#and its supposed to be him being wrong and manipulative and gross rather than anything meaningful
Note
so since you're gonna do the avatar!mc au with the entities you think each brother would fear the most (SO excited for that btw, my friend can attest to the fact that i've basically been rambling about tma x om nonstop since the first post you made that put the two together), i'd love to hear your thoughts on which entity each brother would *be* an avatar of, if you're cool with sharing! personally i love the ideas of specifically vast!levi and dark!belphie but i'd love to hear your takes on the concept! <3
So because of how time works, despite receiving this ask on July 12, by the time you see this it’ll be August! So the entire Avatar!MC series should be out by now, which I hope you will/have enjoy/ed. I wholeheartedly agree with the concept of Vast! Levi, which I’ve talked about before (as you know ;) ), but I will happily ramble about it again!
These aren’t gonna be short fics though bc I do Yearn to save that energy for The Longfic, which is still in the planning stages because a) I can’t pick a timeline, and b) trying to match up the timelines of Obey Me and TMA is hard, especially when I tend to have a violent disrespect for actually paying attention to the timing of plot events in both. I already fucked up a part of the plotting because I forgot the order we get pacts with the brothers lmao
Content warnings: Mentions/allusions to tma-typical Spookies, yet another installation of my Cursed Crossover idea, lengthy debates about what makes someone choose to become an avatar of fear, spoilers for Lesson 16+ of Obey Me and S5 of TMA
What Entity Do I Think The Brothers Would Serve? (Cursed TMA x Obey Me Crossover)
Lucifer
So I put him as falling victim to the Eye/Beholding bc of his whole thing about Secrets and Pride being about wanting control over your own image
And he does have a creepy tendency in canon to always know when his brothers are up to some Dumb Shit
BUT! You know what we see in Lucifer’s character that we see in a certain Entity?
A simultaneous manipulation of others and submission to being manipulated by a higher power
That’s right, I think Luci would be a Web avatar
But Winter, Lucifer wouldn’t wanna take marching orders from someone/thing else! He’s too proud for that— You’re right! He doesn’t want to. But he will.
He willingly submitted himself and his family to Diavolo for eternity to get what he wanted (saving Lilith)
And from how much we see him work, it’s safe to say that he’s a pretty damn essential part of running the Devildom
If he really wanted to, he could probably successfully pull a coup on Diavolo
But he doesn’t, because he’s trapped himself by his own honour code
Thus, the sexual tension bromance we all know and love/insist is Deeply Problematic and blacklist (depending on how much you like/hate dialuci lol)
10/10, would fill with spiders again
Mammon
I put Mammon as falling victim to the Buried for pretty obvious reasons
But admittedly picking a fear he’d serve is trickier
I had to get a bit abstract with it, but I think the Hunt might suit him
Not necessarily the primal *cough* and police brutality *cough* parts of the Hunt tho
More like how Basira was considered an avatar of the Hunt in the fearpocalypse because of her mission/promise to Daisy
See, Greed can stem from fear
Fear of losing what you have, of no longer being able to support yourself, of being preyed upon by others
So people become greedy as a defense mechanism, to protect what they have
If they’re on the offensive, they won’t be targeted
Also, if you’re constantly pursuing more more more, there’s no time to think about anything else
Like consequences, or guilt, or Feelings
If Mammon let his little tough guy act go too far for too long, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say he could start heading down the path to avatarhood
After all, people pay big money for hitmen and bounty hunters…
Leviathan
As I said last time, I can see why people would associate Levi with the Lonely first: he’s a shut in, he acts like he wants nothing to do with people/would rather be alone, and I get it
BUT! All of that actually stems from the fact that Levi has terrible self-esteem and thinks he deserves to be this gross shut in loser
While envy can make you want to bring others down to your level, so to speak, Levi tends to just shun “normies”, not actively conspire to sabotage them
He actually does crave understanding and to have people in his life, he just doesn’t know how to go about it
Boy’s got Mega Social Anxiety is what I’m saying (funny how both the Lonely and the Eye can be real bad for that, huh)
But the Vast? Nihilism? Takes all the pressure off
If everyone is a small, insignificant speck in the face of an uncaring, unfathomably large cosmos, who cares what you do? Who cares what people think of you?
Yeah, you’d be kinda weird too if you stared into the infinite abyss of the ocean and realized it was just the maw of a gargantuan sea monster too, Karen, lay off
Plus aesthetically, the great Awful Deep most people fear in the ocean is a comfort to Levi
And again, THE VAST IS MORE THAN JUST THE SKY
I WENT ON A BOAT ONCE
LIKE REAL FAR OUT, SO I COULDN’T SEE LAND FOR DAYS
IT WAS JUST ENDLESS B L U E
AND I WAS ON A CRUISE IN THE CARIBBEAN
I SAW A FRACTION OF THE OCEAN’S S U R F A C E AND IT WAS I M M E N S E
Did you know we’ve only explored like 5% or whatever of our oceans? Think about that! Every Single Thing we know about what’s in there is just the tip of the iceberg!!! GOD KNOWS WHAT’S DOWN THERE!!! PROBABLY FUCKED UP FISH IS WHAT
*ahem* anyway, fishee
Satan
Another tricky boi
I marked him down as fearing the Desolation, as a reflection of what he fears most in himself
I probably could have also gone with Slaughter, but I’d say that’s more baby/early-Satan
Desolation is also about destruction of potential, and Satan has very carefully built himself into a non-rage-monster person
So tearing that all away from him is :)))
But what would Satan give himself over to?
Ceaseless Watcher, I want that twink OBLITERATED—
Satan clings to knowledge and erudition to distance himself from the rage he was born as
“Watch and learn” is literally how he became a person
I find it deeply funny that it could also easily be how he becomes a monster once again
Also if you think the avatar of Wrath wouldn’t have a use for supernatural blackmail you’re just straight up incorrect
Couple that with Satan’s various connections and he’d be a Force to Reckon With
Asmodeus
I put him as a victim of the Corruption bc I found it extremely fitting considering the duality of his romanticized image vs the “dirty” fluid-filled nature of Lust.
Lust can be really nasty, but as licentious as Asmo’s supposed to be, he’s surprisingly coy
(now part of that comes from the fact that Obey Me isn’t strictly 18+/full-on porn, but still)
There’s a lot of Interesting Ideas to unpack there with attitudes towards sex vs sensuality and idealisation vs reality
Now as for an avatar… I debated this for a very long time, tossing around Eye, Stranger, Spiral, even Web for like one second
But I think I’ve got it
Slaughter!
Specifically the musical/random outbursts of violence side (not so much the war side)
Why? Well for one, Biblical Asmodeus is said to “"transport men into fits of madness and desire [...] with the result that they commit sin, and fall into murderous deeds (Testament of Solomon, verse 23).”
But also, Obey Me Asmo’s affair with that portrait chick from the earlier lessons started a whole ass war
Like it or not, the boy is very good at instilling manic violence in people
They don’t call it bloodlust for nothing
Beelzebub
I paired Beel with an End avatar MC bc the boy fears losing his loved ones like he lost Lilith
You could argue that Desolation would fit there too but I liked how it fit Satan better
Now as for a Vibe…
I’m tied between Flesh and Corruption tbh
Though corruption is mostly bc buge :)
So I’ll talk about the Flesh
So uh, mass consumerism, meat is meat, cannibalism… see where I’m going?
Ignoring the Hans because that was super racist, the two Flesh avatars I remember best are Jared Hopworth and The Guy Who Stuck His Arm in a Spooky Meat Grinder To Feed His Buds
I think of Jared in relation to Beel not because of the gym thing, but because his very chill/apathetic attitude towards his patron is similar to how I’d picture Beel’s approach to all this
Like “well, guess I’m here now”
I love Beel as much as everyone else, but he’s not exactly apologetic about his… habits
Not to the degree that he’d actually try and change them anyway
So if he got started on the path to Flesh avatarhood, he’d be pretty fucked
Belphegor
I put Web for him as a fear almost entirely because of the concept of Uno Reverse Card, ngl
It does technically tie into his whole thing about being trapped in the attic, since he’d denied all agency and freedom in there, but… Uno Reverse
Dark!Belphie is an interesting concept, and MAG86 “Tucked In” is iconic, but tbh I don’t really… Get the Dark
Don’t get me wrong, put me in a dark place and I will be scared, I don’t like not seeing things, but I have a hard time wrapping my head around why one would become an avatar of the Dark
It’s not a very “primary” fear imo? Like, I’m scared of the dark bc I can’t see what’s there, ie. a threat could be there and I wouldn’t know, but intellectually I know it’s just the absence of light. That’s not really spooky on its own.
I guess what I’m saying is I can attribute spookier things related to the Dark better to other Entities, so I’m not sure what its draw is specifically
According to the Entity Sexiness Survey I did a while back, there’s apparently some Catholic stuff going on with the Dark so maybe that’s why i don’t get it lmao
Anyway I’d put Belphie down for Spiral
“What lies behind a smile” indeed cowboy
Apparently it’s getting choked
Is it because MC’s entire relationship with him is originally founded on a lie?
Is it because the Spiral deals with distortions in your perception, gaslighting gatekeeping girlbossing, as well as foggy liminal mental spaces like between sleep and consciousness, death and life?
Is it because I think Belphie would absolutely delight in driving someone bananas by fucking with their dreams until it bleeds into their waking life?
Is it because being a person or consistent being at all is too much effort, consistent internal geography is hard, fuck it, just be an endless twisting series of hallways?
Yes :)
#obey me#tma#cursed tma x om crossover#obey me headcanons#tma the entities#lucifer#mammon#leviathan#satan#asmodeus#beelzebub#belphegor
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When your crush is angry all the time
Ch.6
"A red haired bitch that glows"
2nd person pov
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You weren't sure how things could even possibly move so quick, but as fire burned and terrifying creatures tormented citizens, all You could do was stand. Nomus, is what endeavour called them. Some gross being that seemed to have multiple quirks, you'd never seen anything like them.
Even with all of the times you'd been beaten and interrogated and harassed by villains, nothing like this ever happened. It could have been the fact that you spent most of your young life hiding away in a castel in the middle of nowhere, but seeing all this destruction froze you in place.
"Kid, help get the citizens out of here! Do not engage in combat, understand? Hey! L/n!"
You broke the terrified stare that was burning into the ruined city streets to meet eyes with your boss. He seemed so calm, even though everything was going wrong. The world was quite literally burning. Those monsters were hurting people. There were screams of horror, and still his calm demeanor was all you could focus on. How was he so calm?
"Now!"
His yell broke You from your trance and you scrambled around, eyes searching for someone, anyone to get the hell out of here. However there wasn't just one, there were hundreds. Some under building scraps, trapped behind fire burning the streets. Too many people, too much noise, it was never this loud back home. Why could you just focus?!
One of those boys from earlier today let our scream. You only recognized it because it was the same as how he'd screamed at bakugou earlier. You whipped your head around looking for his sound, body, anything. Spinning in circles until you caught that little red shirt cowering beneath one of those things.
"Hold on, i'm coming!" You didn't know if he could hear you, the statement was more a confirmation to yourself. You wouldn't stand there cowering. You didnt wanna be the helpless princess waiting to be saved. You were going to save others, it was like an instinct, like you had to.
Being unsure of your abilities with vines and plants, you opted to use a power long ago mastered. Twirling your pointer finger in a circle to slowly collect wind into a tiny ciclone and build it up bigger and bigger. This action disrupted the wind in the area, some of the bystanders' hair began flowing with the force of it, getting shivers from the chill.
Then with all the focus you could muster you let your eyes bored right into the head of that nomu aiming with your mind and following the action with your finger. Then, with a snap, the ciclone flew off towards it, lifting it into the air and growing larger the more he struggled.
You felt the pressure of all that wind, and its body on your back. Hundreds of pounds of pressure on your spine, but adrenaline forced you forward. Sprinting to the boy in the red shirt, crouching down under all that weight to wipe away his tears. You completely ignored how underdressed you were and brought his small form into a tight embrace, whispering sweet nothings to which you didn't know you could say.
It all felt so wrong, so opposite to what you wanted, but you couldn't help it. Grazing the lasso on your thigh an idea sprouted in your mind as to how you could get this crushing weight off of your back. You let the boy down telling him to stay behind you.
Don't engage in combat.
Do not engage.
Get them out of here.
Ignoring your mentors words, you snatched the lasso off of your thigh, doing as you were taught and lighting it ablaze, if your mother was thinking straight, she'd have it made of mineral wool- fire retardant and easily manipulated. The flames would not be actually catching on anything but the air, therefore saving her from an uncontrollably fire.
As it lit up your hair not only changed, but shined a bright red. It was so brilliant that it lit up the area around you, the boy behind you shocked and the people in the vicinity scared.
However, you had a hero suit on. That meant to them, that you were trustworthy.
You swing the lasso all but twice above your head before releasing the ciclone, and the pressure on your back, and whipping it towards the monster.
It had activated some sort of electricity quirk once free from the wind and as the lasso made contact, rather than burning and bringing the nomu to the ground, it sent a high-powered electrical current through your already spent body.
You should have stopped there, tossed the kid out of the way and called for help. Yet, for some reason you couldn't. Being shocked only numbed the pain on your spine more, and upped your adrenaline. Bad news for mr.nomu, huh?
"Whew, that's one way to boost your energy huh, kid?"
You smirked back at the worried boy behind you, hoping a joke would lighting the mood now. Similar to how you would joke in class yo avoid any real emotions or connections.
Only, now, it held the benefit of an adorable smirk appearing on his face and a little giggle exciting his mouth.
"Watch this!"
Despite being electrocuted your lasso was still intact, so you took to attacking it around the monster's leg and pulling back towards you. Once it was too close for your liking, you shot a roundhouse kick into the empty space in front of you. It seemed like a fruitless action, until the surrounding citizens noticed how the wind around them mirrored your actions with equal force.
The nomu went flying out of the city, likely landing somewhere around hosu (😏Yes, hosu) and you released the pressure on your leg.
As soon as you took the time to inhale, your back gave out, and you fell to the ground.
However you hadn't given up, using the little burst you could make with your fingers, you shot several people away from the mess with winds. Then, after what you counted to be person number 34, you gave out and the world went black.
The heroes in the area who were not distracted by nomus had been paying close attention to your actions, surprised they haven't seen you in the sports festival, or anywhere for that matter.
Mr. Woods was disappointed at the initiative you took, knowing how injured you must be from being out of practice with most parts of your quirk. However when endeavour informed the other pros of some sort of incident in hosu, he was forced to leave you there. Limp body cold against the concrete.
When doctors and healers arrived, you were one of the first in an ambulance and on the road to the hospital, and the news reports of your body being wheeled off were matched with that of your battle with the nomu. Streaming across all platforms and displaying on one particular tv screen, in the hotel room of one fire quirked boy.
A boy who truly was noticing he had no idea what you were capable of. A boy who was angry you'd been holding it back in class. One who had been thinking of the way you spoke of fire to that little boy all day, and above all a boy who was entranced by the glow of your hair when it turned red.
Bakugou wasn't sure how to process these overwhelming feelings towards you, the stalker girl who said dumb shit about his eyes. Still, after seeing that video, the feeling your own eyes held, staring up at that devilish creature. He could no longer say he didn't know what you meant by being obsessed with the look in his eyes. He was now too.
A six year old girl struggled against her restraints tirelessly. She has a power that she doesn't know how to use, and yet these men want to take it from her. There is one door exit, it's blocked by tall men in black suits. The whole room echoes with screams from children. It crashes against the walls and her little ears, and she cant get it to stop.
Why was this happening to her? Why couldn't she do anything to stop it?
"Please, just let my brother go! Please I'll do anything. Im sorry. Im sorry. Plea-"
Her words are stopped by a suffocating hand, larger than her whole face, it reeks of bleach. Her little eyes can only release so many tears before they are running over the hands knuckles, wetting his skin with her despair. The man doesn't care, though. The men never seem to care.
Her brother, only two years old, cries in a stranger's arms. The stranger showed her how he could completely disassemble any object, or put it back together. What a horrible powerful quirk. With something like that, she really couldn't tell why he needed hers too. Still, he did.
So the tiny boy whined in his firm hold, terrified, but not sure why. They both just wanted their Mommy. Mommy always comes to save them, she and her friends will take them home. To the castle, with the comfy beds, the pillowy blankets that their small bodies float on like clouds.
Not this rough metal wall, with arms chained, and bruises forming from their so-called interrogation. Why didn't they understand?
She doesn't know how to give her quirk away. She is only six, after all.
Mommy told her that men are greedy. Men like these have all they want and still need more. They take things, without asking. They took her and her brother without asking, so where was Mommy? To tell these men that you aren't supposed to take things, or hit people.
Where are their mommies? Did no one tell them hitting people is bad? Especially smaller people. Is that why the men are bad? Because they didn't have a Mommy or daddy to tell them how to be good? The little girl is lost in a pit of sympathy. Sympathy that she does not owe these horrible men, yet she can't help it.
"I don't give a shit princess, your brother can go home when you give us the quirk."
"Mommy never told me how! I'm sorry míster that you don't have a mo-mommy!" She sobre through the rough palm over her mouth. At the response he removed his grip, though. Opting to allow the girl her voice.
"P-please. I'm sorry, I'm sorry no one told you not to be mean. It's okay though! My Mommy will come, she'll tell you, okay! Please j-just-" though her words held great meaning to those men in suits-bad men- she couldn't finish. Her sobs were too loud and violent. Her little arms shook, because though she was such a sweet little girl,she was terrified.
Her cheeks hurt from screaming and tensing to release tears. Her arms hurt from being suspended at her sides. Her little legs had lost all feeling, gone numb under the pressure of standing for so long. She just wanted to go home, to keep her brother safe.
Even being only six, she felt so stupid for being so helpless. It was her job to protect their family quirk, but she wanted to give it up. More so, even though she wanted to give it away, she didn't even know how.
A small, weak girl, helpless really. She never wanted to be helpless like that again.
"Now!" His hand collided with her cheek. Hard, swinging, jaw snapping pressure. It rang through her ears, like her baby brothers sobs, til she shot up from her bed.
-
-
-
Sweat covered by/ns face as she jolted awake in her bed. Around her were some unrecognizable faces, or that's what she thought at first. Except, in truth, they were simply blurred in her eyes.
As she was taught when she was little, she began recounting things to herself that might make her come back to reality. Might help ease the fear of her dream.
- I am not 6 years old
-my brother is at home in the castle
-im not in a warehouse
-those men are in prison
-i am alive
As she was repeating each of those truths in her head, her eyesight began to come back so that she could recognize the faces of those around her. Three boys: todoroki, midoriya, and iida.
Midoriya was furthest from her, as she now noticed she was on a bed. Then iida, and closest was todoroki. The familiarity of his stone face gave y/n great comfort. However, he looked troubled.
The three boys in the hospital room with her were truthfully at a loss. This girl who had been at their school for one week, had proved more honest and heroic than them. After being scolded by the chief of police, they were each confronting their own feelings about the events.
However, each came to the conclusion that y/n was the only participating hero-in-training that followed the rules and fought earnestly. Little did they know, she had been breaking rules too, except her wouldn't be hid so easily.
What were the police meant to do, a teenage girl-princess no less- save countless lives, that heroes were neglecting, and its broadcast all over japan. Unlike in the boys' case, where the media didn't even have to know, everyone had already seen her heroism, but they had no idea where she came from.
Some viewers pointed out her position as a princess, but no one expected to see her in a hero outfit anytime soon. They knew what happened was illegal, but what backlash would they face for arresting her. Could they even arrest her?
Still, all y/n knew was that she was scared, and she needed to hide it as deep within her as it could reach. No one likes a cry baby, anyway.
"Oh..uh, hey guys?"
The first to look up was the green haired, face widening in surprise and worry.
"Y/n! Y-you're up!? Wait, don't sit up yet..um they said your bac-"
"You left damage on all your thoracic vertebrae. You could have killed yourself with that amount of pressure!"
Todoroki interrupted. Face still void of emotion, but his voice held anger.
Making sure to agnowledged how touched she was that he cared at all, y/n then quickly brushed it off. In the mood for jokes, not fights. She just finished fighting, why would she wanna argue some more about it?
"Aww~todoroki, were you worried about me?"
"Yes. It was stupid of you to use your quirk like that, out of practice and such."
