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yolowritter · 23 days

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In Defense of Gabriel Agreste

Oh dear Kwami, I can't believe I'm actually doing this... I can't believe that it feels necessary. Before we begin, I want to make a huge clarification. I am NOT supporting any of Gabriel's actions AT ALL, especially anything done in Season 5. That's abuse, that's child neglect, that's grounds for calling CPS. I will never excuse that kind of thing, and frankly this isn't what I'm here to talk about. I simply want to state my opinion on how canon has absolutely ruined Gabriel as a character, and give my own perspective on our local supervillain, including an understanding of his reasons and how Gabriel devolves the way he does in the actual show. This is a mixture of headcannons I've had that are somewhat supported by canon, and I hope you all enjoy my little analysis piece.

First off, let's kick things into high gear by discussing Gabriel's themes. From the get-go of Bubbler, it's blindingly obvious that he serves as the "strict parent" antagonist to Adrien's quest for freedom and self-expression. As an archetype, this works quite well in a lot of stories and media, so I was fine with it when I watched the episode. Through the rest of Season 1, we quickly come to realize that Adrien's mother (and Gabriel's wife) is "missing", due to some reason or the other. At this point some may suspect his relation to Hawkmoth, but there's no legitimate evidence to go off of so we put a pin on that. During Simon Says, specifically Chat Noir and Gabriel's little interaction, we get to see that Adrien does hold some repressed anger against Gabriel because of how overprotective the man is, and then comes the fond remark of Emilie's flair for dramatics. It's a line so many of us have discussed or used in fanworks, but rarely do I see people talk about how Gabriel delivers it. The usually stoic personification of dissapointment seems to finally have some emotion in his voice, for the first really important moment of his character. Combine this with the earlier talk between him and Ladybug, where he praises Adrien and seems genuinely proud of his son for keeping up with all the activities/modeling/etc. Therefore, we get a good general idea of who Gabriel Agreste actually is. A grieving father who has lost his partner to "mysterious circumstances", and is trying to protect his son from any kind of harm. Sure, he's going about it the wrong way and is definately overdoing it, but the act itself doesn't come from a place of malice. Keep this in mind as we move forward.

In Season 2, we start off with the episode Collector. And learn that Gabriel is Hawkmoth. Because of course he is, Adrien is one of the titular characters in the show, naturally the writers want to pull a Luke Skywalker at some point. "I am your father" and all that, we've seen it a million times before. Still, this brings up the question of why? Sure, Gabriel is an asshole. That's very obvious by this point, even though we don't have enough information to truly cast judgement on his reasoning for such behavior. But there's a significant gap between "overprotective single parent who stifles their child" and "local butterfly man who has beef with teenage superheroes". Therefore, this reveal immediately has alarm bells ringing as to what Gabriel's motive is. In a later episode, we have the Gorizilla Incident. And this is where he finally becomes a much more complex, much better character! Because Hawkmoth has captured Ladybug. She's right there, helpless, and all he has to do is either show up and steal her Miraculous, or just wait until she loses her transformation and then take the earrings. His arch nemesis, the person who has been preventing him from accomplishing whatever his goals are...is at his mercy. But...there's a problem. His son is also on the field of battle, and just jumped off a building. Wonderful! Without the slightest bit of hesitation, Gabriel releases Ladybug, therefore saving Adrien's life at the cost of the Miraculous. And much later, during Queen Wasp, Hawkmoth genuinely ponders if he's done more harm than good by trying to defeat the Heroes of Paris. (Side Note: I don't actually remember if we'd seen Emilie in the pod by this point, but whatever.) He would have quit, hung up the suit, and lived out his days as Gabriel Agreste. Miserably maybe, but he would have stuck to that choice. No more Hawkmoth. Until...he gets the chance to Akumatize a Miraculous Holder. And if you want to rewatch this scene, notice the mania in Gabriel's eyes. This extreme emotional reaction is the complete opposite of what we've seen from the man so far (dramatic monologues aside), and the chance at victory rips Gabriel's sanity away from him. Cue Queen Wasp, and later Scarlet Moth.

But I want to stick to this moment for a second. Queen Wasp takes place directly after Style Queen, in which Adrien gets turned into a gold statue. And sure, the show can tell us all it wants about how "he's been turned to dust" or some bs, but we all know Adrien is dead right now. And Gabriel knows it too. This is literally the reason why he tries to convince himself that he shouldn't be Hawkmoth anymore. Because he finally understands what kind of harm he's been doing. By this point it's like the 3rd time that Adrien is in immediate proximity to an Akuma and promptly gets bodied by said Villain, specifically because of Hawkmoth. I do not care what Season 5 says, Gabriel Agreste loved his son with every last shred in that broken, shattered fragment of a heart that was left after Emilie's death, and he shows it very clearly on multiple occassions. He even tries to connect with Adrien again, and has a genuine moment when they watch Emilie's movie together. Gabriel, for all his supervillainy and prancing about in a butterfly costume, seems to be healing throughout Season 2. So why does it only get worse from here?

Well...this is where my headcanons come in to fill the void. Obviously I could go on a tangent about the writers here, but I don't care enough to waste my breath on that again. Swiftly moving past that, I honestly think Gabriel suffers from Tunnel Vision during this show. And yeah that's not a "condition", but think about this for a second. Nooroo warns that there are terrible consequences for misusing a Miraculous in Origins, and the show...never follows up on this? Well, that's weird. Unless the consequences are mental. A deterioration of the self, in a way. Consider: a good portion of the fandom already talks about Gabriel and Hawkmoth/Shadowmoth/Monarch as different people sometimes. What if that's literal? What if that's the consequence? Gabriel was depressed, desperate and heartbroken after Emilie's demise, but according to a cutscene from Miraculous Rise of the Sphynx (and I swear to God why didn't they put this in the actual show???) Gabriel and Nathalie actually spent around a year looking for the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous before deciding to use the Butterfly. It was Gabriel's last resort. And look at how Hawkmoth acts in Season 1. He's...well, he's acting. Playing the role of a villain to lure them out and defeat them, knowing full-well (at least after Stoneheart) that Ladybug can fix pretty much anything he destroys if she wins, and he can just do the same if she's defeated. Gabriel has a safety net, he's acting the part of an evil villain, complete with dramatic monologues and "curse you Perry the Platypus" moments after ever defeat. Then in Season 2, he knows the jig is up. The stakes are too high and this Hawkmoth bs is hurting the one piece of Emilie that he has left...so Gabriel decides to quit.

And this is where the corruption comes in. During "Feast" in Season 3, Hawkmoth re-states his goal of "taking all the Miraculous!" Uh...hold on just a second. Didn't Gabriel only need the Ladybug and Cat? Yes, exactly. That's why the events of the show even happen to begin with. So why has it now changed to all the Miraculous, if the rest are useless in terms of bringing Emilie back? Well, Gabriel's thirst for power is slowly corrupting his mind. Hawkmoth is officially in control by this point, and it gets much, much worse from here. With Mayura at his side, Hawkmoth has a real person to care about, and take care of. Nathalie supports him, keeps Gabriel afloat in this ocean of despair that they're both slowly drowning in.

But what happens when Mayura can't be there anymore? What happens when Gabriel (now as Shadowmoth) spends hours upon hours inside that dark lair, deliberating his victory? It becomes his sole focus. What tiny specks of humanity were still left inside of this hollow shell called Gabriel Agreste have been devoured by a beast that hungers for only one thing. Power. Emilie is no longer loved by him, barely even remembered to begin with. Now instead of genuine heartbreak over his wife's loss, Shadowmoth is using her as an excuse to keep going. He rationilizes it all to himself, saying "this is for my family" and "they will understand" to hide from the very obvious fact that neither Emilie or Adrien would ever stand for this. His ambitions have stripped Gabriel of all sense and sanity, leaving behind a madman simply wearing his skin. The last time we ever see even a flicker of clarity in his head is during Glaciator 2.0, when Adrien is about to be Akumatized. But this is also the biggest indication that it's almost too late for Gabriel, because has to think about it. Sure, he doesn't actually Akumatize Adrien, but even since Chat Blanc it's become perfectly clear that he can and will go through with that to get an advantage over Ladybug. Here, Shadowmoth considered Akumatizing him anyway, even with just the usual chances of winning.

