#Simon: why does Jess get a positive one? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sepublic · 5 years ago

Text

Origami and New Apex!

…Y’know.

I kind of half-expected Simon to, y’know…

…But I didn’t expect it like THIS.

When he fell I thought that was it! Perfectly karmic given what he did to Tuba! But then Grace saved him, and I was like… Dude there’s no way you can truly hate her now, she just stuck her neck out for you after you tried to KILL her, she genuinely wants and cares for you as a person and even if she doesn’t always get along she wants to make up for what she did and she wants to see YOU be happy and alive, just for your sake!

…So in all honesty YEAH, Simon deserved to die for kicking Grace off anyway. She couldn’t even threaten his position with his top number.

And, like… I was FINE with the idea of him being separated from the rest, and forced to figure things out on his own away from others he could hurt! At the very least I wasn’t outright opposed to the idea of Simon having a redemption, but also coincidentally getting the shit beaten out of him everyday, somehow, because Fate decrees that as karma!

Well. All I can say is that Tuba is probably fortnite-dancing in heaven over this, so! I guess I can’t be TOO sad…

…And Grace. OHHHH Grace you messed-up person. You are SO messed-up, it’s genuinely surreal seeing people like Tulip, Jesse, and Lake be happy at the end; Like sure Grace may have sicced Mace and Sieve upon Lake, but Lake got the last laugh in that she’s actually happy and not haunted by the guilt of the objectively-horrible things she’s done!

It’s really wild seeing that the ‘denizen’ who chased Grace was actually just the Steward, who can fly now…? Regardless, finding out that Amelia didn’t even knowingly interact with Grace, and the circumstances of seeing her arm reach out from the pod… It makes a lot more sense what happened, as well as the idea of Grace –not too far off of the spot- assuming Amelia was the Conductor and a man, because why would she be hiding her voice? Who would she be hiding it from?

(Plot twist: She’s not hiding her voice, Amelia is instead trying to listen to someone else’s…)

But yeah, it says a lot more about why Amelia does not feel any guilt at all, and while I wouldn’t put it past her character to forget an interaction with some child… It also makes a lot more sense this way, that Amelia just had NO awareness of Grace in that situation whatsoever, but to a desperate and scared kid, she seemed like a god!

And let me tell you, as someone who’s already watching another show with an abused kid who’s got emotionally-neglectful parents… COME ON, Grace looks beautiful in that dress! What kind of parent sees their kid happily playing dress-up and doesn’t want to cheer them on?! Or at least tell them, “If you don’t want to meet the ambassador right now, you can do your own thing! But Mommy and Daddy also have to do this, we’ll be right back with you!” Like jeez… Also, the revelation of the Infinity Train appearing indoors, and even dressing up its appearance to others!

Now it just comes across as a cruel siren! Like it could appear RIGHT BEHIND me as I’m typing this… Remember when Book 1 was like, “Oh this train is scary… No wait it’s GOOD actually!” And then Book 2 said, “Okay this Train is imperfect, but ultimately it means well and does well in the end, right?” And then Book 3 was just, “Okay this train is just straight-up terrible. Jeez just let people figure out their issues in a normalway.”

Hazel… poor Hazel. She deserves SO much better than this, she started off so happy and unconditionally loving, so innocent and pleased with Tuba, she didn’t WANT to leave and then all Simon and Grace did was take everything away from Hazel and leave her traumatized, cynical, and betrayed! She got NOTHING from her interactions with them, besides hanging around with Amelia I guess… But Amelia’s got her issues. I do agree though, she IS snappily-dressed, and hopefully these two can help each other…

…I just wish Grace got to say sorry for straight-up ruining Hazel’s life though.

Simon, oh Simon! I think The Cat saw this coming… If she heard the news, she’d be disappointed yet not surprised, and I think a part of her had come to terms with this inevitability by now. It says a lot that even after the memory of Grace being a kid and risking her own life to save him, amidst everything else, he STILL acted out of spite. I have to say, it’s interesting seeing that Ghom flying around, when normally they’re always buried in the dirt of the wasteland!

In Book 1, Tulip accidentally led a Ghom onto the train and left it behind… Do some Ghoms get tired of waiting, or get stuck on the train in their pursuit, and start roaming around? Regardless, given this show’s allusions towards thing being fated, I have to wonder if it was just that; By the decree of Fate that a Ghom would just be randomly flying around at this point in time, at this SPECIFIC car…! Imagine if it was the same one that had chased Simon all those years ago.

…Also JEEZ DID THEY NEED TO BE THAT GRAPHIC!?! I knew HBO Max was a way for the writers to tackle more mature things, but this was straight-up a SKELETON, this was out of Indiana Jones or something! Owen wasn’t thinking, “Is this too far…?” When writing Simon’s death. He was thinking “Is this FAR ENOUGH…?”

I’ve had past speculation before that passengers who die are reincarnated into denizens. It seems like the Ghom was about to transform or something when it poofed… Either way it was clearly made with some purpose in mind, because what creature would choose to feed on something if doing so would result in its death? It’s clearly another programmed feature of the Infinity Train with a horrific purpose…

…That could’ve happened to Tulip also-

Not so sure about Lake, Mace, and Alan Dracula since they’re denizens, but alas. Regardless I have to wonder if the Ghom teleported somewhere and transformed into a denizen, if Simon was reborn as one as penance for sins too high to count, like others before him… If he’ll atone for his past life by helping others heal, since he clearly could not heal himself! Maybe we’ll see a denizen in a hypothetical Book 4 with a voice just like Simon’s, in a situation similar to Terrance the Toad…

Maybe that’s who Terrance was, a passenger so awful and beyond redemption that he was absorbed by a Ghom and converted into a denizen as a liability to others! And that him choosing to willingly offer himself up to be kicked by Jesse and Lake, just to see them get away and be happy… That was HIS redemption, which led to Fate allowing Terrance to escape his life of being kicked constantly! Sure he still gets kicked, but it’s an active choice and one he gets to benefit from, so can he complain?

This season KILLED me. I want off the train. I’m really wondering if we’ll EVER see who made the Infinity Train, if it was even a person and not something that’s been around since the beginning of people and their issues themselves…

…SERIOUSLY. If you have the money to spare, do it NOW, because you aren’t just paying to watch Book 3. You are LITERALLY PAYING for Book 4! You are literally, personally funding Book 4’s very existence by this point people! So if you want a resolution for poor Hazel, and maybe Amelia, and MAYBE a reconciliation between the two and Grace… YA GOTTA PAY! Because if you don’t then there’s a good chance that it’s not just you who doesn’t get to watch it, it’s everybody else!

And I don’t meant to guilt-trip, I just want the situation to be understood, all right? So with that in mind…

…Maybe until the next stop, you guys!

(Also no One-One. We do get a badge shaped like him and those little robots similar in appearance, so it really is just Randall and The Cat who are constants here huh?”

#infinity train #infinity train spoilers #spoilers #infinity train book 3 #infinity train season 3 #infinity train cult of the conductor #infinity train grace #grace monroe #infinity train simon #simon laurent #infinity train hazel #infinity train tuba #infinity train amelia #amelia hughes

108 notes · View notes

fermented-writers-block · 5 years ago

Text

In light of the Infinity Train Comic-Con panel dropping today, I’d like to make a prediction based off the sypnosis of Book 3:

In Book 3, Grace and Simon are the leaders of the Apex, an anarchic group of kids on a mysterious train. During one of their destructive missions, Grace and Simon get separated from the rest of the Apex and must find their way back. As the duo navigate through the myriad worlds of the train, they meet Hazel, an optimistic young girl, and Tuba, her gentle gorilla companion. Will Grace and Simon find new inspiration in Hazel’s innocence, or will the ways of the Apex recruit yet another aboard the train?

With the likelihood that Book 3 will center around empathy and why one treats another as ‘the other’ from Owen’s past interviews about a potential third season, it seems incredibly likely that over the course of the season, Grace and maybe Simon will start to bond and empathize with and for Hazel.

However, around a little past halfway through the season, I predict that Grace, Simon, Hazel, and Tuba will meet back up with the rest of the Apex only to find that the kids have only just internalized Grace’s ideals further and gotten worse in their absence. And with how much they may have been looking forward to reuniting with Grace and Simon, it would be VERY easy for them to become rather jealous and angry over the closeness the two might have established with Hazel - a child they had never met before and would feel like she just popped up out of nowhere - at that point.

From there, we would have the basic makings of Book 3’s “episode 7,” especially when you remember how Grace showed Jesse what the Apex does with stuff they don’t like, like terrible tasting candy.

To add on top of that, with how prominently Grace is depicted in the poster as putting on her gloves, it feels incredibly likely to me that we will get a reversal of Tulip’s struggle with her glove. In Book 1, Tulip had intentionally left her glove on because she didn't want to look at her number, but eventually grew and found out that it had changed in a way she wanted.

On the flipside with Grace here, it seems that she only wears her gloves simply because she likes it rather than a deliberate active choice she’s making, and in contrast to Tulip, it feels to me like Grace will take off her glove only to find that it had changed in a way she didn’t want, and at the most inopportune time at that.

After all, Hazel’s very existence would challenge her ideas about how the train works and how to treat ‘nulls,” and after how much she may have bonded with the girl, Grace would be faced with a crossroads in the form of the Apex kids’ treatment of Hazel.

Either she lets them do what they want to Hazel and keep her own ideology intact about the division between humans and ‘nulls,’ or she stops them and acknowledges the difference or lack thereof between the two in her protection of Hazel, and I think that she will definitely be leaning towards the latter.

I mean, just picture Grace realizing what they're going to do because of the ideas she had put into their heads, thinking to herself, 'I have the highest number, so they have to listen to me.’

And then she takes her glove, ready to prove her power and position as leader only to find to her horror that not only has her number gone down, but it is even lower than the rest of the kids’ numbers.

Or in other words, she would have grown as a person through her bond and defense of Hazel, and by virtues of that same growth as a result of her own ideology being turned against her, she would be powerless to make the kids listen to her and stop them from what they’re about to do.

Aka wheeling Hazel ‘like the null she is.’

#infinity train #infinity train theory #prediction #speculation

112 notes · View notes

abigailnussbaum · 5 years ago

Text

Infinity Train, S1-3

Infinity Train is a Cartoon Network animated series (now transferred to HBO Max) that premiered last year. Three seasons, each made up of ten 10-minute episodes, have aired, so you can watch the whole thing in an afternoon. The premise is quite familiar - the titular train picks up passengers (mostly, though not always, children) who are at some kind of crossroads in their lives. As they traverse cars filled with challenges, puzzles, dangers, and sometimes just nifty environments to explore, the passengers work through whatever issue brought them on to the train. Their progress towards wellness is reflected in a number that appears on their hand, and when the number drops to zero a vortex appears and returns them to their home. The train also contains native inhabitants, usually referred to as “denizens”, who sometimes help the passengers, sometimes hinder them, and are often just going about their own lives.

Like I said, the sort of premise familiar from many children’s stories, in which a character who is struggling with some important challenge or milestone is whisked off to a fantasy setting that just happens to have been tailored to help them work through their problems. The execution is pretty fantastic, with both the writing and animation striking a compelling mixture of humor and emotional depth. The train itself is a wonderful creation, vast and often surreal or even phantasmagorical, and the denizens are quirky and winning in their own right, not just as reflections of the passengers’ needs. The show also features an absolutely stacked voice cast, with guest appearances from Kate Mulgrew, Bradley Whitford, Ernie Hudson, Lena Headey, and many others.

But what I find fascinating about Infinity Train is how, almost from the first episode, it sets to work examining the core assumptions of its story template, chiefly the idea that the train is helping people, and that its kind of help is effective and positive. As someone who grew up on stories like Infinity Train and didn’t question their premise until I got older, it’s fun to watch a show that leans right into those inherent problems.

The first season of Infinity Train tells its story pretty straight. Our protagonist is Tulip, a tween who is struggling with her parents’ recent divorce. When a scheduling snafu between them leaves Tulip unable to get to a youth coding camp she’d been dreaming of, she impulsively runs away from home, and ends up being picked up by the train. There, she’s quickly joined by a royal corgi called Atticus, and a scatterbrained robot called One-One, who try to help her in her journey towards the train’s engine. Along the way, the trio are menaced by a sinister, semi-robotic figure who is destroying the environments in the train’s cars, and who seems to be fixated on One-One.

Even in this fairly basic spin on the story, a few reservations crop up: first, Tulip doesn’t actually have a real problem. Yes, her parents’ divorce has put a strain on her, but she still seems fairly well-adjusted - she has friends and interests and, apart from the ill-advised decision to run away, doesn’t seem to be acting out in dangerous ways. The things she learns over the course of her journey through the train - to face up to the hurt that her family’s breakdown has caused her, to admit that her parents’ marriage wasn’t perfect, to realize that their divorce wasn’t her fault, to ask for help when she needs it - are probably things she would have figured out as she gained some distance from the trauma of the divorce (or, for that matter, that any halfway-decent child psychologist would have helped her realize). It’s hard to justify a cosmic interference in her life, much less one that puts her in mortal danger, as the journey up the Infinity Train often does

And sure, this is a children’s adventure story, so it’s far more compelling to watch the child protagonist struggle with real danger (that is always avoided at the last possible minute) than attend a therapy session. Even if, as adult viewers, we might see the whole thing as unjustifiably risky. But the thing is, Tulip herself very quickly expresses resentment towards the train. When she realizes that the number on her hand drops when she does something healthy and good, Tulip’s reaction is anger, and for a while she refuses to cooperate with the system, covering her hand and refusing to consider how her actions are affecting her number. Even within the children’s adventure template, the child protagonist says what most of us would feel in her situation - that being kidnapped and made to jump through hoops for the sake of some seemingly arbitrary, numerical value of “wellness” is high-handed and manipulative, and encourages hostility and suspicion, rather than participation in the train’s system.

Ultimately, Tulip goes back to playing along with the train’s scheme and benefits from it. She gets her number down to zero fairly quickly, and gets to go back home. But along the way she also solves the mystery of the train’s mysterious villain, who turns out to be another passenger, Amelia, who was picked up by the train after the death of her husband. Instead of letting the train walk her through her grief and learn to accept it, Amelia tried to take over the train and use its reality-bending capabilities to recreate her lost husband. Along the way she’s committed so many acts of abuse and mayhem that her number has extended all the way to her neck. So even once Tulip talks her down and convinces her to stop hurting people, they both acknowledge that she’s never going to get off the train (oh, and by the way, the journey on the train happens in real time, so Amelia is now an old woman).

Now, it should be obvious that Amelia’s problem was significantly more complex and fraught than Tulip’s, and rather than helping her, the train gave her a venue to indulge her grief to anti-social, even psychotic extremes. So at the end of the first season, we’ve encountered two passengers. One who benefitted from the train’s system (after some initial hostility) but who also probably didn’t need its help that badly. And one who did need serious help, but instead got an opportuntity to screw her life up even more than it already was, and probably irrevocably. Not a great track record, in other words.

The second season mixes things up a bit by making its protagonist a train denizen, and giving us a behind the scenes look at the train’s community when the passengers aren’t there. MT (or: Mirror Tulip) is a character first encountered in the first season, whom Tulip helped to escape from the mirror world. She’s being pursued by mirror cops who want to destroy her, and in the process of evading them, she comes across a passenger, Jesse, and decides to help him get his number down so that she can piggyback on his exit and evade her pursuers. Jesse initially seems like he doesn’t belong on the train - he’s almost preternaturally friendly and happy-go-lucky. But it’s eventually revealed that his willingness to go along and get along is fairly indiscriminate, and leaves him prey to stronger personalities, as when he tolerates and even enables the violent bullying of his younger brother.

