#2010 is very tonally different but not in a bad way. i enjoyed it a lot and of course you know me and @durandal-1707 looked like the soyjac

[ixcaliber]

Cool Games I Played May 2022

My time on twitter somehow convinced me that posting on tumblr is only worth it if i have a small novel to write so here’s a new something i want to do more often

1. No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (2010)

I already spent a couple of thousand words saying, essentially, that the game’s plot had some wasted potential. I missed the open world, even though there wasn’t really anything to do in it, having it there added a sense of scale to the world that simply wasn’t present when you were always just a second away from any location that you had to go to.

It’s not the worst suda51 game i’ve played (Shadows of the Damned), it’s just sort of okay. Squanders its potential and some of the fights are really annoying but it does have the best cat massaging animations in any video game I’ve ever played.

2. Bugsnax (2020)

Bugsnax is a really good game. I love the cute creatures. I love repeatedly saying Bunger to Forgie. The characters are neat, nicely varied and well voice acted. Eggabell and Lizabert are great I love these gay girls. I may or may not have gotten a little emotional with some of the background film reels you can find and relating a little too hard with Eggabell and anxiety. Floofty is also really great, I love the game’s absolute non-issue with them being non-binary. It’s cool and good. I did eventually turn them entirely into Bunger, but I eventually did everyone dirty like that it’s just the nature of the game.

The puzzles are sometimes kind of frustrating though, usually in the way that, you know what you need to do but managing to execute on that can be really tough, especially when the hot and cold elements start coming into play.

I won’t go into the story but like maybe skip ahead if you’re not interested in very vague spoilers. I was also really impressed how the game did eventually address the innate body horror of its premise. It was way past the point where I thought that the game was going to actually address any of that. Part of me wants to make an argument for the game secretly being a horror game, that even the cutesiness of the premise is an intentional malicious camoflauge. It’s obviously not that, but it is fun to think about how easily, how just a little redesign on some of the bugsnax at that key moment and tonally it would fit.

3. Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes (2019)

My favourite suda51 game is Killer7. I love the inherent weirdness, the strange characters who recur with strange, idiosyncratic dialogue. A lot of people did not enjoy Travis Strikes Again from what I understand, but for me this game is the closest any suda game has come to recapturing the things I liked about Killer7.

And hey, the gameplay is fluid and fun. The only real downsides for me is how padded out the game feels and how little variation there is from one game to another.

And hey should I be including little summaries as to what these games are? Okay so Travis Strikes Again is a side game in the No More Heroes series. Renowned assassin Travis Touchdown is in hiding. The father of one of his victims is given a Death Ball; a thing which is simultaneously a video game to be played in an extremely discontinued games console the Death Drive, and also a mystical artefact capable of summoning a dragon and granting the user a wish. Collect the Death Balls, play the games on them and bring Bad Girl back to life.

With the premise involving going into different video games I was sort of hoping that the gameplay would be wildly varied from game to game. It isn’t so much. Each game has a slightly different structure but only the racing game offers a variation on genre.

Also the game, in the final level, doesn’t so much homage Hotline Miami so much as attempt a full on crossover. I was just sort of weirded out by that whole part of the experience. I never really know how to feel about Hotline Miami in general after that game’s sequel.

Aside from the crypticness, the amount of worldbuilding detail spent explaining the Death Drive, its creator and her goals and beliefs, the other thing that I really love about this game is, it’s a bridging of so many Suda51 games. There’s so many cameos; an entire level which is a full on sequel to Shadows of the Damned, Mondo Zappa from Killer is Dead appears, an implied grown up version of Juliet Starling from Lollipop Chainsaw, a bunch of people I don’t know because I’ve never played The Silver Case. Even a character from Killer7, even if it is a character I don’t care for.

Overall it’s not a perfect game but I got to put Travis in a Disco Elysium shirt and I think that’s pretty fun.

4. Supraland: Six Inches Under (2022)

Premise: Essentially set in an enormous sandbox populated by tiny living meeple figures, this is a sequel to Supraland (2018). A great cataclysm has come to the land. You are plunged into an underground world where class disparity and capitalism must be overcome before you can return your people to the surface. Mechanically it’s a difficult one to place. Sort of open world sandboxy but most of your interactions with the world are puzzles to solve and slowly you amass an arsenal of different tools that allow you to solve different puzzles and to progress along the game’s narrative.

I would absolutely recommend Supraland, and who knows this game might even be better. Its certainly more focused in on its puzzles and exploration. Combat is at a minimum as compared to the first game and it’s sort of a blessing and a curse. The combat was the weakest part of the first game it makes a lot of sense to pare it back, but it leaves you with a problem; I was always broke. Never had enough coins to get all the upgrades I wanted, even into the post-game. In Supraland I’m reasonably sure that any coin shortage was solved by going and finding a room full of enemies, and the same just isn’t available here.

There’s also a lot more post game content to puzzle your way through, and weirdly that sort of put me off. I 100% completed Supraland because by the end I was just mopping up the few remaining things I hadn’t been able to get my hands on earlier. In Six Inches Under I felt I’d already experienced a conclusion and didn’t have the patience for the amount of content still remaining.

And, one weird personal preference but the order in which the upgrades are given to you in this game kind of irritated me. The first upgrade from the first game is the last thing you get and by the end I really wanted that cube.

I sound pretty down on this one, but honestly the puzzles are good, the sense of humour is extremely silly and often reference based but you’re likely to get some chuckles out of it at least. I guess I was just a little underwhelmed only in comparison to the original.

5. A Juggler’s Tale (2021)

Premise: The game is presented through a puppet-show. Abby is a juggler at a cruel circus. They keep her in a cage when she is not performing. It’s weird. She escapes from the circus and is finally free, however the ringmaster and hired goons pursue her. She must fight for her freedom. Mechanically it’s very much like a Limbo, or an Inside or Little Nightmares. Easy to fail 2d platforming with emphasis on hiding, evading, simple physics puzzles.

The thing about this one is that

Well I kind of really hated this one. Its such a waste of its own premise. Skip ahead if you’re averse to spoilers because I’m just going for it.

Part of what’s interesting about this game is that the puppetry isn’t just an aesthetic of the game. It has a gameplay purpose. Abby cannot go underneath certain objects, her strings get stuck, so you have to find some way to navigate around this obstacle. And it has a narrative purpose.

