#but they design bram and the other characters so good though

[felinelord-bowbeforemepeasant]

#bungou stray dogs #ignore my typo please i was so mad at bones i didn’t check my grammar #sskk #nakajima atsushi #akutagawa ryuunosuke #shin soukoku #bsd season 5 #i hate the way bones animate the iconic akutagawa scene so much #where the smile bones damm it where it is #it supposed to make us sad damm it #it not some low quality scene it a fricking top tier scene #that was the iconic skkk scene #if anybody reading please please for tge sake of god read the manga #did i just made this so i can pour all of my anger my hatred into the way bones animate akutagawa iconic scene #yes yes i did #bones didn’t animate the scene where atsushi trying to reach akutagawa #i hate bones so much #am i gonna watch the anime again maybe #but they design bram and the other characters so good though #except fukubitch i don't like him i despise him he can die in a ditched cold and alone #AKUTAGAWA IS TRENDING ON TWITTER #AKUTAGAWA IS TRENDING #YEAH BABY #bsd #well that uhh pretty much tag #but hey it is WORTH IT BECAUSE SOMEONE DIDN'T ANIMATE MY FRICKING FAVORITE GUT WRENCHING SCENE CORRECTLY #F*CK YOU BONES #FCK YOU #YOU DIDN'T DO ANY FAIR FOR THE SKKK NATION #is they any bones hate club im gonna join

[tyrantisterror]

A Dozen Or So Great Vampire Ladies

Ok, so, on a mostly unrelated post the topic of good vampire ladies came up, and @bisexualdaikaiju suggested/challenged me to do a top 10 vampire women list. As a self-professed lover of vampire women, it felt like a challenge I couldn't back down from. But it is kind of challenging, for two kind of contradictory reasons.

First, while there are MANY female vampires in fiction, most of them feel like afterthoughts, getting far less characterization than their male counterparts, who more often than not are the star villains of the show. When these supporting lady vampires do get something to do, it's generally the same role: make their human lovers sad when they rise from the dead as a monster that has to be killed, an emotional beat that is often undercut by a lot of these vampire women not getting much characterization to endear them to us before they died. Everyone wants to have the Lucy Westerna plot beat from Dracula but they don't want to do the work that Bram did to make Lucy lovable. The lady vamps who get to step out of Lucy's shadow are rare - but that just makes them all the more wonderful.

The second problem is that, since this is an obsession of mine that few seem to share (there are lots of vampire fans, but man do the boy vamps get to hog the spotlight among them), I've done a lot of scattered thinking about it and I just know I'm bound to forget at least one excellent lady vampire character that should be here. And whittling it down to ten, and trying to rank them? That's too hard! My thoughts are too mercurial to do that reliably in a way I don't forget!

So instead here's a list of, like, a dozen or so lady vampires that I think are just fucking stellar, many of which I think break the mold of what pop culture makes us expect lady vampires to be. It is not ranked - I love all these characters more or less equally, and think it's a lot more interesting to see how they take their archetype in different directions than to figure out which one is "best" of the lot.

Carmilla Karnstein

I'm going to start with the most famous literary female vampire, Mircalla Karnstein from Carmilla. I think she might be the first vampire to have an unhealthy obsession with using anagrams of her real name as aliases, though I'm sure now that I've typed that someone will find an earlier example to school me. She's also the one who popularized the idea of lady vampires being extremely sapphic, with an arguably genuine romantic affection for her female victims. She's got well-deserved clout, basically, and like Dracula has been adapted countless times and reinterpreted in some excellent ways. My favorite screen Carmilla is Ingrid Pitt's take, which captures her fierceness, passion, and tragic nature so well.

2. Amy from Fright Night

Ok, we're having one Lucy Westerna knockoff on this list, but as Lucy knockoffs go, Amy is one of the best. It actually helps that she spends 90% of her movie as a human, because we get to know and love her so much before she turns monstrous. And once she does...

It is pants-shittingly terrifying. I will never stop raving about the vampire designs in this movie - they made their "game faces" so fucking monstrous and I feel like in a better world this would be the standard ever since, especially since they still gave the vampires pathos while making them so ghastly when they've got their feeding faces on.

3. Drusilla

Buffy the Vampire Slayer had a bunch of vampire characters, and to its credit they did a decent job of making the ladies just as distinct as the gents. Harmony and Darla could both have made this list, but my favorite was always Drusilla, who was so traumatized before she became a vampire that it kind of overwhelms the demon spirit inside her. Like, bare minimum thing to make a lady vampire more interesting than 90% of other female vampires in fiction: give her at least one personality trait, preferably an interesting one, outside of being a vampire. Drusilla's fun, and she survives the entire series after dumping her boyfriend to be a single female vampire. Good for her.

4. Ruby from Scary Godmother

Ok look I am a fake Scary Godmother fan but kudos to the artist of the books for making a lady vampire who's very clearly of the nosferatu mold and is also explicitly benign and sweet. A+ vampire lady character design. I hope it doesn't awaken anything in me.

5. Nadja

What We Do in the Shadows is excellent at finding new takes on vampires in general - it even made me actually like Psychic Vampires as a concept, a feat I thought was impossible - but goddamn do I love Nadja specifically. She's got a distinct personality as vampire ladies go, being very confident and self-assured while also being a complete fucking goober (it is a comedy, after all). She's perfectly capable of being terrifying AND hilarious, often at the same time. A vampire girl failure, in the parlance of our site. I love her.

6. Lady Dimitrescu

I know that she's apparently only in a fourth of the game, but it's still pretty great that Resident Evil 8 decided its mascot villain - its equivalent of the Tyrant, G, Nemesis, etc. - would be the hottest woman I've ever seen a milf an 8 foot tall lady vampire. She's not dainty and willowy like most lady vamps in fiction - not an ambush hunter - but rather HUGE and capable of tossing a human around like a rag doll. She's a physical powerhouse and she looks fine feminine while doing it. Despite being an unabashed blood-sucking monster, she still has enough depth and complexity to have important relationships (like a genuine love for her "giant mass of hive mind flies" daughters), and also she gets to have an awesome transformation into a fungal vampire dragon, which is rad as hell. Also goddamn, her fashion sense is immaculate.

7. Hecate from Hellboy

"Hey, she's not a vampire! She's a goddess! That doesn't count!" Fuck you, my list, my rules. Hecate posits herself as the progenitor and mother of vampires, she drinks blood, and her main form in the comic is as a sicknasty lamia version of the iron maiden used by Elizabeth fucking Bathory, if she doesn't count as a vampire, nothing should. She is the concept of a vampire amped up to maximum capacity, a major mythological figure and an awesome villain.

...also I lowkey shipped her and Hellboy when I was a teenager. They could have made it work!

8 - 12. Carmilla and her girl squad from Castlevania

I suppose I could have counted Castlevania's Carmilla as an adaptation of Miss Karnstein - they're both basted out of Styria, both sapphic, and it's clear she's meant to be an adaptation of the former, just as the Dracula of this show is meant to be a take on Bram's famous vampire. But ultimately they're VERY different characters in the grand scheme of things - Castlevania's Carmilla has none of the tenderness and vulnerability of her literary counterpart, instead being full of barely restrained fury. She is an excellent villain, complex enough to be interesting but thoroughly despicable enough to make it VERY satisfying when she bites it.

I also love her girl posse... in concept, at least. They've all got great designs and the groundwork of interesting characters, but of the the three, only Lenore, the waifish redhead, gets to do much of note. The two on the edges kind of just show up for a few scenes and then bail before the plot catches up to them, doing very little of note - though at least the big hunky one gets one of the coolest fight scenes in the whole show.

Back to Lenore though - she gets a really nice character arc, and manages to become one of the few sympathetic vampires in the series (while still doing a lot of monstrous shit - she is not a defanged vampire by any stretch). I think her death scene is one of the most moving moments in the series finale.

13. Seras Victoria

A good female vampire has at least one non-vampire part of her personality, right? Ok, so, Seras is:

the muscle in almost every scene she is, which is to say, the one absolutely beating the shit out of people while her allies run for cover

the perky henchman/morality pet of one of history's greatest monsters

the sole ray of sunshine in cast of edgy, cigar-chomping grizzled mercnaries and antiheroes she's been pressganged into fighting alongside

the victim of some HIDEOUS trauma even before her vampirization

the protege of a wise master who gets a full hero's journey arc, taking up his mantle at the end of the series

Like, I love her. She's the secret protagonist of Hellsing. She's got layers like an onion. The scene where she killed Zora Blitz reminded me why I love anime.

(yeah it's the TFS version fuck you)

14. Youko Shiragami

My Monster Secret is not a horror manga. It is a romantic comedy about a bunch of idiots trying to keep painfully obvious secrets hidden and succeeding only because almost everyone around them is as dumb as they are, just in very different ways. It is a manga where an entire chapter can be summarized as "all the characters race to get the last McRib, using their various supernatural abilities to try and cheat their way to the front of the pack." It is one of the funniest and most heart-warming stories I have ever read, one of my favorite romances of all time, and an excellent piece of long form story-telling.

One of the two main characters is Youko Shiragami, a vampire girl who can't let anyone know she's a vampire or else her dad will pull her out of school. She desperately wants to have a normal life with friends and, like, school shenanigans, but her fear of people uncovering her secret and hating her is so immense that she's been isolating herself from everyone, accidentally torturing herself by being close to what she wants but unable to actually have it.

At least, until Kuromine, the other main character of the story, discovers her secret while trying to ask her out on a date. He ends up promising to keep her secret, and the two of them form a real friendship that blossoms into a very sweet romance, where Youko gets to display all her incongruous personality traits that go against what you'd expect of vampires - namely, that she's kind of a ditz, with an unrefined style of speech and a complete inability to be suave and seductive. She's a sweet, flaky goofball with a big heart, who just happens to drink blood and tan really quickly in the sunlight. There is no other vampire like her, and the world is richer for her being in it.

