#hope we keep getting more peculiar character designs at least once in a while

[crehador]

yet another unrealistic body standard for men

[mwolf0epsilon]

First off, before everyone comes after my butt with their "No Fun Allowed" and "Cringe" signs, this is in no way something to be taken as gospel or insightful. It's not a prophetic enforcement of canon. It's literally a theory done for fun, and to try to piece the Bendy Crack up Comics into the general and messy lore of the BatIM franchise. 

Most of you get this and don't need a big wordy warning about fanon interpretation, but a lot of peculiar people tend to show up in my ask box hoping to start a fuss over my headcanons and AU ideas, so I thought to be nice and leave a polite and diplomatic "Kindly Fuck Off" sign at the door for them.

With that said, there will be mild spoilers, carry on of your own volition, down below under the cut that will definitely show up because Tumblr mobile is a functional app that's never given me trouble!!!

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[[MORE]]

The Bendy Franchise has an established issue with cohesion in its lore. We all know what I'm talking about, we all have reservations about canonical character discrepancies (game vs novel vs guidebook) and we all have been racking our brains with a few holes in the timeline, as well as how BatDR (which is neither prequel nor sequel) will fit into this, since it's connected to BatDS and that's an established prequel to BatIM.

Granted I myself am missing a lot of pieces, having to scrounge around for info since I can't really get any of the reading material myself and rely heavily on @british-hero (who owns the novel plus got her copy of the comics yesterday), a very incomplete wikie, and analysis and theories from SuperHorrorBro's Bendy videos.

Heck, I also rely on a lot of gameplay footage, because BatIM has a bit of subtle storytelling through visual design of its levels, and hints of how certain characters work through a few game mechanics.

Through this mishmash of collecting puzzle pieces for the greater picture I even have a few notes on my phone to piece together certain events in established dates, something which comes very in handy for this theory since it talks about two particular characters, the Projectionist and Brute Boris (and I guess Twisted Alice to some extent but it's more of a note on some interesting thoughts I have of her).

Without further ado, here's what this theory is all about: Why did Norman become the Projectionist, and why did Twisted Alice turn Buddy Boris into Brute Boris?

If you think about it, there's only two creatures in the studio that really seem out of place in the world of BatIM, and that's Prophet Sammy and the Projectionist. Neither are inherently similar to any of the cartoon characters, nor are they considered to be Lost Ones. They're certainly not Searchers, but while we know Sammy is unique because his method of transformation was different, we never got an explanation for Norman's. It could be that it's a process similar to BatDR's new enemy type that's larger and seems to have bits and bobs stuck to it, but then those big guys seem like the equivalent to Swollen Searchers for the Lost Ones. The Projectionist doesn't really fit the puzzle.

Or at least he didn't.

With the introduction of the Crack up Comics collection, we get three new characters that were definitely designed in the same manner that the Butcher Gang was. Beginning with a corrupt monster forms and then giving way to perfect and pristine rubberhose toon forms.

I'm talking about Miss Twisted, the Brute, and Cameraman.

The villainous trio from the Souper Boris comic strip.

To us it's obvious the artists created them in parallel to Twisted Alice, Brute Boris and the Projectionist, but to the actual canon this actually has a bit of an impact on the Projectionist's existence.

Why, you ask? Because those characters were introduced between 1936 and 1940.

Bendy Crack up Comics table of contents, showcasing the publishing dates of the strips.

For anyone who doesn't know (either from not paying attention to the Joey Drew Studios channel audio logs, or from not owning the books) the Ink Machine wasn't conceptualized or installed until 1942/1943. Putting that into perspective, the only other thing that happened in Joey Drew Studios in 1940, was the conceptualization of Bendyland (which is likely the origin of the idea for the Ink Machine itself).

This means that Cameraman existed well before the Projectionist ever came to be, and that made me think about another thing: The Ink's apparent sentience.

I'll be frank, the Ink is very hard nut to crack. I consider it a form of alchemized entity, others consider it pure black magic, and I'm pretty sure Joey Drew himself had no idea what he was dealing with when he began using it. The fact of the matter is that the Ink is alive and that it has its own agenda. One that coincides with Joey's, out of mutual interest.

In the novels it seems to want to be free, but it can't exactly do that as a formless liquid, so it tries to body-snatch people (ex: Sammy and Buddy's grandpa).

When Joey tries to use it to give life to Bendy through nothing more than using the Ink and a template (likely a character model sheet) the Ink tries to follow the model but immediately becomes a distorted humanoid version of it (which honestly rings so many fucking alarm bells on its own). Things… Escalate there on out, with Joey trying to perfect the method and only managing to succeed through Daniel Lewek (and many other nameless Boris Clones), Allison Pendle and Thomas Connor.

An important thing to take from this, however, is that by trying to perfect this method Joey not only taught the Ink to reshape things into viable referenced material, but that he had to have lost control of just how many souls were being pumped through the Ink Machine for him to monitor and keep up.

Sammy started killing people when he completely turned, and it didn't seem to take long for him to cut down people in likely both the music and art departments. At this point he had no self-restraint and was completely wrapped around inky fingers and Joey's lies. 

Norman is one such potential victim, and Dot and Buddy even passed by his ink-wrapped body while fleeing.

Now, the thing about trying to follow a specific guide and not having the actual means to make it exactly the same thing, is an easy enough notion to get (as shows like "Nailed It", and years of trying to perfect visual style mimicry, have taught me).

The Ink likely had the template it needed (maybe a printed copy of Souper Boris that got thrown around in the chaos), the insight of what Norman's role in the studio was, the amount of mass it needed to consume and transform his dead body, but not exactly the right sort of… Centerpiece for it...

Cameraman using his lens to light up his path.

But what's a projector besides a bigger fancier camera? Both blink, both take film, same thing right? The ink doesn't see the difference and just stitches together this humanoid bootleg cameraman with the pieces it finds that are similar enough.

Mechanical blinky head? Check.

Strange round disc near the belly? There's a speaker. That's round! Check.

Film? There we go, a nice big round reel full of film in it, let's put it near the head, that's how it works right? Check.

Lastly, no Joey to actually direct this artistic recreation of a one-off character. The Ink did it all by itself while he was off getting his hand broken by a rightfully upset Buddy Boris.

If you look at it objectively it makes sense that being the projectionist tasked with not only recording and maintaining the projectors themselves, that the entity in the Ink would pick Cameraman as a template for Norman's transformed self.

It also makes sense that the Projectionist is so off-putting in the studio. He's almost perfect, but not quite because there just weren't the right materials. He's stuck in between Twisted Alice and the Butcher Gang clones as another failed recreation.

Moving on to the next question on why Twisted Alice turn Buddy Boris into Brute Boris, when she hadn't done the same to any of the other Boris Clones.

It's hard to say really, but I think it all comes down to who Twisted Alice really is. It's very likely that, as Susie Campbell, she would have knowledge of the comic strips. A few were most likely made into cartoon shorts even (which isn't an unusual assumption to make), and maybe Susie voiced a few background characters for said shorts.

Susie may have lost her role as Alice, but before Joey came to her with his proposition for the "special project" it's very likely that she remained in the studio, forced to do the voices of characters that weren't noteworthy or that she felt completely disconnected from (talking chairs and singing hens really don't become beloved fan-favourites) . Maybe if the Souper Boris story was made into a short, she might have voiced Miss Twisted (which honestly would be personally insulting considering she once had the role of the main heroine).

Point is, Susie knows her lore, and that translates to Twisted Alice's repertoire of insightful knowledge on the abominations lurking around the studio.

She never did turn other Boris clones into brutish lackeys because at the time she didn't need to. But it doesn't mean she hadn't considered it. Henry's disruptive behaviour is just what she needed to put that plan into motion.

There was already a "Cameraman" walking about, one that could easily rip apart anything it came across, so acquiring the means to recreate the "Brute" would have been benefiting from her point of view. The Projectionist doesn't take orders and can't be reasoned with, so if she could make something just as strong that took her orders she could, theoretically, be safe from most terrors in the studio. If that didn't work, she would still likely send others to their death by simply sending them down to Level 14, or maybe lure the Projectionist to them herself (just because he doesn't take orders doesn't mean she can't use him to achieve her end goals).

Miss Twisted, the Brute and Cameraman in their evil swamp lair.

But why Buddy Boris specifically? Why couldn't she have used any of the bodies laying around? Freshness most likely. Rigor mortis is probably still a thing, even for living cartoons. Easier to work a fresh dead body than a bunch of stiff wolves.

That's at least why I think Brute Boris is a thing. Susie's knowledge of most Bendy cartoon/comic strip characters, taking inspiration from the Projectionist's presence, and honestly a very twisted sense of humor and irony. In her quest to become a Perfect Alice, the heroine of the show, she ended up becoming just as antagonistic (although more sadistic) as Miss Twisted, a Bendy comic strip villainess.

[chonzu]

This is the beginning of an idea I had where Atsuhiro survives the attack and ends up in Tartarus. I want to expand on it but I’ve worked on this for a few days and I’m happy with it I suppose! Spoilers for Chapter 294/295 ofc.

I apologize for the weird formatting, I’ve been working on mobile/iPad for a while now.

--

He loved the League. He would give his life for the League and their leader’s ideals and he knew that’s how it would end as he hit the ground, snatched out of the air by the blond child he’d barely seen once before months ago at the Yakuza base, and while the rest of that battle lasted barely more than a few minutes, Atsuhiro fell in and out of consciousness more times than he could count. He could not move no matter how hard he tried, but that was alright. If Shigaraki had gotten away, well. He couldn’t blame the kid for leaving him behind.

Atsuhiro let out a shaky breath and closed his eyes.

“Hurry! Go, get the Tartarus staff on site! Get...we need…....alive...”

If he couldn’t move anyway he wasn’t going to struggle—everyone was gone, surely, and the heroes were getting tended to, going by the muffled voices and sirens, and he’d accepted his death by now. As long as his sacrifice wasn’t for nothing, it would be alright.

He was roughly moved again, his mind fogging up more as a numb pain crawled up his side. His arm was restrained, locked down; his body was jostled until he was shoved roughly into the back of a cold vehicle onto a starkly-cold metal surface. Atsuhiro tried to open his eyes, but this was it for him. He let that darkness take him, hoping that the young boss, Spinner, and Dabi had gotten away.

-

His eye snapped open into quiet darkness, into what he guessed was a small and sterile room barely bigger than a closet. Machines hummed and chugged gently to his left and his right shoulder pressed against a cold concrete wall. He tried to speak but his throat was drier than a desert, leaving him sputtering and coughing until he’d caught his breath.

He couldn’t lift his right arm, a cuff had been attached to his wrist, his fake left eye and left mechanical arm had been removed, and he could only imagine what other types of straps were keeping him down on the bed that wasn’t very comfortable and they’d never given him any blankets or turned the heat up. He may as well exist in a dungeon and it wasn’t apparent that there were any guards near him at the moment.

With his wrist cuffed as it was, it blocked his hand from being unable to touch anything and he didn’t have any smart ideas to get out of this. Truthfully, he thought he was dead, but the straps were tight and deliberately made to keep him from moving his arm at all. The numbness in his hip and chest was almost too much but if he squeezed his eyes shut he almost couldn’t feel it. He felt a little lost and panicked without his left arm.

Remember, he thought. Remember. What got him into this place? A heist gone wrong? Did he steal something from a hero more high-profile than he’d expected? A more dastardly villain than he’d hoped? His work with the League often brought him to many unsuspecting places, but up until recently they’d been working on projects with...the Meta-Liberation Army.

Atsuhiro opened his eye. There’d been a war. That’s right, yes. He’d watched the boss get away, but he couldn’t remember anything after being grabbed by that sunny-haired kid he’d thought they’d gotten rid of a long time ago.

A few minutes into trying to relax, Atsuhiro realized that an alarm was going off on the machine and only got louder and worse the more he suddenly panicked. He pulled against the restraints to no avail. His heart nearly lept out of his chest when the door flew open, the room flooding with a fleet of armed guards and heroes silhouetted black against the harsh white fluorescent lighting that spilled into the room.

“Wh— what?”

A strong hand grabbed his face and turned his head every possible direction, to which he objected loudly and wasn’t heard. The doctor who grabbed him turned him to face them, their gaze cool and steady, but unfocused. He heard whispers from the front of the room that maybe they should stick a muzzle on him like one of their other prisoners, but the doctor handling him waved them away.

Atsuhiro was poked and prodded. “Please, come on. Take me to dinner before you start doing that. I’m /starving/.”

“We both know that’s not going to happen, Sako.” The doctor pressed their lips together, barely giving him so much as a look as they hummed, tapped a pen against their lips, and started to scribble on a clipboard. “Prisoner is awake, far too alert, and begging for food. I’d say we’ve done a good job here.”

“Fuck— what? Prisoner?” Atsuhiro struggled again. “At least tell me where the fuck I am!” Sharp pains in his side would have crumpled him if he didn’t have the restraints tied over his chest.

The doctor turned their back to him. “Prisoner is starting to panic. Sedate him."

They left in a hurry, coat a flurry of fabric behind them lime a cape, and Atsuhiro noticed the lines of drips going into his arm. He struggled more, but when what he assumed was an intern leaned down over a tray of medication he suddenly felt faint.

Before he fainted, Atsuhiro watched a fuzzy guard wave at him.

No, no, no, he thought. No. He couldn’t go out like this again. His eye closed however, and darkness claimed him once more when the door shut tightly and he fell into a fitful doze.

--

"Sako Atsuhiro."

His whole body tingled as he lifted his head. He felt like his mind was rapidly being overwhelmed by the sharp lights, solid metal room, and his arm held at a strange angle, while his body lagged behind him as if trapped in syrup. He had been given only enough pain medication to sit up and talk, but it made his mind fuzzy and he squinted against the harsh white lights of the room and the spotlights angled directly at him. Restraints kept him firmly against the chair, so he was unable to escape. He couldn't if he tried.

Atsuhiro cleared his throat, squinting. "Yes. Yes that's...that’s my name. How can I help you? Besides giving away all of our best secrets, of course."

The man who spoke to him seemed as nondescript as the next guy. Tall, short brown hair, quite a friendly face, business casual. Definitely not the kind of person who would be the main character in a show. A stack of papers sat under his hand. "It's just me in here."

"Okay? And the two hundred people recording this conversation?"

"I just want to talk."

"Well we certainly are! How's life treating you?"

"That's irrelevant. Sako, we have you listed for numerous crimes such as theft, destruction of property, child endangerment, involvement with the League of Villains and the Meta-Liberation Army, just to make a few. Just recently you were caught attempting to land an attack on our heroes.

"I don't really know what to say to that?”

The man hummed. "I understand. We’ll be keeping an eye on you, of course. You have a hip replacement and reconstruction scheduled soon. I’ll be visiting every few days.”

Atsuhiro resisted rolling his eyes. “Please, why are you telling me all of this.”

“Why not? You can’t escape, you can’t move.”

“I see. You know, it’s polite to at least tell someone your name? You seem to know me /quite/ well.”

The man pressed his lips together. He spent a moment writing down a few of his own notes. “I guess you can call me Tsukauchi.”

Atsuhiro blinked, mulling it over. He’d never heard of that name before. “Okay. Why are you bothering to fix me up?”

“The marble that you compressed was lost at the scene so there wasn’t a way to even attempt to assess what you’d lost.” Tsukauchi shrugged. “We obviously need you alive, which I’m sure you already know?” He raised an eyebrow and Atsuhiro pouted. “All prisoners at Tartarus receive /some/ kind of care. We aren’t heartless villains.”

“Yeah, and you use that care to keep us alive and trapped here and for what?”

“Sir, you were involved in committing mass murder.”

“Pah!” Atsuhiro straightened his shoulders. “So let me guess. Keeping me alive here is a worse punishment than death?”

“If that’s how you would like to see it.” Tsukauchi wasn’t looking at him, but seemed to be quite a good listener. “My time here is short today, but I’ll be back again shortly.”

“I look forward to it.” Atsuhiro gave the man his sweetest smile. Tsukauchi stared at him with a peculiar look, then looked down to gather up his notes.

He left silently. Guards crept out of shadows Atsuhiro hadn’t even realized were there and he was being dragged from the stage again. He couldn’t walk, oh no. He could barely /sit up/ and so he was roughly thrown into a wheelchair, the quirk-neutralizing cuff around his arm was adjusted, and straps tightened around his chest and legs.

The doctor who he’d seen numerous times by now and who he assumed had performed the surgery on him pushed his wheelchair along. They went down long passages, each holding cell specially designed to the needs and quirks of those they held. Atsuhiro’s own holding cell was only the basic one; cold, dry, with solid metal plates and a single bed. Because of the neutralizing cuff on his wrist, he wasn’t able to compress himself, and even if he was, there was a second cuff that held his hand at a specific angle and had a cage around it to leave him unable to touch anything. Without his right arm, he’d never be able to get it off on his own. Not unless he pulled some crazy gymnastics, which just weren’t possible with his injuries.

Apparently he was to be getting a slight upgrade to a different wing once his injuries had healed, but they gave a severe estimate of at least six weeks and an incomprehensible amount of physical therapy thereafter—if they deemed that necessary. After all, he was alive, and that’s really all they needed to question him.

Along the way, some of the captured prisoners gave him looks if they were able to look out of the windows on their doors or restrained in tight places facing the hallways for quicker analysis by guards and inspectors. Atsuhiro did not look at any of them.

[sunshine304]

I am so so sorry that it took me this long to continue my LoF watching posts! RL, y’know. Ep 26 felt like a good place to take a breather, as well, so that’s what I did.

