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booksarelife-stuff · 4 years ago

Text

our secret moments in a crowded room

Jily (James Potter/Lily Evans), minor Wolfstar (Remus Lupin/Sirius Black)

My entry for the September Jily Challenge! @jilychallenge

Prompt: I tripped on the red carpet and you caught me

Partner was the amazing @kates836! Thank you for being an amazing partner!

In a fake PR relationship with Severus Snape, Lily can’t help be distracted by the real person who has her heart.

Word Count: 4,077

Read of Ao3 Masterlist

The car took a sharp left and Lily tried to stabilize herself so she didn’t touch Severus, who was sitting beside her. She made eye contact with Mary, who was sitting in the passenger seat. Mary shot her the millionth apologetic look.

Lily glanced back down at her phone, just in time to see a reply to the picture that she had sent of her in her dress.

Ahdjsfhkjdsf I can’t breathe. How dare you send this to me right before I walk out on the red carpet.

She smiled widely down at her phone.

I don’t know how I’m going to function with you that close and can’t do anything about it.

She smiled faltered for a second, because yeah, that was truly going to be torture for her too.

I’m about to go out. I can’t wait to see you.

Lily bit her lip before typing a reply.

If you think this dress looks good on me now, wait until you take it off.

The message bubbles appeared instantly and Lily’s smile turned smug.

You shouldn’t have said that. I’m going to think about it all night now. Love you

Love you too

She locked her phone and handed it to Mary, who would be holding all of her personal items for the rest of the night. Severus sighed deeply beside her and Lily tried not to roll her eyes.

If Lily had it her way, she’d be arriving with a very different date. But Lily didn’t have a choice. What the studio wanted, the studio got. Including a semi-fake relationship with her co-star, Severus Snape.

They had just finished filming the final season of their wildly popular show, The Hollow Hour. The show definitely didn’t need this kind of press to be successful, but Lily still didn’t have a choice in the matter, considering she had already booked a leading role in another one of their shows.

On-screen, Lily and Snape played Tara and Gideon, characters who had been in love since they were children and fighting in a war where they possibly wouldn’t make it out. Off-screen, Lily could hardly stand the presence of Snape.

It didn’t start out that way. When they’d first met, Lily had thought he was pretty cool. The show had been her first big break, as she had only done television guest appearances before then. Snape had a few movies under his belt, one of which was super popular. Their friendship had started out as his kind of giving her direction when it came to the whole fame thing.

Then, it got a little invasive. He would just be in her trailer, coming in without knocking. He started asking for more date-like hangouts. His disgusting political beliefs started coming out through their conversations and his apparent hatred for their co-star, Remus Lupin because he was openly gay. And he started acting as she owed him something, especially since the show took off.

The rumors had started before Lily realized that Snape was the creep that he was. People saw them pining on screen and going out for the occasional drink after a long day when Lily could still stand him and suddenly, people thought they were in love.

It had been a real nuisance in Lily’s life. Every interview, she tried to squash the rumors, whereas Snape would encourage them. It didn’t help that the show got popular, like really insane amounts of popularity. The character shipping took a sharp left turn into people shipping them.

Snily, they called them. From fanfiction to edits and art to covers of glossy magazines. It was everywhere. No matter if Lily was doing interviews from one of her movies, they would ask about Snape.

And since Lily was some sort of a masochist, she knew exactly what the fans thought of their relationship. They thought Lily denied the relationship because she was very private about her life, and Snape would never say it outright because he wanted to respect her but also wanted the world to know that she is his.

It didn’t help that Snape had accumulated a very dedicated fanbase. Like worship-the-ground-he-walked-on kind of dedication. To the point where Lily would get occasional death threats because she was “hurting him by denying their relationship.”

They never seemed to believe Lily when she said no, much like Snape and their studio. Lily couldn’t flat out deny the relationship in interviews anymore until after the final episode. It made her want to dry heave.

The car was slowing, and Lily could hear the buzz of fans and reporters. They were in the queue now for the red carpet. Mary unbuckled and twisted around in the seat, doing a final check of Lily’s hair and make-up.

Lily smoothed down her green satin dress, her legs bent awkwardly to not crease the dress and also not puncture the fabric with her stiletto pumps. Lily’s after-party dress was hanging up in the back, but Lily didn’t know if she was actually going to attend.

It had taken her a long time to feel beautiful at these types of events. Being considered plus size in this industry felt like a death sentence, especially since Lily refused to play the “funny fat friend” or anything like that. But she felt good tonight, especially with the way it hugged her curves and the bit of cleavage showed.

Severus looked like himself, just in a suit. His greasy hair was covered in dry shampoo and tucked behind his ears. He turned towards Lily and smiled like a cat who got the cream.

“We could make this real, you know?” he said, for probably the millionth time. “You and I would work.”

Lily tried not to crinkle her nose in disgust. “Severus,” she said. “You know I have no interest in that.”

There had been many times where Lily wished she could speak her mind and rip him a new one, but she could not get branded as a diva. So, she played off these uncomfortable moments with a laugh and polite words, even when she was telling him no for the millionth time.

She saw the corner of his lips turn down in a slight frown and averted her eyes to stare straight ahead.

The voices outside got louder and suddenly the car was stopping. Mary jumped out of the car quickly as Lily unbuckled. Moody, Lily’s driver, and bodyguard, also got out quickly to open Lily’s door.

She had to take Moody’s hand to step out. She wobbled when she shifted her weight to her high heels but quickly corrected herself. She was going to have blisters for weeks after tonight. Mary appeared from the other side of the car, hands already straightening Lily’s dress.

They were covered from the cameras here, so no one saw Mary make sure Lily’s breasts were firmly taped into the dress. The low cut of the dress required her boobs to be placed perfectly and one slip would probably cost Lily her career. That’s why Lily had Mary, her best friend since they were children and who now worked as her PA. The back of the dress was practically nonexistent and her long auburn waves tickled her with every movement.

Mary quickly batted away one of her dark coily curls that snuck out of its bun before giving Lily a once over.

“You look gorgeous,” she said, smiling. “He’s not going to want to take his eyes off of you.”

Lily gave her a real smile and a quick hug before stepping away to get around the car where Severus was surely waiting. She already had her red carpet smile on and tried not to pay attention to the up and down look Severus was giving her.

Severus reached out his arm to escort Lily, but Lily walked past it. They said they had to arrive together, not actually walk together. Mary let out a snort of laughter as she followed Lily out to the carpet—to walk with Lily but hidden away.

The lights were blinding as Lily walked out on the carpet. Cameras flashing every second, people yelling questions at her. Lily was now a pro at this, after so many years of practice. The screams intensified, signaling Snape was now making his appearance.

Lily moved slowly down the carpet, making sure her smile stayed in place. Towards the end of her walk, Snape did sneak up on her, wrapping an arm around her waist taking extra care to let his fingers drag against her bare skin. She fought to not recoil away from him.

She smiled and laughed though she wanted to push him away.

The entrance to Royal Albert Hall was full of reporters and cameras. Lily never really minded this part of the red carpet because most of the time it was just questions like “who are you wearing?” or the occasional fun game with whatever fledgling media company had weaseled reporters in.

Lily was heading towards the first available reporter, a young woman who was smiling widely as Lily approached. But a familiar head of dark curls caught her eye, and she couldn’t help the way her attention turned immediately that way.

It had been six weeks since her boyfriend of three years had touched her. Six weeks since she had felt the indentation of him next to her in bed, felt his warmth, had him within her fingertips.

And James looked so good, it made Lily want to pull him away and find the nearest secluded spot. The way his tailored suit hugged the angles of his body, the body that she knew like it her own.

She could feel her heart start pounding in her chest, and she hoped the cameras weren’t picking up the way her hands were shaking.

“Lily Evans!” the young reporter cheered. “How are you on this fine evening?”

“I’m doing great,” Lily said, smiling and resisting the urge to look at James.

“So, you arrived with rumored beau and co-star, Severus Snape,” the reporter cheered. “Care to confirm anything?”

Lily fake laughed. “We just carpooled. Better for the environment.”

The girl’s face tightened a bit, but the reporter knew better than to press.

Lily answered her questions with ease. Who was she wearing? Did she feel good about her role as a presenter? What was she going to do after the final season of The Hollow Hour?

Once the interview concluded, she turned to go to the next reporter.

But there was James, looking at her with a slight smile on his lips. His dark brown eyes did a quick once over of her, appraising her every curve quickly. And goddamn, he wore his glasses instead of his contacts, reminding Lily of the quiet moments in her flat where they were tangled together, his glasses pushing into her face. His normal frizzy curls were more defined thanks to whatever hair product his stylist made him use. His brown skin was as flawless as ever, glowing in the camera flashes in the fading day.

It couldn’t have been more than a moment where their eyes met, but it was enough to thoroughly distract Lily to the point of missing the small bump in the carpet. Her shoe caught and the sensation of falling happened before she felt strong arms catch her.

“Are you okay?” James asked as Lily’s world steadied in his arms, the concern in his eyes.

Lily felt her cheeks redden, both from the embarrassment of tripping on the red carpet and the fact that she was in James’s arms. She nodded but when she stepped back, her right shoe gave out.

She moved away from James’s arms, but took his hand, their fingers clasping each other, to keep her balance as she lifted her dress up to see the heel completely snapped off.

“Well, that’s great,” she said with a laugh. James laughed with her. She wobbled for a second and James’s hand grabbed her side to steady her, his fingers making her burn.

Lily couldn’t help but smile softly at him as Mary appeared, getting on her knees in front of Lily, urging her to turn slightly. She let go of James’s hand and used his shoulder to keep her balance as Mary undid the straps on Lily’s shoes. Mary, who was definitely getting a raise after this, took off her own black kitten heels and gave them to Lily.

She was now several inches shorter and her dress dragged a bit on the ground, but it was better than no shoes at all.

“I owe you my life,” Lily told Mary, who smiled in response. Lily didn’t miss the way she gave James a glance and then a teasing smile back to her. She turned back to James. “Thank you so much.”

“No problem,” he replied. “I’ll see you around?”

She wanted to say that she would see him tonight, preferably with no clothes, but she just smiled and nodded in response.

As she let go and James stepped away, the last thing on her mind was the cameras catching every moment.

~~~

To Lily’s detriment, her manager had called Mary to tell Lily that she had to be seen at the after-party with Snape.

Lily tried not to recoil at Severus’s hand on her lower back as he led her to the after-party. The cameras were blinding against the darkness of the night, but Lily let herself be led into the venue, Moody doing his best to push back against the raging crowd.

The venue only had a few selective members of the press inside, but it was little enough that it put all the celebrities at ease. There was no real food, just snacks because seeing your favorite movie star get sloshed would sell magazines and get them trending on Twitter.

Lily’s stomach growled. She couldn’t remember the last full meal she had.

Severus kept a firm hand on her back. She smiled and laughed at the right times as they talked with winners from the night. A live band started and Lily’s ears rang with the loud music. She kept knocking back glasses of champagne because at least the buzz would take the edge off the hungry looks in Severus’s eyes and make her not recoil when he tried to whisper in her ear.

Her saving grace came in the form of Remus Lupin somewhere south of midnight.

She came back from the loo and purposefully walked away from where she knew Severus was waiting. The alcohol was thrumming through her veins, and she felt light. Her shoes—or Mary’s shoes—had been kicked off long ago, and she was stumbling through the crowds of famous people.

Remus stood at the picked-over snack table, probably looking for any scraps of leftover chocolate. He had been Lily’s co-star since day one and her favorite to boot. Severus hated him, mostly because Lily liked him more, but also because he was openly gay and in a long-term relationship with the model, Sirius Black, who Snape also hated.

Remus had been the reason she and James met. She also knew that where Remus was, Sirius wasn’t far, and if Sirius wasn’t far, neither was James.

And she wanted to see James more than anything.

“Boo,” she said, poking Remus’s side. The man jumped, almost dropping his chocolate-covered strawberry.

“Bloody hell, Evans,” he said. Lily laughed, already feeling better. She clumsily picked up a biscuit and took a bite.

“How’s your night been going?” she asked. Remus let out an amused huff.

“Same old, same old,” he said. “You?”

Lily didn’t respond and Remus laughed, knowing exactly how her night had been going. They grabbed a few more snacks and Lily proceeded to follow him, hoping that he would lead her to the person she needed to see.

James was sitting at a table across from Sirius, and Lily’s heart immediately started beating rapidly. His suit jacket and tie were gone, just leaving him in his tight white button-up. The top buttons were undone, hinting at his chest that Lily knew better than the back of her own hand.

The sluggish haze of the alcohol in her system reminded her of when they first met. It had been at The Hollow Hour season one wrap party, and Remus had invited James and Sirius. He had caught her eye from across the room, the curly black hair and glasses were a dangerous combination for Lily, especially with the dark jeans that had hugged his very nice arse. She was so nervous that she had had to take a shot before she walked over to have Remus introduce her.

She had taken him home and when she woke up in the morning, recovering from the best sex she had ever had in her life, she found him making breakfast for her.

He stayed the whole weekend.

Then they texted non-stop and started having dates, sitting in Lily’s apartment with take-away and cheesy movies.

And here they were, three years later, hopelessly in love, and pretending that they weren’t because her stupid television show needed promoting.

It hadn’t been meant to be a secret for so long. In the beginning, they just wanted to figure each other out without all the press breathing down their necks. It’s just how it all happened.

It wasn’t like the important people in their lives didn’t know. Their parents and most trusted friends did. And they already decided that once the whole thing with Snape stopped, they were going to go public because they wanted to move in together and finally go on real dates.

Lily saw the way he perked up when he saw her. A small smile on his lips, his shoulders moving back. There was a moment when Lily could have sworn that there were no other people in the room until someone bumped into her.

She slid into the booth beside him, not caring about how dangerous that was, especially when their legs touched.

“Hey,” he said, his deep voice tugging at her in a way she missed while he was gone.

“Hey,” she replied. She could tear her eyes away from him and she didn’t know if she wanted to, either.

“Bloody hell,” Sirius said, not even jarring the couple. “Get out of here before you start shagging on the table.”

James raised his eyebrows in question, which Lily answered with a smile. He reached down for his pockets.

“I’m texting Moody,” he said.

Anticipation pooled in her stomach and as she grabbed another biscuit to eat because it was something to do, her hands shook. James placed his hands on Lily’s thigh and she couldn’t think of anything else until he leaned over and told her that Moody said it was all clear.

Even in her drunk state, she located her shoes and practically sprinted to the back door where Moody was waiting.

There were a few paparazzi pictures taken as Lily quickly hopped into the back of the SUV and Moody got into the driver’s seat. He handed her her small bag that had her phone in it that Mary had been carrying. She was too excited to even get her phone out as Moody did two laps around the block before pulling right back into the same spot.

The second James jumped in and the door was closed, Lily was on him. She grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him to her, meeting their lips in a deep, but sloppy kiss. Lily kicked her legs up onto his lap and pulled him down as laid down the best she could in the back seat. James laughed a little against her lips, causing Lily to pull away and laugh too.

“Next year, we’re going to this together,” she said, opening her eyes to see him in whatever light that shone in from the windows. She got flashes of his eyes and his wide smile as she sat up, still keeping her legs on her.

“Absolutely,” he replied, pressing a light kiss to her lips. “And we’re going to still traumatize Moody on the way home.”

Said man let out a snort. “No, I’m getting a divider.”

Lily barely remembers the rest of the car ride and getting to her flat. All she remembers is the taste of James’s lips and the feeling of his hands on her.

~~~

The blaring noise of a phone call is what made Lily wake up. She jumped violently, kicking James in the process, who let out a pained groan as Lily disentangled herself from him to be able to reach her nightstand to turn off the god-forsaken ear-splitting sound.

Her hand smacked into the nightstand, but her phone wasn’t there. She realized it must be James’s.

She nudged him and he groaned, but she could feel him move around in the bed. Finally, it stopped and James spoke.

“Hello?” he fell silent. “What are you talking about?”

Lily, who was already falling asleep again, opened her eyes at his tone and suddenly, he was shaking her.

“I’ll call you back Sirius,” James said as Lily sat up.

He hung up the call and threw his phone down on the bed. He tugged at his hair as Lily watched him with wide eyes.

“They know about us,” he said.

“What?” Lily exclaimed, reaching for his phone.

She typed in the passcode and saw the million phone calls from his manager and publicist. She opened Twitter, and right there, trending number one, was a still of James’s arm around her when she broke her shoe.

"Lily Evans, caught in a love triangle."

"Actress Lily Evans and actor James Potter are rumored to have left the BAFTA after-party together despite Evans arriving with Severus Snape."

She clicked on the first article while her stomach soured.

"Lily Evans and Severus Snape have long been rumored to have been dating, but last night’s events have seemingly squashed the rumors for good."

