#big fan of monstrous versions of characters

[transingthoseformers]

Starscream keeps coming back from things that should have killed him. Queue the zombie jokes!

But then, he keeps coming back. Again, and again.

He can replace that bit of plating but it keeps falling off. His protoform is loose where he's been blown up/stabbed/shot/crushed/smelted. His optics don't light up properly.

He can't stand the energon rations anymore. He needs something else. He can't put his finger on it.

It shocks both sides of the war when Starscream carves into *insert bot here* and starts drinking their energon, or eating pieces of their frame, or hell even goes for the processor.

Uh oh guys.

Starscream keeps coming back

Oh god exactly that'd be fucked

There's a lot of things we can call the new Starscream. A zombie, a terrorcon, an energon vampire, a sparkeater, plain old a monster...

But at this point?

He's just... New Starscream. He'll go down as his own horror in cybertronian history and mythology. A cautionary tale against whatever mecha can come up with after the fact, to try and explain why, to explain the hows and whats of it all.

Some say he's still out there.

[doubledeadstudio]

Hello! Welcome to the official Double Dead Studio Tumblr, the solodev behind Reanimated Heart, Another Rose in His Garden, and Pygmalion's Folly.

Reanimated Heart is a character-driven horror romance visual novel about finding love in a mysterious small town. There are three monstrous love interests with their own unique personalities and storylines.

Another Rose in His Garden is an 18+ erotic Omegaverse BL visual novel. Abel Valencia is an Omega who's hidden his secondary sex his entire life. Life's alright, until he meets the wealthy tycoon, Mars Rosales, and the two get embroiled in a sexual affair that changes his life forever.

Pygmalion's Folly is a survival murdersim where you play as Roxham Police Department's star detective, hellbent on finding your sister's killer... until he finds you. 

Content Warning: All my games are 18+! They contains dark subject matter such as violence and sexual content. Player discretion is advised.

This blog is ran by Jack, the creator.

Itch | Link Tree | Patreon | Twitter

Guidelines

My policy for fanwork is that anything goes in fiction, but respect my authority and copyright outside it. This means normal fan activity like taking screencaps, posting playthroughs, and making fanart/fanfiction is completely allowed, but selling this game or its assets isn't allowed (selling fanwork of it is fine, though). You are also not allowed to feed any of my assets to AI bots, period, even if it's free.

Do not use my stuff for illegal or hateful content.

Also, I expect everyone to respect the Content Warnings on the page. I'm old and do not tolerate fandom wank.

For more details about how I view Fanwork, refer to this post.

F.A.Q.

Who are the main Love Interests in Reanimated Heart?

Read their character profiles here!!

Who's the team?

Jack (creator, writer, artist), mostly. I closely work with Exodus (main programmer) and Claira (music composer). My husband edits the drafts.

For Reanimated Heart, my friend Bonny makes art assets. I've also gotten help from outsiders like Sleepy (prologue music + vfx) and my friend Gumjamin (main menu heart animation).

For Reanimated Heart's VOs, Alex Ross voices Crux, Devin McLaughlin voices Vincenzo, Christian Cruz voices Black, Maganda Marie voices Grete, and Zoe D. Lee voices Missy.

Basically, it's mostly just me & outsourcing stuff to my friends and professionals.

How can I support Double Dead Studio productions?

You can pay for the game, or join our monthly Patreon! If you don't have any money, just giving it a nice rating and recommending it to a friend is already good enough. :)

Where do the funds go to?

Almost 100% gets poured back into the game. More voice acting, more music, more trailers, more art, etc. I also like to give my programmer a monthly tip for helping me.

This game is really my insane passion project, and I want to make it better with community support.

I live in the Philippines and the purchasing power of php is not high, especially since many of the people I outsource to prefer USD. (One time I spent P10k of my own money in one month just to get things.) I'll probably still do that, even if no money comes in, until I'm in danger of getting kicked out the street… but maybe even then? (jk)

What platforms will Reanimated Heart be released in?

Itch and then Steam when it's fully finished. Still looking into other options, as I hear both are getting bad.

Will Reanimated Heart be free?

Chapter 1 will be free. The rest will be updated on Patreon exclusively until full release.

Are you doing a mobile version?

Yeah. Just Android for now, but it's in the works.

Where can I listen to Reanimated Heart's OST?

It is currently up on YouTube, Spotify, and Bandcamp!

Why didn't you answer my ask?

A number of things! Two big ones that keep coming up are Spoilers (as in, you asked something that will be put in an update) or it's already been asked. If you're really dying to know, check the character tags or the meta commentary. You might find what you're looking for there. :)

Will there be a sequel to Pygmalion's Folly?

It's not my first concern right now, but I am planning on it.

Tag List for Navigation

Just click the tags to get to where you wanna go!

[old-people-like-avatar]

Netflix Avatar the Last Airbender S1 - Overall Thoughts [SPOILERS]

I am a longtime fan of Avatar the Last Airbender. I did not watch it in its original 2005 run, but I discovered it in around 2010 after my good friend R.S. recommended it to me. It's been my #1 favorite TV show ever since and I have rewatched it more times than I can count. I was cautiously optimistic about NATLA.

Now, having watched the whole first season of NATLA, and looking at the season as a whole, I think the best word to describe it is uneven. I can't say that I loved it, and I can't say that I hated it. But there were things I really liked about it and things that really did not work for me. Overall, I enjoyed watching it -- if only to dissect what did and did not work about the adaptation -- and would want to watch more.

WHAT WORKED

Everything to do with Zuko and Iroh. I found myself going back through just to rewatch all of the Zuko and Iroh-related scenes. I thought Dallas Liu really nailed Zuko -- from tantrums about his journal being stolen to incredible action sequences to the boyish vulnerability of worrying about the laces on his gauntlets. He took an iconic character and made him his own. NATLA added some incredible scenes and lines to my favorite duo: Lu Ten's funeral (coupled with orchestral version of "Leaves from the Vine"); Zuko's first war council; Iroh choosing to go with Zuko on the boat; the 41st Division; Iroh putting a blanket on Zuko. And I liked that NATLA emphasized that Iroh needed Zuko in the wake of Lu Ten's death as much as Zuko needed Iroh after his mother left.

Daniel Dae Kim's interpretation of Ozai. Ozai in ATLA is kind of one-dimensional. Daniel Dae Kim's Ozai adds a deeper layer to him in that he genuinely seems to think he's doing legitimate parenting -- even going so far as to visit Zuko after burning his face and remarking, glibly, that he'll recover ("but he'll never heal," says Iroh). It adds an even more monstrous angle to his cruelty because Kim's Ozai seems to think he's doing it for his children's own good. This post perfectly encapsulates my feelings about why I thought the agni kai between Ozai and Zuko was an excellent addition to NATLA.

Zuko/Aang. These two bonding over goat hair brushes was the scene I never knew I needed. The way Aang managed to wrest a little smile out of Zuko in that scene before Zuko blew up at him for criticizing the Fire Lord? And the way that tied into the "Compassion is a sign of weakness" scene from the agni kai? Great character work.

WHAT DID NOT WORK

Dialogue. I already observed at length my dissatisfaction with the clunky, exposition-dumping dialogue in my episode-by-episode writeups. It certainly wasn't as bad as the Movie-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named, but . . . there was no art or subtlety to it, and no trust in the audience. A disappointment.

The GAang did not feel like family. The lack of breathing room in the 8-episode season meant that all of the "filler" episodes that fleshed out the relationships between Aang, Katara, and Sokka were sacrificed. I am not saying NATLA needed to recapture each of the filler episodes. But they needed to build the foundational bonds between the main trio with showing not telling and they really didn't. They separated them for big chunks of 2 episodes. And, really, they just felt like traveling companions. That took all of the emotional heft out of, well, everything related to Aang, Katara, and Sokka. I mean, frankly, the kid actors did a better job establishing the "family" dynamic just by being themselves in their press interviews than the show did with the characters.

Aang did not run away from responsibility. I am not one of those people that's just mad that the show wasn't exactly like the cartoon. No. What I mean is, even putting aside the cartoon, even if you just look at NATLA itself: their own themes were undercut by never showing Aang actually running away from responsibility. Each avatar seemed to be berating Aang for doing something he was never actually shown to be doing.

Katara. I really don't think this one is on the actress. Katara felt like a fundamentally different character from ATLA's Katara. It's not to say an adaption is not allowed to have their own interpretation of a character, but... I just did not understand NATLA Katara. There was no passion, no rage, no overbearing nurturing. She was... I don't know what she was. Traumatized, yes, but nothing grew out of that trauma? Meek, until the plot demanded that she suddenly become a waterbending master without any guidance other than a waterbending scroll? The "younger sister"? More than any of the main characters, I'm not sure what NATLA was trying to say about Katara at all. And, as a result, I'm afraid the word to describe it might be uninteresting. And given that she is the heart and soul of Team Avatar, this one was really tough.