 Anyway, let’s move on to eps 27 and 28!

It’s exposition time! Zhou Fei and ChuChu are at a tea house and hear about an army deserter who was trained on the Mountain of the Immortals (has this been mentioned before... IDK), was poisoned and became a monk. A-Fei thinks this story sounds familiar (indeed it does, indeed it does...) and ChuChu remembers having read sth like this in a book (the book of ... Peng Lai? I think?).

Oh look, Huo Fort becomes relevant again! I forgot about them. Anyway, Huo Lintao, who is now the boss and seems to not be well liked basically everywhere, wants to fight Disha and invites people from Jianghu to his Destroy Disha Assembly (God, I just love that name XD). Li Sheng & 48 Strongholds get an invite and he wants to investigate. Huo Fort is also... attacked by random cultivators I guess?

Meanwhile, let’s check in on Yin Pei! He still can’t deal with his internal injury (loss of internal power? still not sure; I’m assuming it’s sth like severe damage to a golden core in xanxia or even complete loss of one) and scours Old Daoist Master Chongxiao’s rooms for the Phoenix Pill, which... I think gives you lots of power but is also really super dangerous? 

This show sure has lots of useful but also dangerous power restoring/improving pills and needles, huh?

Anyway, Yin Pei takes the pill. He does not feel so good. Uh oh.

Li Yan and Yang Jin go in search for A-Fei again – uhm, didn’t A-Fei simply go into town with ChuChu? Why are they searching for her again, other that Yang Jin wants to fight her because one obvious defeat isn’t enough? I'm guessing there has been a time skip again...

Meanwhile, at Disha Manor! Shen Tianshu is nursing his wounded ego I guess, while Chu Tianyu, an older member, is now supposed to take care of all this drama, but he doesn’t really want to because he’s retired. How many weird members of Disha are there?

Oh okay, so Yin Pei goes kinda crazy because of the scabbard since it seems to be gone, takes more of the Phoenix Pills, which is a fucking stupid idea, we get some exposition that this might turn him into a demon of some sort, and then he kills Chongxiao for the scabbard because he thinks that the old master wants it for himself.

Which, you know, isn’t true, but that’s what you get for being so secretive, I guess. Chongxiao actually wanted the scabbard so a forger could make lots of copies of it, so that Yin Pei can keep the original one. *sigh* Well, too late now. Yin Pei also meets that evil guy from way back in ep 7 or 8 who’d fought Chongxiao and Li Sheng, who calls himself the Black Judge (I’m too lazy to look up his name and hope he doesn’t really become that relevant). 

I’m kinda sad that Yin Pei simply seems to go the “Oops I’m super crazy now“ route instead of having a more interesting redemption arc. I also... don’t really know what he wants to do now? He’s got the scabbard of his father... Are there still people alive he could take revenge on? Disha I guess?

But! The song that plays while Yin Pei confronts Chongxiao is awesome! I'm in love.♥

Back to the main characters, thank you! Xie Yun is really ill and freezing, the poison taking its toll. He’s at the same inn as two new characters (noooo, no more characters, have mercy!) Zhu Chen and Zhu Ying of the small Zhu sect, who are there for that assembly. They eye XY and feel sorry for him. We instantly know that these are Good People.

Aaaaaand introducing another new character, Ying Hecong, Poison Doctor! I know he’s relevant because he’s got a poster!

Of course Zhou Fei just misses Xie Yun in that inn. *sigh* But then she meets Li Yan and Yang Jin there, which is nice. 

Yet another new character!  He’s Black Tortoise Ding Kui and has henchman that are dressed in a rather peculiar way. Is this now the same as with that Azure Dragon guy, and I don’t really have to remember him? He’s from the 4 Guardians Mountain (speaking of which, where tf is Mu XiaoQiao!?).

Okay okay I see now. Everyone is in LingLing for that meet up with the Huo family! Madame Nichang is there too! Ah my beloved! ♥ She tells Xie Yun to follow his heart, and not be stupid and only think of his end. 

Xie Yun is all evasive of course, and then he meets up with Cheng Zichen who of course is also there! Because of this he finds out that Zhou Fei is there, too, which puts him into a conflict. Because his running away was going so well, dammit!

On to Ep 28!

Xie Yun hides out in the carriage with Ling Yu of the Feather Robe Troupe, who slyly comments on him running away from Zhou Fei. He’s sad and says that it’s not A-Fei’s fault and that he’s just an unlucky person who is not good for her. T_T Kill me, why don’t you.

A-Fei has learned a lot and notices XY’s ruse, yay go my heroine!♥

She catches him and they fight, and she asks him about the poison. Zhou Fei obviously suspects ahhhh! (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ But of course when XY seems happy that she was looking for him, she goes all haughty again and is like, “It’s only because of the HYTS!“ (although no it was mainly because of him and she looks light she might burst into tears any moment now, too...)

They get distracted by the procession of Black Tortoise Master walking by and A-Fei knocks XY out. They’re even now! XD

Nice to see the whole gang together as A-Fei drags the unconscious Xie Yun to an inn! ChuChu my beloved! ♥

OMG Li Sheng and Yang Jin getting into this peacock fight! XD Li Sheng scolds his sister and Yang Jin is super pissed about it. Li Yan is looking sooo smug, like “Yep that's my very own protective himbo!“ XD

Then Li Sheng is sent off to find Madame Nichang because she at least might know what to do about Xie Yun.

Ding Kui arrives at the Hui Fort. If I understood correctly... Hui Lintao wants to... kill all the cultivators when they arrive for his assembly? Or just those other cultivators that are randomly attacking him? There's traps in the forest they have go through. He specifically mentions that the traps are set after Daoist Master Chongxiao’s design, so hm might Li Sheng be of great help here later? Anyway, that old guy from Disha is there and seems to find all of this very funny. I’m confused.

Mu Xiaoqiao my love!!!!!!! He’s back!!!!  For about 5 seconds but there he is, looking fabulous! ☆*: .｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

Ding Kui (who... has left the Huo Fort I guess) wants to work with him and reminds him of his debt to the Huo Fort. I had forgotten about that.

Oh let’s check in for about a minute on Yin Pei, who is still crazy and slaughters some people... uhm somewhere. He also now calls himself the true Master of Clear Light. [at least I think it’s supposed to be his new name?] Nicely written on the door in blood. Okay then.

But the instrumental of his song plays in the background, making all of this much more epic, so it’s fine.

Madame Nichang arrives, is shocked, and states that Xie Yun is poisoned, as A-Fei feared, and he has a year if he doesn’t use his internal force anymore. A-Fei is devastated and we get their love song while she rubs his (supposedly) ice-cold hand. Oh my heart. T_T

Ying Hecong arrives because he wants to see the poisoned guy! XD He has never heard of tact. 

Since A-Fei is desperate she lets him in, and we get some exposition in bits and pieces. Ying Hecong first assumes that XY must’ve been poisoned about a month ago (which fits the fight against Disha, where he used the needle), but wonders how that could be because Lian Sheng (the poisoner known for bone piercing blue) has been missing for a while longer. He lets slip that he isn’t actually a doctor, uhm yeah....

Oh not A-Fei is so sad and crying, nooooo T_T She’s angry at XY, asking why he had to meddle in her affairs and then leave to just die somewhere alone. Oh nooooo.  ಥ_ಥ ಥ_ಥ ಥ_ಥ

(side note: easy scene for Wang Yibo, just lying there the whole time, no lines for once XD)

A-Fei gets the Tianmen Lock from Madam Nichang (a special lock that has a double lock mechanism that is very difficult to open. Md. Nichang actually alludes to this lock being very useful for lovers and I’m like... okay XD). YunFei are kinky as ever, nothing new here – A-Fei is so pissed at XY that she doesn’t want him to have the chance to run away again. XD

Loved how XY complained about the lock destroying his posture. XD And how Zhou Fei’s like, “It’s not my fault you’re bound like that, Li Sheng is to blame!“ while the flashback tells us, that uhm no, he’s not. XD

Ending with A-Fei telling Yang Jin about the Hai Tian Yi Se. Ah they’re important relics it seems. Well whatever. XY listens in.

I really need to keep on watching, it seems stuff is happening.

[eat-the-richard]

Sonic’s 30th: What it could be and what it won’t be

Well folks, it's about that time again. Our beloved Sonic thee Hedgehog is turning the big three-oh this year.

I say that time “again” because, y’know, it seems like we just went through this. The last mainline Sonic releases, Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces, were both revealed as part of Sonic’s 25th anniversary. In a sense, that’s all us fans really have to look forward to anymore. Waiting for about five-or-so rotations around the sun to pass until SEGA can slap that big number next to Sonic’s mug to usher out as much celebratory marketing material as they can, all for the chance to get a smidgen of new video games to get our hands on.

This anniversary feels... different, though. Last anniversary SEGA had an absolute winner on their hands in Sonic Mania. There was no way the team behind that one could possibly mess up. And even if Sonic Forces turned out like... that, it at least made sense from SEGA’s perspective to greenlight a game like it during that time. But the five years since those games were announced have done little to assuage my worries about what exactly is planned for this year’s big game.

You see, Sonic has kind of vanished. He’s lost. M.I.A.. Which feels strange. Even during the supposed “dark age” of Sonic, he never really went anywhere. New games were still being produced like clockwork for a whole host of gaming systems. From mainline titles to spinoffs, dedicated Sonic fans had a lot to sink their teeth into back then. Since the release of Forces, all we really have to show for ourselves is a (personally) insignificant expansion to Sonic Mania and a new racing title which, frankly, didn’t set the world on fire when it was released. I suppose there’s a whole host of mobile titles that I didn’t mention but it’s difficult to get excited over yet another Sonic auto-runner. Perhaps most bafflingly, there haven’t even been many ports of older Sonic titles to modern hardware. If the mid-2000s were the dark ages of Sonic, perhaps right now we’re living in the “silent age,” where basically nothing is even happening and the franchise is at an eternal standstill.

The sole exception to this self-titled silent era was the Sonic movie, which I don’t think anyone anticipated being as big of a success as it was. Including the studio behind it. And especially including SEGA. It was utterly baffling to me that, upon the film’s release, there was nothing in the way of a tie-in game. Nothing directly associated with the movie. Nothing separate to release alongside the movie. Nothing. Some have speculated that SEGA was supremely unconfident in the film and it's hard to argue otherwise. It seems that, in a sense, the movie was a success in spite of the company the IP is linked with.

That’s why this anniversary feels more peculiar than the last one. At least Sonic was doing something in the early 2010s. Perhaps nothing groundbreaking, but he was at least around. If it hadn’t been for the movie, how in the world would the series be attracting new fans? This anniversary needs to be big. It needs to be the explosive re-emergence of Sonic to not only please the jaded oldies but the next generation of kids. And… I just don’t anticipate anything of the sort.

To me, Sonic Team has about four directions they could take the 30th anniversary game. Here they are, listed in descending order of likelihood.

4. A new “boost” game. Sonic Team ain’t opening that can of worms again.

3. A new “classic Sonic” game. While Christian Whitehead’s new studio has been deafeningly silent since forming, I believe that we’d have a bit more information about a Sonic Mania sequel by now if that was indeed in development.

2. Something entirely different.

1. Sonic Adventure 3 (or comparable analog).

Now, your reaction to that list may differ depending on your preferences and the year you were born. To me, something evoking nostalgia to the two Sonic Adventures is the safest and most likely choice for SEGA and Sonic Team. Just as classic nostalgia permeated through the 2010s, Adventure nostalgia will trailblaze full force through the 2020s. There are a lot of people whose only exposure to Sonic at all is playing Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on their GameCube. And the only way those people could potentially get funneled back into the series is through a proper Sonic Adventure 3, or at least something like it.

This, of course, says nothing about the overall quality of what this new Adventure title would be. And really, this is my main concern with the 30th anniversary. Can I even trust Sonic Team anymore to put out a good game?

Regardless of style, I’m unconfident to say the least. The staff that worked on the Adventure titles are not at SEGA anymore. The staff that spearheaded the “boost trilogy” of Unleashed, Colors, and Generations are not at SEGA anymore. And modern-day Sonic Team’s idea of something entirely different is, well, unappealing. Sonic Lost World proved that trying to change the core of the series for its own sake leads to a bland and uninspiring experience. And Forces? Oh… Forces.

Really, Forces is the main reason why I’m so disillusioned. Maybe it was that I was excited for the grand return of the boost. Maybe it was that I loved Generations so much that a proper sequel to it couldn’t possibly be bad. Instead of being a sequel to Generations, though, it tries to be everything at once. A game to appeal to the classic fans, the Adventure fans, the boost fans, those whole love complicated narratives, those who love the many characters this series has, and, obviously, the Original Character Artists™. Jack of all trades, master of nothing. A directionless, soulless game that in some instances is seemingly artificially-generated.

If this spectacular 30th anniversary Sonic game is something entirely different, it had to break an astounding amount of new ground. It had to rethink and reshape the series so drastically that, honestly, I don’t think it's very likely. I don’t think Sonic Team has even the slightest clue about what makes their flagship IP so appealing to so many people. If the nostalgia-fueled 2010s are any indication, SEGA only understands what makes Sonic so popular on a superficial level. 

They know we liked the 2D games, so now EVERY game has 2D in it! Oh, they didn’t like that Sonic has green eyes. Well, let’s bring back the CLASSIC version of Sonic. Let’s actually make him his own character who will also appear in every game! 

New zone ideas? LMAO how about we reuse the same set of classic levels over and over! Green Hill? YES! Chemical Plant? Of course! Let’s make an entire game that has both Sonics running around in a bunch of old zones. Wait, didn’t we just do that idea last year for Sonic 4 Episode 1? And aren’t we going to do that idea NEXT year for Sonic 4 Episode 2? WAIT DID SOMEONE SAY CHECKERBOARD PATTERNS IN WINDY HILL ZONE!???!!!! 

Oh wait, Christian Whitehead just pitched to us a brand new 2D Sonic game with classic physics and new levels? We’ll let him do it, but ONLY if it is ANOTHER nostalgia game that reuses old zones! 

Let’s inundate our fans with the same images of their childhood to activate their dopamine receptors! 

I can hardly wait for what this team’s idea of Sonic Adventure nostalgia looks like. Hope you really like City Escape.

Really, while such appeals to nostalgia are welcome the first few times, after a while it starts to get grating. Sonic Team leaning so hard into it during the 2010s reeks to me of desperation. As if the constant callbacks are the only thing the team knows how to do to link new games with the rest of the series. 

In actuality, fans don’t like Sonic because of the classic design or 2D-platforming or Green Hill Zone. They may like those things, but it isn’t why they continue to support the series. Fans love Sonic so fervently because, when he hits on all cylinders, he really hits. His games play in a supremely rewarding way where skill mastery is key. The better you are at Sonic, the better you feel while playing it. The personalities and designs of all of the different characters, from Sonic to Tails to Vector the freakin’ Crocodile, are not only distinct from each other but bleed through into gameplay in the way that they control and in how they are animated. Sonic’s best stories are ones that people can really relate to, dealing with a whole host of themes such as environmentalism, resisting fascism, surpassing expectations, and even the concept of free will among nonhuman entities. Not especially deep, but certainly thought provoking, especially for kids. All tied together with top notch visual and audio design that will stand the test of time. I’d posit that, while people like Sonic for a whole host of reasons, their starting point lies somewhere in the above explanation.

Hopefully, Sonic Team has realized by now that nostalgia will only get them so far. While a Sonic Adventure 3 would turn heads, it wouldn’t push the series forward. While a proper sequel to Sonic Mania would be a critical darling, it would continue to keep Sonic’s feet firmly planted in 1991. Sonic needs to evolve. He needs to change. And it seems like a change is happening. Roger Craig Smith, the voice of Sonic for the last 10 years, is no longer working with the series. The new TV series, Sonic Prime, is set to take place in a “strange new multiverse.” Even the Sonic movie refuses to lean on nostalgia too hard. 

So maybe the future will be set in unfamiliar waters. But if this is the case, I don’t want SEGA to half ass it. I want them to boldly step into that abyss with a vision of Sonic that appeals to the heart of the fandom. Because, even if it's been down recently, that heart is still beating, and after the abuse it's already taken, it’s going to take a hell of a lot to get it to stop. And if SEGA can get this heart pumping to its full extreme as it had in years past, we may have something legendary to look forward to.

They could also just release a bunch of old Sonic games on Switch. I’d like that too.

[unnaturalsolace]

Winter 2020 Anime Season

Finally caught up with this season when it’s more than halfway over, but I figured I’d do a little write-up of what I’m watching in case people are interested!

Currently watching

Dorohedoro: I think this might be my AOTS. I read the manga a long while ago and I know it ended kinda recently (last year?) However I don’t really remember too much of the specific events, although I vaguely remember the plot. But I think the anime has done a great job conveying the world of Dorohedoro, where every little detail and event just seems super insane but still all fits together somehow. I just love the worldbuilding so much. And the characters and comedy are right down my alley. I don’t even care about the 3DCG, it really isn’t bad. And I really love Caiman’s voice. I hope the anime makes it to the introduction of the cross-eyes gang but probably not, with only 5 episodes left that would have to cover like 17 chapters. Listen to this cool OP!

Haikyuu!!: Riku vs. Kuu and To the Top: Tbh I stopped reading the manga some time around the end of season 3, so I honestly have no idea what’s happening this season and it’s all new to me. I do know that there’s apparently a timeskip in recent chapters, but I’m pretty sure there’s still a while to go before the anime gets there. Definitely still enjoying the anime, albeit perhaps less enthusiastic about it when it first started airing.