The article went into detail about the rumors between Lily and Severus, before finally getting to last night.

"James Potter, actor, best known in his role on the popular historical drama "Mountainside Valley', was able to catch Evans on the red carpet when her shoe broke. The footage from the cameras that were rolling by the pair has been released.

According to sources, the two are familiar with each other. Lily’s co-star, Remus Lupin is both friends with Potter and is even dating his adoptive brother Sirius Black, so we can speculate that they have met before. Based on the videos, they do seem to be familiar with each other.

What really solidified the relationship between the two actors comes from an unknown source who attended the after-party. 'She sat next to him and then a few minutes later, they left.'

Fans seem to be having a lot of mixed reactions to Evan’s alleged actions.

@snapewife45346 wrote: 'ALL LILY HAS EVER DONE IS HURT HIM. HE NEEDS TO LEAVE HER ASS FOR GOOD!!'

@snnnily394 on Twitter wrote: 'i don’t think it’s true. She would never do that to him.'

@taraisgod wrote: 'They have never said they’re in a relationship, you all are just projecting. Let her be happy!!'

@mountainbaddie wrote: 'Evans UPGRADED'

Lily set down James’s phone, unable to do anything else. She met his eyes and took a deep breath.

Her gut reaction was that it sucked. It sucked that they didn't come out on their own terms. The studio was probably pissed, or maybe they thought the bad press was good press.

But as she looked at James, sitting beside her on his side of the bed, the bed he only rarely got to occupy these days, she realized that maybe it was a blessing.

“We could deny it,” James said, a frown tugging at his lips. “Say that we’re best friends if you think that’s what the studio would want.”

Lily shook her head. “I don’t want you like a best friend. I don’t want to deny myself of you anymore.”

He smiled, soft and sweet. Lily yanked the bedsheets off of herself and crawled over to him, straddling his legs. She was only wearing a pair of knickers and one of his t-shirts. His hands immediately snuck up the shirt and caressed her hips, his thumbs teasing her panties.

“Joint statement?” he asked, as Lily leaned in. She kissed him soundly.

“In a minute,” she said, kissing him again.

#jilychallenge #jily challenge #jily fic #jily fanfic #James Potter/Lily Evans #James x Lily #James Potter #Lily Evans #Lily Evans Potter #Harry Potter fanfic #hp #marauders era #minor wolfstar #Remus Lupin #Sirius Black #celebrity au #secret relationship #established relationship

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twstarchives · 5 years ago

Text

Sebek Zigvolt・Voice Lines

School Uniform - R

Unlock Card “Get to class now! You’re wasting time.”

Groovy “Someday I ought to teach you how you’re supposed to behave towards your superiors.”

Home Setting “I take close care of my appearance.”

Home Transitions “I was miraculously able to enroll at the same school as the Young Master. I’d like to watch his growing success from as close-up as possible.”

“I’m hungry... The bread from the school store isn’t filling at all. I want more meat.”

“I joined the horse-riding club because I thought it’d be wise to pick up practical activities. All knights should be able to ride a horse.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “To make sure that you’re not a threat to the Young Master, I’ve decided to observe you all day today. Don’t run out of sight.”

Home Taps “Styling my hair every morning is a chore, but I never want the Young Master to see me looking sloppy.”

“Silver is the only person I know in the Valley of Thorns from the same generation as me. ‘My friend’...? As if I’d call him a friend!”

“The Young Master is also taking classes here. It’s 1000 years too early for us to be skipping them!!”

“I have a loud voice? What are you saying? Your voice is just too quiet!!”

“Are you trying to play tag? I’ve long since outgrown childish games like that.”

PE Uniform - R

Unlock Card “As if I’d lose any contest! The training all of you have done is nothing compared to mine!”

Groovy “Want me to tell you my training routine? Only if you can keep up.”

Home Setting “Let me take you on.”

Home Transitions “To improve yourself, you need to eat well, work well, sleep well, and play hard! ...That’s what Master Lilia taught me.”

“I train so that I can be the Young Master’s sword and shield whenever he needs me.”

“I heard we’re having a long-distance race for our next PE class. I’m better at short-distance, though... No. You aren’t a guard without good stamina.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “Why is your back hunched over like that? You look sloppy! Stick out your chest and fix that posture!”

Home Taps “Whenever I go to practice for the horse-riding club, the horses always get scared of me. I’m not going to eat them or anything. They’re so skittish.”

“Being left-handed often comes in handy when I’m sparring. But no matter which hand I use, my victories will always be in the name of the Young Master.”

“There’s no point in training without a reason. It’s important to me that I gain power to protect the Young Master.”

“Don’t waste your breath. All that matters while you’re training is willpower, persistence, and a fighting spirit!! That’s it!”

“You want to play soccer together? ...Alright. I certainly have no plans of losing to a human.”

Lab Coat - SR

Unlock Card “Your appearance reflects who you are inside. I won’t let a single wrinkle to pass.”

Groovy “You want to study with me? Very well. Show me what you’ve got.”

Home Setting “I don’t have any blind spots in today’s class either.”

Home Transitions “I’ll get the highest score on our next test. And then the Young Master will praise me...!”

“The environment in the greenhouse is just amazing. It’s warm, humid, and so easy to relax in there.”

“I learned everything that was covered in our lesson last period when I was in middle school. Education in the Valley of Thorns was very intensive.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “The most I’ll do is give you a few hints for your assignment. I’d rather not be dragged down during our joint class.”

Home Transition (Groovy) “You look exhausted. I’ll share some tips with you on how to remain focused.”

Home Taps “I’m very good at solving both numerical and chemical equations. But there’s never a need to use cheap tricks like that when the Young Master is around. Heheh.”

“Do you have any Awakening Potions? I want to try making Silver drink an entire bucket full.”

“Master Lilia gave me this drink. He said it’s an excellent beverage that lets you take in your meat, fish, fruits, and vegetables all at once!”

“I’m not good at art, since it’s so subjective. Subjects where the solutions are very clear is more my speed.”

“Stop tugging at my clothes. I can’t appear in front of the Young Master looking indecent!”

Home Tap (Groovy) “Could you recommend a book for me? I’ll try reading it tonight.”

Ceremony Robes - SR

Unlock Card “The Young Master would never get upset over something as minor as a school assembly.”

Groovy “Hmph. Even you look befitting today.”

Home Setting “I don’t want to see the Young Master look so dejected...”

Home Transitions “As if I’d ever feel nervous at a school event of all things! Festivals in the Valley of Thorns are so much grander than this.”

“Have you seen the Young Master anywhere? I haven’t been able to reach him in a while. ...Don’t tell me he— ...Again?”

“It’s not worth having a ceremony if the Young Master isn’t participating. They should just stop it midway through.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “YOUNG MAAAASTER!! Where did you go...? Oh, perfect timing. Come look for the Young Master with me.”

Home Transition (Groovy) “Grim was causing a ruckus again. I swear, I can’t believe how much of a pig he is. ...What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Home Taps “Before coming to this academy, I spent an entire year dedicating myself to my studies. I did it because I had faith I’d be able to get into this school too.”

“No matter how alert you think you are, Master Lilia will always find a way to sneak behind you. Oh, see? Turn around.”

“I feel like I’ve gotten taller again lately. These robes might even end up being too small for me.”

“Do I look okay? Nothing’s out of place? It’s fine if I appear in front of the Young Master like this, right..? ...Oi, are you even listening to me?”

“Stop with that mumbling. If you want to say something then say it loud and clear!!”

Home Tap (Groovy) “The Young Master’s ideas are so grand. Sometimes, I can’t even begin to understand them. That’s why I admire him so much.”

Birthday Celebration Outfit - SSR

This card was only obtainable during Sebek’s birthday event (Mar 15 - Mar 21, 2021).

Login on Birthday “Human, have you come to give me a birthday present? I see... Thank you! I was just giving the Young Master my gratitude earlier as well. I am the luckiest man at this school!”

Unlock Card “No matter if it’s my birthday, I’m not going to abandon my duties as a guard or stop being vigilant!”

“I-I never thought I’d be able to receive a birthday blessing from the Young Master... How lucky am I!!”

Groovy “Despite being a human, you’re celebrating to make me happy... I’ve improved my opinion of you, just a little. J-Just a little!”

Home Setting “Alright! I think I can still perfectly carry out my guard duties in this outfit.”

Home Transitions “This cutlery and tableware is placed in the wrong order. Did you not know I’m left-handed? You didn’t do enough research beforehand!”

“Lilia told me that ‘a sound soul lives in a trained body.’ I must not forgo my training, even on my birthday.”

“My magic manifested at a late age. When I was little, I always wanted to be like my older brother and sister, who could magically light the candles on a cake.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “I’ve gone hungry all day to get ready for this party. I only had three servings for lunch!”

Home Transition (Groovy) “I-I lost again... This may be a party game, but I can’t stand to keep losing to the likes of a human! One more round!”

Home Taps “Azul told me ‘I heard you liked Magical Analysis’ and gave me a rare book on it... but I feel like he wants something big in return.”

“Riddle gave me a special horseback riding lesson. You don’t often get a chance like that. I’ll remember it as a fond birthday memory.”

“Silver, that bastard! He gave me dumbbells as a gift! That can’t mean anything but him thinking my training isn’t enough!”

“Epel gave me a fruit carving of the Young Master. It’s an incredible piece of work... but there’s no way I could bring myself to eat it!”

“I-I hear an explosion!? What’s happening!? ...Oh, you’re popping party poppers? It’s so loud! You know you’re bothering the people around you!!”

Home Tap (Groovy) “Here, I went and got you ten plates of food. ...You’re good with just one? Heh! I know you’re a human, but you eat so little.”

Duo Magic Sebek: “Let me thank you for your blessings, Cater!!!” Cater: “HBD, Sebek-kins~!”

Tutorial “Follow me, human! Make sure you commit the grand sight of the Young Master to memory.”

Lv Up “Did you see that!? Look at the progress I made!”

“I’ll be able to take even more action now with this!”

“Mm. Not bad.”

Max Lv Up “Maybe now I’ve turned into a man who can gain just a little of the Young Master’s approval. ...No, I shouldn’t act conceited. I need to get rid of these thoughts and focus on keeping myself devoted. Let’s go!”

Episode Lv Up “I always viewed you as nothing but a meager human, and yet you’ve become someone I rely on so much... You’re just always surprising me.”

Magic Lv Up “This power...! Young Master! Did you see that just now!? Wait... He’s not here. Kgh. That must mean this still isn’t enough...!”

Limit Break “I need to get even bigger, smarter, and stronger to be a proper servant for the Young Master!”

Groovy “I’m feeling happy and energized! This really does feel nice. Make sure you never forget all this success I’ve made!”

Lesson Select “Human! I decided to take a class with you today. Which one do you want? Hurry up and pick.”

“What? You look so nervous. Isn’t the point of classes you’re weak in to be a challenge for you?”

“Master Lilia taught me that your classes are just another part of your training. I’m not going to slack off in any of my subjects.”

Lesson Start “Let’s give today our all!”

Lesson End “Knowledge enriches the body and soul! Let’s work hard next time too!”

Battle Start “I’ll swallow you whole!”

Battle End “This win is for our king!”

Other

Profile Quote “Don’t even think that you can come close to the great Lord Malleus Draconia, lowly human!”

January 2020 Trailer “Are you a new student too? Take utmost care not to be rude to the Young Master.”

Countdown Poster “Meager humans ought to bow down before the Young Master.”

Player Birthday Wish “What are you doing here? On your birthday, you’re supposed to eat your favorite food, sing, and celebrate. You didn’t even know that…? Very well, then. I’ll teach you how to spend your birthday the right way!”

Magic History

Good ★

“Come at me anytime!”

“I’m... not tired!”

“Humans are so shallow.”

“I learned a lot from this.”

“The Young Master is even more incredible.”

“Cat! Shut up!”

“Serve the king.”

“The Young Master will make history.”

“Silver’s asleep?”

Great ★★

“I want to get closer to the Young Master.”

“Fascinating...”

“Piece of cake!”

Perfect ★★★

“Easy.”

“I have no business with weaklings.”

“Don’t make light of me, human.”

Special Lesson Perfect ★★★

“My answer is this!”

“How old is the Headmaster...?”

“I won’t let you disturb me!”

Flying

Good ★

“It’s a beautiful morning.”

“I’m not letting Silver win.”

“I’m not scared of getting hurt.”

“I can’t turn smoothly.”

“Trust me on my speed!”

“My stomach growled.”

“I respect our coach’s stamina.”

“Take control of your problems...”

“I’m going to master this.”

Great ★★

“Oh...! Young Master!”

“I feel like jumping for joy!”

“I’m never off my guard.”

Perfect ★★★

“No one can catch up to me!”

“All right!”

“You want to challenge me?”

Special Lesson Perfect ★★★

“Headmaster, what do you need?”

“Don’t stand where I’m about to go!”

“Everyone’s so slow!”

Alchemy

Good ★

“You’ve looked miserable all morning.”

“I’m keeping an eye on Master Lilia.”

“I’m very adept.”

“Let’s do this!”

“Immortality, huh...?”

“Did I get ahead of Silver?”

“That’s a gross color...”

“I’m hungry...”

“I’m not a dog!”

“Did you read the footnotes?”

“I see.”

“Humans are so greedy.”

“Gold isn’t going to satisfy me.”

“This jewel would suit the Young Master.”

“Be quiet and take your lesson!”

Great ★★

“There’s nothing I can’t eat.”

“Please praise me!”

“You think I could fail at this level?”

“Hmph. Piece of cake.”

“Gape at the power of the Valley of Thorns!”

Perfect ★★★

“Young Master, please accept this.”

“No trouble at all.”

“This is probably how the Young Master would do it.”

“What do you think? Perfect, huh?”

“You still can’t do it?”

Special Lesson Perfect ★★★

“Stay cool... and composed.”

“No one could outshine the Young Master.”

“Hm? He’s watching me.”

“I’ll get grades that won’t tarnish our dorm’s name!”

“A perfect brew.”

#sebek zigvolt #voice lines

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ops-on-loop · 4 years ago

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OP Review #2: Death Note

For my first solo review I wanted to review openings for another series very near and dear to my heart, Death Note. Death Note is my absolute favorite anime of all time (you can read my review where I gush about it here), so I’m very excited to dive into the openings!

Death Note has two openings for its anime, “the WORLD” for the first 19 episodes and “What’s up, people?!” for episodes 20 to 37. They’re very interesting openings, I’m excited to dive into my thoughts on each!

“the WORLD” (link to OP)

Category 1, Artstyle/Animation: The art and animation in this opening is incredible. Of course, it was made in the early 2000’s, so it isn’t as crisp and clean as the openings that we see now, but it’s still up there. The beautiful renaissance painting parodies across the opening, the detail to each character (even in moments where I’d imagine it’s REALLY hard to animate, like :08-:11 specifically), just the variety of shots in general is amazing. We never stay in the same environment for more than 3-4 seconds, the opening is always taking you to a different shot of a different character doing something that holds great symbolism to the story. It’s pretty great. They’re also able to pair the music REALLY well with the shots in the opening which is just… mwah. So good. 2/2

Category 2, Song: Bit of an unpopular opinion here… I’m not the biggest fan of the song by itself. I still love it paired with the opening, but when I hear people praise it as “a banger” in the same way that I’d applaud an opening song like “Sakura Kiss”, I just can’t agree. It’s a great song! I really like it! But I wouldn’t say it’s as god-tier as everyone makes it out to be. I rarely listen to it by itself, and I listen to a LOT of OPs when I’m driving/walking to classes so that’s saying a lot. One thing that’s pretty cool is that the song itself REALLY relates to the show. It’s in Japanese so even I missed it the first time around, but when looking up the lyrics some important/telling lines are “I won’t let anyone interfere with everything that will come about from now on”, “am I a broken Messiah? everyone wished for a finale”, and “someday, I’ll show you a shining sky”. If you’re familiar with the show… it feels like an opening song directly made for this anime. I can respect that. 1.5/2

Category 3, Relevance: This opening is filled with symbolism and references. There’s a lot of Christian symbolism, nods to events in the show, at some points the way that certain characters are LOOKING represents different views in the series, I LOVE openings that are packed full of references like this one. I’m not going to do a full-blown analysis on the opening as A) I’m probably gonna miss stuff and B) that’d take too long, but there’s plenty of “Death Note OP analysis” videos out there so feel free to check those out if you’re interested. I love openings that connect so much to the show it’s just… so good. 2/2

Category 4, Originality: Like I mentioned, it’s pretty PACKED, so even if it does a stereotypical anime opening thing (characters in a line/walking dramatically, etc.) it’s not for a very long time, and it’s surrounded by plenty of originality. The pseudo-renaissance art, different shots of Light in his god-like mindset above the city, all the great shots of Misa, it’s great. I wouldn’t say this is your typical anime opening, even if it does have some familiar elements. 1.5/2

Category 5, Bias: I really like and appreciate this opening, but I’d never call it one of my top favorites. Not to give away too much of the second half of this review, but I actually like OP2 better, so more of my bias points will go to that. To keep it at an even score I’ll give it a 1/2

Death Note’s first opening, “the WORLD” , scores an 8/10. I really like this opening, and even if it’s not one of my favorites I can respect how jam-packed it is with symbolism and references, which I always appreciate and like to see. Song is good too, not to the point that I listen to it by itself, but it’s a nice addition.

