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soupsuckz · 8 months

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PLS YOURE SO GOOD WITH SAM WINCHESTER SMUT

sam winchester nsfw alphabet?? fem!reader

♡ im basically a natural when it comes to sam ♡

A- Aftercare (What they're like after sex)

He usually stays inside you for a few moments after cumming. He likes the intimacy of being close, but then he'll get you water and a warm rag. If you're especially tired, he will wipe you up and then you'll most likely cuddle for a while.

B- Body Part (Their favorite of yours and their own)

Sam loves your neck. He loves nipping at it, leaving hickies, wrapping his hands around it, etc. For himself, he probably is the most proud of his arms or hands. He loves being able to pick you up without any issue.

C- Cum (Anything to do with it)

Usually he'll pull out and cum on himself, but if you give him the choice he'll either cum inside or on your stomach. He's also suuuuper messy with it, and loves seeing you covered.

D- Dirty Secret (A dirty secret of theirs)

He secretly loves subtle exhibitionism, stuff like making you moan so loud any guests can hear you. He doesn't want to actually show them anything, but rather just make them imagine. He loves when you brag about him, (especially in bed) and it definitely eggs him on.

E- Experience (How much experience do they have? Do they know what they're doing?)

He obviously hasn't had as much as Dean, but that's because he prefers to get to know the person first. Sam thrives on knowing exactly how to make you squirm, so he usually won't hire a prostitute. He thinks sex should be enjoyable for both of those involved and feels almost ashamed to use someone.

F- Favorite Position (Self explanitory, their fav sex position)

He honestly doesn't care what position you're in, as long as it's comfortable. His favorite though, is doggystyle. He loves being able to grab your ass and still have access to your neck.

G- Goofy (Are they more serious or goofy during sex?)

Sam is usually pretty serious during it, but he'll crack a joke every once in a while if you're nervous. He wants to make sure you're comfortable and knows he isn't going to hurt you. (Without your permission.)

H- Hair (How well groomed are they? Do the curtains match the drapes?)

It's no secret that he's hairy, but he does keep it clean and trimmed. Even when he's not in a relationship, he prefers to have it tamed.

I- Intimacy (How romantic are they in the bedroom?)

He's not necessarily romantic, but he's super sweet. He tries to take you out on dates and get you flowers, but it somehow always gets messed up. Usually a 'romantic' night for you two includes him making dinner and then watching a movie and cuddling.

J- Jackoff (Masturbation headcanon)

Whenever Sam does jerkoff he likes to still pretend it's you. He'll cover his eyes and think of all the things you do to him, stroking himself how you ways do.

K- Kinks (One or more of their kinks)

Hm, he's definitely into biting and scratching, maybe even a little tickling. Other than that I think he's pretty vanilla.

L- Location (Favorite place to do it?)

Honestly as vanilla as it is, he loves the bed. He'll be happy to fuck you in Baby, but he prefers somewhere soft and warm. He loves the convenience of being able to just cuddle and sleep afterwards.

M- Motivation (What turns them on?)

Sam absolutely loves when you wear his clothes/cologne. It makes him feel so primal.

N- No (Things they absolutely wouldn't do, turn offs.)

Even though he's a hunter, and deal's with super gross stuff, he will not do anything with scat, piss, or vomit.

O- Oral (What do they prefer?)

Sam loves a good blowjob, but he'd always prefer to eat you out. He's so desperate and hungry, eating you out like a starved man.

P- Pace (Are they fast or rough? Slow or sensual?)

He's rough and slow. He takes long, sweet thrusts before slamming back into you.

Q- Quickie (What are their opinions on them?)

He doesn't love them but he's used to them. Being with hunting you two don't have a lot of time alone so it's not uncommon for you to go to a gas station bathroom and get off.

R- Risk (How risky are they?)

It depends on the era. In the first few seasons, not at all. I think after S7 he stopped caring about whether Dean heard or not.

S- Stamina (How long can they go for?)

S1-6 Sam can definitely go up to 3 rounds, but I think after Soulless Sam he can only go 1-2 before being exhausted.

T- Toys (Do they have any? Do they use them on their partner?)

He doesn't own any toys for himself, but he's open to it. If you have a wand or something he wouldn't mind you using it on him.

U- Unfair (How much do they like to tease?)

Sam isn't super into teasing unless he's stressed out. He usually is straight to the point when it comes to the bedroom, so most of the teasing will be way before you two are even home.

V- Volume (How loud are they?)

Like I've said before I don't think he necessarily makes a lot of noise but he does grunt into your ear.

W- Wildcard (Random drabble or hc)

I feel like he probably fantasizes about a normal life where you're his housewife and he gets you pregnant. He loves the idea of showing everyone just how much he cares by filling you with a new life.

X- X-ray (What's going on under their pants?)

Sam is long and girthy. I think he'd probably be around 6 inches and definitely very thick.

Y- Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

He's obviously not as horny as Dean, but he does get very needy. Even if it's just getting off in front of each other, he loves seeing you trust him that much.

Z- Zzz (How fast do they fall asleep afterwards?)

Sam feels guilty falling asleep without taking care of you first, so he'll make sure to tend to your needs before even laying back down. After he's finished he will usually curl up with you and nap for a while.

#sam winchester #sam winchester smut #castiel supernatural #the cw supernatural #supernatural smut #supernatural #dean winchester smut #dean winchester #dean x castiel #jensen ackles #jared and jensen #jensen x reader #jared padalecki #jared paladecki #castiel

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that-lazy-snail · 1 year

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Being a fan of Avatar (the movie with blue people) is literally the most exhausting fan experience I've ever had, and I'm a female Star Wars fan, who's favorite Star Wars movie is The Last Jedi.

I'm by no means claiming that the movie is flawless or even "great" but it is by scifi blockbuster standards pretty good. It's no more or less racist than the Star Wars prequels and the writing isn't any worse than the scriptwriting in the Star Wars prequels either, yet it's treated with such disdain among people on the internet that I can't even talk about it without receiving random hateful comments.

I cosplay from the movie, more specifically the new movie and an OC that I designed in 2018. I love the movie, especially the visual elements and the design of the Na'vi and their culture, I think it's a fascinating metaphor for our treatment of indigenous peoples and our planet, I love the themes the film presents. But I'm also aware that it's harmful to indigenous people as well because it promotes a white savior narrative, that it's harmful to disabled people by promoting the narrative that they can't live full lives unless they're normative. I don't deny those problems with the movie, and I have plenty of criticisms of the new film as well. Particularly the use of locks on Jake and Spider, and I saw a video on tiktok complaining about that and I left a comment saying that I really wish they hadn't done that and I thought it was a really poor styling choice since up until that point none of the Na'vi we'd seen have locks so it doesn't logically make sense to give them that hair style. I got quite a bit of response to that comment, some people agreeing with me but largely people were saying, "why do you cosplay it then?" "why do you support it then?" like is it not okay to like things and also have criticism for them? I'm allowed to like things about it and also not like things about it.

I also keep seeing videos saying that Avatar has no cultural impact, that it doesn't have a long lasting fan base despite having lore comparable to Lord of the Rings. Here's the thing with that, it totally does have lore comparable to Lord of the Rings but the fan base can't thrive like LOTR fans or even Star Trek could partially because the internet wasn't a space in the same way then as it was when Avatar came out and the other fact is the sheer amount of shaming and harassment that Avatar fans get. I've seen people leave the fandom because of the hate they received on the internet. They quite literally get bullied out of their enjoyment of the movie. People say that Avatar has no fans, but it's fans are chronically silent and reclusive in our liking of the film for fear of getting harassed. I am part of Facebook groups of that have thousands of members and a very active discord. Avatar fans exist, they just keep low and quiet so as to protect themselves. I know people who speak Na'vi in the same way people speak elvish or klingon, it's just not something we advertise because every time we try to share our enjoyment of the movie we get mean comments or mocking stitches/remixes of our videos, pictures, etc. It's not fun to be a public Avatar fan, it's scary and exhausting.

I love Avatar, Neytiri was one of the first truly strong and inspirational female characters I connected with as a child (I was 9 when the movie came out) and I was fascinated and enthralled with the world of Pandora, as were so many movie goers. I'm so tired of getting railed on for enjoying this movie, or even just the constant ridicule that comes through my feed about it. What happened to the golden rule of if you don't have anything nice to say (or on this case even anything that provides new/valuable commentary/criticism) don't say anything at all?

I'm so sick of hearing the same arguments I've heard a million times about why it's a retread plot of Pocahontas/Dances With Wolves/Ferngully, I've heard it all before, I've seen those movies before and their plots are in myths and any number of other stories, that's not why I love the movie. No amount of people saying that to me will change what I do like about the Avatar. I don't watch Avatar for the plot, I watch it for Pandora, and for the visual spectacle and the world building.

I'm sick of the argument that Avatar's treatment of indigenous voices is somehow worse than any other piece of media written by and for white communities, it's not. Even Avatar the Last Airbender (which is my favorite TV show of all time and is often acclaimed as a great example of native representation) also falls failure to the same mistake of casting white actors in POC roles and changing the narratives of natives to be more easily accepted and understood by white audiences. This is not to say that ATLA doesn't handle its message better than Avatar, but it's important to be aware of the ways in which all media has flaws, even the things we think are less problematic and it's important to acknowledge them and not tear the media down for it, but use it as means to make new media better. Cameron did improve with the Way of Water, he frequently consulted with the Maori tribes he was pulling inspiration from, there's literally articles written by Maori tribe members on it but it is still a white people movie, written by white people for white people so do with that what you will. But don't claim star wars is any better, the prequels were outrageously racist, and they still maintain majority white casts.

The new Avatar movie (the way of water) is not perfect, there are quite a few things I found to be poor choices in regards to cultural sensitivity (aka locks, and casting Kate Winslet as Ronal instead of a Polynesian actress) but it's still better than it's predecessor, and unlike so many people on the internet say, it is not "a bunch of white people playing poc" since neither Zoe Saldana, nor Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, or any of the Metkayina children or Cliff Curtis are white. In fact, Cliff Curtis is Maori, the culture that inspired the Metkayina and many of the extras who play background Na'vi in the films are POC, because in spite of James Cameron's failings, he did want the Na'vi to be played by people of color. Very very few of the Na'vi in the original movie are played by white people, only a few extras with less than 1 minute of screen time and no lines. All the major Na'vi roles were played by people of black and indigenous color. Eytukan was played by a Cherokee native, Mo'at (these people are the two clan leaders) is played by a indigenous woman from Africa and is very black. Zoe Saldana's parents are Dominican and Puerto Rican for god's sake! She is not white. This argument that he casts white people in POC roles is untrue. The Avatars are white cause they're meant to represent the invadors, wolf in sheep's clothing if you will. The Na'vi are bipoc, and they're played by bipoc.

