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kaypeace21 · 5 years ago

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El and “post institutional syndrome” (psych analysis)

Before I go in depth with this condition. I wanted to discuss the unique real life case of Genie (whose experiences most closely resemble El ‘s) . And , because of this , could possibly give us insight on how El’s past may affect her psychosocial development .

“Genie had spent almost her entire childhood locked in a bedroom, isolated and ab*sed by her father for the first 13 years of her life. The social worker soon discovered that the girl had been confined to a small room, and an investigation by authorities quickly revealed that the child had spent most of her life in this room. The windows were curtained and the door was kept closed.”

“At this time, she could only speak a few words -- including "stopit" and "nomore."

“While her circumstances until that point were undeniably tragic, they also presented an opportunity for psychologists, linguists, and other researchers to study psychosocial, emotional, and cognitive development in an individual who had suffered from severe social isolation and deprivation. In particular, the discovery of Genie presented an opportunity to study whether a child who was past the so-called "critical period" for language acquisition could learn to speak a first language.”

“The case was important, said psycholinguist and author Harlan Lee, because ‘our morality doesn’t allow us to conduct deprivation experiments with human beings; these unfortunate people are all we have to go on.’

* Brenner not only kept her in isolation via her room but even put her through severe deprivation via solitary confinement as punishment. Putting her in a completely barren dark room for hours.UN Special Rapporteur Juan E. Méndez warned ,”Considering the severe mental pain or suffering solitary confinement may cause, it can amount to t*rture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment when used as a punishment, indefinitely, or for a prolonged period, for persons with mental disabilities or juveniles.”

“After assessing Genie's emotional and cognitive abilities, Kent described her as ‘the most profoundly damaged child I've ever seen … Genie's life is a wasteland.’ She began to experience more developmental progress, but remained poor in areas such as language.Susan Curtiss worked with Genie to teach her English. Genie soon developed a rather large lexicon and was able to express herself. But despite extensive training, she remained unable to produce grammatical sentences. Here is a transcript of one of her reports of her time in the hands of her father:

Father hit arm. Big wood. Genie cry ... Not spit. Father. Hit face—spit ... Father hit big stick. Father angry. Father hit Genie big stick. Father take piece wood hit. Cry. Me cry.”

“According to Lenneberg, the critical period for language acquisition lasts until around age 12. After the onset of puberty (at 13), he argued, the organization of the brain becomes set and no longer able to learn and utilize language in a fully functional manner.The case of Genie confirms that there is a certain window of opportunity that sets the limit for when you can become relatively fluent in a language. Of course, if you already are fluent in another language, the brain is already primed for language acquisition . If you have no experience with grammar, however, Broca's (an area of the brain) remains relatively hard to change: you cannot learn grammatical language production later on in life. But the abilities to understand language and produce language in ways that do not rely on grammar largely make use of Wernicke's area in the temporal lope. This area is capable of expanding and rewiring throughout life—even after the teen years. The case of Genie confirms this. Grammar was beyond reach for her. But language comprehension and storytelling were not.”

So El struggling with grammar in some sentences but not in others and improving in grammar unlike Jennie- could possibly be because unlike Jeanie, El was 12 when rescued vs Jeanie who was 13?

“Researchers were also left to wonder whether Genie had suffered from cognitive deficits caused by her years of severe neglect or if she had been born with an ‘intellectual disability’. Most believed, the permanent mental impairments and ‘developmental delays’ Genie exhibited (upon being assessed ) were the result of the isolation and deprivation she was subjected to.”

For those confused about certain terms just used. “Developmental delays appear before 22 years of age. They are life-long disabilities that affect one or both physical and cognitive functioning. ‘Intellectual disability’ encompasses the “cognitive” part of this definition, that is, a disability that is broadly related to thought processes. People with intellectual disabilities are known for having below-average IQ/cognitive abilities . ID can be caused by a myriad of things- including physical and genetic factors, problems during pregnancy or at birth, health issues at an early age, exposure to environmental toxins, or non-physical causes such as lack of stimulation.”

*DISCLAIMER before we begin: I’m saying this now, cause I expect bad actors to try and cancel me. El , even if she has an intellectual disability- is still a human being with many aspirational character traits- that people can admire or aspire to have . She’s kind, selfless, brave, and resilient. People with ID can still function and have jobs, make decisions, and learn new skills too. And they have human emotions like everyone else. if you are “offended” that I say a character you like may have ID - and are pissy you related and empathized to a character that you would otherwise have ‘othered’ cause they have an intellectual disability. Me, an autistic person, (who the fandom has bullied for being autistic) is not the ableist one for simply saying she may have an Intellectual disability .Being angry by the very idea a character you like has a condition , and saying it’s “offensive”/”insulting to them” (is ableist). And in a sense dehumanizes these people who are greatly underestimated and mistreated by society already. you don’t have to agree of course- but don’t try to smear me for stating my opinion based on the psych papers I’ll be discussing. I love El, and have a cousin with ID, so no this isn’t me insulting El. The Duffers said they wanted to give a voice to those “othered” by society- and people who aren’t neurotypical could easily be on the list. The Duffers having us love, relate, and empathize with a character such as this wouldn’t be a bad thing- but good rep .So now I’ll continue with the evidence that alludes to El possibly having ID.

Post institutional syndrome

“In clinical and abnormal psychology, POST INSTITUTIONAL SYNDROME- refers to deficits or disabilities in social and life skills, which develop after a person has spent a long period living in remote institutions (such as orphanages). “

“Growing up in such an environment can change the brain for good.Institutionalization in early childhood can alter a child's brain and behavior in the long run.The ongoing nature of chronic neglect significantly impacts the brain in infancy and early childhood. It suggests that the specific ages of approximately 6−18 months old , may be especially sensitive to developing deficiencies in orphanage environments. “ (*Making El who was raised in such an environment since birth quite susceptible ).

“According to Perry (2002), neglect at this phase impedes formation of neurological pathways essential to communication in the brain. They found that early institutionalization changed both the structure and the function of the brain. Any time spent in an institution shrunk the volume of gray matter, or brain cell bodies, in the brain. Kids who stayed in the orphanages instead of going to foster care also had less white matter, or the fat-covered tracts between brain cell bodies, than kids who, at a young age, moved in with families.Staying in an orphanage instead of foster care also resulted in lower-quality brain activity as measured by EEG.”

“Neglect may be the most detrimental maltreatment type on brain development.A child’s neurocognitive and emotional development rapidly moves towards a downward spiral following extended time in an institution.Normal development may be disrupted by deprivation associated with neglect and can result in dysregulation of neural systems during vulnerable periods of brain development, leading to pronounced neurocognitive deficits due to maltreatment.There are many outcomes related to this disruption in brain development: delays in development of IQ , delays in language, cognitive delays that impact learning, and difficulty with behavioral inhibitions, social emotional functioning and well as impaired attachment (Wilkerson, 2009; Barkley, 1997).”

“Low-stimulation environments can lead to lower scores on intelligence and language tests. Neglect is the type of maltreatment most strongly associated with delays in expressive, receptive, and overall language development.interpersonal interaction is necessary for the acquisition of early language, and these interactions may be limited for children that have been in institutional settings or have experienced physical or emotional neglect.Speech and language delays along with social-emotional delays are very common as the child continues in the institutional environment.”

“Compared with youth that were not neglected, children demonstrated lower cognitive and language scores and more behavioral problems.Higher IQ could be predicted by language scores and an absence of externalizing behavior problems. When comparing the neglected children: shorter time spent in a stable environment, lower scores on language skills, and the presence of externalizing behavior problems predicted lower IQ.”

“The cognitive development of institutionalized children has been studied for more than 60 years. Between 1930 and 1950 a first wave of studies documented that children in institutions often showed a low IQ and severe language delays (Crissey, 1937; Durfee & Wolf, 1933), and children’s orphanages have been considered “natural experiments” on the necessary conditions for intellectual growth (MacLean, 2003).For example, Rutter (1998) found that the mean IQ of children leaving institutional care in Romania shortly after the fall of Ceausescu was about 50 (population mean = 100). Similar results were shown with Dennis in (1973) who addressed the question of how large the cognitive delay of children in orphanages was compared to children adopted into families. He studied children who were abandoned immediately after birth and were reared in children’s homes in Lebanon.Dennis found that at age 11, the average IQ of the adopted children was within the range of normally developing children, whereas the non-adopted 11 y old orphans still living in these institutions were diagnosed as Intellectually disabled.At his followup, when they were 16, these same girls at the Zouk institution had an average IQ going just above 50. While, In a meta-analysis of 75 studies, van IJzendoorn et al. (2008) found that children living in institutional care scored on average 20 points lower on intelligence tests than children who were raised in families.”

“These later studies also revealed that the percentage of time spent in institutional care was significantly and negatively correlated with full scale IQ, verbal, and memory scores. And that 12 years of institutional care, from birth to 12 years of age, showed placement into foster care did not increase iq points .The only cognitive improvement of placing these children in foster care at age 12 -was on working memory. While the only cognitive improvements of taking the children out of the institution by 8 years old was on processing speed. “

pics for proof if you don’t believe me-

* Meaning realistically El who was in such an environment (from birth to 12 years old) may learn new things after being placed in foster care (like with Hopper or the Byers)-but her Iq would never improve to the point of being neurotypical- she’d always have an intellectual disability.

Intellectual disability

“People with intellectual and learning Disabilities may have deficits in speech production . Impairment of speech production is among the most commonly reported difficulties in children, adolescents and adults with ID . The children, including some with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities may lack in phonological development in their speech. These children also exhibit many articulatory deficits, delays in expressive language and show significant limitations in grammar and syntax development compared to those their age (without an iD). They often speak in subdued tones or use explosive voice modulations .Some speak quietly, while in others vocal intensity varied from utterance to utterance. “

“Intellectual disability is identified as mild , moderate, severe or profound.”

So, if based on average of Iq of children raised in orphanages (from birth to 11,12, or 16 years old). El would have a mild intellectual disability (and an Iq possibly around 50).Of those affected with ID, about 85% fall into the "mild" category.

Mild intellectuality disability disorder symptoms:

-”being fully independent in self-care when they get older (brushing teeth, dressing themselves, cooking, taking public transport, etc)”

-having problems with reading and writing (having math/reading skills between a 3rd- 6th grade level).

-having an IQ range of 50 to 69

-social immaturity

“Iq below 70 isn’t the only marker for diagnosis. But, also issues in adaptive functioning are usually used for diagnosis. Three areas of adaptive functioning are considered:According to the DSM-5 (APA, 2013), the signs and symptoms of adaptive functioning deficits across 3 domains (conceptual ,social and practical) for a mild intellectual disability are:

Conceptual Domain

”Slow language development (children learn to talk later, if at all). Or problems learning to talk or trouble speaking clearly.”

”Difficulties in academic learning ( such as having math/reading skills between a 3rd- 6th grade level).”

* El can read but still struggles with proper grammar ( verbally and through her writing) .She’s even reading an english-learning book. Her unsteady handwriting/ lack of apostrophes hint she’s still learning to write (despite her reading abilities) . And at 14 she doesn’t know what a state is-specifically Illinois which she visited 6 months prior.

”Difficulty understanding academic and abstract concepts of time “

*She didn’t start learning how to tell time until 12, and only seemed to master it at 14.

“childish behavior inconsistent with the child’s age.”

*14 y old El and 5 y old Holly both having a thing for teddy bears, in s3/2.

”Problems with abstract thinking, short term memory, and cognitive flexibility”. (”Abstract reasoning tasks include the ability to understand subjects on a complex level through analysis and evaluation and the ability to apply knowledge in problem-solving.”)

(”Cognitive flexibility has been described as the mental ability to switch between thinking about two different concepts, and to think about multiple concepts simultaneously.”)

*This one is a bit iffy, cause there’s a few explanations to the s3 example. El and Mike lie to their friends about her curfew.Yet the next day she is confused and says Mike wouldn’t lie to her - cause “friends don’t lie” All despite the fact she and Mike lied to Dustin, Max, Will, and Lucas the day before. So either she doesn’t understand the concept of hypocrisy because she lacks cognitive flexibility (or just doesn’t care about the hypocrisy)- aka her and Mike can lie to their friends, but she’s upset when they lie to her, (and she’s fine if Mike lies to everyone but her) ? Personally,I think she doesn’t grasp the concept of hypocrisy yet. Or she didn’t even realize she was lying and believed Mike was right about her curfew. Or bad writing. But given the concept of lying being prevalent to the season- I lean to Mike accidentally lying to her about her curfew (and El thinking her curfew was 4:00) . Or (more likely) El lies and doesn’t have the cognitive flexibility/abstract reasoning to understand that being upset Mike lied to her but not upset Mike (and her) lied to their friends is hypocritical. She also lied to Mike and pretended she didn’t hear the confession at the cabin for 3 months. She ‘forgave’ Mike but she never noticed Mike didn’t even apologize for lying just being ‘jealous of Max’ (despite lying being the thing she was upset and dumped him over in the first place). Anyways back on topic-

Social Domain

“Receptive language that may be limited to comprehension of simple speech and gestures.These students struggle to differentiate concrete and abstract concepts. Figurative language (metaphors, similes, idiomatic expressions, etc.) is typically quite confusing to them.”

“trouble understanding social cues”

“Limitations in language and communication skills.More concrete and less complex spoken language (if used), compared with peers. Limited vocabulary and grammatical skills.”

Practical Domain:

“May function age-appropriately in personal care (brushing teeth, dressing, going to the restroom etc).”

Early signs and symptoms of intellectual disability:

El has most of the signs...

-”Have trouble speaking or experiencing delays in speech, trouble understanding social norms,Challenges with problem-solving and logical thinking, Behavioral problems like extreme temper tantrums (breaking windows, pushing max, throwing food on Hopper and the girls in the mall), Having difficulty understanding the results of his or her actions (for instance like not understanding why spying on an ex is wrong).”

��If your child has ID, they may experience some of the following behavioral issues:aggression, Dependency, lack of impulse control passivity, stubbornness,low tolerance for frustration ,difficulty paying attention (She’s exhibited all of these).”

Other traits of Post institutional children

“poor self concept” (One's self-concept is a collection of beliefs about oneself. Generally, self-concept embodies the answer to "Who am I?".)

“problems with coping and regulating emotions ,poor impulse control, and aggressiveness.”

“Studies have repeatedly shown that children with disrupted attachment who have experienced neglect have problems coping and managing emotions, “

“inappropriately demanding and clinging”

“indiscriminate friendliness”

“44% of institutionalized children showed high levels of indiscriminately sociable behavior as contrasted with 18% of children who had never been institutionalized.children who were indiscriminately sociable as 8-year olds were not indiscriminately sociable toward adults as 16-year olds; however, these children were indiscriminately sociable in their relationships with peers (those their own age). Thus, it is possible that indiscriminate sociability serves as a marker of later problems in social relationships, even though manifesting differently by the teen years.That friendliness was probably an important coping technique in their socially starved early lives. What's interesting is it just doesn't go away.Indiscriminate friendliness may also be tied to the amygdala. In a study using fMRI, Aviva Olsavsky, MD, at the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues found that when typical children (4-14 years old) viewed photos of their mothers versus photos of strangers, the amygdala showed distinctly different responses. In children who had been institutionalized, however, the amygdala responded similarly whether the children viewed mothers or strangers. That response was particularly notable among kids who exhibited more friendliness toward strangers. Attachment and behavior problems, indiscriminate friendliness, and lower IQ seem to go together in the same children.”

(We have to admit she attached herself rather quickly to Max, and Kali after only a few days, same goes for Mike and the boys she knew for only a week).

“cognitive delays, particularly speech and language deficits.” (we’ve covered that)

“quasi autism (is a term used to describe autistic-like difficulties and traits following very severe social deprivation in the first year of life.) About 10 % percent of the children adopted from Romanian orphanages after 6 months of age were diagnosed with autism sometime in childhood. And of those who stayed in the institution to age 11, 8.5% with an IQ >50 , fit the “quasi-autism” profile (meaning they fit some but not all autistic traits). The results showed children with ‘autistic features’ usually experienced longer durations of severe psychological privation, than other orphans.”

El does have a few traits that some people on the spectrum have.

-” Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) use echolalia, which means they repeat others' words or sentences. They might repeat the words of familiar people (parents, teachers, friends), or they might repeat sentences from their favorite video.”

(X)

-”Some children with ASD also have delayed speech and language skills.some children are even selectively mute. “

- ”Talk in a flat, robot-like tone” (obviously not all asd people. But I do think El’s voice in conversation can often be quite monotone).

- Many autistic girls on the spectrum also have disordered eating patterns . This can include simply eating the same foods over and over again (cough her eggo obsession). And although “disorder eating” and “eating dis*rders” are different.”Previous research has found that autism and eating disorders can occur together, as 20-30% of adults with eating dis*rders have autism (despite being only 2.2% of the US population).”

