#a slideshow plays and it's not gonna be in any order by major or name or department or anything so you dont even get to know when your name

[littlekingbergara]

my diploma is supposed to come tomorrow. :)

[zachscarroll]

Final Thoughts on Paper Mario the Origami King with some major spoilers

I thought this game overall was incredibly charming and worth your time if you are a fan of the classic games like the original Paper Mario 64 or Thousand Year Door. It was leaps and bounds ahead of Sticker Star, and overall I thought it was better paper Mario game than Color Splash ever hoped to be.

Even though I'm pleased with playing it through it does have some glaring issues. Right out of the gate, this game is being held back by some sort of executive decisions from Nintendo and it shows tremendously especially within the first few hours of the game. I know nothing about the development of the game, but there are defiantly some things that seem either out of place or rushed which is strange.

Practically the first 3-4 hours of the game is nothing but tutorials, which they do need to explain stuff but not this much oh my goodness. They truly took a lot of the challenge out of the game and made it "very, very young kid oriented" and I'm not looking for the most challenging game out there--I usually play most games on easier difficulties so I can enjoy the adventure instead of having to be annoyed with redoing things. Olivia pops up way too much. I liked her character for the most part. Between Huey, and Kersti, Olivia was a very good one. Huey was a little bit more funny, but Olivia had a lot of charm and multiple emotional arcs. I know saying that sounds silly for a Mario game but she does grow as a character showing that she's still worried about whether or not she can really stop her brother. However, she pops up every time something happens. It's too much. I can see something has appeared Olivia. It's okay--but I'm getting off topic that's exactly what Huey did too in Color Splash. I hate to say it but when she leaves your party by being crushed by a boulder it felt like a classic paper mario game then. You had Bobby with you and he would add his own flair as the helper character.

Bobby truly was a great partner, and even if he's only with you for like maybe 2 or so hours I enjoyed having him around. I'm extremely glad they had partners return even if they felt more like story related. I liked having more than just Olivia with me. All of the partners except Professor Toad were really cool. It kinda sucks that Professor Toad is so forgettable because he is the only partner who has an over world ability. I think it would have been cooler if he was like a Monty mole or something instead of just a Toad with a shovel, there's just so many Toads in the game that an archaeologist Toad could have been cool, but I don't really know where they were trying to go with the character. He was like a scaredy-cat kind of character but also made weird like college references like about his thesis. At the very least he had an unique outfit? I don't know I'm reaching for Professor Toad. Why not just have Captain Toad who's an already established character and an explorer? Anyway, I found it kinda weird that no one else had an over world ability, and they could have done some more interesting puzzles if they had given Kamek or Boswer some. I loved having Kamek join and how he talked about being self conscious and lacking self esteem because Bowser never listened to him. Bowser Jr. was cool too, he wasn't as bratty as I thought he'd be. He was written like a tough kid. Both Kamek and Jr. have satisfying reasons for leaving your party. I liked how they put Mario first in order to save the whole kingdom. It made me as the player feel like "these bad guys know that Mario can save them." I know it's silly but again just a nice touch to the story. Of course you get Bowser to join you right at the very end which is just so great. He even talks about his parenting practices. Luigi also have a shockingly hilarious and "key" role to the story. I'm so glad to see these classic characters have great writing behind them, and really show off that these partners are pretty vital to paper Mario. Especially Luigi and Bowser when in the previous two titles had maybe like 8 lines between the two of them. Yes they don't do much in battle, but they are vital to the story. If my paper Mario games have a fun and unique story then that's all I really want.

Bobby was my favorite. If you haven't seen the one big twist involving Bobby, I'd skip this section and pick back up at the next paragraph. Anyway, Bobby sacrifices himself to save Olivia. While you can kinda piece things together and see it coming after a while you don't expect Bobby to just like straight up die. I remember when it happened I was like, "they really did this in a Mario game?". They even have a cute moment later on in Bowser's castle where Olivia thinks she see Bobby again. Overall he was amazing. That whole area of Shogun Studios felt the most reminiscent of classic Paper Mario games. I had a grin on my face pretty much the whole way through.

The one big gripe I had with the partners is other than Bobby any time you wanna go back to Toad Town or other areas they're just like "yeah okay i'm gonna stay here see ya later". Why? Why not let them come with you? The writers don't have to write any additional dialogue and if they did that would have been cool. Why wouldn't Professor TOAD wanna go back to TOAD town? There's an extra area where you can take Bobby at one point to get photos taken with him in Shogun Studios. Why not do that with other characters as a cool little Easter egg? Truly I didn't understand why they couldn't travel with you. I know in that infamous interview floating around with the directors and producers saying they only wanted one partner at a time so it didn't cause any confusion for swapping them out but that's so stupid.

Back to the game being held back--there were times I could see the designers desperately wanted to make a unique character better, or give something else a personality but they weren't allowed to. It hurts a lot when the original paper Mario games could give toads fun little names like  "Zess T." or "Fice T." and now we have "Professor Toad" or "Battle Lab Toad". There are two toads in Toad Town that both say something like "where's Purple Toad?" or "Where's Blue Toad?". Stuff like that takes me out of the enjoyment of the game. It's only when you go and look on the around on other sites that you find out that the Origami Craftsman man is actually Theofold. Yes, we did have captain T. ode, but like. That's just "Toad". Back to that interview from the producers of the game where they say they can't really alter Mario characters anymore like give them age, gender, etc. But come on. I'm not really sure why they can't give the toads proper names. I know that's an extreme nitpick, but that's definitely something that takes me out of the game and reminds me "oh yeah we can't do this anymore". Even Bobby, will constantly remind Olivia to call him "Bob-omb" It just feels like a slap in the face. Bring back Toadsworth? An established character who has been MIA for like years now. Just please. Please make the Toads different they did a very good job here with a handful like, the sea captain, captain T.ode, Professor Toad, and the Shangri-spa Toads. I remember those toads because they were dressed up differently than the other ones. I even remember the Toad who told you where the heart ups were because he was in a completely unique pose then the other ones. Please Nintendo I'm begging you just make them look more unique or don't rely on them as a pillar of a character. They are all the same. Just do more colors of Toads! There's red, blue, yellow, green, and purple.Make an orange Toad or something please. I liked finding the Toads in the different areas and they would unfold from origami, it gave me some korok seed vibes. Do more stuff like that!