15. Marceline, the Vampire Queen

This list isn't ranked, but if it was, I'd put Marceline at the top. I think she is not only the most unique and deeply characterized lady vampire in fiction, but ranks right up there with Dracula in how she redefines the idea of what a vampire can be. Like, look at the forms she takes!

There are DOZENS of different monstrous shapes Marceline takes during Adventure Time's 9+ seasons of television, and any one of them would be a superb and memorable vampire on its own. And she's ALL of them. Just on a design standpoint, she is a standout. I think only Dracula himself could compete.

But she also explores what the concept of what a vampire is in ways no other vampire in fiction can, in part because of the unique nature of Adventure Time's setting. In a world where humans are an extreme minority and most people are weird monsters, a vampire isn't that odd, so we get to explore what being a vampire means divorced from the comparison to "normal" human beings. There's the expected tragedy to Marceline, of course - she's a 16 year old who has been stuck in that adolescent state for hundreds of years, and much of her character arc over the show (including the magnificent vampire-centric storyline, "Stakes") focuses on the horror of being stuck in that transitional state, not quite a child but not quite an adult. Marceline struggles to mature, to understand herself and others, and her vampirism both keeps her distant from reaching those goals but also gives her a lot of time to figure out how to approach them when the opportunity arirves. Marceline goes from one of the most immature and selfish characters in the show to perhaps the most emotionally intelligent, blossoming into a sensitive and thoughtful person she could never have been without first becoming a creature that seems so inherently opposed to ever having those traits.

And she did it all in a children's show where she was rarely if ever allowed to actually drink blood - a problem the writers got around by having her suck the red color out of things, which is right up there with the Joker Venom from BTAS in terms of genius ideas spawned by children's show censorship.

Marceline is the GOAT.

#Vampire Ladies #Youtube

[jounosparticles]

Hello o/ i just finished midterm im finally free orz.How are you doing?

I want to asked what do you think about Fukuchi?like his relationship or morality anything in general.Hes such an interesting character i wish ppl talk about him more.

hello! i’m pretty good! finished a read through bsd beast today (fantastic novel btw) and will work on some writing tonight i think!

i hope your midterm went well!! feel free to tell me about it if you’d like :) i’m interested

and ty for asking about fukuchi! i have lots to say about him.

fukuchi - my opinion

first off i will preface this by saying i USED to be a fukuchi hater. he used to really piss me off but looking back it was 100% biased towards the characters he hurt and i didn’t think too much of his motives. i actually really like him now and believe he’s very underrated.

for starters, i LOVE his design. the face scars especially really tie everything together. i also like his silly moustache hehe

his role as a hunting dog was really great and i hope we see more of that—some sort of pre-DoA scenes where we see the hunting dogs work together so i can look into their dynamics more. it seems that he genuinely was a good leader and cared for his squad. he was fun and lighthearted and seemed to be kind to his subordinates.

i really hope we get some sort of scenes where we see him interacting with the other members of the DoA, flashback scenes or something. we only really seen him interact with bram. i feel he would have gotten along well with sigma, since neither of them are bad people. in contrast i want to see him interact with fyodor and nikolai for the very opposite purpose.

i somewhat sympathized with fukuchi when he was fighting atsushi and akutagawa, his view on war clearly messed him up a ton and he just appeared to have a bad approach to solving what was right. i regret to admit i think i let a lot of the general perception of fukuchi hinder my opinion on him here. i understood his motives to a degree but couldn’t like him for that (which has since changed).

i wholeheartedly believe fukuchi is a good person. he is severely traumatized from all the war he had to deal with, which altered his perception on a good approach to solving things.

assuming he is around 45 years old, he would have received the warning of the war at the age of 9. imagine being a small child and realizing you have to save millions from dying? yet throughout it all he kept a great composure and was kind to others. the scenes where he was with fukuzawa as a child showed he was a good kid despite the huge task he would need to complete. this displays immense courage.

now more onto the DoA era.

notice how he turned everyone into vampires instead of just killing them? partially this was likely to build an army, however i assume part of it was to keep people from dying. he doesn’t want any more bloodshed and did what was necessary. he never told anyone about this though, there’s a good chance bram would have been more willing to help had he been open about the plan. maybe?

the way he treated bram wasn’t great though. it would have been cool to see him talk to bram about it and they work together. of course bram didn’t really seem to care too much about humanity before meeting aya, so he may have not agreed.

fukuchi was also incredibly smart for trusting fukuzawa to do what was right. it really shows their bond and how they knew each other. i’d love to look into their dynamics more, especially the scene where fukuchi tries to convince fukuzawa to go to war since there was a ton of symbolism there.

fukuchi and jouno’s bond also intrigues me. we know he invited jouno to the hunting dogs with the goal of him joining the DoA yet jouno was too influenced by good to be able to do it. i wonder if fukuchi would have told jouno the truth in the case that he agreed to join? or did he assume jouno was willing to be a ruthless killer? id like to think that fukuchi believed jouno had the morality to keep the agency safe despite being supposed to act evil; since fukuchi didn’t actually want them dead. ill make a longer analysis about this idea soon actually since it has the little gears in my head turning.

his relationship with tachihara is also interesting to me. i haven’t thought too much into it, but i believe fukuchi said something along of being disappointed in tachihara’s "betrayal". it makes me wonder if maybe he had hoped tachihara’s morality had changed in the mafia so he would never need to face him in battle? i’ll have to reread the chapters and look into this more.

his relationship with teruko also is one that makes me quite sad. she looked heartbroken as she had to kill him. she was also the only one he told other than fukuzawa about his real plan (as far as im aware). they were definitely close.

in the end, fukuchi’s reveal of the truth and everything he had been dealing with for so long made his actions make a ton of sense. he was just a person with a huge responsibility who tried to save things as well as he could. i really wish he could have gotten closure on the world he saved (if he is truly dead). he’s a fantastic character and has a ton of depth. i only scratched the surface here. maybe i will need to make an "in defence of fukuchi" essay at some point.

#thank you for asking this i love talking about him #super underrated character #i gotta make some dynamics analysis with him. him and jouno is one i think about a lot. like i said above im gonna make a post ab it even #also one with him and tachihara. and teruko. and fukuzawa #and maybe ranpo? #idk i have a lot to say about how fukuchi gets along with others. it’s really cool #asks #bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd fukuchi #fukuchi ouchi #fukuchi #fukuchu bsd #ouchi fukuchi

[alzelao3]

Since Koby’s a vampire is he gonna have like a major design change like is he gonna be different then how he looks in canon? Sorry if my wording makes no sense !

In some ways, he will. Some of his major characteristics are gonna be the same:

-Pink hair w/ the same part/bangs

-The muscle he eventually builds up in canon

-Skin tone, but that'll realign with canon over the course of the story. Koby is pretty tan pre-ts (pre-ts skin tones my beloved) but I wrote him as pale bc he's not getting proper nutrients (esp from drinking the blood of wild birds and mangy cats.) I'm running with the idea that vampires only look unhealthy if they're sick from something or other, or not drinking human blood regularly.

Some are going to change because he's a vampire:

-Eyes. I'm going with the iridescent eyes that Bram Stoker writes Dracula with- so brown in some lighting, red in others.

-Teeth and nails: Fangs of course, but I'm toying with the idea that vampires are going to have naturally stronger and sharper teeth in general. The same goes for the nails. I may or may not make those sharper. Let me know what you think!

-Clothing: This one is established very early, as Koby has to wear long sleeves. This is going to cause his wardrobe to change significantly, but I'm trying to keep it in character. Koby's not going to be dressing like Mihawk, though I will make him more fashionable bc he deserves it. Also, I think he has pretty good fashion taste based on what I saw in Film Red.

-Hair style. I'm still working on this one, since I think it'll happen post-ts.

-Scars! I don't know how koby got his original forehead scar, and it's pretty impossible to tell what the scar is supposed to be from: in water 7, it looked like it was from a knife slash of some sort, but post-ts it's just an x. It's cute, but I was thinking of giving him something else. (I'm leaning towards a mouth scar.)

-Glasses. There's no way I'm letting him walk around with those purple ones!

And some are just personal headcanons:

-I like giving my characters moles and freckles, so he's going to have some of those.

-stretch marks! He grew pretty quickly in canon, so I imagine he'd have some.

-In the future, my boys gonna have some body hair. I've seen many interpretations of fuzzy Koby on here, and I love every single one.

Thanks for the ask Anon! Have a good rest of your day :)

#amaranth #coby one piece #my fanfiction #koby one piece

[oneticketfor]

One ticket for… ABIGAIL (2024)

Directed by. Matt-Bettinelli Olpin, Tyler Gillett

Written by. Guy Busick, Stephen Shields

Starring. Melissa Barrera, Alisha Weir, Dan Stevens, Giancarlo Esposito

Production Design by. Susie Cullen

I really like Radio Silence's work. Ready or Not (2019) was an instant classic and I couldn't see anyone else (other than Wes Craven) revitalizing the Scream franchise like they did. Now, I felt that Abigail would not be my thing after watching the trailer. That's okay! I still want to support the filmmakers and an original horror film. Also, vampires are cool as fuck. So I gave Abigail a shot!

I don't hate Abigail, nor dislike it, the film just didn't leave an impression on me. Again, that's okay! This is a good time to mention the philosophy behind this blog: you can find at least find one thing you like in every movie. I'll never review a movie I 100% hate, it's just not what I do. I love movies. I want people to go to the theatre! So, as always I'll focus on what I did love, even if it wasn't the film entirely.

