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the-insomniac-emporium · 3 years

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Mia Deserved Better: An Analysis of RE8's Themes/Symbolism

Foreword: I would like to thank @lepusrufus for posting about both Mia and Miranda, and at one point directly saying that Mia deserved better, which is a large part of what caused me to start examining her role in the canon story. Now, I will say that this post, like some of my previous explorations of Village (such as my attempt to determine Donna's age), will not be the best organized. My ADHD makes such things rather difficult for me. However, I have tried more than usual, and have broken up this "essay" into several distinct sections. Still, I am worried that my thoughts will not be as concise or coherent as they were inside my head.

Under read-more for length and spoilers for RE8: Village.

Introduction:

Village is, inarguably, about parenthood. Is it a horror game? Yes. Is it also science fiction? Also yes. But is it still, at its core, a story, and therefore contains imagery, symbolism, and themes? Yes. Now, you may be wondering what this has to do with Mia deserving better. My proposal is as follows: While Village is overall about parenthood, it is more about motherhood than fatherhood. Furthermore, Mia's background + actions from the previous game tie her story directly with Mother Miranda's, making their potential interactions massively important to the story... and could have served the theme beautifully. The missed potential in her involvement in the story is honestly a little bit absurd.

Now, let's examine each of the Four Lords + their sections, as the beginning of analyzing the game's theme.

Lady Dimitrescu + Castle:

Ah, perhaps the clearest (albeit unimportant) bits of theme within the whole game. We are immediately presented with another parent, with three daughters she loves very, very much. Initially they work as a team to capture Ethan, easily overpowering him. When they do split up, each still has dialogue regarding their family members. Each of the daughters expresses a desire to be like their mother/make their mother proud. Lady Dimitrescu herself gets very upset every time one of her daughters perishes, and delivers some important dialogue about this in her final confrontation with Ethan.

To paraphrase, Lady D says that Ethan has done something unforgiveable, caused damage that can never heal, and deserves to die before his daughter. That last part is interesting, in the sense that Lady D seems to believe that outlasting your own child is a fate so terrible that she would not wish it upon anyone, including the person who killed her daughters.

Throughout her dialogue and actions, Lady D serves as an important figure of a living mother. What do I mean by that? Well, the only other mothers we see in game are Mia and Miranda. The former doesn't show up until almost the end of the game (seeing as the "Mia" at the start is not actually the real Mia), while the latter does not have a living child, and her behavior has (presumably) changed quite a bit since that loss. As Ethan goes through Castle Dimitrescu, he watches (he causes) Lady D to go through what Miranda did all those decades ago. When we see her loss, when we experience her loss, it is something we connect with, even comparing it (as Lady D does) to Ethan's loss of Rose.

For the more visual side of symbolism, we can turn to Lady Dimitrescu herself. She is very tall, is visibly older than the majority of the Village cast, and has a fairly classic (old-school) motherly look. Everything about her reinforces her position as an example of a mother, especially when she's with her daughters and becomes such a strong figure of protection. Her height allows her to seem the caretaker for her children, even though they are scary/intimidating in their own right.

Donna Beneviento + Waterfall House:

Yes, the baby/fetus/monstrosity is part of this. No, it is not the only bit of thematic work in this section of the game.

To begin, you can find out that Donna is officially the adopted daughter of Mother Miranda. Her birth parents are dead, implied to be from especially tragic causes (more than is the norm when it comes to "orphan making"), and she has suffered greatly from it. We see that she has been seemingly neglected by Miranda, and is incredibly isolated. The tragedy of her loss, along with the consequences presented by it, are something to keep in mind further down the road, when we inevitably deal with Ethan's own death.

One of the consequences of the environment Donna was raised in is, arguably, her reliance on Angie. While interpretations of their exact relationship (aka how much control Donna actually has at any given point) vary, the two very clearly have something akin to a mother/daughter vibe. Alternatively an older sister/younger sister sort of thing. This shows in the way that Donna holds/carries Angie, as well as the contrast in their demeanors. Moreso, the fact that Donna gave a part of herself to create Angie is almost enough to make the symbolism nonnegotiable.

We also see that Donna has a strong understanding of family/family dynamics, through the way that she uses her powers to manipulate Ethan. She dissects his connections to Mia and Rose, taunts him with the lengths he's willing to go to save his child, then shows him a grotesque version of parenthood: The aforementioned fetus monster. Does the monster represent Ethan's fears, or Donna's?

What if the monster is how Donna sees herself, in some way, perhaps thinking that it's her fault her parents died? Bit of a stretch, but it's not a keystone of my theory, so I'm just throwing it out there. We could, however, go a step further and ask ourselves if Donna has noticed the way Miranda neglects her, and the fetus monster is how Donna thinks Miranda sees her. A baby, true, but grotesque, so terribly imperfect compared to her "real daughter" (Eva, obvs).

Regardless, the monster presents an ugly side of parenthood. It shows us the blood, the hunger (with the way it repeatedly attempts to swallow Ethan whole), the wailing. If Lady D shows us the love of parenthood, the bond, Donna in turn shows us the hate, the misery. Everything that one must endure to reap the rewards of family.

Lastly, we get one last bit of symbolism with Donna's death: We play a game with Angie. A childhood classic, hide and seek. Ethan chases her down repeatedly, stabbing away, seemingly only hurting the doll. But what happens when he kills Angie? It turns out that he killed Donna. You kill the child, you kill the parent. A reinforcement of the connection that comes with parenthood, along with another notch in Ethan's family-murdering belt (not saying that he's the "true antagonist" or anything, just keeping track for one of my later points).

Moreau + The Reservoir

Let's get the worst possibility out of the way: Moreau, weakest and sickest of the four lords, lives in a reservoir, where he is relatively safe. To defeat him, you have to drain the water, forcing him onto dry(ish) land. Paired with the main ideas of his section (which I will detail after this nightmare), one could theorize that he's meant to represent birth itself. Again, he's safe in his ("womb") water, and becomes vulnerable when he leaves (like a fragile newborn). Kinda gross, in my opinion, and also not a strong enough connection for me to care much about. It was merely an interesting (albeit horrifying) enough thought that I felt it warranted sharing.

Moving on to the big stuff with Moreau: He's a baby. Evidence: Whiny, has difficulty moving around, struggles to adapt to his growth, throws up a bunch, loves his mother very much, cries for his mother when he's in trouble, etc. Although Mother Miranda does not care for him, he clearly cares for her, and plays yet another role of an abandoned child (like Donna). Without Miranda there to protect him, he perishes terribly, crying out for someone who does not care to answer.

Hearing him cry out for Miranda, over and over, only for her to continue ignoring him is a key piece in the build-up to our confrontation between Ethan and Miranda. The game, in many ways, centers around the comparison between the two. In my humble opinion, Mia should have been involved in this comparison, as opposed to supplying the solution to the result of said comparison. Yes, I know that was a lot of words that don't mean much yet, but trust me, I'm getting there.

Heisenberg + The Factory

Ironically, of the four lords, Heisenberg is the most similar to Mother Miranda. In his massive factory, he is alone except for his numerous experiments, the results of decades of playing God. In comparison to Ethan + Mia, Heisenberg represents artificial parentage, or more accurately, the artificial creation of "life". While the others Lords also performed experiments, they used living subjects. Heisenberg instead chose to use corpses, which he then "brought back to life" with cybernetics + his powers, a somewhat futuristic version of Dr. Frankenstein.

Together, Miranda and him show a rotten side of parenthood (whereas Donna + Moreau showed us the uglier side of the children themselves). To put it simply, they are bad parents. They throw their "children"/experiments into the fray, uncaring, using them as pawns for their own greater gain. The most important part of this is that Heisenberg offers to "help" Ethan: By using Rose as a weapon. In his act of refusal, Ethan demonstrates one of several important distinctions between himself and Mother Miranda. Where she is willing to use her "children" (read: lives that she is responsible for) as tools, he is not.

Miscellaneous Symbolism/Imagery:

The old hag is one of my favorite parts of Village. She's seemingly nuts, has a crazy old lady laugh, wears bones that make soothing bone noises when she moves, and she draws lots of symbols in the dirt. If you look closely (I can provide screenshots if anyone desires, but it will take a bit of work to get them onto my computer), she's drawing one of the most iconic images in the titular village: The winged unborn. This symbol acts as the key you build up after every fight with a Lord, understandably called the Unborn Key (which turns into the Winged Unborn Key). Whether this counts as foreshadowing towards the hag's identity reveal is technically irrelevant, but I like to think it does.

In essence, you build up the key, this depiction of an infant, to progress in the game. The more wings it gains, the closer you are to your goal of rescuing your child.

The cadou itself is very clearly fetus-shaped. Furthermore, the only place within the human body that we know it ever gets implanted is in the "tummy" (thanks Moreau), aka roughly where someone's womb is/would be. Every infected person we see presumably had the Cadou implanted there (though I think it would be interesting if implanting it in different spots caused different mutations. of course, that is a discussion for another day). To become immortal, you have to "bear" a "child". Does it get more direct than that?

Mother Miranda gained her immortality in part for her grief at the loss of her child. She embodied the despair that Lady D spoke of, becoming an eternal source of anguish. Just as the loss of a child is a wound that lasts forever, so too would Miranda last forever (well, until Ethan comes along).

Mia is a loving mother, who puts up with the BSAA making her move across the world, deals with the complications of having a mold husband and mold baby, and has proved herself (see her section in RE7) to be an immense badass. Previously I had forgotten that, and even embarrassed myself in the comments of another person's post by implying she wasn't a tough, ass-kicking machine. Y'all remember feral Mia? People talk about "poor Ethan's arms", but sometimes we forget that Mia was one of the people who did a number on them. Furthermore, she's one of the only living people (from outside the village) to have any connections (pun intended) to Mother Miranda. They worked together, although possibly not directly, on Evelyn. If anyone in Village has a chance of really understanding Miranda's plight, or knowing the truth behind it, it would be Mia. Yet we don't see them interact a single time. Which leads me to the next section...

Conclusion On Theme + Missed Potential:

Okay, okay, so it's pretty obvious at this point that, as previously stated, the game's theme is parenthood. Every section has its symbolism, the story is very obviously about a man trying to rescue his daughter, etc, etc, but what's the point? Is there a lesson, or a more focused interpretation of the central theme? Let's take one last step back, and focus on something I've mentioned a few times now: The comparison between Ethan and Mother Miranda.

Recurring dialogue from Ethan, Alcina, and Mother Miranda all point towards the developers acknowledging that the characters are similar, but there's nowhere near as much conversation about it as I would like. Several times we have the antagonists ask Ethan how he's so willing to kill someone else's child, or prevent them from (essentially) doing what he's doing (aka saving his daughter). While Ethan responds with a mix of "well you started it" and "aghhh fuck-a-you, bitch", there's a much more solid, unspoken difference: Mother Miranda sends her underlings to kill, so that she may revive her daughter. Ethan kills (read: does the work himself) to get his daughter. The difference is much bigger, and more important, at the end of the game, when we realize just how far it goes. Ethan dies to save his daughter. Time and time again Mother Miranda has killed others for her work, but in the end she is stopped when someone willingly dies to stop her.

Where does Mia come in? Mia, the badass mother, the one who once worked alongside Mother Miranda, should have been the nail in the coffin. She is the one who survives, who lives on to raise Rose, she is the silent solution to Ethan's sacrifice. Miranda, you fool, what could you have accomplished if you had held onto your makeshift family? Through Mia (and Chris, to a lesser degree), his "loss" becomes a victory. There's a certain poetic justice that comes with Rose's full family being instrumental in saving her, when Miranda so readily spurned her own family.

Mia could have had an actual conversation with Miranda, their history giving the latter a reason to actually listen. I'm not saying that Miranda would have changed her mind/plans, but the conversation would have been a well-needed contrast to Ethan's "arggg what the fuck is happening, I only have two reactions to things. agg fuck you". Additionally, I feel that Mia (who was captured and had to endure who-knows-what) deserves the opportunity to be the one who points out Miranda's mistakes, who delivers the final "fuck you" to her. More than that, she's the one at the end who can say that hey, maybe she can understand some of what Miranda did. Was there anything her and Ethan wouldn't have done to save Rose? As much as Ethan is a foil to Miranda, Mia could (and should) have played a similar role.

When so much of the story and symbolism revolves around Miranda's experience as a mother, it only would have been fair to shine a light on her equivalent. Her better.

There's more I wanted to say/feel like I didn't properly get across, and I might add more to this at some point, but it's 5:40 AM right now, and I'm starting to feel like my brain is slowing down, so... Feel free to reblog/comment and add your own thoughts!

#mother miranda #mia winters #ethan winters #rosemary winters #resident evil: village #re8 village #god what do I tag this as

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allgirlsareprincesses · 4 years

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I would like the salt on BatB 2017 if you would like to share 👀

Okay but.... let's just be clear that it's GROSSLY unfair because I haven't seen the whole movie, just a scene here and there. I am genuinely not interested in it for reasons listed below.

First off, I'm biased against all Disney live-action remakes on principle because they rely slavishly on references and callbacks to push the nostalgia button. They are, generally, afraid to depart too much from the original, except in ways in which they transparently attempt to shoehorn in "woke" moments. The whole effort is incredibly cynical and inauthentic, and the biggest problem with all of this is that these are often timeless stories which have SO MUCH POTENTIAL and can be told in so many ways, so WHY would they adhere so closely to one adaptation??? Further, when the movies are THIS similar, the remake can't help but suffer by comparison because it actually relies on familiarity with the original for its appeal in the first place. It's completely derivative from the beginning.

My feelings about this apply to all of the Disney remakes so far (that I've seen) with only one exception, and that's Kenneth Branagh's Cinderella. The reason that one works is because it does what none of the rest of them do, and that's adapt the Cinderella fairy tale instead of the Cinderella Disney movie. Yes, there are a few references, but the movie clearly stands on its own as a Cinderella story. You might never have seen the 1940s animated Cinderella, but you could enjoy the 2015 version and not feel you were missing anything. Even the iconic songs are replaced with one simple lullaby. Branagh just went out there and made his own Cinderella movie and it's a modern classic, IMO.

So, back to BATB 2017. The 1991 animated film was nominated for Best Picture that year, the first animated film ever to be so honored, and it went on to be adapted for a very successful Broadway show. So already while the live-action version had a high bar to live up to, it also had a lot of great material to draw from in the stage show. But then for some reason.... it just copies the animated movie, song-for-song, sometimes shot-for-shot. And.... the shots in the original are lovely, but they are the way they are BECAUSE of the medium. The storyboard artists in the 80s and 90s (specifically Chris Sanders and Brenda Chapman) were mostly animators before they were film directors. They composed shots for 2D animation. Working with a live-action set is VERY different, and things don't translate exactly. Something that is a stunning graphic in 2D can look cheap on film.

One of the ways that this problem shows up is in Belle's iconic golden dress (AND YES IT'S GOLD NOT YELLOW DON'T @ ME). I know most Tumblr folks are younger than I am, so let me just tell you that when I saw this movie in theaters in 1991, the whole audience went "Oooooooooo...." when Belle appeared in her ballgown at the top of the stairs. Like a loud, audible sigh. I can hear it in my mind right now. That image left audiences breathless. Emma's dress? Yeah, not so much. I mean, firstly, again, the yellow of the animated film is cartoon shorthand for gold, especially since you can also see they animated a shine onto the gown. Not that I think the live-action gown should have been lamé or anything but you can see from Cinderella 2015 that it's possible to make a gown appear to shine and sparkle without looking cheap. Then there's the boring neckline and lack of sleeves. I mean.... it's a prom dress silhouette??? Nothing about this screams FAIRY TALE PRINCESS to me. And of course much has been written about Emma's fEmInIsT refusal to wear a corset. And yes, I think they went too far with Lily's corset in Cinderella and that was not cool, but the fact of the matter is that corsets are what give period gowns their distinctive shape. And corsets are implied in the silhouettes of the animated films these new movies are based off of. So without it, and lacking anything else to give it the WOW-factor of the original, this dress is just visually dull at what is supposed to be the most romantic moment of the movie. Fairy tale fail.

