a new fellow fleurmione!!!#*SENDING SO MUCH LOVE TO THE FANFIC WRITERS*#honestly the lifeblood of our fandom hello pls marry me i'd wash the dishes and cook i promise we'll make our own shell cottage #that's all bye i'm a mess #drabstuff #hp wlw #hp fanfic rec

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alicehattera03 · 3 years

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You know what? guilty pleasure BUT GODS AM I OBSESSED WITH POSSESSIVE, OBSESSIVE CHARACTERS NOW!!!!! And it's ALLL YOUUUUR FAULT **furiously growls at Alice**. But this is just a simpleton's question-how come every character in wmmap ranging from Jetty to Lucas has been transformed into that one obsessed, possessive lover or family member. But why TF has no one ever thought of AN OBSESSIVE, POSSESSIVE PARENT. Like an obsessive parent who's unhealthily possessive of their child. I mean that's the most trendy trope in this genre rn. Like no I totally don't mean incest, no no no I'M NOT TALKING ROMAMCE. I mean a parent who is like unhealthily attached to their child. And their reasons could range from ultra toxic parental love to considering the kid a part of themselves and so much more. And wmmap is primarily about the parental relationship. And it makes me so surprised that there is not one single good fic exploring an unhealthy kind of parental love (again i don't mean incest or romance) when so many franchises and their fanfics have devoted to exploring that. Like we have an abundance of op(obsessed & possessive) lovers, op siblings, op side characters but no op parents😢? Like that one relationship has so many ways to be unhealthy af.

Guilty pleasure? Oh anon, it's just my pleasure ehehehe *bows* Definitely happy to have it be my fault, dearest! Thanks for the ask, let's see if I can answer it!?

To answer your question(to the best of my ability, hopefully there's no wrong answer to this), I think fics with with unhealthy toxic parents can go either one of a couple ways, one of them being the thing you mentioned...they could also become a helicopter parent which is plenty toxic if they don't give their child/children any room to breathe, and the kid becoming an extension of the parent (EX: I wasn't able to become X and I want you to fulfill that dream and IDC if you don't want to do it, you will do it for me because I gave birth to you, took care of you, clothed you, gave you a roof over your head- for that singular reason!!!) type of toxicity??

I guess wmmap fics (myself included, but I haven't read any from this fandom as of late) don't really know if their approach would be alright to do in fics, seeing as how it could go down the bad route reallllly fast...(blinks awkwardly as I hide some of my fics behind me, re-reading how you said no r0mance/incxst) but if other fandoms are doing it well, I'm sure someone will be able to do it in the future if they have the will to ^^

Also maybe it could be that their relationship was toxic from the beginning that fic writers don't have much to think about? Like he abandoned her for 5 years(longer in the OG LP) and then she adapts this fake persona to get close to him, forgetting her real self in the process, and she almost always has to be on her guard because for a long time, she didn't know if he would attempt to kill her again.

Their whole relationship is basically built around the death of Diana, and ok a loved one's death is usually hard to process for everyone involved but Claude just *explodes* yeah, and Athy was the fallout that he hated until she really tried to get close to him. IF she hadn't, they'd still be stuck in that limbo of "I'm gonna kill her" "he's gonna kill me, gotta run away" and well, if that isn't toxic/unhealthy, I don't know what is...

#answering asks #wmmap #anon ask #ask box

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thotly-thoughts-101 · 2 years

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Unwanted pining ch 2

Summary: Mykaelis North, a young trans man in the city, except its not the city he knows. It's New York from Sam Rami's Spider-Man movies. One of his favorite film franchises. The issue is, Mykaelis is from 2022, not 2002, which happens to be the year he was born. So now he's an adult in a time full of technology that he has no idea how to use, all while being the unfortunate recipient of affection. Working in Oscorp for a boss who takes an uncomfortable interest in him, and a friend who has become an unfortunately accurate conspiracy theorist. Kae however, has his heart set on his idol and guilty pleasure, Otto Octavius, who finds this unfortunate protagonist endearing and intelligent, yet incredibly dense. As always, shit can and will go wrong in this turn around romance, full of wit, humor, and Kae being awkward as all fuck.

Pairings?: Otto x Kae, Norman x Kae

Warnings: Language, drugs, fire, food/eating, mentions of death, night terrors, Norman is kinda creepy, conspiracies, tumblr is real here, fax machines.