And in Ephemeral (I'm pretty sure, could be just before or after), Nooroo's worst fears have finally come to pass. Gabriel affirms that he wants to destroy the entire world using the Wish. And then re-shape it into one where he's the top dog, by extension making the Agrestes like the Supreme. Gabriel has gone completely off the rails by this point. I'd even argue that the person he was only a few months ago (don't get me started on that timeline btw) is dead. Gone, burried six feet under along with his wife, because Gabriel Agreste would never do something like this. Monarch just makes everything even worse, especially with Evolution. Just like Nathalie said, he had the perfect chance to warn his past self about the Peacock being broken. Step in the portal, detransform, explain that he's Gabriel, then tell them "hey so the recipe to fix it is on this page of the Grimoire, you need to do this before Emilie makes Adrien" and that's it. But he just ignores it completely because of his obsession, hence proving the point I'm trying to make.

To circle back to the beginning of this post, I am perfectly fine with how Gabriel's character devolves and spirals into madness across the show. It's a cool plotline, could have been really interesting if the writers bothered to explore it but even with only what we have, I'd say it adds a ton of depth to his character! Or...would, if they bothered to explain this! Like seriously, you can pretty easily infer than something of the sort is happening, especially in later seasons. Just give Nathalie or Nooroo one or two scenes where they are worried about Gabriel going insane! Especially Nooroo, give the poor guy a few lines trying to warn Shadowmoth like "Master, please! You need to think about what you're doing! Can't you see this isn't you anymore?" or something of the sort. Sure, it doesn't have to be so on the nose, but you get my point! Instead they did nothing with this amazing idea that's already there because they wrote it by accident! And guess what? Gabriel goes from a sympathetic villain in Season 2 to an utter maniac who locks his "beloved" son in an insane asylum during Season 5!

Like are you kidding me??? What alternate universe did I get dropped into where this is the "logical" followup to Hawkmoth's storyline? One of the only things Gabriel even had going for him in terms of complexity was his genuine love towards Adrien! And like I said, I'd be fine if this how they wanted to make things and play the "tragic villain consumed by a lust for power" card! For Nooroo's sake, it's dangling right in front of them like a carrot on a stick! But instead of making the slightest bit of effort and explain that this is happening, or that it's an intentional plotpoint for Gabriel's character, their innaction just reduces him to a one-dimensional "evil because he's the villain" cardboard cutout! Believe me, I love unapologetically evil characters, who do the worst things for funsies! But Gabriel Agreste can never be that type of bad guy because you set up an entire storyline about his poor wife who died because adoption is apparently illegal in this universe! Don't get me started on Emilie Agreste, she's getting a rant of her own soon enough! But come on, would it kill you to at least try and give your villains some depth???

Thomas, do you want me to have a stroke? An aneurysm? To keel over dead like Gabriel's character development? Should I maybe put a fridge in my basement for good measure? And do not talk to me about the "tell Adrien how good a father I was" bs the finale had in it! Just- just don't touch that with a ten foot pole! But...I will admit, there is a very interesting direction they can take Gabriel's character now that he's dead. Because sure, he's now a one-dimensional asshole that screamed in his basement a lot before beating up a cat(bug)girl and dropping dead, but hey! Gabriel Agreste can haunt the narrative now! Have Lila use reunion to talk to him! Have Marinette be tormented by the stupid promise she made! Have Adrien be conflicted over how Gabriel treated him! Give us an existential crisis because "the hero who defeted Monarch" doesn't match up with the abusive asshole Adrien has known for the past year! Gabriel Agreste's character has been utterly trainwrecked by the writers' refusal to explain anything about him beyond a superficial "boo hoo my wife keeled over". Yeah buddy, so what? You can at least be interesting about it!

Anyway, I'm going to go cool off and make another draft for how to fix this idiot's character development. Or you know, give him some in the first place because he's lost it all. I'll see you all soon with an "In offense to Emilie Agreste" post, but until then, Stay Miraculous everyone!

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xanthezhoupropaganda · 11 months

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“Huh. Okay, don’t panic, kid, but. You’re dead,” Xanthe says, offering a hand to the kid staring up at them in shock. They try to put on their best nonthreatening smile, but the kid seems pretty small, and possibly pretty young, too. Which is always a sore point for Xanthe.

“I’m not panicking because I’m dead,” the kid says, with a glare that convinces Xanthe that at least they aren’t dealing with a very young kid, “I’m panicking because I’m in an afterlife I’ve never seen before, with a lot of weird shit in it! And I’m not panicking!”

“Yeah?” Xanthe says, trying to remember how to convey friendliness. Open body language is all well and good to talk about, but they can’t remember what sort of stance that actually means. They try to slouch. “Are you, like. Chinese at all? Like literally at all.”

“I don’t fucking know, I was abandoned when I was like three,” the kid says, arms crossed, glare intensifying. Xanthe is reluctantly impressed. They couldn’t glare half as well at this kid’s age. “It’s not like we had in depth conversations about my racial heritage before then. But I’ve been called pretty much every slur at one point or another, if it matters.”

“I’m honestly unsure whether it does matter,” Xanthe says, trying to think what sort of present they might be able to give the kid to establish some kind of rapport. It’s hard enough to guess what sort of thing will put someone at ease versus insulting them because it’s too childish or too old or whatever, but it’s harder being stared at like that. “I’m Xanthe. They/them.”

“Billy,” says the kid, frown softening and turning thoughtful. “He/him. Not that it matters. I’m not going to be here for very long.” He immediately starts looking around for something Xanthe can’t guess at. Maybe a portal. Maybe a friendly face.

“Got another afterlife to get to?” Xanthe asks, finally giving into the urge to cross their arms and glare back at the kid, not that he notices. He’s starting to poke around corners and Xanthe’s worried he’s going to end up nosing into someone’s house, at which point, for absolute sure, they’re going to be blamed. Especially since they took it upon themself to greet the newcomer.

“Shazam!” Billy says, then, after swearing to himself a little, repeats the word louder. He literally stomps his foot in frustration, which Xanthe kind of wishes they could do with that same overdramatic flair. He sighs and shakes his head at Xanthe. “I’m a superhero, yeah? I’m hardly going to stay dead for long. I just need to get somewhere that – well, preferably back to my body, I just don’t know where that is at the moment.”

“I mean, that’s not going to be here,” Xanthe says, waving an arm around them, encompassing… everything. They enjoy the slowly dawning impressed look on Billy’s face, even though it’s quickly covered up by a scowl and a scuff of his shoe. “What happened?”

“I don’t know, I was murdered by a supervillain or something, we’re in the middle of another war if you hadn’t noticed,” Billy says, absolutely scathingly, and Xanthe involuntarily takes another step back. They haven’t stepped back into Gotham in a minute, but they hadn’t thought it had gotten that bad that fast. “Anyway, it’s fine, I’ll just, you know. Come back to life.” Xanthe is absolutely going to regret getting involved in this.

#xanthe zhou #spirit world #dc comics #billy batson #shazam #fanfic #I don't know where I'm going with this. choose your own adventure I guess #reblog with a suggestion if you want something specific to happen next

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frenzyarts · 2 years

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I'm developing a story and I wanna make one of the characters skrunkly but I'm having trouble. What would you say are must have behaviours and quirks of a skrunkly character?

Okay I wrote a big long answer to this post only to realize I misread your question and wrote out a bunch of character development advice instead of just listing my favorite skrunkly traits 😅 I’ll reblog this ask with that answer in case you’re interested. As for must have behaviors and quirks, here are my personal favorites!!

* A little bit pathetic. The have big plans or grand evil schemes but no one takes them seriously

* They’re trying and failing to hide behind a facade. The reason no one takes them seriously is because they can tell their attempts at being big and scary are just them badly trying to cover up their own insecurities.

* Either that or they are just Very Dumb. Maybe they truly are evil but don’t have the brain cells to execute their plans, once again making them someone who’s more silly or annoying than an actual threat

* Mischievous. “Oh my, what an evil plan I have cooked up today!!! They’ll try to put on their boots as normal, but I’ve filled them with terrifying fake bugs!!” *That character rolls their eyes, laughs, and dumps out their boots, unfazed, much to the disappointment of the scrimblo*

* Silly, but like in a court jester sort of way. They’re not usually full of sharp wit or biting sarcasm, though they can be. Typically though they tend to skew towards humor that comes from being whimsical, like a slight of hand magician or a mischievous fairy or pixie.