"Um-"
"There's no um. he is right y/n, i didn't know your quirk could do that, but you obviously haven't been keeping it in practice during class, that was really risky..." midoriya added on in a ramble.
Feeling a bit cornered she settled for sighing and staring up at the ceiling.
"Can I walk?"
"No"
"Why not?"
"Did you not here the whole vertebrae thing, i-"
"No, I did, but I don't feel any pain...is it not healed?"
"I'm not really sure, we can ask.."
So slowly but surely, the boys helped her sit up, and yes, she did feel an immense pain shoot through her. Additionally, she was compensated with shoto conspiracizing about his negativo afecta on peoples hands, getting to know these classmates better. They even let her in on why they were in the hospital to begin with.
She would have to admit, though these boys being around made her happy, she was still thinking about bakugou. Was he in the area during the fight? Is he okay? Why do I give a shit about that mean old fact face anyway? Oh, right. His eyes.
The rest of her time was spent ignoring the extreme trauma these events reminded her of, and fantasizing about those angry eyes.
Bakugou pov 😡
°•○●○•°•○●○•°•○●○•°
There the bitch was, right on my hotel tv screen, fighting the same fight on replay. Those media bastards hasn't stopped talking about her all day. How even when she was barely alive on the ground, she kept saving people.
I know it wasn't about me, hell, I wasn't even there, but it feels like a taunt. Some karma cause I called her an entitled princess, or her purposefully saying "Look what I can do."
Well I fucking am. Looked like some sort of wind quirk, but I saw her use fire with those kids, and in class she makes that plant shit. So what the hell is she? She thinks having multiple quirks makes her better than me? Good enough she doesn't have to use them all just to beat me? Thats bullshit.
I'm just so fucking angry at her for it, but I have to be. Or else, the next time they show her shitty face on that shitty screen, looking
...shitty, i'll start to worry.
That maybe she has only been here for a week, but she is already gone. That the whole time at school she spent avoiding me, to make me happy. Worrying I'll never hear her say what she looks at in my eyes.
In her eyes, that night, I saw pure rage. It almost looked as if she couldn't control it. An impending anger that loomed over her, and controlled her; made her strong. Not stronger than me, but strong.
Still, I can't go "falling for'' every girl that I see with strength. If a dunce 's face hadn't told me that feeling I had at the festival was a crush, I could have spared myself a week worth of it, I don't even know what.
Stupid dunce face.
Now, though, that shitty princess, even if she is shitty. Well, she has at least my respect.
#mha bakugou#bakugou katsuki#bakusquad#mha fluff#fanfic#mha todoroki#bakugou x you#bakugou x reader#anime#romance#my hero acadamia#mha fanfiction
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I would recommend the show and pilot the Progenies. I hope it continues to flourish because honestly its really the only thing that got me interested into the whole descendant cast of characters. I never read the books and only saw just show but with but that pilot and harriyanna hook discussion truly got me interested into the characters and I can't wait for her to do them justice. Secondly I don't understand how people can be interested in Mal, while I do agree to like what you like and to not harass others ship and such because doesn't do anything other cause more fiction and fights. but as casual as I am with show and characters I don't really get why people are willing to die on hill of character who can be easily taken out of the story and nothing being lost. She just very bland vanilla cake, like it might as well be a sponge for how many mistakes in the attempt. (sorry for my kinda racist pun)
For example I think you already lost the cause when one she isn't very interesting visually or personality wise, plus doesn't help when their fav literally force her love interest (Ben) to become her love interest by magic love potion to get back at someone who mean to her. which in my opinion i don't care if it was a lie and weren't finances or dating the attempt to take someone boyfriend from some else just because don't like them is gross and toxic, if he or she want to break up with them its their right not yours just because jealous or think they deserve better. Another thing is Mal is mean and yeah I get it they live in toxic place with villains as parents but just doesn't even feel like she cares about friends she must rather jump off and ruin their chances of good life and opportunity for others that are still stuck in the lost, and then I'm supposed to see how she is much better comparison to her parents?! and see her as such great friend and leader;
Even when she has the opportunity she hardly spend time with them and when she does push down their wants and need because she believe she "doesn't deserve this nice life" or the more tragic "too bad to deserve second chance". Some would say that its complex and deep and nuance but in reality its just confusing and stupid. like she wants as the others to step out of shadow of villains parents and be notice for themselves without being judge for what parents had done. However, if she so much better and change from her mother than why does she keep doing stuff that put not only herself in jeopardy but people she suppose to care about down with her, I can get her being anxious and worry she hasn't done enough to rectify her mother sins but at no point did she ever think to talk to her friends who's probably going through it as well or to her loving boyfriend who do anything for her. the only choice was to run away back to the isle without telling anyone just because you feel like something wrong and don't fit, and ruin that chance for others like herself at getting redemption or chance for better life.
And big why here why is it okay for her to make mess and never get consequences for her actions; yes she got some with Audrey and her friends but that quickly got over. Its like never cross her mind that yeah after humiliating Audrey and taking her title and her boyfriend that maybe she i don't know take it well, never went check up on her or apologized or even asked maybe Ben to go check up on her or both find her and talk to her and help through break up. Or in Uma case and others there's never a time for her to I don't know even ask her boyfriend the same guy who made the decreed for you and friends to get off isle to help gain others off isle other then just group, or was no time to talk to Uma before leaving and apologize for leaving in bad terms and promise to help get off the isle, no she had to be forgotten and then seen as villain when both Mel and Uma were friends and equally bad.
Its really telling that when her (mel) own boyfriend is the only person who can see she misunderstood while being kidnapped and in danger. Like all the girl wanted was to escape and be given a chance, and who could blame her when someone given the chance left it the moment it matter the most. and with the fight I can't blame Uma for being mad because while yes it was mean to laugh at friend who feel into the water but in defense probably didn't think it that serious because she can literally turn into a dragon and fly up, in that comparison never to apologize for getting shrimp in her hair that she could never get smell out which already traumatizing to then have everyone else call her shrimpy which is worse. I could understand if she told Uma that she had a fear of drowning and water and had her laugh at her, however from I can guess at they only close friends and not besties so she probably never told her if she had that fear, I only say this because if she had I could see Uma going out her way to try help her with her fear maybe even teaching her how to swim.
I get this suggestion from how she acts with her crew like when Harry lost his hook she went out of her way to help him back onto the dock even if she didn't need to help and rather if she so evil it would've beneficial for her to continue her fight with Mal and win. Plus giving Uma personality she would've help Mal out after she laugh because once again probably didn't see it as serious and thought funny to joke about, kinda how your friend would laugh if you fell not out of malice but because that how they react to when they worry. And yet I'm still supposed to see her in the wrong and even if take out the whole race thing it still would look bad but when add it makes it even worst. which doesn't help that Mal is convinced that Uma is evil for kidnapping her boyfriend, which i go back to evidence one where she not better for drugging or attempt to drug Ben.
And this isn't even going into the whole how she treat her supposed loving relationship with Ben, which is just makes her more of hypocrite at least with Uma she treats people she cares about with love but according to Disney wiki im supposed see her as "manipulate" like where?! please tell me this missing piece of Uma ever manipulate someone into doing something they didn't want to do. I can guess maybe this got this from Harry and Ben but in Harry case he wanted to help her in her plan to get revenge and escape the isle and with Ben she never lied to him her opinions and thoughts on why she wanted to leave or why she didn't like Mal so him believe she misunderstood or deserve a chance isn't a lie.
Going back to Mal she never even tried or attempted to not do things without her magic, yeah I can see her point of that being stupid to not being able to use magic because isn't any bad magic only bad magic user who use it wrong. However, the point is Ben and others were trying to make is that using the that already got bad reputation from their parents other citizens aren't already going to give chances because what their parents done ruin their world. Yes defeating Malevolence did help their chances but that only the beginning, to really show that they are serious in changing is to give that bad vices giving upon their parents and apparently magic happens to be one of them. nothing is wrong being independent and without using magic to help them in everyday chores they could've been much easier but does give them chance to learn something new.
Had this been years or months later and people still wasn't give her chance despite her showing them her change and want to be better I could've understood but this wasn't the case. What it did prove is Ben and others being in the right because magic did help ruin someone life and made it worse which is Audrey, given she wasn't in right state of mind and left alone with no help or friends that magic amplify the bad emotions which only got worse the more she push away.
But Mal is still seen as in the right and being main character because of what exactly? is it because of her parents that seem artificial and nothing to do with her or is her powers and abilities to become a dragon? because again she got that from her parents and has nothing to do with her personality and person as person.
And to make the sad point is there is some there underneath all of this blandness a very tiny speck of good character or the very least an interesting one but sadly the author hasn't done her justice. which is depressing because even fixing the character you might as well make a brand new one because their isn't any use for her.
It really tragic when Mal's friends and Uma and her crew are much more interested and intrigued. And to be honest without any biased Uma looks much more intriguing I love her concept with her having pirate look while being a sea witch (having the octopus tentacles). I enjoy her beautiful braids and the colors and her outfit (not the one with the jacket that make look clutter but i guess her captain one) that give her badass pirate queen vibe. In comparison Mal doesn't even have anything that even suggested she daughter of Maleficent or for that matter for some reason Hades. are you going tell me that maleficent let her daughter go out in public dressing like that? where are the dark elegance and polish and dignified of daughter of mistress of hell? she should at least have some medieval European style since that what Disney movie of sleeping beauty is based one. its really sad day in hell when I could see the live action movie based on her name (Maleficent) theme and wardrobe closely resemble to an folklore European look and even that movie had problems.
Even Mal's friend Evie has closer style of looking like daughter of evil queen from snow white and being dignity than her and that is saying alot, even though she should've had more German look but that beside the point. Okay then, what about her father Hades she should at very least has some style of Greek even if something small or maybe she take after his personality of hot-headedness or stubbornness but no. and yes I understand its suppose to take place during modern times but when both Ever After High a show and doll line with similar premise God School, and monster high that had some Greek mythology characters in it both had better modern design and themes.
Speaking of Monster High and Ever After High what did do with the Disney descendant dolls? why do that its okay to just half ass and disrespect the characters like that. Uma doll doesn't even have braids where is the attempt all they need to do is use thin yarn or steam the hair to give that to be able to braid yeah it would take long but literally have robots and employees that could do it if so hard. Secondly Sin is where is even is male dolls, like i see one big pack of Carlos and Jay with girls and a couple pack of Mal and Ben but no Harry or Girl no Chad or Doug.
I can understand no one liking Chad because he annoying and don't know how Cinderella can produce that as her child but no Doug even though in the movie both him and Evie are couple they could've couple pack of them. is it because they not most best looking couple?
To be clear there nothing wrong in being conceited and enjoy some character for artificial reason whether that be clothes, design, skin color, race, gender, face appearance, etc. Or in general enjoy broken or bad characters or enjoying blank characters to put yourself into. But to gate others opinions or say that much more to it when it isn't or fight others just because they enjoy Uma compared to Mal is wrong. And if someone honestly without get mad or upset for having my own opinion and can get into a calm discussion and truly tell me why they enjoy Mal without it being what I just stated and could convince me then good, but until I get good evidence that Mal is good character without needing redo then I'm supposed im stuck with this opinion.
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Triple the Losers AU - Concept Notes
i wanted there to be 27 but if i added patties and audras that made 27 but then i’d have to add kay bc i love her which would make 28 so 21 it is
so the basic concept for this is “hey guys remember how i doubled the baudelaires and made the best au with movie! and netflix!bauds well we’re doing that with book, miniseries and film losers club”
So, yeah, in this au, the book, miniseries and film Losers are all in the same universe, related, and ready to kill a clown. There is no Chapter Two because these kids bully that clown to death asap.
A friend group of 21 is pretty wild but definitely makes for a pretty great army.
Full list of Losers:
The Denbrough Boys
Isaac Denbrough - film!Bill
13
An adopted sibling, though he’s never known any family but the Denbroughs and is never considered anything other than the oldest Denbrough boy
Artist who wants to illustrate for his brothers’ books bc he loves them
Gay but in denial. Giant crush on Daniel Hanlon.
Anselm Denbrough - miniseries!Bill
12
Likes to write fantasy novels as an escape from reality
Fights with Bill about whether fantasy or horror is better which is lowkey a metaphor for them arguing about how to deal with their trauma
William “Bill” Denbrough - book!Bill
11
Writes horror stories cause he loves psychological analyzation
He prefers to face his fears rather than “escape” from them, causing tension between he and Anselm with how they deal with Georgie’s death
Georgie Denbrough - there is only one Georgie as he literally only exists for like one chapter
6
Loves his brothers
Dead as fuck, sorry
Stuttering seems to be a family trait during childhood in the Denbrough family that Anselm and Bill are afflicted with, though Bill much more than his older bother. (Isaac also starts stuttering young, which is suspected to be more psychological.) This trait skipped a generation, and thus the Denbrough parents don’t really know enough about how to deal with their sons’ disability.
They’re a very creative family, usually in terms of creative writing, though they’re also pretty skilled in the art department. Sharon Denbrough is a skilled pianist and taught Isaac until recently. The family was never very close, and Bill always had a rocky relationship with his parents, but the family fell apart after the death of Georgie. Isaac and Bill found themselves practically ignored, while Anselm was pretty much yelled at for trying to fix everything. The brothers only managed to maintain their relationship by trying to avenge Georgie by killing this fucking clown.
The Hanscom Boys
Desmond “Des” Hanscom - film!Ben
13
Would like to go into Investigative Journalism, though he’s also really into Local Histories
Tends to be afraid of the concept of death more than anything else
Has a lot of social anxiety
Auster Hanscom - miniseries!Ben
12
Super into all forms of writing but mostly poetry, which he loves and kinda obsesses over
Was most affected by not having a father figure around, as Des and Ben didn’t seem to mind
Assumed he was straight for a while but is probably demi
Benjamin “Ben” Hanscom - book!Ben
11
The Architect, and his love of blueprints and planning has made him the main strategist of the Losers Club
He really doesn’t have many psychological demons so his worst fear is just the mummy he saw in a movie too late at night
Pure baby
The Hanscoms’ father left the family when Arlene was still pregnant with Ben; while the boys never understood why, they sometimes speculate about secret missions, one or both of their parents cheating, government conspiracies, etc. Des and Ben never really minded, as Des was quite the introvert and Ben was close with their mom, but Auster really wished they could have a paternal figure, especially since the boys tend to be shunned for their genetic overweight appearance and he really wished for some kind of acceptance.
The move to Derry was recent, as Arlene managed to find a higher-paying job that could help her support her boys. Ben managed to get himself in trouble with the Bowers Gang, meaning that his brothers, defensive of him, also became targets. But they manage to find friends in the Losers Club, and with the whole gang together, nobody’s going to be able to hurt them... right?
The Marsh Girls
Karen “Karrie” Marsh - film!Bev
13
Hates her name, thinks it sounds like a middle-aged mom. Goes by Karrie which she thinks sounds cooler (and serves as another Stephen King reference)
Wants to do movie stunts as an adult, is the most daring and bold of the Losers Club, and also probably the physically strongest
Intensely protective of her sisters, especially due to their home situation
Brooke Marsh - miniseries!Bev
12
The sweetest little angel you will ever meet. Has never done anything wrong in her life
Wants to be a painter and is very artistic. Karrie has shoplifted her paint supplies before
The only one of her sisters to not smoke, as they refuse to let her near cigarettes
Beverly “Bev” Marsh - book!Bev
11
Technically the half-sister (stepsister?) of her older sisters, and can tell that her Mom doesn’t seem to care for her sisters much. She loves them, though, and won’t stand for people insulting them
Quite the fashion designer, and even though the family is poor, she’s been making sure they don’t look like shit since she could choose her own clothes
Probably the most manipulative of the Losers, though this has its advantages, such as when they need to get out of trouble.
Giant Lesbian, definitely marries Kay McCall
Karrie and Brooke have lived under the hate of their father for a while, due to the fact that he blames them for their mother’s death; Karrie brought home a virus from daycare that infected their mother, weakening her enough that labor with Brooke killed her. Karrie tends to get the most shit for this, mainly because Brooke gets along more with their stepmother, Elfrida. Elfrida married their father only a few months following their mother’s death, mainly due to the fact that Al got her pregnant. The family is quite poor, and the parents work quite a lot, meaning the sisters have gotten pretty good at fending for themselves.
Recently, the girls have started to get more fears about their father than just physical abuse- he’s been acting weird around Karrie and Bev, and while Brooke seems to avoid his eye for the time being, she has been quite hurt by his violent outbursts. Karrie’s secretly been saving up to take her sisters away before he can do anything to them, though she’s not sure how to tell Brooke and Bev, as they don’t even understand what they’re supposed to be afraid of. But while they’re in Derry, they end up finding themselves among the Losers Club, on a mission to save the children of the town by killing a monster that lives in the sewers. That won’t be much of a problem; they have much worse monsters at home.
The Kaspbrak Boys
Chase Kaspbrak - film!Eddie
13
Somehow simultaneously the most paranoid and most reckless boy in the world
He’s really into analysis and predicting events
Can and Will fight you, but he will be bitching about it the entire time
Otto Kaspbrak - miniserires!Eddie
11, Eddie’s older twin
Incredibly stubborn and snarky, but also the most loyal Loser and the most sincere
Has an interest in mechanics and repair, and when his mom’s not looking he’ll take things apart to find out how they work
Edward “Eddie” Kaspbrak - book!Eddie
11, Otto’s younger twin
Very adaptable and adventurous, though he has a lot of anxiety at times
Special Interest in cars, wants to be a driver as an adult
Able to find direction no matter where they are, and his gift of coordination has helped the Losers numerous times
There will absolutely be a car chase scene where he has to drive
Chase is the only Kaspbrak who really remembers their father, being seven when he died instead of his brothers’ five. He seems to recall them not being so sick back then, though his Mother claims otherwise, and their father being a good, playful man. But he’s not here now, and their mother, Sonia, is paranoid about everything. Her boys are very weak and sick and can’t do much, and she hates that they have such rough, rude friends that must be corrupting them somehow.
The boys, however, are much more adventurous and capable than Sonia believes- especially Chase, who has actually won more than one fight, mostly on behalf of his brothers. As the eldest, Chase believes he has to protect Otto and Eddie, whether it be from a bunch of school bullies, a killer clown in the sewers, or their own mother. Also, Chase and Eddie are gay as hell and Otto is demi-gay as fuck.
The Hanlon Boys
Daniel “Danny” Hanlon - film!Mike
14, the oldest of the Losers
He’s actually the cousin of Orel and Mike; he recently moved in with his aunt and uncle after the death of his parents in a house fire. He’s pretty traumatized from the incident
Wants more than anything to travel and explore the world, meet new people and see everything there is to see, and being stuck in boring, bigoted Derry is pretty much hell for him
He is very protective of his cousins and friends, though, and is the one who believes the most in their ability to triumph over Pennywise
Orel Hanlon - miniseries!Mike
12
Incredibly excitable and very optimistic, as well as incredibly bookish. As such, he tends to infodump whether people want to hear him or not
Super into cartography, and collects old, antique maps as well as making his own pretty much wherever they go
Really into gruesome horror stuff and doesn’t understand why it scares and/or grosses out other people.
Michael “Mike” Hanlon - book!Mike
11
Incredibly watchful and steadfast, and the Loser with perhaps the most emotional stability
He’s a lil Historian whose greatest desire is to work for the library and get to read as many books as he wants
Just. really fucking loves his dog
Orel and Mike don’t go into town much, mainly staying on their farm with their loving parents and spending their time with the farm animals; Mike is closest to their watchdog, but Orel loves being among the sheep. In the last few months, their cousin Danny moved in with them, and their relationship is... a bit awkward. Orel is too blunt and Mike is too curious, and they don’t know how to carefully approach the subject of his parents burning to death in front of him without making him feel worse.
It doesn’t help that Danny hates Derry; it’s bigoted, it’s tiny, it’s in the middle of nowhere, and people are dying left and right. However, once his cousins convince him to come hang out with their friends, he ends up bonding with the other Losers of the town, even though they’re all a bunch of weird white kids. And though the Hanlons don’t deal much with town business, they’re ready to join in the fight to stop Pennywise from killing anyone else.
