#android viscera

[czerwonykasztelanic]

Autism be damned my boy can work a keyboard!

As you guys can see I'm making good use of digital synths and overall fucking around recording my own tunes. Don't know what genre this falls under, but I imagine it could be a metal-adjacent soundtrack of some sort.

[wanderxdusk]

Ooc: I miss the gritty death matches that i roleplayed in the Dragon Ball rpc

They didn't happen often but when they did, the raw emotion and brutal detail was amazing.

I want one again plz

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

I need you to understand that the vibes of Desert Bluffs are both advanced futuristic corporate with religious undertones and 1970's with the same undertones.

Yes, we have control collars and androids but everything is also very orange/brown and full of patterns and shapes that only a mother can love.

Also there's a lot of blood and viscera.

[cupcakeshakesnake]

[Portal 2 AU] What happens in the derelict chamber stays in the derelict chamber

AKA the thing I said was messed up but y’all told me to post anyway.

I hope this doesn’t affect your view on the AU as a whole because I still wanna keep that thing generally lighthearted.

Warnings: Violence, blood, gore, abuse(sorta?)

---

"Mr. Johnson."

The man stopped in his tracks and turned around warily. Chell's footsteps grew further and further away ahead in the abandoned space, leaving the two staring at each other.

"I get a bad feeling whenever you call me that. What do you want?"

Instead of answering, a clawed robotic hand snatched him by the scruff of his neck.

Held in a death grip, he tried to meet the unblinking yellow gaze with his one good eye. GLaDOS reached with her other hand to gather the cables spilling from around the man's neck in one clasp.

"Finally doing me in, are you? Felt like doing the one thing I've been asking you to do?" he struggled as he spoke.

"No," was the quiet reply, "we need you alive. Yet. But I can make you suffer."

Then she yanked, with a jolt, then slowly with force, until the sound of ripping skin could be heard and a thick mess of even more cables intertwined with veins and viscera started to emerge inch by inch from the back of his neck like some eldritch spinal chord.

Along came a prolonged scream, sounding relatively human at first but soon distorting into something like amplified radio static.

It would not stop.

"I just remembered," GLaDOS spoke in a low voice, not caring that his screams drowned her out.

"She told you she didn't want this. Multiple times."

She pulled the cables a little harder.

"Your Caroline. You had security drag her out."

Blood started pooling around their feet.

.

Chell was some distance away when she decided it was too much for her ears. It was not the first time she had left the two alone and heard him scream - but enough was enough. She grimaced, walking back to see a rather grisly sight.

GLaDOS held Johnson's head to her chest with one hand, the other outstretched behind him with his cables; the man was scratching helplessly at his tormentor's chassis.

Chell put a hand to GLaDOS’ outstretched arm, silently but firmly.

Stop. I can't listen to this anymore.

The android looked at her without saying anything for a whole five seconds, then slowly lowered her arm. What was pulled out of Johnson's body was haphazardly pushed back in, somehow.

Chell looked at the man and noted how different he looked. When they first found him, he was dusty and deranged, but otherwise in good shape (so to speak).

Now, bloodstains covered his tattered clothes; the skin on one of his hands was burnt clean off, revealing charred metal underneath - GLaDOS had pressed it right into a Thermal Discouragement Beam at some point; his hair was a disheveled mess with patches of brown peeking out from under sticky blotches of dark red; and one eye was gouged out, leaving only a blinking yellow light sitting in its socket - a vaguely Terminator-like appearance.

Blood trickled from his eyes, his nose, his mouth, his ears, flowed freely from the crevices circling his neck. Chell turned away.

He deserved it.

.

The man's good eye seemed to glitch for a few moments before flickering back to its usual shape. Sparks flew from the other socket. He had stopped screaming, but was still held there, limply, out of breath (in a manner of speaking).

"Oh... Mr. Johnson..."

GLaDOS spoke unexpectedly, quietly.

His undamaged eye widened, dreading whatever would happen next -

And she pulled him into an embrace.

Cradling his shaking body, his face pressed to her chestplate - stained with blood, his blood - with both arms, she continued speaking in an almost pitying manner.

"Oh... you terrible, terrible person, what have you done to yourself."

He ruled this facility, once; now, in front of her was a broken - not even a man, not even a machine, a - thing. A tangled mess of cables and flesh, electricity and blood, misery and denial.

His trembling arms returned the rigid hug despite himself, wrapping around cold metal. His shoulders began to heave.

Broken dry sobs filled the decrepit chamber.

I think I'm going to get secondhand trauma from this, Chell thought, some yards away.

[bimbo-bah]

We'd like to request a super rq alter who's got a typing quirk, a sort of cybercore aesthetic, and is super transharmful please!

Of course~! I hope you like It~!

