#and wow! there is almost no dialogue and NO NARRATION BOXES??

[cluescorner]

There's no feeling stranger than knowing that something is bad but liking it anyways. Not in a 'it's so bad it's good' way. Because that implies that it has become good. I'm talking like this thing is just kinda bad in the normal ways things are bad, but i like it anyways.

[mario8th]

Pitou Bricks Has Never Done Anything Wrong In His/Their Life

(I did these episodes, 131-133, a disservice by sandwiching them between Andor S1 and S2)

Well, it happened again. I spent another entire episode of Hunter X Hunter with my mouth agape. I think the first time was also somewhere during the Ant arc. This arc has got the juice. And that Gon/Pitou stuff is Really Juicy.

But part way through I started thinking: is it actually good? The thing Gon did initially was visually brilliant. His body being fully consumed by darkness (as teased by the intro SO many weeks ago) felt so earned, and later when we learned the sacrifice it took made the entire event feel justified and grounded. And the Animation! The dark nen steaming off of Gon, his darkened silhouette, the Gon Killua scene!?!? Its always rewarding when animation teams get the chance to do something different from the usual style, especially when it's coming off of roughly 130 artistically consistent ones. Yeah they've pulled it a couple times with the King recently, but it hits so hard when it's about our poor sad boy. And the music! Being who knows how many "seasons" into the show now, the music team has had so much to play with. So much so that for most of the arc they've almost exclusively reused older tracks. Now it's become apparent that it was to make these large moments, previously with the King and Netero, and now Gon and Pitou, have their own unique tracks to back these larger than life moments.

But the thing he did was kinda meh to me. Like yeah, it's inverse Bisky (although Gon doesn't know Bisky does that). With his stupid Doug Dimmadome hair. His JoJo esque proportions. But his voice actor is just speaking a bit lower and grumpier! I understand what Togashi was doing (he did very similar things in YYH for instance) and while I Love the inciting incidents, and I love the cost of doing it, I just don't love how It looks.

Another thought I had while watching was, gosh darn it I wish it didn't take this long to get here. Like this payoff (aside from my aforementioned complaints) is excellent. But it took SO LONG. There was so much good in the chimera ant arc, but now that we're basically at the end, I can't help but feel it could've been cut down by a bit. Trimmed up the powerpoints. Integrated them into the action for once. Pulled back on some of the story segments. And as much as I love the narrator, sometimes he could be a bit verbose. Segments like in 130 where his and Pitous dialogue are interwoven are good, but sometimes it's shorter to have a character say something with intention then to have the narrator describe every meticulous detail of the situation, including describing said characters inner monologue. And again, I am a Narrator Defender! Of course, it could've gone wrong. I know a bit too much was cut out from Greed Island which made the pacing a bit off, and that could've happened with Ants too. But I think what I'm actually saying is Maybe Togashi himself needs a tighter editor/co-writer.

130 was a great episode in a great arc that I've consistently been amazed by, in a show that has dragged just a little bit too much in the lead up to it.

Anyway, 132 and 133 are pretty cool too. Guess the King and Guards have Rose cancer. Whomp Whomp! I do really wish Welphin's whole deal was set up much earlier in the show, preferably before any of the NGL got eated, but aside from that I'm enjoying his characterization. Shoving the girl in a box is really funny. Youpi going out off screen is also really funny, and somehow one of the more gratifying ant deaths. It is going to be Fascinating if we get to the end of this arc and have Zero* Extermination team deaths. As far as main (human-side) protagonists, the only confirmed kill has been Kite*! An overall complete victory! *Chairmen Netero exempt because he sucks

We're not only at the end of the ant arc, but it looks like there's only 15 episodes left in the show! Wow! Unless there's more Gon stuff, I feel like it'll be mostly smooth sailing till the end (of the ant arc). Looking forward to how it all warps up!

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[catboyebooks]

so we pause for scoring (i fucked up on a couple sections, but my worst score on a section was 69 points... Nice) and then it's time for everyone to press the buttons on their podiums to start the shutdown. the group talks about how this isn't the end, just the beginning, and this is definitely funnier in japanese because we have people here named owari (ending) and hajime (beginning). hinata also says something about how "we are the ones who are going to create" which i wanna highlight because the kanji he writes his first name with (創) is in the verb "to create" (創る/tsukuru).

and then usami shows back up, her moderator powers restored. she pins AI!junko's hands down using her "magic," slams junko's head into the ground to stun her, fully immobilizes her, and then she just shatters into pieces. all that's left is her phone, which is still displaying junko's image, allowing her to deliver a little dying speech. i don't think she has an audience for it, though, the shutdown is already starting and the sdr2 survivors and the dr1 trio are now in the process of getting booted out of VR. sounding very bored, junko is like wow this is soooo much despair, how fun. she says once you've experienced the kind of despair she has, there's no turning back, implying she feels she sort of already peaked and doesn't have anywhere to go from here. unlike the last game, where she went to her death eagerly, this time she knows she's beat. she gets in one last "this is soooo despair-inducing" and then the phone goes dead.

we cut to the dr1 trio (this is a CG, the background is abstract, but i take it from general context that they can't see the trial room or the sdr2 group anymore) talking about what just happened. they didn't count on usami showing back up, they didn't think that was possible. none of them seem quite sure to make of what's just happened, but naegi says at least they avoided the outcome junko wanted and fought for their own. togami brings up how uncertain their future is, but kirigiri says all they can do is leave it to the group. the simulation is shutting down, there's nothing more they can do to help. naegi says they don't need to anymore. the screen goes white as the future foundation members return to the real world.

we cut back to the group, standing inside the ring of debate podiums. the game world is glitching and rapidly falling apart around them, like they're on a little island in a sea of computer code. sonia says, hey, sorry to bother everybody, but even if we wake up not remembering all of this... it'll still have meaning, right? souda says he doesn't know how to explain it, but he agrees with her, he thinks it will. kuzuryuu gently ribs him for being bad at explaining things and they banter a little bit. it's sweet. hinata interrupts to say time is almost up, and souda admits that he's pretty scared. sonia says she is too. owari says it's fine to be scared, it makes sense, right? the little nidai bot agrees with her and yells "that's the future!"

as the screen begins to turn white and the glitching gets heavier, the group all vows that they aren't going to forget each other.

we get a bit of internal narration from hinata — it's been a while since there was any. he thinks again that this isn't the end, just the beginning. yes, he's scared, he can't help feeling scared, but... and then he finally says "thank you, nanami" aloud.

the camera pulls back, away from hinata, and the screen fades to white. while we can't see her and the dialogue box doesn't attribute this dialogue to her, it's nanami's voice that responds. she thanks hinata in return and says she'll never ever forget about them. she'll be cheering them on from now on, from somewhere. they'll always be friends.

we get the end chapter screen at this point, which helpfully tells us "this is the end." i don't remember, but surely there's some manner of epilogue? there's always some manner of epilogue

[fictionissocialinquiry]

FISI’s Favourite Zutara Fics

A lil late for ZFAW’s Saturday prompt, sorry about that! Haven’t had any internet over the weekend. But better late than never!

I’m not gonna lie… a lot of these are angsty af. But I promise you they’re not gratuitous angst! They’re well written, beautiful stories that will make you feel like a better person for having read them. These are my favourite all time fics, ones I’ve read more than once and will continue to read (even though I’m taking a week break from fandom and fic).

 Multi-Chaptered Fics

The Sparrowkeet Series by audreyii_fic

To be honest, this story’s summary doesn’t do it justice so I ain’t including it. Originally a one shot, Sparrowkeet is headcanon for me now. Move over canon, this is where it’s at. Audreyii_fic’s characterisation, world building, and writing is exquisite. It’s incredible. She manages to channel the same fun and whimsical energy from the show while allowing the characters to grow and develop to places I wish they had actually been taken.

This one is a fandom Must Read and one I return to regularly.

 Clothe Me in Seasons, Dress Me in Snow by sadladybug

It is not the memorial she deserves, nor the one she would want. But it can't be helped. He owns no property in the other nations, and he needed to keep her close. Closer than she was in life, anyway.

Zuko's reflections on a life lived and a life that could have been.

This is one of the best written fics I’ve ever read. It’s tragic and deep and will hurt you in all the tender places but you would be doing yourself a favour if you read this. There’s a real bittersweet feeling to it and the love between them is just… urg, visceral.

 Lovable by LadyCharity

Zuko knew that he could not save Azula. He could only try to forgive her. Fittingly enough, those two were one in the same.

I love stories that make Zutara their centerpiece but every now but then a story like this comes along. A story where their relationship builds almost incidentally because the plot and character development straight up hijack your emotions. I got so invested in this story. Zuko is amazingly well characterised and his complicated thoughts and feelings around his father and Azula are incredibly well written!

 One Shots

Lunar Ephemerality by @formerlygoldilocks (goldilocks23)

After multiple failed attempts on his life and years of self-set expectations, Fire Lord Zuko is a shell of the man he used to be. But Katara won't turn her back on those who need her.

I really didn’t expect this to hit as hard as it did. This straight up snuck up on me, fly-kicked my feelings, and by the end I had written an 800 word comment that was too big for AO3 and I had to contact the author directly to send it to her. Awkward. I couldn’t help myself. The side to Katara we see here is so good, her empathy and love for her friends are one of the things I love seeing most in AtLA fanfic. I’m a sucker for Zuko having complete breakdowns and having to piece himself back together too. So sue me. I like it when they suffer a lil bit. The writing is absurdly good and I will be keeping an eye out for any new stories by goldilocks23!

 31 Minutes by @ifyouwereamelodymeg

It's quite astounding, really, how quickly she's learned to translate him. They've spent a grand total of zero time together outside of training, and he's hardly big on chat so she knows next to nothing about his life.

But she knows him, probably better than she knows anyone at the moment – with every tap of his fingers, every crook of his lips, every turn in his voice, he just...

He makes sense to her. It's weird.

I’m a sucker for fic writers playing with style to make the story pop and boyo does this fic deliver. This is one of the rare times that I’ve been dumbstruck at the end of a story— I just couldn’t accept the ending. Because I’m a sucker for pain, (and this story will bring The Pain) I loved it. The ease of Zuko and Katara’s growing relationship in this bowls you over, it’s absolutely beautiful and you find yourself nodding along emphatically when Zuko calls himself an idiot for waiting… “Life’s short, kids, live each moment as though it could be your last,” says this fic as it pulls my heart out and dropkicks it off a cliff.

 i count to five (and life passes by) by @markedmage

Five heartbeats.

I still haven’t forgiven Mage for this one. I think it’s the best thing she’s written to date! I mean, tragic and painful and heart-rending but holy shit is it powerful <3

 The Lake of the Dismal Swamp by @thewhiitelotus

Spook af. Spook (horror) is real hard to do well but thewhiitelotus is coming for your goosebumps and those shivers down your spine. She has a way of balancing beautiful, evocative imagery with action (in this and other stories of her) that just keeps you reading!

 Calloused by @rideboldlyride

Iroh hadn’t been able to watch. The pure horror of a man - a father- burning their child for a slight infraction... He couldn’t do anything to stop it, but he will stop his brother from destroying entirely the kind boy he knew Zuko could be.

This is a painfully underappreciated fic for how great the characterisation is. I know we in the zutara fandom tend to not read stories that aren’t Zuko/Katara centric as often but do yourself the favour of reading this (or listening to it: RideBoldlyRide has done us the gift of recording a podfic for this and it’s stupidly *good*). This story is Iroh confronting Ozai just after he burns Zuko’s face and it kicks.

 four days and three nights by @hinaoyamas (lettersfromnowhere)

Zuko discovers firsthand that nothing is more fleeting than happiness, or more enduring than memory.

