#Iconic fictional brother/siblings my beloved

[2ndstar-ontheright]

THEM <3 

BROTHERS 😭❤️💚

[pendragonsclotpole]

I need to preface this post with the fact that I’ve been aware of Supernatural for as long as I’ve known what the terms fanfiction and fandom mean. It’s one of those pop culture moments that’s existed on the periphery of my mind as something really beloved and bemoaned about by people on the internet, but it’s never been something I really cared about outside of some iconic memes.

For the past four days, I’ve been watching Supernatural non-stop in my free time. I think I sat through eight episodes straight on one of those days, and I just have to say, the show is phenomenal.

I don’t know where to start, I could make a dozen of these posts about various points throughout the first two seasons and it still wouldn’t be enough. I’ve now taken a break at episode one of season three, because now that it’s a weekday I have work and can’t dedicate the time I could on the weekend.

First, Jared Padalecki’s acting is so beautiful and poignant and emotional. He really makes Sam Winchester into the bleeding heart of the whole show, and the entire time he’s on screen I worry about Sam. His portrayal of Sam’s heartbreak and desperation at Dean’s impending death after the car crash, as well as Sam’s horror at the reveal of what John told Dean before dying held a tragic desperation and denial that really embodied what the character represented in the first two seasons. Even as a hunter and with his special abilities, Sam felt like a quasi self-insert for the audience. I don’t mean that in a bad or overly tropey way, but in the way that he felt robbed of a proper childhood in favor of his father’s crusade. Sam is the angry, indignant younger sibling who never bore the brunt of responsibility like the older sibling did and it shows. In some ways, it makes him more entitled—I don’t mean that Sam does not have the right to be angry with John Winchester. He does. Fuck John Winchester. I mean entitled in the unintentional, coincidental way that your little brother or sister always demands the things you never had or rebels against the authority of the parent without ever dealing with the consequences you did as the older sibling. It reveals the veneer of freedom he had and the protection he received by virtue of his place in the Winchester Family. For me, it made him unbearably real, and this feeling of realness was made worse by the genuine naivety and innocence he keeps even as he continually gets screwed over by the demons. There’s a steadfast belief in the goodness of others within Sam that often conflicts with the sense of goodness he believes he lacks.

Sam trusts so easily, but he understands people in ways that should be antithetical to his upbringing. It took me forever to reconcile why he seemed so familiar, until I realized that Sam Winchester, for all that he was one of John Winchester’s son, had received the unconditional love of an older sibling for his entire childhood.

I don’t mean the perfect, kind, healthy love that often exists between fictional siblings. Too often I’ve watched media that makes me wonder how siblings like that even exist, or conversely, made me glad my siblings weren’t so fucked up.

I mean the kind of platonic love that exists between siblings living in the liminal space of love and hate thanks to the single fucked up connection that draws them back together continuously out of some sense of duty or commiseration or the need to be understood.

I mean the kind of love between siblings that would wither away when in a perfect world that does not stake their survival on their codependence of each other, but that in an imperfect and real world is equated to familiarity. Sam and Dean against the world—against John Winchester.

Out of all of the episodes I’ve watched in the last day and a half, perhaps the one that struck me most was episode 20, Season 2. What is and What Should Never Be. Not only was the title a bit of emotional whiplash—the juxtaposition of Should and Never lending a finality or a sense of wrongness that can’t be replicated by the words “Could Never—but we see Dean and Sam in a world where their one connection, hunting, has completely vanished and at a high cost to all the people they’ve saved, but mostly to Sam and Dean themselves. They’re connection as ride or die brothers is gone, replaced by an ostensibly better, healthier, more normal future liberated from the expectations of the rest of the world.

Without the death of Mary Winchester, Dean and Sam are no longer Dean and Sam. They’re just two people, connected by the two people that raised them, and likely to drift apart after that connection dies���frayed ends of a tapestry pulling apart and unraveling. Dean gains a mom and a normal life, but metaphorically loses a brother and a sense of purpose. Who is Dean Winchester if he’s not a hunter and Sam’s brother? And the sad thing is, neither of these are traits Dean ever chose. They are conditions foisted upon him, perhaps not intentionally, such as in the case of Sam, but ultimately placed on his soul until they tethered themselves to the very core of what being Dean Winchester is supposed to mean. The end of the episode, and Dean’s choice to return to the real world, regardless of Sam waking him up, is Dean fully giving up his dream in order to save Sam and be a hunter. The fallacy of the episode is in the choice Dean makes, which the more I think about it, feels less like a choice and more of an inevitability but one compounded by Dean’s readiness and willingness to go with it.

This is where I get to the crux of my surprise with these first early seasons of Supernatural: Dean Motherfucking Winchester.

I don’t know what I was expecting from early seasons of Supernatural, especially with the context of the later seasons. Maybe an overly cheesy, early 2000s ode to roadtrip Americana with a self-reverential take on the classic gun slinging frontiersman of the Wild West and bad supernatural CGI. Not to say it isn’t that (shout out to Sam’s comment on Dean’s particular brand of butch), but what surprised me was how real the connection between the characters was manifested on screen and how much good will the show built up in the audience. There came a point where I sided with Dean so much in the events of the show that I felt like I was riding shotgun in the impala. I saw it with every compliant “yes, sir” he gave to John, with every teasing comment he threw at Sam, and with every act of selflessness he exhibited by protecting other people. This isn’t to say that Dean is perfect. Sometimes he doesn’t take things seriously enough, or he’s willing to sacrifice people for some misguided greater good, or he’s obsessed with saving Sam even when he wouldn’t be if it were anyone else, but Dean has a conviction so many people lack. He has the capacity to love at a great cost to himself, either because he believes himself unworthy of being loved or because he’s not used to anything else.

Jensen Ackles does such a good job at this portrayal and with such a different technique than Jared Padalecki. Ackles embodies the desperate need for self-assuredness that Dean breathes, as well as the genuine fear he has of being seen. I love laughing with Dean as much as I love screaming at him for how stupid he’s being. If Sam is the self-insert, then Dean is the tragic hero, although that comparison feels like a poor facsimile for what Dean Winchester truly is because I don’t particularly feel an overwhelming sense of pity at his state or at his hinted downfall with that demon deal. If anything, I feel a sense of indignation mixed with understanding and frustration that Dean can’t catch a break but at the end of it all, is just how he prefers it.

It shouldn’t be a shock to admit that even without knowing what happens from seasons 3 to 15, I know how Supernatural ends. Just thinking about the ending makes me wonder if I should even continue it past season 5, but that’s a decision for another time.