It’s a thornier problem than Tulip’s, not least for making it harder to sympathize with Jesse. But it’s also one that exposes the train system’s flaws, as Jesse is so passive that he doesn’t even try to move through cars and get his number down until MT lights a fire under him. And that, in turn, triggers MT’s own identity crisis, as she begins to wonder whether she has a right to exist as her own person, or whether her entire purpose is to reflect Tulip or help passengers.

That tension comes to a head when Jesse and MT encounter the Apex, a group of child passengers, led by teenagers Grace and Simon. The Apex have come up with a theory of the train’s nature that runs completely counter to its actual purpose - they believe the train is their reward, and that the system trying to bring their number down and send them back is cheating them. They strive to get their number as high as possible by committing acts of violence against the train’s denizens, whom they dub “nulls” - not real people, incapable of feeling pain.

Because S2 has been told from MT’s perspective, we know that the Apex are wrong about her and the other denizens (and in general, it’s not a good sign when someone says “this being, which exhibits all the signs of personhood and feeling, is actually not real, and is only shamming a form of suffering while feeling nothing”). But at the same time, it has to be acknowledged that this is an entirely plausible conclusion to draw from the evidence at hand. The train exists for the passeners. It has created environments and beings whose sole purpose is to interact with and affect the passengers. Why should those beings be real? Which is yet another failure point of the train’s system, because as both Tulip and Jesse’s stories show, developing connections with denizens is what spurs passengers to travel up the train and get better. The Apex have therefore interpreted the train’s system in a way that can only accomplish the exact opposite of what it was designed to do.

The show returns to Grace and Simon in its third season, in which we learn more about their history and their understanding of the train. We learn, for example, that Simon’s hostility towards denizens was sparked when the one who befriended him (The Cat, a character who appears in each of the show’s seasons) left him when they found themselves in a dangerous situation. And we learn that the Apex worship Amelia (whom they view as the train’s true conductor) and believe that the current system is a corruption of the one she intended, in which the passengers get to enjoy the train for as long as they like. In yet another demonstration of how open the train’s system is to misinterpretation, the Apex warn their new members that if they let their number get down to zero, they will “disappear”. Which is the same reaction Tulip had when she first witnessed another passenger departing, and, again, a thoroughly logical conclusion to reach given the evidence.

The season’s story involves Grace and Simon being separated from the rest of the Apex, and, in their attempts to get back to them, picking up a young passenger, Hazel, whom they try to initiate into their understanding of the train. The two teens’ interactions with Hazel shed light on the crucial difference between them. While Grace genuinely cares about the kids she’s gathered and sees herself as their protector, Simon only teaches Hazel about the train because he wants converts to his worldview, and validation for his anger at the Cat and other denizens. Once separated from the Apex and their regular schedule of destruction, Grace’s care for Hazel causes her number to go down, all the more so when she discovers that Hazel is really a denizen, and lies to Simon about it to protect her. Simon, meanwhile, only sinks further into his anger and resentment, and when he discovers Grace’s lie he sees it as a betrayal of everything they stand for. The conflict between them ultimately leads to a confrontation in which Simon is killed, while Grace reveals to the Apex that their conclusions about the train and its denizens were wrong, and that they need to come up with a new system.

So, to sum up, the Infinity Train:

Kidnaps people whom it perceives as being in need of help and holds them, sometimes for years or decades, until they achieve a predetermined threshold of wellness.

Advances this goal through a system of rewards and punishments that is so transparently manipulative, it alienates basically everyone who engages with it except the guy whose problem was being pathologically passive.

Relies for the success of this system on a community of denizens who haven’t signed on to it and who are often unsuited to the task of shepherding others towards growth.

Is so open to misinterpretation that a large chunk of the train’s passengers take the exact opposite message from it that they were meant to, which leads them to behavior that could put them permanently beyond being able to leave the train.

Sometimes kills people.

I’m pretty sure most of this is stuff I’m meant to be taking away from the show, but I also wonder how far Infinity Train is willing, or able, to take this idea. The open ending of S3, in which Grace, though headed in the right direction number-wise, is still nowhere near being able to leave the train, and also more focused on remaking the Apex into something more constructive, suggests that future seasons will get further into the question of whether the train can be reformed or made more productive. Or, conversely, the show could abandon its original premise and just become a story about the train, and the community of passengers and denizens that develops on it. I wonder, though, how much you can push against the inherent limitations of this premise - when you’ve got a story where getting better and more well-adjusted causes you to be forcibly ejected from the story, where does that leave you as far as plot progression and character development are concerned? There’s an inherent conflict to a world that is designed for a specific character (or group of characters). Infinity Train is fascinating for how it leans into that conflict, and I’m very curious to see how it handles its core contradiction going forward.

#infinity train

50 notes · View notes

argentdandelion · 5 years ago

Text

Grace Monroe is a Liar (And Why That’s a Good Thing)

Note: this article does not sufficiently weigh Simon’s bad behaviors in Episode 11, “The New Apex”. This article has been kept unmodified for posterity.

Grace Analysis

“You know Sheena...you were right. Chloe shouldn't smile until her parents can afford to give her braces."

Grace is not simply a liar, however: she is also, to put it plainly, fake. She’s something of a social chameleon, but rather than drastically changing her presentation to fit in, she dons a fabricated, friendly and encouraging persona to make others “fit” her own desires. She even has variants of her persona for different audiences. She sounds like a friendly “cool kid” to 15-year-old Jesse, claiming he was a “natural” on his first raid although he only halfheartedly kicked a cube. She acts like an adoring parent to the younger Apex kids, squatting to the level of shorter Apex children, praising their offerings, and telling them she’ll keep the offerings someplace special. To Hazel (and Tuba) she acts like a kindergarten teacher at the first day of school, simultaneously making Hazel excited about The Apex and acting assuring to Tuba.

The most striking evidence for Grace’s lying social-chameleon-esque acts is how much her mannerisms and very voice change when addressing the Apex kids and Jesse compared to addressing Simon. In the first and second episode, she feels open to banter and bicker with Simon, such as exchanging unflattering nicknames or saying she doesn’t want his “ripeness” (body odor) giving away their position; she treats no one else as a friend like this.

Grace is not simply an insincere “queen bee” highschooler-type, either. As Uncivilized Elk has pointed out in “Cult Recruitment in "The Mall Car" – Infinity Train Analysis & Review” (warning; profanity), intentionally or not Grace’s tactics with Jesse show a step-by-step plan to indoctrinate Jesse into the Apex’s worldview. She praises Jesse and acts as if she cares about him, but is only manipulating him to a particular end. For example, when Jesse thinks the candy tastes bad, she convinces him to throw it to the wheels of the train, telling him he can “do what he wants”. However, this is almost certainly a precursor to making Jesse accept “wheeling” (killing by throwing them to the train’s wheels) denizens. Furthermore, in “The Jungle Car” she misdirects Hazel on who’s to blame for an unpopular decision, minimizes it (saying Simon was “confused”) and “resolves” the problem almost immediately: very suspicious abuser or cult-like behavior.

Initially, she engages in cognitive empathy (internal emulation of the emotional states of others) without really caring about others, to figure out how people work and so manipulate them. She has a utilitarian sort of approach, changing her persona to make others do what she wants and change them. To be fair, it’s possible not all of her kindness and empathy is faked. When Jesse took his exit, Simon calls him “weak”, but Grace says he wasn’t weak, but misled, and says: "We just lost another human, Simon. Show some respect.” Still, she’s certainly not sincere, overall. For example, despite teaching him he can “do what he wants”, when what Jesse wants goes against The Apex, Grace and Simon immediately try to stop him.

However, over time, Grace's temporary, utilitarian approach of altering personas to her goal makes her "become the mask". She eventually finds it hard to justify her continued kind and compassionate acts to Hazel in relation to her Apex worldviews, and the contradiction causes her distress.

Simon Analysis

Simon, in contrast, lies much less than Grace and is more open about how he feels, especially in his disdain for Denizens. While he initially seems friendly, when Jesse’s off on a raid he has no patience with MT’s concerns and outright tells her to “get out of here before Jesse gets back. You can’t help him like we can.” (Possible: it didn’t occur to him that Jesse might still trust Lake, so being too mean to Lake would come back to bite him.) He is also more open about his disdain for nulls around Hazel, though it would clearly benefit him to tone it down before they can “ditch” Tuba.

Two of Simon’s more important deceptions are notably half-truths, not outright claims. He claims MT broke Todd’s ankle, which is technically true: Todd kicked MT’s metal body and in the process broke his ankle. Arguably, him saying “no one knows” where the passengers go is him honestly saying he doesn’t know exactly where they go; how could he know Jesse Cosay’s home was in Arizona, and which specific location? Indeed, sometimes he does not lie even would it be very practical to do so. For example, although acting as if he “couldn’t save her in time” and pretending to be deeply unsettled by Tuba’s death would have gotten rid of Tuba and not put Hazel’s cooperation into question, he outright tells Hazel he wheeled her. His attempt to comfort her about “never hav[ing] to worry about that null again” could suggest obliviousness to the viewpoints of others, but it could also be his version of trustworthy, straightforward honesty, in accordance with his own beliefs.

It’s important to note that, though Simon is more honest than Grace, he still lies, deceives, and manipulates others. The difference between them is finesse, speed, and frequency. Though Simon may think of Grace as his plaything, or come to think of her as such, it’s Grace who’s effective at making others her playthings, by manipulating her social presentation like a social chameleon.

Root Causes

Arguably, both Grace and Simon do not treat people as means in themselves, but means to an end: in essence, other passengers are treated as tools for their own goals. It’s interesting to see how much Grace and Simon treat Apex members (and each other) like they treat nulls: that they are “only good as they are useful”. When they stop being “useful”, in the sense of helping the Apex or each other according to plan, they eventually become aggressive. Admittedly, the change to aggression is slower and more complicated for Simon to Grace in Season 3; Simon’s end goal for Grace could easily have been “comfort and companionship”, which friends naturally give anyway.

Grace emphasizes Jesse’s ability to choose for himself, but when Jesse’s decision strays from The Apex’s values and Grace’s plans, she doesn’t let him go with a “you’re missing out, buddy” lamentation. Instead, she says: “I wanted to go for the easy way, but you made it hard” and shows the Flecs where Lake is, presumably so they can do the dirty work for them. Jesse has value to Grace as an Apex member, one under her control, and not in any other sense. Grace’s logic for showing Lake to the Flecs parallels Simon’s actions in trapping Grace in her own memory tape; he says “you made me do this”. The Cat outright says Simon treats Grace as an object with: “and how should she be acting? She’s not like one of your toys.”

Grace Monroe is a liar, and much more so than Simon. And it’s because she is, in the words of the Memory Tape’s Hazel, a “coward leading cowards”. Grace’s lying comes from her fear: her fear of being wrong, of not being enough, of being alone. Her kindness to the Apex kids, faked or superficial as it may be, probably comes from the desire to give them what her parents would not. Adding onto her cowardice and fears, she initially hid her dropping number from Simon in “The Chat Chalet Car” because she "didn't want the Apex...or you...to see me like this...and think less of me." Though her fear Simon would think less of her for it was unfounded, as Simon sincerely supported her then, afterwards she hid her number from Simon. She “cut him out” (in Simon’s words) from her lack of courage to be open and honest. As Memory-Hazel points out, when Grace had the “chance to make it right”, by revealing she knew about Hazel’s condition when it was obvious she was a turtle, she did not.

Conclusion

Grace and Simon are both villain protagonists messed up by unresolved trauma and eight years of being on the train with no guidance whatsoever. One starts off slightly worse than the other, only to get much better discard her animus for nulls. One starts off slightly better, only to get much worse and expand his animus for nulls to humans as well: his former best (and only) friend, at that. It’s the tiny differences in how they relate to others and operate that cause their slightly different moral starting points and massively different end points.

#Infinity Train #Grace Monroe #Grace (Infinity Train)#Simon Laurent #Simon (Infinity Train)#Meta #Analysis #Character Study

20 notes · View notes

impulselantern · 4 years ago

Text

i think weapons are really just accessories. // @masterofmagnetism

When he was arrested, before he was hauled of the Guantanamo but after the arresting officer made it clear that his rights were forfeit, Simon had been placed into a holding cell. It was empty save for him, because Dearborn, Michigan was an exceptionally small town where nothing big ever happened and the police were mostly there for show. He remembered how lonely it had felt, how he’d almost been relieved when an officer had come into the room to watch over him up until said officer decided ‘small talk’ was making sure Simon knew how deep in the shit he was, was making sure he knew how little he was believed, was making sure he knew he was less than.

Almost feel bad, the man had commented. Not like you can help it, right? Kid like you... Probably got brainwashed into believing all that shit, didn’t you? And Simon knew that when he said all that shit he meant the way you pray five times a day, meant you sister’s hijab and your father’s accent meant the food you won’t eat. It had been hard not to get angry about that. And his anger only ever seemed to prove their point, in their minds.

A lot of things seemed to make them think their points had been proven. It was why Sira was so angry the first time she spotted the gun holstered at his side, why Nazir had been sent to ‘talk’ to him with an awkward smile and a stilted expression that said he didn’t care one way or another, but Sira asked him to do it and he’d do whatever she wanted him to do because she loved him and he loved her back. They didn’t like the gun, and he didn’t think Jess did, either. He was positive Hal didn’t. But Simon kept it anyway.

Usually, strangers didn’t comment on it. He didn’t think most of them saw it. When Green Lantern flew up to a scene, people tended to focus on the ring and the constructs, like a magic trick distracting them from everything else. But this guy... This guy zeroed in on the firearm strapped to his side in an instant, commented on it in a tone that was almost amused. Simon shifted. “Wouldn’t have it if I didn’t know how to use it,” he replied. “Even if it does complete my outfit.”

#masterofmagnetism #erik: accessories #islamophobia tw #this is very long for absolutely no reason

1 note · View note

dwtsfun · 5 years ago

Text

Dancing with the Stars Season 29: Pandemic Premiere

We are back! Things are looking real different. New host. New judge. New ballroom. Two new pros. It’s was an interesting night with so many couples. So let’s get into it.

AJ and Cheryl- Jive (Score=18)- This was such a great opener for the season. I didn’t even realize that there was no big audience there (there was some crowd up in the rafters). AJ and Cheryl’s energy was so explosive and what was needed to make up for the lack of an audience. AJ was on time. And he kept up super well with a difficult routine. A couple of things. First off, Derek was a perfect judge and was able to pick out one specific thing from each couple that they needed to work on. And I agreed with all of it. AJ’s feet need to be pointed and he needed more bounce for the jive.

Chrishell and Gleb- Tango (Score=13)- While I don’t think this dance was necessarily terrible, it was definitely one of the weaker dances of the night. Chrishell’s posture was not strong at all. And in a dance like the tango, that is so important. She also seems to be a bit stiff. It wasn’t as much of a problem tonight, but it will be if Gleb doesn’t work on that with her. She is having a good though and I like that positive light that she radiates. Chrishell has tons of potential and I just hope Gleb actually tries this season and doesn’t check out like he typically does when he has to really work.

Vernon and Peta- Foxtrot (Score=17)- First of all, Vernon has such a pretty smile. As for the dance, it was really good. Like Derek said, he needs to pay more attention to his arms. They kinda were just there. I also feel like he can let go some more and just really go for it. I’m not gonna harp too much on that because it was the first week and everybody is nervous. But it is something I noticed and it might be his biggest obstacle moving forward.

