#sort of but transitioning to original characters pretty damn quick

[amusewithaview]

Triple Trouble 2 (DAI AU)

A/N: follows directly from this post.  READ THE TAGS because I’m not using usernames from this point on, only nicknames. Still tagging @uru-viel an @lucide-dreamer-dreams and @neverending-shenanigans just for funsies.

In very short order it was established that Mews was the oldest (”I am thirty years old, I don’t care if I woke up last that does not make me the goddamn youngest!”) and they were all seriously, completely fucked.

“I really don’t want to lose an arm,” Lucy said, staring at her glowing hand.

“I don’t think that’s our most immediate problem,” Shen pointed out.

“Losing an arm is a pretty big-”

“Um, hi!” Shen said brightly, waving at the two women standing in the doorway.

Lucy spun so quickly she fell on her ass.  “Oh fuck,” she said when she saw what had to be Leliana and Cassandra, the left and right hands of the recently-deceased Divine.

“That’s my line,” Mews muttered.

The game devs hadn’t done either of the women justice.  Leliana had a downright angelic face and her hair positively glowed in the flickering torchlight.  Cassandra was a good six inches taller than the other woman, with steely grey eyes and a full-lipped mouth twisted into a perpetual sneer by the scar that angled down from her cheekbone.

“Oh fuck,” Lucy said again, this time in an entirely different tone.

“Keep it in your pants,” Mews advised.  “They don’t look too friendly.”

“Maybe because we’re speaking a language they don’t know?” Shen pointed out.  So saying, she immediately switched to Trade: “Hello, could you please tell us what’s going on?”

“You claim not to know?” Cassandra demanded, stalking forward.

“The last thing I remember was...” Mews trailed off and switched to English, turning to her two companions: “Booting up the game?”

“Booting up the game,” they both agreed, nearly in unison.

“I remember a woman,” Mews said shakily, voice cracking as she stifled a hysterical giggle.  “There was a green light and...things.  Things chasing me.”

“I remember the woman,” Lucy said slowly, and the distant look on her face combined with her panicked glance at Mews made the latter almost certain she wasn’t lying.

“I think the things were spiders,” Shen said, shuddering.

“A woman?” Leliana murmured, eyes flicking between all three near-identical faces.  “And spiders, hmm?  How interesting.”

“What did happen?” Shen asked after a brief and uncomfortable silence.

“Perhaps we should show you,” Leliana said.

“Go to the forward camp, Leliana.  I will take them.”

“All three?”

“We may require it,” Cassandra confirmed, grim as death.

The redhead nodded and slipped from the room.

“You still haven’t said what happened,” Mews pointed out.

“It will be easier to show you.”

They kept quiet while the warrior slipped the chains from the pole, leaving their hands bound together but no longer tethered to the center of the room.  Shen caught Mews’ eyes and gestured towards Lucy, whose eyes were firmly planted on Cassandra’s swaying hips as they followed her through the creepy basement to the hall and out into the sunlight.

“She’s straight,” Mews hissed out the side of her mouth.

“I know,” Lucy said mournfully.  “I’m just looking!”

“Look up,” Shen instructed in a wobbly voice.

The sky was a nightmare writ large.  It looked broken in a way that was difficult to put into words.  It looked like a thousand things pulled from the uncanny valley.  It looked like a cracked window into a basement, like fractured ice over a deep lake, like heavy fog in an unfamiliar place, like flickers at the corner of your eye, like the feeling of someone watching you, like missing a step at the bottom of a staircase.  It was jarring and unearthly and it bypassed the eyes and reached directly towards the hindbrain singing a discordant song of wrong, wrong, wrong.

Mews had to swallow hard to keep from gagging.  Lucy dropped to her knees, legs gone numb.  Shen swayed and might have fallen if Cassandra had not grabbed her arm and levered her up.

“It’s like-” Lucy gestured wordlessly, face scrunched up.

“Worlds of nope, fucking galaxies of nope,” Mews muttered in English.

“We can fix this,” Shen said.  They had to fix this.  They were the only ones who could, apparently.  She nodded at Cassandra to show that she could stand on her own again.  “We will help you, however we can.”

Haven was crowded, smelly, and full of people glaring at them.  They were all very happy to be shot of it.  The walk from the first bridge to the second took significantly longer than any of them expected, and the Breach expanded twice in that time.  Both instances sent all three elves to their knees.  The second time, Mews and Lucy vomited from the pain and shock.

“The pulses are coming faster,” Cassandra said, helping Shen grab handfuls of clean snow for the other two to wash out their mouths with.  “We need to move more quickly.”

The second bridge was already destroyed by the time they got there and demons were pacing around the shattered remains.

“We must get past them, this is the only way,” Cassandra said, clearly unhappy with the options available to her.  She gestured to a few boxes of supplies on their side of the broken bridge.  “There are weapons there, you may arm yourselves.  Know this - I am Templar trained and should you turn on me, I will not be merciful.”

“Noted,” Mews said.

“I would never!” Lucy cried.

“Understandable,” Shen responded with a brief nod.

The trio exchanged glances as they slowly moved towards the boxes.

“What are we specced as?” Mews whispered.  “I mean, I always play as a mage but I don’t really feel too...different?”

“Aside from shorter?” Shen asked, tongue planted firmly in cheek.

“Aside from shorter,” she agreed, scowling.

“I think I’m a mage,” Lucy said, grabbing a staff and turning it this way and that.  She tapped it gently against Mews’ forehead, whispering, “Protec,” and grinned when a shimmering teal bubble briefly flickered into view around her.

Mews rolled her eyes and grabbed a staff as well, angling it towards one of the Shades circling the frozen riverbed.  “Attack,” she muttered, and jumped when ice suddenly spiked up through the demon, impaling it.  “Holy shit!”

“Hey, don’t leave me out!”  Shen took her own staff and aggressively stabbed towards a different Shade, grinning when a ball of fire the size of a man’s head flew from the end, exploding when it impacted the demon.  “This is wicked,” she breathed, beaming.

“A little warning next time,” Cassandra said dourly before sliding down the incline and engaging with the half-frozen demon.

“Three mages, no waiting,” Lucy said.  “Little lame that I don’t have any attacks, though.  You guys get fire and ice and I’m spirit?”

“Try attacking,” Mews said.

Lucy pointed her staff at the scorched Shade and nearly dropped it when lightning burst from the sky, sizzling the demon into a puddle of blackish goop.  “Storm and spirit!” she crowed.  “This is awesome!”

Shen frowned thoughtfully, “You know, I think-”

“Way ahead of you,” Mews said, and hurled some lightning of her own.

“We’re all storm,” Shen confirmed, waving her glowing hand at the other two.  “Look at the light.  Mine is fire and lightning.”

“I must be ice and lightning,” Mews guessed, poking at the green gash.

“Stop that,” Lucy said, slapping her hand away.  “You’ll go blind.”

“Oh har dee har.  Is this really the time?”

“We’re about to go risk our lives to save a universe that didn’t exist outside pixels a few hours ago.  Yeah, I think it’s the time.”

They picked their way down the incline carefully to where Cassandra was waiting.  “You are effective,” she said, her tone making it difficult to say whether it was a compliment or potential proof of their assumed crimes.  “Come, we must move faster.  They are waiting.”

#triple trouble au #amuse writes stuff #dragon age inquisition #modern girl in thedas #self-insert #sort of but transitioning to original characters pretty damn quick #lucy is real thirsty for cass #mews is an anxious mess but also the talker #shen is the voice of reason right now #don't worry they'll trade depending on circumstances #also if i post this to ao3 i will open voting for pairings because #THIS IS THE LIE BACK AND THINK OF THEDAS AU #so the READERS get to choose which of us is most effectively gonna woo Solas #yeah i'm going there #MAYBE ONE OF US WILL GENUINELY WIN HIS WOLFY HEART #doubt

[axemetaphor]

im definitely not ripping off my friend by making a list of au ideas i have no siree //gonna slap this under a readmore cause i. well i say a lot. all of the time. i tried so hard to format this Good but tumblr fucked me up i am so sorry

so first-off i know i already have one WIP AU (Auckland) on ao3 so i wont talk about That one cause like. spoilers. i actualyl have it like 80% created so its likely gonna truly get finished for once and i dont wanna ruin shit

the other one ive posted about is something me and ben (catgirlrepublic) have worked on together its not at all close to done or anything but it's. a fun little crossover. Between jdate and my fuckinuhm. Original characters story “Untitled Villains Project”. the sketches of the comic version ive started is actually my pinned post 👉👈 its like the first chunk of the story, i think half of part 1? yea.

Tldr john fucking Somehow is able t oget into contact with a certain curious scientist from another reality who’d just love to study the Soy Sauce, most certainly not for her own nefarious purposes

John and Dave meet up with the scientist, her name is Boss, and her lab assistant, Toxic, and after a bit of a preliminary Vibe Check where john determines her trustworthy (which Dave doesnt agree with,) the two agree to be taken to the world UVP is set in. from there they stay in Boss’s lab (big old fucking abandoned military lab). John and Toxic are fast friends due to mutual love-of-chaos. John n Dave get to fuckin, camp out on an air mattress.

The day after they arrive, the two get split up, not exactly intentionally; big plot points of UVP are liek. Fueled by Boss sending Toxic to go fetch her “research materials,” which are usually important artifacts

Fuckin side note i guess i have to explain my dumb bullshit: Boss’s, uh, field of expertise so to speak is actually fckin, basically the scientific study of magic and superpowers n shit like that. This shit’s all real in that world. Toxic’s got fuckin superpowers, so do 4 other main characters, whatever. It’s got a bit to do with spirituality, iss Boss’s hypothesis. So she has Toxic fetch important artifacts that might have “energies” to them. The thing is actually way more fuckin complictated than that, this is just Boss’s initial hypothesis.

Motherfucking anyways. So Boss gives Toxic a job to do, and John get excited about how Cool that sounds, and ends up going with Toxic, leaving Boss and Dave alone. Neither is thrilled about this. But Dave and Boss get to have a bit of conversation (while Toxic and John are off bonding and having a good time) and come to a… mutual grudging understanding of some kind. They still dont like each other though lmao

Theres gonna be deeper shit going on but we havent sorted it out yet/tbh havent like Written For It in a while but i still like thinking about it a lot lol

Also pretty sure our endgame is john and dave steal toxic and bring them back with em lmao boss is kind of not nice and toxic would most certainly be better off in Undisclosed. Actually theyd fucking love it. Theyd become a local cryptid im sure. Undisclosed’s mothman is a teleporting spike baby.

I have. Another crossover AU that i might. Post something about for halloween? Maybe? If i have it finished?

Crosses over into, you guessed it, another one of my original-character projects. God, am i vain or something?

I promise this is just because i think blue and dave should get to team up to beat up some monsters

Quick briefing on my fuckinuh. Original character story, this one doesnt have a name (yet? Idk lol my work never actually goes anywhere sso who gives a shit). It centers around two grim reapers, Red (26, bi woman) and Blue (22, aroace agender asshole). In this reality or whatever, grim reapers function kind of like low-level office workers. They get told who’s going to die + when by some middle-management types, and upper management only involve themselves when punishment needs to be doled out. These Higher-Ups can be seen as analogous to Korrok; they’re decidedly not human, never were, and fucking terrifyingly powerful. Additionally, grim reapers are sort of .. designed to be “background noise” people. In reality theyre supernatural beings and, uh, look Real Fuckin Weird (the whole deal has a neon aesthetic im terrible at drawing uwu) but most humans just perceive them like extras in a movie. A body’s there but the camera’s not focused on it.

To the narrative: the shit starts when Red n Blue get relocated to Undisclosed. Relocation is something that just happens every now and then to reapers; they usually work in teams, but they get split up into different cities to avoid any strong bonds forming (a counter-union strategy from the Higher-Ups).

Red, Blue, John and Dave end up running into each other for the first time in a McDonalds where John n Dave are getting some 4am “hey, we just survived another horrific monster fight” celebration burgers. John and Dave are the only two people who can see how… strange Red and Blue are. Nobody else notices.

John unintentionally pisses Blue off, leading to Blue whacking him upside the head with a dildo bat. They all four get kicked out of McDonald’s. Dave and Red both are less than thrilled

Blue and John end up resolving their differences, somehow. Red and Dave briefly bond over their dumbass best friends being, well, dumbasses. They all part ways amicably.

somehow-or-other (idk yet) they end up running into each other a few more times, and eventually john invites them over to his place, and the four (plus Amy now!) get to know each other a little better

while there, Blue gets a text about some guy who's gonna die and John offers to drive them to where that's gonna go down. they take him up on the offer and get to have a bit of one-on-one conversation

after that ordeal though Blue has had Enough of people and bails, leaving John to head home alone

theres a sort of mirror-development going on with the five of em. Red, John, and Amy would all like everyone to get along, though theyre a bit tentative about it (John moreso than the other two, actually, jsut cause. well Red n Blue could still be Sauce Monsters). Dave and Blue on the other hand do Not like people enough for this shit, and Dave's not unconvinced theyre Sauce Monsters. he will not trust them until proven he should

the story's kinda nebulous but i got an idea for some Shit going down that involves both Sauce Monsters and also the Higher-Ups to have some fuckin absolute chaos go down.

Oops! All Trans

Everybody is transgender. Everyone

Ive actually workshopped this one both with ben (catgirlrepublic) and ghost (ghost-wannabe) lmao its a fun lil concept ive had from the get-go cause i mean. What’s an internet tran gonna do other than hit all their favourite media with the Everyone’s Trans beam

Dave transitioned post-high school and faked his death for it. People go missing in Undisclosed all the damned time, after all. He moved to the next city over, transitioned fully, then came back as a completely new man. Yes i know this doesnt exactly fit with the “everyone knows David from high school” thing alright, hush.

Anytime anyone brings up John’s old best friend (pre-transition Dave) John throws an entire fit like an overdramatic grieving widow. Full-on sobbing “why would you bring her up?! I miss her so much—” to the point that people just stop bringing up because Jesus Christ That Sure Is Uncomfortable KJHGFDS.

This is a scheme he and Dave came up with prior to Dave leaving, though Dave hadnt exactly anticipated John putting on this much of a performance about it— but it’s stopped Dave from ever having tto hear his deadname again, so hey.

Amy transitioned sometime in middle school/early high school. Her family was super supportive and loved her a ton and most people just know her as Amy. she was super shy her whole life really so. Yeah. people just dont think to bring it up lmao also i Feel Like big jim would absolutely wallop anyone who gave her trouble of any kind

John’s nonbinary (genderfluid specifically) and not exactly Interested in transitioning ? like hes fine with how he is. mostly.

he came out to Dave in high school but hes not out to anyone else exactly. Maybe his bandmates. Probably any other trans person in Undisclosed knows, too, cause theyre safe to tell lmao. Johns mostly a “he/him out of convenience” kinda nb who’s cool with any pronouns but does prefer they/them most. Dave and Amy use they/them when the trio are alone

Also this is a totally self-indulgent caveat that i think would be great, Dave’s actually agender but because he's transmasc and transitioned when he thought there were really only two options, and being Boy at least felt less weird than being Girl, he just kind of assumed he was a dude. It’s only through a lot of (like fucking years and years hes probably in his 30s/40s when he puts 2 and 2 together on this one) talks about gender with John that he realizes he actually feels like No Gender. Masc aesthetic with none gender.

I Just Think It’d Be Neat Is All Okay

Also Amy came out to Dave about being trans early on in them seeing each other and his response was to get very nervous before blurting out “me too” and then just being too embarrassed to talk about it for the rest of the day. Hes got a lot of hangups on talking about it actually it takes years for him to get comfortable in that

by contrast when Amy comes out to John about it his response is to yell “EYYY ME TOO” and give her a big ol hug lmao

I think itd be neatt if Amy ran a like. Transfem help/advice blog on tumblr. Kind of helped-with by John who can give her transfem nb insight for certain asks. I also just think that would be neat.

Cowboy AU - i put this one last cause its got drawings to it actually. Theyll be at the bottom

Basically just. Hey you ever watched a western. I think they look neat

This is another one me n ben have come up with lol

The soy sauce and all that shit still exist, im not sure where korrok fits in yet but ill figure it out

Theres no real like solid narrative yet ? but heres the barebones of everybody’s arcs.

John

Johns an absolute troublemaker, Of Course. Hes wanted in several towns for absolutely stupid shit. Hes a loner who shows up, causes chaos, gets drunk, does some drugs, runs away if people get too mad at him

He definitely had the same kind of deal with the soy sauce as in canon— he was at some kind of party, somebody offered it, he took it cause why the fuck wouldnt he, now he can see monsters and shit

Hes kind of a mooch also. Like. dont let him stay in your barn man he’ll never fucking leave and drink all your booze.

He runs into Dave when they happen to just, cross paths in the same town. the bullshit John stirs up ends up involving Dave in a way that makes it seem like it's his fault too, and they both get run out of town

after that he just tags along after Dave. hes decided this guy's Cool he wants to stick around. Dave is pissed at first, but not enough to shoot him or anything, and eventually, John grows on him

Dave

Dave also is a loner but unlike John hes simply so fucking awkward and bad with people. He doesnt feel like he belongs anywhere so he just travels

He’s the stereotypical Lone Ranger tbh. He wanders from town to town, solving their problems, though hed deny its out of any moral obligation (it kinda is, a little bit, tbh. He does like feeling useful). He shows up, fixes things, leaves. He's kind of a legend but most people think he's hiding something dark. other people jsut know him as that guy who farted real loud in the middle of the saloon and promptly skipped town out of sheer embarrassment. you know how it goes with Dave

He ends up involved with the Soy Sauce when a snake (not Actually a snake,) bites him. The snake’s more like the wig-monsters, really. Anyway, it injects him with the soy sauce, he fucking trips balls in the middle of the desert, he can see monsters now

He runs into John and shit goes tits-up, as said, but they become traveling buddies after that. he'd never say so, but he's glad for the company, actually. it's nice. hes not used to companionship but he feels a strange kind of easiness hanging out with John....

not sure how the Monster Dave concept will like fit in to this reality but like. trust me i want it in here. I'll Figure It Out.

Amy

Amy’s been living in a town John and Dave end up passing through and she is very curious about these two new Handsome Strangers who claim to fight monsters and just kinda. Persistently tags along til they let her join for real

Her family’s all dead, unfortunately, just like in canon, and she’s been living alone for a few years before meeting John n Dave. she had nothing left in that town to stay for, she'd been fantasizing about escaping on wild adventures for a long time and this felt a little like a dream come true. (Dave still gives her a spiel about how Difficult it is, but really, her fantasies were pretty grounded-in-reality already. i jsut think thats how she is, yknow?)

Shes the first person to react to the whole “we see monsters” shit with a kind of “oh, okay. neat” kind of response lmao

John and Dave fix whatever the fuck is up with her town (maybe that’s where the Korrok shit can fit, who knows) and Amy ends up being integral to that. After, she insists they take her with them because “they need her now” and Dave just cant really say no. John too is very much "the more the merrier!" and hes actually glad to have another person along he loves people lmao

At the start she has long hair but after she joins them she chops it short with a knife for convenience

also she still is an amputee. justt. idk. it was a wagon/stagecoach accident rather than a car accident lmao. just to clarify since i hadnt mentioned it, i wouldnt rob her of her ghost hand or yknow. all of the significance to her character that Missing A Hand has. although also now im going to have to research what was used as painkillers way-back-when, but im betting shes still got, like, her pain pills, they probably had those, maybe i wouldnt have to try too hard there. old timey medicine could be WACK though,

Shitload

Yeah hes in tthis shit mostly cause i liked designing his cowboy self lmao

Hes a kid (like 16, 17, technically i think in those days that was more Young Man than Kid but whatever. Hes Young i mean.) who got possessed by the Worms out in the desert and, by his family’s perception, just went missing!

Hes also a wanderer, but he ended up at the same town john and dave met in, at that same time, and starts following them after, already aware of who/what they are.

He keeps his face covered 24/7. actually he covers a Majority of his self for reasons. kinda want him to be a slightly more horrifying Worm Entity rather than human idk,

I kinda dont have much for this boy yet sorry Shitload

images !

with some editing notes for me cause im doing a very specific aesthetic with this lmao. i might change some lil details/colours though ...... idk

im also kinda 🤔 about shitload's colour palette. i want things assoicated w the sauce to be black'n'red predominantly but i think his palette might mirror dave's too closely. also im working on a korrok design i jsut am too busy to draw it now

#jdate #john dies at the end #aus #erh. tthe hell do i tag this as #rambles.txt #long post #well let me know if youd wanna hear more or. or something #send an ask. or whatever #yaknow #:jazz hands:

[qveenpoppy]

kingsman the golden circle: a review

so, i kinda just jotted stuff down as my reactions during the movie, so i’m just gonna copy that over here and have that be my review. figured that’d be more authentic and i also just kinda did it for fun. i mean, it made my viewing a lot longer than it should have been but hey, i had the time, so why not? enjoy, my friends. i’ll add some overall thoughts and a score at the tail end. (i’ll bold it, for anyone who wants to jump right to that.)