For now, there’s something unbearably tragic in seeing Dean Winchester so close to a chance of a normal life and apple pie happiness (something he really seems to desire no matter how much he denies it) and then having to give it up, not just because it’s not real, but because he believes it should never be real.

Dean Winchester deserves better.

[anghraine]

your blog is great, and you talk about your interests in such a compelling way! out of curiosity, who would you say are your top 10 fictional characters of all time? also, do you use twitter?

Thank you very much! It's hard to be entirely accurate about my personal top ten, but I still enjoyed thinking about it rather than about being sick and miserable, lol, so here's my attempt to come up with a Faves of Ultimate Destiny list.

(This isn't necessarily about evaluating their worth as characters or even as people, but just how much raw affection I feel. It's also not ranked, just the order in which I thought of them!)

Fitzwilliam Darcy from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (the book character specifically) — I know, nobody is surprised. He actually is my #1 choice.

Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars original trilogy — it's always hard for me to choose between him, his father, and his sister, but ultimately, I feel the most powerfully about Luke. I'm not here for soft, sunshiny fanon Luke, but I am super here for a Luke whose personal kindness, strength, and powerful loyalties mingle with his struggle against rage, fear, even hatred, and an inclination to idealize martial violence and solve his problems with it, yet who comes out the other side as the kind of Jedi that Anakin might have been rather than the authorities around Luke succeeding in forging him into something alien to his true nature.

Faramir from JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings (very definitely the book character specifically) — again, I'm not super into soft and accommodating mundane guy Faramir, but very into the interplay of his basic compassion and gentleness with the repeated descriptions of him as stern, commanding, willful, and just really fucking strange. I love others a lot but no one can take his crown. (He may be uncrowned in canon but not in my heart!)

Gwen Thackeray from Guild Wars: Prophecies and Guild Wars: Eye of the North, games which most of you haven't played and I suspect would not enjoy for dated mechanics reasons, but which won my heart in the original tutorial zone. I have an explanation about Gwen's greatness here.

Attolia Irene from Megan Whalen Turner's The Queen's Thief books, but especially The Queen of Attolia. She's so precisely tailored to my tastes in female characters that I was kind of astounded, even though I read the books specifically for her based on my friends' TQT blogging. I mostly don't talk about her on this blog, but my feelings are really strong!

Aravis Tarkheena from CS Lewis's The Horse and His Boy. I know everything wrong with Narnia and specifically with THHB, but Aravis, what an icon.

Tarrlok from Avatar: The Legend of Korra. This is another close competition (with his brother Noatak/Amon along with both members of my beloved OTP, Korra/Kuvira), but if I'm being honest, he's the one who scrapes into the fave Avatar character slot. I've loved a lot of tragic villains, but he's really top tier.

Annabella from John Ford's seventeenth-century revenge tragedy 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. The title is quasi-ironic; it comes from a dismissive description of her by a super corrupt Catholic cardinal. Both the title and subject matter (murder, consensual sibling incest, a ton of misogyny) can make it a difficult play for some. But for me, Annabella is really what makes the play succeed on its own terms and outshine its Shakespearean inspiration.

Cesare Borgia from Showtime's The Borgias. In my heart this slot goes to both him and his sister Lucrezia (where #8 is definitely Annabella's alone, although I like Giovanni; if only S1 existed this slot would be rightfully Lucrezia's). But if I have to choose between them in the context of the show, I felt his arc was smoother and more coherent and satisfying throughout the show as a whole, so my love for him is less impeded by frustration.

I wasn't actively trying to only choose one character per canon, though it's wound out that way, but here's the exception: Cassian Andor from the 2016 Star Wars film Rogue One (and only that film—I'm not here for the novelization or other EU depictions or Andor or anything except what's in the movie). He's a gift of a character I never expected Star Wars to provide, and half of the only romance in SW that seriously matters to me.

Honorable "rewired my brain" mentions: Moiraine Damodred from Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time (also in the show!), Sandrilene fa Toren from Tamora Pierce's Emelan books, and Lessa from Anne McCaffrey's Pern books were all deeply formative.

As for Twitter:

I definitely don't use it any more. I used to have multiple accounts, though I wasn't super active outside of academia/chatting with RL friends and the occasional random scholar who deigned to notice me. Twitter wasn't really the natural platform for my preferred "LJ fandom expat" style of online writing, and was mostly stuff like this:

[Damn, I had no idea what was coming with "AI" ... anyway.]

I was deciding whether to keep using Twitter as the Elon purchase was going down, and then he immediately did an antisemitism and I immediately cut all use of it. I later got around to locking down all three accounts; I only maintain them to control the usernames. Most of the people I knew on Twitter joined Bluesky around the same time as me, or can be more easily reached on Discord now. I mostly use Bluesky when I feel like microblogging, but it's not a feeling that often besets me.

[save-the-spiral]

PLS PLS LIST THE SWAPS!! TELL ME ABOUT THE SIBLINGS AND ALSO HIFUMI BECAUSE I LOVE HIM (IF YOU WANT!) I will also send more questions in the morning too, excited to see what you’ve been working on!!

OK OK OK !!!!! AHH! So, before assigning talents, I swapped the pools, so for the first game, I use the talents from the second game, and vis versa! For some i listed gender, sexuality, or neurodivergencies, though this isn’t all of them, and I haven’t developed them all to the same level!

This is SO long. I didn’t even bother mentioning things like my plans for the killing games. (I have DR1 planned out in full, but only parts of DR2 and the v3 anime)

THANK YOU FOR THE ASK MY HEART SKIPPED A BEAT IN HAPPINESS WHEN I SAW I HAD NEW ASK NOTIFS!!

LIST:

Trigger Happy Havoc (first game)

Kyoko Kirigiri- Ultimate Luckster- Mastermind (: Sometimes lesbians can be evil okay! was trained as a detective like everyone in her family and didn’t get the ultimate :) she’s definitely not mad about that :) her luck cycle depends on how far she plans things ahead. her good luck is when she’s spontaneous! She hates when ‘normal’ people are accepted by ultimates.

Makoto Naegi- Photographer (Mostly wildlife and nature photography, with Sayaka helping him for some animal photography (: trans and bi <3 One of sayaka’s birds nests in his hair like all the time)

Kiyotaka Ishimaru- Ultimate Swordsman (AUTISTIC ICON, has trained in kendo since he was a kid, then was essentially given away to the Fujisaki clan by his very stressed dad. Semiverbal, rarely speaks.)

