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maki-matsurra · 2 years

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You do Sing?!? That’s so awesome!! Can I please request a one shot of Johnny and his Crush having to sing a romantic duet together and they’re so flustered but when it’s finally time for the main show they actually confess their feelings at the end. If you do this I owe you my life!! Your writing is amazing, love you!!

I do!! And thank you! I’m so happy you enjoy my writing! I love you too! 🥺❤️🧡💜✨

Of course, I can! This is such a cute idea and I’m actually glad you requested a Johnny x Reader, cause tbh, Johnny is honestly my favorite character in the Sing franchise 😂

It's actually been a hot minute since I've written anything for Sing so I might be a little rusty on this one-shot, I used to write Sing one-shots on Wattpad when the first movie came out, but I don't think Sing was as popular as it was before the sequel came out, which is why I'm so glad it's getting more attention! Both Sing movies are just so good :D

So since you didn't state what animal the reader should be, I just took it upon myself to actually just make their species a Great Pyrenees, which is a breed of a dog if anyone was wondering, also, the reader uses she/her pronouns!

This also takes place after the events of Sing 2, so…

SPOILER WARNING FOR SING 2

Hope you like it! It was super fun to write!

Want to send in a request? Start Here!

Johnny couldn't help but glance at the (F/C) canine as she warmed up her voice onstage alongside Porsha. The group was back from their show in The Majestic Palace, and Buster and Gunter was already working on their newest show.

(Y/N) had a slight smile on her face as she continued on, walking around the stage, holding a music sheet in her hands whilst Porsha just stood still, re-reading her music as well.

"See anything interesting, Johnny?"

He jolted at the sudden voice next to him, he looked down to see Ash look at him with a slight smirk, holding her guitar case. He scoffed at that, focusing back on what he was doing, which was packing up and getting ready to go home. "Ha ha, very funny, Ash."

"So, who is it? Porsha or (Y/N)?"

He hesitated for a minute, before mumbling; "...(Y/N)."

"Oh thank god. I would have asked Clay to spray you with a water hose if it was Porsha." Ash chuckled, leaning up against the wall, Johnny let a small grow on his face. "You uh... got any advice on... Y-You know..."

"Considering the fact my last relationship resulted in my boyfriend cheating on me, it's probably not a good idea to take advice from me." She raised an eyebrow.

"That's... probably true..." He admitted, nodding.

"But hey, (Y/N)'s a cool chick, so I'm sure she'll like you back." The porcupine clicked her tounge at Johnny with a wink. "Good luck, I'm out."

"See you tomorrow, Ash." Johnny said, looking back at the fluffy dog, she was now finally rehearsing the actual lyrics. He sighed deeply before grabbing his skateboard and heading out the door himself.

You can’t see shiny cars

That’s when you need me there

With you I’ll always share

‘Cause I

I'm singing in the rain

Just singing in the rain

What a glorious feeling, I'm happy again

Buster, Gunter, and Suki watched from their front row seats in the audience, their faces completely focused on the performance in front of them. (Y/N) was in a flowy (F/C) skirt that came above her knees, a white over-the-shoulder sweater with a black tank top underneath, and brown combat boots.

Porsha was wearing what looked like a black tuxedo but was altered so the jacket was open to reveal a pale yellow vest over a black collar shirt, a black pencil skirt, black tights, black heels, white gloves, and a white bow-tie, as well as a black fedora with a yellow stripe around it.

Since the scene was supposed to have a rainy atmosphere, the setting and backdrop were made to look like a grey cityscape, so there were lit street lamp posts and benches, and above them there were showerheads, letting water drizzle onto the stage like rain falling from the sky, and because of that, the two girls had umbrellas, Porsha having a yellow transparent one and (Y/N) having an (F/C) transparent one.

The two ran through their number, being careful of their steps so that they wouldn't injure themselves on the now slippery surface, Porsha hanging off the pole and spinning around on it, holding her arm out whilst (Y/N) spun around as well.

The koala sighed at the performance. "Something is off on the performance, but I don't really know what it is..."

"You think so?" Gunter questioned, looking at him, making him nod, blue eyes glancing at him then back at the performance.

"The girls work great together, look good side by side, their voices..." Suki mumbled before the three looked at each other in realization.

"Their voices don't work together."

"So, who could we swap with Porsha?" Suki question, looking at her notes.

"We could use Rosita, ja?" The male pig asked with an excited smile, making Moon shake his head. "No, no, Rosita has too much of a soft voice for them to work together... We need a person who could learn the choreography as soon as possible, and their voices need to mesh well together."

"And using that information, the only logical person would be..." Suki thought tilting her head to the side and placing a hand on her cheek.

“You want us to what?!"

"We're gonna perform... together?!"

The two were red in the face as they stood next to each other backstage, their eyes wide. Apparently, the person the trio came up with was Johnny, which would usually not be a problem, but when it the number was with his crush?

Needless to say, they both were pretty flustered.

"You guys would work so well together! Just think! It would look amazing!" Moon said with a smile, Suki nodding along with him.

The two glanced at each other, not too sure about this, but it wasn't like they had much of a choice, and they really didn't have enough time to argue about it, the show was going to be performed in 3 weeks after all.

"So, that being said, Johnny, you'll need to check in with Nooshy for the choreography, and after that's finished, we gotta get you fitted for a whole new costume."

"R-Right, Ok..." Johnny nodded, hesitantly agreeing, making the other pair nod and walk away to continue planning, leaving the gorilla and canine in very awkward silence.

"S-So Uhm... I-If you uh... need any help with the choreography, I uh.. I can y-you know..." (Y/N) mumbled her tail swishing, making Johhny turn to her and clear his throat. "Y-Yeah! Of course! T-Thanks."

"N-No problem." She smiled. "Can't wait to work with you."

"S-same here." The gorilla smiled back, watching her walk away with a lovestruck gaze.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Okay, it was definitely bad.

The two were completely flushed red in the face as they stood next to each other backstage, nervously jittering or pacing as they waited for their cue, the pair feeling very awkward and nervous at the same time.

Their cue was soon called, and before Johnny went out on stage, (Y/N) lightly grabbed his wrist, making his eyes meet her (E/C) ones.

"L-let's do our best out there tonight, okay?"

'Oh my god, she is so cute-'

"R-Right."

And with that, the two went out there, pushing back the fear and nervousness and well, just performing with the music and with themselves, smiles on their faces, and once they struck that final pose together,

The moment never felt so right.

They quickly got out of position and headed straight backstage, where the canine quickly turned and jumped into Johnny's arms, the two laughing as he spun her around.

"You were amazing!"

The two blinked at each other as they said the exact thing at the same time, making them laugh again.

As soon as Johnny settled his chuckles, he took a deep breath; "(Y-Y/N), I was wondering... If you're not busy this Wednesday... M-Maybe we could just have lunch...J-Just the two of us?"

She looked at him with wide eyes with a flushed face, before smiling at him and saying one thing;

"That would be just perfect, Johnny.”

#Sing #Sing 2 #sing johnny #matsurrawrites #anon #anon request #sing movie #Sing 2 movie #One shot #one shot request

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dappercritter · 4 years

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Random She-Ra Season 5 Thoughts: THE FINAL RAMBLING

Yep. I finally got all my crazy absurd thoughts about this gay adventure-romance-drama cartoon summarized into one incoherent yet fun to read computer document/article! ...four months after the show itself ended. Oh well, no one’s perfect. Anyways, there are a whole lot more insane observations than ever before, so I had to put it below a link so this thing didn’t back up my blog or any of yours. Hope you enjoy reading through these as much I enjoyed spouting them for no discernible reason other than I felt like it!

-I feel that since is the last season, I ought to talk about an important part of the show that I’ve been putting off: the animation. It’s… okay. It’s definitely smoother than what the original 80’s show and it’s brother series (heheh) looked like, but at the same time it still seems to suffer from similar limitations which causes some distracting moments of stiffness. But other than that, it’s pretty good. It’s no Titmouse or Studio Mir but it looks good and it gets the job done.

-After all, let’s not forget: “Imperfection is beautiful!”

-Even when things are at their lowest, Adora is a jock with a heart of gold.

-Horde Prime and the Galactic Horde’s aesthetic feels like a mixture of Catholicism, Scientology, Heaven’s Gate, and modern Microsoft, and honestly, that just makes him creepier.

-Speaking of Horde Prime, he didn’t waste any time with destroying Bright Moon. …apparently.

-Furthermore, on the topic of his giant holographic messages, WAS THAT A FREAKING MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE MOVIE REFERENCE?!

-Boy, Glimmer and Catra sure got along quickly! It’s almost like they magically understand each other because they both assumed leadership roles and screwed up big time! …I guess.

-Either that or this season is going to be a speedrun.

-Wow, the Rebellion sure got used to having a once-thought-dead king as well as a known enemy general/abuser running around their camp awful fast, didn’t they?

-Mara’s got a spaceship, a cyber girlfriend, a magic grandma, a dragon, a tragic backstory, AND a force ghost?! Dang, even in death, the girl’s got it all. No wonder everyone likes her!

-(*me looking at the TV rating at the start of episode*) “Why is language in there? Is there surprise cuss words or something in this season?” (*sees Horde Prime seize control of a clone for the first time*) “HOLY FREAKING SH—oh that’s why.”

-Applause to the crew for making the “dinner with Prime” scene for making a meal between a sparkly princess, a catgirl, and alien cult leader feel even more uncomfortable than it had a right to.

-(*me throughout the season whenever a clone was onscreen*) Is that Hordak? Is that him? Is that him? Is that him right there? Oh it is—oh no wait. … Is that h—

-Extra applause for having Glimmer learn from her grey-area wetwipe phase and refusing to sell out her friends again whilst telling the imperialist cult leader where to stick it.

-I would pay a sizeable portion of my life savings to hear what a Scorpia and Swift Wind duet would sound like.

-In fact, I’d double it if it was just Scorpia singing.

-Ah what the heck. I would triple it for an entire She-Ra musical!

-As happy as I am to see to see Entrapta interacting with the other princesses again, I have to say that their big reunion left me with some mixed feelings. Here’s a quick rundown:

-Entrapta, a grown autistic woman, being led around on a leash by non-neurodivergent teenagers—again: that’s bad.

-The Princesses confronting Entrapta about joining the Horde: that’s good!

-The Princesses blaming all their problems with the Horde bots on Entrapta’s actions and her hyper fixations alone: that’s bad.

-Entrapta explaining herself, admitting that she regrets her mistakes, and getting the Princesses to understand that she thinks and communicates differently, but in spite of that, she really does want help find Glimmer: that’s good!

-Entrapta never gets to call out the Princesses for how poorly they treated her: that’s bad.

-Entrapta saves the day and goes to space: that’s good!

-Scorpia and Entrapta still haven’t interacted even though the former is with the Rebellion in the first place because she went to look for her because she is her best friend: …can I go home now?

-How nice! Michah finally got to shapeshift!

-And he’s rocking that She-Ra outfit to boot!

-So is Darla a back up of Light Hope or do they just run on the same operating system and have the same voice?

-I could watch an entire season of Adora, Bow, and Entrapta going on space adventure in a rundown ship with their custom-made spacesuits, tbh.

-Is anyone else weirded out that Catra’s younger self looked at her in her flashback(?).

-Actually what WAS happening there, anyhow?

-(*watching Bow’s spacewalk to save Glimmer*) “Is that a Gravity reference?” asked the man who never saw Gravity.

-Speaking of spacewalks, how did Glimmer survive those precious few seconds in space? Does the teleporter teleport a breathable atmosphere too?

-Also, Catra, WHY did you think it would be a good idea to teleport Glimmer into space? I know you had a plan and the ship was right there but… Ah, never mind.

-Not that I’m complaining but Glimmer’s apology to the rest of the friend squad for her HORRIBLE plan last season went… surprisingly quickly.

-You know as cool as The Star Siblings are, being a quirky band of space-travelling siblings with cool powers and some trans rep to boot, I only have one small problem with them: weren’t there already Star Sisters on Etheria back in season 1?

-That doesn’t sound right, but I don’t know enough about Masters of the Universe characters to dispute it.

-Entrapta confirmed pan, objectum, AND horny on main. Dang girl, you’re gonna have fun whether you got Hordak back or not…

-“The Velvet Glove” is both a menacing and stupid name for a decadent overlord’s mothership.

-Wait, it’s from the 80’s canon? Oh. That kind of explains it, actually.

-Goshdangit, I wanted Catra to face punishment for her crimes, but I didn’t think that would involve going to evil alien conversion therapy!

-Nor did I want her to die! For a second. Actually, since it obviously wasn’t going to last I was… weirdly okay with that part???

-Horde Prime seems awfully okay with Catradora. I mean he’s still super creepy and manipulative about it, but also oddly progressive for an evil brainwashing cult leader.

-(*Adora transforms into a She-Ra through seer will*) First of all, called it. Second of all, WOAH MAMA now that’s a glow up!

-Wrong Hordak did not have to be a thing, and yet, I’m glad that he is.

-Hordak remembers the LUVD crystal and Entrapta… Hordak remembers Entrap—! It’s happening! Oh my gosh, it’s happening! Everybody stay calm!

-Wow, Entrapta didn’t have to be so forgiving of Catra for everything she’s done to her but she did. Only I’m not sure if that was Entrapta taking the high road or the low road.

-Or which road the crew took for that matter.

-I remember when I thought those “Chipped AUs” floating around here on tumblr were just something the fans came up with and that chipping people was not an actual despicable thing Prime does in canon. I miss those days.

-I know it’s not the same as before or the original design, but True She-Ra’s designs and powers? I think they slappin’.

-Hooray, Adora and Catra are finally making up! And it only took four and half seasons worth of communication failures, toxic villainous behaviour, and physical violence for Catra to snap out of it!

-…We can go back to Entrapdak now, right?

-Poor Elberon. First they unknowingly adopt a double agent then get invaded by the Horde and now they’re getting brainwashed and chipped by the Galactic Horde. They might be a cute village, but they got some pretty lousy security.

-You know it’s cute that Micah is doing his best to be friends with Frosta and get back in touch with his dad-side, but look I can’t be the only one worried about how the local King is a less proactive leader than the princesses or the known war criminal/abuser, right?

-“The Perils of Peekablue” or as I like to call it, “You Thought ‘Boys Night Out’ Caught You Emotionally Off-guard? Hah! Watch This.”

-You know I didn’t think Scorpfuma would be a thing aside that one moment of flirting near the end of season 4, but they really pushed for it to be a thing! This is… actually pretty great! Perfuma’s not perfect, and I would have appreciated giving them a little more time to bond and form some real chemistry, but at least she reciprocates Scorpia’s sweetness instead of rebuffing it in increasingly aggressive fashion.

-I’m not sure what’s more concerning: that Mermista set a boat on fire, that it’s worded like she had a fling as part of some experimental phase, or that Sea Hawk is turned on by this.

-Peekablue might not be real, (I think?) but he is one dapper dude! Female-to-male redesigns could learn a thing or two from him.

-It involved them getting stung and seizuring, but that was a heck of a way to reintroduce Double Trouble! I swear I got watching them cycle through their transformations in some sort of physical reaction.

-Or maybe that was just me worrying about their wellbeing…

-Okay, I get the Chips are huge, and actually rather clever threat, but how do these characters get chipped in the first place? I get there are chipped people who spread the chips throught the population but where do they get those from???

-Do one of those Horde Prime drones just sneak behind someone, slap a chip on their nape then hand them a whole bagfull and say, “Beep boop beep, Horde Prime’s Light, blah blah blah. Alright have fun, kiddo”?

-Or is it some sort of Alien: Covenant deal where they’re just floating around and Lord help you if one sticks to you?

-HOLY CRAP THEY ACTUALLY GOT SCORPIA TO SING! AND SHE WAS GREAT!

-Oh shoot. Guess I owe the crew twice my life savings now…

-Entrapdak might be what got me into this show, but it’s Double Trouble that kept me around, so you can imagine how happy I was to see them make their grand reappearance!

-Conversly, you can imagine my disappointment when they just disappeared until the finale.

-And on that note: HOW DID YOU GUYS LOSE DOUBLE TROUBLE?!

-You forgot to cherish them, didn’t you?

-So, Scorpia sacrifices herself just after finding a new girlfriend and gaining some newfound confidence, Mermista and Sea Hawk are split up,and Double Trouble didn’t join the main cast. Why can’t you just have fun like a normal cartoon, show?

-Gosh, I love me some shifting title cards!

-Is it just me or did they sneak in some more Annihilation references on Krytis?

(-Said the guy who was too chicken to watch the movie and just read about it and watched a few clips online.)

-(*audibly sighs*) FINE. I guess I like Catradora now. Are you happy now, SPOP Crew? ARE YOU?!

-Hooray, Catra’s got a emotional support animal! And they’re a shapeshifting magic alien cat. Those are the best kind!

-Is it weird that I knew that weird glowing stuff on Krytis was just magic all along, or was it just not hidden very well. Anyways, I like Krytis. I like that we got to see a truly alien world with its own form of magic.

-Plus, we got a logical advancement of the magic versus science subtheme with magic being Horde Prime’s weakness! Neato!

-Getting back on the “which is worse?” wagon for a second, I don’t know what feels less right: that Wrong Hordak’s big revelation and his resolution to free himself and his brothers and friends from Horde Prime’s control is played humorously, or that Real Hordak should be the one having this moment.

-That bit with Castaspella and Shadow Weaver where she tells Casta about Etheria being a living thing with inherent magical property, or whatever, while we got a peaceful shot of some boar creatures sleeping was actually kind of nice. It would have been nicer though if it wasn’t part of a power hungry abuser’s obvious scheme. If only there was a kindly old witch lady character who was in touch with nature and knew just what to say when someone was feeling downOH WAIT.

-Furthermore… Why did Shadow Weaver and Castaspella need to have romantic tension?

-Seriously though, where’s our Madame Razz quota this season? Where’s my supportive magic grandma timelord at, yo?

-Yup, they speedran this season.

-I’m actually really disappointed we didn’t see more of an intergalactic new rebellion rising up to fight Horde Prime’s forces across the universe. Especially if it meant we got to see more Star Sibling action!

-Again, I adore Wrong Hordak but I keep wondering what was keeping the crew from just bringing in Original Flavour Hordak. (You know, aside from teasing us Entrapdak fans and trying to distract us with a loveable new character in the meantime.) I mean he could have done the whole infiltrating the clone squads and tricking them bit, too.

-Heck, he could have done the wink, too!

-I’d gleefully point out Loo-Kee’s cameo this season but apparently, they already made some several seasons ago. That’s what I get for not rewatching the 80’s show and training my eyes first.

-(*sees Erelandians*) Are those freaking Toads and Toadettes?

-So, what’s keeping them from just hitting Spinerella’s chip again? Besides emotional baggage and gale force winds, I mean.

-Perfuma coming out of a cave scared out of her wits, demanding to know who’s there, clinging to her friends as soon as they come back, and balling her eyes out is a big, BIG mood.

-Frosta absolutely decking Catra in the face was nestled somewhere between cathartic and excessive.

-Netossa spraying her with a bottle of water on the other hand…

-Oh, so Greyskull was the name of a Rebel Squad! I think. Meh, the important thing is we got an explanation and it still sounds cool.

-Leave it to a couple of dads to make a secret message out of a dad joke.

-You know I made fun of Light Hope for being creepy, but I swear that avatar from the Spire is even creepier. I don’t know if it’s her face—those dang blank eyes, man—or just that it she’s less animated than the real thing, but it just felt… off.

-Aww, Noelle made Netossa’s princess weakness illustrations! So cute!

-Forget episodes that deserves Emmys, Keston John deserves one for voicing Hordak, Horde Prime, all the clones, and several minor villains and giving each and every single one a distinct voice! Where my king’s respect, eh?

-Yes, Catra you had a small disagreement with Hordak. …Over sending his girlfriend and your “friend” to DIE IN A LITERAL LIVING HELL.

-Sorry, I just had to get that out of my system.

-Why does Perfuma get pressured to get angry and go wild when Entrapta’s the one who’s had it the worst out of all them? Why can’t my gamer girl go berserk, dammit!?

-Okay, but really, how do these fricking chips work??? Are they parasite devices who store Horde Prime’s Baptizing Dew then slowly pump it into their host’s bodies? Do they have their own nervous systems? Are they technorganic? Also, how and why do we need to make these chips are bigger threat then they need to be?

-Horde Prime showing up on Hordak’s throne in grand Killing Joke style and casually throwing shades at his brother’s overblown attempts to impress him is pretty awesome, but it feels strangely underdeveloped. Hordak’s not there to have his hard work insulted and we never got to see Adora have any similar encounter with Hordak here before, so unless you look at it from the perspective of someone who has been here before in the Horde story like Catra it lacks the dramatic weight it should have had.

-Scorpia resisting the chip to save her new friends was pretty great, though.

-I swear, when they got to the scene where Adora and the others figured out that Shadow Weaver was grooming her so she could use her to get to the Heart of Etheria, I was mouthing “You B***H” through the whole thing.

-They really brought back Etherian deep magic just so they had something to make Micah threatening. …okay.

-Okay, the rest of “Failsafe” messed me up, so here’s a rundown on all the other messy thoughts I had while the show ripped my heart and ground it to dog food:

-Entrapta and Hordak reuniting: Yay!

