#Caliban

[terkmc]

"After any attack with this weapon, you may smack an adjacent character with the butt end"

[karrakincavalrycollege]

A rather concerning point made by some of our senior staff (Underbaron Iphianassa), perhaps it should be investigated?

[guitars-in-trees]

This is how it feels having a caliban pilot in the squad

[squidelyfish]

Time traveling champion taking a snack break.

A.k.a. my Drifter and his Warframe taking a breather from the Hex's shenanigans.

[warframestuff]

Caliban Deluxe Concept art by Dejan Ostojic

Caliban Deluxe Summons Concept Art by Dejan Ostojic

[peepingthehorrorsrespectfully]

evil ship proposal

Trickstercule (plus their ace shenanigans buddy)

[abybweisse]

Ch216 (p3); The Tempest

So, the play being performed is Shakespeare's The Tempest.

I didn't know that Victorian nobles tended to keep their children away from touring theaters, but I guess it really depends on the play. It could be that the typical audience was more distasteful than the usual program itself? 🤷🏻‍♀️

I think it's Sebastian who first mentions the title.

The description as a romance might seem odd, but at the time a "romance" was more of a fictional adventure story, nothing like what we'd now call a "romance" these days. Ivanhoe was referred to as a romance novel, for example; the stories often include the theme of love, but adventure is typically the main focus.

As Sebastian says, there's definitely a parallel between the play's plot and what's playing out in the manga. But this can be seen from two opposing perspectives: our earl wants revenge, but isn't that also what real Ciel has been seeking, in his own way? Each twin feels betrayed and exiled or abandoned. Each wants to reclaim his status and get revenge. Each one is being accompanied and assisted by preternatural creatures, too. We see Ariel here, but we don't see Caliban. Hmm 🤔

Just what changes were made to make it suitable for all ages? Also, I can't help but notice the way the play's scenes are drawn in the manga -- very flash and sparkly -- this can't be how it really looks on that stage. Why illustrate it that way? I can only guess that it's how it's perceived in the imagination of the audience... a bit like the performances put on by the circus troupe when they kidnapped children in the streets.

Our earl isn't so old that he'd truly dislike the carousel (even adults tend to be nostalgic about them), but he's not likely to ever admit it.

But who is the person who watches them walk away?

And do they even realize (yet) that they are being watched?

I feel a storm coming....

[moiderahart]

"My take is that you can stop focusing on your issues if you empty enough ships."

My character BULLHEAD, and her IPS-N Caliban, the BAD TAKE.

[spidefox]

Hallo im not really sure if im gonna post as much as before cus uni started to morally kill me and yeees

So i mostly draw wips, sketches and studies now, gonna show more of this in the near future, sowwy

[indilaras]

Some messy Calibans and a Tahraim

[xmencompletionistgirl]

Alright, I guess this is my "yap about the Fall of the Mutants" post? This is my first major milestone completed while I'm running this blog so I'll ramble for a bit. This isn't really an event in the traditional sense, like, none of the X-titles actually cross over in meaningful ways other than a member of one book learning about the goings-on of another book via the news or something. So there isn't a grand narrative to comment on, the connecting thread is thematic, I guess. It's really just a glorified status quo change-up, which all events are in theory, but it doesn't actually really have the crossover element of the event which is kind of the selling point, so??? either way I'll talk about each book one at a time

(Uncanny X-Men #225-227)

May as well start with Uncanny. Shockingly, I don't have a ton to say. I think it was fine, but not amazing. Tbh I feel like Claremont's writing falters a bit whenever he's writing about 'end of the world' type stuff on a cosmological scale. The Phoenix Saga is great, but beyond that when he does these 'end of the universe' things it's all very similar, like a mini-Phoenix Saga repackaged. He's in love with these sweeping concepts of the world being in balance, very New Age, and he gets sort of lost in it. I don't have a great way of articulating it, though, and I'll save some of my deeper thoughts on his writing for a big fat Claremont era post once I finish his run. Some cool visuals anyway, and I'm glad that Storm has her powers back. We'll see where the 'world thinks the X-Men are dead' stuff goes, but I'm guessing it's not going to last very long.

(Power Pack #33)

X-Factor, also fine. Also not a ton to say. It was probably the weakest of the 3 overall, but not for lack of trying. I just find these early Apocalypse stories kind of dry? They aren't really saying much with his character, at least not yet. Not a fan of the 'dumb Beast' stuff either, no idea how long that last. I hope this leads to a power reset with him and getting his blue fur back, I really don't like looking at hairless Silver Age Beast. That being said, thank GOD X-Factor as Mutant Hunters era is over. Jfc what a bad concept. Simonson did her best to salvage it but you can physically feel her grating against the concept with every issue she writes. I feel so bad for her for inheriting Bob Layton's mess.

Oh I almost forgot; I hate Caliban in this?? Like, I really don't buy his turn to Apocalypse at all :( Probably the only part of this event that made me a bit irritated.

Every non-X-book tie-in was related to X-Factor, for some reason, also. It's really the only part of all of this that feels like a big event, but it's downplayed. Power Pack and Daredevil all the clear standouts. Really good. Pictured above, the Power Pack issue does a phenomenal job of selling the scale of it from a kids' perspective. Everything is on this incomprehensible scale and watching this giant rectangle of a spaceship knock into stuff in New York really sells how big of a threat Apocalypse is. And Daredevil is an on-the-street version of that, moreso focused on how New Yorkers react to this battle and think that the end of the world is here. It's a very human story and I really should read Nocenti's Daredevil run sometime, it seems pretty good.