Anne and Keo- Cha-cha (Score=18)- This was the first shock of the season for me. I was intrigued by Anne mostly because she seemed like such a wild card in the preseason. People were underestimating her but as time went on, I started to feel like she might actually be a decent dancer. And tonight, she was way better than I expected. She was on time and her technique was really crisp and precise. And she was just so much fun! I do believe that she needs to loosen up a little more and get those hips moving. But otherwise, this is definitely a couple to watch out for. They have the ability to go all the way for sure.

Jeannie and Brandon- Salsa (Score=18)- Brandon looked really good in that lime green. That color really complements his skin tone. Okay so Jeannie was better than I expected too. Y’all know I love when people are real grounded in Latin dances (not the jive). There’s a different kind of power that you have when you drive through the floor versus dancing on top of the floor (I’ll get to that a little later). And Jeannie was really driving through the floor. There were some chaotic moments where things almost went awry. But it’s easier to rein in excess energy than it is to try and pull more energy out of someone. I think this dance could have gotten at least one 7, but an 18 is still good.

Jesse and Sharna- Quickstep (Score=18)- This dance was slightly overscored. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think it was in the same league as the other 18s. His shoulders were too high and his movements were a little stiff and jerky. However, I was impressed with his timing and his partnering skills. That will come in handy as the weeks go on.

Skai and Alan- Tango (Score=21)- Super Bass for a tango is awful. I was talking with @forevertrueblue and we talked about how this would be a great song for a freestyle. Not a tango. Now that that’s out the way, this was the second surprise for me. Now I know you may be asking why. Well, I’ll tell you. I typically don’t think of Disney kids to be as technically sound as Skai was. That was the technique that I expect from a gymnast. I saw shades of Simone Biles/Shawn Johnson/Nastia Liukin in that dance. That split and her lines, especially with her legs, were gorgeous. Now I agree with both Derek and CAI here. Skai’s legs weren’t as bent as they needed to be. However, considering the height difference (I knew it would be a problem), I understood that for this week, something had to give to make it work until they find a way to keep the technique and still have Skai reach Alan.

Kaitlyn and Artem- Cha-cha (Score=20)- So remember how I was talking about the difference between dancing on top of the floor and dancing through the floor? Yeah, this was what I meant by dancing on top of it. What Kaitlyn did was good. But it left me wanting more. She dances very pretty just like Hannah and Melissa Rycroft (why is this a Bachelorette thing). But it’s just soft and not impactful.

Nev and Jenna- Foxtrot (Score=20)- Okay. So this dance was actually pretty good. Nev was awkward, but just the right amount of awkward that made it charming. He is definitely a competent dancer and might be the dark horse this season. As Derek said, he stuck his butt so far out that I’m surprised that he wasn’t lagging behind the music. That definitely needs to be tucked back under. With all of that said, I’m nervous for how his Latin dances are going to look. He strikes me as someone who is great at ballroom and very meh with Latin. He might surprise me again though, so who knows.

Johnny and Britt- Cha-cha (Score=18)- I am so glad that Britt is a pro this season and that she lucked out and got Johnny. I’m thinking this will be a great season for them. Now while I do think this dance was underscored by 2 points, I also saw some issues. Johnny did get in his head once the actual cha cha started. You could tell by the difference in how he attacked the moves at the beginning versus the middle and end. He was a little more hesitant. Also, there were a few times that Johnny’s legs got too far away from him. It didn’t really hinder him, but it was something I noticed. It might be a habit from figure skating.

Justina and Sasha- Cha-cha (Score=21)- You all were right to hype up Justina the way that you did. She was amazing. The energy was high, she had really great technique and she was just so much fun.

Charles and Emma- Salsa (Score=12)- Whew. Okay so first Charles had fun. At least we can say that and that he looks like he wants to be there. He also did a great job with the lifts. Now the dance was a struggle. He got behind the music and his technique was just not good. I hope he can come back next week with a much better dance. I hope he gets a ballroom dance like a foxtrot.

Monica and Val- Foxtrot (Score=19)- This was a very pretty dance. As the music swelled, she got better and more comfortable. Her turns need some more work and I would like for her hands to pay more attention to her hands and making sure the energy continues through them for the whole dance. With that said, I think Monica is in an interesting spot. I liked her dance and I think she’s a pretty good dancer. I think she’s going to start getting lost in the shuffle as the weeks go on if Val doesn’t take it up a notch. I think she’s safe for now. B weeks 3, 4 and 5 could spell trouble. I especially think this because we are for sure going to have at least 2 double eliminations and that’s what dancers like Monica tend to get swept up in.

Nelly and Daniella- Salsa (Score=16)- I really liked this dance. I actually thought Nelly was not going to embrace the experience as much as he should. And on top of that, I was thinking he was just going to be too scared to move and maybe look ridiculous. But he really embraced it. And I’m happy about that. The shoes definitely got in the way and made his footwork more clunky than they would have been. But I honestly feel like that was probably a creative choice and not Nelly pulling a Master P. He can dance and his technique was decent. My one critique, besides the shoes, is that he throws his arms away. But otherwise, it was a competent dance and I was shocked by that backflip. Also hate that they used this song for a salsa.

Carole and Pasha- Paso Doble (Score=11)- Ummm. Well this was hard to watch. Everything from the package, to the dance, to her non-interaction with Tyra was cringeworthy. But at least she had fun.

So that’s it. Derek was a great addition to the judges’ table. Tyra was nowhere near as bad as people were expecting her to be. This is a pretty good group of celebs. And with the year that 2020 has been, I think everyone just wants to have a good time. I don’t really see egos or anything this time around. As for next week’s elimination, I think Charles, Monica, Carole and Chrishell need to be worried. With that said, let me know your thoughts and I will talk to you all soon!

16 notes · View notes

aion-rsa · 4 years ago

Text

Van Helsing Returns For A Final Season And Adds Time Travel To Its Narrative Palette

https://ift.tt/3af4PjN

This Van Helsing article contains major spoilers for the season 5 premiere.

From the dynamically retooled opening title sequence to the Jack-centric Transylvania storyline, it takes only moments to recognize that Van Helsing’s fifth and final season promises to take fans on a wild ride as it brings to a close its delightfully circuitous tale of horror’s most iconic vampire hunting family. Season premiere “Past Tense” doesn’t represent the first time the Van Helsing family story finds itself in the past, but there seems to be a more concerted effort this time to employ traditional time travel elements as the unanswered questions mount.

It’s been sixteen months since the season four finale, but the head of the Van Helsing clan remains noticeably absent from the story even though her imprint is unmistakable. Fans of the series understand Kelly Overton’s (Vanessa Van Helsing) pregnancy last season limited her participation, and though she doesn’t appear in the season premiere, Nicole Muñoz (Jack) and Tricia Helfer (Olivia/The Dark One) deliver strong performances that skillfully carry the episode. Still, where’s Vanessa?

Before we address Vanessa’s whereabouts, however, it’s the stunning narrative redirect showrunner/writer Jonathan Lloyd Walker and director Jonathan Scarfe (Axel) throw at viewers that suggests a new approach to bringing the vampire apocalypse to an end. What appears to be a truth on Van Helsing doesn’t always play out the way we think it will, but when Jack leaves the Dark Realm and finds herself in renaissance Transylvania, there seems to be only one logical explanation – time travel. You have to love that Jack immediately recognizes the drastically changed landscape and sets out to take care of business.

Van Helsing Season 5 Overcomes Production Challenges

By Dave Vitagliano

Van Helsing Season 4 Episode 13 Review: The Beholder

By Dave Vitagliano

Vanessa apparently still resides in the Dark Realm, but it seems clear that she’s the catalyst for Jack’s temporal journey to Dracula’s city of origin. Of course, Jack’s experience here could turn out to be similar to Vanessa’s meeting with her grandmother Lily in season three, but for now, we have to consider conventional time travel as the most likely scenario. Needless to say, time travel in the hands of a less skilled writer can lead to a multitude of narrative pitfalls, but with Walker (Continuum) at the helm, the story is in more than competent hands. Still, we have to wonder how Vanessa’s role will play out since it seems reasonable to assume that if she can send Jack to the past, she can leave the Dark Realm at any point herself. So why does she stay?

Once we learn that Count Dalibor’s wife Olivia (Tricia Helfer) may, in fact, be the genesis of the Dark One, it’s only a matter of time before she and Jack come face to face. It doesn’t take long for viewers and Jack to face the quintessential time travel dilemma: if you could go back in time and kill baby Hitler, would you? Traveling to the past to prevent an apocalyptic future has become a science fiction staple, and Jack now faces the ultimate moral decision. “Now I know why my mother sent me here.” Understanding Vanessa’s motivation is one thing, whether she can carry out this gruesome task is quite another.

While it might be simpler to have Jack kill Olivia and prevent the 21st century evil that plagues the American northwest, other options do exist. “What if you could stop what turns her dark?” Florian (Matúš Kvietik) asks a reticent Jack. Unfortunately, the Transylvanian problem is far more complex than simply eliminating new mother Olivia. Actions have consequences, and if time travel tales tell us anything, it’s that unintended consequences generally rear their ugly heads sooner rather than later. Whether it’s the Grandfather Paradox or the Butterfly Effect, things rarely turn out the way the protagonist thinks they will.

Not surprisingly, Helfer (Battlestar Galactica; Lucifer) seamlessly transitions from the dark, ultra evil creature at the heart of the vampire threat to a loving wife and new mother who unknowingly sells her soul to Michaela and the roots of the Sisterhood. Nonetheless, the plot thickens because killing Olivia and preventing her from becoming the Dark One only takes care of one problem. What about the Sisterhood? Jack and Ivory already killed Michaela in the present, but now Jack can prevent her from creating and expanding the Sisterhood and becoming the Dark One’s bride. Does Jack have it in her to commit what will seem like multiple atrocities to the innocent bystanders who possess no knowledge of the future from which she comes?

Olivia’s role in the coming apocalypse isn’t as cut and dried as it might seem, and when Florian shows Jack the portrait of the count and countess, it’s her last name that stimulates Jack and the fateful decision she ultimately makes. Dracula. Did Vanessa actually send Jack to this point in time with the intention that her daughter could operate in the role previously ascribed to her – mankind’s savior?

Nobody said saving the human race was going to be easy, and we most certainly didn’t expect the Van Helsing storyline to end up in the middle of a Renaissance street fair, but it’s a perfect vehicle for Olivia to meet another major player on the dark side. “I see two futures diverging,” the fortune teller (Jesse Stanley) tells Olivia, and the woman who will eventually become the Oracle, informs her that two women wish to shape her fate. “Something dark awaits you.” And Jack’s kill list grows taller by the minute.

“I told you; vampires, and I’m the cure,” Jack explains to Florian, but the subtext here implies something quite different than her ability to return victims to the human state. Micheala (Heather Doerksen) wishes to resurrect someone and begins brewing a potion that seems to affect both Jack and Olivia and sets into motion an act which can’t be taken back. We’ve witnessed this watershed moment many times before, and too often the hero hesitates and allows evil to escape. Not this time, however. Jack plunges her dagger into Olivia’s throat. “I’m sorry; I had to.” This is not the first person Jack has killed, but it will be fascinating to watch the effect this murder has on her personality. Still, if she’s to prevent the dark future, there are at least two more deaths to consider.

“Do not get enchanted by whispers of magic and monsters,” Dalibor (Kim Coates) tells Florian, laying the groundwork for Jack’s revelation that vampires are real and must be stopped. However, Jack’s in a difficult situation since the “I’m from the future,” explanation rarely yields positive results. It’s early, so we don’t know if Vanessa has an exit strategy planned for Jack, but for now, she’s on her own. Is Florian enamored enough of this stranger to overlook the murder of his beloved countess, or can Jack offer some kind of proof that everything she says is true? And how will Dalibor handle his wife’s brutal killing? No one ever said the Dark One has to be female.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Over the course of five seasons, series creators and showrunners Simon Barry, Neil LaBute, and now Jonathan Lloyd Walker have managed to lure some of genre television’s finest actors for guest spots and recurring roles, and “Past Tense” continues this trend. Filming inside a real Slovakian castle takes the Van Helsing world building to another level which works brilliantly with Jack’s journey to the past, and though it’s likely only a brief paradigm shift, the intriguing introduction of time travel into the overall arc helps assuage the momentary loss we feel in the absence of the core characters. Vanessa will be back. The future’s not as clear for Violet, Doc, Axel, Ivory, and Julius who are still out there somewhere.

The post Van Helsing Returns For A Final Season And Adds Time Travel To Its Narrative Palette appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3mVvw2i

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

2 notes · View notes

rebellect-writes · 5 years ago

Text

[SIZE=1][b]Name:[/b] Jess. [b]Age:[/b] 20. [b]How did you find us?:[/b] I hate this question. [b]How did this happen?:[/b] Chase and Fallon refused to kill him.

[b]Name:[/b] Nathan Eliot Travis. [b]Nicknames & Aliases:[/b][LIST] [*] Nickname: Nat. (Earns some responses at times.) [*] Nickname: Nate. (Earns less responses than Nat.) [*] Nickname: Travis. (Responds to this!) [*] Alias: Nathan Reese. [/LIST][b]Age:[/b] 42. [b]Date of Birth:[/b] July 31st 1969. [b]Gender:[/b] Male, defiantly a male. [b]Sexual Orientation:[/b] Straight. He’s not exactly looking right though. [b]Occupation:[/b] Works at Resurrect-R-Us.

[b]Nightly Raising Limit:[/b] 2 on his own, 3 with help from another animator. [b]Standing Rising Kit:[/b][LIST] [*] A sacrifice. Which is usually a chicken, sometimes a goat, or even his own blood. [*] A ceremonial knife. His knife is a simple hunting knife. [*] A jar of ointment. Which is basically blended Rosemary, Cloves, Sage, Thyme and graveyard mould. [*] Salt. [/LIST]

[b]Powers:[/b] [LIST]Nathan is an animator. Which means he was born with the power to raise the dead from their graves prior to the deceased soul leaving its body and moving on into the next life. It’s not as easy as it sounds either, there’s no waving a magic wand and saying a few words and hey presto, a zombie appears. An animator’s job is more ritualistic than that. – Nathan: Which is probably why it pays as much as it does. – Unless they mess up that is, but nine times out of ten, nothing bad happens.

While he was born with the power in him, he still needs some tools for the trade. Those include, and I kid you not, chickens or goats and at times he’s even needed a pig, as the summoning involves a sacrifice. The older the zombie, the bigger the sacrifice, and since he doesn’t like ruining his jeep with farm yard animals, Nathan tries to keep it to chickens and the odd goat. Nathan also needs the zombie’s name in the ritual, the full name is best but if he’s pushed then the given birth name will do. During the ritual, Nathan circles the grave with the blood of the sacrifice, ‘drawing’ a circle of power. Now, normally he’s the only person in that circle when he raises someone, but at times relatives of the deceased want to do things or ask things so Nathan makes them stand behind the grave marker before feeding the zombie blood and then giving the other person a chance to ask what they want. As a newly raised zombie has no memory and needs blood fed to them to regain their knowledge of their former life, Nathan gets through the basics first and hopes to God that anyone else inside the circle with him would be ballsy enough to disrupt the ritual.