Then, Emma's voice. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but I'm not a musically-skilled person AT ALL and even I cringe at the obvious auto-tuning. Whyyyyyy? I mean, first off, why did they even have to have the songs in this movie? Cinderella already proved that's not necessary. Second, if they WERE going to put the songs in the movie, why not hire the most talented singers they could, or give them all plenty of voice-training before filming? Because they MIGHT have gotten away with Emma's singing if the rest of the cast had been on her level, but when you have Luke Evans out there just BRINGING THE HEAT, and when you remember what the original with Paige O'Hara sounds like, poor Emma can't help but suffer by comparison. And then to auto-tune her is to just make even more obvious that her performance wasn't up to the standard they felt they needed. It's just uncomfortable. Further, auto-tuning loses the imperfections that actually carry most of the ACTING in a vocal performance, so it actually flattens the emotion of the song. This of course defeats the whole purpose of a song in film, which is to express emotions so strong that dialogue is not enough.

I have some other quibbles but those get into parts of the film that I honestly haven't seen, so I'll abstain. But let's just say that my main problem with BATB 2017 is that it didn't attempt to be an original retelling of Beauty & The Beast, and that's a shame because I think that could have been amazing. I might be in the minority but I truly enjoy the 2014 French film with Lea Seydoux, if only for the aesthetic.

I've really given up on Disney at this point. Right now they are just a nostalgia factory that keeps repackaging the same thing over and over. To me, the magic is gone.

#beauty & the beast #beauty and the beast 1991 #beauty and the beast #beauty and the beast 2017 #batb #batb 1991 #batb 2017 #emma watson #paige o'hara #belle #disney belle #disney live action #disney remakes #cinderella 2015 #Disney negativity #batb rant

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hanniiesuckle17 · 4 years

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i would like to bless your followers and dash, sooo can you give me a crash course in noir 😊😊

OMG YES OFCCCCCC💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

OKAY SO HERE IS THE DEAL

NOIR is a nine-member boy group under Luk Factory

(Not really pleased with how they are promoting my boys but imma get over it one day!)

Our fan name is Lumiere (or Lumi) and we don’t have any official colors or a lightstick yet.

Noir debuted on April 9th of 2018. With the mini-album Twenty’s Noir. Their title debut song was Gansta (SUCHA GOOD VIDEO)

They also had a predebut song called As a Star and it makes me so soft.

Their next comeback is on the 27th (THIS MONDAY!!!!!!) The album is called Up the Sky and the title track is called Lucifer

IM SO FUCKING EXCITED YOU HAVE NO IDEA

MEMBERS

Shin Seunghoon

Shin Seunghoon is our precious leader!!!!

(He was what got me into Noir. I saw a video about the best leaders in kpop and I was like)

He is 27 years old. His birthday is May 30th, 1993 (He is a Gemini)

Boy is tallllllllllllllllllllll

like he’s 5′10.

but in pictures by himself he for real looks like he is 6′2

istg he is like 65% legs.

ALSO MAN AS A RIPPED CHEST SORRY BACK TO REGULARLY SCHEDULED NOIRING

He is the leader, main rapper, and also sometimes a vocalist (but the rappers in this group pretty much fo everything)

HE SPITS FIRE when he wants to.

Really good at freestyling

He makes mixtapes on youtube on Noir’s channel. (I think he has 5 out now)

He is a college-educated man!!!! (He went to Korean National Open University

He took taekwondo when he was younger

The man trained for 8 years

He and Hoyeon compose and format a lot of their songs with a team of producers from LUK

(I often think he and Chan from skz are really similar.)

Seunghoon is legit a father of 8 soft crackhead kids. istg he is so done with them most of the time

We call him our koala because he looks like one <3

Seunghoon is obsessed with accessories and wearing them to the point where stylists literally have to take them off of him. (I have never not seen picture of him not wearing jewelry. )

he is actually in the military right now and i miss him so fricking much TT

All in all hot boy on screen and soft dad in real life

Kim Yeonkuk

this boy I cant

Kim Yeonkuk. Damn.

he was on Produce 101 season 2

he was eliminated on ep.5 :(

He is the lead dancer and a vocalist

Yeonkuk is 25 years old. His birthday is February 8, 1995 (An Aquarius)

is totally the aegyo king but denies it

he seems cold at first but has a big ass bright personality its so freakin adorable

my personal favorite clip of him is and the boys dancing around on vlive to big bang and him saying fantastic baby (its sounds so cute when he says it)

He is also a 5′10 tall boy

he trained for 3 years

THIS BOY IS SO FREAKING SKINNY SOMEONE PLEASE EGIVE HIM A HAMBURGER OR SOMETHING TAKE HIM TO TACO BELL

not kidding

his waist is so fucking small its scary.

Yeonkuk=stringbean

literally a walking meme.

pause in any interview and he is pretty much gonna give you a memeable face

this boy is so loveable and goofy

also if this boy doesn't post like 8 photos of him doing something on insta im convinced he thinks that it just didn’t happen

he never posts just one photo its always like 6-8

also I was highkey afraid he was gonna go bald last comeback when they legit turned his hair into smurfs pubes

Lee Junyong

Lee Junyong. When i say i love this man with my whole heart

also 25 years old

his birthday is March 1st 1995 (Pisces)

another 5′10 king

Main vocalist.

he is a former member of INX

his brother is Seungyong from N.CUS

he trained for 4 years

THIS MAN IS TOO ATTRACTIVE FOR THIS EARTH

vocals for days. VOCALS.FOR.DAYS.

Did a cover of BTS’s The Truth Untold with Siha and literally gives me chills.

He has little crooked front teeth so when he sings he has this tiny little breath in some of the words so his voice is even more distinct

BUT LIKE JUNYONG HAS THE CUTEST SMILE EVER (I love his teeth in that's a weird thing to say but i think they are so cute)

he is 1/2 of the Highnote Belting Club

talks. all. the. freaking. time.

he goes live alot

boy is obsessed with Yunsung someone save yunsung from him

total crackhead when not doing real interviews

never fails to make me smile

he is said to be the moodmaker of the group

APPARENTLY HE WAS IN ONE EPISODE OF MY FAVORITE DRAMA AND I HAD NO IDEA

he was in episode 6 of The Liar and His Lover

overall he is just so sweet and funny and its so easy to love him

Nam Yunsung

Yunsung is the Lead vocalist and Visual

24 years old His birthday is August 29, 1996

He is a virgooo

MAN IS 6FT EVEN

lead vocalist and LOOKS IT

he is the king of intense eye contact with the camera

he looks like legit prince charming

2/2 of Highnote Belting Club

weird af

istg he is the biggest crackhead

very extra. (as you can see in gif)

he calls himself a vampire because of his super pale skin

he trained for 4 years

he raps part time

HE ACTUALLY ENJOYS EXCERCISE

he hides snack between his bed and the wall but apparently daewon and junyong steal them

I think he rooms with junyong? not sure

Someone save him from junyong. boy is going to be smothered to death

ngl their relationship is really cute

he was also in Produce 101 S2 but left bc of health issues.

cutest thing ever and then turns into a devil onstage

a literal puppy

he is big fan of ateez and he and another member actually went to the groups first concert in korea

he is just so precious and weird

Kim Siheon

oml this smol bean

Kim Siheon god damn

He is 23 years old

Birthday is December 23, 1997 (Capricorn like meeeee)

also 5′10 babyy

Vocalist but also a rapper (he rapped suga’s part in their remix of BTS Fake Love)

LIKES TO BIAS WREKC FREAKING EVERYONE

Beware the Siheon

He has a hot older sister, Hanbit, from a group called Hot Place (Their debut song is called TMI and its pretty good.)

HOTNESS RUNS IN HIS FAMILY

he trained for 5 months

he really likes drawing and does caricatures of his members

he is the eyebrow king

idk his eyesbrows are just....

stylists do things to his eyebrows anf it just fucks everyone up

high key has the best fashion sense

others boys willshow up to vlive in like hoodies and he is wearing a freakin casual suit

BOY PLAYS TO WIN’

he is like a boss at every kind of game

claims himself to be sweet like “Heonie”

“Hi! I’m siheon! Heonie Heonie Siheonie!”

he is a litter quieter than the other guys

BUT he is so funny

he doesn't like spice on his food for some reason

yeah he's crazy

he trained for 5 years

he's just precious and hot and hot and really hot

Ryu Hoyeon

THIS MAN HAS GIVEN ME SO MANY PROBLEMS

Ryu Hoyeon.

So he is my bias wrecker. Boy climbed up my bias list so freaking fast

He is the main dancer, vocalist, and a rapper (he also composes and arranges with Seunghoon)

He is 22 years old

His birthday is February 6, 1998 (Aquarius)

anontherrrrr 5′10 babbyyyy

cheekkkkkbooonnneeeessss

SHARK BOYY

He says he looks like a shark and i agree

HE HAS A NICE FUCKING TORSO

There was a predebut photo of him half shirtless it was awesome

he was also on Produce 101 S2

eliminated on ep.5 :(

he trained for 2 years

He, yeonkuk, and seunghoon were in the Japanese tour of the musical Altar Boyz with Teen top’s Niel,2PM’s Chansung, and many others

he has a semi viral video of him

when he was a trainee / on produce 101 he was dancing to nct127 cherry bomb and had an unfortunate but quite hilarious accident (just look it up its funny)

sucks ass at games. every game. ever.

he is a low-key crackhead. he is a calm crackhead lol

VERY ATTRACTIVE

he used to have a youtube channel

you can still see his insta (leaderyoo) its so freaking cute and has predebut stuff of all the boys

he made their entire remix of fake love

he choreographed their song Diamond and also their cover of Taki Taki (which was very hot)

becomes a beast when dancing

he has an original chore to WEight in Gold that is very.......(insert eyebrow wiggle here)

has that dorito torso

(tiny waist and broad shoulders)

also thighs god damn

He is also a HUGE Vixx fanboy

Alter ego is DJ Ironman

He is very close with Siha, Siheon, and Yeonkuk

they turned him into a traffic cone for the Doom Doom comeback

he speaks a little bit of English (just a little bit)

all in all I'm completely in love with this man

Yang Siha

THIS MAN IS SO FINEEEEEEE (he's my bias btw I have never been so in love with a man other than jisung)

Yang Siha is just uugghghhh god damn

22 year old babyyyy

Birthday is March 9, 1998 (Pisces)

Lil baby is 5′7″ oml i love him

MAIN VOCALIST AND DESERVES IT

he likes watching youtube videos and anime

He trained for 1 year and 1/2

looks good in every freaking hair color

his voice does NOT MATHC HIS FACE

but not like in a Felix level way

He says his most attractive features are his “feminine features” (he says his unpronounced Adams apple and his small noes and doe eyes

HE HAS SMOL EARSSSS and i lovethem

close with Hoyeon and Siheon

but like his voice though

its so freaking pretty

it gives me chills

everything about him is perfect

he has tiny lips lol

he can play guitar

legit i swear his entire closet is black he rarely wears color

legit EVERYONE LOVES HIM

if someone is hugging anyone in a vlive or something

its siha

its always siha

everyone cuddles siha

i wanna cuddle siha. fuck.

for some reason I've just noticed this

the boy likes to wear long sleeves idk why

he also always seems to wear this one necklace Idk why but its so pretty and i really love that he does idk

he says his favorite song by NOIR is Travel (its also my favorite. its on their debut album and omg his part <3)

he is just so pure oml everything he posts on insta just makes me so soft

he is just so freakin cute and makes me switch lanes so fast

Kim Minhyuk

ooooof this cutie

Kim Minhyuk is something else

i just don't know what he is lol

Lead rapper and lead dancer

22 years old

His birthday is March 18th, 1998 (Pisces)

5′11 boy yes sir

ALSO A COLLEGE EDUCATED MAN

He went to Seoul Arts College

he has an older brother

apparently he cooks in the dorms

he trained for 1 year

he likes to play basketball

he really loves taking photos on his camera

he HATES bugs. its kind of funny ngl

he also is deathly afraid of balloons (i will not apologize for laughing at this one)

He and yunsung loooove ateez. they went to their first concert.

HE SERVES LOOOOKKKSSS

I think he is the most versatile member (look wise) because sometimes its hard to recognize him with each comeback because they change his style

he has these really cute big circle glasses he wear and just uwu

he kinda looks like Simon or Theodore from Alvin in the chipmunks in the best way.

he has a thing about jumping

like whenever he gets excited or happy he just starts jumping

he smiles like sunshineeeeee

even though he is the second youngest a lot of the members say that they go to him for advice

(probably cause he has permanent hold of one of the 3 braincells noir has)

he looooves girl group dances

especially twice

TIKTOK KING

He owns Noir’s tiktok pretty much. also their insta

he's a precious chipmunk

Kim Daewon

Thhis baby oml

Kim Daewon is the cutest thing since that fluffy little dog whose name i cant remember

20 years old

Birthday is April 18th, 2000 (Aries)

Lead Dancer, vocalist, maknae

PROTEC THIS BABY BOY

In pictures he looks tall af

actually...

5′7″ but looks like 5′4″

the cutest thing everrrrr

HIS CHEEEKS

the biggest fluffiest cutest cheeks

everything about him is smol except for them thighssss

trained for 1 year

he has one older sister

THE BOY NEEDS MORE LINESSSS LUK FACTORY GIVE HIM MORE LINESSSSSS

he goes off in the chorus of their b-side track “Between” though like fuuuuuuucccckkkk (lowkey one of my favorite songs by them)

literally one of the funniest people you will ever see

extra crackhead energy

makes all the boys laugh

he loves chicken and snacks (gotta keep those cheeks in top shape)

literally the softest boy

he's good at everything i swear

he likes to shimmy.

has a cute butt lol

he talks in tiny

literally the cutest maknae ever oml

I hope this helped guys!!!!! I really hope you can stan noir and support them in their comeback this Monday! I hope this helped @distrikt9 if you need videos or anything feel free to ask! I love sharing my boys. They really are so underrated. I did this so fast ngl. I've never typed so fast

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wr1t3-my-wr0ngs · 4 years

Text

Good Soldiers - chapter 4/4

Remembering Yesterday’s Tomorrow (In the Here and Now): Part 4 COMPLETED

Rex isn't happy with resorting to Plan B, however, he's not surprised that Plan A didn't work out. Disappointed, but he knew that it was a long shot getting a Jedi to intervene.

At least Plan B has the benefit of working before, but it will still be a bloodbath. Not even the best of troops can hope to match an armed and trained force user, and it's not vanity when he says that his men are the best.

He felt like a cheat when he had described the plan earlier.

"We lead him to the nearest Vixus."

"You want us to go near one of those things on purpose?"

Rex couldn't blame the men for their incredulity, not after one of the creatures had nearly eaten almost every person in the room only hours before. He's not exactly thrilled at going near the sarlac-like thing either. But they aren't fast enough to take Krell in a fair fight, not with his four lightsabers and absolute willingness to maim anyone in his path. (Too many limbs, too much speed, too little empathy.)

