#threeoaksy

[markscherz]

Hi! Sorry for the terrible picture quality, I saw this tiny frog in northern italy and I haven't been able to match it to frogs found in italy. Any idea? Thank you very much, and sorry for the spam!

This is probably Bufo bufo, but there are a few other toads that it could be.

[callmearcturus]

Regarding the reception of Ilsa's death, what personally upsets me about it is that by refusing to interact with it on a story level (ie blaming McQ's misogyny, saying that it's just fridging), people completely miss out on the thematic richness of the movie, and how much that death influences that.

It's a pity that people aren't giving them any credit for the story because they focus on that part of it, so thank you for talking about it!

(Sorry, not really a question!)

(heads up this is gonna be a bitchy post!)

Yeah I am to a point that I'm becoming actively annoyed at the discussion around DR1 because I walked out of that movie both times like "I cannot BELIEVE what they're doing here with the IMF, with the ethos of the movies, I can't wait for ppl to get over their shock over Ilsa's death and actually think about the point"

and that has just not happened and it's so boring. To watch DR1 and go "i hate this movie bc Ilsa's death was pointless" and to keep thinking that even after you've cooled off is imo a media literacy failure. like, DID WE FUCKING WATCH THE SAME MOVIE?

did anyone else see Ethan's introduction to the movie, where he gets to play an elder member of this organization basically inducting and welcoming someone into the fold with a distant kindness?

did anyone else see how the Entity affects the entire western intelligence community and cements them as the villain while the IMF are fighting to maintain basic free will?

did anyone notice the purposeful contrasts, how everyone swayed by the Entity's potential power exist in flashy ultra modern sets while Ethan's team live in the warm shadows of old abandoned buildings?

how about the return of Kittridge, the spectre of history and obligation cast over everyone?

HOW ABOUT REFASHIONING THE MYTHOS OF THE IMF INTO A "CHOICE" EXPLICITLY MAKING ALL OF THESE PEOPLE SELF-SELECTING AGENTS OF OUTRAGEOUS ALTRUISM. I'm sorry but how the fuck are people not losing their fucking minds over the fact Christopher fucking McQuarrie has been building on this IDEA since Ghost Protocol, that Ethan Hunt doesn't believe in the trolley problem, that if you present him with a trolley problem he will try to kill himself pushing the trolley off the tracks, there are no acceptable losses even in the face of nuclear armageddon, and they made it fucking CANON

and then they made Luther and Benji go "well yeah that's the IMF, we all chose to be this kind of batshit fanatical to the preservation of life"

Ilsa died OPTING INTO THAT. she was never IMF, she was a loner who occasionally fell into the orbit of Ethan and co, and rather than leaving it up to Ethan to make a choice, she walks open-eyed to save a woman she doesn't even know because why would that matter do you get it yet, we're talking about themes here

I'm just. I get it. Or I got it. For the first few weeks after DR1 came out, ppl were sad that Ilsa died

but now that we are this far out from it and people are still saying "her death was pointless", my patience is done. you failed to read the movie. which pisses me off because i am super into what this movie, this franchise, is trying to say!

anyway yeah my name is arcturus, i love ilsa faust, and i love that she died because her death fucking meant something /jazzhands

[badgerhuan]

Can we talk about the last samurai? It's very underrated, and I feel that there's a stigma around it that makes people not engage with it, regardless of the fact that it's unjustified.

"It's a white savior movie" is only the tip of the iceberg, I've seen people online claim that it's racist because tom is playing a Japanese character, plus it being used in order to justify/point out racism in other movies, all of which makes no sense if you've seen the film.

(Whether it's accurate to history is another thing, but that's never the problem people have with it)

But it's so good! And Tom's performance in it... damn

BIG agree on all of this. i think what really hurt The Last Samurai is the marketing. Tom being the Big Name Actor in it and heavily featured in the posters definitely led to all sorts of misunderstanding about the movie. plus the very confusing title. the title was never meant to mean the last singular samurai, of which a lot of people then wrongly assume is meant to refer to Tom's character, but the title is actually referring to the last group of samurai which the story of the movie centers around, of which Tom's character is almost merely a witness and not much else.

