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fragmentwitch · 3 years

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Higurashi Gou Ep 21 thoughts + Satoko/Rika thoughts

In retrospect, it's pretty deliberate to leave out meakashihen and tsumihoroboshi-hen from the arcs that got 'remade' as the deception arcs in GOU otherwise it actually would have presented a big issue in its narrative.

By deliberately leaving Satoshi's entire back story out of GOU we don't really know for sure what led him to become comatose and the events leading up to Shion's promise. And since Shion doesn't seem to actually target Satoko, we only see them interact the way they did only in Minagoroshi.

In fact, ShMion focused on RIKA during the GOU ladder scene, when originally she said Satoko was cursed. In retrospect that's been a huge red flag pointing toward Satoko being a looper, she manipulated people into targeting Rika all along to avoid suspicion.

So a few seemingly minor missing items have huge implications for the narrative if we treat GOU as entirely standalone with no connection to the original stories:

meakashi specifically showed Satoko's realization that Satoshi became distant and ran away partly because she became codependent to the point of burdening him more. Satoshi protected her but she wasn't able to help him in return. He just shouldered all of their problems and crumbled under the pressure the worse things got because nobody could help him (Irie tried but iirc he wasn't allowed to adopt children as an unmarried man).

Shion doesn't realize her own sin: consumed by resentment and misdirected feelings of frustration, she not only forgot the promise to protect Satoko in Satoshi's stead but broke it by torturing her.

tsumihoroboshihen, there is a confrontation where Keiichi remembers killing Mion and Rena in Onikakushi, and regrets it immensely. It causes a chain reaction where multiple characters confront and admit their personal sins from their past, and it included Rika and Satoko (correct me if this is not from that arc). But in the end, Mion emphasizes that friends dont need ro reveal their worst secrets and regrets in order to be friends-- if it had to be that way, Mion preferred not having any.

No tsumihoroboshihen in Gou means Rika never finds it in her to actually try making a difference. We don't actually get Tataridamashihen, but a deceptive Minagoroshihen (where Ooishi kills, not Takano). I cant remember the scene where Rika forces Satoko to confront her problems and actually ask for help with her own voice. You cannot help someone truly to your best if they don't actually say "Please Help Me."

With these very crucial thematic elements missing, even if one can argue neither of them would remember previous fragments anyway (Disproven when Rika herself remembers what she tried to do differently and still failed in. She explicitly recalls Onikakushi, Watanagashi, Minagoroshi and Matsuribayashi but not Meakashi and Tsumihoroboshi) Ryukushi is able to make a story that logically doesn't have huge gaps. But the fact Gou retconned so much, leaves much to be desired on the intent and purpose this story wants to tell-- many are apprehensive about whether it actually can turn around into a hopeful ending or a very sad one. And more importantly, whether these two stories' themes are mutually exclusive or not.

Satoko never learns to explicitly ask for help, and stubbornly deflects it when Rika brings it up.

She hasn't faced herself in terms of being codependent to where she is actively affecting Rika's agency as a person. And in Meakashi, she seems to only confess/realize this right when she's bleeding out in shion's torture chamber...

Rika was shown to throw in the towel early on in Watadamashihen, and shortly after going Red Eyed, she disappears. She does seem more proactive in putting up a fight in Tataridamashihen though, yet we see her watching Satoko's breakdown with a fairly emotionless look. (Btw I'm 80% sure she faked that due to slapping Keiichi's hand before it even touches her, plus no bruise marks anywhere and her overall weird behavior at the end)

Rika seems fairly content with just dropping it when Satoko doesn't respond well to her (1) offer to help her, and even then she is so ignorant that she thinks Satoko is acting this way over her grades. And when she does reach out to spend personal time with Satoko she uses language that implies it's like an appointment. Definitely not the best way to approach a friend by making them feel like you see them as a chore/burdensome

Rika doesn't confront her directly and say "I can't help you if you don't ask me for help yourself". I don't want to seem cold and dismissive, but this is something people NEED to learn how to do eventually. Yes, Satoko feels isolated and put full faith into Rika keeping her promise in Loop 1; but note that she doesn't ever directly tell Rika about her feelings once they get into the academy. They did talk about this prior, but they were just entering middle school-- it's not completely impossible Rika actually forgot her promise in 3 years; Shion forgot hers to Satoshi in about 2 after all.

Even if Satoko brings up the promise Rika made, it's too late and they're past the point of reconciling their differences based on them stonewalling each other.

Rika has no idea Satoko thinks she was the one who reported the accident to the principal. So Satoko already had reason to start resenting her.

Satoko's wish is so that Rika would treat her better, but neither of them are willing to confront their own faults and are quick to point fingers at each other (sadly I have experienced this). They are quick to drop the subject when one says something the other doesn't want to hear (Rika even tells satoko to be quiet/shut up).

With or without 'Oyashiro' giving her these looping powers, as long as neither girl confronts their own flaws in how they're dealing with each other, they will inevitably break apart. Oyashiro is just making it more interesting for herself because, well, she loves drama. The sad thing is that Satoko said "well if you can make it happen, do it now" and Oyashiro took away any ability for her to rethink her decision and say no or change her mind. She can't NOT loop anymore until she has Rika exactly where she wants. With her, in Hinamizawa and away from St. Lucia's... but since it seems like Rika wants to go to St lucia's no matter what, Satoko is still killing Rika or setting her up to die even if she did everything right like in Tataridamashi. Because Satoko knows sooner or later once tragedy is avoided, Rika will immediately head for the books.

I'm not optimistic we'll really get a happy ending but hey... without love it can't be seen, right? We got the whodunit, the whydunit... all that's left is the howdunit and what Rika can do about it herself if she's trapped in Satoko's cage of loops.

#higurashi gou #i apologize if this isnt structured neatly #rika furude #satoko houjou #spoilers for the original higurashi arcs btw

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lacetulle · 4 years

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Hey there! Aspiring fashion designer here! I'm getting more and more into fashion and designing/ planning more and more outfits and I was wondering if you have any tips to get more into haute contour and fashion in general. Your blog has really helped me get a grasp of what I like and I all around love it!

I’m happy this blog could help in figuring out what styles you like! There are a ton of different mediums to get into fashion! I’ve compiled a list of options via videos, websites, and books. So strap in, this is a long post.

Since you already have an idea of who you like, I always suggest reading up on that brand/label/designer and going through their archives. For me, when I realized how much I loved Dior and knew I wanted to learn more, it was overwhelming at times because the label has such a long history. If you really like newer labels, like Zuhair Murad, Elie Saab, Iris van Herpen, etc., it’s a little more manageable to read up on the history and designers just because they were founded in the ‘90s/‘00s.

In terms of websites, I have a few to talk about.

Vogue. This is the easiest avenue to get into fashion. I’m not knocking it, because I use it the most for photos, but as far as websites go, it’s the most dumbed-down. But I mean that in the best way! The features, trend reports, and runway news appeals to even the most casual fashion fan. Vogue focuses mainly on big name/commercialized brands (Dior, Valentino, Gucci, etc.) rather than smaller ones (like Guo Pei and Ralph & Russo, two big couture names these days, get minimal coverage with Vogue). Vogue is a great resource for runway looks...it was my gateway into studying older runway collections. All in all, in terms of websites, Vogue is the tip of the fashion media iceberg. If you want to get into the more meatier parts of fashion, there are better sites.

Harper’s Bazaar. Like Vogue, it’s easy to navigate and leans more towards the more well-known fashion brands. Pre-covid, they always had a weekly street style recap as well. They have great lists but stay away from the business side of fashion. I typically use Harper’s Bazaar for the street style/every day fashion inspiration and news.

Who What Wear. A great site for following trends. They don’t focus so much on brands, but it’s a great resource for seeing what’s trending and options to buy said trends. For example, Who What Wear is the first place I went when I wanted to find a list of brands who were starting to sell masks.

WWD. Supposedly most designers prefer WWD to Vogue coverage. And it shows, since parts of the site require a subscription. WWD is one of the more technical sites and could be overwhelming for someone who doesn’t really understand the industry. They talk about the comings-and-goings of creative directors, financial news, and general fashion trends/news. It also has runway recaps and photos, which is typically what I use it for. If you’re really want to be in the know with breaking fashion news, they do offer email newsletters as well for a more condensed version of the site. Also, a super helpful page I’ve had bookmarked, their fashion dictionary.

Business of Fashion. The name is pretty self-explanatory. BoF is another one of those meatier sites that could be overwhelming at first. It’s also one that has a subscription service. BoF has great profiles of designers, so I’ve used the site as my starting point when learning about someone new. The BoF500 also showcases anyone and everyone who has a hand in shaping the industry.

The Impression. The cheapest of the subscription sites and the one I had until I cancelled a few months ago (not because it sucked, but, you know…corona). I mainly used them for their runway pictures. They were so fast to upload them, with details and backstage footage. The big draw is the fashion week/runway photography, but the talk about street style, short films and ads from brands, as well as fashion trends. At the end of every fashion week (New York, Milan, Paris, etc.) the put together a recap list of biggest trends, top shows, top models, and break down the numbers. I love the site for its minimalism and whenever the industry decides to have fashion weeks again, I’ll renew my subscription.

Magazines: Most people would say Vogue is the holy grail for fashion magazines, but I don’t think it’s that great (at least the US version). Vogue Paris, Italia, and UK are better in my opinion. And just because I don’t think the print version of US Vogue is the holy grail, doesn’t mean I don’t like it. I have a subscription and read it every month. Other options I really like are Harper’s Bazaar (any country’s version), Elle, InStyle, and W.

Videos: Other than the first one listed (which can be found on Netflix or Hulu, depending where you live), everything can be found on youtube. And now i’m constantly getting fashion recommendations on youtube, so it’s an easy rabbit hole to fall into.

First Monday in May. I’ve talked about this documentary before, but it bears repeating. It’s a gorgeous journey of how the Met Gala and Costume Institute Exhibit was put together. It’s about the ‘China: Through the Looking Glass’ exhibit in 2015. They interview big designers about how China has influenced some of their collections, and takes on the debate of whether fashion should even be in a museum. It was the first fashion documentary I ever watched and only made me fall more in love with fashion (and want to see every fashion exhibition).

The September Issue. Vogue’s September issues are always the biggest of the year. This documentary follows the process of designing the famous September issue of Vogue. I believe it was filmed in 2007 or 2008 so it’s dated, and digital media has changed the game, but it’s a good watch to see just how influential and important the September issue is in terms of forecasting fashion trends for the following year.

Savoir Faire: Christian Dior Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2011. A 50 minute video on how one, just one, piece from the couture collection was designed. It’s a great insight on just how much work goes in to creating a couture collection.

7 Days Out with Karl Lagerfeld. Another great showcase of the week leading up to a couture show, this time with Chanel. The documentary follows the 2018 show, which is one of Lagerfeld’s last few couture shows before his death.

Battle At Versailles: The Competition that Shook the Fashion Industry. It’s no secret that Paris is the epicenter of fashion. The couture houses are all based there, so France is typically where you needed to be to be a world renowned designer. In 1973 French and American designers competed against each other and brought American designers into the spotlight. There’s an hour long documentary on youtube and there’s a book that I’ve linked below. I’ve seen the video and I’m currently reading the book, so you have options here.

Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams. A good look at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs exhibit for the 70th anniversary of Dior. This documentary gives a nice, condensed look at each of the artistic directors of Dior and showcases some of the most iconic Dior looks. I knew about it, but didn’t go see it. I only saw pictures, which were beautiful…but to see it all come together on video was a dream. They talk to Celine Dion for a minute at the end, and her words sum up my feelings best about Dior, “I would love to wear one of these dresses one day, maybe in one of my lifetimes, or every night in my dreams.”

Books:

Inside Haute Couture: Behinds the Scenes at the Paris Ateliers. A gorgeous book with tons of photos about the intricacies that go in to a couture collection.

Kate Spade New York: All in Good Taste. I originally bought it for my coffee table collection, but it has some great style tips.

The Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled into the Spotlight and Made History. Just in case you’d rather read about this legendary fashion show than watch. I’m currently reading it, so I can’t give you my final take on it. But I’m loving it so far.

Dior by Dior: Christian Dior’s autobiography. Who better to tell you about the history of Christian Dior, than Dior himself.

Elsa Schiaparelli: A Biography. I’m a big fan of Schiaparelli and would love for her legacy to be more widely known. She was a very private person, so when this biography dropped I was excited to read more about her. Elsa Schiaparelli was Coco Chanel’s biggest rival and was a household name in her time, but most people know Coco’s name over Elsa’s today. This is a nice dive into Schiaparelli’s life, since most people focus on Chanel’s legacy (and let’s be honest, Chanel is very idolized, which is so unfortunate, given her Nazi ties, but I digress.)

Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano. I tend to rave about the designs by these two, so it’s a good look into their journey in fashion.

The Beautiful Fall: Fashion, Genuis, and Glorious Excess in 1970s Paris. If you’re interested in Lagerfeld (pre-Chanel days) or Yves Saint Laurent, it’s a great retrospective look at their rivalry.

Champagne Supernovas. If ‘90s fashion is something of interest, this book is a great read on how some big name rebels (McQueen, Marc Jacobs, Kate Moss, etc.) in the industry remade fashion as we know it.

Any of the Met Gala books: Camp: Notes on Fashion, Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, Manus x Machina, Heavenly Bodies, etc. My first one was the McQueen book, and at the time I didn’t know it was the official book from the Costume Institute Exhibit. They’re not all hardcover coffee table-esque books, but if you can’t attend an exhibit it’s the next best thing. They’re all great in-depth resources for learning about a certain area of fashion. They can be expensive, so I wouldn’t suggest investing in them unless you’re truly interested in that specific aspect of the industry. This year’s exhibit - whenever it opens - is About Time: Fashion and Duration. The exhibition book is already available and I think it’ll be an incredible exhibit of how current designers pull from older designers and trends.

The Fashion Book. It’s expensive. It’s massive. And it gives you a wealth of information. It’s essentially an encyclopedia for fashion. It’s not just designers; it highlights models, high profile photographers, style icons, and all those who influenced fashion.

I know this was long, but these have been the resources I’ve used over the years. I hope this can help you along your journey and if anyone has other things to add, please do!

#ask me anything

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earlymidsomermurders · 3 years

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Tom Barnaby and his father

Tom Barnaby’s relationship with his father is so wild to me. Barnaby as the father figure who has father issues of his own, I love that. The irony. The depth and vulnerability it gives him. Some of the show’s best character writing is about his relationship with his dad. And while the scenes may not seem like much: a jar of mouldy relish in Sauce for the Goose, some old tweed in The Made-to-Measure Murders, an upcoming birthday in Fit for Murder… there’s a lot there. It’s about a loving, but difficult relationship. About tensions and guilt. It’s about Barnaby, both wanting and not wanting to become like his father.

In Sauce for the Goose, it’s a half-eaten jar of relish... Barnaby keeps buying it because it was his father’s favourite. It’s a small thing that connects him to the memory of his father, whom he loved, and who died years ago. A small way, too, of emulating his dad. But there is an ambiguity there. Barnaby himself doesn’t like the relish. He’s never going to finish that jar, but he still insists on keeping it. It’s already spoilt, but it goes back into the cupboard, out of sight, where it will continue to go to waste. There is a sentimental admiration there, but this tiny scene also tells us about the difference between father and son. And it tells us that their relationship, while close, probably wasn’t an easy one.

In The Made-to-Measure Murders, it’s a suit. Barnaby recognises an old tweed fabric at a tailor shop – his father had a suit of the same material. It’s a happy discovery, and he decides to get his father’s suit remade for himself. In contrast to that, he talks about his father as a difficult man: “[We got on alright], in the end. But, you know… fathers and sons, it’s complicated stuff.” We learn that they had disagreements, even painful ones. But also, that his relationship with his father shaped who he is. Barnaby is far from idolising his dad. And yet, still to this day, part of him very much wants to be like his father.

Fit for Murder, Barnaby’s last ep, deals with his father’s death. Barnaby has been blaming himself – he feels he let his father die, that he could have saved him, or at least been with him in his death. It’s a consuming guilt, and it’s started to affect Barnaby’s health. He tries to imagine his dad’s last moments, but can’t bear it, and he can’t shake the thought that the same thing could happen to himself. That he could die the same way. And even though he works through some of that, the guilt and sadness still stay with him throughout the ep, and probably for good. There is no resolution. It remains a difficult relationship, long after his father’s death. Barnaby, who in a lot of ways has tried to be like his dad, dreads following in his footsteps until the end.

It’s an overall theme with the show, the “complicated stuff”, fathers and children. But there is something about the way Tom Barnaby’s relationship with his father is threaded through his seasons. It’s all very small-scale and very open. But touching. There is something about seeing a character who is unflappable, has a strong façade and hates showing weakness… do just that. And seeing this vulnerability through the relationship that was so vital to making him who he is.