Chihiro Fujisaki- Ultimate Yakuza (Taka is her bodyguard! His family is in debt to hers, the Fujisaki clan is the most powerful in Japan. trans icon, of course, dates Sayaka! Very direct, though she’s far more delicate and polite when talking to taka, her best friend)

Sakura Oogami- Ultimate Nurse (Works as an EMT- her clan still is in martial arts, so she’s still very buff, she assists in injuries at the family dojo. Autistic Icon)

Asahina Aoi- Ultimate Gamer (ULTIMATE ADHD. streams and has a ton of fun, will ramble while breaking records, demigirl who loves her girlfriend sakura :)

Mukuro Ikusaba- Ultimate Chef (Works best with ‘cheap’ food, and making them taste good. a byproduct of growing up on the streets with junko, and junko being bored of the same old food they dug out of the trash. now works closely with junko for her teams’ nutritional needs! autistic and sapphic.)

Junko Enoshima- Ultimate Team Manager (there are SO many sports she can never get bored, and the professional scene is always changing! prefers coaching womens’ teams, because being an ultimate brings them more publicity and usually higher pay :)

Mondo Oowada- Ultimate Prince (OH MY BOY. trans adhd icon. now the crown prince of Novoselic, with a reagent in his place until he comes of age. His service dog Chuck is a maltese and an absolute sweetheart. Chihiro takes him under her wing to teach leadership. also dates taka later OF COURSE, though they’re poly and I may add more ppl to their relationship later.)

Celestia Ludenburg- Ultimate Musician (specializes in violin, most strings, though she can play any instrument. grew up poor, dedicated herself to an instrument and persona to cope)

Byakuya Togami- Ultimate Musician (Yep. two musicians. two catty trans gay icons about to throw down. they HATE each other and grew up as rivals. specialize in classical, they literally tore a professional orchestra full of grown adults apart trying to make them side with who was the best musician. they’re so good that they’re matched, and Hope’s Peak accepts them as one student and combined ultimate. they room together. they fight. Literally if one of them gets expelled, the other does too, so they’re STUCK. eventually they become literally inseparable and insufferable together like the WORST siblings. I love them.)

Sayaka Maizono- Breeder (animal handler) (Specializes in birds!!!!!! has songbirds on her shoulders all the time. will give unsettling animal facts without realizing they’re unsettling. sends her songbirds to serenade chihiro when they start dating <3)

Yasuhiro Hagakure- Gymnast (you see this tall goof who acts like an older brother to everyone and wonder HOW he’s a gymnast. he’s completely different in competitions, though still lighthearted. becomes a big brother figure to mukuro and junko especially <3 also trans bc i say so.)

Leon Kuwata- Traditional Dancer (he just. kinda hates it. it takes SO much work and effort but he takes to it naturally. his cousin kanon is NOT like in canon, instead she’s helpful. he’d literally rather be doing anything else. doesn’t know how to do anything like... basic either. can’t cook. cant do his own laundry. everything was dedicated to traditional japanese dancing before he attended HPA.)

Toko Fukawa- Engineer (writes schematics and is very good at it. gets VERY upset when her plans go wrong. her notes are orderly and perfect. host for their system!)

Syo- Mechanic (a factive of genocider syo, NOT an actual killer. she’s a protector mainly, and also is more adept at hands on skills when it comes to fixing things, her hands are less shaky. Her notes are a disaster and she does it to spite Toko.)

Hifumi Yamada- (???) (reserve course) Protagonist! My BOY. HIFUMI IS GOOD OKAY. He’s autistic and loves anime and gaming! he’s not particularly ultimate-leveled at them, or anything else! Attending Hope’s Peak as a reserve course student! At one point he joins the student council as a reserve course representative even if he’s only a freshman :) He’s also a moderator in Hina’s livestream chat, under the username of JusticeHammer, fastest ban hammer this side of the internet. He's internet friends with hina and sakura, and doesn’t realize Oh We Go To the same SCHOOL until he bumps into them. and realizes hina doesnt know what he looks like. but sakura does. its hilarious. he’s aroace, and during the year they’re locked in HPA, is in a queer platonic partnership with Hina and Sakura, while they’re dating each other. it’s great.)

Goodbye Despair! (second game)

Peko Pekoyama- Lucky student (ohohoh. her luck relies on her conviction. if she has doubts her bad luck strikes HARD. trans!, was taken in by Fuyuhiko’s family when she was a baby, grew up as just another kid in the family. They all expected Fuyu to go off to HPA on his own and then BOOM acceptance letter)

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu- Programmer (He. gets so angry while coding. He has an array of rubber ducks to talk to and work through his coding issues with. trans of course. Very protective of Peko when people say she doesn’t have a ��real’ ultimate. ADHD and Autistic)

Sonia Nevermind- Writer (Literary Girl) (Her family immigrated to Japan when she was young! She writes a lot of serial killer novels, murder mysteries and horror and all that! Trans and bi :)

Gundham Tanaka- Detective (YEAH my guy is a detective. still talks Like That. Trans and bi and he and Sonia were kinda-dating (t4t autistic power couple in the making) when things started happening. He spends some time with his cool older sister who he looks up to a LOT. He and Sonia talk through things together a lot, they both have those red string walls, one for murder cases, another for a fictional plot lmao.)

Mahiru Koizumi- Moral Compass (my GIRL. autistic. Her morals rely a lot on people taking responsibility and being reliable, and she ends up having to work through some biases she didn’t realize she had when she arrived at HPA. Is still protective of Hiyoko, though that protectiveness is spread a bit thinner to extend to the rest of the class.)

Hiyoko Saionji- Clairvoyant!!! (HI YES I COULD TALK ABOUT HER FOR DAYS. Has actual visions in dreams and when she suddenly faints, but doesn’t really realize they’re uhh Real Visions for a WHILE. uses her status as an ultimate clairvoyant to trick and bully kids when in school for a LONG time, though her homelife wasn’t great with her grandmother trying to find ways to make her visions more consistent. SHES ALSO 12 WHEN SHE JOINS THE 77TH CLASS. she’s just so advanced in academics and her ultimate is so interesting hope’s peak cant HELP but scout her early. she has SO many issues guys no one appreciates hiyoko enough, autistic gifted kid hiyoko my beloved.)