This game has a narrator who early on emphasises how free Abby is once she’s run away from the circus. It immediately put me in mind of The Stanley Parable (2013), a game with an incredibly voiced narrator which is entirely about choice and the illusion of freedom in video games. Immediately I feel as though this is going for a similar idea; Abby is technically free of the circus but not free of the narrative. As the game progresses Abby gets recaptured and as the narrator gloats about how foolish she was to try to run away she eventually snaps her strings and she is free. Here the narrator turns full on antagonist and you play out the rest of the game escaping from a hunter under his control before going back to free everyone at the circus from their strings.

1) This game isn’t about juggling. If you idle you do a juggling animation. There’s no reason this should be a Juggler’s Tale specifically.

2) The comparison to the Stanley Parable is unfortunate because the voice actor for the narrator in this cannot hold a candle to the voice actor for the narrator in the Stanley Parable. I know that’s a particularly high bar, it’s an unfair comparison but the game is invoking the same ideas in the same ways I can’t help that my brain made this connection.

3) Also every line the narrator says is in a semi-rhyming couplet. Except they more often than not don’t rhyme even slightly. Just like a similar sound maybe. And the attempt to bring them into this rhyming scheme creates the most disjointed and unnatural sounding sentences. God I wish I remembered some examples here but it was really distracting. It was distracting enough that I was debating turning the sound of the narrator all the way down and only didn’t because I could tell it was going to become a vital plot element.

4) The metaphor falls apart when you continue to control Abby after her strings are cut. She has no palpable difference in her own freedom, her own agency before and after they are cut. Before and after she is under your control, still under the control of the narrative, not the narrator’s narrative but the structure of the video game. For this to really work, to really click, either the game has to end when her strings are cut, or you have to take control of someone else.

The game has her running from a hired hunter at this point and the much more interesting version of this game would be you are now forced to play as the hunter by this furious narrator and maybe there’s a way that this part could be structured so that you could play it straight, play your role as intended and capture Abby, or you could intentionally play in such a way that ends with her cutting your strings too. There was such potential here. Such a clear and direct metaphor for control in video games and it was so frustrating to see it underutilized.

6. Pokemon Shining Pearl (2021)

You have to complete the entire national pokedex before the game will even let you see an eevee. Not recommended.

7. Patrick’s Parabox (2022)

It’s a sokeban puzzle game where the boxes you push around can contain entire rooms and it takes this concept and exhaustively works through every possible permutation of what it could mean, what could be done with it. Every set of levels pushes the concept in some new direction, or toys with some aspect you may not have even considered up until that point. It’s probably going to be one of my games of the year just based on how thoroughly and effectively it explores its own premise.

8. #AkiRobots (2020)

#AkiRobots is a simple puzzle game about guiding a robot through a side on 2d level to an end point. It has growing complexity with different kinds of robots introduced that follow different rules.

It's kind of a disservice to have played this one immediately after Patrick’s Parabox. It’s a fine puzzle game, but it doesn’t have as concise or unique a mechanic as Parabox. It iterates on its own mechanics well enough and it has the added complexity that you control all of the robots in a level at once, requiring you to think more strategically about your moves. It’s neat but its not the puzzle game I would recommend this month.

9. Lost Nova (2022)

Premise: Ami is something of a workaholic, her best friend Quinn desperately wants her to take a vacation and suddenly she crash lands on an alien planet. She must repair her spaceship to leave, making friends and learning how to relax as she does so. In terms of gameplay it’s mostly exploration and resource collection focused. There’s no combat, just a fun little world to explore and lots of characters to meet.

It’s a really cute and chill game. It wears it’s themes pretty openly and manages to tie it into the narrative in a pretty neat way. I enjoyed it quite a bit and also by the way in the post game you can get a cute little axolotl friend. I love them so much.

10. The Room Two (2013)

Premise: There’s some kind evil black goo that your friend A.S. found and it’s making you solve puzzle rooms forever but maybe you can escape? God I do not even pretend to know the plot of this game series. It’s all told through little documents and seems to assume a baseline of knowledge that maybe I would have if I’d played the original recently but my memory is atrocious and I’m not actually convinced I ever really acquired the knowledge the game expects of me.

The point of the game is to solve intricate little puzzle boxes. To manipulate switches and push buttons and occasionally find a code elsewhere and find a place to input it. The strange arcane set dressing is sort of unnecessary to the experience. As inpenetrable as the plot is it does provide a variety of interesting locales for puzzle solving.

The worst part of these games is the moments where you missed some small hidden compartment and the puzzle solving grinds to a halt for a minute as you have to comb over the entire room looking for the next spot you need to interact with. There is a hint feature that does at least point you in the right direction but the pixel hunting is definitely a problem.

The best part of these games is simply the intricate nature of the puzzles, sliding open secret compartments, unfolding elaborate contraptions. In writing this I learned that they were originally made for ipad and that makes a lot of sense to me. The focus on the tactile seems like it would be pretty well served for touchscreen devices.

11. The Room Three (2015)

The first two games in this series are very similar in pacing, in fairly incomprehensible narrative, in mechanics. I was expecting pretty much the same experience here, I was taken by surprise to find that the puzzles in this one were a lot more intricate and involved and that the story was a lot more approachable.

The big improvement mechanically is the ability to walk around between multiple set locations. Imagine Myst. It’s that. It was playing this game that I suddenly noticed the similarities to Myst. Lots of puzzles involving complicated machinery, and a plot I generally had a bit of a difficulty getting a handle on, delivered primarily through notes dotted throughout.

It’s not one to one though, Myst games are usually fairly sprawling with puzzle elements sprinkled around its world, here the puzzles are very condensed, just a couple of rooms per chapter. Also this game doesn’t present the same kind of beautiful otherworldly environments you might want from a Myst.

One of its other new mechanics is an upgrade to your looking glass that allows you to shrink (?) or if not actually shrink then somehow project yourself into a metaphysical space that exists within certain objects and machines. Allowing you to manipulate a puzzle from the inside. It’s essentially just another screen you can go to but it is used well to create some memorable moments and puzzles.

I was genuinely surprised how much The Room Three did to elevate itself. I don’t know if I’d suggest skipping the first two, they’re not bad they just lack some of the complexity.

[greatfay]

controversial opinions?

Cold pizza actually not good. Tastes like angry bacteria.

There’s a completely separate class of gay men who are in a different, rainbow-tinted plane of reality from the rest of us and I don’t like them. They push for “acceptance” via commercialization of the Pride movement, assimilation through over-exposure, and focus on sexualizing the movement to be “provocative” and writing annoying articles that reek of class privilege instead of something actually important like lgbtqa youth homelessness, job discrimination, and mental health awareness.

Coleslaw is good. You guys just suck in the kitchen.