The Tozier Triplets
Reynard “Reynie” Tozier - film!Richie
12, the firstborn of the triplets
Loudmouthed, rude, impulsive and very crass, mainly to hide his crippling self-doubt and fears of being ostracized
Super good at video games and says he wants to be a professional gamer, though honestly he’s just really interested in stand-up comedy
Gay as all fuck
Roderick “Rod” Tozier - minseries!Richie
12, the middle of the triplets
While he’s just as hyperactive as his triplets, he’s a bit more controlled and actually the least raunchy, meaning Reynie and Richie joke that he’s not using his name correctly
Wants to be a voice actor for cartoons like Looney Tunes, and is actually getting decent at impersonating the RoadRunner.
Richard “Richie” Tozier - book!Richie
12, the youngest of the triplets
Pretty wild and uncontrollable, energized as all hell, and makes off-color jokes to piss people off and get attention, though he does have a true heart for his friends
Wants to have his own radio show in the future. Was the first to befriend the Marsh girls, because he and Bev would share cigarettes during recess
Bi as all fuck
The Tozier triplets are a trio of ADHD disasters and nobody in Derry can or will ever forget it. Reynie and Rod tend to “big brother” Richie, meaning they tend to end up slapping him upside the head for saying something insensitive, though sometimes Reynie says something a bit too impulsively as well. They used to do different voices to entertain each other, meaning it’s a bit of an interest for all of them. While Reynie tends to lean more towards comedy, though, Rod wants to be a voice actor for cartoons like Looney Tunes, and Richie hopes to be some kind of radio personality.
Their parents mean well but are often at work, and even at home they don’t quite understand their boys, so the triplets are pretty used to relying on each other. Reynie kinda has the least parental affection, as Rod and Richie tend to get into even more shit than he does, so he kinda falls to the wayside. His isolation tends to manifest in fears of abandonment and loneliness- and a public outing resulting in such, starting when he started to realize that he maybe didn’t like girls as much as he said he did. Rod and Richie, meanwhile, also have vague fears of outing, though Pennywise represents their bisexuality as werewolfism- always transforming in painful and terrifying ways.
The Uris Boys
Mason Uris - film!Stan
13
Very cautious, but definitely not the Mom friend; he will inform you how shitty your idea is, but will not stop you, and in fact will grab popcorn to watch
Loves studying art history and different art forms, though he doesn’t want to create them himself, just catalogue them. He likes to entertain Isaac and Brooke by “critiquing” their “fabulous” artwork
The only one of his siblings who doesn’t get along with their parents
Peter Uris - miniseries!Stan
12, almost 13
Incredibly logical and has the most anxiety. Is the last one to believe in the clown just because it doesn’t fit into his worldview
While all the boys love birdwatching, he’s the one who’d like to go into it as a profession; he loves ornithology and wants to study birds for the rest of his life
Stanley “Stan” Uris - book!Stan
11
Loves to have things in order, and doesn’t really know how to interact with people socially, because people don’t act in predictable ways.
Super good at mathematics and hopes to be an engineer or accountant
Has the weirdest sense of humor, which means he is the best
The Urises are one of the few Jewish families in town, and in a bigoted town like Derry, that means they were pretty much outcasted from the getgo. They are all relatively close with each other, in that they’ll argue nonstop but also would die for each other without question. Peter and Stan probably get along the best, as they’ll sit and talk about birds until they pass out, while Mason likes to sit in his room and read his books on famous artists. Mason also has a bit more of a strained relationship with his parents, while his brothers get along with them much better.
The boys refused to believe in Pennywise for the longest time, as they’re all very logical and orderly and “magic alien clown eating kids by turning into their fears” doesn’t exactly fit into their normal worldview. But they’re going to stick by their friends and do their best to protect themselves and the town... and, well, if the way to kill the clown is by bullying him to death, they have a shitton of insults they’ve been saving for a special occasion.
#it#it 2017#it 2019#it chapter one#it chapter two#it book#it 1990#triple the losers au#mine#losers club au#it au
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I finally finished Picard. I enjoyed about 80% of it but felt like it stumbled at the final hurdle, tbh. My main issues below...
- For a show that started with Picard and Data, it felt like the show’s main emotional line was Data/Picard and Soji/Data and that it would connect Data and Soji as strongly as it started to do with Dahj before she died. But then after they left the Troi-Rikers it felt like Data was completely absent from the story and it became not about who Soji is as a person but who Soji is as a synthetic, a basic “synthetics vs. organics” argument rather than about what makes a person alive and an individual and what made Soji in particular so special. Soji became less about being Data’s daughter and more about being part of Soong’s collective of synthetics.
It was so muddled what the message even was beyond that very surface level debate, to the point where Soong found out his daughter killed one of her own he goes, “they’re just as bad as us” -- once again lumping them all together -- and chooses to “switch sides” and stop them by force. Instead of, y’know, *talking* to the rest of his children after the one individual that was clearly evil and influencing them was out of the way.
If anyone had told Soji that Narek hadn’t been the one to kill Saga, wouldn’t it have been much easier to convince her? But that would’ve undercut the big fight and their big message that.. to be honest just didn’t make sense to me at all. Soji felt completely lost as a character the second the homeworld entered the picture. Suddenly she knew things and felt things because the story needed her to.
- And let’s talk about this clearly evil android sister of hers. Why does she look just like Soji except because of all the heavy handed twin metaphors? I thought that face was like... specifically designed by Data in his painting? I’m so confused. I’m incredibly confused about the timeline of events at this point. And I’m confused as to why the Data-like androids are so capable of emotion and obviously far superior to Data, but Data could not be rebuilt. I’m confused as to why Soji and Dahj were made, superior even to these new androids, and then mindwiped and shoved off to chase shadows rather than just getting some actual humans to do that spying and protecting these incredibly precious creations. I’m confused as to why no others like Soji and Dahj were made afterwards. I’m confused as to how Narek and the others even heard about Soji or Dahj without knowing where they came from, yet they were certain there were more like them (spoiler, there weren’t even more like them, so why did Narek’s group have that impression?).
- Speaking of Narek, what even happened to him at the end? Did I just miss it? I’ve been waiting this whole show for his boring manipulative ass to die, please don’t tell me they’re going to try to bring him back. I don’t need a discount CW Romulan “I did murders but I also cried so I’m sympathetic” Kylo Ren who thinks having a British accent and a leather jacket is the same as having a personality showing up AGAIN and sucking the air out of MORE scenes.
- There were a lot of things that felt unearned in the last episode, but Picard’s “death” is a big one. Riker just goes “Okay bye!” and then Picard dies and they’re playing it off like this old man dying surrounded by his loved ones but as much as they tried to build it up with all of those goodbyes, he met half of them like a week ago. His second in command for years just nopes out of the scene so some kid he read Dumas to once over a decade ago can be the family in this situation? This is supposed to feel meaningful and earned? It wasn’t. It would have been better earned if it had been solely between Soji and Picard, as they had invested most in this relationship, and them ‘having each other’, and yet the idea of Soji finding belonging with Picard was practically thrown by the wayside in those last two episodes to ask “bigger” but less emotionally satisfying questions about her status as a synthetic. So in what should be the most emotional scene in the entire season, he just dies with a half-hearted “aww, you guys” to the new team and I felt... not much. And then it doesn’t even count! And then we’re having a funeral, but now it’s for Data? The same Data who y’all forgot to even talk about during most of that synthetics vs. organics dialogue??? It was nice to see Data again, but completely unearned by the events of the episode.
- Speaking of unearned... This show’s handling of its ‘romances’ is abysmal. It’s kind of sad that Agnes and Rios are the romance with the most buildup simply by virtue of the two of them actually having a FULL conversation with one another before making out. I really disliked Agnes and Rios in the end, partially because I don’t think they adequately built it up (even though like I said, it’s sadly the relationship they put the most effort into building), but also partially because I selfishly want Rios to die so Picard can captain and we can just have more of the great hologram Rioses because they’re way more fun. And also I love holograms more than people. Blame the Holodoc.
Soji/Narek was cringe-inducing garbage, an absolutely artless manipulation from a guy with zero charisma whose entire existence depends on him seducing a girl and him doing so by being evasive, distant and moody. Just the worst. And somehow that makes her like him instead of running for the hills, because he throws in the odd non-sequitur love confession two days into their relationship.
I thought Maddox was Agnes’ father in that old vid until she kissed him and that was. Woof. That was a real gross brain switch. In any case, not a fan, but I will say MAYBE this relationship should really earn the ‘most developed’ title because they were actually in a relationship. And she literally murdered him.
And don’t get me started on Seven and Raffi coyly threading fingers together in the final scene after, to my recollection, not even having a single conversation together??? Why do this? Why? *Why* do this. If you wanted to get them together but you know you’ve done no work on it, save it for a possible second season or *don’t do it at all*. Seven and Raffi being randomly paired off at the end made me wonder why they didn’t just throw in Soji/Elnor too for the whole set. Raffi/Agnes is more believable than Seven/Raffi because at least she gave her cake. Seven/Rios is more believable because they had that one shoe-horned heart-to-heart.
While we’re talking about alternate pairings, I personally think they all should be paired off with a member of Rios’ holosuite. Including Picard. INCLUDING RIOS. Because Santiago Cabrera is too hot for words and there are SIX of him on that ship.
- Another reason Seven/Raffi being thrown together was kind of infuriating to me is it felt the same as the scene where she said she had no one, and basically any scene that was like “Seven is completely alone and adrift and THIS is her new family! Just forget that she’s only had one random heart-to-heart with Rios and a few cute dialogues with Elnor and other than that absolutely no contact with any of these people.”
Where the heck are the rest of the Voyager crew? Okay, so nobody liked Chakotay with Seven. Okay, so Kate Mulgrew and Jeri Ryan didn’t get along so it would be unlikely to ever see them together on-screen. But Janeway literally loved Seven so much she rewrote time just to save her life or whatever that series finale was about. The Doctor, who knows *exactly* how it feels to be disenfranchised and dehumanized, is her best friend. Naomi Freakin’ Wildman who Seven called family who would absolutely have been there for her if she needed her. Why did they make her so sad and throw away all the rest of Voyager’s crew to do it?
I loved a lot of the stuff with Seven more than I thought I would after some of the things I’ve heard. But when I read someone say how “sad” they’d made her life, I have to agree. And mashing her into this crew at the end without putting in the time to show how she can fit aside from a few scenes with Elnor feels wrong and sloppy. If anything I would’ve liked her to leave with the borg at the end and then she could make another amazing grand entrance near the beginning of season two. Because basically the best things about Seven in this show were her kicking in the door scenes.
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Well, first of all I loved his outfit. It’s similar enough to what he wore in BBS to make it feel like Isa, but still felt fresh. It looked like something a fashionable young person would wear. It’s based on a Roen-Gackt collaboration design. Nomura sure loves Gackt, lol. So Isa was considered important enough to get a lot of care put into his new outfit. This collaboration was probably done a long time in advance, like with FFVersus XIII. I’m sure Isa’s backstory was supposed to be WAY more fleshed out so that his character would make a MUCH stronger impression on the player by the end of KH3. So, the outfit was kinda wasted in a way. Isa’s whole character was just wasted potential, though.
In a room made of white marble, a large mirror reflected Demyx as he prepared to leave for the mission. He took particular care with his hairstyle, painstakingly manipulating the brown strands with a comb to make them stand straight up. Saïx observed him from behind with what appeared to be distaste. In stark contrast to Demyx, Saïx left his long blue hair unstyled. The X-shaped scar on his forehead was all the style he needed.
Having an outfit based on a J-pop star might tell us something about how Nomura originally viewed Isa’s personality. He actually seemed like a rather fashionable young man who took pride in his appearance. He even wore stud earrings. His style was different from other kids like Hayner, Pence, or Lea. Saïx didn’t have any interest in his appearance. But Isa certainly seemed like the type to style his hair and then some. For some reason, I picture him ironically spending even MORE time in front of the mirror than Demyx. Especially post-KH3. Isa was already shy. I think he would probably struggle with insecurity over having a scar covering most of his face. So, he would try even harder to compensate with nice clothes and accessories.
The KH3 ending outfit really doesn’t fit someone like Saïx, who had such a harsh and dreary personality. I can’t see Saïx choosing to wear anything like that outfit. Way too youthful and trendy. And definitely not the star and moon accessory, either. He’d throw up at the cute little moon on Isa’s BBS outfit. Isa obviously was supposed to have such a different personality than Saïx. I bet Isa is going to be SUCH an awkward character going forward, because they’ll feel obligated to keep his Saïx personality traits, which will clash so badly with the rest of his character. He’ll be this pseudo-villain/quasi-good guy that just will feel so out of place in a series like this. It breaks my heart.
A great number of Nobodies have lost human form, as have the Heartless. Yet the Nobody born of someone with a strong heart retains its shape, with but the faintest visible changes.
As far as the rest of his design goes, I thought it was pretty lazy. In my opinion, Isa’s character design needed much more of an update than what he got. Kairi looked more different after her haircut than Isa did in the ending. If anyone deserved to look different for KH3, it was him. But…he still looked almost exactly like Saïx to me. He has a bit more color to his hair and face, and his scar is faded. But that’s about it. Which I guess was intentional. Why bother changing his look? It seems like they gave up on whatever plan they originally had for Isa to be his own character who was totally distinct from Saïx. They’re gonna just pretend that he wasn’t Norted and treat him like he was the same as Axel. Which sucks.
Axel and Riku get along very well somehow. Since Riku has become a figure of Ansem, I don’t speak much with him, but he laughs like a different person when he eats Ice cream with Axel. Axel says he “Laughs to face bad feelings”, but it seems that Riku isn’t a bad person. At that Axel said ‘don’t laugh when you’ve got a gross face’, but Riku didn’t seem all that annoyed.
Also, Axel really liked sea-salt ice cream. You’ve eaten sea salt ice cream ever since you moved to that house. I wonder how you don’t break your stomach! It felt like he ate them to an unthinkable extent. Axel ate so much ice cream that the freezer in the computer room emptied every day.
Now as a villain, Saïx had a very cool design. He was handsome and had long hair, but...he looked mean and scary. He was supposed to. He WAS mean and scary. He was Xemnas’ right-hand man, after all. And if he was Norted, this makes sense. He was envisioned as a sociopathic guy who has bouts of uncontrollable bloodlust when exposed to moonlight. I like Saïx’s design. He was pale and almost vampire-looking? Or maybe Addam’s family. He was created as a bad guy. The whole idea was that he was a scary, unapproachable dude. He was sinister and creepy. Yet ironically his original self was the polar opposite. It made for a pretty cool twist, IMO.
“…Aw, is it good?” Axel teased. “Seriously, you’re like a little kid. Even though you look like a mean old man.” Riku made no response, keeping his gaze fixed on the computer screen. The comment did rub him the wrong way. But mentally, Axel was definitely older than him by at least a little. Not that you could tell from looking.
They were clearly going for a VERY different vibe with Isa. When I first played BBS, I thought that the visual difference between Isa and Saïx was extremely noticable. Isa looked a lot softer, sweeter and more friendly. The idea behind Saïx's design was: harsh and scary. The idea of a cute bunny rabbit representing his personality was supposed to be absurd. Saïx would be utterly disgusted if he was seen as “cute”. But the idea behind Isa's design was: cute and innocent. And Isa was indeed a little cutie. And he was innocent, too.
Saïx: We'll ensure he receives the maximum punishment.
Axel: Okay, since you worked really hard today, you get a reward.
Saïx’s Casual Gear is called “Dessert Time,” but the localization named it “Just Desserts", and I thought that was very clever. To get one’s just desserts means to receive the appropriate punishment for one's actions. But sea-salt ice cream is supposed to be a treat to reward someone who did a good job.
Saïx gave him a cruel grin. “You will lose everything!” And then the Claymore pierced Axel’s chest.
Saïx rarely smiles because he is cold and cruel. But he would smile when he’s giving Axel his just desserts.
“But sweet!” Lea added, and Isa smiled a bit. That was rare for him. Well, eating ice cream together, talking about silly stuff, laughing together—it was just what friends did.
Isa rarely smiles because he’s shy. But he would smile when he’s eating ice cream with Lea because he has a sweet tooth and loves dessert. It was such a cool idea. I loved it.
dichotomy
1. a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.
2. the phase of the moon in which half its disk appears illuminated
Saïx’s Pandora Gear is called “Dichotomy” in the localization. Saïx had weapons called Lunatic, Berserker and Werewolf. The weapon representing his real personality is a bunny rabbit. The HUGE difference between Isa and Saïx was the whole point. My impression was that BBS wanted to emphasize as much as possible that Isa and Saïx were two very different people. And character design was one way they chose to do that. That dichotomy is what made Isa so interesting to me. If you want to make Isa his own character, you should go with a different character design, in my opinion.
“You’re in a pretty good mood,” Axel remarked. Riku glanced up.
“Seeing Sora just made you that happy, huh?”
“I don’t feel like telling you.” A little smile crossed Riku’s lips as he took another bite.
“Y’know, it’s creepy when you smile with that guy’s face,” Axel said dryly, following suit and nibbling on his own ice cream.
Silence fell over the room. He paused in his munching to stare hard at Riku, then finally asked, “What is Sora to you?”
The question caught Riku off guard. He groped for words. On the sofa opposite him, Naminé spoke up instead. “Sora and Riku are best friends.”
Like Terra, Isa was supposed to be cursed. Being Norted is no joke. That’s what a lot of the Beauty and the Beast parallels were about. Axel started teasing Riku for his ugly ass face the same time they were trying to figure out the organization’s next move. They were going to target those with strong hearts, and the Beast was one of those targets.
Belle nodded and silently walked out of the room. The trio went after her. The Beast was left alone with no company but the moonlight.
“You’re really just going to give up on everything now?” Sora said all at once. But the Beast only stared up at the moon.
Isa was supposed to be just as cursed as Riku was in KH2. And Riku changing his appearance fit perfectly with Lea and Isa’s story. Axel said Riku was creepy when he smiled with that face, and unfortunately that’s kind of how “Isa” made me feel in the KH3 ending. Since they took away the possession angle, I didn’t really see him as Isa. He still felt like Saïx to me. And seeing Saïx play and smile like that was kinda unsettling. And weird.
Axel’s eyes crinkled as he remembered his own best friend—the only friend he’d ever had, in fact.
“If your best friend goes away, you’re sad, and if you get to be with them, you’re happy,” Naminé added. “Isn’t that how it is, Axel?”
“…That’s about the size of it.” Axel nodded and sat down on the remaining empty sofa, staring at the sea-salt ice cream he held.
“So you are capable of sincerity,” said Riku.
Axel only shrugged at the jab and finished his ice cream pop.
Probably for this very reason, I could tell that Nomura wanted to take a different direction with Isa’s character design after he decided to make him a good guy and Lea’s best friend. You can see what Nomura had in mind for an adult Isa based on his illustrations of Saïx for 358/2 Days and KH2FM+. He looks different than he did in his vanilla KH2 concept art. His features lean a lot more heavily toward Isa in BBS. I really wished KH3 went in this direction with his updated character design. He looks much more youthful here, like Axel does. Also, I loved the fact that his scar was gigantic. It went all the way from the top of his forehead to the bottom of his nose. In KH3, they stuck with the old Saïx design, so his scar was a lot smaller. I like the bigger scar because it really shows that he was treated like a human lab rat (of course that idea was scrapped, anyways).
Beside the Beast, who had once been a handsome prince, stood a man in a black cloak. “It’s time you dealt with the girl. She’s scheming to take everything you have,” said Xaldin, his hood pulled low to hide his face. “Your castle, your treasures…and then your very life.” The Beast hung his head. His castle was a desolate place, ruled by a monster.
“Trust no one. Feed your anger. Only rage will keep you strong!”
“I’ve had enough of strength. There’s only one thing I want…” The Beast gazed, unmoving, at the glass bell jar around a single red rose.
What he wanted was—
“Hah,” Xaldin spat. “To love and be loved in return? Who could ever love a beast?” The Beast whirled again, his cape rippling. He glared and let out a roar of fury.
“Good. Let your anger rise!” With that, Xaldin vanished.
Axel didn’t really see his best friend when he looked at Saïx. He felt like Isa went away and Saïx took his place. His relationship with Saïx was based on his memories of the past. He self-medicated with ice cream to cope. It was heartbreaking. After the scene where Axel was sad about his best friend going away, the chapter about the Beast’s Castle begins, describing him as a formerly handsome prince. So on that basis, I wish there was more visual differentiation between Isa and Saïx. Most of the fandom is just going to see Isa as the same mean old Saïx since there was no attempt to differentiate Isa’s personality from Saïx’s personality and they look exactly the same, too.