Akane Owari- Gambler (started gambling to help out her family and Got Good at it. is very very conscious of money and food like all the time. Runs the hope’s peak betting pools once she arrives. these ultimates bet on a lot of things. she ALWAYS wins. until she doesnt!!!)

Mikan Tsumiki- Martial Artist (ohhhh Mikan. Still anxious and clumsy (though not like THAT in canon) and literally no one looks at her and thinks Oh The ULTIMATE martial artist?? it isn’t until you see her in the ring that you understand. She started learning self defense as a kid because her (bad) parents essentially said she had to rely on and protect herself and no one else would help.)

Kazuichi Souda- Pop Idol (OH TRANS ICON? he’s nervous and paranoid about Everything still, though now it’s like. oh the entire world is always watching my every move this is Okay (: has the brightest neon album eras. he literally keeps up a like. weird chad persona when interacting with people because he’s masking how hard he’s constantly just internally screaming.)

Nagito Komaeda- Soldier (AHAHAH my mans got issues problems disorder he’s a messssss, this trans guy, this absolute gay. this boy leveled a city of thousands of people with his own hands and some bombs. Still has medical issues, but most of his like. treatments and medicine is hold hostage as long as he stays in line. believes the ends justify the means and anyone who dies to him is obviously weak, because look at him! he’s weak, but that doesn’t matter because he doesn’t have to be the strongest, he just has to be stronger than the weakest scum.)

Chiaki Nanami- Heir (OOF. Agender, uses any pronouns. Doesn’t really. enjoy being the heir. grew up with Byakuya in the same circles. she treats the economy and stock market and stuff like games. enjoys gaming but isn’t good at them. collects so many things. has halls full of collections. Her parents stopped controlling her once she was able to prove she had more money than them and could literally bankrupt them if she wanted.)

Hajime Hinata- Baseball Star (Chiaki’s best friend, his family was upper middle class until he hit it BIG as a baseball star. wants to do BIG things and wants to attend hope’s peak more than anything!! Doesn’t really think of baseball as his THING, just a means to an end! trans :)

Teruteru Hanamura- Biker Gang Leader (started with shaking down some jerks who didn’t pay their food and drink tabs at his mama’s restaurant. now he RUNS their tiny town. His siblings are essentially gang mascots, he works hard to keep them out of trouble (while bringing them to like. meetings where he ends up beating a dude almost to death. its fine). most of what he does it to get more money to keep the restaurant afloat and care for his mama with her health conditions.)

Nekomaru Nidai- Fashionista (the drama. the CHAOS. most people are like ohhh we can never understand this artistic genius when he’s literally just. vibing and has ADHD and a love for coffee. Works a lot on accessible clothing lines for disabled people! Also he and Kazuichi work together sometimes, Nekomaru is good at calming Kaz down and seeing like, the root of whatever problem and making it better. ALSO A TRANS ICON and just flaunts it.)

Imposter- In the hope’s peak days they are impersonating Ryota Mitarai, as a part of the 77th class. In the Killing Game they impersonate Mondo Oowada as the Ultimate Prince. They’re doin’ their best.

Ibuki Mioda- (???) (Izuru Kamakura) Protagonist! Gundham Tanaka’s older sister (though they’re in the same school year). Nonbinary and using just. an array of pronouns alongside she/her, and jokingly fights with gundham for neopronouns like MOM said it’s MY TURN on the rawrself pronouns. She attends the reserve course to stay at her brother’s side. She dresses loudly and acts even louder because !!! she wants to stand out!! in the middle of this drab reserve course hell!!  but when things go down, she wants to be someone, to be worthy of being her amazing brother’s big sister. so she accepts some offers.

NON-KILLING GAME:

Ryota Mitarai- Ultimate Analyst (stays in his room. He’s terrified of the outside world but fascinated by it. watches hope’s peak academy through security feeds, picking up on little details. he just wants to understand things but never looks at the big picture.)

Chisa Yukizome- Ultimate Boxer (Homeroom teacher!! She’s working really hard and believes in everyone! Some are intimidated by talent, but she’s never hurt anyone outside of the ring! Dating Kyosuke)

Juzo Sakakura- Ultimate Student Council President (Has anger issues, though his work at reigning them in assisted in becoming an Ultimate. Was responsible for security and the Hope’s Peak student council. Dating Kyosuke)

Kyosuke Munakata- Ultimate Housekeeper (Meticulous, works himself to the BONE even if he’s good enough to not have to do that. Is working on establishing another Hope’s Peak! Dating Chisa and Jozu!!!)

Seiko Kimura- Ultimate Blacksmith (GIVE MY GIRL KNIVES!! She’s an anxious gal, always wearing a facemask that filters the air in her forge because she has some respiratory problems. she prefers making more decorative pieces like an artist, but sometimes can create utilitarian pieces or tools to fit specific needs. Still a doormat)

Ruruka Ando- Ultimate Pharmacist (She constantly asks Seiko for new tools for her developments in medicine, saying its all for the advancement of humanity, so Seiko denying any request is SELFISH, though she never thinks to make anything for seiko’s health issues. Dating Izayoi. Specializes in medicine for mental health. Not Doing Great :)

Sonosuke Izayoi- Ultimate Confectioner (He loves sweets. LOVES them. Creates things that look plain, ordinary. but taste so GOOD you CRY and maybe ascend for a little bit. sometimes Ando makes cool new drugs to put in the sweets, who knows! It’s a mystery! He always has like. a huge refrigerated case of fresh cakes, and constantly has a lollipop in his own specialty recipe in his mouth.)

[claritalunaluna76]

Louis Tomlinson is a well-known name, be it from his time in the record-breaking band One Direction, his stint as a judge on X-Factor or from his chart-topping debut solo album Walls. As is photographer and director Charlie Lightening who is known for directing some of the most iconic music documentaries of modern times.

The pair crossed paths in 2019 when Louis attended a screening of As It Was, a documentary directed by Charlie about Liam Gallagher.

Louis has often said publicly how he’s a fan of Oasis, the band Liam was in was with his brother Noel and their music influenced him growing up. He even credited Noel as composer on his track Walls, as it sampled some Oasis tracks.

As It Was, was a hugely popular documentary that went on to win Best Non-Fiction Documentary at the National Film Awards.

Charlie is from Manchester so is very much a northern lad like Louis who grew up in Doncaster. He has a degree in Photo Media from Manchester Metropolitan University. In an interview with Clash Magzine from 2010, he told how he got his first big career break in 2002 when directed Ronnie Wood’s live DVD featuring Slash. He then went on in 2003 to shoot behind the scenes footage for Kylie Minogue and shot the commercial for her ‘Love Kylie’ Lingerie range, after a chance meeting with her stylist William Baker.

