That’s It.

I’m tired of seeing everyone repeat the same four points: “1) Nani gives Lilo to the state! 2) Hawaii has a better marine biology program than San Fransisco! 3) Jumba doesn’t get redeemed! 4) Pleakley’s not wearing a dress!”

Those are not the only things that were bad about this remake. You could easily tell it was going to be all that and more beforehand, but most people’s reaction to the trailer was “it’s surprisingly good!” and now they’re acting all surprised. If you didn’t see this coming, enough to purchase a ticket, you’re part of the problem and you don’t get the original movie any more than the people who made this remake did.

So I’m done being quiet, this is the Lilo & Stitch 2025 Takedown Post.

And as usual the only good thing about an attempted-remake is that it gives people a reason to think about what made the original so good.

Let’s go in order. But just scroll down to the Heading you Care About if you don’t want to read all this.

1. Cobra Bubbles

In this movie, Cobra Bubbles is a secret agent hunting for aliens and they have a new character take his place as the state social worker.

The Problem They Were Trying to Solve With this Change: “We shouldn’t have a black man or a government worker feel like an insensitive antagonist to Lilo’s family.”

That’s a stupid surface-level one-dimensional misread of the character from the original…and it wouldn’t have been hard, at all, for a child to explain to the 2025 filmmakers that Cobra is not an insensitive antagonist in the original.

Cobra Bubbles is not insensitive and he is not in any way portrayed as a bad guy in the original. Nani sees him that way, Nani sees him as antagonistic, because he’s the representation of Lilo being taken away.

But Nani is wrong about him and learns that she is wrong about him by the end of the movie.

Can we please make a list?

He still gave that pair of sisters three days to straighten the ship. When in actuality, in 2002, under HRS §587-73, (don’t play with me) the social worker would’ve been well within his rights to remove the child from the home right then. But instead he gives her three days to fix it. THEN

Do you understand what I’m saying.

Cobra Bubbles had NO BUSINESS being as BIG A SOFTIE AS HE WAS for all of the original movie. He was not only well within his legal rights to take Lilo away from Nani immediately, but he was actually required by law, it was his DUTY, to remove her immediately. But he didn’t do that. Why?

Now listen to me very carefully.

Lilo and Stitch is a movie about how “Family chooses to love and commit to one another selflessly, no matter what the other person can do for them or how hard they make it.” The fancy way they say it is just “Ohana means family: family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.”

Did you catch that? “No matter how hard they make it.”

Cobra Bubbles was a CIA agent before this. A CIA agent who saved the planet, by doing what? Convincing an alien race to leave them alone. Oh, he didn’t fight them off? No. How? He “convinced” them? He talked it out? Sounds like a pretty compassionate guy, for all his tough exterior. How did he do that?

He could’ve picked any animal that’s actually endangered. The filmmakers chose to make him the guy who convinced aliens to value mosquitos.

MOSQUITOS. Creatures that give nothing, only take. Ugly little bloodsucking monsters. That’s the creature he convinced them to care about enough to save the planet.

NOW do you have any trouble understanding why this is the specific social worker who would give an alien-infested dumpster fire of a dangerous home a chance when two sisters are about to be torn apart?

Do you see that Cobra is just another example of the grace that the movie is always talking about? The love that transforms someone from bad to good simply because it refuses to give up even when it gets nothing out of it? I’m repeating myself because I want you to see why he was a well-done character who NEEDED NO CHANGE.

Cobra Bubbles’ character is not an insensitive monster who doesn’t care who his actions hurt as long as he gets the job done. But you know who that does sound like?

2. Gantu

Gantu is not in the remake at all.

The Problem They Were Trying to Solve With This Change: “It’s going to cost us upwards of 1.5 millions of dollars to design, sculpt, rig, animate, and render a character this big in addition to finding a suitable voice actor to play the part.”

This is a really dumb choice for several reasons. A. Without Gantu, there is no “stakes-raiser” to Lilo and Nani’s story. The movie has no climax without him. For the first and second acts of the movie, it’s about a grieving pair of girls trying to prove themselves to a social worker while the story-equivalent of Beethoven the Destructive St. Bernard wacky Jumba & Pleakley antics get in their way. But when a 40-foot tall alien stomps into their lives and abducts Lilo & Stitch in a spaceship that careens around the island during an explosive sky-chase scene, now you have a high-octane, somebody-could-die climax.