-Swift Wind yanking her away before she can get through to him: Boo.

-Catra encouraging Adora to try and take care of herself for a change: Yay!

-Adora hurts Catra and she runs away: Boo.

-Adora finally calling out Shadow Weaver on what an utterly horrible person she is: Yay!

-Adora resolves to risk sacrificing herself to save the world: Bo—okay, seriously, was all this suffering really necessary, show?

-I know I mentioned in my previous She-Ra random thoughts that I supported Glimmadora, but I am okay with Catradora and Glimbow ending up canon. The only problem I have is how rushed they feel—moreso with Glimbow. With Catradora, the crew had an entire season to make it work again and they took it. Glimbow it feels like they were down to the last few episodes and went, “Oh right, we were gonna do something with these two!” then did their darndest to fit in some chemistry in between all the other stuff going down.

-As ominous as it was, the music where Horde Prime starts hacking Etheria honestly SLAPS.

-Okay, I know everyone is magic or something, but I am legit surprised getting electrocuted in water didn’t kill the heroes right then and there.

-Sea Hawk tries to flirt with his girl even as she’s trying to kill him. Truly, he is a man of taste.

-What do you know, Shadow Weaver can only do good when she’s (canonically!) punch drunk.

-You know a whole lot of this could have been avoided if Holo-Mara was Adora’s mentor instead of Light Hope.

-When I think about it, it was actually really clever to make Horde Prime the final villain for Adora to face: a domineering decadent man who’s been in power forever against a humble emotionally vulnerable compassionate young woman.

-Not to mention the divide between cult-like oppression and progressive freedom. Or something.

-Holy crap, did the First Ones get a great freaking a Great Old One for a guard dog?!

-So, you guys seriously didn’t bring Angella back to reunite with her family OR mention her all season after the impact her death had on everyone all last season until Glimmer needs a power-up at the last possible minute and then you never bring her up again. That is absolutely a dick move in bird culture.

-Entrapta’s hacker sticker gives me life. Gamer girl gremlin princess forever!

-On the one hand, I’m disappointed that Adora and Catra don’t get to have an awesome couple battle against the security monster and win. On the other hand, Shadow Weaver is finally dead. YAY!

-With apologies to the writers and especially Lorraine Toussaint. She did splendidly bringing this character to life and even if I hated Shadow Weaver, I adored the effort she put into making her one of the most emotionally complex villains I’ve ever seen.

-Words cannot, will not, and will never describe the pure joy that I experienced when I first saw Hordak’s big scene: standing up to and disowning his tyrant brother, saving Entrapta, declaring his love to her (albeit in a nicely lowkey fashion), and then throwing Horde Prime to his apparent doom Disney style with Entrapta cheering him with sheer glee. GOSH, it was everything I could have hoped for from this season!

-Now if only they kept the deleted scene where they got a moment to themselves before Prime body-jacked him again like the creepy sonuvabich he is.

-Horde Prime just wouldn’t be a religious villain if he didn’t tell everyone to burn.

-Bonus points for actually trying to burn the frigging planet.

-Aside from the idea of Adora switching to wearing a She-Ra themed dress everywhere in the future, the future vision was really quite sweet, and seeing Prime step in to ruin it made it all the more impactful.

-Can I just say that it’s absolutely wonderful that the show, for all it’s flaws, said “**** senseless heroic sacrifices”?

-BREAKING: Lesbian cat finally makes up with her jock ex, has a canon kiss so pure it saves the world!

-In other news, Catradora fans are still spoiled rotten.

-Wow, look at all those character comebacks they skipped through! Look, there’s the chefs from Dryl, Double Trouble, Huntara, the Horde Trio, Imp, Madame Razz—are you kidding me?!

-Grumbling aside, I actually find the idea of the Horde Trio and Imp getting involved in a G-rated science-fantasy version of the first Hangover movie quite amusing.

-Oh dang, they pulled a Castle in the Sky with the Velvet Glove!

-As nice as it was to see Aodra save Hordak from Horde Prime and destroy the latter through exorcism via sheer compassion, I’m rather disappointed we never got to see She-Ra go full Metal Gear Solid Rising: Revengence on any creepy old cult leaders.

-Yeah, it would have gone against the “love conquers all” set up, but love takes on many forms, does it not? So, why can it not manifest as cleaving your mortal enemies with extreme prejudice to save your loved ones?

-Furthermore, in addition to Holo-Mara being a better mentor, Hordak raising Adora instead Shadow Weaver could have prevented a lot of similar problems. Maybe. Possibly.

-Eh whatever, he has a lifetime’s worth of fanfiction to make up for it.

-ENTRAPDAK IS CANON, ALL IS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD.

-And so is Catradora and Glimbow! That’s nice, too.

-Aww, how sweet of them to skip through Catra and Scorpia, and Glimmer and Micah’s big reunions! It’s not like we’ve been waiting forever for this stuff or anything. HahahahAHAHAHDHAHAHFHAFHKSADJHFKAJHDfine.

-And so it all ends with everyone either friends, in love, or both, as heroes decide to make up for it all with a grandiose sequel promising more exciting space adventures we probably won’t see! HOORAY!

-All snarky ranting aside, I actually really enjoyed the finale. It was exciting, heartwarming, and above all it ended on happy, hopeful note without leaving too many frustrating questions unanswered. (*glares with utmost contempt at Voltron and Star vs. The Forces of Evil*)

-You know, this wasn’t bad for a final season, but I think this might have worked better as two seasons. Not in Netflix’s cheap “split a regular 13-episode season in two 6-7 episode long seasons” strategy, but I mean two full seasons with their own storylines leading up to the grand finale:

-First, one that starts out with Horde Prime’s arrival the downfall of Etheria, focuses on the space adventures, ends with their return to Etheria and gives the characters time to recuperate from season 4.

-Then, we have one final season that focuses on the Best Friend Squad’s Return to Etheria, Horde Prime’s plan, gives everyone more time to properly reconcile before ¾ of the entire cast gets chipped, sets up a new Rebellion made up of Princess Alliance and former Etherian Horde members, maybe even set up a proper Hordak redemption arc or something, and then our big happy ending.

-On a mostly unrelated note, I also feel that the whole show could have turned out even better if it had been either a dedicated science-fantasy war drama with some levity (like the good Star Wars shows or Avatar: The Last Airbender) or a lighthearted yet empowering slice-of-life action-adventure romcom (i.e. basically a well-made remake of the original show in the style of Adventure Time and Parks and Rec or something).

-My final random thought for this whole thing: we really could have used a triumphant end credits song or something. Aside from obviously recommending Fabulous Secret Powers, I would have also recommended the original 4 Non Blondes “What’s Going On,” a reprise of “Warriors,” Gorillaz’s “We Got the Power,” or (my favourite) Talking Head’s “(Nothing But) Flowers” since the ending scenes remind me of it.

Thanks again to the crew for giving me something to live for and/or complain about!

Now, let’s hope the He-Man reboots do as well...

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clive-owen-and-the-knick · 3 years

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Rock n Roll Thack

Spoilers ahead for the season-one finale of The Knick.

As The Knick kicked off this past summer, Dr. John Thackery (Clive Owen) reminded those around him that “We live in a time of endless possibility.” Unfortunately for this brilliantly unhinged surgeon, that potential boundlessness got him sentenced to a hospital bed on this weekend’s season finale. Turns out shooting liquid cocaine into your veins before surgery is bad for both you and the health of your patient! Thankfully, Thack will get himself cured with a new drug called, uh … heroin, which was considered safe at the time. “It’s from the Bayer Aspirin Company,” says the prescribing doctor.

My Week In New YorkA week-in-review newsletter from the people who make New York Magazine.

A fitting way to end the poetically harrowing first season of Steven Soderbergh’s 1900s medical drama — with its antihero hitting rock-bottom. What will Soderbergh and the rest of The Knick team have in store for us in season two? Vulture spoke with Owen to discuss those possibilities, the finale, and the unlimited energy it takes to play a cocaine addict.

So let’s start right at the end. Thackery is finally able to get the help he needs … [Laughs.]

… only to find out he’s getting weaned off of cocaine and onto heroin. Exactly! I always thought that was a pretty brilliant ending. And apparently it was true. There were a lot of people getting addicted to cocaine at that time, because it was a new wonder drug and they didn’t realize its addictiveness. So they prescribed heroin as a kind of antidote. Out of the frying pan, into the fire …

It feels like you need a tremendous amount of energy to play a cocaine addict. It’s true. It was very exhausting, simply for that reason. It was exhausting anyway because it was a very intense shoot and Steven [Soderbergh] worked so fast and we were doing a lot, but you do realize that every single scene takes a lot of energy. Especially those episodes towards the end because there’s the [cocaine] shortage, and then when it comes back, he’s taking more than ever. [Laughs.]

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And you guys shot the scenes out of order, almost like a movie. Yeah, [Soderbergh] boarded it like a ten-hour movie, so when we were in [Thackery’s home], we shot everything, from the first episode to the last episode, in just two days. So that was quite a challenge. I made a visual white board on my wall, which just plotted through all the episodes and all the scenes in the episodes, and part of that was to graph my drug intake. That this was a period where you need more drugs, or this is where you were on too many. In some ways, that needed to be charted throughout the whole ten hours.

So you were filming those scenes where Thackery is self-destructing early in the shoot? Exactly. It was all location-based. At first I thought, That’s fine. You always shoot anything out of sequence. But it wasn’t until we started that I realized what a challenge that was. It’s a big undertaking, especially with a part like that.

One of my favorite — though certainly horrifying — aspects of the show is to see all the medical procedures and techniques that are shunned now. Obviously there’s the cocaine, but then there’s the fact that doctors aren’t wearing gloves or that people need to stand in front of an X-ray machine for like 45 minutes. The great thing is, not only were the operations really well-researched — when we did them, they were incredibly faithful to how they were being done at the time — we go into discoveries that were made. But also there were a number of crazy ideas and crazy notions that they were exploring. I am sure in 20 or 40 years from now, we’ll look back and think, Did we really believe that?

I understand you went through a brief medical-school crash course with the show’s medical adviser, Dr. Stanley Burns, before you began production. Yeah, he was an unbelievable source of research and information. It’s almost like this show was his fantasy come to life, because his place, he has hundreds of thousands of photographs from this period, he had medical instruments from the period, he had booklets that were handed to doctors at the turn of the century. He was just an unbelievable resource to have.

What was the hardest procedure for you to do onscreen? Really, the first one was in some ways the most shocking, because we did everything we could, but we had never seen it with all the blood and everything. We had rehearsed it thoroughly, we shot everything up until the point where we make the first incision, and then the blood was pumped through and we just did everything in real time, and Steven kept his shot going. The blood just kept coming, and by the end, when he shouted “Cut!,” we were all covered. It was all over the place. It was a real moment of “Welcome to 1900!” [Laughs.] That was quite shocking. So we knew from then on that this was the direction we were going in.

I read Steven was looking for that “David Fincher” level of blood. Yeah, and again, Dr. Burns was there for every single procedure … He would be like, “More blood,” “Less blood” — that was what he asked for.

I assume you’re not too squeamish in general, right? It would probably be pretty difficult to play the role to begin with. Um, no, and also the scenes were so technically challenging. They work on such a number of levels. You’ve got the technical side of the operation, you’ve got to know what you’re doing, you’ve got the dialogue with the other doctors, and the whole element of performing it in front of an audience. So they were just very challenging scenes generally, and there was no real time to get squeamish. You just wanted to look like you knew what you were doing.

There’s a pretty brutal scene in the finale where you’re doing a blood transfusion and cutting your wrist open. Could you walk me through that? Well, first I thought, throughout the whole show, but specifically that one, the prosthetics guy did such an incredible job. Even to the naked eye, just as an actor standing there, some of the stuff that we were looking down and working on, it was so convincing. And that’s without doing any CGI. But I do remember that one, with the little girl lying on the bed, and wondering if the veins are connecting, and looking at Steven and saying, “How are we ever going to come back for the second season? How are we ever going to bring this guy back? He’s irredeemable!” [Laughs.] So that felt like a scene where we pushed him as far as it was possible to push him.

We don’t know much of Thackery’s background. He made a brief speech about his father slaughtering Indians, but that was about it. Had you and Steven come up with a backstory? There was actually, in earlier drafts, there was an element of him going back to see his father. So there was some stuff there that in the end Steven took out, which I think was a wise thing to do. So there was kind of a rough outline there, but we may find out more about that in the second season.

You’ve mentioned before that there’s something that strikes you as very rock and roll about Thackery. That came out of a conversation with the costume designer, who did such an excellent job. I went to a fitting and she pitched me the idea of these white boots. It was such a strange arrogance about it. And as we were looking at clothes — I have done period things before, and very often, a costume designer will say, “Oh, no, you can’t wear that because they never did that.” But Ellen would say to me, “Well, you can do what you like. You’re Thackery.” He’s the 1900 version of rock and roll. He can wear anything. There’s something about the way he carries himself, and his attitude, and the fact that he’s brilliant also helps him get away with it. There’s something so edgy and visceral about him.

I think one of the most interesting aspects of him is that he’s able to transition seamlessly from an uptown lifestyle to a more downtown decadence, where he goes to these opium dens. Yeah. And it’s also a lovely flavor of what New York must have been at that time. You get the broad spectrum. You get the real rough areas, where disease has taken a grip; you get the wealthy areas, where people are funding the hospital. It gives you such an opportunity to experience a broad palate of life at that time.

Did filming the first season feel more like a movie than a TV show, since Steven directed every episode? For sure. It didn’t feel any different. It felt longer, obviously — though I say longer, we shot the thing in 73 days. It was like the length of a really big movie. Apart from the amount we were getting through each day, which was an awful lot. We moved so quickly. I think our record was 13 pages of dialogue in one day. Apart from that, the pace of it felt absolutely no different from doing a movie. At the end of the day, Steven Soderbergh is a movie animal. And also the fact that we didn’t shoot it episodically. He did board it like a movie. It didn’t feel like television.

Is 13 pages a day a lot? That seems like a lot. It’s a hell of a lot. You try learning that and knowing you need to get up the next day and do another one. [Laughs.]

That’s what’s so great about the show and how insane it must have been to shoot. You’re not only playing an interesting character, but you have to learn all these medical terms that you’re not that familiar with. They are hard to learn, those scenes. And we did occasionally shoot one operation after another, but you have to really put time into them. You’ve got to look and sound completely convincing. I really thought so highly of the writers — the rhythms were often good. Oftentimes when the writing is good, even if it’s technical stuff around the operation, the rhythm is easier to learn. And it’s really difficult to learn if it’s stilted.

How much rehearsal was involved in shooting the actual scenes? There are some really long takes during those surgery sequences. He’s very, very quick, Steven. Those operation days, I’d say yes, the first hour or two of that day were crucial, because that’s where you’d dictate how everything plays — the technical side of it, the rhythm of the dialogue. But genuinely, we’d go and rehearse the scene a number of times, and Steven would have a look at it from a number of perspectives and make a very clear decision and take a very strong perspective on where he wants to shoot the scene from, and then shoot it fairly quickly.

Have you and Steven talked about what’s in store for season two? Yeah, I’ve got five scripts in front of me here. It’s just very exciting because it was such a bold take on a period genre in a way. I thought it was so visceral and edgy. It’s brilliant to be able to come this far. The exciting thing is we can hit the ground running. We’ve already done so much work in taking it to very interesting, unusual and dangerous places. It’s really exciting.

Are you worried about being able to top the first season? No, we’ve got such a wealth of opportunity. It just goes to really interesting and crazy places, and there is still so much there. We are lucky [the writers] literally immersed themselves in the time. There was stuff they were trying to cram in the first season that they can go to. It’s just really great stuff. There’s an awful lot still.

#Clive Owen #the knick

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baka-monarch · 3 years

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So you all should know by now how much I love Barbie movies and how I think most of them are cinematic masterpieces (*glares at Mermaid Tail 2 and Fairy Secret*)

So last night I finally watched Barbie's A Christmas Carol, and as I do with most movies I payed way too close attention and noticed every detail- AND HOLY SHIT, WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED, WHY IS IT SO BAD?

Clipping, it's not as noticeable as it could be, but it happens ag least every few minutes in the background

None of the character models are new. Every single one is from another movie but altered to fit the aesthetic of this one.

THEY COPY AND PASTED CHARACTER MODELS. First time, it was for an audience and they were in the dark so it was okay- but then they started copy and pasting character models and making them smaller so you would have the "child version of a character"- THEY DID THIS WITH THE MAIN CHARACTER. Then, to make matters WORSE, they copy and pasted the best friend (the girl in place of Bob Cratchit) to make her sister, AND PUT THEM ON SCREEN TOGETHER.

Things were floating alot instead of actually touching the characters

They actually designed eye masks (like what you wear to sleep) for the cat, and then copy and pasted it for protagonist (I don't remember her name) and didn't change it- so she just had this really weird looking eye mask the whole movie

There were parts where kids were singing right, but instead of having a recording of kids singing they just autotuned adults singing so it would "sound like kids". It didn't work.

THE FUCKING RAY TRACING. They didn't even have ray tracing. They just set up another camera where the mirror would be and took screenshots of each frame and animated it into the mirror- and when they weren't using a mirror for a scene it just wouldn't reflect anything at all.

Any time a character sang that wasn't Barbie- they got autotuned

THEY HAD THE WORST TRANSITIONS. THEY WILL BLIND YOU.

So, there was this part in Christmas future where it was supposed to show protagonist being poor. They basically took a copy of her model, turned down the saturation on her dress, gave the dress a patch, and made her expensive silken elbow length gloves be fingerless. LIKE, SURE BARBIE, THAT'S WHAT A POOR PERSON LOOKS LIKE-

Just don't ask me about the story. It was bad. No lesson learned. Honestly, it just kinda tought that protagonist was right at the beginning and you should be selfish, just careful with how you use that selfishness.

There was one moment when I felt empathy for protagonist, and that was when the movie revealed that she had been gas lighted and emotionally manipulated all her life by her aunt- but then compared to the rest of the movie they made this fact such a minor detail that it basically didn't even matter by the end, it was almost as if it was there ONLY to make you feel empathy for her.

THE MOVIE WAS BAD

#rambles #barbie #Barbie's a Christmas Carol #movie #what happened #why is it that the VERY FIRST Barbie movie is a masterpiece akd this one is hot trash

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daretosnoop · 4 years

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The Final Scene Review:

Atmosphere/Layout:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the Nancy Drew games do a stellar job at placing the player within the game. FIN is often given the due credit of being one of the best atmospheric games. The artists effectively portrayed a theater that is long past its prime. Everything is tattered and dusty. Things are old and rusty. How long has that popcorn been sitting there? Or that bubble gum? Who knows? It’s gorgeous! It’s incredible how they manage to make the theater so nostalgic to the player despite it being fictional. It really reminds you of old buildings that are destroyed to make way for corporate offices or businesses. It’s one of the few Nancy Drew games that sets the tone right from the start – dangerous and fast-paced. Maya’s kidnapping sets in the urgency, but right from the start players are required to navigate through an abandoned and creepy backroom only to pop out of a closet. It’s these two scenes that really hammer into the reader that this game is playing no nonsense. It’s like that moment in all horror movies/games where the characters realize this is for real. It really makes sense for the stage rooms to have a bunch of junk lying around here and there because it’s been abandoned. Allowing Nancy to look at them just continues to hammer that in. I mean, did anyone else feel slightly grossed out at the sink with a plunger in it? You really resonate with Nick Falcone’s commitment of protecting America from becoming Generica. Despite its dilapidated state, I’m pretty sure we all can agree that the theater commanded a presence. This game reminded me of the old Scooby Doo episode where they go to the puppet theater and are haunted by that creepy puppet master. And just like the Scooby doo gang, you always felt like someone was watching you—especially in areas like the underground basement and the main theater room.

Music:

Another stellar masterpiece. I don’t think there is a single track I hated. Each title retained the jazzy elements of the theater’s ritzy days, yet there is always something creepy intermixed within it. It really set in the feeling that someone was following you around. Tracks like “Lobby” and “Maya” really brought this feeling home, especially at end game when the danger music is playing and it intermixes with Maya’s theme. OMG, when that music started playing, I really got chills and started to become frantic. I forgot that the axe and hammer don’t work on the ice cube cupboard, which made me waste time. I actually finished this game with seconds to spare because I didn’t know that time didn’t stop when you read the letters.

In terms of little noises, I loved the sound of the doors as you opened it and the rustle of the curtains as you moved them aside. The noise the key make makes and the papers on Nick Falcone’s desk!

Characters:

Nancy: I think everyone agrees that FIN Nancy is a Nancy we rarely ever see. She is taking no crap from anyone. Not only does it reinstate the sense of urgency, but it also shows a Nancy who refuses to be pushed around by others. I mean, not one character dumps their chores onto Nancy! Well Nick Falcone sort of does, but Nancy has the option of calling him out on this!