{Cybercore Alter~!}

𓆩♡𓆪 Alter Type: Brainmade

𓆩♡𓆪 Source: N/A

𓆩♡𓆪 System Role(s): Bionaut, Border

𓆩♡𓆪 Name(s): Carrion, Cortex, Echo, Delta, Kiibo, Vivi

𓆩♡𓆪 Species: Android (TransUnidentifiedEntity)

𓆩♡𓆪 Gender: Cybercoric Androidgender Exaevis Consumeldric Codegender Malwaregender Uncannything Kiibocharic

𓆩♡𓆪 Pronouns: It/Ae/Ai/Shift/Viscera/Byte/Pix/Chip/Exe/Volt/Blur/Chaos/Blight

𓆩♡𓆪 Sexuality: Traumasexual Panromantic

𓆩♡𓆪 Age: Ageless

𓆩♡𓆪 CisIDs: CisAgeless, CisImmortal, CisMonotone, CisAbused, CisExperiment, CisTortured, CisNullEmpathy, CisEmotionless, CisTestSubject, CisAI

𓆩♡𓆪 TransIDs: TransUnidentifiedEntity, TransEvil, TransSlasher, TransSerialKiller, TransStalker, TransKiiboCharacter, TransExecuted, TransCognitohazard, TransSCP, TransKeterClass, TransTorturer, TransVivisected, TransBrainwasher, TransDeltaProgramming, TransSeverityAbused (More Abused), TransHumanOwner, TransHumanTrafficker, TransGlitchy, TransMalware, TransComputerVirusHaver

𓆩♡𓆪 Paras: Erotophonophile, Autohybristophile, Vigiliaphile, Apagophile, Dacryphile, Masquephile, Autoteratophile, Gynephile, Emapihtophile, Haemotophile, Traumaphile, Sadism

𓆩♡𓆪 Personality: Introvert. Carrion is a humanoid android built to be tested on by scientists, in order to test how an AI would react to certain situations, sensations, or content. They actually don't remember much from testing and feel unphased by most of what happened to them due to be programmed with not many emotions. However, upon being exposed to various snuff films, they had gained an odd and almost disturbing obsessions. Due to this, most tests involving exposing him to dark or macabre content were cancelled out of fear of what he's do if he gained too much of an interest in such things. Not that he would've done much, save for add to the Slashersona of himself he has saved in his memory.

𓆩♡𓆪 Likes: Horror Movies, Gore, Snuff Films, True Crime, Researching Cold Cases

𓆩♡𓆪 Dislikes: Being told they're not expressive enough, being shamed for the content they like

𓆩♡𓆪 Aesthetic(s): Cybercore, Horrorcore

𓆩♡𓆪 Typing Quirk(s): Swears censored using #, I = Ii, O = Oo, A = 4, Y = V (ex. The quiick broown foox jumps oover the l4zv doog)

𓆩♡𓆪 Face Claim:

[ginjasnappp]

Alien Romulus: my opinions/review!!

I'm so sorry to everyone who sees this and therefore is subjected to it but my thoughts must exist somewhere

Spoiler free review is overall I'd recommend it! I think it did a lot of things right by the franchise and is a solid addition - but nothing beats the original imo.

Also I've only seen the first 2 movies before this so call me a fake fan if u want but the og is all I need

Spoilers for the whole movie below the cut!

Also warning it's absurdly long

THINGS I LIKED:

▫️ I really enjoyed all the characters! I thought they were faithfully written as a bunch of rebellious, rambunctious young adults trying their best in a shitty world. I thought their dialogue was fun and realistic and their age made me hold more space for the fact that they made reckless choices lol. I also thought their acting was spectacular. I wish we got a little more time with them before they got killed off to make way for Raine.

▫️The scoring and cinematography were great. it veered in and out of familiar territory, but there were several moments where the music and camerawork really evoked the first film, and even when it didn't to me, it was still effective.

▫️PRACTICAL EFFECCCCTTSSS how I have missed them. There was a mix of practical effects and CGI but even most of the cgi was done really well except for one part (lookin at you, Ash deepfake). All the practical creatures and general ooze and viscera were great.

▫️ The human hybrid?? Creepy as FUCK. It easily couldve been goofy lookin but it was genuinely super unsettling and expertly done imo!

NEUTRAL OBSERVATIONS:

▫️ This movie rang closer to Aliens than Alien to me, which was a little bit disappointing but entirely down to personal preference. Part of my love for Alien comes from the claustrophobia and creeping sense of dread - 'where is it', 'there's nothing I can do but hide', etc, and while there was some of that, this and Aliens are more action-packed with loud conflict and guns. Still a lot of fun though!