* Strong sense of style. They’re flamboyant, they perform, they’re entertaining. Even if that style is “wet beast with every disease,” it’s somehow still done with a flair for the dramatic. Think of this quote from Megamind:

“Titan: This town isn’t big enough for two super villains!

Megamind: Oh, you’re a villain all right, just not a super one.

Titan: oh yeah? What’s the difference?

Megamind: Presentation!”

(And then he does cool supervillain stuff)

These are some of my favorite gremlin-character traits!! Anyone reading this is welcome to share their favorite skrunkly traits in the replies ✨

#frenzy post #writing advice

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gooberlad · 5 months

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In a world of superheroes and powers, Villains can deny all they want that they don’t need any help. But there’s always some little guy at their feet. Sure, they can be evil tech geniuses. Or they have their tech guy on speed dial because “What if my radiator starts flashing the wrong color right as I’m reaching the end of my monologue?!” And this poor, well tipped, collage student that’s doing this for extra credit, just has to calmly explain that “The device isn’t actually connected to the lights, you just wanted an extra flair remember? Did you forget to put new batteries in the remote?”

But sure, there’s a big machine that can mind control half a major city. A Supervillain leaning causally against it as a group of other villains and Anti hero’s gather around them. And then they accidentally hit a small switch on the side and it starts making increasingly stranger sounds. Everyone’s trying not to freak out but this could quickly turn into an easy clean up job for lower level hero’s if they didn’t figure out what was wrong. Then this…tall child walks up behind them, leans over their bosses and fixes a dial that had been offset. They’re not even a full time employee, wearing a bright yellow name badge and a local collage hoodie. Before they text their group chat to see if anyone did the homework and go on their lunch break. So sure, maybe they’re in jail for countless war crimes, but they have to squint to read an IKEA instruction manual.

#superheroes #super villian #tumblr fyp #fypage #skits #villain x civilian #villain x henchman #villain and hero

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sophieswundergarten · 9 months

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circus au circus au!! i just love kate so much because she was my first queer crush and so she is special to my heart <3

ok wait i think it would be very funny if kate knew nathaniel in the circus too and when he starts doing the weird tricks with the little figurines of the people she raises one eyebrow and goes "well, nathaniel, this isn't going to get you re-employed"

martina's just sitting there wondering how she got here

Oh goodness. Kate being all passive aggressive because she isn't scared of him at all while Martina is just getting ever more confused

So, like, Curtain quits the circus at some point AFTER meeting Kate, and then still goes off to become a supervillain. Kate recognizes him faster than Nicholas because she's like "Oh yeah. I've seen this dramatic flair before" afjfjdjdsj

#She calls Moocho #And he just does the 'I'm not mad I'm disappointed' thing all while staring at Curtain intensely sadly #And that's how they scare him straight ajdfjfj #the mysterious benedict society #circus au

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psychiccatpanda · 1 year

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Warm When the Cold Breezes Blow So the ones I finished are the ones that have a little badge from one of the past bingos/events. :) The ones with X’s I have ideas for/fics started but did not finish yet.

B1: Interrupted by Supervillains - The Knack to Flying with Flair: Or, in Other Words, Hold My Hand - A WinterIron Round Robin - Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark - General

B5: Domesticity - Burn the World Down for You (Chapter 18) - Bucky Barnes/Brock Rumlow - Explicit (though this chapter is not)

U1: Shelter - Find a Home With You (Chapter 4) - Bucky Barnes & Tony Stark; Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes - Teen

U2: Hurt/Comfort - Something to Get Me Through the Nothing - A WinterIron Round Robin - Tony Stark/Bucky Barnes - Teen

U3: Takeout/Pizza - The Devil Is in the Details (Sign on the Dotted Line) - Chapter 3 - Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark/Clint Barton - Teen

U4: Inclement Weather (Swapped!) - Warm When the Cold Breezes Blow - Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark - Gen

U5: Retirement - Burn the World Down for You (Chapter 17) - Bucky Barnes/Brock Rumlow - Explicit

C1: Wrong Number - The Devil Is in the Details (Sign on the Dotted Line) - Chapter 1 - Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark/Clint Barton - Teen

C3: Free Space - Find a Home with You (Chapter 3) - Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers; Bucky Barnes & Tony Stark - Teen

C4: AU: Royalty - Morguna and the Green Queen - Bucky Barnes & Morgan Stark - Teen

K1: Newspaper Clippings - Flawed Hypothesis - Epilogue (moodboard) - Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark - Mature

K3: James Rhodes/War Machine - Too Good to Be True (Chapter W Is for Weddings) - Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark; James Rhodes/Carol Danvers; Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov - Mature

K4: Til Death Do Us Part - Burn the World Down for You (Chapter 16) - Bucky Barnes/Brock Rumlow - Explicit

K5: Secret Admirer - Grab My Pen and I Write Up a List - Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark - Gen

Y5: Warm and Fuzzy Feelings - Part One: Avengers Assemble - Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton - General

Adopted: Picture of Clint boosting Bucky into a small opening - Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? - Bucky Barnes & Clint Barton - Gen

#buckybarnesbingo2022 #bbb2022 #Bucky Barnes #winteriron #winterbones #stuckony #stucky #marvel fanfic #masterpost

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thepariahcontinuum · 2 years

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A couple of capes, each of whole would live nightmare lives of misery and pain (just like every other cape!)

•a stranger/master who can switch the perceived identity of any two individuals (to include themselves) in their line of sight. That is to say that while the person you’re looking at has all of the visual characteristics of, say Armsmaster, you automatically assign them in your mind as ‘definitely Clockblocker’. It’s not impossible to overcome this mental effect, but it takes distinct mental effort.

• A shaker(?) who can teleport by shuffling/swapping similarly sized rooms, streets, etc. They’re standing in your kitchen, which then gets swapped with the neighbor down the streets laundry room, putting the cape right next to their destination. Notably, they’re the only cape who’s had a kill order put out on them by the US Postal Service.

• a ‘healer’ who merely makes it so that a single individual in their line of sight will remain alive no matter what injuries they sustain, barring complete vaporization. Mind you, this does not confer increased durability, pain resistance, or healing- just an inability to die. Effect ends when the cape loses control or switches to a second target.

Oh boy, another bulk order....I might actually start asking people to send these in individually, just to keep any one answer from becoming overlong, but anyone.

The first one: This motherfucker is someone who got cheated on and went full incel, redpill and listening to every twat with a podcast.

This is a fucking MGTOW supervillain.....Entirely lacking in "Super", like they could probably use their power to do some really interesting stuff but what they are is a bitter, skeevy little bastard who's second only to Heartbreaker and Amy in terms of abusing power.

Costume definitely has a poorly fitting suit jacket and a fedora, whilst under it this guy probably has some regrettable tattoos.

Cape name: The Catfish

The second one: One of the most efficient heroes in the business but tragically underrated because of how easy he makes it look and how little flair or panache he needs....Like, Number Man respects the hustle here.

This guy's whole shtick is "Go directly to jail" because he will literally just swap whatever room a villain is standing in with a cell, then swap them back with the villain still in it. The postal service take credit because well, they won't get their funding cut now but the Kill Order actually came from dragon.....This guy might be PRT but he could still probably breach the Birdcage.

Costume wise, something practical just seems to fit....I feel like this guy has a white body suit with some stylised overalls on top, dust masks and a flat cap; a proper working class hometown hero who spends his off the clock time visiting schools and helping kids take up a trade or putting in extra hours with the Wards.

Cape name: Cabin, just because the power made me think of the rotating rooms in Cabin in the Woods.

The third one: Oh this is a bastard, not a true villain but a rogue in the Worm-Verse sense that they're a free agent not using their powers as part of the game.

I've had this thoughts about corporations using capes for various things and whilst Amazon or Starbucks would absolutely hire Capes to shake down workers trying to Unionize, this is something little more insidious.....This fucker rents their services out to companies so that their employees can work in dangerous conditions with less safety measures and then forces those workers to accept the new terms. This fucker is constantly under investigation/in disputes with the Watchdogs because it's clear that there's gotta some law, somewhere being broken they haven't found it yet and the optics of trying to stop a healer from working make it a hard case to fight.

