#gobibside

[ao3gobi17]

I watched it 2.0

I liked it more the second time than the first! (Spoilers below)

I could see a lot more of the links between scenes/build up to certain character points. Eg: It felt like there was quite a bit of effort to show Jake cares for Spider in the first half of the film that I hadn't noticed before. When Lo'ak was torn up about Jake accusing him of getting Neteyam killed, I forgot that the scene before was him losing Payakan and he'd said he couldn't lose one more person, it made the urge to shoot himself make so much more sense too.

I could focus on the backgrounds a bit more and they were really impressive. It showed me how quickly we're mashing through scenes in A3... would have liked a little more time for scenes to settle.

I'm guessing the Sullys freed Quaritch from the Ash people because he could have yelled out otherwise? I realised how many times Jake saves him physically and tries to verbally save him too - it seems like Jake really sees Q becoming Na'vi..?

I liked the final battle more this time... though I still think they needed a different setting from the last movie, and they absolutely needed Varang and the Ash crew to make a huge huge impact. I know they did come in like calvary for the bad guys, but they were still just one of many pieces between the two sides. We needed a bigger pay off from them given the movie title, and to position Varang for potential future movies. And I think we needed it to be a much shorter sequence overall.

The next scene you see Spider in after his near murder, Jake's coming back as Toruk Makto, you see absolute awe and joy in Spider's face. I think it's technically because Spider is good and Spider cares about Jake and the cause.... but to look at Jake like that... I feel like I have to personally interpret it as Spider being deeply traumatised and compartmentalising. It was sweet to see him standing so close to Neytiri for that though.

Tsireya is beautiful inside and out and I love how good she is for Lo'ak... if there is an A4 and A5, I worry about how we'd get any real tension or conflict out of her character.

I'm trying to work out if Quaritch promised Spider to do the trade (Spider with N and T) and then the Ash crew were just going to kill them anyway? Because they did have the gun pointing right at them when Lo'ak and Jake saved them, and Q was already away with Spider... which I guess was just so Spider could have his moment and Jake and Lo'ak could also have their moments... but it seemed messy. Like Q doesn't actually have authority or was lying to Spider or the Ash crew are such lose canons..

On that note, Jake and Lo'ak's relationship was still the worst thing in the movie for me, the utter retread of A2 (with a not as impressive outcome) was not satisfying.

Also, I know that Spider's actor takes some heat for his acting, and I made a point to watch his face more carefully in second viewing... honestly there's maybe two scenes where I don't think he's emoting enough/reacting enough... but otherwise he is hitting every mark. (And was excellent again in the dogtag scene). I wonder if half the 'problem' is the way Spider as a character talks. Lo'ak does too, but maybe it's more noticeable with the human character. I will say that Lo'ak's actor is really impressive and believable too which helps.

Friends on either side of me (watching for the first time) were shocked when Spiri kissed. I thought it was pretty strongly signposted that that's where things were going, so I'm a little surprised that they didn't see it that way. The fact that they reacted the same way does suggest to me that A2 needed another hint or so at it.

I think that's everything... the plot was a lot more cohesive once my brain wasn't focused on keeping up with all the constant action! I still think its A2 > A3 > A1 for me though.

[jeanniebug623]

Something fun and rushed and silly surrounding a question @ao3gobi17 received about what if getting Spider to Quaritch had to be done as a road trip instead of flying…I imagine something like this. 😂

Hitchhiking Spider from @cyren-myadd’s fic Blood is Thicker than Water makes a cameo at the end!

[ao3gobi17]

"I do also think I might have another full Avatar fic in me"

Ooh, would this be modern AU or canon? And would it again focus primarily on the Quaritch-Spider dynamic?

I would like to write one in the actual universe, but I don't think I have the talent for it. Contemporary is so much easier to write, but I don't want to just write Custody again...so then the canon would make sense for that reason... yeah I dunno lol.