Concerning the game's overall story, I liked it, but it could have been so much more. There were multiple key moments where I was like "why wouldn't they have a cut scene for this as like a flashback?". The first one was right at the beginning of the game. They instead of showing you in the actual game like a cut scene, they show a small slideshow of Toads setting up for the Origami festival with Princess Peach on the logo screen which I guess is okay, but I'm not a fan. Personally, I would have liked there to be a sort of storybook intro that the previous games had being like "every 100 years the toads in toad town set up a festival to honor the proud technique of origami" and then cut to Mario and Luigi getting a mail call from Parakarry (like the previous games) and then being like "the festival is today we hope to see you there." and then bam they're driving to the festival. I know that seems kinda dumb but why not show that in your game instead of Luigi being like "can't wait to get there" while he's driving his cart from Mario Kart. It's a little weird to me. The biggest moment like this happened when you first meet the origami craftsman (who yes is just a Toad) he explains these unique origami techniques he used to fold King Olly to make him come to life, but like brushes past it real quick. And then at the very very end (skip ahead if you don't want spoilers) Olly talks about this 1000 crane origami wish thing that was never brought up before by anyone. If he had mentioned it when he dropped the boulder on Olivia that would have been acceptable but it just kinda comes out of nowhere. If you're going to bring these things up then like at least mention them once before or have some type of set up and pay off for it. It just felt kinda rushed. The ending was cute though, and I remember liking Color Splash's ending a bit more but this one was surprisingly beautiful with how it ends with floating lanterns it reminded me a little of Tangled.

The other big thing people are complaining about is no experience. This has pros and cons. pros: the battle in this game a lot of them are scripted or can be ran past no problem. However if you want to buy better weapons or accessories (this game's subtle nod to the badge system) you need a lot of coins. A lot of them. You use the coins in battle to let the Toad audience help you or use coins to buy more time to line up your foes properly. I like this system. While I could have gone for a little more incentive to battle I found myself using my coins even if I had thousands of them. I thought it was a pretty good balance. I don't see why they couldn't have thrown in a little more to make the battles worthwhile though. Why not after ever 10 battles let you pick a stat? Mario's running speed in the over world could be faster, Mario's first strike can be stronger, It doesn't cost as many coins when using them in battle? These are just thoughts I've had if they don't want to use a traditional style stat system. They had max up hearts that raised power and health it's just kinda strange why they don't want to have stats improve or give you another reward for battling other than money.

I will say while backtracking to get missing collectibles I avoided battles outright. If I got into a battle while backtracking I would sigh. I knew there was nothing left for me to spend my coins on so I would try to run from the battle but nine times out of ten I would fail running from the battle. At least the battles go by quickly, but it would use up durability on your consumable weapons. I'm very glad that they brought back permanent weapons and no stickers or cards. This weapon system is a littler underutilized though. I feel like if the designers went in they could have come up with three or four more weapon types. Why not use more Mario related power ups? Why just the fire or ice flowers, tail, and pow block? Why not have a jump move that hits in a 4x4 area like the hammer? They have a hammer item that works like the jump move! Why not have the frog suit back from sticker star or color splash that you can use to dodge unavoidable damage if you don't line up the monsters in time? I loved the battle system a lot more than Sticker Star and Color Splash but it seems like they only scratched the surface of the attacks Mario could do. If you're going to have different weapons that break why not have 10 or 20 unique different weapons as opposed to just more powerful versions of the same 5 weapons? Same with the healing items. Why only mushrooms, when in Toad Town you can get coffee that speeds you up or slows you down? Especially when you find a handful of coffee shops in the game, why can't I buy those coffees there? Why not bring back the cooking in the game from the first two? I know it'll never happen, but near the end of the game you get a spot to cook one item and I really got my hopes up.  I know I'm presenting a lot of questions, but this is all I thought about when doing the battles. If they do an "origami king 2" or something that reuses this battle system I feel like there is a lot of room for improvement and a lot more unique encounters. I also feel like they did this because they didn't want to over complicate things. They wanted the battles to be simple after you did a puzzle section. Also the battles are super snappy. Lasting two turns if you get the right line up and can be more if you don't. I think that's a really good way to make the player really learn the right way to move the board. That being said there were many times I didn't see the solution and would brute force my way through making some of the battles a bit of a slog.

They do flip the script a lot with the boss battles. First off "The Legion of Stationary" is great. While it took me a while to get used to them, they were some of the best fights in the whole game. The Tape boss was extremely cool and used an element that I wished more games could use. They let you get comfortable with the battle system then the tape is like "no you can't move stuff around, or you have to move the 2 rings around at once." This was such a cool battle and it really did make you think. I will say it was a little weird that the bosses were real life objects like colored pencils or a bunch of rubber bands, but I thought it was more comical. I know a lot of folks did not like them at all. They were set up and referenced though because all of the tools were mentioned in a bookshelf in the origami craftsman's library. This is how set up and pay off is done correctly because Olly would have seen him using them and so he'd use them against the toads and Mario just a nice little touch really. If you missed the book in the library scene they really hammer it home by showing you the legion of stationary was on the origami craftman's desk. I've looked around online and apparently a lot of the bosses can be beaten differently, they don't all end in 1000 fold arms finishers which is super cool.

Also the two other big mechanics for this game were the 1000 fold arms and the paper macho bad guys. The 1000 fold arm thing was fine, it felt right at home in a game like this which focused on origami. That being said the paper macho characters felt tacked on. They did not belong in this game, They were the other side of the battles being in real time and defeated by Mario using his hammer on them. The reason why they had to have these were if Olivia was not with you like on the cruise ship you had a way to take down a boss without her help, because she's needed for the 1000 fold arm technique. Cool idea, but felt wrong for this game which focused on origami it's like they really really wanted to make this a Zelda game and have action style battles to contrast to the puzzle ones. Again, I could see them being used in another game.  