After Avatar, James went to Brazil and became and activist for native communities. He went worked with Brazilian natives fighting the building of a dam over their local river, a dam with would power a major city in Brazil, but destroy the indigenous peoples access to water. He went to their community, and asked them what he could do to help. He donated money, protested, ran conferences and tried to disrupt the building of the dam using his influence, but it failed, and he had to watch the suffering of this indigenous tribe that he'd grown very close to in their time working together to prevent the dam. He's not Anti-indigenous as people love to claim, he's clumsy and arrogant (like all cis white men) but what he does is an attempt to elevate native voices not smother them even if he doesn't necessarily succeed.

The movie isn't the menace to society people portray it as, nor is it as boring or uncompelling as people claim. But I still can't go online to enjoy it because no matter what I say, I like it too much for "a bad movie" or I'm "too supportive of something harmful" although I still see people buying Harry Potter merchandise in the Barnes and Noble and I'd argue JK Rowling is an actively bigoted individual who's words and paychecks actively harm marginalized communities, unlike Cameron who despite his bumbling is trying his best and actually learning and doing better with the new content he puts out.

People also say things like, "You only like it cause you're white, no POC people like Avatar." which is blatantly untrue, I've seen native people who like it, black people who like it, I have black friends who like it, I know a black cosplayer who cosplays from it. In fact, I know more poc who cosplay from it than white people. Everyone is entitled to their opinion of the film, and should be allowed to interact with it without getting harassed. It's just exhausting to like it, so people don't say they do.

I'm tired of even the things that should be praised about the new film being used as a way to tear it down. Cameron said in an interview that he "likes Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman as characters but they're not mom's" when asked why he chose to make Neytiri a mother. Neytiri's motherhood doesn't detract from her warrior-ness, she's still a badass bitch and I think that's the point that this person on tiktok clearly missed. He wasn't saying you need women to be moms to be heros, but how many warrior women who are also mothers can you think of off the top of your head? I can't think of any. The choice to make Neytiri a badass mom wasn't to detract from single or childless female characters but to provide even more diversity in the kinds of strong female characters out there. I loved that 1/2 the cast of that movie was women, just as I loved Neytiri in the first film.

In conclusion, can we please stop making Avatar fans lives hell on the internet. I do my own research about how it is and isn't problematic and make my own decisions, I don't need strangers to yell at me. I just want to enjoy my silly ecoscifi movie about blue aliens. I'm aware of its issues and I do my best to raise awareness of the issues facing real natives, to engage with real native stories and voices and support their protests, legal persuits, tribal sovereignty, land back etc, and be the best ally I can be, but I'm not going to boycot this movie because it does some problematic stuff, or because it has an unoriginal plot, if I did that I could never watch another marvel movie again (and yes they're just as bad if you dig, look at the early ones especially) I'm so sick of the insane amount of factually unsupported hate this movie gets and of having to deal with it. I'm tired, I just want to enjoy my movie which is no worse than any other white backed and driven Hollywood blockbuster.

#avatar #avatar 2 #avatar the way of water #avatar 2009 #james cameron #avatar james cameron

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kerubimcrepin · 17 days

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Exploring dofus-le-film.com and talking about movie-related events. [PART 1]

This will not go into the goldmine that is the interview Tot and Xa give about Joris. This is just a little, self-indulgent post. I hope you will enjoy it nevertheless.

The first silly action I took was extracting the site's icon and enlarging it in Aseprite, so here's your daily dose of cute official Joris pixel art. Anyway.

I love how the movie blurb literally lies about Khan being Joris's life-long idol.

CHARACTER BIOS.

Most of them include the information we already know, so I will only be pointing out things I personally find interesting.

For example - this art here depicts Joris's bald head under the hood as very round. Very useful info for us joris enjoyers. Reblog to slap his bald head, like to slap his bald head.

(Hacks up blood) Deeply caring in nature... papa poule... It is the second time, when Kerubim is called that, in his character bios, and I would like you to remember are these different explanations of this word combo:

I'm insane. I love him a lot.

Bakara is a pleasure to have in class :)

Anyway, I love how non-specific and non-alarming these character bios are. We can't scare the hoes by saying that beneath her cool exterior she wants to kill people around her and also drink 20 gallons of vodka, so "shy and stuck up" it shall be.

Again, it's hilarious how non-threatening these character bios are, considering Lilotte's whole parent thing is basically: (substitute "women" with "kids with families")

Coloring pages + Crayon Contest

A part of me wanted to be "haha, I colored all these coloring pages, for the Full Understanding of The Experience of this movie."

Then I realized that, as a person who is making a Joris painted music video, and had drawn at least 1:07 minutes worth of artwork of him and some other characters of this movie, I would rather-- [remembers that suicide jokes are bad] take cactus for a wife, than draw him for this blog too. I'm sorry.

Not much to be said about the contest, though this is epic:

This little Joris can be found at the bottom of the "win some crayons" page. It's cute.

BLOGPOSTS

This image was drawn for MIFA.

I want to unpack what is occurring here:

Goultard is holding his dragon boyfriend rather gayly on the shoulder. Interesting.

One of the candles landed in Nox's face?

Atcham, Joris, and Lilotte were holding the cake together. Lilotte is sitting on Yugo's shoulder, while Joris is standing on Kerubim's arms. It is reasonable to assume that Yugo turned to the camera, which made Lilotte turn as well, which made Atcham fall, which made Kerubim step away, and the only people carrying the cake who are still even a bit happy are Joris and Yugo.

Adamai is getting ready to catch Joris when in like 5 seconds all of them are going to be tumblring down Atcham-style.

Incredible. But this illustration is not the only gem that Annecy has brought us!

It also brought us more of Atcham being cool and awesome.

I'm insane.

There's more rare art here: these t-shirts featuring designs from a fan contest.

They were made in limited numbers. I'm including them here because we don't exactly have copies of the artwork, and I am insane about preserving art. It might be somewhere — but that somewhere is probably 2016 french facebook, so as far as I'm concerned, trying to seek these out is a lost cause.

Exclusive Merch

There were playing cards, and I am happy to report we DO have artwork for them in HD:

And also, here's a slightly higher definition little game sprite esque Joris:

This is the future crepinjurgenites want.

Kerubim VS Atcham Rigged Pet Contest

I am sad to report that Atchamheads have lost again, in this rigged contest. Imagine asking:

Would you like a fluffy guy you have watched an entire series about, or this bald guy who appears twice in the franchise?

At the very least, this gives us a canonical kitten Atcham design.

(Also, both of them were added, jsyk... Still salty though.)

Maliki Art

Maliki is a webcomic not made by Ankama, but with a long relationship and connection to Ankama due to being published by them in the past.

It's cute, really.

#dofusexploration #ro liveblogs dofus #dofus #wakfu #krosmoz

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cerise-on-top · 4 months

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Could I possibly request Fem!Reader x Laswel where Reader takes Laswel home for the holidays, leaving Laswel a bit of an anxious mess at meeting readers family, but also being endeared by the domesticity of the small holiday party, ending with the pair sitting outside on the porch as the first snow begins to fall?

It's a little cliché but I think it'd be a cute idea ♡

It's very cliché, but not to worry, I made the idea even more cliché and sweet and fluffy by adding some headcanons of my own! It makes me happy to hear there are some Laswell enjoyers out there! I hope you like this, it's also more of a fic than anything else, but it's kind of rushed because I have work again tomorrow ^^; Sorry about that! But thank you for the lovely idea, I was very happy to write that! :D

Laswell Spending the Holidays with Reader and Her Family

It wasn’t an issue, she told herself. Kate had been on missions that relied on her expertise, else the world was going to shatter like glass. There was no anxiety there, she had nothing to fear. If the world was going to end, she knew the right people to call to save it after all. Nothing was bigger than her, nothing could best her, she has been through hell and back several times. And yet, standing in front of the door to your parent’s house, she went through every sort of anxiety there was. Would your parents like her? Was she dressed too casually for the occasion or was she overdressed? Would they accept a lesbian into their home? It was the last question that would prove to be the biggest problem. Normally something like this wouldn’t matter to her, but you were close with your family, Kate had to make sure this would work.

“You ready, Kate?” You looked so adorable in your ear muffs, puffy white smoking forming whenever you exhaled. The scarf you wore suited you well, adorning your lovely jacket. The snow hadn’t fallen just yet, but it was cold regardless. Kate couldn’t help but stare for a second, your big, bright eyes looking back at her with such glee, reassuring her that everything was going to be alright. A small squeeze to her hand was all it took before Kate gave you a warm smile herself. Maybe meeting your family wasn’t such a bad thing after all, you were there too.

“Of course I am. Ready when you are.” And thus you rang the doorbell. A normal sound one would hear just about anywhere. It was then that Kate, for the first time that evening, noticed the quiet Christmas carols playing in the background. The door, too, was covered in decoration. Green and red, a Christmas wreath with an angel on it. A lovely sight. Kate may not have been religious, but it was a nice thought, knowing someone was looking down at you, making sure you were alright. A task she, too, was used to. But it didn’t matter too much, soon enough, the door was opened, revealing a man. He seemed friendly enough, joyful upon seeing you, immediately taking you into his arms.

You didn’t seem too displeased upon seeing him either. Given your difference in age, it must have been your father. A tight hug, sentimental greetings and a kiss to the forehead, everything seemed jolly in that moment.

“Who is it?”

A feminine voice called out. Her question was left unanswered for the most part, her husband giving her no response. He was preoccupied, busy with looking at his daughter he hadn’t seen in a long time. Yet, soon enough, Kate’s anxiety returned as he looked at her. It was dark already, the only reliable source of light coming from the inside. Despite it being somewhat hard to make out his expression, he didn’t seem displeased upon seeing her. “You must be Kate, then? Our girl has told us so much about you. Please, come in! It’s so nice to make your acquaintance!” He let the two of you in. Maybe meeting your family wasn’t such a bad experience after all. They seemed nice. “Honey, it’s y/n and Kate!”

