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vs-space-orcs · 2 years

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Imagine aliens who like to come to deathworlds to experience the local nightmare conditions, like those people that do extreme outdoorsy sports stuff (idk what that's called but those people are Insane. Anyway) or storm chasers.

Imagine the alien equivalent of a youtuber from a planet that had no concept of barometric pressure changes documenting their experience waiting for and through a thunderstorm. Would they naturally be able to feel changes in pressure in more detail than us since they aren't used to it?

"Hey everyone, logging in for the first time from Terra. We're two days ahead of a thunderstorm here in 'Ohklawhowma,' as the locals call it, and we can already feel the atmosphere changing around us. It's hard to describe. It's like your skin and bones feel... unsettled. Really fascinating."

"Hey everyone, logging back in one Sol day before the predicted storm, and we are really feeling the atmosphere changing as the day goes on. I'm doing alright but my partner Navideah is in bed, her bones and skin are hurting pretty bad. They say even among humans there are some people who are more susceptible to pain caused by these pressure changes. Absolutely insane to think a whole sentient species, an entire planet, just deals with this every day. I've been to a lot of deathworlds but Terra is something else."

"Hey everyone, it's the day of the storm and the storm is starting to 'roll in' as the humans say. *camera pans to show a large storm cloud approaching on the horizon*Look at these atmospheric water structures! This one is going to be pretty tame by Terra standards. No solid water chunks raining from the sky and definitely no 'tornado.' We respect humans who chase those storms but decided we're not that intense.

Anyway *bright flash of light* OH DAMN I think we just saw some lightning! *thunder clap* and there's the thunder. They say the shorter the time between the flash and the thunder, the closer it is to you. And look at this! The horizon is hazy because that water structure, 'clouds' the humans call them, is dumping absolutely massive amounts of water on the landscape. Really, really exciting stuff!"

*video taken from inside the ship, with the sound of water hitting metal echoing everywhere* "Hey everyone, my recording equipment is having some trouble hearing me over the noise of water hitting the ship. The humans like to say it's 'raining cats and dogs' which are two small Terran companion animals. Not sure what that means but it really is insane how much water is coming out of the sky! I have some more footage being captured on cameras outside the ship that I'll edit and post later.

These changes in the atmosphere are really brutal on the body. I'm feeling it pretty good. My head hurts like you wouldn't believe, and Navideah had a fluid leak from her scent organ earlier. Apparently this is completely normal for humans. Some of them don't even feel any different when these storms come, which is absolutely insane every part of my body including my skin hurts. I have never has more respect for the humans their world is absolutely one of the wildest we've been to. And this is just an every day thing for them! Absolutely wild." *loud thunderclap and screen goes black*

"Hey everyone, we made it through the storm! My recording equipment had some interference so I'll be sorting through footage but I just wanted to let everyone know we made it, and we are packing up to head home.

Pain aside, this has been an incredible experience. The awe you feel on this wide open plain as these massive super structures of water in the atmosphere approach is really something else. It'll set your antennas on end. It really will. The anticipation as the storm approaches and the pain increases is so intense. It's unsettling and uncanny, but you can't help but think how beautiful it all is.

Anyway, it's been a long few days, so we're signing out for a bit while we head back home and recover. Wave Navideah! This is us, signing out."

#alien storm chasers #earth is a deathworld #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities

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yggdraseed · 22 days

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Reflecting on Ichigo vs. Grimmjow

This past week, we lost electricity and internet for a few days. In addition to engendering a much deeper appreciation for modern amenities in me, it led me to dust off a bunch of old Shonen Jump issues I bought at Kroger when I was a kid! Someday I'd like to collect a copy of every English monthly and weekly Shonen Jump anthology, but that's not the point of this post.

No, the point is that while thumbing through them, I encountered the last chapter of Ichigo's fight with Grimmjow, and I was struck by how much of the subtext and emotion I missed as a dumb teenager. That's not to say all teenagers are dumb, I don't think they are and I think the way that adults in general look down on and bully adolescents is stupid and wrong; I'm just saying I, myself, was a teenager once, and back then, I was dumb as hell.

Anywho, I remember really, really being struck by that flashback to when Grimmjow was still an Adjuchas and running with his pack that all eventually became his Numeros. When I was a teen, I don't think I had the mental framework to understand why, but now I do. The whole concept of the Arrancar is a hell of a lot more fascinating with all the things I've learned and opened myself up to since then, and looking with fresh eyes at this one chapter of Grimmjow and his interactions with his underlings and Ichigo was a real thrill.

It's interesting how, while Shinigami get stronger by cloaking themselves in Hollow powers, Hollows get stronger by becoming more like Shinigami. They tear off their masks, assume more-or-less human forms, and store their full Hollow form as zanpakuto for the renewal and empowerment of Resurrección. And I've started to reflect a lot on what monsters taking on humanoid form means for the story's themes.

When I look at the Espada, I see these once animalistic phantoms who exist only to consume and perpetuate their own existence who have now taken on human form and the very human search for meaning in some form. Yammy's a bad example of this like he is for fucking everything, but maybe the point is that he's such a big lug with so much power to throw around that he doesn't need to try to give his life meaning? But that's a reach.

Starting from Number 9 instead, we have Aaroniero, the only Gillian in the Espada. The Gillian are the first stage of Menos Granda, resulting from the hunger that defines all Hollows becoming so great that human souls no longer can satiate them, and so they cannibalize each other in a huge feeding frenzy that eventually produces a Gillian. As a result of smashing all these Hollow personalities together, they lose their individual identity, as seen with how Gillian all have the same appearance until they metamorphose into the next phase, an Adjuchas. When this happens, an individual identity asserts itself.

I don't believe that Adjuchas are actually representative of any one living human's former identity like non-Menos Hollow are. Rather, I think that an Adjuchas is a whole new identity that originates from that congealed mess of interfeeding and assimilation that produces a Gillian. Correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I don't think any of the Arrancar were once living humans, in that I think their experience as individuals begins at their emergence as Adjuchas.

Getting back to Aaroniero, he (they? it?) was probably just on the borderline between Gilian and Adjuchas. So you have this sort of very broad strokes, half-animal consciousness that's only starting to become self-aware again. Aaroniero only has a little more going on in his/their inner life than the primal desire all Hollows have to feed, and I think that bears out in how Aaroniero takes the identity of what's eaten and lives to eat. Aaroniero only has a little more than hunger, but is using that hunger as a basis for meaning and trying to create an identity by eating otthers and integrating them. Perhaps unfortunately, Aaroniero dies before completing self-actualization.

Szayel Aporro, the next rung on the ladder, is also defined by desire in a more broad sense. It's not only hunger, but also lust and more complicated forms of greed that drive him. He's a scientist, but in the sense that he's possessed of avarice for knowledge. And his Resurrección reflects a desire for power over others - over their bodies and over their fates. In that way, following his desires leads to meaning for him, to some sort of goal: acquiring knowledge and more complex, effective means to then acquire more knowledge and satisfy other desires.

Zommari is marked by fanatical love. Love is interesting in that it's simultaneously a desire and a virtue: to love someone or something is to desire them, but also to desire their wellbeing. It's a need to meet the needs of someone or something besides yourself. And yet, Zommari has this very immature, incomplete love: he makes all of these adulations towards love, but in the end, his Resurreción forces others to love him and serve him. He's unable to go outside of himself at this stage, but while he's beginning to see the big picture, it all still comes down to his own primal desire to have, to possess, even if not necessarily to consume.