If they do make another Paper Mario game, and I hope they do, I hope they keep pushing the needle forward.Every game since Sticker Star has been a HUGE improvement, and if we're not going back to the original games I hope each game makes an effort to address all of the glaring issues that all of us Paper Mario fans have.

[limitededitionsanderssidesblog]

Speech Impediment - Chapter 13

Ships: logicality, prinxiety, platonic dlamp, remceit/sleepceit

Summary: The second semester of his first year of college begins, and the rest of the gang finally gets to meet Remy.

AO3 - Here

Chapter One Previous Next

The moment Dexter realized he didn’t require math to graduate he dropped his calculus class. Since he was majoring in English Literature and receiving a Bachelor in Creative Writing, he was exempted from taking a math course. Oh how he wished he would have read the fine print at the beginning of the year and not have wasted his time with that hellish subject. Once he had made the choice to stop taking calculus he decided what the hell and dropped out of biology too, never really being interested in it in the first place.

So, now with two empty spots in his schedule, Dexter had chosen to take poetry with Virgil, and psychology. He would later learn that he and Virgil would have different poetry classes, but for the moment that was his main persuasion to take that class. While he wasn’t much of a poet, the class offered him the creative liberty he wanted, so it was the obvious choice. And the psychology was for his psychological horror novels.

His class schedule was shifted around this semester for two reasons. The obvious one being the change in classes, and the other was the fact that his parents had told him to get a job just a few minutes before they boarded their flight.

For... pretty much ever, his parents had discouraged him from getting a part-time job, since it would most likely mean that he’d have to communicate with customers, which he wasn’t too fond off. But after their most recent visit they had both decided that it would be best that he start working before he sought after an actual career, no longer letting him mooch off of their bank account. Dexter had located a few possible job openings where talking would not always be a necessity, such as the Downtown book store, Anne’s Bookshelf, the City Library, and his University’s Library. 

Okay, so maybe he just wanted to work around books, but not much talking happened in those places because most of the patrons were either reading or working. The most he’d probably have to do is shush someone, give directions to a genre section or look up a book. Shouldn’t be too hard. He had already filled out multiple online applications and was simply waiting for a response.

But that was for later, at the moment he had to focus on his first class of the day, which was in fact anatomy, yet another class he was taking for the sake of making his horrific gore novels more realistic. The class started at nine thirty in the morning, one hour from now. He had been lying awake in bed for the past ten minutes, still uncommitted to leaving his warm bed for the freezing domain just outside of his blankets. Patton had already turned on the heater when he had gotten up earlier, but he still didn’t want to move.

“Are gonna get up soon?” Patton asked from the bathroom door, currently brushing his teeth as he spoke, white toothpaste foam dripping from his mouth and staining the front of his shirt.

“Ugh!” Dexter groaned loudly, “No!”

“Okay, kiddo,” Patton giggled, going back inside the bathroom to rinse out his mouth.

Dexter heaved an unnecessarily heavy sigh, kicking his blankets off unceremoniously, and jumping up to change. Just as he had predicted, the room was frosty and unpleasant, nipping at his exposed skin as he changed into out of his yellow and white polka dot pajamas and into a pale yellow button up with a black argyle sweater-vest over it; and of course black slacks, he only owned like six pairs. He joined Patton in their small bathroom and pulled out his hairbrush from the bathroom drawer, fixing his bedhead, and then brushed his teeth.

At about eight fifty, when both of the had finished getting ready, Roman and Virgil met up with them outside their door, both looking tired and lacking sleep. They headed out together, carpooling in Patton’s minivan to meet up with Logan at their cafe. Somehow the five of them had managed to have almost all their classes around the same time that semester, besides a few exceptions. So, Logan had devised a plan for them all to carpool together to save both gas and money, while also not producing as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. 

They all met up with him at the shop, which he had walked to, ordered drinks and breakfast, then climbed back into the minivan to head to their classes, splitting off there in the parking lot.

Dexter paced himself to his class, careful not to slip on any hidden or visible ice, sipping his herbal tea and nibbling on a blueberry scone that was overly sugared and ridiculous large, like most American things were. He had five minutes to spare when he arrived to class, and nearly half the seats were already taken. Looking through his options of open seating, Dexter sat his belongings and his person down in the back right corner, far from other students and a good, close, distance to the door. 

Since he was a bit early, he resolved to play a short horror game on his phone until the professor started the session. It was a cheap copy of Slender, but it was entertaining enough. His professor, Dr. Hernandez, was as punctual as usual, demanding their attention the moment the bell signified the start of class. Dr. Hernandez was quite a strict teacher, not putting up with any talking, lack of effort, or arriving late.

That’s why, when there was a knock on the locked classroom door, everyone in the room was astounded that there was already someone late on the first day. Dr. Hernandez grumbled since he had to stop only five minutes into the lesson. He opened the door only slightly, prepared to give the student his “I don’t care that you woke up late, you’re not allowed in” speech, but the student beat him to it.

“I’m sorry professor! I had some trouble finding you’re classroom and had to ask my old teacher for directions.” He all but shouted at their professor.

“Let me guess, you’re the new teacher’s aid?” He presumed aloud regarding the newcomer.

“Yeah, sorry I’m late.” He said noncommittally, leaning against the door frame. Dr. Hernandez grimaces for a second, and then steps aside for the teacher aid to walk in.

“Normally you would sit in the front, but since you weren’t here on time, like you were supposed to be, most of the seats are already taken.” Which was true, the only two spots that were currently avaliable being the one to Dexter’s left and the one in front of him. “Just pick any that’s open.”

With that, the professor returned to his seat and began talking again immediately, leaving the aid standing at the door. It was only when the student stepped completely in that Dexter recognized him as that one guy from the coffee shop that he had managed to embarrass himself in front of. What was his name again? Richard... Randy... Ron? Remy!