Gosh that opening action sequence was BONKERS, so high-energy and kinda unrealistic that Eggsy would survive that but incredible to watch nonetheless. And it's been so long since I watched the first film in full, I've forgotten about my love for the theme/score. It's so gorgeous and epic.

I made a mistake starting this before dinner, and that first scene at Poppy's dinner was one of the most disturbing things I ever saw. I find these characters so interesting but the violence in these films is a little too much for me. I tried closing my eyes during the scene but I did so too early and then opened them back up during That part. I gotta make sure to keep them closed if something like that happens again (which I'm guessing it might).

The transitions in this movie are phenomenal, I love continuity with shapes that tie each scene to the following ones.

Because I'm watching this two years late, I saw some spoilers for the movie online. Like,  a while ago. Like, back when it first came out. I was curious and only moderately liked the first movie (it was visually great but as I said, not one for R-rated violence). That being said, the scene in which Harry gets his memories back is WAY better viewed in context. Whether you think of Harry and Eggsy as an item or not, it's very good. Eggsy knew EXACTLY what would bring Harry's memories back, and I adored their hug after Harry calmed down. (The height difference!!! Eggsy went on his toes!!!) Also, I hope Harry got to keep the puppy after that and named him Mr. Pickles Jr.

Anyone else get super hyped when they hear Colin Firth say, "Manners maketh man"? It's like you just Know shit is about to go down when those words are said in these films. I hope the prequel next year gives us an origin of that line being a battle call. Also, I heard Pedro Pascal did some rope training for this film but holy wowness, it's so good! Yeah, it's enhanced with CG effects and probably some switch-ins with stunt doubles, but it still makes for an incredible action sequence! I hope Pedro gets to show off some of these skills somehow next year in Wonder Woman 1984 or Mandalorian s2. (Can't believe I slept on him for so long as an action star, what a talent!)

You know, I can kind of see where this president is coming from? I mean, as his female aid reminds him, it's a gray area, considering those who experiment with drugs or self-medicate or teens/kids, but I can also see how taking out those who use illegal drugs kinda ends the whole "war on drugs". There's logic to it but considering those mentioned parties, it's got a devious, ignorant edge to it. I can at least say I like this movie having a little bit more of a political edge to it than the first one. I wonder if anyone had a debate like this while/after watching the movie, whether they agree with this president's stance or not. I would guess the red tie he wears points to him being a Republican, so you know most Democrats would be quick to disagree, given the climate of the country following the 2016 election (aka, more divided than ever).

Also why is Charlie hotter in this movie than he was in the first one? Is it because he's evil? The shaved head? The robot arm? (I mean, being a legit villain isn't a good thing, but he's not as psychotic as Poppy and kinda has a foot in both sides, at least since he's English and now his girlfriend is infected with Poppy's disease. I wonder if he'll change sides at some point, or just die at the hands of the Kingsman, considering what he knows about them.)

(Oh wait, nevermind, he gave her the antidote. But maybe he went behind Poppy's back to do so? Or it's a placebo version and he'll wind up turning on Poppy??? Also does he know his girlfriend got fingered by Eggsy?)

(Yeah, think I can kiss that redemption arc goodbye. Eh, at least there will be fanfics for that. Or at least ones where he and Eggsy have hot hate sex.)

Oh shit, Whiskey made Eggsy drop the antidote. But at least Eggsy and Harry are okay. But how the fuck are they gonna save the day now?

Was Harry seeing butterflies as part of the delusion stage of Poppy's virus? Did the Statesmen unknowingly treat him with one of the drugs she infected? Is he gonna die AGAIN?! (Oh wait, I saw the spoilers, he'll be fine. But they might have to use the antidote on him.)

Okay I also knew from spoilers that Whiskey wasn't gonna survive the movie but delusional Harry took him out?! Why?! Will he be revived by the Statesmen like Harry was? (Whiskey's just too cool a character to lose in one movie.)

Nevermind about the agreement thing, this president is one sick motherfucker.

Sorry this commentary is becoming much briefer and summary-esque, but Whiskey (aka Jack; they did that on purpose, didn't they?) is back. But I still don't think he'll make it till the end of the film. Is he gonna try and take Harry out? Is he actually a double agent? 

You know, with them bringing Harry back, it kinda lowers the stakes of these movies. Like, is anyone ever fully dead? 'Cause this movie especially seems to keep bringing people back, at least with that Statesman tech. So it's hard to be all that sad about Merlin's death. I mean, obviously him fucking BLOWING UP seems like a pretty permanent way to die, but I thought I saw - again, around the time this came out - behind the scenes photos of Mark with some sort of green motion capture pants, as if they'd given him some metal robot legs like I guess Gazelle's in the first film. Like he just got knocked back by the blast and could no longer use his legs, if revived. But apparently it didn't make the final cut. Still, wouldn't be surprised if they used that footage for the third film as a way to bring him back. 'Cause clearly Merlin, Eggsy, and Harry are the main trio in this franchise. (Sorry, Roxy fans.)

Ohhh, look at Elton getting in on the action sequences. Yes, Sir!!!

I love when action sequences are set to more creative choices of music :)

Harry & Elton, huh? I ship it

Oh, Whiskey is actually a bad guy. Damn. Take back all the praise I had for him. Pedro, I love you, but fuck Whiskey.

Thank god I covered my eyes this time when That happened. Ugh, gross.

Ohhh, an impeachment and removal from office. If only life could imitate art... (But only in that way, nothing else from this movie should happen in real life.)

Tequila works for Kingsman now?!

overall thoughts: a suitable sequel for this franchise. obviously pretty similar tone-wise with the humor and language and violence. i always forget that these films aren’t exactly my taste. kinda triggered my anxiety with all that violence and the whole drug-triggered virus (not that i’ll be experimenting with any illegal drugs anytime soon, but my paranoid brain will definitely keep me even further away from them now.) like, they’re well-shot and i like the characters, and i mostly wanted to watch this for some explanation of how harry was brought back from the dead, but i’m at least glad i chose to watch this at home and on my laptop/tablet. it would not have been good for me to see this on the big screen. (and i managed to watch both movies for free, and completely legally. first on xfinity on demand, this on a free rental from fandago. go me!)

as i said, the political aspects did at least make for some cool thought-provoking moments and debate. i do love when movies make you think like that. mindless action movies are the absolute worst (i’m looking at you, marvel and transformers franchises). 

i’m at least curious about that third film, how they’ll handle the loss of so many significant characters, or if they’ll magically be brought back to life, again. yeah, as cool as it was, bringing harry back may have been a mistake for this franchise. but i understand that it’s the main relationship of the series, even if eggsy is now married to that swedish princess, tilda or whatever. (meh.)

rating: 7/10. it’s hard for me to give a film any lower than that, unless i turned it off or got particularly tired/bored while watching it, so. good action, good characters, fun humor, smidge too violent. 

till next time, my dudes!

#kingsman: the golden circle #reviews #gonna go look for those eggsy/charlie fics now lol

[beardyallen]

Day 3 - An extensive recap

First, I want to extend my apologies to those who have been patiently awaiting this post. I had every intention of writing this yesterday, which got away from me (as you’ll see if you keep reading), and then I had every intention of writing this in the morning, which disappeared (again, as you’ll see if you keep reading). It’s now 5:38pm on Wednesday, February 20th as I’m typing this sentence, and I’m once again exhausted from a long day.

[Edit 2: TL;DR for the following TL;DR -- A bunch of cool stuff happened, including books, dragons, lions, motorcycles, KFC, banks, SIM cards, a Starbucks, public transit, and traveling to two opposite ends of Beijing in a single day. Also my trip went from horribly lonely and daunting to pretty freaking cool and slightly less daunting in less than 24 hours. Done typing this at 8:55pm]

Edit: It’s legit 8:37pm when I’m making this edit, only a bit after posting the original. I wanted to add a tl;dr for those not interesting in reading all of this shit. Basically, I made 4 friends in Beijing, none of them from the same country, only one of them is white, only one is male, and only one is from the US. All three of these descriptions describe CB, my supervisor. His wife, RB, is Indian and works with children orphaned due to birth defects. There’s ML, a half-Brazilian, half-Japanese Communications instructor at ICB, and her friend R, who is herself a former Chinese physician turned public health professional/liaison/something-or-other that seems far more impressive and is exactly what she wants to be. All of them are really cool, interesting people that I’m very glad I had the opportunity to meet. In no particular order, I went to several bookstores, a Starbucks, a KFC early in the morning, the supermarket (twice) and got beer (both times) for ridiculously low prices, experienced the Lantern Festival (still not entirely sure what this is, but there were dragons and lions and motorcycles doing crazy synchronized stunts in a metal globe) at an amusement park, rode 5-6 different subway trains and a city bus, ate 10+ new foods, bought a book (because of course I did) which has both the original English and the translate Chinese characters on each page, tried to open a bank account, then got a SIM card, then actually opened a bank account, finally unpacked my luggage, and spent 3 hours typing this blog post. Also the long flight and trip from the airport to my new apartment were mostly uneventful. See? Even this was super long!]

The last you all heard from me here was as I was sitting in a bar in the Vancouver Airport, Sunday morning. Which was sort of 2 days ago, but sort of 3. Time zones are funky, especially when you cross the International Date Line. *shrug*

After I finished writing that post, I lumbered over to my gate and waited to board with the other couple hundred passengers. At one point, I noticed an older woman (probably in her 60′s or 70′s?) trucking along on one of those things that I can only manage to call a human-conveyor-belt that you see in airports. I mention this as she, had she been on carpeted flooring, she would have been making good time; as it so happens, she was on the conveyor belt that was going opposite of her destination. She was still making progress, but every so slowly, and seemed maddeningly oblivious to the fact that the floor was fighting her at every step. Fortunately, she made it to the other end without incident, although the same cannot be said for when she attempted to enter the next belt; a concerned employee using that particular belt in the intended fashion beckoned that she stop and try the other. So she stopped walking. And didn’t do anything, even when her feet made it back to where she had started. Naturally, she took a pretty solid tumble, lessened only by the shocked, and rightfully flustered, employee, who managed to help her to her feet as half of the onlookers gawked.

The actual flight, all 9 hours of it, went off rather uneventfully. Especially compared to the above story. It was nice having the longer flight second, as completing the first gave me an unearned sense of accomplishment; I’m nervous for my return as I’ll have actually achieved something when I get back to Vancouver, only to have to sit back down for three more hours. Seems less enticing, especially as I won’t be going back to an apartment that I’m renting. Oh well: that’s a problem for Future-Me, as are most things. I will say that the food on the flight was quite satisfying, and the complementary wine was much tastier than expected! And I managed to read a good chunk of Dan Brown’s Origin.

After landing in the Beijing airport, I managed to get through customs without too much trouble and had my first several experiences of what I’ll just refer to here as stranger-staring. #sarcasticwoo

I was met near baggage claim by an undergraduate at the University who chose to call himself Paul. I would later find out that, although it is common practice for Chinese residents to give themselves “American” or “Western” names, they don’t seem to share those names with their fellow residents.

Needless to say, I was exhausted and just wanted to eat something and lie down without dealing with anymore people. To his credit, Paul was an excellent host, his English was quite good, and he helped me to my apartment without incident. I think he was expecting to escort me to dinner at one of the nearby dining halls on campus (Princess Building), but I (hopefully graciously) conveyed that I would really rather just go to bed. After he left, I took a stroll on campus to the Princess Building to check it out for myself, and then stopped at a nearby convenience store to grab some snacks. GUYS! THEY HAVE CUCUMBER-FLAVORED LAYS POTATO CHIPS!!! And so many other flavors that are mind-boggling, and somehow simultaneously vague and specific.

Once I was back in my apartment, I chowed down on some fruit bread, drank some water, had a moment of near paralyzing fear/anxiety/regret/shame/etc., scolded myself for being (I think understandably) pathetic, and then went to sleep. By that point, I had been up for nearly 23 hours, and it was somehow already 7pm on Monday, Feb. 18. I slept until 6am the next morning.

That morning, I got in touch with CB, my supervisor, who was more than happy to meet with me around 11am. So I spent the morning figuring out how to be an adult person in Beijing. Several standard things took place that were daunting only because I’m in Beijing: showering, brushing my teeth, grabbing some toilet paper to carry with me, deciding how much cash to keep in my wallet, etc. I also came to the disturbing realization that there are precisely three outlets, each with one port. One of them was occupied by the television, one by the mini-fridge, and one was free to charge my tablet; it was then that I decided to try to go shopping and track down a power strip.

Day 2: Merry Mart

First, I want to say one quick thing: the exchange rate from RMB (also called yuan) to USD is approximately 0.15:1. So, as an example, I spotted a can of beer for 5.90 yuan, or roughly $0.90. For those of you who know me, you may understand why this was my first example.

Now, the supermarket that I was heading towards is located on the other side of the north gate of the CAU (China Agricultural University, which houses ICB, or the International College of Beijing, where I’m living and instructing), and my apartment is in the very southeast corner of campus, about a 10 minute walk away. And it’s not even 8am yet. I mention this as, when I approached the supermarket, or rather the building housing the supermarket and a dozen or so other shops, I noticed a KFC right next door. Now, I shouldn’t have been shocked to see the advertisements were for food that you would never find at a KFC in the States, but I was. What I feel completely justified in being shocked at was that the KFC was already quite busy. Naturally, I stepped inside and saw that a “Chicken Burger” with a glass of milk (and maybe a side?) was going for 12 yuan, or $1.80. So cheap!!

I stepped out without buying anything and continued into the supermarket. Oh, the wonders I beheld. I’ll try to keep it short, but I’ll point out that I’ve never paid so much attention in the produce and meat sections of a supermarket as I did yesterday. Once I made it past these sections, I experienced an onslaught of packing that looked both familiar and foreign (yes, I realized how stupid that sounds as I typed it). As I was on a bit of a mission (for hand soap and a couple power strips), I contained my curiosity as best I could. But I did take a peak at all of the flavors of Lays Chips in the snack section...

Fortunately, I managed to find a power strip! They had Philips power strips going for 70 yuan (~$10.50) and some from a company I’ve never heard of for 30/40 yuan. Naturally, I grabbed on of the cheaper variety. It seems I didn’t bring enough cash the first time. I moved on, failing to find anything that I could guarantee was hand soap, but let me tell you: after being around people who I could not understand, guessing at products based on the images along, and recognizing that I’m waaaaay in over my head, I have never been so happy to see a can of Budweiser in my life!

Now, I can’t be certain, but I’m pretty sure a 3-pack 16-oz or 500 mL or whatever-their-volume cans came out to 9 yuan, or $1.35. What a deal! (Fast forward to this morning, and I stumbled an even better find: 500 mL cans of Guiness with nitrous rockets for 15 yuan ($2.25) a pop! In the States, those usually run $16 for four!)

After spotting way more milk (a recent trend, apparently) than I’ve ever seen, ultra-pasteurized so it can sit on an uncooled shelf for months at a time, heaps and heaps of “sanitary tissue” and slew of snacks that boggled my poor, unworldly mind, I made my way to the checkout. Fortunately, I stick out so damn much that people just expect that I don’t speak Chinese; the look of mild irritation isn’t grating at all, it just lets me know that I’m not the only one who feels moderately uncomfortable at my residing in Beijing for these next 4 months. The interaction at the stand was pleasant enough, and we mimed our way through the bits that weren’t communicable. Then I headed back home to meet with CB.

Day 2: The Book

So, I’m already feeling wildly unprepared to teaching a senior-level mathematics course, but one of the few things that was keeping me grounded was that the book was to be selected by administrators at ICB/CAU, so that would save me having to make most of the decisions regarding content for my Probability class. Moreover, the university would provide the textbooks to the students. Little did I know, and little did CB know, and little did the person supposedly in charge of retrieving said textbooks from the library, no textbook was on file for this class. #sarcasticwoo

FORTUNATELY (can’t believe how many lucky breaks I’m catching!), there happened to be a textbook titled Probability and Statistics for Engineers and something-or-other. To be honest, my eyes glazed over at “Engineers,” not because they are lesser scientists, because they are most assuredly not, but because they just don’t appreciate the fine nuances of theoretical mathematics. That is to say, they’re lesser scientists. ;) #allinjest #imsuretheyvegotsickerburnsforme So, I guess I’m teaching from an Engineering textbook.

During this brief window of time with CB, I learned how various countries measure the breathability of the air, acquired a facemask, and snagged an air purifier. Things necessary to life in Beijing! I was then invited out to lunch with CB and his wife RB; I was unaware that their would be fourth, ML. Having never met RB, and being unaware that ML existed, I waited for the 20 minutes that CB needed to get a couple things ready before lunch in my room, then headed down to the entrance of the Guest House (where my apartment and office are located, in case I haven’t mentioned it by name yet). Waiting there was a 30-something Asian-descent woman who somehow didn’t look like she was a native Chinese resident. Best guess: RB. She smiles at me and asks if I’m here to have lunch with R, to which I say confirm and ask if that’s her. Turns out it’s ML, and a reference to a particular Disney movie popped into my head. (I bet you’re not thinking of the same one I was, though!) Anyway, it’s 12:30pm at that point, and I wouldn’t spend the next 11 hours with ML, a Communications instructor for ICB who has only been in Beijing since September, barely speaks any Chinese and gets by reading it as she knows Japanese. Turns out she was born in Brazil, though! That certainly explained why her features were not quite Chinese.

CB and RB showed up a few awkward, mostly silent, minutes later as, not anticipating a fourth left me just socially awkward enough to just keep my mouth shut and let my mind wander. RB led the way to a Chinese restaurant around the corner, and we had a ridiculously cheap meal. Everything was delicious, even the rice noodles and cabbage dish! CB asked how open I was to trying things I’ve never had before, and I responded that I’m hear to make the make the most of this opportunity. He followed up with, “So, you’ll try chicken feet?” I’ve never so quickly doubted my convictions before! Fortunately, the food we order was basic enough fare for a Chinese restaurant, so I didn’t have to prove my grit just yet.

Day 2: The Big Adventure

During the meal, ML mentioned that the “lantern festival” was that night, and that she’d be joining a friend of her’s somewhere in Beijing, TBD. CB mentioned off-handedly that there was a 4-story bookstore several kilometers away. My interest was piqued, but having no means of transportation, I kept my mouth shut. ML did not. She expressed serious interest in venturing out to the store, and I asked if it would be in imposition if I joined. After lunch, CB and RB gave us a rough pin location for the building, walked us over to a bus stop, explained to me how to use my transit card (Thanks, CG!!!), and saw us off on our adventure. At this point, it seems relevant to mention that, although I have two cell phones (my usual American one, and a Chinese phone bought secondhand from ES) (THANKS ES!!!), I don’t have internet access or any real means to contact CB or RB. I also don’t access to a map app (see: I don’t have internet access). As it turns out, ML’s access is hindered by the fact that her iPhone is apparently dated enough to not operate at full capacity with a Chinese SIM card. So she has spotty internet. SPOILERS: Her cell phone would die later that evening. #dundundun

The bus ride was uneventful, and we got off where we thought was should. Without the name of the bookstore or any solid evidence to suggest precisely where the bookstore was, ML then confides in me that she has frequently found herself incapable of finding her destination, wandered around for several hours, then given up and went home. My confidence was soaring. But, as they say, “When in Beijing...”

After finding a map of the surrounding area and comparing it to a screenshot of the rough-pin-location of the bookstore in question, I managed to match shapes cut out by walkways and roads and spot where we should be heading. The pin led us to a bookstore. But this bookstore had only one floor, although the building housing it had 20 floors and an elevator that looked out over the surrounding area. Needless to say, we rode the elevator for a moment before deciding to continue exploring. Stepping outside, we tried to reach CB...and we did! He gave us a more accurate pin and the name of the bookstore. Only one of those two things wound up being helpful.

On our way over to the new location (2 more blocks West), we stumbled on a developed “alley” that housed a wide plethora of shops, including....A BOOKSTORE!!! Dudes and Dudettes: let me tell you, this bookstore was amazing!! Check out the pictures below:

So cool! But this wasn’t where the pin was located, only had two floors, and when we scaled the spiral staircase, some 20-something employees started walking towards us and speaking in Mandarin. ML goes, “I’m sorry, we don’t speak any Mandarin, but we think we know what you’re trying to say. Have a nice day!” And we walked out of the store with our tails tucked loosely between our legs.

I was I could accurately convey all of the things I saw that struck me as fascinating while we explored this area of Beijing, but honestly there was just too much, and I can’t imagine you all are still reading this carefully, given that I’m not exactly giving the “Reader’s Digest” version of events. Or so you may think. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m doing my best to keep this short while still conveying how crazy this day was. And we’re only a couple hours into my afternoon/evening with ML. I applaud any and all who keep reading attentively. I’ll try to make it entertaining.

