#thus concludes my rant

[junebuggeryy]

margot goes to monster high, and is as close to a “The Fly” david cronenberg reference as the writers can make without invoking that great god, copyright law. roxanne also goes to monster high, but no one can figure out what monster she’s the daughter of, and she changes her answer every time. eventually, she just settles on “the french”. shyloh is the teacher for my-cult-ogy and has a penchant for burying students alive.

shirley also attends monster high until people figure out she’s just straight up a human wearing dollar store vampire fangs, and she gets chased out of town. this is probably actually for the better of all the monster high attendees, because she was definitely planning something van-helsing-ey.

meanwhile, xeno has put in like 20 applications for monster high, but xe’s actually stuck in snooty prep school territory with the other ever after highs, where xe is destined to become a mad doctor victor frankenstein type (despite some genre-appropriate cartoon squeamishness). xe hates every moment of it and xer only saving grace is the ability to study the narrative firsthand.

despite her decidedly spooky edges, lorna also goes to ever after high, as a lost lenore/edgar allen poe reference. she's a poetic goth love interest that's destined to die, and i dont think she's gotten around to being a rebel about it.

meanwhile, installation wizard goes to sky high. exe’s a sidekick because exe couldn't demonstrate any of exe.r technopath abilities in the school's limited framework. john is exe.r teacher and exe regularly just gmod noclips out of class.

#xeno might text frankie memes. idk. there is no consistent worldbuilding on frankie's family tree for me to build off of. #................this is the dumbest lore dump tag. #lore dump tag #and thus concludes my ranting about mattel properties (....and sky high) for the evening. good night #[bugg chitters]

[arieslost]

certified haters | ln4

summary: you and your boyfriend hate valentine’s day.

word count: 634

masterlist — join my tag list here!

© arieslost 2024. DO NOT REPOST WITHOUT PERMISSION.

if there was one thing you hated more than the stupid groundhog that could hardly ever predict the season changes properly, it was the so-called “holiday” that followed a couple weeks later: valentine’s day.

when you started dating lando, you made it perfectly clear that you refused to celebrate such a dumb, performative day. you’d expected more pushback considering how clingy and doting he was before the two of you even made anything official, but to your surprise he’d launched into a whole rant about how much he hated it too.

“i don’t need a specific day on the calendar to show you how much i love you,” he’d concluded, sitting back down on the couch and pulling you into his arms. “if you don’t know that every day of your life, then i’m doing something wrong.”

that was why, while other couples were being sappy and having breakfast in bed or something, you were more than happy to be freezing your ass off at silverstone as your boyfriend prepared to get behind the wheel of his 2024 car for the first time.

you honestly couldn’t imagine doing anything else— lando had seemed a bit hesitant when he asked you to come, like he thought you’d say no, and watching his eyes light up when you enthusiastically agreed was better than any valentine’s day gift.

you rubbed your hands up and down your arms to try and bring some heat back to your skin. lando, always so attentive, noticed immediately.

“are you cold?” he asked, and didn’t even wait for your response before he was putting his helmet down and shrugging out of his mclaren jacket. “put this on. c’mon.”

“no, lan, it’s fine—” your argument was pointless as he gently put your one arm, and then the other, into the sleeves of his jacket before zipping it up.

“can’t have my valentine freezing on me,” he could hardly get through his sentence without giggling, and it morphed into true laughter when you smacked him with an oversized sleeve. “i’m sorry, i’m sorry!”

“get out of my sight, norris.” you rolled your eyes, reaching for his helmet and shoving it into his chest.

“ready?” one of the engineers asked as he handed you a headset, and lando gave a thumbs up in return, flipping his helmet over as he walked toward the car.

“oh, wait!” you called out before he could put it on. “i almost forgot.”

he already knew what you were going to do before you did it. it was tradition; you always did this before he got in the car, no matter what. he closed his eyes and puckered his lips cutely in anticipation as you ran into his arms and kissed him.

“good luck, have fun, don’t die,” you said, smiling as he mouthed the words along with you.

it was what you had said before the first race he brought you to. you’d tried to come up with something profound, but you were so nervous that those six words came out instead. now you say them every time.

“i love you,” he pressed another kiss to your lips, and then your forehead. “i love you, i love you, i love you.”

he donned his helmet and climbed into the car as you put the headset on, stepping back so the engineers could do the final preparations on the car.

right before he drove out onto the track, he stuck his arm out of the car, formed a sign with his hand, and waved.

i love you! you knew he couldn’t turn around to look, but you signed it back.

you and lando hated valentine’s day, but the two of you were just as sappy with each other every other day of the year— why should today be any different?

note: this was fueled by my own hatred of this silly little day and i wrote this on mobile (thus the lowercase) in maybe two hours. the title ended up being more ironic than i thought it would be; i wish lando was my valentine and this got fluffier than i’d planned. hope u enjoyed!

requests are OPEN, and my inbox is always open for comments, criticism, and conversation! feel free to pop in!

reblogs are greatly appreciated <33

dividers by @/saradika !

tags (i’m sorry if i couldn’t tag you!): @venusacrossthestars @f1ln4dr3cl16mv33 @architect-2015 @maddie-bell @athena-artemis-dorian-gray @noreri @bwormie @alltoomaples @maximoffsimp @peargaslyyy @alicedebate @esserenorris

#blurb #lando norris x reader #lando norris x you #lando norris imagine #formula one x reader #formula one imagine #f1 x reader #f1 imagine #ln4 x reader #ln4 imagine #lando norris fluff #valentines day #ln4 fic #ln4 fluff

[tolbre]

As someone who has recently rewatched shrek I gotta say: Shrek is what Beauty and the Beast wishes it was.

They both have the same moral: Beauty comes from within.

But they handle it a lot differently.

Shrek is portrayed as "ugly" the whole time. So is Fionas Ogre form as well. But they fall in love anyways, because guess what: Beauty is found within.

And in part two they even have the option to be conventionally attractive, yet Fiona refuses because she fell in love with the ogre shrek, not with a handsome human.

And they embrace that and love eachother anyways.

In Beauty and the beast it's largely similar but in the end it's all down the fucking toilet because guess what: the beast is actually a very conventionally attractive prince.

Like "don't worry, you don't have to be together with that "hideous beast" because he is a hot man now".

In this movie the Beauty thats found within is all superficial optical beauty that everyone in this movie actually has.

Thus I conclude Shrek is a masterpiece, Beauty and the Beast is a fun movie but message wise, superficial garbage.

Also: (Talking about the remake here) Imagine the powermove of ending the movie by having Emma Watson, one of the most attractive women in acting, turn into a beast as well to show that, yes she is beautiful but her real beauty comes from within as well.

