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neutral-emerald · 3 years

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SILVER THE COSMIC TIME-JANITOR (or: dude, what's with all the alternate futures)

silver the hedgehog has a very simple backstory. he's a kindhearted, sorta-naive but altogether very driven psychic hedgehog here to save the world by time-traveling to the past (also known as present-day) to prevent the apocalyptic future he was born into from coming to pass!

[ID: A screenshot of Silver from Sonic 06. He’s glowing with cyan energy as he flies over a dark, post-apocalyptic city.]

...wait, if he's time traveling 200 years into the past to completely change the shape of the timeline, how do the stars manage to align such that he manages to be born at the exact same point in the new timeline with the exact same genetics? how are his parents born? does silver have parents?? and how does he do this no less than THREE SEPARATE TIMES??!

hey everyone, i'm tumblr user neutral-emerald here to make good on the idea i vaguely gestured at yesterday and point out silver's wildly inconsistent backstory(s) and then explain to you how this isn't just sega playing hopscotch with the concept of time travel, but actually TOTALLY EXPLAINABLE if you don't mind a whole lot of conjecture and "fuck dude i just think it'd be cool."

LET'S GO.

before i get started, a few things to establish.

first, this is about… half serious, tops. it’s less of a theory and more of an observation of something that’s weird and then throwing some possible explanations at it because i am a massive sucker for time-based nonsense. if you wanna take my observations and build your own conclusions, go for it. i’m not your boss.

second, i'm basing my conclusions off of both the games and the idw comics. the conclusions i draw are applicable to either continuity, but the logic does rest a decent amount on the comics, so just a heads-up in case you were expecting pure game canon from this.

and third, i'm working off like half a brain and very intermittent checks of the wiki and cutscene compilations, so there's probably many things i'm missing! if you notice something i said was wildly off-base, go ahead and correct me in the replies and i'll either edit the post or explain to you just how that detail doesn't actually matter, depending on whether it. y'know. matters.

with that out of the way, let's get into the first topic of discussion!

part 1: the future is inconsistent, y'all

now, i'm not sure if you've heard, but in the year 2006 sonic team released this little indie game creatively entitled Sonic the Hedgehog. it was a smash hit, won countless awards, and for some reason went down in history as a messy, incomplete bugfest. but that's not what matters. what matters is that it introduced Silver the Hedgehog.

silver hails from 200 years in the future. the world is a bleak, fiery place, and has been since the monster iblis was unleashed after princess elise's death. silver was born into this world, which we know since it's literally the first thing he says in his story.

[ID: A cropped line from Silver's story in Sonic 06. "This world was devastated before I was born."]

i'm not going to drag you through a beat-by-beat summary of the entire plot of sonic 06, you should know it already. silver meets mephiles, gets lied to about who caused the apocalypse, mephiles yeets him and blaze into the past, he tries to murder Sonic the Hedgehog™, and so on. eventually he helps kill god, and then sonic and elise travel further back in time to kill god even deader so that none of the game ever happened, and the bad future into which silver was born never happened, thus thoroughly scrubbing silver's existence from the timeline!

...until.

sonic rivals.

i'm not going to speak much on sonic rivals, mostly because i'm not super familiar with it. but what matters is that silver is back! he's still from the future, he's still here to change the past, and most importantly he wasn't deleted from existence by the destruction of solaris, unlike everything else from sonic 06 including everyone's memories of it. and obviously, whatever state his future is in, it's not the same as it was in sonic 06.

now, i don't have a single clue what is going on in rivals 2, so do inform me if there's some big information i'm missing from that one. all i know is he's fixing yet another possible apocalyptic future, like always. correct me if i’m wrong, i don’t have the patience to trawl through it myself.

then we've got sonic colors, in which silver is again from the future. notably, he’s definitely not from an apocalypse!

[ID: Some screenshots from the DS version of Sonic Colors, again cropped to just the text. Tails and Silver are talking to each other.

Tails: What's the future you came from like, Silver? Silver: A lot brighter than this. Silver: The sky is blue, and everybody's got a smile.]

sonic generations doesn't add much. again, correct me if i'm wrong, but i don't think we learn anything about what kind of future silver is from, and he's definitely not here to fix it this time. that's sonic's job! he's just hanging out like everyone else.

now, up until this point the future has been reasonably consistent, setting aside my somewhat abstract understanding of the rivals games. there's nothing to say that silver's not coming back in time from the same point in a single timeline, which is the one and only version of the future ever since the destruction of sonic 06.

UNTIL.

[ID: Two panels from the comic Sonic Forces: Stress Test. In the first panel, Silver looks worried as he lands in front of Knuckles, who looks skeptical.

Silver: We've got big trouble! Eggman— Knuckles: How can you be here? I thought you returned to the future?

In the second panel, Knuckles looks away with a self-assured grin, while Silver looks more panicked.

Knuckles: Oh wait— I must be dreaming! Silver: What? No! I've come back with a dire warning from the future!]

i have a lot of issues with sonic forces, especially with how its story is written. something i do NOT take issue with is the supplemental comics, mainly because they are WONDERFUL evidence for my crackpot time travel theory.

like i said, up until this point we don't really know whether silver has been experiencing separate instances of the future, or simply traveling back in time to prevent an also-time-traveling eggman nega from messing things up in the past. but here, we get some very juicy information:

[ID: Knuckles and Silver again. Knuckles has his arms crossed and is looking at Silver, who has a nervous look on his face as he slams a fist on the palm of his other hand.

Knuckles: Come again? Silver: Something happens that brings the world to ruin! But the historical records are sparse or make no sense. I came back to hopefully head off whatever's about to happen and save the future.]

silver travels back in time to prevent a terrible apocalypse. this is not the beautiful future silver came from in sonic colors— but this is the same silver. everyone recognizes him. he recognizes everyone. and yet, the future he came from is different.

part 2: silver is a walking paradox

allow me to remind you of what i pointed out when i was talking about sonic 06. silver was born into the iblis-apocalypse. considering no elaborate timeline nonsense happened to him before the events of the game (by his reckoning) i think we can safely assume he was born like a regular person with parents.

in the first post-06 timeline, silver was probably also born. let's be charitable, acknowledge that sonic team doesn't overthink the butterfly effect like i do, and say that silver was born to the same parents, because the universe likes to keep things nice and simple and contrive itself to make this particular character exist in this time period.

so, it's entirely fair that silver comes to exist in a post-06 timeline at the equivalent point in time, aka 200 years in the future. it's also fair that he travels back in time to prevent some kind of apocalypse, because that's his narrative role! it's what he does. when it's time for him to exist in the story, that's what he's there to do.

what isn't fair is the fact that it keeps happening.

[ID: A panel from the IDW comics. Sonic is stretching his legs while looking faintly exasperated at Silver, who is nervously holding his arm.

Silver: Er… No. I came back because defeating Eggman didn't save the future. Sonic: Couldn't even play along. Had to bring the mood down. Sonic: *sigh* Okay, what happened this time?]

[ID: The following panel, cropped to just Silver's text bubbles narrating over a starry sky.