Generational divides ARE real: a 16-year-old and a 60-year-old right now in 2021 could agree on every hot button sociopolitical topic and yet not even realize it because they communicate in entirely different ways.

Sam Wilson is a power bottom. No I will not elaborate.

Allison’s makeover in The Breakfast Club good, not bad. She kept literally and metaphorically dumping her trash out onto the table and it’s clearly a cry for help. Having the attention and affection of a smart, pretty girl doing her makeup for her was sweet and helped her open up to new experiences. Not every loner wants to BE a loner (see: Bender, who is fine being a lone wolf).

Movie/show recommendations that start with a detailed “representation” list read like status-effecting gear in an RPG and it’s actually a turn-off for me. I have to force myself to give something a try in spite of it.

Yelling at people to just “learn a new language” because clearly everyone who isn’t you and your immediate vicinity of friends must be a lazy ignorant white American is so fucking stupid, like I get it, you’re mad someone doesn’t immediately know how to pronounce your name or what something means. But I know 2 languages and am struggling with a 3rd when I can between 2 jobs and quite frankly, I don’t have the time to just absorb the entire kanji system into my brain to learn Japanese by tomorrow night, or suddenly learn Arabic or Welsh. There are 6500 recorded languages in the world, what’s the chance that one of 3 I’ve learn(ed?) is the one you’re yelling at me about. Yes this is referring to that post yelling at people for not knowing how to pronounce obscure Irish names and words. Sometimes just explaining something instead of admonishing people for not knowing something inherently in the belief that everyone must be lazy entitled privileged people is uh... better?

Stop fucking yelling at people. I despise feeling like someone is yelling at me or scolding me, it triggers my Violence Mode, you don’t run me, you are not God, fuck off. Worst fucking way to "educate” people, it just feels good in the moment to say or write and doesn’t help. Yes I’ve done it before.

Violence is good actually.

Characters doing bad things ≠ an endorsement of bad things. Characters doing bad things that are unquestioned by the entire rest of the cast = endorsement of bad things, or at the least, a power fantasy by the creator. See: Glee, in which Sue’s awfulness is constantly called out, while Mr. Shue’s awfulness rarely is because he’s “the hero.” See also: the Lightbringer series, in which the protagonist is a violent manipulator who is praised as clever, charming, diplomatic, and genius by every supporting character (enemies included), despite the text never demonstrating such.

Euphoria is good, actually. It falls into this niche of the past decade of “dark gritty teen shows” but actually has substance behind it, but the general vibe I get from passive-aggressive tumblr posts from casual viewers is that this show is The Devil, and the criticism of its racier content screams pearl-clutching “what about the children??” to me.

Describing all diagnosed psychopaths as violent criminals is a damaging slippery slope, sure. But I won’t be mad at anyone for inherently distrusting another human who does not have the ability to feel guilt and remorse, empathy, is a pathological liar, or proves to be cunning and manipulative.

It’s actually not easy to unconditionally support and love everyone everywhere when you’ve actually experienced the World. Your perspective and values will be challenged as you encounter difficult people, experience hardship, are torn between conflicting ideas and commitments, and fail. My vow to never ever call the cops on another black person was challenged when an employee’s boyfriend marched into the kitchen OF AN ESTABLISHMENT to scream at her, in a BUSINESS I MANAGED, and threaten to BEAT the SHIT out of her. Turns out I can hate cops and hate that motherfucker equally, I am more than capable of both.

Defending makeup culture bad, actually. Enjoy it, experiment, master it, but don’t paint it as something other than upholding exactly what they want from you. Even using makeup to “defy the heteropatriarchal oppressors!” is still putting cash in their pockets, no matter how camp...

Not every villain needs to be redeemed, some of you just never outgrew projecting yourself onto monsters and killers.

Writing teams and networks queerbaiting is not the same as individuals queerbaiting. Nick Jonas performing exclusively at gay clubs to generate an audience really isn’t criminal; if they paid to go see him, that’s on them, he didn’t promise anyone anything other than music and a show. Do not paint this as similar to wealthy, bigoted executives and writing teams trying to snatch up the LGBTQA demographic with vague ass marketing and manipulative screenplays, only to cop out so as not to alienate their conservative audiences. And ESPECIALLY when the artists/actors/creators accused of queerbaiting or lezploitation then come out as queer in some form later on.

Queer is not a bad word, and I’ve no clue how that remains one of few words hurled at LGBTQA people that can’t be reclaimed. It’s so archaic and underused at this point that I don’t get the reaction to it compared to others.

People who defend grown-woman Lorelai Gilmore’s childish actions and in the same breath heavily criticize teenage religious abuse victim Lane Kim’s actions are not to be trusted. Also Lane deserved better.

Keep your realism out of my media, or at least make it tonally consistent. Tired of shows and movies and books where some gritty, dark shit comes out of nowhere when the narrative was relatively Romantic beforehand.

Actually people should be writing characters different from themselves, this new wave in the past year of “If you aren’t [X] you shouldn’t be writing [X]” is a complete leap backward from the 2010s media diversity movement. And if [X] has to do with an invisible minority status (not immediately visible disabilities, or diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, persecuted religious affiliations, mental illness) it’s actually quite fucked up to assume the creator can’t be whatever [X] is or to demand receipts or details of someone’s personal life to then grant them “permission” to create something. I know, we’re upset an actual gay actor wasn’t casted to play this gay character, so let’s give them shit about it: and not lose a wink of sleep when 2 years later, this very actor comes out and gives a detailed account of the pressure to stay closeted if they wanted success in Hollywood.

Projecting an actor’s personal romantic life and gender identity onto the characters they play is actually many levels of fucked up, and not cute or funny. See: reinterpreting every character Elliot Page has played through a sapphic lens, and insulting his ability to play straight characters while straight actors play actual caricatures of us (See also: Jared Leto. Fuck him).

I’m fucking sick of DaBaby, he sucks. “I shot somebody, she suck my peepee” that’s 90% of whatever he raps about.

“Political Correctness” is not new. It was, at one point, unacceptable to walk into a fine establishment and inform the proprietor that you love a nice firm pair of tits in your face. 60 years ago, such a statement would get you throw out and possibly arrested under suspicion of public intoxication. But then something happened and I blame Woodstock and Nixon. And now I have to explain to a man 40 years my senior that no, you can’t casually mention to the staff here, many of whom are children, how you haven’t had a good fuck in a while. And then rant about the “Chinese who gave us the virus.” Can’t be that upset with them if you then refused to wear your mask for 20 minutes.

