Venus is Lost and Confused

they/them

[venusdeluxe]

Some final thoughts before Spider-Man Brand New Day comes out

I'm pretty dang excited for the movie, I feel like it's gonna be a good one. I just have a few concerns that I feel like airing out before the movie is out. This is based on some potential leaks and spoilers that are out there so just a heads up on that.

I know not everyone agrees, but I feel pretty certain, like 99% sure, that Sadie Sink is Jean Grey in this movie. It's certaintly an interesting place for the MCU to introduce her, but I don't hate the casting. I'm just very curious how this portrayal will work. I don't believe she's the villain, but she is seemingly a main antagonist. The fact that the DODC are after her is a pretty clear sign to me atleast that she's not the ultimate bad guy of the story considering the way Damage Control has been portrayed in things like Wonder Man or Ms Marvel. I feel primed to not take their word on these things, so we'll have Peter working with them to stop this new threat for the first bit of the movie before he discovers the truth and realizes Jean is just trying to defend herself from being hunted. I've also seen somewhere that Jean's sister might potentially be in this? So that could be some additional motivation for her.

All that sounds well and good to me atleast. Where my concern comes in is where things go from there. Just considering Marvel's track record, I'm a little concerned that this could turn into Jean taking self-defense too far and it's one of those "you were totally justified, but you took things too far and blew up a hospital so it's clear you're the bad guy still". Like a Flag Smasher thing all over again. Obviously Jean won't be that extreme, they'll still want her to be an X-Man after this. I think it's just any portrayal of the X-Men right now that has me a little nervous. The X-Men are one of Marvel's most inherently political books and right now it feels like the kinda politics these big companies would be afraid of. "We can't have them fight off the government or Sentinels hunting them down and being totally justified in defending themselves, they gotta take it too far cus revenge is bad or whatever". That's the type of thing I'm scared they'll do here. Like Jean just gets Wanda's villain arc from Age of Ultron, but she doesn't get to fight with the good guys in the end. I'll admit my concern does also come from some additional rumors for how the movie actually ends which I'll keep to myself here. It's certaintly a bold choice if true, but I'm not as confident in that being real yet so I'm trying not to put too much weight on it. But it could put her in a pretty bad light.

Ultimately, my top priority for Brand New Day is Peter. If this is a strong Peter Parker story, if his relationships develop in a satisfying way, if the movie is true to his character and all that works I think I'll be happy. But I care about Jean Grey aswell and if she truly is in this movie I want it to care about her too. I'm not personally against her starting off kinda villainous, I like her having a dark side. But she's still Jean Grey, she's still a hero and I want this to be a good first impression. The movie isn't out yet, no one has seen it, no need in crashing out quite yet. I just wanted to put words to how I'm feeling now before we finally get the movie.

I'm excited, I hope Shocker is in it.

[venusdeluxe]

Finally finished with Final Fantasy VII. The original, Remake and Rebirth. I have a lot of thoughts.

I started playing some Final Fantasy games for the first time this year with a few I'd selected which I was most interested in. My plan was to play 4, 6, 7, 9 and 10. And then at some point I would get to the 7 Remakes when I felt like it. But after finishing the OG FF7 in august I was hooked and I just had to play the Remakes immediately. Now I'm finally done with Rebirth and have to wait for Part 3 with everybody else! And I have so many thoughts on where the story will end that I just have to get atleast couple of them out of my system. Some vague spoilers for the OG and I guess potentially Remake part 3 ahead. And Rebirth of course.

I really love the story so far btw, mostly due to how great the character writing is for everybody. I feel like I trust that the devs have a plan in mind that will lead to a satisfying climax in Part 3, but I am maybe a tiny bit scared of a few possibilities they could go with. Mainly, I really hope that Aerith doesn't end up being resurrected or anything by the end.

Of course I love Aerith, she has so many scenes that deeply affected me and nowadays just hearing her theme makes me tear up almost instantly. And I recognize that the handling of her death in Rebirth is on some level meant to reflect Cloud's fractured psyche and all that. But I also feel like they left the door somewhat open for her to somehow survive by the end. I think this feeling is mostly stemming from Zack's final line where he says something like "who says we can't meet again?" or something to that effect. It planted the seed in my head that there could be some kind of merging at the end where absolutely everyone gets their happy ending and Zack and Aerith live on in some form. Maybe that's a very exaggerated interpretation of that line, but I just want to have every possibility in mind going into Part 3.

