#will try to expand on this later but like. monsters who love and love which is monstrous yfm

[bella-goths-wife]

I wasn't sure initially but after reading them all I must admit I've enjoyed your Yandre Vs x pet posts and love Velvette in particular. Can you do something similar but just for Velvette? Either Yandre, she owns your soul or just an obsessive girlfriend (general neutral reader).

Yandere girlfriend velvette

Warnings: obsessive behaviour but not as bad as pet series, reader is an objectively bad person but in a the devil wears Prada way, ooc velvette?

This isn’t canon to the pet series and is a completely different au! So reader is not pet and is treated significantly better

First of all, you’d have to be something special for velvette to treat you as an equal, let alone develop a romantic relationship with

And you were definitely something special

You were a fashionista demon who died in the 2000s, but your death would not stop you from building an empire

You created unique clothing pieces that blended the fun and freeness of the previous generations with a fresh Y2K style

Think monster high outfits, your outfits held darker and lighter tones blended together which incorporated different cultures from all over the world

You also had a unique ability that helped you with this, you had the ability to put your emotions into the clothing you’d handcrafted

Literally, so if you made a scarf while feeling sad, whoever wore the scarf would then feel sad for however long they wore the scarf

This made your brand unique and gave you an edge that stood out from the other companies

You started out on market stalls but eventually you gained investors and expanded into a company that even had hell’s celebrity’s wearing your clothes

Stolas had commissioned you to make Octavia’s debut dress, veroskia had asked you to create her entire wardrobe for her tour around the hells rings and even the Lilith was photographed wearing one of your dresses

You had officially built your fashion empire that you’d always dreamed about and you even owned your own tower

This unfortunately meant that you couldn’t keep up with demand and handcraft each clothing item and would have to expand the workforce and hire skilful factory workers

This meant that your ability to put your emotions into the clothing wouldn’t work, so you made a limited edition line out every year with one new clothing item coming out every month

Each outfit would have a theme that connected with the emotions, so you’d do a rouge rage or a cerulean calm

You’d sell these to the highest bidder and would quickly become your top earning products with brawls happening at the bidding wars

But your company being successful only made your bad personality traits worse as you became more demanding and perfectionist to your staff in a way that made you a bad person but in a devil wears prada way that had the newer generations of demons calling you an icon

You had an attitude very similar to velvettes, only with the skills and the maturity to carry it

Velvette hated watching you grow your empire so much that it almost rivalled hers in popularity and income

She hated that you’d practically done it all by yourself while she had relied on Vox financially and he only did that because of his interest In her abilities with social media

She hated that she actually liked your clothing and she hated that your ability made you stand out

But she hated most of all that you two had come to hell within months of each other, yet you were a respected ceo and overlord while she was seen as a joke by overlords and parts of the fashion community

She also hated how insanely pretty you were, but she didn’t come to terms with that until later

She would try and do anything to discredit you and make it so your popularity would go down when you were neck and neck

She tried ‘exposing’ you on social media for having poor working conditions and being rude to workers but she forgot this is hell and literally no one cares

She tried slandering you and your clothing brand on social media, but she forgot your modern and you know how to use social media to your advantage too

You kinda turned into a meme similar to the Wendy’s twitter memes whenever you clapped back at velvette

She tried to pull your investors by threatening them with voxtech legal action, but you’d become self sustaining and could handle the loss with having hells celebrities commissioning your personal pieces

She tried to make you look foolish in front of the other overlords, but they all respected you much more than they respected her

She even tried to copy one of your designs but you called her out and she had to do one of those influencer apology videos but it mostly just consisted of her badmouthing you and justifying her actions

Her hatred bored on obsession with how regularly she stalked your profiles and life

After around ten years of this rivalry, you grew bored with it and you were running out of ideas

So you contacted the Vs and sat down in a meeting with them where you suggested a collaboration of the fashion designers on your terms

Velvette wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, but Vox insist that it would be extremely profitable and practically forcing velvette to accept

So you started a collaboration

You and velvette butted heads a lot or some stylistic choices

It was so bad that eventually you couldn’t be in a room together for a few weeks

This collaboration took months, and during this time velvette got to hate you up close as she got to know every annoying detail about you

Except that hatred changed to something different over the months she worked with you, you intrigued her in a way that no one else has ever before

It all came to a stop one night when you two had gone out to a club together for social media promo for the upcoming collab

You shared drinks and complaints about one another and one thing led to another and you two had a drunken make out session in the back of the limo

But velvette hauled ass as soon as she realised she was swapping spit with her arch nemesis

She laid in bed and thought about her actions

Could all of those years of feeling hatred and jealousy towards you just been her suppressed attraction to you?

Could all those tense moments she assumed was awkward tension actually been sexual tension?

The thought made velvette want to scream into a pillow

She pushed her feelings down and decided to just avoid you until the collab was over

She thought it would be easier to hate you rather than face her obvious attraction to you

You tried talking with her many times during the collab but she just ignored you, and this hurt you deeply

So you complied with her wishes and after the collab ended you went back to living your lives without each other

But velvette found herself missing you and being around you

Staff especially noticed that she was much harsher to them then before

She felt herself wanting to reach out to you to beg you to either kiss her or reject her because surely rejection would be easier to deal with than this

But it all changed when rumours started circulating

Velvette had been innocently scrolling through social media until she came across a drama channel that claimed to have spotted you in a romantic moment with none other than veroskia mayday

Velvette found herself consumed with absolute disgust and jealousy

She stalked yours and veroskia’s profile and begged Vox to use his hypnosis to send trolls to verkoskia’s profile

The rumours were cleared up after you made a response that claimed that you and veroskia were only friends, but velvette still felt consumed with rage

She did something completely out of character

She went to you at your place of work and cornered you in your office before confessing every little feeling she’d ever had for you

She practically begged you to be with her, but you just sighed and explained that she had hurt you with her actions and that you couldn’t see yourself in a relationship with her

“It would hurt the brands” is what you also said, and that cut velvette deeper than any knife

She had felt pathetic, and she’d never feel pathetic in any relationship

Even before she had gotten to know you, your instant rise to success left her feeling small

You held power over her, and maybe that’s why she was so obsessed and attracted to you

She’d felt surrounded by people who were less than her all her life, and falling for you felt like finally finding an equal

And she wasn’t going to let you go that easily

She’d destroy you and your company if it meant that you’d love and rely on her

Hope you guys enjoyed and let me know if you want me to make this another series

Tag list:

None yet, let me know if you wanna be tagged in future works like this for this if it becomes a series :)

#hazbin hotel velvette #hazbin hotel vees #yandere hazbin hotel x reader #hazbin hotel x reader #hazbin hotel #yandere velvette x reader #hazbin velvette #velvette x reader #yandere x reader #yandere

[furbygoblinxiv]

Ok now to be annoying about a completely different flavor of Zelda: That cartoon from the 80s that has aged so poorly I take psychic damage every time I watch it (which has been multiple times (I have problems)). A few months ago when rewatching and being sick of the Link's personality from the show (his best feature is how funny the "Well excuuuuse me, princess" line is) I was like "I wish the quiet kid from the games/art was here instead" and accidentally thought too hard and made an au/rewrite of the cartoon lmao.

Anyways Zelda cartoon au where cryptid boy Link saves the post apocalyptic Hyrule of loz 1 and chills in the castle with cartoon Zelda to defend the triforce pieces that they have while trying to find the last piece before Ganon can find it, stumbling across the sleeping loz 2 Zelda along the way lol. Hijinks ensue as he teaches Zelda the brawns to back up her girlboss and he gets an adventure buddy because its dangerous to go alone and Zelda with her boomerang and crossbow goes hard. I think a monster of the week style plot works for the earlier Zelda games, but an overarching plot could coexist with that since that is kinda how games work lol.

As per usual here are a bunch of slapdash barely related sketches of my ideas with my expanded thoughts below bc I think it'd be fun to share:

I look at the official art of Link being a quiet determined little dude with a backpack of tools and wish that that was represented more. Like look at him! What a guy! Imagine giving a quiet puzzle solving 14 year old a sword, lethal magical weapons, and a wasteland to explore! I would love a show about that! In terms of other characters, swap out that annoying fairy character, put in a Navi clone, at least Navi didn't have a crush on Link🤮. Ganon can stay the same so long as he was always a demon pig and was never a Gerudo man because unlike Nintendo, I do not want to imply that the only prominent man of color in the series has only one big braincell thats just screaming "EVIL" on loop. But! Keep Zelda the same, I love her so much in the cartoon, she's obnoxious in a slay girlboss way, maximum vibes. By virtue of not having a paper thin plot, most other characters that were fine get fixed by proxy.

I think plot wise? It takes place a few years after the first game. Initially, Link saved the royal family and they started rebuilding that area of Hyrule, and Link traveled around to help people. One day, Ganon's minions start making attacks on the castle to steal the triforce pieces back to revive him fully, and a Zelda who greatly admires Links steps up to defend the place. Eventually, Zelda requests Link return to help defend the castle while they search for the mysterious hidden third triforce piece in order to combine the full thing and wish for peace in Hyrule. Link agrees and the hyjinks begin.

IIRC the og Link backstory was that he was the son of the hyrulean queen and the elf king or smth? In the manga? I didn't want him to be hylian royalty but I wanted to keep that cryptid vibe, hence why I have him related instead to the great fairy and the kokiri. He just leaves the forest/cave one day with literally nothing to go save Hyrule, what a chad. I think it'd be funny if people describe Zelda as feral due to how boisterous and headstrong she is, especially out on the field, but Link is the quiet version of wild that you don't notice at first. She is openly intelligent and snarky in comparison to "says 3 lines a day, bombs first and asks questions later, explore under every rock and bush" forest kid Link.

It would be fun though if "rushes into danger" Zelda resonated more with the triforce of power and "solves dungeon puzzles for funsies" Link with the triforce of wisdom, then they both resonated with the triforce of courage upon finding it. idk tho lol

I also think two different young Zeldas coexisting with each other after one awoke from a cursed slumber would be really funny. Like that's gotta be so awkward, especially if one has the fighter girlboss slay up to 11 and the other just woke up from a coma to her family gone and her kingdom destroyed and just kinda wants to read books and drink tea in peace. Imagine being the same age or older than your great (great?) aunt. Or imagine if the old lady Impa nursemaid to Zelda 1 Zelda was the young Impa nursemaid to the Zelda 2 Zelda. Wild.