Every word from his lips felt like a lie, a stolen idea that he parroted as his own. In a way, they were. It had been Tup who had thought of using the Vixus to capture Krell, a stroke of genius that had ended a horrific fight, and it grates that Rex can’t give the trooper the recognition he deserves.

"What the Captains trying to say, " Fives chimed in after watching Rex flounder for a moment. "Is that we need this to be on our terms. He's not going to come quietly if he is a traitor."

Rex nodded, both in thanks and in confirmation.

"If you think you have a shot, take it. The faster the fight is over, the better it will be for everyone, but we need to aim to arrest him if possible."

"And if we can't?"

"Have your recorders on and let the bastard incriminate himself."

In true GAR fashion, the plan had spread like wildfire, and soon enough, every last soldier knew their task.

Rex hardly needs to issue the orders, but he does anyway, following the formalities because he knows that, despite what General Skywalker may sometimes claim, appearances and regulations do count.

The ride up the tower is quiet, and from the corner of his eye, Rex can see a few of the younger troops nervously adjust the grip on their blasters. He has to fight the urge to fidget or even reach up and place a hand over his ring, doing his best to project confidence for both the men and himself.

Krell is waiting for them, facing the window, one set of hands clasped behind his back.

"CT-7567, explain yourself."

Rex readies his blasters, switching off the safeties and aims at the Besalisk.

"Pong Krell, you are under arrest for treason against the Grand Army of the Republic and the Galactic State which it serves. Do you comply peacefully?"

Krell turns, malice written in his face and eyes.

"You know, I'm surprised you were able to figure it out for a clone. Tell me, when did you first suspect?"

Rex ignores the question, refusing to be goaded by the man before him any more than he already has.

"Do you comply?" He puts more force into his words than before, using a tone of voice he would never dare to use on a commanding officer.

Krell looks around, almost lazily, and takes in the various troopers - all with blasters pointed his direction – and smiles in a way that is anything but friendly.

"You think you can stop me, Captain? I have trained for more years then you have been alive, and I will not be stopped me some creature bread in a tube."

Without further preamble, Krell pushes out with the Force, sending every trooper slamming into the walls. Those unfortunate enough to have stayed on their feet during the assault are quickly cut down by the blue-green pair of saber staffs, and Rex watches from his place on the ground as the fallen Jedi jumps out the window.

He scrambles to his feet and rushes out the door, brushing past medics on their way in to try and stabilize those they can. He does not envy them their job, one which he knows will only get harder the longer Krell goes unattended to.

The sound of boots fills the night air as soldiers pour from the base and onto the hard pavement of the airfield. Krell is nowhere in sight, but the evidence of his departure lies scattered on the ground.

Passing the bodies that litter the ground outside the airbase doors, Rex has to swallow past the rising bile as he takes in his brothers: some still breathing, others lifeless. He charges on more determined than before, no time to pause the pursuit and tell the living from the dead before crashing into the underbrush.

The forest is quiet and incredibly dark, the helmets night vision thrown off by the red glow of the bioluminescent trees.

"Does anyone have a visual?"

"Negative Captain, he's —"

The sound of a lightsaber crackles through the comms, the distinctive hiss as it cauterizes and cuts, distorted and warped by the tiny speakers.

"You should have kept quiet, Captain."

The back of Rex's neck tingles as Krells' voice echoes around the landscape, seeming to come from all directions, shifting on a nonexistent wind.

"You've led them to slaughter in a fool's errand. I have seen the future Captain, your life, and that of every clone is expendable. You and your so-called brothers: specialized rats bread in a lab for just one reason. The Jedi will fall, and in its place, a new order will rise and rule. Yet you rebel in a misguided notion of liberty, and now your men will pay the price."

Displayed on his hud, Rex can see the blinking light of the recorder, and even though he hopes it won't come to it, they need a back up should Dogma fail to reach General Kenobi. He keeps Krell talking, shouting into the eerie red nothingness, turning all directions in the hopes of catching sight of the six-limbed man.

"You're a Separatist?"

Krell's laugh is merciless.

"Not hardly, I serve none but myself. But soon, I shall reap the rewards, and my new master will grant me a seat of power in the Empire that shall arise."

A twig snaps from somewhere above their heads, and it's all the warning Rex and his men get before Krell is in their midst, dual staffs slashing without remorse, skillfully dodging every shot aimed his way. Rex is too busy firing his blasters, shouting for his men not to get too close, to stay out of lightsaber range, to notice at first. Eventually, he hears the shout of his name, and the Captain spots one of the men signaling to something on the ground roughly fifty yards away. Despite his dread and increasing panic, he grins to himself, and relays the information into the comms, alerting all units to draw Krell his way.

Navigating the vine limbs of the Vixus proves challenging, especially with the Besalisk hot on his tail. He should have known that things were going too smoothly, should have expected that something would go wrong (and it makes him sick to his stomach to think, however briefly, that the death of so many of his brothers is according to plan). When it happens, it stirs up disappointed resignation and panic in equal measure. Time seems to slow as his foot catches on something, and he watches the rapidly approaching ground in horror, twisting at the last second to avoid landing face first atop his blasters.

His blunder is all it takes for Krell to be on him, lightsabers baring down with unnatural swiftness. With the adrenaline coursing through his veins, Rex freezes, and he can feel the heat of the green blade through his neck gasket as it flies toward its target. He should move, or fire a shot -anything- instead, his thoughts drift to Ahsoka.

Her skin set aglow by the light of a dying fire beneath a star-studded sky; dirt-covered and sweaty, kneeling next to him as they sew seeds on Lothal; graceful in battle, twisting through the air, elegant and lethal and incredibly kind.

All at once, the heat from the blade disappears and time reasserts itself, leaving the Captain momentarily disoriented until he can process the slashing of sabers far overhead as Krell battles against the vine wrapped around his waist. There is no time to berate himself for either his blunder or for freezing up, and he shoots to his feet, blasters drawn and firing.

Around him, his men are doing the same, some aiming at Krell while others aim for the flailing arms of the Vixus as it attempts to grab anything within reach. Undercutting the din of battle, Rex can make out the tell-tail click of blasters being switched from stun to kill, can feel the increase of energy electrify the air like an oncoming storm. A shot fires and between one heartbeat and the next, Krell is falling, having managed to sever a limb and free himself.

He hits the ground hard, and the shooting ceases, soldiers approaching with a careful tread, ready for the Besalisk to spring up. Instead, Krell lets out a ragged cough into the dirt, and Rex cautiously approaches, DeeCees at the ready, and carefully rolls the fallen Jedi onto his back. Blood gurgles from Krell's chest where a blaster bolt made its home in a lung, whether intentionally placed or a mistake is unclear and, frankly, Rex doesn’t care.

Krell has moments left, and the Captain is seized with the need to make eye contact with the force user one last time. Slowly, he kneels and pulls off his bucket, taking a moment to make sure he has the Besalisks attention.

"I've lived your future, " he whispers, quiet enough that the various recorders can't pick it up. "It doesn't last."

It is satisfying to watch Krell's face fall as he searches the force, feels the veracity of Rex's statement— Realizes that for all his gifts and abilities, a clone knows more than him. Satisfying to know that its the last thought he will ever have.

Words form on the force users' lips, but all that comes out is a cough followed by a rattling breath and then - nothing.

Everyone is quiet for a moment, as the enormity of what just happened registers with the gathered troops. Some take off their helmets, most simply stare in shock. It doesn’t last long; the area is still a live war zone, and all too soon, the sound of steadily approaching enemy bombardment draws everyone from their stupor.

Rex pulls on his helmet and orders everyone back to base. It takes some time, now that they aren’t running after the Besalisk - longer than it usually would have, considering they are hauling Krell’s corpse and the numerous wounded with them. Some of the men had wanted to leave him where he lay, claim that it had been lost in the darkness and confusion of the planet. But the Captain hadn’t wanted to risk being ordered to send anyone out on a retrieval mission. Didn’t want to risk losing more men over the fallen Jedi.

No one speaks as they trudge through the dark landscape, and in the pressing silence, one thought relentlessly hammers away inside the Captains mind:

What now?

His instincts still tell him that this isn't a dream, and Rex is still inclined to trust them. But with his mind no longer occupied with the survival of his men and himself, the doubts that had reared their head when he had woken have returned. Is this death? If so, what does it mean for him now that Umbara is over? Or if it's a dream? Or, even more daunting, what if it's not? What if, by some insane occurrence, its exactly what he thinks it is?

He’s no closer to an answer by the time they reach the base, and in his meditative state, he almost misses the arrival of General Kenobi’s transport.

“Captain!”

Rex has to work to keep his face impassive, even as he salutes (its a different kind of pain seeing Kenobi again then it was from seeing his brothers. Less piercing, more bittersweet, aching like a day-old bruise that you can’t help touching, just to make sure it's still there).

“General,”

“I would ask what’s so urgent that you would send a trooper to collect me in the middle of a delicate campaign, but your man was very thorough in his explanation.”

Behind the Jedi, Rex can make out Dogma - a little cut up and bloodied but in one piece - side-eyeing the trooper next to him. Rex’s heart stops for a moment as he takes in the distinctive orange paint of his batchmate. He should have known that where General Kenobi goes, Cody would follow, but somehow it hadn’t clicked. (Cody shifts and Dogma nervously straightens. There’s a story there, and Rex resolves to get it later —if there is a later).

If Obi-Wan notices the Captain's momentary discomfort, he doesn't say anything.

“We had hoped that you might have been able to assist us in dealing with Krell.”

“I see.” The Jedi pauses for a moment, taking the time to really look at Rex. His next words are terribly kind, and the clone's heart swells with affection for the man.

“How are your men, Captain?”

He thinks of Dogma, the betrayal and the pain that he knows the rookie must still be dealing with, thinks of his own distress at watching Krell cut down brother after brother and chooses his words carefully, voice low.

“We lost a fair number in the fight, and I think the men are more shaken they would like to admit.”

Obi-wan looks sad at the confession but nods understandingly.

“And Krell?”

“Dead, Sir.”

Someone comes up beside him; he's not sure who, but judging by the sound of the footfalls, he thinks its either Jesse or Fives. Looking confirms that its the former.

“Report?”

“All men accounted for, Sir. Wounded are being taken care of now.”

Rex nods.

“Get some rest; you've all earned it.”

Kenobi waits for Jesse to leave before he picks up the conversation.

“Who fired the shot?”

Truthfully, he doesn’t know. In the chaos and confusion, the blaster fire had blurred together. But it was his mission, his orders that the men followed, his responsibility. His fault.

“I did, sir.”

Obi-Wan sighs, looking pained, and Rex understands. A General is dead, an act that cannot go unseen to, regardless of if the general was corrupt or not —there must be a hearing.

"I'm sorry, Captain, but I'm afraid I have to place you under arrest."

Rex nods solemnly.

Appearances and Regulations, his mind supplies, and as much as he doesn't like it, he would rather it be him who takes the brunt of a Court Marshal than any of his brothers. Something he had taken into account when he had first come up with his plan.

Kenobi nods to one of his men, who steps forward with a pair of cuffs.

"Those won't be necessary, will they Captain?"

Mild amusement flickers through Rex at Obi-Wans tone, and he flashes a brief smirk at the General, who, despite the regret etched on his face, has an answering twinkle of humor in his eyes.

"No, Sir."

The trooper shrugs and puts away the restraining devices then reaches out and relieves the Captain of his DeeCees's, before leading him by the elbow toward the tower and the brig.

Behind him, the General calls out.

“We’ll get you out of this, Rex.”

He doesn't need to ask who “we” is.

----

Despite the exhaustion that has settled in his bones, Rex spends his first hour in the brig with his head in his hands, sedately running them over his buzzed hair. Various people stop by, sometimes offering updates, sometimes to provide words of support. They don’t stay for long, recognizing the fatigue, and leave the clone to himself. As a result, he doesn’t look up right away when he hears a set of boots approaching. What does make him look is the sound of his cell door opening, and he is just in time to see Fives, dressed in his blacks and some of his armor, walk-in before shutting the door.

"Hey, " the goateed man greets, walking over to the bunk and sliding down the cell wall, sitting on the ground.

"Hey." Rex returns.

They sit quietly for a few moments, both worn and weary from the horrors of the past 24 hours, the sound of their breathing echoing slightly off the walls.

"I didn't think anyone was allowed inside the cell."

Fives huffs in what could be amusement.

"I don't think anyone is taking your confinement too seriously after what Krell put us through. Pretty sure they would let you out for a walk as long as you have supervision."

They both laugh without much heart before lapsing back into a silence that seems to be building a soft sort of anticipation — a tension, not unpleasant or overwhelming, but constant and steady. The seconds stretch into minutes, all the while the anticipation builds, culminating in a sigh from Fives.

"I believe you."

Rex, arms resting on his legs, looks at his little brother.

"I can't explain it, but —” the ARC trooper shakes his head as if doing so will set his thoughts straight — “you know things. Things you shouldn't have been able to know. And I can't put my finger on it, but you're different, smile more but at the same time are so...sad."

He looks at Rex.

"And I don't know what it is or what it could be, but we've seen some crazy shit together. Dying and coming back to the past is as good an explanation as any. So, I believe you."

Rex doesn't know what to say, doesn't think they are words in basic or mando'a that can encapsulate the affection and love he feels for his brother. He settles for a smile, and it's probably wan and maybe a little teary, but he hopes it can say what he can't.

"Thank you." He tries, and the ARC Trooper nods, smiling back.

Fives eyes catch on something on Rex's person, and the blonde watches as his brother's face goes from understanding to curious.

"What have you got there?"

Rex looks down and sees his wedding band, still attached to the chain, in his hand. It's an old habit, fiddling with it when thinking or just bored, and he hadn't realized he'd started playing with it until his brother had pointed it out.

"Is that a ring?" Fives sounds positively gleeful, and he pulls himself up onto the cot, seating himself practically in Rex's lap to get a better look.

"It is!"

"Get off–!"

It takes some effort, removing Fives from his lap, and it almost dumps both of them on the floor in the process. In the end, they both stay on the bed, Fives leaning far too close into Rex's personal space.

"I didn't think you were the jewelry type."

"For the right person, I am."

He's said too much if the unholy grin spreading across his brother's face is any indicator. He would be more upset at his slipup, if it weren't for the matching grin, he can feel on his own face and the lightness in his heart he hadn't expected to feel for weeks.

"What kind of person could be crazy enough to catch your eye?"

"Watch your tongue, that's my wife you're talking about."

Fives' face is priceless as he processes Rex's words and their implications, and Rex can't help himself. The laughter that bubbles out of him feels both freeing and wrong; Wrong after all that happened, when so many of his brothers lay dead, after so much loss; Freeing, to know that he still can, that despite everything he did, Krell couldn't take this from him.

And he knows his vod'ika has a million questions, can see them flitting about behind golden eyes. He prepares himself for the onslaught when Fives opens his mouth, only for the question to be transformed into a jaw cracking yawn.

Rex shakes his head, amused and fond.

"Get some sleep, Fives."

His brother looks like he's about to protest when a second yawn overcomes him and grudgingly concedes the point.

Fives stands, one finger pointed at Rex.

"I want answers.”

"Later, " Rex promises, all but shoving his brother out of the cell. "Sleep well, Vod."

The door closes with an electric hum, and Rex makes his way back to the bunk.