The way things are now, it feels to me like theres a new layer being added to Cloud's big lifestream sequence where in addition to accepting his own history and putting together the pieces of what happened in Nibelheim, he will also have to come to terms with the fact that he couldn't save Aerith, and that it's not his fault. And for that to be satisfying there cannot be any possibility for him to see her ever again. Even if the ending doesn't have her live in the main timeline, if another one exists where she lives on I think even that lessens the importance of that realization for Cloud. If Cloud has to come to terms with her death, it has to be a true death. If what hes seeing at the end of Rebirth is in some part his own delusion, his own illusory world, his own dream reality that he created in that moment in the Forgotten Capital, then for the resolution to this story to be satisfying he has to fully let go and she has to be truly gone. He couldn't save her. If she lives there's no point to it.

Ultimately I think that's how it will go, Cloud will let go of Aerith and maybe not blame himself for it as much as ends up doing in Advent Children. But I've seen some people with this very aggressive attitiude that what Cloud is seeing is gonna be real and that Aerith will live by the end and it just drills itself into my brain and makes me doubt my own thoughts on the ending. None of us have the answers yet, no promises await us at journey's end and all that. I just hope that whatever happens at the end, it doesn't feel like a cop-out. Death is a natural part of life, they've spoken to that constantly in these games. It's something Aerith truly believes in preserving, for everyone. And I just want proper follow-through on that, and a satisfying conclusion that resolves things for everyone, even if that resolution is bittersweet. Even if it means saying goodbye to Aerith, for good this time.

[venusdeluxe]

Syril Karn's fate

Season 2 spoilers ahead

There's so much I could say about every character in the show, but Syril is one who always had my attention and I've thought about him a lot since episode 8. I like what the actor had to say in a recent Collider article, that if Syril survived he probably would've just wandered off into parts unknown. When he realizes what the Empire is doing his whole world and identity falls apart, but the Rebellion is still lawlessness to him, it's all chaos. There would be no place where he feels laws are upheld, where the rules are being followed. Nothing is in control and he desperately needs things to be under control. And he would like to be the one in control, he wants to be recognized and respected and he wants everything to be in its proper place. But neither the Empire nor the Rebellion can give him what he seeks and when he sees Cassian in that crowd he just sees red. His whole life and everything that went wrong with it, pointed directly at one man who doesn't even know who he is. "Who are you?" He has no idea anymore. And then it goes dark.

[venusdeluxe]

Cassian Andor's destiny as a messenger

Very mild spoilers for season 2 episode 7.

There's so much you could say about this season and the show as a whole, but since 2x7 I've kept thinking about the whole idea of Cassian as a messenger. It's almost jarring to have the Force come in so late into the series when Andor has deliberately set itself apart from all the spiritual Force and Jedi stuff the whole way through, but it's jarring in a good way. We have Rogue One so we have the ending of Cassian's story. He has a destiny because we've seen it, we know where this journey is heading and I like bringing in this Force Healer as a sort of meta-acknowledgement of that and also as a personification for Cassian personally of the destiny he doesn't want or wish for. His destiny to give his life for the cause and his destiny as a messenger. Even before transmitting the Death Star plans to the Rebellion Fleet he's asked by Melshi to be a messenger for Narkina 5, he's asked by Wil to be a messenger for the Ghorman massacre. He carries on the message from the Ghorman bell hop that "rebellions are built on hope" and he delivers it to Jyn Erso who rallies the entire Rebel Alliance around her with those words. Nemik wanted Cassian specifically to carry on his manifesto. Cassian throughout this show is given so many burdons to bear, so many lives lost, friends and family gone too soon, and sometimes he has to sell a tiny part of his soul to do the dirty work no one else wants to do. But like Kino Loy, like Saw Gerrera, most likely like Luthen Rael, he makes every sacrifice possible for a sunrise the rest of the galaxy will eventually bask in, but that he will never make it to himself. In the end it's not just Cassian and Jyn Erso who are sending that message to the Rebel Fleet, there are so many other hands pulling that lever with them. Andor is about seeing pressure and also community form this man into a revolutionary, everything he loses and everything he picks up along the way to make him willing to lay down his life for everyone else in the galaxy. I know some people won't love giving Cassian this destiny angle, but I don't think he himself is special in that way. He's the culmination of many individual acts of love and terror pushing him further until him and a whole group of Rebels with an entire fleet behind them manage to set off a chain reaction that will let a lowly farm boy from Tatooine make a one-in-a-million shot in his X-Wing. They all had a destiny in that way.