“Whats up, people?!” (link to OP)

Category 1, Artstyle/Animation: This opening upholds the same quality of animation as the first Death Note opening, if not even better. Shit gets crazy. I love the new effects and crazy backgrounds that this opening presents. Ryuk dancing with the apple, Misa on the bed sheets, Light in the MANY shots where he’s just losing his shit, and my absolute favorite shot with Light walking through his “ideal world”. This opening is so chaotic, which perfectly represents the latter half of Death Note… Light is losing his shit, everything is getting chaotic. 2/2

Category 2, Song: I might be in the minority here but I LOVE this opening song. It pairs with the opening so perfectly, and though I’m 100% not a heavy metal/screamo/whatever genre this is fan, I still absolutely rock out to this opening from time to time. My favorite part of the song also pairs with my favorite part of the opening, Light walking through his “ideal world”. The sudden calm pairs so perfectly with the scenery, and when it builds back up to the levels of madness it was at before it’s just gold. The lyrics… are interesting… lots of cursing and screaming and I can’t say it means a lot, it certainly sounds like what the inside of Light’s head probably sounds like by the end of the show. I love it. 2/2

Category 3, Relevance: While there aren’t as many symbolic shots as the first opening, a lot of it still relates to different characters in the show and how they’re portrayed. Misa, instead of being depressed and upset like she was in the first opening, is now simply doing her modeling biz, reflecting how she loses all of her memory of the Death Note in the latter half of the series. Light… we can all tell what the shots of Light are supposed to represent. He’s losing it. There’s a lot less L in the opening (for… sniff… obvious reasons), and all of the other important secondary main characters get pretty cool shots too. Going back again to my favorite scene in the opening (starting at :44), you can see Light walkling by all of the prominent figures in the second half of the series, with his view of each of them very clear based on where they are in comparison to him. In his ideal world, Mikami and Takeda are very prominent figures, with Mikami being closer to him than Takeda (shown by how he walks next to Mikami and away from/above Takeda (because… you know)). He also walks directly above Mello, who in his ideal world is living in the sewers, not much of a threat (which is pretty true for his role in the series). Finally we have Near, who lives in what would be darkness in Light’s ideal world, fighting against his idea of justice, perfectly representing how he views the figure “N” and how the series concludes. It’s just… I love it. While it doesn’t have meaning in every shot like the first opening, I still think that the second opening holds up with its madness and sprinkles of references thrown in. Also, seeing Light scream and thrash around is very therapeutic as he rarely loses his cool in the show. It’s nice… ( ￣ω￣) 2/2

Category 4, Originality: This opening is anything but ordinary. Not many shows go this crazy with their opening song choice and visuals, and I respect Death Note for changing it up a bit. It’s pretty cool and memorable, definitely sets it apart from a lot of the generic openings out there. 2/2

Category 5, Bias: While this opening isn’t on my “TOP 10 EPIC ANIME OPENINGS OF ALL TIME” list, it’s definitely up there around #11 or #12. I’ll always remember this opening as being a crazy cool viewing experience, I still listen to the song until this day, and for that I’ll give it a 2/2 bias points.

Yes, Death Note opening 2 scores a 10/10. Maybe I’m jumping the gun a little bit with this score but I really love this opening and think it deserves it! I’m probably in the minority with this opinion, hopefully not(?), but I have been confronted by a few friends going “?? how can you like the second opening better, the first is a classic” so please… don’t bully me. Death Note is my favorite anime, Light Yagami is probably my favorite anime character, clearly I already have pretty trash taste so don’t rely on me for the most “based” opinions~ (>ω^)

Death Note openings are pretty damn cool. They’re definitely made with a lot of care, they have a lot of relevance to the plot of the show, and they’re anything but typical and ordinary! Love this series and love the OPs just as much!

-zantids

#death note #the WORLD #whats up people?!#OPReview #op review #anime manga #animanga

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valkyrieelysia18 · 4 years ago

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RWBY Rewrite: The Relics

Hello there everyone! I’m back with another post on my Rewrite series that hopefully will delight you.

Admittedly, this might be an odd topic after my last post. Well, that one was pretty big and I wanted something a bit smaller to tackle. I had thought about getting into the White Fang next, but that post is going to be a dozy and then I thought of the Relics. And I thought “Sure, that’ll work.”

The Relics, in my opinion, were handled poorly in the show. Items that can grant great power and when collected something amazing/terrible have been done before and done well (which is honestly true a lot of stuff in RWBY). In RWBY, we didn’t know the Relics existed until over halfway through Volume 4, reduced the Maidens to essentially gate keys in Volume 5, and even at the end of Volume 6 we only know what the lamp can do on its own. I mean come on, Dragon Ball took one episode to explain its titular item (granted they were a lot more simple, but still)! So we’re going to tackle these things.

Now before we get into the individual items, let’s address some things that about the Items as a whole.

The first thing to note about the Relics in this Rewrite is that gathering the four together won’t summon the Gods back to Remnant. The Brothers in this Rewrite are much more distant figures, preferring to observe their creations rather than directly interfering.

So then, why does Salem want to collect them? The full reason will be in her and Ozpin’s backstory post, but to put it simply Salem has a more personal history with the Relics here and wishes to get them back. She views that leaving them in the hands of mortals will just lead to them abusing the items, causing more pain and suffering for the world. Not an entirely baseless viewpoint as we’ll get into soon enough.

The next thing to note is that before the Relics were under the care of the Academies and Ozpin’s group, each was possessed by a former Royal Family. Vale had Choice, Mistral had Knowledge, Vacuo had Destruction, and Mantle had Creation. Granted as time passed and certain things were failed to be passed on, by the time of the Great War only the Crown of Choice’s abilities were known and even then only to a select few.

Each Relic will have a have a spirit that will be involved with the item’s power. I’m not sure whether it was said in RWBY after I left that each Relic had a spirit or whether Jinn was an exception, but I’m going to roll with the first one. Also, each Spirit technically doesn’t have a biological sex, they choose how they want to look.

Also, only the Lamp will have the blue glow. The other Relics will associated with the color of their kingdom: the Staff having a White crystal, the Sword having an Orange gleaming blade, and a Green jewel in the center of the Crown. They can still have the gold, but this will make them more distinct from each other.

Finally, they are NOT the major Grimm magnets as presented in the original show. While they do give off a sort of a signature that Grimm can recognize, it’s a faint one. It would attract Grimm attention if it stayed out for too long in the wild or Grimm would be looking for it in an area if Salem directed them personally to it.

All right, now let’s get down to business!

Knowledge: Jinn

The Lamp of Knowledge is the only Relic we’ve gotten to know it’s full abilities as well as meet its spirit. Even then, I think that three questions every a hundred years is maybe a little too limited for something that is a power of the gods. So, I’m changing it.

Instead of granting three questions within a certain time frame, I like the idea of giving anyone who uses the lamp the ability to ask Jinn one question of the past and present. Everyone is entitled to knowledge after all and they should determine how they want to use it. I know, I kind of stole the idea from the scepter from the direct to video Aladdin King of Thieves, but I think it’s a good setup. It’s powerful, but it still has limitations. This will contrast with its opposite the Crown, which will be more exclusive and deal with the future.

Then there’s Jinn and am I the only who thought her design was lazy? I mean we get it, she’s a genie, but there’s nothing interesting or unique in her design. Pretty sure comparisons to Aladdin’s Genie and Magi’s Paimon have been made. I’d leave her redesign to someone who is fully capable of putting a new spin on it, but I would like the idea of her not having a consistent wardrobe. Maybe have her wear a top that was similar to something found in Central Mistral while wearing a hairpiece you would identify being at home in Eastern Mistral. Not only would this symbolize how multicultural Mistral is, but also how history is made of many different parts.

Now Jinn herself wouldn’t be that different of a character from canon. She would still be a rather pleasant, teasing spirit who is quite thrilled to finally be out of the Vault again. Amongst the Relic spirits, she’s probably the one who has the least regard for mortals, but that’s partly because of what people usually use her for. Most people would ask about power, riches, dark secrets; it got kind of boring and predictable for Jinn and it was less pleasant when they would get mad at her for telling them truths they didn’t want to hear. Let’s just say a few rulers of Mistral that used her Relic didn’t use it very wisely.

Jinn’s favorite type of petitioner would be someone like Oobleck: someone who would ask her about some part of history that doesn’t have much known about it and she doesn’t get to talk about nearly as much as she’d like to so she actually goes into more detail than necessary. She’d also respect someone who probably knows the answer she’s going to give them is not one they want to hear, but is resolved to face the truth whatever it is.

Creation: Eve/Ev

The Staff of Creation is a bit interesting in that works better for some than others. It uses what a person pictures in their mind to bring what they want to reality, within reason. So it really works best with someone very creative and has a clear vision of what they want to do. It can’t create something that’s alive (like a dog) or that had been living (like someone who has passed on). Also, the more detailed and involved an item is, the longer it will take for the Staff to recharge. For example, the little crystals (which are basically a crystallized form of the staff’s power) Ironwood has been creating as an alternative energy source would take a couple of hours to a day depending on how many were created at a time. Whereas a huge detailed palace would take decades to over a century, longer than it would have taken them to build in real time.

Eve is the Spirit of Creation and would have a rather androgynous appearance. I was also thinking that the Spirit could be called Eve or Ev depending on who’s addressing them. Their main color would be white, but their appearance would resemble that of artist. Perhaps having smudges of charcoal on their face or a splattering of color on an apron. I think it would be really ironic that the kingdom that banned the arts at one point would have a Spirit that is quintessentially an artist, heck Eve might have locked up during that time and forgotten about until after the war was over. Again, I’d leave the design to someone who is much better suited for it.

Now in this Rewrite, the Staff is no longer in the Vault because Ironwood took it out. He reasoned that having a powerful tool that could be used to in the fight against of Salem would be wasted simply being left in the Vault. Needless to say, Eve doesn’t like the way Ironwood is using them. It’s clear the power is just a means to an end to him, something he can use to make Atlas more secure. There is no love or passion for what he’s creating and he treats them with no courtesy or respect, not listening at all when they try to talk to him. When Watts eventually comes to retrieve the Staff, Eve is basically “Oh thank the Brothers! I could care less about your plans, just get me out of here!” It’s sort of a summary of what partly causes Ironwood’s fall: the inability to get that people aren’t purely logical beings that will do what they are told for the greater good, but emotional irrational people who will snap when pushed too far.

The best person Eve could work with is someone who specializes in the visual arts: painting, sculpture, architecture, etc. Someone who has a very clear vision and obviously very passionate about the things they want to create. Eve would also enjoy someone who is perfectly okay if they don’t get their creation exactly right on the first try and is more than willing to take Eve’s advice/criticism.

Destruction: Adamou

The Sword of Destruction is perhaps the easiest Relic to understand and use. Using the sword will increase your physical abilities and the sword can send out waves of power that can devastate a group of foes or alter the environment. However, using it takes quite a bit of energy. Best case scenario will involve a week of recovery. Worst case scenario you expend years of your life. Even the King of Vale with all his power, lost two or three years he should have had to live on that Final Battle of the Great War. This cost was so great to the old Vacuo Monarchs (and given that most of their past was peaceful) that it was hidden away and forgotten about until the Great War happened and the last King of Vale rediscovered it.

I’m still little unsure of how I would like Adamou, the Spirit of Destruction, to look like. The closest example that comes to mind is something like Nemesis from Fire Emblem Three Houses: a large older battle scarred man with light armor. Once again, I’m a writer and not a character designer so if anyone has ideas I’d be willing to see them. That being said, his name is actually a West Africa variation of the name Adam, putting him in contrast to Eve. Anyone who has a passing understanding of the Old Testament should probably understand what I’m doing here.

Adamou, despite his outward and intimidating appearance, is actually a pretty easy going spirit. He’s also somewhat disappointed in how he doesn’t get used as much compared to his brethren, but he does understand why and has great respect for the old rulers of Vacuo for doing what they did. He enjoys a good fight, but he also enjoys competitions of all kinds whether physical or mental. You could talk him into a little kiddie board game and he’d go at with as much glee as slaying a hoard of Grimm. As the Spirit of Destruction, he knows better than anyone that life is finite and it’s best to live and fight to the fullest until your time comes.

Adamou would gravitate to people like Yang or Pyrrha: those who enjoy combat and wish to live their life to the fullest. Those who’s spirits burn bright even if it means they burn out quicker. That said, he also respects those who fight to protect those they love and things they believe in (to an extent, he’s not fond of fanatics who would give their lives away without a second thought for something obviously sketchy).

Choice: Caesar

Whereas the Lamp reveals the past and present, the Crown of Choice is focused on the future. Those who wear it have the ability to see the possible outcomes of any choice they face. As such you can see what the cost and consequences of your options. That being said, it’s not a hundred percent as the future is always in motion and there’s no telling how other people’s actions and choices may affect what you decide. Still, the predictions do tend to be very accurate. There’s also the possibility that wielder may obsess over said choices or may become dependent on the Crown, but that has happened very rarely since Caesar usually stops their wielders before they go too far in this.

The thing about the Crown is that unlike the Lamp, it can only be used by one person. When its user dies, the Crown is free to be taken up by another and once it has bonded to someone they are bound for life. Now the Crown can be lent to another person, but every wielder can only do so once in their lifetime and those who borrow it can only use it for three days. On the fourth day, the crown will tighten around the person’s head, giving great pain and hallucinations, and will only stop if that person takes it off at which they can no longer use it.

Seeing the obvious issues of such a powerful item potentially falling into the wrong hands, the first King of Vale came to an agreement with the Spirit Caesar to set up a trap/test to anyone who would try to claim the Crown. The Crown would be placed in a special chamber when not in use with a multitude of different crowns and circlets in the room. It’s up to the person to choose the right crown with no outside input. Get it wrong and the crown will turn to ash and that person is forever barred from taking the Crown. The twist? The true crown’s appearance in the trial is in fact not a crown, but a wreath of laurels (which can be seen on Beacon’s symbol). And if you’re thinking this sounds quite a bit like the scenario from Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, that’s cause it is as its kind of the sort of trial you’d find in a fable or fairy tale. It would take either a very thoughtful and self aware person to pass the trial as well as one not greedy. It’s also made a little more complicated as the Crown looks slightly different for each of it’s wielders, which will be noticed in an earlier scene with our group of heroes in a hall of portraits of the past monarchs of the Vale. Because that is what determined who would succeed to the throne of Vale.

And yes, we will learn a lot more on this when I do the King of Vale Rewrite Post.

As a result of the nature of Crown, Caesar is the spirit that is the most close to mortals as they build a strong personal relationship with their users. As part of this, when a new wielder is chosen, Caesar will take upon the appearance of their predecessor to guide the new one. I’m still a little torn over whether Caesar should appear as the old wielder when they first took up the Crown, in the peak of that person’s life, or how they looked when they died.

Caesar, for the most part, acts as a sort of advisor to their wielder. That can come off as them acting very parental which given how often the Crown would pass from parent to child is quite fitting. They will give advice when asked for, but in general will advise against using the Crown’s power if its a situation their user can more than handle on their own. They are very much the type of person who would advocate that “It’s the journey, not the destination” and is more than willing to let their wielder fail if it meant they could learn something from it. That said, they do get very attached and is probably the only Spirit that would openly speak positively about Salem due to her history with them and also has issues with Ozpin. They and Jinn will be the ones to eventually give the more specific details to group about Ozpin and Salem’s history after they got the general outline elsewhere.

Caesar has worked with many different types of people, but the main thing they each had in common is that they were the type of people who were always concerned with the consequences of their actions for those around them and the kingdom of Vale as a whole. They generally work best with someone who is humble and empathetic. However, they generally don’t like someone if they put a singular goal above everything else without consideration of all the consequences (again, issues with Ozpin).

Well, that turned out longer than I was expecting it too. I guess I just got into the creative juices. Anyway, I think I’ll do a different post before coming back to do Cinder. And just as a reminder people, I dropped this show at the end of Volume 6 so don’t bring up anything after that to me in a comment.

See you soon!

#rwby rewrite #rwde #the relics #jinn #relic spirits

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vancampemily · 4 years ago

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Emily VanCamp On Reprising Her Role As Sharon Carter And Those Power Broker Theories

Sharon Carter’s dark, bitter, and vengeful return in ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ could mean many things—or nothing at all.