If I wasn't incapable of remembering to finish writing wips I'd write that series lol. Alas, this is all I can pull for now.

I'd love to call this propaganda to go watch the show but maybe don't because its yikes. This is moreso propaganda for someone to make a Zelda cartoon show instead of the movie that I sense Nintendo is plotting to make. Also, if you've read this far, I should mention I also will probably be posting art from some of my actual long term Zelda aus beyond just expanding on the cartoon, though I may continue to do that if my train of thought continues on these tracks.

#legend of zelda #loz #zelda cartoon #legend of zelda au #loz au #zelda cartoon au #zelda au #my art tag #actually yeah i think i WILL post more of my aus actually #to free myself from the shackles of cringe and also to do something with these huge documents sitting dormant on my drawing app

[fluff-n-cookies]

Endeavor - Intro/Headcanons

Endeavor is a very underrated character.

yes he was an abuser, but he is trying to be a better father. and even though hen still gets mad and doesn't really know how to show his emotions he's still trying. As someone who doesn't have the best relationship with her father, and also as some one who is trying to be a better person I can appreciate that.

I feel like if somebody were to give him a chance, somebody that has little to no knowledge of his past or status he could actually have a stable and healthy relationship with such a person.

but that on it's own is boring so make it a reader who was just recently put in an orphanage as she was saved from her neglectful parents and has no other family. we'll keep her around the age of 4-15 as those were the years that endeavor missed the most with his kids.

now, how would these two meet? I have a couple ideas and I'll write a fanfic (or fanfics) for the most popular one. (there's a poll below for y'all to decide.)

option 1 : Bus stop

reader is around 5,6,7 years old and quirkless.

so you and Endeavor have a similar morning commute at the same bus stop, at the same time, every morning. you go to school, and him to his agency. and while Endeavor never really cared for this, one morning you happen to forget your coat at the orphanage. (not that it kept you warm anyway.) the sight of a child in winter, cold and alone, practically pulled at his heart strings. a feeling overcame him I suppose, a need to protect and provide perhaps. and begrudgingly he got out a sweater, all warm and fluffy and lent it to you, grumbling something about giving it back to him later. now all snuggled up within the oversized cotton fibers of the sweater, warm and happy, all you could really do is mumble out a little thank you. Imma bout' to pull a grinch but Endeavor's heart grew 3 times that day.

Option 2 : support hero

reader is 15 and quirkless but uses support items to help her if she needs anything.

you are the apprentice of his main support hero, a wild, spunky woman who spends her days drinking, drunk, or hungover. ( I mean... good for her.) and yes while she does teach you, she usaully leaves all the real work to you. at this point she's your apprentice. so when Endeavor comes it's not her that really helps it's you! you repair, you improve, you operate the rest of the support heroes, honestly he should give you a raise. and it's nice, having you around I mean, you just always seem to make his day better, either by showing him cat memes, or explaining your latest obsession to him, or just being your self. it's a talkative and optimistic x furious monster that will fight to the death for them dynamic or a brings instant noodles to share for lunch x uses his fire quirk to actually cook the instant noodles with his fire quirk dynamic.

Option 3 : Dabi

more of a Endeavor-Dabi mix for the drama. reader is 4 and gets her quirk in the story. her quirk is a heightened version of shoto's quirk which I'll expand on if this is the fan favorite.

you are the product of Dabi and a fling he had when he was 19 or 20, and while he may not have the most money or have the money, he still tires to protect you and and make you feel as cherished and loved as one can. growing up he never really showed you what a hero was. all you need to know is that they are not good people but don't tell anyone that lots of people don't know that and might get angry. now this is fine and all, Dabi protects your innocence while also protecting you from the world that hurt him. but one thing he negelcted to teach you is who is a hero. because the description he gave you "people attempting to 'save' people and fight 'bad guys' using their quirks often with swarms of people around them." only applies to heros in action and/or heros that the public actually like. so when Endeavor is placed to patrol in a relatively bad neighbourhood (it's the best one dabi could afford HE"S TRYING C"MON) around the time kids go and comeback from school to make sure they get home safe is when he meets you. a little girl with white hair like snow and sapphire blue eyes that glisten with joy.

POLLS!!!

thx for reading!!! byyeee.

#yandere enji todoroki #yandere endeavor #yandere bnha #bnha headcanonc #yandere mha #bnha imagines #enji todoroki #enji x reader #enji todoroki x reader #endeavor fluff #bnha endeavor #mha endeavor #mha enji #dad dabi #mha poll #bnha poll #my polls #tumblr polls #i have polls now #bnha x reader #bnha #bnha headcannons #bnha fluff #bnha x child reader #platonic yandere #child reader #bnha dads #i finally have polls #polls #poll time

[ravenalla]

I think overall the main problem season 3 is having is the same as TBOBF, which is not giving the audience a well-established storyline and so not giving them a reason to care. This is probably gonna be long so bear with me.

Throughout the first two seasons, we had a clear goal for our main character. Sure Din did other things all the time, the “side quest” as the fandom liked to joke, but it always made sure to remind us what the motivation behind all of this was, keeping Grogu safe, finding him a Jedi. The story still introduced other characters concepts, but it made sure to always keep Din tied to them in some way that made us understand why this would affect him and why we should care. The side adventures never felt random, they all had a clear step by step progression as Din tried to get closer towards his destination. Moff Gideon was also not just a threat against Grogu, his rule under the Empire was responsible for the destruction of Din’s people. The conflict between them was personal, both because of Din’s newfound love for the baby and because of who he is. It all tied together to give us this intriguing but fun and adventurous story.

On the other hand, stuff in Season 3 just feels like it’s happening at random. It began looking like the main drive this season would be Din trying to regain his identity and the restoration of Mandalore as a whole. Instead, the former was solved in a matter of two episodes with little fanfare compared to how serious they made the situation out to be. No we get pirates both we and the characters have never seen before and have no reason to give two shits about. They’re gone for a while. Then suddenly back as a big threat we are suppose to take seriously for some reason. Din and the rest of the covert do not show any indication they are ready to rally the Mandalorians and take back their planet up to this point. Oh nevermind now they want to. Like there’s no motivation for our main character happening between episodes behind the random monster of the week stuff, nothing the covert is working towards.

Things are just happening out of nowhere, nothing feels like a cohesive narrative and Din isn’t getting any new development or character moments to make up for it. Aside from two things that have nothing to do with the actual Mandalorian, Bo and the New Republic.

Bo-Karan’s story is interesting, and I like her developing a relationship with the covert, but this is not her show. You should not be ending every episode with a shot of her like this has always only been about her journey, at least not here. It’s fine to have more than one main character, but you can do that without throwing away everything you spent two seasons developing with another one. I don’t even know why Din and Grogu are here to be honest. Are they really any different from the background Mandos at this point? Din’s speech was cool, but there’s not really been tight moments of friendship this season for us to get super emotional about him coming to Greef’s rescue from these random Disney channel villains on planet gentrification. It’s obvious now that Bo’s going to be the one to lead, so him showcasing traits of leadership probably also won’t even matter. Din is obsolete, and the heart-wrenching relationship between father and son is now being used for cheap Grogu brownie point moments when they actually remember they have to include them.

As for the New Republic, yes, as people have said this does expand the world and relate to stuff that is going to happen later that we don’t yet know about. The problem is, this is a completely detached event from the main character. Nothing (aside from the random reveal of Moff Gideon’s escape) relates to our main characters situations at all, and it is so clearly ideas from rangers of the new republic shoved in so they can squeeze already established plots they didn’t want to abandon. Because we don’t know why this matters at all towards Din, there’s really no reason to care at this point. Again, you can say there’s plot happening, but it’s all disconnected in a way that doesn’t keep us anticipating any type of ending. And look I’m not saying the show needs to spoon feed its audience or explain everything right away. My problem is everything is that Din is given nothing to do anymore. All of his problems that were built up for two seasons have been solved instantaneously, and we don’t even get many conversations between Din and Grogu as we use to, the driving force of the show. Neither do we get simple explanations for things like where the hell did all the new Mando’s come from or why they decided to settle there. It is both so busy and so empty.

The Mandalorian was never just about finding Grogu a home as quickly as possible, it took the time to show us Din’s personality, his relationship with himself, and the new relationship he formed with his son. So why is the show treating it like none of that stuff was important enough to take up screen time? That Din and Grogu had to take a backseat because showing two former Imperial officers having a meaningless conversation about a planet’s history was more important, that dedicating every emotional beat to Bo-Katan’s changing feelings left no room for exploration of the main character’s own when he is suppose to have been his most changed and isolated self yet, that setting up major plot lines and characters which will bleed into other shows was worth sabotaging what made the show so popular in the first place? The Mandalorian can have a bigger plot, it can have more characters, but when those elements feel like they can exist without that main character being there? That is just bad writing.

#the mandalorian #din djarin #grogu #the mandalorian season 3 #the mandalorian spoilers #bo katan kryze #god sorry there’s probably a million typos in this

[nandorelentlessdelacruz]

Parallels between Vlad, The Impaler and Nandor, The Relentless.

I'm watching a series on Netflix called “Rise of Empires. Otomman: Mehmed VS Vlad” and noticed some similarities in the history of the famous Vlad who inspired Count Dracula, coincidence or not.

Vlad III

Vlad was, in summary, a prince voivode, who grew as a prisoner in the turkish court of the ottoman empire. He was trusted to be the Wallachia's ruller, wich was his birth right. However, he later decided to ally himself with the enemies against the ottomans for Wallachia's freedom, since it was a vassal state.

Now, to give a context, Vlad was famous for having a dark and cruel personality, but was also extremely skilled with the sword and had a reputation for being a fierce warrior, like Nandor did.

He dared to go against Mehmed II, who at the time was not only the most powerful sultan in the East, but also a Vlad's childhood friend, since they grew up together, which made the war between them having a personal character. Vlad ignored the bonds and memories between them for his beliefs.