The Fantastic Four tie-in was painfully average and the Captain America one was awful. Avoid them lol, they are very mired in their own continuity. Luckily I was familiar enough with the F4's history that I caught on quick, but they are in a VERY weird era here. No Reed or Sue, the Thing is in his pointy rock-skin era, She-Thing just got made, Doctor Doom has been ousted from Latveria... just madness. As for Cap, it's more comprehensible but it's just not very good. They're in the John Walker era and Steve has been forced out of the role (and is wearing USAgent's future costume), but he and Falcon and... *checks notes* Demolition Man a.k.a. D-Man and Nomad-but-not-the-Steve-Rogers-one,-the-Jack-Munroe-one (alright?) go and stop Famine from destroying a fuckton of crops in Nebraska or something and that's it, that's the whole tie-in. No mention of X-Factor iirc. Really weird book.

(New Mutants Vol. 1 #60)

And now, the New Mutants. Once again the BEST X-Family book. I'm a New Mutants girlie, I will stan them until my dying breath and that is THAT. I have so much to say. The book is great, Sunspot and Warlock are back, and the falling out with Magneto and the death of Doug actually sells the event!! It really feels like only they go through a status quo change worthy of the name 'The Fall of the Mutants'. It's a fairly average adventure for them to start with, and there's a bit too much fixation on a fairly uncompelling villain for my liking, but at the end of #60, a switch flicks. Doug dies in a really brutal, unceremonious way. He's just shot by the villain of the arc and that's it. He's dead.

(New Mutants Vol. 1 #60)

(New Mutants Vol. 1 #61)

I love. LOVE. Watching Illyana go demon mode on these guys. No notes. Please more of this before she's uh, out of commission until like 2007 lol.

(New Mutants Vol. 1 #61)

And then #61 is mourning. Everyone lashing out at each other and Magneto... being Magneto, ultimately pushes everyone away out of fear. I don't think my screenshots can capture it, it's really great stuff. (Also, that panel of Illyana crying about pretending to be a normal kid while sitting next to the body of her dead friend? Art.)

(Uncanny X-Men #227)

I almost forgot about this, but in Uncanny #227 we get a checkup with Kitty and Kurt, who are back! The sigh of relief I let out omg. I didn't even realize how much I missed them or how long it's been. Excalibur soon!!!!

Overall, it was alright! I'd say it's a step up from Mutant Massacre at least, which I thought was a bit all over the place. Events were a new concept back then though, and very clearly an editorial mandate, so I guess that's to be expected. I'd say read it if you're a Claremont era fan or an event completionist, but otherwise, eh. Not terrible, not mindblowing.

Except for New Mutants. That was great. Did I turn my Fall of the Mutants post into a New Mutants shill post? Yes I did and I won't apologize

[inmymagnetoera]

List of X-Men characters (not all because I'm not that knowledgeable) who have one or more disabilities, because representation matters!

Charles Xavier: Paraplegia and chronic pain.

Erik Lehnsherr: PTSD

Logan Howlett: Chronic pain

Wade Wilson: Severe Disfigurement

Irene Adler: Blindness

Laura Kinney: Chronic pain

Scott Summers: Blindness (Without his glasses)

Calibano: Xeroderma pigmentosum (sun allergy)

Nathan Summers: Parts of the body modified due to the virus contracted as a newborn (his arm, his eye, etc.)

David Haller: Dissociative identity disorder (DID)

If you have more let me know, i'll make a part 2!

[the-tenth-arcanum]

unlovable creatures quotes from: the tempest, shakespeare // henry vi part 3, shakespeare // frankenstein, mary shelley // frankenstein (play), nick dear

[searyyn]

Caliban and his little friend

[whencyclopedia]

The Tempest

The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare (c. 1564-1616), written in 1610 or 1611, and first performed for the court of James I of England (r. 1603-1625) on 2 November 1611. Believed to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote on his own, The Tempest deals with both tragic and comic themes, leading some literary critics to label it under the category of 'romance' or 'tragicomedy'.

Sources & Themes

Unlike many of Shakespeare's other works, there does not seem to be a direct literary source for The Tempest. Instead, it seems that Shakespeare was inspired by accounts of New World exploration, which was gaining traction during that time. Shakespeare had likely heard accounts of Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigation of the world and had read Richard Rich's News from Virginia (1610). One of his main sources was William Strachey's A True Reportory of the Wreck and Redemption...from the Islands of the Bermudas, an eyewitness account of the wreck of the Sea Venture, a ship that went down off the coast of Bermuda in 1609. Since Strachey's full manuscript was not published until after Shakespeare's death, it is thought that the playwright had access to an early draft. Certainly, the excitement surrounding the discoveries in the Western Hemisphere provided the fabric of The Tempest's plot, even though it is narratively set on an island in the Mediterranean.

The island on which the play is set, in the words of David Bevington, is a place of "magical rejuvenation", a realm of art where "everything is controlled by the artist-figure" (818). In this way, the island itself is like a stage, and Prospero with his magic is like Shakespeare with his pen. There are several references within the play to theatre and actors, leaving some scholars to speculate that The Tempest may have been Shakespeare's way of saying farewell to his career, since it was the last play he wrote alone.

Another theme is that of colonialism, most clearly demonstrated with Prospero coming to the island, enslaving the native Caliban, and forcing Ariel to do his will. There are obvious parallels to the concurrent European colonization of the Americas, but Shakespeare's audience would have been more likely to think of the English exploitation of Ireland, which had taken an especially brutal turn. Caliban's enslavement, though presented by Prospero as necessary to prevent rape and disorder, nevertheless raises questions of oppression and control and leaves the audience to wonder whether Prospero's attempts to 'civilize' Caliban and contain his otherness has produced a worthy result.

Read More

⇒ The Tempest

[buryam-soul]

What a way to make a comeback