The music inside was something one would, most likely, only hear within a proper and cliched Christmas movie. Even the decoration was a bit much. Tiny trees, underneath them small gifts, an advent wreath with all four candles lit and, of course, a fully decorated Christmas tree, full sized. It had some white decoration on it as well, likely resembling snow to give it even more holiday spirit. From small chocolate umbrellas to windrings, it was all there. Another small angel on the tree, a pretty little golden star on its top. It was the way anyone would expect a Christmas tree to look like. And yet, it felt cozy. Nothing wrong with having the spirit, Kate just wasn’t used to it in the slightest. It had been a while since she was able to celebrate any holiday like that.

Among the pretty lights was another figure that came into view. This one was shorter than your father, likely having been your mother. She stopped for a moment before going in for you as well, giving you a tight hug. Loving words came from her, too. How much she missed you, hoping you were doing well. how you should come visit them more often. How nice, your parents really loved you, no matter what. It warmed her heart even more so than the nicely heated room. Looking around as you and your mother exchanged your greetings, she spotted a big pretzel on the table, filled with all sorts of goodies. Cheese, ham, sausage mayonnaise, tuna, it all seemed to be there.

“Looking forward to the pretzel already, are we?” Your mother joked as she looked at her. The food did look delectable, even if that wasn’t exactly what Kate was looking forward to the most.

Even if she wanted to, Kate couldn’t fight the smile on her face. It was just so domestic, it was a home with a loving family, a lovely daughter and it seemed as though, despite two women being in love, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. You and Kate being together, as long as you were bound by love and joy throughout it all, wasn’t the issue. Perhaps the only issue would have been how much Kate could eat of the pretzel before being too full for another bite. “It looks very delicious ma’am. Did you make it yourself? Or did you order it from the bakery nearby?”

“No need for such formalities. As long as you make y/n happy and take care of her, you’re part of our family. You really don’t have to be that formal with either of us.” Such a thing had been a long time from then and there as well, with most informalities having been left behind in the past. You were just about one of the only more recent exceptions, even if you had known each other for several years. Always, Kate had to be formal, if just to delay another conflict for a few days to make sure help would arrive at the right time. She was family to your mother already, even if she had never met either of your parents. “I’m just glad my daughter has finally found someone she was willing to settle with. She had had a partner before, but that did not go as planned.”

“Mom, for the love of everything that is good and holy, please don’t bring up the past. That was an eternity ago and it’s so shameful!” You sounded indignant upon hearing your mother make such a comment. Sweet and kind you, hiding things from the past, getting embarrassed upon hearing your lovely mother bring them up. “Kate, don’t listen to her, she’s lying to you! Straight up! Through her teeth! Nothing ever happened, everything was always good and always will be!” You crossed your arms, glaring at your mother as you protested. As long as everything was good and alright in the present, that’s all that mattered. Kate was going to make sure it would stay that way too.

Your mother simply chuckled, giving Kate a short but sweet hug, exchanging the pleasantries of giving each other their first names. “Kate, if y/n is ever any trouble tell me and I’ll make sure she’ll learn her lesson.”

“Mom! Stop it!”

“It’s lovely to have you with us, thank you so much for coming. Thank you for taking care of y/n, you know how it is with parents, but you seem like such a nice lady. Please continue to take good care of her, we just want what’s best for her.”

Even as you covered your face with one hand, even as you silently muttered curses under your breath, even as you still smiled as though you had received an expensive gift you had been wanting for years, Kate couldn’t help but laugh a bit. You were flustered beyond compare, no matter how much she wanted to say something about it, maybe tease you about your adorable mannerisms, your quirks, your traits, she decided against it, simply giving you a bright smile instead.

“Mom, if I’m going to be bullied here then Kate and I are going to take our leave and celebrate Christmas elsewhere!” An empty threat, everyone involved knew that much. Even in the heat of your embarrassment, your family did not stop teasing you, your father quipping in here and there as well. Kate hadn’t experienced something like this in a long time, getting to sit back and watch some playful banter. With your father distracting you this time, with your mother coming up to Kate, asking her if she wanted to hear some stories of gone-by times with you being so young, small and ready to take on the world, Kate forgot she was ever even anxious to meet your parents to begin with.

It was your father who would finally begin the tradition, aside from the pretzel, calling your mother and Kate over to the Christmas tree. A few of the presents had already been placed there. Even so, before forgetting, Kate excused herself, rushing to the car in order to get the last one. It was that evening or never.

She had always been a calm person, never letting anything get to her head. When her childhood crush told her how disgusting she was, when her parents belittled her and told her she could change still, when her ex wife left her for reasons she didn’t want to believe, it hurt. But not for long. Every time someone let her down, every time someone hurt her, she knew she was one of the only people she could rely on. God helps those who help themselves. There was no God to her, she had achieved everything on her own. But this time she will have to rely on someone else entirely. Whatever you did, it would shape her future. And thus, she grabbed the box meant for you and headed back inside.

You seemed so cheerful, looking at the jacket your parents bought for you. And, in turn, you parents also looked happy with their presents. Naturally, getting along with them as well as you did, you knew what to get them, even in their later years. It was, all round, just a happy evening, for everyone involved it seemed. Steadying her breath for a second, just as your father turned off the lights, leaving nothing but the Christmas lights on, she stood still, gripping the box tightly. Kate hoped you would like the present she got for you. Yes, you had been with each other for years, but this time was different.

After having taken off the jacket, putting it over one of the chairs nearby, you turned to Kate, eyeing the box she was holding. “Hey, what’s that? Can I see?”

“I’ll let you see it in just a second, dear, alright? Could you please come closer to the tree?”

Your spirit guided you to the location Kate wanted you to be in: Standing next to the tree, illuminated by the red and green lights. Everything else was dark. From a purely aesthetic standpoint, this was perfect. And thus, having taken another deep breath, despite her age, Kate got down on one knee, opening the box so your curious soul could see its contents. “Y/N, will you marry me?”

With you clasping your hands over your mouth, your mother and father gasping as they held onto each other, with Kate watching you closely as the tears started brimming in your eyes. The lights were reflected so beautifully in your eyes, dancing across, giving them the most vibrant colors in the universe. But you were stunned into silence, removing your hands only to mouth some words that could never reach Kate in the state you were in. The Christmas charm seemed to have worked, you were out of your mind with joy, but unable to say anything about it.

A sob escaped you as you slung your arms around Kate, tightly holding onto her. You weren’t going to lose her, not that easily anymore, you were both here to stay. “Yes! Fuck, Kate! Of course I’m going to marry you! I love you! I love you so much, you have no idea!!” Your tears stained the blouse she chose for the evening, but it didn’t matter. All Kate wanted was to hold you, love you, cherish you, through thick and thin, through the good and the bad. All she wanted was to spend the rest of her days with you and no one else. Kate got her present, the biggest one she could have ever wished for: Your “yes”.

Your parents were also quiet for a moment, allowing you to cry into Kate’s shoulder. But from what she could see, they were shocked, but happy for their girl. She was going to get married after so many years. And that to the woman of her dreams she never really could shut up about whenever they were talking. It was a lovely sight. Soon enough, you were both officially going to be a part of each other’s family, bearing each other’s names so no one would ever mistake you as anything else but each other’s wife.

You bit back a sob, your voice still cracking as you asked Kate a small favor: “Can we please go outside for a bit? I think I need a moment here.”

“Of course, anything for you.” Kate handed you your new jacket before she grabbed her own. Naturally, as she wanted it to be, you led the way to the backyard, holding Kate’s hand. Despite it being dark, despite the only light coming from other Christmas decorations and you not having been here in a while, you found a bench in the middle of the small piece of land immediately. The two of you sat down, Kate having slung an arm over you as you kept sobbing for another moment. Nothing could have prepared her for you being so over the moon to hear the big question, but she wasn’t complaining.

It took you another minute or two to finally compose yourself, but you got there eventually. “You know, I always thought I was never going to find someone, preferring girls over guys and all. Age wise, you and I aren’t that far apart either, so you know how long I’ve been carrying that thought, that belief, with me now. But then I found you and…” You went quiet again for another second. Kate rubbed your back, hoping it would soothe you a bit. “...and now this. Kate, you don’t know how happy I am right now. To think that someone would think me, of all people, to be worth loving. To be worth marrying. You’re something else.” You grabbed her hands so tenderly, giving them a gentle squeeze as you looked into her eyes. “Thank you so much, for everything. I am so happy, so glad I get to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“Y/N, as you know, I’ve been through a lot. I’ve seen the best and worst of humanity, but nothing could ever best you. I would go through this entire hell again and again, if just to spend another moment with you. Getting to spend the rest of eternity with you is more than I could have ever asked for. Thank you for allowing me to be by your side.”

Just as you leaned in, sealing this beautiful evening with a kiss, something small landed on Kate’s nose. You giggled a bit, looking to the sky for a moment, then back at your soon-to-be wife. “Even the sky is weeping with joy right now. Isn’t that sweet?”

“Of course it is. Anyone would be happy for us right now, dear.”

Interrupted by the small snowflake, you gave it no mind, placing a small, tender kiss on Kate’s lips as you were. The snow looked beautiful in her hair. Winter didn’t seem so dreadful and cold anymore, it was a hopeful time you could remember for more than just seeing a part of your family. Another part was right there with you, forever and always, after all.

#cod #cod x reader #kate laswell #kate laswell x reader #fem!reader #petition to make Laswell real so us Laswell lovers can give her a kiss on the cheek #I never would have thought I'd be into older women but I am swooning again #it's sort of become a habit of mine to write something like a fic for the girls #I need to change that but every time I look at one of them I am overcome with love and adoration and the desire to write as much as I can #I need to go back to writing HCs but that's likely only going to happen when writing for the guys and/or if there's several characters #anyway the girls are so underappreciated in this fandom I am so happy to have found the people willing to enjoy my silly writing about them #also English is not my first language so I'm really sorry for any mistakes #I have a hard time remembering the difference between looking down on and looking down at sb

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primal-con · 11 months

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Mkay my brain is working a bit better today so thoughts on Mirage! Namely his inclusion in the movie instead of Jazz and his change in personality

Rise of the Beasts spoilers below the cut✌️

Now like a lot of folks, when I first saw the trailer I was insanely pumped because I thought Mirage was Jazz. I think we all kinda saw the silver Porsche and lost our minds, and of course, I'm still bummed that we didn't get Jazz because I love him dearly and miss him more than words can express. But! Having seen the movie and had time to chew it over, here're my thoughts on Mirage's character in RotB.

