#an iconic consists of them and the valkyries

[usafphantom2]

OTD in 1969, The Iconic XB-70 Valkyrie Mach 3 Super Bomber Made Its Last Flight

February 4, 2021 Military Aviation, Military History

Three drag chutes were needed to slow down the landing roll of the XB-70. (Image credit: Reddit edit The Aviationist)

The massive XB-70 Valkyrie is the largest and heaviest airplane ever to fly at Mach 3.

The North American XB-70 Valkyrie was the most ambitious super-bomber project of the Cold War. The massive six-engine bomber was slated to be the ultimate American high-altitude, high-speed, deep-penetration manned nuclear bomber designed to fly high and fast, so as to be safe from Soviet interceptors.

Two Valkyrie prototypes were been built at North American Aviation before the Kennedy Administration cancelled the program as a consequence of the doubts that surrounded the future of manned bombers believed to be obsolete platforms. The threat posed by Soviet SAMs (Surface-to-Air Missiles) put the near-invulnerability of the strategic bomber at high altitudes in doubt. In low-level penetration role, the B-70 offered little performance improvement over the B-52 it was designed to replace (!) and it was much more expensive with shorter range.

Some fascinating variants of the aircraft were proposed. Some envisaged the B-70 carrying an Alert Pod, or flying as a Supersonic Refueler or as a Recoverable Booster Space System (RBSS). You can find all the details about these crazy concepts in this story we have posted last year.

Ezoic

The B-70 program was canceled in 1961 and development continued as part of a research program to study the effects of long-duration high-speed flight with the two XB-70A.

XB-70A number 1 (62-001) made its first flight from Palmdale to Edwards Air Force Base, CA, on Sept. 21, 1964. The second XB-70A (62-207) made its first flight on Jul. 17, 1965. The latter differed from the first prototype for being built with an added 5 degrees of dihedral on the wings as suggested by the NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, wind-tunnel studies.

While the 62-001 made only one flight above Mach 3, because of poor directional stability experienced past Mach 2.5, the second XB-70, achieved Mach 3 for the first time on Jan. 3, 1966 and successfully completed a total of nine Mach 3 flights by June on the same year.

Photo of the XB-70 #1 cockpit, which shows the complexity of this mid-1960s research aircraft. On the left and right sides of the picture are the pilot’s and co-pilot’s control yokes. Forward of these, on the cockpit floor, are the rudder pedals with the NAA North American Aviation trademark. Between them is the center console. Visible are the six throttles for the XB-70’s jet engines. Above this is the center instrument panel. The bottom panel has the wing tip fold, landing gear, and flap controls, as well as the hydraulic pressure gages. In the center are three rows of engine gages. The top row are tachometers, the second are exhaust temperature gages, and the bottom row are exhaust nozzle position indicators. Above these are the engine fire and engine brake switches. The instrument panels for the pilot left and co-pilot right differ somewhat. Both crewmen have an airspeed/Mach indicator, and altitude/vertical velocity indicator, an artificial horizon, and a heading indicator/compass directly in front of them. The pilot’s flight instruments, from top to bottom, are total heat gage and crew warning lights; stand-by flight instruments side-slip, artificial horizon, and altitude; the engine vibration indicators; cabin altitude, ammonia, and water quantity gages, the electronic compartment air temperature gage, and the liquid oxygen quantity gage. At the bottom are the switches for the flight displays and environmental controls. On the co-pilot’s panel, the top three rows are for the engine inlet controls. Below this is the fuel tank sequence indicator, which shows the amount of fuel in each tank. The bottom row consists of the fuel pump switches, which were used to shift fuel to maintain the proper center of gravity. Just to the right are the indicators for the total fuel top and the individual tanks bottom. Visible on the right edge of the photo are the refueling valves, while above these are switches for the flight data recording instruments. (Image credit: NASA)

A joint agreement signed between NASA and the Air Force planned to use the second XB-70A prototype for high-speed research flights in support of the American supersonic transport (SST) program.

However, on June 8, 1966, the XB-70 62-207 was involved in one of the most famous and tragic accidents in military aviation when it collided with a civilian registered F-104N while flying in formation as part of a General Electric company publicity photo shoot over Barstow, California, outside the Edwards Air Force Base test range in the Mojave Desert. The aircraft were flying in formation with a T-38 Talon, an F-4B Phantom II, and a YF-5A Freedom Fighter.

North American XB-70A Valkyrie just after collision. Note the F-104 is at the forward edge of the fireball and most of both XB-70A vertical stabilizers are gone. (U.S. Air Force photo)

As explained in a previous post here at The Aviationist:

Towards the end of the photo shooting NASA registered F-104N Starfighter, piloted by famous test pilot Joe Walker, got too close to the right wing of the XB-70, collided, sheared off the twin vertical stabilizers of the big XB-70 and exploded as it cartwheeled behind the Valkyrie. North American test pilot Al White ejected from the XB-70 in his escape capsule, but received serious injuries in the process. Co-pilot Maj. Carl Cross, who was making his first flight in the XB-70, was unable to eject and died in the crash.

The root cause of the incident was found to be wake turbulence: wake vortices spinning off the XB-70’s wingtip caused Walker’s F-104N to roll, colliding with the right wingtip of the huge XB-70 and breaking apart. As explained in details in this post, wingtip vortices form because of the difference in pressure between the upper and lower surfaces of a wing. When the air leaves the trailing edge of the wing, the air stream from the upper surface is inclined to that from the lower surface, and helical paths, or vortices, result. The vortex is strongest at the tips and decreasing rapidly to zero nearing midspan: at a short distance from the trailing edge downstream, the vortices roll up and combine into two distinct cylindrical vortices that constitute the “tip vortices.

Although research activities continued with the first prototype with a first NASA flight on April 25, 1967, the last one was on Feb. 4, 1969.

The only remaining XB-70 Valkyrie super bomber in on display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. In October last year, it had to briefly moved outside for display maintenance. Here you can watch a video of the monumental move.

A view of the six massive afterburners on the XB-70 Valkyrie as the aircraft is towed out of its display hangar temporarily for museum maintenance. (Photo: National Museum of the U.S. Air Force via YouTube)

About David Cenciotti

David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

@TheAviationist via X

[stargirlfeyre]

Something that really doesn’t make sense to me but have been seeing come up more and more in discussions about the Blood Rite is the girls “win”. So basically, there seems to be two consistent arguments, 1. The Blood Rite plot line was dumb because it overpowered the girls who had only been training for a couple of months and it’s not believable that they would beat out the people who have been training their whole lives and win? Could they have maybe survived overall? Sure.. but win? Absolutely not. And then argument 2 comes into it where people start saying “oh but their friendship bracelets were Made with Nesta’s power to help them” “they had weapons to help them” “it was rigged” which make the outcome make a little bit more sense right???

So why does everyone in fandom refer to Nesta as Oristian and Gwyn/Emerie as Carynthians? I’m so sorry (and like go girl power I guess) but isn’t the whole blood rite kind of void on account of being tampered with?? Aren’t they all kind of disqualified?

And in the book no one beyond the girls themselves even acknowledge their “win” it’s basically Nesta saying they’ve earned the title of Oristian when the reach the mountain, then Nesta saying that Gwyn/Emerie “won the entire damn thing” and Gwyn laughing that she has no intention of being called Carynthian because she’s a Valkyrie. Idk why sjm hyped up this whole Rite making it the hardest thing that only a handful of people have won in centuries just to have her main/side characters basically cheat their way through it in the name of a girl power storyline? it’s so cheap

I’m sorry but the only part of the whole Blood Rite storyline I liked was when Cass said “Mor would likely win the damn thing in record time” that was so icon of him.

You basically summed up all my feelings surrounding the blood rite. It’s the most blatant show of plot armor in Acotar.

[aburningpotathoe]

MARVEL ANIMATION PROJECTS FROM SDCC

I am groot

This series will premiere agust 10th and will consist of 5 shorts centered around groot (duh)

From the trailer, it looks like a comedy series with a light-hearted plot, so probably no real threat present.

It will likely be soft-canon: the series will take place in the main MCU timeline but none of the events will matter/be adressed in the future

What if...?

What if season 2 has been confirmed as part of phase 5

It will be streaming early 2023

Some of the scenarios have been announced: a story centered around Hela, Odin vs The Mandarin, Captain Carter meeting the winter soldier (most likely the Hydrastomper seen in s1 will contain a winter soldier version of Steve), tony on Saakar with Hulk and Valkyrie (scrapped episode from s1)

We dont know it the multversal teamup at the end of season 1 will be adressed, nor if the Watcher will return (although the latter seems likely)

A third season has already been confirmed

Spiderman Freshman Year

Previously confirmed by Marvel as a prequel to homecoming, however that seemed to change given that Strange and Dock Ock will appear, while peter never saw them before the Spidey/Avengers movies

It might span across the multiverse and give us a look at different spidermans, with only a few episodes centered around Tom Holland's Spidey (this could explain how so many characters will appear while still being a prequel to Homecoming)

Many spider suits will appear, including a homemade one

Doctor strange will appear

Daredevil will appear in his black suit (Voiced by Charlie Cox!!!!)

Harry Osborn (possible Hobgoblin) and Amadeus Cho ( possible Hulk variant) will appear as Peter's friends

Nico Minoru should appear (in the comic, she is a magic wielding Runaway)

Many iconic Spider-Man villains will appear: Doc Ock, Rhino, Speed Demon, Tarantula and Scoprion (we might find out why scorpion was in jail in the Homecoming post credit scene)

Norman Osborn will appear with his iconic waves, it is unclear wether he will become Green Goblin. It is rumored that he will be Peter's mentor (in a Tony Stark-esque way as a shot of him and Aunt May mirrors the first time Peter met Tony in the Mcu)

The characters and drawing style are comic accurate (including Norman Osborn's waves!!!)

A second season called Spider-Man: Sophomore Year is already confirmed

Marvel Zombies

Inspired why the zombie episode in What if season one, it will follow a group of survivors fighting through a zombie apocalypse (duh)

The series will be TV-MA (!!!!!!!)

Among the survivors we can find: Yelena Belova, Kate Bishop, Jimmy Woo, Shang-Chi, Kamala Khan, Death dealer (the masked guy from Shang-Chi), Red Guardian and Katy Chen ( also from Shang-Chi)

Other groups of survivors include an all-female group of SHIELD agents and black widows, as well as a group of skrulls

Amongst the zombies we can find: Ikaris (although it is uncleat how an eternal that is not organic can become a zombie), Abomination, A severed captain America, Okoye, Ghost, hawkeye with many arrows shot trough him, Captain Carter and the Scarlet Witch (Lmfao they are fucked going up agains these zombies)

It is unclear wether the events of what if take place in the same universe, although captain America does appear cut in half, so we dont know if well see the group of survivors from what if (Tchalla, Scott Lang's head and Peter Parker with the cloak of levitation) as well as Zombie Thanos with the infinty stones

Expect horror moments especially with ghost's ability to go through walls, as well as splatter moments

Oh and also hearbreaking moments between Kate and Yelena, and Shang-Chi and Katy when one of them gets zombified (Marvel you will pay for my therapy sessions)

Also moments between Kate and Kamala and Zombie Carol and Clint

#sdcc2022 #marvel animation #mcu phase 4 #mcu phase 5 #i am groot #marvel zombies #spiderman #spiderman freshman year #what if

[mica-dmss]

Blog Post - 01

What makes media a work of art?

In the current works of media, we have ultimate access to sources of many kinds - music, movies, art and advice. Even the consumers of work within this generation are offered many tools and networks by media, which grants them the opportunity to become creators of their own ideal works. This shift in productivity offers a bright future, allowing for many artists to further bring their art to life.

Moreover, the productions within the media industries also benefit from the advanced technology of creation, with new improvements of elements have emerged, such as VFX, recordings, motion capture, and on. Games industries have never seen such massive popularity over the the years; in 2007, Nintendo (Nintendo Co., Ltd., 1889) achieved their biggest success through the release of Wii Sports (2006), with 82.9 million copies sold, thus making Nintendo's game labelled as "the top-selling single-platform exclusive of all time". (Sirani, 2023) Furthermore, Nintendo's release of their newest console, Nintendo Switch (2017), has led to another successful release of theirs. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has become their best performing game on Switch, selling over 57.01 million copies. (Nintendo, 2023)

As with more technological advances, comes with more promise of high-quality experiences in games. Rendering, texturing, scaling and so on. These aspects will further improve as time goes on, as it has been so in the last decade of gaming. Soon, players may fully immerse themselves into the world of these games, of which could harbour a feeling akin to theatrical performance; a work of art. However, regarding such rapid shift in the use of graphics within games, has that experience already begun?

In my first essay blogpost, I will delve into what it means to produce a work of art, referring to Wagner's creation and the idea of Gesamtkunstwerk. (1827) I will be using Nintendo's Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017) as my major example of what makes a product a complete craft of art.

Let us define the term Gesamtkunstwerk, which translates to a "total, ideal, or universal work of art"; a 'synthesis' of different art forms into a unique genre. (Núñez-Fernández, 2011, p. 2) It is a media term coined by philosopher Karl Friedrich Trahndorff (1827) and popularised by famous composer Richard Wagner during the nineteenth century. (ibid, p. 2) In his essay, The Artwork of the Future (1849), Wagner applied Gesamtkunstwerk to define the aesthetic ideals within his own field of work; "integrating universal, archetypal themes found in folk legend into a single all-encompassing modern theatrical experience". (Núñez-Fernández, 2011, p. 2)

In short, the term articulates an idea that media forms are capable of creating an immersive experience. Examples seen throughout history consist of theatrical performances, architecture and literature. Wagner argued that out of all possible mediums, theatre was the most ideal form to create Gesamtkunstwerk. This can be demonstrated through any other media product that includes orchestrated music, as it delivers the 'perfect' experience to any product selling a narrative.

Wagner's work, 'Ride of the Valkyries', can be found in many works throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, despite its production way back in the nineteenth century. On YouTube, The Dollar Theater (2021) highlighted how one of the most iconic war films, Apocalypse Now (1979), used Rise of the Valkyries as cover during one of its dynamic battle scenes. The template of Wagner's music had brought more anticipation towards the scene's climax, as well as establishing the clear differences between the American attackers and the Vietnamese victims, which the latter's environment was peaceful up until the upcoming 'music' of war. (Figure 1 and 2)

Figure 1

Figure 2

While theatrical music imposed artistic foundations within the works of film that includes it, as Wagner envisioned so, we still see the evolution of Gesamtkunstwerk webbing further into games to form new holistic experiences. This brings me to my analysis on Zelda: Breath of the Wild (BOTW).

BOTW is a video game produced by Nintendo as another exclusive release to their Switch console. To encourage players in positively interacting with Switch, Nintendo introduced major titled creations. This includes the unique world of Legend of Zelda (LOZ), allowing players an opportunity to explore it in a refreshing experience. Players are provided the opportunity to adapt to new set of buttons, screenplay and even transportable elements; allowing gamers to switch their experience to different monitors, such as desktop and television screens.