Remy scanned the room for said open seating and looked pleasantly surprised when he noticed Dexter in the back corner, with the only vacant seats being next to him. Remy walked with such a confident disposition and swagger that he could have easily mistaken him for Roman. Claiming the seat to his left, the man dropped his messenger bag on the table and threw himself into his seat, practically hanging half of his body off of the chair. Dexter took note of his leather jacket and ripped, white shirt, styled with a pair of black distressed jeans and heeled leather boots. Everything about him seemed to radiate a cool vibe. Dexter looked down at his own sweater-vest and blushed, feeling significantly less cool.

“Hey. Psst. Heeey!” The man called hushedly beside him. Dexter opted to ignore him, upset with himself for the way he was dressed in comparison to the other, and also not wanting to get in trouble with the professor. However, Remy opted to retaliate by choosing to poke him in the arm repeatedly.

Dexter sighed and gave in, “What don’t you want, Remy?” He asked undertone.

“You remember my name.” Remy smiled brightly. “What’cha doing in this class?”

“Not studying anatomy, uncertainly.” Dexter replied, turning his attention back to their professor, who was currently pulling up a slideshow presentation and directing them to take notes on the vital organs. Dexter reached into his bag to pull out his notebook and pencil, but nearly dropped both on the floor when Remy decided to speak again.

“Ah, I still love the way you talk.” He exhaled dreamily, resting his cheek on his left palm, leaning his body into the desk as he stared sideways at Dexter.

Dexter tried and failed spectacularly to hide the blush that was creeping up his neck from pure shock and embarrassment. He didn’t say anything back and kept his head down, covering his face with his hand out of Remy’s line of sight, focusing solely on the lecture. Nearly a minute passed by and Dexter had began to believe that Remy had disregarded his discomfort, but was taken aback when he heard him utter a small apology.

“I’m sorry, that was rude.” Remy said sheepishly, appearing to have regret his actions. Dexter smiled slightly at this, feeling some of his doubts dissipate, but not all of them. 

“It’s not alright, I’m just used to compliments.” Dexter tells him, slightly forgetting about the lecture.

“Well then, you better used to them babe.” Remy smirked cheekily.

And cue Dexter becoming a blushing mess again.

The two of them didn’t speak for the rest of class, Remy thankfully allowing him his space to work and listen to the, rather dull, lecture. That didn’t mean that the other didn’t make his presence known however, constantly doing thing such as tapping his fingers on the table, repeatedly crossing and uncrossing his legs, or looking over Dexter’s shoulder at his notes, to remind him that he was still there. Dexter wasn’t sure yet if this was endearing or annoying.

Probably more annoying.

When the two hours were up and they were free to go, the two of ended up walking out together. His next class was at twelve thirty, in an hour, purposefully giving him a bit of time to grab a bite in between classes. So, just as Logan had previously planned, Dexter made his way to meet up with everyone to grab lunch at the campus’s cafeteria. Ironically, Remy also had some free time until his next class at one o’clock and was going to head there for lunch, so he decided to accompany Dexter there. He didn’t entirely mind the company, but he did mind how openly... kind he was.

Am I reading too far into this? Was this a friend thing he didn’t know about? Patton was quite clingy and nice to everyone so maybe, is that what Remy was doing, just being nice? Should I tell him that I’m asexual, would that make him back off?

“Only if you want me to.” Remy responded honestly.

What the fuck?! Did I say that aloud?

“Yes you did.” He chuckled, swinging his body around so that he was walking backwards in front of Dexter. “So do you want me to back off? I know we don’t really know each other that well, I don’t want to push it.”

“Um, no, I- well, maybe just a lot.” Dexter answered, shyly rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

“Okay then,” He smiled, flipping the sunglasses that he always wore up to give him a wink before quickly bringing them back over his eyes. Once he did this he noticed that Remy actually had two different colored irises, the right one brown and the left being grey. Dexter felt his breath escape him when he saw this. “I’ll back off a tad.” Dexter simply nodded back, too amazed to say anything. 

The rest of the walk was easy enough, with a simple conversation on why they were each in anatomy flowing between them on their way to the cafeteria. Dexter learned that Remy actually wanted to be a surgeon but was falling behind on credits, so he became a teacher’s aid to catch up on them so he can graduate in time to be able to go on to medical school next year. It was also then that he learned that the other was actually twenty-three, which was even older than Patton, the oldest in his group of friends. In turn, he was asked of his reasons for being in anatomy, to which he gave the simple answer of it being for reference for another class. Perhaps Remy notice his discomfort while answering, because he didn’t ask Dexter to elaborate, and for that he was grateful for.

Soon enough they made it to their destination, which was half empty of student patrons. Dexter swiftly located his friends, sitting in the far right corner by the window, all looking to have already grabbed some food and were happily eating. Patton noticed him and waved.

Dexter gave a small wave back and looked at Remy, who was looking back expectantly through his tinted glasses. That’s when it dawned on him that he had never actually invited Remy to eat with them.

“Erm, would you hate to eat with us?”

Remy’s shoulders fell in what appeared to be relief. 

“Sure thing, babe.” He smiled, grinning wider when Dexter rolled his eyes and led the way over to his friends.

The others noticed the newcomer instantaneously even before he made it to the table. Each taking to Remy differently at first glance.

“Goodbye guys,” He greeted them somewhat awkwardly, “Everyone, this isn’t Remy. We aren’t in class together.”

Whatever previous conversation the four were having must of burned and died because none of them said anything straight away, apparently not expecting Dexter to bring someone into the group. Unsurprisingly, though, Patton spoke up first, offering a smile and a hand to Remy.

“Heya Remy! I’m Patton Sanders, this is my wife Logan-“

“I’m his boyfriend,” Logan interrupted, hastily putting a stop to the long trail of introductions by Patton that probably would have mirrored the one Dexter had received back when they all first met. “Logan Winchester, physics major, Patton here is an art major. And these are our close friends, Roman Sanchez and Virgil Black.”

Remy exchanged a handshake with each of them.

