Twlight Headcanons + Fancasts

The drama outside of Bella and Edward.

Billy was invited as well. He needs to make sure the doctor won't use his weird vampire charms on Charlie.

Y’all think Charlie Swan ever invited Carlisle Cullen over to watch the Mariners play and since Carlisle (and his family) love baseball soooo much he went all out and came over in a jersey and a platter of buffalo wings and was just so excited to watch the game with someone, and it’s made even better by the fact it’s a human who invited him over, a human who wanted to spend this time with him bc he’s always a little worried that he’s the monster his father always warned him about

Baby Reindeer Review + Rant

So I watched Baby Reindeer. I'm going to be honest, I wasn't interested at first, but it gained a lot of attention by Tiktokers. I don't have my own Netflix account, so when my mum travelled and I had access to her TV, I took a chance while I could. 7 episodes, 20-30 minutes each. 

I feel like the suspense was ruined since I knew it was a stalker situation, but I guess I was patient enough to see what would happen. I heard people talking about how Martha was scary, or how they found Baby Reindeer to be a horror, and I must admit that it wasn't the same case for me. When I think of horror I think of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or Ichi the Killer. If we're going to argue about realistic situations when I'm going to throw in Audition 1999, a film about a man ignoring red flags and suffering the consequences of chasing after a woman he had no business chasing. Perhaps I have tainted my mind of so many disgusting images that I didn't register that I was watching a horror.

Speaking of ignoring red flags, I understood that Donnie was a victim, and I understand that trauma can affect how a person views the world and how they may navigate certain situations. I know Richard Gadd was sort of confronting himself when retelling that story, and how it's to investigate his psychology. But I also understood that he was an idiot.

A part of me genuinely thought his gender had something to do with it. How men will see a situation vs how women will see a situation. The Man vs Bear situation influenced that thought process of mine. But the episode that opens up about him being groomed and taken advantage of cancelled that out. Maybe he kept underestimating Martha because he sees a poor little woman who needs help.

Martha is a dangerous person, yet he entertained her, sort of. It was clear that he wanted to set boundaries, but didn't know how to, especially if her feelings were going to be hurt. Somehow Martha found her way around it, and when he did set a boundary for sure she started lashing out. She became worse, and yet somehow he was still able to hold sympathy for her. I think that sympathy is forgiveness, but not the kind that demands you to run with caution, the kind that convinces you to give one more chance.

One act of kindness was punished. Is punished. While I can relate, a vengeful part of me scolds him instead. Martha attacked Teri. I hated how Martha was made out to be someone to sympathise with. She threatened and hurt people, and is shown to be a bit of a racist and maybe a homophone, meaning she's an overall unpleasant person. I don't care if she has mental health problems, that doesn't make her innocent or someone I should sympathise with. Do you know what's also mental health? A 36 year old man stabbing a 14 year old boy to death in Hainault. That actually happened.

As soon as a mentally unwell individual starts harming people it's wraps. Donnie contacted the police, but didn't tell the police about Teri. He went along with his dead-end-job coworkers about not reporting what Martha did at the bar to the police because it would be bad for business. The same coworkers who looked through his email and sent that inappropriate message to Martha, making things worse for Donnie. He willingly associated himself with bad people, and willingly put himself through sticky situations. Also, faking who he is on a dating app? Scary. Yes, Donnie is a victim, but he's a massive idiot. Like people who continue to let others suck the life out of them even though they know they shouldn't. Dogs returning to vomit.

I didn't psychoanalyse him while watching the show, but now that I think about his actions, he's just as bad a person. Yes, he told off Martha after she attacked Teri, but it shouldn't have ever gotten that far in the first place. Richard Gadd was honest about not being a 'woe is me' character, and how his younger self made many dumb decisions. I also know that info on stalking was quite limited at the time, such as the fact that giving them attention makes things worse. Donnie saw her at the bus stop, spacing out, and instead of leaving her there to suffer he got her home. But even that act of kindness, Martha still contacted his family to send threats. She didn't stop being a horrible person. No good deed goes unpunished with people like this. No matter what way it is framed, Martha is not a poor little misunderstood creature, she's a monster.

Conclusion: Baby Reindeer, while an entertaining watch, just made me angry. It makes me think of people who are naive and are forced to learn the hard way. No matter how many times they learn, the lesson doesn't hit.