Being what they are this shit doesn't have a costume, just a pretty plain mask and a hi-vis jacket with the uniform of whoever is employing them at the time. Also, no official cape name as such but among all the various insults and epithets they've been given they have heard workers at a few companies use the nickname "Zombifier"

#worm web serial #wildbow #parahumans #worm oc #Nickelodeon-Brain-Gak

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lala-writes-fetish · 2 years

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This house will be your new forever home. If you are worthy.

In this very tame little snippet, two of our main characters meet for the first time. Are you looking forward to MEDUSA?

The voice from his smartphone told him to turn onto Wilshire Boulevard, and he realized that it had directed him out of the city center and into a suburb. He read the street signs, and although he demonstratively resisted being able to orient himself in this grey city, he recognized some of the names: Clarke-Ring, Veenhouse Alley, Ninneman Road. The prosperous, dusty north of the city. He dimly recalled a conversation with Luisa and her friends about a man from this area whom one of them was lusting after. No significant detail must have dropped, because if it had, he would have remembered the conversation better. His car crested a small hilltop.

The houses to the left and right were well kept and marked the visual transition from feudal single-family home to mansion. As a tenant, he could have afforded one of them if Luisa had had a similarly well-paying job, he surmised while turning left as the light turned green.

“You will arrive at your destination in two miles,” his smartphone announced.

He raised his eyebrows. “That’s almost in the woods,” he mumbled to his car’s dashboard.

“Well, fuck me,” he remarked to that same dashboard two kilometers later. He had reached his destination. “I didn’t know Count Dracula needed a website.” He drove through a gated stone archway toward a huge mansion that might as well call itself a castle with impunity. Gravel crunched beneath the tires of his station wagon. Cultivated meadows lined the gently curving driveway. A giant weeping willow dipped its branches into an almost black pond. A woman in coveralls stood in its midst, clearing it of duckweed by means of what looked like a giant, netted spoon. The sun was shining on a small park area that included the lake and the weeping willow. The other houses in the area were two hundred yards down the road. Anyone who wanted to reach the archway had to take one last steep turn and head straight for it.

He stopped in a large courtyard in front of the massive, wooden front door. A stone staircase rose in five steps toward the portal. The only thing missing, Peter contemplated in a mixture of excitement and a little irony, were two grotesque lion statues with their paws on weathered globes, and the luxurious private home of a James Bond villain would have been complete. A sculpture above the grand portal exuded diabolical flair: the beautiful, yet distorted with rage, face of a Medusa gazed down on the courtyard, the serpents around her head craning their necks, ready to lunge forward. Peter got out of his car and shouldered the carrying case for his laptop. When he pressed the button on the key, the blinkers lit up, and the portal opened.

A good-looking woman in a pastel, knee-length dress appeared on the steps. Her dark blonde hair ought to have seemed ordinary, but lovely waves in it promised the unbridled joie de vivre of a wild mop of curls without robbing its owner of the grace of straight hair. She smiled from a beautiful face with bright brown eyes to which the sunlight gave the glow of wild honey. Peter prided himself on his vocabulary, and the best description for this woman seemed to be “otherworldly.” The spectacular blonde cast challenging waves that played the eye, and she shared the light brown of her eyes with innumerable people, but they had a depth that made prolonged eye contact a risk.

“I’ve gotta say,” Peter explained, surprised at his own bravado, “This house would fit an older gentleman with a white cat in his lap, dramatically turning in his office chair. ‘Welcome to my secret base, Special Agent.’”

Jana put her head back and laughed out loud. Her bell-bright voice made Peter smile involuntarily. “Maybe I’m just the supervillain’s charming secretary, Mr. Wartmann.”

He shook his head. “I’ll eat my hat if you’re anyone’s secretary, Mrs.…?”

She tilted her head gently, the waves of her hair seconding the almost imperceptible movement. Peter’s gaze subconsciously slid up to the Medusa above her. “Ms. Jana,” she said, and they shook hands.

I may as well have introduced myself by Winnie the Pooh, Peter thought and snorted audibly.

His hostess sassily raised her eyebrows. “Don’t worry. I have a last name, which you’ll find out, of course… if we get down to business.”

He nodded with a smile, enjoying the amusing exchange. “Why did I imagine the head of the mysterious ladies of the house to be exactly like that?”

She smiled broadly. “Because you are a smart man, Mr. Wartmann. Please,” she said, pointing to the portal, “I have coffee made.”

You better believe funny Mr. Wartmann is going to remember his stay in the house. This is MEDUSA.

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leighlikescartoons · 2 years

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Coming to Home Video

Minions - Rise of Gru comes to Digital August 30th and Blu-Ray/DvD September 6th!

Synopsis: (From Animation Magazine) Long before he becomes the master of evil, Gru is just a 12-year-old boy in 1970s suburbia, plotting to take over the world from his basement. When the infamous supervillain group, the Vicious 6, ousts their leader, Gru attempts to join their ranks but soon finds himself the mortal enemy of the apex of evil. With Gru on the run, the Minions attempt to learn martial arts to help save him, and Gru discovers that even bad guys need a little help from their friends.

4K, Blu-ray, DVD & Digital Bonus Features

Post Modern Minions (Mini Movie) – Experience one Minion’s rise and fall as an artistic genius when he sneaks into a 1970’s post-modern art gallery with a fellow Minion and unintentionally creates an explosive new art form that is declared by a snooty art critic as the greatest art he’s ever seen. When the critic moves onto the next new artist, our Minion tries everything to get back in the spotlight, which accidentally leads to his next unexpected career.

Minions and Monsters (Mini Movie) – Follow a newbie Minion as he joins three more experienced Minions in playing a 1970’s fantasy role-playing game. After struggling to gain the skills needed to master the game, the newbie unexpectedly rises to the occasion and saves the day, earning him the magical crown and the appreciation of his buddies.

Extended Scene

Outtakes

Character Profiles for Gru, Wild Knuckles, Belle Bottom, Master Chow, The Vicious 6, and The Biker

Gru-vy Animation – Join Steve Carell and the directors as they take us through the animation process. From Concept Art, through Storyboards and on to the Final Film, with every Gru-vy step in between explained in fun and fascinating detail.

Thes ’70s: Fashion, Food & Funk – A behind the scenes look at the 1970’s through the lens of Minions: The Rise of Gru. From fashion to music, cultural phenomenon and back — the cast and filmmakers are bringing the 1970’s to a whole new generation.

Minion Martial Arts – In this 1970s-inspired martial arts movie throwback, we hear from the film’s directors about their inspiration, how they created authenticity in animation, the role the many martial artists in the cast played to bring it to life and how you teach a Minion to fight.

How to Draw (& Animate) with Brad Ableson – Co-director Brad Ableson shows us how to draw all of our favorite characters: Minion, Kung-Fu Stuart, and Young Gru

Lair Flair: Make Your Own Minion Hideout – The Minions aren’t the only ones who can build a secret lair — now you can, too! (And yours doesn’t have to be built under Gru’s bed.)

#Minions #Despicable Me #DvD #Bluray #Release #Date #News #Animation #Animated #Cartoon #Cartoons #Announcement

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autocrats-in-love · 2 years

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This is it

Prompt by @some-messed-up-writing-for-you (prompt #369)

“I mean… you could use your power to kick my ass…” - the hero mused, shrugging their shoulders while holding one hand palm up.

“…Or?” - the villain pressed, a tad curious.

Hero raised their other hand the same way. “Or…, we could kiss?”

"Those are your two options?" The villain shouted, exasperated.

They did yell because they were annoyed, but also because it was the only way the hero could hear them over the roaring of the crowd. All around them in the bull fighting arena the audience was screaming at them to start battling. The supervillain wasn't saying anything, though--they were just sitting on their throne, surrounded by their advisors, smiling wickedly.

The hero took a seat in the dirt. They didn't look nearly as worried as they should be. "I think [Supervillain]'s going to kill the winner anyway. If I'm going to die I don't want to go without having kissed you."

Normally, this would have made something stir in the villain's stomach. It would have made them both giddy and terrified. But now, having to fight the hero to the death, all they could be was angry.

"Can't we just find a way to get out? There has to be some way to break through the shield?"

The villain pointed upwards at the almost invisible dome covering the arena. The supervillain made it themselves to block powers. They had originally made it for the villain to use on the hero. Of course, times changed and they found a way to make it much bigger.