Simone Muller: Ah, who can forget the best introduction lines ever, “I’m going to have to call you back, someone just stepped out of my closet”. That one line gives you everything you need to know about Simone. She’s busy, has no time for strange occurrences, and doesn’t let anything get in the way of her plans. I love her rudeness, especially when you combine it with Brady and the book he’s reading on “being your own self”. The fact that she refuses to talk to Nancy until the end of day one enforces that “I’ve got no time for you” managerial, Hollywood attitude. One thing this game does well is in making each character suspicious. There is no object or goal the characters are trying to attain, but rather, the game focuses on the lengths they would go to in order to satisfy their desires. Simone wants to make Brady famous because that would make her rich. Thus, from her dealings with Brady’s fans and the floral card, it makes sense that she might kidnap Maya. BTW, I just want to say how amazing this game is by making all the suspicious evidence be everyday items. For Simone, it’s messages and a floral business card. In other words, the suspicion is put on the character’s motives and their personality, as in, how they would achieve said goals.

Brady Armstrong: Total Hottie, am I right? Oh wait, wrong game. Out of the 4 suspects, Brady is the weakest because he really has no reason to kidnap Maya. Even if it was a publicity stunt it wouldn’t be him doing the kidnapping, Simone would make sure of that! But the plot twist they gave to his character was really cool and unexpected. It did bring some new questions, but within the context of the game, it was really great because it took the character with the lowest suspicion rate and made him super suspicious! I know some people might feel like it’s random and came out of nowhere, but I disagree. Brady is shown to have qualms with the amount of control Simone has over his life, not to mention his own fears of a waning career (which btw, nicely ties in with a theater past its prime theme). After Joseph, he shows the most amount of concern for Maya but it feels superficial, like it’s for a press. Later you see him reading the assert yourself book which builds his confidence not only to get out of Simone’s grasps but to go down a different path. Finally, he keeps everything in an office briefcase. It’s a subtle growth, but it’s there.

Nick Falcone: Probably the person the game wanted you to think is the most suspicious because Maya’s kidnapping falls right into his plans, and his past borderline illegal activates to preserve the theater. Honestly, even knowing the true criminal, I think the game did a good job at making Nick suspicious. He gives off the aura of one of those people who make you feel included and then next thing you know you helped someone out in a crime. One of those I’ll be nice and make you trust me, but I have ulterior motives and don’t trust you types. And yet, the game did something so clever with his character that connects him to the real criminal. You see, Nick is relatively nice to Nancy and actually works alongside her a bit, kind of like someone else we know. It’s a clever trick to make Joseph’s eventually reveal seem less jarring because the game has already shown a nice character who is extremely shady.

Joseph Huges: One of those tragic yet scary villains. You really sympathize with his desire to save the theater and his desperation. I felt really bad when the note about his brother’s death was discovered. He’s nice, but the game uses his niceness against you. He’s always there when you need help (he’s watching you). He tries to help you find Maya (he’s making sure you don’t find her before the demolition is due). He’s definitely one of the more dangerous villains because of his desire to be your friend. And yet, I kind of felt like they weren’t intentionally trying to hide this side of Joseph. One of the most obvious things about Maya’s kidnapping is that it would require someone to have intense knowledge of the theater’s layouts, and out of all the characters, Joseph has the most. So from the start, the finger was already on Joseph, but either his “kindness” makes you forget it or makes you deny it because it’s hard to believe. I still wonder if his denial confrontation is intentional or not, or a mix of both. It’s hard to say, he’s definitely a villain that’s exhausted. But it certainly made him one of the best, if not the best, villains in the series.

Puzzles: This game had a nice balance between the puzzles and game. The puzzles weren’t super complicated but they nicely integrated with the theater. I mean, it really wouldn’t make sense for a theater to have complicated puzzles here and there. I think the most complicated puzzle would be the one to get access to the magician’s room. The only puzzle that was a disappointment was using the keys in the attic to get past the door. There were so many keys and they were of similar colour which just made everything chaotic. The end game puzzle was hilarious because it wasn’t a puzzle at all. It was just a magic trick, yet it worked because of the setting! Simone’s phone was a little daunting because I didn’t know what the objective was. I knew you had to put the number from the lipstick card, but where and how wasn’t clear. I kind of guessed a few times then got it.

This game really hammered in the magical phrase “Appearances can be deceiving”.

One funny thing was with the electric door. I forgot to look into the chest to get the rubber gloves, so when I came to the electric door I started to improvise. Instead of going back to get the gloves, my brain went “Well, wood isn’t a good conductor of electricity so if we use the magic wand which is most likely made of wood as a stick and press the numbers with it, we should be good”….. I had to hear Nancy’s scream 3 times before I remembered the gloves.

There were a lot of phone calls, but I like talking to people and gathering bits of clues here and there and having to put everything together. Also, I loved Houdini’s cousin’s morbid humour, LOVED IT!

Graphics:

They show their age here and there, but like the theater, sometimes old is gold. This game doesn’t have little animations that are unique to the character. You could argue for Simone and Joseph as they both had something that was related to their work, but neither revealed much about their character. Graphics is something you can only talk about with the later games, but this game still provided unique angles like Joseph’s head peering into the trap door/magician’s room area.

Plot: It was fantastic. Everything is high stakes and instead of receiving help, Nancy receives reluctance and incompetence. No wonder she tags alongside the villain, he’s the only one who tries to help.

The only thing that I don’t completely get is why Brady felt threatened by Maya. So what if she exposes the fact that he’s the owner of the theater? How does that affect his popularity? If anything, planet Tinseltown would make a bigger dent in it.

Overall, loved this game. 10/10

#nancy drew #her interactive #clue crew #FIN review #The Final Scene #game review

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patchwork-panda · 4 years

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If A Moment is All We Are (5.1/?)

This chapter is REALLY long so I split the text ver into 2 parts for Tumblr.

AO3 link: here

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Story type: Romance/Drama/comedy

Pairing: Dazai x OC/reader (Dazai is endgame, fic is long-running and will also feature Kunikida x OC)

OC (Kusunoki Kyou) and Ability are based off of "The Story of Your Life," written by Ted Chiang, aka the basis of the Amy Adams movie "Arrival."

Rating: M for Blood/violence/themes of depression, anxiety, suicide TW: The second half of this story will deal more heavily with themes of suicide, depression/anxiety. *No major character death will occur*

Story follows OC as she joins the ADA, partners up with the detectives to solve various cases around Yokohama and develops feelings for Kunikida and Dazai (Dazai endgame).

Written for those who want an immersive ADA experience :)

Updates every Sunday evening around 6pm PST

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It wasn’t always like this.

Okay, maybe it was.

For as far back as I could remember, the visions had always been random, random events I would see of the future. If I was in physical contact with someone, the visions would be from their future. If I wasn’t, then the visions would be from my own life. Sometimes when I was really stressed, the visions of my future would actually come in the form of a dream, like in manga or novels.

Perhaps that was the best way to explain how The Story of Your Life worked; it was like taking out a book, keeping a finger against the pages and flipping until that finger finally caught on a single page. Then, flip open that page and read the first paragraph that jumps out; the book was the person’s life and the paragraph was the event, a single scene from that person’s future that I bore witness to.

The visions didn’t always show me death, blood and despair.

In fact, the very first vision I had was that of a puppy—a cute little thing my friend Kiko gifted me at my fifth birthday party. I must’ve seemed shockingly unsurprised (and possibly rude) to Kiko and her parents, but I couldn’t bring myself to explain that I’d seen her giving me this puppy half a year ago.

In retrospect, the puppy vision had been great. Sure, it took some of the fun out of a surprise gift but it was still a vision about a puppy. Honestly, if my visions were nothing more than glorified versions of baby animal videos, I’d be perfectly fine with that.

Maybe then, I wouldn’t be left with this overwhelming fear of my own Ability.

I used to be able to touch people, shake their hands, and hold them. In the beginning, “The Story of Your Life” only activated with a prolonged touch...

At first, “prolonged” meant more than ten seconds. That meant getting to play tag in kindergarten, going over to friends’ houses and having sleepovers. Normal stuff. My life didn’t even change all that much when ten seconds shrank to seven some time around middle school; I was able to play contact sports and go out on shopping trips without incident. Seven seconds became five halfway through high school. Again, no need to make lifestyle changes. I could still hold hands with friends, so long as it didn’t go on for too long and I was still able to have my first kiss without seeing even a hint of my boyfriend’s future.

And then, college. Five seconds was no longer doable. It became three at best and just before I’d become a shut-in, even an instantaneous touch was enough to trigger my Ability. By then, however, I’d gotten pretty used to having the visions, so I remained relatively unbothered when I’d see a vision of the barista breaking up with his girlfriend when I got my morning coffee. In other words, managing my Ability was no big deal.

Or so I thought.

About six months ago, my visions went from being an occasional distraction to a panic-inducing nightmare. I still wasn’t sure why...

Maybe it was just luck of the draw. I’d only seen good things, mostly, for the first ten-plus years at least: faraway cities, weddings, and graduations. Every once in a while there would be a failed exam or a lost wallet but overall nothing too out of the ordinary for an otherwise regular teenager to see.

Maybe it was just a sign of the times. As I got older, so did the people around me, so the more likely it was that they were entering that phase of their lives where things could start to go south. Or perhaps their previous lives were just catching up to them.

Or maybe, it was karma finally catching up to me. I’d be lying if I said that I’d never used my Ability for personal gain before. There were a few exams I managed to ace with the help of a well-timed touch of the hand and a few pitfalls I’d managed to avoid through a combination of sheer luck and a decently fast reflex. Perhaps six months ago, whatever granted me this power finally decided that I had a good run and it needed to end in the worst way possible...

And it all happened so quickly.

I never had much control over my visions to begin with and they never really bothered me before but suddenly, they were invading every part of my life—and with each vision I saw, the accuracy increased. My dreams became more vivid than ever; I would see things that had yet to occur and before I moved out, my college roommate would wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of my screams. I started passing out in the middle of class if someone so much as tapped my bare shoulder and when I came to again, it would be a minute before I remembered where I was and what I was doing. I was starting to consider seeking some kind of help until one day, I finally saw my first death.

It was horrible. I was at dinner with friends on a group date and I hit it off with one of the guys. He wanted to take me to the movies that weekend, and being relatively new to college and Yokohama in general, I agreed. Then, smiling, he’d held my hand just a millisecond too long and I saw it: him getting hit by a car while crossing the street.

I tried not to think about it too hard. Sometimes the vision were wrong. There were times when they’d been off by just a fraction of a second and because of that, I still had hope. Maybe there was a chance that things could change last minute, either by a miracle or by someone’s sheer force of will. But as time passed, my anxiety grew. He was running late and I didn’t like it. Finally, I spotted him at the intersection and, frantic, I waved him down just as the “walk” sign lit up and he started crossing the street.

That’s when it happened.

A single black vehicle, no license plate, ran a red... and ran into him.

I would remember seeing his body flying into the air for the rest of the semester.

After that, I started taking an alternate route to class, just to avoid going anywhere near the part of campus where he’d died. It wasn’t that people were whispering behind my back or accusing me of having a part of it—I just couldn’t handle the memory.

That was the first death.

The first.

It was as if some kind of floodgate had been opened. I had never seen death before that day but after...? Death became all I saw. I briefly shook hands with a foreign exchange student and immediately saw an image of a middle-aged woman lying in a hospital wing. The woman had been the student’s mother and I heard she died a week later. I could not have been responsible for the cancer that claimed her life but I spent weeks feeling guilty about it anyway. There was another incident where I accidentally, and literally, bumped into my English teacher on the way to class. I saw his brother being hit by a bus downtown. His death was announced a month later, on the morning news. When I saw it, I broke down in the middle of the cafeteria and my friend Eri had to take me home.

And it just kept happening.

I became afraid to touch people. I began wearing longer layers during the summer months and started keeping to myself. When even a brush of the hand or bumping into people on public transit could trigger a vision, I started wearing gloves. I got a lot of stares on the subway for wearing itchy winter gloves in the subtropical heat and the knitted fabric made gripping the overhead handholds difficult so I ended up changing to disposable nitrile instead. I got less stares for that but unfortunately, I eventually had to give up public transit entirely when I got squished between two tourists and had a panic attack in the middle of the car.

But giving up public transportation put me in a tough spot. My dorm was pretty far from campus and I didn’t know how to drive. If I really wanted to, I could walk but that would take far too long and make for far too many chances to see another person’s death. And I really didn’t want to ask anyone for a ride because that would just mean more questions and more explanations I wasn’t willing to give.

And yet somehow, I managed to make it work for a time, waking up early to go to class, avoiding hangouts in-between classes and running back to my dorm as soon as I got a chance. But I was still attending classes with lots of people in a crowded lecture hall and living with roommates in a dormitory building. Ultimately, the stress of trying to avoid people while also trying to keep up with increasingly difficult classes caused me to start having nightmares. They were frequent and they were bad. And I knew that these were all things that would someday happen to me: me and a friend being held hostage in an abandoned apartment building, a woman in a suit and sunglasses pointing two machine guns directly at my face, a man didn’t recognize growing steadily colder in my arms as I screamed for him not to leave me...

That following morning, I woke up sobbing—crying as if I wished I was the one who had died instead. When my roommate tried to comfort me, I jerked away out of instinct and immediately realized I’d made a mistake.

And that was it.

I couldn’t it take any more.

About a week later, I left the dorm and found myself a tiny studio apartment, one that I could still afford on my shoestring budget and more importantly, one where I could live completely alone.

Soon after, I dropped out of college and became a shut-in. In true shut-in fashion, I shunned all contact from classmates and friends in case someone came to visit and decide they needed to barge in because they couldn’t—shouldn’t—do such a thing. My apartment had become both my sanctuary and my jail. So long as nothing changed around me, none of the horrible visions would come to pass.

Thankfully, a month into my new lifestyle, the nightmares stopped.

So long as nobody came near me, I wouldn’t have to witness another death with my waking eyes...

I still remembered the night I decided to stop going to class. It was the same night I looked out the windows and saw my own reflection, touched my fingers to my face and pulled them away, confirming that it was indeed blood and not salt tears that dripped down my cheeks. I started avoiding mirrors from that day on and threw myself fully into watching anime, joining fandoms and drawing commissions, anything to distract myself from the invasive, self-destructive thoughts that grew stronger whenever I looked into a reflection of my own eyes.

Yes... Staying was the only solution. If I never stepped out of the apartment again, the world would be spared the sight of my hollow eyes and bloody tears... And I—I would be spared the curse of witnessing things I should never have seen to begin with.

***

“So you’ve been holed up in your apartment for the last six months doing...”

Kunikida frowned, tapping his pen against his chin.

“What exactly? Rent in Yokohama isn’t cheap. How have you been supporting yourself?”

“Commissions,” I explained. “I started watching a lot of anime and playing video games and fans pay good money for drawings of their favorite characters, original characters or even pictures of themselves in a stylized form.”

Summing up my Ability meant practically telling these two my entire life story, not just recalling the events of this morning, and I had to commend the detectives’ patience for sitting through what I would’ve considered a pretty long-winded explanation. Now I was even telling them how I’d stretched my budget and supplemented my allowance.

I held out my hand.

“If I could have some paper and something to write with, I could show you, if you like...?”

Dazai immediately ripped Kunikida’s notebook and pen out of his hands. Ignoring his partner’s protests, he held them out to me and, throwing his arm out to keep Kunikida from taking back his own things, sat back to watch me draw. Within seconds, a coarse outline appeared on the pages, followed by facial features: eyes, nose, hair—a minute later, I handed back Kunikida’s notebook, a quick, rudimentary pen sketch of each detective on its two open pages.

As one, they leaned in to stare at it.

“This is pretty good,” Kunikida said, looking up at me. He squinted down at the page, tracing the lines with his fingers, mumbling, “Does my hair really look like that?”

“It is... isn’t it?” Dazai agreed, rubbing his chin.

As Kunikida puzzled over the drawing, a mischievous glint appeared in Dazai’s dark eyes.

“Kusunoki-san... Have you ever considered a career as a sketch artist?”

At once, Kunikida shot him a warning look.

“Don’t even think about it, Dazai,” he growled, “Making decisions without the President’s approval—”

“I’m not making a decision, only a suggestion,” Dazai declared. “And what’s wrong with a good suggestion?”

“Dazai...”

Ignoring Kunikida entirely, he turned to me.

“Really, I don’t know how we survived like this for so long. We’re a detective agency, one of the best in the city and yet, we don’t have a sketch artist... It’s a shame, don’t you agree, Kusunoki-san? What do you think? Interested in a change of career?”

“Wait... are you asking me to join you?” I asked warily, looking from one detective to the other. “Why would you want someone like me? I can’t fight. I don’t even know how to shoot a gun.”

“I’m asking you,” Dazai said pointedly, “if you would be interested in becoming a sketch artist. I mean, it just so happens that we are in dire need of one—(“No one said that!” Kunikida roared)—and you happen to have the exact skill set we are looking for! Not to mention you’re an Ability User... Just think of all the people you could help.”

“I don’t know,” I mumbled, looking away, “Wouldn’t someone like me be more of a burden than an asset? I can’t even control my Ability, much less use it to help people—”

“But what if you could control it?”

I froze. Having had no control of my Ability for my entire life, the possibility hadn’t even occurred to me...

“There’s a way?” I asked, looking back up just as Dazai’s grin turned into a triumphant smirk. “How?”

“I could tell you,” he drawled, his smirk growing even wider, “But it’s a closely guarded secret. You’d have to join us if you want to find out... Of course, I’d be more than happy to vouch for you if you’d like to apply—”

“Dazai—!! You—!”

Kunikida was on his feet.

“We can’t just offer a job to every stray Ability User we rescue from the Port Mafia! Atsushi was one thing but—”

“Oh my, so you’d be perfectly fine sending a nice girl like her back into the jaws of the Port Mafia? Really, I thought better of you, Kunikiiiiiida-kun—”

“That’s not what I said!”

“So you agree, we should take her in?”

Kunikida’s face was in his hands.

“Look, it’s not that I don’t want to help, but it’s not our decision to make! And besides, she’s clearly been through enough, what makes you think she would agree to—”

“I’ll do it.”

Kunikida’s mouth dropped open. He looked stunned.

“You will—? Wait, no, I never said I agreed—”

“Let me apply,” I said, looking him firmly in the eyes. “I want to help people. I’ve always wanted to. Isn’t that what you do here at the Agency? Use your special Abilities to make their lives better?”

“That’s true,” Kunikida admitted, folding his arms over his chest, “But this can be a dangerous job. Especially for a non-combatant. You almost died today! Why do you want to help people so bad? In fact, let me ask you...”

His eyes flashed from behind his glasses, his expression fierce.

“Why did you go so far for a neighbor with whom you weren’t particularly close?”

I glared right back.

“I had to save her.”

“But it sounds like you already did, when you pulled her off the sidewalk—”

“That’s not good enough!” I burst out, startling Kunikida. “How could I say I saved her, truly saved her, if I knew she was going to die in a week and I did nothing to stop it?”

My hands clenched into fists.

“That doesn’t count. Saving someone means seeing it through to the end, to fully committing yourself and doing what’s right! Isn’t that what you did for me? What both of you did to bring me here today?”

Kunikida was struck dumb. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Dazai got to his feet.

“I think it’s about time I take Kusunoki-san back to her apartment,” he said, making his way to the door, his long tanned trench coat swishing elegantly as he moved.

He patted Kunikida on the shoulder.

“I’ll let you think about what we should tell the President later.”

Kunikida instantly flushed an angry, embarrassed pink.

“Dazai, you—”

Ignoring his partner, Dazai called out to me.

“Kusunoki-san? I won’t be taking you back to your original apartment tonight. We’ll be going to one of the Agency’s safe houses instead. After everything that’s happened, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Port Mafia had staked out your building and had someone ready and waiting for you at home. And if you’re wondering, Yamazaki-san is on her way to her nephew’s place in Nagano, so you won’t need to worry about her.”

“But what about my things?” I asked, “What am I gonna tell the landlord?”

“It’s already been taken care of,” Dazai replied, opening the door for me. “Shall we?”

#dazai x oc #dazai x reader #bungou stray dogs #osamu dazai #doppo kunikida #fanfiction

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teatitty · 5 years

Text

SO ABOUT BRUCE’S LOVE-INTERESTS

First of all I think we need to address why he has so many compared to other DC characters. Well, my good people, this is very simple: his writers are bad. A lot of his love-interests simply existed for the sake of a story and most of the time the reason they don’t work out is because, and I’m not bullshitting here, it’s part of Batman’s nature to be so obssessed with solving crime that he can’t maintain a serious relationship with women. And Bruce Wayne’s relationships fail because of his constant absences and secrets.

That being said, sometimes his relationships fail for other reasons. So let’s get this started shall we?

Category One: His Major Relationships

These are his relationships that have consistently shown up in many continuities and were, in fact, attempts on giving him some kind of serious girlfriend, regardless of how the writers failed.

1: Julie Madison. Julie’s character has changed a lot in the different continuities but originally she was an actress who broke up with Bruce because he refused to stop his “playboy ways” even when she confronted him about them. In one version she goes on to marry a man in Europe. In New Earth her hair was changed from black to auburn and, instead of being an actress, she was the daughter of an entrepeneur.

She broke up with Bruce when she learned he was Batman and that her father had been killed as a result of Batman’s action. She moved to Africa and became a missionary. In current continuity, Julie is an artist and her father is an arms dealer who sold the gun that was used to kill Bruce’s parents. They first dated as teens but met again when Bruce lost his memories (amnesia stories yaaay). Bruce was so passionately in love with her, that he was even ready to settle down and marry her. Unfortunately, in his absence, Gotham’s crime had skyrocketed and Alfred and Julie had to, regretfully, give him his memories back so he could be Batman once more. This also erased his memory of being with Julie.