Despite the fact that a lot of NATLA did not work for me, I still enjoyed it because the things that did work for me, well, really worked. So. I'm here for all of the Zuko/Iroh scenes!

[anueutsuho]

What's the connection between Yayoi and Izayoi as names?

This is something I've wondered since I was 13 years old. In Dynamite Headdy (the original JP version anyway), there's a major boss named Yayoi, who appears to be a harmless and kind geisha lady at first, only to be revealed to be the Gatekeeper to Dark Demon's castle. Her true monstrous form is called Izayoi. (I've also heard Izayoi is just her sister, which fits with the "it's all a play" theme of the game)

Later, I find out about a character in BlazBlue named Yayoi Tsubaki, who has a more powerful alternate personality called Izayoi (I apologize to any Blazblue fans I don't know much otherwise). That of course made me a bit curious.

And of course, Touhou Project, the series I've been into since I was 13, has Sakuya Izayoi, which was what began my curiosity about what the name Izayoi meant. But I never really looked into it until now.

So, was this all just a big coincidence?

From what I can gather, Yayoi is a common Japanese women's given name, while Izayoi is a surname. The name "Yayoi" is an equivalent term to "March" in the old Japanese calendar before they adopted the Gregorian Calendar. "Izayoi" means "Sixteenth Night", or the night after the full moon.

In Sakuya's case, her first name means "Flowering Night". Apparently, this can be read as "Night of the Full Moon".

I also found this on the Touhou wiki: "The word Izayoi (十六夜) has come to mean "sixteenth night" from the expression "izayou tsuki" (いざよう月), where "izayou" means "not to progress/proceed forward at all". This fits both Sakuya Izayoi, who has the power to stop time, and Dynamite Headdy Izayoi, who tries to block Headdy from progressing to Dark Demon's Castle, the finale of the game.

The BlazBlue Izayoi is named after "Izayoi" for a different reason, at least according to the wiki for it. She apparently has the power to absorb light at specific wavelengths, much like how the moon appears to reduce in light after the full moon.

I looked further on wikitionary and saw that the term "iyaoi no tsuki" exists. This means "Spring Moon", which is another name for the Full Moon.

In other words, Yayoi, followed by Izayoi, means "Full Moon, then the night after the Full Moon". Sakuya Izayoi is the same thing, but as one name. So, yeah.

I probably got a thing wrong here or there.

WORKS CITED:

Sakuya Izayoi - Touhou Wiki - Characters, games, locations, and more

Sealed Weapon Izayoi - BlazBlue Wiki

Yayoi (given name) - Wikipedia

Izayoi - Wikipedia

十六夜 - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

弥生 - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

[nitewrighter]

what are your thoughts on the metallo drones since you seem to be a huge hank henshaw fan? I know he's metallo in the comics, or at least that's what osmosis has told me.

Oh boy time to be insufferable---

~Actually!~ Hank Henshaw is Cyborg Superman! Later just shortened to The Cyborg! But also I can understand how it would be easy to mix up Metallo and Cyborg Superman. Anyway, you've activated my trap card so I'm going to infodump now.

If he's a human brain jammed in a mostly-robot body with a Kryptonite Heart, that's Metallo!

Metallo's original human identity was John Corben and they've varied the origin story a bit. The earliest appearance of Corben's Metallo actually had Corben as a reporter at the Daily Planet! I even make a callback to this in my "Life In Plastic" fic. And because his Robot Body made him bulletproof there was a whole mixup where Lois thought *he* was Superman's secret identity and he was like "hell yeah, baby, I'm totally Superman."

Both this and his later Byrne Rebooted Origin more or less had him as "Criminal who got his body destroyed and replaced with a robot body with a Kryptonite heart."

The comic Superman: Secret Origin had him be a soldier that was favored by Lois's Dad, General Sam Lane and concordantly was kind of a creep towards Lois. Which lead to this frankly iconic exchange:

This Corben Metallo-fication is basically the result of a military experiment gone sideways.

Superman: TAS had him as a mercenary on Luthor's payroll, but they gave it a particularly piquant twist by having him be a bit of an epicurean--he liked good food and hot babes and all the finer things in life being a Lex Luthor-funded mercenary could give him-- but then OH NO! Lex Luthor secretly infected him with a retrovirus to force him to transfer his consciousness to a robot body and also he's got a chunk of Kryptonite jammed in his chest now! Courtesy of Lex Luthor!

He can't taste! He can't smell! He can no longer feel the warmth of a woman! (Actual line from the show, btw) And he's so pissed about it!! Also the whole "can't feel the warmth of a woman" thing also leads to him creeping on Lois.

So it's kind of interesting that, beyond the "Robot Body with a Kryptonite heart" concept, basically the one thing that's kind of been consistent with Metallo across his incarnations is... being a creep towards Lois.

So to bring this back to the Metallo Drones in MAWS... honestly I don't really register them *as* Metallo because they're drones and for me, the core of Metallo's character is like... human desires and human selfishness in contrasted with this monstrous, unstoppable, Terminator-like frame. The other core of Metallo's character is obviously his Kryptonite heart. Like, I mean sure you could see them as extensions of the Amertek CEO's selfishness, but the name seems more like a callback than an actual iteration of Metallo, and also they clearly have some very specific ideas of what kind of properties Kryptonite has in this show, so it's likely they can't have the Kryptonite heart for Plot Reasons. And like... I'm okay with that. I'm okay with this version of Superman kind of being contained by its own tech-y logic and you don't need to bring in the entirety of his Rogue's gallery to tell a good story. But like, also Metallo I think is supposed to feel a bit... personal. This is a dude who has a core of the Rock That Kills You and he's creeping on your girl! You really don't get that personal feeling from these drones. So y'know, I'm gonna miss him, but I'm also just seeing how they build up these drones and the rest of the villains in this show right now.

Now Hank Henshaw--! He's Cyborg Superman and in the comics he makes his big (cyborg) debut with the whole Death/Reign/Return of Superman saga! His origin story is basically he was an astronaut who, along with his crew, got exposed to Space Radiation, Fantastic Four style, only it fucked them up and made most of them die horribly, with the exception of Henshaw's wife. It's Adventures of Superman #466 if you ever want to check it out. It's incredibly fucked up but also pretty fun. But basically everyone thought Hank died from the radiation, when actually he transferred his consciousness into the technology of the lab around them, shooped his consciousness into some Kryptonian tech, and then popped up for "Reign of the Supermen" as Cyborg Superman (spoiler alert if you haven't read it but also PLEASE READ IT--the nuking of Coast City and the villain turnaround and Green Lantern coming in with a steel chair is SO GOOD).

I do love the idea of a villain being someone who was both collateral damage from one of Superman's previous adventures, but also someone Superman ultimately failed to save. I have no idea what direction they're going to take with Hank Henshaw in MAWS, but I LOVE that he has a lot of Superman's classic appearance--especially with the little hair curl in front! It suits him so much!!

[welcomehomeincorrectquotes]

My version of the Rainbow Factory AU:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

As a big fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and the original Rainbow Factory songs and Grimdark fanfiction, I am intrigued with the concept of the Rainbow Factory!Wally AU.

The only issue I have is that I can't find any content for RF!Wally that has a story were Wally Darling feels like Wally Darling and where a Rainbow Factory would makes sense in the world of Welcome Home.

So I'm going to try doing it myself! Wish me luck...

This AU is subject to change with the more we learn about Welcome Home!

The AU starts off fairly normally, with the popular show Welcome Home getting cancelled for unknown reasons: this causes the neighbourhood to become vulnerable, and is attacked by the Void, which latches onto Home like a parasite, leeching off their lifeforce, causing the neighbourhood to decay and lose it's colour.

Due to his status as Home's resident and the main character of the show, Wally is the only other resident still conscious after the upheaval.

Home, now calling themself "Factory", tells Wally if he wants to save his friends and home, he will need invite ❄︎♒︎♏︎ ✌︎◆︎♎︎♓︎♏︎■︎♍︎♏︎ over to the neighbourhood and make them into "sacrifices". Wally doesn't understand what is going on or what the word "sacrifices" means, but trusts Home and follows their instructions.

He knows what "Sacrifices" means now.

Regardless, it works, and the Factory creates a beautiful rainbow that brings life and colour back into the neighbourhood.

Wally's beloved neighbours are a bit dazed, but otherwise completely fine. They don't even realise anything terrible happened.

Factory tells him that, unfortunately, this won't last forever; Wally must keep bringing in more sacrifices, keep making rainbows, otherwise the Neighbourhood will die.

Notes:

The Neighbours are blissfully unaware about what happens inside the Rainbow Factory, beyond that it makes rainbows (which drives Frank nuts because SCIENCE but whatever).

