#and suggest me a neat comic instead of arguing with me

[antenanotaic3]

What I like/dislike about these 3 + random bonus ig

I consider Orion Pax Optimus' true self because the Matrix changed him so there's that.

Disclaimer: Not trying to insult anyone and all of these strictly refer to the tv series(watched nearly all besides earthspark, botbots and 3 animes); the chibis weren't made by me; backtemplate is an edit of Cindyter(deviantart) character like and dislike meme template.

#yes ik this looks bad #i referred strictly to how i tried to edit the template #would gladly answer any question #character like dislike #transformers #optimus prime #megatron #starscream #optimus primal #series only #i read only two comics so cut me some slack #and suggest me a neat comic instead of arguing with me #please #also yes i don't really like optimus #he ain't perfect but everyone worships him #referring to the autobots that is #they just crack the moment he's out of the picture #except in G1 #i'm worried about their mental health

[beautifulmakkaris]

would love to hear your buffy!chrissy headcannons if you're happy to share

anon i am so sorry, this ask has been in my inbox for WEEKS and i was simply a big dope and missed it

i would absolutely LOVE to share my buffy!chrissy headcanons, i love two (2) tiny blonde cheerleaders haunted by supernatural beings :)))

chrissy is chosen around 15 which is when her nightmares and hallucinations start... except they're actually prophecy dreams

everything we see happen with the main party is just the tip of the iceberg, every time shit goes down in stranger things they're dealing with the just one threat, chrissy is in the background dealing with EVERYTHING ELSE THATS GOING ON

chrissy is under pressure from every aspect of her life, from the cheer squad, from her mom, from jason and now from the watchers council

ooh maybe ms kelley the guidance counsellor is her watcher

or the cheer coach and being head cheerleader is cover for their training sessions, they're 'planning routines'

someone in the eddissy tag mentioned eddie as a vampire and i feel like he would be the perfect mix of angel and spike lmao like the softness of angel and the chains and leather of spike with maybe a smidgen of xander's comic relief (but not his misogyny)

eddie is actually pulling an edward cullen and constantly repeating senior year because he never graduated in life and doesn't know how to pretend to be an actual adult so just keeps being a senior until the school kicks him out and then he joins a new one lmao

y'all were pressed about the age gap before

she gets drawn into the vecna plot but snaps out of the trance thanks to her slayer abilities

as she drops to the floor eddie is freaking out and she's like man that isn't even the weirdest thing thats happened to me this week

she fully knows he's a vampire and the watchers council has been telling her to slay him for years but she always argues that he never actually hurts anyone......andhe'skindofcute

she arranged going to his trailer bc her watcher had finally demanded she slay him, but naturally she was instead planning on warning him so he could skip town except vecna ruined that plan

the bit in the bench scene where he like dramatically falls off the bench but he's like 'ugh you've staked me right in the heart' and she's like my dude how have you fooled everyone for so long

oh what if her 86 necklace was made of silver and the first time they kiss it burns against his collarbone and he doesn't even notice like angel with buffy's cross that one time

she thinks his hellfire club is actually training to fight demons and is very disappointed when she meets them all, despite their claims to have faced down monsters before

the party and chrissy fight about terminology ALL THE TIME

'we have to go into the upside down' 'you mean the hellmouth' '...no i mean the upside down' 'right...except its actually the hellmouth'

the party using their dnd names for things and chrissy being like 'demodogs? do you mean the hellhounds?' or 'why do you keep calling the blah blah blah demon a demogorgon :/'

dustin being like yeah so we've saved the town THREE times now and chrissy being like '...only three? that's cute'

she and nancy bond over their favourite weapons (chrissy has a 'mr pointy' stake and suggests nancy names her shotgun too)

chrissy definitely clocks that max is a potential and subtly tries to give her pointers before the fight

she hopes when she dies max doesn't get chosen as the next slayer because she doesn't want her to go through life like chrissy has, but maybe vecna is drawn to slayers because of their power and magical potency...

anyway i just think chrissy in her cheer uniform carrying a crossbow super nonchalantly would be super neat

bonus headcanon! robin becomes a witch and they're best friends and it's buffy and willow ok

#this is all just fun and silly #chrissy cunningham #eddie x chrissy #hellcheer #eddissy #pls don't take that crossed out one too seriously i'm just being punchy

[alvhiedeir]

Little Red Elf

Thor X Reader

3174 words

This is longer than intended and quite different than requested and I have no excuse than my lack of discipline but I hope this is good enough

You are seriously thinking about investing on a security camera.

No, it wasn't that you were worried about being robbed. It's was being, 'gifted'.

In an almost daily basis, different items would make it's way to your doorstep. Black roots, hyacinth, hellebores, poppies and other herbs that would usually not grow around the area. It was nice, that was the first thought you had. You were no Circe, the great witch of Aiaia, but such ingredients could and did help greatly with your draughts. So as much as this occurrence should startle you, you brushed it off as the doing of one of your friends working for Lord Osanyin who would usually send you samples of anything new. You figured business was just doing better than usual for her to give you this much.

Two weeks, it continued on. When you rise for the day, there would be a neatly placed bundle of herbs or plant on your front steps. Always perfectly centered. And for two weeks, you accepted each and everything in such giddiness.

That is until you until today.

"I haven't been given you anything, (y/n)," She turned away from the selves she was organizing and continued, "it's been pretty busy lately for the last month with the arrival of new supply from Asia."

Her answer gave you a sudden feeling of uneasiness.

"Then who," your voice trailed, dragging the weariness and alert in the air. Your friend was quick to catch the shift of your mood.

"But think about it," she placed the bottle she was holding and walked towards you, "those herbs are rare and what are the chances of a random miscreant obtaining it?"

It eased your nerves a bit to hear her words.

"Or maybe, you finally have an admirer even if your always holed up in your home!"

She laughed at the jesting glare you sent.

"Like you're any better, cat lady."

"Hey! Having four cats does not count as being a cat lady!"

"Sure, whatever you say."

You shared a laugh, the tension thinning out. After saying a few words, she went back to the counter to pack the herbs that you bought, the reason why you were there in the first place.

"You bought quite a lot. What is it for anyway?"

"Loki wanted some draughts to "bring entertainment around this damn boring halls", his words not mine."

She laughed, commenting how it sounded just like him. She handed you the carefully packed products, with a small purple ribbon tied on the basket as she always did for you.

Just as you're about to leave she called out.

"If you're still disturb about the whole mysterious gifts, why don't you try staying up to see who it is?" You thanked her for her suggestion and concern and with a wave, headed back home.

To say the least, her suggestion was not very successful.

After you went home, you got started on the ordered draughts and by the time the moon greeted the sky, your eyes were already heavy. Being stubborn, you stayed sitting in your kitchen, chair facing the window to see if anyone or anything would past by.

The minutes were slow and before you knew it, the sun has reclaimed its place. And there was yet another gift. A freshly uprooted crab apple tree that barely passes as an adult. How in the world did they get this one?

Another week fast approached and the gifts arrived just as fast. Cornel bark, elecampane, silver fir, the list goes on. Each night, you attempt to desperately stay awake to catch but a glimpse would always end up with you succumbing to sleep. It didn't matter if it was for hours or a mere minute, by the moment your eyelids flutter open, it was already there. Perfectly centered as always, in an almost mocking way.

"You missed us again", you could hear the ridicule from it.

As days flutter, the gifts and your frustrations would only intensify. One time it was antlers from a dear Australia. The other day it was the tusk of a bore. Yesterday it was the blood of steed. The last one made you panic a bit, but thankfully in came only in a small vial. It eased your nerves, albeit slightly that the animal was minimally harmed.

You tried sleeping in the morning so that so that you could roam at night. But when you rise from your chair for a drink or to go the toilet, the sneaky bastard have already placed another gift. You went as far as sitting on your doorstep for the whole night, but even that didn't help. The gift was on your window.

You were at your wits end with this "Persistent Santa" shenanigans (it was your friend who called them that. It was that or creepy-pile-of-dung-that-had-to-much-time). Whoever they were, they are good.

You sighed tiredly again, the dark bags proving Your fruitless efforts.

"Wow, you look miserable!" You silently snapped at the voice, too sleepy to argue but to proud to ignore it. His laugh was laugh, always happy to see others demise.

"Just give me the money, Loki." You impatiently thrust the basket full of draughts to him, eager to leave and maybe sleep for a few days.

"Aren't you greedy." The more he teases you, the more punching him right in the face became an increasingly good option. As if reading your voice, he raised his hands in mock surrender.

" I would pay you, but," he dragged his voice as floated closer to you, "I dont have my money right now. And the old man is calling me so can you wait a few minutes for me?" He smiled, oh-so-mockingly sweet at you.

A tomato would have been jealous of the tint of your check. The itching call for violence is now an unignorable howler. But before you can give in, the god of mischief is already pushing you into one of the rooms, claiming your silence as agreement. In a blink, you were in a well decorated room. The walls were cream in color and golden leaves decorated the corners. Threre were shelves of book against one side of the wall and-

"Wait a minute." Snapping out of your trance, you shouted, voice filled with vile, "Loki!"

But sadly, it came too late and the door have already been shut and only his feint mocking voice telling "enjoy!" Was heard from the other side.