“Might I inquire how exactly you met our dear Dexter?” Logan asked.

Dexter shifted somewhat awkwardly, everyone else giggled, but their lovable stoic nerd just ignored them. Logan’s mom mode had been activated.

“We met at a coffee shop a few weeks ago, actually,” Remy answered him, resting an arm on Dexter’s small shoulder, leaning into him ever so slightly. “but I’m the teacher’s aid for his anatomy class.” Dexter’s head began to spin with the looks his friends began to give him, there eyes boring into the strange guy’s arm on his shoulder. Had Remy completely forgotten the discussion they just had a few minutes ago? 

Taking a step to the side, he detached himself from Remy’s bodily contact and from his friends’ gazes. 

“I’m not going to grab something to eat.” He said shortly before fleeing the scene, desperately wanting to get away from whatever tension was brewing.

...

“So... Remy was it?” Virgil voiced icily, glaring at the newcomer, “What are your intentions with our friend?”

Remy didn’t seem at all deterred by the emo’s tone or his murder worthy eyes, calmly pulling up a chair from the table next to them and taking a seat.

“Well I was hoping to be his friend, if that’s alright with you.” Remy replied simply, albeit a bit cockily. 

“I’m not so sure that I am.” Roman said next, “Not by the way you treated his personal space when he was clearly uncomfortable. You are aware that he’s asexual, right?”

Remy’s relaxed character fell slightly at Roman’s words, his grin dropping into a frown. “He was-” His words failed him, “He mentioned it earlier, I did’t mean to upset him.”

“Well you did nonetheless.” Logan cut in abruptly, “So as a warning, I suggest that you respect those boundaries.”

“We’ll let you hang around Dexter for now, but we’ll be watching you.” Virgil joined in, finishing the, rather threatening, conversation.

...

When Dexter came back a minute later he did not missing the obviously stressed atmosphere, but chose not to comment on it. The rest of lunch wasn’t so bad though, talking became easier once Patton got going on about some cartoon that was coming out and the time was quickly used up.

Dexter’s next class was Creative Writing, which was in the same building as Virgil’s, who had Poetry at the moment, so the two walked together. He didn’t know what class Remy had next, but he did know hat it was on the opposite side of the campus, so they had to say goodbye here. Dexter offered a small handshake to say goodbye.

He may have been imagining it, but Dexter could have sworn that Remy had been hesitant when taking his hand, pulling away as if he had touched fire.

.

.

They’re just a little overprotective and he’s just a bit clingy.

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[the-master-cylinder]

SUMMARY This film is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where few fertile men and women exist due to atomic fallout. As a result, the government places a high priority on those that can still breed. Shortly before the movie opens, a group of mutant amphibians (who have been exiled to the desert by humans) capture a group of fertile women and are using them as sex slaves.

Sam Hell (Piper) is a nomadic traveler who wanders the countryside. He is eventually captured by an organization of warrior-nurses, the closest thing to a government in his region of the world, who reveal that they located him by tracking the trail of pregnant women left in his wake. Their original plan was to use him as breeding stock with their collection of fertile women, but this was the group captured by the mutants. With their own attempts to capture the women failing, the group presses Hell into service as a mercenary; he is to infiltrate the mutant city (derogatorily referred to as “Frogtown”) and rescue the women. To make sure that the rebellious Hell follows his orders, he is forced to wear an electronic protective codpiece that will explode if he disobeys or tries to abort his mission. Having already taken numerous samples of reproductive material from him, he is now deemed far more expendable than the women themselves. To aid him in his mission (and make sure he follows the plan), he is paired with one of the nurses, Spangle (Bergman), and an aggressive guard named Centinella (Verrell).

During their journey to Frogtown, Hell tries numerous times to escape but quickly learns that a device Spangle carries will shock his genitals if used or if he gets too far away from it. Despite their rocky start and Spangle’s initial cold demeanor, the pair grow closer during the journey and eventually fall in love. When they reach Frogtown, everyone involved is captured. The frogs’ second-in-command, Bull (Nicholas Worth), tortures Hell and attempts to remove the codpiece for its technology. Meanwhile, a slightly drugged Spangle is forced to work as a slave and dance for the frogs’ Commander Toty (Brian Frank) in the notable “Dance of the Three Snakes” sequence. Proving more successful than she had wished, the nurse soon finds herself at the mercy of the aroused commander. However, with the codpiece now removed (Bull finally removed it with a chainsaw, but it blew up and killed him), the escaped Hell rescues her along with the group of fertile women (Ellen Crocker, Kim Hewson, Ilana Ishaki, Annie McKinon and Janie Thorson) held captive.

DEVELOPMENT/PRODUCTION Donald G. Jackson had directed a $70,000 16mm direct-to-video feature for New World’s video division: ROLLERBLADE, a tale of “futuristic rebel nuns on skates with knives, “according to Jackson. On the strength of that project’s overseas sales, New World asked him to pitch ideas for another low-budget, direct-to-video feature. Jackson pitched HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN, a tongue in-cheek post-apocalypse action-adventure story, which he described as “ROAD WARRIOR meets PLANET OF THE APES, except they’re frogs.”

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New World loved the script by Randall Frakes, who was supposed to co-produce the film with Jackson, and agreed to finance the project, which was to be shot 16mm, non-union, for $150,000. It was then that the project began to balloon. New World wanted a name in the cast and suggested Sybil Danning for a role intended for Suzanne Solari, who had appeared in ROLLERBLADE. As a bone, Solari was given the small part of a nomad girl in the film. Jackson did not think Danning was right for the part, so New World offered it to Sandahl Bergman, who was finishing up a two-picture contract with them. Unfortunately, the casting of Bergman meant that the whole film had to be cast SAG, which immediately raised the budget to $500,000. New World’s video division could not afford that price tag, so the film was moved over to the feature division where executives questioned whether the script’s extensive action and stunt requirements could be achieved for half a million dollars. They rebudgeted the film somewhere between $750,000 to $1,000,000.