A/n: Hiya! I'm the author of Unwanted pining, this is an 18+ story, as it covers some mature themes as the story progresses. Kaelis is a self insert and this fic is pure therapy for me while I navigate my life. Likes, reposts comments and asks are always appreciated, keep 'em appropriate and constructive, bullying and harassment will just get you blocked

CHAPTER 2: LIFE OF A PROFESSIONAL HOARDER, I DON’T HAVE AN ISSUE, YOU DO

To be fair, I did not expect my life to be rummaging in the fucking river or half sunken wrecks of buildings looking for a scrap of Otto Octavius’s existence. I did find one of his actuators on the shore, likely cut off in that fight in “No Way Home”. Norman would at least have some reaction to it, I personally wanted it showcased, a good display box would be nice.

I had lugged the damn thing into my cart that I pulled around while mucking around the bank, my thoughts drifting to who knows where, vague thoughts of what it would have been like if I had gotten to grow up in this world, work with Otto Octavius, rather than pick up the discarded pieces of him.

I sighed, “Damnit Kae, no daydreamin right now, gotta find that good shit.”

Of course, I had already found the best that could be found in the river without a professional salvage crew to dig it up from the bottom of this, god, damn, RIVER.

All the little bits of metal I could identify ended up in the truck Norman had given me… cause you know, I’m going to be recovering history, I need a vehicle. Mr. Osborn was a pretty nice guy, when he wasn’t busy ya know, being the goblin and terrorizing town.

I sat in the driver's seat with a sigh, head back and staring at the ceiling. It must be a sight, a young, 20 some year old with neon hair sitting in an Oscorp official pickup truck with a piece of Doctor Octopus’s metal arms shoved into the bed. If anything it would be more comical if I was smoking. Ah well, no point wishing for drugs that haven’t been legalized yet. Major downside of essentially going back in time, to another world, when your world was probably suffering a major pandemic, and who the hell knew if my other universe self was still in this world or if they got dropped in mine, or if I was even alive. Oh gods what if I was meant to be dead in this world?

I shot up in my seat, sitting straight, “Nope, nope, not the time to think about that, you live in this world now, picking up stuff for Oscorp, your old world doesn’t matter right now Kaelis.” I took a deep breath and turned the key, just listening as the engine sputtered before turning on with its own huff of forced compliance.

“I feel you man, life fucking sucks,” I rolled my eyes and shifted out of parking, pulling out of the docks as the sun went down. I proceeded to drive my way into New York traffic towards the Oscorp tower.

–

Now, it wasn’t uncommon for me to be doing this job at night, I had only started a few days ago, and the night shift fit my shit sleep schedule. What wasn’t Norman, however, was Norman Osborn waiting for me in the office I had been given to store Otto’s materials. I walked in, humming some tune that by my standard was kinda…old, but was new by the standards of this time. A 25 pound metal claw in my arms, and my phone was out.

I repeat, my phone was out, the one I had when I ended up in this universe, a phone that wouldn’t come out until 2018, and it was currently 2005.

“Fuck,” I cussed, almost dropping the actuator, “Hi Mr. Os- Norman, hi Norman.”

Norman tilted his head at me, “What on earth is that?”

“Well, do you mean the severed actuator or my phone?”

“That little thing is your phone!?” He stepped closer, “You may explain after you set down the actuator.” Mr. Osborn took the arm from me and moved it to a table, and I watched, a longing to have gotten to know the man that was Dr. Octavius outside of a screen sense.

I took a seat, “So uh…how much do you want answered, and do you promise not to think me crazy?”

Norman quirked an eyebrow at me, “I would like as much as you can explain to me, and I doubt it will be much crazier than a man in red and blue spandex swinging around New York fighting bad guys.” At that he laughed, and I laughed. That nervous laugh that told me I was likely in the deepest shit I could have gotten into.

I folded my hands in front of me and took a deep breath, “I’m from another universe, not the universe you traveled to, but a universe where everyone here is fictional, and I don’t know how I got here but if i go back I potentially return to a pandemic and I personally am not interested in that.” I smiled, that nervous, tight lipped smile that really was a signal of nervousness, trying not to cry and acting like everything is fine, smile.

Norman Osborn leaned back on his chair, looking over me, with what I could guess was understanding? “I see, that does explain why you talk a little differently than any other employee I have hired, but that doesn’t explain your capacity for deescalation…”

“Well that’s just from experience and trying not to get killed by some Karen who thinks the government is microchipping us with COVID vaccines,” I did my best to be plain and matter of factly in my statement, but my boss only seemed more confused.

“If I may ask, Mykaelis, what is COVID?” He had leaned forward putting his hands together.

“The plague.”

“The plague?”

I nodded, “Yeah, it’s the plague. Just as much as you are the Green Goblin.” and the cat is out of the bag. I swallowed dryly as I watched, taking in Mr. Osborn’s reaction.

And I watched a bit longer. Roughly two minutes passed, “I see, other universe information?”

I nodded, slowly, “I also know who Spider-man is, and roughly…” I counted on my fingers, “nine other Spider-men and women as well. May I continue my work sir?”