“I don’t trust you,” Saïx replied flatly, the enormous Claymore in his hand.
“Traitors like you deserve to lose everything,” Saïx said.
Saïx gave him a cruel grin. “You will lose everything!”
They originally wanted Isa to have a distinct personality and appearance from Saïx—a lot more than just a new outfit. Isa was supposed to be a beautiful love interest cursed into being a beast. In the novel you can tell that Xigbar and Xaldin were pressuring Saïx to eliminate Axel. He was reluctant to do so on his own. Xigbar doubted whether he was even looking for Axel. Just like with the Beast, they were manipulating him to think Axel had been plotting to take everything from him. Deep down Saïx probably felt similar to the Beast. Like nobody could ever love him in his condition. I think that’s why he was so furious. Axel grew a heart, and then left him. But the only reason Axel grew a heart was because he remembered his feelings for Isa. It was a really cool idea. It's just a shame it never came to fruition.
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(Note: This is Part 3 of a three part story. Part One. Part Two.)
You need my help? You invade my home. You invade my blog. You send a bomb to my office and then you send me through some sort of grief spiral all so you could turn into a ghost to better commit crimes and now you want my help?
<I remember a few of those events differently, and I appreciate that my death moved you, but yes that’s the gist of it. I need your help.>
You’ve got a lot of nerve Kaminksy.
<Listen, I’ll grant you that the bomb we got in the mail was one of mine. I recognized it as soon as you, like an idiot, opened the package. But I didn’t mail that bomb to the office. This is not my scheme. I never intended on becoming a ghost to better commit crimes. I was quite fine committing crimes as an alive person!>
Wait, you didn’t send the bomb?
<No, of course not!>
Then who did?
<I don’t know!>
And that’s what you need my help with? You want me to help you find whoever attacked us?
<No, I can handle that on my own. I don’t think you’d approve of the hyper villainous revenge I have in mind for once I find them.>
So what do you need my help with? And to be clear, I am not actually offering my help.
<That’s very sweet of you. Hold on I think I’ve got a tear in my eye.>
Ghosts don’t cry Brainwave. They wail.
<Oh they wail, good to know. Good to know. Can I ask what else they do?>
What else they-? Ah, that’s why you came to me. You don’t actually know how to be a ghost do you?
<Listen, I just figured since you do all these guides, and I know you’ve mentioned ghosts once or twice that you could maybe help me find my bearings.>
All right Brainwave you drive a hard bargain, I’ll help you figure out your new lease on death, but you have to find the person who tried to kill us, and bring him to justice.
<Deal! Teach me about ghosts, I’ll find the person who killed me, kill them, and then bring their ghost to justice!>
You’ll bring them in alive thank you very much!
<Uch, fine. Whatever.>
#250 Being a Ghost
So, you’ve died, that’s a bit of a bummer, and what’s more? You didn’t even get to enjoy the eternal rest you were promised. You’ve certainly had better days. Remember the time you caught that really big fish? You were browsing in the supermarket, ranking all the groceries based on annoyed your enemies would be if you hurled them at them, and all of a sudden you notice a ginormous fish attempting to shoplift some boxes of crackers, but you caught them and the supermarket gave you some free eggs and your enemies were very annoyed when you hurled them at them. That was a great day. This day is worse. Because you are dead. But you’re not really as dead as you thought you’d be. You’re still around, just different. Your physical body has expired, but your soul, your spirit lives on, and thus, you’ve been given a new lease on life. A ghostly one. (Oh, hey, we’re doing one of these today? I thought we agreed to take a few weeks off after you know...) Nah! Who needs a break! It’s important to get right back in the saddle! (All right, but I expect you to make up those vacation days. I was gonna go horseback wrestling.)
Being a ghost isn’t all that different from being alive. You can still think, you can still experience emotions, you can still smell and see and hear things. You can still be disappointed by your friends and loved ones for not supporting your career as a ghostly standup comic. (When entering into any creative career it is important to have your own unique shtick, to set you apart. And being a ghost is as good of a shtick as any in standup comedy!) However, just like when you first became alive, it will take time to learn how to do these seemingly basic things as a ghost.
As we get into a lot of this stuff I just want to nip a few common misconceptions about ghosts in the bud:
Lie: Ghosts can’t touch things.
Truth: Ghosts can touch things, but not in the same was that living things do. Ghosts are indeed incorporeal so they cannot feel things against their bodies. But that doesn’t mean they can’t move or manipulate things that are external to them. They do this by harnessing the “dead energy” around them. “Dead energy” is everywhere and nowhere all at the same time. It’s basically a catchall term for any forces or presences that cannot be used, studied, or even noticed by living beings. From conversations that I’ve had with ghosts I’ve gleaned that using dead energy to move things is kind of like a cross between telekinesis and touching things while wearing gloves. Being able to manipulate death energy is how ghosts can rattle chains, flick lights on and off, bisect cows and hurl the pieces at bigots, hold the microphone during karaoke, all the fun stuff they used to be able to do while alive.
Lie: Ghosts look like bedsheets.
Truth: Ghosts can look like bedsheets. But that’s their choice. Ghosts are spirits who have finally broken free from the mortal flesh prisons. They are no longer hindered by an unchanging form. (I mean, sure you can change your appearance when you’re alive but to do that you have to like put on makeup or go to the gym or eat one million pizzas and that all requires grit and determination.) A fun perk about being a ghost that many people don’t know about is that they’re basically limitless shapeshifters. If you don’t like the way you looked while you were alive, there is no need to continue to look like that now that you’re dead!
Lie: The only job a ghost can get in today’s economy is some form of haunting.
Truth: Even just twenty years ago, ghosts were rather limited in what they could or could not do. They could haunt houses, they could haunt castles, they could haunt comedy clubs (yearning for the day that they could finally be accepted as the world’s first, only, and by default, greatest ghost comedian). They could haunt pretty much anything, but that’s all they could do. I think the fact that there were basically no limits on what a ghost could haunt made people think that ghosts had plenty of career opportunities but that was just not the case. Nowadays, thanks in large part to the Headless Horsemen and other ghost activists groups, ghosts play a role in many many more industries than their old haunting haunts. Ghosts can be lawyers. Ghosts can be doctors. Heck! Ghosts can even be writers! Ghosts have become secret agents, search and rescue leaders, even the occasional superhero! (And sure, there are few supervillains out there too, so if there are any ghostly supervillains out there who are reading this for some reason. Get over yourself. You’re not that special.)
Lie: Only people with a certain “sixth sense” can see ghosts.
Truth: This one’s actually a pretty funny story. Ghosts can turn invisible and intangible at will. It’s a function of their limitless shapeshifting. So, once upon a time, a bunch of ghosts got together and decided they really enjoyed the privacy that being invisible afforded them. When you’re visible people judge you like “Uch, that ghost is so spooky, does it have to resemble the corpse of a little girl?” and sure, that ghost didn’t need to look like that. It was an aesthetic choice. But is that so wrong? Do ghosts really deserve to be judged for their appearances? These ghosts decided that being able to see them was something only a select few trusted individuals would be able to do. Since then ghosts have occasionally decided to allow people to believe that they have the incredible power to see ghosts and the rest is history!
With all that in mind you’re ready to begin this new phase of your existence. (Get it? phase? Because ghosts can phase through things!) Good point! As a ghost you now have a number of incredible abilities that you didn’t have when you were alive. We’ve spoken about shapeshifting and turning invisible but you can also become intangible! Which is where that misconception about ghost’s not being able to touch things comes from. (I once read that the only things ghosts could touch were bedsheets and rusty chains, and that they wore bedsheets so that their fellow ghosts could see them, and they rattled chains to get people’s attention because they couldn’t tap them on the shoulder. The things people will believe!) Intangibility is great for getting into places you could never get into when you were alive. Like your father’s secret study where he keeps all of his mint condition figurines or the “cowboy’s only” lounge at the airport.
Most ghosts also have the ability to produce some sort of ectoplasmic slime. This stuff is relatively harmless to human beings but it is very gross and smells and tastes very bad! It’s also great for creating a spooky ambiance. You can use it to scare criminals, keep people out of places you don’t want them in, ruin a perfectly good breakfast. Once you get a bit more used to being a ghost you’ll learn how to shoot this ooze as a projectile and then you can finally enter into the annual slimeball fights that are probably a thing in the ghost community!
In certain situations you’ll also be able to possess living things. This is generally frowned upon, superheroes generally try to not to override people’s freewill. That’s a very supervillainy thing to do. I guess if you were a supervillain you could do this and it might help you infiltrate places or even to glean information from people. I don’t know just some possibilities. Obviously I’m not condoning any of this. I assume only superheroes are reading this blog. Possessing can only occur if you are a very strong-willed ghost and they are a very weak-willed living being. I suppose then its not even so bad is it? Like if their will is so weak that they can’t prevent you from taking over their body isn’t it kind of like they wanted or at least allowed this to happen? Anyway, it’s really only a supervillain thing. Don’t do this unless you’re a supervillain. (Uh, and don’t do this if you are a supervillain. No possessions please!)
Ghosts can also fly! They have no need to stay on the ground because, as we’ve said, they are untethered souls. So enjoy swooping and soaring through the skies. In this instance, you’re actually better off than living beings who can fly. They have to worry about crashing into things, or getting bugs stuck in their teeth, or getting attacked by birds who feel threatened by them. Ghosts don’t have any of those problems! They can turn intangible and invisible! Just fly through whatever the heck you want!
But for real though, being a ghost isn’t all fun and games though (you know, all those classic games where you shoot horrible horrible ooze from your mouth at your enemies and then fly off into the night rattling chains the whole way). Your soul yearns for eternal rest, yet it cannot achieve it until it fulfills its final purpose on this Earth. Not everybody becomes a ghost, generally it is only those who have unfinished business at the time of their death. Sometimes humans are kept around as ghosts because they are to complete some mission for some higher power. Something like avenging their own death or sitting through this being’s friend’s seven hour off-off-off-off-off-off-off-off-off-off-off-off-Broadway show (it’s in Maine). So, if you find that you are indeed chained to this plane of existence, you might want to think about why this could be. If there are any ghosts out there who would like to talk about what they might want to be doing with the extra time they’ve been given, well you know where to find me. (Wait! No! Don’t invite any more ghosts here! Diego A. Wayghosts said he’d quit if he had to perform an exorcism on the washing machine again!)
Being a ghost doesn’t have to mean your life is over, it just means your life is different. Many people find a renewed sense of purpose in becoming a ghost. Being a ghost allows you to pursue your passions without having to worry about eating, drinking, breathing, and not contracting a horrible illness! (Most of the ghost illnesses are relatively bearable and tend to pass within a few days.) Being a ghost gives you some extra time to take care of the things you kept pushing off when you were alive. So if you’re a ghost, good luck out there. We believe in you.
You there?
<I’m here yeah.>
Did you get what you needed?
<I think so, and sorry in advance about your bedroom.>
What did you do to my bedroom!
<Well that slime thing sounded super interesting and I figured you wouldn’t be in your bedroom since you were writing this post so...>
You got slime everywhere! What the hell man!
<Hey, don’t say that word. If what you said is true, then as soon as I find the guy who killed me I could pass on and end up in Hell.>
Fredrick, it doesn’t have to go that way.
<You said I’d only be a ghost until I wrap any of my unfinished business.>
And who says that has to end with you going to Hell for all eternity! Maybe you’re still here in order to make amends.
<What are you getting at?>
All I’m saying is that you spent most of your life as a supervillain. An over the top, absurd, sometimes downright stupid supervillain. But towards the end of your life, you moved in with us, and whether you like it or not, you occasionally helped us explain things to new superheroes. You spent the last year and a half of your life actually doing some good. And then, at the end, you sacrificed yourself to save the rest of us. Maybe that’s why you’re still here. Your soul is in conflict with itself. It doesn’t know whether you were good or bad.
<Bad. I’m a bad guy! How dare you imply otherwise! You know what? Just for that, when you get around to cleaning up your bedroom, I’m gonna come back and ooze all over it again!>
Gross, no thanks. Listen to me, you have another shot here. You’ve been given incredible powers. You’ve been removed from everything holding you back when you were alive. I think you can really use this opportunity to do a lot of good.
<Bah! No thanks!>
Whoever killed you is a bad guy, I think we can both agree on that. You’re not going to find them by going back to mutating alligators or creating a lab grown dodo bird and selling it to the highest bidder. You find them by fighting any bad guys you come across, work your way back to the source. Brainwave, I think it’s time you actually put your money where your mouth is and did something good for a change.
<That’s not who I am.>
It’s not who you were. It’s not who Dr. Brainwave was. But Dr. Brainwave blew up last week. He’s dead. You’re something else. Something new. And I think you have a chance here to be something better.
<Listen, even if I bought into what you were saying. I don’t know the first thing about being a good guy.>
Sure you do! Don’t kill anybody, don’t commit any heinous crimes, and don’t try to take over the world. Everything else you need to know... well, we’ve been writing this guide for a few years now haven’t we? That should get you started.
<Hrm.>
You’ve got the chance to do something really good here Frederick. Don’t let it pass you by.
<Fine. Fine, I’ll give it a shot. I don’t want my life to have meant nothing. I guess... I guess if I can’t take over the world, then I might as well leave it a better place than I found it. I’ll make it the kind of place that doesn’t need to be taken over.>
Ok! Now we’re talking. And remember, I’m always here if you need help or guidance with something. You and me Brainwave, we can do some real good here.
<Don’t call me that.>
Pardon?
<Brainwave, Dr. Brainwave. You’re right, that man is dead. It’s time to start over.>
Well, if you need help, you know where to find it.
<Heh, yeah. Thanks. For everything.>
Anytime old friend. Good luck out there. I believe in you.
#superhero#superheroes#comics#comedy#humor#funny#hilarious#Dr. Brainwave#The Death of Dr. Brainwave#A How To Hero Event#ghosts#being a ghost#spirits#apparations#death#Headless Horsemen#Diego A. Wayghosts#sixth sense
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If you're still doing Sarcasm prompts, could you please do 57. “This place hold a lot of memories for me. Some bad, some… No. No, no, all bad.” With Eddie x Venom? Pretty please?
Point Blank, Gross
A/N: The title is a playon the movie Grosse Point Blank, which is about an assassin who goes to hishigh school reunion. If you haven’t seen this movie, you really should. It’sfreaking hilarious.
Eddie sighed, lookingthrough the badges on the table. Each one labeled the former student with asmudgy picture probably clipped from one of the thousands ofprinted-and-never-sold yearbooks that were moldering away in the school’sbasement. It took him longer than it should have to realize that the badgeswere in order by first name, rather than last, and that, further, that wasprobably because some of the girls in his high school class had gotten married,and changed their names.
Eddie Brock. Schoolnewspaper, photography club, class clown.
It doesn’t say loser onhere, Eddie, Venom pointed out, helpfully.
“Yeah, that wasn’t anofficial award or anything,” Eddie mumbled, picking up the badge and pinning iton with a grimace. “There were lots of losers in high school.” Christ, hedidn’t really want to be here. He looked over the badges again. He was in luck.“Mac” wasn’t on the table, which meant the guy was here already.
(more under the cut)
Eddie gritted his teethand pushed through the doors into the old gym.
What is this place,Eddie? Venom was swiveling Eddie’s neck around like itwas on a ball bearing, trying to take in the sights. What sights? It was a gym,it smelled like a gym, and even the host of tiny round tables with papertablecloths, streamers hanging from the roof, and someone's disco ball spinningidly in the center of the room didn’t disguise it one bit.
At least there was abar. Didn’t look like the planning committee had much of a budget to work with;it was all Coors Light and box wine. Shelly Poindexter, who’d once beenhomecoming queen, was leaning against the bar, plastic cup of wine danglingidly in her fingers.
“Eddie Brock, from theBrock Report, come home to grace his humble beginnings?”
“Thought I’d see if itwas all the way I remembered it,” Eddie said, not really looking at her as heswiveled his head, trying to spot the man he’d come here to find. Find the guy,interview him, talk to a couple of other people as camouflage, and get out.
“If you remember it asbeing a ruthless crucible of gossip and hormones, then yeah, it hasn’tchanged,” she said, eyeing Eddie with interest. “You’ve changed.”
“Only on the inside,”Eddie said. Before she could say anything else, he reached past her to snag acan of beer and stuffed a couple of bucks into the bartender’s tip jar. Hecracked it open, gave Shelly a vague nod, and pressed forward into the crowd.Mac had to be here somewhere.
Venom finished theirsurveillance of the gym, sniffing at the beer can with interest. When theythought no one was looking, Eddie felt Venom grab their body a bit, stretchinghis mouth and jaw enough that he could take in the entire beer, can and all, ina single gulp. Cheap brew, Venom complained.
“Could’a told you that,buddy,” Eddie said. He burped, and made a face at the flat, watery taste. “It’sa high school reunion, not a socialite gala. Ugh.” He turned slowly on hisheel, looking at their surroundings. “This place hold a lot of memories for me.Some bad, some… No. No, no, all bad. Let’s just find Mac and get this overwith.”
Anne thinks it’s funnyyou’re at your high school reunion, Venom said. Do wereally think a man who kills people for money will be here?
Venom had a weird senseof right and wrong. Usually whatever was fun was right, and whatever was boringwas wrong. But they also thought that killing was for fun, or for protection,or because they were hungry. Or annoyed.
But Venom did notapprove of mercenary killing. An assassin was… rude.
“His name tag wasn’t onthe table outside,” Eddie pointed out. “And if our information was right, he’sin town this weekend on ‘business’, anyway. If he’s seen here, it’s a goodalibi for him. Of course, that only works if he’s actually seen...”
That woman is hungry, Venom said, turning Eddie around. Shelly was following him, witha determined look on her face. Not hungry the way Venom meant it, but more…aggressively sexual. Look out, here she comes, she’s the man-eater.
“She always has been,”Eddie muttered. He was pretty sure she’d slept her way to her homecoming crown,and god only knew how many more guys since. Not that Eddie was going toslut-shame her, but she’d never been what one would call discerning. Andhe rather suspected that she wasn’t looking at him like that because shethought he’d give her a good time, but because she thought he could dosomething for her.
More fool she. The BrockReport had a pretty decent following, but journalists were not exactlyrolling in dough. “Just ignore her; maybe she’ll go away.”
He promptly forgot abouther, spotting Mac near the DJ’s station, talking urgently, one finger near hisear, as if he was on a headset. Not even a little subtle, but at least Eddiewas close to having something off his to-do list. A break in the story,something he could use. He just needed a break, just--
“Eddie Brock!” Someoneelse squealed his name, and he was accosted by the sort of middle-aged man thatused to teach until he discovered that real estate was less stressful. Eddiesquinted, trying to mentally peel fifteen years off-- oh, good lord, really?His sophomore year shop teacher?
“Mr. Peterson,” Eddiesaid, smiling weakly. “How’s life been treating you?” He couldn’t help sneakinga glance at Mac. Just don’t go anywhere, he begged silently.
Eddie wasn’t very goodat small talk. And gaining a talkative parasite didn’t help his attention spanany at all. When Mr. Peterson stared at him, Eddie had to backtrack theconversation.
You told him goldfish,when he asked if you were dating.
Well, at least one ofthem was paying attention. “Uh, sorry, that’s... kind of an in-joke with me andmy friends.”
“Well, I suppose thatyou’ve seen Shape of Water, too,” Mr. Peterson said. He gave a bark oflaughter. “My wife liked it.”
“Yeah, it’s weird, huh?”Eddie checked on Mac again.
Across the room, Macnodded at something that the DJ said, and then turned. When his coat flippedup, Eddie saw the distinct shape of a pistol tucked down the back of the man’sjeans.
Eddie. Eddie, he isfollowing-- Venom jerked on their neck and pulled his gazearound to watch… the old chemistry teacher going off toward the ladies’ room.
What even the fuck.“Hey, so, uh, it’s been nice chatting, but I just saw, uh--” Eddie waved hishand in what he hoped was a vaguely meaningful way. He ducked away before Mr.Peterson could say anything else, letting Venom help him navigate through thesea of people, picking a path of least resistance.
We can go faster if wesuit up. Which wasn’t untrue, although that was often accompaniedby panicked mobs, Venom not exactly looking warm and fuzzy.