I could keep going up the list, but I'm going to stop at Grimmjow for now because he's the one on my mind the most due to recency bias. He and his pack of Adjuchas ended up settling on a very different desire from any of the foregoing Arrancar: power. Not consumption, not possession, but growth and evolution. Obviously the latter is attained by and makes it easier to attain more of the former, but the point is that it's a very different relationship to the world and the self from what Aaroniero, Szayel Aporro, and Zommari have going on.

Grimmjow and his underlings have as their primary, guiding objective not to fill their stomachs or secure possessions, but to evolve further and realize their latent potential. This is no longer in the realm of meeting some primal need like hunger, security, or some other form of tangible, useful abundance. Self-improvement for its own sake is something very abstract and symbolic, something downright esoteric if you're only looking at biological utility. It's something almost unspeakably human, to do something not for the benefit of survival, but because you've decided it's meaningful.

That's Grimmjow and his pack. They've declared that strength has meaning even if it doesn't meet your needs and desires, and so they make sacrifices on the altar of strength. And it's why his subordinate Adjuchas are so distraught when they realize they can't go further. Strength is their meaning, their tether guiding them through the dark desert of existence, and now they've obtained all of it that they can. Not for lack of trying, but because they had a built-in limit. I think you could argue that wanting Grimmjow to eat them is partly a suicidal response to realizing they're at the end point of their chosen meaning and can't proceed further with it.

However, it's also fascinating that rather than just ending it themselves in some way, they all choose to offer themselves up to Grimmjow. They see him as the embodiment of strength and of the law of the jungle, the might makes right philosophy that gave their existence meaning and let them continue to try and live. And so they want to sacrifice themselves so that he can reach his full potential and go further beyond, to the frontiers of strength they know they can never reach. It's visceral, animalistic, and short-sighted, but you can't call it anything else than compassion. They choose to give up their needs and desires for the needs and desires of someone else.

And so when Grimmjow's always pushing himself to assert his pride and to get as strong as possible, to defeat anyone and everyone that he can, sure, it's his ego motivating him. However, it's also the fact that now, he's the one carrying the symbolic meaning of strength on his back for his Numeros. Getting stronger is no longer just his own meaning, but it's a responsibility he owes to his comrades who weren't able to get stronger with him. And that meaning keeps him moving forward on a collision force with greater challenges.

Like one Ichigo Kurosaki. When you look back at Ichigo's characterization in early Bleach, it starts to click why he makes this connection with Grimmjow. He sees himself in him - or maybe just a person he could have become if things went differently. Ichigo's kind of a punk who likes to fight and flex his muscles, but he became that way because his natural orange hair he inherited from his mom made him look like a delinquent and turned him into a lightning rod for conflict. Some people see a nail that sticks out and can't rest until they hammer it down, and Ichigo had to learn to fight and to enjoy fighting in order to protect himself and his self-respect. He could just do something as simple as dye his hair black, but then, that would be hiding something he inherited from his dead mother just to make life go a little smoother. It would be stepping on something important to himself just so he could take the easy way out.

Grimmjow is someone who finds meaning in conflict and strength for its own sake. Ichigo finds meaning in conflict and strength only to assert his own self-worth and, with time, to protect the friends who have gradually gathered around him. He's not just some punk slugging people for getting on his case over something as stupid as hair color, his strength represents a responsibility to the people he loves. And that element of strength as meaning, strength as a responsibility to others, ties him and Grimmjow to each other.

It's why Ichigo frustrates Grimmjow so much. He sees himself in Ichigo, but he also sees something not-himself. He sees someone who has pushed himself to get stronger, but someone who doesn't worship at the altar of strength like he does. Instead, he sees someone with this over-abundance of strength who doesn't assert it, doesn't make more sacrifices than necessary for it, but just uses it as a means to an end: that end being the safety of people he cares for.

This creates friction inside of Grimmjow because strength is his rock, his one singular meaning in a dark, barren, stupid world. For strength to just be the means to an end is hard to process. Yet in Ichigo, he starts to see what lies beyond strength for its own sake: a way that strength can form bonds and maintain them, act as the seedbed for new meanings without losing its meaning in itself.

When Ichigo pleads with Grimmjow, "We don't need to fight to the death. Isn't it enough for us to fight each other again and again?" It's him extending an olive branch. He doesn't want to see more death and destruction than necessary anymore, but he knows now that the world of Arrancar like Grimmjow is defined by those things. If he wants to end this conflict without killing an opponent he respects, then he has to meet Grimmjow in the middle. He has to make a commitment to get stronger and fight Grimmjow again, as many times as he wants, if it means Grimmjow will lay down his arms and stop trying to get to him through his friends.

Of course, Nnoitra has to show up and fuck it all up like he does most things he involves himself with. I've come to find Nnoitra an interesting character in his own right and might have more to say about him in the future, but for now, I'll say that I think the fact that Grimmjow ends up helping Ichigo and Co. during the final arc indicates he's accepted Ichigo's terms and is expanding his horizons beyond fighting and killing to grow and assert his strength and nothing else besides that.

He's definitely evolved his fashion sense. Did you see those boots? Faboo! To die for! Or, perhaps, to live for?

#bleach #grimmjow jaegerjaquez #ichigo kurosaki #tite kubo #bleach spoilers #existentialism #existentialism in my shonen manga yippee

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cheerycherrycandy-resurrected · 3 months

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Ghoulette Appreciation Week 5

still behind but catching up!

Week 5: Comfort and Hobbies

Cumulus crochets to relax. When newly summoned Phantom struggles with fitting in, she extends this comfort to them with a soft little friend.

Hi yes I am unashamedly joining the Cumulus-crochet-ghoul train.

I’ve had Cumulus and Phantom being really good friends stuck in my head ever since @foxybouquet's adorable photobooth drawing of them, Lus seems like just the ghoulette to bring out the fun side of her shyer packmates, I totally see her as the goofy pack big sister!

Rating: General Content: slight hurt, much comfort Words: 1141

Cumulus's little comfort gift (context in the fic!), pattern here:

Oh and the blankets mentioned are real, they're just mostly back at my mum's house! I should ask her to send me reference pictures...

Read below or on AO3!

All the ghouls had hobbies. Some were more conventional, human sports and arts, while others were less so – Dewdrop and Ifrit claimed burning shit counted as a hobby. Cumulus was firmly in the more conventional camp: she spent her free time between rehearsals and Abbey duties crocheting. She'd made all manner of jumpers, winter hats for all her pack and, on the road between Rituals, a veritable mountain of blankets. It was a comforting activity for her, partly because it was a creative outlet that remained within her control, unlike her music, and partly because she was always cold. She had first learned from Mist and some Siblings of Sin who made plushies for the children in the Abbey nursery. She’d found the process of making little fluffy animals, monsters, and ghoul kits so relaxing, the methodical process occupying her frequently anxious hands, the repetitive counting soothing her racing mind.

Too many thoughts was something many of the ghouls suffered from, especially the newer summons. Their human forms seemed capable of both intense fixation and infinite distraction. Many new ghouls had developed anxieties over things they had never previously paid heed to. The mental pain of stuffing a strongly instinctual creature into a 21st century human body couldn't be overstated. How did humans cope with this every day of their lives? Many older ghouls chose to retire back to the pit just for some peace and quiet in their heads, the simpler life ghouls below could lead. Conversely, the often younger and more inquisitive ghouls found the topside world to be a land of endless fascination. Many a ghoul had had to be located, then dragged back long after dark from the farthest reaches of the Abbey grounds, after spending a day following every new sight and smell that caught their attention.