Now... Vlad grew in a society that was always at war trying to expand and normalized cruelty, this kind of fucked him up.

Nandor finds it difficult that even eternal mystical creatures like the Djinn don't understand his appeal for barbarism.

One of Vlad's control techniques was fear, his reputation for the exquisite torture methods gave him the title of Impaler and rumors that he drank from his enemies' blood. Vlad can be perceived as a monster, but in fact it was a very political strategy.

Such as Nandor, Vlad didn't accept any supplication; He didn't spared elderly, women or even children.

In his way of facing Mehmed, Vlad not only rebelled, but did it so arrogantly and disrespectfully, that it threatened Mehmed, the most fearsome personality for Europe, to gaining a fame as weak.

I remembered this passage watching the E01S05:

"The Impaler lord’s message to his childhood friend is written in the blood of thousands , “Come and get me”. That kind of disrespect was something that a ruler like Mehmed II could never forgive because in this kind of world, reputation is everyting”

These rules applied to Nandor, just as for Vlad and Mehmed, even if Al-Quolanudar it's fictional. Nandor may have distanced himself from the war mentality and have become soft and pathetic, but in his own way that will always be part of his identity.

Nandor can be soft in many ways, he can accept to be beaten, deceived, kidnapped, stolen and threatened with death. But what he cannot accept is a public humiliation that threatens his reputation. Perhaps another vampire may, like Deacon, but Deacon was no warfare.

To Nandor, this MUST be paid with death "What choice do I have?"

It made me think "Guillermo is really fucked".

Guillermo has seen many faces of Nandor, but I think this is the very first time he really saw The Relentless.

Only left to us to find out if Nandor's love for Guillermo can overcome his centenary pride, his own identity, in this path of violence.

But oh… There will be violence.

#wwdits #wwdits spoilers #wwdits s5 #nandor the relentless #guillermo de la cruz #nandermo #vlad the impaler

[sophia-sol]

Delicious in Dungeon (Dungeon Meshi), by Ryoko Kui, translated by Taylor Engel

I decided to read Dungeon Meshi because I kept seeing people on tumblr posting about the new anime adaptation, and it looked fun and cute. And although I don't watch much tv, there was an entire manga I could read instead! So I did.

The basic premise: in a world where adventuring parties going on dungeon crawls is a thing that happens, one guy has a dream: to be able to cook and eat all the different kinds of monsters in the dungeon, to be able to find out how they taste!

And because his party needs to be able to head deep into the dungeon to rescue a party member who was left behind, and they don't have the funds or the time to collect supplies, all of a sudden they have REASON to need to eat monsters. They're going to forage and hunt for all their meals as they make their way down.

So using that as the basis, the manga goes on to explore the worldbuilding, the interrelationships of the characters in the party, everyone's backstories and reasons for being there, a developing plot, and of course, the ingredients and nutritional composition and flavour of every meal they eat.

I absolutely adored every bit of this!!! The main characters are all a delight, and it's the kind of story where the author sees and shows you the inherent personness of all characters, including antagonists. And the world created to make sense of the dungeon's existence is fascinating, as are all the ways the ecosystems within the dungeon are expanded upon to make sense of the creatures living within it.

And it's a story that knows what its themes are, too, and is able to tie them all together in extremely satisfying ways in the climax of the narrative!

I had this moment leading up towards the ending where I was like:

[thematic spoilers below the cut]

ohhhh it's about….everyone being part of a balanced ecosystem of life and death where everything sustains everything else! the various human species included! and I was filled through my very soul with this feeling of connectedness myself.

Anyway it was amazing and I had a lot of feels.

And as well as enjoying all of that, I also just really loved our main characters! We start out seeing them all fairly shallowly but over the course of the story as more aspects of them are revealed they're all just…..I love every one of them.

I did struggle with a few aspects of the manga, but none of it significantly affected my ability to enjoy the read:

It kept adding more and more characters, and I got rather lost occasionally trying to keep track of them all. But ultimately it's not vital to remember every tertiary character to get a good read out of this, so it's not as bad as it could be.

In the mid to later parts, it became a lot more plot focused and actiony than I'd really been expecting, in a way that made it harder for me to follow, since fight scenes in sequential art are challenging for me. And occasionally it drew back more than I wanted from its focus on food. But it refocused eventually!

It turned out to be pro monarchy in the end, which isn't my fave, but it's not like a major theme of the manga or anything so I could overlook it.

I kept expecting it to have at least a little bit of textual queerness, and there wasn't any as far as I could see! Even various background relationships or depictions of people's attraction was m/f. But uh. Falin/Marcille, anyone? There are some powerful vibes there. (I'll also accept Laios/Kabru)

In conclusion, I highly recommend it, and if you want to read it, you can read the whole thing online for free in English translation here: https://dungeonmeshi.com/manga/dungeon-meshi-chapter-1/

#dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #ryoko kui #book thoughts #sophpost

[atelier-slime]

DRAGON QUEST'S LOCALIZATION SUCKS, ACTUALLY. PART 1

There's a thread blowing up on Japanese twitter right now about the poor quality of localization. It's the first time I've ever actually seen a japanese perspective on the topic, and it's been extremely gratifying to see a ton people from over there talk about specific translation issues they've seen or learn for the first time that japanese media is often given the short end of the stick here in the USA.

Most of the time over here in the US, criticism of localization gets shouted down as whiny fans who think they know better than the translators. It's been heartening to see that people from japan are also annoyed by it, and its inspired me to write up a whole long-ass rant I've had simmering in the back of my mind for years, so buckle up, long post(s) incoming:

Let's start at the beginning with the first thing that ever caused me to start thinking about localization. This little guy:

If you've played Dragon Quest in the past 2 decades, you probably know this guy by the name "Spiked Hare." Not me though! I got into DQ on the game boy, in the brief window of time where DQ's localization was handled by Nob Ogasawara, the same guy responsible for translating every pokemon game up until Platinum. In the DQ games Nob worked on, he chose to translate this guy's name as "Almiraj." Why the huge difference in translation? I'll get to that in a minute.

The almiraj is an extremely minor enemy in Dragon Quest 3. It's pretty weak, and it's only real defining feature is that it can occasionally cast sleep spells on your party members. It's just one of hundreds of monsters in that game, and aside from it's cute design, it's pretty forgettable. As a weird kid overly obsessed with linguistics though, its name always seemed odd to me. You don't really see words that end with a "J" in english. It stuck out enough that one night, when I was bored, I decided to google "almiraj" to figure out what the name meant. It sent me down a rabbit hole (almiraj hole?) that taught me all sorts of cool shit, and permanently altered the way I looked at localization. The path I tumbled down that night went something like this:

The Dragon Quest almiraj is named after the almiraj, a "real" mythical creature described as a hare with a large horn on its head.

The original inspiration for accounts of the almiraj (as well as the jackalope, wolpertinger, etc.) is likely the Shope papiloma Virus, which causes rabbits to grow weird, horn-like growths on their face and head.

It was described by Zakariya al-Qazwini, an Iranian lawyer, author, and all around knowledgeable guy who lived in the 13th century.

al-Qazwini described it in the Aja'ib al-Makhluqat, a massive cosmographical treatise that attempted to describe basically everything in the known universe at the time. It was so popular in the Islamic world that it was copied and translated into dozens of languages, which meant plenty of copies have survived intact to modern times.

The almiraj was brought into the limelight in modern fantasy when it was introduced in the first edition of Dungeons and Dragons, as a relatively weak and unassuming monster as part of a campaign to expand the game with monster suggestions from fans of the series.

Dungeons and Dragons-style role playing games were brought into the digital world with the release of the first Wizardry game in 1981.

Yuji Horii was a massive fan of Wizardry, which he first discovered as part of a developer exchange program when he visited America in 1983. Three years later, he decided to try and recreate the things he loved from the series for console gamers in Japan, and the the original Dragon Quest was born.

One little name was all it took to open up this entire through-line of history that I had no idea even existed before that night. It's a tapestry of human experiences over 800 years in the making, spanning continents, cultures, languages, and medium. It's probably because I'm the type of person who sits around thinking about stuff too much, but I honestly get a little emotional wondering what al-Qazwini would think if he could see the mythical creatures he described all those years ago as little dudes hopping around inside a computer.

And the thing is the tapestry doesn't end there! Dragon Quest is still pretty niche in the west, but in Japan it's fucking titanic. There's an urban legend that the Japanese government banned Square Enix from releasing Dragon Quest games on a weekday, because so many people would skip work or school that it would impact the economy. (It's not true by the way, but the fact that the rumor exists at all is a testament to how huge the series' influence is over there.) I don't think it would be an overstatement to say that what Lord of the Rings did to modern western fantasy, Dragon Quest did to modern Japanese fantasy. Almost every JRPG, manga, or anime with a fantasy setting has the fingerprints of Dragon Quest on it. Countless other works have been inspired by DQ, and those works will go on to inspire others. A million different threads weaving tapestries back and forth across time and borders, all over the globe. And the almiraj is a part of that! It might just be a single, tiny, white and purple thread, but it's still in there helping to tie things together.

So back to the question I asked earlier: Why is it "Almiraj" in Mr. Ogasawara's translation but "Spiked hare" in the current one? Simple: Nob actually translated the name.

You can see on the DQ wiki that the original japanese name of the monster is "アルミラージ" which is literally just "almiraj" written in katakana:

The current DQ team has instead decided that all monster names should be puns. I'm not against puns or anything. "Spiked hare" for a rabbit with a horn is great! I might even raise my eyebrows and exhale slightly if I read it for the first time. Dragon Quest in general tends to have a lot of goofiness in it, so it's not like puns are out of place or anything. My problem is that, by deciding to replace monster names arbitrarily like this, all the little threads start to come unraveled. You lose the ability to look back down the line and discover all these different connections to history and nature and art that you might not ever learn otherwise. The almiraj isn't the only monster to get this treatment. A huge portion of the monsters in Dragon Quest are taken from mythologies around the world, and many of their names are literally already in English, just written with katakana.

