#i love brams design so much he looks so cool!!!!!!

[frenchonionsoop]

so chapter 113 huh

[jounosparticles]

Hello o/ i just finished midterm im finally free orz.How are you doing?

I want to asked what do you think about Fukuchi?like his relationship or morality anything in general.Hes such an interesting character i wish ppl talk about him more.

hello! i’m pretty good! finished a read through bsd beast today (fantastic novel btw) and will work on some writing tonight i think!

i hope your midterm went well!! feel free to tell me about it if you’d like :) i’m interested

and ty for asking about fukuchi! i have lots to say about him.

fukuchi - my opinion

first off i will preface this by saying i USED to be a fukuchi hater. he used to really piss me off but looking back it was 100% biased towards the characters he hurt and i didn’t think too much of his motives. i actually really like him now and believe he’s very underrated.

for starters, i LOVE his design. the face scars especially really tie everything together. i also like his silly moustache hehe

his role as a hunting dog was really great and i hope we see more of that—some sort of pre-DoA scenes where we see the hunting dogs work together so i can look into their dynamics more. it seems that he genuinely was a good leader and cared for his squad. he was fun and lighthearted and seemed to be kind to his subordinates.

i really hope we get some sort of scenes where we see him interacting with the other members of the DoA, flashback scenes or something. we only really seen him interact with bram. i feel he would have gotten along well with sigma, since neither of them are bad people. in contrast i want to see him interact with fyodor and nikolai for the very opposite purpose.

i somewhat sympathized with fukuchi when he was fighting atsushi and akutagawa, his view on war clearly messed him up a ton and he just appeared to have a bad approach to solving what was right. i regret to admit i think i let a lot of the general perception of fukuchi hinder my opinion on him here. i understood his motives to a degree but couldn’t like him for that (which has since changed).

i wholeheartedly believe fukuchi is a good person. he is severely traumatized from all the war he had to deal with, which altered his perception on a good approach to solving things.

assuming he is around 45 years old, he would have received the warning of the war at the age of 9. imagine being a small child and realizing you have to save millions from dying? yet throughout it all he kept a great composure and was kind to others. the scenes where he was with fukuzawa as a child showed he was a good kid despite the huge task he would need to complete. this displays immense courage.

now more onto the DoA era.

notice how he turned everyone into vampires instead of just killing them? partially this was likely to build an army, however i assume part of it was to keep people from dying. he doesn’t want any more bloodshed and did what was necessary. he never told anyone about this though, there’s a good chance bram would have been more willing to help had he been open about the plan. maybe?

the way he treated bram wasn’t great though. it would have been cool to see him talk to bram about it and they work together. of course bram didn’t really seem to care too much about humanity before meeting aya, so he may have not agreed.

fukuchi was also incredibly smart for trusting fukuzawa to do what was right. it really shows their bond and how they knew each other. i’d love to look into their dynamics more, especially the scene where fukuchi tries to convince fukuzawa to go to war since there was a ton of symbolism there.

fukuchi and jouno’s bond also intrigues me. we know he invited jouno to the hunting dogs with the goal of him joining the DoA yet jouno was too influenced by good to be able to do it. i wonder if fukuchi would have told jouno the truth in the case that he agreed to join? or did he assume jouno was willing to be a ruthless killer? id like to think that fukuchi believed jouno had the morality to keep the agency safe despite being supposed to act evil; since fukuchi didn’t actually want them dead. ill make a longer analysis about this idea soon actually since it has the little gears in my head turning.

his relationship with tachihara is also interesting to me. i haven’t thought too much into it, but i believe fukuchi said something along of being disappointed in tachihara’s "betrayal". it makes me wonder if maybe he had hoped tachihara’s morality had changed in the mafia so he would never need to face him in battle? i’ll have to reread the chapters and look into this more.

his relationship with teruko also is one that makes me quite sad. she looked heartbroken as she had to kill him. she was also the only one he told other than fukuzawa about his real plan (as far as im aware). they were definitely close.

in the end, fukuchi’s reveal of the truth and everything he had been dealing with for so long made his actions make a ton of sense. he was just a person with a huge responsibility who tried to save things as well as he could. i really wish he could have gotten closure on the world he saved (if he is truly dead). he’s a fantastic character and has a ton of depth. i only scratched the surface here. maybe i will need to make an "in defence of fukuchi" essay at some point.

[signalwatch]

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

Watched:  10/21/2023

Format:  Amazon

Viewing:  Second, I think

Director:  Francis Ford Coppola

Firstly, this isn't Bram Stoker's actual Dracula.  This is Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).

I very much remember Coppola, with whose work I'd just become acquainted at age 15 or so, announcing he was going to remake the Universal Monster stuff using the source material.  And as a teen, I was jazzed.  Let's kick the dust off, ditch the stuffy 1930's stylings (I'd never seen the movies at this point) and lets make a Dracula for the 90's!  

All I can really remember from that first movie is that it was... a lot.  The reviews were mixed, but everyone was going to see it, and I was in a packed theatre when I watched it myself.  

Honestly, I remember thinking "well... that was a lot.  And I get why the reviews were mixed."  Halloween night of '93, I went to see the original, and was like "oh, wow.  This is rad.  I get why people love this." and, in fact, my interest in horror movie monsters I'd had as a kid was reignited (along with a VHS copy of Phantom of the Opera) to the point where I'm annoying about it to this day!

Over the years, I've not returned to the Coppola movie because (a) I didn't like it all that much to begin with, and (b) there's so many Draculas.  And one gotta catch 'em all.  

Since seeing this back in '92, I've since read the novel, watched the 1930's original many, many times, seen some sequels to that, watched the Hammer films, watched a clutch of other vampire films and Dracula adaptations - including stage plays, read Carmilla, and basically laid down what I think is a solid foundation.

This movie is super strange.

Like, look.  It's got some amazing ideas, and beautiful visuals.  My exposure to the movie in the internet age has been largely through stills and gifs, and given the dedication to the visual that this movie embraces, its a reminder that the film has some stunning photography, FX, design, costuming, etc....  It's an absolute "spared no expense" endeavor.  

I actually love the fact that the movie uses weird edits and dissolves - the peacock feather to the sun, etc... 

You can't ask for a better cast in 1992.  This is a post Silence of the Lambs Anthony Hopkins getting to play all the cool roles, a height of her fame Winona Ryder, Richard E. Grant, Cary Elwes, Billy Campbell, Keanu Reeves, and fucking Tom Waits as Renfield.  And, of course, a young Gary Oldman showing everyone what Gary Oldman can do.

Look, the movie isn't the book, full stop.  Since Lugosi made women swoon in the stage show of Dracula and then in theaters (no, really), the story of Dracula has become weirdly morphed from "agent of Satan slowly murders virgins" to "eternal love story".  

The book provides nothing like the pre-credits sequence to explain why the Count became an agent of the devil other than it sounded like a fun sort of thing to do.  There's no suicide of a wife, no war with the Turks.  There's no attempt to humanize Dracula by giving him a reason he might turn to the forces of darkness with which the audience might sympathize.  

There's just no love story between Dracula and anyone else in the book.  There's Mina having a mix of shocking sympathy for her tormentor (because she's a good person) and a bit of Stockholm Syndrome in the final chapters.   I have read that a lot of the past lives stuff is borrowed from a different Stoker novel about mummies, but it feels straight taken from the Boris Karloff movie The Mummy.  Which makes me wonder what Coppola planned to do for his remake there, had they proceeded as planned.  

There's nothing wrong with making the story a romance - that's what vampire stuff does, I guess.  But Bram Stoker's Dracula essentially turns the story of Dracula into Mina cheating on her boyfriend while he's at work with a dude with no job and a soul patch.  She'll insist they made such a connection (and, ironically, he's also juggling three other ladies she doesn't know about) and she's going to act nuts about it because she's invested so much into her secret little fling when she should write her dude and admit she's banging someone else.

The end result is that no one in the movie is anyone you care about except for maybe Van Helsing.  Mina seems like a dupe, Jonathan is wishy-washy, Lucy is narrative cannon fodder as the horny girl in a horror movie, and the three suitors are stripped of any qualities other than they sure are in the movie, and one has a hat.

Because the movie leans into Mina and Vlad's secret affair, it chews through a lot of plot time and also sets the pacing of the movie somewhat different from the novel.  By necessity, this means - so the movie isn't even longer than what feels like a very, very long two hours - the other characters get some short shrift and plotlines get condensed.  And that's... fine?  

Surely this movie's love affair works for someone out there, just as the Bella/ Edward romance works for a lot of people.  And I'm not opposed to it on its face, I just don't think this movie pulls it off in a way that makes you (a) cheer for the romance or (b) be horrified by Mina's seduction.  It just sorta rolls out, and the dramatic irony of Mina having no idea what's really happening becomes tedious.  And tedious is not good for movies.

I don't blame either actor here (even if sometimes Ryder's Ryderism in her voice gives the game away).  Oldman is maybe at an 8 at his lowest and an 11 for good chunks of the film, but that's what's called for.  Ryder is playing what she's got, but it's hard to know what that is.  We don't get much of who Mina is until she's already in crisis.

What we clearly do get is the idea that this is sexual repression, Victorian style.  And Dracula is supposed to prey on the unspoken horniness of the women - with Mina clearly trying to push Jonathan's Victorian sensibilities, and of which Lucy seems keenly aware as she uses the barest hint of a sexual nature to keep three dudes with options on the line.  

At the time of the movie's release, between fighting prudishness and lots of blood, this was seen by some as a movie for the AIDS/ HIV era, which... I don't think Coppola probably thought about even once.  It's the sort of observation made that is more about how the movie reflects the times, and what the viewer might bring to the film.  I don't think (but don't know) it was made for such a comparison - especially when the novel is clearly about science wrangling with unknown diseases, and the movie skips a lot of that element.  Except...

Our intro to Van Helsing has him discussing syphilis in a medical classroom, and making clear connections between STDs and the moral nature of man, which was quite the rage in the 90's.  I doubt that bit would make the cut in 2023, and it's an odd tie to Van Helsing as mystic scientist and Dracula-chaser. 

Flipping the script of the seduction of Mina is the imprisonment and seduction of Jonathan.  What is curious is that the movie never deals with what Mina knows about Jonathan's time away, how he delivered that info, etc... as it seems she's fully aware of the situation, and  we are robbed of her own reaction.  It's a lot, and she just seems like she's taking it all in stride.  Which, I guess if you've been shtupping a mysterious Eastern prince, you don't make a lot of fuss when your man tells you three hot women forced him into sex daily for a month.

What the movie does offer is spectacle upon spectacle.  And that isn't necessarily wrong.  The portion of the novel that's Jonathan's POV gets really weird, really fast.  But it can be the difference between Jonathan seeing a glimpse of what seems to be wolves in the woods and us seeing Jonathan's wagon from the shoulder POV of wolves, as the movie does.  The suggestion that the count moves unnaturally versus the obvious floating and zipping around the count does on screen that leaves nothing for the viewer to share Jonathan's uncertainty.  But this is a matter of taste.

I do enjoy the "this is a soundstage" look and feel to the exterior shots and the swing-for-the-fences design, including some of the stuff that's a bit risky to try as it can *feel* like it's trying.  The movie really is gorgeous, and there's a reason the stills that people post every Halloween have made me want to revisit the movie.  

Is it scary?  I mean - I think it has its moments.  And it embraces the weirdness of Renfield and Dracula himself as well as any version.  But without really *caring* about Mina or Lucy, the horror of what's happening is more indicated than visceral.  The scariest bit is probably, really, the dudes going into Lucy's crypt, with the first fifteen minutes in Dracula's castle a close second.  There's a lot of space in-between those scenes and after.

What's odd is that this is really considered the other Dracula film, the primary version still the 1931 Lugosi version or the Spanish version.  There have been innumerable versions before and since the 1992 version, but no one really seems interested in just telling the story in the book.  That said, this one is certainly closer than most.  

With endless streaming services, it seems like *someone* would just give it a go.  

By the way, I still think the guy who played the best Dracula in a movie in recent years was Nic Cage in Renfield.  I can only imagine if Coppola had cast his nephew for this what we could have had.

[poetlcs]

books I’ve read in 2020 (so far) + their ratings

non-fiction

crossing the line: australia’s secret history in the timor sea by kim mcgrath: important research into australia’s theft of oil in timor leste. didn’t rate

hood feminism: notes from the women that a movement forgot by mikki kendall: essay collection dissecting modern feminism, pointing out the exclusionary practices of mainstream feminism and offering new frameworks through which feminism should operate. really recommend. didn’t rate

the uninhabitable earth: life after warming by david wallace-wells: good introduction to environmentalism and the climate disaster. a little too introductory for me but good for those new to the topic. ★★★

homo deus: a brief history of tomorrow by yuval noah harari: it is simply not Sapiens nor as good as Sapiens. Looks at potentials for our future but, thought it was a little poorly researched. Some parts were still interesting though.  ★★★

SPQR: a history of ancient rome by mary beard: a little dense at times, but super interesting and detailed look at ancient rome. enjoyed it a lot. ★★★★

sister outsider by audre lorde: collection of audre lorde’s essays and speeches, about feminism, lesbianism, the queer community, being Black and a lesbian ect ect. outstanding, important collection anyone interested in intersectional feminism must read. ★★★★★

all boys aren’t blue by george m. johnson: memoir about johnson’s experiences growing up as a Black gay boy in a poor neighbourhood. Very poignant memoir, written in such accessible language which I liked. guarenteed to get you emotional, another one everyone should read. didn’t rate because it’s so highly personal that felt wrong but highly recommend. 

under a biliari tree i born by alice biari smith: memoir by an Aboriginal Australian detailing her life growing up learning traditional Aboriginal ways and how the lives of Indigenous Australian’s have been impacted through the years, specifically in Western Australia. Probably more aimed at school age people but still a 101 I think many Australian’s (and non Australian’s) can benefit from. didn’t rate 

classics

maurice by e.m forster: gay man coming of age story in college + themes around class and sexuality. forster’s end note saying he thought it imperative to write a happy ending because we need that in fiction, i love him. ★★★★★

emma by jane austen: read before seeing the movie. loved emma as a character but thought this was okay compared to other Austen I’ve read. ★★★½

perfume by patrick suskind: a man with an incredible sense of smell starts murdering young women to try and bottle their scent for a perfume. weirdest shit I ever read still don’t know how to feel about it. ★★★

the color purple by alice walker: follows the life of Celie, an Black woman living in rural Georgia. deals with her relationship with her sister Nettie, her lover Shug Avery, and with God. this tore my heart to shreds absolutely everyone must read it, like even just for the beautiful writing ALONE. ★★★★

a study in scarlet by arthur conan doyle: its sherlock holmes #1 no further explanation required. not my fave sherlock story, was the weird morman subplot needed? ★★½

dracula by bram stoker: yeah vampires!! this was way easier to read and also way funnier than I expected. we STAN gothic aesthetics and Miss Mina Harker here. ★★★★

fantasy

the diviners by libba bray: teens with magical powers/abilities solving mysteries in 1920′s new york. reread. ★★★★★

lair of dreams by libba bray: the diviners #2. reread. ★★★★½

before the devil breaks you by libba bray: the diviners #3. reread. best one in the series hands down.  ★★★★★

the king of crows by libba bray: waited so long for this series ender and it let me down lol. ★★★

clockwork princess by cassandra clare: the infernal devices #3. dont @ me this is my comfort reread series and I was travelling. ★★★★★

we unleash the merciless storm by tehlor kay mejia: we set the dark on fire #2. latinx inspired fantasy about overthrowing a corrupt government with an f/f romance. didn’t like as much as book one but still good, BEST girlfriends ever. ★★★½

wolfsong by t.j klune: basically feral gay werewolves and witches living in a town together. feels like a teen wolf episode but way more gayer. despite that hated the writing style and I don’t like age gap romances so yay the concept no the execution.  ★★

the fate of the tearling by erika johansan: the tearling #3. finally finished this series, dunno why everyone loathes the ending so much I thought it was cool. underrated fantasy because it’s very unique. ★★★★

girl, serpent, thorn by melissa bashardoust: persian inspired fantasy about a girl who is cursed by a div to kill anyone she touches. has an f/f romance. bashardoust writes the most aesthetically rich settings I love her. ★★★★

crier’s war by nina varela: reread. f/f enemies to lovers where the main character poses as a handmaiden in order to try and murder the princess whose father killed her family. PEAK gay content literally a modern classic. ★★★★★

we hunt the flame by hafsah faizal: I was so disinterested in this book I barely can describe the plot but basically it’s a prince and a hunter who are enemies but are forced to go looking for this magical artifact together anyway it was boring.  ★

ghosts of the shadow market by cassandra clare + others: short story collection set in the shadowhunter world. probably the strongest of her collections but they just don’t hit the same as her full length books. didn’t rate. 

a storm of swords: part two by george r.r martin: a song of ice and fire #3. I WILL finish reading these books eventually i swear !! probably the best one yet though. ★★★★

amarah by l.l mcneil: world of linaria #3. high fantasy with politics, dragons, warring races. tolkein/asoiaf vibes if they had more women with agency. didn’t rate because I haven’t decided my feelings on the end yet. 

science fiction

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone: f/f enemies to lovers between spies on rival sides of a time war. good book but writing style wasn’t for me (others love this so eh take my opinion with a grain os salt:  ★★★

not your sidekick by c.b lee: main character is from a superhero family but has no powers herself, so she takes an internship working with a superhero corp. has an f/f romance with a villain character. so much fun and super cute

speculative fiction:

the deep by rivers solomon: speculative fiction wherein pregnant African women thrown overboard by slave ships gave birth to babies that became mermaids. main character holds all the memories of her people’s past but runs away after being unable to deal with the burden. about self discovery, intergenerational trauma and the burden of remembering. a little short imo but still all round excellent book ★★★★

how long ‘til black future month? by n.k jemisin: short story collection, many with an afro-futurism focus. hard to explain because there is such a wide variety of stories but this is an AMAZING collection. didn’t rate because I don’t like rating short story collections but wish more people would read it. 

mystery

the family upstairs by lisa jewell: woman inherits an english house and starts to unravel the secrets of a mass cult suicide that happened there years ago. loved it because it was wild. ★★★★★

the hand on the wall by maureen johnson: truly devious #3. boarding school mystery where the main character has to solve a murder that happened in the 1920s at her school while another mystery is happening in present time. my least favourite of the series but satisfying conclusion nonetheless. ★★★½

contemporary fiction

maybe in another life by taylor jenkins reid: dual timeline book showing the two outcomes of a decision the main character makes. cool concept but ultimately boring book because I didn’t care about the main character at all.  didn’t rate because I didn’t finish it. 

girl, woman, other by bernadine evaristo: vignette stories of various women whose lives are vaguely interconnected. incredibly well written with such vivid characters. deserves the hype. ★★★★

tin heart by shivan plozza: australian YA, the recipient of a heart transplant wishes to connect with the family of her donor, after she discovers the identity of her donor. good story but didn’t like the writing style. ★★★

a little life by hanya yanigahara: follows the life of a group of friends living in life, especially that of jude, a closed off and damaged man with a troubling past. a little too torture-porny/Tragic Gays but I cannot deny the author has a beautiful writing style and I went through all the emotions. didn’t rate

a girl like that by tanaz bhathena: explores the events leading up to the main character dying in a car crash. set in Jeddah, saudi arabia and explores expectations on women, feminism and expressions of sexuality and relationships between women during teenage years. kinda no good characters but I loved it for it’s messy depiction of teen girls (whilst not condemning them for this). underrated. ★★★★

little fires everywhere by celeste ng: drama in white american suburbs when a new family moves in and the neighbours start investigating their past. eh, I heard a lot about this and thought it was just okay. ★★★

stay gold by tobly mcsmith: trans boy decides to go stealth at his new school and falls for a cheerleader, georgia. about navigating being trans and definitely felt like it was written to educate cis people. it was okay but ultimately not my thing and not really the story I was looking for, even though I respect it being written by a trans author and still would recommend to certain people. ★★½

everything leads to you by nina lacour: main character and her best friend have to unravel a hollywood mystery, all while the main character is trying to get over her ex-girlfriend and find work as a set designer. f/f romance and loved the focus on movie making and the power of stories. ★★★½

the falling in love montage by ciara smyth: a girl meets another girl at a party, but she’s not looking to date due to the amount of family issues she has going on. so her and the girl decide to spend the summer having fun, renacting scenes from rom-coms, but never dating. awesome family dynamics and the relationship between the two girls was sweet also set in ireland which is fun. 

normal people by sally rooney: explores the relationship between connell and marianne, who meet in school, date secretly, and then are inexplicably drawn to each other for the rest of their lives. explores power dynamics, relationships, love and trust, and what we owe to eachother. great book, great mini-series, love it to bits. ★★★★★

the glass hotel by emily st john mandel: impossible to explain this book, but there’s a mystery about grafitti, a ponzi scheme and a character falling to their death on a boat under suspicious circumstances. honestly idk what happened in this book but I liked it. ★★★½

historical fiction

half of a yellow sun by chimamanda ngozi adichie: historical fiction about the biafran war loosely based on adichie’s family experiences. incredibly well written with an ending that punches you in the gut. ★★★★

hamnet by maggie o’farrell: explores the shakespeare family after the death of their child, Hamnet, from the plague, and how this leads to Shakespeare writing Hamlet. cool as fuck concept and boring as fuck book with such tropey female characters. ★★

all the light we cannot see by anthony doerr: WW2 fiction, dual perspective between a blind girl living in france and a german boy forced into nazi youth. I cannot believe this book is award winning it’s so boring and predictable and i reget the time i wasted on it. ★

poetry:

on earth we’re briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong: poetry memoir. vuong writes a letter to his illiterate mother, knowing she’ll never read it, exploring their relationship, his experiences growing up as second generation Vietnamese-American, and hers during the Vietnam War. My favorite book I’ve read so far this year, just too good to explain, genuinely just feel like everyone is better off for having read this. ★★★★★

currrently reading:

girls of storm and shadow by natasha ngan

meet me at the intersection: edited by rebecca lim & ambelin kwaymullina

stamped from the beginning: the definitive history of racist ideas in america by ibram x. kendi

get a life, chloe brown by talia hibbert

[tentpoletrauma]

Transcript of our Wolfman 2010 Podcast

Unknown Speaker  0:12   Welcome to Tentpole Trauma, the podcast where we look at movies that came with hype and high hopes, but left with crushing disappoint either critically at the box office are both. Free from the weight of expectations, we seek to examine these underperformers under a new light parsing through the good, the bad and everything in between the hopes of gaining a better understanding as to why they failed to find their audience.

Unknown Speaker  0:43   Warning, there will be spoilers. So if you haven't seen the movie that we're discussing today, I suggest you stop the podcast and go watch it. Then when you come back and listen, you'll get more out of the discussion. This episode we examine the 2010 remake of The Wolf Man.

Unknown Speaker  1:23   I've been a universal horror fan for as long as I can remember. So I was pretty excited back in 2010 when the Wolf Man remake got rooms I've been following the production I knew Benicio del Toro was playing the Wolf Man, which I thought was great. I knew the original director left and was replaced with Joe Johnston, who I liked but didn't think was that inspired of a choice. But still, I was really excited to see it even after numerous delays. The first signs of real trouble were the extremely tepid reviews and tepid is a kind descriptor, but I maintained my enthusiasm and on opening weekend dragged my pointedly disinterested girlfriend to see it. The movie started promisingly enough with a pretty cool werewolf attack. But as the stilted drama set in, I could feel the audience snickering and turning against the movie. And more importantly, I could feel my girlfriend turning against me for dragging her to see this thing. We didn't last much longer. Still, over the years, I've maintained a certain affection for the film, even buying it on blu ray to have it as a, as I call put on in the background kind of movie, something that's visually pleasing that you can just look at not really pay attention to it. Over the years, I've even tried to get friends and family to watch it with me and perhaps reevaluate the film. But usually I'm just met with a healthy serving of side eye and skepticism. So am I insane for liking this maligned movie? I guess that's a question we'll have to address today as we deep dive into the 2010 remake of the wolf, man.

Unknown Speaker  3:19   All right, this is Sebastian, and I'm here today with Jennifer Hello, and Chris.

Unknown Speaker  3:25   Hey, how's it going?

Unknown Speaker  3:26   And we're gonna be talking about the Wolf Man remake from 2010. Directed by Joe Johnston, who did Captain America The Winter Soldier, and he did the Rocketeer and Jurassic Park three, and written by Andrew Kevin Walker, who wrote seven and some other stuff. So you know, there's kind of a pedigree there. I already in my intro talked about my experience with this film. Jennifer, do you have any previous experience with this film?

Unknown Speaker  3:57   Yes, I do. My first exposure to this film was through you insisting that I watched this film, I think it was probably around 2012 or 2013. Does that sound right?

Unknown Speaker  4:10   It sounds right.

Unknown Speaker  4:10   Yeah. And I remember just not really, not really getting that into it. I was just kind of I wasn't, I didn't hate it by any means. But I just was kind of like, okay, that's, it's that was fine. But then watching it for the podcast. I had a different experience this time, which we'll go into also watching, both theatrical and the unrated version made a big difference. So But yeah, I did not see it in the theater. I it's not really I'm a horror person but, and I like universal monsters. The creatures more my guy, but I'm not you know, not super

Unknown Speaker  4:58   Wolfie Okay, Chris.

Unknown Speaker  5:01   Um, yeah, so my experience with Wolf Man was, I saw Dracula in high school loved it thought it was great. I thought it was like a great goth movie that everybody seemed to be into. And goth was a big thing. And then Frankenstein came out, which was, I guess, and unofficial sequel to that it still had the same vibe had a good director and a bunch of golf production design. And that was not

Unknown Speaker  5:32   just to be clear, we're talking about the Coppola Dracula and the Kenneth brown a Frankenstein.

Unknown Speaker  5:37   Exactly. And so I was kind of following that thread. Because I love Dracula, even though I it's flawed. And then Frankenstein came out, which I didn't love as much, but it was still a good time. And then Wolf Man came out. And I believe it was touted as like the third of a trilogy of, you know, the same type of pedigree we're gonna make, we're gonna give this treatment to these three monsters. And I believe, I don't know why I didn't see it at the time that it came out. Maybe because the reviews were bad or I was busy or something like that. But it took until now that Sebastian was doing this podcast that I was like, Oh, I guess it's time to watch it. And, and I've seen it for the first time.

Unknown Speaker  6:22   All right. Well, before we get into your feelings on the movie, let's just kind of dig in. This movie had a troubled production. It was originally going to be directed by Mark Romanek, who's a pretty cool director. Yeah, one one hour photo. Mm hmm. And

Unknown Speaker  6:38   lots of great music videos, too.

Unknown Speaker  6:41   That's right. And I was working at cinephile at the time and Benny not to name drop but Benicio del Toro would come in. And he was a huge Wolf Man fan. And he was really excited that he was going to get to play the Wolf Man. And I'm a huge Wolf Man fan. I love the 1940s original, so I was excited for him to play it. But it took a long time for the movie to come out. Because there were just you know, Mark Romanek, ended up leaving at the last minute, and there were like delays, Joe Johnson took over and had to just work with whatever they had. And you know, then it ended up with the release ended up being delayed, for whatever reason, so it ended up like taking two years for you to come out. But that's a little background on the movie. So let's just get into it. It starts with the universal logo. So this is definitely they're setting it up that this is a universal monster movie. In the the theatrical version. Yeah, it's cool. And the theatrical version. It's pretty easy. It's just black and white, but in the unrated version, you get a sort of more old school like 1940s universal logo.

Unknown Speaker  7:51   Yeah, I love that. It's really up. It's updated, but feels old school and it's like, it's really the right way to go iPod.

Unknown Speaker  7:58   Yeah, it sets the tone. I don't know if they intended this to be the first of the quote unquote, dark universe that they were trying to do. A few years back, they would keep saying, you know, they, they I think they set it with this movie. Then they set it with Dracula Untold. Then they set it with the Tom Cruise mummy. They were really hoping to do a marvel universe of universal monsters, which I would have been game for. But they

Unknown Speaker  8:23   shouldn't that should have been the tagline.

Unknown Speaker  8:27   But they couldn't seem to get that going. Anyway. So this isn't really the beginning of the dark universe because there is no dark universe. It starts off with some Danny Elfman music, which reminded me a lot of the 1979 Dracula that came out in the disco era with Franklin gela Mm hmm. It really borrows some themes. for that.

Unknown Speaker  8:48   To me the score just sound doesn't sound like Danny Elfman at all it very it to me, it just sounds like they're ripping off the score of the Coppola Dracula, you know, with that sort of luxurious string arrangements. And it's a strange like, I remember thinking like didn't then I think he is he a Czech composer for the Coppola Dracula, and he had died. So I was like, who composes because it sounds exactly like him. So and I was shocked to see that it was Danny Elfman because it doesn't sound like his trademark, you know, score at all.

Unknown Speaker  9:22   It doesn't sound like a kooky circus.

Unknown Speaker  9:26   Not at all.

Unknown Speaker  9:27   No, I think he was intentionally trying to evoke that apparently, he was originally hired to do the score. And then they tried to go with another score, I think and then they went back to his score. Anyway, it just sort of typical of the sort of troubled production of this, this movie. And anyway, moving on, it opens with the quote from the original the, you know, man becomes a wolf when the wolf Bane bloons that's straight from the original and it's pretty stylish in a sort of computer generated way. Yeah which is a which is a thing I think this movie it can either be a plus or a minus to you like it's very you know they're going for that really God thing but it's pretty computer CG golf.

Unknown Speaker  10:14   Yeah, agreed 100% I think

Unknown Speaker  10:17   that's the problem. That's what that's something that makes the Bram Stoker Dracula standout is that they went with a lot of old school visual effects and just you know, the feel of the whole thing was purposely sort of antique whereas this the production design works but the filmmaking techniques are very modern and in their hidden Miss You know, sometimes they work and then sometimes you see Oh, that's just a Morph cut that just, they just put in there because they could.

Unknown Speaker  10:46   Okay, so we get the opening attack, which is, you know, we later find out is Larry Talbots. I'm gonna call him Larry just because I think that's funny. Larry Talbots brother getting attacked on the Moore's there's sort of a voiceover from Emily Blunt, which didn't feel added anything to it really. And you know, we get this whole attack, which is pretty cool, but I feel like it It feels very rushed.

Unknown Speaker  11:13   The whole beginning feels rushed. Like, well, the voiceover from Emily Blunt in the theatrical version is she's writing a letter to Larry. Right. Yeah. So she's and you know, we're getting this this backstory. And that was, like the beginning. I just felt like, Is it me? I don't know what, what just happened? What is going on here? Like is it just it felt it feels like we just, it zooms by and not in a good way. Just wait way too much too fast. And it just feels like it's just kind of thrown together. And that Yeah, I was completely just baffled at that some of the things that were going on,

Unknown Speaker  11:56   well, in the unrated cut, you get a little more of the attack, and we get this whole scene of Larry acting. He's supposedly on stage in London, he's performing Hamlet or something. And Gwen does not write a letter to him in this version, she actually comes to the theater and he's backstage and he sort of got a cool bathrobe on he sort of rock starring out and she floors him to come check because I think his brother is missing at that point. But he sort of puts her off but she kind of gives him a guilt trip. I felt like compared to the theatrical version, where all you get is this voiceover from Emily Blunt. And you're suddenly right at the right at Blackmore Manor, I felt like the unrated version was an improvement.

Unknown Speaker  12:49   Yeah, I see, having watched both of them, I definitely can see how the pendulum swung hard both ways. You know, like, the Extended Cut is way too long. There's way too much intro, you know, it'll take like half an hour before like that Gypsy attack happens. So I understand why they cut a lot of that stuff, because it's just needless exposition. But now hearing Jen's reaction to it, I think, you know, they obviously cut maybe too much, because they're, they're really just, you know, trying to keep it tight and compress everything so that it gets going. But I will say having watched the Extended Cut that man, it's kind of a slog and a drag to, to get to where the movies going,

Unknown Speaker  13:30   you're sort of coming at it from the opposite end of Gen where you felt like the extended was taking too long.

Unknown Speaker  13:35   Definitely. And in you saying that it's a troubled production and that the you know, the director got swapped out at the last minute totally makes sense, because this feels very, you know, made by committee where nobody had a strong vision. And they were like, Okay, well, it's too long. Well, now let's make it too short or whatever. And, you know, no one actually said I understand the story. We're gonna make this happen. This is you know exactly what it's gonna be like, it definitely feels that way where there's not a strong vision hand at the helm.

Unknown Speaker  14:06   I wouldn't want more. This was like, in this case, it just for me, I was like, I felt so much more like, Oh, this is what they're doing. Because I remember even being like, is Larry an actor? like is that what he was doing? Because it's like literally like just like a quick flash of him on the stage or something. And I'm like, wait, and setting up also with Emily Blunt. Like, because throughout the film, I was like, Okay, I know she's supposed to be you know, it's complicated, but she's, you know, supposed to be kind of a love interest. And I just wasn't really feeling it. But then with this at the beginning with her coming there, there was this more to their relationship, and I actually was more invested, so to speak, but yeah, so anyway, the the unrated worked worked for me, especially in the beginning.

Unknown Speaker  14:51   I wouldn't say that in any version, their relationship is is a strong point of the movie, but in the theatrical cut, you get nothing zero, you're like, I don't care at all, at least in the unrated cut you you have some reason to care. They've had some scenes that are meaningful. Yeah, in the in the theatrical, there's nothing.

Unknown Speaker  15:15   Um, well, this is just kind of a general note on just about the action and how the wolf, you know, plays out in his attacks. Like, it's something, there's movies like Jurassic Park, or, you know, other werewolf movies, which gives you that sense of, you know, a wild animal attack. And, you know, if you've ever been around, like, you know, an angry dog or anything like that, you get that sense, where it's like, oh, my God, like anything can happen. But when he attacks it, it feels more like a bus hit. And then an animal attack, you know, because he just comes in out of nowhere and just slams. It's like, half jumpscare, half bus hit. And it just, I don't know, I just feel like it doesn't, it doesn't work. It's not a unique way of, you know, having him attack and it just doesn't feel scary to me.

Unknown Speaker  16:02   It feels more like a superhero thing. Yeah. And I feel and I think that a lot of this movie has that kind of feel where it's almost more of a superhero movie, even though the superheroes, you know, killing people. It just has a more modern superhero vibe to it in a weird way. If that makes any sense.