B. Without Gantu, Stitch looks weaker. The climax gave Stitch a reason to come out of the wackadoo puppy he’s been posing as and suddenly remind everybody that he’s a lethal weapon who can survive thousand-foot drops, lava, and astronomic explosions—and a giant alien’s Thanos-dwarfing fist. Take him out and who do we have as a match for Stitch to go up against, even for a moment, and prove how much he’s changed to be willing to risk his freedom and fight?

C. Without Gantu you have no villain to reflect that STITCH is no longer a villain. (So they substituted Jumba.)

But the reason this character is really worth millions is, again, the theme.

I told you Cobra Bubbles was a character who did not put “duty” or even “convenience” or “position” over the real lives of Lilo and Nani. He saw that there was love there, and in his own way, he gave it a chance. And even when he chose to take Lilo away, he did it carefully; he gave them time to say goodbye.

GANTU IS THE OPPOSITE OF COBRA BUBBLES.

Gantu is the insensitive, uncaring, unyielding Captain whose commitment to duty turns into rage and cruelty. Not Cobra.

Nani thinks Cobra is walking in a threatening to tear apart their family in a display of government judgement. But that’s what Gantu literally does.

His first reaction to Stitch is to call for his destruction. Without even waiting to see if “it can be reasoned with” like the Grand Councilwoman suggests. He’s merciless. He mocks Stitch when Stitch is captive. And he knows that he caught Lilo, a human, along with him. He doesn’t care. He even suggests that Stitch eat her as a snack.

There are only two other characters who laugh at others’ misfortune in the movie. One is Stitch, the original villain. Then love changes him. The other is Jumba, who made Stitch. Then love changes him. But Gantu never gets changed. He’s only concerned with his job, and with personally annihilating the flaws he sees in Stitch.

Gantu is unyielding, ungracious, and cruel. And he’s big and powerful enough to be a test for Stitch to prove he’s changed. For the benefits he brings to the story, he’s worth 1.5 million and more. But they cut him anyway.

3. Jumba

In the new movie, Jumba is a villain through-and-through with designs on overthrowing the Galactic Council using Stitch, and instead of being redeemed, he’s sentenced to prison.

The Problem They Were Trying to Solve With This Change: “We can’t spend money on our real villain so we’ll just keep Jumba evil.”

The reason this is dumb is obvious. They created their own problem, and the ‘fix’ makes the movie weaker, not stronger. But here’s how.

In the original, Jumba is introduced as trying to self-protect. He’s on trial, and he lies. But when Stitch is revealed, he’s genuinely passionate about the thing he’s created. And he cares about image. He prefers to be called “evil genius,” and he hates the headlines labelling him “idiot scientist.”

You have to remember he’s part of “Galaxy Defense Industries.” They had him making weapons of destruction anyway. He just got too into it with his genetic Experiments, went a little insane.

I’m not downplaying the fact that Jumba is evil at the start of the movie. He is. It is evil to be outcasted from society and then respond to that with, “well, if they’re going to treat me like an idiot, I’LL SHOW THEM, I won’t care about anything except my passion for mad science!” That’s evil.

But it also explains a lot.

I said it in another post. Jumba’s whole utility as a character is that he knows who and what Stitch really is, better than anyone. He made him to be a monster who can’t belong and wreaks havoc on everybody else’s ‘place of belonging.’ Jumba is the audience’s insider’s perspective on what is going on in Stitch’s head, at first.

But when he’s redeemed, it happens fast. And why? Because that’s how plain and simple Stitch is, as a character. Jumba knows Stitch is a disgusting little monster with nothing inherently loveable about him, and no “greater purpose.” So when his disgusting monster is loved by someone? When his disgusting monster is willing to ask him, Jumba, for help? Something totally outside his programming, totally not what Jumba thought he’d ever be capable of?

That proves to Jumba, in an instant, that there’s love out there that transforms. And creates a place of belonging.

There were already germs of that, a desire to belong, a compassion, in Jumba after he reached earth.

My point is, Jumba’s redemption isn’t important because it’s cute or because we need to set up the big happy found-family trope everybody loves.