Silver: When I left, my time had been conquered by the Eggman Empire. Everyone lived in fear, choking on polluted air. Silver: When I went back, the Eggman Empire was gone— but so was everyone else. Silver: There was nothing left. No people, no animals, no machinery. Only water and sparse, metallic plant life.]

allow me to summarize my understanding of all this: silver is from the future. normally, the future is good. sometimes it isn't. when it isn't good, he goes back in time and fixes things, then returns to the future to check if that fixed things.

the least conjecture-y interpretation i can come up with is that sometimes silver will go into the past, then go back to the future but end up in a Bad Timeline and thus go into the past again to fix things. there's no weird warping directly between bad timelines, he only gets there by way of the past.

but that's boring, so here's my PREFERRED interpretation.

silver hails from a good future, but sometimes it just changes. he's unstuck from time— if something weird happens in the past, he's the only one to know that the passage of fate was changed, because he went to bed in one timeline and woke up somewhere categorically worse, and the only way he can fix it is by figuring out just what caused this and going back in time to fix it.

or, to say it in a meme:

[ID: A picture of someone lying in a hospital bed with a nurse standing next to them, edited so that Silver is in the bed.

nurse: sir… you've been asleep for 2 hours silver: oh boy i can't wait to wake up in the same timeline i went to sleep in]

part 3: how did this happen?

it's one thing to point out that silver doesn't experience time like a normal hedgehog, and another thing to explain how and why this happens.

fyi, this is the part where i go wildly off the rails and start saying whatever i want. there's a ton of explanations one could come up with, most probably stemming back to sonic 06. i'm just going to go with my own, and probably not come up with a whole lot of concrete evidence because i'm just spitballing. this is me having a fun time. going "heeheehoohoo time traveling hedgehog go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"

so. something i haven't touched upon is that in all games after sonic 06, silver can time travel. we never see him do it, it's never explained how he does it. all we know is that he's doing it under his own power.

which is kinda odd, don't you think? should he be able to do that?

in sonic 06, we see three mechanisms for time travel. first is the chaos emeralds. if two people perform Chaos Control with a chaos emerald apiece, they open up a swirling rift in the air which can send them to different points in time and space. silver can't be doing that, for obvious reasons— he's only one hedgehog, and he's not exactly running around with a chaos emerald at all times. that can't be how he does it.

second is a time machine eggman built. that obviously can't be it; the machine doesn't exist at all after the timeline gets wiped, and again, silver is doing this on his own. he's actively antagonistic towards eggman, even. absolutely not this one.

third and finally is mephiles, who can make big purple orbs to take himself and passengers to different points in time. this obviously can't be it either, for similar reasons to number 2, right? after all, mephiles is one half of solaris, who was destroyed before he could be split off. he doesn't exist to be silver's time-traveling uber driver.

...right?

well, obviously. i'm not going to try and tell you that mephiles is secretly alive and shepherding silver back and forth between timelines for no reason. that's ridiculous. no, i'm going to try and tell you that silver is mephiles.

or rather, he's solaris. or RATHER, he's the new solaris, sorta-ascended to the role of Time God after the old one got blown out like a birthday candle.

like i said, i'm going wildly off the rails and as such don't have any concrete evidence to explain why it's this instead of something else, but hear me out. after elise blew out the flame of hope, the universe was left in an interesting situation. someone needs to be in charge of the flow of time, but the previous time-god was just unceremoniously destroyed. but all the power and energy of a time-god has to go somewhere, in some form, in some time.

with nothing else to go off of, the role of time-god starts flipping through every notable being it had interacted with. they're all solidly accounted for in the timeline, except for one. silver the hedgehog was born into a timeline that cannot exist. silver the hedgehog does not, and cannot exist. silver the hedgehog interacted quite a bit with both sides of solaris— he spent a substantial amount of time fighting back iblis, and associated with mephiles, even being one of the few people to directly experience his time travel abilities. silver the hedgehog tried and failed to absorb iblis into himself.

here's my theory: after sonic 06, the universe reasserted itself such that silver was the new Solaris. silver is not consciously aware that this is what he is, but he knows that he can time travel. sometimes the timeline will rearrange itself around silver. he is unaffected by this because he is a higher being unaffected by such petty trifles as "an origin" or "paradoxes".

silver the hedgehog probably doesn't have parents. he sprang into existence one day and everyone just kind of went with it, himself included.

oh also something i thought was neat but couldn't think of where to put:

[ID: More cropped dialogue, this time from Team Sonic Racing.

Silver: I'm fine. It's just, something bad is gonna happen. I can't explain it. I just feel it. Blaze: Have your travels through time given you precognition? Silver: I don't know. Maybe they have. Or maybe I'm just thinking too much.]

silver might be becoming psychic in a future-vision kinda way. that, or he’s riddled with anxiety. possibly both.

TL;DR

silver hails from no less than three separate timelines, his existence is a tangled web of who-knows-how-many grandfather paradoxes, and i choose to believe that he's god.

if anyone who cares more about evidence wants to gather up like, little one-off clues that support or conflict with my conclusions, go right ahead. or just throw your own arbitrary headcanons for what's going on with this at me. or incorporate these ideas into an au or something! i just want more people thinking about what the Fuck is up with silver post-06, because by god there is a WHOLE lot of potential packed in there

anyway thanks for reading make sure to like comment and subscribe—

#hey guys check out how hard i can gesture at a corkboard #is it remotely coherent? not a clue! i cannot process my own writing #sonic theory #silver the hedgehog #text #dot txt

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ckret2 · 5 years

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tumblr you need to stop deleting the question when i edit an ask:

What characters can you think of, that you like, fall under unhealthy obsessive romance?

Sit down we're gonna be here a while.

God is anyone gonna be surprised if I cite the yandere trope? Is anyone gonna cringe away if I say Gasai Yuno from Future Diary? No? We're all good? Okay.

Yandere characters are really hit or miss with me. Too often, I've seen yandere characters portrayed like their bloodlust, their willing to kidnap their beloved or kill potential romantic rivals, is working in tandem with their apparent sweet, affectionate, self-effacing devotion—rather than in contrast. Like a yandere character who's willing to draw blood is an exaggerated romantic ideal. I'm not about that. To me, a proper compelling yandere is a horror character disguised as a cute love interest.

Yuno pulls that off. Even as Yukki gets used to her and even begins to grow attracted to her, he still remains very reasonably terrified of what she might do—and his terror is validated by her actions. What really sells her for me, though, is the series's awareness of the arbitrary nature of her obsessive love. She flat-out tells Yukki, the target of her obsession, with shocking coldness and self-insight, that she doesn't love him because he's really that unique or special, but because he was there and she needed someone. When it feels like so many generic dull lead boys "win" the attentions of the cool interesting yandere for no obvious reason as a sort of wishfulfillment, Yuno's open acknowledgment of Yukki's plainness and the arbitrariness of her own affections would be a great deconstruction of common yandere tropes, if it wasn't for the fact that Yuno was basically the codifier of the modern yandere archetype.

Another character who hits all the right yandere notes is Tarantulas from the IDW Transformers comics. Mad scientist who makes wicked inventions for a high-ranked military officer who's rattled by the brutality they inflict together and terminates their professional relationship by attempting to terminate the scientist; scientist comes back from the apparent dead to kidnap the officer with the help of a gang of terrorists, blackmails him by threatening to reveal confidential information about the officer's army that could tear it apart from the inside and that the officer has gone to great lengths to keep hidden, reveals that he's invented a way to make enemy soldiers effectively invisible and untraceable, and shows off his secret lab powered by a devastatingly powerful superfuel that he's invented... and then reveal he doesn't want revenge, but for the officer to be his partner in crime again, and all these wonders will be used FOR him instead of AGAINST him. He calls the officer his "muse," and feels like he can't reach his peak scientific potential without the officer there, requesting new weapons and acting as his inspiration.