Working at the Factory has taken a monstrous toll on Wally's mental and physical health. He tries to act normal for his friends, but they've all noticed. They are all very worried him, especially Barnaby.

Factory is the Void, not Home.

Factory acts very manipulative and emotionally abusive towards Wally; peppering him with praise when following orders and cutting him off at the knees when he questions them.

Wally is psychically connected with Home, which lets Factory directly control the puppet at times.

What do you think? I'm open to any questions, suggestions and/or critiques and will make more if you're interested... eep...

[caffeinated-and-annoying-bard]

REPLY FROM MEI REPLY FROM MEI

"Dear non-pen-penpal,

I have just begun Wolf359 and I’m already a big fan, especially, this little guy. He’s kinda serious, kinda paranoid, I’m a fan of his weirdness. Eiffel I think was his name, he’s quite a nice guy and his slight amount of sass reminds me of the main character from Witherburn. Witherburn is a bit of a niche horror podcast so it’s understandable if you’ve never heard it before.

I’m glad you’re going onto Malevolent though. You’ll have a lot of fun with Malevolent, as I did too. I have a hunch you’ll be a fan of John, he has a complex character arc, he has to learn how to be human overtime while also dealing with his monstrous background. Malevolent is a long listen but I finished it in like a week or two weeks time. It has like 40 hours of content, not one episode or second is wasted. Go and check it out ASAP! It’s about how to be human and the strength and willpower of the human condition. It has everything, music, poetry, men whimpering, and moral conflicts in philosophy. It’s like the raised points of Jon’s moral conflicts to the hundreds, you’ll love it.

HADESTOWN YESSS

Dev told me you may know about it because it would be right up your alley and I can’t believe you used His Kiss, The Riot⁉️⁉️ That’s so crazy. Also YESSS we can sing Hercules I Won’t Say I’m In Love. Also about this crush that our dear friend. I’ve been friends with them(the crush) for the past 10 years so it’s very funny to see this happening.

Also the book recommendation, I will begin reading when I have a bit more free time. Now for your recommendation, I’m sorry to say I’m nearly fresh out of ideas. But I will re-recommend you Malevolent because I love it so much. PLEASE check it out. Fun fact : It’s how I figured out I have a weird tolerance for men whimpering, I literally got 0 reaction. Maybe it’s because I’m ace but I can’t tell. Actually, I do have a new recommendation but you’ve probably some of their stuff already. Anything by Adrianne Lenker or Big Thief. My personal favorite songs from them are Not(the studio version specifically), and Born for Loving You.

-The Jork Master"

Sorry I disappeared, my dearest skeleton friend, I died(the new year's sad days got me) but I got better(finished Frankenstein) and now

To:Mei

Re;re;re: hello

Dear keyboard-pal,

How did you manage to start w359 so quickly???? I am impressed and utterly delighted upon hearing it, and embarrassed to admit that the council-approved petition to let myself listen to Malevolent (and finish watching Arcane s2, for that matter) is still stuck in the throes of despairing brain bureaucracy.

Ah, I guess I'll add Witherburn to the list of media I crave to consume but cannot proceed immediately without growing a thousand supernatural eyes (ceaseless watcher turn your gaze upon the 38 books I have piled up on my desk) and ears.

(Outside of the jokes, Malevolent sounds immensely interesting and I constantly see art of it by the same people who draw tma, w359, good omens, etc etc so I am very glad to finally have an excuse to prioritise listening to it! Thanks for that)

JALSKSL I will go check it out, then. I need to see for myself how high my tolerance is, not being quite completely ace but certainly having a weird relationship with it. Nice to see a fellow sexhavern't in the not-precisely-internet-because-my-close-friend-knows-you wild, though

[Here is where I hi-five you Hadestown style. I love that musical with my every internal organ]

God, I am counting on you for this events to turn out bloodless because GTO is about 3,000km (around 1900miles) from California. I do not possess the required information from your friend's side to make a proper diagnosis but the suspense from dear Dev's side is killing me slowly and painfully ❌❌❌🗣️🎷❌‼️‼️‼️‼️🌄despair

GOD DON'T I LOVE BIG THIEF. I will certainly go check Adrianne Lenker out, though! Thank you :)

At this point I am tempted to apply what I do with Dev to you and stsrt recommending songs in spanish because they are second place to my friend Azul (doesn't read song lyrics, being a dancer and enjoying rythm and melody, so she enjoys music of every. Single. Genre. Regardless of language or the usual "the lyrics are distasteful" prejudice against genres like rap, reggaetón, banda, etc etc) with having the widest musical taste I've seen. I can't recommend anything in english to them because they will casually reveal that during the womb they were already singing their hidden discography or fetus choir and also have seen the artist's parents in prophetic dreams and can play every single song on guitar or something like that. But I will persist, I mustn't lay back on my strongest weapon as soon as the knife fight gets hard, I must find something in english

It's a lazy attempt, but have any of you two listened to The Mountain Goats???? They're my 3rd favourite band and they're wonderfully sad. I can't say the region of the us because I am comically bad at you kids' country's geography but they're "divorced man with an acoustic guitar" sad.

Farewell, friend. I await (do you use "for" after "await"? Firefox can't give me a straight answer I hate it when english does this to me) your next letter and wish the best for you, your best friend, and dear Dev. Happy new year,you kids deserve the entire world. Hopefully the world will see this, and let you into its palm one day in the future. 🎆🎆🎆🎊🎊🎊💥💥💥💥‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️✅

[rise-my-angel]

I’m such a big Targ fan but I can not stand most Targ fans because they don’t get it. The valyrians are interesting and cool because they are fucked up. I love the Targaryens because I am a horror and sci-fi fan. Like yeah dragons are cool too but they wouldn’t be nearly as cool if everything surrounding them weren’t horrifying and twisted. I love Dany because she is a flawed and complex character and it is so easy to draw lines through her narrative to understand why she is the way she is and what led her to make different mistakes and how she got to her self delusions. But most Dany fans will call me a Dany hater for being like hey let’s analyze why Dany has never second guessed her decision to kill Mirri even though every other act of violence she’s been directly or indirectly responsible for (ie the crucifixions or Viserys’s death) has weighed on her conscience to some extent despite the fact that Mirri was a slave who was punished for rising up against her master, Drogo. The cognitive dissonance is so interesting and ripe for analysis but I have been accused of only pretending to be a Dany fan for recognizing this. A lot of actual Dany haters churn out way more meaningful Dany metas because most Dany fans are just oh she’s an unambiguous good hero who will be queen and I think that’s so boring

(note I got off my couch in the middle of writing a new chapter to go to my main computer to answer this that's how much you caught my attention)

The thing is, I totally get what you mean. Theres a Targaryean I am sort of like this for in a way. The character himself has been soured by such a deluded and hostile fan base about what is allowed to be said or thought about him, but if it weren't for the way most targ stans are, I would be 1000% more into Rhaegar as a character.

It would never change I think he's a bad person who did monstrous things for questionable if not quite selfish means who I would never support, but I also love Euron Greyjoy who is 100% an irredeemable monster. Rhaegar's entire existence is fasnicating. From the Ghost of High Hart being the reason his parents were married, to his life defining birth right in the middle of the fiery tragedy of Summerhall which effected his life. How such a terrible place was the only place he was every described as being happy in, likely because his existence is tied with great tragedy. How that likely deeply influenced him into buying into the Ghost of High Harts words of the prince that was promised being born from his father and mothers blood line which led to his delusions which ended up negatively impacting every person in his life leading to their deaths including his own. He should be a fascinating character study for me, but the way targ stans talk about him has ruined any chance of discussion because any nuance I could provide is going to be taken as pro Rhaegar talking points.

Same with Valyria in general. The Valyrian people were delusional and terrifying and the world is better off without them, but I love exploring why. I don't hate Targaryeans to hate them, I hate them because they are interesting to hate. They are facsinating because of what makes them horrible. And liking them as characters isn't at all wrong.

Its the lack of willingness to engage with their favourite charatcers greatest flaws and realistic motivations. It's a disconnect. They will push back against every single argument that Dany is a horrible, selfish tyrant possible, and then cite her atrocities as why I'm wrong and it's like..they have bought so much into the propoganda that they have created a false image of this character they supposedly love. Why love a version of a character that you need to bend over backwards to justify is the real version against the facts of the actual story?

They are desperate to look as if their favourite characters make them morally righteous. When liking a morally honourable character does not say anything about you other then what particular character you enjoy more then another. I am not claiming to be better then Rhaegar stans because I love Ned Stark, but they will slander Ned Stark as much as they can to justify why they prefer Rhaegar instead of just admitting they have a preference.

I get accused of being a Sansa hater, because I am both very against jonsa (ship and shippers) and I am very critical of her post season 4 character. But in the books and the first 4 seasons, shes not my favourite but I love her. But because I go against the popular ship and I am critical of her various actions over the course of the different versions of her character, I am seen as a hater. Its the same with Dany and many Targaryeans.