Do you like reading stories with a distant, omniscient narrator? The kind that read like a myth from the ancient world? Welp, hit the hyperlink, friend, cause this one’s for you. Not only is the writing exquisite but the characterisation and painful inevitability of the plot is grade A.

 For the Fire Nation by tullyblue12

He falls in love with her for his country before he falls in love with her for himself. A Zuko/Katara AU that explores how love and duty aren’t always mutually exclusive.

There are about 40,000 exquisite lines in this story but here is just one of my favourites: “He falls in love with her for his country first. That’s what his people never understand.” This fic says a lot with so few words, which is something I really look up to! In 2,800 words, tullyblue12 does what some 100,000k fics cant: They make you feel.

 Guide Me Home by Rashaka

To sleep, perchance to dream. Katara and Zuko find a friendship they never expected in a place that seemed impossible.

This is a one shot I will forever wish for a continuation of. The setup is just… so juicy. There’s a real sorrowful innocence to this story that the unique short, dialogue only scenes really punch home. I know some people don’t like dialogue only fics but when done well like in this one, it leaves you with the impression of something deeper than a 1,185 word fic has any right to! 

 Other Favourites!

Hopeless by tullyblue12 — Kids grow up fast when a cruel world awaits them. In times of hopelessness, Katara and Zuko grow together. In times of separation, they hope to see each other again.

Speechless by goldilocks23 — Zuko has a medical condition. Or: Zuko speaks in haiku at inappropriate times.

Don’t Follow Me Down by eleventy7 — Katara is the dread queen of the underworld, ruler of the dead, destined to reign her cold kingdom alone. Until a sun god catches her eye. A Hades/Persephone retelling with incredible writing.

I Don't Speak Meow Language by @botherkupo (Boogum) — In which Zuko adopts a cat and Katara just wonders what spirits she pissed off to deserve this fate.

I have the privilege of being friends with some of these authors (they know who they are) and am in near daily awe and gratitude for the works of free fiction they provide us, the fandom. And not just any old stories: Guys... Really good ones!! Can I ask that if you go check out these fics, can you just drop a kudos or a comment their way? If you’re feeling shy just copy and paste this into the comments box anonymously: “WOW! Loved this! Thank you so much for writing it!”

I know it would mean the world to this talented bunch <3

[beetthereet]

an analysis on alice oseman’s writing in radio silence (only radio silence since i’ve yet to read any of her other books) because wow this human can wRITE:

(this will contain spoilers so don’t blame me if i did spoil you<3)

this will just be split up to sections because i have a lot to say and this is how i organize my thoughts best.

The way she writes first person P.O.V;

The entirety of ‘Radio Silence’ is written from the perspective of our main character, Fraces Janvier, speaking from a future stand. The entire story is written in a past tense from the perspective of an older Frances who knows what will end up happening, who knows everything.

From someone who enjoys writing, first person point of view is sO HARD TO WRITE. I was honestly mesmerized by the way Oseman wrote this book. Another thing about the writing is that the first-person point of view, truly made the story feel genuine and real. I don’t know what was Alice Oseman’s age while writing this book but it honestly feels like such a true experience of a 17-18 year old who goes a huge change in her life and doesn’t really know what to do with herself, and then finds something she’s passionate about. Truly passionate. It just really feels genuine and true and so I wanted to point it out.

The way the plot builds up;

I think, one of the main reasons Radio Silence is a comforting and fun book that many people enjoy reading _and _rereading, is because of the way the plot is built. Because the book is written in the point of view of Frances, in first person, she describes the plot of the book like she experienced it. It was getting to know someone from ‘saving his drunk ass in a pub’ to ‘this is my very close friend that I truly cherish and don’t want to lose’. And because of that, the entire feel to the plot up to when the universe city fandom figures out that Frances is Toulouse and through that, that Aled is the person behind the anonymous podcast, is so... organic in a way. 

The way this book is written truly makes you feel like you’re a little speck of dust in the air, looking down at these two absolute nerds slowly become so close. You have fun with them, you laugh with them, you get shocked with them, you feel with them. You feel with Frances throughout the book in its entirety. Feeling with these characters as they slowly build their friendship is what makes the big blow when tumblr (and the internet) find out Aled’s identity. An identity he wanted to keep secret. He needed to keep that secret. Because there he could be anyone he wanted. He didn’t need to think of what X, Y or Z would think about him after he said this or that. It was his space. And through Frances, we learn that. And we learn how much it matters to him. And like Frances, we want Aled to have this space. To have this bubble. 

And as the plot moves forward from that big blow of that tumblr post revealing who Radio is (aka, Aled), we feel with Frances and for her. Because after the action of some anonymous user on the internet, she lost her closest friend at the time. She lost a person she cared so much for. And that is emphasized so well when Aled snaps at Frances outside the pub. When he yells and shouts and says things until Raine takes Frances away. And we feel so bad, with Frances. Because Aled lost his bubble, Frances lost her friend and her safe space, and everyone lost something from the situation. 

This is brilliantly brought to light even more with the ‘Childhood Kisses’ episode, where we finally see Daniel talking. We see how bad and heartbroken he feels, and we feel so bad for him because he doesn’t deserve this. None of the main cast of characters did. 

And so, Alice Oseman made us feel for her characters. From Aled, to Frances, to Daniel, to Crays, to Raine. We feel for the characters because we care for them.

The stakes;

The stakes in Radio Silence are directly tied into my last point — the way that the plot was built up. Because, if we hadn’t seen Frances and Aled build their friendship like we did we would’ve never cared about how Aled snapped at Frances. We wouldn’t have had any connection to him, and I mean yeah, losing a friend is hard, but if we hadn’t seen that the personal level of empathy to both Frances and Aled would’ve been lacked in this situation.

This is also very well seen in both the time Aled was struggling to keep his identity a secret and the time Carol almost took Aled with her on the train from uni (at the very end). We know Aled and we know how important it is for him to 1) have universe city, 2) be able to keep universe city a secret from the world and his mom specifically, and 3) not go “home” with her because that’s dangerous for him. If we hadn’t seen Aled and Frances grow close (as I’ve mentioned before), these situations would have had no emotional affect on the reader because you wouldn’t have known Aled.

Basically Alice did an amazing job, I’m in awe<33

Alice Oseman will have you falling for each and every one of her plot twists;

In the entirety of the book Alice has planted multiple little ‘traps’ for you, the reader. These ‘traps’ are just pieces of information that are never confirmed to be true, but are assumed to be based on what we know from Frances and the story so far.

Examples; the whole ‘who is February Friday ordeal’, wtf is going on with Aled and Daniel’s relationship, what’s going to be Frances and Alex’s relationship status, whether Aled was going home or not, and so much more because she is good with this shit.

Using the correct tone to convey whatever she wants to, Alice Oseman managed to keep the reader at the edge of their seat, making them think “oh this is so obvious! I know this!” thinking they had figured it out when she is ten steps ahead of you the entire time. That’s such a smart way of keeping your readers interested and invested and she did it in a way that didn’t feel annoying or ‘ugh i didn’t get this right as well damn it’ but in a interesting and enticing way because the clues — and the solution — to the actual answer were and are right in front of you the whole time.

More on the tone of the whole book;

This book can pride itself on correct tone usage with its writing. Something I personally love to look for while looking at writing critically is the tone of the writing. Does the writing feel like this or that, specifically in dialogue or first person point of view. Does it actually feel like different characters speaking or thinking or narrating, if it’s one person, is the narrating consistent? And with radio silence I can say it just checked all of the boxes.

With every chapter I can feel the exact tone Fraces would say this in if this was spoken, I can understand exactly why it’s her speaking and when she’s speaking to her mother, or Aled, or Raine or Daniel I know who’s she’s talking to and why. There’s so much personality splattered through their words both while speaking (and in Fraces’s case) while narrating honestly it was so brilliantly done I was just having so much fun the entire time.

A little conclusion since I tend to ramble;

In her book, ‘Radio Silence’, Alice Oseman tackles the first person point of view as if it’s a piece of cake, builds the plot brilliantly in a way that makes you connect to the characters and feel like they’re just chatting and enjoying their time together while actually building a plot so nicely, and when it comes into play it’s so well executed, not out of the blue, just *chef’s kiss*.

Through the first part of her book, Alice creates stakes to further conflicts so well and so smoothly it’s honestly mesmerizing, and plants little traps, tricking you into thinking one thing without confirming it while the answer is right under your nose. It’s just so well done I’m gonna sob smh.

+ the tone usage of the entire book was superb.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed my ramble. Have a good day babes <3

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

Back at it again with my self-indulgent comic posts. This time! It’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #3, perhaps the most tonally-distinct entry yet, with shades of The Twilight Zone. 

Spoilers!

So, as mentioned, this issue is the most deliberate in terms of both its pacing and its tone, IMO.

What is that tone, you ask?

To quote Alex Danvers, from “Midvale”: Hello, darkness.

THE STORY:

Kara and Ruthye are still looking for Krem Clues in the alien town of Maypole.

(Which is actually just Small Town, USA, complete with vintage 50s aesthetics.)

But the locals are clearly hiding something! So Kara and Ruthye continue to investigate, and they eventually discover what it was that the residents of Maypole were so keen to keep hidden. 

Genocide, basically. 

As I said, this issue struck me as very Twilight Zone; a genre story involving the build-up to a dark twist, all set against the backdrop of an idyllic small town. (Think, like, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” but instead of focusing on the Red Scare, it’s classism and racism.)

The wealthier blue aliens kicked all of the purple aliens out of town, and when space pirates showed up to pillage and plunder, the blue aliens made a deal with them: the lives of the purple aliens in exchange for their safety.  

Which is where the episodic story connects to the larger mission; it was Krem who suggested the trade, and then joined up with the Brigands (space pirates) when he was freed by the blue aliens.

The issue ends with no tidy resolution to the terrible things Kara and Ruthye discovered, but they do have a lead on where to find Krem, now, as well as Barbond’s Brigands.

KARA-CTERIZATION:

Ironically, it’s here, in the darkest chapter yet, that we get the closest to what might be considered ‘classic’ Kara. 

Which I think comes down to that aforementioned deliberate pace--this issue is a little slower, a little quieter. It gives the characters some room to breathe.

That’s not to say Crusty Kara is gone. Oh no. She is still very much Crusty. XD 

But anyways. A list! Of Kara moments I loved!

I mentioned a few of these in a prior post when the preview pages came out: I like the moment where Kara blows down the guy’s house of cards, and I like that the action is echoed later in the issue when she grabs the mayor’s desk and tosses it aside. A nice visual representation of the escalation of Kara being, like. Done with these creeps. (Creeps is an understatement but you get the idea.)

Another one from the preview pages: Kara explains to Ruthye that her super hearing won’t necessarily help her detect a lie, especially if she’s dealing with an alien species she’s not familiar with.

It not only reveals her level of competence and understanding of her super powers, it also shows that, you know. She’s a thinker. She’s smart. 

Amazing! Showing, rather than telling us, that Kara is smart! Without mentioning the science guild at all wow hey wow.

(Sorry, pointed criticism of the SG show fandom.)

Anyways.

I dig the PJs! 

And Kara catching the bullet! Not only are the poses and character acting great, it’s also a neat bit of panel composition:

We start with Ruthye’s POV, and then move to the wide shot of the room. The panel where Kara actually catches the bullet is down and to the side of the wide shot panel--we move our eyes the way her body/arm would have to move to intercept the bullet. Physicality in static, 2D images!

Also, like. It’s a very tense moment, life-or-death, but. Ruthye’s wide-eyed surprise at the bullet in Kara’s hand? Kind of adorable. 