The hero shook their head. "You've never been trapped in one of these. It's worse when it's smaller. You barely feel like you're there. You seem to lose some of your power when you try to use it to get out. The only way to get out is to make the captor feel bad for you. And I'm pretty sure [Supervillain]'s a sociopath."

"But wh-"

The villain was cut off by a blaring speaker. The supervillain's voice boomed over everyone. The audience even quieted down a bit.

"As much as I would love to watch this will they, won't they stuff all day, I think it's time to begin. Fighters, get in your stances!"

That wasn't just a command, but an activation word for a spell. The villain and the hero were pulled apart by an invisible force and set into fighting stances. It must have taken weeks for the supervillain to make that, and all for a little bit of flair.

"And. . .begin!"

The villain didn't hesitate. They went straight for a sweep of the leg. The hero dramatically back flipped over their head, a move boosted by the gust of wind they had help them up.

"That was mean." the hero said once they had landed in a flurry of sand.

"I'm pretty mad at you." the villain replied.

They took the hero's arm and threw them behind them. Still gripping them, the villain's poked through the hero's mind.

"Your thoughts are pretty repetitive." they said to the hero trying to wriggle out of their grip and blowing sand in the villain's face.

"I told you I want to do it before you zap me out of existence."

The villain released their grip on the hero.

"I'm not going to kill you!"

"What, and I'm going to defeat you with my little wind thing?" The hero rose to their feet and put their hands on their hips.

"Yes!" the villain responded, crossing their arms over their chest. "Are you kidding? Wind can carry anything! You could surround me with a dust tornado right now!"

"Oh, yeah, that'll end you. It will bother your eyes at most!"

"And when I'm blinded, what can you do?" The villain made a swift motion across their neck. "Take me out!"

"I would love to take you out!" The hero tilted their head to the side and stomped their foot. "But maybe on a date, like a normal person."

"We aren't normal people, in case you haven't noticed."

"Just be-" the hero began.

"Seriously?" the speakers spoke again.

The supervillain was incredulous.

"Stop all the fighting and start fighting!"

"Hey, go screw yourself!" The villain shouted back.

The hero glared at the supervillain's balcony, but then turned to the villain.

"They're right. We can't argue forever."

"I'd much rather fight you than fight you."

"I know."

The hero grabbed the villain's collar and gave them a quick peck on the lips. Then they threw them backwards and started that sand tornado the villain was raving about.

"But we don't have a choice, do we?"

#villain x hero #kiss #snippet #hero x villain #not a prompt #battle #fighting #supervillain #writeblr #uh oh

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badass-queer-couples-battle · 8 months

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Gay wrongs tournament, round 1, major bracket

Propaganda:

For Misa Amane and Rem:

Rem sacrifices everything she can for misa, knowing what will happen if she saves her from death once again. She came to misa at the beginning after watching gelus die from helping her, wanting to know more why gelus liked her. She ended up becoming infatuated with her, and trying to keep her safe from kira but it didn't work. Though in the end they both cared for each other to no end.

Rem is a death god that gives Misa the power to supernaturally serial kill people, falls in love with her, and murders additional people for her

For Edward Nygma and Oswald Cobblepot :

they ARE evil and they DO actually murder people together. and sometimes they try to kill each other. literally bonded over being murders when they first met. have done innumerable crimes since. gotham's worst on/off-couple.

The epitome of "the couple that kills together stays together" except that they are also often trying to kill each other. But that's just how love is sometimes. But yeah, Oswald confesses his love for Ed, except he also murdered Ed's girlfriend a little, then Ed tries to kill him, but then he hallucinates Oswald's ghost singing seductively to him because he's also definitely in love with him. They both do so much murder and they are both so in love with each other in such a messed up but ultimately devoted way; I genuinely think they are the most murderous and husbandly murder husbands out there. Plus they have all the delightful campy themed flair of Batman villains!

Goth x nerd couple except they're campy supervillains who like to spice their gay drama up with murder and they have soooo many issues. The spicing it up with murder includes both killing the other's partner out of jealousy and just trying to kill each other many MANY times. I wish the memory of this show was fresh enough in my mind to give you a breakdown of their relationship but alas. Anyway, these two are like the most iconic thing in this show for me, not only for their relationship but their personalities individually

#gay wrongs tournament round 1 #death note #gotham tv #gotham #misa amane #rem #oswald cobblepot #edward nygma #remisa #riddlebird

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wondyvillains · 2 years

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Can I ask you something? Circe is a really good villain in both terms of potential and storytelling. But I don't really like her Rebirth look all that much. I don't need her to only wear like a white rag as a shirt (that's my least favorite look for her, actually) but the I feel like her new design needs a little more pizazz; maybe they should have kept her long hair? Could I hear your opinion on this?

I absolutely agree! I think the Rucka look worked for a few issues, but it lacks that comic book flair that great supervillains have. I do like how in Justice League Dark she switched looks at-will, but this one just doesn't do it for me.

My favorite Circe looks in the past have been the "Who is Wonder Woman?" outfit, this variation on the Dodson look (love a headpiece on Circe!), and her New 52 design.

I'd even take her Witching War look over the Rucka one at this point.

#Circe #Wonder Woman #DC Comics

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the-deep-fog · 3 years

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The moon and sun have lost themselves to obscurity, and Fog descends. The environment is as classic a superpowered showdown setting one can get while still playing hospitality to a meandering mist that prefers uncountably many corners to hide itself in. One villain, a radioactive rebel holding to life like a weed that takes in pesticides for dessert, scouts the area, freshly healed and eager for a bout of vengeance. Another, the spitefully surviving embodiment of Harlan Ellison’s worst fears, calmly scours the playing field with no end of possible ending gambits stored in its motherboard/mind. Fully beknownst to their individual selves, whispered wonders and warnings reach them from unseen mouths yawning in the mist, subtly and ever so maddeningly guiding them further within the misty maze. Until, they meet. “Oh, Haricot,” CD crows, “back so soon? Why couldn’t you have stayed in the ground to rot a little longer? Are you that eager for another easy loss?” “Far from it, Chess,” returns Haricot. “Surely you don’t think I’d simply waste my time while relieved of your presence for ever so short a while?” It scoffs. “I should hope so, or else this will be over far too quickly to even be fun.” Ey smirk and start to reply, but cut emself off as the air between the two collects, gathers, and confuses into the outline of a figure sitting cross-legged with its chin resting in its hands. “Why, hello you two, Fancy meeting you here.” Both let off annoyed sighs (the similarities stopping there). CD speaks up. “Ugh, can’t you ever take this seriously?” “Yeah, way to kill the vibe,” Haricot follows up. Their complaints are met with only a grin. Suddenly directly in their faces, Fog actually replies, “So. I bet you’re wondering why I’m here.” The villainous duo look bemused, in a conniving sort of way. Haricot speaks first. “Believe it or not, I do know why you’re here- and Chess, trust me when I say it’s not a pleasant reason for you.” Incredulous, Chess replies, “Excuse me, but it’s not like I don’t know their reason for being here, and though your reaction seems improper it’s not like it matters that you think you know the situation, when in fact you’re in for...” “I didn’t lie, you know. To either of you.” Fog’s everlasting grin shifts slightly to a smirk, and the two rivals come to a realization at the same time. “Oh, you slippery little- “I knew that promise was too good to be true!” Well aware that riling up two of the biggest supervillains round the block leaves them in dire straits, the formless figure untangles their stature, giving off the appearance of taking a fighting stance. “Now, now, I’m not going back on my word at all! I shall deal as much damage as I can, just as promised. It’s only up to you whether to take advantage of the situation as it concerns your adamant adversary, or, yknow. Direct your avenging attention elsewhere.” Haricot reaches for a thorny beanstalk as they rise from the earth in numbers. “If you get dealt with permanently through all this, that’s one less thing getting in the way of me taking down Chess for good.” CD, in tandem, tessellates a jagged aspect of the ground and nods. “The less you bug me, Fog, the easier I’ll have it claiming victory over Haricot as well.” Zer smile grows even further, accompanied by the emergence of eyes from countless nooks and crannies in The Fog one could not imagine. For just because nobody could possibly know how one misty menace might pose a tangible threat, inflict damage of a directly mortal kind, it could be true all the same.

...