You’re always one decision away from a totally different life, and that rule applies doubly in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A simple choice in the heat of the moment can have grave consequences for our beloved heroes; Peter Quill punching Thanos just as Iron Man and Spider-Man almost pull the Infinity gauntlet off the villain’s hand is a hotly debated Twitter topic every other week. The current Marvel conflict on everyone’s tongue? Why on Earth is Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) an enemy of the state, when the Avenger who got her in this mess in the first place is roaming his past life worry-free?

Last we saw Sharon, she was the wide-eyed, determined Agent 13 of S.H.I.E.L.D. and a CIA operative whose loyalty to Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) prompted her to defy the Sokovia Accords and steal Cap’s shield and Falcon’s wings from the government. Her allegiance to Steve landed her a kiss from the Avenger but not without controversy: Sharon is the grandniece of Peggy Carter, Steve’s true love and the woman he traveled back in time to be with at the end of Endgame. Sharon’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it romance with Steve was just as short-lived as her residence in the MCU timeline, but thanks to the newest Disney+ series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Sharon gets a second life—just not the one the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent envisioned.

When we meet Sharon in episode 3, titled “Power Broker,” the glow of the woman who longed to live up to her grand-aunt’s accomplishments is eclipsed by a dark cloud. She’s traded in her button-up shirts for hoodies and operates as an art thief out of a sprawling mansion in the eerie fictional town of Madripoor. She hasn’t spoken to her family members in months. When Sam reminds her he was also on the run, she reminds him, “Was. Is. Big difference.” She’s cynical, bitter, and vengeful, which apparently turned her into a stone-cold killer. She murders three bounty hunters with a steel bar and darts a knife into the shoulder of another. Sharon Carter is long gone, her one driving force the desire to be pardoned. Who is this new person? Well, Marvel devotees have their theories. Ahead, Emily VanCamp talks reprising her role as Sharon Carter, those Power Broker theories, and more.

Let’s go back to your Marvel introduction. What qualities initially drew you to the character of Sharon Carter?

I loved her dedication and devotion to Cap [and] to the cause. She was in this bloodline of agents, and this kick-ass woman who was a little bit more idealistic at the time. Now some of those qualities have been stripped away, unfortunately, based on her circumstances and the sacrifices she made. She’s wondering whether or not it was all worth it. She feels abandoned.

Knowing what she knows now, especially with Cap out of the MCU timeline, do you think Sharon would have made a different choice in Civil War?

I don’t think so. One of the things I love about her is her integrity. And to her, that’s what she believed in and that’s what she thought was the right thing to do. So I think it’s less about Steve and more about her devotion to the cause at that time. No, I don’t think she would go back and do anything differently. Do I think that the character would have liked a little bit of help, with all these other characters being pardoned, and she’s just sort of been left on the run as this fugitive? Yeah, I think her reaction to it would have changed. But I don't think she would have changed her choices.

At the end of Avengers: Endgame, Sam and Bucky were able to get closure from Captain America. Do you ever wonder what closure would look like for Sharon, had she had the opportunity?

I’m sure she would have wanted that, but I think that she's moved on from that. Now she just wants to be pardoned to get her life back. That ship has sailed in so many ways for Sharon, and we don't even really address [Steve and her] in the show. It’s so much more about where she is now and how to move forward and make that deal with Sam: Listen, I’ll help you out if you can get me out of here. [Sam and Bucky] are on this mission and she's reluctantly helping them, and that’s what the dynamic is now. Does she want to? Probably not. But is it her ticket out? Probably.

What did you have to understand about her mindset now in order to play her in this new phase?

I think it was just important for me, one, that we address all this time that’s passed and kind of discuss, “Where has she been? What has she been doing?” And we talk about it a little bit in episode 3, that she’s been hustling and dealing in stolen art and living in Madripoor. You get the sense that things have not been easy on Sharon. And she’s definitely made her way and she’s thrived in this environment, but it’s not an environment she would have chosen. She was sort of, in her mind, left behind, so there’s a chip on her shoulder that I think it would be really hard to get rid of at this point. And she even says at one point, “The superhero thing is a joke.” She’s definitely lost that kind of idealistic, young agent mind.

How did you prepare for that change in her?

I think it’s great to dig a little bit deeper into all these characters and their perspectives. And with Sharon, it’s so much about her resentment and her tenacity. She’s thrived in this new environment, even though it’s not ideal. So that’s something that’s carried through in her personality. She didn’t lose that. But I think just her goals, her thoughts have just changed.

What is a Marvel training session like? Sharon killed so many bounty hunters by herself.

It was months of prepping even for that sequence in episode 3. Sharon doesn’t have superpowers, so everything is just with her bare hands. We wanted it to look as gritty and raw and real as possible, so we trained a lot. Every day that I wasn’t shooting Falcon or The Resident, I was in that training center going over choreography, doing the footwork, doing boxing, doing jujitsu, all the things that I need to do to prep my body and mind for those sequences. You hope that when you get there to shoot it, that muscle memory and that adrenaline kicks in, and off you go. But Marvel is amazing at preparing you for those moments. I was welcomed to go and train every moment I could, and I did. But to have that available is just such a gift, especially when you've got a sequence like that, where you can't really hide from anything. It’s just you.

Sharon’s dark return reminded me of your Revenge character Emily Thorne. Do you prefer these darker roles over characters like Nicolette in the soapy drama The Resident?

They’re all so different. I think that’s part of what I like—just embodying totally different characters. Revisiting Sharon was very cool because we get to see her, as you said, in this totally different light. I don’t have any sort of preference. It was definitely difficult because last year I was doing Falcon and Winter Soldier and The Resident at the same time, so sometimes getting home at night I was a little bit screwy in my brain as to where I was headed the next day and what mind frame I should be in. But it’s not to say I enjoy playing one more than the other. It was fun to get back to Sharon, though, and see this new, kind of hardened version of her.

What was it like shooting both The Resident and Falcon in the middle of a pandemic?

Even before the pandemic, it was hard because it’s two different characters, one of them being very, very physical, so even that in itself was a challenge. Then the pandemic happened, and luckily I didn’t have to do both at the same time. We only had about a month left on Falcon and Winter Soldier, and I finished that up and then went straight into The Resident. It was nerve-racking going back to work after months of being isolated and at home, but also really nice to have a sense of normalcy. Even though it’s not normal at all on set anymore, it’s nice to be around my colleagues, to be at work. We’re kind of lucky to be able to do that and just to deliver new content. Everyone’s streaming everything Marvel. It's made our jobs a little bit more challenging, but also more rewarding in many ways because we’re able to deliver that joy.

When you pay close attention to Falcon’s episode titles, they’ve been very descriptive of each episode. So when the third episode was titled “Power Broker” and we see Sharon return, Marvel theorists ran with it.

We see Sharon return. We see Zemo return. It’s kind of like, yeah, episode 3 was always a big blast of so many things. There’s a ton of theories going around.

Have you ever envisioned Sharon going to the dark side, going against the heroes? What do you make of those theories?

Sharon’s always been this kind of idealistic personality, but I also think there are so many gray areas now between heroes and villains, and that’s something these Marvel shows are really exploring more in-depth. I think anyone at this point is capable of anything. There are so many characters that haven't even appeared yet. There's a lot going on in these six episodes. So for me, I don’t want to say too much because there’s just so much more to come.

source

#emily vancamp #sharon carter #the falcon and the winter soldier #the resident #revenge #interview #*

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army-of-mai-lovers · 5 years ago

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Comparing ATLA’s Jet to Cowboy Bebop’s Spike

(this is so late, but. Happy birthday @the-hot-zone, hope you had an amazing day)

In my opinion, Cowboy Bebop is one of the greatest shows ever created. It hits a lot of my personal favorite attributes in a TV show: cowboys, fantastic music, absolutely spectacular animation, really deep themes and characters with rich inner lives, worldbuilding that’s thought out. Simply put, it’s a masterpiece.

I started watching Bebop this summer, at the height of the ATLA Renaissance, and the first thing I noticed about protagonist Spike Spiegel is that he looked a hell of a lot like Jet from ATLA. And it wasn’t just the looks either: like Jet, Spike is the leader of a ragtag group of misfits living on the fringes of society. Like Jet, Spike is a smooth talker. Like Jet, Spike is compassionate and cares for other people, and like Jet, the world has hardened Spike to the point where his virtues can still lead him down the wrong path. And while Jet isn’t named for Spike, there’s a character in Bebop named Jet (he sort of plays the right hand person role that Smellerbee plays for Jet in ATLA.) They’re not completely similar--Spike isn’t fighting for anybody’s liberation, whereas for Jet that’s a core aspect of his character--but it was enough to make me wonder about how Jet was designed and how much influence Bebop had on his character design and on ATLA as a whole, and whether looking at Spike can illuminate some of the conversations we’ve been having about Jet.

A little about the inspiration and process of ATLA: Bryan and Michael were working on shows like Family Guy when they decided they wanted to make something more sincere and more cinematic. They were both really inspired by anime. Bryan said “Back in the late '90s I was getting pretty disillusioned with working on sitcoms -- then I saw Princess Mononoke and I was emboldened. My heart was so much closer to that kind of story, those kinds of characters and that type of tone. After that, Cowboy Bebop really inspired us in terms of being a great example of an epic series that had a wide breadth of tones. Then FLCL came along and rewrote the rules for everything, as far as I'm concerned!” I haven’t seen FLCL, I’ll admit, but having seen both Bebop and Princess Mononoke--yeah, I get that. Both are incredible pieces of art that, for me personally, make me want to push myself as an artist, and I cannot recommend both enough if you haven’t seen them already.

So, Bryan and Michael decide they want to make something inspired by shows like Bebop and movies like Princess Mononoke, they get a pilot order from Nickelodeon and, as is custom at the time, they start reaching out to East Asian animation studios to help them with the animation. This video is a great source for how ATLA in particular interacted in this environment, but suffice to say that Bryan built a relationship with the studio that did a lot of work for ATLA, JM Animation, and gave them a lot of creative freedom in making the visuals of the show. This included designing Jet and the rest of the Freedom Fighters.

[ID: An image of Jet from ATLA from the shoulders up against a sky background fading from blue at the top to white at the bottom. He had dark skin, shaggy black hair, black eyes, eyebrows turned way up, a smirk on his face, and some wheat in his mouth. He is wearing a red jacket with a gray popped collar. End ID]

[ID: An image of Spike from Cowboy Bebop from the shoulders up against a sky blue background with trees behind him. He has shaggy dark brown hair that has a slight bit more curl in it than Jet’s, dark brown eyes, light skin, and a closed mouth smile on his face. He is wearing a blue suit with a yellow shirt that has a popped collar, and a skinny black tie/ End ID]

So, let’s look at the character design. Both Spike and Jet have these long, angular faces, shaggy dark hair, long necks, broad shoulders, dark eyes, some popped collar element to their attire, etc. While both characters are pretty tall and lanky, Spike’s height is more immediately obvious than Jet’s--in fact, I wouldn’t think of Jet as a tall character had I not seen some fandom height comparisons. The most obvious and immediate differences between how the characters physically look are their clothes, which are very different (likely due to the setting--ATLA is set in a proto-industrial war-torn society and Jet in particular has had to scavenge his clothes from Fire Nation troops, while Bebop is a space epic set in the far future), the lack of mouth wheat for Spike, Spike’s incredibly normal looking eyebrows versus Jet’s adorable long division eyebrows, and, of course, their skin tones. Colorism is something that people bring up a lot when talking about Jet’s character, and I have to wonder why Jet, a character that was so clearly inspired by this light-skinned character who was morally ambiguous in Bebop, was made darker-skinned when explicitly coded as a “villain” in ATLA.

In fact, colorism is a super important aspect of how Jet and Spike’s stories are told. To its credit, ATLA has two MCs (Sokka and Katara) with dark skin (not that the fanartists who whitewash them notice) while Bebop has just one (Ed). However, it’s important to note that Sokka and Katara are each portrayed in ways that Aang or other lighter-skinned characters in the show simply aren’t. For example, despite both characters being literal teenagers, they are sexualized within the text of the show. Another example of the colorism in ATLA is, of course, Jet, a Brown boy leading a resistance against oppressive colonialist imperialist forces, being so unambiguously vilified. Yes, within the text, Jet has some sense of complexity, especially in Book 2, but even that is undermined by his death at the hands of the Dai Li. Jet is never given the subjectivity of a character like Zuko. In fact, it’s pretty clear that Jet’s redemption and subsequent death happens when it does to demonstrate what Zuko is capable of if he makes the right choice. Whether or not this is a good decision writing-wise is another discussion, but the fact of the matter is that in using Jet to further Zuko’s arc, bryke used a Brown teenage boy/victim of imperialist violence to prop up the narrative of a light-skinned prince/perpetrator of imperial violence. This is not to say that Zuko shouldn’t have been redeemed or that Jet shouldn’t have died or that the narrative shouldn’t have dedicated time and attention to Zuko’s story, but it is to say that ultimately, the writers of the show decided that Jet’s subjectivity was a tool to further Zuko’s actualization.

Contrast this to Spike. Bebop is about a lot of things, but a core part of it is exploring Spike’s backstory and way of looking at the world. It’s part of what makes the show the show. It’s the thing that keeps you liking the guy even when he says or does something absolutely unconscionable. Nothing in the show is more important than Spike’s subjectivity. The show may have individual episodes that focus on the other main characters, but it’s pretty clear that it’s really *about* Spike. Where does Spike come from? What is his obsession with the past? Why do all these people want to kill him? Who is Julia? These are all prescient questions that I had as a viewer of Bebop, and these were questions that were not only important to understanding Spike Spiegel, but to understanding the narrative that the writers, director, and animators are telling. Bebop is nothing without Spike’s subjectivity, and the people behind the show invest in his narrative even though he does some pretty horrible things! (kills many people, is part of a crime syndicate at one point, says some pretty misogynistic crap, hell, the whole concept of the show is that he and his buddies hunt people down for money.) As I said before, Spike is morally ambiguous, an antihero, and the people behind Bebop run with that, because that is an integral part of the story that they’re telling.

You could certainly argue that ATLA, being a show for children, needs clear heroes and villains, to be unambiguous in its depiction of right and wrong. And to an extent that would be correct. But let’s not forget that ATLA is not shy in its depiction of morally ambiguous characters. That’s an integral part of what the show is. Characters like Zuko, Iroh, Mai, Azula, and Ty Lee are beloved despite (or perhaps because of) their complex moral frameworks. Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee in particular move between designations of villain, victim, and hero pretty fluidly (Iroh and Azula are two other conversations in themselves.) I personally am okay, and in fact delighted, to have Zuko, Mai, Azula, and Ty Lee in the show because I think their stories and the ways that they move between evil, good, and morally gray are incredibly compelling. We know why they act the way they do, and we can condemn or validate their actions while always knowing exactly where they’re coming from.

But then I see Jet. Jet, whose village was burned down by the Fire Nation. Jet, who survived by himself and helped 5 other people survive along the way, while leading an organized resistance against the Fire Nation on wits alone. Jet, who somehow ended up in Ba Sing Se, his new family cut in half, wanting to start over. So much of him is a blank slate. Where Spike in Bebop, or Zuko, Iroh, Mai, Azula, and Ty Lee in ATLA, get fleshed out, have the writers convey specific information that helps the audience understand their actions and motivations, even if they’re wrong, Jet never gets that sort of care in his narrative. Jet never gets to be the center of ATLA, even for a moment, even in his own death. There’s always something more pressing, something more meaningful, than Jet. You could argue (I certainly would) that the show would be better if we spent more time with him, if the writers cared to understand him, but unlike Bebop and Spike, the show doesn’t revolve around the audience understanding Jet. The story is coherent without him. In book 3, despite the fact that Jet sacrificed his life for them, the Gaang only brings up Jet once, and that’s to condemn him. Jet’s story is a tragedy, an important one, but only insofar as it props up other pieces of the narrative. And that’s the most tragic part of it.

#jet #atla #cowboy bebop #am i doing this correctly?#i started this like a month ago and i'm pretty sure this is what I intended to say originally but not 100%#anyway happy birthday Zone! welcome to the majors #also incredible that i found such similar pictures of Jet and Spike #but like the difference is that Jet is smirking 'evilly' (he's not evil he's a child) while Spike's looking soft and happy #like that's it that's the meta #meta #atla meta

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theres-no-protocol-for-this · 5 years ago

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A Little Bit Like Home

Super self-indulgent fic about murderbots and home, and I’m not sure what I think about it. Yeah, I have no idea where my brain came up with this.

"Tada!"