Its either toe the public opinion, or keep them out of your mouth which is insane for a fandom of a story literally built upon the varying complexities of a characters grey areas.

They want asoiaf/got to be way more black and white then it ever has been. Which is such a poor way of interacting with a story you are passionate about.

Dany can be a tyrant and an interesting character. She can be a cruel and selfishly bloodthristy woman and your favourite character. But these stans are allergic to those ideas not being mutually exclusive.

I dont hate targ stans because they are targ stans, I hate targ stans because they will attack any dissenting opinons that do not fall into their perfect protagonist hero image they've conjured up.

But they got nothing on me. I love Euron Greyjoy. The most disgusting monster in the whole series who I also would rather slingshot him into the sun then let him walk around alive in the world. I will never defend his bad choices, and never condemn someone for calling him an immoral monster. His lack of humanity is what makes his choices so interesting.

These targ stans though, could not possibly be strong enough to be the same for even a minute for their favourite Targaryean.

[clickety-clacker]

Really Love the more monstrous Click-clack, is it inspired by No-face by chance?

No directly, but... sort of? Indirectly?

I've been drawing weird creatures for yeeeeeaaaaars, and "mouth (or other features) hidden where it's not supposed to go" as well as "Long Wyrm With Lots of Limbs" has been a favorite feature of mine to include on a lot of beasties I've made. You can see it in a lot of my original works and characters, like Sol, Partygoer, Nicomedes, Tatu, etc (all of which are OCs I've had for many years).

A lot of this was inspired by cool media I saw as a kid (and stuff other artists had made BASED on that cool media), studio ghibli included. Admittedly, it's been YEARS since I've seen any of the films. Honestly I forgot which one No Face was from. Spirited away? Yeah i think thats the right one. Anyway, I havent seen it since I was little.

I didn't even have No Face in mind when designing my Click Clack, since "mask-chin-mouth" is such a common feature for me to use, it's taken on a life of it's own outside of the media it was inspired from.

So, TLDR: I didn't think of No Face when designing my version of Clicker, but the resemblance is uncanny, and probably not a coincidence because of my subconscious. It's a running trope in my art I'm a big fan of.

edit: THANK YOU im glad you like my design it makes me happy :] and I appreciate u taking time to send me an ask <3

[naughtygirl286]

So yes of course this week we finally went to see Venom: The Last Dance (Venom 3) being I am a big Venom fan and I did enjoy the first 2 I was excited to see this of course. Also if this was playing in the Summer time I would have worn one of my Venom Tees but being its November I didn't lol. Now the other day I was kinda reflecting on these movies and I was thinking that if I was told in the 90s that not only would we get a solo Venom movie but a Trilogy of Venom movies I would think that was totally crazy! and even after seeing the movies I still think it was crazy that we got a Venom Trilogy!

As for collectables we didn't get any here I stopped into the Theater on opening night on the way home from work and they didn't have anything then and didn't get anything to this point which was kinda disappointing.

anyway! I would have to say that I did love and enjoy the movie it was fun, funny, plenty of nice action and it was really cool visually.

The movie pretty much picks up at the Bar in Mexico were we last seen Eddie and Venom in the Spider-Man No Way Home Post Credit Scene and and Venom gets in a Multiverse joke before they leave and plan a trip to New York and on the way there that is when everything goes wild! He ends fighting Imperium a government group that are out to capture and study symbiotes as well monstrous Xenophage sent by the King in Black himself Knull.

Now I heard alot of people complain complain about Knull's inclusion in this movie and some say he was wasted in this which I don't think so I think this was a great way to introduce the character to people and have it build from here into the bigger picture and have him be a threat later on. I kinda see this as the Thanos approach where he appeared at the end of the first Avengers I feel they went in a similar direction with Knull sure he has a lil more screen time then Thanos did and even says a few lines but I think the idea was the same. Knull never interacts with any other characters except his Xenophage's and maybe has about 10mins of screen time? So I can't see why people are complaining that he was a wasted character when they are actually taking the time to build this character up.

Speaking of characters the one thing I noticed that I don't think I noticed before was this version of Venom doesn't manifest clothing. In the comics at times Venom appears at a jacket or pants or even an entire outfit that Eddie would wear They did this also in like the 94 animated series and maybe in Spider-Man 3? but it hit me while watching this that this version of Venom doesn't or can't do that? being there a bit of a gag about Eddie loosing his shoes and he is at one point walking through the Nevada desert barefoot and I was like why doesn't Venom just manifest him some shoes? like cover his feet for him? it was just this weird thing that hit me while I was watching this.

but yeah the movie is visually impressive with the Venom effect I think they perfected it in this and it is pretty much perfect now and you got to see all different kinds of symbiotes in this movie and not only human ones but but animal one too! you of course get the horse sequence which was very cool but you also get to see a frog one and a fish one during the movie and during the credits you get to see all kinds of crazy animal ones like a Squirrel,Octopus and even a Penguin! The Xenophage creatures were cool too.

but yeah the movie had plenty of action and it did have lots of funny moments with Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock and Venom's banter back and forth and Tom Hardy's dry wit supplies plenty of the humor also there is plenty of Marvel references of course and one shocking thing that is mentioned that all 3 movies take place in the course of just one year?!? I couldn't believe that I thought it was way longer then that. but nope! it all takes place in just a span of 1 year.

but yeah I thought the acting was great it was serious when it needed to be and fun and silly when it need/wanted to be and where Tom Hardy may not be the classic comic book Eddie Brock he is amazing as Eddie Brock and Venom in these movies and I have to say I do love him as these characters and would like to possibly see him return at some point and interact with Spider-Man

but in the end I thought it was a great way to end this series and of course the Venom Saga is not truly over he'll be back in some way, shape or form of course but yeah all I can say is if you enjoyed the previous 2 and want to see how it all ends then I would highly recommend checking this one out if you haven't already.

also there are 2 credit scenes! One mid credit and one end credit scene.

[tiffany-chan123]

Tiffany's Fancuries For Your Consideration

Hey there folks! This is actually the fourth Fancuries that I'll be participating in, and my second "For Your Consideration" post that I've made during my time as not just a pretty cure fanseries creator but as a pretty cure fan.

Over the past couple of years, my cures and by extension fanseries tend to change a LOT, I have been trying to experiment with Kisekae and my drawn art more and I am planning on getting back into writing fanfiction and my fanseries (In fact I'm currently writing episode one of the main fanseries I'll be talking about in this very post)

~~~

Deep within the reaches of cyberspace, there is a secret world known simply as Arcadia, a place where all video game characters around can travel to their own games freely. However, the land of Arcadia was soon under attack by the villainous "Dark Network" and their army of monstrous glitches wanting to take over their world. However, a sneaky and speedy rabbit named Riki and a fairy named Aruna end up making their way to the human world and end up running into a girl named Mariko Asoda, but with Riki and Aruna on the run from the Baguras, Riki hands Mariko a Pixel Curesette and she then transforms into the heroine of exciting Action, Cure Action! Filled with determination to save the gaming world of Arcadia as well as her own, Cure Action's truly wild adventure is about to begin. Now! Pretty Cure Game Start!

The main themes of this series deal with stuff like technology, cyberspace, and reality and fiction, while motifs include stuff like video games, pixels, and 90's aesthetics. I plan on releasing this fanseries on a few fanfic sites (AO3, Quotev, even Wattpad) and I do have a wiki for it, if you are wondering about what I used to make the cures and other characters, it's Kisekae a pretty well-known dollmaker software (It can be pretty NSFW though just keep that in mind, though there is an SFW version if I remember correctly), though two characters have been made with picrew, but enough about that let's get into...

~~~

The Cures!

From Left to Right: Nene Kanemitsu, Mariko Asoda, Kayla Coleman, Aruna Yushi

Mariko Asoda / Cure Action (Pink)

A fourteen-year-old student council member with a soft spot for video games, a big daydreamer, and a selfless escapist who just wants to help people like the video game heroes she loves, but has a big sense of righteousness about her, loves to over indulge in her hobbies and always expects gratitude from others. Has a bit of a habit of saying "Level Up!". Becoming Cure Action, she is themed after action games and platformers and has fire powers.

Kayla Coleman / Cure Puzzle (Green)

A fifteen-year-old foreign exchange student originally from Brooklyn, New York, and despite her quiet disposition she is very much a crafty inventor type who has a love for crafting new ideas, despite that confident mask she wears, she is a massive introvert with some slight confidence issues, with a love for sarcasm and darker topics and just wants to be accepted and loved by others for the games she creates and codes. When she becomes Cure Puzzle, she gains the powers of the earth via stones and tetrominoes, and is themed after puzzle games.