He then met Mike O’Keefe who at the time was head commissioner at BMG, which later became Sony Music, where he is now VP of the creative department. In his role as VP Mike has commissioned over 1000 videos to be created for various artists including working with Louis and his One Direction bandmates on some of their music videos.

Mike began to commission Charlie to work on numerous behind the scenes projects for the artists he worked with. He later began to direct the music videos for some of Sony’s biggest artists including The Script.

Between 2005 and 2010, Charlie would continue to cultivate relationships with artists he worked with and grow his company Lightening Productions working with the likes of Kasabian and Jamiroqui and Britain’s Got Talent Winner Paul Potts.

Meanwhile Louis Tomlinson‘s musical journey was just beginning. Louis auditioned for the popular reality singing contest, X Factor which was created by music exec and TV’s “Mr Nasty”, Simon Cowell. Having auditioned as solo artist, Louis was asked if he would like to be part of a band with four other contestants, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Zayn Malik. Having been in band at school, The Rogues, and willing to take the lifeline being offered to him Louis along with the other four lads said yes. One Direction was born. They would ultimately finish third in the show behind Rebecca Feguson and winner Matt Cardle, but go on to become one of the biggest bands the world has seen since The Beatles and The Spice Girls.

Interestingly during the Bootcamp stage of his X Factor audition when all contestants had to pick from a list of roughly 40 songs to sing. Self-proclaimed huge Oasis fan, Louis surprisingly chose not to sing one of the Oasis tracks on the list, he opted instead to sing Adele’s cover of the Bob Dylan track Make You Feel My Love.

While Louis was busy captivating the world as one fifth of the worlds biggest boyband, Charlie Lightening too was finding his own career was also going from strength to strength. He began working with one of Louis’s Oasis idols, Liam Gallagher. Directing video content for his band Beady Eye. He also worked with Paul McCartney on his world tour.

In 2015 One Direction an indefinite hiatus, in 2016 Louis began his career as a solo artist releasing a collaboration with Steve Aoki.

He also released a collaboration with Bebe Rexha, which saw his friends and younger sibling Lottie have cameos in the accompanying video which was shot in his beloved home town of Doncaster.

Known for rarely being able to bite his tongue, Louis took to Twitter 2019 to post some frank and exceedingly honest about how he saw his own career.

The post marked an exciting turning point in the acclaimed singer/songwriters career. Later that year he teamed up with Charlie Lightening for the first time, after Charlie had been approached by Sony Music asking if he would like to work with Louis. He agreed and so, Louis with Charlie’s help released in to the world his “statement of intent” and the first glimpse of the sound of his first album. Kill My Mind was the first of a trilogy of videos the duo would work on that would tell an intricate story spanning across three separate releases. It showed how both Charlie and Louis worked well, both seemingly on the same page creatively.

Subsequent releases in the trilogy, saw both Louis and Charlie reunite with Mike O’Keefe who commissioned We Made It and Don’t Let It Break Your Heart.

The entire series of videos captured Louis’s huge fanbase and they were delighted when both Charlie and Louis announced they would be releasing The Director’s Cut of the videos, which neatly threaded all the story together and featured unseen footage which further added to the compelling narrative being told within the videos.

The release of the short film saw both Charlie and Louis head to Youtube Spaces in February 2020 to host Q&A about the project. Both were extremely candid about working together with Charlie admitting “No disrespect but I wasn’t thinking about the fans, I was thinking about Louis and about what we could do together.” This showed the depth and respect the two have for each other and why creatively they bounce off each other so well.

During the Q&A Charlie discussed how the videos were shot individually and that seeing them released with reaction from Louis fanbase helped them shape the narrative as they moved forward to film the subsequent videos. Louis commented on how great his working relationship was with Charlie ” That’s what’s been good about mine and Charlie’s working relationship, I don’t have to spend ages saying this is what I want and this is how I want it to look. I think Charlie kind of understands who I am and who I wanna be, so it was a really collaborative process, which was really important to me.”

We also got to see an insight in to the banter the northern duo have with them being asked how Louis acting skills were. Charlie responded “Amazing”, with Louis calling him out “ Don’t bulls*** lad, don’t bulls***. Then conceeding he was “Aright”. Charlie explained that when people such as Louis grow up with cameras in their face they have a certain level of comfort in front of them and how they know what they can do and how it will translate on screen.

For Louis the video he is most proud of is Walls, which was of course directed by Charlie and saw them reunite with Mike O’Keefe who commissioned the pair to make a visually stunning video.

Louis described the video as being “important”, and “the scale and size of it, it being filmed in the desert. That one just really stands out.” Charlie also felt that “Walls was a real moment.”

The creative duo teamed up again in December 2020 to create a live stream show which became the best selling live stream by a male solo artist in 2020.

Charlie will be accompanying Louis on his highly anticipated world tour in 2022. Louis has also told fans he is working on a documentary to be released sometime in the future. Charlie has accompanied Louis to recent studio sessions as he works on his second album which he will release an independent artist in partnership with BMG.

In the three years Charlie and Louis have been working together, fans have seen Louis release content that reflects who is an artist and seeds for what is to come in the future. Charlie doesn’t appear to be fazed by the large and passionate fanbase with Louis has. He just wants to make content that both he and Louis enjoy and are proud of as if they like it and believe in the art they create together, it will translate to Louis fans loving it. Through working together it’s as if Charlie has opened a window in to Louis’s world and is allowing us to see the man behind the music.

Let us know at @TBHONEST_UK, if you are excited to see what Charlie and Louis work on together next!

[suffering-and-happy-about-it]

Time After Time (The Eighties Blasts Collection, Part 1.)

Description: Jim Hopper died as a hero. But with that, one certain problem rises up - who will now lead the cops of Hawkins? Hopper thought of that - he decided to write a letter, naming his niece, nineteen-year-old student of Indianapolis police academy, Y/N Hopper as a sheriff deputy in a letter. But anybody in the town doesn't have a clue that being a cop in Hawkins is way more dangerous than it might seem.

NOTICE: This is an AU where Hopper had a brother which he doesn’t talk to, but still has a great relationship with his niece (more like father-daughter relationship). Nothing else would be changed.

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Hopper!Reader (eventually) - the story is more driven by the relationships in the gang.

A/N: Every chapter will probably be named after one ICONIC 80s song because I am trash for them. Also, I will call Johnathan John bcs I am sick of writing such a long name over and over again.