Exhaustion claims him the second his head touches the pillow, and all too soon, he finds himself falling asleep.

He keeps falling...

Falling...

Falling through blood and death, the noise of battle raging around him. It is a kaleidoscope of sound and color, screams, and blasters blurring together until it's impossible to tell the sound of his voice apart from the bark of his DeeCees. Through it all, he spirals from battle to battle: the heat and sand of Geonosis, his armor still unpainted and new; to the frozen moon of Pantora, snow gear frosted over and growing heavier with each passing minute; the choking taste of the Blue Shadow Virus, each breath harder to take than the last, until all at once, his feet hit the deck, sending shock racing up his calves and spine.

The ambient noise of the star destroyer is defining after the chaos of the battles, the hum of hyperspace hardy even background to the ringing in his ears.

He can hear himself speaking, but it's without his permission, his words and actions separate from his thoughts.

“Yes, Lord Sidious.”

No, his mind screams, and within the confines of his own body, he rails against the inhibitor chip. No, he screams as the doors open, and he pulls out his blasters, leveling them at the young and confused face of Ahsoka Tano. He fights harder, thrashing against the walls of his skin, will be damned if he lets the order take him without a fight. Find him. Find him. Fives. Find him! FIVES!

Its a battle unlike any other, waged against himself, the most important in his life. But he cannot hold out, cannot win, and at the end of things, he fails. Mind exhausted and worn, he loses what little control he had scraped together, pulls the trigger. The programming takes over, and Rex can do nothing but watch as he and his men fire volley after volley at the former Jedi. Locked in the deepest corner of his own mind, he can only pray that they don’t find her as they comb the ship. Silently weeps when she steps out, distracted from the droids behind him long enough for the electricity to coarse through his body - vision going white.

The light spreads, at first cold and sharp, but soon enough gives way to the soft yellow glow of the morning sun filtered through closed eyes.

He's roused by the sensation of fingers lazily dancing over an exposed hip.

"Morning."

Her voice is light and playful, and he takes a moment to grin into the pillow before opening his eyes and looking behind him.

In the light of dawn, with the sheets pooled around her waist and sleep shirt slipping down one shoulder, she looks like an angel: her blue eyes sparkle, and the sound of birds caries through the open window.

"Morning."

He rolls over to face her, and she combs her fingers through his beard, eliciting a smile at the sensation.

“We slept in, didn’t we?” his voice rumbles in his chest. Beside him, Ahsoka hums, lips pulled up in a grin. There is a glint of mischief in her eyes that holds the promise of something more, coy and inviting, and no small amount exciting.

"Just a little."

“Then we better get up,”

He can’t hide the smile in his voice, but two can play at this game. Rex sits up and makes a show of stretching - careful not to look at her or else lose his resolve- and he can feel her eyes on him, searing into his skin. In his mind's eye, he pictures her smile growing, teeth bared, and cheeks dimpled. A quick peak confirms his suspicion.

“Long day ahead of us, can’t start if we’re still in bed.”

She slides up next to him, turning his face toward hers with a delicate finger, one of her white eyebrow marks raised in challenge.

"Is that so?"

Her grin is infectious as she settles herself across his hips in a fluid motion, her head tails swaying with the movement. He brings both hands up to her waist both to steady her and to hold her close, thumbs running gentle circles over ochre skin.

"Prove it, Captain."

She leans in and kisses him, slow and deep, and he lets his hands wander underneath her shirt. Over soft skin and up, following the dips and curves of her body, feeling the strength hidden there. Her hands wander in turn, roaming over his chest and arms, slipping under the waistband of his sleep pants. He can feel her tremble oh so slightly under his touch, muscles coiled with anticipation. It spurs his hands higher, fingertips ghosting over sensitive flesh, cupping a -

A loud bang jolts him into consciousness, and Rex instinctively reaches for the warm body that should be there with him. Instead, his hands find nothing but air, and it takes him a moment to process the too harsh lighting and hard metal bunk, the hum of the energy shield that separates his cell from the rest of the room.

For the second time in as many days, Rex's mind must grapple with waking up after expecting to never do so again. But for the first time, he has more than an instinct or a gut feeling to go off of. He's in the same room, the same place as he remembers last being, has two sets of memories for how yesterday went down, and it pushes the few doubts he had left about his reality from his mind.

The future as he remembers it plays out in his mind's eye, and the question from earlier pushes to the forefront:

What now?

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marithlizard · 5 years

Text

Thoughts on RWBY v7 finale, “The Enemy of Trust”

Okay, finale, it's you and me. I've heard some eyebrow-raising things. Let's see what you've got.

Neo vs JNRO! My money's on umbrella girl, even at four to one.

Oscar's really getting along with this team. I won't be surprised if sometime next volume they officially invite him to be the P(ine) in the reborn JNPR.

Yep, short and sweet. She had a bit of fun there, and she was never in any danger.

I'm really appreciating the option to watch the fights at half-speed on the RT site and actually catch some of the clever moves.

Cinder's fighting style is quite different here than it was in all previous volumes. Remember the bow, the telekinetically controlled black glass shards, the Maiden fire and the giant sword? Right now she's leaping about acrobatically in melee with two short swords. If the face was different everyone would take this as an entirely new character. I get that it's cool to try new things, writers, but I miss the consistency.

So she specifically despises the privileged elite of Atlas. Can't blame her for that.

Okay, consistency or not I have to admit the aerial combat is visually fantastic. Winter's gryphon and Penny charging Cinder from opposite sides, followed by fire and ice colliding, wow.

Background music also doing its usual stellar job.

Penny says "I...disagree" in exactly the same tone of voice Adam used, and for exactly the opposite reason. That's a cool parallel and I'm sure it was intentional.

Oscar lagging behind out of breath. He's smaller and younger and is years behind everyone except Jaune on training, it makes sense. Also probably not using Aura to recharge stamina like the others.

Oooh, I knew it wasn't Nora instantly by the body language. Neo moves very distinctively, it's great.

And she's had lots of practice in imitating the person you love at the right instant to make you hesitate. Poor Ren.

You don't normally yell "Drop your weapons!" and simultaneously open fire unless you are intending to kill rather than capture. I guess the soldiers are assuming that Huntsmen will survive any kind of damage a normal person can dish out. Which is...not a safe assumption for Oscar I don't think. Ugh Ironwood your stormtroopers are dumb.

Ren is crying oh no

Annnnd Neo just toddles off with the lamp. I love that short officer with short ponytail look on her.

FRIA WAKES

and she is AWESOME

(Her eyes are the same blue as Ironwood's, it does make you wonder. We never learned her last name. )

Ren with an understandable lack of perspective. He's thought of Huntsmen as the pinnacle of combat badassery all his life, when really it's just a benchmark of competence along the path. I suspect there aren't many people alive who could defeat Neo, outnumbered or not, and most of the people who can are god-tier.

Maria's kept a low profile all volume because she has no patience for the high-level strategy and arguments and politics, she sure as hell isn't going to run grunt missions, and she'd last ten minutes in a room with the General before smacking him in the knees or possibly the nuts. But she was ready to charge in with the logistical support the instant that arrest order went out on the net. I just...love her. She is the best.

"I was supposed to protect the power of the Maiden until I was ready. I worry I may have lost track of time...but you can tell James that I'm ready, now." People were worried that Ironwood was holding Fria prisoner, forcing her into a sacrificial death. But the way she says that makes it very clear that she wasn't pressured. He specifically told her when you're ready. And he waited as long as he could.

Ironwood apologizing to Winter with so much regret in his voice. Look, you may hate him, but the writers don't, that's abundantly clear. And I don't either. This is a classical Greek-style tragedy unfolding before us, a good person being destroyed as their inherent fatal flaw meets the worst possible circumstances for it.

Oscar descending in the elevator, standing just like Ozpin. That is an eerie sight. He's going to imitate Oz as much as he can because Ironwood has been asking for Oz all along. ...and it's going to backfire as a strategy, isn't it.

"And....whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with?" "Still just me." But you're leaning on your cane as you walk just like Ozpin did.

Someone suggested applying Blake's "embodiment of a word" idea to all the characters, and the word I thought of at first for Oscar was innocence....but it's not, is it. Oscar is the embodiment of sincerity. He means every word of his offer to reconcile. How could anyone resist?

...Apparently Ironwood can. And I see it, I do. If this is a chess game, then protecting the king - the relics - is ultimately the only thing that matters. All the other pieces are expendable. Oz and Oscar and Ruby represent the opposite approach: every piece matters, and what's most important is not to win the game but to preserve the board, to keep it all going.

(If they'd told Ironwood all the way back in ch2 that as far as they know Salem can't be killed, would he have adjusted his perspective? I believe he would have, but not all the way. There's a fundamental difference in mindset. Lois Bujold talked in one of her books (Brothers in Arms I think) about how people are drawn to the romance of the hard choices. If you've believed all your life that hardship and painful sacrifice are necessary and inevitable, you get proudly attached to them in a way, and you tend to be skeptical, at best, of anyone who claims they can be avoided. I've been thinking about that a lot this volume.)

Uh.

WHAT.

You were having an argument, a heated but peaceful one. Why would you suddenly draw your weapon and shoot a teenager off the edge of a cliff? One who was offering no physical threat to you at all and who you could certainly have overpowered and arrested? You arrested Watts, who was trying to kill you, nearly destroyed your kingdom, and made you nearly tear your own arm off. Why would you murder Oscar?

You wouldn't. This makes no sense, just like Clover and Qrow fighting each other instead of teaming up against Tyrian makes no sense. I was hoping there'd be context in this case but there just isn't. The RWBY writers wanted dramatic scenes here and they didn't think the fans would care about anything else as long as it looked cool.

And this is new in v7, IMO. While I've certainly had some quibbles with the writing in past volumes, I don't remember anything remotely like this. Nothing so huge that I can't handwave or rationalize or say that it's a minor story element. I'm a Watsonian, not a Doylist; I hate having to say that something is just plain bad writing.

Ugh. Okay. Moving on.

That's a fast-regrowing Grimm arm.

I was expecting Penny to say "No, it's not me, it's supposed to be Winter," but she's really hesitating. After the conversations they've had she's not sure the power should go to Winter. There's nothing personal about it, no ambition. Penny has been acting exactly as a Maiden should from the moment Fria first saw her, her every instinct to protect and help.

Uh, y'know, Winter, you could SHOOT CINDER during the many seconds she's writhing in helpless agony there. You don't have to stand there and wait till she's ready to fight again. Sigh.

That said, the sequence of Oscar falling, power building in him and Penny, the silver eyes etc is stunning.

(that little twirl Oscar does, like a shoujo magical girl. cute)

holy carp there are still ten minutes left.

I don't think you're correct about fear being the common denominator, Oz, but I'll shut up and enjoy your very fine speech.

Winter makes her choice...and she's not surprised that Penny chooses differently. Opposed to the heroes or not, I do think it's a good thing for her to stay at Ironwood's side. Somebody sane needs to be ready to take over there sooner or later.

Penny getting support from Ruby and Weiss, yay.

This can't be easy for Pietro. He's loyally helped Ironwood for decades, and he's not exactly in good shape to live the outlaw life.

Cinder, continuing to piss off her only ally. Despite being the antagonist in a boss fight she felt...weirdly irrelevant at the end of it. So much so that she just quietly left when no one was looking.

"It's gone." Well, now that's an interestingly vague way to put things, Winter. Are you protecting Penny? Withholding information from your boss is, as we've seen, not something he reacts well to.

Watts has an implausibly nice cell with a beautiful view.

I think that's a quarry Oscar has fallen into, or perhaps the outskirts of a mine. He and Oz have a LOT to talk about and I would really love to actually see the conversation next volume, writers. For a change.

ooooookay yep that's a flying murder behemoth whale. I was expecting to be reminded of FFX's Sin, but it's got a vibe more like the whale from Pinocchio. My vote for a name is therefore Monstro.

Someone's dressed to impress her ex.

....Hmmmmm. You know, I didn't see an actual army of flying monkeys. Is there one? Is it inside the whale, or in that black cloud? Or does Salem have something else in mind?

"Fear" does seem like a song from Oz's point of view, but I don't feel it expresses his - or their - personality. It's not the image song I'm still waiting for. But then, quite a few characters still haven't gotten theirs.

Well. I'm on board for volume 8, hopeful the writers will make better choices, and curious to see how we're going to START a volume with an ultimate boss encounter. That's not a thing I've seen a story do before.

#rwby #spoilers #v7 spoilers

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kagemajaya · 4 years

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pet - A beautiful and tense journey through the peaks and valleys of memories

Winter 2020, Geno Studio - 7/10

Hiroki appreciates the idyllic imagery of the landscape of memories

This season has been bountiful for me and pet was one of the main contributors to this success. Despite my avoidance of tense and emotionally exhausting topics, going through pet was easy. First and foremost, pet was a champ in the department of visual storytelling and I expected nothing less from my favorite director Oomori Takahiro. Whilst I don’t always fall in love with all the stories he adapts into anime, I know that he will never make a show that underestimates its audience and that the story will always have heart. And pet didn’t disappoint.

The main attraction of the show for me is the depth of emotion and the psychological struggles it portrays in characters I actually care about. Of the main foursome, Hiroki was an immediate favourite with his sweet, naive and just nature, followed by an interest in his “boyfriend” Tsukasa, mostly because of the creepiness he exuded but also because he still wasn’t unlikeable - he did really care for Hiroki. Their relationship, of course, was a big draw in itself - immediately intimate and full of innuendo, much like the rest of the narrative around the co-dependency between image users who give and receive peaks from each other (peaks represent the best memory that make up the entire psyche of a human being.) This almost surface-level subtext never disappointed despite all the drama surrounding each other’s value in each of these four characters.

I’m not one to say no to an intense bout of connecting in memories.

In some cases the relationship drama made me sad - because why couldn’t Hayashi prioritise Tsukasa? Why was it always Satoru who came first? It gave me a dark pleasure in some - Tsukasa’s intense need for Hiroki to be with him drowned out his need for Hiroki to be okay. He just needed him around no matter what. In others, it made me stray away from the emotional core a bit - who cares about this supernatural Chinese mafia and their politics? I’m not one for the gangster stories. I need beauty and elegance in my crimes rather than grit. I was also a bit suspicious about the extremely over-the-top vibe in some dramatic scenes. Tsukasa confronting Hayashi felt almost hammed up to me.

At the end of it all, pet delivered a finale that made the uninteresting bits suddenly interesting and made the interesting but confusing bits all the more deep. A lot of the drama was actually caused by the limited emotional capacity of these four, who had a different developmental period than normal people. They couldn’t create their own memories and they didn’t feel their own emotions until someone else came to save them. The nicer, more naive and newer pets like Hiroki and Satoru felt exactly like that - pets. They were not treated as equals and were clearly tricked into all sorts of situations they didn’t want to be in. More importantly, they didn’t even want to think, they didn’t know how to form their own opinions, but despite the lack of basics in emotions, they still grew those. It was easier to see that they were indeed limited in their capacity to not feel (because they felt a GREAT deal) but in their capacity to make sense of it and control it.

The older, cleverer characters like Hayashi and Tsukasa looked well-adjusted on the surface until past halfway, where we could see the cracks in their armor. Hayashi prioritised his younger “child” Satoru, not because he didn’t love Tsukasa but because he thought Tsukasa could have been a lost cause in the hands of the Company, whereas he had been able to take care of Satoru till recently. Thinking back on it, this fact didn’t make me feel relieved for Tsukasa because in the end he was relegated to a secondary position, but it made sense. Hayashi was not cruel, he only had the capacity to prioritize one particular feeling (or person in this case.) He had even thought of Hiroki and wanted to bring him out despite not even having met him but more than anything he had to get Satoru out.