Unknown Speaker  16:21   Absolutely. This is relates to a point that I have with just the story in general that I feel like they set up a lot of things that never pay off. Like, why haven't be an actor, why, you know, have the meet backstage at the beginning. It's just, there's, there's so many weird threads in this story that just don't seem to pay off. And, and I feel like I feel the story being stretched. And like we were saying, the right amount of information is somewhere in the middle between the theatrical and Extended Cut. But there's just so many ideas in this story that never pay off that they were trying to, like, give love to some and then not enough for the others. It's just kind of a mess. I think

Unknown Speaker  17:07   with the him being an actor, I totally know. There's definitely things I agree with you Chris that never come to fruition, but I feel like part of the him being an actor is like they're trying to paint this picture also, which I think again, is more represented in the unrated version, is that he is such an outsider to the town, as at this point, like he's totally like a fish out of water. Like, you know, and I think like even at one point Anthony Hopkins is this you know, kind of says something along the lines of like, oh, coming back to the you know, small town or something along the lines of that, you know, so I think they're trying to make him like just as uncomfortable they're like not wanted there you know, even without even before all the other stuff happens that that's I mean, but yes, there's so many things that are set up the door really pay off but that's that's all I could gather from from going into his acting career.

Unknown Speaker  18:02   Maybe it's also to say that his Mid Atlantic accent is because he's an actor and has been away for so long. That's right. Oh, he's in New York. That's where he picked up this weird accent. Like, I also

Unknown Speaker  18:12   think that's what it how it was in the original, which didn't really play into anything in the original film either. But I think they just that's why because that's the character gotcha as as known from the 1940s film, you know, in the unrated cut, we get a scene on a train with the great Max von seido like why do you cut Max von side obviously, Larry is looking at a picture of his mom and then Max von seido sitting across from him and Max von seido. Has this silver wolf cane, which to your point Chris doesn't end up paying out in any real way in the movie. And it's only in there and I think this might be the the overall answers your question as to why things don't pay out and why they're in there is because in the 1940s movie, he's the Wolf Man is killed by his father with a wolf head cane just like that. Okay, so it's

Unknown Speaker  19:13   a setup without payoff as like a twist to the old be the people who knew Okay,

Unknown Speaker  19:20   yeah, the cane is not the strongest point of this movie. Okay, so we get to Blackmore Manor, which is the Talbot estate, we find out at that point that his brother's dead. You know, I think the production value whatever you feel about this movie, I think the production value is pretty great. All the locations are really cool. I love the look of the manor. It looks like a you know, kind of like a rundown Downton Abbey. Yes. With lots of leaves in the interior and my squeaking, lots of squeaking. We get Anthony Hopkins and he's you know he's doing you're pretty much like standard late period Anthony Hopkins performance. But it's one of those cases where he's Anthony Hopkins and he, he's totally watchable. It's you know, it's he's not doing anything. He seems kind of half asleep in a way. And he's not doing anything spectacular, but he's just great because he's Anthony Hopkins.

Unknown Speaker  20:16   totally true. Totally agree. Yes. I just Yeah, he's just kind of being creepy and just yeah, doing doing his thing. And it's a great I think opening scene to having him come in there looked up. Definitely rundown Downton Abbey. Lots of spider webs just kind of in disarray. But yeah, it's that I was happy, happy just to spend some time with with Anthony.

Unknown Speaker  20:42   You know, Anthony Hopkins at 50% is still better than most people's on 100% Absolutely.

Unknown Speaker  20:48   Yes. Yeah, the productions that design is definitely stellar. I mean, it's got that golf feel and it's definitely the I think the best thing about it, you know, I mean, the cinematography as well with the high contrast lighting and the smoke everywhere, everything looks right. You know, they they definitely spent the right amount of money and, and have the right fuel going. It's the other stuff. It's the story and the acting that to me don't work. And Anthony Hopkins can do no wrong. Of course, he's definitely phoning it in and like you said it, his phoning it in is already better than most people's full throttle. But can we talk about Benicio for a second? Like I feel like he is not giving me much of anything. And I'm also trying to think of what other lead roles he's had where he's knocked it out of the park. Like he's always great as the crazy sidekick. And I think maybe he's not capable of pulling off the lead in a movie like this where there's not a lot to Larry. I mean, he's just this mopey guy. He's supposed to be an actor, but like, I feel like I get nothing from his character.

Unknown Speaker  21:53   He's definitely trying to, I believe, especially with his haircut and everything, which is not terribly flattering on him. He's got a sort of like almost bowl cut,

Unknown Speaker  22:04   like a Caesar cut. Yeah, that was was that the style at the time? Was that cool?

Unknown Speaker  22:08   Or it was? I don't think so. He looks a little puffy. And he's kind of looks a little overweight. So I think he was trying to actually invoke Alon Chani Jr, who played the Wolf Man in the original. I mean, he was a huge, huge fan of that movie. But I also think he might be a little checked out because I think he was very supportive of Mark Romanek. And when I think he was a little upset that, you know, they switched out directors, and, you know, he may have been sort of checked out. We need

Unknown Speaker  22:45   to have a term for that, like, you know, like Marlon Brando with Island of Dr. Moreau when an actor gets ditched by the director, and then just phones in the movie, like, Can we call that something? Well, but I don't know.

Unknown Speaker  22:56   I don't I wouldn't compare those two because Brando and Island of Dr. Moreau is crazy. Right? Right. Like, does whatever

Unknown Speaker  23:04   you want. Well, he Benicio should have done that, you know, that would have been more interesting.

Unknown Speaker  23:08   Yeah. I think he's got his moments. I think we know when he's getting ready to change and stuff. I think he does good. But I agree, when we're doing the sort of straightforward stuff and he's just trying to be sort of, you know, mysterious romantic lead. It doesn't really work. And I don't think that that's his, his wheelhouse. No,

Unknown Speaker  23:28   I was fine with it. I just I think but also, I'm just like, such a fan of his I really like him a lot. So I'm, I'm just giving him a pass. Like, I don't know, I was fine with it. I wasn't looking at him and his performance that critically, especially once I got to see the unrated version and got to spend some more time with Larry lots and lots of more time with Larry so I knew what was uh, what was really going on with Larry. But yeah, I thought I thought his performance was was fine for for what it is.

Unknown Speaker  24:01   Okay, so moving on, he goes to the village to see his brother's body which is being kept in a slaughterhouse. I don't know if that was common for the time or if they just thought it would be a kind of a cool touch. But we get sort of a you know, quick shot of the body and I feel like the gore effects are good. Overall, in this movie, they make a real attempt to lean into the our rating, which I appreciate a lot of the times it's sort of CGI gore and violence, but you know, they don't hold back which I like about the movie.

Unknown Speaker  24:36   I thought that scene was gross like I in my notes I wrote yuck because it was just that's how I felt because I mean, it's our I yeah, I had the same question. I was like as this is how it was done. I was like are they just really hate Ben and they hate the tall but family and they just throw them in here and that the slaughterhouse because this is this is gross. I mean, and they're like you really feel it because it's like, Benicio is like just covering His face and I'm like buying it I'm like, this place stinks. This is this is nasty. And I thought also when they pull it back it was it was good good like it may be the first time it made me kind of jumps is like oh, like it wasn't ready for for that like, though there was some serious wolf chowing down on Ben.

Unknown Speaker  25:19   Well, and I think you might have a point about the town's folk, because in the next scene, we go to the pub, and the town's folk are sort of talking about the brother's death. And you know, Larry's there at the, in the corner at a table and he's, you know, hearing them talk. He looks a medallion that he found on his brother, which isn't very well explained. The townspeople are blaming the Gypsy, and we you know, we get a werewolf story. You know, a lot of this reminded me of the pub scene and American Werewolf in London. Absolutely. Now in the unrated version, one of the guy starts talking smack about the family, you know, talk smack about his mom going crazy. And Larry, the scene ends with Larry throwing a drink on the guy, which, again, I felt this made the scene better in the theatrical cut. It's just the scene. He doesn't interact with him at all. He's just sort of sitting there. So I felt like the unrated cut at least shows you Oh, he doesn't get it. He doesn't like the villagers. They don't like his family. This is probably why he left and puts a nice button on that point.

Unknown Speaker  26:26   Yes, I agree. Because Yeah, and the theatrical he's just sitting over there kind of just sulking and listening. And the townspeople are also alluding to the fact that it might you know, it might not have been a beast it could it like they're kind of talking about seems like they were I think they're talking kind of about like jack the Ripper or something like that. I do remember they're kind of talking about that there's there's a mentally unstable, you know, man that could have done this or something.

Unknown Speaker  26:52   Right. And wasn't a Hugo Weaving, like was his last case was the Ripper. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  26:57   yeah, he was. Yeah, he was on the Ripper case, which Yeah, Larry kind of needles him with because obviously, they never caught jack the Ripper. So

Unknown Speaker  27:06   and I think like they were also kind of alluding to Larry's mental state, which we learn more about later.

Unknown Speaker  27:13   So this this whole pub talk, and you reminding us that you know, this happened in American Werewolf in London. And how it's, it's pretty much the same scene, same beats, you know, beware don't go out and blah, blah, blah. And it's like, trying to be spooky warning. But I feel like it there's no twist on it. You know, in Frankenstein, and in Dracula, the mo was, let's go back to the book. Let's go back to the source. Let's let's do it really was in the book that in because it's never been done. beholden to the book, The way we're gonna do it. And that was what they were thinking. Whereas with Wolf, man, what was the mo here, you know, to be beholden to the old movie, because they're just retreading all these cliches without adding anything new to them. I feel like they're, they're just, you know, are here's the tip here, we're gonna do the Wolf Man story, the way it would be as if it were a cliche. And you're like, well, so why All right, I guess we get some better special effects. Get some good actors get some good lighting and production design, but there's no imagination, there's no umph to it to me.

Unknown Speaker  28:21   Well, they're I think they're just trying to update the whole thing for a modern audience who don't want to go back to the 1941 and watch it. But to your point, they're kind of taking from just werewolf movie history and kind of throwing it all throwing it all in there because they don't have a book source. They do. You know, there is no novel of the Wolf Man. The 1940s movie was the original version of it. So you know, I kind of see what they're doing. I feel like they're just trying to sort of update Yeah, Gothic werewolf movie as an abstract, not as a specific thing. Got it. Now in the unrated cut, we get a dinner scene with dad, Gwen, Larry and the Kim fail sheet See, doesn't get introduced at all, or he gets really barely introduced at all in the theatrical version. He's just sort of standing in the background. And they dine on baked eel, which is just about the grossest thing I can imagine. I can't think of anything that I'd like to eat less baked eel. And they talk about the superstitious villagers. And we get a real sense that there's tension between dad and Larry here, which I like and it gets really uncomfortable for Gwen and she leaves. I appreciated the scene because it set up more of the dynamics dramatically.

Unknown Speaker  29:46   Yes, I appreciated this as well. Also with his, I believe he called him his manservant, the Kim Valle. Seek. I that was another thing we're like in the future. conversion. I was like, when did we meet this guy like it happened so fast with him and that the electrical version I was like, Wait, what? What's going on here? And you

Unknown Speaker  30:09   want to know who he is yours that guy?

Unknown Speaker  30:11   Yeah, no, you definitely want to know who he is. So yeah, I appreciated more of him. The seek is another thread that just never pays off.

Unknown Speaker  30:20   Did you see in the unrated cut when he picks up the guitar and starts ripping on some Soundgarden,

Unknown Speaker  30:26   I would have loved to have seen that.

Unknown Speaker  30:28   Now, in the theatrical version, they cut right to the manor. And, you know, there's this sort of awkward scene where Larry goes to Gwen's door and he's like, Hey, I'm here. And I know, when you've seen the unrated, you can see that this is a scene they threw together to sort of set it up that they've met. Yeah, at this point, because, you know, she's in the theatrical she's only written him a letter. But there is this weird thing where the letter she wrote, keeps coming up, again, in the unrated version, which didn't happen in the unrated version. So when a mess, yeah, like as an editor, I think it's interesting to have you on this conversation specifically, Chris, because you are an editor. And you've probably been involved in some projects where they've had to sort of cobble things together from different versions definitely

Unknown Speaker  31:21   obviously just left in and they're like Foghat who cares. And you know, I'm sure it made sense in like, probably like, the first, you know, maybe two and a half hour cut of it, and then they just kept chopping away. And then who knows who they brought in to do a hack job, but I'm sure a lot of those threads were left in and they just, instead of, you know, in that in specifically in that scene, if you look where he meets, I think it's the theatrical cut where he meets her for the first time in the hallway. A lot of his dialogue is on her. So it's just ADR him saying, like, I got your letter, very nice to meet you. And you can totally tell that they just ADR, those lines into shoo in that he is meeting here for the first time there. So yeah, this, it's definitely a mess. And there's a lot of those things that I think people just wouldn't notice on our first viewing. But now we're analyzing it. Yeah, you're like, Oh,

Unknown Speaker  32:16   no, I wouldn't if I only watched the unrated cut, I probably wouldn't have noticed it. It's just because I'm familiar with both versions. What what I find kind of weird about it is that you would assume the unrated cut was closer to say the assembly directors of the assembly cut and then they whittled it down. But she talks about the letter in the later scenes in the unrated cut so it's almost as if they made the decision to cut it down while they were still filming

Unknown Speaker  32:47   it. Maybe it was like a bigger even bigger thing where she wrote him a letter then went to visit him then you know, like so it's probably a thing on the thing on the thing. And then they were just like, let's all just cut it out. And

Unknown Speaker  32:58   I think that would have made sense since actually Chris because it would have like that she could have written him first and then he didn't respond and then she went in person, because you know, he wasn't responding. The other thing that I wanted to point out about when she does when he goes to her door, is that her maid or lady and waiting or whatever you want to call her is Yara Greyjoy Did you notice that? No way from Game of Thrones? Yeah, I was like, Oh my God, that's the Greyjoy sister tiara,

Unknown Speaker  33:28   which was like can you miss her? She disappears I think

Unknown Speaker  33:31   you might get her on one more scene like but very very brief.

Unknown Speaker  33:34   That's like the only reason for me to go back and watch

Unknown Speaker  33:38   Yeah, we're giving away your hand Chris

Unknown Speaker  33:42   and just to touch upon Emily Blunt now you know i think you know she's well cast in this movie. I guess she does a really good job considering what she's been given which I think is a pretty thankless role. There's not a lot to it but I mean, she gets some moments to cry and stuff and I you know, I think she delivers I think a case could be made for the her being the best for sure in the movie. I agreed.

Unknown Speaker  34:08   Let me bring up one more point about just the brothers story in general like why I don't maybe this is originally in you know, in the original Wolf Man, but it just makes no sense to have this brother standing in the way of a the love story, all of it just like why doesn't Why don't they just give the story to Benicio and have him be in love with her. And it's like this trifecta between him and Anthony Hopkins. It just seems to be a step too far.

Unknown Speaker  34:34   The brother is just a plot device to get him

Unknown Speaker  34:37   but he's so important because it's like oh, that's Emily Blunt's you know, fiance and all this stuff where it just seems like they could have figured out a different way of doing it. You know, it seems like

Unknown Speaker  34:47   a gothic romance kind of thing. You told Oh, the dead brother, you know, okay. It adds a layer of you know, sadness to it.

Unknown Speaker  34:58   They just need to do it. It was I agree they just needed to get him as far as like the why why that's important is just like because it comes to you know, to light later about you know how much she hates his father and how much he hates this town and like wouldn't come back so it's like and and again if we you know if we do believe that there was a letter and then there was her going there and you know, I mean there could have always been some sort of kind of thing between them because yeah, it's the whole Gothic like, you know, longing and all that stuff. Yeah, but yeah, it's just I think it's totally just to get him back home and to just make it the most dysfunctional family ever. We pretty much and worst dad award of all time. Yeah, we'll come to find out later.

Unknown Speaker  35:47   And I will say this. I don't think that Benicio del Toro and Emily blonde have sizzling on screen chemistry. On speaking of worst dad award, we get another scene with Talbot and his dad and Anthony Hopkins looking out the telescope to the moon. Again, the telescope is a reference to the original film. His dad in the original film, who was played by Claude Rains is fascinated with his telescope, but the telescope never comes into play later. So it's yet another sort of reference that doesn't have a real point in the story.

Unknown Speaker  36:25   That scene I do love that Anthony Hopkins takes the time to blow out almost every single candle that he has in the room which I'm like you know what fucking a that's realistic you know like with the production design like this year like how many freakin candles does this guy have and they show him like you know what, it's time to go to bed this was a ritual we used to have I would you'd have to sit here open up this thing blow inside put it out and it's actually a fun callback when you see him in his sorry spoiler when if we just jump ahead to his little man cave or wolf cave thing? There's like 8 million candles there and I just kept thinking like how long is it gonna take him to blow these in his gave man it will take a long time.

Unknown Speaker  37:06   It was the family crypt I believe

Unknown Speaker  37:08   Okay, I'm surprised he didn't make his poor Kim fail manservant Yeah, blow out all these candles. But I thought also Chris I noticed the candles as well. And I was also really impressed with like, some of the cool like lantern type devices they have like candles as well like kind of these like kind of mini torch type things. I don't know what you would call it but I was like I thought that was really again with the production design. The attention to detail was was really cool.

Unknown Speaker  37:37   You know that blowing out all the candles thing was was all Hopkins I was like, I need to blow out all these.

Unknown Speaker  37:45   Okay, Anthony, go ahead.

Unknown Speaker  37:48   All right now in the unrated cut, we get Larry going to Gwen's room. But it's a different scene than in the theatrical and he apologizes for making her uncomfortable into over dinner and gives her items of her brothers. It's you know, it's not like a great scene or anything, but it definitely helps sort of, you know, you feel that her character is more endeared to him by it, as opposed to in the theatrical where you don't really understand why she would be endeared to him at all, because they don't even really have any real scene. So again, I feel like it's a better scene. Then we get to one of few sequences in the film where Larry is having a flashback. It plays like a dream sequence but he's not sleeping he's awake. And he's just sort of having these traumatic flashes of

Unknown Speaker  38:42   maybe he took the spice

Unknown Speaker  38:46   and he's playing with his brother and the mother's watching you know they wake up at night and something sinister is going on in the house like in the hallway This is

Unknown Speaker  38:54   where we see the blood come out of the sidewalk I remember that being a very cool image

Unknown Speaker  38:58   Yes, yes, I believe that's where we see that it's all done in this very stylish Gothic kind of look, but it feels a little like they're trying hard to be trippy and spooky and I don't know if it's they kind of go like a little too far I think with some of the techniques, but he goes out into the garden we get a cool topiary had some cool topiary hedges a gorilla which I appreciated the topiary a gorilla, for sure you know in the movie looks expensive. They didn't spare any expense, which is why it's appropriate to do for Tentpole Trauma because they spent a lot of money on this movie and it bombed so I feel that it's appropriate for this podcast no

Unknown Speaker  39:42   doubt and I will say that the night scenes all look like they're shot at night, you know, and the lighting is great. And you know, there's no Day for Night here at all. And kudos to those cinematography for making it look appropriately scary.

Unknown Speaker  39:56   Yeah, I mean, I think the cinematography is is impeccable. I forget who the cinematographer was. I feel that it fits in with the Coppola Dracula and the Kenneth brana. Frankenstein, at least in that regard where you know, you know, it's high high production value update.

Unknown Speaker  40:15   Interesting. The cinematographer is Shelley Johnson. And he was also the cinematographer for Captain America The First Avenger. Okay,

Unknown Speaker  40:25   yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Because that same director, right

Unknown Speaker  40:28   buddies with Joe, but also what to Chris's point about, you know, bringing up a new agreed with that as well bringing up the superhero feel to some of the film anyway.

Unknown Speaker  40:38   Yeah. And Joe Johnson also did the rocket tear, which was also sort of a throwback, superhero 1940s type of things. So it's kind of his wheelhouse. I can see why he was hired for this when Mark Romanek left the production.

Unknown Speaker  40:51   He was also a special effects guy, right? Did he work on Star Wars? Yeah, stuff. So

Unknown Speaker  40:57   yeah, he was like a Spielberg protege, a guy who came up through Spielberg. Yeah, we get to see a quick shot of a D aged Hopkins with a goatee and the dead mother and it's sort of framed to look like a suicide. She's got a straight razor in her hand, you know, but I think at this point, nobody's really thinking that that is a suicide. The mother having, you know, spoiler the fact that the mother was killed by Hopkins, is really not a surprise at all. You know, even on first viewing, you're like, she didn't kill herself. It's kind of one of those performances by Hopkins where, you know, immediately he's a bad guy, you know, sort of like the sort of like the jack nicholson shining, where you're like, yeah, of course, he's gonna go crazy. He's clearly crazy.

Unknown Speaker  41:49   Yeah, even if you don't know exactly what his deal is, you know, he killed her, like you don't even if you don't know how it went down, you know what I mean? Like, there's more more to be revealed, but you immediately know that he's, he's the villain.

Unknown Speaker  42:03   And in that scene, Benicio, I feel like gives nothing right after you see his mother dead. Like, that was one of my notes. When you see that happen? You think, you know, I'm, I'm reliving this childhood trauma, and it cuts to him. And he's just like, Oh, yeah, I remember that. And I'm like, Whoa, what's going on here? Why didn't anybody direct this guide? Or? I don't know. That's an example of my of a moment where he he failed to deliver for me,

Unknown Speaker  42:29   I feel like it's a little unfair to judge his performance. Totally. Because the the editing is so suspected it but I feel like a lot of the especially the scenes where he's having these flashbacks, they could have been, like, put together from something else. Like I would have to have read the script to know if this was all intended to be in there. From the beginning.

Unknown Speaker  42:50   Maybe I'm reading too much into Larry. And maybe I'm just too much of a Binney SEO defender. But I also think that, you know, as we find out more, you know, sorry, spoiler alert, that Larry spent some time in asylum. Yeah. And they did a lot of bad things to Larry, I don't know if he is even able to have the proper emotional responses at this point. Because I mean, you see what goes on in the asylum. It's bad news. So maybe Larry's just tapped out like this is, you know, like, this is all the reaction that he can muster. Or maybe he just saves it all for the stage.

Unknown Speaker  43:31   Alright, so then moving on, we go to the brother's funeral. There's, you know, more Gothic imagery, then Larry and Gwen haven't have a moment by the waterfall. He talks about his father's cruelty. And then that's, as you were mentioning, Jen, where we get our first mention that he was put in an asylum, and then after that sent to America, this sort of waterfall setting will also come back into play at the very end.

Unknown Speaker  43:58   Yeah, that's where he says, Gwen says, Ben said that you guys played here as children. And Larry says it was our refuge. So we

Unknown Speaker  44:05   find out that Glen is leaving. You know, whatever. This is all happening super fast. It just feels like the scenes are really cut to the quick here. Then we get Lawrence goes off to find the gypsies because he's learned that his brother was involved with them or something like that. And you know, I like the Gypsy camp. It's pretty cool. It's you know, it's about what you would expect from a big budget movie Gypsy camp. Geraldine Chaplin, the daughter of Charlie Chaplin, is the gypsy woman

Unknown Speaker  44:36   I know she's also I know her from Do you guys know the movie with Holly Hunter home for the holidays? Do you remember that at all with like, Claire, I've heard of her name. Well, I highly recommend it. It's really good Robert Downey Jr. and Holly Hunter. And anyway, it's a fun holiday film, but that's where that's where I reckon

Unknown Speaker  44:52   Downey Jr. was in Chaplin.

Unknown Speaker  44:55   Oh, interesting. Yeah, good connection.

Unknown Speaker  44:57   Also on this scene, we get a quick Rick Baker cameo Rick Baker's the famous makeup artist who did design the way he designed American Werewolf in London and lots of Famous Monsters he designed just did he work on this? He did. He designed the werewolf. We get a quick cameo of him here. He's the guy that's just kind of on lookout and he's watching and then he gets slammed by the werewolf really quickly.

Unknown Speaker  45:24   I also wanted to bring up that before we get Larry going to the Gypsy camp, which by the way, we all know is not a good word, but that's just how they use it. And the film. Yes, just disclaimer. I was it's a little puzzling that Larry's Dad, I made a note of this because he's like telling him me like, you know, yeah, you should stay inside because it's going to be a full moon. I don't want to lose you too. And then he says all of that and then it's like cut too. We see Larry riding off to the Gypsy camp like you know, whatever, dad, because he of course he's not going to listen to him. So I guess as I'm talking it through now I'm thinking like, maybe it was some sort of reverse psychology to like to get

Unknown Speaker  46:04   him to go out. It is weird though. The way it cuts right from him saying Don't go Don't go out and I don't

Unknown Speaker  46:11   want to lose you too. And then yeah, he's there he is galloping away another great cut.

Unknown Speaker  46:17   We get the prerequisite in a universal monster movie. We get villagers with torches they show up for the bear because they're they blame the gypsies bear for the attack on Larry's brother. The bear is very clearly not a real bear. It's a CG bear. But you know, we don't want them torturing. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  46:36   well, did you hear what he said? He says to somebody says like he doesn't all he does is dance. And I was like, Oh, that's sad to like dancing berry circuses.

Unknown Speaker  46:48   Yeah, but that's like

Unknown Speaker  46:49   somebody said that he's supposed to be an old like bear that's like about to be put out to pasture. Right? Like, I think the pub people are like, there's no way that bear could have done this. He's so old. And yeah, you feel a lot of sympathy for that bear even though he's CG.

Unknown Speaker  47:02   At least they don't have the bear fight the werewolf and get torn apart. Well, that would be more so I

Unknown Speaker  47:07   will say the claws through the policeman's mouth is pretty cool. That was one of the cool dads. I love that shot

Unknown Speaker  47:13   high. high praise for that, Chris. Yes, that that. I love that. I love that kill.

Unknown Speaker  47:19   Yeah, that's, you know, that's what happens the way the werewolf attacks that camp. And you know, we get that shot and a bunch of other pretty fun gore moments. This is when the movie really comes alive. For me these scenes. There's a lot of fair criticism to be had of the film when it's trying to be dramatic, but I feel like when we get to werewolf faction, it's pretty good werewolves. Action. I mean, yes, yes. Guilty of maybe being a little too CG at times. But you know, I don't know. I'm just happy to see a wolf man werewolf running around killing people. You know, I like the way the werewolves run on all fours. At some points. It's a little goofy, but I just like it.

Unknown Speaker  48:02   That's great. It's almost like, you know, in Transformers when they transform to the different mode to go faster. You know, it's like, yes, it's almost like a cheer moment. Like, you know, if the movie were better, you would definitely be cheering at that part. Because you're like, I need to go fast. I don't do this boop, boop. And then it's just great.

Unknown Speaker  48:19   I love it too. It's It's It's total chaos when when wolf wolf thing happens, but it's like chaos in the best way. It's like it's exactly it's like for all the the slow burning that's going along. It's like you really get a payoff. And I love this scene in particular, because you have people screaming, it's the devil. Yeah, the devil. And then yeah, it's just total chaos. And then like he, there's like the little boy or the little girl that like loses or mom or dad or the mom's looking for them and like the kid wanders off or there's just like, it's Yeah, just so much so much happening. And like it's really intense. And like, you're Yeah, you're just kind of on the edge of your seat, literally. Sure.

Unknown Speaker  48:57   But in the in the Extended Cut, it takes like, what 4050 minutes to get to this point. Is it Yes, definite reason why they cut it.

Unknown Speaker  49:06   At this point. You know, we get to sort of see that Larry has a hero in him. He grabs a gun and sort of goes to help people being attacked. There's this one kid who runs off he goes to help him the kid runs off into this like Stonehenge. Yes. Like I don't think it's literally supposed to be Stonehenge in

Unknown Speaker  49:27   England or there's just mini stone hedges like all around the corner in the countryside. I have the same

Unknown Speaker  49:32   exact same thought I was I just was like, is there just one that we know of here in the states are there there are many, many of these.

Unknown Speaker  49:40   Makes me want to live in England even more. I'm a druid No, you can just have a mini Stonehenge in your neighborhood. How cool would that be?

Unknown Speaker  49:49   You know the neighborhood stonehedge you know,

Unknown Speaker  49:51   and it's super foggy and gothy which I love. I'm a sucker for that kind of imagery. I don't care if a computer is doing it. I love it. That's the point where we get that Lawrence's attacked by the werewolf and bitten really savagely on the neck. So we know he's now bearing the mark of the wolf. And the villagers show up and drive the wolf away with their guns. And they bring Larry to the gypsy woman. And you know, everybody's basically telling her to kill him, but she won't do it. She tells them, he can only be released by someone who loves him. And we're all wondering who's

Unknown Speaker  50:33   this his dad doesn't love him let

Unknown Speaker  50:36   him fail. But stitching up of the wound was pretty gross in a good way. That was great. Like what she's stitching it up that was

Unknown Speaker  50:42   with one of those long curved needles.

Unknown Speaker  50:45   fishing hook. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  50:46   that was that was cringy. And a good way

Unknown Speaker  50:49   not to bring it back to Bram Stoker's Dracula again, but there's I feel like with Dracula, you almost get more bang for your buck. Because Dracula can be Dracula. He can be a bat and he also becomes a wolf. And the wolf in that is almost more interesting, because he can do way more things. Even as sex. Yeah. Which is more than you can say for this, you know, but I mean, I guess this is again, doing the classic wolf thing, but I would have liked a little bit even more craziness with with the wolf here, where, what else could he do? You know, but I know they're trying to keep it classic.

Unknown Speaker  51:24   Yeah, but then you'd be dealing with angry werewolf, right? Tell you what you can and can't do with a werewolf. And if you don't think that they'll do that, think again. Because horror fans can be really pedantic about what their movie monsters are allowed to do. If you ever want to find out go wander into a zombie conversation because there's a lot of strong feeling and a question

Unknown Speaker  51:47   Where did the term like isn't lichen, right, that lycanthrope? Like and throw? When did that become coming to use? Because I know what it was that underworld? Is that? Is that where they use it the most? But, you know, was it always around? Well, they call them lichens. Okay. Right.

Unknown Speaker  52:04   I think it's been around since the 1800s. I didn't research it. I don't know. But it's it's a term that's been around a while it's been around before,

Unknown Speaker  52:12   because it's in one of the books where she's researching. And I was like, oh, there's that word again. But like, when did pop culture? When did the movie start using it? Because I don't remember it from the 80s. It definitely

Unknown Speaker  52:22   no, it was definitely being used in the 80s. It was, it

Unknown Speaker  52:26   was it seems like instead, like you know how they go the Batman instead of Batman. They're like, let's say let's call them this. And so we don't have to call them werewolves now. And it just seems like like let's latch on to a new term.

Unknown Speaker  52:38   Yeah, it's a kind of it sounds sort of scientific. So it Yeah, sound smart. Right. When you say it?

Unknown Speaker  52:44   Well, it was first, the first mention of the word according to Wikipedia, was in 60. Ad.

Unknown Speaker  52:51   Whoa, wow.

Unknown Speaker  52:52   Yeah. Okay. So it's a it's a it's a Greek word, apparently. And it's translation. It's leukosis, which is Wolf and anthropos, which is man says Luke can throw pa or throw PA. That's where it comes from. The definition of it is that it's a form of madness involving the delusion of being an animal usually a wolf with corresponding altered behavior. But yeah, so it's been around for a long time. I don't know when it was, like, like subset I don't know when it was first mentioned in films, but it's it's a term that's been around a long, long time. It's used in movies and stuff earlier than you think. I wouldn't be surprised if it's used in the original Wolf Man or werewolf of London, which was the first official will universal were watching not American. Were right London, werewolf and of London. But um, yeah, good research. Interesting fact. So Lauren, Larry is brought back to the manor. When comes back, and like Glenn keeps coming and going. In the movie. It's like, just stay put, when

Unknown Speaker  54:02   the funeral is over. What is she doing? Like leaves?

Unknown Speaker  54:05   And then she comes, you know, it's just like, Why are Why are they moving her around so much in the story, just have her stay there. Who cares? It's a weird, baffling you know, sort of plot thing that keeps happening. You know, Larry's his head is swimming from I don't know, you know, being infected with lycanthropy. And we're getting these sort of dreamy, you know, heroine visions. You know, we get the sort of Gollum looking wolf boy,

Unknown Speaker  54:35   so Gollum. Yes. I wrote down the same thing.

Unknown Speaker  54:39   It looks like they just took the like, they took the Gollum model. Just through some, just, He really looks like Gollum. And you know, we'll later learn what that will boy is and it all it's, it's all fine, but it just seems kind of, you know, thrown together to add some scares or whatever.

Unknown Speaker  55:00   And then this is an again this is this is when Kim sale seek showed up and in the theatrical version, I was like wait, who is this guy again? It was just so like in the unrated. We get so much more of him. Anyway, so he shows up he comes in with a tray. And then you know Larry's like oh take when I thought you were leaving and Gwen's like this place is it's possible to escape. And this is, you know, this is Besides, this is the least I can do. Yeah. And then we see Larry, starting to heal.

Unknown Speaker  55:30   Then we pass over the spot where Anthony Hopkins and Emily blonde pass each other on the stairs. And he just I was just about to bring that up. I love I mean, talk about classic, awesome Anthony Hopkins where he's just eating the apple and just gives her the creepiest stare in the world. I love it.

Unknown Speaker  55:47   Well, that's only in the unrated cut. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  55:50   How could they cut that? But I mean, come on, like,

Unknown Speaker  55:53   yeah, I mean, in in the unrated cut. This whole section is much better because it's really montage in the theatrical and the unrated. They kind of let it breathe a little like, you know, we get that scene, like you said, where they pass each other on the stairs. And you can tell while he's eating the apple that he really doesn't want her there.

Unknown Speaker  56:11   Now, does that make sense with I'm sorry to skip to the end again. But he said, is he supposed to be in love with Emily Blunt? Okay, because there's a certain point where he's like, your brother was gonna take her away from me and blah, blah, blah, and I can't deal with her being away. I was like, wait a minute, what was was he into her the whole time? And I was totally confused.

Unknown Speaker  56:30   No, Chris, I felt the same way. But I think and maybe I'm wrong, but I think it was just because she kind of reminds him of Gen Y.

Unknown Speaker  56:40   Right? Because then the statue of his dead wife looks exactly like Emily Blunt too. Right. So yeah, okay. All right. I guess that makes but

Unknown Speaker  56:48   I had the I had the I had the same thing though, too. But then again, I was like, Okay, this is Gothic, like anything go right. Like the dad could be in love with her too as Emily Blunt. You know, it was like, damaged, you know, like that movie damaged.

Unknown Speaker  57:00   Yeah, you know, now that you're bringing it up, I think maybe you might have a point. And I've seen this movie more times than you guys. And I never that never really sunk in to me because it's so sort of thrown in there. But yeah, I think you know, he does have sort of some weird thing for her because she reminds him of his his dead wife.

Unknown Speaker  57:20   Maybe Anthony Hopkins was like remember legends of the fall? That's the only type of movie I'm going to do where everyone falls in love with the girl all three brothers.

Unknown Speaker  57:27   Well, yeah, it's a real crime against cinema that that Apple moment was cut out of the theatrical a great people needed to see that on the big screen. So Lawrence is better sort of miniseries just kind of seems like he's been on a like five day bender.

Unknown Speaker  57:45   Got a stiff neck right, that scene?