Thanks for reading my rant :3

#Also the Princes Beast form is objectively hotter than his true form #beauty and the beast #shrek #beauty #movies

[magnus-rhymes-with-swagness]

OKAY who wants to hear about why i think nimona challenges amatonormativity? you do! 🫵

one of the main ways this is accomplished is through ballister and ambrosius’s relationship. it’s arguable that it doesn’t necessarily fit the traditional model of romance - not only are they a queer interracial couple, and not only is their relationship ambiguous in the book, but there are certain instances, especially in the movie, that subvert traditional ideas of romance and friendship.

one instance that really stands out to me is when the director asks ambrosius what’s on his mind and he goes on his imagined rant about how arm-chopping isn’t a love language - you know the one. when he mentions ballister, he refers to him as “the man i love, my best friend.” and not just one or the other, but both! the man i love, and my best friend. he places equal emphasis on both the romantic and platonic aspects of the relationship, valuing ballister in both a romantic context and a platonic context without treating either one as more important than the other.

and even moments such as the first “i love you” and the kiss manage to subvert tradition. both of these things are generally seen as a pretty big deal, especially in fiction - if the characters are kissing or saying “i love you,” it’s usually a moment in which everything changes. a line is drawn, dividing the story into after and now. sometimes it’s dramatic and climactic, with fireworks and a swell of music, but even when it isn’t it’s still seen as a turning point of sorts. now it’s official, now it’s real. but this isn’t the case in nimona. both moments are certainly significant - they do a good job of showcasing the character development and where ballister and ambrosius are on their respective journeys, and are certainly important in terms of representation - but neither one follows the path that most fictional romance does.

another way in which nimona challenges amatonormativity would be the emphasis on friendship! in the tavern scene (in the movie) when ambrosius suggests killing nimona, ballister disagrees and says “she’s my friend.” ambrosius replies with “aren’t i more than that?”, implying he’s more important than a friend - thus upholding amatonormative ideas. ballister becomes angry at that and leaves - challenging this idea and prioritizing his platonic relationship with nimona over his romantic one with ambrosius, as nimona is the one he wants to defend.

additionally, a big part of this scene is the way ballister deliberately rejects institute values while ambrosius unintentionally upholds them. and because the story challenges homophobia and transphobia (and other forms of bigotry) through the lens of the institute, it would make sense for it to challenge amatonormativity too! it’s something that’s become incredibly normalized, to the point that lots of people don’t even know it exists, and this is reminiscent of the institute brainwashing, especially when it comes to ambrosius - he’s been manipulated his whole life and probably genuinely doesn’t understand the level to which he’s internalized institute beliefs.

ballister prioritizes nimona many times, actually. when he tells ambrosius she’s “smart, kind, and quite sophisticated,” when he’s overjoyed to see her again at the end, when he refuses to kill her and saves her instead. over and over, he proves how much he cares about her, even when this involves directly going against what ambrosius wants - which, of course, is really what the institute wants. a core tenant of amatonormativity is the false notion that romantic relationships are more important or valuable than other types of relationships, but ballister actively goes against this!

to conclude, as a story that at its core is about identity and challenging societal beliefs, nimona defies expectations and traditional ideas of what it should or shouldn’t be. it’s possible that amatonormativity wasn’t what the creators had in mind, but the story still manages to challenge it with grace and elegance. just like its main character, nimona refuses to conform to what others want it to be.

#nimona #nimona movie #ballister blackheart #ballister boldheart #ambrosius goldenloin #ballister x ambrosius #ambrosius x ballister #nimona netflix #nd stevenson #nimona spoilers #i could go on tbh but i think this is a digestible amount #often when i’m writing a meta i’ll walk around in circles talking into my phone recording my thoughts out loud #and then i’ll play it back and put the most coherent stuff into a list which eventually becomes paragraphs #and the combined recordings for this one are about half an hour in total lol #i’m just. absolutely in love with the whole story. both the book and the movie mean so incredibly much to me #changed my life shaped me as a person etc etc :’) #OH i almost forgot. this analysis is dedicated to the person who sent me aphobic anon hate about it before it even existed lol #i know i said i wouldn’t post anything if people couldn’t be normal but idc actually. seethe with rage! <3 #my words #meta

[cyberlights]

Amulet Rant Time

Okie dokie Waverider is out and thus has concluded the series…so it’s time for a little…bonfire, we’ll call it.

Now don’t get me wrong. I still love this series and always will. I’ve been in the fandom since about Prince of the Elves. I literally have grown up with this series in my backpack from the moment I checked it out of my school’s library. I spent my first summer job paycheck buying all the books out at the time. This series holds a very special place for me.

I also understand that after Book 5(? I’m typing this out on mobile so I can’t verify), Kazu got very sick and lost a lot of his memories, which affected how he wrote Amulet and thus the rest of the story, so I’m not going to say he was a trash author.

There are just certain things that just…have not worked out post Escape from Lucien. And honestly, this is going to be more of a venting ramble than anything, so for the new readers coming in, take it with a grain of salt. You can still enjoy the series, fall in love with the characters, etc. That’s why we enjoy it.

Now I’m gonna do everything else under read-more so spoilers ahead.

.

.

.

We good? Okay, good.

I already stated that I give Waverider a 1/10. It actually is not my least favorite book, to be honest. (That “honor” goes to Supernova)

Trellis leaving the throne?

As others have pointed out, after Escape from Lucien it made no sense for him to just up and skedaddle. That boy was adamant he was going to lead his people. That’s what his whole plot was in the book, and him accepting more of that role in Firebird/the beginning of Supernova. Heck, they even pointed out that Gabilan, even though… voted in(?) as the new king was not doing a good job of it. Gabilan himself fully expected Trellis to take back the throne (albeit by force which is not really Trellis’ style). It felt very much like unnecessary step back from three books worth of development.

I can’t say much about Gabilan because while he did establish in The Cloud Searchers he wanted to be king, it didn’t feel right. Like there was nothing driven past that, that would say he wanted to be king. Honestly besides a tiny bit in Firebird he didn’t get as much character development as he should have, if at all. Which is why, if he was planned to take over from a while ago, probably should have had happened sooner.

Ronin and her Students

Speaking of introducing sooner, this is where I feel having a whole ‘nother two books would have helped the story, because this was just…so terribly executed.

I can’t tell you a single thing about her students except one turned into a turtle and another Cthulhu. I can’t even tell you anything about Ronin beyond her “I was right” mentality (and the mask, not sure why she was wearing a mask).

They all felt very shoe-horned in. I have no attachment to these characters, no real interest in seeing them succeed. They were brought in to fill a plot hole, while simultaneously making another plot hole in their wake.

Overall Problems with the Series

Genre Confusion

I think we’ve already established that Amulet would have been better off as a fantasy series than sci-fi. That is honestly my biggest problem with Supernova, was that was a giant Sci fi wedge in what was predominantly a fantasy series (I know we started more in Escape from Lucien and Firebird, but this is where I feel we veered too off course)

We honestly could have completely cut the sci-fi bit, changed a few things around between Escape from Lucien and Firebird, cut out most of Supernova -which yes, would have wrecked Navin’s sideplot, but there was different options that could have happened.