Id:Invaded: This is an original anime, so all I knew about it was just the synopsis. But honestly this would have been my AOTS if not for Dorohedoro. First episode was a great hook and I’ve really been enjoying every episode since. The premise is very interesting (although I’ll admit some of the id-well stuff is hard for me to follow). The main characters are pretty solid, I like how Hondoumachi looks like she’d fall into that weird “adult character looks and acts like a teenager” trope but no, she actually acts like an adult, which is nice. And I hope we get more Sakaido-Anaido bro shenanigans. Listen to this cool ED!

Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun: I tried reading the manga before, but I dropped it because it got kinda boring, and a little too shoujo-y. I think the anime has done a pretty good job of making it less boring at least. And it’s very pretty. But the characters are still kinda meh for me. 

number24: I really only started watching this because of cute boys and sports. But honestly the MC is the only thing carrying this show, so I’ll probably drop it soon. And it hasn’t really gotten me interested in rugby, unlike...

Runway de Waratte: I read the manga before the show aired, and the manga is really great. I hope it gets a physical release because I would definitely buy it. I honestly had no interest in fashion design but this is actually really interesting. I think the anime is doing a great job of adapting the manga. Listen to this cool OP! Listen to this cool ED!

Stuff I dropped

Boku no Tonari ni Ankoku Hakaishin ga Imasu. (2 episodes): Gags weren’t that funny to me, and the MC was annoying.

Darwin’s Game (4 episodes): I remember reading some of the manga and dropping it. I tried the anime but lost interest again.

Eizouken ni wa Te wo Dasu na! (5 episodes): It’s definitely a unique anime. It was just kind of boring for me. I can tell a lot of heart was put into it, and I can see why other people like it, but I don’t think it’s my kind of thing.

Infinite Dendrogram (2 episodes): Kinda boring. Nothing really stood out.

Pet (2 episodes): Couldn’t get into this one. Also I don’t like the character designs.

Rikei ga Koi ni Ochita no de Shoumei shitemita. (8 episodes): It was kind of funny at first, but I got bored over time. I like how everyone was constantly wearing lab coats just so you were definitely sure they were scientists.

Somali to Mori no Kamisama (7 episodes): It was cute at first, but it didn’t really feel like much was happening. I think it’s hard for me to watch SOL anime, I’m pretty peculiar about it. Listen to this cool ED!

Uchi Tama?! Uchi no Tama Shirimasen ka? (7 episodes): Also cute at first, and I liked the cat designs. But I eventually got bored as well. Listen to this cool OP!

Stuff from last season since I never had time to make a post about Fall 2019

Honestly nothing from Fall 2019 really stood out to me, besides Hoshiai no Sora.

Actors: Songs Connection (dropped at 5 episodes): I think there was some kind of supernatural shit going on in the background, but I never got interested enough to want to watch more.

Ahiru no Sora (dropped at 12 episodes): I think it’s a decent basketball series. I personally dropped it because it was a little too old-school for me, with lots of old shounen cliches. It felt rather dated.

Babylon (dropped at 2 episodes): Honestly don’t remember why I dropped it, probably got bored. I heard it kinda drops the ball later though.

Beastars (completed): Pretty decent adaptation, the 3DCG looked good to me. I’m still reading the manga, although I think it was better earlier.

Hataage! Kemono Michi (completed): Kind of a hit and miss for me, some times I really enjoyed the comedy, other times it was boring. But I ended up finishing it anyway.

Hoshiai no Sora (completed): I really liked this. I thought the animation was very comfortable and I liked the MC and the gameplay. Shame that it got axed or whatever happened to it.

Mugen no Juunin: Immortal (dropped at 14 episodes): I think it’s a pretty cool anime. I think the reason why I dropped it was because it felt like things were happening really fast and I was losing track of what was going on. I might pick it back up later.

Mairimashita! Iruma-kun (dropped at 20 episodes): I read the manga although I haven’t been keeping up lately. I think the adaptation was kinda subpar. They really slowed things down during the festival arc and that kinda killed the momentum for me so I dropped it.

No Guns Life (dropped at 6 episodes): Something else I dropped because I lost interest. I don’t think I really liked any of the characters.

Ore wo Suki nano wa Omae dake ka yo (completed): I watched this since I thought it would subvert expectations, although it kind of ended up becoming a normal harem anime anyways. Great animation though, although the lips really bothered me.

Shinchou Yuusha: Kono Yuusha ga Ore Tsueee Kuse ni Shinchou Sugiru (completed): I had read the first couple of chapters and I thought it was really funny. The anime went past the scanlation, and I think it held up decently well. Little bit of a sudden twist at the end that I can’t really say was done well or bad.

And that’s all! Sorry it was pretty long. I haven’t had much free time lately so everything kinda just came out all at once.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace is not good but I can’t muster the enthusiasm required to hate it. I remember the hype when the original release date was approaching. People were going nuts. Perhaps it's nostalgia or the knowledge that better films came later that prevent me from savaging the most famously anticipated and disappointing prequel film ever made.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away Jedi knights Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and his master Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) are sent to settle a trade dispute, only to discover an army of droids invading the planet Naboo. Fleeing with Queen Amidala (Keira Knightley) and her handmaidens (which include Natalie Portman), the Jedi are accompanied by a peculiar creature named Jar-Jar Binks (completely animated, voiced by Ahmed Best). While searching for a way to inform the rest of the galaxy of the invasion, the group meet droids R2-D2 (Kenny Baker), C-3P0 (voiced by Anthony Daniels), as well as a young slave named Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd).

The Phantom Menace embodies everything that’s terrible about prequels. It’s unnecessary. Who cares what Annakin was like as a kid? All it does is take away the mystique of the character. It also pointlessly reminds you of the reasons why you came to see the movie. C-3P0 is here and he doesn’t do anything noteworthy. You take him out and you’ve got a better movie because his origin makes no sense (why would a boy on Tattoine build a protocol droid?) and because he appears to be there only because he could be.

The more you scrutinize the film, the less it feels like it belongs in the Star Wars universe. The attitude people have towards droids seems inconsistent. About 45 minutes in, we're introduced to a species that's immune to Jedi mind tricks. Not just one individual whose years of training has strengthened their mental resolve, but an entire species? I was under the assumption that the Force was something present in all creatures but this random merchant (of a species that could never exist in real life) is unaffected. Feels less like an organic choice and more like a plot decision and it's not the only one.

The acting? it’s bad. I don’t blame the performers though. When one performer can't deliver their lines right, it's on them. Two? they must've been feeding off each other. When EVERYONE is bad? It’s the director’s fault. Ultimately, it's George Lucas who deserves the blame. The creatures whose design doesn’t make sense, the muddled mythology, the contrived plot, the overreliance on CGI, all come down to him. Lucas wrote and directed with no one standing over his shoulder to question the decisions.

Was it doomed from inception? No. The famous pod race is exciting. It’s completely different from what we've gotten before in the series. Even when the familiar lightsabers are unsheathed, it feels new. The choreography is excellent. The blades fly so fast it succeeds in telling you about this different version of the Jedi we never knew: these superpowerful galactic guardians that no normal adversary could hope to go up against. There are plenty of cool visuals throughout. Queen Amidala’s costumes are gorgeous, and the music/sound effects are terrific. The computer effects are dated but were the best they could be at the time. The blaster noises, the clicks and clanks of the droids, the alien grunts are awesome. Great foley work. Despite everything that’s wrong, there’s enough cool stuff to keep you wondering if perhaps, this time, you'll see something that'll change your mind about the film.

I can’t recommend Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace to anyone except those who have already seen it. The story adds nothing to the mythology. If you’ve seen it before, you know whether you can sit through it once more. If you can't it's because those burns still hurt all those years later. At least it’ll get better from here, you can take comfort in that. (On DVD, November 27, 2015)

[tyrantisterror]

TT Rambles: Building a Kaiju Cast

As far as I’m concerned, the kaiju renaissance is in full swing - not just because of movies like Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Pacific Rim, but because of all the original novels, webcomics, etc. that the kaiju fandom is publishing.  It’s beautiful to see all these new kaijuverses blossoming.

and I want to see more of them

It takes me back to that brief, shining period in the early 2000′s where there were DOZENS of thriving kaijuverses on Deviantart, all with weird and wonderful takes on giant monsters that oozed with style and creativity.  God that was a good time and 

I want to see more

So, as a person with a semi-successful kaiju-verse of my own, I’ve been thinking about how I could encourage people to make more kaiju beyond, like, just making my own and hoping it resonates and inspires people like the kaiju-verses that I see inspire me.  And then my teacher brain got to thinking - one of the best ways to help people create is to give them structure to build off of.  So that’s what I’m going to do.

Friends, enclosed here are some written instructions on how to build a fun and dynamic kaiju cast.  You don’t have to follow these rules to the letter, mind you, but if you don’t know where to start, this might help.

Step 1: Pick Your Flavor

There are more ways to make a kaiju story than you may realize, as the genre is deceptively diverse despite its obscurity.  However, for the sake of simplicity, I’m going to try to reduce it to two main categories:

Hero Monster(s) saves the world from evil monsters

OR

Hero humans attempt to save the world from evil monsters

This is a crucial fact to figure out before you make your kaiju cast, because the differences between these two variants will inform how you structure your monsters.  In the first approach, the monsters not only need personality and motivations, but character arcs, and benefit from being as distinct from each other as possible.  In the second, the monsters generally have to be a bit simpler and less, well, person-y, so we don’t feel as bad when they’re cut down by the heroes.  They also tend to be more uniform in appearance, origin, and personality, to make the division between humanity and monster more clear cut.  The first approach will generally result in a “humanity needs to be more open minded and compassionate to those we deem as other” sort of message, while the latter will generally show how humanity needs to pull together in the face of catastrophic threats.  On the surface these two story routes may seem very similar, but the differences between them are important ones.

Step 2: The Main Kaiju

In addition to OC kaijuverses, another big trend in the glory days of the DA kaiju fandom was revamping/redesigning the cast of the Godzilla franchise.  There were dozens of different takes on it, and a friend of mine noted a peculiar but important lesson that could be learned from each of them: if you looked at how each artist redesigned Godzilla himself, you could basically predict how the rest of the monsters would look.  This is because Godzilla is the crux of his universe - all the other monsters are designed to play off of him, and thus any change made to Godzilla will be reflected in the rest of the cast.

You can see this in other stories as well - Batman’s cast is built around his gothic horror/detective fiction roots, Spider-Man’s around his teen drama/sci-fi genre mashup, etc.  As a general rule, stories are tailored to their protagonist, and in kaiju fiction, the protagonist is generally one of the giant monsters.  Therefore, figuring out your main monster is important, as they will ultimately shape the entire story.

Now, when I say “protagonist,” I mean this in the “main/most prominent character” sense, rather than the “hero” sense.  Your main kaiju may be a bad guy - they may be the villain of the story, the face and root of its conflict.  Alternatively, they may live up the hero label in every sense of the word - one of the coolest things about the Kaiju genre is that it sports a LOT of heroes that are also non-human characters.

If you are going for the second variation of the kaiju genre - that is, the “Humans destroy evil monsters” story - your main kaiju still matters, even though it likely isn’t a prominent enough character to really qualify for protagonist status.  In shows like Evangelion and Ultraman, or movies like Pacific Rim, there are still essentially “main” kaiju - that is, kaiju who define the style and approach that monsters in the series will take.  Often they’re the first monster the heroes encounter - Knifehead from Pacific Rim, for example, establishes early on the aesthetic and rough personality of the giant monsters featured in the movie.  Other times they show up later in the story to make a big impact - Red King and Gomora in Ultraman both showcase the creativity of the show’s designs while having unique personalities and power sets that really leave an impact on the viewer.

When creating your main kaiju, consider the following questions:

- What if your monster’s main motivation?  Is it looking for something?  If so, what?  Is it seeking revenge?  If so, why?  Is it defending its territory?  Is it investigating civilization?  Is it searching for food?  Company?  The greatest kaiju characters have clear and defined motivations to bring them into the plot, just like all good characters do.  What is your monster’s drive?

- How tough is your monster?  Kaiju generally get into a lot of violent conflicts, so determining how much punishment your monster can both withstand and dole out is important.

- What are your monsters’ vulnerabilities?  This includes both physical weaknesses and psychological ones.  Are they weakened by the cold?  Incapable of flight?  Slow moving?  Quick to anger?  Stupid?

- What strengths/powers does your monster have?  Can it heal fast?  Is it smart?  Does it have unique weapons?  Is it creative?

- What quirks does your kaiju have?  Is it gluttonous?  Cocky?  Graceful?  Clumsy?  Does it beat its chest or dance in triumph?  Does it cackle maniacally while wreaking havoc?

- What is your monster’s relationship to humanity?  Does it hate humans?  View them as food?  Feel indifferent to them?  Is curious about them?  Cares for them?  How does humanity feel about it in turn?  Does this relationship change over the course of the story?

- What is your monster’s attitude towards other monsters?  Is it hostile towards them?  Friendly?  Indifferent?  Does its attitude vary depending on the monster?  Is its attitude mostly consistent with a few exceptions?  Does it have friends?  Enemies?

- How did your monster come to be?  Is it an atomic mutant?  A mythic beast?  A space alien?  A prehistoric creature from a forgotten age?  We’ll dive into the archetypes associated with these origins later, but keep the question in mind.

Part 3: Other Kaiju Roles

Once your main kaiju is figured out, you can start building the cast proper in reaction to it.  There are LOTS of ways you can do this, but I’m going to focus on a few common roles supporting kaiju have to play:

- The Arch Enemy: the King Ghidorah to your kaiju’s Godzilla, the Gyaos to its Gamera, the arch enemy is exactly what it sounds like: your main kaiju’s recurring nemesis, a big bastard of a monster that your main kaiju absolutely hates.  You don’t have to limit yourself to one of these, of course - most main kaiju in fiction have a LOT of enemies, since monster battles are one of the main draws of a kaiju story. At the same time, most kaiju stories also tend to have one kaiju that is more wicked than most, whose grudge with the main kaiju is more vicious than normal.  Creating an arch enemy for your main kaiju is a good way to give your story structure - every protagonist needs a primary antagonist to struggle against.

- The Guardian of the Earth: a lot of main kaiju tend to be anti-heroes, often starting off as enemies of mankind before slowly becoming protectors of the earth.  As a result, a lot of kaijuverses often include an explicitly good kaiju who exists in contrast to both the main kaiju AND the main kaiju’s enemies.  If the Arch Enemy kaiju is often what the main kaiju could become if they don’t change their ways, the Guardian of the Earth is what the main kaiju usually works towards being.  Or, in short: every Godzilla needs a Mothra to be the angel on their shoulder.

- The Damage Sponge: Sometimes there are kaiju who are famous not for their prodigious destructive power, but rather for their ability to endure ridiculous amounts of damage, even by kaiju standards.  The damage sponge normally isn’t the main kaiju, since the main kaiju’s job is to establish a baseline, while the damage sponge is defined by being more durable than other monsters.

- The Runt: a smaller than usual kaiju, who often compensates by being faster and more clever than the usual kaiju.

- The Giant Among Giants: the kaiju that makes other kaiju feel small, generally used to escalate the plot by its sheer power.

- The Rival Turned Ally: since kaiju generally socialize by fighting, most kaiju friendships begin with an unsuccessful fight to the death.  Often your main kaiju will have at least one friend who began as a bitter enemy.

- The Big Eater: In large kaiju casts where the kaiju have different motivations and morals, there will almost always be one kaiju whose ethos can be defined as “neutral hungry.”  It’s not good, it’s not evil, it just wants to eat, and unfortunately everyone else looks like a viable meal.

- The Brute: while all kaiju are generally violent and tough, the Brute takes it to another level.  Its violence will be more extreme, its bloodthirstiness beyond compare, and its raw strength will surpass most if not all of the other monsters on the cast list.

- The Clever Bastard: like the Brute, the Clever Bastard makes for a harder than normal fight.  However, instead of relying on sheer strength, the Clever Bastard uses cunning to make the fight more vicious, being a devious schemer who thinks significantly more than the average monster.  It may also have more than a few tricks to its biology to help it as well, and generally manages to throw the heroes off guard by doing things they wouldn’t expect.

- The Innocent: in a world full of violent monsters, this kaiju is a notable exception for its sweetness and (relative) vulnerability.  It means no harm and often has few ways to defend itself, and as a result is generally imperiled by the more vicious and bloodthirsty giants in the setting.  The main kaiju may actively try to protect it, though the harsh world of kaiju means its likelihood of survival is rather slim.

Part 4: Kaiju Archetypes

Ok, now that we’ve talked about the more substantive personality based stuff, let’s get onto some fun surface details.  The origin and design of your kaiju are important in their own right, but work best when they are made in service of your kaiju’s personality and role in the story.  A lot of people start with these archetypes first - “I’m gonna make a fire breathing reptile!” - and while this can result in a good monster design, it doesn’t necessarily translate into a memorable kaiju character.  Tailoring the design and origin to your kaiju’s role and personality, on the other hand, is more likely to result in a character we remember, since the design is now more than a surface detail - it’s an extension of the character.

Archetype 1: The Fire Breathing Reptile - best exemplified by the big two, Godzilla and Gamera, almost every kaijuverse has at least one big reptilian monster, and that monster likewise almost always has the ability to breath fire.  It calls back to the many European dragon myths, and is just a fun visual in general.  This archetype is so prolific that many modern kaijuverses actually skip it because it’s considered cliche, but while it may be hard to make a fire breathing reptile kaiju standout, the trope is still a classic and one many people think of as synonymous with the genre.