You could sighed, pity for your own predicament. Moving towards one of the shelves with a colorful string of curse words following, you might sa well entertain yourself with something. The books were more old, and probably cost more than your soul. Each one was placed neat and organized, neither a speck or spot of dust could be seen. But one particular book caught your eye.

With a gentle finger, you traced the gold imprints on its spine.

Herbs, Medicine and Witchcraft

Unlike everything else, this one book was placed different. It was pulled slightly forward, as if recently placed back but someone else other than the organizer. When you pull it out, you also noticed the small, almost miniscule dirt on its cover. But other than that, it was nothing special.

"I didn't think they'll have this kind of book."

You sat down and flipped on a random page. It was filled with information about different plants that can be used for both medicine and, surprisingly witchcraft. It included their typical use, characteristics, side effects and their locations. And it was very specific too.

"I wonder if I can borrow this."

Page upon page was flipped, despite the fascination dwelling in you, drowsiness became unbearable. It was just so quiet and peaceful here. Maybe a few minutes won't hurt, right?

"Loki will be there for a while anyway. Might as well." Your reasoning seemed to make sense with your tired eyes and you rest your head. Not even bothered by the fact that you used the book as your pillow.

It'll just be few minutes anyway.

It wasn't a few minutes.

Slowly, your eyelids fluttered as consciousness begin to come back. You sighed contently, that nap certainly helped with your mood. You buried your nose deeper into the soft cloth you leaned on and inhaled. It smelled like fresh lilacs and the sun.

Wait, cloth?

You lifted your head and saw, indeed there was a neatly folded cloth on the place of the book. It was pale apricot, almost faded white and now that you are looking properly, it was a short robe?

"I starting to think you were not going to wake up."

Do you know the sound of a startled walrus with a respiratory disease? Imagine that, but worse. That how you sounded as you whipped your head in surprise to the voice. Right beside you was the god of thunder himself, Thor. The difference in size between him and the chair he was resting on was almost comical. You would have laughed if it wasn't for the fact you want to live a longer.

"He-hello Thor-sama." Damnit, what did you stutter?

He casted his eyes sideways to acknowledge your greeting, glacing right back into reading afterwards.

Looking yourself, it was then you noticed the book he was reading was the one you were previously sleeping on.

"It didn't seem like you were using it," his voice was monotone as for usual, "aside as a pillow, that is."

Ahh, the sheer pleasure of being swallowed by the ground right now would be nice.

"Ah! That- I! Yes..." You simply stared at your lap instead, fist clenched tightly on top. Better to stay quiet that to embarrass yourself further.

Thor was in between being an acquaintance and  a work friend. Neither of you talked much, aside from greetings and small talk but was more than used to his presence with the number of times you had to deliver things to Loki, enough so that you don't have to tremble everytime you meet.

But sitting this close, in a close space, alone, this was definitely the first time.

And it'll be the last if you're not careful.

The silence was suffocating, for you at least. You have almost jumped in your sit when he flipped a page in the book.

A minute passed and you are so closed to jumping out of the window. The room was too quiet. Making small talk won't be bad at times like this right?

"It's a nice book."

Wow. If you could, you would have hit yourself in the back of your head. Great thinking, really.

He merely nodded and the silence dragged once again.

"There's a lot of useful information in it."

Stop, just stop. Please stop digging your own grave.

"That's why it's a shame to be drooled on."

"I do not drool!"

In the distant, the sound of funeral bells rang clear in your head. The life you lived was good. Your friend will remember what flower you wanted to be placed on your coffin, and she can have your house, maybe even your-

Before you could complete your will, you heard a smallest of chuckle from the other god.

Huh?

You stared at Thor and sure enough, there's the tiniest arch in his lips. His eyes remains on the pages but - shit - has he always been this pretty?

Between the brief greetings and quick glances, it was hard to appreciate his beauty. Though mostly blank, his face was clear and smooth. Not a single blemish as one might expect from a god who knew battlefield as his home. He was no Aphrodite nor comparable to Paris, but he himself held a beauty of his own. You couldn't quite decide on if it was the light from the window or it was simply him that was glowing?

His neck flexed in the smallest notion as he read. The muscles of his shoulders were relaxed against the table.

Heavens. Those muscles.

You blushed on your thoughts. You tear your eyes away from his physique, the wooden table suddenly very interesting.

"It is rare to see you without Mjolnir, Thor-sama."

"I don't bring him when I read."

"Him?" The question lingered on your head. Was Thor one of 'those' people?

"Do you read often?"

"No."

"Are you interested in herbal medicine?"

"No."

"Is that so?" Your answer was awkward just as the air around you. But to the very least, the tension have eased out knowing that he didn't  obliterate you so far.

"Um, Thor-sama?"

Curse you and your need to fill in the silence.

"May I ask why you are reading a book about witchcraft? You do not seem the type to be interested in it." Realizing what you said was potentially insulting, you quickly apologized, eyes wide as you tried to explain. "Not that you don't look like it! What I mean is, um, - that." You stumbled over your own words with nervousness but he simply kept his eyes in the book, barely even glancing at you.

"... give you." His voice made you stop with your gibberish. Catching only the tail-end of his words, you looked at him questioningly. Only then did you realize that it has almost been a minute since he flipped a page, almost as if your question startled him as well.

"Ma-may you repeat that?"

There was a short pause before his answer came.

"So that I know what to give you."

Furrowed brows and confused eyes marked your features.

"So that I know what to give you."

His words repeated in your head, like an stubborn echo inside a cavern.

"I know what to give you."

"Give you."

"Give."

Oh shit.

"You're the Persistent Santa?!" The chair you previously sat on collided with the floor with a loud "thud". Hands planted heavily against the table, you casted accusing eyes to him.

Before any other words were uttered, your senses made its way back to your head like a harsh slap of water. You just yelled at the strongest Norse god. You might as well have dug your own hole and painted your tombstone.

But all fear and confusion left you as you stare at the fore mentioned god. He was not glancing down anymore but instead his eyes found its place opposite of your direction. And if one would look close, really intently stared, the faintest of red could be seen blooming in his cheeks.

"He-he's blushing."

Thor is blushing.

"You shouldn't be shouting here." His voice did not have the same air of threat and authority it usually holds. If your ears were right, it almost sounded like he was embarrassed.

Silently picking up the fallen chair, you sat down with your eyes burning holes the robe infront of you. Which you have almost forgotten was there.

Thinking back to the times you interacted with him, one word would usually come to mind. Quiet. He would acknowledge your presence or sometimes even greet you during the times you bump into one another but has never to made a conversation. Compared to Loki, you have always figured that maybe he was just more refined.

It wasn't until you heard his tale from your friend that you have gathered a sort of fear towards him. You knew how gods are, how vile and wrathful they are. And a god of his caliber could wipe you with a single flicker of his finger.

You would now bow and act more politely to him. Going as far as trying to avoid any contact with him.

But now sitting a mere foot apart, you felt no threat. No danger. And only then did you realize that you have never really felt any danger to begin with. When he speaks, he did not have the murderous aura that they claim to choke anyone.  He had never given you any reason to fear him, it was only you who decided to believed other's opinion.

"I'm sorry."

As if a trigger, his head turned to you upon hearing your timid voice but you dare not look at his eyes.

"You don't-"

"Not just for yelling."

Where did you get the courage to cut him off? You do not know. But, still with the false bravery, you continued.

"I mean, I have been very rude to you for a long time,"

"You have never been mean to me and I only returned the gesture by fearing you without any basis of."

With every fiber of yours screaming otherwise, you turned to look at him in the eye.

"I'm really sorry."

The longer you look into those golden eyes the more the heat on your neck spreads to your cheeks.

Guess his hair isn't the only thing red now.

"It's nothing," surprisingly it was Thor who turned away first. This time though, you eyes remained on him with a small smile. Youu have been missing out on so many things. But now, you have the eternity to catch up. And you're sure as hell you will.

"Thor-sama."

"Just Thor."

You laughed a bit, a sound that you did not notice brought a smile on his own lips.

"Why did you give me those gift anyway."

He turned his head to the other direction, but your keen eyes could see his tainted red ears.

"Loki said gifts were a good way to get close to someone." You grinned.

"I should have known better than listen to him."

His words dragged a loud laugh from you. The thought of him asking Loki, of all people for an advice was something you thought you'll never hear. And the small pout in his voice upon the next statement both brought you giddiness and butterflies.

Your hands instinctively covered your mouth, but still the sounds slipped through. And if you would have opened your eyes that moment, you would have seen the adoration in Thor's as he watches you.

Yes, it was embarrassing to ask his cousin for advice and finding those herbs was a hard task. But if seeing you like this, with lips arch into the most beautiful smile he have seen filled with happiness he once thought he couldn't bring you, then he would do it a thousand more.

Bonus:

Outside the closed doors, Loki grinned at himself. Trying to get you two was a pain with how standoffish Thor was by this was the most entertainment he had for a long time.

"What the hell are you doing?" It was one of Odin's crow that screeched from beging, as they watch the god smiling, and by experience it never means well.

"Oh nothing," he sing-songed. He floated pass his uncle but never before saying,

"Hope you're ready for grandkids!"

"Huh?"

But they did not receive an answer, only a chorus of laughter from the god of mischief as he drift away.

If you don't know who's Circe is, she's a witch in the Greek mythology that turned sailors into pigs. Odysseus met her during his travel home from the Trojan war. She turned his men into pig too. And it's a book of Madeline Miller too! You should really read her books.