I was pretty much prepared for the page of Kara shielding Ruthye from the gunfire to be the highlight--it was one of the first pages King shared and I was like, ‘yeah, YEAH.’ But, shockingly? The TRUE highlight of the issue?

Where do I BEGIN?!?!

EVERYTHING. About this moment. Is lovely.

From Kara holding Ruthye above the bench to explaining the concept of a piggyback ride, to telling her:

“I’m going to hold my hands here, and these hands can turn coal into diamonds, so they’re not going to let go. I’m going to keep you safe.”

HNNNNNNNNNNNG.

Ruthye’s narration--about how Kara had avoided flying as she was concerned it would freak Ruthye out--just adds a whole additional layer of YES, GOOD, YES, and her line on that splash page is great: “You see, all that time, she was worried about me.”

HNNNNNNNNNNNG. AGAIN.

To say nothing of the STELLAR ARTWORK.

And SPEAKING of that stellar artwork, Evely and Lopes continue to knock it out of the park. Each issue is distinct and beautifully crafted, a true joy to look at.

Before I jump into more of the art, a few final notes of character stuff in general.

Ruthye is the one most affected by the experience in Maypole, as she can’t comprehend how a society of people that look so nice and gentle and peaceful could have been party to such a horrible act.

One of the big criticisms of the book thus far is that Supergirl is not the main character, and I guess I can agree with that observation. Typically, in Western media, the main character is the one who goes through the most change in the story. 

And, yeah. That’s Ruthye.

As I was reading the end, where Ruthye sits on the curb and Kara hugs her, I was imagining how the scene would’ve played, had King stuck with the original idea for the series: Kara as the one learning to be tough/experiencing all of this for the first time, and while I think that could certainly work...

I continue to appreciate that King literally flipped the script; that Kara, especially in this issue, is like, ‘I’ve seen this, I know this,’ as opposed to being the one going through a loss of innocence.

*Marge Simpson voice* I just think it’s neat!

Because Kara’s been a teen in DC comics for so long--ever since she was reintroduced to the main DCU continuity, actually--so this is all brand new territory, here. Having an older Kara who’s SEEN SOME STUFF.

(Alsoooooo, since Bendis made the destruction of Krypton not just inaction and climate disaster, but rather, genocide, and the subtext of a Kryptonian diaspora text, the waitress’ derogatory comment regarding the the destruction of Kryton, as well as Kara picking up the bad vibes the entire time, suggests not just a broad commentary on discrimination in all its forms, but specifically allegorical anti-Semitism. The purple aliens being forced out of their homes and into substandard living conditions, then the blue aliens--their neighbors and once-fellow residents--essentially allowing the space pirates to kill them, making them literal scapegoats, Kara discovering the remains of the purple aliens, and Ruthye’s horror at the ‘banality of evil’...yes. A case could be made, I think.) 

(Which would probably require a post unto itself and a lot more in-depth discussion, nuance, and cited sources.)

(Should mention that King has brought up that both he and Orlando--the other Supergirl writer he talked to--are Jewish, and for him personally, that shaped his views on Kara’s origin story.)

I guess my point is that this issue is perhaps not as out-of-left-field as some might think, and just because there isn’t as obvious an arc for Kara, doesn’t mean there isn’t some sharp character work at play. 

(I could be WAY OFF, of course, and I’m not suggesting it’s a clear 1:1 comparison. I’d actually really love to hear King talk about this issue in particular.)

Anyways.

Here’s the final page, which I think works, because as I mentioned before, there is no easy answer/quick wrap-up to the story of Maypole:

THE ART:

I mean. How many times can I just shout ‘ART! AAAARRRRRRRRRRRTTTT!’ before it gets old?

I dunno, but I guess we’re gonna FIND OUT.

There are some panels in this issue that I just. Like ‘em! From a purely artistic standpoint! Because they’re so good!

Like, I just really love the way Kara is drawn in that top panel. Her troubled, confused expression, the colors of the fading light, the HAIR. 

Evely draws the best hair. I know I’ve said this before. I don’t care. I will continue to say it, because it continues to be true.

The issue I find myself running up against when I make these posts is that I really don’t want to post whole pages, as that’s generally frowned upon (re: pirating etc.) but with something like this, you just can’t appreciate it in panel-by-panel snippets.

(Guided View on digital reading platforms is a BANE and a POX I say!)

Anyways.

LOVE the implied movement of the cape settling as Kara speeds in and stops. 

And, obviously, Kara flicking the bullet away is just. A+. 

And the EYES, man. LOPES’ COLORS ON THE EYES???!?! BEAUTIFUL.

Also, should note the lettering! The more rounded letters for the ‘WOOSH’ of Kara’s speed (and, earlier, the super breath) work nicely, and contrast with the angular, violent BLAMS of the gunshots. 

And, I gotta say, the editor is doing a really great job of not cluttering up the artwork with all the caption boxes. Which is no small task.

(I assume the editor is placing them, as editors usually handle word balloon/caption box placement, but I suppose it could be Evely? Sometimes the artist handles it. Either way, whoever’s taking care of all the text, EXCELLENT WORK! BRAVO!)

Okay I think that’s everything.

Ah, nope, wait.

MISC.

Just a funny observation, more than anything else: Superman: Red and Blue dropped this week, and King had a story in there, “The Special” (which was very good, btw.) Both Lois and the waitress swear a lot so I’m beginning to think that this is just how King writes dialogue for any adult character who isn’t Clark. XD

This is absolutely a personal preference but when Kara was like, “And my name IS Supergirl,” I was like nooooo. I know King is trying to simplify all of the conflicting origin stories and lore but I LIKE KARA DANVERS, SIR. XD

It’s almost assuredly a cash-grab/an attempt for DC to get all the money it can out of a book they don’t have much confidence in, but I like the cardstock covers! Very classy, much Strange Adventures.

(OH my gosh, can you imagine that issue 1 cover with spot gloss???? Basically the only way you could possibly improve on it.) 

Okay NOW I’m done. For real. XD NEXT TIME: Kara and Ruthye go after Krem and the Brigands!

[red-sector-rivendell]

media reccs? 👀 since apparently you are a man of good taste?

Wow thank you 😏 I have a masterlist of movies that have changed me I often recommend to people, I'll just copy and paste here with quick synopses lol, it's kinda long. I'm not super great at writing synopses tho so bear with me

Dead Poets Society (1989)

One of my favorite movies of all time and a total classic. It's about a group of boys at a strict boarding school who are inspired by their new English teacher (played by Robin Williams) to think for themselves and chase their dreams. This movie literally changed my life lol

Quadrophenia (1979)

This movie is based off of the story behind the concept album by The Who of the same name. It follow the life of a young man named Jimmy who is in a gang called the Mods. Theres this huge gang war between them and the Rockers (I think that's their name, it's been a while since i watched it) and Jimmy questions his beliefs about coming-of-age and his values in life throughout the film

Cabaret (1972)

Based off of the Broadway musical of the same name, this movie is about a British man who moves to Germany during the beginning of the rise of Nazis. He meets a woman who basically turns his world upside down, and it follows their love affair and sexuality and anti-semitism, and it's hilarious and heart wrenching and a beautiful movie

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

This is a super trippy romance film. Basically in the universe of this movie, theres a technology that is developed that can delete memories of an entire person from your mind while you are in a dream-like state, and the main character of this movie (played by Jim Carrey) decides to undergo the procedure after a bad breakup. Its soooo good I highly recommend this movie

It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012)

This is an animated film about a man named Bill who is going through brain cancer. Its told from the perspective of an unnamed narrator essentially communicating everything Bill sees, hears, and experiences. This is the movie that got me into film and it is still a complete masterpiece and one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen

The Dirties (2013)

Loved this one a lot back in high school, it's been a while since I watched it. This is a film made in Canada about a high schooler named Matt Johnson and his friend Owen who decide to make a short film for their class about them killing the gang at their school that bullies them, and things take a dark turn. It's a hilarious movie and hits pretty close to home for me in a lot of ways haha

Logan's Run (1976)

Great movie, pretty cheesy though so be warned. This is based off a book with the same name, and it takes place in the future where most of humanity is wiped out except for a small society that lives under a domed structure. No one is allowed to leave the dome, and to control overpopulation, no one is allowed to live past the age of 30. It's really bizarre but I love this movie

Donnie Darko (2001)

Pretty sure this was Jake Gyllenhaal's first big hit when he was super young (I think he was like 19 in this movie but I'm not sure) basically about this kid, Donnie Darko, who is somewhat schizophrenic and has a habit of sleepwalking. After one particular incident he has a near-death experience and starts seeing a man in a bunny costume everywhere who makes him do weird stuff. Another pretty trippy movie with a crazy ending

American Psycho (2000)

Honestly I'm sure a few on this list you've probably seen (most likely this one included) but I didnt wanna leave any out because they're all so good. If you haven't seen this, it's about a Wall Street executive named Patrick Bateman who is a materialistic phony by day and a serial killer by night. I tried to read the book but the inner dialogue was really hard to get through lmao. Awesome movie though huge recommend.

Clockwork Orange (1971)

Yet another trippy one. And fuck it's been a long time since I've seen it so I might get some stuff wrong here. But it's basically about this serial rapist guy who hangs out with this group of goons and they all like to go beat up homeless people and shit, but the main character gets captured and has to go through reformation therapy to make him a better person. It's an extremely bizarre movie but soooo good and kind of hilarious lol

Creep (2014)

Of course this is on my list haha. If you haven't seen it yet, it's a horror movie about this freelance film guy who answers an ad on craigslist to help a man with cancer film a movie for his unborn son. And shit gets weird real fast. One of my favorite horror movies ever, I wouldnt say it's super scary but it's fun as fuck

Hereditary (2018)

If I'm being honest, I don't like a lot of big movies made in super recent years and especially not horror movies (mostly because they're all cheap cash grabs with no substance) but this one is an exception for me. Hereditary is fucking masterful in my opinion, legitimately creepy as hell and well-produced and well written. To put the plot as vaguely as possible without spoiling anything, it's about a family (mostly the mother) who go through some crazy fucked up shit. That's literally all I can say without giving anything away. Super good flick, big recommend

Gattaca (1997)

This list isn't in any particular order, and I love all these movies to death, but if I had to rank them this would probably be on the lower end. It's not a bad movie, it's still great but it's just not as life-changing as the other ones lmao. This takes place in the future where genetic modifications have progressed to a point where you can modify your unborn child's DNA to have the perfect baby. This has led to, essentially racial bias against those who never had that procedure when they were born. The main character was not one of these "special" children, but he wants an extremely prestigious job which requires that of the employee. Through the film, he is trying to fake his identity and fool the company into thinking he is one of these perfect people. Still a great film

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

Johnny Depp, man, he is something else. I LOVE this movie. Based off a true story and a book written by the man who lived it, Hunter S. Thompson, this follows the adventure of the writer and his attorney as they go on a drugged-out, psychedelic romp through Las Vegas with the original intention being to cover a story on a motorcycle race, but things go off the rails as they both terrorize the entire city in a way. Just a fun ride the whole way, a great movie

The Truman Show (1998)

God I'm realizing this list is long as fuck. Don't watch all of these movies, it might take you a lifetime lmao. Anyway, this is a classic Jim Carrey movie and another one you've probably seen. But again, if you haven't, this movie is about a man whose entire life has been fabricated and shot for television without him knowing. Super great, super moving, fantastic film 10 outta 10 I gotta wrap this shit up

A Scanner Darkly (2006)

A lesser known Keanu Reeves movie, but fuck I wish more people have seen this. This is one of my favorite movies of all time, and it's based off a book which is just as amazing. This movie takes place in the near future, where facial recognition technology has progressed wayyy too far, and drugs have gotten to the point of no return. The plot follows a detective who is undercover in a junkie house trying to figure out who is the top of the drug dealing totem pole, but ends up wrapped in the junkie lifestyle a little too deeply. Seriously, I recommend this movie to everyone who asks, it's so damn good