He's willing to burn down the universe if his muse wants it or burn down the universe if his muse scorns him, he kidnaps him just to beg him to be his partner, and he does all this despite the fact that the officer destroyed his life work and tried to kill him. It's fantastically messed up.

Moving away from the yandere archetype: Venom—comics Venom, from their intro through the 90s and then again once Mike Costa got hold of them—is a fantastic obsessive love story, about two people who reject everything that both of their societies defines as normal and acceptable in order to be with each other, and are incredibly tender and affectionate and mutually supportive; but like, they also validate each other's worst beliefs and tendencies in a way that lets them egg each other on into oblivious villainy, and even if "live with and for one and only one person, literally in 24/7 physical contact," is normal and psychologically healthy for the symbiote's species, it's not for a human being. Impressively, they're SO obsessively codependently in love with each other, that they each independently decide that they want to be the best possible versions of themselves for each other, and violently wrest their relationship from the jaws of toxicity in order to become an emotionally mature couple with a support system, outside friends, and the ability to communicate about their fears and insecurities, and it's a beautiful thing. It's too bad nobody's written anything with Venom since Mike Costa's run ended, but I'm sure someone will bring them back around eventually.

The knight-in-love-with-their-liege trope is one that appeals to me in theory, but in practice I basically never see it written as zealously as I'd like, so I usually have to headcanon it up myself. Pearl in Steven Universe is the only solid canon example I can think of that hits all the right notes for me.

Not strictly canon but: Drift from Transformers, who goes from grim street rat survivalist to bloodthirsty mass murderer to repentant ninja vigilante to faux-spiritual warrior with weird flashes of extreme violence while under the wing of four different mentor/leader figures, I like to interpret as a serial zealot whose repeatedly shifting morals and loyalties have nothing to do with his newest leader actually convincing him of the righteousness of their perspective, and everything to do with Drift's becoming smitten with their charisma and being willing to reinvent himself completely to conform with his new beloved leader's worldview. Drift's last writer even ship teased him pretty heavily with leader #4 (for any of y'all that don't read Transformers: not like "ship teased" in a queerbaity way, Drift eventually hooked up with a different dude), and he's shown to go out of his way to perform roles that he thinks will impress leader #4; so like, there's some canon basis to read him like that—even if my main reason is "because I want to."

I also like to slip in shades of knight-loves-leader in how I write Zim being shipped with a Tallest; the unhealthy, destructive obsession with them is definitely canon, even if the romance isn't.

"Characters that are otherwise emotionless for scifi/fantasy reasons except for ONE emotion and that emotion is love and therefore they get really obsessed with their love because it's the only thing in their void of a life, but it's not portrayed in a cutesy 'robot learns to feel' or 'demon is saved by love' way but rather in a 'this is almost as unbalanced and unhealthy as not feeling anything at all was' way" is like... a trope that I keep writing but don't think I've ever actually seen done EXACTLY like that in canon. The Nobodies in Kingdom Hearts are good for this—I've written them as having meaningless sex to try to counter the fact that they can't feel emotions, on the justification that sexual arousal is a physiological sensation rather than an actual emotion but is still close enough that they can almost feel a feeling, and end up getting extremely attached to their cooperative let's-pretend-we-can-feel sex partners. (i realize that physiology and emotions can't actually be disentangled like that but like, it's fantasy.) Axel, you can argue, latched onto Roxas in what can be (and often is) read in a romantic way, also arguably sheerly on the merit of the fact that Roxas makes him feel anything at all.

Shockwave in IDW I've also used to played around with this idea, although I haven't published the main work I've done that with. Yet.

And from what I’ve seen, it looks like the main character in Yandere Simulator is gonna have a backstory kind of like that? I’m looking forward to that game, haven’t played any of the demo versions yet but what I’ve seen from the dev’s videos looks fun.

Also: very frequently, unrequited love. Especially secret unrequited love. "Unrequited-to-requited love" doesn't fit the bill at all. It's gotta be perpetual pining. There's NO satisfaction. The longing just builds and builds eternally, until the internal pressure causes something to shatter. I can think of ships I like to imagine this way (Drift w/ any of his mentors, Starscream/Wheeljack, Hashirama/Madara, Ψiioniic/Sufferer), but off the top of my head no canon ones that reach those dizzying heights of eternally unfulfilled yearning. Sure, plenty of stories have unrequited love—but rarely the all-consumingly obsessive kind, and even more rarely is that portrayed as—oh! I got a couple canon ones, albeit more villainous/predatory ones: the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera and that dude with his mouth stitched shut in the Abarat books, I haven't read those in years. And some spins of Dracula and Mina, although it's no fun if she loves him back. You can also do this with Hades and Persephone, although for this to work it's imperative that Hades still feel like he doesn't actually "have" Persephone even if she's contractually obligated to live with him so long as she doesn't love him, and just sort of wistfully watches her from afar whenever she's in the underworld. (But to be honest I generally prefer "Persephone and Hades: Hypercompetent Goth Power Couple" to spins that lean on Persephone being an unwilling unhappy victim.)

The further I go down this list the more obscure and/or headcanony these examples are gonna get, so I think I'm gonna stop here. But feel free to send any follow-up questions if u wanna hear me ramble more about my extremely specific tastes in romance.

Shoutout to "The Maiden and the Minstrel Knight" by Blind Guardian for being a song that captures peak romanticized out-of-control love.

#(im not tagging all these fandoms)#anonymous #ask #yandere #(correction im tagging exactly ONE fandom for a follower's tumblr savior)#mtmte

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365footballorg-blog · 5 years

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Chelsea's Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mason Mount: Stick or move for England chance?

What’s a Chelsea youngster to do when they have ambitions of getting into the England team?

Stick it out and fight for a place at Stamford Bridge or head out on loan for guaranteed playing time?

In Wednesday’s Carabao Cup tie between Chelsea and Derby, England World Cup player Ruben Loftus-Cheek came up against another Blues-owned midfielder in Mason Mount.

Mount managed an assist and impressed despite Derby losing 3-2,[1] while Loftus-Cheek showed his ability with a few driving runs from midfield in only his fourth start of the season.

He was then substituted after 69 minutes while Mount, completing his 17th full match this season, came close to scoring in the later stages.

Loftus-Cheek impressed so much during a loan spell at Crystal Palace last season that he earned a place in the England squad – and featured at the World Cup. But his career has stalled again after the Blues refused to let him leave on loan again, while still rarely playing him.

An injury to the Chelsea man at the time of the last international break opened the door for Mount, who was named in the England squad[2] for games against Croatia and Spain this month, although he did not get on the pitch in either match.

So has Mount moved above Loftus-Cheek in the England pecking order now, and does the latter need to go back on loan somewhere to press his case?

Changing fortunes

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Click to see content: Loftus_cheek_mount_minutes[3]

In 2017-18 Loftus-Cheek, 22, played more first-team minutes for Crystal Palace in one season than he has done in the whole of the rest of his Chelsea career. He played 25 times for Palace – it would have been more but for three injuries – scoring twice and setting up another five goals.

A hat-trick against BATE Borisov in last Thursday’s Europa League win more than doubled his previous goal tally at Chelsea, and he added another goal in the 4-0 Premier League win at Burnley at the weekend, meaning he has now scored six and set up five for the Blues in 38 appearances.