I am not warm and fuzzy, Venom complained, having caught that last thought. I am anefficient predator.
“Yes, I know,” Eddieplacated him. “And if we suit up now, everyone will run screaming and someonewill get hurt in the stampede. Just... Keep moving us through the crowd.”
You are less fun whenyou are working.
Eddie had an answer forthat, he was pretty sure he did, but before he was able to get it out, he’dbeen jerked through the doors and was pressed, face up against a concrete wall.“My god, you really are stupid, aren’t you?” a woman-- Shelly, in fact, said.There was something hard and chilly pressing into the small of Eddie’s back.“Bad move. Real bad move. Well, I suppose we can find something to do with theextra body. Make it look like you two shot each other. Something.”
“Shelly?” Eddie twistedhis neck until it crackled, trying to look at her. “What the hell are youdoing? You-- You and Mac?”
“He’s exciting,” shesaid, jamming the gun harder against his spine. “Which is more than I can sayabout you.”
Can I eat her? No onewill even know she is missing.
“Maybe,” Eddie conceded.“Shelly, seriously, you want to walk away from this. Right now. I feel like Ishould warn you that your life is in danger, here.”
There was nothingladylike about her scoff. “Mac won’t turn on me, asshole. People keep tryingthat on me, it doesn’t work. But, since I don’t think there’s anything you cansay that’ll get me to leave you alive, let’s just get on with this--”
She was still talkingwhen she pulled the trigger in time with a sudden surge of music from the gym,probably enough to drown out the sound of gunfire.
Fuck, that hurt-- the bullet went through his spine and Eddie spilledto the ground in a heap before Venom snarled in his mind and-- spread. Warm,comforting, a little bit slimy, but hey, Eddie would take it, especiallycompared to the red-hot agony of being shot.
Sorry, love, should’velet you have her sooner, Eddie said as theyclimbed to their feet.
He could feel his spineand the surrounding tissue healing, a soothing numbness as the nerves wererebuilt. A cold-hot, hard lump ached its way up and out of the wound as itclosed: the bullet. Joined as they were, he could feel Venom manipulating it,pulling it up to their mouth.
Shelly was staring atthem, frozen, unable to move or even scream. Her eyes were wide and as round asdinner plates.
“We,” Venom said,pushing the bullet into their cheek like a wad of tobacco, “are veryexciting. Aren’t you excited?” Venom hitched in a breath and spit thebullet directly into Shelly’s face.
They didn’t give her anytime to answer the question either, but leaned over and devoured the formerhomecoming queen in a few bites. Eddie had to close his eyes for that part.
All right, he said when Venom had finished, now let’s go find Mac.
#symbrock#prompt#eddie x venom#eddie brock#venom#high school reunion#venom typical cannibalism#venom levels of violence#celtic7irish
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im so glad you decided to give utena a go! it's my favourite anime and there truly isn't any wrong interpretation of the events, themes, and characters. what are your thoughts on the individual student council members? as well as the black rose duelists, and the black rose arc itself? that part of the series always struck me as very important in the elaboration of themes that are important for the rest, even if its 'filler', lmao. and im glad you liked utena as well!
Utena is great! I’m very glad to have watched it. And I know what you mean about interpretations, haha; I’ve been looking up a lot of people’s meta and analysis about it since I finished watching it, and people really do approach it from so many different cool and interesting ways. I think it’s a really cleverly presented show in the sense that it doesn’t really directly push any particular lesson or moral to the story; it just sort of very accurately observes and portrays a lot of really relatable and recognisable social dynamics, and lets the viewer decide for themselves what they want to take from that. I really like it a lot!
Haha, gosh, that’s a lot of characters to cover! Well, let’s see how quickly I can sum them up… For the student council members, I really liked Saionji; I think they did a good job at balancing the portrayal of his sweet and childish side with his capacity for genuine ugliness when his insecurities cause him to lash out at people. He came across to me as someone who really did want a genuinely mutual emotional connection rather than just “possessing” someone (that exchange diary was very endearing in its ridiculousness) but didn’t really know how to go about that except by clumsily forcing it on people, which feels like a pretty relatable teenager thing.
Then there’s Miki…I felt like his fixation on his memories of Kozue and later Anthy as his “shining thing” was a pretty good portrayal of how idolising and putting people on a pedestal can also be its own way of dehumanising them, and I thought his episodes did a good job of showing how those sorts of feelings can easily get diverted into something ugly despite him being a basically gentle kid at heart. I wasn’t quite sure what to make about the stuff with his parents, exactly, and I felt like the whole plotline with Kozue was a bit all over the place, but I still basically appreciate the core of the character and what he adds to the series.
Juri was interesting! Her bitterness over Shiori felt like a pretty authentic and recognisable emotion to me; it’s certainly a very uncomfortable situation as a teenager to be in that position of having feelings for someone you know you’re not “supposed” to, and then having to put up with people giving you those empty platitudes of “oh, if you like someone then you should just tell them!!” without any real understanding of the situation. I thought her relationship with Shiori was pretty compelling in how messed up and dysfunctional it ended up being on both ends, but then her last couple of episodes with Ruka really didn’t do anything for me; it felt to me like he ended up sort of hijacking her plotline in a weirdly offputting way, so I wasn’t quite sure how to feel about it in the end. I still like the character, but I felt like her overall arc had potential to be more interesting to me than it was.
Touga…I didn’t really like Touga very much! He honestly just came across as a very consciously manipulative asshole for most of the series, and the show’s eventual attempts to humanise him felt like too little too late for me. I think I can somewhat see and appreciate the idea of what they were going for in terms of a lot of his gross attitudes being a misguided attempt to emulate people like Akio as role models for what a “prince” should be, and that he was also a victim and a pawn of the system in the end, but on the whole I was pretty much inclined to agree with Saionji when he said “you’ve never actually cared about anyone”. Even after Utena supposedly made him doubt himself, he still seemed to keep acting in the same gross ways for the most part, which I guess was probably meant as an intentional deconstruction of the usual tropes in some respects (falling in love doesn’t actually magically make you a better person), but that still doesn’t really make me like him any more!
Nanami was just hilarious, haha. I expected her to be a really grating character from her introduction, but her comic relief episodes were so completely over-the-top ridiculous that they sort of wrapped around to being weirdly endearing in their way, so I couldn’t really actively dislike her. I also couldn’t ever bring myself to actually take her seriously as a character at all, though; bizarre comedy episodes aside, she seemed like a pretty standard clingy brocon character without a whole lot of nuance. But at least she was a very entertaining one!
Oh yeah, the Black Rose arc was really important, I agree! I wouldn’t really say it felt like filler particularly - I suppose it’s true that Utena and Anthy don’t do much in it, but thematically I think it does add a huge amount, and I enjoyed the way it established Akio as a sort of “wise mentor” figure in the background before really putting him into the spotlight in the final arc. It sort of made me sort of instinctively want to trust him even despite him being really obviously shady, which in retrospect was a pretty impressively complicated feeling for the show to be able to pull off. But yeah, the arc itself was really interesting! I think it was definitely a really effective and thematically important choice to put the focus on the “losers” of the system, giving a voice to people you’d expect to be background characters and giving them the chance to fight for themselves. I know Ikuhara said the Black Rose arc was inspired by him hearing someone on TV say something like “society is divided into the chosen and the unchosen; to be unchosen is to die”, and wanting to explore the feelings of the “unchosen”, and I think it achieved that pretty well; a lot of the Black Rose Duelists’ stories were pretty insightful in criticising the narratives behind that sort of artificial social hierarchy and what it does to people.
I think what left the most impact about it to me, though, was that it just had such a strong atmosphere! Those elevator therapy sequences really managed to be legitimately creepy and disturbing; the juxtaposition of the duelists’ big emotional breakdowns with Mikage’s weirdly impersonal, deadpan, scripted response struck a very effectively unsettling note for me. And the Black Rose Duelists themselves had such a cool and memorable aesthetic, too…it always felt really striking to me whenever we got to see them dueling, probably because most of them really aren’t the kinds of characters you’d expect to be fighting (as opposed to most of the student council members who have established fencing and Kendo skills), so it sort of added to the impression of these people who wouldn’t normally have any power within the system being given a chance to fight. So yes, on the whole I think it’s a really cool arc, with a really fantastic presentation in particular.
As for impressions on each of the Black Rose Duelists individually, hmm, let’s see…Kanae was a good enough introduction to the concept, but didn’t really leave that much impression. I felt bad for her being used by Akio, but she didn’t really get enough screentime for me to get invested. Kozue…I think Kozue never really clicked for me, honestly? Her being so creepily possessive of Miki was sort of offputting to me (this show already has enough incest, you know…?), and I felt like I couldn’t really get a good feel for her character or what drove her on anything more than an abstract level.
Shiori was really interesting! There was a compelling sort of raw desperation behind her panicked, uncomprehending response to finding Juri’s locket that really stuck with me; it’s sort of an ugly reaction but it honestly felt pretty sympathetic to me, I think? Like, if on the one hand your former best friend is totally off-handedly dismissing your attempts to reach out and make amends with her in person and acting like she never wants to see you again, but at the same time you find out she’s also secretly treasuring an old picture of you as her most prized possession and keeping it on her at all times…well, that IS actually pretty weird, you know?! I think most people would be at least a little creeped out by that. So Shiori’s kind of totally confused panic response and weird mix of vindicated elation and anger culminating in that accusing shout of “WHY DO YOU LOOK AT ME THAT WAY?!” honestly felt pretty real to me. I felt like they did a good job of conveying a real constant sense of deep-rooted self-loathing behind her more selfish and manipulative actions that made it hard for me not to feel sorry for her a lot of the time; it seemed to me like she was stuck in a sort of toxic cycle of trying to escape her low self-esteem by “deceiving people into liking her”, which inevitably just made her feel even worse about herself and just fed deeper into the initial assumption that no one would like her unless she deceived them, and so on, which was really painful to watch. I’m not surprised that she seems to evoke such visceral emotional responses from people within the fandom, because I think a lot of what she says and does really feels uncomfortably raw and real in a way that’s difficult to process. She’s a very good character in that way!
Tsuwabuki…well, he didn’t particularly grab me as a character, but I did actually enjoy his Black Rose episode quite a bit. I feel like it makes for a pretty strong illustration of just how little coherent and accessible information there really is out there for young kids trying to understand what sexuality and relationships are like, so it’s easy for people to end up turning to dubious sources and developing weird and messed up ideas about how things work and what “adulthood” actually means. It’s really no wonder that our whole cultural standards around that stuff have become so screwed up and dysfunctional when no one’s even really willing to talk about it.
Wakaba was great! I liked her a lot. She was a genuinely good friend to Utena and a good illustration of the unappreciated strength and value of “normal people”. The end of her arc with Saionji honestly made me really sad! I sort of wish there was a little bit more follow-up after her duel with Utena, though; I would have liked it if the whole thing had a bit more of a lasting impact on Wakaba and how Utena viewed her and their friendship, but it didn’t feel like that ever really happened, so her subplot felt a bit…unresolved, I guess? Well, I think it’s probably intentional that most of the characters besides Utena and Anthy don’t really get a firm “resolution” to their arcs - the potential for growth is there, but they still haven’t broken out of their shells yet, which is fine - but I think I would have at least liked to see her take a few more steps toward being able to see her own worth without needing someone “special” to validate her. (Akio can get lost with his whole “oh normal people only ever get to shine for a short time lol” nonsense, urrgghh.)
I liked Keiko too! Devoting a whole episode to a previously nameless bit character like that was a really cool way of hammering home the whole theme of breaking down the conventional assumptions behind social “hierarchies” even on a meta/narrative level. Keiko herself was interesting to me in the sense that her grievances and anger at having her chance at happiness “denied to her” when she’s no less deserving than anyone else actually felt legit sympathetic at first in isolation, but then you look at the unspoken assumptions framing that narrative and it suddenly becomes really disturbing (this person would make me happy, everyone deserves happiness, therefore I deserve this person).
Mikage…man, I really wanted to like Mikage - the basic ideas behind his character are really cool and fascinating - but I think his arc just felt too rushed for me in the end? It felt like we basically got dumped with his entire plot and backstory immediately before it got resolved, so I didn’t really have time to get emotionally invested in his story before it was already over. Revealing midway that half of his backstory was probably a lie didn’t exactly help things either, as I was left struggling to keep up with what was actually real and what wasn’t; I still don’t feel like I really have a handle on some of the basic points like why he actually set the building on fire or when exactly Mamiya died, which makes it hard for me to really connect with the character and understand what exactly he got out of the illusionary narrative that Akio constructed for him. Theoretically I feel like he should really be exactly the kind of character I absolutely love - someone detached from their own emotions who doubts their basic humanity, who keeps clinging single-mindedly on to his memories of the only people who ever made him actually feel something even after they’re long gone? Wow, sign me up - but the execution just didn’t quite do it for me. I feel like his story might have benefited from being more spread out across the whole Black Rose arc instead of shoved entirely into two episodes, so that we got more of a chance to get more gradually invested in him? As it is, I still think he’s a conceptually fascinating character, and I’ve read a lot of great meta about his place in the story and his parallels with Utena that makes him sound incredibly interesting, but I just couldn’t really feel it from the show itself.
Wow okay I sure did write a lot! Well, that’s my initial impressions on the Utena characters. I expect a lot of those impressions would change if I watched it again, though - like I said, I don’t think I really fully grasped the real aims and themes of the show until the very end, so I’d probably pick up on a lot more nuances a second time around. But those are my thoughts for now!
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Two Worlds
okay,, this is going to be a series and its gonna be hella cute bc dad!tom ??? um hello!! but this is also for @upsidedownparker's writing challenge so i hope everyone likes!!! And dont forget this WILL have multiple parts!!
And there are a few warnings in this; blood, death, drugs and mentions of drinking, curse words, and lowkey panic attacks
Two worlds 2
Tom hadn’t thought he was ever going to fall in love again, not after his wife and the mother of his baby girl passed. Love wasn’t something he had thought about, not when his princess was his first priority. He hadn’t even looked at a woman, like really looked, before his beautiful Milly.
It was three years ago since he last saw her. It’s a tragic story, really; a freak accident. She was so young, too. The deceased mother only lived to be the ripe age of twenty-nine. Tom and Millicent had their beautiful baby young, they did everything young, apparently.
The day of her death wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but rather one of complete familiarity. The sad day started out like every other; wake up Fiona and get her breakfast, get dressed and ready for work, eat, say the goodbyes, and then off to work until later when the beautiful family is together again.
The only difference with this specific day was the accident. It hadn’t even been more than an hour. Tom and Fiona had barely gotten off the highway, laughs escaping both brunettes. The only thing that could break their little moment was happened next. The phone had rang Milly’s special ringtone, causing Tom to answer with out any hesitation whatsoever. Tom had expected his beautiful wife’s voice to rip through the speakers and hit his ears but that’s not what he was met with. Instead, he got the voice of a very sad sounding man, he had asked if it was Tom and then he asked what he was doing. Tom had told him that he was driving, and the young man on the phone had asked him to pull over.
Scared, Tom complied. And that’s when he was delivered the heartbreaking news of his wife’s death. The misfortune had sent the widower into a panic. His breath had left his body, his blood ran cold. He couldn’t understand how this happened, the only thing he could comprehend was the man on the phone telling him to get to the scene, after telling him he was sorry.
Upon reaching the scene, Tom had thrown himself from the car. It was so overwhelming. It was straight out of a movie. The lights that were flashing white and red and blue were too bright and was starting to give the twenty-eight year old a migraine. As was the noise, God, it was so loud. Tom could barely hear himself think, let alone process what was happening. The young man had felt his whole world shift, stop. Everything was rushing around him, and he just needed a goddamned minute. That’s all he wanted; a single second to let it sink in.
It wasn’t until he saw his dead wife that he really felt it. Sure, it had felt like the whole entire world had just decided to continue on with out him, but now, he was feeling it; the loss, the pain. He had felt his feet shuffle lazily forward, his hands going to the curls that he shared with little Fiona. The car that Tom and Milly had picked out years prior was crushed, totaled. And there was so much blood, it was ridiculous. He hadn’t expected there to be so much blood. It was everywhere. His breath had hitched and he was having trouble regaining it back into his lungs. He had felt like he was underwater, breathless, muffled. Once he really got a look at her dead body, he felt nauseous. She was pretty banged up. It was hard to even tell that it was her. But he knew, he’d know those eyes anywhere. The image of her cold, lifeless eyes staring at him would be burned into his mind forever. The way she was staring at him was almost like she was blaming him, why’d you let this happen, Tom? This is all your fault, sweetheart.
Her skull was open and Tom could see directly into her head. He saw the brain matter, it was turning a gross color Tom knew it shouldn’t be. He felt his breakfast leave his stomach and climb up into his throat, causing a lump to form. The broken boy gagged. Once, twice, three times, before it all came rushing out. The newly single father buckled over doing his best to rid the fowl contents from his body, keeping his eyes locked on the once lively girl. The sight would haunt his dreams until the end of time, he knew it.
How was he supposed to continue on without his beautiful Milly. She was his rock, she was the one that was able to pull him back to earth but keep him soaring in the stars. She was the one for him. She was what kept him alive, sane.
And then all of a sudden, it all clicked. The world shifted under his feet, once again. Tom stood up, wiping the vomit from his chin and lips. He turned on his heal, he had heard her. His little Fiona, the only thing that mattered now. She was his anchor now. He would be her everything now; her father, her mother, her friend. Everything she would ever need, he’d be it for her. His feet quickly carried him to the abandoned car. He let his body do all the work, his mind so tired. Flinging open the back door and removing the little girl from her strapped position, he held her to his chest.
Tom shushed the screaming girl; it was like she knew what was going on around her. The baby girl was the spitting image of her father. She had it all, the curls, the big brown eyes, the beautiful smile. She was so smart, so aware. Tom was confident that she knew, and as he held her he promised to both her and to himself that he would protect her with his life for the rest of his days.
Now, Y/N’s story isn’t anywhere near traumatic. While her story still shaped her life into a single parent, no one died. Nobody was lost. Her story while one of tears and betrayal there was nothing of death. Rather a horrible ex-husband who once nice turned to drinking and drugs. Y/N, being the good mother she is, knew that she didn’t want her little boy to have to deal with such a thing.
Y/N was willing to try. She wanted her husband, Dylan, to get help. She wanted him to go to rehab, and at first he refused. He had said, “If you want to be with me, you won’t try and change me.” He was a manipulative bitch, but Y/N stayed with him. He was the father of her son, Levi. She should at least try, right? Eventually Y/N told her bitch of a husband that if he didn’t get help that she was going to leave and that he’d never see her or Levi again. Ever. So he went and got help, and it worked. . . until it didn’t and he relapsed.
Y/N didn’t say anything for the first few months. She just went about her life, making all the money, paying all the bills, doing everything to give little Levi a good life. It went on for months, Y/N doing everything she could to keep her son away from the bastard living with them and keeping the screwed family afloat. And it was going fine until one day.
On this day, Y/N had been called into work, seeing as how she was a doctor, and had no choice other than to leave her son with the drunk druggie in their home. The whole way to the hospital, her time there, and the drive back, Y/N was doing nothing but praying Levi would be alright. She could feel it in her bones, something was wrong.
Nothing could’ve prepared her for the horrid scene she walked into. Upon opening the door, she expected Levi to be in bed, sleeping the night away and for her piece of shit husband to be in front of the television or something.
What she didn’t expect was for her entire world to shift. When she walked in, she wasn’t met with a quiet home, but rather her baby boy screaming his head off and her husband on the floor, a needle sticking out of his arm. Y/N had felt her heart stop, her adrenaline pumping. She didn’t even close the door as she ran to where her crying baby was, disregarding Dylan. He was in his room, laying on the floor, only in his diaper. When Y/N picked up her baby boy, he immediately calmed down. Holding him, the mother noticed how cold he felt and how disgusting he smelled. Y/N felt her anger boil up, filling up all her veins. She had never felt this type of anger before. The young mother quickly grabbed some baby clothes and a new diaper and changed him as fast as humanly possible. Once the little guy was satisfied, she put him in his carrier, wanting a fast escape. She knew exactly what she had to do.
First, she needed to check if the bastard was still breathing. He was. Y/N didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad one. Once that was covered, she packed everything of her’s and Levi’s that she could think of. Clothes, toiletries, bottles, diapers, toys. Everything was cleared out in a matter of minutes. The young girl was able to get it all into her car and then she ran back in the house, grabbing her son, leaving with him. Once they both were safely in the car, she called an ambulance, telling what happened. Then, they left.