#midsomer murders #tom barnaby #meta #sauce for the goose #the made-to-measure murders #fit for murder #father

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janeyseymour · 4 years

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Fight or Flight

In both the past and in this life, Jane Seymour fled from fights. They didn’t even have to be her own fights, she would still flee the scene. She was trying to get better- she really was. But it was hard to shake old habits.

“Catherine! Are you fucking kidding me?” Anne would shriek.

“Shut up Bo-loser! You’re just pissed I beat you at Monopoly again!”

“You were already going to beat me anyway! Why did you have to bankrupt me?”

“That’s just the business of the game Anne.”

“Jane!” Anne whined to the blonde. “Tell Catherine that’s not fair.”

“Jane!” Catherine drew out. “Tell Anne that’s just how you play the game and to stop being a sore loser!”

“Oh, I’m the sore loser? If I can remember correctly, up until recently, you were still pissed you lost Henry to me over 400 years ago!” Anne crossed her arms.

“Because you stole him from me! This is different Anne! It’s just a stupid game!”

“Don’t be bitter cause I’m fitter!” Anne quoted her song. The two continued to go back and forth arguing, not noticing that Jane was getting more and more panicked. Before the two could go any further, blonde fled the room and made her way to the car.

“Jane!” Catherine called after her. “Jane?”

“You two need to figure this out before I come back,” The third queen sighed as she turned on the engine.

“It's 12:30 querida. Don't you think it’s a little late to be driving around?” the first queen tried convincing the third to come back into the house.

“I just need to-” Jane pulled away.

At 3:30 in the morning, the silver queen pulled into the driveway safely, much to the golden queen’s relief.

“Katherine, I thought I asked you to take the trash out three times already? And yet it’s still sitting here? This is ridiculous!”

“I’m right in the middle of watching this movie though!” Kat argued back, not taking her eyes off of the screen.

“You weren’t the first two times I asked you to do it!” Jane refuted.

“Can’t you just back off? I’ll get to it when I get to it!” The fifth queen turned up the volume louder.

“Katherine Howard!” Jane’s voice boomed.

“I-” Katherine stood up immediately and went to take out the trash.

“Was that so hard?” the usually kind queen asked in a mocking tone.

“I know you’re frustrated, but you don’t have to be such an ass about it.”

“Fuck this,” Jane stormed out of the house, car keys in hand.

Three hours later, the blonde returned, visibly more relaxed.

“I’m sorry I called you an ass.”

“You were right love. I’m sorry I was being an ass.”

“Jane, come on. Can’t we talk this out?” The sixth queen pleaded with her less confrontational friend.

“Love, I don’t know what there is to talk about. I desperately pleaded with you not to continue to write into the night, and you did. Because of that, you slept in and missed the one breakfast I was really looking forward to making. It really hurt my feelings, and now I’m going to go on a drive and cool down before I lose it on you.”

“Jane, I apologized a million-” the front door closed.

The blonde got into her car and began to drive. She ended up three towns over before she broke down crying. Knowing it wasn’t safe to drive in the state she was in, she pulled over into a small parking lot and turned off the car.

“I just-” she began to talk to herself and talk out her feelings, something she rarely did despite what the fandom thought. She was rather reserved in her own feelings other than the show. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”

She looked up at the place she had parked. On one side of the parking lot was a tattoo parlor, and on the other was a pet store.

If Anna could have a dog and Anne was allowed to have a tattoo, why couldn’t she?

The blonde returned home with a small “VI” on her ribcage because despite the fact that the other queens angered her quite often, she knew all she would need is six. It didn’t make it any less meaningful when she remembered that her Edward was also known as Edward VI of England. And she returned with a fish: a small white betta named Eddie who she spilled her feelings to on the car ride home.

“We remade breakfast,” Cathy offered with a guilty smile.

“Thank you love. All is forgiven though.”

“You bought a fish?” Aragon tilted her head to the side slightly.

“I did. Meet Eddie.”

“After...?” Kat smiled softly.

“Yes.”

“He’s perfect,” Cleves had already begun to take out the fish tank tucked under Jane’s arms.

“I expect him to stay in your room.”

Jane Seymour spoke to the fish quite often about anything and everything hoping that maybe, just maybe, Edward up in heaven could hear her. And she never ate fish again. She couldn’t bring herself to.

“Anne! That’s my chocolate milk! Stop trying to take it from me!” Kat whined.

“Well, I don’t see your damn name on it, now do I?” Anne teased her cousin.

“Mum!” They both yelled at the same time.

Jane, who was up in her room and had already heard the girls yelling, found her keys and walked down the steps.

“Mum! Tell Anne to stop taking my chocolate milk!”

“Janey, tell Kit that I can drink whatever the hell I want in the house! It’s not just her chocolate milk!”

“Well, it would’ve been nice if you would’ve at least asked!”

“You don’t ask if you can drink Janey’s almondmilk!” Anne was getting more and more frustrated.

“I used to! Right Mum?” Kat batted her eyelashes, hoping she could use some of her Howard charm on the blonde.

“Kat! That’s not fair! You can’t do that when you know she’s going to take your side as soon as you give her that look and call her Mum!”

“What I’m saying is true!”

Jane had enough of hearing the girls’ bickering over something as stupid as chocolate milk, and half shouted, “Enough!” The other two were quite startled by this outburst. “This is a ridiculous argument to begin with. Kat, you know when you’re fighting you can’t drag me into this. You also know that since we’ve all gotten more comfortable living together that if it’s a drink or something small, it’s fair game. And Anne, you know that if it’s everyday, you should probably buy some more, but you never do. It’s always up to me. And yes Kat, you did used to ask, but you know now that what's mine is yours. That doesn’t just go for her, Anne. That applies to everyone. I just ask that everything gets replaced in a timely manner. Now, are we done arguing or...?”

“Well, I was going to grab the chocolate milk, but Anne took it before I could get to-” Jane held up a hand, signifying she heard enough. Without another word, she walked out the door.

The woman came back two hours later, two gallons of chocolate milk and a sharpie in hand. She had already labelled them for the two feuding queens. To her surprise though, there were already two brand new jugs of milk. It would last them a week before they began to fight again.

Jane may have had a tendency to flee from fights when it was between her own family, but if someone from the outside tried to come at any of the queens, she was the first one to fight. No one was to mess with her family.

The six were sitting down for an interview about a month before their show debuted. Yes, Jane was very nurturing to all of her sisters, but the love that she felt for them was much stronger than any of them had realized.

“So,” the reporter turned to face the first queen. “The first divorce. The one responsible for the Church of England. The one responsible for Bloody Mary. Why are you the best wife?”

“Sir, I do hope that you will try to conduct this interview as professionally and as kindly as possible,” Jane butted in before any other queen could, already noticing all of their discomfort.

“Quiet down Miss Seymour. Right now, this is focused on Aragon.” Jane eyed the interviewer before glancing at Catherine. She obviously was getting uncomfortable and was looking for a way to evade the questions at all possible costs. After a few questions of unbelievable prying and disrespect, the third queen had enough.

“You know what sir, I do think this part of the interview is over. All you’ve done is degrade Catherine and her legacy, and I’m sure I don’t want to know what you’ll say to the rest of us.”

“Jane, we can-”

“No Catherine. This man is not going to try to put us in a box anymore. We came back and started our show to show people that we aren’t just who they thought we are. So, sir, let me tell you how this is going to go down. I’m going to be asking the questions to all of the other queens, and then afterwards, you can ask me anything you please. But mark my words, if you so much as try to box us in anymore, I will lose my temper. You don’t want that.” Jane said fiercely before she folded her arms in her lap, the fire in her eyes slowly dying as she reverted back to the mild mannered woman she normally was.

“Yes ma’am,” the reporter gulped as he wrote down a few notes.

“Okay. Catherine, can you tell me what it’s like in our household?” Jane started off kindly.

“Well Jane, we’ve all grown quite a bit since we first came back. It’s been so wonderful watching each of us go on our own journeys and see how far we’ve come since we were first reincarnated. Our house is truly a home, and wherever I go, I know home is wherever you queens are.”

“Very nice. Now,” the third queen turned to Anne. “Because this is me conducting the interview now,” Jane laughed with a slightly bitter tone. “How has the dynamic of the group changed since we’ve all been together?”

“Oh?” Anne smirked a little, knowing that Jane was alluding to the fact that she could give details about how there are no rivalries anymore. They were done being pitted against each other; really, just simple politics if you were Anne. “Well, in history, we’ve always been put up against each other to see who is the best, who had it worst, who he loved more. And when we all came back, there was definitely some tension between a lot of us. For example, as you know Janey, Lina and I used to fight all the time. We still fight now, but it’s a lot more playful. And you and I had some tension, but now there’s no point to it. Cathy and Lina had some awkwardness but they sorted it out, and now Cath calls Lina ‘Madrina’. Kit thought Anna hated her, but there was no such hatred. At first, we all competed against each other, but in the end, we all realized-” she pointed to Cathy with a smirk.

“All we need is SiX,” Cathy quoted from the show.

“And Anna,” how do you think we all compare to each other?”

“Well Seymour, there really is no comparing us. We’re all our own people. We’re good at things, we’re bad at things, and at the end of the day, we’re all just human. None of us have to be better than anyone. As long as we’re being us, that’s more than enough for this family.” Anna emphasized the word ‘family’.

“Katherine, do you have anything to add?”

“Uh, not really Mum,” she let a small smile slip.

“Hold up. She calls you Mum?” The interview cocked an eyebrow.

“What’s it matter to you?” Jane snorted. “We’re all a family.”

“Yeah, we’re all a family. We have a strange dynamic, but it works, and I for one, wouldn’t change it for the world,” Kat said earnestly. The blonde shot her a small thumbs up. It was wonderful watching her surrogate daughter break out of her shell once in a while.

“And Cath?” Jane faced the writer of the group.

“All we need is SiX. We don’t need anyone to tell us who we are, or how we should act and be perceived in the public. We’re all perfectly fine with being ourselves and rewriting our stories- the way they should have been told all along. We are so much more than the few things we’ve been remembered for in history.”

“And Mr. Williams, do you have any questions for me?”

“No Miss Seymour. I think I have all that I need.” The interviewer gave a curt nod.

“Very well. Thank you for having us.”

Two weeks later, the article came out.

A few weeks ago, I had the absolute honor and pleasure of meeting the six wives of Henry VIII. At first, I began to ask Miss Aragon questions about the past, to which Miss Jane Seymour quickly shut down. She began to conduct the interview, not based upon the past, but based on what happens now that they are back.

I was able to sit back and listen to these six queens have a conversation, and let’s just say that they are here to reclaim their stories.

Catherine of Aragon, or “Lina” as she was referred to by the others, spoke with as much elegance as one would think, but her love for her fellow queens was clear. She stated that wherever the others are is where home is. She spoke highly of all of their self-journeys.

Anne Boleyn, master of politics, was able to explain that despite what happened in the past, all they truly need now is each other. While there were some rivalries in the beginning, the queens find no point in fighting over who was the most important queen or if one was better than the other.

Anna of Cleves, also known as Anne of Cleves, was able to add onto this by saying that there is no comparing them anymore. They are all individual women with different life journeys. So long as everybody is doing their best, it’s enough for their family.

Katherine Howard, the youngest and most quiet, was able to contribute to the idea that they were family simply by calling Miss Seymour her “Mum”. At first, this struck me as quite odd, but the queens were well aware. The dynamic of the household is “strange”, as Miss Howard put it, but it is something that she “wouldn’t change for the world”. The other queens quickly agreed, Miss Seymour even giving her daughter a thumbs up.

Catherine Parr, or Cathy, made it very clear that they were here to reclaim their stories. No more are they going to be put into the boxes or simple rhyme that we hold them to. These girls are going to reclaim their stories in the musical SiX, which debuts next month.

As for Jane Seymour, this queen herself lived up to what all of the others had said. Jane Seymour, widely known as the most demure queen, showed that this was her life. She did not shy away when I began to ask questions that were a bit too intrusive in hindsight. No longer should she be known as “bound to obey and serve”. No, she proved that to me quite quickly.

None of these women are bound to obey and serve the stories we’ve placed for them in history. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what these queens have to share with us. SiX the Musical debuts in August. Be ready for the histo-remix.

As an addendum, I would like to address this to the queens themselves, if they decide to read this (I would not be offended if they chose not to). Queens: I am terribly sorry for my lack of privacy and the way I began to conduct that interview. You are all absolute treasures who I can not wait to see on stage. Thank you for this eye-opening experience, and best of luck to you all! Keep using your voices!

And to Miss Seymour: I’m terribly sorry for acting so out of line. Thank you for putting me in my place.

Jane smirked when she saw that last line. She found her voice, and she was determined to stop fleeting from confrontation. It had done the queens good.

#six the musical #six musical #six fanfiction #six the musical fanfic #six fanfic #six musical fanfic #six the musical fanfiction

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nellie-elizabeth · 3 years

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The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: One World, One People (1x06)

Oof, okay, so I obviously enjoyed watching this, but I do have some things I would like to discuss.

Cons:

The biggest one is honestly about Isaiah. I understand that this is a superhero show, and there's some cheesiness baked into the very concept of it. I like the idea of a triumphant ending for our heroes, where amends are made and everyone is brought some measure of peace. BUT, I feel like a more nuanced, more true to reality ending here with Isaiah might have been different. Maybe he gives a tip of the hat to Sam, says he's happy he's found his peace, but he still doesn't agree with his choices. See, the thing is, some people who have been hurt by systems want that system to acknowledge its mistake, to apologize, to make amends. That's what Sam is pushing for. He believes we can do better, and all that. And that's a wonderful perspective. But other people who have been hurt by systems might not want anything to do with that system ever again. At the end, when Sam sets up the part of the museum for Isaiah, he says "now everyone will know what you did for this country," and Isaiah seemed pleased and touched by this. But I couldn't help but think... he was forced into doing those things, and then punished for doing them. If he'd decided he didn't want acknowledgment, didn't want to be linked to the idea of American heroism... I couldn't blame him for that. It might have added more nuance to the ending. Sam could have even said that it's okay if he and Isaiah don't agree on the best way forward, they still have mutual respect, or whatever.

As a white lady, maybe I'm off base. I'm just really curious at what the reaction is going to be. All through watching this show I kept saying to myself that an ending where Sam takes up the shield and becomes Captain America can't stand on its own. There's got to be nuance. There's got to be some good justification for it. And as I'll talk about in a moment, I think they've done an okay job... but I also wouldn't be surprised to find some people enormously dissatisfied with this conclusion. Steve Rogers handed the shield to Sam, yes. But should we forget what he did before handing it over? Well, he walked away from the government and was on the run because he didn't respect their choices. Just some food for thought.

I also just want to say: ????? to that ending for John Walker? It was so bizarre to see the light banter moment between him and Bucky after Walker had quoted Lincoln. Like... that felt so out of place. And now he's being made into an American agent? I don't understand that random lady's role in events. I don't know if I'm supposed to think it's sinister and creepy as fuck that John still has a uniform, and even the suggestion of authority (I do think it's creepy as fuck, for the record), or if I'm supposed to be... pleased that he got a new job? Just, tonally, the stuff with Walker in this finale was all over the place. He didn't seem to really matter, and yet he was still there, and the episode didn't seem able to reckon with his presence.

Oh, also, I can totally respect a bit of ham-fisted politic in a show like this. It's really the only way to do it. But Karli saying that Lamar didn't matter, and John saying "you think Lemar's life didn't matter?" was, perhaps, a little on the nose. I'm not sure I like the BLM mouthpiece being blond haired blue eyed John Walker, especially when Lemar's death, at least as a narrative function, only happened to allow John to get sad and angry about it. Where's his wing in the museum, huh?

Also Sharon Carter, she's my girl or whatever, but I gotta admit she was kind of boring to me in this whole series. I wanted more from her. The reveal that she was the Power Broker had me shrugging. I wanted to be more shocked, but she was so clearly telegraphed as being fishy from minute one. The fact is, we haven't had enough time with this character to figure out who she actually is as a person, yet. I don't understand her, and that's a shame.

Pros:

That was a long "cons" section, especially for an episode that kept me riveted the whole way through!

First off, the action was exciting and different and had so many classic "superhero moments" while not totally abandoning a more grounded feel. Sam holding the car up was such a Moment. Also the "that's Black Falcon!" "No, that's Captain America" moment was so cheesy but exactly the right kind of cheesy, you know? We got to see everyone being a bad-ass, crowds applauding, Sam's fantastic entrance with the new suit, the wings, the shield... damn. It was all cool in the way the best Marvel products need to be.

So, Sam taking the shield. I think it works because of his speech to the politicians. Specifically calling out the power they have, and the people they have in the room with them when they make the decisions that will affect so many people. There's this wonderful moment when one of the politicians asks a legitimate question: what about people who came back after the snap to find someone else living in their house? It's so complicated. And as the show ends, we're not given a simple answer. Sam merely points out the miracle of having everyone fighting the same fight for once. These rich and powerful people have had no idea how impossible it can be, and now they're getting a taste of that. There might just be the power of equalizing in all of this.

