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#I am the daughter with a villainous role so I tried keeping the Last Boss as a pet
kahixxi · 1 year
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My fav villainess manga:
The Person in a Villainess (Nazuna Shiraume, Makiburo) Cross-Dressing Villainess Cecilia Sylvie (Shino Akiyama, Hiroro Akizakura) I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss (Sarasa Nagase, Anko Yuzu) Somehow, The Villainess Who Regressed in Time Lost Her Magic Power, so She Turned into a Secluded Maiden (Bin Sakamoto, Aoi) Even Though I'm a Super Timid Noble Girl, I Accepted the Bet From My Cunning Fiancé (Hiro Oda, Aji Murata) Endo and Kobayashi's Live Commentary on the Villainess (Rumiwo Sakaki, Suzu Enoshima) The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior (Bunko Matsuura, Tenichi) An Observation Log of My Fiancée Who Calls Herself a Villainess (Natsume Hasumi, Shiki) Queen Victoria Winner Ostwen Looks Like the Greatest in the World (Hajime Shinjou, Matsuri Kuragezaki)
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maomao9jinshi · 1 month
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aileen ripping cedric’s pride apart😂
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melodythebunny · 1 year
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Okay got some headcanons here for you from a few au ideas of mine. Warning - there is angst involved
Mousebraingirl AU
-As I talked with Eris in the dms who has given me permission to do this. I am including Victor in this au. He fills the roles for the sibling episodes with TJ and Becky as well as the episodes involving Chuck and his brother Brent.
-Victor visits his brother often after the accident. He takes over care duties for Mouse when Steven is too exhausted to continue and needs to sleep and eat after countless hours as Wordman along with his own job and trying to find a cure for Mouse.
-Victor makes special toys for Mouse that are made of a material that mice won't chew (idk what yet).
-Victor has tried talking with his brother about what happened but Steven kind of keeps shutting him off. Victor doesn't force conversations but he knows his brother needs help and wants to reassure his brother that he is there for him and Mouse.
The people that Victor work for are a bit iffy about Wordman. Victor doesn't know that it is his brother. While Wordman does a good job of protecting people and has not outright put anyone in a hospital yet, they are a bit unnerved by Wordman's cold and scary personality towards villains, almost as if he truly despises their existence. The only thing that has prevented them from thinking that Wordman has a connection with the Facility (the one that Calvin and Athena work for that work towards getting rid of criminals but through horrible methods) is Wordman's treatment of Mouse which they find confusing and bizarre for just about any superhero. Victor and his bosses have not ruled out the notion that Wordman had any responsibility in the disappearance of Wordgirl, they just don't know how close to the truth they are.
-The Facility Dr. Calvin Barriton works for arranged it so that Calvin could resume working at his old workplace in Fair City before he was fired. This was to keep an eye on Wordman and Mouse as well as Carrie. Calvin did run into Steven on the streets one time while he was with his daughter. It was not a pleasant conversation but their was no physical violence although Steven wanted to ram Calvin's head against the wall. Calvin was amazed at how much Steven changed personality wise from the last time he saw him.
Fair City vs the Facility AU
-Becky does not have as bad as an aversion to doctors and medicine as Carrie does since she was not captured by the Facility for as long as Carrie was. They still unnerve her though and Dr. Two Brains usually has to place Becky's medicine in her food to get her to eat it.
-Even though Becky's mind is messed up now, she hates seeing her dad get sad and always tries to hug him or do stuff for him that she thinks will make him happy even thought she has no idea why her dad is sad most of the time.
-Becky is comfortable around Carrie enough to be left alone with her if Two Brains needs to go out, but she still prefers her dad to be around more.
-Violet brings Priscilla to Carrie and the three bond real closely much to Two Brains' chagrin because now there is another cat in his lair.
-When Squeaky takes over when Two Brains' can't function due to how many hours of sleep or eating he has lost, he treats Becky like a mouse pup and for some reason, Becky is fine around Squeaky now. Squeaky is also more feral protective and has lashed out more around people getting too close to his pinkie even though Dr. Two Brains knows them well.
-Becky can still eat pretty much any kind of food since she is an alien and was spliced with Bob's DNA who ate pretty much just about everything.
👀👀👀
Yes all the yes
Also if both of thoses universes were to crossover it would be hectic/pos
I feel you stevenram his head in the wall. No one has to know-
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theanimeview · 4 years
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Akuyaku Reijo Nanode Rasubosu o Katte Mimashita: A Review
By: Peggy Sue Wood | @peggyseditorial​
In the ever-growing stock of isekai mangas featuring young women reborn in an otome game, what stands out to me about Akuyaku Reijo Nanode Rasubosu o Katte Mimashita is that Aileen/Irene (our main character) isn’t being given the full story of the game like her contemporaries. This is something her antagonist, and the game’s original protagonist, Lilia, seems to have gotten in full. 
Irene hasn’t lived through the events transpiring before, and even though she played the game, the memories only quickly pop-up before the destruction flags are set to transpire, acting more like premonitions that give her a psychic step-up in the world rather than a guide book to follow. 
The premonition-like feel to Irene's glimpses of her past game-play reminds me a bit of Higeki no Genkyou tonaru Saikyou Gedou Rasubosu Joou wa Tami no Tame ni Tsukushimasu's Pryde, the MC of the work, who receives visions of her past life similar to Irene. However, the stories of these two characters, Pryde and Irene, are entirely different. 
In Higeki no Genkyou tonaru Saikyou Gedou Rasubosu Joou wa Tami no Tame ni Tsukushimasu, Pryde, is a bratty kid who gets an awful awakening of how her horrible behavior is leading her down a terrible path that she works to correct. Pryde's "premonitions" are given on a consistent basis. Her visions are also publically known and viewed as a prophetic power passed down in her family line. They, like Irene's visions, are also triggered by upcoming events, but unlike Irene's foresight, Pryde's troubles portrayed in each vision have semi-simple solutions. Solutions that can be summed up with "don't be an evil person."
A great example is Pryde's first meeting with her adopted brother Style, in which all she had to do was not trick him, a young child, into signing a modified contract that would turn him into a slave as well as not ordering him to murder his mother. She does go beyond not doing that, going so far as to help change long-held rules about adoptees not being allowed contact with their former parents in addition to providing him as comfortable a life and as much freedom in his decision making as she can manage as an isolated princess. Akuyaku Reijo Nanode Rasubosu o Katte Mimashita is a totally different ball game by comparison. 
To start, Irene isn't a villain. She's been villainized for ridiculous reasons but is a good person working hard to make things better for her country and her former fiance prior to the confrontation event we see at the start of the series. We find out that before the awakening of her past-life memories, Irene was/is an avid and successful businesswoman even though she's considerably young. She's made successful partnerships with talented commoners, and thereby can't be faulted for class-based discriminatory behavior. (I say awakening here and am referring to her realization that the strange dreams she had as a child are memories of a past life. I do not mean to imply that her dreams in youth inherently count as the "awakening" to her past life memories; I consider the realization of what they are to be the awakening over having the experience of seeing the memory as a dream and believing it is a dream.)
In addition to this interesting approach of seeing the past in glimpses, I like the artist's fun approach to drawing Irene's inner monologues.
For example, when Irene is reviewing the game's storyline in her mind, the art often shows little chibi hand-puppet versions of the characters acting out the game's events. This is different from how others have gone about the game's replay like telling us what happened in the game via dialogue or showing it to the audience with as much detail as they would give a flashback or another scene being played out in the new timeline of events. It somewhat reminds me of Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta's approach where Katarina's replay of the game's events happens via an internal discussion between parts of herself.
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It's a fun read and pretty unique to the I've-been-reborn-as-a-villainess subgenre of Isekai. I have little doubt that it too will have an anime coming out soon (or, at least, I very much hope it does!). 
The love story in this work is also terrific, and even though I love long stories, I appreciate that this story comes to a close in just three volumes. I mean, I could 100% go for another 100+ chapters of this, particularly if we get to see the cast go through events post-game, ideally leading to a spectacular love story and action-comedy. But I also really enjoy that this work has come to a neat close, making it feel like a gift. A gift that I REALLY want to gets at least a 13 episode anime...
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However, perhaps what I find to be the best part of this story is it's ending--in which we see a conflict that is often present in the game-vs.-life mentality of these kinds of Isekai. Think back to Rising of the Shield Hero, and how three of the heroes treat the world as a game with only Naofumi taking it seriously. Now privatize this idea to the thoughts of only two characters, Irene and her "hero" counter-part, Lilia. 
Lilia, who has full memory of the game and the story, treats the world as a game--one that was built for her and should bend to her will since she is the hero and protagonist supported by plot armor. When that plot armor is chipped away, she pushes through and disregards the world's nuances and the reality around her. 
Compare that to Irene, who died early in her previous life and spent most of it locked up in a hospital room from what we can tell. Irene's only "life" is the one she is living now. These two ideas are displayed in how we see the characters behave privately. For example, Lilia goes about the world lying and abusing her power over the prince and others to make all sorts of politically destructive choices (of which she suffers no consequences for until the end). Meanwhile, Irene is always on her toes, trying to correct the issues she sees around her in addition to fighting for her life and, by extension, the life of the monsters, Claude, and others.
These conflicting ideas, in which Lilia views the world as a game and Irene views the world as reality, come to a point in Chapter 12 without ever needing to be fought out via words between the two:
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It's a decisive moment for this underlying sub-plot/conflict that was a joy for me to see played out in such a unique way.
All this is to say that I HIGHLY recommend this series. You can buy a copy of the volumes on Amazon; you can find English copies online (but please support its official release). 
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baymaksu · 3 years
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Big Hero One
“Well, Papa. It’s just you and me now,” Chief Cruz sighed as he looked towards the colorfully decorated photograph adorned with marigold petals around it. Within the photo was the image of a kind- eyed man smiling fondly back at him.
His daughter, Megan, had just left with Aunt Cass and Hiro, allowing his time alone with his father’s grave. He chuckled softly, “I’m glad you could see Megan. She’s really grown up, hasn’t she? Not so much a little girl anymore. Rebellious as ever. I’m sure you’d tell me she acts just like me, but who do you think I got it from?”
As he laughed aloud, he could see a tall figure in his periphery. Without subtlety, it was adorned with brilliantly bright blue and red that was all too familiar. He recognized it instantly. The heroic figure of his former idol… the sole object of his life’s scorn and ire that betrayed his trust and faith.
“To what honor do I owe a visit from the world’s greatest superhero of all time?” Chief Cruz turned towards Boss Awesome, his voice venomous yet subdued. “You of all people have a lot of nerve to be here. Leave now. Have you no respect for those you failed.”
The legendary superhero looked to him, then to the photograph at the altar. Then lifted a bouquet of memorial flowers from his hand, a thoughtfully-selected arrangement for his immortelle. The man beneath the mask spoke solemnly, “My apologies, Chief Cruz. To be certain, I am indeed here to pay my respects to an old friend.”
“An old friend?” Chief Cruz was surprised at his answer, angered yet curious. He didn’t want to quarrel with him, especially not in this sacred place before his father’s resting place. Despite himself, something within him allowed the gesture as he nodded to the superhero.
Seeing it as permission, Boss Awesome stepped forward. Kneeling down to place the immortelle, he took a moment to speak silent words in respect. He then stood back up and looked to the police chief, “But more so, I am here to try to fulfill my promise to your father.”
Keeping himself under control, Cruz responded, “What are you talking about? Just how did you know my father?”
“Chief Cruz… No. Diego… I’m sorry. I understand how you feel about me. When I saw how you hunted those kids down, I realized that your wounds haven’t healed. Before, I tried to help you in my own way from afar…” Boss Awesome began, reflecting on his own past actions trying to support Diego not as a hero but as himself, as Mr. Frederickson. From afar, with his wealth and resources, he saw to it that the young orphan would be taken care of.
To Diego’s surprise, the legendary hero removed the cowl that disguised his visage. To his shock, he recognized the face of his benefactor. “But I see now that you must come to learn about your father’s sacrifice and his legacy. Detective Cruz’s… Manuel’s last investigation and the pivotal part he played in saving San Fransokyo with me.” Mr. Frederickson nodded at him, “Let me tell you about this city’s hero.”
___
Note: If there were another series I wish they would do, if even as a comic series, would be a prequel featuring Boss Awesome. It would pay much respect to Stan Lee and his role in BH6TS. There are many stories that Boss Awesome could have, all helping to world-build the BH6-verse.
And one of those stories would involve Chief Cruz’ father. Which needs more expansion and depth. I think it was the presentation that gives Chief Cruz his poor reception. But what if there was far more to the story? We only got the perception of grieving boy whose father wasn’t saved in time. What about Boss Awesome’s perspective and why would Cruz’s father be killed by a villain anyways?
I think it’s deeper than even Chief Cruz knows. And I think Megan would be someone whose wanted to dig deeper on what happened to her grandfather. The story ideas are out there and gets deeper. So, hopefully one day I can write this prequel series that I’d call “Big Hero One.” Stories from the legend himself, before the current era of superhero’s.
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addictedtojmanga · 3 years
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Shoujo manga recommendations - otome game isekai
So, after 10+ years reading shoujo manga, I’ve read over 1k titles, admittedly, a reasonable amount is one-shot (or at least a collection of), but nonetheless, over time I had to expand my interests.