So a lot of initial thoughts regarding the choice to include Mirage, and a very different Mirage at that, rather than Jazz, were of course very valid. But I think ultimately while I would've loved for Jazz to have been there, I understand why they didn't go with him. Cause tbh if everything about the movie had been the same except they called Mirage Jazz, I wouldn't have been happy.

While yes, on the surface RotB Mirage seems really similar to G1 Jazz, they're actually really different in the ways that count. Jazz is bright, sociable, charismatic, and more in tune with Earth culture than most bots. RotB Mirage is also a lot of those things! But the key difference is that for Jazz, that personality is a facade. He's an incredibly grim, ruthless person who's seen a lot and is capable of a lot of terrible things, and he uses that trustworthy persona to mask that and make people more comfortable around him.

Mirage comes off as much more genuine in his naivete. He seems legitimately young, impulsive, and vying for adventure. He does things cause they sound fun, not because he thinks it's a smart idea in the long run. The sad things hiding underneath his bright personality don't come from brutal experience and calculated manipulation, they come from a genuine loneliness and desire to explore the world around him. In a lot of ways he plays a similar role to Bumblebee in most other TF media, the naive young optimist who wants to see the best in people and be a hero. Which narratively makes sense considering Bee was out of commission for most of the movie. He's not necessarily stupid, he's just not wise, and that comes from a lack of experience compared to his so-called "hardass" peers. He sees the other bots as boring and overly serious which contributes to his desire to keep Noah on the team. He wants Someone who he can relate to, someone who's a little closer to him personality-wise, and he doesn't feel like his older and more grim teammates can fill that role.

Which I think also contributes to his likability! Because like I said, Mirage is so genuine. He doesn't usually think things through so everything he says is so honest and unfiltered. I love Jazz because of his complexity and how compelling that facade is to his character, but I ended up loving Mirage because he doesn't feel the need for a mask at all.

I think generally the choice to change Mirage's personality from his G1 characterization was because the writers didn't want too many serious characters? At least that's how it felt watching the movie. I mean even Bumblebee comes off as older and more mature than Mirage. And Transformers is very fond of its goofy, unserious kid-appeal characters who are closest to the token humans. I'm cool with it mainly because big changes between generations are pretty common and this wouldn't be the first or even the wildest change of pace from one appearance to the next. As for why Mirage and not another character, who really knows. Probably the fact that he hasn't had much of an established personality in any of his rare TV appearances. And using a known name is usually easier than making a whole new character, just fan-attachment-wise.

Anyways, sum total thoughts: I liked him! And the movie's enjoyable if you don't go taking it too seriously, though that could be said about most things. It's also better with a friend! It's no ground-breaking cinema, it's an action franchise movie and exactly what you'd expect from one. But the characters have chemistry and personality and that's usually what matters to me. So yeah, all nitpicks aside it's a net positive from me!

#rise of the beasts #transformers #maccadam #rotb mirage #rotating Mirage's goofy ass in my head

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thesunoosshining · 4 months

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anyways while i procrastinate the next chapter of my smau. here's what i think i would consider my top 10 favourite movies i WATCHED in 2023. they may not have come out this year. and it might be a rewatch but like i saw them this year. ok yeah. keep in mind im a simple silly girl i honestly don't consume much content that isn't related to my hyperfixes sooo i do miss a lot of movies el oh el. anyways !!

under the cut cuz this list is Long sorry guys 😭 would appreciate if u read it though 🫶 just my silly thoughts and i'd love to hear urs !!!

1. spiderman: into the spiderverse. i'm sorry to say i didn't get to see across the spiderverse yet. also this was a rewatch i'm not that late to this movie. but. DUDE. genuinely what i'd consider my favourite movie. of all time. the graphics? literally gorgeous. ugh. i could go on about this movie for ages. it really did change animation if you ask me (a non professional teenage girl) but like ?? the story oh my god i loved the idea. and miles was such a Person. he was so real. oh they did such a good job on miles and gwen and stuff. just like. they were so real to me. i love them so bad this film genuinely had an indescribable effect on me. also i ADORE the soundtrack <3

2. oppenheimer. like. okay i know people complained it was too long. and i get that but also i genuinely would watch like. another hour of that film. THE CINEMATOGRAPHY?? dude it was amazing. i genuinely loved oppenheimer ough it was such an Experience. especially because i went into it thinking i wouldn't enjoy it very much? yeah i was dead wrong. LOVED that film.

3. top gun: maverick. this did come out 2022. which feels crazy i swear it was this year. but i know it was '22 because i rewatched it this year STILL HITS THE SAME !! i genuinely love this movie so fucking bad! the characters were so fun. and i liked how like? despite the established lore that's obviously shown in the film it has a very open new-audience entry point (idk what else to call it ?!?!) because i didn't watch the original top gun but i honestly think i understood like. basically everything in the film. maybe i missed some like nuanced ideas bc they were like linked to the first top gun but other than that it's good as a standalone too and! i value that. it's a great film.

4. blue beetle. i don't know if this film was like. Objectively this good? but i have a few reasons. firstly, i'll admit i'm biased and i just like blue beetle. i love jaime reyes !! so i was super excited to hear there was a blue beetle movie. secondly, i loved the acting. the cast wasn't all that big? not that it was small, or anything, but it might've felt that way bc most of the characters were jaime's family. but. like? they did so incredibly well. it was a Generic Superhero Movie tbh. like, half-assed romance, character's family member dies (will not spoil who though! soz for the half-spoiler) and all that? but. OUGH. beautiful film like the premise was pretty interesting as a blue beetle origin story and i loved the acting it was just. yeah. i loved this movie so so much.

5. transformers: rise of the beasts. i didn't think i'd like this one as much as i did when i watched it. like i really did not. BUT? oh my god it was good. i loved bumblebee !! like okay i know he had his own movie with the reboot but i haven't seen it so. ya. but like also? i really loved the humans. they felt like such People to me? i love them dearly yeah this was actually such a banger movie. 10/10 would recommend!

6. the lego ninjago movie. now. i know a lot of people hated this film. from what i heard back when it came out anyways. and i remember shitting on it too back then but? i genuinely liked it when i rewatched it. it's an enjoyable film. i personally am actually a big fan of the redesigns ?? i like the new designs i like how they put them into the show (even if i'm like. not up to date. at all. sawry!) and i liked the whole high-school thing i thought it was a cute little au. and ?? i know it was very unserious but like. that's by design. i liked it like sometimes you really just shouldn't take it so seriously TEE BEE AYCH !! but maybe that's just me.

7. enola holmes 2. oh my god I LOVED THIS ?! i honestly found the first movie like. a little boring in terms of rewatchability? and i remember liking this film but i rewatched it again and like oh this one was so cool. the match girls strike thing was actually really interesting to me! i didn't know about that so it was pretty cool to learn that. AND? THE ROMANCE? "it means i love you" let me ouuuuuttt oh my god !!!! yeah i loved this movie honestly.

8. a whisper of the heart. honestly i'm kind of late to the ghibli scene </3 I DID SEE THIS BEFORE THOUGH THIS IS A REWATCH but i love this film too much to not mention it. ough. i love a whisper of the heart !! it's so cute and i just love the characters so bad !!!

9. baby shark's big movie! is this on the list only because enhypen was in it. yes. okay no not actually lmao but! it was a factor! like okay. HEAR ME OUT !! it gave me equestria girls vibes! my girlfriend told me never to compare baby shark to EQUESTRIA GIRLS but like. i will speak my truth ! the whole thing was just. silly! like yeah it was a little boring at times and i agree with my gf because nothing beats equestria girls (which i sadly didn't see at all last year. nor descendants but if i had they'd have made the list for sure!) but i genuinely did enjoy this one. it's the truth!

10. drive. i know someone's going to be confused but my brother made me watch it and like. man i genuinely liked it okay 😭 it was a fun watch? that's rlly all there is to it i thought it was funny how he never had a name and is literally called "driver" in the credits. it's hilarious. and like. ryan gosling. yk? and i'll be honest i was running out of movies i saw last year that i actually like. remembered. because i have shit memory and i don't think i saw anything All That Life Changing below like the 8th movie so idk.

bonus: a little list of movies that i might've been interested in but i didn't get to watch last year. just in case one of your favs (or popular slash mainstream movies you've heard of) didn't make the list and you're wondering why. barbie, across the spiderverse (watching soon i swear !), guardians of the galaxy 3, teenage mutant ninja turtles, aquaman and the lost kingdom, anyone but you (i plan to watch it with friends soon!), the boy and the heron, the super mario bros movie, five night's at freddys, and i'm sure theres more but i forgot so yeah.

this is already very long 😭 IF YOU STUCK AROUND THEN THANK U ! let me know what movies you enjoyed this year !!! and if you also enjoyed any i put on this list ! or if u have recs i'd be happy to hear them <3 no guarantee i'll watch them bc i'm very bad with watching movies and stuff but i'd still love love love to hear them !!

#⭐️; star talks #YALL IM SORRY ITS HUGE? i shuld be writing the next chapter for chapter: extra.... oops #but alsooo um i wanted 2 share!#lmk ur favs. if u stuck around to read all of that then ty i know it's long 🫶 but i have many thoughts #not all of them are coherent though

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ariainstars · 6 months

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Red, White and Royal Blue: A Movie Like an English Waltz with a Kick

I had practically given up on watching stories about same-sex relationships some time ago; for a while, I thought the reason for my growing indifference was that not belonging to the LGBT+ community, I am not directly involved. It took me a while to realize that I was simply sick of watching stories with sad endings, good as they may be otherwise.

Same-sex love stories in my experience very often have a tragic ending, with the possible exception of the Netflix show Heartstopper, which is nice and interesting to watch without being overdramatic. Also, there were Beautiful Thing and Maurice, two enjoyable movies that most viewers today probably hardly remember. Despite their positive ending they are serious in tone however, not exactly fun.