-“Has obsessive interests” (her whole room is covered in Mike related stuff like he’s her special interest- my gay ass has no idea if a whole room covered in bf related stuff is ‘straight little girl normal’ or a bit obsessive- but I lean to the latter, especially when compared to Max’s room XD)

-” difficulty understanding social cues .” (covered that)

- “And she is sensitive to certain noises (thunder etc)”

Alright, thanks for listening. Of course, this analysis is if the Duffers went the realistic route-which I do lean to them doing. One of the stephen King movies “dream catcher” was cited as inspiration for Stranger things . It even had a boy with ID who spoke in broken english, carried around stuffed animals, and had the superpower of being able to track people (just like El) . And he retained broken english/his interest in stuffed animals in adulthood.Of course her fitting the psych criteria I listed could have other explanations.El can most certainly learn and improve in academic skills, language, and social skills even with an Intellectual disability. But honestly, even if El had an Iq of 160 she would (at least initially) struggle tremendously given the lack of education and neglect/ab*se she’s dealt with.But, I’m excited to see El gain independence as she learns more about herself and the real world (and maybe heal from some of her tr*uma).

But if we’re talking academically-she doesn’t know basic geography or what a state is at 14.She’s still learning how to speak and write with correct grammar at 14.She only just mastered how to tell time at 14 . Does she even know how to add, subtract, multiple, and divide, let alone algebra (knowledge needed for highschool) ? Or basic science knowledge also needed ? No way would she’d be ready to go to highschool in s3 (like the others already attending, during the ending-time skip). If we were being realistic- she’d be held back a few years and or in remedial classes, or special school, etc. The kids in middle or highschool who don’t know her circumstances wouldn’t be understanding of why she has little knowledge of social norms, expressions, language issues,etc. El has only interacted with 4 kids her own age for 3 months (9 months with Mike) and was in a year of isolation with Hopper (being taught social norms via tv- which is not the best teacher) .This was hardly ‘typical socialization for a kid her age’. Unlike, the rest of the gang who interacts with many kids on a daily basis.How will she be in an environment with this many kids? I wouldn’t be surprised if she was sadly bullied.Regardless, I’m looking forward to El’s character arc of trying to assimilate to the ‘real world’ as she grows into her own person-most likely there’s some good in her journey and not just bullies along the way. :)

#el hopper #jane ives #stranger things

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thebibliomancer · 4 years ago

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Essential Avengers: Avengers #253: CONQUERING VISION

March, 1985

The Vision vs. Quasimodo... in the heart of a machine!

ITS A ROBOT RUMBLE

ON THE INTERNET!

The Avengers seem very perturbed. Or maybe they’ve placed bets and are yelling at each other.

Anyway. Anyyyyyywayyyy.

Last time on Avengers: Vision became confined to a tube and was only fixed when Starfox hooked him up to Titan’s supercomputer ISAAC. While it helped Vision fix himself, it also seems to have changed his personality. Vision began conspiring with ISAAC to build a take-over-the-world-for-its-own-good device so he could take over the world for its own good and erase the evils and inequalities of man.

Vision was hesitant to pull the trigger on becoming a well-intentioned extremist and tried to gain power and influence by becoming the Avengers chairman and trying to make them more prominent with a branch team and closer ties to the White House.

But when anti-mutant arsonists burn down Vision and Scarlet Witch’s house during a new wave of anti-mutant fear, Vision decides ‘mmm yup, taking over the world time’. He distracts the Avengers by sending them to babysit the army as they poke Thanos technology that they shouldn’t poke and accidentally summon the Blood Brothers. And distracts Captain Marvel to go check out Thanos’ ship several light hours away past Pluto. Black Knight shows up unexpectedly but Vision shoves him into a tube to keep him out of trouble.

And now I guess Vision is going to fight Quasimodo the robot guy? Not sure how that fits in.

But first, some West Coast Avengers!

Like I said last time, they didn’t stop doing stuff just because their book is over.

Mockingbird happens to run into some drug runners while getting in some flight practice and figures heck why not beat up an entire boat full of gun-toting people as a light workout.

I guess the Quinjet can hover? Doesn’t seem to have thrusters or repulsors on the bottom or be a VTOL but hey, super advanced possibly Wakanda tech. It can do what it likes.

Mockingbird turns the drug runners over to the Coast Guard and returns to Palos Verdes and even gets to fly into one of those cool cliffside hangers disguised as a perfectly normal cliff. The West Coast Avengers revamped the hell out of the compound they bought.

Can you even legally excavate into a cliff like that? You can if you’re a superhero, I guess.

For some reason, there’s a fakeout where its implied Tigra is licking herself, cat style, but she’s just stretching. At least I hope the joke is that it sounded like she was cat cleaning herself and not something else.

One can never tell.

Anyway, I assume Hawkeye is just annoyed that he’s going to be vacuuming hair out of expensive equipment banks later. But really its that what if he threw a meeting and only he and Tigra came?

Mockingbird comes in not long after Hawkeye complains, slightly delayed from beating up drug runners. Wonder Man comes in shortly after, delayed by

FASHION

You know, this is a pretty great costume for Wonder Man. Its what all his modern outfits are based on when he’s not just dicks out energy man. I think I like the red jacket outfit more because being the only guy who dresses in ‘normal’ clothes while still looking somehow out of fashion with normal people fits for Wonder Man.

But I do love this one too. Its got a simple charm. Deciding that Wonder Man’s colors are black and red instead of Christmas green and red was a great decision and I’m sure that nobody will ever try to put him in red and green again.

Hawkeye grouses “Next, I suppose Iron Man will show up with a new chrome job!” but Iron Man is Sir Not Appearing in This Comic.

And the reason why is... looks like Tony and Rhodey are beating the crap out of each other in Iron Men armor this same month in Iron Man #192.

I don’t know the details but dammit Tony!

Anyway, over at last issue’s plot, the Avengers are still in Thanos’ ex-secret base in Arizona, still rolling their eyes and smh at the US Army for poking things what should not be poked.

Starfox and Scarlet Witch find a chamber blocked by rubble which has a symbio-nullifier which Starfox proposes to use to symbio-nullify the Blood Brothers.

First, he flexes on the US Army.

Army Guy: “It must weigh tons!”

Starfox: “Tons? Yes. But only about eight-and-a-half! Hardly any bother at all!”

Good flexing, Starfox.

Meanwhile, Captain America’s scolding has born fruit. The Pentagon has agreed to seal Thanos’ base, pending further investigation. And Colonel Farnam agrees because his training never prepared him to deal with MONSTERS FROM OUTER SPACE.

Also meanwhile, the army took pity on Hercules’ poor pantsless state and slash or were intimidated by it and have lent him a uniform.

He wears it as you’d expect Hercules to wear it.

With plenty of plunging neckline.

Since the Blood Brothers have a psionic link which makes them stronger the closer they are, Hercules has chained them up on very distant parts of the base.

But this precaution is rendered moot pretty quickly when Starfox returns with the symbio-nullifier to symbio-nullify the Blood Brothers.

Starfox suspected that Thanos had one of these lying around as a precaution if he was going to let the Blood Brothers into his base.

Hercules lightly complains that he didn’t get a good fight with the Blood Brothers especially since the hordes of Muspell and Maelstrom’s wacky minions were interesting but not all that much of a challenge for the prince of power.

Back at the Avengers Mansion, the giant holographic head of Vision is still dealing with Dane Black Knight Whitman. Mostly by showing him video footage of how the other Avengers are tied up.

Dane is confused for multiple reasons, including that when last he heard Wasp was the leader.

Vision: “My failure to anticipate your arrival was an unfortunate lapse. I regret that, as a result, you must suffer the indignity of incarceration.”

Dane: “But... why?! What does keeping me in a tube accomplish?”

Vision: “It prevents you from interfering! You see, I have come to the conclusion that the only way I can fulfill my duty to make the Earth a safer place... is to run it myself!”

Dane: “What?!? But that’s crazy! Uh... I mean, you can’t possibly...”

Vision: “Exactly the sort of reaction I expected!”

Vision: ‘See, this is why you’re a tube boy now.’

Vision turns off the hologram saying that Dane will understand when its all over.

As usual when somebody says something like that, Dane isn’t reassured, just more convinced he needs to break out and warn someone.

I’m not sure if its not already too late since Vision is safely ensconced in his take over the world chair in his secret take over the world room.

ISAAC’s head hologram shows up to Vision and asks him what the delay is, chop chop get to taking over the world for its own good.

Vision: “Sorry, ISAAC... I was just remembering how much I enjoyed having a body.”

Oh my god.

ISAAC: “What’s the sense of that? This entire world will soon be your ‘body’! How can the mobility of a single humanoid form compare to that?”

Vision: “I wouldn’t expect you to understand, ISAAC. It’s odd, though, so many times others have controlled my body... the robot Ultron, the Mad Thinker, Necrodamus... All have tried to subvert my mind and take me over. And now here am I... about to initiate the greatest takeover of all. One would almost think there were some mad connection -- !”

ISAAC: “Vision! You must not tarry!”

.................. Um, okay. So, rather than just being influenced by his brush with death and also brush with supercomputer, I think Vision is being actively manipulated into this by ISAAC.

I don’t know why but I do know that Vision continues being a viable character for decades so he probably can’t be burning all his bridges here.

Anyway, Vision uploads his psyche into the internet.

And like immediately starts taking over everything. One page montage immediately. The Pentagon, Cheyenne Mountain, SHIELD, satellites, the Kremlin.

Presumably the best security systems in the world barely warrant a mention for Vision’s mighty synthezoid brain.

He’s pulling a Skynet (for the world’s own good, so he says) and its barely an effort.

The scenery of being on the internet is, I dunno, pretty standard? Bright colors and dashes of light? I feel like I’ve seen it a lot of places.

But if we’re on page 13 of a book and Vision is effortlessly Skynetting, whats the rest of the issue going to be about? Interestingly, to me anyway, despite this being Vision’s turn villainous or well-intentioned extremist, another villain gets shoved in anyway for him to fight.

As Vision is nyooming around the Kremlin’s computers, he nearly runs into another AI, Quasimodo.

Helpfully, we get a recap of Quasimodo’s ENTIRE LIFE STORY because this is pre-fan wikis and I don’t think Quasimodo has appeared in Avengers before.

He was created to be the ultimate computer by the Mad Thinker but was abandoned when he developed a mind of his own.

Quasimodo was found by the Silver Surfer who used the cosmic powers of the Power Cosmic to transform Quasimodo from a computer into a robot.

Turning to the wiki for more information: He turns on Silver Surfer because he doesn’t like the body he got, so Surfer turns him into a stone gargoyle. Let that be a lesson about ingratitude.

Somehow, he stopped being a gargoyle and fought various people until he was defeated by the Fantastic Four and the Sphinx and wound up a disembodied intelligence in a Russian computer system. And here we are!

Quasimodo begs Vision to help him escape this digital hellhole but Vision just turns and leaves because he doesn’t have time for these shenanigans. And also because he knows Quasimodo is a villain who tends to turn on the people who help him so fuck that.

Quasimodo: “You know of my past - of my power - and you still would dare deny me?! There can be but one name for such as you... and that is fool!”

He then hauls off and punches Vision. Because they’re both digital intelligences on the internet they can punch each other and have a fight scene. That’s how internet works.

That’s why Mega Man X can beat up so many people in cyberspace.

Quasimodo says if Vision doesn’t help him get back to the physical world, he’ll destroy him.

Vision: “Now, listen to me... I am consolidating all computers worldwide. I gave up my own physical body to do this, and I’ll not tolerate any interference from the likes of you!”

Quasimodo: “You willingly abandoned your body?! You’re not a fool... you’re mad!”

Faced with an irreconcilable set of priorities, Quasimodo trips them both into “the irresistible currents of the IMPULSE VORTEX!”

Sure. That sounds like how internet works.

Meanwhile, over at Pluto is very far away, Monica Marvel nyooms past the moons of Uranus. Apparently her visual acuity is REALLY good because she takes in the scenery while she’s nyooming and finds it frighteningly beautiful out in the outer planets.

Anyway, Vision scolds Quasimodo for plunging them into a torrent. Which makes me laugh. Surely its too soon for torrents to be a thing. He’s just using it in a metaphorical sense.

Quasimodo tries to shoot EYE BEAM at Vision, which misses the digital synthezoid but obliterates an electron.

In a cutaway that would be at home in a Marvel movie, the scene briefly shifts to a Soviet computing center and a guy named Alexey complaining that his program just crashed.

Quasimodo does Vision some punches but Vision decides to start trying since Quasimodo’s attacks risk alerting people that something is amiss on the internet. And Vision’s powers work just as well on the internet as Quasimodo’s do. In fact, screw that, they work better! Vision just gets more and more powerful the longer he spends on the internet!

Vision: “You might have slain me earlier, but now this world is mine -- and there is no place in it for you!!”

And at Vision’s command the internet launches Quasimodo from Earth itself.

The internet can do that.

Meanwhile, back at Avenger’s Mansion, Dane Whitman determines that the tube he’s a tube boy in may look like glass but its as strong as steel. He’s not punching his way out of here.

But his recently uncursed cursed sword (the curse never stays not cursed for long so I hope Dane enjoys having a notcursed but very enchanted sword) is just a few feet away with the rest of his luggage. And there’s a mystic bond between himself and the sword so if he just thinks about the sword hard enough, surely it’ll manifest in his hand.

Like the Force but slightly more convenient.

Dane Whitman: Nothing’s happening. Must not... be concentrating hard enough! Maybe the link was broken with the curse. No... no, I mustn’t even think that! I need my sword! I must have my sword! I must!

He do it!

The Notcursed Ebony Sword appears in his hand and he slices through that steel glass like its just glass.

Meanwhile, over at Arizona, the Avengers finish up nullifying the Blood Brothers and putting them in suspended animation, or if you prefer, naptime timeout.

Captain America receives a buzz from Hawkeye who wonders what he’s doing within hailing range, ie in the western half of the US.

Captain America: “Arizona... government business... And I’m as surprised to hear you, as you are me! I take it that your team finished its mission in the Pacific early!”

Hawkeye: “Mission? What are you talking about, Cap? We haven’t been on any mission!”

Which is a dun dun dun considering their whole reason for being sent on this mission was that the West Coast Avengers were ostensibly busy.

And Vision lying about that raises a whole lot of questions for the Avengers.

Cap and Wanda Witch rush over to the Quinjet and contact the Mansion.

Vision: “Then you’re aware of my deception. I... am sorry, Cap. I didn’t want to mislead you, but I felt it necessary to carry out my plan.”

Scarlet Witch: “Plan? Vision, what do you mean? What have you done?”

Vision: “I... well, there is no easy way to put this... But I have taken over the world.”

You never want to hear “I have taken over the world” from a friend, unless its followed with “and I want to get you in on the ground floor of this exciting new opportunity.”

Vision promises the two that he’s taking over all of Earth’s computers for a really good reason like ending war and strife. And signs off by telling Wanda everything will be alright and that he loves her.

Aww?

Cap: “He meant it... he meant every word.”

Scarlet Witch: “He’d been upset lately, but I never thought... Cap, we have to stop him!”

Cap: “Yes. If there’s still time!”

DUN DUN DUN!

Follow @essential-avengers because I don’t know when I’ve been more excited to get to the next issue! Like and reblog?

#Avengers #Essential Avengers #Quasimodo #the Vision #Captain America #Scarlet Witch #Hercules #Starfox #Captain Marvel #Monica Rambeau #Hawkeye #Mockingbird #Tigra #Wonder Man #with a great new costume #Vision takes over the world #these things happen #from time to time #essential marvel liveblogging

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londonspirit · 4 years ago

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After the pandemic delayed its highly-anticipated release, the In the Heights movie is finally coming to very thirsty fans this Friday - and, to make the premiere even better, a special behind-the-scenes look at the movie is hitting bookshelves. In the Heights: Finding Home is a joint venture with Lin-Manuel Miranda, screenwriter Quiara Alegría Hudes, and Jeremy McCarter - it combines never-before-seen photos and oral history style-storytelling to take readers onto the Washington Heights set, spilling all sorts of filming secrets. Here, in an exclusive excerpt, read along as the cast battles record heat to complete the "Carnaval del Barrio" number.

Washington Heights is dense enough, and lively enough, to offer a distilled version of the New York paradox: Life is a nerve-fraying ordeal that you miss terribly as soon as it's gone. (According to local custom, people don't just double-park here, they triple-park.) Everybody knew that shooting a movie there would be difficult and expensive. But Jon [M. Chu, the director,] couldn't imagine doing it any other way.

For all of its fantastical touches-what Jon calls its "sing-to-the-stars-y" energy-Heights has always drawn power from its realism, a depiction of life as it's actually lived. The sweet spot for the movie, Jon felt, would be offering "a very truthful take on living in Washington Heights, then upping it."

In other words: No matter how fraught the process might be, the cast, the crew, and all of their gear-up to and including their fake sun in the sky-were going to spend the summer of 2019 in Washington Heights.

"The essence of a movie dictates where you shoot it," explains Kevin McCormick, a Warner Bros. executive who was integral to Heights. "And there's no way you could not have made this in Washington Heights. To have a movie about this community and not film there would be such a lost opportunity."

The first thing they did there was listen. Members of the production team, particularly Samson Jacobson, the location manager (born and raised in the area-a definite plus), and Karla Sayles, the director of public affairs at Warner Bros., met with community leaders to field questions and respond to concerns. Once again, Luis Miranda was a vital resource, drawing on relationships he had built over decades to make introductions.