Palace were reportedly keen to re-sign him on loan this season, but the Blues held on to him, leaving him to compete with Mateo Kovacic (signed on loan from Real Madrid), Ross Barkley, N’Golo Kante and Jorginho for a place in midfield.

Chelsea midfielders Premier League 2018-19 Player Minutes Goals Shooting accuracy Assists Chances created Passing accuracy N’Golo Kante 900 1 40% 1 13 88.98% Jorginho 888 1 66.67% 0 10 90.86% Mateo Kovacic 476 0 75% 1 8 94.59% Ross Barkley 391 3 62.50% 3 6 92.05% Ruben Loftus-Cheek 33 1 50% 0 2 89.13% Cesc Fabregas 12 0 – 90.00%

Mount – three years Loftus-Cheek’s junior – has already played more football than his potential club and country rival in his career.

He made 39 appearances for Dutch top-flight side Vitesse Arnhem last season, scoring 13 goals – including five in his last three matches – and setting up another 10. He has followed that up with another productive loan spell at Derby County, scoring five times and providing two assists.

What they said

Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri

On Loftus-Cheek: “At the beginning of the season [Loftus-Cheek] was a very good player and now he is a good player that is more suited to my style of football.

“We have a tactical problem with the midfielders. We have four midfielders and three of them have the same characteristics. They are offensive midfielders. Only one has other characteristics – Kante is a defensive midfielder. So it is very difficult to put in the starting XI two midfielders with the same characteristics.”

Derby boss Frank Lampard

On Mount: “He can be really good. He can be top, top level because he’s 19 and plays with ability and quality. Technically he’s brilliant but also his work-rate shouldn’t go unnoticed.

“He’s so quick to leave midfield to go and press people, whether it be defenders or deep-lying midfield players which makes you the all-round midfield player.

“He should never be considered a number 10 because there’s so much more to his game but he’ll score goals like a number 10.

“At some stage he will go back to Chelsea. I don’t want to think about that now, but when he does I think he’s going to be a contender.”

England manager Gareth Southgate

On Loftus-Cheek: “Ruben is a very good ball player. Everybody can see his physical size but he has got lovely soft feet. He receives the ball really well when surrounded in tight areas – he is obviously strong enough to hold people off.

“He has got great acceleration with the ball, driving with the ball at opposing players, and he is a good passer, has good vision.”

On Mount: “Mason stepped up and scored a penalty at Old Trafford [in Derby’s Carabao Cup win over Manchester United]. He took it like he had been there all his life. Very often we hold youngsters back a bit too much and I’m always trying to find that balance.

“The message has got to be correct as it’s the very early stages of their career, but it is good for their development to train and be part of the squad.”

Loftus-Cheek

“It’s hard sometimes to perform at your best when you are not playing regularly.

��[Sarri] is asking me to improve defensively and positionally. For a manager who has been in the game for a long time, it would be daft for me not to take in what he is telling me. He is a top manager. For me to learn from him is great for my development. I will keep on doing that.”

Mount

“At first [Lampard] said he was thinking of looking to drop me for the next game, and maybe give me a rest.

“But then he smiled and said ‘no I’ve just spoken to Gareth, you’ve been selected for the England seniors’. He’s got over 100 caps so he said to see if I can break that.”

References

^ Derby losing 3-2, (www.bbc.co.uk)

^ England squad (www.bbc.co.uk)

^ Click to see content: Loftus_cheek_mount_minutes (www.bbc.co.uk)

BBC Sport – Football

Chelsea's Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mason Mount: Stick or move for England chance? was originally published on 365 Football