Red, White and Royal Blue burst into my world catching me by surprise and all but sweeping me off my feet; I immediately fell in love with the movie and am fully on page with anyone who is already asking for a sequel.

First off, I must say that this is one of the few cases where I found the movie to be better than the novel. I read it after having watched the movie, but I could not bring myself to like the characters.

The novel is told from Alex’ point of view, so we never get to know Henry’s; and I got the impression of following a bunch of rich kids without regular lives and routines having fun being noisy and obnoxious when they’re not busy with wanting to save the world, all of them equipped with their personal therapists and consuming this or another substance. I found it heartbreaking that Henry had been in love with Alex for a long time, never hoping that his feelings could be requited; and it did not shed a good light on Alex that for a long time, he did not realize that being intimate with Henry felt so good because he was with someone who actually cared for him.

The tone and story development of the movie is different and, in my opinion, superior. These Alex and Henry are about ten years older than in the novel: the actors are neither groomed to look younger nor do they act like they were. These are two adult, grown men who know what they’re doing; the feelings between them deepen very quickly (in the book, for Alex at the beginning it seems to be nothing more than a cross between a diversion and a challenge); and they soon take responsibility for each other and their families respectively political surroundings.

Nothing shows this more than the airport scene where they actually exchange ring and key, contrarily to the book where Alex keeps the ring together with the key around his neck. His official speech after their forced coming-out was much more straightforward and convincing than in the book, and he had written it himself, not his sister; also early in the movie, the Texas campaign is his very own initiative, contrarily to the novel where his mother sets him up to do it. All of these are narrative choices which in my opinion make the story much more enticing and the characters more relatable.

The movie Red, White and Royal Blue lives largely from the chemistry between the two protagonists; there is playful banter between them and lots of fun scenes and quips that I looked for in the novel in vain. (Except for a few jokes at Philips’ expense, pitifully.) Even in their most intimate moments, there always seems to be a twinkle in their eyes; the teasing begins when they’re not even friends yet. Their happiness is joyful and carefree, not founded on the intensity of feelings of couples who know they will be torn apart. The movie’s tone is a perfect balance: funny without being silly; serious without being admonishing; romantic without being sappy.

Some well-known clichés obviously are all there: having to talk to one another due to being locked in a room, a fist kiss while both are tipsy, the lover hiding in the closet, the intolerant parent (grandparent in this case), the understanding sister… Nevertheless, the story is fresh, well-paced and never boring.

In my personal view, this movie will be remembered as marking a break in the storytelling of same-sex relationships: light-footed, entertaining and touching. While the book is a self-indulgent fanfiction, the movie is in its tone, set-up and storyline for all intents and purposes a fairy tale, except that instead of a princess we have a prince.

One of the things I loved most was that in the end, the couple does not reunite in a castle or a similar luxurious environment, but that for their happy ending they leave their wealth behind and retire to a simple, comfortable home and an everyday life.

I had a smile on my face almost the entire time while watching this movie. And I hope there will be many more light-hearted movies and novels centered on same-sex relationships following this, instead of the usual heart-wrenching dramas. It’s high time.

#red white and royal blue #same sex love #fairy tales #lgbt #taylor zakhar perez #nicholas galitzine #rwrb movie

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feydfuckernation · 1 year

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a lot can happen in a year.

from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, i've been on six or seven new medications (give or take). i went from being unemployed for over a year and a half to having a part time job that pays the same as my last. i went from hardly ever leaving the house to seeing movies and going out with friends. i started doing therapy again. and i rejoined tumblr, something i wasn't sure I'd ever do again. i've never been overly fond of social media to begin with, and i wasn't sure if I was even making the right decision to start using it again. i had been in fandom communities off and on for years, with experiences far more negative than they ever were positive, and i couldn't be sure that this would be any different.

i am so very glad to say i was wrong.

i've talked about elvis on a handful of occasions now, but allow me, if you will, the chance to be sentimental about its significance one last time. prior to june of this year i had no real concept of what baz lurhmann had planned when he released elvis 2022 into the world. yet another musical biopic, this time carried on the shoulders of a relative unknown? i have always had love for baz lurhmann's artistry, but this seemed like a long shot, even for him.

still, it had my attention.

i had given up on any attempts to connect with my family after years of false promises, spending most of my summer feeling isolated from most of the people in my life for one reason or another. i decided I'd treat myself to something after the way the year had gone thus far. knowing my dad liked elvis, i convinced him to go see the movie with me on its opening weekend, thinking we both might get something out of it.

it was, without a doubt, one of the best experiences i've ever had sitting in a theater.

i went on to see elvis seven more times in theaters, each time wondering whether or not the magic would wear off and it would lose its opulent, cinematic luster. in reality, it only ever burned brighter and brighter, giving me a love and appreciation of elvis presley that i wouldn't otherwise have beyond the simple enjoyment of music i had listened to off and on for as long as i can remember. it introduced me to a talent whose performance was so captivating it made me overlook tom hanks in every scene he was in. and, perhaps more than anything, it introduced me to people who were not only like-minded in their experience with this film, but were unwavering in their kindness and their friendship.

elvis is not the entity of my tumblr experience (this being my 4th time interacting on the platform). there are many other people and types of content i have interacted with since starting this blog and, if you have made it this far, i simply want to thank everyone for the memories they have given me at a time when I needed it most.

to the people who colour my dash with their passion for the things they love most. my dash would not be the same without you.

@68special @aconflagrationofmyown @avengen @bcofl0ve @countesspetofi @fantuhsise @feverkitten @flwrs4aust @himbocampus @mamaspresley @obetrolncocktails @skinnyscottishbloke @slowsweetlove @stargiirl27 @steph-speaks @superbatson @thatonemoviefan

to the people whose creations inspired me to rediscover the joy of what it is to make art

@floralcyanide @melis-writes @nathandrqke @she-is-juniper

and finally to my friends, the people who have pulled me out of a shell i didn’t realize i was in. your kindness means more to me than you know.

@ab4eva @areacodefan @bisexualwvtson @burninlovebutler @cryingabtab @cutienerd13 @dreaming-of-hope @elvisfatass @gggoldfinch @itey @karamelcoveredolicity @lavenderelvis @lindszeppelin @lllsaslll @loving-elvis @luluthesandgoose @mxrspng @mymamalife @nora-nexus-34 @powerofelvis @samfangirls @star-shard @troubleinapinksuit and my darling artemis, who is not on tumblr, but holds a special place in my heart regardless

i never expected to have followers, or an impromptu movie club, or even a blog to begin with. i certainly didn’t expect to end the year on a positive note. i am not someone who makes a habit of being particularly optimistic, but i dare to hope that maybe, just maybe, this next year will be better. to all of you reading this, wherever you are, may you find kindness and warmth and many blessings in 2023. may you eat well and heal and continue to grow. may you find comfort in the things you love, and may your new year be rich with the love and support of the ones you hold dear in your life, be it family, friends, or pets. whatever your year may have been, i hope it ends on a better note than it began on, and i look forward to not only sharing new films, but making new memories with all of you.

in the immortal words of elvis presley, "til we meet again, may god bless you. adios."

all my love to you, 🦁❤️

#ily all ya nelly #lion.txt #follow forever #also if i forgot anyone i am literally going to lose sleep tonight please be gENTLE WITH MEEEEEEE #basically if you're reading this? hi. hello. i love you. i hope you're drinking enough water today #never ever doubt your value and your worth as a person #you are a beautiful wonderful human being and i hope you find the love and peace you deserve in 2023 #see you all next year 🦁❤️

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macbethz · 3 months

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I really enjoy your taste in media, recs for movies that will leave me in the floor sobbing?

Thank you sm!! i am what we call a film enjoyer so it means a lot

Kinda a normie picks in that you've probably already seen them but i legally have to say Brokeback Mountain and Moonlight like come on

Also kinda normie but Carrie makes me cry like a little baby. One of the most tragic mother/daughter relationships ever put to screen.

Speaking of mother daughter trauma Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy is a short film about an aboriginal woman taking care of her elderly white mother. Tracey Moffatt the director said it was about "loving and hating your mother" which yeah. it sure is!

Goodbye Lenin! is one of my faves of all time. It's a German dramady about a guy trying to keep his ill avid communist mother from realizing the iron curtain has fallen so that she doesn't have another heart attack. Just a deeply human film to me. will make you laugh and cry

MANDATORY FRENCH NEW WAVE DROP!!! Cleo from 5 to 7 is about a woman wandering the city while she waits for her cancer test results.

If you are ACTUALLY 100% SERIOUS about being on the floor sobbing. You must be mentally prepared for this one I'm serious. Silverlake Life: the view from here is a documentary about a film teacher documenting his lover dying of aids. One of the most important movies ever made IMO and I recommend everyone see it at some point in their lives but one I have only been able to watch once because it is so deeply affecting. Everyone who has seen this film has had a similar experience to me where for a long period after it feels impossible move on or even speak to people who haven't seen it because it really does make you feel like you're grieving yourself.

#im sure as usual that i am forgetting smth but it is what it is #warlock wartalks

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stoned-eren · 6 months

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okay. im going to talk about the fnaf movie.

