#i blame the walking dead franchise personally.

[johnmurphysgirl]

Me, in the middle of a perfectly normal day, realizing that my ship; in fact, does not really exist.

[astoldbyaja]

Primal - Ch.16 ~AU Predator (Franchise)~

Teleya’s POV

I struggled in the hold of the men yelping and crying out from the shock of seeing my dead coworker.

“She was your brother’s girlfriend!” I shouted in complete panic. Kang shook his head walking around the bar now.

“No, she was his whore. And when she couldn’t give me answers, I knew I would have to find someone who could… luckily freezing her head did wonders because I knew I was going to need her again.” he said darkly, his eyes sharply watching me. “Now I would hate to sever your pretty head from your body, but I will if you don’t give me what I want. Who else was at the club that night?”

I shook my head violently.

“How the hell should I know! I was just trying to get out of there just as much as everyone else was when the shooting happened! You can’t force answers when there is none!” I shouted. What else could I say to him? I couldn’t tell him Scorpion was there, no one would believe me and if anything, these guys would just think I was crazy and kill me anyways. I was dead either way. Kang tilted his head back, his face melting into a dark expression.

“There were no bullet holes in my brother’s body when I had to claim his body at the coroners. There were… slash marks instead as if a sword was used. And you mean to tell me you didn’t notice anything strange?” he asked. I whimpered gently as tears fell down my face, slowly shaking it from side to side.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you… He was unlike anything I’ve ever seen.” I said finally, and now he looked at me with interest taking a step closer to me.

“He?” he asked. I just looked down as the memories flooded into my brain from that night.

“No one could see him… he was a ghost. He cut them all down so fast I could hardly process it as it happened. He’s unlike anything I had ever seen before.” I replied now remembering how he held me against him as our bodies moved as one- as we became one. I finally looked up at Kang and nodded. “You really want the person responsible, give it time and he will come to you.”

Kang seemed confused at me words, but he slowly nodded.

“It seems you know a lot more than you let on. Chain her up in the back. She and I are going to get better acquainted.” he said darkly. I tensed at his words as his men began to pull me toward the direction of the back of the room. The women sitting with other men laughed at me and waved as if knowing I wasn’t going to be coming back. I was led into an empty bed room with a hook in the ceiling and a chain going down it and at the bottom were handcuffs. I struggled some more as the men forced my arms above my head and forced the cuffs around my wrists. My feet were still able to touch the ground, but my entire body was facing a window, the door behind me. The men smirked down at me before turning and leaving the room. More tears streamed down my face as I just stared out at the night sky. I was going to die today. I repeated that sentence over my head trying to make sense of how I got here.

I could blame Scorpion for all of this. No. I blamed myself for agreeing to go to Black Jack that night. If I hadn’t gone, then I would have never been anywhere near the shooting that took place. I closed my eyes thinking about all the times where I would be on the floor of our house, coughing up blood and cowering thinking if this would be the moment he would kill me. I’d always retreat inside my head so when the final blow struck me I would be deep in my mind and with the person I was supposed to be with. I’d be wrapped in my true love’s arms so when I died, it wouldn’t be just my soul in his arms. I’d cross over to the other world and be with him forever.

“Wherever you are, I won’t stop searching. Whatever it takes, I need to know.” I softly sang. Within Temptation’s song, Somewhere, always brought me comfort in the darkest moments of my life. “I’ll find you somewhere I’ll keep on trying until my dying day. I just need to know whatever has happened the truth will free my soul.” I was staring out into the city finding somewhat comfort from the sight. I escaped my abuser. No matter what happens next, no one can ever take that from me. I wouldn’t let them. I was going to die tonight, but at least I know I didn’t die by his hands.

I mildly jumped as I noticed Kang coming out of the bathroom behind me.

“You have a beautiful voice.” he said lowly. In response, my lips pursed together, and I watched as he began to walk around me and now he just stared at me for a moment as if thinking. I just stared back up at him and we just stood like this for a few more seconds before he tilted his head some. “You’re not afraid anymore.”

I just continued to stare at him as he said this.

“Death has been knocking at my door for a while now. I guess when the time comes to finally let him you stop fighting. I use to beg, but now what does it matter?” I replied. Kang lifted his head at my words.

“You’re right.” he said lowly. I felt him reaching up to my shirt and quietly he began to unbutton my blouse and I just looked out at the city over his shoulder wondering how he was going to do it. “Tell me about this man who killed my brother.”

I was quiet still unsure of how I should answer. In response, I felt his firm hand grip my chin, and I let out the softest instinctual whimper as I was forced to look at him.

“You’d better start talking or else you’re not going to like what I am about to do next. I have different methods of torture for women than I do men.” he threatened. Now I felt my mouth twitch into a light snarl.

“If it’s the same thing you did to Gabriella then I already know what’s coming.” I said sharply. Now he looked stunned for a quick second before smirking as if very amused.

“I didn’t care to have fun with her, but with you I think I will.” he said moving around me. What the hell did that mean? I got my answer when I felt his hands sliding over my stomach and side as he moved behind me. Now I could see his reflection in the window behind my own. “I have many ways to get information out of someone, and this will be my favorite this far.” I could feel my body tightening as I could feel his hands on my skin sliding over my stomach and further north toward my breasts. I shuddered as I felt his hands cup both my breasts and my hands tightened in the cuffs.

“Only you can stop this. The longer you stay quiet, the more I will do. But at this point I hope you continue to stay silent.” I hear him said lowly in my ear before biting at the shell. I could feel his lips against my neck, and moving up to press into my cheek. However, there was a mixture of screaming and gun fire coming from below us. Kang raised his head and I looked around at the sound. The door flew open suddenly.

“WE GOTTA GO NOW!” one of his men were screaming. I was looking up and in all directions at the sound of sheer panic that was all around me.

“What the fuck is going on?” Kang asked quickly.

“We gotta get you out of here now!” the man replied escorting him out quickly. What was happening? Was it more Slashers coming in retaliation for the club? The door was closed and so I couldn’t see anything out side. But a distant and faint roar from below made my entire body rise in relief as I realized who was here.

“Scorpion.” I said lightly.

Normal POV

The enforcer’s bio mask lead him to a large building surrounded in flashing lights. He was crouched on the roof top of the building across the street. He picked up on many heat signatures inside with humans that had weapons and humans that didn’t. At the bottom seemed to be another dancing ritual just like the last club where had initially met his mate.

He shrilled lowly looking the building up and down. All the floors were heavily guarded, but the top floor had more humans with weapons. He clicked the side of his bio mask and the same scream from earlier played in his head once more. She was in there but he couldn’t pin point her exact location until inside. He took note of all the windows in the building and one was directly in front of him. He stood back up now with a low guttural growl and began to slowly walk to the opposite side of the roof top. He rolled his shoulders and snarled heavily. He was going to kill everyone who had a weapon and he would show no mercy. He let out a sharp roar as he dashed across the building with great speed. Once he was at the edge, he jumped diving head first into the window of the second floor away from the unarmed humans.

He was already cloaked when he crashed into the window rolling on the ground and surprising the three Hu gang members guarding a door. He slowly stood up, feeling the bullets hit and ricochet off his armor as they fired upon him. He removed his black combi stick and with great speed threw it into the first human impaling him in the neck. His body was plastered to the wall causing the two men to scream and continue to fire. Scorpion moved upon them removing his spear from the wall and activated his wrist blade slicing the wrists of the second human. He screamed loudly as blood spewed from his wrists as his two hands fell to the ground still firing the gun. The human, still in shock and looking at his missing hands, didn’t even take note of the now uncloaked yautja that was standing before him.

Scorpion rammed his blade into the human’s chin creating an exit wound at the top of his skull. Scorpion raised the convulsing human off the ground causing the last human to scream in absolute horror and running down the hall. Scorpion dropped the second human and threw his combi stick quickly. It sored through the air impaling the human in the back of the head. He fell to the ground quickly. Scorpion moved over the human and removed his combi stick with a snarl. More bullets were hitting his armor and mask as he turned to the bottom of the stairs noticing multiple men firing at him. He roared and glided to the bottom of the stairs painting the stair walls with blood.

The falling of bodies onto the first floor, alerted everyone at the bottom floor causing absolute panic and mayhem. People were running and screaming, rushing over themselves to get out of the building. All the while more and more Hu gang members were rushing in to kill the threat. Scorpion immediately took to the ceiling shrouded in darkness once more as he began to use his whip constructed of a xenomorph’s tail to behead some of the men or cutting off an arm or leg.

But Scorpion knew he couldn’t waste too much time on the lower level of the floor. He had to go up. He had to get to his mate. He tucked his combi stick and his whip away and now removed one of his smart discs and immediately threw it down upon the men. It quickly sliced through each one of the Hu gang member’s stomach causing them to fall to the ground, some of them shooting each other. The disk returned to its owner and Scorpion roared as he jumped down and landed on the dance floor now soaked with blood and bodies. He knew more were coming. There weren’t enough bodies matching the amount of heavily gunned men he had seen earlier.

He figured they’d be coming down to him, but he needed to go up. He cloaked himself, extracted his wrist blade again and charged for the stairs yet again just as a group of men were coming down to rain hell fire down on him. And he met them with his blade slicing with precision. Most of the men didn’t know what they were even shooting at but they could hear the sounds of something coming at them. But it was futile. Bodies were being sliced up and kicked and thrown. Blood painted the walls as the Yautja cut down anyone who stood in his way from moving up each floor, and many were in his way. He ripped out spines, severed limbs, cut throats and sliced stomachs open. He smashed heads into the wall and felt their brains squish in his palm and then broke bone. Floor after floor he left a trail of bodies in his wake. He felt almost blood drunk as he couldn’t stop his blades from tasting hot blood and his mate’s screaming in his mask continued to fuel his rage. But with each floor he got to, his mask told him he was getting closer to her and he would reclaim what was his. Ten Hu gang members came out a stair well, and with his smart disc, he slices right through each of them, causing blood to spew onto either side of the wall before the disc returns to him.

He stepped on the dead bodies, ignoring the crunching of spines beneath his feet, and moved up to the next floor, cutting down every human he saw.

His armor was covered in blood now. After another body fell, the yautja roared loudly to the ceiling above in complete rage as he needed to find her now, right now! And a vibrant sound answered his call causing him to look around at the ceiling more. It was her, she was singing above him, calling for him so that he could find her. He was close. In response he burst through the closest window and jumped up to the window above, breaking it with his fists and entering it only to be met with gunfire yet again.

‘I am going to enjoy these kills!’  Scorpion thought to himself as he rushed the men awaiting him.

[redrascal1]

Why Rey, Finn and Poe will NEVER Be Han, Luke and Leia

I remember when Return of the Jedi was released.

As a HUGE SW fan, it was a bittersweet experience. The Skywalker Saga came to a satisfying conclusion, but I was sad that it was over and my fave characters would never grace the big screen again. I wanted to see more of them.

Then came the EU.

I never had that feeling after TROS. And it wasn't just because it was a dreadful film.

Rey, Finn and Poe just didn't possess the charisma of the OT.

I wasn't interested in any more material featuring the three of them.

Mary Sue Rey. Embarrassingly dull Finn. Tedious Poe.

I was glad I wouldn't have to sit through anything else with them in it.

Granted, much of my dislike of Finn and Poe, it was mostly Rey who was to blame for the 'dullness' of the other characters. They were stripped of their personalities to make her look good. The fawning over her was one of the most nauseating things in TROS, and actually made me wince in a lot of the scenes.

Although I have lost some of my respect of Daisy - and a LOT of my respect for John - I still like Oscar very much. And the characters were all great in TLJ.

But, the simple sad fact is....there was one character I would have loved to have seen more of. And we all know who that is.

I could have watched a hundred films, or tv series with Kylo.

Shortly before quitting the SW fan forums one poster accused me of being unfair to diss the others, when they were 'loved' by many SW fans, predominantly on the forums. The poster pointed out I would be 'back in a flash' if DLF brought back Kylo/Ben.

Which of course, is true.

I quit the forums for a number of reasons but predominantly after the revelation of Rey's forthcoming film I was forced to accept DLF had no intention of resurrecting Ben. And it made me realise that SW was unequivocally dead for me.

Without Ben Solo, son of Han and Leia, nephew of Luke, grandson of Anakin and Padme....for me, there WAS no SW. It died when Ben faded into the Force.

I actually walked out of the cinema after that. I later caught the ending on youtube, and was profoundly glad I left when I did. The heart and soul of my favourite franchise was ripped out that day.

Fair play to those who love Rey and Finn. They are expressing excitement at the former's return and the possibility of the latter joining her. and hopefully will get what they wanted. But I quit the SW forums because I have zero interest in either of them. Or talking about them.

One poster said something I agree with 100%.

'I will be happy if I never see them again.' My sentiments exactly.

SW ended not with a bang, but a whimper. I will never read, watch or take interest in it again.

I honestly had no idea when I started watching the ST that it was the beginning of the end of my forty plus year love for SW. But it was.

RIP the Skywalkers. I'm so very very sad to say goodbye to them for ever.

[chaosunleashedhehehe]

Hullo, it’s ya boi again. Bored af and you know what?? We’re back at it again with a Twilight first watch/shitpost. Enjoy!