“Why are you doing this?” shouts Haricot, steadily growing a host of shrubs to shield emself with. “You must have a motive, nobody ever does stuff like this without a motive.” The Fog laughs, gleeful as ever, a booming sound that seems to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. “You think I have a motive? That I am driven by anything to do what I do? Such things are the creations of you individuals; I have never had use for them. I go, and I act, and if that’s too much for you to comprehend then...” Though irradiating to demolition an eye that can hardly be described as there at all is a daunting task, Haricot pulls it off with determined flair. “Yeah, but you’re clearly going after me and Chess with some specificity- why go through all that extra effort? I know we’re not easy targets.” Fog lunges from & through nothing, resting in midair directly in front of them and looking at them intensely- less in a means of observation and more as mere eye contact for the first time they can think of. “Oh, the questions I ask have you asking questions in turn, what a wonderful relationship we have!” Haricot takes a step back, trying to develop personal space in a place where space itself can hardly be relied on, much less personhood, while Fog holds almost violently still amid the malevolent maelstrom. “I ask you this because you ask me the very same. Never has my question been, ‘why do you do this?’ because never have you, the one in my domain, done something humans don’t, and never has your question of ‘why’ been something I-” The ground beneath Haricot’s feet, steady as carbon-14, dissolves into murky air. Fog is torn to shreds above em as ey hurtle an unfathomable distance downward, till a web of vines and sludgy wood dense enough to support em forms. Though unclimbable walls extend around them, and depths great enough to distort the definitions of up and down yawn in every other direction, Fog reemerges from around a corner that cannot be found with an unprecedented frenzy in xer eyes. “You fight for your life, to survive, and I know how-why that happens. I know it,” they speak, with enough force to shatter a barometer. “Survival and curiosity are what motivates a human, but you two aren’t human, you reject it entirely, and you’re driven by more than this basic, primal duality, the intrinsic and extrinsic.” Can it yet be called an invasion of personal space when one has lost any sense of their body’s own position in space, and the other never had one to begin with? “You’re like me, and everybody questions me, and I too question everyone, but, I never- Sticks and stones degrade at the rotting hand of nuclear fusion. Haricot Heretic fights on.

...

Chess offenses, enacting gambit after glitchy gambit. “Damn you,” it mutters, then speaks more loudly into the stormy still. “What’s your goal in all this? Where are you trying to take this?” A cackle, harsh and untraceable, answers it at first. “Now, why would you assume I care for the results of my actions? That I aspire to achieve anything at all, beyond what you bear witness and contribute to as we speak?” Every word from The Fog’s mouths slithers through the air without discretion, almost as though it cares more about being heard than having its words said. The sharpness is turned down, resolution diminished, and threat put aside in a display of defensive tactics (though, how a cloud could ever be sharp enough to threaten in the first place remains bewilderingly unclear). “Look, you say you’ll never be satisfied, that it doesn’t matter if results are insubstantial- I don’t buy that. But you must know how we fight well enough to tell this won’t end well for you, so why devise all this in the first place?” CD asks again. It’s greeted by a face, ferocious and fanged, thrusting from the warring pixelation and obscurity besieging them. “I am transparent, you devil. You’re right, this is all futile, and for you to be correct at all shows my failure beautifully. I know not where this capacity for failure and determination in spite of such came from, because if I did, if my years spent interrogating the human race turn out to now have a tangible point, a lesson for me to learn, then-” Something or nothing or another scrapes hard against Chess’ horns, toppling it backwards into freefall. The ground, or whatever is passing for it, meets it immediately; jagged, hungry, & inviting. Something, many of it, planar and sharp enough to cut, is propelled or flung from the floor at it as it tries to pick itself up again. “You ask me questions I cannot, rather than will & would not answer, and I give you information I would & will not rather than can not.” Hir words seep through the condensation, slithering forward from behind its back just as easily as toothy mouths stretch as far as it can see in front of it. “You’re asking me questions none other have asked me- it should be inevitable. So why do I ask you, is it because you are different from any I have met before, or because I am different than-” The hard line between ones and zeroes forces separation and relief from the unclarity oppressing itself unto it. Checkmate is sought for ever longer. Checkered Devil fights on.

...

The fog is in no way noticed shifting, and yet Haricot & Chess find themselves in a clearing all the same. The two stand poised, not yet tired nor in peak form after all that has passed. Fog hangs in the air in front of them, not in form either. Sharp eyes, inhuman teeth, fill up space surrounding as they always have; a face, almost an outline, is arranged on Fog as it never has. It’s hesitant. Acting on impulse. Cowed and afraid. With all the cards in its hands. Ready to give up. Surely unstoppable. The target of infinite inquiries. Uncertain. “What do we have in common? Nothing of your motivation unites you with humanity- I am filled with questions, and that unites me with... them.” To Haricot and Chess, the sensation of eyes sliding their attention off them and onto another had never before been so very tangible. Nor had anything to do with Fog ever been tangible, though, only this far. “I know humanity when I see it- I don’t think these roles were meant to be reversed, okay?” they cut themself off, with their form almost seeming to be headed in a similar direction. Towards our villainous pair, a hand stretches forward. The wind picks up, drowning out sound & blurring vision, forcing the two to brace themselves; the only thing left clear in the maelstrom is a pair of eyes & a simple mouth- a face -and that hand, reaching, grasping, searching as far as it possibly can. “I am faced with the incomprehensible, filled to my limit with questions thanks to you two,” they yell, and scream, and whisper into the wind, “and it’s maddening. Every time i look at you two, it’s so, so, familiar it hurts

...

The sun rests comfortably in the sky. The moon, desaturated, finds a place above our villains’ heads as well. The Checkered Devil and Haricot Heretic stand, alone, on a simple grassy field. The air has cleared, only in a literal sense, and on the flat, clean, ground, rests a notebook, plain as can be.

...Does it get opened to the very first, or the very last page?

#writing #[that last sentence is indeed a prompt. an answer will be necessary]#hhvcd

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vintagegeekculture · 4 years

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Who are the “Venoms Mob?”

Well, first things first: if you go to China and talk about the 5 Venoms, or the Venoms Mob, they’ll have absolutely no idea who you’re talking about there, because that’s a fandom-term among US Kung Fu cult movie fans.

In Hong Kong, the Venoms are known as director Chang Cheh’s Weapons Expert Troupe, a group of five lifelong friends, martial artists, bodybuilders, exotic weapons experts, and trained acrobats who did at least a dozen movies for manly man Kung Fu director Chang Cheh in the 1970s and 1980s. They were the real deal: they usually choreographed their own fight scenes, which often involved flips and crazy stunts due to their acrobat training, high-wire acts, and unusual and exotic weaponry not typically seen even in martial arts movies. It’s like every single one of them drank the Captain America potion. Their films tended to end in heroic sacrifices, and the Venoms, for all their athleticism and daring, tended to be identifiable people on the bottom end of the societal ladder: homeless drifters, refugees, itinerant hobos, traveling performers, or restaurant workers.

The Venoms were stars in the US, particularly among the black community who love Chinese martial arts movies, not just because of their truly breathtaking skill and choreography, but because they are how most people feel they are, secretly, deep down: rams among sheep. They are the poor, downtrodden, or average person who decides “not to take it anymore” after untold indignities. This is also why the Venoms are especially important to the black community. In fact, if you want to know how much the Venoms mean to their fans, just go up to nearly any Black Dad over 45+ and ask about the “5 Venoms.”

Chang Cheh, Director of the Venoms

The best way to describe the director and writer of the Venoms films, Chang Cheh is that he is basically Mac from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia if he decided to make Gladiator and loved Sergio Leone and Kurasawa.

The director and writer of the Venoms movies, and maybe the most significant name in the history of Kung Fu cinema apart from Bruce Lee, Chang Cheh was towering enough that Quentin Tarantino dedicated Kill Bill Part 2 to Chang Cheh in the closing credits. It would not be inaccurate to say he invented the Kung Fu movie as we know it, with its training montages, mentor-student relationships, all cut with themes of vengeance, noble self-sacrifice, and rebellion of poor and ordinary people against unjust authority.

Chang Cheh’s life story is fascinating. His father was a warlord during the Republican Era between the World Wars, which must have made for an interesting school career day. He started as a film critic and became a screenwriter, then from being a screenwriter, became a director. I wonder if that is the reason that Chang Cheh was so fascinated by themes of masculinity and male bonding, as the arty, openly gay movie critic son of a central Asian warlord had a nearly impossible standard of masculinity to live up to.