SPOILERS UNDER READ MORE!!!

overall, i thought it was very good. somehow making a whole series of a video game condensed into 1.5 hrs is not something easy to do. i think with what they were working with, they executed it pretty well. costume design was superb, and the acting from josh hutcherson was amazing.

that being said, i did find some scenes didn't belong. for example the fort scene, though i'm sure many people have pointed that out already.

i felt like they were trying to tow the line between silly/cute and scary/suspenseful, but in my opinion i don't think they needed to do that? i think if they leaned in fully to the horror aspect it would have still been a very enjoyable experience.

the scenes with vanessa disappointed me, just a bit. it felt like she was only there to progress the story/exposition. and the fucking fort scene with her... in that scene, vanessa is like "oh freddy fazbears' is so fun yayayayay" and then literally in the next scene she's telling mike "if you ever come back here IM GOING TO SHOOT YOU" ???????????? like why? what did mike even do?

the old bf made an observation that william afton was just straight up not fleshed out, at least not as much as either one of us had hoped.

i personally think if they had just included like... a 5 minute scene of william afton on his killing spree (without outright showing william afton), it would have done alot for his character. i felt like he was just kind of thrown in there towards the end, which makes me sad bc william afton is such a unique character with sooo much backstory integral to the lore of fnaf, and it just felt like he was alluded to the whole movie? idk.

there were some questionable moments. it was funny how freddy literally just murders the aunt and no one even questions it? mike would have come home to a literal corpse in his house, how does he explain that to the police?

and it made me sad how little they showed of foxy. :( foxy is my all time favorite (i literally brought a giant stuffed foxy plush with me to the movie) and it felt like he was the most forgotten animatronic. bonnie seemed to be the main center of attention tbh, he was in almost every scene where the animatronics were. but it makes sense since scott cawthon thinks bonnie is the creepiest animatronic lol.

those are my main criticisms.

but i still loved it, very much so!

when the matpat cameo came on screen... it was a shocker. i gasped so loud. the people in the movie theater literally laughed at me lol bc i gasped SO LOUD, I COULDNT HELP IT i was so shocked. AND WHEN HE SAID ITS ONLY A THEORY???? i ate it up. idc if it's cheesy, I ATE IT UP.

also i thought it was cool that the movie is (i think but could be wrong) five nights long! a little easter egg that i thought was neat. the old bf pointed this out to me.

another nice touch is in the beginning of the movie when mike is reading that dream theory book. a good callback to matpat's dream theory on fnaf (you know the one). and it's also a good way to tie in what's currently happening to mike with his dreams in the movie.

i really appreciated the subtle little ways they tied in the movie with the games, like the little "it's me" in the mirror during the scene with mike in the security room. and foxy's humming!!!! i loved it i loved it i loved it! the little noises they used from the game made me so happy!

but yeah. i'll stop ranting bc i can go on forever lol. while it had it's flaws, i don't think they affected the overarching storyline.

this is it my gamers. eight years in the making, and this is the end result.

my score? 4 cupcakes out of 5. :>

#sorry if this is long. i could talk about fnaf all day #i love it sm #.txt #fnaf #fnaf movie #fnaf movie spoilers #fnaf spoilers #five nights at freddy's

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cannotgiveafuck · 2 years

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Have another nonsense snippet! IDK I just wanted to write Billy Batson and Captain Cold bc he’s on my list of villain/ antihero/ dubious influence that would adore this lil magical street rat.

"This isn't what I had in mind when you invited me to Star City, you know." Billy couldn't quite reign in the resignation, the sigh not so much tired as aware he should've known better.

Captain Cold adjusted his hold on Billy, kept him secured under his arm like he was a sack of cash or jewels, and not a literal child he brought with to a heist. "I didn't invite you, lil scarlett, I kidnapped you."

"I was trying to be generous here."

"Don't do me any favors, or you'll smear my carefully crafted reputation."

"The only reputation you have is your enjoyment to hear yourself talk, Lenny," came the overly chipper, yet sarcastic voice of Gold Glider. She held her gold gun aloft on her shoulder, something shiny and most assuredly stolen in her hand.

Leonard Snart gave his sister a significant look that Billy had come to know as the 'haha you are very funny' look, but somehow with more attitude despite the blank expression. The Snarts were very good at a variety of silent expressions. "Come now, you have better insults than that."

"Tell him his plan is poorly thought out!" Billy piped up. Much to the delight of Lisa and chagrin of Len.

"Insulting the man that kidnapped you isn't well thought out, kid."

"Hey! Being kidnapped means I get to insult you the entire time! If you're using me as an accessory to a crime, I should have a say,” as though Billy would ever actually want to be involved, but he knew by this point he was along for the ride. There was a reason Len kept a hold on him and it was not entirely to ensure Billy’s safety.

“No, being kidnapped means you get exactly zero say. You’re supposed to look sad and distressed, can’t you turn on those big blues and get the water works going?”

The look Billy shot up at him made Lisa whistle in appreciation.

“Look at that, the kid is actually learning something from you!”

“Lise...”

“Alright, alright, I’ll go check on Mick and make sure he’s not setting any paintings on fire. Try to teach the kid something else while you got him!”

The paired shouting of “I’m not a dog!” and “He’s not my mentee!” only got a lazy wave as she strutted away. Whatever the kid got from this, Lisa didn’t particularly care. He wasn’t in danger and not for reals upset, so the two boys spending time together was a good thing all around. Her brother got antsy when he didn’t bother any of his favorite good doers.

“We could have literally done anything else today, you know. Could’ve enjoyed the museum without stealing from it! Or gone to the park or the movies-”

“As riveting as those suggestions are, none of them spark the true Star City experience as a good ol heist with yours truly,” Leonard had walked into the next room and proceeded to freeze a glass container and its security sensors, hitting it just right to break apart and leave the golden wristlet free to grab. “Besides, do ancient Egyptian artifacts truly belong to this place?”

Billy was about to open his mouth to tell Len that how museums work and function probably involved a lot of paperwork and handling objects between hands, but then he realized he also didn’t actually know who owned all of the stuff there. Especially the older pieces that were probably stolen from sites long ago anyway. Billy closed his mouth, and Len made a triumphant noise.

“Lemme see!” Those crafty, nimble hands of his swiped the bracelet before the bad could close, and Billy inspected the item closely. It didn’t feel magical, but it definitely felt old. Or at least he thought it did. “Hmmm...”

“I won’t reprimand you for that, so long as you plan on keeping it.” As if Len would be entirely too proud if he got Billy to steal something.

Billy said nothing to rebuke that.

“I sincerely hope you’re not giving kiddie lessons on stealing, Cold,” came a sudden familiar voice behind them, right as the air in the room became charged with the sort of energy only the speed force could conjure. “Thievery 101 shouldn’t go on his resume for school.”

It was like Len’s entire face lit up, he smiled wide and turned on his heels with a dramatic pivot. “Oh, don’t be absurd, Scarlett. This is at least Heist 105, the kid isn’t a total newbie.”

The Flash crossed his arms, not at all buying it, but that was part of the game there - the banter. Though this particular situation was a new one. Barry had been aware that Len and Billy knew each other, but seeing one hoist the other under his arms in the midst of an afterhours heist was still not something he had been prepared to deal with. “The kid isn’t going to steal artifacts for you.”

A red gloved hand gestured out for the golden wristlet.

Blue eyes glanced up at the Flash, and then back down to the artifact. He made a noise of conflicted contemplation.

“Billy...” The Flash began, somewhat stern, but mostly surprised and unsure at the turn of events.

Billy made the noise again and held onto the bracelet tighter.

“Hah! Sorry, little scarlet is taking my classes after all,” Len crowed.

Barry made a displeased sound, “You’re being a bad influence on him, is what you’re doing!”

“No need to be jealous,” Captain Cold cooed, absolutely delighted by it all. “You’re still my favorite crime fighting idiot in tights, Scarlet. The kid’s just on my team now.”

“I’m not taking it for myself!” Billy felt the need to explain himself. He didn’t steal unless it was right thing to do, and sometimes it was! But he also really did not want Barry to be disappointed in him. “If it’s from Ancient Egypt it should go to someone of that culture, right? Since it was probably just taken from the ground or a burial site...”

“Uh, news flash, kid, no one alive from that yesteryear is running around - puns intended.” Whatever Billy’s reasoning, Len was still counting this as win.

“Well, I mean, there’s one person...”

“Billy.” This time Flash used a tone that was definitely stern and concerned.

“What! He’s actually from Ancient Egypt, and--”

“No.”

“But if there’s anyone who would have a claim--”

“That’s not how this works, Billy!”

“Now, hold on, let the kid speak--”

“Stay outta this, Len!”

“I’m giving it to Teth Adam.”

And for once, of their own volition, both The Flash and Captain Cold agreed, “Billy, no!”

#billy batson #captain marvel #shazam #the flash #captain cold #listen. I just love Cold and Flash banter so much #and adding Billy into the mix makes it so much better #also no. billy does not understand how museums or reparations work #he just wants Teth Adam to like him. or at least not hate him #gifts should work right?#in which Flash and Cold become uncles that teach billy contradictory lessons #he doesnt need them but he likes spending time with both of them

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arimiadev · 9 months

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Visual Novel Developer Interview – Scene Direction in Of Sense and Soul

Hi everyone! For this month's visual novel dev article I thought we’d try something different. I typically write articles based on my own experiences and research, but I want to include more commentary and experiences from other developers.

So today I’ll be interviewing another visual novel developer!

ingthing is a visual novel developer and friend of mine who is currently developing Of Sense and Soul, a queer Victorian romance visual novel following a pair of men after a misconstrued newspaper ad.

Of Sense and Soul (@ofsenseandsoul) is a highly detailed, lovingly crafted visual novel that showcases how we can elevate indie visual novels to new heights. Its attention to visuals is something that can be felt throughout every store page and screenshot for the game but is even more breathtaking once you actually play it.

Today I’ll be interviewing the lead developer, ingthing! You may have seen her previously talk on this at Visual;Conference, an annual online visual novel developer conference.

find the archived version of this interview on my blog.

Note: ingthing will be referred to as “Ing” and Of Sense and Soul will be shortened to “OSAS”.

Arimia: Hiya Ing! So to get us started, can you introduce yourself and tell people how you got into visual novel development?

Ing: I’m Ing, I’m an artist and designer who had a gay webcomic idea with her friend one day and then two years later we decided it should become a visual novel instead! Now I lead my own little studio and we’re making a Whole Thing out of OSAS. [Of Sense and Soul]

Arimia: Cinematography is such a large aspect of OSAS. What made you want to focus so much on cinematography for it?

Ing: In the beginning we actually didn’t consider cinematography so much—our original Demo was very static and was a simpler affair of putting sprites on a background.

It was really when I was designing the user interface that I began to think about it, starting with a NVL style screen that displayed a letter that the main character was reading. I had the idea of placing the main character sprite on the left of the letter in order to display their emotions while reading the letter as a close-up—and that meant I started the framing of the scene, and how the “camera” could affect the player’s experience of the game.

LEFT: An earlier draft of the Letter Reading Screen in OSAS. RIGHT: A screenshot of the same scene as shown in the Extended Demo.

What really solidified my pursuit of cinematography in OSAS was the prologue sequence—I knew immediately I wanted to use the art for it with a camera pan down the long, vertical image. I watched Visual Novel Design (Vimilikesart’s) YouTube video Ren’Py Images and Action Editor Tutorial and decided to use Action Editor to achieve this, and once I learned how to use the tool the rest was history!