So, he circles the grave with blood and power by picturing a glowing circle in his mind, it’s a double edged sword. Dead things can’t get out and dead things can’t get into it without him breaking the circle. With that done he dabs the blood of the sacrifice on his forehead, cheeks and heart, then repeats the motion with the ointment before smearing the headstone with both blood and ointment. The chant he then has to say is pretty basic [i]“Hear us, (corpse name). We call you from your grave. By blood, magic and steel, we call you. Arise, (corpse name), come to us, come to us. (corpse name X2) come to us. Waken, (corpse name), arise and come to us.”[/i] With that done, the dead literally rise as the earth covering the zombie rolls away allowing it to rise to Nathan’s command. Since the zombie’s just a zombie, Nathan must then prick his finger and let the zombie taste blood to bring back its memories and give him total control. Insta-zombie! – Nathan: Hey! They have feelings now you know. – Questions can be asked and then he can send the zombie back to its resting place with salt and the chant to release them. Then its just a matter of going back to the car and cleaning up.

He also has the minor ability to sense the dead, and occasionally see human souls and ghosts that haven’t moved on. They’re nothing more than shades really, and so he doesn’t give them much attention. Everyone knows if you give ghosts attention, they’ll come back for more and more of it. [/LIST]

[b]Face Claim:[/b] Simon Baker. [b]Description:[/b] [IMG]http://i54.tinypic.com/33o7790.jpg[/IMG][LIST]Nathan? A remarkably stunning male that needs to be in a fashion magazine? Never! He is however 5 feet and 10 inches tall and of average build, though – Nathan: I work out....Sometimes. – he looks a bit bigger than his 160lbs in weight. He can hold his own in a fight though for a time, and I suppose that’s what counts in the end right? Well, he’s also got blonde hair that can be mistaken for mousy brown when it’s wet or under certain lighting, and stunning green eyes and that’s about it.

Oh! You want more, ok. His hands are rough with small scars from his work; those scars turn a little bigger and more pronounced against his skin as you move up to the wrists. Suicidal, psh, never, but it’s often mistaken for such. Tattoos, piercings and Nathan don’t belong in the same sentence. Nathan has nothing in the way of ink work or metal work and has never shown interest in getting things like that done and likely won’t anytime in the future. While he may not have any work done himself, he does take an interest in stuff like that at times. – Nathan: its art, of course it’s interesting. –

Nathan tends to wear suits more than casual clothes like jeans and t-shirts but he won’t rule them out. A nice suit can promote maturity and professionalism, and that seems to calm down distraught clients. Of course, there’s that and the fact that suits are cool. He won’t rule out t-shirts and jeans though, he tends to wear them more when he’s spending time at home or on his day off. [/LIST]

[b]Special Skills:[/b] [LIST] [*] Has a degree in preternatural biology. [*] Has helped in multiple RPIT cases stateside and brought in four killers. [*] A good listener when people need a shoulder to cry on. [*] Can summon a zombie up to 130 years old. [*] Giving blood. Yes, this means he’ll feed vampires in a pinch as well. [*] He’s good with a knife but he won’t ever use it against anyone. [*] Screw your weapons; he has logic on his side. [*] Knows a bit of Spanish, just enough to get by really. [/LIST] [b]Personality:[/b] [LIST]Nathan isn’t a generally moody person, he likes to see the positive side of things rather than the negative and often remains open minded about things around him. Some would say that he’s blunt and cocky at times, but that’s more because when he sees things, he doesn’t always think about what he’s saying until he’s actually said it and getting weird looks from people. When he’s thinking about the situation before him, Nathan can be the polite charmer that can pick up on other people’s emotions and body language quiet well, and will often manipulate people into emotional situations that suit them all. He doesn’t do it to be malicious, he does it to give people a piece of mind because really, he doesn’t like people to be all about the doom and gloom in their lives. – Nathan: I refuse to be that one emo guy in the corner; I won’t let others suffer either! –

So he’s the token smiler and the charmer, and a bit of an odd ball for apparently caring. – Nathan: You forgot impudent, annoying and clever, my dear. Opportunistic at times as well.– You’ve got to earn respect to get it, Nathan’s a fond believer of that and while people may cower and cringe around angry supernatural’s he won’t do it without due course to do so, say like, he’s being paid to do it and only then would he cower like a struck dog. Since his boss signs the pay check, he has to be nice to them, and will often swing from being a fake to a cheeky flirt. –Nathan: The last time I did that, I ended up with knee to the groin. Please don’t paint me out to be something I’m not most of the time. – Nathan will often feel bad for victims of supernatural violence, be it a lycanthrope mauling or a vampire killing, or anything else and if he’s called into help on a RPIT case, he’ll do his best to help and once it’s solved, sink into oblivion with a nice bottle of alcohol.

Yeah, he doesn’t instantly trust anyone either. He may appear like it but he’s always on his guard until he decides that he doesn’t need to hide behind the fake smile, and cryptic puzzle loving mind. Nathan can be impulsive at times, often doing things without telling anyone until he needs help or after the fact because he’s a bit of a masochist that way. He doesn’t often accept help, either in day to day life or working life, but when he does, he obviously feels a need to have it. Nathan tends to keep a lot of emotions bottled up at time, it’s nothing intentional on his part, he just does it unconsciously for reasons spanning back years. Doing this has gifted him with the inability to sleep properly on a night, instead of getting the recommended eight hours; Nathan rarely gets more than four at a push.

He does have a bit of a bad side though and you can tell the difference if you know him well enough. He withdraws into himself and often keeps his thoughts to himself, even when asked to share he won’t do it. He’s the type of person that likes pushing buttons and playing mind games with people so this is a startling difference in his person. He doesn’t get violent and smack people about like some thug on an ego trip, but some of his snappy growled comments will often leave marks that he will try and fix later on when he’s calmed down if he’s presented with the opportune moment to do so. He doesn’t like being angry, isn’t naturally angry, so there’s no real need to leave things fester just to be cruel.

Nathan’s an excommunicated catholic – Nathan: If God loves all, then the Pope is an idiot for excommunicating all animators and necromancers because they can summon the dead. – So he doesn’t have faith like most people that he knows does, thus a Holy item won’t protect him. He’s an Atheist and proud of it. He just doesn’t believe in a higher power because it’s illogical and he won’t believe until there’s proof of said power before his very eyes. However, saying that, you could also label him as Agnostic because if vampires and other supernatural creatures exist, then why shouldn’t a “God”? Now, his views on the supernatural community are a little more logical. Well, since he’s a part of it he can’t complain much about it. He won’t put himself in the middle of angry vampires or lycanthropes because he knows that they have a system of their own. He will however, step in and try and diffuse the situation if there are other humans involved between other beings because it’s only natural for him to help the underdog. [/LIST][b]Likes:[/b][LIST] [*] Puzzles and challenges. [*] Relaxing after a long day with a puzzle book. [*] A nice glass of red wine, or a cup of tea. [*] Risings that go to plan. [*] Walks on the beach. [*] Sleep when he can get it. [*] Helping people out to the best of his ability. [*] Going for a walk if he’s restless. [*] Appearing professional in everything he does. [*] A home cooked meal over fast food. [/LIST][b]Dislikes:[/b][LIST] [*] Sunrises. It means he’s worked all night long. [*] Ankle biting dogs. Have you ever been bitten by one of them? He has! [*] Vampires that thing they’re all that. [*] People that take no badly. [*] Noisy criers. Zombie rising is hard work without the distraction as it is. [*] People that think being ‘supernatural’ is a crime against God. [*] Killing goats for work. He likes to make do with chickens. [*] When his computer doesn’t work, because he has no idea how to fix it. [*] Types of people that spoil movies or books before he reads or watches. [*] A promising challenge turning into a dud. [/LIST][b]Strengths:[/b][LIST] [*] Will be polite if he’s with civil people. [*] Can follow orders, in his own way. [*] Is professional when it comes to his work. [*] Doesn’t drink through the week, that’s saved for the weekends. [*] He’s got a good mind; he just over uses it to the point of abuse. [/LIST][b]Weaknesses:[/b][LIST] [*] He’s anyone’s for a nice cup of tea. [*] Victims of supernatural crime, particularly children. [*] Isn’t that technological advanced. [*] Attitude and trust problems. [*] Bull-headed reckless streak. [*] Can be pretty oblivious to things at time. [/LIST][b]Fears:[/b][LIST] [*] Claustrophobia: He’s tried to get help for this, but there’s nothing to be done. It’s an irrational phobia that makes him terrified of confined spaces. [*] Belonephobia: He’s afraid of needles and will faint if they’re used on him. He’s fine if he doesn’t look but this phobia’s what’s pushed him to avoid many medical experiences than he cares to mention. [*] Being the cause of an out of control zombie of any kind. [*] Being tricked into raising a murder victim from the grave. [/LIST][b]Family:[/b][LIST] [*] Janet Reese: mother : alive. [*] Elliot Travis: father : unknown. [*] Ines Reese: grandmother : alive. [*] Jonas Reese: grandfather : dead. [/LIST][b]History:[/b] [LIST]Nathan Elliot Travis was born in downtown San Diego, California way back in July 1969. He was the surprise – Nathan: More like unwanted but mother never was to hurt people’s feelings. - Birth of female police officer, Janet Reese who before she had found out about the pregnancy, had recently changed her name back to her maiden name after a long year of family and relationship drama that she wanted to put behind her. Nathan was simply the product of a very brief fling with her former husband Elliot Travis and she didn’t know about their child until it was too late and she was screaming blue murder and cursing all males within a thirty mile radius of her. Now, as an unwanted child, you’d think that his childhood would’ve been one full of heartache and misery but it really wasn’t. His mother loved him with every breath in her body and even though she’d given up her badge without thinking about it when he’d been born, she never once let people put her down or her son for that matter. So what if his Grandparents where old fashioned and thought that he should’ve been put into the foster system because his mother couldn’t cope! She would be twice as mean back and just as stubborn as them and prove that she could. Since she was a single mom though, things were hard on her. If Nathan got sick, she would go without sleep and food just to make sure that he was better. If he outgrew any clothes, she would go without stuff for him all the more. The stubborn streak was what cost Janet the semi support of her parents by the time Nathan was three years old, and brought into the young man’s life something that Janet had never wanted. His father.

Elliot Travis was a manipulator, he wooed his mother for months after finding out that he had a son by her and almost a year later, he was back in her bed and in her body as well as her mind. Nathan didn’t like this man from day one and while most children wanted to be like their father and impress them, Nathan did not because at the end of the day there was only enough room in the house for two people. His father had to go. – Nathan: You make it sound so malicious than it actually was at the time. – Nathan started to plot little things at first, typically childish stuff like dumping his father’s wallet into the bin or tossing his car keys out of the window and into the garden hoping and praying that someone would find them or that they’d get buried under garden refuse. He even went as far as switching the setting on the washing machine to shrink Elliot’s clothes. Poor Nathan, he got the shock of his life when his father found him red handed pouring paint on all of Elliot’s clothes just after his eighth birthday, his plan had been to blame the decorators that Elliot had hired to redo the ‘marital room’ – Nathan: Oh lovely, I think I’ve just been sick in my mouth. - If it ever came about. Elliot beat Nathan into submission both physically and also mentally. He swore that if Nathan played anymore tricks, that Nathan would be made to watch Elliot hurt his mother and that alone put Nathan back in his place for many years to come. Of course the occasional beating that was brushed off as accidents helped Elliot control Nathan, as well as the threats towards Janet’s safety and wellbeing. It all stopped by the time he was fourteen thankfully, but it would be one of those memories that Nathan would keep for the rest of his life.

He’d been suffering at school, insomnia during the night and headaches and nausea, the inability to hold down food for more than five minutes before running to the bathroom, had affected his grades and performance on a whole as well as his life. His mother was worried, almost frantic that something was seriously wrong with her son, but Elliot didn’t care. He tried to calm Janet down but she had none of that and called in the grandparents. Nathan had an alright relationship with them, they neither loved him or hated him and defiantly didn’t try to beat him like Elliot did. His grandmother took an interest immediately when she found out that he hadn’t been sleeping or eating. Granny Ines put her foot down so hard when Nathan complained that he wasn’t hungry or lied when he said that he was going to try and sleep. Sure it made her angry but what really infuriated the dear old soul was the time when she’d come to give Nathan some clothes to put in his wardrobe – Nathan: I remember that night. Mom was on a date and they were babysitting. - And saw the bruises on his ribs and back. Nathan broke and told her every single detail, and at fourteen years of age, it was hard to ignore [i]the look[/i].

By the time Elliot and Janet returned, Nathans Grandfather Jonas was waiting. Jonas at the time knew everything – Nathan: Well, not everything. I didn’t tell them about me trying to get rid of Elliot in the first place – and just like Ines, he was furious and simply set the big old German shepherd dogs he kept around the back of the house on Eliot to scare the live out of him. Hex and Hooligan did their job, but what was worse, Ines told Janet the whole sordid tale and Nathan’s mother saw red. In the following days, Nathan enjoyed peace. Elliot was out of his life – Nathan: Go, go gadget restraining order! - And in an amusing turn of events, Nathan had his grandparents around in his life more often and his mother had her parents back. All was well, until a year or so later when Jonas suffered a heart attack which proved too much for the seventy two year old and slowly killed him. Nathan shouldn’t have been listening in on the brief conversation between his grandparents, but the talk of being brought back and his grandmother agreeing had caught and held his attention in its poisonous grasp and still weighed heavily on his thoughts throughout the following day into the next until Ines informed him and his mother that Jonas had passed away. The look that she gave Nathan though, removed any idea that he’d not been caught spying and listening in.

After Jonas’ funeral, his grandmother drew him aside. She explained...things to him. She was a long retired vaudun priestess, having left her religious beliefs behind when she’d found her true love and could bring the dead back for brief periods of time. Monsters from fairytales and movies were real and lurking in the shadows preying on people and the world was in for a very big wakeup call someday. Instead of brushing her off as a distraught widow, Nathan believed her, he could sense something about Ines now that he hadn’t been able to sense before, and he begged her to train him as her apprentice and seeing something in the young one, his grandmother agreed. Thus, at the age of sixteen, Nathan Travis’ mind was opened to a world bigger than the one that he thought he knew. Oh, Ines poked and prodded that spark in Nathan and helped him grow in his power and never gave him a break. She wasn’t the best mentor – Nathan: Her words, not mine. She said them repeatedly. – But she wasn’t exactly the same as Nathan was. He’d been born with this power, but she couldn’t work out how he’d got it since Janet hadn’t been born with it. However, they rarely sat down and brooded about things in the past because there was always something new that she could teach him and by the time he was twenty one, he’d brought back his first zombie on his own and Ines declared that there was nothing else to teach him.

What could a young animator do in a world that didn’t accept the supernatural? Vampires and were-creatures? He knew that they were there thanks to his grandmothers training and her lessons. He could now make out the souls of recently dead and lingering ghosts if he focused hard enough. He was at a loss, and even though he knew things that not many did, he hid away. Got on with life and moved to New York, then when he got bored with New York, he tried his luck in New Orleans a few years after in 1995, bouncing back to San Diego three times a year to see his mother and Ines when he could. It was great. For awhile he forgot that he could bring back the dead, for awhile he was normal. Then the supernatural world came out of hiding in 1997 and everything changed. Vampires where hunted, lycanthropes where run out of jobs and lynched in the streets, supposed “psychics” and other people that worked with magic where arrested. It was bad times for everyone and people where scared but in 2000 supernatural became legal. It still didn’t stop people from being scared and angry. – Nathan: They had a right to be as well. I’d have been scared if I hadn’t known before hand. -

That was eleven years ago, in that time Nathan’s moved from New Orleans to San Francisco, from there to Atlantic City, and to Toronto plying his trade as a freelance consultant for RPIT teams and anyone needing their formerly alive loved ones returned for a little while, never really running with the ‘’big dogs’’ in reanimation until 2006. By that time he was in trouble, up to his eyeballs in debt and needed the money that a proper position in an animation firm could get him as well as signing himself up as a stable retainer for the Toronto RPIT teams. It took him nearly five years to dig himself out of debt and save up for another move. Outside of San Diego growing up as a kid, five years was the longest time that he’d ever stayed in one place and it was starting to get to him.