We don’t need the additional aliens/planets. Those characters could have easily just been Alledian on different parts of Alledia and we would have never known. We don’t even know what most of Alledia looks like because we’ve only been to a handful of places that predominantly look the same.

Which brings me to

Ikol and his Masters

I was so confused by the end of their story. They’re aliens but not. They were created by Silas but they have been around for eons. Everything was Made by Silas to Protect his Family. I just…*sigh*

It felt like they were beating the already dead piñata (pun partially intended).

Silas died in the first book. The consequences of his actions were established to be that he got a bunch of students killed and he ended up passing a huge burden onto Emily that should have gone to her mother. I don’t know why he had to be brought out as this.

Ikol could have very much remained a Chaotic Entity that thrived on the turmoil, his “masters” being a lie to convince Emily that he too was not in total control of the situation so he could slip her more into his control. We already know he likes collecting powerful stonekeepers who are vulnerable enough to fall sway to his side.

Heck, he comes back every 500 years to wage war with the elves and probably (should he have remained the entity) thought of it as one big game.

Having him turn into a somewhat malevolent AI that was just following orders to a T just…does not make sense to me. Especially if he was causing havoc with the elves for so long as implied.

Time-Travel

Okay honestly this is my biggest gripe with the later books.

We established, Books 4 and 5, time-travel was not possible.

All it does is send them back to interact with their memories. They don’t actually change anything about their lives outside the Void.

So having Future Emily and her son come back and save Present Emily throws all of the continuity out the window. And Future Emily’s little interaction with Ikol where it’s implied that they’ve done this over and over? Felt so weird after they actually dealt with Ikol. It felt like a useless little tag on that we ended up not actually needing. (Again, Supernova is my least favorite book for a lot of reasons)

Stonekeepers Good but Bad

*sighs again* Yes. This part would feed into the Problem of Too Many Characters Amulet has going on. But. We were not shown examples beyond our current group (Meaning Emily Trellis and somewhat Vigo) of good stonekeepers.

The Guardian Council that ruled over most of Alledia for centuries? Corrupt.

Silas? Self serving. (Despite being called hero numerous times, we were not actually shown anything he did besides stopping the rampaging stonekeepers back in The Stonekeepers Curse, and even then we weren’t actually shown, just told he did it.)

The Elfking(s)? Corrupted by their stones.

Most of Alledia in the early books respect Stonekeepers enough to kinda hold them in reverence. But we’re not shown anyone (beyond a couple panels of someone building stuff) notable enough to say Yes. Stonekeepers good. Anyone else who is mentioned is “Yeah, they were good, but they listened to their stone and turned into a rampaging monster” (Honestly Gabilan has more of a point here)

I get that’s why Ronin and hers were introduced, but they were introduced way too late into the series for it to feel that there could be some sort of balance.

Emily is one big outlier too here. She’s good but because she feels she has to be and has been told she has to be. Firebird honestly put a nice spin in this because we do see her fall. But Supernova kinda nixed that development sooooo.

*cough*ThisiswhatOCsarefor*cough*

Conclusion

Now those are the biggest ones that have bugged me for a while in addition to the new stuff from the new book. @motherstone has already touched upon multiple times some of the other issues that I tend agree with (go check them out, their art is amazing and I love their ideas. Also looking forward to their rewrite!)

Is there some technical issues with the books as well that bug me? Yes. (The later books are very over saturated in comparison to the older ones and it kinda shows, and I believe that Motherstone already touched upon the “smoothification” that started taking place about book 4/5, and there were quiet a few panels that felt very unfinished in the later two books)

Am I sad to see the series end? Yes. But Kazu at least finished as best he could to the end instead of half assing it or completely dropping the series altogether, and I can respect that.

Do I already have my own post-book 6 AU that I’m willing to ramble about at the drop of a hat? Also Yes. (May also heavily be influenced by some OCs)

Overall, I enjoyed Amulet enough to see it through the end. Books 3-5 will remain my favorites. I still will cherish the characters that we got. Amulet is probably the first thing that actually got me into interacting with Fanart and Fandom, so I’d say it’s a pretty big part of what developed me. And for the newbies. Hi! I see you! I look forward to seeing what you do with the series!

See y’all around!

(And btw, if you drop something in my ask box, I’ll apologize in advance if I don’t get to it. I tend to forget I have one)

#amulet series #amulet spoilers #waverider spoilers #wow it’s really been ten years since I joined this fandom #😧 #Good news is that it’s kicked up the ol brain bunnies #i have been Having Thoughts #some old art may see an upgrade #Some old ocs may or may not appear

[gartenofbanny]

Chaz is a nothing character (Chaz Rant)

Chazwick Thurman is one of the two main antagonists in EXES and OHS alongside Crimson. I am going to make a blog in the future sharing my thoughts about Crimson. For this one, I’m going to talk about why I do not like Chaz at all and why I honestly don't even consider him to be a character of his own.

Ⅰ. He shares the same traits as many characters

One of the main things that lead me to conclude that Chaz doesn't have any defining character that sets him apart from the rest of the characters in Helluva Boss is that he shares the same character traits with the majority of the characters. That being he's horny and greedy. Those two traits are something that the majority of the characters in Helluva Boss share.

Stolas is horny, Blitzo is horny and greedy, Verosika is horny and somewhat greedy, Crimson is greedy, Fizzarolli and Asmodeus are most definitely horny, Cash Buckzo is greedy, and Martha is horny.

Those are characters I listed from the top of my head within the show and that's like a small portion of the total roster. The difference between those characters and Chaz is that Chaz doesn't have any uniqueness or anything that makes him stand out. The only thing that makes him stand out is that he's Moxxie and Millie's EX, but that barely matters because it's revealed that he will just sleep with anyone with no hesitation. Plus we never even got to see what he did that made Millie so pissed off in the first place, so we can just say that he's Moxxie's EX and move on.

Ⅱ. He's weak

Despite being a former member of Crimson's Mafia, Chaz is the most pathetic and weakest antagonist in Helluva Boss thus far. He's really afraid of Millie and cowers in fear whenever she goes crazy to the point that he hides behind his boss who's probably physically weaker than him for protection and he got killed by Crimson not long after Moxxie, Millie, and Blitzo escaped.

I honestly have no idea how this guy managed to get into Crimson's Mafia because he's literally the least threatening antagonist in the series and nothing can really convince me otherwise. You can argue that he can beat up Moxxie, but who couldn't? Even if he does he can't really stand up to Millie, he'll get turned into sushi.

Ⅲ. He's pretty stupid

I'd forgive the not being physically strong, if Chaz had some form of intelligence to him, but low and behold, he doesn't. Meaning that since he isn't threatening in the physical or mental department he's just an antagonist with no worth and what leads me to conclude this is his plan.

Chaz's plan sucks ass because it doesn't have much thought put into it and somehow Chaz really did expect it to work out. The first step was to rent a suit which is decent compared to the other steps.