Unknown Speaker  57:47   Yeah, the doctor comes and checks him out. And you know he's healing miraculously which the doctor is clearly unnerved by Hopkins. Dad is kind of being nice to Gwen but it feels sort of threatening now that I'm thinking about it. Maybe he's attracted to her as you pointed out, just a basic like Okay, it looks like he's on the mend kind of part of the story. But we know better. He you know, he's looking at his wounds and he's seeing how how much healing he's gone through. And then Kim fail when they get the real scene with Kim fail seek. And Larry where he's the Sikh is in the dining room or something and he's like loading up

Unknown Speaker  58:33   cleaning the he's cleaning the gun or

Unknown Speaker  58:36   elephant gun or whatever it is.

Unknown Speaker  58:38   Yeah, he was cleaning guns

Unknown Speaker  58:40   and you'll we learn that he's been there. The Sikh has been there since Larry was a kid. His name is Singh. Yes. You know, he shows. Larry is the silver bullet that he's made. Well, he

Unknown Speaker  58:53   says, and then Larry says to sing now that you thank you for remembering his name. He says, Are you preparing for a war? And then sing says Do you believe in curses? Mm hmm.

Unknown Speaker  59:05   Yes. And that's it. This is when we really it's really driven home that sing is the man servant. And everybody needs a man servant. I think

Unknown Speaker  59:14   I need man's servant.

Unknown Speaker  59:16   Now incomes one of my favorite character actors, especially when he's playing a villain Hugo Weaving. He shows up as the inspector not really a villain in this case, but he is an antagonist. Weaving is just basically doing Agent Smith from the matrix here but he's doing like Agent Smith of Scotland Yard basically, it's pretty much the same performance. He goes to the manor to question Lawrence about the going the wolfy goings on. You know, Hopkins is sort of like gatekeeping but Larry's like no, go ahead, let them in. I'll talk to them. So they have the sort of scene in a in the park. Where we even starts off by saying, you know, I've been following your acting career, Mr. Anderson, and you know, starts off sort of ingratiating himself, and then the questioning becomes more pointed. You know, he's bringing up Larry's time in the asylum, and then he brings up how, oh, he's an actor, so maybe he's playing another role, you know, or, you know, this implication that, uh, you know, an actor would be more, you know, likely to be a murderer. And, you know, I think that's when Larry sort of needles him about not catching jack the Ripper.

Unknown Speaker  1:00:38   Yeah, but he's no, he's no Van Helsing from when actually when Anthony Hopkins played Van Helsing, he did bring a little bit more craziness to the role where it's like, everyone's kind of stuffy in this movie, and I feel like this would have been the opportunity for him to bump it up a notch and be like, a little bit different than this like stuffy straightlaced Scotland Yard guy, you know, in Anthony Hopkins, Van Helsing literally humps, Billy Campbell in Dracula, you know, and it's like, Yeah, he plays him totally crazy. And I feel like this movie could have used a little bit more like passionate melodrama over the top, you know, acting just to just to make it more a little bit entertaining. Yeah. Jen, like you're saying like, Alright, so if Benicio is, is a mopey guy who's like, all inward and whatever, you need something to balance that out. Like there needs to be a little bit of Yeah, agree. You know that other flavor?

Unknown Speaker  1:01:29   Yeah. And there's definitely no performance in this that goes, it's sort of in the crazy direction of, of Anthony Hopkins, and Dracula, or of Gary Oldman, and Dracula. Yeah, nobody's nobody's boring it on to that level. The movie could have benefited from a little more. Hey, agreed. Then now then there's some more hallucinations outside. There's another scene with Glenn, where he teaches her how to skip stones. Were you guys swept into the romance of this?

Unknown Speaker  1:01:59   Honestly, that's the one moment that they actually have that I feel like feels human. And I was like, I guess that's it. They're in love. That's it. That's all we get.

Unknown Speaker  1:02:07   That's all it takes Chris. That's all it takes.

Unknown Speaker  1:02:11   Stones a love that will stand the test of time, right?

Unknown Speaker  1:02:15   Oh, I think I might be skipping ahead. But there's that other moment where he she says something to him and then there's a big close up of her lips and he's just like losing control because she's so sexy and alluring and yeah, I feel like that's the one deep moment of sexuality in the movie that I feel like could have been threaded throughout the entire thing. Everybody is just driven crazy because of because they're Woolfson you know, tie it to sexuality and then this whole thing that peeked out for a moment there maybe that was from Roman x you know idea but like they didn't really go go there with it. It's just like this odd one moment where it's like oh, I got to get away from you Emily because you know you're driving me crazy.

Unknown Speaker  1:02:56   He sends her away again Yeah, right that point

Unknown Speaker  1:03:00   go skip some rocks.

Unknown Speaker  1:03:03   But no, he has like yeah, I think that is in the moment, Chris because it's like we're getting his Wolfie hearing and then I think he's like Wolfie horniness

Unknown Speaker  1:03:12   with it's, it's it's very, it's just a few See, it's like a another scene. Okay, it's right. It's right around that area. It's a different scene, but

Unknown Speaker  1:03:20   it's close by where he's like, yes, zooming in on her like her pouty lips and like, kind of, I think maybe even like her chest area or something like her neck

Unknown Speaker  1:03:28   or something. He's like, like the nape of her neck. And he's like, looking at her pulse.

Unknown Speaker  1:03:32   Yes. That's the point of the movie, as Anthony Hopkins will later say is like, it's so good to be the wolf. Let the wolf free. Like, you know, that should have been been nice to struggle the entire time has been like, well, like, it feels good to be the wolf. But no, I can't I know, I can't but where's that touched on in a second? But, you know, I feel like if that's your thesis of the movie, that's the reason why the main bad guy loves being the wolf. And I feel like that's an interesting concept, you know, and they touched on that in what Emily's Hulk. He knows like, the craziest things I like when I Hulk out and yeah, so I feel like that could have been explored and brought to, you know, a satisfying the Matic point.

Unknown Speaker  1:04:13   I think he's got a complicated relationship with his wolf Enos because he's like, I think, you know, he would maybe if he didn't have such the past that he did and the family issues that he did, he might be able to lean into it more, but I think it's because of all this family stuff that's happened and like all this, like, you know, all the stuff that happened to him or whatever, he doesn't really get to enjoy being a wolf. Like we just get, because usually I feel like with the wolf, man, there's usually some enjoyment and then there's remorse. Afterwards, you know, like when they come back down or whatever, it's like going on a bedroom, you know? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  1:04:50   But it's definitely while it's on and it's always been a sort of metaphor used in at least in movies. It's often been a metaphor for alcoholism. Yeah. You know drug addiction beat yeah yeah right and I think to Chris's point like a probably would have been strengthened better if we got some sense of being you know for for beneath CEOs care we get it from Hopkins but oh yeah like from beneath to his character that this is can be fun and exciting and exhilarating and you know you get a rush out of becoming this monster and killing

Unknown Speaker  1:05:26   I don't think he allows himself to have that

Unknown Speaker  1:05:29   so you know the villagers are sort of you know gathering up in there you know they've they they think they know what's going on here and they want to take Larry in they have this really creepy priest with them. They show up at the the manor we see them sort of in montage making silver bullets and stuff. We see that the full moon is coming so we know that you know, Larry is gonna wolf out soon. We get a quick sort of scene with Hugo Weaving at the time. Totally not buying into this werewolf shit. He keeps asking for a pint of bitter please.

Unknown Speaker  1:06:03   Right? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  1:06:05   And the lady in the pub is not having it because her husband was killed by the wolf. So she's like, you should be out there looking for this killer. And he says all he wants is his beer. Yeah. And yeah. And she's, she's like, so bent out of shape. He was like I you know, there, there are rules. I can't just hang around here, you know, rules that will keep us from a doggy dog world. And then he's just like, you know, where's my pint of better? I skipped today, the scene where the they show up at the manor with a priest. And Hopkins comes and fires at them with his his gun. And he's like, oh, sorry, I meant to hit you.

Unknown Speaker  1:06:41   He apologizes for missing. Right. It's pretty great. And it's sort of you know, you're it's a weird kind of moment, because he you know, you haven't really seen him sort of stick up for Larry. Yeah, but now he's like, he's sticking up for him. And you know, he's like, my men servant is hiding in the on the roof. And he's a crack shot. Yes. But he's not really there. Seek is not on the roof. It's a bluff. Right.

Unknown Speaker  1:07:03   And that's when he says to Larry, he's like, that's what he says. He goes, you're not the only actor in the family.

Unknown Speaker  1:07:09   Yeah. So it does pay off. It does pay off. So

Unknown Speaker  1:07:13   yeah, basically, we're all just heading towards Larry turning into the Wolf Man, which is what we sort of been waiting for. Basically, dad knows it's coming and he lures Larry out to the family mausoleum. He's got it all set up with candles and everything. And you know, the mom's sarcophagus is there, which is a pretty sweet sarcophagus. Later in a hallucination, we see it sort of, you know, it's this carved marble thing and we see it move and say something to me. It's

Unknown Speaker  1:07:42   technically a wife Kane, isn't it? Kind of Yeah, keep

Unknown Speaker  1:07:46   that's where he keeps his wife. Every good wife deserves a mausoleum. That's right. Anyway, so you know, they go down into the crypt, and we find out that and this is a little confusing, because he like closes a cage door. And you think that he's the dad is going to lock him in? Mm hmm. But I think it's just to separate them like he doesn't we don't see Larry breaking out of anything, so he's not locked in there.

Unknown Speaker  1:08:14   Oh, it's because he's gonna turn into a werewolf too. Yeah, right. That's where that's where he goes all the time to keep everyone safe, right?

Unknown Speaker  1:08:22   Yes, right. Yes. But usually thing has to come in a lot. I think he gets he has to lock it from the outside.

Unknown Speaker  1:08:28   Yes. That's you know, that's what he says is saying locks me he says that later. He says Singh locks me in every time I change. But you know, I don't want to be locked in anymore. The wolf must must outright and so it's just a little the way it's sort of blocked is a kind of confused, confusing to me, because we see him close a cage kind of door between them. But neither of them is actually trapped in there. Because then Larry starts to change. We get the first real werewolf transformation that we see. It's good. It's see again, it's very CG. You know, and I know I from what I know about the movie about the production. Originally they wanted to do practical transformations and Rick Baker was really excited to do that. But because Roman EC left under such short notice, Joe Johnston didn't feel he had the time and you know, I remember people who were fans of Wolf Man having a lot of problem with that at the time. Let's do CG needs to be needs to be practical and I mean, I agree it would have been better if it had been practical but

Unknown Speaker  1:09:43   absolutely i mean that's that's your money shot right there. That's why people come to see the movie is to see you know, the transformation and if then to that if you're going to make the Wolf Man update you got to do I'm not saying it shouldn't have been maybe it should have been a mix of CG and yeah and practical, but they should have, you know, it's like, oh, I don't have time to do that. Well then don't do the movie. Yeah. Like, I feel like that's, that's an important section of the movies is the transformation. Right? And if you can't be, you know, American Werewolf in London, right, then why bother

Unknown Speaker  1:10:14   here? Yeah, yeah, I get it, I get why it happened. It is a disappointment. And if they had pulled off something really spectacular, it would have been a selling point for the move. Yeah, yes. But, you know, and, and this is, you know, key. This is pertinent to the point of this podcast, I think, you know, the transformation was shown a lot in the trailers. And I think, you know, it was very clear from the trailers that it was CG, and I think that that turned a lot of people off. Yeah, they saw that and they were like, yeah, just looks like a CG mess.

Unknown Speaker  1:10:47   I'll give you the moaning sounds so painful, like waves like,

Unknown Speaker  1:10:52   just like, God Damn, that sounds painful, man. Like,

Unknown Speaker  1:10:56   he's bringing it there, Chris. He's bringing it. He's coming alive.

Unknown Speaker  1:11:01   And I and I like the things that they focus on in the transformation. I like they show his hand getting all gnarly. Yeah, they show his like, leg getting bent back like a wolf. scenary. Yeah. So it's like, I feel like they knew what to focus on.

Unknown Speaker  1:11:18   They just write the concepts there. Yeah, the

Unknown Speaker  1:11:20   concept was there. They just you didn't have the time to execute it in the way that would have been the most effective.

Unknown Speaker  1:11:27   And along with what Chris said, with the moaning I think the sound was really good for the transformation, too. There's a lot of the like the crack, you know, here the bone. Yeah, it's gross. And then yeah, like, I always love like, when the feet come out, like the shoes and stuff to like, just everything just busting out and just like, yeah, does gnarled and knuckled and, yeah, it's just a it would have been It's a shame. I agree with what you're both saying, if it could have been a mix of CG and practical, I think that would have really been been something that could have been a standout for the film, but, but I think also, yes, that's something that our fans want. But our fans also have, you know, set the bar high with like you're saying with like, American Werewolf in London, or the howling? Like you have, like, you know, these transformations. Can we talk about the way he looks though? Because, yeah, I think I think he looks great. And I know you love him to Sebastian because he looks like

Unknown Speaker  1:12:23   Hold on, though. When we first were watching it together. You said you didn't think that the the wolf man looked very good.

Unknown Speaker  1:12:31   I came around to it though. I came around to it. Well, because of

Unknown Speaker  1:12:35   why did you

Unknown Speaker  1:12:35   because because I think as we talked earlier about the effects, like there's certain times where it looks better than others. Like there's certain lighting, there's certain things like it just there's times where he looks better. there's times where he truly looks like our action figure, which is what I want him to look like, we have a wolf man action figure. And he looks I mean, I think he's identical to that. But then there was like, the first maybe it was the first shot of him. When we watched the theatrical version. I was just kind of like, I don't know. And it could also be just because like it was more of the the maybe the movement of him as well like being more like, like we said, like more superhero esque or something. I don't know, but later, I don't know. I grew to be like, Alright, no, I'm into this. Like, I like the way he looks now. But yes, you're right. In the beginning, I was like,

Unknown Speaker  1:13:26   Well, I mean, I brought it up. The reason why I brought it up and wanted you to restate your feelings on that is because you're not alone. There's a lot of people who don't like the look of it. I have friends in the horror community who weren't into the design, and I like the design the reason why I like the design is because it evokes the original Wolf Man. It's an update of the original Wolf Man. And it's also a sort of take on the Oliver read werewolf from

Unknown Speaker  1:13:57   Curse of the werewolf,

Unknown Speaker  1:13:58   right Curse of the werewolf the hammer werewolf movie it's sort of a combination of those two more the Oliver read werewolf and in his clothing,

Unknown Speaker  1:14:07   I love the clothing and for me that that kind of makes it I mean, I don't I'm not aware of you know, the various looks as you guys are but to me it feels like the correct way to update the classic werewolf you know, and when he's got bad vest and shirt on and just the the shape of his head and the way everything looks. Yes, it's, you're like, that's, that's perfect. You know that that? That's him?

Unknown Speaker  1:14:31   Yeah, I love that too. And it's that that sort of vest look is sort of similar to what Oliver Reed is wearing in the curse of the werewolf. Yeah, I love the costuming of it. I really like the look of it. I understand like at first glance it seems maybe a little awkward. But it works for me his he doesn't really have an extended snout like a lot of modern werewolves do it's sort of you know, more compact like the original Wolf Man.

Unknown Speaker  1:15:00   I think it's what I like about it.

Unknown Speaker  1:15:01   I like that too.

Unknown Speaker  1:15:02   Well, to me, there's a difference between just a werewolf and the wolf. Ah,

Unknown Speaker  1:15:06   wow. Okay,

Unknown Speaker  1:15:08   the Wolf Man looks more like a man. Yeah, he's a specific type of werewolf. He's

Unknown Speaker  1:15:14   right, man. You know, recently recently, I discovered I think I watched like on YouTube or something about special makeup effects for thriller, and they were mentioning how that is actually aware cat, right? Oh, because he's, you know, they got the long whiskers and it's a flat face as well. And I'm like, Oh, that's why that that stands out to me as well. Is that that? That look is very cool, too. And yeah, and I think I'm on your wavelength Sebastian, where I think it's cool. The design is always cooler when it's more man than wolf.

Unknown Speaker  1:15:46   Yeah. This is when we get the first Howl, which I think sounds pretty great. You know, who was involved in making the howl?

Unknown Speaker  1:15:54   I do. But I'll let you deliver x interior. No.

Unknown Speaker  1:15:58   You did the stuff for Dracula?

Unknown Speaker  1:16:00   No, it was David Lee Roth and Gene Simmons. The clap

Unknown Speaker  1:16:04   the two classiest people in the world. Yeah. I

Unknown Speaker  1:16:07   don't know. And you know, it's fitting that we're discussing this now because Eddie Van Halen just passed away the day before yesterday and was sad, really sad. super sad piece Eddie. So yeah, I mean, I don't know how much of David Lee Roth and Gene Simmons there is actually in the howl but they were apparently brought in to record some howling for the howl. So the villagers try to trap the Wolf Man with this like deer and that sort of dugout trap. But you know, it doesn't go well for them. One of the guys gets pulled into the trap and the Wolf Man messes him up pretty bad. There's some good slashing and gore

Unknown Speaker  1:16:49   we haven't talked about because I think this might notice is I don't know if this is the first one this might be the second one because there's there's definitely a couple throughout the film, the wonderful decapitations this film deliver? Yeah. And yeah, it definitely happens. I think it might happen also at the first Gypsy wolf out but it definitely happens during this time with the little pit or whatever. You totally the decapitation.

Unknown Speaker  1:17:13   No, it happens. One of the guys who is one of the river Yeah, no, he goes into like quicksand or something. Yes. Um, he's one of the guys. He's the guy in the Extended Cut that he throws the drink at

Unknown Speaker  1:17:25   that he has probably his beef with. Yes, yes. Yes. That's why I was talking about was so satisfactory because of now knowing what goes down in the pub. I'm like, Oh, that. That's why Paul had some meaning behind it.

Unknown Speaker  1:17:37   Yeah, that that guy runs into what looks like quicksand. And he gets stuck there and the Wolf Man, Wade's out to where he is and swipes off his head with a claw and it goes flying. And it's extremely satisfying. Yes, I really like this whole sequence. It's action packed and gory and fun. And this is basically why you come to a wolf man movie, in my opinion.

Unknown Speaker  1:18:02   Yeah. I mean, I always could use even more blood. Like when, you know, granted, there's a lot of killing and maiming. But like there's not a lot of splashing of blood like that's to nitpick. You know, I just would like a little bit more splashes

Unknown Speaker  1:18:17   more blood.

Unknown Speaker  1:18:18   Okay, so then we get the scene, but that's in every werewolf movie where the werewolf wakes up and the next day and he's all covered in blood and rags. He's a human again. I've all been there. Yeah, we've all been there. You know, he's sort of near the manor. I don't know. He's like out in the backyard. I don't know where he is. But he's

Unknown Speaker  1:18:36   inside a tree tree. He's He's in a tree like the trees like hollowed out and he's like, curled up in there.

Unknown Speaker  1:18:42   Yeah. And dad is there basically like laughing at him like, Oh, you did some terrible things.

Unknown Speaker  1:18:50   Yeah. reminded me of your two terrible Mariel

Unknown Speaker  1:18:57   these clearly delighting in the fact that like he's been on that Lawrence has been on a murder rampage.

Unknown Speaker  1:19:03   This movie had been more successful that you've done terrible things could have been like a classic line. Yeah, you know, if everybody knew this movie, people would be quoting that left and right, you know, after that, nyan that bachelor party you've done.

Unknown Speaker  1:19:17   But yeah, he basically dad basically gives him up to the villagers who knocks him out, then, you know, they they haul him to London to back to the old asylum. And you know, they've got the total cliche German doctor, clearly based on Freud. They put him in this chair, which is pretty amazing. I have no idea if this is based on anything real but they dunk him in a big pool of ice. And like what looks like an electric chair, but it's just an ice dunking chairs a

Unknown Speaker  1:19:47   great image though. Yeah, and like whoever Who cares if it works, it looks like straight up torture, but it looks so cool. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  1:19:54   we go back into sort of montage mode here which I'm not crazy about. It's you know, he's He's getting tortured. Like at one point he's got like a bit nice teeth and he's like, jabbering, like, I also think that we're supposed to pick up on the fact that time is passing here. Yeah. Which, Jen, I know you had a problem with it because you're like, there's this place is just got nothing but full moons.

Unknown Speaker  1:20:20   I said the same thing like they never show a not full moon. Like, here

Unknown Speaker  1:20:25   it is. I think the montage is are supposed to serve as a feeling of passing of time without like, you know, doing the cliche thing of showing like a calendar whipping by really sad. You know, I mean, it's

Unknown Speaker  1:20:38   a month goes by because he's got a turn at some point. And I believe that they're trying to set up the fact that they all do think that he's really legit crazy. Yes, because he's acting crazy. And so that you know, the payoff later will be everyone thinks he's crazy. And then he's not aware. Well, yes,

Unknown Speaker  1:20:53   Hopkins shows up to hang around his cell as Lawrence is sort of straitjacketed. And then we get the story of, you know, how dad became a werewolf, which was he was, you know, out in the Himalayas or something. And he went to a cave, and the Gollum werewolf boy was in the cave. And that werewolf boy bit him and that's, you know, how he became a werewolf. If you're wondering why that's the story. It is similar to the setup of the story in werewolf of London. The original werewolf movie from that was actually before the Wolf Man

Unknown Speaker  1:21:35   sounds vaguely racist.

Unknown Speaker  1:21:36   Yeah, probably.

Unknown Speaker  1:21:38   There's some feral Asian kid man. Goddamnit.

Unknown Speaker  1:21:42   Yeah, it was racist. We'll just assume it's racist if it's old. And this is when we get confirmation in a flashback that dad killed mom as a werewolf. which is surprising to no one. And, you know, we get to look at the Anthony Hopkins werewolf and the Anthony Hopkins Wolf, man, it's it's pretty good. It looks more like it's CG than makeup to me. I you know, it's just for a flash. So who knows? My guess is probably Anthony Hopkins was not keen to put on tons of makeup. So he's probably you know, they probably had to do it like that, because he wouldn't go for it.

Unknown Speaker  1:22:24   Well, it's also where we learn that this is when Larry says to dad, like you should just kill yourself. And he's like, I consider that but life is too good.

Unknown Speaker  1:22:34   Yeah. I like I like Wilson is awesome. Yeah, yeah. But he but he gives Larry a straight razor and it's like, yeah, kill yourself. And then, you know, so yeah, he gives Larry the razor and then he we see Hopkins leaving this the Siloam. And he's he's jamming down on the harmonica as he walks out.

Unknown Speaker  1:22:56   Yeah, I said to even said to you, I was like, Who is playing the harmonica in this asylum? And you're like, that's Hopkins like he's just like do to do on the little mouth harp going down the

Unknown Speaker  1:23:08   hallway. A little john popper?

Unknown Speaker  1:23:13   Yeah, the character is musical. He's always playing the piano. And I know that Anthony Hopkins always plays the piano and like, anytime he can put it in it, put it into a movie, you know, he even writes the the pieces and then so he'll play some noodle on the piano and there'll be like, leave it in. What is that? He's like, I wrote that. And then so though, he does that a lot, because he's pretty accomplished pianist. Oh,

Unknown Speaker  1:23:37   cool. So that's totally cool. Okay, yeah. Nice. All right, cool. Well, that's good to know. Then we go on to what may be the best scene in the movie, which is the very ill advised nighttime asylum lecture. I mean, at first I'm like, why are they doing it this this at night, but then the doctor says like, I'm doing this to show you He won't turn into a werewolf. Yeah. Oh, good. But yeah, so they're in like a you know, theater, operating theater or whatever. And they will and Bernice CEO, and he's in you know, like, it's strapped down chair. It definitely at this point, we're veering into sort of dark comedy, because the the doctor is, you know, lecturing with his back turn to Benicio about how he's not going to turn into a werewolf and how he's just crazy. And Benicio is like, you need to go get out of here. I'll kill all of you. And and nobody's listening. And then so the doctor is lecturing, and he starts to change behind him. And the guys in the theater are like pointing like like, Look, look behind you. And he just keeps talking. Oh, good. It's pretty funny.

Unknown Speaker  1:24:51   Best don't The only thing that bothers me is that he doesn't kill everyone. I want everybody in that room that it should have been a pile of bodies, man, like That was the only minor quibble with that. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. All those fuck all those guys.

Unknown Speaker  1:25:06   Yeah, I mean yeah, they did promise everyone would die and not everyone died

Unknown Speaker  1:25:10   and the transformation they do like show his like jaw like snapping and like eath rolling into weird place. Yeah, that was cool it like oh we'll save some weird transformation stuff for this time so that you know you see different anatomy changing

Unknown Speaker  1:25:26   yeah and the first transformation is done in that crypt and it's sort of dark and there's candlelight so you know yeah this is like bright You know, this is a brightly lit Yeah, nothing operating theater and he's, you know, they're really showing you the change.

Unknown Speaker  1:25:40   I think that change looks really good here. Actually, I was I was really like, I was super super into this and just really ready for Larry to fuck everybody up. And it just it looked so much the change. I just I liked it so much better in this in this scene. And I don't know if it was pot, you know, partially because it was leading up to something it was going to be very satisfying. You knew it was going to be

Unknown Speaker  1:26:02   just the sweetest plum. It's all about the scene and wanting to see him go apeshit on all these doctors it's it's a lot of fun. There's a funny moment where one of the one of the doctors is trying to get out and the guy's at the door and another guy's in the door and not letting him out. And meanwhile, Larry's carving through people left and right.

Unknown Speaker  1:26:25   The guy at the door is like like mopping the floors. Yes. Like I think it's locked. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  1:26:33   The most it's not my job.

Unknown Speaker  1:26:35   There's some like slightly poor wirework here where you can tell like when he actually throws the the main doctor out the window. Yeah. And it's just like there's no way to him at all. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  1:26:47   the gravity

Unknown Speaker  1:26:48   so it's out the window instead of actually being thrown. But you know, it's nitpicky, you know,

Unknown Speaker  1:26:54   it's this. It's the satisfying though. It's still all satisfying.

Unknown Speaker  1:26:57   Yes. Yeah. Oh, and I just love that one part where he I think he's got a big chunk of a guy in his mouth. Yeah. And he just he looks at it. That's when he spots the actual doctor. And then the piece of meat just drops and he's like raw.

Unknown Speaker  1:27:11   It looks like a liver.

Unknown Speaker  1:27:12   Yeah. Is that is a great shot, like that is so good.

Unknown Speaker  1:27:16   And they throws the doctor out the window and he lands on the Oh, yeah, that spiked fence, you know, which is always good.

Unknown Speaker  1:27:23   skewered.

Unknown Speaker  1:27:24   Yeah, somebody skewered on a spiked iron rod fence is always a winning proposition. So Larry escapes from the asylum, he basically goes on sort of a rooftop chase scene. They have the seat, they have, you know, the sort of prerequisite scene where he like, gets on a gargoyle and howls at the moon. You know, it's an easy lay moment. But I'm an easy lay for gargoyle perches, pretty much like that. whenever it's in a movie, we get Hugo Weaving has clued in to this and he's sort of chasing him on ground while the Wolf Man is running across the rooftop, we get a really, you know, this sequence really sort of highlights this running thing where he's running, you know, along the roofs, and then he drops into the onto all fours and starts around all fours. Again, this moment feels to me kind of like a superhero movie moment, you know, because he's going from rooftop to rooftop, you know, and I can see why maybe some people you know, who are expecting a more sort of straightforward, grounded horror movie might not like this stuff, but I like big budget spectacle. And this is where the movie is sort of delivering on that

Unknown Speaker  1:28:45   for sure. Why Why would you have an issue with this just because it's too CG and too fantastical. It's just

Unknown Speaker  1:28:50   not a horror movie thing. It's you know, it's it's like a like I said, it's like a big budget, it's more of a sci fi or superhero thing

Unknown Speaker  1:28:59   because to him like jumping off of rooftops, or just to be like a big sort of animal loose because me isn't that what American Werewolf in London ends like that. So,

Unknown Speaker  1:29:09   right, but not done with $100 million in computer. Right, right. Right facts. Okay, I didn't

Unknown Speaker  1:29:15   have a problem with it. I was enjoying it. And I just was like,

Unknown Speaker  1:29:19   you're kind of you know, you're more of a horror fan than a sci fi or superhero movie fan. So like, I

Unknown Speaker  1:29:25   was okay with that. Okay, no, didn't bother me at all. No, I was just like, like, it's been like, it's, it builds up so much to this moment, where I kind of feel like, you know, I know we talked about earlier that, you know, Larry doesn't get to fully enjoy his wolfing. But I feel like for a minute here when he's like going all around London and do I mean, I think he might might be enjoying this rooftops for a minute, you know, like being able to, like okay, maybe this isn't all bad. You know, like there's, you know, the superhuman strength that he has. But yeah, I just, I mean, it's such a such a climax that it comes to With everything that happens at the asylum, and then he's just like, you know, he's just he's just going balls out. So I think they deliver. They

Unknown Speaker  1:30:09   there's a fun sort of little bookend to the scene where he sort of jumps down and he's in, you know, I don't know, Piccadilly Circus or something like that. A train, there's a train car that gets derailed, and it like runs over a dude while it's getting derailed. And you see the guy like, pretty great and falls over on its side, and it's full of people. And the Wolf Man like jumps on top of it. And he looks in through one side window, and there's a really cool shot of him, like looking in through the glass, and then breaks through the glass and like falls into the train car and then start slashing away at people really messing them up. I think the action is pretty well done. Could it be a little better, maybe. But I think for the most part, and this might actually be one area where Joe Johnston was a pretty good choice to come in. Because I don't imagine Mark Romanek would have really cared very much about these action sequences, Drew and Johnston does. I mean, he's not like known for being a great action director, but he's solid, you know, he did Jurassic Park three, which has some fun sequences. So you know, he comes from the Spielberg camp, so he knows what he's doing with action.

Unknown Speaker  1:31:19   And the action is not the sticking point here for sure.

Unknown Speaker  1:31:23   Lawrence goes on his werewolf bender. And he ends up under a bridge as we all have been after a bender by London Bridge, in fact, and he drinks some wakes up in the morning and he's back in his tattered bloody clothes. And he like drinks some really gross water from a puddle. And then we learned that Gwen apparently owns an antique shop or something in London, which is not set up at all. No, but she's she's going to her open up her store for the day. And Larry has I guess, figured out I mean, it says her name on the if you look at the signage on her store,

Unknown Speaker  1:32:06   wait, wait, is this where we learned that? That Mary Poppins and Wolf men are in the same universe?

Unknown Speaker  1:32:10   God? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  1:32:13   Yeah, so she goes into her antique store that hasn't been set up. And he's like sleeping under something in their table or some table. And then, you know, they have a scene, he tells her that he knows his father was the original werewolf and she wants to help him. We get more sort of romance moments here, which don't necessarily

Unknown Speaker  1:32:36   that's in quotes, romance, right? No, but

Unknown Speaker  1:32:39   we get it, we get a kiss here.

Unknown Speaker  1:32:41   All right. It was so hot, I forgot.

Unknown Speaker  1:32:45   Anyway, Hugo Weaving shows up and, you know, he shows her the newspaper drawings of the wolf carnage. And, you know, he basically detains her, you know, they figure out that Larry's been in there and they they think he's hiding behind a mirror. And he like shoots the mirror and, but behind the mirrors like this pan's statue, like a statue of the god Pan. I'm a pan fan. Not a Peter Pan fan

Unknown Speaker  1:33:13   and pan Greek god Pan, one half goat the other half man.

Unknown Speaker  1:33:19   Yeah, so yeah, the mirror gag is cool. In the and now in the unrated cut. That's where we get the scene of Larry walking around London. And there's a paper boy selling papers like Wolf Man kills everyone. And Larry buys all the papers from him sort of weird comedic moment that doesn't really fit but you know, and we get this montage as both of them make their way back to the Blackmore mansion, cheese on a train and a horse and stuff. But poor Larry's, he's just hoofing it the whole way. That's right. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  1:33:55   I'm in through the Moore's looking very for Lorne.

Unknown Speaker  1:33:58   Yeah. And there's, there's like a solid five to 10 shots of him, depending on which version you watch it like just walking. If they didn't do that, everybody like would it just work? could look. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  1:34:12   yeah. You can't when Gwen is trying to find Geraldine Chaplin's gypsy woman. So she does eventually meet her in a barn. And you know, there's this whole sort of scene where she's talking about how much you know, she wants to save him. And it's kind of like uncomfortably anti feminist sort of moment. You know, where it's like I can change him that kind of thing. Like I can change the abusive boyfriend, right oh man, which was a little uncomfortable there.

Unknown Speaker  1:34:46   Also at this time, though, there's there's a total souped up scene going on with Hugo Weaving. Yes, it right in the carriage and loading up a silver bullets. Yeah, he's a believer now.

Unknown Speaker  1:34:57   Yes, he's turned turned a corner on This Wolf Man, this werewolf business and he's ready to like lay down some silver bullets.

Unknown Speaker  1:35:04   Wouldn't all of London have turned believers after a giant Wolf Man just came marauding like in Piccadilly square. I mean come on what's going on fake

Unknown Speaker  1:35:14   fake news Chris fake news.

Unknown Speaker  1:35:18   There were crazy urban myths going around London in that period there is a famous sort of monster called Spring Heeled jack that would like supposedly come jumping down from roofs and like attack people and then jump away into another roof doing impossible things so that kind of stuff actually happened in London and there was never any explanation for it. I'm sure I'm in all parts of the world but they're famous stories from London of crazy crazy stuff like that so so Larry makes it back to the manor just in time for the full moon but poor Kim fail seek manservant is dead. He's a corpse sort of hanging on the wall. So I guess we're to assume that a pop killed him didn't have any more use for me. Yeah, that was

Unknown Speaker  1:36:08   why I wanted to see what happened to him I mean what

Unknown Speaker  1:36:11   well they sort of set him up as a badass so

Unknown Speaker  1:36:14   yeah, he's a great shot and then like way he's just dead

Unknown Speaker  1:36:18   it is off screen and we don't get I mean we can only assume that it you know it was dad we'll find out when he did it you know Yeah, but it's Yeah, he deserved he deserved it on string screen kill if he was going to

Unknown Speaker  1:36:32   die He Larry gets the key off of the dead seek that unlocks his case full of his trunk full of silver bullets. The dog who we haven't mentioned I forget his name but he gets a nice sort of a big dog he gets a nice jumpscare here and one thing I appreciated there's a shit is about to go down in the manner but Larry lets the dog out Yeah, he lets him go

Unknown Speaker  1:36:57   this the wolf and also let the deer go at 1.2 and chase a man instead of a deer yeah

Unknown Speaker  1:37:02   the deer with when they first try to trap him with the deer he doesn't kill the dog

Unknown Speaker  1:37:06   is Samson By the way, Sam Samson Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  1:37:09   Nice. Larry. Here's dad in the parlor playing the piano laying it with bloody fingers. Yes. Little shot. Very Yes. It's the Sikhs blood on his fingers. I don't know. Somebody's blood.

