ONE PIECE's Portrayal of the Imperfect Journey of Dreaming Brings Resonance to a Common Theme

Following a dream is a common thread across fiction. Heroes often have dreams of achieving great victory, of finding a purpose, or of learning their place in the world. Sometimes, villains have dreams, too. Those tend to go less well. But in Netflix’s live-action One Piece, the concept of dreams is the central throughline of the story. Dreams are revered as tangible, powerful things. And although without one, a character is lost, a dream is not necessarily a guarantee of triumph. Instead, One Piece’s rendering of dreams focuses less on their completion and more on the idea that without a drive, existence becomes pointless and growth ceases. It is this spotlight on the messy journey of dreaming, and not on the destination or simple existence of dreams, that makes the series’ portrayal of them so salient.

‎Laser Focus: Nostalgia Trip – Power Rangers in Space

Welcome back to Laser Focus! This week, we take our first Nostalgia Trip, looking at shows and movies we loved as kids (or young adults). This time, Nerdist News Editor Ro Rusak has chosen Power Rangers in Space, which Kyle had never seen! They go into why it’s considered by many to be the best season of Power Rangers, why Andros is the most compelling Ranger of all time, and whether or not serialized storytelling of this kind works (or works better) today!

‎Yellowjackets Buzz: Yellowjackets Buzz - 205 Two Truths & A Lie on

It's a Yellowjackets Slumber Party and you're invited...along with Plato, Eric from The Grind, and Jack Kevorkian.


Yellowjackets Season 2 Episode 5: "Two Truths & A Lie" is full of twists, turns, story movement, and cliffhangers, and speaking of cliffs...well, you know.


Rotem Rusak (@Moondancer1626) from Nerdist joins us to discuss Van and Tai's epic reunion, Shauna and Jeff's hotel escapades, Natalie and Lottie's complex relationship, Misty and Walter's ongoing courtship, and what's going

YELLOWJACKETS' First Foray Into Cannibalism Is a Religious Transmutation

Cannibalism. We all knew it was coming on Yellowjackets. Right from the very first episode of the show, we were promised brutal consumption distilled into grand ceremony. We just didn’t know how we would get there. But in episode two of Yellowjackets‘ second season, cannibalism finally arrives on the menu, proper. In works of fiction, cannibalism is usually seen as a brutal and abhorrent act. Engaging in cannibalism threatens to morph the very humanity of those involved into something else altogether. And on Yellowjackets, the team’s first true foray into cannibalism certainly involves a transformation, but brutality is exchanged for bacchanalia. The act of cannibalism itself transmutes into a rite of religious salvation.

The Yellowjackets Cannibal Council by Yellowjackets Hive

Emily and Melanie spill all about the Yellowjackets Cannibal Council! The WHO, THE WHY, and some insights from Costume Designer Marie Schley. Plus, Nerdist News Editor, Ro Rusak, joins to discuss Yellowjackets characters as Fairy Tale Archetypes. Read her super insightful Nerdist article here. What a great spill about the hierarchy of the Cannibal Council, the animals and symbolism, and speculating on who's who! Buzz buzz buzz.

HANNIBAL's Caroline Dhavernas Reflects on the Brillant and Strong Alana Bloom

To celebrate Hannibal‘s continuing agency in this world, we spoke to Caroline Dhavernas, who played Doctor Alana Bloom. In the early seasons of Hannibal, Alana served as a kind of heart for the show. She brought a sense of human goodness into a world of great but terrible creatures. In the end, though, not even Alana could resist the siren song of Hannibal Lecter forever. And now, Dhavernas looks back on the complex fun of the role, Alana’s transformations, and what she took away from her time on Hannibal.

The MCU Fails to Create Meaningful LGBTQ+ Representation in THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER

On the topic of whether Valkyrie would have an LGBTQ+ storyline in Thor: Love and Thunder, Feige seemed very clear. “The answer is yes,” He said. “How that impacts the story remains to be seen with that level of representation you’ll see across our films, not in just Thor 4.” And the MCU stood up to collect the applause. The results of this promise to deliver a solid level of LGBTQ+ representation in Thor: Love and Thunder and across the MCU? Nonexistent. If anything, insulting.