In the case of BOTW, it does indeed feature an orchestrated original soundtrack (OST). Some of its songs are even interactive, in which players can trigger them whenever an action is prompted during gameplay; when the hero Link mounts on a horse in-game, riding it will ensue a light melody representing distinct tunes as throwback to the original game, The Legend of Zelda (1986). These specific tunes also alternate depending on the time of day gamers are playing in. (Figure 3 and 4)

Figure 3

Figure 4

On one hand, it is a minuscule detail. New players who had not touched any Zelda game prior would enjoy the fact that BOTW went to great lengths in ensuring that its gameplay would never grow boring, so this little inviting detail would make a pleasant distraction from the stretched out hours of travelling the world in BOTW. On the other hand, Zelda fans could instantly recognise the older tunes through its OST, making this new experience of a Zelda game not only enticing, but emotionally nostalgic.

Another media form contributing to BOTW's successful reception is the unique art style of its gameplay. A blend of 2D and 3D, BOTW has created an illusion of illustrations coming to life, which appears both appealing and different from any of Nintendo's other games, let alone ones from the LOZ franchise. Additionally, BOTW is complimented with high-quality rendering, with pleasant colours and details to the game's environment and characters demonstrating a strong sense of craftsmanship; almost like the game has been painted on. Thus, the vividly engaging elements of this game makes a possibility of an interactive experience seem like a fine art exhibition; its quality of style exceeding almost every past Zelda game Nintendo has ever produced. Compared to arguably the best Zelda game by fans, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998), there is a strongly apparent proof of age between both works. (Figure 5 and 6)

Figure 5

Figure 6

Lastly, a form within the game of which may be considered the best aspect that BOTW could offer is its writing; the storytelling within this game is anything but linear, and the freedom that BOTW is endless. While the usual main narrative task is provided, players have the choice to travel the game's universe instead. They can fight monsters, help civilians, hunt for food and unravel secrets hidden in ancient shrines scattered all throughout Hyrule. There is no rush to finish the game, and players can spend many hours as they like to merely explore and appreciate its world-building element. As Lupe Núñez-Fernández explained, the potential of Gesamtkunstwerk offers power to the artist in placing its audience "under a spell so that everyone experiencing the work is transported into a state of complete intoxication, as if in a mystical initiation, in which each individual becomes part of the artwork". (Núñez-Fernández, 2011, p. 2) All of this coupled with the aforementioned art and music of BOTW produces a true experience, of which all players can witness the satisfaction of every score and visual prospects of the gameplay, thus making the product seem much more than just a scenic game.

Given the origin Nintendo's first console, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), the games of this brand have come a long way from its arcade beginnings back in 1983. This advancement in technology may have allowed players a further immersive experience using Switch, though it can be argued that the technical advantage is not what makes a game like BOTW a 'work of art'.

What makes BOTW truly a work of art is its ability to bring all forms of media together within one product, in a sense that they all bring the most out of each other in setting up a high-quality performance of a game. Thus, its audience is likely to get sucked into the gameplay of BOTW, unaware of how engaging its entirety is until after a long period of time.

Sources:

Apocalypse Now (1979) Directed by F. Coppola. [Feature film]. Beverly Hills, CA: United Artists Corporation.

Nintendo (2017) The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild [Video game]. Nintendo.

Nintendo (1998) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time [Video game]. Nintendo.

Nunez-Fernandez, L. and Nunez-Fernandez, L. (2011) Gesamtkunstwerk: new art from Germany. London: Saatchi Gallery.

Sirani, J. (2023) IGN. Available at: https://www.ign.com/articles/best-selling-video-games-of-all-time-grand-theft-auto-minecraft-tetris (Accessed: 7 January 2024).

[sophiness]

hi! i saw you were very knowledgeable about honkai and giving some tips on chouchen's blog. i was wondering if you could give some basics on stigmatas if you don't mind. the game is really fun but a bit confusing ;;;

Hello!! Ofc i can and im glad I'm the resident honkai tips person now lol i like explaining things. Cont. Under the read more, you know i love writing entire essays about these things

So stigmata basics you say... If you play genshin, they are very similar to artifacts! They consist of 3 pieces that make a full set, a top, middle and bottom piece (T, M, B as they are referred to in game commonly) and a two- and three-piece set bonus. They hold the same purpose of necessary equipment, and are just as important as weapons (sometimes even more so). It may be hard to figure out what goes on who, so one good tip for that would be to check the recommendations for a specific valk! If you look at a characters stigmata screen, there is a little yellow circle to the top left of the 3 pieces that says recommended next to it. That menu shows the most basic, easy to get equipment, the best craftable or maybe purchasable equipment, and ofc, the signature best in slot for that valk. It also shows some other sets that may be better suited for abyss or memorial!

But, what if you have none of the "good" stuff? Maybe you have all the very basic stuff but you're pretty sure you have pieces here and there that could be better, except you have no idea how things match! Happens a lot with all the gacha and events, its inevitable you will get some stuff you dont know who to put it on, or have so many possible combinations that you get lost in em. So, I will try to also lay down a generic advice paragraph here, in case that happens!

The absolute, most important things to figure out, is what kind of damage your Valkyrie does, and the other is if shes a support or damage dealer. If you have no idea, its really quite simple! One of the two easiest ways to figure out damage types would be to simply go to your Valkyrie selection screen, and look at the little icons under the battlesuits name, next to her rank and level on the far left. It will have the qualities of said battlesuit, like what kind of damage she deals, if she can gather enemies, what kind of debuffs she can inflict, if she can fly etc. Click on any of the icons and it will all be clear! And the next, maybe even easier way to know, is to simply play her! Drop her in a stage and have your damage numbers on! (i know some ppl turn them off bc they can be annoying when you cant see from them) Here's the breakdown:

If the damage number is red - fire damage

If the number is yellow - lightning damage (does tumblr rly not have basic ass yellow or am i blind??)

If the number is light blue, near white - ice damage

If the number is pure white and randomly turns golden - physical damage

Now, if you know that, that leads to the most basic thing to know, which is what kind of damage bonuses your stigmata give. Obviously, if your stigmata gives physical damage, you should probably put it on a physical damage dealing Valkyrie. If its ice, put it on an ice valk. Easy as that. Sometimes it says "total damage, total damage multiplier, total dmg" and the like. Total damage means exactly what it means, and what it means is that it multiplies damage unrelated to damage kind. You can put that on literally anyone, its great. And the last thing that is important is "crit rate" and "crit dmg". Again, if you play genshin, those might be familiar. When i said physical damage makes white and golden numbers was because of this. The golden numbers mean youve done a critical hit, and it did way more damage. Its a really important stat to have, but only works on physical damage. Therefore, if you see it on any stigma, make sure you put it on a physical valk (especially if she doesn't have it on either of the other pieces, and you see her doing a whole lot of white numbers)

And the other important thing is to generally just know your characters. Specifically if their job is to do the damage, or help the team! How to tell? Lots of ways, from reading her skills, signature weapon and stigmata effects, shit like that. Generally, if its a damage dealer, you will see a whole lot of self buffs, but not a lot of team buffs, and the other way around for supporting characters. Damage dealers are easy enough to figure out, but supports can be confusing. Luckily, if you aren't in the late game stage, you probably wont need any support anyway, just use whoever you want and it'll be just as fine! But, in case you want to know what a support Valkyrie's set looks like, i can talk about that too.

In a nutshell, any stigmata piece that has something along the lines of "increases team damage by X%" or "when not on field, team's damage is increased by Z%", it is best on a support valk, as you mostly have them off field while you slaughter everything with your damage dealer. In fact, anything about increasing your whole team's damage is definitely supposed to be on a support valkyrie, and pretty much the only thing they should have on, unless you have her signature set. But, support valks also have different damage number colours, so its important to know exactly what they support, which usually matches their element. Eg. Fischl is a lightning support, as she does lighting damage, and her skills are all about buffing team lightning damage. So, in case the stigma says it buffs a specific damage kind for the whole team, you gotta make sure you put it on someone who will utilize that.

And that's about it! Tldr, most times you can get away just by looking at the in game recommendations for equipment, but its not too hard to figure out what each battlesuit needs if you know what the battlesuit is all about! (Mostly the kind of damage they deal, but also if they perhaps use charged attacks a lot, or spam their ultimates or basic attacks, if they are melee or ranged! Some stigmata work best if your characters play a specific way, so if it specifically says something about "charged attack damage", youll know not to put it on someone who cant even do charged attacks).

Stigmata are also usually in sets, and give set bonuses depending on how many you have. Those can be really important, or almost useless. I don't have a set rule to figure out if its good or not, all i can say is that stuff like Hp and movement speed and max SP arent exactly important in this game. You rly just have to read it and decide if its useful or not. Past the basics rly is just maths, but who has time to count out all the percentages?? Noone cares anyway. Just put on what you have, maybe look it up on the internet, watch a video... The basics are all you need.

There is also one last thing? Affixes. Im gonna be honest, they do about as much as substats on genshins artifacts. They are not important, you dont rly have to worry about that, noone that isn't insane actually cares about them in this game. The important things are the stigma effects and set bonuses, affixes are in absolute last place on the importance list.

Alright, i think thats about it! Lemme know if you have questions still or if i left something out, ill do my best to answer.

#long post #honkai impact #anonymous #nerd tag #ask

[symwinter]

Honkai as Genshin Characters Part 3 - Stragglers

This is the section where I literally grasped at straws for my choices to make sense.

Kiana Kaslana → geo bow user — okay so, in game we don’t have guns which Kiana uses outside of the red fatui grunt so I had to get creative. As a replacement for her guns I’ve made her an archer. As for making her a geo user, most of her Honkai ultimates include making large guns and again, we can’t even use them yet. However her augment core attack consists of punching the ground causing enemies to get thrown in the air. I figured that maybe we could have it so the ground around her from a certain distance gets pushed up. I imagine it would do extra damage in co-op scenarios if air born enemies are hit. Also her line phrase during it is “the time of judgement has come” which fits well with the characters who have time in their attacks such as Diluc and Kaeya.

Durandal → pyro polearm user — 2/3 of Durandal’s battlesuits are pyro and she uses a lance which is the Honkai equivalent to a polearm. While I love the aesthetic of Lord Paramount, since Durandal isn’t Japanese let alone Asian, I feel like elements of Dea Anchora would work well. That being said, her elemental would be based of her Valkyrie Gloria “Eruptio Magnifica” even though her turning her legs into a bow to shoot a Lance like an arrow of Dea Anchora is pretty cool.

Rita Rosserweise → electro catalyst user — as mentioned in the Seele section she has a weapon that doesn’t exist yet so I had to get creative. Again, she could use her elemental burst to make an electro scythe though. My favourite Rita battle suit, Fallen Rosemary, is does lightning damage (aka electro damage), and it also includes creating animal constructs out of lighting like a bird, snake, and wolf head so she’d fit in seeing as Fischl and Razor both do that. I could easily see her Fallen Rosemary look being used but Rita normally has short hair so I’m not sure which hair type would work best. I could also see her being a cryo user since she her battelsuit Argent Knight: Artemis does freeze enemies.

Theresa Apocalypse → Anemo catalyst user — I feel like I’m really grasping at straws here but her SP battelsuit Starlit Astologos creates a giant wind tornado so anemo, and in Honkai her weapon is classified as a cross when really she just uses magic lances so her burst could create something that shoots wind lances at enemies in the area of its direct shot? Outfit wise I would give her her Empyrean Psalms look. It’s my favourite of hers to date and I love it.

Fu Hua → I have no clue — part of me wants to make her like Madame Ping where she’s an non playable Adepti that’s human shaped since I don’t know what do to. She has no element association and her primary attack style is punching and kicking which isn’t in the game. I can’t with her. She would be from Liyue as in Honkai she is a centuries old Chinese bird lady. No I will not elaborate.

Inspiration

Durandal (Like Lord Paramount looks so cool. Perhaps elements could be taken from it?)

Rita (Fallen Rosemary is an iconic look but 3/4 looks without costumes are short so I’m not sure of what to do)

Theresa

Augment Kiana using her ult.

#honkai impact #like what do you do with Fu Hua? #no battlesuit–to my knowledge–does any elemental damage and her main form of combat does not include a weapon #if anyone has any ideas for her and also Seele's weapon when she's not making her hydro scythe will be much appreciated

[technomaestro]

Top 5 Video Game Soundtracks

Ok. Let's try this *again*. I had a whole thing written up and I accidentally refreshed the page, so tumblr ate the entire thing, and I lost it.

Destiny 2 There's a reason D2 is one of my all time favorite games, and the music for it is one of those reasons. Destiny 2's sweeping orchestral soundtrack is full of songs that encapsulate that grand, epic nature of the world and conflict you find yourself in as the Guardian. From the mission tracks like 1AU/Forge Ahead , Valkyrie, and Guns Blazin which provide this cinematic backdrop as you fight for your victories, to the epic swelling of the raid bosses where the tension in their first phases is replaced with triumphant moments where the tide turns as seen in Riven of a Thousand Voices or Insurrection Prime (even the most hated boss in Destiny has a pretty baller theme with tons of brass in it as you get ready to put him in his grave one last time after fighting him multiple times throughout the raid). Locations such as the Dreaming City have tracks that manage to encapsulate the mystery and history behind each location. No matter my feelings and critiques on the gameplay or the story, the music in Destiny 2 is just an absolute gift of musical genius. Michael Salvatori (yes, that same Michael Salvatori from Halo) is one of my favorite composers for the work he's put into that series. Favorite track: Journey ft. Kronos Quartet. This is the song that plays after the deafening silence that comes from escaping the city during the initial Red War campaign, where you montage your way through an unforgiving wilderness, powerless, as the city fades into the distance behind you. You've been beaten, your home taken from you, but the music swells with hope as you follow a sign from the Traveler - and you know you'll return to reclaim your city. I highly recommend taking a peek at the mission, as you can't play it anymore, to see what I mean as to how the track absolutely enhances the experience.