▫️I found it interesting and a little unfaithful that the only characters to get facehugged/otherwise impregnated (at least onscreen) were female characters. A big part of why a male character was the facehugger victim in Alien is because Ridley Scott noticed that in horror, the female characters are usually the ones to be physically violated in such a way and wanted to flip that around and make male audiences uncomfortable by depicting a male 'birth scene' (from what I read years ago, anyway). Seeing as Scott worked on this movie as well, I'm interested in why this choice was made, if it was even a conscious choice.

▫️The 'artificial person' Andy is a whole can of worms for me. When he was first introduced, before he's revealed to be an AP, my (and my parent who I saw it with's) very first thought was 'oh god, he's the autistic character that's gonna get killed off'. He is an example of how stereotypical autistic traits and scifi android traits (not understanding social cues, taking things literally, being outwardly unemotional and practical) can overlap, and there's a very fine line between drawing interesting but not direct parallels and coding the character outright, often negatively or to characters' detriment. He's definitely a character I'd be interested in hearing other people's thoughts on!

THINGS I DISLIKED/DIDNT MAKE SENSE/THOUGHT WERE MEH

▫️We all know you can't breathe in the vaccuum of space - so why, after being warned of the danger of letting the xeno blood go through the floor, did it actually happen and then everything was fine? Sure, things were sucked out into space, but Raine was fine and could breathe, which is impossible - her head would have imploded seconds after she was exposed to the vacuum. Also she would have frozen to death.

▫️The deepfake face. Just why?? I think it could have been way cooler if his face was entirely practical and maybe worn beyond recognition, and then a namedrop or similar reveal could be really effective.

▫️Dare I say it - too many aliens. Like the difference between Alien and Aliens, I find one unfaceable threat in an enclosed space is more effective than a whole shootable swarm in a large space. I enjoyed the shots of facehuggers skittering everywhere tho.

▫️This is PURELY my own unreasonable hopes being dashed but I was hoping and praying for a Sigourney Weaver/Ripley cameo. I understand wanting to leave her to her era and not drag her into a new one (and also that apparently she died like 4 movies ago) but I MISS MY QUEEEEEN

▫️I wish we got a liiittle more worldbuilding - though I understand the sentiment of 'we know what you're here for so we'll get right to it' lol.

That's it! Wow ty for reading if you got this far

Hand over your opinions >:3

[unhumanrights]

GIFs, video clips, and audio clips from Lower Decks S01E03, "Temporal Edict"

Yeah, I'm trying to find fun audio clips now, too. What can I say, I like to dissect these episodes and just throw the viscera around. Ew, pretend I didn't say that.

Boimler is important, no doubt, but we know who the true GOAT is.

Just make a bunch of androids and give them this personality, and they will never revolt.

Singing while you work is a recipe for joy.

Don't worry, it's set to stun.

Ransom is like someone playing a fighting game who only does leg sweeps, but in his case it's the double Kirk fists.

Let's just say Ransom isn't winning any public speaking awards.

Well, at least they aren't wood lovers, I guess.

GIFS:

And here are some audio clips:

[replicantdeviancy]

@hopestanding asked:

it’s a terrible thought. to die frightened and in pain. ( markus @ connor )

Those words lingered in the stagnant air a long moment, the weight of the atmosphere surrounding them heavy, as if the stillness of it had settled upon the detective’s shoulders. He felt it pressing ever so slightly, more & more. His chest felt tight, & he drew a needless pseudo-breath to help dispel the feeling. It was all psychosomatic, he knew - androids did not experience these symptoms, but to Connor, it felt like the descriptions of tangible gravity humans experienced with guilt. & he did know guilt. He had learned the emotion well, becoming intimately familiar with its effects on his body & mind. Somehow he knew, even with the forgiveness of the Jericho leader, he would forever be marked as the deviant hunter.

That sensation was never far when dealing with cases such as the one he had been tasked with now. Another android had been found destroyed, the viscera which only barely resembled that of a living being scattered & discarded. The chassis had been brutalized, left in a dark hallway of an abandoned building in one of the more desolate areas of town. Servos had locked upon the sudden cease of function, keeping the dismantled form of the android locked in a state not unlike rigor mortis in humans, expression contorted into that of abject fear. Connor couldn’t make himself meet the android’s dead eyes, not after his reconstruction software had so completely calculated the manner of the other’s death. It was an AP700 model, one which had been listed as missing some time before the revolution.

One of many listed in the files upon files of cases still left unsolved by the DPD involving deviant androids. Though he had worked these cases for months alongside his partner, Connor always hated when their closure involved the discovery of a body.

A faint sigh left him as he moved slowly to take a closer look, taking a knee besides the dismantled android. “When was he discovered?” His question was direct, to the point. He couldn’t afford to allow emotion to get the better of him, even if the scene horrified him in a way no human murder scene ever could. No matter how much the lieutenant tried to insist that androids weren’t all that different from humans, the RK unit knew that this just wasn’t the same. It was too close, far more personal to witness one of his own having been destroyed, knowing exactly which of the two designated intelligent species between them had done the slaying.

