#and also that it was adapted to the silver screen. who could even guess what happens to the cats - judging from the trailers. not me

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Is It Really That Bad?

So it’s the mid 80s, and you’re tasked with one of the most exciting things imaginable: Turning a Marvel comic into a movie. Now, this is significant because this will be the first feature film based on a Marvel property; there were some TV films before in the 70s and 80s for Hulk, Captain America, and Dr. Strange, but this was going to be on the silver screen! Which famous character should be brought in for Marvel’s big debut? I mean, DC already killed it with West’s Batman and Reeves’ Superman, so Marvel should put their best foot forward! Should we have Spider-Man? The Mighty Thor? Perhaps the Fantastic Four, the first family of Marvel?

Nah, let’s do Howard the fucking Duck.

Adapting a character who was relatively obscure went over about as well as you might imagine with audiences back in 1986. After seven months of production and millions of dollars, the film bombed hard and left a lot of lives in shambles. The director of the movie Willard Huyck and the head of Universal Frank Price both ended up losing in this, as did George Lucas (contrary to what you might believe, he wasn’t the director), who ended up having to sell off Pixar to Steve Jobs to pay off Skywalker Ranch and divorce settlements, things he hoped this movie would have paid for. Frankly, Lucas was a scapegoat for Universal, who pushed his involvement despite his desire to not overshadow his friends working on the movie; Huyck had worked with Lucas on American Graffiti, Temple of Doom, and A New Hope, so he clearly liked the guy, but I guess the suits wanted some of that Star Wars money by slapping the name on. Price also really wanted to make the film similar in tone to Ghostbusters, which didn’t help matters at all.

Pretty much the only person who worked on it and doesn’t hate it is Lea Thompson, who played Howard’s girlfriend Beverly. She has been surprisingly positive about the film and owns her role in it, apparently even offering to to direct a new adaptation for Marvel Studios and lending her likeness to the comics so she could appear as herself beside her one-time fictional boytoy. You go, girl!

Ah, but perhaps the saddest victim of this film’s reception was Howard himself. Between this movie and Disney complaining he looked too similar to Donald, Steve Gerber’s wacky duck man was pushed out of the limelight for a long, long time. It wasn’t until 2009 when Bob Iger ordered the purchase of Marvel that Howard was able to start coming back, a return solidified by his awesome post-credit cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy, which got him a new series and cameos in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Endgame (where he appears for split second in the big portal scene, coming out with the Ravagers and toting a big fucking gun).

But now that we have dozens of other Marvel films under our belt, let’s take a look back at Howard’s sole cinematic solo outing. Was his big break judged too harshly by audiences of the 80s, or is the movie, much like Howard himself, quite fowl? Well, after giving it a rewatch, I’m here to tell you if Howard the Duck is really that bad.

THE GOOD

What this film lacks in… well, just about everything, it makes up for with sheer cheesy 80s charm.

Like, look at Howard himself. The suit is bad, the puppet is bad, the fact they tried using both leading to his appearance changing wildly between shots is even worse… But it’s not so bad that it’s unbearable. Like a crummy practical effect like this undeniably has charm, and it’s helped a lot by Howard’s cute, dorky voice. Would it have been better if Robin Williams had stayed on to voice Howard? Undoubtedly. Were we robbed because a young Jason Alexander was turned away after auditioning? Absolutely, and I cry every night that we lost out on this. But Howard just has a prime 80s everyman corniness to him that makes him a likable duck even if the effects don’t really convey him as well as they could.

Then of course there’s Lea Thompson, and you can see why she’s so unashamed of this film, because she is busting her ass for this film. She will make you believe that she finds a weird alien duck sexually appealing. Like I really don’t have much more to add here, she managed to pull that off, she deserved a better career. End of discussion.

Now, unfortunately, I must praise Jeffery Jones. Here he plays a scientist who gets possessed by the creatively-named Dark Overlord, and he really gets to ham it up in what feels like a prototype of Edgar the Bug. Despite the awful prosthetic work and the Saturday morning cartoon supervillain voice he uses, it ends up being moderately entertaining… and I hate saying that because Jones is an actual, literal sicko in real life. Let’s just say those scenes in Ferris Bueller where he is snooping about a teen boy’s house and leering in the windows hoping to see him is a bit more accurate to his life than you’d hope. It’s a shame, because he’s a solid actor, but it’s hard to praise him too much when he did what he did.

The Dark Overlord itself is also a pretty impressively-designed stop motion monstrosity, and its scenes in the finale are pretty awesome, only hampered by some really bad compositing. You can definitely tell where the budget went.

And then we have the song played at the end, a ridiculously cheesy slice of 80s pop cooked up by Thomas Dolby, the man behind the legendary one-hit wonder “She Blinded Me With Science.” Needless to say, Howard’s little song at the end is every bit as infectiously earwormy as that.

THE BAD

I think what really kills the film is just how weak the third act is. The film was at its best when it was about Howard being put into awkward situations, like being forced to work a shitty job or starting a bar fight. But I guess that doesn’t get asses in seats, so they have a third act where Howard has to save the world from destruction by evil aliens by stopping a gigantic sky laser. Considering how that very plot has become a widely-mocked cliché in the wake of movies trying to copy this very thing from The Avengers, Howard was truly ahead of its time in terms of comic book adaptations.

Even in the good parts of the first two acts there’s some weakness. The conceit of the character is that he’s an alien duck forced into the mundane situations the real world provides, and while we do get some of that, a lot of stuff is abandoned a bit too quickly for my liking. Sure, we didn’t need a montage of Howard applying for a bunch of crummy jobs, and I suppose we didn’t need to see him manage the band excessively or anything, but too much of what makes this movie charming in its weird and awkward way is thrown out for some souped up climax where Howard flies a little plane contraption with Tim Robbins and then fights an alien monster. It feels like a bunch of half baked plots haphazardly slapped together more than a cohesive narrative the writers gave a shit about.

On top of that, the film feels remarkably cheap. The suit and puppet thing is bad, the compositing of the Dark Overlord is bad, it genuinely blows the mind that these effects were this mediocre when the movie was relatively expensive to make. I have to imagine most of the budget went towards getting the crew cocaine to deal with the miserable shooting schedule, because it definitely doesn’t seem like it went to costumes or making the visuals look good.

And speaking of things that don’t look very good… Duck tits.

IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

Nah.

Look, I can’t pretend this movie is amazing or anything. It is incredibly flawed, with rushed production values and more corniness than the fields of Iowa. It has trouble finding its tone, and kind of loses its webbed footing in the third act. But I have watched a metric fuckton of superhero movies in my time, and this film has a sort of corny, earnest charm that genuinely awful ones lack. Like Thor: The Dark World is utterly mediocre and forgettable, and I couldn’t tell you a single thing that happened in it, but this movie? Even with the parts it drags I could still recount some of the wacky plot beats. And maybe it has worse production values than Batman v Superman, but it’s also a lot less miserable and has a cool stop-motion alien monster instead of a shitty gray CGI blob that murders Superman. It’s just not a film that feels quite as awful in terms of comic book movies when filmmakers have gone out of their way to make infinitely worse, infinitely less fun films in the decades since.

It also helps a movie very similar to this came out that did what it was trying to do better, and you’re not gonna believe what it is: Seth MacFarlane’s Ted. It is extremely similar, a fish-out-of-water story about a fantastical being stuck in the mundanity of the real world. Ted even gets a human girlfriend, and the movie has a really weird third act that’s a bit more action packed than the rest of the film! It manages to work a lot better there, though, and that’s despite starring Mark Wahlberg! So yeah, even if the actual Howard didn’t fully live up to its interesting premise, we have something that does just that, which makes this film dropping the ball a little less egregious.

The 4.7 up there is honestly not quite as harsh as you’d think given this film’s reputation, which probably reflects how opinions of this have turned a little bit and given this film a cult following. I might even be so nice as to round it up to a 5; it’s not really a bad movie so much as a weird one, and it is filled with cheesy 80s charm if you can get on board with it. It’s probably not going to change your life, but it’s fun, mostly harmless comic book movie fluff, and if nothing else it’s unique and out there in terms of comic book movies. We wouldn’t get anything quite this weird again until they started letting people like James Gunn and Taika Waititi make comic book movies, so it’s nice to go back and see where it all began. Howard the Duck is a very interesting piece of history, maybe more for the story around it than the film itself, but damn if I don’t get a few chuckles out of watching it and a goofy grin from that cheesy end credits song.

It’s definitely more worth a watch than Wonder Woman 1984, that’s for fucking sure.

#Is it really that bad #IIRTB #review #movie review #Howard the Duck #Marvel #George Lucas #comic book movie #Youtube

[96thdayofrage]

So often, it seems that a celebrity controversy could be entirely preventable if the celebrity in question simply chose not to speak. But perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that a man with more than 300 books to his name isn’t one to hold back. In a recent interview with The Sunday Times, James Patterson decided that the world needed to hear his thoughts on racism and Woody Allen’s memoir. According to Patterson, whose extensive works have prompted severallibraries to joke that he has “written everything,” older white men now face “another form of racism” when they try to make it as writers in the entertainment industry. “Can you get a job? Yes. Is it harder? Yes,” Patterson said. “It’s even harder for older writers. You don’t meet many 52-year-old white males.” The prolific co-writer also took issue with his own publisher, Hachette Book Group, noting that he “hated” the decision to dropWoody Allen’s memoir, Apropos of Nothing, back in 2020. The move came after Hachette employees walked out because of the long-standing sexual-abuse allegations against Allen. “He has the right to tell his own story,” Patterson said, adding, “I’m almost always on the side of free speech.” (Allen’s memoir later found a new home with Arcade Publishing.) Meanwhile, Patterson’s comments come as he is promoting his own memoir, James Patterson: The Stories of My Life, because of course they do. After all, before he was a writer, Patterson had a successful career in… you guessed it, advertising.

James Patterson has apparently seen what being marginalized is like, and it isn't for him. Or for the aging, white male writers he seems to be worried about.

Reflecting on his illustrious career following the release of his autobiography, the bestselling author expressed concern for white men, whom he thinks are now having difficulty finding work in the entertainment and publishing industries.

Patterson classified their struggle as "just another form of racism" in an interview published in the Sunday Times in the U.K. Not surprisingly, he's getting a lot of heat for saying so.

The quote came as the "Stories of My Life" author, whose writing success came in tandem with his thrillers about Black detective Alex Cross, was trying to express disappointment over film adaptations of his novels, saying that he'd for once like to "stand up and cheer for one of my books on the silver screen."

Big-screen adaptations of his more than 300 books include the Morgan Freeman-starring films "Kiss the Girls" (1997) and "Along Came a Spider" (2001). (Next up is an adaptation of "Run, Rose, Run," which he co-wrote with music legend Dolly Parton.)

“I just wanted to create a character who happened to be Black,” the 75-year-old said. “I would not have tried to write a serious saga about a Black family. It’s different in a detective story because plot is so important.”

“I get it,” he continued. “How could we run through that period, especially in Hollywood, where there was all this talent and nobody got hired?”

From there, the writer of the Sunday Times piece said that Patterson is now worried about white men struggling to find work in film, theater, TV and publishing and thinks the problem is "just another form of racism."

"What’s that all about?” he mused. “Can you get a job? Yes. Is it harder? Yes. It’s even harder for older writers. You don’t meet many 52-year-old white males.”

Critics were quick to judge "The President Is Missing" co-author's remarks, taking to the replies of Patterson's most recent tweet to share their thoughts.

"So sorry to hear about the discrimination you and your $700 million face on a daily basis. We really should do more to help rich white multi millionaires get their voices heard. Can't imagine the struggles. Hang in there sir," one user wrote.

"I hope you really did not say this," added another.

"Great to see you overcome the stigma of being a white dude and get the gig to... *checks notes* write your autobiography. How many other writers were you up against?" said one tweet.

"You already know.... I'm not throwing away or burning my money (books [of] his I own) but I'm [definitely] removing them from my library And will never purchase them again. This man literally had 2 well known people of color play his main Character Alex cross then says this b.s. done," wrote another user.

Representatives for Patterson did not immediately respond Monday to The Times' request for comment.

Elsewhere in the interview, Patterson also said he disapproves of actors and public figures weighing in on topics they've gleaned off the internet, but said that he's "almost always on the side of free speech.”

He said that he "hated" that Little, Brown in 2020 pulled embattled director Woody Allen's memoir after the publishing company's staff staged a walkout.

"He has the right to tell his own story," Patterson argued.

[ggyuwwoo]

heaven's cloud : Paradise

- in the afterlife where we get to choose our own paradise, two souls unexpectedly meet.

genre: soulmates!au, but also involves idolverse, kinda fantasy whimsical, afterlife-paradise world; fem!reader x lee chan warnings: mentions of death, magical creatures, not really sure what else i guess word count: 2.4k + i generally am not good at making these infos, bear with me sorry! also not really fond of the fic picture, but i also suck and still is learning,,,,

next | masterlist

-

Lee Chan, for your exemplary journey in life, you are hereby bestowed a place in Paradise.

"I'll take the clouds if I may,"

Then to the clouds you shall ascend, Heaven's Cloud.

-

Eleven months of (not) living in paradise, Chan had adapted well into his afterlife. The Guides had placed him in his own haven of his choosing, the Clouds. Fluffy white and softer than cashmere, the touch is cooling and healing, peace and quiet were also a given. To Chan, it's his very definition of heaven.

Despite being the only soul - apparently, no one has chosen the Clouds for centuries - Chan has been never alone. He had the little fairies and spirits to keep him company while wandering around the forests. Stars often appear in his nights to cast a light show for the boy. Cancer loves to see Chan's awe-stricken face as the constellation shows him a few tricks.

The Clouds inhabitants and surrounding astronomical beings grew fond of the boy. Hence, Lee Chan never felt alone.

Though it was a blissful experience and a beautiful memory, there was only one month left. One month until the end of his livelihood above the world.

You will be given twelve months of afterlife until your next life begins.

Chan still doesn't understand why they must be sent back to Earth, living another full life that may or may not be 'great'. Though the thought of living on Earth, whatever their life might be, is already a disappointing thought. After having to exist in a paradise of your own, nothing else would come close.

But apparently, the universe believes differently.

The fairies and spirits told him once, 'Universe sought in a cycle, to them it's the perfect way as it does not end, leading to the continuation of life and its purposes.'

"But what exactly do those purposes serve if there is no end to it?"

'There is none silly, if there was to be an end to it, then life itself would cease to exist. It serves to preserve life as we know it, and well - the Universe.'

Chan pondered the thought for a while, "What if, just really hypothetically, someone happens to break the cycle, what happens then?"

The fairies' expression saddened, 'Hopefully it never happens.' Some of them flew to sit on Chan's shoulder, a calming place for them. 'But if it were to happen somehow, life wouldn't perish instantly, but the Universe and everything in it will meet its end, including the afterlife.'

The boy nodded before noticing the frowns on the beautiful faces of the winged creatures, the atmosphere had taken a drop turn. Choosing to lighten the somber mood, Chan raised another question. "Well then, um, what about aliens? Do they exist?”

-

Throughout the time he was there, Chan spent it listening to the stories of the creatures, exploring the cloud haven that seemingly doesn't end, and conversing every now and then with the astronomical beings -- when they so happened to be passing by.

It didn't get boring for the boy as the stories that the fairies had been plenty and new, never losing the interest of Chan, and the beings were more than happy to talk with him about almost anything.

Of course, all this was okay and fine, revealing the Universe's secrets and whatnot, Chan wouldn't remember this anyway when he enters his next life.

On the first day of his twelfth month, Chan woke up from his sleeping quarters in the usual well-rested sleep. Walking out to do his routine of visiting the forest and later on relaxing by the Serenity Sky Lake. But before he could reach the outlines of White Forest, he saw a figure walking through the field, he couldn't see clearly who it was, but what he registered in his mind was enough to make him gasp.

It was another soul. A human.

As quickly as his feet could take him, Chan sped through the flurry landscape of clouds, wanting to figure out this stranger.

"Hey you! Hey!"

The figure turned to the general direction of where Chan was coming from, revealing its appearance. Upon view, Chan stumbled over nothing, causing him to fall forward into a roll and tumbling on the ground until he laid flat on his back. Luckily, there were clouds under him.

"Oh my God! Are you okay?" He heard the figure shout before rustling and someone appeared by his side. Chan scrunched his eyes trying to block the light coming from above while identifying the person looming over him. The first thing he noticed was long brown hair, the strands were flowing almost magically. As if hypnotized by it, Chan could only stare. Until finally, he saw the stranger's face.

She’s ethereal.

~

You were quite confused as to why you were where you were. All you could see for miles were… white? Your body was standing on nothing, or at least that was how it looked. A sudden voice interrupted your wonders.

Welcome _____, you are in Paradise.

You turned back to find the source of the voice but all you found was a blinding light that caused you to squint your eyes.

“Wh-what? Where?”

Paradise dear, the afterlife.

Your mind went blank, the afterlife? No way. Your brain tried remembering the last thing before waking up in this weird place.

There’s no use child, your memories are long gone. But I can tell you this, you went in peace. You weren’t in pain.

Were the voices capable of reading minds? And who were they? You were a bit frightened.

To answer your question, yes we can read minds. We are the Guides, here to assist the souls in the afterlife. There’s no need to be afraid.

“Uh, okay, ...thank you?” You voiced out, still a little overwhelmed with whatever was going on.

Well then, perhaps we should take you to your choice. Please, follow the green path.

Just as the voices finished speaking, a sudden green line appeared in front of you. You couldn’t see what was ahead, just the green line until the end. You decided to follow through, whatever this was.

As you walked on the path, you were gradually transported to a different place. When you were finally able to understand your surroundings, there were screens that had different landscapes and writings in different colors under them. The scenes displayed were (what you could only describe as) heavenly. Each of them has its own set of vibe and warmth to it. Unconsciously your hand moved itself to touch one of the screens, but then the voices returned prompting you to pull it back.

What you see in front of you are the places in Paradise, according to how one lives their life on Earth, you have a series of options that you may choose from. I shall provide you a look-through.

The screens suddenly disappeared and now you were standing in what looked like those busy city streets, only not so busy.

First is the Silver City. Its appearance resembles the metropolitan areas down on Earth but without all the pollution, noises, and busy traffic. Many people who had used to live in these areas usually choose them, sensing a familiarity to it, they say.

As the Guides explained its landscapes, you were admiring the tall buildings and skyscrapers around you. The architectural designs were marvelous and even if you didn’t remember if you had studied such things, you can’t help but stare in admiration.