Nene Kanemitsu / Cure Song (Yellow)

The daughter of the creator of the famous game mascot Riki the Rabbit, Nene is well-known as a passionate and competitive professional gamer who is a regular at the Skyblue arcade center, especially when it comes to rhythm games. Nene essentially acts as the mood maker of the group, going through life with a rather positive and takes life and everyday situations through good humor and optimism, but has a big obsession with idols and isn't afraid to talk about her hyper fixations for a long time, can be a bit careless, short-tempered, boisterous, and is not good with money at all. As Cure Song, she is themed after Rhythm Games and has the power of sound.

Aruna / Aru Yuushi / Cure Hero (Blue)

Originally known as the fairy priestess Aruna, a character that originated from the video game RPG Valianta Quest X, she made her home in the Pixel Pocket (Basically the transformation items of the season) after she was saved by Riki, who always wanted to become a knight out of the want to truly help out her kingdom, she eventually transformed into a human via learning a spell. A very defensive girl with a hard shell and tries to convey a heroic and yet cool image, but is a way more sensitive person underneath it all. As Cure Hero, she is themed after Adventure games and RPG's, and wields the power of light via the Bravery Sword, instead of the Virtual Sticks the cures normally use.

Allies

Riki

The protagonist of a popular platformer game series that Mariko is a big fan of. Riki can move at super fast speeds and pick things up with his ears, who is adventurous, lively, and a bit of an adrenaline junkie.

Princess Dahlia

The fair and sweet ruler of the Bloomfield kingdom, and despite her dainty and cutesy appearance, she is actually the leader of the resistance fighting against the “Dark Network” in Arcadia, in which she comes from the popular puzzle game “Puzzle De Puyo”.

Fumio Kanemitsu

Nene’s father and the man who created Riki the Rabbit, and currently works as a programmer for the video game company Kurotaki, moody, fickle, changeable, and obviously weirded out by the fact his creation is real, he ends up becoming a big ally to the team, mainly due to his knowledge about programming.

The Dark Network Fuguerror A mysterious glitchy being hidden within dark depths of cyberspace, he is a cruel, cunning, and yet oddly playful being, and is the one the Dark Network are trying to essentially complete, and summon him mainly via collecting Digi Data.

Belladonna

Leader of the generals and the one who founded the Dark Network group in the first place after discovering Fuguerror, a rather seductive and devious enchantress who is known for her self centered-ness, her love of making her presence known, and getting a kick out of seeing people enraged and essentially teasing her enemies, she's also known for her love of making very odd smelling (And toxic!) "perfume". Belladonna comes from the medieval beat em up game "Radira Fight Knights"

Doctor Serpentine

Riki the Rabbit's number one adversary and a rather dastardly mad scientist taking the form of a snake, he mostly tries to take down foes with the many robotic suits he builds, and he loves flaunting his intelligence skill in robotics, despite his aggressive way of speaking to others. Nikto

A rather cunning if rather short wizard. Nikto acts as a mediator between the villainous group and tends to try and take Belladonna down the peg a little, he's also very skilled at magic, especially when it comes to illusions and trickery which he often tries to take advantage of to his own benefits, and really doesn't like it when people make fun of his height. He is the main villain of the famous RPG "Valianta Quest V". Adalram