I will say that in this alley, I got stared down by a police officer. Mildly intimidating and recalled to mind the other intimidating visual to grace me. Just after checking out at the supermarket that morning, while I was packing the couple of items I had purchased into my backpack, I looked up and saw, for the first time in my life, 4 full sets of riot gear. Helmet, vest, nightstick (or whatever it’s called), and some sort of gun in a padded case. Sure, I know that I’ve been around those things before in my life, but never were they in plain view, seemingly on display.

After a few more minutes, a few more crossed streets, and pulling ML out of the way of a car that didn’t seem to care that she was there, we made our way to the pin’s location. And none of the stores around us bore the name of the 4-story bookstore. But we did find another bookstore.........and it turned out to be the right one! Crazy!! Of course, this was after trying out what we guessed was a calligraphy shop that seemed to primarily sell books? The words on the door were somewhat misleading. Anyway, let me tell you: in spite of being in a bookstore filled with words that I can’t understand, I still felt so calm and secure being surrounded by all of those books!

At this point, ML and I seemed to have figured out each other’s senses of humor and made frequent jokes and shared stores as we roamed the shelves, looking desperately for books written in English. After searching all four floors, some twice, we find a section with no markings nearby that happened to have some books in English. After looking over all of the classics (pretty much all they had), discussing the ones we’ve read, conversing about those we haven’t, we each picked one out to buy. I’ve seen Aldous Huxley’s A Brave New World referenced too many times in crossword puzzles and trivia questions to not have developed an absurd curiousity for this book I’ve never read. So naturally I bought it. It seems like a rather nice-looking copy, no artwork to speak of, but elegant in a somewhat formal-Chinese kind of way. It came to 26 yuan, or about $3.90. HOW AM I BUYING A BOOK FOR THAT CHEAP?! WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING WITH MY LIFE?! *sigh* Well, I seem to be getting by without my Kindle fine enough for now...(THANKS AGAIN RS FOR SHIPPING IT TO ME!!! I’ll let you know as soon as it arrives!)

Day 2: The Lantern Festival

At this point, ML had heard from her friend who I will just call R (have yet to become privy to her family name), and we were given the name of the place we were headed towards: Happy Park. By now, it was around 4:15pm, and we needed to somehow figure out where Happy Park was, how to get there, and manage to not get lost in the process by 6:30pm. So we went for tea. The place we stopped in was what seemed to be a solid attempt at a German tea/coffee shop-slash-bakery. And I got a cup of English Breakfast Tea for 22 yuan ($3.30). Not the best deal, but I learned an invaluable lesson: just take a picture of what you want to order! So simple, so elegant, so effective!!! I was also by this time learning that most people make purchases using the main “social media” app, WeChat. In fact, many shops and restaurants don’t carry any cash as WeChat is just a more effective means of payment. You can link a debit card to your account and you’re good to go! (More on this in Day 3).

<I’ve been writing for almost 2 hours! Yikes!!!> <I wonder if I can get a book deal out of this...>

Without really knowing where to find a subway station, ML and I headed back to where the bus dropped us off, thinking at the very least we could head back to campus and the subway station there. (Also, for those of you who don’t know: I’ve never ridden a subway. Sure, I use RTD rails almost daily in Denver, but somehow this just seemed different. Especially given how many lines there are and that we didn’t actually know where we were going...) We found a bus heading back towards campus, hopped on, and almost immediately spotted a subway station. The bus didn’t drop us off for 2-3 more blocks...

After meandering back to the subway station, we found a map and lo-and-behold there was a stop dedicated to whatever Happy Park is. And it’s on the complete opposite side of town. #unethusedyay #adventuretime We plotted our course and hopped on the train without incident if you don’t count the pile of vomit that I would almost certainly have stepped in had ML not avoided it just before me! *phew* The subway itself was on par, if not nicer, than the trains in Denver, if only a bit louder. Confined spaces and all that. By the time we made our three transfers and got to the other side of Beijing, the sun had set, it was 6:20pm, and we had made it just in time! R met us at the station minutes after.

When we turned to see where we were headed, I was floored. Right in front of us with giant glowing words spelling out (in two languages) “Happy Park” was an amusement park that rivals some Disney parks in it’s show-y-ness. As it was dark, I can’t say precisely how big it was, but I was impressed. Tickets for entry were 145 yuan (roughly $20), which I fortunately had brought along that morning, not realizing precisely how crazy the day would get.

Once inside, R informed us that there’d be a show starting in a few minutes. We tried to find a spot, but the girls had trouble seeing over the heads of the people ahead of us. In fact, I had to stand on my tiptoes as most of the people in front of me were holding up their children, phones, and self-sticks. There was a small mound that almost certainly was not intended for foot-traffic, but nonetheless had a solid 75 people standing on 6-foot-tall trees. When we joined the crowd up there, hoping for a better vantage point, we were disappoint. That is, until ML decided to climb a tree. And I joined her. Naturally. I don’t have pictures of the entire show, sadly. I was too busy being floored and hoping that my one leg that was supporting my weight would hold up! I’m also not including them here as I have to format the videos. But stay tuned in the near future for videos!!

After the show, we wandered around the park for several more hours. I was quite impressed. And the food we got was quite delicious!! Small, fried potatos balls, and donut-hole sized balls loosely-based on a Japanese dish that I couldn’t possibly spell correctly, topped with dried fish. YUM! Check out the pictures of some of the attractions we saw:

This was the interior of an Aquariam-themed section of the park. It was a welcome respite near the end of the night, given that it felt like it was nearing 10F outside.

A Mayan temple, with a restaurant inside and, probably, a water-slide ride built into it? Hard to say. If only our phones hadn’t died and we weren’t so cold by the time we made it to the Athenian/Spartan-inspired section of the park! So many cool statues and buildings!

A still shot as 5 motorcyclists entered the arena after some drum-dancers! Stay tuned for videos of them riding inside the wire ball on the right! [Edit 3: the videos will likely get posted as gifs. Quality will probs be not great. One of them will involve the motorcyclists doing loop-stunts, and the other will involve a dragon-dance with dope fireworks. I didn’t get any video of the lion-dancers from earlier in the show, but take my word for it: it was dope as fuck. So much so that I don’t feel bad about dropping an f-bomb in this edit. I can’t possibly find the words after 3.5 hours of writing to convey just how cool this show was!]

Honestly, I’m not entirely sure what this is, but it looked cool!

This was a small bridge, reminiscent of the bridges in Europe where people write their initials on padlocks and toss the keys into the river below. From what we could tell (thanks to R’s understanding of her native tongue), the pieces all talk about the love between family, friends or significant others.

After the Aquarium-themed building got us toasty warm, and it was ticking closer and closer to 10pm, we bee-lined it out of the park and back to to the subway station. Another three transfers, some more conversation, and we were back on campus. While on the trains, either to or from Happy Park, I don’t remember which, ML commented on how quiet I had been earlier that day while waiting for CB and RB before lunch. Given how quiet I was at lunch, she was understandably worried that the pattern would continue. If you know me, you know it just takes a bit for me to get comfortable and figure out how to talk to you. Needless to say, I told too many stories with a surplus of details in each of the bookstores, on each of the trains, and all of the time in between. I’m thinking ML is going to be a pretty solid friend these next couple of months, if I she doesn’t get sick of my stories first!

As I alluded to above, it was around 11pm before we were back in the Guest House. I was ridiculously pooped but not entirely unimpressed at how not-jet-lagged I was! I passed out soon thereafter and woke up for the third and final time around 7am.

Day 3: Merry Mart II, the Second Part

Alas, morning came; and with it came a surplus of energy to spent getting my life together in Beijing. I still hadn’t unpacked my luggage, there were too many things my apartment was still missing, and I didn’t have a reliable means of feeding myself as I had been warned (and witnessed) that many places just simply don’t carry cash. And naturally don’t accept American credit cards.

So I packed a small bag and headed out again. I stopped by Starbucks, attempted to order a Black Tea Latte from the girl who said “Morning” to me, and made the false assumption that this particular colloquialism implied English-fluency. I wound up with a regular Latte. Still good, though! After that, I made my way to the KFC near the Merry Mart only to find that this establishment is one described above. My cash wouldn’t do me much good there. *shrug*

In the Merry Mart, I grabbed several more bread-based food items, a microwavable meal in a bowl, another power strip, some gum, and more chips. Pringles. American flavors. Two cans of Guiness, and two bottles of hand soap. This time, I kept track of the price of each individual item so I knew how much cash to have ready at the register. This time went far more smoothly, and I filled my entire backpack with items that ran up to 134 yuan (~$20). HOW?! HOW AM I GETTING SO MUCH FOR SO LITTLE I LOVE THIS!!!

Day 3: Getting my shit together

After that, my mind was set on opening a bank account to connect to my WeChat account. I reached out to CB, who graciously offered his assistance for a small amount of time. Ideally, this wouldn’t take too long. After all, he has plenty of work to be getting on with!

Well, the first bank we tried didn’t work because I’m not staying in town for more than 2 years. The second bank was more accepting. He translated exceptionally while I filled out documents written completely in Chinese. I was having an internal panic attack as I did something that felt incredibly wrong or anything. No, not at all. It’s totally okay to sign your name on documents that you can’t read. Yup, totally okay...

As it turns out, the bank would need to send me verification texts, so I gave them my phone number. But my American phone number wouldn’t work for them (they didn’t even try!), so after 30 minutes of waiting and 10 minutes of paperwork, CB and I headed down the street to get a SIM card and a cellular plan. Oh boy. All told, I think I waited for another hour there while CB got some work done; the paperwork and discussions took another 20-30 minutes. Once I had my phone situated, CB assured me that I could handle the rest of the bank stuff on my own as the staff would certainly recognize me and remember what I wanted. Plus, most of the paperwork was already filled out, right? Right? *sigh

The staff at the bank were less than enthused to find that CB hadn’t joined me. This was gonna be a blast, let me tell ya...

All told, I filled out twice as much paperwork as the staff scrambled to find a way to communicate with the moronic American who didn’t have the slightest idea what was going on around him. Of course, filling out this paperwork and determining exactly what they wanted and whether or not I wrote down the right things (i.e. understood exactly what information they were after) included 5-8 different sessions with several different employees, each with somewhere between 10-70 min wait-times. On the plus side, I’m almost done with Dan Brown’s Origin. Not his best work, but certainly entertaining enough to pass the time in a bank surrounded by people who probably would rather I not exist. To be clear, I don’t begrudge them at all; their service was impeccable, and their patience was never-ending, and the entire thing was significantly less annoying than it had any right to be, given the language barrier.

I left their establishment many hours later with a debit card, Chinese bank account, and the means to buy stuff wherever I wanted to go. And a significant amount of confidence that I can get through the next four months quite contentedly. Granted, I didn’t do nearly as much to earn this confidence as the staff at my new bank did!

After the fiasco at the bank, I went back to the Guest House, unpacked my suitcases, and laid down in bed to type this novella. That was several hours ago.

Convinced that I’ve had a crazy few days?

A coworker from Denver asked me how China has been so far, and I told him that it “[w]ent from shit to fantastic so damn fast.” Hopefully my long, rambling story has here has justified that claim for those of you reading this.

There was only one other day in my life that I can recall feeling as justifiably petrified as I did Monday night. I described the feeling as trying to wake up from a dream only to find that you’re wide awake. I was encouraged earlier today to remember that I don’t have to get through all 4 months of this experience at once; I just need to take it one day at a time. I usually don’t find these adages and idioms to be particularly helpful, but this one seems to be true.

In the future, blog posts probably won’t be nearly as long. Thanks for reading!

Now to finish this beer and book!

Sláinte,

BeardyAllen

[analisegrey]

Corrine Featherlight- Shattered Voice

A little while ago, I had posted a character design for a multiclassed bard/blood hunter. I am super thrilled that now I have the opportunity to take her for a spin in an actual game! She seems to have eaten my brain a bit, though, because I’ve just written 4199 words of origin story for her. Oops?

[Author’s note: This takes place in the Eberron setting. Corrine was a native of Cyre, and is now (post-Mourning) a refugee in Thrane, a neighboring nation. I’ve also added links to the songs I’m referencing, so watch for links in the text!]

Before

Corrine is in Eastford, only two stops in on her performance tour, barely a week away from home, when she meets Calinou.

She’s finished her set for the evening, including two encores, and it was good. She’s very pleased with her performance; there are some nights she’s just on, and tonight was one of those nights. She’d even played the collection of smaller fiddle pieces she’s had in her head, continuity of performance be-damned. The audience had eaten it up, dead silent for the first time all night- the whole tavern even, not just the seated audience- until she’d played the last note and the whole place had erupted in applause. She’d done a few more songs after, but there was very little in the world like that feeling, the feeling of doing a thing you loved, and knowing you were good at it, and knowing others knew that as well and appreciated it.

She’s sipping a drink, a local cider, and chatting with the bartender when there’s the soft sound of someone clearing their throat behind her, and when she turns to look she comes face-to-bellybutton with what has to be one of the tallest men she’s ever seen in her life. She has to look up- and up, and up, and up- before she finds his face. He’s a Goliath, and he towers over her, broad enough she can’t see around him.

“Hello.”

His voice isn’t as gravelly as she’s been expecting; it’s deep, for sure, but it’s smooth, like a double bass decided to get up and start talking. She’s pretty good at reading body language, and his is soft, relaxed, body open and shoulders down, no signs of aggression like she sometimes sees in the men who approach her after a show. That of course doesn’t mean she shouldn’t be wary. She grins brightly up at him.

“Well hi there, big guy. What can I do for you?”

He smiles back, more subdued than she is, but warm. “I was wondering if I could buy you a drink?”

Her smile softens and she nods, patting a barstool next to her. “If you’d like, I won’t say no to a handsome gentleman buying me something sweet and fizzy.” He eyes the seat, then scoots it to the side, replacing it with a much sturdier looking stool instead. Once he's sitting, the height difference isn't as noticeable.

Over the next half hour or so they chat about a number of things, each nursing a drink- him telling her about Eastford and his blacksmithing business, her talking about the tour, what she’s seen before and where she’s going next.

She stifles a yawn, and looks at him apologetically. “I should probably be turning in for the night. Early morning of travel and another performance waiting for me in the evening, I’m afraid. It was lovely to meet you, though, Calinou. Perhaps I’ll see you again some day.” She sticks her hand out to him, and when he takes it, his hand envelopes hers, but his grip is exceedingly gentle, mindful in the way the strong learn to be.

“Perhaps.” he says, with a considering look on his face.

The next day she rises early and sets out. Her next performance is two towns over, and she should get there with enough time to settle in, freshen up and take a short nap before she has to get up and ready herself to perform.

The day’s ride is pleasant, the heat of summer just starting to transition to the cooler days of early autumn, and the sun is shining through the trees as she makes her way to Amber Run. It’s not difficult to find the evening’s venue- The Silver Swan; all she has to do is look for the biggest tavern in town. It’s a bit pretentious for her tastes, but it’s not so bad as all that. She checks in, looks over the performance space just to make sure there’s no issues that would need to be addressed immediately, then heads up to her room to rest. She’ll wash around before she heads down for the pre-performance warm up, but in the meantime a quick application of pres removes all the road dust she’d acquired over the day’s travel. The bed is comfortable, and when she wakes from her nap, she can tell from the change of light that it’s early evening. The sun is only just starting to set, and she still has an hour and a half or so before she needs to be on-stage. Her performance outfit is fairly simple- a dark green linen shirt over brown leather leggings, though it’s embellished with a few strategically-placed faceted glass beads for a touch of dramatic sparkle. She grabs her fiddle and banjo and heads down. She spends time in the space warming up, tuning both instruments, getting her bow strung and rosined, and by the time the sun is fully set, she’s ready to go.

It’s another good show, solid as the one the day before, and this time she plays a different fiddle piece towards the end. It’s a variation on part of the piece she played the day before, a bit slower, a bit more haunting. It garners the same sort of applause as she received the day before, even if the tone is different. She’s most of the way through her encore when she spots a familiar head towards the back of the crowd. She’s an experienced enough performer to not let her surprise show, to not let it affect her music, but she’d be lying if she said the last song in the encore didn’t have a little more flash and energy than she’d originally been planning to put into it.

After the show she accepts the handshakes and slaps on the back, the congratulations she’s come to expect after a show, smiling all the while. By the time she escapes to the bar to have a seat she’s pleasantly exhausted and glad she has an extra buffer day between the next bit of travel and her next performance; two shows plus travel in as many days is rough. The bartender has just delivered the mug of chamomile tea she’d ordered when there’s a voice from off to the side.

“Hi again.”

She opens her eyes from where she’d been leaning over the top of her mug, inhaling the steam, and when she looks over- and up, and up, and up- there he is again. She quirks a brow at him and waits a beat before asking, “A bit far from home, aren’t you?”

She hadn’t thought a goliath could look sheepish, but Calinou manages it. It’s a cute look on him.

“I wanted to ask you something yesterday, but I realized it wasn’t the right moment, and I wanted you to take the question seriously. I figured this was a good way to show intent, rather than it being just a spur of the moment thing.”

Huh. Interesting.

Corrine waves a hand, encouraging him with a smile to continue. Just because she wants to know what he’s going to ask doesn’t mean she’s going to make it easy for him.

“Your music-” he pauses, thinking his words through, taking his time, and she waits patiently for him to go on. “I know I may not look it, but I appreciate the arts quite a bit. I have no talent for the more ephemeral stuff myself, I do better with things I can touch- shaping metal, making it beautiful. But your music made me feel the same way I do when I’m making something in the forge. So I wanted to talk to you. And when I did, I found that not only are you an incredible performer, but you seem to be an incredible person as well, and I’d like to get to know you better, if you’re amenable.”

Corrine’s eyebrows have been rising the whole time he’s been talking, and when he glances up at her face, he smiles and shrugs. “Also you’re pretty cute.”

At that she bursts out laughing, delighted. She thinks about her interactions with him so far, his face as he’d watched her perform, how pleasant and natural their conversation had been the night before, and she pats the seat next to her, her smile intensifying.

“You know what? I think I’d like that very much.”

During

Corrine desperately wants to believe this isn’t happening, but she knows it is.

There are sounds of screams from so many places she can’t differentiate them anymore, just a constant undulating wail that seems to come from everywhere at once in hundreds of voices. She thinks one of the voices is hers, or was, anyway, but she doesn’t think there’s any sound coming from her throat anymore. There’s a small panicked part of her that’s worried about that, but there isn’t space for it in her mind right now, far too many other competing thoughts are vying for attention. At the moment, she’s hiding again; all her magic is gone, used up, and with her voice gone her cantrips are useless. She’d done her best to inspire those who she could at the start, and the last of her healing magic had gone to a little boy of maybe six or seven. He’d disappeared into the woods with his mother and gods above, Corrine hopes they’re ok. If she finds their bodies later she doesn’t know what she’ll do. To be fair, she doesn’t know what she’s doing now, either. Things seem to be winding down, but she still isn’t convinced she’s going to survive this, whatever it is.

The creatures had come flooding into town out of seemingly nowhere, and her father had shoved her behind himself and her mother. Once it became clear exactly how many of the creatures there were, they’d told her to run, to hide, while they stayed to fight. She hadn’t known what else to do, and so had done as asked. She hadn’t stayed in one place, couldn’t stay in one place, running from one spot to another trying to stay ahead of the oncoming horde, telling as many people to run as she could.

Now- now it’s quiet. There’s still the quiet crackle of fires going nearby, but the sound of screaming has stopped. When she carefully pokes her head out of her hiding spot to take a quick look, all the creatures are gone. She takes a cautious step out onto the street and looks around, wanting to be horrified, but so numb it’s not processing right. She’s vaguely aware that she’s in shock, but that’s not enough to help her do anything about it.

She wanders back to the center of town in a daze, starting to realize that in the whole town, she appears to be the only living thing. All around her, wherever she looks, are the dead- people and animals alike- slaughtered where they stood, as they tried to run, as they tried to fight. The stink of blood and sulphur is near overwhelming, countered only by the pall of ash that hangs in the air as the town burns.

She’s near what was once the general store when she finds them. Her parents are on the ground, her father’s arm flung over her mother as if in a last-ditch effort to protect her, and she has the distant thought that at least they were near each other when they died. She stumbles over, dropping to her knees next to them, and for short time loses herself. She's been numb, but as the shock starts to break, she can feel something else welling in her, building in her chest. It’s too big to be described by any words as simple as rage or grief. It’s near overwhelming, and she feels she’ll explode if she can’t release it somehow, that it will consume her as surely as the fire is consuming what’s left of her town. She opens her mouth to scream, the only way she can think of to let it out, but can’t give voice to it; that  doesn’t stop her from trying. She curls over her parents, hands clenched in their clothes, and screams silently, tears making tracks through the ash and dust coating her face, screams until she feels something in her throat tear. Then she’s coughing, her throat burning, and she can see the splashes of red; she wants to be bothered by that, but just doesn’t have it in her anymore to be so. She coughs again, and spits some of the blood in her mouth to the side. When it hits the edge of her mother’s sword, Corrine feels something happen as the blade flashes blue and starts to spark. She spends a moment staring at it before tentatively reaching out to grasp at the hilt with a shaking hand, half expecting it to shock her on contact. When she touches it, the whole blade lights up in a bright electric blue, the sparks intensifying.