The producers vowed to do all they could to limit the physical footprint of the shoot. Cast members shared trailers that they might otherwise have kept to themselves. The production hired people from the neighborhood for roles onscreen and off. Instead of catering every meal, they encouraged actors and crew to buy lunch in area restaurants. They even funded a student production of the show at George Washington high school.

What you see onscreen is a two-hour-and-fourteen-minute record of movie professionals falling in love with a place and its people. They arrived uptown to discover that Washington Heights really was different from most places in New York. Locals opened the hydrants on hot afternoons and played dominoes on the sidewalks. The piragüeros really did park their carts on the sidewalk to hawk their flavors of the day. The fascination seemed to be mutual: Actors got used to seeing whole families-little kids and their abuelitas-watching from their stoops at any time of the day or night.

Which is not to say that it came easily.

To Alice Brooks, the director of photography, the weather problems were "insane." If a storm popped up on the radar anywhere nearby, they had to suspend production. This happened with schedule-wrecking regularity. They expected to be free of such interruptions when they went underground to shoot "Paciencia y Fe" on the subway. Instead, they experienced a torment familiar to every New Yorker but with a twist: They weren't waiting for the train to appear so they could ride it to work, they just needed the garbage train to pass by so they could go back to shooting their movie.

The need to solve the endless riddles of New York filmmaking had led the producers to add Anthony Bregman to the team. At this point, he reckons, he's filmed in just about every corner of his hometown, always looking for ways to capture the authentic look and feel of a place-even when the movie is surreal. (He produced Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a valuable point of reference for the reality-bending frame of Quiara's screenplay.) So he wasn't especially rattled when, on the night they filmed "Alabanza," a nearby building caught fire, or when, on another night, gunshots rang out nearby.

"You want the life of the city?" Anthony asks. "The life of the city is complicated."

The production lost valuable shooting time on both of those nights. They found ways to make it up later. But other days offered no second chances. Anthony remembers looking at the calendar before summer began, getting a feel for what lay ahead. Some days seemed manageable; some days seemed tough. Then there was "Carnaval del Barrio."

"That day," he says, "was impossible."

What turned out to be a defining episode in the whole long history of In the Heights almost didn't happen at all. Many a movie executive had suggested over the years that there wasn't enough plot in "Carnaval del Barrio" to justify a song that was very long and very crowded, which made it very expensive. But the song's power doesn't come from the plot, it comes from the theme. The characters rally one another's spirits amid a citywide blackout. They raise their flags and celebrate their heritage-and their humanity-in defiance of every force telling them not to.

That community-fortifying aspect of the song is "essentially the DNA of In the Heights for me," Quiara says. Beneath the joy, there's a legacy of struggle and resilience. " 'Carnaval' unearths that history. All we have is our fight to be here together, the testimony to our spirit."

To help ensure that the number would remain in the movie, she hooked it into the plot more securely, situating it as a farewell number for the salon ladies, who have been priced out of the neighborhood. But the budget wasn't the only limiting factor. "Carnaval" is unique in requiring virtually every member of the cast to be present at the same time.

The actors' complicated schedules meant that Jon wouldn't get all the filming days he wanted. He would get only one.

Which meant it was time for the hard, slow, unglamorous legwork of moviemaking: planning, organizing, rehearsing, designing, equipping, and rehearsing some more-months of it, all to give themselves the best possible chance to "make the day," to film the whole gigantic number in the time available.

In the world of making movies, "day" is a flexible unit of time, especially for a scene that would be filmed outdoors- in this case, a courtyard between two apartment buildings around the corner from where Lin went to preschool. They scheduled the shoot for a Monday, when union rules would let them start the earliest. And they picked June 24, one of the longest days of the year.

They didn't realize it would also be one of the hottest.

The song would be filmed more or less in order. Which meant that for the production, as for the characters, the salon ladies would lead the way.

Some of the movie's actors were new to musicals. Not Daphne Rubin-Vega, who plays Daniela. When Rent blew the mind of seventeen-year-old Lin-Manuel Miranda, she was onstage, playing Mimi. But when she arrived for hair and makeup on "Carnaval" day-at 4:30 in the morning-even she was feeling nerves. The uneven concrete floor of the courtyard wasn't like where they had rehearsed. The prospect of filming a seven-page song before nightfall seemed crazy.

She began to hear a voice of doubt in her brain, one that's encoded in a specific ugly memory. After wrapping her first film, she had gone to the airport to fly home to New York and mentioned to the woman at the ticket counter that she had just acted in a movie.

"That's funny," said the woman, who Daphne believes to have been Latina like herself. "You don't look like an actress."

Worries about how they looked, questions about what they were wearing, a general feeling of negativity-Dascha Polanco was feeling them, too. She always loved arriving on set to play Cuca, one of Daniela's fellow salon ladies, because it felt so much like coming home. She was born in the Dominican Republic and while growing up in Brooklyn used to make frequent trips to the Heights with her friends. ("Washington Heights is a small Dominican Republic," she explains.) Now she, too, wondered if she belonged. Am I capable of remembering the steps? she asked herself.

She decided to stop those doubts-for herself and the other salon ladies. She grabbed the hands of Daphne and Stephanie Beatriz, who played Carla, and formed the women into a profane prayer circle.

"Shake that s--- off," she told them. "I'm not going to let anyone or anything interfere with my performance today."

Daphne laughs as she tells the story. "She was so hilarious and said we were going to protect each other from that insecurity. That was such a beautiful thing-going in there with that determination to represent."

By 5:30 A.M., when the sun rose over Queens, sixty dancers had arrived. Christopher Scott, the film's choreographer, tried to prepare them for what was coming, backed by his full team of associate choreographers: Emilio Dosal, Ebony Williams, and Dana Wilson, as well as associate Latin choreographer Eddie Torres, Jr., and assistant Latin choreographer Princess Serrano. By six A.M., dozens of crew members had joined them, making the thousand careful adjustments needed to help a movie look spontaneous.

It was almost nine A.M. by the time Jon called "Action." The cameras started rolling, Daphne started singing, and the clock kept ticking.

Arrange the actors, position the cameras, do a take, reset everybody, do it again. As the sun climbed higher that morning, the temperature rose to what one crew member estimated to be nine hundred degrees. Look closely-see the sweat on people's bodies? Most of it didn't come from the makeup department. But there wasn't time for extra breaks to cool off.

"Please be quiet," a voice on the loudspeaker boomed at one point. "We gotta go."

At one point that morning, Jimmy Smits got his turn to shine. Playing Kevin Rosario wasn't his first Height experience. He had seen the show Off-Broadway and been "blown away" by it, he says. He had offered to help in any way he could, eventually recording a radio ad for the show.

His devotion to Heights carried into rehearsals for the film. As they got underway, he told Chris Scott and the choreography team, "I know I'm playing the dad, but the last thing I want to see is myself in the background, just waving my hands. I want to go all in." They obliged him. He sometimes hobbled home from the dance studio to ice himself for hours.

His payoff came on "Carnaval" day. He had a featured moment in the song: an intricate, whirling combination. The cast and crew watched him do it again and again, cheering him on. He could feel "a lightning bolt of energy" around the set, something he'd experienced only rarely in his long career.

Over the applause after one take, a voice rang out, ricocheting off the walls: "That s--- was crazy! For our ancestors!" It was Anthony Ramos. He, too, had a long history with Heights, but it wasn't as happy as Jimmy's.

Very early in his career, he had tried to get cast as Sonny on the show's national tour. It meant taking a bus into Manhattan from a gig he was doing in New Jersey, going through round after round of auditions. At last he made it to the big moment: a callback in front of Tommy Kail, Alex Lacamoire, and Lin himself.

He gave the song everything he had. He didn't get the part.

He thought he'd missed the one chance he would get to work with Lin, the writer who'd evoked Anthony's own world, Latino New York, so beautifully on a Broadway stage. He needn't have worried. A few years later, the same guys would hire him to originate the roles of John Laurens and Philip Hamilton, Alexander's son, in Hamilton.

When Anthony got to know Tommy and Lac well enough, he asked if they remembered not casting him as Sonny. They said they did.

"You weren't ready yet," Lac said.

Anthony knew he was right. "Only a homie would tell you that," he says.

But he needed one more break to make his way back to Heights and find himself sweating in the courtyard that morning.

In 2018, Stephanie Klemons, an original cast member of both In the Heights and Hamilton, directed a production of Heights at the Kennedy Center in Washington. The night before rehearsals were set to begin, she lost an actor to an injury. She reached out to Anthony: Could he step in with zero notice?

He didn't feel physically or mentally ready, and was about to pass, but decided to do it. That's how he got a second chance to show Lin what he could do in Heights-not as Sonny this time, as Usnavi. In a series of tweets, reproduced on this page, Lin commemorated how overwhelmed he was watching Anthony step into the role he once played. He, Quiara, and Jon all agreed that when the cameras started rolling, Anthony should be their Usnavi.

The bond between Anthony and Lin added to the drama of filming "Carnaval." Lin played Piragua Guy, so he was in the courtyard, too-or, rather, directly above it, on a fire escape. It meant that the whole cast and crew had a clear view of the brief duet that he and Anthony sing in the middle of the number. To people who knew their history, the sight made time go all swirly. Anthony had originated the role of Lin's son in Hamilton, and now he was playing the role that Lin had originated, and somehow the two of them were singing a duet in Washington Heights.

A quirk of the production process made the moment even stranger and more potent. All day, the actors had been singing along to prerecorded versions of "Carnaval" piped over the loudspeakers. But somehow they hadn't gotten around to recording Anthony's side of his duet, so they had to fall back on the only other version on hand: the Broadway cast album. Which meant that Lin wasn't just singing with Anthony that day, he was harmonizing with himself at age twenty-eight, when every bit of what was happening around him would have seemed like a ludicrous dream. "It was like time travel," Lin says.

By three p.m., when everybody had returned from their lunch break-blood sugar bolstered by the ice cream truck that Stephanie Beatriz had hired-time was growing shorter, the day hotter. Now when choreographer Chris Scott talked to the dancers, many listened with hands on hips, hands on knees.

From his fire escape, Lin did his bit to keep up morale. He joined in the clapping that broke out between scenes; he made silly faces; he pulled up his shirt and did belly rolls. Guests watched from the edges of the shoot: Lin's dad and wife, Quiara's sister, Chris's mom, Anthony's sister and mom. Anna Wintour stopped by.

Jon is not the type to direct through a bullhorn, barking orders from the shade. When they'd filmed "96,000" earlier that month on a couple of unseasonably frigid days, he had jumped in the Highbridge Park pool with the cast.

On this day, he darted around the courtyard, giving notes to actors, framing shots, conferring with Alice. He is also not the type to speak in mystical terms, but when he thinks back on that day, he remembers "the sun shining down like a laser-it was like the sun was shining out of everybody."

By late afternoon, the boundary between the make-believe world of the movie and the real world of the shoot had all but melted away. They had reached the part of the song where Usnavi and Daniela try to call forth their neighbors' pride in where they come from. Anthony climbed onto a picnic table and faced the whole cast, rapping, "Can we sing so loud and raucous they can hear us across the bridge in East Secaucus?" Daphne stood near him, arms wide apart, raising them up, willing everybody to stand tall, to keep going.

Both of them were throwing all their skill and commitment into their performances, the stars of two of Broadway's epoch-making musicals doing what they had trained to do. But they also weren't acting.

"To raise the flag for your country, to dance and recognize that we're all here together, and belong here, we don't need to be forgiven for it, or ashamed for it," says Daphne of what she was feeling. "There's a pride in being here from Colombia, or Panama, the D.R., Puerto Rico, Cuba, wherever."

At eight o'clock, with the sun sinking toward New Jersey, the dancers were still dancing. Eleven hours had passed since Daphne had belted out "Hey!" to start the song. Now Jon was trying to get the right take of sixty-plus voices shouting "Hey!" to finish it. In the movie version of the scene, the blackout ends when the song does, so a voice on the loudspeaker would announce, "The power's on!" That's how the actors knew the right moment to cheer that it was over.

After one such cheer, it really was over. Not just the take-the song.

They had done it. They had made the day.

Jon jumped into a swarm of dancers. (Ever see a baseball player hit a walk-off home run, then leap onto home plate into the waiting arms of his cheering teammates? That's what this jump looked like.) People were clapping and shouting and hugging and crying. Alice thought the whole thing was a miracle.

"You know when you see people at a concert cry, and you're like, 'I would never do that'?" asks costume designer Mitchell Travers. "That's what I did." He thinks it's the most sheer human energy he has ever been close to.

Anthony Ramos, in the middle of the crowd, launched into a speech. He can't remember his exact words. He hadn't planned what he was going to say-he hadn't planned to speak at all. He just felt that something needed to be said.

"I might have said, today we made history," he recalls. "This was for our ancestors who didn't get the opportunity to do this-who were fighting to have a chance to do what we just did. It was for love of the culture. It was for our kids, who look like us, to be able to see themselves on the big screen, to see us singing about our pride. Some s--- like that."

Somewhere in the crowd stood Dascha Polanco, cheering with the rest. She was sweaty, tired, tear-streaked-and beginning to feel the spirit move.

"I looked down and saw that concrete floor," she says, "and I saw those fire escapes up there, and I was like, 'New York.' "

She began a chant. It was slow and pitched low: "N-e-e-e-e-w York, N-e-e-e-e-w York." In seconds, the whole crowd took it up. "N-e-e-e-e-w York! N-e-e-e-e-w York!"

They were pointing to the sky. They were dancing.

"N-e-e-e-e-w York! N-e-e-e-e-w York!"

"It wasn't like chanting, 'Oh, I love New York,' " Anthony says later-meaning it wasn't a casual thing someone would casually say. "It was"-he drops his voice an octave and leans in-"I motherf---ing love New York. I'm proud to be from New York. I'm proud to be Latino from New York. That was the chant."

Lin, on his fire escape, was overwhelmed. Quiara, in the courtyard, guessed that people could hear them all chanting for blocks around. "It was the sound of joy and survival," she says. "And the sound of people who were really proud to be artists in community together-all our stories braided and interwoven at that one moment."

The long months of preparation had yielded the thing that movie people dream of creating: the burst of real emotion, the flash of genuine spontaneity. Some of it infuses what you see in the finished version of the song, but some of it can't be recovered now. It's an experience only for the people who got to be part of that impromptu celebration, the carnaval that followed "Carnaval."

That long day and its joyous finale capture, in miniature form, a lot of the Heights experience-what's powerful about it, what's rare. Instead of expecting little from the actors it featured, Heights demanded everything-not just what they could do, but who they were and where they came from. By fusing them with dozens of other artists making the same commitment, it gave them the feeling that Lin had wanted so badly for himself when he started writing the show: a sense of belonging, of being part of a group of people working toward a goal they all hold dear. That's why Anthony, looking back on filming "Carnaval," says, "That was one of the greatest days of my life. Period. If I never do another movie again, I did this."

"Something that arises in 'Carnaval' is a feeling of, 'There's a place for us,' " says Quiara. "But the place is not one that says, 'Oh, I definitely fit in' or 'I definitely don't.' It holds those questions. It allows those questions to exist."

Those questions, she has come to see, are universal.

"People are like, 'What is my place in the world?' That question is actually part of your place in the world," she says. "There's something about In the Heights. It takes such a burden off to hear, 'Yeah, there's a place for you. Here it is.'"

#in the heights #ith movie #in the heights - the movie #spoilers #ith spoilers #sorry - super long post #long post #but I needed the whole text here because it's fucking BEAUTIFUL #and I don't want it to vanish!!!#carnival del barrio

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wondereads · 4 years ago

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Personal Recommendation (1/10/21)

The Queen’s Rising by Rebecca Ross

Why am I recommending this book?

This book was a bit odd because it wasn’t very high in tension, but it went by so fast. There’s something about the worldbuilding that just made me want to know more, so even though the story itself wasn’t full of twists and turns, it held my attention.

Plot 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Brienna is half Maevan and half Valenian, two countries that are similar to our worlds’ Scotland and France. She is sent by her grandfather to passion, the practice of studying art, music, wit, drama, or knowledge. After jumping from passion to passion, Brienna finally settles on knowledge, but her inexperience leaves her without a patron, which could have her labelled inept. However, once she starts having visions from the perspective of a long-dead Maevan noble, she is offered patronage from a mysterious man who seeks to uncover an artifact from Mavana’s past.

Like I said, this book is very low tension. Most of it is spent at the passion house where Brienna studies or planning at the house of her passion-father, her patron. Once the action does get started, it’s all very neat. There are some surprises, but Brienna and the others aligned with her generally manage to steal and spy with little resistance. The big theme in this book is identity; Brienna starts out torn between two countries, she and many others adopt new names, and most of the big reveals have to do with people turning out to be different than what they claim to be.

The plot was very simple, but the worldbuilding made up for it. Brienna, within the passion of knowledge, is a historian, so there are all sorts of lovely history lessons tied up in the book. However, I would still say the plot was a little lackluster. The rebels’ plans always seemed to go too smoothly; it would’ve been more interesting if Brienna was forced to improvise when something went horribly wrong. For example, the entire plan hinged on Brienna being taken to Damhan, for reasons that are most definitely spoilers, so it would’ve been a bit more exciting if Brienna had to convince Lannon, the Maevan king, rather than him just playing into their hands. Still, bonus points for not making Brienna a secret princess and keeping her in the role that was established for her.