Unknown Speaker  1:37:20   Well, there's a there's a dead guy on like the chair.

Unknown Speaker  1:37:23   All right. It's the it's like the inspectors pal.

Unknown Speaker  1:37:26   You go weavings right hand guy. Yeah, man. We get sort of Hopkins doing the supervillain speech. It's pretty great Hopkins ham. So yeah, they they kind of have their big confrontation moment. Hopkin hits him with the cane that point it's a little bit repetitive just because I feel like we already kind of got the supervillain speech from dad at the asylum and we're just kind of getting more of that Hopkins starts throwing shit around and this is I love

Unknown Speaker  1:37:54   when he throws that chair it's so badass

Unknown Speaker  1:37:57   but but it's totally what you were saying where the wire work is kind of like suspect like it just kind of flying off

Unknown Speaker  1:38:04   but Hopkins man just like the look on his face and the way he's so nonchalantly does it it's ridiculous but awesome at the same time

Unknown Speaker  1:38:11   I didn't I didn't have an issue with any like I just like buy in that these like wolf dudes have all the strings in the world so like anything is gonna be like just like nothing you know? It's like no, I like it in concept it's

Unknown Speaker  1:38:23   just like technically if you're if you're really paying attention to it yes, it looks a little like somebody yanking a wire and pulling a yeah pulling a piece of furniture off exactly right. So they both wolf out and they do the thing where they like charge at each other and like smash chests to definitely a host matrix C type of werewolf wire fight for for a minute, and it ends with Larry. decapitating dad just great good decapitation, it's you know kind of CG looking but it's it's a pretty good death. And doesn't he doesn't his head like fly into the fireplace?

Unknown Speaker  1:39:05   I know he kicks

Unknown Speaker  1:39:06   him into the fireplace okay yeah, he

Unknown Speaker  1:39:08   kicks him to the fireplace right but

Unknown Speaker  1:39:10   the head actually we see the head kind of de wolf Yeah, it starts like going back to dad but another thing about dad wolfing out and then having the big fight which I appreciated because I was able to differentiate as to who was who was the dad shirtless?

Unknown Speaker  1:39:26   Thankfully only as a werewolf Yeah, that's shirtless. So gwenan Hugo show up and yeah, the Wolf Man bites Hugo which is a setup for a sequel that'll never happen. I think they're you know, the sequel was gonna maybe be Hugo Weaving as inspector werewolf or whatever.

Unknown Speaker  1:39:46   I would have watched that.

Unknown Speaker  1:39:47   Yeah, me too. I totally would have watched that. We do get Hugo Weaving in Joe Johnston's next movie, Captain America because he plays the Red Skull. So I guess maybe they liked working together. Who knows. And you know, the manner burns down because that's what manners always have to do in our movies. The Wolf Man chases going out into the woods with the torch wielding villagers following after them because you got to have that universal monster movie. You know, the woods look cool. She's sort of hiding behind some trees and there's lots of fog. And he sort of, you know, chasing, chasing, you see him in the background. He chases or to the waterfall where they had that moment, but not the place where they skipped stones, the waterfall,

Unknown Speaker  1:40:31   where the where the brothers had there was a refuge

Unknown Speaker  1:40:33   refuge.

Unknown Speaker  1:40:35   Yes. He's sort of like, tackles or pushes her down to the ground. But she's like, No, me, you know, me good acting here from I mean, she's good. The whole movie. Oh, yeah. She's great, really good moment here, where she's sort of trying to convince him to kind of recognize who she is, even though he's in wearable form.

Unknown Speaker  1:40:55   I liked that. You could see her in his pupils, by the way that I thought it was. I mean, I know it's kind of hokey or whatever. But I appreciated that.

Unknown Speaker  1:41:02   Yeah, I mean, the whole thing is kind of hokey. But yeah, it's the scene you need to have, yes, the werewolf movie. villagers are coming, basically, you know, he's gonna kill her. But then he, she gets through to him, and then he, you know, he stops, then they hear the villagers coming. And then she shoots him because she's got a gun with her with silver bullets, presumably in it a little. I mean, I would have preferred the cane. But, I mean, why didn't she have the cane? And then, you know, pulled out the knife and stabbed him in the heart or something. And then he, you know, transforms back into Larry and dies in their arms. And they have this sort of, you know, sad, doomed love moment, which, you know, honestly, no one cares about.

Unknown Speaker  1:41:49   I cared. You care? Yeah, I did. Actually, I did. I did actually. Well, that that moment was like, I mean, it was because he, he like kind of he starts to after she shoots him, and then he kind of like turns over to a side. And then he kind of I think he grabs her arm, like a little, a little bit of a jumpscare. But then you can see he's coming back to being Larry. And then he says, that's when he was like, thank you. And he was like, it had to be this way. You know, it's like he was this, you know, now he's tortured guy and I don't know, I I actually didn't care.

Unknown Speaker  1:42:22   I cared. He dies, and Hugo shows up and we see that he's got the cane and you know, again, they're sort of I think it's sort of, you're supposed to sort of think, Oh, this this is he's going to be in the sequel. And then you know, they show the moon and there's more of Emily's voiceover and then we're out. And you know, we've got sort of horror movie style Wolf Man and credits, which are pretty cool. They're, you know, they're stylish and cool.

Unknown Speaker  1:42:50   I can't help but think of, you know, Dracula, where Amina chops Dracula's head off. And, you know, they're this sort of lovers souls that are always meant to be so that makes sense to me that, you know, she should be the one to kill them. But I just feel like they're trying to shoehorn that same story into this by by the Gypsy saying, it has to be someone who loved him. I'm like, Well, does she even say like, oh, for his soul to be fine, or I mean, like, what's the point of that? Like, would he have lived if anybody else shot him with silver bullets? Like, why does it have to be someone who loves him? It just it seems like they're just really forcing a story at this point.

Unknown Speaker  1:43:26   I think. I think they are sort of going to that. Well, they're, you know, I think there's figuring Hey, it worked for Dracula, you know, right. It'll work for the wolf. Man. I definitely think this movie is is trying to capture the magic of in some ways of that Coppola Dracula, that's definitely what it's aiming for. Right. I mean, some people hate the Cobo Dracula, so right. No, it's not like that movies universally loved either. Sure, sure. It's more people like it now than they used to. But I remember back in the day, nobody was hankering for more of that. Well, there's a lot of problems. You know, everybody was just like, Look, you know, sucked, you know, and like, actually, it's, it's not like it was that beloved at the time.

Unknown Speaker  1:44:08   It made money though. That's why they made so

Unknown Speaker  1:44:11   and this movie didn't. So on that note, you know, my sort of feelings about why this movie tanked. Like I said, I think that trailers unfortunately, by showing the CG transformation, I think turn some people off. I think that Benicio del Toro is not the kind of actor or leading man that brings in money, you know, like he's just not. If this had been Brad Pitt or somebody I think it would have probably stood a better chance even though like Benicio, and I know he was really passionate about doing this. I think that probably didn't help. And I think that, you know, when it came out, the reviews were pretty abysmal. And I think that is largely due to the sort of editing, I think that the editing is bad. And I think that sort of hurt the movie critically, I don't know if if they had released, the longer version in the theaters, if that would have been received any better probably wouldn't have been. Because I think like Chris fairly pointed out that I think a lot of the problems are in the script, unfortunately. Yeah. So you know, I don't think it was going to do that well with critics, either way, but if it had been more embraced by fans, then maybe there would have been some word of mouth and it wouldn't have tanked nearly as badly, but even a bigger sort of issue. And I think that we're seeing this with all of these universal these attempts at these universal monsters is that, I don't know if people care about them. You know, like, they've tried now with Wolf Man, they've tried with, you know, a new Dracula. They've tried with the mummy with Tom Cruise. And it's like, there, none of them are hitting it. It's too bad. Because obviously, I'm a fan. I love the universal monsters, but I just don't think that they're big money movies. Now, you know, the recent Invisible Man that just came out, did it smart, because it's a low budget movie. It's contemporary. It's not hinting on your love of the Invisible Man. To sell it. It's, it's just giving you a movie with an invisible man and calling it the Invisible Man. And it's like a, you know, whatever, a $5 million movie as opposed to 100 million dollar movie. So it's, you know, 150,

Unknown Speaker  1:46:32   right?

Unknown Speaker  1:46:34   Yeah, or whatever, if you bring the budgets of these things way down and do these sort of scaled back attempts at rebooting these series and do them, you know, in a modern setting, which isn't to my preference, because I like the cool Gothic setting, but you know, you could probably do Gothic for cheaper than 100 and 50 million How

Unknown Speaker  1:46:56   do you know how much it costs to make shape of water? Because that's, I mean, that's clearly got some creature going on.

Unknown Speaker  1:47:02   Yeah, I mean, but it was probably, you know, 50 million or something, but the shape of water wallet had a lot of design and really rich design and everything. It didn't have a lot of action. The action is what costs a lot of money. Yeah, for a lot of these things, you can have something look great and have it be period and stuff but as long as you're not throwing in like massive action sequences, you know, you're not going to reach that hundred million dollar mark or whatever.

Unknown Speaker  1:47:31   But also how much did Anthony Hopkins get walk away with here? I feel like he you know, he was commanding some money

Unknown Speaker  1:47:39   the costs were high you know, and I think something like shape of water, though it's not like cheap it's not you know, Michael Shannon isn't gonna demand $50 billion

Unknown Speaker  1:47:51   right felt like they weren't holding back on the budget on anything here. I feel like they were just like open the floodgates and just make the best movie we can and

Unknown Speaker  1:48:02   there's a lot of good things here though. I like it you know there was the It looks good like I mean it's just it's it's kind of it's it's a bummer and I you know I would love to see the the universal monsters live on I haven't seen an attempted a creature film and that's why I was thinking of shaper water but now I don't know it's it's it's it's weird because like I said, in the beginning my first watch I was kind of ambivalent about the whole thing and then watching closely, the theatrical and the unrated version. I just came to like to film a lot more

Unknown Speaker  1:48:39   Yeah, I think if you were to see this bar if you were to see this movie, you know at a bar with the sound off you'd probably be like this movie looks incredible. Oh my god the Wolf Man Anthony Hopkins is in this Emily Blunt you think this is the greatest movie and then you'd go home rented watch it with the sound and go wait this movie sucks like what what happened? You know because the production design the cinematography all there so so many of the elements are right but then the crucial elements like the story the editing and the direction fail and that's it's kind of like right down the middle where you got half good half bad and then it just doesn't come together and knowing that you know every everybody it went forward with last minute director change will pull the rug out from any production I think so. Just look at solo or and you know, like I mean, like they brought it into port it's not a terrible movie. I you know, it was watchable.

Unknown Speaker  1:49:39   You mean the Wolf Man or

Unknown Speaker  1:49:40   the wolf? No, the wolf sorry the Wolf Man was watchable and is a fine enough movie but especially with the watching the Extended Cut was a bit of a drag.

Unknown Speaker  1:49:50   So you prefer the you prefer I prefer

Unknown Speaker  1:49:52   the theatrical cut because it just gets to the point, you know, gets to the gore and gets to the but I understand why you would watch the Extended Cut, if you were just you want to luxuriate in the feel of the movie because the feel of the movie is, is good, you know, they got the gothic horror thing, you know, we've gone over it and yeah, I just I think that it's just too boring. And they needed to add some more interesting twists and add a little bit more, you know, modern lies juice to it, yeah, in order to in order to make it stand out.

Unknown Speaker  1:50:23   And then also, to piggyback on that Chris was, you know, I feel like, because, and you brought this up to Sebastian, it's like, Who is it really for? Because, like you said, it's not, like, there's elements of it that aren't something that a horror fan is going to really be into, you know, because of more of the action type. Like, the sequences and it's just, I don't know, I didn't I don't know if it was really defined for a person, so or it could have become like, I had a cult following. He other than, you know, having like, the basis of being the Wolf Man, but the actual film didn't have like that thing that it's like, oh, you know, this is what horror fans like, loves. I mean, you kind of have that because you love the way he looks. But like, if if, you know, if, like we said earlier, if like the transformation could have been kick ass, then like, that would have been something that people were talking about, you know, if it would have been at the transformation, or, like, if there would have been some real hamming it up, like, we would have got like full Hopkins, like, you know, being really Machiavellian, like over the top or something like that. there needed to be something that had people talking.

Unknown Speaker  1:51:40   Well, I think your point of, you know, who is this for? It's not quite, you know, hitting the target for horror fans. It's not quite hitting the target, because there's too much sort of slow drama scenes. Exactly. Or for fans of big spectacle action movies, or sci fi or whatever stuff with big money and big production designs not really hitting that target. And it's not really hitting, it's definitely not hitting the target for people who are into period dramas. If that's what you're going for, so ivory,

Unknown Speaker  1:52:17   it is not

Unknown Speaker  1:52:18   I think, you know, it's, you know, yes. They didn't know who they were making this for, which I think is going to be a theme that we find a lot in this podcast.

Unknown Speaker  1:52:29   They made their made it for podcasters in 2020

Unknown Speaker  1:52:33   to dissect

Unknown Speaker  1:52:35   this will be great for them.

Unknown Speaker  1:52:37   That's who this is made for. All right, well, um, that wraps up our discussion of the 2010. Wolf Man, thank you for joining me. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  1:52:47   yeah, thank you.

Unknown Speaker  1:53:01   That about does it today for Tentpole Trauma. If you like what you heard, check out our social media presence on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Just look for Tentpole Trauma. That was easy, wasn't it? If you like us, hit subscribe, and leave us a sterling review on iTunes. If you dare. If you really like us, head over to patreon.com and get involved in one of our fabulous tiers. You'll be glad you did. Want to communicate with Tentpole Trauma, send an email to Tentpole trauma@gmail.com we'd love to hear from you. And who knows, one day you may even get your email read on one of our shows. Well, thanks for listening, and we'll see you real soon.

[poisonappletales]

What are your favorite traits in each of your characters?~

Hello, fearofprayer! Ooh, let’s see…this should be fun. Of course, I’m going to keep my answers spoiler-free. But whenever Beauty and the War (X Playing Pieces) is released, please feel free to ask again if you’d like to know about those.

Now then, this will include my thoughts on all my characters - the cast of Don’t Take This Risk being among them. I’m going to give you the short summarized answer first, followed by a wordier explanation telling you what I think in detail.Shall we begin?

Arsenik of the Hulder

Favorite Traits: Intelligence, style of speech, his hobby of writing

One of my favorite traits is that he speaks in that intellectual, old-fashioned style. It lets me use that older style of writing that you see in classical literature, whether it’s Jane Austen or Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Plus, he has a hobby of writing, so it gives me a chance to write things like poems.

You might say I like the opportunities he gives me for writing myself! On a related note, he enjoys reading just as I do, but I wouldn’t call that a trait I prefer/like in a character. It honestly doesn’t matter to me if a character has similar hobbies to me or not.

Why am I mentioning this? I just thought it’d be something you’d like to know, particularly since it’s common for “writers” and “reading” to go together. If he were to discuss books with someone, that would be easy to write since I enjoy doing so as well! However, his opinions are not necessarily the same as mine.

Anyway, what I like most about him is his style of talking, his intelligence and his writing inclinations.

For those who aren’t a fan of him, a common reason would be that they find his sort of character to be “boring.” I just want to note that I’m not offended by any of those kinds of opinions. Like and dislike whichever character you want! It’s your prerogative. I’m glad if my cast feels like actual people you can form opinions about when you meet them.

But yeah, I do know a lot of people who find things like the classic books boring, so if you personally aren’t fond of his speech, that’s totally understandable. Or just, you know, the do-gooder character you see in shows.  Though, something you may not realize is that he sounds a little more stilted/formal when he’s around his beloved…

(Again, that’s not a trait of his that I would call a “favorite” of mine. It’s just there and a part of his character that feels fitting for him. His shyness/awkwardness is just something I thought I’d bring to your attention in case you missed it in the demo!)

Oh, and a bonus trait I like about him (or the Hulder in general) relates to what’s been said about his clan: “They’re only gentlemen during the day.”

Chase of the Trold

Favorite Traits: How he rounds out the cast and what he represents

Ah, Chase. Two things I like about him: 1) He rounds out the cast well. 2) His relationship with Ambrosia (should you choose to put these two together) has a nice meaning behind it.

What do I mean by “nice meaning”? Well, does anyone remember this Chase/Ambrosia piece I wrote a while back? Chase is not considered conventionally attractive, but Ambrosia doesn’t subscribe to the masses, to say the least. She’s not superficial and considers beauty to be in the eye of the beholder.

He’s a character that represents those principles.

Going back to my first point, it’s not too difficult to see how he rounds out the cast. He’s the most “average guy” of the group.  I have heard a lot of players like him for that reason (heart of gold and a nice guy who’s easy to get along with). He also has a few people who dislike him for…a certain “temper” scene in the demo. Those of you who came across it probably know what I’m talking about here!

He has his strengths and weaknesses. I know I definitely wanted to make him as much a “real boy” as possible, so to speak. Hate him or love him, it’s your call!

Wind of the Imugi

Favorite Traits: Cool, tough barbarian fighter

Your resident tsundere (the hot-cold jerky type), even if he isn’t your textbook classic example. I don’t like to do stereotypes straight-out, so you can’t expect my characters to follow any of those archetypes to a T.

I’m not generally a fan of tsunderes. I don’t mind them in shows, and I think that the cast needs their spice at times. They can create fun situations. It’s just not going to be a favorite of mine (not typically at least - there are always exceptions).

So, what do I like about Wind? He’s cool and tough and isn’t scared of slicing through flesh with those claws of his. I feel like I just picked him to play in a video game selection screen. You could say that’s what I like about him. I would enjoy playing him in a video game for a time.

“What kind of description is that?”

Oh, and if a fan dislikes him, it’s usually because he can be a jerk. That’s it.

Night of the Vi

Favorite Traits: Attitude and armor

Not that much is known about this guy yet, huh?

I’ll just tell you that my favorite traits about him is his cool attitude and that wicked black armor. I called Wind cool as well, but Night’s in a different way. He’s more relaxed and adventurous. As for that armor - well, it’s pretty self-explanatory. (Imagine the cosplaying opportunities there.)

If players don’t like him, it’s often because they’re not into his free lifestyle. He’s not looking for something serious straight off the bat and wants to come into a relationship naturally - whenever he feels it. In the meantime, he doesn’t see anything wrong with living it up, inside and outside the bedroom.

Describing it that way, I feel like you can almost see him as something of a James Bond character now…

Onyx of the Vi

Favorite Traits: Talented killing machine

All right, sure. Let’s put these Vi’s in a row, and give Onyx a nice animated gif that I have to polish up some more one day.

There’s actually a whole lot I like about Onyx. While you wouldn’t want to run into him in real life, there’s something awesome about him being a killing machine on the battlefield, wouldn’t you say? A stone-cold killer, daunted by nothing. His skill with a blade is a sight to behold.

A perfect dark warrior.

I’m actually looking forward to drawing and animating more of him fighting, with his blade drawn. Though, in that case…expect blood.

Prince Alexandrite of the Vi

We don’t talk about the prince.

King Barium of the Vi

Favorite Traits: A natural-born leader + cool and collected + some king realism

His easygoing nature, combined with his natural authority, makes him a likable and charismatic king. Those are my favorite traits about him. If he only had one or the other, I may not have necessarily called that my favorite (more so for the trait of being “cool and collected,” which I may or may not find likable on its own).

Plus…his armor’s pretty neat, isn’t it?

He owns a harem, and while that alone does not automatically make me favor a character, I do like how it’s a realistic aspect for a king of certain eras.

Viktor of the Hulder

Favorite Traits: Exciting party-maker with…comedic tendencies

And we’re back to the Hulder! The reign of the Vi is over - I joke, of course.

You know, it’s really funny, but I hear a lot of players say they like this guy for - shall we say - the wrong reasons. That is, for Arsenik reasons. What do I mean? Case in point:

1) They like his shyness. This young man isn’t shy.  I remember talking about it way back here, but yes, Viktor is a far cry from that description. He’s confident, talkative and gregarious. Sure, he blushes and stammers when Ambrosia touches him in the demo, but he’s still rather loud, wouldn’t you say? He makes his emotions very clear! He shows what he’s feeling and thinking a lot.

2) They like that he’s quieter/withdrawn/someone they can take the lead with. This is similar to the other point. This man is loud, sociable and can even be a little charming in how he flirts with Ambrosia in the demo, wouldn’t you say?

If you’re looking for someone sweeter, shyer and reserved, that’s all Arsenik. You want someone with confidence, liveliness and fun? Here’s Viktor!

That said, what do I like about Viktor? Well, he has a true knack for making a situation humorous. Look at any of his conversations, and I bet you’ll see what I mean. Plus, he has that old-fashioned way of speaking that’s always fun to write out. Just keep in mind that Viktor might be raised to speak like a Hulder, but he isn’t someone who would be considered intellectual.

I almost feel like Viktor has more fans than Arsenik does, given what people tell me! Just a reminder - Viktor isn’t an official love interest in Beauty and the War (X Playing Pieces). There is a secret bachelor, but that may or may not be Viktor. However, if you so wish, I do encourage you to pursue him in-game to find out.

Bo-Peep of the Cucuy

Favorite Traits: Bubbly cuteness

Not long after talking about the king, it only makes sense to discuss one of his mistresses!

She’s peppy, bubbly and cute! She may not be the brightest around the block, but that adds to her charm. Some players assume she’s innocent possibly because her voice is, well, childish (and her mannerisms can be as well). But oh no, make no mistake.

This is the king’s woman - a sexy gal with legs for days. That kind of person. She knows more than a few tricks in the bedroom to keep a man satisfied. She’s well-versed in fashion, flirting and make-up (hopefully - she does have the tendency to wear too much herself).

Despite her capacity for sexiness, she altogether feels, as I said, cute, which is what I like about her.

She is due for a bit of a re-design in the future. Just some tweaks to bring out what I had in mind.

Jasmine of the Phoenix

Favorite Traits: Prim girl trying hard to seem older than she really is

I do like Jasmine. She might be the eldest of the Phoenix cousin trio, but she acts more like the middle child.

She seems prim and proper, but she has immature tendencies. (She’s the one who goes “Moooom, she’s picking on me again” or “Stop messing with my things or I’m going to kill you, you little brat!” Just replace “Mom” with “Ambrosia.”)

She can be almost something of a “normal teenage girl,” but I like the contrast between her “prim” side and her “teenage girl” side. She’s also due a re-design again, but she’ll still be pretty.

Ah, and another thing I like about her: that competitive streak of hers. It makes for more amusing scenarios, as you might have seen during the last exciting Valentine skit.

When it comes to “teenage girl” types of characters, they’re usually hit-or-miss with me.  But I happened to make her a kind I could like.

(You might think I made an entire cast of people I enjoy…but I actually do have characters I wouldn’t like if I wasn’t the one who made it.  And it may not be the people you think it is - aside from maybe one of them, which you’ll see later down the list. As a writer, I want a fleshed out cast and story!)

Rosemary of the Phoenix

Favorite Traits: Fun, lively, endearing

If Jasmine is like the middle child, then Rosemary is equivalent to the youngest. She’s loud, fussy and often bursting with opinions, which makes her fun. I like how she livens things up!

I also enjoy her role in the story, as she plays her part well. What that role is in full detail remains to be seen…

Since she’s sensitive about her weight and enjoys eating, I’ve had a few players assume that I’m trying to make her a walking “fat joke,” but that really couldn’t be further from the truth! What I’ve made here is a character.

I’ve got to tell you, I’ve known people with these insecurities. I’ve even had players tell me that they relate to what she’s doing (i.e. airing out complaints, cheating on their diet, etc.). And I think those are all beautiful people.

You are not meant to ridicule Rosemary. That would be Wildfire’s job. She has strengths and flaws like all the rest.

She’s another one of those “average teenage girl” kind of personalities, but as with Jasmine, I like her. She has endearing qualities, and it’s not hard for her to grow on you! At least, in my personal opinion.

Wildfire of the Valkyrie

Favorite Traits: She does her role well

Speaking of Wildfire…

Say “hello” to my least favorite character. Frankly, I wouldn’t even put her on my list of favorites, and usually, I’m naturally fond on my own creation.

I don’t know if this comes as a surprise since I made a whole game featuring her as one of the protagonists (War: 13th Day), but I did say I can write about characters I don’t even like myself. It just depends on the story I want to tell.

I think almost all of us know people who have made your life way harder than it has to be. If not yours, then someone else’s - someone you cared about. You could call them enemies, rivals, bullies, or even monsters depending on the severity.

Wildfire isn’t based off anyone in real life, but she has elements from all those types of terrible people. In the end, she reminds me of them too much to like her. If you do like her yourself, that’s perfectly fine, of course. You can feel whatever you want about my character. She does have a backstory and a personality because I want her to be three-dimensional. In fact, I was a little surprised by how many people do like her from what I’ve heard.

Now, to be fair, I do enjoy a good villain in a series. But she didn’t hit any of the right buttons for me and that’s entirely on purpose. She has a role to play, and it fits her. She’s the mean girl with the tough girl attitude.

If I had to pick something I like about her that’s more defined than “she does her role well”…can I get back to you on that?

Brooks of the Valkyrie

Favorite Traits: Entertaining, dreadlocks

Okay, this is easier. Brooks is just plain fun. Her banter with others is a pleasure to write out. Her dreadlocks are pretty cool, too. 

Did you think I was going to mention “armor” again?Hmm…I wonder if I can cite “banter with her best friend” as a favorite trait of Wildfire’s…

Ambrosia of the Phoenix

Favorite Traits: Gentle, pure, strong of heart

The innocent sweetheart and exotic Snow White beauty of the island. Here’s the heroine of the series, Ambrosia of the Phoenix!

You might have heard me mention this before but one of my favorite archetypes? The yamato nadeshiko (the proper lady). She’s delicate and feminine. A big-sister type and wife material.

She may not be strong physically, but don’t underestimate her steel will! She’s my number one favorite female character.

While she’s not a fighter, you could say she’s strong in the way that a mother or, as I mentioned before, an older sister is. Who takes care of the chores? She does. Who tries to remind the immature ones (i.e. her cousins) about what to do and looks out for them? She does. If you’ve done something wrong, she will straighten you out but with kindness. If someone’s bothering you, she will step in and be there for you.

Now, when it comes to herself? That might be a different story, but that’s her weakness.

She’s also pretty sexy during the Present Day. Not that she can’t be in the First Act.

If a player doesn’t like Ambrosia (the First Act version, I imagine), they usually tell me it’s because they think she’s too “naïve” or “weak.”

Yes, she is naïve - at least, in the first act of Beauty and the War (X Playing Pieces). She’s young, so it isn’t too surprising. Again, that’s your call to make, but personally, I like that sort of character.

As for weak? I said before that she’s not strong physically. Perhaps, being naïve can be a form of weakness or just how much her young heart can love. And she does have her shyness. But I like shy girls too, so I apologize if that isn’t your cup of tea since you’ll be seeing her a lot!

And since we’re talking about her…

Ambrosia F. (Don’t Take This Risk ver.)

Favorite Traits: Same as above? With some differences.

Let’s talk about her Don’t Take This Risk version. She’s pretty much the same person, but there are differences. For one thing, her speech has less old-fashioned wording (something I enjoy doing for her Virgo Island self).

If you haven’t read the webtoon yet, there are spoilers ahead. (So, I do recommend you stop here and check it out if you haven’t yet!)

This Ambrosia is a bully victim, suffering from low self-esteem and cutting issues. Much like her other self, she’s strong of heart and will. She gets part-time jobs after school. She takes care of Grandmother when her cousins are too scared to do so (or too busy with homework/something fun). This is someone strong and independent, even if it doesn’t come with the usual tough, no-nonsense attitude you see with these kinds of women. (But let it not be said that I don’t like those types as well. I can indeed like those, too.)

When Dev offers to help her out financially, Ambrosia refuses because she wants to take care of things herself. She speaks gently but surely - like a mother/big sister again.

As young as she is, she’s sadly optimistic and naïve…but will her encounter with Unknown change her? 

Evie O.

Favorite Traits: Naughtiness, lively

You might recognize white-haired Evie O. from Death Room and the Don’t Take This Risk webtoon!

According to what fans tell me, she’s my most hated character.

For me, I actually don’t dislike her. If I knew her in real life and she did the same shenanigans, I wouldn’t be fond of her, no. But as a fictional character? You remember what I said about liking a good villain, right? She’s one of them.

She’s not a villain of the “Let’s destroy the world!” variety, but she has just enough naughtiness to make the story juicy. In Episode 20, you see a little bit from her perspective at the end. Did anyone catch her hint of insecurity?

She does have more depth than you might think. Of course, once they’ve been explored, you may not like her any more than you already do!

Unknown of Don’t Take This Risk

Favorite Traits: Crazy fun, predatory

This guy is crazy fun. Aren’t a lot of you on the edge of your seat whenever he’s around? Whether you’re looking forward to him or dreading him, he’s a character who knows how to steal the spotlight. He’s certainly a pleasure to write and a proper foil for some!

He’s also someone who a lot of people don’t quite get. Hence, the webtoon. Is it helping any? Do you feel like you understand him better?

Probably not. After all, his name is still…Unknown.

It’s interesting to note that some fans typically don’t like Night for his liberal lifestyle, but then, we get to this guy…then again, some people still fancy Unknown’s a bit reserved in some sense. Just remember: ignore the voice(s) in the game if it’s confusing you; the webcomic captures him perfectly.

Oh, and make sure you don’t do what he does at home. Unknown’s an interesting character to write, to be sure, but I don’t endorse what he does!

X from Prison

“Oi, Crown Ruler, why are you always putting me last? I ought to come first, you know! I’m the star of Beauty and the War, I’m tellin’ you!”

Favorite Traits: Powers, masculinity, snarkiness

I like X. He has good chemistry with (Present Day) Ambrosia. He radiates strength and masculine energy like he’s some kind of Arnold Schwarzenegger. But what I like most would probably be his powers, like his switch between Aries form and Regular.

His snarky remarks are pretty fun, too. You would think I’d mention this about Wind, but I just happen to prefer X’s debatably “friendlier” style. I don’t have anything against Wind’s sarcasm, and in fact, it can charge scenes with a certain kind of momentum that makes it engaging to watch. It’s just not enough to enter “favorite” territory for me.

Hopefully, I haven’t missed anyone there! I didn’t include the Huntsman’s characters (Dev and Dominic) since you asked about favorite traits for mine.

I’m a writer before I’m an artist, so you might notice that when I make a story, I make characters that fit a role. Each actor has their part in the unfolding play, and they must arrive on stage during their scene. Perhaps, individually, they may fall flat to one viewer, but together, the resulting interaction can be phenomenal - pure entertainment.

To say the least, these characters, even the ones I’m not strictly fond of, can become more intriguing when they mix and match with the others. So, that’s something I would like to add that I enjoy for each and every one - their chemistry and interaction with the rest of the cast. (Some more so than others.)

I typically enjoy talking about my characters, so if you have any other questions or if I wasn’t clear about something, please feel free to ask. Were you surprised by anything I had to say? If you have the time, share your thoughts! I love to hear them.

[themesozoicsperm]

5 Obscure Spooky Cartoons you can watch this Halloween

If you are a little like me and you’re trying to watch every single cartoon in existence before the armageddon is upon us, here a really short list I made of little known spooky cartoons that deserve a watch this halloween.

5 Wunschpunsch

YO, this is the story of a... WITCH AND WIZARD... after such catchy intro, we got into the story: Based on a popular german book for kids, the story revolves around an evil Wizard and his aunt who wears a different oufit in every episode (ala Mabel Pines and her sweaters).Together they must help the world became an evilier place or else face the punishment of the scary Inspector Maggot. To do so, they will conjure the Wunschpunsch (”the wishing punch”), which will allow them to wish whatever curse they want upon earth. Meanwhile, a cat and a crow that happen to be spies try to sabootage their plans before is too late.

4 School for Little Vampires

Also a german series, at first glance you may notice the backgrounds, colors, character designs and art in general is GORGUEUS. You have: a steampunk vampire, the villainess from Kill la Kill and even a character whose design was clearly inspired by Riff Raff from Rocky Horror Picture Show, really a lot of things that tell you that whoever made this did very well his vampire history homework. The story mainly focus in Oskar von Horrificus, a young vampire who attends a... roll credits! School for Little Vampires, but there is a problem! the poor guy is afraid of blood!

Also, I’m not a very shippy person but if you are into funny love stories, here you have not a love triangle, but a LOVE SQUARE, between a human girl, Oskar, another vampire girl and Stoker, a naughty vampire kid whose name clearly comes from Bram Stoker. Also said human girl has a grandfather whose is the perfect combination between Elmer Fudd and Van Hellsing and wants to be recognized as World’s #1 Vampire Hunter.

Sadly this the case of a show with an amazing artstyle but perhaps not so good script, but who cares, there is a vampire which is nothing more than a pile of ashes.

3 Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids

OHHHHH, now we’re not only getting into better territory but also into “stuff I DID actually saw when I was a kid” territory!

There is apparently a recent reboot of this, but here I’m talking about the older one I saw when I was just... 5 I think. There is not really a “plot” here, simply in each episode our dear old Uncle Grizzly shows us a creepy movie with a moral. Thing is, said stories usually focuse in naughty children getting grotesque punishments for their misbehaviour, and like.. whoever made this SERIOUSLY hated children, since a lot of stories end in said naughty children getting killed! or at least traumatized for life.

The show opens with a really cool stop-motion intro, with the apparently human Uncle Grizzly and his cute pet (assistant?) Spindleshanks, owners of the Squeam Screen cinema, where the spooky tales are shown.

2 Phantom Investigators

A literal phantom since it only air for about 1 month in WB Kidz. Guess I was lucky to see this in south american Cartoon Network back in the day. The plot is quite simple: 4 kids (3 of them with superpowers) resolve supernatural mysteries in their town, and while that might sound like your average “kidz saving da wourld before bedz time lol!!!1″ that’s where the art enters to make it more memorable! this show have as much animation techniques as The Amazing World of Gumball! including 2D, stop-motion and even friggin live-action in different momments, and sometimes all of them together in one (1) scene!

But besides the visuals, the script of this show was not only good for being a 2000s show, but sometimes could also get very sentimental or deep! but I guess that it sadly suffered from the curse we had back them of “cartoons for kids are not supposed to get very deep or have complex story arcs”. I suppose it was a little too ahead of its time.

But anyway, along with Wunshpunch this cartoon had a very wicked intro song!

1 Moville Mysteries

Holy crap, I dunno what people mean by “this show looks ugly”, I do seriously wish my “art” or ideas were at least a little bit similar to any of these shows, SPECIALLY to Moville here, which artstyle is very similar to Klasky-Csupo.

This one was one of my favorites as a kid, used to air on Fox Kids/Jetix. Once again, there is not a consistent plot here, just creepy stories that sometimes happen to Moville, our protagonist, and sometimes to other people or even to the whole town he lives in.