[venusdeluxe]

Some thoughts about the Daredevil Born Again premiere. Potential spoilers, though I don't get into specifics.

I only had time for the first episode cus i gotta go to bed lol. I think its promising, I like it so far. it's just hard to completely shake the feeling of how good we had it and how different this feels. Just the production feels very different, its not shot as well as any season of Daredevil. The color grading and the framing isn't nearly as clean and it doesn't feel as real. Like the sense of place doesn't feel as genuine as the old show. And I dont really like this aspect ratio, it feels too claustrophobic for TV. I don't know if any pre-reshoots material remains this episode, I imagine most of that comes later, but even right now I miss the supporting cast a lot. Karen and Foggy especially, but just a supporting cast in general feels missing from this episode. It's pretty much just Matt and Fisk. The opening is so good and is a real gut punch and I guess I wanted to stay in that place emotionally for longer. I'm interested in seeing where episode 2 goes, I wonder if that's gonna be more pre-reshoot material. I like it and Mayor Fisk is gonna be fun, I'm just remaining cautious and I need a lil more convincing. I think I also just wanna get to Punisher as soon as possible lol.

[nem23]

[three-dee-ess]

official switch 2 post

[venusdeluxe]

This is just some whatever thing I wrote on Discord the other day cus sometimes I need to get my monthly Spider-Man rant. I was just doing a lot of thinking on the state of things for Spidey.

It feels weird that out of the last 4 Spider-Man movies, 3 of them are based around the multiverse. And the one that isn't pretends to involve it for like the first half! Spider-Verse was a cool novelty to me as a kid with stuff like Shattered Dimensions and the finale of the 90's show. When Miles showed up in the Ultimate cartoon I thought that was frickin sick, but now its like… I've had my fill. This was never really what people liked Spider-Man for, but now it's like all he gets to do on film. And beyond that it feels like a lot of media is missing out on his appeal in other ways too. Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is basically a riff on the MCU Spidey so I get why the similarities are there, but I wasnt clamoring for another Spider-Man story where he has the support of a billionare. It's Norman so it's atleast tied more to actual Spider-Man characters and I'm sure it wont go well for Pete, but it's still a thing that happens that you just have to deal with for atleast a few episodes. You still have to sit there and watch a teched out Spider-Man being given a whole bunch of suits by someone else. It's just been so long since a good Spidey cartoon came along and I just want some new shows or movies that are lil more classic ya know. I've been on a journey to read all (or atleast most of) The Amazing Spider-Man and there's still so many cool stories that they haven't tried or that could atleast use a second chance. It just feels like there arent a lot of good alternatives for solid Spidey storytelling coming out at the moment. You have the Ultimate comics and then I guess thats it. I'm sure Miles is doing well, I just haven't kept up with his shenanigans.

Also Spider-Man should be funny again. They make him corny and awkward, but he should be a funny guy! He shouldn't be the kinda dude to make a pun and then say "heh… nailed it". Give him his sauce back.

[venusdeluxe]

I haven't read a comic in months, but I picked up Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow the other day and these pages are making me cry holy fuck

[venusdeluxe]

Sonic movie 3 spoilers ahead. Discussing moments from the ending, so don't read if you haven't seen it!!

The music during Shadow's sacrifice had me ascending a bit ngl. Making Live & Learn a tune that Maria played for Shadow and having that basically be his theme for the whole movie before culminating in the big team-up between him and Sonic is just so cool. The song has a lot of signifigance in the fandom and as a moment in Sonic history like I've said before in another post, but that new detail and throughline gives it a whole new layer and makes that moment between Sonic and Shadow even more satisfying than it was before. And then the arrangment for his sacrifice as he's thinking about his time with Maria is so, so beautiful. Go back and listen to it again if you haven't, it's during the track 'Last Story'. I know some people wanted to hear the full song more and I kinda agree, but I honestly thought the usage was really brilliant and much smarter than I expected. It'd be easy to just put it in the movie and I'd be more than happy with that, but there was a lot more thought put into how they could make it something that feels important to the story and I appreciate that from the whole movie team.

Loved the movie btw. Haven't made a full post about it, but it was very fun. I hope to go see it again soon and maybe post some more thoughts on it. Oh and Merry Christmas!

[venusdeluxe]

Today is the day

[suppermariobroth]

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Live recording of Koji Kondo playing his Athletic track from Super Mario World on keyboard for a foreign visitor to Nintendo's headquarters in Japan in 1992.