And most important to me? The government didn't hand Sam the shield. Sam took it and took ownership of it on his own terms. Think back to the legacy of Steve and the shield, honestly. Yes, he was given it by the government, but then he stole it when he ran away, then he gave it up, then Tony gave it back to him... it's a lot more complicated than it might first appear. Nobody's going to argue that the shield was Steve's to give, and he gave it to Sam, and Sam took it for his own. That made it work for me, as a direct contrast to the way in which John Walker got his hands on it.

Karli's death was inevitable and tragic. While I never cared all that much for her character as an individual, she worked quite well as a symbol. Sam points this out in his speech as well. Hasn't anyone stopped to wonder why people believed in this cause so much they were willing to die for it? That matters. It means something. And more will follow. I appreciate that the show ends on an ambiguous note. The people in power are still the people in power. And yes, their decision has been postponed. They've decided not to relocate people and replace the borders immediately. But what is the long-term solution? How does the world begin to heal? Well, we don't know. We don't get to see that.

If anyone got short shrift in this finale it was Bucky, but I'm honestly okay with that for a couple of reasons. One, this is Sam's show and I'm happy that it stayed that way. And two, we saw Bucky's emotional arc come to a head in last week's episode. The work isn't done, but he knows what the work is that he has to do, and we see him start to do that. He gives the journal up to his therapist. A way of letting go of his guilt, but also of saying goodbye to Steve in a way that can give him some actual closure. He confesses to his friend Yuri what really happened to his son.

And more than all of that, he shows up to hang out with Sam and his family. He brings cake. He goofs off with the kids. He hugs his friend, his partner, Sam Wilson. I can see Bucky coming to peace with some things. Coming into his own. It breaks my heart that we don't get to see more of that play out on screen. The show had to make a choice about whose story to prioritize, and in my opinion it made the right choice. This was a show about Sam's journey and Sam's decision here at the end was the capstone of that.

That scene at the end, though... the kids hanging off of Bucky's metal arm was such a poignant image for me, because this man is a killing machine, was designed to be so, but has remade himself into something else, and this moment really showcased that. Also, that gay-ass ending of Sam and Bucky looking out over the water together and then strolling away, Sam's arm around Bucky? Thank you for my life, Disney, I guess. And we got Bucky calling Sam "Cap," and his obvious admiration and pride in him for his speech... I just love them, y'all. I really do.

I wouldn't say anything about this show broke the mold or made me really excited about Marvel again. I enjoyed it, because I already liked Sam and Bucky, and I got to spend more time with them. I was nervous about how they were going to navigate certain political stickiness, and honestly I think they did... an okayish job. I could have wished for them to go even further, but they didn't take the easy way out, in my opinion.

I hope they make more of this someday. Regardless, I'm not ready to say goodbye to Sam Wilson or Bucky Barnes, so I hope we get to see Captain America and the White Wolf grace our screens again in some project or other!

8.5/10

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

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bluerosesburnblue · 3 years

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The BDSP reveal has me legitimately concerned about the future of the way the franchise handles remakes (especially since next on the list is my second-favorite region, Unova). There’s just so much about them that looks bad, and the only actual defenses I’ve seen are extremely shallow (it’s nostalgic, it’s cute, I liked Sinnoh as-is). I'm looking at what both sides have to say, both in favor of and against BDSP, and trying to think of a solution that would work for the most amount of people

The one I came up with, and the one I think would probably be the best going forward, is:

Outsource an HD remaster of DPPt (or just Platinum) that just cleans up the spritework and updates some of the scenery, along with some relatively minor tweaks like getting everything onto one screen and upping the battle speed (like TWEWY Final Remix). This would be geared towards people just looking for a bit of nostalgia, people who already thought Sinnoh was basically perfect, people looking to replace the old game that they can't access anymore or that can’t access Wi-Fi, and people who might've missed the originals when they came out and are looking for the old-school experience. I feel like the game preservationist position is seriously overlooked, and a lot of defenders act like a remake is the ONLY way and that a Switch port simply can’t be done because DPPt were DS games when the very fact that TWEWY:FR exists proves this wrong. Most of them also seem to be of the “I just want to play DPPt again” persuasion, and in that case wouldn’t a better solution be to clean up the game that already exists for a decreased price? The World Ends With You already proved that the “HD port” model is viable, and “clean up this already made game” is much easier to outsource than “rebuild this old game from the ground up”

Make these a tie-in to the two new projects. Split GameFreak up into two teams:

One team makes Sinnoh remakes the way that was expected. Either SwSh's art style or LGPE's, just make sure they have the standard catching system. These are the ones taking a closer approach to ORAS with updated character design, some region design, and a refined story. I don't think working in Dynamax would be good due to how Galar-centric that mechanic is, and I'm not even asking for Megas back because I don't really care about them that much, but you can still update the Sinnoh experience by adding in some Fairy-types and maybe some Sinnohan variants of Pokemon from Gens 5-8 (maybe ones that would have their original form in Legends that don’t exist in the original Sinnoh Pokedex) to address the type variation issues in the Sinnoh Pokedex and give people something new to play around with. I did like the fact that you could see Mt. Coronet in the background of BDSP’s battle scenes and I think that could be worked in with much greater impact with a SwSh-like style and a camera that occasionally sweeps upward to show off Mt. Coronet

Also, I would die if we could incorporate some of the Ultra Space lore into these. Come onnnnn, there was so much untapped potential in that concept and what better time to bring it back then the games starring the Pokemon of Time and Space?

The other team makes Legends Arceus. The key with developing both internally is to have the two teams in contact with each other during development to synchronize the setting, worldbuilding, available Pokemon, and story between the two in a way that feels natural. You're looking to really sell Legends as the "past version" of the remade Sinnoh, and that could mean taking the Remake Team's design for something like the Solaceon Ruins and recreating it down to the details but making it look less worn with age. Add in some earlier variants of Pokemon we’re familiar with (which they may be doing already tbh). Maybe keep some buildings the same between the two to add to the "ancient" vibe that Sinnoh loves

The only current issue with this model is the size of GameFreak's team, admittedly. I don't think they have enough manpower to make something at the scope of Legends and a full remake simultaneously as they are now (just look at how they tried to juggle LGPE and SwSh, both of which were less ambitious than my proposal). But this is a pretty fixable problem, all things considered. There could also be possible budgetary issues that I can't make calls on because they don't release many numbers, but if the two teams were sharing some assets, I think that would probably cut production time and cost as well as heighten the visual unity of the Past Sinnoh and Present Sinnoh

For the record, I don’t hate SwSh at all. I think they’re a decent base, they just need some refinement and could benefit from more development time and a larger team. That’s not anything against GameFreak except maybe with team size, mostly against TPC and how they run the franchise

This is just the best idea I came up with to make the most people happy, with what I feel is the best potential for success as a Year of Sinnoh celebration. It pays direct honor to the originals, while providing something new, but still familiar, and also something completely different and experimental. Personally, I find I’d be much more supportive of an HD port than what looks like an uninspired and frankly a bit amateurish remake

#pokémon #pokemon diamond and pearl #pokemon platinum #pokemon brilliant diamond and shining pearl #and as an aside can we stop defensing ILCA with 'but they worked on nier automata/yakuza 0 and those were good games so this will be!'#they're a SUPPORT STUDIO #their work on those games was so minimal that we don't even know what they did on the except 'helped!'#they've never made a game by themselves before! there's a good chance they don't know what they're doing!#having 'helped' on two successful games does not mean that their first solo game will be any good!

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skidar · 4 years

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Disney announces a ‘live action’ (hyper-realistic CGI animation) remake of Bambi

I’m sure most of the world is tired of the Disney remakes and sequels that have been plaguing the box offices as of recent years. With all the stories of the world that have yet to be told, Disney is opting to stay in the illusionary ‘safe lane’ and continue the hash out the same products it already knows will sell instead of trying to cobble together an original feature. It’s hard to believe that the animation company that backs amazing original tv show ideas like Gravity Falls, The Owl House and Amphibia cannot fathom how to make an original animated movie. Is Disney actually scared of risk? It shouldn’t be! Disney is literally too big. A massive media monopoly that could literally make flop after flop in the box office over and over in experimentation and not fail. So many indie studios do NOT have that luxury and yet still take crazy risks to tell us new stories in new ways. Disney used to be the animation pioneers but recently the only thing Disney seems to create are re-hashes of its classics that fall all too short. Disney is focusing on the visual realism in its films while seemingly ignoring the heart and soul that made the originals so successful. The most recent and best example was The Lion King remake. While the films boasts near-flawlessly realistic animals, their stoic expressions and restricted movement made them unappealing. The movie copied dialogue from the original word-for-word and nearly shot for shot but the focus on the realism cut the character’s charm completely out. The ‘I Just Can’t Wait To Be King’ number lost all its stylistic qualities that made the song bright and colorful and the character’s lip-syncing to the songs was emotionless and stale. The characters also no long moved with expressive freedom. Are they happy? Sad? Overjoyed? We wouldn’t know. The Lion King remake was devastatingly disappointing. A realistic skin stretched over the bones of a far better film while letting no charm or heart escape the cold, hyper realistic faces.

Surely Disney would realize the mistake and stop. Right? Surely they could dig around their submissions box and try to make something new with the skills they obviously have without resulting to re-hashing it’s already successful classics. Right?

Wrong.

Disney now has Bambi on its chopping block of remakes and plans to do to it what it’s done to The Lion King. Virtually gut it.

Bambi cannot be remade successfully as a hyper realistic film today. You could tell the story, yes, based off the original book, Bambi: A Life in The Woods by Felix Salton, but it would not be the visual masterpiece of the original. Let me explain:

Bambi was the 5th animated feature by Walt Disney but it was MEANT to be one of the first. Walt wanted to make Bambi from the beginning but he wanted to make it ‘right.’ He wanted to stray away from the ‘toony’ simplified animals of Snow White and Pinocchio and instead focus on realism, anatomy and expression. He brought live animals into the studios and worked with animal artists to develop a healthy balance of realistic anatomy and exaggerated features. Ie: Bambi’s large forehead and eyes symbolized that of a toddler as a young deer.

Bambi also pioneered new ways of technology, the early pan-shot of the forest in the beginning of the movie was made by painting trees on long panes of glass and then stacking the glass vertically and sliding the panes around to show depth. By sliding the camera on a track from left to right, the viewer was transported through a ‘3D’ forest that moved and shifted with them. Bambi also brought about the study of the art of water physics for the ‘Little April Shower’ scene. By filming and photographing drops of milk, the animators learned how to draw the intricate patterns of a splashing drop of water on a leaf or in a puddle.

Speaking of animators, Bambi employed at least four of Walt Disney’s ‘Nine Old Men’ some of the most well-known character animators in history: Milt Kahl, Frank Johnson, Ollie Thomas and Marc Davis. The iconic movements of Bambi and the other animals would not have been possible with them, but the biggest artistic influencer of Bambi was a young Chinese-American man name Tyrus Wong. Tyrus Wong had been an inbetweener animator on Pinocchio but expressed interest in Bambi by privately submitting some sketches to Walt. He was hired and became the lead production illustrator of the film. Tyrus Wong’s beautiful watercolor backgrounds were soft and simple, setting a film steeped in nostalgia, innocence and beauty of the natural world. Without Tyrus Wong, the film would have been completely different.

Bambi was also the first Walt Disney film to recognize a woman in its screen credits. Traditionally, women often worked in the Disney Ink and Paint department coloring cels. Retta Scott was a storyboard artist that worked mostly on scenes with Bambi and his mother, but became well known for her savage hunting dogs sketches that caught the eye of Walt Disney during production. Many men were shocked at the ferocity of her dogs because ‘she was a women and shouldn’t have been able to draw something so vicious,’ but she became the lead animator for the hunting dogs that chased Faline during Man’s hunt. She was tutored by another member of the Nine Old Men, Eric Larson. Retta Scott’s continued yet under-appreciated success opened doors for many women in the animation industry.

Bambi was a film of massive risks and little payoff. It challenged style, it pushed animators to their limits, it experimented in technology, color and technique. It opened doors for marginalized people that usually had doors slammed in their face. It received backlash for its violence and the anguish of loss and its questionable suitability for children. Bambi broke boundaries… but wasn’t much a success until it’s future re-releases.

Bringing us back to the present. Disney announces a Bambi remake similar to the failed ‘Lion King.’ There will be no luscious backgrounds of Tyrus Wong. There will be no jaunty gaited fawns crafted by the masterful Nine Old Men. There will be no ferocious hounds carved by the hand of Retta Scott to make a path for women. There will be a story of a deer in the woods. A ‘real deer’ in ‘real woods.’ It will be hollow and lifeless. It will be eye-candy at best, but it will not be better than the original. The original is a true masterpiece. It is not something that needs to be redone or retold. Bambi was a risk, a risk that didn’t pay off in the beginning but today it is a marvel. A true testament of art and love of the craft and it cannot be replaced. Disney should not remake Bambi, they should learn from it, they should learn that they are big enough to take risks and they can. They should learn to give marginalized creators a chance to shine because they have something amazing to share. They need to let go, move on, and embrace the fear of the untold story. I hope that in the years to come, the age of remakes and sequels will stop and we can look forward to a new era of wonderful stories that get to be told for the first time in animation.

Bambi is my favorite movie in the world. I have seen it well into the hundreds if not quad digits. I watch it when I’m happy, I watch it when I’m devastated. I watch it when I’m sick and I watch it when I wake up from a nightmare and can’t fall back asleep. Bambi is what made me want to become an artist and I have a lot of personal feelings about the movie as a work of art. I’m not looking forward to the remake, I can only hope and hope and hope that Disney learned from the Lion King and won’t make the same mistakes again. Until then, we just have to wait...

#skidar art #bambi #bambi essay #I guess??#remakes #disney #deer #fawn #bambi 1942

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who-is-reign · 4 years

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Hello, hi, hey

Hi I did a short writing thing- here it is!!

Everything starts with a hello, a hi, a hey. A greeting of some kind. Ours started with something else. It started with a trip, a lot of apologies, and crying. Though I feel like I should probably start at the beginning. That makes more sense anyway.

It all started on what I knew was not going to be a normal day. The day started with two pieces of toast, 3 slices of peaches, and a mug of earl grey tea. Or what I was hoping to be a mug of earl grey tea. I poured the rest of what was left of my mug into a thermos and walked out the door.

3 stairs, take a left, 5 steps forward to the next stairwell. 10 steps down, 5 breathes, 2 stops I could have taken, 7 doors I could see. I ran to my car, even if it was only 5 feet away.

30 minutes and a coffee stop later, I was at work. I work at a publishing firm as the executive editor. I have been there since the start of this company, Indigo Query. I helped with the name of course. Most of the books that I edited are Best Sellers right now. I can’t say I’m not proud of that.

Today is the release date of the first book I wrote. I have babied this book for 4 years. All of the characters are complex and have their own stories. I tried to make it to where there weren’t any background characters. To where there were stories going on behind the scenes, or the main focus of the chapter. It is 1563 pages, 12 pt. Times New Roman font, 468900 words. This book is my literal child. I have had these characters since I was in 6th grade. I only started seriously writing out their story in the last 4 years.

I just realized that you know nothing about me. Maybe that’s for the best. You’ll find out later anyway.

I walked in, went through the cafe, up the elevator, through the small library. I was there, and my book was there. On my desk, I saw a hardcover copy of my book. I almost started crying. Okay, I did start crying. That art was my choice, it was made by one of my oldest friends. I carefully picked up the book, letting my hands run over the almost woven texture of the cover, the embellished sides, and the title. Lastly, my name, small in white coloring. I turned to the copyright page and breathed in. My name is listed as the author and editor. My best friend’s listed as the cover artist. This is what I was meant to do. Write books, edit books, publish books.

I put the book down, I couldn’t read it. Not yet. I needed to meet with Leo Adams, president of the company. He is not the original president, he took over after the old president passed. I personally am not a fan of his. I think he is corrupt and doesn’t deserve the company. The only thing I can hope is that one day this company, my home, will get a better president. The only reason I stayed with this company, is because of my book. I could leave if I wanted to, other publishing companies have asked if I wanted to sign for them.

But I have something in my eyes, something I can’t give up. I want to own Indigo Query. I want to own the thing I love more than anything. This company is my life, my livelihood. I hate seeing a man who doesn’t care about books be in charge of it. I need to save the company I have over a decade of time into. But right now, it is my time. My book is getting released.

I need to focus on that and nothing else. I need to work, that’s what I need to do. What I want doesn’t matter right now, and it won’t matter for a while.

I walked as fast as a caffeinated lesbian could without it being considered running to Leo’s office.

“Ms. Kore, it’s fantastic to see you. And of course congrats on the book release, it looks fantastic already.” Leo’s words drawled on, a slight curve to his phrases. I hated it.

“Of course sir, I couldn’t have had this book released without you,” I replied, trying desperately to keep the ill intent out of my voice.

What I didn’t say, was that of course, I couldn’t have had this book released without you. Even with you, there were so many issues with getting it released. Including the date getting pushed back 6 months. I could have had this book out, and sold by now. But no, he said it was too problematic. It took all of the editors, our cover designers, the VP of the company, and basically everyone to get him to allow it to be sold.