In It to Win It (2007) Background Cheerleaders (Part 1)

Johnny Cage and Kuai Liang Friendship

I'm gonna quickly bring up the past and appreciate the fact that NRS made Johnny and Kuai Liang have a maybe friendship with each other.

Even though Kuai is hostile towards Johnny, he still entertains him a bit. Compare that to his intros with Sonya where he eludes to intending on killing her.

In mkx he gives the kombat kids a test, specifically requested by Johnny. The fact that he not only has contact with Johnny, but agreed to it says a lot in my opinion. Of course, the kombat kids don't know this, but there's something Cassie says that caught my attention.

"My father always spoke highly of you, Sub-Zero. He wants to talk." - Cassie

"Talking. Always his first choice." - Kuai Liang

How close were Johnny and Kuai Liang before mk1? Besides being mentoring the kids and making sure they become great warriors, (edit) what else? Edit: There had to be more to it. Cassie says Johnny always spoke highly, which means whenever Johnny was telling Cassie about the events that came before, Johnny only had good things to say about Kuai Liang. Kuai in return, not so nice things, but in comparison to what everyone else has to say about Johnny, it was pretty tame. It just raises the question: How often did they talk? I theorise that Kuai could see himself in Johnny to some extent. Johnny remained to serve Earthrealm and is incredibly loyal to Earthrealm (especially Raiden), but was also all too happy to train his own daughter and many others (no shade). Kuai can relate with starting fresh and leading a new generation. Jax left the military, but Johnny stayed even though there was nothing in it for him to.

Kuai had Frost as his student, and I like to think they both have a strained father-daughter relationship. While Johnny doesn't have a strained relationship with his daughter, you can see that Cassie is some kind of identity crisis, having Johnny and Sonya's traits and having to deal with constant comparisons from anyone that knows them. In other words, they've both experienced parent-hood, with the child being reflections of the parent. Frost broke the mirror, but Cassie keeps it intact.

Also, both of them joined the tournament for selfish reasons. Johnny for his career, Kuai to avenge his brother. You could argue that it's the same for Sonya and Jax, but they were actively working for the military, while Kuai went against the Lin Kuei.

Now I'll show one of his mkx intros:

"Do you not recognise me?" - Kuai Liang

"How'd you get un-cyberised?" - Johnny

"The one benefit of Quan Chi's process." - Kuai Liang

Here's what I find funny. Why would he need to question Johnny about this, considering they've barely had an interaction in the mk9 storymode. (The rest of the intros are comically bad, so I won't transcribe them)

All of the intros Johnny has with Kaui Liang in mk11 are pretty chill.

Now compare those with this one.

"A good general is hard to find." - Kuai Liang

"What's that supposed to mean?" - Sonya

"Your soldiers are going to miss you." - Kuai Liang

What he mean by that?

"There's only one leader here." - Sonya

"Then prove yourself worthy." - Kuai Liang

"I proved that a long time ago." - Sonya

Kuai Liang (supposedly) respects Sonya more than he respects Johnny, and yet he says things like this to her??? Shows the potential closeness Kuai Liang had with Johnny in the old timeline. Kuai Linag and Hanzo friendship is great, but we were robbed of the idea of Johnny and Kuai Liang.

Kitana and Jade: Thoughts and Opinions

These are my thoughts and opinions on Mortal Kombat that a bunch of people probably won't care about, but I thought I should post them here. Now I will be using past games as reference, even though every character's interpretation/counterpart is different, they still play part to the canon storyline.

[Warning: I'm gonna bash the hell out of these characters]

These two are annoying. Up from mk9 to mk11, I think deep down I never really liked these two but found them cool based on design. But they always got on my nerves somehow. The first would be their hypocrisy.

They both like to point out the flaws of other characters while completely ignoring their own, such as pride and ego. It's also the way they talk to other characters. Now I know there's a difference between story mode and intros, but they show a lot about the characters. They both have a habit of looking down on Earthrealmers, and if they evolved from that then it's undermining them. Well, they do that with everyone, but still. Sonya beat both of them by herself in mk9 story mode, and still they have an attitude where they underestimate people like her.

I'm very certain Jade is racist towards people who are not Edenian, and insensitive towards the practices and history of others.

In mk9 she calls Baraka a dog after defeating him, and in one of her intros with Jacqui it's revealed she said something terrible. Then again, Jade says a lot of terrible things.