Fight Club (1999)

Another popular one. If you havent seen it, it's based off a book by Chuck Palahniuk following the story of a man (the main character actually doesnt have a name lol) who meets a guy named Tyler Durden who changes his entire perspective on how the world works. They start an underground boxing club together to help themselves and other men blow off steam and get away from the capitalist consumer-centric lifestyle they are forced into. Big twist at the end, great movie five stars on yelp

Harold and Maude (1971)

This is a weird one. Gotta say. It's about a guy in his 20s who meets an old woman at a funeral and falls in love with her. Sounds pretty ok at face value but theres a lot of really strange subplots and a huuuuge twist at the end (one of the subplots being the guy compulsively fakes his suicide to get his mother's attention) big recommend

Polyester (1981)

This one I cant even explain u just have to watch it its fucking bizarre

Fargo (1996)

Ok lightning round on the synopses, this movie is about a man who wants to commit fraud by hiring guys to kidnap his wife so her father can pay them ransom and instead the husband gets the money but everything goes wrong it's really good

Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)

Another modern movie I actually like, last time I watched this I was on shrooms and it was crazy but it's about this hotel right on the border of california and (Nevada I think?) And all these weird people are staying at it and there are twists at every turn and chris hemsworth is a cult leader in it its great

Memento (2000)

GREAT MOVIE GOD PLEASE WATCH THIS ONE it's about a man who develops short term memory loss after witnessing the rape and murder of his wife AND WHEN I SAY THERE ARE TWISTS LIKE EVERY TEN MINUTES I MEAN IT. The film is chronologically backwards, in that the first scene takes place at the end of the story and works back from there in increments of like 5 minutes. Basically each scene is a segment of time that this guy remembers before his memory loss kicks in and he forgets and FUCK it's so good please god watch it

Almost Famous (2000)

This is another one that would probably be low on my ranking but still a great and fun movie, it's about this kid that wants to write articles about rock stars for the rolling stone (based off a true story btw) and he ends up running away to go ride on a tour bus with some band and gets into all types of shenanigans and its great and sad

Parasite (2019)

Another modern movie I love, fuck this is getting too long lmao. Poor family wants to make money and they hatch a scheme to pretend to be bougie and work for this rich family but shit gets weird and everything goes wrong and it's so good (also literally the only film ever that made me speechless afterwards)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Pretty much lives up to the hype, I totally forgot the plot but it's pretty damn good I remember that lmao

The Warriors (1979)

Fun movie, theres a bunch of teen gangs in New York and the leader of all of em is like "hey we should rally all the gangs together and fuck up the cops so we can rule this city" but then he gets shot by someone in the crowd and the gang The Warriors gets blamed so the whole movie is them running from all the other gangs so they can get back to home base and it's just an all around fun time movie

12 Monkeys (1995)

THIS MOVJE IS CRAZY it takes place in the future where a virus has almost completely wiped humans off the face of the earth so these scientists send this guy back in time to figure out where it came from so they can stop it from ever happening but obviously everything goes wrong and yadda yadda yadda it's amazing

Waking Life (2001)

Gonna preface this by saying this film is definitely not for entertainment, it's kind of an arthouse-type flick. It's the type of movie you have to think really really hard about to watch. The basic plot is the main character is stuck inside his own lucid dream, and is walking around listening to all these characters in his dream talk to him about, idk like the meaning of life and consciousness and shit. It's really good if you're in the mood for that type of thing.

Okay I'm finally done, you probably didnt expect this but I've been meaning to put my movie recommendations on this blog anyway haha. I deleted some just cause it was getting wayyyy too long. If u want a shorter list I can just give u like a top 5 in DMs but there u go have at it, every movie on that list is a banger I swear

[carnistcervine]

Cyberpunk Avatar RPG

Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a cyberpunk Avatar RPG?

[Image Description- A logo that says “AVATAR Neon Lights in the Eternal Night” “AVATAR” is done in a classic 80′s chrome style, and “Neon Lights” and “Eternal Night” are done like neon lights. Raava’s diamond dots the “i” in lights, and Vaatu’s diamond dots the “i” in night. The phrase is set over a starry night sky.]

[Video Description/Transcript-

A woman pants a few times, out of breath. She pauses, and hesitantly turns around. Behind her is an ominous tree with a creepy glowing orange object in it looking like an eye. We cut back to the woman who has turned around and is facing the tree.

Next we cut to a simple game scene where the woman and the tree face each other. There is some simple game gui displayed on the screen. A dialogue box is open.

“A strange tree in the middle of the room regards you carefully. You stare back into a glowing object in the tree’s hollow that you can only assume to be it’s eye. you become transfixed, gazing deep into the strange hollow as the soft hum of neon lights and the strange, heartbeat-like ticking fade into the background.

Suddenly, a voice emanates from somewhere. It is low, but commanding. It calls to you...”

Another dialogue box with a portrait of the tree and labeled “???”

“Well, well, well. What do we have here? You seem... different from the usual humans that bother me. Yes, you don’t wear that hideous outfit and you seem to carry yourself differently...”

Another dialogue box

“...

That tremor in your mortal core...

...

You aren’t supposed to be here, are you?”

Another dialogue box but with the woman and the label “Ember”

“...”

Another dialogue box for “???”

“Do not worry, I am not going to raise any alarms. Quite the opposite, actually. You see, I require your assistance. I have been imprisoned here for well over 10,000 years, and if that wasn’t bad enough, in the past few hundred years humans have come across my prison and decided to exploit me for their own gain. They’ve been draining me for hundreds of years. Please. If you consider yourself an ally of spirits, HELP ME.”

Dialogue options for Ember

“>[Ominous] “I don’t know...”

[Accepting] “Sure...”

[Mean] “Not my problem...”

[Silence] “...””

The ominous option is chosen and this dialogue box from Ember appears.

“I dunno, you seem pretty ominous to me.”

Another dialogue box from “???”

“So, I don’t deserve your assistance because you find me scary??

I deserve to be in pain then.

Wow.”

Ember responds

“That’s not what I said.”

??? replies

“It was implied.

Ember’s dialogue box:

“No it- Look. I don’t even know your name.”

??? now known as Vaatu replies.

“My name is Vaatu. I am an eternal spirit. I have watched the sun’s violent birth, and will be here for it’s burning end. I have existed before time began, and have played role in the shaping of the very universe itself.

My counterpart trapped me in here so she could shape the world without my input. The humans are draining me of my power and I’ve been in agony for centuries. Is that good enough for you?”

Ember’s dialogue options:

“[Kind] “You poor thing...”

>[Accepting] “Sure...”

[Mean] “Not my problem...”

[Silence] “...””

Accepting is chosen.

“Sure. Why not.”

Vaatu replies,

“So, you’ll help me?”

Ember’s options:

“[Accept Quest] “Of course.”

[Deny Quest] “No.”

>[Inquire] “What about me?”

[Silence] “...””

Inquire is chosen.

“That depends... What’s in it for me?”

Vaatu responds:

“Hmm... What’s that you mortals are always prattling on about? Morality?

Do it because it’s “the right thing to do” or something...”

Ember’s dialogue options:

“[Accept Quest] “Fair.”

[Deny Quest] “No thanks.”

>[Assuming] “Bold of you...”

[Silence] “...””

Assuming option is chosen.

“Bold of you to assume I care about doing the right thing.”

Another narrating dialogue box appears.

“There is a silence. Annoyance rolls off of Vaatu in waves. You almost expect the tree hollow to narrow at you.

But instead he replies:”

Vaatu’s reply-

“Fair enough. Help me, and you will be rewarded... quite handsomely.

Do you find these terms agreeable?”

Ember’s dialogue options:

“>[Accept Quest] “Sure.”

[Deny Quest] “Not good enough.”

[Tease Him] “I dunno...”

[Silence] “...””

The quest is accepted.

“Sure. Why not?”

The dialogue box closes and a pop up appears. Saying that the quest log has been updated.

Another dialogue option appears indicating that the player has chosen to interact with Vaatu again.

“Soo, how exactly am I supposed to free you?”

Vaatu replies:

“Well, ending the drain of my energy would be a great start.

Occasionally humans will come in here and check these strange electrical vines for anomalies. Sometimes talking about a “system overload.” It seems this would take their whole set up down. Maybe look into that.”

The dialgue box closes and the characters continue their idle animations for a few more seconds as the video ends.]

Like, that’d be pretty sweet huh?

Anyway, here’s a thing I’ve been working on for past couple weeks. It’s gonna be a long one, so lots of concept art, vids, and descriptions below the cut.

So, anyway, I kind of got this idea for a cyberpunk Avatar RPG fangame and did some concepts and mockups for it. :D

A working title I came up for it was Avatar: Neon Lights in the Eternal Night. The main idea/driving force of the plot is that humans are exploiting Vaatu/The Tree of Time as a sort of infinite clean energy source. And well, while the energy gotten doesn’t cause runaway greenhouse effects that would devastate the planet’s climate, it has upset the spirits, and caused major metropolitan areas to be cloaked in eternal darkness. Also, over the past few hundred years, the physical realm and spirit world have been drifting further and further apart, creating a void/rift realm between the two. And if that weren’t bad enough, the world governments are corrupted and run by big business, and their iron will is enforced by the corrupted police systems.

So you’d have to deal with dark/corrupted spirits, bad cops, evil corporations, and uncaring governments. :’D

My idea for the main game is that you can either choose a preset character or create your own character from scratch. You can choose your gender, bending ability(including being a nonbender!), national alliance(which determines where you start), your appearance, starting stats(make your character as balanced or min-maxed as you want) among other things.

Here’s a GUI mockup I made for the character creator, it’s very basic, only a first draft but it gets the basic idea across. I hope. :’D

[Image Description- A simple gui mockup for an RPG game. It shows the options for naming, gender, ability, choosing an alignment to a particular nation. It also has unshown tabs for looks and stats. There is a window for finalizing the character open, asking “Is this your true form?” A yes or no option is given.]

I’m not 100% on this look/design, but what I was thinking was that the character creator could be split into three tabs- Bio, Looks, and Stats.

Bio would be your name, gender, bending ability(you can choose nonbender!), and which nation you align with. There’s also an option to be unaligned(the yin-yang like symbol), and you’d be offered some info about your ability/nation combo. Like information about the Fire Nation if you choose to be a Fire Nation firebender, or even info about nonbenders in whatever faction you choose, or how people of other bending types exist/are treated by your chosen faction. Like how waterbenders live in the Fire Nation, or firebenders live in the Water Tribes.

I am considering adding the swamp tribe and splitting the Water Tribe into the Northern and Southern variants, but again, this gui thing is just a first draft. :’D

For looks, you’d choose your characters skin color, hair color and style, eye color, as well as from a few small cybernetic options. Of course, you could have a character with no cybernetics as well.

With stats, you’d choose your starting stat distributions. I’m thinking that I’d have stats like strength, bending, speed, agility, and maybe even stats like charisma or spirituality. Charisma would effect your character’s ability to interact with others, and spirituality would affect their ability to interact with spirits or connect to their patron deity.

Someone who isn’t very spiritual wouldn’t have much of a connection to their deity and isn’t likely to be blessed by them however they’re more resistant to the effects of negative spirit energy and dark spirits. Meanwhile, someone who is highly spiritual would receive buffs and bonuses from their patron deity, but would also be much more vulnerable to dark spirits.

Also yes, the character creation screen is absolutely your character standing there as Vaatu ominously stares at you in the background.