Lately, I’ve started reading the otome game isekai genre, and decided it’d be nice to share the ones I thought were best.
Most of them are pretty much the same, but the best ones usually have a twist, so...
! Warning: You’ll most likely want to beat up 1 or 2 characters from each one, but worry not, so do I and the other characters
1. Fiancée's Observation Log of the Self-proclaimed Villainess
Crown prince Cecil was so brilliant that everything in life was easy to the point of boring him, then one day, his fiancée Bertia suddenly said "Prince Cecil, I am a villainess!" Claiming that this world is the same as that of an "otome game" from her past life and that she is playing the role of the "villainess" in it, she aims to play her part well and have their engagement annulled. With that goal in mind, she sets about causing turmoil in Cecil's daily life.
This one definitely takes the gold for me. Super sweet and pretty funny.
2. My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
Most people would prefer being the protagonist of a world full of adventure, be it in a game or in another world. But, unfortunately, a certain girl is not so lucky. Regaining the memories of her past life, she realizes that she was reborn in the world of Fortune Lover—one of the games she used to play. Unfortunately, the character she was reincarnated into—Katarina Claes—is the game's main antagonist, who faces utter doom in every ending. Using her extensive knowledge of the game, she takes it upon herself to escape from the chains of this accursed destiny. However, this will not be an easy feat, especially since she needs to be cautious as to not set off death flags that may speed up the impending doom she is trying to avoid. Even so, to make a change that will affect the lives of everyone around her, she strives—not as the heroine—but as the villainess.
This one takes 2nd place! It has a different result than others, and the FL is great - everyone is, to be fair.
3. Of Course I’ll Claim Palimony
"I'll annul our engagement!" My fiancé suddenly declared?! Apparently he's in love with the recently transferred count's daughter and is planning on making me the villain in order to annul the engagement. Although I have no lingering attachments about the engagement, I do have to claim a hefty consolation fee don't I?
This is sooo good. The FL is spectacular and manages to stand out - even if just a bit - from the rest of the genre.
4. I’m a Villainous Daughter, so I’m going to keep the Last Boss
Avoid the BAD END! That's the goal of the villainess in this plot-twisting story!! She has been reborn into the world of an otome game as the villainess, Irene. Using her memories of her former life, she recognizes flags indicating she's en-route to the bad end, so she makes a plan to conquer the last boss (the evil king Claude), make him her lover, and see if she can open up a new route!
Pretty funny, and the FL is bold. Also, the ML is a bishounen.
It’s one of the few mangas from this genre that has been completely translated, and since it only has 13 chapters, it’s a good way to start out.
5. The Plain & Unnoticeable Me is No More
Elaine Lana Norris, who was born at the top of the aristocratic daughter, was declared abandoned by her second fiancé at the school's founding party. Lana, who has been made a villain daughter, is driven out of her home by a strict grandfather. But there is a secret in Lana that everyone doesn't know about?
I don’t want to give out any spoilers, however, it suffices to say that she accepts her role as the villainess.
Ok, I think these 5 are my favorite, but the ones below have been selected as well, so they’re still pretty good and worth reading.
6. The Villiainess Is Adored by the Crown Prince of the Neighboring Kingdom    
Tiararose was supposed to be disengaged and exiled from the country. “This was the Otome game I had played!” She realized on the day before the story’s ending??……. Shall I wait for the judgment? But, I did not do anything too cruel……. Thinking so, the ending continues. But, during the judgement??something that was not possible in the game happened. The neighboring crown prince courted the villainous daughter Tiararose.
ML: 10/10 FL: 8/10 (too insecure for my taste)
7. Endo and Kobayashi’s Live Commentary on the Villainess
She’s always putting on that grumpy face even though she’s not actually that upset! Oh, why can’t she just be honest with herself…!??? She is a tsundere, after all? When her embarrassment levels exceed a certain limit, she will explode into anger. However, the point that she’s suppressing under the surface is that she wouldn’t mind that sort of thing if it were in a less public place.? As Endo-kun passionately reacts to the antics of Lady Liselotte, the villainess of an otome game, Kobayashi-san provides a painstaking breakdown of her tsundere behaviour. Suddenly, one person could hear their voices; Liselotte’s fiancée, Prince Siegward. That is where this story begins.
8. I’m the Villainess, but the Capture Targets are too Abnormal  
The villainess, Mystia, remembered her past life on her 10th birthday and has unwittingly turned the characters in the otome game "Kyun Kyun Love School" into yanderes! In order to avoid becoming the love rival of the "heroine" who will lead her to her downfall, she starts making every effort to break off her engagement with her "prince-like classmate"! That’s was what supposed to happen...But, because of her kind personality, her favorability increased instead!
It’s still in its beginning stages, but seems pretty solid.    
9. Though I May Be a Villainess, I'll Show You I Can Obtain Happiness!  
A collection of one shots.
Great way to start out, it has quite a few options, so if you don’t like one, give another one a try!
10.  The Villainess, Cecilia Silvie, Doesn't Want to Die, So She Decided to Cross-dress!      
I was reincarnated into the body Cecilia Silvie, the villainess of an otome game. According to the plot, what awaits me in the normal route is either a slow, painful death or an instantaneous one... Essentially, every route leads to my demise. Then I'll change my fate! And that's why I decided to become a man. However, I made a mistake during a certain event, and the story began to head down an unexpected path...?
I haven’t seen any other like this, and if you like gender bender, this one’s for you!
11.  I’ll Become a Villainess That Will Go Down in History ― The More of a Villainess I Become, the More the Prince will Dote on Me
Alicia is the eldest daughter of the noble Williams family—a bloodline that excels in dark magic. Her jet-black hair and golden eyes command a powerful presence, but her most unique features are, without a doubt, her sharp tongue and malevolent nature. By all means, she is a villainess, but also a fictional character from an otome game!
12. I’m Not a Villainess!! Just Because I Can Control Darkness Doesn’t Mean I’m a Bad Person!
The novel The Saint Beloved by the Prince is set in the land of Lacia, where spirits control the elements, each of which is overseen by a "Spirit King." On rare occasions, these Spirit Kings may bless a single human, granting them immense magical control over their respective element. The heroine, Amelia Logan, and the villainess, Claudia Leitzya, are two sides of the same coin, blessed by the Light and Dark Spirit Kings respectively. However, while Amelia is beloved, Claudia is hated and rejected due to her dark skin, ebony locks, and aptitude for dark magic. After dying in modern-day Japan, Sakura is reborn as an infant Claudia. While difficult at first, Claudia tries to adjust to this new life, all the while accompanied by the Dark Spirit King Gerald. But even this task is far from easy; people fear her at first glance, no matter how she acts toward them. Still, Claudia is set on changing her fate from the novel, proving she is a good person and breaking free from the shackles of a "villainess."
13. Rebirth of the Villainess: The Life of Letizia after the Engagement Annulment      
For some reason, the duke's daughter, Letizia, was plotting to break her engagement with the prince. Her plan succeeded and the prince, none the wiser. But shortly after the engagement was terminated... The King collapsed! In that moment, she recalled her memories of her past life as a nurse and she fully utilised her knowledge & experience as a nurse, to save the King's life. Thinking she had achieved what she wanted, she thought she could finally relax, drinking her favourite beverage and leisurely spend her time, she instead somehow keeps getting involved in incident after incident. The slow and peaceful life is now nothing but a dream!? Lazy daughter, busy seeking freedom and laziness!
14. I Won't Become a Villainess. I'm Just a "Normal" Duke's Daughter!
A Japanese person reincarnated into an otome game chock full of death flags for the villainess, Rosalind. "I'm going to live an enjoyable life in this world!" Making full use of the game knowledge to avoid death flags, for some reason events keep happening one after another?! Contracting with spirits, helping her father (the prime minister) with his work using her modern day knowledge, taking a walk with the holy beast... and on top of all that, even starting up the heroine's event...? Will Rosalind be able to smash through every unknown death flag that comes her way...?! And will she be able to be fluffy lovey-dovey with the supporting beastkin character she liked from her previous life?!
Cute. Has beasts.
15. Milady Just Wants to Relax      
She worked herself to death in her past life, but then she was reborn in another world as the villainess Ronia! As expected, her engagement is broken and she's expelled from society, but now she takes that chance to live peacefully, and even opens a cafe with the help of her fairy comrades, which is becoming unexpectedly popular with beast-kin...?
Also cute. Also has beasts.
16. I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again!            
Violette, a proud and beautiful daughter of a duke, commits a crime out of jealousy towards her half-sister. Convicted, Violet faces her own heart with sincerity in a prison cell and regrets her sin. Then time rewinds to a turning point—to her first meeting with Maryjun one year ago. Violette makes a decision. She will not make mistakes this time. Without committing a crime and bothering anyone, she will live an ordinary, plain and inconspicuous life...! However, incidents contrary to Violette's expectations occur one after another...?!
17. I Became a Villain Daughter
On her 15th birthday, Hinase Kaede, a young girl who was working as a part-timer, perished in a traffic accident. Upon her death, a self-proclaimed “God” appeared, declaring that Kaede would be brought back to life. However, Kaede’s happiness was short-lived and her soul was thrown into Erika, the villainess of an otome game! In the original game, Erika became a saint candidate alongside the heroine, committed evil deeds over the course of the candidacy, and ultimately faced condemnation. Thus, Kaede decides that she will not get close to the main characters of the game so as to avoid the bad end, but yet——?
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rocksandrobots · 3 years
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Of Rocks and Robots Ch. 43 - Finale (Pt. 5)
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"Okay, what if we used some nitrocellulose and mixed it with an oxidized ethanol?" Varain asked.
Honey Lemon pursed her lips. "Uhmmm, wouldn't that just make the chimball explode?"
"Uh, yeah. That's the point."
"I don't know….It sounds kind of dangerous."
Varian and Honey Lemon hovered over the chemistry set inside Big Hero Six's new lab.
As soon as Chief Cruz and Megan had left the Lucky Cat this morning, Hiro had called everyone together to meet at their headquarters. He had to pick up a new set of armor, and he wanted to tweak everyone else's suits to help prevent Supersonic Sue from disarming them again.
While Hiro worked on that, Varian was taking this time to build himself a new arsenal of alchemical orbs with Honey Lemon's help.
"Relax," he said as he reached over to pick up a test tube full of some green liquid  "I won't throw it at anybody. It's just in case those robot ninjas show up again."
"Yeah, but you don't want any fire to accidentally spread." Honey Lemon argued. "What if we made something more contained? Like, oh, like what if we compressed some air inside the chimball?" She held one of the empty shells up. "That way when you threw it and it exploded, it would only hit the target with a concussive blast. There's no chance of that catching on fire."
Varian tilted his head in thought and took the shell from her.
"Yeah, that could work; on one of them. What if there's more than one? What if they gang up on you?" He asked as he poured the green liquid into the shell, sealed it, and clipped it to his belt.
"Well then we can just use the ice bombs to freeze them all at once." She replied.
"Yeah, I guess so." Varian agreed, and pulled out the liquid nitrogen to make the ice bombs with.
As they were finishing up this task, and Varian was hooking the last of the chemical orbs to his Saporian belt, Honey Lemon said, "You know this was fun. You should help out more often. Oh, we could go on patrol together or, maybe come up with new-"
"Oh no, no, nope, I'm not a hero." Varian interrupted as he shook his head.
Honey Lemon pouted at this.
"I'm just here cause I'm worried about Hiro." Varian explained.
Honey Lemon eyes went wide as she realized what Varian was getting at. She had been there when Hiro first found out about Callaghan's role in Tadashi's death; and she had been the one to stop Baymax from attacking and killing the professor.
"I don't know what good I'm doing though." Varian went on.
"You're doing a lot of good." She assured him.
"Am I? Cause, like, I'm not one to talk about 'being the bigger the person' or how 'you need to take the high road.' Honestly I don't even agree with this whole superhero thing. I mean, yes what y'all are doing is great, and yes, I'm all for helping Abigail, but… Callaghan…"
Honey Lemon mulled over his words. "But if we don't help, who will?"
Varian threw up his hands in defeat. "Yeah, that's what Hiro said…. but you didn't see him. You didn't see how much just having that one little computer chip destroyed hurt him…. I just don't know how this is all going to play out if we keep doing this."
"Are you worried Hiro might do something he'll regret?"
"No, I'm worried about what I might do." He turned to look her dead in the eye. "I can live with regrets, but I can't live with myself if something happened to him, or you, or anyone else."
Honey Lemon shivered at those words. "So you, what? Just want us to all stop?"
"No. I don't know. I just want everyone to be safe, and happy… And that's not happening so long as we have to keep dealing with Callaghan and whoever this Bosu is."
Honey Lemon lowered her head. Usually superheroing was fun. Even the more challenging villains were just attention seekers out to beat them, as if it was all just some friendly competition. Very few of the foes they faced were actively malicious. But there were times, like now, when it became very hard to ignore how dangerous their chosen hobby could be.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Varian laying a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, don't listen to me." He soothed. "I'm not a superhero, remember. What do I know?"
Honey Lemon gave him a small smile. "Well, maybe not, but you are a good friend, and I get it, about your concern for Hiro. It's only natural to be protective of your siblings."
"Siblings?"