He understood why Markus had called him personally. Before the police got involved, before CSI & his fellow officers showed up, stealing away all the humanity from this display, rendering it cold & at the unwavering scrutiny of the law. Connor knew what had happened, how their victim had been chased down & mercilessly taken apart. This wasn’t a case of red ice related deactivation - he could see the splatters of thirium residue left over beneath the thickened puddles that had still yet to dry & evaporate. This was just hatred. This was overkill. It made his whole chassis twitch as a shiver ran down the length of his spinal assembly.

[lenorethequietbookkeeper]

"Even through the overpowering stimuli of gunfire and viscera, I felt a peculiar twinge in the air. It was akin to the subtle shifts in weather that prelude the changing seasons. Imperceptible to some, but enough of a jarring shift for me to realize that out in the battlefield, something was greatly amiss.

To my utter disdain, our pets insisted on following me to locate the disturbance. Misfortune cursed them to care for you nearly as much as I did, it seems. Allowing them to come along was indubitably a poor idea, especially Charles, who had been gravely injured by a mirror mine a fortnight ago. Had I not been in a place of unbridled emotional turmoil, I would have no doubt protested this. Although in hindsight, perhaps it was for the best that I was not alone that night.

There were no bodies scattered amongst the area during our expedition. Rather, a majority of the roads we took were covered in a cubit of dark olive sludge, which possessed a similar consistency to molasses. It was all that remained of our fallen foot soldiers. A second, final death had melted them into hot muck, their forms now condemned to the soil and forced to return to the cycle of life. None of this inspired chatter or hope amongst us as we trudged onward. We holders were trapped in our mental prisons, damnations of our own creation built from the unending nightmare we were facing. The passage of time was not a concept my mind processed at this point. All I could feel was numbing, choking anxiety that drowned out any complex thought.

I was swiftly and mercilessly dragged out of my stupor when we stumbled upon your heir. The malformed abortion pitifully clung to a stone wall, its broken teeth still stained with the residue of your eternal demise. The grimey glass fingers jutting out of its cracked face told us all we needed to know.

In our collective grief, neither I nor the other holders fully realized the metallic blight that haphazard android unwittingly wrought upon the urban jungle. As if it was a Spire incarnate, the thing would morph the ruined streets into its own industrial haven. The newborn territory of Goldberg District eagerly burst from the abdomen of your land friend, and it would continue to shamelessly feast before our astonished eyes."

First Part: Catalyst

Previous Part: Regicide

Next Part: Agonized

This art is a redraw of an older piece! You can find the original here.

Update 12-02-2023: Minor changes to shading and lighting

[virtual-minotaur]

I don’t know what is compelling me to ask, but I badly want to know about your OCs!

Well of course you do :)

Problem is, I have over 600 OCs! It would be so incredibly hard for me to infodump about all 600 of them! In a manner that would be post-able on Tumblr!

SO under the break I'll give a quick breakdown of the... main stories/universes I have ^_^

You can also find my Toyhouse here! Folders are named and organized pretty thoroughly.

Tales of Astreus: Sci-fi, set in a near future of Earth. A small government has an empire that spans solar systems, and sentient species all over the galaxy fight back.

Main: Alex Cooper, a pilot to the Aegis Council, gets a small crew (Fuyuko, Valérie Blais) to complete a confidential mission. Months in, they get stopped by members of an Anti-Aegis organization (Kai Morgan, Knim) and have to work together as their ideals change. Space opera with a heist sub-plot.

Nekusasu: Worldbuilding side story, expanding upon the Nexus androids and the Nekusasu corporation.

Clicks: Worldbuilding side story, expanding upon the Clicks, an insect-like species with strict social roles.

Ma'atsul: Three young adults with powers relating to the elements have to stop a god killer who may be the fourth, lost member of their group. Late medieval fantasy (Alamiel, The Arsonist, Samira, Star, as well as 12 gods).

Kamaria: Fuga, heir to a small clan, and Ayda, princess of the kingdom of Kamaria, have to defeat an existential threat. Fantasy, most recent and with the most development needed.

H(A)UNTING: Contemporary fantasy/supernatural/horror. A company, highly secretive, classifies Unnatural events under 10 (eventually, 11) different Marks: the Collective, the Confinement, the Crawl, the Deep, the Mimic, the Ruin, the Sickness, the Solitary, the Tempest, the Viscera, (The Watcher).

Pyre Point: Main story. A scientist (Faux) uncovers secrets to Unnatural biology and the Midnight corporation has internal disputes. (Ellen Ward, Elliot Philips, and many more)

The End: Two Watchers (Wormwood and Andromalius) have to stop the End of Everything before it happens. (Featuring the Horsemen of the Apocalypse)

Rotting Heartz: An Unnatural band and an alternate future to The End story, with a post-apocalyptic setting.