Amena spread her arms wide and gestured toward a doorway, so I looked inside. It was a neat little room on the first floor of a two-story home, tucked away from the rest of the living space but still a part of the overall structure. Like many buildings on Preservation, this one was haphazardly put together, and yet somehow, it felt like a... home.

"It's for you," she explained.

I was so stunned I actually turned and looked at her. "Why?"

"You need someplace to call yours, you know." Amena smiled patiently at me and looked at the wall behind me. "ART and I discussed it over this last semester. When I was getting ready to move back home." She gestured toward the room again. "Take a look. Oh, and we installed a security system here. You're welcome to connect to it. ART made some updates that it said you might like."

Inside, the small room looked cozy. It reminded me of the cabins on ART's crew deck. The dimensions were similar, as was the minimalist aesthetic. A large display surface hung against the far wall, and a comfortable lounge chair sat facing it. There was a fancy, mobile repair-and-resupply unit tucked underneath, the kind I liked. Clothes—carbon copies of what I usually wore—hung in a locker-sized closet.

The walls were painted a dark shade of blue. Dim, diffuse lighting set around the ceiling provided just enough illumination that a human would have no trouble navigating the room. If I had to pick a space to live in, this one would be at the top of the list.

Amena knew what I liked, I guess.

And her new security system was great, too. I started tinkering with it before I realized that it had been configured with me in mind. ART had added code to recognize me and give me low-level control of its functions. It had access to a dozen cameras spread throughout the house.

"Why?" I asked again.

"Like I said," Amena reiterated, "because you need someplace to be."

"Was I in the way before?"

The human shook her head, and ART—who was riding shotgun in my feed— said, "You don't have a home right now. Not the way other people do."

"So?"

Amena smiled again and took a deep breath like she'd been preparing this answer for a little while. "Every time you come back from a mission," she said quietly, "you have to find a place to stay. And yeah, sometimes Second Mom's home, or maybe Ratthi is back from whatever conference. And Arada is always happy to see you. But those places aren't your home. They're just rooms, and you know it."

"Rooms are OK," I said defensively.

"Sure, but SecUnit, you're allowed more than just a room."

I stood there, feeling welcome and scared at the same time. Amena added, "ART and I both think you're not the sort of person to settle down by yourself."

A lot was going on in my head, and I wasn't sure I could even sort through it right now. Over the last few years, I'd gotten used to complex emotional reactions, or so I thought.

"Want to see what else is inside?" ART asked.

"How would you know what's in there?"

The transport laughed at me. "I helped pick out most of the furniture."

"Why?"

"Because," ART said unhelpfully. It was also playing the central theme from Sanctuary Moon in the background of my feed. "There's a long-distance comms unit on the roof, so we can always stay in touch."

As it turned out, they'd made the room feel a lot like one of ART's cabins, complete with a weapons locker built into one of the walls. Somehow, seeing the locker made me feel welcome in a way nothing else could.

"When you're here on Preservation, this is home," Amena said. "If you want it to be."

"I do." My organic neural tissue fumbled around with more complicated emotions I couldn't hope to name. Fuck it. I said, truthfully, "I've thought about something... something like this."

"We know. We did some research," the human explained. "I talked to Three. Well, I asked a lot of questions. I think it was annoyed by the time I was done, but we figured it out." She paused and licked her lips. I saw her through one of the cameras. "Three didn't know what to do about home, either. Did you know that?"

I nodded because, yeah, I knew.

"When it told us the problem, ART came up with some suggestions. Some of them worked. And we thought it might be a little bit similar for you."

"What did it say?"

"That SecUnits aren't made to settle down, that it's a new experience." Amena stepped into the room and sat down on the couch. "We have theories about conditioned behaviour. But none of that matters as much as making you comfortable, whatever that looks like."

I'm sure my face was making some expression I would later regret, but I didn't even want to look. "I... um..."

"Come on," Amena called out. "Have a seat and enjoy your fancy new TV. How about an episode of Sanctuary Moon? I'm sure ART would love to join you. As would I."

I sat down on the same couch.

Three had brought up the idea of home several times over the last year. We weren't programmed to need actual sanctuary. A cubicle was plenty. So, settling down had proven difficult for it. In the end, Arada and Overse had invited Three into their home, and now it lived and traveled with them fulltime.

It had asked me what I wanted, whether I would be upset that it had taken a potential job.

But I had ART and was about to leave on a mission, so why would it matter? SecUnits are interchangeable, and I'm not amazing at my job.

Except, it turns out, we're not actually interchangeable. Not anymore. I liked working with ART, taking care of its students and crewmembers, and I didn't want to go with Arada when she offered. I wouldn't have been happy doing what Three was right now.

And I liked spending time with ART.

"Tell me what you're thinking." Amena smiled again like she saw something familiar on my face. "Without a filter."

"I'm scared."

"Is this too much?"

"It's a lot."

She sent me a brief image of holding hands and asked for permission. When I nodded, she reached over and took my hand.

"One step at a time. That's what Second Mom would say."

ART added, "I'm turning on Sanctuary Moon." And your performance rating is dropping.

I can see that, asshole.

Just saying. And it's not because Amena's holding your hand.

No, it wasn't. Fuck. I wanted to tell the transport to shut up and mind its own business, but that seemed wrong all of a sudden. It had worked with Amena to make this safe space for me. And it had basically reserved one of its cabins for my comfort. And we were friends. Or something.

The intro to my favorite episode began to play. I tried to pay attention, but there was too much going on in my head, where most of my problems reside. Lately, she and ART both had started asking me to talk without a filter, to just say what I was thinking.

I was beginning to understand why.

"Having a permanent room feels like something very human."

Amena nodded and frowned. "It's definitely something humans value. Personal, private space is essential to us. Second Mom says it's because we value control in our environment. But, I think it's not so much human as a hallmark of personhood. A person is entitled to space they have control over. It doesn't have to be a room or even a locker." She paused and tilted her head, a sign that she was thinking deeply about something. "It's a way of anchoring ourselves to something more permanent."

Remember what Dr. Baradwaj said, ART reminded me.

"Constructs heal, just like humans do," she'd told me.

Our minds can be broken, and they can be put back together again, though never exactly the same as before. Permanence could be part of the healing process—no one knew for sure, not when only a few dozen free SecUnits were wandering around, but it seemed likely. Construct mental health was an emerging field at the Pansystem University of New Tidelands.

#fanfiction #murderbot #self indulgent

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ratingtheframe · 5 years ago

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Why Ratched is one of the best things to happen to Netflix in a while: REVIEW

Ratched took me less than 24 hours to get through and despite being a praiseworthy production from acting to lighting to costume, its brilliance goes beyond visuals.

I think we can all agree that Sarah Paulson is probably one the most untouchable actors on the market right now. With 7 Emmy nominations under her belt, her career has been outstanding, giving fine performances in all eight seasons of American Horror Story and most recently as Marcia Clark in American Crime Story . The creators of the show including writer Ryan Murphy have kept her on as a vengeful and headstrong nurse in the new limited series Ratched on Netflix. Based on the character of Mildred Ratched in One Who Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest no one saw such a fine performance from Sarah Paulson coming and there’s even more to come from her next year, in Season 2 of Ratched.

Along with Sarah Paulson, the likes of Finn Wittrock, Sharon Stone, Brandon Flynn and Sophie Okonedo are also part of this twisted and well executed tale. The performances in this are flawless from all parties and though most of the talent in Ratched aren’t well known, it's certain they will be now.

Like in every season of American Horror Story, Ratched begins with a murder; four of them to be exact, all of which are priests. The culprit, Finn Wittrock’s character, Edmund Tolleson is declared insane and sent to Lucia State Hospital, where our leading lady Mildred Ratched lies and deceives her way into getting a job there, to be closer to her brother, who is now a psychotic murderer. Whilst the owner of the hospital, Dr. Hanover (Jon Jon Briones) seems to buy Mildred’s persona and actually be impressed with her past work, the head nurse of the hospital Betsy Bucket (Judy Davis) is rather displeased with Mildred’s presence. The two feud quite often throughout the series and my favourite scene between the two is probably them arguing over a peach. The dialogue is crisp in this moment and represents the entirety of the two women’s distaste for one another in a single scene.

At the forefront of the entire hospital, are its patients who come from an array of backgrounds and grievances. Probably the most memorable is multiple personality disorder patient, Charlotte Wells (Sophie Okonedo), who graces the series in Episode 5 with an unforgettable character. Her performance is marvellous and quite hilarious as each of the personalities introduced to us are bolder than the next.

In a bid to save the hospital from shutting down, Dr Hanover goes to a Governor (Vincent D’Onofrio) for funding. The Governor supports the funding in hope that his bid to execute Edmund Tolleson for his crimes will boost his election as Governor. The Governor’s right hand (wo) man, Gwendolyn Briggs spends quite some time at the hospital and becomes infatuated with Nurse Ratched. Meanwhile, a wealthy and vengeful woman, Lenore Osgood (Sharon Stone) wants Dr Hanover’s head on a plate, in revenge for a treatment gone wrong on her psychotic son, Henry (Brandon Flynn).

Flynn’s performance in Ratched is exemplary and out of everyone in the series, he certainly surprised me in his take on a bratty, cold hearted son that was world’s away from his character Justin in 13 Reasons Why.

Writer Ryan Murphy and actors Sarah Paulson and Finn Wittrock aren’t the only elements kept on in Ratched from the highly successful tv series American Horror Story. Costume designers Lou Eyrich and Rebecca Guzzi and production designer Judy Becky have all been part of AHS for many years, which is prevalent in their AMAZING work for Ratched. From the second the series begins, you are graced with stunning visuals of beautiful set design and tantalizing costumes. Mildred Ratched always looks good in this series and each one of her costumes is picturesque.

The series had five directors who shared their talent amongst eight episodes. Jennifer Lynch also worked on AHS as a director, whilst Jennifer Yu is best known for her direction in Fosse/Vernon and 13 Reasons Why. It's clear to see that all the writers, directors and production crew are masters at their craft, have years worth of experience in creating exciting tv and can execute their visions in a distinct way for the screen. Visually, the entire series is marvellous and it's clear the art department on Ratched have a strong understanding of 50s interior and costumes, but are able to put a modern, never seen before seen twist on it. Colours, colours, colours; each frame of Ratched is rich and vivid with them and the colour combinations created in this series will send chills of excitement down your spine.

Perfect cast, extraordinary set design, phenomenal directing and flawless writing. Is Ratched too good to be true? Not at all, in fact it’s the product of skilled and creatively ambitious minds coming together.

Perhaps the most satisfying thing that nips everything in the bud for Ratched is the strong female leads who come together and by the end, have ditched all their male counterparts. Despite most of the series being built on the service of men, this is certainly gone by the end. It's not something you see often on screen and certainly shows that we are changing and adapting to the environment around us whilst making content influenced by these changes. The relationship between Mildred and Gwen is also to be noted, as same sex relationships between women are still finding their feet on screen. Mildred, Gwen and Betsy didn’t discard their male counterparts purposefully; they were just orchestrated so that the three women had no use for them.

Dr Hanover was manic and heartless, Edmund was a murderer and the Governor was a misogynistic pig. What use would these three women have for such men? This is certainly an uncommon ending seen on screen, as for decades, callous and self centred men have still been supported by women.

Maybe things are changing and female characters are releasing the true worth of their male counterparts and themselves. Maybe the strength, intelligence and independence women used to see in men, they are now seeing in themselves…

Mildred Ratched certainly proves this and Ratched is now available to watch on Netflix.

#ratched #sarah paulson #finn wittrock #netflix #american horror story #brandonflynn #sharon stone #mildred ratched #mildred x gwendolyn #movie review #series #netflix orignal series #netflix original #seriesreview #series review #series recommendations

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disneytva · 5 years ago

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Extra Wild ETs: Justin Roiland & Mike McMahan’s ‘Solar Opposites’ Lands at Hulu

Misfit aliens from space trying to adapt to life on Earth have been a popular staple of sitcoms such as My Favorite Martian, ALF and 3rd Rock from the Sun. This spring, a new brood of aliens make their impressive debut in Hulu’s Solar Opposites, the hilarious new animated offering from Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland and former head writer Mike McMahan (Star Trek: Lower Decks).

The series, which overflows with the inspired lunacy you might expect from the madmen who gave us Rick and Morty, follows a team of four aliens who have crash-landed into suburbia after escaping their exploding home planet. Two of them, Korvo (Roiland) and Yumyulack (Sean Giambrone) believe their new home is awful and polluted, while the other duo Terry (Thomas Middleditch) and Jesse (Mary Mack) love humans, their junk food and pop culture.

Roiland, who won an Emmy in 2018 for executive producing Rick and Morty (and yes, he also voices both Rick and Morty for that hugely popular show) tells us that he had the idea to center a show on a pair of odd-couple aliens about 14 years ago. “At some point, it was going to be a live-action series, but it never happened,” he recalls. “Mike McMahan and I were trying to develop another show, between the second and third season of Rick and Morty, but everything we did felt really laborious. So, we decided to put that other idea down and try the odd-couple alien pitch again … and then, once we went back to the original premise, everything became very easy.”

Loving the Aliens

“Justin has all these books of random sketches and ideas from years past,” says McMahan. “We flipped through them and landed on a rough drawing of Terry and Korvo, which we used as the inspiration to build out the family. I was a new dad at the time, so I added the kids/replicants and the baby/Pupa character, we were going for a classic sitcom/FOX look from afar, which would get weirder the closer you looked. The tone we wanted to hit was ‘funny and fun over everything else at all times,’ which you can still clearly see in the finished show.”

McMahan and Roiland then put together the story for the pilot, which is very close to the final version that viewers will get to see on Hulu this month. “We originally had interest from Netflix and Syfy, but those didn’t happen, and then Hulu stepped in,” says Roiland. “We then added [exec producer/writer] Josh Bycel (American Dad!, Happy Endings) along, and things really got moving. It was a lot of work, but everyone is really kicking ass — and it’s been a lot of fun, too.”

In addition to the show regulars, the series also boasts a phenomenal list of guest voice actors. The first season alone features the likes of Alan Tudyk, Tiffany Hadish, Tom Kenny, Alfred Molina, Christina Hendricks, Rainn Wilson, Eric Bauza, Amanda Leighton, Maurice LaMarche, Miguel Sandoval, Nat Faxon, Natalie Morales, Phil LaMarr and Kari Wahlgren. The show is produced by 20th Century Fox Television and the animation is handled by Green Portal Productions and Vancouver-based Bardel Entertainment, which also handle Rick and Morty.

Roiland says he and McMahan had a great time brainstorming about the aliens, their weird biology and how they interact with the world in unexpected ways. For example, whenever they get stressed, their bodies begin to emit little creatures that look like a hybrid between a giant virus and a pink booger (they’re called gooblers).

“It’s funny to think about humanity from the perspective of alien beings,” says Roiland.

“We are going to have lots of fun with the gooblers, but I can’t tell you more about it because we don’t want to ruin the joke.”

Overall, both Roiland and McMahan say the show is a bit sillier and looser than their other collaboration, Rick and Morty. “Our process of writing and producing is quicker, but we still strive for the same level of humor and surprises. We have so many ideas about how these aliens survive on the planet. But when you think about it, it’s really an immigrant story,” Roiland points out. “These characters are very new to their environment, and we get to have fun by looking at things we take for granted and build jokes and sketch storylines around those ideas.”

McMahan says one of their biggest challenges was to always keep the comedy and the tone of the show as light and fun as possible, even when pouring their efforts into making sure everything was professionally executed. “It’s easy for a show to become ‘right,’ but also lose the frivolity that made you like it in the first place. Solar Opposites is always a balancing act between, ‘we have to make a really good, emotionally solid TV episode’ and ‘let’s do some crazy, effed shit that makes us laugh. I’m really happy with how the first season ended up in that regard.”

Juggling Toons Looking back at the past few years, Roiland says the big challenge was juggling the production of Solar Opposites, all of his Rick and Morty duties and launching his own gaming studio Squanch Games in 2016. “Everything was happening at the same time,” he says. “But luckily I had an amazing team. Mike and Josh were amazing and did a great job of running the room day to day. It’s the old adage: You have to surround yourself with talented people and get out of their way. We are having so much fun with this show and our voice cast brings so much to the table: They truly embody the characters and add some hilarious improv material to the show, as well.”

Roiland, who says he was hugely influenced by shows such as The Simpsons, Beavis and Butt-head, Ren & Stimpy and Liquid Television when he was younger, says fans could see a possible appearance by Rick and Morty on Solar Opposites in the future. “In an infinite multiverse, everything is part of the multiverse, so they could easily be a couple of realities away,” he says.“I have no idea how you would navigate the IP waters, but that would be really friggin’ cool!”