A Mysterious Swordsman with a wide set of tools, and a man who is a rather flirty soul who likes to use his wit and charm to recruit other villains to Dark Network's cause, but he is dedicated to protecting the other members, namely Miss Belladonna. He comes from the popular adventure game series "Secret Sword".

~~~ And do you think this is the only fanseries I have...No, I have another, a Ninja, family and Japanese mythology-based fanseries, that being... Doron! Kunoichi Precure!

I haven't made a logo for the fanseries yet and I don't have a lot of designs for it (Only the cures have been designed so far), so please bear with me.

For nineteen generations, the Kaminarimon school of ninjas have been protecting both Earth and the Celestial Plains from the Kagemashu Army of yokai, creatures who emerge from the shadowy depths of the underworld to cause fear and terror to those around them. But when it seemed that the nineteenth generation of ninja had finally sealed Nurarihyon and his army for good, one yokai ended up breaking the seal years later with the Kagemashu beginning their attacks again, with the current head of the Kaminarimon household Shosuke, and his daughter Tomoe beginning a plan to recruit some new legendary ninja to combat the new threat. And when a compassionate middle school girl named Shinobu Fuuno ends up stumbling upon a scroll hidden within the back of a shrine near the Kaminarimon household, and she ends up summoning five friendly spirits but ends up running into Nopperabo and the Kagemashu’s deadly monsters the Maganoke, however with the help of the Doron Commune she transforms into the legendary ninja of the wind, Cure Shippu! Protecting the Earth from evil, hiding deep within the shadows, now change! Precure let’s ninja GO!

Cures!

From left to right: Tomoe Kaminarimon, Fujiko Takayama, Shinobu Fuuno, Hiyori Hinomiya, Kozue Kobayashi

Shinobu Fuuno / Cure Shippu (Pink)

An airy girl with a love for Japanese Traditions as well as Samurai and Ninja Dramas (with her father being an actor in these drama’s himself in the past), she prefers not standing out among her classmates though can't help but run her mouth when she feels like it, but wants to find out what happened to her mother. Has the habit of saying “Feel the wind!” and as Cure Shippu, she wields the power of the wind.

Kozue Kobayashi / Cure Shinrin (Green)

A sensible, tall, reliable, and yet traditional girl akin to a Yamato Nadeshiko, Kozue is good at giving advice to others and is a geisha in training aside from her pretty cure duties and has a love for familiarity and making wagashi…However, she is a massive party animal and is terrible with technology, and such her fellow piers at her geisha training look down upon her because of it, and as Cure Shinrin, she wields the power of wood.

Hiyori Hinomiya / Cure Rekka (Red)

A Shrine Maiden working at a local shrine with a bit of a hot-blooded and passionate flair, she is skilled at archery and is very action-oriented, and can be a bit prideful and impulsive despite her being a bit responsible and mature. Is a bit jealous of Shinobu being the leader and has a habit of setting high standards for herself, mainly due to the fact she was chosen because her sister (Who was going to become a cure) had fallen ill at the time, and as Cure Rekka, she wields the power of fire.

Fujiko Takayama / Cure Gunzan (Blue)

A very emotional yet secretive and sensitive girl who is rather knowledgeable though with a bit of a hard shell, but can have her moments where she can get more than a bit dramatic, mainly because of her theater-loving background and has a soft spot for folklore, especially spirits, and yokai, and as Cure Gunzan she wields the power of the earth.

Tomoe Kaminarimon / Cure Raitei (Yellow)

The future head of the Kaminarimon household and a woman who acts as the mentor to the cures, and while she does have a rather cold and strict exterior, she actually has a rather adventurous and even unpredictable and spontaneous side to her, akin to that of lightning, which she wields as Cure Raitei.

Unfortunately, I only have basic ideas for the other characters currently. I'm planning on the mascots essentially being small spirit gods from the Celestial Plains which are ruled by the big good Amaterasu (Yes, the Shinto Sun Goddess herself). The villains I do have more ideas for, with them basically being a sort of criminal organization of Yokai with each general being based on one (The Nine-Tailed Fox, Tengu, Oni, etc.) with the big bad being Nurarihyon. But Aside from the cures I haven't designed em. ~~~ And that's all I have been mainly working on so far in terms of Fanseries, really hope you all have enjoyed reading this post, as much as I had fun making it.

See you later guys, gals, and enby pals alike!

[hisfivehead]

I see that The Monstrous Turnabout has been removed from your version of Dual Destinies. May I know why? Good like with your rewrite!

Well the reason it’s not in AA5 anymore is because I felt the Magical Turnabout was a better fit for AA5 since one of the themes in my version of the game is Apollo bonding with his bio family and getting over his imposter syndrome since he’s the only one who knows nothing about magic or troupe Gramarye really. I did bring the location and most of the characters back for case 2 in my AA6 (aside from Labelle and Filch) but the case is quite a bit different and Thalassa is defendant cos I needed it to be someone from Apollo’s bio family for drama purposes since Nahyuta is the prosecution. Not a big fan of Monstrous anyway, the concept is good but nothing in it I feel is handled particularly well and they almost treat Labelle like a twist villain to the point Jinxie is meant to be a red herring despite us literally seeing him commit the murder at the beginning. All in all the case is kinda a mess and this was just the best way I could salvage it and have it fit into my rewrite properly.

Thanks for the question I wish I got more of these they’re very fun to answer :)

[ordinaryschmuck]

Season One of Percy Jackson and the Olympians is FINE

All and all, I'd say it's a fine adaptation of the first book.

The spirit is very much in place. The story's sense of humor and light drama is present and well balanced through the show. One moment you have a gripping discussion of Sally explaining she fell in love with a god, and it's followed by Percy asking if she found Jesus. It's a funny line that doesn't undercut the drama because that's exactly what a kid like Percy would ask. Even some bits that WEREN'T in the book that very well could have been, like Mr. D lying to Percy about being his father for some cheap booze or the gosh dang Consensus Song. Moments like that show me that the people behind this show are HUGE FANS of the books and wanted to make something that's faithful but still provides something new to enjoy.

And there are SOME changes to the story, a lot of them I don't really mind. I like that they made Sally more sassy and Grover more proactive. I like that Medusa's made more as a tragic villain instead of a monstrous one. I REALLY like that we got to see Poseidon early. That last one takes the punch out of the dramatic weight of seeing him in Book Four, but seeing him now really helps cement the idea that this version DOES love Percy and Sally, something that I didn't really get in the books. Which might have been the intention, but the show is trying to be something different, and I respect it for it.

When it comes to the action, it's pretty good. Stuff like the Minotaur fight and the battle with Ares wasn't as long or epic as it was mapped out in my head, but I can understand it. These are big fights involving little kids and CGI is expensive (Even though you wouldn't have this problem if the show was ANIMATED, but I digress). Despite the limitations, the show did will and provided some kickass moments.

As for the actors, frickin' round of applause across the board. Nearly everyone they got does GREAT in their role, fitting the changes the show is going for and the spirit of the book everything is based on. Some particular standouts for me are Adam Copeland as the perfect D-Bag that is Ares and Walter Scobell who IS Percy Jackson. It's the kid especially that impressed me the most, as he nails the sarcastic, angry, endearing, idiotic, and loyal to a fault hero that makes Percy the best. If there's any actor who I think is struggling it's probably Leah Jeffries as Annabeth, who seems a bit too standoffish and closed off, as if she's holding back a lot of personality that the character has. However, to be fair...

A. Annabeth was more or less the same in the first book, so I'll allow it. Just as long as she has more of a wit to match Percy's. It's what made Percabeth amazing.

B. This is a child actor we're talking about. Even Walter, who is PITCH PERFECT casting, manages to have some awkwardness and stiffness to his performance at times too. I'm sure that as more time goes on, these kids will get better and better each season.

And, yeah, I'd say that this is enough to make Percy Jackson and the Olympians a FINE TV show...But there's some things that hold it back from being good or even GREAT.

Firstly, there's the pacing. The pacing in this show is off a lot of the time, and this is mainly a problem with most straight to streaming shows nowadays. We can have long, extensive TV shows anymore as networks and services are demanding shorter and shorter seasons, to the point where its less of a season of television and more of a long movie. It's no different here as we're forced to fly by past plot point after plot point, all while trying to be more episodic AND while setting up future stuff. It makes you appreciate the moments when the show DOES slow down and let moments settle, but there's not enough of that.

Then there's the way moments are told out of order or are condensed. Like how Percy and Annabeth have their heart-to-heart on the train instead of on the animal truck. Or how Annabeth starts calling Percy Seaweed Brain when the journey's almost over instead of doing it right away. Or how Luke sparred with Percy near the END of the season, not the beginning. I'm not exactly an accuracy purist. I find changes are fine as long as the spirit is in tact, which it very much is. And if I wanted the story told exactly as it was, I would have just read the book. But changes like that make me feel like they're missing the point. Like, that zoo truck wasn't great, but it will be a happy memory between Percy and Annabeth as a time when they REALLY talked. Annabeth calling Percy Seaweed Brain was a straight up insult that Percy hated but grew to accept as something only SHE can call him as it later turns into a sort of petname for him. And interrupting Percy's battle with Ares with Percy sparring with Luke spoonfeeds us information, when showing them do that in the beginning would have benefited in making that scene act as a set up with a pay off. Besides, we spend so little time with Luke anyway that when we get to that BIG REVEAL, it's not as impactful because he was barely a character. Again, I don't mind changes, but if you're going to do them, make sure the story doesn't suffer.

But while we're on the topic of changes, let's talk about the ones that REALLY bother me.

I don't like that some other gods are introduced too early. It takes the impact out of Ares and Hades being big, intimidating figures when there are other gods that the characters can just chat and reason with.

I don't like that Annabeth's fear of spiders is just glossed over. Not only does it SHOW US (instead of telling us) that a strong-willed character like Annabeth can be emotionally shaken by something as small as a spider, but leads to a sense of tragedy of her past and her being a child of Athena. To gloss over it is a huge disservice to Annabeth as a character and it doesn't feel right.

And I REALLY don't like that the movie did the Lotus Casino better than the show. Because if the movie that the author loves to shit on managed to be more faithful than the SHOW...it messed up.

So...the show is a mess at times. I still enjoyed it and I hope we get a season two. But if this series wants to get past The Sea of Monsters, it'll need to focus on what makes it GREAT instead of using more of what holds it back as just FINE.

[romancomicsblog]

Who should play Clayface in the DCU?

After a wild curveball pick for the third movie in the DCU, James Gunn has announced Clayface will be coming to the big screen in a big way after Creature Commandos.

Clayface will premiere in Fall 2026, and will be a horror thriller tragedy written by Mike Flanagan of The Haunting of Hill House Fame.

Apparently Flanagan is a big fan of Batman: The Animated Series, so we can expect the character to be similar to that version, an actor turned big monster made of goo.