This was requested by @tenshi-san and I apologize that I might have strayed too far from your prompt. I really hope I did your husbando some justice. He was so hard to write because that only thing I can see him as is bored😂. But I hope you still like it!

#record of ragnarok #shuumatsu no valkyrie #Thor #Loki #SnV Thor #fanfiction #x reader #snv x reader

[lattereadsra]

I don't think this is an ask but I wish we got a Ranger's Apprentice animated series/movie instead of a live action

I would love an animated series! I’ve been watching the Tangled TV show and it has this neat storybook style art. I think something heavily stylized like that (or like Spider-Verse 👀) would be amazing

I’ve also been saying for ages that it would work better as a miniseries or a full length show, a la GoT or Good Omens. I think the people in positions to make these things happen are too caught up in the idea of movie adaptations. RA, especially early on, feels more episodic. The pacing would be awful for a movie, even for a series of movies.

Season one would be books 1 and 2, culminating in the duel with Morgarath and Halt just barely missing Will. During the training, throw in some lines about the Temujai warriors, maybe about the Scotti at the border to help set up future seasons

Season two is book 3 and 4. The alternating viewpoints in book 3 would make for great A and B plots in episodes

Season three is book seven. Out of order books are a lot easier than out of order episodes in a TV show, so I think it would have to be chronological. After Will splits off, he spends the episode getting lost until he collapses. There are two options—either the last moments are the other rider finding him, or the beginning of the next episode is that. Depends on if you want a darker tone. Also, Will being separated allows for easy A and B plot structure

Season four is books 5 and 6. I would adore Malkalam’s interrogation fully animated. Can you imagine the effects? And Grimsdell wood in general. So spooky, I love it. I forgot to mention that prior to now, Alyss is made a more important character. She shows up to more things (welcome home parties, downtime, etc). As fans of the book, we know she’s going to be the love interest and we also know that she’s kind of forced in, so we can avoid that with hindsight. (I would also be okay with a bigger adaptations change to make Hill canon, but for the sake of argument, I’m trying to stick as close to the books for this as possible.)

Season five is books 8 and 9. I think at this point in the series you could argue for the books to be split because of length but I like how cleanly the arcs break up. You could either have the same VA for Halt and Ferris and let the actor have fun with it, or have two different VAs who sound similar. I could honestly argue for either way. Both have merit.

Season six is book ten. If we made it this far, the show will hopefully be popular enough that they can pull in some really good consultants on historical Japan so that everything is respectful. Imagine the landscapes, though. Animated, stylized Japanese topography. I’d die

Lost Stories is an odd duck. I would love to include them, but it’s hard to find where they’d fit in a way that doesn’t ruin the flow. We could make the seasons longer, a little more flowing, and split the books up further, but I personally like this structure. If someone wants to figure that out in more detail, I’m happy to see it work, though. Maybe a miniseries between seasons, animated by different people in different styles to give newer artists a chance to work on a bigger project?

Adapting the story now that it’s complete lets us address issues and ideas to make the new version better. More diversity, clearing up the timeline a bit, making minor characters more defined early on, etc. The biggest thing, in my opinion, is the magical elements. I would love more magic in RA, but there needs to be a careful balance because we have arcs later on that are explicitly about fakers, both arcane and divine. But there are also moments that are undeniably magical—the Wargals, The Kalkara, and the hypnotism in book 6. That’s not how real hypnotism works and is borderline magical in its effects and application. I think if more magical elements are added to maintain consistency, they should be grounded and treated as natural. Beasts that come from mythology but are just more weird animals, for example. Maybe give the Rangers a more magical connection to nature that Halt has to sever when he’s banished. The Bedouin live around springs and oases that extend their lives a bit and give them stronger bodies that can withstand the desert. No spells or transformations or anything really flashy. That way, there becomes a distinction between “real” magic and what Malcolm and Tennyson do. The Wargals aren’t treated like fantasy monsters. No one really questions how they’re real. Magic like that is just part of the world.

That would be the biggest change. (And canon Hill if half the fandom wouldn’t be upset over losing Willyss.) I’d love to see an otherwise faithful adaptation of the series. I think structurally and stylistically, it’s already set up for a great TV show. And making it animated like anon suggested would be absolutely amazing, particularly if the producers allow a more unique look rather than trying to mimic classic Disney CGI style. It looks great, but it’s so boring and they all look the same. Give me Tangled the Series style, or Into The Spider-Verse, or even a more traditional comic book style (think Teen Titans or Batman the Animated Series) or something inspired by anime or more recent Western cartoons.

I’m not going to tackle BB and TRR because I haven’t read most of them, but they would most likely be spinoffs/sequels. Same with TEY, though I don’t know if there’s enough there to make a full, satisfying show. (I haven’t finished TEY either whoops) I also didn’t mean for this to get away from me like this, but here you go. All my RA adaptation thoughts in one place

#ranger's apprentice #rangers apprentice #ra adaptation #literally all the characters #latte has opinions #thank you so much for the ask!

[mst3kproject]

Blood of Dracula’s Castle

 This is another film by Al Adamson of Carnival Magic, starring John Carradine of The Unearthly and the weirdly rectangular Alexander D’Arcy of Horrors of Spider Island.  If that weren’t enough, the first thing you see when you start the movie is an opening sequence of badly-shot driving set to an incongruously cheerful theme song, looking like something that should have credits over it, but doesn’t.  Because obviously the perfect way to begin your movie is by giving everybody flashbacks to Manos: the Hands of Fate.  Oh, boy.

Glen Cannon has just inherited a castle, so he takes his girlfriend Liz out to see the place and to meet the longtime tenants, Mr. and Mrs. Townsend.  Unfortunately for Glen, Liz, and a number of short-skirted passers-by, the Townsends are actually vampires!  They live in the castle with a menagerie of servants that include George the butler, Johnny the homicidal maniac (not the Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, just a guy named Johnny who happens to be a homicidal maniac), and a hunchback named Mango.  Not keen on the idea of moving, the undead try to persuade the young couple to either extend their lease or sell them the property outright.  And if that fails, well, George does need victims to sacrifice to the moon god…

(Pictured above, three hundred percent more captive women than in Hercules and the Captive Women.)

You’d think a movie called Blood of Dracula’s Castle would be set in some ancient and spooky part of eastern Europe, wouldn’t you?  And you’d be wrong, because the castle in this story is in the middle of the Arizona desert.  Why is there a castle in the Arizona desert?  The movie never explains, but I’m guessing the backstory is similar to that of Shea Castle in California, where much of the movie was shot – some rich asshole just decided he wanted to live in a castle.  What I really want to know is why this specific castle has vampires in it.  Deserts just don’t seem like good vampire habitat, you know?

Blood of Dracula’s Castle is particularly ridiculous about this, because like Attack of the The Eye Creatures or Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules, it features sun-hating baddies in a movie that is clearly shot in the daytime with a dark filter!  And like those other movies, the sunshine is so intense that the filters do just about nothing. Also, why is there a beach nearby?  Arizona is not exactly famous for those.

The Townsends are some seriously weaksauce vampires.  A lot of movies have vampires with superhuman strength, telepathy, or the power of flight.  These two are afraid of being shot, and can’t even escape from being tied up with silk sashes.  I would say it undermines their threat, but they never seemed that threatening to begin with.  Alexander D’Arcy and Paula Raymond play the characters very low-key and matter-of-fact, and their servants come across as far more dangerous than the masters.  I suppose this is why the vampires turn to dust in an anticlimax, while the real movie-ending battle is with Mango the hunchback.  He takes a bullet to the gut, an axe to the back, is set on fire, and finally topples over a cliff before he goes down!  Even George the aged butler puts up a pretty good fight with a morningstar before breaking his neck in a fall down the stairs.

Johnny, meanwhile, is a very confusing inclusion.  He’s been in a mental institution for murdering some unspecified number of people, and he blames his killing spree on the full moon. The movie harps on this at some length, with Johnny himself, the Townsends, and George all referring to it, so by the time the climax approaches we’re pretty sure we’re gonna get a werewolf scene.  When George sets out to sacrifice a captive woman to the moon god, I was eagerly hoping this would take the form of wolfman Johnny showing up to tear her apart.  But Johnny is present to watch, remains fully human throughout, and does nothing, while George simply sets the woman on fire! Why spend all that time setting it up? Is the point supposed to be that Johnny uses lycanthropy as an excuse for his killings when the truth is he’s just a murderer?  If so, the movie misses by a mile.

Glen and Liz are technically the main characters, but they’re very much the type who are only present so this movie will have somebody to happen to.  The writers, director, and even the actors are far more interested in their assortment of baddies.  Neither of the couple has anything that might be considered a character trait.  They are introduced in a montage of Glen taking pictures of Liz at Sea World, which establishes nothing but the fact that she’s hot and he’s recently asked her to marry him.  There’s also a really weird bit where they make out under the watchful eyes of a voyeuristic walrus, which sure is a sentence I just wrote.

There are a couple of moments when it looks like Glen’s profession of photography might just be plot relevant.  He tries to take a picture of Johnny, but Johnny doesn’t want him to, which could have been a precursor to one of them recognizing the escaped murderer. It goes nowhere.  I also wondered if the film might make use of the idea that vampires don’t show up any better in photographs than they do in mirrors, but the idea is completely ignored.