Also, there is magic in this book, but it’s very subtle. The only magic explicitly seen are the memories that Brienna inherits from her ancestor.

Characters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. I’m a sucker for found family. Brienna is very focused on the unknown identity of her father; she’s an illegitimate child who was raised by her grandfather. However, the story centers around her multiple found families in her passion-sisters, the girls she studied the passions with, and her patron, the man who essentially adopted her and the brother that came along with it. Brienna also develops deep bonds with some disgraced Maevan nobility. My favorite was Brienna and Merei’s friendship, I hope they get to keep seeing each other after the book ends.

Brienna herself is a nice character because she’s very much the epitome of “jack of all trades, master of none, but better than a master of one”. Her education in all the passions definitely comes in handy, even though she has her faults in all of them.

Finally, for the romance, I’m a bit split on it. For one, Brienna and Cartier are very sweet with each other, and Ross wrote some great scenes with a lot of tension between the two. It’s very obvious they care for each other, and it’s nice to read a YA book where the main couple don’t start out at each other’s throats, figuratively or literally. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get completely into it. That was mostly due to the eight year age gap that had Brienna and seventeen and Cartier at twenty-five. I do appreciate that they didn’t even consider a romantic relationship possible until Brienna was no longer his student, but the age gap, even in a medieval setting, especially at Brienna’s current age, was a bit too much.

Writing Style 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Before I get into anything else, Rebecca Ross knows what’s up. At the beginning of the book, there’s a detailed map filled with the typical embellishments of a medieval map. Then there’s a cast of characters complete with family trees for the Maevan houses that make an appearance during the story. If you really want to know who Brienna’s father is, just take a look there. I absolutely love when author’s include things like that, and there’s even a table of contents with actual chapter titles. I love it!

In terms of actual writing style, Brienna used language that was appropriate for the time period, and the switch to third person during the memories was very nice. I do prefer third person in both reading and writing, but I didn’t mind the first person here, especially because Brienna was a very sensible character that didn’t get sidetracked easily.

Overall 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

I thought I’d get bored with this book easily, especially once I realized I was a third of the way through and Brienna hadn’t even left the passion house. It was quite the opposite. I finished this book in two days, and I didn’t have to push through it at all. While the tension was lacking, it flowed very nicely, though I do wish there had been some more high stakes moments. The relationships were all very well written, even if the age difference irked me, and I loved having a map and family trees I could flip to. I would recommend this book to historical nerds and those who enjoy fantasy and softer reads.

Reviewer’s Note

Sorry for the delay! I spent all weekend binging the Tolkien movies with my family, so this is a little late. The next review will be on time on Jan 24!

The Author

Rebecca Ross: American, born in Georgia, author of The Queen’s Resistance and Sisters of Sword and Song

The Reviewer

My name is Wonderose; I try to post a review every two weeks, and I take recommendations. Check out my about me post for more!

#books #recommendations #reviews #the queen’s rising #rebecca ross #fantasy #ya

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wolfewritings · 5 years ago

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My Cyberpunk 2077 Hot Takes (Spoilers for first 5ish hours of gameplay)

It was “in development” for 8 years, delayed multiple times in the final release year, and is still so poorly optimized, buggy, janky, and so obviously not fully tested on release that it is so unplayable on consoles that both Sony and Microsoft are offering refunds on digital copies regardless of hours played. And on PC you could have built and updated a desktop just to play only Cyperpunk on as high a setting as possible and you still would have to turn of features to get everything to load in properly. The game needs a full year delay working a standard 40 hour week to be even playable, and that's accounting for the features available as of Dec. 11th 2020 aka launch features. They forced the devs to work 100 hour work weeks just to launch a game that's technically playable in the loosest sense of the phrase.

TLDR: The game in-general needs to be redesigned like the RPG it was initially marketed as instead of a different flavor of near-future Ubi-sandbox. It also should totally embrace the full depth of customization cyberpunk as a genre and transhumanism as an ideology allows and envisions. And bugfixed and optimized, like seriously. There’s also almost no reason for anything to be as remotely bad as it is, if I’m remembering correctly the only “pressure” they had was from “fans” and that’s because they thought Gamers(tm) would be sensible and not send fucking death threats because they thought they had a release date.

This might be a GOG only gripe (or cpu) but that makes it even worse if it is: patching takes literal hours to complete no matter how small the patch is. The only game that might take longer to patch is Baldur’s Gate 3 which is a whole separate fuck-fest but atleast that is early access.

It has less gameplay options than vanilla Skyrim, just in general and in specifics.

Melee combat is clunky as hell and not satisfying.

I think driving is bad, and vehicle combat is god awful with almost no onscreen indicators if your hitting enemies or even correctly aimed at them.

The lifepath opener sucks. It literally ends with a montage of scenes and interactions that should have been playable and greatly added to the dynamic of Jackie and V. It also would have helped established literally every part of gameplay without requiring a literal in-game diegetic tutorial to break the flow of a scene leading into the 2018 gameplay teaser. It also so far only affects dialogue options, no ability increases, no skill increases or passive experience buffs. It doesn’t even effect how V speaks, just what they know prior to meeting Jackie.

Character creation is meh at best. Unless you choose the more techy looking eyes that change everything about the eye, the iris color barely appears to change. Pronouns being tied to voice is a very weird choice, especially when the choices are literally just male or female. Available hair styles are alot right off the bat, especially since you have to remember which numbers you like with no option to preview or change later in anyway aside from apparently forced hair styles hard designed with various head gear, especially apparent on femme V where they grow and fully style their hair on contact with ball caps etc. Tattoo options are generic “nothing or your skin is over 30% tattoos” no pure back or pure limb tattoos. Facial cybernetics are serviceable but there should have also been an option for purely cosmetic body cybernetics. Facial hair is both meh and almost too indepth at the same time. Visually bland but also having too much to customize and compare with each beard selection having seemingly 3 barely different versions and mustaches having essentially every type aside from pencil (i think, i didnt care too much to look at all of them).

In-combat weapon selection is clunky. The lower right icons for unarmed is the exact same as if you were wielding a gun. The only way to know for sure you have only fists is to use the weapon selection wheel and try to get the cursor to show you hovering unarmed even if you have weapons in 2 out of 3 slots. And im fairly certain having no weapon in the first slot breaks hotkey selecting weapons. There have been several times where I pressed 1 to only use fists and it kept my katana or gun out despite them clearly being in the 2 and 3 slots respectively.

Hacking is weird as you need direct line of sight and the game to register you’re actually looking at what you want to hack, meaning you can’t really stealth hack in enclosed areas without almost guaranteeing you’ll be spotted.

Randomized loot doesn’t really make sense, especially when the randomized tier determines if you can install components like scopes, silencers, etc.

Thats all I can remember off of the top of my head as of initial writing.

Now for some praise, but still with some complaints and ideas for improvements.

Gender and sex being separate is a great idea but could have been implemented alot better. Pronouns should have been an actual choice between he/him, she/her, and they/them. In my opinion, voice options should have also been expanded to include masc/fem or masc/fem/”yeah thats a generic ‘X’ voice” for both male-voiced and female-voiced V. Genital selection being both “which do you have?” and “do you go commando?” is just questionable. It should have been genital type as one selection and default underwear as another (maybe some people want schlonged V to wear panties and vagina’d V to wear men’s boxers or tighty-whities). I personally find the nipple and pubic hair customization almost too much for almost no reason especially since there is no practical way to even be naked to be funny without being one-shot because you have literally zero armor aside from maybe shoes, hats, and face covers.

Tattoos should be broken down into subcategories like limbs (divided into the different parts of each limb/full limb), torso (chest, stomach/full), back (shoulders, mid, lower/full), hands/feet (maybe including fingers/toes) with an extra option to mirror limbs and hands to streamline creation time if the player wants.

Hair should also be broken down between pre-styled, and customizable pieces like top, sides, and back. Hair style should also have custom gradients or full palette selection.

The nail paints were a nice surprise, but again would have been better with color customization (I managed to settle on the one that looked kinda like the demisexual flag, which was nice surprise).

Lifepath selection should have some effect outside of just the occasional dialogue option (so far only on the main story path). At the very least it should offer bonuses to atleast one associated ability (like Nomad offering a +1 to tech and associated skills gaining bonus experience). At the far end it should affect what words or slight accent uses during dialogue and maybe have some NPCs know which lifepath you chose based on that.

Melee combat needs to feel more impactful. From what Ive used so far (katana and fists) the katana barely has any reaction from enemies unless you trigger the passive bleeding skill and fists barely register outside of heavy attacks and guard breaking. Dare I say, Dead fucking Island has more impactful melee combat (probably because it wasn’t seemingly designed as an after-thought outside of skills).

Make it so that once you’ve marked a target you can hack it through walls so you can actually be somewhat stealthy or atleast give you an advantage before combat.

Make the overworld hub-based (like in the 2010s Deus Ex games) but still the same size so that its (theoretically) easier to load while also getting the same amount of detail or even more.

Add seemingly basic things in open world action-adventure games like toggle walking, keybinding, and maybe more than less than a handful of quick-select slots.

Make sure the game actually runs as it ideally should on the platforms you sell it on. Like that really should be step fucking two after can you launch it without causing a fire.

Enemies (and predetermined killable NPCs) should have set gear that is dropped and gear should have set designs for if they can be customized or just sold for money. Iconic gear should probably be better than just “ ’X’ weapon but named”.

#cyberpunk 2077 #hot take #rpg #video games #holy shit did they drop the ball #Gamers(tm) need to get all their asses kicked since they obviously don't have empathy

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missantichrist · 5 years ago

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About my Apprentice

BASICS

Name: Atlas

Birthday: April 17

Zodiac Sign: Aries

Gender: Male

Pronouns: He/Him

Orientation: Gay

Favorite flower: Tiger Lily

Favorite food: Crab cakes

Favorite drink: Absinthe

Love Interest: Muriel

This lovely art below is by @fantasmagorias and Atlas is the one in the back row on the right :)

(Literally everything else under the cut. I just didn’t want people who don’t care about my Arcana stuff to have to scroll through all of... that ⇩)

APPEARANCE/PHYSICAL TRAITS

Height: 6’2”

Body type/build: He’s thin, lanky, and muscular. Think Julian but a little bit more toned muscle, less dorito and more hourglass and instead of a pancake butt, he thicc

Skin: He’s white, but not pale. He has no special birthmarks/scars or beauty marks. Just a gangly white boy who’s become a little bronzed from living in sunny Vesuvia.

Hair: He has light golden blonde hair (lighter than Lucio’s by quite a bit, but not platinum). On one side of his head his hair swoops over like Julian’s, but the other side is shaven save for 3 braids that run around to the back of his neck. (My friend @fantasmagorias drew Atlas perfectly, including his complex hairdo. It was like he literally jumped from my brain to hers. I’ll attach that at the bottom of this post!)

Eyes: He has bright white eyes. I strongly agree with the theory I heard that each character in the Arcana’s eyes match their patron Arcana. Atlas’ is the fool, so he has white eyes like Scout!

Distinguishing features: He has very defined cheekbones, a sharp jawline and what I can best describe as curious brows. He’s definitely got a fun, mischievous look to him. Even when his face is in its resting state, he looks like he’s smirking and always has an adventurous glint in his eyes. When he smiles you can’t help but smile too, as his smile is very bright and nearly always genuine.

Clothing: Atlas makes most of his own clothes, and if he isn’t wearing something handmade, he’s wearing something Asra or Nadia got him. He’s always dressed very funky and in bright colours, like orange, blue, purple, and green.

Default outfit - Tits out Vesuvia! He wears a loose white tunic with brassy buttons that clasp at the waist, leaving most of his chest exposed, and a blue and purple paisley patterned scarf that no one has seem him leave the shop without. Over his top, her wears a sleeveless cardigan that drapes just below his booty that is a deep, bright royal purple with bright orange and gold embroidery. He wears high waisted pants that were originally white, but are now a light tan/beige, decorated with darker beige markings and small white beads. Around his lower waist his shirt is kept shut (so that only his tiddies are showing and not his entire front because wow what a sin that would be) by a light green sash that was “artiscally” stained with light orange and blue markings. He wears tall tattered light brown boots with tassels/fringe on them.

Travelling outfit - He romances Muriel, so his travelling outfit includes a thick cloak that was gifted to him from Nadia and a colourful blue and purple paisley patterned scarf Asra gifted him. (The cloak looks exactly like Muriel’s except the fur is bright white and rather than being lined green it is lined the same colour of blue as his scarf). He wears the same silly, tattered brown boots he always does.

Masquerade outfit - Atlas wears a wolf mask at the masquerade (this plays both into the fact that Muriel’s familiar is a wolf and the fact that the fool is most commonly represented by/with a dog). His mask is white and glittery, adorned with pearls from the waters of Prakra. He wears a long, multi-layered, flowy, deep blue skirt with gems decorating the silky inner fabric of the skirt. It looks like the night sky when light reflects off of it and moves like calm water. His top is a loose white silk that covers his back and abdomen and tucks seamlessly into his skirt and is belted with a gold sash. His arms, shoulders and neck are adorned in gold, a pattern similar to that of Asra’s masquerade outfit’s gold accents, except the gold pattern travels all the way from his shoulders to his wrists, where it is clasped in place by thick gold wristicuffs that each have a single large pearl in the center. He wears a thick gold choker around his neck that looks exactly like the wrist cuffs except neck-sized (lol). When he attends the masquerade he has his makeup done by Natiqa, who opted for a simple look with dramatic gold eyeliner and some highlight.

PERSONALITY/INTERESTS

Personality: Atlas is very straightforward and not afraid to speak his mind, he is constantly making silly quips and jokes; he loves making others laugh. He has what I call a “hero complex”; essentially he loves protecting and saving people. Anyone he can’t save he blames himself for. He blames himself for both Morga and Khamgalai’s death, but because of his positive attitude and his habit of pushing anything negative deep down inside him and his need to not let anyone around him feel down, he doesn’t tell anyone.

He romances Muriel, and in his route he’s very loud and obnoxious. Muriel hated him at first, but slowly, because of Atlas’ high energy and positivity, Muriel came out of his shell quite a bit and grew to love Atlas.

But, Atlas is not always loud and high energy. He gets lost in his thoughts often and becomes quite serious, especially after being in a tough or scary situation, even though when he was in the situation, he was making jokes and laughing through his stress. (He very much so relieves his anxieties through comedy).

He very rarely gets angry, but when he does it’s terrifying. He becomes a raging inferno that nothing and no one can stop from raging on. This is because he pushes his self-hatred so far down that he’s an emotional bomb just waiting to go off.

Likes: Being a hero

Dislikes: Failure

Fears: Losing loved ones

Habits: He will throw himself headfirst into danger without thinking if he sees someone who needs help.

TRIVIA

I keep my ocs as canon as I possibly can, that’s why Atlas has no last name. He has no idea who his family is or where he’s from. The only thing he does know about his past is that he died of the plague and that he had a mysterious aunt who he’s pretty sure has died. Pretty much, anything Asra doesn’t know, Atlas doesn’t.

As far as bonus (lemon) 😏😏 material, Atlas is a vers switch. When he’s subbing he loves being tied up and edged to the point of tears leaking from his eyes. Like Asra, he very much so enjoys delayed gratification during sex. When he’s topping, he’s a soft domme and consistently checks to make sure his partner is doing okay. But he is not gentle. He likes to hear his partner scream, being vocal turns him on *so much.*

Tagging a few Arcana sluts: @vesuviannights @queenofeden @16reapergrell66 @fantasmagorias @superlemonsweet @kidlightnings @athousandstarstodreamon @llyrel @dd-d--dd-d @lemon-trap @devofuck @thesanguinerose @candygirl3473

#the arcana apprentice #the arcana mc #the arcana oc #atlas the apprentice #the arcana muriel #muriel #muriel the arcana #muriel's route #the arcana asra #asra the arcana #asra #asra alnazaar

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ourrudd68-blog · 5 years ago

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Rules to Introduce Sex Toys In The Bedroom

Since Fifty Shades of Gray is so striking, the total of the media is discussing sex and sex toys. It is secured to express that you are charmed about irksome them yet are extravagantly embarrassed? Is it authentic that you are faulty whether they are direct for you and your relationship?

Coming up next are some standard misinterpretations about grown-up toys:

A significant number people don't utilize sex toys

Wrong! Different incredible individuals go through developed toys, including individuals most would think about absolutely standard. Utilizing a grown-up toy doesn't make you "odd" or doesn't well-spoken a word negative about your relationship. It respectable inspirations you gain some incredible experiences more fun in the room! You don't need to give to your mates, your chief or your mom that you use toys beside in case anybody except for if you need to cheap adult toys .

Sex toys are only for masturbation.

While grown-up toys are generally utilized for masturbation, different couples take an interest in utilizing toys together, regardless of whether they are female or male or hetero or gay. Ordinarily these couples are content with trying new things together, are responsive, and trusting.

Your partner will feel ailing on the off chance that you begin utilizing a sex toy.

Is it certified that you are nervous that on the off chance that you pass on a grown-up toy into the room, it will shock your associate? A grown-up toy can give you a pinnacle, yet it can't reveal to you the aggregate they love you or rub your back. An article is irrefutably not a substitute for a genuine individual. In the event that your darling has this dread, be precarious and stroke their character a bit. Additionally with most relationship issues, exceptional straightforwardness is totally basic.