Nathan would’ve ended up in another city if he hadn’t heard from an English vampire about this quaint little city England. Jackford. He was told that it was one of England’s supernatural hotspots, and surprised that it wasn’t London, or Cardiff or any of the more commonly known places. Since it was overseas, Nathan had to wait another year to sort through paperwork and stuff to move overseas, while researching Jackford and in February of 2011, early he actually made it to England! Well, London really but close enough to his final destination. –Nat: Now I’ve just got to secure a job and a home and not be stuck in a hotel for the rest of my time here. – It’s now early March, he’s finally made it to Jackford and he has no idea what’s going to happen next. [/LIST][/SIZE]

1 note · View note

jane-argeiphontes · 6 years ago

Text

SOMA: After the Launch Chapter Five “The Mountain of Omega”

Chapter Five “The Mountain of Omega”

Simon looked up at the gigantic barrel of the Omega Space Gun. To think someone actually climbed it to the top. Must have been some climber, or someone couldn’t turn back. He went with the more positive thought. He still held the Phi Storage Bag with some tools Ross managed to fix up despite the lack of legs.

He’d spent some time watching the WAU, talking to it and asking questions. Philosophical debates with one unspoken voice simply watching, answering in silence that spoke with thunder. Maybe the WAU would give him legs again, who knows. It got Simon this far and brought him back from the dead at Upsilon. Why? He didn’t ask. He didn’t want to know. He believed he was lucky to get a second chance. Knowing would break his happy lie. Is that better?

The creaking metal brought Simon back to the present.

“Ok, ok, ok, ok,” he muttered to himself. The only thing he even did close to this back in Toronto was the hill Jesse wanted to topple at four in the morning. He slowly eased himself over the railing to the barrel of the gun. The helmet-light sparked up after he messed around with his back. Thus the long journey began.

Ahead of him he could see only the barrel besides that was nothing. The Abyss illuminated nothing save for the dread of what lies in it. The Leviathan was far off near the WAU acting as the last defense. Did it have a personal connection with it? He didn’t want to know that either. All the faces gave him nightmares that they were actually people trapped forever in the same body, all wondering what’s going on with the only bit of agreement that was there was the need for Structure Gel. It was the only thing that kept some of these creatures alive. Like those drones up at Upsilon when he first found out he wasn’t...human. Who were they? What happened to them?

Along the way he found caps to oxygen tanks left behind, still floating up in the deep sea they were trapped in. The climb itself was not hard or confusing, the only challenge was his mentality about the walk. He’s walked the ground of the Abyss itself, the emptiness of it didn’t bother him since the path was clear with him knowing where he would be not long into it. Glasser’s hut, the Light Drone Station, the tunnels near Tau, Site Tau, Alpha, Phi, he could find him. He was guided by Ross and Catherine at the time. That was then.

Now he was guiding himself, the path ahead was sightless and unknowable. Was he really going? It’s been hours and yet here he still was on the barrel separating him from death. The thought of taking the dive etched at him. Scratched, scratched, scratched, scratched, scratching at his walls of resolve.

Maybe if he took the plunge…

“Stay focused,” he could hear Catherine say. “Keep going. Don’t lose hope. Stick to the bright side. Don’t stop.”

Simon pushed onward.

Another hour passed. He saw the roof of the sky and the yellow sun up where it should be. Dark clouds filled where blue should be; Simon wondered if the nights were just as beautiful from before, he hoped so. He reached out and felt his fingers break the barrier, the warmth spread as the rest of him emerged, he got through.

He was finally out. He was out.

Site Omega wasn’t much in comparison to the others though there were some living areas, offices, and a kitchen. The perfect place to live out the rest of your days with the best view of a dead world. Out on the deck, when he glanced around the corner, was a body. It wasn’t alone, it sat in a chair with books at their side, a bottle of alcohol, and a Power Suit up on a hook.

Simon recognized the Power Suit’s markings, they were from Phi or Tau, he could never remember which one was which. But someone actually did it. Some regular old joe climbed the barrel all the way here, living out their last moments reliving what they could of their old life, of the old world. A man’s flannel and jeans with the best alcohol there could be around, whiskey from Toronto, nice touch. Blood stained around their mouth and nose, their eyes closed with satisfaction, and the body relaxed one last time. Even when the world ended, someone still managed to fulfill a dream. He wished he could have had the same resolve as her.

There was one book still open resting atop their legs. It was poems by Keats, a good read for your last moments on Earth. The sun hung low in the sky, vibrant ever so still, yet it now shone light to a dead world, somewhere out there it was still on fire.Everything was either ash or on fire. Do the cities still stand? Does the world still have the memories of Humanity outside Pathos-II? He wondered if Toronto was still there, if his apartment still existed.

“Simon? Are you there?” Ross’s voice sparked through the radio nearby. “Simon, there’s a problem. Something’s blowing up an old system alarm. The screen’s cracked, I can’t read what it says, is there something wrong? Can you confirm?”

He hobbled on over to the closest terminal:

DESCENT DETECTED.

BRACE.

SITE THETA: BLACKOUT POSSIBLE

SITE DELTA: BLIMP IN IMPACT PATHWAY

SITE OMEGA: INFORM SITE STAFF

BRACE

Simon looked out the old glass window to see a streak in the sky. Another comet? Another world ending asteroid, comet, meteor, whatever?! Was it the ARK? No, no, it was too small to be a comet or the like. Too fast to be an asteroid or a meteor. What the hell was it? It got closer and closer, larger and larger, debris broke away and landed in the ocean. It flew past him, too close for comfort, smashing all the windows with the wind and threw Simon back against the terminal.

“Simon! What was it? Si--bzzzzzzzzzz”

He rushed out to the deck to look at the floating debris passing by. A metal plate marked with the words: PATHOS-II KAPPA SATELLITE

The ground shook, the barrel wobbled a little bit, Simon lost his footing and fell back. He grabbed the foot of the Power Suit to hold on. The entire thing broke off the hook and came crashing into him. They both fell off the deck, colliding into the barrel and sliding down. He tried to grab the suit and a ledge to hold on only for him to slip. Falling into the deep sea with a large splash, slowly finding his way back down, away from the sky of Heaven, back down to the depths of Hell.

There is no greater darkness than the very thoughts and the depths they originate from when our minds are alone to think. On top of the mountain or in the depths of despair. That’s what he thought as he and the suit sank back down. The view of Site Omega fading into nothing.

#Soma #simon jarrett #johan ross #catherine chun #wau #Frictional Games

13 notes · View notes

eddycurrents · 6 years ago

Photo

For the week of 2 September 2019

Quick Bits:

Agents of Atlas #2 again seems to focus more on Amadeus Cho and his perspective than the rest of the team, but it’s still very entertaining. Greg Pak, Nico Leon, Pop Mhan, Federico Blee, and Joe Sabino continue to weave together intrigue, superhero action, and romance with a very interesting mystery evolving.

| Published by Marvel

Animosity #23 is part one of “Rites of Passage” from Marguerite Bennett, Elton Thomasi, Roberto De Latorre, Rob Schwager, and Taylor Esposito. While Jesse and her caravan continue to try to make it out west, her animal friends attempt to plan for her upcoming 13th birthday. Wonderful character moments here and further insight into the horrors that the animals have seen.

| Published by AfterShock

Battlepug #1 brings the web comic to regular monthly print comics from Mike Norton, Allen Passalaqua, and Crank! While it does help to have read the previous adventures, you can pick up and enjoy this humorous take on sword and sorcery fairly easily. Some very nice humour in the “Covfefe” puppet.

| Published by Image

Berserker Unbound #2 is another wonderful issue from Jeff Lemire, Mike Deodato Jr., Frank Martin, and Steve Wands. The art alone from Deodato and Martin is wonderful, deftly mixing the modern and the archaic. It’s also very interesting to see the barbarian trying to navigate our strange modern world and the fact that he can’t understand anything that anyone is saying.

| Published by Dark Horse

Birthright #39 gives us the confrontation with Mastema. Learning that she’s pretty much thoroughly insane and that the entire two worlds are screwed. At least, from her perspective. The colour work here from Adriano Lucas is positively brilliant.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Breaklands #1 is a Comixology digital original from Justin Jordan, Tyasseta, Sarah Stern, and Rachel Deering. It’s different, bloody, and intriguing as to what’s going on. The opening suggests a kind of weird cult, the past gives the impression of post-apocalyptic tribes or gangs.

| Published by Justin Jordan

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #8 is a prelude to the “Hellmouth” crossover event with Angel, but I’ll say that it is essential to the overall storyline. This issue basically sets up the entire thing, even while still doing prologuey things. Great art from David López and Raúl Angulo. And, despite what Angel (at least that’s who I assume is in that devil mask) and Xander say, the “bat” costume is great, even if it doesn’t make sense.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Conan the Barbarian #9 takes us on a trip through Conan’s hallucinations of monsters he felled in battle as he tries to lead a group of people caught underground in the lair of the Undergod. Incredibly impressive artwork from Mahmud Asrar and Matthew Wilson. As we get a bit of reminiscence here, it feels as though we’re approaching the end of this arc.

| Published by Marvel

Crowded #9 is pretty intense as Vita and Charlie breach a hotel and try to get the information on who set up the Reapr campaign from one of Charlie’s old “friends”. It goes about as well as you’d expect. Christopher Sebela, Ro Stein, Ted Brandt, Tríona Farrell, and Cardinal Rae continue to keep this story on its toes, speeding along as fast as it can.

| Published by Image

Dark Red #6 begins the next arc from Tim Seeley, Corin Howell, Mark Englert, and Carlos Mangual. It tosses more complications into Chip’s life in the form of a “cleaner” enthralled to another vampire and a family of were-jaguars fleeing from an El Salvadoran gang.

| Published by AfterShock

DCeased: A Good Day to Die #1 expands the story a bit further with this one shot featuring a reunion of some of the Bwa-Ha-Ha era of the Justice League and a few other guests. Great art from Laura Braga, Darick Robertson, Richard Friend, Trevor Scott, and Rain Beredo.

| Published by DC Comics

Deathstroke #47 continues “Deathstroke RIP” and it’s going to do your head in a bit. A banged, bruised, beaten-up, and confused Slade shows up with a bad attitude and we’re unsure how he’s back from the dead and acting fairly un-Slade-like. Also, Jericho gets his Doctor Manhattan moment. Priest, Fernando Pasarin, Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz, Cam Smith, Wade von Grawbadger, Jeromy Cox, and Willie Schubert are definitely continuing to keep this interesting.

| Published by DC Comics

Die #7 catches up with the other half of the party in Isabelle and Chuck and, well, Chuck is an asshole. Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, and Clayton Cowles manage to out-bleak the previous issue, but in a way that doesn’t elicit sympathy this time. It’s interesting as to how they build up Chuck, elaborate on his backstory, and make him even more thoroughly unlikeable.

| Published by Image

Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds #3 is fairly impressive, with Gerard Way, Jeremy Lambert, Steve Orlando, Doc Shaner, Tamra Bonvillain, and Simon Bowland managing to become even more inventive with the narrative for an already incredibly inventive series. This one takes the convention of a flashforward and presents it as an issue of Doom Patrol in the future, weaving in some hard-boiled narration through a series of novels. Great work here all around.

| Published by DC Comics / Young Animal

Everything #1 is weird. Very weird. This first issue from Christopher Cantwell, INJ Culbard, and Steve Wands feels like it’s mostly about setting up the atmosphere and briefly introducing many of the characters as the new Everything Store opens up in Michigan. Love the art from Culbard.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Fallen World #5 concludes what has been an excellent series setting up the next stage of the 4002 AD time period of the Valiant universe from Dan Abnett, Adam Pollina, Ulises Arreola, and Jeff Powell. The art from Pollina and Arreola is gorgeous, really leaning hard into the weird and wonderful of the future.

| Published by Valiant

Fantastic Four #14 kicks off “Point of Origin” celebrating the initial launch of the Fantastic Four’s expedition that turned them into the Fantastic Four. The shifting timeline makes this feel weird, but it’s still an interesting premise. Great art from Paco Medina and Jesus Aburtov.

| Published by Marvel

Future Foundation #2 is more fun from Jeremy Whitley, Will Robson, Paco Diaz, Daniele Orlandini, Greg Menzie, Chris O’Halloran, and Joe Caramagna. Why exactly the kids would mistake a younger looking Maker as their own Reed Richards is anyone’s guess, but this is still an entertaining prison break story building upon loose threads from Secret Wars.

| Published by Marvel

Ghost Spider Annual #1 continues the “Acts of Evil” theme running through this year’s annuals as Gwen takes on Arcade and a host of Spider-Man’s villains and allies. It’s a good story from Vita Ayala, Pere Pérez, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Clayton Cowles that helps Gwen get a sense of place when it comes to some of the differences between Earths-65 and -616/

| Published by Marvel

Giant Days #54 is the end to the series, but there’s one more issue in the story in the Giant Days: As Time Goes By special. Still, John Allison, Max Sarin, Whitney Cogar, and Jim Campbell gives us one last hurrah as Daisy, Esther, and Susan spend the summer together before graduation, tying up some loose ends, before saying goodbye to one another. It’s an emotional end, full of the eccentricities and humour that have been a hallmark of the series.

| Published by Boom Entertainment / BOOM! Box

The Green Lantern #11 continues the multiversal adventure. This is really some of the fun, eccentric science fiction-y superheroics that Grant Morrison really excels at along with gorgeous artwork from Liam Sharp and Steve Oliff. I quite like Sharp’s Neal Adams-esque Batman GL and it’s neat to see the Green Lantern oath’s differences across multiple universes.

| Published by DC Comics

Harley Quinn #65 kind of does an end run around the “Year of the Villain” content, incorporating it as a couple pages of the comic within the comic, while the rest of the issue is devoted to Harley dealing with the grief of the loss of her mother. By kind of ignoring it. Escaping to the Coney Island Volcano Island and getting a bit...rustic. Sam Humphries, Sami Basri, Hi-Fi, and Dave Sharpe also keep Harley’s trials going along nicely.

| Published by DC Comics

Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy #1 follows up on Poison Ivy’s new status after regrowing herself from the death sustained in Heroes in Crisis. Now, I can’t say I exactly liked that series or what happened, but I do think that Jody Houser, Adriano Melo, Mark Morales, Hi-Fi, and Gabriela Downie make the most of it and turn it around into an entertaining start to this new story. Also, a nice pick up on both the broader “Year of the Villain” event (even though there’s no event banner) and on the new developments in Justice League Dark about the Parliament of Flowers and the Floronic Man.

| Published by DC Comics

Immortal Hulk #23 brings the fight to Fortean. It’s absolutely brutal on both sides. Joe Bennett, Ruy José, Belardino Brabo, Paul Mounts, and Matt Milla really do an incredible job with the action here. And the end is stuff of nightmares.

| Published by Marvel

Justice League #31 continues the “Justice/Doom War”. It’s very, very nice to see the Justice Society back in the mainline DC universe. Combined with the Legion of Super-Heroes back, it’s a wonderful time to see these two teams back. Feels good. It also helps that Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Jorge Jimenez, Alejandro Sanchez, and Tom Napolitano have JSA nestled within a great story, flinging the Justice League through the past and future.