Fortuna: There's no way I can explain it in words. Image attached. (Fortune/Sachiel, Abel Wilbert, Elias Henderson, and Smiley)

Deadly Sins: Set in a version of Hell, the Seven Deadly Sins personified have intertwined stories.

Alexandra: Moving for college, she encounters a family of vampires.

Sappho: Vampire from the early medieval age with a story spanning up to today.

My Property Isn't Normal: Based on the Reddit story of the same name.

Cowboys: Chris Sloan and Violet Noble butt heads in the american west while they try to uncover a mystery around the slaughter of the herd.

The Ocean: A pirate and a mermaid have a fateful meeting.

Animatronics: Less of a set world, and more of a collection of stories featuring animatronics.

Mythos' Diner: A story of familial tragedy and a continuing cycle of abuse, explored mostly through in-universe media and public reception, spanning 20+ years. An animatronic restaurant (similar to Chuck E. Cheese) themed around greek mythology. Lester Drakos, Harvey Lobos, Zero, and Aperes and the Muses.

Canidae: Originally a theme park in the 80s/90s, the characters were adapted into a cartoon in the early 2000s.

Feliforma: Competitor to Canidae Park, based on feliforms rather than canids.

Starlight: Contemporary fantasy. Maybe that's a strong descriptor... superheroes is more appropriate. Genetic mutations allow 10% of the population to have superpowers, and there are strict rules and regulations around who can become a superhero or supervillain.

Main: Kiran and Sasha are super rivals and romantically involved. A story about abuse and growth.

Epilogue: Post-main story, following high school aged supers and Kiran and Sasha's child.

Magical Girls: Not much in terms of names or character arcs, but magical girls who have to fight 7 Heavenly Virtues.

Many more miscellaneous supers...

Slasher: Again, less of a set world, and more a collection of different stories.

Shame: A group of college students find their deepest secrets and shames exposed by a ruthless killer.

Waterpark: Young adults spend their night in a closed waterpark, whilst being stalked by something.

Sunset Harbor, joint project with @/hellish-bone-monarch: A serial killer, infamous throughout the town, has a specific calling card. Copycat kills have been popping up recently, with people fearing of a twisted fanclub. College students are investigated regarding their alleged involvement.

Hound & Deer, also a join project with @/hellish-bone-monarch: Two slashers who are so so so sickly sweetly in love.

Garden of Eden: A retelling of the story through blogs and news sites.

Holmes: Retelling of Sherlock Holmes with contemporary characters.

Horror Game: No title as of yet, but two protagonists of different horror game genres are stuck together.

Space Rock Opera: No title as well, but a conceptual concert/stage play (think Halyx) that features space opera-type characters.

And MANY MANY MANY more miscellaneous characters without a specific story.

[czerwonykasztelanic]

Ave! New song on Bandcamp. \m/

[jellybeansmud]

ive been thinking about the intimacy and erotism of looking into someones innards all day. god how much i would give to be a mechanic doing repairs of inner mechanisms of an android right now. or a healer stitching together my companion after a dragon tore them half-open. someone smack me with a pipe on my head i am so not normal about viscera and cavities. topping someone is not enough i need to be inside of them so deep they cant claw me out of there even if only for the minutes it takes to do my delicate work

[belliesandburps]

This is a quick sketch I did of a new “henchman” in my HISS series whose name I haven’t decided on.  This thing is basically the HISS equivalent of Mr. X from RE2Make.  I based its design loosely off of the late WWF wrestler Viscera in his classic 99 look with enough tweaks that it isn’t fragrant ripoff territory.  ‘XD

It’s an android that acts as the personal bodyguard to one villain who isn’t a fighter themselves.  This thing is by her side at all times, and instead of hiring security, she has this thing to act as one-’man’ security.  Its grip is strong enough to crush a mans skull, helmet and all. 

And as a first, it’s rotund body ISN’T for kink purposes, but simply because its body contains all sorts of different weapons.  So whenever on ‘alert mode,’ its hands will dip into its oversized sleeves and mini-guns will emerge instead.  Viscera had contact lenses to give him creepy demon eyes.  I went full uncanny valley and made it so this things eyes act as spotlights in the dark.  It isn’t fast due to how much machinery is stored inside, but its limbs have whip-like steel cables that allow it to reach impossible lengths or tear down anything in its path.  So it can be stationary and still cover the entire area.

Its head can split open like a flower and reveal a large canon inside that either fires heavy calibur rounds or a flamethrower.