His second step in his plan is to convince Crimson that he's rich, and he's extremely lucky that worked because as mentioned in previous posts, Crimson didn't check if Chaz was telling the truth or not because if Crimson did check if Chaz was telling the truth then Chaz would've died before the events of EXES and OHS.

His third step is to marry Moxxie and he should have believed that it would never work since Chaz literally left him behind the last time they saw each other. But it doesn't matter because Crimson did eventually force Moxxie into nearly marrying Chaz.

And the step that pisses me off the most is the fourth step being "???", like I know this is for the meme and all that, but the man is literally risking his life to steal the fortune of the most infamous mob boss in all of the Greed Ring. Chaz was not thinking ahead at all when making his plan.

And his 5th and last step is to profit, but how is he gonna profit if he doesn't have a 4th step? I would assume the 4th step involves him taking the money, but he doesn't know how to even do that.

It's extremely lucky that Chaz had managed to get past the second step of his plan and into the third step because of the writers hadn't decided to make Crimson dumb for the plot then Chaz would've not made an appearance in Helluva Boss. If Crimson was smart and if the writers decided to give Chaz an appearance then I'm pretty sure the only thing that would've appeared was Chaz's jaws mounted on Crimson's wall.

Ⅳ. His true purpose

Vivziepop stated in tweet on Twitter that Chaz was supposed to be an example that the show was not afraid of killing off characters. This is honestly a really bad example to make out of a character that died in the same episode they made their debut. Chaz is an absolutely horrendous character and when I saw his teeth about to be hung up on Crimson's wall, I was joyful because of how bland and annoying he was.

Usually, when creators of shows or other forms of fiction kill off characters to show that they're not afraid to kill off characters in stories, they usually use characters that are well-developed and actually well liked within the community or characters that go through development in the arc they are introduced and are suddenly killed off. A great example of this is Junpei from Jujutsu Kaisen. Junpei is a character in JJK introduced in the "Vs Mahito" Arc and is one of the central characters of that arc from Chapter 18 to Chapter 27 in the manga. A kid with issues in school who has the innate ability to see curses and used cursed techniques, but due to the manipulation of the main antagonist, the sudden death of his mother and the past trauma he had due to bullying in his school, Junpei uses his newfound abilities for evil such as attempting to kill his bullies. It isn't only until Yuji Itadori, the series’ main protagonist talks him out of becoming a mass murderer, but it's too late. The manipulator, Mahito suddenly kills Junpei giving him a slow and agonizing death.

And when Junpei eventually dies, that's when it becomes impactful because overtime we've learned to understand where that character was coming from and the potential he could've had if he stayed alive.

Not to mention the death itself was emotionally painful and disturbing to see.

There's no motivation for Chaz getting the money aside from the fact he's poor but if he really needs that money, he would've robbed another place instead of attempting to rob an infamous mob boss that's known to kill people who cross him. I don't understand why Chaz wants to steal Crimson's money specifically because if he had a deeper motive then it should've at least been revealed within the episode, but there was not a deeper motive. Lastly, I most definitely do not like Chaz and I can't relate to him because he's really insufferable and I honestly don't know anyone who's similar to Chaz who isn't in jail right now.

Vivziepop introduced Chaz in one episode and in that SAME episode, she killed him off without giving him any development to his character or even giving him a character at all. If Chaz was revealed in the series to show that the writers aren't afraid to kill off characters, then why didn't they develop him within the episode? It also doesn't make it any better that Vivziepop has killed off antagonists in the show that being Martha and her family who were also revealed and died in the same episode, so I do not care about the "We're not afraid of killing off characters" thing when the only characters you kill off are bland characters or characters you don't know what to do with. Because I am not sure if Martha and her family will appear in the series again as Sinners.

Also, just a nitpick here, but how are you gonna say that you're not afraid to kill off characters when you're not going to show how they died? Because Chaz's death was literally off-screen.

Conclusion

It's very disappointing to see what the writers have done with Chaz because as always he could've been a potentially interesting character. Chaz being the ex of Moxxie and Millie, two characters who have the most functional relationship in the entire series was interesting but all they did was just made him into a sex-crazed dumbass. I'm glad that they killed him off because it would've been really annoying just to see him in another episode. Anyway, thank you all for reading and I hope you all have a nice day!

#Helluva Boss #chazwick thurman #helluva boss chaz #helluva boss criticism #helluva boss critical #vivziepop criticism #vivziepop critical

[billiejean485]

Okay - a long rant ahead and some explanations.

I would also like to point out that what I'm about to talk about mostly concerns the Christian community and it may not be interesting to anyone else or would just lead to pointless arguments that I don't want to be a part of, so - read at your own discretion after the explanations.

EXPLANATION

Yes, you have probably all noticed that I haven't completely stopped indulging in Miraculous stuff, especially after this post, and the reason is - I am simply enjoying (or have been doing so up till now) the concepts, the fan art and the never used possibilities and lost potential of the show and its characters. Which leads me directly to the second part of this post.

TO THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY WITHIN MIRACULOUS LADYBUG FANDOM

Yesterday, I gave this vid a watch and discovered something I wished I knew from day one of this show.

Among all the good points, something really struck me, and it was this:

.... Look.

I know Thomas Astruc is an atheist (or however he defines himself) and that he's a very anti-religious person - but this is downright offensive.

So, what I wanted to bring to attention.... was that this show really isn't just some goofy fantasy x sci-fi mix that doesn't delve into religion or myths - but that that is far from the truth.

Miraculous goes directly into everything and reshapes it to the viewing pleasure of people who have no religious beliefs whatsoever and are, like it's creator, of a mindset that it's all just nonsense, thus disrespecting culture and faith of humongous groups of religious communities.

As an (Orthodox) Christian, I can't talk much about people of other faith, though I know there were also big problems with the Muslim communities. Because of that, I am just going to stick to what I'm capable of concluding.

... You know, we all have the right to believe whatever we want to believe in. If atheistic people don't want to believe in anything, that's their choice. But spitting in the face of absolutely everyone who is of different opinion, especially through a worldwide known show (and directed at kids, to make matters worse) is definitely not alright. We have the right to choose our faith as much as any other individual and absolutely no one should be allowed to say that we should keep to ourselves as some kind of 'minority' and let the 'majority' take over, because they're right since there's a bigger number of them.

Speaking up about something negative within a certain religious community that affects everyone is one thing - telling them to shut up altogether is another.

If you think I am blowing things out of proportion with this.... do a little research on Astruc's X (formerly Twitter). I kid you not when I tell you that I have practically quoted him in the last line of the paragraph above my previous one. Amanda does the same in her video as well.

But what am I really getting at here with this post?

I wanted to send out a warning to fellow Christians that are watching the show and to boost up the awareness to this problem.

Literally... all the problems I've been having with the show for the past two years come down to this. The way the characters are treated, the direction the show is taking... everything. If I had known about the creators' opinions on this topic I would have seen disappointment a mile away, and it never would have affected me as bad as it did.