About the only thing in Blood of Dracula’s Castle that works is one joke.  Glen and Liz are snooping around the castle basement, where they discover the Townsends sleeping in their coffins.  Liz starts to freak out, and Glen tries to reassure her by telling her that there’s a perfectly logical explanation.  She demands to know what that is… and rather than offer some ‘rational’ bullshit Glen just straight up says, “they’re vampires, obviously!”  The sheer surprise of seeing a trope subverted like that in this stupid movie made me laugh out loud.

Is there anything halfway interesting in this movie?  Meh, not really.  The closest it comes is when it suggests the Townsends’ distaste for ‘traditional’ vampirism.  They don’t go around biting necks and leaving bodies behind – instead they drain blood from a vein and sip it out of genteel wine glasses.  Killing Glen and Liz is not Plan A, it is what they’re forced to turn to when all else fails.  Lady Townsend even contemplates the idea that someday somebody might invent synthetic blood, allowing vampires to become law-abiding citizens!

This could have been neat, but it fails to go anywhere because the Townsends seem entirely cheerful and blasé about the crimes they do commit.  They have no problem keeping young women chained up in their dungeon, draining them of blood and then turning them over to Mango to be raped and murdered.  They show no reluctance to sacrifice victims to the moon god.  In fact, their performance has almost a Stepford Wives sort of feel, in which they are polite and pleasant about literally everything.  Even in private, when they worry about possibly having to kill their guests, they sound cheerful.  The fake smile plastered across D’Arcy’s face is downright terrifying, though not for the reasons it ought to be.  He looks like being in this movie is causing him physical pain.

Another thread seems to be some commentary, probably unintentional, about the nature of relationships.  Glen and Liz argue quite a bit, and I think most of it’s intended to be in fun but Gene O’Shane and Barbara Bishop are not good actors and it sometimes comes across quite bitter.  Their disagreements contrast with the behaviour of the Townsends, who are perfectly in harmony in everything they do.  Perhaps this is because the Townsends have simply known each other longer, having been married for some three centuries while Glen and Liz have only been together a year or so.  The impression one gets, however, is an Addams Family sort of vibe, in which embracing the darkness within seems to lead to better relationships.

Now that I think of it… with the charming, well-dressed, and loving couple, and their cadaverous butler, there is definitely an Addams Family thing going on here.  The comics had been around since 1938 and the TV series started in 1964, so it was out there for other creators to draw on.

In comparison to the other Al Adamson movies I’ve seen, Blood of Dracula’s Castle actually strikes me as more similar to Carnival Magic than to Psycho-A-Go-Go.  The latter film was very upfront about its dark themes, while the former buries them under a cheerful carnival front.  Blood of Dracula’s Castle also looks rather harmless on the surface, as the Addams Family comparison makes clear: the Townsends are very cheerful and friendly vampires, their castle more whimsical than foreboding.  They and their strange servants could be characters in a comedy, were the movie not so explicit about their murders.

Blood of Dracula’s Castle is pretty dull.  You won’t be missing anything if you skip it.  If you do want to watch it, I’d better warn you: the opening sequence is set to an upbeat song called Last Train Out, and once it’s in your brain, it’s not going anywhere for a while.

#mst3k #reviews #episodes that never were #blood of dracula's castle #poor john carradine #tw: rape #60s

[lacquerware]

Mega Man should stop presenting its flaws as indispensable features

When I was fifteen, I learned to play the song Malagueña on the piano. It was a laborious project; the culmination of nine years of piano lessons under the tutelage of Mrs. Diane Miller, and the main event for her upcoming student showcase.

This arrangement of the piece was a seven-pager, and somewhere around page four was a problem phrase I kept playing wrong, a rapid two-handed run up the keyboard with tricky fingering. I got to a point where I could play flawlessly up to that phrase, only to flub the phrase every time. Each time I flubbed it, my teacher would stop me and send me back to page 2. “You have to perfect that phrase,” she would say, “so try it again, but first play the preceding two pages, so it’s no longer fresh in your mind by the time you get to it again.” Alas, this would result in more flubs, and after three flubs in a row she would send me back to the beginning of the entire piece. “You’re still not getting it,” she’d say. “So I think we should run through the stuff you’ve already mastered one more time.” I would glance at her, trying to read her intent, and she would stare back at me, bug-eyed and malevolent.

The above story is false,because Mrs. Miller was a kind, intelligent, and non-insane person. Like all people of that description, she understood that you don’t work out a problem area by indiscriminately repeating ALL PRACTICE. When you get one problem wrong on a math quiz, you don’t review the entire textbook. You don’t work on your free throws by drilling layups and then also free throws. You can’t learn to poach an egg by toasting English fucking muffins all day. To suggest otherwise is an act of hostility.

Mega Manhas always carried this hostility. The game dishes out its challenges in neat little screen-sized units, but penalizes your failures with gratuitous setbacks, often requiring you to replay entire stages from the beginning. This makes learning inordinately tedious. You have to retread every yard for every yard gained.

I guess this is a relic of the arcade age, when games were designed with the express intent of punishing players—unless they paid up. Indeed, most of Mega Man’s NES contemporaries inherited this same feature in the form of finite lives and scarce checkpoints, but it never made much sense on home consoles. You could argue that it prolonged the lifespan of each game, but that only held true for the masochists who continued to tolerate this torturous system rather than reallocate all that wasted time to more fruitful pursuits like, I dunno, learning to play piano or poach an egg.

I’ve always liked Mega Man, but it was already starting to feel like a tired concept as early as Mega Man IV. I was about eight years old by then, and starting to catch on that they were running out of boss motifs. Pharaoh Man felt like a red flag.

Mega Man has since proliferated into a multi-faceted franchise spanning more than 120 titles and three decades (and for the record, I’ve played through almost all of them), but it’s never really dispensed with its ancient baggage. Mega Man X brought new visual flare while diversifying the core action; Mega Man Zero imbued the series canon with new consequence and cool factor; Mega Man ZX fused the classic gameplay with the Metroidvania template; but all of these spin-offs continued to punish, punish, punish, to gatekeep their content from the series’ own consumers to no certain end.

When Capcom revealed Mega Man 9, I was momentarily taken with the nostalgia of it, but quickly lost interest when I realized that Capcom had no intent of evolving the series’ concepts, even in basic quality-of-life ways. Lives and weapon energy were still pointlessly commodified, checkpoints sadistically scarce. They’d even removed what few innovations the series had seen to date, such as the slide and the charge shot. Nor did the roster of Robot Masters appear any more inspired than the cast of rejects that had turned me off five installments prior. Capcom had had seventeen years to think about it and all they’d come up with were lame analogs of pastbosses, like Tornado Man and Magma Man. It’s like they thought they hadto retread the same shit beat for beat or people would get confused. Even their ace, Splash Woman, was just another in a long line of water-themed bosses.

Mega Man 10 as a follow-up was downright depressing. Strike Man, Pump Man, and Chill Man are what you get when you realize yesterday was the deadline and all you’ve got is a pen and a cocktail napkin. I can’t fathom that a bunch of game designers sat around brainstorming ideas for Mega Man fucking 10 and someone was like, “Hmm, what about an ice-themed boss.”

Now we have Mega Man 11, the long-awaited, belligerently-demanded revival of the MM franchise after some eight years of dormancy. After playing the demo, I find myself wondering why. Why are we here? Why is Mega Man 11 Capcom’s answer after saying no to Mega Man for eight years? It’s the SAME.

Yes, it looks and sounds nicer and there’re a couple new mechanics—which are themselves comically uninspired takes on the ancient tropes of bullet time* and Devil Trigger—but I’m mystified at how unchanged the formula still is after eight years of seemingly adamant dismissal of the entire franchise, let alone the thirty-one years they could’ve been critically examining it. Do they realize that other developers have been building on this genre since the eighties?

*Weird side note: The tutorial for Mega Man’s new “Speed Gear” ability explains that the gear makes you “move so fast that everything else seems slow,” but in practice Mega Man moves just as slowly as everything else. So it’s not Mega Man who’s moving fast, it’s. . . the player?  

Punishment as “Difficulty”

In the Block Man (lol) stage of the demo, there’s a section where you have to jump and slide through elaborate platforms as they scroll toward you, an insta-kill grinding device nipping at your heels all the while. The third platform has very peculiar collision detection, such that your head bonks against the empty space you’re supposed to jump through, seemingly rendering the challenge impossible. This is several screens into the stage but still prior to the first checkpoint (on Normal mode), so every time this platform killed me, I had to start the entire stage over. After about fifteen tries, I discovered that the collision doesn’t trigger if you’re holding left as you make the jump—an illogical thing to do unless you’ve died so many times you’ve run out of other ideas. By the time I cracked this idiosyncrasy, I’d already spent close to an hour replaying the preceding screens over and over for no reason. Why is this still a thing? This is punishment, not difficulty. It contributes to the challenge only in that it makes the experience less fun, “challenging” your resolve to continue playing. Think of all the origami you could be learning. All the old ladies you could be helping cross streets.

The Mega Man games are quite clever in the way they parse out the platforming and shooting in little bite-sized units. Each screen is essentially an action puzzle for you to solve. It would be so logical for each screen break to be a checkpoint, because each screen break isa checkpoint—the start of the next challenge. Games like Super Meat Boy do this, meting (meating?) out their challenges in bite-sized, infinitely repeatable increments. Nobody accuses Super Meat Boy of being too easy because it doesn’t make you repeat the shit you’ve already completed when you fail at the current task. If you wantthat kind of punishment, no one’s stopping you from resetting the game.