The almiraj sticks out in my mind as a particularly egregious example because of just how much I learned because of the foreign-sounding name, but there's plenty of other name changes that have resulted in straight up confusing, ambiguous, or otherwise stupid outcomes in the current localization.

CONTINUED IN PART 2

#dragon quest #localization #translation #long post #rant #almiraj

[shivunin]

Songfic Tag Game

Rules: Pick a song to accompany each of your fics or as many as you like. This might be the fic's inspiration or just pure vibes that you'd like to share with readers. Tag as many people as fics you feature (or do as you please!)

Thank you for the tag @greypetrel!! You know I'm a sucker for anything music-related 💗

Lol well I sure have more fics than I remember, so I'll do them until I'm ready to go back to writing/editing the oc kiss things c:

Tagging back @idolsgf @nightwardenminthara @inquisimer @dreadfutures @bitchesofostwick @vakarians-babe @jtownnn @ndostairlyrium @dungeons-and-dragon-age @star--nymph @zenstrike

Your Fate For Mine: (Elowen decides to sacrifice herself instead of allowing Hawke or Stroud die in the Fade; her friends try to find and bring her back) Anywhere On This Road by Lhasa De Sela

Wander the Drifting Roads: (After a horrible accident, Emmaera loses her Commander and lover in one stroke of a knife. Separated, the two of them must relearn who they are and where their paths lead) Mausoleum by Rafferty or Remember Us by Gabriel Royal or Flowers from Hadestown

Between Strokes of Night: (Hawke and Fenris's first night after deciding to be together again) Awake at Night by half alive

Saccharine: (Arianwen gives in to emotion for the first time in her life and takes Zevran to bed) Saccharine by Jazmin Bean or Kiss Me You Animal by Burn the Ballroom

To the Bone: (Soulmate AU! The last person Salshira intends to seek out is the one on the other side of the flame brand at her jaw. Love is, after all, one of the most dangerous things a person can do. Luck--or fate--drags her to the Inquisition anyway) Die Young by Sylvan Esso or All I've Ever Known from Hadestown

Scattered Stars: (Fenhawke anthology fic--this is where all my Tumblr fics go when they've been edited and expanded upon c:) Right on Time by Brandi Carlile or Everywhere by Fleetwood Mac

Palimpsest: (Fenris's perspective of the events leading up to the romance scene in Act II) That Unwanted Animal by The Amazing Devil or Peregrine by Mako

Tempered: (The Inquisitor learns of a death in the family and tries to manage her grief) Good Grief by Dessa

In Any Life: (Fenris leaves for Tevinter; he and Hawke try to write to each other, but their letters have gone astray) Siuil a Ruin by Anuna or Francesca by Hozier

The Scourge of Sundermount: (A monster lives in the mountains outside of Kirkwall. What fate is there for a monster but a knight with a blade sent to kill it?) Leviathan, the Girl by Phemiec or The Killing Moon by Echo & The Bunnymen or Strangelove by Black Math

Misericordia: (An elaboration on the scene where Cullen explains lyrium addiction to the Inquisitor) The Myth by San Fermin or Nothing Fades Like the Light by Orville Peck

As Two Reflected Stars: (Hawke and Fenris's developing relationship, as traced by the healing of wounds) I Know You Know by Charming Disaster or Arms by San Fermin or Anybody Else by The Ballroom Thieves

Book of Memories: (Sequel of sorts to Wander; moments in Emma and Cullen's relationships, each carefully noted in a single book for later reference) You and Me On the Rock by Brandi Carlile or Photograph by Cody Fry

Sleight of Hand: (Hawke is a stage magician. She's asked very few questions about her surly assistant, which has worked just fine for both of them--until his past comes calling) Enchante by Dirt Poor Robins or The Magic by Lola Blanc

#arja i almost tagged you again three times because i kept forgetting where this came from lol #tag game #music #honestly. these games make me enjoy my own writing again #music has a way of bringing you back to the mindset you were in when you wrote something #and it feels good to dig back through my old playlists again #there are some really cool ideas in here. actually. #and i had fun writing them c: #and dammit i'm going to commission maria in her magician outfit someday because i love that au #thanks for the tag hun <3

[thegayhimbo]

Stranger Things Rewatch: "The Vanishing of Will Byers" (Part 1 of 2)

Disclaimer: This is NOT a traditional review/analysis, but a collection of observations, brief commentary, favorite moments, and so on that I'm noting as I go through these episodes. All of these are just my opinions and/or theories, and can be subjected to change as the rewatch continues.

Observations:

Happy Stranger Things Day! :) As of today, this took place 40 years ago.

Love how reminiscent this opening scene is to the climax of Ridley Scott's Alien when Ellen Ripley is escaping the USCSS Nostromo as the alarms go off. I wouldn't be surprised if this homage turned out to be intentional on the Duffer Brother's part:

When we're introduced to Mike's campaign, The Party is in the middle of being attacked by an army of Troglodytes. This is the image I found when I looked them up:

It's probably just a fun D&D moment, but since the Duffer Brothers have named a lot of their monsters (Demogorgon, Mind Flayer, Vecna) after D&D creatures, it makes me wonder if there's some kind of animal like a troglodyte in the Upside Down. It's unlikely we've seen all the monsters from that dimension, and they might introduce new ones in S5 that the Party hasn't encountered yet and will inevitably fight.

They do a good job with the establishing character moments for both Dustin and Lucas in Mike's D&D campaign: Dustin telling Will to use caution and cast a protective spell while Lucas insists Will fireballs the Demogorgon while he has the chance. Lucas's strategy is to go on the offense while Dustin's is to go on the defense. Specifically with Lucas, he uses that strategy in other situations he's in: Like when Lucas kicks Billy in the groin in S2 after being pinned to the wall by him, or gets an axe to chop at the Meat Flayer's tendril to save El in S3, or even how Lucas is the one who later convinces everyone to take the fireworks from the store to use as ammunition (which helps turn the tide at the Battle of Starcourt). By contrast, Dustin prioritizes the safety of the Party, from pointing out to Mike and Lucas that they might be walking into the same danger Will encountered when they later look for him in the woods, to telling Mike NOT to jump off a cliff when Troy threatens Dustin, to enlisting Steve's help in S2 because he knows Steve will be able to protect them due to his size and skill with the bat, to rescuing Steve and Robin from the Russians in S3.

This isn't to say that Lucas is wrong and Dustin is right, or even that Dustin is wrong and Lucas is right. It's merely noting they have opposite approaches. Each situation they encounter is different, and sometimes (just like with Will's dice role) it's really up to chance.

Also (as noted later in the episode by Mike), Will took Lucas's advice and used fireball as a means of protecting the Party instead of trying to save himself. He puts other people's safety before his own. The comic book "The Other Side" (which focuses on Will's perspective during the events of S1 while trapped in the UD) expands on this aspect of his personality by including several moments of him coming to the aid of others (including Nancy) while in the UD, despite knowing it would put him in danger.

Also, regardless of Lucas insisting the role doesn't count because Mike didn't see it, Will still chooses to be honest with Mike. He knows there are situations you can't cheat your way out of, or pretend didn't happen (as he's about to find out with the real Demogorgon).

The lights flash at Mike's house just as Will leaves. I'm assuming Vecna and the Demogorgon he was controlling were already beginning to track Will's movements here.

I've talked about this before in my review of "The Other Side" (and I know for a fact I'm not the only fan who's speculated on this), but I don't buy that Will's kidnapping by the Demogorgon was random. Given the revelations in S4, I'm inclined to believe Vecna deliberately targeted Will and used the Demogrogon under his control to bring Will alive to the Upside Down. I also would argue it was Vecna who used telekinesis to unlock the door to Will's house:

I know several episodes from now, Jonathan talks to Nancy about how his dad took him hunting when he was 10 and forced him to kill a rabbit, so I'm assuming Lonnie also taught Will about loading and shooting a gun. It's possible Jonathan could have, but considering how traumatized he was over what his dad made him do, IDK if I see Jonathan teaching Will how to use a gun.

I've said this before, but I don't buy Vecna wanted Will to just impregnate him with the larva's that would grow into future Demodogs/Demogorgons. He could have easily used the Demogorgon to kidnap other residents of Hawkins for that purpose if he wanted to. He didn't need Will specifically for that.

Still one of my favorite openings for any TV show I've seen:

I missed the drawing Sara did of her family the first time I saw this. Nice foreshadowing about Hopper's past life!

To this day, I still don't understand why Troy and James got their own graphic novel. Out of all the side characters they could have focused on, why did they choose these two? Was there some kind of demand from the fandom to bring them back that I'm unaware of?

I know Caleb McLaughlin gave an interview after season 4 aired where he expressed frustration over how certain fans have been dismissive of any racial trauma Lucas has gone through, and this goes all the way back to season 1. Both Troy and James's bullying of Lucas was racially motivated, and the graphic novel Zombie Boys also highlights this:

On a related note, Troy and James making fun of Dustin for having cleidocranial dysplasia is disgusting.

I've seen this discussion before in the fandom about Barb's attitude towards Nancy dating Steve, and this idea that Barb was jealous of the idea of Nancy possibly becoming popular, which.................is not an interpretation I've ever understood. I never once took Barb to be some kind of social climber. When she's talking with Nancy in her first scene, she sounds genuinely excited for Nancy about Steve calling her, as well as cheekily acknowledging that both Nancy and Steve are into each other.

On top of that, Barb knows Nancy well enough that she wouldn't discard her as a friend, even if she became popular. The way she talks with Nancy in this scene, she doesn't seem worried or upset with her. If anything, Barb is amused during this conversation (including when she sees the note Steve left for Nancy in her locker). There's also the way they both talk about Tommy and Carol, indicating they both have low opinions of them, and that Barb is aware that Nancy doesn't like them and isn't going to abandon her for them.

@will80sbyers pointed this out in a recent post, and I thought I'd note it here since it's a good observation: The first scene we see of Steve and Nancy's relationship is in a restroom..........and their breakup in S2 happens in a restroom as well. That's how things come full-circle for these two:

It's notable that the two times Steve and Nancy meet in this episode, it's in an area that's supposed to be private (the school restroom, Nancy's bedroom) but there's always the risk of someone (a high school student/teacher, Nancy's parents) walking in on them while they're making out (not that Steve seems to care). Both times involve Nancy interrupting to tell Steve she needs to study for a test, and while Steve initially tries to make it all fun-and-games between them, he eventually concedes when he realizes she's serious about her schoolwork and agrees to help her.