Aside from the buildings, the streets looked beautiful as well. The sidewalks were arranged perfectly as if it was placed with the most proper city planning. But one building stuck out to you most, it was majestic. A silver mansion, with tall gates and filled with all kinds of trees and plants. Before you could step towards it, the Guides were already finished explaining the Silver City and had transported you instead to another location.

Second, the Golden Countryside. As the name states, this place is best likely your ultimate countryside farm paradise. A quaint farmhouse with animal livestock to nurture and many forests to explore and spend time in. Families often choose this place for their resting, it’s quite homey.

True to their words, you couldn’t believe what you were seeing. It was a vast field of grass with a simple two-story house that looked like it could fit six bedrooms. Beside it was a giant farmhouse and animals roaming around it. The view itself was doubled in beauty as the sun (or whatever source of light that existed here) sets from behind, casting a soft orange glow over it. Somehow the silver mansion from earlier was placed way aside in your head. Yet again, before you could ask any questions, you were immediately transported once more.

The third is Cosmic Space. Ever wondered how it is to live in Space child?

You heard the voice give out a sound that was similar to a laugh, but somehow not quite.

More people than you’d expect actually dream of this. It may not be as simple as the City or the Countryside, but it’s nonetheless paradise. To them.

Now you were most definitely floating, though despite floating in the middle of random space, you could breathe easily and see easily as well. You thought that space may be too wild for you but as you were looking around, you saw one of the most magical things you have ever seen.

“A comet shower…”

The Guides seemed to have heard you as they projected the shower closer, now holographic space comets were right above you, shining as they continued the rain of them. Mesmerized was all you could feel, the meteors were almost hypnotizing you.

“Whoa…”

Beautiful isn’t it?

Was the last thing you heard before you felt the sudden pull of transport again, at this point you were no longer fazed with the continuous changing of locations, though you did wish to have been able to watch the shower longer.

Number four, the Pearl Waters. For those who favor the deep sea and vast oceans. Of course, many souls who felt close to the waves chose this. The afterlife here is often intriguing, staying with the many creatures and traveling wherever paradise takes you.

You found yourself standing on a deck of a ship, it was modernized though some parts resemble that of an older version. Heading to the flanks you watched the blue ocean as the waves sloshed around the sides. As if welcoming you, dolphins suddenly jumped above the sea, whalebacks spurting water, and schools of fish could be seen from the clear water. You were most surely amazed. As the sea creatures displayed a water show, you felt something touching your arm on the railing. You looked to find a woman with green-blue hair, her cheeks had features similar to scales, and as you peered further you realized it wasn’t a woman at all.

“A...mermaid?”

Ah yes, indeed. Each paradise also has guardians that help care and maintain the afterlife. Mermaids are the Pearl Waters guardians. As for the Silver City, we have the Elves. Golden Countryside has the Shapeshifters while Cosmic Space has Angels.

“Wait what?” You were pretty much confused all together, mythical creatures? Well, then again, it is the afterlife, who knows what actually exists here. But still, you found yourself in confusion and quite the shock.

Not to worry dear, you’ll have plenty of time to get acquainted. Now for our last destination.

The mermaid who was staring at your side gave you a small smile before disappearing back into the ocean. You continued to stare at her general direction before your view changed into that of...clouds?

Last but not the least, Heaven’s Cloud. It’s truly magical here. Not many people find it appealing though, but of course it always depends on who’s choosing. Essentially, it's the skies. The guardians here are the fairies and spirits. Quite the peculiar and very friendly creatures.

As your eyes set on the landscape, you couldn’t help but let out a gasp. It was breathtaking. It was as if you were standing right in front of the Sun but at the same time, you weren’t. You knew for one you’ve never been in a place like this yet all you could feel from the surroundings was home. You leaned down to touch the fluffy ground and it was the softest thing you’ve ever felt. As quickly as the previous location visits, the surroundings changed again back to their original place with screens.

Now _____, because of the well-lived life that you have gone through. You, _____, are given the choice of one of the five Paradises that you have just seen. Speak now for your choice.

You didn’t know if it was your own voice and mind that spoke, or your conscience, because the sound that erupted from your body sounded firm and almost unbreakable. You didn’t even realize that you had spoken your choice after it was said.

“Heaven’s Cloud if I may,”

The Guides paused for a moment as if they were thinking about something, before continuing.

Very well then, your heart has spoken. To Heaven’s Cloud, you shall go.

One last time, you were again transported to a field with white clouds, similar to the earlier landscape you visited. This time without the voices. Somehow you suddenly felt alone, scared, and unsure of what to do. Wandering aimlessly, you tried looking for the guardians - the fairies and spirits. Then you suddenly heard someone shout.

“Hey you! Hey!”

You turned back to see a man, brown fluffy hair swaying atop his head, running towards you. Well, was running, until he stumbled down and started rolling across the field.

“Oh my god! Are you okay?” you shouted before heading towards the boy. As you reached his side, you saw he was unhurt and fine, just squinting his eyes. You sighed in relief, although it should make sense, after all, it was clouds underneath them. Before you could say anything to the stranger, you caught him staring right at you, and somehow you stared back as well.

The boy looked mesmerizing.

#heaven's cloud #lee chan scenario #dino scenario #seventeen imagines #em;writes #your choice based stories #svt fanfic

[empty-dream]

So I read 86 LN vol 1

S1 anime covers the entire Vol 1 except for the latter's epilogue, so full anime spoiler here.

And as of this writing, I'm still on Vol 2 so the things I mention here are solely those that happen in Vol 1. Idk if a thing happens in the latter volume, gotta dodge spoiler so I don't browse about it.

There was an interview with a person inside the anime industry that basically said "The point of an anime adaptation is not to be an exact replica of the original material, but to shine as its own medium for a story." I forgot who it was and I can't find the interview anywhere for the life of me, but that statement opened my eyes. I agree with it, that's why I can appreciate the differences between LN/manga and anime, especially if they turn out good and/or interesting.

And that's exactly what happens in 86. I'll start with this: I watched the anime first, and after I read the Vol1 novel, I actually like the anime more. Because there are a lot of meaningful original scenes in it

And because the Vol1 novel turns out exactly what I fear when I first watched the anime: that I won't care much about the squadron aside from the main 5. (Look, the anime promotional materials mostly only have Lena and those 5 only. As shocked as I was in the anime, I did have an idea where the story would go from those alone). The rest are barely mentioned. Not even the girls are named in the novel, even though they do talk and Lecca is even prominent in anime.

For example, the second half of the first episode, the one that shows Spearhead squadron's daily life right before Lena contacts them, is anime original scenes. Kujo already dies the moment the novel starts focusing on the squadron. Simply put, a lot of the squadron members that aren't the main 5 or Kaie get a *lot* more focus in the anime, like Daiya, Haruto (For characters who appear on the introduction page, their novel screen time is less than I'd expect), Kujo and Lecca. While the other members often appear in the background and actually behave like equal members instead of glue-them-on figurines.

(Idk if those other members are named and/or designed in the light novel before the anime is a thing or when the anime becomes a thing.)

The anime also adds relevant information in the Raiden's talk with Lena in EP7, like Kaie receiving racial abuse from 86 (in fact in both versions, she is the first one to get highlighted about this) and Haruto also having prominent Giadian Empire blood like Anju and Shin. These weren't in the novel.

I might be just nitpicking here because I love Kaie and Haruto, but see, this scene is amazing on its own. This is where Raiden and the squad reveal the weight of their motivation all along, that they *each* have different backgrounds and different kinds of sufferings, yet they are all sentenced to die, and they all choose to fight because they know no side is saintly but some things are still worth fighting for.

The prominent characters' deaths (besides Kaie's) are often mentioned with only one or two dry lines. I expected at least Daiya's to be detailed more, but it's just that so matter-of-fact-ly. Well I came from the anime, so I guess it's normal if I expected something as heartbreaking.

I broke down HARD at the last half of EP10 and that is nowhere in the Vol 1 novel. (Having Hands Up to the Sky playing in the background is also an advantage for being an anime. Fuck that song, I now play it 24/7 in despair)

Having a lot of original anime scenes really complement the story's nature. That there are two different sides of life here, it's not just Lena's or 86's only. And those couldn't have intertwined if not for their willingness to listen and communicate.

I know I mentioned this some days ago but really, I can't get over how many of the merch are Lena (and Annette) being cute doing cute stuff while the story itself is actually depressing. Merch staffs know the market lol.

- Novel side -

That said, the novel does have an advantage that the anime/visual media doesn't: Internal explorations and explanations.

It's obvious from the get-go, but Asato confirms that the inspiration of Republic of San Magnolia and its racial discrimination and genocide is taken from Nazi Germany in WW2. The Republic who favors the white/silver haired-eyed Alba drives Colorata out of the 85 sectors, overtakes their properties, and forcibly sends the now-called-86 to either fight their war and die, or work on the wall and die.

The life inside the Republic is also elaborated on. Class always exists, even inside one race only. The center of the republic is for the elites, Lena and Annette's families included. The farther a sector is from the center, the lower the education and economy there is. Most of the military come from these areas, which explains why Lena herself is in difficult situation. Since no one in the military is either capable or willing to bring change.

It's *insane* how easily the Republic could create such vile lies, and how easily the majority of the citizens go along with it.

Gotta admit, Asato does a good job at foreshadowing the fate of the 86, the truth that we can only see after Ep7 of anime. It is mentioned that supposedly, 86 soldiers will be welcomed back once their 5-years term is up. Lena once wonders about it, but ultimately she buys it thinking that surely they must have come back to another sector. She only realizes it's utter bullshit after Annette points out how, 9 years later, they have never seen even one Colorata inside the Republic when they should have seen at least some. This also shows that Lena has never ventured to the other sectors to find out more, probably due to work or maybe she's still a sheltered noblewoman in the end.

And the mentality of the majority of Alba is shown differently. Whereas the anime uses the academy classroom to show how deeply rooted the racism against 86 is, the novel uses Lena's mother who a) more or less does the same as the classroom, and b) presses Lena to get married and preserve their pure noble bloodline. This, when the nobility doesn't actually mean anything anymore. This version shows not only Alba's racism but also Lena's strained family life.

There is a scene of an Alba high school valedictorian who, during his graduating speech, says “My friends died fighting the Legion.” I’m not sure this will make it to the anime, and it’s just a minor scene in the novel, but the weight of that scene is heavy.

The science of Para-Raid is explained, which has something to do with tapping the collective consciousness of humanity and connecting it to one another. A bit far-etched but I guess that works, science fiction and all. But I like the part where despite (or maybe because?) of connecting via hearing only, the other senses are faintly receptive as well. For example, one can sense that the other side is biting their lips in frustration, something like that. Of course, actual real life things like sensing the hidden bitterness or elation in a talking partner's words are present, this being a story where listening matters.

The novel elaborates on Raiden's stay with the Alba old woman. He calls her Old Hag, but it's clear he greatly respects her. The part where she screams and curses in the middle of the road at the Republic soldiers who take Raiden and the other children away stays in Raiden's mind forever, and so it does to me. Ngl it is quite a chilling scene.

Same with the story of the previous Laughing Fox, Theo's Alba commander. It turns out, the entirety of Theo's first squadron didn't like him at all and bet on how fast he'd tuck tail and run back to the Republic. When he faced his death the way Theo explained, he sent a message to Theo revealing he knew about it and knew his place to not ask for acknowledgment or forgiveness. This made Theo regret why he didn't try to talk more with his commander and he keeps thinking about it forever. Now it makes even more sense why Theo, blunt as he is, is willing to listen to Lena and when he snaps, he wonders if his late commander would do the same.

What actually happens in Kurena's backstory is also touched upon. While in the anime some viewers could think "Man, I get where you're coming from but chill out." The novel graphically shows her parents being toyed on by the Alba soldiers while her sister protected her, the two could only watch, and then the same sister got sent to the battlefield to die. Now at that, anyone would think "Man, no wonder she can't chill out. Not with all that trauma."

I also like the addition that Lena can sense Kurena is the one who dislikes her the most.

The novel describes greatly that it isn't just Alba and Non-Alba. Essentially speaking, Non-Alba is called Colorata, and they consist of different race groups as well. Just as Alba is associated with the color silver/white, the other race have their associated colors as well. Asato assigns races to the named members in Vol1 and what their distinguished color features are. This also explains why Anju is exiled despite looking like an Alba.

It's a question that I pondered on when I first saw Shin's armor plates, and that I pondered harder on when Chise died: What happens if there is no armor plate to carve its processor's name's on? So it turns out Shin would substitute it with anything; piece of wood or some random piece of metal. For Chise's case, Raiden, Chise's leader, suggested using the wing of Chise's in-progress airplane model. Which did my heart so bad because I'm strangely fond of Chise and finding out that in his spare time in his limited lifespan, he was working on an airplane model made me sob.

I'm not particularly into mecha, and could care less about how it moves. But Asato did a good job describing the fight between a glorified suicide car and a line of brand-new solid A-grade tanks. Special mention to I-IV because wow the concept arts for all the mechas are so cool, even though I don't really understand. (Asato even said to I-IV "Go draw a tank so horrible it's stupid for the Juggernaut" and I-IV came up with the current Juggernaut)

You know how the Republic greeting is "Glory to San Magnolia and the five-colored flag"? I won't disclose who says this in what situation, but there is someone of Colorata saying "If you hate colors so much, you should have just colored your flag white" AND OOOH THE BURN SO HOT HOT HOT

Tl;dr: Bottom line is, I personally enjoy Vol 1 because I already watched the anime and got attached to it. If I were to read the vol 1 first, most likely I wouldn't fall this hard for the series. Hell, maybe I wouldn't even pick it up in the first place because I knew it'd be depressing. But this is not to say that the LN is bad. It’s very good, it just does not really touch the lives of other soldiers whereas that’s the very thing that I love from the anime.

#86 #eighty six #random saying #not sure if i have put all my thoughts here so maybe ill edit sometime later

[conman167936]

Fan-Casting A Hypothetical “Next To Normal” Movie

As some of you may know, both “In The Heights” and “Dear Evan Hansen” are getting film adaptations this year. Assuming that those are successful, we could be getting more musical adaptations on the horizon. And “Next To Normal” is one of my favorite musicals, and I think it could translate to the silver screen incredibly well. If done well, it could be the one of the greatest movie musicals we’ve had in a long time.

Now, I don’t know who they would get to direct the film, but they say that 90% of directing is casting, so I thought I could help out with that part. These are some ideas I have for casting the Goodman family in a hypothetical “Next To Normal” movie

Let’s start with the ‘simple spirit’ at the heart of the story - Gabriel. I see so many productions depict him as a villainous character who acts increasingly sexual around his mother. I would like to tone these aspects down a bit - I personally see him as a teenager lashing out because he’s being ignored. 

Now this choice might surprise you a bit, but I want to see Andrew Barth Feldman take on this role. He has an unbelievable singing voice and I think he could stretch his acting muscles to portray Gabe’s angrier moments, but still be sympathetic enough for “I Am The One (Reprise)” to hit home hard.

Then we have Natalie. Like with Gabe, I would rather cast an actual teenager with limited film experience than cast someone in their mid 20′s who’s more well-known. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why directors do that. I mean, it’s not like you’re likely to find someone under eighteen years of age with pitch-perfect vocal control and acting chops to match...

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTZQeWx_xy0)

Meet Kendall Nicole-Yakshe. Starkid fans know her for her role as Hannah Foster in Black Friday. She is currently fifteen years old. Her vocal abilities are far beyond her years, and she is a remarkably good actress, too. This is someone who needs a big break. And the role of Natalie Goodman fits her like a glove.

Next up, Dan Goodman. And I didn’t have to think long at all to cast this role - it should be Jeremy Jordan. Jordan is 36, he has the voice of an angel, but has also shown his dramatic capabilities in roles like The Last Five Years. I think he has both the acting range and the vocal range to portray this complicated character. I don’t even know what else to say - we all know how good Jeremy Jordan is.

And now, the big one. Diana Goodman.

I could list off a dozen actresses from stage and screen alike that would kill for this role. You probably have a few in your head right now. But I want to be bold with this pick, and find someone who maybe isn’t the obvious pick, but has the ability to blow everyone away.

We know that Diana is in her late thirties or early forties. We know that she was young when she married Dan. We know that he describes her as being a wild burst of light and energy before Gabe’s death. On stage, Diana can occasionally come across as being bubbly and childlike, before switching on a dime to show us the deep pain that she’s feeling.

I propose casting an actress who is known for more lighter material, that people will know as the ‘wild young girl’ Dan fell for but can surprise the audience with her ability to reach down deep and bring out the emotion. 

And in case you haven’t guessed it by now, I believe that the perfect person to play Diana Goodman is Kristen Bell.

Kristen Bell is currently 40 years old, is mostly known for comedies and for being the voice of a Disney Princess. She obviously has an amazing singing voice. But she’s also a capable dramatic actress, which many people often forget.  Of all things, it was her performance of the song “The Next Right Thing” in Frozen 2 that first made me realize how good Kristen could be in this role. Listen to her performance of that song and then imagine her singing So Anyway.

But what really sold it for me is this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYUQ_nlZgWE), in which she describes her own struggles with mental health. This is someone who can truly relate to Diana Goodman more than most actresses could. For an actress who is well-liked but mainly known as a comedienne, this role could be an Oscar-worthy vehicle for her.

So there you have it. Kristen Bell, Jeremy Jordan, Kendall Nicole-Yakshe and Andrew Barth Feldman as the Goodman family. And for those wondering, I don’t have a Henry in mind, although I would prefer to cast an actor of color in that role. And the two doctors should probably be played by different actors in the film to avoid confusion.

Well, that’s basically it. If you liked or disliked my casting ideas or you have some ideas of your own, let me know in the comments!

#next to normal #next to normal musical #next to normal movie #movie musicals #fancast #fancasting #diana goodman #dan goodman #natalie goodman #gabe goodman

[nellie-elizabeth]

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: New World Order (1x01)

Watching this show is going to be strange for me because I genuinely ship Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson with one Steve Rogers... so basically I just want to watch them sitting around being sad about him being dead the whole time. But I'm open to the possibilities, here, I really am...