Nathan being there is completely within the realms of possibility, and he is never shown as better or more capable than the samurai that took him in. they train him, and he rises to their level, but he was never made the leader or the savior of the people. the samurai would've made that last battle stand, with or without him, and he chooses to ride alongside them, to die with them should it come to it.

but then he survives, not because he's better or more skilled, but entirely because of luck. there was no glory in surviving, and he absolutely did not save anything.

and most importantly, it was never about him. this was Katsumoto and his samurai's last stand, this is their story. and the ceasefire and kneeling of the soldiers were for Katsumoto and his samurai, and it was never for Nathan.

he bears witness to the lives and tales of the last samurai, and he lives to tell their story. if anything, he's the Watson of the movie, whereas the samurai are the main characters and shining stars and the focal point of the movie, the Holmes, if you will.

all things considered, i don't think many people who cite the movie as a White Savior movie have actually seen the movie.

(and YES Tom's performance in it is SO GOOD. but that's almost a different post entirely)

[snovyda]

Best benji outfit?

The tux at the opera. Just because of how visibly good he felt about it (there is even a line in the stage directions in the script, that Benji is there in a tux, "feeling good about himself", for once), and of course Ethan's comment.

Other than that - his outfit in the end of Rogue Nation, with the smoking raccoon t-shirt and the red jacket. That was a fun one.

[maverickcalf]

AU where jack survived but lost his memory, without Ethan knowing, and spent the next 20 years trying to find out who he was. By the time he finds Ethan, he's together with Benji, and somehow it ends with polyam Ethan Jack and Benji

Thoughts ?

Okay so so, this gave me some ideas. First off, great idea. Love it, brings me hope, joy, and angst.

Second, I think Jack wouldn't remember his name for a long time. I think he goes by Tony Hart (Tony was his alias and his last name is a bit like his own and also like Ethan's.) Still, I like the idea of Ethan only finding Jack after he is with Benji. Maybe their relationship is still new, so Benji feels insecure about finding Ethan's ex-boyfriend still alive.

I also love the idea of Jack being a waiter at Benji's favorite and Jack bothering Benji a lot but that's because Jack thinks he is cute and likes to tease him. Benji keeps going back because it is his favorite place. Even if the waiter bothers him. (Benji has no idea it is playful crush teasing.)

Once Benji and Ethan get together, Benji talks up this place but complains about the waiter. Ethan listens and is ready to go to this place to give the waiter the same sort of treatment. But they have to go on a mission, then another, then another. All the while Benji is telling more and more stories, and Ethan is picking up on a trend.

"You will let him down gently?"

"Gently, what do you mean?"

"Well, Benji, it kind of sounds like he has a thing for you."

"W-what, no he doesn't!"

"Why else would you keep getting him every time."

Now the next part I am unsure if I want Benji to find a picture of Jack online through the restaurant's website, or if Ethan just finds out when they walk into the restaurant.

Anyway, this is what I thought about today, so thanks for the distraction.

[boasamishipper]

💌💖 for icemav!

💌- Who would be more likely to write sappy love poetry for the other?

Ice has a (not so secret) soft spot for love poetry and other tokens of romance from Jane Austen and the like, but does not have it in him to write his own original love poems, and truthfully is not that sappy of a person. (Quoting Jane Austen at Mav when he's feeling particularly romantic, on the other hand...) Meanwhile, the closest Mav gets to writing sappy love poetry for Ice is when he substitutes Ice's name into The Chordettes Mr. Sandman while wooing him (read: distracting him) in the kitchen. (Ice is Very Sufficiently Wooed.)

💖- How do each of them feel about pet names?

well, you have to call them something

Jokes aside, they're fine with pet names, but don't like anything too elaborate. They call each other 'baby' occasionally, and Ice inserts enough fondness into 'idiot' for that to count as a pet name too, but that's about it.

send an ask with a ship and an emoji!

[fawninthewinter]

Mission impossible for the ask!

Oh yeah!

favorite male character: Benji Dunn

favorite female character: Julia I love her so much ok

least favorite character: August Walker

prettiest character: Ilsa, Julia, Ethan

funniest character: Benji. Part of the reason he is my fave.

favorite season: gonna count this as favorite entry in the series so Rogue Nation

favorite episode: gonna count this as a fave moment in the series so the entire Ilsa pursue scene in Rogue Nation followed by the underwater disk break in which is another fave moment.

favorite romantic ship: Benthan! Goes without saying though.

favorite family ship: Ethan and his entire team in like every single movie! Shotout to his original team no longer with him though 💙

favorite friend ship: Ethan and Luther! Also, shotout to Ethan and Jack again. God why do I keep hurting myself?

worst ship: Ethan/Walker. Just no. Also, Ethan and Ilsa are a great friendship but I cannot get behind them as a couple. While I wouldn't say I hate the pairing as much as I dislike it, some stans of this ship can also be...yeah ugh.

[olympain]

Happy birthday! All the best and hope you can celebrate!

Thanks Oaksy! :)