Jumba’s redemption is important because it is just one more PROOF that what’s happened to Stitch is so incredible. The love Jumba finds transforming his monster is enough to transform Jumba, too.

But sure, fine, whatever, make him a soulless one-dimensional talking head. Whatever.

4. Stitch’s Design

In this movie, Stitch is cuter than he is ugly, and he’s half Lilo’s size.

The Problem They Were Trying to Solve With This Change: “Ugly-cute doesn’t come across as well in ‘live action’ animation. And all the Wal-Mart moms remember Stitch as ‘cute.’ Plus we’ll save about 15% in rendering the animation.”

This is crippling to the characterization of Stitch.

Stitch is supposed to be an echo of who Lilo could become now that she’s lost her parents and may be losing Nani. This scene:

Where Jumba points out that Stitch has nothing, and destruction is his only purpose, is the evidence for that. But Chris Sanders, who made this whole story, also point-blank said it. Stitch is a future Lilo, if she loses her family.

So that’s reason number 1 that he should be her same height. But also, practically, no iconic pair of best friends, yin and yang, have visuals where one is smaller than the other. Especially not if one of them is supposed to be disguised as a pet.

The point is, Stitch is not LILO’s pet. He is her best friend, her other half. But between the muzzle-muscles they worked into his upper lip and the darkened dog nose and the butt-scooting across the floor, the remake is trying to make him more pet-like in relation to Lilo.

That’s not what he is.

I said this in another post. But Stitch is supposed to throw food to the back of his head like a gator—his lips are not designed for forming words. His gums and teeth are supposed to look like a shark’s. His nose is supposed to be too big, stamped into his face. His ears are supposed to be like bat ears, not bunny ears. He hunches forward, instead of bending at the waist like a toddler. His eyes can narrow to lizard slits.

He has to look like he can believably be a disgusting monster. Yes, he can also be cute. But he has to first look like a monster. Because that’s what he really is, in the story. If he isn’t, then LILO’s love for him doesn’t look as powerful.

It is easy to love a cat even if it scratches you, because it’s cute. It’s harder to love a life-sized spider that keeps knocking you down and eating your prized possessions and laughing when you get hurt. Stitch is supposed to be closer to the second one, so that Lilo’s love shines brighter.

But also, practically:

5. Lilo’s Personality

In this movie, Lilo doesn’t like weird stuff, and she screams when she first meets Stitch. There’s no problem that this solves. It’s just laziness and a lack of care about the characters.

I would like to remind you that the original Lilo:

I know that we all love that little girl they got to play Lilo, but if you were really being objective, you’d acknowledge that she’s a little girl. She’s not Lilo. She’s a cute little girl.

They did not write Lilo into the 2025 movie. They wrote any old little girl.

You should have known, from the moment she first sees Stitch and her reaction is to scream in the trailer, that THAT IS NOT LILO.

Lilo had a very specific set of characterizations. She was a character with a personality that exploded out of the screen. Every other character in the movie meets Stitch and reacts with disgust.

But not. LILO. She’s the only one to react to him like THIS:

She is literally not like anyone else. She’s doesn’t care that he’s ugly. Or weird. Or blue. Or even bat an eye when he can talk with all those shark teeth.

From Moment One, Lilo chooses Stitch. She chooses to love him. Regardless of what he can do for her. Regardless of how many times he pushes her over or rips up her house or makes her relationship with Nani harder. That is the number one thing about Lilo.

She is desperate for people to stay, but she chooses to love Stitch even though he’s a monster. And she tries to make him better. And her love succeeds in transforming him when nothing else could.

Lilo’s personality traits all mean something in the story. (I.e. she likes Elvis because she’s clinging to the past, she snaps pictures of tourists like they’re safari animals because they’re inherently people who LEAVE and she has issues with LEAVING, etc.) But the thing I think that was so obvious that the moviemakers missed for 2025 is she has to be weird. If she’s not weird, there’s no reason for her not to have friends. And if she has friends, what does she need Stitch for?

But also, Lilo’s personality in the new movie is just boring. Cute. But boring. Cute’s not that great of an accomplishment; any 7 year-old is cute.

6. Nani

I don’t think you guys need to know this. It’s not just that Nani leaves. It’s that “take care of yourself” is the exact opposite of the selfless message of the movie.