This still remains one of my favorite quotes from the show (and is literally what weekday mornings are like for me before I have to clock in for work):

This has been pointed out by others, but there's an interesting parallel between Joyce calling Will "sensitive" vs. Victor Creel calling his son Henry "sensitive."

Notably, when Joyce talks about Will being sensitive, it has more to do with him being aware of other people's feelings, as well as the way other people look at him and judge him. Meanwhile, I'm skeptical of that being the case with Henry. Maybe Victor thought Henry was sensitive because of his inability to "fit in" with the other kids (as well as being labeled "broken" by teachers and doctors), but considering how insulted Henry is at the idea that he was broken, as well as how he didn't care about torturing and killing animals before murdering his mom and sister in cold-blood (and letting his dad take the blame for it), I doubt Henry gave a damn about what others thought of him. His behavior indicates he doesn't feel empathy for anyone the same way Will does. Henry's "sensitivity" likely had more to do with the abilities he had locked inside of him, or even possibly being able to feel the presence of the Upside Down before he was banished there by El 20 years later. Maybe they'll expand on this in "The First Shadow" when it comes out.

They foreshadowed pretty early on that Will was secretly gay. I remember this was discussed by fans way back when season 1 first came out.

Yes Hopper, he is.

There's a dark irony in how Hopper's been working as Chief of Hawkins for 4 years, and claims that nothing awful has happened during his tenure. 4 years ago would have been in 1979, the same year Henry/One/Vecna slaughtered the special kids (and most of the staff) at the lab before El banished him to the Upside Down. I know Hopper wasn't aware of any of this when it happened, and none of that was his fault or responsibility, but still.........

Something I always found frustrating with the show (and even supplementary materials) is they never really explain how the chain-of-command works when it comes to government officials on this show. They establish Dr. Brenner as the head of Hawkins Lab (and later that role gets transferred to Dr. Owens in S2), but they never truly say which higher-ups Brenner answers to. Then there's the introduction of Colonel Sullivan in S4 (despite him never being hinted at or mentioned in the previous 3 seasons): Judging by the conversations he has with Dr. Owens, as well as how Dr. Owens got fired for the Russian infiltration of Hawkins in S3, I assumed Sullivan was Owen's superior. Does that mean that Brenner also answered to Sullivan during this time? Or was Sullivan just part of a different faction of the government (i.e. the same faction Ellen Stinson warns Mike about in S4) who was opposed to what Brenner was doing from the beginning, and only recently got involved?

In any case, I'm assuming the men pictured above who are meeting with Brenner are either government agents sent to investigate the opening of the gate, or Brenner's superiors who want to know what happened the previous night.

I wonder if there will be a twist in S5 that Upside Down itself is one whole Lovecraftian-like monster, and stuff like the Demogorgons and other creatures are just extensions of it. Just the way that gate breathes, and how it looks like you're traveling through someone's insides.............

I missed Scott Clarke in S4, and I hope he comes back for S5 to give more scientific advice to the main characters (assuming he didn't leave Hawkins). Who knows? It may prove helpful against the upcoming fight against Vecna.

Since Stranger Things loves referencing Lord of the Rings (and The Hobbit), with the show even drawing parallels to the books (like the Upside Down being similar to Mordor, or even Hopper's fake death in S3 and return in S4 having similarities to Gandalf's apparent death in Moria and his later return), I am looking at the books as one possible blueprint to predict how Season 5 will go. That's just me though.

Also, Will disappearing near Mirkwood, which in The Hobbit is where Bilbo encounters the spiders that try to eat him and his companions, and Vecna has a creepy obsession with spiders and shaped the Mind Flayer into a spider, and the Mind Flayer later attacks Will..................

I'm sure there's somewhere I'm trying to go with this, but I can't articulate it in a way that makes sense.

SIDE NOTE: This particular scene with Dustin and Lucas fighting while Mike sits in the middle looking irritated is hilarious. 😂

Come to think of it, this scene is a perfect representation of the dynamic the kids have this episode: Dustin and Lucas argue (whether it's over D&D strategies, how to find Will, etc) and Mike is caught in the middle. This changes later once El is introduced where it's Mike and Lucas fighting, and Dustin is trying to act as the peacemaker.

To be continued in Part 2..........

#stranger things #stranger things day #tgh opinions #the vanishing of will byers #tgh reviews #stranger things rewatch #stranger things season 1 #jonathan byers #steve harrington #nancy wheeler #mike wheeler #will byers #lucas sinclair #dustin henderson #el hopper #joyce byers #jim hopper #martin brenner #henry creel #vecna #number 1 #troy walsh #james dante #lonnie byers #victor creel #barbara holland

[starmonsterrr]

Introducing: Undertale self-insert #102480124 • (Update 2.02 - Miscellaneous changes)

HELLO PEOPLE

I may have disappeared for a maybe long while

And that is because of 3 reasons:

Ink appreciation server

running @ink-simp-shenanigans (surprise surprise it's me)

And school just started a week ago (which is more recent but i guess that may have added)

Except there is a 4th one and that is,,,,,,, I MAY have been working on a little Undertale AU,,,,, and then made an OC out of it,,,,

The AU will get it's own post and i'll reveal as much info as needed at the moment to explain who even is this new character that will be one of my faces on this blog (because i'm gonna have 2 OCs representing me. yeah- second one's design is still W.I.P (nevermind this is future me i finished the design but i might make a separate post for it))

And HERE IT COMES

A FURRY. What's cringier (affectionate /gen) than an Undertale self-insert in mid 2023? A FURRY Undertale self-insert that can shapeshift (WOW OP WHAT A MARY SUE) and exists for SELFSHIPPING

YEAH

THAT'S IT

TH- THAT'S THE CREATURE

And speaking of selfshipping if you scroll in my blog for a bit you might notice that i very much like Ink

and also reminder that I run a blog that has the purpose of feeding Ink simps

So uh I think you get what i'm trying to say

what the flop is a star-born monster????

It might take me a little while (or until i get asks about it) for me to open up about the selfship shenanigans, but meanwhile, here are some bits of explanations and stuff!

which AU is this menace from?

OuterRenaissance. It's still being fleshed out (asks would help a lot), and I plan to later on make an outcode expanded version, and even have some basic stuff for that version. But in simple words it's Outertale but in addition of the space themes, i added themes of the Renaissance historical period, as it brought great advances to science; including astronomy!

I have a post explaining exactly this!

And here's some trivia to finish this off!

(also, Io can shapeshift out of this appearance because shapeshifting powers)

Backstory???

Its AU died (destroyed by Error), and it almost did too, but i possessed it and fused my soul over time with its own using my creator powers and it is now technically a walking corpse puppeteered by me so I can interact with the UTMV, while also forcing it to change its form into the Doppelganger form; giving it the ability to, well, shapeshift. Also ink snas selfship shenanigans i haven't properly written yet (yooo two walking corpses that love eachother!!!!!1!!!1). that's the fewest words i can put it in

IS THAT A 'THE STARRY NIGHT' REFERENCE???

Yes. Yes it is. and fun fact: the ship between Io and Ink is named exactly that. The Starry Night. how clever of me, i should get a prize

Does it have a personality?

Yup. I just don't know how to describe personalities, but here's an attempt at that.

Io is a passionate artist, but struggles with some degree of perfectionism driven by the pride of its art skills which are, by far, its best ability. It also tends to be (sometimes dangerously) kind-hearted at others. It might act one of two ways in social spaces: kind of awkward, not talking much, OR ABSOLUTE MENACE as in SUPER SILLY. No in-between.

Also, it is a quick learner, and could be considered quite intelligent. Thing is ... It carried over speech from the Renaissance time period and is still adapting to modern words. A bit of an overthinker too, which can lead to communication issues, and tends to plan elaborate strategies to perform the simplest of things...sometimes not even following them.

Pronouns/gender identity?

Io, like me, goes by it/its pronouns and identifies as non-binary! (Subject to change as I occasionally explore my gender identity)

Io, due to being puppeteered by me; a Creator, also has the powers of one, but either doesn't use the powers at all or uses them in subtle ways to try and steer things to its/my favour. It may sometimes disguise it as "art magic" shown in these doodles i made a bit ago:

also. autism. i'm autistic and because i take control of this critter i'm dragging it into the spectrum.

And I think that's everything that comes to mind right now! Thank you for listening to this bunch of rambling that i did not beta read prior to posting.

#cringe warning: undertale (multiverse) self insert made for self-shipping and also potentially a mary sue #Also reminder that the block button exists #i don't care about cringe anymore #just wanna have fun #corv rambles about lore #corv's OCs #one mention of OuterRenaissance so like #because it's like one or two mentions i'm not really tagging it as an Undertale AU #undertale au #i lied #Corv's OuterRenaissance mentions #Corv's OuterRenaissance #undertale au oc #undertale oc #utmv oc #original character #oc

[small-strong-bookish-butch]

Thoughts on Nimona (because a good friend asked):

Source: me, an expert on the webcomic (joking)

Okay SO:

There is so much foreshadowing in the beginning of the movie, which technically also happens at the beginning of the book, with Nimona's little red drawings too, but somehow for me it was different to see it animated

Goleth in the book Is Not A Thing. Doesn't exist. There IS no "1,000 years ago the kingdom was cursed" stuff. They said Goleth and I mentally went "who the FUCK is Goleth??"