“Our initial pitch to Hulu always included a heavily serialized element, so there’s a big part of the show that’s always been designed to be binged,” adds McMahahn. “I’ve never worked on a serialized animated comedy, and I don’t see a lot of them, so I heavily nerded out that we got to make a serialized show along with a goofball comedy. What you see on the screen (in that respect) is exactly what I wanted it to be from conception through execution, which is a rare treat for a creator. Also, the art team and the voice actors are insanely talented, everyone gave it their best, and you’ll see that the first season is something special.”

Roiland says he hopes the audience will get some entertainment and some happiness by watching his new show. “Things are pretty sad out there in the real world, so we hope Solar Opposites and new episodes of Rick and Morty will offer people a little bit of distraction.”

“I hope audiences will sit down to watch a show about crazy funny aliens, and then be surprised as they keep watching how serialized and thought-out everything is,” adds McMahan. “In any other time, this show couldn’t exist. To me, the only reason a show should exist on Hulu (or any streamer) is because it feels like a miracle, like you can’t believe what you’re watching. Sometimes that feeling comes from a cancelled show being resurrected. For Solar, it’s the jokes, language, what we can show on screen (Solar is TV-MA, which is crazy what you can do) and the serialized elements. Somehow, this show feels like a classic, broad network sitcom and like an insane cable show that fell out of another dimension, all at the same time.”

#Solar Opposites #Mike McMahan #Justin Roiland #Hulu #Hulu Originals #Hulu Original Animated Series #Hulu Original Series #20th Century Studios #20th Century Fox #20th Century Fox Television #20th Century Fox Television Animation #FOX Television Animation #20th Century Television Animation #20th Century Television Studios

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littleredroseonthevalley · 5 years ago

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Covered Mirror

Summary: A light bulb creates its own environment, photography creates the photorapher. Does Emma create her relationship, or does it create her?

Rating: T - Suitable for teens, 13 years and older, with some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes.

Explicit depictions of depressive episodes. Reader discretion is advised.

If those descriptions relate to your or a loved one’s mental state, do not hesitate to call health services operating in your juristiction. It gets better.

Words: 2200

Notes: I vacationed in Noahland, now it’s back to Masonville. Keep the balance or smth.

I’m real proud of this one. I’m happy how it turned out. I think it has weight, but still ends on a hopeful message. I hope you like it too!

Why do I think I’ll be swarmed with anon hate? Is there something I can do that doesn’t end with me swarmed with anon hate?

Marshall McLuhan once said that the light bulb creates its own environment, and Emma Price sometimes cannot help herself but think about it. She creates her photography, and her photography creates a new Emma.

Photography was a visual art. It might have an easier learning curve than, say, sculpting, but it was still an art that demanded perfection and practice. It was necessary to develop an aesthetic sense, an eye for the light. All in all, great abilities to have.

The problem was when that aesthetic sense turned around on her.

After another win for their school football team, Emma stood outside the pitch as the students and their families pass her by, waiting for her boyfriend.

Waiting for her boyfriend to finish talking to Ava Lawrence. The tall, blonde, fit cheerleader.

Emma did not really want to believe that she was jealous of her. Ava was a cool girl; they were friends from the photography club. They even hung out on occasion. Besides, Emma was dating Mason and she trusts him and Ava, so it is not like she should care, but she cares. Too much for her own good.

Emma Price felt like she was far from perfect, while Ava Lawrence was the epitome of perfect. Perfect hair, perfect marks, perfect personality, perfect social life, perfect figure. If she was honest with herself, Emma had to admit that, on her weaker moments, she wanted very much to be friends with her, just so she could absorb some of that perfection by osmosis. She wanted desperately to be like her.

When Mason first asked her out that day in sophomore year high school, after longing after him for so long, she could not have known that dating the most popular boy at school could feel so lonely.

Mason was not a bad boyfriend, much to the contrary. He was an amazing boyfriend. He would never go out of his way to hurt her feelings, but the decline in her self-confidence seemed to be getting to her. It was not about him, it was about her, and sometimes she had difficulty remembering that.

Once he was done speaking to Ava, he ran back over to his girlfriend. The wind hitting his blond hair in a way that was bound to make anyone have a crush on him. He had the widest smile on his face, waiting to talk to her about the game.

“I didn’t think you’d show up.” He said, with a boyish smile gracing his features.

Emma was a little taken aback by this comment. “What do you mean?”

Mason shrugged. “You just haven’t been wanting to hangout or anything... Or just not coming to my games.”

She tallied the season games on her head. He had a point, she concluded.

“Sorry, I’ve been really busy.”

She did not like lying to him, because she knew that after so many years of close relations with each other, he could tell straight away. However, at this instance, he did not bother commenting on it. He concluded she would tell him if something was wrong.

Or at least she used to tell him everything that was wrong. When they were still friends. Before they made their relationship public, and before she heard what everyone had to say about that relationship.

Teens were vicious creatures. They would be nice to her face, supportive and welcoming, but as soon as they thought she could not hear them anymore, their tongues would run amok.

“I don’t even know what he sees in her.”

“Have you seen her hair?”

“Is it just me or she put on weight?”

“What is she even wearing?”

“He could do so much better.”

She began to compare herself to almost every girl in town that said or thought things like that. She started to believe everything they were saying. Some nights, she stood in front of the mirror on her closet door looking unblinkingly at herself.

She did not like what she saw.

It had gotten so bad, she put a blanket over her mirror and tried not to look at herself at all. There were days she barely brushed her hair, days in which she gave up any thought or care into her appearance, into herself.

People saw Mason, with his light hair, football skills and rich parents and thought he was not that bright, and to be fair, he was not going to make it into any honours courses this year, but he was perceptive when it came to Emma. Deep down, he worried about her. He saw how this year at school has affected her, but he could not figure out how to confront her about it.

“Alright, it’s okay. There’s a house party this weekend, though, at Chad’s place. Do you want to go with me?” He asked, but soon amended, trying to lay off pressure of her. “It’s alright if you can’t. I can go by myself, or we could do something else if you’d like.”

She rolled her eyes, and held his hand with a meagre smile, hoping her tone of voice inspires confidence. “Of course, I’d love to go with you. Why do you think I wouldn’t?”

“The last time we spent the Saturday together was last month, at that midnight showing at the movies, remember? We don’t even go out running anymore.” He pointed out. “I’d thought you might like your space on Saturdays.”

“Oh! So it is.” She said, realizing he, again, had a point. “I don’t mind spending the Saturday with you, Mase. Guess I’ve just been a little overwhelmed these days.”

“Good! It’s a date, then!” The boy beamed. “Would you like me to drive you home? I’m done here.”

Before she could answer, though, a high whistle came from their left. Mason’s teammates were hurdled to the side, signalling for him to come. He ignored them, but Emma felt their eyes on the two of them together.

“N-No…” She stutters, shaking her head nervously. “It’s OK. You’d have to drive all the way to my house and then back to yours. It’s too much trouble.”

“It’s no problem, Em. I want to drive you home.” He insisted.

“No, Mason, it’s better if I walk. That’s OK, really. I like walking. I get to admire the scenery, and you never know when inspiration strikes.” She motioned for the camera hung around her neck.

“Oh, well…” His smile falters. “No problem, then. I’ll text you tonight, yeah? And we can spend the Saturday together.”

The girl smiles toothlessly. “Sure, Mase. You should go, your friends are waiting.”

He sighed. “OK, then, I guess. See you, Emma.”

*_*_*_*_*

When Emma, predictably, did not answer her phone that night, nor made any sign to set up a date on Saturday, Mason decided enough was enough and marched his way to the Price household.

He parked his car on the driveway and walked in large, firm steps to the front door, on which he knocked three decisive times.

It opens.

“Hey, Mason.”

“Hello, Mack.” He greeted, stiffly. “Is your sister home?”

She hesitated. “Yes, she is sleeping.”

“This late?” He commented

“Yeah, it’s… Kinda of her thing on weekends now.” The younger girl responded; lips pursed. “Mom and dad are out. Why don’t you come in? I’ll take you to Emma’s room, and I want to speak with you, too.”

The blond nodded. “OK, I’m all ears.”

Mackenzie stepped aside for him to come in, and motioned for him to walk up the stairs.

“Emma is… Well, she is not herself. I think you noticed.” She began, and with Mason’s encouragement, she continued. “I don’t really know what’s up with her. Dad threw a few medical names at it, but we’re all grasping at straws here. He wants to get her on meds, Mom’s holding him back, but even she’s wavering at this point.”

His eyes widen. “I didn’t know it was that serious.”

“It… It’s something, alright.” They stopped in front of Emma’s bedroom door, and Mackenzie lowers her voice. “Look, you’re her boyfriend. I know she loves you. I don’t expect any miracles, and you shouldn’t either, but… I don’t know, try something? Anything.”

He sighed. “I am, but I think I’m not trying hard enough.”

“Just talk to her, OK? Try not to be too aggressive, she doesn’t respond well to that, and brace yourself. It’s ugly in there.”

Mackenzie opens the door slow and quiet, and Mason walks into Emma’s bedroom. As her sister said, she was asleep. He instantly noticed the blanket over the mirror and all the pictures of her on the desk turned down.

To say it was messy was an understatement. Clothes scattered across the floor, everything atop her dresser was on its side, and the blackout curtains on the window were closed.

He sat on the end of her bed and shook her awake.

The girl wakes up in a jolt. “Wha-…”

“Hey, Em.” He greeted, quietly.

“Mason? What’re you doing here?” She blinked in confusion.

“I came to pick you up; we’d agreed to spend the Saturday together.” He said, looking away.

“Oh, right. We did.” She said, pushing the hair out of her face. “Good morning.”

“It’s one o’clock.”

“Same difference.” She chuckled as she sat closer on the bed to him.

He reluctantly shook her off, giving another glance at her dorm and then he sighed tiredly. “Why is your mirror covered?”

Her eyes went wide and she looked down at her hands. She began to pick at her nails subconsciously as an act of nervousness.

“Oh... It’s nothing.” She responded, avoidantly.

He brought his hand up to her chin so she could look at him. “I’m not an idiot, Emma.”

“I know.”

“Why are you doing this to yourself?”

She bit her lip, looking back at the picture frame on her bedside table that had a picture of her and Mason when they entered high school. It was face down, like all others, but she felt the need to look at it all of a sudden.

“Everyone says all those things...” She whispered. “It’s really hard to not let it get to you. Especially when the voices inside my own head speak even louder.”

He moved his hand from her chin to her cheek, caressing it, and she automatically leaned into his touch. “They’re all full of shit. They know nothing, they hear nothing. Why do you care for what they have to say?”

She averted her gaze, trying to keep the tears at bay.

“Emma, you are the most beautiful girl in this entire school. Of the entire world, I swear.” He insisted.

She chuckled, pulling away from him. “Don’t lie to me, Mason.”

“I’m not!” The boy defended, his body facing her, grey eyes unwaveringly gazing her figure, begging her to look at him. “I mean it, Emma, honestly. There is no one prettier than you to me.”

“There are so many other better girls that would love to be with you, y’know.” She said, quietly. “Like Ava.”

“Like hell she wants to be with me.” He said, humouredly. “She doesn’t even like me that much, and even if she did! Ava Lawrence can’t even compare to you Emma. I can’t believe you would say that.”

She could feel herself crying, and before she knew it, he was wiping her tears away. “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize.” He hugged her tightly.

“I feel like I do.” The girl hiccupped. “I’m so stupid. I just cause trouble and worry, and I don’t want to be like that, but I just can’t help myself!”

“I know, Emma, but it’s worth it. You’re worth it.” He assured her, holding her while she cried it out. “Don’t worry, we’ll fix you up and you’ll be better than ever. I’m going to help you, your parents and Mack, too. It’s all gonna be OK.”

He sighed, kissing the crown of her head and getting up. He walked over towards her mirror and pulled the blanket off. He also opened the curtains and placed the pictures back to their original positions.

Afterwards, he asked Mackenzie to come into the room. She took her sister into the bathroom while Mason cleaned up some of the mess, taking the dirty laundry downstairs, the trash out and organized minimally the mountain of papers and photos scattered on every surface.

When Emma and her sister emerged from the bathroom, she had showered, put on some nice clothes and some light make up. It was not much, but it was enough to make her feel better than she had in a long time.

Her boyfriend beamed boyishly at her, and she could not help to smile back. He offered her his hand and they made their way down to the public park on her neighbourhood.

Sitting on the grass, with the sun warming her skin and Mason’s bodily heat against her waist, it was very nice.

Emma had a long way to healthy, and she knew that, but feeling his presence next to her helped a great deal. She felt hopeful, and perhaps he really had a point.

It would all turn out to be OK.

MTFL Masterlist

#my two first loves #mason jennings

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zach-the-fox · 5 years ago

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Furiends Episode 7: Broken with Power

It is a new day, and the friends gather once again. This time, their conference takes place at the Heroto Diner. They squeeze together in a round booth and get comfortable. After having washed off the last of the rainbow chemicals and rest from their time at the ruined laboratory, the gang finally chills without having to be in an eerie environment. Brook takes a big gulp of sweetened iced-tea as Emmy sips on her mug of hot, steaming coffee. Hatboy and Zach, on the other hand, hold soda in their grips. Carly is the only one focused on the activity she creates in her drawing pad.

“Ah,” utters Emmy, smiling. “This is nice: sitting in the diner and having a good meal.”

“I second that,” Hatboy replies, reflecting his expression. “Nothing beats a good, old-fashioned burger and some french fries.”

“I agree!” adds the purple rabbit. “It’s so much better with you guys, unlike those cold-hearted animals known as Team Rescuers.” She turns to Zach. “Sorry, didn’t mean to bring that up. No offense, you know…”

“None taken,” Zach tells her. “In fact, I’m happy to say I’m past all of that. You guys have helped me back on my feet and changed my life. You’re the greatest friends a fox could ask for.” She pats him on the back with a smile.

Emmy looks to the cat. “Carly, can’t you work on drawing another time? We’re at the table with our friends.” Carly scoots away slightly to ignore her. “Come on. Don’t be so-” The warthog pauses as she notices the people of the diner begin eyeing the gang. “Um, does anyone get the feeling something’s wrong here?” The others see what she means, observing the specters of the eatery.

Brook sees what she means. Her smile disappears. “Everyone is looking at us… Why are they looking at us like that?”

“We didn’t do anything,” Hatboy implies. “We’re just hanging out… Unless, they all think we’re weird because Zach is with us…”

“Maybe we should get out of here,” Zach suggests. “I feel like we’re attracting unwanted attention.”

“I second that,” Brook insists. “Besides, I’m feeling a little headache…” Everyone agrees, get out of their seats, and stand. Carly keeps her head in her sketchbook as she draws.

Hatboy places money down on the table before the whole gang exits out the diner. The eyes of the other animals follow them as they disappear, and remain fixed on them through the glass as the others distance themselves from the diner. “Okay, that’s so creepy,” he comments. “What is going on?”

The warthog halts beside the glass window of an electronic store, noticing her and her friends’ pictures on the screen mounted on the wall. “Guys, come look at the television right now…”

“Not now,” Carly says. “I’m working on something very-”

“We’re on the news!” the warthog interrupts. Everyone gathers by the screens and watches the news story.

“Welcome to Heroto News!” utters a well-dressed owl. “I am Helen Hooters with your regular news stories. We begin today with a warning to the town. Team Rescuers are advising us to be cautious of these five figures shown here. We’ve been told that they were at the old ruined Heroto Laboratory last night and are have been acting suspicious. Team Rescuers and police are urging residents to be cautious.”

Brooks remains fixed on the television. “What…? They think we’re suspicious? Suspicious of what? This is ridiculous…”

“We’re now going to turn to our breaking news,” the owl continues. “The Heroto orphanage had been ripped apart by a loud explosion. We go to you live on the spot with Camille Chicken.” The scene cuts to the orphanage building with a large hole in it and emergency services around the area.

In front of the damaged structure stands a chicken in a trench coat. “Good morning, Helen. It is a surprising morning to everyone in Heroto as we have found the orphanage had been blown up in the early morning hours. Residents have informed the news team that they heard a loud “boom” last night around 4:20 a.m., and are calling it an act of terror. Team Rescuers had combed through the site to find evidence that it was, indeed, a terrorist attack, after finding pieces of explosive materials around the area. There have been only mild to moderate injuries, and everyone who was involved in the blast are expected to make a full recovery in the hospital. People have been informing us that they’ve seen five animals walking through town and suspect they are the culprits behind the attacks. Team Rescuers has advised us it’s the flawed fox and his freaky friends that hang about, but there is no word on whether they were the ones behind the attacks. This is Camille Chicken reporting to you from the Heroto Orphanage.”

“Thank you, Camille.” The shot returns to the owl. “Now, we’re unsure if these two events are related to each other, but it seems plausible at this time. Team Rescuers and police are urging caution. We now take you to Alan Hawk for the weather.”