Cons:

Positioning the bad guys here as... well, as communists who want a world without borders, and then making them into terrorists... let's just say I'm side-eying this pretty hard. You have that twist at the end, where the United States brings forth a new symbolic hero, a new Captain America, and my brain immediately started spinning forward as to where this is going to go. See, we've got anarchist baddies who want to destroy all the flags on one side, then we've got this pretender to the throne on the other side. But the issue won't be that there's something inherently flawed with the whole concept of a militarized heroic folk legend for Americans to idealize... it'll be about how it's the wrong man carrying the shield. At some point, in a moment of triumph, Sam will take the mantle on for himself, and then we can safely and comfortably cheer as our hero takes down the big bad commies who don't love 'Murica enough. I want to be wrong. I want them to mix things up, to challenge things, but all I can see is that the ultimate heroic conclusion is going to be "government control of Captain America is Bad, but Captain America himself, and what he stands for, specifically America, is good."

While I know this episode needed to set up a lot of puzzle pieces, I did think there were moments of somewhat clumsy exposition with both Bucky and Sam's story-lines. We've got Sam who's worried about his sister and her kids losing the family home and boat, and going to get a loan. There were some good moments in here, but it was a bit paint-by-numbers, and some of the dialogue fell into that "as you know..." trap where characters were having a conversation, then needed to stop and tell us it's a conversation they've already had a million times before. They're having the talk for our benefit as the audience only. That's a tough needle to thread, and they didn't quite thread it. The same thing happens during Bucky's therapy appointment. First off, the whole waking up out of a dream thing, cut to a therapist talking about nightmares... another cliché. And then we have the therapist walking him through the three steps, and restating them for the benefit of the audience, even though in the ordinary course they wouldn't lay it all out like that again, since Bucky would already know. It's a small thing, I'm nitpicking, but there were some rough aspects to the start of the show.

Pros:

First off, let's just acknowledge that the show looks great. That whole opening action scene with Sam rescuing the guy, flying around, helicopters blowing up, the base jumping tech... damn. It felt like I could be watching an action sequence on the big screen, in any standard MCU movie. Maybe not the climactic fight, but one of the shorter, introductory ones for sure. And that's what this was, wasn't it? A strong, exciting, high-energy start to the show.

I really love Sam Wilson, y'all. There's something so incredibly powerful about watching a show like this with a black man in the leading role. He's such a good person, he's charming and funny and bad-ass but compassionate. He's a little cocky but nowhere approaching an asshole about his power and fame. He's stubborn but that just shows that he really cares. The movies don't have a ton of screen-time with Sam, if we're being honest, but I already really liked him, and here I'm seeing the chance to flesh out the details and let Anthony Mackie do his thing on the silver screen. It's all really working for me so far.

I like the side characters we're folding in here - his sister seems like an interesting character with a lot to offer, and I love that Sam has these nephews in his life to care for, something to anchor him to the world in a way that Bucky, who I'll talk about in a second, kind of doesn't. It provides a nice contrast between them. I also really liked Torres, the man who helps teach Sam about the Flag Smashers (ugh, that name) and seems like a solid dude who wants to make a positive difference in the world. I hope we see more of him too.

(Also, while I'm sure Rhodey was just a brief appearance in this first episode, it was so good to see him too! I'll miss him in the MCU, if he doesn't keep popping up.)

The last thing I'll mention on Sam's side of the story is that bank loan scene. It was such a punch in the gut to see Sam denied the loan, and one of the reasons being "you don't have any income for the past five years." Well... Sam didn't exist. He got Thanos snapped. This feels so realistic to me, that the system would not pivot to adapt to the new situation, but instead leave more and more people out in the cold. Then you have the bank employee trying to get selfies with the Falcon, all excited to meet an Avenger, all while denying him and his family the money they needed to make ends meet. It was such a devastating scene, and you could see so much hope draining out of Sam's eyes. I'm anxious to see where this goes.

And then you've got Bucky Barnes... let me just say, that despite the fact that he's a super assassin, whenever I see Bucky on the screen I just want to wrap him in a blanket and protect him from all harm. When I saw how Sebastian Stan was debuting on the show, in a flashback to his Winter Solider evil days, I literally said out loud, "oh no, poor Bucky" as if I wasn't watching him murder a bunch of people in cold blood. I have such an intense desire for him to be okay, so seeing him not being okay, but trying in these small ways to atone for his past actions, makes me so proud of him already.

Despite my undying belief that Bucky Barnes is deeply in love with Steve Rogers and that nobody will ever take Steve's place in his heart... I thought the date scene was actually very cute. The flowers, the board game, just chilling in the restaurant... I don't know. I hope that woman is in the show moving forward. I want Bucky to be happy. I want him to make new friends, forge connections in the world. I also really liked the stuff with Yuri, and when the reveal happened about Bucky having killed his son, it was a severe punch to the gut. Maybe I was supposed to have guessed it before the show told me, but I didn't, and when I realized why Bucky had befriended this old grumpy man... oh god. It's all too tragic.

On the one hand, it makes me a little nervous that there are only six episodes in this season, and in the first one we didn't even see Sam and Bucky interact. On the other hand, it's a pretty smart move to keep us waiting, at least a little, for the duo to emerge and develop a rapport. I can't wait for the fun banter, as I think Sam and Bucky are both funny, snarky people albeit with different attitudes and ways of expressing said snark. And I also can't wait for some more serious content between them, as they ruminate on all they've lost in the wars they've fought, on how hard it is to be suddenly missing five years of your life... and on Steve Rogers, a great friend (*ahem* boyfriend *ahem*) that they've both recently lost.

They're also holding back on Sam taking up the mantle of Captain America. I wonder if that will be a point of contention between Bucky and Sam. Bucky was there, Bucky gave his blessing, honestly, when Steve handed over the shield, and it was the only thing about Steve's ending in Endgame that didn't make me insanely furious. I want this to be a point of conflict with them, I want them to argue about the best way to honor Steve. So much juicy material here! And I'm intrigued by this "new Captain America" concept, even though I'm wary about where they're taking it, in terms of theme... we shall have to see!

All in all, this was very standard Marvel fare. I like the characters, the action is creative and enjoyable to watch, there are some emotional gut-punches and some funny lines here and there. Nothing mind-blowing, nothing so innovative and fresh and new, but just more of the same... a same that I've come to really love over the past decade or so.

8/10

#review #falcon and the winter soldier #falcon and the winter soldier review #fatws #fatws review #the falcon and the winter soldier

[buckysgoldenheart]

Escort: Bucky Barnes AU

Summary: You’re a highly paid escort, trained to adapt to any situation the client may need. But this next client is a first: A mother, hiring you for her son.

Words: 3370

I know i’ve done a bad thing and started another series, hopefully small. I am still working on the other ones, but after my dad died, I lost inspiration until this story popped into my head and i kinda ran with it. Anyway, I hope you guys like it and aren’t mad.   -Lauren

This may be triggering in a way. The title pretty much explains what this is about, but it’s not negative.

Part 1:

You had been doing this for long enough to get the gist of want your clients want. Some were lonely and wanted someone to talk to for the night. Some wanted to take you out and brag about the beautiful, young girl on their arm. Some, the usual’s, wanted a fake girlfriend to take to family engagements to avoid scrutiny. But you were not a prostitute in the sense of what people assume. Your boss, Maria, was very clear to all potential clients that her girls do not engage in sexual relations in exchange for money. That’s not what her business was about. You and your coworkers were too expensive for the ‘street creeps and weirdos,’ as Maria liked to put it.

You were a girl strapped for cash and would’ve rather put a bullet in your head than take another retail job to pay for your college classes. And when Maria advertised it to you, that bit about the exclusivity made it seem safe somehow, but being rich or famous, or both, did not make someone any less of a creep or a weirdo. So, Maria was more than willing to put down money for mandatory self-defense classes that you would complete before taking your first job. Now, you and the other girls could kick anyone’s ass, even someone twice your size. At the end of the day, there were worse jobs.

 —————————————————————————————-

You were barely through the front door of your modest apartment, high heels already discarded, when you heard your cell ring. The caller ID was not one you were allowed to ignore unless ill or on the brink of death, which you were neither, so you sighed and slid the answer button.

“Hello, Maria.”

Your boss wasted no time with pleasantries and got right to the point. “I know it’s late and you had a long day, but I need you to get down to the office immediately. I have a client here and after looking at her options, she has decided on you.”

You were slightly taken aback. Her? While it wasn’t unheard of to have women request Maria’s services, it was rare. Most were annoyingly wealthy men with underlying and deeply suppressed self-confidence issues.

You sighed, internally groaning. You were exhausted after some guy’s family reunion today. It was too long and too humid, and his family was too obnoxious; prodding you with questions as if they knew who you really were. But you couldn’t turn down Maria’s requests. It was in the contract.

“I’ll be right down.”

——————————————————————————

You were still in your dress and heels from the reunion earlier: A simple light blue, but expensive looking, sundress and strappy, silver sandals, when you exited the elevator. Walking down the corridor to Maria’s office at this hour, you couldn’t help but notice how quiet it was around as your heels clicked loudly with your steps. None of the other girls were there. There was always at least one or two.

You shook your head and scrunched your eyebrows for a moment before knocking lightly on Maria’s door. “Come in.” She said from the other side. You turned the handle and stepped in with a pleasant smile. “Y/N,” Maria also smiled. “I would like you to meet your next client.”

Then, she gestured a delicate hand to the woman sitting in one of the luxurious office chairs. You nearly gasped at who was before you. Mid-fifties, hair styled in a neat chignon, tailored suit, with diamonds along her neck and at her earlobes that showed off her wealth.

The Mayor.

“Y/N, sit.” Maria said, slapping you back to your senses. But you did as she said, taking the other chair two feet away from the most powerful woman in the city. You couldn’t take your eyes off her. She oozed power and class. “I would like you to meet Mayor Barnes.”

The Mayor smiled and turned in her seat to shake your hand. “You are lovelier than your picture.”

“T-Thank you.” You replied, shy in the presence of this woman.

After the introductions, Maria began her typical spiel that, when summed up, basically just meant you weren’t a hooker. “Oh, of course not.” The Mayor replied.  

“Wonderful,” Maria smiled and scooted the paperwork across the cherry wood desk towards you and Mayor Barnes. “You will both sign and be under contract. However, Y/N, this is a…unique…situation.” All you could do was gulp. “Mayor Barnes may be your client, but to clear up any confusion, you will not be her escort.”

“O-Ok.” You nodded slightly, waiting for the kicker.

“You will be her son’s.”

Your jaw dropped despite your best efforts to remain composed. Her son. Infamous, sexy-as-hell, playboy James Barnes, who couldn’t manage to stay out of the tabloids for a quick second. Why he would suddenly want a girl like you when women fell at his feet was the most confusing part of this. Well no, the most confusing part was that his mother was the one hiring you.

“You will take on the role of Mr. Barnes’s woman.” Ok, you thought, typical job. “But there is another condition that I have assured the Mayor will be no problem for you.”

You glanced at the Mayor who was looking at you with a sweet, genuine smile; like she was already prepared to accept you into the family. Clearly, this was a well-drawn out plan.

“Mr. Barnes has not been informed about any of this. And the toughest part of this job is that he can never know.”

“I don’t understand.”

The Mayor turned to you a little more, catching your full attention. “Let me explain, dear. My son, as most people can’t help but know, is quite accustomed to putting himself in the spotlight, though it only seems to be negative. He’s been called a number of things. Womanizer, man-whore, troublemaker, a disappointment, but I know my son. He’s just as his father once was; Young and handsome, running around dragging his name through the mud.” You blinked not nearly enough as you listened, and your throat was starting to dry out. Everyone knew of James Barnes and his questionable decisions, but you felt a pang in your heart at the way his mother spit out the names he’d been called by the media. “James is not really like what everyone says. I believe he’s just…lonely. He was so young when I was elected and neither his father nor I could spend much time with him. My own fault, perhaps, but I don’t want my son to keep making these choices. He’s better than this. He’s so handsome and smart and charismatic; he could do great things, but not if he keeps himself on this path. So, what I need from you, my dear, is to become someone James can trust. A fixture in his life, at least for a time. He needs a beautiful woman like you, not these floozies that keep hanging off him. I will have you meet him, accidentally on purpose, and it won’t take much for him to strike up a conversation with you. You are absolutely gorgeous, and James can’t seem to help himself.”

“You want me to be his friend?” You asked. “I thought I was supposed to be his woman, or girlfriend, or something along those lines.”

“I would love if it turned into that, but I recognize that this a job, one that you cannot do forever. I would prefer he not fall in love with you if only to break his heart. I won’t need your services once he turns his act around. I am hoping you can encourage a permanent change.”

“One other thing, Y/N,” Maria began as you digested all the information being thrown at you. “You won’t be taking on any other clients for the duration of this job. It would create some serious problems if the woman in James Barnes’s company was seen with other men. The media would blow up and come to some dangerous conclusions. And before you start worrying about how to pay your bills with only one client at a time, the Mayor is prepared to offer you triple your normal rate.”

Triple, you thought. Somehow that made you feel guilty. You already felt bad about this type of job. You were going to be deep in a lie that would last longer than an afternoon. A lie that could potentially hurt someone when your time was up, and the thought of Mr. Barnes learning who you really were made your stomach turn. No one in their right mind would swallow that discovery with an accepting smile.

But you agreed; Not that you had a choice. You signed the contract and Maria gave the Mayor your work number so she could contact you to let you know when and where to show up so you could conveniently run right into James Barnes.

———————————————————–

For the first time, you were nervous. James Barnes’s face has been splashed all over every magazine and stupid celebrity TV program for months, and you couldn’t deny how insanely attractive he was. He was rugged and beautiful at the same time, with a smirk you wanted to kiss and eyes to melt your soul. Not only that, but there was the fact that you would be in the most intense spotlight. While the other men you’ve spent time with were wealthy, they weren’t typically the kind of famous that drew too much attention. Certainly not enough for anyone to remember your face once the job was done. But this was different. A woman by James Barnes’s side for longer than an evening would bring about a nauseating level of attention, but you guessed that’s part of the reason you were getting triple the pay.

You sighed as you plopped down on your couch for the night, stretching your legs out in your comfy sweats and turning on the TV. Flipping through the channels, you immediately stopped when you caught James’s name coming out of some done-up woman’s bright red lips. As she spoke to the camera, she would gesture behind her to the large screen with James’s picture on it, his hand clearly on some random model’s ass. His new toy.

Finally looking away from his face, you focused on what the host was saying about him. “James Barnes, notorious, sexy bad boy and ladies’ man, caught seen with his newest fling, model and actress, Svetlana Antonov. Will this last? If you ask us, she’ll be gone by the end of the week. But who will be next?”

With a groan you clicked off the TV and tossed the remote to the side. “Vultures,” You mumbled. And then, suddenly, you wondered what would be said about you.

——————————————————————

Mayor Barnes, or Winnifred, as she preferred you now call her considering your new ‘personal relationship,’ phoned you no more than two days later. What you hoped would be something simple, like a coffee shop interaction or running into James on the street was, in reality, much more extravagant. The Mayor’s annual summer fundraiser ball. Only the best of the best A-list celebrities, financiers, and hotel heiress’ where invited; People who could donate a significant chunk of change in return for a reputation boost. This is where you would meet James Barnes.

Winnifred had sent over a deep blue Oscar de la Renta gown that had small diamonds speckled around the fabric making it look like the sky on a clear night, with a flowy-ness that when you walked gave the illusion of a refreshing breeze following your steps. There were also matching drop earrings and subtle, silver heels.

You felt amazing in the dress. Not like a princess, but a queen. Thankfully though, you were permitted to do your own hair and makeup. You let your hair tumble over your shoulders and kept your makeup delicate but glamorous enough to match the high quality of the gown.

You looked at your phone, quickly checking the time before slipping it into your clutch. Ready or not, it was time for you to go.

———————————————————————–

To your surprise, Winnifred also sent a limo to escort you. A note sat on the seat cushion that read ‘you couldn’t possibly arrive at the most exclusive event of the year in a cab,’ signed with a cursive ‘Winnie’ in the bottom right corner. You supposed she was right; it would look odd. This way you wouldn’t stand out negatively.

Inside, you gasped at the grandness of the ballroom. Not only was it nothing you had ever seen before, but it was something you couldn’t even imagine if you tried. It wasn’t what you pictured when told it would be a ball. It was more like a black-tie party in an up-and coming-club. The room was dark, but not too dark, with bluish-purple up-lighting, and private, velvety, plush lounges lining the walls that could be hidden by thin curtains. Some danced to the top 40 hits the DJ was playing, but many, mostly the older men, sat chatting and drinking expensive alcohol as young women, much like yourself, draped themselves over their laps.

You realized you had been to something like this before, but not nearly as nice. You had been the girl a man held at his side like a trophy; told not to speak, but to stand there and look pretty. It was like looking through glass at a piece of your life from a different angle. And it looked pathetic. But you had to push that thought from your mind because you had a job to do; one you had signed a contract for.

Looking around, you had no idea how the hell you were going to find James Barnes. His mother only told you he was wearing a blue suit. Not much help you realized, when you actually began to search.

After thirty frustrating minutes of sifting through bodies, you decided you needed a drink, and once you reached the bar, you figured maybe James would be the one to accidentally find you. What is that thing people say? Once you stop looking for a man, a man will come to you, or something like that. You hoped that was the case because you were sick of looking. So instead, you sipped your wine and people-watched.

After some time, you realized you probably looked like an uncomfortable wallflower. You started to explore around a little more, but with your gaze distracted, not watching where you were going, you slammed your shoulder against another’s and your wine glass fell from your hand. The dark liquid splashed all over the floor, and though no one heard the glass shatter over the music, the woman whose white dress was now stained with little red droplets certainly did.

“You LITTLE tramp!” She screamed over the music. “Look what you did!”

Before you could even apologize, the woman shoved you back with a growl and murder in her dark, brown eyes. She looked familiar and a second later you recognized her as Svetlana Antonov: model, actress, and James Barnes’s latest fling. And then…

“Babe, c’mon. It was an accident.” James Barnes. He looked down at the dress with a little chuckle. “It’s no big deal,” He said. “You have twenty of these designer things.”

When he looked up he met your eyes, and while you thought you saw his breath hitch, yours certainly did. Magazines and TV didn’t do him justice. “I-I’m sorry.”

James licked his lip as he stared at your own, then you blushed as the blue-grey irises trailed down to the curve of your throat and back up to your eyes. “Don’t worry about it.”

“James!” Svetlana shrieked, and for the first time you noticed how heavy her Russian accent was. When he didn’t glance her way at her outburst, the model/actress/fling stomped away, muttering curses in her native tongue.

You wanted to stay and talk, but his presence had somehow stunned you into silence. Then you remembered something his mother told you over the phone: ‘Play a little hard to get. James could use a challenge.’