I think the Quaritch-Spider dynamic would at least be a major part of it if I was to do it. And I think Varang would be in it. The main thing would be getting a hook of a premise and until I discover that I'm not going to have a lot of answers aha! :D

[ao3gobi17]

This Spider-as-bait concept sounds so interesting, would you consider someday, maybe even in far furure writing this scenario as a full scene/one shot/drabble?

:*

I feel like enough people (or one major Custody fan) have been asking for scenes and drabbles over the past months that I will try to get something out at some point! I do also think I might have another full Avatar fic in me, I just wouldn't want it to be a re-do of Custody, so I'm waiting to see if a full plot emerges. <3

[ao3gobi17]

Hi, I once asked a question: What if Spider in Custody was the actor who starred in ATWOW? I wanted to revisit this question but about AFAA . What would Quaritch and the recoms think about this film (especially the Sacrifice Scene and the one with RDA experimenting on Spider)? And about his relationship with his movie father

I remember that question! Though I don't remember what I answered haha. On one hand, Quaritch would recognise that this was a movie, so he wouldn't be panicking that Spider was going to come to actual harm (especially because Spider presumably is watching the movie with him in Custody context). But he would be checking safety stuff all the time, making sure these people were looking after his son and not cutting any visible corners. If there was any point where Spider looked to be in actual pain and not acting he would definitely ask about it. And I imagine (assuming ATWOW also existed and Q already saw that) he'd be pleased to see Spider apparently enjoying his bigger role. Seeing Spider in the jumpsuit briefly would probably reinforce how little Spider actually wears in the movies, and I can see that being something he isn't keen on at all. He would pay much closer attention when Sam and Stephen were on screen (or whatever they'd be called here!) and there would be a risk of him feeling jealous if it looked like Spider had bonded with either of them and it wasn't just acting in a father-son role. I'm sure he would continue to notice parallels between Stephen trying to appeal to Spider's character, but I'm sure he'd think Stephen didn't try hard enough - allowing himself to get distracted by a love interest and by Sam, when he should have been all in on Spider!

<3

[ao3gobi17]

I recently attended a funeral at my family’s house where the deceased’s son, who was serving a sentence at the time, was allowed to come due to circumstances and close kinship . And of course, my brain completely corrupted by your fanfiction immediately went: hmm, would something like that even be possible while in Custody? By the way, it was a very distant family and I didn’t really know anyone there, so I'm not some emotionless psychopath lol. But it made me start wondering: if someone in their family died — in this case, let’s say Quaritch’s mother (I know she died long before the plot, but there has to be someone connected to both Spider and Quaritch but it could just as well be someone not so close to them emotionally, like some cousin of Quaritch's, and Spider would get the invitation out of courtesy and therefore would accept it too, while Quaritch would simply take advantage of the opportunity, pretending that he was close to her in the past and that he was willing to take part in the ceremony) would Quaritch even be allowed to go to the funeral? And if he were, would he try anything — like calling out to Spider, forcing him to talk, or using the situation as an opportunity to escape and take him? Or would he already have someone from his team there, watching the situation or ready to act/watch his son to find out information abt him? And what about Spider himself? Would he even want to look at Quaritch or would he just pretend he doesn’t see him at all?

I think you have a really compelling concept there for a plot! I can definitely see interesting dynamics playing out while there's a funeral taking place and Q is being very mercenary about the opportunity to get to Spider in some way! I think it might have been an even more interesting start to Custody if I had thought of it or got it working!

Though in terms of the getting it working part... it would be a challenge. I don't know what the situation was with your distant relative, but Q is not only a 'confirmed' murderer of a relative, but he has a whole reputation about being a powerful guy with connections who is a threat to the government. He's not the kind of guy who would get out of prison on day release even on compassionate grounds. If his character background was set up in a different way it might be more doable for sure. Bonus points if he's engineered the funeral (had the relative killed) so this could happen. (Obviously wouldn't have been his mom in this case eep).