Triggering content should not have a blanket ban; trigger warnings are enough, and those who campaign otherwise need to understand the difference between helping people and taking away their agency. 13 Reasons Why inspired this one. Absolutely shitty show, sure, but it’s a choice to watch it knowing exactly what it contains.

Sasuke’s not a fucking INTJ, he’s an ISFP whose every decision is based off in-the-moment feelings and proves incapable of detailed and logical planning to accomplish his larger goals.

MCU critique manages to be both spot-on and pointless. Amazing stories have been told with these characters over the course of decades; but most of it is toilet paper. Expecting a Marvel movie to be a deeply detailed examination of American nationalism and imperialism painted with a colorful gauze of avant-garde film technique is like expecting filet mignon from McDonalds. Scarf down your quarter pounder or gtfo.

Disparagingly comparing the popularity and (marginal) success of BLM to another movement is anti-black. It is not only possible but also easy to ask for people’s support without throwing in “you all supported BLM for black people but won’t show support for [insert group]” how about you keep our name out your mouth? Black people owe the rest of the world nothing tbh until yall root out the anti-blackness in your own communities.

It is the personal demon/tragic flaw of every cis gay/bi/pan man to externalize and exorcize Shame: I’m talking about the innate compulsion to Shame, especially in the name of Pride and Progress. Shame for socioeconomic “success,” shame for status of outness, shame for fitness and health, shame for looks, shame for style and dress, shame for how one fits into the gender binary, shame for sexual positions and intimacy preferences, shame for fucking music tastes. Put down the weapon that They used to beat you. Becoming the Beater is not growth, it’s the worst-case scenario.

Works by minorities do not have to be focused on their marginalized identities. Some ladies want to ride dragons AND other ladies. The pressure on minorities to create the Next Great Minority Character Study that will inevitably get snuffed at the Oscars/Peabody Awards is some bullshit when straight white dudes walk around shitting out mediocre screenplays and books.

Canadians can stfu about how the US is handling COVID-19 actually. Love most of yall, but the number of Canadian snowbirds on vacation (VACATION??? VA.CAT.ION.) in the supposed “hotbed” of my region that I’ve had to inform our mask policies and social distancing to is ASTOUNDING. Incroyable! I guess your country has a sizable population of entitled, privileged, inconsiderate, wealthy, and ignorant people making things difficult for everyone, just like mine :)

No trick to eliminate glasses fog while wearing my mask has worked, not a single one, it actually has affected my job and work speed and is incredibly frustrating, and I have to deal with it and pretend it’s not a problem while still encouraging others to follow the rules for everyone’s safety and the cognitive dissonance is driving me insane.

It’s really really really not anti-Japanese... to be uncomfortable with the rampant pedophilia in manga and anime, and voice this. I really can’t compare western animation’s sneakier bullshit with pantyshots of a 12-year-old girl.

Most of the people in the cottagecore aesthetic/tag have zero interest in all the hard work that comes with maintaining an isolated property in the countryside, milking cows and tending crops before sunrise, etc. And that’s okay? They just like flowers and pretty pottery and homemade pastries. Idk where discourse about this came from.

You think mint chip ice-cream tastes like toothpaste because you’re missing a receptor that can distinguish the flavors, and that sucks for you. It’s a sort of “taste-blindness” that can make gum spicy to some while others can eat a ghost pepper without crying.

Being a spectacle for the oppressive class doesn’t make them respect us, it makes them unafraid of us. This means they continue to devour us, but without fear of our retaliation.

Only like 4 people on tumblr dot com are actually prepared for the full ramifications of an actual revolution. The rest of you just really imprinted onto Katniss, or grew up in the suburbs.

Straight crushes are normal. They’re people first, sexual orientation second. Can’t always know.

The road to body positivity is not easy, especially if what you desire is what you aren’t.

You’re actually personally responsible for not voluntarily bringing yourself into an environment that you know is not fit for you unless you have the resolve to manage it. Can’t break a glass ceiling without getting a few cuts. This one’s a shoutout to my homophobic temp coworkers who decided working a venue with a drag show would be a good idea. This is also is a shoutout to people who want to make waves but are surprised when the boat tips. And also a shoutout to people who—wait that’s it’s own controversial opinion hold up.

Straight people can and should stay the fuck out of gay bars and queer spaces. “yoUrE bEInG diVisiVe” go fuck yourself.

[spaceorphan18]

Fantasia

Okay, where to even start with this.  I think this is a super ambitious project that both works and doesn’t work.  It’s like going to a two hour classical concert with visuals.  Was it groundbreaking for its time, and somewhat revolutionary for music and animation? Yes! Can it be tedious to sit through? My god yes.  

When I was younger - I used to think Fantasia was four hours long.  It’s only two but ngl, the second half of the film, I really struggled.  I think if they had cut out at least two of the segments, I’d probably have been able to handle it a little better.  

I’ll say this -- classical music, at least to me, is like trying to read a science textbook - it requires full attention at all times to retain what you’ve read.  I think one of the reasons (for me personally) this film is hard is that to actually sit all the way through it requires a lot of focus, and that can be taxing.  Classical music is great! And the animation here is (mostly) great.  But it’s a lot to jam in two hours.  

Alright - so let’s dig in here.  (Get ready for some full on music nerdiness.)  

Overview - 

The film breaks down into segments that go along with classical pieces.  You guys all know these pieces, even if you don’t know their names.  Most of them have been used countless times in pop culture and commercials -- but I can see how this would be a bit revolutionary for the time because in the 40s there really wasn’t pop culture or commercials to devalue these these great musical art pieces.  But -- that’s an entirely different tangent to go on.  

So, the segments are broken up by a looming, silhouetted dude named Deems, who introduces us to each of the pieces.  While Deems is entertaining just because he’s shrouded in darkness for most of his monologues - most of this could have been conveyed via title card - but I get that they were going for a concert-esque feel.  

The Segments -- 

1.  Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach.  

The play list is like a Now!Classical Music CD, and I’m not surprised that Bach kicks the whole thing off.  Interestingly, they start off simple -- there’s not a whole lot of animation going on, just pictures and shapes and colors.  It’s a lot like listening to music while watching a screen saver on your computer.  I don’t consider that a criticism, either.  It’s sort of a way to slide the audience into what they’re going to be doing for the rest of the film.  And I almost like the abstract idea over some of the more story-focused segments they’ll do later on.  

I love this piece in general - so I’m find with sitting the whole through the whole thing.  The funniest part, though, was at the beginning when Deems talked about how this piece may not evoke a specific thing -- when in fact, if most of you heard the opening chords, you’ll most likely automatically think of Dracula.  ;) 

2.  The Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

This is the one I remember the most from when I was a kid - probably because it was the section I enjoyed the most since I knew the music.  