Honey Lemon had to only laugh at the confused face he made. "Oh come on, you and Hiro totally act like brothers."
"No we don't….do we? I don't know how brothers act. Is it any different from just being friends?"
Honey Lemon snorted with laughter again. "Yeah, a little different. For one you usually don't wrestle for control of the tv remote with your friends, fight over who does what chores, or prank each other with megaphones."
"I thought that was just Hiro being Hiro."
"No, it's 'cause you live together, and have the same guardian. I don't know how to explain it, but it's just different with little brothers, that's all."
"But I… I don't know how to be a brother. Let alone how to be the 'older, more responsible brother'. And I doubt Hiro sees me that way, anyways. I mean, he already has Tadashi… had… I mean…."
He trailed off and Honey Lemon eyed him with worry once more.
After a few moments he whispered, "I'm not trying to replace anybody."
"Well, of course not. No one said that you were."
"Then why do I feel like I am?"
Honey Lemon blinked. What did he mean? Where had this even come from?
Before she could press further though, Hiro walked into the lab.
"Hey, we're heading out soon. You might want to start suiting up." He said.
"Okay. Just give us a minute to gather things up and we'll meet you in the briefing room." She answered.
Hiro nodded his acknowledgement and left.
"Well, looks like we'll have to save the heart to heart for later." Varian snarked as he scooped up Sirque's portal magnets and grabbed the controller he had built for them. After placing these in his pockets, he turned around and asked, "What do you think? Do I look 'heroic' enough?"
He was dressed in his full Saporian garb, complete with bandana and his usual goggles, and along with the new chimballs they'd just made, he appeared exactly the same as he did the first night he'd arrived in San Fansokyo. Well almost, he was slightly taller now, but only by a few inches.
"Hmmm… honestly Sparkles was right, you do kind of look like a bandit, or maybe even a pirate?"
Varian huffed. "See, I can't even look the part."
"Well I still think you'd make a great superhero." She encouraged as she straightened the collar of his jacket.
"Ha ha," he snorted, then more seriously said "We'll be lucky if we can even find the bad guys again. Let alone take them head on."
Honey Lemon refused to let Varian's pessimism get her down.  
"Well then here's a hug for good luck." She cheered and flung her arms around him.
Varian tentatively returned the hug. "Th-thanks… I feel more lucky already."
                                                 --------------------------
"So how's things going, Teach?" Sue barked as she skated into the makeshift lab.
Callaghan rolled his eyes in annoyance as he tightened the bolt on the portal.
He had been up all night assembling the frame. Somehow the pair of villains had all of the needed parts all ready to go, along with some pre-programmed software and a few prototypes to work off of.
Whoever this boss they were all working for was, they were clearly well connected and apparently had other people continuing his research in his absence. A Dr. Celine Simard had provided most of the equipment and had emailed him blueprints to her own miniature portal designs. They had only conversed briefly through a heavily monitored chat room, but it was a relief to speak to someone who wasn't as thick as a bag of bricks. Celine seemed like such a bright young woman. It was a shame she was selling out her talents to such an obviously unscrupulous organization.
Though he couldn't fully blame her reasoning… "Krei Tech, Government, the Black Market; it's all the same. They're all corrupt. Might as well go with the one who pays the highest."
"Even if they might kill you afterwards?"
"I don't look a gift horse in the mouth. If you play along nicely they won't hurt you. I would just take the money and passport if I was you."
Callaghan had stopped trying to reach out to her after that. One day this life of crime she was living was going to catch up to her, but he couldn't waste time trying to save her from herself. He had his own daughter to worry about.
"How's Abigail?" He asked as he stood up and put the wrench back inside the tool box.
Sue shrugged. "She's fine. Same as the last fifty times you've asked."
Callaghan walked over to the computer terminal, typed in some code, and read the read out that flashed up on screen.
"You never did tell me where you got my notebook." He said.
"Don't ask me. Those two boys who tried to bust you out yesterday had it. Where they got it, I don't know."
Callaghan frowned and opened his notebook again. He had discovered handwriting that wasn't his own inside, fixing his calculations and expanding upon some of his more 'out there' theories. He had assumed they were done by others in the villains' gang but apparently that wasn't the case.
He still didn't know how Hiro's little friend had come upon his research, but the kid apparently knew a thing or three about theoretical physics. The boy's new equations could potentially stabilize the portal, preventing it from breaking down.
He wouldn't need them though. Callgahn sat the notebook back down and returned to the computer terminal. He didn't want this particular portal to work.
"I'm about ready to perform the first test;" He said coolly, "turn on the power generators."
                                                --------------------------
"Any luck?" Wasabi asked as he joined the rest of the group on top of a skyscraper.
"No." Sighed Honey Lemon.
"We must have scanned the whole city by now." Hiro said.
"What if this Bosu has the same bio-dampening tech that Momasake had?" Fred suggested. "He could have snagged it off her when she got captured, and handed it off to Sue and her grandson."
"That's possible." Gogo admitted. "Especially since they now know that we can track them."
"So what do we do now?" Honey Lemon asked.
Varian cupped his chin in thought as he walked towards the ledge of the building where Baymax stood, still scanning the city. "Baymax, are you able to scan for other things besides just bio-readings?"
"Yes. I am capable of scanning thermal, infrared, radiation-"
"Energy spikes? Like electrical surges." Varian interrupted.
Hiro walked over to join them. "What's your idea?"
"Why would this Bosu kidnap Abigail? She's not actually a scientist."
"Because she's Callaghan's daughter," Wasabi said as he pieced together what Varian was getting at, "and they'll use her to blackmail him into building them a portal."
"Exactly, and they've got to find a way to power it up. There might be unusual energy spikes once they get it up and running."
"So we, what, just wait around?" Gogo asked skeptically. "If Callaghan builds another portal and it's just as unstable as the last ones we've dealt with, then we might be too late to stop it from imploding if we wait till it's turned on."
"Yeah and who knows how much damage that'll cause." Fred agreed.
"Still it's the best idea we have right now; only we don't want to go chasing after every electrical surge in the city. We need a way to narrow the search even further." Hiro mulled over this new dilemma, then a new idea hit him. "Baymax, scan Varian."
"Wha- why?" The other boy asked in confusion as Baymax looked him up in and down.
"Scan complete." The robot said.
"I'll show you." Hiro grunted as he removed the chest plate off of Baymax's armor. "Baymax, show us Varian's readings."
The screen on the robot's chest lit up and displayed a silhouette of the time displaced teen.
"Okay, now show us his radiation levels."
The screen changed again to showcase a graph and Hiro pointed to one of the spikes that was higher than the others.
"There. See that? That's some sort of low energy electromagnetic radiation. Don't worry, it's non-ionized so it's harmless, but it's not anything that's been seen on earth. Not this earth anyways. I suspect it's from traveling through the portal unprotected, the same way astronauts risk GCR when they break through earth's atmosphere."
"Ooookaay… and outside of me apparently being a freak now, what does that have to do with anything?"
"Don't you see? If they turn on the portal it's going to emit that same form of radiation."
"Then we could track it faster and easier than we would just looking for any random energy spike." Gogo interjected.
"Yeah, but that still requires us just waiting around hoping that the bad guys do get the portal working." Wasabi said.
"Oh, they'll get it to work." Hiro said. "This isn't the first time Callagan's built a portal. The question is how long will it remain stable?"
                                                --------------------------
Callaghan flipped a switch on the dashboard and the portal roared to life.
Sue shielded her eyes with her arm as she squinted at the glowing blue circle that hung in the air. The wind was picking up as it was being sucked into the void.
Something was wrong.
Suddenly the power shorted out and the portal shut down as sparks flew out from the sides.
"Blast it!" Callaghan yelled. "I need more power. These generators aren't enough. We'll have to connect to the grid."
"Now hold on there, sugar cakes." Sue interjected. "I thought you didn't want this thingamajig to work."
"I don't, but you've left me with no choice. Call that boss of yours. Get them on the line. I can't finish my work without a direct connection to the city power supply."
"Alright. You need more power? I'll get ya more power. Just hold on to your britches and sit tight. My… uh, associates here will keep an eye on you while I go out and fix this."
She pointed to the two ninjas who were stationed on the catwalk above them. Callgahn didn't know how many were in Sue's employ, but he had the sneaking suspicion that the abandoned factory was crawling with them.
"Okay." Challghan nodded and Sue skated away at top speed.
                                                --------------------------
"There is a radiation spike coming from there." Baymax said as he pointed northward.
"How far out?" Asked Hiro.
"Along the river, about 20 mil--- the signal is gone."
"What do you mean gone?" Varian asked.
"There's no longer any readings."
"It must have been a failed test." Hiro said. "Let's just start following the river north. We may find something as we go."
                                                --------------------------
Abigail paced back and forth inside her cell. Well it was actually an office with a larger window looking out onto the factory below but it might as well have been a jail cell. The ninjas threw her in here and locked the door behind them. She had tried to bust the door down, smash the handle, and crawl into the vents to escape. Nothing had worked so far.  
As she nursed her arm from her latest failed escape, she saw one of her captors coming her way. It was the big bulky dude on roller skates. She banged on the window to gain his attention.
"Let me out!" She shouted.
The guy stopped, turned to look at her, pulled out two earbud headphones, and yelled, "I'm sorry, what did you say?!"
As the man leaned closer to the window and cupped his ear Abigail groaned in frustration. "I said 'let me out'!"
"Oh, sorry, no can do! Nana said you needed to stay put until your dad finished working on the portal!"
Abigail pouted and hugged her arm once more. Well, what did she think would happen?
"Do you need anything else?!" The guy shouted at her.
"No!" She stamped her foot before turning away from him to sulk as she tried to rub out the soreness in her arm.
"Hey, are you hurt?!" The guy asked, suddenly full of concern.
Abigail didn't answer. Why did he care?
However, to her surprise the guy opened the door and poked his head into the office.
"Did those robots hurt your arm?" He asked once more.
She looked back at him blankly. "Robots? Is that why those ninjas are so strong? They're robots?"
"Yeah." The large guy confirmed as if barely acknowledging how crazy that sounded. "Do you need an ice pack?"
"Sure." Abigail replied dumbfoundedly. Seriously, why was this guy being so nice?
"I'll go get you one. I'm Stu by the way." He flashed her a huge grin.
"Abigail." She replied still dumbstruck.
"Nice to meet you. I'll be right back." And with that he shut the door again and walked away.
Abigail got up and ran to the door. It was locked once more. Either the guy was smarter than he looked or it locked automatically.
Abigail bit her lip in thought. This Stu person could be her means of escape if she played her cards right.
"I'm back." Stu cheerfully said a few minutes later. "I got you an ice pack and some Tylenol."
He opened the door and handed Abigail the small little package containing the pills.
"Where'd you get this?" She asked.
"Oh, in the vending machine down the hall." He explained as he wrapped her arm in an ace bandage so as to better hold the ice pack in place. "I didn't have any money so I had to headbutt it a couple times. I got a free bag of Cheetos out of it as well."
He finished applying the bandage. "There! Man those robots are so dumb. Not to mention careless. Sorry you got hurt like that."
Abigail plastered a smile on her face. "It-it's okay…. Uhmm…I don't suppose you happen to have anything to drink these down with do you?" She said as she held up the pack of Tylenol.
"Oh sure. I'll go get you a bottle of water. Hang tight."
He left again and Abigail got to work. She removed the bandage and placed the ice pack on the floor in front of the door. Then she took the bandage and tied it between two desk chairs that were seated in the office. She placed these further out in front of the ice pack; spacing them far enough apart the rope laid taunt next to the ground right at ankle height.
Then she heard Stu's return and she jumped into the seat; placing her hands in her lap and slapping on a huge smile to look as innocent as possible as he skated in.
"Here ya, gooooo-woah!" He slipped on the ice pack and stumbled forward.
Abigail jumped up, grabbed the water bottle in his hand to sling him around, and with a well placed kick, Stu went rolling backwards into the tripwire. As he toppled over, Abigail sprinted out the door, locking it behind her.
"Hey! That's not very nice!" He yelled as he righted himself and ran up to the window.
Abigail paused in her getaway. "Yeah, and neither's kidnapping people and holding them hostage!"
Stu looked stunned for a moment as he thought over her words. "Yeah, okay, fair." He finally admitted as he hung his head. Then just as quickly he perked back up and smooshed his face to the glass. "Oh, but Nana's not going to like that you escaped."
"Yeah, well, Nana's just going to have to deal. Where's my dad?"
"Uh, on the first floor I think. Take the stairs down the end of the hall and then turn left."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome. Oh, but watch out for the robot ninjas!" He shouted after her as she ran away, opening the pack of pain pills as she went.
As Abigail neared the stairs she heard banging and the sound of glass cracking. She looked back and saw Stu slamming himself against the window repeatedly; and he was making a lot more headway then she had. She needed to find her dad fast.
                                                --------------------------
Supersonic Sue was hooking up the last of the electric cables to the power lines when she spotted Big Hero Six flying towards the power plant.
"Looks like those do-gooders found our hideout. Better give them a welcoming party." She said to herself with a smile as she pulled out a remote control and pressed a button.
                                                --------------------------
"Looks like there's a building up ahead!" Hiro shouted at his companions, who followed close behind, but stopped short when Baymax came to an abrupt halt.
From out of the woods stepped a robot ninja, who stood in their path.