Mega Man 11 adds a “Casual” mode which increases the number of checkpoints, but it’s still annoying to me that the more punishing model is treated as the norm while the more logical distribution of checkpoints is treated as a concession. Soulsplayers will tell me to “git gud,” but that’s why I led with the piano analogy. I got damn good at Malagueña, and I still had time left over to do my homework and play video games.

Special Weapons

Using your Special Weapons in Mega Man games is like spending the money you might need to pay rent on stuff you could be getting for free through your well-connected friend Dave. The trial-and-error pairing of the right weapon and the right boss is such an integral part of Mega Man’s progression that any other use of anyspecial weapon becomes a high-risk gamble—unless, of course, you just Google the answers.

I understand the need to impose limits on the more powerful weapons, but games have figured out countless better ways to do this in the thirty-one years since Mega Man 1. Cool-down times. Cool-down meters. Recovery proportional to damage inflicted. Recovery proportional to damage received. Recovery by way of skillful attack, à laMetal Gear Rising. Enemy fire absorption à la Alien Soldier and Radiant Silvergun. Ranger X on the Sega Genesis had solar-powered special weapons; why not steal that idea for this game’s allegedly solar-powered protagonist?

Instead, even in its eleventh installment in two-thousand-goddamn-eighteen, Mega Man still employs an RNG-based item drop system. Replenishing your meter is as simple and menial as finding an enemy spawn point and brainlessly standing and shooting until an enemy happens to drop the energy you need. Don’t forget to cycle over to the gun you want to replenish, or else the battery is wasted, as if Mega Man just eats it by mistake.*

*Later games in the series introduced the Energy Balancer, a purchasable item which automatically refills the weapon that needs refilling even if you don’t have it selected. Why is that a thing you have to buy? Why put a fundamental improvement to the game behind a paywall, virtual or otherwise?

Meanwhile, MM11still employs the same bizarre meter continuity between deaths as past installments. Each death means repeating sections of the stage without reacquiring any previously spent meter, effectively creating a difficulty vortex—the harder this game is, the harder it gets. There was a ruthlessly capitalistic logic to this in the arcade days,but the Mega Man series has never been coin-operated (with a few obscure exceptions). It hasnevermade sense that, often, the best strategy is to voluntarily leap to your death over and over to force a Game Over, just to restart with a full weapon meter as an alternative to the tedium of refilling it manually or facing the boss without it. What is the explanation for this meter continuity in the first place? Are we supposed to think Mega Man is repeatedly exploding and materializing but he can’t materialize a few extra shots from his bubble gun while he’s at it? There’s a multi-faceted idiocy to this whole system.

Rush

Capcom ought to take a long, hard look at Rush, Mega Man’s transforming robot dog companion. It’s hard to believe the same guy who invented a fully autonomous solar-powered robot boy couldn’t design a dog-shaped spring that runs on renewable energy. Special weapons are one thing, but why does Rush have an exhaustible meter? He’s a fucking spring. It makes no sense as a narrative detail nor as an element of game design. What exactly are the designers trying to limit? Your ability to spam high jumps? The logistics of the Rush Coil already do that; you have to set him up like a lawn ornament and he peaces out after a single bound. He’s unspammable, even with a full bar. To begin with, there are rarely that many useful opportunities to use the Rush Coil within a single stage, and energy power-ups are infinite as long as you’re willing to endure the chore of finding them, so it’s not as though the game is challenging you to budget your resources—it’s just discouraging you from searching for those meaningful jump opportunities in the first place. It’s driving you to Google.

Bosses

The Robot Masters have always received special star treatment in the Mega Man games but rarely been very interesting as boss fights. You know the deal: dodge the dizzying hail of projectiles in an empty square room while desperately scrambling to land enough hits with the weakness weapon before you die. Considering all the fanfare these bosses get (mug shot, intro screen, and now reveal trailers), most of them feel kind of interchangeable. Most of them have nearly identical silhouettes and shoot functionally redundant projectiles in superficially different shapes. Every gun is a Lucky Charms marshmallow.

The boss fights actually do seem a little more interesting in Mega Man 11—Block Man in particular stands out with his mid-fight transformation into a hulking colossus. I’d hoped to see more of this in future Mega Mans—fights that evolve and really set each Robot Master apart as a distinct embodiment of its corresponding motif—so maybe they’re onto something this time. Still, it’s a little ridiculous that this game has yet another fire boss, electricity boss, cold boss, and bomb boss. Why are we still here?

Before the mob comes for me, I want to stress that there’s always been lots to love about Mega Man, and I’m glad Capcom is investing in the IP again. I just hope this is the start of a long-term effort to reevaluate and improve the series, not another short-sighted extension of a tired status quo.

#mega man 11 #mm11 #capcom #games #video games #videogames #gaming #reflections #demo #games writing #criticism #rant

[mosylufanfic]

Sidekicks

Killervibe Fanfic Week! Monday June 18th: Role Reversal

@killervibedaily

I thought this was a pretty fun prompt, and of course, the first thing I thought of was Cisco Frost and Caitlin Vibe. That would have been pretty neat! But then I started to wonder what they would be like with swapped personalities, and that notion wouldn't let go. So here you go.

Sidekicks

Francisco Ramon had pulled his hair back in a ponytail at the nape of his neck, one so secure that the wind whipping down the runway didn't budge a single strand. Barry wondered if it gave him a headache. Maybe that was why he had such a dour expression.

He shoved his thick-framed glasses up his nose and studied Barry like he was a bug. "We've theorized that you were moving so fast, it only appeared that the world was slowing down. That's what we're testing now." He glanced back at the other two people from Star Labs. "Dr. Wells will be monitoring your energy output, and Dr. Snow, your vitals."

"And what do you do?"

"I build the equipment, of course," the other man said. He held up a black circle with a lightning bolt on it. "This is a two-way headset that I've modified, with a camera attached. It's designed to combat battlefield impulse noise."

"Or a sonic boom," Barry suggested.

"The speed of sound is three hundred and thirty-two miles per second. It's unlikely."

Okay. Fine then. He took the black circle in his fingers and studied it. "I like the lightning bolt."

Francisco rolled his eyes and took it back. "That was Caitlin."

Caitlin herself strolled up. The wind tossed her pink-streaked braids and set her bright blue dress and man's trench coat flapping  She grinned at Francisco. "Are you complaining about my lightning bolt again?"

"It's pointless," he grumbled, yanking the helmet off Barry's head.

"It keeps it from being boring!"

"It doesn't need to be exciting, it just needs to work."

"It can work and not be boring," Caitlin said, pulling a gummy bear out of her pocket and popping it in her mouth. The three or four charm bracelets tangled around her wrist jingled.

He grumbled under his breath and took the helmet back to the table where Dr. Wells sat.

Caitlin rolled her eyes and muttered, "Stick in the mud." She turned back to Barry. "Okay. Let's get you synced up and see what you can do."

"You're a doctor?" he said doubtfully as she jabbed at the various sensors on his chest with purple-glittered nails, then tapped her tablet. "Like, really a doctor?"

"Nah, you got me. I printed my M.D. from the Internet." She ate another gummy bear. A stray sunbeam bounced off the pink sequined heart on the front of her dress and momentarily blinded him.

"Wait, what?"

"Yes. I'm a real doctor. School loans and everything."

"It's just that you're not - uh."

"Very professional-looking?" She flicked the pink-striped braid back over her shoulder. "Oh, I know. And I did spend a lot of years conforming. Pencil skirts, little pearl studs - " She shook her head so that the mess of metal that swung from her earlobes jingled cheerfully. "- neutral nail polish, that kind of thing."

"What happened?"

"The same thing that happened to you." She made a note in her tablet. "My once-promising career in bioengineering is over, my boss is in a wheelchair for life, and the explosion that put you in a coma also killed my fiancé. So, I figure I've got fuck-all to lose by wearing leggings with cats on them to work."

He glanced down automatically. Not only did her leggings have cats, they were also floating in outer space.

He looked back up, and she smirked at him. "Cute, huh?"

He smirked back. "Bet your co-worker over there loves that."

But instead of agreeing, she said, "Look, Cisco's kind of a stiff. I'll give you that. But he's the most brilliant, inventive mechanical genius you'll ever meet. Ever. And he's there when you need him."

Probably with a judgemental frown. Or a lecture. "Cisco? He said to call him Francisco."

"Yeah, you should probably stick to that for awhile, until he decides to let you in."

Barry looked over his shoulder at the scowling young man, working on his machines. "I'm not holding my breath."

"Give him some time. Let him warm up to you. In the meantime, don't push it."

Barry decided it was unlikely. "Do you think I can break the speed of sound?" It felt possible to him, with the lightning crackling in his blood.

"Tell you what,"  she called over her shoulder, already on the way back to the RV. Her heavy Doc Martens splashed through a puddle. "If you do, I'll give you a gummy bear."

When Cisco drifted into her lab, she didn't look up as she asked, "So, what do you think of our speedster?"

"So he runs fast. It's scientifically intriguing, but functionally pointless."

"You're just annoyed because the blowback landed you on your ass out there." She lifted her head and grinned at him.