In the beginning, Lilo literally argues with Nani after being told she’s “such a pain,” and goes, “why don’t you SELL ME and buy a RABBIT INSTEAD?”

And then breaks down and cries at the thought of Nani wishing she had a rabbit instead of Lilo, later.

Because Lilo is afraid of people leaving. But Nani won’t leave her. Nani loses her job, her own life, because of Lilo. But she’s desperate to keep Lilo anyway, because she loves her. Don’t you understand? The message of the movie was about self-sacrificial love. A love that doesn't care what I get out of the relationship.

Nani starts it. But you know what, David loves her like that, too. And then Lilo transfers it to Stitch, who shows it off to Jumba. It’s a chain reaction, but Nani is spearheading it.

You realize that when their parents died, Nani already would’ve been in high school? With a whole life of her own? Her own friends, her own potential boyfriend, a job she went to, surf competitions (the trophies are in her room.) Lilo would’ve been well aware that that was the status-quo: Nani has her own life. And even a seven year-old can see that that life is being put on hold, but maybe the big sister wants to go back to it, at every turn.

The fact that Nani never does that, never expresses a desire for that, only ever expresses a desire to keep Lilo with her, is huge. It’s the core of the movie.

I don’t think that needs any more explaining.

We could talk more. Like about how Lilo needs to see that Stitch is an alien, because that’s the ultimate test: he’s one of the monsters who destroyed her house, he’s been lying to her and using her as a human shield, he’s a criminal—but she still winds up giving everything up to protect him.

Anyway. My neck hurts and I don’t want to type anymore. But we could talk about the music, the social worker, the grand councilwoman—it just doesn’t matter.

Ya’ll had more than enough details in the trailer to be able to not go see this movie because it was obviously going to ruin everything. But instead you chose to make this twisted corpse “the highest-grossing movie of any Memorial Day.” You bought tickets because they ruined a perfect movie and slapped together an uglier package for you.

Whatever. It was my favorite movie today, it’ll be your Treasure Planet or Tangled tomorrow. Keep riiiight on giving them your money, and keep letting influencers regurgitate the same four obvious facts to you over and over, because they paid Disney to make a talking-point for their content benefit. Whatever.

Just watched The Odyssey 2026 and my god were the characters done dirty...

Hate hate hate what they did with Odysseus's characterization like you cannot be serious. Who is Odysseus if not a sly clever liar (affectionate).

Now he's just some modern goody two shoes inner dilemma hero in a sea of them. They stripped him of his whimsy and cruelty both.

#NotmyOdysseus

There's not one moment in the film where I could go, ahh there he is Odysseus being Odysseus. Not one instance of him being clever, he's just lucky...

Didn't add the 'Nobody' scene but still made him shoot at Polyphemus which starts it all which doesn't even make sense with his characterization in the movie. The Polyphemus scene is supposed to highlight Odysseus's cleverness and hubris but the movie version of him has no pride!

Don't even get me started on Athena & Odysseus! Odysseus famously Athena's star pupil is not.... Instead she's haunting his guilt? Athena who famously interfered in the book to aid Odysseus like a lot... directly and behind the scenes.

In the book Mentor was actually Athena in disguise so I was so hoping for it to be her since Telemachus remarks multiple times about 'wise eyes' but no... it was about how you shouldn't see gods in people blah blah BORING!!!!

'Defy the Gods' Ah yes Odysseus famously devout follower of Athena...

I couldn't help but notice how dirty the female characters were done compared to their Epic counterparts and the erasure of Anticlea during the Underworld scene.

And I'd like to talk more about it, starting with Athena! She is one of the active players who guides both Odysseus's and Telemachus's journey. When Odysseus reaches Ithaca it was Athena who makes him look like an old beggar. Even in the final battle against suitors she deflects their spears to protect Odysseus and afterwards when nobles are angry Odysseus essentially killed their sons Athena steps in herself to establish the peace.

She is integral to the story, there is no Odyssey without her!! Odysseus only survived and made it back home due to her guidance and interference, removing her entirely is a disservice to the actual Epic being adapted.

And second character is Penelope, my Queen!!! I want to get this out of the way Anne Hathaway is in my personal opinion the standout of this film, she did amazing with what she was given. However that is to say, they didn't give her much. They cut off many Penelope moments that give us a taste of her own cleverness (making her a true partner for Odysseus) in favor of some simple status pin which isn't a good trade off imo.