While this is an unexpected film, I do love that the DCU has been a mix of classic DC characters like Superman & oddball choices like this and Creature Commandos. It feels like a choice made because of an exciting story instead of obligation. That being said, this character is going to need a good actor to make the story work.

I have a couple of ideas of who could be The Batman's newest villain. But before we get into my picks, as always let's look at Stipulations.

Legacy of Batman Villains

Unlike most superhero villains, Batman villains have a reputation in Hollywood to be more nuanced, and bigger named actors often will take them as meaty roles. We recently got a sequel to Joker, and a whole television show dedicated the Penguin that got universal acclaim.

Though Clayface hasn't been done on the big screen yet, his association to the Dark Knight means we can definitely get a big name actor to portray the character.

Already in the DCU

Clayface has already been confirmed via the trailers that he will appear in some capacity in Creature Commandos.

Whether this is the same person we see in the movie, who is to say?

This version is played by Alan Tudyk, who could potentially reprise the role in the film, but given he is already playing Doctor Phosphorus & Will Magnus, for now I'll look to other actors.

Characteristics

The version I am going with and the DCU is likely going with is Basil Karlo, a B list actor who becomes disfigured, and undergoes treatment to fix his face, which makes him into the monster he is.

He is dramatic, tragic, and sympathetic. He should have a sadness to him, and the range to play a villain and a man turning into a monster. Other than that, we have a lot of range of actors. Basil can look like anyone, so really any body is on the table.

So let's get started.

3. Kevin Durand

An actor who really impressed me this year was Kevin Durand, specifically in Abigail & Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Durand has a physicality and charisma to him when playing a villain. I think watching him tragically become something else would be a lot of fun, and I think more than any other actor on this list, he definitely has the voice for it.

What particularly impressed me was his motion capture performance of Proximus Ceasar in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. I can see Durand using those skills to bring the monstrous Clayface to life.

If I had a gripe, he may be a little too clean, at least for Clayface. But if they ever needed a Sportsmaster I'd know exactly who I'd call. I like him, but he's not my favorite.

2. Jesse Plemons

No one plays a bad guy like Plemons.

If we're going for the award noms, Plemons could easily bring the acting chops to a role like this. He can be scary, empathetic, sad, and downright evil.

I can see Plemons as Karlo continue to push himself, not knowing what he is becoming. Of all the actors here, he may do tragic better than any of them.

My main concern is, can we root for him? Does him constantly being the villain make it less sad when he inevitably becomes the monster?

Also of the three, Clemons doesn't really have the voice for Clayface. Sure they can adjust it with technology but it isn't the same.

I'm not sure if Plemons is the right man for this job, but if he got the chance, I'd love to see him take a stab it.

1. Peter Dinklage

If we'd like to merge acting ability of Plemons with the tragedy of charisma of Durand, Peter Dinklage takes this easily.

Peter Dinklage feels like an actors actor, which is exactly what we need here. Someone who can steal every scene he's in, someone we can root for and believe his transformation.

He's proven multiple times he can play tragic and a villain. We know he will do big roles in Sci-Fi or Fantasy, such as Bolivar Trask, Eitri, Scourge and Tyrion.

He's done Shakespeare, motion capture, comedy, and even is set to play the Toxic Avenger: A Man who get's horribly disfigured and becomes a hero. Make him a villain and more tragic, that IS Basil Karlo.

This is my Clayface.

Thank you for reading! If you like this, be sure to follow me on all my socials here! And let me know what you think: who should play Clayface in the DCU?

[twistedtummies2]

Year of the Bat - Number 22

Welcome to Year of the Bat! In honor of Kevin Conroy, Arleen Sorkin, and Richard Moll, I’m counting down my Top 31 Favorite Episodes of “Batman: The Animated Series” throughout this January. TODAY’S EPISODE QUOTE: “All I wanted from you, dearie, was a little friendship! That would have cost you nothing!” Number 22 is…Birds of a Feather.

Much like Catwoman, the Penguin was a villain who was slightly shortchanged in the Animated Series, some would argue. Which is ironic because, in my opinion, the Animated Series gave us probably the best and most definitive take on the character there’s ever been. Why? Well, as I’ve said in the past, it’s because I feel the Penguin in this show sort of had a little something for everyone: in the first three seasons, he was depicted with a design inspired by the Danny DeVito version from “Batman: Returns,” due to a studio mandate by Warner Bros. His personality and methodology, however, was what you might call “Classic Penguin,” with him acting as an eccentric (but not deranged) gentleman thief. In the fourth season, things changed: now the Penguin had a more “Classic” design, making him appear more human and less grotesque, but his role as a gangster operating out of the Iceberg Lounge was more in line with the “Modern Penguin” most people are more familiar with today. So, no matter how you preferred your Pengy – more classic, more modern, more human, more monstrous – you kind of had your whole cake and could eat it, too. Despite this, most of Penguin’s appearances essentially just used him as the villain of the week, so to speak. He was never really the focal character, just a supporting rogue, or the chosen antagonist. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it did make him feel a little less interesting when compared to a lot of other villains in the series. One grand and glorious exception to this rule, however, has stood out over time: a somewhat more obscure episode entitled “Birds of a Feather.”

The plot is a classic “Villain Reform Episode,” as the Penguin vows to go straight…and actually means it! He genuinely wants to turn over a new leaf and start a new life. Unfortunately, he finds this to be more difficult than he expected…and his endeavors are only made more problematic by the introduction of a young lady named Veronica Vreeland. Veronica is a good friend of Bruce Wayne’s, and became a recurring character in the series; she’s a rich and somewhat spoiled socialite, whose privileged existence does lead to conflict…but her heart is usually in the right place, all the same. (Think of her as SORT OF like Charlotte from “Princess and the Frog,” from you Disney fans…just…way less hyperactive.) In this episode, Veronica – under some peer pressure from other wealthy friends of hers – begins to form a bond with Penguin, under the pretense of eventually inviting him to a big party she’s hosting.

Veronica is not doing this out of the goodness of her heart. The intention is that Oswald will be “part of the entertainment,” able to embarrass everybody that Veronica doesn’t like, and amuse everyone else. He’s essentially being treated as a clown, and he doesn’t even know it. All the while, Penguin starts to form romantic feelings for the young woman…and Veronica’s conscience starts to get the better of her, as she starts to form an affectionate attachment towards Penguin, as well. Of course, this being Gotham City, this can only lead to anything EXCEPT a happy ending. What’s great about the episode is the duality of its twin leads, and the way they get along. Penguin puts on the airs of an overblown aristocrat, but he’s not treated as a member of the social elite at all. He lives in squalor and is seen as a laughingstock at best, and a menace to society at worst. You truly feel bad for Penguin, because of the way he’s being treated, and because he is so totally sincere in both his desire to change and his hopes to befriend Veronica, or even gain her love. As for Veronica, while what she’s doing is horrible, not only does she see the error of her ways, but you’re given the impression that she’s really doing this to try and be “hip with the cool kids,” more than any innate malicious desire on her own part. Both are flawed people, but both are also not totally wicked in this story; the problem is simply that their desires clash, and by the time either could pull out and save face, it’s far too late. While Penguin was a great villain and had many fine antagonistic roles, it’s this episode that really cemented what a good character he truly was, and it remains something of a cult classic story for the series. It’s not as renowned as tales like “Heart of Ice” or “Mad Love,” but it’s definitely got a lot of fans, and I am certainly among them. Again, this is another episode where I feel bad for placing it so low, but hopefully the ones to come will not disappoint.

Tomorrow we move on to Number 21! Hint: “I’m a civic-minded citizen, with a lot of time on his hands!”

[gamesception]

Sception reads Cassandra Cain #5

The Batman Chronicles #18 written by Devin Grayson, pencils by Dale Eaglesham

I've kind of gone over this in the past, but whatever, it's been a while. So Huntress / Helena Burtinelli was very briefly Batgirl/Batwoman during No Man's Land, while Batman was outside of Gotham trying to use his money and influence as Bruce Wayne to get the government to rebuild the city instead of walling it off, and for a while continued under that identity with Batman's approval after he returned. She was always meant to be a decoy/red herring by the editorial staff - as they had to announce the upcoming Batgirl title long before introducing the brand new character who would be headlining the book, but I honestly think this was a mistake - and more importantly just kind of mean to her fans.

Because Helena honestly made too much sense as Batgirl. Her character had originally been conceived as an alternate universe Batgirl who was the daughter of Bruce and Catwoman/Selina Kyle, a version of the character that was unceremoniously killed off and then erased from existence during the Crisis on Infinite Earths mega crossover / continuity reboot. So this is already a character and fan base who were hard done by before she was re-imagined as Helena Burtinelli, a version of the character who has at times been poorly treated in her own right. Elevating her to the mantle of Main Continuity Batgirl would have been long overdue justice to her fans, and a promise that the character would be treated better going forward.

And it was all just a red herring so the new character reveal could be a surprise. Not only had editorial not suddenly found their long missing respect for the character, they thought so little of her that her entire character could be jerked around for a cheap stunt.

Worse, as Red Herring Batgirl she was now in the way and had to be removed for the new Batgirl to take her place, and the way that went down was also pretty much bullshit, making Helena look like a coward for not even trying to save people under Batman's protection from Two Face's gang and making Bruce look like a monstrous asshole even by the Batman standards of the time. I really should have talked more about in the write up for Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #120. Oh, well.

I wasn't a big Huntress fan, but if I had been it absolutely would have soured me on this new, unproven Batgirl character. In universe Helena would be more than justified in giving Cass a chilly reception. As far as I know, this issue is their first interaction, and I don't think I've read it before, so lets see how that goes.

despite the cover, and my long tangent above, neither Helena nor Cass is the actual focus of this issue. Rather, this is a Dr. Leslie Thompkins issue. Iirc she was a DCAU original, a doctor and surgeon in Gotham who did a lot of charity work, who knew Bruce since he was a boy. She knew Bruce was Batman, and basically served as the emergency doctor for the bat family in general. She appeared fairly sparingly in the animated show, but became a regular part of the comics, where she served as sort of a moral conscience for the bat family, constantly questioning their methods and use of violence. TV Leslie was a pacifist too, but that wasn't the primary focus of her character, and the change in focus and overuse in the comics did her absolutely no favors.