Hayashi’s protective feelings for Tsukasa were more hurtful than warm. After all, he was always the “too.”

Tsukasa, himself, was acting in a lot of scenes but this was not true for all scenes where he was emotional - despite giving the impression. The confrontation scene with Hayashi was as hammed up as the scene where he was putting on a performance for Satoru, but the truth is he was just unable to express himself in a way that was genuine. His emotional baggage was of course far bigger than this. After all, he even groomed himself a perfect pet after he was betrayed by his peak giver. He wanted someone to trust and he could only trust someone who would be on his side unconditionally. His actions (and thoughts) made it obvious that he didn’t see Hiroki as an equal, but the question is was that also his feelings? If anything, Hiroki (and Hayashi) were put on a pedestal and he could not live without them. However, he didn’t really understand how to go about keeping them without thinking about himself first. He had been self-centered for so long that it was impossible to think of anything other than himself. He’d never learnt to.

Tsukasa’s perfect world.

And the Company - I didn’t care about this plotline until the last episode where the connection between Katsuragi and LianLian was revealed. And what a way to end it! Suddenly I was emotionally connected to the evil goon, doing the bidding of his superiors and nothing else the whole season (and he had no gay storyline to boot, so a tough sell for me :)).

The sad ending was coming from miles away - but pet also surprised me in that regard. The ending could be viewed in two different ways. The source material had been a completed manga for a long time until recently, in which case, it looked like the “stupid” ending of the naive pets, looking optimistically into the future, never likely to have what they want. We do now know that a sequel is starting that focuses on the lives of Tsukasa, Hiroki and Satoru after this point, and I, for one, am excited to see a somewhat happy follow-up to this tense but strangely sweet psychological drama. We might end up finding out about more rules surrounding how memories and images work (though that plot itself is not necessarily my main concern.) And who knows? Maybe Hiroki and Satoru will really bring Tsukasa to their peak and Tsukasa will relearn how to make memories and they will live happily ever after. A girl can dream... Though I still must add, the conclusion is a perfect one as it is, not entirely sad, but really just two fool’s dream that we can also choose to believe in.

The peak that bestows hope on all who is destitute

Putting aside the story elements, the show itself is crafted superbly both visually and narratively. The imagery was almost never outright explained but always visible and giving a pleasant rush to me when I noticed them.

Don’t kill the innocent pets! They understand nothing about the evils of the world they live in.

The dissonance between thoughts, feelings and actions of the childish but equally deep main four was showcased well in all dialogues, but especially in the confrontation scene between Tsukasa and Satoru in episode 12. Both characters didn’t suspect they were wrong despite both of them being half-wrong. The pacing of the dialogue allowed both their thoughts and actual words to be conveyed but also showed us in great detail how underdeveloped they were emotionally. Their understanding of those external to them was somewhat complex, it’s not like any normally raised human being can figure out all the things that were happening in that situation, so it was realistic that they wouldn’t understand it all. More importantly, their self-awareness levels were way below the threshold that would allow them to flourish in a cruel environment, surrounded by people who were hellbent on taking advantage of them and seeing them merely as pets. It made for a fascinating watch - the cleverness of it all was the depth of the characters who I’d classify as idiots in a lot of ways. As someone who very rarely enjoys idiot characters, I’d call this experience an orgasmic pleasure.

Takes one to know one.

One last word about Ueda Keisuke, the seiyuu of Hiroki. The genuineness and sweetness portrayed in the character hugely owed to the great voice work of the actor. I had heard him in Oushitsu Kyoushi Heine before as the titular character Heine and noticed his distinct tones, but hadn’t felt anything beyond that. Hiroki’s performance, however, affected me to my core. Looking back on Heine now, I really appreciate the sense of distinctiveness he can grant the characters he plays. Heine was not an attractive character for me, so I didn’t care at the time as his voice fit him perfectly - it was not particularly attractive. With Hiroki, he put on a performance with a completely different range of emotions that retrospectively, I can put Heine together with Hiroki, and see what a great voice actor he is. Here’s hoping for more roles for Ueda in the future! (Apparently he is a stage actor as well, but selfishly, I hope he becomes a full time seiyuu.)

Ask me again in that voice, you sweet little child.

The overall tension and the focus on two young men and their relationship, in addition to the matter of their survival within a gangster world remind me of Banana Fish but I must caveat that I intensely dislike BF for failing to do all the things pet did perfectly - from a genuine relationship and real characters other than the very main character, tragedy as a harrowing storytelling medium rather than the sake of having it there (and without respite,) drama that is not cheesy despite being over-the-top in places (with good reason) and imagery that served the narrative which closed the loop, without leaving any threads untouched.

As the pull of the show is the emotional co-dependency between the male cast for me, I have a hard time narrowing down my actual recommendations for pet. There are so many of them, and they are not necessarily similar to the show in other respects. I will name a few of my favorites here if you are up for gay love/obsession as a theme in tense, non-romantic anime, with characters who aren’t quite in touch with their emotions: Shigurui, Saraiya Goyou, Kenpuu Denki Berserk, and 91 Days might do the trick. Let me know your thoughts!

#anime #anime rec #seasonal anime #series review #anime review #pet #pet_anime

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 6 years

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20 Reasons you should love Spider-Girl!

Happy May Day one and all. Since this day shares a name with a certain daughter of our friendly neighbourhood wall-crawler (and because this year marked her 20th anniversary) we’re going to list of 20 reasons you should love Spider-Girl!

No deep dive analysis I am afraid and these are in no particular order.

Without further adieu...

Longest running female Marvel hero with her own series

In a day and age when much discussion is devoted to female characters in leading roles Spider-Girl was something of a trail blazer, though she gets far too little credit for it.

Spider-Girl was (and still is to my understanding) the longest running female Marvel character to have her own solo-series; at least without any re-launches.

This feat is even more impressive considering Spider-Girl was an out-of-continuity series which usually do not sell as easily as titles within the mainstream 616 universe.

Her costume

When discussing Spider-Man’s costumes thought inevitably drifts to Spider-Man’s original red and blue outfit or his black and white one. However the third horse in the race is the 1996 costume created by Ben Reilly and thus lovingly nicknamed the ‘Spider-Ben’ outfit.

It is simply a brilliant and beautiful design succeeding in evoking something unique and yet distinctly ‘Spider-Man’.

Whilst anyone coming to the black costume completely cold and with no context could be forgiven for mistaking it for an entirely different character (as Ron Frenz did way back in the early 1980s), nobody could look at Mayday’s costume and not realize it has something to do with Spider-Man.

Shifting around elements of the classic costume Mayday’s outfit succeeds in maintaining a balance of primary colours (as the best superhero costumes do) and making her distinct from any artistic angle.

The costume also (according to superstar artist Sal Buscema) in fact works more effectively on Mayday’s feminine form than on the typical male superhero body build.

Her other costumes

The beauty of Spider-Man’s black costume lies in its simplicity. However this doesn’t mean it is above being redesigned and around 20 years after its debut one of the key architects in its introduction (Ron Frenz) did just that when he created a black costume for Mayday.

Much like her red and blue outfit, her own black costume succeeds in being unique but retaining most of the strong visual elements that made her Dad’s counterpart outfit a hit. Sleek, simple and using white/silver in moderation to create a stark contrast this is probably Mayday’s most out and out badass look.

But Mr. Frenz had one more trick up his sleeve. In 2015 as part of the Secret Wars mega event Marvel was involved with Ron Frenz took to redesigning Mayday’s costume once again. Her previous appearance in Spider-Verse had controversially seen her hang up her original costume in favour of wearing one of her father’s old suits.

Quite apart from how the costume simply didn’t work as effectively on the Mayday’s female figure compared to Spider-Man’s, fans didn’t take kindly to the change. Apparently neither did Mayday’s co-creators Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz and so we wound up with yet another costume that combined elements of Peter Parker and Ben Reilly’s costumes together to create something once again familiar yet ultimately unique.

Whilst most Spider-Girl fans would’ve preferred a return to her classic look the costume unto itself has been acknowledged as a beautiful design.

A true all ages book

The majority of Spider-Girl’s run played out in a day and age when the content of comic books was going down an allegedly more ‘realistic and mature’ direction.

Titles such as the Ultimate Universe line, though paying lip service to being aimed at younger readers, were far from being for all ages. This was very much true of Marvel and DC as a whole throughout the 2000s and early 2010s.

Spider-Girl was a brave exception to this trend, actively engaging in sophisticated and at times challenging stories that nevertheless presented events in a way that tweens, teens and adults could enjoy.

Survival of cancellations

Infamously Spider-Girl lived under a near perennial threat of cancellation.

But Mayday’s fans were both too smart and too in love with her stories to let her go under.

Repeatedly they exploited their knowledge of the pre-ordering system LCSs use and saved Mayday’s series from cancellation.

No comic book has ever defied expectations and escaped cancellation more times than Spider-Girl.

Tackled tough and relevant subject matters in a frank, mature and realistic way without being grim dark

As I mentioned above, Spider-Girl was an all ages book but that didn’t mean it stayed away from tough subjects.

More than once Spider-Girl used mutants to discuss bigotry and prejudice.

Issue #26 of Mayday’s first series was a vital turning point for the narrative and it fundamentally hinged upon addressing issues related to suicide and the vicious cycle of abuse that can exist within families.

Multiple subplots touched upon women being physically and emotionally abused, to the point where the topic was brought up in the very issue where Mayday celebrated being the longest running female Marvel character. This is best exemplified in Spider-Girl #89 which has one of the most uncomfortably realistic pages in a comic book I have ever read.

Perhaps most audaciously one issue dedicated an entire scene to talking fairly frankly about the topic of abortion and making the characters’ stances on the issue very clear. What is perhaps even more impressive is that this was the second time that writer Tom DeFalco had dared touch that subject within a Spider title.

Regardless of what your personal views are on that or on any of the topics above, the sheer guts of the creative team to ‘go there’ must be admired and respected.

Consistent art that also has amazing action sequences!

Spider-Girl has been drawn by several artists across the years but the two most dominant ones are Pat Oliffe and Ron Frenz.

Whilst both artists evolved their styles across the run of the series there was enough relative consistency that the book rarely felt alienating to long time readers.

And it helped that both artists’ styles are just beautiful.

Oliffe leans more towards illustration and makes the characters seem realistic and yet fluid at the same time.

Frenz is more of a cartoonist and yet his art is not usually overly stylized and manages to retain the iconic features of each character he draws. His rendition of Mary Jane for example could never be mistaken for any given typically attractive redhead, it looks distinctly like Mary Jane evoking Romita Senior’s design for her.

Not only are each artist great in their character work but in their raw sequential storytelling craftsmanship. Nowhere is this more evident than in their well paced, cleverly choreographed and all round dynamic action sequences. At the time the stories were published (and even today) you’d have been hard pressed to find any action sequences in Marvel or DC that could rival those of Spider-Girl’s.

Continuity porn and fan service done right

Dan Slott’s run on Spider-Man has in the past been criticised of indulging in ‘continuity porn’. That is to say utilizing or referencing past continuity excessively to the point where it either takes you out of a story or outright undermines a story itself.

Spider-Girl demonstrates how continuity and fan service can be done well given the right context. There are in fact probably a million times more continuity references and examples of fan service within Spider-Girl’s whole run than in Slott’s collective Spider-Man bibliography.

The difference though is that the continuity Spider-Girl first and foremost concerns itself with involves organically building upon previously established events, whether it’s from its own series, Spider-Man’s wider history or Marvel lore in general.

Case in point Spider-Girl’s debut storyline hinges upon continuity surrounding the DeMatteis/Buscema run of Spectacular Spider-Man as it shows us Harry Osborn’s son following in his father and grandfather’s footsteps by becoming the new Green Goblin. He is even arrested in a scene that is framed near identically to a scene of Harry being arrested in Spectacular Spider-Man #189, whilst singing a variation of the 1960s Spider-Man theme song no less. Furthermore the climax of the issue takes place at the site of Gwen Stacy’s death, which happened in another Goblin story and Mayday’s first words as Spider-Girl are also her mother’s famous first words from ASM #42.

We are talking layers and layers of continuity here. But it never goes to the point of alienating readers, being obnoxious or hurting the stories.

The most significant and obvious ways in which the story (and any Spider-Girl story) utilizes continuity is the way continuity is supposed to function. That is to say it provides good world building and verisimilitude for the story and characters so that they can grow and react to events (and their repercussions) in much the same real people react to events in their lives day-to-day.

And the other references found in the story are subtle enough to not alienate new or casual fans, but still provide a fun nod for those in the know. Critically though for those in the know such references never grow obnoxious because they serve legitimate story purposes as well.

Every time in a Spider-Girl story where Mayday or Normie say, do or are simply drawn in a way that references old stories starring their family members it is touching upon the fundamental themes of family and legacy that define the series. It creates a subtext that spells out how they are the inheritors of their families’ respective legacies and have their ancestors’ traits within them.

And this is just me looking at one story.

You could make a whole series dedicated to just spotting various continuity Easter Eggs scattered throughout the series.

Revived the Hobgoblin

Remember back in 2010 when Dan Slott launched the Big Time era and there was a lot of chatter about the apparent return of the Hobgoblin?

The reason for the chatter was due to Hobgoblin being a major league bad guy during the iconic Roger Stern run of Amazing Spider-Man and his return marking the first time he’d be appearing in well over a decade.

Well guess what? Spider-Girl had Slott beat.

During the build up to her 100th issue the Hobgoblin was dusted off by DeFalco and Frenz (who used the character extensively during their own iconic run on ASM in the 1980s) and reintroduced in all his glory, proving to be one of Mayday’s most formidable foes.

For many Spider-Girl fans Hobgoblin was actually an even more effective villain for Mayday than he ever was for her father, owing much to the gap in their respective experience levels.

It might have happened outside the mainstream Marvel Universe but for many people at the time (and I’d bet many people who read through Big Time) this was the true return of the Hobgoblin.

And a more magnificent comeback you couldn’t have asked for.

The best symbiote character ever!

Symbiotes have traditionally been divisive within Spider-Man fandom, with seemingly few readers neutral on them. More often than not you either love them or you passionately despise them with the rage of a thousand burning suns.

Much of the latter point of view is owed to a perception (right or wrong as it may be) that the symbiotes are shallow and one note characters that emphasise style over substance.

To such detractors I present for you April Parker, a.k.a. Mayhem!

She is a clone of Mayday (or is she?) who also has DNA from the Venom symbiote granting her both the spider powers of Peter Parker and the symbiotes metamorphic abilities.

Putting aside the clever word play going on with her names, Mayhem has genuine substance to her character. She struggles with issues of identity desperately wanting to legitimize herself as the ‘real’ Spider-Girl as opposed to a clone and also make good as a superhero in her own right, but much like Venom (albeit far more successfully) her approach to crime fighting involves a desire to use lethal force in direct opposition to Mayday’s philosophies.

Her relationship with Mayday is beautiful in its complexity and contradictions. She views May as a usurper of the life that rightfully belongs to her and competes to outdo her in and out of their costumed lives; hence naming herself April, because it comes before May. But she nevertheless cares for May as a sister and can become violent when believing her to be threatened or harmed.