I guess if more people watched this show back them there would be no denial that it would always be in Top 10 Lists of creepiest or perhaps even most hardcore cartoons for kids, since lots were the times this toon showed blood, death and even people getting murdering in front of our eyes. Almost all the stories were Moville wasn’t the main focus ended in kids (or even adults sometimes) getting their their very well-owned punishment, but sometimes... sometimes... uhhh... stuff YOU REALLY didn’t see it coming.

Also every episode ended with Moville in his computer telling us some interesting science fact, including that one time he talks about how older generations tend to hate newer ones since the begining of mankind. Of all the five in this list, Moville and Phantom Investigators are for me a MUST watch.

Happy Halloween Month!

[monsterrates]

Vlad III (Fate/Apocrypha)

It’s Sunday night and I am very Tired, so one more review I don’t have to research for and I’ll get back to filling requests on Monday. Those of you not familiar with Fate/Apocrypha’s rendition of Vlad the Impaler, Buckle Up, because there’s some fucking Discussion to be had.

INTRODUCTION: This monster is the spirit of Vlad Tepes, summoned into the “Lancer” class, (Or “Berserker” class in Grand Order) based on his legendary intimidation technique of impaling defeated enemies heads on spikes.

PROS: ♥ I’ll get to the actual monster qualifications in a moment, but as far as vampires go, Vlad really is rocking some pale skin and the pale blond hair with dark shadows around his eyes really ties the whole look of “what the fuck is the sun” together. I’m actually not sure if he even has that weakness but he may as well. ♥ Now, the real Vlad was inarguably a harsh ruler, but most modern Romanian historians consider him a great ruler, whose cruel acts were often done for the sake of the country. He definitely wasn’t a vampire, and the fact that this fictionalization of him hates how his spirit has become tied to that myth is honestly super interesting and Fate/ should work more with the idea that some servant may feel weird about the myths about them, since it influences how they’re summoned. (Even though this openly contradicts other lore, whatever, this series is a clusterfuck anyway) So, rather than being some Dracula stereotype, Vlad is actually a wise leader with a good mind for tactics and a talent for sewing, apparently. (He allegedly made Elizabeth Bathory’s Halloween costume. Fans took to calling him “Uncle Vlad” in response.) In Apocrypha specifically, Vlad very much prefers to stick with his actual exploits as the Prince of Wallachia. I’ll leave off with this image of him ripping Bram Stoker’s Dracula in half.

♥ That said, if this entry is to continue, we need to talk about the stuff that qualifies him to be on this blog. That is to say, his Noble Phantasm, “Legend of Dracula,” seen above. Invoking this legend causes Vlad to transform into this.... well, bat man. To be honest, I’m actually not as big on fangs as I am a whole mouth of sharp teeth, but they ARE still sharp teeth, and I appreciate that it’s the bottom canines as well as the tops. ♥ The.... the ears.... they aren’t cool at all but I fucking love them because it really is what makes him look like a bat. Or maybe a WoW character. Either is fine. ♥ He SEEMED to get REALL BIG when this happened which is honestly the best part about this form. He just got real big and fluttery, I’m honestly not sure if he even had wings because he was mostly just this cartoonish face, a mass of swishy blackness, and blood splatter. Which is honestly pretty good and I can’t complain. ♥ Vlad assuming this form not only gave me the very Father/Son interraction of Chiron knocking Achilles out of danger and Achilles being ungrateful about it, but also Shirou’s use of Baptism Rite, and I am honestly a sucker for Fate/’s long form incantations. They are a bunch of nonsense but they always sound so cool. ♥ The fact that Vampire Vlad’s attacks seem to make blood spurt everywhere seems functionally impractical, but aesthetically it’s much better than NOT doing that. Uncle Vlad is a fashionable guy, he clearly knows what’s up.

CONS: ♥ As is becoming tradition, I’ll lead off noting that his USUAL form isn’t monstery at all, but honestly, this is a time I’m glad for it, because his vampire form is Very Silly looking, honestly. ♥ I’m all for fully red eyes, but like, with at least pupils intact. Glowing red eyes like this lose a lot of expression, and I can’t love him properly if I can’t feel his feelings. Another point against Vampire Vlad ♥ Staying vague for spoilers reasons, Darnic is heavily involved in the invoking of vampire Vlad, and he is a terrible bad man who works with Nazis, so I refuse to condone anything he does. Especially because, as I said, Vlad HATES this noble phantasm and had to be forced to use it. ♥ They changed his class to Berserker in Grand Order but didn’t change his design or personality, so now everything is just confusing. I suspect it was done to make him more differentiated from the Vlad III in Fate/Extra, but given that that one’s more overtly vampiric and rowdy, why couldn’t he have been Berserker? Uncle Vlad’s the one HOLDING A LANCE IN HIS SPRITE. ♥ Apocrypha anime had the audacity to show me this image and I almost died at the jarring juxtaposition of the actual clothes Vlad would have worn and his stupid anime bullshit design

RATINGS: MONSTRUOUSNESS: 2/10 Even with his batlike vampire design, it’s just not that monstery. But that’s just fine, he’d be happier with a low score.

FUCKABILITY: 7/10 Uncle Vlad may actually be the most fuckable of the older gentlemen in Grand Order. Shinjuku Archer is handsomer, but he is a bastard, whereas Uncle Vlad might knit you a nice sweater. (Disclaimer: I adore Shinjuku Archer, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is a bastard.)

PERSONAL RATING: 8.5/10 He may not be great at being a monster, but he’s by far the most interesting take on “Dracula” that I’ve seen. I am always a big fan of the way that Fate/ takes a lot of villains/monsters of history and looks at them through a more empathetic lens. (See also: Asterios, Medusa, and Elizabeth Bathory who, watch this space for HER review.)

[life-in-the-monster-haus]

Monster Haus Reviews: Super Monsters

Since Monster High (and Ever After High) have no animated specials lined up at this current moment. I’m going to start reviewing Monster High adjacent properties. Today I’ll be reviewing Netflix Original Series Super Monsters!

It’s a show about the children of famous monsters in pre-school learning how to control their super natural powers before they get into kindergarten. This show debuted on Netflix October 13th 2017, I’ve watched a few episodes and the show is pretty much Monster High for very little kids, it’s cute, colorful, inspired and has a lot of heart in it! But I wouldn’t exactly call in ground breaking it’s got some cute lessons in it for little kids (such as encouraging manners and tidying up)  The kids start the day as humans and at night they turn into their true monster selves.

The main cast is 6 kids and 2 teachers.

The teachers are Igor (the most good looking version of an Igor I have ever seen) and his Granddaughter Esmie. She is adorable but it’s hard for me to stomach the idea that Igor reproduced to have grandchildren, even this newer handsomer Igor. But she’s super cute! I like the idea of a gothy Pre-school teacher!

I watched the whole first season and part of the show I do not understand is why the kids start the day as humans, Their parents don’t seem to need to hide or transform so why do the kids? I wouldn’t even mention this is it wasn’t such a big part of the show, every episode consists of two 11 minute episodes and each episode has 2 transformation sequences in it. They say “Sun Down! Monster up!” when they turn into monsters and “Sun Up” when they turn back into humans and go home for the day. They don’t specify why they need to hide as humans at all, I wanna say to avoid prejudice from real humans but they don’t state that, that kind of thing happens in this universe so I’m left a little confused. They go out in public on field trips and to pizza parlors run by humans and no one seems to have a problem with them being monsters...so why the transformations?

The kids are sweet no matter what form they take, human or monster they are both painfully precious.

The designs range from super cool! to super samey.

Let’s go over each kids name, design, personality and super powers!

Cleo Graves is the daughter of the Mummy! she’s adorable and all but we’ve seen her hundreds of times in media, her name is Cleo and she’s an Egyptian princess. I feel like every time we see a female character from Egypt her name has to be Cleo or she loses her street cred. There are other female rulers of ancient Egypt that could be explored here. in Monster High we have our own Cleo after Cleopatra and Cleo's sister is named Nefera after Queen Nefertiti. If I was going to name this little mummy I would have went with naming her Hattie, after Hatshepsut. I’m also super over the Egyptian princesses as a personality trait thing, Where are the ancient Egyptian punks!? brats? athletes? nerds? spooky weirdos? class clowns? None of these concepts are new, they’ve been around as long as school has and I wish we’d take advantage of that more often.

Her super power is perhaps the most unique thing about her, they say in the show she controls wind but she’s been shown making clouds that rain and controlling sand so I think her power is more like control over the weather and not just the wind.

*pinches nose bridge* This kids name is Drac Shadows...Drac... Who keeps thinking this is a good name for anyone but Dracula!? There’s tons of old school vampire names out there, Vlad, Ixion, Vincent, Roman, Sterling, Talon etc etc. and they go for Drac, since it’s a kiddie show I would have kept it simple and went with Vlad or Bram. His personality is he’s very self absorbed, He’s a very gifted flyer and has a tendency to show off.  He also tends to jump into situations without fully considering them first. He’s still growing his fangs in (he only has one) and his power is flying...duh. Not a ton to say about him really.

Katya Spelling has one of the more unique names! She’s a witch and her power is magic (duh) but her personality is very shy, cautious and considerate! Her mother has instilled in her that good witches use their magic to help others and she takes that advice to heart. Shes learning how to fly her broom, no one else is allowed to touch her wand and her familiar is a cat that turns into a plush when she’s in her human form. (pic shown further down)

*rubs temples* a Frankenstein named Frankie...ground breaking, I’ve never heard that one before. Frank and Frankie seem to be everyone's go-to when naming these types of monsters and I get why but it’s also so painfully over done, they could have at the very least named him Hank or Francis. I really wish they would have kept his glasses when he transforms or the unibrow when he’s in his human costume. they’re both unique features and it’s a shame that he has to trade one for the other. His power is super strength, He’s very sweet but very clumsy and doesn’t know his own strength yet, I appreciate that he’s kind and not just some big dumb doofus.

Lobo Howler is a werewolf! His power is super speed! I don’t really understand this trend with making werewolves fast, yea they run faster than humans do but it’s not like they're the fastest land animal (that distinction belongs to the cheetah) Wolves aren’t even in the top 25 fastest, so why is it so common to make them fast??? But that’s the only thing about him that’s predictable, he’s an athlete (he wears a varsity jacket) he’s got ants in his pants, he’s hyper active, inquisitive and confident! I have no beef with his name it’s just wolf in Spanish but at least it’s not super common and it makes his ethnicity un-disputably Latino which as I’ve seen many times in cartoons if a character is ambiguously brown people will just say they’re a tanned white person and its important to all little kids to see themselves in media! I don’t really like that his eyes change from brown to green when he’s in his wolf form, Green eyes aren’t even common in wolves (not impossible like blue eyes are, but still very rare) common eye colors in wolves are yellow, amber, orange and brown. so this design choice seems odd.

Zoey Walker is a zombie! and her power is that she can see and walk though walls! Zoey is by far my favorite character in the group! she is so adorable! She’s an artist (she paints) and she’s book smart! (she likes to read) and she’s considerate of others! I LOVE her design so much! she is so colorful! However what I love the most about her design is also what I dislike the most about it - while she’s very cute she looks nothing like a zombie, as soon as I saw her I assumed she was a living rag doll but they call her a zombie in the show??? I don’t understand it but she’s perfect everywhere else so I’m not going to question it. Zoey the Zombie is a great example of how to name a monster with it being close but not too predictable! Also her last name is hilarious if you are a fan of The Walking Dead.

Like Lobo her eyes also change color when she transforms and just...why!?!?! why green!? is green a more dead-friendly color? it’s cute on her, but why!?

They also have a class pet (Glorb the Hampster) and Katya’s familiar (Henri the cat)

In the season finale in they introduce a new character: Spike the Dragon! He’s only in the finale so we don’t know much about him yet other than he’s Chinese (stated that Chinese new year is a big deal in his family)  and his power seems to be to summon clouds and make waves. He’s a little cutie pie! I love his design!... But I really wish they would have went with a different name.

All in all the show is very cute! I highly recommend it if you have little ones around or if you’re just into spooky cartoons! (like me) It’s a Netflix original show and I really hope it gets picked up for a second season!

The animation is really cute if not a bit boring but that’s kinda the standard of 3-D cartoons these days, I’m not sure if being 2-D would help or hinder this show.

I really wish there was an explanation for why they have to change into humans, I just don’t get it. Monsters and humans seem to peacefully coexists in this world. The werewolf kids dad works for the fire department and his fellow fire fighter is a human woman, They took a field trip to a pizza place run by a human man, Their veterinarian is a human woman (she may not be human he name is Dr. Jekyll ) and so far none of them have freaked out in the company of monsters... In fact They went out trick or treating to human houses to show off their powers to “trick” the humans and the humans seem to love them!?!?

This is not the face of someone whose shocked and afraid of being in front of a zombie. In fact they invite the humans to a Halloween party and they all go, no questions asked, no conflict started. I do not get the transformation sequences at all.

But it’s fun to see what the kids would be as humans. My favorite part of any non-human media!

[brendancorris]

My Top 10 Most Badass Movie Vampires

#10

From the 1988 movie loosely based on Bram Stoker’s novel of the same name, Lady Sylvia is a sexy latex-clad mistress with total hypnotic control over all she meets, and then reveals her true form of a sexy blue snake-vampire-person. This is a pretty trippy movie when it comes to the visuals. While it’s no masterpiece, it is fun, and Lady Sylvia and the Worm are the highlights.

#9

While this may not be the best depiction of the famous count, he does a pretty good job of giving off the count’s regal charm and creepy mystery. Also, he calls a little girl a bitch in a family film. He deserves this spot just for that.

#8

Cool, collected, and classy, Dandrige from Fright Night is everything a good vampire should be. It’s interesting how they updated him to be what was considered classy, sexy, and all around desirable in the 80s rather than redoing the Dracula formula, but still kept it true to the formula in every way. His transformations alone earn him a spot on this list.

#7

Countess Zaleska, the daughter of Dracula in Universal’s follow up to the 1931 film that started it all for them, is a surprisingly well-written and complex vampire for her time. Reluctant to accept her curse, she longs for release from her vampiric ways, bt she finds her urges harder and harder to fight over time.

#6

While I wouldn’t call the Blade movies amazing or anything, there’s three things I think everybody can agree on with them: 1 - They aren’t bad, 2 - They’re an important step in super hero film history, and 3 - The titular character portrayed by Wesley Snipes is freaking badass! He is badass in an extremely 90s way, but it still holds up. He’s basically Dracula, Van Helsing, the Terminator, and Batman all rolled into one.

#5

Schreck’s portrayal of the Count in the silent classic, Nosferatu, is the oldest surviving film with Dracula on the big screen. The Count’s elegance and sexual nature aren’t present here, but instead we have a hideous, genuinely eerie looking monster who makes up for lost Dracula features in creepiness. While his design has not been as influential as Bela Lugosi’s, Schreck’s Dracula has inspired hundreds of vampire designs over the years.

#4

The hippest vampire ever, David is part of the blood-sucking biker gang terrorizing the coast in The Lost Boys. He’s arrogant, cool, and loves messing with your mind. This is definitely the biggest movie in the “cool vampire” revolution. There’s another pretty good vampire in this film, but I don’t want to give any spoilers.

#3

While many may write this movie off as a silly blacksploitation parody of horror, it’s actually an extremely well done film, and has great atmosphere, characters, and a few genuinely spooky scenes. An African Prince, Mamuwalde, is bitten by Dracula himself after meeting with him in an attempt to end the shipment of slaves. Mamuwalde has all the makings of a classic count. A collected attitude, a booming, powerful voice, a badass cape and look, and that regal and sensual power over all. I particularly love how they made his abandoned factory really look like an urban equivalent of Castle Dracula.

#2

The second most famous Dracula ever, Christopher Lee was perfect for the role. He never got much material to work with as the character, or screen time, which is sad, but his portrayal is so good and so memorable, he has to make #2.

#1

Of course Lugosi gets the #1 spot. He defined the character for every generation to come. This is everybody’s first thought when they hear the name “Dracula”. When it comes to a classy, creepy, and hypnotic Dracula, you can’t beat Lugosi. Literally every line spoken in his voice is gold.

Take note, although I have read the book, I have never seen the film adaptation of Salem’s Lot in its entirety, so there can be no Kurt Barlow on this list.

[starlitsea]

I’m shit at live-blogging TV/movies apparently. I pretty much gave up on doing Star Trek though I do still have that second ENT episode and drafts of 1.5 episodes of TOS that I haven’t posted. On the other hand, I did binge-watch Star Trek movies 2-9 before they expired on Hulu (I’ve watched 1 like 3 times and the only thing I can remember about it is that it’s deathly boring, and 10 is only available through Cinemax, WTF) and lemme tell you, Insurrection is waaaaaay shittier than I remember. It’s like two terrible episodes of TNG were somehow made into a movie for the big screen. Like, I don’t care about your random romance at all, Picard? Why are we spending all this time on this random kid when crew members like Riker, Troi (autocorrect changed it to Trip lololol), Crusher, and LaForge could actually be getting screentime? Why does Worf get to randomly be there and not O’Brien too? Why is Starfleet suddenly Super Evil(TM)? (The villains are also cartoonishly bad???) Also, you’re gonna spend nearly a year of leave on the youth rejuvenating planet, Picard? 🤔 Why don’t they just build a resort on the other side of the planet away from the 600 inhabitants, WTF, c’mon.

Also, when are they going to talk about Sybok in DSC? That must’ve been reaalllly awkward for everyone involved with the three kids growing up together? Like, Sarek, your first kid is a revolutionary, your second kid is a mutineer, and your third kid is Spock (which, yeah, Spock), but . . . his soul is the “most human.” 🤷🏻‍♀️

I also have -ugh- ~feelings~ about the newest Star Wars (but understand that I grew up with the EU so TLJ Luke was never gonna be the way I saw oldman!Luke). I do love the new trio but everyone was a dumbass in this movie, okay? Except for Leia, but I also have :/ feelings about that. Okay, actually, Paige is not a dumbass. And the fish nuns. Ugh, don’t wanna blog about it but prolly will end up doing it somewhere down the line. I also have no strong feelings pro or anti porgs if that’s where y’all are drawing your lines in the sand.

Other things I watched recently:

Bram Stoker’s Dracula too. It was really terrible. Like, wow, terrible? Man, could not stop thinking about Hideyuki Kikuchi during the vampire brides scene though? In Vampire Hunter D that exact scene would happen but then it would turn out that you’re turning into a dream at the same time. Dracula’s hair was also the worst thing I’ve ever seen. Mina, why are you and Dracula secret sex friends? He took you to a porno on the first date - you should’be known this was something you couldn’t sweep under the rug. You can’t have sexy times with Gary Oldman channeling Johnny Depp then run off to marry Keanu who is recovering from a BRAIN FEVER only to regret doing so immediately??? Also WHY do you have a copy of the Kama Sutra for light reading? (Okay, we know why.)

Valerian: thought it would be much worse from the reviews. Yes, the romance is super cringeworthy, and it is also concerning that almost everyone involved with our two main characters dies and they seem to feel very little remorse, but the CGI is pretty good and it gave me the alien worlds feeling I was craving from Star Wars that TFA and TLJ failed to deliver on. Also lots of cool alien designs! Extra bonus, Cara does the best wide eyes shocked face look, I need a gif. 7/10.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (Full disclosure, watched this because Redbox spit out the wrong movie and immediately stopped working afterwards): Woooow, this was terrible. My brother and I actually skipped over the controversial scene because my mom was watching with us (so I can’t comment as to exactly how bad it was but I’m sure it was baaad), but as to the rest of the movie . . . WTF. My mom laughed her ass off though because she was like OMG, Mr. Darcy! So stupid! Hahahaha! Also Elton John’s part was so big???? The villains and plot and everything were so bad I can’t. I say this as someone who enjoyed the first one, JUST SAY NO.

Batman vs. Two Face: why does Burt Ward sound EXACTLY THE SAME? I actually slept through most of this because we started watching it around 11 PM and I’m old now and can’t stay up, but nice to see Harley Quinn (couldn’t they have her sound more professional as a doctor) in 60s Batman. William Shatner was also Two Face? (IT ALL COMES FULL CIRCLE.)

The only other thing I’ve been doing is binge watching Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy which is a show about three idiots, their idiot fathers, and the awesome women and terrible men that surround them? I might talk more about it once I’m through the family banquet from hell episodes. 😒

[brokenmusicboxwolfe]

I saw:

Bram Stoker’s Dracula- You know, this miss titled film that tosses in a reincarnated lost love. Please ignore all the stupid things the makers claimed about faithfulness to the nove. In fact, with vampire romance, the Dan Curtis tv movie from around twenty years before could have inspired it more than the original novel. Someone at the network that owned the tv movie must have thought so too because I remember them (CBS?) rerunning it when this came out, and they never reran such old stuff.

Anyway....

Once upon a time a dude name Vlad finds his beloved wife commits suicide when she mistakenly thinks he’s dead. Thanks to grief and a callous priest his throws a fit. Apparently god does have any patience with such overwhelming emotional outbursts, even if no one gets hurt. The super sensitive deity throws his own tizzy, and it’s blood, eternal life, and a few centuries to come  of corpses lying around. You know, if god really did toss out ol’ Vlad it seems to have done more harm than good to the world. Maybe just ignoring the meltdown and letting him die eventually of a normal death would have been better? 

So cut ahead to the end of the 19th century where Jonathan with a questionable accent leaves his fiancé Mina, also of a questionable accent, to go do a job involving a real estate off in Transylvania. The client named Dracula ...hmm, could he be a decendent of the sword slasher?....lives in a rickety castle, wears the most spectacular red robes, and had his wrinkled old head topped with one of the more unusual hair styles known to man. He also has a shadow with a mind of it’s own, but the visiting pencil pusher is too polite to mention it. Or secretly needs glasses but thought he was too cool to wear then? The counts twister champion gal pals do seem to take a fancy to Jonathan’s flesh, so maybe vanity was a bad idea. Dracula thinks a bride swap is on order, and he’s offering three for one.

Back home little Miss Mina is hanging with her rich and naughty bestie, but she is just a spectator as Lucy teases her suitors. But what do you know, she meets her own fella. And OMG it’s Dracula grown young who was Vlad all along! And Mina is the reincarnation of his dead wife! Mina may be engaged to a fella stuck away on business, but that won’t stop her from going out on dates. Bad Boy Drac chastely takes her out for dancing and intoxicated chats, but while he “loves her too much” to do the fang gang deed with her, he has no such quams about Lucy. He has dinners with  Mina but finds time to sneak into her best friend’s bedroom on a regular basis for rape....wait...sex?....no,no,no....blood draining.

Now this gets the attention of Lucy’s three boyfriends and, in turn, an obnoxious blame the victim (”the devil’s concubine” indeed!) type designated smart guy. They set out to protect Lucy from her assaults, but they make a total hash of it. When Mina rushes off to be with Jonathan, what with him being all sick from weeks as a vampire milk cow followed through a crawling in the rain escape,  Drac/Vlad doesn’t take it well. He and kills Lucy, vamping her, because that’s a nice healthy thing to do to best friend of the woman you say you  love, just because she choses another guy!

So Lucy gets the gang rape metaphor staking/beheading, Mina gets a romance novel sex scene by way of bloodletting with her Vlady Bear, and the guys stomp around. Mina’s, like,  totally into her boyfriend thanks to their toothy make out session, but stopping him will depend on her and twu wuv. 

I mock, I mock. But you want to know something really shocking? I really like the movie and have probably seen it dozens of times!

Yeah, I know it’s hard to believe. I’m sure I’ve mentioned how when I was 9 my best friend and I both got copies, giggling and whispering over the “good bits”. I’ve read it many times since. I mention every year the 1970s BBC Count Dracula that is hands down my favorite adaptation, and possibly the most faithful. You might expect me to be a purist, or at least grumble about how it betrays characters or original intent. But dang it all, I like it anyway.

It isn’t like I can’t be critical. Tonight I launched into this whole thing with Mom about the way it was played as this great romance, despite Drac’s behavior. I mean, he stalks her manipulating her memory, drags her into a corner intending to assault her despite her pleas for him stop, dates her though she is engaged,  repeatedly secretly attacks her friend in what might as well be rapes, responds to her dumping him by actually murdering her friend, gets the “sex” scene by sneaking into her bed while she’s sleeping.....oh, yeah. That’s all romantic! LOL Mom shook her head, saying I sure didn’t sound like I liked it! 

I realize a lot of it is because it’s a beautiful movie. I mean aesthetically, with everything from music, sets, lovely old fashioned effects and, famously, wonderful costumes. (I have a book just of photos of those costumes!) Despite my pointing out that this is NOT a healthy romance, it does embrace the unabashedly over the top romantic in a way that’s enjoyable....and blood soaked. Bloody is good with vampires! LOL Hell no, it’s not my favorite version (not even close!), but sometimes just feel like this box of candy.

Oh, confession time: Growing up I did spend a little time imagining up a romance take on Dracula. But it was nothing like this, with no reincarnation or breaking up the Harkers. No, I paired Drac up with Lucy! Hey, he had three brides and she had three suitors! They were soul mates! LOL And I had the plan, before it’s foiled, to be for her to turn her three boy friends into vampire husbands. It would have been a crowded household if their intent had worked out, what with three vamp brides, three vamp husbands, and Drac and Lucy as the heads of this family......But then Lucy gets staked and the attack on Mina is all about vengence from a heartbroken vampire. Look,  I was a weird kid.....

[eddycurrents]

Conqueror Worm: Chapter Four & Epilogue

Words & Art: Mike Mignola | Colours: Dave Stewart | Letters: Pat Brosseau

Originally published by Dark Horse in Hellboy: Conqueror Worm #4 | August 2001

Epilogue originally published by Dark Horse in Hellboy - Volume 5: Conqueror Worm | February 2002

Collected in Hellboy - Volume 5: Conqueror Worm | Hellboy Library Edition - Volume 3 | Hellboy Omnibus Volume 2: Strange Places

Plot Summary:

Roger and Hellboy rush to put an end to Herman von Klempt’s nefarious plan to unleash the conqueror worm upon the world.

Reading Notes:

(Note: Pagination does not represent anything within the issue or collections themselves, it is solely in reference to the chapter.)

pg. 1 - The effect partially gets lost at the beginning of a chapter, compared to returning each month in a serial, but the establishing shots are wonderful.

pg. 2 - Poor Roger falling through the floor as well. I guess the true test of whether or not you’re a BPRD agent is if you fall through a surface at least one point in your career.

pg. 2-3 - Roger doubting himself against the worm and the frog people is a nice bit of foreshadowing for a potential hero moment. And reinforcement of the character virtue of humility within a “monster”.

pg. 5 - Other than employing the typical theme of the thought-fallen villain rising from the dead of many monster movies, this page just looks awesome. It’s a lot of hands and the glowy rectangle thing in a grid, but you feel the struggle and the hopelessness when the device is crushed.

pg. 6 - This just looks cool. 

Also, Herman von Klempt’s gloating floating head is ridiculously funny.

pg. 7 - The revelation of who sparked the idea of contacting the Nazi space capsule and bringing it back to Earth is expected. I love how defeated Inger von Klempt looks at the beginning of this sequence, though. 

Also an interesting change to her word balloon from Pat Brosseau. And the blue balloon for Rasputin. It’s taking the colour theme that each type of character has and extending it further to even how they speak.

pg. 8 - Inger’s idealization of a Nazi world order is frightening.

pg. 9-11 - Rasputin’s story time. I love how Mignola delivers exposition, because it never really feels like somebody just giving an infodump, even when it is just an infodump (like when he writes in experts to deliver information on a location or mythological creature). Telling these kinds of legends and folktales just feels like a natural part of the ongoing narrative. It makes sense for the characters to tell these stories of the past, since it’s part of their own character to know and share this kind of stuff. It also feels like a very rich and engrossing growth of Hellboy lore.

pg. 9 - Like the introduction explicitly of the Hyperboreans, as the first race of man. This is an important piece of Hellboy lore germinating here, touched on somewhat in Wake the Devil, but developed further her. Likewise the mentions of Atlantis, Lemuria, etc.

pg. 11 - The world meant to be inhabited by the frog people sure is an interesting looking ecology.

Also, Rasputin directly invokes one of the continuing themes here of transformation, explicitly making clear that his plans for Ragna Rok are in line with the traditional Norse conception. That it’s not an ultimate end, but a cycle of change.

pg. 12 - While it worked for the ape and the communication Nazis, the bomb on the worm, not so much. It effortlessly swatting it back to Hellboy is easily one of the funniest things in this chapter.

pg. 13 - There’s a certain level of absurdist humour in the madness of Herman von Klempt and the battle with the conqueror worm. It borders on the kind of extreme ridiculousness of something like Mars Attacks and you’d think would be out of place in Hellboy, but it somehow works. It shows a definite versatility to the universe.

pg. 15-17 - Continuing Roger’s personal arc of self-sacrifice. The electrical assault on the worm looks really neat.

pg. 18 - Bringing back a reference to the Ligeia in the final chapter is a nice touch.

pg. 19-22 - The resolution of Roger ingesting the spirit of the worm and von Klempt’s plan is pretty epic. It ties into Roger’s character arc of sacrifice and redemption, as well as the broader themes of sublimation of the darker aspects and proof that the monstrous can be more human than human.

pg. 21 - Von Klempt as a demented shoulder devil is a big mood.

pg. 23-24 - I find it funny that just as Inger has discovered a newfound purpose as one of the pioneers of Rasputin’s future, she gets her ultimate reward.

pg. 25 - This visual reprise of Almost Colossus and the homage to the Whale Frankenstein films is a nice touch for the attempted rebirth again of Roger.

pg. 27 - Hellboy quitting the BPRD is definitely handled differently in the comic than the film. Just like the death of Trevor Bruttenholm, it’s one of the more interesting divergent paths. There’s no mass exodus here, just Hellboy being disillusioned in how Tom Manning runs the agency and treats people, human or otherwise, and wanting to deal with the massive amount of stuff that’s been dropped on him about his past and his being.

Also, a somewhat bittersweet goodbye between Hellboy and Kate against some of the more beautiful mountain shots of the series.

pg. 29-37 - The epilogue featuring a confrontation between Rasputin and Hecate brings a bit of closure to the broader aspects of this act in Hellboy, similar to how it felt when the Nazi castle exploded, seemingly putting away those toys in the broader narrative (which makes von Klempt’s importance in Conqueror Worm more interesting). It’s a symbolic way for Mignola to tells us that this narrative is over and it’s time to move on to something else, but don’t worry, because he just might be saving something for later.

Also, I love the shifting colour washes here from Dave Stewart. The multiple changes according to the character’s colour theme reinforces the idea of this entire sequence being symbolic.

pg. 30-31 - Hecate’s refutation of Rasputin and rejection of being his subservient Ilsa Haupstein anymore was brought up during Wake the Devil itself, but it made concrete here.

pg. 32 - I find it funny that Hecate still thinks there are only two options. Hellboy has been showing repeatedly that there are more.

pg. 33 - Hecate sticking it to Rasputin’s failures is a nice touch. Same with telling him he’s “just a ghost”, calling back to his reintroduction to this chapter when he appeared to Inger. There’s also a kind of narrative reprise in the style and content of this epilogue to the one in Wake the Devil, questioning Rasputin’s purpose.

pg. 36 - I love the design to this page. Simple, but very strong.

Final Thoughts:

This was a big one in a deceptively simple package. It was Bram Stoker and HP Lovecraft meets mad Nazi science, but that was just the front. Deep beneath the surface Mike Mignola was dealing with a much larger picture, setting up the seeds for a broader Hellboy universe, a slowly encroaching apocalypse, and a symbolic death as the worm of doubt, distrust, and disillusionment ate away at Hellboy’s confidence in Tom Manning.

The closure to the first act of Hellboy almost makes the beginnings feel quaint, despite the masterpiece that Mike Mignola and his collaborators had created in these first five volumes. Just that span of seven years of stories could have been considered a complete work to another, but here it’s a set-up for something more and something different. It has me excited to dive back in to the now separate Hellboy and BPRD narratives as the paths diverge.

And become something stranger.

d. emerson eddy’s blood is probably caffeinated.

[photoshop-creative]

Conveying colourful passion in art

Bram Vanhaeren is clearly ambitious, and keen to create as much art as he can. “I’m working on an artwork with my girlfriend,” he says of his next project. “It’s all canvas-based – it’s fun to step aside from the computer!” We caught up with him to find out about his influences and the story behind his career.

Black & White

How and when did your relationship with Photoshop start?

When I was 13. We’d just got the internet and I found gaming forums where people had profile images. One user told me he used Photoshop to create these. I quit gaming and got into design forums, and showcased my small creations. Then DeviantArt and not so long after Behance followed.

Would you say you have always had an interest in art?

Yes, and from a young age. I chose to stay with my grandma for two weeks to learn to paint when I was five. I went to art school, but they kicked me out after six months! After your exams, you have to present your work in front of a panel of ten professors and professionals from the industry. They literally started to laugh at my work, and eight out of ten of them told me that art wasn’t for me. I worked on my attitude and grew as a person; eventually I studied a degree in cross-media design.

Do you think your experience at art school influenced who you are as an artist?

Since I was terrible at art school, I never got around to studying specific artists, so I don’t have many artistic influences. I just look for the true stories behind creatives; I want to know about their struggles, how they live life, what inspires them. I’m just influenced I guess by people who want to show their passion in creative ways, no matter their field.

Dancé Sur La Moon

You have a very distinctive artistic style. Did you always know the kind of art you wanted to create, or did your style develop over time?

I aim to capture energetic moments and emotion with colours. I want people to easily relate to my work and not think about it too much. My style is still evolving every day though. That’s the best part of living a fast-paced, creative life. Every week I discover a new twist within my work. I stick to basics in Photoshop but it allows me to really explore these basic tools and get the most out of all of them.

Which basic Photoshop tools do you use the most?

The Pencil tool for a start; I draw everything by hand with my mouse. The Gradient tool too. I stopped wasting my time struggling with techniques and tools I didn’t understand, and focused on the things I can do really well. Why spend time doing something you’re not good at, when you can be an expert in something you are good at?

You’re one of Adobe’s 25 artists under 25. How was it to work with them?

Originally, I accidentally deleted the email – I thought it was spam! I had to introduce myself to them, tell them my story, and two weeks later they invited me to do a portrait and some awesome ambassador stuff in Europe. Creatively, they insisted I did my own thing and really focus on the fun of making the portrait rather than the pressure of the project. I had complete freedom and 100 per cent support from a huge company with an audience of 7 million, to do something I’d do for fun on a Saturday afternoon!

#CopOrDrop

What other cool projects have you been involved in?

In January I did 16 illustrations for a huge sport event in Spain – I love sport illustrations! I really enjoyed my personal Nike CopOrDrop project too. I had the honour to assist an amazing project called Fontself, doing #AlphaWall Type, which aimed to make type sexy again. And I’ve had some great collaborations with magazines – in particular, it was a dream come true working with Rolling Stone.