Once I knew what the possibilities of the Ren’Py in-game camera were, I quickly learned more about its Animation and Transformation Language (ATL) through manipulating it, and started adding cinematography to the entire Of Sense and Soul demo.

Arimia: Why do you think this is important in visual novels?

Ing: As an experience, visual novels are unique in that they are a time-based interactive medium. You’re asking your audience for their attention for a significant chunk of their time, the same way a movie or TV series would—and that’s a lot of hours spent in front of a screen if it stays fundamentally unmoving.

Dialogue and narration are also commonly shown in a text box at the bottom of the screen, and the text content itself is what tells most of the story. In my opinion, having a static screen that only changes when images are being switched in or out discourages players from paying attention to the visuals, and more of their focus might turn to the text alone—which would not only make their playing experience more monotonous but also impact their enjoyment of your hard work.

I think every visual novel developer or player is familiar with the imagery that makes up a scene—namely, sprites and backgrounds—and these are very important to get right, as they offer a visual to connect with stories and characters. Most backgrounds and sprites offer variation for appropriate times of day or facial expressions, or even props, poses, and outfits if they’re fancy—but I would say their possibilities as image assets alone are finite. You can match a scene to a narrative and match a character to their description, but their effectiveness in conveying a scene is entirely dependent on when, where, how, and why you display them, which is one major element you have control over when scripting a VN.

With Of Sense and Soul‘s demo, I’ve had the joy of watching in real time as streamers and players respond to my cinematography—and the level of investment in the story they develop when given engaging visuals cannot be overstated! It was clear the action happening on screen through the main character’s eyes was connecting with them. Sudden angled zooms on shocked characters’ expressions earned a gasp or laugh, while thudding heartbeat effects and pans across a character’s face with their eyes concealed drew concerned looks or “Oh no”s from players without fail, every time the scene was intended to elicit those reactions. It’s one thing to show a character’s emotions on their face or describe how they’re feeling—it’s another entirely to tell it through the audience’s visual instincts.

…the level of investment in the story [streamers and players] develop when given engaging visuals cannot be overstated!

(As an aside, I’ve been told that when they arrive at the voiced segments of OSAS, some players begin to feel like they’re watching a movie instead of reading a visual novel—which in my eyes means the cinematography was successful!)

Utilizing cinematography in your visual novels can not only help you keep your audience’s attention by creating a better visual narrative and keeping them eager to see what comes next, but also allows you to maximize the image assets you do have—which, for many visual novel developers, is limited. I think that’s pretty important, and a win for everyone all around!

Arimia: I think using what limited assets you have is definitely key. What are some ways you think other devs can make better use of their limited assets, from what you’ve seen in other games?

Ing: I think prime examples of devs making creative use of their assets can be seen in a lot of games made for the O2A2 game jam in which each game can only have one of any asset. Some ways devs have used their backgrounds, for example, with added motion or repetition, like in lastrain by usarin in which a background is looped to give the appearance of a moving train, or in Fleeting Confession by xxmissarichanxx where the foreground confession booth screen is used both in front of the sprite and in the back, but blurred and semi-transparent for the latter.

A more simple and commonly used way to better utilise image assets is just by changing the parts shown of them—many visual novels will zoom into a background or sprite to show off specific details, especially if events described in the story itself are taking place in, say, a table in the corner of the room.

I think what most devs who do play with camerawork and presentation have set up, though, is they’ve already planned their assets ahead for those uses—devs who do full-body sprites will have more flexibility than half-body sprites, and backgrounds that are larger than the final game window offer better quality when zoomed into.

Some devs also play around with “comic book” style cut-ins, like the prologue for Tomorrow Will be Dying by Team Robo and actually, your game, Lost Lune! Even in the screenshots you can see some fun silhouetting of sprites and comic frames being used to bring drama to scenes.

Arimia: These are all great ideas for VN devs! Personally I love playing around with camera stuff and trying new things to make scenes more dynamic—there’s so many ways you can frame scenes. Is there any technique or method you’d like to add to OSAS that you haven’t been able to yet or plan on?

Ing: I do actually want to do some cut-in style frames and potentially use a vignette effect for flashbacks. I tend not to plan a ton for scene direction, but I see what other devs are doing and go “this looks so cool” and hoard it in my brain like a squirrel preparing for hibernation.

Arimia: Yeah, definitely. I was playing Mahoyo recently and it took me forever to finish it because I’d get so inspired by the scene direction!

How do you mix the visual scene direction with other aspects, like audio? I’ve never delved into voice acting for my games but I know voice acting is a large part of the charm for OSAS.

Ing: Definitely relate to just staring at sequences for ages and rolling back and forth to examine how cinematics work!

Honestly the weirdest part with voice acting for OSAS is we never originally thought it would be part of the game. Because the game has a very “paper-like” feel and was intended to be more grounded in words, VA wasn’t something we felt would be necessary.

What really changed that was the addition of scene direction. Once cinematics were in and we knew what the sprites and settings could do to tell the story, voicing was a natural next step because the game was suddenly so lively!

The audio absolutely plays a big part in how scenes are directed and sequenced—to an extent we follow the emotionality of the soundtracks playing in the background to reflect the emotions of the scene. A more melancholic track might be accompanied with more sluggish-feeling pans across the scene, where a lively track might have quicker pans between sprites to reflect the dynamic of the conversation!

One of my favorite audio-led camera effects is the heartbeat effect used in Seamus’ demo segments; when the heartbeat is pounding in Seamus’ (and the player’s) ears, the camera zooms in/out and blurs along with the sound effect, creating a much more impactful effect than if we were to just add the audio.

youtube

Arimia: Yeah, the heartbeat effect is something that just sticks with you—I’ve never seen anything like it in other VNs. Parts like that really draw you in (literally and figuratively).

Okay, my final question is- share a cool trick in Ren’Py!

Ing: I’ll share two!

The first is boring, but…

You can actually define your color hex codes in your files and apply them wherever you need them (like your GUI styles)! And then when you need to change the color itself you won’t have to find all instances of that hex code and change them individually, you can just do it from your main definition.

If you’re in the Ren’Py developer console (Shift+O) you can change your save file name using $ save_name = "filename" for your personal testing needs and it won’t affect your save_name for the game itself.

And that way you can keep your save files for testing named and also make yourself laugh with them!

----------------

And there you have it! I hope this interview with ing on scene direction was helpful, inspiring or at least interesting. Cinematography in VNs has been something I’ve been really interested in this year and I hope to see more visually unique VNs in the future.

You can find Of Sense and Soul’s demo on itch.io and Steam via their website. There’s so many super inspired segments, I really recommend you to check it out! The game is also currently on Kickstarter—if you’re planning to host your own, I fully recommend checking out the page for it. The attention to detail on the Kickstarter page is a league of its own.

You can also follow them on Tumblr @ofsenseandsoul!

#visual novel #indie game dev #game dev #visual novel development #vn dev #vn development #indie game development #my articles #visual novels #gay games #Youtube

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yourlocalbimexican · 3 months

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I Expect You To Die 2 thoughts

context: I bought a Meta Quest 2 at Best Buy two weeks ago and I finally came in yesterday. One of the games I knew I wanted to play was the I Expect You To Die trilogy (I’m a huge sucker for escape rooms, puzzles, and spy movies) I finished the second game recently so here are my thoughts!

SPOILERS FOR IEYTD 2

This game is sooo gooood. Like, WOW I wasn’t expecting this. IMO the first one was pretty okay, nothing extraordinary but entertaining and it taught me what to expect in future titles. Going into the sequel was a whole different experience however.

The opening credits had me hooked from the get go. The va for John Juniper did a wonderful job. John made the game for me. Honestly. The soundtrack was phenomenal as well, which only helped the game. Anyways let’s get into the missions one by one.

(also I will be giving an overall score for each mission, with 10/10 meaning the mission’s puzzles felt complete and compelling, the mission fit what it was supposed to do, and my PERSONAL enjoyment of it. If you disagree, then tell me the comments as to why. I would love to hear your thoughts!)

-Stage Fright-

a simplistic but entertaining mission. Not the best out of the sequel but better than the first mission in the first game. The switch you need to do with the two cans was pretty smart and made good work of the pov depth that VR provides. It did take me a couple of tries when it came to the crossbow shooting but (mostly because I didn’t realize you could pick up the Zoraxis’ agents bolts)Overall: 6/10

-Jet Set-

okay, I’m gonna be honest here. Jet Set is the worst in the sequel. Now that doesn’t mean it’s a bad mission, but it’s the worst puzzle mission out of all the others in the sequel. Most of the puzzles in the mission didn’t feel connected at all. That is what bums me the most. It felt like this mission was a lot of cool ideas combined into a plane mission. The puzzles were fun, but they didn’t make sense when put into a mission. The next mission will better demonstrate what I mean. Overall: 5/10

-Eaves Drop-

This. Mission. Rocks. From the first laser puzzle, to the various desk puzzles. This mission feels so put together compared to Jet Set. It’s begins with you descending into The Fabricator’s workshop, in order to investigate John Juniper, Zoraxis, and any plans the three of them might have. The thing that really makes this mission feel so put together compared to Jet Set is that everything, and I do mean, everything, has a purpose. From the wheels on the board being used to crank open the Mimic Mask, to the manual that describes how to use the bear trap (which comes in handy when the guard shows up near the end). Everything in the puzzle has a purpose towards the mission or lore. I get that not every mission can expand the story of the game (otherwise the games would be over very quickly) but that doesn’t mean that missions have to be completely irrelevant.