“That can’t be good,” says Zach. “That can’t be good at all…”

“Indeed,” Emmy adds. “We better get out of here now before-”

“Flawed Fox and friends!” The gang turns to see Jay and the team appear before them. “You have made a grave mistake!”

“Oh, hello there, Team Rescuers,” utters Brook. “Lovely day, isn’t it?”

“Can it, Hops! We had suspicions you would, Flawed Fox!” Jay marches up to the fox. “I know you always loathed the orphanage, and it’s a good enough motive to get you arrested!”

“Hold on.” Carly stands between the two animals. “What makes you so sure Zach was the one who blew up the orphanage? He was with us the whole time.”

“Indeed, you were,” says Miffy. “You five have quite the nerve attacking poor, defenseless children!”

Carly turns to her quickly. “What?!”

“We weren’t the ones who attack the orphanage!” cries Hatboy. “We were all hanging out last night.”

“Yeah,” responds. “Hanging out by the old laboratory!” Hatboy flinches with fear. “You don’t think we know? You’re all in big trouble! You’re coming with us!” She reaches for Zach and grabs him. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this, Flawed Fox!”

“Get off of him!” Carly smacks the sheep with her sketchbook, causing her to fall back. She then charges toward them, but Hatboy pushes her aside, tossing her into a trashcan nearby.

Jay growls. “No one hurts my girlfriend!” He starts for the red rabbit, clawing at him and scratching his face. Zach steps in and extends his arm across Jay’s face, punching him in the mouth and knocking him away. “That’s it! I’ll kill you, Flawed Fox!” He charges for the fox, but then freezes within three meters of them as Brook stands in front and sticks out her leg, which connects with the area between his legs. The wolf covers his sensitive spot and stumbles to the ground.

Brook smiles. “I’ve always wanted to do that!”

“You’ve messed with the wrong group!” Kenji gets into his ready stance. “Prepare to face a master in martial arts!” Emmy stamps on the monkey’s foot, which causes him to lift and hold it before Zach quickly pushes him into the trash with Cindy.

“You criminals won’t get away with this!” As Miffy presses forward, Carly grabs her by the tail, yanks her, and spins her around. With enough momentum, he lets go and tosses her into a wall, where she’s stunned and dazed.

“Don’t ever mess with my friends!” Carly yells. The gang looks around as a crowd of angry citizens gather by them. “Uh… Uh oh…”

“Let’s get out of here!” Emmy shouts. Her and the others bolt away from the area with the mob. They run, faster and faster, as the yells and cries of the mob continue from behind them. The gang gets chased around blocks and corners. Eventually, they head down into a subway station and travel down the dim-lit tunnel. The gang continue down the line, then hide. When they no longer hear the cries and yells of the townsfolk, the friends stop and rest in place by the nearest station.

“Phew,” comments Brook. “That was close… Who would’ve thought people would become agitated quickly…?”

Zach turns to the others. “That was amazing… The way you all took on Team Rescuers…”

“You did well, too,” says Carly, smiling. “It was a nice punch against Jay. Did it feel good?” Zach nods.

“Friends always stick up for each other,” Emmy implies. “That’s what we do. It’s too bad that everyone, including Team Rescuers, will be after us, now…”

“That’s just great,” Hatboy starts. “Now the whole town thinks we’re terrorists…”

“W-what do we do now?” asks Carly. “We can’t go back to our homes… Team Rescuers will be waiting for us up there…” She sighs. “Great, now my mother will definitely kill me, if not Team Rescuers.”

“But we didn’t do anything!” Brook utters. “How could they blame us for something we didn’t do?!”

“I don’t know,” Zach responds. “They’re probably just blaming us because-” The fox pauses and holds his head. “Ugh!”

Carly moves closer to him. “You okay, Zach? What’s gotten into you?”

“My head,” the fox tells her. “I-it hurts so much! It’s like a hammer is banging on my skull a million times! My whole body’s aching, too!”

“You should take s-” The cat mirrors the fox’s move and flinches, trembling. “Ow! Ugh, I don’t feel so good…”

Emmy heads over to them with worry. “We should see if we -” The warthog pauses, then quickly kneels to the ground as she grudges her stomach. “A-ah! W-what is happening?! Why does my body ache so much?!” Soon, the rabbits join them in agony as pain fill their minds, bodies, and senses. All they could do is endure it, with no help or relief. The friends moan, groan, tremble, grit, and clench as their suffering continues. Half of them lie on the ground as the rest lean against the wall, wishing it would all stop. And then, just like that, the torture ceases.

“W-what just happened?” asks Zach, getting off the wall. “What was all of that about?”

“Ugh,” Hatboy stands from the concrete ground, still holding his head. “Why do I feel so strange? I feel like a fly that’s been squished.” Light encompasses the red rabbit as he changes form. His entire body morphs into a giant black fly. Everyone stares at him with gaping eyes and mouths. “Why is everyone looking at me like that?”

“Holy!” Carly points at him. “You’re a giant fly!”

“What?” Hatboy looks down at his paws, which are the limbs of an insect’s. “What the?! What’s happened to me?!” He pulls out his phone, looking into the camera’s selfie function. “I’m a fly?! Ah! Change me back! Someone!” Just like that, he returns to his normal self. “Uh…”

“Oh my god!” Zach yells. “How did you do that?!”

“I don’t know… I just said I was a fly… I have transformation abilities?!”

“Hold on!” Carly puts his paws on the area between her legs. “I have to use the bathroom real bad!” She runs away fast, then returns within five seconds. “Phew.” Everyone stares at her in bewilderment. She looks at her friends before reflecting their expressions. “Oh my! Did I just run to the bathroom and back in a matter of seconds?! Wait a minute…” She pulls out her sketchbook, and within a few seconds, she fills the entire page with her speed. “Whoa…”

“You have super speed!” exclaims Brook. “That’s so cool!” She looks down at her paws to examine them. “I feel a little tingly in my paws… I wonder what happened to me…” She extends her arm out to Hatboy. He starts glowing bright light blue before being hoisted in the air. Brook’s arm conducts him high. “Whoa! I’ve got telekinesis! Cool!” She takes back her arm, dropping the red rabbit. “Oops, sorry, Hats.”

Emmy holds her head. “I feel a little light…” Suddenly, she vanishes into thin air.

“Oh!” Carly juts. “Emmy, where’d you go?!”

“I’m right here!”

Carly looks around frantically. “Where?!”

“Here!” The warthog reappears in front of her. “I’ve been standing her the whole time! Didn’t you see me?!”

Carly stares at her in surprise. “No… You just disappeared, then reappeared!”

Emmy thinks hard about it, causing her to disappear and reappear again. Her expression turns to reflect the cats. “I-I have invisibility… That’s insane!”

Zach looks down at his body. “Why does my body feel strange…?” Everyone looks toward the tunnel at the sound of a horn, seeing a railroad car speeding toward them Everyone but Zach jumps out of the way. The fox extends his arms out to the metal vehicle and shuts his eyes tightly. The train slams into him and pushes him along the tracks, but then slows to a halt. Zach opens his eyes to see the subway stopped in its tracks as he holds it out in front of him. The others come out of hiding, looking at the fox with shock. Zach himself examines the work that he’s done. “Oh… My… God…” He then pushes the cars in the opposite direction with great force. “I’ve got super strength… I… Whoa…”

“We have super powers,” concludes Hatboy. “That’s incredible… How did we get super powers?”

Zach gasps, tracing his thoughts back to the event that lead up to this point. “The chemicals from the laboratory! The rainbow liquid that washed over us! That’s how we’ve got them!”

“I’m down with that,” Brook says. She pushes the empty cans with her telekinesis. “Man, this is “super” cool. We’re like superheroes!”

“Hm.” Carly puts her paw on her chin. “That actually gives me an idea. We should start our own little super gang with our new abilities. We can blow Team Rescuers out of the water and show Heroto what real heroes are. We’d be better than them.” Everyone hesitates with her suggestion, but then soon come to an agreement on it.

“Just one question,” adds Emmy. “Where are we setting up our base of operations? We’re wanted by the whole town, and I’m pretty sure Team Rescuers will be out looking for us.”

“We can hide down here, actually,” Zach implies. “There’s an abandoned subway terminal just down the line on the third set of tracks. Been abandoned for years, and no one ever uses it.”

“Ooo!” Brook smiles. “I like the sound of that! Very interesting! Wait, how the heck do you know about that?”

“When I was with Team Rescuers, we intercepted Capital Corp using the tunnel, but we – I mean Team Rescuers – battled and pushed them out.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Carly tells him. “We should get our things if we’re going to set up down here.”

“And how are we going to do that with Team Rescuers and the townspeople above us, waiting to hurt us?” Hatboy queries.

“We’ll go at night,” Emmy suggests. “That way no one can see us. Carly can use her superspeed and I have invisibility, which means we’ll get everything down here quickly.”

“Yeah, that’ll work. First thing’s first, though.” Brook looks at Zach. “Lead us to the abandoned station, Zach. I’d love to see that.”

“It’s right this way.” Zach traces the third track down into the tunnel with the gang following him. “It’s going to be a bit of a long walk, but since no one comes down here, it should be safe enough to hide in.”

Emmy has her hoof on her chin as she follows the fox. “I’m starting to grow skeptical of Team Rescuers…”

@carlycmarathecat @emmy-the-absolute-goof @bendy-bear-15

#Furiends #Friends #Furry #Fursona #Cat #OCs #Fox #Warthog #Rabbit

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pjstafford · 6 years ago

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The Bad Boy/Good Guy public personality dynamic of David Duchovny

Written as a birthday gift (with her blog prompt) for Charmion @grungekid84

Dedication: Charmion and I are of different generations; separated in age by over twenty years. I was the age she is now, about, when the X-files was new and she watched it first as a child. Yet today we share similarities in thoughts related to our celebrity crush. To both Charmion and David Duchovny I say, I hope this blog does the love the justice it deserves.

Why are women 20 to 70 years of age fan girls of the 59 year old David Duchovny? Not simply fans! Fans might watch a movie because an actor is in it. They might rewatch a series a half dozen times. Fan girls like Charmion have an Xfile room and paint pictures. Fan girls like myself write blogs, fan fic and team up with fan girls like Cathy Glinski to present at academic conferences. Why do women who have no other celebrity crushes have this need to celebrate this one celebrity in these ways? It seems significant to me the age range of women who are fan girls. I have stood in an audience surrounded by women barely old enough to meet the 21 age limit who knew every word to each of his songs. I heard one such woman say that this is an experience she would tell her grandchildren about. I, also, know women closer to 70 who have traveled to a meet and greet or comic con because they wanted the opportunity to thank this celebrity for the years of joy. Just today as I start to write this a woman I do not know tweeted @hearteyes4david an open letter to the world with a life wish to meet and thank this man. There are so many of us who just want to say thank you. And I won’t say none of us are not, but most of us are not crazy. We are lobbyists, store managers, attorneys, emergency room nurses, church secretaries of different ages and nationalities, many happily married, most normal women ( and some men). So many of us eager, compelled almost, to meet a single specific man and say thank you.

Some of it, people will say, is lust. Yes, it’s possible that if he was a less attractive man we would wish to thank him in person less. Still, can you truly look at the picture at the end of this blog and say his looks are so much more Adonis like than any other man? To say it’s purely a physical lust for a handsome man is dismissive of the intelligent, thoughtful women so moved to want to thank him.

His talent? “Sweet baby Jesus” he gave us Mulder and if that wasn’t enough, Moody. Whether he is playing a man who has lost his wife in Return to me, a drugged out doctor in Playing God, or a Russian operative determine to see the US nuked in Phantomn he makes every character seem so real that he gets a reputation for only playing himself. He is so good of an actor playing such diverse roles that folks can’t believe is truly acting. Still, I think most of us would just be fans and not fan girls if good looks and talent was all he had going for him

He is multi-talented and many love the rock star with romantic, heart breaking lyrics. For me, as I have often said, he is my favorite living novelist with three novels published and a fourth to come out soon. He writes intelligent, funny, heart breaking novels with an unique style and characters that again seem real (even the talking animals). In a recent interview he said something to the effect that his kids could read these novels and know who he was a man. I think that’s why I love his writing so much is because lyrics or prose they are authentic expressions of an artist’s personality; which brings me to Charmion prompt...the personality of David Duchovny.

I have met the man briefly a handful of times. I like the man I have met, but I can’t pretend to know more anymore than his public persona. I know how he comes across in interviews, what others who know him say about him, and all I can possibly gleam from his public art...from the things he has acted in and from his written art- the XFiles the Unnatural, the movie “House of D”, the novels, the lyrics, the distorted selfies in the mirrors reflections he tweeted when he used to tweet. This is how I know what I know about the man...and the fact that the few times I met him he was soft spoken, polite, humble and kind; taking time to answer my questions intelligently, joke a little and write kind words.

I know he is flawed. It is impossible to be a fan and not know about some of the faults which have been well publicized. As he himself says in my favorite of his songs, “I got skeletons in my closet which time ain’t forgot...”. They will never be forgotten. They will be included 20 or 30 years from now in his obituary. His flawed character is a fact, it has been aired, it is part of who he is.

I have written that what I love best about his writing is the combination of darkness and despair with the lightness of the human spirit and resiliency (mmm...the ability to believe?) rising out of darkness. He writes about the most depressing subjects on earth realistically and the fairy tale quality which rises to fill our hearts, to make us laugh and cry, is as real. It is either or both n amazing technique and/ or a result of a world view. I choose to believe it is the latter.

David Duchovny is no saint, but God Damn, he seems like a remarkably good guy with enough of a bad/boy mischievous side to make his personality as sexy as fucking itself. See how I just got a little different in my language there. David puts fucking in a book title, god damn in a song, gets bleeped on air record breaking number of times. God damn, fuck you if you think this is a man who is afraid to swear. He is not really Fox Freaking Mulder but he is David Fucking Duchovny

He is a good guy. He is intelligent. His ability to reference the high brow literary comes across in all his works. His second album title is from a Shakespeare quote. Walt Whitman shows up throughout his novels (and his dog’s tweets). He is well read, it quite well known. If you don’t get that reference, he would, as a Dylan fan and a fan of many other musical artists. He is also happy to talk about and reference sporting heros.

He is a bad boy. Oh, but the lowbrow humor! Early interviews have fart jokes, bathroom humor. He has a knack for intermixing the profane and profound. His novel, Miss Subways, has the elementary teacher leaving the classroom in tears when an assignment (write a letter to a Shakespeare minor character) results in an innocent boy reading “My dearest Fellatio...”.

He is a good guy. He is a romantic. He gave the XFiles fans the shippy Mulder and Scully baseball scene. He believes in his heart that Californication was at heart a love story. He writes lyrics for his ex wife who loves the rain saying “ It will always be raining in this song.” In his novel are real people having real sex type of scenes...no great erotica with flowing hair and heaving bosoms for this man, but discussion of lights on or off or an older couple off screen and an adult son hearing and embarrassed.

He is a bad boy. The man has no fear of nudity. . In his first movie he was filmed completely naked. In the commentary to the rapture he admits that he told the director he thought the character slept in the nude. (Hence the balls shot). It was his idea to wear the red speedo. He improvised the moonshot in evolution.

He is a good guy. He believes in causes. He volunteers and donates to protect the planet, for animal rights, for music education and for planned parenthood. His was the only story in over 200 XFiles episodes that truly dealt with racial injustice and segregation.

He is a good guy. In House of D the thirteen year old boy’s best friend is a forty year old janitor with special needs. He is a bad boy. That boy and janitor told each other a lot of pee jokes.

I can go on and on and on about the bad boy/good guy public personna of David Duchovny, but I am going to close with a subject that might tempt fate and bring forth the haters. I want to end with thinking about David and women.

In Red Shoes diaries David was in the forefront of the soft porn explosion. In an interview this year Brigitte Bako describes her experience in filming the movie as the “worst experience of my life”; but has nothing but complimentary things to say about David, how sweet and nice he was. They became close friends and she later appeared in an episode of Californication.

In Californication, David was the star of one of the raunchiest series in television history. Tits and ass, fucking and punching. I love the show but it would likely not be made today although, to be fair, it demonstrates women having agency over their sexuality. Nevertheless, actresses who appeared on that show have recently been asked what it was like. Over and over again they talk about how comfortable the environment was and how polite and respectful David was.

Much has been made over Gillian Anderson being paid half of David Duchovny’s salary. This is hardly his fault and something he argued against once he was made aware of it, but, as a fan of the show, I love hearing him talk protectively of Mulder and of wanting to protect that relationship. I love that he was responsible for rewriting an ending to one of seasons 11 episodes which end not with Mulder objectifying Scully and not with him in his under wear, but with Scully opining the door and him standing there. As David said, Scully being in control of her own desires.