The supporting cast was perfect. I enjoyed Kathryn Newton, Kevin Durand, and William Catlett way more than I thought I would. They were all hilarious, never missing a beat. Alisha Weir was a surprise! I find the "evil kid" stereotype can be hit or miss (mainly due to the writing, not the kid actors. I'll never blame the kids), but Weir brought a lot to this role. Especially to her scenes with Melissa Barrera. The two had a great, natural dynamic.

My absolute favorite part of this film was the production design by Susie Cullen. Radio Silence sure knows how to film a mansions. Or, their Director of Photography, Aaron Morton knows how to. Though, Morton did not work on Ready or Not, which also has a beautifully shot mansion. The mansion in Abigail feels like a maze- you're just as lost as the characters. I noticed that the windows, gates, doors, etc. were styled to look like teeth and open jaws, turning the mansion itself into a monster. The family crest (a dragon with it's tail wrapped around itself) was surely a direct reference to Count Dracula's crest from Bram Stoker's novel. The efforts of the design team clearly payed off.

If you love a blood-fest, this film is for you. The amount of splatter and gore is astonishing and I am here for it! Did you like the shocking yet iconic ending of Ready or Not? Than you'll have a blast with this! Literally. Radio Silence doesn't hold back, in fact they have stepped up their game, in Abigail.

A lot of people will like Abigail and I can see why. It is well acted, beautifully shot, and bloody as hell. There is a lot of fun to be had and honestly- it's just great to support the team behind this film (especially Melissa Barrera and Radio Silence). Go see Abigail this weekend, I'm curious to hear what you think!

#film blog #film review #otf: reviews #otf: horror films #horror film #abigail 2024 #melissa barrera #kathryn newton #radio silence #dan stevens

[intravention]

I. Forgot that magazines do this thing where they release issues for a month in the previous month (so the September issue chapter released today)... That's on me.

Major spoilers and a reminder my Japanese is incredibly elementary, so take everything with a handful of salt. (The unofficial scans for the chapter are already out, so this is just some fumbling between me and the Japanese language.)

So Sigma reached out to Fyodor for the information exchange. Fyodor asks him what he wants to know, to which Sigma answers, "all of your secrets." Presumably, this transfer was successful, though Sigma is now out of the game. He's unconscious, I don't think he's dead.

It's very unlikely for any of the characters to be dead so far, because there are later arcs after this whole mess that narratively would want Sigma or Dazai and Chuuya's involvement. There's the mess with the Order of the Clock Tower, and we have to get around to addressing the logistics of Sigma's existence when we start asking more questions about The Book. Also, Shirase.

Chuuya tries to land a hit on Dazai, though Fyodor tells him to stop, saying the vampirism will be nullified upon contact. So Dazai is shot in the shoulder instead. Chuuya approaches him, and puts the gun to his head. Dazai could've raised his good arm (the one not attached to an injured shoulder) to grab at Chuuya's skin, but he doesn't. Maybe to avoid provoking another shot?

He tries to talk Chuuya into his senses, saying "our fate is-" before getting cut off and shot in the head. Which. Like. If that doesn't kill him, he's not going to die.

In quick succession, he is shot in the other shoulder.

What does he means by "our fate". That is such interesting word choice, especially when you consider that the Book exists.

Chuuya's eyes almost clear up, but still not completely. The vampirism is losing hold of him.

The scanlation seems to be missing a page? Or it's not showing up for me. Fyodor, after Dazai seems to falls unconscious, says "Goodbye, Dazai." A sort of finality, don't you think?

Fukuchi has One Order! It... does something. Soliders, tanks, and whatnot, all assembled, at command. One Order has a pretty interesting design, three eyes and a mouth. It reminds me of something but I can't place what.

While all this is going on, Aya is trying to pull the sword out of Bram. We don't get to see if it works or not, but perhaps next chapter. Logically, no, unless Bram is firmly anchored to something so that he doesn't go flying with the sword. Which I don't think he is. Pretty sure Aya just set him on the ground. But Dazai broke like one bone in his leg from that fall all those chapters ago, so who knows.

Anyways. Nice chapter! Cya next time!

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #bsd spoilers #bsd chapter 109 #bsd sigma #bsd fyodor #bsd dazai #bsd chuuya #bsd aya #bsd bram #had fun reading this month's chapter!

[miss-nerd-alert]

My thoughts on Last Voyage of the Demeter:

In short, it was an excellently made film and a wonderful adaptation of one of my favorite books. I don’t normally enjoy horror movies, but I was genuinely impressed, even while scared out of my mind. This movie is an homage to not just the original story, but to previous incarnations of one of pop culture’s most iconic characters. If you’re a fan of good horror films, Bram Stoker’s original novel, or even just good movies, I highly recommend you give this one a watch.

More in-depth musings under the cut for both spoilers and mention of horror movie violence.

Dracula’s design and direction were excellent; a great blend of Nosferatu and Bela Lugosi. While the actual character design more closely resembles Nosferatu with the bald head, pointed ears, and mouthful of sharp teeth, this is by no means a near-mindless beast. The rare times you get a proper look at his face there’s a clear and obvious intelligence to him. He’s a hunter toying with his prey, and he visibly enjoys playing with his food. Dracula is well and truly inhuman, however, complete with batlike wings that are used to mimic the form and function of Bela Lugosi’s iconic cape. One particular moment that squicked me personally was when the boy Toby was locked in the cabin with him. At first you don’t even realize he’s there, since he’s curled into a ball to make himself as small as possible. But then he stands, calm and cool as you please, and the way he does so is as far from natural as you can get. It’s like watching a corpse jump up and dance. They also did a good job at selling the hunger, especially when he makes his first kill; he looks gaunt and emaciated, and acts almost desperate, like he’s faint from hunger as he lured in his prey so he can go for the kill.

I liked the character Anna quite a bit. It makes sense that he’d bring someone along with him to keep fed, especially once the characters realize the only reason he hasn’t just killed them all by now is because he needs them to manage the ship and last until they actually make it to England. Anna’s the only character who has any idea what they’re dealing with, since she grew up in the shadow of Dracula’s castle, but she doesn’t know everything. She’s not made some badass vampire hunter thanks to what she knows, but she remains a capable and proactive character regardless. Would’ve loved to get more of her thoughts on her village selling her to the monster they fear, but her hatred of Dracula himself is a good start.

Clemens was also a character I enjoyed quite a bit. I had expected him to mention racial prejudice, but it wasn’t just empty lip service like so many other films have done. The character’s experiences fueled his desire to understand the world, and his drive to not let prejudice defeat him was admirable. He was also a wonderfully gentle character, and his interactions with Anna and Toby were so genuinely sweet and heartwarming.

Liam Cunningham was a fantastic casting choice for Captain Elliot. He perfectly encapsulated the nobility of the captain from the original novel, even with as little as we see of the character in the book. Hearing the early log entries spoken verbatim in the film was a genuine delight. My only criticism comes from very late in the film, where Elliot is denied his most iconic line from the novel. We still get the spirit of it when he says he’ll steer the ship out to sea to ensure Dracula can’t escape, but hearing such a wonderful actor actually say “I am captain, and I must not leave my ship” would’ve been the most brilliant thing. I am also disappointed that they changed the context of the captain being tied to the wheel; making it Dracula showing off instead of a doomed man desperately doing what little he can to preserve his honor and soul was honestly such a downgrade, and a disservice to the character of Captain Elliot.

True to the original text, the horror is more in the buildup than in the violence itself, though there’s still plenty of the latter. Stefan Kapičić legit deserves an award for his performance in this movie, I’ve never been so scared in my life. The image of his bloodied and battered face, empty eyes staring blankly just before he attacks Clemons still haunts me, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget the terror of his scene with Toby.

#last voyage of the demeter #dracula #vlad dracula țepeș #bram stocker's dracula #dracula on a boat #movies #horror movies

[maxwell-grant]

Might I please ask whom you would pick if you were casting a version of Count Dracula for WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS? (Assuming, of course, that we're not shameless enough to cast Mr Jemaine Clement as Vlad's identical grandson who just so happened to become a much, much more famous vampire than Vlad himself ...).

Pretty much the same actors I mentioned here, on my “designing Dracula” post. I wrote a post once pitching some ideas for how the Vampires would react to Count Dracula, and since Dracula's the big elephant in the room everytime you do a vampire story that tries to take a look at the larger history of the archetype, so I assume at some point they're gonna get to addressing what Dracula is like in this world. But if I was gonna do actual Dracula appearing in WWDITS, I think the joke I'd go with, the one I think makes for the funnier outcome, is the idea that Dracula, of ALL fictional vampires, doesn't actually exist, and never has.

Even though every vampire in existence thinks he does, even though many of them are dead certain they've met Dracula. No, even the Council is not aware of this, they all are torn between those who think Dracula was real but died, and those who think he’s just biding his time. But unfortunately, it's one of the few things humans happen to be fully right about. Quite embarassing, really.

Yes, the Van Helsing bloodline exists, and yes, the non-Dracula cast of the novel does exist, there really used to be a group of Victorian train nerds who put an end to some of the biggest and nastiest vampires ever back in the 1880s, the book Dracula is a fictionalized retelling of how they met. And true to the book's infleunces, "Dracula" is really just an amalgam of several different figures merged into a single character, who ended up inspiring legions of copycats who ended up being mistaken for the real deal. 

Yes, Bram Stoker had insider knowledge of vampires thanks to a slightly scandalous affair with a certain Mr Cravensworth, which also means Laszlo's antics have indirectly gotten countless vampires killed and he never faced any consequences for it. Yes, Bela Lugosi was The Council leader for a while, vampires worldwide still bemoan his passing. Yes, Nandor had a fiercesome rivalry with Vlad the Impaler, who was not a vampire, but in fact the fiercest vampire killer of his age and a distant progenitor of the Van Helsing bloodline, I mean, who do you think discovered that a stake through the heart is an effective way to slaughter vampires? This is a fact that the vampires (sans Colin, who can’t keep secrets for shit) all collectively agree Guillermo must NEVER be informed about. You can imagine how pissed off Vlad the Impaler’s ghost would be, if he were to be aware of what his legacy turned into. 