Warnings: Grief, losing a loved one, bad family background for the reader, Will, Johnathan and Joyce leaving Hawkins.

Word count: 3.7 K (Sorry guys, I had fun)

Tagging: x

Master list: The Eighties Blast Collection

Try to ask your parents about living in the '80s. Or no, you don't have to ask them at all - they would definitely tell you that it was way easier, better and safer back then. Maybe they would be right if you don't remind them about Doug Clark and Carol Bundy for example. Serial killers aren't such things in our age.

But there was one particular town in Indiana where it wasn't exactly a pleasure to live during the '80s. There was like... Everything from novels and movies had happened there - strange disappearances of children, mutates crawling from another dimension, possessed shirtless white boy with a mullet running around, kidnapping people and basically killing the; even murders bated by U.S. government and experiments on people.

It was a true science-fiction to say at least. 

What was the town’s name? Hawkins. Hawkins, Indiana with a population of thirty thousand people - may be more or less, nobody exactly knew since such a crazy shit was happening out there.

Your beloved uncle Jim, to which you went every holiday for the whole two months, has lived there since forever, except for his rather short time in New York - and you found your way to love the city as well. The people there were always the same - same shopkeepers, same employees in the restaurants, same stores and groceries. You dreamt about working alongside Jim since you were just a little kid. While other girls wanted to be princesses and astronauts, you just wanted to be a cop.

So it hit you when you were in your room at the police academy, listening to George Michael and read a magazine, laying down on the bed. At your nineteen, you were one of the best cadets that ever got into the police academy before reaching the age of 21. Jim was so proud that he cried when you called him.

But when the sergeant who led your training called your name through the silent halls, you knew that something had to happen. And when you sat down behind the desk, looking her in the face, you knew it isn't anything nice. 

And when she told you, oh boy, you couldn't but chuckle unbelievably. No, you weren't happy or amused with what sergeant Brown told you - but you couldn't believe it. 

“Jim Hopper is dead? Is it... For sure? That must be a mistake. You're shitting me right now.” - You told her, not even caring about the rule not to curse around your authorities. And Mrs. Brown fully understood what you're going through at the moment, so she didn't say a word about that. Your breath stuck in your throat as you got up to walk around the room. 

“Miss Hopper, I can tell you for certain that I am not joking.” - The woman on the opposite side of the table looked you in the eyes. - “I am sorry for your loss, yet Mrs. Byers sent us an official document where Jim Hopper named you his deputy sheriff, signed and stamped two weeks ago.” - She took the document out of the envelope and looked you in the eyes, putting it in front of himself so she could read from it.

“But I’m too young to be a deputy.” - You mumbled and took the document seriously naming you to the function into your fingers, reading it word after word. Jim was looking forward to having you by his side as a cop - so when he learned about the Russians in a facility below Star Court, he wrote two letters and one document - one for Eleven, a girl who he adopted and you liked, one letter addressed to you and a document naming you the deputy, so he was sure that the Hawkins city is in good hands when he's gone. You never saw the letter though. 

Only the official document made it. 

“And we do acknowledge that. You're too young, you haven't even finished your studies, Miss Hopper, this is a rather unpleasant and special situation. And for that, we will transfer you to an academy nearby Hawkins, so you can finish your training there while you will be helping at the police department.” - Mrs. Brown smiled at you a bit. - “We also acknowledge that you loved your uncle and to continue with his legacy means everything to you. Hawkins department is out of policemen anyway.” 

---

So it was done. Your grief over Jim was deep and it took too long for you to acknowledge that he won’t come to his cabin hidden in the woods a small while from the big oak next to the road to Denfield, just fifteen minutes away from Hawkins. 

When you told the locals about the cabin, it was in a horrendous state - the windows were missing, there were holes in the ceiling, the door were broken apart and... It was a hellhole. It needed a lot of repairing and almost everything was broken inside, including almost all of the furniture, but you managed somehow. 

Especially the broken windows and broken ceiling would cost a fortune if there wasn't for the good people of Hawkins who collected money and old, non-used things from their homes. They started one month before you came so it was almost done when you were about to roll into the town - but you could do the rest by yourself.

You let Hopper's old armchair just in the place where it always was, in his trail, and you left El’s room untouched as well, you only cleaned it up. People from the town were helping you with the renovations by all kinds of small gifts, ranging from canned and normal food to shampoo, helping you paint and paper it from the inside, giving you their old equipment like the TV or a refrigerator, even a VHS player. 

On the day when you came back to Hawkins in an old Chevy from the 70s’, with all your things packed in boxes stored in your car’s trunk, you immediately went to Joyce’s house. Joyce was something like your auntie - you, Nancy Wheeler, her son Jonathan and Steve Herrington always played by the woods she had behind their house. She always made you the best cupcakes, played with you, talked to you and when you were too caught up in playing, she called you to have lemonade or some snacks - but that was too long ago for you to even properly remember.

You remembered only small bits from your evenings at the Byers' house, but the feeling of Joyce is a nice, calm and sweet person always remained inside your head.

Once, all of you were only kids and you were in Hawkins only for two to three weeks every summer - so, naturally, your friendships with the old party didn't exactly last in the form it was ten years ago. All of you got into puberty and since you were studying the police academy, getting there after the senior year of your high school, you didn't really hear much about any of them. 

Plus, after you left Hawkins, you found yourself new friends in New York, so... It was no wonder, really. Everyone was just living their life the best way they could.

Although, when you heard that Joyce and her boys are you about to leave Hawkins for Maine, you tried to speed everything up only to tell her your goodbye before she actually goes away. When you got out of the car, 99 Luftballons by Nena practically screaming from Chevy's radio, you could only see a half-full moving truck and a load of kids out there. 

At least, you weren't that late, were you?

You could recall some of them - like Eleven, a girl living with Jim who you got to know the spring of 84’ when you got released for a weekend lasting holiday to celebrate Jim’s birthday. She was cool as fuck, having some kind of psionic abilities. Jim almost killed both of you when he found out that she had shown you some tricks, but you found that extremely cool. You two had built a pretty good and strong connection over the course of your visits at Hopper's.

You were able to recall Mike Wheeler and Will Byers as well since you knew their siblings - and these boys just couldn't be more similar to Jon and Nance. But there were a few kids you didn't have a single idea who they might be.