| Published by DC Comics

Lois Lane #3 is worth it for the art from Mike Perkins and Paul Mounts by itself. The fight between the two Questions is incredible, beautiful flow of action and energy all through the exchange. Also, we get some follow up on Superman protecting Lois adding complications. There could be an argument made that this story is unfolding at roughly a snail’s pace, but that would overlook the wonderful character moments occurring, the atmosphere, and epic action sequences.

| Published by DC Comics

Midnight Vista #1 is a wonderful start to this story from Eliot Rahal, Clara Meath, Mark Englert, and Taylor Esposito. It’s an alien abduction story told pretty much straight and its intriguing as to how the disbelievers in this tale are going to deal with, even amid the very real kidnapping and lost time that occurs. I love Meath’s line art here.

| Published by AfterShock

No One Left to Fight #3 hits hard a couple times, first in Winda’s decidedly horrible way of handling rejection and jealousy and then in the Hierophant’s temptation of rebuilding Valé, fixing what ails him. More great work from Aubrey Sitterson, Fico Ossio, Raciel Avila, and Taylor Esposito. This book is a feast.

| Published by Dark Horse

Pretty Deadly: The Rat #1 is a very welcome return of this series, shifting time frame again to ‘30s Los Angeles and adopting a noir style. The artwork from Emma Rios and Jordie Bellaire is drop dead gorgeous, seemingly coming up with new styles and approaches to storytelling. The film stills in particular are very impressive.

| Published by Image

Savage Avengers #5 brings a bloody and brutal “end” to the first arc from Gerry Duggan, Mike Deodato Jr., Frank Martin, and Travis Lanham. It’s not so much a conclusion as a chapter break, ending the bit with the Marrow God, but transitioning into whatever will come next in the war against Kulan Gath.

| Published by Marvel

Sea of Stars #3 is another showcase for Stephen Green and Rico Renzi to just illustrate the hell out of some really cool stuff. This one shifts primary focus back to Kadyn and his interstellar entourage and it’s hilarious. The kid does kid things that drive his space monkey and space whale friends insane. Especially taunting a quarkshark.

| Published by Image

Something is Killing the Children #1 begins a rather disquieting horror series from James Tynion IV, Werther Dell’Edera, Miquel Muerto, and AndWorld Design. It’s brutal, bloody, and filled with all of the terror that you get from a frightened kid who just watched his friends get butchered. This is a visceral horror that punches you right in the gut. Very well done.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Spawn #300 is not a bad anniversary issue, a fairly hefty book featuring a lead “chapter” with gorgeous artwork from returning long term Spawn line artist Greg Capullo, kicking off with something disturbing, then leading into a combination of the story threads that Todd McFarlane has been weaving for some time now. While there is a foundation on the old, this one also sets up a fair amount of what’s coming. Great art throughout from Todd McFarlane, Greg Capullo, J. Scott Campbell, Jason Shawn Alexander, Jerome Opeña, Jonathan Glapion, FCO Plascencia, Brian Haberlin, Peter Steigerwald, and Matt Hollingsworth.

| Published by Image

Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order - Dark Temple #1 is a tie in to the forthcoming video game from Electronic Arts by Matthew Rosenberg, Paolo Villanelli, Arif Prianto, and Joe Sabino. It centres around a padawan who somehow managed to escape Order 66 on a recently-joined Republic world of Ontotho and the mystery of a temple that she was sent to investigate.

| Published by Marvel

Supergirl #33 concludes Kara’s quest and “The House of El: United”, giving her perspective on the founding of the United Planets in Superman #14. It’s a decent end here, opening up new possibilities for what we’ll see next.

| Published by DC Comics

Triage #1 is a very impressive debut from Phillip Sevy and Frank Cvetkovic. Interesting set up of variations on the same woman, Evie, across multiple worlds, and a mystery as to what’s going on. Sevy’s art here is gorgeous.

| Published by Dark Horse

Usagi Yojimbo #4 begins a new two-part arc in “The Hero” as Usagi agrees to escort an author caught in a controlling, loveless marriage to her father. There’s a really nice opening sequence in this one with zombies.

| Published by IDW

Vampirella/Red Sonja #1 is a pretty good start to this series from Jordie Bellaire, Drew Moss, Rebecca Nalty, and Becca Carey. It’s set in 1969 and built around the Dyatlov Pass Incident, which sends Vampirella out there to investigate to potentially find a “friend”. Beautiful art from Moss and Nalty.

| Published by Dynamite

Web of Black Widow #1 is wonderful. Stephen Mooney was born to draw espionage thrillers, having done so incredibly on his own Half Past Danger as well as The Dead Hand and James Bond 007. He has a style that reminds me of Dave Stevens and it just works perfectly for this kind of story. Add to that Jody Houser, Tríona Farrell, and Cory Petit, throw in a mystery born out of Natasha’s past and continued questioning her own status as her since she was brought back from death, and you’ve got a recipe for a near perfect storm of a debut.

| Published by Marvel

Wyrd #4 concludes what has been an intriguing series from Curt Pires, Antonio Fuso, Stefano Simeone, and Micah Myers. This has been a rather interesting story of superpowers seemingly gone wrong and it ties up with a Superman analogue as a child going homicidal. It’s dark, but it feels real.

| Published by Dark Horse

Other Highlights: Absolute Carnage: Scream #2, Absolute Carnage: Symbiote Spider-Man #1, Alpha Flight: True North #1, Amazing Spider-Man: Going Big #1, Archie #707, Batman/TMNT III #5, Champions #9, Charlie’s Angels vs. Bionic Woman #3, Curse Words #24, The Death-Defying Devil #2, Descendent #5, The Dreaming #13, The Goon #6, House of X #4, Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium #1, Marvel Action: Spider-Man #8, Nuclear Winter - Volume 3, Old Man Quill #9, The Punisher #15, Redneck #23, Rick and Morty Present Flesh Curtains #1, Section Zero #6, Space Bandits #3, Star Trek: Discovery - Aftermath #1, Star Wars #71, Superman: Up in the Sky #3, Transformers/Ghostbusters #4, Turok #5, The Wicked + The Divine #45

Recommended Collections: Age of X-Man: Prisoner X, Black Badge - Volume 2, Catwoman - Volume 2: Far From Gotham, Hellboy and the BPRD: 1956, Immortal Hulk - Volume 4: Abomination, Infinite Dark - Volume 2, Outcast - Volume 7, Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider - Volume 2: Impossible Year, Superb - Volume 4: The Kids aren’t Alright, War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas, X-Force - Volume 2: Counterfeit King

d. emerson eddy is currently suffering the effects of a very gassy pug.

#This Week in Comics

5 notes · View notes

mani-mari · 6 years ago

Text

Misfits Season 4 babey!! here we go!!

holy!! holy crap!!!

okay!!! that’s a lot to take in

SPOILERS beyond this point!

UH.......... I’ve no idea where to start

OKAY I- I miss Kelly :,^( I love Kelly and i miss her and I love Simon and Alisha and I miss them

I like Jess a lot though! She’s funny

I liked Finn throughout the whole episode UNTIL the very last scene. he’s literally kidnapped someone and made her like..... his sex slave I guess. that’s super fucked up. He’s not a very good person. At. ALL. hate him.

I’m glad we’ve still got Curtis, throughout all of this shit, only one rock remains. And yet I believe that he, too, will leave the show in the end.

btw Finn’s power......... yikes that’s wack. Like he can barely control it. idk why. whether it was because the plant was in a pot or something else, it’s wack. he is just an all-around bad character, oof. I like Jess’s power, but I feel like x-ray vision shouldn’t be such a general power?? maybe it’s got multiple forms like the time-travel power does.

so right now I’m gonna watch episode 2 as well

nevermind I guess he can move mugs

cool. nice.

yeah im not gonna just sweep over what happened there-

THAT POOR WOMAN. does she actually have a disease though or is Finn being an absolute prick? like I feel so bad for her.

-- “He took [my power] twice. Was a mistake... both times.” BITCH. tHe history beHIND that statement I;’m fcrying. I’m crying. Poor baby Curtis i love you Curtis you’re the ROCK in this season I lvove you. i lvoe oyu

-- uhh okay w- how is Ally blind ... and racist....

yknow what i’m not gonna ask questions, she’s a yikes moment, let’s move on

-- uh oh. I think Rudy’s makeshift condom won’t work. I think Ally might end up pregnaaant

BTICHCHH YESS RUDY HAS STANDARDS WE STAN

the- the dog- the dog got a power... can we talk about this.. cAN WE TALK ABOUT THIS???????????? WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT TEHE FUCK. ANIMALS, RIGHT, ANIMALS GOT POWERS FROM THE STORM. THAT’S AMAZING.

-- never mind what I said Rudy just ate an egg sandwich from off the floor. standards my foot. he is a truly mysterious person

-- i’m very disappointed in SADIE and I’m very disappointed in FINN like why would you FORGIVE him for TYING you up, and why would you FORGIVE her for, no matter how slightly, USING you for her own benefit- like- what the heck, guys. what the heck

-- hey everyone announcement I think I might be stupid

I keep forgetting that Sadie has that power and I’m almost positive she’s still using it on Finn, like Jess said

Jess is so smart wow i love her and I am so stupid

-- real quick Rudy mentioned Live Aid and I had NEVER heard of that before I’d seen Bohemian Rhapsody. Why is that. Nobody talks about Live Aid anymore. Of course maybe that’s because it was an embarrassment because it didn’t work lol. But hey, it showed human community right? That counts for something..

alright back to the show smh

-- the little sm,,mile that Curtis gives when he’s sm,ITTEN with anyone is sO cute. he’s so cute. He must really like Lola lmaooo get ‘em, tiger

speaking of probation worker I don’t like the one they have now. like, he’s only said one funny thing so far. and that was the God-almighty joke thing. hmm. I’ll have to see about this season... very different... but I do like it

-- WAHT TEHE FUCK IS GOING ON IN EPISODE THREE????????? ARE Y’ALL ALRIGHT OVER THERE??? IT’S BEEN ABOUT 7 YEARS RIGHT? IS IT TOO LATE TO ASK QUESTIONS? HELLO

so i looked on the list of misfits characters and I guess Jess and Finn just don’t have last names. cool. + I just realized neither does Seth. fuck this show

#Misfits show #Curtis Donovan #Rudy Wade #Seth and Jess and Finn because they dont have last names because someone wasnt creative #i miss nathan young

1 note · View note

sepublic · 5 years ago

Text

Chat Chalet and Color Clock!

So, uh.

Remember when I said about Tuba… and the uh… the um, ah.

…

So about the Chat Chalet Car!

NOT comfortable with The Cat having that calendar, and her bear roommate tying up his bathrobe, that… WHOOF. I mean I get Simon was uncomfortable and I appreciate the depiction of what was clearly a panic attack, but uh. I was also uncomfortable… but for a DIFFERENT reason.

Also, I’m pretty sure by this point that One-One, The Cat, and Randall are the only constants in this show! The cars may change as do the seasons, passengers and protagonists come and pass… But those three remain the same, huh? What’s really interesting is that The Cat actually seems to show remorse for screwing over Simon (who may have gotten his number-detector from her)…

We don’t know the circumstances, but The Cat alludes to an ‘army’ that likely ties back into the toy army Simon made; Perhaps a puzzle that went wrong involving him commanding soldiers, only to lose them and almost get killed by the opposing side? We know that Simon got left by her to die by a Ghom, and we still have a shot of her for Book 3 that wasn’t seen yet; So more backstory will come about! Perhaps The Cat left him in the wasteland… Anyhow, it seems that after Amelia destroyed her car in Book 1, she’s gotten a new one, and more Randalls no less from the Beach Car! Always glad to see that guy!

But also; Simon was TEN when he was on the train! We don’t know long he’s been here NOW, but if I had to guess; Probably almost as long as ten years! He’s almost spent as much time on the Infinity Train as he did back in the human world… And when you take into account him being even younger than Tulip or Jesse, YIKES; No wonder he’s so screwed up! His sense of reality must be completely skewed as the Infinity Train is the only home he knows! This does bring up the question of how old Grace was… I think she mentioned saving him? Either way, I think she was also pretty young…

I guess I can see better why Amelia saved Grace; She was just a child, and presumably Amelia’s number wasn’t so high at the time, so she was still a more empathetic person! Plus, Grace wasn’t actively interfering with her plans like Tulip was, so Amelia probably wouldn’t resort to either child murder or neglect, and felt compelled to act! Either way, it makes Grace and Simon’s situation a LOT more disturbing in this context…

Grace also alludes to potentially having NOT known a denizen personally, which implies that her low opinion comes solely from the experiences of others like Simon, as well as Amelia’s own misinformation! With that in mind, I can see it being easier for her to empathize with Tuba, given how she doesn’t have any actual bad memories herself; And we see her number lower, too! And when Tuba… uhh… umm…

…

…Okay, so Tuba died!

We are only HALF-WAY through Book 3, and we’ve already lost Tuba! I know the writers mentioned having to juggle four characters, but that was basically for like… three episodes?

And, Tuba was murdered! By Simon… You know for a second there, I thought Simon might have a change of heart briefly, and TRY to save Tuba only for things to go wrong. And then I jokingly thought, “Oh dang what if this was like Mufasa’s death scene lol?”

It was.

…WELL. At least they didn’t show Tuba’s death in full, graphic detail like they did Mace! And considering how they got away with Mace’s death because he technically wasn’t human despite looking like one (whereas Tuba is a straight-up gorilla), I’m surprised! But also grateful, because Mace freaking deserved it, and Tuba…

…Screw you Simon. How do you go from feeling more friendly to KILLING someone?! I get The Cat screwed you over, and I know this may not be appropriate given how young you were when it all happened… BUT GROW UP.

…You know, Owen Dennis released a few drawings of our main cast, and while Grace and Hazel seemed to be getting along, Simon had a look of concern like something was troubling him. Given what he just did… I’m worried that maybe he won’t have a redemption of any sorts, that he might go off the deep end and descend into pure villainy or whatever? That him and Grace will become enemies, and Simon… WON’T leave Book 3, any better than he started off as.

That- Or he DOES learn to become better, but he stays behind on the Infinity Train because he still has a LOT of work to do, and the Apex (which will apparently undergo a change) still needs guidance. Coupled with him having spent far too much of his life on the Infinity Train, and maybe he’ll spend the rest of his life helping others; After all, the show is not narratively against the idea of rejecting one’s exit after achieving it, if it means helping other people (hence the Book 1 Finale)! It WOULD be a clever turnaround for his position at the beginning of Book 3…

And of course, Grace- Given the apparent confirmation about SOMETHING regarding Hazel… I can also see her staying on the Infinity Train, to take care of Hazel (given how she still really cares about her), and also because she doesn’t really have anything left at home? Nothing positive, at least; Given how many years it’s been, her family may have moved on. IS there anything to go back to? It’d be a morbid prospect to consider…

Also, Hazel! Hazel, in sheer grief, begins to transform into a Turtle; So either that’s her true form, or she’s a shape-shifter and her being ‘human’ is just another form she can take! Hazel doesn’t have any memories, is this a quirk of her programming by One-One? Is her human form based off of ANOTHER passenger that existed beforehand? It’s worth noting that she can transform drastically like Alan Dracula, who was specifically-crafted by One-One. Given my speculation that Alan Dracula was made to help Jesse and Lake, I wonder if this confirms that One-One personally made Hazel to force Simon and Grace to reevaluate their stance on things?