----

"I apologise for offending, Jacqueline." - Jade

"And you should study Earthrealms history." - Jacqui

"And you should be more forgiving." - Jade

Me: *Offended in black* This looks like Jade's way of saying 'be the bigger person', which is basically a way of saying 'excuse my actions and put up with me'. I don't trust people that do this because they know they are in the wrong but don't want to acknowledge it, and would rather go about their life guilt free so they would make the situation not look like a big deal.

Also, did anyone else notice that Jade and Jacqui are both darker skinned characters whose name begins with a 'J' and wear green in this game? Not important, but thought it was interesting.

----

"In the future you're dead, I'm a revenant." - Jade

"I prefer my fate to yours." - Baraka

"I must agree, Baraka." - Jade

Huh? You like being enslaved, Jade?

----

"You never could accept me." - Skarlet

"Your lust for power sickens me." - Jade

"Or perhaps it's because I'm not Edenian." - Skarlet

To be fair this is just Skarlet's assumption, but I figure she wouldn't say this unless she experienced Jade's discriminating attitude. I'm going to assume Skarlet grew up with them just as Jade grew up with Kitana.

----

"The unholy abomination." - Jade

"Greets the boot licking sychophant." - Mileena

"For Kitana Kahn, you will die." - Jade

Touched a nerve, Jade?

----

"Double date with Liu Kang and Kitana?" - Kung Lao

"In your dreams, Kung Lao." - Jade

"A simple no would've sufficed." - Kung Lao

I'm with Kung Lao on this one, she was unnecessarily mean to him here.

----

"How does Liu Kang suffer your foolishness?" - Jade

"Deep down, I amuse him." - Kung Lao

"Outworlders don't share this humour." - Jade

I thought you were Edenian, Jade. Also, I just don't like the way she's speaking to him. She's such a bully.

----

"You were Shao Kahn's favourite assassin." - Kung Lao

"I was his deadliest." - Jade

"How many Shaolin did you kill?" - Kung Lao

Kung Lao asking the important questions here. Jade seems to respond with pride, just sickening. Don't get me wrong, Kung Lao has his own share of problematic, but I feel for him.

----

With Kitana... I think it's more of an internalised racism to some degree. I know the basics of Kitana's upbringing, Shao Kahn raised her as his own but also turned her into an assassin (technically abuse), she believed she is the princess of Outworld. And then all of a sudden she finds out what happened to her mother and that Shao Kahn is not her actual dad and stuff- yeah, you get the idea. What I'm trying to point out is that Kitana must've not known about her Edenian heritage, or at least was not told much about it, assuming she grew up knowing about Sindel being her mother.

She grew up an Outworlder, and it's even shown in her ending. Shao Kahn was her father figure for the long majority of her life and she must've shared a lot (not all) of his views, like Earthrealmers being beneath them and how they view other species. For example, their racism towards Tarkatans. Just because she made a partnership with Baraka doesn't mean it changes the way she views their race.

It's like the American presidents altering the laws for black people all the while thinking of them as certain stereotypes or using them for their own benefit instead of just normal people. The racism towards Tarkatans is quite common, Sheeva says to Baraka's face "Tarkatans are all mouth and no ears." not "You are all mouth and no ears." She targeted Tarkatans specifically. [I might rant about this in another post, but I'm just using it as an example here.]

Kitana believes that just because she is merciful that she has not inherited his cruelty, but I very much think she did (his cruelty, I mean). In comparison Kitana just happens to be very graceful about it, or just has more of a mean girl approach rather than an evil overlord.

----

"I never liked guns." - Kitana

"Oh, they make you nervous, Princess?" - Erron Black

"They are highly uncivilised." - Kitana

Kitana tell that to Sonya, Cassie, Jax and Jacqui. You didn't say anything to them, but you're gonna say it to someone you're unfamiliar with. 

----

"You soil every room you enter." - Kitana

"Bloke's gotta mark his territory." - Kano

"Even Barakas more civilised." - Kitana

Why drag Baraka into this?

----

"Power corrupts us all." - Spawn

"I won't let it corrupt me." - Kitana

"I've seen this cycle too many times." - Spawn

It's doomed to happen, and seeing as to who her father figure is...