The dynamic between the two also ties into themes and relationships from the Clone Saga, as Mayhem is a combination of all three of Peter’s clones (Spidercide, Kaine and Ben Reilly) and his relationships with each of them has commonalities with Mayday’s and April’s relationship.

And on top of all that...she just looks drop dead cool.

Organic continuation of canon stories

Spider-Man is fundamentally about responsibility and there is no greater responsibility than family. This has been a hallmark of the series since literally Peter Parker’s first appearance.

Whilst Spider-Man’s series (when done right) emphasises family as part of the broader theme of responsibility, Spider-Girl flips the script and instead makes family and the related theme of legacy the primary point of the character and her adventures.

Thematically this makes Spider-Girl an organic continuation of Spider-Man’s story but more than this the nuts and bolts of the series and the universe built around it honestly feel totally believable as a continuation of the Marvel universe, or at least as it existed circa 1998.

All the child and teen heroes of the regular Marvel universe grew up to become the main heroes of Spider-Girl’s day and the surviving old guard adopted mentorship and commander roles within the superhero community.

As for Peter Parker and Mary Jane, if you took them circa 1998, gave them a baby and cut to 15 years later they’d be near identical to their Spider-Girl counterparts.

Various subplots within Spider-Girl also follow through on being an organic continuation of the Marvel universe of the later 1990s. One of her villains, the Black Tarantula, was last seen in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man as a young boy fleeing the influence of his father who wished to make him the new Black Tarantula. John Jameson and Ashley Kafka who were seen dating in the 1990s are shown as married in the world of Spider-Girl. Johnny Storm is the leader of the Fantastic Five which includes a grown up Franklin Richards. Normie Osborn becomes consumed by his family’s legacy of evil and becomes the Green Goblin, etc.

A robust rogue’s gallery

I admit it. Spider-Girl has neither the best nor the most original villains out there.

But I will say this...she at least has a rogue’s gallery.

In all honestly think about just how many superheroes out there honestly couldn’t say as much. Maybe they have 5 or so villains to call their own and be reliable sources of conflict but by and large try naming 6 villains Carol Danvers has consistently had personal one-on-one encounters with across the decades...besides Moonstone or Doctor Minerva.

Try doing the same for the Black Panther when you exclude Klaw and Killmonger.

You’d not run into such a problem with Mayday though

Super villains are vitally important to a superhero series and having some to call your own that you can definitively say are your rogue’s gallery is something to be proud and protective of. As Geoff Johns proved on his run on the Flash, villains are what you make of them. So even if Mayday doesn’t have the best rogue’s gallery she at least had the scope to never run out of opponents to challenge her and rivalries to explore.

Additionally, what made her rogue’s gallery special was it’s healthy mix of relatively original foes, her own spins on classic Spidey enemies and a handful of Spidey’s old foes (for example Hobgoblin).This created a robust villain pool from which to draw stories from as they allowed the creative team to explore similar power sets from a different point of view, pit a Spider character against a whole new type of opponent or explore Mayday and a villain’s identity via contrasting her battles with her fathers’.

It gave the Venom symbiote a character arc

In 1984 Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz introduced the world to what would later be revealed as the Venom symbiote. Though they weren’t involved in every step of its consequent development in their own little universe they gave the symbiote a poignant death scene that totally re-contextualized its older appearances, granting it emotional layers, sympathy and a beautiful character arc. Oh and it was also the first ever example I know of where the symbiote was referred to as female.

It inspired things in the 616 universe and MCU

Much like the return of the Hobgoblin the MC2 universe both pioneered ideas later repeated in the mainstream 616 Marvel universe and also directly inspired concepts later introduced within it as well as the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

These include: making Cassie Lang a superhero called Stinger, giving Jessica Drew a son called Gerald, giving Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne a daughter named Hope, introducing a villain team named the Savage Six, making the Venom symbiote female, granting the symbiote to a supporting cast member and making them a hero, introducing an A.I. Iron Man suit programmed with Tony Stark’s brain patterns, giving Wolverine a daughter, and other stuff I am sure I am forgetting.

It could make lemonade out of terrible lemons

Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz were nothing if not inventive problem solvers during their time on Spider-Girl. In particular they had a knack for making something worthwhile out of a bad situation.

In the 1990s a new female version of Doctor Octopus was introduced and roundly lambasted by the fan base faithful. Was this criticism unfair? Maybe...then again her plans did almost exclusively revolve around nonsense involving virtual reality.

Nevertheless the Spider-Girl creative team dusted off the character and introduced her afresh, doing away with her old schemes and playing her as a more straightforward and down to Earth villain who could easily overpower Mayday. Though she had but a few appearances it ultimately redeemed her character.

More significantly though when Dan Slott as part of Spider-Verse controversially killed off Mayday’s father and established her as now wearing his old costume DeFalco and Frenz decided to do a follow up story that believably and touchingly showcased Mayday’s grieving process and moving on.

Though most were unhappy with the situation that existed they nevertheless respected and appreciated the creative teams’ never flagging efforts to serve the character.

Actually involved the parents instead of killing them off as would be the cliché

Many critics and readers have praised Kamala Khan and other recent superheroes for subverting the typical superhero clichés of having dead parents.

However Spider-Girl is a precursor to many of these modern series. In fact as mentioned above her parents being recurring characters was essentially the wholesale point of the series.

And they weren’t just there as background characters either.

Through subplots such as their new baby and accepting April Parker into their family Peter and Mary Jane were given subplots of their own that were organically woven into the wider fabric of Mayday’s life.

Whilst Peter would on occasion suit up and go into action as Spider-Man, act as a mentor and dispense fatherly advice when necessary, MJ got to be a counterpoint to Peter and had two issues focussing almost exclusively upon her character.

Mayday was a brilliant fusion of her parents

Speaking of her parents, one of the charms of Mayday’s character was how believable she was as the child of Peter and Mary Jane.

This is evident from her very first appearance.

Like her mother Mayday is very popular and on the higher echelons of the high school social ladder. And yet she is scientifically inclined and friends with the ‘nerds’ as well as the ‘jocks’.

She has Peter’s hair and eye colour and sense of guilt, but her mother’s facial features and outgoing personality.

In a very real sense she is the embodiment of both of her parents’ best qualities.

The first ever digital Marvel series

Not much to say about this one.

Marvel Unlimited is huge now but once upon a time in the earliest days of its predecessor service Spider-Girl blazed the trail as the first and to y knowledge only digital Marvel series.

It was an all-ages female led comic book series at a time when none of those things were strong sellers

In addition to being an all-ages female led book, Spider-Girl deserves major, major credit for existing as those things within a marketplace actively hostile to them.

These days as much as digital series or female led books might struggle it must be said the playing field is far kinder to such books than it was in the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s.

Outside of some big names like Batgirl or Wonder Woman making a female led book an ongoing success was a profound uphill struggle doomed to fail as Marvel and DC were far less open to the idea that there was an untapped market of female fans, let alone a notable segment of their existing fan bases that were female. In truth there is a case for neither company having figured how to exploit those facts in the near decade since. The point is that female led books were a rarity and expected to fail more often than not. And yet Spider-Girl tried and succeeded in spite of that.

The same was very much true of an all-ages book. Though these had arguably better success in the 2000s then female led books they were still books that lived on borrowed time and yet despite being able to ‘course correct’ this fact the creative team stuck to their principles and resolutely refused to fall in line with the sensibilities of most of other comics of the day which were almost outright rejecting the idea of younger audiences.

The ultimate Spider-Man legacy character

Take your Miles Morales and your Miguel O’Hara’s and go home kids, because Mayday is without a doubt the greatest legacy character Peter Parker could ever ask for.

What makes Mayday so brilliant in this regard is that because she is Peter’s daughter isn’t just a legacy to Spider-Man but to Peter Parker too.

This provides a totally realistic justification for why she shares so many similarities with him and yet because she’s been raised differently and has her mother’s influence in her too she can zig where Peter zagged.

When she does act like her Dad (or her Mom for that matter) it is satisfying to the readers because we see her parent(s) in her. It’s a little bit like if you have an old friend and then see them in their children and how they act. Because we love Spider-Man, we love seeing Mayday honour his heroic legacy as well as just be like our old friend in her general personality.

And when she does act differently to how we’d expect Peter to behave, it brilliantly helps shine a light upon who Peter himself is as a character because we are so intimately familiar with who he is. At the same time it subtly clues us into what Peter is like as a parent as he had a hand in shaping Mayday to be the kind of person who’d act in those different ways he would have in similar situations.

This is beautifully demonstrated in Mayday’s debut story where she doesn’t need tragedy to drill the old great power/great responsibility lesson into her head. In fact she doesn’t need to be taught that lesson at all. She intuitively knows it because her Dad made sure she grasped it better than he did at her age.

Then you have her costume. It is of course Ben Reilly’s old Spider-Man suit and as such was conveniently custom built to work as evoking Spider-Man’s look whilst being its own thing. Which is exactly what you want out of a legacy character. Something unique that nevertheless honours and reminds you of the original.

The fact that it is also Ben’s design enables Mayday to serve as a dual legacy to both her father and her Uncle Ben.

And there you have it. 20 reasons you should love Mayday. Now head over to Marvel Unlimited and check out her adventures!

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becomethevoidstuff · 6 years

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November-December 2018 Featured Creator

What is a Featured Creator?

Write Way Studio’s “Featured Creator” segment is my way of showing appreciation for the creators of the world. Creative outlets are limitless, because there is no end to human imagination. Every month shows the succeeding featured creator. If you would like to be a part of this collaborative project, contact me at [email protected]!

My thirteenth guest creator is an artist known as Neri!

Introduction

This wonderful person goes by Neri. She became twenty-six years old this September. At her request, I will provide only a basic idea of what she does in the real world: being an adult and building up her portfolio for the workforce. She has graduated from higher education with a concentration on visual arts. However, she did realize with Contemporary Art that it was a field not too aligned with her personal goals. The style is “too limited and specialized public” while she wishes for her creations to be “more open to [the] general public.” Despite her thoughts on the field, she still appreciates and values the experiences she learned along the way, such as printmaking and textiles.

Now, with her blog? She mostly creates fan art and a few original pieces. Because it is mostly fandom-oriented, the blog is separate from both her personal and professional lives. She values her privacy a great deal, which is why most of her work on the blog lacks personal commitment. She has participated in fanzines (better known as fan magazines) as well as related projects. To name a few: Present Mic Zine, Love Is . . ., BNHA Tarot Project, and What Makes a Hero Zine. Until the projects are completed, she cannot disclose any more details about them!

What Sparked the Creator Passion?

O Ye of Powerful Spite . . . Or Was it Fandom?

Believe it or not, spite was a powerful force for Neri when she was younger! She always felt an urge to control the world around her any way she can, and the only safe way to do so was by creating her own pieces, from custom logos, newspapers and more. But there was is also the innocent yet obsessive beauty in fangirling. She evfrusten went to the point of producing a family portrait with everyone in classic Sailor Moon apparel!

Eventually, her spite evolved into a deeper appreciation for the world around her. The frustration persisted, though. Creating is a part of her now, nothing else to it.

Taking It Seriously

However, it would be a while before she realized she truly placed more effort in her work. She noticed other people at school being passionate just like her. They worked together on improving their craft and extended invitations for others to join the drawing club. Her best friend at the time introduced her to the realm of fanfiction forever ago.

Since then, she has become a fandom sponge, becoming inspired by anything in her spectrum, like dreams, patterns, and synesthesia, to name a few. A few artists and mediums have also inspired her along the way. Takehiko Inoue, Dave McKean, and Akemi Takada list a few figures of hers and they are all from the Eighties and Nineties. The same period’s fashion sense helps too! The artistic backgrounds in animation (especially by Aleksandr Petrov) and darkwave music sneak their way in as well. All of these features help create an atmosphere, the most important thing for Neri (except maybe the subject matter).

Future Projects

In concerns for the future, she does not have any immediate plans that do not involve fan creations. The account she uses for her lovable fanatics is just meant for fun, after all!

Where To Find You? Support You?

Neri is found on a few places on the World Wide Web! If you are interested in a commission or just have any questions, let her know right away!

Social Media

Tumblr @rubeedo

Pillowfort as @nerirubeedo

Remember, every little bit counts if you would like to support her work!

All about Commissions!

Support her with a cup of Ko-fi!

Last Tidbits

When Neri creates her artwork, she can imagine the music that would accompany it immediately. She had previously been invested in music, including creating an orchestra as a teen! It may also just be a natural occurrence for her – her mind matches colors to particular music notes and other details, such as textures and astrology. The sensations never really turn off either. She also can imitate fonts by hand!

Important Notice

Please understand that some information will not be shared by the creator’s request. If you cannot understand that, there is not much more I can do to help you. Safety is a top priority here, and I am here to help the creators, not instigate negative behavior.

Collaboration Disclaimer

The information provided in my Featured Creator articles is, in fact, from the real people, not some random Internet bot. I do not use random stock photos to fill an imaginary photo quota. Any photos in the Featured Creator segment are provided by the creators with permission to use them in this manner. I want to support the original person behind the work, not a random online copycat creeping around.

To Neri,

Thank you very much for your patience with me on this! I know I’ve left you waiting in the dark during a lot of it. If you must blame someone, blame my college education – I have to get my graduation stuff together a semester early (a new thing they started this year apparently!) I know that is not much better, but it’s something?

Honestly, I think you are a wonderful person and I am very happy to have this opportunity to work with you. I love your work and its flair. The potent energy you slip into each one is brought out by the bright colors and contrasts with the distinctive thickness of lines that I just adore. It generated an adventure to look at your work. I hope you have the best time in the future with your personal goals, whatever they may be!

Sincerely,

Jasmine Love

MLA Citation (8th edition)

Neri. Personal E-mail Interview by Jasmine Love. November-December 2018 Featured Creator Collaboration, 26 October – 19 November 2018.

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fictionfromafar · 3 years

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The Untameable by Guillermo Arriaga

The Untameable

By Guillermo Arriaga

Translated by Frank Wynne & Jesse Mendez Sayer

MacLehose Press, Quercus

Guillermo Arriaga is a Mexican author, screenwriter, director and producer whose previous books have been translated into 18 languages. I awaited the release of The Untameable with high anticipation as it is Arriaga's first novel since he rose to prominence as a screenwriter on the Oscar nominated Babel, 21 Grams and the BAFTA winning Amores Perros. Seeing the latter movie upon its release really was my first insight into Mexican life; the clever interplay between three different story lines which are brought together by a car crash remained very vivid for me. By chance I actually re-watched Amores Perros shortly before hearing of this book.

The Untameable is an epic read which clocks in at just over 700 pages and alternates between two storylines. The primary focus is upon teenager Juan Guillermo who lives within one of the lower middle class barrios of Mexico City in the 1960s. The second is the tale of an Inuktitut hunter named Amaruq who starts tracking a wolf in Yukon in the far north west of Canada in an initially undeterminable time. The book also features a series of short passages relating to various historic events and folk stories from around the world the purpose of which later become clear to the reader.

The English translation of The Untameable has been completed primarily by esteemed translator Frank Wynne who has translated many outstanding works from Spanish and French. These include The Blue Hour by Alonso Cueto (shortlisted for the 2013 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize), The Siege by Arturo Pérez-Reverte and all translated titles by Pierre Lamaitre. As is the case for those novels the translation is flawless and the language always fresh. Arriaga’s talants as a screen writer enhance his storytelling which is vividly told, leaving a very strong impression of the key characters and their surroundings

Juan is the first person narrator of his part of the story and we join him at the age of 13 during a hot Mexican summer living at home with his family. This consists of his parents, grandmother, elder brother of 6 years Carlos and their pets, a brindle boxer called King and their Australian parakeets Whisky and Vodka. No sooner do we have a chance to visualise his family setting, than we are ominously informed that he will the only one to remain alive over the next 4 years. Tragically the first to go will be Carlos who we learn will be murdered.