I stopped drawing for a whole year for crying out loud! And I've seen during that period that many people are absolutely unaware of what is lurking behind the curtains. The show is meant to take you to a certain point of viewing the world the way its creators believe are right, and it's not going to stop doing that anytime soon. What's more, I believe (and I am talking from experience here, from other disappointments in my past) that things are only going to get worse.

The Love Square is bait. The prolonged plot is there to keep the viewers interested. Heck, Astruc confirmed that publicly - it's needed to exist in order to keep the show successful and running. He thinks he's doing a good job at it, and, to be fair - business-wise, he is. That doesn't speak about the quality of the story though. But that's another topic I'm not going to bring up here...

I just wanted to give a heads-up to peeps, who do have an incorporated belief system in their lives, to not get swindled. It's not innocent fun, and that's going to get more obvious as time passes and the creators get more freedom to express their opinions.

I'm sorry if you've invested yourselves in this show as much as I have. I truly believed there wasn't another system directed against religion somewhere in its shadows and that it was a safe watch - however, it isn't. If you do have a life dedicated to something this show is against, all I can tell you is - re-evaluate what you're watching here.

For all the rest of you.... I suppose I have nothing to say. If you read all the way up to here and still disagree with me... well, feel free to do it. But I have no discussion to be made with you.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug salt #ml salt #thomas astruc #thomas astruc salt #christianity #orthodox christianity #religion #tv show #atheism #miraculous ladybug fandom #ml fandom

[fluffmugger]

RIGHT

*Slams hands on balcony railing* I  AM GONNA SAY THIS HERE RATHER THAN SHIT UP SOME POOR REBLOG THAT CROSSES MY DASH AND I’M GONNA SAY IT LOUD.

Apologies as it will land on the public tags, but I’m tagging stuff as Good Omens 2 as some followers are blocking the tag until they catch up. I PERSONALLY FUCKING HATE THE DRUGGED COFFEE THEORY AND I FUCKING HATE THE OMELAS THEORY AND HERE’S WHY (Brought to you by 3/4ths a bottle of baileys)

1) Drugged  coffee to ensure Aziraphale’s compliance resulting in him deciding to go with the Metatron completely destroys his agency.  It’s a BAD plot contrivance that offers a piss-easy out and I ain’t having it.  The dude fucked up of his own accord. Accept it. Was the coffee a tactic? absolutely.  Just in case you missed the whole shaming in the first season of how Aziraphale polluted himself,  they went out of their way to reinforce a major schism between the forces of heaven and hell and Aziraphale and Crowley : They do not imbibe human food or drink.  It’s gauche at best.  There’s repeated moments with Muriel refusing a drink, Gabriel losing his shit when he finally tries hot chocolate for the first time, it’s presented as an actual temptation by Crowley to Aziraphale (and boy oh boy did he take after that shit like a disgraced vestal virgin at a bacchanal) and even in flashbacks we see Beez and Gabs, even while cheerfully violating every other unspoken rule that they literally tried to melt Aziraphale and Crowley for refusing to drink a beer and eat a bag of crisps.   And all of a sudden the literal voice of god rocks up with an incredibly bougie coffee - that he’s clearly ordered before given how thoughtlessly he rattled it off  - going “yeah man, I drink this shit all the time, it’s awesome, we’ve changed, we’re cool, come join the gang az”. Whether its a manipulation tactic or a genuine attempt to show good faith in an attempt to change remains to be seen, but drugging it?  Fuck offffffffffffff

2) OMELAS OMG Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach!!!!   Ok.  What’s the point of that.

Honestly. What. Would. Be. The. Fucking. Point.   We are literally discussing biblical heaven here, not a sociopolitical commentary on capitalism.  It doesn't run on someone literally being continuously shat on (sit down catholics), the only figure who fits that messianic role - and I use the term messianic very deliberately - is friggin’ christ if you’re a christian and the Passion’s been and gone my bitches. So what would be the point of it? Oh no, Aziraphale the lamb to slaughter! Oh my bby~ Oh no! Crowley must rescue him!!!  NO.  Again, it’s a wipe of agency and it frames Aziraphale as this agentless silly thing NOT TO MENTION that whole trope would rely on Crowley once again slavishly running to rescue him and after the shit that went down in s2 ep6?  No.  That shit’s not romantic, it’s toxic.  It’s the same crap Nina just got out of.   It might work in a fanfic but in S3 it would just be shit storytelling.

Thus concludes my rant, I am now hurling my baileys bottle into the front yard and breaking up an overexcited cat fight in the loungeroom.

#Good Omens 2

[acutiewithagun]

There's a small part of me that just wants to write a normal day between my OC and the turtles. It's so chaotic and fun but I just don't have the motivation to actually write it out.

So I might just continue ranting about it...

Sike-

Taglist: @oleander-nin @itsyagurlchip

So Dani waltzed into the abandoned subway station the turtles call home. Mikey is currently painting over the walls and waves to her, which she returns. She then gets jump attacked into a hug by the one and only Leo. Which quickly turns into a tickle fight that Mikey stops everything he's doing to join.

Raph comes out of the kitchen to gawk at the three idiots writhing around on the floor tickling each other. He separates them before crushing them all into a hug. Then the red banded turtle starts tickling all three, much to their dismay.

The tickling urges Donnie to peek out of his lab for once with a confused expression. He sneered noticing Dani and tried to quickly retreat back to his lab when she noticed him as well.

She immediately wiggles out of the laughing trap and pounces on her enemy. Donnie immediately starts kicking her back as they both get into a physical altercation with lots of yelling.

Raph takes notice too late while Leo and Mikey watch the scene with popcorn. Being the good big brother he is he also joins Leo and Mikey as Dani and Donnie bash each other until one concedes.

This time is was Donnie, as she licked his hand after biting it. He jumped up and yelled his weird profanities as he desperately wiped his hand on a towel. Dani panted in victory as she smirked with pride.

Donnie stormed off, ranting about the disgusting nature of the human. Dani on the other hand stuck her tongue out at him smuggly before turning to the other turtles who clapped at the free entertainment. Dani bowed graciously to the three as Donnie slammed his lab door shut.

All the turtles disperse with Dani trailing off with Raph to have the tea party she came for. Leo and Mikey went back to spray painting the walls to decorate the lair a bit more.

Thus concludes the first hour of a normal day with these chaotic children that are actually adults.

#a cutie with a gun writes #a cutie with a gun rants

[void-occupation]

Ok, hear me out (angst, bc of course)

I've been having these thoughts bounce around my head for about a week and I finally decided to post them. I don't know who's going to see this, but whoever sees it needed to. I guess this is for an AU rather than a headcanon, but whatever, just hear me out. I was inspired by The Owl House, specifically Hunter, so maybe that will spark some interest. This is about to be a rant, so I'll go ahead and add the read more thing

Okay, now that I have your attention, time for angst.