Is it overwhelming to think that your work has been seen by millions of people now?

Not really, to be honest! I struggle placing online exposure. I feel just as happy when I can show something to two friends, as when I see it on Adobe’s Twitter feed. The reaction of my work with Adobe was particularly amazing when I went to AdobeMax and had the pleasure of meeting people who appreciated my work in the flesh.

As someone who could have quit art early on, what advice would you give to someone starting out with Photoshop?

Everyone goes through a phase where you know what you want to create, but the results are disappointing. Don’t give up. By working and working at your passion, you’ll get better at what you do.

[elliotthezubat]

DEATH CITY DAYS CHAPTER 64

it’s Halloween time again! and the tournament is going as strong as ever

Bakugo: *writing a note...* " 'Take...more than one piece of candy...and I will hunt you down and tear your teeth out...'" -elsewhere- Aizawa: "..." *wearing cat ears* yuuji: *in a jack skellington costume*..really guys? -_-; classmate: looks good, crazy bendy. yuuji: =_______=; Aizawa: "It suits you. Just smile and sing the song." yuuji: *mutters* kill me. -elsewhere- Iida: *looking at social media* "...I am mortified." bee maid: oh dear. -a new billy mayes in the mei-king?- Iida: "She made a fool out of me! And I was her corny commercial sidekick! This is not how I wanted to be a sidekick!" bee maid: well, not much you can do now. also, your costume is back from the dry cleaners. miss yaoyorozu will be here soon. Iida: "...Thank you. I will go change." -elsewhere- Chuuya: "All set, Sonia?" sonia: *she nods* Chuuya: ^^ "You look great." sonia: isnt trick or treating tomorrow? Chuuya: "Yes, but your grandmother wanted to see how your outfit turned out..." sonia: ok! Chuuya: *holds up the phone* "Say cheese..." sonia: *smiles* -elsewhere- Mori: *giggling* elise: ._.; Mori: "Such excitement..." elise: i can tell... Mori: "Costumes...candy..." elise: murder, in your case. Mori: D:< "That's mean!" elise: but am i wrong? Mori: "Well, no--but I'm more than just murder." *holds up a doll* elise:.... 7__7; Mori: "Now, make sure you have your costume ready." *sets down the doll* -elsewhere- Sakuya: "..." *snort, laugh* tsubaki:...black star, what the heck. Black Star: ._. "...I lost a bet to Sayaka." sayaka: i think it looks adorable! Black Star: "...Naho, what do you think?" naho: same! Black Star: ^\\\^;; "I guess I'm wearing it." Sakuya: *slapping his knee* "I-I can't breathe!" -elsewhere- Joker: *smokes* "...So, I was thinking costumes." scarlet: oh boy. *rolls eyes* Joker: *holds up a military uniform* "Red, for you." -elsewhere- Monoma: "I will have the best costume--then I will win all the attention!" pony: it looks kinda like your hero costume. Monoma: "...It's...different enough." ._.; pony: well, i think it looks swell. ^^ Monoma: "...Thank you for recognizing its goodness. Yours looks good as well." pony: thanks, my gran helped me make it. Monoma: "That was nice of her..." pony: she helped me with da shoes too. Monoma: "They're comfortable?" pony: *nods* it's hard ta find shoes fo' me cause of da hooves. i usually gettim custom. Monoma: "I see...Surprised more stores don't custom-make them." -elsewhere- Patty: *adjusts her tie* julie: *peeek* Patty: "??? Hey, Julie! Like my costume?" julie: who're ya going as? Patty: *puts on a cape* "Badass super-professional businesswoman!" *puts on the glasses* julie: neato! liz: .... is that my suit? Patty: ouo; "...Just emulating greatness, sis..." ^\\\^ liz: ^^; Patty: *hug* liz: *hug* ^^ Patty: "So, what you going as, sis?" -elsewhere- Hibana: *dressed as Tinkerbelle* gabriella: ..... ./////////////////. an excellent look. Hibana: "Why, thank you~ I wanted something for our little princess when I take her out Trick or Treating." gabriella: ^^ Hibana: "And you..." *taps Gabriella's chin* gabriella: o/////o Hibana: "Have you considered your costume?" *rests a hand along Gabriella's cheek* "A family Halloween photo would be great." -elsewhere- Arthur: *in golden armor* tamaki: are you even comfortable? Arthur: "Verily, for a knight adapts to all situations and attire." *kneels to her* "I promise." tamaki: =///=; Arthur: "And you have chosen your costume?" tamaki: yeah, im working on it. Arthur: "Oh? Well, I look forward to it...but could I have a sneak peek?" -elsewhere- Mifune: "Excited?" yuma: *nods* angela: yeeeeeah! Mifune: *smiles* "Okay. Be on your best behavior today before we head out tomorrow." -elsewhere- Lucy: *sets out Halloween cupcakes* "I think these came out okay...Want one?" aya: sure thing! Lucy: ^^ "So, you excited for your first Halloween at the Agency?" aya: *nods* Lucy: "You like the holiday? Or do you have a favorite?" *sets out cups of tea* -elsewhere- Stein: *with a flower crown* "..." aya drevis: ^^ Stein: "Does this work for this time of year?" -elsewhere- Todoroki: -\\\\- ochako: hey! glad you could make it! Todoroki: "S-Same. Sorry to keep you waiting. ...Your outfit looks good." ochako: thanks! it took a whole night with the bedazzler, but it was worth it! Todoroki: "...Yes, it is worth it. You're radiant." ochako: ^^ Todoroki: "...Well then...Shall we enter?" ochako: yeppers! Todoroki: "..." *opens the door for her* ochako: woah! cool theme this year! Todoroki: "Oh! This is surprising..." yana: *looking out over the dance floor* Iida: "Oh, hello!" yana: hmm? oh hey, just lookin for someone. Iida: "Ah. Not sure I have seen you before. I am Tenya Iida." yana: ....cool. *spots anya and goes over to her* evening. Anya: "Oh, hello! Nice costume." yana: thanks. Anya: "Were you waiting long?" yana: not too long, nah. Anya: "..." *clears her throat* "...Thirsty?" yana: sure. Anya: *walks with her* Iida: "Ah, Yaoyorozu!" momo: good evening tenya! are you enjoying the party? >///<; Iida: "Quite. The decorations are impressive. As is your outfit." momo: thank you! i worked really hard on designing it! Iida: "It paid off...So...Do you..." momo: yes! i do design my own clothes from time to time! OwO;;; Iida: "..." *smiles* "I was going to ask if you would like to dance." momo: oh.. um.. i-i would love to! o//////o Iida: *takes her hand and guides her to the dance floor* momo: *blushing wildly* (thinking: keep it together momo, just relax! you got this under control!) *The music is rather slow, as Iida guides her* -elsewhere at the dance- Bakugo: "You good at this game?" itsuka: you bet! Bakugo: "..." *smiles* "Let's see what you got." -elsewhere- shinra: how's the party? Relan: "B-Busy...Lot of people." iris: we're right here, ok? Relan: ^\\\^ "Thanks..." *offers a ghost cookie* iris: *nom* Relan: "It is a little scary here...but not so bad." *points to a decoration* "Even the werewolf decoration looks cuddly." student:... >->;; -elsewhere- Emine: "...I think the bubblegum is my favorite." lin-kimpur: *nom* ^^ Emine: "They are particularly good for getting stuck into people's hair..." -elsewhere- Todoroki: "...That is a...good outfit, Eijiro." eijiro: it's surprisingly comfy. Todoroki: "Then that is all that is important--" Monoma: "I COULD WEAR IT BETTER." tetsutetsu:.......*in the same costume*.... OH COME ON! eijiro: for real? this joke is getting old! Todoroki: "..." *struggling not to laugh* Monoma: "..." *snaps a picture* -later- Todoroki: "..." *ahem* "...I..." ochako: wanna dance? Todoroki: "..." *nods* "It's just...I'm not very good." ochako: i can help. ^^ Todoroki: .\\\\. "..." *offers his hand* ochako: *leading him out onto the dance floor* Todoroki: .\\\\\\\\\\\. *gulp* "Th-Thank you..." ochako: *slowly dancing with him* Todoroki: "...You have danced often?" ochako: sometimes. Todoroki: "...You're good. As far as I know..." ochako: thanks. you're not that bad yourself, actually. ^^ Todoroki: .\\\\. "...Seriously?" ochako: *smiles* ^^ Todoroki: "...Thank you for inviting me." ochako: im just glad you're having fun. ^^ Todoroki: "...No offense, but I'm surprised I am..." ochako:.... ^^ Todoroki: "...I...don't know any fancy steps, like twirls or anything." ochako: no one said you had to. ^^ Todoroki: "I-I just meant I'm not...fancy." ochako: neither am i, haha! Todoroki: "..." ^\\\^ -elsewhere- Kid: "All set?" stocking: indeed~ Kid: *smiles, as he takes her hand* stocking: ^///^ Kid: "you look beautiful." stocking: as do you~ Kid: "D'aw..." *smooch* stocking: ^////^ Kid: "...How was I so lucky to be with you?" stocking: *dips him* luck's got nothing to do with it~ Kid: .\\\\. "...God, I wish I could marry you all over again." stocking: *smoooooooooch* Kid: >\\\\< -elsewhere- Sakuya: "Say cheese!" naho: cheese! ^u^ lilac: *tiny smile* *selfie taken* Sakuya: "Looks great." -elsewhere- Ivan: TT~TT pushkin: you alright, gon? Ivan: <I have a hole in my heart.> katya: <metaphorically? or did you get shot?> Ivan: T_T; <If it was literal, would I be talking at all?> katya: <...good point. is it about the boss and the nurse again? because we already told you, he doesnt actually give a damn about her.> Ivan: <The hurt remains, though...> katya: <well, we're going to go crash a few parties via boss' orders, see what we can find out. wanna come with?> Ivan: <!!!! W-Well, if that's what Master wants, of course!> ^\\\^ katya: <OI LEO! WE'RE HEADING OUT!> leo: ....right.... .///. Ivan: <I'll get my costume!> -elsewhere- Iida: "That was enjoyable. Would you like a snack?" momo: sure. Iida: *offers a plate* "...I'm surprised you invited me." momo: o-oh? .///.; Iida: *nods* "I usually do not get invited to dates." momo: w-well, i asked you to the movie, r-right? Iida: "True. And I enjoyed it. Hence why I accepted this invitation." *takes a cookie from her plate* momo:... *smile* Iida: "I enjoy this opportunity to spend time with you." momo:... ^///^ i enjoy it too. Iida: *smiles* "So, tell me--what was your best Halloween costume?" -elsewhere- Aizawa: *sips the punch* "...Spiked." yuuji: are you..gonna be alright? ._.;;; Aizawa: "Yes, I had only a small sip. We'll just have to take away the punch before someone else drinks it--" -elsewhere- Gin: "..." higuchi: *stroking her head* Gin: *hugs her* "Thank you..." higuchi: it's going to be ok. Gin: "...I don't know how you can know that." higuchi:...i dont know either....but im here, ok? Gin: "..." *small smile* "And I'm here." -elsewhere- Chuuya: ^^ sonia: ?? Chuuya: "You're a smart, loving, great child." TTWTT sonia: *hug* it's ok, papa, please dont cry. Chuuya: "I'm just...happy with you." sonia: ok. Chuuya: *pat pat* "Just...be you, Sonia." sonia:.... ok, papa... Chuuya: *sniff, wipes his tears, smiles* "Now, then, what do you want to do?" -elsewhere- Anya: "EEEEEEEK!" yana: *staring at the fake doll*...huh. Anya: Q~Q "Such a creepy haunted house this year..." -elsewhere- Fitzgerald: *puts on a jazz album* mary: *eating popcorn* ^^ bram: well, the boss sure knows how to throw a party... Mr. Tsubaki: *pawing at the popcorn on Mary's plate* mary: you hungry? -elsewhere- Akutagawa: "...Is this a sufficient costume?" naoya: looks great. now go have fun at the dance! Akutagawa: "...I doubt I will." atsushi:... o-o;;; *takes lucy's hands and brings her into the haunted house to hide* Lucy: "?!!! Wh-What are you doing?" Akutagawa: *looks around--sees the haunted house* "...That seems cliche." atsushi: saw.. *pant* akutagawa....*pant*..i panicked. Lucy: o_____o;;; "...That is sufficient explanation...L-Let's keep walking, find a place to hide in here..." atsushi: good call... Lucy: *points* "There--it's dark, few people are there, and we can blend in..." atsushi: ok. yana:.... ?? hm? Anya: "??? Hear something?" atsushi: um...hi? yana:.... *raises a brow* hey. Lucy: .\\\. Anya: "..." -_- "How lewd." atsushi: s-so what're you doing? yana: checking out the haunted house. you? atsushi: same! nothing lewd intented! owo;; Lucy: >\\\< *pinches Atsushi's cheek* "They get it already!" Anya: "!!! What a...um, adamant person." *looks at Yana* "You know them?" yana:....*stares at atsushi* seen them in class, never really talked to them. Anya: "The same." *stares* "You're the Tiger, yes?" atsushi: ^^; you can just call me atsushi. -silence- atsushi:... ^^;;;; Anya: "...That's a surprising name." atsushi: i seem to get that a lot....and you guys are...? Anya: "Anya Hepburn--" Lucy: "--a princess." Anya: o\\\\\\\o "?!!!" atsushi: that's your costume, right? Anya: "...Y-Yes?" ^\\\\^; Lucy: "..." *suspicious eyes* yana: ..... Lucy: "...Who is your friend [Yana] supposed to be?" yana: im her prince for the night~ UuU Anya: o\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\o Lucy: "...Yeah, I know that feeling." *holds Atsushi's hand* atsushi: .//////////. -elsewhere- Kunikida: "..." *stares at Ranpo* "That candy. Was for. The Trick. Or. Treaters." ranpo:....there's still like...5 more bags. -elsewhere- Hyde: "...Why are so many people dressed like Dracula?" licht: it looks cheesy... Hyde: "No kidding. Vampires don't all look like that. Some of them got style!" misono: says the man who wears orange and black stripe socks and sneakers. Hyde: >_< "IT IS STYLE!" -elsewhere- Tsukiyo: "Sister Reimi?" reimi: hm? Tsukiyo: *hug* reimi: o///o; um- Tsukiyo: "You look like you needed a hug." *pat pat, pulls back* reimi: um... thanks 7///7; Tsukiyo: "How you holding up?" reimi: alright. a bit...well...melancholic, but i'll be ok. Tsukiyo: "...Want to take a walk?" reimi:....sure. Tsukiyo: *smiles* "...I like walking around the village. Let's you see how much community there is here...at home." reimi: yeah.....where were you? before coming here to asakusa? Tsukiyo: "...I lived in another village, with my family...I didn't get much...attention." reimi: ... Tsukiyo: "So, I picked a spot on the map where I thought the action would be..." reimi: i see. Tsukiyo: "...Are you happy you made a life here?" reimi:...*she nods* Tsukiyo: *smiles* "Me too. Glad you're here." -elsewhere- Kid: *smooch* stocking: ^///^ Kid: "My angel..." stocking: hehe, my adorable hubby~ <3 Kid: ^\\\^ *rubs her arm* "My adorable wife~" stocking: *smoooooch* <3<3<3<3 kirika: get a room. Kid: -_-; "Could say the same to you." -elsewhere- leo: ..... Ivan: "...Huh. So, this is the atmosphere." leo:....it's rather quiet out....aside from katya and pushkin playing around on the roundabout pushkin: WOOHOO! katya: YEEE! XD Ivan: ._.;;;; "...Good for them..." leo:...it's odd, that they could find such joy out of such trivial things. Ivan: "When you're underground so long, you desire even the simplest of pleasures." leo:....i suppose. Ivan: "Like the swing set!" leo:...perhaps.....it feels....surreal. Ivan: "Like getting to enjoy something you never had before..." leo: ......i know this should be a happy moment....but i just feel tired and numb, like always. Ivan: "...Get on the swing." leo: vanya? Ivan: "I'll push you." leo: o///o a-are you sure? Ivan: "Why not? It'll be fun!" leo: ..... .///. i-i guess... -elsewhere- FD: *taps* zoey: *nuzzling his leg* master~ barkova: =D FD: "..." *grabs a chew toy* barkova: *excited panting* 8D FD: *tosses the chew toy* barkova: *chasing it, barking* zoey: ~? FD: "There..." *strokes Zoey's head* zoey: ah~ FD: *scratches behind her ear* zoey: ahhh~<3 FD: *traces his fingers around her neck* zoey: *soft moan* FD: "Is this good?" *squeezes lightly* zoey: ah~ y-yes~ FD: *his hands rest on her shoulders, massaging them* -elsewhere- Todoroki: ^\\\^ "And...that was the penguin costume one year..." ochako: aww, how adorable! ^^ Todoroki: "I even...made an ice slide to do a penguin belly slide..." ochako: *snort chuckle* oh my gosh. >u< Todoroki: "O-Okay...Now you have to tell me about one of your costumes." ochako: hmmm. well, there was the one year i was dressed as a hoagie. -elsewhere- Akutagawa: "..." *sniffs the air* classmate: um....araragi are you oka- Akutagawa: *breathes steam out of his nostrils* "The scent..." classmate:... alright what the fuck araragi? Akutagawa: "I know where he is...The haunted house..." atsushi: *tiger senses* O-O;;;; oh.... oh no. Lucy: "??? What?" atsushi: i think we should go now. very very quickly! Lucy: "O-Okay?" -elsewhere- Mr. Tsubaki: =w= louisa: you sure tired yourself out, huh? Mr. Tsubaki: *yawn* louisa:....did mary even give you a name? Mr. Tsubaki: "..." >_> louisa: hmmm. wait right there. -she exits the room- Mr. Tsubaki: "...???" *looks around* -silence fills the room- Mr. Tsubaki: "..." *sets his head down* T_T louisa: so she didnt give you a name....hmmm how about- Mr. Tsubaki: *looks up at her* "..." louisa: hmmm... Mr. Tsubaki: *small fox whine, pawing at her* louisa: hmm? is something wrong? Mr. Tsubaki: *nudges her* louisa: how about toby? Mr. Tsubaki: "..." *head tilt* louisa: ^^ toby it is then. Mr. Tsubaki: "..." *rubs against her leg* louisa:.... ^^ -elsewhere- Black Star: "We're back!" himawari: welcome home! lilac: *asleep* naho: he really tuckered himself out, huh, sakkun? Sakuya: "Yeah--" *yawn* lavender: you kids get some sleep, ok? Sakuya: *nods* "We will...Night." Black Star: *looks around* tsubaki: ?? Black Star: "..." *smiles at her, takes her hand* tsubaki:... *smiles* Black Star: *cheek smooch* -elsewhere- katya: *drunk* mush! mush boy mush! pushkin: ^^; *giving her a piggy back ride back to base* Ivan: "They seemed pleased..." leo: yeah... Ivan: "...Anywhere you wanted to stop on the way back?" leo:...no. Ivan: "...Not even for candy?" leo:....im good, thanks. Ivan: "...Do you want a piggy back ride?" leo: i-i wouldnt want to trouble you... 7///7; Ivan: "I doubt it would be a problem--you look to be of low weight." leo:............. *looks down*....... ._.; Ivan: "???" leo:...n-nothing. 7/////7;;; Ivan: "...I have strong limbs." leo: im more concerned for your back- Ivan: "...Ah. Good point. Thanks for watching out for me, friend." leo:....r-right.... (chibi!leo: *AXED IN THE FACE* </3 ) Ivan: *sad sigh* leo: ?? vanya? Ivan: "He's probably with that slut." leo:.... Ivan: "I bet he doesn't even like doing her." leo: ........ Ivan: "Probably just having sex with her to infect her with something..." leo:............. Ivan: "..." TT_TT leo:....*holding his hand* Ivan: *covers his face with his other hand* "Th-Thanks..." leo:... .///////////////////////////////.;;;;;;;;; Ivan: "I just want to get home and crawl into bed..." leo: i know how that feels.... Ivan: *nod nod* "Just sleep..." -elsewhere- Lucy: ._.; "...Think we lost him?" atsushi: i think so... Akutagawa: "Hello." atsushi: O________________O;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; Lucy: *stands in front of Atsushi* "You want him?! You're going to have to go through my dead--" Akutagawa: *grabs Lucy by the head--and tosses her back* atsushi: *runs* lucy! *nice catch* Lucy: "...WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH THIS GUY?! YOU DON'T JUST TOSS A LADY AROUND--" Akutagawa: "I don't see a lady. I see an interloping, shrewish, nagging red-haired devil." atsushi: just what is your problem, man? Akutagawa: "I am lonely." atsushi: is this about me rejecting you? Akutagawa: "...Why are you with her, and not me?" Lucy: "..." *taking off her earrings* atsushi: well, for starters, she doesnt try to kill me and my friends time and time again. *sigh* how many times do i have to go over this with you? Akutagawa: "Until she is out of the way, and you are mine--!" Lucy: *hands Atsushi her earrings* atsushi: ..... Akutagawa: "--to make you be mine and mine alone, forever and ever, until--" Lucy: *pulls back her fist--and punches Akutagawa in the balls* atsushi: *wince* Akutagawa: X~X *collapses* Lucy: "DON'T YOU EVER CALL ME A NAG, YOU AWFUL, MEAN PERSON!" atsushi:....he needs some help, big time. Lucy: =_= "...Take an arm, let's get him to the infirmary..." -elsewhere- Dazai: ^W^ kirako: you seem pleased. Dazai: "I just had a sense that something improved out there in the vast universe." kirako:.... ?? Dazai: "Like karma paid back someone..." *sits back* "Or maybe I'm just hungry." -elsewhere- FD: *sighs* pushkin: we're back! katya: <verbaaank...> Ivan: ._. leo: katya's drunk, but she didnt kill anyone. FD: "Well, that's good to know." leo: and miss lewis? FD: "Asleep." Ivan: OWO leo:....i see. FD: *nods* "Likely best you all get your rest." -elsewhere- Spirit: *covered in broken eggs* -___-; sachiko: ^^; i guess some people dont realize that trick or treat is _tomorrow_ night, huh? Spirit: "No kidding..." *grabs a towel* "Little brats..." sachiko: i'll get the shower for you. Spirit: "Thanks." -elsewhere- Yumi: *cuddle* lord death: ~<3 Yumi: *sighs* "Quiet..." lord death: indeed. Yumi: "..." *pulls the bedsheet over them* lord death:....*holds her* Yumi: *murmurs* "You cutie..." lord death:...i worry about you. Yumi: "???" lord death:....please stay safe.... Yumi: "...Death, no..." *holds onto him* lord death: s-sorry.....just overthinking again.... Yumi: *sniff* lord death: i didnt mean to frighten you... Yumi: *holds on tightly* "Just...stay here...tonight." lord death:....of course. Yumi: "..." *rests her head against his chest* -elsewhere- Kunikida: *sets down his mug of milk* -...- {Kunikida: "...I screwed up...so badly..."} {yosano: ....you didnt know, dont beat yourself up over it...} {-it was a joint funeral for rokuzo and nobuko-} {Kunikida: "...I should have known. I should have anticipated...planned for it...something...I..."} -knocks- Kunikida: "..." *wipes his eyes* "Come in." aya: you ok? Kunikida: "...Just thinking." aya: 'bout what? Kunikida: "...Someone who died." aya:......oh. Kunikida: "Sorry. I still think about them..." aya: who? Kunikida: "...A client...and a former associate." aya:...oh... Kunikida: "..." *puts his head in his hands* aya:...*hug* Kunikida: *small shiver* aya: i dont know what all happened, but i think you're doing swell. Kunikida: "..." *frozen...crying* aya: .....*huuug* Kunikida: "..." *hugs her back* -elsewhere- Lucy: -_-;;;; "That was annoying." atsushi: yeah. he need serious help, mentally. Lucy: "We keep talking about that--and it's not happening. Not like we can force him into therapy." atsushi: im beginning to worry he's never going to get over it... Lucy: *sighs* "That is...depressing, even for him." odasaku: ... Lucy: "...Thanks for saving me." atsushi:....no problem. same to you. Lucy: "..." *small fist bump* "Good team." atsushi: *smiles* Lucy: "..." *smiles back* ^^ -elsewhere- Black Star: "Zzz..." tsubaki: .....*tucks him in* Black Star: =w= *sleeps more calmly* -elsewhere- Mr. Tsubaki: "..." *looking up at the Moon* mary:... ?? what's wrong, toby? Mr. Tsubaki: "..." *finally notices Mary, looks at her* "???" mary: you look sad... Mr. Tsubaki: "..." TT_TT *nudges Mary* mary: *pap pap* Mr. Tsubaki: *fox chittering...rests his head on her lap* YY~YY -early morning- Kid: =w= stocking: did that feel good~? Kid: "Divine..." *smooch* stocking: hehe~ happy birthday, kiddo~ Kid: "..." *hug* stocking: u///u Kid: "...I never thought it would be like this..." stocking: well, here we are. *kiss* Kid: -\\\\\- "..." *sniff, holds onto her* stocking: *rubs his back* Kid: "...Do I deserve this?" stocking: of course you do. i love you. Kid: "I-I love you..." *nuzzles close to her* -elsewhere- Iida: "..." tensei:....something up? Iida: "Just...have had a lot on my mind since the dance." tensei: like what? Iida: "...A classmate has invited me for two dates now." tensei: oh? Iida: *nods* "And I have quite enjoyed myself. I just...still feel surprised to be invited at all." -elsewhere- Anya: *folding her clothes* bailey: soooo i heard you had Anya: O\\\\\\\\\o "WH-WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD?!" ao: oh my, what's this now~?a date last night~ Anya: >\\\\< "NOTHING HAPPENED!" tsugumi: it's like cinderella! only with the prince leaving after midnight? Meme: "Did you leave your prince your slipper?" Anya: *covering her ears* "La la la! Can't hear you!" -elsewhere- FD: "Any useful information gathered?" yana: *showing him the notes she took* FD: "Hmm...What's this chart with the lines connecting names?" yana: hmm? *looks* FD: " 'Yana and Anya'?" yana: ... that's irrelevant. let me just.... FD: "Is this what the kids call a 'shipping chart'?" yana:.... j-just something i did in my spare time... 7-7;;; it's just observations! =3=; FD: "..." *pats her head* yana:....are you trying to make this weirder than it is? if so, you're succeeding. FD: "...Yes. Now, tell me about this one..." *taps his finger on 'Momo'* -elsewhere- Higan: "Here's your tea." tsubaki: thanks. Higan: "You're welcome. Get any sleep?" -elsewhere- Fitzgerald: *staring in awe* "...This may be the perfection of breakfast foods." *it's a breakfast burrito* bram:...*sweatdrop* Mr. Tsubaki: *sniffs* -elsewhere- Chuuya: "Excited for today?" sonia: *nods* Chuuya: *smiles* "We'll visit some houses, get some candy...You'll get to see other children." sonia: *smile* Chuuya: ^^ "Just be sure to not eat too much--I'm going to hold you to a maximum pieces of candy." -elsewhere- Arthur: *asleep...in a suit of armor...full of candy* shinra:................... Relan: ._. "...Where did he get all that candy?" -elsewhere- Patty: "Got the gifts wrapped?" liz: all set. Patty: "Hee hee...So cool...Think he'll like them?" liz: im sure of it. Patty: "..." *holds up her hand for a high five* -high five!- Patty: ^W^ "Best sisters!" liz: hell yeah. Patty: *lifts up the gifts* "When we giving them to him? At the dinner?" -elsewhere- Poe: *writing notes in his journal* emilia: *snoozing* Poe: *smiles lightly, as he closes his journal and opens the cupboard, removing tea cups and a kettle* -elsewhere- Dazai: "Excited for tonight?" atsushi: yeah, it's my first-time trick-or-treating. ^^; Dazai: "I think you'll like it. You bringing Kyoka and Lucy along?" atsushi: *nods* kenji, ranpo, and aya are coming with too. Dazai: "Oh, good." *serious face* "Ranpo is going to steal all of your candy." atsushi: ._.; we'll keep him on a short leash. Dazai: "And a muzzle." -elsewhere- Mori: *tapping a skeleton toy* -.....- Mori: "...Little trinket. Popular in this town." miura: so i see. Mori: "...Except this toy does this--" *He pushes the head, and the eyes light up and the skeleton lets out a small shriek* "...If I pushed down on your head..." miura: no. Mori: "...If I asked Motojirou to add that feature--" miura: *up in his face* no. Mori: .____. "..." *his finger hovers over her nose* miura: do not. Mori: "Boop." *presses* -elsewhere- Joker: "I think going out for a drink tonight is as good as any." ivy: yeah, sounds good. Joker: "And we can dress up--" scarlet: ....... Joker: *holds up a pair of goggles and a cap* "These can work for you, Red." -elsewhere- Kid: "..." julie: ?? Kid: "??? Oh, hello." *smiles* "How are you, Julie?" julie: excited! Kid: "Oh? Why's that?" julie: halloween today! Kid: ^^ "That's right...You ready for trick or treating?" julie: mmhmm! dad's gonna go with me. Kid: "That's good...You have fun, okay?" -elsewhere- Akutagawa: >____< naoya: come on, the party will help you get your mind off things. Akutagawa: "...The last social gathering ended with me punched in the testicles. Again." naoya: hey, you'll be fine, ok? Akutagawa: *grumble grumble* -elsewhere- Kunikida: *slicing apples* ranpo: *in dino suit* Kyoka: "...Why a giant lizard?" ranpo: excuse you? im a dino! >3< Kyoka: "...Oh. Sorry." *puts detective hat onto the top of his outfit* -elsewhere- Benimaru: "...Does this outfit actually look 'Halloween-y'?" kirei: ^^ it's fitting. Benimaru: "Hmmm....I just feel really pale like this..." -elsewhere- Hiro: *pulling on his costume* hime: ?? Hiro: *his voice muffled* "I hope this is impressive--I spent so much time on this, it's like I've been locked away for months..." -elsewhere- Lucy: "Oh, hey, Naho." naho: hiya! atsushi: *waves* Sakuya: "Yo. What you up to for All Hallows' Eve?" atsushi: trick-or-treating. it's the first time i've gone. ^^; naho: neato! Lucy: "Same...You all doing the same?" naho: you bet! ^^ Lucy: "Cool! Maybe we'll see you out there?" naho: maybe! Lucy: ^^ Sakuya: "..." *looks at Atsushi* "What're you going as?" atsushi: im just going as a cowboy. Sakuya: "Ah...That's cool." -elsewhere- shaula: *HURK* ugh...fucking sea sickness... Medusa: "Oh, what's wrong? Baby scorpion couldn't find a frog to ride on?" shaula: *flips her off* no, cause your frog ran off with a wolfman. Medusa: "Oh, what's wrong? Baby scorpion couldn't find a frog to ride on?" shaula: *flips her off* no, cause your frog ran off with a wolfman. Alone: *angry twitching* milia: OwO;;; *nudges closer to nals* Nals: "Don't go near that one--he's crazy." Alone: "Sh-She would've been mine--if she had just seen..." shaula: oh shaddap, it's bad enough the fake reaper does that shit. Mad!Kid: *heavy breathing* shaula:...*shudders* freaky. Mad!Kid: "I can help with your seasickness..." shaula: PASS. Mad!Kid: "But I was going to put you out of your misery--" shaula: im cured it's a miracle bye! *walks off very quickly* Mad!Kid: "...Just trying to be helpful." -elsewhere- Jacqueline: "Got your hot chocolate." kim: awesome! Jacqueline: "How's work been?" -elsewhere- Dazai: "This costume is so good..." *wraps his hand* -knock- Dazai: "Coming!" *then sees his hands are tied together* "..." *manages to put his tied hands along the knob, manages to turn the knob to open the door* "Hey there--" kirako: need help? -she’s dressed as catwoman- Dazai: OWO "..." *nod nod nod* "Yeah, I'm all tied up--and not in a fun way. Great costume..." kirako: ^^; Dazai: "Looking forward to the party...My mummy costume will be killer." -elsewhere- Mephisto: "How you holding up?" felisia: alright. exhausted though. Mephisto: "...What may I get you?" felisia: mint choco ice cream with pepper on it. Mephisto: owo;;;; "...Of course~" -elsewhere- Mr. Tsubaki: *in fox form, walking through the halls...looks at a door: "DO NOT ENTER"* "...???" -it's just storage- Tsubaki: -_-; ("...Boring.") *nudges a box* -elsewhere- Hyde: *adjusts his tie, then combs his hair* "...All set." licht: what are you supposed to be, a disappointment? Hyde: -____-; "No. I'm a hot Halloween date." licht:....is your date blind? Hyde: "WHAT IF THEY ARE?! SHUT UP!" licht:........ Hyde: "You should try dating. She may have a sibling or a friend." licht: i will accompany your date to protect them from you. Hyde: -_-; "...Your confidence in me is remarkable." licht: on this night where demons stalk, an angel must come forwards. i....*pose* am that angel. Hyde: "..." *claps* "Okay, that was awesome!" julian: ^^; *DING DONG* Hyde: "THAT'S MY DATE!" romina: ya- girl: yo motherfuckers. Hyde: OWO "You made it! Welcome!" kranz: .________.;;;; Hyde: "Ready to go?" *looks behind her* "Or you bring someone else?" -elsewhere- Kid: "..." liz: happy birthday! Kid: ^^ "Thank you..." stocking: happy birthday! Kid: "Hee hee..." *hug* lord death: ^^ Kid: "Father..." *hug* lord death: ^^ happy birthday, son. Kid: "Thank you...for being my father." lord death: ....of course. Kid: -w- -elsewhere- Kyoka: *holds up her bag* "Give me candy." house owner: ._.; atsushi: she means 'trick or treat'. owner: ah, here you go kids. aya: awesome! ranpo: yis! kenji: thanks ma'am! Lucy: "Thank you!" atsushi: where to next? Kyoka: *holds up the map* "If we go to that house, they have whole chocolate bars." atsushi: alright then! Lucy: *follows* "Hope I have enough bags. Anne, how many more do we have left?" -elsewhere- sonia: *holding chuuya's hand* Chuuya: "And we look at both sides before crossing..." *looks...starts walking* "You excited?" sonia: *nod* Chuuya: "I think you'll get a lot of candy. Want to ring the door bell?" sonia:...c-could you please? Chuuya: "Sure!" *presses the doorbell* sonia: trick or treat! *A face peeks through the barely opened door* Neighbor: "Don't got any--go away!" sonia:.....