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“Then I got the phone call,” said Jackson. “They basically said, ‘We’re not going to trust you with a million dollars, but here’s what we’d like to do, because we like the project: we’ll give you a million, but we want you and R. J. Kizer to co-direct.” Kizer was the editor New World brought in to direct scenes of Raymond Burr for GODZILLA: 1985. Jackson was not pleased to lose control, but ultimately he decided it was a better career move to go for a bigger-budget theatrical release than another low budget video. New World brought on line producer Bill Edwards, who did not think the script could be shot for $1,000,000. He and executive in charge of production Neal Nordlinger raised the budget to $1.5 million. While at Alan Lansburg Productions, Nordinger had co-produced JAWS 3-D.

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Said Jackson, “We had five accountants, two directors, three producers, one executive in charge of production and two executives in charge of the executive in charge of production-so everybody had his finger in the pie, getting their friends jobs instead of spending money on the film. They wouldn’t hire the lighting guy I wanted, so I had to pay additional money out of my pocket to get the right guy.”

The first and only time I ever saw the movie with an audience—prior to a couple of months ago—was on the old MGM lot in Culver City. The Cary Grant screening room. The audience was made up of the crew and some of the cast, and the movie dropped like a 10-ton stone into mud. I hated the movie. Hated it. Looking at it was like staring at a wrecked career. My friend William Wisher—who I mentioned earlier, and who was amazed my dopey script even got made—came up to me afterward and said, “I’m sorry they screwed up your movie, Randy.” That was the nail in the coffin. But I must also say that a few months ago, when the Cinefamily Theater here in L.A. did a one-night Rowdy Roddy Piper memorial screening of They Live and Hell Comes to Frogtown, the audience seemed to get all the jokes as intended. They were extremely appreciative and enthusiastic in their response. So, despite all the ruinous stuff that happened to compromise Frogtown, it evidently still hits the mark well enough for some people who like weird and funny stuff to enjoy. For that, I am grateful. And producing that movie was a huge learning experience, an on-the-job training that has helped me navigate this silly business and the people who presume to run it. – Randall Frakes (Producer/Writer)

The film went into production with former wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper in the lead role of Sam Hellmond and frog masks by 21 year-old Steve Wang. Unfortunately, despite the rising budget, Wang’s budget was never increased, limiting what he could accomplish, so most of the mutant frog people are rather inexpressive. However, the radio-controlled mask for Commander Toty, the chief villain, features an impressive range of expressions, including bulging eyes, flaring nostrils, and flickering eyelids.

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The production soon ran into trouble. Despite early agreements on a cinematic style inspired by samurai films and Italian westerns, Kizer and Jackson were just too different in their approach. “I knew it wouldn’t work I’m sure he didn’t like being in that position any more than I,” said Jackson. “R. J. in my opinion never liked the project. He wanted the money and the directing credit.”

Another major source of friction arose regarding the film’s photographic look. Jackson, who according to his usual practice was photographing as well as directing the film, clashed with the movie’s art director. “The executive in charge of production had a friend of a friend who had never been an art director – he was an architectural draftsman. I never liked the way he dressed the sets, and I kept changing them around to make them look good for the camera which really upset him and the executive in charge. All my sets looked better after being redressed. He was building them like for a stage play, not for a movie. He didn’t age it-everything was too new. I kept taking cans of flat black paint and aging everything down.

“After doing this for ten days, the final blow-up was in the bar scene. They had blow-up sex dolls, I found that really offensive. They had naked mannequins, I found that offensive. They had this big poster of Reagan as Max Headroom, which the guy had swiped from a Doonesbury cartoon. So I wanted that all torn down. I got in a violent argument with the art director, who said he was gonna quit. I wish he had. He didn’t.

“The next day, when I came to work, they said, “There’s a new cinematographer, and he’s not gonna fuck with the art director.’ And I was told to watch they didn’t want me to talk to R. J. on the set, only in the trailer, so he was happy.

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“So I watched. I got tired of watching after six hours, so I grabbed a camera, went outside, and put together my own 2nd unit crew and started shooting a lot of insert shots. We shot two cameras on the pyrotechnics and fights and shot a lot of closeups of fingers pulling triggers and so on.”

By this time, Jackson’s co-producer Randall Frakes had already been fired for insisting the film be shot as written. Said Jackson, “The script was cut so drastically by Neal Nordinger and R. J. Kizer it no longer resembled the action script we wrote. New World said we couldn’t afford it, but I’d just shot a whole movie for hardly any money so I know it can be done.

“When I was shooting I was going as fast as anybody could go and everybody was complaining it wasn’t fast enough. As soon as they put on another d.p., the pace slowed down to one-half. The original schedule was twenty days. They shot twenty-two days principal, plus five more days of pickups because they didn’t cover the action properly-it wouldn’t cut together.”

The final product pleased neither Jackson nor New World, who, ironically enough, now plan to release it directly to video rather than theatrically.

Donald G. Jackson Interview Tell us about the genesis of Hell Comes to Frogtown ? Where did you find the inspiration for frog mutants ? What kind of deal New World proposed to you ? And how do you feel about that afterward ? Donald G. Jackson: There is a section of Los Angeles known as Frogtown. The story goes, that back in the 1940s this area was overwhelmed by a large invasion of Frogs — which is why it got its name. I had a friend Sam Mann, who was one of the actors in Roller Blade and lived in this area. We were driving along one day and he came up with the title, Hell Comes to Frogtown. From there, I ran with the idea and that is how the movie developed.

New World had made so much money on Roller Blade they offered to finance Hell Comes to Frogtown. My original plan was to shoot the movie with Sam Mann and Suzanne Solari (both from Roller Blade) as the leads. I was going to shoot it on 16 mm, with my Bolex — as I had done with Roller Blade. But then, New World decided they wanted to “Up” the budget. The problem is, the minute you let the devil in the door, the devil is going to take control over you. And, that is what happened with New World and Hell Comes to Frogtown. They decided that they wanted to cast name talent and take over the production of the film. So, the movie evolved from being a 16 mm art film, to a relatively high budget 35 mm cult movie. Sadly, my friend Sam didn’t get to play Sam Hell and Suzanne was only given a small part in the film.