SO, in The Owl House, we learn in season 2 that (SPOILER ALERT) Hunter is a grimwalker (a clone of someone who died for those of you who don't know), and that before him, there were TONS of other grimwalkers that Belos murdered for "choosing to betray him" AKA realizing that Belos was an evil psychotic bitch. Also, that Hunter looked the most like Caleb (the dead guy he was cloned of) out of all the other grimwalkers, but he didn't KNOW that he was a grimwalker until a very angsty reveal by his abuser (Belos) who then immediately tried to murder his ass.

ANYWAYS, obviously, as the angst-lover I am, I think about this literally all the time. Then. I started thinking. I absolutely love Alastor, he's such a blorbo. And what do I do to my blorbos? I give them immeasurable amounts of trauma, c'mon, keep up.

What do we know about Alastor? Well, someone owns his soul. He disappeared for unknown reasons for seven years. He is INCREDIBLY anxious about whoever owns his soul - or at least the deal itself (as evidenced by his musical breakdown where he literally TEARS HIS OWN HAIR OUT FROM THE STRESS), and that he's probably going to use the deal with Charlie either for nefarious purposes, or to escape his deal.

Which brings us to the point of this post in the first place (kind of???? I might have just been mindlessly rambling there), and the start of my AU. I'm not going to pretend I know who owns Alastor's soul, but I really vibe with the idea of it being either Lilith or Roo, so that's who I'll be thinking of for the majority of this post. What if the person who owns his soul made a deal with him when he first got to hell (or it could be one of those versions where someone sold his soul before he was even born [a sort of "I want your first-born kinda deal] and they let him know when he got to hell which is how he got all his power so quickly), but he managed to either tick them off or get really close to escaping the deal, which lead to them killing Alastor.

Then, the contract-owner realizes, "Oh shit, I kind of need him," and finds out how to make whatever the hell equivalent of a grimwalker is. Thus, Alastor 2.0 is born. However, they can't have him knowing he's a clone - he might find a loophole in the deal that way. So they find a way to control which memories he has. They replace all of the memories the OG Alastor had up until whatever it was he did to get killed in the first place - don't want him getting any ideas after all.

This works fine for the contract-holder for a while, but then Alastor is back on the same shit - trying to find loopholes, backdoors, ticking them off, whatever, and oops, there goes another one. Well shit. Guess it's time to make another clone. So, the process is repeated, and the song and dance continues. However, it always concludes the same way - with Alastor's inevitable "betrayal". Also, none of the clones ever seem to look quite right - sometimes the eye color is wrong, or the height, the cheekbones, or the nose shape - whatever it is, something is always off

So, after many failed attempts, they decide to take a different approach. When they make the new clone, they give them the same memories, everything is the same as the previous attempts, except they don't turn him loose right away. Instead, they keep him under their thumb for seven years - really just until there was something they needed him for. Those seven years were spent conditioning him. They were determined to make him perfect. After all, this clone was the one that looked the most like the original Alastor, there was no way they would let him go like the others.

In his time at their side, Alastor endured unspeakable cruelties - beatings, torture, extreme sensory deprivation, emotional manipulation, sleep deprivation, total isolation - you name it, it was almost certainly done during that time. This is also when his smile was sewn on because the contract holder wanted him to smile more, and used his defense mechanism to torture him (smiled to hide weakness, forced to smile against his will, making the smile itself a constant reminder of how powerless he really is). There was rarely an action Alastor did that provoked his contract holder, but that didn't matter. They convinced him that each "punishment" was earned, that they were simply trying to help him see his own shortcomings and failures, and to make him better. Obviously, this is complete bullshit. However, when you live like that long enough, with no other influences, you become conditioned to believe it.

Eventually, for whatever reason, the contract holder released Alastor on strict orders to go to Charlie's hotel, and Alastor is doing exactly what they told him because he's terrified of the idea of being summoned back to their side. He hates his contract holder, but at the same time craves their approval, because if they're happy with him, then he won't be in pain. However, Alastor has to Alastor, and once he's on his own, he starts looking for ways to escape his deal - but he's sneaky about it. Years of constant conditioning made him cautious. He has no memory of ever searching for loopholes before - a least not successfully (bc the contract holder doesn't let the clones remember those things), so he does the best thing he can think of: he makes a deal with the Princess of Hell herself.

I'm definitely going to make another post about this, probably detailing the reveal. Not right now though because I have homework to do, and this is getting to ungodly lengths

(if you want to see the next part when I post it, keep an eye on the '#grimwalker alastor au' tag. I might just make this a whole thing if anyone is interested. I'll make it a whole thing anyways because I feel like it and deep down I post for myself, but if you're interested, I highly encourage you to ask about it [I don't bite!!])

#alastor #hazbin hotel #alastor hazbin hotel #alastor angst #this idea has had me in a chokehold for the past week #alastor headcanons #toh hunter #grimwalker #mentions of the owl house #grimwalker alastor au #I would say this got away from me except I knew exactly what I was doing #uhhh #long post #alastor's deal #tw mentions of abuse #TW mentions of torture #hazbin hotel au

[marinettesaltprompts]

Marinette Salt Prompt: A wrong point of view (regarding Chat Blanc)

Following most of season 4, Chat has been pushed more and more away from Ladybug. Not just because of all the new heroes, but whenever it seems that they have the chance to talk, Ladybug always seems to run away from him whenever he suggests they just sit and chat, or just get some after battle ice cream. Even doubly so whenever he tries to learn more than what Ladybug thinks he “should” know, to the point where she gets angry and the glares of the other heroes push any attempt at learning the truth down out of guilt.

He’s not going to take the ring off. That would be too risky of him and wrong in terms of being a hero. But he is going to get answers.

So despite how much he regrets doing it, Chat corners Ladybug after a battle. It was quick, neither needed used their power and thus had no timer. No other heroes were there. For the first time, Chat was able to finally talk with Ladybug.

At first she did her usual claims about her timer, but he was quick to remind her that she didn’t use her lucky charm yet. Her face then turned to one of anger, but Chat’s anger matched his partners own, and he wasn’t going to relent now that Ladybug didn’t have the other heroes into shaming him from saying anything.

He asks her why is she keeping all these secrets. Aside from the identity stuff, which he rightfully understands, Ladybug has kept more and more secrets from him. She picked out all the new heroes, but he isn’t allowed to know any of them. He can’t help with either calling on the new heroes or delivering the miraculouses. And worst of all, someone else know’s Ladybug’s identity! When Ladybug was the one who was always stating that neither should do it. She acts stressed all, but never lets her own partner help her! So why is he isn’t allowed to do or know anything? Why can’t he help her?

Eventually, she relents (even if Chat wince’s at the look of distrust she gives him after the events of NY)

Despite the situation though, it actually becomes a huge relief for Ladybug as she tells him about Chat Blanc and the alternate timeline. Sure it was a sore spot to talk about, but at least this means that Chat will finally understand and listen to her again and keep his distance. Right?