In The New Batman Adventures comics, Bruce and Julie dated right up until Bruce found out she was only after his fortune. That’s just how it be in comics sometimes. She also appeared in the Batman And Robin movie but her character added little to the plot and most of her scenes ended up being edited out in the final cut.

2: Victoria/Vicki Vale. Vicki Vale was created to be Bruce’s version of Lois Lane (yeah it’s no wonder this never worked). They got involved because she made it her life’s mission to expose Batman’s identity and ended up dating Bruce in the process (it’s also worth noting she was already suspicious of him being Batman). Her character hasn’t had a lot of changed over the years and, surprisingly, has managed to keep most of her original characterization.

She disappeared from the comics when Julius Schwartz took over the editorial office in 1964. She was re-introduced in the early 1980′s by Gerry Conway but idea was ill-advised as her character had very little development and was instead the same old concept of someone finding out Bruce’s identity. Doug Moench was mainly responsible for slowly removing her as Bruce’s love-interest, though she has since returned to that role. In Batman: The Road Home, Vicki finally got proof that Bruce was Batman but decided to keep it to herself and instead became a confidante and ally of the batfamily, rather then Bruce’s girlfriend.

She appeared in Tim Burton’s Batman as well, but was a damsel in distress throughout the film and only learned his identity through happenstance rather then because she was seeking it out.

In various other continuities, she’s been shown as an occasional date for Bruce Wayne.

3: Selina Kyle needs to introduction but her influence in his life is so long and extensive she’d need a post of her own to cover it all. You’ll be pleased to know that there have been quite a few stories where they’ve managed to sustain a relationship and be happy together.

4: Talia Al Ghul. Obviously we all know her for being Damian’s mother, whoever Ra’s himself has encouraged her relationship with Bruce, because he wants to try and recruit Batman into the League of Assassin’s.

Originally, Talia was very devoted to Bruce and loved him as much as she loved her own father, even saving his life on multiple occasion’s, though she always returned to her father’s side afterwards. They had a sexual encounter that lead to the birth of Damian, as we all know, but over time Talia became more antagonistic towards Bruce, seeking to fulfill her father’s goals and rule with Batman by her side instead. However, he rejected her proposal and she declared war on him (yikes.)

In Batman: The Animated Series, her character was practically the same as her comic iteration. She returned in Batman Beyond where Bruce was horrified to learn that she’d given up her body for her father (yeah. That’s a thing).

In Batman: Arkham City, Talia and Bruce had a romantic background and cared very deeply for eachother, even willing to risk their lived to save the other’s.

On Earth-16, Bruce broke all ties with Talia due to her conflicting morals; her love for Bruce vs her loyalty to Ra’s.

In the Dark Knight Rises film, Talia is an executive member of Wayne Enterprises who becomes romantically involved with Bruce. She eventually takes over the company and tries to destroy Gotham per her father’s mad design.

Category Two: Minor Relationships

These are his love-interests who have only appeared sporadically as options for him over the years, rather then being a consistent thing.

1: Amina Franklin. Originally someone who worked as a nurse at Leslie Thompkins’ clinic, Amina met Bruce at a party and they started dating shortly after. Her brother, Wayne Franklin (I know), was the villain called Grotesk (original name there buddy) and Amina was killed during a confrontation between him and Bruce.

2: April Clarkson (Midnight). If the name Midnight strikes any familiarity to you, then you’ll know who April is. She was a GCPD officer who briefly dated Bruce and helped Batman track down the gruesome murderer Midnight (yeah his track record is great isn’t it? In her defense April only killed the corrupt dudes but like. Still). Bruce was pretty torn up when he learned this because he had very strong feelings for her! Alas what can ya do, right?

3: Bekka. Bekka saved Batman’s life from Darkseid’s forces on the planet Tartarus and the two shared a mutual attraction (Bekka is also Orion’s wife. Yikes.) She was later murdered (in my mother’s own words “another one bites the dust”).

4: Black Canary. Yes seriously. Despite her long-standing romance with Green Arrow, Dinah has shown attraction to Bruce on numerous occasion’s and the two have even shared kisses before (Batman: Brave and Bold #166 and Birds of Prey #90). On Earth’s 31 and 37 this attraction is way stronger.

5: Charlotte Rivers. A news reporter in Gotham, Charlotte wanted to leave the city which put a rift between her and Bruce. After her twin sister, Jill, made an attempt on her life, Charlotte dumped Bruce and took a job offer in Paris. Ouch.

6: Dawn Golden. Dawn was the daughter of cult leader Aleister Golden, who practiced Dark Magic. Dawn was a childhood friend of Bruce’s who dated him in college and apparently broke his heart (lmao). She became a socialite and then her dad murdered her as part of a dark ritual to give himself eternal life. Yeah.

7: Harley Quinn. YEP HERE’S ANOTHER ONE. Harley has had occasional romantic encounters with Batman over the years, specifically in the Animated Series when she kissed him in the episode Harley’s Holiday. In recent N52 canon, there’s been a couple of stories where Harley has ended up infatuated with Batman or Bruce Wayne. They’re all one-sided feelings as far as we know, however.

8: Jaina Hudson (White Rabbit). Another name that might be familiar to those who know Bruce’s villains. Jaina was a socialite of Indian descent who met Bruce at a charity fundraiser. Later Bruce found out she could duplicate herself into two beings: herself and the scantily clad (its comics what do we expect?) criminal White Rabbit, who had, more than once, lured him to other villains like Joker and Bane.

9: Jezebel Jet. A wealthy woman of African descent, Jezebel was a model who owned an African province and secretly worked for Black Glove. She gained Bruce’s love as a ploy to destroy him during Batman R.I.P and was later killed on Talia’s orders.

10: Jillian Maxwell. Jillian met Bruce at a costume party in Batman: Legends of The Dark Knight Halloween Special #1 (wow thats long). It turned out, however, that she was actually a woman who used many different personas to seduce wealthy men before orchestrating events that led to their deaths so she could take their wealth. Wild. When Alfred told him this, Bruce was heartbroken. Jillian used the name Aubrey Marguerite in Brazil and Bruce, as Batman, tracked her down and left a note ordering her to confess her sins.

11: Julia Pennyworth. Daughter of Alfred and French Resistance fighter Mademoiselle Marie, Julia was introduced to the comics in by Doug Moench in the early 1980′s. Efforts to make her a romantic partner for Bruce proved difficult with the presence of Noctura and Vicki Vale (guess why he writ her out of comics lol).

12: Kathy Kane (Batwoman). Strap in lads this one gets Weird. Kathy was made in the Silver Age to be Batman’s female counterpart and romantic partner. Many stories showing the two getting married were published though in the main canon at the time her feelings for him were one-sided. On Earth-Two, Kathy resigned herself to live without his love and on Earth One she was murdered by the League of Assassins. Grant Morrison wrote stories featuring her in New Earth canon bc he liked using Silver Age comics for inspiration. She was eventually replaced by Katherine “Kate” Kane, a lesbian who got discharged from the military for homosexual conduct (in New Earth as well). In Prime Earth canon, Kate Kane is Bruce’s cousin. So yeah. There’s that.

13: Linda Page. Adapted from Batman serial (1943), Linda came into the comics during the Golden Age and was a former socialite who worked as a nurse for the elderly, disproving the idea that rich women were lazy and spoiled. She dated Bruce for a few issues but fell through the cracks and disappeared.

14: Lorna Shore. Lorna is a Museum Curator from the Lovers and Madmen story in Batman Confidential. Her relationship with Bruce was love at first sight and he was able to find peace with her for the first time since his parents’ murder (look. I know). However, after his first encounter with Joker, Bruce broke off their relationship to keep her safe and Lorna left Gotham soon after feeling that the city was no longer safe bc of Batman and Joker.

15: Mallory Moxon. Daughter of mob boss Lew Moxon, Mallory was a childhood friend of Bruce’s who dated him for a short time when they were kids (I know) before they drifted apart. They dated again as adults even while Bruce suspected her of continuing her father’s criminal operation. He never found conclusive proof.

16: Natalia Knight (Noctura). Another character created by Doug Moench in the early 1980′s, Natalia was the most remarkable of Batman’s love-interest’s at the time. A jewel thief who briefly adopted Jason Todd and knew Bruce’s identity, Natalia had a rare light sensitivity disease that bleached her skin white. She used a special narcotic perfume that caused men to fall in love with her and Bruce was no exception (yeah...). They started dating because they were both “equally fascinated” by eachother (Y E A H). Bruce realized his love for her was because of the perfume and struggled to stop thinking about her. Nocturna was stabbed by her brother during Crisis on Infinte Earths and floated into the sky on her balloon, presumed to be dead. Other versions of her character have appeared since but none of them are the same as the original pre-Crisis version.

17: Natalya Trusevich. A Ukranian pianist, Natalya grew frustrated with Bruce’s closed-off demeanour until Alfred had him reveal his secret to her. Abducted by Mad Hatter soon after, Natalya was tortured in an attempt to get her to spill Batman’s identity. When she refused, Mad Hatter threw her off the helicopter to her death.

18: Pamela Isley (Poison Ivy). Here we go again lads. Ivy, as we all know, uses seduction and pheromones to get men to fall for her and obey her commands. This is no different with Batman, who initially confused the lust caused by her methods for love. Ivy has a love/hate relationship with him: sometimes she claims to love him and desires his affection and other times she has no problem wanting him dead. They had a brief but genuine relationship when Bruce cured her condition but this ended when Pamela seemingly died trying to turn herself back into Poison Ivy. Yikes.

19: Rachel Caspian. In Batman: Year Two, Bruce fell in love with Rachel. Unfortunately her dad moonlighted as a murderous vigilante who committed suicide. Bruce was prepared to end his crime-fighting career to marry her but Rachel broke off their engagement and enrolled into a nunnery to pay her father’s penance after learning of his evil deeds.

20: Sasha Bordeaux. Assigned as his bodyguard, Sasha deduced Bruce’s identity as Batman and briefly fought at his side. Framed for the murder of Bruce’s girlfriend, Vesper Fairchild, Sasha later joined Maxwell Lord’s Checkmate Organization. She was turned into a Cyborg during The OMAC Project but this was resolved later. Though she did kiss Bruce near the end of OMAC Project their relationship passed on.

21: Silver St. Cloud. Appearing in the late 1970′s in the story Strange Apparitions, Silver was a socialite who, despite deducing Bruce was Batman, couldn’t handle dating someone with such a dangerous life-style (fair enough actually). She left Gotham but returned years later in Batman: Dark Detective where she and Bruce tried to make a serious romance work. This fell apart after she was kidnapped by Joker and later on Silver was murdered by the criminal Onomatopeia.

22: Shondra Kinsolving. A psychic and half-sister of Benedict Asp, Shondra had a brief romance with Bruce when she helped heal him after Bane broke his back. Before they could fully commit to eachother, Benedict kidnapped her and turned her abilities to evil use. Batman defeated him but the damage to Shondra’s mind was too great and, after healing Bruce’s injuries, her psyche regressed back to childhood. Bruce paid for her to have the best intensive care for the rest of her life in a psychiatric institution.

23: Vesper Fairchild. A popular radio host in Gotham, Doug Moench (jeez dude chill) established her romance with Bruce during his second run of Batman in the 1990′s. During the No Man’s Land Crisis, Vesper left Gotham and was killed by David Cain on Lex’s orders. This started the Bruce Wayne: Fugitive storyline.

24: Diana Prince (Wonder Woman). Briefly dating in the comics, nothing actually came of their romance and they both decided to simply stay good friends. They did, however, still care deeply for one another and it was this love that allowed Diana to become a Star Sapphire during the Blackest Night storyline. They were also paired together in Justice League Animated.

25: Zatanna Zatara. Bet you weren’t expecting this one huh? The first time they had romantic interest was in Batman: The Animated Series where they met in their youth. Bruce gave priority to pursuing his training to becoming Batman and they met again as adults but nothing came of their interest. This was later introduced in the comics. They had a major falling out when Bruce discovered Zatanna had windwiped him after he’d caught her mindwiping Doctor Light at the JL’s instruction. Bruce made it clear he didn’t trust her anymore but they later resolved the issue and became close friends again.

Category Three: Other Media

These are still minor relationships but as a whole they didn’t really happen during main continuities. Basically these are romances specifically from films, crossovers and the DCAU.

1: Andrea Beaumont. In Batman: Mask of The Phantasm, Andrea was engaged to Bruce before he became Batman but she broke off said engagement when she fled the country with her father to escape the mob. She then became the title villain of the film.

2: Barbara Gordon (Batgirl). Probably the most infamous for making everyone go “wtf”, Barbara had a heavily implied past relationship with Bruce in Batman Beyond and had sex with Bruce on a rooftop in the animated Killing Joke adaptation.

3: Lois Lane. In a crossover between The New Batman Adventures and Superman: The Animated Series, Bruce and Lois dated eachother to Superman’s annoyance but Lois broke up with him after learning his identity as Batman. During a 3-4 issue long amnesia storyline in the Batman/Superman teamup comic, they also shared romantic feelings for eachother and kissed right before Bruce restored his own memories (dont. Ask).

4: Rachel Dawes. She was his childhood friend and love-interest in the Dark Knight Trilogy. Like. That’s it.

And there you have it! All of Bruce’s gf’s aired out for everyone to screw their noses over! This wasn’t worth any of my attention but fuck it! It’s done!

#random facts #bruce wayne #the suffering i went through for this #tw: suicide mention

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pierrotdameron · 4 years

Link

On the set of His Dark Materials, Dafne Keen is about to see a bear.

With battle raging around her, snowflakes flying and alarms ringing, the young actor – who plays lead character Lyra in the BBC’s new adaptation of Philip Pullman’s acclaimed novel – sprints down a corridor, dodging enemies and fighting for freedom. And just when all seems lost, she looks up, seeing her saviour. A broad smile breaks out as she sees who’s standing above and ready to save her… a man wearing a white, faux-bearskin rug on his head.

OK, on set Pullman’s trademark armoured bears (or panserbjørn) aren’t much to look at – but over a year later, when they finally arrive on-screen, they’re an incredibly impressive achievement, realistic and filled with character, a triumph of puppetry and visual effects. If anything, they’re even more impressive than the animal dæmons that have appeared in every other episode so far. But how were they brought to life? What did the actors film with on set, and what were the biggest challenges?

Happily, after we’d suitably calmed down from all the excitement, the behind-the-scenes team were happy to fill us in…

Pre-production

While the 2007 movie adaptation of His Dark Materials (titled The Golden Compass) wasn’t exactly beloved by fans, it did win plaudits for its VFX, with the work of independent company Framestore winning the film its only Oscar. Now, over a decade later, the new adaptation would have to surpass even that achievement – which is why Framestore were brought on board again to work on the TV series, marking them out as the only common element between both adaptations.

“Framestore did the original bears in the original film, which we won the Oscar for, and we’re doing the bears again, now,” VFX supervisor Russell Wilson told us. “And what’s really interesting about that is certain things we computationally couldn’t do then, we can do now – but obviously it’s harder work.”

And the digital work on the bears didn’t begin after the shoot had already concluded, as many might expect. In fact, before a single scene of the panserbjørn storyline had been committed to film, Framestore and Bad Wolf’s in-house VFX gurus were working hard on previsualizations for the bears – in other words, plotting out scripted scenes in basic computer animation in specially-rendered environments, so they could work out how the bears would look before the directors started work.

“That was a combination of Framestore’s bear animation and our [interactive set] environment,” VFX artist and pre-vis supervisor Dan May told RadioTimes.com. “We blocked out the sequence with Russell and the stunt guys downstairs. “They animated the bears to quite a high level in pre-vis, that that pre-vis was then brought to our [digital] set with all its textures.”

In other words, basic digital bears were added onto a specially-mapped digital set, blocking out the scene before anyone had even turned on a camera and creating a “virtual shoot.” And when it came to actually filming the sequence IRL, this preparation meant that the bears could (sort of) be on set as well, with specially-prepared screens and virtual “cameras” allowing the production team to check where the animated, moving bears were at all times.

“When they shot the sequence, they were able to bring that animation and the virtual camera angles, and see them live on set,” May explained. “They were able to line up a digital bear with a real set. And that is not a first, because they’re doing that sort of thing on Jungle Book and Avatar. But we’re doing it on a more affordable, sustainable way.”

Though of course, it wasn’t just digital bears lurking on set…

Puppeteers

As with the dæmons, the bears on set were built and puppeteered by Brian Fisher and his eight-person team, with various different rigs and outfits utilised by the team for different purposes.

“There’s about seven to 10 different bear rigs,” VFX supervisor Wilson told us. “There’s one for smashing into stuntmen, there’s one for representing his face, there’s one where there’s literally a guy with a glove on putting it on his face.

For example, sometimes the bear was just represented by actor Joe Tandberg (who also provides Iorek’s voice onscreen) wearing (functionally) a bearskin costume, while other times he wore a special rig (pictured exclusively above) that allowed Iorek’s bear head to hang in front of his own.

Other times, he just wore a plain boiler suit with a light rig over his face, or stepped away in favour of a static model (pictured) to help the crew include Iorek’s scale, or was replaced by a large grey cushion for scenes where Iorek was less mobile or in a confined space. “You’re basically in a green room, with a weird grey thing which is supposed to be a bear, and with Lin singing? It’s just all very weird,” Dafne Keen, who plays Lyra in the series, told us.

And of course, a lot of the time the full-time puppeteers took over. For example, while on set RadioTimes.com was shown a large puppet version of Iorek operated by two people to impressive effect. Within the rig, one puppeteer wears an ordinary large hiking backpack, leans forward to face the ground and hoists two long poles forward, with a mesh bear head that he can control and turn at the end of the poles.

Another man behind holds two strings to control the front legs. Together they can rear the bear to his full height, stalk him around an area and generally bring him to life. In His Dark Materials episode four, another bear head – one with Iorek’s snarling teeth – was used for a scene where he attacks a foe, and generally speaking the team tried hard to keep things simple instead of using complicated mechanical rigs or creations.

“When the bear attacks – that was much more stuntman, him, us throwing him around on a mat until we worked out something that we liked,” Wilson says. “We take a very human, organic, what I call a man-tronic approach to things that you might take or do in a technical perspective. “When he’s getting dragged around by the bear it is just a guy in a boiler suit and [the victim’s] on a wire, and that’s it.”

Riding Iorek

But the fighting wasn’t the only filming challenge. In fact, a key action shot that everyone was even more keen to get right comes later in the series, when Lyra rides on Iorek’s back as the pair travel into a dangerous new area. On set, the human portion of the shot was achieved by creating a special rig for Dafne Keen to ride (pictured above) – but unlike similar ridable CGI animals like the dragons of Game of Thrones, it wasn’t mechanical, instead requiring the puppeteers to move it themselves.

“When Lyra’s riding a bear, it’s all operated by a human in a backpack,” Wilson said. “You know, we don’t bring in rigs and mechanically programme them because it’s quite slow to do, and it means you get less takes at it.” “To get the specifics, the biomechanics behind how a polar bear’s gait runs, we had to go through and, with the animators, actually break it down into segments, figure out how we can translate that into something that has movement and life but is not purely mechanical,” puppeteer Brian Fisher told us.

“The second you go into a mechanical movement, you can speed it up, you can slow it down, but it is always rhythmic, whereas we don’t work in binary movements.” As you can see in the above video, RadioTimes.com actually got the chance to try out the bear rig while on set, and can confirm it’s definitely man-powered – and surprisingly bouncy. “I loved the bear rig,” Keen herself us. “Though I was too light for it. “It was very funny. They made this rig, and they didn’t calculate my weight. So they had to then harness me, because I bounced too much off the bear. So that was really fun.” “Although I felt kind of bad because I had two human beings bouncing up and down underneath me…”

The final touches

Obviously, the lion’s share of the work done by the VFX team comes after the filming as they gradually work on creating and animating CGI shots right up until broadcast. And for Wilson and his team, no detail was too small when it came to the armoured bears. “In our version of Iorek now he has the muscles underneath [his fur] that flex as he moves, and that also drives the fat on him to jiggle as he runs,” Wilson told us. “But then the skin actually slides over the bones and the ribs, which makes the fur that’s attached to the skin slide over that as well. All of that together gives you something that feels really realistic. “So again,” he concluded “the appetite and the ability is higher – therefore the workload is higher.” Oh well – hopefully, the time and trouble wasn’t too unbear-able.

#His Dark Materials #Iorek Byrnison #Joe Tandberg #Brian Fisher

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Jupiter’s Legacy: Who is Chloe Sampson?

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In less than a decade since her acting debut on a 2012 episode of the CW’s Gossip Girl, Elena Kampouris has shifted effortlessly from the small screen to the Broadway stage and on movie screens. She appeared in nine episodes of the television show American Odyssey and was a regular on Sacred Lies.

She is heading to her biggest project to date in the form of Netflix’s Jupiter’s Legacy, playing the super-powered Chloe Sampson, daughter to The Union’s lead couple, The Utopian and Lady Liberty. Endowed with many of the powers of her famous parents, she rebels against the whole concept of capes and tights fighting for justice. She’s on a quest to find herself, and in this interview, Kampouris brings us along on the journey.