The Untameable is marketed as a coming of age novel which is partly true but it is also so much more. There is an obvious crime, in fact multiple crimes, it’s part a historic novel, part romance and it’s also a tale of long awaited revenge. From the storylines in Yukon it is also a travel adventure. Little wonder that renowned Colombian writer Santiago Gamboa calls The Untameable one of the best books he has read. Juan’s story is always absorbing as it builds to the details that scarred him most, his desire for retribution and atone for his own regrets while the story from Yukon gradually evolves bringing new components to the book which only link at the conclusion.

Juan tells us his story on a mainly reflective basis. We learn how his life was saved through blood transfusions and about his experiences at a private school which his parents could barely pay for. An early injustice he faced is when he is expelled yet a wealthier child is not. It is just the start of an examination of the inequality and misfortune that will tarnish the experiences of Juan and the lives of his family. His older brother Carlos is the most enterprising family member in tough economic conditions. Having received a chinchilla as a birthday present starts to breed them for their fur. There could be scenes that some readers may find upsetting in respect of the treatment of the chinchillas and local stray cats, also in Canada where some animals are trapped. However I would state that these are not intentionally graphic. I interpret these being shown as part of methods to develop and preserve the protagonists livelihood rather than to needlessly harm. The brothers have refused requests to put their dog into dog fighting for financial gain so there are no scenes like viewers may recall from in Amores Perros.

A lot of the interaction with neighbours comes from the boys moving from rooftop to rooftop. While Juan and many of the other local boys were raised without a strong religious faith, another group known as “The Good Boys” follow their twisted interpretation of the bible. Led by Humberto they try to recruit other younger boys and preach to Juan and his friends for a while. Our narrator realises the contradictory nature of their beliefs:

"On the one hand everything that happened was the result of Divine Will: “God willed it so” on the other hand the Devil was lurking everywhere, waiting for the opportunity to tempt Man and lead him from the path of righteousness.”

Effectively this group are “an army in training”, fundamentalists who with the consent of the local priest dispatch punishment to those who are Jewish, Communist or are believed to carry out immoral behaviours such as homosexuality. They attempt to draw Juan and his friends into what is effectively a clandestine death squad. Juan is in denial of their true harm at first as he is far more interested in his discoveries of William Faulkner, Jimi Hendrix and his first regular sexual experiences.

We also learn of the corrupt policeman Zurita. The captain is more concerned with getting a cut from illegal activities than stopping them. As Carlos’ businesses expands into other areas and he continually refuses to cooperate with Zurita, his enterprise eventually makes him a target for The Good Boys. Before we learning of the events that are to unfold Juan uses biblical images to describe how his life is about to change: “then came the plaque of destruction, and the locusts of death devoured everything in their path.”

While Carlos is trying to keep ahead of his enemies by monitoring unknown cars and finding regular hiding places, there is also a battle of wits on the Canadian tundra between Amaruq and a giant grey wolf he calls Nujuaqtutuq. The beast is luring him further northwards where the chances of both finding food are slimmer. Amaruq is under a belief this particular animal is one his grandfather warned him about:

"Of all the wolves you will see in your life, one alone will be your master.”

The descriptions of the landscape in the Canadian scenes are as detailed of those in Mexico City so that you can virtually visualize them. This is a key feature of this book, the details of the settings are always vividly relayed without detracting from the narrative of the story.

The strength of the characterisations particularly mark this book for distinction. Juan sustains our support as the main protagonist throughout his troubles. His grief for the accumulated loss of family members is palpable and his reactions feel realistic. There are very lifelike stumbling blocks at the start of his romance with the once promiscuous Chelo as they borh try to adapt to the terrible circumstances that life has thrown at him. He receives a sympathetic role model after meeting Alives as they both belong to the “community of orphans.” Juan is protective of the family pets and even adopts the fearsome Colmillo who could not be tamed by his owners. Humberto is almost Juan’s polar opposite but there is enough given about his own background to develop him as a convincing character. In this barrio in late 1960s Mexico City it is those that portray themselves as good are those who carry out the most evil of acts. We see Juan wrestles with his conscience and desire for a settled life with Chelo against his determination to exact revenge; knowing that there will be consequences for him. He would be breaking an unwritten rule: “victims could not be aggressors, and if they did, they were declaring war.”

The Untameable is an exceptional novel. It addresses sudden bereavements and attempts at reconciling these during adolescence, it tackles themes of societal inequality and corruption, the complete lack of morality in some locally organised religious groups and more widely the concept of vengeance. It is a fascinating tale with contrasting textures, writing styles and literary references. Its length should not be a deterrence due to the multiple storylines, timeframes and themes within the story. If any of these intrigue you then I would urge you to read The Untameable. Ultimately this is a captivating chronical of one brave boy’s struggles against almost unsurmountable challenges which will hook you in, immerse and captivate you right until the end.

#crime fiction #crimeintranslation #latinamericancrimefiction

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mandelsmusic · 7 years

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Playlist & Analysis

I have created a playlist consisting of ten songs for a journey to Mars. There is a link at the bottom to listen to this playlist but this is my in-depth analysis of each of the ten.

My first song on the playlist Space Oddity by David Bowie. This song not only fits the theme of our cosmic journey but also takes listeners on an individual journey of their own. Space Oddity an influential song which has been used in the media landscape of today and past decades, causing a timeless renown reputation. The production on this song features fascinating panning effects, which make the listening experience “out of this world”.

Following Space Oddity, I have chosen My Way by Frank Sinatra. This song is notably bold in its lyrics and speaks to me in a very meaningful way. In this song, Sinatra takes a retrospective look at his life, recognizing his regrets and losses, not everything he did was right, but through it all, he did it his way, and he was proud of that. This is a true song to the legacy Frank Sinatra left on the music industry because following his death no one could quite do it “his way”. Recently, my good friend’s mother passed away after fighting a courageous battle against cancer. The thing that stuck with me after her untimely death was that as she passed, her last wish was to hear My Way. For the length of time that I knew her, she had always had cancer, but lived such a bold and exciting life that you forgot she even had it. Through it all, I truly believe she lived this song to Sinatra’s intentions. In the face of great sickness, she lived her life her way, and that is something I will always remember.

Next in the queue is Tiny Dancer by Elton John, a classic anthem that I believe will never grow old. Growing up in Los Angeles, this song always spoke to me. I thought it was the vague mention of “LA Lady”, or the fact that my mom always played it in her car, I couldn’t figure out why I loved this song so much. Earlier this year, Elton John released a music video 45 years after the release of Tiny Dancer. The music video depicted individuals living very different LA lifestyles, but all singing along to Tiny Dancer as they crossed paths. The music video captured the beauty of both LA culture and the song itself, and most importantly it captured what the song meant to me. No matter who you are, where you are, or what you are doing, this song has the power to unify a set of complete strangers because everyone knows the lyrics. While it isn’t Rocket Man, I believe my fellow astronauts and I could benefit from blasting this one together.

Next up is If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out by Cat Stevens. When I was younger, my father used to drive me to my soccer games, and we listened to an eclectic set of tunes, ranging from Garth Brooks to Weird Al Yankovic. If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out stuck to me as a track I particularly enjoyed my Father’s unique playlist. But the significance and beauty of this song is the lyrics. I always found that my Father emphasized these lyrics in his parenting, allowing me to “sing out” and do whatever I put my mind to. Both he and my Mom have always been there to support and encourage me throughout every step of my life. I need this song as a reminder that I have the loving support of my parents wherever I travel.

Taking a break from the classics, my next song choice is from my favorite rock and roll artist, Jack White. Jack White is behind so many influential songs and bands and to choose just one song to represent his repertoire is a challenging task. I have chosen one of my favorites, You’ve Got Her In Your Pocket from The White Stripes early album, Elephant. Jack White has always fascinated me as an artist because of his distinct branding. For each band he is in, as well as his solo career, there is a different color scheme and a new persona presented which allows the listener to understand Jack in a different aspect each time. The White Stripes had a color scheme of red, white, and black and played bold inspirational ballads. Jack White’s current solo career has a color scheme of blue and black, representing the change in his style of music to somber rock songs centering around the challenges of love. It is very important for music to be both seen and heard. White’s attention to design and branding adds a vibrant concept to his artistry and shows his anthology of sound through brands he has crafted over the years. I love and respect Jack White as an artist greatly and cannot live without at least one of his songs.

Another musician who I draw inspiration from is John Bonham, the drummer for Led Zepplin; he was truly was the backbone of the band and created a unique sound from jazz but applied it to a rock aspect, thus changing the possibilities for rock as it had not been seen before. The band captured this interesting drum beat by using the Glyn Johns recording method which had not been seen before but after, was widely used by most bands because they loved the amazing quality and simplicity of the technique, consisting of 4 microphones. But the band was able to work so well because Bonham was able to get in sync with the guitar player; typically, the drummer gets in sync with the bass player to get the best rhythmic feel but Bonham got in sync with the guitar player and if you listen to Fool in the Rain, you can see the tightness between the guitar and drums as they change constantly through the phrases. Within Fool in the Rain, the drumbeat is absolutely insane! Bonham plays a steady polyrhythmic 4/4 beat, meaning that he is playing two beats simultaneously; the first beat is executed through the triplet high hats which are accented by opening and closing them and adding ghost notes on snare in between; yet Bonham adds a twist by doing a swung half-time shuffle with his bass and snare drum which is difficult on its own. Although the beat is challenging on its own, he adds more difficulty by play with the piano and guitar which are a 12/8 time signature which adds a syncopated triplet feel to the song that anyone can groove to. To me, Bonham is what made Zepplin great and in totality, it was his drumming within this song that truly allows an audience to groove to.

The next song chosen has a lot of sentimental value as a musician; Nights & Weekends by Cold War Kids was the first song that I ever recorded. It was the song that motivated me to expand my skills and learn about production. I began by listening to every individual instrument track and was amazed by the production quality, with the smooth transition from electronic type drums to an ambient acoustic sound that comes in strong for the chorus. I was truly inspired by the album as a whole because it was a different direction that Cold War Kids portrayed; originally being a band that produced songs focusing on the problems of and containing an instrumentation of a rock band, Cold War Kids tried a different approach, adding electronic samples on top of the live drums into the piano and guitar heavy tracks. I was motivated to make my rendition of this song because I loved the vibe of the entirety of the album but this song in specific stuck out because of the catchy chorus and interesting transition from electronic to acoustic drums. I also really love the organ and feel that it should be used as a staple for their sound. My initial recording was very poor in quality being that it was my first recording ever and I was using a single microphone for everything, yet I recently redid it to show how I have evolved as an artist and I find that there is still room for improvement, though it is decent.

Transitioning from this, I Sumatran Tiger by Portugal. the man which is also known as the endangered song. Interestingly enough, there were no digital copies of this song but instead 400 copies of the hard copy record were produced and eventually the record, made out of polycarbonate material, would stop playing and become extinct. The message clear, if we do not do anything, then the species will go extinct. Portugal. the man created this song with the intent of the song becoming extinct unless reproduced. But this exclusivity tactic is very fascinating and has been practiced by many artists such as Jay Z and Beyoncé, ultimately it doesn’t work because eventually it will go to other streaming services but this concept of extinction unless shared within the community is like no other. Not only is this a genius tactic to promote the preventing from extinction but it is also an amazing song. Sadly, it will be overlooked by their one hit wonder Feel it Still but the endangered song will forever hold a place in my heart being that it is a masterful medley of instrumentation, high pitched male vocals, and a message like no other.

Directly after this, I have chosen Alright by Talk. Talk is a band I was honored to become apart of during my time at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU this past summer. I chose to put this song on my playlist as a reminder that you can accomplish great things if you work hard. As a band, we wanted to create a song that encapsulated all of our diverse musical talents. I am very proud of our band’s hard work on this track. My primary role was as a drummer, but we all worked hard on co-producing, branding, and managing to create a cohesive end product, that sounds pretty good. But taking leadership for this band, we produced a book that is like no other, which gives the consumer a visual representation to enjoy as they listen to the song.

To close out the playlist, I have selected Do You Realize?? by The Flaming Lips. I honestly love everything about this song form the beautiful instrumentation to the incredibly powerful and realistic lyrics. The Flaming Lips adds tasteful elements to transform the track to a galactic melody by using robot generated noise, crazy synth sounds, and random church bells. Wayne Coin, the lead singer of the Flaming Lips, inspires me as an artist through his authenticity and creativity. This is one song I cannot live without.

Check out the playlist on youtube!

Rock On,

Justin Mandel

Follow me on Instagram @mandelsmusic

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undttype · 7 years

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Interview on practice

1. Can you give me a brief summary of your professional persona? Who you are, what education or experience do you have? I am a type designer, graphic designer, tutor and researcher based in London. I have been involved in a wide range of graphic design projects, in both commercial and cultural spheres. I have also developed and participated in projects that critically challenge the relationship between intellectual property (e.g. copyright) and creativity. This has included collaborations with The Libre Society and Remix Brighton as well as being partner/art director of LOCA Records. The works produced by these collectives was released under copyleft licences, which means they are free to copy, edit, and distribute, the only condition being, any derivative works must remain equally open and attribution is given. From 2001–2009 I worked with the internationally renowned Barnbrook studios, designing cultural identities, numerous publications and several typefaces. In 2006 I returned to university, completing an MA in Cultural and Critical Theory (2008) and later a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (2011). This lead to a shift in my career, as I became much more interested in research and education. I am a senior lecturer on the Graphic Design BA at Kingston University and Associate Lecturer on the MA Visual Communication at Royal College of Art My work, both as a practitioner and researcher, explores the contemporary and historical interplay between typography, technology, and society. I am especially interested in the discursive norms of three distinct groups: typographers (type designers); graphic designers; and coders and the effects that has on the visual-materialisation of language. This research draws on the theories and practices associated with these fields, including: History of Typography, Graphic Design, Media Theory, Communication Theory, Cybernetics, combined with insights from Critical Theory, Digital Humanities, Critical Code Studies, and Aesthetic Philosophy. This research has been published and presented at a number of international conferences, including: McLuhan Galaxy: Understanding Media, Barcelona, ATypI Reykjavík; xCoAx in Porto; and more recently at Face Forward in Dublin. 2. What are your strengths? 3. What are your weaknesses? I’m not interested in responding to these questions as they are part of a managerial interviewing system that is geared towards identifying a candidates capacity to manipulate language and their experiences so that they are always positive. I have interests that I consider important and that informs my research and work. See previous answer. 4. Are there any highlights from your career so far?/ What are some of your greatest accomplishments? To date, the highlight is undoubtedly my work with LOCA Records closely followed by my teaching/research. LOCA was a project instigated by musician and critical thinker, David M Berry, that I got involved with at the outset. LOCA was very much a laboratory for exploring methods and approaches and building communities and networks–and in that sense it was as much about the people/culture as the work we produced. It radically reshaped my understanding of design and transformed my career. From a personal perspective, it gave me the confidence to do an MA in a subject that I had very little knowledge of which in turn lead to me getting involved in higher education. From the perspective of graphic design discourse, it remains one of the most profound critical approaches, and one largely ignored by the design press. 5. What design software are you most familiar with and which one do you wish to experiment with further? Adobe Illustrator is my go to application. I do more or less everything in there. I have been thinking a lot about this recently, as tools shape what we communicate. I have recently begun to invest more time in InDesign, as I want to explore the epub format and digital publishing more broadly. I always liked print because as a designer I had control over the elements I worked with. Digital books have come into their own and I am interested in looking at them in more detail. 6. What have you learned from your mistakes as a graphic designer/ designer in general? My mistakes was to think of design in solely critical and aesthetic terms with little regard for finance or business more broadly. In the commercial environment I found it valuable to have a working knowledge of contracts, budgeting and planning, as it informed my decision making more.