#chance #Chelsea&039s #England #LoftusCheek #Mason #mount #move #Ruben #stick

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kahnac · 7 years

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Hello, Good Evening, and welcome to another "Kahnac's Top Countdown" list. This time we'll go into a certain category i'm pretty much a big fan of. Though first, i'd like to give a big shoutout to japanesegodzilla1954 who was once again kind enough to assemble the list up above. And especially for being so creative while doing so. I really appreciate it, and i'm glad he did it. And now, back to the subject of the countdown. "What subject" you might ask? Well, the answer is quite simple, actually: Villains. Now, as i'm sure it's no surprise to anyone who watches me: i absolutely love villains. Like many people who do the same, i find the villains to be alot more fun than the heroes (not that i would diss them in any way). But there's actually quite alot to villains that make them so appealing, and enjoyable to watch. And trust me: i have a large list of villains who i enjoy. But i think one of the most amusing, and enjoyable brand of villain is the kaiju villain. Though there haven't truly been many kaiju who would qualify as villains because of their animalistic nature, with a few exceptions. But if there is one place where there could be legitimately evil kaiju: it is in the Godzilla Universe. For over 60 years, toho has delivered a slew of kaiju who are not simply a bunch of rampaging beasts who need someone to stop them from simply destroying cities because they're angry. These monsters are beings who are actually quite intelligent, and even quite despicable. They aren't animals who are bent on survival: they are beings who have agenda's of their own which range from conquering the entire world, to simply killing everything in sight because it's funny, or because they were made to. And though some of them have served as pawns to some lesser alien species, that hasn't stopped them from being completely vile, and destructive. Because on their own: these kaiju would cause trouble just so they can. They do their best to give their worst. And i'm here to honor some of them today. So sit back, relax, and have fun as we take a look at my Top 10 Godzilla villains. 10. Megaguirus: Starting off our list is none other than the fearsome queen of them Meganula herselfNow here's one very nasty example of what a crazy mom is. As a product of the ancient past brought to the present thanks to the Dimension Tide, Megaguirus was basically the ultimate means of returning the Meganula race as the dominant rulers of Earth. Though of course she had to go through some changes first. Said change involved creating a swarm, sending it to hunt down Godzilla, drain his energy, return back with it, then transfer it into her along with their own lifeforce energy. Thus changing her into the gigantic, speed-induced, queen of the Dragonflies. Which she really does live up to the name of, doesn't she? But anyway, any can see that her "children" are quite devoted to her in such regards. But she doesn't seem to give a single crap about that. Probably because she knows she can probably just grow a new colony at some point. What a horrible mother to have, that's for sure. But either way, she has also shown to be somewhat sadistic in her methods. Like dropping buildings on top of a grounded Godzilla with a sickly smile on her face, for example. And she also seems to be quite possessive when it comes to power. In both the movie, and the comics, almost immediately she stuck her stinger into two kaiju so that she could get some of their energy. But in ROE, she goes further, and tries to feed Godzilla to her swarm. Guess she also shares some qualities with Queen Chrysalis from MLP, doesn't she? Guess she isn't as heartless as she seems. But she definitely has a strong rivalry with Rodan's species, since both have been rival species since they were born. A shame we didn't get to see this outside of the Original Rodan movie with the Meganulon, and the several fanfic universe which expands upon the concept, like Neo, and Endgame. But either way, Megaguirus is a fast, furious, and all around vicious queen you'll wish to keep both eyes on at all times. If you can. 9. Mechagodzilla 1: Now, we get to delve a bit into the concept which usually comes about in every form of media: the evil doppleganger. And none seem to have pulled this off as dangerously as Mechagodzilla 1. While this super robot has been a mechanized pawn to a race of space apes trying to take over the world: M Bison-"OF COURSE!!!" But that didn't make Mechagodzilla any less brutal, or destructive when he first appeared. Hell, he even disguised as Godzilla himself to basically frame him as antagonistic again before he would kill him. He then proceeded to beat the crap out of poor Anguirus, and even break his jaw wide open. I get so creeped out from even thinking about it still. Anyway, what makes him truly threatening is just how powerful he is. On his own, and against singular kaiju, he has singlehandedly beaten everyone he's come across, including the great King Caesar, who is considered an equal to Godzilla in terms of strength, and power. So if he can take down someone that strong, you know he's dangerous. But he "surprisingly" doesn't do well when he gets double teamed. Especially when one of his oponnents gets the ability to control magnetism, which Goji used to rip off his mechanized head. Too bad Mecha G learned from the past experience, and was teamed up with Titanosaurus to prove that two can play the team up game. Sadly for him, it still didn't turn out well. But that still hasn't deterred people from liking him so much, and for him to become IDW's equivalent of the Sentinels from the X-Men. Because this mecha-double only proves that you can't keep a good robot down, and if you do, he'll just come back better, and stronger than ever. 8. Megalon: Now here, we have a perfect example of what a dangerous moron is. Now, in his debut, Megalon was depicted as the God of Seatopia, their greatest weapon, and their best hope at getting revenge upon humanity for what they perceived to be intended attacks on their city. And Megalon was more than willing to fill in the position. Unfortunately, there's just one small problem: HE'S A COMPLETE IDIOT, AND A SUPERIOR MORON! While we see he has a great pangent for destruction, he needs somebody to tell him where to point his destructive habits at. Otherwise he will literally start hopping around like a grasshopper, blowing up everything in sight. And honestly, this is pretty hilarious when you think about it. Because from what i saw of him, he has the mindset of a man-child. Kinda like Fat Buu, or even better yet: TFS Nappa. Which is obviously where tarbano got inspiration for his own interpretation from. Though he also mixed it in with some Deadpool, too. But that's not the point. What is is that he's also a pretty tough fighter, too. He can put up a good decent fight with other kaiju. Though when it comes to Godzilla, and Jet Jaguar, he obviously needs help. But considering how lethal his arsenal is, and how carried away he can get with what he does, it's honestly no wonder people see him as a complete demolisher. 7. Monster X: As sinister as he looks, Monster X is a veritable example of a final boss enemy. Even though he appears for a short while, he leaves a pretty good impression. Especially with how well he handles Godzilla up until the showdown with Keizer Ghidorah. From what i saw, Monster X appears to be a very focused, driven, and all around ruthless fighter who will use any means to win his battle. Guess that's why i imagine him as the Godzilla equivalent of Slade from Teen Titans. Especially with how sinister his armor is. In fact, it makes him look less like a kaiju, and more like one of those villains you'd see in Power Rangers, or a Sentai series. And to top it off: he has the power to transform into a second form called Keizer Ghidorah. Something which gives me a small Maleficent vibe when that happens. And i know many people like the idea of the two being separate entities sharing the same body ala Jekyll/Hyde. But personally, i like thinking that Keizer is just another form that X takes when he decides it's time to get serious. Basically like Frieza, or villains with another form. Either way, not much else is needed to be said other than how badass Monster X is. Even if his time was less than hoped for. 6. Orga: Attack of the clones part two, so to speak. Except this clone is a monstrous hybrid between Godzilla, and an ancient, alien lifeform with intelligence unlike anything humanity has seen before. Originally, he was an alien species known as a Millenian, who crash landed on earth, and got stranded for millions of years. Time passes, he gets waken up, and he immediately goes out to find a genetic template to give him a physical form. And it just so happens he picks Godzilla. Though apparently, Orga is not completely stupid, as after his first fight with him ends in a draw, he realizes he needs to learn everything he can about the Saurian. To do so, he basically begins hacking into Japans Databases, and starts stealing every shred of information he can gather. All also as part of a plan to make the earth a suitable home for himself, and possibly any more of his kind still out there. Or probably so he can create more of his kind to inhabit the earth. Either way, he still needs Godzilla's G-Cells to make it happen. And after a rematch which ends with Orga winning, he succeeds in regaining his true form. But he clearly didn't account for the radioactive properties of the G-Cells, and he ended up as a misshapen abomination as a result. But even in this state, he doesn't seem too far gone. I know alot of people consider him a mindless brute who basically goes feral after he mutates, but from where i stand, it looked like he was attempting to adjust to his new body. And it looked like he was doing a good job at it too, as he gave Godzilla as much trouble as he did in his ship. Which makes me believe that he still has his intelligence in tact, but he doesn't really use it when he's fighting. And considering many people also believe his species to be superb at genetic engineering, which i agree with, i'd also like to consider him the