Who is Chloe Sampson?

NAME: Chloe Sampson

POWERS AND ABILITIES: Super speed, strength, durability, stamina and senses; flight; telekinesis; sonic scream

NEED TO KNOW: Daughter of Sheldon and Grace, sister of Brandon. She’s immensely powerful, but rejects everything her parents stand for. Chloe has forged her own path to fame; a path that threatens to go against everything her parents have sworn to protect.

Den of Geek: How tough was the casting process as far as you’re concerned?

Elena Kampouris: Going out for parts is a lot of auditioning and then there’s the waiting process. Sometimes the waiting can be really short. Most of the time, it’s a slow burn. So what you try to do amidst all of the nervousness and the excitement, is sometimes auditioning—and it’s all obviously virtual at the moment—but you just try and kind of forget about it. It was hard to do that with this one, because it had such a fan base behind it and such a legacy, no pun intended.

And this is such a juicy character. I didn’t want to read the comic book yet. I had done whatever research I could online, but for me, I don’t like to read the books or whatever until I know I’ve got it, because you get even more attached to it. So after I auditioned, it was just waiting and waiting, and I’m, like, “Forget about it, don’t think about it.”

And then, you finally find out you got the part and then the relief and the excitement, the elation, is there. But then it comes to a point where it’s, like, “Okay, now you’ve got to actually shoot the thing and make sure you don’t blow it. You’ve got to live up to the expectation, especially being the fact that this is a character that many people have envisioned in their heads and she’s got a really distinct personality.” Chloe packs a lot of punch, so you go to set and try to shoot the thing. You hope that it comes out well and you do it justice.

Now you’ve read the scripts and shot the episodes, what is your view of Chloe? Who is she as a person, as far as you’re concerned?

The thing I loved about her is that she has so many layers and a lot of depth. And there’s so much to unpack, because, on one end, she’s unfiltered, quite brash, and her powers are tethered to her emotions, which is fun, because it makes her quite unpredictable.

Chloe’s emotions are pretty heightened…

Yes, but it comes from a place of just feeling deeply and being so sensitive. She’s very deep feeling and that’s why she’s so hurt. She’s in a major place of pain and navigating all of these feelings of guilt and dysfunction with her family dynamic at the moment. She’s got a lot of baggage, but that’s what made her so much fun to play, because it’s not the kind of character that you come across all the time. You never know what she’s going to say or what she’s going to do, but I love her fiery spirit and exploring the layers.

You had the opportunity to pull back her layers?

Exactly! You get to see what makes her tick, what’s driving her to act out or rebel against the family code and family dynamic. We explore the dysfunction of the super beings and the idea of perfection versus imperfection. Order versus disorder. She embodies chaos and disorder versus The Utopian’s order and the code and perfection. He’s so caught up in trying to be the symbol and represent invincibility, and she’s so clearly “vincible” and so clearly imperfect.

Very human. In fact, her love of “likes” is such a great reflection of today’s society with the whole thing about social media and being an influencer.

Yes, she has that whole model influencer thing going on… but being under the spotlight, the Hollywood glamor and then the ugly truth underneath. I like that this is a superhero story that looks at the “Kryptonite” of these super beings that have very human conditions. It’s fun that it’s through that lens and through that kind of world and we explore that even deeper in the show, which is cool.

What’s her journey like over the course of the season?

In the span of this season, there’s a lot of surprises coming. We maintain the DNA and the integrity of the genius that Mark Millar wrote in the books. She definitely has a journey. All the characters have a journey of discovery. She’ll have had some epiphanies, stuff is going to go down and you’ll feel that from the first episode.

These truly are strong characters, and their arcs of reacting and changing over the decades, as society goes through its own changes, is just fascinating.

What attracted me when I read the comic books initially was there’s a Shakespearean element here, familial discourse, you’ve got tragedy, you’ve got some King Lear, you’ve got some Romeo and Juliet. You can go on and on making the parallels here, but there’s a lot of political and moral perspectives.

As we were saying, Chloe does not appear in a superhero costume…

But there are some other costumes, some crazy costumes. There’s one scene in particular, she’s wearing an interesting getup and it’s some hilarious, crazy stuff that goes down. You’ll see the odes to the book and then some new stuff they injected in there. I think they did a really great job with capturing the spirit of the story and I’m super excited to see what people think about it and the direction it took.

The clothes were very fun. And again, Chloe is in the fashion model world. So it’s like crazy shoes and very exaggerated and cool pieces. They emulate that, which I think is really clever, too, because it is a different form of cape and costume and suit. Chloe resents that, because she’s about the soul… she sees beyond the cape and the mask and all of that, which in a way is a disguise and this kind of poser thing that people put up. That’s how she sees it.

What has it been like working with all of that green screen?

I did a show in Vancouver, Sacred Lies, where I played a double amputee. It was a modernized Brothers Grimm fairy tale, The Handless Maiden, so that was my first experience with green screen, or at least green gloves, because I had to puppeteer these stubs—she has no hands. I did sometimes wear a glove and they would delete part of my arms. So that was my first foray. However, this is a whole other animal because of the skill of the stunts, flying, the this, the that, the action sequences. It takes more time, but we had so many wonderful experts dealing with all this stuff. I was blown away because it was like clockwork—they know what they’re doing. But it’s unlike anything I had ever encountered before and it’s a learning process.

How about flying around on wires?

Do you like heights? Are you into things like rock climbing?

No, not particularly.

I am afraid of heights, too, so I was initially quite scared, but, again, we have a great stunt team and they make you feel so calm. They do the building blocks, they baby step you into the process and then once they get you in that harness… but, man, that thing is tight and it rides up in all the different places. You’ve got to have a lot of padding, but you’re in the harness and then you have to practice doing these flips. Everybody made it look really good, really quick. I felt so awkward, because you have to flip back a few times and you don’t look very elegant. But once you get the hang of it, you’re going to be okay.

Are you prepared for the response from the superhero fan community?

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Well, first of all, I hope that the fans are going to be happy with it. I am excited to just hear the feedback, because of the fact we shot this in 2019. It feels so long ago. Hopefully it will be embraced and enjoyed and people will feel we did it justice. I feel like what’s so special about Jupiter’s Legacy is that you’ve got the saga aspect that’s like a Game of Thrones scale kind of thing as far as the gravity of this and the span. Then you’ve got the moral aspects, the power struggles… the action, you have the humor that’s sprinkled in like The Incredibles. But it mashes all together into its own unique thing, and it explores the dysfunction of superheroes in a way that I don’t think anybody’s done before.

The post Jupiter’s Legacy: Who is Chloe Sampson? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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wrassleslashlibraryarchive · 7 years

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🎃💀👻You’re wearing the same costume as my friend and I’m sorry for sneaking up on you like that I didn’t meant to scare you so badly/tacklehug you…oh my god, please don’t cry/hit me…🎃💀👻

Characters: AJ Styles, Kenny Omega, Chris Sabin, Finn Balor, Bray Wyatt

Author’s Tags: AU, supernatural, unexplained phenomena, Metamorphosis, break up, blind date, gore

Author’s Note: LOOSELY based on the “You’re wearing the same costume as my friend” prompt. Like, totally different direction than I think the original one was going for. Kind of also hits the “nice costume? These are my normal clothes” prompt as well.

WSL Prompt Contest Entry number: NS2

Summary:

AJ allows his roommate to talk him into going on a blind date. Everything goes to hell from there.

Perhaps it wasn’t fair to blame everything that happened over Halloween night on Chris.

Chris meant well. When he’d received a call from his college roommate asking for a place to stay for a couple weeks, Chris allowed it. Chris spent so much time working on his web series, he’d explained, that he was hardly ever in the bedroom, so he’d offered it up to his suddenly displaced college roommate. When a couple weeks turned into three months, all Chris asked for was a few hundred dollars and the occasional voice acting on whatever animation he was working on.

For AJ, it was more than a steal, it was salvation. He’d felt so zapped after his breakup, zapped after leaving behind his home and Shadow… zapped from having his ex continue to come around… having someone who was understanding and helpful was awesome.

Of course, with a little more distance between the breakup and the present, Chris’ help veered into another direction.

“What do you mean, I got a date tomorrow?!”

Chris was still grinning. AJ could remember everything about how he looked in that moment, from the loose faded t-shirt to the marker stains on the sides of his hands. “Look, I know I probably should’ve asked you first, but I think getting out of the house will be good for you! It doesn’t have to be a big thing or nothing, just go out and have fun!”

“With who?”

“Not how blind dates work.”

“What if I have plans?”

“On Halloween? You don’t believe in Halloween.”

“Then why should I have a date on Halloween?”

“Don’t think of it as a Halloween party, it’s a costume party. With candy.” Chris shrugs. “You can’t stand this guy up now. He’ll be crushed if you don’t show up.”

“Whose fault is that?”

“Look. It’s just a date. And I really think it’ll make it easier to deal with… you know.”

AJ cringes at the euphemism. He does know. He’d do anything not to have to deal with “you know”, but three years was a lot to leave behind. They shared a house, they shared a dog… really, AJ shouldn’t be surprised that he still came around. AJ wasn’t even sure what he wanted anymore. He made no comments about them getting back together, but still, like clockwork, they kept “bumping” into one another. Even in places where it was impossible for it to be an accident. He wasn’t subtle about it, so AJ knew a talk would come up eventually.

Drained. AJ was drained.

“I don’t have a costume.”

The grin widened. Chris knew he’d won.

“Leave that to me, yeah?”

***

AJ supposed he should’ve seen it coming. After all, they talked about how he didn’t believe in Halloween, and Chris had a go at his beliefs plenty of times when they were in college together. Four wasted years, a C average that paid for a sports scholarship that ended up nowhere. Chris, at the time, had been studying engineering—which he swore worked in his new career of independent comics and cartoons, but AJ didn’t care enough to ask how. Plenty could change in the years since they graduated.

Plenty, apparently, except this.

The feathery white wings on the folding table were enough of a tip off. He sighed, rolling his eyes at Chris, who was still grinning. It must’ve been one of those nights, because he was wearing the same faded tee, black circles around his eyes. AJ was sure if he went to the living room he’d find Chris’s supplies all over the place, computer still open to whatever editing he was doing.

“They had a version that came with little white panties but I didn’t think you’d appreciate that one. Your date would’ve gone crazy for it…”

“Shut up.”

There was a white vest and, thankfully, white pants. There was also a long golden cord and gold armlets. All things considered, the costume was tasteful. Besides the wings, it wasn’t entirely embarrassing to be seen in outside.

“You like it?”

AJ shrugs. “Don’t dislike it.”

“I’ll take it.”

For a moment, AJ reminded himself of what exactly Chris did here. Reminded himself of Chris’s good intentions, of the fact that his old college roommate actually bought him a costume and went out of his way to set him up on a date. Even if tonight tanked, well, Chris meant well.

“I know I probably sound like I’m not grateful but…”

“It’s fine, AJ.” Chris patted his hand on his shoulder. “You’ll thank me after you get…” And Chris thrusted his hips toward AJ, making AJ shove him. Chris laughed at the joke, but AJ wasn’t much for hooking up, even less so while dressed as an angel. He hoped whoever Chris set him up with wasn’t expecting too much.

Looking back, it was almost comical what he was worried about. And contrary to Chris’ prediction, AJ would probably never thank him for that blind date.

***

Chris suggested he wear sandals for the look. AJ just wore his sneakers.

The pants were snug around the hips, so AJ threw an extra pair of jeans in the back of his truck alongside the wings. Besides, by the end of the night, it would be nice to be in normal clothes again. He’d asked Chris who he was looking for, but all Chris gave him was the costume he was looking for. The Terminator, of all things. Chris wasn’t even coming, having planned a midnight movie and brainstorming session with the rest of the guys who worked on Castle Crashing. Even more motivation to get out of the house—Chris, Sonjay, and Alex were pretty good dudes apart from each other, but around each other? They fed each other’s worst impulses.

It also didn’t help that they all knew AJ’s ex to some degree. Sonjay and Alex would look at him like they’d already chosen a side. AJ didn’t want them to choose a side, and quite frankly, he didn’t want there to be sides to choose.

Joe got the house and their dog. What more did he want from AJ?

The GPS was bringing him away from the busier streets. There were adults in costumes on the street, walking and laughing together, but there didn’t seem to be people who just lived there. No stores, no windows alight, no young trick or treaters. Everyone on this stretch of road, AJ thought, was going where he was. His eyes scanned for a Terminator. Outside on a cold October night, it was nearly impossible. There were loads of leather jackets. Over policemen, over vampires, over Eleven… come to think of it the Terminator seemed like a generic costume. It was a biker outfit in the film, wasn’t it?

Maybe that’s why Chris made sure AJ would stand out like a sore, feathered thumb.

He’d found parking, and walked with his wings in hand to the front door. A line let him know where the door was, short and moving at the same speed as people walked to the door. Once AJ’s in, all he has to do is find his Terminator.

What if AJ wasn’t ready to date? It had only been a couple of months since AJ’s breakup. He still didn’t have his own apartment. Yet here he was, dressed completely in white. What was the Terminator after? A fun night? Someone to break a funk, like AJ was? Did he hope this would be the start of something? He should’ve pumped Chris for more information. He half hoped that Chris was a failure at setting him up, and he could leave the date without feeling bad. A goof like Alex or Sonjay. He could go back to Chris’ house and just go to sleep.

God, he sounded like an old fart.

A Freddy Krueger with pigtails was in front of AJ, and she was loudly complaining about leaving her claws at the door. A heavyset man in a t-shirt and fedora kept smiling at the Freddy, reiterating the No Weapons rule. Behind him was a box of mostly guns, littered with chains and fake knives.

“They’re plastic!” She yelled, pressing the claws against her hand. They bend upon contact.

“No Weapons. You can leave them here or you can leave with them.”

The girl scowled, before pulling her glove off, and then stomping inside. The man’s smile was glued to his face as AJ stepped forward. It was almost creepy.

“Am I allowed these?” AJ lifted the wings.

“If you wish.”

AJ waited to hear a price, but he and the security just stared at each other, so AJ walked inside. The ceilings were high. A booming remix blared from the loud speakers. The walls had horror movies projected on them, but there was no sound for the screams. People were either laughing in little circles or dancing, plastic cups in their hands.

AJ pulled on his wings, making sure they don’t hit anyone around him. Yeah, this wasn’t exactly his scene. Maybe he could convince the Terminator to leave and just go grab some pizza.

The drinks were free as well, and it took way too long to get one. His hand reached under his wing, scratching his back as he moved closer. AJ picked up candy off the table as he waited for the red drink. Ugh. It was a strong punch, scrunching his face at the taste of it. The bartender just laughed at him and said “Hey, it’s free!”

AJ was more than ready to go.

He’d walked passed a couple people in leather jackets, only to find they were dressed as something or someone else. Escaped prisoner in a leather jacket. A mouse in a leather jacket. Han Solo in a leather jacket. The punch was gone when he’d finally spotted someone he’d believed was his guy—a little short, shirtless, in black pants. His body was incredible. Chris didn’t do too badly, just based off the look of the man.

So different from his ex.

Oh God, the Terminator didn’t deserve that.

The Terminator caught sight of him as he walked toward him, an amused smile. He’s pretty sure the Terminator was staring at his wings, and he felt like he should’ve left them in the car. He almost looked out of place in all white. Maybe he shouldn’t be here. Maybe it was too soon.

“I’m sorry,” he started, before the Terminator could speak, “I don’t know what Chris told ya, but I… I kinda just got out of a serious relationship and we cared a lot about each other. Maybe I still do and maybe it’s too soon but I don’t… I don’t wanna keep moping. So I might be a little weird and I hope we can still have fun tonight.”

The amusement never left his face, a chuckle as AJ finished. A pink flush spread across his face, realizing that the laugh was definitely at his expense. “You’re an awful date.” The Terminator had an accent—Irish? “You’re awfully lucky that I’m not yours, I spared the poor guy your little speech.”

“You’re… not? But you’re… you’re not the Terminator?”

“I have no idea who you are. And I’m certainly not the Terminator.” Another laugh. “You think I’m big enough to be the Terminator?”

AJ tried to smile in return, but his stomach felt tight. How embarrassing. “Sorry, you looked like… I thought… my date’s probably dressed like you.”

“I figured.”

“So what are you?” The man’s brow furrowed. “I mean your costume. If you’re not the Terminator…”

“Oh. I’m me.” A laugh, and AJ wished he thought to be himself. And at the same time, he had a hard time believing this guy walked around without a shirt all the time.

Without warning, the man walked forward, way too close. AJ put a hand out to stop him, which just made him laugh again. But it stopped him. “What are you doin’?”

The man didn’t respond. Instead, he reached around AJ, touching a wing. The innocent outcome was nowhere near enough to shake off the feeling something was off. “Perhaps you’d like to change before midnight.” Almost whispered. A tug on the wing.

AJ shoved him, and the man just laughed. AJ started to walk away, considering the idea that the man tried to scare him on purpose. It was Halloween, after all. And AJ was the dork wearing wings.

***

AJ’s breath caught when he finally found another Terminator—first Terminator, the other guy wasn't Arnold—and he snuck off to the bathroom as fast as he could. It was down stone stairs, a dark basement with a locked door and a single door with a written TOILET sign on it. He dialed Chris’ number, and it took barely even a moment for him to pick it up.

“AJ? How’s it going?” He hears a chorus of hellos from Sonjay and Alex.

“You’re trash, you know that?”

“Wait, what?”

“What were you thinking, setting me up with Kenny?!”

When Chris had said a blind date, AJ imagined a stranger. Kenny was anything but. He was a coworker. A friend. If this went tits up, AJ would have to walk into the office and try to avoid him. He’d half wished Kenny was like the weird Irishman, just so happening to wear the outfit, but the half metal mask made it clear that Kenny was his Terminator.

“What was I thinking, setting you up with a hot, funny dude who likes you? Oh goodness me, AJ, I’ve been a terrible friend. They should lock me up. No wait, better yet, you should come stab me. I deserve it.”

The idea that Kenny might like him… like him… made it worse. Except he didn’t. AJ was with him nearly every day before they got calls, and Kenny treated him no differently from anyone else in the office. He was nice. And even if he did, AJ really couldn’t lead him on.

“What did you tell him, Chris? That he was just meeting some angel?”

“No, he knows he’s meeting you.”

And he’d only told AJ he was the goddamn Terminator. “Sabin.”

“Look. It’s an easy enough set up, he likes you and you’re both already comfortable with each other. Besides, guess who came by while you were out?” AJ sighed. He didn’t need to be told. “He goes, ‘I’ve got AJ’s mail’… as if Joe couldn’t just mail it to us, the freak… and he asks to see you. I tell him you aren’t here, but I’ll take the mail, but he just walks off with your mail! He’s holding it hostage, and this is beyond unhealthy. You need something healthy. Go climb on that very willing robot and have fun.”

“I can’t lead him on, Chris.”

“You won’t! He knows your situation, right? I don’t think he’s expecting much.”

He did. Sometimes it felt like everyone did. Kenny had covered a couple shifts for him when the break up was fresh. “Fine. But if this is a disaster I’m kicking your butt.”

“I accept. Have fun! Use protection!”

He hated Chris Sabin. He hated him so very much.

AJ went to the bathroom, washing his hands and face, trying to amp himself up for this. He wished he’d saved the speech for Kenny, now he felt ridiculous even mentioning it. Even if it made him an awful date, he had to make sure he and Kenny were on the same page if they were going to do anything tonight. Not Chris’ version of anything, AJ was quite certain having sex with Kenny was the worst possible thing to do.

He was wrong, but at the moment, he was so very certain.

Once he was back upstairs, it didn’t take long to find Kenny. A grin as Kenny sipped the punch, making a face as he tasted it. He quietly set the cup down by the wall, walking far away from the red drink. He wished he’d thought to do that. He wished he had more alcohol, something that would make this easier. Kenny finally caught sight of him and smiled, motioning him over with the nod of his head.

“I’m not sure I’m ready to date.” AJ spat out, over the music. Smooth.

“I said yes because Sabin was really insistent!” Kenny laughed, just as fast. “I thought if I said no Sabin would’ve found someone to fuck you. And yes, those were the words he used!”

“I hate him!” AJ laughed with Kenny. He couldn’t believe how easy that was. He’d worked himself up downstairs for nothing. “Should we get more… whatever that punch is?”

“Fuck no. Let's just have a good time, yeah?"

AJ expected a terrible night, and for a while, it seemed like he was proven wrong.

Once Kenny showed he understood, the rest was easy. Kenny mocked the Jason deaths on the projectors; they talked about their coworkers; they dared each other to drink the punch. Kenny was a bad dancer and AJ was a worse one, so they decided just to pump their fists like idiots. Sometimes, Kenny knew the words, and he would sing along. Without a care. With someone to enjoy it with, the party morphed into something entirely tolerable.

For a while, it was just fun. Dancing and joking around with a friend. He didn't need a date, he just needed to get off his butt and have fun. Maybe let Chris and his monkey friends take him to the movies. He'd leave with popcorn in his hair, but he'd have fun.

"Are you hungry?" Kenny yelled over the music.

In fact, he'd been hungry all night. "I thought about ditching you and getting pizza!"

"How about you do that, except not ditch me?" Kenny grinned. "I'm gonna pee and then we can get out of here."

"All right!"