“Well, it was nice to meet you,” You smiled your sweetest smile that held a dash of sexiness. “I should probably go—”

“We haven’t yet.” He said, effectively cutting you off.

“I’m sorry?”

“We haven’t met yet.”

Your lips formed an ‘O.’ For whatever reason, you didn’t expect a comeback. “I’m James.” He reached out and took your hand in his rough yet warm one, then placed a kiss on your skin. “You can call me Bucky.”

You pulled your hand back and said a simple ‘Ok’ in response to his forwardness. He chuckled.

“And you are?”

You took a step back, smiled again, and cutely cocked your head to the side. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about it. I doubt we will be seeing each other again.” Then, you sauntered off, leaving James ‘Bucky’ Barnes speechless where he stood.

 ————————————————————————

At two in the morning, you were done. Your exhaustion had hit a new level and all you wanted was a hot bath and your warm bed, but you still had one trick up your sleeve that you hoped would peak James’s curiosity about you just a little more.

Some guests had left making it easier to hunt down your target. The second you actually began to look, you saw him causally leaning against the bar as he sipped a whiskey, staring at you like it was all he had done since you ran into him earlier. You kept eye contact long enough for him to smirk seductively. But, instead of going over to him like you knew he expected, you kept walking to the exit.

You didn’t see James’s smirk drop. You didn’t see him slam his whiskey glass down and quickly tip the bartender. And you didn’t see him trailing after you, but you knew he was. Because despite how he made your pulse increase to dangerous levels, you were good at your job, and his handsome face and charming smile wasn’t going to change that.

“Hey, wait!” You heard behind you. ‘Right on time,’ You thought, but you kept walking until a familiar warm hand wrapped itself around your upper arm and spun you around. “Wait.”

He was breathing a bit heavy and you made sure to bat your lashes in the moment where silence was between you. “Hello, old friend.”

He kept hold of you, darting his eyes over every feature of your face. “Friend’s know each other’s names.”

“What?” you gasped jokingly, your eyes widening along with the act. “Who told you that?”

His eyes narrowed and he inched his face closer to yours. “My other friends.”

“Oh, well, you and I have very different customs.”

James released your arms and crossed his own over a broad chest. “You’re really not going to tell me your name?”

“Is there some kind of law that requires I do, James?”

“Bucky.”

“James.”

“Bucky.” He stressed.

You sighed. “Fine…Bucky. I don’t see why you could possibly need my name.”

“How else am I going to see you again if I don’t at least have your name so I can track you down?”

You hummed in thought. “Don’t you already have a woman whose name you know? The model?”

“She’s not my girlfriend if that’s what your implying.”

“I wouldn’t care if she was.”

“You sure about that?” He asked, his lips quirking.

“Yes, I am…Bucky.” You chuckled. “Anyway, I should go. Early morning.” But, as you turned, he grabbed you again, this time your hand.

“Please.” He said to your back.

You smirked to yourself, knowing you had won for the night, then faced him again. The pleading look in his eyes almost broke your resolve.

“Y/N.” You said.

James smiled in victory. “Last name, too, sweetheart. I need both to find you.”

You rolled your eyes with a small grin. “Y/L/N. Happy now?”

“Very.”

Then, he let your hand go and watched as you left out the front doors.

tags: @dugan365​ @moonlightimagination​ @pietrotheavenger​ @marvel-fanfiction​ @hawkeyeharrington​ @dani-si​ @alyssiamking @wintersoldier98​ @then-there-was-me-emily​ @prxttybirdz​ @tessvillegas @xceafh​ @jazzwoman897​ @fandoms-who​ @meganwinchester1999​ @ufffg​ @debra77​ @rebelliouscat​ @anise-d-castle6​ @projectxhappiness​ @buckybarnesappreciationsociety​ @lowkeysebby​ @stringgeek13​ @quotemeow @notmyfault404​ @jjamesbbarness​ @stangirl4eva​ @guera31​ @sophiatomlinson23​ @thisismysecrethappyplace​ @hiddles-rose​ @vibhati123 @mywinterwolf​ @picapicapicassobaby​ @lokilvrr​ 

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky au #bucky barnes au #bucky x reader #bucky x you #bucky barnes x you #bucky #bucky barnes #james buchanan barnes #bucky imagine #bucky barnes imagine #bucky fanfic #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes fic #bucky fic #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky fanfiction

[simple-heroics]

Momo Yaoyorozu Fluff Alphabet | Part 1 | Letters A-L

Yes, yes, I know. My bias is showing. But Momo just radiates Distinguished Lesbian and my messy queer self gravitates to her for that. Please help me pull my life together, Yaomomo! 

Also, props to @sparkncharge​ for inspiring me to go Plus Ultra on a fluff alphabet. If you’re a Hawks stan, please check out her Fluff Alphabet for him. It’s amazing; I still reread it. Also, while you’re at it, read the rest of Lily’s work. Her blog is partially what inspired me to start Simple Heroics. 

credit to creator of the fluff alphabet prompt list here

Activities - What do they like to do with their s/o? How do they spend their free time with them?

Momo is pretty sheltered due to her upbringing and there is so much of the commoner’s world for her to discover outside of the little bubble she grew up in. She gets so giddy when you take her out exploring. With this, though, there is a strong, unspoken level of trust as well because it can take her out of comfort zone and even be a little intimidating. 

One of her favorite activities is thrift shopping! She loves going store to store, seeing all the random things being sold and wondering at the stories behind them. While she can create anything in the world, she can’t replicate the history behind a given object. Some of her favorite finds include: a pretty landscape painting by an unknown artist, secondhand novels with annotations inked in, even someone’s diploma from graduate school!

Just as you give her a taste of your world, Momo wants to share as much as hers as possible. So expect the occasional night out at an elegant restaurant, concert halls, tea ceremonies, you name it. Momo takes great delight in introducing you to new experiences.

Her ultimate favorite, though, is when both your worlds come together in the privacy of your shared home. Just you two and a pot of tea shared between you. And she can be herself. Not the class vice president, the Yaoyorozu heiress, or even the Everything Hero: Creati.

 Just Momo - your Momo.

Beauty - What do they admire about their s/o? What do they think is beautiful about them?

More than anything, Momo would admire a s/o with a strong sense of self - someone who knows who they are, where they come from, and what they want in life. Someone who is secure in themselves. Someone who not only accepts themselves but loves themselves, mistakes and all.

It’s the sort of confidence that doesn’t come from skill or achievements or any outside sources. It’s a strong, inherent sense of self-worth that’s unshakable, and it leaves Momo starstruck.

Momo isn’t one to place much value on things like physical appearance but in your case, the deeper she fell, the more beauty she found. There’s this natural allure about you that keeps drawing her in. 

You’re simply…you. Just you. And Momo can’t think of anything more beautiful.

Comfort - How would they help their s/o when they feel down/have a panic attack etc.?

For better or for worse, Momo is very much a problem solver. Like, “What do you need? Do you want some mint tea? A hug? Want me to hold your hand? How can I help? Please let me help you.” 

Yeah, um, Mo? That works great for evacuation and rescue missions. Not so great when someone is having a panic attack. And sometimes, if they’re just feeling down, it’s less about what a person needs and more about just being there for them. It takes some talking for Momo to learn this but when she does, our girl adapts her approach accordingly. 

That said, Momo figures out one surefire way to comfort you on particularly gloomy days: Blanket forts. 

Yes, Momo is miss prim and proper and tends towards going for a more “practical” approach to most things. But blanket forts are fun. They’re also cozy and warm and make you feel safe. And it’s prime location for cuddling and sweet affection when you most need it.

Plus, she can make all the pillows you could ever want in there. Your blanket fort is magnificent, complete with only the softest of blankets and strung up fairy lights and Momo’s loving arms.

Dreams - How do they picture their future with their s/o?

For years, Momo’s greatest focus was her hero career – countless hours of study, training, and internships. Her brain was so crammed with the physical composition of everything to really think about a future.

Then you came along. 

Momo doesn’t have any grand fantasies; her reality is already adventurous enough. Her dreams for your future together are simple, humble imaginings not much different from your current life together except for you’re both older. Some silver threading into her dark hair, crow’s feet around your eyes.

Momo wants to continue this life with you for as long as possible. Her dream is to grow old together. Given her profession, she knows all too well not to take any single day for granted.

Simple or no, just thinking about living her entire life with you makes her giddy enough to call in 30 minutes early so she can get home to you faster.

Equal - Are they the dominant one in the relationship, or rather passive?

Neither. You’re partners, equals in this relationship. 

She trusts your judgement implicitly. Part of the reason Momo is in a relationship with you is because she respects you and holds you in a high regard. Likewise (and especially knowing her history with second guessing herself), you always ask for Momo’s input on things. 

H o w e v e r, that said, I do believe the roles can fluctuate in this relationship quite a bit. Momo can sometimes be strict with you in the sense that because she thinks so well of you, she knows you can do better and she pushes you. On other days, she herself can be rather passive. The key is communication.

The one thing Momo will never, ever waver on, though, is your safety. She isn’t overly protective by any means but is realistic and practical. And being the s/o of a high-ranking Pro-Hero comes with its own risks. Momo needs to where you’re at and that you’re safe. She personally ensures that you always, always have a way of getting in contact with her. If she herself cannot be reached, she makes sure you have pretty much all top 10 heroes on speed dial.

Seriously. Click any number on your cell. Any one of them is likely to be the personal phone number of Earphone Jack or Shoto or freaking Number One Hero Deku. (Creati is number 1, though. That’s your baby right there.)

Fight - Would they be easy to forgive their s/o? How are they fighting?

Thankfully, fights are rare. But when they happen, they’re serious. Extremely so. And honestly? I don’t want to see an angry Momo. 

She doesn’t yell or angry cry or insult you. Her expression is hard, resolute, as she makes her points in the argument while simultaneously cutting through every one of yours. 

Two things make arguments with Momo terrible: One, she’s too damn smart and makes some very good points that are hard to argue with. Two, because she’s smart and makes good points, it can feel like you’re being condescended to you like a child. 

And that never ends well.

Thankfully, Momo has a good outlook when it comes to arguments. She has a “us vs. the problem” mindset rather than a “me vs you” which in itself helps a great deal. Additionally, if she’s in a relationship with you, she knows you very well and can understand where you’re coming from.

That said, Momo is a patient, mature person who prefers prioritizes resolving problems and is quick to put things behind her. She is also very good at apologizing when she’s in the wrong but would expect the same in turn. 

Gratitude - How grateful are they in general? Are they aware of what their s/o is doing for them?

So, so grateful.

If anything, Momo is hyper aware of the things you do for her and this in turn motivates her to return the favor a hundred fold. This includes: extravagant dates at fancy restaurants, sending you to a spa when she herself can’t see you, making you tea almost every night, complimenting you when you’re just in sweats and a stained shirt, bringing you shopping for a new shirt and some Gucci sweatpants, taking you to see that movie you looked for to…at its actual screening event!

Momo is pulling out all the stops for you. Is she your girlfriend or your Sugar Mama? Perhaps both.

Every time you do anything for her, even something as small as grabbing something from a high shelf, she thanks you with a dazzling smile. You just make her feel so happy and so loved. Momo can’t thank you enough.

Honesty - Do they have secrets they hide from their s/o? Or do they share everything?

Momo doesn’t get into the habit of hiding anything from you. However, that doesn’t mean she shares everything. There are some things she prefers to keep to herself and others she has to due to confidentiality in certain cases. 

She does, however, try to hide her insecurities from you. Momo wants you to see her as strong and capable, an intelligent leader who can be relied on. She’s learned to keep up a strong front, as any weakness a hero displays can easily be taken advantage of by a villain or torn apart by the press. The public needs a strong face. 

But you aren’t the public. Neither are you a villain out to exploit her weaknesses nor journalist looking for more fodder for tabloids. You’re her significant other, her life partner. 

You tell her as many times as she needs to hear this. It takes time and a lot of late night conversations and built up trust but eventually, you two get there.

Inspiration - Did their s/o change them somehow, or the other way around? Like trying out new things or helped them overcome personal problems?

Yes, absolutely yes. Momo learned that her self-worth shouldn’t be assigned to things like being the smartest student or the strongest hero or even as the best version of herself. She alone is more than adequate. 

As was mentioned in Activities, you also split her world wide open and made her realize the bubble she grew up in. It’s made her acknowledge her own privilege in a lot of ways which in turn made her more understanding of society is set up, especially in regards to her hero work. Momo becomes a far more compassionate hero when it comes time to suppress villains, understanding how life circumstances push some to make unfortunate choices. This realization in turn made Momo start finding other ways to help people outside of hero work, such as donating money to rehabilitation programs and advocating for changes in laws that reinforce the status quo.

As for you, Momo taught you how to let yourself be more sensitive and perhaps gentler. You learn to see people beyond the front they put up, how to recognize their insecurities. Your relationship with her has made you more compassionate as well, so that when you see anyone struggling with what your love sometimes does, you’re quicker to offer a comforting word or validation.

Jealousy - Do they get jealous easily? How do they deal with it?

Momo gets more insecure than jealous. Whenever she sees you spending a great deal of time with another person, she questions herself as a partner to you and consequently beats herself over it.

She remembers every canceled date, every missed phone call, every time she’s had to put you - the love of her life - second to her career. Then she berates herself for feeling guilty about prioritizing being a hero, someone who - you know - saves people. Why would she put a relationship before something so important?

But you weren’t just a mere “relationship”; you’re her world. But was she enough for you? How could she be when she was so busy all the time?

God forbid she starts comparing herself to the person you’re spending so much time with, especially if they’re funnier than her or more reliable or stronger or just more available than she is.

It’s an ongoing cycle and is honestly the saddest things in the world to watch, seeing this strong and capable woman destroy herself from the inside out. Unless she catches herself, Momo could potentially start self-sabotaging.

Please sit down with your girlfriend and talk to her. Please hold her hand as you reassure her that she is more than enough. Please have a long, serious talk about this before Momo breaks down.

After a series of conversations and perhaps some compromises in busy schedules, Momo doesn’t feel insecure very often. When she does, she learns to catch it and talk herself through it.

She reminds herself: You knew what being with a hero meant before you agreed to this relationship, and you’re proud of her. Your relationship is strong. You love her. 

And she loves you, too. So much. :’)

Also…lowkey, when she gets jealous, Momo probs spoils the hell out of you. I’m talking date night at a rented out restaurant, private gardens, expensive wine, the works. The most important part being that she’s taken this time for you and only you. 

Kiss - Are they a good kisser? What was the first kiss like?

Momo dreamed about your first kiss long before you two started dating, though she tries to deny it with a precious blush across her cheeks. She pictured it after a romantic evening, perhaps at her doorstep, with the moon and the stars and she would hold your hand before gently leaning closer and — 

Yeah, no. Your first kiss was nothing like that. 

It was after a long, hard day of training. Momo was sweaty and gross, covered in dirt, and her body was sore from the extensive use of her Quirk. She was so worn out that she barely even noticed you staring.

And boy, when she did, was she flustered. That is until at her you leaned closer to give her a soft peck on the lips.

“You worked hard out there. I’m really proud of you,” you told her simply.

Momo wouldn’t trade that first kiss for any fantasy in the world. 

Your future kisses, however, are certainly more…ahem. Involved than the first. All this to say…YES, Momo Yaoyorozu is absolutely a good kisser. I refuse to accept anything less and frankly, neither would she. She was shy and demure about it at first but when Momo does something, she does it well. 

Momo masters the art of sweet, lingering kisses that leave you breathless in their intensity. They usually start with a look, her eyes gently darkening as she takes you in. Her hands delicately touch the sides of your face, smoothing your hair behind your ears to allow her a better look. You can feel the flutter of her eyelashes as she leans in, her breath warm on her lips, before she meets them with her own. 

Her kisses are soft and gentle but no less intense. 

When she pulls back with a quiet hum, Momo rests her forehead against yours and smiles lovingly at your (understandably) dazed expression.

Love Confession - How would they confess to their s/o?

Momo is so cute when she confesses. I know I’ve gushed about her time and again, and I definitely won’t stop anytime soon. 

Since her feelings for you first began, Momo held them close to her heart even when her mind is in a thousand other places with hero duties. It’s only later when she’s alone and quiet does she allow herself to focus on you – your smile, your sense of adventure, your honesty, the way your eyes light up, how you challenge her to go beyond plus ultra her comfort zone and grow as a person. 

How could someone like you be interested in someone like her? 

These feelings grew and grew, combating with Momo’s private insecurities. The more time she spends with you, though, the less they matter. You give her butterflies, yes, but you make her braver, too.

And brave is what she needs when she confesses.

Momo’s confession isn’t a spur of the moment thing. It’s planned - from the when to the how and even the where. She invites you somewhere private, somewhere she feels comfortable and is also meaningful to you both. Perhaps a garden or in the hidden corner of a tea shop you two frequent.

Momo has an entire speech planned. It’s formal and put together and she has it completely memorized but then –

She meets your eyes and suddenly, despite her ability to memorize the atomic structure of everything, that speech evaporates in her mind. She stutters, trying to grasp at the least beginning, and decides to - for once - let go of what’s “proper”. 

And like Todoroki said…Momo’s speciality is thinking under pressure.

Momo tells you everything: her first impression of when she met you, the first time you made her laugh, the way her eyes teared up during your first argument, her gratitude for that one time you stood up for her against Mineta, all the ways you inspire her, the way your voice is her favorite sound, and how you make her feel. 

You make her so happy and grateful and amused and dizzy and frustrated and emotional. You make her feel confident and so much braver than she actually is.

She takes your hands in hers, holding them like they are the most precious things in the world, and looks at you with shining grey eyes. In those eyes, you see someone so sure and certain of her feelings - her feelings for you.

“I love you, y/n. I love you dearly.”

#boku no hero academia #boku no hero imagines #boku no hero headcanons #boku no hero academia imagines #bnha #bnha headcanons #bnha imagines #bnha fanfiction #my hero academia #mha #yaoyorozu #momo yaoyozoru #yaoyorozu momo #creati #yaomomo #momo yaoyorozu x reader #yaoyorozu x reader #yaoyorozu momo x reader #bnha x reader #bnha reader insert #reader insert #fluff alphabet #fluff #fluff headcanons #yaoyorozu momo headcanons #momo yaoyorozu headcanons #yaoyorozu momo imagine #momo yaoyorozu imagine #i want momo to be my sugar mama

[vincent-g-writer]

The Silver Screen Savant, pt 2- the Meh, the Bad and The yikes.