Also here’s how I picture the character creator minus the GUI-

[Video Description- A short video of a character standing in front of the Tree of Time, doing an idle animation. The video looks very reminiscent of PSx style rendering.]

Here are some character models I’ve done thus far~ (They’d probably end up as preset characters)

[Video/Image descriptions- A simple idle animation of a woman swaying slightly from side to side. After that are a series of screenshots to show off her design. She has brown skin and dark turquoise eyes. Her hair is a slightly darker brown than her skin. She wears a dark purple hazmat/wetsuit type deal. She has dark blue gloves and boots with cyan tops. The boots also have a stripe going down the front. The wetsuit has a cyan collar and a design on the front that looks a little like a fishbone or a pelvic bone with a few vertebra. She has cyan water symbols on her shoulders, and has a water tank on her back. The water tank also has a water symbol on it. She has a dark purple gasmask with white markings over the eyes and nose, cyan filters, and fancy-looking lenses.]

I don’t really have a name for her, I just made the design on the fly, and called her “Cyber Water”. :p I really ended up loving her design though, and her idle. Like it’s just a simple sway/shift weight from foot to foot, but I quite like how fluid she looks, and the way here ponytail swings so nicely~

For her design I kind of got this idea of a hazmat/wetsuit type thing. While, unintentional, I do really like how the marking on her front kind of looks like a fishbone/pelvis and spine. I feel like it kind of adds to the hazmat type effect. Also, I meant for the white on her gasmask to be shine, but it ended up looking like snow/markings, and well, I actually really like the effect it gives actually! She also has a tank of water on her, so she also has some element to use. I haven’t decided whether the water should be tainted so it poisons the people she attacks or purified so she can drink/heal with it should the need arise.

I also really like her face, I feel like I’m getting better at texturing faces. My only regret is that I keep forgetting to add some hair around the edges of her face so her hairline isn’t so awkward/abrupt.

Also yes, I did make her hair danglies droplet shaped on purpose. I couldn’t help myself. :3

[Video and Image Descriptions- A young woman sways slightly once, and taps her foot impatiently twice. Next are a series of screenshots showing off her design. She has lightly tanned skin, dark hair with green highlights, neon green eyelashes, her left eye is normal and dark green, her right eye is cybernetic and looks like it’s made from a smoothed emerald. Her face is dotted with neon green crystal freckles, she has a silver nosering and snakebites, as well as earring with the same crystals that make up her freckles. She wears a dark green tunic with a gold collar, and golden Earth Kingdom symbols as accents down the front. The bottom is lined with neon green symbols. The symbols don’t mean anything, they just look cool. Her hands are robotic, and she has brown pants that are tucked into bluish-green boots.]

LORD. I had WAY too much fun with this one! Her idle is by far my favorite! That little foot tap. I just, it’s such a small thing but it adds so much character. <3 Also it’s just cute as hell~

Her face is also my favorite. Like, I love her creepy, crystal eye, her nose ring, crystal freckles, even just the way her face turned out. <3 <3 Like, I’m gushing but I’m super proud of her~ Like my idea for her is that she kind of takes body mods to the next level and has crystals implanted into her face, giving her crystal freckles.

Also she got robot arms/hands.

I have more characters, but I’ve reached my video limit, so rip.

I mean, I’ll just make a second post with the other three I’ve made, no big deal.

butsneakpeek

[Image Description- A screenshot preview of five cyberpunk style benders.]

I’ve made three levels/environments so far~

The Tree of Time-

Once a part of the sacred balance of the realms and a keystone holding the two worlds together, as well as a prison to keep Vaatu from reeking havoc upon the world, this place has since been exploited by an enterprising group of humans who decided to use the tree and it’s hapless occupant to power the world and it’s vanities. Hundreds of years later, both the tree and Vaatu remain as a source of infinite energy for mankind, with the cost being the slow spread of eternal darkness and chaos. While Vaatu isn’t happy about his predicament, he is an eternal being. He bides his time, waiting for his inevitable freedom...

[Image Description- Multiple screenshots of a cyberpunk take on the Tree of Time. The first two are rendered in unreal with dark purple lighting and some PSX shaders for some good old PSX crunch. The last three are screenshots from Maya with neutral lighting. The level’s ceiling is a downward pointing cone of many black cables/wires connecting into the top of the tree. The tree itself is also covered in black wires with red lights. Vaatu peeks out from the tree’s hollow. With the way the model is designed, the tree hollow looks like an eye that follows the person looking at it.

Because it is.

The tree sits on a red platform with it’s roots entangled in wires coming up from the floor. Tall, grey metal walls surround the tree, they are all adorned with the symbols of the elements along with a symbol for light and a symbol for dark.

Ember is also there because Vaatu needs an emotional support firebender and Zuko wasn’t available.]

The Jasmine Dragon-

The Jasmine Dragon is a teashop opened and ran by everyone’s favorite proverb giving, tea drinking, fire-breathing Uncle. It sits comfortably in the upper ring of Ba Sing Se, many patrons describing the tea served there as divine, and something to experience at least once before you die. Being an old retired general and ex-crown prince of the Fire Nation, Uncle knows how to lay low in the public eye and hide his cards well. Which is why, despite not appearing on the radar of the Dai Li, Uncle has managed to create safe space for those rebelling against Ba Sing Se’s authoritarian regime.

[Image Description- Multiple images of a more modern take on The Jasmine Dragon from ATLA. The first two are renders from Unreal, with that good ol’ PSX crunch. The rest are screenshots from Maya, which is why they’re actually legible. The walls are a beige color, there are many cream colored tables surrounded by green chairs. There are two rectangular windows at the front with a long table and sofas for customers who want to look outside as they drink. There are also two sets of two smaller hexagonal windows on either side of the restaurant. Down the center isleway there is a green rug with a dragon design on it. The walls are also adorned with many deep green posters, depicting earth symbols or dragons. In the employee’s only backroom there is a counter with a table and a few shelves as well as a couch for employees(Zuko) to rest while on break. There are red posters in the back room and a red backdoor for emergency exits. The Earthbender girl is featured in the first two screenshots. Ember can be seen in the Maya screenshots. She likes the boba tea.

Here’s what all the posters would say if Carnist wasn’t poop at writing Chinese.

-Earth is strong

-Jasmine Dragon

- It is better to go for three days without food than one day without tea.

-Fire

-Fire is fierce

-Exit

-The world [all under heaven] is guided by one.

-Fuck the police.]

Convexity-

As the rift between the material and spiritual planes widens, an airlock of sorts has been created. A void between worlds, created by the imbalance, and shifting of spiritual energy and physical matter.

Yes this place was inspired by convexity from The Legend of Spyro. :’D

[Image Description- Multiple screenshots of dark hexagonal stones with purple/pinkish energy flowing through them. The stones appear to be floating in an empty void, however once one looks down, a spiraling galaxy or maybe a quasar can be spotted.

Also Ember is there.

She really gets around.]

Finally, here’s a bunch of concept sketches-

[Image Description- Several concept sketches depicting a cyberpunk Gaang, the Krew, and even the best Avatar: Wan.]

One last thing I feel I should mention- I wasn’t planing on making a fangame, but if this post gets 150 notes or the video at the top of the post gets 150 likes, or both, I’ll make a functional demo and make the project open source with my assets and such also available for download.

I’m making the game, lol.

Credits-

Character models were made from Jugapugz’s lowpoly base

Aight, I desperately need sleep, so I’ll post the other three characters tomorrow. And I’ll update this post a better description for the concept sketches. Until then, thanks for checking this out~

[jtrbluv]

FIRST OF ALL YOUR ASK BOX NAME IS SENDING second 3 and 4 :ahaha:

ill do it for shutterbug since everyone has been liking that recently and idk why 😃😃😃 but ty bae @koushiningg

3. What’s your favorite line of narration?

You outstretch your arm, gently grasping his wrist as you slide your fingers through his calloused palms and twine your fingers with his own, allowing your hands to rest on your knee.

i just remember writing this while being on ft w jae and we were both trying to figure out how this would physically work irL SHDJDHDH

The chair produces an obnoxiously loud squeaking noise almost emulating your dog’s dog-shaped squeaky toy (counterintuitive I know, but it was a gift from Jungkook himself, the prick.)

part 824737 of jumi inserting rly bad comedic relief when the angst becomes too unbearable for her luckily the fics ive been writing are pure crack/fluff YES!

4. What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

“Reach for the moon and the stars. And maybe someday with the right amount of determination, and a little bit of luck, you can get there.”

YAWP TED TALKER JEON JUNGKOOK IN DA BUILDING okay but if we’re talking abt dialogue dialogue then,,,

“I owe it to myself and I realize that I am capable of obtaining and having everything I want in life. And it wouldn’t be everything I want if you weren’t here with me.”

WOW WHAT A SIMP but tell my why i VIVIDLY remember being sad for no reason that day and writing this line in particular,,, chile

[kevinspaceyarchives]

Looking Closer at Kevin Spacey, Star of American Beauty

by MATT MCCORMICK, Texas A&M Battalion Staff writer | November 22, 1999

(photo not included with the original article)

Kevin Spacey established himself as one of Hollywood's most gifted actors with his Oscar-winning role in 1993's The Usual Suspects. Known for his ability to lose himself in a character, Spacey went on to star in such films as Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and The Negotiator.

His new film, American Beauty, has opened to widespread critical acclaim and box office success across the country and has many people saying his name and Academy Award in the same sentence again. The Battalion participated in an interview with the actor as he talked about his latest film and the character he plays, Lester.

Battalion: When you take on a character, you always have a different look. How do you prepare for a character role?

Kevin Spacey: It starts with usually a discussion. Sometimes you might have a notion of how somebody might look, just from reading it. Or, in fact, it might be described by the writer. It usually starts with a discussion with the director. How do you see this character looking? How do you see them dressing?  Do they have a particular walk or way of moving that's different? So I usually try to collaborate with the director. Then you have other people come on. You have a production designer who decides how your desk in your office is going to look and a costume designer who may bring in a huge rack of stuff. All of those things go in to make a sort of image and a picture of what someone will look like. Hopefully you do it in connection with all the other departments. You're not showing up in a jacket that, against that wallpaper, looks like hell.

In this movie, there was this transformation that Lester had to go through, and we didn't have the luxury of shooting in sequence. In the morning, we created Lester, and we had his kind of pear-shaped, defeated pasty look with slightly larger costumes and really white, horrible makeup. I slumped a great deal. And then in the afternoon, I'd be shooting the later stuff. I had to be in the best shape possible during the whole shooting of the movie. We just sort of created the earlier stuff in the movie through performance.

Battalion: When you were shooting some of the earlier stuff later in the day, would you go work out?

Kevin Spacey: It's embarrassing to admit, but we had a muscle truck. It was like a roving gym. It was a big moving van, but they made a gym out of it. I'd go in there before a particular scene -- we had target dates for particular scenes -- so we worked toward the target, I and the trainer, knowing I had to have a certain kind of build for that next two weeks. If they needed me to be a little bloated, he would let me go out and eat pizza and banana splits and all sorts of stuff.

Since there was never a moment in the screenplay when there was an epiphany, or a sudden change, we never wanted the audience to see him change. We wanted there to be an almost seamless and organic evolution of who he became.

Battalion: Mentally, what makes you draw into this Lester character?

Kevin Spacey: I just think I understood, maybe like most people do, the feeling of wanting to break out and do new things. I was on that sort of journey for the last couple of years, and this gave me the opportunity to go to a new place. I think everybody understands the feeling of wanting to shake it up and try new things. Who wouldn't want to tell their boss what they're really thinking about them?

Battalion: Lester's transformation was shaped by the music of his youth -- What kind of music shaped your youth?