Phantom liked to watch bugs. That, along with their stick insect-esque mannerisms, had quickly contributed to their pack nickname. It was quite clear that the relative quiet of the Abbey grounds was their solace in the busy new world. Aurora, on the other hand, seemed quite content to roll with the new speed and intensity of everything around her, being incredibly outgoing and becoming fast friends with everyone. Despite their summonings happening so close together, the two ghouls couldn’t have had more different initial experiences topside. As Aurora continued to flourish, Phantom had become more withdrawn. This concerned Cumulus greatly, she remembered the feeling of drowning and being overwhelmed in her own thoughts, and felt protective over the lost little quint ghoul. They almost reminded her of the infants in the nursery, crying out for some comfort in a new and unfamiliar world. She could tell there was a sweet and loving ghoul buried beneath their many layers of anxieties. They were more than competent in rehearsals, but with less than a month until tour, Cumulus was worried they might get lost on stage amongst the strong performance personalities of the rest of the pack.

She knew Swiss had been trying to help, he was similarly infatuated by the new quintessence ghoul, although they appeared entirely oblivious to his affections. She continued to observe Phantom, trying to think of a way to comfort them. They seemed so childlike in some of their mannerisms, and likewise their taste in foods, that Cumulus started to wonder if they wouldn’t also benefit from a soft and cuddly friend like she and the sisters made for the children in the Abbey’s care.

But what to make for them? She couldn’t very well make a bug, despite their nickname: too many legs to be squishable. But what about a bat? They had clearly been interested in the nature documentary about them playing in the background of the den the other day. Cumulus thought back to what the older children liked best; velvety wings and a squeezable stress-ball belly? Sounds perfect. She picked out a few shades of purples, matching Phantom’s eyes, and set to work.

Cumulus had croched many things for her packmates in the past, especially blankets for her ghoulettes’ nests. From a brightly coloured affair for Sunshine, a garden of flowers for Cirrus (“I might not be an earth ghoulette but I can still grow you a bouquet”, she had said) to a pond of lilies for Mist and several more, the den was full of her brightly coloured creations. She’d tried to teach the others, with varying success. Aurora had almost immediately gotten herself in a giant tangle, somehow crocheting herself to the table leg. Cumulus quickly pivoted to instead teach her fingerknitting and how to use knitting dollies to make cords and hair ties. Sunshine had been a quick learner but ultimately preferred knitting, while Mist had been the one to teach Cumulus in the first place. As for Cirrus… Cumulus was still trying there. Each time she tried to teach her, Cirrus would end up in a tangle and feign dismay, begging Cumulus to help her out. She would guide Cirrus’s hands through the motions once more with strangely little resistance, almost as if her fingers did know what they were supposed to be doing, Cirrus exclaiming what a good teacher she was, and if she could show her just one more time. If Cumulus was a more skeptical ghoul she would almost think Cirrus was looking for an excuse to have Cumulus’s warm hands on hers for an extended period of time…

A short while later, the toy was complete. Cumulus sewed its small ears and features onto it, cooing at it's sweet little face. She caught up with Phantom as they were leaving rehearsals, waylaying them before they could slink off back to their room. If she had thought the ghoul was withdrawn before, this image was fully shattered when they threw themselves onto her in a hug that almost knocked her off her feet.

"Thank you Lussy, I love it!” they squealed into her hair.

"You're welcome, little bat!”

After this, Cumulus sensed she had gained a new shadow. Phantom had taken to following Cumulus around during rehearsal breaks, and she had tried to subtly include Phantom whenever possible so they would begin to open up more to their other packmates. It wasn't long before she caught them playing video games with Aurora, and giggling and blushing with Swiss in the den. Notably with the little plush bat by their side.

By the time they all headed out on tour, the world around Phantom had begun to slowly make more sense, and they had learned to ignore the competing voices in their head. The friendly young ghoul had come out of their shell more than Cumulus had dared dream, and she felt a small swell of pride at having even a tiny part in it, through the small stuffed bat that lived on Phantom's bunk shelf.

#ghoulette appreciation weeks 2024 #ghoulette appreciation weeks #the band ghost #ghost #nameless ghouls #nameless ghoulettes #cumulus ghoulette #phantom ghoul #ghost fanfiction #crochet #em writes

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yellowhollyhock · 20 days

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these are now the buttonverse turtles

Tang Shen, living above her parents dress shop in New York City, had a button collection. Because of financial troubles and gang activity, she was sent to live in Japan with her uncle Adachihara Kaito.

Met Hamato Yoshi at poetry club. Kind, unassuming, responsible. Loves learning about clothing design (Shen finds it boring but sure whatever she'll teach him), gardens, obsessed with animals. He has all kinds of pets throughout the years.

Kaito and Shen never knew he was involved with the Foot Clan.

Oroku Saki, betrayed that his best friend is actually considering leaving the Clan for a life with some little rich kid from America. However. He isn't telling on him. He covers for him, in fact, for years. He and Shen become friends too, though he always keeps more walls up with her. He has a big hand in helping them plan their elopement.

Shen can't understand why Yoshi wants to run away. Her uncle likes him. Her parents have been dying to meet him. But she knows he's been keeping secrets since they met, and maybe this is how she finally finds out everything.

She does, when they're ambushed by a group of ninjas led by Saki.

Shen and Yoshi escape; she writes to Kaito that she's going to America and will explain everything later. Her and Yoshi are both devastated and afraid. He apologizes for the secrets and promises to leave such a life in Japan; she gives him four buttons. The first one she ever collected, a small seashell with swirls of blue that inspired her to begin; a fancy red pearl she'd stolen from an expensive dress in order to give to a sobbing toddler, who had not been interested; a simple purple octagon, the last one she took from the shop as she packed for Japan; and a large orange circle speckled with yellow, one she'd found on the street on a day she'd been homesick. She tells him not to leave behind what he's collected; they may need it in the life they want to build together.

After all, it was because of gang activity she was sent away from New York in the first place.

She dies at sea.

Hamato Yoshi delivers the news to her parents in person, and writes to Adachihara Kaito. Neither want to see him again.

He makes a meager living at a plant nursery. He stops practicing ninjitsu. Slowly, he starts to build himself a life that isn't all based on grief. He's good at gambling. He's fascinated by western art. He discovers an underground city where Yokai, Y'Lyntians, Utrom, and others who do not feel safe on the surface live.

Wait, what?

He helps an Utrom who's been separated from his body suit escape an antagonstic goat Yokai. He delivers bonsai trees to an old man who appears human but clearly isn't, simply calls himself The Ancient One. He gets the nickname 'Splinter' when he is able to remove one from a a Tengu under a dangerous spell, thereby saving a small community of Y'Lyntians. He plays and wins the Battle Nexus, mostly in an effort to learn more about a spider Yokai in a position of power whom he suspects is involved with the human gang, the Purple Dragons.

The Hidden City has everything Splinter needs, he finds. He begins expanding Shen's button collection, and dabbles in clothing design. He has fully and willingly left the human world behind by the time he is captured by a group of Utrom who are experimenting with genetic alteration in order to build themselves better bodies.

He escapes, but over the next few weeks, he begins morphing into a rat.

It's a difficult change to process, so he does what he usually does when he's stressed: adopts a pet. On his way to the rescue, he sees a young boy in traffic drop a box of baby turtles, who slip through the sewer grates. His smaller and more agile new body allows him to make it to their rescue.

He names them after his favorite artists. One night in his small apartment in the Hidden City, he's telling them about Tang Shen. He places a button in front of each of them as he shares what he's learned about accepting his past, using the pieces to forge a future that does not have to reflect his trauma. But sometimes it does.

A knock interrupts him; The Ancient One seeks his help with a fight that has spilled out from the Battle Nexus, and threatens to reveal their world to the humans as well as tearing them apart from within. Splinter hurries away.