After everything else that’s happened, this is the thing that’s too much. She breaks down sobbing, still silent. Where was this when she needed it? Would it have helped change anything? Would it even have been possible before? She has no idea, and the uncertainty, the unbearable unfairness of it all has her hand clenching around the grip of the sword, knuckles gone bone-white.

She’s never been an especially violent person, but the desire for retribution, for revenge, flares up within her. Only barely louder than that in her mind is a need to keep this from happening to anyone else. She hadn’t seen where the devils- somehow she’s sure now that’s what they were, despite having never seen one before- had disappeared to, but she intends to find them and deal with them in a very permanent way. She stands, sword and sheath in hand, and makes her way home. Her parents’ house is on the outskirts of Oak Hill, not in the town proper, and it’s entirely untouched by the day’s violence. She walks in the front door and for the briefest second, she can believe none of it was real, that everything is okay. The smell of breakfast still lingers lightly in the air, a few pieces of parchment lie next to a quill and inkpot on the table where her father had been scribbling notes on a story that morning before leaving the house. Before she can get too lost in thought she goes to her room. She disrobes entirely, scrubbing herself down with water from her nightstand basin until she’s no longer covered in ash, until her parents’ blood is no longer staining her skin. Her throat still burns, and she can smell smoke in her hair, but there’s not much to be done about that. Before she dresses again she goes to her parents’ room. She has to fight down another wave of emotion, but pushes through it to make her way to a wooden chest in the corner. She opens it and inside is her mother’s armor. Corrine is- was- of a size to her mother, so it should fit. She pulls the pieces out and carries them back with her to her room. She gets dressed, her own clothes underneath and her mother’s worn leather armor on top. She goes back to the chest in the other room and rummages around, pulling out her father’s travel pack.

Over the course of the next hour she packs the bag- clothes, travel necessities, all the gold she can locate, along with some provisions. She sets the pack by the door and goes back to her parents’ room, not knowing if or when she’ll be back. Opening her mother’s jewelry box, she finds what she’s looking for- a small silver locket with tiny painted portraits in the panels. On one side is her mother, on the other is her father. They both look younger than she’s known them, a gift her father had given her mother in their adventuring days. She slips the chain over her head and tucks the locket under her shirt and armor. Going back to the door she buckles the sword onto her hip, hefts the travel pack on, and takes a last glance around the home she grew up in. It’s quiet in a way it’s never been before, even when her parents were away. It’s likely a trick of her mind, in that she knows they’ll never be back, and she’s projecting, but she can’t help but feel, if only a little, that somehow the house knows.

She steps out the door and starts walking, aiming for Eastford. She needs to find Calinou, tell him what happened. She doesn’t know if he can help, but if nothing else she knows she can’t do this alone, and she’ll feel better- for a certain value of ‘better’- if she has him.

Two days later, still a full day’s travel from Eastford, the Mourning happens, and everything goes to shit.

After

For the first time in a little over a week, Corrine has absolutely nothing to do.

It’s an uncomfortable sensation, one she’s unaccustomed to after the chaos of the last few days. She’s double-checked with Galen, checked in at all the main stations in camp, and to a one they’ve all told her things are handled, that she should go relax, that she’s earned it.

So she sits in her and Galen’s tent, at a complete and utter loss. She’s been in near constant motion since the Mourning, corralling people, getting them out of Cyre (she doesn’t actually remember that part, though that could easily be chalked up to extreme exhaustion and trauma), keeping them safe, helping to negotiate space in the fields outside of Flamekeep for her people, making sure the camp is as safe and supplied as she can. Now that they’re telling her to take a break, she honestly has no idea what that means.

She knows if Galen or anyone else wanders in they’ll be worried if they find her sitting and staring into space, so she has to find something to occupy herself with. She also knows that if she tries to go back out into camp to help with anything, she’s going to get a stern talking to from any number of people. She sighs, running her hands through her hair, and thinks. After a pause, she gets up and rummages around through the items on the table she’d been provided. There seems to be the pervasive idea in camp that she’s somehow in charge, which is utterly ridiculous. However, while being ridiculous, it also means that she has supplies that come with the implied position. She finds some parchment and a pencil, and sits down with a lapdesk on her cot. She taps the pencil against her lips as she thinks, unsure of what she’s going to write. She hasn’t composed anything since Oak Hill fell, since the Mourning, and doesn’t know how she feels about the potential for doing it again. She hasn’t felt much like singing lately, and even if she did, she hardly has the voice for it anymore (she’s been very pointedly not thinking about that fact too hard). Her instruments were left behind the day she left Oak Hill, unnecessary burdens when her goal had been to move quickly and as unencumbered as possible.

The tent is relatively quiet, but from outside she can hear the low susurrus of sound that never seems to end in the camp. People from all walks of life, all backgrounds, pulled together by a common sense of unimaginable tragedy and loss.

And yet.

She’s amazed, every single day, at how everyone’s come together, though whether it’s in spite of their differences or because of them she doesn’t know. They all fit together, like a giant puzzle, against incredible odds. Her pencil is moving before she realizes it, and when she surfaces for air a few hours later she finds she’s composed a piece of music. She looks it over, and can hear in her head what it should sound like. She wants it out in the world, but doesn’t know how. The thought that she can still create something when there’s so much that’s desperately wrong…

She knows it’s more than a bit fucked up that she feels this way. If it were someone else, anyone else, she’d tell them how great it is that they can find something inspiring in such awful circumstances. She holds the parchment in her hands and is half tempted to rip it up. Instead, she leaves the piece unsigned, and sneaks out of the tent.

It’s gotten late while she’s been in her own head, and it isn’t difficult to move unseen along the outer edges of the camp. They’d gained another group of people- other Cyran refugees- just that morning, and the extra bustle of people is nice in a way, even if the circumstances that led them here are definitely not. She finds one of the guard stations along part of the perimeter furthest from her tent, and leaves the finished song there to be found. She doesn’t know who she expects to find it, and she realizes she doesn’t especially care.

A few days later, she’s walking through camp on an errand and hears a group of voices suddenly rise from nearby. They start as individual voices, trying to find pitches, but then quickly come together. It’s incredible- a wall of voices, of music, strong and undaunted, and she realizes that’s her song, the one she’d written and left in the guard station. She has to quickly duck behind a tent to collect herself; she doesn’t want to have to explain why a bunch of people singing has reduced her to tears.

Later that evening she sits again, parchment and pencil in hand, and writes.

It’s a duet, this time. She’s glad Galen is occupied elsewhere, because she doesn’t realize she’s crying until she’s finished writing it. She wipes her face, blows her nose, and sneaks off to leave the music somewhere to be found.

It becomes a pattern for her. If she’s shuffled off to relax, or needs to fill time, the music comes. It may not come from her mouth anymore, or from her instruments, but she likes to think in some way it’s still her, just indirectly.

She never signs any of the music. Fireside, and now Flamekeep proper, are convinced they have a phantom bard roaming the area. In a way, she supposes they’re right. She feels like a shade of herself sometimes, not entirely solid, but those moments are fleeting.

One night, she dreams of Calinou.

She forgets, however briefly; for the tiniest sliver of a moment between sleep and waking she thinks he’ll be there, just to her side, ready to pull her close and kiss the top of her head. Then full awareness hits, and it strikes like a fist to her gut. She’s up and dressed in a blink, grabbing a handful of parchment, a pencil, and her cloak, stumbling out of the tent and into the nearby treeline. She goes farther than she really should, but she wants to be sure- needs to be sure- that nobody will bother her.

She drops down next to a tree, leaning back against it and taking a moment to breathe. The dream had felt so real, as if he were really there, and it’s like losing him all over again. Her chest aches with it, and she doesn’t even try to stop herself from crying as she starts to write.

By the time the first rays of sun are starting to show through the branches above her, the piece is done. She thinks this one is different than the others. She knows it will be beautiful, if melancholy, as is most of the music she’s created since leaving Cyre. She also knows she can’t let herself listen to the song. That would be too much. That would break her.

Time marches on, as it does, and she settles further into her place in the camp.Fireside grows up and out around her, expanding and pulling in more and more refugees. She’s given up on being surprised at the number of survivors, and decided to go with being grateful instead. Grateful that her whole nation wasn’t destroyed in one fell swoop. Grateful that somehow, insanely, life has managed to prevail, even if sometimes it doesn’t feel like it. Her people (and when did they become her people?) need her. She has a family again, even if it’s not the one she was born with and lost. She has a whole host of mothers now, fussing at her over missed meals.  A slew of fathers, keeping an eye on her. An army of brothers and a battalion of sisters ready to hold her up when she needs it.

They aren’t the Goliath she so desperately wants, but they’re the family she desperately needs, and she’s grateful for them all.

#analisegrey writes #tw blood #tw death #D&D #eberron #character backstory #Corrine Featherlight #shattered voice

[kihocrystal]

Winter 2018 Final Impressions

I’m a month late, as usual (whoops!), but here’s my final thoughts on the animes I watched this past season! 

The “reviews” will be in alphabetical order!

3-gatsu no Lion S2 - 9.0 / 10 (A)

This second season of 3-gatsu was great! It’s just… a really great drama show about fighting depression (& a bunch of other character storylines)!

First off... THE BULLYING ARC WAS REALLY GOOD

extremely complicated, emotionally complex… this arc brings all sorts of emotions & angles into the forefront

multiple perspectives too: Hina’s, Rei’s, the bullied girl’s, the bully’s, the teachers’, and Akari too!

The art style can pull off both thick-outlined / bright colored style and watercolor-esque style incredibly well

it really is beautiful how it can visually portray both light-hearted and emotionally intense scenes

This season continues to show how good it is at character development for characters both main & supporting!

We get to see Rei moving through the ranks as a shogi player

and also moving through the ranks of conquering his depression! He’s improved more than ever before!

We get to learn about the white-haired master player (Souya); I liked how he has his own quicks and challenges he has in his daily life

Along with the other head shogi guy (Yanagihara)! (& how he shoulders his legacy for his friends)

Even the last episode offered some perspective from the foster mom about Rei & her kids

this show is just… really good at making normally-hated characters sympathetic, hot damn

Aside from bullying arc, this season also showed Hina preparing for the transition to high school

The finale episode was nice and sweet, with Hina saying goodbye to Takahashi and even getting a haircut!

This continues to be one of the best drama anime in recent years! Not to mention SHAFT’s best show since Madoka Magica :3

Cardfight!! Vanguard G: Z - 7.5 - 8.0 / 10 (C+)

And so ends the G series of Cardfight Vanguard… this final season I’ll say though is kind of a mixed bag

The plot had interesting ideas and moments at times, but the execution and pacing left a bit to be desired

though I will say it was definitely better than last season (CFV G NEXT)

This season didn’t waste any time getting to the main plot, as Chrono has to face off against a Diffrider right away

the diffrider stuff is continued from last season, but for the most part, it’s a new plot kicking off!

The rollout of all the new Diffrider Apostles (& them showing their strength) definitely made them look like powerful foes

not to mention the Zeroth Dragons, which were also shown to be powerful and very risky to use

Also knowing that anyone in the main cast could end up being The Vessel added some intrigue as well

the reveal that Kazuma would be the vessel definitely was a well executed twist imo~

However the pacing in places felt a bit too fast for me… the Relics subplot felt like it wrapped up too quickly, for example

the final fight against Gyze also kinda felt rushed… Gyze didn’t even have any dying words after his defeat :/

As a final season specifically, I feel like it kinda pales in comparison to Stride Gate, unfortunately

The cast was also kinda hit and miss in terms of how well they were utilized in the plot

some of the apostles definitely had more screen time than others (gredora only got like… two episodes)

plus gastille (the supposed apostle leader) got beaten sooner than like 3 other ones???

some villains carry over from last season too, such as Noa (Chaos Breaker) and the red-head punk kid

I liked all the new villains this season, personality-wise! (Also Yukari Tamura in there is a plus)

also no Am and Luna this season, really…

the previously established OG cast were integrated fine, for the most part

including Aichi and Kai getting the kill against Chaos Breaker Dragon

but the final episodes kinda just shoe-horn in a bunch of cameos that just didn’t feel natural :/

it just felt like “OH SHIT, this is the last season actually! Quick, throw in a bunch of cameos!”

this also applies to G characters, which makes less utilized characters (like Am & Luna, as mentioned before) look out of place :(

Sure, I’m saying a bunch of negative stuff right now, but I REALLY LOVE THIS CAST… I JUST WANT THE BEST FOR THEM

It’s the main reason I love CFV G, after all~

This season was definitely an improvement over NEXT for sure! The plot was interesting, I just wish the conclusion was better

The final episode basically just felt like an OVA, really… aside from the last scene, it didn’t really feel like an epilogue at all

I guess it just bums me out bc the original series got a good epilogue episode, so I know they could do it here, too…

In any case, I’M GONNA MISS THIS CAST, BIG TIME ;A;

In any case, this was a decent season to end the G series with! Not the strongest, but not the weakest either.

I’m gonna look back on my time with CFV G fondly for sure, if for nothing else than the great ensemble cast :’)

It’s gonna be weird going back to the OG cast for sure… I arguably liked the G cast better than the OG one :’D

Osomatsu-san S2 - 8.0  / 10 (B)

The consensus among fans seems to be that this season wasn’t as good as the first season

As for me, I… probably agree with that (though I still enjoyed this season!)

As with most comedy anime, whether the jokes land is pretty subjective. I feel like I didn’t laugh as hard this season? IDK

There were more “seasonal/holiday”-based episodes this time around (i.e. summer, new year’s, etc.)

What stays the same though is that this show is at its best when featuring the main brothers themselves

Skits involving the side characters (like Iyami, Dayon, etc.) didn’t make me laugh much…

I will say though that I enjoyed the second half of the season more than the first half~

Enough about the negatives, let’s talk about this season’s memorable skits / episodes!

The premiere was really good, as it poked fun at the huge popularity the show unexpectedly got xD

plus a bunch of references that *aren’t* gonna get them removed from streaming sites this time!

Jyushimatsu getting an “apprentice” with a little kid was also pretty funny~

The Karamatsu taxi skit, the spooky inn, & all the characters being stuck on an island were also good skits!

Ep. 18 (Iyami, Alone in the Wind) was also a crowd favorite, since it brought the feels for a change :’)

The finale 2-parter pulled a bait-and-switch yet again!

Part 1 was actually pretty serious, but the actual finale just has them trying to break out of hell xD

OH YEAH, I still really like the live-action stuff they do during the ending sequences

the first half’s ED was my favorite (the stop-motion of the brothers riding in the car)

I don’t have much to say about comedies generally, but Osomatsu-san is still my favorite in recent years ^^

Even though this season didn’t hit as hard as S1, it still provided some fun laughs~

Pop Team Epic - 7.5 / 10 (C+)

What can I really say about this show? It kind of defies description ^^;

Ok, yeah, it’s a sketch comedy, but it’s a really… crazy and random sketch comedy

The jokes are hit and miss (and in my experience was a bit more… miss than hit)

I never really laughed out loud at this show either

but then again, the humor here is more “being confused at what’s going on, but going along with it anyway”

There’s also a lot of modern anime references, so you might not get those jokes if you don’t follow most recent anime

Each episode has a long skit in it, plus a bunch of bite-size skits

I personally preferred the short skits over the long ones

There were a couple song parodies which I enjoyed (including the Earth Wind & Fire parody)

Also, this series definitely benefits from having an English simuldub! Some skits I found funnier in English!

OH YEAH, the voice actors (in both languages) change every episode, with female and male VAs in each episode

that enhanced the enjoyability of the sketches too, since I liked hearing favorite VAs do silly dialogue and performances!

I wouldn’t say this ranks among my favorite anime comedies, but it’s definitely unlike any other I’ve seen! ^^;

Your mileage will *definitely* vary with this one, so give it a try and see if it’s for you!

The Ancient Magus’ Bride (Mahoutsukai no Yome) - 8.5 - 9 / 10 (A-)

This was a very enjoyable fantasy drama show! Some people feel this show was overhyped, but I still thought it was really good!

I really liked the cast overall, especially Chise

She has really good character development throughout the show! She really becomes more strong and confident!

Seeing the fantastical world through her eyes was interesting as well!

Especially since those mystical elements were also responsible for her terrible childhood…

Elias was also an interesting guy… he and Chise have an interesting relationship together

Their relationship definitely has aspects that are unhealthy, but they do grow closer to each other by the end

If people can’t get past the whole premise of “him buying Chise to be his bride” though, I totally understand ^^;

They help each other learn too, which I liked to see

The supporting cast was also enjoyable! Not much to say about them individually though

The dragon keeper was nice and we got to learn about Elias’ origins through him

The dragons in general were great! Especially the old one that turned into a tree :’)

He gives Chise some good sage advice, even after death :’)

Angelica, Silky, and Stella (among others, like the other anti-hero duo) were good support characters too~

I liked Stella’s role of “normal girl who learns of the supernatural’s existence”

Cartaphilus was an… okay villain, I guess (though his methods were quite creepy indeed, which added some intrigue)

Some character designs are a bit questionable though… like who approved the vampire’s design? ^^;

Another large appeal of this was the world building of the fantastical elements!

I liked seeing all the different types of locales & supernatural creatures, both good and bad

As a low-fantasy show, this show does a Dang Good Job with the fantasy!

Chise learning more about herself and gaining confidence through these experiences were a highlight as well

I enjoyed each story arc as well, even though most of them were more explorative and introspective

This show can be dang beautiful sometimes, through both its art/animation and its stories (Thanks, Studio WIT!)

Some were better than others, but they all deliver either a heartwarming (or a dark) story

Some favorites of mine were the dragon-based ones, and the vampire loving the old man

The finale was good too! It’s unknown whether this conclusion is anime-original or not, but it was definitely a good S1 ending~

If you love low-fantasy shows, this is definitely one to check out!

Violet Evergarden - 8.5 - 9.0 / 10 (A-)

Best *new* anime (that I watched) of this past season, hands down~

Though to be fair, I still need to watch A Place Farther than the Universe… and Yuru Camp… and After the Rain…

Going into this season, this show was hyped and back and somehow… a lot of people were *disappointed* with this show?

I think it had to do with expecting a different show than what we got; as for me, I knew it’d be an episodic drama the whole time :P

But yes, this show has a (mostly) episodic plot with an overarching character arc. If that’s too slow for you, then you probably won’t like this show.

In any case, back to the positives! The first one being how good this show looks visually… as expected from KyoAni~

there’s so much detail in the backgrounds and the character elements (especially the lighting on objects like Violet’s metal hands)

this aspect is one thing *everyone* agrees on regardless, so… yeah, this show’s really pretty!

The main star (and focus) of this show was Violet herself… you can really see how she changes for the better from beginning to end

You get to see how “robot-like” she was at the start of the show, but she slowly learns about dealing with emotions of others… and herself

This character arc is definitely the “main” plot of the show, along with her coming to terms with Gilbert’s death and her war killings

The episodic plots were good in their own right, too!

Ranging from Violet’s start as a Memoir Doll to the different clients she works with, they all teach her something along the way

These sometimes focus on the side characters working at the Doll Agency too, so we get to learn more about them as well

The one that comes to mind first is Iris’ episode, where she (messily) reconnects with a former lover

Not all of them get a full episode in the spotlight, but they do get some focus scenes from time to time

Violet’s clientele episodes were the most memorable out of this lot IMO

ESPECIALLY EPISODE 10… that was the BIGGEST feels trip

I knew exactly how the episode was going to end, but I still teared up at that ending!

The finale was action packed, but also was a beautiful way to show how far Violet has come

I know some people’s issue with this show is that “it doesn’t know what show it wants to be” re: the action stuff, but I was fine with it personally

in any case, it was a pretty good book-end for Violet’s development, since she finally understands (a least a little) what “I love you” means :’)

I understand certain people’s gripes with this show, but this really is a great little drama show that *will* deliver the feels~

P.S. I also watched Fate/Extra: Last Encore this season. It hasn’t technically ended yet, so I can’t give final impressions on it right now. However, my current score for it is a 7.5/10 (C+).

#3 gatsu no lion #march comes in like a lion #cardfight!! vanguard #cardfight vanguard g #cardfight vanguard gz #osomatsu san #pop team epic #mahoutsukai no yome #the ancient magus bride #violet evergarden #Final Impressions

[avelera]

Maggie analyzes Voltron Season 3, episode 1...

--

Including analysis of Prince Lotor’s introduction:

So far this episode’s opening is  a bit heavy on the exposition and telegraphing of what everyone has been doing and thinking since Shiro went missing. There’s also been a couple of awkward transitions of dialogue like “oh, btw, how is that main plotline going??” non-sequiturs when random people ask why the paladins can’t perform their emotional plotline - which is form Voltron/find Shiro.