The whole thing is nature based, and I really appreciate how they incorporated different cultures into the different dances.  While it’s on the longer side, I think it’s one of the ones that works the best.  It’s visually stunning and engaging.  And it’s also super interesting to see the Suite without any Christmas or Ballet connotations.  

3.  The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas.

This is, perhaps, the most famous section of the film - since it’s about Mickey Mouse, and the imagery is used a lot in Disney commercialism.  

It’s a fine little cartoon about Mickey being a sorcerer’s apprentice -- getting into a bit of hijinx.  It plays out a lot like a traditional cartoon would (old Warner Brother’s classics come to mind - like Bugs Bunny singing Opera).  It’s not the best section, nor the worst.  It’s just kind of.. there.  

4.  Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky.  

So, I should preface this with -- I’m not a fan of Stravinsky.  Sorry.  Yes - I get the guy was a genius, and really revolutionary, and pushing the boundaries of what Western Tonality could do.  But I just don’t engage with his music very well.  

That said, I don’t think this is a ‘bad’ section, it’s just unintentionally funny at times.  It is -- a 1940′s view of the history of life on earth, which to someone living in the 2010s, feels very dated.  

On the one hand - there’s some interesting visuals here - particularly the underwater life, even if it’s not at all accurate.  On the other hand, the dinosaurs are kind of laughable, though there is one genuinely tense moment between a T-Rex and a Stegosaurus.  

My biggest issue is that it feels like it just goes on and on.  Part of it is the music, and the arrangement in particular.  (Apparently Stravinsky was not a fan either.)  And this is where my attention begins to wane.  

5. There’s an Intermission at this point - complete with jazz music (almost a welcome break from the classical, which can be taxing to listen to for long periods of time), and an animated white string to show you what sound waves look like (which I’m sure was fascinating to people who’ve never seen what a sound wave looks like before).  

6.  The Pastoral Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven.

So, I love Beethoven - he is my favorite classical composer.  But this, man.  I don’t know.  The Pastoral is not my favorite symphony -- I feel like the 5th, the 9th, and even the 7th might have been more interesting choices here.  But even more so - this is one of those times that I like to listen at my own leisure, and the animation on screen almost feels like a detriment to the piece itself. 

The Pastoral is a collection of scenes from nature.  Fantasia uses a Greek Myth theme, and ties into the whole nature-esque thing the music is doing.  While I understand what they were going for, especially the ending with Zues throwing around lightning bolts during the ‘thunderstorm’ portion of the symphony, the whole thing feels a bit tedious and purposefully elongated.  

The animation, I guess, is fine - it’s a bit more cartoon-ish than some of the more artfully done segments.  

Also - this is a good point to mention that most of the second half of the music is slower in tempo and timbre and I’m not sure why they would do this.  

7.  Dance of the Hours by Amilcare Ponchielli.

And... this is where I had the most trouble focusing.  Apparently this was all supposed to be comic.  Maybe I just didn’t get it.  Mostly, it’s a bunch of dancing animals, one mini-segment for each part of the day.  And I found it incredibly boring.  

Comparatively, the animation on this one seems the weakest.  The backgrounds are dull and uninspired next to pretty much every other segment.  The dancing animals didn’t seem all that engaging.  Oh - and in case you’re wondering, the opening section of this was parodied in that old “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah” short cartoon - so I kept thinking of that instead of the ostriches prancing around in tutus.  Yeah. 

8.  Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky and Ave Maria by Franz Schubert.

This segment is actually really pretty cool, and something I would have enjoyed much better if I hadn’t been ready to be done with the film.  It kind of depicts this darker spirits (and possibly The Devil) during the night, all leaving at dawn.  The animation here really sells it -- it’s completely unlike anything that’s in the film prior to it, and unlike anything Disney did in his previous work.  It’s really quite beautiful and haunting is a great piece to end on. 

Final Thoughts: This is a tough one to talk about - because it’s one of those things where on one hand, you want to be intellectual about, and study and appreciate it as an art form. On the other hand - it can be tedious - especially if you’re attempting a casual watch through. I feel like you really have to be in the right mindset going in to enjoy it.  

[letterboxd]

Life in Film: Michael Tyburski.

The Sound of Silence director Michael Tyburski shares some insights into the making of his debut feature, and answers our new “life in film” questionnaire.

In The Sound of Silence, Peter Sarsgaard is Peter Lucian, a house tuner in New York City who believes that the notes emitted from a household’s appliances must harmonize in order to bring peace to its residents. However, his state of mind collapses when he struggles to apply his methods for a new client, Ellen (Rashida Jones).

Directed by Michael Tyburski and based on a short film he made with co-writer Ben Nabors in 2013, The Sound of Silence debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and stood out for its “remarkably silly” unique premise and strong performance from Sarsgaard. Fans of ASMR, get your headphones out; the film’s sound design will trigger those sensations.

The Sound of Silence started life as your short film Palimpsest. Is the ‘house tuner’ occupation at all based in reality? Michael Tyburski: The short answer is no, it’s a fictional profession. The character idea is something that my co-writer Ben Nabors brought to me. Right away, I loved the idea of a practise where someone shows up at your door and offers you a solution to the emotional problems that you’re having.

A lot of alternative therapies exist in New York City so it didn’t seem so far from reality that people would take someone intellectual, dressed well in a tweed blazer, with professional-looking tools, seriously. I really liked that as a conceit. We tried to base it in real science and looked at sound engineers and acousticians for what tools they would use. We tried to make it exist in a very real New York City; that’s why we have touchstones like the character being profiled in The New Yorker.

How has your research into music theory affected your own domestic space? Actually, I moved, for the first time in ten years—after living on a pretty noisy commercial street—during the course of developing and making this movie. Somehow, during the edit, I made my first apartment move within New York City, to a much quieter street. I also took a cue from the main character, Peter Lucian, because I moved my office below my apartment, in a subterranean space. At least I can control the sound a little bit more now that I’m cut off from the surface level, similar to the way Peter does it in his “fallout shelter”.

Michael Tyburski and Peter Sarsgaard on the set of The Sound of Silence. / Photo: James Chororos

The character Peter Lucian feels like a perfect fit for Peter Sarsgaard. When did you have him in mind? He was my first pick. I knew I wanted him from the beginning when I first started thinking about who would be the perfect house tuner. I feel so lucky to have him and fortunately the script resonated with him right away. He’s someone who’s very musically inclined and he plays a number of musical instruments. I was so gratified that he connected to the part so closely.