"Yeeeeessssss!" Laughed Fred. "Finally I get to fight a robot ninja! My life is complete!"
"Be careful! Those things are deadly!" Varian warned.
"Oh come on. There's only one of it and seven of us. We can take...him?"
Just as Fred finished his boast another stealth robot appeared, and then another, and yet another, until the superhero team was surrounded by thirty or more of the killer androids.
"You were saying?" Wasabi snapped at Fred.
As if taking that as a cue, the robots jumped them and all hell broke loose.
Wasabi slammed the gas on his car and plowed through five of the droids, before hitting the brakes and jumping out as the robots dog piled the vehicle. He righted himself and whipped out his laser blades to start hacking away at the enforcers and the deadly shurikens they threw at him.
As he fended off the horde, Gogo skated around dodging their attacks and knocked the snipper robots out of the trees with her discs.
"Woo-hoo!" Fred shouted with glee as he bounced on top of robot after robot, just barely escaping their grasp as they lunged for him. "This is awesome! Terrifying, but awesome!"
Varian rolled his eyes at his friend's enthusiasm as he threw an ice bomb down below at the coming onslaught. He then had to grab hold of Hiro's waist as Baymax decided to do another barrel roll, knocking two more ninjas out of the trees.
When they righted again Varian's heart jumped to his throat when caught sight of Honey Lemon. She was several yards away, cut off from the rest of their friends and pinned down by one of the robotic assassins.
He shouted at her to hold on and Hiro drove Baymax towards her; only for the three of them to get jumped on by another robot. As they fought this new foe, Varian feared they wouldn't reach their friend in time.
Fortunately Honey Lemon was able to wiggle one arm free and grabbed a chimball from off her purse strap. She shoved it into her attacker's abdomen, lodging it in between some exposed gears, and with all her might she kicked the robot off her.
The android stood back up and started to stalk towards her once more, but suddenly stopped when the chimball ruptured and began to encase him in a pink crystal like substance.
Honey Lemon didn't have time to rejoice though as another ninja came up from behind to grab her arm. She threw another chimball at it and this time the robot let go and dubbed over as a shockwave from a small explosion sent the thing crumpling in on itself. Her concussive grenade had worked.
"Are you okay?" Varian shouted as they finally reached her.
"Yeah." She nodded as Hiro repelled another robot away with his electromagnets.
"I have found Supersonic Sue." Baymax calmly stated as he shot his rocket fist into the oncoming horde.
"Where?" Hiro asked, but soon saw the fading streak of dust traveling at high speed towards the abandoned building up ahead.
"We have to go after her. That building must be where they're keeping Callaghan and Abigail."
"Don't worry. I got this." Honey shouted as she ran ahead and shot down another wave of robots with her chempurse's bazooka setting.
"You three go on, we'll hold off the ninjas." Gogo spoke into the intercom before slicing off one of the androids heads with her frisby.
With that Hiro directed Baymax to follow Sue, only for them to be surrounded by a new group of ninjas lying in wait for them, just a mile down the road, even larger than the last horde.
"Where is she getting all these robots from!?" Hiro shouted in frustration.
"I have an idea!" Varian said and he pulled out the portal magnets.
Hiro saw what he was getting at. "Guys," he warned over the intercom, "Varian and I are going to use the mini-portal to break in, but be on your toes cause a new wave of robot ninjas are going to head your way soon."
"Oh you gotta be kidding me." Wasabi complained over the other end.
Varian ignored their friend's protests and typed a command into the portal's remote control. He then tossed the magnets into the air. With a flip of a switch, the magnetic balls began to link up and spin as a portal started to form in the air.
Hiro commanded Baymax to fly to it, and helped to maneuver the android to avoid the ninjas' attacks, as the robotic assassins tried to stop them from leaving.
They dodge one that tried to jump them, and Hiro kicked another off that had grabbed hold of Baymax's armor and was climbing up towards them. Meanwhile Varian threw one last alchemical orb at the swarm of robots as they flew into the portal. Hiro heard an explosion behind them, but ignored it as he focused on the upcoming confrontation ahead of them.
                                                --------------------------
"Okay Callaghan, I siphoned off electricity from the city's power grid. You should be good to go." Sue said as she entered the lab.
"Good, now just stand there and hold that lever down while I turn the machine on." Came Callaghan's terse reply.
"Why? What does the lever do?" Sue asked in suspicion.
"It keeps the fan on the turbines going and prevents the portal from overheating." Callaghan lied.
Sue raised an eyebrow at him, not fully buying it. "You want me to stand next to a giant, untested, potential death machine that may explode at any moment?"
"I assure you it works, and I thought you could order one of your 'associates' to do it, but looks like most of them have left the building save for the one you kept on lookout there."
Sue gave him a death glare.
"Or hey, don't do it and don't get the portal working. See if I care. I didn't ask to get dragged into this."
Sue finally relented at this and walked over to the base of the portal and pulled the lever down. "Like this?" she asked.
"Yeah, just like that." Callaghan said as he walked over to the computer terminal to turn it on. Then under his breath, where Sue couldn't hear, he said. "Just like that you rancid cow; stay right there and be the folly of your own demise."
But before Professor Callaghan could turn on the device and suck his hated captor into the void, another portal opened up overhead and in flew Hiro, Baymax, and Varian; knocking out the one remaining guard as they did so, who fell to the ground in a crumpled heap of frayed wires and busted gears.
"Step away from the portal, Callaghan." Hiro ordered at him.
For his part, Callaghan did as he was told and backed away, hands raised.
"Why you little scamps." Sue said. She almost sounded impressed. "You got persistence and gumption, I'll give ya that, but ain't half as clever as you think you are."
With a nod of her head another ninja jumped from the shadows above them and grabbed Varian by his jacket collar.
"Seriously, where are you getting all these robots!?" Hiro asked.
"Oh, just from an old buddy of mine." She nonchalantly said as she made her way to the door.
"Kensei?" Hiro spat as he finally threw the robot off them.
"Ah so you heard," Sue said, "and they say kids these days don't know their history. Yeah, I thought the ninja aesthetic was a little hokey myself; Kensei's gimmick was always centered around lame karate stuff, but hey, who am I to judge?"
And with that, as quick as a wink, she tossed one of the now defunct robot's weapons at them. Only instead of the usual shuriken, it was a metal ball that opened up and released a weighted net that was difficult to dodge.
As both boys struggled to pull it off, Baymax fell to the ground below under its weight and Supersonic Sue tried to make her getaway.
Only to stop when Stu burst through the door.
"Nana! I am soo, so sorry, but Abigail's escape!"
"What!?" She shouted.
With this news, Callaghan raced to the computer terminal while everyone was distracted and turned on the device.
                                                --------------------------
The ground rumbled and soon a heavy wind picked up as the unstable portal began to suck things into it.
Abigail wandered around the abandoned building utterly lost. She had deviated from Stu's directions in order to avoid running into those ninjas again. She hadn't seen any more of them around for awhile, but now she couldn't find her way back.
Suddenly the ground shook as if there was an earthquake. Abigail ran under a door frame for shelter and held on tightly.
As the tremor subsided, Abigail began to wonder if it was a natural occurrence at all.
Portals, that was what this was all about, apparently. The bad guys had wanted her father to build them one, but if he did, it could blow up in all of their faces, literally.
Then she heard yelling down the hall, as a wind picked up.
"Dad!" She shouted and knowingly ran towards the danger.
                                                --------------------------
"Are you crazy!?" Sue shouted over the howling wind.
"No, desperate!" Callaghan shouted back. "I rigged this portal to implode in on itself!"
Sue looked at him as if he'd grown two heads.
"There's children in here, ya dang fool!" Came her reply.
"I'm not a child!" Varian protested as he struggled underneath the net.
Both villains ignored him.
"Oh, says the woman who attacked them with a bunch of deadly robots!"
"Oh please, their weapons were set to stun. I wasn't going to hurt a bunch of snot nosed brats... much."
As if to counteract this statement another robot ninja jumped out at them and shot a laser out of it's wrist right at Callaghan. The professor ducked out of the way as sparks flew around him. Then the wind from the portal sucked the android right into the void.
Sue, for once,  looked embarrassed at being called out in her hypocrisy.
"In my defense I don't know anything about programming robots." She said.
"Call off the bots, let everyone go, and I'll turn the portal off!" Callaghan said.
Just then the wind picked up even more, the net over the two boys flew off and Varian and Hiro would have been swept away into the nothingness had Baymax not caught them.
"Fine!" Sue relented as she pressed a button on a remote. "It's no skin off my nose if the portal doesn't get built or not."
Another robot, that had just entered from the upper level, suddenly collapsed and fell down to the floor in a heap as it was deactivated. Then it's remains along with the other destroyed robots got sucked into the portal as well.
Satisfied with her compliance Callaghan turned around to shut the terminal off, only for the computer to explode which led to the rest of the machine to catch on fire.
"Well what did you do now?!" Sue shouted.
"It wasn't me! That robot of yours must have damaged the controls!"
Just then, Abigail shoved past the doors.
"Dad!" She called to him desperately, choking back the smoke that started to fill the room,  and that was when Callaghan realized how badly he had screwed up.
Sue rolled her eyes. "Oh I've had enough of this! Stu, make us an exit! I'll salvage what we can here!"
"Right Nana!" Stu saluted. Then he revved up his skates, curled up into a ball, and basted himself at the concrete wall on the opposite side of the room at top speed.
He busted through three walls before coming out the other side and Hiro could just make out the glimmer of sunlight on the other end.
While Stu was busy with that, Sue skated right up to Callaghan and slugged him in the face. The professor fell backwards, clutching his jaw.
"Dad!" Abigail shouted again and ran to his side.
Sue skated over to the desk next to where they stood, or what was left of it. After finding what she wanted she turned to leave; only stopping long enough to give the murderous professor a sneer of pure disdain before skating away in a blur after her grandson.
As soon as she was gone a squeal of metal scraping against metal was heard. One of the portal's legs collapsed under The heat of the spreading fire and the gaping maw of the void turned at an angle towards the roof. The ceiling started to cave in from under the strain.
Everyone had to dodge out of the way quickly from the falling debris. One particularly large steel beam nearly fell right on top of Callaghan and Abigail, and he had to push his daughter away quickly. She stumbled back and was almost sucked into the void again until Baymax pulled her out of the way.
As the robot and the three humans huddled behind a concrete slab, Abigail tried to break away from the android's grip.
"Dad, no!" She sobbed.
"I'm alright!" Came Callaghan's call. "I'm just trapped on the other side!"
Abigail cried with relief.
"We're coming after you." Hiro shouted back.
"No, don't! You three get out of here! Take Abigail to safety."
"But what about you?" Varian yelled.
"Don't worry about me, I'll find another way out."
Soon they saw Callaghan start to climb up a ladder to the catwalk above.
"He must be trying to go around." Hiro said. "He'll never make it that way."
As if to confirm this, more debris fell from the collapsing roof, blocking their view of the professor. Hiro came to a decision.
"Baymax, take Varian and Abigail and get out. I'm going after Callaghan."
"That's crazy!" Varian protested.
"I do not feel that is a very safe option." Baymax agreed, but Hiro was already halfway finished climbing up the other side of the concrete slab.
"Don't worry, I got my gear! Just go on! Now!"
Baymax gave in to Hiro's orders and scooped Abigail up in arms. He then took off and flew away before Varian could crawl off his back.
                                                --------------------------
Varian casted a fearful look behind him as he watched Hiro run through the smoke. Then as they made it to the tunnel he watched in horror as the portal fell completely and the rest of the building started to come down.
"No stop!" He yelled. "We have to go after them!"
Either Baymax didn't hear him or the robot ignored his pleas; too set on following his previous commands.
As they neared the exit, Varian gathered his courage and jumped off the robot and onto the grassy ground that opened up below.
It took a moment for Baymax to realize what had happened. He turned around to see Varian running back into the burning building.
"No! Don't!" Abigail screamed after him.
"Baymax, get Abigail out of here, and have the rest of the gang fall back!" Varian yelled over his shoulder. "No telling what the range of the blast radius of the portal will be once it finally implodes in on itself!"
Then he dove out of sight into the tunnel.
                                                --------------------------
Hiro coughed as the smoke burned his lungs and stung his eyes. He searched for a way through the flames to the back of the former power plant, where the catwalk hung over head; dodging the debris that rained down around him. Then when he was directly under the service ramp, he used his electromagnetic whips to grab hold of the catwalk and pull himself up.
No sooner did he make it to the top, then did the portal fall down completely and along with it the rest of the roof.
A large hunk of the ceiling fell right on top of the walkway, snapping the metal railing into two. Hiro held on to the side desperately as the severed catwalk now shifted as it's structural integrity was compromised. Fortunately for him he had magnetic gloves on. Callaghan wasn't so lucky.
The professor went falling over the side as the ramp broke. He only just barely managed to grab hold of the bottom railing before falling into the void below. However he wasn't safe as the wind kept trying to suck him in and shook the broken catwalk ever which way.
                                                --------------------------
Varian pulled up his bandana over his nose to block out the smoke. He also pulled down his goggles to protect his eyes. Still there was little he could do about the insufferable heat nor the falling hunks of metal and stone.