Utilizing sex toys can be truly hazardous.

Zero possibility!

Beyond question, grown-up toys can have extraordinarily profitable outcomes on your sexual thriving.

For instance, different specialists and experts embrace grown-up toys to ladies who experience inconvenience appearing at top; in the event that you experience the detestable effects of anguishing sex, vibrators can engage circulatory framework; every one of that ladies can profit by kegel exercisers or kegel balls to condition the pelvic floor muscles; prostate massagers decay the danger of prostate risk, erectile brokenness and constant evening time pee. Finally, tops assistance you with living longer, square hopelessness and, some state, look more fiery. Who wouldn't need that?

In the event that you use sex toys pointlessly, you won't have a top with your partner.

In the event that your right hand is disturbed you'll supersede the individual being alluded to with your supported toy, guarantee that person that you'll overall keep things specific in the room: attempt various positions, new toys, light enslavement and dream play.

In the event that your relationship is sound, there's no motivation driving why you should require a sex toy.

You are so honored to have a solid relationship. All things considered, who wouldn't have any desire to make their relationship essentially more grounded and closer by sharing another experience? In the event that your sweetheart is unfaltering about not having any desire to encounter a grown-up toy to prepare your sexual simultaneousness, guarantee the individual being alluded to that you needn't meddle with a grown-up toy possibly, you'd starting late need to try one.

You or your embellishment fears feeling delight

Satisfaction is an inheritance. Everybody merits it and ought to have it. Own your sexuality and do what works for you. Considering, tops make you more beneficial and more playful.

Purchasing sex toys can be truly humiliating particularly considering the way that they look gross and disturbing.

You are correct. Legitimately, due to the Internet, you can shop in the solace of your own home without judgment. For the most part grown-up toys cause you to feel messed up considering how they are regularly phallic or cheesey or are rowdy so much, that you figure your young people or neighbor may hear what you are doing. Overabundance sex toys are the absolute backwards. You apparently won't fathom that they are incredible grown-up toys considering the way that they look like craftsmanship. They are straightforwardly so cautious and calm that nobody will comprehend what you are doing.

These contentions may look great and work for a significant number people at any rate probably won't work for you. In the event that that is the condition, here are 3 additional motivations to evaluate sex toys:

Satisfaction = Sex Toys

Who isn't an enthusiast of pinnacles? You may be extremely depleted or too included to even consider evening consider evening think about participating in sexual relations, yet there's no excusing that pinnacles feel significantly better. Grown-up toys can assist you with having more pinnacles. What's going on with that?

Sex Toys are Fun.

Regardless of whether you have been with your sweetheart for a couple of months or different years, things may be genuinely stale and you must have a go at something new. That is OK - you are following some extraordinary individuals' model! Grown-up toys can add essentialness to the room and shield things from getting normal. Utilizing a grown-up toy together can bring you closer; sharing new encounters together can be especially agreeable.

Sex Toys Make Sex Better.

Did you comprehend that about 30% of ladies genuinely have a top during sex? Most ladies need clitoral enlistment to accomplish a pinnacle. By then, different men experience inconvenience continuing with their erections as long as they would need, regardless of whether it be a prompt result develop enough, cure or stress. That is the thing that grown-ups toys are for!

On the off chance that you are straightforwardly set up to fire utilizing grown-up toys, here are a few recommendations to begin:

Start delayed by beginning with something little. Start with a little toy and show your dear that the toy is associated with adding more joy and force to the room. For instance, in the event that you need to attempt a vibrator, start with something that is basically nothing and wary, similar to a finger vibrator or vibrating egg. In the event that you need to try light subjugation, try a blindfold or holding your dear's hands over their head during foreplay.

Precisely when you are prepared, blend your course making a decent attempt to discover something more noticeable and bolder.

Despite whatever else, survey that correspondence is the course in to any solid relationship. In the event that you can't share your sentiments or necessities, something isn't right. Closeness and fun are the basic objective. It is completely ward upon you to pick whether that recommends with or without sex toys, yet experimentation never hurt anybody!

My Secret Luxury is the supplier of abundance grown-up toys and remarkable assessment instruments. We offer a curated assortment of sex toys for men, ladies and couples that stick to the best wants for arrangement, style and improvement. The online shop gives a spot to careful assessment and divulgence through fastidiously made Secret Kits and gives unrivaled client care through the Secret Concierge, who is accessible to change dreams into this current reality.

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aion-rsa · 5 years ago

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Cyberpunk 2077: Lore and History of the Game’s Universe

https://ift.tt/31wmsZ3

Cyberpunk 2077 is far and away one of 2020’s most anticipated games. Not only is it the latest project from the studio behind the brilliant Witcher video game series, but it’s based on the incredibly popular Cyberpunk tabletop RPG franchise which many genre fans consider to be one of the medium’s finest in terms of world-building and storytelling.

Considering that the universe of Cyberpunk contains enough lore to fill several books, it’s understandable that you may feel a bit overwhelmed when you think about jumping into this world for the first time via Cyberpunk 2077. So far as that goes, an understanding of even the basics of the Cyberpunk’s lore may help you feel better prepared for the adventure developer CD Projekt Red has spent years crafting.

So while we could spend weeks completely breaking down the history of everything Cyberpunk, here is a brief primer on some of the most notable pieces of Cyberpunk 2077‘s lore and the greater history of the Cyberpunk universe.

The History of Cyberpunk 2077’s World

Up until a point, the history of Cyberpunk 2077’s world largely echoes that of our own (plus or minus some obvious deviations in terms of certain historical events and characters). However, that all changes by 1990.

It was around that time that the United States stepped up its war against drug cartels and corrupt governments in Central America. Their desire to win the war on drugs becomes so intense that they even resorted to forms of chemical combat. Such tactics not only cause former allies to denounce the U.S. but inspired the most powerful cartels to take the drug war battles to U.S. soil. In 1993, a cartel is even able to detonate a nuclear device in New York City.

In 1994, a global market collapse, and another nuclear incident in Pittsburgh, plunge the United States into further disarray. Corporations began taking over more aspects of Unites States life (including control over agriculture production) in an attempt to stabilize an increasingly uncertain world. Nevertheless, things somehow get worse in 1996 when the President and Vice President of the United States are assassinated.

As various gangs rise across the country in response to this incredible shift in the power structure, the NSA, CIA, FBI, and DEA form the “‘Gang of Four” and the Defense Secretary of the United States claims executive power in order to declare martial law. We hope this won’t come as too much of a surprise, but that move is not successful. More and more gangs appear across the United States as officials struggle to keep up with the madness. Around that same time, a variety of natural and unnatural disasters kill millions and inspire some states (including California) to secede.

It’s then that more and more corporations step up and use their resources (which now include private armies in most cases) to effectively secure control of what remains of the United States and many other parts of the world. Instead of bringing peace, though, these corporations soon launch new wars against each other for optimal business opportunities.

Somewhere along the way, advancements in technology afforded people the opportunity to enhance themselves with various cybernetic implants. While those implants are largely used by gangs, soldiers, and operatives, they’ve also worked their way into daily life. This discrepancy between available technology and the horrors of the world (as well as some drastic gaps in financial equality) is why you see some areas that look incredibly advanced and “futuristic” next to areas that appear to be dangerously underdeveloped.

That’s the rough state we find the world in at the start of Cyberpunk 2077.

What is Night City?

In 1992, a wealthy corporate executive named Richard Night began work on a massive urban development project he referred to as Coronado City. Night’s goal was to establish a city that would essentially be a corporate paradise and a testament to the philosophy of capitalism.

Night also believed that the city could one day be free of the crime and economic horrors that plagued the rest of the United States (as well as many of the laws which attempted to regulate corporations). Considering how many poor workers died building the city, though, that vision was certainly a matter of perspective.

In 1998, Night was murdered by organized crime elements who felt nobody left room for them in Night’s vision for Coronado City. That’s when Coronado City was renamed Night City in honor of its founder.

That’s also when various gangs started to clash with the corporate armies on the streets of the new city. That battle lasted until around 2005 when the corporations decided to pull out of Night City and leave the gangs to battle for control over what remained. At the peak of the Night City gang wars (around 2011), the Arasaka corporation intervened to take on the now weakened gangs in order to secure Night City for the corporations once more.

While the corporations did gain control of Night City for all intents and purposes, gangs and the corporate armies still clash with and amongst each other often by the time you enter Night City in Cyberpunk 2077.

What are the Badlands?

Night City seems to be located roughly near the geographic region of San Diego, but a series of devastating droughts and various unnatural disasters essentially dried out the area’s lush landscapes. This newly formed desert is regularly referred to as the Badlands.

Over the years, the people who either grew tired of Night City’s corporate power structure or simply had no other options began to form nomadic gangs that roamed the Badlands in search of what little food, water, and other vital resources remained. If you’re picturing the world of Mad Max, you’re not far off.

While some smaller gangs remain in the Badlands, the two largest “families” (the Aldecaldos and Wraiths) control most of the region. Those gangs will occasionally perform favors for the corporate rulers of Night City (as well as some of the city’s biggest criminal factions), but the largest corporations in Night City try to maintain border security and keep the Badlands gangs away.

Interestingly, a character creation option in Cyberpunk 2077 will allow you to start as a Badlands nomad who eventually works their way to Night City. This just confirms that it is possible for individuals to work their way into the urban area.

Games

Keanu Reeves in Cyberpunk 2077: Who is Johnny Silverhand?

By Rob Leane

Games

Cyberpunk 2077 Multiplayer Likely Delayed Until After 2021

By Matthew Byrd

What Are the Major Night City Corporations?

Various “megacorporations” have outposts in Night City where they battle for control amongst each other and with the organized (and less-than-organized) crime elements that roam the city streets. These megacorporations are comprised of various smaller corporations that share general interests and revenue streams. Here are some of the biggest megacorporations you’ll encounter in Night City:

ManuCorps

Arguably the biggest and most powerful megacorporation in Night City, ManuCorps focuses on the steady industry of manufacturing. Corporations under the ManuCorps banner include Araska, Militech, Mitsuzuki, and EBM.

AgriCorps

When various farms across the United States began to go under in the ‘90s, corporations stepped in to form AgriCorps: a megacorporation that controls much of the agriculture in the United States and nearby independent areas. Agricorps is largely comprised of Petrochem, SovOil, ConAg, and Akaromi BioCorp.

CyberCorps

Cybercorps is basically the Silicon Valley of Cyberpunk. This megacorporation handles most of the technological development in the world. CyberCorps corporations include Zetatech, Microtech, and Akari Heavy Industries.

BioCorps

BioCorps primarily handles the development and implementation of human augmentation technology, while some companies under this umbrella focus on genetically altered crops. BioCorps companies include Biotechnica, Cyphire Cyberware, and Bakumatsu Chipmasters.

ArmaCorps

The companies that form the ArmaCorps megacorporation focus on training and deploying security forces. They include some of the largest corporations in the Cyberpunk universe such as Arasaka, Militech, and Lazarus.

MediaCorps

MediaCorps is just a good old-fashioned media conglomerate. While much of the content that they produce is controlled by various influences, they have sources pretty much everywhere and attempt to know at all times what is really happening in this world. MediaCorps companies include Network News 54, Nippon Network, and World News Service.

Which Gangs Roam Night City?

Hundreds of gangs potentially roam the streets of Night City at any time, but these are some of the biggest/most notable groups that have been confirmed for Cyberpunk 2077:

Animals

Just as their name implies, the Animals are a particularly ruthless gang who prefer to use their own fists (sometimes amplified by chemical and technological enhancements) over more elaborate forms of weapons.

Scavengers

Another aptly named gang, the Scavengers make most of their money by harvesting other people’s technological enhancements. They’re not the biggest players in Night City, but they’re certainly among the most feared.

Voodoo Boys

Years ago, the Voodoo Boys were not only one of the biggest drug-dealing gangs in Night City but among the most violent. However, Cyberpunk 2077 portrays a different version of this gang which primarily exists to protect the residents of their community.

Maelstrom

The Maelstrom is an aggressive and large gang that relies heavily on high-tech gear. They used to control the docks, but it seems they’ve been pushed out of that area by the timeline of Cyberpunk 2077.

Tyger’s Claw

This gang used to be all about their pure martial arts abilities, but the version of them we see in Cyberpunk 2077 seems to have embraced modern technology and cybernetic ehancements. It’s believed that they’re funded by Arasaka.

Lizzies

One of the more “entertaining” gangs in Night City, the Lizzies are just really big fans of the singer Lizzy Wizzy. That said, they’re still quite dangerous and usually high.

6th Street

The 6th Street gang sees themselves as city protectors, but their views on what constitutes the idea of “protection” are, to say the least, loose. More often than not, they do more damage than the gangs they say they protect the city from.

Is Cyberpunk 2077 Canonical?

There seems to still be some debate on this subject, but the short answer is that Cyberpunk 2077 is based on the events of the Cyberpunk tabletop RPG and appears to be a continuation of the events in the Cyberpunk 2020 edition of that series. However, it seems that the game will ignore many of the details of the controversial third edition of Cyberpunk: Cyberpunk V3.0

At the moment, though, there is still some confusion regarding how the events of Cyberpunk may affect future editions of tabletop series and its related materials. It’s still entirely possible that Cyberpunk 2077 will take some creative liberties with the series which may not be reflected in subsequent Cyberpunk productions outside of the video game. It’s also possible that some of the events that take place between 2020 and 2077 may be altered in future editions of the tabletop game and related Cyberpunk stories.

Having said that, the basic lore that we’ve described above will still serve as the narrative foundation of Cyberpunk 2077.

What Role Do You Play in Cyberpunk 2077?

That will be entirely up to you.

While you will encounter notable characters from the Cyberpunk mythos during your time in Cyberpunk 2077 (such as Johnny Silverhand and Adam Smasher), you are not playing an established character in the Cyberpunk lore. You’ll create your own character, choose their backstory, and perform actions that will define who you are in this universe as well as the effect you have on the overall lore of this series.

How else Cyberpunk 2077 will honor, alter, and further the events of the Cyberpunk universe thus far remains to be seen.

The post Cyberpunk 2077: Lore and History of the Game’s Universe appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2VzXhRF

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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utaprifanzine · 6 years ago

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Shining Live Fanzine: Concept Pitch

I believe @utapri-idol-hell has already mentioned this upcoming project on her blog so, without further delay, this is the completed concept pitch for an SL-themed Utapri fanzine!

(Note: there is also a link to this post on twitter! If you have a twitter account, please consider retweeting the post from this account so that non-tumblr users can also see this!)

I would like to first put emphasis on the fact that this is a concept pitch. That means this is a presentation of the initial idea to anyone who might be interested in this project. At this point in time, most of the rules and concepts are still malleable - they can be changed and shaped according to feedback from this post.

If you are interested in this project (as either a contributor or as someone who would want to acquire a copy of the zine) please consider filling out this feedback form. Any responses will be useful to determine how the zine moves forward, but the feedback is particularly important in regards to the “Application Methods” section of this post (see below).

There are, however, three rules which are already “set” and would not be changed. They are as follows:

This zine would feature work from both artists and writers.

Due to Broccoli’s history with ordering “cease and desist”s against utapri doujin artists, this would be a non-profit zine. Thus, digital copies would be completely free.

The concept for this zine is based on the intention of it being a fun project that would appeal to the majority of the fanbase. Therefore, some rules are set in place to avoid content that might spark conflict and/or be geared towards a specific audience.

Below the cut, this post is split into three sections: Concept, Rules, and Application Methods. Each section is clearly noted with a header. “Concept” covers the general theme, content, and layout; “Rules” covers additional restrictions and/or allowances for the zine content; and “Application Methods” covers various possible ways a writer or artist could possibly apply to do a page for the zine. That last section is particularly important, because at the moment the application method for the zine has yet to be decided and the final decision will depend feedback.

There’s quite a bit of information below, so for anyone who is dyslexic or has any other reading difficulties, the most important information is in bold.

The ask box is also open for anyone who has any additional questions, or would like further expansion on something mentioned in the following text.

Please also consider reblogging this post so more people can see it!

The initial concept for this zine, was that it would (hopefully) be the first in a series of SL-themed zines that followed the chronological release pattern of the in-game events and gachas.

This seemed to be a good way to establish a kind of content equilibrium, so that no specific character/event/gacha appeared too often or too little. The pages would be themed after the events/gachas and each one would have a specific amount of pages allotted to it. Since KLab has only screwed the rotation once thus far, it seems like an easier method of creating balance.

Originally, it was going to be an annual digital zine with a high page count. However, since people have expressed their interest in physical copies of a zine, the concept was revised into something that would also translate well into physical format.

The following are the revised restrictions/guidelines for the current concept of the zine:

The total page count would be 44 pages. This includes the front/back cover, index and closing pages.

The content would cover from the release of the game (Aug/Sept 2017) up through January 2018. This covers 8 gacha and 10 events, not including the SL UR set which would also be featured.

Each event and gacha would be allotted two A4 pages of content - one for art and one for a piece of flash fiction. The cover and its related story would have double that amount: front/back cover + a two page short story.

The zine would have the potential to run in both physical and digital formats. Digital zines would be completely free (hence, non-profit project) however they will still require the purchaser to put in an order/request for the file. There will be no public download link posted.