Hades Supergiant games - the people behind Bastion and Transistor, two other games with amazing soundtracks - really did knock it out of the park with Hades. This game's soundtrack is a wonderful blend of classic acoustic instruments (Check it out - it's called a Bağlama) mixed with metal and electronica to create a theme that evokes not only the aesthetics of the region, but also give it a modern twist that meshes with the dark, haunting vibes of the underworld that you reside in. Each track flows so well from one into the next, mixing perfectly with each area or character you encounter. And the two musical characters you encounter - Orpheus and Eurydice - add in plenty of musical flair to the game themselves. The motifs present in the songs are called back frequently to make it a coherent, consistent soundtrack, and it remixes so incredibly well. Favorite Track: God of the Dead - the theme for the final boss of each run, this track is incredible. Not only does it reflect the theme of Zagreus in a different key, showing the link between Hades and his son, before delving into this heavy, frantic track that perfectly encapsulates having to fight

Payday 2 There are exactly two ways to play Payday 2. The first is stealth - you won't have much in the way of music as you silently slip by cops, cameras, and civilians to reach your score. The other is the way I play, where you suit up in the heaviest body armor you can get, grab two automatic shotguns, and go to town to some of the best soundtracks in the game. Payday 2 has a unique musical cue system with it's audio during loud heists, where it amps up the tracks in time with what the cops are doing. At first, before you've been detected, you have the Stealth track which is always low and very basic to not intrude. In low points, like when you first go loud and the first responders arrive on the scene, you're in a Control track. Then, as the police gear up, it switches to a higher temp Anticipation Track, and then when the police storm your position, the Assault track. So each "song" in Payday 2 is actually 4 songs in one, that the game blends seamlessly together in order to match the audio with the gameplay. It's an incredibly clever system that keeps you immersed in the tension of the heist even as Bain, your mastermind, calls out over comms with instructions. And it helps that almost all of the tracks are exceptional bangers in their own right, with amped up electronica with great percussion and bass lines alongside rebellious hard hitting metal and rock. But during those assault tracks, there's something satisfying about hearing the build, reloading your guns, then timing you leaving cover to unleash fury with the bass drop. There's a great playlist here with links to the different types of tracks if you want to take a peek yourself. Favorite Track: I Will Give You My All - one of the few tracks with built in vocals. This particular track feels like the exact kind of music I'd see in a movie, and with the build I run in game for Loud stuff at the moment which incentivizes me running face first at bulldozers and cloakers, giving it my all is *exactly* what I intend to do in that game.

Horizon Zero Dawn HZD's soundtrack is full of the same sort of sweeping orchestral stuff that made me love Destiny 2, with tracks that serve to accentuate the world around you. The only reason it's down here at 4 and not higher is because there's a somewhat lack of variety; as a singleplayer story game, most of the music you encounter tends to be in cutscenes, rather than during gameplay. That isn't a *bad* thing however, and over the hundreds, if not thousands of games I've played, reaching #4 on the list is no small feat. The actual orchestral bits pair so well with being able to cultivate this theme of a world full of grandeur, the kind of which you'd see in nature documentaries. The various tracks illicit this feeling of a long forgotten hope, which if you know anything about the plot, ties in perfectly. The music that *does* play outside of the incredible cutscenes add to the world's aesthetic so well, pairing the sort of instruments you'd find people playing in the civilizations you encounter with the environments you find them in. Even the battle music, when there is battle music, is a tense affair; the game incentivizes you to stalk your prey, as Aloy is not a frontline fighter: she's a hunter among predators, and the music matches that tone. Favorite Track: A tie between Aloy's Journey, which provides not only natural sounds mixed with the instruments of the Nora and the underpinning of techno that permeates the story (in addition to one of my favorite musical things where you have these grand sweeping vocals that aren't actually lyrics) and Your Hand of Sun And Jewels, which gives off this sort of air of walking through city streets in golden sunlight, where people dance just a block away and you can smell the fragrant spices of the local cuisine. It makes me yearn and if I listen to it on full blast I can forget that I'm stuck at home for a moment.

Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Pokemon OSTs hold a special place in my heart because as much as I loved games as a kid, getting started on things like Mappy for the NES (which, now that I write that, really shows how fuckin *old* I am), Pokemon was one of the first things that I basically turned into my personality as a child. Silver version especially was one of the ones that *truly* got me going, as in Blue version I always felt one step behind my brother but Silver was *my* game, my generation. I have extremely fond memories of that game, from the Lake of Rage to trying to beat a ghost gym with a Sentret and it taking four hours because normal types and ghost types are just... immune to each other. But when Soul Silver came out and remastered the soundtrack, it brought back this wave of nostalgia. The bit tunes I remember had been brought to life, in a way that was recognizably Pokemon. Hearing it again brought back the waves of wanting to journey and be a hero again that when the game came out, I was sorely missing. The music in the game is upbeat and chipper, befitting a near solarpunk world that I want to live in. Iconic tracks remain iconic but with a bit of cultural flair, showing that the Johto region hasn't lost touch with it's roots. While it isn't the almighty trumpeting of Gen 3, the nostalgic tracks that are already evocative of nostalgia brings a yearning back for a time when things were simpler and I could just play games. Also, the Rival theme is *rocking*. Favorite Track: Route 26 Theme. Route 26 is also known as Tohjo Falls, the place which connects Johto and Kanto together. And for me, this route represents having reached a triumph and the energy to explore what's next. It's a critique directly against the Hero's Journey's unfortunate end, that they can never go home - the hero here *can* go home, but they choose to set out again for new sights. It's full of the fact that when it plays, you're taking your steps into something new, something bold, and full of new challenges that await you. It is, by far, one of my favorite tracks and the orchestral version brings me to tears.

[non-sequitura]

Sequitura’s guide to Kpop if for some reason you want to get into it

(Not recommended, the fandom culture is insane, though there are some nice songs)

These are songs that I really liked on the first listen and continue to like. Some songs take a while to grow on me, like “TT” by Twice. Those aren’t on this list.

They're not my top 100 - those would be too particular to my tastes and I tried to cover a range of musical styles.

* means that the song is a b-side (not the primary promoted song in an album) and thus probably doesn’t have a music video.

Oh My Girl (cheerful group with KILLER catchy melodies)  -Windy Day -Dolphin -Coloring Book -Closer -(optional listening) Secret Garden if you really liked Closer -(optional listening) Nonstop if you like catchy dance tunes, but after some of their really good stuff it'll pale in comparison. It's good gateway Oh My Girl, though.

Blackpink (they do a lot of hype songs; cool vocal colors; actually not bad rapping for kpop) -As If It's Your Last -Playing With Fire -Lovesick Girls

f(x) (experimental girl pop) -Rum Pum Pum -Nu Abo

KARA (exhilarating dance tunes) -Step

Brown-Eyed Girls (they've covered pretty much every genre at this point, but boundary-pushing is their main theme) -Kill Bill -(optional listening) Abracadabra (not personally my thing, but the EDM bassline was super fresh at the time and still is) -(optional listening) Warm Hole (really catchy 60s-esque bop)

Taeyeon (former main singer in Girl’s Generation) -4 Seasons -(optional listening) Spark (not the greatest song in the world, but the lead-in to the chorus is great.)

T-ara (ridiculously cheesy dance tunes) -Roly Poly -Sugar Free -(optional listening) Lovey Dovey (if you loved Roly Poly)

Mamamoo (originally jazz, now... something else) -Piano Man -Um Oh Ah Yeah -(optional listening) Woo Hoo (the harmonies will blow your mind) -(optional listening) Decalcomanie (GREAT for early 2000s rock Amy Winehouse-esque fans. I'm only mildly a fan of that style, but even I can admit the vocal pyrotechnics are incredible.) -(optional listening) Pride of 1cm (a rap diss track about each other’s heights) -(optional listening) Girl Crush (HEY YOUUUU)

Spica (sadly short-lived group that was *really* musical; did jazz authentically and well) -You Don’t Love Me

IU (soloist whose style has run the gamut, but she mostly writes her own music, now.) -Eight -The Red Shoes -Blueming -23

AOA (originally a band concept who came back with uh... sexy, which isn’t a genre, but they still have good songs) -Heart Attack -(optional listening) Like a Cat -(optional listening) Elvis

Wonder Girls (retro who came back with a band concept) -Why So Lonely

Sunmi (her stuff can take a while to get under your skin. It’s quite dark under the surface, which I like.) -Heroine -Pporippipam -(optional listening) 24 Hours -(optional viewing) Noir, for the music video mainly

Yubin (former rapper for Wonder Girls) -Lady -Thank U Soooo Much

Girl’s Generation AKA SNSD (one of the original icons. You won’t find a more polished group anywhere.) -Paparazzi -(optional listening) Lion Heart (for those who love the 60s sound)

BoA (original soloist icon. Watch her dance and sing live.) -Mannish Chocolat -(optional listening) Woman

Itzy (currently conquering the “teen rebels” genre) -Wannabe -Don’t Give a What -(optional listening) Icy (it’s divisive, but personally I find the attitude super charming and the instrumental fresh and unique rather than irritating.)

Red Velvet (have some great RnB songs, as well as some lovely summer ones, as well as some “lol wut” ones) -Psycho -You Better Know* -Body Talk* -(optional listening) Russian Roulette (slightly off-kilter pop song and catchy af) -(optional listening) Look* (AMAZING 80s throwback) -(optional listening) Swimming Pool* (one of those super cheesy pop songs that becomes transdescent in the chorus) -(optional listening) Sassy Me* (this song is crazy) -(optional listening) Mr. E* (if you loved You Better Know) -(optional listening) Sunny Side Up* (if you loved Body Talk and Psycho)

2NE1 (one of the first “badass”-themed girl groups.) -I Am the Best -Fire -(optional listening) I Don’t Care (tackling slow/emotional)

Hyuna (a great performer who sells any song she’s in) -Trouble Maker -365 Fresh -Bubble Pop

CLC (they’ve unfortunately probably broken up now. Super talented group who’s bounced from genre to genre trying to get something to stick, leaving bops along the way.) -Pepe -Show* -No

Weki Meki (they’re slowly finding their niche, which is likely to be smooth club stuff) -Crush -(optional listening) Cool (I recommend watching their relay dance/dance practices and giving Lua some attention)

BOL4 (“indie”-ish band; not a big fan of most of their stuff) -Travel (but they did strike addictive gold when they went more rock)

Gfriend (Strings, guitar, and some of the best/most consistent vocalists in kpop right now) -Navillera -Mago

Dreamcatcher (a very unique, metal-influenced sound. Amazing dancing. Probably supported by the most humane company in kpop right now.) -Scream -Over the Sky* -Black or White* -(optional listening) And There Was No One Left* (idk why but this one hits me. It’s so sparse and yet makes you feel so disconcerted.) -(optional listening) Silent Night* (if you like the musical aesthetics of the song “Everytime We Touch”) -(optional listening) Can’t Get You Out of My Mind* (if you liked Silent Night)

Twice (“The Nation’s Girl Group”) -Fancy (kind of the only song of theirs that I adore; ask me for more recs if you really like them.)

Ailee (known as the Beyonce of Korea) -I Will Show You (an unironic “yasss” song) -Heaven (gee, this song is sad but never lets up with the power vocals as well, which I think works better than a straight-up slow ballad)

Loona (I don’t really click with them, but a few songs have hit me first listen) -Voice* (it sounds like a beautiful, brisk skate across a mile-long lake) -New (by Yves – it’s super flowy) -ViViD (by Heejin – I love sassy swing tunes what can I say) -(optional listening) Heart Attack primarily for the music video

EXID (power vocals + brass + hip-hop? I don’t really get it tbh but good singing can sell me anything.) -Ah Yeah

After School (I don’t know this group but this song is a bop. Might be one of my top 20 favorites of all time and I only heard it yesterday.) -Bang!

Sunny Hill (very unique social commentary music) -Pray (warning: one of the most disturbing music videos I’ve ever seen, but definitely worth a watch if you have a strong stomach) -The Grasshopper Song (music video is nicer)

(now we move into territory with guys in it. I personally think male artists in Korea release fewer great songs than female artists, beccause the general trend is to be “dark” or “moody” compared to the more melodic trends in female groups. If you like strong choreography or braggadocio vibes, though, you’ll probably like them better.)

AKMU (singer-songwriter sibling pair and probably my favorite composers in Korea right now.) -Dinosaur -How People Move -(optional listening) Happening (somehow gives coffee shop music a driving rhythm) -(optional listening) Like Ga Na Da (this is a song about the alphabet. It is still insanely catchy.) -(optional listening) Melted (sad ballad)

TXT (this group has other songs, but I don’t like any of them nearly as much.) -Runaway (like the classic boy group sound set on fire. A really nice pre-chorus of all things. Love the guitar.)

Ateez (they might become the next BTS; not sure.) -Wonderland (like... pirate hip hop/rock. Watch with choreography.) -Wave (a surprisingly potent summer song) -(optional listening) Say My Name

Shinee (some of the most talented dudes in kpop) -Lucifer (probably the only kpop song to pull off a one-note chorus well. Sounds like it was produced by people who evolved in a different universe.) -View (super smooth, groovy deep house song.)

Oneus (their good stuff goes hard) -A Song Written Easily -Valkyrie

Stray Kids (don’t know the group; song is great) -Miroh

A.C.E. (one of the only kpop groups doing hardstyle and surprisingly enough, I like it.) -Goblin -Cactus

Seventeen (don’t really know the group; song is great) -Mansae

-1/6/21

#blog #non-sequitura-blog #list #1/6/21 #january 2021 #2021 #longform

[mariamermaid]

Wrapped around the finger

Loki X Reader

Summary: After years of knowing, you continued to have Loki wrapped around your finger and push him into silly things like cooking competitions…

Words: 800

A/N: Requested by @delicatetriumphkitty with the prompts “You look cute when you wear my clothes” and “I don´t think we´ll win this battle”

 You were shocked, to say at least.

“You NEVER cooked?” “I´m a prince”, Loki huffed, ignoring your wide-eyed stare.

“So, you let maids to everything for you?” He shook his head, not realizing why you were so disturbed. But maybe a little part of him enjoyed seeing you so disturbed. “No, the maids get to do the cleaning, we had actual cooks.”

“I could punch you right now”, you growled annoyed and swinging your body up from the couch, where you had previously leaned against your- what was Loki to you?

After your meeting two years ago, you had shared several moments and memories. Often, he came visit you on rainy days and together you spent time reading or watching tv shows. He enjoyed being around you, and even though he wouldn´t admit, he even enjoyed the human activities. Well, some more than other.

But to call him your boyfriend? Some topics you generally avoided and since no one asked you about it, you never had to question Loki for the status of your relationship.

“I don´t know why you´re acting so irritated, darling.” You moved a little further away from him on the couch to throw a waiting glance at him. “I don´t imagine it to be very hard.”

You better believe, that you decided to start the battle of the battles; the one and only- the big cooking battle. A three- course menu had to be presented and if you knew anything, then it was that the farmhouse salad paired with a perfectly roasted beef in a red wine sauce with apricot chutney and a dessert with caramelized crepes and fresh strawberries, was going to be Loki´s downfall. You even called in Thor, his girlfriend Jane and Valkyrie in order to be judges.

It was about an hour into cooking when things went out of control.

The apricot chutney had the consistency of straight up soup and the sauce was just about to catch fire. Not to mention that your dishes were quietly seething while you took your time to arrange the salad. When Loki, smart as he was, decided to just pour in more wine and high flames erupted, you grinned.