That being said, I’m actually overall ok with all that. It really is the difference between adult and children’s programming where we need to be a lot clearer about what everyone is thinking and feeling, in my writing class it was basically summarized as the need to use “signposts” more in children’s fiction to guide the audience through what they’re supposed to be thinking and feeling about all this. This is in contrast to adult programming, which puts a greater emphasis on allowing the adult viewer to draw their own conclusions when presented with the more subtle actions and thoughts of the characters. 

That being said, this is also a first episode of a new season, which means they need to catch people up after several months away, and get everyone up to speed as quickly as possible. I’ve seen shows for adults that were far more awkward at the start of a new season when it comes to the reminder info-dumps. So actually Voltron is doing a very good job given its constraints.

What got me thinking about this was the “palace intrigue” scene where Galra Whathisname “He clearly isn’t going to matter because his character design isn’t interesting or distinct enough” decides to have a “secret” meeting in a public stadium to solicit his fellow officers to join him in a coup. The dialogue is painfully on the nose as he lays out a children’s version of a palace political plot, but because I eat plotlines like this up with a spoon and some whipped cream it was actually instructive to see how a children’s show introduces the idea of complex political backstabbing by having the characters be as blunt about their intentions as possible.

That conversation also gave an interesting, if blatant, opportunity for an info dump about Prince Lotor. Lotor has been a subject of controversy since he was announced, since there’s such a broad range of possibilities on the kind of person he could be. He could be even more evil than Zarkon, a sort of Ramsay Bolton of sadism, or he could be a total good guy who instantly aligns with everything the Paladin good guys believe (the latter seeming less likely since it prevents us from having a character arc). Every shade of gray in between was possible, and the fandom tied itself into knots with speculation. 

During the Palace Intrigue dialogue we learned a lot of details very quickly:

- Lotor is a political outlier - specifically, he stands at odds with the more warlike and conservative Galra planning this coup. He has liberal views of racial purity which are not limited to pureblood Galra, and often allows planets to rule themselves. So, he’s being set up to be a good guy, or at least a lighter shade of gray. 

Every since the Blade of Marmora was introduced, a lot of things have started to make sense in the VLD universe. Like with Avatar: the Last Airbender’s Fire Nation, we have an “evil” nation that has taken over a diverse world. However, since the bad guys aren’t zombies or otherwise mindless monsters, we probably can’t commit genocide in a children’s show in order to get rid of them all and free the universe. Which means there must be good Galra out there to whom the good guys can hand over the original Galra territories after the other worlds are freed. The Blade of Marmora was our first hint of this sort of schism existing within the Galra Empire which allows for a happy ending with Good Galra ruling. It adds a shade of complexity to the Galra which is an opportunity for drama - they must fight enemies from within as well as the paladins.

- Lotor is a half-breed, but most Galra don’t know this. 

Lotor was a half-breed in the original Voltron show, and that’s hinted at with the note that his closest officers are also half-breeds. So, it’s likely he is as well, but this fact is hidden. This likely means Haggar is in fact his mother, and since her true origin as Altean is hidden, Lotor’s must be as well (which also, interestingly, means Galra and Alteans can interbreed). 

This also sets up Lotor to be Keith’s foil, at least for a time. Without Shiro, Keith has clearly been set up as the show’s main character, which means the new introduction of a villain is going to be someone who opposes him but also mirrors him. In my opinion, Lotor is being set up as more of a “Zuko” villain, he’s going to fight the Paladins but mostly because he’s been told to and as he gets to know them better their differences will decline until, most likely, he ends up as an ally or at least a sympathetic enemy. Which brings me to the next observation:

- Lotor presents himself as honorable and representing the best qualities of the martial Galra culture. 

Lotor is a fighter. In his display in the stadium, he announced himself as someone who won’t stab you in the back, but he will cleverly stab you in the front. He doesn’t just confront Galra Whatshisname about his intended coup in private, even though he he already knew about it, and instead challenged him in a public place in a way designed to win the crowd and loyalty. So, Lotor’s a tactician of the mind as well as of warfare. We know he’s a warrior, he wants to expand the Empire but he does so in a way that lets people rule themselves, implying that he sees this manner as more efficient anyway (whether or not he sees it as morally better). 

So he’s presenting himself as someone who holds to the original “values” of the Galra Empire, its raison d’etre, which have since been corrupted by absolute dominance and power. The Galra couldn’t have expanded as far as they did if they didn’t at least seem like the good guys at first, which means they had a national myth they told themselves and their subjects about how their Empire spreading was a good thing, and I think Lotor buys into that mindset and still operates with it, even as many more jaded and cynical Galra including Zarkon are really just about the power and have no altruistic beliefs in their Empire anymore.

Edit: Ok I had to edit this a bit after finishing the episode. Lotor probably has a cynical view of the original Empire’s expansion. So, he may on some level believe that loyalty is a better way to expand the empire, but he may just see that as efficiency too. Either way, for practical reasons he’s a more reasonable despot than Zarkon, which is at least a little bit of an improvement?

So basically: Lotor is everything a Good Imperial Galra can be at this stage of the show. He’s still opposed to the Paladins because he’s still a wiling agent of the Empire’s expansion, but he can mostly likely be talked down from this eventually, unlike Zarkon. He’s probably being set up to rule the “Good” Galra Empire in the future OR to be the Black Paladin, albeit temporarily. He’s clever and devious too, which is something of a gray virtue, but at the moment he’s using it to defeat the REAL bad guys which are Galra hardliners, so I’d still say he’s set up to be a Good Imperial Galra, even if he is somewhat two-faced.

Lotor’s speech confirms pretty much his entire worldview: being overly aggressive is a weakness that is costing the Empire. This is his character’s opening mission statement - it allows him to be an adversary without being a monster. He’s still an aristocrat though, he has benefited from the system, and he speaks in elevated tones. He’s clever and devious, not above manipulating public opinion through grandstanding and we’re not entirely sure yet what his deeply held beliefs are. 

Actually, he could just as easily be the foil to Allura, he talks like her and looks quite a bit like her too. He’s clearly inherited some of the Altean skill at diplomacy, which he uses to blindside his more blunt Galra political enemies. An interesting  and formidable combination of skills.

However, he’s not naive, he doesn’t keep potential traitors around. So, he’s clever, devious, and two-faced. He’s got some things to learn to be a good guy.

His followers are good guys:

- They have a cat - pets are quick visual shorthand that people are good guys in any fiction medium. 

- They’re half-breeds, which means they’re probably not Galra hardliners.

- They’re women! Honestly, they’re the first women we’ve seen on the Galra side besides Haggar. Which implies that Galra don’t have their own women, maybe? All the women are half-breeds? I’m not sure but it’s something I’ll keep an eye out for.

A couple final notes:

- I was totally wrong. I thought the Galra Keith fought was his own mother, but I guess people were right that it really was Lotor. Damn I hate being wrong.

- I expect a ton of Keith/Lotor stuff guys. He’s giving off a serious Sesshomaru vibe, he’s going to be shipped with everyone.

- If they don’t put Allura in the Black Lion I’m going to be seriously peeved. 

#maggie watches voltron #voltron spoilers #voltron #season 3

[jameshateseverything-blog]

Your Childhood (Actually) Sucks

I’m always worried when I say this; but Final Fantasy 7 is the most overrated game of all time. That, however, isn’t the point. How good it is is less important than how good people remember it being. Because the way people remember things is more important than the way things actually are.

  I spend a great deal of time thinking about being thirteen. Probably more than I should, to the point it borders on an addiction. My best friend and his newfound girlfriend decided Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together” would be “their song.” I had placed second at the district chess tournament being held at my school. And I had been playing Final Fantasy 10 for the first time. It was not the first game in the series I had played, that goes to 7. What it was, however, was the first game in the series I have ever experienced.

  When I initially set out to write this essay I wanted to merely make an argument as to why Final Fantasy 7 isn’t good (or at least not as good as everyone seems to tell me it is). I had planned out several points as to why other entries in the series trumped it. Namely in the storytelling and gameplay departments. I decided to give 7 another playthrough, however. After spending some time with the game, which I concede holds up better than most Playstation 1 titles, I have come to realize something; maybe Final Fantasy 7 is not just the most overrated game of all time. Maybe, just maybe, the entire series is one of the most overrated gaming franchises ever. For those of you (which I assume is most) that have never played 7, 10, or any Final Fantasy, I am going to do my best to cover the story of those two specific games. I chose 7 and 10 because (a) the original argument was based on 7 and (b) though I wouldn’t say 10 is the best, I would say it is my personal favorite.

  Our story opens up with edgy ex-corporate mercenary Cloud Strife working alongside terrorist movement AVALANCHE to take down a Mako reactor. Mako being the life force of the planet and what is used to run all machinery. It is essentially crude oil that has the latent ability to grant certain people magical powers, like shooting fireballs or summoning ancient gods. But Shinra faces the problem that Mako energy is beginning to run low and their only hope is to find an ancient promised land. A promised land that is rumored to have Mako flowing endlessly beneath it. The dilemma, only an extinct race of people, the Cetra, know how to find this fossil fuel Mecca.

 As the game progresses you assemble a team of unlikely heroes including emo boy Cloud. A revenge-fuelled Barrett who has a gun for a hand and a deep-seated hatred for Shinra’s use of technology. The last remaining Cetra, Aeirith. There’s also a pseudo-vampire, a talking lion wolf, and a marshmallow plush controlled by a cat. Shinra has their eyes set on Aerith, they manage to capture her, and so begins the quest for renewable energy. Cloud and crew go to rescue her and this is when the true villain is introduced. Pretty boy and fan favorite Sephiroth is a one-winged semi-clone of a deity that fell from the sky as a meteor thousands of years prior. Sephiroth is one blatant metaphor for a Christian guilt complex. Sephiroth (who is also the god Jenova) wants to summon another meteor to destroy the planet so he can absorb all the Mako and become one with it. When Cloud and friends try to stop him, he manages to mind control Cloud. Then Convinces Cloud that he’s a clone of Sephiroth with the memories of some guy named Zack planted in him. Cloud has a mental breakdown, becomes catatonic, falls into the planet’s lifestream with his childhood friend, and sorts out his existential crisis like some bad acid trip. After he spends 10 minutes getting his shit together, the gang flies into the crater where Jenova initially crash landed Lord Xenu style. They do battle with Sephiroth, who is also Jenova, who is also the ancient entity known as Meteor. They kill him with the help of a deceased Aerith, and the world returns to its beautiful dystopian self. Minus the evil conglomerate monopoly of Mako Shinra once had. Convoluted enough for you? I didn’t even touch on the movie, four spin-off games (two on cell phone), or the racing of giant chickens to learn to summon King Arthur’s henchmen.

 Let us compare 7’s convoluted mess of a story to 10’s. Final Fantasy 10 follows Tidus, a young man with an Oedipus complex. One night, during a game of underwater space soccer [read: Blitzball], Tidus is interrupted by a colossal parasitic winged slug destroying the city of Zannarkand. Tidus and a friend of his father try to fight the creature but are ultimately defeated and Tidus wakes up in a completely different world. In this new world, a few things overlap. Space Soccer is larger than the super bowl, the city Zannarkand still exists though it is in ruins, and the giant slug unironically named Sin. Sin is the driving force for the game’s narrative. The creature is an evil that reincarnates itself and is allegedly a manifestation of what happens when man uses technology rather than prayer. So I guess Sin is just another Christian guilt complex villain.

 Throughout the story Tidus befriends an unlikely group of heroes including a subpar Blitzball player who has a deep-seated hatred (bordering on racist) for the machine using Al-Bhed. There is a summoner on a pilgrimage to sacrifice herself to stop Sin for another couple dozen years. A biped lion wolf, and a few other JRPG tropes.

 As the story progress you find out that Tidus’ father helped on the previous summoner’s pilgrimage and became Sin. Tidus finds out he isn’t real, and that if they defeat Sin he will fade into a literal dream. Tidus spends 10 minutes sorting out this existential crisis. There is some whistling. The party goes inside of Sin. Father, son, and not-so-holy ghost all die. The world falls back into its primitive state now liberated and free to use their technology as they please.

 The games are pretty damn similar when reduced to the lowest common denominator. I have time and time again praised 10 while putting down 7. And if you have played both of them you would be quick to see how they are inherently different. But this is how I remember those games. And how I imagine many others remember them to some degree, minus a few scenes left out for brevity.

 I was 13 and sitting in the back of my step-father’s Lincoln Navigator. There was a PS2 set up to the small screen and I was playing Final Fantasy 10; nearing the end. My step-dad just bought a “new car” scented car freshener. To this day I associate that smell with my favorite game of all time. This phenomenon, my addiction, to me is one of the most fascinating tricks the mind plays on us. Nostalgia, coming from the greek words nostos and algos translating to “homecoming pain.” There was a time it was used by the Swiss military where they thought the only treatment for the condition was to send the mercenaries home. Now we see there is something universal about “the better days.”

 After discussing the concept of nostalgia with a handful of people I have noticed people tend to fall into two different camps. Some, myself included, look at nostalgia with joyous sorrow. As though there are memories, emotions, and sensations that can never be duplicated. Think back to a favorite Christmas or birthday present, remember how you felt? Even though I believe that feeling itself can be replicated, the way you remember that feeling is encapsulated in that moment and forever gone. In this first camp, there is a fear that if we don’t cling to those memories we may lose a piece of our identity with them. The second camp tends to view nostalgia pejoratively. Longing being some type of weakness. Even if there were  “good ol’ days” you can’t ever get them back so why waste time trying? Now whether either of these mentalities is objectively more correct than the other, impossible to say. I’m more just fascinated that everybody feels homecoming pain. I did notice, however, that people more invested into games (video or sport) tend to sit in the former camp with myself. I think that is where Final Fantasy, especially 7, begins to fall apart. Am I using Nostalgia to say that Final Fantasy 7 is bad, even subjectively? No, not really. Instead I’m calling into question why it is important. Not important for gaming, but important to the gamers who believe it is the high bar for the series, or even games in general.

 A few hundred words ago I drew attention to the similarities between 10 and 7. And I would like to narrow that down to just the two protagonists; Cloud and Tidus. At face value these characters are different. Tidus is a young, naive, hot-headed sports star trying to live up to a father he resents. Cloud is a battle-hardened soldier whose idol turned out to be a monster. We are supposed to identify as these two. Our perspective is limited to theirs. Both are detached from a larger picture that they inevitably find themselves the center of. So even if Cloud and Tidus are different from one another, their general arcs manage to remain the same. This is why people (myself included) find these games to be important in their lives. Both of their lives are lies. One is a fleeting dream of the gods and the other a blonde husk with a brunette’s memories. Neither character has any reason to exist.

 Usually, if you listen, when people talk about their favorite music, movies, games it often is something from their childhood. You favorite Final Fantasy is most likely the first one you played. If it isn’t, your favorite was probably played around the ages of 13-16.  Even if you have never played these games I want you to take a moment to just stop. Take a nice long hit of that homecoming pain. Go back, try to remember being 9, or 13, or 16. Try to remember who you were as a person. Sorry if you were awkward, but that awkwardness is kind of the point. These transitional points in our lives, they are moments when we are developing responsibilities and learning who we are. Whether it is your first day home without the babysitter, or a first day of high school, those periods are when we can exist outside of our parents and act as yourself. I remember once breaking down in front of my parents proclaiming I did not know who I was. I didn’t belong. I had no reason to exist. I was the same as Cloud or Tidus.

 I suppose when I hate on Cloud as a character, or when others shun Tidus, what we are really doing is collectively hating how annoying and whiny younger versions of ourselves were. But it wasn’t always that way. Sure, we didn’t have to come to terms with being a clone. But maybe, like Tidus, we discover some aspect of our life is a lie. Santa isn’t real. We can’t all be astronauts. These tiresome characters are just us as tiresome teenagers. And it is hard not to look back and cling to that notion, a moment where we didn’t have to feel so alone. At that age it is nice to be understood.

 So do I hate Final Fantasy 7? No, of course not, I’m mostly enjoying my third playthrough. But the story doesn’t speak to me like it did when I was a kid. I’m not sure it is supposed to either. This idea that no Final Fantasy will ever capture the same magic as the old ones is toxic. It is only going to hurt the growth of the series in the future. Nothing revolutionary can come of trying to capture the old while moving on to the new. 7, 10, 13, these games aren’t terrible by any means. But they are the Donald Trump of gaming. Maybe we can’t make Final Fantasy great again. Maybe it never was that great.

#Final fantasy x #final fantasy vii #writing #personal #ffvii #ffx #final fantasy #nostalgia

[akiharashizuka]

Yu-Gi-Oh: The Dark Side of Dimensions thoughts

I’ve been wanting to review this for a while, and now that the Japanese raw is out and I’ve got some free time, I can do it. To be honest, I was thinking about waiting until the subs come out, in order to make sure I understand everything and don’t make any confusions, but I think I can manage. Well, there’s the English dub and, from what I’ve heard, it hasn’t changed that much from the original, but I’m not very fond of that. Also, seeing the sneak peeks on the Yu-Gi-Oh official Youtube channel, there seem to be some differences.

Leaving that aside, this movie is wonderful. I enjoyed every second of it so much that I didn’t even notice when 2 hours passed.

Before starting, I suggest checking out a 2-part manga special called Transcended Game, written by Kazuki Takahashi. It’s sort of a prequel to the movie and it explains some things (if you can’t find it, I can give you the links to both chapters in a private message). Also, did you know that the Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links phone application is connected to this?

The intro was beautifully done. I liked how it transitioned so smoothly from those black spheres-like things, to outer space, where this space station owned by KaibaCorp pops out. And then, there’s Kaiba staring at the Millenium Puzzle, with the Earth in the background. Seeing that gave me the usual “what the heck, Kaiba!?” reaction, but also intensified my curiosity. After that, the transitions to a gorgeous golden desert.

Since it’s the desert, the place where the final duel of DM took place has to be brought up. And it looks like Kaiba is very eager to dig the Millenium Items out. 

I’ve always wondered what would happen if they were brought out again, but, at the same time, I had a bad feeling about this.

Wow, Mokuba looks so much mature and professional. 

This brings back memories. I think there was a similar scene at the end of the last episode. With a few differences.

Sugoroku seems more concerned about Anzu picking up Yūgi in order to go to school together anymore...

Well, they still go together though. Just that they meet up on the way there.

Hmm, is it me or Yūgi had grown a bit taller?

I wonder if Jonouchi’s mornings are always like this xD First he gets water thrown at him (accidentally), then he almost crashes into that policeman and not to mention that he is still running late.

Nothing changed here.

Hmm, I don’t remember DM showing that Bakura has actually a fanclub, but it is in the early parts of the manga, which was adapted into the so called Season Zero. DM adapts the events after that (except for the Yūgi vs Kaiba duel at the beginning).

Just in time xD

This part was pretty nice. We get to know what the main cast is going to do after graduation. Anzu is indeed going to the USA to become a dancer. Honda will be working at his father’s factory and doesn’t like it. Jonouchi wants to become a professional duelist. However, a teacher recently confiscated his duel disk, as well as Yūgi’s deck. Damn xD I don’t think a Duel Disk is something to bring to school. Here’s a difference from the dub. Jonouchi “attacks” Honda because he was complaining despite having his future secured, while Jonouchi’s is still uncertain.

As for Yūgi, he wants to continue helping out at his grandfather’s store and make his own game. This was not mentioned in the dub (from what I could see in the sneak peek), but Yūgi plans to enter his game to an annual contest held in Germany. Then, Jonouchi suggests that everyone gathers and play Yūgi’s game once it becomes world’s number 1 :)

What I find interesting about this part is the connection it has to the early arc of the manga (as well as Season Zero). It wasn’t just about Duel Monsters, but any kind of game. Heck, even the title literally translates to “king of the games”.

In the end...Bakura didn’t mention his goal...

Have you seen an anime character that has the last seat near the window and didn’t play an important role?

(Umm...actually, I have, but this is a very rare occurrence)

Guess Aigami’s memory-altering technique needs some work, since, for a few moments, they could barely recall who he is.

Alright, deck and duel disk successfully retrieved. 

This movie depicts extremely beautiful views. The city and the river look so pretty in the sunset.

But the main part of this scene is the mention of Atem. The dialogue is slightly different in the dub. In the Japanese version, Jonouchi says that the deck is very important to Yūgi, to which he gives an “Yeah” and brings up Atem, then suddenly stops. When Anzu and Jonouchi ask what’s the matter, he only replies that it’s nothing and apologizes. Jonouchi then tells him that it’s better not to force himself to erase Atem from his memory.

Oh, this flashback was so beautiful! the last arc of DM had a drop in quality when it comes to animation. The last two episodes did look decent though. However, this gorgeous animation works so much better.

Continuing with the differences from the dub, Yūgi’s thoughts here are: “The other me...During that battle, we...He is no longer inside of my heart. It’s not like I was trying to forget. We just began walking towards our respective world.” (that should be the rough meaning of his words. The people currently working to sub the movie might come up with a slightly different translation). I wanted to add this it gives a much more different feeling than the dubbed version. 