He’s such a chameleon of an actor. He can play a lot of dark roles, but also he has a very scientist-like intellect. I also think he has one of the best voices, it’s very unique and I enjoy hearing him. So for a movie about sound, it kind of seemed fitting that someone with those types of qualities would work for the role.

What was important to you about keeping Peter’s house-tuning technology analog instead of digital? I think he’s just someone who has the philosophy of “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it”. Even though his tools are a little more dated, they’re still as effective. They might not be as efficient as digital technology so he’s a little slower, but they still work. There is at least one sound engineer in New York City who we found in our research who measures the sound in rooms, and there’s one thing called a spectrum analyzer that we use in the film that we completely got from this guy’s tool bag.

Director Michael Tyburski.

The film is carefully crafted and you have Peter obsessing over every inch of New York City. What degree of obsession did you have in the making of the film? I’m pretty obsessive as an individual in general. I like to be very organized and have everything mapped out. We had been developing the screenplay for so many years that I got tired of reading it, so before we made the movie, the first thing I did after Peter came on board was sit down and record the entire script in audio format. I kind of had this radio edit of the movie. That transitioned into a rough animatic of the film that I put into the timeline and I was able to add in location references, tonal reference photos, dialogue in different room tones, and then music.

Logistics-wise, we only had 21 days to shoot the movie which is very conservative especially because we had a lot of ground to cover, but I just needed to be as efficient as possible, so it was helpful to have that thorough, animatic tool.

With all the technical departments it was a very close collaboration and I like to be very involved in all details. For the sound design, I wanted to re-record all of the tuning forks, which were kind of an aural motif through the film. When you’re shooting in the elements, you don’t always have the control over the environment, so I hand-recorded each one of the tuning forks myself. We were aiming for that level of precision.

We’d like to ask a few questions about your life in film. What was the film that made you want to become a filmmaker? My choice is probably not that unique but when I was 13, maybe a little too young, I got a VHS copy of Pulp Fiction. That stunned me and took me from A to B. It shook up how I thought contemporary American stories could be told.

Which film do you think is the best love letter to New York? Annie Hall, closely tied with Midnight Cowboy. I suppose I love that era of New York.

Which film has the greatest sound design work of all time? There’s a lot, but one of my favorites is Play Time.

Nice choice. Greatest production design of all-time too. Yeah, not bad. I used a few frames for my look book.

Jacques Tati’s ‘PlayTime’ (1967).

Which is the most overlooked performance from Peter Sarsgaard? I loved him in Experimenter, which I think is an underrated film. More recently too, Errol Morris’s Wormwood. I don’t know how many people went down that rabbit hole because it was long, but I think he was so good in it.

What films did you watch to prepare you for The Sound of Silence? There were three that we were looking at, for a lot of different reasons. We watched Jonathan Glazer’s Birth for the mood and that fairytale vibe it has in a mysterious, alternate New York City.

Being John Malkovich for its bizarro version of science, and I love the naturalistic quality to that film. And obviously The Conversation for its production design and how it follows a man obsessed with sound.

This is a nicely-timed, autumnal, gentle film. What films give you those peaceful autumn vibes? My favorite is Hannah and Her Sisters.

What mindfuck movie changed you for life? I’ll have a couple Kubrick on this list, but for this probably A Clockwork Orange.

It’s Halloween next month. What movie do you watch every Halloween? The Shining! There’s my next Kubrick.

As a teenager, what film character felt like a total mirror to what you were feeling at the time? One of my favorite coming-of-age films is Harold and Maude. I definitely identified with Harold.

What’s your go-to comfort movie? And how many times do you think you’ve seen it? My favorite film of all time, which I promise will be my last Kubrick, is Barry Lyndon. I think it’s just a perfect movie and I’ve certainly seen it dozens of times. I think it does everything I want in a movie. I don’t even know what genre to call it because it’s funny, it’s dramatic, it’s an epic. I love the idea of doing a perfect epic movie that covers a lot of ground.

Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Barry Lyndon’ (1975).

What film do you have fond memories of watching with your parents? We were a big Chevy Chase household and National Lampoon’s Vacation holds up as a fine movie.

What’s a classic you could just not get into? Maybe Brazil. Admittedly I think I need to rewatch it because I first saw it when I was 14 or 15 and I just didn’t quite get it at the time.

What classic are you embarrassed to say you haven’t seen? Two Kurosawa films; Rashomon and Seven Samurai. They’re always on my list to brush up and they seem to come up in conversation more and more.

Which movie scene makes you cry the most? Definitely the holiday classic It’s A Wonderful Life.

What film was your entry point into non-English language cinema? That was a good one, I like that question. I remember when I was in my freshman year of high school I was given two VHS copies from someone who knew I was getting into film. One of those films was Persona, but then the other one, which I knew I watched first, was a film called Woman in the Dunes.

What filmmaker—living or dead—do you envy the most? If Kubrick, go for living… If it’s Kubrick go for living? Oh my gosh.

I feel like you’re going to say Kubrick. Yeah. Envy is a funny word. Kubrick has an admirable career for the depth of his filmography. You know, like a lot of film nerds I’m a huge Paul Thomas Anderson fan.

Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Prestige’ (2006).

What’s a film that you wish you made? I would love to make a movie about magic but ever since I saw The Prestige I think it would be hard to compete with that. That period, that Victorian era of illusion, I don’t know if you can top that.

It’s time for best-of-decade lists. What’s the greatest film of the 2010s? If we went back even further it would be easier. For the last 10 years, I think Phantom Thread is pretty great.

‘The Sound of Silence’ was released on September 13 by IFC Films and is in select cinemas now.

[nandalorian]

OCD Marvel Costume Series: Black Widow

Ever since I did that post about Captain America’s theoretical onesie and the evolution of his costume, I’ve gotten a lot of requests to do a similar OCD breakdown analysis about Black Widow’s.

After Cap and Bucky, Widow’s easily my favourite MCU character, so I am all too happy to break it down. But just know this required me to wade through so many disgusting male comments about her costume and body that I wanted to flip my desk and set it on fire. Repeatedly. You’re welcome.

Here are the six costumes I’ll be looking at from 2010-2018.

From L to R: Iron Man 2, Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, and Avengers: Infinity War.

Putting the rest under a read more because shit’s gonna get long.

Let’s begin: Iron Man 2.