I always like how they run like toddlers. No wait? Didn’t I see this in Chucky? 🏃🏼‍➡️🔪

Bro ur making out with your girlfriend and asking her to marry you. Lameee

Babe ur worried about divorce and you’ve been jumping on his ass for two movies now. I think ur just delulu

See Charlie is the only sane person in this entire franchise. Wanting to save his daughter from Edward, absolute father material. 10/10

Charlie really on team Jacob here. Don’t blame him 🐺💕

Edward really is the type of boyfriend who wouldn’t let you walk to the store without breathing down your neck. Hah see what I did there? But he’s husband material? Okayyy

Bella’s Mom sees the red flags too!! Bella please gurllll. 🚩🚩🚩

Aweeee her mom’s so freaking sweet! Bella pay her a visit for the life of me

STEVE IS THAT YOU??

You know what song should be playing when they’re running? Wolves- by Selena Gomez

AYYYEEEE ITS WOLF BOY!!

Edward; certified gaslighter, lover of liess

Lmao. Get recked Edward. Wolf boy’s got nards

Even Jacob’s getting roasted by the boys.

I love how welcoming the wolves are to her. Very wholesome. Yet she still chose the vampire??

THANK YOU JACOB! TALK SOME SENSE INTO HER!

Mmm yes. Pocket that shirt for later. Let the stank stink 👌🏻😤

Lmaoo. Thought the boy was going to make out with Charlie real quick

Vampires can SMELL people? Huh. Seems legit 👃🏻

“Sthap. From now on I’m Switserland, okay??”

Really at each others throats there, huh?

“Doesn’t he have a shirt?” Bro I don’t think so. He’s an aPECKS predator *rawr* 🐺

Ngl. I actually kinda like the lore with the werewolves. Idk! It’s kinda cool in the midsts of all the Bella drama.

I don’t understand why Bella can’t see her family and crap. Like-?? Charlie could vibe with it- he’d be confused but he’s vibe! He wouldn’t care

“I won’t stop fighting for you until your heart stops beating”

“Well you won’t have to fight for long :/“

LMAO THE PUNCH. SHE REALLY THOUGHT

“I kissed Bella. And she broke her hand punching my face”

Charlie: *too stunned to speak*

Awee :( Poor Rosalie. I honestly feel so bad for her. At least she got her revenge!

Omg Jojo Siwa is that you??

The sniffing of the flannel has me so freaking dead 💀💀. They mf passed it around like nacho cheese dip

Grrrrr Ima angree woof >:/ 🐺🐺🐺

Ah yes. Pet the dawgy

LMAOOO. Bella really had to put out that she’s a virgin. Charlie’s so much happier

OH SHIT WELL THAT DIDNT LAST LONG HOLY FUCK— wait nvm oh well damn

“Sorry Bella, but I don’t want you to be a slut- I only consent in marriage 👊🏻😌”

The mf awkward running with Bella.

OH SHIT THEY’RE EMERGING LIKE LOCH NESS MONSTERS

CHILDREN OF THE SEA!

“Let’s face it. I AM hotter than you 😉”

Jacob really knows how to slide into those dms- and sleeping bags

Edward mf glaring daggers at him

“She could change her mind you know” sir she has the brain capacity of a spoon. I don’t think she will

JAKE STAY- WTF YOU THINK HE IS- A DOG???

Bella you’re choosing the vampire. Why do you need to lead on the wolf too?

I love how vampire are shiny on the inside too ;)

BELLA DONT JUST SIT THERE RUN??? HIDE!! Something useful!!

Talk about a neck breaking experience!

Bro really got hurt on the last leg of the fight huh?

“That’s highly dangerous”

“Well at least you’re bullet proof!”

*and scene*

[cevans16]

I Don’t Hate You, I Like You

Summary: Sebastian seems to get along with everyone except you. Why is that?

You had the role as Tony’s best friend in the Avengers. You had been part of the MCU since the beginning of the franchise. You always got along with the cast, you were real-life best friends with Chris Evans however there was one exception, Sebastian. No matter what you asked him, he always seemed to only give you one word answers, you weren’t sure as to why since you had always been friendly to him. 

You guys were reuniting for the next installment of the Avengers. You had arrived earlier from your vacation in Australia with Chris Hemsworth and his family whom had invited you to their place in Byron Bay. You were looking for your best friend Chris Evans but had yet to find him however you did spot Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan. They were both alone conversing with each other, you decided to walk up to say hi, you noticed Sebastian was very talkative with Anthony until he saw you coming up to them. You honestly had enough with him always being quiet when you were around, you didn’t want it to be like this again when filming for the next months so you decided to confront him about it. 

“Hey Mackie!” you said pulling him in for a hug, “Hey how’s it going?!” he replied excitedly. 

“Good! I just came back from Australia, hey Sebastian” you said smiling up at him. He whispered a shy “Hi” to you while looking down and away from your eyes. 

“Soooooo I didn’t know THIS man actually talked” you said to Mackie referring to Sebastian. “What do you mean? He talks all the time!” Mackie said. 

“No I have to pull the words out of him when I try to talk to him” you chuckled, you saw Sebastian’s cheeks turn pink but you decided not to comment on it. 

“Well its because he’s my friend” Sebastian replied a little harsher than he intended to. You felt yourself gasp at his response, you didn’t understand why he had always been quiet with you but you didn’t know that he disliked you too. Mackie didn’t say anything, he himself was surprised at Sebastian’s remark to you. 

“I see, so it’s personal. No worries Sebastian, I guess not everyone can get along right” you said cutting him off when he tried to say something else. “Anyways have you guys seen Evans?” you said looking around for any sign of the Bostonian. Luckily he was coming up to you guys just in time to save you from the awkwardness. 

“Heyyyyyy, I’m glad you’re back, you wouldn’t believe the shit that happened to me while you were gone. What’s up guys” he said to you and the boys. 

“Tell me about it over snacks” you said instantly pulling him away with you to head towards the snack bar they had set up. 

“Fucking shit, what the fuck did I ever do to him” you said annoyed to Chris

“What are you talking about?” he asked you confused

“Sebastian, I thought he was shy but no. I basically asked him why he’s quiet with me and he said well Mackie is my friend in like a douche-y tone. I didn’t do shit to him” you rambled on to Chris while you stuffed your face with a chocolate bar. You noticed his lips curve up in a devilish grin. 

“What’s so funny?” you asked him

“You like him don’t you?” he asked. You didn’t like Sebastian, you couldn’t, especially with the way he was towards you. You did think he was a handsome guy and you always felt butterflies whenever you saw him. But no one could know that, not even your best friend. 

“Pfttt no he’s not....no” you said stumbling with your words. 

“Yeah that was convincing” he snorted. 

“Shut up Evans, you’re supposed to be on my side” you said defensively. 

“I am but as a best friend I can also tell you have a thing for him, maybe you should tell him” he said. 

“Oh fuck off, not after what he said to me five minutes ago....but I DON’T like him” you enunciated the last words. 

“You keep telling yourself that sweetheart” he smirked at you. You playfully smacked his shoulder. You turned to look where Sebastian was, he was in the same place you had left him and Mackie. He looked over at you, shyly smiling, you didn’t smile back but returned an eye roll. 

The Following Day

You were all cooped up in a van heading towards Jimmy Kimmel’s show. You were sited in between Evans and Hemsworth. The three of you together were chaos in the best way possible; very loud, slightly obnoxious, childish, but the cast wouldn’t have it any other way. The three of you were uncontrollably laughing about something dumb Evans had said, you were to the point of tears.

Sebastian was on the seat behind you next to Mackie. Mackie had noticed that Sebastian always stole glances your way but he never said anything until now. 

“You know maybe you should tell her how you feel” Mackie whispered to him

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” Sebastian said in his best way to sound nonchalant.

“You know EXACTLY what I am talking about” Mackie said motioning his head to your direction, “plus you should apologize for yesterday, that was a little fucked up” he said. Sebastian nodded his head in agreement, “I will apologize but that is it” he replied. Sebastian did like you, he liked you a lot but was afraid to overstep any boundaries. He hated that he always froze whenever you would try to talk with him and definitely hated himself for how he responded to you yesterday. He felt like an asshole when he saw the look on your face, he didn’t blame you. 

------------------------------------------

“Alright! So you are all going to play musical beers!” Jimmy Kimmel said, next explaining the game. You weren’t much of a beer person but loved to compete so you agreed to participate. 

“Okay so the final team is.....Chris Hemsworth, Robert, and (Y/N)” Kimmel said. 

Robert, Hemsy and you walked to form your group together.

“We’re going to win” Hemsy said excitedly

“You bet your ass” Robert replied. You were going to say something when you heard Evans taunting you, he was paired up with Sebastian and Mackie. You were really hoping that Evans wouldn’t mention anything about you to Sebastian but you weren’t entirely convinced. 

You were going around the circle dancing around when the music stopped, somehow Sebastian mixed up the rules and began to drink from a red solo cup. “Not yet Sebastian!!!” Jimmy yelled at him causing Sebastian to spit out his drink back into the cup, the audience yelled in disgust and laughter. You were laughing about it feeling sorry for the person who would have to drink it.

Ten minutes later it was down to your team and Evans team for the tie breaker. You were moonwalking back and forth when the music abruptly stopped, you realized where you had stopped in front of....Sebastian’s cup. You tried to play it off by slowly moving onto the next part of the circle but Chris Evans being Chris Evans made sure you had to drink it. 

“No, nooo sweetie stay where you are” Chris said to you laughing

You turned around for Hemsworth or Downey for any defense, they looked at you with puppy dog eyes hoping you would do it so you could win.

“Just take one for the team” Downey said

“Right since you’re not the one that’s ABOUT TO DRINK SEBASTIAN’S SPIT!” you said 

“We are ABOUT TO WIN (Y/N)” Downey yelled back

“FINE, YOU OWE ME” you yelled. The chaos with the situation was causing the audience to erupt in laughter and sympathy for your own situation.

You took a deep breath, grabbing the cup off the table, you turned to look Sebastian dead in his eyes and said “Cheers to your spit” before chugging it down quickly. Sebastian stood there frozen, one he felt bad that out of all people it was you, two he didn’t know why he was turned on by how you took it like a champ.

“It wasn’t that bad” you said chuckling, “WE WIN SUCKERS” you said slamming the cup towards Evans who was rolling his eyes even though he knew you would do it to win. 

You, Robert and Hemsworth jumped up and down in excitement for winning, they brought the three of you mini trophies that said ‘Champions of Musical Beers’.

“Yes! And I would love to nominate myself as MVP. It took blood, sweat and spit to win it” you joked. 

Once you were done with the show, you all collectively walked towards the nearest bar. You were deep in conversation with Robert about space shuttles while Evans and Mackie were grilling poor Sebastian about his crush on you. 

“He doesn’t like her, he lovvesss her” Evans taunted, giving Mackie and opportunity to join in, “And the plus side, she’ll drink your spit”

“Can you guys stop” Sebastian said laughing while he ran his hands through his long hair, “I’m in deep shit aren’t I?”, “YEP” Mackie and Evans replied in unison. They came up with a plan to get you and Sebastian alone. 

You walked inside the bar ordering your food while the rest of the cast grabbed a high-top table on the corner of the place. You thought they were there until you only saw Evans drinking the last of his beer there. 

“Where’s everyone else?” you asked looking around, Evans turned to you shrugging. You sat next to him, taking a batch of fries into your mouth, you had done the wrong thing in drinking two cocktails first rather than eating. 

“This is a cool place huh” Chris said taking his food from you, “Yeah it’s neat” you replied. About five minutes later you were finishing up your fries, Evans taking the occasional one when you noticed Sebastian was heading to your table. You rolled your eyes at the sight of him, he caught that. 

“Someone isn’t happy to see me” he commented once he was in front of you and Evans. 

“Mhmmm we’re not friends remember” you replied snarkily

Sebastian sighed, “Look about that I am so so-”

“Save the bullshit, we don’t have to get along. Where’s everyone else?” you asked. 

He shrugged, “Fuck I know, bathroom, upstairs drinking, some left”

“Well I am going to get another drink want one?” you asked Evans directly, he nodded at you. 

“Can I sit with you guys?” Sebastian asked, you looked at Chris who nodded, you shrugged and walked away heading back to the bar. While you waited for your drinks you looked around to see any sign of the rest of your group, no one in sight, where had they gone you asked yourself.

You came back with three drinks, one for you, one for Chris and one for Sebastian, you were annoyed with him but felt bad in not asking if he would like a drink. 

You passed the beers to Chris and Sebastian who politely thanked you and was surprised that you knew what he normally ordered. 

“I’m leaving back to the hotel” Chris abruptly said

“What, you just said you were having a good time here” you replied

“Nahhh I’m getting sleepy, here Sebs you can have my drink” Chris said pushing the beer over to him. He was about to get up from his seat when you grabbed his arm. 

“Wait for me” you said to Chris, you didn’t want to be alone with Sebastian. You didn’t catch Sebastian’s eyes open in panic that their plan was about to fail. 

“(Y/N) you still have your drink and Sebastian doesn’t like those so don’t think about passing it over to him” Chris said. 

You looked over to Chris and then Sebastian, you picked up your cocktail chugging it quickly before hopping off your seat when you toppled over.

“Whoah, one too many” Chris chuckled catching you in time

“Exactly, I will not be here any longer” you said 

“(Y/N), can I talk to you?” Sebastian spoke up loud enough for you to hear. 