Kevin Spacey: A lot of that music I loved, and Sam (Mendes, director) was very specific about music very early on about the kind of cuts he was going to try to get. The first issue in movies is "can you get the rights?" Will the songwriter or their estate let you use it? We got very lucky with a lot of cool music. You forget the '70s and the trajectory of what that music was and all the artists. We found something in common. We say "Wow, that's the kind of music I would listen to in my garage." So I listened to a lot of the similar stuff that Lester listened to. He's two years older than me.

Battalion: In the movie, the garage is Lester's personal space. Did you have a choice in the kind of props used in there?

Kevin Spacey: Sam and I started talking about the garage sort of becoming Lester's sanctuary. It clearly had been taken over by just storage, you know. It lost its...whatever a garage might have been in his life earlier. We decided to go back and find all the things Lester would have had if he was still in college. That sort of became his place. He left the cold and rather stark home inside that house and slowly moved his life out into the garage. One of my favorite images is that red car sitting in the driveway. He's just shaking it up.

Battalion: What's your stage background? What was it like having somebody like Sam directing this film?

Kevin Spacey: I've been incredibly fortunate with first-time or second-time directors. I like it a lot because there's no pattern to their way of working. They really are open to almost anything. So you find that they are willing to take more chances. They're not sort of entrenched in their own ideas.

And he kept us informed. He would always show us storyboards and how he wanted a scene to be framed -- what he wanted it to look like, how he wanted us to look in the frame. So I knew all that going in, but I could have never known going in that his use of images, his use of music, his feeling and mood cinematically was startling.

Battalion: I love the narration in the movie. Was it scripted?

Kevin Spacey: All of the narration was there [in the script]. Sam and I, one day, needed a guide track to give the editors and we went up to a small room with a recorder, like these little ones, and we recorded all of Lester’s voice-overs. And I never redid it. There was something about not knowing what those images would be that that dialogue went well with.

Battalion: Your movie shatters the vision of a utopian suburbia. If you had a message you'd like the audience to take away from this, what would it be?

Kevin Spacey: Let me play devil's advocate with the premise of your question because I don't think it reveals anything specifically about suburbia any more than it reveals anything about urban life. I think where this film takes place, the fact that these two very specific families are examined, in no way shape or form means that we're trying to say this is what life is like in suburbia. I think this is what life is like for a lot of people.

Battalion: Tell us about the catchline, "Look Closer".

Kevin Spacey: We actually give our production designer the credit for that. She cut that out of a fashion magazine. She was going through a fashion magazine deciding what should go on certain walls and she decided "look closer" should be on my bulletin board at the office. And that wasn't the campaign, but what happened was, they kept screening the movie and finally the Dreamworks marketing people said "What does that say behind his desk?" So they saved themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars in marketing meetings to find a concept because it actually turns out to be pretty accurate.

Battalion: What would you say to those who are upset that an older man is having a relationship with a teenager?

Kevin Spacey: I think that anybody that feels uneasy about it, it's uneasiness about the subject, not uneasiness with the actual relationship because there isn't one. There's a fantasy life that Lester has. There is no relationship until the very end of the film, where he makes the right decision.

Keep it in the context of the film. Those two people, what they learn from each other, I think is breathtaking. I think its the most uplifting message you could possibly have.

Battalion: The movie is about finding beauty. What things do you find beauty in?

Kevin Spacey: Sometimes the things that are presented as beautiful or the things that we think are beautiful sometimes makes us miss the things that are really truly beautiful, but appear mundane. I think that's true with people, too. People judge people on how they look or how they dress, how they behave and how they act -- I think of the two characters from the film...you first meet them and you think a certain thing about them, And as the film goes on they begin to emerge.

Battalion: You've got the Hollywood star of fame. What is involved with that?

Kevin Spacey: It started with a fan club. They recommended to the Hollywood chamber of commerce that they consider me for that. I didn't think anything happened like that until you were much older. In fact, all of my colleagues who came that day said "we don't know anybody as young as you, that's pretty cool." There's a certain part of that stuff that's a little Hollywood cheesy, but what actually made the day amazing is it actually became a pretty personal thing. I think it meant even more to all the people that have been working with me than it did for me. But I understand already that there's gum on it.

[aion-rsa]

Hellblazer and the Brilliance of John Constantine Dialogue

https://ift.tt/2TAJABF

In this preview of John Constantine, Hellblazer #3, the legendary dirtbag magician ducks fire and lyrics in England.

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There's something weirdly soothing about the particular way Simon Spurrier and Aaron Campbell show what a scumbag John Constantine is. Not that he hasn't been a sleazeball in the past - it's part of his core appeal. He's a jackass con man who will sell out the people he loves at the drop of a hat, but usually because he believes he's got an elaborate multilevel screwjob planned that he thinks will leave him even with his friends and get him what he needs from the bad guy.

But there's something about how Spurrier writes him that feels...extra right. We're documented Spurrier fans. When he's on, he's amazing. But he can occasionally veer into..."wordy." It's almost always dialogue when it happens, so it's better than a wall of narration boxes. It just ends up a little too much sometimes.

But when he's putting words in Constantine's mouth, it channels that natural tendency towards lyrical dialogue through a character for whom overtalking is a fundamental design element. Look at this preview of John Constantine: Hellblazer #3. John's found the entity murdering gangbangers, and it's just a crazy dude with a giant flaming spear spouting Billy Bragg. And rather than trying some magic spell or even trying the fake friend route, Constantine dives right into angrily arguing about religion with him. That is obnoxious, but in such a peculiarly Constantine way that I love.

And not for nothing, Campbell and Jordie Bellaire are crushing it here. Campbell's linework is loose enough where you can feel reality getting thin around the edges with the supernatural elements, but with crisp storytelling and great emotion on the faces. Bellaire jumps back and forth between subdued and "wow that looks hot" incredibly well, even inside of the same panels. This looks to be a good issue.

Here's what DC has to say about the book.

JOHN CONSTANTINE: HELLBLAZER #3 written by SIMON SPURRIER art by AARON CAMPBELL cover by JOHN PAUL LEON John has found the cause of the magical madness slaughtering gang members on Peckham Rye...and it’s just one guy! How hard can it be to stop him? Well, when the gangs get involved and the source of his power becomes clear, the answer turns out to be “Near impossible, actually!”

And here are the preview pages. Take a look!

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News Jim Dandy

Jan 18, 2020

DC Entertainment

John Constantine

from Books https://ift.tt/2R6OjJE

[oscar-isaacs-number-one-bitch]

Top 10 Worst/Most Disappointing Movies of 2018 (That I Saw)

     Here we are, guys, the final two lists of 2018! Most people like to go best and then worst, but I’ve always believed in ending our reflections of the cinematic year on a positive note, so I like to do the reverse. For context: I don’t go out of my way to see bad movies since I don’t (yet) get paid to do this, and as such, some of the ones on this list aren’t truly bad per se, just disappointing given the potential they had. Also, this is my personal list. Some of you may like or even love some of the movies on this list, and that’s totally fine, but for my money, these were the bottom ten that I saw this year. So, let’s get started.

10) Bohemian Rhapsody

Told you not all of them were bad. Bohemian Rhapsody does have some nice stuff to it, like the Live Aid scene and the majority of its performances, but it mostly doesn’t add up to more than the sum of its parts, which is a real shame considering the huge potential it had. I wouldn’t count Rami Malek out for a Best Actor nomination though; he really brought it.

9) Solo: A Star Wars Story

Wow, what a weird feeling. This is the first time a Star Wars movie has landed on a “worst” list since I’ve been making lists, and it’s really a strange thing to consider. Solo, like Rhapsody, isn’t really a bad movie, but the huge potential it had was squandered on more fan-service than anyone needed and less narrative than even the prequels had. This isn’t as bad as those (well, the first two of them anyway), but even Revenge of the Sith had better thematic resonance. That’s not great.

8) Tomb Raider

Really, it’s Alicia Vikander that saves this one, plus some pretty cool sections where she actually gets to do some action stuff, but Tomb Raider feels so assembly-line it’s almost unfair. It’s one of the more competent video game movies we’ve seen in a while, but doesn’t quite have the strength to make them good with an unfocused and sluggish narrative hogging the first two acts.

7) Sicario: Day of the Soldado

Wow, I was way too kind to this one when it came out. While I do enjoy Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro getting to go, well, full Brolin and Del Toro, the lack of Emily Blunt’s perspective character really does hurt this one. The fear-mongering in the beginning is just unnecessary since we’ve already seen how brutal this world can be, but Day of the Soldado’s main problem is how it completely betrays the message of its predecessor that this is how we shouldn’t do things.

6) Mary Queen of Scots

Yeesh, talk about potential. Mary Queen of Scots had everything it needed to be great. Two powerhouse leads, a fantastic historical period to study rife with costume and production design and cinematography opportunities, and an Oscar-frequent studio/distributor a much better director could have actually made use of. But instead of using all of that to its advantage, it just…uses all that. There seems to be a running theme in this worst list that these movies keep forgetting you have to craft an actual interesting narrative and then add the cool stuff, and this one is no exception.

5) Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

I wasn’t a fan of the first one either, but at least it was a cartoonish fun time. The sequel just forgets any semblance of intelligence the characters had before, instead opting for a mid-level horror showpiece that not only isn’t all that scary, but features some of the most out-of-character turns in the entire franchise. It’s lazy, it’s frustrating, and at this point, it’s just a waste of time. Please, just stop with these. Stop giving them money.

4) Pacific Rim: Uprising

There was no singular movie I was simultaneously looking forward to and suspiciously skeptical about more than Pacific Rim: Uprising, and it turns out, I had good reason. I really enjoy the first one a lot, but without Del Toro, the creators just don’t know what to do with this franchise. Even the kaiju and jaegers in this one aren’t as impressive on a visual effects level. And that stunt they tried to pull with Charlie Day’s character? Pathetic. Literally so pathetic.

3) The Nun

And here I thought the Conjuring franchise was actually on its way to surviving without James Wan at the helm. Annabelle: Creation was a refreshing return to quality for the box office juggernaut series, but The Nun (while it had a few redeeming qualities) squandered what good will it had and failed to make Valak an actual terrifying presence rather than a cipher for two characters with no chemistry to want to bone even though one of them is literally a nun (and not even the nun this movie is about).

2) Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Even more than Pacific Rim: Uprising or Mary Queen of Scots, this was perhaps the greatest cinematic failure in the year of 2018, and definitely was the greatest failure as far as blockbusters were concerned. The sequel to the prequel to the Harry Potter saga plays like an actual book, except the expositional author narration is shoved into the dialogue, where characters you don’t know or care about anymore beg you to take it seriously as “the dark one,” and absolutely refuse to justify Johnny Depp’s presence as the villain who doesn’t actually do anything all that villainous until the film’s final act. Go read my review for the full run-down but suffice it to say, if I hadn’t dipped into some Netflix Originals, this would have been the worst of the year.

1) A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding

Unfortunately (or fortunately) I did dip into the Netflix Originals this time around, and this was the result. Now, I’m not one to just up and watch a Netflix Original just for the sake of it (not really my thing), but I watched this one because I’d seen the first one and it was so bad I just had to see this, and oh boy, it is something you have to see to believe. It’s genuinely laughable, and I mean that literally – I laughed almost the entire time at how ridiculous it is, so I wanted to reward it with the number one spot since I really enjoyed the experience. There’s a bizarre anti-union subplot that makes zero sense, one scene has 5 camera zooms in a row, and Richard has a single expression for being angry where he never moves his neck. Plus the father is literally a completely different person. 15/10, would absolutely love to do a commentary on these movies sometime.

     And those are my results for the worst movies of 2018. Keep in mind, I only picked the bottom ten that I saw, even if not all of them were genuinely bad. Did any of these disappoint you as much as they did me? Are you going to catch up the Christmas Prince Netflix films now? Let me know in the comments section below!