This is the first time we meet Natasha in the MCU franchise, and I don’t know about you guys, but I remember there being a LOT of hype surrounding Scarlett being cast in a totally non-objectifying way. <_<

Just kidding. Here’s actual footage of every straight man watching/starring in Iron Man 2 when Nat’s on screen:

This, I think, is a good place to add a caveat that it’s difficult to address Natasha’s looks and clothing without sounding like I’m criticizing her appearance and sexuality, including her ability to weaponize those things or the fact that she is entitled to enjoy them in any way she likes. As a character, certainly she is, and to me that’s one of the really interesting aspects of her personality and an incredible skill. As a woman, those are things not worthy of criticizing, IMO. But the films present a grey area because they are all directed by men, and to a large extent for men. So it’s hard to find the line between what is meant to entice audiences and what is meant to tell us something important about who Nat is, and to what extent the latter is the original intent of the costume choices. How do you extricate the character from the male gaze when the male gaze permeates so much of comic book culture, and by extension the MCU? Let’s not forget how many gratuitous ass shots there are of Natasha in a given movie, although the Russos generally do a good job of evening the playing field by liberally sprinkling in plenty of Cap ass shots too. The Russos are like the salt baes of equal-opportunity and gender-neutral ass shots.

But back to Natasha. In Iron Man 2, she spends most of the movie in sexy wiggle dresses or low-cut blouses, presenting herself as an object of desire for all the men in the film (possibly some of the women) and a thorn in Pepper Potts’s side until they join forces against Tony. (Obviously her intention, since Natasha weaponizes everything about herself, but it was also pretty clearly for audience titillation as much as the character never does anything by accident.)

But then, surprise! It’s revealed she’s the Black Widow and capable of kicking more ass than just about anyone else in the film/on the planet, and can even do it in a skintight catsuit and crazy hair flying in her face at all times!

Natasha’s suit is probably the least functional in this movie because it’s designed to look like a sexy female comic book hero costume, not something a real agent would wear in a believable conflict situation. Or maybe they would, I don’t know. I’m not a spy. But objectively speaking, she has a totally useless belt with the Black Widow symbol around her middle, then the tactical belt, holsters, etc. The fabric looks shiny and stretchy but isn’t leather. That being said, you can’t get much more spot on in terms of the visual interpretation, if you look at how she’s drawn by J Scott Campbell. I am not positive whether IM2 Widow is an interpretation of this artist’s illustration or vice versa, but either way, she translates from film to comic and back again pretty flawlessly.

Just don’t even get me started on the hair because w h a t. Tell me you can’t hear it crackling when you look at this gif. Go on, I dare you.

No wonder ScarJo switched to wigs after this movie.

Ironically, even though this costume is pretty ridiculous in terms of offering any kind of practicality or protection from bullets/knives/explosions, I have to point out that Iron Man 2 is the only movie where Black Widow actually wears practical footwear.

Look at those things. Those are flat, FUNCTIONAL boots. You could do all the running, jumping, and punching things you wanted and not feel like your goddamn feet were going to fall off, or worse, plant you on your fucking face because you’re wearing heels into combat. RIP flat Widow boots.

Moving on. Avengers 1.

Much like the other costumes in this film, Natasha’s outfit is still pretty comic book-y, although to a less cartoonish extent than Captain America some. That is pretty much Joss Whedon’s trademark as a director, although shockingly, I felt Widow looked more serious and ready for battle. Alexandra Byrne did the costume design on Avengers and Ultron, as well as Thor and Guardians of the Galaxy (hence the trademark styles in A1 and A2, plus similarities between Natasha and Gamora’s costumes), and she has a distinct touch. Here the nods to practicality include less extravagant hair (though Natasha also has short hair plenty of times in the comics) and the fact that her suit looks like it could deflect a knife (possibly). Even her civilian clothing looks less hyperfeminine than that of Iron Man 2, and it’s here we begin to see that Nat’s outfit of choice is usually some combination of jeans, a jacket, and knee-high boots with a small heel. It always strikes me that this is probably what she’s most comfortable in when she’s not dressed as Black Widow. Even her stance here looks like that of a soldier, less of a stereotypically female pose.

I couldn’t help but feel a lot of this was intentional on Whedon’s part in order to avoid anyone accusing him of sexualizing Natasha and to look like a Real Director Who Takes Female Characters Seriously (TM). So he dresses women more realistically but then just assassinates their character in other ways, as you do. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

As far as her suit is concerned, don’t get me wrong: it’s still textured plastic meant to stretch and allow movement and comfort and cling to certain... assets... and they still haven’t gotten rid of her totally useless Widow belt. But at least she looks a bit more like she means business and less like she’s just there to look hot.

However, in this film they also introduced the infamous heels to her costume. 

In the immortal words of Shuri:

Like Cap’s ab window, this is one of those design choices I begrudgingly understand from a movie perspective--it looks ~sexier and ~more feminine and also reduces the height difference between ScarJo and her male costars (plus other female characters like Agent Hill wear heels too, and so does Wonder Woman in the DC franchise. They appear in the Black Widow comics too), but the reality of someone willingly wearing heels in this type of environment makes me want to facepalm real bad. Sure, you can argue fighting in heels is just one of Nat’s special abilities that makes her better than the rest of us, but--that’s probably not why.

And they don’t go away, even when the movie and writing quality drastically improves. Anyone who read my post on Cap’s suits will probably be able to guess that The Winter Soldier is my #1 Marvel film and had some of my favourite costumes in the MCU, and Nat is no exception there. 

The way the Russos interpret her, through their writing and their vision for the overall look of the film and the way the costumes are designed (Judianna Makovsky did all the costumes for Winter Soldier, Civil War, and Infinity War, which makes total sense in ways I’ll explain in a moment), also reminds me a bit of Phil Noto and Nathan Edmonson’s Black Widow. Plenty of people might be inclined to disagree with me there, I’m sure, but Noto and Edmonson’s series, tonally and visually, is very similar to TWS in the sense that they feel like political thrillers, and the character styling in the film continues that theme. The story and the way the characters are written and styled crosses genres and blurs the line between comic book, thriller, and real life.  

In TWS, Nat looks like a fucking badass, but also somehow more relatable and human despite her perfect hair and flawless skin. TWS was the film where she, for me (along with the rest of the cast, especially Steve), went from being a character to being a person with all the shades of greys, uncertainties, and ambiguities that entails. That’s where the Russos excel, making fictional characters come alive with nuance and layers. Kind of like how you know if they had done a Hawkeye movie, they’d have probably adapted Hawkeye #19. 