“WHy you already said sorry remember” you said annoyed to him

“(Y/N) come on” Chris said in defense

“Why, he clearly doesn’t want to be my friend, so I’m not kissing his ass” you said even more annoyed. Chris looked you dead in the eyes, an expression he didn’t give you often but it basically said to not be an asshole.

“Fine, two minutes” you said to Sebastian

“After you” he said getting up from his seat

“I’ll wait for you outside” Chris said to you

You walked ahead of Sebastian towards the restrooms where it was a bit quieter and more private. You stopped to face him, he leaned on the wall fidgeting with the zipper on his jacket, not saying a word. The alcohol in your system had kicked in because you were feeling extra blunt. 

“Okay, here’s the thing Sebastian. I get along with everyone, I love to hang out with you guys, we work so much and it never feels exhausting. I tried to be your friend the moment I met you, what I did to you I have no fucking clue, but we are not in elementary or high school for you to be a dick to me” you said.

You calling Sebastian a dick irked him, that wasn’t him, he didn’t want you to think that about him.

“I’m not a dick, you’re not entirely nice to me” he said

“That’s bullshit, I tried to talk to you the most polite way. What you want me to get on my fucking knees and suck your dick?!” you said feeling yourself get agitated with him. 

“Uhhhh yes” he blurted out, oh shit he thought. 

“Excuse ME?! Fuck this” you said walking away from him. 

“(Y/N)! Fuck I’m sorry that’s not what I meant, yes I do, noooo, okay shut up for a second Sebastian” he started rambling following you out the bar. You quickly walked towards Chris who had in fact waited for you. The look he saw on your face wasn’t good, he knew he wouldn’t hear the end of it for doing this to you.

“He wants me to suck his fucking dick” you exasperated to Chris. Chris laughed at the comment but was confused to how the conversation went there. 

“(Y/N) stop please” you heard Sebastian say, “What?!” you yelled at him this time. 

“I don’t hate you....I like you. I thought you were fucking gorgeous the moment I met you but I don’t know why you make me so fucking nervous that I freeze, I’m afraid I am going to say the wrong shit like I just did two fucking seconds ago back there. I like you more than a friend and being a dick is not an excuse, I didn’t mean for yesterday to sound mean. I am so sorry and I hope you forgive me” he said exhaling loud at the end.

“Annnnnddd?” Chris added in

“Fuck.... and I hope you would like to go out on a date with me...please” Sebastian said to you more quietly and shy this time. 

“Let me try this first” you said walking to Sebastian, you pulled his face down to yours to kiss him. His lips were soft, the taste of alcohol and the smell of his cologne intoxicated you more than you already were. He kissed you back passionately, cupping his hands around your face, you guys fought over dominating each others tongue until you won by tugging his hair. 

“Uhmmmmm guys” you heard Chris pull you out of your intimate moment. You pulled back to look at him and realized the rest of the cast was there. 

“Well I fucking walked in to an amazing show” Robert joked.

You laughed, feeling yourself blush, you weren’t one for PDA. You turned to look at Sebastian who was blushing just the same. 

“So is that a yes on a date?” he asked you

“Definitely a yes, although I won’t suck your dick” you teased him. He gasped at you saying that out loud in front of the cast.

“Well YET” Lizzie said unexpectedly 

“Lizzie?!?!!” you yelled over to her

“Whatttt? You already drank his spit, swapped it with each other” she said shrugging. 

[dastardlydandelion]

my thoughts on fear street 1666 now that i finished scrubbing all the toilets, got to go home and watch it

holy shit. that movie. wow. 

it wasn’t as fun as the other two. didn’t employ the same campy tropes. didn’t present itself in a flourish of period typical style. while i enjoyed the first two films paying homage to classic horror tropes and making the most of the stylish side of their respective environments, i am v grateful and relieved that 1666 *wasn’t* as fun as the other two and actually presented the horror of puritan fanaticism and witch accusations more srsly. imo it portrayed that grave, twisting dread that the subject matter calls for. i appreciate that bc i think i would’ve been uncomfortable if they attempted to do smth more campy with the time period given what we already knew abt the circumstances of sarah’s death even before the film. 

more of me blathering on and on abt fear street 1666 under the cut: 

the twist actually worked on me this time. they actually got me on this one, u guys. i rly watched this franchise believing sarah fier was possessing ppl and wreaking her vengeance on the town, but this whole time it was the fuckin’ goodes. nick, i never liked u, i think ur more interesting than i did before before when u were a generic as generic gets asshole, so now ur somewhat more interesting but even bigger of an asshole than i gave u credit for. ur literally the worst asshole of assholes, ur a walking infected hemorrhoidal rectum of a human being. 

don’t get me wrong, i always thought sarah was going to be portrayed sympathetically. i never doubted that. my theory was that sarah was going to be a sympathetic villain. i thought 1666 would’ve revealed why she cursed shadyside. i figured she would’ve cursed her townsfolk for turning their backs on her, maybe, or hurting/killing hannah, or using her for her witchcraft and then getting angry if it backfired on them, or smth like that. i thought we were going to watch a story abt sarah’s descent into darkness and while she’d defo be a tragic villain, she rly would be the person behind the possessions...but it wasn’t even her. she and hannah were just vulnerable to the town’s suspicion and persecution bc they were queer women who didn’t behave the way society wanted them to behave. and they were blamed for evil actually wrought by heterosexual men in power, and when sarah realized there was no way out of it, she took the blame upon herself so hannah was spared and she cursed only the goode family?? 

THAT IS SO MUCH BETTER. FUCK. THAT IS SUCH A BETTER STORY. kudos to this trilogy for being more intelligent than it ever had to be, when it could’ve just skated on the notoriety of the fear street series, the style, and billing notable cast members. 

so yeh, i defo 100% appreciated the goode men from wealthy sunnyvale being revealed as the true villains. i actually got my wish of nick getting killed in the face. i love that sarah possessed deena to do it herself!!! and deena!! oh man, i love deena so much. she was wearing a homebrew vest to protect herself made of fear street novels + duct tape, u gotta love it. ig she wanted to prepare herself since sam stabbed her at the end of 1994. on that note, she’s v active in this film for someone who has a fresh abdominal stab wound and i mean, the situation defo calls for it, but i hope she remembered to properly dress it and take a couple ibuprofen or smth. shit, i’m gettin distracted again. okay!! 

i loved errything that went down in the mall. i adore that josh and adult ziggy got more time to shine. i was so! so! happy at martin’s inclusion on the action. he deserved that after the way nick treated him in 1994. our occupations are also p similar so i defo relate to martin on that front. i loved it all the neon and blacklight stuff at the mall. that part was v stylish, that was p cool. spraying the killers with the blood so they kill each other!! yes! that was perfect!! it was incredibly practical and enjoyable for me, as a gore fan, to watch. 

i liked the sticky note on the wall at the end from deena and josh’s dad, that he had a job interview. i wonder if this is bc the curse of shadyside has been lifted with the end of the goodes?? 

yk, i feel like now knowing what we know abt the actual evil, i gotta wonder how much re-watch value there is to be gleaned from this trilogy. for example, in 1978, nick liked ziggy and didn’t want her to die. he performed cpr on her even tho she’d been stabbed a fuck ton of times and tbvh, the chances of success of resuscitation depending on what exactly it is was ziggy succumbed to seem v slim. at first i attributed this to a suspension of disbelief bc this is fiction (and to be fair crazy do happen sometimes irl, ykw, sometimes reality can surprise u) BUT now i’m sittin here like...was the cpr successful bc nick’s deal with the devil gave him the power to do that?? did his bargaining of others’ souls and offering them up for possession grant him the ability to have some control in that situation somehow? at least more than a normal human being should?? idk. it’s a thought. 

what else, what else? 

i feel like outta the three, 1666 had the most tension overall. i was p gosh darn emo abt the relationships. deena and sam’s relationship i’ve cared abt since the beginning but the contrast of them getting the opportunity to have it and be together, in parallel to the way sarah and hannah’s ended just moves u. or, it moved me at least. sarah tells hannah they’ll go somewhere and kiss in broad daylight before kissing her in almost total darkness, and then the film ends on deena and sam kissing in the sun. i was also glad deena and josh’s sibling relationship got touched on a lil bit more. thought it was cute that she tried to cook for him and produced smth that just dead ass looks inedible. i also thought it was sweet that ziggy reunited with nurse lane. she can do that now, she can leave her house without fearing the return of the curse, and she deserves it. <3

i’m impressed with the trilogy overall. each movie easily could’ve been an r-rated goosebumps episode and imo all were certainly better than that. i feel like each film was better than the previous, but personally enjoyed each one. some things were p predictable but i think much of that is intentional. 1994 and 1978 were clearly paying homage to classic slashers and familiar horror tropes. i personally didn’t find the predictability off-putting bc i recognized what they were trying to do, and felt the quality in the other elements made up for it. i was genuinely shocked by the actual villain reveal, i personally didn’t predict that. again, i always thought sarah was going to be sympathetic and i never liked nick at all, but i didn’t suspect sarah was just. dead ass *not* going to be a villain or that he was going to be the big bad. 

really dug the style of these films. loved that we got an interracial lesbian couple who made it thru the trilogy without either the predatory lesbian trope or the byg trope happening. i liked most of the characters we got to know and the only character who *rly* grated on my nerves was the villain who got stabbed in the eye. 

gosh, i want more fear street movies!! if i had to pick one outta any of the slashers featured, i’d want to see ruby lane’s story. i would like to see this production team milking the most outta the environment in the 50s, the style of the 50s, music, and whatnot. i enjoyed nurse lane even tho she was super bad at murder, so it’d be cool to see her again and who she was before her daughter got possessed and killed 7 ppl. also, ruby sings when she kills?? 

that’s weird and creepy and neat. totally down for it. 

[lazysublimeengineer]

life is death we’re lengthy at

Title: life is death we’re lengthy at

Characters: Hanagaki "Takemitchy" Takemichi & Kawaragi Senju

Summary: A lost, fragile moment between two kindred souls before Takeomi arrives and shattered the remaining threads of peace that bound them together.

(A/N: I own nothing from this franchise except this fic of mine. A guest reader of mine from one of my fics asked me if I write for heterosexual pairings like for Senju x Takemichi. And my answer is yes and this request is dedicated to you my guest reader of mine. I write fics regardless if they’re heterosexual or not. I always consider if a certain pairing has the chemistry and potential to be great or not. And I already wrote Sentake one-shots in the past. But this time it will be in-depth with Senju as a woman as a canon reveals in the manga and Takemichi as a man. Also, apologies if I wasn’t able to write it as a fluffy and light one with just them hanging out as requested and it ended up total angst. Writing pure fluff is a challenging concept especially in TR verse. But I’m still hoping that you enjoyed this and maybe in the future I will be able to write a pure lighthearted story for these lovely characters.)

life is death we’re lengthy at

- Emily Dickinson

“Hanagaki…” Senju watched Takemichi’s face who was blank yet his eyes were wrought with undeniable shock and misery upon learning Draken’s untimely death. She was unsure of how to approach him in his current state but seeing him like this made something inside of her break.

Takemichi wasn’t crying this time.

But Senju knew that it was much worse.

From the first few interactions that she had with the blond, she knew that Takemichi was always an emotional person who wore his heart on his sleeve. His emotions were always reflected in his expressive blue eyes that reminded her of the depths of the ocean. She didn’t witness directly on his notoriety of crying at the things that would trigger his active tear ducts and would be dubbed as the crybaby hero by the people who knew him better. But somehow, she preferred seeing his genuine tears rather than this. How his face was devoid of anything and his mind was too far, far away as if his soul had already slipped away from his body.

Somehow Takemichi’s lack of response right now was much more terrible. His silence alone was suffocating.

Senju wanted to reach out to him and enveloped him into her arms just like he did earlier when he saved her from the gunshots that were meant for her.

But she couldn’t. Her body froze and all she could do now was to watch his silent wretchedness in quiet misery. She clenched her fists inside her oversized jacket, blinking back the fresh tears that threatened to fall out of her eyes.

No. She couldn’t lose her remaining cool and grace in front of Takemichi. She needed to have a presence of mind. What Takemichi needed right now was a break and an anchor to lean on in this miserable situation that they’re in.

“Hanagaki!” She called out to him as she finally approached him. “What’ll we do now?”

That seemed to erase out the daze from his eyes and brought him back to his senses and he looked at her with a trembling yet apologetic smile on his face. “Ah, I’m sorry about that Senju. I didn’t catch what you’re saying. Can you repeat that back to me…?” His voice was like a dying candle, growing fainter in each syllable that passed from his lips.

“Hanagaki…” Her eyes grew serenely downcast as she watched him struggled to get his bearings back together in vain yet she knew that with just one mighty push he would probably crumble down to the ground and break down crying.

It made something snapped inside of her and her feet automatically walked towards him and closed down the remaining distance between the two of them. Her arms encasing him in a light yet fragile embrace, fearing that he would shatter like glass if she didn’t handle him properly.

“Hanagaki it’s alright if you feel like crying… You don’t have to try so hard to stop those tears and you can let everything go…” She whispered in a hushed voice.

She felt him froze in her arms for a few seconds.

Senju tried to steady her breath and calm down her stuttering heart inside her chest. Takemichi was the one who was suffering right now but why does it feel like she’s the one who needed to be cradled right now and calms down her thundering heart inside her chest?

Every second that passed them by seemed like a lifetime. It’s as if they’re both in a space of vacuum where everything seemed to melt into nothingness and all they could feel and hear was the beating of their hearts that grew louder as each moment slipped them by.