Hello Writers!

Last time here on Starry Starry Write, I talked a little about Autism in the media and my personal experiences therein. Today, I’d like to go a little broader, and tackle the topic from a macro perspective.

In recent times, you’ve probably heard “Representation Matters” oft repeated. Especially in prominent talking spaces like social media. But what does that mean, exactly?

Why “Representation Matters,” and how.

The short answer:

Diverse representation in media tells us that everyone has a place in the world. That everyone’s story matters.

The long answer:

It’s no secret that we begin engaging with media at a young age. When I was growing up in the 90’s and 00’s, TV and video games were often the babysitters of my peers. I was one of the few kids in my neighborhood whose parents weren’t divorced. The kids I knew? Not so much. Most of them were raised by single parents, grandparents and of course-the boob tube. I personally prefered books, when my mom wasn’t yelling “it’s too nice out to be holed up in that dark bedroom!”

Now, don’t mistake my preference for some kind of intellectual superiority. I watched plenty of TV too. Besides, books aren’t magically out of the equation. Printed material is our oldest form of media. And- often just as problematic. Though I will say- I saw a much broader range of people on covers adoring library shelves than I ever did titles on a TV roster. But, I digress. The point is: for many of us, consuming media begins at an early time of our life. And that’s where the problem starts. Even in my childhood, where The Magic School Bus, Hey Arnold, and Sesame Street showed people of all kinds, I can point to many that did not. Especially not people like me. Which did me a grave disservice. I didn’t know I was on the spectrum for a long time, and when I finally found out, I was horrified, thanks to what I had seen on TV.

Because media is not only a wonderful way to learn about people that don’t look, act or sound like us. It also informs our ideas of who we are, and what we can be. Whether we like it or not: it shapes how we understand the world. And it doesn’t stop with Childhood.

Time Changes Much, but not all.

Things are better now. Well, a little bit, anyway.

As an adult, I see more people like me on the screen nowadays. Which is nice.

Ish.

Why “ish?” Well…

Frequently, these “noticeably different” characters (read: Autistically coded) are branded “NOT AUTISTIC!” You heard it here first, folks! That one character (insert your favorite) is Totally Not Autistic. Despite being written in a way that gives every indication otherwise.

*Facepalm*

Now for some examples, which we’ll call the “Meh,” “The Bad” and the “Yikes.” For “fun,” we’ll also go into the off-air perceptions of the characters.

The “Meh.”

First on the list is Dr. Spencer Reid, from CBS’s “Criminal Minds.”

Dr. Reid is the youngest member of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, having joined at the age of 22. He holds three B.A degrees in Sociology, Psychology and Philosophy, as well as three Ph.D’s in Engineering, Chemistry, and Mathematics.

He also has the social skills of a limp dishrag. Wait, what’s that? High Intelligence + Low Social Awareness? Hmmm…Then there’s his restrictive behavioral patterns, obsessive interests, and general “quirkiness!” that we could talk about. But let’s hear a quote from the actor who plays him, Matthew Gray Gubler:

“..an eccentric genius, with hints of schizophrenia and minor autism, Asperger’s Syndrome. Reid is 24, 25 years old with three PH.D.s and one can’t usually achieve that without some form of autism.”

Hoooo-boy. I could go into all the things wrong with this, including why the term “Asperger’s” is both horrific (TW: Eugenics,Ableism, N*zis) and harmful. However, today we’ll simply leave it with the fact that this term is no longer applicable, having been reclassified in 2013 as part of Autism Spectrum disorder.

The “Bad.”

Next up, we have Will Graham, from NBC’s Hannibal.

Like our first example, Will works for the FBI. He’s a gifted criminal profiler with “special” abilities, namely hyper empathy, which allows him to reconstruct the actions and fantasies of the killers he hunts. He’s intellectually gifted, hates eye contact, socializing, and prefers to spend…most of his time…alone.

Oh dear. Haven’t we been here before? But, I mean, he doesn’t have Autism! The show runner says so!

For Will Graham, there’s a line in the pilot about him being on the spectrum of autism or Asperger’s, and he’s neither of those things. He actually has an empathy disorder where he feels way too much and that’s relatable in some way. There’s something about people who connect more to animals than they do to other people because it’s too intense for whatever reason.

You can’t see me right now, but I’m cringing. A lot. This is just…ugh. I mean, for starters, I know a handful of autistic people who struggle with hyper empathy, which can make social situations overwhelming and hard to navigate. In fact, I happen to be one of them. Plus, there’s a cool little thing about how, frequently, people on the spectrum more readily identify with animals. But, y’know. Who am I to say? I’m just someone, one of many, who’s dealt with this my whole life.

Now, onto the “Yikes.”

*sigh*

And finally, we have BBC’s Sherlock, a modern adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s renowned “consulting” detective, and probably the most famous fictional character of all time.

Now, I’ll start by saying that the BBC incarnation is not the first to be Spectrum labeled. In fact, Sherlock was my childhood hero, and the first “person” I saw referred to this way. My aunt, an avid reader herself, casually remarked to a friend “I’ve always wondered if Holmes is Autistic,” after I came yammering on about how fantastic the books were. Had I not been champing at the bit to get back to my reading, I might have asked her what that meant.

I also believe this fandom driven speculation is why many detective type characters (see above) are often coded as Autistic, intentionally or otherwise.

In this New York Times article, Lisa Sanders, M.D. describes Holmes traits:

He appears oblivious to the rhythms and courtesies of normal social intercourse — he doesn’t converse so much as lecture. His interests and knowledge are deep but narrow. He is strangely “coldblooded,” and perhaps as a consequence, he is also alone in the world.

Now, before we go any father, let me take a moment to defend his creator. During the time Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first created his most famous work, Autism was not known. That isn’t to say it didn’t exist. We’ve always existed. In fact, it’s now believed that the Changeling Myth, a common European folk story, was a way to explain Autism. In one telling (there are a few) children displaying “intelligence beyond their years” and “uncanny knowledge” were imposters, traded out by Fae creatures for offspring of their own. Children believed to be “Changlings,” regretfully, often came to a bad end. A chilling reminder that the stories we tell impact our real lives.

So while Autism was at least somewhat recognized, it did not become its own official diagnosis until 1943.

Meanwhile, Sherlock Holmes was first published in 1892. Now, as a writer who often draws from my personal reality, I imagine Doyle probably “wrote what he knew,” which is to say, acquainted with one or more Autistic people, he used them as inspiration.

On the other hand…

BBC’s Sherlock first aired in 2010. And while one might argue that the writers simply capitalized on the Autistic fan-theory, or took already available traits and exaggerated them for their version… they left a lot to be desired. Autism aside, this new Sherlock is…well…an asshole. Narcissistic, abusive and egocentric (to name a few) he sweeps his caustic behavior under the rug of “high functioning sociopath,” and blytly ignores the consequences.

Which is a major problem. Because while doing this, he’s still “obviously” (at least in the Hollywood sense) Autistic. In my previous post, where I said some characters are “too smart™, and logical© to ever have feelings, friends or empathy,” this is what I meant.

This is bad. We’re looping right back to Representation Matters. Bad representation, and the navigating of such, is just as important for writers to think about as good representation. Maybe even moreso. Because bad representation paints real people into cardboard, stereotyped people-shaped things. It otherizes. And it’s harmful. You would not believe the people I’ve met assume I’m not Autistic because I’m not an egotistical jerk. Why? Because they watched, you guessed it, BBC Sherlock.

Confession time:

Now here’s my little secret:

I love all of these characters. They are some of my favorite on tv. Why? Because for good or ill, I recognize myself in them. Finally, I can turn on the TV, and see myself. Or, somewhat, anyway.

My favorite character out of this list? Loath though I am to admit it… Is Sherlock. See, what those well meaning folks didn’t know (the ones who say I’m I’m “too nice,” to be Autistic) is… well, if we’re being honest, I wasn’t always nice. A few years ago, I was that guy. I was a jerk because I thought I was the smartest person in the room. Which is really not a good look. In fact, sitting down and watching the first season of sherlock, (around three or four years after it came out) made me realize how much of a jerk I actually was.

There are other things there too. Things that tie me to all these characters, that I didn’t list. But that’s for another today.

For now, I’d like to add a caveat or two:

1) I’ve watched all the shows listed above, and adore them. As I mentioned, Sherlock is my favorite. He’s also the one I’ve watched the most (Repeatedly, in fact. Whoops.) and I recognize it’s not all bad. In the end, he learned to treat people better (somewhat) and certainly became more human over time. And, there are other deeply problematic elements of the show I’d like to tackle, eventually.

*cough* Queerbating! *cough*

2) I’m well aware that the above cases are all thin, white, able bodied, “straight” males. But I chose these characters for a couple of reasons. One, they’re the most prominent type on TV. Again, we loop back around to representation, and why we need more positive, diverse examples of it.

And finally-

3) In my last post, I mentioned I’d give some “good” instances of Hollywood Autism trope. But I didn’t exactly do that. Partially, because half way through, I thought…perhaps…I’m not the best to judge what might be a good Autistic character. I mean, I’m sure someone will read this and think my current aforementioned characters are fine. Heck! They might even argue my perception here, and say the characters are just fine. I accept that. In my life, both on and off the page, I recognize that I cannot, should not (and don’t want to) speak for an entire community.

Because of this, I cannot tell you how to write a “good” Autistic character, or what media is “acceptable.” I can’t even really tell you what a bad character is. Sure, I have a lot of opinions about it. But- if you’re on the spectrum and like and identify with the above? That’s fine. I mean, even with all the problems I noted (and some I didn’t) I certainly do.

On the other hand, if you’re a writer, and you want to write a character from this (or any, for that matter) community you aren’t part of, I caution you.

Do your research. Preferably from multiple credible sources.

Talk to people on the spectrum about what it’s really like. (Though try to steer clear of asking for emotional labor.You could, say, hop on reddit and ask the community there, for instance, which is a no pressure way to obtain potentially decent info.)

Finally, whatever you do, remember this-

Autistic people can look like anyone. We can act, and think and be different, like anyone. We are real, living, breathing people. Not robots, not sob stories, not tropes. People. So if you write about us, write us like people. And your work will be all the better for it.

-Your Loving Vincent

#autism #autistic problems #actually autistic #autistic experiences #autistic life #media #hollywood #film #TV #television #will graham #nbc hannibal #hannibal #sherlock #bbc sherlock #criminal minds #arthur conan doyle #writers on tumblr #writing #writers #tropes #spencer reid #autism in media #representation matters #autistic representation #liturature #own voices #do your research #emotional labor #caution

[fangirlinglikeabus]

every target novelisation....2!

planet of giants by terrance dicks ok so i think that the reason that this is...good, and an unearthly child was...not good, is because this was written 9 years later when like. other, non-terrance dicks people were also novelising stories and he wasn’t just grinding them out on an industrial level. planet of giants isn’t one of the greats of doctor who but this is a competent adaptation - it doesn’t add much but it does flesh out what’s already there, giving us some backstory elements and making the appearance of giant insects and bodies seem a bit more dramatic than they could manage in 1964. unfortunately it also alters my favourite line from the story (‘i don't know how you know, you're supposed to know!’) and the doctor is weirdly hostile at the beginning (he’s looking forward to ditching ian and barbara, he responds to barbara’s observation ‘drily’ like he’s being a bit sarcastic over her, um, *checks notes* noticing important details). also, dicks describes this in the opening as ‘the doctor’s most grotesque and terrifying adventure’ and i’m like...planet of giants? really??

doctor who and the dalek invasion of earth by terrance dicks ok this one legitimately doesn’t change much at all. it cuts down on some things (including the doctor’s end speech being shorter - i’m assuming that’s a space thing), fleshes out on pov bits as you can in prose, gets rid of the smacked bottom line. bizarrely there are a few times that susan calls her grandfather the doctor which...i’m pretty sure wasn’t there originally. aside from all those small details, yeah it’s basically the same, but it’s well adapted for prose (i genuinely think it stands as a novel in its own right), and depending on your reading speed it might actually be a nice, shorter alternative to the television version - it was around 45 minutes less time for me. some general things i wanted to comment on: the resistance is explicitly shown as kinda gender segregated (exclusively women are preparing food when we first see it) which irritated me; the description of parliament as a symbol of ‘human progress and tradition’ reminded me of blood harvest having the lords/commons system as the Ideal Form Of Government, in terms of how terrance dicks thinks (this may only interest me? idk i very probably spend too much time thinking about the political views of this particular dead dr who script editor); there’s a use of holocaust here that’s technically accurate to what the word literally means but it felt weird to me to use it.

the rescue by ian marter oh man i’ve been busy and this took me aages to read. it kinda...diverges increasingly from the original story as it goes on. we’ve got some scenes with the seeker crew (incidentally one of them says ‘ass’ and i was like???hello???you’re allowed to do that in a dr who book from 1987???), and then most of the expanded stuff is in the climax. dr who and bennett have a full on brawl! ian, barbara and vicki visit a destroyed didoi city on their way back to the tardis! mysterious silver figures! a giant worm encounter! incidentally, this does have way more of a downer ending than the original because it’s strongly implied that the last two of the didoi were killed by seeker crewmembers who fired in a panic, after which the report that forms the epilogue ends with “goodwill to all persons” to give us a taste of bitter irony. so that’s kinda grim. um...there’s actually a lot of little changes and minor expansions to this one as well so off the top of my head: we learn more about why vicki left earth (global warming :/), sandy is a lot more threatening-looking than on screen, the crashed ship gets its name changed to astra-nine, ian and barbara hold hands briefly, barbara’s fall really leaves her beaten up. i like the seeker crew comparing the tardis briefly passing them to various non-police box objects from the future (although the link to china is a bit eastern world=alien association for my tastes), dr who telling vicki ‘give that pretty face a wipe’ is clearly him attempting to cheer her up and it’s not meant to be weird but i found it weird. finally, i’ve gotta say i appreciate ian marter’s commitment to ‘mildly unsettling’ in his descriptions of tardis materialisations. this was the last novelisation he wrote before his death (the book’s dedicated to him) and mild criticisms aside, i do think he’s a good writer and he brings an interestingly different angle to the series. 

the romans by donald cotton oh my god. how do i even start this. i’m not even going to try cataloguing all the changes because this isn’t even close to a straight adaptation. it’s told in the form of various documents collected by tacitus - the doctor’s diary, ian’s journal that he keeps to prove to the headmaster at coal hill that he and barbara haven’t just eloped (i’m not joking, this is the textual reason for it), an assassin’s letters home to his mum, nero’s scribblings, and various other little details. vicki and barbara get less attention than on screen because we don’t see much from their perspective (vicki unfortunately doesn’t even get to chase the assassin out, she just screams in this), and the nero assassination plot is exclusively confined to being mentioned in the epilogue. it’s also a lot broader, or at least consistently broader, which means that ian’s side of things is treated a lot more lightly (which i was personally fine with) but also that we still get nero’s predatory behaviour being played for laughs. there’s also a few comments about women early on that i was unhappy with, and use of fat as an insult. generally, though, i thought this was great! there were a lot of things that i don’t have space or time to include here but i really liked. i guess i’d consider this as a companion piece to the tv version rather than a replacement, which some of these do basically serve as. they tell the same basic story, but they’re so different in a lot of ways that i think it’s worth looking at both. i just checked my notes and remembered this so content warning: poppea sabina’s first section references suicide.

doctor who and the zarbi by bill strutton ok so i think the web planet is boring. i don’t know completely why, i don’t think it’s any one thing, it has some interesting ideas, but it is! it’s fucking boring! anyway, we have a bit more casual sexism in the novel, we’re missing that fun convo about aspirin between vicki and barbara, but really i don’t think it adds or changes much - like even the chapters correspond pretty much exactly to the tv cliffhangers. i guess it’s competently written prose-wise, but i genuinely can’t get over my conviction that this story is boring. am i being unfair? maybe! i like some of the early atmosphere, though, and i appreciate a book which refers to ‘the ship tardis’ (lowercase) and ‘doctor who’ throughout the entire thing. oh yeah, and i encourage you all to look up the illustrations for this. i don’t know who that woman is but she’s definitely not vicki.

doctor who and the crusaders by david whitaker ah yes, the infamous ‘susan married david cameron’ novelisation. tbh i don’t like the crusades and this has the same problems - i don’t care about the english, el akir is every orientalist stereotype whitaker could possibly cram into one man, and That’s Not How A Harem Works. do i think it’s the most egregiously racist doctor who story of all time? probably not! it certainly has sympathetic arabic characters too. but i prefer most other historicals, at least. however, if that isn’t you, i’m sure you’ll get something out of this. there aren’t any particularly extreme changes to the plot structure, although it’s missing some later scenes at the english court, but it’s well written and probably if you like the original you’ll enjoy it more than i did. there’s some dated language surrounding black characters, though, i’m not a fan of the whole ‘we aren’t so different’ speech ian has (because it rests on ‘we all believe in a higher power’ which uh. i don’t. guess that means i’m not ‘civilised’. also generally i don’t like the argument that we should respect each other because of what we have in common - you should respect other people whatever!), and the prologue at the beginning where they muse on history and destiny assumes that the english invaders and the arabs are both equally right in their own ways (the doctor outright says this!)

the space museum by glyn jones so, i really like the space museum. mainly for vicki’s revolutionary fervour, but there are other reasons too. however, i don’t think that this really adds enough to be of interest - although we do get some information about the two alien species’ biology, and a bonus explanation of why everyone speaks english (the moroks briefly considered invading earth so programmed some earth languages into their translation system). there’s a bit more wandering around the museum, some minor tweaks and expansions in other areas, an underground tunnel scene where we learn a bit of the planet’s backstory...ian and the doctor are very snippy to each other in this, which i find funny. oh yeah, and there’s a bizarrely meta bit where ian comments on poor dialogue? basically, this is a book i enjoyed, but really it just makes me want to watch the space museum instead of reading it. just a heads up, there’s a character who briefly considers suicide to get out of his bosses being angry with him. 

the chase by john peel ok before i get started i need to establish that the cover for this one slaps. anyway, i don’t respect john peel at all but this was...alright? doesn’t expand much plotwise (although i suspect both the sand monsters at the beginning and the plants at the end have slightly more to do) but we get a fair bit of pov stuff. unfortunately lacking ian’s dad dancing and hi-fi the panda, the marie celeste bit is no longer played for comedy (barbara angsts over it) and even though the two paragraphs dragging morton dill are kinda funny i’m not sure how i feel about him being committed for claiming he saw daleks. ian and barbara’s departure plays out a little differently. steven is blond for some reason. we learn as well that daleks are charged by solar panels (at least they’re pro-green energy??)

the time meddler by nigel robinson pretty competent, straight down the middle novelisation, although that is tempered by inserting some weird sexist bits for steven and also lowkey being nostalgic for 11th century england at a few points? it’s also a bit more violent than we see on tv, and if anything the rape is more loudly implied, so heads up. other than that, there are a few minor embellishments (we’re explicitly told the dr and monk recognise each other, vicki tells steven that the tardis is important to her because it’s her home, a few differences between the monk’s tardis and the doctor’s are described, vicki views steven following her as a triumphant victory in their power struggle which i personally find funny), and there’s a prologue (recapping steven’s arrival in the tardis) and an epilogue (which delays the monk’s discovery of the broken tardis because he walks to hastings first to try and get involved there). i had fun, but it’s not a must read. 