Yes, there are a lot of dumbasses running around pretending to be Dracula, some of whom are even pretty believable. No, none of them are Dracula, the way the novel describes. Dracula really is just a name for a fictional character that all vampirekind believes to be real. Really, most monsters of this world are also fooled. The werewolves all largely hate Dracula and particularly hate him for his lording over wolves, it’s a pretty sore spot to bring up. Zombies, witches, necromancers, pretty much all characters with a foot in the supernatural also believe Dracula is real.

With, one exception.

Yeah, of course Colin Robinson, of all people, would be the one character in the entire world to really know what’s going, the only being alive who’s 100% aware of the fact that Dracula isn’t real, just because vampires are. He figured it out pretty quickly by snooping through the Council’s biographical reports on “the Impaler” and finding nothing but moth-eaten records of old Dracula plays, and just Googling stuff. He’s pretty good at that, too. 

He really doesn’t give a shit about this, but he likes to bring it up on occasion next to other vampires, who treat him like he’s the vampiric equivalent of a flat earther (which he pretends to be, also). He gets to both feed on their annoyance as well as lord over them in some small, petty capacity, like a playground kid just waiting to break the news that Santa isn’t real (which he is, but NO ONE knows what kind of being he is, and frankly that’s been a major cause of concern to vampirekind for centuries now).

OR, keeping in spirit with the movie: There was a real Dracula, an extremely powerful vampire lord who went by that name in England and fought a group of heroes and was recorded by Bram Stoker in a very popular and famous novel, who miraculously survived those events and was just biding his time until he was ready to reclaim his place as the King of all Vampires.

It was Petyr.

But then, y’know, Nick happened.

Fucking Nick.

#What We Do in the Shadows #wwdits #dracula #count dracula #taika waititi #jemaine clement #colin robinson #mark prosch

[byneddiedingo]

Nosferatu the Vampyre (Werner Herzog, 1979)

Cast: Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, Bruno Ganz, Roland Topor, Walter Ladengast, Dan van Husen, Jan Groth, Carsten Bodinus, Martje Grohmann. Screenplay: Werner Herzog, based on a novel by Bram Stoker and a film by F.W. Murnau. Cinematography: Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein. Production design: Henning von Gierke. Film editing: Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus. Music: Florian Fricke, Popol Vuh.

Werner Herzog's Nosferatu gets a little choppy in its efforts to blend both Bram Stoker's novel Dracula and F.W. Murnau's 1922 film Nosferatu. The latter was an "unofficial" version of the novel, which the producers neglected to obtain the rights to film, and it was almost suppressed. But the potency of Max Schreck's embodiment of Dracula (called "Count Orlok" in the Murnau film) remained, and it informs Klaus Kinski's makeup and manner in Herzog's version. Herzog did a lot of tinkering with the Stoker version -- Jonathan Harker's wife is Lucy, not Mina as in the novel, and Dr. Von Helsing is not the vampirologist of the book but rather an elderly scientific skeptic -- but he stayed generally faithful to it almost to the end, when he switched to the denouement of the Murnau film and then added his own shocker twist. The homage to Murnau is apparent not only in Kinski's imitation of Schreck, but also in Isabelle Adjani's performance as Lucy, which is built on silent-movie mannerisms, including effective use of her great haunted eyes. Even though it's full of images designed to shock and disgust, including a plethora of rats, Herzog's film is often quite beautiful, especially in the scenes set in the Carpathian Mountains (actually filmed in Slovakia and the Bavarian Alps) and the views of the quaint town called Wismar in the film, but actually shot in the town of Delft and several other villages in the Netherlands. The performances are all that they should be, including Bruno Ganz's determined Harker, whose character twist at the film's end seems organic to the performance, and Roland Topor's giggly Renfield, which often seems to parody Peter Lorre. Dracula is so familiar and fertile a source for movies that it probably will never receive a definitive version, but Herzog's makes a good bid for it.  

#Nosferatu the Vampyre #Werner Herzog

[feralshadowdemon]

IVAN, bram, fukuchi, and a fellow of your choice

woah. so many (this got pretty long, so click the keep reading to see all of them) ivan sexuality hc: gay, possibly demisexual/demiromantic(?) gender hc: transmasc/ftm (occasionally), cis (primarily) a more in-depth hc, however, is i think he honestly is so. he isn't connected to gender really, he likes he/him and that's what he's stuck with, but if he was in the right situation, he might experiment a ship i have with said character: shibusawa x ivan, which is almost entirely based off of aus, a BROTP i have with said character: i don't really have one? but ivan & pushkin deserved more screentime together. imo. a NOTP i have with said character: i don't like f.yovan at all personally. it just. doesn't work for me and never will most likely a random headcanon: he has tics!! it's a random headcanon i picked up one day but i've held it close to my heart since + body imagery issues would be real for him general opinion over said character: my beloved blorbo i picked up randomly after deciding to write him one day. he deserved way more screentime than when he got, i'm so curious about his past and also his dynamics with other characters besides fyodor? i want to see a conspiracy board of everything about him ever. wish i had more to say but canon doesn't have much to work with so i am cooking him in my little pan

bram sexuality hc: ace spectrum, male preference gender hc: he's probably cis for me. wish i had more to say about it but that's it a ship i have with said character: bram x lovecraft <3 a BROTP i have with said character: bram should interact with other older characters in bsd (hirotsu, fukuzawa, etc.) that's. that's my take a NOTP i have with said character: none a random headcanon: chronic pains even after regaining the rest of his body, possible mobility aid needed like a cane or such general opinion over said character: i loved him since i saw him! i loved him even more after reading dracula. i do really like how the vampires (and him) seem to have a regeneration ability like the original vampires in dracula, it's a small detail but i do really Love how bram's ability works and also just his design?? and how he has claws/long nails?? i hope he and aya get to bond more fukuchi sexuality hc: ....i don't actually have any for him gender hc: probably cis, possibly he/they pronouns if he feels like it a ship i have with said character: fukuzawa x fukuchi but specifically past fukuzawa x fukuchi a BROTP i have with said character: dont think i have a brotp for him. but i do think we need more fics exploring his dynamics with the hunting dogs!! Please a NOTP i have with said character: none that i can think of at the moment, besides possibly teruko and fukuchi's shipname if they have one a random headcanon: he has specific signals for the hunting dogs in situations where he has to be subtle somewhat or has to get their attention (i.e: whistling to tell them to stop what they're doing, if he claps it's a sign for them to regroup, snapping fingers means scatter/spread out) general opinion over said character: underrated character. i wish he had more fics but a lot of people don't really? write him? which is fine, but i have never seen that man get a character study despite how many rambles i could go on about his character. i love him a lot and i think he'd give the best compression hugs ever. i need to write him asap. fellow of my choice: beast!mori

i unfortunately, do not have many headcanons for him at all however, general opinion over said character: i think people don't talk about him and beast!elise enough, imo. they fascinate me and i like seeing a universe where mori strays off of the port mafia boss pass and becomes the orphanage director, not to mention he seems to become a better person? though because of the little content we get of them (and it's on the last volume, iirc) we don't really get good grasps of their characters. i'd love to write a fic with him taking care of the orphans and atsushi though

#tyty for the ask.. too sleepy to use special moot tags so #mutuals tag #bsd #ask game #very fun to answer!! #ask #i do NOT feel like tagging all of these characters

[foxfren]

Books I’ve Read in August

A mixed bag this month

Cosmoknights by Hannah Templer | 4/5

“Chin up, brave girl.”

An enjoyable and quick read that got me out of a reading slump 🤞 I loved the premise of the book, and the artwork is genuinely so beautiful!! The novel feels like a mix of sci-fi and sports fiction (two genres I absolutely love), and overall had so much fun with this book!

Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser & Robyn Smith | 2.5/5

“Oh, whatever. This is the remix!”

The illustrations were wonderful, and I liked the way that hair was used as symbolism throughout the story (although I was disappointed as it didn’t occur as frequently as the title led me to believe). I liked the idea of having a collection of shorter slice-of-life stories with an overarching plot, though I feel that this book didn’t achieve it to its fullest potential; many parts felt unresolved and inconsistent, contributing to a lack of overall cohesiveness. I also didn’t like the way that their depiction of depression and medication was handled (and also left unresolved).

Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall & Lisa Sterle | 2/5

How close anger and hunger are, really. Like different songs in the same key. They can be hard to differentiate.

A fast paced read that tries to mix dark academia vibes in literature with the werewolf genre. The artwork is excellent, and I loved the character designs and the use of color. Though the premise is awesome, the execution of it is subpar at best. It felt cliche and surface level, and overall lacked substance. That, along with the frequent micro-aggressions, tainted my perception of the novel.

How to Bite Your Neighbour and Win a Wager by D. N. Bryn | 3/5

“I want you to bite me.”

This is a different take on the vampire genre than I was expecting; loved the worldbuilding (low key really dense for the length of the novel!!) and the way that vampirism is more of a medical condition rather than a supernatural one. But while the worldbuilding was strong, the chemistry between the two leads unfortunately was not. I feel like this would’ve been a much better read had the characters been given more time to learn to love and forgive each other.

The Only One Left by Riley Sager | 2/5

The thing I remember most--the thing I still have nightmares about--is when it was all but over.

Ok [cracks knuckles] let’s do this. The beginning of the novel was my favorite, and the author did a wonderful job of setting the scene. However, the atmosphere was not maintained throughout the course of the story. My main issue with this book is its pacing, and the fact that most of the twists felt very randomly dropped in (especially near the end).