Somehow though he managed to make his back through to the former lab. As he entered the flame filled room the first thing he did was to look up. He noticed Callaghan and Hiro hanging from the broken catwalk right away, but how was he to get them down?
He spotted a ladder near the wall and next to it a long linked chain. He ran up to it and with a few tugs he broke the chain free from the pulley hook it hung from. He quickly wrapped it around his shoulder like you would a rope and then started to climb.
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Hiro gauged the distance between him and Callaghan. It wasn't far, he could make it…. Or miss it completely and go tumbling into the void forever.
He gulped as he dared to look below him.
Just then the wind picked up speed once more and the catwalk bent under the force of the portal's suction.
"W-woah!" Callaghan screamed as he held on for dear life and Hiro himself gripped the railing beside him even tighter. He then threw out one of his whips to wrap around the end of the other catwalk leveling it somewhat.
"C-can you climb up?!" Hiro grunted.
Callaghan tried to, but failed. He was getting on in years and could no longer nimbly climb up the side of things like Hiro could. There was also the ever increasing pull of the portal to fight against.
"It- it's no use!" Callaghan called out. "Get out of Hiro! Save yourself! I don't want your death on my conscience as well!"
Those words hit Hiro deeper than Callaghan knew, and for a moment Hiro seriously considered following his advice and just leaving the man to his fate.
After all, there wasn't any obvious way to save him. Hiro would only be risking his life for nothing the longer he stayed. It wasn't murder just to save your own skin, not really, and well, Callaghan had brought this onto himself. All of it, the portal, his imprisonment, the fire…
Hiro gave the pathetic old man a cold glare; one that cut through even the inescapable heat of the rising flames around them.
Oh how he hated Callaghan!
He took a deep breath and retracted his magnetic whip, leaving the other side of the catwalk free to twist in the wind.
Still he didn't immediately turn to leave. Never taking his eyes off Callaghan, Hiro watched his brother's murderer flail about as he struggled to maintain his hold on the railing. Time felt like it had slowed to a crawl for Hiro as his mind was racked with indecision.
It would be so easy, he thought. So easy, and no one would blame him. His breath shallowed as he waited for the inevitable; his eyes fixated on Callaghan.
That's when Hiro noticed a foot fall behind him as the walkway shifted beneath him once more.
Varian was right behind him with a length of chain in his hands. The other boy said nothing, nor did he hand Hiro the makeshift rope.
Their eyes met and Hiro silently pleaded with him. Varian knew. Varian knew exactly what Hiro was going through. He knew the pain. He knew the desire. He knew what was happening, and he wasn't going to do anything to stop it.
It was Hiro's choice and Hiro's choice alone.
Hiro gulped once more as his heart pounded in his ears and angry tears stung his eyes.
No, Varian wouldn't judge him, but what about himself? What did he want? What was he willing to give up to get it? How could he face himself in the morning, or the next day, and everyday after that?
Hiro shook his head as everything suddenly became clear. There was no choice. Not really, as there was only ever one choice Hiro could live with.
He grabbed the chain out of Varian's hands and threw the other end to Callaghan. Once the professor had taken hold, both boys pulled him up. Then all three ran down the catwalk, slid down the ladder, and then dove through the hole in the wall.
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As the two teens and professor ran away from the collapsing building, they heard an explosion go off behind them. Callaghan grabbed them both and pushed them to the ground; using his own body to shield them as best he could as the shockwave passed over them.
Out of the corner of his eye, Hiro could see the trees around them bending backwards till their top branches nearly touched the ground. The earth trembled beneath them and a loud noise that made his ears ring sounded around them.
Finally, once Callaghan had deemed it safe enough, Hiro sat up to view the damage. Below them was a crater where the former power plant had stood. Not a sign was left of the portal.
"There they are!" Fred shouted behind them and Hiro turned to see his friends running towards them.
Abigail was also with them.
"Dad!" She ran up to her father first and wrapped her arms around him.
Callaghan broke down crying as he returned the hug. He kissed the top of head, and held her close, before cupping her face in his hands and nuzzling her nose the way he had always done when she was young.
It was the first time he had held his little girl in over five years.
"I missed you too, Dad." Abigail said as she snuggled closer to him and wrapped him another hug.
Hiro broke away from the celebration and the cheers of congratulations from his friends, as he watched Callaghan and Abigail reunite. Instead of joining in their merriment, he went and sulked underneath a tree overlooking the spot where the power plant once stood.
They all gave him space, except for Varian who walked over to join him. The other boy didn't say anything. He just rested a hand on Hiro's shoulder and sat beside him as everyone waited for the police to arrive.
"I still hate him." Hiro whispered as tears ran down his cheeks.
"Yeah, me too." Varian agreed.
And that was all that needed to be said. Hiro didn't regret saving Callaghan, but neither could bring himself to forgive Tadashi's murderer; even after all that happened; and that was okay. One didn't need to forgive in order to do the right thing, and in a small way that brought Hiro a little peace, even if the loss still hurt.
Still he couldn't help but smile a little bit, in spite of himself, when Judy also arrived along with the police. Krei had given her a lift as soon as they'd received  the text that Abigail had been rescued.
After the two girlfriends reunited, Abigail introduced her significant other to her dad, who was overjoyed at the news.
As Callaghan pulled both girls into a group hug, even Hiro had to admit they made a sweet family. Enough so, that Hiro almost felt sorry for them when Chief Cruz walked over to re-arrest the professor. Almost.
"I love you." Callaghan said as he entered the back of the police van.
"I'll see you next Tuesday; on visitor's day." Abigail sobbed. "We both will."
Callaghan tried to say something encouraging in response but the words caught in his throat as he choked on his own tears.
The police shut the door, and Abigail broke down again as she watched the police van drive away. Judy hugged her and planted a kiss on her cheek, as she wiped her tears away.
"Come on, I'll give you a ride back to your apartment." Krei gingerly stepped in and gently encouraged the two girls to follow him to the car.
"And don't worry about coming into work tomorrow. Take all the time you need." He told Judy as he opened the car door. She flung her arms around him in a grateful hug, to which Krei awkwardly returned. Judy wasn't known for being affectionate, not to him anyways.
"Uh, yeah, don't mention it." He said before breaking away and walked around into the driver's seat.
As the car drove away Cruz walked over to the superheroes. "I got a few questions for you."
"Yeah?" Hiro said as he got up walked over to the police chief.
"Do you know where Sue and her grandson are right now?"
"No."
"Do you know who was funding their portal research?"
"No."
"Then what do you know?"
"Callaghan didn't escape. Sue kidnapped him and blackmailed him." Fred offered up.
"So you said over the phone, but why?"
"Have you heard of the new crime lord running things since Di was arrested?" Gogo asked.
"Maybe. Were they behind this? Why are they after portal tech?"
Hiro shrugged, "We don't know."
"Do you know who they are?"
"Have you ever heard of an old supervillain called Kensei?"
Curz's eyes went wide at the mention of that name. "I'm going to need you to come down to the station with me."
The team of superheroes was startled by that.
"Sorry, but no, can do, officer." Hiro shook his head as Baymax flew up beside him.  
"Wait! You're not under arrest; I promise,  I just need more information!" Cruz pleaded as the heroes took off running, their enhanced gear allowing them to move faster than his men.
Cruz took off his hat and threw it to the ground in frustration as the last of the supers disappeared.
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Supersonic Sue watched from above as the police departed. She had hid in the trees in order to spy on the gang of do-gooders.
"What now Nana?" Her grandson asked as they climbed down.
"Now, Stu, we go weasel some, I mean 'get paid', some money from my dear old friend, and then we high tail it out of here and laid low for awhile till this whole thing blows over."
"But we didn't get the portal, and the professor escaped?"
"Now don't you worry, none, hun. Nana's got everything under control." She said as she whipped out her cell phone.
"Hey Kensei? Yeah, got some bad news about that portal you wanted…. Now, now, don't go getting your knickers in a twist; I got something that still might interest you." Sue chuckled as she pulled out the blue notebook from her pocket.
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Wasabi pulled up to the gas pump and got out of the car.
"Do you guys want anything while we're here?" He asked the two boys riding in the back seat.
Hiro and Varian shook their heads no, and Wasabi left to go pay for the gas.
Once they had all safely gotten away from the police, it was decided by the group of teenagers to ditch their superhero gear and ride home normally.
Fred had called Heathcliff to pick him and the girls up, while Hiro and Varian volunteered to walk back with Wasabi to his car.
Baymax was currently in the trunk and had powered down into sleep mode in order to save on energy. It wouldn't do to have a 'drunk' robot running around the cafe on low battery, when their aunt came home.
Aunt Cass had texted them not too long ago to let them know she was leaving the hotel. Apparently Tracey's car had had a flat tire and they were getting a late start.
Thus far, on the ride back, neither boy had said much to the other. Each was lost in their own thoughts as Wasabi obliviously carried on all the conversation. It was mostly about opera as he had had the radio on.
Though without Wasabi's singing to distract them, Hiro started to grow uncomfortable with the silence.
"Hey, thanks, for helping out back there." He said.
"You're welcome." Varian replied in a tired manner.
"You know, I… I don't know what I would have done had you not shown up when you did."
Varian just shrugged. "Probably just save the day, like you always do." He then turned to look at Hiro. "I knew you wouldn't go through with it."
"How? How can you be so sure?"
"Cause, you're not me." Varian said as he looked away. "I would've let him fall. No hesitation."
Hiro didn't know what to say to that.
"I told you. Unlike you, I'm not a hero." Varian admitted as he felt Hiro's eyes on him. "I honestly don't know how you do it."
Hiro mulled over these words. "I guess… because I have good friends who support me and people to look up to. Who'll stop me from going too far."
Varian gave him a disbelieving smile. "People like your big brother I guess?"
"Yeah."
Varian shook his head. "Must be nice, having people around to help you when you need them. I'm not sure it'd make a difference in my case. I don't if anyone could have talked me down; not… not after what happened."
"Well," Hiro slowly said. "You never had a brother with you."
Varian nodded but didn't look at him, so Hiro contunited.
"Yup, it's a good thing my big brother was there today to help me out."
Hiro rested his hands behind his head as he said this and tried to act nonchalant, but he peeked out of the corner of his to watch Varian's reaction.
The other boy slowly looked up as realization dawned on his face.
Hiro smiled. "Thanks for being there for me."
"An-anytime." Varian answered with his own smile.  
Hiro held out his hand for a fist bump. Varian returned it, the way Hiro and Baymax had taught him to do it. Then both boys wiggled their fingers and went "babalala", imitating their robot pal.
They couldn't keep a straight face when doing so though, and broke down into giggles.
"What's so funny?" Wasabi asked cheerfully as he entered the car.
"Oh nothing." Hiro snickered.
"Hey, hey, Wasabi, how about a driving lesson?" Varian pestered.
Wasabi rolled his eyes. "After the sport's car incident?"
"Not me, Hiro."
Wasabi turned back and looked at Hiro thoughtfully. "Well, alright, get on up here."
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Hiro was finishing tidying up his room when he heard the familiar tune of La Cucaracha blaring down from the street below.
"Hey, Varian! Aunt Cass is back!"
He called to the other teen as he ran downstairs.
"Ok, all I got left to vacuum is the bathroom rug!" He called after before switching on the machine once more. "Be down in a sec!"
"Bye Tracey, see ya later." Aunt Cass called after her friend as she entered the cafe and her friend drove away.
She dumped her bags on the floor and let out a sigh of relief.
"Wooh, vacation will wear you out." She said as she leaned against the door.
"Hi Aunt Cass." Hiro ran to give her a hug. "Did you have a nice time?"
His aunt ignored the question "Oh Hiro, how are you, sweetheart?"
"I'm fin- ... I'm doing better."
"Did you hear about Callaghan?" she asked.
"Yeah, it was on the news today. They caught him."
"Yeah, Cruz texted me about it."
She stroked her fingers through his hair and pouted. "Do you still want to talk… about… well, you know?"
Hiro seriously considered it.
"Maybe later," he said, "I talked to Varian about it earlier today and I'm feeling a lot better now."
"Really?"
Hiro nodded his head.
"Well, I'm glad you two can open up to each other like that, and be there for one another. I'm also glad you two didn't burn the house down while I was gone."
Aunt Cass laughed at her own joke and Hiro joined in, but soon he weighed in with one more question, before moving on from the whole ordeal.
"Do.. Do you still hate him? Callaghan, I mean?"
Aunt Cass looked at him thoughtfully before answering.
"Yes." She nodded. "Do you?"
"Yeah." He sniffed.
Both aunt and nephew shared a silent moment for their grief as they came to an understanding before wrapping each other in a hug once more.
That was when Varian came down the stairs to join them.
"Hey!" He greeted, before embracing Aunt Cass in his own hug.
He practically lifted her off her feet as he did so, and for the first time Aunt Cass noticed that her adopted child was now taller than herself.
"What?" He laughed as he caught her giving him a funny smile.
"Nothing, I'm just glad to be back home." She said before wrapping both teens onto a group hug. "Oooh, I missed my boys sooo much, both of you!"
"We missed you too Aunt Cass." Hiro said.
"Yeah, next time you should just take us with you." Varian joked. "That way we can skip out on chores too, am I right Hiro?"
Hiro rolled his eyes at Varain's teasing. "Yeah, anything to avoid washing your dirty socks."