7. What are your graphic design career goals? Finish the projects I have started. Write more, publish more. Pursue collaborations. 8. What has been your favorite project, brand or company in which you have worked with or for? LOCA – see above. 9. What have you done to improve your knowledge of graphic design? - e.g. Books, Websites, Tutorials and classes? I have a working knowledge of graphic design (albeit one that is Eurocentric and Modernist). That said, I find it a challenge to read graphic design texts as there are not that many that are written from a critical position and those that are often confuse criticality with superiority. Indeed, the emergence of a certain judgmental/moralising attitude is something I have become aware of in many younger critiques. They rely too much on secondary research and fail to analyse the contexts and conditions which produces the work they condemn.

That said, teaching a subject is a great way to learn about it. 10. What kinds of print media have you worked with? If not any which would you like to? Heavily involved with print a large array of formats and techniques (stationary, editorial, book, poster, etc.). While a lot of my research explores computational techniques I am less familiar with contemporary approaches to design (coding a website). 11. What type of media is your favourite and why? I am interested in the transmission of ideas and so I remain fascinated by books (print and digital, audio etc.) and other reading and writing platforms. I still think there is more to be discovered, particularly from a postdigital perspective and in a time when attention is being stolen by the stacks. 12. What made you chosen this career in the first place/ why did you want to become a Designer/ Artist? When I was younger I understood world problems as design problems. That is, problems could be overcome if things (such as products like chairs, cars, etc.) were designed more thoughtfully. To give you an example, I remember designing an automated braking system when I was about 10 years old. It would have worked by emitting an infrared beam that would automatically adjust the speed when it came too close to an object in front of it. It would save lives by making decisions based on objective reality not human judgment or desire. I was highly idealistic and wanted to impose order through design, technology and systems. I am now critical of such positions. The second, more recent, aspect was an interest in exploring forms of communication. I am interested in texts, but also in the medium that transmits them (language, history, bodies, books, typography, print etc) and how these have changed over time. While many of these techniques are designed to be efficient or confer certain symbolic value, I am interested in using things that goes against that intentionality – that flags up the conventions, norms and infrastructures that construct it in the first place. 13. Finally, to you, what separates an artist from a designer/ what is Art and what is Design? While they may share certain formal similarities, their differences are much more interesting. Indeed one could go further and say that equating them is part of an ongoing trend to make all things equivalent, and so exchangeable. I find the critical theorists, Theodor Adorno’s notion of art useful here. His argument is extremely complex and builds on work of other philosophers (particularly Kant and Hegel) to argue for art that is critical of society, not just in its content but also in its form and its method (mimetic). Design has a different discourse and often attracts students backgrounds and educational experiences that diverge widely from those of fine art. Our tools, technologies, techniques differ also, producing methods and approaches that frame how work is produced. Designers tend to facilitate others content, whereas for artists content and form are entangled. I could write a lot more here, but I simply don’t have the time..

.. all the best,

Marcus Leis Allion

#Marcus Leis Allion #Critical graphic design #graphic design

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heyitsbeccahere-blog · 5 years

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Is socially engaged art the way towards environmental stability and changing the way we function as a society?

In this essay I am going to compare Harold Fisk’s “The Alluvial Valley of the Mississippi River” to Matthew Cusick’s “Genevieve’s wave”. I have chosen these works because they have heavily influenced my art practice this year. Relating to my process in both medium and context. Over the past term I have been studying art and social practice as my module of choice. Learning about how art and society live alongside each other. I will be looking at the social contexts surrounding the artists works in relation to what I have learnt whilst studying this year. In addition I will be looking at the importance of place within these examples as a response to the lecture topic ‘Art and Place’. Ultimately looking at the effects of cartography based art on society, how society consumes art and what other factors can cause a change in society habits. Considering all the knowledge I have gathered and answering the question “Is socially engaged art the way towards environmental stability and changing the way we function as a society?”

Matthew Cusick’s ‘Genevieve’s Wave’ is a topography(the arrangement of the natural and artificial physical features of an area) cartography(the science or practice of drawing maps) collage. He found himself stuck at a creative dead end until he decided to experiment with a range of vintage maps he had but did not use. Cusick (2014) explained this as “Maps are a perfect union of science and art, and their inherent beauty and visual complexity continue to inform my aesthetic choices.” Even though this is a medium Cusick stumbled upon, his passion for cartography has clearly grown. As he has learnt the best techniques for using this material and now looks for the narratives within the maps he uses. The Map Works are essentially conceptual mosaics: pictures composed of dislocated, yet related fragments of maps that have a story waiting to be revealed beneath their precisely crafted surface.” I disagree with this in relation to Cusick’s work as a mosaic is more structured as it has a design element to it. Collage is a messy medium that consists of a completely different technique to mosaics.

In an interview with mymodernmet.com Cusick (2011) said “I found that maps have all the properties of a brushstroke: nuance, density, line, movement, and color.” Showing that he has explored this medium to its full potential. Although I have to disagree with his opinion. Paints and brushes can create a clearer specific detail that collage can not obtain. I find this to be true within my work. Cutting out a clear smooth section of a map can provide a solid colour for the main body of Cusick’s work. Where as I have been digitally cutting photos in order to show a place through one image. Using online editing programmes such as photoshop can provide texture, tone, line, and depth quickly. This is because you can use sourced images as well as drawing styled tools. It also makes collage easier to get the intricately cut lines of a photo cut out that you need. I have used this tool to create mood boards to help direct my future works.

The wave is made up of cut outs from different maps that have been individually selected based on the desired colour palette. For this scene that consists of Ocean blues and a range of tonal greys to create a stormy sky blended together by the white highlights that are created when a wave crashes. The appropriate cut outs fit together giving a 3D effect, showing the powerful violence within motion of the wave. A distinctive atmosphere. There is an absence of lifeforms, leaving a viewer exposed into the scene alone. Looking at Genevieve’s wave you can imagine the crashing sound as the wave hits back onto itself as its strong formation collapses. Truly conveying the emotions you would feel if you were in this location. In the lecture ‘art and place’ we discussed how art can convey a sense of a space. The waves feel like they are coming out of the page which really puts you within the piece when viewing.

Cusick’s series of wave works seems heavily influenced by ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’ using the same traditional japanese waves shape and style.

The base of every wave piece in Cusick’s series is paint, using colours that blend with the cutouts. However no paint touches the maps surface, instead the inks from the printed maps are used to blend and create texture within the stormy grey sky setting. Cusick believes the maps speak for themselves. “I think collage is a medium perfectly suited to the complexities of our time.” As we live in an age where we are flooded with information online and as a generation we have a on growing obsession with social media. Genevieve’s wave simplifies this. Using a map instead of a satnav in 2019 is a rarely heard of situation. Cusick brings these maps forward into the modern day art world making them permanent where they may once have been disposed of, bringing cartography back into artistic relevance. Making a hugely impactful statement on society and the old fashioned systems we are leaving behind. Ironically social media has gained Cusick a following. This series of works is largely popular among the younger generation of artists along with rising interest from collectors. The purpose of the series however is to represent the lack of care we have for the planet as a whole. Refusing as a society to accept the social impacts of our lifestyle. Places are represented by the narration society projects into the world. We as a society have the power to change our environmental stories. How we need to strengthen our connection with the places we are surrounded by. “As visual aids to our cognitive understanding of spatial complexity, maps also embody a textual, representational, and abstract depiction of our milieu”.

Harold Fisk’s ‘The Alluvial Valley of the Mississippi River’ was created in 1944 for a report about the history of the rivers natural path, as it developed over the years. Which was then provided to the Army Corps of Engineers. The rivers history spreading from Southern Illinois to Southern Louisan. Fisk and his geology team spent years doing field work analysing the soil in the surrounding area that later led up to the creation of these maps. This was a particularly difficult process at the time due to the lack of technological advances that we can now access today. Although Fisk’s intentions for these cartography pieces was not for the art world, they have reached it. “Sometimes, maps become more famous than their makers. Many cartographers only become famous for their contributions to the art and science of cartography after they’ve created a masterpiece.” C.Dempsy (2011). This is unfortunately the case with Harold Fisk. His works are sold as posters on many online retailers without his name listed for credit, in some cases the title is missing too. Place based resources as art. The lines, colours and numbers used all in order to represent the rivers changing course. Each path way flows across the page like ribbons and form aesthetically pleasing abstract forms. “This is physical geography etched large. The Mississippi carries sediment in the faster-moving outer curves and deposits it where the flow is quieter. The bends get tighter and tighter until they join up, whereupon the river takes the shorter route, leaving the amputated curve to close up into an ox-bow lake, like Lake Bruin to the south of this map.” Wienburg (2013). The series is telling a story of the river over time. As it has continued to change since 1944 to present day but remains undocumented in change. However, there are government borders in place working as a dam to stop the water from flowing into local city’s. “To create a map is to try to understand the relationship a human has to the physical world. Fisk’s maps explore not just our special world, but how we maintain our relationship with its natural elements across time.”

Although from completely different time periods, both Harold Fisk and Matthew Cusick have the same focus on a cartography concept. Fisk’s works are more significant however due to the commitment the project took from participants, taking years to complete. Cusick however reusing old maps to create something new, not such a bold commitment but rather an experimental process. Matching and mixing colour palettes from paints to the collage. The impact Cusick has had on my work has been substantial. I started experimenting with collage after researching Cusick. Instead of using maps to show a scene, I am using photography to recreate a memory of a particular place with significance to my practice. Showing how our memory of a place is never exact. Over time it becomes distorted, our imaginations fill in the gaps. I am experimenting with that conceptual idea, exaggerating it to create vivid scenes based on real natural environments. I want to try and get people to imagine themselves immersed in the scene, connect with it. To see how they would then feel if this place was to be destroyed. It is unknown if it was Cusick’s designed purpose for these waves to be at their most extreme form. Considering the waves in multiple pieces appear this way we can assume it was an intentional composition. Alternatively were these waves he had personally witnessed and documented? Then, to say all the waves Cusick experienced in his lifetime were chaotic is a long reach. The answer to this remains unstated. However, I believe the waves were created to this extreme to evoke an emotion within us. A goal that is actively achieved here.

Both Harold Fisk and Matthew Cusick’s works are classed as cartography pieces, but only Cusick’s work was intended as Art. “Though technological in nature, cartography, like architecture, has attributes of both a scientific and an artistic pursuit.” whether intended or not. Sharing a connection of representation of locations. The Alluvial Valley of the Mississippi River’s most important detail is location as it was a site specific research project. The main focus of both these artists being water based. Not only that but specifically about the movement of the water. It’s ever changing body. One focusing on the history of a river the other the sea waves and motions. A huge difference however in the time period of representation within the piece. Cusick’s wave would have struggled to last 30 seconds before returning to the seas level. A river however, will outlive us all. Cusick’s theme is centered around South California, as well as the popular culture of our time. As many of his other map based works feature cars, portraits and architecture created through collage. There is a sense of escapism within Cusick’s work that Fisk’s work does not contain. Fisk’s maps lack emotions from a viewers perspective as it has no real depth of feeling within the marks. The depth in history to the river shown through these maps is extensive. When you consider the time this project consumed. Fisk’s emotions for his work, I imagine, would have been strong. The science within the alluvial Valley of the Mississippi River takes the element of the unknown away from it. As creative individuals we are not given the opportunity to create our own story behind it as everything is structured and clearly labeled. As well as clearly stating where the map is for. Cusick’s work at first sight does not give away location. Although as I look through this series of maps the lines, colours and structure of the collection become more intriguing. Which makes it clear why these maps have not been forgotten over time. Instead gaining the recognition they deserve, especially online.

Environmental art, based on places people know, can start a change in behaviour. A change as a society we so desperately need. We need to join together as a collective. Galleries across the globe receive millions of visitors a year. They need to take an active role in deciding to exhibit art with these key messages at its cour. We need to change our attitude, actions and education on the environment. The more cartography art out there in the public eye, the more educated we will become. It begins a conversation many would otherwise be unaware of. The places we surround ourselves with are at risk and this is a clear, interesting, creative way to get people involved in keeping these natural spaces in tact. Although we need urban expansion investments to help with economic growth, it is vital that we do not destroy our natural world in order to make space for this. Making people’s connections stronger to their environments is critical. Emotional investment evokes motivation for change. If you feel like an issue is going to affect you or someone you care abouts future you become an active supporter towards a brighter future. Of course art is not going to actively change the carbon emissions we release but it can trigger society to make an informed lifestyle change towards this goal. “In a certain sense, each society gets the art it deserves, both because of the art it favours or tolerates.” If the public is not ready for this environmental step forward, art containing these themes will ultimately be rejected. Science, social attitudes and politics come into play when it comes to what we are informed about and what we are not. Nonetheless if social artists as a collective persistently put out artwork that expresses these narratives then we can not be ignored. Society as a whole will accept the changes we need to put into place as a younger generation takes over. Communication between artists and society will always exist, we need to use this power of communication to change the planet. Whilst current art culture stands, environmental art may not be at the front line bringing in economic value. The environmental value is unlimited. Art and society are forever interlinked.

In conclusion I believe cartography along with environmental works is one of the most effective ways to change society's attitude towards the environment and climate change. Society is influenced by art more than most may realise. It starts with looking after your local natural environments and grows into world wide change. Each generation coming into the world becoming more educated than the one before them on how to save the planet. As we raise new generations to treat the planet differently to generations before them. Teaching them to become socially and environmentally informed. To fight government funding of the arts. To create the environmentally friendly world we all want to live in.Cartography art is a underappreciated concept that could create real change in our society today. If we as a collective are willing to welcome the much needed change.

References

Bush, T. (2019) A Cacophony of Time: Harold Fisk’s Mississippi River Maps. Available at: https://southwritlarge.com/articles/a-cacophony-of-time-harold-fisks-mississippi-river-maps/ (Accessed: 22nd March 2019)

Cusick, M. (2014) ‘Map Works’ Cartographic Perspectives. 78. pp. 1. Doi: 10.14714/CP78.1282

Dempsey, C. (2019) Mapping Through the Ages: The History of Cartography. Available at: https://www.gislounge.com/mapping-through-the-ages/ (Accessed: 21st March 2019)

Rosenberg, D and Grafton, A. (2010) Cartographies of Time. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

Thrower, N, J, W. (2008) Maps & Civilization: Cartography in Culture and Society. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Vásquez, A, S. (1974) Art and Society: Essays in Marxist Aesthetics. London: Merlin Press.

Weinberg, S. (2019) The Mississippi Meander. Available at: https://www.1843magazine.com/content/places/ghost-trails (Accessed: 22nd March 2019)

Yoo, A. (2019) More Magnificent Map Collages (6 pieces + interview) Available at: https://mymodernmet.com/more-magnificent-map-collages/ (Accessed: 21st March 2019)

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