That was until Senju felt that Takemichi shook slightly within her arms, his shoulders were quivering beside her. He wasn’t whimpering or anything but she could sense that he was slowly crashing down from the abyss of misery and the remaining control that he had was finally slipping away.

“I don’t understand anything Senju… Why is everything turning out like this…? Draken… He…” Takemichi’s breath hitched as his voice cracked.

“He died in front of me… And I couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it… Are we not allowed to be happy? Can’t we have a moment of victory without the asking price of taking someone’s life?” He added brokenly as his body quaked helplessly against hers.

Each word felt like a punch to the gut and Senju tried to have a tight grip on her emotions, refusing to cry in front of him. No. Takemichi does not need for her to lose control right now. What he needed right now was someone to lean on in his most vulnerable state. But hearing how defeated and tired he sounded didn’t seem to make it better.

“Hana-.” She paused before she continued speaking again and finally used his first name.

“Takemichi it’s fine if you feel tired… You can take a rest but I want you to know that you’re not alone in this fight. Draken is dead but I’m certain that he’s not blaming you for all of this and he still trusted you with his life until the very end.” She murmured as her hand had slowly moved in its own accord and rubbed on his back soothingly.

Takemichi’s breath caught in his own throat as he felt her soft hands on his back and his body went slack and pliant in her arms. The tight cord of tension in his body caused by his overwrought emotions was slowly replaced by a feeling of something peaceful and tranquil but the numbness was still there.

The gaping hole of wretchedness festered inside his heart.

Takemichi was only a breadth away from her. The opportunity was there to claim his lips in a gentle kiss to make him feel human again. To soothe his broken soul and troubled mind in the tranquility of her arms. And to pick up the pieces of his shattered heart from the onslaught of grief and anvil of burdens on his shoulders.

But was it the right thing to do?

In the end, Senju couldn’t do it.

Senju couldn’t take advantage of his defenseless state. She can serve as his steady rock in the storm of obstacles and his torment but she knew her place.

And it wasn’t inside his heart.

But for as long Takemichi needed her strength she will be there not because she owed him her life but because she wanted to.

That’s what her heart wished her to do.

‘As long as I’m breathing Takemichi you will never carry your burdens alone because I care about you too much.’ She thought with a wry smile on her face.

(A/N: This was inspired by the recent chapter of the manga. Wakui did really go there. At this point of the arc it was having a competition on who to traumatize more: Mikey or Takemichi. Reviews are fascinating. So, let me hear them from you.)

[gronjon44]

Ok so I just finished Jurrasic Park: Camp Cretacious and honestly? So freaking rad.

Some mini highlights (without spoilers)

Yaz and Sammy are the best (I kept seeing stuff about the LGBT community in the CC fandom and like... idk what that'd about but if I had to genuinely ship anyone in this despite their being children it'd be Yaz and Sammy THEYRE SO CUTE

Kenji had an ACTUAL ARC (my boy got to do so much more this time around THANK YOU FOR LETTING HIM BE IN CHARGE)

Ben is STILL ANNOYING but for genuinely heartfelt reasons (also I was REALLY EXPECTING a big battle between Bumpy and the S-Rex)

Brooklynn and Darius are both awesome as always and the way the finally brought back his dad's love of the Gallimimus was really cute and IT MADE ME KINDA SAD

Now, bumping into spoiler territory here so you've been spoiler warned;

Wu making an actual appearance in S3 was something i genuinely wasn't expecting and seeing more interactions with him snd Brooklynn was really fun actually (Hawke and the mercenaries were generic mercenaries so there they've been honorably mentioned)

I'm not gonna lie S3 did what I wanted Fallen Kingdom to do with the horror element (the way it actually had MORE DEATH felt more like Jurrasic Park, the constant worry about the S-Rex and the utter chaos of the Islands shift in balance was super rad)

This is minor but WHEN WILL WE GET THE SPINOSAURUS BACK YOU ALMOST DID IT WITH THE OURONASURUS YOURE ALMOST THERE

There's more but I don't wanna make this unbearably long so click the read more

Every new dinosaur inclusion was rad, both in refference to other media and just Dinosaurs in general, but I wanna dedicate a moment to talk about the Scorpius Rex (oh look I remembered the name)

Scorpius Rex is everything I wanted the Indoraptor to be. Whereas the Indoraptor felt like a B-Grade version of the I-Rex whereas the Scorpius Rex felt more like an actual character.

Scorpius felt like a genuine threat that no one knew about and then the reveal that *SPOILER* there are 2 S-Rexs *insert Ian Malcolm quote here* was actually a really awesome twist (also the constant threat of Sammy almost dying was a nice touch cause THANK YOU JURRASIC PARK UNIVERSE FOR NOT BEING AFRAID TO ALMOST KILL KIDS)

But there's one thing about the Scorpius I wanna talk about that just sticks with me.

The Scorpius is stated to be the first hybrid before the Indoninous Rex but was kept hidden due to it being unstable, though we're never shown why outside of it being much more aggressive.

Wu goes on record stating it's unstable behavior and appearance are part of why it was kept hidden and like, you can't blame him with the appearance of it at least the I-Rex LOOKS like a semi plausible Dinosaur.

But then I got thinking, what about tbis hybrid could make it so unstable? What DNA was used to make it that could've turned it into a Savage monster?

Well if its a predecessor to the I-Rex we can assume they're mostly similar in DNA Makeup (the official Indominus Rex DNA Makeup consists of Abelisaurus, Carnotaurus, Majungasaurus, Rugops, Giganotosaurus, and Velociraptor DNA)

We also know the I-Rex has other DNA in it such as Cuttlefish , Tree frog, Pit Viper, and Chameleon DNA.

The Scorpius Rex likely had all the same base DNA as the I-Rex (T-Rex, Carnotaurus, Giganotosaurus, and Velociraptor, as well as some unnamed ones we might not be aware of Wu states that it gets its name and poisonous nature from the Scorpion Fish)

And we can see it has some similar traits to the I-Rex such as the Pit Viper and Tree Frog DNA.

But something about just doesn't seem... right. Something about it it seems more unnatural, almost more like a different animal entirely...

I'm almost 100% sure that the Scorpius Rex has Human DNA mixed within that melting pot of a monstrosity.

There's actually a bit of evidence that points to this I think (bare with me)

Look at how it stands and acts.

It doesn't quite stand like a natural dinosaur. You can argue that it stands like hunched over Tyrannosaurus or even a really fucked up Therizinosauria (which is stated to the JP Wiki to be mixed in with the Indominus Rex's DNA)

But even then it still doesn't stand naturally, and if you watch it run/walk it runs almost like a person when they try to run on all fours, it's forearms stretching out further then what most natural Dinosaurs do.

Now consider its intelligence.

This thing is MUCH more intelligent then most of the other Dinosaurs (bordering close to human as is) but that could be excused as the Raptor DNA like with the I-Rex, but it borders closer to human then you'd think it would (I don't have much to say for this one as it can be excused as Raptor DNA)

It's physical appearance

Now it's appearance can be attriebuted to mutplie factors (the shorter face could be a feature inherited from the Giganotosaurus or even the Carnotaurus since they have shorter faces); it's arms could be attributes inherited from anything (Raptor arms, T-Rex arms etc) but what gets me is the fact that it borders on having actual hands (its claws are much longer then any of the species it shares DNA with) and its arms are much longer then a T-Rex or a Velociraptor)n

Now this is a big one for me, but the scream

Alot of animals tend to have borderline human screams/howls and when you hear it in the wild and just think "Who tf is getting murdered rn?" Yeah the Scorpius is like that but worse; every dinosaur in the franchise has been shown to have either a natural sounding roar or even just some really loud growls and or howls. None of them have been shown to really scream or howl. Then the Scorpius just shows up and makes the Deer scream sound weak in comparison; Hell even Kenji makes a comment about it and th3 visible discomfort everyone feels when it screams shows that none of them would have even come close to being prepared for something of that scale.

Finally THIS CONCEPT ART

Anyone who's anyone remembers this concept art, and the idea that accompanied this where they did at one point consider human/dinosaur hybrids. And look me dead in the eye and try telling me there isn't SOME similarity between the S-Rex and this old art.

Thats about the gist of it so I'd like to end this off by saying this:

The Indoraptor is a bitch and the Scorpius Rex is the villain we deserved for Jurrasic World: Fallen Kingdom.

[theliterateape]

We Killed Jason Todd

By Matt Markman

In 1988 my friends and I killed a kid.

He was just a boy really. We had help it wasn’t just me and my pals. there were adults involved, lots of them. I mean we were young we were just thirteen and really couldn’t comprehend the ramification of our actions, the adults knew what they were doing. I’m painting it to sound way more sinister than it was, and in today’s society, wouldn’t trend on Twitter but maybe in the ’80s, it was probably considered quite ominous.

To set your mind at ease, it was Jason Todd. You know, Batman's sidekick, The Boy Wonder, Robin—well, the second Robin anyways. And I helped kill him.

I was big into comic books but my favorite was, The Dark Knight, The Caped Crusader, The Batman… He donned the best costume, he had all the money and was the most intelligent of all the superheroes. That last trait right there, the fact that he was considered a superhero and he had no actual super powers made him cooler than the other side of the pillow. You know how The Big Bang Theory has convinced the world it’s an Emmy-winning sitcom worth watching? I think it’s the fact that Batman was someone any one of us could actually be. Sure we needed to start with a base coat of genius followed by a splash of handsome billionaire playboy then train overseas in martial arts for several years, but if you had those things you, too, could be a vigilante. You ask me today and I'd stand by the fact that Batman would beat Superman in a fight, say ten out of ten times. This is not debatable because super beings from another planet are not real.

My favorite thing about Batman, though, is his ability to balance out good and evil. He spawned one of the greatest comic book villains and fictional characters ever created, The Joker. They have tried and tried again but in my opinion never got close to the Clown Prince of Crime—maybe Negan from The Walking Dead, he's pretty ruthless. The Joker is what would happen if a stand-up comedian became a criminal mastermind, so basically the plot of the 2019 film Joker.

My love for Joker made sense because growing up I was always more into the bad guys than the good guys. Watching and playing with G.I.Joe, I was always on the side of Cobra Commander, the twins Tomax and Xamot, and Zartan because they were always more glamorous and eye-catching than the boring ass Joes. Just once, I’d like that “knowing is half the battle” part at the end of the cartoon to have been Storm Shadow giving us kids a tip on how to fuck up Shipwreck and his stupid Parrot. Megatron, Skeletor, Shredder, Mumm-ra…

The list goes on, but the antagonists always resonated with me. they had a much better and more intriguing agenda than the good guys did. I know that wasn't the purpose, we were supposed to cheer on the good guys, like the idea of saving the world and all, but the mayhem… It’s like Alfred Pennyworth said, “Some men just want to watch the world burn.” It’s odd because the bad guys in my life were real, the bullies and I didn't like them at all. They tormented me daily unprovoked because I was short and had big ears. Perhaps my love for the dark side stemmed for my desire to be on that side because in real life there was no Superman swooping in to rescue me from the clutches of Lex Luthor. 

There were two sides, and good had a lack of champions looking out for the weaker, smaller good guys. The bad guys in my neighborhood, well, they were real and never really foiled and more importantly, they always got the girl in the end. Fuck the good guys!

My admiration for evildoers achieving their agenda was tested in 1988, Batman was running a four-part series called A Death in the Family. It was your typical Batman arc. Somehow, The Joker was going to get the upper hand on The World’s Greatest Detective only to be bested in the end by Batman. But this time, the third comic decided to do something nobody had never seen in the industry. The writers were going to give the fans the opportunity to decide where they were going to go with the story, only it was an option between two different roads, one quite unconventional. Apparently a few years earlier, one of the writers, Dennis O'Neil, had seen a sketch they did on SNL where Eddie Murphy held up a Lobster—Larry the Lobster—and was asking viewers to decide whether Larry was boiled and eaten or was to be set free. The choices were offered in the form of two phone numbers both costing fifty cents a call. One number was a vote for him to be freed and the other number was a vote for Larry to be murdered, smothered in butter, and devoured by Axel Foley. Ultimately, after nearly 500,000 calls, the people voted for Larry the lovable lobster to be pardoned with a 12,000 call margin. The popularity of this bit intrigued O'Neil and A few years later he decided to implement it in his Death in The Family storyline.

In the third book, The Joker had taken Batman's sidekick, the Boy Wonder, hostage. He’d beaten him bloody with a crowbar leaving a cliffhanger to be wrapped up in the fourth book. The last page of the comic was full page and at the top read in true ’80s Do the Right Thing fashion: “Robin will die because The Joker wants revenge, but you can prevent it with a telephone call!” They even phrased it to steer you down the hero’s path, like you can literally be Batman with one phone call. Underneath the imploring verbiage were two numbers, dial one number; The Joker fails and Robin lives, Batman would once somehow saves the day. However, call this other number and The Joker succeeds and Robin dies. Gruesomely.

Wow! They were going to let the fans decide the fate of Robin, really this was one of my earliest introductions to a reality voting competition type show. In my opinion, it was a bad idea. Robin was always the worst. Go back and read through an adventure or two involving Jason Todd and tell me he wasn't always whiney and bellyaching. He was never going to be iconic or cool like Bruce Wayne or even his predecessor Dick Grayson—the first Robin. See, Dick got pissed off, decided he was tired of being in Batman's shadow, ditched the Robin costume, threw on a black blue and gold costume, moved to another city and became Nightwing. Dick was a go getter, ambitious. Grayson’s Robin was a winner, Todd's Robin was an irritating little bitch; he was not an innocent lobster.