Were Roddy Piper and Sandahl Bergman your firsts choices for the roles of Spangle and Sam Hell ? What were they like on the set ? Donald G. Jackson: No, as stated, my original plan was to shoot the movie with Sam Mann and Suzanne Solari as the leads. But, New World wanted to use Roddy Piper as he was a very famous wrestler at the time — and this was going to be his first movie.

As a fan of wrestling, I was happy to have him. But, as you can understand, what occurred was not fair to my friend Sam. I think I may have made the wrong choice by not standing by my friend Sam, who actually came up with the title and the idea for the movie. But, I spoke with him and he seemed Okay with what was happening. Though Hell Comes to Frogtown is, no doubt, my most famous feature, by my accepting New World’s offer, I believe it did set a lot of bad karma in motion.

Regarding Sandahl Bergman: She had just finished Conan: The Barbarian, and they wanted to use her for her name power, as well. I had very little to do with any of the casting of the film. Again, this is the problem when a large production company becomes involved in a project — the actual filmmaker is allowed very little creative control. Which is why I have never again worked with a large production company. But, Piper and Bergan were both very nice people to work with.

Anything to say on Cec Verrell (Centinella)? Donald G. Jackson: No, just somebody cast by New World. Also, very nice

The “Dance of the Three snakes” scene didn’t really stand its promises ? Did Sandahl Bergman have something to do with that ? Donald G. Jackson: In the script, Bergman’s character was to be naked in this scene. On the set, she would have nothing to do with nudity, however. So, it was one of those power struggle things happening between the actor and the director. Due to New World’s influence and decision, the actor won.

William Smith is one of my favorite actors. How did you get in touch with him ? He would have made a perfect Sam Hell too, don’t you think ? Are you still in touch with him ? Donald G. Jackson: Yes, Bill is a great actor and a great friend. He has been around the film industry forever. And, I have known him for a lot of years. I put him in my films whenever I can.

Nicolas Worth is also brilliant, even under his heavy make-up. A very talented actor. Did you notice him from his creepy performance in Don’t Answer the Phone (1980) ? Donald G. Jackson: No, he was cast by New World.

The makeup of the Frogmen are excellent, could you tell us about that ? Donald G. Jackson: Steve Wang who went on to direct films like Kung Fu Rascals, The Guyver, and Drive was the main force behind the frog masks and make-up. He is a great guy and has gone on to do a lot of special effects work for a number of very big feature films.

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There’s always comedy coupled with eroticism and sexual content in your movies that remind me of the films of Russ Meyer. Do his films form part of your influence ? Donald G. Jackson: Some of Russ’s stuff is great. Particularly when you think that he made them without the help of any of the big studios. But, he has never been an influence to me. It was more the avant-garde films from the 1960s like Dr. Chicago and Chinese Fire Drill that really inspired me as a filmmaker.

I think you’re also a car lover and “Hell Comes to Frogtown” showcases two amazing cars, were they part of your own collection ? Donald G. Jackson: Yes, I am a big fan of classic cars. I love the cars made in Detroit from the 1950s and early 1960s. One of the cars in Frogtown is a 1962 Plymouth Belvedere. I found and purchased two at the same time. One, we customized for the film and the other one I customized to my own specification and have driven ever since.

R.J. Kizer, the guy guilty to have shot the useless and ugly new scenes of the American version of The Return of Godzilla is often credited as the co-director of Hell Comes to Frogtown. Why ? Was it imposed to you by New World ? Why ? What was your relations with him on the set ? Of which part is it exactly responsible in the final cut of the movie ? Donald G. Jackson: Like a lot of people in the film industry, I sometimes say things, trying to soften the reality of what actually occurred in a particular situation and trying to make it more understandable for those who have never made a film. But, now is the time for me to spell out the truth.

Hell Comes to Frogtown was my baby. Though I have been the one to get the most press from the film, regarding Kizer, again, New World took over the project and said that was part of the deal — Kizer was going to be the co-director of the movie. Even though I was the creator, my complete creative control was taken away. New World became angry at my desire to maintain control over the project and I was eventually removed as the director and banned from the sets. There was never any collaboration.

Regarding the final cut of the film, New World handled it. Though I watched some of the editing — they didn’t like my flaring temper, when I didn’t like something I didn’t like. Again, this is why I have never worked with another big production company. Because it just takes all of the creativity away from the filmmaker.

CAST/CREW Directed Donald G. Jackson J. Kizer

Produced Donald G. Jackson Randall Frakes

Written Donald G. Jackson and Randall Frakes (story and screenplay)

Roddy Piper as Sam Hell Sandahl Bergman as Spangle Cec Verrell as Centinella William Smith as Captain Devlin/Count Sodom Rory Calhoun as Looney Tunes Nicholas Worth as Bull Brian Frank as Commander Toty Julius LeFlore as Squidlips Eyde Byrde as Patton Lee Garlington as Briefing Officer

Special Effects by Grant Arndt  … creature effects Wayne Beauchamp  … pyrotechnician Makio Kida   … creature effects Crit Killen  … creature effects David Kindlon    … creature animatronics (as Dave Kindlon) Steve Patino … creature effects Matt Rose    … creature effects Johnnie Saiko    … creature effects Steve Wang   … creature effects Ed Yang  … creature effects

CREDITS/REFERENCES/SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY Scottshaw.com slashfilm.com Cinefantastique v18n05 Imagi-Movies v01n04

Hell Comes to Frogtown (1988) Retrospective SUMMARY This film is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where few fertile men and women exist due to atomic fallout.

[adugalm]

studio: presenting monsieur choke

In light of this week’s presentation, I am posting the slideshow I presented, as well as a summation of all my research and work up to this point.

I am working on a VR game which I have named Choke.

To choke means to strangle the life out of; to suppress emotion; to stifle. Choke in itself could be the description of a feeling, or a harsh command. Regardless, it enforces a particular feeling or vibe of obstruction, which I feel describes the intention behind my project perfectly.