Y/N drove them through three different towns before she stopped. The only reason she stopped was because she could barely keep her eyes open, so she pulled into a park. The young mother had watched her son sleep that night, just watching his chest rise and fall. Each little movement was like a miracle. She just felt so lucky to have such a blessing. And it was then, when she promised him that she’d do anything for him.
Flash forward two years and both Y/N and Tom were beyond in love. They both thought it could never happen, both thought that their kid was their only love. Fiona was now able to do all the things a normal human could. She could walk, she could talk (at the level of a three year old), she was even on the road to being potty trained. Levi was the same, only Y/N was having a bit of trouble getting him to pee in the potty.
Y/N and Tom had been together now for over a year. Both feeling like they had won the lottery. They still didn’t live together, but Y/N and Levi stayed over practically every night. So much so, that little Levi even had his own bed. Granted the kids shared a room but it still was his own bed, something he hadn’t had since they moved two years ago. It wasn’t that Y/N didn’t have enough money to buy him a bed, because she did. She just felt safer having him in the room with her. Ever since that night, Y/N hadn’t stopped blaming herself. She often expressed these concerns to Tom. It was always the same, she was just so afraid that she screwed him up, or that she will down the line. And Tom being the amazing guy he is, just always held her and contradicted her greatest fears. He battled them, always winning, even though it was like bringing a knife to a gun fight. He was always there for her, no matter what. And she was there for him, always. It was there thing.
And that’s what brought the question on. Both Levi and Fiona were fast asleep in their beds across the hall and Y/N and Tom were cuddled up in his room. It was extremely hot in the room, so sticky. The fans in the room were turned up to high, providing little to no comfort from the heat. Tom was on his back and had his left arm wrapped around his girl. Y/N was on her side, her head on his chest listening to his heart. It was soothing to her, it often calmed her down. Her arm was thrown over his chest and Tom had placed his hand on her arm, fingers rubbing subconsciously. Their legs were tangled together, bare and sweaty as they stayed that way, no sign of moving any time soon.
Tom had cleared his throat, causing Y/N to jerk awake, as she was falling asleep, “Y/N/N? Can I ask you somethin’?” His voice was serious but also it was late so his voice was low, and tired and his accent was growing thick as it did every night. She lifted her head, placing her chin on his chest, smiling the smile he would never get tired of seeing. It was her tired smile. Her lips just barely would form the smile and her eyes would be closed slightly. It was Tom’s favorite thing she did. “Mmm. . . Of course, baby.”
Tom smiled at her, eyes crinkling. God, he loved her. “You know I love you, right?”
“Yeah, but if that was the question, you could’ve saved your breath, because I already knew,” she chuckled, Tom joining, pink dusting across his cheeks and nose. “But I love you, too, Tom.”
“That wasn’t the question.” He sucked in a gulp of air, he knew her answer and he knew this was a stupid question. She had put her head back on his chest, her eyes slipping closed. She was awake and listening, “So, then ask me, silly.”
“Will you and Levi move in with Fiona and I.” Tom felt her breath skip, she sat up. She was wide awake now, confused. She didn’t understand where this came from. Things were going fine. She couldn’t, she wouldn’t do that to Levi again. He was all she had, she had to put him first.
The scared girl brought her shaking hands close to her body. One went to her neck, clawing at it, like it was restricting her breathing. For all she knew, it was. Her other one went to her stomach, laying there.
Her breath was gone and she struggled to get the question out, “W-What are you talking about?” Tom leaned up, his forearms holding his body weight. He could tell she was freaking out, so he said, “Hey. Hey, take it easy, yeah? Just take a breathe.”
She did, visibly calming down. “Okay, now, I want you to consider it okay? And it’s not like anything would change, you guys are here all the time. This way we won’t be paying two of everything.”
She nodded, slowly, thinking it over, “Tommy. . . I can’t put Levi through something like that again.” The curly haired boy frowned, sadly. “I’m not Dylan, okay? And you aren’t Milly. We are Y/N and Tom. This is new and we both know to put out kids first,” he paused, putting a hand on her knee, “And that’s why this will work. You’ve just gotta trust me, yeah?”
“Yeah, okay. I trust you.” The once scared girl nodded, smiling a little. Tom cheered, letting a huge smile fall on his lips, Y/N did the same, laughing loudly when Tom wrapped her in his arms, kissing all over her face.
“How soon can you move in?”
taglist; @darlintom @rainbow-marvel @yoinksholland @spider-bitten @spideres
#tom holland#tom holland imagine#tom holland fluff#tom holland angst#tom holland smut#dad!tom#harrison osterfield#harrison osterfield imagine#harrison osterfield angst#harrison osterfield fluff#harry holland#harry holland imagine#harry holland fluff#harry holland angst#sam holland#sam holland imagine#sam holland fluff#sam holland angst#5kwc
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Hi,pal! I'm loving "It's the perfect story"! However, the subject I'm talking about doesn't directly to the fic. By what I know, people don't hate Silena because she was the spy,it's more like they think her being seduced/manipulated into doing it is detracting to her character. Many posts say that's very insulting to teen girls, or her cause should be something like "her cabin was being disrespected"(out of character IMO, but I'll talk about it later)...
Continuation. Or “the demigods were being mistreated by the gods”(not a bad one,but Silena didn’t really feel the worst of the gods IMO. Not like Luke, Chris or Tori in the fic). People are entitled to their opinions, but I disagree. About the “disrespected cabin stuff”,Silena is defensive in a blunt, straightforward way when it happens. Examples: how she wanted to fight the Huntresses when they said love was worthless;or when people were surprised by her magic knowledge,and she looked offended.
Cont. Besides, those behaviors show that Silena can be quite passionate and proud, what probably made her vulnerable to manipulation(her romantic nature didn’t help). Besides, Silena herself thought she was saving lives. I believe Luke’s words would sound truer to her if she cared about him than from a dispassionate perspective. Besides, if Luke managed to lure Percy to near death with a friendly smile and soda,despite Percy’s instincts saying no,I believe he could do it to Silena…
Cont. By what I read, your only issue was the age. However, I think that was something like “death of the author” in canon,as she didn’t get one. In fact, I rather like the idea of Silena being an older camper,including than Charles(if 18 years old girls date boys in their 20’s…),both in canon and in your fic. In your fic,it could make her Tori ’ s peer. In canon,it’d fit the whole “role model” stuff we had going on HoO.
what’s up dude! thanks, i’m glad to hear you’re enjoying it!
that’s how i interpreted it when i read the books (or how i remember interpreting it, at least, i haven’t read the series in a while) like, being the spy meant she was a traitor, which is also a comment abt her character (i.e., may she’s not the greatest person–for the lack of a better word–bc she was a traitor). when clarisses declares she’s a hero, i assumed it was supposed to be juxtaposed to her being a traitor. which is a roundabout way to say that the ultimate end is the same, whereas the perspective is different? but i can see where others are coming from–that the campers would be more mad bc of the fact that she was easily manipulated by luke, rather than her being the spy
i guess i can see where ppl are coming from regarding it being an insult to teen girls (i’d really like to see those posts tho, bc i actually haven’t seen anyone talk abt that–i somehow manage to avoid discourse like we’re two opposing magnets, my d-list x-men power), bc it plays off the stereotype that teen girls are so boy crazy, they’re easily manipulated by any good-looking guy that smiles in their direction. it doesn’t help that she’s a child of aphrodite. and what i mean by that is, i think, ppl often water down what aphrodite is the goddess of. when ppl say, “she’s the goddess of love and beauty” ppl often think she’s the goddess of, “being vain and romantic/sexual love” (not true btw, fite me, i will gladly jump into that discourse)
but anyway, back to my main point, i can see how it may play off a teen girl stereotype (rick is good at doing that sometimes, which isn’t entirely his fault, bc like i said abt toxic masculinity, it’s so ingrained in our society, it’s hard to unlearn and we often fall into those stereotypes if we’re not fully aware of them and consciously thinking about them), but i also don’t entirely agree with that argument, either
now i could be wrong, esp since i haven’t read any of this discourse, so i haven’t read ppl’s reasoning or arguments, but it sounds very surface-level White Feminism™ and what i mean by that is that there are more grey areas to this argument, okay, so put away your pitchforks and put out your torches and, i mean, also that this argument is coming from ppl who want to seem like they’re woke, but then turn around and continue to do or say things that are insidiously bigoted
like i said, i can see how it plays into a stereotype, but if we’re going by rick’s canon (which we totally don’t have to, but for this argument’s sake we are) she’s young and impressionable, luke is handsome and charming–if another young person were in her position, we’d probably see the same thing. young ppl are easy to manipulate, they just are. they’re still learning abt the world, and how it works, and that maybe not everyone has good intentions. not to mention they’re still trying to find themselves, and they look to peers, mentors, and ppl who are respected (for whatever reason) for cues to how they should act and think. it’s like trying on clothes or taste-testing foods–they’re trying out opinions. if they don’t like the “taste” of an opinion, then they learn, grow, and change. some ppl instantly connect with an opinion (which could be bigoted or not) and not explore further, or could be sheltered and just not have the opportunity to experience anything else.
the opinion here: the gods are bad. the person she’s looking to for guidance: luke. plain and simple
and, as you say anon, percy even fell for luke’s charms (despite the warning signs!! and percy is most def Not Straight, so luke was also using that fact against percy as well, whether rick luke knew it or not). so, ya know, there ya go
now, i think rick chose a child of aphrodite, and a girl, bc he thought he was turning a trope on its head–you’d never expect (from the stereotype of what aphrodite stands for) silena to be a spy, to work for kronos of all ppl titans. do you see what i mean? i think he was going for an elle woods effect–except in the polar opposite direction. the ends is the same, where this girl who is often underestimated (like elle) turns out to do something no one expected of her (in silena’s case, being the spy, which takes a lot of guts, nerve, and smarts–the opposite of what ppl expect from aphrodite, based on a reductive stereotype)
and that’s where the real issue lies, not that she was a teen girl, but rather some of the decisions the author made under wrong assumptions
i agree that the alternatives aren’t as sincere or make as much sense. silena didn’t experience a whole lot of strife regarding her mom or the gods in general, so she’d have no reason to hate them as luke does–she’d have no reason to be the spy for luke if he were to simply use that argument to get her to kronos’s side. and maybe she would’ve joined kronos under “her cabin was being disrespected,” however, it was’t being disrespected by the gods themselves, right? not like the minor gods, not like nemesis or hecate. the disrespect comes more from the ppl around her–the ppl who assume the wrong things abt aphrodite when they hear the words “love” and “beauty.” so that alternative reason doesn’t hold a lot of water if you really think abt it
i also agree with you: that her passion and pride made her more easily manipulated, and also that luke’s words would mean more coming from a more passionate and personal perspective. luke fed her lines that played into her character (like how kronos fed luke lines that played into his hatred for the gods). if she felt passionate abt helping save ppl (and it’s coming from someone she likes, someone she looks up to), then she’d be the spy for sure. if she had a crush on luke, more for him to use against her, right? that’s just how it goes sometimes, ya know? her crush are her rose-colored glasses, add that on top of “you’d be saving lives” and, well, luke’s got her wrapped around kronos’s finger
yeah, the age thing is a big sticking point for me, just bc based on the timeline of things, she’s several years younger than luke (which make his kiss, in my story, really gross). if beckendorf was going to college during tlo, he was probably at the least 18, and silena was probably around the same age. by this time, luke is 23, so that means that she’s abt 5 years younger? is five years a huge deal between older ppl (like mid- to late-twenties and beyond)? not at all. but with younger ppl (teens and early twenties), it’s a HUGE gap in age, and a HUGE deal.
but like you say, i think rick is hitting that point of “death of the author” (esp with more recent events…btw, jason is totally alive and well, and if you think or try to tell me differently, then you can meet me in a denny’s parking lot at 3am), so we can totes not follow canon and age both silena and beckendorf up. not to mention, there’s no specific age that ppl go to college (just in general most ppl starting college are from 17-20) so it’s completely fine for beckendorf to be going to college at 22, 23. and a 2 yr age difference (regarding beckendorf at 20, dating silena at 18) is totes better than a 5 yr difference for sure
i really like tori and silena being peers, and i if i had been more comfortable breaking canon (and knew what i know now, then), it would’ve been fun to write (but eeeyyy, it’s fun to think abt, so there may be headcanons in your future regarding this). finally, you’re right, i think it would make “silena as a role model” so much more powerful if she had been/was older in canon
thanks for sending these in! i had a lot of fun talking and thinking abt all the points you brought up/made, and i hope to continue this discussion, if you want!
#oh god for shame! i do not even know your name#notesofananonymousnight#asked and answered#silena beauregard#pjo meta#washingdad writes
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Vámpírok Bálja 10 years anniversary show(s) (6th and 7th of June)
So last Tuesday (and Wednesday as well) I returned to magical fantasy world where everyone sings about their feelings and cuts vegetables to the rhythm of the music. This time in Hungarian. Yes, I went to Budapest for the anniversary show and one "normal" show (both with @phantasmagoricfebruary which made the whole experience ten times better). It was awesome. Worth every penny (also Budapest is a really nice city, if anyone wants, I can write about my trip as well).
While I loved Russian vampires, in Budapest you can really feel that they've been doing this for ten years. And I mean it as a compliment. Actors are great in their roles and the whole cast seems more like a giant family rather than people connected just through work. It was great. I don't have anything more sophisticated to say other than great. Anyway, obviously I'm not going to end it at that, I just have to write like ten pages outlining every single song. I wouldn't be me if I didn't. Like always - all the magic happens under the cut.
First of all - Egyházi Géza. He was the Graf of 7th and let me tell you - he's the best Graf of them all. He might have dethroned Lukasz Dziedzic as my favourite Krolock. He has the posture and it's very obvious that he immensely enjoys being on stage. His Graf constantly smiles sinisterly and he can't keep his mouth shut - always hissing and showing off his fangs. I love that. Apart from Die Unstillbare Gier, his Krolock isn't a tortured soul, but rather a mastermind with a plan on how to get his fancy dinner. It’s probably my favourite interpretation of this character.
(All the photos of cast/show are from Vámpírok Bálja fb page. Also they’re from earlier show on 5h June)
Anniversary show was special (obviously) with cast changing throughout the show (Andrádi Zsanett appeared as Sarah and she stole my heart). There were four Krolocks throughout the show, but I'm not that fluent in Hungarian cast to have recognised them all at all times (apart from Egyházi, ofc). I think in the first act it was mostly Bot Gábor, but I still don’t know who sung Totale Finsternis. Alfred was mostly played by Pásztor Ádám, but Sánta László sung like two songs (Du bist wirklich sehr nett with Andrádi Zsanett and Ein perfekter Tag). Throughout the show Szemenyei János was Herbert, but there was a twist during the ball with Jenei Gábor and Pirgel Dávid appearing onstage. And I will talk about it more later on, because it was such a glorious thing. Also - two Magdas (Kecskés Tímea in act I and Sári Évi in act II).
Before we get to songs - the curtain. Or rather curtains. Because there were two and while the second one was simply red and shiny, the first one looked like iron fence. It was interesting. I wonder if it's simply an aesthetic choice or if there were some attempts at storming the scene and they decided to protect themselves.
Either way, before I form some conspiracy theory about the curtain, Ouverture. It never gets old, does it? It doesn't matter how many times I have heard it already, it always sends chills down my spine and gets me in a right mood. A mood for glorious cheesy vampires. But before we can actually get to the good stuff - Alfred loses Professor in Transylvanian woods. He, Ho, He was... alright. The Professor was as plastic as always and Alfred was as scared as always. I have nothing against this song, but I also don't love it. Likely because I'm simply not Alfred's fan (although I really liked Pásztor Ádám as Alfred, but I'll talk about it more later on). He, Ho, He is a nice opening setting the action, but let’s not dwell here. Do we have Professor loaded onto Alfred's back? Off we go then!
Knoblauch is growing on me. It's still a song I probably wouldn't be playing on repeat, but after Moscow show I did sing it for a week. And I might end up singing it again. It's so damn catchy. And in Hungarian as well. I'm continuously amazed at just how well Hungarian sounds in songs. I remember listening to Hungarian album for the first time and being so surprised that this many syllables can fit into the melody and sound good (mind, I was used to Polish version where Knoblauch is Czosnek, so only two syllables. Fokhagyma sounded like such a long word, I didn’t know if they could squeeze it into the melody. They can. And it sounds great).
Another thing - ensemble in Hungarian show is absolutely amazing. They work so well together, one might accuse them of using telepathy. And they look like they genuinely have fun onstage which pretty much makes the whole song. Also Hungarian Magdas are incredibly pretty. All three I saw were absolutely charming and very girly in their appearance. Chagal was surprisingly good in his role. It's really hard for Chagals not to feel forced or just plainly gross to me, but Pavletits Béla played the part really well. He played the fiddle in the beginning, jumped around the tables a bit and was a great host to Alfred and Professor, trying to pour pálinka down the latter's throat to warm him up a bit. It was all genuinely funny. Also - the dialogue between the Professor and Chagal was great. I loved the villagers in the background, looking oh-so-genuinely-surprised that anyone would try to look for a castle in this area, when there are absolutely no castles around. The quick come-on-hide-our-garlic-necklaces act and the following relief when Chagal explains that they like garlic because it's healthy - funny as hell, again, mainly because the ensemble plays so freaking well. During the last sung part, when Magda stands behind Abronsius’ and Alfred's chairs, Alfred was practically glued to her cleavage and Professor had to swat him away. These two have a really good chemistry throughout the first act and I have to admit, the thought of why is Alfred chasing after Sarah when Magda is around did cross my mind once or twice. Especially since this Alfred seems much less innocent and unworldly than most Alfred's. And he does look like he's taken straight out of some boyband, which slightly takes away from his i'm-so-sweet-and-unaware-of-women-flirting thing. Not that it's a bad thing, at least not for me, because I was never hooked on sweet and naive Alfred. This one was somewhat innocent at the beginning, but it wasn't overdone (and in Alles ist hell he flirted back when Magda dropped her turnip or whatever it was).
Back to the main story - oh the wonders of modern technology! A bathtub! … With a girl inside? Chagal played it great, but Török Anna seemed slightly off like she was somewhat uncomfortable. It was just this one scene, though. All throughout the rest of the show she was fine. This time, surprisingly enough, Alfred stole the show with his dreamy eyes stuck to Sarah and when Chagal closed the door almost on his face he looked delightfully shocked. It was great. And with Alfred looking the way he looks - I can understand Chagal's concern in Eine schöne Tochter ist ein Segen. Which was a brilliant song. Chagal came across as genuinely worried (and a tad possessive when he was singing about boarding the door with his hammer), but also funny in all the right moments. Pavletits Béla is truly great as Chagal. He has quite the voice too.
Nie geseh'n - again, I was surprised just by how likeable this Alfred is. And he has a really nice voice. Torök Anna makes a decent Sarah. Not my favourite one, but I can't say anything bad about her as well. Her Sarah is dreamy, not overly manipulative and rather genuinely charmed by Alfred. On 6th she sounded slightly off, like she was sick, but on 7th everything was fine, so it was a one time thing. Chagal and Magda had their moment (on 7th Kecskés Tímea almost stabbed Chagal with that needle and if he had stayed few seconds longer be probably would end up being One-Eyed Chagal). I really liked the moment when Rebecca realised that she hit Abronsius and not her unfaithful husband and got all flustered about it.
Well, fun is over, the night in all its glory comes with dark and gloomy vampire. Yup - Gott ist tot. On 6th it was Bot Gábor singing and I have to say I was a little underwhelmed. While he has the voice and he sounds really well, for me he lacks the posture to be the perfect Krolock (although paired with Szemenyei János, who is also the shortest Herbert they make a nice and short von Krolock family, which is kinda adorable). He's simply too short to be intimidating (still taller than me, though, so maybe I shouldn't complain so much) and I love intimidating Krolocks (like Egyházi Géza and Rostislav Kolpakov, for example). Don’t get me wrong - he wasn’t bad. In fact, he is a pretty good Graf. He just isn’t my type of Krolock.