I went to my mother and asked if I could make a call that was going to cost just fifty cents and I would pay her back or she could just take it out of my allowance. She wanted to know what it was for and mostly wanted to confirm it wasn't for an adult sex line, which costs more than fifty cents a minute, but that’s a different story. It was nothing as tawdry as phontercourse, I just wanted to help murder an annoying teenage sidekick. My mother response was “Oh, yeah, that’s fine.”

I think after it was exposed that it wasn't phone sex anything else I said went in one ear and out the other, surely she didn't think I was actually voting for a plucky comic book sidepiece to be murdered by The Joker. So that’s what I did. I cast my vote along with a majority of DC comic book fans that shared my detest for the boy wonder. Ten thousand votes were recorded with a narrow margin going to Robin dying. I think the writers never suspected that fans would go that route.

O’Neal himself voted for Robin’s stay of execution. A man of his word, Batman issue #429 was released and Robin was killed by The Joker in an explosion and we were to blame for it. Sad to say but you give a bunch of comic book nerds the power I think it would go bad every time. That day we were all proud to be The Joker's henchmen. I felt like a soldier at the end of Star Wars cheering madly while The Joker received his metal shouting, “I helped that happen!”

So many shows these days embrace our fascination with the anti-hero with the success of The Sopranos, The Shield, Breaking Bad, hell Narcos had me rooting for Pablo Escobar—Pablo fucking Escobar. I wouldn't say I was a bad person growing up. Quite the contrary, I was a shy nerd with no power to do anything but pick my books up after they were smacked to the ground. What I’m saying is don't give me the power to make important life or death decisions with your franchise because myself and the other dorks will have the bodies of Orko, Snarf, and Jimmy Olson lying in a shallow grave, just tell me what number to dial… or text.

Matt started performing standup comedy in 2004 in Las Vegas and is now a regular at every major comedy club on the Las Vegas strip. He released his first comedy album in 2016 titled Uncut available on iTunes. More about Matt and his upcoming appearances can be found on MattMarkman.com.

[twdgkidsdeservebetter]

Season 3 - Eleanor rant.

TW - Lots of Swearing.

Now season 3 is not my favourite season of the TWDG, that title will always be taken by season one but it does have it’s good moments. The story line was pretty good, most characters had likeable personalities and charm - one of the reasons I love the franchise so much and the antogonists really made me feel hatred towards them. Alas, within a pen of sheep, there’s always that one fox dressed in wool you never expect.

Eleanor starts of as a decent character, being introduced as the ‘doctor’ for Prescott, showing sympathy for Javier when he mentions his family at the junkyard and even offers to sneak Javi and Clem out to save Kate and the kids. The player is given a choice to go with Tripp or Eleanor. In my gameplay, I chose Tripp, because I trusted Clem’s instincts.

Time skip, Prescott is overrun by the New Frontier, forcing survivors out onto the road where their last resort is to ask the New Frontier to help Kate who’s dying from her wound. Reunite with David, blah blah blah. Also, I know Eleanor left Kate in the car, dumb idea, but honestly, Eleanor and Kate have similar body types and probably weigh about the same, so Eleanor trying to carry an INJURED Kate all the way to the gate? Impossible. (Had to rethink here for a second if Eleanor carried Kate at some point but no, Gabe carries her if Javi stays to fight and Javi carries her if he goes).

Aaaanyway, Eleanor is given a free pass by Doctor Lingard, basically giving her citizenship because of her stitching on Kate’s wound and I get it, props to Eleanor for her medical skills. *clap clap*. This far, Eleanor hasn’t really given me any reason to dislike her for anything that she’s done. She believed she was doing what was best for Kate by leaving her in the car to get help, but that ‘help’ turned out to be bs cause they just lied to her and locked her up. During this time, she’ll obviously become close with some of the other leaders, mainly Joan.

BIG time skip up to when Gabe helps Javi escape and the group reunite in David’s house, I believe. Javi walks in on Eleanor and Tripp’s relationship housefire and then can explain how Joan is a terrible person who is planning on ‘removing’ David from his role as one of the leaders by blaming the murders of members on him. After retrieving weapons from the armory and returning, the tension is pretty thick between everyone.

Group discuss what to do, go after Joan in the centre. Eleanor agrees and asks how. I always was suspicious of Eleanor’s hesitant tone but I was like, “Pffft, that’d be stupid, Eleanor’s a good guy”.

*X factor buzzer*

WRONG! It’s all revealed that Eleanor told Joan the groups entire plan. This bitch ruined the entire plan because she wanted to play teachers pet to her new mummy. And karma, being the sob it is, drags Tripp and Ava onto the stage where they’ll be the toys of a claw machine, but SURPRISE, there all rigged! And Eleanor is forced to watch as Joan orders her men to off a woman she barely knew, or her bestfriend and past lover. And when the final show down happens, she forces the blame, onto us! Everything happened because of her. And when you tell her this, she stomps her foot and says she didn’t want to leave in the first place.

Okay. But did you ever consider the rest of the group? The group that doesn’t feel safe between these walls when Joan is the one ruling it with an iron fist? No, because Eleanor is selfish and wanted to climb the electric fence and land on a cactus on Joan’s side. The woman who instructed her men to attack Prescott, her home, take her friend as a hostage, invade the place with walkers, tear gas and begin to brutally murder the people who did nothing to provoke Joan OR her people. Did Eleanor know all of this? Probably not. Despite that, she chose the side of a woman she barely knew, over her bestfriend.

And when Javi asks her why she told Joan the plan? She has the nerve, the absolute nerve to say, “I wAS jUst TRyInG to deFUsE A baD SItuATioN”.

Bitch. YOU CREATED THE BAD SITUATION! And then, she can say, “Tripp was my best friend, Javi!”

And who put Tripp in that situation? Huh? Was it Gabe? Was it Joan? No, it was Eleanor.

And, and, AND, the stupidest thing about this entire scene; is that I can’t even chew her out for it! And the game wants me to automatically forgive her because she’s trying to help people after pulling a stunt like that? Fuck. That.

Eleanor is my least favourite character throughout the entire walking dead game franchise and I won’t see it any other way. 12 thumbs down, 0/5 star rating, undercooked, it’s a no from me, au revoir!

[artificialqueens]

Let’s Fall in Love for the Night, Chapter 1/2 (Gottrosé/Rosnali/Gottlux) - Sunflower

Chapter summary: Mik missed the physical aspects of having someone on call for things like consoling her after a tinder date gone wrong, or even just a one night stand to make breakfast for in the morning. It was hard, seeing her best friend and previous partner so fulfilled by something Mik had yet to experience. Sitting in a cozy apartment covered in coupley photographs and little houseplants, partially? It made Mik sick to her stomach.

A/N: Hi divas :)!! Here’s part one of two from a season 13 New York set multi-ship that takes place in a soulmate au!! I thought I would play around with some cross-over ships from the drag race franchise!! No trigger warnings but Mik is written as a trans-woman in this story and mentions their own (in story) dead name. (I’ve never written a trans main character before and never want to write anything insensitive/inaccurate so feedback is appreciated!!)

“It’s weird,” Mik pondered, looking after the assorted photographs framed on the walls of Rosé’s semi-shared apartment. Donut, Denali’s dog, holding a slobbery bone in the dog park with Rosé knelt beside her in cherry red athletic wear, then-ginger hair slicked back into a ponytail and face glowing under the afternoon sun. Denali and Rosé, side by side at her sister Jan’s wedding from only a few month’s prior, dressed in complementary shades of lavender and magenta with smiles stretching from ear to ear, the moment encapsulated behind glass in a slender gold frame. “Seeing you with someone else.”

Little touches of Denali were scattered throughout the apartment like lipstick stains, loose scrunchies instead of Rosé’s normal hair ties in a little catch-all bowl by the front door, the presence of weird little kitchen gadgets and almond instead of whole milk in the refrigerator door. Denali kept her Chicago apartment and her loft farther up in the city for when she needed down time to herself, and on nights when practicing down at the rink kept her out late at night and up and leaving early in the morning.

From behind the counter, Rosé spoke hesitantly, as she poured herself another glass of bubbly champagne colored liquid. “Good weird or bad weird?”

“Just… weird as in different. I didn’t take you for the settling down type..,” Mik interjected, sinking into a barstool across the counter from her slightly older ex-lover. “But she’s good for you,” the dark haired girl interjected, looking down into the condensating drink sitting in front of her, wishing that staring at a couple ice cubes could suck the awkward energy from the room out through her irises. “Denali, I mean,” she furthered, longing for the alcohol to overtake the dryness in her words as she sipped her drink. 

She wished she was lying, but Rosé meeting Denali was probably the best thing that could have happened to her. Finding her soulmate was something the singer always put on an act like she wasn’t desperate for, but internally, Rosé desired to encounter her other half as much as anyone, desired for that feeling of underlying longing to dissipate. When she ran into the Latina ice dancer during her trip to New York during the holidays, the two colliding outside a coffee shop in early December, something in the pink haired woman softened, letting down her harsh exterior in ways that Mik had never witnessed during their relationship as friends-with-benefits over the last year or so, pre-Rosénali. 

Even after only meeting her once or twice, Mik knew that Denali was genuinely good. She was bubbly and personable, and she shared the same subtle confidence and suave that her girlfriend did, but she pulled vulnerability out of Rose, made her more susceptible to not hide behind the overly confident and performative bold energy that sometimes felt exhausting to maintain.

Mik missed the physical aspects of having someone on call for things like consoling her after a tinder date gone wrong, or even just a one night stand to make breakfast for in the morning. It was hard, seeing her best friend and previous partner so fulfilled by something Mik had yet to experience. Sitting in a cozy apartment covered in coupley photographs and little houseplants, partially? It made Mik sick to her stomach.

“Believe me, I never thought I would be the type either,” she admitted, eyes expressing some sort of look at Mik couldn’t recognize. “I think growing up with Jan and Jackie made it hard to, seeing my sister be with this perfect person, it felt impossible for me to ever have anything close to that. She just… makes me better, and accepts all of me, which I think is all I could ask for from a person.”

Not that Mik could blame Rose for being so cautious around any kind of feelings, Jan and Jackie were the ideal outcome of the soulmate system. High school sweethearts after the Persian girl moved from Canada to New York, spending their years coupled up in immense happiness within their extended engagement and going to college together. One year post-graduation and the pair hosted a sapphic wedding worthy of the pages in a Vogue magazine spread.

A typical silence fell between the two girls, the sound of some miscellaneous Ariana Grande song hummed in the background behind them.

Sitting down beside her, Rose posed a question, gathering her hair into a haphazard ponytail as she spoke. A few strands of once-ginger and since then pinked hair escaped the elastic, Mik from only a few months prior would have held no qualms in leaning over to push back the stray hairs, to embrace a small gesture of intimacy. “Have you ever considered going back to LA? I know that it’s a sore spot but maybe…”

Snickering, Mik shook her head disapprovingly. “I’m not going back,” she retorted, letting a saddened laugh escape her. “Seeing Gigi and Crystal, the thought alone puts a sour taste in my mouth. If I’m really someone’s soulmate, the universe wil put them right here,” she remarked, seeing the look of pity washing over her former lover’s face. 

Los Angeles summoned primarily saddening memories for Mik as of late, remembering New Year’s Eve not so fondly, and that sinking feeling of walking in on Gigi, tangled and entwined amongst the torso of a young Latina woman with a head full of dark spiral curls. The voice of her partner calling out for her as she slammed the apartment door closed behind her, blubbering as hot tears traveled down her face in the backseat of an Uber on her way to crash at Kandy’s house.

“It just feels impossible, Rosie,” the young makeup artist softened, feeling hazel eyes focusing in on her as she. Continued. “What if… What if Kade was someone’s soulmate, not… not Mik,” she mumbled, feeling an unfamiliar sensation of tears blurring her direct vision. Crying was Joey’s gig, not hers, as she wiped away the tears cautiously, trying not to smudge her graphic black liner.

Mik embraced confidence in every area of her life, pre and post transition, and her internalized dysphoria when discussing soulmates was an insecurity that she had never mentioned to anyone before, her fear that her genuine, authentic self wasn’t something anyone was looking for. Her surgical procedures, whilst reaffirming of her identity and comfort in her identity as an out and proud trans woman, created unnecessary doubts in her thoughts regarding the soulmate system, as she herself, whilst surrounded by an amazing support system, had never personally met another transgender person who had experienced these feelings leading up to meeting their destined partner, outside of a handful of Hollywood swoon-stories. Growing up as a girl, born into and stuck in the wrong body, with a lack of trans representation, proved to be much more harmful to her than she could have known it would be in the long run, scared that she would be rejected, and cast out, or that maybe the universe didn’t make her a perfect partner.

“Mik, baby,” Rose shook her head in disapproval, sad for the worries she hadn’t known her friend possessed. “Someone out there is going to fall head over heels for every part of you, not the you that was trapped in the wrong body, this you, who’s the most strong, courageous, crazy talented human I’ve met in 22 years of being on this planet. I promise, your person is going to love you for you, and your soulmate would never judge you for something like that.”