This STRANGER THINGS 4 Death Isn't Noble Nor Necessary

Eddie Munson is a hero. He did not, however, become a hero in the last minutes of his life. He did not, as Stranger Things 4 implies, suddenly turn away from cowardice to find bravery when he chose to lure away the Demobats. Eddie’s death on Stranger Things does not enshrine him with anything. His heroism is much deeper and more nuanced than fighting the monsters of the Upside Down. Eddie has, in fact, been fighting monsters much more terrifying his entire life.

What MOON KNIGHT's Post-Credits Character Jake Lockley Means for the MCU

Like all good MCU properties, Moon Knight gives fans a final tease with its post-credits scene. And in true form, this scene introduces us to a new character that both casts new light on what we’ve already seen in the show and gets us thinking about what’s next for the MCU. Keen Moon Knight fans will already have guessed that Jake Lockley was lurking somewhere in the background of the show.

But who is Jake Lockley? And what does his appearance tell us about Moon Knight’s future in the MCU?

Who Is MOON KNIGHT's Hippo God Taweret?

In Moon Knight episode three, we met several of the MCU’s ancient Egyptian gods. But ultimately, we didn’t meet our true god MVP until episode four. Moon Knight then brought us Marvel’s version of the ancient Egyptian goddess Taweret, who came fully to life on our screens. In mythology, Taweret often takes the form of a woman with the head of a hippo. And the MCU has now delivered the goddess in all her hippo goddess glory, even keeping the detail of Taweret’s human hair. But who is Taweret?

POKÉMON LEGENDS: ARCEUS Finally Explains How Poké Balls Work

Although Poké Balls are some of Pokémon‘s most ubiquitous items, they have also been some of the most mysterious. Poké Balls have existed in basically every iteration of the Pokémon world. They have appeared in countless games, across the anime, and in the franchise’s films. These days we have Poké Balls and Great Balls, Ultra Balls and Premier Balls, Timer Balls and more. But Pokémon trainers still didn’t have the answer to one key question. How do Poké Balls work? Is it magic? Science? Or some strange combination of both?

The YELLOWJACKETS Characters as Fairy Tale Archetypes

On Yellowjackets, the question of the supernatural is central. Is it magic or madness? The show asks repeatedly. And, the answer is hard to parse. The introduction’s profane feeling combined with the mundane present timeline make for excellent red herrings. Viewers become anchored to beliefs the on-screen universe follows the rules of our own. And that feeling is hard to part with. But like Yellowjackets’ characters, part with it we must. While initially, the show feels like a realistic, albeit psychological, fiction, it is actually a fairy tale.

Why the Witch Calls to the Queer Audience

In today’s pop culture world, there is an incredible push to tell more queer stories. But despite these efforts, finding narratives that speak to diverse groups remains a work in progress. We still see things like “first-ever gay character” (for the five-hundredth time) and characters that allow platforms to talk the talk but not exactly walk the walk. And if the walk does happen, the vision of a queer person filters through a normative lens. Instead of a story that speaks to the represented group, a find and replace occurs.

The same story that’s always told simply gets told again, but now under the guise of representation. But the question remains, to whom are those stories appealing? In truth, no one. The normative populations that might reject queer stories reject the stories anyway. The queer populations who look for representation feel glad for the attempt but often find the stories lacking in the end.

Sometimes, though, representative stories get told without true awareness of that representation. This is the case with the generally popular witch figure. Though there are surprisingly few queer witches in pop culture, the narrative of the witch is, almost definitionally, a queer one.

How FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER Villainizes Trauma

“Is Bucky Barnes a victim or a villain?”

While the answer seems obvious to some, the MCU’s perspective is murkier. Fans hoped that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier would allow Bucky to work through his victimhood; a meaningful project both in-universe and out. But this does not transpire onscreen. Instead, the show turns the trauma that Bucky suffered into trauma he caused. The story retrofits a previously nonexistent agency into Bucky’s past as the Winter Soldier. Rather than telling a story of survival and recovery, TFATWS retcons Bucky’s history in order to more comfortably deal with it.
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