The Alchemy of Moonlight by David Ferraro | 1.5/5

“To live in sin in plain sight of everyone.”

This is a retelling of a gothic story, but it wasn’t a very good one. Both of the romances involving Emile felt very underdeveloped; whilst Bram was an incredible supporting character, Henri was very lacklustre. Henri is in a position of power over Emile, and reading about his manipulative actions and attempts at forcing a relationship painted him clearly as an antagonist rather than the leading love interest. Also, his poorly written redemption arc very much soured my impression of the novel. The premise is promising, but it’s execution was disappointing.

A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson | 4/5

Maybe it’s a matter of tenses. Of grammar. Our love existed, it does exist, it will exist. On the great continuum of time, perhaps it is the tenses that will cease to be. What does the scientist in you think of that?

This has no reason to be so sad 😭 Loved almost every minute of reading this book omg!! I really like the way that different characters represent the past, present, and future of this tiny town. I thought the characters were well fleshed out, and while the pacing was a tad slow, the story actually benefited a lot from that!! Would recommend :)

#fennec speaks #book list #monthly book review #cosmoknights #wash day diaries #squad #how to bite your neighbor and win a wager #the only one left #the alchemy of moonlight #a town called solace

[aion-rsa]

Midnight Mass: It’s Time to Talk About That Monstrous Twist

https://ift.tt/39I2zkp

This article contains huge spoilers for Midnight Mass. So help me God if you read this without watching the series first…

The version of Midnight Mass that Netflix advertised still would have made for a compelling horror series. 

An isolated, insular island community? Great. A young, charismatic preacher suddenly coming to town to shake things up? Perfect. That preacher proving capable of performing minor miracles? Love it, no notes! 

Of course, as viewers who have watched at least four episodes of the seven-episode series now know, Midnight Mass has one extra supernatural twist in mind that elevates an already interesting story to true mind-blowing status. Critics were understandably asked to keep this aspect of the show a secret before it premiered. So please indulge me as I finally slay these embargo demons and get it off my chest.

Vampires. Vampires! V-A-M-P-I-R-E-S. VAMPIRES! VAMPIRES VAMPIRES VAMPIRES! Literally like Dracula. And Nosferatu. Anne Rice’s Lestat. Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot. Vampires. VAMPIRES, BRO, VAMPIRES.

For creator Mike Flanagan, a filmmaker influenced by all manner of classic horror, bringing the fanged bloodsuckers to life was a long time coming.

“My favorite vampire movie is (Werner) Herzog’s Nosferatu,” Flanagan told Den of Geek and other outlets prior to the premiere of Midnight Mass. “That film is the vampire story as high art. I also adore From Dusk Till Dawn. I read Dracula young enough for it to really burrow in for me. And I read ‘Salem’s Lot early enough to color an enormous amount of work that I’ll do for the rest of my life.”

Midnight Mass’s depiction of the mythological undead beast and how it can neatly fit into Christian dogma is one of the most satisfying horror twists in years. Now that the truth is out, let’s discuss Midnight Mass and how it conflates vampires and biblical angels. 

Mistaking a Vampire for an Angel

The interesting thing about Midnight Mass is that it clearly takes place in a universe where the average person has no knowledge of what a vampire is. Even Sarah Gunning (Annabeth Gish), arguably the most well-read person on Crockett Island, has to do some research into “porphyria cutanea tarda” (a.k.a. the real life “vampire disease”). This is similar to The Walking Dead’s approach to zombies, in which the “z” word and George A. Romero’s name are never spoken. This strategy in Midnight Mass allows for a truly fascinating case of mistaken identity.

While viewers immediately know that the creature Monsignor John Pruitt (Hamish Linklater) encounters is a vampire, he believes it to be an angel. Given how studied Pruitt is in the Bible and Cathloic theology, it’s entirely understandable why he would think a tall, muscular, bald-headed beast with fangs and leathery wings is an angel. As it turns out, the angels of the Old Testament can be truly terrifying. 

Not all angels are soft-featured human-like creatures with fluffy white bird wings. Some, like Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones are designed to intimidate God��s enemies. In the New Testament’s Book of Luke, an angel visits Zechariah and immediately asks him to “be not afraid” because the angel can see the poor guy absolutely shaking in his boots upon his arrival. Angels being terrifying is even something of an Internet meme, with users contrasting the phrase “be not afraid” with images of truly monstrous beasts. 

Not only does Pruitt’s vampire have the vague appearance of an angel, it also apparently holds the secrets to eternal life as promised in the Bible. By merely drinking some of the “angel’s” blood, a good Christian can live forever just like God says. Does that blood-drinking sacrament sound familiar? It did to Mike Flanagan.

“In Bible school I used to say ‘if the wine turns into Jesus’s blood literally and we’re drinking it so that we can live forever … that seems like a short leap to vampiric myth.’”

Of course, drinking the angel’s fluids in the case of Midnight Mass also leads to some unwanted side effects like a thirst for blood and extreme sensitivity to sunlight. Thankfully, good ol’ Bev Keane always has a Bible quote ready to go for that. When read through the proper perspective, the Holy Bible may as well be the original vampire story. 

The Rules of Vampirism

“The thing that I love about the vampire as a cinematic tool is how malleable it is,” Flanagan says. “We all agree that there is no canon. There are no rules. In fact, part of the joy is seeing what rules people cherry pick as they approach a vampire story.”

All depictions of vampires are indeed quite different. Vampires can range from the classic Stoker-ian monster to Twilight’s nigh-invulnerable sparkle bois. Midnight Mass’s version of the vampire leans towards the classic, albeit with some tweaks. In terms of appearance, The Angel (as we will be calling Midnight Mass’s O.G. vampire for simplicity’s sake) has a more bestial look like Nosferatu rather than an aristocratic one like Count Dracula or Anne Rice’s creations. 

“We winked at (Nosferatu the Vampyr actor) Klaus Kinski a few times when we designed our guy,” Flanagan says.

Though the Angel resembles Nosferatu in appearance, its vulnerabilities owe more to Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles. Religious iconography does not appear to hurt the Angel nor its thralls. Traditional human weapons like bullets or blades also do no harm (at least not mortally). These vampires are, however, tremendously susceptible to both fire and sunlight. Exposure to the latter for even a few seconds is enough to kill the Angel and his many acolytes. 

Read more

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Like in Rice’s works as well, the path to creating a new vampire is quite simple. Step 1: Drink its blood. Step 2: Die. In Dracula and ‘Salem’s Lot, the method of vampire creation is merely being bit by one, zombie-style. Rice and Flanagan’s approach is quite a bit more intentional and interesting. It also opens the door for perhaps Midnight Mass’s most ingenious storytelling quirk: communion. John Pruitt is able to get nearly the entirety of Crockett Island to become a vampire by spiking the communion wine with his buddy’s blood. Then, all that remains is for them to poison themselves to death, Jonestown-style. 

The mass “resurrection” scene in which the congregation awakes as their new vampire selves also provides some insight to just how hard it is to contain the vampire’s overwhelming hunger. Riley Flynn was able to resist it when he turned because John Pruitt babysat him like a psychedelic mushroom guide. The plan for the rest of the congregation was to have their babysitters as well but that didn’t quite work out. Still, Riley’s dad Ed makes it clear to his wife Annie, that even if it’s hard to resist the call for blood, it’s not impossible. 

“When I saw them at the church, I thought it was something they really couldn’t help. Like something impossible not to do. But it isn’t, Annie,” he says.

Maybe if more vampires were like Ed Flynn, a whole island full of vampires wouldn’t be too bad of a thing in the first place. 

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How to Defeat a Vampire

While every vampire story presents its own unique take on the creature, the answer on how to defeat a vampire is usually the same: by doing it together.

“We poor humans only have so much that we can give,” Flanagan says. “We’re ill-equipped as individuals to make any kind of meaningful stand. The only way evil in the world can be brought down is through collective effort. That’s something Stoker understands inherently. It’s clearly something King understands.”

Alongside the aforementioned Bram Stoker and Stephen King, Flanagan presents a small team of humans at story’s end who will do what it takes to defeat evil, even if it means dying in the process. Erin Greene (Kate Siegel), Dr. Sarah Gunning, Sheriff Hassan (Rahul Kohli), Annie Flynn (Kristin Lehman), Warren Flynn (Igby Rigney), and Leeza Scarborough (Annarah Cymone) are the six residents of Crockett Island brave enough to try to take down the Angel. All but two (Warren and Leeza) die. They do succeed in eliminating the immediate threat on Crockett Island but it’s possible the Angel made it away to suck blood another day, damaged wings and all.

What’s interesting about Midnight Mass’s “final crew” is that six appears to be the magic number when it comes to taking down a vampire. Stoker’s Dracula has six heroes: Jonathan Harker, Mina Harker nèe Murray, Arthur Holmwood (Lord Godalming), John Seward, Quincey Morris, and Abraham Van Helsing (of which, only poor American cowboy Quincey Morris dies). King’s ‘Salem’s Lot also has six: Ben Mears, Matt Burke, Susan Norton, Mark Petrie, Jimmy Cody, and Father Callahan (of which, decidedly more than one of them die). This strange bit of arithmancy is something we asked Flanagan about.

“The number was certainly not intentional,” he says. “Once it was clear that Riley was not going to be carrying the torch to the end it really was about asking ‘who are the characters who seem in the very beginning to be at a disadvantage and how do we empower them in the end?’ This was gonna be played out by Sarah Gunning, Sheriff Hassan, and everyone else who would get to just give a little piece.”

Considering that Erin and company were outnumbered about 117 to six, it was a pretty good showing for Crockett Island’s last humans standing.

All seven episodes of Midnight Mass are available to stream on Netflix now.