When he returns, his turtles have begun to anthropomorphize, and their shells to resemble the buttons he gave them. They've been injected with the mutagen. He doesn't know when or why.

Now feeling he can't trust anyone, Splinter takes the turtles into the world between the Hidden City and New York.

The turtles grow up in the sewers. They know Tang Shen's story very well. They learn ninjitsu.

They do not know about the Hidden City, Big Mama and the Purple Dragons, or the New York branch of the Foot Clan.

After all his promises, Yoshi never stopped keeping secrets.

#tmnt buttonverse #things that started as a joke #if you can believe that after reading this post #anyway #tmnt

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matoitech · 4 months

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What are your top-3 werewolf tropes (popular or obscure) or things you wish to see more in stories about/with werewolves?

ooo rly interesting question and surprisingly tough for me to answer.. i think 'tropes i hate' are probably easier to identify LOL but for some tropes i like hmmm:

i tend to enjoy werewolf transformations however it goes in that universe's werewolf lore, whether its painful and bone breaky and screamy or painful but feels good afterward or magical and painless or whatever, i think theyre all cool and they can all say a lot abt how u want ur werewolves to be viewed and what ur trying to say w them. i think my personal favorite is like, there is some level of pain but more than anything its a RELIEF to get to shift so its worth the pain. theres lots of things in life like that and growing up i could relate a lot to feeling like i was ready to burst out of my 'shell' as in body into who i REALLY was. on multiple levels lol

pack as being a better version of family was a huge one for me as a kid. i didnt have a good home life or childhood so i dreamed of finding out i was a werewolf and getting to run away and live in the woods as a wolf with a group of ppl that loved me, that was better than 'family' and meant more. tho it should also be stated this was more like a fantasy scenario for KID me; as an adult i love political dramas in fiction so complicated pack politics seem really fun to write now. i still wrote them to an extent when i was younger into my werewolf stories too but more than anything i had the dream of it being like a total freedom and actually getting to be loved as who you really were thing. i also like werewolf universes where they DONT rly have either packs of groups that function as packs, whatever works for the narrative and lore the best, but i loved the whole pack thing a lot growing up

i love werewolves being able to be used to represent so many things.. this isnt rly a trope in particular but i love the expressiveness and creativity and originality and fluidity their stories can have and i think its rly cool how many ppl can be compelled by them and attracted to the potential in these stories. theres so MUCH you can do w them that goes incredibly underutilized. if i wanted to always write a different way of looking at or approaching or relating real human experiences to werewolves, or even just slightly different ways the werewolves function (and you have so many different KINDS of werewolves; dif levels of animal and human mind combo as a four legged wolf, furry anthro werewolves, beast werewolves, etc) i would never run out of material or alternative ideas. thereis so much that can make a werewolf story a werewolf story and a werewolf a werewolf. theres so many personal reasons ive always loved and felt connected to them. this is partly getting into the 'what id love to see' thing, but just HUGE massive potential in writing abt stuff like disability for example that u just never see. werewolves r smth ive always rly deeply loved a lot and been fascinated with and i think it shows in how like Personal me talking abt werewolves tends to get lol. this wasnt rly a trope but im counting it

for more things i want more in werewolf stories.. lots of stuff specific and niche to me personally lol, but i want them to stop being so goddamn cisgender i think werewolf stories r one of those things where the way gender is handled is so unneccessarily bad SO much of the time for no reason i can see. i guess ppl want to be '''realistic''' to animals but gender does Not work like that for animals so theyre just being annoying for no reason. theres a lot of gender essentialism in a lot of werewolf stuff? which is incredibly grating. and obviusly shitty

anyway as a dif thing one of my biggest qualms w werewolf stories is that i rly dislike the incorrect 'alpha' dynamics + crazy aggression of the pack members against each other like werewolves r Biologically Evil thing that shows up a lot in werewolf stories by ppl who dont know anything abt wolves or wolf pack dynamics, or just dont care i guess. i dont care abt 'alpha/omega' shit at all i never write that kinda stuff. so i want more things that Dont use that. lol

id love to see more werewolves who Like being werewolves lol. being realistic abt like the pros and the cons here but there is NO reason why there r so few stories abt werewolves who actually like being werewolves or at least like some aspects of it. theres not enough furries writing these things i guess. oh i forgot to mention i like never think of lycanthropy as a 'curse' unless im writing it For A Reason. other characters viewing it as a curse while the werewolf doesnt, thats another story. i think its just boring and too like horror werewolf tropey to me. being able to turn into a wolf man is not a curse what the hell thats like the coolest power ever. i see ppl complaining abt how werewolves r 'too happy to just realize they have cool powers and start killing ppl they dont like for fun, i want to see them be SAD abt it' but i dont actualy see the 'enjoying murdering for fun' a lot in media so idk what theyre talking abt. i guess horror, maybe, where the werewolves r the villains? i see way more of them moping abt how hard it is to be cursed to be a furry. bite ME then if you hate it so much

i could keep going but i am gonna cut myself off now lol, tysm for asking! i could say lots more but its 2 am lol

#dord-the-whimsical-creature #asks #werewolves

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yautjalover · 2 years

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Heyo!

I love your writing so much!!!!! I’ve been having a rough time lately and have a self indulgent ask if that’s okay:3

It’s also two asks, so I get it if that’s too much.

Ask 1:

Y/n being more animalistic then most humans (aka long sharp nails, good sense of smell and direction, makes weird noises randomly, that kind of stuff) and how they’re future mate would react to that. Like-

“hmm, this one’s weird….. ITS BITING ME WTF DO I DO???? HUMANS DONT BITE????” Obviously could reck y/n if he wanted easily, but just the shock of such a different behavior to what they’re used too

Ask 2:

Y/n getting kidnapped by the yautja and not knowing they can understand them…

Aka “yo you kinda hot tho ngl,” *giggles* “here me out- now here me out-“

“The little ooman seems to desire me?”

and then just *y/n’s realization and confused screaming*

I hope that wasn’t to much to ask for! If so no pressure <3

I’m so glad you like my writing! It’s nice to hear people liking it! Honestly, it warms my cold, dead heart when people say they love my work. It gives me the energy to keep up my passion for writing! 🥹

Now, for the asks…I have time for one but I can get back to you with the other one when I can. That one I already have something in the works related to it. Sorry if it’s disappointing, but I was inspired by the kid who was raised by wolves in the 1900’s and some good ole sci-fi.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(SFW)

Feral Reader x Male Yautja

• You’re not the human that the Yautja is used to seeing, but he doesn’t mind.

• He’s fascinated by your heightened sense of smell and hearing; it’s much greater than other humans. Humans typically didn’t have stellar hearing nor smell.

• You were a failed science experiment left to die in the woods from a young age where you were raised by wolves. Your keen senses allowed you to survive alongside your adoptive pack.

• When you first encountered your Yautja mate, you tried to attack him with teeth and sharp nails, something that surprised him. He was so perplexed that he let your attack go without killing you.

• From there he took you with him, much to the disappointment of your pack. After some heartfelt goodbyes, you went on a grand adventure in space with your alien companion.

• His smell was unlike any you had ever encountered. He didn’t react in pain when you bit him, but seemed to enjoy your animalistic behavior, enjoying the challenge of taming you.

• Eventually he came to the conclusion that he was head over heels for your feral self and claimed you as his mate, both of you letting loose your animal savagery in this carnal dance.

• Together you work to hone your fighting skills, your Yautja training you in the art of the Hunt.

• You are his feral human and fights anyone who touches your mate. They don’t expect the hissing and the snarls come from you when someone messes with what is yours. Your mate. No one else can touch or bite him. Only you.