He scowled at her in a way that as good as admitted she was right. "Really. What can he do with that ability?"

"What can't he do with it? He makes Usain Bolt look like a grandma in a walker. Fastest man alive!"

"This is real life, not a comic book."

"You could fool me, lately." She looked up. From this angle, she could see one of the "teeth" that curved over Star Labs, broken in half by the explosion nine months ago. "Maybe a superhero would have stopped this from happening."

She wanted to bite her own tongue off when she heard the words slip out. Wincing, she turned to look at Cisco.

He'd taken off his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose. "We didn't need a superhero. We needed better engineers."

He always looked younger with his glasses off. She suspected that was why he wore them, and why he tied his hair back so tightly.

"Hey," she said. "How many times do I have to say it? That - " She gestured up at the broken tooth. " - was not your fault. Ronnie was not your fault."

"If I'd done better - if I'd made a different choice - you would still have him."

"Maybe," she acknowledged. "And if I hadn't asked him to come along, he wouldn't have been here that night. And if his mom had never flirted with his dad at the roller rink in high school, he wouldn't have been born."

Cisco gave her a long suffering look.  

"My point is, you can what-if until the cows come home, but this is the world we live in." She bit her lip, thinking of the engagement ring entombed in her jewelry box at home. But that hurt, a knot right under her breastbone, and she said, "Speaking of that, do you ever wonder about those cows? I mean, what are they doing out so late? Probably up to no good. Bovine delinquents."

Cisco's mouth quirked up at the corner, and she felt a flush of triumph. She didn't get a smile out of him very often. "Your shoe's untied," he said.

She glanced down. "Oh, yeah. I'll get them in a moment. I'm almost done with these samples." She didn't want to have to put on a new pair of sterile gloves after she'd handled her dirty shoelaces.

He nudged her wheely office chair over to her. "Put your foot up."

She raised her brows, but propped her foot on the seat. He leaned over, took her loose laces, and retied them. Double-knotted, of course. He gave the toe of her boot a quick pat and straightened up. "There," he said. "I imagine it's not very sterile to trip over your shoelaces and faceplant into your lab bench, either."

She settled her foot back on the floor, feeling a flush creep up her face. "Not particularly, no." She focused on her samples again.

When she had them all prepped and set up for the morning, she looked over at him. He was fiddling with her shelf of beakers, turning them all so they faced the same direction. "Hey," she said. "What are you thinking about?"

"Air friction," he said, brows drawn together in concentration.

Her hands paused. What had she thought he was going to say? I'm thinking about the way I look at you sometimes, when you don't think I notice? I'm wondering if you ever look at me that way?

(The answer was yes, but it wasn't an answer she was ready to give. Not yet.)

"Of course you are," she said, stripping her gloves off and chucking them toward the trash can. She started to put everything else away. "What else?"

"We clocked him at 220 miles per hour today. He only ran about a mile, but what if he does longer runs? The effect of air friction would be considerable."

Caitlin considered it as she hoisted herself up on the counter. She leaned over and pulled open a drawer, plucking out a mini Krackel bar. "His skin should be okay - he's got that healing factor - but his clothes, his shoes? Yeah, they'd be pretty thrashed, I'd say."

She unwrapped the chocolate bar and bit in half. With her mouth full, she rummaged through the drawer for a moment and then held out a piece of candy. Dark chocolate with almonds.

He started to tell her he didn't snack between meals. She knew it, she could hear the words practically gathering up on his tongue. But he took the candy bar and unwrapped it carefully, biting off the corner.

The only reason she didn't throw all the dark-chocolate-with-almonds away when she filled her chocolate stash was because they were his favorite. Weirdo, she thought fondly.

"Since you brought it up," she prompted. "I'm guessing you got something in mind for air friction?"

"I have been working on that heat-resistant material."

"The fire suit?"

"The fire suit."

She played with the wrapper from her candy bar. "Just for proof of concept, of course," she said innocently.

He shot her a look from behind his glasses, but before he could say anything, the door to the cortex thumped open and Barry's voice called out, "Guys? Hey, where is everyone?"

She called out, "In here!" and Barry appeared with two large boxes in his arms.

"Hey," he said. "You guys got some time to talk?"

"I was about to go home for the night," Cisco said coolly.

"But we can make the time," Caitlin said, giving him a warning look. He pushed his glasses up in a gesture of annoyance, but didn't argue.

"Great," Barry said, thumping both boxes down on the table and pulling files out. "I've been going over unsolved cases from the past nine months. There's been a sharp increase in unexplained deaths and missing people. . . ."

Caitlin listened as Barry explained what he wanted to do. Superhero, she thought. He wants to be a real-life superhero.

She looked across the table at Cisco. He had his arms folded tightly, his hands gripping the opposite elbows. His face looked blank as he stared down at the files scattered over the table. Unexplained deaths, missing persons, general weirdness. They all knew that Central City had gotten much weirder lately.

If all of them, or even some of them, were due to the particle accelerator explosion, then that was even more that they needed to atone for. But if Barry's idea panned out, maybe they could actually start on that instead of marinating in regrets.

"I can't do it without you," Barry finished up. He glanced at Caitlin, and then looked longer at Cisco.

When Cisco lifted his head, though, it wasn't to return Barry's gaze. Instead, he looked up at her. Anybody who didn't know him wouldn't have been able to see the mix of emotions bubbling in his eyes. Uncertainty, hope, wariness, excitement.

She knew him.

She tilted her head and raised her brows. He let out a little sigh and pressed his lips together. She smiled at him.

"If we're going to do this," he said slowly, as if the words were being pulled out of him, "I have something that might help."

FINIS

#Cisco Ramon #Caitlin Snow #killervibe #killervibefanficweek #mosylufanfic lives up to her damn name #fanfiction #writing this made me think a lot about defense mechanisms #self-protection via quirks and tics #and how a lot of people just see that and not the feelings underneath #anyway #happy killervibe fanfic week y'all! #the flash

[sparda3g]

My Hero Academia Chapter 183 Review

Okay. I can definitely say this is the end of the arc; I’m 100% certain. Kohei decided to go through a montage or quick run of other events from the Festival. It’s probably for the best in my opinion due to how they don’t hold that much prestige to focus thoroughly. That being said the chapter did end on a nice note for an overall enjoyable arc.

If there’s one event that I would have like to stretch out more, it would be Class-B play, which is practically “I understood that reference” moment. I know not everyone is into pop-culture references, but I thought this was amusing for what it is. It would be a joy if it lasted more than a page, showcasing the ridiculous amount of storyboarding. Regardless, it was a funny moment.

One thing I remember from the anime is smartphone’s existence makes communication easier in today’s world for better or worse. It seems that Kohei has to keep Deku irresponsible when it comes to it. That way the plot or battle would ensue solo, though it can get redundant. Breaking the phone made sense in the Training Camp, but anything more would be head scratching.

I thought Deku would get some punishment for the action earlier, including how he should have rely on other heroes. The sad part is this moment would have been more effective if Deku purposely left others unnoticed to keep the Festival going. It would have been a good life lesson for him and the fans; instead, it only comes off a lesson learn that he’s already aware of. Remember, he only lie about the severe of his battle against Gentle, so it’s not like he purposely ignored the concept of heroes.

In any case, he is allowed to roam free and have fun with his friends, because Hound Dog is a good boy. Granted, he knocks him away, but you know, dogs can be rough. I’m going to save Eri’s part later, so in the meantime, let’s cover the other aspect of the Festival. Class-A gets praised for the performance. I would say  it’s only because they have main characters, but they were the opening act, so this scene is appropriate to exploit. It may be a bit too much, but it’s the main class.

I really don’t think it was needed to have committees from the Departments to be haters only to be convinced otherwise. It didn’t have much ground to begin with, so it didn’t hold much importance to the overall. All I remember is Bakugou saw those guys and never really reflect more until last chapter. Sure, it gave them a reason to go hard, but it can be said with any reason. Oh well. At least it was settled, so that’s that.

The Beauty Contest is shown and for what it is, it’s fine. I didn’t mind too much since this chapter is largely a relax one despite not really caring much of these events. Again, that Class-B play should have gone on a bit longer. At least we got to see what made Kenranzaki stand out; that’s probably understatement. She brings in some vehicle that could be in the next Twisted Metal game with her face on it. That would also include those eyelashes. It’s actually a funny visual with how it looks like it has fangs. It even pops out with a small body; how she won before is a mystery.

It’s predictable that Nejire is going to win this content, especially how this is her last year. I assume she lost last time because she tried to be flashy like Kenranzaki; dare I say there is no try. Instead, she goes out there and be herself, do what she does best, and her quirk is good for her quality to dance like a fairy. Sadly, the visual only shows her in the midair and that’s it. I guess Kohei is still exhausted from the last chapter in which we will get to that shortly. But really, it is him getting done quick as possible. Later, she is voted as the best, so good for her. It must be a bone thrown of Kohei because well, you know.

The scene enters a montage of everyone enjoying the Festival. I thought it was neat and probably for the best to get the narrative across of the students having fun. I would have like more of it, but when the series got mixed with the training and battle portion, one may get sacrificed in the importance level. I don’t recall at this moment on which series balanced it well, but I thought this could have done so. That said there are points that Kohei did good on.