The post Midnight Mass: It’s Time to Talk About That Monstrous Twist appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3CPaitL

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[duhragonball]

Hellsing Liveblog, Ch.11-13

This is the “Balance of Power” arc.

One of the things that frustrated me about the Hellsing TV anime (as opposed to the Hellsing Ultimate version) was that the TV series aired while the manga was still running, and it seemed to struggle between following the source material or just diverging into all new stories.    I think if Gonzo had made up their minds one way or the other, it would have ended up a better show.   Instead, there were all these filler scenes of Seras training with human soldiers, which seemed like an utter waste of the character’s time.    Worse, this meant the human soldiers featured much more prominently than they ever did in the manga, where they all get killed off by Chapter 9 or something.   And if you know that’s coming, like I did, it makes the human soldiers that much more insufferable, because you know dorks like Farguson aren’t going to matter, but they get tons of screen time anyway.    Farguson is like every episode of Dragon Ball GT condensed into a single character.  

Here, in the original manga, it’s pretty clear that the soldiers never mattered, because the only time you ever see them is when Jan Valentines’ ghoul army slaughters them all.    They only existed so Integra would have something to be in charge of, but the only ones who actually matter here are herself, Alucard, Seras, and Walter.    In this chapter, Walter practically admits as much, when he states that there were 96 staff members, and now we’re down to ten: Walter, Integra, and eight jabrones who weren’t at the base that day.    Well, maybe those eight guys will show up later and do something important?   Bullshit they will, they never get mentioned again.   The Gonzoverse might have been able to break some new ground by focusing on those human characters more, but what they actually did was half-assed, and it looks all the more futile when you know how unimportant they are to the original work.   Walter just hires a band of mercenaries to backfill all the vacant positions, and I’ll give you three guesses what happens to those guys.

Concerning “Millennium”, their mysterious new enemy, no one has any idea what they are.    A bunch of people try to research it, because we didn’t have Google in 1999, or at least not Google as we now know it, so if you wanted to know something cryptic you just had to rummage through a card catalog in a library or whatever.    But Integra just makes the logical leap that “Millennium” is a reference to the “Thousand Year Reich” dreamed of by Nazi Germany.   This seems like a stretch, but I think Integra’s reasoning is that this is the only “Millennium” reference that could possibly be worth Hellsing’s attention.

Later, Integra meets the Wild Geese, the merc group Walter hired, and explains their assignment even referencing the Bram Stoker novel.    So I guess Dracula is a real book in the Hellsing world, but it must be at least partially based on a true story, right?   The Geese don’t buy any of this, so Integra introduces them to Seras to prove that vampires are real.

They all laugh at Seras until she starts flicking their leader, Pip Bernadotte, with her fingers.    Then Alucard shows up, and that seems to be enough to convince them.

After this, Integra gets a letter from the Iscariot Organization, inviting her to a meeting with Enrico Maxwell at the Imperial War Museum.    The whole thing introduces Bishop Maxwell very effectively.   He tries to play this off as a peaceful, diplomatic conference, but he makes Integra wait, and she’s still sore about Anderson’s violation of their treaty back in Chapter 5-6.   Maxwell takes all this in stride, then replies that he could care less about the deaths of even two billion Protestants, so the two guys Anderson killed mean nothing to him.    He’s only here because the Pope ordered him to do this, and he calls Integra a “Protestant sow” for good measure.  

At this, Alucard comes out to stand up for Integra’s honor, and then Maxwell responds by bringing out Anderson, except Anderson has a berzerker rage thing going, so it kind of ruins Maxwell’s posturing.    For all his contempt, he really was ordered to London to talk to Integra, so he’d probably get in trouble with the Pope if Anderson starts a big superhero battle in a museum.

In Cross Fire, the unpublished manga that was sort of a precursor to Hellsing, Maxwell looked a lot like Sir Integra does now, so when Kouta Hirano brought him back for this arc, he slicked his hair back and removed his glasses.   On the other hand, Integra doesn’t look much like the early Integra anymore either.    By now, Hirano seems to have settled on her design, straightening her hair out and making her face longer and thinner.   Anyway, Maxwell’s brinkmanship has backfired, and now even he can’t stop Anderson, so what can be done?

Luckily, Seras is here to provide a distraction, as she leads a tour group of elderly Japanese tourists through the gallery.    For some reason this kills Anderson’s fighting mood completely, so he leaves.    Alucard also leaves, because he hates being up during the day.    Walter gives Seras a hearty thumbs up for defusing this tense situation.    Good job, Seras.    You’re doing amazing, sweetie.

All right, so what’s so blamed important that the Pope would send Maxwell to London?    Well, he knows about Millennium’s attack on Hellsing’s base, and he has some juicy deets on them.   After making Integra say “please”, he explains that “Millennium” was a Nazi military unit responsible for transferring resources and personnel for Nazi Germany.    They relocated a ton of these resources and personnel to South America for safe keeping.    Integra’s not too impressed with that, since “Nazis fleeing to South America after the war” isn’t exactly a shocking revelation.  

The twist here, though, is that Millennium was smuggling Nazi stuff to South America during World War II. 

Also, the Vatican helped Millennium do this?   I never understood this part of the story, but I think it gets explained later.   I mean, it explains how Maxwell would have this lead to share with Hellsing, but it raises more questions than answers.

  Volume 2 ends with another chapter of Cross Fire, starring Heinkel Wolfe and Yumiko Takagi.    In the first story, they saved hostages from Islamic terrorists.    This one is them recovering stolen church money from radical communists, which I guess could have been a thing in 1998?    It’s basically the same story, though, as they send Yumiko to infiltrate the bad guys, then they slaughter everyone in sight.    Mostly, I want to focus on the part at the end, where Maxwell, the leader of Iscariot, justifies the use of extreme hyper-violence in the name of the Catholic Church.   You sort of get the sense that the Iscariot Organization in Cross Fire was a concept in search of a villain.   the idea of two girl-assassins dressed as a nun and a priest might have had some traction, but Hirano really seems to have had trouble coming up with worthy enemies for them to fight.    But Hellsing brings vampires into the mix, which suits the Iscariots quite nicely.

Back to “Balance of Power”, the third part features Seras training with the Wild Geese in the middle of the night.   For some reason, Seras expects them to shoot targets from over 4km away.   She can do it, but only thanks to the vampiric senses Alucard showed her how to use.    It’s like she doesn’t realize that this is an ability she only has because she’s a vampire or something.   

Indoors, Alucard and Walter discuss the whole Nazi angle.    Al isn’t terribly surprised, because he only knows three who have ever used undead warriors for combat.   

1) Hellsing

2) Himself

3) The Nazis.

He knows #3 is legit, because he and Walter destroyed a Nazi research facility during the war.    Supposedly that contained all their work on the undead, but now that we know Millennium was smuggling important stuff from Nazi Germany to South America, it only makes sense that they’re the ones who devised the Valentines’ ghoul attack.    The bigger point of this scene is to reinforce that Walter used to be a big wheel in Hellsing, teaming up with Alucard to have Golden Age WWII adventures.   And now, Hellsing will be sending Alucard and Seras to South America to investigate this new threat.   

Here, Walter asks the big question: Why make Seras a vampire?   I’ll have more to say about this later, but I dig this scene because it works as an exposition scene, but there’s more to it than that.   Alucard’s only apparent motivations are over-the-top violence and doing his master’s bidding.   Helping Seras doesn’t seem to fit either of those, so it does indeed feel out-of-character.   You’d expect someone to ask this question, and by now there’s really only two people left who know Alucard well: Walter and Integra.   So yeah, let’s have Walter ask the question.    But later on, it becomes clear that the point is not the question itself, but the fact that Walter is the one asking it.  

For what it’s worth, Alucard doesn’t seem to know, or maybe he just doesn’t want to spell it out.   He keeps saying that it was her “choice”, except he had to make his own choice that night.    He could have just let her die, regardless of any requests she might have made.   Al remarks on her tremendous resilience on that night, since she was surrounded by death and hopelessness, but didn’t resign to her fate.    That impresses him, so I guess we can say that he chose her because he found her to be such an impressive specimen, in spite of some of her goofier behavior.    As it currently stands, Seras can’t even travel across rivers or oceans, a weakness for lesser vampires, but not a problem for Alucard himself.    He seems to think that’ll all be resolved once she finally drinks blood, and he expects that it’ll just be a matter of time before she does.    Ominous!

As far as transporting Seras to South America, Alucard figures the easiest thing to do is nail her shut in her own coffin.   The Wild Geese know a smuggling operation that can fly them to Brazil without any messy customs.   That works out, since they also have to transport Alucard’s coffin, and all the guns.

Integra asks why Alucard is dressed like this, and he says he can’t wear his usual stuff because he’d be too obvious to their enemies.    Also, he doesn’t need to spend the whole trip in his coffin, because sunlight and traveling over water doesn’t bother him, I guess?    I don’t really get the water thing.    If Seras can’t travel over running water, what difference does it make if she’s in her coffin or not?    I can accept that Alucard, who’s basically a super-vampire, would be immune to the whole water thing, but it becomes a plot point later on, so... aw, forget it   

Integra gives Alucard only one order: Search and Destroy, which seems kind of vague when you think about it.   Anyway, she’ll be saying this about a hundred times before the story is over, so we may as well appreciate the original.

#2021hellsingliveblog #hellsing #alucard #sir integra hellsing #walter c dornez #seras victoria #enrico maxwell #pip bernadotte #did i forget anyone? #nah i guess that's it

[kilesplaysthings]

Happy Halloween! I hope you guys have a fun and safe spooky day! 