Spider would definitely not show up in the context of Custody - the McCoskers would never allow it and he wouldn't want to see his mom's killer. But perhaps the story would run something like 1. Paz dies 2. Around the same time Q is convicted of the murder of someone else 3. Then it starts to look like he may have killed Paz, but there's no real 'proof'. In that context (and assuming he wasn't known for being a threat/powerful outside of being a murderer) then mayyybe he'd get the funeral visit, especially if he bribed someone. Spider potentially would have gone not knowing Q would be there, or even if he knew Q would be there, planning to avoid him and pay his respects. He would be aware that people say Q killed his mom, but he'd probably be inclined to think that he didn't and he's 'just' a murderer, so it would still hurt and be personal but not on Custody-levels where Spider 'knows' Q killed his mom.

In that case there would def be a cat and mouse effect of Q trying to speak to Spider, Spider trying to focus on the funeral and keep away from him and (depending on how sure he was that Q didn't kill his mom) being also hurt/emotional that Q did the other killing and killed their relationship by being in jail Spider's whole life. Extra bonus points if Q has indeed set this up to snatch Spider and was just trying to win him over a bit in person first :)

I hope everything went smoothly with the real life funeral!

<3

[ao3gobi17]

Good to hear from you again 💙 Do you think there's a chance this movie will somehow inspire you to write for this fandom again? If you were starting writing Custody right now, would you include Varang in any way, and if so, how? How do you rank the movie parts from best to worst?I love your account and writing style!

Thank you! <3

I hope so! I would want a premise as fun as Custody's premise to work from, so we'll see if one forms itself as I rewatch A3!

But yesss, if I was writing Custody now Varang would be way too interesting a character to leave out! And Q having a pretty evil chaotic girlfriend would make for a lot of interesting dynamics too! If I do eventually go back to writing another Avatar fic, I can't imagine Varang not having a big part.

Spoilers for movie parts! have only seen it once, so I'll give you the main scenes I liked and the main scenes I didn't like:

Main scenes I liked: Jakes's escape being orchestrated by three different characters in three different ways and it all coming together, just before that Spider's 'proud of you' scene with Q and the dogtags, Q approaching Varang with Wainfleet on sniper duty, Neytiri's realisation about Spider, Neytiri being fully shot with the arrow and battling it home, seeing Ewya, Kiri saving Spider, the Spider running out of air while sleeping scene, the kids escaping down the river (and then Tuk getting to reprise the 'Sullys never quit' line at the Eywa scene), Kiri getting the plants to shoot their guards, Aonung's little bonding moment with Lo'ak, Q 'outplaying' Ardmore in front of their audience, Wainfleet's 'you're gonna get me killed...again' moment, Varang using Tsaheylu and honestly the kuru cutting (because it upped the ante so much), Q and Jake having a joint custody moment and Q kind of acknowledging it. (I also really liked how they connected up some of the scenes, like Spider being like 'woohoo! I can breathe!' and Lo'ak shushing him and then they're found, that's quite satisfying.)

Main scenes I didn't like: The Tulkun attacking was too close to A2 and not as impressive, any scene where Jake and Lo'ak did a re-do of their A2 issues, Ronal's giving birth and death felt a bit hurried, Payakan and Lo'ak managing to convince the Tulkun - even though I love P and L, Payakan being treated as an outcast again, wasn't a huge fan of the Jake and Spider 'kill' scene (outside of Neytiri's part) but its more how they executed the scene rather than the idea of it, I wouldn't say I loved the ending scene either.

And thank you!! That means a lot! <3 <3

[ao3gobi17]

How do you think Varang would look in a modern au?

Definitely like Oona Chaplin! But if you mean in terms of how the character would present, I think there would be a few different ways to approach it.

My first instinct if I was writing her would be to make sure her behaviour was informed by trauma. She'd have to come off as dangerous, off-kilter in her mannerisms and I think she'd be hooked on smoking something.. whether cigarettes or something heavier. I'd also like to try to show the character's layer of childlike vulnerability underneath. A lot of things (like giving her an occupation or no occupation and show how she then interacts with those around her) would depend on the context of the story, so that part's a bit harder to say! <3