“Oh, for God’s sake! How on earth is the sauce to be creamy? And what is even a chutney?”

“Do I hear, Loki, Prince of Asgard, complaining? Complaining about cooking?”

It was a deadly glare, but you turned back to your salad, peacefully smiling to yourself. You were so winning this thing. 

“Are you cheating?”

“It´s cooking, how on earth would I cheat? We have the very same recipes in front of us!”

“I think you´re cheating.”

Hanging clearly behind in the time schedule, Loki hurried from the stove to the kitchen isle, where the chutney was supposed to get mixed. However, being in such a hurry, he spilled some of the puree liquid, which then directly landed on you.

“LOKI!”

“It was a mistake.”

“Yeah, sure!” Completely thrown out of balance, you smeared a patch of semi-liquid caramel across his arm, leaving behind an uncomfortable stickiness. Beginning to giggle at your success, you didn´t expect the flour suddenly landing in your hair. From there on, it was just beginning. From wine, to sugar, tomatoes and even eggs, everything was thrown through the air, trying to hit the other one. As much as it was out of annoyance and jealousy in the beginning, you had quiet the fun. So much fun, that you overheard the knocking on the door.

Valkyrie was the first to enter, both she and Thor had considered that the two of you were attacked, but quickly found out that it was quiet the opposite. “What the hell?”

Her voice made you jump and looking like a true mess you both eyed your guests with your jaws dropped open. “I don´t think we´ll win this battle.” She added when eyeing some of the food.

“I warned you, Y/N. He doesn´t like to lose.” Thor chuckled and released the unspoken tension, hanging in the air. Beginning to laugh as well, you nodded agreeing. “He was trying to sabotage my dishes!”

“I didn´t!” “Stop denying it!”

After a few arguments being pushed back and forth, Loki sighed. With a swift movement, he had changed into one of his iconic and dangerously good-looking suits. “Go change, I´ll quickly clean up.”

After a good ten minutes, you were somewhat clean and entered back into your kitchen and dinning area. Thor, Jane and Valkyrie were finally seated and all enjoyed the rest of the wine, that wasn´t spilled. You had decided to wear one of Loki´s shirts as an oversized blouse with a form-fitting skirt. Walking behind the kitchen counter to get the dishes to finally present them, Loki snuck up on you. “You look cute when you wear my clothes.”

“Don´t think you can distract me, I´ll win.” He groaned, knowing it was useless.

“But thanks anyway for the compliment”, you added giggling and placed a quick peck on his lips.

Thor, who had watched his brother wide grinning, gave him a wink.

“She has you totally wrapped around her finger.”

-----------------------------

@feelthefeelingsinsideyou @illuminateshawnm  @imaginesforlotsofthings @suburbiasqueen @https://delicatetriumphkitty.tumblr.com/

#loki imagine #Loki Laufeyson #loki x reader #tom hiddleston #tom hiddelston imagine #thor #marvel imagine #mariamermaidimagine

[fandumbstuff]

The Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ranked Best to Worst.

Why watch a movie when you can experience it? And that’s what the MCU demands you do. These films are less about settling in to watch a movie. It’s about getting together your family, your friends and making an entire event of them. Marvel Studios has forever changed cinema going, and boy am I eager to get back to them. So with that, let me break down the franchise and my take on the best and worst it has to offer.

1. Iron Man 3 Directed by Shane Black

Iron Man 3 still holds up as one of the MCU’s strongest screenplays. It’s their first (and one of their only) real character study of a superhero, and the psychology behind being one. Tony Stark suffers from PTSD and struggles to understand his relationship with Iron Man. He is forced to contend with human issues and find what it is that truly makes him a hero. It’s also a movie chock full of incredible action set pieces- the Air Force One scene still holding up as one of my favourites- and wickedly funny dialogue. It continues to be my most satisfying re-watch out of the MCU.

2. Black Panther Directed by Ryan Coogler

Marvel’s best villain, best score, best production design, and best picture candidate. It’s the movie that forced Hollywood to take them seriously. Ryan Coogler showed the world that he can perform even within a studio system that had largely been criticised for being too overbearing. The world may have always known that Black Panther existed, but Coogler showed us why he matters so much. The story is the MCU’s most inspiring yet. Killmonger forces not just T'Challa, but every audience member to consider his motivations seriously. It shows humanity that heroism doesn’t come from superficial acts, but from overcoming our own flaws and learning hard lessons from our history.

3. Thor: Ragnarok Directed by Taika Waititi

In letting Taika Waititi have free reign over Ragnarok, Marvel is given their most unique film yet. The movie feels very much like Waititi’s own vision, chock full of his signature wit and charm. And its within this vision that we finally see Chris Hemsworth come into his own as Thor. Finally at ease, he’s allowed to be funny, and absurd, and play the emotional scenes without any melodrama. Waititi really makes the character dynamics in this film memorable, introducing us to the Grandmaster and Valkyrie, and fleshing out Banner and Loki. It’s a cast that charms us enough to consider staying with the MCU and seeing where they go.

4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo

Chris Evans finally comes into his own as Captain America, as Winter Soldier gives him a captivating character arc to work through. Steve Rogers is placed in a conflict that makes him question his own motivations. The morality that he stands for is in direct opposition to the authority he serves, leaving him to question what it means to be Captain America. We also see him learn from his relationships with the supporting cast- with a franchise best portrayal of Nick Fury and Black Widow and a particularly strong introduction of Falcon. The Russos create something truly remarkable by taking a character that has been criticized for being too traditional and show him learn and change significantly. But in addition to all this they direct what is easily the MCU’s best pure action movie yet, showcasing the franchise’s best car chase (Fury vs Cops) and its best fight scene (THAT knife scene).

5. Avengers: Endgame Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo

Stunning, momentous and joyous, Endgame is the theatrical experience that Marvel has spent over 10 years honing to perfection. Just one year after Infinity War, the MCU brings together their iconic, colossal cast for their grandest, most ambitious adventure yet. And while Endgame is chock-full of some stunning action sequences and gleeful references, it carries a genuine heart to it. These heroes struggle with PTSD from the events of Infinity War. We see them at their very lowest, and watch their desperation mount and grow to determination. This epic struggle is what has made superheroes so compelling for so many years. By breaking these characters down, the Russos show us just what makes them great. We’ve witnessed writers, directors and certainly the actors take these characters on journeys that have seemed at times thrilling, at time out of touch, but in Endgame, they’re at their very best. The moments of reprieve in the action where we simply sit with them to listen in on their banter are the best. Building to it’s inevitably emotional ending, Endgame winds up being one of the most wholly cathartic experience I have had with a film.

6. Guardians of the Galaxy Directed by James Gunn

At the time of it’s release, Guardians was the franchise’s best-looking movie yet, and it still holds up. The slick space opera designs set to the now iconic soundtrack made the first Guardians an aesthetic marvel. It’s the substance that comes with this that makes the movie one of the MCU’s best. The ragtag group are misfits who find their purpose by banding together, and while the sequel may have drawn this out to nauseating lengths, the first movie made it succinctly effective. It found the right balance of humour and sentiment, endearing us to a cast of characters that seemed too obscure to be popular- and guaran-damn-teeing that Marvel can do whatever the hell it pleases moving forward.

7. Avengers: Infinity War Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo

To handle ten years of storytelling and world building and bring it to such a satisfying crescendo is commendable. The Russo brothers handle each character well- each new introduction is a pleasing moment of familiarity and excitement to the fans that have stuck with this franchise. It’s a perfect match to the comic book format. And ultimately Infinity War is as good as any major comic book event. A chance to see our favourite characters interact with each other with conceivable motivations, and face a threat that is alarmingly critical. Its in this respect that Infinity War outshines its predecessors. For the first time, the Avengers face real emotional consequences if they fail. The Russo’s pull no punches to make this clear and despite a fair amount of signature MCU levity, Infinity War winds up being their darkest film yet.

8. The Avengers Directed by Joss Whedon

There’s no questioning the milestone achievement that The Avengers accomplished. As a superhero ensemble, it never once feels congested or jarring-something that most blockbusters consistently suffer from. Instead the protagonists are given clear goals, and their obstacles make real sense. Their hostility towards each other stems from their innate character flaws that they need to address to face the true antagonist in Loki. It highlights what Marvel does so well- offer us adventures that don’t tie up all their loose ends but rather leave them dangling to set up more ambitious stories.

9. Spiderman: Homecoming Directed by Jon Watts

I’ve long considered Spider-Man an uninteresting superhero, so it is highly commendable that Homecoming manages to change that. We skip the origin story and meet a Peter Parker that is inexperienced and has a lot of growing up to do. He contends with Michael Keaton’s Vulture- a villain that is simultaneously charismatic, intimidating, and relatable. Supported by what is probably the best supporting cast in any MCU film. Martin Starr, Hannibal Burress, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau and Marisa Tomei flesh out Spidey’s own universe of Queens- wholly believable and charming.

10. Captain America: Civil War Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo

In all respects, this should have been the second Avengers film. The Russo brothers do what Joss Whedon couldn’t. They show these characters change and clarify their motivations based on the 8 years that we’ve been watching them. They introduce new characters like Spider-Man and Black Panther in seamless fashion. They provide exciting action set pieces and compelling moments of drama. The payoff at the end truly shows us how much of a battering these heroes take- emotionally and physically. We see their vulnerability more clearly than any other MCU film, forcing us to address the question that they can’t keep doing this forever.

11. Captain Marvel Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck

The biggest issue that this movie suffers from is that it seems very episodic to a larger MCU. Its hard to get around this though, with it’s release date being less than 2 months away from Endgame. It feels like there are some key world building details that had to be gotten across. Had this not been the case, perhaps they could have explored Carol’s character a bit more. She does seem interesting, and Brie Larson does an expectedly great job, but it seems like we’re only getting a taste of a much larger character study. From what we see though, it is refreshing to see a female character who simply goes out and kicks ass without ever being sexualised, even in terms of costume design. The highlight of the film though, is undoubtedly Samuel L. Jackson’s incredible portrayal of a young Nick Fury, through the most magical of magic tricks in VFX.

12. Iron Man Directed by Jon Favreau

While I do feel like the movie has lost some of it’s lustre since it’s release, there’s no denying that Jon Favreau achieved something remarkable with Iron Man. Forever considered one of Marvel’s B-characters, Favreau brings Tony Stark into a modern era and instantly relevant setting. This is obviously due in large part to his gamble of casting the debilitated Robert Downey Jr. in the lead. Downey Jr. pays off in spades, revitalising his career and sadly typecasting himself forever with a roguishly charming performance.

13. Doctor Strange Directed Scott Derrickson

Doctor Strange is proof of the amazing world-building prowess the MCU has. They introduce key elements to the universe that seem incredibly important, without ever overwhelming the story. Benedict Cumberbatch puts on his best American accent yet and capably sells Stephen Strange as one of the MCU’s more level-headed heroes. The rich mythos of Doctor Strange fits immediately into the greater MCU framework while telling it’s own compelling narrative culminating in my favourite climax to any MCU film- “Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain.”

14. Spider-Man: Far From Home Directed by Jon Watts

The real standout from this film is Jake Gyllenhaal with his pitch-perfect performance as Quentin Beck/Mysterio. He threads that line of MCU humour extremely well, but also manages to come off as wholly and realistically threatening when he needs to. Far From Home had the tough task of following the monumental Endgame,  but it fulfills its purpose of truly setting the tone for the future. A lot rests on Peter Parker’s shoulders and Far From Home shows him having to deal with it responsibly, maturing and growing to fill a greater role in the MCU. 

15. Ant-Man Directed by Peyton Reed

If you ignore the fact that this movie was almost directed by Edgar Wright and how amazing that could have been, Ant-Man still delivers as a very entertaining movie and one of the franchises strongest origin stories. Scott Lang is instantly the MCU’s most relatable character- not a god, not a spy, just a thief with no powers and no resources (initially). And there is no one who could have played this character better than Paul Rudd. Bringing his signature charm and impeccable comedic timing to the franchise is a breath of fresh air and a brand-new dynamic. 

16. Captain America: The First Avenger Directed by Joe Johnston

Ultimately my biggest problem with Captain America has always been his origin story, so I have some natural issues with this film. It is also bogged down with some cliched romantic drama between Steve and Peggy which takes away from its otherwise engrossing plot. Hugo Weaving proves to be an effective Red Skull, showing us a deeply disturbing quest for power. The movie excels in its WW2 setting, laying down real consequences and motives behind Captain America’s heroism. It takes a few movies for Chris Evans to settle into the role, but this is a strong start.

17. Iron Man 2. Directed by Jon Favreau

Iron Man 2 consistently threads the line of poignant storytelling. Ivan Vanko’s vengeful motives, Tony Stark’s descent into alcoholism and the nature of war profiteering. It’s especially unfortunate then that the movie gets bogged down with a persistent need for levity. More than any other film in MCU, the humour in Iron Man 2 seems particularly cumbersome- taking away from what would surely be strong performances from Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell. As a result, we’re left with villains who don’t seem to be a threat at all- mere caricatures for Iron Man to dispatch without ever really pondering their motivations.

18. Ant-Man and the Wasp Directed by Peyton Reed

My initial reaction to this movie was pretty positive, but given time I realise it’s totally forgettable. While it does feature some integral world building to the larger MCU, there’s very little done to explore some of their characters, particularly the Pym/van Dynes. There are still a lot of great aspects, including some clever action set pieces that explore Ant-Man’s powers more. Scott’s relationship with Cassie is expanded on and Paul Rudd and Abby Ryder Fortson do a great job selling this, making it seem truly endearing without ever being corny. Also Randall Park is in it and he might be the greatest actor of his generation.

19. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Directed by James Gunn

More of the same, but not nearly as fresh is what Guardians 2 serves up. It rehashes a lot of its predecessors joke formulas, action montages and even the basic emotional tone. It’s hard for any of this to seem anything other than repetitive and I’m left wanting these characters to go on real adventures rather than wallow in their own angst. Without offering any new developments to these characters and a rather uninteresting plot, the movie is another totally dismissible filler episode in the MCU.

20. Thor Directed by Kenneth Branagh

It’s really baffling that with as big of a name as Kenneth Branagh attached to it, Thor winds up being one of the MCU’s most poorly directed films. Poorly constructed shots framed on a dutch tilt and coloured with a gaudy high contrast palette make this movie a downright eyesore. It’s especially unfortunate because it’s got some great moments of storytelling in it. While the first three quarters of the movie seem tedious, it pays off in the last 30 minutes- exposing a complex family drama that drives most of the film. While Chris Hemsworth took a few films to polish his acting chops, Tom Hiddleston and Anthony Hopkins provide strong performances to really sell their characters and make us care.