Shockwave of Godzilla if we were able to have more of him. After all, both of them basically turn into brutes if they get angry. Though Orga's biggest weakness seems to be his obsessive desire to get what he wants. To the extent that he'll through caution out the window, and charge into the frayhead first. Or at least when he gets desperate. After all, how else would he have done something which would give him a massive "stomach ache", if you know what i mean. But inspite of his little flaw, Orga is still a fearsome, and intelligent villain who knows that information is powerful, and that brute even brute strength can be even more so. 5. Gigan: And now we get to the lean, mean, sometimes green mother from outer space. And he's baaaad. Now Gigan here is a very special case because he's done what noone else has done before: he actually cut into Godzilla deep enough to make him bleed. And i mean "bleed". Gigan is the living definition of what a ruthless, vicious, and bloodthirsty mercenary/assassin is lie in the world of kaiju. He was designed by an alien race of gigantic cockroaches to basically kill anything threatening, and i imagine it's sometimes for a profit. The first time he came to earth, he was teamed up with King Ghidorah. And the two were so ferocious, they nearly brought down both Godzilla, AND Anguirus. Hell, Gigan even managed to beat up Godzilla for a good while without Ghidorah's help. But of course he got Godzilla angry. And we all know what happens when he gets angry. Either way, his second appearance had him join up with Megalon, who he seemed to be best buddies with when they double teamed Jet Jaguar. I can see why people like pegging them as brothers. Of course, not even their friendship was enough to beat Godzilla, and his robo-pal. Though it is funny how he seems to be kind of a coward when things go badly for him. And he'll actually ditch his "friends" so that he can save himself. But then, considering he got his arm broken once, i can't really fault him for that. Though what is funny is that he lost this little habit of his when he came back for Final Wars. Basically, he got upgraded to a "biker with machetes for arms", which is both a funny, and honestly creative description of him. But either way, this is the Gigan that begins to get more serious for his depictions. In fact, both this Gigan, and the original, were mixed together to make Gigan something both formidable, and amazing. True, he still ran away when things got ugly, but he scored more hits than misses. And besides, he's had to contend with some serious fighters: counting Godzilla, JJ, and even Spacegodzilla himself. Even though FW made him more robotic than he should've been, what with him getting his head blasted off then replaced, it was handled much better in Rulers of Earth: he starts off as Showa, but then gets upgraded to FW scythe, until he finally gets his chainsaws. At which point he helps to beat an alien invasion, fight Jet in an epic rematch, and then basically go up in a massive blaze of glory with the chance of his return in a possible continuation. Few can get as hardcore as Gigan is, just like few could ever really make the cut for his own tenacity. Because he is a monster. He is badass. He is: GIGAAAAAN!!! 4. Destoroyah: Oh, boy. Now we're getting to the biggun's of the Godzilla franchise. And very few can be as despicable as the Destoroyah himself. So what makes this guy so cool, but also vile? Quite a bit, actually: first of all, he is one of the more personal enemies because of how his origin ties into Godzilla's in the most unpleasant way: he was a collective of microscopic precambrian crustaceans laying dormant in Tokyo Bay for centuries, but got mutated by the Oxygen Destroyer when it was used to kill Gojira. Over 40 years alter, when Micro Oxygen is released, the creatures mutated again, and began fusing together until eventually they formed into Destoroyah himself. And he is a right nasty piece of work. He kills lots of people in all of his forms, and even kills Godzilla Jr for beating him in his second/third form. But that's not exactly the worst of it, because he did it in front of his father. Right in front of him as he was helpless to do anything. He probably sensed that it was Jr's father who was also there, and so he wanted to make both of them suffer because he could: Jr for basically beating him, and Senior for Sh*ts and giggles. Though all he does is incure Godzilla's wrath, because nobody f*cks with his family, and lives to tell about it. But the interesting thing is that Destoroyah is a friggin tank. He can take hits from Godzilla when he's in his strongest form, and he can beat the crap out of him in normal stage like he did in Rulers of Earth. And naturally, it takes several kaiju to tangle with him, and hopefully win. Especially since he's strong enough to toss kaiju several meters away, and he can take almost anything thrown at him short of Sub-Zero ice attacks. Though what makes him all the worse is the fact that when he fights someone, he doesn't just beat them into submission, or anything. He goes out of his way to make them hurt on the inside, as much as outside. And he is absolutely brutal in his methods, too, whether he tries cutting kaiju with his horn, beating them like a punching bag, or in Anguirus' case, try, and break every bone in their body.And all of this stems from the source of his mutation. It usually stands to reason that the thing that mutates something often influences them in ways they never knew before. And for Destoroyah, he was not only enfused with the power of the Oxygen Destroyer, but also what it was created to do as well: bring death, and destruction to every living thing. That....is an almost sad thing to think about, actually. Since the day he was changed, Destoroyah was made to be nothing mor than a harbinger of death, and to bring destruction, and misery to everything. And from what i've seen, he knows no other way to live. All he knows is death, and destruction. Therefore, all other concepts are probably alien to him. Which leaves him as the kind of villain who isn't interested in profit, or conquest, who can't be bought, bargained, or reasoned with: he's the kind who wants to watch the world burn. And if it weren't for Godzilla, and a few others, he may very well have succeeded. Even when he served under the Devonians for a while. For he is a force of destruction few would ever wish to cross, and would ever wish to face alone. Also because, like AVGN once said: HE LOOKS LIKE THE GDDAMN DEVIL!!! 3: Grand/King Ghidorah: Now comes the esteemed archenemy of Godzilla, and the often considered big bad of Toho as a whole. But first, let me be clear on something: I don't, by any means, like King Ghidorah as he was depicted in the Showa series. And the only reason for this is because of how, after his debut, he became nothing more than a simple pawn to a bunch of alien fools who couldn't hold a candle to him as villains. Maybe secondary villains, or even minions, but not main villains. Because of this, i feel like King Ghidorah's potential as a villain suffered greatly, as he didn't do anything on his own, and was only a mind controlled servant to who i consider lesser beings. But with that being said, i do still love his concept, and how he is depicted when he first appeared. When he first appeared, he was built up significantly, and his reveal was drawn out considerably well. Even when he spent a good deal in his meteor transport, you could feel the tension rising as he seemed to gather more power from the surrounding area, and add it to his own. Even adding a small mention of his supposed control over gravity itself, which we sadly don't really see outside of the one scene where he makes a gravity tornado that draws in rocks, and tree's, and other stuff. Also, his arrival was heralded by the essence of an alien species who came from Planet Venus itself: which once had the ability to sustain life like Earth. That is until HE arrived, and reduced the entire world to a lifeless husk: killing every living thing on the planets surface, making it so life could never prosper, and grow again. And this happened many centuries ago, leading to the obvious idea of King Ghidorah having existed for billions of years, or more. Either way, when he gathers enough os his energy, and then finally makes his appearance, it is absolutely spectacular: he emerges from his meteor crater like it were an egg, except for him emerging as an immense ball of fire. And like a Phoenix, or rather reverse of a Phoenix, when his flames rise into the sly, he forms into his golden, 3 headed state as if he were being born for the first time. Once he emerges, he gets right to work destroying the earth. It's only thanks to the combined strength of Mothra, Rodan, and Godzilla to drive him away. Showing that he's so strong that only a large number of kaiju can successfully fight him in battle. Otherwise, he would completely demolish his enemies with no real problem. And in each of his appearances, he has always fought more than one kaiju, and is the only way he has been beaten (except maybe in Godzilla vs Gigan). The only thing which could put him down for good was an entire army of kaiju ganging up on him as he attempted to destroy them all. But it's kinda obvious what happened. Either way, this was unsurprisingly not the last we'd see of him. Cause believe it or not, there came a Ghidorah who was far worse in comparison to this one. One who left more of an impact upon the universe he existed in (which i am convinced is still in the heisi series of Godzilla). I speak of none other than the Grand King Ghidorah himself. Now, how does one begin to describe Grand King Ghidorah? Well, for one thing at least, let's imagine that Showa Ghidorah survived hi ordeal, went back into space, decided that he finally need to get off his lazy ass and train, spend around 30 years doing said training, and then come back so much stronger than ever before. Though i'm sure this didn't actually happen, it's still fun to dream. But i will definitely say that this is a vast improvement over Showa Ghidorah. Though, as i said, it could be argued that this is Showa Ghidorah, but i digress. Because what he does is far more despicable than anything we've seen his kind do before: while he does begin destroying the planet slowly, and