“Though Ms. Kore, I must tell you, I really do not think this book will thrive that much. I just do not want to see you getting hurt. Take the day off, you need to.” I almost scoffed once he said that, but I really only muttered thank you and walked out of the office.

I practically ran to one of my coworker’s desks and sighed completely and utterly overdramatically. This coworker has been my friend since high school and they helped found the company. They also know about my aspiration to own Indigo Query.

“Oliver, I can’t believe him. He literally said that he didn’t think my book would work out and that he just didn’t want me to get hurt.” I groaned and tried to not sound whiny, though I know I did.

“Babe, that is so horrid but also you are so close to literally owning this company. You are so close, and you can’t lose sight of what you have done because our boss is horrible.” I know they’re right, and I am really close, but I need a break.

“I’m leaving for the day, Adams said I had to.” I sighed.

“Girl you have been here for less than an hour, sit down.” Oliver raised their eyebrows and practically forced me to sit at my desk.

I just rolled my eyes and got to work on a new manuscript that came in today. It wasn’t long before my eyes felt like they were going to burst from my head.

“I’m taking a coffee and tea run. Want anything?” I closed the manuscript, my question aimed for Oliver who was holding a red pen and had a red pen tied up in their hair.

“Yes, yes, and yes please darling. You know my order anywhere.” And they were right, their order hasn’t changed since freshman year. Unlike everything else. Oliver used to be really shy, with red curly hair, they didn’t have confidence. And now they talk or flirt with everyone, have longer sunset ombre hair, and have more confidence. I’m proud of them.

I walked out of the building and to the nearest cafe. I ordered Oliver’s, which was a matcha latte with added raspberry syrup, apparently, it was amazing. Then I got a London fog earl grey tea with extra vanilla syrup.

I noticed the cafe had a small bookstore and I walked over there after ordering. I saw something that warmed my heart, my book. I inhaled deeply in shock, already a small bookstore had my book in it. I grabbed a copy and read through some of it. My words, my characters, my world. I get now why it is such a big deal for Oliver every time they see a book they wrote. I only walked away when I heard my name getting called. I grabbed both of the cups and walked away, saying thank you many times.

Close to the door, the not so impossible happened. Someone ran into me, my tea spilled everywhere. Oliver’s drink ended up being safe somehow.

“I am so sorry, I can’t believe myself, I’m so sorry. Deeply sorry. Let me help.” The person who ran into me sputtered out.

“Don’t be sorry it was an accident, it is okay,” I say looking at them softly.

They had hair a little bit longer than their shoulders, it was a coppery red. Their eyes were a shade of amber. That was when I realized.

“Laurette?” I asked, stunned that this may be her.

“Yeah? Do I know-- Persephone!” Laurette hugged me and sighed. “It’s fantastic to see you!”

“Good to see you too. What are you doing these days?”

“Oh! I’m living with Ophelia with our kid. I’m a fashion designer and she is a daycare owner. So she gets her share of kids every day. What about you?” as Ophelia spoke I could practically feel her love for her wife.

“That is fantastic! I’m the chief editor and now an author for a publishing company called Indigo Query. My first book got released today actually. I work with Oliver Evanora.” I was filled to the brim with pride.

“Really? Congrats! I bet the book is amazing! I’ll have to check it out sometime. Tell Oliver I said hi. ” Laurette sighed happily, “Well, it’s been great seeing you, I’m so sorry about the tea. I hope to bump into each other again.”

I smiled and went back up to the counter to grab the tea they remade, gave them a 10 dollar tip, and left. A newfound pleasure seeped through me. I walked back to the office, careful not to spill anything. I gave Oliver their drink and went straight back to work.

4 hours later and the clock showed 5 pm, the day that I had been waiting for years to happen was over. Since I needed desperately to get home, I made Oliver give me a ride home.

“Why didn’t you drive to work? You have a car.” Oliver asked when they were in their car.

“Because I wanted to walk.”

“It’s winter, it is dark at like 4. You can’t walk home when it’s dark. We live in a city, girl.”

I just sighed, they were right anyway. I didn’t think it through.

“Want to get food?” They asked, “Cause I am starving!”

“Nah, I’ve got to get home.”

“Ok girl, whatever you deem useful,” Oliver said, already pulling down my street.

“Thank you so much! Oh and by the way Laurette said hi.” I said as I shut the door.

I went inside and set water on to boil. I started stirring the water clockwise and humming a distant melody. It was almost time. The water started to bubble like an ancient potion that had just been given the final ingredient. I poured the water over a mug, grabbed a tea bag, and let it seep. At this point, the stars were already out and thriving.

After a quick 5 minutes, I grabbed my mug and walked outside into my backyard. I went directly to my shed. My shed was more of my office than a shed. It had a typewriter, my laptop, a shelf filled with different types of teas or coffee. Plants were scattered about, my desk had a big fluffy white chair pushed up to it. Everything was a pastel blue, pink, or white. It didn’t really seem like it was mine, but it was. And it’s more of a home to me than my room is.

I sighed as I sat down on my mug, put on gardening gloves, and grabbed my spade. I went outside and started to get to work. I planted a new rose bush, I replanted my lemon tree that's growing out of their pot. I moved my ever-growing cherry tree to where they’ll get better sun.

All of this I did while humming, or singing in some parts. I am the type of person to sing and talk to my plants. I am also the type of person to own 3 trees and more plants than I can count.

I heard a bang and I flinched, my entire body froze in place, as if any movement would cost me my life.

“Is anyone there?” I whispered, barely to where anyone could hear it.

“Hello, darling” When I heard Oliver’s voice I calmed down, “sorry to scare you babe, but you seem stressed. Thought I’d help.”

“It’s okay, Oli.” I sighed, already putting my spade and gloves away. “So, how did you plan to calm me down?”

“Stargazing with some people from high school,” Oliver replied, smiling.

“Like who?”

“Kira, Raven, Laurette, Ophelia, Lilith--” Oliver was about to continue but I cut them off.

“Okay, I get it, almost everyone. Let’s go.” I said, laughing, “Let me change first.”

Five minutes later I was in Oliver’s car wearing a star printed black layered lace dress and 4-inch heeled black boots.

“Let’s go! I wonder if they all brought their kids! Oh, I can’t wait to see Sabrina or even Litha! I miss my coven friends.” Oliver used to be in a coven at school, it broke up after our senior year.

“Where is the place we’re going anyway?” I asked, playing with my acrylics.

“It’s only 30 minutes away, a small little cabin. Though, we are staying for a week. I took all the clothes that are yours at my house, it’s enough for 7 days. Plus they all look great.”

“What about work?!”My yells could probably be heard by our high school friends.

“I got it covered babe, don’t worry,” Oliver said in a sing-song tone.

“Got it covered? Um, no. My book just got released, I need to be in town.”

“Honey, your book is already almost sold out at 3 stores. I only bought one copy. Your child will be fine.” Oliver sighed as he looked at me, “You need this. More than any of us do. So, I dragged you into the countryside to look at stars and hang out with people from our high school. Don’t you want to see everyone’s kids? I’m pretty sure Ophelia and Laurette are bringing theirs.”

“Okay, fine. I do need this, don’t I?” I pulled out my phone and breathed in.

‘I need this, I need a break. 7 days hanging out with old friends will give that to me.’ I thought as I mindlessly scrolled through twitter.

Then I came across this,

‘Jdjisddsj this book came out today! I already love it! #ScarletDreams #Persephonekore’

“Holy bees, Scarlet Dreams is trending in the literature section on twitter.”

“That’s fantastic, but we’re here.” I looked up and saw a cottage with wildflowers surrounding it, two beehives sitting among the flowers, a few kids running through fields.

We parked next to where a collection of other cars were. Immediately I was pulled into a hug by Ophelia and Laurette.

“I missed you!” Ophelia exclaimed as she pulled away, her child pulling at her sleeve.

“I missed you guys too, it’s fantastic to see you.”

Oliver looked at me, then to everyone and said: “Was I right? Did you need this?”.

I could practically see his fear of him making a mistake, a dark sludge crawling through him, pulling him down and towards his own Tartarus.

“Yeah Oli, I really did. Work was starting to hurt a little.”

A group of three people left the cabin, they were all holding hands and walking right next to each other.

“Oh, hello. I’m Cassandra. I don’t remember you from high school” She said her last sentence more like an inviting question than a statement.

“Hi, I’m Persephone, I didn’t really talk to many people other than who I knew so I can’t expect you to remember me.” I ended my statement with a small laugh, trying to match her tranquillity.

“Babe, you said there wouldn’t be that many people” The person who spoke was as far behind Cassandra and they could be while still holding her hand.

“I wanted you to come, plus I didn’t that many people would show up, darling.” Cassandra's voice was somehow softer than it was before, it seemed as soft as flower petals blooming out to show a beautiful rose.

Or rather the sun urging a rose to show it’s own beauty. Cassandra’s red hair had so much volume it seemed to live on its own, like a red fox laid over her shoulder. She was wearing a vintage lace dress that was white with roses on it, you could tell a petticoat was hiding beneath the layers of the dress from how it poofed out. Her cheeks were a rosy red, and her eyes had pink eyeshadow flowing out from them. Her eyeliner wings were sharp enough to stab, and honestly, I wanted her to stab me with them.

As soon as I realized what I was thinking I felt guilty, though I wasn’t sure why.

A voice snapped me out of my thoughts, “Hi, I’m Jade!” said the other person next to Cassandra.

Her hair was a really big fluffy black braid, purple threaded itself through the braid, and blue and green followed. The braid went to her lower back and was tied with what I thought was a gold string. A black mini dress hugged her sides. A light pink fluffy jacket was partially zipped and fell off her shoulders. The dress went to her lower thighs, then a few inches down my eyes trailed down to her light pink knee-high boots.

“Take a picture and it will last longer darling,” Jade said, the tone of her voice playful yet held enough flirtiness to send shivers up my spine and turn my face red.

“Darling, let's not immediately start to flirt with the new girl. Let’s not kill her on the first day here.” Cassandra spoke, her tone matching Jade’s.

The one who has stayed behind Cassandra the entire time stepped forward, appearing to gain confidence from my embarrassment.

“Why not? She may hold up longer than I did.” They said, their voice was soft yet firm. It held together like a cactus in heavy wind, trying to keep its grip. I felt like that’s the type of person they were, a cactus. Harsh on the outside with spikes and a few flowers to lure you in, but held water and healing on the inside.

I knew my face was painted a shade that countered everything around me and the dress that now seemed to hug me instead of flow around me. Like the petals of a tulip instead of an orchid. My heart sped up and I felt frail, yet held stable by these people who I had only met what seemed hours ago but what I knew was minutes, or even seconds that had just been drawn out to a century.

Then coughing erupted into my thoughts as Oliver shimmed their way in between me and the group, “Let’s go inside, I need warmth.”

“It’s not even cold” I sighed.

“Whatever,” They said as they already started towards the cottage.

As soon as people realized that Oliver had started to walk away, people hurried to follow them. That was Oliver for ya, they could sure direct a crowd.

#writing #writing save #I did a thing #please read this #it took so long #pleaseee #my writing #original characters #original writing #i did this with my brainnn

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nomadicism · 4 years

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I read that one posts. I agree with Sol. I think it's more likely that Dreamworks crunched the numbers, figured it wouldn't be profitable and just canned the project than them cancelling it because of a very small section of the internet. p1

“p2 Mecha is just a dying genre as a whole. Even in Japan, isekai has taken it's place and there are hardly any new mechas outside of Gundam. That's in Japan! In the west, mecha is even more niche of an interest and general audiences don't gravitate towards it. I don't think that any mecha movie wouldn't do well at the box office. I'm even worried about that Gundam movie bombing at the box office.”

Hi Anon, thank you for the Ask!

Yeah, I agree with Sol too—and at risk of repeating what I’ve said in other posts about the movie thing—it’s really hard to convey just how incredibly unlikely a property like Voltron or Robotech will ever be made into a live-action movie. It really is about the numbers, as it always has been. Since the 80s, there’s this whole persistent and stupid element of the cartoon industry that continues to delude itself that promises or interest from Hollywood will ever pan out. There are so many scripts sitting in production limbo, that it’s almost criminal.

No one wants to risk money on a live-action movie based on children’s media IP that won’t bring in rated PG-13 or R dollars from adults, and no one wants to risk repeating the 80s He-Man film. The exceptions are live-action films made from children’s media IP that are fully owned by the company paying to produce the movie. I’ve got more to say about the complexities of royalties, but that’s awfully long-winded when I get into it, and I’d rather be long-winded about giant robots. (◕ᴗ◕✿)

The topic of mecha genre dying out is what really interests me here. It’s a topic that I think about a lot, as the beginnings of the mecha genre had a lot of deep cultural time-and-place stuff behind it, even if the stories were just kids and teen boys hopping into a giant robot to beat up other giant robots and monsters, in what were essentially 30 minute long toy commercials.

Isekai will come-and-go as all genres do. It’s not a new genre, but right now the types of themes driving the isekai stories being made speaks to a lot of interesting things happening in the youth of Japan’s relationship with digital gaming and role-play escapism. It’s fascinating, even though the focus of the genre as it’s done today hasn’t really grabbed me in the same way that isekai of the 80s-90s did.

Mecha isekai exists, and it’s only a matter of time before someone either remakes Vision of Escaflowne, or does a more mecha-focused isekai story similar to Magic Knight Rayearth. I doubt anyone would revisit Aura Battler Dunbine, or Super Dimension Century Orguss, but an otaku can dream.

Before we can say the mecha genre is dying, let’s briefly skim over the genre trends of the past +40 years. Every decade or era of mecha anime has a trend that reflects cultural concerns built into it, in a way that I don’t think any other genre of animation can touch (until now, with Digital/Virtual/Fantasy RPG World Isekai).

Late 60s-70s was: Super Robot smashes monsters and alien robots

Mid-70s – early 80s was: Combining Mecha Sentai Team Super Robot smashes monsters and alien robots

80s was: Real Robot + “how many sci-fi/fantasy settings can we put a robot into?” + the death-throes of Super Robot (e.g. Dairugger XV, Golion, Baldios, Godmars)

Also 80s: What the hell was Super Dimension Fortress Macross about? Cold war tensions of escalating end-the-world arms race meets an alien species whose only culture is fighting. Where songs about love, and the culture of love, are what win the day, not just transforming robots and big guns. Macross is deeper than it lets on.

Fun 80s: GoShogun happened. The first parody-satire mecha anime that still feels more serious than they intended, but is actually hilarious once you get past the dated gender roles humor (which was also kind of intentional satire).

WTF 80s: Space Runaway Ideon broke everyone’s minds.

Still not done with 80s: Gunbuster happened. The first angst-driven parody-satire mecha anime that blew everyone’s minds.

Late 80s-early 90s OVA mecha was a mix of Serious Cyberpunk-influenced Real Robot for older teens and adults + Mecha with Tits & Tentacles for Adults (see also space elf lesbians).

90s was: The Franchises Will Survive With Prettier Pilots, and Super Angst-Bot That Was Way More Influenced By Drugs And Ideon’s Ending Than Anyone Wants To Admit (aka Neon Genesis Evangelion) + “Since Gunbuster was a success, how many parodies of Super Robot and Real Robot can we do?”

Mid 90s isekai gems: Magic Knight Rayearth and Vision of Escaflowne

Late 90s: Brain-Powerd (not a typo) happened and it’s a shame no one remembers it. I’ve seen it’s influence come up in the 2000s – 2010s.

The 00s seem to be filled with a lot of re-treading of everything that came before but with different cross-genre influences and some of it really damn good but hard to remember because it all kind of blends together.

The 2010s-today: I have no idea what’s happening now b/c I can’t keep up with anything that isn’t Gundam. And why bother when there has been a flood of classic 70s-80s mecha releases—many for the first time in the US—to binge watch?

Knights of Sidonia was cool.

Since I haven’t kept up, I can’t speak to what new mecha anime is like, or why it's less popular (though I have an educated guess). It was gonna happen eventually, and I suspect that the kinds of post-nuclear and Cold War existential dread that informed mecha anime of the 60s-80s has moved on as target audiences grew up. Those lates 80s OVAs, where the stories could be more adult, reflect that growing up (and also Blade Runner’s influence).

I see the 90s as very transitional, includes reactions to the prior eras, but also reflects a lot of angst by Japanese teens and young adults caught up in the after-effects of 80s stagnation, and the constant test-studying to get into the best school to get the best job (if it exists) and figure it all out before you’re 14 so you can pick the best school to test into. Also, salary-man dad works 120 hours a week and is never home. Get in the Angst-bot Shinji.

Excluding the stand-out brands that survived their respective eras: Gundam, Macross, Braves series, Mazinger Z, Getter Robo, Evangelion; there’s not much other ground that can be covered right now that would warrant a series. The franchise mecha shows are grounded in their respective niches. It’s kind of odd that there isn’t an isekai mecha franchise, b/c that’s a niche that hasn’t been owned in the way that the other niches have (unless maybe Machine Hero Wataru is still a Thing?)