The moments with Eri is charming and although you could argue that her development should have been taken care of last time, this was a fitting time as well. It’s nice of her to gain a human personality, let alone a child’s, so she can actually express her opinion with joy. Kohei did have two routes to choose and he chose the good side. It’s rewarding of its kind and I like it.

Deku did his job, so good for him on that regard. I like how he even got her an apple candy, so she can taste the sweetness. It’s a good end for her and although I don’t know when we will see her again, I wouldn’t mind. She obviously has an ability that can be helpful, so we will most likely see her again. It probably take time since controlling quirk is different than just gaining humanity. Other than that, I enjoyed this.

The other part that I like is the ending for Gentle and La Brava, mainly the former. I once had a feeling that Gentle being the main target for development, let alone sympathetic backstory, would mean something more. He too learned something from his confrontation and probably the only villain that has good morale than being completely evil. Because of his timing and lesson learned, the Gorilla cop, which is comical, let him know that he should be grateful that he is a rare one that actually got something out of it rather than laze around.

I like it because it shows how his character was the main focus in development term, since others kind of just get it on the spot without any action. Jirou’s development gets told about music and off she goes; somewhat undermined later on. Eri is a child, so it’s fine. Gentle gets the shine because he wasn’t a real villain, just a sympathetic guy. It’s no wonder he received it this way. Plus it helps the concept of the Festival bringing a change in a person for the better.

There’s a suggestive tone that maybe Gentle and La Brava will not go to jail or at least sentenced for a long time. Cops were impressed with La Brava’s hacking skill, but she only does it for her darling, Gentle. Maybe having both of them work for them is an ideal, like a service community. If so, that would make the development more reasonable and not just a one-time moment because jail and all. Granted, we will lose the villainy portrayal, but there are other points that can shine their characteristic. I guess we have to wait and see.

The visual is good though pretty simplistic this time around. It is better than sketches no doubt, though the amount of white background is plenty enough to make it feel a bit hollow. It’s kind of ironic if you ask me. The only time it was detailed was the beginning with the play. The character design is simpler like no need for shades or anything, though that’s fine with slice of life being the focus. I hope Kohei is healthy but I am probably overthinking.

This was a nice end chapter for the arc. It covered the last remaining pieces and it ended nicely for certain characters. While I don’t think it rejuvenated my attachment greatly like during the current run of the anime, this was meant to be relaxing. If the next arc is a serious one, I hope the joy of it will come alive like before. With this arc ended, it’s only matter of time to see what’s next.

#my hero academia #boku no hero academia #chapter 183 #review

[themoneybuff-blog]

My experience with the KonMari method (and the life-changing magic of tidying up)

Because I'm a money nerd and a comics nerd, one of my favorite things is when these two obsessions come together in the form of (drom roll, please): financial graphic novels! You might think that's a niche I just invented, but you'd be wrong. I'll admit that financial graphic novels aren't common, but they are out there. I've written before about the comics adaptation of Studs Terkel's Working, for instance. But I also own comic book versions of Think and Grow Rich, The Long Tail, The Alchemist, and Robert Caldini's Influence. My dream project? Collaborating with an artist to create a visual version of my A Brief Guide to Financial Freedom. Imagine how happy I was last week when I stumbled upon The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up, the graphic-novel adaptation of Marie Kondo's hugely popular (and hugely awesome) book on cleaning and organization. I loved The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up when it first came out; I love the comics version even better.

In case you've been living under a rock, Kondo's thesis is that you should only own things that spark joy in your life. Naturally, not everything can spark joy. (Does anyone really get pleasure from their toothbrush or their coat hangers?) But to the extent possible, you should strive to only possess things that give you pleasure. Let's take a quick look at the KonMari method and why it's proved to be popular with so many people (including me). The KonMari Method Marie Kondo is obsessed. She's a clean freak. Ever since she was a little girl, her passion has been cleaning and organizing. She loves to de-clutter. And because she's Japanese, her obsession is tinged with elegance and beauty. Here's a taste: An avid fan of home and lifestyle magazines since kindergarten, I would read a feature on how to put things away and have to try out each suggestion immediately. I made drawers out of tissue boxes and broke my piggybank to purchase nifty storage items. In junior high on my way home from school, I would drop in at a DIY store or browse at a magazine stand to check out the latest products. As I say, she's obsessed. In fact, some of her anecdotes are almost alarming.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up is a fun book, but its core concepts could easily be conveyed in a magazine article or a blog post (like this one). In fact, the concept is better conveyed in a graphic novel than in a regular book! (Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks so. The book gets high marks on Amazon, but the graphic novel has a perfect five-star rating.) Just as I believe money management is a psychological issue rather than a logical one, so Kondo feels about cleaning. Success in tidying depends 90 percent on your mindset, she writes. It's not enough for a space to be tidy. Putting things away creates the illusion that the clutter problem has been solved, she writes. But storage is not the answer. The problem persists so long as you have too much Stuff. Kondo claims the real key is to discard as much as possible.

Here are the key components of the Konmari method: Start by visualizing your ideal lifestyle. Think about how you really want to live. What would your home look like? What kind of life would you lead there? (This is similar to how I ask people to think about their purpose in life before setting financial goals.)Tidy in one large push rather than a little at a time. Gradual tidying doesn't solve anything. When you clean in one fell swoop, it's like hitting the reset switch on life.Start by discarding, all at once, intensely and completely. Do not even think of putting your things away until you have finished the process of discarding, Kondo admonishes. If you start putting things away before you've finished purging, you run the risk of getting distracted. Plus, it's only after you've pared down your possessions that you can decide how to best store them in your space.Keep only those things that spark joy. This is the key to Kondo's philosophy. She says that we ought only own things that make us happy. Most advice on de-cluttering focuses on whether items are used or useful. But Kondo argues that this sort of thinking leads us to choose what to get rid of rather than what to keep, and that's backward. She wants readers to handle every item and ask, Does this spark joy? She writes: Keep only those things that speak to your heart. Then take the plunge and discard all the rest. Sounds lame, right? In reality, the advice is surprisingly effective.Tidy by category, not by location. Tidying by location is a fatal mistake, writes Kondo. Instead of cleaning one drawer or one room at a time, instead tackle one type of item at a time. She even recommends a specific order. The best sequence is this: clothes first, then books, papers, komono (miscellany), and lastly, mementosSticking to this sequence sharpens our intuitive sense of what items spark joy inside us.Don't let your family participate. Tidy on your own. Don't consult with your partner, your parents, or your children. Doing so will only cloud things. Work on your own.Once you've finished discarding things and by this, she means selling them, donating them, giving them away, or putting them in the trash only then is it okay to store them. Even then, Kondo aims for joy. She wants readers to store your things to make your life shine. Follow the old adage, A place for everything, and everything in its place. That may mean changing some of your habits. In particular, Kondo recommends storing things standing upright rather than flat whenever possible.Forget about flow planning and frequency of use. Kondo says that most organizational systems are based around how often things are used or how convenient it is to retrieve them. This is a mistake. If you need something, you'll find it and pull it out. It's much more important to make things easy to put away. She writes: Clutter is caused by a failure to return things to where they belong. Therefore, storage should reduce the effort needed to put things away, not the effort to get them out.Eliminate visual clutter. I've always admired the Japanese aesthetic, and a large part of that is how clean everything is. No surprise then that Kondo applies this ideal to de-cluttering. Her advice: By eliminating excess visual information that doesn't inspire joy, you can make your space much more peaceful and comfortable. Only display belongings you appreciate. Don't clutter your shelves and floorspace with knick knacks and notes and piles and so on. Keep things neat and clean. Perhaps that all seems overwhelming. It's not or it shouldn't be. It all boils down to this: Start by discarding. Keep only those things that spark joy. Work first with clothes, then books, papers, miscellaneous, and lastly, mementos. After purging, organize your space for maximum efficiency (and minimal visual clutter). Do this all at once rather than incrementally. You've finished the process when everything is in its place.

Putting Theory into Practice So, how effective is the KonMari method? From my experience, it's awesome. Seriously. When I stick to it, my life is less cluttered and my mind is freer. In January 2015, I spent an entire weekend applying the Konmari method to my belongings. The results were amazing! After three days of solid work, my Stuff was organized in a neat, efficient manner. I'd managed to get rid of (almost) anything that didn't spark joy. The best part was that I've managed to maintain most of this orderliness. Most of it. Last weekend, after reading the graphic novel version of the Konmari method, I decided to make another pass at my Stuff. I spent my Saturday applying Kondo's ideas to my clothes closet and my dresser drawers. It took me three hours, but after I was finished I'd eliminated a couple boxes of clothes and drastically reduced the space I needed to store the stuff I kept. I'm particularly pleased with how much I can fit into my dresser drawers after re-familiarizing myself with the best way to fold shirts, socks, and gasp! underwear. (I've always mocked people who fold their underwear. I'm one of those folks now.) Look at this beautiful image:

I used to store my t-shirts in two messy, mounded drawers (one for cotton, one for wool). Now all of my t-shirts fit into a single drawer and it's easy to tell what's what. Similarly, my sock and underwear drawers used to be disasters. Now it's quick and easy to find what I want.