Now as a horror fan, I gotta tell you guys, I find the vampire lore in IkeVam a little weak sauce (ok, actually a LOT) lol But I do tend to like vampires as more of the monstrous villains in fiction too. So! in celebration of today kiles is gonna recommend some vampire flicks for you all that love these bloodsucking monsters. Let me know which ones you like and maybe even recommend ones that I don’t have on here! :D

Let the Right One In/Let Me In: both the original Swedish film and its American remake are very good, but I personally find the OG better in both acting and dark tones. The story is about a boy who is bullied by his peers and feels isolated from everyone, meeting what seems to be a little girl and befriends her. But there is more to this girl than meets the eye. I can’t recall there being a lot of warnings in this, but it does have some gore.

The Lost Boys: I love this movie. It’s so 80s lol But the vampire stuff is really fun. That and not only do you have a young Corey Feldman in a duo of kid vampire hunters, but you get a young Kiefer Sutherland running around with a sort of Glam Metal look going on. The story is about two brothers and their mom who move to a California town that wind up getting involved with a group of rebellious teens who turn out to be vampires.

What We Do in the Shadows: This is probably my favorite vampire movie. I love the faux-documentary of this New Zealand dark comedy, and I love the homage to traditional vampire lore. No more sparkling, no more resistance to daylight. The vampires in this movie are done right, in my opinion. I’m more of a traditionalist when in comes to monsters, you see. I almost wish we could get an ikevam version that was more like this, where MC is the person making the documentary filming the boys lol

Nosferatu: The Classic vampire flick from the Silent Era of film. It’s a German retelling of the story Dracula. Count Orlock’s design is perfectly eerie and creepy, iconic throughout media. If you don’t mind silent film and you haven’t seen this one, check it out!

Dracula: And then, of course, there’s the classic film with Bela Lugosi. His Hungarian accent became the go-to for other vampires in later media. It’s pretty close to the book for the most part. At least, it’s as good as most book adaptations that were made back then were (which wasn’t too good lol)

Fright Night: This is another very 80s movie. The main character is a teenager who is addicted to a tv show about a vampire hunter and how he hunts vampires. Because of this, he starts to become suspicious that his new, odd neighbor may in fact be a vampire. There is also a remake starring Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell and David Tennant that’s.. ok lol

Salem’s Lot: Stephen King’s vampire tale. A man coming back to his childhood town realizes that a vampire is preying on the townsfolk. While this is an older flick that might not be exactly scary there’s some great classic vampire stuff and eerie scenes. Plus it’s Stephen King! 

30 Days of Night: Probably the most horrific vampire movie, where there is nothing redeemable or likable about the vampires whatsoever. The setting of this movie alone makes it terrifying. Set in a northern, remote part of Alaska, an isolated town is beset by ravenous vampires when the town is submerged in complete darkness for one month. Most of the town’s occupants go south for the winter, but those remaining have to fight and use quick thinking to survive. Warning to those who don’t like gore for this one. It’s pretty brutal.

Afflicted: A found footage film about two friends who are backpacking through Europe due to one guy wanting to live life to the fullest before he dies of cancer. Something goes wrong at a party however, and he soon begins to show signs of something... inhuman.

Van Helsing: I know a lot of people don’t think this movie is any good, but I admit I like it as a sort of guilty pleasure. Van Helsing is now a younger vampire hunter that’s sent by the church to help a town in Romania that is beset by Dracula and his brides. It’s got lots of funs stuff like a vampire masquerade ball, a sort of Frankenstein’s monster character, and a fight between a vampire and a werewolf that’s pretty beast :D

Bram Stoker’s Dracula: Though I haven’t seen this yet, the tone, acting, music and cinematography of this movie all look so darkly beautiful. Add a bit of gothic romance, this adaptation of Bram Stoker’s tale is one that I definitely plan to watch soon. 

Thirst: A Korean take on a vampiric story. A priest who wishes to save lives volunteers to be a guinea pig for a vaccine that is being made to cure a virus. But things go awry and he comes back to life as a vampire. Now he has to battle between his thirst and his faith. Haven’t seen this either, but I plan to! Korean films are always a cut above, and if you don’t mind some gore and adult elements, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this.

Others I would recommend: 

Interview with a Vampire, though I don’t really like that movie all that much. You do get a younger Tom Cruise as a vampire though lol plus Kirsten Dunst’s character is surprisingly sympathetic and sad (at least to me!)

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night: This one’s unique, being an Iranian take on vampires. It’s a slower indie film, about a mysterious girl who only comes out at night and skateboards around a town. I wasn’t too crazy about this one, but it was interesting!

Shiki: I’ve seen three-ish vampire anime. This, Diabolik Lovers, and Vampire Knight. I didn’t like DL at ALL, and I could barely get through the first few episodes of VK. Shiki is excellent, though, if you can get past the odd character designs. I probably would have liked VK better if the story was focused solely on Zero’s character though. 

Vampyr.  This is an RPG actually, but the vampire lore is so dark, bloody and complex. The MC is a doctor that specializes in blood transfusions who comes back to London from WW1 right during the Spanish Flu epidemic. When he’s turned into a vampire by a mysterious sire, he has to find a way to survive while still acting as a doctor and decide if he will kill others or starve.

#ikemen vampire #ikevam #ikevamp #vampires #halloween #vampire films #halloween recommendations

[thealmightyemprex]

90′s Prestige Horror ranking:The Monster/Villain

.....This ones hard ,cause honestly the villains/monsters  are pretty solid  in these 90′s Prestige horror movies .I have ranked and reranked this one ,only my number one has remained consistant .Just keep in mind this list is just for fun and arbitrary .Also spoilers fro Sleepy Hollow and Wolf 

5.Ray Park/Christopher Walken and Miranda Richardson as Headless Horseman and Lady Mary Van Tassel

.......So if Headless Horseman himself was the only villain he’d be easilly be number two.He is terrifying ,a relentless unstoppable kjller ,with Park bringing physicality when he is headless ,and Walken bringing an uneasiness and intensity (And those sharp teeth are horrifying and badass ).Yeah  him going “ARRRGH” is a bit silly   but he is an effective horrifying monster ......But theres a problem....He’s a henchman ....To Queenie from Blackadder .OK thats not fair ,Miranda Richardson is a terrific actress ,and she has played some good villains(Mrs Tweedy from Chicken Run comes to mind ).....But LAdy Van Tassel is not one of them .First half of the movie she’s rather dull and a minor character,and once the big reveal happens  her motives  and plan are super convuluted .Now hers and the Horsemans final fate is fantastic but as a whole I feel her inclusion is one of the weakest parts of the movie 

4.James Spader  as  Stewart Swinton in Wolf 

This guy is such a slimeball .Stewart .He is trying to steal the main character Will’s job ,is sleeping with his wife and is just a opportunistic douche .However he goes from jerk to monster when he becomes a werewolf ,reveling in killling among other things.He is a creep and is scary ..What holds him back is sometimes Spader chews too much scenery,he’s not a major focus of the film and honestly ,he is kind of one note compared to some other villains here  in this group.Still a good baddie though

3.John Malkovich as Edward Hyde in Mary Reilly 

So this is a very interesting take on Edward Hyde cause from what I can tell he is close to the book :He’s a man younger then Jekyll and is not the traditional monster most versions portray him as .Part of this is because the film wants  a darkly romantic Hyde  with his relationship with Mary (Which doesnt quite work but thats an entirely diffrent list there ) but it makes him interesting .Malkovich plays Hyde with a playfulness and youthful quality ,while also being very soft spoken while clearly enjoying both messing with Mary’s head and engaging in his dark activities .The big thing is the film tries to both make Hyde more murderous.....While weirdly not showing it .That said Malkovich himself is great and I wish the performance was to a better script .As it is it’s a highlight of the film 

2.Robert De Niro as the Creation in  Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein 

So the modern perception of The Frankenstein monster is as a lumbering sympathetic  childlike creature......That is not the monster from the book ,and this film  delivers a book accurate monster ,in terms of personality .The Creation is intelligent and philosophical ,and is without a question a villain,albiet an incredibly tragic one .Throughout his existance he is treated with fear,hatred and hostility ,and thus responds with violence .I adore his design,really feeling like he is a patchwork being made of several corpses .The casting of De Niro is initially  distracting but he is so excellent I got used to it .He steals this entire movie .

1.Gary Oldman as Count Dracula in Bram Stokers Dracula 

I ADORE this performance .There have been MANY great Draculas .....Oldman is my second favorite ,behind Christopher Lee .He both a brooding romantic  while also being a intimidating powerful demonic force .Like this is the role that made Gary Oldman a superstar for a reason .I think he plays the romance well  while also being a terrifying creature of darkness .You feel how powerful Dracula is  .I also like alll the diffrent shapes he can take,he can be a wolf monster,a bat creature,he can be old, he can be young ,he can be whatever he wants really .You get a sense of power but also of a broken soul.He looms over this entire movie  and is easilly the best thing about the film 

@cinefantastiquemitho​ @ohiwannatakeyouhome​

#gary oldman #bram stokers dracula #robert de niro #mary shelley's frankenstein #ray park #christopher walken #miranda richardson #sleepy hollow #james spader #wolf #john malkovich #mary reilly

[anxiousdepressedintrovert]

Otome Thursday

IT’S BRAM!!!!

Y’all, you have no idea how excited I was for this route/series to start. I wasn’t a big fan of Ravi.

ANYWAY

Bram Route

Episode 1 (The free one 😉)

-I really dig the beginning of the route.

-Like a land hidden from even the Elves? Nice

-Also also, I like that this series, Love and Legends, AND Reigning Passions all take place in the same universe and it makes sense. Unlike the more modern series where the crew just sticks characters in the stories to say “Hey, look, notice these characters”

-Sorry. I’m ranting

-Focusing now

-I named my MC Mari Rya

-She’s beautiful

-She’s got a little, sprite/fairy/thing named Ness

-I love them

-I only know the name of the new land because I played the Ravi short but it’s called Tallav

-Mari’s got a reputation as a researcher.