…Either way, I am NOT looking forward to being Simon if Hazel decides to direct her grief at him, especially since he straight-up owned to killing Tuba, instead of trying to make it look like a plausible accident!

…Though let’s be real, I wouldn’t look forward to being Simon, period.

…Also Roy! Yeah not gonna lie, if I had to deal with THAT and a bunch of other puzzles for who knows how many years, I’d probably ALSO lose it and want to kill every denizen I meet!

BUT I WOULDN’T ACTUALLY GO THROUGH WITH IT AND CERTAINLY NOT KILL ANY DENIZENS WHO WERE FRIENDS-

Like, what’s so AWFUL about that moment was how unnecessary, how pointless and needlessly cruel it was! Simon didn’t need to do anything; It seems like Tuba would’ve fallen on her own anyway and died. And even if she didn’t… Who knows HOW far away the Color Clock Car would’ve taken her away?!

At worst, Simon could’ve pretended to try to use his Harpoon Pack, and then feigned some lie about it ‘not working’, malfunctioning at a key moment! Hazel wouldn’t know, she wouldn’t suspect, she’s a child! He could’ve just LET it happen… But no, he has to go the extra mile and specifically get Tuba’s hopes up, just to step on them for no other reason than what? To spite her? To ‘claim’ his kill over her, as if it would’ve made a difference since she was already going to fall to her death anyway? And all because Grace reasonably doubted the need to fight Tuba single-handedly when the Apex was just a few cars away!?

I dunno… And it’s just interesting, because when Simon was around The Cat, whose mere presence gave him a panic attack and PTSD… He didn’t do anything! She literally left him to die, she was THE example for denizens that led towards his hatred of them; And she’s powerless, there’s nothing she can do to defend herself against Simon! I mean there IS Frank, and maybe he didn’t want to start anything in front of Tuba… I have to wonder if he still cares in his own incredibly twisted way because of their past together- Or if his PTSD-induced fear of The Cat overwhelms any spite towards Tuba?

Regardless, that was messed up. It was the most needlessly cruel, pointlessly spiteful thing we’ve seen in the show by far; Even characters like Mace and Sieve, not even AMELIA ever went so far as to bring up an ally’s hopes up like that, just to kill them off anyway!

#infinity train #infinity train book 3 #infinity train season 3 #infinity train cult of the conductor #infinity train spoilers #infinity train season 3 spoilers #spoilers #infinity train simon #simon laurent #infinity train tuba #infinity train grace #grace monroe #infinity train hazel #infinity train the cat