The two Western movies that are, thematically, the closest to Chang Cheh are Gladiator and Saving Private Ryan, and if you like both of those movies, you’ll probably like him. His heroes are often James Dean-like angry young men, poor and at the outskirts of society. His movies tend to end in heroic self-sacrifice for a noble cause, and tend to have themes of vengeance, arty blood red slaughter, and a distrust of authority and government of any kind. He loves bloodshed and thinks violence is beautiful; an image that comes up often is someone in an all white outfit that gets covered in blood, an arty view of violence similar to his two biggest influences, Sergio Leone and Kurosawa. Like the Shawshank Redemption, Chang Cheh movies are essentially ensemble pieces about the friendships and close comradely bonds of brotherhood between men. Very few women of any kind have extensive speaking parts in his movies.

Another movie that also summarizes Chang Cheh would be 300. Remember that Sarah Silverman bit where she said that “300 is the answer to the question, how gay is this movie on a scale of 1 to 10?” Not just because it is about an entirely male cast, or about finding fulfillment in noble self-sacrifice and heroism Alamo-style against desperate odds, but also because it’s about glorifying the male body, with tons of abs and pecs. I suppose I should mention here that Chang Cheh’s movies are profoundly homoerotic, and discussion of their homoeroticism is the major way film academics talk about these movies. How many scenes in Cheh’s movies are about dudes hanging out with their shirts off, flexing their muscles? Or about “brothers” who clasp each other on the shoulder while looking longingly into each other’s eyes in a shot-reverse shot? The only meaningful relationship in his movies are male ones. I dislike passing on cheap gossip, but by all accounts it’s actually an open secret in the Hong Kong film industry that Chang Cheh was homosexual and lived with other men.

Yi Kuang -Screenwriter of the Venoms

The screenwriter of nearly all the Venoms movies, much like Chang Cheh, Yi Kuang had an interesting life. He was a Communist Party officer who went to Inner Mongolia, where his primary job was writing death sentences for landlords. Once idealistic, he left disillusioned with the Chinese Communist Party, and a remained a die-hard anticommunist. Evil bureaucrats tend to show up in his stories often for that reason, and a common theme of his scripts is the anger of ordinary people against distant, unapproachable authorities. There’s no understanding Venoms films without their screenwriter. Chang Cheh started as a screenwriter and wrote his movies, but Yi Kuang was his most frequent partner.

Interestingly, Yi Kuang got famous long after for writing a series of supernatural and horror novels called the Mr. Wisely books, where a traditional Chinese medicine expert fights for sites of power charged with Feng Shui. It’s interesting to see his turn to the supernatural, sorcery, and ghosts as an overreaction to his distaste for Marxist materialism. Of all the Venoms films, the one that shows his influence the strongest was the one the Venoms fight an evil human sacrifice devil cult, Masked Avengers.

The Hero – Kuo Chui

A guy with a big smile and a body carved out of marble, Kuo Chui started as a circus acrobat before becoming a stuntman and then a leading actor. He was the Venom with the strongest and most natural screen presence, the one that was the most “movie star.” In fact, he was almost always the hero and central character of Venoms movies, usually playing the most levelheaded and strategic minded of the group.

Kuo Chui deserves some credit also for being the one Venom to actually direct a movie himself, Ninja in the Deadly Trap. This sounds like a heck of a leap, but in Hong Kong, nearly all choreographers also direct their fight scenes. It’s no surprise that a common career path in Hong Kong cinema is to go from choreographer to director (see also Chang Cheh’s ex-choreographers, Tang Chia and 36 Chambers director Liu Chia Liang)

The Bad Guy – Lu Feng

Every single movie, Lu Feng was the heel, the bad guy. I mean, heck, in Shaolin Rescuers, he even played the evil apprentice of the supreme supervillain of the martial arts, Pai Mei! But no matter what, Lu Feng was just so cool that you couldn’t help but root for him just a little bit. He was a character type common in pro wrestling: the arrogant “cool heel,” like Rick Flair and the Horsemen.

The Venoms tended to be workaday regular poor guys, but Lu Feng usually played a rich guy who oozed arrogance and menace, rather like the evil rich football player heel in college movies.

The Funny Guy – Chiang Sheng

A guy who usually played the funny young hero or a wisecracking comedy sidekick prone to wiseassery and pratfalls, Chiang Peng was the Venom who most benefited from the rise of Jackie Chan, and his introduction of silent film era inspired physical comedy into the otherwise stale Kung Fu film. Like Robin Williams, Chiang Shiang was someone who made everyone else laugh, but because he had a lot of darkness inside him, which ended up killing him. Chiang Sheng is the only Venom to not be with us, he drank himself to death after his divorce in 1991. Because of this, there can never really be a full Venoms reunion.

One of the most amazing things about Hong Kong cinema in the 70s is that the actors tended to have scraggly teeth that aren’t perfect and that seemed to be Chang Shieng’s defining trait. To be clear, I am not in any way mocking him for having bad teeth. In fact, I think it is rather winsome and endearing, like a teenager with braces.

The Tough Guy – Lo Meng

Known as the “Shaolin Hercules,” the person I’d compare Lo Meng to is Mr. Worf. Ultra-strong, humorless, intimidating, dead serious and never smiling, he was by far the most muscular and powerful of the Venoms, with tons of machismo and swagger, “big dick energy” as the kids say today. The camera tends to linger on his oiled up biceps and chest in extreme close-up…but was also, usually, the first to die in nearly all of these films. Much like how Worf was the toughest guy ever, but usually got beat up a lot so the writers could show that the situation was serious. In fact, Lo Meng, still in great shape, was in Ip Man 4, where, not one to break with a tradition, he was the first guy to get his ass beat in the film, even in a movie made in the Year of Our Lord 2020.

Lo Meng tends to be the “backup main hero” and was even the main character in films like 2 Champions of Shaolin. He had the most impressive “solo” film career apart from the other Venoms. Like Geri Halliwell, he left the Venoms to do his own thing, which is why the defining trait of the later Venom films is that he wasn’t there.

Lo Meng wasn’t Taiwanese like the other Venoms, and was a native of Hong Kong. In fact, he got his start in the film industry not as a stuntman or muscleman, but as an accountant for the Shaw Brothers studios, and he lifted weights and did Praying Mantis Kung Fu as a hobby. That’s…that’s hilarious. Reminds me of that fake Simpsons movie, Undercover Nerd with Renier Wolfcastle:

The Wild Card – Chun Shieng

Would YOU trust this man? I wouldn’t. He betrayed the Toad!

That’s Chun Shieng for you, the wild card Venom who could “go either way” and so wasn’t an entirely trustworthy ally.

Allow me to correct a misconception I’ve seen in a lot of places: Chun is sometimes known as “the one Korean Venom.” He isn’t Korean but Chinese, but he was trained in Korea and is a Tae Kwon Do expert, unlike the other Venoms, who studied Chinese Kung Fu and Peking Opera. And it certainly shows: he always fights with a kick-heavy Tae Kwon Do style that does not look much like any Kung Fu at all.

#kung fu #martial arts #shaw brothers #70s #5 venoms

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manyfandomsonelog · 3 years

Note

2 for the hero villain prompts 😌

Prompt 2 from @creweemmaeec11 ‘s hero/villain prompts:

“Well, that was one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen.” “How dare you?!”

Ship: Prinxiety (Roman/Virgil)

Word Count: 1,825

(I used the same superhero/villain aliases in this as I used in my multi-chapter fic What You Can Stand, but this is not set in the same universe, and you don’t need to have read What You Can Stand in order to read this fic.)

It was a clear, bright day in the city, with hardly a cloud in the sky. The superhero named Roman Reyes, better known as The Prince, felt most at ease with himself in moments like this, flying through the air with the wind in his hair and his cape flowing behind him.

He took the note out of his breast pocket again, running his hand over the purple script, “I’ll be at the Museum of Art at midnight. Catch me if you can.” There was a heart scribbled at the end of the message.

The note wasn’t signed, but Roman didn’t need a signature to know who it was from. It was immediately recognizable as the handiwork of the villain Nightmare- a foreboding supervillain and thorn in Roman’s side for nearly three months now.