#your asks #yautjalover #yautja #predator #feral human #monster romance #teratophillia

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breadknight-likes-things · 4 months

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Bread's Game Of The Year 2023, #5: Cyberpunk: Phantom Liberty

2023 is one of, if not the, strongest years ever for video games as a medium of entertainment. I am limiting myself to five entries for my longer form GOTY list, because describing all ten of what I consider to be the best games of this year and why they resonate with me would be a herculean task that frankly, I don't know I have the mental capacity for anymore. I can do five though, and coming in just under the wire, isn't quite a full game, but welcome to my first instance of bending the rules in this series of posts: Cyberpunk Phantom Liberty. I don't have to get into the saga of Cyberpunk, if you're reading an online blog about video games, you probably know the story of that games fall and subsequent anime based redemption arc. Phantom Liberty, though, feels like a clean break, from all of it. Phantom Liberty had it's fair share of hype, of course, but going into this expansion pack, at least to me, felt like a good, solid clean break from the expectations that had come before and wildly affected the reaction Cyberpunk had received, and not entirely undeservedly. Phantom Liberty feels like something new, even though it was built on the much publicized enhanced bones of something old. It's funny that I want to describe the story setup of Phantom Liberty as "Straightforward" in my head, because the plot is cranked up twelve on the insane-o meter from the instant you load the quest. Phantom Liberty is a story that lifts themes, events and ideas from influences as far reaching as Escape From New York, James Bond, to paranoid political thrillers featuring a new double cross every five minutes. Somehow, in the face of all that, it tells a story that I still think I could define as simple, human, and fascinating. Even in the face of Idris Elba doing a.....strange approximation of an American accent. That they even got Keanu Reeves back in the booth to record a sizable new amount of dialogue as the infamous piece of digital shit, Johnny Silverhand, is wild. Even more wild that his best performance in the entirety of his time as the character only comes if you follow one specific line of quests that many players could easily miss. As a game, Phantom Liberty also has the undeniable advantage of coming out after Cyberpunks much vaunted 2.0 update. An update that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe as "Transformative". Loose collections of systems were tightened into a cohesive whole, the general play experience was wildly overhauled. Playing Cyberpunk finally feels like it approaches the game it promised to be all those years ago. So having all of this fresh coat of paint be present for the launch of a new major piece of content, is undeniably important to the success of Phantom Liberty as a whole. The trappings are familiar, but given how much has changed and improved, if you sat someone down in front of the systems at their most nitty gritty and said "This is Cyberpunk 2", it would not be the least believable statement. CD Projekt Red is no stranger to making good expansion packs. Witcher 3, famously, has two of the best ever designed for any RPG, let alone in the modern era. So I think the quality of Phantom Liberty perhaps could have been more predictable that many of us felt. Still, in a year packed so full of great games, Phantom Liberty rose above some real heavy hitters and delivered one of my favorite experiences of 2023. I don't know that I'd ever want to spend any extended period of time in Dogtown, but after this, I sure wouldn't mind visiting again.

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adamwatchesmovies · 9 months

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Isle of Dogs (2018)

Isle of Dogs is such a unique film it’s hard to categorize it. There’s comedy but the story isn’t afraid to be emotional. It’s animated… but not made for kids. The dialogue is partially in English, the rest is in Japanese and there are no subtitles. There’s nothing else like it out there, which makes it fascinating from beginning to end.

In Japan, 2038, Megasaki City's Mayor Kobayashi (voiced by Kunichi Nomura) uses a sudden dog-flu epidemic as an excuse to banish all the city's dogs to Trash Island. Six months later, his adopted nephew, Atari (voiced by Koyu Rankin), travels to the island to rescue his beloved pet, Spot. With the help of a pack of dogs - Chief (Bryan Cranston), Rex (Edward Norton), King (Bob Balaban), Duke (Jeff Goldblum), and Boss (Billy Murray) - he navigates the perilous terrain. Meanwhile, dog-lovers on the mainland try to find a cure for the dog-flu.

The visuals strike you immediately. Rather than try and have silky-smooth stop-motion animation, director Wes Anderson shows us the animator's "finger prints" on all of the dogs. You can tell by each animal's fur where the models have been manipulated for each shot. The color palette is gorgeous, even when you’re looking at mounds of trash. Every frame is worthy of being hung up on your wall. The backgrounds are so full of detail you could look at them for hours, admiring the composition, framing, and different hues used to emphasize the mood of each scene. Smoke is created with little white tuffs, TV screens cut to traditional 2D animation, we see traditional Japanese-style paintings - there's always something new.

The story’s absurdity perfectly matches the deadpan humour. All five dogs in the pack accompanying Atari are alphas - you can tell because their names are all synonymous with “leader". This means they have to vote on every decision. It’s ridiculous in the best way. The uniquely comedic tone means you never know what's next. You think we’re headed into a dramatic moment, that this character is dead - that’s a shock but it fits in the movie - but then the movie will point out that there’s NO WAY things would go that way and reveals the scene you just saw as a fantasy. You’re so taken aback it might take you a second to laugh but you’ll be in stitches.

It’s a bold film that experiments and innovates at each opportunity… except for one. As mentioned earlier, the film is set in Japan but most of the dialogue is in English to show that dogs and people can kind of understand each other a little bit but ultimately speak different languages. The dogs in this movie don’t actually speak English but for the audience’s purpose, they do. There are also other characters which speak English - real English. They often say things to help us fill in the details. It isn’t clunky exposition but it does make you wish the film was not in two but THREE languages. Two for the humans and one for the canines so there would be a true separation between the species. Is that worth docking points for? I don't think so.

Isle of Dogs does things that in any other movie would be called sloppy. In one scene, Mayor Kobayashi leaves a critical piece of information lying around. Someone he doesn't want seeing it finds the information. The fact that it’s there makes no sense but the character who discovers this info does nothing with it. Ultimately, it's unnecessary to that particular storyline but for the film as a whole, it's important. It fills the viewers in on something that’s coming later. Rather than be stuck on the surprise when it arrives, you sit back and have a laugh at the characters’ reactions. It’s so unconventional it's perfect and could only work in a film like this one.

Like most of Wes Anderson's other projects, Isle of Dogs is so off-beat it will leave some viewers behind. Let it sit with you for a while. Better yet, watch it along with other Wes Anderson movies. Let yourself fall into the groove. You'll see. Isle of Dogs gets better with each rewatch. (August 21, 2020)

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10blue10 · 1 year

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The Evolution of Dragons Pt 3

Okay let’s be honest, I was gonna make this third part regardless of who was interested. Because I find it fascinating, and that’s what matters! So this third part will be about the evolution of intelligence and sapience in dragons. With some help from my partner-in-crime @arourallisreborn again XD.

Sapience is defined as ‘possessing or being able to possess wisdom’. Okay, so what counts as wisdom? Cambridge dictionary defines it as ‘the ability to use your knowledge and experience to make good decisions and judgments.’ Then again, humans are sapient and I wouldn’t say we use our knowledge and experience to make *good* decisions, at least not all the time. But oh well.

To make things more clear, sapience is about reason. Can dragons reason?

There’s plenty of evidence that they can. Over the course of the shows, for instance, we get several moments of the riders dragons solving problems of their own accord without being trained or instructed to do so. For example:

The other dragons rescuing Hiccup and Toothless from the Outcasts.

Barf-and-Belch knocking over the Eruptodon statue to stop the lava.

Barf-and-Belch saving Hiccup from the hunters to repay a life debt.

Meatlug calling to other Gronckles to help feed the real Eruptodon.