Ugh, that Kudaragi guy is such a creep, saying that Aigami has a cute face and attempting to film him...The heck’s wrong with this guy and his band!?

Thank goodness Jonouchi stepped in. And he had one epic entrance. No, really, him jumping from the bridge was cool. He kinda messed up a bit the landing, but it turned out fine. At least he didn’t get hurt.

Not wasting any time in showing his true character, I see. From Aigami’s obscured face, to his image on the camera displaying a creepy smile, then actually laughing, everything played so smoothly. When those people with blank orange eyes showed up I was staring at the screen without making a move. To be honest, I didn’t feel sorry for the delinquents one bit. They got what they deserve. However, this display of Aigami’s abilities did send some shivers down my spine. Mostly this part:

The forgotten dropped camera shows him walking away, until he can’t be seen anymore.

Then, somebody suddenly picks up the camera.

And this is shown before it gets turned off. I couldn’t understand how he did that for the most part.

This might have been a simulation duel with a virtual Atem, but it was executed superbly. Each move was a pleasure to watch.

Did I mention how much I like the new Dark Magician and Blue Eyes?

Kaiba sure isn’t satisfied about defeating an AI made from his memories from the past. Which is understandable. However he is so fixed on not being able to defeat Atem while he was still around.

Oh, Otogi works as a waiter now. And Jonouchi is the mascot. That costume kinda fits him.

The discussion about people vanishing around the world, including Kudaragi’s gang, seemed more interesting. I wish they had more to talk about it...Especially when Bakura mentioned that he feels like he’s being followed.

No, not by them.

And as soon as Kaiba announces the new duel disk model, this happens...Geez Jonouchi. Give Honda a break. And why did he have to eat Anzu’s ice cream?

The his boss showed up and fired him. Well, not sure if he really went with that, or forgave him, in the end.

This Prana (or is it Plana?) realm seems like a fascinating place. Also, Aigami’s real name is Diva. Wonder what kind of origin it has...(no way it’s the English word).

And now we get to know what Aigami’s intention is, which turns out to be revenge. Interestingly, his companions don’t seem to agree with him.

On a side note, I find it somewhat funny that Mani has the same voice as Vector from Zexal.

What’s with this movie and jumping from really high places? First Jonouchi, now Kaiba. Though, Kaiba nails the landing.

Gotta give him credit for the entrance.

With this part I finally understood what happened with the part with the camera. Even Kaiba pointed out that Aigami was in Domino City not long ago, and now he is in Egypt. Hmm, not sure if I should be creeped out by the fact that Kaiba knew that. Or that he knew his real name.

He just nullified Aigami’s ability with the duel disk O_O Just how advanced is the KaibaCorp technology?

In a way, I guess this also proves how ambitious Kaiba is and how he rejects supernatural stuff. I remember that in DM he was always quick to reject anything that had to do with occult, despite being deeply connected with it. That was so ironic. And now, he fights occult with science.

I felt a bit confused about this duel, since the usual rules didn’t apply any longer. However, this Dimension Summon is an interesting concept. 

Oh my, that was amazing!

When Kaiba put his hand on ground I was just as confused as Aigami, then this familiar soundtrack started playing and I thought “No way, it can’t be...”.

But it actually was! Obelisk is back. The design is different, but it looks just as imposing. To think Kaiba was able to Summon it with only his willpower. Furthermore, Obelisk is supposed to be the pharaoh’s servant, but came to Kaiba’s side. Willpower aside, this also has to do with him being the incarnation of Priest Seto, who succeeded Atem as the pharaoh.

This is definitely one of my favorite scenes. It was simply brilliant.

I think this scene was good for Mokuba’s character. I like how he simply headbutted Aigami and made him fall off. He still managed to steal a piece though.

I could have sworn it was the Millennium Ring.

Someone should remind Kaiba why these were sealed in the first place...

Why the Battle City blimp? Jonouchi has really strange dreams.

They are doing rehearsals for the graduation ceremony? Didn’t know that was a thing... Yūgi practicing for his speech is understandable, but that’s something he can do by himself as well. Oh well.

So, Aigami and Sera are siblings. Hmm, seeing how they interact here gives me a different feeling from the Transcended Game manga. Even Sera’s character seems slightly different. Or maybe I misjudged her.

It’s nice seeing the gang hanging out and doing normal stuff. Aigami fits in pretty easily. Wonder how it would have been like if he wasn’t acting like a shy, over-friendly boy and went with his real personality.

That idea of a mini-tournament was a pretty good one. Wish it actually happened...

There is an elevator which goes up to a space station...What the heck Kaiba!? How is it possible build something like that?

Hm...earlier when Mokuba mentioned that Yūgi completed the puzzle in 8 years, Kaiba was quick to criticize, but he uses a computer to put together the puzzle >_> Well, he most likely played a huge part in developing that, but it’s not like he built it by himself...Besides, before the battle City started, Yūgi managed to assemble the puzzle really quick. And he was in the middle of a fire.

I like the parallel between Bakura and Aigami: both received a dangerous Egyptian artifact from an important person to them.

Well, this is quite an unexpected visit. I like how Sera just says everything she knows about the pharaoh.

And more importantly, she gives away info on this character. He even has a full name now.

And the stuff about Prana Realm is quite fascinating, as well as the fact that Yūgi is the similar to the people who live there.

This looks so breathtaking!

But the important part is that we get to see Bakura’s father and that he wanted to obtain something from the Valley of the Kings. Little Bakura just followed him secretly. That’s a very peculiar story.

Time for Aigami to show his true colors. Jonouchi sure has bad luck when it comes to facing the villains. At least, we find out some more about how Aigami’s powers work and what might have happened to the people he made disappear.

More importantly, this flashback explains so much. Who would have thought Shadi took in orphans at some point. And the fact that he had the Cube explains why he could appear from anywhere.

I’m quite surprised by how he is around these children. He was quite sadistic when he first showed up in the manga. And what he’s saying about why people cause conflicts is completely true.

The origin of Prana Realm is rather interesting. Who would have thought that it opened up to them thanks to the pharaoh returning to afterlife...And if Atem returns to the world of living, they will return to being normal people.

I wish they revealed more about Bakura’s father, since the reason why he was so fixed on the Millennium Ring remains unknown...He was certainly desperate.

In a way, I guess Shadi warned him that the Ring chooses its owner and that it has an evil spirit sealed in it...

And when he’s knocked down he doesn’t question why his own son followed him, but asks about the ring...

We all know this would happen...

Hmm, when Shadi tells them about the Millennium Items, it’s like he was following a prophecy the whole time: three of the items representing justice, and the Key, Scales and Necklace are shown, while the other three hold an evil will, and the Eye, Rod and Ring are shown. However, Shadi himself gave the Millennium Eye to Pegasus (I assume this happened before this flashback because the Eye is not on the tablet)...I guess this once can be considered an unfortunate incident...But later his ghost confuses a young Marik and leads to the events of Battle City. Though, Yami Marik already existed at that point...It’s kinda his fault that these three characters became antagonists.

Gotta admit that his death was impactful. And now we know why he was a ghost in the first place...Don’t know why he didn’t show himself in front of the children, if he could...Maybe there were some reasons behind it.

So he knew that the boy who will solve the Puzzle is the same as these children.

Aigami...or should I say Diva’s grudge is justified enough. However, it’s misplaced since Yami Bakura was the one who killed Shadi, and he is no longer around.

It’s seems Diva himself is starting to understand that, but won’t accept it that easily.

Why doesn’t Diva think this is weird? Mani tried to talk him out of the revenge plan, and now he asks if he abandoned the idea. At least he questioned his behaviors when Mani grabbed Bakura.

O_O Ok...it looked like the Ring sucked in Bakura and killed Mani...Well, now that Diva gets that, he should probably seal it again.

No way it’s gonna be that easy.

I understand why Bakura was a target, but why Yūgi as well? If he’s afraid of the pharaoh’s comeback, he should go to Kaiba.

That was a nice saving. Even from the afterlife, Atem is watching over them. Hmm, Kaiba almost completing the Puzzle might have some influence as well...

I liked how the Prana children started doubting themselves once Jonouchi was freed. They start to understand that the power they posses isn’t perfect.

I did say that he should go to Kaiba, but looks like Kaiba found him first.

Speaking of Kaiba, he finally makes his move. But, why does he have to talk with Yūgi in the middle of the crossroad...Sure, it’s more dramatic, but poor Yūgi almost got hit by a truck because of that.

I still find the fact that he knows everything that moves in Domino City messed up.

Thank goodness Sera saved him with her powers.

It seems she cares more about her brother than the existence of the Prana Realm. Otherwise, she wouldn’t ask Yūgi to save him, or leave the decision of whether to complete the Puzzle or not to him.

This flashback has to be from before Shadi took them in. And that’s just cruel...

Now Kaiba got interested in the Cube, and has to extract some more info from Diva. And they are using the info on Sera to make him cooperate. Knowledge can be a power weapon.

And we cut out to the new duel disk event...In the message, Yūgi tells Anzu not to worry and that he’s going to save Bakura.

That was one hack of an opening ceremony. The plane crashing and Blue-Eyes blasting it away was all Solid Vision. And the public was convinced enough. Kaiba surely knows how to promote his products.

Dueling Aigami, then Yūgi is also part of the show. However, in order to bring Bakura back, Yūgi requests to face Aigami. I didn’t expect Kaiba to agree, not even when Yūgi presented his reasons.

He was even kind enough to give him the new duel disk. I guess it is a huge help when it comes to Dimension Summon.

The animation for the part where he put the disk on his arm was weird though.

That’s horrible. They couldn’t even try to cheer themselves up or enjoy themselves without this guy complaining.

Shadi did the right thing to kill off this guy and take the children with him. 

The way Yūgi won was brilliant with that infinite loop. And seeing their ideals clash was captivating.

I was hoping Jonouchi would make that face xD

Got me worried for a second there that he won’t return.

It really pisses me off that Kaiba only thinks of Yūgi as just a vessel for the pharaoh, when Yūgi was the one who beat Atem. I’m aware that in the manga he wasn’t present at the ceremonial duel (if you check the flashback at the beginning of the movie, you’ll see that he is nowhere to be seen), but I’m pretty sure he heard about it. Guess he has to see it in order to believe.

Hmm, the way the duel plays out is rather interesting. Kaiba’s plays focus on summoning Monsters with high attack, and even increasing it, while Yūgi uses combos to reduce the amount of damage, and get rid of them.

Oh yeah...The Ring was still there. And for some reason it decided to posses Diva...

I’m a bit surprised that Kaiba hasn’t thought about Atem’s soul not being the Puzzle. He went to the afterlife, so I thought it made perfect sense.

I was pretty sure Kaiba signed his death sentence (not literally of course) when he activated Monster Reborn. Atem lost to Yūgi because of that card. And there was also the message that dead people shouldn’t come back to life. Kaiba just got a taste of that lesson personally.

A sudden blackout is usually a bad sign.

Nightmare fuel. It reminds me so much of Zorc. Technically, he was sealed in the Millenium Ring as well.

Wait a second. Wasn’t he destroyed for good at the end of the Millennium World arc? Yūgi even said that the evil presence fro the Millennium Ring was gone. Ok. Let’s say that it wasn’t completely gone and it was awakened thanks to Kaiba’s interference or something.

The good thing about it is that the game of darkness (ok, ok, I’ll call it shadow game) is back.

Wow. Can’t believe Kaiba basically sacrificed himself. This means that he acknowledges Yūgi now. Or so I’d like to think, but he still says to bring Atem back.

Even so, he is at his limit....Trying so hard to stand up, his eyes becoming lifeless, and then he apologies...That was sad.

if this doesn’t proof that Atem is watching over them, I don’t know what does. The fact that the puzzle was complete must have helped as well.

His entrance was amazing. He kinda looks more like he did at the beginning of the manga: menacing and merciless.

That’s Mahad! I didn’t know he got his own card.

That was amazing. And the smile he gave after Diva disappeared, along with this part make the whole scene heartwarming. The golden light adds to this effect.

Diva didn’t completely, but returned to his friends. Since the pharaoh returned, Prana no longer exists. However, no one seems bothered by it. And Mani is revived. Not sure when that happened, but I’m fine with it.

Yep, Kaiba acknowledges him after all.

Now, for the ending, which I find rather bitter-sweet.

These two xD

Now I’m curious what Yūgi had to say in his speech. Even Anzu was tearing up a bit, so it might have been something that only their group fully understands, seeing that the other students are unaffected.

Now that they lost their powers, I’m guessing these children will have to find something to do in this world. I kinda wanted them to stick together though.

Including them seeing Anzu off was also nice. I like that they had a cheerful farewell. 

What the...What have you done this time Kaiba?

I guess they cracked the Cube and are testing it....

Agh, Kaiba saying that he leaves the rest to Mokuba, while his brother answers with a “Be sure to come back” is definitely a death flag.

Yep, this is most likely the afterlife. 

Well, this was what Kaiba wanted, but it’s still sad. Sure, it’s not confirmed that Kaiba is dead and will permanently remain there, but still...

Oh wait, Kaiba is still alive in Gx, which takes place 10 years after DM. I don’t know if it counts, but it gives some hope.

Before wrapping up the review, I have to say that I like what they did with the credits and how the last part of them form the Millennium Puzzle and the title.

Also, the song that plays was first released in 2009. It’s called To Believe in Something by The Eden House, a collab between various musicians.

#*looks at the clock* 6 hours? O_O #that's how much it took me to write everything #hope I didn't forget anything #I didn't count the breaks I took while writing #otherwise it would have been much longer #yugioh #yugioh the darkside of dimensions #dsod #dsod spoilers #yugioh dsod #Akihara's random opinion thing

[ryukoishida]

MSG Iron-Blooded Orphans Translated Fic: In which Orga and Mika talk it out after the first awkward kiss.

Title: This is Life Author: riyancyy777 | AO3 | Lofter Translator: ryukoishida Fandom: Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Part: 3/6 Genre: Modern AU, high school AU, romance Rating: NSFW Character(s)/Pairing(s): Mikazuki Augus/Orga Itsuka Summary: It’s almost Christmas, and Orga wants to earn some quick money in order to buy a gift for Mikazuki. Nase refers him to a part-time gig that requires the young novelist to “sell his body”, so to speak. T/N: If you can read Chinese, please check out the original fabulous fic here!

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 -

CHAPTER III: Aftermath (Part 1)

When the traffic lights turn from red to green at the intersection, the double-decker bus with the printed image of Orga’s half naked body on the side of it gradually moves. However, before the bus is even out of their field of vision, Orga has already grabbed Mikazuki’s hand, and under the surprised gaze of pedestrians, they sprint until they reach a quieter path where they can no longer see the busy road.

As they are running and Mikazuki is staring at the other man’s back and his reddening ears, a kind of feeling that he cannot name or clarify suddenly begins to emerge in his heart.

They stop beside a vending machine along a small, deserted path. After ensuring that there’s no one else in the surrounding area, Orga finally releases Mikazuki’s hand. Short of breath from the run, Orga leans his upper body, bracing his hands against his knees as he takes in large gulps of air.

Mikazuki first lowers his head to stare at his hand, the warmth of Orga’s hand still lingering on the skin of his palm, but since the other man has let go, Mikazuki’s hand feels strangely cold and empty. His focus then returns to his companion, who seems to be displaying an uncharacteristically panicked expression on his face — something that Mikazuki thinks is inconceivable.

“Orga?” He wants to reach over and pats the other man’s back to soothe down his breathing, but as soon as the syllables of his name slip out of his mouth, Orga looks up at him, his face flushing red and his mouth slightly parted from panting. The corner of his lips is pulled downwards into a subtle curve, which makes those lips that others have always commented as “sexy” seem unusually lovely.

That expression is an exact replica of the one on the poster, the only difference being that this time he can actually observe Orga’s eyes. His brightened, golden irises appear to be a bit hazy from the intense running, and within those eyes is a look of awkwardness and embarrassment that Mikazuki has never seen before. That strange, perplexing emotion resurfaces and slithers along and up his spine.

Mikazuki’s hand freezes in mid-air.

“I’m sorry, Mika…” Orga’s breathing is still uneven, and so he can only continue in bits and pieces, “Please… that thing you just saw… just… forget about it!”

“Uh…” A troubled expression emerges on Mikazuki’s face. Usually, whatever Orga has asked him to do, he’d try his best to achieve it; however, this time… “I’m sorry, Orga. It seems… I can’t do it.”

“…Eh?” Orga’s mouth widens, speechless.

“That side of Orga… is difficult to forget…” Mikazuki admits in a frank tone, his gaze lowering to the ground.

To be honest, he should be long used to seeing Orga’s naked body — inside the football team’s locker room, whenever they visit the public baths together, in their shared, non-air-conditioned apartment during the hottest summer days. It had been nothing out of the ordinary during those times, but this is something entirely different.

No matter what, he cannot wash away the image of Orga on that advertisement poster from his mind. Is he broken somewhere inside?

Orga’s face displays a hint of despair as he squeezes his eyes close and turns his head away.

“That sort of outrageous and undignified appearance… You must be… pretty damn disappointed, huh?”

“Not at all.” The dark-haired youngster shakes his head fiercely, and his gaze returns to his companion’s face. “It’s just…” He cannot find any fitting words or phrases.

During times like this, he especially admires the way Orga can use such a variety of sentences and adjectives to describe one lively and fascinating story after another, being able to accurately express his characters’ emotions with the most appropriate wording.

Yet it’s impossible for him to even properly describe his current feelings.

“It’s just…” Mikazuki repeats once more, and then pauses. He stares at Orga’s face from the side as he anxiously entangles himself in a game of hide-and-seek with the perfect adjective in his head.

At this moment, Orga turns towards him, his cheeks still tinting red and his topaz irises staring straight at him with deep concern.

Mikazuki gives up on logic and reasoning, just simply reaches out with both of his hands and cradles the other man’s face before pressing his lips against Orga’s.

The moment Mikazuki’s lips touches his own, Orga’s brain crashes for the second time that day.

“That side of Orga is very adorable!” As if he’s stolen Orga’s ability to poetically express himself through the kiss, Mikazuki finally finds the descriptive phrase he’s been searching for, but the way he phrases it is still the typical Mikazuki-style: concise and sharp.

As for the man who’s had his ability stolen, his power to speak has also been lost.

Orga’s memory after that becomes a bit blurry; he has no idea how he got on the public transit, walked up the stairs, and entered their residence.

When they finally return to the small apartment that let them both feel at ease, Orga steps into his bedroom, shuts the door behind him, and gradually slides down onto the floor with his back against the door and his head in his hands. His tall stature curls into a tight ball of nerves, his face burrowed between his knees.

And then he soundlessly screams.

‘Dear— God —!’

-

Having maintained his cocoon position in the darkened room for god knows how long, Orga hears someone knocking on his door.

Knocking is merely a polite gesture, and since the door is unlocked, it’s pushed open immediately.

Mikazuki sticks his head in to look around, and notices that the light in the bedroom is not on, either.

“Already asleep?” He murmurs to himself, but realizes that the bed is empty. “Eh? Orga?” He blindly searches for the light switch by the door and flicks it on. Only then does he discover the tall young man curled up in one corner of the room, as if he’s pretending to be a silkworm readying himself for metamorphosis.

“Ah… Mika?” The sudden onslaught of brightness momentarily blinds him, and Orga raises his arm to shield his eyes while glancing towards the doorway at his roommate. “You haven’t gone to bed yet?”

It’s probably past midnight now, isn’t it? He looks at the clock, which indicates that it’s fifteen minutes to twelve o’clock.

“You didn’t come out of your room, and I got a bit worried, so I just want to check up on you before going to sleep.” Mikazuki appears to have already washed up, donned in his pajamas and his hair still a bit wet from the shower.

“Uh… It’s nothing, just… I just wanted to calm myself down a bit…” The silver-haired young man rests his head on his knees again and stares at the wall before him. A moment later, he starts, his voice a little coarse, “You know… Mikazuki…”

“What?”

“That… Just now… Was that a joke?” He doesn’t dare look at him, his gaze still firmly focused on a specific spot on the wall as he asks.

“Just now?” Mikazuki blanks out for a second, and then suddenly says, “Oh, you mean when I kissed you?”

For whatever reason, Mikazuki’s easy and casual tone makes Orga feel a slight pang inside, but he nods forcefully regardless.

“It wasn’t a joke,” the dark-haired youth says in a calm yet undeniable voice, and steps into the room. He walks to where Orga is and kneels down before him, “I can’t quite describe it, but Orga, you looked really lovely then.”

The lanky youth who’s just been praised as ‘lovely’ suddenly raises his head, his cheeks quickly tinted red. Slightly frowning, he returns his gaze to the face of the boy before him.

“When Orga looked at me that way, my brain just stopped functioning,” Mikazuki continues, not a trace of hesitation in his blue eyes, “so I just naturally went for the kiss. Is… is that not okay?” When the question comes out, he finally shows a hint of confusion. Things like kissing should only be done between a boy and a girl — Mikazuki still has some common sense in that regard, at least.