In the book/webcomic/graphic novel, Ambrosius is the one who cuts off Ballister's arm, on purpose. Yes, Ambrosius, the twink gay boyfriend guy. (Also, in the book they both have long hair)

It's not super important, but in the book there's a bank heist that they do complete together and it kind of sets the stage for everyone to realize Nimona is a shapeshifter and is with Blackheart

In the book, part of the 'framing the director' thing is that she & the government agency (or whatever it is) have this massive supply of jaderoot, which is like, this poisonous plant (more on that later)

I didn't fully understand that 'the Director' was like, basically the queen until I was literally watching the movie. I guess I understood her to be like, almost a head-security person? You really only see her in the book being like "guards! Capture Ballister!" or "the plan didn't work 😡"

OH. Very important. At the end of the book— in the part of the movie where they put all those spidey webs on Nimona and capture her— in the book, they bring her to.... basically an experiment lab, they put her in a tank with a lot of jaderoot and shock her and do all this torture stuff and they're basically like "Tell us how you got like this", and she talks about how she was cursed by a witch who gave her shapeshifting powers BUT they were very loose (in that she can transform into literally any animal/creature/etc) ("She wasn't a very good witch," she says)

On that note! If I remember right, basically her parents abandoned her after she became a shapeshifter (or maybe before?) and in the book, she did pillage and burn down villages in the meantime— which she references at the beginning of the movie, but it's never fully explained or expanded upon

There's this really good dialogue between Ballister and Nimona at the end of the book, which I don't think was in the movie-- where, Nimona is being tortured and they're using all the stuff to try to punish her for being 'a monster', and she says to Ballister, "You're not the only one who thought you could change me. Who thought you'd fix me until you saw who I really was" (or something like that, I'm blanking on the exact words right now), and it's at that point in the book where she turns into a little girl, and then turns really big and into that dark shadowy thing

Also, when she's a little girl, in between being different monsters (so to speak), in the book she looks at Ballister and says "You came back for me?" And he says "Of course I did"

There are references to Nimona "doing this before" in terms of being the 'monster', but there isn't the whole Goleth/chosen one backstory like there is in the movie

Nimona's voice doesn't sound like that To Me. In my head I always thought she'd be like, grittier and spunkier? She was almost like, trying too hard to be carefree and cool in the movie, IMO. Also, in the book, it is a thing where Ballister asks questions about her life and she gets Very Distracted by like, random weapons or different poisons or whatever

ALSO. This has been killing me because I don't fully remember, but. I think in the book, Nimona does almost certainly die or disappear... but there's also this really bittersweet panel with different red animals where Ballister is basically like 'Sometimes I hope you're out there and that I'll see you again someday'. And in the movie she DIED-died and I don't think she deserved that, honestly

Thank you for asking @grayscale-kaleidoscope <3 I'd love to hear your thoughts on the movie too

#personal #nimona #this is close to me infodumping so you're welcome #long post #fuzzy gemstone rainbow friend

[synergysilhouette]

An alternate take on "Frozen" (2013)

Before all the haters show up: I LOVE Frozen. I'm just saying what I'd do if it was my movie, as well as retrospect from Frozen 2. There was a lot of good, and a lot that I think that could've been tweaked a bit.

Arendelle is larger. It's such a small kingdom, and it's never really explained where the people come from. Of course, this may mean the geography of the land would have to change in order to accommodate a larger kingdom. I feel like it helps expand on the culture and lore a bit more, even if most of the film takes place away from the kingdom.

2. Use more of Jean Gillmore's designs! Not only are some of them more historical and make the culture feel real, but it also looks great!

3. Include the Snow Queen's mirror in a dynamic way. Perhaps highlighting Queen Iduna and King Agnarr's pasts involving magic, reveal a legend that the castle holds a mirror that distorts anything it reflects (the origins of which would be included in "Frozen 2"). Anna and Elsa find it, and when they don't see anything wrong with it, they start to play similar to in the original film's prologue. However, Anna accidentally breaks the mirror and gets it into Elsa's eyes, making her accidentally hurt Anna. The trolls still erase her memory, but now that Elsa is affected by the mirror, this makes her bitter towards Anna, seeing her as getting a clean slate while Elsa has to live with her trauma. This is further exacerbated by their separation and Elsa's powers, though their parents try their best to console both girls (though Agnarr finds this difficult due to his own magic trauma in his past). She attempts to resist the mirror's influence, but eventually she becomes cold and calculated behind closed doors, to the point where she doesn't cry when her parents die. Instead, she blames Anna, as she heard Anna mentioning getting married and believes their parents went to meet her suitor before introducing him to Anna, and blames her for their deaths. Elsa eventually brings the broken magic mirror to the throne room during her coronation to remind herself of what Anna had done to the family.

4. Hans is actually a good guy. He and Anna have been communicating via letters since they were teens, as Anna's parents considered him a candidate for her hand, and fall in love the moment they meet. They're very similar due to their circumstances, though Hans is a bit more pessimistic about finding happiness. However, when Hans asks for Elsa's blessing, she misinterprets Hans' statement of knowing Anna for "what feels like forever," believing he was the one their parents were going to see. She banishes Anna, which hurts her, and for a moment, she hesitates. However, in her frustration, Anna accidentally breaks more of the mirror, causing Elsa to attack her and everyone (except Anna, who avoids the shards, and SEEMINGLY Hans as well) to see her as a monster as the result of the shards in their eyes, resulting in her fleeing. Anna recognizes that the mirror is dangerous and instructs Hans to have the rest of it safely destroyed, but believes it only turned people against Elsa, and chases after her without realizing it's making the people become twisted. Hans offers to join her, but Anna realizes how jarring it might be for Elsa to see him again, as well as Hans growing up with borderline-abusive siblings himself, and appoints him the regent. However, it is later revealed that shards of the mirror got into his eyes as well while getting rid of the mirror shards, preventing true love's kiss from working between him and Anna and making Anna see what could've happened to her if she had given into despair. Once Anna is frozen, both Elsa and Hans cry, allowing the shards to melt from their eyes.

5. Kristoff gets a song--a longer one, because RABTP was too short. Plus his backstory is fleshed out; I'm confused on how he's still an iceman if he's been raised by the trolls. Maybe he was adopted by trolls and THEN they let the icemen employ him. I do like the idea that perhaps he's part magic himself due to growing up around it for so long, as well as wise and caring, not quite as critical of Anna when he meets her, especially seeing how shaken she is about everything. And a part of him is envious of Anna's love for Hans and Elsa--not immediately because of his love for her, but because he doesn't have much human connections outside of his job, as well as wondering about his birth parents and (tying this in from a deleted scene) his own failed love life.

6. The "Boss Fight," so to speak, happens in Elsa's ice castle, which is on a larger mountain, and thus more expansive. Elsa freezes Anna's heart before fleeing, but sends snow wolves and snowmen to capture her later. On their trek up the mountain, Kristoff and Anna meet up with Hans and the army, who capture them since they're corrupted by the shards and want to use Anna to lure Elsa out. At the ice palace, Kristoff fends off Hans while Anna reaches out to Elsa, though Elsa's heart is all but completely frozen, blaming Anna for everything that went wrong in her life ("Life's Too Short" is included here). Anna attempts to refute this, but part of her believes Elsa and crumbles under the grief. Believing that Elsa and Hans are lost, Kristoff will be killed, and Olaf will be brainwashed as another monstrous snowman, she surrenders to Elsa. Seeing that she has no time left, Anna tells Elsa that she loves her and opens her arms before freezing ("Life's Too Short" reprise is here; it's kinda made into just one song). At the last minute, Elsa stops herself, scared of breaking the ice sculpture. She cries and embraces Anna, and her and Hans' ice shards melt from their tears and heartbreak. They bring back Anna's sculpture to the kingdom, where everyone cries for Anna, who had brought so much light into their lives, melting their shards as well. Despite Elsa melting the snow in Arendelle, she is unable to melt Anna. Soon Anna is positioned as a sculpture in the center of the kingdom to remind everyone about letting hatred consume you. As the film begins to fade, the ice begins to melt...

Lemme know what you think, and be sure to check out the changes I'd make for "Raya and the Last Dragon," "Tangled," and "Big Hero 6," as well as suggestions for improving "Pocahontas."

#disney #disney animation #frozen #elsa #anna #kristoff #hans #olaf #sven

[pierogiinspace]

Dungeons and daddies s2 [spoilers]

Long post thoughts after some time I took to think about it

So… It wasn’t bad but I feel like they really lost their footing midway

The ending felt rushed, we didn’t get any closure or big climax fight or anything. It just… stopped in the middle.

The beginning was cool. Monster of the week. Getting to know all of them. Interesting concepts, new characters. Worldbuilding

And then it… stopped? We circled back to just teens and old characters. Completely forgetting about everything that was new - like daddies hq

Not to mention that they did the same thing twice including backtracking (anchors and daddy juice)

S1 had a clear structure of

1. Gather kids

2. Gather anchors so you can leave

With additional shenanigans and growth in between

S2 was so messy you cant even explain it

1. Monster of the week (which was cool. We got to feel the vibe of teens and school and meet new characters)

2. Break anchors and destroy them with love or hate (still cool. But we lost the footing and started relaying only on old characters. Basically the end of them being actually kids and everything that had to do with that. Kiddads apprar but they are utterly useless with no explanation why)

3. Gather daddy juice to send dood home (basically the same thing, some even in the same locations, same characters, some literally 5feet away from eachother)

4. Get dood back and get rid of Willy

The next point is that Willy was both too powerful (somehow escaped them the first like 3 times) and too weak to matter (he didnt cause any threat really. He had to start failing because of “reasons” just not to spoil the plot).

And the ending

Literally nothing got resolved (except maybe Taylor getting fine with him not having dad). It just sopped. And I understand how people dont change immediately (like Normal suddenly made his dad(s) proud of him??) but its a fun story not real life. And our characters didnt really feel… completed. I feel like we could use some time to breathe between plot points to really feel the situation. I think a great example is the trial/prison arc in s1. It stops the main plot of going back but really expands on the characters (not only Glenn. As the dads have to also show their point of view)

Choosing teens instead of adults also felt short. They both felt too old and too young for actually being 14. And it was very compeling and unique in s1 to have coming of age story for adults.