Archetype 2: The Big Ape - similarly, King Kong has made giant apes a staple of the genre, to the point where they are almost as common as fire breathing reptiles are.  King Kong vs. Godzilla in turn made it customary to pit these two archetypes against each other, and as a result every kaiju story that has both a fire breathing reptile and a big ape will almost always portray them as natural enemies.  The Big Ape is one of the archetypes that is most likely to be presented as sympathetic/heroic, following the logic that more closely related to humanity a creature is, the more noble it must be.

Archetype 3: The Magnified Bug - since kaiju are in part defined by being way bigger than an animal has any right to be, one of the most extreme visuals you can bring to a kaiju design is to take something that is normally very small and make it HUGE, because this emphasizes just how exaggeratedly big the kaiju is.  As a result, giant arthropods - insects, spiders, etc. - are very common in the genre, as they really sell the idea of kaiju being unnaturally enormous creatures.  Magnified bugs are generally not treated as sympathetic kaiju for the same reason big apes usually are - if we treat “more human = more good” as true, then bugs, being distantly related to humanity, can’t be very good creatures.  However, there is at least one prominent and notable exception to this rule, and to be honest it’s a rather shitty rule anyway.

Archetype 4: The Mechanical Doppelganger

Ever since Mechani-Kong stepped onto the silver screen, it has been a tradition for a main kaiju to have a robot or cyborg made in their image as part of their rogues gallery.  Hell, even Gomora from Ultraman got one, and that’s a show where the monsters aren’t protagonists!  Like the previous tropes, this is one that comes to mind when people think of the genre, as countless parodies (including an infamous episode of South Park) have shown.

Archetype 5: The Alien Invader - a monster from another planet, with all the strange biological quirks such an origin implies.  In Monster Saves the World kaiju stories, the alien is usually brought in late in the tale to heighten the stakes by delivering a stranger threat than the usual kaiju.  In Humanity Saves the World kaiju stories, however, most kaiju tend to be alien in origin, which is used to justify wiping them out since they are an invasive species by nature.  Alien kaiju are rarely sympathetic or heroic.

Archetype 6: The Mutant - whether the result of atomic fallout, genetic engineering, pollution, or some other unnatural mistake, the mutant is a new lifeform whose monstrous form is the direct result of humanity breaking the natural order of things.  A LOT of kaiju are mutants, as the kaiju genre began during the atomic age as a direct reaction to the discoveries of what radiation could do to living creatures (discoveries that ranged from “Wow these radioactive fruits are really big!” to “Oh god this radioactive man is full of tumors!”).  When a mutant is in a kaiju story, it exists at least partially to point out how humanity is screwing up.

Archetype 7: The Prehistoric Monster - often (but not necessarily) going hand in hand with the fire breathing reptile, the prehistoric monster is a kaiju whose kind lived millions of years before humanity evolved, in a time when giants ruled the earth.  It is only a monster now because the world moved on while it didn’t - small creatures took over while it slumbered in some hidden location.  This trope is becoming less common now that science has marched on and we treat the giant fauna of prehistory less like monsters and more like, y’know, actual animals, but it’s still a fun one to play with even if it has little basis in actual science.

Archetype 8: The Sea Monster - the ocean is full of weird animal life, and creatures are able to get much larger underwater than they can on land.  As a result, giant sea monsters are a trope as old as story-telling itself, and are particularly prominent in kaiju fiction.  Sea monster kaiju have a tendency to be particularly huge and abstract as kaiju go - one of the perks of hailing from a relatively alien environment.

Archetype 9: The Mythic Monster - While the earliest kaiju stories lean more sci-fi than fantasy, the genre quickly stretched to take elements from both.  As a result, it is just as common to see kaiju based on real life myths as it is to see ones that are atomic mutants or space aliens.  In fact, some of the bigger names in the kaiju genre have even alternated between having sci-fi and mythic origins, being atomic mutants in one tale and guardian monsters of ancient kingdoms in the next.

Archetype 10: The Defense Robot - Often (but not always) overlapping with the Mechanical Doppelganger, this enormous mecha is humanity’s ultimate weapon in the struggle to survive a world filled with kaiju.  The actually effectiveness of the defense robot varies from story to story, but they often have greater offensive capabilities than flesh and blood kaiju while at the same time being a lot less durable.  The Defense Robot rarely gets out of a battle unscathed - though it just as often comes back with a new remodeled look to fight another day (and also sell more toys).

Archetype 11: The Human Kaiju - most common in Humanity Saves the World from Kaiju stories, the human kaiju is, well, a human who becomes a kaiju.  Sometimes it’s a temporary transformation, other times it’s permanent.  Human kaiju are almost always the main characters of their given story, as the story potential of a human who can take the fight to the monsters is VAST.

Archetype 12: The Blob - our final archetype will be the blob, because sometimes you just want a big ol’ heap of goo in your story.

Conclusion

To reiterate, none of these things should be considered “requirements” for a kaiju story.  Think of this as a set of guidelines rather than strict rules to follow.  Many of the best kaiju stories have thought outside these archetypes, roles, and character questions, so you should by no means feel constricted to follow these ideas to the letter.  However, if you want to start on your kaijuverse but don’t know where to begin, please consider this as a starting point.  If you work with this approach, I think you’ll be on your way to making a fun cast of giant monsters in no time!

[doshmanziari]

2019 Mega Drive Explorations [1]

It takes me a long time to do some things and I’ve finally gathered up a bunch of Sega Mega Drive / Genesis titles that I’ve been meaning to play, hopefully through their entirety, or replay and take as many screenshots as I can. These aren’t going to look like most other screenshots you’ll see online, though; I’ve been using an NTSC filter because I believe it’s the visual format in which these games look best. So, let’s take a stroll through the material so far.

Super Hydlide (1989)

This is one of the best “old style” action-RPGs I’ve played. I’ve gone in with barely any prior knowledge, and I think that’s how to best experience it. Spoiling yourself on the extent and workings of its mechanical systems would, I think, turn it into nothing more than leveling up and finding the next place to go. The range of overworld which you’re initially able to explore is fairly restricted, and, as the action-RPG designation suggests, there are no randomized battles. Because of details like your need of food and sleep, or the encumbrance limit, though, it’s a deep relief to return to a town after some exploration in a way that reminds one why this trope of wilderness vs. domesticity caught on. You might just find yourself exhaling when your enter an inn. In another game, your character’s attack would likely be assigned a hitbox straight ahead of the sprite, but Super Hydlide locally assigns it to your right arm/hand, and it’s a welcome quirk in a game with super basic combat. There is no in-game map (or, if there is, I haven’t found it yet), and so -- as with Simon’s Quest -- I’ve been drawing my own on a sheet of gridded paper.

Above: the same screen at different times of day.

I hope that this blog’s emphases and its audience make the claim that I think Super Hydlide looks amazing at least appreciable. Everything has just enough detail to render the object, being, or space as categorically legible while retaining ambiguities, and there’s a variety where you might not expect it, like the grass around the building above, that gives each screen a kind of visual grain that an ornate and time-worn carpet might have. Complementing this is a soundtrack that seems unaware of the console’s audio capabilities in a way that another contemporary Mega Drive release, like Sword of Vermilion, certainly was not. That’s fine, though; the sound’s smallness, with those lite approximations of exclamatory synth brasses and the percussion’s dusty, dinky punches, enhances the cute visual aesthetics: people, monsters, and buildings you could hold in a pair of cupped hands. Especially remarkable is the overworld theme, “Chaos Separator” -- almost three minutes long, a duration that was basically unheard of at the time.

Atomic Runner Chelnov (1992)

Chelnov has me torn between wanting to share either as many screenshots of it as I can or as little. It’s so stunning to behold that exposing anyone who hasn’t played it to its sights seems like a disservice. It’s in extreme contrast to the game’s original arcade version, too, which may as well be a different game. Every stage is a stream of layered ornaments, and continuing to play to see more of this is motivation alone. At first I thought the graphic theme was one of a general “exoticism”, with ziggurats settled above lava giving way to stepped Mayan pyramids, but then the penultimate stage threw architecture designed by Antoni Gaudí my way, making me wonder if the theme is more broadly “eclectic” -- choosing certain settings and motifs for their dazzling power alone. This is one of those run ‘n’ gunners where your character will keep running unless you stop them -- but you soon have to start running again anyway, since the screen keeps moving right and only stops for bosses. It took me playing through half of the game to figure out how to turn around. Please, if you want to give Chelnov a look: consult a controls FAQ.

El Viento (1991)

If you’re looking for level design that’s a mixture of the mundane and the out-of-control, El Viento might be for you. One moment you’re walking through an open sewer channel, exploding the occasional fish; the next, you’re navigating a bundle of platforms that feel way too closely packed together for your character’s sprite size as you attempt to outrun a never-ending flood of rats that move at speeds never before recorded. One moment you’re going through an apartment’s door into an empty interior; the next, a tank bursts through the opposite wall and just starts hammering you with missiles and bullets, giving you only five feet of space to work with. It’s the second in a trilogy of games, which includes Earnest Evans, a game perhaps most notable for all of its footage making it appear that the players are incompetent on purpose, but which in fact plays more or less the same no matter how good you are. Grave sacrifices were made so that the titular character could be a composite sprite. El Viento’s level design hews closely to Earnest Evans’, with the important difference that its protagonist, Annet Myer, is controllable.

Even with its problems, El Viento is charming. It’s nice to play a videogame with a female protagonist who’s not creeped on by the artist(s) (perhaps we can, in part, thank technical limitations for this). The palettes and style of pixel art bear an uncanny resemblance to Master of Darkness, released for the Game Gear and Master System, and give each stage a distinct, almost dirty granularity. For me, El Viento gets especially interesting around the fourth stage, a ship’s engine room (or... factory?) that’s preceded by a short segment that has you crossing water on top of a cartoon-eyed dolphin. The level design transitions to looking like a network from Metroid Fusion -- a knotty maze with small destructible points that cause chain reactions, oddly small platforms, moments where you’re not sure what’s interactive and what’s not, and low ceilings underlined by spike-beds that necessitate you make use of a crouch-dash mechanic that feels like it shouldn’t work the way it does. It’s a hardly perfect yet precious occurrence of extinct, or endangered, level design, and the developers apparently had a confidence in letting it, as it were, speak for itself, because there’s not a single enemy to defeat throughout.

Jewel Master (1991)

Wanting to hear Motoaki Takenouchi’s incredible score, one of the Mega Drive’s best, in its intended context was almost totally my incentive to play Jewel Master. It’s a fine, somewhat haphazardly designed action game; not bad, not memorable, but for the music. You acquire different rings, some optional, as you go from stage to stage, and can assign them to a total of four active slots on an equipment menu. Different combinations will lead to different effects -- or you might want to leave a ring on one hand on its own. It’s a neat idea in the abstract. In practice, you’ll often be better off sticking to one set-up per stage until a boss demands a switch. The level design is pretty uninspired, and it increasingly makes artificial attempts at challenging the player by burying you under swarms of suddenly-appearing monsters. When this happens, you just have to hope that you can make it out alive. There’s not a whole lot to look at, either: the stages’ environmental peculiarities and palettes are minimal to an extreme, although I do love that the protagonist’s sprite seems to take a cue from Rastan’s by only moving his legs when he walks.

Gynoug (1991)

My experience with, and interest in, shumps, is next to nonexistent, so I don’t have a ton to say about Gynoug. Why’d I bother? Well, because of the weird and grotesque enemy and boss sprites, which combine the mechanical, exoskeletal, and visceral. The first miniboss is like a floating snapping turtle... except without legs, and a head that’s a toothed skull. Later, in stage two, you’re confronted by the bow and head of a ship that reveals itself to be the hat atop a colossal, wrinkled face. Maybe it was expecting too much to hope that the settings would match the bestiary’s inventiveness, but only stage three and four wowed me. If it’s not a game I’m going to be returning to any time soon, it was worth going through once.

That’s all for now. Other titles I’ve been exploring and will write about at some point include Alisia Dragoon, Cadash, Chakan: The Forever Man, Elemental Master, Light Crusader, Mazin Saga: Mutant Fighter, Mystic Defender, Shining Force 2, Splatterhouse 2 and 3, Two Crude Dudes, and Ys III.

[maneaterwithtail]

Character I Love Meme: Axebear

Time to take my own advice, while slow on the adaptation analysis project Fangbone Page II Screen (its tag search for it) That's mainly as I only have a tablet and need a terminal and time to really try to hammer out entries. Which, looking back, haven't been good enough I can't fault a lack of discussionGetting a little down on the project I figured should at least try to have some interest in Fangbone and discussion on it stirring, especially if want robust discussion outside of Fangbill pairing, which I have disinclination for but is easily, and understandably, the most popular subject and stuff on the Fangbone tag.

Still want to Promote @rubyreddraws @g-00lden @cordset and others and appreciate likes from folks but really more of a forum/conversation sort as to socmedia guy. But I hear using standard memetic questionnaires can cause discussion on threads to keep up, if no fanart or theories to really go into...also sucker for design and feel, in a way character needs more love.

Whole series does, but I think appreciation of animated Fangbone's leader-cheiftain is in order for those who like interesting and thick characters who have character and not just a joke either. Though is a joke, but so is EVERYONEon the show, but a nuanced one with lots of valiance

1: Orientation headcanon

Functionally bisexual.  Prefers/more familiar with men and dismissive overall of feminity but not *self consciously* macho 

2: otp

Triple

Him, Ms. Gillian, and Twinklestick.  Likely after some character growth for him, some respect for the last, and Ms. Gillian gets her muscled man meat who knows she’s a prize.

3: brotp

His battle Brother died some time ago and he’s found no replacement worthy for the honor to entitle, so tends to act “alone” or with subbordinates 

(bonus points if looks like GN Axebear...or maybe not).  Technically is kind of this with Twinklestick but has ISSUES about “softbelliedness” and being civilized and so on.  Also it was sort of a shotgun arrangement (needed a wizard, couldn’t pay him in material wealth, position by elderhood/capture-marriage was the workaround)  But get along as seen in show with begrudging concession though takes for granted

4: notp

One-eye the Slippery...Just got a thing of “all antagonism is UST” though do see them getting more Bro-like.. but more hate One-eye for being a living conflict ball and asshole

5: first headcanon that pops into my head

Basically the Mighty Lizard Clan, in my head, have taboos on relationships which he follows, if not embodies.  That includes same sex relations but to us they would seem peculiar in specificity versus our assessment.  (you always sleep with men why freaked out at two of them marrying and raising a kid together? Why mock hetero marriage or think child custody works like dividing lovestock birth!!!)

As Chieftain he’s physically intimate (that oil rub demand) with tribesmen in certain ways.  But affection if not codified in writing comes with specific rules/guidance he knows and expected to follow.  Also if abusive, well can be challenged or they can leave and spread word of how treated, which is shameful (as mentioned relations not be public, plus other stuf)

 Hilariously, while known and universal in Skullbania, committed marriage is rare amongst the Mighty Lizard Clan. Fangbone’s parents are unique or rare in the clan. The clan being predominantly male and most procreating comes through inverted demographic clans, or wandering wench groups, during special days of revelry (which the Chief is expect to lead/direct) and meetups, or “bridal stealing”  much like the MLC claims its artisans and teachers which can be true kidnappings or “pay-offs” or similar with no direct obligation to *keep* the target even if must serve kidnapper.  Kidnapee may escape (in quotes or this is sincere) and unlike with goats or gear clan not obligated to help retrieve beyond personal bond/wish. Escapee goes back to their clan who can return as will or “reclaim” by their method or way.  Gets complicated with the ‘civilized’ societies like out in Minkwater (professional damsel/wetnurse/broodmare is a thing, got a guild and everything)

Recreating with tribesmen is done, its not shameful but not proudly displayed (unless making a statement..or being ‘lazy’ or) compared to other MLC activites (why we don’t see it or introduced as such).  Hilariously this is looked down on with battle brothers, as you’re meant to be equals, and there are superstitions about positions, history of exploitation, worries about protege setups, etc (insert our own justified issues with pedophilia, teacher-student hankypanky, and power dynamics/abuse and harassment here) But this is in a “assume not, unless otherwise stated” situation.  Those of equal standing can and do marry but this is more for alliance.. sort of.. its complicated.  

There are hopes to have more women as a subgroup and thus ‘revive’ the female branch and traditions but most of the women are all warrior and aggro ala fangbone himself (as the MLC leans TOOmuch on warrior and only warrior plus lost a lot of women due to reasons generations before Axebear took the seat, then they keep selecting or slanting things to guys...)

Basically as Village Elder he is sort of married to Twinklestick who, as wizard/shaman from out of the tribe, occupies a weird position regard to elder, barbarian, man or woman, and husband/wife (unlike typical one isn’t expected to be/auto-dumped after x time of no kids produced).  Personally has little recreational interest in ladies, but not unattracted to them, more he’s so much about work and already has an atypical spouse AND as chieftain has open “rolladex” if frisky AND has obligations for how he sexually must act out for the good of the clan... well he GETS where Ms. Gillian is coming from.  But she’s not like Lizard Clan suitors or women.. but not like Minkwater wenches either...