62 notes · View notes

pjstafford · 8 years ago

Text

David Duchovny's HOHW Tour Fan Girl Experience: Seattle

David Duchovny HOHW Tour Fan Girl Experience: Seattle: This is the first of five blogs on select topics related to my trip to Seattle to see David Duchovny. This one is about the over-all experience. Others will speak about the information provided at a book discussion, a review of the concert and music, the question to video or not to video, and the movie New Year’s Day. The last is a stretch but doing a separate blog will keep me from digressing on it in this blog. Brief recap. I wrote a blog related to the treatment of dark subject matter in David Duchovny’s written works across television, movies, novels and music lyrics. He quoted the tweet related to the blog and said the appreciation moved him. Many within the fan community of Duchovny including the Duchovniacs liked what I had written and wanted to be sure I made it to a concert this tour which I could not afford. Fans from around the world arranged for airfare. Cathy, a friend who I had connected with in Duchovny chat groups, offered concert and book discussion tickets, a place to stay, and incredible hospitality. Suddenly I was going to Seattle. I arrived Saturday late afternoon. What a delight to meet Cathy in person after six months of almost daily contact on Twitter! It was both of our first time seeing and meeting Mr. Duchovny. For the rest of this blog I will refer to him as David so I don’t sound like Darin Morgan. If you don’t catch the reference, then that's a great example of how nice it is to be with a person that speaks the language of the specific fandom. Neither Cathy nor I have that in our daily life away from social media. I see the Duchovny fandom and X-Files fandom as distinct but intersecting. The Darin Morgan reference is an X-Files reference. Cathy is an X-file enthusiast. I will never know as much as she does on the topic of the X-Files. I have seen more of David’s movies and read and listened to more interviews and articles than she has. It's a nice compliment to each other when you have a week-end of Duchovny planned. Both of us have similar experiences of being a fan in the 90’s of the X-Files without any fandom obsession, watching seasons 1-9 again to prepare for season 10, falling in love with X-files on a new level, but falling truly and completely in love with David’s music and novels. Neither of us have a history of fan girling since the Bobby Sherman/ Donny Osmond's days. Our first time meeting in person there was hardly any awkwardness at all- we were already friends. Now our friendship has deepened. It was great to meet her husband as well. We share an interest in science fiction, but I have sadly fallen decades behind. Definitely have things to read and stream on his advice. Sunday morning we took the ferry to Seattle, parked close to the Croc, went to find a marquee or poster on the Croc but didn’t. Found only his name on a calendar. It was a 25 minute walk to the book discussion. I wore my Lick My Face Shirt from Target Zero since I never am brave enough to wear it in public in Albuquerque anymore. The first couple of times it elicited some rude comments. I thought David Duchovny fans would know the reference. No…not a single one seemed to know the reference which makes me sad for Target Zero. I do have suggestions that Target Zero send little cards out with the shirt that can be passed out to explain to people the reason for the shirt. I would wear it more if I could easily deliver a card and it would increase awareness. I found in Seattle a complete different attitude towards this shirt from people who did not know the reference. I never felt uncomfortable. I received a lot of comments which started a lot of conversations. A very young man just stopping me telling me he loved it and a member of Keaton Simon band saying it was the best shirt ever when I was waiting in line are stand outs. I’m curious why they liked it so much without knowing the reference, but neither compliment was suggestive just sincere about their appreciation of the sentiment. I digress. It was a light rain overcast day which was perfect for the Seattle experience. Cathy and I kept saying “Let it Rain.” When we got to the book discussion an hour before the doors were opening there were four persons already there. Cathy and I went to get a cup of coffee and granola bar and then came back. By a half hour before the doors open the lines were forming down the street. They would end up with 600 people in attendance. The center section was reserved for members. Cathy and I found front row seats off to the side and felt so excited about how close we would be to David. It was nothing compared to how close we would be as the day progressed, but- not knowing that at the time- we were excited. Jess Walter, a writer from Washington, facilitated the discussion. Cathy was familiar with his writings and excited to see him as well. It turns out that David and Jess are longtime friends and so the discussion had this beautiful relaxed bantering and good questions from one writer to another. At one point Jess said, “I am the world’s foremost Duchovny scholar.” Cathy said she immediately thought “no you are not, Pam is.” I thought that was grand! Cathy took pictures and a couple of brief videos. I took a total of 10 minutes of video not in order but with different question and answers through-out the session. I took a lot of notes trying mostly to write all the quips David was saying. I am writing another blog on that so will just say the discussion piece was delightful. Then, came audience questions. Some personal history here is that six months ago while reading a passage of Bucky Fucking Dent related to the nature of America in 1978 and loving the way David had written about Carter losing the nation and a good-looking monster in California was waiting to take his place, I had told Cathy I would love to drink a glass of red wine with the man and discussed the American Protestant Work Ethic. Over the months we have referred to this as “my dinner with David” which is all in my head, of course, but I have developed a list of questions which I feel strongly I need to ask him – no, none on the X-Files. I say that because when Jess asked David about the most common question he is asked on his novel he said, “What’s your favorite episode of the X-files?” Cathy had always said she would never be able to ask him a question because she would be too shy. She had a good one she wanted to ask though. We were sitting in front of the microphone and she jumped up to ask a question. She asked the second question of the session. No hesitation. I was so proud of her. Her question was since the previous two books had been scripts turned into novels was his next novel, expected in 2018, “Miss Subways” first a script. The short answer was yes but the longer answer was in depth. Another highlight for me personally was a fan asking about one of David’s original poems. During the answer, Jess mentioned Eliot and David said “April is the Cruelest Month.” People who know me well know I love Eliot’s poetry and Mulder had once quoted this exact line while looking at a playboy. If it makes me a little geeky to remember that …well. There is one more element of questioning in this event important to a later piece of the blog. I don’t remember if it was in the discussion or the audience questions David was asked about why he toured. He feels it is a different way of expression and celebrating music which allows for audience interaction in a way he has never experienced before. As I described the audience participation later, you will see how important that piece is to him. He said it is unique for that audience and for just that time. He then said but everyone has a fucking phone and then it’s on you tube and then it is forever. Later in the QA before the concert he made a remark that showed his disdain for phone videos. I was going to ask a question at the book discussion, but didn’t have a chance. My question would have been about a difference in BFD between the main novel and the epilogue. They both have an omnipotent narrator but in the main novel you are in the action and in the moment. In the epilogue there is a distance that is controlled by come close, come closer still, come closer yet again. I’m curious why he wanted the distance in the epilogue portion of the novel. Alas, a question for another time. Once the questions was over, I looked at Cathy and said “we’re moving.” Great job of keeping up with me. I wanted to be sure we were through the book signing in time to not be too far behind in the line for the VIP concert experience. As you will see we did great with that, but it could have been a hard decision – stand in line for the book signing or get to the concert venue. We got from front of the theater to the lobby for the signing quickly to be within the first 100 in line (remember there were over 600) for the signing. We did well moving to get to that position. Fan Girl clapping all around. They had announced rules for the signing. He would sign only his books or CDs. No memorabilia. No personalization in the signature. I have both books in Kindle and Audible. I do not need a hard edition. Also, given how my adventure to get to Seattle had started with the blog and his retweet and people donating for me to attend, I really wanted him to sign a printed version of his tweet response to me. I know he had already responded in the tweet, but just because of the trip experience I wanted a signature on that tweet to frame. I didn’t think of it along the lines of memorabilia from X-Files. It was about his writing. So I braved the line to see what I would get with my breaking the rules approach. While waiting in line we had an opportunity to thank Jess Walter. I would certainly read his books. He is very funny. I was really appreciative for such a relaxed interview to see that side of David. First gate keeper was primarily responsible to make sure people were all set on the right page ready to hand it over in order to speed up the process, but was also checking what was being signed. She told me he would not sign the tweet, period, end of sentence. It was not happening. She was doing her job, but I persisted and she agreed that I could go up and try if I wanted, but he was not signing. The next gate keeper was right before David and Cathy was before me so I could not witness her experience, but she indicated that when he saw her he immediately said “Good Question.” He recognized her and her question. She was happy with her interaction and then turned to watch mine. I was struggling a little to get through the second gate keeper but she said “will you can show him.” This made me somewhat flustered and nervous when I met the man. I was asking him to break the rules for me which was selfish. I handed him the printed tweet and said I had written you a “fan letter.” He immediately remembered. “Yeah, that was you?” Picked up a pen to sign the tweet. I should have taken this intensely close up opportunity to look at his face, interact, but I became very shy and could only look down. When I realized he was taking the time to write and was stopping to think about what to write (breaking another rule) I was really touched. He handed it to me and I put my hand on my chest, looked in his eyes and said “thank you so much” and started to walk away. I heard him say “Yeah” and realized he was still talking to me. I turned back around and he was looking at me smiling. His eyes smile with his face and he said in a deep, sincere voice “It was nice to meet you.” I said “You too.” Turned and walked on realizing that I had rushed the moment- not him- and that he clearly remembered the blog I had written and was still appreciative. I was glad I had been persistent. OK- novelist experience over get ready for some hard old lady fan girl rock and rolling experience. Cathy and I were both elated with our experience and the walk from the venue for the book discussion back to the Croc was much faster. We checked and there was no one in line at the Croc yet so we went to get Pizza. We got the pizza to go and went back to the Croc. The doors were confusing to us because what looked like the main door to us said go to main entrance on the other street and that door said Back door bar. Where should we stand? Out what seemed to be the front door a man came out who said he was the photographer. He didn’t know where we should stand. He was nice and we chatted briefly. I said I know we must seemed crazy. He said he was sure we were not the only ones that were going to get crazy that night. He was right. e went to the back door and ate our pizza. It was three. Cathy had gotten an email saying to be there no later than 5:15 p.m. It might have been a bit much to get there so early. By this time it was raining a little harder. We ate our pizza in the rain and I am happy because it is part of the experience, but in retrospect, we could have sat in a restaurant ,not stood in the rain, and had been fine with being first in line. I noticed a man was in the box office and rang the bell. He was obviously annoyed with us and came out told us not to block the door. He hit a spot on the wall and said this is where the line starts and went back inside. That gave us some amusement as one of us made sure to always stand in that exact spot. Here, here is where the line starts. Several people walked by and we interacted with them. Many asking who was playing there tonight and then saying “the x-files guy?” A couple of highlights is that the opening band Keaton Simon and his band members came and stood, blocking the door, for a while because they were confused about the side door/ main door dilemma as well. While they were texting and finding out we had some slight interactions (such as the comment about my shirt and them laughing that we were there so early). In one interaction with one of the people during the first hour we were there someone had a spliff. Cathy is ignorant of drugs and drug terminology so I was able to point it out to her and tell her that in BFD when Ted has a fantastic free streaming sequence in his brain which starts out something like I was crossing the Hudson with Walt Whitman in a spliff the size of a canoe, that is what a spliff looks like. Street education to better enjoy literary masterpieces. It began to rain harder. We stopped saying “Let it Rain” and came up with the idea that the DavidDuchovnymusic.com web site should market Let it Raingear. It was a full hour before anybody else came to stand in line. A full hour. About 4:30 there were ten of us in line and they opened the bar and told us to come into the bar- we could buy food and drink- and they would make an announcement when the VIP experience would start. We had lost our front line place and more people would come and crowd into the bar before 5:30. The best part about being in the bar was the opportunity to meet the Dutch Duchnovniacs. They compared the Amsterdam concert with the Portland show which they had been to two nights before. They said it was clear David had worked on his voice since the Europe tour. Later in the QA they gave David a pair of wooden Dutch shoes slippers. It wasn’t long before people started lurking near the opening between the bar and lobby which would lead to the theater. Cathy said she was willing to lurk so we did. Finally the bouncer sent everyone back into the bar and wouldn’t let people lurk. I went to the bouncer and said that we had been there at 3 and had waited in the rain to be first in line. He said yes, but they would just make an announcement and we should go back to the bar. I touched him on the arm, gave him my best puppy dog eyes, and said “and you will remember that we’ve been here since 3 in the rain waiting to see him and make sure we are not at the end of the VIP line.” He said, “oh just chill and stay here.” For the remainder of the wait he would not let anyone else lurk near the door and we were able to wait with him. As he let us in first I was so thankful to him. Here is for me the funniest part of this story about waiting in line. We walked in and there were some areas toward the side of the bar where there was a bar so you could lean and be comfortable. Cathy said “oh, let’s go to the side.” Cathy doesn’t like to be in the front of a crowd or the middle of a crowd or in a crowd. She would have stayed in the back. I just thought – we’ve been here in line since 3 in the rain and I just practically offered to blow the bouncer and you don’t want to be up front. So funny! Imagine if after all of that we had stayed in the back. She must have seen my look and said – wherever you want. We went up front. She enjoyed the experience and I don’t think neither of us would have as good of a time without being in front. I decided not to be center stage. I wanted to see the guitar player and the drummer. I had told myself that before the concert. David has world class musicians. I was going to watch a little of them. I also wanted to be on the side because – full fan girl confession here – he has a scar on one of his eyes and I wanted to be able to see that scar. I love that scar. I know it makes no sense. It is a flaw on an otherwise perfect face. I loved that scar on Mulder when you seldom saw it except in certain camera angles and when he grimaced and suddenly smiled. It’s like a perfect profile as he stares directly at a clue and then the moment of clarity comes for him and the scar pops out. A sudden flaw that made it clear he wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t every episodes, but those episodes it does! As an older man, it has deepened and is usually visible but still pops out more in certain expressions when he sings. Those of you who are not a fan can laugh at me. I love that scar. Managed in the 90’s to miss the red speedo (yellow pajama bottom, grey sweat pants), but I noticed the scar. Go figure. The sound check began with the guys in the band coming out first. Then David came out. He made a general acknowledgement of crowd and immediately walked and looked at the stage. He found a spot on the stage and moved his hands measuring stage to ground. He had already decided he was going to dance in the crowd that night and was finding his spot to do that. He waved slightly at a young woman standing near us who was insistently waving. We will be talking about her some in this blog. He stood then in front of where Cathy and I were with his side turned. Head bowed as if waiting for someone to speak in his ear set. Soon as the voice sounded in his ear he jumped to it and went to the mic. It was fun to be part of the sound check. There was a horrendous noise at one point and David said is that feedback. Pat said no I was playing really bad. David said it was really loud we should turn it down and Pat said in case I play bad again. Quite amusing. The lights were blinding on stage and David said they’re not going to be that way all night are they. It was fun. Next the QA. I enthusiastically raised my hand and Brad said with a laugh the woman right in front. Yeah, they might have been talking about the crazy old ladies so determined to be up front. My question was about the song Lately December. It’s the least played song on tour from the first album and is so beautiful. David repeated the question – I am soft spoken so no one else really heard me and said you like it, so do I, but we do a rock concert and it’s a contemplative song. Then he thought a little and said we do slower songs but that one is more complicated and difficult to play or maybe I don’t sing it very well on tour. He then called the band lead Colin on stage and asked him who said “Oh, that’s a hard song.” So that’s the reason. The young girl next to me asked who he had written “the rain song” about. He said a person. Later in introducing the song he said a friend. He had said previously in concerts his ex-wife loved rain so we should assume that’s the person and friend. They weren’t doing that one either but agreed to change the set list since they were in Seattle. Someone else yelled out “Let it Rain “and he said we always do “Let it Rain.” A good question was from a high school literature teacher who wanted to know what he would teach in class if he was still teaching. David said he is a big fan of teaching the classics and justified why. A bad question was “You’re in my top five (people I would have sex with). Who are your top five?” He said I’m not answering with a man recording that. He answered a question did he prefer playing Moody or Mulder thoughtfully and well, similar to answers he had given before. Someone asked about Aquarius. Cathy and I have been part of a #SaveAquarius group and even though he does not think it will come back we were happy to hear him speak about Hodiak with affection. In answer to another question he told a story about babysitting Keaton, the opening act, and that it was Keaton who had suggested he could record the songs that David had originally written just for himself. I got to ask the final question. Two questions – almost a dinner with David! I said I wanted to ask about “Stars”. He said “Stars? We’re not doing that one either. We’re killing you not doing your favorite songs.” Not especially happy with myself that at that moment I gushed. “Anything you do tonight I will love.” That remark got the response it deserved- an eye roll from David. Could I have said something like – ok I’m out of here. That might have been amusing. Or something after I love anything you do like –really even “Baby Snatcher”-(but no, not really, not “Baby Snatcher.”) Baby Snatcher was one of his early and excessively bad movies. Instead I gushed. Then I asked the question which started with I recently watched “New Year’s Day.” David interrupted with “Wow” and made a surprised face with his eyes wide. Eye roll and face in one question- I was distinguishing myself here. See, I could really digress now if I was not writing a distinct blog about “New Year’s Day”. It is an early Duchovny movie. My question pertained to the monologue at the end of the movie by the main character played by the brilliant director, Henry Jaglom. The monologue is related to how stars we see now died years ago and David asked if I was accusing him of plagiarism. I was on a roll boy in my extended conversation with David. I said no I was wondering how much that early movie had influenced him. He said he thought he knew about the dying stars before he was in the movie. I nodded and then he said was it Henry in the monologue? I said yes it’s Henry and refrained from telling him how it summarizes the whole movie in such a poignant manner, how my favorite scene is the unscripted one between him and Henry, and asking what it was like to work with this brilliant director. I refrained. He looked like he was thinking about something and said thank you for reminding me that was in there. So as it ended I didn’t get the impression that he was really annoyed by a Stars question that was really a New Year’s Day question. I wonder if he realizes there is also a significant mythology piece in X-files about Stars where Mulder delivers a similar speech to Scully as Henry had said at the end of New Year’s Day. I get the feeling that David had some influence on New Year’s Day and X-files in this regard and that the concept of dying stars has been with him through-out most of his adult life as meaningful imagery. However, I did not get that response from David. I love the song Stars. Then it was time for group pictures which I don’t really get. Like a picture with a bunch of people you don’t know with a celebrity in the middle. It felt a little rushed, unpleasant, uncomfortable. Cathy, however, had the opportunity to tell him thank you again and to have him say thank you back so I was glad for her. Pictures are on DavidDuchovnymusic.com if anyone is interested in seeing them. I’m wearing the Lick my face shirt. We had to struggle a little again for our space when we got back from the shoot. A woman who had snuck in with the VIP despite having a general admission ticket had kept our space but wanted to be between Cathy and I and I kind of got stuck in back. That was not going to work for me and I told Cathy I was moving down stage a little further but still in front. The young women there were so accommodating to that and pleasant to me. Then the venue was open for all concert ticket holders. The concert had been the first one on the toured sold out and it was packed. It was an intimate venue. I estimate maybe 500 there- really packed in like sardines. Cathy and I talked about the fact that we couldn’t really drink because if we had to go to the bathroom we would never get back. We decided to go to the bathroom one last time before it wasn’t possible. I was going to keep my spot though so I announced loudly (yes, I did) I am leaving for a few minutes but am coming back to this exact spot (pointing to the floor). I then pointed one by one at all the eager fan girls around me, pointed to me and the spot, and did the watching you gesture. (In my defense I am really short and kind of need a front spot to see anything.) A man about five rows back was laughing at me and when I walked by he said “Hey she’s coming back to that spot.” He did the watching you gesture to all the people around him. It was hard to come back and he did the same thing as I came back – laughing the whole time. I brought back a glass of water for Cathy and myself and that was the only liquid we drank for the next several hours. We had a great conversation with several young girls around us – all of who were very familiar with David’s music. The young girl who had asked the question about “the rain song” said that she was thinking of getting a tattoo of lyrics either from the “rain song” or “Let it Rain.” She asked me if when those songs play if I would let her get in my place since she was behind me and I said of course. Who wouldn’t? I spent some time looking at the stage and thinking what songs I would watch the guitar player and drummer on. I was excited to see the bongo’s. I pointed them out to Cathy and we knew we would be hearing “When the time comes.” Keaton and his band came out and certainly warmed us up. High energy, rap style including a little rendition of “Staying Alive”. It was very fun. As Keaton was gathering stuff he up, Cathy and I had an opportunity to tell him how great he was. Anticipation for David got a little much. The girl behind me kicked me and hit me several times. She was annoying everyone. I turned around and just hugged her. She is there to see a man 35 years older than her whose music she loved. I thought it was beautiful, but I also wanted to settle her down a little with some tactile touch. They came out and put down the set lists which the front row could read. We were excited to see the encore Sweet Jane and the Weight as the only covers but had heard the reports from earlier concerts about how good the covers were. We were really impressed that they had not put down any set list for David. Did he memorize them every night? Then they came out with three sheets of large print set list to tape down for him. It had to be bigger and on three pages so he could see it. We found that endearing. David started with the high energy and fast “3000.” Since I am writing another blog specifically about the concert I will only tell in this blog those highlighted moments specific to the experience. One of the first thing during that song is he how much he was sweating. At one point he moved his head and I watched a bead of sweat fall from his face to the floor. Among the other many talents which David has, add the ability to work a room of 500 so every individual believe they had personal interaction with David. Possible every person did. That experience of the communication and audience interaction which David said is the reason he does the tour is something he delivers for the fans very well. I had decided that I was going to watch some of Pat McCusker’s guitar and Sebastian’s drum despite the fact that it meant not watching David. Obviously I was going to watch Sebastion on the bongos during “When The Time Comes.” At one point he looked up and we made eye contact and I nodded and he nodded back. Obviously the best time to watch McCusker would have been “Unsaid, Undone” but no I felt strongly about watching David. Luckily there were many times through-out the night when he moved directly in front of me. Whenever I clapped, I tried to clapped “around.” Pointing my hands to each band member. I hope the band knows that David’s fans are aware that David’s expression of music is only possible because of their incredible playing and that we love them because of it. The point came for the young woman who loved the songs about rain to go to the front. Think of how hard I had fought for the spot. Do you think I would have given it up if I knew she was going to take off her bra, threw it on the stage and then keep her shirt off exposing her breasts to David? No I would not have. Cathy said her immediate reaction was just concern that David would avoid our side of the stage because of her. He made at one point a slightly stern face and shook his head at her and she covered up. Cathy was upset about it at first but now says that it was part of the experience and is the only time in her life she will ever have that experience. My concern was with David eyesight and knowing that he knew where I had been standing he would not realize it was not me flashing her, but Cathy assured me that he would be able to tell the difference between a 21 year old breasts and mine…yeah, probably. This young woman did tweet to David the next day with a picture of a bra on stage. I found that impressive. She is owning the moment as well without embarrassment. While I was annoyed so much at first, since then I have mellowed about it. But ladies keep your clothes on. There is no indication that David likes panties or bras being thrown at him. “Unsaid, Undone” is my favorite song off the album (any song that can reference Dylan’s Idiot Wind and quote obscure Latin text cannot fail to make me happy) and it is loud and rocking. This was his best song of the night by far. At the end of the song he was by my section of the audience, he bent down so it seemed like he was inches from our face when he sang/ yelled “I said I’m done.” Then he did something I have not seen in any videos. Still bent near our faces, his face went cold (he is a great actor after all, isn’t he?), he put his hands up so they were just below his eyes – kind of walling himself off except for the eyes, and then while maintaining eye contact and still bent he walked backwards. It was chilling. The most spectacular concert moment I have ever experienced. I don’t know how he could maintain eye contact with everyone in that area, but it felt as if he was staring directly at me and Cathy said the same (staring directly at her). OMG. I have a love hate relationship with “Positively Madison Avenue” which I will get into more in another blog. But the love is stronger than the hate. He stood right by me and again and was bending down when he sang the lyric “a beleaguered Pete Seeger got to hitch his way to heaven.” So cool. I will say that there were moments when I realize my fan girl love might be a little different than others. He was introducing a song early in the set and nonchalantly took off his jacket and everyone screamed. I was like “what did he say” and Cathy was like he took off his jacket. Then after he stood up by the beleaguered Pete Seeger line to run across stage singing “you can sell panties and still remain a genius “women yelled because he said the word panties. That’s not me- but did you see that scar? I also noticed the nice hair on his arms. We each have our fan girl kicks I guess. Oh yeah, and he had the perfect amount of scruff. He left and came back for encore. I was excited to see the Pink Pussy hat in his pocket. The band puts them on for “The Weight.” Keaton came on to sing with him. This was a moment. David had told a story about babysitting Keaton. It was Keaton last night on the tour and they had not sang together. I will rave about this performance in a later blog about the concert. They went off stage and we screamed for the next encore – which we were obviously going to get –it was already on the set list. The band did an extended opener on “Sweet Jane” and then David ran out, to the spot he had scoped out way back in sound check and jumped off stage for a dance with the audience. There was a sudden rush to him. I was so close that I could feel the physical displacement of air as women rushed him. I did not and why it would have been great to have felt his back muscles or touch the hair on his arms, I was glad to be that close and take in the scene. I have a framed picture in my head of David with his butt stuck out wiggling, his hands up dancing, his eyes closed, women around him touching all around his back wiggling too and this delightful look of joy of his face. Going back to the discussion of audience participation and David’s motivation to perform. I will never think of that statement and not see this picture in my mind. How insulated must David have become in his fandom with all the crazy fan girls like me out there. This is his chance to give some loving and receive some loving from his fans. It is beautiful, but scary and I hope he never gets hurt. He seems kind of a pro though at positioning his body to make sure no vital areas are touched. Then he was back on to finish the song and then he was gone. People immediately grabbed for his set list. I just wanted a set list. Note to DavidDuchovnymusicc.com –post set lists, look at Bob Dylan.com set list posting. I like to know what songs were played in the order for the concerts I’ve been to. I’ve never wanted a set list before, but there no one else this set list will be stored. I saw a set list far back on stage and asked someone if I could have it. He shook his head. A bouncer came and told us to move on because the concert was over. I took my stuff over to one of the benches I had mentioned earlier and started to layer up. I watched until the bouncer was gone and then went to someone else and asked if I could have the set list. He gladly gave it to me. Cathy and I started back to the vehicle in rock and roll and Duchovny heaven, but with aching old lady legs. Back at her place we went to bed about three a.m. The next morning at 7 we realized we were both awake and posting on twitter. A friend sent us a tremendous screen cap from the concert taken of the back of David on stage with Cathy and I in front gazing at him. It had never occurred to us that we would be videotaped in the audience, but we were delighted. Cathy found another picture of him looking away from us up at the upper level of the bar, but our face are lighted in the same way as he is lighted. These pictures mean more to us than the VIP group pictures. We found vids of “the Weight” with Keaton Simon and David. I screen capped one and posted it and Keaton liked it. Then we found video from the other side of that song to see the interaction we had missed. Beautiful. We must have watched the video of “the Weight” like a hundred times. Cathy and I are in several chat groups together. We sat with each other as we twittered, tumblred and instagramed asking what chat group should get what pictures and stories and which of us were going to post it. #SaveAquarius has a fan girl for another of the show’s stars so we didn’t want to overload them but there were Duchovny fans in that group not in any other. Of course, our concert group needed pictures and stories. Then there is our Moody group. Finally there is a small intimate group of five who had to get our most intimate details and stories. At some point Cathy put on her HOHW shirt. I stayed in pajamas most of the day. We had a late brunch with champagne. It is what you do the day after. About 6 p.m. we were pretty done and had to take a break. What could we possibly do to distract us? It turns out Cathy had the X-files Season 10 special features which I had not seen. Ok – does that sound silly? But we both agreed we had not seen Mulder, Moody or Hodiak – not at one moment did we think – oh, that’s …we saw Duchovny- or we saw the Duchovny persona he puts on as novelist and the persona he puts on as rock star, but we did not see Mulder. A girl can only go so long without Mulder. We went to bed about 10 p.m. exhausted. By the next morning the pictures and vids of the girl who had flashed her breasts were making the round so we started watching video’s all over again. At one point I said to Cathy “I have to say. I just, I know I shouldn’t, but I just have to say, I just have to say” and then I said something I am not going to put here. Cathy is a real concerned voice said “exactly who are going to say that to?” I said, “Just you. You are the only one here.” We both then laughed hysterically at how into the social media we were that even in our private conversation she was concerned I would post something inappropriate. Cathy’s husband was tremendous during this period. Letting us fan girl away as much as we wanted. Then Cathy took me to the airport and my fan girl experience was over, but the next day the pictures from the Boston concert started popping up everywhere. What’s a fan girl to do?

18 notes · View notes