AJ walked with him over to the stairs, before leaning against the wall. It was funny how things worked out. All those nerves for nothing.

“How’s the date?”

AJ twisted around, looking at the Irish guy. He was still smiling. Their last conversation in mind, AJ could not help but take a step back towards the stairs, put more space between them. God, they should’ve just left, Kenny could’ve just held it to the pizza parlor. “All right.”

“Didn’t scare him off with your honesty then?”

AJ shrugs in response, before starting off for the stairs. He’ll wait for Kenny there, get him out as quickly as he could.

“You know.” Just loud enough to hear. AJ turns to look at him again. He was walking closer, and AJ wondered what were his odds if he fought this guy. “You should’ve changed.”

“Didn’t bring spare pants,” AJ lied, before remembering the words he’d said. Perhaps you'd like to change before midnight. He pulled his cellphone out of his pocket. It was almost midnight, a mere two minutes. How did that happen?

The man just laughed at the statement. “You’ll have to live with that choice, then.”

His eyes weren’t on AJ anymore, and he’d followed his glance to the front. He’d swallowed as he watched the heavyset bouncer take a chain much like the one in the basement and pull it around the doors. From here, there was no way he could hear the clink, and yet somehow AJ felt like he did. His hands felt cold.

“What is he doing?” AJ shouted, but then he felt himself yanked around. The man had grabbed him by the elbow and was still holding him tightly.

“I’ve never seen one of you,” he says quietly, “But I think I’d love to. I’d stick by me if I were you, the party’s about to get a little wild.”

AJ kept pulling but the man held tightly. He didn’t understand. Was he trying to scare him again? He’d looked around, trying to see what anyone was doing. No one seemed to notice the bouncer. Or them, for that matter. What was going on?

“I wonder who brought you here tonight. I hope they were worth it.”

“Let me go,” AJ snarled, but the threat felt meaningless when he couldn’t even pull out of his hand. He reached back his free hand, ready to swing... and he screamed. Searing pain went down his back, making it feel like he was being torn in two. It seemed too loud to be just him, and it wasn't. There was screaming all around him, and he couldn't focus on what was going on. He pitched forward and the man's hand held him up.

AJ tried to focus on a prayer but the words seemed jumbled. He screamed again, but he couldn't hear himself this time. Was that... oh god, was that a roar? He wasn't even sure what he was hearing anymore.

He reached his free hand back, touching where it hurt the most, and yet... he couldn't reach under his wings to his spine. No, rather than feeling the smooth material of his vest, he felt frayed thread and warm, hard, feathery... no. His fingers slid against the threads until he felt his flesh. He pressed against it and groaned. He couldn't feel where the wings ended and his back began. His fingers went back to the feathery appendage and pushed.

He felt that. Oh god, he felt that.

AJ's eyes opened and the first thing he realized was that the man was staring straight at him. Something was tickling his legs. "Look at you." He breathed, and AJ wasn't sure what he meant. And then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something else. Something orange.

That was definitely a roar.

His head turned slowly, and he sucked in a breath as he saw a tiger. A gigantic tiger. It had pounced on someone and AJ could see the blood on the tiger's mouth. The person on the floor was wearing a cop costume. It almost felt as if there were claws pushing at his own chest, teeth tearing into his neck. AJ could feel his fear... or maybe that was his own. There were more animals, all over, and most of them had attacked. A mouse scuttled by on the floor, and AJ put his free hand over his mouth, with a sudden, impossible thought. It couldn't be. And yet...

He looked back at the man, who was smiling. Beyond him, he could see people running for the door. Pushing against the lock. They were screaming, pushing, but the chain held steady. He couldn't hear the bouncer or even see him, but he felt his laugh in his body. All this suffering, all this pain... it was amusing to them.

"Just stay by me. It'll be over soon."

Like hell.

AJ thought of punching him, and yet it wasn't his arm that swung out. No, it was a large, white wing that fluttered out, AJ shaking in shock. The wing swung again, this time smacking the man in the arm, and AJ felt the grip loosen.

"Come on!"

Kenny.

AJ threw himself towards the stairs, nearly stumbling as he went down. Kenny grabbed him and his mouth dropped open. Half of his face was replaced with metal, as if the mask fused with his face. His left eye was a shiny, red bead, focused on AJ just as much as his normal one. The chrome side looked smaller than the other half of his face, as if the other half were the mask now, Kenny's features easily ripped off. "Oh no."

"We have to go." Kenny's eyes kept looking upward, past AJ. At his... no, he couldn't think it, couldn't This couldn't be happening. He just followed Kenny, feeling the walls against his... oh Christ. Oh Christ.

Kenny turned to the locked door and wrapped his hand around the chain. A simple tug broke it, sending a few links flying. They were through the door, and as Kenny closed it, he reached back with the chain. AJ's hand shot out, wrapping around Kenny's cold wrist.

"We can't close that off." AJ whispered urgently. "There are people up there."

Kenny nodded, tossing the chain to the ground and then running down the hall. AJ followed, a batting sound behind him. Coming from him, he realized, feeling sick. The screaming was still audible, yet it seemed so far from them. AJ wondered if anyone would open the door, follow them down this hall. Still, there was just them

The door at the end of the hall opened easily, Kenny ramming his shoulder into it. AJ saw a red sign that said EXIT, and he never needed an invitation less. This door, AJ opened, and they both ran outside into the cold night air.

"What the fuck happened in there?" Kenny was still moving, running. AJ just followed, hoping whereever Kenny lead, it was far away from here.

"I don't know." It was honest and yet... it was all right in front of him, really. AJ knew exactly what happened, not how, or why, but Kenny was actually the goddamn Terminator and AJ was a...

Look at you.

"I wanted to go get pizza." It felt stupid, and small, and that was all AJ could think to say. He should've asked before. He should've been asked Kenny to leave with him to get pizza. He wished he never agreed to come out tonight

"I wish I held it."

AJ eventually caught sight of Kenny's van, knowing their destination. The lights blinked in the distance. "We should call for help."

Kenny turned to him. "What would we say?"

AJ didn't have an answer.

Kenny opened the driver's side door, sliding in. AJ tried the same on the other side but felt the outside of the car slam against him. Ow. He tried again. His body fit, but not as it was now. Not with his wings. They refused to fold into his body so he could slide into the front.

"Hey Ken. Can you open the back?"

Kenny cracked the saddest smile AJ had ever seen.

Kenny drove while AJ sat in the back, alongside Kenny's toolbox and a toilet bowl. Kenny told him he could move anything, but he didn't have to. He didn't care to. Too much happened over the past few hours and AJ was drained. And this was meant to snap him out of his funk.

"Fuck Chris." Kenny muttered from the front.

AJ leaned against the divider, feeling his new wings flutter against his neck and shoulders. "Yeah." The feathers tickling his skin the only reason why he doesn't repeat after Kenny, the thought of doing so like this repugnant. But it was all he could think.

Maybe it was unfair to blame Chris Sabin, but he was going to do it anyway.

#halloween prompt contest 2017 #aj styles #kenny omega #finn bálor #chris sabin #bray wyatt

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neverreallythoughtaboutthefuture · 7 years

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I have a (slightly) bad feeling about this...

Alright, after watching the teaser and the first trailer for “Pacific Rim: Uprising”, I have to admit that I’m still very confused regarding how I feel about the upcoming sequel… Or how I’m “supposed to feel” regarding its current marketing strategy... First, I know that, within 10 years, there probably would have been some significant technological advances in the world since the war, and it’s likely normal that the new Jaegers would look the way they do – i.e. all shiny, sleek and new, and more or less built from the same overall platform. Still, those Jaegers (and the pilots inside) are moving so fluidly and effortlessly that it’s difficult for me to believe that they are huge, heavy pieces of complex machinery piloted by two tiny human beings. Some of the buildings surrounding the Jaegers also look a bit like what you’d expect to see in a videogame… I’m not sure if that’s because they wanted to give the new post-war world a more futuristic look, or because they spent a little less time on animation and special effects than they did with the original movie (especially that scene here from 1:50 to 2:15 approx.).

And you can pilot a Jaeger with just some kind of backpack suit and gloves now? Once again, alright, I know, new technology, but still!

(Okay, I get that this character is a hacker (I think), and probably a genius, and she seems to have more or less built that Jaeger herself (or with some help) from scrap parts or something, because it appears to be much smaller and have a more rugged look with her feet stuck in some types of boots (as opposed to newer models), etc. But even that idea seems the tiniest bit too much for me...).

I did expect the Jaegers themselves to be different, and able to do some new stuff (like yes, flying, and perhaps joining together to create a larger robot, etc.), but I think I was still expecting the pilots themselves to require to be a little more solidly strapped in, and still move like their bodies are the size of a skyscraper! Here, they just seem to be able to jump around in the Conn-pod and do acrobatics, and their Jaegers just… copy them? I dunno… Perhaps it will make more sense and look better in the actual movie when we get to see more than just quick bits and pieces of some scattered scenes, but I’m having a slightly hard time understanding how you can keep your balance in there doing a round kick with seemingly nothing attached to your feet or even the rest of your body!

Where’s the Conn-pod situated? In the chest? The head? If you’re round kicking and the Jaeger is round kicking with you as well... Assuming you’re in the head of the robot, wouldn’t the platform you’re standing on be sharply shoved to the side while you’re trying to perform that move?

There was already a pretty huge level of suspension of disbelief required in “Pacific Rim” when it came to how well the pilots were able to sustain being thrown around in such large robots… All you have to do is watch the scene in the beginning where Gipsy Danger collapses on the beach, and imagine that there’s a tiny human being in that head when it hits the ground from such height to know what I mean. Actually, the laws of physics didn’t quite seem to apply to the first movie in general, but the way it was filmed still made it feel so tangible that I was perfectly fine with stopping asking questions, and just going with it! Here, I’m not so sure… Unless they’ve somehow completely altered the gravity inside the Conn-pods? Otherwise how are you two jumping like this with the lashes and staying suspended mid-jump in the air? What’s going on? How are you connected to the Jaeger’s body and sharing a common “nervous system” with it?

Or perhaps they are held in place by some sort of rig in their backs that is also allowing them to pivot? I’m trying to be open to these changes, I really am... But one of the things I really loved about Guillermo Del Toro’s approach was how he was able to make fantasy look like it was firmly grounded in reality by giving us a solid sense of size and scale, and the illusion that it took a great amount of both physical and inner strength to pilot a Jaeger. Here, it somehow looks like you could easily put the two pilots in a Conn-pod that’s situated outside of the Jaeger to control it remotely, and it would basically do the same thing. I’d have an easier time believing that they’re inside their Jaeger if the Conn-pod was pivoting with them, at the very least... Perhaps that’s what’s not visually working for me. From the looks of it, the floor of the Conn-pod is still perfectly aligned with the ground, and the ceiling with the sky.... But isn’t the big robot doing the same move as the pilots? So why is the Conn-pod still perfectly leveled if it’s inside a Jaeger that no longer is? Does that mean the the Conn-pod itself is pivoting inside the Jaeger to compensate for the Jaeger’s movements at all times; therefore ensuring that the two pilots are in an environment where the floor they are standing on remains perfectly leveled, no matter what the Jaeger surrounding them does? Hopefully, the movie will expand more on this... Also, how old are those pilots? I feel like I’m going to be watching “Ender’s Game” meet “Pacific Rim”. Then again, with the previous generation of pilots now either dead, retired, or I suppose assuming positions of command, like Mako Mori, it makes sense that the new recruits could be pretty young… Chuck Hansen did start piloting a Jaeger when he was 16, so it seems that the PPDC does accept candidates that are younger than 17. I guess that, with pilots in the first movie aged 21 to 44, and the relationships between them being diverse (ex: father and son), I just didn’t expect this to be an all teenagers / very young adults (I doubt any of them are older than 25) team of pilots this time around. Actually, everything from the younger main cast to the music choice in the trailer (and the teaser) seems to be geared towards attracting a younger audience. I’m not sure if that’s because they believe that most people who fell in love with the first movie were teenagers, or because they are hoping to make “Pacific Rim” more appealing to them by having new pilots that are easier for kids to relate to. Even the fact that the only movie novelization I’ve seen so far is called “Pacific Rim Uprising: The Junior Novel”, with the products details listed on Amazon as:

Age Range: 8 - 12 years

Grade Level: 3 - 7

Paperback: 160 pages

Publisher: Insight Kids (March 27, 2018)

Language: English

has me greatly concerned that the targeted audience of the sequel is indeed going pre-teens to teenagers, with very little thought given to more mature audiences. It also makes me question if they are going to be willing to take as many risks as they did in the first by sacrificing so many pilots to the war this time around... I mean yes, “Pacific Rim” was an homage to anime and kaiju-era movies... But it was a very dark and gritty homage with the perfect balance between drama, humor, tragedy and hope... People call it “silly” and a movie about “big robots punching monsters in the face!”, but you are given a 15 minutes opening that features two tightly bonded young pilot brothers that deeply kicks you in the guts! Then, the first time you see Cherno Alpha, Crimson Typhoon, and Striker Eureka all get together on a mission out there, two of those teams gets dispatched right away! I remember sitting in the theater looking at the screen in shock and disbelief while asking my friend “Wait. Did that just happen? Did they just kill those 2 teams after having barely introduced them - just like that?” And my friend, equally stunned, just going “Yes. Yes they did.” That’s when shit for me got 100% real for me, and I knew that the movie wouldn’t fuck around. Yancy had just been the beginning, and no one in this universe was safe. The stakes got crazy high! So, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but as much as part of me hated the “there are no heroes in a world where heroes can’t die” mentally, it still profoundly resonated with me and gave the movie some weight. Because back then, I happened to be in a situation where I was very sick and disabled, and had to learn a very important lesson in order to be able to cope with and accept my condition - life isn’t fair, anyone can fall. Bad things happen to good people, and sometimes nothing can be done about it no matter how hard you try to prevent it. (For everything else, there is fanfiction! Lol! And thank the PTB for that!) But yes, it broke my heart into a thousand tiny pieces to watch Chuck Hansen die before he was ever given a chance to finally figure out who he was, among others... But all those things also had a profound psychological and emotional impact, and it did add to that sense of realism in an otherwise very unrealistic universe and movie. Guillermo Del Toro made me believe in the unbelievable. He made me forget that it was a movie about giant robots punching giant monsters in the face, and experience that movie first and foremost through my heart. I am also heavily crediting Travis Beacham for the screenplay, the actors for having brought those characters to life, and everyone else that took such great care in building that universe (set designs, costumes, etc.)... But I think that GDT is hugely responsible for giving the movie its soul in the way he directed the actors, and seemingly got involved in every little detail of the movie’s production, including the 3D conversion. This was a work of pure love, and it showed. And even today, the movie is still helping me cope with a certain level of survivor’s guilt, given that I now have access to proper medical cares and treatments; including monthly injections that have gotten rid of about 70% of my symptoms, and allowed me to start living again. . Meanwhile, I still have friends, that are as ill as I was a year and a half ago, that are still looking for a diagnosis, are left without resources, or then again, share the same diagnosis but don’t respond well to the same treatment I’m taking, etc. It wasn’t fair that I was unable to leave my room most of the time for 7 years, and depended on others to prepare my meals and care for me... And yet, it’s no more fair that I’m getting better now, when so many of those that are in similar situation aren’t getting better, or can’t... Anyone can fall... Meaning all I can do is continue to care about those people, and help where I can. Otherwise, I have to accept that sometimes, things are the way they are. Life is not about what you deserve, or being fairly rewarded for your efforts; but simply about your ability to live with and take advantage of the resource you do have, while ideally finding ways to share those resources with others, when and if you can. Raleigh’s journey in “Pacific Rim”, to me, heavily reflected that. Actually, pretty much every character shared a similar journey where they had to learn to trust in others, and let go of the things beyond control. Beyond the Jaegers and the Kaiju themselves, one of the key elements of “Pacific Rim” was that it was, in Del Toro’s words, a movie about “the world saving the world”: “I just wanted to show small stories of people trying to come together to survive, because I didn’t want to make a war movie. I wanted to make an adventure movie about people who come from all over the world. We have an African American leader, we have a Japanese girl, we have Korean-Chinese guy, we have an Australian team. I wanted to show all the world coming together. It’s not just two characters; among them all they don’t understand each other. All of them have great differences. And the thing is as the movie resolves you see these characters be above all those differences. I wanted that. I didn’t want to make it just, “Oh if these two guys only got along.” Everybody, everybody, which is like a movie set. On a movie set if you don’t come together, we are all very different, but it works. I really love the idea of coming together without a certain jingoist or, you know, this or this side saved the work. Everybody did.” That’s why I find many debates regarding who’s the protagonist of the original movie sort of silly, and, like I’ve expressed before, I see Raleigh Becket as being more or less a leading character in a supportive role. i.e. The story is no more about him than it is about any other character. Once again, anyone can fall, and anyone in life will do what they can with the internal and external resources they have. Sometimes, someone just happens to be at the right place at the right time with the right resources, and they wind up getting the credit for something that was built through the efforts of countless others before and/or with them. Though history and society will generally tend to remember the leaders, and/or those that used what was done before them to innovate and come up with something groundbreakingly new, we are all connected. Raleigh basically just happens to be the character introducing us to the world of “Pacific Rim”, and whose story arc we are invited to follow first. But every character in the movie has their own stories, doubts, and issues to come to terms with before they can all save the world together. And that’s why I’ve connected with this movie so strongly, and why I love it so much. So, regarding the teaser that was first presented to us, for me, in terms of marketing strategy, it heavily missed the mark of what the first movie had been all about. I’m wondering if that was meant to show that, while the Kaiju were gone, world leaders have all been essentially patting themselves on the back on a job well done and taking credit for it. Were they trying to convey that humanity, once again, has learned very little from history, and its ego has inflated to the point where suddenly Jaegers became all about “Look how awesome we are, and always have been!”, and “Why pilot a Jaeger? Because YOU’re worth it!” Were they trying to convey that, in the future, humanity has gone back to the mentality of the “glory days” where Jaeger pilots used to be rock stars, and people thought Kaiju no longer posed any significant threat? Was that teaser meant to be an actual recruiting video that would fit within the mindset of that universe, 10 years in the future (which could make sense, and would therefore sort of make up for how weirdly self-centered it was)? Or was it simply how the marketing team in charge of “Pacific Rim: Uprising” chose to promote the movie, thinking that this is what audiences, nowadays, would get massively excited about? Because, yes, I do love Jaegers. And, of course, John Boyega is a wonderful actor and a pure treasure that can totally rock that drivesuit! But where is the sense that Jaegers are only as good as their pilots (plural), and the stronger the bond between them, the better they fight? Why having made the choice to show a single Ranger alone (unless that teaser was made very quickly to present fans with some form of publicity, and he was the only actor available to shoot it)? And quite frankly, I don’t personally give a single damn about Jaegers being “me” times a thousand! What is a Jaeger? A Jaeger is the very embodiment of the deep trust and empathy shared by two (or more) people who genuinely love each other regardless of the type of relationship they share. A Jaeger is that love and that bond times a thousand – two (or more) beating hearts made one that burn as bright as the sun, and have the power to move mountains! You become the most heroic version of yourself through your connection with others – through learning to balance your own needs with theirs, and using the potential you have been gifted with to serve the common good. This is what “Pacific Rim” was all about to me, and this is the message that the teaser, as far as I’m concerned, has sadly failed to convey. And while the actual trailer does show pilots fighting together, and present them all working together as a team and joining forces to survive, once again there’s something slightly off about the vibe I’m getting from it. Like it’s a movie that is a lot more about new cool Jaegers, and how they and the Kaiju have evolved, rather than the complex human connections that are required to power up those Jaegers. I know I’m probably overthinking this, and most people are likely just going “Whoohoohoo! NEW ROBOTS, WEAPONS AND KAIJU! COOL FIGHTS! AWESOME DUDE!” And, like my partner told me, “No matter what they do, given everything the original represents for you and why it means so much, I’m not sure anything else they could ever come up with will ever measure up.” And maybe he’s right. But still, instead of getting me all excited for the sequel, what the teaser and the trailer have managed to do is confuse the Anterverse out of me! Now, I’m sort of scared that they essentially took shortcuts with this movie by using elements of what they thought made the first one so popular with the (apparently young) public, but without understanding the deeper message behind the story, and/or Guillermo Del Toro’s vision of that universe. Every little detail in “Pacific Rim”, from the set pieces to the colors that were used, were filled with tons of symbolism and meaning. 4 years later, I still continue to discover and notice new little things every time I watch it. I’m not expecting the new director to copy Guillermo Del Toro’s style or use the same symbolism, but I’m hoping he’ll find ways to put nearly as much love and thought into every scene, and that the sequel will hopefully have as much depth and soul to it, too. Offer us beautiful robots, monsters, and actions scene, yes; but don’t forget what the movie was about first and foremost – the power, beauty and complexity of human connection. Another thing that sort of completely turned me off about the teaser is the choice of music. The Pacific Rim’s main theme is one of the most addictive and distinctive movie themes I’ve ever heard. The first few notes start to play, and that’s it! I’m back in that world!

Even the movie trailers of the first installment chose a soundtrack that had strong elements of pure epicness to it.