And now she’s showing not just wisdom (thus a possible good target for bridal and teacher theft) but also feirceness in battle and leadership (that really gets him going). And so forward that’s different and unique (so exotic and new, and Fangbone likes her ALOT).  Twinklestick likes her too much though and well that’s a problem.  As for one technically Twinklestick is “teaching capture” who by dint of “is a magical storied wizard” who could leave at any time and no one in the tribe could really stop him and recapture be a bitch as his ‘clan’ likely act in defense of his egress as to insist on his return.  So how could this relationship work, it isn’t like a man having two bridal captures, or a brood and lifetime-battle-brother or permenant ally or something he gets and familiar with...

what he feels inclined to do he knows he’s not suppose to do.  And that’s a sign of going soft/corrupt from Earth, like Ms. Gillian of the Steel Desk who is NOTsoft like he thought Earth was but strong in ways Bill and other Earthlings have shown and helped train Ingrid and defeat drool with...WHat can he DO!!!!

Secondmost? Until mentioned SPECIFICALLY in an episode I thought he was Fangbone’s father (explained a few things about look, Fangbone’s attitude, and so on) but the MLC do communal raising with obvious biases to flesh and blood.  That or Fangbone was adopted by Axebear out of the “fighting pits” they stick the kids into until they graduate/prove themselves.

6: favorite line from this character

too many to choose from...

But one that gets the most acute reaction from me? 

“I, Axebear, will crush all teachers, parents, AND INTERVIEWS” *smash*

7: one way in which I relate to this character

His hygenic presentation/mannerisms are bold like I wish I was, and while obstinate he is genuine and has method to his madness.  Even when makes are harsh authorative judgement when out of his depth, committing to plan and fearing issues or messups will re-assess what feeling and own values and make decision on that.  And despite it all WILLAPOLOGIZEand openly justify redecision

I was not a good older brother growing up so liked the niance of him being a leader and that particularly showing strenght and leadership with affection, judgement, and self reflection.  He didn’t even need, as expected, any direct prompting to take Fangbone back.  And get how he was embodying MLC values not betraying them.  ANDlearning to integrate/appreciate new and diverse things. And reassess his views.

Overall just like is bold ANDthoughtful at once and not..a contradiction?

8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character

Being attached with lamer weirdos or someone with a tendency to not think, ramble, or have to do something “again” as that describes how actually AM and would think see me.

9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave?

More to the latter than the former but not so problematic as given space to grow while staying true to self and, in a way, avoids some problematic cliches about barbarians/less advanced peoples and how respond to things.  Its more most comfortable with what he knows and thinks best. As to “too dumb/macho to live”

[crimeculturepodcast]

On First Looking into Chapman's Holden: Speculations on a Murder

Mark David Chapman, the young assassin, was carrying two things with him when he shot and killed John Lennon on the steps of the Dakota apartments in Manhattan: a pistol and a paperback copy of The Catcher in the Rye. The function of the pistol was obvious. Less obvious was the function of J. D. Salin­ger’s novel. Yet the book, it seems fair to say, must have had some special significance to Mark Chapman. Any attempt to uncover its significance is, in the nature of the case, highly speculative. Yet some aspects of The Catcher in the Rye, set beside Mark Chap­man’s murder of John Lennon, seems so sug­gestive that not to speculate upon the connec­tions between the two seems a temptation impossible to forgo.

J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye was published in 1951. Like the Beatles, whose rise to fame came about roughly thirteen years later, the novel’s adolescent hero, Holden Caulfield, became a spokesman for a genera­tion of rebellious, supposedly much-misun­derstood youth. An oversimplified yet func­tional reading of the Salinger novel might conclude that all that the book advocates would fall under the heading of “innocence” and all that it condemns falls under that of “phoniness.” Holden Caulfield, during his somewhat aimless ramble through New York, feels overwhelmed by the phoniness he finds all around him. He struggles to preserve his own tenuous hold on youthful innocence–or, as he sometimes puts it, “niceness”–and de­spairs when he finds that innocence lost or threatened in the young people around him.

At his trial, Mark Chapman read what is perhaps The Catcher in the Rye’s most famous passage:

I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around–nobody big, I mean–except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff–I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be. I know it’s crazy.

While scarcely as succinct as John Wilkes Booth’s “Sic Semper Tyrannus,” or as compel­ling as Brutus’s “Romans, countrymen, and lovers,” the above passage was Chapman’s sole attempt to justify the murder of John Lennon. It ought to be examined for anything in it that might have led Chapman from Salin­ger’s rye fields to the Dakota apartments.

Probably no one will object too strenuously to the notion that Mark Chapman identified himself rather heavily with Holden Caulfield. Chapman would, after all, be only one of millions who felt that Salinger’s book was written especially for him, that it addressed itself to his problems and, in the way that certain books do, eased his pain. If Chapman identified with Holden, what sort of view of the world would accompany the identifica­tion? The Catcher in the Rye is a book almost wholly concerned with the preservation of innocence. When Holden speaks of “coming out from somewhere” to catch the children, he hopes to save them from becoming the adult “phonies” of the kind he has been encountering in New York. He doesn’t want the children to grow up into people who will “talk about how many miles their goddam cars get to the gallon.” If Chapman also saw him­self as a protector of innocence, why was he inspired to shoot Lennon? Here is a question of the kind Holden himself might have called “a real bastard.”

Two possibilities come to mind: either Mark Chapman saw John Lennon as a corrup­tor of innocence, or he saw him as an innocent about to be corrupted. If Chapman imagined that Lennon was a threat to the innocence of youth, he certainly took his time in doing anything about it. After all, the man who in his music sang the joys of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” and later posed nude on album covers while exhorting listeners to “open their thighs,” was not exactly what one would call a Samaritan. But Lennon’s last album, “Double Fantasy,” was, by contrast, a Girl Scout manual. This album, which came after a silence of six years, dealt largely with the joys of home life and fatherhood. There was little in the album’s songs that could be considered threatening; and the interviews that Lennon gave to promote it showed that he had settled into a comfortable, somewhat embourgeoisi­fied life of baking bread and clipping cou­pons. Surely, this John Lennon was not the sort of person likely to threaten the innocence of children or of anyone else.

It is more likely, then, that Chapman saw Lennon as an innocent who was himself about to be corrupted. Some problems arise here, but the idea becomes at least plausible if considered in tandem with The Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caulfield provides some useful standards by which to judge innocence. His older brother, D. B., is the novel’s clearest example of innocence gone bad. D. B., it will be recalled, was apparently a writer of great promise who “sold out” and began to “prosti­tute himself” in Hollywood by writing cheap movie scripts. Commercial success at the ex­pense of artistic integrity is, in The Catcher in the Rye, the worst expression of phoniness. Throughout the novel, Holden despairs that his once-noble brother has fallen.

This model of the fallen artist is easily applicable to the world of Mark Chapman. As a teenager, he idolized the Beatles, and a large part of the charm of the Beatles lay in their absolute unwillingness to compromise their integrity for the sake of commercial gain, as Holden’s brother D. B. had. As it happens, the Beatles made fabulous sums of money anyway, but they often risked both their for­tune and their popularity in unorthodox cre­ative ventures. Sometimes, as with the album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” they succeeded in spite of their heterodoxy. Other times, as with their disastrous merchan­dising firm Apple Corps., they failed. But they always preserved their dedication to their fans and their art, which made them easily the world’s most exciting rock band, while other bands clung to tested, profitable, and second­hand formulas. When the Beatles disbanded in 1970, their fans–including, one imagines, Mark Chapman–watched with interest to see what the individual members would do. Could any of the four men who had formed the Beatles achieve anything like a similar success on his own? Ringo Starr and George Harrison pursued fairly steady and largely uninteresting solo careers. Paul McCartney and John Lennon, divided by the stresses that had disrupted the Beatles, took off in two wildly divergent directions. Salinger himself couldn’t have wished for two characters whose careers more clearly defined the two sides of The Catcher in the Rye dilemma.

James Paul McCartney, as almost everyone who once cared for the Beatles is aware, became the most successful male pop artist the world has ever known, but in the process, he completely alienated his former fans. The man who had written such songs as “Hey Jude,” “Let It Be,” and “Yesterday” now churned out material that was designed, al­most scientifically, to sell. From a purely commercial standpoint, McCartney was sev­eral times more successful than the Beatles ever were, but he had, like Holden’s older brother, clearly sold out in producing obvi­ously commercial music. If Chapman held to the definitions of “phoney” and “nice” as outlined by J. D. Salinger, Paul McCartney had become a phoney.

Turn now to John Lennon. Lennon’s solo career was easily the most erratic of the four former Beatles. He released a series of albums that were alternately brilliant and peculiar, sometimes both, and then he dropped out of sight. “Dropped out of sight” actually means that he stopped recording and dedicated six years to raising his son, Sean, while his wife, Yoko, managed their business affairs and sold Holstein cows for enormous sums. While Mc­Cartney was so much in the news that even his toes were once photographed for Time, John Lennon–and all his various parts–were hidden from sight. No one has ever made much sense out of Lennon’s post-BeatIe years, but one thing is certain: in the code of rock music, he preserved his Beatle integrity. He was not a phoney. Even his artistic failures were dignified, and his self-imposed exile did nothing to damage but rather strengthened the claim of some music critics that Lennon was, after Elvis Presley, the “king of rock.”

Lennon’s exile suggests an interesting and possibly illuminating parallel to The Catcher in the Rye as it might have been interpreted by Mark Chapman. Possibly America’s most famous recluse is J. D. Salinger. For more than twenty years Salinger has isolated him­self in his bunker-like retreat in New Hamp­shire. Like Lennon, Salinger has preserved the mystique that surrounds his early work, and he has accomplished this simply by re­moving himself from society. This isolation has done nothing to damage but rather has strengthened the claim of some literary critics that Salinger is one of the more important American writers in the postwar era.

Salinger’s retreat from society is anticipated in The Catcher in the Rye. On a date with the pretty but vapid Sally Hayes, Holden sud­denly asks:

How would you like to get the hell out of here? Here’s my idea. I know this guy... we can borrow his car for a couple of weeks. What we could do is, tomorrow morning we could drive up to Massachu­setts and Vermont, and all around there, see. It’s beautiful as hell up there... I have about a hun­dred and eighty bucks... we’ll stay in these cabin camps and stuff...

Holden’s plan is, obviously, unrealistic, a fact that, in the novel, Sally Hayes belabors at somewhat tedious length. But the desire to “get the hell out of here,” which Holden expresses several times, is entirely consistent with the uncompromising line Holden draws between “nice” and “phony,” and his fantas­tical if winning desire to become a “catcher in the rye.” “There were goddam phonies com­ing in the windows,” Holden complains at one point. Thus overwhelmed, the logical recourse is escape. Salinger’s own decision “to get the hell out of here” must mark one of the rare cases in literature in which an author has taken his character’s advice.

Though one can hardly call holing up in the Dakota “getting the hell out of here,” John Lennon did follow a course roughly like the one outlined by Holden. He, too, “got the hell out.” If Chapman shared the views of Holden Caulfield, then the chances are fairly good that he very much admired Lennon’s with­drawal from public life. When Lennon resur­faced in 1980, suddenly granting interviews and appearing in public, Chapman may have perceived a threat to the Salinger credo and a crack in the wall that protected Lennon’s splendid innocence.

The self-promotion accompanying Lennon’s re-entry into the world of high publicity was unlike anything he had ever done before, and it seems likely that Chapman found him list­ing dangerously toward commercialism. After six years of seclusion, news of John Lennon’s doings was everywhere. The hermit of rock had become all too accessible, in a People magazine, vulgar way. In many respects, he resembled Paul McCartney promoting his al­bums, which led John Lennon’s fans to won­der, with some trepidation, what Lennon’s long-awaited album would sound like.

Since his death, Lennon’s last album, “Double Fantasy,” has been hailed as a rock classic. At the time of its release, however, when Lennon was still alive, the album re­ceived a very lukewarm reception. In En­gland, his home country, The National Music Express suggested that “the old man” ought to have stayed in retirement and pointed out striking similarities between this album and the work of Paul McCartney, which Lennon was known to have found distasteful. Fans who hoped for, or expected, another album of the quality of “Imagine” were disappointed.

We can only speculate, of course, upon what effect Lennon’s re-emergence might have had on Mark Chapman. Perhaps Chap­man had been perfectly content as long as Lennon remained in Salinger-like isolation. Now, however, Lennon thrust himself into the open with a McCartney-like publicity blitz and released what was generally ac­knowledged to be a mediocre piece of work, Lennon was in trouble; he was in danger of falling off the cliff, à la D. B. Caulfield, and Paul McCartney. What could Mark Chapman do about it? If we examine the question with The Catcher in the Rye in mind, a most distressing, twisted solution arises. Simply put, it appears Chapman misread The Catcher in the Rye. He took the “catcher” passage to be the novel’s solution, when in fact it is the crisis.

No one who has read The Catcher in the Rye will argue that Holden Caulfield was a seriously disturbed sixteen-year-old. He wan­ders through New York with a genuine desire, to quote an old Beatles tune, to “take a sad song and make it better,” but he doesn’t know how to begin. As a result, he develops an all-purpose, self-protective cynicism, When chal­lenged by his younger sister Phoebe to justify this cynicism, he offers the famous “catcher” speech. But the book doesn’t end there. What Holden has outlined in his “some crazy cliff” plan, and in his earlier “get the hell out” plan, is impossible. Holden Caulfield wants to stop reality. He wants to keep the children in the rye field from growing up. But growing up is the natural order of things. It cannot be stopped. Yet Holden longs to do the impossi­ble. This is what brings about his crisis in The Catcher in the Rye.

Can it be that Mark Chapman, devoted J. D. Salinger reader, had his own difficulty in dealing with reality and responsibility in a world of grown-ups? In addition to The Catcher in the Rue, Chapman was known to favor a song of Lennon’s called “Strawberry Fields Forever.” Like Salinger’s rye fields, Lennon’s strawberry fields offered a frozen, unrealistic approach to life; it promised an eternity in a land where, to quote from the song, “nothing is real.” If Chapman was madly drawn to both Holden Caulfield’s “catcher” and John Lennon’s “Strawberry Fields,” it is not inconceivable that he would have wanted Lennon himself to remain “caught” in his protective retreat, where “nothing is real.” Especially now, with the release of the mediocre album “Double Fan­tasy,” Mark Chapman could have viewed John Lennon poised on the edge of the crazy cliff, and it was up to him, Chapman, to play catcher in the rye.

So Chapman flew to New York and began a sojourn very much like the one that takes place in The Catcher in the Rye. Although it is difficult to know for certain how Chapman filled the time, he was in the city for two full days before the shooting. He is said to have switched hotels (as Holden did); walked out of a movie theater (“I hate the movies,” Holden says, “don’t even mention them to me”); and regaled a cab driver with tales of a forthcoming Lennon/McCartney album, which he claimed to be producing (”I’m a terrific liar,” Holden admits, “I have to watch myself sometimes”).

Now comes the large question: Why did Chapman shoot Lennon? Given his Holden Caulfield state of mind, wouldn’t it have made more sense to invite Lennon out for a night-cap somewhere or to go skating at Radio City, there to caution him against selling out? But Chapman was a confused, disturbed man. There are no easy explanations for why he did what he did. One answer is suggested in the pages of The Catcher in the Rye. Chapman may have believed that the highest possible attainment, at least as viewed through Salin­ger’s novel, would be to achieve that perma­nent state of innocence suggested in the “catcher” passage. Only one character in The Catcher in the Rye manages that un­impeachable innocence–Holden’s younger brother Allie. Allie is the only character in the novel, including Holden, who never shows any hint of phoniness, and who never will. How is this possible? It is possible only be­cause Allie is dead.

Immediately preceding Caulfield’s “catcher” speech, which Chapman found so significant and which he recited at his trial, there is a section in the novel in which Holden’s sister Phoebe asks if her depressed brother can “name one thing” that he likes. Holden has a lot of trouble responding. He recalls a boy at school, James Castle, who, rather than taking back something he had said about a bully, jumped out of a fifth-floor window. Then he reveals what at first seems to be an unrelated piece of information: that he likes his brother Allie. “Allie’s dead!” Phoebe cries, “You al­ways say that! If somebody’s dead and every­thing, and in Heaven, then it isn’t really–”

“I know he’s dead!” Holden returns. “Don’t you think I know that? I can still like him though, can’t I? Just because someone’s dead, you don’t just stop liking them, for God’s sake-especially if they were about a thou­sand times nicer than the people you know that’re alive and all.”

In the traditional interpretation of the novel, Holden’s reference to his brother is simply another indication of his unrealistic desire to freeze innocence and thwart phoni­ness. But Chapman, who wrote “This is my statement” in the flyleaf of his copy of the Salinger novel, was not a typical reader. To him, the “catcher” speech was the book’s final and transcendent message, which would make Allie the real hero of The Catcher in the Rye. Allie, in this reading, is the only charac­ter to come out unscathed. Death, then, would have presented itself to Chapman as the only safeguard against loss of innocence.

Holden Caulfield and Mark Chapman were faced with the same crisis: an assault on innocence. Holden Caulfield could not find a way to preserve innocence forever and was forced to entertain the notion of growing up. If I am correct in my speculation, Chapman found a way. Taking as a model the only character in The Catcher in the Rye who achieved perpetual innocence, Chapman found his course clear. For John Lennon’s innocence–which was essential to Chapman’s own spiritual well-being–to remain intact, Lennon himself would have to die. Only then could his innocence, like Allie’s, be preserved forever.

Unfortunately, this idea, as I have set it out here, is not as absurd or outrageous as it sounds. If Chapman’s intention was to secure, and even to improve, the legend of John Lennon, the artist of perfect integrity, he succeeded. Gone now is the John Lennon who once smeared excrement on the walls of his dressing room; who claimed that the Beatles were a bigger item than Christ; and who appeared in a Los Angeles nightclub with a Kotex on his head. In his place is a sort of rock-and-roll Gandhi. Because of his vio­lent death, anything about him that is base or even unkind has been erased. In the most extraordinary way, John Lennon today is viewed as a man of pristine innocence—“a genius of the spirit,” Norman Mailer has called him. And all because Mark Chapman, standing outside the Dakota apartments, caught him in the rye.