Even Aunt Cass couldn't help but laugh at that.
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"Such a happy family." A woman's voice said as she peered at the Hamadas through her crystal ball. "Pity, their time is coming to an end."
Notes:
And Finally We Are Done with the Last Chapter! Woot!
But that's not the end of the story.
Be on the look out for season two, Ghosts of of the Past, where we'll meet more characters from the Tangled series, new villains, finally learn who this mysterious Boss is, and gain a new member of the Big Hero Six team!
You can find up dates at both the Rocks and Robot's discord https://discord.gg/yfVVrXjFW8
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auntynationalsblog · 4 years
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Fargo: Top 10 Characters
Television shows like Breaking Bad, The Sopranos and The Wire are definitely three of the greatest in the genre of non-fantasy dramas, thrillers, and crime fiction. If you love those three shows, but you are unfamiliar with Fargo, stop whatever you are doing, and watch it now. Right now. Thank me later. 
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One of the reasons why Fargo is a work of genius is the intensity and depth of its characters. These characters, in my opinion, have earned the right to be categorized alongside Walter White, Tony Soprano, Omar Little and Don Draper, as some of the legendary TV characters of all time. This blog takes a look at eleven of the most astonishing characters Fargo has provided to the world of television. 
Beware of spoilers, obviously. 
Consolation Prize: Lester Nygaard (Season 1)
“Old Lester, now, he would've just let it slide. But not this guy.”
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Played by Martin Freeman, or better known as Dr. John Watson from the twenty-first-century version of Sherlock Holmes, Lester Nygaard is a loser. Like all losers, we tend to feel bad for him, until his personality develops in a way which makes us abandon our pity for him. Pity is replaced by disgust, and sadness is replaced by anger. Lester’s transformation from a good-for-nothing non-achiever to a devious and heartless criminal and fugitive is definitely one of the most subtle character developments I’ve seen on TV. His role is often overshadowed by two other characters from the same season. Very important character nonetheless, brilliantly portrayed by Freeman.  
10. Wes Wrench/Mr. Wrench (Season 1, Season 3)
“ “
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Played by the deaf, yet brilliant actor - Russel Harvard - Mr. Wrench also can’t hear. What can do is kill. He is an assassin, and he is loyal and lethal. He appears in the first season as one-half of the committed team of Mr. Wrench and Mr. Numbers (Grady Numbers). Wrench’s childish attitude is quick to win the hearts of the audience, while his kill skills and will-power earn him a spot on this list. After losing his partner (Mr. Numbers) in a gunfight, he is spared by his partner’s killer because the killer was himself impressed by Wrench’s skills and character. He reappears in season three as an invaluable accomplice to another character on this list, a role which makes us love him even more. 
9.  Molly Solverson (Season 1)
“Got to love a man who keeps his word, right?“
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Played by Allison Tolman, Molly is the walking-definition of a young and hungry-for-justice police officer. A daughter to a police officer and a granddaughter to a sheriff, Molly is the character that makes us nurture the hope that there is hope for goodness and justice. After losing her murdered chief early on in the show, who is replaced by an incompetent one, Molly takes up the challenge of solving her chief’s murder all by herself, and she quickly finds herself trapped in a world of assassins and conspiracies. But despite being shot and hospitalized, she just does not give in, acting as the top cop that she isn’t. The character even earned Tolman the Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. 
8. V.M. Varga (Season 3)
“The past is unpredictable.”
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Played by David Thewlis, or as we know him - Professor Remus ‘Mooney’ Lupin - from the Harry Potter world, Varga is sick, and in all likelihood he will make you sick to the stomach. Sadistic and ruthless, with a portrait of Joseph Stalin on his desk, Varga uses a businessman hitherto leading a happy and normal life to further his money laundering scheme. Intimidation and disposal seem to be his key tactics to success, apparent when he makes the businessman’s subordinate drink his own urine as a punishment for acting suspiciously. With the worst teeth on the show, and probably suffering from bulimia, Thewlis’ villainous role does not allow us to take even a one minute break between episodes.    
7. Floyd Gerhardt (Season 2)
“Three times, I sent men to do a job. Three times, they come back unfinished. I'll handle this myself.”
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Played by Jean Smart, Floyd Gerhardt inherited one of the most difficult jobs in the world. After her husband Otto, the head of the Gerhardt crime syndicate, suffers a stroke and is unable to lead the mafia any longer, Floyd takes over all the guns and the money. Her eldest boy, Dodd, is unwilling to accept a woman, who is also old, as the new mafia don. However, throughout the season, Floyd shows us who’s boss as she uses an iron hand to deal with a rival gang from Kansas City and to investigate the homicide of her youngest son. One of the characteristics of Floyd which makes us like her so much is her love and concern for her granddaughter, who is mostly abused and humiliated by her father Dodd. The characters in season 2 are the strongest, but without Floyd, none of the other characters would be as appealing as they are. 
6. Gloria Burgle (Season 3)
“There’s violence to knowing the world isn't what you thought.”
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Played by Carrie Coon, Gloria is the older version of Molly Solverson. After finding her stepdad murdered via asphyxiation, Gloria’s investigation leads to bizarre outcomes that find her entwined in something very big and very dangerous. A recently divorced woman, whose position of Chief also got taken away, her new Chief is simply intolerable, who demands of her to let go of the investigation. But like Molly, she just doesn’t give up, and her relentless pursuit constitutes the heart of the third season. Gloria is an example of how some police officers simply cannot be intimidated or corrupted into submission. The final scene of Fargo is a conversation between Varga and Gloria, and arguably, that tense scene is one of the best dialogue exchanges in the series. A true superhero. 
5. Lou Solverson (Season 2)
“Am I the only one here who’s clear on the concept of law enforcement?”
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A loving father, a caring husband and the hotshot cop of town, Lou Solverson, played by Patrick Wilson, is your Marvel/DC superhero. Lou actually made his first appearance in the first season, as Molly’s father - former cop currently running a diner. In the second season, we are given a glimpse of Lou’s glory days as he single-handedly takes on both the Gerhardt Family and the Kansas City Mafia. Two things to note about Lou’s character - fearlessness and morality. Lou just does not submit to intimidation, as is seen in his confrontations with Mike Milligan on one occasion and with the Gerhardt Family on another. On the latter aspect, Lou is forced to take in his long-time friend Ed Blumquist on charges of murder, but the element of friendship does not deter Lou to do what he knows is his duty and is morally right. 
4. Mike Milligan (Season 2)
“If the goal is to kill those who oppress you, what does it matter who goes first?”
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Played by Bokeem Woodbine, Mike Milligan is the epitome of suave. A well-read man, who often uses poetic quotes out of nowhere to dramatize his point, Mike is an assassin working for the Kansas City Mafia, and is in charge of ripping the Gerhardt Family apart. Arguably the most cunning and nefarious character of the second season, what sets Mike apart from other villains is the unbelievable aura of calm he brings to a seemingly tense situation. Varga does that too, but Mike does it better. Intelligence is his most lethal weapon, as his loyal henchmen, known as The Kitchen Brothers, carry out most of the bloodshed for him. At the end, although Mike meets a fate worse than death, most of us would die to be him during a gang-war.  
3. Lorne Malvo (Season 1)
“There are no saints in the animal kingdom. Only breakfast and dinner.”
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Played by the former husband of Angelina Jolie, Billy Bob Thornton’s portrayal of Lorne Malvo goes down as the greatest villainous role in Fargo. Malvo, in simple words, is pure evil. He does not care. He is a predator, with an ideology best put as, “kill or be killed”.  He begins an unusual friendship with the Lester Nygaard, whose character is antithetical to that of Malvo. He even saves Lester from arrest and gradually, through his venomous words, turns him from an innocent loser into a evil loser. Eventually, Lester tries to show him who’s boss, realizing he couldn’t have made a worse choice about who to fuck around with. The personification of evil that is Malvo, can be categorized with characters such an Anton Chigurh, the Joker and Hans Gruber (who has an unusual physical resemblance with Malvo) on the list of the greatest villains of all time. 
2. Ohanzee “Hanzee” Dent (Season 2)
“ “Send the Indian,” they'd say. “Who cares about booby traps? Give Hanzee a flashlight and a knife and send him down into the black echo.” ” 
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Played by Zahn McClarnon, Hanzee Dent is not an evil guy. He is a bad man, sure. But he is not EVIL. He is not a villain. Society alienated him, treated him like a mongrel and made him a ticking time-bomb only seconds away from the boom. A native-american assassin recruited by Otto Gerhardt from a very young age, Hanzee appears to be a loyal hit-man for the Gerhardt Family, until he loses his shit. An unstoppable force and a ruthless killer with a history of military service (Vietnam), Hanzee has an agenda of his own. His killing spree is triggered by a sign outside a pub boasting about murders of 22 Sioux Indians who were hung there, with a puddle of dried vomit beneath it. Arguably the most complicated character of the show, with an intense development of personality, Hanzee Dent is the only character in the show who is a lethal assassin but makes us pity him and root for him. 
One Last Consolation Prize: Peggy Blumquist (Season 2)
“I just wanted to be someone.” 
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Played by Kirsten Dunst, or Mary Jane from the Tobey Maguire Spiderman series, Peggy Blumquist is the source of all the drama. After she accidentally runs over the youngest Gerhardt son, Rye Gerhardt, her husband, Ed Blumquist (another brilliant character) becomes number one on the Gerhardt Family’s blacklist, and acquires the nickname - The Butcher of Luverne. Peggy should not be perceived as stupid or a trouble-maker. Throughout the show, she feels what many of us also feel, that we are not living up to our potential. Her interests conflict with her husband’s interests, but eventually she does everything in her capacity to clean up the mess that she (unintentionally) created, and to save her husband from the cops and the mafia. Her portrayal by Dunst was vastly appreciated by critics and fans alike, but in a show comprising of so many awesome characters, it was impossible for me to include Peggy in my top ten.  
1. Nikki Swango (Season 3)
“You've made me the happiest woman ever. Now, let's make a sex tape.”
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In Fargo, we have super-heroes, heroes, villains and super-villains, and we have Nikki Swango, portrayed by Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Right from the moment we saw her eliminate a threat to her grand plan with the help an air-conditioner, Nikki provided Fargo with the most unique ‘unique character’. A genius who utilizes her intellect in a professional game of cards (Bridge), she may be, at first, perceived as selfish and shallow. But towards the end, it is evident that she actually did love her fiance Ray Stussy, and wasn’t just using him for her personal ambitions. It is hard to put a hero/villain label on her because she embodies the key characteristics of both roles - empathy, willpower, deviousness, ruthlessness and a thick skin. Her partnership with Mr. Wrench, her plan to execute the entire squad led by Varga AND extort two million dollars from him has to be one of the most memorable moments of the series. Not to forget how she, along with Wrench, hijacked the truck carrying all the documents needed by the IRS to prosecute Varga. Simply put, Nikki Swango is the badass of the show. 
So that’s my list. I won’t ask you to like or comment on my blog (some feedback would be appreciated though). All I want from the world of Netflix, is that this TV show receives the viewership and appreciation that it deserves, which it hasn’t gotten yet. 
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ketchup-chup · 5 years
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Isekai Mangas that don’t completely suck
So I’ve been reading a lot of manga and wanted to start doing some rec lists just because. I decided to start with Isekai (more specifically shoujo ones) that are actually decent/cute as most are, quite frankly trash. There are a few others I’ve enjoyed/am enjoying that aren’t on this list but I probably didn’t add them because they’re not far enough along for me to get a good feel for them yet. anyways enjoy and pls come talk to me about manga
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Ascendance of a Bookworm
Summary: A book loving girl dies with the single wish of wanting to read more. She is then reincarnated as the daughter of a lowly soldier, in a world where books are only for nobles.
This is probably one of my favourite isekai stories. Unlike many of the others there isn’t a large focus on romance and it is just about this girl who wants to read but can’t because of her social class. What I like is that the main character still uses her knowledge from her past life, and in a way that makes sense and doesn’t seem too over-powered and that she, as well as the other characters are all endearing and interesting in their own ways. You really get invested cheering for the characters to achieve their goals.
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Fiancee’s Observation Log of the Self-proclaimed Villainess
Summary: A young prince, who is just about excellent in every way, finds everything to be boring and dull. Then suddenly his fiancee proclaims that everything is an otome game and she plans to play the role of the villain to perfection
This is just really cute. I like the way the relationships build over time and while the main character can be a bit annoying and too oblivious at times for my liking, it works and plays off the prince rather well.
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I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess With Only Destruction Flags
Summary: Katarina recovers the memories of her past life in which she know realizes she is living the life of a character in an otome game she played. Sadly, she is the main villain and with nothing but bad endings in her future she does everything she can to prevent this.
Another one of the “reincarnated into an otome game” stories, as their are a lot more than I originally thought but few decent ones honestly. This was in rather nice though, as in most of these Katarina is an absolute airhead, however the love interest is actually really nice and likable in this one! Hell, for once the original heroine of the game isn’t awful either and it’s just really cute and funny since everyone sorta just gravitates towards her while she’s still stuck in her oblivious bubble.