The Olive Tree Bed moment was also not in the movie to my disappointment. A scene that clearly demonstrates how she tricks her own extremely clever trickster husband rather than some pin symbolism.

Circe and Calypso.... the less said about them the better though I hated their costuming.... Where were Circe's nymphs? or not nymphs since Nolan is allergic to whimsy even handmaidens? Circe is a powerful GODDESS 😭(Why was a raven/crow her sister? Was it supposed to be Pasiphae? If yes then I have so many more questions.)

I hate Calypso so i won't waste any words on her but its so funny that they made Odysseus eat Lotus Flower like lmaoooo you can't make this shit up..

I didn't like the costuming, the hair, the armor, the lightening either. I hated the look of Ithaca's palace and the ending like Odysseus... leaves Ithaca and his son after just arriving????

I also think it's so peculiar how Nolan didn't want an orchestra in sound design when the Homeric era didn't have that and then have everything else inaccurate from the armor design to the choice of modernised dialogue (surprisingly I didn't mind the modernised dialogue, not when the movie had larger issues).

Though props to them for making the pig transformation disturbing & sickening and not props for making Scylla lame ass design when her description is genuinely so horrifying, I believe the Odyssey could have been Nolan's first venture into VFX- nothing wrong with a little of it especially while adapting mythological creatures though disappointingly Nolan still clings to his practical only approach.

Also props for a good Eurylochus, making me side eye him and still making me feel sorry for him at the same time.

Side minor note: icky that they cast a black woman for Helen only for her to be abused and miserable when the source material makes no note of it, not a good look imo.

Also since they did deviate from the Poem of the Odyssey and included references to other Epic cycles, I wish they could have added Palamedes and Odysseus acting insane since I felt like the setup for it was there in the film with the scene of Odysseus and Penelope before war and it could be a scene to show again, his prominent cleverness that's direly missing from the film.

When the Trojans put a spear in the horse to verify, I had thought in that moment it was a reference to the omen of Laocoon and sea serpents would appear next but then it happened again and again and was just a tool to create tension.

(Again before anyone says Laoccon is not canon to Homer but neither is anything about the Trojan Horse except a few mentions in the Odyssey. If the sack of Troy has been expanded it would have been nice to see other epics being referenced.)

Why was Apollo the Sun God? What is this Percy Jackson?

All in all, if it was just any other standalone it would be strong 3.5 to 3.75 but as something that has source material an underwhelming 2.5 to 3.

The rating 3 is the average and generous because the film does look good so there's that.

Taking creative liberties in adapting an already existing source material is a thing but it's forgivable and completely understandable only as long as it serves its purpose to enchance the original material for a new medium but I feel like this movie changed the core of who Odysseus is as a character/person completely, erased his mentorship bond with Athena, erased his cleverness and trickster nature, whitewashed him and in the end the character isn't even identifiable as Odysseus anymore.

From Time Magazine interview that Nolan did it was noted that,

Which I think is precisely why he got Odysseus so wrong and this movie failed as an adaptation, the rigidness and the lack of letting go of realism to the nth degree.

ongoing re:dracula thoughts

srry gng for sudden disappearance, i was busy💔💔💔😭 will js drop ts (caejose for those confused)

Welcome! Hope you're having a good day!

This is an analysis of ThatMob's "Something is Knocking at Your Door" main antagonist: Verity.

"Helloo! I'm Verity! Your personal helper friend. Ask me anything, I know everything."

Off the bat, we learn of Verity's main purpose. He answers any / all questions someone might have, and apparently knows every answer.

The word / name "Verity" comes from the Latin word 'vertias' meaning truth or truthfulness. So, with that, we can assume that he's always giving true information.

"It's a mod one of my friends sent me on discord-"

Verity had a previous owner before Mob it seems? I mean we can't say this for certain, and it seems like his friend just handed him the mod during a casual conversation from the way Mob said it, but it's definitely a possibility

When Mob gets stuck, he decides to talk to Verity and ask him some basic Minecraft questions

"What sound does a cow make?"

"What sound does a creeper make?

But then, there is a moment when Mob's mind switches. He realizes that Verity can actually be 'useful' when he tells him where to find diamonds. Mob is skeptical of Verity's words, so he threatens him by saying "if this is wrong, I'm uninstalling you."