It does take a bit more time to fold things properly, but I'm okay with that. Actually, I think it's kind of fun to fold my clothes into tiny, tidy packages. After sorting my clothes on Saturday, I spent four hours discarding and organizing books on Sunday. Then I moved on to records and DVDs and compact discs. When I'd finished, I'd packed my Mini Cooper with stuff to sell and donate. This coming weekend, I'm going to apply the Konmari method to my writing studio. It may sound nerdy, but I'm looking forward to it! Conclusion Long-time readers know that I've been on a decade-long quest to combat clutter. Back when I was a spendthrift, I bought a lot of Stuff. When Kris and I were together, our house and garage and workshop were packed to the gills with Stuff. Even while we were married, I started the process of purging. Now, after having traveled extensively with nothing more than a backpack and after having spent fifteen months exploring the U.S. by RV I'm even more motivated to get rid of the things I no longer want or need. It seems like Kim and I are constantly purging. The KonMari method is an excellent tool (or system, if you prefer) to help combat clutter. I'm a fan. I liked it when I first tried it in January 2015. I like it even more now. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up isn't for everyone. If you're naturally clean and tidy, there's nothing new here. If Kondo's keep things that spark joy message causes you to roll your eyes, you won't have patience for this book. But I think that most folks could profit from putting the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing into practice.

Author: J.D. Roth In 2006, J.D. founded Get Rich Slowly to document his quest to get out of debt. Over time, he learned how to save and how to invest. Today, he's managed to reach early retirement! He wants to help you master your money and your life. No scams. No gimmicks. Just smart money advice to help you reach your goals. https://www.getrichslowly.org/konmari-method/

[themoneybuff-blog]

My experience with the KonMari method (and the life-changing magic of tidying up)

Because I'm a money nerd and a comics nerd, one of my favorite things is when these two obsessions come together in the form of (drom roll, please): financial graphic novels! You might think that's a niche I just invented, but you'd be wrong. I'll admit that financial graphic novels aren't common, but they are out there. I've written before about the comics adaptation of Studs Terkel's Working, for instance. But I also own comic book versions of Think and Grow Rich, The Long Tail, The Alchemist, and Robert Caldini's Influence. My dream project? Collaborating with an artist to create a visual version of my A Brief Guide to Financial Freedom. Imagine how happy I was last week when I stumbled upon The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up, the graphic-novel adaptation of Marie Kondo's hugely popular (and hugely awesome) book on cleaning and organization. I loved The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up when it first came out; I love the comics version even better.

In case you've been living under a rock, Kondo's thesis is that you should only own things that spark joy in your life. Naturally, not everything can spark joy. (Does anyone really get pleasure from their toothbrush or their coat hangers?) But to the extent possible, you should strive to only possess things that give you pleasure. Let's take a quick look at the KonMari method and why it's proved to be popular with so many people (including me). The KonMari Method Marie Kondo is obsessed. She's a clean freak. Ever since she was a little girl, her passion has been cleaning and organizing. She loves to de-clutter. And because she's Japanese, her obsession is tinged with elegance and beauty. Here's a taste: An avid fan of home and lifestyle magazines since kindergarten, I would read a feature on how to put things away and have to try out each suggestion immediately. I made drawers out of tissue boxes and broke my piggybank to purchase nifty storage items. In junior high on my way home from school, I would drop in at a DIY store or browse at a magazine stand to check out the latest products. As I say, she's obsessed. In fact, some of her anecdotes are almost alarming.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up is a fun book, but its core concepts could easily be conveyed in a magazine article or a blog post (like this one). In fact, the concept is better conveyed in a graphic novel than in a regular book! (Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks so. The book gets high marks on Amazon, but the graphic novel has a perfect five-star rating.) Just as I believe money management is a psychological issue rather than a logical one, so Kondo feels about cleaning. Success in tidying depends 90 percent on your mindset, she writes. It's not enough for a space to be tidy. Putting things away creates the illusion that the clutter problem has been solved, she writes. But storage is not the answer. The problem persists so long as you have too much Stuff. Kondo claims the real key is to discard as much as possible.

Here are the key components of the Konmari method: Start by visualizing your ideal lifestyle. Think about how you really want to live. What would your home look like? What kind of life would you lead there? (This is similar to how I ask people to think about their purpose in life before setting financial goals.)Tidy in one large push rather than a little at a time. Gradual tidying doesn't solve anything. When you clean in one fell swoop, it's like hitting the reset switch on life.Start by discarding, all at once, intensely and completely. Do not even think of putting your things away until you have finished the process of discarding, Kondo admonishes. If you start putting things away before you've finished purging, you run the risk of getting distracted. Plus, it's only after you've pared down your possessions that you can decide how to best store them in your space.Keep only those things that spark joy. This is the key to Kondo's philosophy. She says that we ought only own things that make us happy. Most advice on de-cluttering focuses on whether items are used or useful. But Kondo argues that this sort of thinking leads us to choose what to get rid of rather than what to keep, and that's backward. She wants readers to handle every item and ask, Does this spark joy? She writes: Keep only those things that speak to your heart. Then take the plunge and discard all the rest. Sounds lame, right? In reality, the advice is surprisingly effective.Tidy by category, not by location. Tidying by location is a fatal mistake, writes Kondo. Instead of cleaning one drawer or one room at a time, instead tackle one type of item at a time. She even recommends a specific order. The best sequence is this: clothes first, then books, papers, komono (miscellany), and lastly, mementosSticking to this sequence sharpens our intuitive sense of what items spark joy inside us.Don't let your family participate. Tidy on your own. Don't consult with your partner, your parents, or your children. Doing so will only cloud things. Work on your own.Once you've finished discarding things and by this, she means selling them, donating them, giving them away, or putting them in the trash only then is it okay to store them. Even then, Kondo aims for joy. She wants readers to store your things to make your life shine. Follow the old adage, A place for everything, and everything in its place. That may mean changing some of your habits. In particular, Kondo recommends storing things standing upright rather than flat whenever possible.Forget about flow planning and frequency of use. Kondo says that most organizational systems are based around how often things are used or how convenient it is to retrieve them. This is a mistake. If you need something, you'll find it and pull it out. It's much more important to make things easy to put away. She writes: Clutter is caused by a failure to return things to where they belong. Therefore, storage should reduce the effort needed to put things away, not the effort to get them out.Eliminate visual clutter. I've always admired the Japanese aesthetic, and a large part of that is how clean everything is. No surprise then that Kondo applies this ideal to de-cluttering. Her advice: By eliminating excess visual information that doesn't inspire joy, you can make your space much more peaceful and comfortable. Only display belongings you appreciate. Don't clutter your shelves and floorspace with knick knacks and notes and piles and so on. Keep things neat and clean. Perhaps that all seems overwhelming. It's not or it shouldn't be. It all boils down to this: Start by discarding. Keep only those things that spark joy. Work first with clothes, then books, papers, miscellaneous, and lastly, mementos. After purging, organize your space for maximum efficiency (and minimal visual clutter). Do this all at once rather than incrementally. You've finished the process when everything is in its place.

Putting Theory into Practice So, how effective is the KonMari method? From my experience, it's awesome. Seriously. When I stick to it, my life is less cluttered and my mind is freer. In January 2015, I spent an entire weekend applying the Konmari method to my belongings. The results were amazing! After three days of solid work, my Stuff was organized in a neat, efficient manner. I'd managed to get rid of (almost) anything that didn't spark joy. The best part was that I've managed to maintain most of this orderliness. Most of it. Last weekend, after reading the graphic novel version of the Konmari method, I decided to make another pass at my Stuff. I spent my Saturday applying Kondo's ideas to my clothes closet and my dresser drawers. It took me three hours, but after I was finished I'd eliminated a couple boxes of clothes and drastically reduced the space I needed to store the stuff I kept. I'm particularly pleased with how much I can fit into my dresser drawers after re-familiarizing myself with the best way to fold shirts, socks, and gasp! underwear. (I've always mocked people who fold their underwear. I'm one of those folks now.) Look at this beautiful image:

I used to store my t-shirts in two messy, mounded drawers (one for cotton, one for wool). Now all of my t-shirts fit into a single drawer and it's easy to tell what's what. Similarly, my sock and underwear drawers used to be disasters. Now it's quick and easy to find what I want.

It does take a bit more time to fold things properly, but I'm okay with that. Actually, I think it's kind of fun to fold my clothes into tiny, tidy packages. After sorting my clothes on Saturday, I spent four hours discarding and organizing books on Sunday. Then I moved on to records and DVDs and compact discs. When I'd finished, I'd packed my Mini Cooper with stuff to sell and donate. This coming weekend, I'm going to apply the Konmari method to my writing studio. It may sound nerdy, but I'm looking forward to it! Conclusion Long-time readers know that I've been on a decade-long quest to combat clutter. Back when I was a spendthrift, I bought a lot of Stuff. When Kris and I were together, our house and garage and workshop were packed to the gills with Stuff. Even while we were married, I started the process of purging. Now, after having traveled extensively with nothing more than a backpack and after having spent fifteen months exploring the U.S. by RV I'm even more motivated to get rid of the things I no longer want or need. It seems like Kim and I are constantly purging. The KonMari method is an excellent tool (or system, if you prefer) to help combat clutter. I'm a fan. I liked it when I first tried it in January 2015. I like it even more now. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up isn't for everyone. If you're naturally clean and tidy, there's nothing new here. If Kondo's keep things that spark joy message causes you to roll your eyes, you won't have patience for this book. But I think that most folks could profit from putting the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing into practice.

https://www.getrichslowly.org/konmari-method/