“I’m here to help. But I’m late, I guess.” - You leaned into the doorframe and smiled a bit at Joyce’s back. She was running around the whole house cluelessly and tried to pack while the others were doing the actual job. She looked at you standing there in an old flannel shirt and cool jeans which can be bought only in cities or big malls. You looked... Certainly not happy, tired, your eyes red from crying, but good and fine as hell. - “Guess you can say that I am a Hopper, right?” - You smiled as she walked to you to give you a tight, motherly hug, humming into your ear. 

“You are so big now. I remember you barely reaching my waist, darling.” - She cracked up a bit and you were almost sure that she is about to cry - and if she would, you would be a crying mess as well. You cried almost the whole way to Indiana. You just stopped yourself to cry again? Oh, boy. 

“That happens over time. Guess Jonathan isn't the smallest nor youngest now as well, huh?” - You joked, walking to one of the boxed in the hallway. Just with that, Jon accompanied by Nancy walked into the doorframe, holding another two boxes.

“Someone left a started truck outside and is playing pop blasts... Y/N?” - Jonathan asked unbelievably when you turned around to face him. He looked tired as hell just by the looks, but he still sorta got his rebellious expression, just as you were used to. And Nancy? She was breathtaking now. You almost jumped at both of them to hug them firmly with a giggle. 

The old party was getting back together. 

“I can't believe you're here!” - Nancy laughed to your ear. Both of them had the best childhood memories from the times you were there - like jamming to literally every ABBA or the Rolling Stones song, riding bikes through the neighborhood and just the best fourth of July festivals. - “Also, I'm so sorry about...” 

“I know, I know. It would be nice if you stop reminding me.” - You answered a bit louder than you plan to, so Nancy just shuts up. You were immediately apologizing, but she shook her head with her typical Wheeler smile. She totally got what you’re feeling at the moment, it wasn't even your fault really.

“Wow. I haven’t seen you since... Forever.” - Jonathan took your shoulder to his palm and smiled at you. - “I wish we could just sit down, have a cup of tea and talk about what is going on now.” - Nance agreed with him, leaving you in the hall with panicking Joyce; until another person came by.

“Is that... Is that you?” - A fourteen-year-old girl came there in an old shirt which you knew that belonged to Jim. You immediately softened when you saw the teenager, kneeling down and opening your arms for her. You closed your eyes as El leaned to you and hugged you tightly. 

“Yeah. I know.” - You mumbled into the crook of her neck quietly, letting her put her head on your shoulder as both your palms smoothed her back and her ponytail. She was such a baby girl since the day uncle Jim introduced the two of you. - “Listen up, baby. Let's get moving with the packing. You can introduce me to your friends and your boyfriend, sounds good?” - You got up, drying off her tears as you tried not to cry as well. You needed to make you both occupied.

“I would appreciate if you'd help the boys with Will’s room.” - Joyce looked at the both of you with her hands on her hips. - “Not that I don’t believe them, but I am afraid that Will’s and the other children’s packaging skills aren't exactly on point, if you know what I mean.” 

99 Luftballons subtly changed to Take On Me by A-Ha as it continued to blast through the quiet neighborhood. You and Eleven walked to Will’s room just as Joyce asked you to, leaving Nancy and Jonathan as they were.

And oh boy, there was a kind of war between four boys and a redhead girl going on, tees of every color were flying everywhere as they laughed and ran throughout the back of that house. It made you smile, wishing you could just join along. They were so young and careless and you loved it.

But as soon as they noticed you, an adult standing in the doorframe alongside El, they hid the tees and pants behind their backs and only whispers and giggling could be heard. 

“Joyce was right.” - You stepped in, picking up the clothes from the ground while looking at Will. His haircut wasn't the best and he looking alike Jon when he was a small boy. - “You guys can't pack clothes for shit.” - You mumbled as you watched every one of them.

The redhead watched you without a clue who you could be, but the others knew your face. Not too well, but they had definitely seen you around a few times before. 

“This is Y/N, Hop’s niece.” - El pointed at you and the redhead nodded. Any of the teenagers couldn't understand how could you be related to Hopper in any way - he was the old douche, probably ugly, fat and a really unpleasant person most of the time. But you were young, pretty and seemed to be a really chill person. 

“These are my friends.” - She pointed at the redhead and a boy alongside her. - ”Max and Lucas.” - She pointed at Will and Mike who you knew. - “Mike and Will.” - And then she pointed at a boy with curly hair who was smiling at you and to be honest, scaring you like shit. - “And this is Dustin.” 

“So, who’s the lucky one?” - You smirked at El and the way Mike’s cheeks reddened, you knew that he’s the one. She smiled at you without giving you a proper answer. 

You somehow managed to make the kids pack the things before dismantling the furniture in Will’s room with Jonathan’s help. You two were left alone as the others started to move all the boxes into the truck, having quite the space to talk. 

“So you and Nancy, eh?” - You smiled at him wickedly when you started to dismantle the bed. - “Or was I dreaming?” 

“Yeah. You haven't been in the town for a while. A lot of things have changed.” - Johnathan chuckled in response and handled you the wrench you needed. You rose your eyebrows. 

“You could at least call me. Would that be such a problem, mister Byers?” - You teased back and finally took the head of the bed out. 

“We thought you’re too busy living your best city life and forgot about the villagers. Hopper was updating us about your wellbeing pretty well. Heard you got to ILEA? He was proud as hell.” - Jonathan smiled. 

Yeah. Uncle Jim was the most supportive person on the whole planet when it came to you or El. You were both his little baby girls - and if someone tried to fuck your dreams up, he would be a literal pain in their ass. So, naturally, he spread the news about you studying on ILEA to everyone he actually listened to him. Joyce and Karen Wheeler were throwing with pride, lemme tell you. 

“Yeah. I got to Indianapolis, but they transferred me to the midwest since I have my new job here.” - You sighed and helped him with the wood from the side of the bed. - “Gonna study in a program of correspondence course while having my practicum here. Hawkins is apparently in need of fresh cops.”

“No way you're going to be the sheriff. That would make Hop so proud.” - Jonathan smiled at you softly and you smiled back at him. 

“He actually planned on me being the deputy. You really don't have many cops here, eh? Taking in a person who had barely finished their studies? Joke's on you.” - You started to dismantle the wooden legs off the sides. You and Jonathan were actually a good team when it came to manual work.

“We do have cops. But Hopper was the only one who wasn't bribed and actually done his damn job.” - Jon looked at you for a small while. You will be a good cop. He could feel it.

“It will be quite a change from Indianapolis.” - You sighed with a shy smile.