For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5guMumPFBag , and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUR1IoPdBg8 Everything felt like it was larger than life and imposing. While that “I’m a Beast” song, combined with the would-be flattering message “a Jaeger is YOU times a thousand and tall as a mountain”, seems to have been put out there to appeal to self-centered and easily influenced kids in search of thrills who are supposed to go “Oh yeah man! I’m a Jaeger, I’m a beast, I’m so cool, dude!” Maybe I’m getting too old for this (I was born barely 6 months after Herc Hansen, after all). But, to me, it basically looked like the teaser was meant to be the equivalent of a sports car line publicity, with Jaegers replacing the cars! I just… I don’t get it. Yeah, this worked for the PPDC’s glory days, I suppose; and if the world has reverted back to that mentality, then please, by all means! But still, I’m hoping it’s just a phase, and they’ll move out of it soon. And, while the music in the trailer itself takes back some elements of the original soundtrack, it’s weirdly mixed with a rap song, and combined with videogame looking CGI. Somehow, this makes me feel like I’ve just stepped into a completely different world that has very little to do with the massive scope and depth of the original. Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate a good rap song remixed with a movie theme every now and then... But here, I find it to be heavily distracting, and it makes me disconnect from that sense of awe I get every time I watch those huge robot titans appear on screen in the trailers the original “Pacific Rim”. It works for movies like “The Fast and the Furious”, but here it messes with the overall tone, and gives me the impression that the robots are once again an oversized version of a sports car and next thing you know we’ll be watching them racing each other for thrills! If they keep at it, I’ll start nicknaming that sequel “Pacific Rim: Tokyo Drift”. That being said, there are a few things I’m excited about. Like the return of Mako Mori, Newton Geiszler, Hermann Gottlieb, and the fact that Gipsy Avenger looks like the child Gipsy Danger and Striker Eureka would have had together if Jaegers could make little Jaegers. Although I am slightly concerned about how they will be using those beloved characters in the new installment. I’m also glad that John Boyega seems like such a huge fan of the first movie, and therefore hoping that’s a good sign, and the storyline will remain true to the first movie, and the extended universe that we’ve gotten thus far. I’m also curious regarding how they will be explaining Jake’s Pentecost backstory, and why Stacker and Mako have never mentioned him in the original movie. Was Stacker even told he had a son (otherwise, I would have expected him to have some parting words for him as well, regardless of whether Jake was there or not, considering that the missions are usually recorded and/or Mako, Herc, or anyone else who would hopefully survive the mission could have relayed his father’s words to him), and how old was he when his father died? And looking at Stacker’s own backstory, i.e. his father having been killed in a fight with a club owner (where his mother was performing) when he was only 10, and little 10-year-old Stacker burning that club down and attacking the club owner in response… Well… It seems that little Pentecost babies tend to take losing their fathers very seriously, and will come after whatever is responsible for their death with everything they’ve got, apparently. Which I do find rather interesting. Otherwise, I’m also a little concerned regarding how they will handle Raleigh, Herc, and even Tendo’s absence from the movie… Basically, I still plan on going to see it, but I’m having huge mixed feelings about it, and trying to keep my expectations as low as humanly possible (going down to the breach deep under the Pacific ocean to be sure...). That being said, please don’t let my own doubts, concerns, and personal preferences keep you from being all psyched about the new sequel, and loving the teaser and trailer to death! Truth is, if the original had never existed, and that trailer had been my very first introduction to anything “Pacific Rim”, there’s a possibility I would have been jumping up and down, cheering, and unable to wait to see that movie! I do love “Transformers” (in general), used to be a huge fan of “Power Rangers”, and my favorite TV show as a small child growing up was “Goldorak” (in English “UFO Robot Grendizer”). But “Pacific Rim” had a very different and unique feel to it that felt inspired by those series, without exactly becoming them. “Go Go PPDC Rangers!” doesn’t sound quite right in my mind... Except here. Probably the only place where I want to see those two related. Lol!

#Pacific Rim #Pacific Rim Uprising #Pacific Rim: Uprising #Pacific Rim 2 #Still trying to make up my mind about this...#My thoughts #My Posts

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hagarenmovie · 7 years

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AUGUST J MOVIE [8/10/2017] - Making of the Movie: Fullmetal Alchemist (1 of 3) ~On-set Report~

Fullmetal Alchemist, the highly anticipated movie that has gathered the attention of fans since its announcement. In this issue we have prepared a behind-the-scenes report, a detailed on-set interview with the lead Ryosuke Yamada and Director Fumihiko Sori, as well as an interview [with Executive Producer Kazuya Hamana]!

| Part 2 (Yamada x Sori Interview) & Part 3 (Exec. Producer Interview) |

Taking on the Super Popular Manga FMA

The popular manga by Hiromu Arakawa Fullmetal Alchemist (FMA for short) was serialized in the Monthly Shonen GanGan magazine from 2001 until 2010. It's a legendary manga that is compiled into 27 volumes and that, as a series, has sold over 70 million copies worldwide. It is a work that as of now has two separate anime adaptations, has earned an overwhelming amount of support from young people, and is finally receiving a much awaited live action film adaptation.

The brothers Ed and Al are the protagonists of the story. When they're young, the two of them lose their beloved mother and, unable to come to terms with her death, commit alchemy's ultimate taboo: human transmutation. But the brothers' attempt fails. They aren't able to resurrect their mother and in accordance with the basic principle of alchemy, Equivalent Exchange, Ed loses his left leg and Al his entire body as the price. However, Ed also loses his right arm in exchange for Al's soul, which he binds to a suit of armor nearby. ....Several years after that, Ed is a State Alchemist with the second name of "Fullmetal Alchemist" and steel prosthetics attached to his body, and Al is clad in a suit of armor. The two of them embark on a journey to restore their bodies... this is the story of the manga.

The director at the helm of this film adaptation project is the same one who worked on the CGI of Titanic (1997) under Director James Cameron and who also raised the level of CGI in Japanese Film with Ping Pong which opened in 2002, Fumihiko Sori. Playing the protagonist Ed is the star of the Assasination Classroom movies (2015, 2016) who has exhibited great physical ability, and will show us a delicate drama in The Miracles of Namiya General Store opening this soon, Ryosuke Yamada. Ed and Al's childhood friend and automail engineer, Winry, is played by movie and drama actress, Tsubasa Honda, who is also a huge fan of the original manga. Watching over the brothers strictly and kindly is the “Flame Alchemist” Colonel Mustang, played by Dean Fujioka. And, standing in the way of the Elric brothers are the Homunculi (artificially created humans), with Lust being played by Yasuko Matsuyuki. The all-star cast representing Japan includes Yo Oizumi, Ryuta Sato, Renbutsu Misako, and Kanata Hongo.

Ryosuke Yamada is Ed brought to life

We took a field trip to the movie's film location in the Toho Studio last year in August. The film crew passed the middle stage of production right after the end of filming in Italy and focused on filming within a set [in a studio]. Since the announcement of the film adaptation, there have been many mixed feelings and passionate reactions for and against the movie by fans, but after entering the studio, the world found there was certainly the FMA one. With wide eyes, we stood in the middle of a room that looked like the night in a set that recreated a street made of old brick. The manga itself also takes place in a 19th century European inspired setting, and from just the set alone, one could feel the immense faithfulness to the manga. What was being filmed on one part of the set was a scene with the Homunculus Envy, played by Kanata Hongo. The details of the scene can't be revealed here, but it was a portion of the filming of the climactic scene. Up until now, Hongo has splendidly played fan approved characters in live action film adaptations of popular manga such as GANTZ (2011) and Attack on Titan (2015). From first glance on-set, [we could see] Envy's troubling wildness was completely personified. After filming this scene, it was a wrap for Hongo. The staff thanked him with applause.

Next, we witnessed the scene where Ed, Colonel Mustang, and Lust fight. The first thing that caught our eye was, as expected, Ryosuke Yamada playing Ed. His figure was dressed in a red coat with black clothes underneath, braided golden hair, and sharp eyes - it was as if the Ed we know had jumped out from the manga. Across from Ed was Colonel Mustang, played by Dean Fujioka. Dean was clad in the blue military uniform identical to the manga. The extreme detail used by the staff to create the costume is by no means ordinary, but it is apparent. When filming began, it was a scene where Mustang, sustaining an abdomen injury, holds out his hand with a strained face intending to start a blaze.

In the manga, Mustang's second name is 'Flame Alchemist.' A transmutation circle is drawn on his white gloves and with a snap of his fingers, a powerful blaze can be created to attack with. However, in this scene, Mustang has sustained a lot of damage and in the agony, he can barely lift up his blood covered hand... Confronting them is the Homunculus Lust. The scene actually being filmed at the time, was just before Lust is about to make a seemingly severe attack and Ed uses alchemy to uplift the ground and create a massive wall like structure to defend himself.

Treasure expressing the emotion of living human beings

After that it was on to the next cut and filming continued favorably. It was a scene where Ed hides behind the wall he transmuted as an explosion emerges from the flames of Colonel Mustang, and while the enemy takes a peek, [Ed] grasps the end of his glove, pulling it back into place.

Ed's form makes one think of his gesture from the cover of volume 1, it's a habit he does all the time. When Yamada does that expression so naturally, he seems to completely become one with Ed. On top of that, while on-set, one could tell from the top of his coat that Yamada's arms and torso were bigger. And yet, it was surprising [to see that Yamada's] movements were keen and nimble, characteristic of Ed. In hand-to-hand combat it'll be exciting to see what kind of difficult action scenes we'll be shown beyond what [Yamada] has already done in previous films he's starred in.

Furthermore, in this fighting scene, because there's a heavy use of green screen, it's essential to have detailed communication between the director and cast members. In other words, the actual transmutations and flames aren't seen while filming. On-set, when there's a break between scenes, Director Sori and Yamada can be seen exchanging short conversation, seemingly harmonizing, mentally and physically, with each other. We would definitely like you to check and see for yourself how the fight between Ed, Mustang, and Lust ends, including Al's role [in it] once the film is completed.

After the trip around the set had ended, Director Sori told us what he treasured the most about filming this movie. "The world of FMA is, of course, action, but I think the story is emotional and the sentimental instability is enormous. The manga and the two anime series created so far are already wonderful because there are things that can only be expressed in those mediums, but I personally think that there's power in expressing the emotion of living human beings through other media." He also touched on the charm of having brothers being at the center of this human drama.

Next is the on-set talk with Yamada and Director Sori, and after that we'd like to present an interview with the film's Executive Producer Kazuya Hamana as well.

#fma live action #filming scoop #yamada ryosuke #Fumihiko Sori #dean fujioka #Edward Elric #Roy Mustang #Envy #hongo kanata #Lust #matsuyuki yasuko #FMA #Fullmetal Alchemist #translation

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the-master-cylinder · 4 years

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SUMMARY Vernon Coyle (Pasdar), a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department, is trying to solve a series of bizarre murders. His girlfriend, Grace (Polo), turns into a werewolf and is kidnapped by Crispian Grimes (Wise), a vampire and owner of the nightclub House of Frankenstein. Meanwhile, a man, claiming to be Frankenstein’s monster, comes to Los Angeles to find the vampire that killed his creator 200 years ago.

NBC120 7/18/97 PRESS TOUR — HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN — PICTURED: The Creature — NBC Photo: Paul Drinkwater.

He had lived in the Arctic Circle for centuries and had been thawed out recently. A medical examiner comes in and is shocked that he has no heartbeat and that his blood consists of that of several different people. The creature escapes and confronts Grimes in an alley, but gets arrested. Coyle realizes that the creature is really a creation of Frankenstein, and helps him track down Grimes and put a stop to his reign of terror. Grace turns into a werewolf and goes on a rampage, where she gets captured by Grimes and will be a part of his exhibit forever.

Coyle and the creature destroy Grimes’ army of the undead, but he escapes. The creature also escapes, having finally avenged his creator’s death. He sneaks aboard a research vessel on its way to Antarctica. Grace revives after a successful blood transfusion makes her human again. Coyle and Grace later visit his partner’s grave as he was the first victim of Grimes, who is watching them from afar.

BEHIND THE SCENES The miniseries’ title and the very basics of its story were taken from the 1944 Universal picture directed by Erle C. Kenton. “Karloff wasn’t playing Frankenstein’s Monster any longer,” explains executive producer David Israel, “but played Dr. Niemann. It was the first of the Universal horror films to feature Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula and the Wolf Man in the same picture. So we used that as a jumping-off point.

“We didn’t feel we could directly remake House of Frankenstein, because with today’s sensibilities it just wouldn’t be scary.” adds screenwriter J.B. White. “We went back and forth as to whether we were going to do this as a period or contemporary piece.”

Israel admits that this is his first experience with the horror genre. “I’ve dipped my toes into the water, and I’m kind of enjoying it. This movie is not a parody. It’s a drama with elements of a police story, but three of the characters happen to be a werewolf, a vampire and Frankenstein’s Creature.” And don’t look for the latter to echo the appearance of Universal’s famous creation. “We had total say on what the Creature would look like,” Israel says. “We hired Greg Cannom, who is an Academy Award-winning makeup artist, one of the greats in the business who usually only does features. He did Bram Stoker’s Dracula, so he’s had experience doing vampires. He was clearly the best choice.

“Cannom had always wanted to have the opportunity to do his artistic interpretation of Frankenstein’s monster,” Israel continues. “I think this is by far the most ingenious interpretation; there are no bolts. Also, this is a sympathetic creature for whom we should have empathy. The actor who plays him, Peter Crombie, makes you feel that remarkably well.”

While the producers and Cannom were given artistic control, Israel confesses that they were careful about being too graphic in the horror and violence department. “We’re pushing the envelope as far as we can, but we still have to keep in mind that this is going to be available on every TV set in America,” he notes. “Kids are going to watch it, and sponsors have their needs too. It’s as graphic as it needs to be, but it’s never gruesome.”

Israel was involved in all aspects of the production, but the one element which gave him the most worry during the 48-day shoot was the training of real wolves for the lycanthrope scenes. “Our werewolves are not going to be hairy people,” he reveals, “The actors are going to morph into actual wolves. But we had to train the animals to do different types of stunts, which is probably the single most important thing we have to do on the show. Only the stunt people and the trainers work with the wolves; they’re too dangerous.”

Responsible for scripting all these hazardous scenarios was White, who was tapped by Universal and NBC to work on House of Frankenstein after the success of Beast last year. That two-part miniseries was his first exploration into monster movies, and though he’s not a complete fan of the genre, White admits, “It’s impossible not to be influenced by the past [horror] movies. It’s part of our collective consciousness vampires, werewolves and certainly the Frankenstein Creature. So my approach to this story is not as a genre picture, but just as another dramatic story which happens to have these rather extraordinary elements.”

One aspect which may surprise some connoisseurs of vampire lore is White’s concept of them as fallen angels. “It was just a notion that came to me while I was writing,” he recalls. “Part of the iconography of vampires is their abhorrence of anything religious, they often fly and they have power over people—they bring evil into people’s lives. This is a very satanic idea. Satan and his minions are fallen angels, and the concept felt right.

“One of the things I wanted to do was to humanize all of the creatures in the script,” White continues, then adds, “I don’t know if humanize is the right word, but to make us understand them better. I’ve always found something poignant about fallen angels. They lived in grace and fell from it; they always want to get back to it, but they can’t. They are creatures condemned by their own natures, and it’s heartbreaking.’

White also took a few liberties with the classic European mythology of vampires when it comes to the sun’s effect on them, acknowledging that he took inspiration from Coppola’s movie. “In that version, Dracula moved around freely in the daylight,” the writer says. “He protected himself from the sun, making sure his face and hands were covered. but that’s a practical consideration. If you’re going to tell a story like this in modern Los Angeles, you don’t want the vampires to only be out at night; it gets kind of tired. Also, these vampires have assimilated themselves; they have intermingled with us. I thought we could get away with making them a little more versatile.”

Yet White’s favorite character is undoubtedly the Creature. “I remembered clearly how the Mary Shelley book ended,” he explains. “It always seemed to me that she was setting herself up for a sequel, because she had him floating off into the darkness on an ice raft. I made it a mission in this script to make the Frankenstein Creature a real hero that and Grimes’ relationship with Grace Dawkins are the real heart of the movie. Boris Karloff’s original creature was sympathetic, but over the years, just because he’s designated as a monster, he has gotten a bum rap. I’m hoping that this, in some small way, will restore the Creature’s reputation. We wanted to show all of his aspects. He is a man out of time. His whole motivation from the moment he is awakened is to get back to where he came from.” Great care has been taken to preserve some of the feel of and connection to the original Frankenstein movies. As an element of homage to the first House of Frankenstein, the man who searches the North Pole for the Creature is named Dr. Niemann. Also referenced is one of the most stein: the encounter between the Creature and a little girl. This often misunderstood and usually censored scene is now transposed to a meeting between the two on a bus, but the compassion will hopefully still be there.

Of course, none of the emotional scenes or extensive makeup can work if cast in the part. And for the role of Frankenstein’s creation, Crombie appears perfectly suited. The actor always refers to his character as the Creature, never “the monster,” which is the first indication of how carefully he respects the part. Even being subjected to almost three hours of makeup doesn’t deter Crombie’s enthusiasm; in fact, he believes that this long process is the best preparation he could have to get into the part. “I stare at myself in the mirror as Bill Corso, my makeup artist, puts each piece of the mask on my face,” he says. “I can’t really do anything else. I’m slowly putting the skin, metaphorically and literally, of this character on me.

“I remember an acting class I had at Yale’s drama school,” Crombie continues. “They had a closet filled with costumes and masks. You’d take a mask and sit in front of these mirrors and see what it did to you, what would arise emotionally. As bits of character would emerge, you’d put on costumes, compiling more and more of a character. You don’t get many opportunities to do something like that, especially using such elaborate masks as these. I knew I wasn’t going to begin to find this character until I had the makeup on. It was going to do things to me-affect the way I carried my head or make me move my mouth in a certain manner. And sure enough, that’s what happened. It turns out that the voice I had developed (for the audition) was too much. You can allow the makeup to do the work for you, and it will, if you let it.

“I was a little anxious at first,” Crombie admits. There was a touch of claustrophobia, especially when they did a full head cast. It was like being entombed. They told me it was going to be about 12 minutes, and it was 35. I just meditated to myself and managed to hold it together. They also did a cast of my chest and arms, because they were thinking of doing a kind of glove. But they abandoned that idea, and I think rightly so. The chest makeup was only used for one shot, when I first appear as the Creature and he’s still in 19thcentury clothes.”

The actor agrees with White’s inspiration to humanize this particular creation. “The idea is,” Crombie explains, “the Creature doesn’t totally look like a monster when he’s walking down the street. He could be mistaken for some homeless guy. If I were in New York, where I used to live, I would have just hit the streets in preparation for this character, because I would have found some version of him there. I’ve certainly seen enough of them over the years, and I’m working that into the Creature.”

Crombie also had to work carefully in animating his facial expressions, since his movements tended to become muted under the layers of makeup. However, this was not the first time Crombie had worked with such extensive makeup. Playing the Creature couldn’t prepare Crombie for the astonished reactions from the extras or the busloads of tourists who saw him on the backlot at Universal Studios, where some of House of Frankenstein was shot. “The trams ran by every three minutes in front of my trailer,” he remembers with a laugh. “I’d be waiting, and the trams would get backed up and I couldn’t get across the street. So I’d be standing there in my undershirt and full makeup, and the people wouldn’t know what they were looking at. They didn’t know if they should point their cameras or run and hide. I think they got their money’s worth.”

Serving as the movie’s resident expert on vampire and werewolf lore is the Professor Kendall character played by awardwinning actress Pounder, who devoted plenty of careful study to her eclectic role. “I love her handle,” she say proudly. “Associate Professor of Cultural Symbolic Anthropology. I think she invented a department for herself, and she’s got a lot of theory experience in a number of subjects. One thing I liked is that when I went into my office, the set designer had used ritualistic and mythological objects from all over the world-a very smart move.

“Kendall is incredibly curious about these legends and whether they were myths or reality at some point,” Pounder continues. “She’s a strong character and definitely an authority in her field. I play her dead serious. I don’t think that in the annals of horror films there has been a black female lead of this kind. If you’re going to act, you might as well go through this kind of door of opportunity. You know me,” she laughs. “I like to go where no man has gone before.”

As far as Pasdar was concerned, the best thing about playing Detective Coyle was that he didn’t have to spend hours in the makeup trailer.

“I’m sleeping while they’re in there with the prosthetics,” he says. “That’s the best part. I don’t have to get up at 5 a.m. and sit in the chair. Every once in a while, I have to get a little dirt put on my face, a little smudge here and there. That’s the extent of it.”

Pasdar confesses to being a major fan of horror movies—“I like the ones that are done right almost as much as I love watching Plan 9 from Outer Space”—and is proud of having starred in the legendary cult movie Near Dark. “We don’t take credit for improving the genre, but we certainly took it in another direction. That was fun. House of Frankenstein is a different side of the coin. I’m not on the monster squad, I’m on the vice squad. It’s much more fun playing a straight cop chasing these guys. While the genre might be the same, my approach to the characters is completely different.

“Coyle is a by-the-book cop,” he adds. “He’s a detective trying to make the best of his job, to protect and serve in LA. He’s an average person confronted by a situation that is a bit above average. That’s when you get a real dichotomy between what needs to be done and what has been done before.