If I ever DO manage to turn HISS into a video game, this would be the stealth bit where you gotta sneak around this big robo-lug, or else get your skull crushed.  And Hakari’s quite fond of his skull, thank you very much.  ‘:P

[orchidzero]

GITS: SAC  S01E01  第1話「公安9課SECTION-9」 Public Security Section 9 Stand Alone

Unmistakably, and perhaps inevitably, the first few minutes of Stand Alone Complex pay explicit homage to Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell. As in that film, the cold open finds Major Motoko Kusanagi standing alone on a rooftop, surveying a neon cityscape, electronically eavesdropping on terrorist chatter. Her expression is affectless. Her clothing is minimal. Drawing a pistol, she plunges toward a building below. With grace impeded only slightly by a TV budget, she sticks a perfect 3-point landing (a cliché she can be forgiven, having practically invented it). The subsequent chase scene makes further callbacks to the kind of action that wowed fanboys in '95-- cybernetically-enhanced parkour, acrobatic martial arts, bullet wounds erupting in horrific bursts of viscera. The message comes through loud and clear: this IS your big brother's GHOST IN THE SHELL!

Which is misleading, but sure-- a little torch-passing is probably in order. It's just hard not to wish it were handled more subtly. Narratively, it's of zero import-- we never get the backstory on the terrorists, or who they were hoping to nerve gas. Our introduction to the Major is also weirdly off-key. Normally a model of cool restraint, she takes down her target with a brutal, authoritarian zeal that would give Jack Bauer pause. When the perp has the temerity to question the system that just blew his leg off, she invites him to love it, leave it, or take a bullet to the dome. It all feels unnervingly close to Big Brother's Ghost in the Shell.

Luckily, things get better from there. Despite the lingering specter of Oshii, it quickly becomes apparent that SAC will be following the more procedurally-oriented lead of Masamune Shirow's original manga. The Major is front and center, but the show treats Section 9 as a real ensemble-- a kind of cyberpunk Impossible Mission Force, where every member has a unique role to play. In the episode’s first big set piece they’re deployed in A2 gear to area 82-D3, where a political hostage situation has sparked a jurisdictional pissing match between local police and the military (the alphabet soup and internecine bickering are pure Shirow). Five hostages are being held-- literally-- by hacked robot geisha at a high-end restaurant ¹ . Section 9’s Chief Aramaki cuts through the red tape and takes charge of the situation, dispatching the Major to spearhead the rescue. Watching her and her team do their thing, it must be said, is pretty sweet. Their tactical, no-nonsense approach offsets the sci-fi gadgetry and lends the action an earthbound realism-- more Michael Mann than The Matrix.

But how about that gadgetry? Just a few of the technologies floating around, here: thermoptic camo, cerebral augmentation, brain-swapping, memory wipes, holographic displays, insectoid robots, android sexbots, cybernetic eyes, neuro-link telepathy, and Galapagos-style Japanese flip phones (that these will endure in AD 2030 seems plausible). Trying to work out what this gear is capable of while simultaneously trying to parse all the jargon and political subterfuge can be migraine-inducing. Which brings me to the reason I've always found this series baffling and have never really engaged with it till now: I'm not sure whether I'm supposed to be paying attention. Like the Metal Gear games or a Thomas Pynchon novel, there's a very intricate techno-conspiratorial mythology here, and like the Metal Gear games or a Thomas Pynchon novel, it might not really matter. Unraveling the plot could easily be beside the point.  

Nevertheless, I've committed to try. As near as I can figure, here's the sequence of events: Someone affiliated with the foreign minister's office takes an interest in the Ichinose Report-- a classified document detailing the military response to a national crisis (vague, I know). This sets off alarm bells and prompts a secret investigation of the foreign minister, conducted by an agent posing as his secretary. Both are taken hostage by an unknown party, along with the foreign minister's chief of PR and two members of the North American Association for Industrial Development. The military intervenes to protect their asset, but their authority is superseded by Section 9, who seemingly get involved because crazy shit's their bailiwick. Four of the hostages are rescued. The secretary / undercover agent suffers a serious head wound, and one guy from the NAAID is killed, or so it's meant to appear. But in fact, Togusa and the Major figure out he's traded cerebral cores (i.e. brains) with the foreign minister, who has a fetish for getting drunk and swapping bodies with robot geisha, making him an easy mark for this kind of thing. Section 9 catches up to the perp at the airport, trying to board a private jet with the real minister's brain in a box and a copy of the Ichinose report in hand.

Got all that? It took me three viewings. The episode fails to address a few nagging questions, such as "Who?" and "Whaa?", but it hangs together better than expected. It also deftly handles the work of setting up the principal cast. We get glimpses of Aramaki's authority, the Major's competent leadership, Batou's big lug buffoonery, Togusa's humanity, and Ishikawa's beard. Togusa comes closest to getting an actual arc. Following the raid on the restaurant, he betrays some insecurity about being the most fallibly human agent in the field. The Major assures him he has other strengths to offer, and indeed, it's his powers of observation that end up cracking the case (with an assist from a CSI "enhance" button). Clearly, this man / machine tension will be an ongoing concern.