Orga’s throat makes a noise, and then he’s hiding his face against his arm while stuttering in a muffled voice. “T-This…”

“But even now, I still have that same feeling…” The young man’s clear voice seems more subdued and hoarser than usual as he leans forward, both hands flanking the sides of Orga’s legs. He shuffles closer, his face nearing Orga’s forehead. “Hey Orga, is there something wrong with me?”

As if an electrifying current has run through his spine, Orga feels his breathing stutter, and when he looks up once more, his gaze meets with Mikazuki’s intensely blue ones. His hair still smells of the lavender shampoo he uses, and his breath has a waft of mint from the toothpaste; the pleasant combination of these scents is enough to intoxicate Orga.

“I’m the one… who has something wrong,” he croaks, lifting his left hand and placing it on Mikazuki’s cheek. There’s only a thin layer of breath between their lips, “I’m really… getting out of line…”

Mikazuki doesn’t wait for him to continue.  

Unlike the mere close-mouthed kiss that they shared on the street from before, his lips are slightly parted as his tongue darts out to lick Mikazuki’s lower lip. Mikazuki understands the implication immediately and opens his mouth in return, allowing the other man to invade the insides with his tongue, suck on his lip, lick against his teeth, his upper jaw, or letting their tongues tangle to invite the other to do the same.

It’s not difficult for Mikazuki, who can quickly learn anything as long as he puts his mind to it, to naturally master such a modest skill. Soon, he’s able to regain the initiative of the kiss; he even presses Orga’s back against the wall behind him.

He doesn’t notice when he has his hands on Orga’s knees as he nudges his legs apart so that it opens up a small gap for his lithe frame to slip in between when he shifts forward. Their bodies lightly brush against each other’s due to their delicate movements; they can both sense each other’s hearts beating and thrumming hard and fast through the contact of their skin.

Settling close, Mikazuki’s hand slides along Orga’s slender legs through the material of his pants until he reaches Orga’s upper thigh.

This movement is going slightly beyond Orga’s limit, and he struggles to grab hold of Mikazuki’s wrist, forcing himself to turn his head away from the kiss and gasping out, “W-wait, Mika.”

“Wait for what?” The passionate kisses paint a shade of pink across Mikazuki’s snowy-white skin. He stares innocently at Orga’s reddened lips, kiss-swollen and wet, before he leans his body forward again, wanting to continue what they’ve been doing.

“B-Before we do something like this, we should… um… should, that’s right, we should first calm down,” he mumbles incoherently, his hands braced on Mikazuki’s shoulders to make sure he remains at arm’s length.

“…Impossible.” Mikazuki attempts to adjust his breathing, but his body is like a wind-up string on a bow, and so he won’t be able to comply with Orga’s request.

“Let me finish first…” the silver-haired youth steadfastly grips onto the other man’s shoulders and ducks his head, “I still…”

“Do you not like this, Orga?” he freezes, and his gaze drops down in dismay.

“No, that’s not it,” Orga shakes his head in chagrin. Speaking of body reactions, his current situation isn’t any better, but… “I don’t know… how I should face you if we were to keep going with this.”

“Why?” Mikazuki’s eyes widen, glancing at him with a perplexed expression.

“That advertisement — that sort of ridiculous and shameful appearance… I didn’t plan on letting you see that side of me at all…” Orga retrieves one of his hands and covers his face, his gaze straying away from Mikazuki’s face. He can’t possibly look directly into the other man’s eyes while he’s saying these words. “That… image was the photographer’s deliberate intent to evoke the audiences’ feelings. So, if you wanted… to do that now… um… there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s my fault.”

“Orga…”

“However, if this is merely your momentary desire…” his shoulders become taut and rigid as he bites his lip, desperate fingers seizing his own hair, “after that, I have absolutely no idea… what kind of an expression I should confront you with in the end…”

Mikazuki’s mouth opens, but no words come out. He hasn’t even considered this kind of question before, let alone being able to give a reply.

He shuffles back and sits on his heels, allowing his lust-addled brain to calm down a little.  

The atmosphere in the room becomes stiflingly heavy.

The first to interrupt this silence is the clock’s clang signifying midnight.

“It’s already Christmas, huh?” Orga lifts his head to glance at the clock on the wall, and feeling a sense of guilt, he returns his gaze back to Mikazuki, who remains seated on the floor, his head lowered in deep thought. It’s all because of his immaturity that causes Mikazuki to fall into such a dilemma. “Sorry, Mika,” he apologizes in a pained tone. Under normal circumstances, he would already be ruffling his hair or enveloping him in an embrace, but now, he’s afraid to initiate the simplest of physical contacts. “I’ve screwed up this Christmas eve. I’m really sorry. You should go back to your room and sleep.”

“Orga,” Mikazuki lifts his head, his face returning to his usual impassiveness, but his irises contain a different array of colours, “I want you, Orga, and it’s not just a momentary desire either.”

“Eh…?” The silver-haired youth’s body stiffens.

“I’ve always wanted you — always. But I’ve been so stupid and never realized,” his eyes are half-masted, the shadows of his lashes darkening the blue of his irises, “You’ve always been by my side, smiling at me, satisfying my every whim, and forgiving me even when I’ve done stupid things… And so it becomes natural to feel that Orga belongs to me and I thought that I understand everything about you.”

Orga wants to say something, but discovers that his voice has stopped working again.

“So, the moment I saw that photo… at first, I was really shocked, and then I was a bit… pissed off?” He tilts his head slightly to the side, trying to think of a more appropriate word.

“Pissed off… huh?” Orga lowers his head and heaves a sigh, “of course, that sort of shameful appearance has disappointed you, hasn’t it?”

“No way! It’s because… no one has ever seen that side of Orga before, and I wasn’t the first to get to see you that way, even though I’m the one closest to you…” As he’s telling him this, Mikazuki gradually relaxes his fingers from the fist he’s formed. “After that, my brain started acting very strangely…” He puts his hand on the floor and braces himself as he leans forward, quietly approaching Orga.

“I… want you, Orga,” he murmurs once more, one hand placed on the young man’s knee, “If I’ve realized this sooner, I would’ve been the first person to see that side of Orga…” At this point, his tone has become that of a child’s whiny complaint.

But with every sentence and every word culminating into heat that gathers in Orga’s abdomen, his breathing quickens and becomes uneven.

“Hey, Orga…” Mikazuki’s voice is coming from somewhere too close, his hands are already braced against the other man’s chest, the blue in his eyes darkening from desire, “…can we?”

Orga breathes in deeply, burying his face in his palms.

‘I’m such an idiot!’ he scolds himself silently.

When he pulls his hands away from his face, he sees Mikazuki staring at him, his face uncharacteristically nervous. He wants to say something, yet every time he tries to open his mouth, nothing intelligible will come out. Seeing as Mikazuki grows more and more uneasy almost to the point of looking like he’s in despair, Orga finally clenches his jaw and points a finger at the bed adjacent to them.

“L-let’s get on the bed,” his face reddens and says, abashed, “the floor is too hard…”

-

T/L: Legit nsfw content for next chapter yippee!

#gundam: iron-blooded orphans #mikaoru #mikaorga #orumika #orgamika #ibo #bowie's translations

[takerfoxx]

“Fires of the Sun, Part 5″ Thoughts

It's a little hard to look back at these chapters months later and try to remember exactly when and why I made some of the decisions I made. However, for Utsuho, I'm pretty sure she got a major promotion from satellite character who'd show up maybe once an arc and be all nice and endearingly dumb to sort of the secondary hero of Fires of the Sun mainly because I loved her speech to Rin so much. Hell, depending on where you stand on Rin as an anti-hero, Utsuho really is the most classically heroic. Characters really can surprise you sometimes, and in this case she fully won me over just by being a genuinely good person who reached out to Rin when she had no good reason to. It sort of makes me want to have more interactions with those two in the future, though at this point I really have no idea how.

Another reason for her upgrade was me scrapping another, darker storyline. The original plan following The Storm was to have Yuuka release Satori from her crystal and then go on methodically torture her by forcing horrific images into her head over a course of several weeks, mostly for shits and giggles. I ended up not having room for that during this arc, and was going to just push it up to the next one, with Yuuka having managed to hang onto Satori's crystal after Elly rescued her, but in the end I just got rid of it entirely. I dunno, I know it's a dark fic and all that, but seriously, at what point do things just get cruel for the sake of it? I couldn't think of any of any real outcome for that sideplot other than to show how much of a monster Yuuka was, and we'd already had plenty of that. And with FotS ending on a bittersweet note, I wanted one unambiguously happy ending. So despite being betrayed and abandoned by Sakuya, she stepped up, took charge, fought her way through Yuuka's remaining plants (while dropping shoutouts to Wargames and The Last Starfighter along the way. Yay classic sci-fi!), stood her ground, and saved the day for her team, none of which lost any members and all of which came to finally respect her. So, yay Utsuho!

Rin's ongoing fight with Yuuka started with a scene that I almost scrapped as well but was able to use after all: albeit under somewhat different circumstances. Like I mentioned a few days ago, I had this one scene planned where Yuuka's just beating Rin to a pulp, Rin starts to feel that since she can't adapt she can't keep taking those blows, only for her to realize that she had at least built up an incredible tolerance for pain and managed to finally get up, stop Yuuka cold, and then pretty much start slamming her back and forth into the walls and floor like a Looney Tunes cartoon. Then I think the mob was supposed to break through the ground and send everything into chaos or something. Well, the whole fighting through the pain thing ended up happening way earlier when Yuuka was zapping her with the ring, and the mob thing ended up ending in a completely different manner due to reasons that I no longer remember (I think I wanted to avoid further distractions and just keep the final sequence between Rin, Yuuka, and Flandre). And as a result, I almost dropped Rin playing Whack-a-mole with Yuuka's body as well. But it snuck in, and Rin got to drive her through a bunch of pillars to boot. So, yay violence!

I got more of a kick out of Sir Fly than I expected. The dude is just so gentlemanly! And I got to wrap up the whole bug thing in a satisfactory manner. So yeah, always happy to see investments pay off. Though come to think of it, I could have given them a better exit. I just checked the next chapter, and there's like one sentence making mention of them leaving and that's it. Oh well.

Though by the by, Yuuka's screechy flower minions (which were a callback to the flowers that taunted Team Nineball when they first arrived in Yuuka's mansion, waaaaaaaay back in God I don't even remember) are totally patterned after Mad Dummy from Undertale. Hey, I didn't get to include Undyne, so I had to make it up to myself somehow. Besides, Undertale was all the rage back then.

And yes, it made me giggle to smash Rin through the fountain and have it pour water on her butt. Because I'm an adult.

One recurring problem I did have through this whole thing was the fact that Flandre was sort of kept in the dark about Patchouli's death. Hell, I didn't get to fit in her finding out about the SDM gang even being there until the previous chapter, and that took some forcing (at least I got a Rin/Flandre hug out of it). Granted, Rin had a lot on her plate at the time and just didn't have time to break the news to her. Or rather, I didn't have the room for a fully emotional breakdown on Flandre's part. I made the time for her to react to Sakuya's supposed "death" here because, well, things were wrapping up and it needed to be dealt with. I eventually decided to tie that final bombshell with Sakuya's later attempt on Rumia's life, even though I knew Flandre's reaction would make the scene messy, but more on that later.

Rin's reaction to getting stabbed with the mordite knife took some work. RoSD already established that Hourai Immortal's freedom from death was absolute, so of course nobody was going to die, but I wanted to drive home just how incredibly potent even that small speck imbued into steel was. The little trip back into RoSD did that nicely, with the little monologue on pain and showing that not even Kaguya and Mokou could withstand the agony, even as deep down as they were. I think I wanted to also show Nue and Mamizou being affected as well, but cut that for being sort of redundant. Or something. However, looking back on these chapters, I did make sometime of a mistake. I wanted to have one last Kaguya and Mokou at the end, showing them waking up just fine on the beach, bitching at each other over what had happened, and Kaguya storming away in an angry huff. But…I seem to have forgot. So…whoops.

Anyway, I had to keep redoing Rin's own internal monologue so it wasn't a rehash of Kaguya's. In hindsight it was a little long, especially since Kaguya already covered the essentials. But that's all right, because right after that I got to do one of my favorite things: go into my Chekov's armory, grab some long-forgotten plot device, and bring it back in horrifying fashion! Here, it's Yuuka's ability to read souls through staring into people's eyes. Why she doesn't use it more often, I don't know, nor am I motivated enough to bullshit a reason. Regardless, the last (and only) time she used it was to fact check Rin's history and subject her to a bunch of painful flashbacks. Here it was a little more abstract. Instead of memories, she went for baggage. She essentially fused Rin and Flandre's minds together and put them through a series of…I dunno, hallucinations? Nightmares? Well, representations of what burdened them the most. The first, in which they're strapped down and unable to stop Eirin from experimenting on Rumia showed how helpless they often felt, despite their immense power. The second, in which they stood trial, was more on the guilt they carried for the many and many innocent people they had accidentally hurt or even killed, and their fear that everyone would eventually turn on them because of it. And the last was their fear of being alone, of being locked up and abandoned in the dark like they had been for so long, and how much they preferred death to such a fate. Damn, I am so glad I ended up pairing them off, because they really do have a LOT in common. Though on a side-note, I did have a scene in mind in which a gate to Hell would open up in the darkness and suck up that crystal coffin, leading to it to fall into a giant eye made of fire, which would then transition into the giant Yuuka that taunted them. Why didn't I go through with it? Because I was really tired and creatively spent and just wanted to get this chapter up already. Looking back, I now wish I had just gone through with it and made it work, because it would have been a cool way to bridge things.

Flandre's childish crush on Marisa harkens back to the single scene they shared, in which an over-enthusiastic Flandre almost glomps Marisa to death. At the time it was just a funny bit, but once again it ended up paying off as a long-term investment where I got to show why Flandre likes Marisa so much. It's because Marisa was nice to her, when no one else was. She showed her a small, kind gesture that the witch probably forgot about a moment later but ended up meaning the world to Flandre. And it gave her the will to push back against Yuuka, and force her into a tour of her own greatest failures: the moment she was initially ejected from Yidhra (which was a total BITCH to write), completely with Nyarly making a little cameo, followed by Yuuka's first failed attempt to fit in with humans, and then showed that initial fourth wall break from her POV and capping things off with the moment in which Marisa fully broke her spirit by simply refusing to give her the satisfaction. And on a meta sense, we then get to see the moment she's finally kicked off the center stage, with Rin and Flandre literally dragging her out of the spotlight. A quick montage of everyone else wiping out the rest of the Mykr's Sirens follows (and I never want to see those again, let me tell you), and Rin finally gets to deliver (for her at least) the final blow. By saying "kyuu."

Hey, it's a Touhou fic. You have to make some allowances.

[martywurst]

My First and Worst Year: Producing A Show

I get caught up in the gossip. Shitting on comedians that I barely know. I'm trying to stop that. Early on, I was one those guys that would say something negative because I was trying to start a dialogue and reinforce any negative feelings I had about someone. Usually based in nothing; maybe one lousy first impression or through the grapevine on Facebook. Unfortunately, talking shit is a major way to bond with other inexperienced comics. A lot of miserable, sarcastic, unmotivated, boring comics. Or 10+ year comics that bitch about how unfair everything is. They can't talk to you for 30 seconds without shitting on something.

Now I know that's not me. I never feel good about it and it never helps.

The comics I look up to are modest, rarely say anything bad about anyone because they're just focused. They don't feed the fire. I'd rant about something and they wouldn't have anything to add to it. Maybe something along the lines of,

"Yeah, that can happen," kind of response.

I'd see the look on their face. I'm the problem.

I was the same way in Junior High. Picking on the popular kids and being obnoxious because I was so desperate to be a part of their circle. Afraid to be myself. Afraid to put in that kind of work.

I'll be obsessed with some idiot for hours on a Facebook thread, so tempted to participate in the attack, but where is it going to get me? Fuck, I could've written something. I should be writing jokes now, but I think I know something about blogging and comedy! I feel like I'm just regurgitating boring opinions that have been voiced on hundreds of podcasts already, I'll try to pepper this section up! Check out this sweet ass pimp kitty vest!

 I always want to prove myself to other comics. An audience of strangers is always amazing, but I do feel the pressure of an all-comic mic. It's way too important to me. I don't want to be written off, I know I can be funny. Maybe not the last 20 times you saw me, but I'll get there, don't write me off!

When I had a decent set in front of someone I respected, I felt like I could check that off. Okay, that person doesn't think I'm a piece of shit anymore. I proved myself. Getting closer to being an actual comic! Every good set is a stepping stone. My bad sets would just temporarily render me useless. Instead of doing my homework and adjusting, I would just write something new or beat a bad joke into the ground. Maybe it'll work the 27th time.

"The people that go to Burning Man only need these two words to communicate: Burning...man!"

*crickets slashing wrists*

I bombed in front of Sean Conroy and took it kind of hard. Intimidating dude, (like the Ron Perlman of improvisation) he was sitting in the front row at Echoes Under Sunset with his arms crossed, waiting for his set and just watching me hang myself. He'd probably seen a thousand variations of the heckler character I was doing. I picked on him in character, but he wouldn't roll with it. Why would he? It was more fun to watch me squirm.

Every time I asked him a question he would answer,

"Sure."

Which is sort of the "fuck you" version of "yes and,"  It's an improv thing.

I was berating the audience for being a bunch of hipsters. Yelling out,

"Well I got something for ALL OF YOU!"

Then I started handing out free coffee coupons from a local coffee shop. Sean politely declined.

I had my bombing routine where I would call up Claire afterwards and tell her I just ate shit. Or who I ate shit in front of. She would convince me that it was okay, everybody bombs, and remind me that I'd had good sets before. She would tell me that she loved me and make me feel better about what had happened. Oh, there is life after tomorrow, I forgot! Thanks, baby!

Claire understands the grind. She's a fan of a lot of the people I look up to and we listen to a lot of the same podcasts now. She got into Jen Kirkman and The Longshot Podcast early on and now she subscribes to more comedians than I do. We went to Power Violence and a number of shows at The Improv. Pete Holmes, Todd Glass, Ron Lynch, Eddie Pepitone, Maron, Sebastian, Ian Edwards, and Tig- we love Tig. She pushed me to go on the road. She encouraged me to stop using the train and take her car instead. She makes this all possible. It's unbelievable. She even made cookies when I produced my own show.

I'd done a couple of shows at The Lexington with Tony Bartolone where I did some character stuff. I played a wrestler, a heckler that takes on Mr. Goodnight and a squarish Steve Allen type talk show host. Anyway, the owner liked me enough and said if I ever wanted to use the space, hit him up.

Tony was nice enough to help me too, he ran sound for me. Uggh, I didn't even give him a fucking spot and he ran sound for me- that's how great a guy he is and how SELFISH I can be.

 I think the best thing in comedy after doing standup is booking your own show. Reaching for the stars, pulling in friends, what a great position to be in! Compiling a fantasy list of mostly male comics and shooting them a message on Facebook.

So if you're a new comic wondering, how the hell do I get booked on a show?

Well, a moron like me could accidentally see you at an open mic and then end up liking you! And I'm the guy who did a shitty set before you, remember? You never know who could be running shows.

Most people got back to me pretty quick. Comedians love a full calendar. 

I adored The Walsh Brothers. So original and twisted. They blew my mind at TigerLily and I finally met the guys through a mutual friend.

Brian Scolaro was someone I had talked to outside of The Comedy Store. He's one of the first comics to give me any kind of advice,

"Don't move To Long Beach."

I was a fanboy of Dean Delray. I heard Matty Goldberg on Danny Lobell's podcast and dug his book about his friendship with Angelo Bowers. Ron Babcock was one of the friendly guys on the scene, loved his standup. I'd worked on a webseries with Paul Danke. Just met a lot of the other comics at open mics. I worked with Jeanne Whitney at Arclight Hollywood and we started standup around the same time. I watched Timika Hall do her first set at Echoes Under Sunset and she was great! Ester Steinberg cracked me up at The Palace and then I wanted to book her after I saw this sketch. She just happened to be hanging out with Neel Nanda when I was booking him, so I got both of them right then and there.

Robert Vertrees was brand new like me, but I just dug his story.

I knew I'd never have to worry about Ken Garr.

Just read his awesome blog entry "One Year Later and Why I Should Quit"

I should've taken note and made my blog shorter! That dude is a complete professional and will never hesitate to give you his tour dates at the MGM in Las Vegas.

Jak Knight was edgy and exciting. Jon Durnell was the best thing about a bringer show I did at the Formosa. I didn't even know Lisa Landry, but Brian asked if she could be on. Same thing with Kevin James Moore, a buddy of Matty's.

  Maagic Collins is one of the kindest souls I've ever met. I love his standup. He would show up to my afternoon Tribal mic on Saturdays. Very supportive guy.

I think I saw Rick Wood at Power Violence and he just blew me away.

Anyway, you get the fucking point, this was just an excuse to drop everyone's links. Jesus Christ.