Toothless deciding to knock a dragon proofed ballista off a cliff instead.

Stormfly rescuing Garff from the Slitherwings.

Hookfang deciding to help protect the female Nightmare’s eggs.

So how would the dragons have evolved this level of intelligence? Let’s use this video on intelligence by Kurzgesagt as a baseline for dragon intelligence.

https://youtu.be/ck4RGeoHFko

The Intelligence Toolkit

Basic Tools

Information: even the ancestors of dragons had senses that allowed them to gather information about their surroundings and the state of their own bodies.

Memory: early dragons could probably remember stuff like how to avoid predators, where to find food etc. It’s likely that they would have lived in flocks for safety in numbers, so they would also need to remember their flock mates.

Learning: when dragons evolved the ability to fly, their young would still need to learn this new skill through repeated attempts until they mastered it. The same goes for their breath weapons, which they’d need to learn to control.

In fact, as arourallis put it, flying itself takes a lot of brainpower, and so does socialisation. The same would apply to swimming. Moving in three dimensions (whether in the sky or the ocean) requires spatial awareness, especially if the dragon is manoeuvring past obstacles like trees/sea stacks. Socialisation involves, well, social skills. All of this would be part of their Library of Knowledge - the collective memories and learning of an individual dragon.

As for dragons who feed on other dragons, there’s no way of telling what, if any, rationalisations they might have. My personal theory is that because these dragons are either solitary (Death Songs) or live in single-species packs (Changewings), hunting other species for food is instinctive but they might be ‘rationalising’ it as an in-group vs out-group divide. In other words, dragons that are weaker and not part of Their pack are fair game to be hunted.

I’m gonna wrap it up here because I don’t have much left to say lol. It’s harder to investigate the evolution of intelligence in dragons since we don’t even fully understand how it evolved in humans, let alone other non-human animals.

Huge thanks to everyone who’s liked and reblogged the posts in this series!

#httyd headcanons #HTTYD analysis #dragon evolution

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evermorehqs · 1 year

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CATCHING MY BREATH, STARING OUT AN OPEN WINDOW

Helena Borne is based on Helgamine from The Nightmare Before Christmas. She is a 29 year old witch, Hideaway Hostels maid, and uses she/her pronouns. She has the power of necromancy. Helena is portrayed by Camila Quiroz and she is taken.

CATCHING MY DEATH, I COULDN’T BE SURE

Since childhood Helena Borne always felt like the odd one out. She tried to make friends but more often than naught she was deemed a weirdo by her fellow peers. It wasn’t that she was unlikable or anything like that. On the contrary Helena was very sweet and compassionate about life and nature. It was her fascination with death that caused people to stray. Instead she found companionship in the woods with furry friends and creatures alike. She spent a lot of time there growing up so much so that it became her second home. In the sanctity of the woods she wasn’t criticized nor judged. Just herself. It wasn’t until she turned thirteen that everything changed. Finding a wounded bird in the woods next to her home. It was badly hurt and Helena was sure he wasn’t going to make it. She held its tiny frame in the palm of her hands and shut her eyes. Praying to something and anything that it would survive. It wasn’t until she opened her eyes again to the sound of chirping. Finding a perfectly healthy bird at her fingertips with no wounds or fractures in sight. The bird’s complete turn around shocked her so badly that she jolted backwards and watched as the bird flew back into the sky. Fast forward a few years she began experimenting on other wounded animals, each one bigger than the next and she was able to heal them all on the edge of death. Helena told no one about her gift, only her younger sister. It was becoming more powerful and she was able to save bigger animals like foxes and raccoons. Everything went wrong when her sister spilled her secret to one of her friends. Pleading Helena to bring back her friends dog. The dog was already a few days deceased by then and all the other creatures Helena brought back were only ever on the brink of death. Hesitantly she tried anyway for her little sisters sake. However what came back wasn’t her friends dog. It was something else, demonic. Any semblance of the dog was long gone. Its body was just a shell for whatever inhabited it now. Helena quickly packed her and her sisters bag and fled from town. She didn’t want to stick around for the consequences. That’s when the sisters stumbled upon Evermore. Sienna White quickly offered them a place to live in exchange for their service at her hostel. Helena was content with that offer and over the years grew to like evermore despite her sisters griping. Helena refuses to touch magic again afraid of what could happen if she did. Yearning to feel like a human again

I HAD A FEELING SO PECULIAR

❀ Sienna White: Since living at Sienna’s hostel she quickly became Helena’s confidant and close friend. She knows she can count on the raven haired girl for anything.

❀ Barrett Olivares: Helena saw him outside the moonlight casino scaring a small group of people by bringing a small rat back to life temporarily. It made her uneasy, reminding her of her own curse. However she couldn’t help but to wonder if she wasn’t the only one.

❀ Barkis Bittern: Helena has only seen him handful of times around town. He’s always been so polite and kind to her, she really doesn’t understand where the rumors about him stem from.

THAT THIS PAIN WOULD BE FOR EVERMORE

#the nightmare before christmas #camila queiroz fc #disney rp #has powers #female bio #taken female #taken bio

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lizardywizard · 1 year

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Okay, since you're all super into Goncharov right now (I don't blame you, it's a great film), I want to talk about something that people may not know.

Namely (no pun intended), the story surrounding Matteo, the director. Yes, he had a strange last name; no, it's not because he was a robot or a license plate. There *is* a reason, a tragic one, and once you know it, it illuminates how a lot of the themes in Goncharov were highly personal for him. Matteo only ever gave a handful of interviews, all in Italian, so most people don't know the full story behind this reclusive filmmaker. Hell, I had to dig out my 20-year-old film class notes for most of this stuff; we're talking interviews in Italian magazines from the 70s.

Warning, this tale is a pretty rough one, so: CW for marital/child abuse, (possible) suicide, and (fake) gore.

---

It was the Roaring 20s, and film was the newest medium on the block. Only a few years prior, people had been terrified by these "moving pictures", fleeing their seats when a train came barreling towards the screen. But increasingly, cinemas were becoming the new form of entertainment.

Enter Muschio Albero, the son of an Italian watchmaker, and his Russian wife, Alyona "Soots" Albero-Reznikova. They were fascinated by film and the power it held to transfix and transport-- and horrify-- the audience. Their first film, Cinguettio (1924), was a 3-minute exploration of life and death, opening with a shot of a single bird chirping on a branch ("Cinguettio" refers to the chirping of birds), and finishing with a bird dead on the sidewalk, its chest torn open and spilling out disproportionately-sized organs (believed by scholars to be those of a pig). The use of pig and other animal viscera in their works became a trademark of the short, stark features they made, geared towards packing the greatest amount of shock into the shortest possible running time. From an early age Matteo was given roles in their movies, an experience about which he has never talked much but which clearly shaped his own short career as a director.

Albero was also interested in what made the mind tick, more generally. One of his cruellest schemes, in service of this, was to name their child not with an ordinary name but with an abstract series of numbers and letters, to see if this would affect his sense of identity and personhood. Soots apparently objected to this and, in private, would call the child "Matteo". His name was officially registered as Matteo JWHJ0715 Albero: something that would not normally have been possible in Italian law (even today, you cannot give your child a "ridiculous or shameful" name, or one including numbers), leading scholars to suspect that Muschio had mafia or foreign ties within the court system.

As time went on, Muschio became increasingly unstable, and increasingly consumed by his obsession with the dark corners of the human mind, particularly methods of death and killing. The relationship between the couple became bitter, and eventually Soots attempted to flee to Hungary with her son, but was stopped at the Italian border due to suspicion surrounding her passport. She was sent back home, whereupon she took her own life with a pistol placed against her eye socket.