Roman could practically hear his gravelly voice teasing him now, “Aw, you’ve been keeping track of how long we’ve known each other? I always knew you cared, Princey.”

The Prince shook himself, clearing his thoughts. Even when he wasn’t there, Nightmare somehow still managed to fluster him. It was one of Roman’s greatest weaknesses when it came to their encounters. Nightmare always seemed to know exactly what to say to throw Roman off, or to make him hesitate quick enough for the villain to slip away.

This time, though, Roman had the upper hand. This time, he was going to catch him. This time, Nightmare had been stupid enough to tell him not only where he was going, but when.

Now, obviously Roman knew that the time was bound to be inaccurate. There was no way that Nightmare would make it that easy for him. But, nevertheless, he had given Roman valuable information.

And, yes, Roman had considered the idea that maybe Nightmare was toying with him completely- maybe he wasn’t going to be at the museum at all, maybe this was all just a ruse- but that really didn’t seem likely. When it came down to it, Nightmare had a flair for the dramatic. He was a supervillain, after all- it was practically in the job qualifications. Still, when it came to dramatics, Nightmare certainly did not disappoint.

The villain’s outfit, for starters- it was an elaborate affair, a bold statement of black and purple criss-crossed with white spiderweb pattern. The villain didn’t have a cape- no, that would be too little- he had a black hooded cloak, like some sort of dark sorcerer.

To be fair, though, the power that the villain possessed probably warranted the dramatics. Nightmare had the ability to show people their worst nightmares- hence the name. All it took was one wrong move, and you were forced to watch your greatest fears play out right in front of your eyes, seemingly as plain as the nose on your face, right up until the moment they were gone.

..Roman had experienced the unpleasantness of Nightmare’s power firsthand more times than he’d like to admit.

But that was beside the point! The point was that Nightmare was dramatic, which meant that he would never miss out on the opportunity to speak to The Prince face to face, and to rub it in that face when he escaped.

Which meant that he would be at the museum!

Roman glanced at a conveniently-located clocktower, and he smiled at the time. It was just past 9:00 AM.

Well, hopefully not anytime soon.

When The Prince arrived at the Museum of Art, it had only been open for an hour. The smile remained on his face, tugging at the corners of his lips as he entered through the back door of the establishment, which he had kindly asked the owner to leave open in a call this morning.

Roman locked the door behind him, walking as quietly as he could. He would prefer to keep his presence here as much of a secret as possible, in order to avoid his enemy finding out that he had arrived unbelievably early.

The automatic lights, however, held no regard for Roman’s wishes. As soon as he began to move, the fluorescent lights overhead flickered on, illuminating the room around him.

Delivery trucks were parked by a garage door in one area of the room, and in the other, boxes of records, paintings, and old frames sat stagnant. Roman remembered Logan saying something once about how libraries always had a certain air of mysticism, and Roman felt that this place had a similar quality.

He looked around for a couple minutes to find a comfortable place to hide, eventually deciding on a spot behind some shelves that was hidden from view. He sat down, piling his cape underneath him as a makeshift pillow.

However early Nightmare was planning to show up, The Prince was going to be there first.

So, Roman waited.

..And waited.

And waited, and waited, and waited.

He could hear the sounds of people within the building milling around, getting louder as the hours passed. Every so often, someone would enter the warehouse, to make a delivery or to grab something from the back, and each time, Roman tensed up, preparing for confrontation, only to relax again.

When he checked the time and saw that only an hour and a half had passed, The Prince let out a groan. Maybe showing up this early had been overkill.

At 1 PM, Roman took a lunch break. Yes, it was risky, but he was pretty sure that if he spent one more second in that spot, not eating, it was going to be his very own supervillain origin story.

When he came back, nothing had changed. He sighed, and waited some more.

Roman wasn’t sure when exactly he dozed off. All he knew was that at 7:00 PM, thirty minutes after closing, he was woken up by the sound of the garage door opening.

Roman blinked drowsily, sitting up from where he’d eventually ended up laying.

It was probably just a delivery.

A figure approached through the open door, their features shadowed. They didn’t appear to be carrying any sort of package, but perhaps they were picking something up, or meeting with someone.

Then, the figure stepped forward, and the fluorescent lights flickered on, illuminating them.

Roman’s eyes widened, his breath hitching.

There he stood in the entrance to the room, his cloak billowing behind him in the wind and a smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth.

Nightmare.

The footsteps of his thick black boots echoed through the room, bouncing off of the walls. How he’d managed to get that garage open, The Prince had no idea. He stayed hidden in his spot, his eyes following the villain’s every move. If he could figure out what exactly his angle was here, he’d have the upper hand.

Nightmare looked strangely nervous, his hands fidgeting at his sides and an uneasy expression in his face as he examined the room around him. Was this how he was when he thought he was alone?

He moved across the room, growing closer to The Prince’s hiding spot with every step. Roman could’ve sworn he was staring right at him.

Then, Nightmare turned away, and Roman exhaled a small sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, he didn’t think this action through, as the villain heard the noise, immediately whirling around. Roman’s heart leapt out of his chest, and he tensed, preparing for a fight.

After a few seconds of standing perfectly still, listening, Nightmare shook his head, and continued in the direction he was going.

Nightmare came to a halt in front of a gilded gold-framed mirror in the corner of the room. Was that what he had come here for? Some dusty old mirror? There was art worth millions more than that inside the museum.

But Nightmare made no move to take the mirror. Instead, he nervously adjusted his costume and moved his brown hair out of his eyes, assessing his reflection.

Nightmare bounced on the balls of his feet a couple of times and muttered something to himself that sounded like, “You can do this.”

Roman stifled a laugh. Was he.. giving himself a pep talk?

Then, things got even better.

Nightmare cleared his throat. Swallowed. Cleared his throat again.

Then, his expression shifted to a smirk, “Well, well, well, look who finally decided to show up.”

What? Who he was he talking to? Roman looked around the room, but they were still the only two people there.

Nightmare shook his head, then repeated his words, saying them with slightly different inflections, “Well, well, well, look who finally decided to show up.” He crossed his arms for a moment, grinning, before he began to pace back and forth, “No, no, that’s stupid.” He groaned.

The Prince’s face split into a grin as he realized what was happening.

Nightmare was rehearsing.

The villain turned on his heel, facing his reflection again, “Hey there, Princey. I was wondering how long it would take for you to get here.”

From his hiding place, Roman stifled a laugh. This was just too good.

Nightmare ran through several more lines, each one providing more of a struggle for Roman not to reveal himself.

“Well, look who’s finally here- I was beginning to think you’d stood me up, Princey.”

“If it isn’t Prince Gullible!”

“I know a Queen is never late, but I’m pretty sure a Prince is.”

“Fancy seeing you here, Princey.”

At that, Roman couldn’t take it anymore. He released his hand from its grip over his mouth and exploded with uncontrollable laughter, the noise echoing through the room.

Nightmare startled, physically leaping into the air with fright.

Having already announced his presence, The Prince stepped out from his hiding place.

Nightmare spotted him in the mirror’s reflection, and his eyes widened.

Roman grinned, “Well, that was one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen.” He said.

Nightmare turned, and even underneath his raccoon’s mask, Roman could see his face turn bright red, “I- Wha- Princey- You-“ He sputtered. Then, he seemed to process Roman’s words, “How dare you?!”

The Prince let out another laugh, delighting in Nightmare’s flustered state, “I mean it! It was adorable. Please- don’t stop at my expense.”

Nightmare’s face reddened further, “I- You- How- How long have you been here?!” He exclaimed.

“Since nine in the morning.” The Prince answered.

The expression on his nemesis’s face made it all worth it.

“Nine..?” Nightmare was dumbstruck. “So you saw..”

“..Everything.” Roman confirmed.

Nightmare buried his face in his hands, “Fuck.” He said. “This is.. humiliating.”

“Aw, don’t be so hard on yourself, Tom Lose. It’s not an easy task to outwit The Prince!”

Nightmare found his footing in the conversation a little, “Really? Because I’ve been doing it with no problem up until now.”

Roman felt his face heat up, but he did not allow himself to lose his composure, “So you admit that I have outwit you this time?” He said smugly.

“Shut up.” Nightmare growled.

#Prinxiety #hero/villain #what you can stand #my writing

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