21. The Incredible Hulk Directed by Louis Leterrier

This movie has easily become the sore thumb in Marvel’s formula. It seems entirely different from the rest of the movies. This is due in large part I believe to make it similar to the original TV series. None of this is a good thing. The movie has a largely meandering plotline, with no sensible character development. Bruce Banner goes back and forth between being tortured by the Hulk and accepting him. In a world populated by poor villains, Tim Roth’s Abomination might be the worst one. At no point do his motivations make sense or seem clear at all.

22. Avengers: Age of Ultron Directed by Joss Whedon

It seems like Joss Whedon decided to make a sequel to The Avengers without taking into consideration the four other movies that came out after it. Ignoring most of the character development and brushing aside key plot points, Whedon instead tries to explore their team dynamic by sewing seeds of hostility and testing them against a new villain. However, as good as James Spader is, Ultron never feels like a real threat. The real antagonist for the Avengers winds up being themselves, constantly bickering over right and wrong- and while this isn’t necessarily bad, Civil War would do a much better job of this just a year later. This makes Age of Ultron a dispensable entry in the MCU, and Whedon’s extremely poor handling of Natasha and Bruce’s relationship make it an arduous rewatch.

23. Thor: The Dark World Directed by Alan Taylor

The Dark World suffers from some bizarre shifts in tone and horribly forced humour. They reduce Jane Foster and Thor’s relationship to a cliched romantic comedy and then use it to add unnecessary comedy to the family dynamic established in the first Thor. Even the performances seem poor here- as if the actors never truly felt comfortable in their role. They posture and exaggerate to sell a script that offers them very little to work with. With a caricature of an evil villain and a generic McGuffin to chase, The Dark World is everything you could criticize the MCU of, rolled into one movie.

#MCU #marvel #marvel studios #marvel cinematic universe #marvel comics #stan lee #excelsior #film #film review #film list #yyc #yyc blogger #yyc film #iron man #captain america #thor #hulk #captain marvel #black panther #spider man #ant man #doctor strange #black widow #guardians of the galaxy #the winter soldier #avengers

[mayfuji]

Oneus Twilight full comeback review

When I say full comeback review it’s because it’s a FULL comeback review. From the concept films to the Japanese verison, were gonna cover a lot so get a cup of something to drink cause this will be hella long aka Bible (I’m a nice person I’m telling you this beforehand).(You should do a Youtube video review then… nya… BORING)

So let’s begin. This is not the first time I follow a group comeback in real time… You know… Checking everyday the performances, so I kinda know how it works. We have gone through a lot of stuff… KARD You in Me, GFriend Fingertip, Red Velvet Peak a Boo, Dreamcacther as whole, BTS Fake Love, F(x) Dracula, BTS Wings album as a whole and last but far from least BTS Blood Sweat and Tears. I wouldn’t call some of them dark concept, I also wouldn’t call some of the sexy concept. By these examples you can see I have my standards pretty high. I’m that annoying perfectionist old uncle and declare myself guilty. For years Blood Sweat and Tears was the top song for me. (I’m a sane person ok… That doesn’t mean I listen to it 24/7). The MV had very beautiful aesthetics and I liked the lyrics and the song. Clothes were cool and the coreography too. F(x) Dracula would come in second and I never thought something could also join these two. Until… It happened. I knew RBW was releasing a new group but I just waited. Turns out I found out the group some months later then the actual debut. Oneus debuted with Valkyrie. The way they changed the coreography every stage, the amazing fashion sense, song was good quality. They had vocal thecnique, they had dancing it caught my attention and Valkyrie was straight to my playlist. Then… it happened. The group’s first comeback. I don’t know how, when or even who am I but I found out about the comeback EXACTLY AT THE RIGHT TIME (Technically not because I was 16 hours late). I know you know we know, we are not going retro like 80’s or 90’s. We are not going retro like acient Corea like BTS Idol. We are going retro 1500/1700 not Japan, not China, not Corea, EUROPE. Welcome to the renaissance. The MV was shot in Italy, the amazing fashion sense strikes again (I swear to God stylist min is communicating with me), the song, the lyrics, the coreography, the cool colored camera filters, I need to mention the vocal technique again, the rest of the album being consistently good (BingBing), I dare say nothing is perfect… But man… This gets 99,99% of what I call perfection. It’s a shame they didn’t win any music show… Because they are a newer group and still don’t have a large fandom? WHO CARES. Let me tell you something BTS sucess should have been in 2017 Wings… The high point of their artistity…  Ateez was also a newer group AND THEY DID WIN. I give congratulations to them but Oneus needed to win and it had to be with Twilight nothing changes my mind. (Don’t come to me saying we can give them their win next comeback, it won’t do it) This type of thing only happens once in a lifetime, why? Repeat and it gets boring, they can do the same concept again but it won’t be the same, same for BTS wings. It’s not about quantity is quality. Veiws never mattered to me and now I can say with all my mighty that wins do not make art. (I was never a fan of streaming but you count my ass off this mess cause YES I did some small streaming of the MV, I did my homework) (Take in account they did this comeback with BLOOD IN THEIR EYES) (Please give Dreamcather and KARD their first win too. Did you know that with You and I Dreamcatcher also had comeback with blood in their eyes??). Let’s start with the song name… Twilight. Remember 2009 movie sensation Twilight? Yup that’s it… I know you know we know, we are going deep in the vampire/ werewolf style in here and why I said I know you know we know? Xion posted about it on Twitter… 

THEY ARE AWARE therefore I know you know we know. JUST IMAGINE THEIR LIGHTSTICK AND FANDOM COLOR AND END OF YEAR PERFORMANCES. CHECK OUT ONEWE TOO.(I took the liberty of making a playlist with extra post promotion content (with English sub) - cause I know you all love content - linked below, you don’t need to thank me, not I’m not putting english girl, focus on Twilight)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTiTzw8HrCfxRiB1DyD77ktE9UQm6sBeQ

Just in case you haven’t watched this beautiful MV here it is.

Song, yes. Lyrics, yes, coreo yes, key point of coreo YES, Keonhee vocals YES (I trust this legend vocal thecnique more then I trust myself). Aesthetics? YES. Italy? I need to sneakly and illegally go there RIGHT NOW. This is a whole YES. ( Sir... If you think I haven't noticed the moon changed from previous album you are wrong cause I noticed. Sir are your albums going to complete the moon please say yes... Also... Have you noticed Woongie used the wet hair effect? + his brown eyeshadow is stunning.

Also line and center distribution is on the playlist for in deepth study... Twilight is basically Seoho eating up all the line AND center distribution and detail... the only thing he does is SING THE CHORUS. Also thanks Keone Madrid for making this coreo for Oneus (he also did BTS Blood Sweat and Tears -  DO YOU SEE THE PATTERN). Also rumors that Oneus actually created about 40-50% of the coreo so also thank you Oneus hehe.

Bitch it's me we are taking about do you really think I would miss a possible plotline?? Xion is with a red diamond and later he breaks it into dust (I'm scared). Keonhee is with a ring. Ravn is looking at his own reflection in the water and Seoho is looking at his own reflection through a broken mirror. Woongie is with a necklace. I guess the high point in Leedo's individual shots is the wolf (question mark)... Woongie and Keonhee are the only members that change the eye color. Seoho and Woongie are the only members that simulate super powers (question mark). Summary they all lost someone.... Silence is also a way of communication... I'm not a huge fan of theories or the fanfics I know ya'll write later in wattpad but fell yourself served, you're welcome, no need to thank me.

Now some highlights.

Ok this goes straight up to the hall of iconic earnings… (Man... But his walk was so POWERFUL)

How ASIA did not notice two SKULLS in here and how they are not SHOCK??? The ring is small… BUT POWERFUL.

Question time, if they had money to do the CGI then why didn’t they erase this little hairs in Leedo’s eyebrow?????? We’ll never know...

MV behind (english sub cause I love you all ~~ plays english girl in reverse in the background ~~)

Humanity mystery here. They recorded a version of the coreography when the sun was actually falling down in real life and we see those scenes in the MV. But if the whole staff was SHOCK about the key part of the coreography being extremely perfect and beautiful then why not use it on the MV? Sure the version they used outdoors was pretty too but this was ALSO awesome and I think I need as many version of the MV as I can.

Album review

Of course I would listen to the whole album.

Intro - What can I say... it fells so chill out, kinda minimalistic I just loved it. Twilight - Just amazing... I liked the dumbstep, the music is confusing witch I find extreamly cool. English Girl - Let em tell you not my type of song... but the lyrics are extreamly funny and relatable... so I forgive (I’m waiting crazy ho now Oneus, do not disappoint me) BingBing- YOU DON'T FREAKING START A SONG IN FRENCH IF NOT AIMING FOR TITTLE TRACK LEVEL. Ok and can we talk about the coreography???? BEAUTIFUL and I want to know the mastermind behind it. I just don't know why this was not above English Girl on the tracklist... White Night - Ok a more slow song but as always Oneus always delivers. (low key Red Thread sequel??) Now - This gives me Calvin Harris vibes. More dance eletronic standard pop but it's good...

PACKING-

Look... the CD case is very unique but think about it... if you take your album from above there is a risk everything wil fall... (1theK unboxing on the playlist, cause they were the cover for 1theK youtube chanel so 1thek is Oneus bitch)

1theK Suit dance and Dance cover contest

Please give Seoho something that WILL NOT FALL FROM HIS SHOULDERS cause clothes are made to be comfortable. What is the point to take off the jackets when the night is COLDER??? (Wait.. let me answer that one… cause you can’t see black in black… I get it… BUT REGARDLESS) one of the mysteries we’ll never know. (Poor ties must have suffered a lot in the middle of the harnesses)

Now before we jump into the important stuff let me tell you a secret… Keonhee is the most difficult member to dress… why? He’s 1,81 cm tall… anything you give him to wear can make him look even taller and his face is more projected (did you know he uses braces?) so you really need to pay attention to his hair. We’ll use this information latter.

So the first performance ever was… Guess what… Before the MV was released and where? JAPAN (My half japanese ass is shaking). So people there kinda received a spoiler (clothes too) and Mnet uploaded it in the same day of the MV release so other people that weren’t at the kcon wouldn’t receive a spoiler. No complains here except Ravn chocker being TOO BIG and Keonhee clothes making him look taller. (Nice expensive microphones you got in here)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaxWHKRm9xo

Now the actual comeback in Corea begins. (Images cause tumblr won’t let me upload the videos) (I’ll upload the links below the image) (No… before you ask I’m not uploading english girl, too much work… focus on twilight) ( As I spoiled above English girl was the chosen B side. Look... I know it's us international fans unofficial anthem but c'mon... BING BING) (I know I'll miss camerawork in here but I'll eventually get the hang of it) (Don't ask me about make up cause unfortunately I don't have 4k 360° to get THAT close up. But from other close up photos I trust their make up artist) 

WEEK 1

31/05/19

https://youtu.be/qe2p_nKZ7uo

First choice was the ACDC Black in Black 1.0 clothing set from the MV, Keonhee clothes making him look taller as usual… Pretty clothes but… YELLOW LIGHTS??? with red?? is this ketchup and mustard? The lighting did not appeal to me and shout out to the physics mystery.

2:03 (Time stamp cause I love you all) HOW ON EARTH DID HIS EARPIECE END UP THERE? I guess we’ll never know.

01/06/19

https://youtu.be/adhuo5pMVbw

Keonhee clothes making him look taller as usual… but oh his hair was NICE… Fight me I’m the last person in the world to advocate in favor of coconut hair but it looks nice on him. No yellow lights so it’s a win situation, I like to call this the GLOVES set of the MV.

02/06/19

https://youtu.be/j7DhdicaV9I

Kudos for the physical scenario and Woongie earings (same as the MV). Keonhee clothes making him look taller as usual… no yellow lights… and this comeplete all the clothes they wore in the MV. Please… save Leedo from his chocker… too large.

04/06/19

https://youtu.be/Rl1f0vSxP14

THE SUITS a whole YES. Keonhee clothes were good but we got yellow in here and this is a NO, Woongie coconut hair was also a no but Seoho red highlights? YES. Also… Woongie… the harnesses should go UNDER the jacket not ABOVE it…

05/06/19

https://youtu.be/xmLNWuAyc9Q

Repeating clothes… but this doesn’t bother me. Ketchup and mustard lights is a no. Woongie earing yes and in case you haven’t noticed Seoho gold huge ass rings… blame the yellow lights. Keonhee hair was actually nice.

06/06/19

https://youtu.be/LcRe_SUL7Ok

Physical scenario yes, yellow lights no, clothing NO, Seoho huge ass rings YES. That’s the summary.

07/06/19 v1

https://youtu.be/hlrKa9b_P60

Uniforms? Approved, Leedo earing approved, Physical scenario approved. Orange? NO. Keonhee harmonizing with himself 1.0? YES

07/06/19 v2

https://youtu.be/3bI3GY4nALE

So… they blessed Japan with that set of clothes now it’s Corea time. Ketchup and mustard lights is a no. No earings or rings today… but  Keonhee harmonizing with himself 2.0? YES

08/06/19

https://youtu.be/0K1bhbuvYYU

You know what this SMELLS like? PERFECTION. Purple, black and red the holly trinity of colors. Keonhee clothes finally making justice to him, his hair was also nice. A LOT of light in the scenario to get THAT CLEAR LOOK cause I want to SEE things. Not a single yellow light… Woongie earings? YES. Please save Ravn from his chocker. Seoho dear… what is the point of wearing a black waistcoat… WITH A BLACK SHIRT? (But it’s approved regardless).

09/06/19

https://youtu.be/kf_C_GaCeGA

I present you Michael Jackson Black or White 1.0 clothing set. Woongie earing? YES. The light was a bit tricky. Chorus was beautifully black and white. We also had blue/green. In the red one we had yellow lights but it didn’t bother me at all. Overall it’s approved to me.

WEEK 2

11/06/19

https://youtu.be/eQcu7UH3354

They repeated clothes, but it didn’t bother me. Seoho rings? YES. No yellow lights. This is also super good and I can’t choose between the two times they wore this clothes.

12/06/19

https://youtu.be/DdI37HMWAJk

They repeated Michael Jackson Black or White 1.0 set. Ketchup and mustard? Purple? Lighting was a no. Seoho ring was a yes.

13/06/19

https://youtu.be/hBGhwPXRVec

New clothes yay. Keonhee hair and clothes were nice, I don’t know what to think about this set of clothes because I was never a fan of prints or this variations of cream and brown. The way the lights were positioned was tricky but the small amout of yellow lights didn’t bother me at all. No rings or earings today unfortunately.

14/06/19 v1

https://youtu.be/8jyzbTMMUgw

Clothes were repeated witch is a no. Do not think that instead of wearing silver or gold wearing black jewelry will make me forgive the clothes. No rings or earings today unfortunately. Ketchup and mustard lights is also a no. Keonhee clothes making him look taller as usual… This whole performance was a whole no.

