Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

The Nagini thing is particularly stupid, because Animagi (I'm pretty sure that's the plural anyway) are an established thing in the Harry Potter Universe, and as far as we can tell, it's not like McGonagall seems to be at risk for turning into a cat forever.

Honestly, I'm not sure why her being able to turn in a snake would be considered particularly remarkable at all, let alone be cause to be part of a wizard circus. While it's certainly not particularly common, becoming an Animagus seems to be something any wizard or witch can learn with enough study and practice.

It's like, is she deliberately trying to break as many of the previously established rules of her universe as possible?

Edited by megaeliz on Dec 14th 2021 at 1:20:01 PM

Nagini isn't an animagus, she's a "maledictus." Basically a snake werewolf, except that eventually she won't be able to turn human again. Still a phenomenally dumb idea, though.

Is that a Wocket in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

Even if we ignore how that contradicts previously established lore, it still doesn’t explain why actual wizards would pay to watch her transform.

Like, going back to the first book, the only students that were surprised when McGonagall transformed in front of her class, were the ones not raised in wizarding families. (jenny brings this question up at around 10:43.)

Edited by megaeliz on Dec 15th 2021 at 3:20:25 PM

The trailer looks alright, Warner Brothers in general knows how to put out good trailers even if they don't always reflect the quality of the movies themselves. One observation this trailer gave me is that this film series and HP in general need new blood, from top to bottom.

It's high past time they got a new director to do these movies, and whatever else down the road. David Yates is competent and a decent enough fellow but he has nothing new left to offer the franchise, the Fantastic Beasts movies desperately need some oomph added to them and Yates seems to have very little of that to provide anymore. I wish WB could/would find someone like a Taika Waititi or a James Gunn, or just somebody who's not worked on a Potter project who could come in and offer a fresh perspective and some invigoration.

Another big problem is Miss Rowling herself. Outside of all the nonsense that she's been getting into and spouting these past years she's also shown that she doesn't really have the writing/storytelling chops anymore like she used to back in the day. It's time to let other people play around in the world she created, new writers/creators and new ideas is what the brand needs.

I wish she'd just sell the rights and be on her way, sure some might say she'd never sell but everybody has a price right? I know in the current climate some people are like "fuck harry potter" or "I never like HP in the fist place" but I believe the brand still has potential, just needs to let other people take a crack at it.

Edited by starwanderer on Dec 15th 2021 at 4:41:42 AM

I mean, Grindenwald not caring about helping muggles makes enough sense but even if it is some sort of gambit or self serving lie, its still poorly explained and tasteless, especially in the context of the rest of the film.

Something amusing in how Rowling is trying to turn HP into a franchise akin to Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, and is largely failing at that.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."

As easy as it is to solely blame Rowling, Warner Brothers also shares some blame too. Their management of the various franchises under their scope in recent years has been all over the place.

It's such a case by case basis now in regards to the quality of their media compared to something like the MCU/Marvel Studios which has managed to turn out a fairly consistent amount of quality content over the years, people generally know what to expect from them and rarely get disappointed.

I mean imagine telling someone back late 2017 that the sequel/soft reboot to Suicide Squad movie would end up being way better than the sequel to Wonder Woman. It's wild time we're living in.

Edited by clockworkboy on Dec 15th 2021 at 6:32:08 AM

Tis the great art of life to manage well The restless mind

I'd love if Warner Bros. purchased the IP rights to Harry Potter outright so us sad nerds could go back to enjoying it guilt-free, but I don't think that'll happen. Judging by her vindictive behavior online, I bet she likes that people can't buy Potter stuff without also supporting her gross transphobic causes. She's even bragged that her book sales have gone up since she started publicly terfing.

Is that a Wocket in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

I mean, Warner Brother isn't *inherently* better. They're just a large faceless corporate entity that doesn't loudly proclaim it's bullshit and offenses on twitter.

I do find it amusing that, when the trailer dropped, literally the only conversation I kept hearing was about Depp.

That's it.

Not anything from the actual trailer.

Seriously what was this trailer? Blast-Ended Skrewts 70+-years before Hagrid (who's probably not even born yet) created them? Not only that, but they're common enough, that Newt knows how to deal with them? Eventhough their creator didn't? Dumbledore in the Room of Requirement? All a muggle needs to do magic, is being given a wand? Dumbledore in the Room of Requirement!? No Johnny Depp? Dumbledore in the Room of Requirement?

what is Dumbledore doing in the Room of Requirement!

New theme music also a box

Why is that such a big deal? Didn't he already discover the Room of Requirement when he had to take a leak that one time?