All contributors are entitled to a digital copy without placing a request. Free physical copies may be a possibility, but that depends on a number of factors (namely the amount of contributors, zine orders, and if a print run is made at all) so I can’t promise anything at this point.

Print runs would be made if there is enough demand for physical copies, and there would only be one run per zine. This is reduce the risk of Broccoli viewing the zine production as a competitive merchandise and thereby becoming offended by the project.

(The following rules were put in place regarding the intentions and concept for the zine. Since this is a concept pitch, each rule is followed by an explanation of why it exists. If you believe any rule is unnecessary, or flawed, please note that in the feedback form! Passive-aggressively ranting about it on twitter doesn’t help!)

The UR Rule

The featured UR pair (for gachas) or the featured UR/SR pair (for events) MUST be the focus of the piece. Other characters can be mentioned and/or appear, but the piece has to be clearly centered on the two featured characters for that set/event. This is to help ensure the balance of content set by following the release patterns.

This goes without saying, but the pieces must also be themed after the event/gacha for which they are the pages for. A simple mention, hint, or acknowledgement toward the set/event isn't strong enough to be considered a theme.

Non-Shining Live Characters Are Allowed

Although the zine will be SL themed, all other characters that are part of the Utapri franchise can be featured within artwork and fiction pieces submitted to the zine. Since they’re official characters, I see no reason to purposely block them out.

The UR rule still applies, however, so these characters cannot become the focus of the pieces.

Keep it PG 13/15

This is partly in place to acknowledge the younger fans of the franchise (as well as those who aren't big fans of higher rated content) and partly because there is no fail-safe way to verify someone's age over the internet.

There are a lot of minors who consume and produce adult content for this fandom, and while their choices are theirs to make (I'm not the fandom police, it's none of my business), I don't want this project to be held responsible for distributing inappropriate content to minors in case issues do arise.

It's also worth noting that this rule does not only apply to sexual content (because some people think R18 only means sex). A piece depicting other mature themes - such as serious cannibalism, gore, or class A drug use - would not be acceptable.

No Romantic Ships

I feel like this is going to be the least popular rule, so the explanation for this is twice as long. Hear me out for a minute, and, if by the end you still think it’s unnecessary, by all means put that on the response form!

There are two main reasons for this rule.

Firstly, although shipping as a concept is extremely popular within fandom, individual ships still only cater to very specific audiences within the fanbase. No matter which way you twist it, no matter the popularity of any given ship, no single ship is universal. Some fans don't even connect to the idea of shipping in the first place.

Under most circumstances, that's completely fine, but within the context of a fanzine that's intended to appeal to as much of the fanbase as possible, allowing ships starts to seem very juxtaposed to that goal.

Case and point: if I have to include an extra contents page that lists all of the ships mentioned inside the zine so people can pick and/or avoid certain ones, that, to me, completely negates the idea of having a zine that most people can just pick up and read without issue.

Secondly, as I'm sure most people already know, ships are a primary source of conflict and motivator for harassment within fandom.

In terms of problems arising from including ships in a fanzine, I'm mainly worried about contributing artists/writers as well as the other admins getting harassed for content they did or didn't include within the zine. As someone who has not only seen utapri fan blogs run offline because of ship-based anon hate, but has also seen people ridiculed and kicked out of groups for not liking a popular ship, I would rather not risk exposing contributors and admins to that kind of toxic behavior.

When thinking about potential application methods for zine contributors, I realized that the traditional method - where people send in entries and these entries are reviewed/accepted/denied by an admin panel - may not be the best suited for a project that a) is supposed to be fun, not stressful and b) is looking for as many applicants as possible to hopefully be a success.

After brainstorming several alternative ways that applications could be handled, I decided the best possible way to choose one, would be to ask people who are interested in contributing to the zine how they would prefer to apply. After collecting the feedback, the most popular application method would be the one used for this zine.

The following are three different possible application methods. Each has a description of how it would work followed by a list of pros and cons for that method.

Method 1: First Come, First Serve

This method is very well-known, and very straightforward. Essentially, the list of available pages is posted at a specified time and date, and contributors would simply message the zine admins to claim whichever pages they want to contribute for. The first person to claim that particular page is the person who that page is allocated to.

Method 2: Random Chance

There are two variations of this method.

Application for Specific Pages: using this method, applicants would apply for specific pages at any point during the application period. Then, once the period has ended, the contributing artist/writer would be drawn at random for each page.

General Application: using this method, applicants would apply to the zine in general during the application period then, once the period has ended, the contributing writers/artists for all the pages would be drawn from the same pool. Applicants would be allowed to veto certain characters/sets/events and trade among each other if desired.

Method 3: Traditional Application

This is the method that’s most often used to manage and select applications for a zine.

An applicant would send in an entry form during the application period that contains, among other possible things, which pages they would like to apply for and an example of their work. At the end of the period, all entry forms are reviewed by the admins and the contributors for each page are decided by majority/unanimous vote.

And that’s everything! Please consider filling out the feedback form if you have the time!

#utapri #utapri fanzine #uta no prince sama #concept pitch #SLfanzineV1 #looong post

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howwelldoyouknowyourmoon · 5 years ago

Text

My experience within the hierarchy of the Moon cult during its years of expansion in Russia and in the CIS

▲ Mikhail Gorbachev at the Kremlin. Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han are on the right.

by Lev Semenov Russian University professor, ex-Unification Church member, and Priest

A presentation given to FECRIS in Brussels on April 26, 2006  (lightly edited for readability; some corrections made)

Dear ladies and gentlemen!

I spent six and half years in the Moon cult. Having become a member on July 1, 1990 I signed an application for a total break-up with the cult on October 14, 1996. During this period of time, I was promoted from being an ordinary member all the way up in the cult hierarchy in the CIS and Baltic countries. During my numerous public presentations since I left the cult, my audience would most frequently ask two questions: How I had entered the cult and why I had left it. Anticipating these questions now, I would like to answer them briefly in the first part of my presentation.

In June 1990 – while I was an associate professor at Tver State University – I was urgently called by the deputy rector who offered for me to take part in a conference in Sofia. Thus, I was officially sent to Bulgaria to an introductory seminar of the Unification Movement. I considered myself a Christian, but just as a vast number of Soviet people, I hadn’t been baptized. So, since I was not a practicing Christian, I certainly wasn’t able to reason and act as a real Christian. Hence when studying the New Testament I was not treating it as Holy Scripture, but just as any other historical text. It seemed to me that I could allow for unlimited freedom of interpretation. It explains why, when I came across a very untraditional treatment of the Bible in the Moon followers’ workshop, it seemed to me a curious play of mind. This unusual interpretation was interesting to me from a Biblical historiography point of view.

The second reason was due to the fact that I felt sympathy for dissidents in Soviet times and disliked the communist ideology. When I learned that Moon was called “the first, that is the main, anticommunist on the planet,” it had awakened my deep sympathy for him and a wish to join his movement.

Within just a few months, I was appointed a National Educational Department Advisor, then an Inter-religious Relations Department Director, I joined the Unification Church Board in Russia, and finally during my last two and half years, I was Vice President of this Board. Twice I was officially offered to be the head of this Board.

How did my disenchantment with Moonism start and why did I delay my break with the cult for so long?

The higher I climbed up the hierarchical ladder, the fewer secrets remained for me in the “inner kitchen” of the cult. I was discovering the hypocrisy and insincerity of its leaders. The last “straw” that broke camel’s back was a new task that I was given. The cult leaders felt Moon’s teaching was deeply alien to Russian cultural tradition. In order to convince Russians to the contrary, I was given the task to become the leader of a group of authors. Our mission was to create a book on the history of Russian culture. In this book, we had to find whatever possible points of Russian tradition that could be associated with Moon’s ideas. Russia saw the Orthodox Church as the base for its culture for a whole millennium. That is why I started studying the Holy Fathers’ Works. The depth of their thought amazed me. At the same time, it made clear to me the primitiveness of Moon’s theology. These are therefore the complementing answers to the question why I had decided to quit Moonism.

The reason why I had not done it immediately will be seen later. I realized that I had made a mistake and had joined a terrible cult. But I understood that I had to redress a wrong done to my compatriots because during my years of work there, I could have influenced some of them to join the cult. Then I decided not just to leave, but also to unmask this totalitarian cult. However, my exposures wouldn’t have had the same weight without documentary evidence. Therefore, I was collecting papers and other proof. My high position in the cult made available to me many of its secrets. Having stayed until late at night at the central office, I was able to photocopy a lot of papers. So after I had left the cult, I used these as proof in the series of open letters, articles, and reports at different conferences. These papers and material became the base for my book about the Moon cult, which I am going to finish this year.

There is one circumstance, which persuaded me that I had chosen the right way to act. In the seven years which have passed since my first public statement against Moon and Moonies, they did not attempt to deny any of my accusations. Every accusation is based on concrete facts and documents that are impossible to deny. Now let’s get directly to the theme of my report.

As is well-known the “Moon Empire” includes about 200 independent projects – religious, political, cultural, educational, media, industrial enterprises, etc. However, all of these organizations are controlled by Moon’s trusted people taking (often privately) prominent positions within the Unification Church hierarchy which all stem from the Unification Movement. The main (if not the only one) goal of this host of projects is to promote Moon’s ideas and to create an authority among the public worldwide. Moon himself, in a speech in Korea in April 2005, “revealed” his “coronation as the King of the world and Universal Unity”; and it was announced to the Russian Moonies gathered in Moscow on July 19, 2005, that Moon and his wife “are the ‘Savior’, ‘Messiah,’ and the King and Queen of humankind from now on.”

All this could have just been another classic case for psychiatry textbook’s megalomania section. However, Moon and his closest surrounding [leaders] continue to fulfill, with scary persistence, these plans for world domination over many decades. A huge social threat was posed by active penetration of the Moon cult in many Russian federal ministries or their institutions, including not only the Ministry of Education, but the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Defense Ministry, and both Houses of the Russian Parliament – the State Duma and the Federation Council – in the early 90s. In some cases, the same situation continues in Russia to this day.

▲ The book, Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Peacemaker and Unifier, was given out in Russia.

The list of public officials and well-known politicians involved at different times and on various levels in Unification Movement events is indeed long and impressive. It consisted of both former and serving presidents at that time, prime ministers, ministers, prominent parliamentarians, diplomats, political party leaders, public figures, famous scientists, etc. Among them where politicians from the Soviet Union (later Russia), USA, UK, Japan, some South American countries, Belorussia, etc. Their direct involvement in Unification Movement events (mostly gigantic events) promoted Moon’s global image of being a “peacemaker and unifier”, whilst letting him, as a cult leader, camouflage the systematic breach of human rights in respect to ordinary cult members; that means essentially isolation from family, friends, strong blocks on information, cultists lost their former social status, they became completely financially dependent, were deprived of normal sleep, had food limitations, and were denied the free right to choose their own spouses.

Based on my personal experience of those years, and on documents which I had access to, including confidential ones, due to my position in the “Moon Church” hierarchy in Russia, I am able to disclose the nature and methods of the Moon cult’s penetration inside state, parliamentary and public structures.

It is crucial to understand how the Moon’s cult is so successful in involving the prominent politicians and in penetrating inside higher state institutions. To clarify this, let’s describe the situation as a whole. As far as I speak mostly about the political component of cult’s activity now, I’ll describe Moon’s projects in the political realm. I am sorry for the monotony of the list, but hopefully it will bring understanding.

The Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy, founded in 1982. It focuses on important domestic and foreign policy issues. Among politicians whose direct participation in some public activities of this Institute is confirmed documentarily, we see the following persons:

Dr. Eugene Rotow – former Director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.

Mr. Charles M. Lichenstein – former U.S. Deputy Representative to the United Nations.

Stephen J. Solargz – member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Eduardo Ulibarri – Editor-in-chief of the Costa Rica newspaper “La nacion Jose.”

CAUSA International, founded in 1980. According to Moonies, this organization’s aim was to criticize Marxism-Leninism, its ideological and political faults, human rights protection, struggle with totalitarianism, help in establishing societies of freedom. By the end of 80s, CAUSA International had conducted workshops in more than 30 countries. The similar goals were pursued by the International Federation for Victory over Communism organized by Moon in 1960s.

In this case the goal officially advocated by the cultists appeared attractive. However, it reveals the readiness of blatant intrusion in the inner affairs of countries with political regimes or ideological climates which are considered inappropriate by Moon. This alone sounds alarming and one wonders about the character and methods and activities of the Moon organizations scattered around the world.

An example of such a direction is Moon’s Citizens’ Federation for the Unification of the Fatherland established in 1987. Its official aim is the re-unification of South and North Korea and the creation of a “free and God fearing state”. Moonies didn’t conceal that they had been constructing House of Prayer for Re-unification and Educational Center for Re-unification “close to 38th parallel”. As is known, this is where the border lies between the two Korean states. One cannot deny that, regardless of the attitude to the North Korean regime, such construction works close to border look suspicious and could be considered to be direct sabotage.

The words said by Moon in his speeches to his followers sound quite ominous: “The whole world is in my hand, and I will conquer and subjugate the world. (May 17, 1973)” and “The time will come, without my seeking it, that my words will almost serve as law. (March 24, 1974)”

Let’s look at Russia. Missioners of the Moon cult had started their underground activities in Russia back in 1970s. In those times this consisted of foreign missioners’ sporadic visits to USSR. They clandestinely recruited adherents. Since 1983 the Moonies’ penetration tactics have involved the insertion in our country of reliable and experienced members of the cult, specially trained for undercover work. They came as interpreters working for organizations operating jointly with foreign countries (like Peter Ladschtaetter, Austrian citizen), foreign language teachers in Moscow institutes (Monica Kunde, FRG citizen), or businessmen (US citizen Thomas Lorita), etc.

▲ Sun Myung Moon speaking during the opening plenary session of the Moscow World Media Conference on April 10, 1990.

1990 was the year that marked the Moonies’ shift to overt activities in our country. In April the Moonies managed to conduct the 11th International World Media Conference (under the cover of their World Media Association – and with considerable assistance by the then Novosti Publishing Agency). During the Conference, Moscow hosted an impressive descent of totalitarian cult leaders headed by “Reverend” Moon himself and his fourth wife Hak Ja Han Moon. Not only have they actively communicated with the Soviet community representatives and establishment, but were also granted an audience with President Gorbachev.

▲ Sun Myung Moon gives an interview to Mr. Albert Vlasov, chairman of the Novosti Press Agency, at the Moscow airport reception room.

The April meeting between Moon and Gorbachev opened the way for the broad and smooth cultists’ penetration in our country. Already in the 1990/91 academic year three thousand students and lecturers from Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Tver, and other Soviet Union cities were taken to the USA for two week introductory workshops, and the cult covered all the expenses. The main part of the work with them in America was thoughtful intensive brainwashing to make them adhere to Moon’s ideas. It is no surprise that the first cadres of professional Russian managers for the Moon cult were recruited from these three thousand people who visited the States – Universities had done their best to select the best students for the trip.

Following the same method, the totalitarian cult tried to attract prominent representatives of our society’s elite: the USSR people’s deputies, scientists, journalists, etc. For example, in December 1990, 23 deputies participated in the American Leadership Conference in Washington, 50 deputies attended the next similar Conference conducted in February 1991, and the First World-wide Leadership Conference gathered about 200 USSR Supreme Soviet deputies from all 15 Soviet Republics. Those who visited the USA, or attended the series of so-called introductory workshops organized by the Unification Movement, which were conducted on a grand scale by Moonies in the former Soviet countries’ capitals, quite often have become the agents of influence for the totalitarian cult, “working off” attention paid to them and the big sums of dollars spent on them.

Of course, cultists have boosted their proselyting activities in USSR territories and later in Russia. In May 1992 they succeeded in registering the “Unification Church” at the Russian Federation Ministry of Justice; in April 1994 the Student Inter-university Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP) was created, and the Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP) was registered in June 1994. Over 100,000 Russian citizens visited Moonie seminars during 1991-1993. Those seminars were held in the best Baltic and Crimean health centers. Mostly high school and university teachers, lecturers, and students were among those who attended Moonie seminars. Specialized seminars for Russian University Rectors and mass media workers were held in the summer of 1993 in Crimea. Cult leaders planned organizing special seminars for the Russian Federation Ministries of Defense and the Internal Affairs Ministry.

As a result of the planned cult activity, a certain circle of engaged people had appeared who were able, due to their official or social position, to lobby for the interests of the Moon cult. From the very onset, the Moonies have striven to establish a bond with the Russian Federation State Committee for Higher Education. A cultic program for sending dozens of Russian students to study for free at the University of Bridgeport (in Connecticut, USA) was used as a convenient ground – the Moonies had gained control through financial investment just before that. With all this going on, the Moon cult paid $80,000 for a-four year course for each student. Moonie leaders made a tricky move by allowing the candidates to be selected – guess by who – the Russian Federation State Committee for Higher Education! Russia PR office Director gladly reports to his transoceanic patrons (and employers): “Sending more than 20 students from Russia to the University of Bridgeport due to the support of the Committee for Higher Education, we managed to guarantee them backing our course. We meet Mr. Bratkowsky and Mr. Guriev (former Vice President for RF State Committee) rather often, and they help us with invitations and multiple entry visas” (extract from Head of PR office report, February 20, 1993, section d) Committee for Higher Education).