14/06/19 v2

https://youtu.be/7fIFwRPK9tk

I present you Michael Jackson Black or White 2.0 set. IT’S HIGH END JEWELRY YOU WANT? IT’S HIGH END JEWELRY YOU’LL GET. Seoho rings (in both hands), Woongie earings, Keonhee double necklace, Leedo earings and TRIPLE necklace, do you know how powerful you have to be to use a triple necklace? The only things that killed it were the hand microphones and the yellow lights…

14/06/2019… I will never forget this day… How do they DARE to arrive at the recording… like THIS?

and when it’s performance time they step down the clothing? Well the clothes they were using ARE pretty but the ones they arrived? STUNNING ( aka ACDC Black in Black 2.0). Stylist min there are occasions you need to save the outfit to use… just arriving at the recording with those clothes is a waste of fashion. It could easily replace one of the times you repeated clothes. (I may say make up and contact lenses were on point too)

15/06/19

https://youtu.be/4LticXTZC8U

(Thank you music core for the low definition)

Yay new clothes, the hairs and clothes look SO FLUFFY. Seoho rings yes, Woongie earings yes, Leedo rings YES, lighting was good, no complains here.

16/06/19

https://youtu.be/z1A7pgFJMVE

First of all I’m really mad because they cutted the song. Second I’m really mad because they didn’t upload on YouTube. It’s seems like this is was pre calculated beucase it was EXACTLY WHEN THEY CHANGED THE COREOGRAPHY. I don’t know if they changed because they knew the song would be cut or if it was really a coincidence… humanity mistery again. Lighting was so beautiful until they came with the yellow… Woongie hair was so fluffy and earings was a yes. Clothes were Michael Jackson Black or White 3.0 and that’s it… That day I learned my lesson… you either are team rings or team gloves… there is no in between.

WEEK 3

18/06/19

https://youtu.be/xGnQRWIejOc

They repeated Michael Jackson Black or White 2.0 set. Yellow lights? This is a no.

19/06/19

SKIPPED CAUSE WEEKLY IDOL

20/06/19

https://youtu.be/uDQhH1X6SCk

I present you the new year eve set… Happy new year everyone, white and gold. From the same writers of black waistcoat with black shirt we have white waistcoat with white shirt. Ketchup and mustard lights? No. Seoho rings, YES. Woongie earing? YES. Shout out Ravn looks super good and Leedo chocker was middle term. Xion was not present and they had to do small changes (I SEE YOU SEOHO THANK YOU SIR)

21/06/19 V1

https://youtu.be/OOdS62gRMOg

Suits YES. Seoho rings, YES, we didn’t have earings… I’m sad. Ketchup and mustard lights? No.

21/06/19 V2

https://youtu.be/gU8cdpbEK0k

I’m sorry… WHAT????? Clothes are a no… Grey? With black purple and red? No. Noodle hair Woongie? NO. Woongie earing? Yes. Hand microphones? No. Yellow lights? Like…

SERIOUSLY??? NO.

22/06/19

SKIPPED

23/06/19

https://youtu.be/dBDRVdC9ntQ

(I’m so sorry for the low definition here)

Same old story. I’m mad they cutted the song, didn’t upload on youtube and exactly when they changed the coreography. On the other side we have new clothes yay. It’s not only black and gold powerful match. It’s black and gold with snake print cause I’m a bad bitch. It’s the only place where they NEEDED to use the yellow lights and I’m actually mad they used black and white. Someone save Seoho from his chocker. Color scheme was great but it’s not like the clothes desing are bad. I just feel it could have been better. We didn’t have earings or rings today BUT HEY, FANSING, BING BING HAS A COREO AND ITS AWSOME. 23/06/19 will be in my heart (even though it was just a sneak peak).

4 WEEKS BICTHES

Ya’ll misbelievers will hear this song untill your ears BLEED

25/06/19

https://youtu.be/rg_x8oKwibs

Woongie you really fooled me here I was scared. He only did the fingerheart cause it was their last performace at that specific program. Repeating clothes… Lighting was good, no earings or rings… Well really tricky. I don’t see roots so you all did a touch up on the hairs and Woongie got a little bit blonder… I don’t like it, it don’t think the color suits him. Keonhee hair got a little darker but no problems… That’s it.

26/06/19 

https://youtu.be/dMUSRroP1K0

Repeated the new year eve set. Seoho had to repeat the clothes for me to understand the clothes. Seoho ring yes, Woongie earing yes. Lighting was huge no, all crazy combinations like blue and yellow and purple and etc. But in the ending even though it was yellow the lighting was pretty.

27/06/19 ~~FINALE~~

https://youtu.be/TfEpkKwGQuA

We going Marilyn Monroe Woongie? His earings as always YES, Lithing... well… very tricky since we almost couldn’t see it but it didn’t look promissing. White and cream with black look more promissing then grey with black and red and purple… but not my favorite clothes, they have better weapons… Well… that’s it.

I wish they would go the whole week but they didn’t…

SUPRISE BITCH, YOU THINK 27/06/19 WAS OVER? THINK AGAIN

Oneus first photobook in Milano was announced. I won’t go into detail cause this is not the goal here... but we get it... YOU WEREN’T JOKING AROUND IN ITALY. Usually it takes a lot of time for a group to come up with a photobook so I’m proud and that was pretty smartass way to finish promotions if I may say...

Now… you have seen me against the yellow light for the whole post and you must be asking yourself WHY? Well… when you have the work to color correct the entire MV to cool colors YOU MUST AS WELL DO IT ON THE PERFORMANCES… that’s it… it’s called color pallet and you should respect it. Or in other cases like when they used black and gold respect the color palette of the specific performance.

Now let’s go to 05/07/19 Oneus is a newer group so I wasn’t even dreaming about this cause again... It takes a while for this to happened. My spider senses told me something was off when they announced they would be attending breakout in Japan and SURPRISE. Twilight japanese version was announced. Versions A/B/C and CD+DVD. Some questions were raised. There will be another version of the MV and new clothes? If yes I WANT SOMETHING ON THE SAME LEVEL. Will there be a instrumental version? Will they put Valkyrie japanese version too? They would all be answered later... AND MORE. They had the audacity to show BingBing complete coreo for the first time. They must really love Japan. Legends also say that they already performed the japanese version in this festival.

I was getting uneasy with the release date coming closer and no photos of the covers of the CD’s... then 25/07 they released a schedule... I wasn’t really expecting a schedule but I was happy cause next day we would have a teaser of the MV and surprise, it was basiclly the same thing. Good because is quality stuff but bad cause I was waiting somehing new... 29/07/19 We got tracklist and GUESS WHO WAS THERE?? EXACTLY, VALKYRIE JAPANESE VERSION +++++ TWO new songs.... We are blessed.. until 30/07/19 where we got what actually was happening...

IS THIS WHAT YOU CALL LIMITED CD+DVD? It follows Raise US desing but I wanted something more... It fells like it’s missing something...

Version A (Clearly Valkyrie) IT’S INSTRUMENTAL YOU WANT? IT’S INTRUMENTAL YOU’LL GET. But I’m sad... where are the other two new songs you may ask?

Verson B OOONNEEEE of the new songs (ok we also have it’s instrumental too and cover is ok)

Version C THE OTHER SONG (we have it’s instrumental too and I didn’t know people had silver skin...)

Do you see the strategy? Each version has one of the songs so you have to buy all the versions... And I didn’t like this...

07/08 The MV was released. They don’t have official youtube chanel so they uploaded in the company that represents them in japan.

The major changes were the individual shots as they had to sing in japanese. Nothing to complain in here, their pronunciation was good but the lyrics timing didn’t seem to match the song. Valkyrie had a better japanese version then Twilight... I loved the two new songs we got too.

(Bless the person who putted Korean and Japenese side to side, I saved the video on that huge playlist)

Also, can we appreciate how well Oneus and Twilight was received in Japan? They went to national television, topped Oricon AND Billboard Japan. Tower Records was EMPTY on the first day and they promoted for almost a whole month with shows. Japan basically adoped Oneus.

But nothing is flowers. It’s was extreamly difficult to buy this single online outside japan.LET ME TELL YOU. CD japan? Nothing, Amazon japan? Nothing, Yahoo Japan? Nothing. Rakuten? Nothing, YesAsia? NOTHING. THE ONLY PLACE I COULD FIND TO BUY THIS ONLINE IS TOWER RECORDS OFFICIAL WEBSITE WITCH GUESS WHAT IT IS IN JAPANESE. AND TO BUY OUTSIDE JAPAN YOU DON’T BUY FROM THEIR WEBSITE. IT’S FROM ANOTHER WEBSITE WITCH TOWER RECORDS THEMSELFS PUTED THE LINK IN THOSE HUGE ASS BANNERS IN THEIR WEBSITE. Summary it was  literally giving birth to buy this online.

I tought I could rest BUT NOT. They would attend Soribada Music Awards... THEIR FIRST AWARD SHOW. Look I love Valkyrie... but I want Twilight to be performed and I WANT FASHION OK. I’m full of expetations, do not disappoint me Oneus. The day of the award show came and well... I was actually disappointed. Simple suits and the performance clothes? They repeated one of the worst weapons in their closets. C’mon... if you are going to repeat you have better choices IT’S NO EXCUSE... that’s the summary...

Well, from now I have covered everything... Don’t sleep in Keonhee vocals, Oneus has TWO MAIN VOCALS, appreciate Woongie vocals, that’s it.

If y’all want in my research I have build a really small database of Woongie earings in this comeback, maybe in the future I can do a compilation.

And that’s the end… if you got here congratulations you are a warrior and me too for the hours of links, print screens and editions… Byeee

#oneus #oneus kpop #oneus seoho #oneus keonhee #oneus hwanwoong #oneus ravn #oneus raise us #oneus xion #oneus twilight #oneus leedo #kim youngjo #oneus youngjo #lee seoho #kim gunhak #oneus gunhak #lee keonhee #yeo hwanwoon #son dongju #oneus dongju

[bonesingerofyme-loc]

Endgame is a movie about payoffs

An incomplete list of all the great ‘payoffs’ in this movie.

Hulk’s character arc/story is resolved offscreen and Hulk as a character is killed off. Shh no tears, only Banner now.

Loki’s death was meaningless

Thor’s character arc/story wasn’t even regressed, it was reset

Tony and Nebula’s relationship went nowhere

Vision’s body was shoved in a closet for five years I guess

Doctor Strange’s 14 million futures and 1 solution relied on a fucking rat

The main six avengers never got to be on screen fighting together

Natasha was killed off and her death is barely mentioned

Red Skull’s presence was revealed to simply be the writers going wOuLdN’t iT Be CoOl rather than having any deeper meaning or reason for it. Boy would it have made sense for the Avengers to maybe talk to the Stonekeeper since they know next to fuck all about the infinity stones. Or maybe resolve the whole ‘Steve and Red Skull’ thing, because it’s not like that was formative conflict for Steve Rogers.

Loki’s death was seriously fucking meaningless

Rocket sort of just existed. What did he do? Nothing. Who did he interact with? Barely anyone.

Gamora’s character arc/story is reset to a blank slate because she is a new person.

Drax’s whole reason for living was revenge and to strike back at Thanos. Never see Drax in Endgame except as part of the exhaustively long checklist of ‘HEY LOOK X PERSON IS HERE’

Clint going on a murderspree doesn’t matter at all except to give a reason why he isn’t in the first part of the movie. It has no bearing on the events and no one ever speaks to Clint about it. He doesn’t even act any differently from the mostly serious and broody Clint of the previous films. There isn’t even any tension about him coming back, Nat just says ‘Hi Clint come back’ and he’s like ‘k’.

Peter Quill, who I don’t even like, has only a single scene in the movie where his entire growth as a character and relationship with Gamora is reduced to stupid physical humor and a joke.

Carol Danvers was pointless. She exists to save Tony and Nebula, which Thor could’ve done with bifrost and to blow up Sanctuary, which could’ve been done far more interestingly. And yet the movie tried to weave her in pretty well by making her part of Natasha’s galactic avengers and then...did nothing with that idea. Was it too hard to consider maybe she shows up with whats left of NovaCorps or some Kree battleships?

Thanos proves that he was jobbing hard in Infinity War. What’s that, Thanos without any infinity stones could easily beat Tony in Mk85, Thor with both his weapons and Steve Rogers? I guess the entire fight on Titan was him just pissing around. It steals all the weight and strength that Infinity War gave the Avengers by showing that Thanos could’ve squashed any of them at any time and was never actually in danger.

‘Stark. You’re not the only one cursed with knowledge.’ What does that mean? Why does Thanos seem to respect him? Fucking who knows, since we see that in the past Thanos only vaguely knew about the Avengers and thought they were dumb nerds. I guess he read about Tony underneath a Snapple lid. 

Back to Natasha’s death - she dies and the movie decides it needs to focus on fucking Bruce of all people, when she and Steve had become very close friends over the past seven years, and from the implications Steve was the only one that actually kept in contact with her post-Snap when the Avengers all retired or fucked off. Fucking Bruce. 

Hey while we’re here, let’s keep up with Steve and his relationships. How about the fact he and Bucky never reunite on screen? How about the fact that all we have gotten between Steve and Bucky since Steve got his best friend back was what, three lines total between Infinity War and Endgame? 

Or how about Steve and Sam! You know, Sam the therapist that helped break Steve out of his shell. Sam the loyal friend who stood by Steve through thick and thin. Sam, who kind of was Steve’s first ‘real’ friend in the modern day. Sam, who only shows up at the end so old Steve who abandoned his friends can chuck him a shield. No reunion. No real meaningful moment. Just hey I’m old take my shield.

Or Steve and Wanda! Did you guys forget that the secret Avengers adopted her? How they were kind of like a family for that time after Civil War, with Steve the Dad and Natasha the Mom and Wanda their adopted weird magical girl? You know, how they took Wanda under their wing and started teaching her and treating her like a real person? Guess they did forget!

What about Valkyrie too, by the way. Valkyrie who spent a thousand years as a cynical drunk and then Thor helped her out of her self-loathing funk in Ragnarok. And then she I guess just said ‘sucks to be you’ and didn’t even try to help him? Or how about that Thor just kind of chucks her the throne like a party favor. Not even like he recognized she earned it or anything, Thor just said ‘hey, fuck my responsibilities I want to go be a failure in space, so take my job lmao’. Nice. I hate Ragnarok with a passion, but for fuck’s sake. 

Nidavellir. Establishes that Eitri is the last of the dwarven forgemasters left, and still has all his knowledge and skill. And that he forged the Gauntlet. And the plans for the Gauntlet are still there. Clearly, that means Tony should just whip together a nanite gauntlet in his basement overnight.

Carol Danvers and Nick Fury. You know, how Captain Marvel set them up as good friends, and then she allegedly shows up wanting to know where he is. Oops. That didn’t make the cut. Or her seeing Fury again after so many years. Double oops. Shit, this is even from the stinger of the last movie these yucks wrote, and they couldn’t even do it. Again - like Gagnarok and others, Cpt. Marvel is not even a movie I liked but COME ON NOW.