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[venusdeluxe]

Live and Learn in Sonic Movie 3

The movie is just a little over a week away now so I've had it on my mind a lot, specifically about the use of Live and Learn in it. I feel like we might've gotten some kind of confirmation that it's in the movie, but part of me is still in a little bit of doubt and just hoping that it's true. I genuinely think Live and Learn is one of the most important songs in the Sonic discography.

It's probably not as true anymore, but I remember the saying being that most Sonic fans entered the series through Sonic the Hedgehog 2 or Sonic Adventure 2. Even if that's not how it goes anymore, large portions of the fanbase still came in through those 2 games and Adventure 2 was pretty significant in setting a tone for the series and future fan works and such. It's darker than the series had ever been before, dealing with government conspiracies and shit you'd never expect in the funny blue animal game. And it's Shadow's debut title and with him we got a character with a backstory of much more significance and tragedy than we'd ever had in the series before. I think that's why so many connected with him (aswell as him just looking cool), and Live and Learn is the big culmination of that. Sonic and Shadow teaming up and both going Super is this big moment we've been building to the whole game, Shadow finally realizing what Maria wanted for him and stopping Gerald's own grief over her from destroying the world, sacrificing his life to do so (ya know, as far as we knew). Sonic always had a greater interest in story and character than your average Mario platformer, but I think that all really came into focus with Adventure 2. It's more prevalent than ever, it's the introduction of a future fan favorite whose backstory is I think the emotional height of the series for many people and it's where a lot of fans first came into contact with the series. Live and Learn represents all of that and in a series where music has always been a highlight, it still stands as one of the most beloved tracks to ever come out of it. Sonic Movie 3 is of course not a 1-to-1 adaptation of Adventure 2's story, but it is an adaptation and you can't have Adventure 2 without Live and Learn.

I hope that made sense.

[venusdeluxe]

Been listening to the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack every night before bed to feel more connected to nature and my own humanity

[venusdeluxe]

Just had a "is he stupid?" moment with Mephiles. Cus his goal is to reunite with Iblis and become Solaris once again and all that good stuff right? But in the future, hes seemingly free with Iblis also roaming around. Theres not really anyone there to stop him. Can he not just reunite with Iblis there? Now to be fair I havent played or watched anyone play Sonic 06 in years so I might just be missing something. Is there a specific form Iblis has to be in for them to reunite? And I mean he can travel through time right? Just whenever he wants? Could he not go reunite with him on the day of their seperation? The plan to send Silver back to kill Sonic and everything seems pretty unnecessary. Is he petty or is he dumb? I know there's been a bit of a resurgance in 06 appreciation, but honestly that story is still a pretty big mess lol.

[smallpwbbles]

The ones where Sonics voice is in the background are my favourite

[hollowtones]

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[venusdeluxe]

Maria Robotnik in Sonic 3, thoughts

I expected pretty much from the beginning that Sonic 3 wouldn't just be Sonic Adventure 2 the movie and ya know thats not really a bad thing I dont think. Changes have to be made to fit into a movie, fit into this universe and to work within the constraints of the studio system and being a kids franchise. But what I hope that they stick to the most is Shadow and Maria's history cus it really is vital to the character. Its ok if details are changed, but for me atleast its important thay they stick to the main building blocks of the story. From the trailer it doesn't seem like Maria will be fatally wounded in the same way and I think thats ok, but it has to still be the fault of GUN and I hope thats a plot point in the movie that they keep that from Sonic and the gang. Removing that blame from the military and stuff would just feel like a very icky change for them to make and would lessen the impact (though again, the restraints of being a kids franchise makes me nervous if they'll even be allowed to go that far. Maybe GUN being a fictional branch will provide some leeway).

I also hope they just stick true to Maria as a character. Her condition, how Shadow was created to heal humanity, but also her specifically, and maybe even dive deeper than the games ever did and actually show how her condition affects her in daily life. I think that could be very valuable representation. I dunno, Shadow's backstory is the most emotionally charged part of the Sonic game canon. It's why I think it resonates so much with the fanbase and why it's the tightest rope the creators have to walk on for this movie. It's the part they really need to get right for this to work and it's certaintly the part I'm most nervous about lol. I pray they stick the landing on this.

Also I get that its just a funny lil meme or whatever, but istg I'll be so pissed if the movie comes out and I see videos of people cheering in the theater for Maria's death. Don't be weirdos.