----

"This empire is beyond redemption." - Spawn

"Reform takes time." - Kitana

Meanwhile, children suffer." - Spawn

----

"Bring the Matoka to Outworld." - Kitana

"We are not refugees, Princess." - Nightwolf

"Pride blinds you to opportunities." - Kitana

Outworld is way more terrible than America, it looks like. Why did she think the Matoka would fair better in Outworld? Its also the way that she says it and the expression on her face, she's so condescending.

----

"Do you still bear a grudge?" - Kitana

"I beat you, so you tell me." - Sonya

"Beat me? I let you win." - Kitana

That smug smile on her face... Yeah, keep telling yourself that Kitana. 

----

"You are not the original." - Kitana

"First came my brother, Bi Han." - Sub Zero

"Did you inherit his evil legacy?" - Kitana

Projecting much?

----

"You've been harsh with Kung Lao." - Liu Kang

"There's no point in coddling him." - Kitana

"It was not your place." - Liu Kang

You know it's bad if Liu Kang is stepping in to tell her off.

----

"Liu Kang is committed to me." - Kitana the first

"I actually prefer his friend." - Kitana the second

"Kung Lao is not in our league." - Kitana the first

That same smugness. She's just like Sindel, wanting the 'strongest' man. Notice how she uses the word 'league'.

----

"Shao Kahn wants you dead." - Skarlet

"And you won't be the one to do it." - Kitana

"Always belittling me, Kitana." - Skarlet

I bet Kitana and Jade bullied her, I would not be surprised if they did.

----

So yeah, I don't like these two. Understand they were making her character either more realistic or a version of her that made sense with her whole upbringing and stuff,but I don't like these two and just wanted to vent out their bad qualities.

MKX's Kung Lao an essay

Notes: I originally wrote this in youtube comment section and decided to post it here. Watch Cynical Warlock's Rewriting Kung Lao video, its super interesting.

Kung Lao seemed pretty badass in MKX, and I'm talking about the old man version that's not seen in the storymode. I first interpreted MKX version of Lao appeared more humble and secure, no longer needing to prove himself as Liu Kang's equal. He even gave me the impression that he could be a mentor figure, appearance wise, whereas Old Liu Kang didn't give me that same vibe. Also, Kung Lao has a special hat that he uses as a weapon... How does he not outshine Liu Kang?

We do see his hat origin in MK1, so we can assume that it's similar to the past timelines on why he uses it. With that being said, he's great at coming up with random weapons, and very effective ones too. In another timeline he might be a weapons specialist, maybe even a maker. He even has another version of the hat that looks like daggers have been glued onto it, which we see in the game (I think it was a variant), and that might have been his first hat before he made a perfected version.

I think if MKX had better writing, then Kung Lao could've been brought back from the dead (like Sub Zero, Scorpion & Jax) and become another mentor figure to the combat kids instead of just being another yes man revenant who obey's revenant Liu Kang.

Both Liu Kang and Kung Lao were playable in MKX, they could've at least brought one of them back. Since they made Liu Kang king of the Neatherrealm, it would have to be Kung Lao.

Just as Sub Zero has a sort of friendship with Johnny, Kung Lao could be the same, separating him from Liu Kang on who they keep close to them. Personality wise, he's less harsh and strict than Liu Kang, and is more friendly, so I can picture him and Johnny having a friendship.

He can teach the combat kids that weapons can be formed from anything, basically ensuring that no one becomes a copy paste of their parents (Cassie & Jacqui), and has something unique about them, like having knives in their shoes and doing capoeira to cut the opponent or something (idk).

Just like Johnny, he isn't treated or spoken to very nicely by Sonya and some others because they keep mistaking his current self to his past self. He doesn't like it when people do this (I certainly wouldn't), but he is mostly civil with cutting remarks every now and then. Think of it as visiting a toxic family you've been in low contact with, and they occasionally make jokes and jabs about you copying your golden child sibling, and how you'll never be like them or escape their shadow. Even though you stand up for yourself, you're still seen as being bitter and jealous.

Another reason why I think Johnny and Kung Lao have a shot at friendship is because Johnny doesn't mention Liu Kang once, or anything linked to the past, or even his personality. Kung Lao is also said to "smile too much" according to Ferra, meaning he has a tendency to smile when he's about to face off with an opponent. Remind you of someone we know?