probably getting a kick out of doing it, he also begins kidnapping children, and then trapping them inside of an energy doem using his own power. While it seems obviously clear that king Ghidorah was doing this just to eat, i think my friend UltraGWRzilla has a better theory which gives more context to this, and make him all the more frightening: Grand King Ghidorah also feeds on fear, and misery. Though he obviously can eat like any regular being, there is the idea that he kidnapped human children so that he could bring despair to the human parents, as they worry about, and fear for their kids. And Ghidorah not only feeds on that misery, but also the fear of the humans he has taken as his prisoners. Only a truly malevolent, and sadistic being could do something as horrible as that. Which makes him all the more intimidating than his predecessor's. Also, as a nod to the showa films, he actually has the power of mind control for himself. As a way to show that he is nobodies servant, and he can easily enslave anyone close to him if he so chooses. Like he did to one of the Elias so that he could turn them against, and kill, each other because of how amusing it probably was to him. As is quite evident throughout his film appearance, Grand King Ghidorah is a sadist who enjoys killing others, and hurting them in the most excruciating way he could possibly find. Just like he did to Mothra Leo, who was probably at Godzilla's level of power by the time Ghidorah showed up. After Ghidorah beats him up, though, it makes him desperate enough to actually go back in time to when Ghidorah killed the dinosaurs, a point in which he was considerably weaker, and kill him then. It succeeds, and Grand Ghidorah fades from existence. Though surprisingly enough, his tail stayed in tact, and it let him regenerate from that small piece. Guess it shows that he also has similarities to Cell, as well. Funny enough, like Cell, he lost to our hero once the latter gained a new special form, and completely destroyed him with it. But it was quite an epic finish to such an epic kaiju. Still, as far as i'm concerned, i don't think even an army of kaiju could stand against him as simply as Showa Ghidorah. Not that we can ever see for ourselves since Toho still won't let IDW use him yet. But i'm still hopeful that someday they will be cooperative on the matter. It really is a shame we don't get to see more of him outside the fandom, Yet one thing we can all agree on is that Grand/ King Ghidorah is fearsome, sadistic, vicious, and powerful force of destruction who has long since earned his title as "The King of Terror". 2. Spacegodzilla: Remember when i said that noone in Godzilla pulls off the evil doppleganger concept better than Mechagodzilla? I lied. As far as i'm concerned, there is an evil version of Godzilla who more than lives up being considered his evil half brother. And that is Spacegodzilla, the heavily modified, cosmic clone of Godzilla who is easily one of the most popular kaiju villains ever made. And there is quite alot to enjoy about him, too. He's vile, cruel, malevolent, he enjoys hurting others, manipulating them, and also conquering other worlds for his own gain. Which is something that makes him stand out among many of the evil kaiju. Where others like King Ghidorah, and Destoroyah do nothing but destroy everything around them is considered part of their nature, as they were basically born to be destroyers. Kinda like it was their purpose, and they were made specifically to do so. It's likely instinct to them. Except for Spacegodzilla, who doesn't simply destroy planets like them because it's in his nature, or because someone makes him, oh no. He conquers, and enslaves other worlds for no one other than himself. He holds the ambition of a tyrannical conqueror. He wants to control, and rule everything that exists. But he also tries, and makes sure that any threat to his future reign is killed, or destroyed first. Hence why he traveled to earth as soon as possible to kill Godzilla: as far as Spacegodzilla was concerned, Godzilla was the only real threat to his dominion of earth. And he is certainly one who is willing to go to ANY lengths to make sure it happens. In fact, aside from Destoroyah, Spacegodzilla did something that might be more despicable in comparison: after arriving on Godzilla's Island after honing in on him with his own "species tracking ability", the first thing he does upon arrival is attack little godzilla. He actually attacks a virtually helpless infant so that he can draw Godzilla out. And what happens when Godzilla DOES show up? He gets his ass kicked rather quickly thanks to Spacegodzilla's immense power, and he's forced to watch as his son is locked up in a crystal cage which even he can't break. Which means that he has no choice but to fight Spacegodzilla. And Spacegodzilla is certainly no slouch when it comes to getting ready for a fight. After his Island fight, he sets a course for Fukuoka, then turns it into crystal power station which, using the tower, would keep his strength, and energy, at maximum at all times. After that, he patiently waited for his "father's" arrival. Seriously: he didn't even destroy anything himself. Either on the way to Fukuoka, or once he arrived. At least, except for whatever damage his crystals caused. He just stood there, and waited. it's obviously because he was conserving his energy for the fight, as he knew he would need to be at maximum to win. And he certainly gave Godzilla, and Moguera, a good pounding once they arrived. Funny enough, even after they destroyed the tower, and shattered his shoulder crystals, they barely managed to defeat him because he is a durable bastard who can take as much damage as he receives. Of course, Godzilla did kill him, but there was a sense that he would someday come back. Even if it wasn't in the films. (Which he did). What i also like about him is how he acts more like one of those solo act villains who cannot stand to have any sort of competition for control of HIS world. Or the interference of his plans. Just ask the Jap-Mafia who tried mind controlling Godzilla for a profit. But that's not to say that he doesn't join forces with other evil kaiju, though. In IDW's series, he joined up with Monster X, Hedorah, and Gigan to conquer the planet together. It went about as well as you'd expect. What's funny enough is that even he seemed to realize that he was better off alone. So he went back to being "single". And just like with the Vortaak, who he was also aligned with for a short while, he gave the figurative middle finger to an alien species called the Cryog, who were also trying to take earth. He didn't even hesitate when Gigan was sent to stop him, since he has no other loyalties, and quite frankly, not even Gigan could stop him. The only other foe aside from Godzilla who nearly bested him were the Trilopods. And mainly because they ambushed him on the way to earth, and took him by surprise, thus allowing them to assimilate, and replicate him. And they certainly must've sensed that he was a big threat, because all of their attention was focused on him during the fight in LA. And it was only when he, and Godzilla combined their strength did they finally win. Even though it took everything Goji had, and knocked him unconscious. Of course, true to his nature, Spacegodzilla tried to off him as he lay unconscious. But he immediately sensed the hive coming, and decided to give a "this isn't over" roar before leaving. Like i said: he has no loyalties, and if he see's any opportunity, he'll stab anyone in the back so that he can win. He's very treacherous, and not someone to take lightly. In fact, there was another instance in history where he nearly brought about the end of the world, and almost succeeded in claiming it as his own: the crystal incursion. Long story short: after getting sucked into a black hole, he sends a swarm of crystal meteors to earth, which then infuse with the elemental properties and become power surge crystals, causing global catastrophes along the way. They enhance/enslave any kaiju that use them, increase in power over time, and are used to free Spacegodzilla from his prison. Now, if anything, we can see a full demonstration which only proves Spacegodzilla can do in a short while what it probably takes King Ghidorah many hours to do. Because in my opinion, Spacegodzilla probably does this as a means of drawing a planet's lifeforce into him, and thus destroying worlds in a similar sense to Galactus. Either that, or he would have crystal-formed the entire world so that he could make the seat of his new empire, which would be made similarly to what he would've done to earth. And he basically used many kaiju to gather the necessary power crystals to make this possible. People like KaijuSamurai take it a step further by having him obtain a secondary form, stronger than the first. I mean, he was already an almighty psychic before, like Mewtwo. But he was close to omnipotent in his ultimate form. Now imagine if he acquired every last PS Crystal in that state. He would basically become a god, and none could be able to stand against him. So basically, he's like the Dr Doom of Godzilla. Though he also has a similarity to the Joker in at least one aspect: his origin. While it was hinted at in his film, we never truly get what his actual backstory is other than the fact he is somehow related to Godzilla. As a matter of fact, he's had quite a number of backstories which are each unique in their own way: whether it was Biollante's spores floating through space until flying into a blackhole, then fusing with a crystal organism. Mothra carrying Godzilla's cells with her as she went into space resulting in the same thing happening, a crystal entity abducting Jr, and the absorbing his DNA to become Spacegodzilla, an evil Godzilla from an alternate universe who fell into a blackhole and fused with a crystal anomaly, a clone bred in a laboratory by King Ghidorah, or Gigan, to be their weapon only for him to turn on them, or Mothra, Battra, Biollante, and Godzilla's DNA fusing with an alien crystal, falling into a backhole once again, and then form Spacegodzilla. Many different accounts, all of them different, except for one detail: Godzilla. And i bet if you asked Spacegodzilla about his origin, he'd either just keep changing