#doctor who #classic who #first doctor #susan foreman #ian chesterton #barbara wright #vicki pallister #steven taylor #laura reads dw books #target marathon #this took me aaages and i don't even have an excuse lol i finished uni weeks ago #anyway sorry if this is a bit rushed i'm literally leaving for somewhere in five minutes and i wanted to get this out first

[aion-rsa]

Jupiter’s Legacy: Choreographing Superheroic Stunts

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Stunt teams are some of the hardest working people in the industry. They literally put their lives on the line just to entertain us and yet there’s so little acknowledgement of their contributions. There is no Oscar for stunt work, but there should be. Netflix’s adaptation of Jupiter’s Legacy has secured one of the industry’s hottest stunt choreographers, one who is no stranger to superhero action, Philip J. Silvera. 

If you’ve read Jupiter’s Legacy already, you know Frank Quitely’s artwork leaps off the page, splattered with intense moments of sanguineous bloodshed. Quitely’s graphic style is a perfect fit for Silvera, who says he’s always been inspired by the visceral violence of films like Goodfellas and The Godfather Part II.

“My action in the past has always had a bit of a lead pipe brutality to it,” confesses Silvera with a grin. Who better to choreograph the huge superhero brawls of Jupiter’s Legacy? 

School of Hard Knocks 

Stunt work has always been Silvera’s destiny. “I always wanted to do stunts, since I was a kid.” Silvera’s father was a boxer who was just about to go pro, but his fortune took a bad turn after he broke his arm and leg. Nevertheless, Philip inherited his father’s fighting spirit. After starting his martial arts training in Karate, Silvera switched over to a Shaolin-based system of Chinese Kung Fu, which he studied for about 20 years. 

Silvera got his first break in 1997. He was competing in a martial arts tournament in New York City when he was approached to do an off-Broadway show called Voice of the Dragon: Once Upon a Time in Chinese America. It was a groundbreaking show from maverick playwright and noted jazz composer Fred Ho. Silvera describes it as “a bit of an urban Peking opera, really a martial arts ballet.” The show demanded he play a character, do martial arts, fight, fall, and flip on stage in front of a live audience. 

As Silvera got deeper into the stunt world, his training diversified to accommodate a wider variety of roles. He studied Kali stick fighting and even trained with Cecep Arif Rahman (The Raid 2, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum). Beyond his film work, Rahman is a genuine master of the Indonesian martial art called Pencak Silat. As a stunt coordinator, Silvera must keep pushing his training forward so he can meet the demands of his next project. “I just constantly want to keep learning different things and evolving.”

Silvera began officially working as a stuntman in movies and TV in 2005. You must work your way up to that director’s chair, and in the stunt industry, that means you’ve got to pay your dues and take a lot of hard knocks. By 2010, he got his first action and fight choreographer credit with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. That was followed by several coordinator roles on more video games like DC Universe Online, Batman: Arkham City, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. After an uncredited role assisting with the fight choreography in Iron Man 3, he received his first credited movie fight choreographer role for Thor: The Dark World.

Changing the Game

However, it was his work on Netflix’s Daredevil that caught the attention of both action and superhero fans. Silvera served as the Fight and Stunt Coordinator for the first two seasons of the series, and for action connoisseurs, he built a choreographic trademark for the show: the one-take fight scene. In Daredevil’s second episode, Silvera orchestrated a showstopping one-take hallway slugfest and every fan of fight choreography took notice. That scene propelled action in streaming TV to the cinematic level of big screen fight choreography. “I think most people would be surprised to hear that we designed that one-shot sequence in Daredevil in a day and a half,” Silvera says. 

Silvera followed up that hallway fight with a one-take stairwell scrap in season two (an episode directed by Marc Jobst, who also directed two episodes of Jupiter’s Legacy). Hallway and stairwell fights comprise two of the three most common settings for extended fight scenes (the third being warehouse fights – there’s an innumerable amount of these in actioners because it’s just easy and cheap to find warehouse locations). Hallways serve as a device to narrow the playing field when one person must take on several opponents. The width of the hallway restricts how many adversaries can come at the hero at a time. Silvera’s Daredevil hallway fight is held in the same esteem as the epic hallway fight in Chan-wook Park’s Oldboy and is considered by many to be the greatest TV fight scene to date. 

Stairway fights showcase technical expertise. The footwork must be precise because one misstep can result in a devastating ankle twist for any stunt person. Additionally, falling down stairwells isn’t easy. It requires top notch stunt people to stage safely. 

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Jupiter’s Legacy: From Page to Screen

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Jupiter’s Legacy Ending Explained

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For Silvera to deliver such high-level fight choreography for the small screen was groundbreaking. Until the rise of streaming, most TV shows were more reserved with their action because it is a longer haul. A feature-length movie might contain half a dozen fight scenes, at best. An action TV series might stage that many fights in just two or three episodes, with plenty more over the course of the season. This takes an incredible toll on the stunt team, which is why many martial arts-themed TV series gas out before the season finale. This is what made Silvera’s work on Daredevil so revolutionary at the time. Now, a half decade later, many TV shows have upped their action game, but they owe a great debt to Silvera and his team. “I really enjoyed bringing Daredevil to life. Charlie Cox was amazing. That was a pleasure working with Steve DeKnight on that show.” 

Since then, Silvera has tackled several super powered action icons for the silver screen, like Deadpool, Terminator: Dark Fate, and the Jaegers in Pacific Rim: Uprising. Silvera has fond memories of sitting down with director Tim Miller while working on Deadpool and Terminator: Dark Fate and setting the parameters of superpowers in combat. “It’s always that they’re really good at this, but what’s their weakness?” The audience will accept superpowers if the film stays consistent within its constructs. For Silvera, it’s about finding a new challenge in every sequence. “What I try and do is always make it super relative to the characters and then make it so that the audience can feel something when they watch it.”

Super Fights

Spanning eight episodes in Season 1, Jupiter’s Legacy allows Silvera the space to stretch his choreographic legs. “I believe the action on our show pushes the story and the characters forward, as much as it does on any of the other shows I’ve worked on in the past,” Silvera says. “And I’m super excited to see what fans think of the storytelling, the nonverbal storytelling, that happens within our action sequences.” 

Non-verbal storytelling lies at the very heart of every action choreographer. The fight scenes are the climax of the story and that unspoken dialogue of conflict must rise to that or else an actioner will fail. “Nonverbal communication,” stresses Silvera, “like The Empire Strikes Back, the scene that happens between Luke and Vader.” His passion for the Star Wars franchise led him to direct “Star Wars: Scene 38 ReImagined.” It was a reworking of the first lightsaber battle we ever saw – Obi-Wan Kenobi versus Darth Vader. Silvera spliced together footage from Star Wars: A New Hope with new fight footage. Doubling for Obi-Wan was Dan Brown (Black Panther, Spider-Man: Far from Home). Vader was Richard Cetrone, who was Ben Affleck’s stunt double in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. “Both are seasoned stuntmen in this business and have been around for a while,” adds Silvera.

“Scene 38 ReImagined” was a huge success with over 33.5 million views on YouTube. “That was a bit of a test for myself, as a second unit director and a first unit director,” says Silvera. “I wanted to see if I could add the emotional content into a sequence, that you know the character’s full story from beginning to end.”

From Comics Panels to Movie Frames

Choreographing superheroes has its own unique rules. A still comic panel is one thing. Setting that action into motion is another thing altogether. While comics are akin to storyboarding, when it comes to fights, a few panels describe that action. It then becomes Silvera’s job to unravel that into a fight with a dozen or more beats. 

One of his favorite examples for Jupiter’s Legacy is the “Hilltop” sequence. In the original comic, it’s a ferocious battle told over only four panels. Silvera saw that raw brutality and constantly built on that mindset with his choreography. 

“Those four panels really set the tone of our show and you’ll see that in the first episode.” He’s especially proud of this Hilltop sequence, as well as many other favorites. Two more sequences that he mentions with special pride he dubs “Tokyo Alley” and “The Vault,” but Silvera won’t elaborate on those cryptic titles just yet. “I don’t want to give away too much.” Fans who’ve already read the comic can probably guess what he’s talking about. “It starts off big and it stays that way up to the very end.” 

And for those fans familiar with Frank Quitely’s spectacular art, Silvera adds “We do our best to match those panels and the emotion that he puts into them. He really set the bar for us. And I think we met it.”

Superhero Boot Camp

As with many casts, most of the Jupiter’s Legacy actors have minimal background in martial arts or stunts. However, Silvera prefers it that way. “You get to figure out their characters and their movement in a different way.” He’d have ideas for them and then see something natural come out of their body language, which he would cultivate into something new and exciting. 

The cast was put through vigorous training where Silvera says they all worked extremely hard. “Literally a month of bootcamp with the lead actors training every day with our fight team and fight coordinator.” The cast would come in and work on basic movements and fight drills. “And then they would ride the wire for hours because there’s a lot of flying in the show.” 

As Supervising Stunt Coordinator, Silvera is quick to credit his fight and stunt rigging team. Micah Karns is the fight coordinator and Jayson Dumenigo is the 2nd Unit Stunt Coordinator and Key Rigger, a critical role for a flying superhero show. The threesome has worked together since Daredevil and teamed up again for several successive projects including Deadpool, Terminator, Pacific Rim, and Love, Death & Robots. 

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“We have such a tight workflow at this point, from the years of us working together, that we know how to expedite things,” Silvera says. “We know how to keep up the pace. And we’re definitely doing seven days a week on this show.” The stunt team worked hand-in-hand with the cast for months to achieve the action that they wanted. “I’m super excited to see them and what they did come together on screen.”

The post Jupiter’s Legacy: Choreographing Superheroic Stunts appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[drunklander]

Drunj!Der Yells About Outlander

Thoughts on Ep. 510

This show is like, here’s some deeply problematic and shittily plotted source material, what if, instead of adapting it and telling a compelling story that isn’t basically just constant violence against women, we just lean in to that. Because clearly what modern, primarily female audiences want is to be reminded that women can only be victims or have their stories be defined by their relationships with men, because the world was and is always out to hurt them and without men, what’s the point of them. Really groundbreaking and compelling stuff. *eye roll so hard it hurts*

I couldn’t even muster up anger while watching this. Feeling anger would mean that on some level, I still cared and was invested in the show. But I really just felt resigned. Like yup, this is a bad show and while it might have a fluke good episode or scene every now and then, overall it’s rull not good.

*pours one out for what the show could have been*

Y’all, did you know that Stephen Bonnet is a bad guy? I know it hasn’t been subtle with just the raping and murdering, but just in case you didn’t pick up what he’s putting down, let’s throw in some sex trafficking. Because, you know, the past is dangerous for women.

*already wants to stop watching this show*

Lowkey judging all the men in Wilmington who do business with Bonnet tbh. Like, there’s more than one smuggler in the world. Why work with the one who is a raging sociopath?

In the tradition of there only being a grand total of 4 names in the Outlanderverse, even the aliases are repeated. Alexander Malcolm is the dread pirate Roberts of whisky.

Can we please have a whole series about Claire just being a doctor? Because I liked the scene of her getting a syringe tube made more than most other things in the whole season tbh.

But of course, it’s the past. And that’s dangerous for women. So clearly something bad is about to happen to them.

*eye rolls for days*

GIVE ME ALL OF CLAIRE AND BREE SCAVENGING. GIVE ME ALL OF THEM CHATTING ABOUT MEDICINE AND NON-FRED STORIES OF THEIR OLD LIVES. CAN WE PLEASE HAVE JUST AN HOUR OF THAT PLEASE AND THANK YOU?

Omfg I cannot with Roger being like, I’m not good at fighting, but I am going to be the one who kills the man who is very good at fighting. Because “Brianna’s yer daughter, but she’s my wife.” So clearly that means I get to do the murder. And we’ll each do some murder if the other dies.

Oh I’m sorry, did I hit my head and wake up in patriarchal bullshit land?

Yeah, Outlander isn’t political, but here’s a scene about the damage humans do to the environment and the animals we share the Earth with.

Also, we call it the Cape. We go down the Cape. We see things off the Cape. Cape Cod is for the tourists.

LOOK AT MY PRECIOUS BADASSES BEING ALL CUTE AND RUNNING ON THE BEACH. Welp, that’s over. Can’t go more than thirty seconds without a woman being in danger. Those are just the rules of The Past.

Also like, of course Bonnet didn’t show up for the deal. These dumbos are like expecting the rape and murder champion of the Carolina’s to play by normal rules of business. Like, have you met this dude? Idiots.

Jamie letting Roger almost get killed is A Mood.

Gonna ignore the Bonnet bullshit and just point out that this Claire lewk is maybe my favorite of the season. Love the dress, love the hair.

This story line is hot garbage, but at least we’re spared him keeping his fucking testicle in a jar.

Yes, she hates you because you forgot her name in the jail. And violent rape is totally a bygone that can be whistled past.

Lol at Brianna, or anyone really, giving a shit about the enslaved people at River Run only when she’s trapped with a psycho.

This whole thing is annoying af. Like he’s clearly not capable of keeping up his fun game of the week of being a doting husband and father. Like, in no reality is this a real thing he can be. I like was getting a stomach ache just thinking about how stressed Brianna is during all of this. And then they’re like oh well let’s talk about his tragic past. Like nope, stop right there, plenty of people have tragic pasts and don’t end up being rapists and murderers. This doesn’t make him a deeper character or sympathetic in any way.

Fucker doesn’t really want a family and son or whatever. He fleetingly likes the idea of having them. Ditto with being accepted and recognized in society.

“There are two sides to every story” is dangerous bullshit. There is no excuse for raping someone. None. Zero. There is one and only one story and it’s that raping someone is wrong and an unforgivable act. No trauma or struggle in someone’s past mitigates them raping someone.

No one gives a fuck about your nightmares, Bonnet. But sure, let’s give shittons of screen time to this.

“I could never think any less of you.” I see what you did there, Bree.

I can’t stand that literally Bree’s entire story is about her rape. But, you know, ThE pAsT aNd ThE bOoKs, so clearly a woman can’t have a story line outside of trauma or supporting a man.

Also, like, Bree? This whole playing along survival tactic? Bonnet’s not stupid. No judgment or anything, she’s in an impossible position, but like there was zero chance this wouldn’t blow up.

Hi viewer, are you bummed that there isn’t *more* rape in Outlander? Well do we have a treat for you! Rape by Proxy! If you thought we were running out of main characters to rape, don’t worry! We’ll force characters to watch as their rapist fucks someone else to make sure they know that more rape is on the horizon!

Also, guessing Eppie isn’t a sex worker because she wants to be. Survival sex work, just another hit on the never ending The Past (and Present) Is Dangerous For Women list.

I still do not understand the point of Duncan. Like, at all. It’s the most pointless BeCaUsE tHe BoOk thing ever and therefore more annoying than it should be.

Forbes is annoying af and also like Jocasta isn’t dumb. Her not picking up that he’s a weasel seems...not believable. And if she’s intentionally fucking with him, her not having someone in the room as backup is also dumb.

Oh and with Ulysses using her name and kissing her hand, I swear to fuck if they do the they were banging the whole time thing next week, I’ma...not be at all surprised. Because of course they would. Le sigh.

Rape and kidnap isn’t enough trauma for one person, let’s also try to sex traffic her! I can’t. I just cannot.

I am so tired, y’all. So. Fucking. Tired.

At least this crap is wrapped up no and we’re not subjected to another season of it like we were subjected to another book’s worth.

It’s getting so hard to find silver linings, yo.

They spend a disproportional amount of time showing Bonnet tied to the pole. Just again centering the rapist instead of the survivor. Seriously on brand for the show and seriously fucked up that they’re cool with this being their brand.

Brianna shooting him is like a rare instance of her having agency. Good for her.

And fuck Roger for being like is that mercy or so you know he’s dead? It can be fucking either or both, you tool, and be a valid af choice either way. Or is it only ok for you men to kill him? Because I remember not even an hour ago you being like nope, my dick’s bigger, I get to kill him.

And of course it ends on a shot of Bonnet and not Bree, lest we forget who the show cares about centering.

#* #outlander starz #outlander 5x10 #drunj!der yells about outlander

[ofkanes]

me   pulling   up   wayyy   later   than   expected   :   👀👀,   fhdjs   hi   !!   i’m   nik   but   u   can   call   me   nikolaj   (   b99   stans   only      😤)   &   i’m   here   to   bring   my   mess   of   a   baby   kane   !!   ok   so   i’m   literally   too   excited   for   this   group   pls   don’t   @   me   .   before   i   start   i   just   wanna   say   that   all   ur   intros   ??   shakespeare   is   quaking   !!   send   tweet   .

[   jack   gilinsky   ,   he   /   him   ,   twenty   two   ,   cis   male   ]   do   my   eyes   deceive   me   ,   or   did   i   just   see   (   KANE   MORGAN   )   getting   out   of   the   car   in   hunnington   ?   i   guess   (   HE’S   )   living   around   (   ROCK   SPRINGS   )   ,   which   i   could’ve   guessed   .   hopefully   they   can   keep   their   (   -   SHORT   TEMPERED   &   -   COMPLACENT   )   shit   to   theirselves   ,   and   focus   on   being   (   +   ADAPTABLE   &   +   CHARMING   )   to   avoid   any   problems   .   and   for   the   love   of   god   ,   lets   hope   they   don’t   talk   about   the   (   HIDDEN   )   thing   .