One time I made the amateur mistake of messaging too many people at once and then having to tell one comic I'd put them on the next show. I got a lot of grief for that and I was pulling my hair out. I was getting a guilt trip from the disappointed comic and now I didn't want to book him at all. It was totally my fault, but I was just getting through the learning curve. Book carefully, and wait for your damn responses.

Another recurring thing that kept coming up is a comic wanting to bring a friend for a guest spot. It's a good rule of thumb to keep a spot open for a possible drop-in. Or just book less comics Marty. Aren't you glad you paid $200 for this helpful comedy workshop tip?

I was also planning on doing all these wacky sketches and transitions that had nothing to do with the stand-up comedy. I wanted to make it an event. I asked Chris Walsh if we could have an extended dialogue where the Walsh Brothers get in an argument with me and then pretend to shoot me from the audience...so now I'm suddenly on the level of The Walsh Brothers! Proposing bits. Chris was really nice about it and declined in the best way possible. He made me realize that I should only work on the hosting- not all this extra dressing. I'd be stressed out enough. Plus, The Walsh Brothers have their own thing going on and it's hilarious.

Claire helped me with some basic PR stuff; shooting out emails to various websites with LA calendars of events. Lot of people check online for free entertainment. I hit up LA Weekly early enough to get this delightful blip:

Did I pay anyone? I paid Dean Delray. I paid Brian Scolaro. It seems a little unfair now, I had The Walsh Brothers, Ron Babcock, Paul Danke, and Matty Goldberg, who all have a shitload of experience.

I got this dumb idea that I should write thank you notes to everyone else. Looking back, I gave comedians false hope of money in those envelopes, only to find a badly scrawled "thank you" with some shitty stick figure doodles. At least there were cookies at the gig.

Brian mentioned the 50 bucks onstage and I was really embarrassed. It exposed the inner-workings of my inexperience and that I was holding out on everyone else. I think I would do it differently now, but it was a free show.

Tony watched me have a mini-meltdown. I was stressing out because there was a band that was booked on a show immediately after and it was clear that I was going to run over their time. I thought if I gave up my own set and kept bringing the next comic up, we'd finish on time without cutting anyone's sets down.

Tony explained to me that I shouldn't of worried about that, that it was worse to bring the comics up cold. It's better to keep the audience warmed up, but I was hopping back on stage saying,

"Give it up for Ron Babcock, and now let's keep it moving- Matty Goldberg!"

I didn't get it. I thought running over my time would fuck things up and I'd never get to do a show again. I shouldn't of booked so many comics anyway- Paul Danke was going on dead last, and he'd been waiting around so long, I felt horrible. I should buy his album.

So don't sacrifice your time for the sake of the next show- be a good host, Wurst.

But that first show had a great turnout, especially for The Lexington. The comics were kind of impressed. That extra leg work paid off.

I remember I wanted to bring Dean Delray up to a Led Zeppelin song and I kept bothering Tony about it when the order changed. Then when the music came up, Dean was clearly stoked and that little moment meant a lot to me.

On his way out he yelled,

"Congratulations on your 1st year of stand up!"

Speaking of which, I asked Melina Paez if I could be in her "DropTheSoapTV" series, where comics do stand-up in her shower. It was a fun way to cap off my first year.

Okay, that was rather manic. Just a couple steps away from Denis Leary- uggh. Anyway, I STOPPED doing that. Here's a message to myself as I time-travel back to the shower,

Horrible jokes, asshole! Your taint is hilarious by the way.

I just want to thank the people that encouraged me or gave me useful information when I started bumbling my way through open mics that first year (July 2013-2014)

Brett Gilbert, Ric Rosario, Matty Goldberg, Tony Bartolone, Jason Van Glass, Ron Babcock, Dean Delray, Chris Walsh, Matt Walsh, Danny Lobell, Mollie Gross, Melina Paez, Brian Scolaro, Jamie Flam, Jeremiah Watkins, Mike Celestino, Justin Alexio, Neel Nanda, Mikey de Lara, Paul Danke, Ari Mannis, Lydia Robinson, Ryan Doolittle, Maagic Collins, Don Barris, Elissa Rosenthal, Rob Antus, K-von, Jarrett and Emily Galante, Christiane Georgi, Hiro Matsunaga, Greg James, Carly Craig, Matthew Hilton, Sally Mullins, Matt Sauter, Matt Gamarra, Donald McKinney, Ryan Kain, Jeremy Fultz, Del Weston, Derick Armijo, Alisha Morine, Nicole Malina, Devon Schwartz, Andy Salamone, Barbara Gray, Sean Conroy, Myles Weber, Ricky Winston, Frankie Ma, Rishi Arya, Brandon Birckz, Sean K., Mike Menendez, Jamar Neighbors, Mr. Goodnight, Erica Rhodes, Matt Champagne, David Gerhardt, The Martin Duprass, John Silver, Ryan Pfeiffer, Kevin Anderson, Whitney Melton, Kym Kral, Jared Levin, Kenneth Lion, Alex Croll, Adam Carr, Trevor James, Deon Williams, Amber Brashear, Pat Regan, Brad Silnutzer, Rob Weissman, Marty, Graham Curan, Eddie Pepitone, Quincy Johnson, Blythe Metz, Willie Dynamite, Freddy Morales, Marcela Perdomo, Nick Kaufman, Atelston Fitgerald Holder The 1st, Bruce Boiman, Tom Allen, Melissa Villasenor, Maria Bamford, Todd Glass, Lou Perez, Allison Anders, Jeremy Bassett, Tony Alfieri, Laura Niles, Tamoy Sherman, Chaliss Robinson, Eddie Whitehead Jr, Brent Weinbach, Jill Maragos, Jodi Miller, Luz Pazos, Brianna Murphy, Sasha Kapustina, Alain Villenueve, Brad James, Lauren Kiang, Yoav, Ken Garr, David Gregorian, Jordan Leer, Stefano Della Pietra, Down Under Comedy Club, Mike Garrison, Brad and Sara Harris, Thomas Hussey, Harold, Chino, Tiffany Gomes, Simon Gibson, Joe Wagner, Scott Luhrs, Jay Weingarten, Joe Kardon, Pedro Salinas, Willie Dynamite, Robert Vertrees, Amber Kenny, Karah Britton, Alison Tafel, David Hill, Andy Kosec, Micah Lile, Chris Putro, Kris Rubio, Jade Thom, Brodie Reed, Ryan Talmo, Kevin Lee, Kellie Ann, Jeanne Whitney, Jake Kroeger, Nikki Riordan, Tim Mars, Christian Chavez, Jake Adams, Louise Hung, Michael Donato, my Geffen peeps, all my Arclight friends, Stella friends, childhood friends and family that came out to support.

Or if you're just generally nice to me thanks. You gave me the strength to go out and bomb one more time.

Shout out to Mike Celestino's great documentary "That's Not Funny".

and finally To Claire:

For every time I called you up to moan out my discontent, only to be dissuaded from my stubborn misery because of your constant light, love, and gentle reasoning.

For those open mics you'll never be able to unsee.

I love you more than open mic comedians love pussy jokes.

And as you know, that's a hell of a lot.

#standupcomedy #myfirstandworstyear #Marty Wurst #martywurst #standupcomedyblog #thelexington #echoesundersunset #tonybartolone #jamieflam #brianscolaro #jondurnell #jakknight #estersteinberg #rickwood #deandelray #timikahall #jeannewhitney #mattygoldberg #neelnanda #kengarr #maagiccollins #thewurstcomedyshow #thewurstcomedy #firstyearcomedian #lisalandry #thewalshbrothers

[recentanimenews]

Peter's Fall 2018 Anime Premiere Recommendations

It feels like only yesterday I was writing this article for the winter season and I’m already giving my recommendations for the final season of the year. 2018 has been another great anime and fall looks to be ready to close it out in style with some returning fan favorite series like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, Golden Kamuy, Sword Art Online Alicization, and Fairy Tail, but there are a ton of new series that are already showing a ton of promise.

Having watched every single premiere so far I have, as usual, found a bunch of gems among the many anime getting their start this season. Here are my top 5 recommendations for fall 2018 based entirely on their first episode!

Run With the Wind

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this series that came into the season with so little fanfare but wow was it visually stunning. I tend to have a soft spot for sports series--it’s keeping me around that’s the hard part--but even beyond my personal proclivities, every single moment of the episode felt so beautifully orchestrated, even fitting in some awesome animation in between a considerable number of character introductions. A penniless thief who relies on his speed for quick getaways finding himself the newest member an all-male dorm about to be coerced by one of their members into running an insane marathon is certainly a strange premise. I don’t want to set expectations too high, but I’m getting some major A Place Further than the Universe vibes.

ZOMBIE LAND SAGA

The production committee played things super close to the chest in advance of this anime, giving out almost zero information about the show beyond some key art, title, and the insane ramblings of its lead voice actor Mamoru Miyano. What might normally be considered a bad business move feels like genius now. Coming into this show cold is probably the perfect way to experience it, which puts me in a rough spot sharing why it’s so good. Read on only if you don’t mind spoilers or, just trust me on this one, and watch it. It’s got all the makings of an idol anime except for the unfortunate death of the lead which leads to her pursuing her passion posthumously and necessitates a musical genre shift to death metal. It’s crazy funny, defies your expectations multiple times, and I still have no idea what to expect next.

SSSS.GRIDMAN

The first thing I thought when watching Gridman for the first time was “this doesn’t feel anything like a TRIGGER anime,” which might be a dealbreaker for a lot of people, but stick with me. I eventually did see a bit of that TRIGGER glimmer in the character designs and their interactions, but much of the first episode felt very muted and atmospheric. A lot of time was given to unnerving shots of urban decay matched alongside dialogue from the main characters that was decidedly pessimistic and the silhouette of a massive kaiju standing over the city. Then the episode finishes with a massive tokusatsu-style battle with all the kids coming together and using their unique talents to save the day. It was a huge shift, but the transition felt so natural and… right? I’m not usually a tokusatsu fan and TRIGGER has talked up the new techniques they’re going to be experimenting with on this anime, so I feel like I’m in for a lot more surprises.

That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime

Before I talk about this show, I want you to know I’m super burnt out on isekai anime. I felt like the only two I could still have any hope of looking forward to are anything Re:ZERO forever and the upcoming So I’m a Spider, So What? Basically the last thing I expected was to end up putting this anime in my top 5 recommendations, but here we are. Normally the first thing that happens to the main character after they’re taken to another world is they do something really impressive to show off how great they are and set the tone. Our newly born slime coming across a dragon who, locked in a cave for 300 years, was starved for company, resulting in some tsundere interactions where it tried to keep the main character around while maintaining its dignity, did two great things. It took the focus off the main character to indicate the author had things they wanted to do with the world itself and showed a really wicked sense of humor--the PC in the bathtub being a perfect punchline.

RADIANT

There are so many reasons to be excited about this show as the first anime adaptation of a widely read shonen manga originally published in French. The success of this  show could mean all sorts of things for the future of the Japanese manga and anime markets and I’m pretty damn excited, especially because the manga is good! Master scenario writer Makoto Uezu seems to be speeding toward to good parts as he cut a lot of fat off the first chapters and so far the animation looks to be doing some serious justice to Valente’s awesome art. As we’re headed into the first real fight, there’s not too much to report back on yet, so recommending this might be cheating a bit, but everything shows a ton of promise. For example, Romi Park plays the gruff, one-armed mentor. That alone would have me waiting in line for this anime.

Short Shout-out: Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san

Including this because there are always a few short anime each season that are criminally underwatched and, well, Honda-san was just that good. This easily digestible comedy short has a pretty self descriptive title, Honda works at a bookstore and is a skeleton. This may seem out of the ordinary but none of the customers seem too surprised and many of his coworkers are monster of some type so I guess we’re just supposed to accept it. Having to explain to a bewildered dad what “yaoi” means and figure out communication with foreigners looking to buy shonen manga and BL, on the other hand, feels like a very believable problem for his line of work and the comedic timing is perfect.

Those are my top 5--or 6--recommendations for the season, but they’re far from the only great premieres these past two weeks. For those looking for lighthearted laughs, Anima Yell!, Between the Sky and the Sea, and Ms. Vampire who lives in my neighborhood. all had great premieres. RErideD - Derrida, who leaps through time and Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai both made strong showings with some supernatural mystery. For those who want more fights need look no further than Hinomaru Sumo and DOUBLE DECKER! DOUG & KIRILL.

As always, I hope this list helped you find some new anime to fall in love with and, if I didn’t give your favorite shows the love it deserves, leave a comment to let others know! You might help someone else find their favorite anime of the season!

---

Peter Fobian is an Associate Features Editor for Crunchyroll, author of Monthly Mangaka Spotlight, writer for Anime Academy, and contributor at Anime Feminist. You can follow him on Twitter @PeterFobian.

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

[breegullbeakreviews]

Summary: When Spider-Man finally manages to get Kingpin locked up, a new threat emerges to push Spider-Man to his limits.

Overall: Spider-Man combines the game design of the Arkham games and Beenox’s Amazing Spider-Man with the presentation of an Uncharted game to deliver a good game. It is worth $60, but I don’t think it’s the best Spider-Man game.

Story: I’ve rewritten this section three times now. It’s very hard to talk about what I like or dislike without spoilers so if you want details check out my separate post.

What I can say without spoilers is that the story is disjointed, unbalanced, and not wholly original. That all being said when it goes in a new direction or gives its characters time to shine it is really good.

What do I mean the story is disjointed? Well that’s tied to the fact that the game’s story is also unbalanced. The meat of this story is back loaded into the game’s third act. Before that the game has a focus on Mr Negative but keeps jumping back and forth with unrelated stuff that doesn’t form into anything until the end. The third act is strong, but it revolves around a twist anyone who has a knowledge of Spider-Man can see coming at least half a mile away.

The third act also doesn’t feel super original. The character motivations and reasons for everything make sense, but the evil plan and even some of the late game missions feel like something I’ve already seen done before in other Spider-Man games. There was a lot of possibilities squandered by going the route they did even if it is sound on a thematic level.

Let’s close out on the good. Spider-Man jumps 8 years into Peter Parker being a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. While we skip a lot of material, the past isn’t entirely tried and true. Mary Jane is a reporter for the Daily Bugle who knows Peter is Spider-Man but they’ve broke up and this turns her relationship with Peter into one more inline with Nate and Elena of Uncharted which means Mary Jane is an actual character here. There are a lot of other changes that involve spoilers, but this one alone is one of the strongest examples of this story making smart changes with series conventions.

The characters are what make this story work. The criminal power vacuum plot while not previously seen in any Spider-Man game to my knowledge, isn’t particularly strong in carrying an interesting narrative since it quickly devolves into Peter and MJ trying to prove that Martin Li is Mr. Negative. In fact it’s less a power vacuum and more an opportunity for him to enact his plans. If the character or villain doesn’t have ties to Peter Parker, they don’t get time to develop as a character. This really hurts just about every villain in the game as they feel like and are often treated as lesser characters. I said we’d end on the good and we will. Insomniac’s focus on a story where Peter and Spider-Man’s worlds collide is played really damn well as it allows for interesting character dynamics and storytelling that hasn’t been in previous games. The emphasis on the story is hindered by the plethora of previous Spider-man tales this story draws inspiration from, but it’s still hard to say this isn’t the best story in any Spider-man game.

Movement: While I never reviewed it, from what I played of Insomniac’s Sunset Overdrive I felt was super stiff for a game about movement. That had me scared for Spider-Man. Luckily Insomniac had a lot of great games to look at when building this game and they took inspiration from them all.

Web swinging isn’t Spider-Man 2 levels of intricate, but it’s not your only form of transversal. In what feels some what reminiscent of The Amazing Spider-Man’s fancy cinematic web zipping, Spidey can zip to predefined point by tapping L2 and R2. You can web zip by tapping Cross in the air but what’s most impressive is when Spider-Man runs.

On the ground Spider-Man will parkour over obstacles as long as you’re holding R2. It’s fun to see Spidey flip over cars and fences. If Spidey gets high enough he’ll even transfer into a web swing, which is done by holding and releasing R2. On the walls is when Spidey is the most fun to control. Holding R2 will make Spidey run on the wall. Tapping X will give Spidey a web boost, and doing so as you reach the top of a building will propel Spidey over it. Running parallel to the ground doesn’t need to stop at the end of the building. Holding Circle will have Spidey swing around the side of the building.

The one time it’s not fun to control Spidey is when you are going slow. Trying to climb onto a ceiling is a slow process and navigating ledges in stealth feels stiff. Zipping helps in the stealth bits, but climbing walls doesn’t get that luxury. The difference in speed from basic wall crawling to wall running is night and day and led to me dashing out of cover on multiple occasions.

Overall it’s fun to move fast, but when it comes to precision Spider-Man feels like a tank.

Combat: Web of Shadows this is not. Combat feels like a less refined Arkham game. Spider-Man battles with dodges and gadgets, but it doesn’t feel like I can do whatever a spider can. Spider-Man has two forms of combat. You have the stealth stuff and the not so stealth stuff. Both have issues.

When Spider-Man is unabashedly bashing skulls the combat has one major problem, and that’s that the gadget system isn’t at all intuitive. Spider-Man’s default gadget is his web shooter’s rapid fire that can immobilize foes. It’s a good gadget. The issue is that if you want to use anything else you need to use a gadget wheel mid fight. There is no equivalent to Arkham’s hold a trigger and press a button to quickly pop off a gadget shot. This means you’ll almost never use them because it’s just not convenient too swap mid fight. It’s just a not a particularly intuitive system.

A more minor problem is that for me at least this combat system isn’t as fun as Web of Shadow. I know saying that is probably controversial but its how I feel. Web of Shadows was a game built around its combat and in my opinion it shined at that. The story was an excuse to create an endless stream of foes in numbers large enough that Spider-Man could literally hold a combo from one end of New York to the other. Fighting was also more than just on the ground. Enemies could fight you on the walls and in the sky and each of these could be transitioned between seamlessly and they all felt pretty unique with their own combos and a quick click of the stick would swap between the agile red and blue suit and the heavy hitting black suit. Is it fair to compare these two games? Maybe. Maybe not. I can’t help but compare them through as Web of Shadows is my favorite Spider-Man game.

The issue with the stealth is an issue with the movement. Spider-Man just doesn’t feel good to control when he’s moving slow or with precision. While Spider-Man has a lot more movement options than Batman does, he also has less gadgets and paths. Batman can swing from perch to perch, climb through vents, and generally sneak about. He’s got a massive amount of gadgets as well to aid in taking out his foes from the shadows and the amount of paths and variety of foes makes these sequences tense. Spider-Man does not have a variety of gadgets or paths. Spider-Man is slow and lumbering in the rafters, but as soon as he leaves them he’s helpless. Instead of paths of movement Spider-Man has planes of movement. Most of Spider-Man’s options are web related and most of them require staying up high since red and blue spandex sticks out in the shadows.

I wrote this above paragraph based on the game’s first stealth segment and I still stand by it once Spider-Man got more gadgets and could sneak around outdoors. Spider-Man is still helpless on the ground. Even outdoors when Spider-Man has the sky as his limit he can’t sneak under his foes. This system doesn’t feel like that much of an improvement over Amazing Spider-Man and those are some harsh words. The best stealth segments in the game are when you’re not playing as Spider-Man at all.

Side Content: As the story unfolds Spider-Man gains access to more and more side content. These include side missions which occasionally form there own multipart stories and some are just collectible hunts. All of these however have context. Even the races and combat arenas have context given which is something the Arkham game’s sort of half assed. Now that’s not to say all side content is equal, or that the way it’s dished out is okay.

Side missions are relatively meaty as are the hideouts. The latter are all replay-able so you can complete bonus objectives. I can’t say I’m as big a fan of the rest of the side content. Medal based challenge missions require near perfect play in all categories of play. Perfect and time efficient combat, stealth, and movement are a pain in the ass. I eventually settled for silvers across the board. The research stations are creative, but it feels like something is missing from them. They just feel hollow. The collectibles I like just fine. I don’t like how they are dolled out though.

All side content in this game is gated behind story progression. I’m fine with that for side missions. I’m not fine with challenges not popping up until half way through the game. I understand why the story related stuff is gated, but the other stuff generally doesn’t make sense being gated. My completionist tendency had me stopping the story constantly as this stuff is being opened up in waves. There has got to be a better way to handle these side missions than arbitrarily handing them out over the course of the story.

Trophies: Marvel’s Insomniac’s Spider-Man has a trophy list that is relatively simple to get. You will need to do a lot, just not everything.

Let’s get the negatives out of the way first. Way too much of this list is hidden trophies. Now some of them make sense as they’re spoilers, but a lot of them aren’t. Hiding story or spoiler stuff is fine, but is activating all the surveillance towers worth being a hidden trophy?

Outside that you can play on any difficulty and with smart saves or spending you don’t need to do every bonus objective or ultimate medal. Your most time consuming task is 100% completing the city which requires completing every thing in every district, and outside Central Park each district is packed.

#video games #review #marvel's spider-man #insomniac games #ps4