- Daniel Stashower (January 30th 2010)

[im-abanana]

“Meant to Belong” [2/3]

The second part of my Bendy x Alice story, I’ve just updated AO3 as well!

This is still a “safe” chapter, only Fluff in here, ‘cause I’ve decided to put the Smut part on the third. Hope you’ll enjoy this one, too!

The song I used is “My Escape” by Ravenscode, btw.

You are a total idiot. Yes, you are, and such a scaredy cat too. Compliments.

Alright, alright, enough with that shit! Let's say that Bendy didn't find the bravery to actually talk to Alice during the long break they just had, and let's even say that the still very nervous angel was now standing right next to the little devil on stage, waiting to find herself in front of their teeming audience once again, with a terrified and uncomfortable expression painted on her slim face and evidently not really up to perform or sing... fucking Hell, they were ruined, and the demonic character knew it well, too. “Great, really great. Oh for Satan's sake, why are girls always so complicated?” the minute star of the show thought as he carefully fixed his own black jacket, the refined piece of clothing Alice rudely tossed against his rounded face when they met in the main corridor just three or four minutes ago. “She's really mad at me this time.”.

Oh, and judging by the death stare Joey and the rest of the worried crew were giving them from behind the busy scenes, an earful or a punishment were the best options the united trio could hope for, especially if they'd mess up again during that important performance. Come on, those annoying creators were definitely exaggerating, his loyal co-workers were professionals and it wasn't entirely Bendy's fault, to be frank! Besides, he had a great plan to cheer Angel Face and his beloved fans up after the previous failure, with a little help from a certain best friend of his and a clarinet. If being successful and famous could allow you to disobey your bosses' direct orders and breaking tons of rules from time to time, heck yeah, Bendy was more than ready to do it his own way and make peace with the angelic singer of his band. “Ready for it, Boris?” the short devil silently whispered to the tall wolf, grabbing a microphone, winking at his kind-hearted buddy and getting an excited thumbs-up as a response; very good, it could finally begin. “Time to set this stage on fire, Bendy.”.

“Would you help me to find a new way? Would you guide me through all of this again? Don't let me slip away.” Bendy's unmistakable voice suddenly sang in the complete silence and darkness when the little devil met the angel's still irritated gaze, surprisingly and promptly accompanied by the peculiar sound of Boris' clarinet, as if those two had arranged to perform that unforseen song together, without saying anything to Joey, to the rest of the crew and especially to Alice, who was the one supposed to follow the right dance steps and don't mess up again. That wasn't on the syllabus, what was happening!? What was Bendy planning that time!? For fuck's sake, that disgusting demon was surely doing that on purpose, he truly enjoyed embarrassing her and get his friends and co-workers in trouble with the creators and the audience! All. The. Time. “I need you here 'till the very end, so stay here with me. There's so much love in your smile when I look at your face, and I'm here to stay. You're my first and my last love, and you're my escape.”

.

But no, not this time: instead of staying still and ruthlessly watch the angelic cartoon's certain failure, grinning at the fallen girl from afar or internally make fun of her lack of preparation and actual panic, evident and almost tangible in her elegant traits, Bendy slowly stepped forward and tilted his round head to look in the young woman's black orbs and lifted his tiny arms up, to gently intertwine his thicker fingers with her tapered ones, silently asking Alice to dance with him; only a simple gaze was more than enough for the two of them to understand each other's thoughts, doubts and secret desires or fears. Natural chemistry, or just an artificial connection? Well, it didn't really concern her now, since Bendy was trying to truly “apologize” for the very first time of his life, so better take advantage from this situation. “So tell me you'll be right here with me, hearing your voice is like hearing an angel sing. Through the good and bad and all in between, you're the one that I want and the one that I need, and I know.” the little devil happily intoned as he guided and moved with his surprised partner on the tidy stage, reminding Alice that his main innate talent was, in fact, dance. Oh, and probably charm too, since the stunning girl couldn't take her eyes off the demon, feeling hypnotised by his sly but caring grin.

Their inky and agile bodies were beautifully lit by the powerful light bulb of the spotlight, that was closely following their graceful and expert movements, almost accentuating the shiny fabric of their fancy gown and suit and each curve of their relaxed muscles, that were freely tensing and flexing to create an unequalled physical harmony and simultaneously a lovely but tacit tension between the apparently mismatched couple. It was like “seeing a fierce predator carefully interact with a frail prey”, that's how Joey and the others described their complicated and burning relationship; you could never know when one of the two would attack, or run, or growl at the other, or angrily submit without a fight, so as not to cause stupid disasters or useless problems to the superiors.

Yeah, the last option occurred pretty rarely to be completely honest, especially before an important performance or worse, a premiere; sometimes, a cold punch in the face or a firm kick in the delicate guts were way more satisfying than a plain compliment by the bosses or a nice communication with the patient and poor crew that had to put up with their unpredictable behaviour 24 hours a day, every single day. Egoism, you might say? Maybe a little bit, alright, but ehy! Brawling with an arrogant rival was one of life's few joys, maybe the sweetest, but the moments of complete peace or dammit, even tenderness between the spiteful devil and the fiery fallen angel were so incredibly rare that right now, seeing the two cartoons performing together with such grace, trust, respect and strength was almost unbelievable, definitely jaw-dropping.“You taught me to live each day, to live each day like it's my last. I won't make you turn away! So come with me, and never look back!”.

That particular song and its deep meaning couldn't be random at all, but the dancers' regal and measured steps surely were improvised... or at least things would have looked like that under the keen and trained eyes of a critic, or a journalist. Luckily for everyone nobody important was there that night, only the inexpert kids and the parents were watching the duo's little show, staring at Bendy and Alice with fascinated expressions and enchanted faces, not speaking as not to disrupt the magical and intimate atmosphere of the busy and pretty crowded room. “After all that we've been through, you are still by my side and I'm grateful you're there and I, I love you. You're my best friend and I want you to know I care!”. Only the tapping sound of their refined shoes hitting the wooden floor of the magnificent proscenium was audible, and the much more taller fallen angel smiled benignly as she spotted the tiny demon having an hard time keeping up with her own fast pace and hold her gloved hands in his, very careful not to step on her pale feet at the same time. Fucking height difference...

Poor thing, maybe he needed some help? Very well.

“So- Uh!?” a loud gasp of surprise and pure fear escaped from Bendy's parted lips as Alice unexpectedly bend over, curled her long fingers around his slim waist and easily picked him up, leaving her black haired partner with his short legs pitifully hanging in midair and feeling his pointed tail snugly wrapping around her curved hips, tightly, to probably get some sort of support and better security. Despite the minute star's evident confusion and distress, those momentary emotions were soon replaced by irrepressible excitement and frenzy as the young woman kept dancing with him in her arms and whispered a quick “I won't drop you, don't worry. Just sing with me.” against the demon's flushed left cheek. That wish was his command and besides, being so tall was awesome indeed! Cool! So that's how Boris and Alice always felt while walking around or simply standing!“S-so tell me you'll be right here with me, hearing your voice is like hearing an angel sing. Through the good and bad and all in between, you're the one that I want and the one that I need, and I know!”.

“So this is how we planned it, knowing that we won't be alone. And this is how it's supposed to be, when you knew it all along!” Alice elegantly sang right after her limp co-worker, her voice echoing in the thin walls and reaching such perfect high notes Bendy couldn't even imagine existed. In those unique moments, the little demon could clearly understand why he felt that huge tension when that majestic, angelic creature would walk on stage and stop by his tense side, giving all she got to their loyal and cheering fans: Alice's powerful but also mild singing was capable of making your fragile ribcage shake in total bliss, your weak heart faint with overwhelming emotion, your knees turning into slimy jelly and your head soar on the clouds of Heaven and drown into the sweetest dreams and wildest fantasies. And her face was so incredible too, her body so damn sexy, her smile so tender and so cute... her freaking everything was perfect, designed to appear breathtaking and absolutely appetizing to everyone, and especially him. Dammit, was he really that helpless in front of her undeniable beauty? Yeah, most likely. “So tell me you'll be right here with me, hearing your voice is like hearing an angel sing...”.

“... through the good and bad and all in between, you're the one that I want and the one that I need.” brushing her smooth and pale chin with the covered tip of his index finger, Bendy encouraged the young angel to look into his pitch black orbs, that were shining with great amusement and sincere entertainment as he took a final breath and filled his small lungs with air, ready for the last verse which he hoped they would sing together. And so they did.

“So tell me you'll be right here with me. Hearing your voice is like hearing an angel sing! Through the good and bad and all in between, you're the one that I want and the one that I need, and I know.” mixing and caressing each other like two passionate lovers would, the couple's voices generated an harmony that fit the romantic song, a very strange thing since they were technically natural enemies: an angel and a devil, good and bad, white and black, grace and disgrace. But maybe sometimes you just needed to forget about the differences to change your condition and embrace a new experience, or a surprising point or view; in fact, that was the very first time they performed together with such composure, without punching or trying to toss the other off the stage every five seconds. Even the audience seemed uncaring about their physical nature or their former relationship, since every single person in the big room immediately got up and started to clap forcefully and merrily, shouting out enthusiastic compliments and cheering at the top of their lungs, yelling their beloved names non-stop. Yes, their names, Alice's and Bendy's at the same exact time, as if they were one, as if them both had... the same importance. “And I know...”.

“Eheh, you hear them, Angel Cake? Listen carefully: this is all for you, you should be proud of yourself! Great job, not as good as mine of course, but pretty close!” Bendy weakly mumbled and laughed under his unsure breath with his usual sly and smug grin, panting a little to regain his yearned breath and still holding onto her narrow but robust shoulders. At this point, the tall angel seriously started to think that his dumb smile was indelible from his round visage, and soon after she felt his long black tail dropping down, the little devil trusting the girl completely and relaxing every single muscle, his tiny limbs imperceptibly contracting because of the previous exertion, and his sore throat aching slightly. Meh, singing wasn't that great after all... who cared about that stuff anyway, despite that he was still the most awesome star ever, and dancing was the most appreciated talent! “They love you, toots!”.

“No Bendy, you're wrong. Not only me.” Alice replied with a gentle and ecstatic smile, that only became wider as the angelic cartoon met the joyful gazes of the little kids, of the adults, of the teenagers and elders all around them. To the devil's tired and burning eyes, that amazing smile could lit the whole town, even the whole world. As the reddish curtain was rapidly brought down by the staff, the black haired woman turned her head towards her short co-worker and sincerely declared: “This is for us, for me, Boris and you. They love us all.”.

The sudden and rather scary sound of a powerful thunder broke the respectful silence that was deeply connecting the duo's blurred thoughts, and the violent rain started to ruthlessly beat against the thick windows, the grey rooftops, the hard asphalt, the greenish trees and everything standing outside their safe and warm building; at that precise moment, as the couple heard the noisy people, who just a few instants before were cheering them and clapping, standing up and quickly walking towards the exit to return home before the storm would get worse, the two talented cartoons knew that their show was finally over, at least for the night. Tomorrow was another day, hopefully a successful one.

“I guess... I guess it's time for me to rest and get some sleep, but only if Joey and the other creators don't wish to discuss the next performance with me, of course. Nice work by the way, I had fun tonight.” Alice kindly explained to her oddly attentive partner, clearing her throat and putting Bendy down with the needed attention, then scratching her cold nape with her nails and hearing another deafening rumble coming from outside. The young angel gently snickered and blinked a couple of times, feeling totally unafraid: “Now, that is what I call a real storm! Right? Bendy, what the...?” the black haired girl questioned and immediately spotted the little dancing demon hiding behind her calm form, his pointy tail tightly pressed between his curved legs and his tiny knees shivering in pure terror. No way, was he seriously...? “Bendy, are you... are you afraid of thunder and storms, like Boris is?”.

Snarling and frowning deeply in response, clearly irritated by her insolent insinuation, the minute demon promptly opened his thin lips to growl: “Pff, if I'm scared!? Do I look scared to you, Angel Face!? Pff! Me, Bendy the Dancing Demon, afraid of thunder and storms like some kind of crybaby, or like that wolf? You're insulting my pride and underestimating me, woman! I'm not scared at all, ok? No, no, no, no, no, no, no...” the stubborn star repeated mostly to himself with his slightly high-pitched voice, causing Alice to let out a pretty frustrated groan and cross her pale arms as she patiently waited for the truth. “... no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, maybe a little bit. Ugh, okay fine, yes! You won, I'm scared of thunder and storms, too! Are you happy now?”.

“Nah, not really, I'm just amused.” Alice shrugged it off with a brazen and superior look, laughing in front of her terrified co-worker without shame and with a vicious glint shining in her dark irises, almost enjoying the awkward situation and seeing Bendy so vulnerable and fragile. “What's the matter, Bendy? Afraid of sleeping all alone, in your isolated and lonely room, with that terrible storm right outside the building and those thunders roaring in your ears? Ahah, you're very cute sometimes. I personally think that you should share a bed with someone tonight since you're so scared, little one!”.

After a moment of total silence and wise reflection, a squealing phrase that the beautiful, young angel would have never expected to hear was desperately shouted by the pleading devil, who dropped down on his weak knees and left the girl completely speechless: “Please toots, we both know that we hate each other's guts with all our soul and passion, but can I sleep with you tonight!?”.

… wait, what the fuck?

[theultimatetamer]

Interview with Francesco Artibani

Monster Allergy Week, Day 7

Free-for-all

And here you have the second and last interview of the day, this time with our lord and saviour, Mr. Francesco Artibani. Thank you so much once again for your kindness and for this oportunity!

Again, huge thanks to @shikadora-momo for her incommensurable help!

If you want to read the original interview in Italian, click here.

If you want to read the interview in English, keep reading.

1. Let’s start with a small introduction. For better or worse, many fans came across Monster Allergy through the TV series and they might not know much about its original creators. Therefore, who is Francesco Artibani?

I’m a scriptwriter for comics and cartoons and I have been working in this field for many years, dedicating myself mostly to series for young audience. Monster Allergy is a series I have created along with Katja Centomo, while the graphic authors are Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa (it’s a four parents series). The adventures of Zick and Elena were born for the comic books and later on they became an animated series.

2. Aside from the one that brought us here, in which other projects can we find your signature?

I’m the author of the series Kylion for Disney Italy together with the designer Giulio De Vita, while in France I have created Il boia rosso (with Ivo Milazzo), Jimmy Jones (with Alessio Coppola) and Willy Wonder (with Silvio Camboni). Together with Lello Arena I have created the adventures of Scardaglione and Maruzzelli in the pages of Lupo Alberto (Alberto the Wolf). Monster Allergy is for sure my longest running series and the one which has given me more satisfactions (and keeps doing so…).

3. Has your work always been focused on the comic industry or have you worked in the animation field as well?

I have always divided my work between both fields. As for comics books, the list of projects is quite long but I’ll try and be concise: I write for the weekly publication Mickey Mouse since 1992 and, aside from hundreds of stories about mice and ducks, I have written the series PK, W.I.T.C.H and Kylion. Outside of Disney I have written tons of episodes for Alberto the Wolf, but in all this time I have also had the luck to take part in other projects, from Martin Mystére to Lys, from L’Omino Bufo to some series for the French market. In the animation field I have always written for Winx Club, but for Rainbow I have also scripted Tommy & Oscar, Pop Pixie and obviously the two seasons of Monster Allergy. Among other TV series scripted by me I remember Alberto the Wolf, The extraordinary adventures of Jules Verne, The adventures of Marco & Gina, Monsters and Pirates, Spike Team, Egyxos, Bu-Bum!.

4. How did you come to the conclusion that you wanted to devote your time to writing stories aimed –generally- at young audience? Do you have any advice for those who are dreaming of being able to do the same one day?

Actually I found out I loved writing while being a designer. I started working as an animator in a cartoon studio and working on the storyboards I got interested in scripting. Following this interest I gradually moved to writing until I fully abandoned my work as designer (published on Alberto the Wolf and Tiramolla - in the early 90’s, but not long after that I was already working as a full-time scriptwriter).

I don’t have any advices to give in particular; if you really have the passion and determination for this job the only thing left to do is to be prepared and study a lot, work a lot, because out there it’s full of talented people and this competition is merciless. For scriptwriters it is necessary to read a lot, to be informed, to be curious about everything - you have to be like sponges and absorb as much information as you can to transform it into new ideas.

5. Let’s talk a little bit about Monster Allergy now. ¿How and when was this story born?

It was born during a car trip with my wife, talking about projects and ideas that, as readers, we would have liked to find in a bookshop. We got excited about these characters and this bizarre world that started to take shape based on what we as readers would have liked to read.

6. How did you and Katja Centomo end up working with Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa in this project?

We knew each other already and we shared the idea with them.

7. Which were the first characters to come to life? It has come to our attention that there is a beautiful anecdote behind Elena’s peculiar name, is that true? Did anything similar happen with other characters as well?

Zick came first being the “engine” of the story.

Elena was named after our daughter who –at the time we created Monster Allergy– was still in Katja’s belly. And given that on her first ultrasound she looked like a potato, that’s how we found a nice last name for Zick’s friend.

As for the other characters, we followed our instinct and the inspiration of the moment, having tons of fun.

8. Where did you find the inspiration to create this fantastic world and, in particular, all the different species of monsters and the fun facts that we can find in the “Manuals”, gathered nowadays in the Monster Allergy Extra? Did they result from random ideas or is there an intention behind them?