Because, of course, the Batman comics can't endorse the idea that the Batman is fundamentally a bad idea, so Leslie is inevitably put in situations contrived to make her wrong. Over and over again. And yet she keeps harping on about how violence is bad and the bat folks should stop hitting people who are threatening to blow up city hall or that punching a supervillain who is shooting up a crowd of civilians makes you just as bad as them or how the morally correct thing is to politely ask the Condiment King not to drown celebrity guest Gordon Ramsay in ranch dressing, and if he chooses to do so anyway well that's on him but at least your conscience doesn't have to be burdened by the indelible sin of hitting, because hitting is bad, and if you don't feel bad about hitting then she'll be sure to feel twice as bad for you, and she'll rub your face in her own misplaced guilt until you feel some by proxy god damnit.

Overall it was very insincere and turned Dr. Thompkins from the beloved character of the animated series, an all-to-rare rare surrogate mother figure for Bruce, into a smug self righteous downer and a nag.

This poor treatment of Dr. Thompkins in the bat books would eventually escalate into one of the most egregious and disgusting and frankly uncalled for character assassinations in the history of the medium, as bad if not worse than what Cass suffered. Eventually retconned, badly of course. Even so, I hope I get bored of this project and drop it again long before we get to the point where I have to talk about War Games / War Crimes in detail, because that was some of the most disgusting, reprehensible, and just plain mean spirited comic book writing in DC history - already a shamefully low bar - and the entire editorial staff responsible for it should have been banned from ever putting ink to page again.

But hey, here I am going off on ~another~ tangent, instead of looking at the actual issue in front of me.

So anyway, this issue opens on Dr. Thompkins having a nightmare where she pushes through a refugee camp, unable to help any of the people due to a lack of supplies, while stalked by a monster man - obviously Bruce - trying to take her away from the work that needs doing but that she can't do anyway, and maybe secretly doesn't even really want to.

Leslie's nightmare isn't far removed from her waking reality, as her little medical camp is under-staffed, under-supplied, and overwhelmed by sick and injured people from across Gotham with literally no where else to go for treatment.

Adding to her troubles, Zsasz was brought in to her clinic beaten to hell and with a conspicuous bite taken out of his side, and while he's unconscious for now he'll doubtless start killin' again as soon as he wakes up.

As dangerous as Zsasz is supposed to be, though, mostly down to sheer relentlessness, he's still just a guy? He's not super powered or anything? If Cass is in this book she should just beat him outright in any sort of physical fight in a rock-beats-scissors sort of way? Hrm.

Zsasz's injuries come courtesy of Killer Croc, who attacked Zsasz after he attacked a homeless man who happened to be Croc's friend. Now both 'Stumpy' and Zsasz are being treated by Leslie, and Croc's stalking the outskirts of the medical camp, torn between tearing through the place to finish of Zsasz and holding back so that Thompkins can treat his friend. He wants Leslie to just hand Zsasz over to him, but of course she can't do that.

Above I criticized the sort of moral dilemmas the writers often subjected Leslie to, but so far at least this feels more fair and Leslie's position doesn't seem as unreasonable. But despite his current injuries Zsasz /does/ present a threat to everyone at the camp, arguably even more so than Croc does. The GCPD group in No Man's Land is run by Gordon, at least in theory, but most of the cops are more loyal to this other guy who would immediately kill both Zsasz and Croc if he got his hands on either of them, probably 'Stumpy' too if he heard the guy was Croc's friend, so she can't turn to them. Honestly, she knows Bruce doesn't kill people, so the ideal solution would be to hand Zsasz off to Batman.

Speak of the devil, it's Officer Pettit. His deal is that since there's no legal system in No Man's Land, no way to put criminals/supervillains on trial, no intact and manned prisons to hold them in (that he knows about anyway), that anybody he deems a criminal should just be killed.

The classic conflict between at least this version of Helena and Bruce is that she's willing to kill people sometimes, whether for personal revenge reasons or if she just can't work out some other way to stop them from killing other people in the moment. And killing is something that Batman generally, and especially at the time, took a particularly uncompromising view of. In Batman's mind, if you kill you're a killer, and no better than anyone else who kills people. Never-you-mind that he's pals with the justice league and most of them, even Superman, have killed at this point in continuity. Within the pages of the bat books at least, Bruce's feelings on killing are as uncompromising and iron-clad as Leslie's feelings about violence in general.

Come to think of it, why wasn't that the reason Helena stopped being Batgirl? Like if she had fought Two Face's gang to try to protect the people in Batman's territory despite their overwhelming numbers, but in the end had resorted to killing some of them to save the people they were attacking. That would have made for a believable conflict between Helena and Bruce to justify their falling out, one that would have been more in line with their respective characters and wouldn't have made either of them come off looking quite as heartless and frankly unheroic as what the writers/editors actually went with.

But whatever, the point is that with Helena's looser stance on killing, it makes some amount of sense that she'd end up with Pettit after cutting ties with Bruce, at least temporarily. Eventually she'll realize that he's no good, but I guess that hasn't happened yet.

Anyway, Leslie agrees to let Pettit's injured officers into the camp if they leave their guns behind. They agree, and Huntress accompanies them and Dr. Thompkins while Pettit stays outside the camp with his health and armed men to hunt for Croc.

Once Helena realizes Dr. Thompkins has Zsasz there, though, she objects pretty vociferously.

It's one thing to endanger herself for her principles, but Thompkins is also endangering all of the other people there seeking her help. Also, yeah, comic Thomkins is kind of a downer.

Around this time Bruce and Cass show up, dropping off medical supplies they got from... somewhere, I don't know.

And there's their first meeting. And yeah, a justifiably cold greeting from Helena, though at lest she's not particularly mean or aggressive about it. It's Bruce she's angry at overall. The fist-bump as a hello for Cass is cute and on brand, and I like that we can kind of make out her facial expression despite the mask.

I like these handful of panels, with Helena shoving past Cass to confront Bruce. For one, we get a good sense of difference in size where Helena, a grown ass adult, is shown as clearly larger than teenage Cass, while Bruce towers over her in return. Its not just these three, there's also skinny fragile Dr. Thompkins, and various background figures in the crowd scenes. I have to give Eaglesham credit here - he knows how to give characters, including the female characters, different silhouettes and body shapes and facial features and body langue, and he effectively uses these differences to convey the characters' different personalities and emotional states. Like, Helena is annoyed at Cass, annoyed at how quickly she was replaced, but she's angry at Bruce, and Eaglesham really shows that in her facial expression.

We're here for Cass though, and I really like how she's drawn in that panel where Helena's pushing past her. Her proportions, the big head relative to her body size, the way her cape folds, etc. Between that and the offered fist bump panel, this doesn't just feel like Batgirl to me, it feels like Cass specifically.

As much as Bruce and Helena are on bad terms right now, Bruce is very much on her side when it comes to treating Zsasz at the clinic, and in particular when it comes to giving him a blood transfusion when donor blood is so hard to come by right now. Of course, there have been versions of Batman - versions I generally prefer - who would have taken Leslie's side on this, but NML Batman was a bit of a grumpy guss, so this isn't exactly out of character.

Pettit starts shooting at Croc, interrupting Bruce & Leslie's argument, and... I'm sorry, what the hell is with that panel of Cass's face there. Like, cheat and draw her face through the mask, or just draw the mask, either would be better than whatever that mushy mess is. And I was just talking you up, Eaglesham, what happened there?

On a more positive note, this bit where Cass asks Bruce through pantomime if Leslie is his mother is good. Very on brand, gets the idea across well, doesn't take ~too much~ more panel space than if she was able to just ask him in a word bubble. It's also a good example of Cass being empathetic to the people around her which is simultaneously one of her core character traits and in a sense also her super power.

Like, she's not at all the focus of this book, but so far both the writing and the art for her are pretty solid.

The distraction is fairly brief, and afterwords Bruce & Leslie's argument resumes, escalating to the point where Bruce is compelled to storm off and brood for a while.

As he goes, we get this interaction between him and Cass, where, on the positive side it's a continuation of the themes I liked before, the empathy, the communication through pantomime... and her face is a lot better in these panels than in that weird mushy one from before. But asking if Bruce is sad by tracing a big ole fake tear down her face with a finger is a bit hammy.

Of course, the moment Batman leaves everything goes to heck. Zsasz is up...

And Croc gets the drop on Pettit.

So Zsasz is threatening Dr. Thompkins and Cass & Helena rush up to help, but - and this isn't super clear from the art - but Helena goes to shoot Zsasz with her wrist-mounted crossbow. Yes, it's a gimmick weapon that looks like a toy, but her crossbow has absolutely been established as a lethal weapon in universe. Cass, whose 'no killing' policy is if anything even more strict than Bruce's, stops her from shooting Zsasz, which leads to a scuffle between Huntress and Batgirl, preventing either of them from intervening to help Dr. Thompkins. Which I guess explains why Cass being nearby doesn't just neutralize Zsasz as a threat, but it does make her and Helena both seem kind of dumb in the moment.

But making Cass and Helena hold the idiot ball for a bit must have been worth it in the writer's mind in order to give Leslie her Big Scene.

Believe it or not, Zsasz is unmoved.

Wont resist him with violence? What would you do if you weren't so morally upright, Leslie? Lightly open-hand slap him into submission? Like, if this scene could somehow happen in such a way where she actually had physical power over him, like if he was tied down and she had a scalpel or something, then the decision not to exercise that power might have some meaning, but the way this scene was set up it's not like there was anything she could do anyway. She's not even making a convincing appeal here.

By 'not resist him with violence' she means 'no resist him in any fashion what so ever' - not even physically stand in front of him to buy the people behind her a moment to run. Instead she literally curls up on the ground in the fetal position. Cartoon Dr. Thompkins was also a stanch pacifist whose moral convictions would have compelled her to help even a killer if they were in need, but she had more dignity than this.

Croc shows up to save Leslie while Cass and Helena are still busy bickering amongst themselves.

And afterwards Cass gives Leslie this super respectful bow like the reader is supposed to have been blown away by Leslie's great moral fortitude.

And Bruce gets over his big sulk just in time to catch Zsasz and drag him off to his secret prison, which is an absolutely normal thing to have.

...

So yeah, I got super sidetracked this time by how much I don't like the comic version of Dr. Thompkins, at least not the way she was portrayed at the time. But focusing specifically on Cass... they didn't do a bad job with her here, like, at all. She mostly looks cool. She's recognizably a teenager most of the time, instead of being drawn exactly the same as when Helena was in the costume. She's shown to be curious and empathetic and a bit stubborn and actually quite communicative despite being non-verbal. There's a bit of her individual personality showing through here even though there's like four or five other characters who are more central to the story being told than she is. I didn't really enjoy the issue overall, but I'm honestly pretty happy with Cass's portrayal in it specifically.