ʙᴀᴄᴋsᴛᴏʀʏ 

ok lemme say that i envisioned kane as a movie bby , you’ll get what i mean in 2 secs . 

his two parents are both movie directors , his mother is an actress turned movie director . the morgan surname is well - known across the silver screens everywhere , not one that people take it lightly . here’s some background about his parents . 

tim morgan : father , but mostly known of his work as a movie director , i wanna say he has the career claim of frank darabont ( directed : the shawnshank redemption , the green mile , mary shelley’s frankestein , the walking dead ... etc ) . he earned his name despite being , at first , a nerdy film school student . very proud person , definitely snobbish . 

ingrid jackson - morgan : mother , but also a very good actress , i was thinking she had the career claim of michelle pfeiffer (  scarface , grease 2 , batman returns , hairspray , murder on the orient express ... etc ) . she comes from a line of models & actresses , so it’s no surprise there . 

now you have young kane morgan , now im ashamed to say he was named after citizen kane , his parent’s favourite movie ( rlly no taste ngl ) & you’ll never guess his middle name .... brando . that’s it , i’m cancelling him . 

but basically he’s a little accident that happened before the marriage , oops ? so really , an unhappy surprise for ms & mr morgan . his mother wasn’t very happy w his arrival because all she wanted to do was to work on movies & NOT take care of a child . 

don’t worry , cuz kane rlly felt that unhappiness ooze outta her . gr8 nannies though , he loves them . 

his father was happy to have someone to teach all his knowledge to , nerd alert , but that was one of the few moments he appreciated kane . that’s it . 

so one could imagine the disaster of a kid being brought up by movie stars ( read : nannies ) , not a stranger to cameras , red carpets & all that good stuff . 

ofc he was a child actor , his parents tried to put him in almost every movie they could , spreading that good morgan family name n all . kane didn’t think much of it , until he was old enough to understand .

he was definitely a little bratty , demanding attention from everyone all the time . being as fickle as they come , but that’s only because his parents didn’t give a flying fuck . 

as he grew up , still on the spotlight , he liked to be on & off the camera . some years , he yearned to be the center of attention & other’s he hated the job . very hard to keep up with . 

when he turned sixteen , he had his first ( & probably not last ) proper hollywood breakdown , almost as bad as brittany circa 2007 . he got a good role & was introduced to the bad side of hollywood . parties , drugs , shady people & all that good stuff . he was influenceable & fell into all the traps . it was only 2 years later that his parents were able to snap him out of it . they ofc paid all the tabloids to keep the good name out of their articles , but if you do your research , you’ll find some pretty pics of lil morgan . 

since then , he has cleaned up his act . ofc he took a couple of years off , went to college, tried to focus on himself & discover who he was ( he wasn’t only a morgan , he was kane !! who is kane ?? ) & he only started starring in roles recently , post college graduation . 

he just got off his first acting job post - hiatus & it’s a blockbuster . i was thinking maybe inspired on those coming of age movies ( à la hot summer nights but w more traction ) & people are freaking out !! kane morgan on the big screen ?? WHAT ?? he came back to nc before he decides on what to do next .

ᴘᴇʀsᴏɴᴀʟɪᴛʏ

ok so you can already guess that kane morgan is no humble kid . i like to think he has layers , but ppl can’t be bothered to look through all of them . 

some would say that his major problems stem from the fact that his parents didn’t give him enough attention & the public gave him too much . 

having your parents’ attention ? that’s so 2002 . 

for the press i like to think he has this movie star facade down . you know the old charming james dean smile , handsome but kind . loves the underdog , very humble about his social standing . generous , outgoing & loved by everyone . 

idk i never met james dean , all the information i have on him is taylor swift’s song : style .  

now if we dig a little deeper , he’s still quite the charmer ( c’mon he’s an actor after all ) , but maybe not as humble nor kind . he can be quite rude & entitled , but has some good jokes . don’t get him completely wrong , he’s still a bit generous ( he gives 25% tips wow ) . likes a good party , but knows his limits . always down for a good time . 

if we go even deeper , oof , he’s a bit broken . never learned to love properly , all he has it’s movies , which we can all agree are shit if you’re gonna base your attachment type on it . he lives on his own little world & likes to keeps his guards up . a sweetheart really , you can see past all the snobby film critic bullshit & he’s just a boy who wanna have fun & have a good life like all those people on the screen . 

you   would   fucken   think   im   a   film   major   but   NO   ,   i’m   not   even   that   fancy   w   movies   .   and   after   all   reading   all   those   movies   titles   ur   head   must   be   spinning   ,   MINE   IS   !!   but   ily   &   ur   an   absolute   queen   /   king   /   monarch   if   you   read   thru   all   of   this   !!   let   me   tag   my   plot   page   below   hehe   ,   it’s   were   we   get   angstyyy   !

plot page babey

#cancelled:intro #* 𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 / ooc . #this is too much #feel free to drink tea & JUDGE me fhdjk

[dreamer-under-the-moon]

KH Dark Road: the Beginning

It’s only the prologue, but it’s one hell of a ride!

The game begins with scenes from KHX, up to the scene where the Player character sees Ephemer and Skuld after the Keybalde War ended. Then we switch to Xehanort, who sheds a tear as he wakes from... his dream?

Well, this is certainly one way to connect Union Cross to Dark Road. Not sure what you are going with this, Nomura, but please, go on.

I think most of us have long suspected that Heartless Xehanort had something to do with Young Xehanort getting off Destiny Islands. My main question though, is this: was Xehanort the only inhabitant of that world? If so, I do not blame him for wanting out.

Time skip! And baby Eraqus! Given what we know about him (descendant of Keyblade wielding lineage), I’m sure there’s a lot of theories on whether he is related to any of our Unchained crew. I’m betting on Brain, but it could be Skuld. Of course, it could also be a rando wielder, but I doubt it.

I must say, I did not expect his personality to be so carefree. It’s hard to not think of the stern Master Eraqus when I see his younger version, even when said younger version is planning on getting to class at the last minute.

I am getting Birth By Sleep flashbacks.

“It’s like poetry, they rhyme.” 

Again, poetry.

Xehanort is going to do a lot of falling in the future.

(This design is absolutely breathtaking and the reference to the True Kingdom Hearts is spot on.)

Here we meet the other apprentices. That makes a total of 6, counting Eraqus and Xehanort. I wonder why the numbers dwindled to 3 under Eraqus.

If anyone told me that Eraqus used to be a brat with a great sense of humor, I would stare at them hard. Apparently, a cheerful Eraqus was just what the doctor ordered.

Hold up, since when were we involving the Norse Gods in this? When did this turn into a Norse mythology adaptation?

...

Their Keyblade master was ODIN???

Baldr, I can kind of leave aside. The only reason I know about him is because I was in an MCU phase and while he is mostly known for his role in two stories in Norse mythology, his name might fly over a lot of people’s heads (aka past me).

But Odin.

Really, Nomura.

ODIN.

Who’s next? We already got Skuld in KHUX, so I guess we can look forward to the other two Norns. Since Baldr and Odin are here, I guess we’ll be seeing more of Odin’s sons? Like Thor?

Maybe we’ll see some version of Frigg since she can scry. Would definitely be helpful in the KH universe.

I’m guessing that Nomura decided to stick with Odin’s seidrmann aspect rather than the warrior one that seems more prevalent in popular media. Also, if Yen Sid was not one of Odin’s students or a close friend, I will eat my hat.

Speaking of hats, nice touch with the hat covering one of his eyes. Now the old man only needs two ravens and his spear, though I guess it would be a Keyblade in this case.

I will be calling this Birth By Sleep: Terra’s Route, Xehanort version.

Why seven? For the seven Lights? Is there always going to be a Luxu-like character who is supposed to be there but is just off on his own? Then again, the Foretellers were five, six plus Luxu, seven plus their master. Are we getting another trio then?

Anyways, the upperclassmen were traveling between the worlds to prepare for their Mastery Exam when they suddenly vanished. Apparently, lowerclassmen didn’t know about that part of their future training.

Gotta say, I was expecting Xehanort to be the one raging about being kept from interdimensional travel, not Eraqus. Though it was hinted at earlier that he wanted to go see the other worlds more than anything. Still, chill dude.

Odin does decide to teach them his ways, in order to find his wayward students, which is a surprise to the Dark Road crew.

Welp, found the troublemakers of the group. Also, the dark haired boy on the top right looks so bloody annoyed. Something tells me he’s a bit of a rule-follower.

From what I gathered of their personalities so far, we have a relatively colorful cast.

Eraqus => excitable puppy

Xehanort => Braincell

Ginger boi => the cool kid

Purple girl => cinnamon bun (mage?)

Black haired boy => class president

Silver girl => responsible one (possibly descendant of Skuld and/or Ephemer) (swordswoman?)

I wonder how Baldr fits in this group?

Oh. Well, I get why not telling him about this incident might help him not freak out, but I doubt his classmates’ absence will go unnoticed indefinitely. I am getting very curious as to what Baldr looks like and what his role in this story will be.

As for his sister, I’m going to go on a limb here and guess that she is also named after a Norse deity. Which one? No idea. I don’t recall Odin having any daughters, but if we go the MCU route, I have a good guess what Baldr’s sister’s fate will be.

Our cast goes outside and discuss how they should proceed. Ginger turns to Xehanort for advice, since he’s the only one from another world.

This raises an interesting question, do all current Keyblade wielders (except Xehanort) descend from the Dandelions?

Xehanort’s status as an otherworlder as well as his maturity are definitely traits that would make a leader of the group. And Xehanort’s knowledge, especially when it comes to the current state of other worlds, is definitely another thing his peers respect about him.

Now, Odin says that they must travel in two groups of three. You then see a screen that allows you to choose who to bring with you. Xehanort and Eraqus, however, are non-negotiable.

...

So, we’ve got their names. And what names they are. Let’s do a bit of research, shall we?

- Hermod, son of Odin, brother of Baldr. His name means some variant of “warrior” or “wrath of war”. He is said to have ridden to Helheim for nine days so that Baldr may return to the land of the living. While he succeeded in persuading Hel, Hel’s request was unfulfilled and Baldr remained in her halls. In one poem, Hermod and Bragi greet fallen warriors to Valhalla (note that it is unclear whether the Bragi in question is human or god).

- Bragi, god of poetry and originally ninth-century bard Bragi Boddason.  Evidence seems to suggest that while Christian writers made him a god, he was not actually worshipped as one before that.

- Urd, Norn of the past and the word for “fate”. Sister to Norns Verdandi (”happening” or “present”) and Skuld (”debt” or “future”).

- Vor, goddess of wisdom. Her name means possibly "the careful one," or "aware, careful". It is said that she is wise and inquiring, so that nothing can be concealed from her.

...I shall hencerforth call the Dark Road crew “the Norse Study Group”, NSG for short.

Xehanort and Eraqus are so out of place, name-wise.

Ready to take off!

Also, Nomura, giving Xehanort a throne and a crown? Are you trying to tell us something?

#kingdom hearts dark road #xehanort #eraqus #bragi #vor #urd #hemodr #why all the norse mythology inserts? #who is baldr's sister? #is yen sid one of the upper classmen? #why only 7 students per class? #so many questions

[lauralot89]

Cats Doesn’t Look That Bad

I say as someone who has been mocking it since the trailer came out, but still.

Let me be clear: I think the filmmakers went the wrong way.  I think it would have been vastly preferable to film actors in costumes rather than the CGI in the trailer.  I miss the head tufts and leg warmers.  I’ve seen the concept art for the unrealized Spielberg animated Cats film and I think that would have been much better (though Eliot did turn down Disney’s attempt to adapt his work, so who knows if his estate would have let Spielberg make it a cartoon either).  At the very least, they could have tried making the actors’ noses look vaguely catlike while they were CG-ing everything else up.

But with all that said: the defining feature of Cats has always been that it’s completely insane.  It’s always been kind of a punchline in musical theater, even as it made all the money and won all the awards.  It’s a bunch of grown adults dressed in Baby’s First Fursuits caterwauling and writhing around on a stage, and the plot only exists beyond vague mentions in literally the last five minutes.  For some reason there’s a cat wanted by Scotland Yard.  It’s campy and weird and completely batshit.

And this trailer looks completely batshit in a way that only the silver screen could deliver, so I guess props to them for utilizing the medium to be insane in a whole new way.

Also while the proportions of the cats in the trailer drives me up the wall, I do have to admit that the proportions in the stage show are weird too.  It’s less noticeable there, considering that there’s only one set in the show and most of the human objects are relegated to the background and covered in trash, but still.

Jennyanydots is a regularly sized house cat, yet she and a box of Ritz take up the entire trunk of a car:

And to the left in that screenshot, three house cats sit on a tire and are still completely dwarfed by it.  Maybe it’s the tire from a semi-truck, but then how did it end up in this random city alley?

The mice are also the same size as the cats:

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteaser carry presumably human handbags from their thefts that are scaled like they were made for cats:

I’m not actually sure how large a coffee mug is in comparison to a cat, but I submit to you that it is not this size:

In conclusion this is a musical in which, depending on the version you watch, either the plot stops entirely for the cats to cosplay dogs for their cult leader or it stops entirely for a battle with pirates.  There’s a cat in a light-up jacket who shots lighting bolts from his hands like a Jedi Knight.  They have names like Jennyanydots and Rum Tum Tugger and if the play isn’t completely insane and at least somewhat unnerving, it’s not Cats.  And what we’ve seen so far has admittedly met the mark in those regards.

#Cats musical #Cats 2019 #Cats the musical

[texanredrose]

Last One - Chapter One

Author’s Note: I’ve warned y’all. Don’t worry, though, if you choose to read, it’s not that scary really.

---

Yang drew in a deep breath, trying to acclimate herself to the cooler temperatures of late autumn in Atlas. Having only moved to the kingdom a few months prior, she found the adaptation curve a bit… steep. Despite the similarities from sharing a global culture, there were some nuances to Atlas as a kingdom that she hadn’t really gotten used to quite yet, and the climate was just one of them.

She was acclimating, though, bit by bit. Yang had secured a job, settled in with her girlfriend alright, and even made a few new friends. Kept in touch with her old ones, of course- Blake and Weiss touched base every week, Ruby every other day, Coco and Velvet when they could, Ren and Nora- but had a lot of things going for her now. Things… were looking up.

As her train pulled into the station, Yang shifted the bag on her shoulder and waited for the door to open. Normally, she’d want to ride her motorcycle to work, but that chill in the air cut straight through even her thickest jacket; definitely something she’d have to leave for the warmer months. It bummed her out but it was worth it, in the end.

Yang stepped onto the train as her scroll began to ring, fishing it out of her bag while standing off to one side and grabbing one of the overhead handholds. A smile curled her lips as she read the contact name, flicking open her scroll to see her girlfriend’s visage. “Hey, Snowdrift.”

“Good morning, Sundrop.” Winter smiled wide, light in her eyes as the line connected. “On your way to work?”

“I am.” She turned the screen, showing the station as a few more commuters stepped on before the doors closed. “How’s your day going so far?”

“Tediously. I’m not a fan of paperwork.” Her expression scrunched up, in that way Yang took to mean ‘I say I don’t like it but I kinda do, but I don’t want to admit that because it’s lame’ and that made her smother a chuckle every time she saw it. “Unfortunately, I’ve got a few meetings today and by the sounds of it, the majority will run long, so I’m going to be late coming home.”

“That’s alright. It sounds like it’ll be a late night for me, too.” She shrugged. “Sounds like one of the other tutors called in sick and I have to cover down. Don’t really know how long it’s gonna take; Mr. Ozpin explained it to me like the kids don’t go to school at all, so I’ve got a lot of subjects to cover.”

A frown touched her girlfriend’s lips. “Are you sure this is what you want to do? I know teaching is your dream, Sundrop, but this doesn’t seem to be exactly what you had in mind.”

“It’s not long term, and they know that.” Again, she couldn’t help but shrug, brushing off the woman’s concern. “I’d rather have something to do while I wait for Atlas to approve my teaching license and this homeschooling thing is the only agency that recognizes Vale’s certification.”

“Which, honestly, is ridiculous.” Winter’s expression shifted into what Yang would call a pout, though she would only do so teasingly. “It’s a standardized test across the five kingdoms; why Atlas insists on a separate validation is beyond me.”

At that, she couldn’t help but laugh. “Do you want the honest answer or the nice answer?”

“Just because we both know why doesn’t mean I can’t express my vexation with it.” Her annoyance slid away, blue eyes glancing off to the side before rolling. “Ah, it appears I am needed. Let me know if you need anything; depending on who gets home first, picking up dinner or delivery might be the best option.”

Yang raised a brow. “Already tired of my cooking?” 

“Oh, don’t you start.” Despite the light reprimand, Winter smiled softly. “I adore your cooking but I also adore cuddling, and neither of us will rest if there are dishes that need washing.”

“Hmmm, keep sweet-talking me and I won’t be able to focus on lessons.”

“Well, we can’t have that, now.” Glancing around, the woman raised her other hand to her mouth and blew a kiss. “I love you, Sundrop.”

“Love you, too, Snowdrift.” She waved. “I’ll call you if I get a break.”

As she collapsed her scroll back down, Yang’s gaze caught on her reflection in the train’s window. Granted, she probably didn’t look as ‘professional’ as most private tutors would; a nice set of black slacks, a white button up, a purple tie that complemented her eyes rather nicely, and some good leather shoes got her close but she’d never been able to tame her hair, the blonde strands curling and sticking out every which way. It didn’t look like she hadn’t brushed it, just that her style tended towards ‘wild’ which… while not entirely inaccurate, wasn’t the whole truth, either. Add to that her slightly crooked nose from a boxing match in her youth and a stature that better suited the common perception of a bodybuilder than a teacher- basically, she didn’t blame people for being skeptical when she introduced herself as having her teacher’s license in Vale and a master’s from Beacon University to boot.

She ran a hand through her hair, trying to tame it just a bit as the train rattled down the tracks, passing through one of the few tunnels on this route. Before she could head to the house, she had to stop by the office and get the full details from Mr. Ozpin regarding the job itself. He hadn’t explained much over the phone, seeing as this came across as an emergency of some sort, but she imagined there’d be more information when she reached the home office. Since Yang only had one regular client, her work thus far had centered mostly on group sessions at a private school on the north side of the city, where the upper crust lived.

Yang cleared her throat and straightened out her tie, trying to keep her nerves from getting the better of her. Among some of the differences in Atlas she’d encountered, the differences between upper class and middle class were… stark. Generally, people stuck to their ‘side of the fence’, which she didn’t really get, considering Vale’s far more lax social structure.