[queen-erika-the-songful]

Beauty and the Beast 2017 Soundtrack - My Thoughts

This is gonna be a SUPER LONG one, so check it out below the break if you’re interested.

Also, this is just my own personal opinion. If you like some of the songs I don’t or vice versa, that’s perfectly fine. It’s just my own thoughts, and feel free to share your own.

1. Overture – Alan Menken

Wow, this was actually really good! You don’t really hear overtures for films anymore, so that was kind of refreshing. I also really like how well the medley flowed. It sounds like it could’ve been the overture for the musical. Surprisingly great first track.

2. Main Title: Prologue Pt. I – Alan Menken; Hattie Morahan

Oh, I really tried to make sure my nostalgia didn’t cloud this one. Hattie Morahan is narrating as the Enchantress, which is an interesting choice, I think. A few lines are changed and added, which is alright. Nothing can live up to how iconic the original was, though.

3. Aria – Audra McDonald

This song feels kind of random to me, but to give credit Audra McDonald’s voice is nice. She sounds like she is having fun, which is always a good thing to me.

4. Main Title: Prologue Pt. 2 – Alan Menken

Back to the Prologue. It’s not bad, but like I said, nothing can match the original. It sounds like it’s really trying to be epic and grand, kind of in the vein of the original and the musical. I didn’t really like how she said the last line.

5. Belle – Emma Watson, Luke Evans, Ensemble

Emma Watson does not have a strong singing voice. She sounds very auto-tuned and polished, and you can really hear it in her lower notes. She uses her chest voice too much, if she had a more light tone it would be more fitting. The ensemble is alright; I do like that they didn��t try to completely mimic the original, and even chance up the parts for some of the lines. There is something I do genuinely think is a cool change, which is Belle saying “do you have any new places to go” instead of “any new books”. That was interesting. Lots of other dialogue changes from the original. Wait, Gaston is a war hero? Luke Evans has a better voice than Watson, but it’s still lacking that “overly macho” quality that Richard White and Burke Moses had. Ooh, they cut out the “Bojours” at the end. I don’t like that.

6.  How Does a Moment Last Forever (Music Box) – Kevin Kline

This is the first of the three new songs Alan Menken and Tim Rice wrote for this film. I do really like Kevin Kline’s voice. It’s very soft and comforting. The song itself is alright, but it doesn’t really match any of the other songs. I think “No Matter What” is better, but I guess since Maurice is a music box maker and Belle is the inventor now, it might not have made as much since in the story. Overall, it’s still sweet and nice.

7.  Belle (Reprise) – Emma Watson

Emma sounds a bit better here, since the song has a bit of a higher key. Her vocals still aren’t very powerful, but honestly I don’t think it’s that bad of a version. There’s still some noticeable auto-tune in a couple places, but it does not sound nearly as bad as it did in the trailers. Some of it actually sounds pretty raw.

8. Gaston – Josh Gad, Luke Evans, Ensemble

Josh Gad is…just okay. I like that he’s bringing his own style to the song, but sometimes it sounds like he’s trying too hard to be a “funnier” LeFou. The new lyrics are surprising, though they still fit. Sometimes they slow drag out the song, though. Luke Evans sounds much better here than he did in “Belle”, giving more of a big performance. There is a weird breakdown that seemingly comes out of nowhere, but the song was stretched out for the Broadway musical too so I suppose it isn’t bad. The “illiterate” joke at the end with LeFou would’ve just been an unnecessary add-on, but knowing that is also supposed to be gay makes it kind of uncomfortable.

9. Be Our Guest – Ewan McGregor, Emma Thompson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ian McKellen

Here it is, the big one. I think Ewan McGregor actually did a good job as Lumiere. I mean, he had to follow after Jerry Orbach and Gary Beach, both of which were pretty iconic in their portrayls. He sounds like he’s having the time of his life, which, as I’ve said, is always a good thing to me. Emma Thompson is a fine Mrs. Potts. The others were fine too, they really channeled the original while still trying to be their own version. Ian McKellen’s vocals were a surprise; I liked his singing. 

10. Days In The Sun – Adam Mitchell, Stanley Tucci, Ewan McGregor, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson, Emma Watson, Audra McDonald, Clive Rowe

Here’s the second of the three new songs. Still some audio-tune here and there, but overall the vocals were good. It’s no “Human Again”, but I think it actually does fit for the supporting cast and Belle.

11. Something There – Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson, Nathan Mack, Gugu Mbatha-Raw

I was really hoping they’d expand this one the same way they did for the musical, but I knew that wouldn’t happen. Emma sounds best here, there was a lot less auto-tune on her, allowing her to actually sound sweet and light. I actually really like Dan Stevens singing as the Beast. He sounds a lot like Terrance Mann in the musical.

12. How Does a Moment Last Forever (Montmartre) – Emma Watson

Emma sounds pretty good here too. Her voice, again, isn’t strong, but it’s actually pretty fitting for this one. It’s a very quiet and soft song, so she sounds just fine.

13. Beauty and the Beast – Emma Thompson

Oh, here it is: the other big one. I think we can all agree that Angela Lansbury’s version cannot be topped, so it may be unfair of me to compare it to the original. But honestly, I think Emma Thompson did a wonderful job! I mean I don’t like how she kept changing the rhythm of the lines, but her voice is good. Not to mention the orchestration here is downright beautiful. I think I’d put this version as equal with the Broadway version with Bette Fowler. Not the original, but still an honestly good version of it.

14. Evermore – Dan Stevens

This is the last of the new songs. This is a solo written for the Beast. So, this is basically our replacement for “If I Can’t Love Her”, a song that is absolute perfection. To its credit, however, Dan Stevens does a good job as the Beast. He has a very nice tone and a good somber timbre. I really don’t think it’s anywhere as good as “If I Can’t Love Her”, but that one takes place at an earlier part of the story, when Belle runs away from the castle. This song is clearly taking place after he lets her go, so it does fit the moment much more. So it’s probably just my disappointment that is blinding me. It is a good song, I just think that  I need to listen to it a couple more times to see if I personally like it or not.

15. The Mob Song – Luke Evans, Josh Gad, Ensemble

Okay, who gave them permission to make this actually AS GOOD as the original?? Luke Evans is at his very best here. His voice isn’t big and macho, but he’s really scary. He plays up the manipulation here and honestly it REALLY works. The new lines are also fitting too. LeFou sounds almost reluctant to do this; I wonder if he’s going to turn against Gaston in the end (oh please let that happen). This version is honestly really good and I think it’s the best remake of the songs. It’s on par with the original.  

16. Beauty and the Beast (Finale) – Audra McDonald, Emma Thompson, Ensemble

Wow, I think Audra McDonald singing this a bit more than Emma Thompson. Her voice really is beautiful. I also like the new lyrics that were added. This is a good one.

17. How Does a Moment Last Forever – Celine Dion

Now we move into the covers/pop remixes. Celine Dion sounds – well, like Celine Dion. Her voice is good, and though her accent can be thick, I don’t think it’s fair to say it “clouds” the words like some people in the comments are saying. Overall, though, this track isn’t much of a stand out. I think this one is just okay.

18. Beauty and the Beast – Ariana Grande, John Legend

I know a lot of people aren’t really fans of the Celine Dion/Peabo Bryson version of this song, but I can say it’s way better than this one. The vocals are good, but it always sounds like Grande is trying to sing over Legend, who honestly has the better voice for this song. I also think there is way too much orchestration here. I know Celiene Dion did the same thing, but it wasn’t every two seconds like here. The backing music is also trying way too hard. The original pop version kept it simple, just a soft rock organ and some strings. This is honestly a skip for me. I think it should’ve just been John Legend and his piano. It would be a much better version than what we got. This is the worst one of the remakes.

19. Evermore – Josh Groban

Josh Groban does a very good cover for this song. His vocals are really great. I think the orchestration is the same as the movie version, so there isn’t really anything to compare here. I think I like this version slightly more because Groban’s voice is just so raw and emotional, he really bring out the feelings in this song.  (I’d also recommend listening to his version of “If I Can’t Love Her”, it almost made me cry.). I think this is one of the best ones on the album.

Tracks 20-24 are just demos sung by Alan Menken.

I haven’t heard the rest of the score yet (that’s in the 2-Disc Version) and I probably won’t give my thoughts on them unless something really stands out.

Further thoughts – Overall, I do like the new arrangements and orchestration of the songs. They have enough of the original in them to make them recognizable, but they also don’t try to be a straight up carbon copy of the original. Even the Broadway musical didn’t try to do that, so I think it’s actually a good thing. Some of the singers needed more training, in my opinion, but a lot of them were really good too. I still stand by that there should have been some of the Broadway songs in here, but considering Emma’s voice, I don’t think she could’ve pulled off “Home”, and perhaps they would’ve slowed down the film. All in all, I think the soundtrack is alright. Not egregiously bad, but also not on the level of the original or the Broadway version.

[cynical665]

Megaman Legends Review - 1

Megaman Legends Review

Megaman was always a series that no matter what year it was, it stayed in 2D, with the exception of the Megaman X series. Even powerful consoles like the PS4, Xbox One X and Nintendo Switch, Classic Megaman refuses to go 3D and it should stay that way. However if we go back to the PS1 we see two attempts of 3D Megaman under the name of Megaman Legends. Now on my quest to play every Megaman Game I came across a small retro store that sells...well retro games. And I saw Megaman Legends there, I didn’t know what was so special about it but I just needed it..I didn’t buy it, I didn’t have a PS1. A week later I came back and got an N64 along with Megaman 64 and Pokemon Snap. This was the first time I ever had an experience with the N64 other than emulation. Since this is my first N64 Game I figured that I’d give my thoughts on it while I play it. Just a reminder that I’m playing Megaman 64 however I’m going to be calling it Megaman Legends from now on, it just sounds better than the 64 Disease that spread to every N64 Game. (Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Starfox 64, Kirby 64 The Crystal Shards, Donkey Kong 64, Harvest Moon 64 and Wave Race 64 to name some.)

The Beginning

We start off with a narration of the world we’re in right now, it tells us that the world is basically covered in water, people are forced to search the vast ocean to find ancient technology, Quantum Refractors. These refractors are in ruins underground patches of land. The people who look and search for the refractors are called ‘Diggers.’ Originally the only jobs for the Diggers were to find refractors for civilization but legends were told of a legendary treasure known as ‘Mother Lode.’ The Mother Lode is supposedly extremely powerful, so powerful that it can get rid of the fear of running out of regular refractors and provide so much power the world will never run out of energy. Then the narrator for some reason asks what the true motives of the Diggers really are.

Then we’re greeted with the most ominous music of all time with someone from a radio talking to Megaman, seemingly with the transmission cutting out. Megaman actually finds a refractor with the person over the radio saying that they’ll finally be able to make some money for the refractor? Seems a bit..Greedy, I guess that’s the smallest hunch to what the narrator said about the motives of Diggers. After taking the refractor the pedestal it was on starts to sink with everything shaking with three weird eyeball things being forced out of the wall. Seeing the doors starting to close Megaman books it out of there and barely making it out. Megaman tells the girl that he’s alright however she says that she’s picking up some readings of a ‘Reaverbot’ and to get out of there. Already? Seems kinda funny to start us where the mission ends and with some powerful bot around us. HM, It’s almost like that bot isn’t going to be a big threat or something. And before we end up moving more than 2 feet Ms.Tutorial stops us dead in our tracks to tell us that there’s...a reaverbot somewhere and if we can see it? I beg your pardon, WOMAN? And why is the scariest music playing at the beginning of a Megaman Game? It’s alright cause the game tells us that we fire with the Button and press Z+R to lock onto enemies. We can also use L+R to lock onto enemies along with moving with the D-Pad, but I’ll get into that later. One nitpick is that when you finish reading Instructions and asks if you wanna read them again, they put Yes as the first option. Why? Why should I have to read more then once? It’s nothing huge but it annoys me a bit. Some enemy’s shoot out of a wall but they’re really weak so like 3 shots can kill them. Megaman, Link called he wants his rupees back. And weird ass squares that have a glowy thing inside.