When Egyházi sung Gott ist tot on 7th - that was the performance which made me jump with excitement a little. Every gesture he made, even the smallest one felt very pointed and meaningful, especially when it was magnified by the shadows cast onto the background. Quick change of scenery and we're on Alles ist hell. I like that song. It’s nice and uplifting and Rebecca with that stuffed goose always cracks me up. Up until Koukol shows up, of course. Koukol in Hungarian production is especially gross. But it’s exactly what Koukol is supposed to be. There’s a lot of noises coming from him. I really liked the interaction between Koukol and Chagal. Chagal is a cheeky bastard in general, but Hungarian Chagal takes that to the extreme. It’s great.
And that’s how we arrive at Wahrheit. And here I have to mention Rebecca, because she is probably the cutest Rebecca I've ever seen. Cute may not exactly be the intended way for her to come across, but she was adorable. The face she pulled when the Professor came up to her is golden. Kecskés Tímea and Pásztor Ádám have great chemistry together. When she ‘accidentally’ drops the turnip, Alfred is very quick to help her out.
Fun fact about Wahrheit on 6th - piece of wood fell down too quickly (when Koukol appeared), so when Abronsius sung that high note Chagal threw his saw to the ground and then made incredibly adorably fake ‘it-wasn’t-me face at the Professor.
On 7th the Professor was played by Illés Dániel (I think it was his first performance ever) and he was slightly off when it came to that little walk Professor does with the rhythm of the music, but it’s probably just a matter of practice. And he has surprisingly good voice (he went really high in the part where Chagal drops the piece of wood). Also - he looks really thin in his costume and it makes the whole character feel somewhat… fragile, I suppose. Overall, I really liked his Abronsius.
Andrádi Zsanett and Sánta László sung Du bist wirklich sehr nett on 6th. And while Sánta László’s Alfred okay, but not anything special, Andrádi Zsanett’s Sarah was awesome. She was a perfect mix of cute and wheedling without coming across as calculating and cold. The two of them worked together really well.
Alfred’s out of the bathroom, Sarah’s all cosied up in the bathtub, which means it’s time for wild Krolock to appear! First thing that I notices was that the rooftop Krolock practically hangs down from the roof. It doesn’t look very dignified. I mean, it can be explained with him feeling this overpowering hunger for some blood, so he keeps reaching down, but I’m not sure I can get behind that 100%. I mean, at the end he looked like he was about to tumble down from that roof.
I don’t know who sung Einladung zum Ball on 6th, but it sounded off. It definitely wasn’t Bot Gábor or Egyházi Géza. However, on 7th Egyházi sung it and he winged it. His Krolock was perfectly balanced between hunger and complete self-control. He was so perfectly disdainful when he was inspecting the boarded up door to Sarah’s bedroom. Also he didn’t really seem bothered by being discovered, since he kept leaning over Sarah and ogling her neck even after Alfred started shouting and reluctantly left only when Alfred and Abronsius were practically entering the bathroom already.
Both Alfreds poked the air with their crosses with such conviction as if they were trying to push out every little particle of Krolock from the room.
I also really liked the outrage on Alfred’s face when he was peeking through the keyhole to Sarah’s room.
Anyway, let’s move to the quick rendez-vous in front of the inn - Draußen ist Freiheit. Again Ádám and Anna make for a cute Alfred and Sarah. I liked their bickering, Sarah being all ‘oh you’re scared now?’ and Alfred trying to be reasonable.
And finally we arrive at my second favourite dance of the whole show - Die roten Stiefel. That choreography is insane. The amount of throwing and dragging around which happens there makes my head spin. Sarah is rarely on the floor. I can’t praise the dancers enough. Both dancing and acting on their side was spot on. The dancer who plays Krolock has a very creepy way of staring as he stalks around the stage. And the kiss between Sarah and Krolock at the end was pretty passionate.
I have a soft spot for Das Gebet. It’s probably the most emotional song and it doesn’t have any comedic twist. The golden light shining from behind and beautiful voices get me every time. While on 6th Krolock (Bot Gábor, or at least I think it was him) overpowered the rest of the cast and at the end he practically was the only voice you could hear. And on 7th the delivery of the song was perfect.
Das Gebet came to an end and Sarah was off to the castle. There is one thing that fascinates me about the scene where Chagal and Rebecca find out that their daughter is missing. I mean, Chagal sees Alfred with Sarah’s shoes and immediately jumps into the conclusion that the Graf took her. Which makes me wonder, does Graf makes a habit of giving people new shoes instead of normal invitations? Like whenever there are random shoes left in the village does everyone go ‘Oh, the Graf is throwing a party.’?
Either way, Chagal runs off after Sarah, then we have Wuscha Buscha. Both Professors (Sándor Dávid and Illés Dániel) were delightfully unsympathetic and focusing only on inspecting the body. Horváth Mónika’s Magda seemed stunned to see Chagal’s dead body for the whole duration of Wuscha Buscha.
She got more emotional in Tot zu sein ist komisch. Which was really good on both 6th and 7th. There was the right amount of mixed emotions, some sadness, some anger and then the hilarious scene with “I’m a Jewish vampire.” There seemed to be some mishap with the candle on the 6th because Chagal didn’t manage to put it off, so instead he tucked it away behind the mug so no one would see that it was still lit (but it was perfectly visible from the balcony where I was sitting :D). In general Béla had to improvise a bit on 6th.
While creeping downstairs Abronsius kept shushing both the floorboards and Alfred, who looked so funnily annoyed that the Professor would put all the blame for the noise on him.
The end of the first act was quite a thing. First - Bot Gábor on 6th. In that scene it was extremely obvious that he is the shortest Krolock. He’s just so tiny. And his costume makes him seem even shorter. Also he makes a lot of hissy and growly noises which combined with his petite posture gave quite hilarious effect. And when Szemenyei János as Herbert appeared, pocket von Krolock family was complete. Don’t get me wrong - I didn’t dislike it. It was actually quite adorable. And funny.
In the part with Alfred - when Gábor whipped out the sponge he also dropped the card from the Professor and then very elegantly covered it with his cape and whenever he moved the card got dragged along. It was hilarious little detail, especially since Gábor’s Krolock looks like he wants to murder everyone all the time.
But my absolute favourite performance was on 7th with Egyházi Géza (and János once more). Also, quick side note - since Géza is rather tall, when János‘ Herbert walked out the height difference between them was ridiculously hilarious. But back to Géza’s Krolock. God almighty, if there’s a limit to just how much fun you can have on stage he has crossed it time after time. It’s delightful to watch. His Krolock knows exactly who appeared at his doorstep and he has so much fun with his melancholic act. He gazes at the moon longingly, makes dramatic gestures and basks in the attention from the Professor and Alfred. The fake smile when he was talking about loving Abronsius’ book was the most fake smile on the planet Earth. And the face he pulls the moment he turns away is golden. His mimics deserve a separate mention on the cast list. And his teeth. Like I’ve said - he simply can’t keep his mouth shut. When he’s not singing or talking, he keeps smiling or pulling faces which include showing his fangs even to last rows. When he was closing the castle door at the very end of act I he gave the audience the widest and the most delighted grin I’ve ever seen. It’s hilarious and I love it.
Okay, act I came to an end. Before I get to act II, I just quickly want to talk about the theatre itself. It’s fairly small, but very cosy (and the seats in the first row are very comfortable). Part of the foyer decoration were small bats hanging from the ceiling - it was brilliant, I loved it.
(Tiny and cute)
Even though the theatre is in the middle of the city, there is small area in front of it where one can go out during the break (and I was lucky enough to arrive to Budapest on a day when it was 34 degrees during the day, the possibility to go outside was truly a blessing).
Anyway, time to return to the performance. On 6th Totale Finsternis did not do anything to me. I’m not sure if it was Zöld Csaba or Langer Soma (I think it was Csaba), but his gestures were very sharp and felt somewhat rushed. Vocally it also wasn’t the best Totale… I’ve heard. It wasn’t bad, but it felt a bit… underdone, I suppose.
No one should be surprised by this point when I say this - Totale Finsternis with Egyházi Géza swept me away. Similarly to Gott ist tot - his gestures felt very deliberate, very calculated. He was like a cat playing with a mouse. Again the amount of fangs shown per minute - exceptionally high. Also, this Sarah seemed ready to be eaten here and now.
But let’s move onto my absolute favourite dance of the whole show - Carpe Noctem. Not as much throwing each other around as in Die roten Stiefel ballet, but with the things they do on those bed poles - I’m still not quite sure if they are actual human beings. I’m amazed that this bed was still standing at the end of the song. The slow descent from the top of the bed that the White Vampire does - amazing.
On 7th I was sitting in the first row and had a very good view on the part where Black Vampire bites the White one. And let me tell you - Túri Lajos Péter is great as the Black Vampire. All throughout the dance he keeps hissing at everyone including the audience (I think he took some lessons from Egyházi Géza in terms of keeping his fangs out all the time). He has his eyes only for the White One and he gets so wonderfully possessive when Sarah tries to come and check on White One after he gets bitten. Overall, I have to say I really liked Túri Lajos Péter and Baranya David together. They both have this very disturbing vibe and great charisma onstage. Oh, and the Black Vampire lost his vest. I’m certainly not going to complain about it. I liked his makeup too - he had his spine accentuated with black, which made him look very skeleton-like.
I have to say - I’m fascinated with the fact that when Alfred dreams about the Graf he imagines him shirtless and with a six-pack and Sarah is in her normal white dress with nothing fancy added. Alfred, your priorities are showing and it looks dangerously like pretty girl is not one of them.
Also Carpe Noctem was the first song where I noticed just how good vocally Szemenyei János is. I might have some issues with his costume and makeup, but I really like his voice a lot.
Koukol in the bedroom scene is oddly cute (and gross, but he’s always gross). I really liked that moment when Alfred notices the porridge and he wonders who has made it. Koukol looks so pleased, he’s nearly jumping and pointing to himself. And he gets so disappointed and angry when Alfred jumps into conclusion that it must have been Sarah (btw. on what does he base that conclusion? All she was talking about when he was seeing her was bathing and sponges).
The porridge looks more like alien jelly, I love the face Alfred pulls when he tries to eat it.
Für Sarah was sweet. Adam has a strong voice and although when he holds a longer note he looks like he forgets that he is supposed to act as well and looks like he focuses solely on not choking. But overall, I liked his performance. Like I’ve said, he has this teenage heartthrob vibe and it mixes really well with a song about how he is going to save the girl (even though we all know that he ultimately fails).
Ein perfekter Tag - I love this song. It’s short, but very rhythmical and it makes you just want to jump out of your seat and explore. I think it shows why Alfred tags along with the Professor when he’s mostly treated like an accessory to the tools bag (also, I really like the sound of Hungarian word for a bag - taska). I really like how Alfred and Abronsius sing back and forth. It shows how they student-teacher relationship would look like if the Professor was slightly more of a people person.
Everything that went on in the crypt was truly a comedic gold. First of all - on 6th the Professor nearly jumped off too early when he was reaching his leg to check how high he was. When he didn’t find ground he looked towards the audience with a very funny oh-shit kind of face. And the Professor on 7th was extremely expressive, when he was already hanging down over the crypt. He kept scolding Alfred for every little noise and when Alfred failed to stake the von Krolock family - I did for a moment wonder if maybe he was having an actual heart attack. The disappointment was palpable. He flopped and hung down so much that you could catch a glimpse of the harness keeping him from falling down. Watching him was very entertaining.
Chagal and Magda’s duet was hilarious both on 6th and 7th, although I think I did like the performance on 6th slightly better. Magda is so wonderfully daring and charming and clumsy throughout that song. When she offers her hand to Chagal, she smiles at the audience charmingly. Oh and also - I’m not sure, but I think the beginning of Die Menschliche Geilheit Ist Stärker is slightly faster in Hungarian. It made the whole song feel more lively and playful.
I feel like the Professor channeled my feelings with his awe at the sight of books. Although, the Graf should definitely take more care of his library. I mean, spider webs? On books? Dreadful. I’m continuously amazed at how quickly the Professors are able to sing the string of philosophers names.
Sarah seemed extremely bored with Alfred on both evenings. Her mind was all on Graf, pretty dresses, big sponges and tonight’s ball. And even Pásztor Ádám’s pretty face didn’t make me sympathetic to his case when he ran back to Abronsius with sad, puppy eyes and ‘why doesn’t she want to come with me?’.
But enough about Alfred and Sarah, let’s talk about Alfred and Herbert. On both evenings it was sung by Pásztor Ádám and Szemenyei János (which means I’m definitely coming back to Budapest, because I really want to see Jenei Gábor as Herbert as well). János’ Herbert is very intense. He bounces around like a cheering child, he hisses, he growls and at some point he even snarls like a horse. And while I do like the intensity, but the horse noise was too much for me.
But I have to say - he was great after the chase, when he came up to Alfred. On each evening he his a different thing to get his attention, which I liked a lot, because I love when actors act differently during various performances.
Like I’ve said earlier - János has great voice. Slightly deep for Herbert, but I love deep voices (and he can also sing high as well, there was a moment during Tanzsaal when his vocal range genuinely surprised me).
My biggest problem with this Herbert is his makeup. It’s all wrong, it makes his face seem extremely round and that makes his whole silhouette seem somewhat chubby (and he is a very petite and young looking guy irl). I don’t know who got drunk when coming up with makeup for him, because both Jenei Gábor and Pirgel Dávid have great make up (funnily enough - very different from each other).
There was a small snipped with Alfred and Abronsius going through a low arch with a bat sculpture hanging there in the middle. Professor practically headbuts the bat and only Alfred’s quick reaction saves him from that encounter.
Sie irren Professor - on the 6th Graf’s microphone decided to sing a song of its own and it kept screeching throughout the whole song. But on 7th everything was fine. And I’m going to repeat myself - Egyházi Géza doesn’t play Krolock. He is the Graf. I guess then years in this role will do that. The joy in his voice is almost palpable when he sings about having Alfred’s soul.
Now - vampire dance off, also knows as Ewigkeit. Oh, how much I love this song. The choreography, the music, the costumes. It’s great. And on both evenings the performances were perfect. One thing, though - no lady with a ship on her head! I mean, I’m so disappointed. I feel like lady with a ship on her head should be a part of every TdV performance. When the song ended vampires walked into the audience and scared a few people before disappearing.
As the cemetery emptied, our Graf decided to scold the moon for hiding from him. Die Unstillbare Gier sung by Egyházi Géza is the best version of this song I’ve heard. That man’s voice is magic. I don’t know how he manages to sing the way he does. He walks through the cemetery with such confidence and he really knows how to work the cape. Again - I love just how deliberate his movements and gestures are. He puts the perfect mix of melancholy, anger and nostalgia into his performance. And this might be the only part of the show where he doesn’t constantly show his fangs.
Quick stop for Alfred’s second thoughts and one of my favourite instrumental intros rolls in. Which means we are at the very beginning of the ball. Ball on the 6th was the most awesome ball of all balls ever (I might be exaggerating a little).
We got three Herberts (and I think it should be the standard number of Herberts during every performance). I might have squeaked a little when the three of them marched onto the stage. And they all had so much fun together, they were giving each other little backrubs, whispering and chatting. It was great especially since Hungarian Herberts are very different from one another.
My favourite one, in terms of appearance, posture and behaviour (excluding singing, because I only heard Szemenyei János), is probably Jenei Gábor. He is the tallest one, I think. And he is extremely lean and elegant, very subtle and subdued in his gestures. Also, he has very small head and it looks somewhat odd, but once I got used to it, his Herbert quickly sneaked into my taste. It’s not really that surprising, taking into account, that my absolutely favourite Herbert is Kirill Gordeev and he is definitely of the subtle and lean type. I’d love to see Gábor live for a whole show one day. And I have to mention that he was really nice during the fan meet, which only made me like him more.
Szemenyei János looks even shorter than he is, when he stands next to Gábor and Dávid. But he makes up for his height with the intensity of his performance (fangs were shown a lot).
And of course - Pirgel Dávid. I would place him halfway between János and Gábor. He is elegant, but he isn’t as ethereal as Gábor. He has a somewhat boyish air to me. Very cheeky.
@phantasmagoricfebruary had an interesting comment about those three - that they look like three stages of Herbert’s vampire life with János being the youngest with the least amount of self-control, Dávid being the middle one and Gábor being the oldest and most refined and controlled.
On 6th Tanzsaal was the only song performed by Egyházi Géza and when he appeared on top of the stairs - the whole audience roared and started cheering.
For the culminating point of the ball - Sarah’s appearance both Torök Anna and Andrádi Zsanett walked out and Géza was joined by another Krolock (I am fairly sure that it was Langer Soma). Anyway he caught my attention, because he reminded me of Thomas Borchert a little. He just had this vibe and visually he is slightly similar (not up close, though, only when he’s on stage with the right lighting). They both sung the last part of the song. At the beginning they seemed slightly out of synch, but they quickly harmonized nicely and it was great. The more members of von Krolock family onstage the better.
My favourite little detail from the ball must be when Krolock carries Sarah and shows her off to the rest of the guests. Géza went up to his son(s) with such proud stride almost as if he was saying ‘Look at my nice dinner, isn’t she great?’ and all the Herberts were like ‘Yeah dad, good job. Can we move onto my dinner?’ I loved that.
But nothing lasts forever and mirror reflections gave away the presence of unwanted guests on the ball. Because on 7th I was sitting in the first row, I could hear sounds made by the actors which weren’t picked out by the microphones. And when Alfred ran up to Krolock with the candle-holder, Géza made this tsk, tsk sound looking all amused. That’s why I love first row. Yes, you don’t see the whole stage at once and you have to look up constantly, but you can see the smallest little details.
I’m somewhat happy that Budapest production has the “traditional” ending, so no Krolock in crocodile leather. But that also means no Krolock’s evil laugh and no disappearing through a trap door. But I don’t think I could survive seeing Egyházi Géza in that leather coat and not burst out in laughter.
The Hungarian casts seems to bask in the applause. They came out about four times each night if I remember correctly (it could have been more, though, I wasn’t exactly counting in the moment).
I might write a small supplement about the meeting after the show on 6th if anyone is interested, but for now that’s it. Overall, the Hungarian vampires won my heart. It was phenomenal.
#vámpírok bálja#tanz der vampire#2007 budapest#10th anniversary hungary#mine#theatre#musical theatre#tanzblr#textpost#memoir#egyházi géza#langer soma#zöld csaba#bot gábor#szemenyei jános#pirgel dávid#jenei gábor#sánta lászló#pásztor ádám#kecskés tímea#sári évi
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320: The Unearthly
The first word that comes to mind to describe this movie is 'colourless', which gets an immediate reaction of well, duh, because the movie is of course in black and white. But above and beyond that, The Unearthly is completely lacking in interest, tension, characters, and everything ese that makes a movie entertaining. It could have had these things, but apparently it just didn't bother.
Mad Scientist Dr. Charles Conway believes he has discovered the secret to immortality – an artificial gland which, when implanted into the patient's brain, will modulate their hormones to keep them young and fit forever! So far all his test subjects end up deformed, dead, or unresponsive, but he's determined that he'll get it right if he just keeps trying, and has a friend refer mental patients to him so he can continue to experiment on them. Then fate throws a wrench in the works, in the form of escaped criminal Mark Houston. Conway takes Houston in with the idea of blackmailing him, but Houston is actually an undercover police officer, here to expose the whole project.
The Unearthly is a difficult movie to write a summary of, actually, because the story is very unfocused and seems to spend a lot of time wandering aimlessly from scene to scene without actually getting anything done. This is largely because of the way it handles its characters. Mark Houston is technically our hero, but we don't meet him until we've already spent almost ten minutes getting to know a completely different character in a way that suggests she will be our protagonist.
The movie begins with Grace Thomas, a woman suffering from mental illness, whose psychologist Dr. Wright has brought her to Conway's quiet little halfway house. Supposedly this is for treatment, but once Grace is out of the room the two doctors' conversation makes it clear that they intend to fake her death and experiment on her. All this is dealt with in some detail, and in a way that seems to set Grace up as the audience identification character. Somebody who watched only these first few minutes would probably guess that the rest of the movie is about Grace discovering that something is wrong and trying to get in touch with her father, whom Wright identifies as her only living family.