-But this is also a lifelong dream of hers.

-Ness doesn’t speak (what I’m going to call) English, but Mari understands her anyway

-Ness uses They/Them pronouns. RESPECT IT

-Magic time!

-Ness magic time!

-Mari can feel all the living things. I feel like that’s not a human thing.

-But I will reserve judgement

-She’s had a rune stone since she was a baby. Yeah, she’s def not human.

-Holy shit a bear!

-…with a shield and a spear on it’s back.

-Subtle

-The way these sprites move are fucking hilarious

-Mari said “Nope not today”

-Can’t out run a bear. What does this bitch do?

-Drop down to play dead. Cause that’s totally gonna stop a bear from chewing on your spleen

-the “bear” is able to turn her over to her back (duh)

-it turns into a man and…oh what a man

-this CG is so fucking cute!

-he’s like “Is she alive?”

-She’s like “the fuck is he doing?”

-I’m like “Squeeeee they’re both so stupid rn”

-Oh those eyes…

-I haven’t been this in love since Razi. Or Renzei.

-Oh no! headbutt. Gives me a headache just reading it.

-Fuck look at those abs.

-LVS really knows what they’re doing with these character designs

-And Mari’s being thirsty too. It’s not just me

-Whew chile, the way she describes this man. Girl,

-Thank you, Ness, someone has their head on properly

-Never mind. They’re just as thirsty

-I still wanna know how Mari can talk to them

-He knows she’s a human cause she’s wearing clothes. Good lord this series is gonna be a riot in the first couple seasons

-Oh Mari…you’re sounding very Colonizerish

-I don’t like that

-Though it is kinda cute how she nerds out

-I can see her doing this with any thing she comes across.

-Thank you, Ness. Time and Place Mari!

-Invasive is one word for it

-Not much to write.

-She’s gushing. He’s listening. They’re both hot

-oh no, not an eyebrow lift!

-from both of them!

-I can’t do this.

-This bitch just walks away from a question ‘cause she got caught staring!

-I can’t! This is me. Running away from all my problems

-Bram follows cause, y’know, stranger in the woods

-Bram likes Ness. It’s adorable

-Anthropologist=Skald? Maybe.

-Apparently rune reading is impossible, so is befriending a Puck (Ness)

-Mari is def not a human. At least not fully

-See, I feel like if she showed Bram the rune stone she carried with her, that would help bridge this gap.

-But y’know. Whatever.

-Oh they are two bull-headed people

-He’s got (understandable) prejudices against humans/bipeds

-She’s like “MY RESEARCH”

-I’m like “Girl, they’re living people. Respect their boundaries. And Dude, Learn a little”

- She’s very forceful with the fact that she ‘needs to do her research’

-It’s very Colonizerish and I don’t approve.

-Mari, You can’t prove that the Duke who hired you only wanted you to do pure research.

-Ha, Bram called her pretty

-Ohhh Mahuwin Villiage

-Cue Victor from Underworld: “YOU MUST BE JUDGED!!”

-damn he called her insidious

-Mari…honey. Going to a village, you’ll get to see how they live and see how the justice system works. Calm down.

-Of course, no one’s ever been so unwelcoming. You’ve been dealing with other humans and elves.

-Girl!

-I’m judging you so hard rn

-Whew chile that took a lot outta me

Episode 2

-Awww I do feel bad for Ness tho

-They’re scared too

-Bruh, Bram JUST said he doesn’t know what an anthropologist is. You barely related it to a Skald. Showing him your notes means nothing.

-Bram, dude, I get you’re supposed to protect but you’re seeing enemies in the wrong people. Though I get why you’d suspect her.

-The Dinae have no secrets between their tribes (I’m assuming) so there’d be no need for an anthropologist to go looking for old history.

-Also he called her cute (again)

-Ohkay. I draw the line at you accusing Mari of torturing Ness.

-Only a heartless monster would lay hands on Ness.

-I need you to think baby: WHYY WOULD NESS STAY? If Pucks are magical creatures, surely you don’t think that Ness would be foolish enough to stay with a powerless human.

-Oh. Don’t make me insult your intelligence

-Oh don’t make me

-Mari. Don’t do anything stupid. Please. He’s actually being nice. In a weird way. Taking you to be judged. Someone else would’ve just killed you

-Mari…you can’t do your job in someone else’s country without permission. To get permission, you need to go to a village.

-I’m starting to question your intelligence

-Oh good. The bull-headedness is back

-No shit it’s more than just a job! I think you would have gathered that from the fact that to enter Tallav you had to pass a BEAR statue

-Oh no not the sad face

-I know LVS is gonna use that face to get money out of me in future scenes

-Mari, you’re both stubborn. And if I had it my way, you’d’ve gone with him already

-MARI! HE’S NOT A SOLDIER!

-ARUGH

- Not the type of roleplay I thought I’d be reading in this story but sure. Have some hearts

-I wanna smack her so bad and the first season’s not over yet.

-Usually the urge to smack doesn’t kick in until at least season 2.

-She’s a record setter

-Uh oh Bram, you called her an interrogator.

-And he STILL doesn’t fix it!

-They’re both so rude

-Ok, so he gets the why.

-We’re making progress

-This woman can’t let her thirst rest for five minutes.

-I mean same but come on

-Ah! Progress on both sides!

-Still don’t like how forceful Mari is about her job. How would she feel if her job put people in danger?

-You kinda did Mari. You kinda did say “I’m going to do what I want anyway”

-Not in those exact words but enough

-My point!

Bram: You ever think that if we wanted to be bothered by any kingdoms, we would have officially contacted them

That’s my point

At the same time, Bram and his fellow Dinae have their fellow prejudice against bipeds. As I said, mostly justified but they act that they can’t adapt or change

-Mari, interest isn’t always flattering…we aren’t in high school

-Now she’s running away. From a guy that can turn into a bear

-I’m very much questioning her intelligence now.

-Cause she dumb dumb.

-And thus begins an infuriating game of human and bear

-Oh yeah Mari, cause you can totally break the hold of a guy WHO CAN TURN INTO A BEAR

-As Mari is kicking and screaming, Bram: Am I hurting you?

-LMFAOOOO

-Awww Ness trying to help.

-Bitch. He puts you down and you climb a tree. Like bears don’t climb trees?

-Thank you Ness for talking some sense into this stupid girl

-Why is she so defensive?!

-Why can’t they just give me the option of “Fine.” FOR ONCE

-Seriously Mari? If you had stumbled upon a village during your wandering that really HATED humans, the chances of them killing you are SUPER fucking high. Doing it this way is arguably a lot safer

-YO  WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!!!

-That looked like a swamp deer  monster from It Lives Beneath

-FUCK THAT

-RUN BITCH…FUCKING RUUUNNNN

-Why is run never an option when we are clearly outmatched?

-Oh god why does it have to look at the screen!!!

-I don’t like that

-and ewwwww they did detail on the muscles

-Yeah no shit it’s targeting Mari, Bram!

-I think that’s pretty obvious!

-Thank again Ness for saving One Stupid Bitch

-We…we get to RIDE Bram?

-I can (and will) make so many jokes about that

-I’ve already restrained myself from making Bear jokes. So, you’ll deal with that

Episode 3

-Hehehehehehehhehe

-We rode him

-Hopefully this won’t be last time

-and the next time won’t be in bear form

-Ohkay. I’m back. The chapter’s loaded

-Wait one more

-And we can use that rope for something else too

-Idk how to do the lenny face so……just imagine it

-Ok. NOW I’m done.

-Finally, a decent option. THANK YOU, BRAM

-Yeah Mari get that through your thick fucking skull. He’s a defender. He defends.

-Awwww Bram isn’t comfortable with praise. I’m gonna take every opportunity to do it now

-Mari, this is why we don’t talk shit up.

-Hehe still riding him

-Ewww that thing is back.

-Plus side?

-FIGHT SCENE

-Oh nooooo Bram’s hurt

-MARI CONTROL YOUR THIRST THE MAN IS INJURED

-Thank you, Ness! I swear they’re the only character I haven’t been pissed at

-Mari begins to nerd out over plants. Honestly same

-OMG HIS BLUSH

-GUYS. HIS BLUSH

-The stuff of nightmares was an Abberation. I like my name better so it and all its freaky brethren will be called The Stuff of Nightmares

-And Bram’s back to being suspicious. Sigh. And we were having such a nice time

-The Dinae don’t have pets and that’s the saddest thing I’ve read all day.

-Mari just realized that Bram’s been naked this entire time.

-Lol

-Oh so, if Bram trusted Mari, he’d happily tell her everything she wanted to know.

-Hmmmmmm

-I certainly can’t say no to that face. So neither can you Mari. Here. Have some hearts

-See, they say fur covered thigh, all I hear is, cuddling for the winter.

-OMG SHE COULD SQUISH HIS PAW BEANS

-IF SHE DOESN’T SQUISH HIS PAW BEANS WE’RE GONNA HAVE A PROBLEM

-Mari stahp being so thirsty. There’s a stream next to you. Go dunk your head.

-Ness is adorable and I want a plushie of them

-Oh NOQOOOWW she has a problem with riding him

-…Ok, I mean…her explanation makes sense.

-See, every Dinae does it!

-Bram is so tired of her. It’s so funny

-WAIT. THERE’S WOLVERINES

-….is one’s name Logan?

-I’ll leave now

-I’m so glad they’re starting to understand each other more. Cause I was ready to jump through my phone screen.

-Things are still tense, of course.

-Wait a fucking minute. Going through a patch of brambles saved you a fucking DAY of travel? WTF

-I’m very interested in seeing how this plays out as opposed to Ravi’s route.

-Let’s meet Chieftain Mael!!

#lovestruck #lovestruck voltage #tales of the wild #bram #adi blog #otome days