There was a huge enthusiasm around Monster Allergy, it was a particularly happy and fun moment on the creative point of view. The rules of the world of monsters were born as a consequence of this spirit. For sure there was the will to give life to a small and coherent expanding universe.

9. This is something about which we fans have been theorizing a lot. Where does the story of Monster Allergy take place? Is it Italy, the USA or a little bit of both?

It’s a world of fantasy where things are all mixed up, a sort of AmEurope or something like that. For sure Zick and Elena will never go on a trip or holiday in a real city.

10. The first finale of this comic book, issue #29, was it the one you had in mind from the beginning or did you suddenly see yourselves forced to give an end to the story for some reason?

The editor decided to interrupt the series and notified us with little advance, so we had to give the series a finale against the clock. Certainly it wasn’t the end we wished for (in fact, we didn’t even have one in mind yet…) but we managed to make it as open as possible.

11. How and why did Monster Allergy come back after all these years?

We felt that, thanks to the TV series being aired over and over, the story had managed to gather a large and devoted audience, plus the readers of the comic books were still there. The biggest reason for Monster Allergy to return was our editor Tunué who believed in it and worked hard to bring the series back in bookshops, releasing a marvelous reprint and producing new stories.

12. Is there a reason in particular why you didn’t pick up the story where you left off and decided that time should have passed for the characters as well?

That seemed like an unusual idea for a comic - hence it was perfect for Monster Allergy. Usually in comic books characters never age, but we wanted to bring back our characters after they had grown up, just like the readers of once had grew up to become young adults. In their “evolved” version the characters have many more narrative opportunities to follow and this is a great thing.

13. Do you know yet how many issues will Monster Allergy Evolution have? Is there an specific reson why it is an annual publication?

We would like to carry on with at least one volume per year; producing a title like this is very time and money consuming, and all the authors of Monster Allergy are busy with other projects as well, so getting them all together for a new adventure is complicated. But we stay optimistic and hope that this hiatus between issues will decrease with time.

14. Do you know if there is any chance that the issues will be published in other countries aside from Italy and Germany in the near future?

Tunué is working to sell the rights in other nations. I believe that you will have news regarding this issue very soon, with the arrival of Monster Allergy to other European countries and across the Atlantic.

15. To finish with, do you have any message for the fans that are going to read this?

The message can’t be other than a huge thank you for all the affection you keep showing to Zick, Elena, Bombo and all the other protagonists of the series. We truly hope we can keep you company for a long time.

[annsparksthegmr]

Dangan Thieves AU - Sonia Nevermind

So here’s the lovely Ultimate Princess of the Dangan Thieves AU and… *face plants onto desk* As much as Sonia is a likable character she is more of a pain to write simply because of her “perfect character.” I had to rewrite this like… four times just so it felt like this could possibly be Sonia Nevermind and not somebody else. Why is her character designed to be nearly like a Mary Sue at points? Couldn’t she just have a few more notable ones or did I overlook them?

…

Anyway, Sonia Nevermind position as the main party Support member came from my chat with @shsl-shipper-gamer-fangirl and we came to the conclusion we’d at least have two members taking that role (Being Sonia and Mahiru). As for her Persona, I’d like to thank @killr-cupcake for suggesting ideas for the Persona - and helping me narrow down the list. Though after Sonia I’m going to take a break from characters and work on other things… like possible Palaces and Mementos stuff! Be sure to take tune for that and ENJOY!!!

Sonia Nevermind

Arcana: Empress

Codename: Enchantress

Outfit: A spiked crown rests upon her head as Sonia’s blonde hair is now in a long braided style. Around her neck is a golden dog whistle and it leads into a brown and golden transformer skirt dress. Wearing brown boots underneath, the accessories on her dress are golden roses pinned around her waistline alongside the smaller ones which are pinned to her leather gloves.

Mask: A Kai Ken dog designed mask.

Persona: Hecate. (Greek Goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, the moon, ghosts, and necromancy.) Note: Hecate takes the form of three-headed dog mecha which she can enter and pilot to avoid being targeted by enemies. Upon the second awakening, it is rebirth into a three-headed dog-dragon hybrid mecha and it can now actively use abilities while flying through the sky.

Skillset:

Short Reconnaissance - Can reveal the basic information about enemies after defeating them.

Sparking Justice - Donning the mask itself, she yells words of encouragement. Little apple projections surround the party as they get attack buffs.

Health Reserve - Recovers 5% HP after every battle.

Upgrades to

Health Assistance - Recovers 20% HP after each battle.

Midnight Slip - Taking off one of her slippers, she throws it onto her enemies as it grows in size. Pointing towards the falling slipper, her Persona’s mouths open to reveal missiles that fire to shatter the falling object. While this does minimal damage, it reduces the enemy's Accuracy/Evasion. There are also tons of profanities flying across the battlefield.

Energy Reserve - Recovers 5% SP after every battle.

Upgrade to

Energy Assistance - Recovers 10% SP after each battle.

Royal Decree - Removes all debuffs on the party as Sonia reads a scroll that released a wave of energy.

Bad Apple - Summoning a huge apple with a green aura, she tosses it into the middle of the field, where it falls apart. Allies can gain buffs to the Attack, Defense and/or Accuracy/Evasion and the enemies will suffer debuffs matching the boosts the part received. The buffs will come at random with small changes of getting all of the current buffs.

Bewitching Torch - Has a rare chance to fully recover the HP & SP of an ally.

*All-Out Attack Card: “Bow before your enchantress!” beside the enemies getting roasted by her Persona. Sonia is happily smiling with the catchphrase “Oops. Sorry about that!”

Persona Awakening Dialogue:

Hecate: “You’ve made me wait for so long as you hid behind your title? Do you finally understand now? That using your perfect image of being a princess can no longer protect you from the despair that plagues your soul every day. Everything you love will be robbed anyway if you do nothing… have you given into despair so easily?”

Sonia: “...I… No, I still haven’t lost hope yet. Everyone’s hope being butchered into despair here by a cruel soul… Now I truly believe what they’ve said. If only I had the strength to save them!”

Hecate: “...Your heart is as pure as your intentions may seem to be… there is hope in forging the contract with you. Together, we may yet strike a chance to waver the fate and your destiny into the one desired. The contract itself can be sealed now with your new found hope rekindled. I am thou, thou art I… Let your graceful facade shatter their vision and reveal to all the true passion you crafted!”

Sonia: “Of course. And I shall no longer be a subservient bystander to this madness!! This will end with all my might and it starts today! Time to shine forth! Hecate!”

Quotes:

“All hostiles have been annihilated. Well done everyone!”

“There appears to be a safe room up ahead. I advise that we all rest before continuing.”

“I’ve appeared to have gotten stronger!” (Level Up)

“My magic’s improved!” (Skill Up)

“That shimmering shine… Ace, we’ve got some treasure to get!”

“...Have we been in here longer than we should have? I’m getting some weird readings on my end. Be careful.”

“We are on a roll! Let’s keep going!!”

“Everyone is too badly injured; I suggest we retreat for now and recover Ace.”

“Hostile Shadows up ahead; will we engage or sneak by them?”

“Huh? Did you expose yourself by accident?” or “Look out! Hostiles coming!”

“Don’t waste yourself on these ones.”

“...Shadows up ahead are quite dangerous; perhaps we should sneak by?”

“Something’s amiss here; I suggest safety protocols before proceeding.”

“Congratulations everyone!”

“Our teamwork was on point.”

ENTERING A BATTLE VIA AMBUSH: “The odds are in our favor. Let’s keep it that way okay?”

GETTING AMBUSH: “We’re surrounded!!! Keep your guard up!”

RUSH: “Eliminate them all quickly!”

ENCOUNTERING THE REAPER: “Are you trying to face Death?! Flee at once!”

ATTEMPTING TO ESCAPE FROM BATTLE: “An escape route? I’ll see what I can do.”

PARTY MANAGES TO ESCAPE FROM BATTLE: “Retreat now; I’ve made an opening!”

AN ENEMY FLEES IN A PALACE: “What?! Pursue that Shadow before it raises security!!”

Short Reconnaissance: “I’ve made a record of the Shadow for future reference.”

Sparking Justice: “One morale boost coming up!”

Midnight Slip: “Oops I…” *proceeds to yell out profanities*

Royal Decree: “Cease these debuffs on my party immediately!”

Bad Apple: “Want something refreshing? Here you go!”

Bewitching Torch: “I’m dropping off some aid; who needs it most?”

WHEN SOMEONE’S HEALTH IS LOW: “Watch your health; one more move might end it all if not healed.”

WHEN SOMEONE’S INCAPACITATED: “Oh no! Somebody please help them!”

WHEN SOMEONE’S WEAKNESS IS EXPLOITED: “They found their weakness! Cover for them!”

WHEN SOMEONE MISSES: “Did you forget to aim for the target?! Be careful.”

PERFORMING 3 BATON PASSES IN SUCCESSION: “Excellent! This is just what we needed.”

ANNOUNCING ALL-OUT ATTACK: “Time for some execution!”

Burn: “...Do I smell something burning?!? Somebody put that out now!”

Freeze: “We don’t need a human popsicle! Somebody thaw them out!”

Shock: “They got paralyzed; they won’t be able to do anything until it is removed!”

Forget: “Why did you get this now? Help them to remember their Persona!”

Charm: “...Flirty with the enemy? Is that common in Japanese culture?”

Rage: “What are they doing? I can’t get through to them!?!”

Brainwash: “This isn’t good; they see us as the enemy! Break the sell please!”

Despair: “Somebody fell into Despair; somebody give them a pep talk before they lose it!”

Hunger: “Who forgot to have a snack? Get them some food stat!”

Dizzy: “This isn’t a merry-go-round ride! Get them back to normal quickly!”

Sleep: “Falling asleep on the battlefield? This is no time to take a nap!”

Silence: “Why have they gone silent? Somebody help them!”

Mouse: “Aw~ They look so adorable as a mouse~ I just want to pet and love them~!”

Mementos Chats:

“Not to seem inconsiderate Ace, but you’re driving... well… lacking in some places.”

“I’ve got to say; having a dog mecha as my Persona just like in those historical animations I used to watch is amazing! I wonder if I can find more of them…”

“Using a dog whistle to recollect my Persona is a bit awkward… but I can make do as long as I’m not in the fray.”

“Freeing the hearts of those inflicted by despair… that is what I wish of our accomplishments to amount towards.”

“Never once did I believe that a Dangan Thief would be this engaging. I can safely say that these memories I’ll never forget for the rest of my life!”

Sonia: “I’m impressed at how you’ve managed to make it for so long without somebody having a Persona like myself!”

Hinata: “Um… thanks, I guess?”

Hinata: “...Hold on, haven’t we been here before?”

Sonia: “Perhaps… then again most of this place looks the same to me…”

Sonia: “How peculiar that my Persona manifested so differently that I have to keep a dog whistle to control it… Huh?! What game are you playing?”

Chiaki: “Oh this? It’s one of those games where you take care of pets… just like this dog right here.”

Sonia: “Ah! Are you okay Heartbeat? Why are you laughing so much?”

Mikan: “Ehehe, s-sorry about that. I’m j-just having so much f-fun with e-everyone…”

Nagito: “Dearess Enchantress, your hope has truly been bountiful to our efforts. With your ravenous canine on our side, there is no way despair can stop us.”

Sonia: “Thank you… so much… I guess...”

Sonia: “Owl! I’m so delighted that we are working together. Tell me, are you up hanging out with us girl sometime? We’re planning a baking session.”

Peko: “I’d… like that very much if I have the time.”

Fuyuhiko: “Yo Enchantress, are you sure you know exactly what you’re doing?”

Sonia: “I know very well what I’m doing here Gangster. Thank you for asking.”

Sonia: “...Why is he the only one who I can’t truly identify? Is he hiding something…?”

Imposter: “Did you say something Enchantress?”

Sonia: “Oh nothing! Sorry, I was just thinking if I can make anything else with my powers to help us in the future!”

Sonia: “I’m so grateful to have another thief just like you; we’re sure to make an excellent team!”

Mahiru: “Yeah…  that is if you’re carrying your own weight most of the time.”

[english2301]

Exercise #6

Waiting for _______________

Write a scene in which two characters are “waiting” for someone or something. It’s up to you who or what they are waiting for (their professor to show up to class? their package to be delivered by Amazon?), the important thing is 1. they can’t leave 2. the person or thing they are waiting for never shows up. 

Things to consider while writing: How do you keep the scene interesting, tense, and dramatic without ever giving the audience what they ask for? Take a page out of Beckett’s book and use the absurd and the existential to inject humor and tragedy into your scene. Write at least 20 lines of dialogue (10 for each character), and see what comes of...waiting. Good luck! 

------

By Annie

Bertram: Well, what do you want to do now?

Archibald: I don't know. The car door won't open. 

Bertram: This is what happens when we get in your Ford Pinto. I can only hope no one rear ends us. 

Archibald: Hey, I love this old car! She's my first car! I do want a new car though. We should buy a Lamborghini with this money. What do you think we should do? 

Bertram: Call the police, perhaps? Tell them there was a robbery at the jewelry store?Archibald: What! No! I refuse. We may as well die in here, before I spend what years I have left in prison.

Bertram: Maybe we could've just stolen a Lamborghini. Or a Ferrari. Then we'd be in the new car. 

Archibald: That's a great idea actually! Why didn't you say that sooner?

Bertram: Archie! You wouldn't hear of it! You and your receding hairline. You just wanted it to be like the good old days. Those days are gone.

Archibald: I'm sorry Bertie. We could go rob a car dealership after this.

Bertram: Or a game of table tennis. Something that won't raise my blood pressure. We could have double heart attacks.

Archibald: Maybe the locksmith? I did that once, when I got locked out of my car. Do you have any money?

Bertram: Besides the money we stole? Do you think he takes jewelry?

Archibald: Maybe we should call the police. I'm sure I could sweet talk them. 

Bertram: I'm sure they'd go easy on us. We're senior citizens, after all.Archibald: How much is a prison sentence, for robbery?

Bertram: I don't rightly know. But between a nursing home and a prison, I'd gladly take prison. Maybe there'd be some young people who actually want to spend time with us. 

Archibald: It's almost little Hugo's birthday now. Do you think we'll be out of here by then? 

Bertram: Oh, probably. How old is Hugo now?

Archibald: He's going to be 20! Maybe he'd like a pretty necklace. 

Bertram: I'm sure he'd appreciate that. 

Archibald: Oh, I knew it was a good idea. 

Bertram: Let's just call the police alright? I'm sure you can charm your way out of it, you old dog. Let's just hope they don't rear end us. 

Archibald: Oh, Bertie. You know what, maybe I will. Do you have your phone?

Bertram: No. Archibald: I didn't think I'd need it for the robbery.

Bertram: Maybe we should scream for help, or break the window and crawl out. 

Archibald: My car window? Absolutely not!

-----

Waiting For the Last Bus of the Night

By Jacqueline

The setting: A bus stop at night. There is a bench for bus patrons and a weather shelter surrounding the bench. There is a bus stop sign in front of the bus shelter, to the left of it. There is a singular streetlight overhead. There is no one else around.

The characters: 

Elliott

Peter 

(They are two young men, in their 20s, who are friends. They are trying to get home after a late night at a mutual friend’s house. They walk onto the scene with the clothes on their backs and nothing more.)

-- Elliott: Did we make it? Did the last bus leave yet?

Peter: (checking his watch) Well, it’s 1:02am and it says the last bus should be here at 1:05am. So we have a few minutes.

Elliott: Okay. You’re probably right...but what if it came early and we missed it?!

Peter: Don’t worry about that right now. The buses have been on time for us today, so I’m sure it should be no different now.

Elliott: (steps into the road to look in the direction of the bus and steps back onto the sidewalk next to Peter) I don’t know, Peter, I don’t see any headlights in the distance.

Peter: We’ll be fine. We still have a few minutes.

Elliott: Alright. I’m just worried since it’s getting chilly.

Peter: I’m chilly too, but we will be warm soon. Don’t worry.

Elliott: That’s true…(he paces into the road again to check for signs of the bus and then back) Hey, Peter, did you ever notice how quiet it gets out here at night? It’s so lively and busy all day, but the air is eerily still at night.

Peter: Yeah, I suppose you’re right. It seems everyone retreats into their homes until dawn.

Elliott: (placing his hand on his chin, indicating a deep thought) But what if they’re not? What if we think we’re standing at this bus stop at night alone, but really we are in a liminal space…

Peter: Liminal space?

Elliott: Yeah! It’s the phenomenon that certain areas at certain times of the day, (pause) and especially night, blur the lines between reality and other dimensions. Like, there’s this story I heard about this guy who stopped for food at a rest stop diner while he was on a road trip in 2012. When he got into the diner, everything seemed like it was straight of the 1950s: the music on the jukebox ranged from Buddy Holly to “Earth Angel” by The Penguins, the waitresses’ outfits, the way people spoke, and even the design of the restaurant itself. He figured it was just the theme of the diner and enjoyed his meal and the service he received. He paid in cash and hit the road. About a month later, he took another road trip, this time with a friend, and decided to show him this peculiar diner. However, when they pulled into the parking lot, there was nothing but the abandoned shell of what used to be a diner. Baffled, he asked a cashier in the gas station market why they closed the diner down. The cashier looked at him with a confused expression and replied, “You’ll have to summon a ghost for the answer. That diner hasn’t been open since 1955!” And the conclusion, Peter, is that it was a liminal space! Somehow he had passed through to a different timeline and back into his own. Crazy, right?!