[lady-plantagenet]

1. Who do you think is the most historically maligned figure from the Wars of the Roses? 2. What is your favourite 15th century fashion? 3. If there was any other historical period you could learn more about, what would it be?

Anonymously message me (3) things you want to know about me: https://lady-plantagenet.tumblr.com/post/624908501545893888/anonymously-message-me-3-things-you-want-to-know

I see you’ve noticed that I was the anon on yours 😉. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to overshare ;)

1. The most maligned figure is hands down *drum roll of predictability* George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence. Assuming we are speaking of our contemporary opinions, these are the figures which are famously maligned:

Margaret Beaufort, Elizabeth Woodville, George Duke of Clarence, Richard Neville Earl of Warwick and Richard III.

Open any amateur historical fiction novel or popular history work written in our time and you can be sure that at least one of those is a moustache twirling villain. Of course, Richard III now has an entire franchise depicting him as a saint and focal point so maybe he shouldn’t be in the list. Elizabeth Woodville has The White Queen legacy and a bunch of biographies protecting her, some even going so far as to clear her name almost to the point of whitewashing (no Desmond, Thomas Cooke, Lambert Simnel participation etc) her to just a grieving mum.

Now Margaret Beaufort and Warwick also get the short end of the stick. The former gets allocated the blame of the Princes of the Tower and being a scheming, ambitious, religiously fanatical mother-in-law from hell. The latter is depicted as an opportunist man without principle who uses his daughters like livestock (even though they were all he had so it’s bs) and rebels just for the sake of rebelling. Nevertheless, the writers/general public never fail to acknowledge their genius and intelligence. Not to mention, they each have their fair share of biographies which have done much to change public perception of them (e.g. Nicole Tallis and J. Kendall)

Whereas George... Shakespeare made him relatively nice but also quite dumb, whereas all successor fiction go a step further and make him evil and dumb. You know, one wonders how the only man alive to have betrayed and outsmarted both Edward IV and Warwick could possibly have been so dumb. I won’t go in much detail here, but contemporaries such as Crowland Chronicles have noted his ‘talent and an intelligence that rivalled his own brother’s’ and how his legal arguments were a match against his brother Richard’s during the Neville Sisters inheritance dispute. I will no doubt be posting more once I get my hands on the Hicks biography.

Historically, George was quite ruthless, yes, but the following that I have read him do in fiction are just... what: a) Planning on murdering Anne Neville, b) Poisoning Isabel in order to marry Mary of Burgundy, c) Injuring Richard and causing his sclerosis(???), d) beating his wife... shouldn’t there be a libel law against dead people...? Because there really really should be. Not to mention most scholars treat him as utterly inconsequential as if it was not him who by 1478 remained a popular icon and the greatest threat to the crown.

2. My favourite 15th century historical fashion? Ooof you came to the right place!

A lot of them are here in this picture:

1. The Burgundian gown with fur trim will always be a favourite. Cruelty aside, I personally always loved the elegant effect fur has on one’s outfit.

2. The pointy poulines (the shoes) have reached stupendous lengths by the 15th century. They are an example that one does not need heels to be sophisticated. Not to mention they would be harder to walk in than heels (noblepeople of that time were trained from a young age to adopt a certain gait).

3. Conical Henins, the taller and more untenable the better. Like the one in the picture and this:

Honourable mention goes to: The Houppelande, the chaperon, the heart-shaped henin and mens’ hoses. I like how fashion then was more of an art and form of expressing one’s opulence rather than todays’ focus on sexualising womens’ bodies.

3. Another historical period I would like to learn more about would probably be 15th century Wallachia and Moldova. It was a tumultuous time of internal conflict against the wider Ottoman threat. Also, it feels close to me because my ancestors were involved!

Another time would be 19th century Austria-Hungary/German history, as I’ve always found Elisabeth Empress of Austria a fascinating figure and I love learning about the end of eras. In this case it would be the beggining of the end of the Habsburg empire!

An additional time would be the Angevin period in English history, I am particularly interested in Eleanor of Aquitaine, John I and Geoffrey Duke of Brittany and the internal family struggles and loss of French territories!

[bookandcranny]

Stone Heart Gambit

Part 1 - Chapter 1

Soso likes her town, but she’s starting to think she’s never going to find a single interesting thing about it. There’s a supermarket, a park, a few family-owned shops and eateries that haven’t yet succumbed to the pressure put on them by the encroaching chain franchises. Pretty standard small-town fair, not unlike the one she grew up in.

Therein lies the problem. She’d been so excited to leave home for the first time all those semesters ago that she hadn’t considered that change doesn’t always equal improvement, and putting a hundred miles of distance between her and her old problems didn’t guarantee her a perfect new life. She doesn’t particularly miss living with her parents, rather she finds herself feeling homesick for a place she doesn’t think she’s found yet. There’s a restlessness in her-- her mom claims she gets it from her dad, and vice versa. It’s plagued her in small ways all her life, in the way she finds new friendships but struggles to make them last, in the way she throws herself into new passions only to grow bored of them within weeks, in the way college had seemed so thrilling and full of promise when she was a bright-eyed freshman and now here she is, on indefinite academic leave, struggling to remember what it was she saw in the place that was worth a lifetime of student loans.

She only has so long to figure it out too. She wants to finish her degree, she does, but art requires inspiration and there’s only so much to photograph in a town whose main export is cow shit and stale gossip. If she changes her major again at this point her advisor is for real going to mount her head on a pike outside the bursar’s office, so she has to at least try.

It doesn’t help that she’s pretty much limited to the immediate vicinity surrounding her housing co-op until she either manages to get herself a car or the bus drivers union wins their latest standoff with city hall. Cars cost money though, which means getting a real fulltime job, which she expects will spell the end for any lingering chance of her going back to school anyway. The snake devours its tail, and Soso commutes by bike.

Soso’s handy; she’s confident she can fix anything given enough time, the right tools, and a couple reliable video tutorials. That, among other odd jobs, is her main preoccupation right now. It’s something, but she can’t picture herself changing tires and cleaning out gutters for elderly neighbors to support her Chinese takeout dependency forever. At the rate she’s going, her best customers are going to start dying off before she graduates.

On that morbid note, Soso decides she needs to get out of the house. She slings her bag over her back just in case she manages to run into something photo-worthy and grabs her bike. It’s a brisk autumn afternoon and the fresh air is just what she needs.

On the way out she runs into one of her housemates, Carmen the highly caffeinated, returning from campus looking frazzled. Soso isn’t particularly close with any of her housemates, frequently as they tend to come and go, but that doesn’t stop her from offering her sympathies.

“Any luck with the research?”

Carmen groans. “My paper is doomed. Remind me why I thought ‘modern impact of classical mythology’ was a good choice for my level 300 history course?”

“Uh, beats me.” In reality she thinks it sounds like a fun subject, but it doesn’t feel her place to say so given that while Carmen’s been slaving away at the school library, she’s spent the better of her day half-watching questionable documentaries on alien conspiracies.

“Ensfield is full of weird old superstitions and legends,” she goes on frustratedly. “The old bridge makes it on one of those ‘top 10 spooky locations’ lists like once a month. Complain about a cough to the wrong person and suddenly you get people telling you you’re hexed and you need to walk in a circle counter-clockwise under the new moon to get rid of it.”

She’s pretty sure that’s not a thing, but nods anyway, waiting for the point she hopes is coming.

“You’d think the library in a town like this would have better sources on mythology. But no, all I get is a shrug and the same three books everyone else in the class is using. If I want to bump up my GPA, I need something you can’t just find on Wikipedia.”

Another one of their housemates crawls out from the shrubbery by the porch. “Maybe you should try that other library.”

“Jesus!” Carmen jumps. “What are you doing down there?”

Phoebe brushes dirt off her knees. “I saw a black cat go into the gap.” She points at a thin crack in the woodwork. “Halloween is coming. Any cats, especially black ones, you see wandering around need to be brought to the shelter pronto. People do terrible things to them if they see them wandering around this time of year.”

Soso squints. “Looks too small to fit a cat.”

“I saw what I saw. Anyway, there’s supposed to be an old town library way past the woods, thataway.” She points. “Guy who works there is really weird I heard but almost no one goes there anymore so you’d have first pick.”

Carmen looks thoughtful. “I think I’ve heard of it. I kind of thought it was just something people made up.”

“Nah, it’s real. My brother’s fraternity brings freshman there to haze them. They tell them to go up and throw eggs at the place and then ditch ‘em in the woods.”

Soso blinks. “Why?”

She shrugs. “It’s just a thing they do. It sucks and it’s totally immature but no one ever accused those guys of being creative.”

“Whatever,” Carmen says. “I’m done with books for today. I’m gonna go inside and enjoy some nice brain-rotting TV.”

“Good call, honestly. If you get caught hanging around that place too much they’ll probably start egging us next.”

Carmen heads inside and Phoebe goes back to making little coaxing noises at the gap in the porch. Soso frowns to herself. Sometimes she feels like people in this town purposely go out of their way to ruin anything that could be the slightest bit different. It’s probably just a normal library that happened to be in a weird spot, run by a typical cranky old librarian. Even if it is nothing it probably has more to offer than spending the rest of her day throwing french-fries to birds and squirrels in the Burger Beast parking lot.

“Hey Phoebe,” she says. “Where did you say that library was?”

 --

 The trip is longer than she had anticipated. Her legs are strong but the sun’s getting low enough that she worries she’ll be riding home in the dark. A generous part of it she blames on Phoebe’s vague directions, scribbled into a patchwork paper map of hear-say more than anything else. Despite this she continues. She’s snapped a few pictures of the foliage in its brilliant reds and golds, so if all else is a bust at least she won’t have completely wasted her time. Worst case scenario, she returns home with a little extra muscle on her calves from all the pedaling.

Well, the real worst case scenario is probably more along the lines of her getting caught by an axe murderer and left to rot in the spooky woods, another ghost for the local repertoire. Even then, at least she won’t have to worry about the next family phone call if she’s dead.

Grim musings aside, she loops back and manages to find the correct path, a trampled dirt road half-hidden under the leaf litter, and at last make her way to the fabled “other library”. It’s one of those old brick buildings, surrounded by a low fence that struggles to hold its own against the climbing vines and insects nibbling at its posts. It’s early enough in the season that their collective buzz-chirp-hum still fills the air, though otherwise it is almost eerily quiet. It’s strangely peaceful, Soso thinks as she wades through wild patches of tall grass, as if she were returning to somewhere familiar.

The place is clearly abandoned, she decides, sunlight refracting off the firmly shuttered windows. It’s a cool discovery to be sure, but she ought to have known a mysterious library in the woods with an equally mysterious shut-in tending it was too much to expect from a town like Ensfield. That doesn’t stop her from exploring though. She likes it here, and she especially likes the gorgeous, ancient-looking gargoyle that sits in front of the steps leading up to the entrance, like one of those stone lions that stand guard outside of libraries of greater fame than this one.

The thing is magnificent, as well as truly hideous, its face twisted in a snarl so visceral and strikingly lifelike that it sends a genuine chill down her spine. The attention to detail, to carving out each individual wrinkle of flesh, is astounding. The stance the stone creature is frozen in comes off much more threatening than the regal intensity she might have expected, and it seems to her a counterintuitive choice of décor, but one the artist in her wholeheartedly approves of.

Propping her bike up against the stairs she crouches in the shadow of the gargoyle to get a better look. Organic shapes like vines encircle the beast, so lifelike that feels compelled to touch, as if they might fall away under her fingertips. Just as she reaches out however, the front doors of the library swing open and a stout, middle-aged man rushes out.

“Don’t- who- don’t touch that! It’s- it’s not-“ he stammers. “It’s an antique. Very breakable.”

The man is well-dressed, but his head of yellow hair is mussed to one side, like he’s just woken from a nap, enforced by the wrinkles he anxiously tries to smooth out of his vest. His eyes are a shocking shade of spring green.

“Sorry?” Soso offers, still recovering from the fright. She pulls her hand back guiltily and he seems to relax. How fragile could something made of stone be, she wonders, that he would work himself up into such a state over it. “Uh, is this the library?”

The man finishes straightening himself out before he responds. “That’s what you’re here for? Books?”

“What else?” she asks. His eyes remain narrow with scrutiny, so she adds, “Books on mythology. It’s for a school project. I heard… I am in the right place, right?”

There’s a copper plaque by the door that reads “North Ensfield Public Library”, but at this point she’d be as willing to accept that she wandered into a random person’s front yard, for how he looks at her. After another awkward pause, the man turns back towards the entrance and gestures for her to follow.

“Sorry about that. I don’t see many regular patrons anymore, not for a while now. Pardon the mess.” He speaks quickly, not leaving any room for interruption.

There isn’t much mess to pardon, not really. In fact, the shelves look well organized, if a bit dusty, and the space isn’t as cramped or cluttered as she had expected from the outside. A certain saying about books and covers comes to mind, but she doesn’t think her host would appreciate the joke. It’s no wonder he doesn’t see many people if he acts this way with everyone. Soso bumps into a table and nearly upsets what seems to be a pyramid assembled from various glasses, topped with an upside-down teapot.

“Do you live here?” she asks before she can curtail her curiosity.

“I’m a librarian,” he answers. “This is a library.”

“Right, but that doesn’t…” she fumbles.

“Do Canadians not live in Canada? Do Norwegians not live in Norway?”