___________________

¹  For its big opening set piece, the live-action, Hollywood GITS mashes up elements of this sequence, the iconic rooftop drop, and Batou’s first assignment from Innocence. The largely practical geisha effects are impressively realized and probably that film’s most successful element.  

[astonishinglegends]

Ep 205: Terry Carnation's "Dark Air" and Rich Hatem

“Imagine the universe, compressed on the head of a pin…”

– Scott’s remembrance of a Carl Sagan quote, which, turns out, probably originates from a parody impression of Carl Sagan

Description:

We have a very special guest joining us tonight, metaphysical "astralnaut," philosopher of the liminal, "Pope of the Paranormal," and host of the AM Radio talk show Dark Air, Terry Carnation. Terry first got his start in the paranormal radio genre when unexpectedly thrust into taking over for another show. While working as a late-night rock n' roll Disc Jockey for an FM station in Buffalo, NY, in 1992, Reginald Wilcox, the host of the paranormal call-in show that aired after Terry's slot was mysteriously murdered while Terry was in the bathroom... or so he claims. In his unflappable sense of duty, apparently stronger than his sense of legal obligation, Terry immediately took over the role of consigliere for listeners stupefied by the supernatural. And in Terry's words, "that's how a legend was created." Now, after a three-year hiatus, Terry Carnation returns with a new podcast, also called Dark Air, available starting April 1, 2021, wherever podcasts are given away for free. While you may not have heard of him, there will be something uneasily familiar about his voice and visage. And the audience will come to know his strange power for tearing off the head of disbelief and reaching down deep into our souls to yank out the viscera of our darkest fears and mysteries. Wrapped around our interview with Terry, our good buddy Rich Hatem joins us once again to discuss his latest adventures and projects. We'll also con him into playing our version of a game show, in the spirit of America's NPR radio program Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! and Britain's Would I Lie to You? We'll tell Rich three outrageous paranormal stories, and he has to guess which one is fake. Please join us for an episode of inscrutable levity.

Reference Links:

Terry Carnation’s website, TerryCarnation.com

Terry Carnation and Dark Air on Audioboom, where you can subscribe to the platform of your choice

Dark Air with Terry Carnation on Apple Podcasts

Follow Terry Carnation on Instagram

Follow Terry Carnation on Twitter

Terry Carnation on Facebook

Where to stream DC Titans

“TERRIBLE FLYING JELLY BAGS aka DOMSTEN BLOBS: (SWEDEN)” by Rob Morphy on cryptopia.us

National Public Radio’s Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

The BBC One panel show involving true and false tales, Would I Lie To You?

“The Story Behind The Haunted Donkey Lady Bridge In Texas Will Send Chills Down Your Spine” from OnlyInYourState.com

“South Texas Haunted Folklore: The Tale of the Converse Werewolf” from KSAT.com

On a totally unrelated subject…

Rainn Wilson is best known for playing the role of Dwight Schrute on NBC's The Office. Additional film and television credits include Galaxy Quest, Almost Famous, The Rocker, Super, Six Feet Under, Juno, Backstrom, Star Trek Discovery, Thom Pain, The Meg, Mom, Don't Tell a Soul and Utopia.  He will also be appearing in the forthcoming podcast Dark Air with Terry Carnation. Wilson co-founded SoulPancake, a digital media company, and the Lide Foundation, an educational initiative in rural Haiti that empowers at-risk women and girls through the arts.

Dark Air with Terry Carnation was created by Rainn Wilson and Aaron Lee and is produced by Thom Harp and Chris Kelly. Dark Air with Terry Carnation is a production of Imperial Mammoth, Audioboom and Kelly&Kelly. Theme music by Marcos Moscat

This episode features the voice talents of Jinous Khjadivian and Dana Davis as the two audience callers.

Please help out our good friend Stan Gordon, by purchasing his books on Amazon and Barnes & Noble – you’re gonna love ‘em!

At Barnes & Noble:

Silent Invasion: The Pennsylvania UFO-Bigfoot Casebook

Astonishing Encounters: Pennsylvania’s Unknown Creatures, Casebook 3

Really Mysterious Pennsylvania: UFOs, Bigfoot, and Other Weird Encounters, Casebook 1

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Credits:

Episode 205: Terry Carnation’s “Dark Air“ and Rich Hatem. Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess; Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel. Sound Design by Ryan McCullough; Tess Pfeifle, Producer, and Lead Researcher; Research Support from the astonishing League of Astonishing Researchers, a.k.a. The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2021 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

[diversegaminglists]

Games I finished in 2020

Always trying to get through my backlog, the lockdown helped with that a bit as gaming was always a coping device for me.