The Controls

To put it simply Megaman controls just the way you think Classic Megaman would control in 3D. The Camera is very janky at the first parts though, however after leaving the ruins I found the Camera Controls to be alright. However it isn’t controlled by the C-Buttons, it’s controlled by L, R & Z with L & R both going left. This concept works fine on N64 but I’d hate to see it being played on a PS1, Since the PS1 Controller doesn’t have an analog stick and just the D-Pad. Tutorial Woman tells us to go right and well, I dunno where else to go. Woman asks us if we see a door anywhere and I’m stuck. Why am I stuck? Now we’re told that to open doors we use the Down C-Button to open doors and investigate items. Basically it’s our interact button, a bit strange. The game has its own strange auto-lock feature but sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. We continue and already know how to jump with A, however it’s a bit weird. Megaman’s normal jump doesn’t go that high up so for even basic platforms we hold onto the edge of them and have to jump on them.

The Reaverbot

Woman tells us that she found a Reaverbot real close by and tells us it’s above us. It’s a total joke as long as you stay far away it can’t hurt you.

The Beginning (Continuation)

We go on a bit further and find some chests, damn this game is a bit similar to another game, I can’t put my finger on it though. In one chest there’s a Power Raiser that’s simple enough, a part for our buster gun that makes it more powerful. However in the other one we’re given some ‘Zenny.’ Zenny is basically this game's version of currency, think of Bolts from the Classic Megaman Games or Rupees from Legend of Zelda. After getting those Woman tells us that she found a huge blip in front of us. What is a Blip? A Blip is an unexpected, minor, and typically temporary deviation from a general trend or a short high-pitched sound made by an electronic device, well I don’t hear anything and the first definition doesn’t make sense so….-Woman starts to cut off and we learn that her name was Roll the entire time. Wow, like Roll from Classic Megaman? Not some fake out like Alia from X? Actual Roll? Sounds cool, but we gotta get outta here if we want to see or even hear her cause she’s losing us from the horrible transmission. Then we fight some big robot that’s also supposed to be a Reaverbot? I guess? How many Reaverbot models are there? So far all of them look different and vary in strength. Well we actually fight a somewhat difficult boss..is what I would be saying if Megaman dies in 3 Hits. This boss is piss easy, I just ran around him over and over again while he would try to hit me and miss by 5 miles. After Megaman gives the bot the mean look the bot powers down and Megaman leaves, bUt Uh Oh LoOkS LiKe ThE BoT hAs OtHeR pLaNs!1  However, before the bot can do anything Megaman pulls a suicide squad and jumps off the buliding saying sayonara to the Reaverbot, but Roll with quite a large ship actually catches Megaman and they go off.

The Voice Acting & Sound Quality

Hear me out, I’m not one to complain about Voice Acting and Sound Quality on such an Old Console like the N64 but jesus christ, even when I’m in a dead quiet room I just can’t understand what these characters say, I have to go on Youtube to find a Longplay of Megaman Legends (PS1) to understand what they’re saying. Everything just sounds too..pixelated? I don’t know how to describe it but on PS1 it sounds great and I can understand what they’re saying but why? The N64 version came after the PS1 version, is it because Megaman 64 is on a cartridge and not a CD? That is the reason isn’t it? God damn it

The First Cutscene Alright, after panning over a 2D image with a 3D Model of a Ship Megaman thanks Roll, and jesus christ Roll in this game is just so sweet. She’s easily one of the best characters, after telling Megaman she had engine problems he replies saying that it’s alright and then winks? What are you doing Megaman, what does that mean? She’s your sister for christ sake. Then Megaman says one of the best lines I ever heard in Gaming History “Don’t worry we’ll find it someday (The Mother Lode)..And your parents too.”

Now we’re introduced to some old guy in our ship, who is our grandfather. But we aren’t told who he is in the game until way later. Happened with Roll and now our own Grandfather? I don’t even know what his name is. They never say it, Megaman and Roll just call him Gramps. But this brings up the question, whose Grandfather is this? Roll is still looking for her parents so that means Megaman isn’t related to Roll, from the way Megaman said “Find your parents” then who is this guy? I might be looking too deep into it, but it still confuses me. Oh yea and the ship is crashing, that’s a thing too. We crash into some patch of land somewhere with the ship all busted up. Not by mentioning his name but by reading the text boxes myself, with voices over it, I’ve learned that the  grandfathers’ name is Barrel. Barrel tells us to look around for some kind of town or city somewhere. There’s also some monkey called Data that acts as a saving point, recharge health and I assume recharge weapon energy if the game even has them. I’m sure they do, it is a Megaman Game after all. How convenient, there’s a sign saying “To Town” with an arrow pointing up. But before we go further we see a police car go to our ship! Here if you don’t talk to the right person first, dialogue repeats. We can also kick when we can’t shoot our buster. After walking a bit we see the city with a huge broken border that I know we didn’t do, what the hell happened there?

KattleLox

Now we enter the Shopping Center of Kattlelox called the Apple Market, and yes. This is infact where AVGN found Megaman reading some “Dirty Magazines” and yes, Megaman reads porn. The absolute mad lad, there’s also ‘Jetlag Bakery.’ After pissing around the Market we enter the Junk Store with a woman saying that her husband went into some ruins in front of the Border. After going there and killing some enemies we find the guy and he books it out of there. We can keep on going but why would we? I have no reason to, let’s just go back to the Junk Store, the woman thanks us by giving us her broken down support car, lame. But not so lame because it’s very helpful later on. And we see some really cute looking Lego guys who say they’re waiting for Ms. Tron. Oh, you mean the Smash Bros Spirit? Also it’s only now that I realize that Megaman sounds like a woman, didn’t know if they’d actually do that for the American release: I know in Japan it’s actually really common for women to voice young boys in things like anime. Think of Ash from Pokemon, in his earlier regions. Now with the support car we can now change our weapons, save, recharge our life, our energy, and enhance and make our weapons even better. However I didn’t know this my first time around it actually took me 4 hours to realize that. With the support car finished Roll gives us our first special weapon in the name of Splash Mines, what are they? Exactly what they sound like. After leaving the car we’re given our own pass to walk around Kattletox however not one that allows us to go anywhere because of a security risk. Apparently there’s some pirates coming to Kattletox. Roll is worried for Barrel so we go to see if he’s safe. Some kids, that we have to sneak up on, say that some girl is actually a pirate in the city. Here we meet a woman talking to the little lego bots which are called Servbots. One funny thing I found out about the city is that you can actually get hit by cars and lose some heath but you can get some health back from some vending machines everywhere. The actual city is pretty small but not small enough where you can’t not get lost. We enter city hall where Barrel is talking to the mayor of Kattlelox, Amelia. She tells us that she knows the reports of the pirates. After leaving City Hall we see the same woman who was talking to the Servbots being chased by a dog, which is kinda funny cause she was a bit rude earlier.

The Game’s Comedy

The game is filled with tiny funny jokes like this, so many little things that would make a 5 year old shit their pants laughing just makes me feel all giddy inside. Also don’t forget you can get hit by cars.

Pirates!

After going after the woman and the dog we politely tell the dog to go off itself and it just gives up. After helping the woman she just runs away telling us to mind our own business. We go back to roll to tell her Barrel is fine. But she points out that there were strange looking ships flying by. Then some go to the city with some things sounding like they’re being blasted. This worries Roll imessly and she figures out that the pirates are actually terrorizing the city, the pirates are actual terrorists. Roll runs into the city to make sure barrel is alright. The police tells Roll that we can’t go through cause it’s really dangerous, and us being Heroic Megaman we say we gotta stop the pirates. And the police just lets us go without even moving their hands. We see some giant mechs look at a door with all of them staring at us one at a time. And it turns out the Servbots are apart of the Pirates with 3 of them right in front of us. And I think it’s safe to assume that the woman we saved from the dog is actually the Miss Tron the Servebots are talking about. And here we start with our first mission!

We are the 3 Bonnes Brothers!

For this fight we’re supposed to get a key from the 3 Brothers and their mechs. They each go around the city passing it to each other and each mech has their own little perk. The red one is the most powerful out of all, the yellow one is one of endurance so it has more health and the blue one is the fastest. This boss fight is pretty hard for my first time so I died every now and then. Since I didn’t know that upgrade were a thing in this game. And ahh, it’s so nice to beat them. Oh, what’s this? The Servbots run somewhere screaming “Miss Troooon!” and I was right! Woman is Tron! And she’s gonna teach us? Oh..wait no! I barely have any health Tron! HAVE MERCY! SPARE ME, SPARE ME!

[oosteven-universe]

Port of Earth #08

Port of Earth #08 Top Cow Productions 2017 Written by Zack Kaplan Illustrated by Andrea Mutti Coloured by Vladimir Popov Lettered by Troy Peteri     "For the first time ever”, news cameras and human eyes see inside the Port of Earth as ESA Agents Rice and McIntyre confront a deadly assassin. But can they control their emotions and bring the alien to justice without threatening the stability of our deal with the alien Consortium?     I think that those who love Science Fiction as a genre do so for a myriad of reasons. One it allow the imagination to really soar and create technology, weapons and devices that aren’t available to us. I mean look at Star Trek and how much of that technology we know have so yeah there’s aspect which is cool as can be. Then there is it’s ability to be political and/or satire of what we currently have as governments. Zack is not the first to do this nor will he be the last however I do believe he will be remembered as one of those who used it best.     The way that this is structured is sensationally well done. The first page with what looks like an explosion that happens to have narration detailing the Port and matter of factly states the facts about it in that three year time span is almost cold and clinical. It is someone making a statement not asking questions or questioning something it is stated and there is and it’s has an authority about it that makes you take notice of what’s being said. Also that it leads into what we see in an interview situation, which we’ve seen before, is handled nicely. I love it those two pages of interview are the stuff that people only wish they get and ESA Director Tom Rutgers well he looks like a fool, one who doesn’t have the answers to assure the public of his capability to keep them safe. It’s like striking oil.     Then there are the boys and what they are experiencing here. These two whom I think of as a cross between the Hardy Boys and Lenny & Squiggy find themselves in places no earthling has been before. So their reactions and their actions well it’s all kind of understandable and to hear what they hear and that other aliens are here to “warn” earth of the Consortium well it’s just beautifully done. The dialogue and the way the varying species react to one another it very much has this whole air surrounding it that is rather remarkable. Zack creates this tension and keeps it mounted as high as it’ll go without completely erupting and that isn’t something many folks can do.     Wow Andrea and Vladimir and the work they do on the interiors here. First the imagination and creativity that we see in the different species and that common area of the Port shit that’s impressive. The utilisation of page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off such a great eye for storytelling. The blank backgrounds in the interview so you have to focus on the two of them is brilliantly done and then to see the colours and the tunnels and such it takes us on a journey that will compliment the written words beautifully. ​    The way that this story goes is incredibly well done to me. I mean you’ve got the boys who have inadvertently stumbled onto something that has made them known to both our world and the Consortium. We’ve got an alien species whom we know nothing about on our planet and idiots in offices of power who are so greedy they have no idea they’ve opened Pandora’s Box. The writing, the characterisation especially is so strong and that the interiors give us exactly what the moment calls for is one of the reasons Port of Earth is must read material!