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I’m a Villainous Daughter, so I’m going to Keep the Last Boss
Summary: Irene regains her memories of her past life and now realizes she’s been reborn into an otome game where she’s the villain! She takes it upon herself to change her bad end and go for the final/secret boss/love interest and open up a new route for herself
Another one, you may ask? Yes, but hear me out. This one starts right as Irene is about to get her bad end, and unlike the others, and instead of trying to change her outcome and befriend everyone  she sorta just says fuck it and tries to seduce the demon king. Yeah, that is literally her game plan here. The relationship between the two is really cute too and all around it’s very wholesome.
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Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter
Summary: A girl is reborn as Iris, the duke’s daughter and the villain of an otome game. Before she can receive her bad ending and be shipped off into a nunnery, she uses her knowledge of her past life to start a new one.
Last one of this type of story for now I swear! The thing about this one is that it’s very much focuses on Iris and her redemption and making a name for herself, and unlike many of the other heroines she’s not air-headed or naive, she’s actually very smart and cunning. She uses her past experiences to help her and it’s just really refreshing to see her build her own little empire of sorts. .  
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They Say I was Born the King’s Daughter
Summary: Suhee, a beautiful young woman, dies with the regret of taking her loving boyfriend for granted. She then awakens to finds that she has been reborn as the youngest daughter of a king in a world where women are looked down upon.
So here’s the thing. When it comes to the romance for this story I don’t really care for it. I mean it’s okay but it’s sorta just whatever. The thing that really kept me going and invested in this webtoon however, was the relationship that Suhee develops with her family. The way she uses her wits to charm her brothers and father and the way they dote on her, but act all shy about it is so cute!!! The side characters are all pretty great honestly but her relationship with her family is where it’s at.  
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Isekai Omotenashi Gohan
Summary: Akane, and her younger sister (and pet dog!) gets transported into a strange world, and while her sister is chosen to be the saviour of the nation Akane does her best to cheer her on with warm meals.
It’s your everyday isekai but with cooking! There are actually a few of these too but this is the only one I’ve found I actually like to far. It’s generally lighthearted and fun, and the relationships between the sisters and the other characters are cute! Very wholesome would recommend if you ever need to pass time.
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jenjenpup · 4 years
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thanks to u i bingeread both the manhwa and the novel of who made me a princess, so i MUST ask; do u know of any similar manhwas?? i am DYING to have moreeee gooddd isekaiii
very roughly and I’m gonna miss so many but
-”The Reason Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke's Mansion”
-”I am the daughter with a villainous role, so I tried keeping the Last Boss as a pet”
-”Kochou no Yumeji”
-”Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady with the Lamp”
-”Sincerely: I Became a Duke's Maid”
-”IRIS - Lady with a Smartphone”
-”Miss Not-So Sidekick”
-”The Pet of the Villainess”
that's all I have lmao. try looking up stuff at mangadex, but you didn't hear it from me. support the creators if u can afford obviously k byeee
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Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #20-23 Thoughts
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Previous thoughts here.
Well I’m almost a year late but I’m finally here, the end of Renew Your Vows.
So did it go out on a high note.
...um...no....no it did not.
 Having finally read the entirety of Houser’s RYV run (but not yet her Spider-Girls work which I am expecting to be a kind of epilogue) there are three perennial problems.
a)      The discarding of the established, yet short live, status quo of issue #1-12
b)      The post-time skip status quo evoking memories and idea from Spider-Girl due to featuring Spider-Man’s teenaged daughter
c)       An over focus upon Annie herself at the expense of Peter and MJ
I’m of the belief that the first point wasn’t Houser’s fault, that the second point was partially Houser’s fault and the final point is entirely Houser’s fault and indeed exacerbates the problem of the second point.
This arc could’ve course corrected some of those issues but it didn’t, indeed it added to them and created yet more problems.
Now this isn’t to say issues #20-23 were a shit show. Dan Slott and BND provided too many shit shows for me to have the heart of lumping this arc with that dreck.
But it is a story arc that doesn’t work much more than it does work.
Let’s talk positives though.
Houser continues to write Peter and MJ in character and believably for an adult couple with a kid. Peter having his share of Dad jokes is very nice in fact. The scene where MJ and Peter discuss the situation in bed was simply wonderfully executed, short, sweet and simple as it was. It was an example of how you can write these characters with maturity in a mature relationship whilst making it interesting. A small but very nice bit was when the couple exchange a knowing look of suspicion for a second before swinging off, you could tell they both knew their daughter was lying to them.
Annie is also believable as a teenager and distinguished in her personality from Mayday. Her exchange with her parents at the start of the arc rang very true. In it Peter and MJ are believably concerned for Annie and want to know what she was doing; if you lived in a world of super heroes you’d be suspicious in that context too. Annie also understandably for a teen gets pissed off. Another nice touch in connection to this was how there were consequences for Annie after her last arc, seeing as she is very much grounded but also in more contact with Normie than she was before.
However the two biggest triumphs for this arc were in how it brought up Clone Saga continuity.
I know a lot of people have Clone Saga sore spots, but this issue addressed the topic in way that bypassed even haters of the story.
Peter and MJ’s pain and anger over losing Ben and baby May is palpable and poignant, entirely earned by the situation. More than this it’s just a wonderful source for drama Houser was brave enough to mine when nobody else wanted to touch the topic for something like 20 odd years more or less. The graveyard scene especially is easily the highlight of the arc.
Peter and Wolverine’s exchange at the diner was also done very well. Wolverine’s advise struck true to who he is and their dynamic here is immensely preferable to Houser’s first issue where Peter was played as something of a beta to Logan. In this series they are both seasoned heroes and fathers with a long history so them talking candidly and personally as they did added up. Peter over dramatically breaking a glass and being indifferent to the shards cutting his hand open though...that was just stupid.
Also for what they were the action scenes were decent enough, the first battle between Annie and her ‘clone’ in particular was well done.
That...unfortunately...is where the positives end though.
The single biggest problems with this arc specifically are that it’s overly focussed upon Annie and features Mister Sinister as the villain.
Now you might argue that there is precedence for this in Houser’s earlier work.
However precedence alone is not necessarily justification.
Clearly building up Mister Sinister as the final boss does little in the way of justifying why, in the final arc of this series about Spider-Man and his family our final villain is...an X-Men character...who’s motivations indeed revolve  around the X-Men. The X-Men taking up page time from the Parker family has been a running issue in this series and I don’t get why, of all things, the post-time skip RYV stories chose that  to be consistent about.
Sinister isn’t even an X-Men villain who’s immediately familiar with general audiences. He’s a complicated and somewhat cryptic character whom, if memory serves, has never (or at least rarely) crossed paths with Spider-Man in any continuity. He’s not like Magneto or anything so throwing him into this series, then not really explaining what his powers even are or much of his background is taking the audience for granted. It’s expecting the audience of a Spider-Man comic to have X-Men knowledge (not even simple X-Men knowledge at that) or worse that they should go do their own homework t find out who he is, which is just objectively bad writing.
It just feels like what we’ve been building to for 10+ issues was essentially an X-Men story that happens to involve the Parker family and Normie Osborn. At least the final pre-time skip arc involved the X-Men in a secondary role to the Parker family, it still revolved around them.
The second biggest problem with this arc is with Annie.
Annie and her relationship with her parents doesn’t really grow or develop much in this arc. Now that could be forgiven because she got a fair bit of development in the last arc. But maybe giving her that development was a mistake as her development in this story, the final  outing for the series as a whole amounts to her coming clean about her Spider Sense visions.
That’d be minor development at best, but what makes this worse is...Annie already told her parents about those.
Now maybe I missed something because I took such big breaks between arcs, but Annie told her parents of her visions back in issue #5!
So it’s just a massive continuity flub for Annie to be acting like she’s been keeping it a secret for eight years.
It wouldn’t be so bad if it was a throwaway line but her concealment of this fact is the crux of her arc in this story and of her relationship with her parents, playing into the resolution of the story and even the very last page.
It just breaks the narrative.
Now in fairness if you ignored every story before Houser’s run, Houser does a good job of realistically justifying how and why Annie kept it a secret and her reveal of it is humerous. But nevertheless...it doesn’t make any sense.
It doesn’t help that between Spidey’s teenage daughter have spider sense future visions and the plot revolving around a possible clone of said teenage daughter created in secret Osborn labs and her wearing a mostly blue outfit this arc is seriously evoking Mayday Parker’s adventures.
Possibly this was intentional as we find up subverting the expectation of clones when we learn that in fact the ‘clones’ are just...genetically engineered beings grafted powers from Annie’s stolen DNA.
Whilst this provides something different it’s also in truth kind of...less dramatic than if they had in fact been clones. That way you could’ve even shallowly touched upon themes of identity and said something about who the Parker family is. Instead they’re about as poignant as Blood Spider.
The arc is further hurt by not really properly explaining how or why Annie was able to see the future/see through the eyes of the mutates with her powers. In fact it tries to claim that this only happens when her ‘clone’ is focussed upon her and yet the first vision she has is when her ‘clone’ attacks some tourists. How/why was she focussed upon Annie in that moment?
The arc’s final major failing is, as I mentioned, with focussing upon Annie at the expense of her parents.
I thought given how Houser’s opening arc was more evenly divided between thee leads and then we got an Annie centric arc and then a Peter/MJ centric issue that we’d wrap up with another arc given over to all of them. But it’s still more Annie’s show than anyone else’s.
Yes we get some inner thoughts from MJ in two issues and a bit more than that from Peter. But it’s mostly there to spice up the scenes they occur in. They offer little insight into the thoughts and feelings of the elder Parkers and they are totally drowned out in comparison to Annie’s inner thoughts.
This is sad because the book isn’t supposed to be about Annie but the family as a whole.
But Houser’s approach in this arc tries to strike this weird arrangement wherein the scheme at play is about the X-Men, but the plot is focussed upon Annie’s side role within that plot, but also tries to give time over to Peter and MJ as severely beta leads to Annie.
And it consequently renders the arc as neither an X-Men story, nor a Parker family story and a weaksauce Annie story.
It’s like this arc is ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead’ but if Rosencrantz got much more focus than Guildenstern....but then their story is a fleshed out side story in like Macbeth instead of Hamlet so they’ve got little reason to actually be involved in the central conflict but are anyway.
It’s such a weird creative choice.
Now I’ll still go to bat for Houser, and still argue she should do more Spider-Man work. Her problems on this book nevertheless show me she gets these characters. But I think now the series is wrapped up it’s fair to say she got the premise of Renew Your Vows but let her preference to write for Annie (the character who’s been around for less than 5 years and who as a teen is practically a blank slate) compromise the job she was assigned to do. Because as I said, it’s not like it’s just this arc. Annie got a lot of focus in every issue under Houser sans issue #19.
Other smaller problems with the arc include:
-          Annie’s dream might’ve been a something of a rip-off of ‘Fearful Symmetry’, an early episode of ‘Justice League Unlimited’ in which Supergirl witnesses the actions of her murderous clone during her dreams.
-          It’s made seriously unclear what Annie’s ‘clone’ did t the tourists she attacked or indeed why she attacked them at all
-          Annie’s ‘clone’ has an okay design but it becomes rather banal when you see it repeated with the other Parker ‘clones’
-          The names for the ‘clones’ are rather over complicated and dull. They do make a nice joke or two out of this though
-          There was little point in having Normie grow six arms beyond cheap tension and a dash of fanservice
-          The climax had some nice jokes about how Peter hated their family car, but it seemed out of place in context and also I find it hard to believe Peter would go quite as far as he did in wrecking the thing
-          The final moments of the arc and series as a whole feel very pat and uninspired. Like Houser had to wrap it up for the sake of wrapping it up because they needed to move onto the next thing
-          The art was a bit sketchy and felt unfinished
My kneejerk reaction was to give this a C- but looking back I gave the last major arc that too and that was definitely better than this.
So I guess...D+I hate sending this series off with that grade but it is what it is.
Hopefully Spider-Girls will be an improvement
P.S. I also just remembered Wolverine referenced Hank McCoy but...didn’t he die back in like issue #6 or 7? wtf
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kahixxi · 4 years
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my faves isekai/reincarnation/transmigration manga 
from left to right:
I Won't Become a Villainess. I'm Just a "Normal" Duke's Daughter! The Villainess Wants to Marry a Commoner!! I’m a Villainous Daughter, so I’m going to keep the Last Boss
A Vengeful White Cat Lounges Around on the Dragon King's Lap  Fiancé's Observation Record of a Self-proclaimed Villainess Princess of the Wolf Lord
I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess With Only Destruction Flags…  The Result of Being Reincarnated is Having a Master-Servant Relationship with the Yandere Love Interest Endo and Kobayashi’s Live Commentary on the Villainess
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mangafeeds · 4 years
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I’m a Villainous Daughter, so I’m going to keep the Last Boss.
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Alternative : Akuyaku Reijou Nanode Rasubosu wo Katte Mimashita; I am the daughter with a villainous role, so I tried keeping the Last Boss as a pet; I’m a Villainous Daughter, so I’m going to keep the Last Boss; Rasubosu; 悪役令嬢なのでラスボスを飼ってみました
I’m a Villainous Daughter, so I’m going to keep the Last Boss summary: Avoid the BAD END! That's the goal of the villainess in this plot-twisting story!! She has been reborn into the world of an otome game as the villainess, Irene. Using her memories of her former life, she recognizes flags indicating she's en-route to the bad end, so she makes a plan to conquer the last boss (the evil king Claude), make him her lover, and see if she can open up a new route! #MangaFeeds.com, #ReadFreeMangaOnline MangaFeeds.Com: Read manga online the latest manga comic book, updated daily: https://mangafeeds.com/post/i-m-a-villainous-daughter-so-i-m-going-to-keep-the-last-boss_1587887111
Read more.