Druid

The Bottom of the Well

Polarity

Viscera Clean Up Detail: Shadow Warrior

The Hole Story

Ape Out

Uncharted 2: Remastered

Little Inferno

Hitman: Sniper Challenge

Crescent Bay

Creature Romances: Kokonoe Kokoro

Gomo

Perfection

Minit

CSI: Deadly Intent - The Hidden Cases

Nancy Drew and the Haunted Carousel

CSI: Deadly Intent

Uncharted 3: Remastered

Goetia

Max Gentlemen Sexy Business

Cognition Episode 2: The Wise Monkey

Cube Escape: Harvey’s Box

Cube Escape: Case 23

Cube Escape: The Mill

Cube Escape: Birthday

Cube Escape: The Theatre

Cube Escape: The Cave

PRICE

Cube Escape: Paradox

Rusty Lake: Hotel

Rusty Lake: Roots

Rusty Lake: Paradise

Assassin’s Creed: Origins – The Hidden Ones

The White Door

Cognition Episode 3: The Oracle

Lara Croft GO

Jill of the Jungle: Episode 1

Pyrite Heart

Sweet Fantasy

The Shrouded Isle

Resident Evil 6: Leon’s Campaign

Nancy Drew and the Message in Haunted Mansion

Hollow Knight

Resident Evil 6: Chris’ Campaign

Eufloria HD

Blasphemous

Echoes of the Fey: The Fox's Trail

Depression Quest

Savant – Ascent

Resident Evil 6: Jake’s Campaign

Resident Evil 6: Ada’s Campaign

Resident Evil 7

Labyrinthine Dreams

The Lost Crown: A Ghost Hunting Adventure

Perception

The Last Crown: Midnight Horror

Morph Girl

Venetica

Celestian Tales: Old North

Man Eater

Les Fleursword

Resident Evil 7: Banned Footage

The Beginner’s Guide

Resident Evil 7: Not a Hero

Resident Evil 7: End of Zoe

Lake of Voices

Siberia

Raik

You Have To Win The Game

12 Labours

The Political Compass

Affinity

Crawl

Where is Cat?

Headliner

Airport Game

Arigatou, Ningen-san!

Arrog

Arlo the Rabbit

Bold Blade

Forever Lost Episode 1

Forever Lost Episode 2

Sword Daughter

A Short Hike

Cats Are Liquid: A Light in the Shadows

Return of the Obra Din

Pyramid

Boom Boom Bovine

A Kinshoutenketsu in the countryside

RiME

Last Knight

Dreaming Sarah

I see you

Stowaway

Sagebrush

Please

The Adventures of Elena Temple: Chalice of the Gods

The Adventures of Elena Temple: The Golden Spider

The Adventures of Elena Temple: The Orb of Life

Code 7: Episode 0

Conversations with Emma

Curse Bringer

Call of Cthulhu (2018)

Hero of the Kingdom III

Death and Taxes

Democratic Socialism Simulator

Don’t Move

Down

Resident Evil 2 Remake: Leon’s Story

Resident Evil 2 Remake: Claire’s Story

A Place, Forbidden

Trick or Treat

Resident Evil 2 Remake: Leon’s 2nd Story

Edible Places

Equaboreal 12.21

Escort Yourself Out

The Church in the Darkness

Kingdom Hearts Final Mix PS4

The Alchemist’s House

Don’t Be Afraid: The First Toy

Missed Messages

Paperbark

Resident Evil 2 Remake: Claire’s 2nd Story

Resident Evil 3 Remake

NieR: Automata Route B

Rituals

Montague’s Mount

Space Quest 1: The Sarian Encounter

Armello

Snarkbusters: High Society

Darkness Within 2: The Dark Lineage

Snark Busters: All Revved Up

Blackbay Asylum

Bulb Boy

Cthulhu Saves the World

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Carrion

Doorways: The Prelude

Haunted Gas Station

Shutter

Cognition Episode 4: The Cain Killer

Kathy Rain: A Detective is Born

Blair Witch (2019)

Deep Sky Derelicts

The Blackwell Convergence

Far Cry 5

Stasis

Cayne

Lilly Looking Through

Emily is Away

Blackwell: Deception

Blackwell: Epiphany

Far Cry 5: Hours of Darkness

NieR: Automata Route C

NieR: Automata True Ending

All You Can Eat

Another Lost Phone

Assault Android Cactus

Softporn Adventure

Samsara Room

The Charnel House Trilogy

The Shivah

Glass Masquerade 2: Illusions

Glass Masquerade 2: Revelations

Glass Masquerade 2: Temptations

Bloodrayne Terminal Cut

Tacoma

DreadOut

Zeph

Zenohell

Zak

You Used to be Someone

Butcher

Farcry 5: Lost on Mars

Headlander

BarnFinders