Now to rewind a bit and give some context for this endeavour: when we were first doing all that brainstorming at the beginning of the semester trying to decide what ‘story’ means to us, the one thing that stood out was the idea of ‘character’. I grew up a drama kid and I’ve always been fascinated with playing roles to tell that particular character’s story, especially since if you’re playing that character to the fullest, you low key begin to adopt their life into your own.

Take a look at someone like Heath Ledger for example; he was able to play The Joker phenomenally because he took on the character’s role through their eyes. By immersing himself into the world of The Joker, psychological effects began to extend onto him. He found himself not sleeping, having visions, changing the way he walked which ultimately led him to dying from an overdose - not my intention - but rather this idea of ‘character embodiment’ and the effects of living through someone else’s life.

This thought process led me to recall one particular monologue that I performed about a serial killer. Now, me being super curious, really tried hard to get into this character and I adopted the same kinds of methods that someone like Heath Ledger would have used. For three months, I changed the gait of my step, I would stare at random objects of interest, hunch my shoulders, and watched a lot of Criminal Minds. Honestly, by the end of that assessment, I felt some weird change in my attitude towards the realm of murderers. I began to feel legitimate empathy for my character, this connection that I hadn’t felt at the beginning of the assessment. I felt like could relate to his actions and justify them as if everything that he had been doing was somehow right. To this day, I wholeheartedly believe that it’s 100 percent messed up my sense of humour.

But yanno, who wants to become totally screwed up in the head? Psychosis is an extremely difficult mentality to impart onto the everyday person because hey, don’t think any of us in here are actually serial killers (maybe). But this concept was something I didn’t really want to give up. That’s when I toned it down a couple of notches and brilliantly thought - by Anna’s suggestion - to apply the same concept to a more ‘real’ mental illness, depression and anxiety.

It all kinda made sense. Here I am, presented with the opportunity to tell a story; why not tell the story of someone who has to live through this absolute bitch of a mind state? The two have always been a taboo topic: even today, with all the awareness posts and saturation of help hotlines, it’s still difficult for those suffering to be able to convey their feelings to people around them.

It’s always been my understanding that those around me living with mental illness find it difficult to break through this same stigma. It’s hard to share feelings with someone who doesn’t understand; you know that that person can never relate or say the right thing because in actuality, they have no right to. This is where my concept comes in: I want to recreate the reality of someone living with depression and anxiety in order to educate the general public. This, in turn, should allow an open and somewhat more relatable conversation between them and those suffering from mental illness.

Like the way I felt empathy towards a convicted murderer, I want people to be able to feel even a drop of empathy and understanding towards those of us who have to endure. And the best medium I found to convey this message happened to be Virtual Reality.

Now VR is great because you physically experience an environment without actually existing in it. When you see through the eyes of your character, immediately you are living their life. You become their conscious of sorts and exist in their mind; you empathise with them because now they are you. A number of articles have dubbed the VR HMD an “empathy machine” which, wow, fits perfectly in my concept. From the subject matter, the game obviously takes on a serious tone. It is, after all, the narrative of someone living with depression and anxiety. As you wake up in your new body, the world around you is normal but there is a sense of discomfort in its colour palettes or environmental stillness. Typically, a game is bright and colourful, but this is not so much a game, but an experience of a particular individual’s day in the midst of depressive episode.

Capturing the feeling of depression and anxiety is a difficult feat because it is very much tied to the physical world, where in VR, you’re limited to sight, sound and thumb movement. That’s why I’ve had to do extensive research on visual and aural triggers, as well as compile personal experiences of people experiencing such mental illnesses. Not only that, but depression and anxiety is a completely personal experience which is why I’ve had to carefully select it’s most powerful aspects without adding the stereotype stigma.

Some major examples of techniques used to capture the intended feeling include hypersensitivity, colour psychology and music. Hypersensitivity occurs when when certain aspects within the field of vision become objects of centrality. Many people space out due to their inability to focus which makes tiny details of the environment more visible. This will be implemented in the game visually by sharpening smaller assets like dust movement, as well as mechanically in the way they must must their analogue stick to focus on objects of interest as their vision continually clouds.

Colour psychology denotes the natural human response to certain hues and this will be seen primarily in the visuals of the game. The colour palette skews towards a cooler side implying a sombre tone, while the world itself looks washed out. In the case of a particular point in the narrative where the player character breaks down, this will switch to an oversaturated tone to show how overwhelmed they feel by their surroundings.

Finally, sound is an extremely important aspect in creating tone for the story. Wherein certain parts that ambience is expected, music will be detracted so as to create the feeling of isolation. On the inverse, hypersensitivity again plays parts where some sound effects may be highlighted which encourages the player to believe that they exist in an invisible bubble. Character dialogue shifts in and out of aural focus, sharpening on segments that force the player to take out of context.

While the above tend to be more aesthetic, there are a number of mechanical features that will amp the game up slightly. Quicktime actions are often presented in which the player must spam a button in order to execute a command. However, it may often take multiple tries, as the character does not feel motivated enough to continue through. The frustration and anger the player will feel simulates the internal conflict those depressed battle with as their mind tells them to do things while their body does not comply.

My intention is to deliver a narrative that is not so literal so as to enforce the stigma, but still remain authentic and accessible to the layman. Because of this, I’ve decided to not stick to an entirely realistic narrative, instead first immersing the player in a ‘real’ world, then continuing to slowly evolve into one with hyperrealistic aspects. Walls closing in while people around talk normally, other characters shifting their gaze in the camera’s peripherals, voices playing in your ‘head’; these are things I will be incorporating into the game.

From my future tense verbs, I’m gonna be making this game 24/7 until the deadline. I’ve had difficulty with my computer which has wasted about three weeks of my actual development time allocation, although I’m confident that I will get it done before then. I’ve decided on a narrative, colour palette, character models, and watched heaps of YouTube tutorials so I basically only need to code it and voila.

-m