Is that a Wocket in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

Well that doesn't make sense. Joanne made it clear he was pissing in his robes wherever he stood and magicking it away.

Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.

I really hope Jacob doesn't turn out to be a wizard all along. Some kind of magical late bloomer. I really like that there's finally a muggle character that's A) not an asshole, and B) not a useless bystander.

Edited by ThriceCharming on Dec 16th 2021 at 2:44:07 AM

Is that a Wocket in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

Re: Wizards paying to see Nagini transform. It's not really that big of a headscratcher.

Anything any circus acrobat could do, most anyone could do with study and practice. We'll still go to the circus to watch amazing feats of acrobatics.

Any wizard is in theory capable of transforming into animals, but very few do. I don't see why it would be out of the realm of possibility that someone would find it interesting to see someone else do it.

You fell victim to one of the classic blunders!

To be fair it is supposed to be fairly hard to do. Also it kinda sounds like a fetish to watch people transform.

Secret Signature

@ Prequels and such:

I'd agree that prequels are not the problem. Harry Potter, especially, was for a time a franchise people wanted a lot of prequels for because of all the unexplored areas of the setting.

The problem is studios often don't really know how to handle prequels. Everyone wants a universe now, now that the MCU made bank with it. They want that sweet cash that comes with having a lot of movies and tv shows all branching out from the same marketable property. But most of the time, studios can't pull those universes off because they can't step out of their comfort zones and traditional approaches (this even hit Disney itself, despite Marvel Studios, with Star Wars).

Warner Bros, in particular, has always the problem of wanting to make prequels and spin-offs, but ultimately falling to the urge to make those spin-offs identical to the original properties that made them the money. The same thing they're doing with Newt and beasts becoming more and more another the heroes under Dumbledore vs the Dark Lord story is more or less what they did with The Hobbit, trying to turn that more into Lord of the Rings as the story went on.

"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.

The reason why these movies are under the “Fantastic Beasts” label is because Warner Bros has the rights to adapt the books but not the general setting or characters. So they went in a very roundabout way of “adapting” the Fantastic Beasts book and then redirecting it into sequels. They were initially going to be made without Rowling, but then she decided to contribute scripts.

I hope Grindelwald prevents WW 2!

:)

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.

Rather a shame cause from what I’ve seen people would have preferred a movie series about a cute nerdy magical zoologist having various wacky adventures all over the world with his colorful magical creatures.

Something perfectly fun but also low stakes so it’s not another save the world adventure.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."

Except he made it clear when telling that anecdote, that he was surprised by finding that room, and that he couldn't find it later. Not to mention that if he had knowledge of the Room of Requirement previously, then he absolutely should've been able realise that Voldemort had hidden his Horcrux there on the night he applied for the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, since it's only a few corridors away from the Headmaster's office.

Ah, that's right. I guess that's retroactively become another example of Obfuscating Stupidity on Dumbledore's part. When he told Cornelius Fudge that "It's Dumbledore's Army, not Potter's Army," he wasn't kidding.

Is that a Wocket in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

@ Prequels and universes and such:

Well those are just marketing gimmicks. Audiences will howl bloody murder if you remake a movie, or give it an unnecessary sequel, or reboot a franchise, or in any way expand on popular content. But if you say you're expanding the universe, or that your reboot actually lies elsewhere in the multiverse, you get a cottage industry that will do the marketing for you, and berate anyone who isn't fully versed in The 'Verse.

This also explains the title discussion upstream in this thread. It's clear that Rowling mainly wanted to tell the story of Dumbledore and Grindelwald, and could only get the greenlight from WB conditioned on tying it to preexisting IP (besides the general "Harry Potter" branding). In this case, her Fantastic Beast textbook, presumably because it's publishing could be set in the right time period for Grindelwald's rise to power (in way Quidditch Through the Ages and Tales of the Beedle the Bard can't).

Newt being the focus increasingly seems, to me, like the dark horse subplot, and is only being kept around because of his surprise popularity in the first film.

Edited by Readersprite on Dec 23rd 2021 at 11:47:49 AM

I like talking to friends about stories over food.

I also wish Kowalski doesn't turn out to be a wizard, I think the relationship between muggles and wizards could be explored a lot more in the universe in the perspective of the former group.

oh hey how are you doing?

Well, we don't really know the circumstances of exactly how he gets the wand to begin with. Plus, with the Scourers being a thing, maybe he could be descended from those, hence the magical blood.

Edited by theLibrarian on Dec 30th 2021 at 11:47:51 AM

That is the face of a man who just ate a kitten. Raw.