I kinda wish the second half of the season would be teens vs Willy vs their parents. But their parents should be like “oh no you are not risking your life you are too young” and the teens avoiding them or spoiling their plans. And trying to prove they are grown up and still save the world the “right way”

I really enjoyed the first half of this season (I guess somewhere up to the church of Doodler episode)

And later it was ok. It had great moments because it is still made by the same people. Jokes were funny. The crew has the chemistry. But the overall thing was kinda… I will not be relistening for sure (except maybe first half. Especially the episode with FBI chase. Top tier episode and also the first episode I got to listen “live”)

I am open to discussions if anyone read it at this point. I am not writing that in hate. I am a patreon subscriber and I love the show and the people who create it. Its also why I hid it under read more. I dont want easy hate on the crew. But I am a little underwhelmed.

#dungeons and daddies #dndaddies #dndads #original post

[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

No need to apologize ppl are busy I understand ;)

1: what’s their biggest pet peeve?

2: what’s something they both can’t agree on? Best spider-man actor, best Star Wars trilogy, etc…

3: what’s their favorite & least favorite animated Christmas movies?

4: is Jon & mar’is reaction the same as the duo when they react to: somebody getting hit in the nuts both real life & movie/cartoon, toliet humor, & the whole rikishi stink face thing?

5: for the duo, what’s the best gift they got for each other? I can see Jake giving Chris a blue domino mask with white lenses.

6: are the duo fans of the game awards? If so, what game are they hoping for win game of the year?

7: not really a question but I like the little fanfic snippet of “Lava bridges & you” would love to see a full fanfiction of that, would love to help to ;)

Thanks for your patience. It’s very appreciated ;-)@gothicghost2000

1) For Chris, while getting his superhero identity confused with Dick’s Nightwing is an all too common way to annoy him a bit, a far bigger one for him would be hearing and looking at comments of all sorts that claim Superman being a ‘lame’, ‘boring’, ‘Un-relatable’ and overall ‘dull excuse’ of a superhero who should step aside in favor of any other heroes, especially Batman, just because they’re ‘cooler’ and ‘edgier’. Yeah he doesn’t take it too kindly deep down of people having those thoughts about his adopted dad. Frankly neither Jon nor him is they would be honest.

For Jake, it’s from what he can admit is a tad bit more petty on his end and he apologizes for it. That said, do not mock the original Discowing in front of him. Jake looks up to that first suit his father made with pride and he will not be taking any badmouthing against it if he can help it, No siree. Not even family members are other Titans are safe from his objections to their opinions should they make fun of Discowing

2) Best Star Wars film (Chris votes on A New Hope while Jake firmly believes it’s The Force Awakens) , Best Pizza Place (Jake will always back the local Marv and George’s while Chris favors Shakey’s) , Fairly Oddparents (Jake) vs Jimmy Neutron (Chris) but most of all and most fiercely, the Best Godzilla film ever made (besides the 1954 OG; Chris champions Godzilla vs Monster Zero while Jake touts King of the Mosnters 2019 as the best)

3) Chris

- Favorite: Elf (2005) (Not just for the obvious reason of it being funny as heck but also since it deals with themes of adoption and trying to fit in, he can relate so well with Buddy)

- Least Favorite: Grandma Got Ran Over By a Reindeer (Mainly cause the song it’s based on just sounds too morbid for a cherry beat and tone)

Jake

- Favorite: The Muppet Christmas Carol (Alfred and him almost every single time at the family’s Christmas party do a karaoke of ‘A Thankful Heart’)

- Least Favorite: The Nutcracker 3D: The Untold Story (Those visuals all throughout the movie….he can never get them out of his head no matter how hard he tries)

4) More or less almost the same though Jon is tad bit more likely to have a small chuckle with watching a Stink Face as long as it’s short and against a true heel. Mar’i also doesn’t cringe as hard with nut shots as she had seen her Dad pull that off during Father-Daughter patrols together sometimes and the reactions from the crooks who receive are pretty funny form a distance.

5) While Jake’s best gift for Chris was that mask as described, in turn thanks to Chris, Jake was given a rare one of a kind 12-inch replica of Voltron which being a fan of, all to well bringing a big smile to Jake’s face

6) They’re a bit more casual than most when it comes to those shows as the Duo really only enjoy the games they play and Jude on their own merits. That said as for this year, Chris and Jake are hoping for Super Mario Bros Wonder to win Game of the Year as they love that one

7) You know maybe later this month I can write a small snippet to expand it. Not saying it’s a guarantee but it’s certainly an idea now that you brought it up lol

#chris kent #jake grayson #starburst duo #jonathan samuel kent #mari grayson #christmas #discowing

[jsaunderswrites]

A personal (and probably wrong) ranking of the MonsterVerse

I decided to start the MonsterVerse last month after realising it's 10 years old and one of the only successful outcomes of the cinematic universe boom of the early 2010s. And so I marathoned everything in a couple of weeks. And now with the next movie coming out in March I decided to rank my opinions. And I get that everything I say is probably objectively wrong but that's how it is. I should mention I have no history with kaiju movies. I saw the 1998 Godzilla as a kid and once again as an adult. I thought it was a flawed but passable blockbuster, not the worst thing ever created. I would love if Zilla were added to the MonsterVerse but I get there are probably licensing issues in the way. And I remember being very positive about the 2005 King Kong and those leeches will haunt my nightmares forever.

N/A. The novelisations and TTRPG (2014-) I haven't read these. I understand the novels expand on the story of the movies by adding context and backstory. I might try these later.

7. All the comics (2014-) Just to get them out of the way, all the tie-in comics kinda suck. In the way all tie-ins tend to. Rushed inconsequential stories with no real depth. Skull Island: The Birth of Kong had a chance but was so focused on the Monarch mission that the titular event is relegated to a questionable vision by the villain. This doesn't cover Justice League vs. Godzilla v. Kong which I have not started.

6. Godzilla (2014) The movie starts pretty good, but with the death of Cranston's character we lose the most interesting viewpoint and are left with generic white-bread soldier guy, who is the least of all the protagonists in these movies. The movie even looks gorgeous at first and settles to just very good after they leave Japan. I am uncomfortable with how uncritical this movie was of the US military. Out of their depth sure, but good people trying their best. When Serizawa brings up Hiroshima, the film has so disconnected Godzilla from the horror of nuclear weapons that it feels like he's only protesting because of his family history. not connected to the themes in any way. ALSO they do the thing where they bring up a historical tragedy/atrocity but use an in-universe justification to make it less objectionable. So the Castle Bravo test was actually trying to destroy Godzilla. The occasional shot of dispassionate, uncaring destruction left in the wake of phenomenally uncaring monsters of unfathomable power are very effective, but they're too few. And at the end the MUTOs start caring about the regular soldiers. "I may currently be fighting Godzilla but some guy started a boat over there and I need to kill that for some reason!" And the fact they monster fights keep happening in locations that coincide with soldier guy's journey gets comical.

5. Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) Some fun fighting between giant ape and lizard. And I was happy to get King Ghidorah back because he was awesome in KotM. But his actual fight is not particularly long because we spend most of the movie on the journey to the hollow earth and then the second fight between Kong and Godzilla, leaving Ghidorah's return feeling too rushed. The actual human plots are very meh. The investigators team feel very Marvel studios goofy in a bad way. I have no love for conspiracy theorists anymore and the moment Bernie brings up fluoride he lost me. The expeditionary team are boring. I do not care beyond the little girl having a bond with Kong. That was sweet but everyone else is irrelevant to me. I would prefer just learning about the axe and Kong's people rather than focusing on this crossover. I did have a chuckle that both the star kaiju are characterized as massive alpha-bros who need to be the biggest dick in the room. But otherwise it's just some fun action with nothing much of substance.

4. Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) There is an ongoing problem in this whole franchise that is most present here: nature doesn't have inherent balance. So much is based around heroes and villains insisting we need to step back and allow nature to fix itself, because it has a plan and a will. But it doesn't. Nature cannot fix the damage we have done on its own. We need to actively undo what we've done to it. So the fact they keep insisting this and treating what amounts to new age religious faith as though it is any way scientific gets on my nerves. But otherwise this is a good one. Mark Russel is the best of the generic white guy main protagonists, his hatred for titans and insistence they're better all dead makes sense contrasted with everyone else's unfounded faith. But he also is willing to cooperate when it comes down to it. There are some gorgeous shots in here. King Ghidorah really sells the apocalyptic alien invader/literal actual Satan thing very well! I wanted more of him! I was interested in how they set up a universe of monsters with Mothra seemingly seeding something with her sacrifice and Rodan bowing to Godzilla but the movies so far seem to be ignoring them. Bring them back! Also I liked Dr. Stanton so I'm disappointed he was also dropped.

3. Skull Island (2023) I was surprised at how attached I got to the characters, especially with everyone actually turning out to be on the same side. There is a strong theme of family through all of these installments that can be interesting or not depending on the actual media. I don't think we're getting a season 2. It's Netflix. So in like 3 years one of the comics will mention how a bunch of people were rescued from the island in the 90s with no other context. And any continuation that doesn't end with a three way wedding between Sam, Irene and Cap is not canon.

2. Kong: Skull Island (2017) I know I'm against the majority rating this one here. But I love the anti-military theme. I like the way it looks, the sometimes psychedelic shots. Samuel L. Jackson sells the villain, the creatures are all awesome, none feel like filler creatures. I felt like Loki Bond and the anti-war reporter don't get arcs but their performances sell the characters very well. I would love if we could get them back, just do more with them. The stinger feels like a set up for a more behind the scenes look at Monarch. Speaking of...

1. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023-2024) This was the best one. Great characters, story, visuals, the whole package! Every Godzilla appearance is better than all the movies. The theme of family drama is central here and strong. The drama is palpable! I hope we get a continuation, either a season 2 or bring these people back in the movies. Rather than Millie Bobby Brown again. It's strong enough to be enjoyable on its own but sadly I don't know how sensical it is without having seen the movies. I want a physical release now!

The future Now I am going to start trying other films. Shin Godzilla and Godzilla Minus One, rewatch King Kong 2005. Also I started Godzilla: The Series to see if it gets interesting. And also eventually Godzilla Singular Point. I'll eventually watch Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire when it comes out but whether in theaters or not I don't know yet.