Every time she started thinking about how she would never ‘fit in’ or ‘pass’ among Atlas’ social elite, she remembered that her girlfriend was not only born in that environment, she was raised to be near the top of the social ladder and walked away from it of her own volition. It made her feel so lucky, because beneath some of her rougher edges and her cool demeanor, Winter was passionate and warm and beautiful and she couldn’t imagine where she’d be without their paths crossing.

Aside from, well, warmer, but that was a minor thing.

Once she got to her stop, Yang hopped off the train and made her way to the office building. The agency she worked for owned only a small section of the building multiplex, containing only a few full time positions and three conference rooms for meetings. It paid well enough, even if it wasn’t what she wanted to be doing. She considered it a stepping stone to the life she wanted to build in Atlas.

Opening the glass door with the agency’s name on it- Maiden Education, a silly pun she could appreciate- Yang went to the doorway leading into Mr. Ozpin’s office and politely knocked on the doorjamb.

“Hmmm?” Mr. Ozpin turned, green eyes lighting up upon seeing her. “Ah, Miss Xiao Long, come in. Thank you for understanding; this is… a unique situation.”

“It’s no problem; I’m happy to help,” she replied, stepping into the small office and sitting down. Mr. Ozpin’s desk was a haphazard collection of papers, just barely shuffled into piles, and his shaggy silvered hair bespoke of a charmingly frazzled appearance. It was one of the reasons she opted to take the job; she rather liked having someone who understood that life happened and appearances weren’t everything. “So, what’s the skinny?”

“This is one of our more… unique clients, to put it simply.” He shuffled a few papers before pulling out a folder from one of the stacks and opening it up. “They recently moved to Atlas and, up until now, Ms. Goodwitch had been handling their case.”

That surprised Yang more than the call asking her to cover down. “Wait, Glynda? She’s sick? I thought nothing short of a natural disaster could stop her from coming into work.”

Glynda Goodwitch had overseen her short probationary period with the agency. Strict, terse, and exacting, the woman exuded the confidence of an experienced and unflappable teacher who’d seen it all and done it all. She honestly couldn’t imagine how sick she had to be to stay home.

“Frankly, I’m assuming she’s sick; I haven’t been able to get her on the phone and she usually stops by the office before heading out to this particular house.” He sighed. “This isn’t like her, but she’s confided in me within the past two weeks, and I have reason to believe her absence is health related.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” Worry pinched her brow. “I hope she’s alright.”

“I do, too.” Mr. Ozpin shook his head, then glanced down at the file. “At any rate, the house is on the north side of town- quite remote. I’m afraid your scroll will have spotty reception at best.”

She cringed. “Damn, I guess I should’ve rode to work this morning. I took the train.”

“Not to worry; you can use my car for today. I likely won’t be leaving, considering how much paperwork I’ve yet to do.” He gestured at one of the stacks and she had to assume that was his ‘to-do’ pile. “Once you arrive, you’ll meet with your students: Roman, Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald.”

“Okay. I can work with four kids. What are their ages?”

“Ah, no, they’re all adults- orphans who banded together and formed something of a family. They’ve come to Atlas to start a new life and need assistance studying for the equivalency exams.”

That set her at ease a bit; while her specialty leaned more heavily into sciences, Yang had just completed her own equivalency exam so she could submit for her license, so she more than understood all the red tape involved. “I can see why you called me.”

“Honestly, I debated on giving you these clients initially, but I thought it might be a bit too much for you to start with.” Mr. Ozpin gave her an apologetic look. “Ms. Goodwitch is one of my longest-standing employees and an excellent educator; she’d dealt with similar clients in the past, I’m sure you understand.”

“Oh, I don’t take any offense.” She chuckled, waving off his explanation. “She’s definitely one of the best colleagues I’ve ever worked with.”

Mr. Ozpin smiled and nodded, folding up the file and holding it out to her. “Here, take this just in case. Ms. Goodwitch has their lesson plans outlined here; you’ll spend two hours with all four of them, then thirty minutes with each. After you’ve completed their tutoring, come back here and I’ll drive you home.”

Yang accepted the file with a smile. “Sounds pretty straightforward. I won’t let you down, Mr. Ozpin.”

“I’m sure you won’t.”

With the file and Mr. Ozpin’s keys in hand, Yang headed for the door. While she hoped Ms. Goodwitch’s health improved, she saw this as an opportunity to prove herself in a sense. If she could continue tutoring the family until Ms. Goodwitch returned, it would surely look good on her resume when her license finally came through. As she jumped into Mr. Ozpin’s car, she sent a quick text apprising Winter of the situation, just so the woman wouldn’t worry. Then, she plugged in the address and studied the map just in case her scroll lost signal before she got there. Within a few minutes, she had a pretty solid grasp on where she was going, pulling out of Mr. Ozpin’s spot and heading towards the north side of the city.

[hr][/hr]

About half an hour later, Yang pulled up in front of a rather spacious mansion- not entirely uncommon for the northern side of Atlas- and let out a low whistle as she put the car into park. It reminded her of her girlfriend’s childhood home, which she’d only visited a handful of times. Winter and Weiss both complained about how all the space made them feel crushingly alone and both sought to escape it, though she imagined the sisters had a very different life experience than her four prospective students. For four people who didn’t have any family aside from each other, having such a large place to call their home might give them a sense of security or peace.

The woman got out of the car with her bag and the file securely within, taking a deep breath to settle her nerves before starting towards the door.

However, her step faltered as she took another look at the house and noticed something… odd. From the ground level, it looked like some of the second floor windows were broken while others were boarded up or obscured in some manner. The first floor looked better but every curtain was drawn shut which seemed… strange. Then again, she was the sort of person who loved letting natural sunlight illuminate a room. Still, it seemed strange that such a large house sat in a state of relative disrepair with four people living inside. Maybe they were trying to renovate it?

No matter what justification she offered within the privacy of her own mind, Yang had to put all that aside and present herself the same way Ms. Goodwitch would. From the trials and internships she’d taken as part of her teaching degree, she understood that anyone familiar with a teacher suddenly subjected to someone different had an ingrained reaction to distrust the newcomer; as long as she didn’t make waves, she’d be able to continue with the lesson plans Ms. Goodwitch had set forth without trouble.

After she marshaled her thoughts, though, she then took a few more steps forward and saw the front door slightly ajar. 

Alarm bells began to ring, putting her on high alert. A reasonable explanation pushed to the forefront of her mind- they were expecting Ms. Goodwitch, so they might leave the door open for her and just hadn’t closed it when she was running late- but that didn’t ease the sudden anxiety curling in the pit of her stomach. This just all seemed so... strange.

“Hello?” she called out while slowly advancing to the door, peering inside. From what she could tell, nothing looked too out of place- no sign of a struggle within the expansive foyer- but that didn’t exactly mean much, considering the size of the house. Between the remote location and lack of scroll service, she felt reasonably confident that there hadn’t been some sort of burglary; aside from the car Mr. Ozpin lent her, there wasn’t another around for miles. “I’m from the Maiden Education Agency. Ms. Goodwitch wasn’t able to make it today, so…”

When no answer came, she carefully pushed the front door open a bit further and stepped into the mansion.

The interior looked like it was in the process of being updated, with a fresh coat of paint in a few places and crumbling wallpaper elsewhere. A few boxes sat by the staircase leading up to the second floor, next to some cans of paint and rollers leaning up against the banister. A coat rack on one side of the foyer had a white coat and black bowler hung on two of the pegs, plus a pink umbrella on the third peg, which seemed to indicate someone was home.

“Hello?” She took a few more cautious steps into the foyer, trying to check around the corners. Every now and again, Winter would show her videos of the training exercises she conducted with the Atlesian military, and she tried to apply those principles now. Listening intently, she crept to the doorway leading towards what she assumed to be the living room, peeking into the room carefully.

What she saw confused her. On the one hand, it looked like a living room or den in the middle of being remodeled, but the way things were strewn about didn’t seem like they had a purpose or plan. It looked like a mess.

Before she could enter the room, she caught the sound of a stifled cry coming from behind her, prompting her to look back around and into the room on the other side of the foyer. Judging by the size, it probably served a similar purpose- a living room or den or something- but it hadn’t been remodeled yet, just new furniture set inside a room with crumbling wallpaper and discolored carpet. Two couches, a loveseat, a few arm chairs, and a coffee table sat in the middle of the room, away from the walls, as if in preparation for the walls to be repainted.

“Is anyone there?” She tried again, moving towards the other room. “I’m Ms. Xiao Long, from the Maiden Education Agency. I’m subbing for Ms. Goodwitch.”

Again, she heard the stifled cry, and followed the sound to its source, looking behind the couch and finding a young woman probably close to her age, curled up with her knees hugged to her chest. Yang slowly lowered herself down onto one knee and softened her voice.

“Hey, my name’s Yang. Are you Emerald?” She looked like the picture from the file but… rougher, mint green hair that fell to her shoulders looking unwashed and unkempt, her shirt and jeans ripped and dirty. “Hey?”

When she reached out and touched the woman’s shoulder, she flinched and looked at Yang then with wide, terrified red eyes, tears streaking her dirty cheeks. The moment she seemed to register that there was someone there, though, a bit of light came back to her eyes. “Who are you?”

“Yang, Yang Xiao Long. I’m subbing for Ms. Goodwitch.” She took a glance around. “Where’s everyone else?”

“Gone,” she replied, her hands trembling as her gaze shifted up, looking towards the ceiling. “They’re… they’re all gone. It’s just me.”

Yang’s brows furrowed, looking towards the ceiling briefly. “Is there a landline? Some way to call for help?”

“No one can help me now.” Emerald started shaking her head as fresh tears sprang to her eyes. “She left me for last.” Then, she grabbed Yang’s arm, clutching at her feebly. “Don’t look her in the eyes. That’s when she comes for you- that’s when she knows she has you. Don’t look her in the eyes.”

“Who? Who is ‘she’?” Although the grip on her arm didn’t hurt, it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, as if her entire body could sense there was something not right about the woman before her.

“I-I don’t know, we never learned her name. We just-”

Thunk.

Yang looked back up to the ceiling, furrowing her brows. It sounded like something heavy had been dropped on the floor above them but, if they were the only ones there, then what had dropped and how? Emerald released her arm, curling back in on herself and crying softly.

Whatever had happened here, Yang quickly surmised she needed some help. Reaching into her bag, she retrieved her scroll to find it had no signal. With a frown, she stood up and looked around, spotting what looked like a wall-mounted vid screen in the next room over. With any luck, that had a landline connection and she could call for help.

Moving into the next room, she saw more evidence of the remodeling in progress- a dining room set and rolls of carpet, more paint cans and spare lumber- but thankfully found the vid screen had a connection. Dialing Atlas’ emergency services line, Yang waited for the operator to connect the call while looking up at the ceiling.

“Atlas Emergency Response, where is your emergency?”

That pulled her gaze back to the screen, finding one of Atlas’ finest staring at the screen. Quickly, she gave the address and a brief explanation of why she was there and what she’d found, glancing over to the living room to find Emerald still curled up behind the couch. After being assured police and medical services were on the way, the call ended and Yang considered going outside to wait for them.

“Hey, Emerald?” She went back to the living room and knelt down beside the woman again, keeping her voice soft. “Why don’t we go outside, yeah? Help is on the way; you’re gonna be okay.”

“No, no, no.” With a shake of her head, red eyes focused again on the ceiling. “I can’t run anymore. It won’t work.”

“Emerald, listen, it’s okay-”

Thunk.

She looked at the ceiling, brows furrowed as the woman’s crying renewed.

“Emerald, is there anyone else here?”

“No. Just me. I’m the last one.” She drew in a shuddering breath. “The last one.”

“Then what was that noise?”

Emerald slowly shook her head and hugged herself tighter, crying more fervently. 

Yang stood up. Whatever had happened, obviously the woman wouldn’t recover for a long time. 

Lilac eyes strayed towards the ceiling, curiosity nipping at her. “Emerald, are you the last one here? Or the last one alive?” When no answer came, she looked back to the woman, who watched her with terror. “Nod if the first one.” She didn’t. “Nod for the second.”

Slowly, Emerald nodded, confirming Yang’s suspicion.

Okay, so the others had died on the second floor, and finding them dead had scared Emerald shitless.

But… what was that sound, then?

“Are you sure they’re dead?”

“They’re gone.”

“Emerald-”

“They’re gone.”

Yang sighed, glancing back towards the ceiling. On the one hand, she could wait until the cops showed up and hope they’d tell her that there was nothing she could have done. On the other, she could go up there and confirm for herself. Otherwise, she’d always wonder if she’d waited outside while someone slowly died on the second floor.

Pulling out her scroll, Yang flicked it over to the camera setting to start a recording. Just in case the cops had any questions about what she had touched. Then, she started for the main staircase, taking the first step cautiously.

“Don’t look her in the eyes,” Emerald said, still hiding behind the couch.

“Right.” 

With a heavy sigh, she continued up the stairs, seeing more signs of the deteriorating walls and holding her scroll to document her journey to the second floor. Once she reached the landing, Yang looked both ways down the hall, finding several doors slightly ajar. She turned right, heading down that way seeing as it was above the living room where Emerald was still huddled. The floorboards beneath her feet creaked and groaned, just as she imagined an old mansion would, but that didn’t settle her nerves any.

As she reached the last room on the left, directly above where she’d been standing in the living room, a stench hit her nose that made her gag. On some level, she realized that the smell alone confirmed no one inside the room was alive, but her conscience wouldn’t rest without seeing it with her own two eyes.

So, against her better judgement, Yang pushed open the door.

She swallowed hard as her heart pounded in her chest, her body breaking out in a cold sweat.

Two corpses lay lifelessly on the ground, their eyes open wide in their final death stare. One of them a man- Roman, with orange hair just like his picture- and the other a woman, with pink and brown strands framing her face, and heterochromatic eyes that matched her dual colored hair. Both of them had crumpled to the floor, heads at odd angles with ropes around their necks. Looking up, Yang saw a wooden beam stretching from one side of the room to the other, rope still tied in two places above the bodies. They were both dressed rather well, as if they’d been preparing to go out for a night on the town among the upper crust.

Now, they were dead. Lying there, motionless.

“I’m sorry,” she said, pulling the door closed and shaking herself. Passing a hand over her face, she wiped away the sweat that had formed on her brow and turned around, spotting another door. While she didn’t know anything about the woman with heterochromia, she’d accounted for two of the four people she knew resided in the house. That still left two for her to find.

Going across the hall, she pushed the door open while holding her breath, relieved when she stepped into an empty bedroom with a few sleeping bags laid out on cots. The next two rooms she checked were similarly devoid of people- one had a mass of furniture collected in the middle and the other completely barren- but the third on the other side of the hall from the staircase made her gut clench.

It looked like Mercury, with well-groomed silver hair, his eyes wide open while his body slumped against the far wall in yet another empty room. Given the angle of his head, his neck was snapped by something, though he didn’t have a rope to explain how he’d died. He was wearing jeans and a jacket, both well worn, and heavy boots- he looked like he might’ve been working on painting the room before whatever happened to him, considering the ladder nearby.

���What the fuck,” she said, her voice soft as she closed the door. With the empty rooms she’d left the doors open, to make it easier for the cops when they arrived. A numbness started spreading through her as she mechanically walked to the next few rooms, leaving their doors open. When she came to the last at the end of the hall, she had a feeling she knew exactly what she would find, but opened it anyway.

Unlike the other rooms, this one was entirely furnished and remodeled. Dark red on the walls, black carpet, and a four-poster bed- the interior decor choices unnerved her almost as much as the woman’s stare, raven hair cascading over her shoulder as she hung there, knees just an inch or so shy of the edge of the bed, rope around her neck connected to a wire frame for the canopy overhead. She wore a black robe over a red nightgown, as if she was just getting ready for bed when…

Even without make-up or a smirk, Yang recognized the woman as Cinder, the last of the unaccounted-for orphans.

She hit the button on her scroll, stopping the recording as she pulled the door closed. Her hand trembled but she tried to keep a hold on herself, stumbling back towards the staircase landing. In the distance, through the broken mirrors, she could hear the approaching sirens of the police or the ambulance, only one of which was actually needed. Yang moved closer to one of the windows, the broken one, seeing as the other was covered almost in its entirety.

Carefully, mindful of the jagged edges of the glass, she watched as patrol cars began winding their way towards the manor with an ambulance following closely. Soon, the cops would be here and start sorting through… whatever had happened. Even having seen it with her own eyes, she couldn’t begin to process it. Too numb from the shock of it all. 

Four people dead, and one half crazed for some reason.

As she started to turn away, she caught something in the broken glass. A reflection of the landing behind her, but there was someone standing there. Short hair and a cloak of some sort? Yang turned, expecting to find Emerald, but instead saw a woman with brown hair and garish bruises on her neck, expression twisted by rage, and wide brown eyes. She opened her mouth and screamed, a terrifying sound that came out strangled and broken and screeching and Yang jumped back while putting her hands over her ears, trying to make it stop.

When it did, she took shuddering breaths while looking at the top of the staircase. The woman wasn’t there anymore but a little red book sat on the top step where she’d been standing.

“Who the fuck…” She looked around, unsure of where the strange woman had gone, and cautiously made her way to the staircase. Kneeling down, she picked up the book- a diary, by the looks of it- as the sounds of sirens drew closer. She shoved it in her bag while hurrying down the steps, turning into the living room to grab Emerald so they could both get out of the house before that strange woman-

Yang came to a dead stop, her heart stuttering in her chest as her eyes went wide.

From the center of the ceiling, a rope extended down, though she couldn’t tell where it was anchored. Then again, she wasn’t really looking, more fixated on Emerald’s dead stare as she hung lifelessly, the rope around her throat tight until- for some reason- it detached from its anchor point and she fell, crashing onto the coffee table below.

Immediately, Yang turned and booked it out the front door, tripping on the doorway in her haste and having to catch herself with her hands, her legs never stopping. She somehow got back to her feet and ran to the other side of Mr. Ozpin’s car, turning around to ensure no one had followed her out even as she heard the patrol cars and ambulance come up behind her, pulling through the circular drive.

As she desperately tried to catch her breath, lilac eyes roved over the house, stopping at the window she’d looked out on the second floor. There, she saw the strange woman again, watching her for a moment and gone in a blink of an eye. Yet, even with her gone, Yang could still feel herself being watched.

Even as the cops got out of their cars, even as the paramedics came to check her out, even as she stuttered and stumbled through her explanation of what happened, she could feel it.

She was being watched.

#TRR writes #Elderburn #Supernatural Horror story