It’s worth mentioning that Sport Anime has really been having a moment for almost a decade now, and that’s super interesting to compare against isekai. Isekai about dungeon slimes or whatever vs literal horse-girls racing each other like high-school track. Thanks Japan, are y’all all right over there?

A few last things:

The success of Super Robot Wars tells me that mecha genre isn’t dying. Consider the ages of players. How many of them actually grew up watching Yuusha Raideen (aka Yūsha Raideen / Raideen the Brave)? There is an SRW manga anthology series, and loads of gachapon and collector’s grade mecha figures from old mecha anime get released with regularity. Someone’s buying that all that shit.

SRW is nearly 20 years old now, and they are still making video games that do one thing really well: rotate a 40 year old cast of everyone’s favorite robots into a battle strategy game held together by a duct-tape plot that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The games are fun, and it’s cool to put all these mecha into the same field. It’s really great to see older shows that will never be remade have little cut scenes in a newer animation style that still feels like the originals.

There’s also the old staple that started it all: the tokusatsu genre of live-action Super Sentai shows (e.g. Power Rangers). They’ve been making the Super Sentai Series since 1975, and there’s still fun to be had watching color-coded warriors use special powers/tech to summon forth some combining mecha to do battle with rubber suit monsters from outer-space. The effects are much better these days, but it’s the same formula, year after year and people still love it.

So with respect to mecha, I think what’s died or dying, is that people are afraid to have shameless child-like fun with giant robots. The genre got too serious and too angsty (and too horny without the grown-up edge of 80s OVA Tits & Tentacles mecha). The franchises carved their niches and aren’t going anywhere, while the genre survives in video games and collectables.

A lot of that shameless fun has moved into other genres, because nothing else explains a title like: “Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girl’s In The Dungeon?” or the nearly-ecchi concept behind the sports anime “Keijo!!!!!”. But that kind of fun is less child-like and more self-deprecating or pervy-humor. Both sports and isekai anime have their serious side, but seem to be dominated by stories that don’t take themselves too seriously, or like Yuri on Ice, aren’t afraid to take a concept that no one ever saw coming, and shape it into a good story.

I eagerly await a mecha sports anime (wait, no, I think that already happened), and I’d love to see a knock-out isekai mecha anime again. I think it will happen eventually, but probably not from Toei or Sunrise. If Tatsunoko could get beyond Moe Idols In Space, then the Macross franchise already has everything it needs to do a isekai series. That would be rad.

#mecha #ask me anything #anonymous #i'm sorry this got long

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ityaboyguzma · 5 years

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i want to end this bullshit right here & now;

Legend Of Mana should be remade. The game is amazing in every aspect. I can’t even imagine how beautifully the graphics could be reimagined & how much more detail we could behold. The game is a piece of artwork on it’s own, as were Secret Of Mana & Trials Of Mana.

Secret Of Mana remake had paled to the original in only certain aspects. Our environment gained more depth & the characters which filled the story became more solid. No more confusion over what certain pixels meant toward the characters’ appearances. The game was also made easier for younger audiences to play. I also appreciated the addition of the cut scenes shown at the inns.

I have only seen the e3 trailer for Trials Of Mana remake & I cried. The beauty & dimensions were more than I could handle. Just as i preordered Collection Of Mana, I intend to preorder the remake of Trials Of Mana. & of course, since Legend Of Mana was my favorite game in the series, I would preorder that as well. I would cut off all my limbs & sell all my possessions for a remake of Legend Of Mana.

Anyone who has genuinely played the Mana series, or even just played Legend Of Mana when a child would understand the true majesty of the game.

I have seen people complain about the map building, mission triggering, battle system & storyline. I think these people are uneducated & uncultured. Anyone how can’t recognize the ingenuity of the game should probably just stick to brainless first person shooting games.

The map building feature has also been seen in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance & Egglia. In my opinion, playing both Legend Of Mana & Final Fantasy Tactics Advance as a child, I was never once confused about placing land. I think the whole thing explains itself. In Legend Of Mana, there was even a feature where if you pressed a specific button it would tell you about land placement. & this is important, because the more playthroughs you have of the game, the more you learn about the game, the more fun it is to pay attention to elemental aspects in the pre existing areas & in the artifact placement (certain missions, pet monsters & produce will only be available if you are paying attention to element levels.)

I will admit, certain missions were difficult to finish, one that sticks out in my mind the most is Rachel. That mission is very difficult to complete without looking at a walkthrough. However, that mission isn’t crucial to the story & is still a very deep & fantastic mission. Perhaps if Meimei was more clear about her hints? For me, because I’ve played through more than thirteen times, I have pretty much every mission memorized. But I personally didn’t hate returning to locations you’ve already been to & talking to people you’ve already talked to to trigger new quests or complete or progress in quests you’ve already started. Because if you’re involved in golem making, blacksmithing, or magic/ instrument manufacturing, you would already be going out into the world to collect materials, so you would already be going back to places you’ve already been to.

Personally, I haven’t been too adept with battling. I didn’t understand plunge attacks, however my friend does. & that friend is more of a Dark Souls type player. What I will say is having the two other battle buttons freely customizable is so much fun. In every playthrough I have used different combinations of attacks with weapons & I am always learning something new. On top of that, as you utilize the other attacks (cheer & spin & so forth I mean) you learn really fantastic special moves. To this day I have a blast learning & using different special techniques! & playing as a child I was totally unaware of syncro. As an adult I love playing with the different syncros like treasure hunting with a polterbox & just exploring all the different gifts my followers & monsters can bestow upon me.

Lastly, for the elements people didn’t like, the story. The depth of the stories in Legend Of Mana is absolutely astonishing. I can’t believe anyone who played previous games in the series but say they don’t like Legend Of Mana. Sure, the gameplay changed. But there are so many references to the previous games. Like the Popoie statue save point, the statues of the Trials Of Mana Heroes, Death Jester & Gildervine in Kristie’s palace. All the names of weapon shops & inns & whatnot are all named after major characters that existed in the earlier games. Plus there’s ties to past areas, like the outskirts of Fieg lead to Altena & I believe Luon leads to Lorant (Rolante). Lumina/ Roa is basically the village of Mintos. & it is so exciting & fascinating to discover these areas.

& having three story arcs to lead to the end of the game is also reminiscent of Trials Of Mana. With the Dragons questline being a direct tie in because if my assumption is correct, Drakonis was also one of the final bosses in Trials Of Mana. Both the jumi story arc & Star Crossed lovers were beautiful stories that resonate within me to this day. & I’m sure I’m not the only one! During the scene where Matilda speaks to Irwin in the Underworld or the scene where your player character cries for the jumi with the flash of Bud & Lisa waiting for you at home. I have cried every time from these scenes. I cry at the end scene when Niccolo looks for the Sproutlings. The stories are so beautifully woven, people who I know in real life who don’t play video games are blown away by how powerful the stories are when I recite them.

& those are just the aspects people didn’t like about the game! One problem I have with a lot of mainstream rpgs is everything is so ugly, everything looks the same as what came before it. We would never have this problem in a remake of Legend Of Mana. The original game was so captivating on it’s own, imagine how deep & alive it could become. To travel the corridors of the Flames, down the alleys of moonlit Lumina. The winding, golden streets of Geo, the towering spires of the junkyard to the beautiful & serene lakeside of Kilma. It is my dream more than anything to live within that game.

& when you’ve played the game, when you’ve grown wary of questing, there is still so much for you to do. You can travel the land & collect & hatch monster eggs to raise your own pet monster, try your hand growing produce or adding amazing effects to weapons & armor to make your character godlike, as well as collecting the rare & unique weapons & armors. I stated before all the different ways you could play the game in battle. I love harvesting materials to create my own weapons & armor & in turn enchant them. I love to learn about all the different enchantments my armors can have. & when you’ve made great armor, you can turn them into golems! & along with learning special techniques, you can use your elemental coins & gathered materials to create instruments to learn new & powerful magicks to fight with.

& as all of this didn’t already sound like the greatest game conceived, the whole thing is decorated with colorful characters, who are all so different & in turn their own entities. I am in awe of Thesenis, witch of reincarnation & ex wife of the Deathbringer (am I wrong to assume he was Thanatos in Secret Of Mana? & didn’t he also appear as arch demon in Trials Of Mana?). Elazul is a knight who appears to be a bit of an wiener at first, but time & time again he wins me over with his love for Pearl & his yearning to save his race from a genocide at the hands of Sandra. Sandra, who only wanted to save the life of her beloved Florina.

Irwin may have been a demon, but most of the things he had done seemed to prove he was a good man worthy of love & acceptance. & the outcome of Star Crossed Lovers/ Heaven’s Gate rips my heart apart over & over. A quest that exhibits mankind’s jealousy & hate may be worse than the entities we call demons. & how the jumi story arc will forever change the way you look at gemstones.

As of this moment, I am sure there is so much that I’m overlooking about how great the game is. & perhaps for some individuals reading this, maybe you’ve learned new aspects about the game you didn’t even know before, maybe someone is reading this who played the game but didn’t like it at face value but may reconsider goaded by my ravings.

I grew up in a house with Secret Of Mana in the Super Nintendo. The game was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life (even to this day). The game ended up being given to my cousin by someone else. So for so long I dreamed to play the game myself, as I was too young when I watched my relatives play it. When I was ten years old I was given an old box of video games. The box contained Legend Of Mana. I rejoiced that I would at least be able to play a sequel to the game my heart yearned for. In time, the Mana series has become my all time favorite, with Legend Of Mana the very best in my opinion. (& also the last consider all the following weren’t all that good)

What spellbound me was not only the color, details & diversity, but the fact that as a ten year old with not a lot of video game or rpg experience outside of Pokemon, I was able to play it & finish it. My love of this game has kept me coming back & playing it over & over. & every single time I play it, I encounter a new element, learn something about it I never knew before, or just straight out find dialogue I had never seen before. Now I am twenty three writing this, & to this day it is my favorite game & I am still finding things within it that I had never seen before. This game is my home.

I would close by saying that to see this game remade would be a dream come true to me & many others. I am very sure/ aware the game was very popular in Japan which had caused the phone game that included the characters from the first three games. I wish I could have experienced that. But I think it’s a great game to get young kids into rpgs & into the series, because it was easy & colorful & there was so much to do. In my opinion I don’t think games like Elder Scrolls Skyrim would exist without Legend Of Mana.

All the critics & nay sayers should be ashamed of themselves. But if for some reason Trials Of Mana can’t sell to it’s quota, I think Americans should at least be allowed to preorder copies, so at least everyone on the same page as me can be satisfied. I don’t think anything in game needs to change to appease to players who never even liked the game in the first place. Legend Of Mana has a very strong fanbase that exists & will always love the game.

My only suggestions are additions. That I personally, would love to be able to use the whip from Secret Of Mana as a weapon in Legend Of Mana. After playing the remaster of Secret Of Mana, it reminded me how badass the whip & boomerang are. They would be a really exciting addition! It would also liven things up to see some new monsters. I would also be more than delighted to see certain areas extended & more quests as well as maybe a few completely new locations. I want to know what that one mysterious room in the Bone Fortress is for. It would be cool to learn more about the dragons, the other jumi & the academy of magic. But these are my opinions. All my prayers & life are devoted to this game. & I hope that it achieves a supreme success so maybe we could see a direct sequel. I would also like to learn more about Elise, since she created both the Lilipeas & Gaeus.

So for anyone who’s read this far, if you feel similarly to me, I think you should express it to. I would give everything that I am to see this game.

#legend of mana #legend of mana remake #trials of mana #secret of mana #Seiken Densetsu

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existential-fox · 4 years

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It’s a Remake not a Remaster

Final Fantasy VII Remake is not Final Fantasy VII.

This is a significant fact that will influence how you experience the game.

I understand how people feel however as I was, and still am to some extent, one of them. When I first heard that the game was in development, and especially when I heard that it would be in parts, I had serious, serious doubts. Despite my fondness for XIII that game is a mess and its sequels do little to amend its flaws. XV I have ranted many, many times about as being a massive disappointment to me in its story telling, world building, and character development. The game play was also woefully disappointing.

The recent Final Fantasy entries didn’t fill me with confidence. And then I played the original again earlier this year and found what I now consider a masterpiece of gaming history.

So I when I decided to buy FFVII Remake I had to wonder if I was leading myself to disappointment again.

What I found was that FFVII Remake is so much better than it has any right to be.

I’m not sure how they did it but they actually managed to deliver a game that feels like a worthy successor to the original.

But that doesn’t mean it is perfect. Oh no...its not perfect at all. When I say ‘is so much better than it has any right to be’ I am also saying that the overall package manages to be ultimately satisfying despite its many, many flaws. Its frankly ridiculous that I can see so much wrong with a game and yet still look back fondly on it without a hint of regret at my purchase. Weird.

Lets start with graphics because they’re objectively easier to review.

Graphics- In some ways I think the graphics are the perfect representation of the game’s overall feel. Because there are so many beautiful moments- the main characters are stunning, the cut-scenes are polished and smooth, the battle scenes and executions are breath taking and spit like an energetic fire and then....you see a NPC. Or you see an ugly textured background. Or you look down at what should be an awe inspiring sight of the slums miles below and yet all you see is a fixed ugly image that couldn’t possibly be anything but a badly glued on wallpaper for your horizon. I don’t get it. I really don’t. Because this game is beautiful and yet if you’re not a main character you’re reduced to looking like someone modelled your face off a cardboard box. This doesn’t take away from the amazing beauty of scenes like Aerith’s house or the colourful energy of Wall Street but it does make you scratch your head and go ‘huh?’.

Music- Every single track that has been taken from original FFVII and remade into a fresh take is amazing. I love that music is dynamic and slides into battle music as you encounter an enemy, and I also love that it will slide back into a more peaceful tune as you emerge in triumph from the scrap. The boss battles are to die for as well- Scorpion Sentinel was my first experience as I played the Demo like everyone else, and it hooked me straight away. The refreshed soundtrack slams.

And then there are the other tracks.Which apart from Hollow Skies (and its accompanying vocal track) are a bit lacklustre. There were moments like the Bombing Mission where I was bobbing along to the music as I made my way through the level. This never happened with the added tracks. I also hate Wall Street’s new track though I appreciate how it changes depending on where you are in the town. They had a perfectly good track already for it and yet... *sigh* Moving on...

Gameplay- Probably my number one surprise from this game, and possibly my favourite thing about the game, is the gameplay. It’s so well done. They went from XV which was boring and involved little to no strategy, and turned it around so fights and bosses actually made you think and rely on your different character’s strengths. I love using every single one of the characters because every single one of the four playable characters is a different experience and with unique skills you will need in different fights. Cloud is a counter hitter with strong sweeping attacks, Barrett is a ranged tank. Tifa is a hard hitting speedster, and Aerith is a powerful mage and healer. I liked that the boss battles often pushed you to discover what could be done with each character, and I liked that none of them felt useless or underused despite everyone but Cloud disappearing for chunks of the story. I also adore what they did with the Materia system, updating it for the more active gameplay while still keeping its roots intact. I like that you can update weapons and learn skills from them. I like that each character has a different ability unique to them, and that their skills reflect their playstyle. I think the majority of the bosses are great and I think whoever was responsible for the game play really knocked it out of the park big time as this is the best battle system I think Final Fantasy has ever had.

However- the camera is sometimes crap when you get shoved in a corner, the lock on is disastrous in moments as it jumps around with its own mind on who you should attack, and aerial combat needs fixing. I appreciate that you’re supposed to use Barrett or Aerith for aerial combat but: 1) They aren’t always with you 2) If you use Blizzard or Aero spells they are so slow that the enemy has usually flown away by the time they hit 3) Aerial enemies are way too fast for something so difficult to hit.

Those are my only complaints by the way.

Characters- I think in a lot of ways this is what Remake really sells itself on. The extended story of Midgar allows you to get to know these characters and really feel them as people before the later events happen. The time given to them allows you to understand Avalanche and their motives as well as learn more about the world around you that they exist in. I want to tell you that of the main cast there was a weak link but I actually don’t think there is at this stage. They feel like they are exactly where they need to be.

I think if you didn’t know the original story Cloud could come off a little too much like ‘stoic hardass Soldier’ but tbh that’s hilarious to me because that’s how he wants people to perceive him. And, while fleeting and few the game gives you moments where Cloud doesn’t live up to that image. Cloud is a very broken boy and it is shown in his inability to understand Aerith’s high fives, his inability to understand how to hug someone, in his moment with Biggs in chapter 12 (which honestly nearly broken me most out of the ENTIRE game), and how he reacts to Rufus in the end. And Cloud does develop but the game doesn’t make a song and dance about it. Cloud holds on so tightly to his ‘I’m out for myself’ mentality but during the game- with these small moments- he eventually learns to trust and rely on others, and in turn stand up for them when he faces Rufus on the Shinra building. I honestly love Cloud because he really flips his character archetype on its head in the original game, and its starting to show slowly in this one too.