Here's how he can be introduced: The combat kids have a mission, however, the combat kids cannot go with weapons, at least weapons that are seen. In this au Johnny is with the Wu Shi instead of the Special Forces (as seen in my Havik post), so he sends the combat kids (mainly Cassie and Jacqui) to meet Kung Lao. The combat kids find out that Kung Lao, while still maintaining his teachings, has left the Shaolin and works as a weapons maker in some random town or city in China, and lives in solitude (a metaphor for no longer seeking the validation of others). Instead of giving the weapons straight up, he tests every single one of them. He ends up letting them have the weapons of course, and watches them go on their day.

MK11 made him so cocky to the point he was a Johnny Cage clone, and Kung Lao never struck me as the cocky type during MK9. It was actually Liu Kang that came off as egotistical to me, and the fact that he rebels against Raiden kind of proves that. Liu Kang went against a literal god. There's even an ending that shows he will be corrupt if he replaced Raiden. Earthrealm's champion, ladies and gentlemen.

I never viewed Kung Lao as cocky, so his MK11 version was a complete 180, and the fact that NRS continued that into MK1 disappointed me. Kung Lao is impulsive, but not always. He is capable of being reserved and calculating. While Kung Lao is also quite ruthless, Liu Kang is the hot headed one that refuses to listen to reason at times.

People make all kinds of jokes about Kung Lao and him getting his neck snapped, when Shao Kahn went about it cowardly. I'll elaborate by saying Shao Kahn snuck up on him, it wasn't face to face. In the words of Kendrick Lamar, "when I catch flight, it's gon' be direct". Shao Kahn is Drake in this situation, sneak dissing. When people make fun of Kung Lao's neck snap they're technically meat riding Shao Kahn.

I'm gonna miss them

I'm gonna miss this sexy black boy and the guy next to him

I'm gonna miss this sunshine

I'm really gonna miss mustard and ketchup

They definitely gossip to each other, and I know they were talking sh't about everyone at the tournament.

The What If timelines

I really wish MK1 expanded on the what if scenarios and timelines. We know of their existence, but we don't know them intimately like we've seen with Liu Kang's timeline, or even momentarily with Shang Tsung back in mk11.

I really wanna see more Good Shang Tsung, Quan Chi, Kano-Sonya and Janet Cage. Hell, even Ninja Meme Johnny. We never hear most of the other versions speak, we only see glimpses of them or just have them on screen for like a minute.

The fact that there's a version of Johnny that showed up in the final battle dressed as Ninja Mime means that he is literally a ninja mime, and I kinda wanna see a story behind that. Maybe being talkative annoyed everyone so much that it made him feel bad and study the art of silent kung fu or something.

I want to see some Janet Cage in a story mode, I get a vibe from her that she feels more inclined to prove herself. Is she the only genderbent version in her universe or is everyone genderbent? Is she trans? She's an action star, but she didn't want to be the sexualised female heroin or sidekick, so acts cocky and obnoxious to prove that she's more than a sex symbol, her ego as some kind of defence mechanism against the sexism in Hollyweird. But that kind of takes away the point of Janet's character (because she's Johnny).

I would really like to see Shang Tsung interact with good Shang Tsung, see how many versions of himself he can hate. Is good Shang Tsung's Liu Kang evil too?

Why does Shang Tsung have clones of Kitana if he has an evil Kitana working for him? Why would evil titan versions of the heroes help Shang Tsung? Wouldn't it be a hassle to try over throweach other because of greed and stuff?

Why are evil versions to begin with? What is their backstory? Cross-over characters... I have so many questions (genderbent ninjas, character with another's aesthetic for example: Lizard Queen).

We have evil versions of the characters, but no evil Johnny (except John Khaner). Missed opportunity to have an evil Johnny, could've made it a Jill Roberts situation where there's a timeline of evil Johnny that only cares about the fame because of some deep rooted issue. In fact, I've already mentioned John Kahner, I want to know how he became Kahn.

Back to the Mileena clones of Titan Shang Tsung, re-watching the fight I saw that they were all colour coded (red, blue, yellow, pink), so they have a rank or Shang Tsung cares about differenciating them so that they're not so much mindless killers that just do his bidding. Do they have other names? Do they all secretly want Shang Tsung's approval? Do they conspire against one another? Is he their father figure now that Shao Kahn isn't in the picture? Do they have a sister bond with each other? Is Kitana their mean older sister?

Now that our timeline has Mileena and Kitana as actual sisters, is there a timeline where Mileena and Skarlet are sisters? A timeline where Shao Kahn is a good, loving father and husband? I have so many questions.