The intelligence/wisdom of the infinity stones. The space stone ‘judged’ Red Skull and cast him out. The soul stone has a ‘certain wisdom’. Ultron was made from the intelligence that lurked in the mind stone. Vision was linked to all the other stones and could sense almost a distress from each other stone as Thanos claimed them. NVM, stones destroyed lmao.

Infinity War went out of it’s way to make visually striking and different battle sequences and pulled out all the stops to really showcase powers. We got to see smart and interesting uses of all the stones during the battle on titan. Thanos actually had a wizard duel with Strange, showing that he is so much more than just a brute brawler. He blended caster and bruiser seemlessly. The color palatte was bright and arid, full of reds and oranges and blues and greens, well lit and extremely well choreographed. Tony showcases the amazing functionality of his Mk50 experimental armor. The battle at Avengers compound is dark, a color palette of grey, dark grey, light grey, and brown-grey. The choreography of the fight consisted of ‘surround Thanos and hit him with sticks’. We saw none of the MK85 suit. You know. The LAST suit Tony Stark would ever make. We saw none of Stormbreaker or Mjolnir’s power in Thor’s hands, only the most basic ‘fwoosh lightning’ from when Steve holds it. Where was Thor and his flying, his glowing eyes, Mjolnir-as-a-character that was present in all his fights in the past? Where was Steve’s mixed martial arts and his really acrobatic and distinct fighting style? Where was Tony constantly pulling new weapons and tricks out of his suit? The final fight of the Infinity Saga with the big three, and it’s as inspiring as a mid-aughties superhero duel. Just kind of slamming together and grunting. (I guess all the good fight choreographers were stolen by Alita)

‘I can do this all day’. The iconic line of Steve Rogers in the MCU, a touchstone for his character that is emblematic of his entire life and his drive, that says in six syllables the sum total meaning of what it is to be Captain America. Is played As A Joke.

Pepper Potts, whose character and relationship with Tony Stark to date can be summed up succinctly as ‘Tony no’ while he shouts ‘TONY YES’ now totally agrees with Tony and is all gung-ho about him deciding to risk his life, his daughter’s life, their lives, and the fucking universe to go a-time-travelling. What.

Steven Strange, whose movie was about him struggling to become a sorcerer and let go of his past and his preconceptions as well as the Ancient One seeing potential in him despite his roughness is shown to all be a charade. She actually knew all along he was going to be an OG badass and is so enamored with him that she’s willing to hand away the infinity stone she and her order have protected for millennia at the simple mention of his name.

Acausal time travel. Instead of enriching the previous movies by seamlessly blending into them for the time heist, Endgame goes out of it’s way to say ‘HAHA YEAH NO, THIS IS A BRANCHING TIMELINE’ so when you watch Dark World, Avengers, etc, there’s no intrigue of like ‘oh man, such and such is going on just around the corner’ because they so thoroughly bungled time travel and everything we saw in Endgame breaks the timelines. I can’t believe JK Rowling did a better job creating consistent and coherent time travel that carried narrative weight and tension in a children’s book.

Undoing the snap. All the speculation and theory about how, why, when, what, and it turns out all you have to do is just snap to bring everyone back and then act like the intervening five years of social decay and collapse never happened. 

Theodore Ross is very specifically shown in Infinity War to be the Secretary of State. Hm. A character who’s always been an antagonist, always against the avengers...in a high ranking government position...right before 50% of the population is dusted...right, yeah, nothing. Not the President after the snap. 

The snap itself. Smash cut to 5 years later, show some quick flybys and pay a bit of lip service to ‘oh yeah things are bad’ but that’s it. Don’t investigate it. Don’t show us how bad things are. Don’t explore it. In fact, everything seems pretty ok. People are still playing Fortnite five years later and cheerfully dabbing and taking selfies, so it’s all good right? Not like half of all life vanished instantly over night and the world is supposed to be falling apart. Nah.

Tony Stark’s death. Did he die to bring back the universe? Did he die to save his friends? Did he die to save his daughter or his family? Nope, he killed himself to kill the already beaten Thanos and his final words were all about himself. bUt ThE cAlLbAcK

Thanos. Killed off. Replaced by a cartoon villain version of himself. The Thanos that is the main antagonist that the Avengers beat? Not the Thanos who we got to know and who starred as the center of Infinity War.

Nebula. Best character in the film. Has no conclusion. No catharsis or reaction to Thanos’ death.

Groot. Split second shot of him and Rocket. No reunion.

Groot, again, and the rest of the Guardians. No chance to see Rocket’s reaction to the realization his entire family is gone or the effect it has on him. What was that scene in Infinity War? “Me? I got a lot to lose. I got a lot.” No relevance.

Stormbreaker. Major plotpoint of Infinity War. OP axe forged by Thor nearly sacrificing his life to a star. Yeets through a blast from a full-stone gauntlet. Is just a beatstick in Endgame, does nothing.

Infinity stones, again. Infinity War made them front and center, showing their many uses and delving deeper into the lore of them. Endgame makes them paperweights that can only snap.

I could go on and on and on. This is just off the top of my head, right now. Payoffs? I guess if you count the writers violently elbowing you in the ribs and shouting HEY ITS THAT SCENE FROM THAT OTHER MOVIE like you’re a drooling idiot as a ‘payoff’ it’s ripe with them, but actual meaningful payoff for a decade of characters and storytelling? Hah. No.

Edit: I will continue to update this as I think of/recall more examples

#marvel #mcu #avengers: endgame #endgame #HOW IRONIC FEIGE #endgame was shit #captain america #tony stark #bruce banner #natasha romanoff #thor #clint barton #avengers

[aion-rsa]

What If…? Episode 7 Ending Explained

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This article contains spoilers for Marvel’s What If…? episode 7.

With a couple exceptions (the Captain Carter and Dr. Strange episodes, to be specific), Marvel’s What If…? series has had a fairly consistent system to its endings. They would end the story on one note and then tack on a cliffhanger scene that would subvert it. T’Challa as Star-Lord ends on a happy note? Well, Peter Quill and Ego might bring the end of the universe. Loki rules Earth? Well, here are some heroes who say otherwise. Spider-Man hopes to save the world from the zombie apocalypse? Well, here’s Zombie Thanos waiting for him.

This week, we have the seventh episode of nine, “What If… Thor Were an Only Child?” After a four-episode streak of some of the darkest stuff the series could give us, we’re rewarded with some kind of unholy mix of a superhero adventure, a 1980s party comedy, and a Looney Tunes cartoon. In a universe where Loki wasn’t adopted by Odin, Thor becomes a party-obsessed god. It’s a lighthearted romp where even the threat of SHIELD dropping nukes is treated with levity.

In the final moments, Party Thor shows a different kind of humility by going to Jane Foster’s trailer and asking her out on a date. Uatu the Watcher looks on, narrating about how the two lived happily ever after, only to be cut off by something that surprises even him.

Infinity Ultron

A group of Ultron drones appears before Thor in the desert. They step aside to reveal the main Ultron, who not only has the face of Vision, but ALL SIX INFINITY STONES. Now, yes, that is enough to ruin any hero’s day, but what does that have to do with Party Thor?

This isn’t like the other cliffhangers. At this point, there’s nothing to suggest that Thor’s wacky exploits and the lack of a scheming Loki would lead to the creation of Ultron and the gathering of the Infinity Stones. That’s because this Ultron isn’t from Thor’s universe.

The initial promotional poster for What If…? revealed various characters from various episodes. Captain Carter, Marvel Zombies, Spider-Man with Dr. Strange’s cape, etc. One figure that caught the eye of some was a hybrid of Ultron and Vision with the six Infinity Stones. The indication was pretty straightforward: in the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ultron would have succeeded in putting his consciousness into the red, vibranium body. There would be no Jarvis-minded Vision. There would be no more Avengers. Ultron would be victorious.

Now, this does bring into question how Ultron could obtain the Soul Stone. Perhaps he sacrifices Tony Stark, adding a disturbing layer to their already bizarre relationship and adding to the many deaths of Iron Man in the multiverse. Maybe he just lets someone else get it and steals it from them. Force Wanda to sacrifice Pietro and then overpower her.

Whatever the case is, this version of Ultron – whose story has yet to be told – is revealed to be more than a universal threat. He is now a multiversal threat, showing up to conquer Party Thor’s reality.

What this ending means is that we’re heading to the What If…? Endgame.

The Exiles

While downplayed a bit, the initial trailers and promotional footage suggested that at some point, there would be a big crossover. The iconic cinematic shot of the Avengers posing in a circle was intercut with some different heroes posing similarly in a devastated city. While the same trailer already established the T’Challa version of Star-Lord, the other three (Black Panther, Gamora, and Thor) were not as well-explained at the time.

There was also a quick moment of the sickly Strange Supreme meeting Captain Carter. If it wasn’t for the two literally sharing screentime in one shot, you could be forgiven for thinking it was two separate pieces of footage and dialogue slapped together.

The mid-season trailer showed more of the crossover, with it being apparent that the heroes of the multiverse are up against the Ultron army. It seems that there’s a representative from each episode involved:

Episode 1: Captain Carter.

Episode 2: T’Challa Star-Lord.

Episode 3: Black Widow.

Episode 4: Strange Supreme.

Episode 5: Marvel Zombies, presumably summoned by Strange to fight the Ultron drones.

Episode 6: Killmonger Black Panther.

Episode 7: Party Thor.

Episode 8: Gamora dressed as Thanos and wielding his two-sided blade.

Episode 9: Ultron Vision.

It should also be noted that the same trailer also includes a shot of Pepper Potts and Shuri running side-by-side, suggesting a follow-up of sorts to Killmonger’s storyline in the sixth episode.

What If…? Episode 8

As of right now, we don’t know for sure what the eighth episode is all about, but a Lego tie-in may have tipped us off months back. One of the What If…? Lego sets is based on Iron Man ending up on Sakaar, including figures for Tony Stark, Valkyrie, and the Watcher.

As the rumors go, supposedly the eighth episode will be based on Iron Man not making it through the portal during the climax of Marvel‘s Avengers. Instead, he drifts through space until finding himself on Sakaar. Somehow, this is supposed to give us an incarnation of Gamora who dresses and fights like Thanos.

Did Black Widow Really Die in Episode 3?

The least bizarre character to pop up in the upcoming crossover is Black Widow, who seems to be her normal self. She appears to be the version from “What If… the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?” where Hank Pym went around killing all the would-be Avengers. If you notice, all the other characters showing up are those who survived their episodes. Even Strange Supreme was alive, albeit the only thing existing in his universe.

The last we saw of Black Widow, she was being beaten up by Hank Pym. She was dragged into the darkness while trying to warn Nick Fury via phone call, but that was it. Afterwards, they treated it like she was dead and they showed a casket among the others in the epilogue.

At the same time, we never did see a body. Nor would we need one, considering Hulk went full Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and he got a casket.

My theory here is that Hank Pym didn’t actually kill her. Or at least, he thought he did, similar to how he thought his wife was dead. He could have shrunk Black Widow excessively, thinking that she was being reduced into nothingness. In actuality, she could be hanging out in the Quantum Realm, ready to be plucked away to fight the Ultrons. Maybe even capable of returning to her own Earth to help fight Loki.

The Source Material

Outside of Marvel Zombies, this season of What If…? has been nothing but original stories. They haven’t been trying to copy the comics until now. While the details are different, the finale appears to be based on a miniseries from 2014 called What If…? Age of Ultron.

As the Age of Ultron comic event featured Wolverine traveling through time, the What If…? miniseries showed that it caused dire ripples through the multiverse. Random people would die of aneurysms from Wolverine’s journeys and the stories would be based on those nexus events. Like how Captain America dying of an aneurysm while being frozen would have led to a world with Frank Castle taking up the mantle.

The first issue featured a world conquered by Ultron. The final issue had this version of Ultron go to war with heroes from the other stories. The most notable was an incarnation of Black Widow from a world where Thor died and she ended up having to lift Mjolnir to save Earth from the Midgard Serpent.

Could that be the payoff? In the movies, Black Widow politely declined trying to lift the hammer. There would be no enchantment on Party Thor’s hammer to stop the unworthy, but if this Black Widow can return to her home world alive, there is an enchanted Mjolnir just sitting there, waiting to be lifted.

You know, the mid-season trailer does show Black Widow wielding both Captain America’s shield and Hawkeye’s bow. Why not go for the trifecta?

If you want to dig deeper into What If…?, please consider subscribing to Marvel Standom on the Den of Geek YouTube channel, where we dish out weekly episodes on all the new Marvel TV series, trailers and movie releases. Can’t stand our faces? That’s fair! You can listen to Marvel Standom on Spotify and Apple, too.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[skeletondreadful]

Book 2, Chapter 40

China’s magic makes me gay

Awwwwwww yesssssss, augmenting your physical abilities with magic, fucking superb

She is covered in tattoos and I am feeling the queer vibes

Idk if Derek Landy did this on purpose but I hope he knows that China and Tanith are just... bi icons

Oh, Mr. Skeltal is free!

Yes, you’re fucking retreating because you’re THIRTEEN and there are TWO MONSTERS in this hospital courtyard and Skulduggery would be a TERRIBLE person if he didn’t get you to safety, and we already know he’s not terrible, he’s just... like... subpar.

China pls don’t die

Hm... removing the armor...

What’s clever??

The cleavers are just unconscious? Not dead? That’s... not great, but better than I expected...

China...

GOD shut you edgy face Venjess. “The thrill of using it against your enemies” blah blah blah

Careful Venj-asshole you might cut yourself on all your edge

China I am begging you to roast him into oblivion. Vicious Mockery this bitch.

Yes! Get him girl!

Fucking TOLD bitch!

Oh look, the hill billy fuck is useful after all

Whoa! They’re actually getting it off!

Yes! Beat his ass Mr. Skeltal!!

I need a moment to just...... seethe.... because Billy Ray Cyrus just football tackled Val.... and I am hoping that he quickly learns what a bad idea that is.......

HES CHOKING HER

Yes!! Ruin him, Val!

There’s just two fist fights happening right now lmao

Ah, the razor... slit his throat.

“You can’t kill me, you’re one of the good guys.” My dude, my guy, pal, buddy boy... literally no one would blame Valkyrie for ending you. As far as they’re concerned you want to kill her, so it’s self defense.

“See if I care.” Valkyrie you are a wonderful child and I adore you

Baron cut Skul’s arm off and honestly I’d be more concerned about it if he weren’t a skeleton.

How does he feel pain?

Lmfao Venjess is ice cold, leaving homeboy BRS to be straight up slaughtered like livestock

Sanguine is begging for his life, making offers but... how can Val be sure you’ll keep them, dude?