Tifa, Barrett, and Aerith are all good too. On the opposite scale to Cloud, I do feel like Barrett could do with a bit more subtley. It would bring so much more to his character. I mean obviously I know he’s an angry dude and I also know why that it is but sometimes his lines felt just a bit too hammy and over-dramatic to me. It was when he was worrying about Marlene and the other members of Avalanche that I felt he was at his best. Tifa’s great because the game shows her conflict and her guilt, while also hinting early at how she tends to keep her feelings and worries inside rather than voicing them. She also felt mature and just...like a normal person which is weird when talking about a JPRG. Aerith is...look Aerith, Cloud and Nanaki are my faves after this game. Aerith was perfectly done with all her sass, cunning, and inner loneliness intact. I also ship Cloud/Aerith < < though I can see why there’s such contention since there is a strong case for Cloud/Tifa too. I just like tragic stuff ok?

The side characters- Jessie, Biggs, Wedge, Nanaki (sadly), Marlene, Reeve etc. etc. were all fine for what they were. Though I wish Japan would stop with making fat characters a constant food/hungry joke. Wedge was actually a rather admirable character in the end but his introduction wasn’t great.

Story- I’ll just say straight up that this game has serious pacing issues. I don’t think it kills the main story but sometimes it kills the build up of story beats. The main villain of this piece is Hojo’s lab. I wish this was an added dungeon you could explore end game or something because I actually quite liked it for the introduction of Nanaki as an AI party member, being able to use all four characters in different scenarios, and the horror game like exploration of Hojo’s experiments. But oh boy...does it kill the pacing between freeing Aerith and following the trail of blood to President Shinra’s office. I literally don’t know why they scrapped the four of them being locked in cells and waking up to the cell door unlocked. If there is one thing I hate about this game its that they got rid of that scene build up. It was perfect in the original game...why would you...?

The other thing that bothers me is Sephiroth. I got sick of seeing his pasty thin face pop up everywhere. I never liked the guy in the original but I could at least appreciate the mystery the game built up around him and not being able to predict when he would show up next. But no...if Cloud starts walking slowly and tense music starts playing you will be sure to see him in this one. I feel it ruins a lot of what made him an antagonist. Not to mention the ending where he starts babbling nonsense at you like he’s from Kingdom Hearts. I kind of liked that in the original he didn’t give a shit about Cloud or who he was because it added a lot to Cloud as a character but all he wants to do in this one is jump out of corners and freak the poor boy out.

I like chapter four though. Weirdly I feel like an arbiter of fate because I’m really fond of what they did with the story as long as it didn’t upset the beats of the original. Adding development to Jessie/Biggs/Wedge was fine. Adding conflict to Tifa’s feelings on Avalanche was fine. Playing as Aerith finding Marlene and finding out how she got her to her house was fine. I just don’t like how the game often bloated itself in moments that needed to be faster paced, or changed scenes in a way that made them lose a lot of their significance.

I’m okay with the ending weirdly though.I thought the fights were a bit ridiculous but I understood the message. I think the thing about Remake is it doesn’t want to be VII. It wants to be something new and exploratory. And it already has done that in a lot of ways...I just hope it follows that with the strength of the character writing and not with the haphazard pacing that pads this game. I think it could do a lot of great things to be honest- expand on Wutai and the war, look more deeply into Cosmo Canyon’s background, give Avalanche more of a presence after leaving Midgar, learn more about Aerith’s mum and her materia etc. etc. I actually took the ending as an opportunity for this rather than an off the rails experiment into noman’s land. It will be the same story but with a chance at new experiences and encounters.

As Aerith says ‘I already miss the steel sky’. We all miss VII and the wonderful memories it gave us but it will always be there waiting for us. Remake is a chance for exploring new ground, learning more about the characters, and potentially widening the plot of what VII left behind. There is a lot of doubt in me moving forward. The second game could be a disaster in story but...I’m willing to give it a chance because this first game was ultimately a game that didn’t disappoint me.

Perhaps its because it reminds me quite a bit of Cloud. By the end of the game it wasn’t selling itself on its strong lineage anymore, it was brave enough to step forward and ask us to trust it with the daunting task of developing into its own skin.

#ffvii remake #ff7r #I had so much more to say #this game is just such an experience for me #I thinks its brave yet often stupid #and I think its observant of its characters while negligent of its plot #and yet I admire it for it #because even though there are parts where I was like WUT R YOU DOING???#I think if the future games learn from this and refine themselves into better paced games it will be a pleasure to experience that journey #the whole defy destiny thing has more to it Im sure #I think its more to do with the planets destiny #and Aerith is connected to it #but it will change them to change things soo.....

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jeanandthedreamofhorses · 5 years

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You're into ASOIAF too? Oh wow. You certainly made the right call dropping this shitshow -and yeah, looking back, I didn't think it possible to have a worse season than S5 but hooo boy, was I wrong-. Knowing its abomination of an ending now, I'm trying hard not to let it ruin the books for me, too, so take this as a cautionary tale, lol. And bc some positivity would be nice and I do always enjoy reading your opinions, if it's okay, could I ask you about your fave ASOIAF characters and such? thx!

Frick yeah, the question I’ve been waiting for! I can gush about pretty much every character since they’re all so amazingly well written, but for a brief list of the top contenders… (TWOW spoilers ahead!)

5. Asha Greyjoy

“If there are rocks to starboard and a storm to port, a wise captain steers a third course.”

Irreverent, cynical, mocking, confident and dangerous, what’s not to love about Asha? She immediately made an impact with such scenes as her “sweet suckling babe” quip and was one of my favourite side characters in ACOK.

AFFC, however, was when she really got to shine, where to my elation she got a POV chapter, and more in ADWD. Despite her seemingly Ironborn-to-the-core personality, we discover she’s actually one of the least zealous of the Ironborn, sympathetic to the New Ways and those influenced by the culture of the ‘greenlanders’ like Rodrik the Reader. As one of the few reading Ironborn, she’s clearly one of the most intelligent of the Ironborn and certainly more open-minded, which leads to her down-to-earth sales pitch for the Kingsmoot, a sensible, realistic policy which would be genuinely best for her people - while still, of course, maintaining some elements of conquest: she is the kraken’s daughter, after all.

This side to her personality that sympathises with the fringe elements of her society and is able to make realistic assessments of the possibilities of success comes largely from the difficult position of being a prominent woman in the hypermasculine, heavily patriarchal Ironborn culture. Being raised as Balon’s substitute son has landed her more freedom than most Iron women, but in a complicated position nonetheless. She manages to handle it to the best of her ability, however with Balon gone she comes to realise just how precarious her position always was.

Now, like many other characters in ADWD, she is dealing with the hardship of broken dreams. Disaster piles upon disaster for Asha, from the failed kingsmoot to the loss of Deepwood Motte to becoming captive to Stannis (a dynamic I can’t wait to see more of btw, what an interesting clash of personalities!). Like Tyrion, her bravado serves to mask her insecurity, and her sense of powerlessness from recent events - both in commanding her own destiny and the heartache from the ruinous state of her family - really comes out in her inner monologue during ADWD.

How fitting, then, that this is when she reunites with Theon, another character whose lofty ambitions were torn brutally to the ground. Asha lorded it over him in Winterfell, but perhaps now she can relate. Mock as she may, Asha genuinely loves her family, and it’s another appealing aspect of this lonely character navigating her way through her unusual existence on the tightrope of social norms.

4. Tyrion Lannister

“You poor stupid blind crippled fool. Must I spell out every little thing for you? Very well. Cersei is a lying whore, she’s been fucking Lancel and Osmund Kettleblack and probably Moon Boy for all I know. And I am the monster they all say I am. Yes, I killed your vile son.”

Everyone loves Tyrion, and how can they not? He’s one of the wittiest and most intelligent characters in the series, and the first stumbling block when it comes to which side we should root for. While he was always one of my favourite characters from the start, factoring in his complex family life and struggles on account of his dwarfism (and later the maiming of his already ugly face), my favourite part of Tyrion as a character is how all the things we love about him are flipped on their head in ADWD.

Tyrion tells us in AGOT to wear your shame like “armor and it can never be used to hurt you”. It’s an empowering statement, but throughout ASOS we see how insecure Tyrion still is inside, and his ignoble treatment at the hands of his father and the people as a whole in the kangaroo court for Joffrey’s murder, can, ultimately, be boiled down to his being a dwarf. His armour fails him, and he is still utterly unable to be loved, appreciated, or respected by anyone. Only by Tysha, as he finds out, who is now lost to him - ripped from his hands by the machinations of his father and the one family member that Tyrion still loved, his brother.

It’s at this point that Tyrion is never the same again. He murders Shae in cold blood, and he murders his father, and he regrets none of it. He is becoming the monster they said he was.

When we see him in ADWD, the dark side of Tyrion that had always been hidden behind the hope he had clung onto creeps all too shockingly for the surface. His jokes are now too cynical to laugh at, dark and disturbing and cruel. He uses his intellect for no greater good beyond his own personal amusement, deliberately influencing Young Griff to attack Westeros prematurely just in the hopes that his sister might get the axe. He is on no side but his own, acting brazenly irresponsibly as he has no interest in the grand schemes others have set out for him, or even in his own life. The chips on his shoulder are now genuine murderous intent, daydreaming about raping and killing Cersei and mounting Jaime’s head on a spike next to her. Where Tyrion’s whoring habits had seemed roguish and humorous before, in Essos he is depicted raping clearly reluctant sex slaves.

What makes this all the more disturbing, and all the more literarily brilliant, is that it casts aside the biased curtain we had seen Tyrion through before, and the result is shocking. How much more free to consent is a Westerosi prostitute than a Pentoshi sex slave? How worthwhile were the barbed comments he made so frequently when they ultimately led to a litany of testimonies against him as soon as he lost his privileged position? The worse devils of Tyrion’s nature come out in full force, and we see much more of the black of the character Martin described as “the grayest of the gray”. Perhaps the difference now is that Tyrion’s POV lacks a single element of self-love. The readers are repulsed by him in the same way he repulses himself.

Nonetheless, Tyrion seems to be rekindling something of a purpose in ADWD, as characters nurture themselves back up from the wreckage in the aftermath of the War of the Five Kings. He has lost the Lannister’s golden influence, but his silver tongue still serves him well. However, we may never see the old Tyrion again. This Tyrion has not repented for the vile things he has done, or the vile things he intends to do. He was caricatured by the citizens of King’s Landing as an evil advisor whispering into the monarch’s ear - this may become something closer to the truth when he at last meets with Daenerys.

3. Jaime Lannister

“Does my lord wish to answer?” The maester asked, after a long silence. A snowflake landed on the letter. As it melted, the ink began to blur. Jaime rolled the parchment up again, as tight as one hand would allow, and handed it to Peck. “No,” he said. “Put this in the fire.”

Who saw a Jaime POV coming? What an incredible way to open ASOS after the prologue, to see things from the eyes of one of the series’ most notorious villains. I don’t think I need to explain at length how impactful it was to gently peel off the layers of Jaime’s character, revealing the true reason he killed Aerys, his growth in his interactions with Brienne, the embodiment of the chivalric values he abandoned, and most significantly, losing the hand that was his entire identity and vanity. Anyone who has read the book or watched the show can relate.

Since then, he continues to fascinate. He is discovering talents beyond swordsmanship, entering into a negotiation even Tywin could have been proud of. He has learned how to use his bad reputation for nobler ends, scaring Edmure Tully silly enough to end the siege of Riverrun without shedding a single drop of blood. He is still fighting for a Lannister king, true, but that is only staying true to his role as Kingsguard: now that he has lost his sword hand, he is discovering what it means to be a knight again, in an unconventional and thrilling way.

I chose the above quote because it captures the beauty of AFFC Jaime, breaking away from the sister he fought so hard to return to and decisively cutting out her influence for good. In Jaime’s reverse knight’s fable, refusing the call of the damsel in distress is one of the most upright things he has ever done. How fitting that he should then meet up with the woman who influenced him to take the other path - only she seems about to betray him, too…

It will be so interesting to see Stoneheart’s perverted justice on a character whose head we once wanted on a chopping block but now want to survive at all costs. I don’t think Brienne will be able to follow through with it to the end. After all, Jaime must live on to fulfil a certain prophecy…

2. Euron Greyjoy

“The bleeding star bespoke the end,” he said to Aeron. “These are the last days, when the world shall be broken and remade. A new god shall be born from the graves and charnel pits.”

It’s common enough to hear writers and critics talk about how your villain can’t simply be evil, and that they need to have sympathetic motivations or else they’re badly written. I think that’s true sometimes, but only when your evil villains fail to capture the raw horror of what evil really is - that’s when they feel wooden or cartoonish. To successfully capture that heart of darkness, however…

That is what George R.R. Martin achieved with Euron Greyjoy, the most terrifying character I have ever read.

Everyone underestimates Euron. They know he’s mad, but they don’t know how mad he is. They think they can outmanoeuvre him, like Asha, or betray him, like Victarion. They think he’s lying when he says he’s sailed to Valyria and means to conquer Westeros with dragons. Only Aeron knew. Only Aeron knew the depths of Euron’s depravity, and how far he means to fly. Because he’s the only one who heard the scream of the rusted iron hinge.

The Forsaken showed that it was all true, that Aeron was right all along - that he, like the oracle Cassandra, warned the Ironborn but was condemned to be ignored. Euron has an ambition unparalleled by any other character in the series - he means to turn himself into a god. He’s the only one depraved enough to go to the lengths it would take to make that dream a reality.

We should fear Euron, we should fear him very much. And yet, I think his dreams of godhood can never fully come to pass. He is, after all, still a man - still fallible, as we saw him shrink away at the Reader’s reprimand in The Reaver and change his tactics accordingly. His humanity will be the death of him - not any goodness in his heart, but a weakness common to the human creature. The dragons he means to dance with, and potentially the Others too as some theories go, will move at a pace beyond those mortal legs.

His attempt to fly will inevitably end with a fall. But that headfirst plunge will take the Seven Kingdoms with him.

1. Stannis Baratheon

“I know the cost! Last night, gazing into that hearth, I saw things in the flames as well. I saw a king, a crown of fire on his brows, burning… burning, Davos. His own crown consumed his flesh and turned him into ash. Do you think I need Melisandre to tell me what that means? Or you?“

Here is a man so totally dedicated to his duty that he is willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish it, even if it means his own destruction.

He is a character that believes in justice and the word of law more strongly than any other, and watching his dogged persistence to put a corrupt world to rights no matter the odds has always struck a chord with me, especially in this world teeming with such selfish and barbarous characters.

He is not such a performer as other characters, not as openly humorous as Tyrion (though lowkey he has an incredible dry wit), nor as pretty as Renly, nor as lighthearted as Littlefinger. He’s a dour person, hard and unpopular. But if you listen to the conversations he has with Davos, there is an incredible heart to this man who has placed all the troubles of the world on his own shoulders, and strives through cold and stormy weather to make the best, most just decision he can for no other reason than that - because it is just. Justice is hard, sharp and unyielding, not pretty, not humorous, not lighthearted - but necessary. In a king more than anywhere else. That’s why those who do follow Stannis, like Davos, follow him with such faith and loyalty.

He often proceeds about this goal in questionable ways, compensating for the imperfections of his forces and of his own personality. This is the rickety bridge Stannis walks on, as a man who will go to any means necessary to accomplish what he feels must be done. Sometimes this might mean unleashing dark forces better left locked up, sometimes it might mean committing so terrible a sin as kinslaying, sometimes it might mean sacrificing a child to awaken stone dragons - and sometimes it will mean rescuing the realm from a wildling incursion when no other king cared.

Moments like that unforgettable “STANNIS! STANNIS! STANNIS” stick so powerfully in my memory because, much like Jaime, the real virtue of this character had yet to shine so brightly as it eventually would in ASOS. Something which had always been there takes us unawares. And he is evolving, too, ever becoming more flexible, more willing to compromise, more hesitant to burnings, more dedicated to the good of the realm over himself.

And there is a whole other layer of tragic pathos that lies behind his character. Try as hard as Stannis might, and God does he try, he is not Azor Ahai, and every reader knows he will not sit the throne at the end. Even Stannis knows where this road will leave him. But he persists anyway, in the face of death. The courage of that, the self-sacrifice - how can one not be moved by it?

One of the finer points of Stannis that often goes missed in (understandably) overzealous attempts to correct the show’s butchering of his character, is that there is a part of him that does want to be king. He’s lived in Robert’s shadow his entire life, as Asha thinks to herself in ADWD, and there is a part of him that does yearn for recognition. Quotes like “Robert could piss in a cup and men would call it wine, but I offer them cold clear water and they squint in suspicion and mutter to each other about how queer it tastes.” reveal that, I think.

So this is a whole other internal battle within Stannis - he must be careful not to allow his judgement to falter against the part of him that is jealous of Robert, of Renly, that wants to be the hero Melisandre says he is. This very human aspect complicates further the already complicated war between deontological and utilitarian ethics that wages in his head, with Davos and Melisandre as their respective spokesmen. Much as he may want to be a perfect king and avatar of justice - he is still human.