*staaaaaaare* Chuuya: "...Hey, come on, buddy--it's Halloween. You know, for the kids--" *Door slammed into Chuuya's face* sonia: ....another house? Chuuya: "..." *smiles at Sonia* "One moment." *looks at the door...and rips it off its hinges* sonia: ... Neighbor: "?!! Hey! What the hell are you--" Chuuya: *death glare* Neighbor: "!!!!" Chuuya: "Apologize." sonia: *puppy eyes* Neighbor: "H-Hey, dude! I'm sorry I slammed the door in your--" Chuuya: "To. Her." sonia: ..... Neighbor: "..." Q_____Q *hands her a whole bag of lollipops* sonia: thank you. Neighbor: "Y-You're welcome." Chuuya: "...I'll fix your door on the way out..." -elsewhere- Gin: "Ready?" higuchi: yeah. -the party seems to be doing well- ayako: WOOT! Motojiro: -_-;;;; "Keep her away from the soda..." higuchi: ^^; Akutagawa: "..." elise: ?? Akutagawa: "Hmph." *crosses his arms* elise: well arent _you_ just grouchy. =3= Akutagawa: "Don't you have dolls to play with?" elise: well, the old man said he'd take us trick or treating in a moment. you in or out? Akutagawa: "I don't--" Gin: "He's in." Akutagawa: "?!!" hirotsu: excellent. Q: ^^ Akutagawa: -____-;;; -elsewhere- Relan: "Ready?" shinra: *nods* Relan: "Okay..." *rings the doorbell* sachiko: hello? Relan: "...Trick or treat?" owo; sachiko: ah! here you kids go. shinra: thanks! Relan: "Thank you, ma'am." ^W^ -elsewhere- child: *aiming an egg at a familiar house...* "Watch this, buddy..." child 2: *giggles* Poe: *chilly, serene, calm voice* -w-# "And what are you youngsters up to?" child 2: *SCREAM* Child 1: o____O "..." *drops the egg* "RUN!" lana: edgar? did something happen out there? Poe: ^W^ "Just some visitors." *holds up an egg* lana: *chuckles* Poe: "Just scared them off. I'm sure they'll be gone--" *SPLAT* lana: D8< HEY! Child 1: "Hee hee--" Poe: *his hair is over one eye...and his other eye...is on fire* child 2: *has run off already* Child 1: ._. "..." *runs* Poe: "YOU COME HERE AGAIN, AND I'LL FEED YOU TO MY GHOST DOG!" *stamps his foot* lana: *sigh* need me to help you wash up? Poe: "..." T__T *nod nod* -elsewhere- Fitzgerald: *at the grocery* "...But why do they have Christmas items out already?" worker: welcome to retail, dude. Fitzgerald: "...Huh. ...So..." *excited* "When does the Halloween candy go on sale?!" -elsewhere- Anya: .___. rowena: ?? Anya: *looking around* "..." rowena: is something wrong? Anya: "No...Just...thought I felt someone watching." rowena:... *looking around* Anya: "..." {Anya: "Did you enjoy the dance?"} {yana: yeah, it was fun.} {Anya: "Yeah! ...Well, thanks for keeping me company. Are you walking home?"} {yana: yeah. see ya later?} {Anya: *nods* "You going out for Halloween?"} {yana:...not sure.} {Anya: "Well, there's always Trick or Treating. Can get candy..."} {yana:...i'll think 'bout it.} {Anya "...Okay." *smiles, waves* "I'll walk back to the dormitory. Good night!"} {yana: *waves and walks off*} -...- Anya: *sighs* -elsewhere- FD: *looking at cameras* "...So many costumes." yana: mmhmm. *throwing darts on the dart board, with a few pictures on it* FD: *looks at the pictures* -the pictures are of various members of both the mafia and the agency- FD: "Who's at the bullseye?" yana:...*throwing a dart...right at fukuzawa's picture* -elsewhere- fukuzawa: !!!! Kunikida: "??? Sir?" fukuzawa:....n-nothing, just felt uneasy... Kunikida: "...Some tea?" fukuzawa:.....yes, thank you. Kunikida: *pours* "...I am onto something regarding our Rat problem." fukuzawa: oh? Kunikida: "I have been tracking new individuals passing our office, writing an algorithm." fukuzawa: *listening* Kunikida: "It predicts paths they walk, destinations...and origins." fukuzawa: hmm... Kunikida: "Eventually, points will accumulate on the map--with the larger dots on it indicating origins and destinations most common for people near us. We can use this information to get a better prediction who is interested in spotting our offices." fukuzawa: i see. Kunikida: "I also have set up some photo-recognition software, in case certain individuals keep stopping by..." *passes a photograph, showing Lucy* -ID: Lucy Maud Montgomery- Kunikida: "...Former members of the Guild deserve some added attention." fukuzawa: hmm.. Kunikida: "It is especially important, with so many people wearing masks tonight." -elsewhere- Kid: *sips his drink* stocking: beautiful night out, huh? Kid: *smiles* "Yes..." *reaches for her hand* stocking: *holding his hand* Kid: *rubs her hand* "...Thanks." stocking: ^^ Kid: "...It is surreal." stocking: hmm? Kid: "I just...can't believe this is my life." stocking: well, it is. *smiles* Kid: "...I feel like I don't deserve it." stocking: *sighs and hugs him* you do deserve it, ok? Kid: *sniff* *hug* stocking: *kiss* i love you, always, ok? Kid: T\\\T *nods, kisses back* -elsewhere- Lucy: "--eleven, twelve--thirteen bags full of candy!" aya: neato! kenji: ^^ Kyoka: "Shall we return to the Agency--or try one more house?" ranpo: i saved the best for last! Lucy: "Oh?" ranpo: lo and behold! -it's poe's house- Kyoka: "...Oh." Lucy: "..." *rubs her arms* "D-Did it get c-colder here?" ._.; atsushi: didnt rowena say the house is full of ghosts too? Kyoka: *shiny eyes* Lucy: O_O;; kenji: cool! Lucy: *pushes Atsushi forward* "Y-You ring the bell..." atsushi: ok? *knocks* *The door inches open* atsushi: hello? ranpo: hey poe! hope ya dont mind us dropping by! *wind is heard rustling* ranpo: ?? aya: hello? *steps inside* Lucy: Q~Q *chains are heard rattling* atsushi: 0w0; *ghostly moans are heard* Kyoka: "...???" ranpo: hey poe? you in? *something is dripping on the table...it's red* aya: O_O; ranpo:...did you spill jello or something, poe? Lucy: *clutching Atsushi* *giggling is heard right over Aya's shoulder* aya: *looks* Poe: *standing, giggling, as his hands are elbow-deep in red* "Hee hee hee..." atsushi: *SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAM* aya: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!! Lucy: *clutching Atsushi* "EEEEEEEEEEK!" Kyoka: "..." kenji: ? ranpo: OuO;;;; lana: edgar? did someone come in? Poe: "Hee hee..." *flips a light switch, smiles at Lana* "Yes! We have guests! And I'm just about done crushing the grapes." atsushi: *phew* aya: >3<; ranpo: oh, so no jelly? boo. fran: you rang? Lucy: Q________Q "...I'm going to pee myself..." -elsewhere- Vulcan: *revving up a motorcycle--decorated in skulls* sayu: woah. Vulcan: "I think this suits Halloween..." *puts on a skull mask* sayu: ghost rider! Vulcan: "Bingo!" *sits on the cycle, revs it* "I just couldn't get the mask to light up on fire--without killing myself." sayu: OuO ? Vulcan: "...I mean, I don't have flame abilities. Actually, does anyone with flame abilities just light up their head?" sayu: probably! but i dont have flame abilities either, so i dunno. Vulcan: "...How are you in physical work?" -elsewhere- Mad!Kid: "..." *hugs himself* pandora: *asleep* Mad!Kid: *shivers* "..." ("I will return to her...") -silence- Mad!Kid: "..." ("He's probably with her...He'll be the first to go.") -elsewhere- Kid: *shivers* stocking: hmm? kid? Kid: "...S-Sorry. Just felt cold." stocking: it's ok. -elsewhere- soul:....*staring up at the moon* .... {Maka: "Are you even listening to me?"} {soul: *mumble* its 7 am, lemme sleep... zzz} {Maka: -_-# *grabs his ankle*} {soul: noooo...} soul:....*looks at his hand* ...... *gets up and heads to the DWMA training room* -and so- soul: *stretch* alright...let's to this. *slicing at dummies* {Maka: "Good slice!"} *eyes are focused on Soul* soul: thanks... *back slashes another dummy* {Maka: "Behind you!"} *A hand reaches for him...* soul: ?! *turns and blocks* ???: "EEK!" *pulls back their hand* "I-I didn't want to get it sliced off!" soul: !! sorry, you kind of startled me. ???: *small whimper* soul: ?? h-hey, you ok? *letting his eyes adjust to see the person* ???: "I-I just was lost and heard the noise in here..." soul: wait....hiro? Hiro: "Y-Yeah, it's me..." soul: ah....you come for some late night training too? Hiro: *shrugs* "N-Now and then?" soul: ah, cool. Hiro: "..." *puts on his gloves, approaches a punching bag* soul:...did you graduate with us or not? Hiro: ^^; "I thought I would...but I missed some credits because of a paperwork error." soul: that's rough, buddy. Hiro: *punching the bag* "Oh, you know--I'm just rolling with the punches--" *the bag swings back, hitting him in the face* soul: *wince* arent we all? *helps him up* Hiro: "Thanks..." *rubs his bruised cheek* "Guess I hit harder than I thought..." soul: maybe you could be a fisticuffs meister like kilik? Hiro: "...Know any weapons that fit onto hands?" -elsewhere- Hibana: "You happy?" hanako: *nods* i had so much fun! Hibana: "D'aw! I'm glad." ^^ hanako: i saw so many other kids today! Hibana: "Do you like hanging out with kids your age?" hanako: *nods* Hibana: *pats her head* "We'll have to get you more playdates." -elsewhere- Relan: *drops the bag of candy on the living room table* "Holy moley, that's a lot..." shinra: so tired... Relan: "..." *pats a hand on the couch* shinra: *lays down* =w= iris: ^^ Relan: *pats Iris's shoulder, as he strokes Shinra's head* shinra:....zzzzz Relan: *small forehead kiss* -elsewhere- Mori: "Hee hee hee..." -...- Mori: "...." *looks around* "...Why am I laughing to myself?" -......- Mori: "..." *tosses his mask onto the couch, exits his office* -the hall is silent- Mori: >3< "Boring..." elise: ?? Mori: "Is everyone still out?" elise: miura's charging, so yeah. besides the guards. Mori: "..." *waves a hand in front of Miura's eyes* miura: *charging* Mori: "..." *removes a permanent marker* miura: do not Mori: OwO;;; -early morning- Kid: "Zzzzz..." stocking: *kiss* Kid: *wrinkles his nose* "Mmmmm..." *instinctively hugs her* stocking: u///u *snuggle* Kid: "Stocking..." *rubs her back* -elsewhere- Hyde: "Zzzz..." licht:...*sigh* honestly... Hyde: *hedgehog yawn* "..." *looks around* "...How did I get here?" licht: that demon delinquent tricked us, attempted to rob us, i chased her off because im an angel. Hyde: "...Huh. Did she take my record collection?" licht: she didnt take anything. Hyde: "Well, that's good...Did she leave her number?" licht:.... *le tosses hyde out the window* Hyde: O_o *flaps his arms--and falls like a brick* *CRASH* Hyde: "...Owie." -elsewhere- Dazai: *stretches* kirako: zzzz Dazai: "..." *cuddles* kirako: =w= Dazai: "Hello, kitty..." *rubs a finger behind her ear* kirako: morning. Dazai: "Sleep well?" *rests his head on her shoulder* kirako: yeah. and you? Dazai: "..." *kisses her shoulder* kirako: hehe, well you're sure affectionate this morning. Dazai: "...Yeah." *smiles, kisses her cheek* kirako: ^^; Dazai: "...Want some breakfast?" *sits up, rubbing her back* -elsewhere- Poe: *humming, as he pours orange juice* henry: did you get rowena's present? Poe: *nods* "And wrapped." henry: ^^ Poe: "So, when shall we give her the gifts?" -elsewhere- FD: *washing his face* -....- FD: "..." *looks in the mirror* "..." -what do you see?- {FD: *staring at his reflection in his glass of water* "..."} {barkova: *chewing on a stale loaf of bread*} {FD: "...You got some teeth on you."} {barkova: hehe...*nom nom*} {FD: "...Hey..." *slides his glass of water to her* "Dunk the bread in there. It'll soften it."} {barkova: OuO *dunk and nom* ^^} {FD: "...See? You can learn."} {barkova: ^^} {FD: "...What's your name?"} {barkova: <anna.>} {FD: <Fyodor.> *offers his hand*} -...- FD: "..." *towels off, opens the door* -elsewhere- Todoroki: *staring at his phone* *checks messages* ochako: [how was the movie marathon?] Todoroki: "..." *small smile* [lengthy. fell asleep after the third. how was your halloween?] ochako: [went T-r-T-ing with the squad] Todoroki: "..." [did you get good candy?] ochako: [yep!] Todoroki: [that's good. which is your favorite?] -elsewhere- Chuuya: *vacuuming* sonia: zzzzz mito: *mreow* Chuuya: *turns off the vacuum* "Sorry, Mito--the vacuum scaring you?" mito: *scared kitty sounds* Chuuya: "..." *holds his palm up in front of her* mito:...*nuzzles her head against his hand* Chuuya: *smiles, pets her* "It's okay." mito:...*purr* Chuuya: *small chin scratch* mito: =w= Chuuya: "I'll finish up the old fashion way..." *dons an apron, mask, and a cloth with a stick* -elsewhere- Patty: "And with Halloween behind us, you know what's coming up next, right?" julie: christmas! Wes: "..." *glaring* "We meet again, you bastard." riley: ?? *looks at who wes is talking to* *He's talking to a banjo* Wes: "You have an awful sound that I just cannot master! Why?! It should be like playing a violin!" riley:....*sweatdrop* Wes: "...ANSWER ME, YOU CONFOUNDED INSTRUMENT OF MAYHEM!!!" -elsewhere- Joker: *holding up animal crackers, slurring his words* "Then the happy bunny says hello to the happy bear...but, 'Oh no!'" *bites the head off the rabbit cracker* scarlet:.......how many did he have? Bartender: "Three beers, one shot, and a Diet Coke--" scarlet:....good god. Joker: "Then the bunnies return! And they murder the bear! ARG! RAWR! Blood! Intestines!" *munches the bear cracker* -elsewhere- Hibana: YY~YY gabriella: tired? Hibana: *nods* "I want to lie down..." -elsewhere- mikan: *letting asura rest his head on her lap* Asura: Q____Q mikan: *humming* Asura: *closes his eyes* "Th-Thanks..." heibito: da? Asura: "..." *pats his head* heibito: =w= mikan: hard to believe he's going to be 2 years old in a few days... Asura: "He's a growing boy..." mikan: ^^ Asura: "...He's beautiful." mikan: he has your eyes. heibito: hehe! Asura: "Your laugh..." -elsewhere- Poe: *raking the front lawn* "There...One large pile of leaves raked--" emilia: *peeek* Poe: "??? Emilia?" *holds up a leaf* "You see how the colors were changing?" emilia: *nod* Poe: "That's the chlorophyll in them, dying." emilia:.... ??? molly:....*looks at lana* i worry for your future children. lana:.... ^^;;;;; Poe: "--and it feeds the tree." *sweeps his hand* "And the tree stores all that food to survive through winter." emilia: ...cool. Poe: "I know! It's so fascinating! I once wrote a story about how the age of the tree was integral to the treasure buried under it--" emilia: buried treasure?! *shiny eyes* Poe: "It's an entertaining story--at least, I think so. I have the book, if you want to read it." -elsewhere- Anya: "LET GO OF IT!" Fitzgerald: "NO, YOU!" shinoa: oh my, what's going on? misono: *pinches nose* there's more than just one of those things... -_-; Anya: "THIS ONE HAS MY FAVORITE FLAVORS!" Fitzgerald: "THIS ONE HAS MY FAVORITE COLORS!" misono: *sweatdrop* -elsewhere- Shamrock: "..." *touching his face* -...- {Shamrock: *gasping*} {-no one else is there....only him and the vampire before him....-} {Vampire: *smiles--as he holds up his sword* "Did they leave you by yourself?...Heartless."} {Shamrock: "..." *collapses to his knees* "Th-There had to be a reason...What was it...?"} {Vampire: "...There is none. No reason to betray. To kill. But to not forgive, even someone you despise..."} {Shamrock: "..."} {Vampire: "The saddest thing...is the failure to understand each other. There is no justice. Nobody can change how you were wounded. I cannot tell you not to be hurt by that. It's fine if you want to scream, 'I hurt!'"} {Shamrock: *shudder, tearing up*} {Vampire: "...If there are people who say those things to you...I will strike them for you. Now--"} {*BANG*} {Vampire: "?!!" *shocked...then looks sad* "...I will give you a new name."} naho: sham? Shamrock: "...Hmm?" naho: you ok? Shamrock: "...Yes. Thank you." *rubs his eye* naho:...*hug* you're important to us, ok? >u< Shamrock: "..." *sniff* *pat pat* "Th-Thanks..." naho: ^^ Shamrock: "I-I will make tea..." -elsewhere- Johannes: OWO metsu: ....yes? Johannes: *holds up crayons* metsu: .....are you going somewhere with this, doctor? Johannes: "Let me draw you!" metsu: um.....alright? sounds harmless enough. Johannes: "--in this." *holds up a dress* metsu:....spoke too soon. -elsewhere- Kid: *wearing his new birthday sweater* .______. kirika: *snickers* Kid: "I...don't know what to say." -elsewhere- Kunikida: *soaked* -___- aya: what happened to you? Kunikida: "Someone dumped a bucket of water onto me--then dropped the bucket onto my head." aya: yikes. Kunikida: "I gathered some clues to their identity, starting with fingerprints on the bucket and this hair sample..." aya: *peeks* *The hair is purple* aya: dr yosano! Kunikida: "Hmm...What is the motive?" -elsewhere- Lucy: *sets down a plate of fries* "Okay...We need to talk." atsushi:.....*sweating violently* Q~Q;;;; Lucy: "There's a play about one of my favorite books...and I want to go. And it's fancy." atsushi: oh...sure! *internal sigh of relief* Lucy: "So you will need a suit. And a taser." atsushi: ok- wait taser? Lucy: "I am not having that shadowy jerk ruin our date and my play." -_- atsushi: right... ^^; ehehe.. ^^; i knew that. Lucy: "..." *rests her head on his shoulder, takes a fry* -elsewhere- Akutagawa: *wearing cat ears* elise: ^^ Mori: "See? It's all going according to plan..." Gin: "...What plan?" Akutagawa: "I have no idea--and it's scaring me." elise: i think rintarou's off his meds tbh. Mori: OWO;;;; "...Ha ha ha! I don't know what she means--" Gin: "Please, sir, go lie down..." miura: get some rest. Mori: "I CAN LIVE FOREVER--" *collapses* miura: *sighs and carries him to bed* kouyou: ..... *concerned* Mori: *muttering in his sleep* kouyou: ..... *sigh* Mori: "Rin..." miura: ?? Mori: "Rintarou..." miura: ..... Mori: "Rintarou is a good boy..." miura:..... Mori: *holds onto Miura* "Zzz..." -elsewhere- Stein: "..." aya drevis:...? Stein: "...A new mission." aya drevis: where? Stein: "Germany..." aya drevis: back at home, then... Stein: "...Yes." *lights another cigarette* aya drevis: so valentine and i are holding down the fort then? Stein: "I'm afraid so." *puffs* -elsewhere- Mifune: "...Your house seems...highly occupied." tsubaki: ^^; naho: didnt i see you feeding stray cats the other day? Mifune: "??? No. I was at home yesterday." naho: hmmmm... Mifune: "Must have been someone else. Besides, there are only a few cats that ever stop by my house." naho: ah. maybe it's your double? kind of like how lilac has a double! tsubaki: you mean chrona? naho: *nods* Mifune: "...Dopplegangers. I already had to deal with those." *holds his sword* naho: *listening* Mifune: "A wraith, sent to hunt me." lilac: s-scary... naho: and _then_ what happened?? Mifune: "I killed it. ...Sorry. I'm not good at storytelling. And I figured, if I'm sitting here telling you the story, I must have survived." naho: ^^ Sakuya: "...How do we know _you_ aren't the wraith...?" Mifune: "...Maybe I am." lilac: *hiding* tsubaki: mifune! Mifune: "...Sorry. I also can't tell jokes." -elsewhere- Kyoka: "I want Halloween candy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner." atsushi: ._. Lucy: "That is not healthy..." *tosses a piece of unwrapped gum* "And with my braces, I can't even eat this." -elsewhere- Meme: "Up for cleaning the pool?" tsugumi: i think it's closing up for the winter Meme: "..." *looks at the calendar* "...I think I just had one of my old brain fails." -elsewhere- FD: "He's been quiet." yana: the padre? FD: "Yes." yana: yeah, i noticed... FD: "...Wake him up." yana: alright......oooi, padre, you up? Hawthorne: "..." *coughs up blood* yana: im just gonna take that as a 'not really'. Hawthorne: "..." *The blood seems to be...bubbling?* yana:....*backs up* Hawthorne: "..." *The blood bubbles up--into a spire* yana: *slams the door* O-O;;; *thumping and cutting is heard inside* FD: "???" yana:....<damn. you and the nurse did a serious number on his mind...> FD: <...I think his religion helped.> yana: ... <maybe.> *thump thump thump--SLIIIIICE* yana:....<what do you think we should do about this?> FD: <Let him tire himself out--> *STAB* *The blood has pierced through the door--and into FD's arm* FD: "..." yana: holy- Hawthorne: *loud screaming* FD: "...Zoey. Now." zoey: *knocks him out wth a crowbar* Hawthorne: *collapsed* FD: "...I'm bleeding." zoey: *tending to his injuries* FD: "..." <He is too powerful like this...> yana: <what do we do with him?> FD: <He obviously wants something that we are not giving him. We've broken his mind--so, let's rebuild it.> -elsewhere- Monoma: *reading something--* Izuku: "Hey!" *snatches it out of his hands* "Give that back!" Monoma: "..." *smirks* Izuku: *glare* -CHOP- itsuka: monoma, quit being such a jerk. Monoma: >3< "I was just doing some light reading--" Izuku: "This is private!" *hugs his notebook* itsuka: you know, while katsuki can be very brash and admittedly a bit of an asshole at times, but at least he doesnt violate people's privacy! Izuku: -_-; *holds up the notebook* "He _did_ burn this one and tossed it into a koi pond..." Monoma: "It's as they say: best to know your enemies' strengths and weaknesses. It's not like _I'm_ in the competition any longer...And Midoriya needs all the help he can get against Todoroki." itsuka: well, the next match is about to start. Izuku: "!!! R-Right! Ochaco against...*gulp* Kacchan..." itsuka: well, we better find our seats, right? Monoma: *follows* Izuku: *sits with Class 1A* -elsewhere- ochako:...*breathes*.....ok ochako...you got this.... announcer: this round, the very epitome of a hothead, he was kinda famous in middle school, KATSUKI BAKUGOU! Bakugo: ಠ_ಠ announcer: VERSUS, dont let her bubbly looks fool you, OCHAKO URRRRARRRRRAKA! ochako: ... Bakugo: "I'm not going to go soft on you, Round-Face." ochako: !! ... Iida: "Midoriya...What would you advise?" Izuku: "Well, Kacchan may be strong--but he's useless in close-range combat--" Bakugo: *sneezes* Izuku: "If she can keep him from moving, like float him, she'll have the advantage." -ROUND START!- ochako: *running forwards* Todoroki: *watching* Bakugo: *stands still* ochako: *still running* Izuku: "As I thought...He won't dodge. He'll lead with a right hook--" *BOOM* ochako: URK- (thinking: crap! i couldnt dodge even though i saw it!) Bakugo: *marches to the smoke* "Now die." -something approaches him- Bakugo: ("There she is...") *approaches her jacket* ochako: *coming up from behind him* Bakugo: *slams his hand onto her jacket--and it falls* "?!!!" Izuku: *violently shaking* Todoroki: "!!!" ochako: (thinking: if i can get to him, then i-) Bakugo: *swings his arm back--* *BOOM 2X* ochako: !!! hanta: he reacted as soon as he saw her! itsuka: with reflexes like that, smoke screens wont do much.. Izuku: *overhearing Itsuka* "No kidding. I don't know how--" Monoma: "Idiots." ochako: *charging again* Izuku: *giving a 'The fuck you say' face at Monoma* Bakugo: "Too slow." *swings his arm along the floor--* *BOOM 3X* Monoma: "..." *smirks* Mineta: "...So, Bakugo is a sadist..." jirou: *throws him in the trash* ochako: IM NOT DONE YET! Bakugo: *swings his arm again--* *BOOM 4X* Audience Member: "Owie!" audience member 2: thats not how a someone that wants to be a hero is supposed to act! audience member 3: just push them outta bounds! Audience Member #4: "Villain! Why can't you be like a hero--like All Might or Endeavor?!" Todoroki: "!!!!" Bakugo: "..." Aizawa: "..." ochako: ..... Audience Member #5: "You are just bullying that defenseless girl--" Aizawa: "SHUT UP!" yuuji: !!... old man... Aizawa: "HOW MUCH EXPERIENCE HAVE YOU HAD AS A PRO HERO TO BE THIS STUPID?!" Death the Kid: Izuku: “Ah..” Todoroki: "..." audience member: urk- Aizawa: "You don't like this match? Turn away. Go find a new job. This is what heroes face: insurmountable odds. It is whether you have the courage to face those fears and rise above them that determines whether you have what it takes to be a hero." yuuji: .... Aizawa: "Bakugo is not being this violent just because he's a bully and a jerk--" Bakugo: -_-### Aizawa: "--but because he knows her strength, her power. This is his worthy opponent. A hero does not hold back to accomplish their goal..." ochako: *wiping blood from her mouth* *pant*... Bakugo: "...You still standing, Roundy?" ochako:...thanks, bakugou. Bakugo: "?!" itsuka:... !!!! ah- Monoma: "Oh. You finally noticed." Izuku: "???" Bakugo: "The hell you thanking me for?" tsuyu: *takes hold of izuku's head to make him look up.....at several floating rocks* ochako: thanks for not dropping your guard! Bakugo: "!!! Sh--" ochako: release! *Rocks fall* Bakugo: "..." ochako: (thinking: i just got to find my opening, then i can win! for my family's sake-) *BOOM 5X* ochako: !!!! Todoroki: "!!!" announcer: WOAH! Bakugo: "You've been hanging out with Deku for a long time, Uraraka." ochako: *stunned* announcer: her secret maneuver just went up in smoke! literally! Bakugo: "Surprising...But I knew you had a plan. That was a close one..." *looks up--sneering* "Now it's time to get serious..." *runs at her* ochako: *moves forward........before collapsing* Bakugo: "???" Todoroki: "!!!" Izuku: "...Her capacity..." ochako: n-not....yet.... *crawling* d-dad....i...got to.....*faints* midnight: *going over to check on her*....uraraka has passed out. the round goes to bakugou! Bakugo: "..." Izuku: "..." {Izuku: "I just want to help. Take my notebook--"} {ochako: it's fine....iida said, he'd challenge you, right?... *thumbs up* see you in the finals!*} ochako: .... announcer: the first round of the tournament has concluded, soon, the second round will begin! after repairing the field. again. -later- Bakugo: "DEKU!" Izuku: O~O Bakugo: "ARE YOU LOOKING TO DIE, YOU PIECE OF SHIT?!" Izuku: "N-No! Um...Congratulations on win--" Bakugo: "YOU GAVE HER THAT PLAN, DIDN'T YOU?! That stupid reckless plan may have tripped me up, but--" Izuku: "That was her." Bakugo: "...What?" Izuku: "She came up with that plan. Her. By herself. You want to be upset with someone? You irritated by that plan? Blame Ochako--because she figured it out." Bakugo: "..." Izuku: "...Well...Good day." *fast walking* hanta: hey bakugou! nice job playing villain! ^^ Bakugo: "SHUT THE HELL UP, ARMS!" itsuka: you both really went all out today, huh? Bakugo: "...Yeah. Uraraka kept going." denki: yeah, he's undoubtedly a more 'brawns over brains' guy. Bakugo: *DEATH GLARE* -elsewhere- ochako: nnh....*in medical bed*....ah... *knock knock* ochako: hmm? Todoroki: "...Ochako?" ochako: come on in. Todoroki: "...Are the medics taking care of you?” ochako: yeah.... ^^; guess i lost, hehe. Todoroki: "...Are you hurt?" ochako: just a few scratches. recovery girl took care of me, so my stamina's getting better. Todoroki: "I'm sorry--" ochako: it's fine, you didnt do anything to apologize for. but darn that bakugou! he was too much! i just got to try harder next time! >3< Todoroki: "...I'm sure." ochako:...well, i wish both you and deku best of luck out there, ok? *thumbs up* Todoroki: "..." *thumbs up* "Thank you." ochako: ^^ -ochako's phone rings- Todoroki: "...I suppose you should take that." ochako: yeah... see you later? Todoroki: "I'll be waiting." ochako: *nods and watches him exit*....*picks up* hey dad. Mr. Uraraka: "Hey, sweetie. Mom and I watched the match." ochako: i didnt do too great, i lost. Mr. Uraraka: "I thought you did great. I don't know much about the technical side--but just because you lost doesn't mean you're done, right? You'll try next year!" ochako: ...it only matters if you win, show them how you can do with different types. the scouts cant learn anything from losing a single match... Mr. Uraraka: "But what's the rush?" ochako: *tearing up* i-i mean...i have to...f-for you and mom- Mr. Uraraka: "...Ochaco. I don't want you worrying about us. No matter what happens, I know our daughter is going to be a hero." ochako: ....*sniff* *hic* Todoroki: "..." -elsewhere- Chuuya: "..." classmate: thinking of using a similar strategy, ozaki? Chuuya: "Hmm...Not sure." ("They'd be expecting it now...Hang in there, Uraraka.") -elsewhere- Izuku: *fast walking* *Suddenly, someone appears around the corner--* Endeavor: "Hey." Izuku: ( . ) _________ ( . ) Izuku: "End-End-End--" Endeavor: "There you are. I saw what you did out there. Amazing quirk. That force from just a flick of your fingers." Izuku: "..." *step slide back* Endeavor: *finger point* "In terms of power, you're on par with All Might's quirk." Izuku: "I-I don't know about that. I have to go--" Endeavor: "My boy, Shouto, has the duty to surpass All Might." Izuku: "..." Endeavor: "His match against you...will prove a valuable test. So give it your all. But up a good fight against him." Izuku: "..." Endeavor: "That's all. Sorry for my bluntness." Izuku: "...I-I hope you'll allow me to be blunt." Endeavor: "???" Izuku: "I'm not All Might." Endeavor: "Well, of course you're not--" Izuku: "Just like how Todoroki...is not you!" Endeavor: "..." Izuku: "..." *turns, walks away* -elsewhere- Shigaraki: "..." ???: these children may be your obstacle one day... Shigaraki: "..." *scratches* "Children? Please...What nonsense." -elsewhere- Monoma: "Well, that was interesting." *writes something down* pony: ?? Monoma: *holding a notebook labeled "Quirk Analysis for Copying* pony: doesnt dat deku kid do something like dat too? Monoma: "His is to be a hero. Mine is a little more limited in scope, kind of a cheatsheet to know abilities and weaknesses for when I copy them." pony: ah...but dont you wanna be a hero too? Monoma: "Well, yes. I just need to get a handle on my own ability before I put people at risk. No point jumping into combat unnecessarily before I'm ready." pony: i guess dat makes sense. Monoma: "Of course it does--because I'm no dummy." *bishie sparkle* tokage: in terms of battle, no. but socially.... ehhhh, how do i put this.....you're a bit of a major ass. Monoma: -___-;; "Last I checked, the occupation of 'hero' did not have that as a barrier to employment." itsuka: .... Monoma: "And what do you all do to prepare for our inevitable heroic rises?" -elsewhere- Fitzgerald: *in bed, holding his stomach* TT~TT louisa: i did tell you not to eat it all in one setting, lord francis. Fitzgerald: "I just wanted one more...May I have a ginger ale?" -elsewhere- Mad!Kid: "...Soon?" pandora: soon, child. Mad!Kid: "...Okay." *scratches his arm* -elsewhere- Hyde: *sipping through a straw from a packet of red liquid* licht: -,-; *he has bandages on his arm* Hyde: "I got to say--mixing it with berries is delightful~" julian: ._.; Hyde: "May I have seconds?" -elsewhere- Relan: "That was some battle..." shinra: yeah- ah! shit, still sore. tamaki: and you say _i_ have bad luck... shinra: =3=; i didnt plan on slipping on the steps... Relan: *slight frown at Tamaki* "Let's get you ice, Shinra." *offers a hand* shinra: *smiles* love you, rel. Relan: -\\\\- "Ah, gee...I love you, too." *pats his back carefully* -elsewhere- Burns: "...I think that Jack O'Lantern is rotten." ruby: aww. Burns: "Better toss it out, or use it for fertilizer." ruby: aye aye, sir! *salutes* Burns: "..." *salutes back* ruby: ^^ -elsewhere- Hibana: "KICK ENDEAVOR'S KID’S ASS, TINY FRAIL CHILD!" ryuuko: commander, the next round wont be for a few days. Hibana: "LET IT HAPPEN NOW! THEN ENDEAVOR CAN GO CRYING WHEN HIS KID GETS HIS ASS HANDED TO HIM! I WANT THAT BRUTE TO CRY HIS EYES OUT LIKE THE LITTLE B--" gabriella: *rubs her shoulder* shhhh.... Hibana: *grumble grumble* =\\\\\= Izuku: Q~Q "...May I pass by to get my produce, ma'am?" mikami: g-go right ahead. ^^; Izuku: "Thank you." *nervous walking the fuck out of the grocery store* Manager: "HEY! YOU GOT TO PAY FIRST, KID!" Izuku: "I'M SORRY!" *pulls out his All Might wallet* "I-I'm ready to pay..." -elsewhere- Black Star: *scooping out ice cream* naho: YEEEEAH SUNDAYS! Black Star: "Lilac, you want chocolate syrup?" lilac: ....i-im good....c-chocolate gets me too hyper... Black Star: "That's cool." *sets out chopped nuts and syrups* -elsewhere- Kid: "Will we be at the battle's awards ceremony, Father?" lord death: of course! several members of city council will be there. Kid: *nods* "I look forward to it. I haven't had as much time to keep up on the competition." -elsewhere- Todoroki: "..." *chills his own drink* fuyumi: that was an exciting fight today, huh? Todoroki: "Yes. I was captivated." fuyumi: yeah. they really didnt hold back. Todoroki: "No...I am happy Uraraka worked that hard." fuyumi: yeah. Todoroki: "...I think she could have won." fuyumi: i think so too. Todoroki: "...I..." fuyumi: ?? Todoroki: "...Just thinking about how adamant so many are to get ahead in this competition." fuyumi: hmm... Todoroki: "...When this is over, I want to do something." fuyumi: oh? Todoroki: "Maybe a get-together? I could make something..." fuyumi: sounds like fun....shouto...do you like uraraka~? Todoroki: *spits out his drink* o\\\\\\o fuyumi: well~? Todoroki: "Sh-She's my classmate! Th-That's all!" >3< *crosses his arms* "Where would you ever get such an idea?" fuyumi: sure, shouto. sure. Todoroki: "Sh-Shush!" -\\\\\- *sips his drink* "Just want to be friendly is all..." fuyumi: mmhmm. -elsewhere- Lucy: *holding up a dress* "This one?" kirako: oh definitely! Lucy: "Mmm...Color is nice...Just not liking my shoes to go with it." -elsewhere- Gin: "Is he still sleeping?" miura:....yes. Gin: "...Good. He needs his rest. Excuse me." *departs...looking around* miura: ..... elise: ..... Gin: *continues walking* ("I don't see any additional entrances...") Mori: "Zzz..." elise:..... (thinking: it's not fair, rintarou. that you got to grow up, but you didnt let me grow up with you...) *sniffle* Gin: "..." {Rintarou: *looks down at Elise* "...Have you gotten shorter?"