Or at least, that's how the official story goes. Matteo was adamant, until his own self-imposed hermitage shortly after the film's release, that that was what had happened-- though this does clash with the fact that he in fact did spend the next several years in Hungary, and only returned to his native Italy as an adult, making several films before reaching critical acclaim thanks to Scorsese.

Either way, the influences on Matteo's filmmaking are clear from what we know of the duo. The Albero-Reznikovas were fond of the chiaroscuro style, creating the same harsh light and deep shadow that we see in Goncharov. We also find themes of dual-culturedness, namelessness (Goncharov's name is never spoken in the film, and he is only revealed as "Ivan" in the credits), and alienation between husband and wife in favour of homoerotic tensions (Soots was believed to have been bi). Matteo himself never married or had children, perhaps speaking to his past bad experiences with the husband-wife dynamic-- at least, that's what I concluded when I wrote my paper for this, 20 years ago. (Yeah, I'm heavily cribbing from what I wrote there.) But he could have just as easily been gay, or ace/aro. We don't know, and with as little information as we have, it's somewhat pointless to speculate.

The real question that haunts scholars to this day is: Did Matteo stow away alone, following his mother's plan to stay with relatives in Hungary? Or did Soots fake her death to escape the abuse-- explaining the alternate cut where Katya fakes her death, which was never given a wide release, possibly due to fear of Muschio's wrath if he put two and two together.

We will never know. For, two months after the release of his only film to achieve mainstream fame, Matteo retreated from the world at large, isolating himself in what he described as a "social suicide". In his "suicide" note, he explicitly named the catalyst for this retreat: the movie poster's use of his "serial number" as his last name, bringing back into public view a reality that he had striven to escape.

Perhaps he still does to this day. If he survived, he would be almost a hundred now. But no one has ever found his body, nor that of his mother.

#goncharov #the man behind the movie #meta crit #unreality

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purkinje-effect · 1 year

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Asks 3, 4, 14, 19 and B for August?

Aaa, thank you so much for the ask! Sorry it took a few days for me to reply.

3: How does he put himself to bed at night (reading, singing, thinking)?

A mixture of reading and thinking. He organizes himself mentally to dogear his place in his tasks, so to speak, then winds himself down with devotional scripture. Mothman guides him, even in his dreams. Inversely, he tends to start his day journaling spiritual thoughts when he has them, including any from the night before that have survived his sleep. He's big on dialectics when it comes to his religious experiences, but it's not something he lets keep him awake.

4: How easy is it to gain his trust?

The easiest way to gain his trust is to demonstrate wilderness survival skills. Culturally the Followers of the Winged One have always been taught to respect the land. Even when he eventually travels outside Appalachia, he retains the philosophy that someone who can only take what they need from nature is far more likely to grasp how to conduct themselves, and it's one of many reasons he harbors a deep distrust for raiders no matter their outfit.

14: What animal does he fear most?

I wouldn't call his caution fear in most cases, but I do think he fears things despite his fascination and pursuit of them.

My initial instinct is to say the cannibal ghoul. They're fast and unpredictable, and no one can agree on the exact way they spring into being. He's not necessarily afraid of the idea he'd become one--sure, many stories suggest that eating other humans is what does it--but he's certainly afraid of being on the receiving end of one's fury.

I think he'd have more fear for a scorchbeast, though. A flight of them is what decimated his sect at the Lucky Hole. That's not to say he's without his reverence and admiration for the creatures: they're formidable and cunning. But unlike with stories of the cannibal ghoul, he's seen what a scorchbeast can do up close.

19: What is his favorite number?

Six. Six are His limbs. Six-sided are His lenses. Nuka-Cola came in six-packs... He's quite charmed when the number pops up.

B: What inspired me to create him?

I had to really jog my brain on this one because it's been so long. I think the compulsion to make him a Fallout version was early in 2017.

For most of my OCs, their Fallout incarnation is an AU. It started with Galen, then 'Choly joined in. My memory is a bit fuzzy on exactly why it was that I dragged August into Fallout with them, but I think the original thought was that I craved a trinity where Geek would be Pack aligned, 'Choly would be Operators aligned, and August would be Disciples aligned. The more I worked on August, the less it made sense for him to be a raider, though, and the more I wanted him to embody the amalgamation of occult worship that I have woven together from various snippets of canon. He started as a Child of Atom, but his faith's since picked up bits and pieces from across the franchise. Once 76 came out, I knew his origins had to be the Lucky Hole, and that he'd have been raised a Mothman cultist. He's the only character I've made in three games now, lol.

I had to ask my partner if he could remember any better than I could, and he ribbed me that Fallout August is so little like Augen that they're basically completely different characters. And really, he's not wrong, but at the same time I've put him in a completely different formative situation, and there's a lot of religious oddity at play in Fallout that simply has no analogue in my biopunk setting.

The question of what inspired me to create the original Augen, though, that's a completely different can of lamprey.

#i really need to finish that piece with the holo jacket sfsdlfh #sacredflamingart #asks #august #brother august #chaosintheavenue

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thefilmsnob · 1 year

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Marcel the Shell with Shoes On: **** out of 5

There’s a scene in Marcel the Shell with Shoes On in which Marcel, an anthropomorphic shell voiced by Jenny Slate with a childlike rasp, speaks with a human while his grandmother, Connie (Isabella Rossellini), observes in the background (just go with it). As the conversation continues, we see a laptop off to the side, not the focus but still visible. On its screen, the letter ‘Z’ gradually populates several pages of a word processor. That’s because Connie—bless her heart—is standing on the computer’s ‘Z’ key. It’s this kind of unnecessary but entirely welcome detail that underscores the film’s abundant charm and creativity.

The movie’s framework lends itself to this kind of ingenuity. In his feature debut, writer-director Dean Fleischer Camp has made a film that’s mostly live-action but features several stop-motion animated creations, namely the aforementioned Marcel, an inch-tall talking seashell with a googly eye in his hollow and a pair of snazzy orange and white sneakers. Camp and co-writers Slate and Nick Paley, the former of whom helped Camp write the animated shorts upon which this feature is based, set the film mostly in an Airbnb where they take full advantage of this space and the ways in which tiny non-humans would interact it. Tennis balls are used as conveyances. Wine corks and their wire cages are used as tiny chairs. Bread is used as a mattress…a breadroom if you will. It’s pure whimsy.

A documentarian named Dean, played by Camp, discovers Marcel and company after moving into the house following a divorce. Naturally, he’s fascinated with the little guy; aside from his physiology, Marcel is an intelligent, nurturing and resourceful individual. Assuming he’s as young as he seems, one might call him precocious. He’s also a bit of a paradox, seemingly timid yet prone to disarming bluntness. He’s naïve and lacks knowledge of the outside world, yet he employs idioms and pop culture references. It makes little sense, but it’s undeniably amusing.

It also explains why Dean starts documenting his new friend’s every-day life, one consisting of mostly gathering resources around the house to improve the lives of him and his grandma who’s so warm and wise but struggling with worsening dementia. Much of what Dean captures involves the garden she tends to and the insects she’s befriended. It’s all so quaint yet with a level of realism that makes it hard to accept these characters aren’t human. That realism also informs the conversations between Dean and Marcel that are drolly nonchalant, as if we were watching college friends work on a screenplay, an effect reminiscent of Cinéma Vérité.