“Vegetarians don’t live in vegetables,” she counters.

He considers that. “Well-played.”

Soso laughs despite herself and, to her surprise, things seem to go more smoothly after that. She continues speaking with the librarian and learns that his name is Surehouser, though if there’s a first name attached to that one, she doesn’t catch it. He’s certainly as eccentric as the rumors had led her to believe, but he seems harmless, and quite frankly more than a little lonesome. She doesn’t know how a person could be anything else, living like this.

He’s not friendly or unfriendly; his words have a measured quality to them, as if he’s afraid of saying too much. Soso gets the impression, as the sole carer for this seemingly ancient place, his occupation is more out of a sense of obligation than a passion for literature. He looks the part of the academic for sure, down to the silver that threads through his hair and the half-moon reading glasses folded in the front of his shirt, but his eyes track her as she browses like he doesn’t know what to do with someone who actually wants to check out a book.

“Do you have an idea of what you’re looking for?” he asks after she’s been at it for a while.

She doesn’t want to admit that not only is she not sure, since it’s not really her class she needs it for, but that whatever organizational system is in place here is totally incomprehensible to her. “Anything you have should be good.”

Which is how she ends up checking out way more than she meant to, sending up a tiny prayer that her comparatively tiny backpack can rise to the occasion. Surehouser gives her a look like he knows what’s going through her head as he leads her to the front desk. There’s no computer in sight, just a leatherbound book of names and dates and a thick rubber stamp.

“On my way out, would you mind if I took some pictures of that statue you have out front? For my project.” She adds that last part as an afterthought, then regrets it right away. She’s a notoriously terrible liar and the more she enforces the threads of this pointless story she’s weaving, the more awkward she feels.

He frowns and says, more to himself than to her, “I always thought that old thing was a bit gaudy myself. I’d have gotten rid of it ages ago if I could.”

Something about the way he says it strikes her as strange. Not knowing how to respond, she simply says, “I don’t know, I think it’s cool.”

He laughs. Or, she thinks that’s what it is. The sound is gentle but rusty at the edges. “I suppose you would. Feel free to do whatever you want, only do not touch it, and be careful.”

She walks down the stone steps, her haul unexpectedly light on her back, and pauses to look at the gargoyle once more. The light isn’t any good right now, but she’ll be back.

“See you later,” she tells it.

Sure enough, the next day she’s back. She hadn’t actually planned to be such a regular, but she’d been unable to keep the place from her mind, and it wasn’t as if she had anything better to do. Carmen had looked about to cry when Soso showed her the books she’d picked out. The ones she didn’t need for her paper, Soso decided to flip through herself and had found herself more invested than she’d counted on. The book on obscure pagan deities she’d selected, though dense and confusing in places, was particularly interesting. Before she knew it, she was finished, and thus had the perfect excuse to go back.

“This guy kinda looks like you, don’t you think?” She holds the page open so that the gargoyle could “see” it. Despite arriving at noon on a Wednesday, the library seems to be truly closed today and no amount of knocking had managed to change its mind. Since she’d already come all this way, she figured she might as well find some other way to entertain herself before heading home.

“The horns are all wrong, but the general look is there. He could be, like, your second cousin,” she tells the statue.

The statue doesn’t respond, obviously, but Soso likes talking to it regardless. She adjusts her position so she can keep reading while keeping the book within its line of sight. When it’s time to leave, she turns to it and says,

“Keep an eye on that guy who runs the place for me. He’s weird, and should really keep more regular hours, but he’s nice, and I think being alone out here is making him a little…” She makes a spiraling motion with her finger. “Guess I’m not one to talk though. I’m chatting with a hunk of rock.”

She doesn’t stop though. Maybe it’s the boredom, maybe it’s something just fundamentally Soso, but whatever the reason, she keeps coming back. Partially for the library, yes, and for the company of the strange librarian that dwells within, but primarily to have a quiet place to vent her frustrations and speak her mind, where often the only one around to judge is one who’s incapable of talking back.

Surehouser is an acquired taste, and they don’t have much in common, but he never turns Soso away on the days when her visits magically coincide with the hours of operation. He always seems to have snacks on hand and is content to let the young woman ramble on about whatever latest subject has caught her interest, which as much as she could ask of anyone really. He still speaks frustratingly little of himself, but she believes she’ll get it out of him eventually.

She’s moved from taking pictures around the library to breaking out her old sketchbook, sitting on the steps and muttering to the empty air as she tries to map the contours of the stone body before her. She’s always been visually minded, for whatever good it does her.

“My mom keeps calling and asking if I want to come home for the holidays,” she complains, holding her knees to her chest. “And I know that’s months away but if I say yes that means having to see my family in person while they interrogate me about my future. I’m not even sure I have a future.”

She paces around for a minute to work out some pins and needles and brushes back her hair where it’s been falling in her face. Feeling playful, she imagines she can feel the gargoyle’s gaze watching her.

“Oh this? Yeah, I did get a haircut, thank you for noticing. Just a couple inches off the bottom but I think it’s nice.”

She tosses her head. Nestled among her dark hair, a tip of pointed ear pokes out and she worries idly at the cartilage like she used to do when she was younger.

“You noticed that too, huh. I was born with this itty bity point to my ears. They used to stick out when I was a kid. I was kinda self-conscious about it, actually. I dreaded whenever we had a course in school about fairytales because the kids in my class would call me an elf. I started making my mom do my hair so that they were hidden and just, never grew out of the habit I guess.”

The gargoyle is without comment. She smiles.

“I knew you’d understand, dude. Us freaks have to stick together.”

The following week is a flurry of last-minute Halloween preparations. Soso herself hadn’t been planning to dress up, not having anywhere to be other than planted firmly on the couch in front of a horror B-movie marathon, but the other girls insist they decorate, as there’d been whispers in their neighborhood of pranks planned on those deemed not festive enough. According to Carmen, who had become the resident expert on local tradition since she aced her last history test, the custom of shunning those who didn’t partake was almost as firmly rooted as the decorating itself. It stemmed from a belief from ye olden days that the festivities helped to fend off ghosts and goblins and the meddling of the fae on the day when the border between their worlds was the thinnest.

“Wait, do ghosts come from the same place as fae, or do they just, like, carpool here?”

She snorts. “It depends who you ask, but a lot of people around here believe that anything that’s magical or ‘otherworldly’ in origin is technically ‘fae’. Ensfield has a whole history of convoluted fae-based superstitions. Did you know some people still leave out bowls of fresh milk for house spirits?”

“House spirits?”

“Like, brownies.”

Soso nods. “I love having milk with brownies.”

Phoebe pipes up from the kitchen. “I had a girlfriend in high school who left out offerings when she was doing her SATs.”

“Did it help?” Carmen asks. “I’ll try anything.”

Soso is no skeptic, but she’s more inclined to believe that leaving food out overnight will attract more mice than faerie blessings. The sentiment is nice, but it’s hard for her to take comfort in fairytales without remembering her childhood teasing. How much worse could it have been if it had been more than just a joke, if her ears and her daydreaming demeanor were enough to get her labeled as an outsider for life, rather than just for the span of third grade.

“Are you doing anything special for Halloween, Soso?” Carmen asks.

“You mean like leaving out bowls of milk?”

She laughs. “No, like going to a party. You can come with me to Katy’s if you want. It’ll be lowkey.”

Carmen has been making more of an effort to get to know her since she got her those books for her paper, but while Soso appreciates the thought, being a plus-one at a stranger’s party where everyone knows each other from the classes she’s still not attending doesn’t sound like her idea of a good time.

“No thanks. Someone’s gotta stay and hand out candy to the trick or treaters, right?”

“Good point. Did you pick up candy?”

“Not yet, but I’ll do it.”

“Just don’t put it off until the night of.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

That is exactly what happened. October 31st finds Soso standing in line with a back of candy under each arm. Their neighborhood isn’t exactly kid-heavy, but better safe than TP’d she figures. She’s nearing the register when a pair of college-age boys stumble in, looking conspicuously red around the whites of their eyes. She sighs inwardly as they wander around, talking just a bit too loud for comfort, and does her best to ignore them even as they get in line behind her. Looking out of the corner of her eye, she notices that there is nothing in their baskets except a two-liter bottle of off-brand soda, a box of marshmallow snackcakes, and about four cartons of eggs, each.

It almost doesn’t click for her until she remembers what Phoebe said about the frat bros and their hazing. That paired with it being a night notorious for pranks by idiot teens is enough to get her nervous. After making her purchase she lingers outside the store for a moment and watches as the boys climb into a car and drive away in the direction of the woods.

It might still be a coincidence, they might be heading to some other destination that just so happens to be in that direction as well, but the image of some stupid stoners invading her sanctuary makes her hackles raise all the same. She starts pedaling after them, following just far enough behind so as not to be spotted in the swiftly fading light.

[vanimeldes]

can you elaborate a bit what made you divorce from asoiaf/got as you say?

Ooof, so, after the G0T finale, I think my reasons should be obvious, but you also mentioned the books and yes, I lost my interest in books too and I will try to not make this answer too long, but in the same time, to convey all my thoughts on this matter.

*Putting it below cut because.... when I`ll explain the problem of Martin`s fans later, you`ll understand why*

It`s amazing that just a year ago, AS0IAF was my second favourite franchise ever, second only to Tolkien legendarium, but even then, I didn`t love it for the fantasy elements in it, but rather for its characters and some twists and how Martin does forshadowing and writes the dualistic nature of the human being, but...as I read other fantasy series that do these four things AND have fantasy elements, I paused a bit and thought that these series would be just as popular, if they had popular adaptations such as G0T. But I got that AS0IAF was the first that had the opportunity to be adapted and I accepted that. Yet the show highlighted (and in some cases, amplified) some of the very big issues of these books and yes, D&D have many things to be blamed of, but it`s not as if they didn`t have a basis for their fuckery in the books. Martin is just as guilty. So here we go.

1. I am not sure if Martin has ever seen a 13 year old girl, but he writes grown-ass men having fixations and being sexually attracted by Daenerys and Sansa, two prepubescent girl. Martin would call it the gritty realism of the medieval times, but last time I checked, he was writing fantasy, not historical fiction. Fantasy means you can do what you want in your world, so even if you are inspired by the medieval times, it`s still YOUR fictional world and no one will question your research or accuracy if you want to have a female character married when she is at least, say, 18, not FUCKING 13. Not to mention that even in our real world, child brides existed but, guess what, in most the cases, both spouses waited until the wife reached a certain age (16 or older) to consummate their marriage. @eyes-painted-with-kohl explained in the notes of one of my posts and even gave an example or two. I can think of Isabella of France and Edward II. They were married when she was 13 (according to some historical evidence)/16 (according to others). Yes, I know he was homosexual, but he still needed heirs, so they still had children...4 years later, when she was 17/20.  

2. In this same vein, the treatment of his female characters (with the exception of Arya and, maybe Catelyn) is egregious. Daenerys and Sansa are sexualized by the male characters (don`t get me started of the bullshit that is S/ansan, because The Hound is still a murderous man who is aroused by a 12 year-old girl, who invaded her personal space and even pointed a knife to her; do not get me started on book!Jorah, who is a creep). Cersei is paraded naked on the streets and needless to say that during the walk of atonement for an adulterous woman in medieval times, she was never stripped naked; she only had her hair shaved and walked BAREFOOT. That`s it. What Martin did to Cersei is just disgusting. We are shown how Arianne uses sex to have Ser Arys help with her plans and it is implied that Margaery uses sex also. I get that sex is Cersei`s mechanism, but you have two more feminine (this is important) women in power and both of them explicitly use, or are implied to use sex as a mean to gain that power. I get Brienne`s point, her treatment bothers me the least, but it`s annoying from time to time how most of the other characters see only her ”ugliness” and nothing else. Of course, this is the result of the heavy patriarchy in Westeros world that I will discuss in the next paragraph.

3. The heavy patriarchy in Westeros world is nowhere similar to the patriarchy in the medieval times, and that was Martin`s choice and his only. A clear example is what was dubbed the Dead Ladies Club, namely a group of dead female characters whose only purpose was to serve as object of desire for one or more men, to give birth AND to die (gruesomely in some cases). Joanna Lannister is meant only to further fuel the enmity between Tywin and Aerys and Tywin`s hatred towards Tyrion. Elia exists solely to die gruesomely and motivate Doran`s desire for vengeance. Lyanna (the most explored dead lady still exists mainly to give birth to Jon and to be one of the reasons behind a war started by men. Rhaella exists solely to be raped by Aerys and give birth and die. Ashara Dayne exists solely to commit suicide. Ned, a POV character, spends chapters thinking about his father and siblings and never to his mother. Martin had the audacity to say that Tolkien himself didn`t left notes about Aragorn`s mother, but Tolkien had an entire story when Aragorn`s mother and her impact of his life is explored (more than his father, for that matter). The heavy patriarchy serves as reason for the utterly disgusting right of the first night (read Fire & Blood for more). I am not so versed into history as @mydaylightruyi who discussed this, but I too know that in our real world, this practice was a MYTH. But GRRM made it very present in his world because of reasons I guess. 

4. The racism is just rampant and disgusting and even I didn`t notice all the racism until I read @polysorscha `s insights. There`s a to be discussed here, mainly about the portrayal of the Dothraki and how they are reduced to barbaric rapists - interestingly, they are supposedly inspired by Huns, but guess what: the Huns formed a very permisive society, where any religion and culture had its places, where women were very respected and, while cruel  in the European people`s POV, were never....like THIS. 