#monsterverse #godzilla #king kong #monarch legacy of monsters

[danwhobrowses]

Netflix's Wednesday - Review

So the latest attempt at rebooting the Addams Family comes in the form of Netflix's Wednesday. Fresh off of The Sandman's success, the show sported a cast of Jenny Ortega, Gwendoline Christie, Catherine Zeta-Jones and even Christina Ricci (Wednesday from the 90s movies), while also being directed mostly by Tim Burton, music by Danny Elfman, and written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, we'll see how Netflix does with this.

Bear in mind, the Addams Family I am perhaps going to compare this to the most is the 90s movies of Ricci, Raul Julia, Anjelica Hutson and Christopher Lloyd - as well as Burton, but I also will be observing Ortega's portrayal of an older Wednesday similar to Youtube's 'Adult Wednesday Addams' shorts by Melissa Hunter (who later went on to do some writing for Santa Clarita Diet and She-Hulk), whose shorts were sadly cease and desisted - which could've been partly due to production of this very show, but I won't hold that against it.

Spoilers for Season 1 of Wednesday

So I'm going to review based on four key points; Production, Plot, Side Characters, and Wednesday herself, hopefully this way I will be able to express the pros and cons of the full scope of the show.

Production Production of the show was very sound actually; music was good, setting and costuming was also very well-done, showing differences from Wednesday's gothic style, Enid's bright and bubbly, Kinbott's clean whites, there are the theme motifs that you'd expect from a Burton-esque story.

In that same vein though, cgi was an oof at times, particularly for the Hyde, which was too uncanny to see past the Burton-esque bug-eyed claymations, Enid's wolf form was a bit iffy too.

But for the most part, Jericho and Nevermore academy did feel like real places that existed outside the vacuum of Wednesday's presence.

Oh also! Some things were just wrong, particularly the off-comment on Ophelia, Ophelia wasn't driven mad by her family she went mad over her lover, Hamlet. Given how Ricci's Wednesday performed Hamlet at school that's a definite gap.

Plot The plot is probably one of the things I am most on the fence about. For its pluses, it did work towards creating character development for Wednesday, layered into a murder mystery story, layered into a spooky high school scenario. It had some lovely easter eggs primarily playing on Addams family leitmotifs specifically the iconic double snap. There is a balance as well of being gothic but also caught up to current affairs, expanding the world more familiar to the Addamses via the presentation of 'outcasts'. The plot does invite a second series as well, but doesn't try to force it either.

However, there are things I struggle to shake off. For one, it doesn't help that this feels far too much like The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, another stylistic reboot of a gothic female teen character in a gothic academy uncovering prophecies and having frosty relationships with the Queen Bee's kliq, while also engaging in her own love triangle and fighting a vengeful entity of the past. I do find it odd as well why we necessitated Wednesday to be in a high school setting, since her character had often been presented as emotionally mature and aware, in some cases it does feel like Wednesday was plopped into a monster high school concept to buff up its budget. Much of the murder mystery feels like it has holes in it as well, with characters simply acting oblivious or unhelpful to one another, Wednesday's continued distrust in Xavier for instance rides on the annoying side even when DNA didn't match, and Sheriff Galpin had been suspicious of a monster since episode 1 but chose not to suspect his son who he had worried carried on the genetics of his mother? Tis odd to say the least. Weens and Wednesday had their annoyances too, simply caused by a lack of communication.

The love triangle also felt unnecessary, it was perhaps to try and push the idea that Xavier was the threat to smokescreen Tyler but honestly I'm more disappointed in the Tyler reveal than shocked, because it falls so painfully hard down to cliché, as does much of the high school melodrama. For better or for worse; Bianca, Eugene, Ajax, Xavier and Enid are very cookie-cutter level high school clichés and frankly Xavier is still not a great love interest for Wednesday, let's not forget his actions at the Rave'N. For a story where Wednesday is being sent to an academy of people like her, there is an awfully apparent lack of people like Wednesday anyway, which bodes the need to change high school settings?

I will also note my dislike of the whole concept of 'outcasts vs normies', what made the Addams family good was indeed their counternormative lifestyle but they still existed peacefully among society, in Wednesday it wasn't bad that the main villain was a hypocritical reanimated pilgrim with a magic staff but it did harm the show that every 'normie' character was either dead or complicit to the evil side, thematically it failed in a lot of areas. Also was I the only one who caught on quickly that Thornhill was the enemy? Even before the introduction of Laurel? I mean Laurel is the name for a plant for one and it feels obvious to write Christina Ricci as the new Wednesday's antagonist anyway. The 'outcasts' don't seem too different in physiology either, it may've been a movie thing but the Addams often tended to be indestructible, they drink Cyanide, they can survive a point-blank bomb, they do the electric chair as a child's game, so it is kind of a far cry to 'do you mind ghost ex machina, I have been stabbed to death'. Finally it's probably gonna sound controversial to some but it was not lost on me that that nearly every male character ends up being useless in the climax, only Eugene comes in clutch and it's only to distract, Xavier makes things even more dire, Thing is AWOL, Galpin does shoot his own son but it's an extension of his inaction, and Ajax is just a spectator. I know writers want to try to stress strong female characters but that doesn't mean every male character must be either evil, useless or a cheap shot in it, the goal is supposed to be equality is it not?

Side Characters As a result of the plot issues, the side characters did suffer much. Enid was presented as the polar opposite of Wednesday, which did work in her favour a lot, her half-baked romance with Ajax is perhaps an underdeveloped spot however, underdeveloped also being the key word to use for Bianca and Walker - the mayor's son. Eugene is underbaked too, what could've worked as a good 'innocent cinnabon' character did end up being kept away from much of the series for too long. Tracking back to Enid, of course people immediately ship her with Wednesday, she could've been any kind of character and people would pair her because fandom is how fandom does. If you ship it it's okay but honestly I see it as platonic (reminder that two people of any gender are allowed to be just good friends), I feel like Ajax can be more of a character and it's a bit mean to disregard him too, bright colours doesn't always mean queer coding either but I will give you that 'Lycan conversion camp' did feel like a shoehorn of gay conversion therapy in its dialogue, however I don't think she 'wolfed out' because of Wednesday, they hinted it before she was clued on in Wednesday being in danger.

Principal Weems is perhaps the character who suffered the most from the narrative, it felt like she would be the obstacle for Wednesday out of jealousy towards Morticia, but really she just acts pretty fairly, if not a bit politically. Her then dying in the finale felt like a waste.

The Galpins became a mixed bag in the end, because Sheriff Galpin did feel like a good guy who needed to learn to trust the 'outcasts' more and open up, but in the end he just turned out to be a hypocrite indecisive about whether he's being oblivious towards his son's nature or looking for someone to take the fall for his son's crimes. I've already expressed my disappointment in the Tyler turn, mainly the fact that it ended up just being an act - it did a lot feel like the actor was only told when doing the final episode, because he did feel like a nice kid - I still don't know how he wounded himself but it just felt like a letdown that he was the cliché honeytrap minion who is fully aware of his evils. Thornhill at least had more method in her 'too nice' persona.

Xavier was the grumpy artist who felt more like he expected reward for interacting with Wednesday, and while she did wrongly hound him with accusations he wasn't exactly likable either. Rowan as well was a character who kinda was...well, dumb. The dude sees a picture his mother drew of Wednesday and a guy who clearly looks like a Pilgrim and decides Wednesday is the villain, sure maybe Telekinesis did fuck with his brain but it does mean that the foundation of Wednesday's investigations becomes born out of misinterpretation.

Which leads us to the Addams family themselves and, it's a mixed bag. I know people will say 'people don't think Morticia and Gomez are goals anymore because they're not hot' but honestly, chemistry is important. I've seen Catherine Zeta-Jones in the Zorro films, the chemistry she had with Banderas is far and beyond what she has with Luis Guzmán. I don't think I liked that their relationship with Wednesday had waned either, I understand high school is teenage rebellion phase but again, Wednesday had always been to my experiences very emotionally mature, in Addams Family Values one of the first things she says is 'they had sex' when countering a child's story about a stork bringing babies. Pugsley suffered the most in the short time he was there, suddenly unable to take care of himself and despite being Addams-like, still being conscious enough to be bullied by high school jocks. The Gomez murder plot was weak too, the build up of 'she wouldn't believe it' being just that Morticia killed Gareth Gates (not the singer) in self-defense was also weak I was expecting a lot more. On the plus side, Fester and Thing were great, Fester was only in one episode but was entertaining and frantic, while Thing provided a lightness as both accomplice and wingman to Wednesday, but also having a mostly unseen bond with Enid and experiences with Tyler and Xavier.

Wednesday herself Jenny Ortega, writing aside, was fantastic as Wednesday. Having nailed the cold wide glare, the dry tone and the silver tongued clapbacks, Ortega turned Wednesday into a capable, inquisitive loner but also one with flaws of being uncompassionate, untrusting and having been absorbed by tunnel vision. While Wednesday has these flaws that distances her from others, it also works to develop her on wearing down on these flaws. I do have some annoyance with the mother issues she has, the unpredictable nature of her visions are rather convenient also, but some of the best scenes are also moments where Wednesday is in full expression of her true self, particularly the cello scenes and the dance scene at the Rave'N. Ortega certainly filled the shoes of an iconic role that often kept the show afloat.

Conclusion Overall, Wednesday was a good start as a spinoff, setting the foundations of what the show would be like. I would certainly watch more of Wednesday herself but I would dedicate more time to fleshing out the side characters properly, while also remembering the counter-normalcy roots of the Addams Family's appeal. Remember that Wednesday is not simply a gothier Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and overescalation does not make things more successful, Adult Wednesday Addams thrived on putting Wednesday's character in normal and everyday scenarios such as one night stands, confronting catcalling or having a job interview, people will watch for Wednesday but that doesn't mean effort beyond cliché and the odd wink nudge to the camera should not be put in.

The show is a decent watch, but considering Ortega's performance and the shoes they're filling, there was certainly more we could've gotten out of it.

#wednesday netflix #wednesday addams #the addams family #jenny ortega #catherine zeta jones #christina ricci #gwendoline christie #riki lindhome #jamie mcshane #hunter doohan #percy hynes white #emma myers #joy sunday #georgie farmer #moosa mostafa #victor dorobantu #iman marson #tommie earl jenkins #luis guzmán #isaac ordonez #fred armisen #william houston