Finally in Miss Subways, I find a female character written with such realism and authenticity that I have to go back to the 19th century to find a female literary character so relatable to me. She is a reader, beautiful to some men, a little eccentric in some ways, vulnerable, strong but without a great belief in herself or her talent. She’s just fucking real in a fucking real world despite being in a surrealistic fantasy novel with Irish banshees and African spider goddesses, parallel timelines and phones that can alter reality.

We, the fan girls, love this celebrity, David Duchovny because of his looks, his talent and his personality; because he is a bad boy and a good guy; because he inspires us, because he is flawed as we all are and goes through his life trying to be present in the day. For all the fan women who have yet to meet you, Mr. Duchovny, I say thank you and we love you, until they can meet you and tell you themselves.

Happy Birthday, Charmion. If you should meet him someday when I am not there give him an extra hug for me.

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charlieottaway · 5 years ago

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Ways of Seeing: New York

Expectations vs Reality

The expectation of New York was daunting. It is a place that appears so familiar yet it’s so alien. I expected to walk down a street I have already walked down before, through film or a video game. However, I can only experience something by being there. Looking at a building or street in a painting and photo does not compare to the real New York atmosphere - I became accustom to. The promise land, America’s home of art. Reading the Great Gatsby has made me feel like I’ve already experienced the buzz surrounding the iconic city, one quote has always remained clear in my mind from reading two years ago.

“The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.” – The Great Gatsby

The beauty of a city full of promise and opportunity, fuelling the American Dream. Many migrants entered the city in hope of becoming rich, they believed in the city to find themselves and become someone they were not. Perhaps this echoes the way I wanted the city to produce a striking image for my art. I wanted to take 1,000 photos to fill a hole I have always wanted an unlimited bank of material for my artwork. Compared to London, the way I saw New York before even being there was incredible. From reading about it, seeing it in art, films and photos. It presents itself as the place to be Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Edward Hopper all made themselves there.

On arrival, in JFK, what struck me most was the fact I was in America. Considering I have only been to Paris and Spain I found it crazy I was in America; it still doesn’t feel like I’ve been there. On the first night I experienced walking around, night-time, Times Square. Strolling along the illuminated street was surreal, however once I’ve looked at it for a couple of minutes I am just staring at the same screens of advertisement for a long time. The experience was something from an episode of Black Mirror. Advertising consumer products, suffocating the eye. The lights hit every part of the street, forecasting unnatural shadows from the false lights everywhere. Effecting every part of the avenue, when I looked away, I was drawn back like a moth to a flame.

The empire State was incredible, but I somehow felt like I had already experienced it before. As I had already been to the top of the Eiffel Tower – although there was a big difference. New York was much denser; the skyline was claustrophobic and condensed. Whenever I have seen London’s skyline it has always appeared spread out.

Brooklyn was very different and perhaps a regret of mine that I never fully experienced it by walking around the famous New York Borough. Even though, I was staying in the heart of Manhattan. Brooklyn felt as if I was in a living environment – it did make me feel more attached to the people of Brooklyn.

Chinatown was another experience I think I will struggle to achieve again. The cultural difference is colossal, we left one street and entered another country. From the Asian market stalls to buildings – Chinatown is an area of New York I am very glad I experienced. It was busy, compact and densely populated. On the same day I visited Soho. The streets were long, clean and the sky was blue. Incredibly, it felt like I was in an American sitcom. Furthermore, it was comparable to parts of London. It wasn’t until I entered the Nike Store, and everyone spoke in American accent - I remembered where I was.

Walking on 49th street was interesting because it was so lit up at 10 in the morning, it felt very Americanised. If I went at night, I could have easily visualised the nocturnal street as a painting. Walking downtown from the northern side of Times Square was bizarre, as I was so used to seeing it pointing

north. I could see a hint of lights in the long distance on 7th avenue. The moment which has stuck with me the most was visiting the 9/11 memorial museum. Walking around was very eery. It was silent, the museum managed to bring people together in a mutual respect. It was very emotional, listening to the witness’s stories and felt very personal – everyone knew someone who was affected by 9//11 and I felt like an intruder listening to their stories.

The last experience was the ferry to see the statue of liberty and it fell flat. I was excepting an impressive towering statue and the iconic skyline to be situated behind, but everything seemed so small. Perhaps the irony is because everything in America was so big, the burgers, milkshakes, skyscrapers, lorries, trucks, roads and cemeteries. To compare them to such an historical landmark is a weird remark and perhaps an American insult but I found myself more taken aback by the size of the lorries, rather than the size of the Statue of Liberty.

New York museums was one of the biggest attractions to New York for me. Along with the skyscrapers dictating the horizon and streets. The galleries and exemplary museums are renowned for holding such prestigious artwork. The first museum was the Met. However, my experience was cut short and felt very rushed. Luckily, I managed to find 3 of Edward Hopper’s artwork and really study them. ‘From William’s Bridge’ was the first piece brought to my attention. The work of art depicts an unembellished façade of four apartment buildings tiptoeing the glimpse of steel (attached to the bridge which gives the piece a name). By just a small hint he has given the still image noise and life. The bridge connects Brooklyn and Manhattan – the image of the 4 apartments buildings is now manipulated by the constant noise of a train flying through. Rocking the lives of those who are so close to perfection. They appear high in the sky without trouble, but the building looses being the main character when I spotted the small figure in all white. Now the sitting buildings just become a home for the isolated figure and it creates sympathy – empathizing her alienation in urban life. Although just walking past the piece, it could become unnoticed in such a large museum the piece carries so much meaning. The shadows are what interested me and made me focus my photos to capture the effect of light and dark in cityscapes. The other two paintings I saw was ‘The Lighthouse at Two Lights’ and ‘Table for Ladies.’ The later coveys an image which I feel Hopper creates beautifully in his artwork, to capture a moment. The painting is of a waitress leaning forward to adjust the vividly painted foods at the window. In my opinion, the action of the waitress could be pulled from any situation, someone at a grocery shop or supermarket. The lady could be anyone but because Hopper paints her in the waitress uniform, she is immediately given this role. At the time he painted this the importance of where Hopper has situated the three different ladies has showcased a social comment. One a waitress, one a cashier and the third as a couple. Although, they appear weary and detached, these two working women hold jobs newly available for female city dwellers outside the home. Before then, if a woman was seen to be dining by herself in public she would have been classed as a prostitute. The paintings ability to create such a symbolic message indicates Hopper’s brilliance and why he is such an adored American Great.

‘From Williamsburg Bridge,’ Edward Hopper, 1982

‘Table for Ladies,’ Edward Hopper, 1930

Two days after the MET, I visited the MoMA and it is easily the best museum I have ever seen. I couldn’t believe I was standing looking at some of the most famous pieces of art. There was a strong influence of American Pop art, consisting of Andy Warhol’s incredibly famous ‘Soup cans,’ Keith Haring’s mural-esque work ‘untitled,’ Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns and Jackson Pollock. Furthermore, I just casually strolled past the likes of Barbra Kruger, Wolf Vostell, Janet Sobel (an influence in Pollock’s work), a whole section dedicated to Picasso and Henri Matisse. I was amazed at finding Frida Kahlo’s self-portrait, as it’s an image which has been used in popular culture so many times as an image for feminism, it was interesting to witness how small it is. The same could be said for Salvador Dali’s ‘Persistence of Memory.’ Seeing Dali’s work was amazing, having seen the image so many times previously I was shocked to find the piece was so small.

‘Campbells Soup Cans,’ Andy Warhol, 1962

The last room I properly explored included such symbolic artists it is hard to showcase this through words. Firstly, James Ensor’s piece ‘Masks Confronting Death.’ It is a piece of work I would never have expected to have seen, after I studied the artist in GCSE, I grew fascinated by the way he produced his horrifying artwork and to see it in person was amazing. Next to his work was Seurat, Edvard Munch and lastly Vincent Van Gogh. The two pieces of Van Gogh’s artwork was his ‘Portrait of Joseph Roulin’ and ‘Starry Night.’ To see ‘Starry Night’ in person made me speechless, It was so amazing because it was so famous, I have never been obsessed with Van Gogh’s artwork and would rather visit a piece by an artist I actually adore however to see his art was memorable. Considering people race across Europe when an exhibition of his work opens, it was astonishing to see it in the flesh.

‘Masks Confronting Death,’ James Ensor ,1888

In the MoMA I did see another piece by Edward Hopper, ‘New York Movie.’ The Painting was produced in 1939, the same year the first movie was made in colour. The movies during this period was to become engrossed by the whole experience of a cinema. What become apparent is how sparse the cinema is. Hopper’s style is distinctive, as he has managed to use an area which is associated to an emotionally joyful place. Typically, busy and compact, Hopper has reversed the expectation into a deserted and virtually unpopulated space. No one has any interactions, similar to all of his art. The screen is marginalized and ignores the happy experience but emphasizes the isolation to create a melancholy atmosphere.

Viewing Hopper’s work in the flesh is incredibly important for my FMP. His work isn’t as vast as I expected but rather, they appeared small and very rough textured. The paint work is what surprised me the most. It was thickly painted, there was patches of white in certain points where he hadn’t completely covered the canvas. In response to this piece, I wanted to understand a New York cinema and see the changes from Hopper’s painting. Additionally, seeing the artwork made it obvious of the theme focusing on isolation, detachment and capturing a moment. Visiting New York certainly lived up to my expectations, the longer I was there the more I want to come back. Leaving the apartment become a drug, just to catch a glimpse of the New York lifestyle and experience.

‘Tables for Ladies,’ Edward Hopper, 1931

#newyork #newyorkcity #art #edwardhopper #moma #themet #cityscapes

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2020recommendanime · 5 years ago

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Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun and the Power of Visuals

Unique animation and background art can be selling points when it pertains to whether an individual decides to watch a new series. Although great story writing and characters can create an amazing series, it is difficult to know these two qualities without first watching the anime itself (as well as reading the light novel or manga). The easiest way to impress a person into watching a show without any prior knowledge is to have an interesting art style. This sort of technique is used in more than just Japanese animation, but also in other countries such as The United States with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Loving Vincent. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse brings a comic book to life by using frames and onomatopoeia words, while Loving Vincent was hand-painted using stop-motion. With these concepts, movies that would have been a simple crossover and a documentary would be dull and not cause more people to watch and marvel at what is to come. The anime and manga of Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun do just that; the animation and background art draws people in to enjoy what is to come.

Figure 1 Persichetti, Ramsey, Rothman, “Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse”

Figure 2 Kobiela, Welchman, "Loving Vincent"

The Impact of Visuals

As with other art forms, anime has its general groups where you can expect a certain art style to go along with the concept; seinen (mature themes) are often done with more darker schemes and muted styles, shounen (aimed at boys) is brighter and smoother, hentai (animated porn) focuses on exposure and shojo (aimed at girls) is bubbly and sparkly. While there are these general groups, there are subgroups that contain their own styles, and even then, there are always exceptions. As mentioned before, Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun is one of these exceptions.

As stated on Mangakalot, Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun is a shounen that includes comedy, supernatural, and school life themes. With these themes, the first thought would be to compare this to shows such as Noragami and Natsume's Book of Friends. Both Noragami and Natsume's Book of Friends are stereotypical looking anime with thin lines, dry colors, and standard scenery. While these shows are impressive with their storytelling and inclusive to supernatural myths, the amount of uniqueness and creatively put into the art style does not instantly draw the viewers in.

Figure 3 Tamura, "Noragami"

Figure 4 Miyake, "Natsume's Book of Friends"

Although I can go on and describe Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun’s animation and background, James Beckett from AnimeNewsNetwork summaries it perfectly: “The environments feel hand-crafted, like they were plucked out of an especially evocative picture-book, and the way the show uses overlays of comic panels to break up some of the gags and establishing shots makes everything even more painterly.” This kind of exceptional work is common with the producers and directors of the show. As reported from AnimeNewsNetwork, Studio Lerche employed director Masaomi Andō, writer Yasuhiro Nakanishi, character designer Mayuka Itou, and animation producer Yūji Higa. Both Masaomi Andō and Yūji Higa have previously collaborated for a child-like show, Hakumei and Mikochi. With this team, they would go forward to produce another amazing series.

Figure 5 Andou, "Hakumei and Mikochi"

There are three important factors that go into making Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun series’ art special: manga frames, vibrant colors, and creative lighting.

Manga Frames

When discussing this subject, it is important to remember its origins. When reading manga, the frames and panels are outlined boxes stacked against each other that contain drawings and words. This concept is common across manga and comics alike but employing this type of style of boxes containing drawings is not common in anime. As referenced at the beginning, the American movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse uses the same notion with it being a parody towards superhero comic books. Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun does this in a similar fashion with its manga-inspired animation.

(Below will be images for this example) Episode 6 of Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun features many examples of manga frames, but for this example, we are focusing on a screencap from time 3:42. The screencap has two visual planes, in the background is an open book with a red page reading “Future” while in the foreground is Yashiro Nene’s, the main character, face being shown within white manga-panel borders. This image shows an interesting way to convey Yashiro talking while still being able to see what she was talking about on-screen. This scene is comparative to the one drawn in the manga. In the manga, the panel that has the book and “Future” is read first, then the next frame has Yashiro talking about what she is looking at. The way the producers decided to adapt to this scene is interesting; they were able to see the original concept and impact, but also integrated the feeling of being able to still see the first image while also continuing to read/watch on.

Figure 6 Andou, "Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun" Ep 6

Figure 7 Aida, "Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun" Chp 11

Vibrant Colors

Different anime may use color schemes to enhance themes, specific events, or symbolism. Color is everywhere in anime, and it is important for the animators to place certain colors in places to bring meaning or impact to the watchers. A popular example of this is in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure where the color scheme inverts at random yet important times during the episodes, which brings about the weird and unique flare that this series holds. A series does not need wild color changes to be recognizable.

The very first noticeable feature of Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun is how bright and lively the art looks. James Beckett’s description that this show looks like a picture book is accurate in this sense. Children’s books often have bold and contrasting colors to allow for easy viewing and longer attention spans. Rachel Pancare wrote a Sciencing article title, “How Do Bright Colors Appeal to Kids?” which states, “Bright colors catch young children's eyes because they help kids to distinguish objects from one another in their field of vision. Children spend more time looking at bright colors as opposed to looking at muted shades or pastels.” While this is true, some of the tones and circumstances within the show are not child-friendly, and even then, the coloration and art style are still able to bring the fear that is needed.

Figure 8 Andou, "Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun" Ep 1

Figure 9 Andou, "Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun" Ep 1

Creative Lighting

Lighting can be used in many different forms; it is used to brighten a landscape, a special character or object, or to create a certain atmosphere. In the average anime, lighting may not be diverse but may be only used to brighten the landscape so that the viewers can watch. There would be no major variation or casting that would change the mood of the scene. At times, there is seemingly no direct light source, but just everything is filled with brightness by either the sun, indoor lights, or for no reason. If the setting is at night, a streetlight may light up a character but that is seemingly the only option. Incredible anime typically takes a dive into using light sources and shadows dynamically, especially when there is a dramatic scene or an object that needs to be emphasized.

Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun possesses the traits of having various light sources and accurately placed shadows, but there is another layer that is added. An integral part of the art style is that light can take a variety of shapes, but usually hexagonal. The pictures below demonstrate this; a light that emanates from the lamps and the lenses flare are hexagons, providing a creative change other than the usual faded circle of light surrounding an object. The other light sources are the light blue, glowing gems and the sunlight from the window. These two light sources provide the rest of the scene to be lit but within proportion to how bright the source is. Shadows are used accurately as well, causing darkness on the two character’s backs as well as slopping downward on the stall doors. These small additions can contribute greatly to the finished product and can transform how a scene is seen and the feelings that are derived from it.

Figure 10 Andou, "Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun" Ep 6

Figure 11 Andou, "Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun" Ep 1

Conclusion

The three essential components to Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun are creative lighting, vibrant colors, and manga frames. Analyzing and discovering what goes into a series can improve your experience and create a deeper devotion to the content. With this being said, not all shows that have the typical animation style and dull background are bad, but that they need to be analyzed in other areas and be appreciated in those. Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun deserves praise and attention for its art style, and studios should look after this show and put forth the effort to make more series like this.

When considering what new series, you may watch or if you would want to stop watching a series, stop and think for a moment, “Does this art style impress me? Was the effort of the animators shown?” If the answers to the questions is “yes,” then I recommend that you follow through and continue watching that series. While storytelling and character development are important aspects to a show, there is more to the story than that. So, take a minute, turn the volume off on your favorite anime and watch—does the art tell a story? Does it make you laugh, scared, sad, or any emotion? Looking out for these feelings is important, and so is analyzing why this show may look so wonderful, because the smallest details matter the most, and it shows the dedication and love the creators have for the series.

#hanako-kun #toilet bound hanako kun #WINTER 2020 #anime #mini essay #manga

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