I feel like Verity is used to being used as a tool and only that. While Mob and him do have 'nice' conversations from time to time, their relationship seems transactional, even in the little montage that they have together.

Though, I do find it interesting that Mob gave Verity his own area within his house. Very cute :33 it shows that he did care at some point

Verity mentions that Mob had pizza the other day for dinner, which isn't something a normal computer virus could do (if we were to even call him that.) I would say he's almost omniscient? Like obviously we know that he knows 'everything', but I wonder just how far that knowledge goes outside of the miscellaneous

"Ehh... The villagers are gone."

"Gone like.. they dispawned?"

"Gone."

It's important to note that Verity doesn't lie here (as he said he wouldn't), he just doesn't tell Mob everything.

Despite Verity's warning, Mob goes to the village anyway and wanders. I believe this is the leading cause of Verity's eventual outburst.

Mob awakened something when he went inside that village. Verity immediately grows quieter when being asked about what happened to the village. Again, he doesn't lie, but he's not telling Mob what really happened here.

"Then what?"

"something that was hungry."

I believe that Verity was hungry, and it's pretty obvious he was, but outside of that I think Verity was trying to warn Mon of his waining patience. It was almost like Verity could feel himself growing hungrier the longer he stayed with Mob. I genuinely don't think that it's his fault either!

(also this is a small moment but when Verity jokes I think it's really cute. Not only because it's him, but also because it deepens his personality. He is capable of laughter on his own accord and I'm sure he wants to feel included in things like any intelligent creature would)

When Verity asks Mob personal questions, I feel as if this isn't just a way for Verity to know where Mob is, but distracting himself from his hunger. You can sort of hear the panic in his voice as the video goes on like he really can't control himself.

"Did your face just change?"

"No."

"You weren't smiling before."

"I'm smiling now."

OHH I LOVE THIS BIT. It not only shows that Verity is capable of denying his purpose (telling the truth essentially) but it ties back into what I said about him not being able to control himself. He's slipping and he knows it. He's trying not to worry Mob with his usual facade.

This moment here leads me to believe that Verity and the Monster are not the same person. They are two separate entities with something connecting the two of them together.

I like to think that the Monster represents all of Verity's past regrets and current struggles. It's hungry, vast, like a tunnel that never ends. It consumed him until he can't control himself any longer and gives into the guilt.

I need to make a separate post for the song because holy. I have a LOT to say about it and I think it is very relevant to Verity has a character

What I will say about it here is that after Verity plays that song for Mob, he warns him. It almost feels like anytime someone gets too close; close enough to form a bond, the monster snaps.

VERITY SOUNDS SO URGENT TO MOB TOO. He genuinely sounds afraid that this monster is coming after him. He doesn't want him to get hurt.

"Well, can I stop it?"

"You could've."

It's almost like Verity blames himself in this moment. If Mob never interacted with him, never got curious and never pushed the right buttons, he could've stopped this situation from happening.

"I've always looked like this."

"You just repeated— are you glitched? Verity?"

this is NOT Verity & I FEEL LIKE MOB KNOWS THIS TOO. He knew it as soon as he lied (which I think many people don't realize)

Our Verity does not lie in the video at all. When Verity started to frown earlier, he didn't say "no I wasn't smiling" he said "well I'm smiling now."

Our Verity doesn't lie, he just doesn't say the full truth.

Always the alarm that played from him was just the nail in the coffin. He knew Verity would never do that unprompted.

HE EVEN SAYS THIS IN THE VIDEO

"You're weird."

"I don't know what's going on with Verity, but he's clearly not normal."

"I'll have to talk to him tonight."

When Mob finds out that Verity was the one who killed those people, he sounds heartbroken. ITS MAKING ME SO UPSET

"Oh no."

"No. You have to be—"

"You're— done with this, I'm done with you."

And then, the infamous scene.

This scene is very important to me in terms of Verity's character. It seems like he's been fighting for control over himself ever since the alarm blared, and he finally gets to come out during Mob's departure.

I don't think this is Verity threatening Mob here, I think he believes it is fruitless to try and run away from the monster. He knows he can't control it anymore, and he doesn't want Mob to struggle the inevitable. He sounds so strained and stressed 💔

"That won't help."