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peanutdracolich · 7 years
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Peanut Dracolich Watches (Hammer) Horror: The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires
I don’t know if it’s really the first kung fu horror spectacular; Mr. Vampire and Chinese Ghost Story are the kung fu horror spectaculars I am familiar with and come from the 80s. Still the film promises a dumb (it was mid 70s Hammer and a mid 70s kung fu film) kung fu flick with vampires and some horror trappings, and it delivers exactly that.
It’s a B movie. It’s a dumb, but enjoyable, little low impact, low investment film. You watch it to see Grand Moff Tarkin (well he became the Grand Moff 4 years later) thrown into a kung fu movie. It is at a functional level for that. Ultimately it gives what it promises and does it well enough. It doesn’t give more, it doesn’t give something quite different, and it doesn’t make promises it can’t keep. There are disappointing aspects, but it feels like Hammer Horror made a 70s kung fu film and if you’re watching it you probably know what that means to expect; you hopefully know what to expect with Hammer Horror at least.
Overall I’d say it’s a film worth watching if you know you enjoy that sort of dumb, obviously fake sets, weapons that are just as fake, and kung fu fighting from when it was a lot slower typically. If you don’t enjoy old B movies, or don’t enjoy them unless they’re truly horrible, don’t watch it.
Good/Bad/Ugly and play by play after the cut.
The Good:
The Premise: This is why you’re watching the film and it delivers it at the expected B movie scale.
The Heroines: Are relatively strong and independent characters for the type of film. They are not super strong and independent and I’m pretty sure they never directly talk to each other, but I can only remember 3 of the 8 guys talking at all. They both get damsel moments, but... one of them still fights better than most of the guys in the film and the other one is the non-combatant that demanded to go vampire hunting.
Gratuitous Boobies: The film enjoys showing extras’ breasts when it has an excuse to. If you enjoy that in a film, it’s here. And as the later Hammer Horror films got known more for sexploitation (I haven’t watched many of the later ones but the internet tells me so) it’s the sort of thing that you should have been expecting going in.
The Bad:
Dracula: The actor lacks charisma and stage presence. He’s not just no Christopher Lee he’s one of the flattest and least interesting vampires I’ve seen. He also dies a pathetic death. Thankfully 7 other vampires who are more...
General Villain Incompetence: Oh for Orlok’s sake. So the golden vampires get some good stuff in by the end of the film and actually serve as a threat to our heroes, but their early showings are atrocious. They first show up having difficulty dealing with a limping farmer. If they hadn’t given him a limp the movie would have been noticeably better just because they were undercutting their main villains by doing so.
Gratuitous Boobies: The film enjoys showing extras’ breasts when it has an excuse to. I try to be accepting of it because... I do have a certain fascination with breasts, but it sometimes serves to take away from a scene and I wonder why the villains are so eager to rip their shirts. Apparently they want a good view as they sacrifice them.
The Ugly:
The Undead Soldiers: I actually think they were primarily women in theory, but the zombie soldiers were pretty ugly creatures and between their sound cue and general effects deserved a place in a far scarier movie. I probably actually ought to have put them in Good instead of Ugly but.
The Deaths: The vamps die ugly.
The Play by Play:
The last Hammer Horror Dracula film, and one without Christopher Lee in the role. However Peter Cushing is there as Van Helsing and the premise sounds hilarious. And having watched 13 horror movies in 13 days I need a bit of a break from scary. Still I feel guilty so I am watching it in the dark and will do my best to buy in and play along but... I expect to break down into a more humor filled enjoyment of a 61 year old Grand Moff performing martial arts stunts in a film that had the Shaw Brothers working on it.
You also may or may not get a full play by play. I'm tired of typing out scenes, though why is there a Chinese looking nativity scene sign near what appears to be Dracula's castle? The music is in theory passable, but the production value and the D on the coffin is a bit taking me out. Still I'm not trying to buy in much which hurts.
The Dracula just doesn't have the presence. When he speaks it's... he's not my Dracula. His approach is pretty good, too smooth and even for him to be walking. The music is also theoretically good, but the set just looks so set like.
Still the worst element is the disappointing Dracula. He has none of the charisma of Lee, or Lugosi, nor Gerald Butler in Dracula 2000, nor the vampire from The Brides of Dracula. What I'm saying is he has no charisma. Unlike the Chinese vampire cultist who ruled in the name of the titular 7 Golden Vampires. I mean he's still no Lee or Lugosi but he doesn't make me want to laugh more than the bat effects. So I am happy when he steals the Chinese guy's body, I am unhappy that he voices over the dude, but the voice works somewhat with the bombastic motions of the new body. It's an improvement. It's not scary, it's like a 70s Kung Fu flick, over the top and hammy, but hey it's different.
We are transported to 1904 China, and it feels like a Shaw Brother kung fu flick. Until we hear Cushing giving a lecture about Chinese legends and how some are just legend, and some are true at their heart. He of course then talks about a village threatened by vampires, and the poor limping farmer who rose to the task of protecting it. Apparently with a hoe. Sets are like something from a 70s Kung Fu flick (that is to say extremely fake). And I'm not really trying to buy in to the horror or even suspend my disbelief which honestly the film probably deserves some attempt but... Kung Fu Vampires. I will try to be better...
A bunch of women are tied to slabs around a pool of blood, and our vampire cultist is proceeding over it. There's a sense of horror here. Pacing is good. One of the girls is topless. The vampires look like wrinkled and rotten things. The effect there is good. His daughter is one of the girls. The scene is drawing on a little too slow. He's a limping farmer with a hoe and he's managed to release his daughter before they really react. He's a limping farmer without a hoe and he wounded a vampire and escaped. I'm sorry limping farmer beat on your vamps pretty effectively they lost some fear.
In the film's favor the golden skulled undead rising as reinforcement look pretty good.
Still things just aren't quite well enough put together for me to buy in. Still there is the sense of danger. Even so the limping farmer stole their mystic golden bat and placed it upon a shrine to a god and touching it causes the vampire to burst into flame even after they kill him. The music is actually effective, so is the army of the dead, but I just can't buy in; I may be a little inured at the moment.
After the story the Chinese historians he was lecturing mock him and say that he is trying to discredit China by saying that they'd believe such things as vampires like some superstitious backwards Eastern European peasants. One dude, though, believes.
And we see Van Helsing's son. He doesn't impress me.
Full screening the movie (I'm watching it on youtube) helps, gets the white away, the white was bad.
Still the film gives us some things worth mocking. Van Helsing reacts fairly calmly to someone breaking into his rooms and trying to sneak up on him. He simply asks the man who he is and offers him tea. And the guy, well apparently he's here to apologize, and request Van Helsing's aid as a vampire catcher. I'm not sure why he didn't just knock, that'd be a rather more polite way to apologize than via breaking and entering.
We also have the younger Van Helsing flirting with a woman and then pissing off the local crime boss by destroying his excuse to get close to her by stating he'd already promised her his services as an escort. Good gentlemanly behavior. Still while she is, as she puts it, 'the totally emancipated woman' who could have said no to the tong on her own, she doesn't exactly resent the escort... it gives her a chance to talk to him about his father she's infatuated with.
Of course we find out how well saying no would have gone for her when they are attacked by a group of kung fu assassins and saved by a pair of kung fu brothers. Still the young Van Helsing (Leland I think) actually fought or tried, and they were following him so he probably kept her from being abducted by a Chinese crime lord. She even shows she realizes this.
The Older Van Helsing, though, doesn't want her to come on the vampire hunt, but everyone else disagrees with it... Possibly because she's financing the trip (and the son likes her and recognizes 'she has a will of her own').
On the subject of the heroine (I'm bad with names) she is not up to the usual sex appeal of a Hammer Horror heroine, not to say she is unattractive, but part of this is also presentation; her presentation is less sex as well. Given later Hammer films are known for sexploitation the fact that she doesn't live up to the appeal there as the ones from the first 3 (before they were that) is worth noting.
No mention is to made of horrific tension as the film has descended into kung fu action. It's not trying to be scary. It's a horror story (vampires and all, yada yada) but it's a kung fu film. The weapons are ludicrously fake,some of the fight techniques are Vulcan neckpinch level, and it's... fun.
The movie does make me wonder. Their grandfather was a limping farmer, this is a group of kung fu weapon master brothers and one sister, why do they need Van Helsing? A limping farmer gave them a good fight. Of course the film is trying to explain that right now with 'you're the expert and will know what to do to beat them for you are the chosen one' but... WHY DID THEY GIVE THE FARMER A LIMP?
We get a scene of vampires ripping the shirts of women open and abducting them. The farmers fighting them now are not very good at it. They outnumber them but their hoes do nothing.
Van Helsing informs us of some things: A wooden stake works on vampires in the East apparently. The image of the lower Buddha works on them like the crucifix on a European one, fire doesn't work in Europe but he doesn't know about in China. He does not point out that the Scandinavian heroine is jealous of the fact that his so is infatuated with her... or is she jealous she's encouraging him to go help wash the dishes you dumb-butt. She's more interested in the leader of the kung fu brothers it seems.
On the villainous side of things we get more boobies. The film is enjoying the chance to show them. Still the Chinese Dracula is more intimidating than the original actor.
Van Helsing is psychic. Leland is a dumbass. Scandinavian financier has a caring/motherly side.
Still while they're hiding in the cave for the night, the kung fu vampires arrive. This would be fine except suddenly the vaguely hopping skeleton army. The immortal undead things do little to them... Till Van Helsing tells them how to strike their weak spot. And the archer manages to fell one of the seven golden vampires, striking him with an arrow causing him to emit a truly silly laugh and a death scene which makes him seem like he's doing a rather insensitive idiot act. A second of the golden vampires is killed, his death less humorous, a... Van Helsing just tripped backwards into a fire. He just stumbled into the fire. Of course he uses this to pick up a burning brand and show that the Eastern Vampires are vulnerable to fire. Leland spent the fight punching like one of the mooks and having trouble with it. He finds women who can fight hot, though, so that's good.
Having just defeated half of the enemies with no losses, the Kung Fu brothers are disheartened. I have no idea why they're disheartened. Apparently curb stomping the enemy makes them afraid. Also they never buried their grandfather, but left his bones to bleach in the sun despite knowing where he was. That's... I'm pretty sure that's really disrespectful. Like what the nosferatu dudes, tend his corpse so it can rest in peace.
And Financier Lady is now without her shirt, wearing oly a tank top that shows cleavage if she leans forward. I feel I am expected to rejoice at this. Leland continues to be a dumb ass.
Dracula is kowtowing to great demons of hell dedicating himself to their service. Dracula have more self respect. You don't do favors. You're an archvampire, you're your own master. I don't care if you want an undead army. Bad Dracula have some self respect. Still he attacks the town which our heroes have fortified and... our heroes immediately abandon the fortifications to fight the enemy outside of them. Because you spend all day fortifying just for fun, not for practical purposes.
Still they begin to beat the 3 remaining vamps when the zombie army arrives and they decide that maybe they should have like used their fortifications after all. Maybe. After all the zombie army is the scariest thing in the film.
One of the brothers is killed! The villains are not WHOLLY incompetent. Unlike Leland who... Well ok he fights better with his fist than a gun (he can't aim for the heart it seems). Still the one thing I was afraid of in this film happened, both our heroines have just become damsels, such is the fate of emancipated women. One is carried off by the zombies, and one is bitten in the throat by one of the vampires and immediately turns into a vampiress and attacks the kung fu brothers' leader forcing him to stake her, which in Hammer tradition makes her bite vanish. In an act of lover's suicide he stakes himself as well, because once you have staked your romantic interest it's all you can do. No to be honest she bit him so he knew what was going to happen to him and he ended it first.
Oh and the Kung Fu Girl hasn't becomes captured. In fact she has now outlives over half of her brothers. Yes. She's still getting beaten up... Oh now she's kidnapped. I can accept it more after 4 of the guys are killed.
Leland jumps on a horse and takes chase, going to confront the vampire that carried her off, and I'm not sure if we're down to Dracula and 1 other or 2 others now. Still we're down to 2 kung fu brothers, Van Helsing, Leland the Mute Donkey, and our abducted heroine.
She is strapped to the ritual slab to be bitten and drained of blood, but Leland saves her beginning to fight the vampire. He is doing better than expected. Which is to say he hasn't died yet, though he is losing until his Papa comes and spears the vampire in the back. Don't mess with his dumb ass, it makes Van Helsing angry. I think we're out of vampires other than Dracula.
Everyone leaves save Van Helsing who pauses and encounters Dracula. Who is goaded out of the Chinese dude's body. No! Film, don't! The other guy had more charisma. He was hamtastically awesome with his dialogue. No, why ;;
We then get to watch as a 60 year old man gets backhanded about a bit, before Dracula impales himself upon a broken spear shaft. Dracula is dumb in this film. His death is dumb. He should feel bad next time he revives.
Oh and the ending credits tell me I misspelled Leyland's name, I'm not fixing it.
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