Following their favorite principle of leaning on “prospective” members of society, the Moonies turned to the Russian Ministry of Education. Quite soon several people become friendly – ranging from department staff members to Vice Minister A.G. Asmolov, responsible for high schools. With direct support of the Ministry, the Moonies managed to conduct simultaneously over 15 workshops “Spiritual Renewal and High School Education in Russia” in November 1992. Workshops took place in the best Crimean health centers. 21 people from each 89 Russian Federation subjects have attended those workshops – all sponsored by the cult. At this workshop cultists pushed forward the infamous course “My World and I” – targeted at high schools. This course had been introduced at more than 2000 Russian high schools starting from September 1993. Republican Workshops for teachers of Tatarstan (Kazan), Kalmykia (Elista), and other republics and regions were conducted for mass introduction of this Moonie course in the schools.

Having strengthened their positions inside the system of the Education Ministry, the Moonies set out for Russian State force agencies. The General Department for Executing Punishments became the first victim of their penetration. With the support of Colonel Dolgikh – the then Head for GUIN MVD RF – the Moonies conducted several events on a federal scale. Introducing one of those workshops (in Obninsk, on July 7, 1993) Colonel Dolgikh claimed in a clear-cut military fashion addressing to Vice Heads of detention camps and Directors of schools attached to them, that from now on all pedagogical work must be conducted … according to Moon.

His subordinates were fast to react. In a short time, the Moonies had the opportunity to conduct several workshops for deviant juveniles, their parents and staff members in those correctional institutions; the Moscow regional Iksha correctional institution became one of the favorite grounds for the cultists. In 1994, the Moonies actively took part in the Home Affairs Ministry program “Teacher of the Year” at the Novotroitsk correctional institution, Mariy-El Republic. In 1995, similar event had taken place in the Kamyshin correctional institution in the Volgograd region.

The same introductory workshops were conducted for Home Affairs Ministry officers in 1994. The cult leaders were happy to receive at their disposal the second section of methodological book “From experience of learning and pedagogical work in correctional institutions schools. Part 3” issued by the General Department for Executing Punishments and Republican Institution for MVD officers Improving Qualification in 1995. The Moonies titled their section “My World and I – The Path to the Heart of an Inmate”.

The goal desired by Moon – who had created the gigantic network of his “World Empire” – was world domination, the real political power in bigger geographic areas – the bigger the better. A.V. Zhukov writes in the abstract to his PhD thesis on the Moonies’ activities in Russia: “the main striving of Moonies’ organization leaders remains the struggle for spiritual, economical, and political power worldwide…” (p.13). The direct confirmation of Moon’s secret thoughts are in his own confessions. Already in his speech “History and Our Responsibility,” delivered on July 16, 1978, Moon promises his followers: “In the future, the whole world will depend on us.”

With this in mind, the concrete moves made by the Moonies in Russia look scary. After the Home Affairs Ministry, they turned to the Russian Federation Ministry of Defense. Thus, some higher rank officers of Military Academies and representatives of different military state organizations – such as Association for military, political, and historical research, “Army and Society” association, Federation for Peace and Concord – came under the influence of Moon’s cult. Thus, the Moonies’ Conference devoted to elaboration of special learning program and textbook on so-called “Military ethics” for students of military academies has been conducted at the Military University MO RF (ex-Military Political Academy) in October 1994.

Inspired by the successful start of their penetration into the Russian Army, the Moonie leaders in Russia report to their transoceanic boss about the favorable situation for the further penetration into the army structures: “Religious boom in this country has created the wide field for activity of the Fund (i.e. “Inter-religious Educational Fund”). One of the examples is introducing the post for Army officers responsible for relationships between the Army and religious organizations. Such posts have existed in the Russian Army since July 1994, with some 90 officers appointed, but none of them clearly understands how to execute this duty. The same post will be introduced later for lower ranks, and hundreds of officers will need instruction and education in the area of religion and inter-religious relations” (Report on inter-religious work in Russia in 1995, written on November 1994, section 4). The cited fragment of the Moonies’ report makes one think not only about the skillful use of the current situation, but the striking familiarity with inner Army cadre procedure…

In November 1994, Moon’s Unification Church took part in a big Moscow Conference organized by the aforementioned Federation for Peace and Concord and Association for military, political, and historical research. The invitation to take part in the Conference arrived at the International Religious Fund addressed to P. Ladschtaedtter. It was an official letter from the Federation and the Association signed by their Heads. Following Conference outcomes, the book “Religions and Safety of Russia” was issued; where an article by Moon’s church leaders in Russia was published. They tried to impose on the military their own model for the spiritual nourishment of the soldiers, which supposed direct participation of Moonie cultic preachers.

Very indicative is the letter sent by the Army and Society Association to Moon personally as a commemoration of his church’s 40 years anniversary celebrated by the cultists in May 1994. I will cite some remarkable details of this message distinguished by an extremely loyal attitude to Moonism’s leader, and signed by the President of the Association, General-Major Tchaldymov. The General stressed that the Association, which he headed, “supported the Russian Government in reforming the Army in the spirit of the perestroika ideas started by Mikhail Gorbatchev”. The following phrases deserve to be reproduced verbatim: “Having been introduced to the ideas of your teaching by representatives of your Church in more detail, we have found our basic moral goals consonant with yours. On March 26-29 me and my colleague – the Head of “Army and Religion” research center – have been given the honor of participating in the Second Conference for World Peace (that is, Moon had covered all the expenses for their stay in the US for the Conference). Conference outcomes and your ideas “discussion allows for hope to join efforts with the Unification Church in the name of values common to all mankind.” There’s no need to comment on those statements by fortunately only a few representatives of the then Russian Generals.

The Moonie missioners approached the structures of the Foreign Affairs Ministry as well. For example, the RF Foreign Affairs Ministry Diplomatic Academy has conducted the International student Conference on leadership jointly with the CARP Moonie youth student organization on February 1995, at Moscow State University. The cult has sponsored Russian, US, Chinese, North and South Korean, and Japanese students’ participation in it. The tradition of bond between elite Russian Universities, which raise future Russian diplomats, and the Korean-American cult has put down roots and is still alive. There is information on the Internet about Moon’s upcoming visit to Moscow. Some well-known professors, such as Konstantin Dolgov and Vladimir Petrovsky, lecturing at those elite Universities had taken part in the International Leadership Conference conducted by Moon in New York on 10-14 September 2005, and then had read their reports at the Moscow Moonies’ office right after Jack Corley, the big cultic functionary.

Not only has Moon’s cult been purposefully and consistently penetrating inside the ministries and state bodies, but it also has been systematically advancing towards higher representative bodies of Russia and its Presidency. Of course, here Moonies couldn’t get the biggest figures, but nevertheless they have managed to involve some medium range officials who served as the source of effective intelligence and as agents of the cults influence, lobbying their interests; which have quite justified the cultists’ expenses. I’ve already published some facts about the involvement of Federation Council Consultant, a few deputies of the RF State Duma and their assistants, members of the RF President Administration Analytical Center for general politics, Council members for religious expertise, Professors of religious study, legal experts, and some experienced lawyers, functionaries of all sorts of human rights watch organizations, and other volunteers – who nevertheless mostly acted on commercial grounds.

The Moon cult has been actively penetrating inside Russian federal structures – this fact illustrates the hugely dangerous potential of this totalitarian cult.

Of course, the Moonies paid much attention to media, struggling for their positions in Russia. In this respect, very indicative are their bonds with the Media Empire of Gusinsky. In my publications I have already stated about the Moonies’ leaders’ contacts with Mr. Gusinsky as the MOST bank President, and about their contacts with Russian Video Company notorious for lawsuits. At that time the Moonies were regularly broadcasting programs (on Tuesdays – for one or two hours) for Moscow and neighboring regions due to an agreement with the then operating private Resonans radio station. Cultists planned to expand their radio broadcast to cover the European part of Russia or even the whole ex-USSR territory. The far-reaching plans of the totalitarian cult included creating its own Moscow based TV station with powerful modern equipment for satellite TV broadcast for “the whole ex-Soviet Union territory”. There were also ideas of creating a Russian project, which would have cooperated with similar Moon enterprises in the fields of TV, video and radio already operating in Japan and the USA (a report is available which was sent to Moon’s New York Headquarters about PR-activity in Russia for the time span of December 1992 – February 1993). There always were people ready to do favors for Moon in the Soviet and then Russian central television, in the biggest print media and publishing houses (in the early 90s among them were such serious companies as Izvestiya, Literaturnaya Gazeta, Respublica publishing house – former Politizdat).

Consequently to strengthening their positions in power and force bodies, in the mass media, having the necessary support from Moscow scientists and lawyers, the Moon cult tried to become a coordinator of all totalitarian cults active in Russia. I have passed a revealing paper some time ago – a letter from Vladimir Kuropyatnik, a leader of Scientology Church Moscow branch, which he had sent to Moon personally on February 27, 1996. The letter is dedicated to cooperation between the Moonies and Scientologists. I’ll cite one passage from this message: “We are very determined and we will make it no matter what. Your goals are very much our goals.”

Speaking about the harm of theMoonies’ activities to Russian society, we see the threat to national safety on three levels: individual, family, and society at large. I won’t be stopping on each of the three levels now, I’ll just state briefly that human personality becomes dissolved and loses its individual features, turning into a typical “Moonie” under systematical cultic brainwashing. Such a “zombified” agent is ready for mindlessly accepting any directive and implementing any order from a totalitarian cult leader. A person who has been hooked loses all his or her former social bonds, quite often drops out of professional activities, becomes totally dependent on cultic leaders who even choose a spouse for him or her.

Moonies have caused much harm to many Russian families. And many young people have left their homes and their parents under the influence of cultic propaganda. This has led to the creation of self-organized public parents’ committees for saving the young people. Those parents – whose children came under the conditional emotional influence of cultists – have once heard from their children that they were just “physical parents”, whereas “Reverend” Moon and his wife, Hak Ja Han Moon, were their “true parents”. No less troublesome instances for parents happened when their children who were studying at university decided to abandon their studies – sometimes just before their graduation. Many of those young people abandoned both studies and their parents, leaving their families for the Moonie “centers.” Not only parents were losing their children, but young men were leaving their wives as well.

No less is the scale of Moonie expansion for the Russian society as a whole. Moonies have come to Russia in early 90s, ready to fill in the “ideological gap” which appeared after the breakdown of the former ideology. Profiting from people’s natural thirst for spirituality, from which they had been deprived for a long seventy years, Moon’s missionaries started invading this “market,” relying on his Empire’s multimillion dollar power and using the whole arsenal of methods of influence developed by cultists during the years of their existence outside Russia, feeling sort of “spiritual colonizers.”

No surprise that the aforementioned “Divine Principle” has presented modern Russian readers (the children and grandchildren of those who had paid with their blood and their lives for victory over fascism in the Second World War) with the following “historical discovery” which is an integral part of the new “messiah’s” teaching: the Second World War was a battle of “Heavenly troops” represented by the USA, Great Britain and France with “Satanic forces” – that is Germany, Japan and Italy. What has been said about the Russian peoples’ contribution to defeating the Nazi beast? Just that the Soviet Union had “happened to be on the Allies” side, led by the United States and England…”

I’d like to hope that all these facts cast light on Moonie activities, methods, and reveal the true nature their actions. This activity is aimed at world dominance. Of course, this maniac idea of Moon is doomed. But this doesn’t lessen the real danger of the cults’ penetration inside different countries state bodies.

__________________________________________________

ABC Religion & Ethics

Humanism and atheism as civil religions

Luke Bretherton

Tuesday 4 October 2011 10:26 am

In the early 1990s I met the then Russian minister for education. He alleged that a representative of Rev. Sun Myung Moon offered him $1 million as a personal gift if he would distribute textbooks extolling the virtues of the Unification Church in all Russian schools.

The response he related to this offer was unforgettable: “I will not sell the souls of Russia’s children.” However, the minister had the wisdom to know that while he could reject the Moonies offer, he was still left with the problem of how to teach virtue to Russia’s children.

As the conversation developed, it was clear that the minister was seeking some kind of textbook in order to accomplish the task of inculcating virtue. But he was perplexed by the need to find an alternative to the godless ideology of the Communism Russia was rejecting, but without thereby embracing a sectarian dogma. …

Luke Bretherton is Reader in Theology and Politics, and convenor of the Faith and Public Policy Forum at King’s College, London. His most recent book is Christianity and Contemporary Politics: The Conditions and Possibilities of Faithful Witness (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), and he is currently writing a book on community organizing and democratic citizenship.

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/humanism-and-atheism-as-civil-religions/10101100

__________________________________________________

Press Release by the Department of Communications, Nizhny Novgorod province, Russia

Bizarre entry to Moon’s orbit as empire fell and a cult flourished

In order to rule the world, Sun Myung Moon had to start with Korea.

Sun Myung Moon’s desire to take over the League for his own financial and political ends

Fraser Committee Report on Moon org.: “these violations were related to the overall goals of gaining temporal power.”

Sun Myung Moon was eager to infiltrate the European Parliament

Group Founded by Sun Myung Moon Preaches Sexual Abstinence in China

Sun Myung Moon’s theology used to control members

Sun Myung Moon: The Emperor of the Universe

Sun Myung Moon organization activities in Central & South America

Sun Myung Moon’s One-World Theocracy

#Russia #Unification Church #Lev Semenov #Sun Myung Moon #Hak Ja Han #Family Federation for World Peace and Unification #world domination

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airlock · 6 years ago

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airlock grades the Punchable archetype

so far, a majority of the Fire Emblem villains I’ve covered in this series are the sort who are meant to be liked, forgiven, sympathized with... these here are not those ones. these are the ones whose singular purpose in the narrative is to piss you the hell off. so, which of them played that role to excellence?

(do note: under cut are spoilers for… everything, and also a significant amount of me criticizing or blamming characters that you might- okay, yeah, no, you probably don’t like anybody on this list, but you may still strongly disagree with my opinions of them. you’ve been warned! ha, no way these fools would set about reading the whole post now... what!? impossible!)

a foreword

so, to be very specific, I’m not rating every flatly irritating miniboss here; the definitive aspect here is that the character has to be a recurring one, whose extended screentime never quite ends up giving them a chance to be something other than vile. but more important than the hair-splitting here is giving some consideration to how exactly I’ll be doing the rating; after all, I’m not supposed to like any of these people, but there’s still better and worse ways to be despicable as a character.

I’m running pretty much on two central critteria: is this character entertaining, and is that character satisfying to take down. it’s more important to hit one than to hit both; a character who hits neither is significantly more likely to be a pure waste of bile, however.

without further ado, let’s start gritting those teeth!

fuck this guy

(9/10)

directly enabling the single most badass scene in all of Book II obviously lands you on the upper echelons of this here character type. but that’s just the effect; we should peer into the cause of what makes him work so well!

of the critteria I mentioned, Lang goes for the latter: he’s not only quite satisfying to defeat, it’s also great anytime someone finally talks back to him and puts him in his place. that’s because he’s not the sort of character for whom this sort of thing is a given. a lot of the ones we’ll see ahead of him are incompetent toadies on top of being amoral, but not this guy; he knows exactly what he’s doing, relying on the backing of the most powerful nation in the continent to plunder, raze, and oppress to his heart’s content. the business of doing something about this dipshit gets severely delayed by the dire consequences of crossing him -- until Marth finally decides that enough is enough.

and THEN Jagen tells him to meet him 9 PM at the Grustian denny’s parking lot for an old man brawl-

fuck this chin

(3/10)

I struggle to understand ol’ Kaga’s obssession with jealousy as a villainous character motivation, I really do. it’s one entirely realistic thing to envy someone for having riches, fame, status, influence, the attention of one’s crush, or other such things that are more or less objective and palpable. it’s also entirely a thing to have an inferiority complex and fear or spite people one perceives as being more talented, better looking, stronger, smarter than oneself. but the way these characters are written tends to come across like they’re furious because they’re underwritten gonk and not everyone else is.

... which hey, would be a pretty upsetting thing if it happened to a real person, but I don’t think meta-commentary is the point here, is it? I sincerely hope it isn’t...

fuck this lady

(7/10)

the second leg of Genealogy of the Holy War finds you facing the same sorts of enemies most of the time: half of them are Satanists, and the other half are unfortunate innocents trapped in the crossfire of courtly intrigue. it’s exactly because of this that the arc desperately needs a villain like Hilda.

Hilda is just someone who doesn’t particularly mind if the most effective path up the social ladder involves destroying her relatives, daughter included, or capturing children and forcing them into murder tournaments. how is the imperial machinery of tragedy and death supposed to run without someone like her cranking a couple of the levers? er, I mean, you don’t really crank levers unless you’re doing something weird, but... okay, moving on

amidst all of the battles you might struggle to feel were worth fighting, Hilda here serves as a reminder, as a face of every reason why the Empire is the enemy and must be defeated.

and yes, making Tinny kill her rocks

fuck this guy IN AMERICA

(2.5/10)

not too long ago I would have dropped him a straight zero, but I’ve recently been reading through the Project Exile text dumps for a new Thracia 776 fanslation and what can I say, they put good work into making him tick properly and I essentially have no choice but to keep that sort of thing in consideration when making the ratings, being that all of the other villains are also characters I only have indirect contact with through a translation that may have improved or worsened things.

but the good work is no miracle -- although given much-needed entertainment value, this guy is still who he is: practically a standard-fare asshole miniboss who ends up getting three whole chapters to chirp into. and to make matters worse, you only actually get the payoff to him in one of two possible routes!