Peter: (with an expression of contemplation) That’s pretty fascinating, Elliott, but I hate to break it to ya: I don’t think we passed through to a different timeline. I think people just sleep at a normal time around here.

Elliott: (throwing his hands up) You’re no fun!

Peter: (shrugging) I tend to be more realistic about things.

Elliott: (walks back into the road to check for the bus and back to the sidewalk again. He takes a deep breath and sighs) I’m starting to think the bus came and went before we got here.

Peter: (checking his watch again) Well, it does say that it’s 1:05 am. It should be here by now. You sure you didn’t see any headlights in the distance?

Elliott: Nope. Nada. Zilch. I told you!

Peter: Don’t be so pessimistic. Maybe, rather than early, the bus is late.

Elliott: Now who’s the realist? It sounds like you’re being awfully optimistic here…

Peter: I’m just saying! The bus isn’t always on time.

Elliott: I know. Sometimes they’re early, and they leave two guys behind in the cold!

Peter: (checks his watch again, then looks around. He takes a turn at walking into the road to check for any sign of headlights, and then spots some). See! There! I told you. There’s the bus. I knew it. (he steps back onto the sidewalk)

Elliott: (steps into the road to confirm Peter’s sighting and jumps back onto the sidewalk with excitement) Fine! Maybe you were being the right amount of realistic. I’m just excited to get home and get cozy.(The vehicle approaches, but as it gets closer, the two young men realize now that it is not a bus at all, but rather, a garbage truck)

Elliott and Peter: (at the same time) Damn it!

(The road and surrounding area fall silent again after the garbage truck is further into the distance. The two young men are silent for a few seconds, letting a shared sense of disappointment hang in the air for a moment).

Elliott: So….

Peter: (closing his eyes and shaking his head) Don’t say it.

Elliott: (with a smirk, tauntingly) Maybe I’m the realistic one after all! Let’s just order a taxi or something. I just wanna get home.

Peter: Let’s just give it a few more minutes. I don’t have the kind of money to just go spending it on a taxi. Plus, I wanna get the most out of this unlimited bus pass.

Elliott: (rolls his eyes) Can’t you just admit defeat for once and call it a night?

Peter: You can go ahead and call a taxi! I’m just gonna save my money and give it some more time. If, after another 5 minutes, there’s still no bus, I’ll take a taxi home.

Elliott: No, I’m not gonna leave you out here alone. (sighs) I guess I can wait 5 more minutes.

Peter: You’ll be thanking me when we’re on that bus and not 25 bucks poorer!

Elliott: I hope you don’t end up eating those words. (Elliott steps into the road to check for any sign of the bus yet again, and then back onto the sidewalk)

Peter: So, what’re you gonna do as soon as you’re home?

Elliott: Hmm...I’m gonna jump in the shower and knock out in bed while Netflix plays in the background. (closing his eyes and tilting his head towards the sky as if meditating) I can almost feel the comfort of my sheets right now… (he lets the thought linger for a moment and opens his eyes. He turns to Peter) What about you?

Peter: I’ll probably eat a late night snack and then chug a gallon of water. I’m so thirsty all of a sudden.

Elliott: (playfully) All that crossing into and out of liminal spaces sure makes you thirsty.

Peter: (rolls his eyes) You want to time jump so bad!

Elliott: Now that’s a sentence you hear everyday.

Peter: (steps into the road yet again and checks his watch, then steps back onto the sidewalk) I’m starting to think…

Elliott: Starting to think...that maybe we should just get a taxi?

Peter: (sighs out of defeat) I didn’t want to admit it, but, I think so.

End.

[enchantingtigerbarbarian-blog]

Prologue - AILES AND BANNON

AILES AND BANNON

The evening began at six-thirty, but Steve Bannon, suddenly among the world’s most powerful men and now less and less mindful of time constraints, was late.

Bannon had promised to come to this small dinner arranged by mutual friends in a Greenwich Village town house to see Roger Ailes, the former head of Fox News and the most significant figure in right-wing media and Bannon’s sometime mentor. The next day, January 4, 2017—little more than two weeks before the inauguration of his friend Donald Trump as the forty-fifth president—Ailes would be heading to Palm Beach, into a forced, but he hoped temporary, retirement.

Snow was threatening, and for a while the dinner appeared doubtful. The seventy-six-year-old Ailes, with a long history of leg and hip problems, was barely walking, and, coming in to Manhattan with his wife Beth from their upstate home on the Hudson, was wary of slippery streets. But Ailes was eager to see Bannon. Bannon’s aide, Alexandra Preate, kept texting steady updates on Bannon’s progress extracting himself from Trump Tower.

As the small group waited for Bannon, it was Ailes’s evening. Quite as dumbfounded by his old friend Donald Trump’s victory as most everyone else, Ailes provided the gathering with something of a mini-seminar on the randomness and absurdities of politics. Before launching Fox News in 1996, Ailes had been, for thirty years, among the leading political operatives in the Republican Party. As surprised as he was by this election, he could yet make a case for a straight line from Nixon to Trump. He just wasn’t sure, he said, that Trump himself, at various times a Republican, Independent, and Democrat, could make the case. Still, he thought he knew Trump as well as anyone did and was eager to offer his help. He was also eager to get back into the right-wing media game, and he energetically described some of the possibilities for coming up with the billion or so dollars he thought he would need for a new cable network.

Both men, Ailes and Bannon, fancied themselves particular students of history, both autodidacts partial to universal field theories. They saw this in a charismatic sense—they had a personal relationship with history, as well as with Donald Trump.

Now, however reluctantly, Ailes understood that, at least for the moment, he was passing the right-wing torch to Bannon. It was a torch that burned bright with ironies. Ailes’s Fox News, with its $1.5 billion in annual profits, had dominated Republican politics for two decades. Now Bannon’s Breitbart News, with its mere $1.5 million in annual profits, was claiming that role. For thirty years, Ailes—until recently the single most powerful person in conservative politics—had humored and tolerated Donald Trump, but in the end Bannon and Breitbart had elected him.

Six months before, when a Trump victory still seemed out of the realm of the possible, Ailes, accused of sexual harassment, was cashiered from Fox News in a move engineered by the liberal sons of conservative eighty-five-year-old Rupert Murdoch, the controlling shareholder of Fox News and the most powerful media owner of the age. Ailes’s downfall was cause for much liberal celebration: the greatest conservative bugbear in modern politics had been felled by the new social norm. Then Trump, hardly three months later, accused of vastly more louche and abusive behavior, was elected president.

* * *

Ailes enjoyed many things about Trump: his salesmanship, his showmanship, his gossip. He admired Trump’s sixth sense for the public marketplace—or at least the relentlessness and indefatigability of his ceaseless attempts to win it over. He liked Trump’s game. He liked Trump’s impact and his shamelessness. “He just keeps going,” Ailes had marveled to a friend after the first debate with Hillary Clinton. “You hit Donald along the head, and he keeps going. He doesn’t even know he’s been hit.”

But Ailes was convinced that Trump had no political beliefs or backbone. The fact that Trump had become the ultimate avatar of Fox’s angry common man was another sign that we were living in an upside-down world. The joke was on somebody—and Ailes thought it might be on him.

Still, Ailes had been observing politicians for decades, and in his long career he had witnessed just about every type and style and oddity and confection and cravenness and mania. Operatives like himself—and now, like Bannon—worked with all kinds. It was the ultimate symbiotic and codependent relationship. Politicians were front men in a complex organizational effort. Operatives knew the game, and so did most candidates and officeholders. But Ailes was pretty sure Trump did not. Trump was undisciplined—he had no capacity for any game plan. He could not be a part of any organization, nor was he likely to subscribe to any program or principle. In Ailes’s view, he was “a rebel without a cause.” He was simply “Donald”—as though nothing more need be said.

In early August, less than a month after Ailes had been ousted from Fox News, Trump asked his old friend to take over the management of his calamitous campaign. Ailes, knowing Trump’s disinclination to take advice, or even listen to it, turned him down. This was the job Bannon took a week later.

After Trump’s victory, Ailes seemed to balance regret that he had not seized the chance to run his friend’s campaign with incredulity that Trump’s offer had turned out to be the ultimate opportunity. Trump’s rise to power, Ailes understood, was the improbable triumph of many things that Ailes and Fox News represented. After all, Ailes was perhaps the person most responsible for unleashing the angry-man currents of Trump’s victory: he had invented the right-wing media that delighted in the Trump character.

Ailes, who was a member of the close circle of friends and advisers Trump frequently called, found himself hoping he would get more time with the new president once he and Beth moved to Palm Beach; he knew Trump planned to make regular trips to Mar-a-Lago, down the road from Ailes’s new home. Still, though Ailes was well aware that in politics, winning changes everything—the winner is the winner—he couldn’t quite get his head around the improbable and bizarre fact that his friend Donald Trump was now president of the United States.

* * *

At nine-thirty, three hours late, a good part of the dinner already eaten, Bannon finally arrived. Wearing a disheveled blazer, his signature pairing of two shirts, and military fatigues, the unshaven, overweight sixty-three-year-old joined the other guests at the table and immediately took control of the conversation. Pushing a proffered glass of wine away—“I don’t drink”—he dived into a live commentary, an urgent download of information about the world he was about to take over.

“We’re going to flood the zone so we have every cabinet member for the next seven days through their confirmation hearings,” he said of the business-and-military 1950s-type cabinet choices. “Tillerson is two days, Session is two days, Mattis is two days. . . .”

Bannon veered from “Mad Dog” Mattis—the retired four-star general whom Trump had nominated as secretary of defense—to a long riff on torture, the surprising liberalism of generals, and the stupidity of the civilian-military bureaucracy. Then it was on to the looming appointment of Michael Flynn—a favorite Trump general who’d been the opening act at many Trump rallies—as the National Security Advisor.

“He’s fine. He’s not Jim Mattis and he’s not John Kelly . . . but he’s fine. He just needs the right staff around him.” Still, Bannon averred: “When you take out all the never-Trump guys who signed all those letters and all the neocons who got us in all these wars . . . it’s not a deep bench.”

Bannon said he’d tried to push John Bolton, the famously hawkish diplomat, for the job as National Security Advisor. Bolton was an Ailes favorite, too.

“He’s a bomb thrower,” said Ailes. “And a strange little fucker. But you need him. Who else is good on Israel? Flynn is a little nutty on Iran. Tillerson”—the secretary of state designate—“just knows oil.”

“Bolton’s mustache is a problem,” snorted Bannon. “Trump doesn’t think he looks the part. You know Bolton is an acquired taste.”

“Well, rumors were that he got in trouble because he got in a fight in a hotel one night and chased some woman.”

“If I told Trump that, he might have the job.”

* * *

Bannon was curiously able to embrace Trump while at the same time suggesting he did not take him entirely seriously. He had first met Trump, the on-again off-again presidential candidate, in 2010; at a meeting in Trump Tower, Bannon had proposed to Trump that he spend half a million dollars backing Tea Party-style candidates as a way to further his presidential ambitions. Bannon left the meeting figuring that Trump would never cough up that kind of dough. He just wasn’t a serious player. Between that first encounter and mid-August 2016, when he took over the Trump campaign, Bannon, beyond a few interviews he had done with Trump for his Breitbart radio show, was pretty sure he hadn’t spent more than ten minutes in one-on-one conversation with Trump.

But now Bannon’s Zeitgeist moment had arrived. Everywhere there was a sudden sense of global self-doubt. Brexit in the UK, waves of immigrants arriving on Europe’s angry shores, the disenfranchisement of the workingman, the specter of more financial meltdown, Bernie Sanders and his liberal revanchism—everywhere was backlash. Even the most dedicated exponents of globalism were hesitating. Bannon believed that great numbers of people were suddenly receptive to a new message: the world needs borders—or the world should return to a time when it had borders. When America was great. Trump had become the platform for that message.

By that January evening, Bannon had been immersed in Donald Trump’s world for almost five months. And though he had accumulated a sizable catalogue of Trump’s peculiarities, and cause enough for possible alarm about the unpredictability of his boss and his views, that did not detract from Trump’s extraordinary, charismatic appeal to the right-wing, Tea Party, Internet meme base, and now, in victory, from the opportunity he was giving Steve Bannon.

* * *

“Does he get it?” asked Ailes suddenly, pausing and looking intently at Bannon.

He meant did Trump get it. This seemed to be a question about the right-wing agenda: Did the playboy billionaire really get the workingman populist cause? But it was possibly a point-blank question about the nature of power itself. Did Trump get where history had put him?

Bannon took a sip of water. “He gets it,” said Bannon, after hesitating for perhaps a beat too long. “Or he gets what he gets.”

With a sideways look, Ailes continued to stare him down, as though waiting for Bannon to show more of his cards.

“Really,” Bannon said. “He’s on the program. It’s his program.” Pivoting from Trump himself, Bannon plunged on with the Trump agenda. “Day one we’re moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. Netanyahu’s all in. Sheldon”—Sheldon Adelson, the casino billionaire, far-right Israel defender, and Trump supporter—“is all in. We know where we’re heading on this.”

“Does Donald know?” asked a skeptical Ailes.

Bannon smiled—as though almost with a wink—and continued:

“Let Jordan take the West Bank, let Egypt take Gaza. Let them deal with it. Or sink trying. The Saudis are on the brink, Egyptians are on the brink, all scared to death of Persia . . . Yemen, Sinai, Libya . . . this thing is bad. . . . That’s why Russia is so key. . . . Is Russia that bad? They’re bad guys. But the world is full of bad guys.”

Bannon offered all this with something like ebullience—a man remaking the world.

“But it’s good to know the bad guys are the bad guys,” said Ailes, pushing Bannon. “Donald may not know.”

The real enemy, said an on-point Bannon, careful not to defend Trump too much or to dis him at all, was China. China was the first front in a new cold war. And it had all been misunderstood in the Obama years—what we thought we understood we didn’t understand at all. That was the failure of American intelligence. “I think Comey is a third-rate guy. I think Brennan is a second-rate guy,” Bannon said, dismissing the FBI director and the CIA director.

“The White House right now is like Johnson’s White House in 1968. Susan Rice”—Obama’s National Security Advisor—“is running the campaign against ISIS as a National Security Advisor. They’re picking the targets, she’s picking the drone strikes. I mean, they’re running the war with just as much effectiveness as Johnson in sixty-eight. The Pentagon is totally disengaged from the whole thing. Intel services are disengaged from the whole thing. The media has let Obama off the hook. Take the ideology away from it, this is complete amateur hour. I don’t know what Obama does. Nobody on Capitol Hill knows him, no business guys know him—what has he accomplished, what does he do?”

“Where’s Donald on this?” asked Ailes, now with the clear implication that Bannon was far out ahead of his benefactor.

“He’s totally on board.��

“Focused?”

“He buys it.”

“I wouldn’t give Donald too much to think about,” said an amused Ailes.

Bannon snorted. “Too much, too little—doesn’t necessarily change things.”

* * *

“What has he gotten himself into with the Russians?” pressed Ailes.

“Mostly,” said Bannon, “he went to Russia and he thought he was going to meet Putin. But Putin couldn’t give a shit about him. So he’s kept trying.”

“He’s Donald,” said Ailes.

“It’s a magnificent thing,” said Bannon, who had taken to regarding Trump as something like a natural wonder, beyond explanation.

Again, as though setting the issue of Trump aside—merely a large and peculiar presence to both be thankful for and to have to abide—Bannon, in the role he had conceived for himself, the auteur of the Trump presidency, charged forward:

“China’s everything. Nothing else matters. We don’t get China right, we don’t get anything right. This whole thing is very simple. China is where Nazi Germany was in 1929 to 1930. The Chinese, like the Germans, are the most rational people in the world, until they’re not. And they’re gonna flip like Germany in the thirties. You’re going to have a hypernationalist state, and once that happens you can’t put the genie back in the bottle.”

“Donald might not be Nixon in China,” said Ailes, deadpan, suggesting that for Trump to seize the mantle of global transformation might strain credulity.

Bannon smiled. “Bannon in China,” he said, with both remarkable grandiosity and wry self-deprecation.

“How’s the kid?” asked Ailes, referring to Trump’s son-in-law and paramount political adviser, thirty-six-year-old Jared Kushner.

“He’s my partner,” said Bannon, his tone suggesting that if he felt otherwise, he was nevertheless determined to stay on message.

“Really?” said a dubious Ailes.

“He’s on the team.”

“He’s had lot of lunches with Rupert.”

“In fact,” said Bannon, “I could use your help here.” Bannon then spent several minutes trying to recruit Ailes to help kneecap Murdoch. Ailes, since his ouster from Fox, had become only more bitter towards Murdoch. Now Murdoch was frequently jawboning the president-elect and encouraging him toward establishment moderation—all a strange inversion in the ever-stranger currents of American conservatism. Bannon wanted Ailes to suggest to Trump, a man whose many neuroses included a horror of forgetfulness or senility, that Murdoch might be losing it.

“I’ll call him,” said Ailes. “But Trump would jump through hoops for Rupert. Like for Putin. Sucks up and shits down. I just worry about who’s jerking whose chain.”

The older right-wing media wizard and the younger (though not by all that much) continued on to the other guests’ satisfaction until twelve-thirty, the older trying to see through to the new national enigma that was Trump—although Ailes would say that in fact Trump’s behavior was ever predictable—and the younger seemingly determined not to spoil his own moment of destiny.

“Donald Trump has got it. He’s Trump, but he’s got it. Trump is Trump,” affirmed Bannon.

“Yeah, he’s Trump,” said Ailes, with something like incredulity.