Norman stood, “Yes, of course,” He stepped around me, “I do hope you will continue to work with Oscorp Mykaelis, you have become quite indispensable to the company.”

“I had no plans on leaving sir,” I started with a smile, and at that, my boss was gone, leaving me in a room filled with memories, both real and nonexistent. I stood and began organizing and arranging all that I had gathered of Otto Octavius’s belongings in the short time I had been doing this.

I found my mind drifting to one of the few times I had gotten to meet the man, while I had been working the front desk, my first week at Oscorp.

–

I had only just gotten a hang of welcoming guests and answering phone calls when I heard shouting. Had a fight broken out?

I, stupidly, got up and headed over towards the sound, fully expecting it to be some shady looking man arguing with the security officer, but instead, I was faced with a broadly built, 6’2” man in a turtle neck and tiny glasses.

“Hello, I don’t mean to intrude, but what is the problem here officer?” I butted in with a sweet smile. The officer, who went by TJ for some reason, had always been a pain, didn’t understand that lots of scientists never passed the detector due to some materials that they may have purchased from outside properties.

TJ grinned, as though he had one, “Well, Miss-”

I cut him off, “Mister, try that again TJ, you know how Mr. Osborn feels about misgendering his employees.”

“Right, well, this man here brought in gunpowder, lead and other metals and substances not allowed from the outside,” TJ sputtered around his words, probably frustrated at me for interrupting, or correcting him, who knew.

“May I see your Id sir?” I asked the much taller man, who seemed a bit red in the face from arguing with the officer, so I kept my voice as sweet as could be, with a customer service smile that often came off as a threat.

(I had found that people always thought I had “too many teeth”, but that’s another thing.)

“Of course, Norman might have mentioned I would be in today,” He handed me his Id, which was so small in his hand, I found it rather amusing.

“Otto Octavius…” I read the name, unable to hide the wistfulness in my voice, “Yes, Mr. Osborn did mention you would be in. You may retrieve your items and carry on,” I smiled again, a softer one, at least, it felt gentler, “I’m so sorry for the inconvenience Dr. Octavius.”

I handed his pass back to him, and Otto smiled, “It’s not your fault young man,” TJ had long left with a huff, likely to gripe to his superiors, but I didn’t care, this was one of the few moment’s I would ever get with Dr. Otto Octavius.

“Though, you seem rather young to be a receptionist here…” The question was left open, the topic was obvious. Was I in college?

“Well, unfortunately, it’s what pays the bills,” I side stepped, well aware of my desire to linger, “I’m sure I’ve kept you long enough Dr. Octavius, have a nice day.”

I fled.

Well, what did you expect? All I wanted to do was lose myself to the smell of his expensive cigars and machine oil that lingered around him.

–

I was broken from the memory by knocking on the glass door of the office I resided in. I turned to see a young man, Harry Osborn, my boss’s son. What the hell was he doing here?

I opened the door, “Young Mr. Osborn, what are you doing here so late?” I was leaning on the frame, still drunk on memories.

“My father sent me, said a young man like you needed to be around people your own age,” He frowned, as though he didn’t want to be here, “And please, call me Harry.”

I smiled, “Ah, do come in then, sorry for the mess. I was just…organizing.”

“Actually, it’s rather late, why don’t I walk with you to your car,” He suggested, and Harry was probably right, it was late, and I should get home to sleep.

“You know, that sounds rather nice, thank you Harry,” I stepped out of my den of cleaning and turned the lights off, locking the door behind me.

The first couple of minutes were walked in silence, as I was dressed in camo overalls and he was in a suit and tie. It’s a little difficult to make conversation with someone who lived an entirely different life from you.

“So,” Harry started, “Where are you from, I can never place your accent when you talk.”

I laughed, “Oh, yeah, I don’t really sound like where I’m from, I grew up in North Dakota, but having a distinct vocal intonation was frowned upon by my mother.”

“I see,” He hummed, “Why was it frowned upon?”

“Politics, polite society, bull shit and the fae court.”

“Fae court?” Harry sounded rather shocked, “I haven’t heard that before.”

“It’s a lot of heritage stuff really,” I explained, not really wanting to go in depth. It could, and would get awkward way too fast for my tastes, “And this is my car, thank you Harry, it was nice to properly meet you.”

He nodded, “You too, Mykaelis.”

Soon, the wealthy young man was gone and I was left to leave the parking garage to walk the three blocks to my apartment complex, and there, waiting for me, was a mound of blankets and lingering dreams.

#spiderman #otto x kaelis #otto x trans!reader #otto octavius #otto x oc #otto x reader #norman x oc #peter parker #marvel #im just a big ol nerd

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