} {elise: nope, still the same height as i was.} {ougai sr: i think you're getting taller, son. well, you are getting a little older now... *smiles*} {Rintarou: "...Oh." *looks at Elise* "I...don't know how to change..."} elise: ..... Mori: *tosses* "M..." elise: ..... Mori: "Hmm..." *yawns, opens his eyes* "...Elise?" elise: you passed out. Mori: "...Oh. I didn't keep up on food...or sleep..." -elsewhere- Poe: "..." *flipping through envelopes* *They are yellowed with age* henry: hmm? Poe: "I can't believe Mother didn't throw out my inane writing." henry: well, mothers do like to keep the things their children made. i mean, we have a whole box full of emilia's drawings, haha. Poe: T_T "Emilia's drawings don't show a heart shattered by the torment of rejection." henry: .... *awkward back pat* Poe: *hug* henry: you're doing alright. Poe: *sniff* rowena: *hug* Poe: TT____TT -elsewhere- Akitaru: "..." *looks at a photograph, from a Halloween long ago* miwa: hm? Akitaru: "...Sorry. Was looking at family photos." miwa: it's all good. Akitaru: *puts it down* "...We had some post-Halloween clean-up. Some Jack O'Lanterns got out of control." miwa: i know that feeling. Akitaru: "...We can grab lunch on the way back." miwa: sounds good. -elsewhere- Mr. Tsubaki: *holding a plate in his mouth, with medicine and a glass of water on it* louisa: *pets and takes the plate* here you go, lord francis. Mr. Tsubaki: ^W^ Fitzgerald: "Thank you..." T~T *takes the medicine* "Tell me, have you re-scheduled meetings?" louisa: yes, sir. Fitzgerald: "Very good." *sips his water* "...When I return to work, I have something to fix." -elsewhere- Akutagawa: *stares at a candy bar* "..." naoya: you hungry? Akutagawa: "..." *nod nod* naoya: *hands it to him* here ya go. Akutagawa: "...Thank you." *opens it...* *nom* "...!!!" naoya:....*glances at the wrapper* -choco con carne; hot and spicy choco- Akutagawa: Q~Q "Wh-What is th-this do-doing to my tongue?!" -elsewhere- Mr. Uraraka: "Welcome home, sweetie." ochako: im back! yuu uraraka: *throws confetti* welcome back. trixie: *licks her hand* ochako: ^^ Mr. Uraraka: "We got you some cake. And ice cream." mrs uraraka: and pizza pancakes! ochako: awesome saaauce! -elsewhere- Patty: *lays out a map* liz: hmm? Patty: *takes out a red marker, and draws a path* liz: *watching* Patty: "AND THERE IT IS!" liz: ah. *The map now has a Santa drawing on it* liz:....oh my god. Patty: "And that is the path Santa will take to deliver here!" *circle Death City* -elsewhere- Kid: *sorting papers* shiori: kid! Kid: ^^ *waves* "Hi, Shiori!" shiori: hehehe ^^ Kid: *sets down his papers, picks her up* shiori: ^o^ Kid: "Hee hee...Want to play?" -elsewhere- Dazai: *holds up a tie with piano keys on it* atsushi: um...thanks? Dazai: "You're welcome! It's real fancy!" *taps the keys--and they start playing "Eye of the Tiger"* atsushi:.... odasaku: i have no words. Dazai: ^W^ -elsewhere- Shamrock: *packing a suitcase* lavender: going on a trip? Shamrock: "Not quite...Just...in case." naho: boooo. Shamrock: "!!! I-I just mean we don't know what happens next. What if we can't stay here?" tsubaki: .... Shamrock: "...What C3 is capable of, or whatever else happens...I just want to be ready." tsubaki:....it's going to be ok. i promise. Shamrock: "..." {Mr. Tsubaki: "Follow me, and I will never abandon you."} Shamrock: "...I have heard promises before..." *takes the suitcase--and empties it onto his bed* tsubaki: .... Shamrock: *sad smile* "I guess I'm still believing promises..." -hug- tsubaki: .......*shaking slightly* Shamrock: X\\\\o "..." *pats her back* "It's okay..." -elsewhere- Kyoka: "...Two of those donuts, please." clerk: coming right up. kenji: ^^ Kyoka: "...Are you going to put more plants in the office?" -elsewhere- Stein: *packing his suitcase* marie: do your best, ok? Stein: "I'm going to try...but not looking forward to who I'll run into." -elsewhere- *Weird squeaking noises are heard stepping along the floor of Gallows Mansion* stocking: huh? kid? kid wake up. Kid: *groans* "H-Huh?" *squeak squeak squeak* stocking: do you hear that? Kid: "...Yes...It's like a floorboard--only I checked every floorboard this afternoon--twice." *squeak squeak squeak squeak* Kid: "..." *takes his robe* stocking: *has her sword out* Kid: "..." *throws open the door* "AH!" stocking: ?! ???: "EEEEK!" *falls back--and a bowl of milk and cereal smashes into Kid's face* Kid: "Ugh!" *squeak squeak--* stocking: what the heck?! *turns on hall light* *something soft and cloth is flipped into Stocking's hands--a slipper in the shape of a giraffe's head* Patty: *collapsed on the floor, in her pajamas, missing a slipper* "Owie...What the hell, guys?!" stocking: patti? are you sleep walking? Patty: *stamps her slipper onto the floor--which lets out an animal squeak* "I was getting a midnight breakfast snack!" stocking: oh. ^^; oops. sorry. Kid: *doused in milk and cereal* "...What have I said about wearing the squeaky giraffe slippers?" Patty: "...To wear them?" Kid: "I SAID THE OPPOSITE!" -elsewhere- Hibana: "..." *standing on the balcony, looking at the stars* mikami: are you still awake, commander? Hibana: "Oh, just wrapping up perimeter review. Can't sleep either, soldier?" mikami: not really. Hibana: "...Nightmare?" mikami:...........akami....i know it was her....at the workshop.... Hibana: "...You're sure that's who you saw?" mikami:...*she nods* there was no doubt....it was her. Hibana: "...With the Hoods? Or that smiley guy?" mikami:....with that man....joker... {mikami: akami! come with us!} {scarlet: i....its not that simple....please...just forget seeing me here.} {mikami: AKAMI! PLEASE!} {scarlet: STOP CALLING ME THAT!} mikami: ..... *trembling* Hibana: "..." *rests a hand on her shoulder* "...Did she know him before? Had you seen him before?" mikami: i....i dont know.....i think...i saw him....at the newbie tournament....but... Hibana: "...Yes, Shinra had mentioned him there..." ("And enough other people were there, too...Burns...Victor...) "...Do you have any idea where your sister may be?" mikami:...i-i dont know....*sniff* why is she with him? Hibana: "...This joker seems to attract certain people...and from what Shinra has shared, he is a wild card. Maybe your sister wanted to fight the Hoods, just not with a Fire Brigade......Like outcasts." mikami:....i know akami is a good person...even if she makes mistakes...*touching her scar...* Hibana: "...Then you have to hope you can reach her..." ("...That scar...but on Iris...") mikami:...*nods* Hibana: "..." *hug* mikami:.....t-thank you. Hibana: "Any time." *pat pat* "Now, my order--you get some tea and milk." -elsewhere- Chuuya: *walks through his apartment's hall* scarlet:.... Chuuya: "Oh...Good evening." scarlet:...you too. Chuuya: "..." *puts bucket under ice machine* "...Quiet out." scarlet: yeah. hard to believe it's already november. Chuuya: "No kidding...You do anything for Halloween?" scarlet:....got drunk with some acquaintances. Chuuya: "Heh...I would've done the same, before Sonia. Have fun?" scarlet: eh. Chuuya: "Hmm...Well, if neighbors and I share a drink around here, I hope you'll join us." scarlet: depends on if work will let me. Chuuya: *nods* "I understand. Unpredictable work hours?" scarlet:...you could say that. Chuuya: *nods* "...Well, just let me know your favorite alcohol. I'm sure we can get it." scarlet: i appreciate the offer. Chuuya: *finishes filling up the ice bucket* "Well, that's it for me. Have a good night." scarlet: night..... Chuuya: *walks back to his apartment* -elsewhere- Motojiro: "--and the lemons must be tended to like a parent would for a child." ayako: *taking notes and nods* hmm. hmm. Motojiro: "Lemons are perfection. They are the right color, the right shape...All the world should aspire to reach the color, yellow shape of God's privileged fruit. It was the lemon in the Garden of Eden that Eve ate." higuchi:.....*facepalm* -early morning- Black Star: *snore* {???:...... *standing in the middle of the fog*} {Black Star: "...What is this?"} {-the figure stares at him-} {Black Star: "...Who are you?"} {white*star:....} {Black Star: "!!!! O-Old man?"} {white*star:.....*grins, bearing sharp teeth*} {Black Star: *assumes fighting pose* "Back off! You're dead!"} -THUD- Black Star: "...Ow." otogiri: rough night? Black Star: =____= "More or less..." *yawns* "I need some tea..." -elsewhere- hitoshi: *on a bridge* ..... Izuku: *jogging...and spots him* O~O hitoshi: hey. Izuku: *opens his mouth--* "..." *waves* hitoshi: relax, kid, im not gonna do anything to you. Izuku: *sighs of relief* "S-Sorry...Just, you know--fool me once..." hitoshi: ...cant say i blame you. Izuku: "...How have you been?" hitoshi:....alright. stayed at home during the dance watching halloween specials with ashe. Izuku: ^^ "Oh! Well, Halloween specials are fun. But...who is Ashe?" hitoshi: my cat. Izuku: "Ah. That's nice...How old is your cat?" hitoshi: 4 years old. Izuku: "Neat! I didn't think you were a cat lover. Like Mr. Aizawa?" hitoshi: i guess....that bioeni kid mentioned it. Izuku: "You two get along?" hitoshi:....i guess. he seems like a pretty alright guy. Izuku: *nod nod* "I've had him over for dinner....Maybe you can join us?" hitoshi:....i'll think about it...*spots someone in the distance*...shit. hey, midoriya, can you do me a solid? Izuku: "???" hitoshi: dont tell monoma i was here. *jumps off into the water below* Izuku: !!!!! "H-Hey!" *looks over the bridge* hitoshi: *swimming under it* Monoma: "Oh, Midoriya. What're you doing here?" Izuku: Q____Q "...N-Nothing! Just...looking at the clouds." Monoma: "...???" Izuku: *points* "That one looks like a bunny! Ha ha ha..." ^^;; Monoma: "...Okay, I see you're in good form today..." -elsewhere- Todoroki: *walks into Deathbucks* "...One coffee, please." tsugumi: coming right up, sir. Todoroki: "??? Aren't you in the NOT classes?" tsugumi: *she nods* yeah. Todoroki: "Ah. So, part-time work?" *puts five dollars into the tip jar* tsugumi: *nods* i've worked here several times before. Todoroki: "Hmm. Anyone in the hero courses ever work here?" tsugumi: i think so. i think on- hagakure: fancy seeing you here, todoroki! Todoroki: "...Hagakure? Is that you?" hagakure: in the flesh! Todoroki: "...You like the uniform?" -elsewhere- Chuuya: "Ready to head out?" sonia: *nod* Chuuya: *locks the apartment door, takes her hand and walks through the hall* sonia: ^^ Chuuya: *presses the button for the elevator* "I think you'll like the park. The swings look fun." -elsewhere- Akutagawa: *he's wearing a white shirt...and suspenders...* naoya:....ok? Akutagawa: "I will understand my enemy by dressing as him. I also have this--" *pulls out a dress like Lucy's* naoya:....hey, i aint gonna judge. Akutagawa: "And I appreciate that about you. I just need to determine what to wear underneath." -elsewhere- Kid: *sighs* kirika: what? Kid: "Just not the best sleep--and we're out of cereal." kirika:....that sucks. Kid: "Yes. I'll be shopping for more. Any requests for you and your boyfriend?" kirika: ok number 1, mind your own goddamn business, and 2, get doritos. Kid: *smirks* "Very well. Also, he's at the window again." Gopher: *waves* kirika:..... we have a fucking door, you know. Gopher: "!!!" *runs to the door--knocks* kirika: ....you strange, strange little weirdo. -elsewhere- Hibana: "...Maybe have someone locate her sister?" gabriella: already on it. Hibana: ^^ "I knew you would. So, any leads?" -elsewhere- Mori: *whistling* miura: how did you sleep, sir? Mori: "Better than before. I think I over-exerted myself." miura: i see.... Mori: "...I had a dream, though." miura: oh? Mori: "...You were dancing." miura: me, sir? Mori: "You, Miura. Ballet, flamenco--the hustle. It was weeeeeeeird." miura:....do you need more sleep, sir? Mori: "Maybe...Do you dance?" miura: ....i probably have it somewhere in my programing. Mori: "...Can you try?" -elsewhere- Tokoyami: *tosses up an apple* dark shadow: *nice catch* Tokoyami: "Very good. You're in good practice for the next round." -elsewhere- Iida: "Good day, Momo." momo: good morning. ^^ Iida: "How are you?" momo: doing well. Iida: "That's good...Have you plans for lunch?" -elsewhere- Mifune: "..." *stares at a kunai in one of his old boxes* angela: ?? Mifune: "...A keepsake." *a star is on the kunai* angela: ooh. Mifune: *closes the box* "How about some drawing?" -elsewhere- Tuhl: "Look how big Io's getting..." saki: she sure is. io: hehe! Tuhl: *rolls a ball to Io* "How has she been with the other kids?" saki: pretty good. Tuhl: "That'll be good for her to keep playing with them...Not a lot of kappas I got to play with." saki: what about that girl, kaoli? Tuhl: *nods* "Just...You know, when you're young, there are few around, kind of what it is like for Dokeshi." saki:...*nods* (thinking: chie....) Tuhl: "Just...want her to have as normal a life as possible." Shotaro: *walks by in a hot dog outfit* Tuhl: "...as normal for us." saki:....^^; -elsewhere- Free: *scratching* eruka: hold still... *putting on the anti-tick and flea medication* Free: "I'm trying." TT~TT -elsewhere- Gopher: ^W^ "Have you seen any movies lately?" kirika: saw lights out. seen scarier. Gopher: "Well, you're brave. I-I would probably hide under the chair..." *eats a chip* "...Have you seen 'Your Name'?" kirika: nah. -elsewhere- leo: ... Ivan: "..." *scratches his cheek* leo: <how are you feeling?> Ivan: <Awkward...> leo: ....<how so?> Ivan: <Master is busy right now...I heard yelling.> leo: ... Ivan: <And not the usual yelling...Angry yelling.> leo: ....... Ivan: <I think something is getting to him...He may need relief.> leo: <perhaps tea?> Ivan: .\\\\. <...Yeah, sure, let's go with that.> -elsewhere- Mr. Tsubaki: *in fox form, in the building's garden* "..." *there are eyes in the bushes, watching him* Mr. Tsubaki: "???" cat: *mreow* Mr. Tsubaki: "???" *gets low to the ground, stays there* -elsewhere- Aizawa: "...Don't buy the Endeavor merchandise." yuuji: is it cause he's a dick? Aizawa: "Yes. That is the correct word. That earns you a free meal." *hands Yuuji the kids' menu* yuuji: ..... -elsewhere- Yumi: "How did it go?" lord death: *exhausted* Yumi: D: "Do you need to lie down?" lord death:....*muffled* yus. Yumi: *leads him to the bed* "Just rest...Want some water?" lord death: *nod* Yumi: *rubs his back* "I'll be right back. Get some rest." *walks to the kitchen* lord death: *takes off his cloak and mask and lays on the bed* ah... Yumi: *returns with water* "..." *shuts the door* lord death: thanks. =u= Yumi: *sits by his side, hands him the glass* *smiles* "You're welcome, handsome." lord death: ..... u///w///u Yumi: "..." *lays down beside him* -elsewhere- Todoroki: *walking out of Deathbucks* ochako: hey todoroki! Todoroki: "Oh. Hello." *waves* "...How are you?" ochako: doing good. you? Todoroki: "Fine...You look more healed now." ochako: yeah, im doing better now. ^^ Todoroki: "That's good...I'm sorry we won't be battling in the tournament." ochako: i guess, but there's always next time, right? ^^ Todoroki: "..." *nods* "...Running tasks right now?" -elsewhere- Izuku: "--and it turns out he has a cat, so that has to mean he's an okay guy, right?" inko: perhaps. *smiles* Izuku: "..." *nervous smile* -elsewhere- Kid: *hug* stocking: =w= Kid: *rubs her back lightly* "Love you." -elsewhere- Chuuya: "Play well, okay?" sonia: *nervous* Chuuya: "..." *pats her back* "I'll be right here. Just try for five minutes, okay?" sonia:....*gingerly walks over* Chuuya: *sits on a bench, watches* Child #1: "Hee hee..." sonia:... *looking around* ..... *There's a slide, a jungle gym, swings, a merry-go-round...* Child #2: "Over here!" *A ball rolls over to Sonia* sonia: *looking at it* ?? Child #2: "Toss the ball back!" *waves* sonia: ??....*toss* Child #2: *catches it* "Hee hee--thanks! Hey, want to play?" sonia:... *looks over at chuuya* Chuuya: *smiles, gestures for her to go ahead* sonia: o-ok. Child #2: "Super! I'm Juan." *holds out his hand* sonia:....sonia. Juan: "Cool." *bounces the ball on the ground over to her* -elsewhere- Dazai: *staaaaaaare* atsushi:... ??? Dazai: *looks at both sides of his head* "...Maybe a haircut." atsushi: *points to himself* ???? Dazai: *nods* "It could be a bit more symmetrical..." atsushi: maybe? *looks in the mirror* it's been like this for a while now. the other orphan kids cut it as a joke, and i just let it grown in as is. *looks at his streak* Dazai: "...Well, you get to decide what you want to do--and I promise, no one is going to cut your hair against your will." *pat pat* atsushi: thanks.... i dont really have a problem with it, but i'll keep it in mind. Dazai: ^w^ "Now, let's talk smelling good--" *holds up a basket of shampoo, cologne, and lotion* -underground- keek:........... Ivan: "..." *whispers* <She's still quiet.> pushkin: <guess it's the legs, still.> Ivan: <Hmm...Well, it was Master's will.> pushkin: <pretty harsh, gon.> RHOD member: <jeez, this is just depressing to look at.> RHOD member 2: <it's like 'grave of the fireflies' level depressing.> Ivan: <But Master wants her alive, so we can't just kill her.> pushkin: <do we just leave her in her room then?> Ivan: <We could take her out of her room--maybe do what kids her age do...> pushkin: ??? Ivan: <They use the media of society? Or...um...hula hoops and roller skates?> RHOD member: <i think the skates are out of the question.> Ivan: <What about on her--> RHOD member 3: <dude. no.> Ivan: >_< <I'm just being helpful!> leo: ... Ivan: <What do you think, Lev?> leo: <im not sure. perhaps give her a skateboard to ride on?> Ivan: <We shall do so!> katya: <works for me.> *shrug* FD: <What are we discussing?> katya: <miss no-legs.> FD: <Ah. Does she need punishment?> katya: <she's just being mopey. as usual. these hostages are so lame that i wanna barf.> pushkin: <kiiiillljoooys> XP FD: <Then cheer up our guest.> *holds up a party hat and a bag of confetti* katya: *rolls eyes and throws the hat at keek* BE HAPPY YOU LITTLE SHIT! keek:.... FD: <...Try the confetti.> -elsewhere- Gin: *shudders* naoya: *hands her a coat* Gin: "Thanks..." *puts it on* "Didn't anticipate the temperature today." naoya: that time of the year. Gin: "Yes...when the cold gets down to your bones." naoya: mmhmm. Gin: "...We didn't have a lot of warm clothes when I was a kid. Or blankets." naoya: ... Gin: "...I think soup would be good." -elsewhere- Gopher: QWQ inori: ?? Gopher: "Just overwhelmed with emotions..." inori: ah. Gopher: *hugs his pillow* >w< inori: you appear to be in a good mood. Gopher: "...Things just feel better. Love. Family..." *holds onto the pillow...cries* inori:..... *pat pat* eibon: my child? Gopher: "Y-Yes?" eibon: are you alright? *soft smile* Gopher: Y-Yes. Thank you. I'm just...not used to feeling like this...It-It often follows with something bad..." eibon *hug* it will be alright, i promise. Gopher: "...Th-Thank you..." *hug* -elsewhere- Akutagawa: "Life is suffering, Q." Q: are you having your angsty moods again? i mean, i agree 100%, but are you? Akutagawa: "I am always angsty. I _am_ angst." Q: ...cool. Akutagawa: "...My angst wants pudding." higuchi: i'll...go get some. Akutagawa: "Thank you..." TT_TT -elsewhere- Vulcan: *flipping through a calendar* "...Time flies. Hard to believe I've been staying here this long..." karin: yeah. Vulcan: "...It's not terrible. This place lacks a scrapyard, though. And animals. And... ..." *looks down* karin:.....*pats his back* Vulcan: "Th-Thanks..." *sniff* "I can't imagine what she's going through." karin: we'll find her, and we'll bring her home, alright? Vulcan: "...Right." *fist jab* -elsewhere- lisa: ...... Giovanni: "...What is it, Feeler?" lisa:...nothing. guruna: i think she's lyyyying. Giovanni: "..." *stares at Lisa* "Are you, Feeler? Are you lying?" lisa:........ Giovanni: "Silence can be a lie as well. Guruna..." lisa: i guess guruna's very honest, since she never shuts up. Giovanni: "...She is talkative. But not necessarily truthful. Now, I ask you again...What. Are you. Thinking?" -elsewhere- keek:........... Shousaku: "...Yo." keek:......*acknowledging nod* Shousaku: "...Top you off?" *holds up a 2-liter of cola* keek:....*nod* Shousaku: *pours into her cup* "...So...You like soda?" keek:...*quietly* i guess.... Shousaku: "...Like cola, or maybe ginger ale?" keek:....i guess..... Shousaku: "...You play games?" keek:....i guess...... -she sounds almost dead...- Shousaku: "...I snuck this in..." *holds up a 3DS* keek:....... Shousaku: "...I play this all the time...You like Mario Kart?" keek:...... Shousaku: "...Or maybe you want to play some Smash?" keek:.............am i going to die here? Shousaku: "...I...don't know." keek:....*trembling* Shousaku: "!!! Hey! Don't think about that...Think about right now." keek:......*sniff* Shousaku: "Just...think about today. Right now...Talk to me." keek:....i miss my mom.... Shousaku: "...She lives around here?" keek:....i dont know where _here_ is. i dont even know if we're even still in death city.... Shousaku: "...Yeah. I hear the people in charge talk about going into the city...but I don't know how far we are." keek: ........i dont know what i did to deserve this.... Shousaku: "...I doubt you did anything to deserve...anything like this." keek:....*whimper* Shousaku: "..." *sets down his 3DS and cup--and hugs her* keek: ?! Shousaku: "...You look like you needed a hug." keek:....*sniffles and whimpers, holding onto him* Shousaku: "...It's okay. Just...think about right now." keek: *cries* Shousaku: "..." *holds on...rubs her back lightly* keek: *trembling* Shousaku: "..." ("What was it they sang...?") *hums* keek: *sniff* Shousaku: "..." ("How the hell do I get out of here?") -elsewhere- lana: edgar? are you ok? Poe: Q___Q "...The minutes..." lana: ?? -she peeks into his study- Poe: *staring into a mirror* lana: everything ok? Poe: "They turn into hours, marked by the bells, counting down how much i have aged, how much time has passed since...since..." lana: .....*holds his hand* Poe: "..." *small squeeze* "...I'm not used to this." lana: i love you, ok? dont doubt that. Poe: "And I love you." lana: *smooch on the cheek* u///u Poe: Y///Y -elsewhere- Iida: "Is Bakugo still in the canal?" tsuyu: nope. he's in the nurse's office, drying off. Bakugo: "Achoo!" -elsewhere- Arthur: "Tamaki? Are you busy Thursday evening?" tamaki: nah, why? Arthur: "Hiro's family is having dinner.” tamaki: oh, cool. Arthur: *nods* "I'll bring a dessert." tamaki: sounds like fun. Arthur: *smiles* "Thanks." -elsewhere- Rin: *skipping a stone across water--that then abruptly sinks* D8 kyouko: that bites. Rin: Q__Q "It's like I'm cursed or something..." madoka: ^^; *pat pat* Rin: T___T *holds her hand* madoka: ^^ -elsewhere- michelle: ..... *looking out the window* .... Neuhaus: "..." michelle:....if they...take those spiders out of me.....am i....am i going to die? Neuhaus: "W-We'll find a way..." michelle:.... Neuhaus: "..." *offers his hand* michelle:....*weak lean* Neuhaus: *arm around her shoulder* -elsewhere- Dazai: *holding up a cat treat* mii: OwO Dazai: "...Not up for it?" mii: *kitty butt shake and pounce* Dazai: "Hee hee..." mii: >X3 Dazai: "See? That's fun..." mii: *looking around* ...so, how goes our little rat problem? Dazai: "..." *sighs* "Kunikida keeps trying to track locations and paths--but no luck." mii: hmm. any progress from katai? Dazai: "Minimal. He's been locked up in his place." mii: hmm. Dazai: "He needs time and encouragement--and that's hard when you're all closed up and, you know, your last attempt at a date went bad." mii: yikes. Dazai: "At least if he is locked away, he's our secret play." mii: *nods* Dazai: "Can you keep an eye open for what else you notice in town?" mii: already on it. -elsewhere- Mr. Tsubaki: *digging behind a bush* *he holds some cloth in his mouth--but his paws then hit something* "???" *he looks down...to see metal* "???" -a time capsule?- Mr. Tsubaki: "..." *sets down the cloth, looks at the metal box* ("Maybe I wasn't supposed to dig this up yet?") "..." *nudging the box to find an opening* -click- Mr. Tsubaki: owo *looks inside* -there is a few items and a note- Mr. Tsubaki: *looks at the note* note: dear ###, have you become the person you wanted to be? hard to believe it's been so long since you first began working here. i wish i could see what amazing thing's you've made. keep up the good work -T J Eckleburg (of the past) Mr. Tsubaki: "..." *looks at other items* -there are a spare set of glasses, a hankie, a business card, and a photograph with a few people- Mr. Tsubaki: ("I recognize Eckleburg in the photo...Who are the others?") -also in the photo are daisy, mr buchanan...and another person.- Mr. Tsubaki: ("That...was the person in the newspapers that Eckleburg was accused of killing...Oh my.") mary: toby? where did you go? Mr. Tsubaki: "!!!" *closes the lid, quickly buried the time capsule--and the cloth* mary: toby? Mr. Tsubaki: *walks up to her* mary: there you are! *picks him up* wow. you need a bath, mr. Mr. Tsubaki: -_-# -elsewhere- Yumi: "Feel better?" lord death: *nods* Yumi: "I'm glad..." *hug* lord death: *smooooch* Yumi: =\\\\= "...Smooth." *nuzzles* -elsewhere- shaula: aaaare we theeeere yeeeeeet...... Medusa: -_-; "Can you say anything else?" shaula: IM ALMOST OUTTA KUSH!! DX< Medusa: "...What the devil is 'kush'?" milia:....you wanna tell her, or should i? shaula: nah. keep it a secret. neian: kushy! shaula: *laughing her ass off* neian:.. ??? Medusa: ._.; "...I'm so confused." -elsewhere- Chuuya: "How was it?" sonia:...it was nice. they seemed nice. Chuuya: "Thank you for trying." *smiles* sonia: i was scared at first. Chuuya: "...That's normal. I'm still scared meeting new people." sonia: really, papa? Chuuya: *smiles* "Really-really. So I had to learn how to have the courage to face that fear." sonia:....*small squeeze of his hand* Chuuya: *holds her hand* "How about we get some ice cream?" sonia:...ok Chuuya: *walks with her* "...And you're good at playing ball." sonia:....thanks. the other kids showed me how. Chuuya: "You're a fast learner." sonia: ...there werent any other kids underground. Chuuya: "...I know. And you're not there now." sonia:....my neck itches sometimes. Chuuya: "...Why your neck?" sonia:...i dunno. -elsewhere- Joker: *puts out his cigarette* "Any update on the 8th's moves?" ivy: nothing yet. Joker: *slides a phone* "Call Victor." ivy: *dialing the number* -At the 8th- Victor's phone: *ringtone* "--I just met you / And this is crazy!" nozomi: mr victor? your phone is ringing! Victor: "!!! DON'T ANSWER IT!" nozomi: ?? um...ok. ._.; Victor: *answers* "Hello?" ivy: hey dingus, what's the hold up?! Victor: owo; "I-I promise, you'll get it soon...Mama." ivy: WHAT THE FUCK?!?! O_O Victor: "I know, I know--I've just been busy! Sorry I haven't called!" *nervous laugh as he glances at Nozomi* nozomi:.. ^^; *exits* Victor: *nervous smile--then a sigh of relief* "Okay." ivy: *throws the phone at joker* Joker: *hit in the head* "..." *calmly takes the phone* "So, any leads?" Victor: "Still waiting for the last bit of intelligence before going underground." Joker: "...What did you say to Ivy?" Victor: "...'I understand, thanks for calling, Mama.'" Joker: "..." *loud cackling* ivy: i will kill you both in your SLEEP! Victor: owo; "...I love you too, Mama. Thanks for checking in." Joker: *louder cackling* ivy: -_-# scarlet: *walking in* Joker: *hands the phone to Scarlet* scarlet: i take it you're bringing miss fake idol with you as well? Victor: "Unfortunately. Can't get out of that--" Takehisa: *walks in, picking up trash* Victor: "!!! --Daddy." scarlet:....................................................................................... Joker: *shaking, covering his mouth* Takehisa: "...You're not being paid for personal calls, Licht. Get off the phone." scarlet:.................................... Victor: *nod nod* "I-I have to get going. Tell Mama I love her." scarlet:....*hangs up* ....................urgk- Victor: *sweating* owo;;;;; Takehisa: "...This is why family conversations should not happen at work." Joker: "HA HA HA HA! You and Ivy are his Mommy and Daddy!" scarlet:....please do kill him. ivy: agreed. Joker: *cackling* "Oh, man...So, you two going to make it official?" scarlet + ivy:........ *DOUBLE PUNCH* Joker: XWX scarlet: *sigh* Joker: "...Something bothering you?" ivy: does this mean you've given up pursuing her- scarlet: IVY. DO NOT. Joker: "???" scarlet: IGNORE HER! Joker: *back on his feet with two black eyes* "Hard to--she's very loud." ivy:......im confused. im gonna go outside for a smoke. brb. Joker: "...Scarlet?" scarlet: what? -_-; Joker: "...Talk to me." scarlet: i am, arent i? Joker: "...I know you're sad. And upset." scarlet:......do you need to lay down? Joker: "...No. I'm worried about you." scarlet:...ivy, call the hospital, i think we gave him brain damage. Joker: *his hand takes hers* scarlet: ?! O_O; Joker: "The worst feeling...is to be separated from your family." scarlet: please stop this, you're legitimately freaking me out right now. Joker: "It's okay...You'll be reunited with her. We can help..." scarlet:....*teary eyed* why do you even care? Joker: "...Because we've all lost something here, that we would give anything to get back. And until we can retrieve it...I hope you can consider this location to be your home." scarlet: ...... Joker: "..." *lets go of her hand* "I'll get some ice for these and lie down..." scarlet: ......*sigh* Joker: "..." *opens the freezer, pulls out two ice-packs, and heads off to his room* -elsewhere- Iida: "I'll have some tea, please." waitress: coming on up, sir. momo: ... .-.;; Iida: ^\\\^ "Thank you for recommending this location." momo: of course. ^^ Iida: "...Have you made plans for the New Year? I know it's early..." -elsewhere- Patty: Q____Q "...My shirt..." roxanne: what happened? Patty: *holds up her shirt from the laundry basket--it has fabric cut out of it* roxanne: oh my goodness! Patty: "WHO WOULD DO SUCH A THING?!" riley: ?? Kid: "Look at these cute cloth dolls--" *spots the shirt* owo;;;; Patty: *murder face* stocking: what the heck? Kid: "I didn't do it!" Patty: "YOU OWE ME A SHIRT!" -elsewhere- Izuku: *waves* eijiro: hey! whats up? Izuku: "N-Not much...How have you been since the last round of the competition?" eijiro: been doing good. i made it into the next round! Izuku: "Hey, maybe we'll face off!" eijiro: who knows. Izuku: "Y-Yeah, true...Good luck." -elsewhere- Shamrock: *tending to a plant* himawari:...*small smile* Shamrock: *sets the pot down* "Maggie is doing well." himawari: *nod* Shamrock: "Good work. The garden looks really happy because of your work." himawari: im glad...*a small vine crawls up her arm and she smiles* Shamrock: X_O "..." *blink* himawari:...?? is something wrong? Shamrock: "N-Nothing. Just surprised at the vine." himawari: oh. hehe. Shamrock: X_^; "Glad you are happy." -elsewhere- Dazai: "Thanks for that info..." mii: *mreeeow* Dazai: ^W^ *pet pet* mii: -w- Dazai: "Let me know if you hear anything else." mii: mreeeow. -elsewhere- Belkia: *juggling* "...We should take a trip." naho: to where? Belkia: "NEW ORLEANS!" naho: neato! Black Star: -_-; "And get followed by C3?" naho:....*pout* Sakuya: "...We could try disguises--" Belkia: *shoves Sakuya into his over-sized hat, into another dimension* naho: D8 BELBEL! Belkia: *holds up his fingers...* "Five, four, three--" *reaches into the hat--and pulls out Sakuya...who is now in a bunny girl outfit* Sakuya: o\\\\\\\o Belkia: "See? A disguise!" Black Star: "..." *facepalm* naho: o////o Sakuya: *trying to cover himself* "I'm going to kill you, you stupid third-rate magician!" Belkia: "I'm not third-rate!" -elsewhere-