In a case of art imitating life, the footage that Dean uploads to YouTube becomes incredibly popular, a real phenomenon that led to this feature-length adaptation, which in turn led to the footage being uploaded—well you get the idea. It’s very meta. Sadly, our little shell doesn’t quite know how to navigate his abrupt surge in popularity and, to complicate matters, his family isn’t around to share the experience. We learn about an entire community of shells who once lived in the house which included family members, but after the previous owners had a falling-out, one of them accidentally packed up the shells while moving. So, instead of letting fame consume him, he utilizes it to spread word of his missing loved ones.

The word spreads, but Marcel’s fans care more about getting pictures in front of the new star’s home than actually helping him; the increased attention is not only unconducive to Marcel’s plight, but it proves detrimental to Connie’s health. The movie still maintains a light tone, but there’s no question it has more to say about issues beyond talking shells, particularly the value of social media and celebrity. The film doesn’t progress how you might expect, though, as the filmmakers treat its themes with a level of complexity and nuance uncommon in the type of story that would feature a staple of coastal décor as its protagonist.

You can thank the writing and directing for that but also Slate’s excellent voice work. It’s a surprising turn for the actress who’s prone to playing exaggerated characters, yet despite portraying a cartoon in this case, the performance is as grounded as the film itself. She’s especially effective in a quietly powerful sequence in which Dean drives around Los Angeles with Marcel on the car’s dashboard, astonished at how massive the world outside his home truly is and, sadly, how much harder that will make it to find his family.

It doesn’t hurt to have a veteran like Rossellini as a scene partner, one who’s equally dedicated to her unorthodox role, a kind of professionalism that helps the performers find the humanity beneath the characters’ literally hard exteriors. It must be challenging for someone like Camp, playing the main human character, to interact with things that are essentially nonexistent, yet the three actors pull off this magic trick flawlessly.

It took considerable discipline to refrain from using the word ‘charming’ in nearly every sentence of this review, but recycling adjectives is rarely a sign of good writing. Nevertheless, I can’t think of a better word to describe Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. Early in the story we learn that Marcel and Connie share a mutual love of the long-running TV news magazine 60 Minutes as well as one of its presenters, the 81-year-old Lesley Stahl. It takes a truly beautiful—some might say twisted—mind to think of a detail like that. We should be elated they exist.

#movie review #marcel the shell with shoes on #movies

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jpt1311 · 1 year

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From the new world _ part 1

As the single worst work in terms of animation and picture quality we've seen so far, it is probably better to discuss other things from all that pathetic totality of demise. Still, from that point of view, I figured that picking episodes from the whole series was probably the best thing to do. On the other hand, the selected episodes explained the story surprisingly well, in a way that makes you wonder if all other episodes were to be removed; the budget to be focused on episodes that matter, the series might be able to become much more enjoyable of a watching experience. Although it is packed with dismay as a series of animation, it is still based on an exceptional piece of original work that carries some pretty interesting plots and novel ideas. Yet even still, the awkward visual style limits the possibility of these plots and ideas being successfully conveyed to the viewers. From a retailing point of view, most viewers might just switch channels after they figure that the low-quality, awkward visuals are not quite appealing to them. Thus, it is exceptionally courageous for the director of the animation to adopt such an intriguingly differentiated style that does not necessarily guarantee any promising foreseeable return despite the relatively unchanged input of time and labor being bulky and investor-repulsing, which might very likely be unacceptable in the long run, even for such a maturely industrialized studio like A-1 pictures. To say the original work packs some innovative ideas still means to overlook the fact that it has some psychological limitations that are sometimes unique to the Japanese people. For example, it is hard to imagine that any human can survive a nuclear war waged by intercontinental ballistic missiles that are bound to retribute even if their owners are already obliterated by the fission flame unleashed by similar warheads. The most obvious explanation for this problem is that the author lives in a fictional bubble that nuclear weapons are not such a devastating method of holocaust. Even if the logic behind the plot is based on shaking soil, the work is still intriguing, allowing us to peek into the astonishing mindset of some fascinating individuals, making it still a valuable educational experience.

Below is an image that summarizes my hopes and dreams after watching some episodes of the series.

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certifiedstarr · 1 year

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Here’s my review of the Watership Down book and comparisons to the movie (I’ll be rating them into a sort of pros and cons thing to make writing this easier) (side note, I was originally gonna include pages from the physical book I have but I’m currently lending it to a friend, so I’ll be using pages from the internet)

And of course, spoilers for the book

Book

Pros

First I wanna say that the language that is used for the rabbits is just so interesting. I loved being able to read certain words and then turn to the lexicon to see what they mean. The way it’s written and just flows well into the story makes it more of a fun read.

I also thought the quotes that went along with each chapter were a nice touch. To me, it gave a more humanized look at the story and something to foreshadow the chapters details.

There were a good amount of characters that weren’t seen in the movie like Hawkbit, Speedwell, Acorn, Bluebell, and Buckthorn, and even if they didn’t receive many moments in the books, they were still a nice inclusion to liven up the main cast. And the moments they did get were nice.

It was nice to see the amount of new scenes and character moments that were cut from the movie in here, like the Crown In The Bean Field chapter or the inner workings of Cowslips warren and ideals.

I found it amusing how Hazel was a little self absorbed, instead of wanting to get the hutch rabbits in the barn because Keehar didn’t seem to come back as promised, he instead wants to get them purley one up Holly before he came back with the Efrafa does. It seems like an annoying character trait to read through at first glance, but it never got annoying to me and it’s clear Hazels plan to one up Holly and get the hutch rabbits came with the price of him getting shot by the farmer. And it also builds up hazels character as a confident and determined leader.

Efrafa was extremley interesting to read about. I liked how we got to see more of the does and their personality’s and the owsla officers relationship with Bigwig. Woundwart was as terrifying as ever (though I think he was more so in the movie than book, but I’ll get to that in the cons) I enjoyed seeing more scenes with Blackavar (one of my favorite characters) and how the rabbits struggled more with getting off the boat they escaped on than they did in the movie.

Hazel being saved by Lucy was so unexpected (The title of the chapter being a Deus ex machina is just hilarious) and must have been fascinating for Hazel to experience a human caring for him.

The ending of the book was good, and I thought it was nice to see what became of characters like bigwig and Fiver after the battle. And as always, no matter which adaptation, the ending always gets me crying.

Cons

(Before I get into cons, all the cons I list don’t make me enjoy the book any less. They’re just things I though the movie did better or could’ve been done a different way) (most of these cons I try to see and understand why they were there in the first place and give the benefit of the doubt)

I thought characters like Boxwood and Clover could have gotten a little more development, as they are not even seen for half the book minus the chapters they were found and the very end of the book. For me at least with characters like Speedwell and Hawkbit, they felt apart of our main cast, but Boxwood and Clover just don’t for me. It would have been interesting to see more of how they were adjusting to rabbit life and their personalities. I understand why that couldn’t have been done though, as the book was already jam packed with many other story lines going on that were more important.

Fivers scene where he finds out hazels been shot was just heartbreaking, and the dream he ends up was interesting to read since it’s the only time a rabbit has understood a human and been able to read human words (even if they were though animals lol) however, it felt very underwhelming to me. The whole dream and Fiver finding out where Hazel is happens within literally one single chapter, and I thought that it just went by too fast for a moment that was resolved way too quickly. Again, I understand the story might have needed to progress quicker though. (And besides, the movie gets though it just as quickly with one scene, so I can’t fault how fast it happens from either adaptation that much)

Other than that, I didn’t have many other cons about the book, and most cons I did have were just nitpicks.

Overall, I adore the book, and love it for existing in the first place. It’s such an interesting story about a rabbits view of the world and made me think about myself sometimes and how I view the world. I’ll make a next post about my pros and cons with the movie, and which of the two adaptations I think did things better.

#Watership down #Watership down book #rabbits #review #bunnies

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