The depth and tragedy of Stannis Baratheon is Shakespearean. My heart shatters in advance for the moment Stannis has made his greatest sacrifice of all to halt the advance of the Others (not the Boltons, he’ll flatten them like pancakes), and for it to do nothing, nothing at all. For him to realise he was never the hero of this story, and that now he has gathered all this blood on his hands where there is no spring to wash them in.

A man so just as Stannis could never forgive himself. But we, the readers, shall never forget the battles he fought as an axle of this universe striving to be something greater.

Honourable Mentions to Aeron, Victarion, Barristan, Jon (Snow and Connington), Cersei and Brienne. Yes, I really like the Greyjoys 🦑.

#asoiaf #asoiaf meta #stannis baratheon #euron greyjoy #jaime lannister #tyrion lannister #asha greyjoy #not snk

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zippdementia · 4 years

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Part 84 Alignment May Vary: City of Lies

For the last few sessions, we’ve been playing through Mirrors of the Abyss, a wonderful glimpse into the insanity of the Abyss and a perfect dungeon for what we needed at this point in the game. But last session I talked about how I could sense my players were ready to get back to the storyline, so we’re more or less leaving Mirrors behind for the time being and focusing on some of my own material. Not entirely leaving it behind, though. We actually start in a secret area from the Mirrors module, an area where maybe the only creature Esheballa’s fears resides, a mysterious figure known only as Abbraxas.

Who is Abbraxas? There are a few demons working behind the scene to topple Esheballa’s crazed rule. Darragor, who contacted Imoaza a couple sessions ago, was one example, though he has since secretly been found out and disposed of by Imoaza. His head actually showed up in the treasure hoard where Milosh found his broken arm, but Milosh didn’t recognize him as he never met him and Imoaza never described that scene to anyone.

But Abbraxas, he’s an entirely different creature with a whole other layer of power to him. Abbraxas served the Abyss long before Esheballa arrived on the scene. I’m not sure Mirrors fully defines exactly what he is. He may be another Demon Lord, or maybe a Demonologist who became exceptionally powerful and poses a real threat to Esheballa. In my head-canon for our game I think he is a piece of Primus left in the Abyss, still trying to make order out of the chaos. Regardless, Esheballa does fear him and his power. It is said he helped her take over the Abyss after the Blood War and that she believes he can undo what he helped create. She knows he still lives somewhere in her realm but she doesn’t go looking for him, not even to evict him. She’d rather just pretend he doesn’t exist and hope that if she pretends long enough it will become true. So Abbraxas has lived mostly undisturbed on the fringes of Esheballa’s game... or maybe it would be better to say he has lived behind the scenes of the game, in between the spaces that Esheballa uses to build her chambers and challenges. The players slipped into that in between space when they traversed the Fossil Wall and now they are on the edge of Abbraxas’ lair, which is the lighthouse shimmering through the thick fog ahead of them.

Ruze leads the way through the fog. He has an instinct of where to go in the Abyss, having spent so long here. Also, secretly, he is keeping an eye on Imoaza. Ever since meeting her, he has been seeing strange shapes flit in her shadows and dance around her, gone when looked at for more than an instant. He doesn’t know it, but this is the influence of the Necronomicon playing on Imoaza, drawing her ever closer to some unknown, unfathomable purpose. Ruze sees only the blurred edges of that purpose and it is already enough to cause him to sweat in pure terror.

Statue Walk

There is a fun little section of Mirrors where the PCs have to traverse an area made up of statues of different aspects of Esheballa, each one representing a different riddle and a different challenge if the riddle is failed. There is a little mechanic involving having multiple maps and having to figure out the right map to use, but I simplify this down into just three encounters with statues, each encounter taking the players closer to the lighthouse. Each encounter is actually two statues that the players can see partially through the fog, and they have to pick which one they which to approach, then solve the riddle suggested by its pose. For example, they see a statue of a little girl kneeling and holding out her hands and a statue of a vulpine warrior. They choose to go towards the little girl, feeling certain the vulpine warrior will just want to fight them. Then they examine the girl’s statue and realize she is not holding out her hands, she is clutching at something near her neck, something missing. They figure out it must be a necklace of some kind and Ruze, who has some gems in his possession from years of wandering the Abyss alone and exploring wherever he pleased, places a gem before her, which the statue suddenly moves to scoop up, and a path opens ahead for them.

This ends up being a fun and interesting section, as the players first have to debate which of the two statue options I present them with they think will provide the most beatable challenge (or the least painful consequence), then they actually have to approach the statue and see if they can solve its puzzle. I offer a little direction but aside from the final statue which has the difficult ask of giving it something “pure,” they nail it. The first statue is maybe the most surprising, as it is a huntress statue which definitely wants a sacrifice put on its arrowhead. Milosh grabs his new sea monkey buddy and slams it into the arrow, leaving it to writhe and die there in agony. It’s a surprising sign of his character changing, maybe as part of the influence of Illrastayne, the sword of Envy containing a piece of Bitterberry’s (Tyrion’s) dismantled and broken soul, which Milosh has attuned to in order to have a weapon while his gun arm is smashed and broken. Illrastayne has also told him that he knows someone who can fix Milosh’s gunarm, and that “person” is Abbraxas.

A Turning of the Page

It doesn’t take long after entering the lighthouse to tell that (A) it is magically much bigger on the inside than it could be from its exterior dimensions, and (B) someone clearly lives here.

Foremost, this space is a shocking spectacle of the triumphs of alchemy and machinery, as hulking struts, cogs and gears turn astronomical orreries and churn vats of arcane potion. You don't have to investigate to know that the conductor of this place has used unparalleled intellect to manifest this laboratory. In the farthest corner, there sits a stout magician, dressed in silks. He is attended by a cadre of malformed vrocks and other low-level demons while a huge wheel of open books spins for his perusal. He strokes his thin beard and moustache, as he reads, unaware of or unconcerned by your presence. A nervous artist paints his portrait, constantly repainting over his own canvas in an attempt to capture any changed position of the man or movement of his demonic servants.

This is Abbraxas and presently the players address him, asking where they are and have they left Esheballa’s game. Abbraxas tells them that they have left the game “for the moment,” and are occupying a glitch in the realm that he built, a pocket space within a pocket space, undetectable by Esheballa. He also says he can get them home, back to Faerun, but that they need to help him topple Esheballa’s rule. He says the time has finally come for such a thing to pass, because just before they arrived, someone else new came and brought with them the key to change. Unfortunately, he says, that person (whom he refers to as a “she”) became trapped in a world of their own creation, spun from lies that they told themselves. Now she is lost in this “City of Lies” and the companions will need to enter there to retrieve the key.

Abbraxas also tells Milosh that his arm can be reforged in Esheballa’s inner sanctum, where she keeps a fire hot enough to forge even the most magical of items. He gives Milosh a strange mechanical spider looking thing, that crawls into his tunic to hide, and tells him that if thrown into the fire along with his gunarm and certain other key items, the gunarm will be remade more powerful than ever. He indicates the golden crown taken from the Lich and the ruby that Hecate took from the museum as two such items.

With that short scene, the party has a quick discussion about what to do next (and slaps Daymos, still in the Quasit’s form, away from stealing one of Abbraxas’ books... remember what I said about that player wanting to just mess with the world and see what he can get away with?)

Hecate: I’ll follow where mother leads.

Imoaza: There doesn’t seem to be much choice. We either go back to Esheballa’s game-

Ruze: Which I refuse to do.

Imoaza: -or we take direction from Abbraxas.

Milosh: Ah! I believe that the best option is to take the advice of this... man? Demon?

Abbraxas: Yes to both.

Milosh: Man-demon.

Daymos Quasit: It’s not a bad thing to be.

Imoaza wants to ask Abbraxas about the Rod of Storms, too, as it has been radiating more and more power recently, but he immediately tells her not to touch it. “The Abyss is already too fickle a place and this dimension I’ve made more unstable by its very nature. If you pull that out here, you could do terrible damage.” He warns her the Rod of Storms is becoming extremely volatile. It wants to be used by her and her refusal to do so has built up in it a sort of anger. The piece of the elemental that has been infused into it was meant for Aldric’s use, and Abbraxas knows this, but he only shares this with Imoaza in veiled terms because he also knows what her companions don’t: that she killed Aldric to claim this item of power.

“It will reshape history,” Abbraxas tells her. “And sooner than you think. Until then, keep it close and be wary of drawing it out on the Abyss.”

With that, he creates a portal and tells them to find the “marked door” and not to step through any other door lest they end up back inside the game. He tells them that once they get to the City of Lies they should “seek the one that doesn’t belong.” More than that, he does not know, but he can feel that the key they need “doesn’t belong here.” He wishes them luck and they step through.

Choices and Lies

The portal leads to a white stone corridor, lined with old doors. The corridor twists and turns but only goes in two directions, forwards and backwards, with no discernible end point. The players start looking around for a marked door and before long they find one, a door with a massive gash in it that looks like an old wound on necrotic skin. The players hesitate for only a moment, then push their way inside.

They end up in a dark alley, on stone streets with buildings towering over them. Movement in the dark puts them on edge and a shape lurches out at them. They prepare to fight whatever demon is approaching, but it turns out it is not a demon. It is a devil. Hecate recognizes it as a Chain Devil, from her days spent on hell. What’s more, it is drunk. It stumbles forward and peers at them.

“Where the hell, heh, did you come from?”

Everyone hesitates except for Hecate, who strides forward.

“We are emmisaries from the lord of hell! Bound for the ruler of this city! How dare you speak that way to your betters! Do you not recognize this woman?” she gestures to Imoaza. Right on cue, Imoaza summons a disguise to surround herself, black swirling cloaks form to disguise most of her features. The Chain Devil peers at her for a moment, uncertain.

“Give me your name, so I can report you,” Hecate says. At this, the Chain Devil stumbles backwards, stammers out an excuse and flees into the night.

Hecate nods at Imoaza and Imoaza nods back. About as much thanks as a Yuan Ti is going to give, or accept.

While trying to get their bearings, they see a poster on a nearby wall. It reads:

Worship the Queen of the City of Lies. And underneath it is a painting of someone they recognize: Alyss.

What follows is a bit of improvisation on all of our parts. I know who it is they have to find and where he is being taken, but I leave it up to the players to really build the scene and the direction we are going in. When doing this as a DM, I find there is a really simple structure that can be followed that helps keep things moving. Have an end goal in mind and communicate that to the players, then ask what they wish to do next. Whatever they come up with, give them something to push them forward, and then add a complication, so that they have to react to this new obstacle.

In this case, the players know they have to find “the one that doesn’t belong.” At first they think it is Alyss herself, but Ruze brings up that Abraxas said that the one who built this city is trapped here by her own lies and somehow he doesn’t think that fits the idea of someone who doesn’t belong here. This is HER city after all. That’s when Milosh and Imoaza remember Puck and wonder if it is him who doesn’t belong.

To figure out what to do next, Daymos decides to adopt his thought form (he can still do this, even as a Quasit) and flies high into the city sky to survey the area. He immediately sees that the city is laid out in symetrical streets, much like a vast spider’s web, and not far from where they are a group of devils is carrying something in a small cage towards a grand and imposing building. This is a clear goal, so that’s the thing I “give” the players. The obstacle is that Daymos lingers a little too long and suddenly a group of three Erinyes, vicious female devils with whips and magical longbows, spot the light and come to investigate. This leads to another deception round with Imoaza, who claims that the light is her familiar and that she is on her way to interrogate the prisoner (a nice bit of on the spot thinking!) Hecate whispers in her ear that Devils respect authority and so Imoaza plays this up, acting like she is higher on the food chain than these devils. The Erinyes buy it and press down on the cobblestones with their hands, sending a light into it that lights up a path to the prison, that imposing structure. This is a fun bit of on-the-spot description I come up with, where the actual stones change color to “direct” the players to where they need to go.

We continue with this back and forth problem solving and obstacle laying for a while, the players making their way to the prison and talking their way past a disgruntled Pit Fiend warden (who is dealing with problems at home) into seeing the prisoner for interrogation and torture (another good deception!) The prisoner does turn out to be Puck and he fills them in on what’s going on and what they need to do next.

Puck seemed exhausted as the four companions crowded inside his small cell and he began to explain. “The Abyss is chaos. But it is also capable of being influenced by outside emotion. This layer of the Abyss in particular is very susceptible to that. It is built on the broken hopes and dreams of Esheballa and she is not a very detail oriented creature. She’s left holes in the realm, places where the lies we tell ourselves hold sway.

Alyss, she spoke to you of her past, yes? She told you she was the queen of an age, long ago, when the followers of Asmodeus ruled the land. It isn’t true. It is a lie she told herself. I know, for I am Asmodeus, or what was left of him after the Blood War ended.

“My body was all but destroyed in the attack on the Abyss. Even in my death throes I was able to strike down the last of the demons, but I could not escape the Abyss except as a thought, a belief. I found a home in the City of Ghosts, on Hell, where all the unclaimed lost souls go to wander. And there, my most fervent believer found me. Alyss gave me shape again. She knew what I was from the start and plotted to get me off of hell and back to the Abyss, to reuinite me with the remnants of my body somewhere in the void. That’s why she redirected your ship. That’s why she brought you to Hell. To rescue me. Only now, she needs rescuing. The lie Alyss told you is one she told herself for a long long time, to shield herself from the pain of the truth. That truth is buried deep inside of her and you must now find it, force it to take shape on this plane, and confront it.

“You’ll need to take me with you. If you can find Alyss here in the City of Lies and bring me to her, I can get you inside of her sleeping mind. We’ll only have one chance at this. I can only do this once before my power will be finally spent. If you do not find the truth then the lie will reign forever and this City of Lies will become the only truth Alyss knows.”

A Sad History

Puck turns himself into a beetle and crawls inside Milosh’s tattered tunic, reminding him they need to get close enough that Puck can make physical contact with Alyss. Then the party heads out again to find her. They bump into the Pit Fiend again and Imoaza gets the idea to ask him where Alyss is. The Pit Fiend, bored with manning this prison and impressed by another good roleplay and deception roll by Imoaza, decides to take them to Alyss, whom he says is preaching at her church. He summons a light into his hand and presses it into the floor, much like the Erinyes did, which lights the way to the Church of Eternal Sin, where Alyss holds court in this world.

When they arrive at the church all hell breaks loose (if you’ll forgive the term). Alyss recognizes Milosh and Imoaza and realizes why they are here. She demands that her congregation stop them and suddenly the whole party finds themselves facing a mob of 80 cultists, Alyss four bone devil bodyguards, and the Pit Fiend Malphiss, who is overjoyed to have something to do.

Combat is swift and dynamic. Daymos turns invisible and flies towards the ceiling, avoiding the mess altogether. Milosh rushes forward, using misty step and the dash action to begin to cross the huge 200 foot long expanse of the church, rushing for Alyss. He gets stopped by a horde of cultists, who tear at his metalic skin and claw at his tunic, nearly knocking Puck from where he clings to Milosh’s back. Milosh draws Illrastayne and the raspy voice of the demonic version of Tyrion rings out in gleeful song as he directs Milosh’s sword arm to cut down cultists and clear a path to Alyss. Ruz also flees, using his own teleportation magics to avoid the crowd, who is distracted by Milosh, but then he comes face to face with the Bone Devils. He begins summoning magic, throwing balls of fire and acid and magic missiles while the Bone Devils dive at him with deadly poisoned scorpion-like tails and vicious razor sharp claws. Alyss begins to chant and a summoning circle appears in the middle of the church and large, indistinct shapes can be seen forming inside of it.

Hecate and Imoaza, meanwhile, are facing down Malphiss, the two sharing the split version of Drosselgreymer, mother and daughter darting in and out of Malphiss’ attack range, slicing the Pit Fiend and spilling his foul blood on the church floor. But the Pit Fiend finally catches them and with two mighty blows demonstrates his ungodly strength. The Yuan-Ti retreat, but Malphiss isn’t ready for them to go. He summons a wall of fire, cutting down several charging cultists as he does, and the wall essentially traps the pair, creating a fiery arena which he lopes into gleefully, happy to finally face a challenge... especially since he knows it is one he will win.

This is one of my favorite moments of the fight. So much suddenly happens at once! Milosh breaks free of the cultists and charges Alyss, slamming into her and grappling her. Puck runs out and latches onto her neck then psychically cries out for everyone to touch Alyss or be left behind. Daymos swoops down at Ruz and casts a haste spell on him, then clings to him as the now twice-as-fast Ruz breaks free of the Bone Demons, barely avoiding attacks of opportunity, and long jumps onto the stage where Alyss and Milosh are grappling, grabbing her wrist. Imoaza yells for Hecate to hold on and she grabs her daughter then pulls free the grapple hook she got on the planet of air, firing at a high balcony railing that overlooks the church interior. She pulls her and Hecate out of the Arena as the Pit Fiend moves forward to slice them down with a fiery blade. They reach the railing and three cultists try to cut them down, but Hecate wraps her snake body around the railing and fights them with both her hands free, slicing with the sickle version of Drosselgreymer and firing at the with her gun arm. The Pit Fiend follows and Hecate screams at Imoaza to leave her and go join the others, that if she doesn’t do this they are all dead anyway. Imoaza feels suddenly concerned for her daughter, an unusual feeling for her, but listens and fires her grappling hook towards the stage where everyone is gathered around Alyss. She soars towards Alyss just as the Pit Fiend reaches Hecate and prepares to tear her apart. Imoaza grabs Alyss’ hand and shouts “Now!” Puck uses his magic and they all deep dive into Alyss’ mind and memories.