I fucking made the ugliest choking laugh sound, BRS just called Venjess an old man

Oh no... the eclipse......

Everything is going bad

I’m scared but also laughing bc the audiobook narrator is accidentally making it sound like Venjess has the hiccups.

I would give anything for Skulduggery to slap Venjess with his detached arm right now. Just... kill the mood.

“Then for my next trick! ... ah sod it I couldn’t be bothered to think of something smart to say.” Honestly tho same

Ooh, is Venjess actually gonna die? Please?

WHOA

THE GROTESQUERIE JUST SNAPPED HIS NECK

UM???

I am.... very distressed......

Fireball the sky?

Signal flare?

Oh, Skulduggery is unconscious.

HELLO YES I WOULD LIKE TO SCREAM BECAUSE THE TORMENT IS BACK

UGH

I hhhhhhhate The Torment.......

The Torment seems like a very heavy handed allegory for racism

Also I feel like I should inform you all that I can only picture him as that “I’m free! I’m free!” old man from Hunchback of Notre Dame (the Disney movie) but shirtless and in an adult diaper. My loathing for him is that strong.

The worst Spider-Man au

Gross

I am disgusted by this entire sequence

Okay but Valkyrie you should proooobably get up

I literally cannot type out what the “help me” The Torment screamed sounded like I can only express that it was HILARIOUS

“HHHHHYEP MAAAAYYYY!” close as I can get

Valkyrie please attack

Um, okay so... the grotesquerie literally SCALPED The Torment and I am... I am very frozen bc idk how to process that

Valkyrie is on her own, just her and the sword...

I am numb to protect myself from what is happening

Victory!

Oh geez what the fuck?? What’s happening???

Oh, so NOW you’re awake, Skulduggery?

Awful joke, not even gonna say what it was.

This is... actually nice...

FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUCK OOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFF HILL BILLY CUNT

I hate him I hate him I hate him I hate him I hate him I hate him I hate him I hate him I hate him I hate him

I am practically foaming at the mouth I hate this idiot worthless disgusting wretch of an American so much when does he fucking DIE??

“Skulduggery, your entire plan consisted of ‘let’s get up close then see what happens’.” I’m fucking wheezing. Help. I can’t breathe. There are tears in my eyes.

“I think the whole thing worked out rather beautifully” bruh

#skulduggery pleasant #skulduggery spoilers #book 2

[staarknaked]

Hello! I have been watching the marvel movies and tv shows for a while now but I’d like to read the comics too. Any idea how to start since there are so many and have been there for so long (as in which comic from what year)? Thank you in advance!

I’m sorry for how long this is, I tried. Once you find where you want tostart, it gets easier to narrow down and follow timelines and full story arcs,sort of, I promise. Also, Wikipedia is your friend. Marvel starting doing a lot of events after CivilWar. You can skip them and just read summaries. Save your sanity. If you have any questions you can msg me off anon too and I can walk you through it because Marvel comics are a shit show I’m so sorry I don’t make the rules.

Projects:

-Civil War (2006-2007): This is on the list because this is where I jumpedinto Avengers comics, and it’s honestly their most iconic events. It has a tonof main titles for multiple characters and is a really good way to get into howthey think and who they are, but it is fucking huge. After reading the core book, the tie ins and theCap/Iron man books are great. Really gives you history and scope of the Marveluniverse and its original players. This will take a while.

-Avengers Disassembled (2004-2005): Probablybigger than civil war? I have the hardcover of this and it is massive. But again, iconic if you wantto do the work and read it. Scarlet Witch is a key player and it pretty coversbackground for a whole variety of previous material. This will also take forever. I have the entirely of it in a hardcover and I’ve only gotten through 2/3rds of it.

- House of M (2005): Wanda Maximoff. Right here. If you want toknow what comics Wanda is like, and why mutants are the way they are in comicsright now, House of M is it. House of M preludes some of the best x-men stuffpost Phoenix era and leads to a ridiculously intense storyline that leads towhere the mutants are now and why they are the way they are. The core book isshort, and good as a one shot, but if you go further it gets crazy.

Movie Characters in Comics

I haven’t readAnt-Man, Black Panther, or Thor solos except for the all-new thor where it’s JaneFoster but they are re-booting Thor in 2018 I think. And I don’t read Dr.Strange, he’s kind of an asshole.

-Black Widow (2014-2015): The art is amazing and Natasha adopts a cat.That’s all you need honestly. Doesn’t tie into the MCU at all but really great.

-Hawkeye (2012-2015): The Clint Barton we deserve tbh. Fraction andAja’s run is iconic and legendary. Also not MCU related but widely recognizedas one of the best comics runs.

-Planet Hulk (2006-2007): One of themore iconic Hulk runs and also where parts of the Hulk’s story in Thor: Ragnarokcame from.

-Scarlet Witch (2015-2017): Really good art, Wanda is trying to fix witchcraft, and it I think goes into a little bit of her backstory with Vision. They are no longer together in comics, but this I think deals with some of the aftermath and gives glimpses into her history. I have it, I haven’t gotten around to reading it.

-Invincible Iron Man: Extremis (2006): Ended up influencinga huge part of the original Iron Man movie, and updates Tony’s everything. Thearmor from this book was the basis for the armor in the MCU.

-All-New All-Different Invincible Iron Man (2015): This is a newerTony Stark, and this line eventual leads to the Riri Williams line I think? It’sa modern take on Tony Stark.

-Captain America: Winter Soldier / Captain America(Vol 5.) (2004-2011): Ed Brubaker is the mastermind behind bringing BuckyBarnes back as the Winter Soldier. This Cap line runs forever, and covers allthe major events of the mid-late 2000’s, including civil war, death of SteveRogers, and Bucky picking up the Shield. Really good run, it’s the only soloCap stuff I’ve read any part of. The Winter Soldier stuff starts in 2005/2006if you want to skip right to it.

-Captain America (2017): Starting atissue # 695, this is Steve’s redemption arc from the clusterfuck that wasMarvel’s Secret Empire. Getting into Cap here and then backtracking would be mysuggestion.

- Guardians of the Galaxy (2013-technically ongoing): this is a pretty long run and was launched whenthe movies started bringing new readers, and it’s really good. It does crossover with the O5 X-men business briefly, but it’s also where they reallyintroduce Angela Odinsdottir, Thor’s kick ass stolen sister.It’s been re-branded a couple of times due to events.

Team Books

-The Ultimate’s: Super Human (2002): The Ultimate’suniverse inspired the movies. It’s a close universe separate from marvel 616,which is the marvel universe where all the other comic recommendations arecoming from. Ultimate’s is grittier, darker, and changes backstories but isstill really really good. Gets weird, and is definitely not close to themovies, but a lot of the inspiration for the movies came from this universe,and you’ll see it if you read it.This is the kick off book, but the Ultimate ‘verse is pretty straight forward.

-Avengers Assemble (2012-2014): This wascreated for the movies. It has the movie team line up, and was meant to be thestepping stone from the fledgling MCU to the Marvel 616 comic verse!

Netflix/Hulu/Marvel TV

-Runaway’s (2003/2017): If you watched the Hulu Runaway adaption, these arethe comics to read. The 2003 run will not have the same characters or romancesas the show though, and the 2017 ones kind of bounce off the original omics andthe show. I’m not the biggest fan of the Runaways but my best friend read themwhen we were younger so I know this by association.

- Jessica Jones: Alias (2001-2004); Jessica Jones (2016): The netlfixshow was based off the Alias comics, and its Bendis and Gaydos back on the 2016run as well, making Jessica one of the most consistently written characters inMarvel. Very similar to the show

-The Defenders (2017): A reboot of the Defenders line to hype the neflixshow. I love danny jess and luke any and every time they interact. Jess andLuke named their kid after danny okay I love anytime these assholes teamup and I believe this is similar to the show as well.

Deadpool + Friends Deadpool is in a lot ofshit. He was in Deadool and Cable in the 90’s and early-mid 2000’s and then therewas a point where everything he was in was shit for a while, and now he runsaround the marvel universe and teams up with everyone from spider-man to thenew wolverine.

-Uncanny X-Force (2010-2012): This one is a wild ride, and only recommended ifyou really liked the Deadpool movie. Wolverine and X-23 with Deadpool and twoothers mutants. Lots of stabbing. Dark. Moral conundrums. Excellent andabsolutely amazing expose of Deadpool’s character and what his morals are like.-Spider-Man/Deadpool (2016-ongoing): I can’t speak for the laterstuff, but the first bit was pretty funny.

New Kids onthe Block These are “new” heroes that were meant to be youngand fresh. They’re fully established now, and definitely worth a look.-Nova (2013-2016): I love Sam. I do. He’s a spazy Hispanic teenagerwith cosmic space powers by accident basically. He’s one of the kids thatkicked off the dad!tony thing in comics. Has appearances by the guardians, anddeals with cosmic space stuff-Invincible Iron Man: Ironheart (2016-ongoing for now): This iswhere Riri Williams takes over the Iron Man title as weird shit happens to TonyStark. Black, 16, smarter than Tony.-Ms. Marvel (2014-ongoing): Kamala is just really sweet honestly,though I’ve only so far gone through the first 2 or 3 trades.

-Spider-Men(2012): Blends the spider-man of 616 with ultimate spider-man and gives areally good jumping point to the Miles Morales as Spider-Man when he comespermanently into the 616 universe.

-Spider-Man(2016-ongoing): Miles as spider-man. He and Nova, and Kamala get mentored by Tony Starkin some of the all new-all different avenger’s books but each also has a solorun.

- Hawkeye(2016-2018): The only Young Avengers to get her own series, Kate Bishop as Hawkeye.Helps keep Clint Barton from dying, pretty great all around. Kate isn’t newsince she came around in 2005 but she was horribly underused until she showedup in Fractions Hawkeye and then got her own solo.

LGBTQ and fucking AWESOME but not MCU related at all:

- Young Avengers (2005) and YA: Children’s Crusade (2011):Children’s crusade has more Wanda, YA is the first teenage superhero group thatalso had one of Marvel’s first gay on panel kisses.

- Angela: Asguard’s Assassin (2014) and Angela: Queen of Hel(2015): a transfriendly lesbian love story with fierce fucking femalecharacters.

- Fearless Defenders (2013): Valkyrie and a ton of kick assmarvel women team up, boot all the men off the Defenders team and then showthem the fuck up also there are Lesbians and Valkyrie is a fucking goddess.

And that’s where I’m going to stop. If you put any of these titlesinto google with the dates, it will show you what you’re looking for! There aresites to read comics for free, and there are programs that you can use to readthem digitally. But honestly, once you find what you like, head to your localcomic book shop (if you have one) and browse their titles. Most places wlilorder things in.

If you’re into X-Men, I can do an X-men specific list, butX-Men aren’t really MCU so I didn’t include them. X-Men is kind of my tried andtrue for marvel though tbh. There are a lot of new X-men series being launchedright now and they just resurrected Jean Grey, so if you want that, let me know,it’s its own list.

#anon #anon ask #answers #definitely comics #when i got this i felt like i wasn't qualified to answer it and then i looked at my bookshelf and cried

[brandonnatali]

Aston Martin Victor – special one-off built to celebrate 70th anniversary of the Vantage name; 836 hp, 821 Nm

Q by Aston Martin, which is the company’s bespoke division responsible for various limited-run models, has released its latest creation, the Aston Martin Victor. Unveiled to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Vantage nameplate that was first used on the DB2, the Victor is based on the limited-edition One-77 but extensively reworked to appear as something totally different.

Let’s start with the bodywork (photos from Motor1) which is made entirely out of carbon-fibre and draws inspiration from the V8 Vantage introduced in 1977. At the front, there’s a new grille design with circular headlamps flanking it, while the lower apron sports a prominent lip, all of which are reminiscent of the classic Aston Martin.

There are no fog lamps mounted on the grille to make sure the engine is well fed with air, so they are instead downsized and tucked below the headlamps. However, the V8 Vantage’s vented bonnet has been reinterpreted for the Victor, and it is functional to aid in engine cooling.

Along the sides, the low-slung roofline of the One-77 is retained, but the air curtains aft of the front wheels have been dropped to create a cleaner hard line running down the flanks. Prominent rocker panels have also been fitted, with exhaust outlets integrated into them, while the square-like shoulders are for continuity, as they meet up with a boat tail spoiler at the rear, which is derived directly from the RHAM/1 race car.

Much like the front, nearly all remnants of the One-77 are absent on the Victor’s rear, as it gets a massive diffuser element placed below new taillights, the latter getting its technology from the Valkyrie.

The lighting units occupy a horizontal plain that is further highlighted by a strip that spans the width of the vehicle at the base of said spoiler. To complete the exterior form, the car gets wheels with a rather intricate design, along with a Pentland Green paint finish and satin carbon-fibre trim.

The final, muscle car-style shape has also undergone significant computer fluid dynamic (CFD) testing to ensure all cooling and downforce requirements are met. On the latter, the Victor can achieve 842 Nm of downforce at 161 km/h, compared to 525 Nm from the race-prepared Vantage GT4.

Moving inside, the Victor is again, unrecognisable from a One-77, with an overhauled cabin is more contemporary look and racer-like in function. The Vulcan-style steering wheel and digital instrument cluster are big changes here, while the centre stack only carries a display screen and rotary dials. The gear knob linked to the manual transmission is also new, as are all the air vents and spartan centre console.

It isn’t all function and no form either, as most of the interior is covered in Forest Green and Conker Bridge of Weirleathers leather, with cashmere used for the car’s upper environment. Plenty of exposed carbon-fibre too, along with anodised aluminium, machined and polished titanium and Crown cut solid walnut, the last of which is what you’ll feel when shifting gears.

Yes, the Victor ditches the One-77’s six-speed automated manual transmission for a DIY unit supplied by Graziano to drive the rear wheels, with power coming from a reworked 7.3 litre naturally-aspirated V12.

Aston Martin partnered with Cosworth to give the V12 a bit more oomph, bringing the figures up to 836 hp and 821 Nm of torque. This is more than the One-77’s previous 750 hp and 750 Nm, making the Victor the most powerful manual sports car to wear the iconic Aston Martin wings.

All that added grunt requires the rest of the running gear to keep up, so the company equipped the Victor with twin coolers and a bespoke motorsport clutch for the transmission. The Vulcan also lends its inboard springs and dampers, with six-stage setting to cycle through, while a Brembo CMM-R Carbon Ceramic braking system consists of 380mm front and 360mm rear discs, clamped on by six-piston calipers.

According to Autocar UK, the Victor was specially commissioned by an unnamed Belgian customer and was named as such to commemorate Victor Gauntlett, the man widely credited for reviving Aston’s fortunes in the early 1980s. Looking at it, you know this wasn’t a cheap project, and with it being named the winner in the Future Classics class by the Concours of Elegance, it’s certainly one worth collecting.

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