This is not the case, though. Grace goes to bed, Wright heads out to throw her purse in the bay and claim she drowned herself, and then we meet Mark. For the rest of the film, it will be Mark we follow, as he investigates Conway's nefarious experiments while Grace sits around doing and saying nothing much of interest. In fact, Grace is a singularly bland character, partly because she's written that way and partly because the actress evinces no interest in her lines whatsoever. Allison Hayes was in two other MST3K features, The Undead and Gunslinger, as well as a number of other classic b-movies like Attack of the 50-Foot Woman and Zombies of Mora Tau, and this is the worst performance I have ever seen her give. She sounds like she's bored to tears.
In fact, Grace has less personality than any other member of the cast, including Tor Johnson's Lobo. The other patients at Conway's retreat include Dan, a man prone to fits of anger, and Natalie, a chipper and trusting young woman looking forward to going home. Conway himself is egotistical and obsessive, and his assistant, Dr. Gilchrist, is professional and a little bit motherly. Mark is nosy but cautious, as befits his investigative role. I cannot pick out any personality traits like this for Grace. She just says lines while staring blankly at the wall.
While Mark may be the hero, we are clearly supposed to feel something for Grace. The last two people Dr. Conway experimented on came to bad ends, and we're supposed to worry that Grace will be next and Mark will not be in time to save her. She is such a nonentity, though, that it's almost impossible to care. We're supposed to want to see a romance blossom between her and Mark, but she's totally apathetic. We're supposed to believe that she trusts Dr. Conway and comes to him with her problems, but the movie tells us this without bothering to establish it properly. Even when she's supposed to be angry with Mark and ordering him to leave her alone, it just doesn't work. Nothing around Grace is interesting, and since she is the focal point for other characters throughout the narrative, the movie never has a proper center. That, however, is merely annoying. If you want to get angry at this movie, let's talk about portrayals of women and mental illness.
Dr. Conway's patients are explicitly mental patients, perhaps because he claims to need perfect physical specimens for his artificial gland to work. Mental illness in movies is usually not researched very well, and I don't think The Unearthly was an exception to that, even though it tries to be a little more realistic. At least it doesn't have anybody who talks to hand puppets or a guy who thinks he's Napoleon – what it's got is Dan, a man who is a bit paranoid and suffers from fits of ranting anger, sometimes needing medication to calm down. He is presented as something of a joke, and the other characters treat him as if they consider him unreasonable rather than ill – but he is at least allowed to be ill and show symptoms. The same cannot be said of the women.
Grace is described as having suffered a nervous breakdown and being prone to mood swings: she'll be suddenly afraid, or will break down in tears for no reason, but we never see her behave oddly. In fact, Grace comes across as calm and collected at all times, and we see no difference in her between the scene where she arrives and the one where Dr. Conway tells her she's made excellent progress. Natalie is presented to us as nearly cured and ready to leave the retreat, so it's not surprising if she shows no symptoms, but she is unable to describe her previous illness as anything other than an inability to 'get herself together'.
So what we have here is two cases of acute Fictional Disease: women in movies are allowed to suffer from terrible illnesses, but only as long as these do not render them unattractive or antisocial. A woman going into the same kind of rant as Dan would come across as bitchy rather than ill, and would be automatically unsympathetic to a male audience who would associate such behaviour with the stereotype of the nitpicking, nagging wife. We're supposed to like Grace and Natalie, so their health problems can only manifest in ways that make us want to protect and help them, and actual symptoms are kept discreetly off-camera. At the end of the story, I think we're supposed to assume that Grace's problems will be solved not by a licensed practitioner with years of training, but by the power of Twu Wuv. Evidently people in the 50's still accepted the Victorian idea that all women's health issues can be solved by a generous application of dick.
Then there's the way Dr. Conway behaves towards Grace. At their first appointment, he tells this sick woman who has been committed to his care that she looks lovely, and that “if I were Rembrandt I would paint a portrait of you”. He claims that many women would envy her and that her looks and charm make her worthy of attention and protection. Perhaps if Grace is suffering from low self-esteem these are things she needs to hear, but they come across as deeply creepy and unprofessional, and the worst part is that I can't actually tell if the movie wants us to find them so.
There was a similar dynamic, with a mad scientist hitting on his patient while the female assistant became jealous, in Atom Age Vampire, but in that movie it was explicitly manipulative and wrong. The Unearthly, however, is much more neutral in its presentation of this material. It just sits back and watches, without placing a value judgment, and Dr. Gilchrist's condemnation of the behaviour is much milder than that of her counterpart in Atom Age Vampire. Later Dr. Conway laments the fact that Grace has 'turned on him', suggesting that he did in fact have feelings for her... in which case, perhaps we're meant to think he was expressing honest affection? Whatever the case, it's gross.
The Unearthly's single greatest moment of misogyny, however, comes courtesy of Dr. Wright. In order to facilitate Grace's disappearance, Dr. Wright throws some of her possessions into the sea in order to suggest she committed suicide in her depression. Not long after, he finds himself in a similar pickle when another vanished patient's sister turns up on his doorstep – Wright calls Conway to ask what to do, and Conway tells him to simply make out a death certificate for the man, who has been in a coma since the experiment anyway. Wright, who personally came up with the plan to fake Grace's suicide, is horrified.
There are only two possibilities I can come up with to explain this contradiction. Either the screenwriter just couldn't keep track of which characters were willing to do what in the name of science – or Dr. Wright is just fine with faking the death of a woman, whose life doesn't matter, but repulsed by the thought of doing it for a man, whose does. I think it's just shitty writing, but I can't be sure.
The Unearthly really could have been much better than it is, but it did just about everything wrong. The idea of a mad scientist experimenting on mental patients because he knows anything they say will not be believed is one that could work, but is never explored. Conway's basement full of possibly-immortal monsters could have been used to much better effect. Mark's assumed persona of criminal on the run wondering what he's gotten into was far more interesting than his actual role turned out to be. Grace would have been a way better character if she'd ever done something. Anything. In the end, the movie simply misses every opportunity it had, and the result is as dull as a bowl of plain oatmeal. Like I said, colourless.
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THE MUMMY 2017 (WARNING SPOILERS)
So I am a HUGE fan of the 1999 Mummy, I loved the characters, the story, the charisma of the adventure (for the purposes of this review I’m not going to bring the sequels into it). SO when I heard they were making a new Mummy movie (with it not being a remake or sequel) more of a reboot for the “Dark Universe” build up, I was EXCITED, I was so stoked, I LOVE those old monster horror movies and as long as it didn’t shit on the 1999 version I would be all for it. Then they said Tom Cruise would star in it... and at first that disappointed me, THEN I heard Sofia Boutella would BE the Mummy so I forgot about Cruise (if you haven’t seen her in Kingsman FIX THAT). So needless to say I was open to the idea. For financial reasons I couldn’t see it opening week, and didn’t end up seeing it until a few weeks after the release. I read the ONSLAUGHT of reviewers and critics saying how bad the film was, so I’ll admit that pushed back my desire to see it. But I was looking forward to this movie so I ended up seeing it anyway.... SO here it goes.
The GOOD:
Sofia Boutella was amazing, she was beautiful, she was horrific she was tortured as a character and I would’ve LOVED more of her and her life in the movie.
The build up of lore was decent, I had an idea of her motivation, her end goal, and I didn’t question why she was doing what she was doing.
The ACTION, was face paced, it kept things moving, there was no moment where I was said to myself “okay we get it, explosions are cool” although Cruise runs ALOT... like the man loves his cardio.
The graphics, Sofia’s “zombie” form, or corpse form I guess, was very cool, and I dug how her absorption of her victims through a death kiss, its a new way, and it made her the sexy kind of deadly. Which lets face it, she’s a woman in a hollywood movie, even as a monster, she’s gotta be SEXY.
The henchmen, were pretty gruesome, and I liked that, I liked that they weren’t underdone, they were gross, rotted and moved like I imagined a reanimated body would.
I did like the room of oddities (vampire skulls, Gillman hands etc). And that was enough to link it to more movies.
Now the BAD:
Cruise takes over the film, in fact the title “Tom Cruise feat. the Mummy” suits as even in her main goal, he is the center of Ahmanet‘s mission. And in the end he is turned into a living god, something I’m sure Cruise loved.
It needed more of her, the movie is called the Mummy and I knew more about Cruise’s character than I really needed to.
The fact is Cruise’s character isn’t the strong hero type. Think more womanizing, thief that is supposed to be charming, but comes off more selfish and self serving than charismatic. And then you’re supposed to like him and think he’s the good guy of it.
The COMEDY is severely misplaced in the flow of the story. It breaks up tension in fight scenes, it breaks serious moments with quips from Cruise and his ghost buddy, when you should be taking the threat seriously.
The story is rushed, I get that this was meant to be a platform to make a monster movie universe, but there was SO much pushed into this film. That the same point could be made with a character other than Jekyll. It could’ve been a human hunting monsters, rather than a monster hunting monsters. And it would’ve made more sense. Make him a VanHelsing (that would honestly make more sense to me than the Good Doctor). it would’ve pulled things together without having this random fight seen in the middle of the movie. And once again the humor between Crowe and Cruise was so misplaced.
Comparing it to 1999:
1. O'Connell is a better hero, I can’t even remember Cruise’s character’s name (Just googled it) his name is Nick, but see that’s how forgettable he is. I don’t care about him, he isn’t a charismatic hero. O’Connell came with them to Egypt because he made a promise, he needed to stick by that. Nick is there to steal stuff, awesome, can I really get behind that?
2. The ladies, Evelyn is wonderful, she is educated, she is beautiful and is a great contrast to O’Connell, and they work well off each other, him being the charismatic American who can get shit done, her being the delicate English flower that becomes an explorer for the sake of gaining knowledge. Jennifer works for Jekyll, we get very little back story as to why, only that they “share the same interests” but it turns out he’s more into the idea of dissecting Ahmanet rather than gaining any knowledge (which seems to be Jennifer’s motivation). She comes off as more of a charismatic adventurer than Cruise, WHICH IS A PROBLEM, considering that in the end he saves her. Its not a real story of redemption for these two as it doesn’t feel like they have a bond (at least to me) it was more like, hey we shagged one night, guess we should hang.
3. THE MUMMY, Imhotep was a priest who (with his lover) killed a Pharaoh in the hopes of being with her. She kills herself so he tries to bring her back. It is this betrayal and dabble in the dark arts that gets him a one way ticket to scarabville in a tight box with no air holes to keep him company. It was a story of romance, gone wrong and you kinda wanted them to be together, even if you didn’t want them going about it in the way they do. Ahmanet was promised a kingdom, and was denied that when her father had a son (because even in Egypt, as a boy he would get the throne before she would). So she makes a pact with the God of death, kills her father, her brother and in return she’d be queen of the world as long as she gets the God of death a body. Its certainly a more self centered ambition, but what’s wrong with that? my only issue is that they try (at times) to pass it off as romantic. She calls Cruise her “chosen one” and attempts to kiss him at times, however she doesn’t deny that there was a “one” before him. And to be honest in the 10 seconds of flashbacks I believed a romance between her and that guy over her and Cruise. Call it what it is. She wants him for his body, and after that she’ll get what she wants, to be Queen. Why can’t the woman just want to be on top? Now if we’re talking powers generally they are the same. They both control sand, manipulate the dead, although she seemed to control animals too, he was more traditional with the plagues. They both regenerate by sucking the parts or life from their victims as needed, however she reuses hers (lets not be wasteful in this new era) where as his disciples were more victims of the plagues. Story line wise I do love the desperation of a romance, but for the new world, and a new story, why rehash it? I like the new take, but pick an angle, and stick to it, don’t half make it about power and then have moments of love in here, its just weak story wise.
ANOTHER NOTE, they made such an issue about this movie not being connected to the 1999 one, HOWEVER Jennifer hits a henchman with the book of life, the Gold book from the 1999 movie, now if you don’t want to be associated with them, DON’T HAVE THAT IN THERE. If you do, you would’ve made alot more money and be better in general having Evelyn and O’Connell (or even their son but lets face it Fraser would’ve been awesome and the perfect Chosen one) be in there. They’ve been through this, they would be experts!
So In the end, the movie isn’t as bad as everyone is saying, that being said it is bad for a few reasons. The movie needs to be at least equal parts your hero and your Mummy, this movie felt way more Cruise-centric rather than an equal share, and I get that he’s a big star but then don’t shoot so high for the sake of the story. The good thing about the 1999 version is we found out about O’Connell slowly, but what you found out was weighed with Imhotep’s backstory and his journey into becoming whole again. Ahmanet took way less time to regenerate and spent more time in the custody of Crowe. In the end we cared about O’Connell, we wanted him to win and save Evelyn. Cruise was an ass of a character and Jennifer lied about her involvement as well so really I mean sure we want them to live, but if she had stayed dead, for me it wouldn’t have lessened the quality of the story, they were pushed together for the sake of their being some romance. I’d say see it if you can compartmentalize for the sake of a movie where you don’t have to think about much or invest in anything, but don’t see it if you’re thinking about the nostalgia of the 1999 version because it will only enrage you if you think it can live up to it.
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ALSO TO FIX EXCELLUS
Because tangeants again lol
Recognise that its fuckin stupid and bigoted to expect us to believe someone is a villain INSTANTLY after seeing that they're queer, before they even do anything. Don't spend your entire damn game having the characters go "eww its that disgusting person of ambiguous gender we should kill them because gross" rather than.. Yknow.. "Excellus fuckin murdered those people". Recognise that literally doing this is gonna make your character LESS villainous and MORE sympathetic long before you finally get to goddamn showing them do anything bad except say "ohoho i wanna be a princess". And it'll make bunni REALLY PISSED OFF because nobody wants to feel sad for an asshole murderer yet THAT SADNESS IS FOREVER ENGRAINED IN MY SOUL NOW
Seriously fuckin hell it even made the heroes look less heroic! I felt like Excellus was almost justified in becoming a murdering selfish monster if she spent her entire life being treated that way by both sides in this big good or evil conflict. Why the fuck should she give a shit if she's being degraded? Like FUCKIN OBVIOUSLY murdering people and wanting to conquer a random japanese country as a mad dictator is not a remotely logical reaction to being misgendered. But like they could have changed some stuff and made a perfectly good sympathetic villain who gets manipulated by the bigger bad because of her sad past of being treated like shit and like she feels like this is her only option to be herself. And then maybe you can reignite her hope in the world and her self esteem and moral centre and help her redeem herself and team up with you to take out the real horrible fucks with no sympathetic motives. Instead she's friggin played as THE one who's evil cos she has no sympathetic motive. Like that's her whole Thing, she's supposed to just be selfish and greedy and horrid. Your damn bigotry somehow failed your own story as well as failing all trans people ever!
Or like yknow.. If you want an asshole fuckboi then actually write an asshole fuckboi. Scrubby scrub the trans = bad shit from this plotline and you do indeed have a selfish monster who murders a bunch of innocent people and gets his just desserts. You had a ready made simple character archetype and you were so preoccupied shoving your transphobic screed into your game that you fucked it up!
So yeah i think either make this goofy ohoho trans auntie a good character, make the asshole ohoho bad character a cis man, do both at once, or like even i'm not opposed to having a trans villain exist but like seriously make them a synpathetic villain. If they're the only trans character in the plot its already gonna send a bad message if theyre in the role of "worst most underhanded jerk villain", even if it WASNT also transphobic as fuck. So a sympathic trans villain or adding more LGBT characters so it doesnt seem like this one individual was designed to make a statement on your entire feelings for a minority.
ALSO
like seriously please do not do this stupid thing of mooshing every stereotype together from every LGBT identity and acting like theyre all the same thing?? Like man i fuckin HATE that anime trope that yknow.. The gay man says all this trans stuff cos he's ~just that flambouyant~ Like being a drag queen is what 100% of gay men are, 24/7, and anyone saying theyre a trans woman is just one of those drag queens who's really getting into character. Or just.. I dunno. I cant even wrap my head around what train of logic must have led to that stereotype in the first place! And its so fuckin annoying as a queer person trying to talk about why this is bad queer stereotyping, it just makes me extra sad to straight up not know what pronouns to use for the character so i feel like i'm being just as horrible to them as their creators were. Like man i've only settled on going for "she" for Excellus cos after years of looking into it it does seem like the original japanese was indeed specifically using stereotypes of trans women and not trans men or nonbinary people. Though all languages do seem to call the character male it seems pretty strongly to be a "i believe that trans women are men and can never be women" kind of thing, rathe rthan the character herself calling HERSELF male. She calls herself a woman in both english and japanese, and its just that the english has everyone else use male pronouns for her and added the non-canon "explanation" that she only acts like a trans woman because she has something wrong with her balls. (Ugh!) And in japanese on top of calling herself a woman she also uses feminine (and specifically trans/drag queen coded) variants of "I", and other common speech pattern traits used for negative stereotypes of trans women. Though again we do have other characters calling her a disgusting perverted man instead. Sigh!
Ok ok ALSO BIGGEST FUCKIN FIX! dont draw the character like a horrible distorted cariacature goblin in an entirely different art style to everyone else. Seriously its so annoying how they tried to make you agree with "excellus is disgusting just for acting queer" by LITERALLY DRAWING A DISGUSTING CHARACTER. If you take away the weirdass overdetailed horror movie monster face, there is nothing ugly or even "manly looking" about her! She's just like somebody's perfectly normal chubby aunt or something. You could go out in any street all over the world and see five of her! I hate it cos its almost like psychological manipulation or something? Like i've seen so many lets players who arent bigoted but merely oblivious still agree that excellus is ugly and disgusting and comical because of it, cos all the implications of transphobia/homophobia flew over their heads and all they saw was a character drawn to look monsterous. And just.. This is so common. Its the overwhelming japanese stereotype of trans women. Draw them looking INFINATELY MORE MANLY than the cis male characters. So manly that it really hammers home how "obvious" it is that a man in lipstick or dresses "just looks wrong" and of course there's NO way they could ever pass and ha ha look how deluded they are that they think they look pretty. It's horrid. It really is. Seriously I like to point at Tabitha from Pokemon ORAS for a good counter example, cos he's also an ambiguously transgender character from a game that came out around the same time and by some weird coincidence they look very similar. Except for the literal entire face. The literal entire exact same face, just its drawn hideous and distorted on the one who's supposed to be a negative trans stereotype, and drawn exactly like everyone else on the positive one. And there's not one example in the whole game of anyone calling Tabitha ugly because he looks trans, or even insulting his weight or anything. Same damn character design, just drawn without bias and treated like a human being. I mean seriously right down to them having the small "evil eyes" but with Tabitha he's always drawn with them in a perpetual sort of happy face and then his pose with them looking similar to Excellus is supposed to be a BADASS MOMENT of this comic relief villain showing his worth! And hw literally has red eyes on top of it! His design is even MORE "evil" yet just not drawing it as a stereotype entirely changes the player's perception and he became beloved by many. Whereas with Excellus even the trans people in the audience couldnt relate to her and just felt fuckin sad.
Oh also i guess Excellus is implied to be a trans woman and Tabitha is implied to be a trans man? But i don't think game freak was trying to say anything about trans men being more valid or whatever, cos the first canonical LGBT character of any sort was a trans woman npc in the battle maison. And tabitha being trans isnt really confirmed as clearly as she was. i hope someday theyre able to confirm an LGBT main cast member but until then i will forever hold onto the glimmer of hope that was given to me by Beauty Nova.
Also seriously Tabitha and Excellus both also look EXACTLY LIKE ME IN REAL LIFE so I kinda took Excellus extra hard and latched onto the Tabitha headcanon so much more because it was good healing after all that nonsense. Tho I also did considee nonbinary Tabitha at the time, because his japanese name is a gender neutral one that's merely like 75% female, rather than a 100% feminine one. But then his old RSE design was very masculine so i think maybe a trans man is what they were trying to imply if they did indeed do it on purpose. Anyway i probably would have translated his name as Ashley cos it has the same "technically neutral but more popular with girls" aesthetic while also keeping the same fire pun as Homura. I have no idea how on earth Tabitha is supposed to be a joke, honestly. Tho i meam maybe he's just the one type specialist on the entire poke-earth who doesnt have a joke name?
ANYWAY thank you terrible transphobic stupid manga i read today for reminding me that i love Tabitha. And also the developers love Tabitha. And also all the characters in universe love him, like seriously the only difference between the devon dialogue of him and Shelly is that they mention the other scientists nicknamed him tabitabi. And its so cute how seriously they said it too?? Its like "our boss tabitabi,the most feared and respected genius man".
Lovv dat tabb
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