However, Chat was NOT ok with it. Aside from learning the horrible thing that happened, which in itself made him sick, something felt off about the whole situation. As Ladybug concludes the story, he asks but a single question.

“D-did you even ask my future self how he got akumatized?”

Ladybug, stares, then said no. Because she figured out what had happened. That Chat learning her identity got him akumatized.

That’s when Chat actually loses it. He gets starts yelling at Ladybug as the heroine winces, confused about the whole situation.

Ladybug: I don’t get what’s wrong! Sure the situation was bad, but I fixed it! As long as you don’t learn my identity the timeline will be safe-

Chat: Safe? SAFE?! I can’t believe you- NO THAT DIDN’T DO ANYTHING! D-did- did you ever consider that for one possible moment, I COULD HAVE BEEN AKUMATIZED DUE TO SOMETHING ELSE?! THAT MAYBE I GOT AKUMATIZED BECAUSE OF SOMETHING IN MY NORMAL LIFE?!

Chat gets even more frustrated as he lets out the truth that he kept even from himself. Ladybug did nothing to fix the situation by traveling back in time and preventing him from learning her identity. For all he knew, that thing that would lead him to being akumatized could still happen because she never bothered to ask him in the other timeline. For all he knew, he could have learnt her identity after he got akumatized. Plus his alternate self was insane, so why would she believe his crazy akumatized self instead of asking him when he was back to normal?! He continues to rant this truth out, even as Ladybug starts to shake and cry.

He was so upset he almost didn’t notice the akuma moving towards him, as Ladybug gasped. Before the latter could grab her yoyo, Chat grabs the butterfly and Cataclysms it.

As the sound of Chat’s ring beeping fills the air, Chat looks at Ladybug.

Chat: You did nothing to help me. You only did what you saw would help yourself. Why? Because you never think, nor ask about anyone else. You only demand everyone else’s loyalty.

Chat leaves, leaving behind a scared, broken and shaken Ladybug who, for the first time in a while, felt worse than she did when she first became a hero. Not only that, but she was now worried for what the future might hold, unsure if what she did back in that timeline was the right thing.

For all she knew now, she could have been able to help her partner, hell maybe even find out who Hawkmoth really was since he was there as well.

But now its far to late to find out now. The timeline was gone. And now her partner, right here in this timeline, may have left her too.

#Miraculous Ladybug #Miraculous Ladybug salt #Marinette salt #Adrien sugar #Adrien sugar because he went through a lot of trauma in Chat Blanc. #Seriously it was so bad for him

[true-blue-sonic]

(HI BLUE!!!) I've never failed to notice how mistreated and/or bullied silver has been in the comics and games, so what if he went evil over a long period of time? With the words "Do better" and "get out of my sight" thrown at him (especially in archie) I have a feeling he wouldnt exactly love it tbh.

Hello! ^-^ If I'm being quite honest, that is one of the things I really did not like about the pre-reboot Archie comics. Not only is Silver a dumbass who rudely accuses people left and right with very limited and lacking information as his guide (which is still somewhat understandable since his future was in ruin and only few people in the past seemed remotely willing to help), I just... Heck, I hate how they characterised Sonic there. Sonic wouldn't do the things he did to Silver in Archie, plain and simple. He'd eventually get irked, yes, but what I appreciate about Sonic in the games is that in '06, he's quick to accept Silver's change of heart and sees that he only means well for the future, and in Rivals he remains his chipper self most of the time even when Silver is being blunt. And they make up, and Silver clearly respects Sonic at the end of both games! I cannot see either of those Sonics drag Silver throughout an entire town by his quills to throw him head-first into a hospital bed. Nor would Sonic from the games tell Silver to fuck off in such a manner. And that whole thing with Lanolin in IDW has left quite a sour taste in my mouth too, not gonna lie. If there is anyone who needs to 'do better' it is her, with the complete life-threatening failure of a first mission concluded under her leadership and her general bossy personality she is aware of yet makes no improvements on to change for the better. So yeah, Silver is indeed the no-respect guy from both comics. It's just not fun to see such things happen to my favourite character, especially because the other characters are either being wildly OOC assholes or in-character assholes to facilitate it. But that was a bit of a rant, apologies.

Still, I do not think Silver would turn outright evil. I can see him become more withdrawn and even more short-tempered, with the decision that if people are so unwilling to help him he'll just have to go completely solo and take matters into his own hands quickly following. And that would actually cause a lot more trouble for the heroes, because Silver has mostly no qualms against murder, is highly OP so very difficult to defeat in a fight where he is giving his all, is more deceivable than most others and thus might be entirely on the wrong path despite he himself believing he is doing the right thing, etcetera. His intentions would still be heroic, but his actions would be more anti-hero- or even villainous-like. Which is unfortunate, because with only one or two good conversations where he is taken seriously and maybe some brawls to knock some sense into him, none of it would have been necessary in the first place. But yes, I can imagine he is hurt and bothered by how he gets brushed off by the heroes, and that is a prime situation for him to go do things by himself if no-one takes him seriously. And that could cause more trouble than it is worth... Hmm, I cannot see someone like Archie!Sonic apologise for not listening and taking Silver seriously, but who knows what we'll get in IDW when the whole plotline with Duo/Mimic is resolved. We'll only be sure once the issues have been released, for better or for worse.

#UGH and then he FINALLY gets the right person and the SUPER GENESIS WAVE happened so all his mistreatment was for NOTHING in Archie #unsatisfactory ending of the whole pre-super genesis wave really :/ #silver the hedgehog #and the thing is‚ I actually am quite happy with how *Silver* is characterised in IDW issue 63! #I've seen people point out some drawbacks that made me go like 'oh yes those are good points' but overall he's just really like how I- #imagine a good Silver is characterised (friendly and humble on one hand but a bit smug about his powers and not so adept at social things- #-like solving arguments) #it's just that Lanolin is unnecessarily bitchy despite NOT having the right to talk that way to the hero who saved the entire world and- #-Whisper suddenly doesn't dare speak up when Silver is getting scolded #and of course the fact that we already *know* Silver is completely in the right here but you know. we'll see what comes of that

[warsofasoiaf]

Is this hater troll right?: "I don’t think Disney understands what pirates actually are. The old fashioned term was hostis humani generis – “enemies of all mankind”. Basically the sort of thing two unfriendly nations (like the Republic and the Empire) might cooperate to take down, at least as long as the particular pirates in question were not actually in the employ of one of them, or conveniently operating in such a way as to make their ex post facto licensing as privateers worthwhile."

If you need context for my Star Wars pirate ask, it was from a discussion of episode 5 of the new season of Mandalorian, where (s)he is ranting about all the military and politics being wrong. Do you have a general opinion on the military/political versimiltude of Star Wars? I would like to read it if so. Thank you in advance

I don't have a specific thing about the verisimilitude of Star Wars because I don't know the setting well enough really outside of the main films. Most of the military stuff falls fairly flat in the "space is just a 3D ocean" kind of way, but that's understandable. The space battles in Star Wars are largely inspired by WWII-era dogfighting and bombing raids. The politics in the later Star Wars films makes very little sense save as a means to rehash the old Rebellion versus Empire with different proper nouns.