Anyways, this part is getting long so I’ll wrap it up. In short, the mission makes full use of its environment to provide multiple fun and engaging puzzles that further the story of the game in a meaningful manner. Overall: 10/10

-Party Crashers-

Come off the trails of Eaves Drop, Party Crashers takes a turn in mission direction. We start off by impersonating Gibson (John’s wine guy) at the wine cellar. Sending John the right wine took more tries than I care to admit. Retrieving the Mimic Mask was clever. Looking into the hat for clues on the Keg puzzle was a nice touch. Eliminating the guards with the gas was neat and the callback to the tutorial mission was just the cherry on top for this mission. Party Crashers was the mission that took me the most time to figure out, but when I finally did figure it out, it was satisfying. Overall: 8/10

-Safe and Sound-

I think this is the shortest mission in the entire sequel. It definitely feels like it is. That isn’t a bad thing per se, but it just makes the mission feel…weird. The speed run timer is 1:30 which is incredibly fast. Considering the mission after this one is so monumental (and the final mission) and the previous mission being the head-scratcher it was, makes Safe and Sound seem small and easy. The most difficult part of the mission was the mirror puzzle even that was fairly easy to solve. I do understand why this mission is this way. It makes the finale seem so much bigger and gives the player a needed brain break from Party Crashers, but maybe Safe and Sound could’ve been a bit more difficult. Just a tiny bit. Overall: 6/10

-Rising Phoenix-

OKAY here we are. At the finale, and I gotta say. It doesn’t disappoint. Compared to the Death Machine mission from the first game, Rising Phoenix makes its goals simple and clear. The math to get there? Not so simple nor clear. My biggest fear for this mission was that it would be too convoluted or not long enough. However, neither fears game to fruition and this mission really shows what the devs can do. My personal favorite puzzles were the battery ones and the final briefcase puzzles.

also, John Juniper’s death was out of left field for me. I didn’t think he would die. I thought we would be able to arrest him or he would fly away on some jet but no. He dies. He died because his ego got in the way of his role and his use quickly left him. A interesting end to a interesting character.

Recently I re-watched Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (highly recommend the Knives Out movies if you love who-dunnits). Anyways, during the beginning of the movie, all the disruptors are mailed a box that has a series of puzzles in it that eventually reveal a card with an invitation to a private get-away on a Greek island. The briefcase puzzle in Rising Phoenix is basically the box from Glass Onion. Multiple different puzzles granting access to one thing. In the movie it’s a invite, in IEYTD 2, it’s the abort button to stop the rocket* from launching. Mind you, the entire briefcase puzzle is on a timer. So when you finally unlock the abort button, what happens? Well in a cruel twist of fate, Doc. Zoe turns off the power and the button no longer works. Worry not however! Remember the battery from early? Well we can use that to provide the briefcase the power and abort the rocket! Sadly the facility will blow either way, but the world will be saved.

this is the type of missions I love. When everything comes together, the reuse of old tools to progress through new puzzles, the clever solutions to sticky situations. This is what makes IEYTD 2 such a good sequel. From the get go there is a pressure to beat Zoraxis and defeat John Juniper and in turn, save the world. The final mission of the first game was lacking the build up, which made it seem very…sudden when it ended. Here? The finale is well expected. We now we are in the third act, and that this mission is do or die. Its just phenomenal. Overall: 10/10

-closing thoughts!-

I do believe that I Expect You To Die 2 is a wonderful sequel and is definitely worth the price. Jet Set (as much as I have said about it) isn’t a horrible level. Its has issues but maybe it’s just not my cup of tea. Eaves Drop’s atmosphere and classic spy elements makes it (IMO) the best level outside of the finale. Party Crashers is a fun, head-scratching follow up, and Rising Phoenix manages to deliver on everything the other missions were building towards. Overall: 9/10. I highly recommend you play it.

#i expect you to die #ieytd2 #john juniper #thoughts #review #agent phoenix #virtual reality #gaming #video games #spy game

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zapsoda · 2 months

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zapsoda talks about one song from a musical he hasnt seen for a reaaaaally long time

wishs villain is a tragedy in every way. his song is. bad. (standard for the movie imo) but they way in which it wad bad enraptures me because beyond the writing itself, the performance itself is hollow.

youve heard the cliche, in musicals, characters sing when their emotions are too strong to be conveyed through words. but this guy doesnt seem to be conveying fucking anything.

uhhhhh hes selfish? i think?????? he is so empty and dull and devoid of personality. he just sounds vaguely condescending.

one criticism ive heard a lot is that the (pop) songwriter and producer duo were writing generic marketable pop songs so they would get radio hits like that one track from encanto. and i can fucking see it!!!! the appeal of musicals is how personal the songs are. the appeal of pop music is the opposite! musical songs can be relatable but when they are, its more personal, because they are *always* about very specific situations in stories which can then be applied to the real world.

in the lyrics he talks a lot about what he is? i guessss? (which. cmon guys. show dont tell) but its so fucking vague. does he even mention wishes once???? i thought that was like the whole point of his role in the movie? some shit about wishes? like at that point what is the point of including this song in the movie.

yes, villain songs are typically "i am" songs, but they do far fucking more than just tell you the villains main personality traits, thats something youre supposed to convey through their actions. typically, they are supposed to give you a deeper look into the character!

"poor unfortunate souls" is about how ursula portrays herself as a benevolent do gooder but actually just uses vulnerable people for her own benefit. "be prepared" is about scars evil plot to usurp the throne. "friends on the other side" is about faciliers curse shit.

this song could most accurately be compared to gastons song (is it just called 'gaston'?) but the mob song filled in for what it didnt provide, and "gaston" at least had the decency to be an entertaining and audibly enjoyable experience!

this is none of those. i guess it tells me about the character???? vaguely???? its not entertaining because its boring and repetitive, and it sounds like shit!

whats worse is the villain himself sounds bad. and i checked! chris pine can sing! he was in into the woods! whoever directed him just failed him miserably. i get this very strong impression that the song was not written with him or his character in mind.

back when the movie had just been like. announced. i heard rumors about him being kind of an ableist stereotype of a narcissist and i cannot confirm or deny that (havent seen the movie) based on testimony and what i have observed myself, he doesnt seem to have much of any character, let alone one that is exaggerative or stereotypical. he doesnt even seem to have much of a motive. he just wants whatever is convenient for the plot and does whatever will effectively move the plot along. (from what i fan tell)

for me the tragedy is that he is a disney villain. i love disney villains okay there hasnt been one and a while and he was created to bring that archetype back. hes an evil king! except hes not. hes just some fucking bland empty nobody. and yet the animation in the music video is so lively. its gorgeous. he moves so dramatically, his body language screams personality but his words, his design, and his actions do not.

clearly the people who worked on the movie are extremely skilled in what they do in a vacuum, and yet somehow they came together to make a really lame and boring end product. which i suspect is largely a result of the big faceless execs at the top of it all, wanting to make the safest and most marketable product imaginable. as opposed to, yknow, a work of art.

#i will never disparage the artists themselves especially visually. ive seen a lot of complaints about it but i really like it #the relative simplicity in terms of shading and depth reminds me of nimona #gives it a sort of storybook quality (just based on what ive seen)

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hgejfmw-hgejhsf · 6 months

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Weekend WIP Game

Rules: List your WIPs below (if you only write one fic at a time, feel free to include future WIPs/ideas!) then answer the following questions. Then, tag as many people as you have WIPs (or more).

Thanks to @kiwiana-writes @daisymae-12 and @whimsymanaged for the tag!

1. WIP List:

5 Times Alex & Henry had sex anywhere on the property they want + 1 Time they walk through Austin holding hands

The Super Six try a period simulator

Alex POV - Get Low NYE (movie-verse)

Come Back to Me

Henry POV - Post Email Leak

You're still just a dream

Big Brother AU (collab with @thinkof-england)

Saw AU

Henry/Gabby horseback riding

Henry Mozart Quote

2. Which of your WIPs is currently the longest? You're still just a dream because it's the only one that's actually finished that I just haven't posted.

3. Which WIP do you expect will end up the longest? I'm gonna guess that Big Brother will probably end up the longest because my cowriter is going to help me finally embrace the multichap life.

4. Which WIP is your favourite to write/the most enjoyable to write? Why? I'm SO excited to write the 5+1. I love reclaiming the lake house, and this will be another way for Alex and Henry to do that!

5. Which WIP do you find the most intimidating to write? Why? Big Brother is intimidating to me because it's been SO long since I've watched the show, but I'm so excited about it, and I have my cowriter to fill in the blanks!

6. Which WIP do you experience the most self-doubt about. Why? You're still just a dream. I've been sitting on this completed fic for...awhile. But there's this mental obstacle I can't jump over when posting it. It's my interpretation of Alex and Henry becoming parents.

7. Which of your WIPs will you seek out a beta/sensitivity reader for? Why? I'll probably have another person read through You're still just a dream before I finally end up posting.

8. Have any of your WIPs been struck by the curse of writer's block? Come Back to Me because I had to stop it for the fest, but now I can't seem to get back into the headspace.

9. Which WIP has your favourite OC? Tell us about them? You're still just a dream is the only one that has an established OC so far, Alex and Henry's baby girl Gabby.

10. Which WIP is the sexiest? The 5+1 is going to be a fun one to write.

11. Which WIP is the angstiest? Henry's POV fic. It's going to probably be a short little guy, but it's already angsty AF.

12. Which WIP has the best characterisation (in your humble opinion)? This question is way too hard for me to answer because so many of them are just ideas haha.

13. Which WIP has the best scene setting (in your humble opinion)? I'm hoping the Saw AU will be the best scene setter *winks*

14. Which WIP have you worked the hardest on? You're still just a dream has a lot of hours of work and hours of thought and worry.

15. Which WIP do you have the highest expectations for? Why? I think the Big Brother AU is going to be pretty big...pun not intended but accepted happily.

16. Do you dream about any of your WIPs? Way too often. And I never remember the dreams in the morning.

17. Do any of your WIPs have particular complexities that your other fics don't? The Saw AU is going to come with some complexities, I'm sure. It hasn't been started, just thought about haha. And of course, Big Brother comes with its own set of rules!

18. Which WIP is the funniest or has the most humour? The Super Six taking on the period simulator is going to be ridiculous and amazing.

19. Do any of your WIPs contain outside POVs or a deep dive on a character other than the main ship? How are you finding that process? So far I don't know that I'm diving super deep into any characters outside the main ship, but Big Brother is going to absolutely flesh out a bunch of them in a special way!

20. Tell us one thing we don't know about one or more of your WIPs. Come Back to Me is going to be my first ever songfic!

Here's a few tags (not as many as I have WIPs I'm sorry)! @heybuddy-drabbles @happiness-of-the-pursuit @affectionatelyrs @oneofthewednesdays @noahreids @littlemisskittentoes

#my fics #my writing #weekend wip game #my wips

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