it, or he'd say "if you're going to have an origin story, you're better off making it multiple choice". His beginnings are a complete mystery, but everything he has done up to this point only further defines who he is, and proves him to be another example of how villains with silly names can often be the most sinister, and evil. Intelligent, sadistic, pure evil, and with a lust for power unlike any kaiju before, Spacegodzilla is a kaiju who definitely knows what it means to be a Crystal Tyrant. And my number one favorite Godzilla villain is: 1.Bagan: Now, i'm sure many people will probably consider this some kind of cop out, considering how Bagan has never been in a Godzilla movie officially, but hear me out, please. What makes me love Bagan most of all isn't him being an overly popular scrapped kaiju who was planned for at least 3 different movies, and only got featured in a video game: it's what everyone else does with him that makes him enjoyable. Bagan is a kaiju who may be conceptual at this moment, but what toho had planned for him has been beneficial enough to give others something to work with. The basic story for him is simple: he was once the ancient guardian of China, which he guarded over a thousand years ago. But something happened which had him vanish from the world for centuries. Eventually, he returned to the world, and sensing the changes made, decided to wipe out humanity. That was the original concept for him. But now a days, he has a much darker, and edgier story shared by everyone. But i have my own version to go by. He was indeed a guardian of earth, and has existed since the earth itself was formed. He was the most powerful being that ever existed, and was by all accounts a god. It could even be believed that he nearly slaughtered King Ghidorah himself when he invaded, while the divine moth's sealed away his sibling, DesGhidorah. After that, he continued to serve as protector for the planet, and soon enough the new species of human, and animal which began emerging. Humanity soon built civilizations which had both science, and magic, as the foundation of their lifestyle. Even using it to revive extinct species, like dinosaurs, as a way to see how well their abilities worked. And for a good long while, things were quite peaceful. But then something horrible happened which spelled dark days for the earth, and humanity. Bagan, for some reason, had lost his desire to protect all life, and soon wished to bring an end to all life. Noone knows exactly why he ended up like this. Maybe as he watched over humanity he began to grow weary of his task, and turned against it, or as he watched humanity progress he used his godly powers to look into the future, and saw the horrible things humanity would do, or he feared that someday his power would no longer be enough to keep his home safe, and he struck a deal with a dark force for more power so that he could better protect his charges, and became corrupt in the process. Or perhaps even that as humanity progressed in their achievements, he grew jealous of their accomplishments because they no longer seemed to care for, or respect the guardians anymore, and as they began to grow, learn, and even see themselves as Gods, Bagan decided that he needed to take action. Allowing his anger, jealousy, and newfound hatred festering inside of him to eventually corrupt his heart, and make him become a force of evil who believed that humanity, and in turn all living things, were now too dangerous for their own good, and needed to be protected as only he could: by killing every last one of them, and restoring them to their true form as immortal souls, united in a single, strong source that would keep them safe for all eternity: himself. Either way, he wasted no time in laying waste to ancient humanity: decimating their once proud, and advanced cities, vaporizing every last animal he could find, and ultimately destroying the inherent magic which was once inherent within the planet as he consumed to it give himself more power. He eventually face his fellow guardians, possibly offering them the chance to join him, but they refused. Unfortunately, because of how powerful he is, they can't fully stand up to him, and he destroys all but Mothra, and Battra, reducing them to the last of the divine moth's. A chance is also that he may have killed many of the kaiju we know exist in the Godzilla 2014 universe. Perhaps even killing all but one Goji2014 as well. Either way, the divine moth's are given no choice but to cast a great deal of diminished magic to create an imperfect seal to keep Bagan imprisoned for many thousands of years. Though they may not realize that because the seal wasn't complete, he may escape earlier than anticipated. Either way, the humans try and aid the divine moth's one last time by using the last of their resources to create new guardians who are meant to fight Bagan should he ever return. And the earth uses the last of it's magic to restore the damaged earth to it's original state. So as you can see: Bagan is a force of unimaginable power who caused another great extinction in several universes. The idea of him being a guardian who's power basically makes him a god is an often favorited means of development. Though what makes it much better is when he is depicted as a Luciferian figure who rebelled against his fellow guardians, and fell from grace as he was cast into the earth as he was beaten. And of course, when he eventually does get free, he once again brings chaos to the world. And usually people depict him as a final boss villain who Godzilla requires his Super form to defeat. Which does seem fitting because of the fact he best serves as the "Ultimate Evil". And rarely does he get anymore evil than when he is used. For in his bid to destroy everything, he will often go to may lengths to do so, like absorbing the DNA of Godzilla, and King Ghidorah to increase his power, or even assemble an organization of evil kaiju to carry his will, and find the means of restoring his full power. In short, he is a puppet master who will often pull the strings of others in many ways. Whether he infuses his dark essence into Godzilla Senior so that he can kill the divine moths, or he can manipulate humans into forming organizations, or secret societies to carry out his will. But either way, he never takes no for an answer. If someone is unwilling to cooperate with him, he will often force them to do what he wants, whether by psychically screaming into kaiju's minds, or just beating them into submission. Though if he wishes, he will often work on his own to do whatever. Because like any god, he really doesn't need anyone's assistance. Even if it's King Ghidorah who offers said alliance. And Bagan seemingly has no limits to what he can do, too. He either just does what any kaiju can do (super strength, beam weapons, etc.), or he uses powers that very few can do themselves: like being able to transcend through reality, time, and space by going to any universe, or time period he wants. And if he wills it, his own presence can often shape the world around him into something which reflects his black soul: an icy, cold, frozen wasteland with black ice like obsidian, and a cold which reaches all the way down to the human soul. A trait which is reminiscent of the biblical 9th circle of hell, which is the furthest away from heaven, and God's light, and as such is a realm of darkness that isn't warm, or bright. Just cold, and dark. With this in mind, it doesn't surprise me when he has the power to also change his shape into anything he wants, or anyone. Which is also very reminiscent of the very first concept of Bagan from the "Return of Godzilla" film script. Speaking of which, there is another power he wields which is also very unique. When he has noone else around, and he doesn't want to dirty his own hands, Bagan will summon from his own darkness three entities known as Enjin, Mizu, and Doragon Reijuu. These beings are the aspects of Bagan's own soul, and they resemble what Bagan once was before he became a dark god. They each represent earth, air, and water, and also have no wills of their own save for whatever Bagan has them do. They're basically puppets that he can control from anywhere, but are still dedicated to their missions. Though i will say that this gave me some interesting thoughts, too: what if Bagan not only has the ability to consume energy, but also the souls of others, either human, or kaiju? Because as an entity who is so in-tuned with mystical energy, and is a god of incredible power, it stands to reason he also has the power to steal souls, and add them to his power. This would allow him to turn them into will-less slaves who only have one purpose: to serve Bagan for all eternity. Such a thing would only give Bagan more of a satanic feel, and give him the necessary qualities to further cement him as a dark force who seems pretty close to a satanic, lovecraftian horror. Either way, his power is incredible, and it often takes the combined power of every kaiju on earth, as well as Super Godzilla, to bring down this almighty destroyer of worlds. But it is left to wonder if an evil such as his can ever be destroyed so long as evil exists in the universe? We may never know. But soon enough, the inhabitants of the world of Equestria, along with Godzilla, and his universe displaced friends, and foes will eventually. We can only hope that once that time comes, they will be ready. For Bagan is an evil unlike anything seen before save for his former fellow Guardians. With a history paved in blood, hatred, darkness, and oblivion, Bagan will always continue to prove his metal as the ultimate God of Extinction, and the true Lord of Darkness. As the great Makuta Teridax, who is my inspiration for Bagan as well, once said: "So, it has begun, my brother. But soon, it will also EEENNNDD." And that was the list of my top 10 Godzilla villains. Did you agree with my list? Have any thoughts about these guys? Any other kaiju you considered for a spot? If so, then feel free to share in the comments below. And as always, i will see you all in the next installment of...whatever. Goodbye!

Just in case: Some of this artwork is owned by @spankzilla85

Godzilla/these kaiju in general are owned by Toho

#Godzilla #villains #toho

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