What this person is probably referencing is the various treaties of Utrecht which ended the War of Spanish Succession. In the 1713 Peace of Utrecht, there was a stipulation in its contents that nations should: "cause all pirates and sea-robbers to be apprehended and punished as they deserve, for a terror and example to others." So in one sense, at a certain point in time, there was an effort to end piracy which, while not specifically operating as a joint coalition environment that we might think of, did offer some level of coordination and cut down significantly on pirate activity. By 1720 piracy was on a steep decline and the Golden Age of Piracy ended shortly thereafter, in many ways due to the efforts of European navies to end piracy and the collapse of the pirate republic of Nassau in 1718. Or this individual might be referring to current UN-led international efforts to curb piracy off Somalia, but that requires the mediation of a supranational entity which doesn't appear to be present in Star Wars.

But that specifically was following a resolution to a currently war, so I'd say that they have the issue backwards - once nations at war are able to conclude successful treaty negotiations (and thus no longer be "unfriendly"), which may indeed cover trade/monopoly licensing and the use of privateers, only then would they turn to the successful suppression of brigandry/piracy in a cooperative or semi-cooperative context. Non-privateers may have been hunted down but not typically in a joint operation, at best nations might deny pirates might deny the use of ports or crack down on contraband even from an unfriendly nation, but that's hardly something that two "unfriendly" nations would cooperate on. The context of this cooperation could be a full-on hunting of pirates either in a joint environment or one where they don't interfere in pirate-hunting and restrict or eliminate the use of privateers, or might involve other cooperative measures like denying the use of ports to known pirates and permitting foreign ships to weigh anchor and make use of port services (at a premium of course, mercantilism was the reigning economic theory in the day).

Initially, the end of the War of Spanish Succession saw a boom in piracy as trade exploded in the Carribbean combined with less need for navies and privateers which left many out of work. Trade ship life was miserable and many sailors abandoned the brutal life for a freer life of piracy. With the end of war and the rise of piracy, national navies were recruiting for anti-pirate campaigns. The same pool of skilled sailors that became pirates were also available for recruiting as anti-pirate sailors. Pardons were offered for pirates to end their ways and join up with the various European navies operating in the Caribbean.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

#piracy #star wars #history

[toskarin]

revised ranking of HF movies: Presage Flower >>> Spring Song >(*) Lost Butterfly (1, 3, 2)

1 is the best by far, 3 is a disaster but a fun one to watch, 2 is mediocre and not actually worse than 3 but it doesn't have as many highs (I am docking a lot of points for how much time was wasted in the forest)

Presage Flower is a good movie and a good adaptation, not afraid to take time and explore the quieter moments as it builds towards its climactic setpiece. the symbolism is beautiful and the visual shorthand works really well. I genuinely like it and have very few complaints about the pacing or what was cut to allow for it

Spring Song is a mess, but a very entertaining one. three good fights, Kirei with his car (and a good adaptation of his flashback), and a bunch of charming shots elevate this up a place. I don't actually think it's the better movie between itself and Lost Butterfly, but it has more scenes I enjoy in isolation. it runs into the Peter Jackson Hobbit problem where action scenes were given too much emphasis and now there's no room to breathe for the important scenes. do you have any idea how messed up the pacing has to be for a two hour movie to feel claustrophobic?

but damn do those short scenes shine

to explain that asterisk, Lost Butterfly is a trainwreck with its greatest crime being that I can't dislike it enough to complain about any one problem. I think I dislike it even more for following such a competently paced movie up with a such a pacing disaster. I've already complained about this, but I'll sum it up by saying that it's more consistently good than Spring Song, but never bothers to take the same risks. it's mediocre and doesn't use its screentime wisely

and thus concludes my ranting about the HF movies

#fateposting #fate #heaven's feel

[anonymouscitrus]

INCOMING RANT

Glee, season 3 has Rory Flannigan, an Irish student. In ep 9 he says "I want to dedicate this song to my family and the king." Ireland does have a separate gov from the UK but they have the same monarchy as the UK. At the time Glee was filmed, written and aired the monarch was Queen Elizabeth. Now both the prior and following monarch were kings however flip phones are the most common amongst the students and staff, this would be a director's decision and whilst having mobiles does impact the show, the type doesn't. Touch screen phones became more common towards the end of the 2000s (2008-2009). Mobile phones became more commonly used in the late 90s-early 2000s. All these years we had a female monarch. Glee season 1 was aired in 2011 and season 6 concluded in 2016, this whole period, touch screen phones were more common AND the UK, and thus also Ireland, had a Queen, not a King.

Point: Glee is set in a slightly different universe where tech is approx a decade behind and Queen Elizabeth II was either a man, didn't exist or Edward VIII never abdicated.

#Glee #Yes I rewatched Glee at 23 #How dare you judge me for thinking deeper about Glee than anyone involved did

[craftyalmondghostflap]

hate to be saying this but the legacies finale had me disappointed.

Attention: Spoilers ahead

Disclaimer: I didn't watch the entire fourth season, only like 12 or 13 episodes, because I lost interest in the storyline.

I had been rooting for a no humanity Hope since the very first season. Thankfully we got that, but the circumstances surrounding this plot were meh to me. I ignored the entire war with the gods, or whatever. I basically kept watching the show just for Hope.

As someone who had become fully invested in the TVD universe ( watched TVD like 5 times and TO 3) I did think legacies was the less interesting one.

I remember crying my eyes out everytime I watched the finales of TVD and TO. Watching the main character(s) sacrificing themselves for the greatest good, redeeming themselves through their final actions.

And in a way that is what made these finales epic : the fact that you spent entire seasons falling in love with the MCs just to have them die in the last episode, thus concluding their stories. In the way that made sense why, while also had you questioning it and left you in complete and utter shock. All that while crushing your heart and leaving you bittersweet.

I honestly had thought that in the last minute something similar would happen with Hope or Lizzie, maybe even Alaric. Something completely unexpected. But no. It was a completely happy ending that left space for new beginnings for everyone. It seemed to be really contrasting the typical TVDU fashion. It had zero major plot twists and honestly it didn't even feel like it ended. It just left no cliff hanger.

I really appreciated Caroline's comeback and Klaus's zoom-like cameo.

Whilst I absolutely loved Caroline's appearance I was kinda disappointed that she showed up and had like 3 lines, none of which could be considered "iconic" or even memorable.

As for Klaus's speech to Hope, it was the only scene that made me feel anything this entire episode.

Last but not least, it was really nice that the show ended with a similar statement from Hope as the one she made in the pilot episode. Felt like a full circle moment

Thank you for listening (well reading) my rant. Feel free to express your opinion in the comments.

#legacies finale #the vampire diaries #the originals #legacies #cw #hope mikaelson #caroline forbes #klaus mikaelson