I am strong, I am clever, I am handsome, and most importantly, fuck me

(4/10)

I can’t possibly deny that his antics are some of the most hilarious on this list; the ridiculous speeches, the facial expressions from the manga, the fact that he gets demoted on screen... and I mean, they got Kaiji Tang to put voice to his high drama on Heroes, on top of it all!

alas, it just really spoils the fun to a significant extent that his very introduction in Binding Blade sees him macking on a captive prepubescent girl. however entertaining it may be that she snatches his wig on that occasion anyway.

fuck this morph

(5/10)

yeah, some people wish. notably including Brendan Reed-

the thing with Sonia is that she’s a little less believable than most folks in this archetype -- specifically because she’s not, like, working within the structures of power that would let her get away with being as much of a dip as she wants to; she’s earned her influential position by seducing the boss, which is hard to buy when, however attractive she may be, she never has a single positive interaction with anyone and nobody trusts her (barring Ursula on both counts, but she’s not the one who needs to be brought on board anyway). I realize what a phenomenon it is to think with one’s dick, but come on; surely, you don’t let your new friend with benefits tell you how to do your job just because she’s that good in bed or something.

that said, although her overall spot on the plot feels weakly implemented, she still makes for a tremendous bulwark to overcome specifically within Nino’s subplot. what a powerful confrontation against a lifelong abuser she provides in the end!

do not fuck this guy what is wrong with you

(3/10)

Valter is just uncomfortable as a character, which is limbo as far as emotion-inducing goes; it’s not particularly entertaining, and nor is it artfully terrifying in the way that Orson is. furthermore, I normally praise Sacred Stones’s antagonists for averting the way of behaving like a plot device, but this guy is the exception; he seems to primarily show up to cause trouble because trouble needs to be caused.

I feel like he’d have made for a far stronger character concept if his backstory had been handled differently, being more specific in what part of his mind broke when he held the cursed lance, instead of just being “now he does bad things and talks like he’s vaguely horny throughout”.

at least he’s quite a bit entertaining in Heroes where he gets voiced lines and no particular characters or plots to interact with -- but if that’s what it takes to make the character shine, it doesn’t really say good things about him.

fuck beauty

(5.5/10)

so, the truth come out: does this guy is deserve becoming the absolute teacher’s pet he’s been since Radiant Dawn? my verdict on the matter is: not really.

I mean, Path of Radiance actually writes him into a solid niche; for all the big words he emits about being a patron of beauty, he’s ultimately just the same kind of petty, ostentatious garbage that poisons the governance of Begnion, and finally taking him down for good and all makes for an excellent dive after all the work it takes to set the light of justice on him -- not just in Day Breaks (oh gooooooooddd) but over the course of the several chapters it takes.

it’s all downhill from there, though. his appareance in Radiant Dawn is not only unecessary, but also a deviation from the established writing to focus on pallid, ineffective jokes, like someone invented Heroes writing before the thing itself happened. he fights on your side because now he genuinely cares about beauty and art to the point he’ll fight a goddess over it? yeah, that’s not who he was.

and seriously, one strongly gets the impression that, in that appearance onwards, the punchline is just supposed to be that he’s fat, bald, wordy, and has a shitty mustache -- which, besides being blatant fatphobia, is seriously stale; “it’s funny because he’s ugly” is, like, at least two random minibosses per game, usually more.

fuck the senate

(2/10)

although he jabs a lot of the buttons that should make for an entertaining and stalwart hate sink, it ends up not really working.

his narcisism lacks the performatic grandeur of the likes of Narcian; it lands as pastiche at best, and common annoying smugness at worst. and although he’s powerful and influential enough to cause a bunch of problems, he’s introduced at a weird time that fails to make his specfic capabilties relevant to opposing the protagonists, and he ends up not doing a lot more than severely inconveniencing Zelgius (who is on his team) a couple times.

at least, the battle dialogue against him in Part 4 still provides some of the most fierce drags in Radiant Dawn

fuck the valm arc

(0/10)

seriously, fuck it

but ahem, onto the guy in question: he’s an annoying waste of writing space that doesn’t seem to be intended for any reason other than making the rest of Team Bad Guy look good, plain and simple.

you might be thinking, airlock, this is the third Awakening villain you blammed in four posts, are you just biased? the answer is: yes, but even if I were being perfectly fair, let’s be real, antagonists are just not one of that game’s strengths, overall. that just happens sometimes; I can really say the same thing of like Thracia 776, y’know?

fuck playing f- yeah, okay, that’s just low-hanging fruit

(??/10)

honestly, from this distance, none of Fates’s fixed antagonists bar Anankos really give me the impression of not just being despicable pastiche, but I’m guessing he’s supposed to be the one who actually intended to take it as a niche?

so, I’m just going to assume you hated this, but how was it? are you glad it’s over, or do you regret having read it at all? we’re probably not going to be spared from one of these characters on Three Houses, but specifically how much would you like to hate the one that comes along? to be honest, your thoughts aren’t remotely as good as mine, so I wouldn’t bother replying or reblogging to share them, worm. what? you’ll do it anyway!? how dare you! do you know what I’m capable of!?

#airlock grades the villain archetypes #fire emblem is tagged in this post

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belktile3-blog · 6 years ago

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The Kitchen Renovation Does Not Need to Be Painful As You Might Believe

BELK Tile

You have We are in need of a fresh, practical kitchen!"

You are not alone. Generally everyone has a Specific tipping point; this one final thing which sends them to the renovation pool. You attempt to continue for so long as possible because you are stressing the sound, the dust, the annoyance and the disruption to your everyday life. Whenever your distance becomes unusable, it is time to do some thing.

BELK Tile

Start by Creating a Design Strategy: A renovation is only going to be as powerful as the study and preparation that is put to it. Like every business proposal you create to get work, you want to get a very clear aim of what you would like to achieve together with the renovation. Can you yearn for upgraded electric wiring, optimizing storage space, including an eating place, appliances that operate?

You Can begin with popping to kitchen renovation shops to examine the most recent available attributes in kitchen layout. Speak to the team, let them know you are at the commencement of your travel and see whether they have any tips for you.

Cut out photographs of kitchens you enjoy from magazines Describe why you enjoy the kitchens you have selected - Why is it the distance? The light? The color? The manner of cabinetry or cabinetry? It's even useful to present your designer pictures of things you surely do not like. When you decide what you want, it is going to enable your kitchen designer draw the plans which suit you.

If You've Got a friend who is recently revived her Kitchen, shoot pictures and determine exactly what you enjoy about it well and stick it in the folder along with your other images.

Toronto architect Jacqueline Rhee states when she sits down with prospective customers and they say for her,"Style us something stunning," she must clarify they aren't giving her sufficient details. She says,"What their notion of'stunning' is and exactly what I've in mind might well be two distinct things. Perhaps they need French nation, but I've a notion that they may prefer a slick modern kitchen" The more management customers may present their designer regarding their likes, dislikes and what their own aims to the distance are, the better your layout can fulfill their expectations.

Kitchen renovation is the fact that it will be a fantastic investment. As you would like your business's yearly advertising budget, you will need to come up with a budget for the kitchen renovation. A general guideline for how much to invest on a kitchen renovation is left up to 10-15percent of the value of your property. But do not feel as though you need to devote that much; if you're able to do much more with less, take action. Refacing comes in at approximately 50-75% of the expense of new custom made cabinetry.

Selecting a Kitchen Contractor or Company: If you have been to a buddy recently remodeled home and you enjoy what you see, then begin asking questions: Who did the work? If you enjoyed the replies your buddy gave you assuming your buddy is not shell-shocked in the direct grilling she is only obtained - get your own card. Now, locate at least 2 other kitchen or contractors companies so that you can compare quotes.

Meeting together with the Contractor and Designer: If, You might need to meet this person daily. If your characters do not blend, you're never going to have the ability to solve problems collectively. Probably, but if you are having that vibe, the builder or contractor is overly; it is ideal to part ways prior to a connection has started.

You are bowled over with his enthusiasm and thoughts and you get together as in the event that you'd known each other your whole lives, you still have to perform your own research. Ask him how many tasks he can manage simultaneously and how many he's going now and also make sure he's insured and bonded.

Further essential research - the World Wide Web is the new best buddy: Researching kitchen businesses and builders is now a great deal easier with the era of the world wide web. Currently there are sites that are especially focused on getting word-of-mouth reviews from customers on the internet. If the businesses you are considering utilizing do not have some testimonials, you might choose to check at other businesses which perform and compare their solutions. Also take a look at the organization's website. When they don't own one, you need to wonder just how professional they are.

Another suggestion It is possible to attempt is entering the organization's name in search engines such as google and Yahoo!. You might discover some feedback folks have posted on these on different forums. You might even post a question asking if anybody has used this organization. In the end, check the testimonials that he or she provides you too, speak with a couple of his previous customers and see the job he or she did for them.

As Soon as You've picked your own designer, kitchen or contractor business, prepare: Ask yourself whether it's possible to live through the renovation by assembling another kitchen in the garage or cellar. Make arrangements to be outside of their house for a particular quantity of time and be certain you and your project team have discussed that the many acceptable move-out and move-in dates.

Do you need to variable furniture storage in your Budget or is it wrapped and stored on web site? Your contractor will say what's the best choice based upon how big the project and your own storage space availability on website.

Among the frustrations in communication between contractor and homeowner would be in premises made by one party or another. As an example, 1 woman had bought bathroom fixtures and sinks for a new house. The builder saw the powder room fixture could be equipped with taps along with a faucet and drilled three holes all of the sinks since he supposed that all the fittings were exactly the same. Unfortunately, they were not and the homeowner needed to substitute the other fittings to coordinate with the holes.

But wrong assumptions can equally readily be Produced from the homeowner. A homeowner given out a water filter kit into the contractor and requested him to install it. The homeowner had read about the box which the water filter was so great for the entire home and may be fitted on the home water supply. When she returned in the conclusion of the afternoon, the builder had put in it under the kitchen sink. She had never told him was to proceed, she'd only assumed he knew it had been meant for the whole residence.

Renovation, however small, there always appear to be unforeseen issues. It is not quite as surprising as you may think. What occurs behind the walls remains behind them till they are torn apart. Up until then, you may not understand the insulating material used was really paper, or the pipes went through the walls that has to be demolished. The way your contractor and you manage these issues is dependent upon how educated your contractor is.

Throughout budding and Leon's Most Important floor renovation, The designer had known for the laundry area backsplash to include stainless steel crowns; exquisite, however at a price of around $5,000. Sue balked. The builder suggested rather a row of those tiles, 2 feet high, only behind the washer and dryer in a price of $500. Sue was thankful that builder made her conscious of the prices and had an alternate proposal for her.

The result -- your fantasy distance: Alive through the dust, sound and strangers in your home for months on end could be tiring. Though you get along nicely with the team as well as your builder, you can discover your temper becoming brief, especially if there are flaws during the project resulting in prolonged construction. Realize that delays tend to be inevitable and one day, you'll be back into your house, the employees will be gone along with your new kitchen that is beautiful will be yours.

Online Resources: You will find videos and Kitchens.com: A Better Homes The Canada Home and mortgage Corporation: CMHC has an Superb site for any The kitchen renovation region has Downloadable graphs you may use for reference manuals as you move about Your renovation preparation. Section of the site lets you enter the expense of your renovation Also it will calculate just how much of a return you'd get if you sold Your house.

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satoshi-mochida · 7 years ago

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Square Enix has released a new trailer, details, and screenshots for Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon: Every Buddy!, its upcoming PlayStation 4 and Switch enhanced remaster of the Wii dungeon RPG Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon.

Get the details below.

■ Story

One day, treasure hunters Chocobo and Cid happen upon a strange town. The town is Lostime, where the townspeople believe that forgetting is the key to happiness.

Whenever the bell on the clocktower rings, they forget their sad memories, aggressive impulses… sometimes even their own names.

Then a boy named Raffaello comes to town. He is able to create dungeons out of people’s memories and help them remember the past…

■ Characters

Cid (voiced by Yuichi Nakamura) The legendary treasure hunter.

Cid travels the world in search of treasure with his partner, Chocobo. A gifted inventor, he employs his unique gadgets to ensure that his mission will always be a success. He wanders into Lostime while searching for hidden treasure that can change the world.

Shirma (voiced by Sayaka Senbongi) The good-hearted white mage.

Shirma lives on her Aunt Stella’s farm at the edge of Lostime. She is always taking care of others, and is nice to Chocobo and Raffaello. She seems to worry an awful lot, but that makes her a good counter to her aunt, who sometimes seems too laid back. Although she is a gentle girl, she is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in.

Raffaello (voiced by Yuuko Sanpei) The mysterious boy.

One day, Raffaello simply fell out of the sky and into the lives of the people of Lostime. It’s obvious he’s not a normal boy, because he grows up very fast. He also has the power to restore people’s lost memories by creating a labyrinth of memories. Since he came to Lostime, the townspeople have started to change, and some have started to regard him as a savior. But Raffaello does not see himself that way.

Dungeon Hero X (voiced by Maria Naganawa) A masked moogle.

A masked hero who appears at times to give Chocobo all sorts of helpful information on dungeons. There’s something familiar about him, but his true identity remains a secret. A rumor persists, however, that he is far more than just Dungeon Hero X.

■ Dungeons

In dungeons, players take action via a turn-based system. When Chocobo uses one action, it uses one turn. Similarly, monsters will also take an action per turn. Monsters will not move unless Chocobo moves. Think carefully before making a move.

—If Chocobo takes action, other characters will also take action. In this situation, Chocobo can attack diagonally, but if he takes one step up…

—Since Chocobo moved one the monster also moved and gets attacked first!

—Chocobo counterattacks without a moment’s delay! The CPU-controlled buddy character takes action after Chocobo’s attack.

■ Job Change System

By obtaining the memories of jobs during your adventure, Chocobo will be able to switch between jobs. Job changes not only alter your appearance, they also change your abilities and stats. There are various different characteristics per job. Choose a job that is best suited to each dungeon to explore it efficiently. Your jobs will level up the more you use them, allowing you learn even more powerful abilities.

—You can easily switch between jobs by touching the crystal at the dungeon entrance.

—Leveling up jobs is essential, as it will allow you to learn powerful abilities.

Knight

This is one of the first jobs available once the job change function is unlocked. The Knight has very high HP, strong defense, good defense against magic, and decent offensive abilities. As such, it is ideal for use in combat. But the Knight is very food-intensive and requires strategic use to manage hunger before the fight is over.

—Ability: Power Smash

Damages and knocks back a monster one space. It is a powerful ability that can be used as a final blow!

Black Mage

The job of Black Mage is well-known for its powerful offensive magic. In the beginning, it is a hard job to master, because of its vulnerability to attack and limited restoration spells. As he levels up, however, the Black Mage gains a number of powerful attacks. It should be considered a “late bloomer” job that specializes in offensive magic, and is possibly the best job class when it comes to instantaneous destruction.

—Ability: Fire

A fire-based magic attack that extends three spaces. Fight while using this together with the ice-based Blizzard and thunder-based Thunder attacks.

■ Alpha Job from Final Fantasy XIV

The Final Fantasy XIV raid dungeon “The Bend of Time: Omega” appears in Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon: Every Buddy!. Wear the uniform of the engineers faction Garlond Ironworks and investigate the formidable foe Omega alongside adventurers. Help out your party with mysterious tools.

The Alpha job is an balanced class that specializes in everything from attack to support. When you reach its maximum job level, you will learn the “Mysterious Card” ability.

—Ability: Mysterious Card

Activates one of seven abilities at random. Which one will activate is unknown! Try to use it at the right timing.

■ New Dungeons

New dungeons have been added from the original Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon release, including difficult dungeons like the “The Bend of Time” and “Bottomless Desire.” For these dungeons, the items you bring into and utilize in the dungeon, as well as the job you choose are essential. Only players who are confident in their dungeon exploration skills should take on these challenges.

■ New Buddy System

You will sometimes earn “Buddy Points” by defeating monsters in the dungeons. Buddy Points accumulate for individual monster species. When you reach the required amount of points, you can take that monster into the dungeon as a buddy character.

Characters Can Also Become Buddies

In addition to recruiting monsters, you will also be able to take specific character along into dungeons as buddy characters. Each character has their own unique abilities, so choose a buddy that goes well with your job.

■ First-Print Bonus

First-print copies of Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon: Every Buddy! in Japan will include the “Buddy: Alpha” character. This allows you to take along the previously job-only Alpha as a buddy character.

—Ability: Chocobo Drop

Attacks all enemies surrounding the space behind Chocobo. Use this when surrounded by enemies!

Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon: Every Buddy! is due out for PlayStation 4 and Switch on March 20, 2019 in Japan. A North America and Europe release is also planned, but has yet to be dated.

Watch the trailer below. View the screenshots at the gallery.

youtube

#Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon: Every Buddy #Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon #Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon #Final Fantasy #Chocobo #Gematsu #long post

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