Their unique way of finding the humanity in comic book characters and situating them in the real world translates interestingly through the costumes. Even her hair is the most natural-looking shade of copper red than any of the other films, where it tends to looks more dyed. Trust me, as someone who spent 9 years trying to achieve the perfect and most natural shade of copper red possible, I know how difficult it is to get right, even if this is obviously a wig.

If you look reeeeal close at the above pic, you can tell she’s graduated from stretchy plastic to something that resembles kevlar or some kind of protective utility material. You can just make out the lines and texture in the fabric. Still stretches and lets her move, obviously still skintight, but upgrades her to a higher degree of real-world believability in the same way the stealth suit did for Cap. 

I find the back of her suit interesting too. There’s a panel sewn over her butt that looks identical to the full-seat equestrian breeches I wear riding, which are meant to offer reinforcement and grip. I’m not entirely sure why Nat needs either of those things in combat, but there you have it. (In all seriousness, it could be because the fabric they used is less stretchy or doesn’t hold its shape the same way, so they had to piece it together differently to allow for movement and shape retention through all the stunts.)

Actually, scratch that. Why wouldn’t you need reinforcement and grip when doing this?

Weird butt panel notwithstanding, Nat’s TWS suit also introduces more protective details like leather and sewn-in kneepads, and her Widow belt actually serves to cinch in the costume instead of just sit there pointlessly, leaving her with just the tac belt. Still the dumb heels too, but I promise I’ll get over it. Maybe.

Next: Age of Ultron. People are going to side-eye the shit out of me for saying this, but... Widow’s costume continues to be less ridiculous than, say, Cap’s. Cartoonish, yes, with a lot of frankly baffling design choices, and visually I liked it the least. But weirdly enough, the construction of the suit and the fabric is less ridiculous than it seems at first glance; it looks like it’d actually offer a pretty high degree of protection in the field. Check it out.

There’s a matte leather and a similar kevlar/utility fabric as her suit in TWS, and the Widow belt and the tac belt have been combined into one so there are fewer pointless buckles. 

I mean, too bad they ruin it by adding glowing blue parts that make her look like she’s about to go cosplay as Tron as soon as she finishes saving the world, and I will never understand why her gauntlets are suddenly red, but a detail that caught my eye is right on the bodice. See those seams under her bust? 

It looks like it could be there just to draw attention to her boobs, but as a former fencer, I can tell you those are almost certainly for a chest plate or removable protective cups. (From a movie costuming perspective, they’re probably to give the bust more definition, as that’s literally an underwire construction. Yes, okay, I realize this. But if we consider the character, a chest plate makes far more sense.) And if you are a woman in a combat situation where you’re getting whacked in the tits a bunch of times, you need a fucking chest plate. She doesn’t appear to be wearing one in the other films, which is as absurd as Cap going into battle without wearing a cup. Have you ever been clocked in the tits before? With a weapon, no less? Because I have, and it’s not fun. It happens to you once, and you’re on Amazon buying a chest plate or protective cups literally the next day. Or, you know, from the toilet immediately after as you sit there crying and cradling your poor bruised boobs.

Another really practical detail is that she has proper kneepads in this costume, which is ideal if you’re sliding around on the ground a lot, or taking hard landings.

BUT WHY DO THEY GLOW IN THE DARK? /despair

Oddly enough, Nat’s suit in Captain America: Civil War was one of my least favourites--initially. But I was wrong to feel that way, and I’ll tell you why. Why didn’t I like it at first? Well, they pick up some of the same details as in TWS and add other more practical things like no-nonsense kneepads, but they also seem to add boning to the bodice of the suit, and lots of piping everywhere on the arms and torso that would probably rub unpleasantly if you were moving around that much. Unnecessary seams=friction. That’s a lesson any equestrian will tell you too.

I also was not a fan of the Farah Fawcett vibe I got from her hair, but that could just be me. Her suit here is functional, overall, but it doesn’t reinvent the wheel or make her look sleek and dangerous in the same way as TWS. It has less... style than her other suits and civilian outfits (which were my fave in this film), and after this many movies, I think we’ve come to associate the Black Widow suit with style and making certain death at her hands/thighs look good. 

But there is a point to her suit looking more tactical, which you can better see here. From this angle, she looks almost military, certainly the most military of any of the other films, and that is intentional and significant later on.

Because much like Cap’s uniform carries over to Infinity War, so does Nat’s. That was a clever segue, in case you were wondering.

This is such a departure from anything else Nat wears in the other films that you kind of have to tip your hat at the designer and the Russos and Judianna Makovsky for having such a sharp eye for detail and a knack for letting costume tell a story. Not only does Natasha change her hair and eyebrow colour, but she changes the colour of her suit too, adding in some green and almost entirely eliminating the sex appeal of the other Widow costumes. But the continuity is most impressive of all.

It’s hard to tell, but just like Steve is wearing the same uniform as in Civil War, minus the star he clawed off with his bare hands, Nat is wearing the exact same Widow costume with a tactical vest on top and some new body armour (shoulder and elbow pads). Remember that piping on the arms, legs, and bodice I bitched about a second ago? If you look closely, it’s all clearly visible in the same spots, and it’s obvious the vest just goes over top. Her kneepads and boots are the exact same too. This girl did a complete 180 on her look with nothing more than a tac vest and an emergency appointment with Guy Tang for some blonde balayage. 

It’s amazing that Steve and Sam think going incognito involves DIY distressing on their uniforms and growing some playoff beards, but Natasha can become an entirely different person just by changing a few key details. Especially the eyebrows. I once wrote a line in a fic about how her lighter eyebrows in Infinity War totally change the shape of her face. I think that’s a detail everyone noticed in the trailers, how strange she looked with those ultrablonde brows. But that’s perfect for this character and something Nat would intuitively pick up on, because it leaves her almost unrecognizable. Just like makeup can subtly change someone’s face shape, so can eyebrows, but she ditches makeup in Infinity War to the same effect. It’s the makeover equivalent of “walk, don’t run.” Kind of amazing to think she is so many steps ahead of everyone else that she can go down Dick’s Sporting Goods and CVS for nothing more than a tac vest and a box of hair dye, respectively, and literally emerge looking like a different person. When she says she’s figuring out a new cover, this is the stuff she means.

So there you have it. I hope this costume breakdown as as fun for you to read as it was to put together, and I continue to be impressed and occasionally stumped by the design choices made by the MCU costuming departments. They really do know their stuff and how important clothing is to the understanding of a character, and Nat, who is a master of tailoring her look for maximum effect, proves this rule more than almost anyone else.

Thanks for reading! I might tackle Bucky next, so stay tuned.