And suddenly all the PCs are handed level 2 character sheets and told to chose one to play. There is a Dwarven Cleric, a Halfling Rogue, a Drow fighter, and a Human Paladin.

What’s going on here is that the players are actually replaying history. We’ve had a few moments over the course of the mega-campaign where similar things have happened. Karina, Trakki, and Tyrion all dove into Rayden’s mind to figure out the truth of Karina’s time in the War of Forgiveness, for instance. This is very similar, only here the PCs can’t change history, they just have to survive it.

The situation that is set up for them begins in a cornfield, at dusk, outside of a farmhouse. The PCs are all part of a mercenary group, led by the Halfling Rogue (player choice on this). The rogue has a letter, instructing them that a young noble girl named Alyss was kidnapped thirteen months ago by cultists of Asmodeus. She has been spotted recently in a neighboring town and reports have suggested she is being kept here. She is also said to be heavily pregnant now. The group has been hired to recover her if they can, though there is rumor that she has been brainwashed beyond repair by the cultists. The baby is to be brought back at all costs. It is of noble birth and the family wants their potential heir to be under their care. The letter is signed simply “Z.”

I set this up with a number of different possible approaches. The house has cultists in it, and the PCs initially try to sneak up to that, but they are spotted by a strange tall man sitting on the farmhouse stoop, with glowing eyes (he is actually possessed by a minor devil). He chases them off with some choice words and the PCs then decide to avoid the main farmhouse and instead focus on a barn on its outskirts. They break in to find the barn full of zombies, which they dispatch, and then they discover a secret door in the floor that leads into a small trapped dungeon. They avoid the traps and come to its final room, interrupting some kind of summoning:

The room’s floor was totally covered in a complex pentagram, inscribed here and there with powerful runic sigils. Surrounding the pentagram were red robed cultists and in its center lay the noble girl, Alyss, naked from the waist down and moaning in the throes of childbirth. She was not bound, unless it be by invisible chains, but she gave no sign of being able to fight back, either. Her entire attention was concentrated on the birth, her screams and cries punctuating the chanting of the robed clergy. Blue flames floated about the chamber, illuminating everything in an alien light.

One of the clergy stepped forward, his face covered by a complex mask shaped like a devil’s visage. “Interlopers,” he hissed. “Your presence befouls this sacred place!"

Then another voice spoke, seeming to come from within the pentagram, though it was not Alyss: her cries still rose above the deep, sepulchral command: “KILL THEM.”

A fight of course breaks out and actually some of the characters do die... though whenever they do, it is like a glitch in time: they come back to life with full health as if nothing had happened. That’s because that isn’t how it happened in the true past. That doesn’t mean it is without consequence: the bodies of Imoaza, Daymos, Ruz, and Milosh are all taking damage back in the Abyss, as psychically they channel the pain of these second level mercenaries here in Alyss’ memory.

But eventually history wins out, and the PCs are victorious. The cultists are defeated. And then we see how history played out.

See, Alyss was never truly ruler of a great satanic cult that lived “ages ago,” as she had claimed to the group. She was as was depicted here: a young girl of 19, kidnapped from her family and brainwashed into thinking she was meant to be the bride of Asmodeus. In a satanic ritual she was impregnated with Asmodeus’ seed, and planned to give birth to a baby that would rise to command the cultists.

But instead, a group of second level adventurers found and disrupted the birthing ritual. As they killed the cultists around her the head of this branch of the clergy, the masked cultist, used his last breath to dive into the pentagram and stab Alyss, mortally wounding her. At that moment, the cleric of the party was killed, as Asmodeus released his rage at what had been done to “wife” in a flurry of psychic energy. In the same instant, the baby was born, a deformed thing with skin of purple, two horns, and a long tail. Nevertheless, a job is a job and they were ordered to bring the baby back The Paladin snatched her up and backed out of the room as Alyss bled to death on the floor, her final cry following after them:

“No, you can’t have her! You can’t have my Karina!”

Passing On

This is a big reveal. For those who have not been reading since the beginning (and even for those who have, it’s been a while), Karina was one of our original cast of characters, played by Morganknight who has since played Nysyries and Imoaza. Karina also was the only character to survive the entire first arc and the Haggemoth campaign before being retired to take a bigger role in the overarching plot. The question of her parentage is one that originated from the very first session where, as an offhand question, I asked the player “who are Karina’s parents?” I still have my notes from that first session, where I jotted down her answer in the margins: “I don’t know.”

Figuring out Karina’s backstory has taken literally years to come up with and connecting her here to Alyss feels so perfect, both in terms of explaining her powers and devilish heritage (she is a direct descendant of Asmodeus) and why she was so important to the fate of our world. And it takes a side character, Alyss, whom the players have enjoyed as an NPC for a long while, and makes her much more complex and complete.

Sadly, while the rest of the party has a lot to appreciate about the reveal, Daymos’ player talks to me later and says that this is his sign it is time to pull out of the game. This moment seemed so big for the other players and he says that he “felt no connection to it.” It is the clearest sign he and I have both had that story isn’t his motivator, or at least not this story. The discussion that follows confirms a little of what I talked about last post, that playing for a narrative reward doesn’t really work for him and he feels like there is too much consequence to any action he may take, because it could throw off a story that the others are so deeply invested in. I had hoped, like Ruz’s player, he would find a way to join them in that investment, but it wasn’t able to happen.

So Daymos leaves the table. The character still remains, though, and has been changed in interesting ways by this player’s decisions. Those decisions will change the shape of the story as originally envisioned and lead to some intriguing possibilities a little later on. For now, though, the party still has a game to play, to put An End to Demons.

#DND 5e #Dungeons & Dragons #Alignment May Vary #Campaign Journal

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advluv4life · 4 years

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This is me live-blogging to the original Pokemon the First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back comparing it to the Netflix Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution that I watch two days ago. It was kind of fun to type this up. Maybe I'll live blog another movie sometime, lol 😅

Enjoy, or not... 😘

(I'm not going to put a spoiler warning because literally nothing has changed from the original overall. They added a few things and they took away some lines, but it's the same movie at the end of the day)

First, I was wrong the prologue is roughly the same length. It just is even more boring in the new one than it was in the old one so it felt even longer because I typically skip the prologue whenever I watch it. ((I don't want to go on blast, but the only Pokemon movie prologue that I watch is the Pokemon 3 prologue, that's it. Pokemon 3 underrated. It's the best movie. But they remade this one so this is where I'm at.))

One thing I've noticed 10 minutes into the original is that there is no second where there's no music and that's what really frustrated me during the remake. There's so much time when there's absolutely no music or the music is really quiet that it's barely there. It was really depressing and I could not get invested in almost any of the typical scenes you get invested in because I was so disconnected from the film. And it's not even the official Pokemon the First Movie soundtrack songs that I was missing. It was just the score. This movie's score is so amazing and we couldn't even relive that again. So, that kind of killed the entire Evolution remake for me. And now I'm very happy to hear this music.

I press play and then I hadn't even gotten to the song yet, but I do want to point out that during the remake the movie made me feel kind of stupid when they were introducing us to Brock and Misty in the scene of them before lunch, because obviously when the original movie came out they just assumed everybody knew all the characters, so I understand for new kids who don't know who Misty and Brock are they probably need to introduce them, but I did not appreciate it. But also I feel like the original scene, when they're sitting at the table already and Ash is just bored and starving is good enough to introduce the characters. I didn't need a whole extra scene before lunch.

On a sidenote: I hated Misty's voice in the new film. Hated it. Sorry. Especially the lines that were the same to the original I disliked it even more. Which really isn't abnormal with remakes, I just didn't like how her lines were spoken. Or the pitch of her voice.

The joke they had about Ash battling before breakfast or lunch, or whatever falls flat in comparison to Brock's joke about Ashes mouth still working before the battle as well.

And I don't know why they had Pikachu noticing the camera in the remake, because Pikachu doesn't figure out what's going on before hand.. So there's no point in him noticing something above them, you know?

I'm so nit-picky.. I'm sure they just had to change a certain amount of things to feel like it was its own movie, but it's wasn't necessary. Obviously, it was a cash grab, but still- not necessary.

And you're telling me after 20+ years they couldn't use the same remake of the song!? They were working 'with' The Pokemon Company and they couldn't use that song? Or did they not want to? Bad decision. 😔

I'm one of those people who likes the opening, but I love it when they remake it and turn it into something 'else', up the bass, give me more background singers, lol. I really accept different versions of the song though I prefer this movie's version a lot of the time. I like it when they remake all the openings for the first 10 films they redo most of the openings and I love it. I like all the openings up until Black and White and I like all the film remakes of them, so I wasn't against them redoing the song a different way...but I feel like this battle this scene is iconic why would you change that? Plus, it just felt like a cheap knockoff of this version...

Ash's voice overs (in the video) are part of the song to me 😂 "Great job Bulbasaur, you did it!" 🥰

While we're still at the scene I thought in the remake James has 'look at that spread' joke fell flat because they didn't show us close-up of them eating so I was kind of confused, maybe that's just me. Overall, Team Rocket puns throughout the remake are questionable to me. They don't really flow as well as they do in the original.. Man, I'm so mean to this remake, but it's true.

Back on that music thing. When Nurse Joy invites them to Mewtwo's party the music that plays behind her invitation speech is perfect and then when they get off it's silent, but you can hear the birds chirping you can hear noise behind them and that makes their world seem so much bigger. And that was lacking in the new version of the film.

On another note, I know that technically in both films we are completely aware that it is Mewtwo who was behind everything, but it feels much more ominous when we don't see him until he appears coming 'down the stairs'. So, in the remake when they showed him responding to Nurse Joy.. I didn't care for that.

I want to say though, out of context the art of the Pokemon in the remake is amazing. If it was just that someone made 3DCG animation pictures based on the original: 10 out of 10. I'm thinking about the screenshot of Mew in the bubble. It is beautiful in 3D CG, absolutely beautiful, but I still am old school and I prefer the original animation overall.

The scene with the harbor manager was not one that I paid much attention to, because it's not one that I usually pay much attention too (and I was bored out of my mind by that point). So, I don't have much to say in comparison.

The Viking jokes are indeed outdated, but I still like them, lol

Regardless, there is still background music, even at this point in the film. I say this, not only because they are having a comedic scene with lots of puns and jokes, but there is also a rainstorm going on in the background. So it'd be easy to just not have any music, because you already have background noise, but no there is also a score.

Brock calling out Nurse Joy when they arrive to New Island in the remake rubbed me the wrong way, like it was out of nowhere, but I think it was the lack of background music. I feel like that whole movie's issue is the lack of background music. There's nothing to set the tone, so everything's just kind of 'meh'.

They had some fancy doors in the new one, lol

But the original has creaky, scary doors 😉

Mew theme makes me smile 🥰

Prosser props ardeal ready there's a whole list; one it's Pidgeot, two Brock hits on the girl when they arrive, and three (kind of early but) Team Rocket gets Sycther correct during their impromptu game of 'Whose That Pokemon??' 😂

Intimidating background music, I love you.

I like how in this scene Mewtwo explains that he removed the memories of Nurse Joy. Whereas, in the remake, he implies that 'of course she would forget everything that happened', as if he wouldn't want her to, that was weird.

The original's colors and music make this movie feel so much more high stakes than the Remake does. And the voice work is just so natural. It's not overplayed, it's not underplayed, it's just perfect and that's because it's the original, but it's how I feel. For example (I'm going to jump ahead because I still remember watching the remake and being so disappointed) when Ash jumped down the tunnel after the ball that captures Pikachu and he's yelling in the original, but he doesn't do that in the remake and that broke my heart. The yell in the original was so desperate and determined, and in the remake it's so weak.

I can't remember if in the remake they use the same line when Brock says that Mewtwo is going to destroy humans and save Pokemon and Mewtwo corrects him. I honestly can't remember, but that plays a big part in who Mewtwo is as a character and villain. He's not saving Pokemon, he is destroying the entire world to remake it in his image... but I can't remember how they do it in the remake so I can't say, lol

Why do they never tell the other three side characters names in the movie? They don't do it in the original or in the remake, but I'm pretty sure they're listed in the credits, 😓

Charizard's a buttface and I love him (but he's even better in Pokemon 3)

I did notice in the Evolution version that they didn't use the Brock's line of 'carrying the Pokemon away' after Ash's suggestion of putting them in the pokeballs failed. I kind of thought they should have had that line.

And, again, I don't know if maybe it's the music- but the version of the chase in the original feels a lot more hectic and crazy and fast, versus the new version where it kind of feels like it takes more time and it's not as urgent, but maybe that's just me.

"You're not gonna' get Pikachuuuuuu!!!" 🥰🥰🥰

Not going to lie, I don't remember the remake version of when he gets Pikachu out of the Pokeball and the Machine breaks. I don't remember it. I do remember that the release of his Pokemon is relatively the same- if not the same, but I can't remember him in the machine pulling on the ball and chewing on the arms. I don't know if that happened 😅 I don't know why it wouldn't, but this is the moment in the remake where I realized the lack of music. It took me this long to understand why I just didn't care and this was the moment. He didn't yell in the tunnel like he does in the original and then he got in the lab and he was telling Team Rocket that he did not have time for them at that moment and I just thought something was missing and it was the music.

In this scene, if he did not say anything to Team Rocket I would have thought he didn't even see them. He was so focused on getting Pikachu back.

Team Rocket has great puns, they hit right in this movie. In Evolution it feels like they tried, but they didn't stand a chance.

I don't think the remake does this either, but Charizard never reappeared and Ash was like "You're all alright!", but where is Charizard??

So, when Mewtwo's clones appear there's a big explosion, but it's quiet--but when Ash and the originals return it brings up that loud, marching, hero entrance music. There was music in the remake, but it wasn't like a Hero's Return kind of music. It was really quiet it was pretty, but it didn't give that same powerful feeling 😓

On that note, I also don't remember the scene right after yet before Mew appears in the remake. Does Evolution!Ash try to punch Mewtwo and get thrown back into a wall? He must because I saw him climbing down, but I did not notice. I all I was completely spaced off 😅

I like Meowth's commentary in this version better. It's worded so well and the overview is just perfect.

Brother, My Brother. 😭 They had instrumental music during this scene in the remake even though there are plenty of songs out there that you could use in this scene (that are not this specific song, but they didn't even try). And the instrumental music they had was quiet even in the midst of the big fighting versus when it gets to the slow motion scenes of the fight where you get like really really sad because it's just terrible what's going on. I don't think the remake had any music, whereas the original does have really strong long notes and they they stretch on and you see it it emphasizes what's going on in this scene and how painful the fighting is and I felt like there was no feeling in the remake.

The side characters commentary in the remake is different from the original and I feel like (I don't want to sit here and say the original is better but it is) in the commentary in the remake they mainly kept repeating that the pokemon were clones and we already knew that, versus in the original they're explaining that they're all living creatures and that forcing them to fight because of how they came into the world is wrong.

Meowth's commentary with Meowth is spot-on and it hits me hard. I wish they kept that too they changed that and I don't know why they changed that.

Weird observation, but I feel like Ash's climbing in the original.. the wall is so big and makes him look so small and in the remake he did not look nearly as tiny. Which isn't like a criticism it's just a thing that I thought of just now.

I don't think they had a Ash watching Pikachu in the remake like they do in the original..and that builds to the point in which Ash will run out there. I do not remember this much focus on Pikachu's battle when Ash was climbing down, but I could have not been paying attention too so..

"Someone's got to say 'no' and refuse to fight, just like Pikachu." 😭😭

Okay, before I go on to bawl my eyes out (because I can't stand it when Pikachu cries and this scene has torn me apart since the first time I saw it and it will continue to tear me apart because I'm weak). I did really like that in the remake you can hear Pikachu sobbing the entire time they go through all the other Pokemon crying. You can hear Pikachu crying the entire time and I did cry because that was sad. 💔😭😭😭

Just thinking about Pikachu's sobs hurts! 😭😭

"I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant, it's what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are." A perfect quote is indeed perfect and was not touched- wise decision Evolution 😘

This is actually the last scene where I paid any specific attention, so it's really the last thing I can comment on... so I'll probably just stop this commentary here.

If you read this: props to you, it was a nice ramble.

I don't know if I can rate Evolution, because the only thing that it really had going for it specifically is it's animation and I didn't even really like the animation that much.

I'll be nice, 6/10. If anyone thinks it deserves higher let me know. 3/5 stars. I'd probably have rated it higher if it had a better score. And if the new jokes actually made sense.

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