5. The rape cultures. The Ironborn. Similarly to the Dothraki, their culture is reduced to pillaging and rape. That scene when Euron conquers that castle in the Reach ( I forgot its name) and how he had the daughters of that lord stripped naked and serve his men the meal, and how his men started raping them was....honestly, I wish I could have skipped this chapter. I still read fantasy books written by men more than I read fantasy books written by women, but never in my life did it occur to me to read something like this in a novel that is so hailed for fantasy (?) and realism (???????). I`m not saying that things like that didn`t happen in our cruel history but, again, Martin writes a fictional story. He could choose not to include the rampant violence against women, cultures whose practices are reduced to this utterly gross things, racist and orientalist elements, but he chooses not to. Why? I don`t know. I am not sure I want to know. And Victarion`s POV...oh boy. Or Theon, in ACOK, when he literally rapes that Kyra girl after takes Winterfell. Not only that it`s very disturbing, especially coming from a character that is supposed to be redeemed in some way (yes, I know how he`s been through in ADWD and I also know this is meant to be his redemption arc, but I personally still can`t get over this). And in the same time, while we`re still at the redemption discussion, Theon will surely undergo a redemption of some sorts, Cersei (a female character) will most likely be killed by her lover/brother, who will strangle her to death, most likely while he will embrace her, without a second chance of a droplet of redemption. 

6. I love Tyrion and I love Tywin but in the same time, I acknowledge their misogyny, but Martin chose to write them as misogynists, but in the same time, writing them in such ways that they are inherently labelled as „badass”. He also says that Tyrion is his favourite, but his POV is utterly misogynistic. The reason he kills Shae is because she dared to sleep with his father, but let`s unpack the things a bit: she was a former sex worker with no power, who was forced by the most powerful man in Westeros. She had no choice. She couldn`t refuse him. Yet, for Tyrion, she is ”the lying whore” and that`s it. We are given no chance to try to see the things from her POV (I am not implying that she should have been a POV character, but Martin should have written Tyrion considering for a moment what other choices Shae had). 

7. I discovered that Martin straightly ripped-off many plot points and themes from another series who isn`t half as popular, sadly. 

8. Last, but not the least, the snake pit that is THE FANDOM. You know, as much as I tried to stay away from its toxicity because „it`s just an internet thing, it can`t affect me”, it did affect my online experience in ways that I hadn`t imagined. To sum up, if you don`t like a character or hate another, you are  a pariah. You are dumb because you don`t understand that character or you are a misogynist (because, sadly, this discourse is mostly about the female characters). If you dare to voice up your thoughts about a certain event and/or a certain character and tag your post as #asoiaf or #asoiaf meta (you know, because this is it to me: a meta; plus, I want to have an ordering system in my blog so that whenever I want to look for a certain post in a certain topic or fandom, I would only look into the tag) or #my meta (highlighted „MY” because this is also important, as in it`s MY OWN PERSONAL OPINION), and those thoughts happen to not fit into the general consensus of the „great AS0IAF bloggers” (namely those meta writers with many followers who sound like they already read TWOW and ADOS), you are trashed and called an idiot. Granted, I met enough great people, meta writers included, in this fandom, and it was a real pleasure to chat with them, but I also had bad experiences with others and idk, I thought we were all mature people, but the way they reacted can hardly be described as mature. And in the same point, it`s just funny to see the hardcore Martin stans reacting in front of the clear evidence that Martin isn`t half as original as they thought (see 7) and acting like they are personally attacked.

Ok, it took me an hour. There is a lot more to discussed, but I got bored and I honestly want to shut the door to this fandom forever. To answer another question, yes, I will be reading the last two books  if when they will come out. I invested many months in this series not to finish it. I`ll probably block all the ASOIAF-related tags to avoid any interaction with its fandom during those times.

[bearpillowmonster]

Top 15 Movies

I made that Top 15 Games post so I decided to do movies as well, same rules apply here but you’re going to see mostly Marvel and Disney movies anyway so I made it one per franchise such as one Star Wars, One Avengers, One Guardians, with that Guardians Vol. 2, Pirates: Curse of the Black Pearl, Spider-Man: Homecoming were the runner ups. No particular order.

Incredibles: I went to the theaters to see this and I feel so happy that I did, I remember being so impressed with Dash running on the water then beating those goons. It really set the bar and holds up today considering I hold it higher than it’s sequel and it made me a fan of Brad Bird.

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse: Am I hopping on the bandwagon here?...Nope! I was making this list and I was going to put either the first Raimi film or Homecoming and I started thinking...why not Spiderverse? I really adore the other ones but there are a few glaring problems with them, this one...I can’t actually name any.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: I really enjoyed this when I saw it, it’s one of those where I can watch it again and again and not get tired of it. I’m not sure why but it was a lot more fun than I expected, it also had ONE of the best villains of the MCU (in my opinion) as well as the worst.

The Losers: I see this as a staircase to the Marvel universe, I mean we have Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans here, what’s not to love. I think we all know what my favorite part was...

The Three Musketeers: Mickey, Donald and Goofy: It did justice to the characters and made a classic story into something new and entertaining. It’s underrated. And who can forget this part:

Tron: Legacy: This or Tron, This or Tron? Both were very good but this one has a little better effects obviously as well as doing a lot of things that the original already does, add Daft Punk’s killer soundtrack in there and you got yourself a formula for an uprising. #TronLives #FlynnLives

Atlantis: The Lost Empire: Good voice acting, cool effects, a nice aesthetic with the glowing lights, crystals, and ancient technology (I guess you can say I like blue lights judging by my previous entry) But I remember first seeing it and immediately feeling the weight from that beginning with Kida’s mom. It’s a nice adventure and makes me wish that it’s sequel wasn’t so iconicly hated because it gives the title a bad name. I refuse to watch the sequel if it really is that bad.

The Lion King: Can you blame me? Do I even have to explain? Animation is gorgeous, designs are peak, music is top notch, and expressions that they get ‘Oh so right’ that no live action remake could ever recapture. This is considered a masterpiece. I can quote it on the daily, remember even the tiniest details and just the amount of times I’ve seen it makes me want to say it IS a part of who I am.

The Avengers: Infinity War was close but this was the cake. You can walk into a room with this playing at any given moment and be like “Oh yeah this is a good part.” They spend every minute doing something interesting.

Captain America: The First Avenger: A lot of people overlook this one because of the other 2 but this one will always be my favorite. I remember seeing it the first time, just came out on DVD and my mom went to her baby shower, me and my dad watched it and she came back AS SOON as it was done, as if this was just to pass that exact amount of time. Cap is a character you want to root for, his morals are worth fighting for. Iron Man may have started the MCU but I say Cap shaped it and made it better, this was the real start (as Avengers was next. Red Skull is just a villain I like, both movie and comic as well.

Baby Driver: I was superhyped to see Spider-Man: Homecoming so I traveled just to go see it as early as I could, I said if anything went wrong, I would go see this. I ended up being fine and waited until this was on DVD. Edgar Wright has some of the best editing in his movies, the way this movie uses music, the tone, the idea of it being in the perspective of the ‘Getaway driver’ it makes it exciting and gives it spunk, it makes you like the character, the music, and heck root for a criminal. I wasn’t a big fan of the big twist everyone likes with the villain but that’s ok.

Inside Out: I went to Disney World and when I learned they were still playing this in theaters there, I dropped everything and went to go see it. Little did I know how right I was because I really enjoyed it. It’s an emotional film, gets me crying probably more than any other film, it really nails what’s it’s talking about...feelings. Mix that with glowful animation, good voice acting and a lesson that makes you think and really ponder.

Guardians of the Galaxy: I thought this would try and be like Star Wars and just be a giant battle in space. Nope! This has charm, character, and maybe a little bit of rudeness but man! I mean escape from prison in zero gravity, freezing in dead space, singing in the middle of everything and once again the villain. Why do I like the underrated villains? I think it’s a good contrast with the goofy personality of the characters to have a serious, brooding, and gritty character. As well as a proper introduction to Thanos (yeah he’s still number 1 villain in my book)

Star Wars: Somewhere, somehow, this had to be on the list. One way or the other, Star Wars is a phenomenon that can’t simply be ignored, with all the controversy and misdirection within the community right now, for some reason I keep getting tossed and turned but I find myself coming back e-v-e-r-y-t-i-m-e! I’ll say A New Hope is my favorite but really, I could say just about all of them. Something about seeing Luke, Vder, Leia, and Han in the same place just tops it off. The witty duo of R2 and 3PO, the original Death Star, the quotable moments that make you wish you were on that planet yet also find yourself relating with the way Luke wanting to get away but at the same time missing his old ways.

Black Panther: I’ll be honest. I don’t really like Black Panther in the comics. I felt like he was a cool secret weapon in the cartoons but I never really gained my appreciation for him until Civil War came out, then I really liked him. I figured out why too, I just really didn’t like how bland his suit was in the comics, I ended up reading a few anyway after the movie. I think he’s worthy of the Infinity Gauntlet like in the comics. Well this movie came out and I saw it opening day to a big crowd, it had good music, good style, a fresh take and blend between ancient and modern styles (kind of like how Atlantis did) as well as giving it a sense of culture, and not shying away from that. It’s almost like the Lion King, I never felt the same way about a film but those two feel similar and for that alone is a feat.

[blazehedgehog]

You see Matt McMuscles "What Happen" video on Sonic 2006?

Funnily enough, there was an episode of Wha Happun where he had clips of Sonic 06 at the end of the video, during the segment where he was soliciting suggestions on future episodes of the series.

So I shot him an email. I figured he was already planning on doing a video, because the Sonic movie buzz was ramping up and it would be good SEO.

I told him something along the lines of “Hey, I was writing a book on that game, I’ve done charity marathons centered around that game, my Youtube video for Sonic 06 used to be the top search result for the game, I’ve written for a Sega news site for a decade, and I’m a walking encyclopedia for the Sonic franchise. If you need any help with making your video or fact checking your information, I’d be willing to lend a hand.”

He never responded to me. Fair enough, I guess. I doubt that guy would need to slum it with another channel that doesn’t even have 20k subscribers, and we’d never spoken formally otherwise. I was a nobody to him.

Maybe he should have, though. Not even 90 seconds in to the video and there’s already things that I’m not quite sure he’s right on. By his account, Sonic 2006 was intended to be a Playstation 3 launch title, and PS3 itself was intended to be lead platform.

As far as I’m aware, this isn’t true.

Sonic 06 was originally revealed in a press-only behind-closed-doors demonstration at E3 in 2005, running on the newly announced Xbox 360. Here is part of that presentation, leaked via ancient flip phone video, showing numerous other Sega tech demos running on early 360 hardware, including Chrome Hounds, Afterburner Climax, Virtua Fighter 5, House of the Dead 4, and, of course, Sonic 06. You can hear the presenter talking about how some of these Sega games are Xbox 360 exclusives.

As far as I’ve ever heard, Sonic 06 was lead on the Xbox 360, as Sonic Team was struggling with the PS3. This was the case for a lot of developers back then – it was often easier to port from PS3 to 360, but not the other way around, thanks in part to the overly-complicated hardware architecture of Sony’s console and its limited RAM. However, because the 360 was so much easier to work with than the PS3, most developers tried to do it the hard way, especially early on. That’s because it often took way less effort to get an Xbox 360 build up and running well.

Hence, Sonic 06 came out on the PS3 more than two months after the Xbox 360, and with even worse loading times. That doesn’t sound like a lead platform to me.

Microsoft may have been the laughing stock of Japan, but they were very tightly knit with Sega. The original Xbox was even originally intended to play Dreamcast GD-ROMs, and received the bulk of Sega’s exclusives for that generation (Jet Set Radio Future, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Crazy Taxi 3, Sega GT, Gun Valkyrie, etc.). Sega’s Chihiro arcade hardware was also partly based on the Xbox, similar to how Naomi was based on the Dreamcast.

Microsoft also fought hard spent a lot of money to get other Japanese developers on board. Namco with Breakdown, Artoon with Blinx the Time Sweeper, Tecmo with Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive, From Software with Otogi, etc. This even extended to the 360, with games like Dead Rising, Blue Dragon, Rumble Roses, Beautiful Katamari, Ace Combat 6 and more originally being Xbox 360 exclusives. Japanese people may not have been buying the console, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying on Microsoft’s part.

And most of this was YEARS before Matt’s claim that Microsoft “suddenly” wanted to push Sonic 06 as a flagship Xbox 360 game in the late-stages of its development.

His claim that Sonic 06′s Xbox demo was “better” than the final product also reeks of a person who is only going by romanticized second-hand accounts and never actually touched the demo then, or now. That demo is actually buggier than the full game, and with considerably more sluggish camera controls.

All of this is in service of Matt dancing dangerously close to the old, worn out lie that “Microsoft pressured Sega for Sonic 06 and contributed to its demise.” That’s something I have personally debunked by tracking it down to a Sonic 06 apologist named “pkstarstorm1up” who was going around adding it to Sonic wikis as a way of deflecting the blame off of Sega. There is absolutely no actual factual evidence that this ever happened, but his wiki edits weren’t removed until well after the damage had been done and the myth took hold.

Matt also brings up the PC version of “Sonic Free Riders”… a Kinect game… that never came to PC?

All you had to do was let me help you, @realestmatt…