"I'm going to my lookout."

"I know where your base is!

"Yeah, yeah of course you do. You know everything."

"It's already over Mob! You are mine! MOB!"

On the night of the third day, Mob tries to go to sleep but is interrupted by a prompt that states "Verity is nearby." Mob talks about the monster and continues to separate it from Verity, but I think he feels conflicted on if Verity is actually the monster or not.

"It can't be here. It can't already be here."

"That's Verity's music."

And then when the monster attacks, we get this:

"No. Verity. Verity!"

He doesn't know what to think. Even though looking at their relationship, it was very transactional on Verity's side, I think Mob genuinely considered Verity as a friend in his own way. In his defense, any player would think Verity is just doing his job in the mod and take advantage of his knowledge the same way Mob originally did, but he saw more than just his knowledge.

Verity is more than just his purpose, but he is never given the opportunity to show that. His hunger & guilt consumes him until he is unrecognizable, and continues the path of self destruction that he's been doomed to take (for reasons we don't know.... yet 👀)

With the new video coming out, I'm very excited to see what happens next. I'll be sure to analyze that one too!

Hope you enjoyed lol.

Going to copy and paste my ramble to my friends but basically!!:

OKAY OKAY GUYS I KNOW THE STANDOUTS THIS YEAR FROM CHINESE ANIMATION ARE NEZHA 2 AND THE LEGEND OF HEI 2 BUT I NEED TO PUT IN A GOOD WORD FOR THE FILM NOBODY!!!! 🥺 🥺 🥺 🥺

Finally got to see it tonight (I am SO glad I live near a city with a big Chinese population so the film was still showing; I heard it only got to show in LA for like 2 weeks and it was during a road trip I was on so I was scared I’d miss it). 🥹

It’s an expansion of episode 1 from the short collection Yao—Chinese Folktales, which can be watched here:

Yao—Chinese Folktales Episode 1:

The film is focused on the life of the small-time yao that get no names and are basically henchmen in Journey to the West where they’re basically cannon fodder for Sun Wukong ADKFJSKFJSKSH.

In the movie, the plot is that the main characters (a boar and a toad) decide to impersonate Sun Wukong and his gang to try and be respected but also gain immortality, gathering two other yao to help them on their journey. 🔥

It’s a very funny movie but also pretty low-key—less flashy in terms of action than The Legend of Hei 2 and Nezha 2 and also sillier than the former but less immature than the latter!

It also has a very hopeful message and themes since it’s focused on the underdog and kind of more clearly reflects our reality (since the yao suffer from the hierarchy system and struggle to keep/find jobs).

I even forced my younger brother to watch it and it’s actually his favourite donghua film this year out of the other 2 I similarly forced him to watch in theatres. 😆

Here’s the trailer!:

Official MV:

Behind the scenes:

And kind of depressingly, we only have one video on YouTube reviewing it… 😭

But they really liked it too!:

Plus it has legacy too since it’s animated by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, which was practically responsible for all animation in China after the 1920s-1930s in the 20th century before China opened up in the 1980s, and they evidently have tons of important historical animation under their belt like Uproar in Heaven (1961-1964) and Nezha Conquers the Dragon King (1979).

Nobody even references SAFS’ work with the Journey to the West characters, along with the iconic 1986 adaptation. ^^

Evidently Nobody itself is not doing too hot in western theatres and has already left some theatres, but I’d encourage you guys to watch it in theatres if you can! It is quite a pretty film and it’s cute and funny and honest and subdued and heartfelt and adds a really fun new dimension to Journey to the West.

It actually makes it so that this story doesn’t mess up the JttW canon at all despite using a villain directly from the story, so it can totally be taken as canon. 🔥

My favourite character is surprisingly enough the weasel ALFJSKDJSKS. HE’S ANIMATED PRETTY CUTELY AND HE HAS A FUN LITTLE PERSONALITY AND ARC TOO!

(Actually all the characters have pretty strong character arcs!)

OH AND I ALMOST FORGOT TO MENTION THIS BUT NOBODY IS NOW CHINA’S HIGHEST-GROSSING 2D ANIMATED FILM EVER!!

SO YEAH DEFINITELY SOMETHING WORTH CHECKING OUT 👍