“To me,” Pasdar admits, “one of the most interesting aspects of the script is bringing the Creature into Los Angeles and keeping him as unmolested by human intervention as possible. He’s as pure as he can be. The irony is that the Creature seems more human than most of the people you run into on a day-byday basis in this town. He has an inherent soul that’s a beautiful thing to watch. That was one of the reasons I wanted to do this movie – to work with the Creature and a werewolf at the same time.”

Regardless of the thoughtful approach the actors might have towards their craft or the otherwise demanding schedule of a TV miniseries, Pasdar has some wicked ideas for a few good gags. “I’d love to walk into a 7-Eleven with the Creature to get a Slurpee; that would be fun,” he says, laughing at the idea. “Drive down the freeway in a convertible listening to Bon Jovi, or go down to the beach and have him try to get a little sun. Put him on rollerblades in the bike path. If I get a chance, I’ll tell you.” But at the time of this writing, neither Detective Coyle nor the Creature had been spotted at any of the beaches, or seen speeding down the freeways of Los Angeles.

Cannom doesn’t usually work in television. “It was really fun to be able to do a Frankenstein like the real character, plus all the werewolves and flying vampires,” said Cannom. “We had to do it. It was just too much fun to turn down.”

Though the Frankenstein monster is the character of the Mary Shelley novel, White’s script is contemporary and downgrades both Dracula and the Wolfman to a generic vampire and werewolf. Eighty percent of HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN was shot in and around Los Angeles on practical locations, including some exterior filming at the Ennis-Brown House, a residence designed in the 1920s by Frank Lloyd Wright, representing the mansion of Crispian Grimes (Greg Wise), the master vampire.

Wise is a British actor, who nonetheless portrays Grimes as an American. Wise explained how his approach is both similar to, and different from, what has come before. “I think the primary root of it is that he has to assimilate into the society. That’s why I’m playing an American. We’ve given him a very small scar and darkened my eyes using lenses, so I don’t think it’s too out of the ordinary. For a vampire to survive, he has to be able to fit within the society he finds himself in.”

Grimes can transform himself into an inhuman bat-monster, but there is a part of him that retains what once made him human. Noted Wise, “This piece looks at the period of his existence when he’s getting tired. It’s looking at the existential question of why we’re here. His story becomes a morality tale. He discovers we’re here to love and be loved. He’s a terrifically lonely man. I think that’s one of the more interesting ideas, that if you have been around for so long, nothing excites you anymore. You’ve said it all, you’ve done it all, you’ve seen it all.”

Grimes’ inamorata is Grace (Terry Polo), who gets bitten by Grimes’s werewolf protector and starts to change herself. “When she rebuffs him at the end, he stops his existence,” said Wise. He throws himself into fire. He kills himself because he realizes there is no point in walking this Earth without love.”

Cannom had fun working on Grimes’ bat transformation, a being which brings to mind the Man-Bat of BATMAN fame. “I wanted to create something for TV more elaborate than some

one would normally do,” said Cannom. “Because this was a flying bat-creature, a fallen angel type of thing, we wanted to really do a spectacular suit, but still keep it within limits for TV. Miles Teves designed the creature. He designed ROBOCOP and LEGEND.” The human-sized vampire bat not only has a bat-like head, but huge wings as well, suspended from a helicopter for the flight sequences. Hand-held controls make the movement of the wings.

Into this mix is thrown the Frankenstein monster, who is found by Grimes and originally brought to Los Angeles to be featured in his new night spot: The House of Frankenstein. The monster is sympathetically played by Peter Crombie. Crombie had to sit through a two-hour makeup application process which completely hid his features under a pliable latex mask. Unlike other versions of the Frankenstein monster seen in the past, this one isn’t a lumbering menace. “He actually turns out to be kind of a good guy, a hero,” said Crombie proudly. “What he really wants to do, like ET, is to get home, back up to the ice flows up north. It becomes a revenge mission for the creature to get Grimes, who ends up teaming up with the lead detective, played by Adrian Pasdar.”

Even though this version of the Frankenstein monster is supposed to follow more closely the description in the Mary Shelley novel, Crombie admitted that they did have to backoff a little since the production was being done for television. “Part of the description is that the skin is very translucent you can see through layers of it, to see veins and arteries. And to a extent you get some of that with this. An undead sort of look. I think the whole idea is that it’s much less of a monster, and much more of an innocent, an outcast, just a very vulnerable being, who is much more real emotionally, than the more traditional monster. That’s what I’m shooting for.”

The character Adrian Pasdar plays, Vernon Coyle, isn’t meant to be an unusual man, but instead is a man forced to make unusual choices. As Pasdar observed, “He’s your average cop. What’s interesting is having an ordinary cop confronted with an extraordinary situation. We tried to cut the dialogue down to as minimal as we could and it’s been effective in establishing the fact that it’s a realistic approach. He’s by the book and then gets confronted by a monster that you have to throw the book away and deal with a little more abstract solutions.”

In describing why a modern interpretation of an old idea can be both interesting and important, the actor stated, “There’s always room for a contemporary interpretation of a classic tale, from Shakespeare up to Bram Stoker and to Mary Shelley. There’s room for both interpretations. I think it’s interesting to watch a welldone classic. I think it’s much more difficult to do it contemporary.”

youtube

CAST/CREW Directed Peter Werner

Written B. White

Adrian Pasdar as Vernon Coyle, a police detective trying to solve the case of “The Midnight Raptor”

Greg Wise as Crispian Grimes, a Dracula-like vampire who is known to the police as a serial killer nicknamed “The Midnight Raptor”. He is the millionaire owner of the nightclub House of Frankenstein, which is secretly a haven for vampires.

Teri Polo as Grace Dawkins, a newly bitten werewolf who is also the love interest of detective Vernon Coyle and the heart’s desire of Crispian Grimes

Peter Crombie as Frankenstein’s monster, discovered frozen in a block of ice and planned as an exhibit for House of Frankenstein, but escapes

CCH Pounder as Dr. Shauna Kendall Miguel Sandoval as Detective Juan ‘Cha Cha’ Chacon Jorja Fox as Felicity Richard Libertini as Armando Karen Austin as Irene Lassiter

CREDITS/REFERENCES/SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY Cinefantastique v29n06-07 (Nov 1997)

House of Frankenstein (TV Mini-Series 1997) SUMMARY Vernon Coyle (Pasdar), a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department, is trying to solve a series of bizarre murders.

#90sMovies #TV MOVIES

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the-desolated-quill · 7 years

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Fish In The Jailhouse - The Defenders blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Context is very important. The church massacre in Kingsman: The Secret Service was an awesome, kinetic and beautifully choreographed fight sequence, but if you were to put that in, say, a Disney animated movie, parents might have a few choice words to say on the subject.

Now I know what you’re thinking. Where the fuck is Quill going with this? Well here’s the thing. If Fish In The Jailhouse took place in a season where the threat was well established, the characters were fully developed and explored, and where the proceeding episodes all built up to this penultimate episode in a satisfying way, then I would say this episode was really good. The problem is... well I’m sure you know what the problem is by now.

Fish In A Jailhouse is meant to be part 1 of the final climax, obviously, and they’re trying to build excitement and tension, but this all feels like too little, too late. I’ve been so uninvested in everything that’s been happening throughout the course of this season that, now we’re near the end, I’m not excited to see what happens next. I’m just impatient for them to get this over with so I can move on to something else.

With Stick dead and Danny kidnapped, the other Defenders are taken into police custody and briefly treated as suspects (Yes. They killed Stick and kidnapped Danny before knocking themselves unconscious for the police to find them. Brilliant deduction there Misty Knight, you moron) before deciding to treat them as witnesses, only to then accuse them of obstruction of justice (although, to be fair, Misty Knight doesn’t agree with the obstruction of justice thing. Maybe what happened earlier was just a momentary brain fart or something) causing the Defenders to go on the run

The thing is all the stuff about questioning what gives the Defenders authority over law enforcement and everything has the potential to be interesting and thought provoking. The scenes between Misty and Luke, Matt and Foggy, Matt and Karen, and Claire and Misty are all competently written and well performed. The trouble is they don’t really amount to anything. The Defenders as a whole hasn’t really been exploring the morals and ethics of vigilante justice, so it feels somewhat late in the game to introduce it as a topic of discussion now. Also haven’t we already had these conversations before? A lot of the stuff they’re saying is no different from what they’ve been saying in their respective solo series. So if they’re not bringing anything new to the table, what’s the point? The whole thing in the police station just feels like even more delaying tactics. I swear this show has so much padding, you could probably use it to stuff a king size mattress.

Other scenes too have potential, but are ruined by the context. The scene between Elektra and Danny, two victims of religious indoctrination used as mere tools by their masters, could have been really effective. Unfortunately we’ve kind of already done this with Danny and Colleen in Iron Fist, plus it’s hard to give a shit because the scene contains two of the most loathsome characters in the show. Asking me to decide whether Elektra or Danny is in the right is a bit like asking me which tortuous death i’d rather experience.

So Elektra manages to outwit Danny into using his Iron Fist to open the stone door thing (normally I’d make a joke about how stupid Danny is and how easy it is to outsmart him, but the thing is Elektra is just as stupid as Danny, so really an idiot outsmarting another idiot is actually quite an achievement). Turns out she wants the substance now because... the script said so. And once again we’ve hit the same problem with Elektra as we did in Daredevil Season 2. What am I supposed to feel about her? In the context of Daredevil Season 2, Matt was trying to give up vigilantism due to the negative impact it was having on his life, whereas Elektra acted as the tempter figure. Plus she’s portrayed as this arrogant fucking psychopath. Clearly we’re supposed to hate her, except the writers seemed to want us to empathise with her and actually want her and Matt to get together, which stands at odd with what the story was logically dictating to us. That she should be avoided because she’s a detriment to Matt’s personal growth. Here it’s the same thing. Throughout this season, they’ve been trying to manipulate us into caring for Elektra with all these scenes of her staring googly eyed at things and Matt trying to jog her memory, but then when she does get her memory back, she tries to obtain immortality for herself for no other reason than she’s a selfish, amoral bitch. What am I supposed to feel about her? This is not light and shade. This is monumentally terrible characterisation. Despite what an evil and irredeemable piece of shit she is, we’re still expected to want to see her and Matt get together despite being given no reason to want to see this. What planet are these writers on?! I’d sooner see Matt enter sexual relations with a glove puppet than her!

At this stage I’ve just given up completely. I just don’t care about anything that happens anymore. Oh Madame Gao, Bakuto and Murakami wants to fight the Defenders in a badly filmed fight scene that relies far too heavily on shaky cam? Alright then. There’s a dragon skeleton hidden behind the stone door? Yeah, whatever. Colleen manages to smuggle explosives out of a police station without anyone noticing? Of course she does. Even the scene where Claire tries to debate the morality of killing the Hand failed to spark any interest, and I usually live for these kind of moral conundrums. The trouble is we’ve had this same conversation so many times before in regards to Kingpin and Kilgrave, and at this point I’m more than ready to see the back of the poxy Hand. Kill them, bury the corpses under a load of debris and don’t look back.

And that’s all I have to say about Fish In The Jailhouse. In an alternate universe where the writers actually put in the legwork to make this an intelligent and engaging narrative, this could have been a really good episode. Instead it’s just a painfully mediocre and uninspired one in a sea of dross.

#fish in the jailhouse #the defenders #marvel cinematic universe #netflix #review #spoilers

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gywair · 5 years

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I finally watched Endgame. I’d put it off a week since its release. It felt like planning to attend a funeral. This series has been part of my life for a decade. Going to see the cumulation of over twenty films felt too heavy to see. Putting it off only made the tension build though. Finally, bite the Infinity Stone and ordered tickets.

First, I watched it in “4DX”. This is similar to the theme park rides that started popping up that are a mixed medium experience. So the seats move, air blasts at you, there are water effects, lights flash, and even smells get pumped into the room. In theory, this seems really interesting but usually, I go to movies I don’t care about to try out new gimmicks. My first 3D film was My Bloody Valentine. It was silly and fun. It also helped me adjust to what a 3D movie would be.

My first 4DX-like experience was the Empire State Building ride as narrated by Kevin Bacon. A sentence that makes me feel like I suffered a stroke while writing but is a real thing that exists that I have experienced. It’s been a few years since that and I think it lasted less than 20 minutes (probably less). Sitting for an entire movie seemed like a whole different worm can.

For me, I didn’t really like it. The water, lights, and smells were cool. The smoke was nice too. The seat, however, is made for someone slightly smaller. So when Iron Man gets kicked in his kidneys, oh spoilers BTW, the seat hits you too like a demented message chair. I think normally it would softly strike you in the back on your rib cage. For me, it went straight to my soft organs. This made the fights are to concentrate on (a problem for a movie about fighting). Likewise, little jets of compressed air go off just above your head. For me, they were pointed directly into my ears. So each time they fired off, I couldn’t hear and had the painful sensation of a ghost giving me a wet willy (I’m also blessed with ear problems so your experience may vary).

Anyway, big thoughts:

The Good:

The job of wrapping up 20+ movies was a big task. This film does that. It has a large cast of characters and several errant storylines to wrap up in a short timeframe. Cause even with 3-hours, this felt like there was still more to say. Which isn’t bad cause that means there can still be more films but for a chapter closer it was ambitious.

I was satisfied by the investment I’ve made into the franchise. This was a fitting close to this chapter. Each film contributed in ways that made the complete journey feel fluid and necessary.

It makes several subversions of expectations. Not just for characters but for narrative design. It kept me guessing the entire time. Even with seeing a handful of tiny spoilers, I was never sure what was going to happen.

Avengers served up heaping mounds of gratuitous fan service in the best ways possible. Sometimes this can be very bad like in animes when the whole episode is about boys spying on girls in a hot tub. Here, it’s Captain America fighting a copy of himself or Professor Hulk half-assing some smashing. One of the best parts of the film is about time travel. Here they show off fan-favorite Loki popping up at different points in history.

One important aspect to me for a story of any kind is how much foreknowledge a viewer needs before starting the work. If you watch Pirates of the Carribean 3 or Return of the Jedi, you will be pretty confused. However, you can pick up just about any Marvel movie anywhere in the series and have a fair idea of what is going on. This continues in this installment. Some context is lost or hidden but anything you need to know is shown/told/explained to you. This, for me, is what makes a story stand on its own legs.

See?! This scene just makes sense all on its own.

The Bad:

With so many cooks in the kitchen, there are still weird dangling problems in the continuity. Things still feel left open to interpretation. Even the filmmakers didn’t agree on how elements in the film worked which is something that should have been determined before the first Avengers movie was written. It feels haphazard with how certain things were written off or ignored. This plays well into feeling like a comic book where different creators retrofit things to fit their narrative but it still felt jarring.

For example, in Captain Marvel, the cat has a stone. Well… so does Thanos… but also now Loki… There is a lot going on and even a whole (if well delivered) exposition still didn’t completely cover all their bases. It feels like they slapped it together at random at times. I get that they can play with the timeline literally but I feel like there were still a lot of open questions that should have been answered that weren’t.

I could rewatch all the movies (read as: will eventually) to get the full context. This makes the act of enjoying these films more academic though than just for pleasure viewing. It’s not that I don’t want to do this but for casual viewers, there was a lot of backstories to keep up with to get each nod.

The Ugly:

After years of hearing that fans want more women characters, the film tried to give them the limelight for an action sequence. The rest of the film is mostly about a boys’ club rushing around doing action hero stuff. Yes, Nebula and Black Widow make important contributions to the plot but they feel sidelined or overshadowed by the boys. The problem here is that the women are treated more like set dressing than people important to the plot to move ahead. If Spiderman had finished running the Infinity Glove to the van it would have served the same device. Instead, they made a big show of having the girls team up for a few seconds.

Supposedly this movie was gonna have a “Big Gay Film Moment” TM that would make people happen. Instead, it just suggested that gay people do actually exist. IDK man, like that, is a pretty cold take. If Warmachine and Bucky had started making out after the big fight I would have been cheering my head off. I’m not upset by any means. This is more of a missed opportunity for the filmmakers to do something and instead, they took the safest path.

Hope you weren’t invested in Starlord and Gamora cause that entire trio of films is pretty much null now so far as character development for Gammy. She had an awesome arc. Then they killed her off. Then she comes back but now she doesn’t know Quill. Okay, well this means that other dead people come back… right? Oh, no? Vision and Black Widow are still gone? Weird… I heard this is cause they were killed pre-Snap BUT so was Gamora and they got her back. I think they were just running out of time. I hope Scarlet Witch gets to go back to her robo-boyfriend.

Was that all just a wild middle finger to Gunn? That’d be drama.

The funeral… why isn’t anyone crying? Everyone seems so calm. Is this like when you have already been to like six superhero funerals that week and five are already back on their feet?

I told myself I wasn’t gonna cry.

Characters:

Alright, so this film had way too many characters to really cover perfectly as a group. I have some stray thoughts on several, however.

Hulk is my new boyfriend and I will fight you for him. Banner has made peace with himself and created a half-way point between Hulk and himself. Now he is permanently strong and smart. This is wonderful for character development as he finally finds the peace and belonging that he has wanted since Edward Norton tore up downtown as the rage-y green giant. His new hipster persona felt satisfying and fresh for the film universe. Something of a reversal of the Ragnarok Hulk.

Captain America finally bangs and accepts his position as “America’s Ass”. I’m so proud of my boy. He’s all grown up.

It took Iron Man a decade but Tony Stark finally discovered how to care about something other than himself. His character arc is the film universe’s arc to this point. He was the foundation for everything that came after. This film serves as much an Iron Man movie as it is an Avengers’.

Black Widow kind of gets the shaft here. She began as a coldhearted assassin and ends up as the corporate mom leading the heroes’ home base. There is so much to still unpack for her. Her character has so much potential just under the surface but no one seems to be interested digging into it. I mean Scarlett Johansson “kills” in the role but this movie doesn’t really give her anything to do except talk to Hawkeye…

Hawkeye tried to be the Marvel Aquaman comeback kid and he just comes off as edgy but not in a good way. More like a midlife crisis day buys a motorcycle than the Crow. Like, he tries to make it sound like his entire career of being an assassin was more good than being an assassin now. He does get a brutal back story but I feel like he falls short of reaching his character potential here. He does get some cool scenes and then just gets shoved to the back of the movie.

Thor is bae. He has a brutal journey to this movie but he gets a lot of character work here. His beer belly hermit hijinks provide a much needed comedic break. I also cried like a baby over him.

Rocket has finally gotten some growth as a person. In this movie, he gets to interact with the core team more. This was a lot of fun because of his sass with characters like Iron Man. Also, he finally dons his iconic blue flight suit and red scarf–not important but it was a fun Easter egg.

It only took two Guardians and an Avengers but they finally let Karen Gillan really make Nebula rule. Gillan is a fabulous actor so it was always painful that Nebula just ran around screaming. In Endgame, she finally gets to have some real personal moments that don’t feel weird. Paper football was the best scene honestly for the emotion and narrative. I mean, her whole career as a sour rage junky comes to a boiling point and then she FINALLY gets to open up the tiniest bit with Tony. I really hope there is something… anything in the future where she gets to be this new fun Nebula. It’s like your weird aunt went on vacation and actually had some personal growth and brings you back some neat shells and a guy named Desmond for herself.

Ant-Man got some funny moments in but nothing to really write home about. He was our Joe McEverydude here and it worked fine. I’m baffled at the taco scene but it was worth it for Hipster Hulk to share with him. Like, I know Scott Lang as a character isn’t super bright. That’s his whole thing. But, I just can’t understand what would drive him to go outside the fancy building to eat tacos on a bench facing the jet landing pad.

Warmachine got some interesting developments here. I’m sad now that he didn’t get to build a romance with Nebula (that is just barely suggested here). He felt like a full member of the team rather than just a sidekick from movies past.

The Falcon & Bucky were there. I really wish there had been some kind of closure or growth moment for them. In Winter Soldier, they were at each other’s neck. Now they seem cool. A friendly word or a high five could have sold me on their growth but they kind of get forgotten instead. I was never gonna see my Falcon-Bucky slash make it to the silver screen but would it have killed the Russos to have one heated kiss between these two obviously boyfriend material lads.

**EDIT** —–> THERE IS A SPIN OF THESE DORKS. OMG.

Alright. I’m psyched for this.

Captain Marvel comes in at the end of this list just like she did in the movie. That’s right, she shows up as a Deus ex Machina and looks cool but really got burned here. She deserved better. She just drops in for a minute to help and then jets. Still cool but she gets no development here. Her movie rules though so I’m gonna forgive it. Mostly. That said, it was wild to see basically an Amy Dangerous on screen and that was special for me.

Closing Thoughts:

It was a really fun movie. I may never watch it again. Just like the other Avengers, it’s a good time but it feels more like a spectacle than a great film. That’s not bad but when I watch a film, I wanna see characters grown in new unexpected ways. I want to see hard choices and emotions. Those moments were there but as little islands between big budget action scenes. I really enjoyed it but for the same amount of time, I might just watch Ragnorok again or Detective Pikachu. Finishing this movie felt like the end of a long (20 movie) hike. It was a great adventure. The fun of it was the friends we made along the way. I don’t regret a minute of it.

But it feels good to be at the end.

For now.

Endgame Thoughts I finally watched Endgame. I'd put it off a week since its release. It felt like planning to attend a funeral.

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