“I was wondering what you’re doing in the evening?” - Jonathan asked all of a sudden, his question followed by your furrowed face. - “We’ll be gone, but I don't want Nancy to be alone. If you want to... Accompany her, I will be glad.” 

“Oh, sure. If she would like to, no problem. We can borrow some VHS tapes to watch movies in the evening or whatever. Mrs. Wheeler gave me their old player.” - You nodded. There was one question which was making you furrow, so you leaned over to Jonathan, making him stop the work, quietly touching his shoulder. 

“I need to ask you something. It’s pretty... Personal to me.” - You exhaled loudly and your body shook completely on its own. 

You were all emotional about Jim passing away and even if it was more than a month since you got the news, you still fought the urge to cry. You tried to shake it off as Jonathan caught your palm in his as well. - “How did uncle Jim die? Nobody wants to tell me, they only told me that he had passed away. Was he shot? Or...” - You curled into a ball and closed your eyes. Jonathan looked around the room and gulped.

You didn't have to know this. You didn't need to know any of this. He wasn't feeling good at that moment and you could feel it. He didn't want to give you an answer, because he somehow felt that it would only hurt you even more.

“All I will tell you is that Hopper died like a real hero. That man might be a pain in everyone's ass, but he sacrificed everything to save the others. He saved all of us and I think that he saved everyone in this town. But if I would tell you, you would think that I’m crazy.” - Jon said quietly, interrupted by Joyce standing in the door. She clearly didn't hear much, since she didn't have any idea you even asked about Hopper. She was smiling, as usual, and she was really glad that the bed was dismantled.

“Oh, honey.” - She kneeled down to you and Jonathan, nuzzling you to her side, ruffling your hair, kissing the temple of your head gently. She was a true mom to everyone - even for a girl that spent only two months in Hawkins during the summer holiday. Even to a girl she hadn't seen in years.

She was something you never had, so you leaned into the touch of her small, warm palms, calming words and slow, caressing movements. Then you sat back up, smiling at her, drying your tears off.

“Can you get it to the truck?” - Joyce looked at Jonathan as he stood up. He nodded without any further thinking. 

“I need to give Y/N something. I talked to El and we agreed on it.” - She smoothed your cheek and kissed the other one tenderly. So, you followed her thought the empty house, thinking about your memories.

You could name the exact spot where Steve almost killed himself when he jumped off Jonathan’s bed onto the heating, hitting his forehead into the heater. You could exactly see their old sofa where you braided Nancy’s hair and you could say where the dinner table always stood. Hopper always sat there while he drank coffee with Joyce and her man. Lonnie was really fine... At times, before he left. He was a douchebag overall, though. 

The sweet memories made you smile again until you approached the gang consisting of children only standing there in a circle with Eleven in the middle, holding a box named ’HOPPER’ in big, dark green letters. It was almost like a cult initiation. You were sure it was one.

“I want you to have it.” - El said quietly and put the box on the ground, opening it. It was an old police uniform; the one which belonged to Hopper. It was dirty and smelled pretty bad, still having his sheriff’s badge on it. You took the shirt into your palms, caressing it between your fingers as other tears rolled down your cheeks. Then you looked at El. 

“Are you sure, baby girl?” - You asked and tried to contain your emotions as everyone was watching you with a sad face. El slowly gulped, getting on her knees as well, but then she nodded. She looked happy at that moment, contained with happy memories at Hopper.

“She wanted to keep it, but wouldn’t be for too much on use since it would only lay in the cabinet. You can wear it for work. Maybe it is too big for you and you will definitely need to wash it, but it has your name on it already, see?” - Joyce pointed at the small golden badge with Hopper on it in black letters. You leaned your head into her shoulder. A true legacy. - “I know he would want you to keep it. It will look good on you after you wash it.” 

“If you say so, Joyce.” - You smiled a bit, taking the box from El’s hands, fetching it into the trunk of your car. You stayed there until the very end, looking at the kids saying their last goodbyes. It made you cry as well, it was so sweet. 

Even Joyce hide behind the truck to have a little moment to herself. She hated when she saw her boys or their friends sad and crying. Joyce Byers was just the most amazing woman and mom you had ever met.

Even if you didn't expect it at all, you got hugs as well. The one from Will was a shy, quick one with that shy boy’s smile painted on his lips. Jonathan couldn't be as much different from his brother as he was - this boy held you firmly for a few seconds, he actually hugged you so tight you couldn't breathe for a second and screamed loudly with laughter. 

“Better watch it here or I will come back and kick your ass.” - He said jokingly, patting your shoulder. You opened your mouth and laughed too, hitting him gently as well. - “Sure. Keep on dreaming, Byers, because that's not going to happen.” - You patted his shoulder as well, bringing him in for one last quick hug - then you left him, so he could say goodbye to Nancy.

Eleven came to you after she kissed the soul out of Mike’s tall and slim body - she hugged you tightly. You maybe weren't exactly the closest, but you were something like sisters from one point of view. 

That was the magic Jim Hopper could do when he wanted to. He was bringing people together. He brought El and Mike so close he couldn't stand him anymore. But your bond would make him happy.

“If something, you can always call me.” - You looked her in the eyes as she continued crying. She was such a lovely girl. - “I know you would rather talk to Max, but I’m here too. I’ll be waiting for a call at Hop’s old number, okay?” - You asked and she nodded, unable to speak in words. But her tears were giving you an idea of what the was feeling. 

“And we repaired your old room. You will be always welcomed in that house.” - You kissed her forehead, snuggling her closer again. 

When they were leaving, you stood there with Nancy and the remaining kids, watching the cars leave, not even waving. Most of you were still crying your eyes out, so you were too dazzled to actually say goodbye. Just minutes after the cars disappeared, you looked at Nancy. 

“Need a ride home? The kids are taking the bikes apparently.” - You asked and took the keys to your car out of your pocket. Nancy nodded, smiling at you with the typical Wheeler smile. - “Also, if you want to, you can stay the night at my place. You would feel less alone and the cabin would feel less scary.” - You smiled at her when you both were sitting in the car. 

“I guess so. It would be fine to talk to you after such a long time. I miss our summer adventures.” -  Nancy said shyly and you stopped yourself from starting the car, looking her in the eyes, holding the steering wheel in your palms. 

“I do too. So, off to the supermarket and VHS store it is, I guess.” - You looked into the mirror showing you the space behind the car and started the old Chevy’s motor. 

[smokingtomas]

I was asking for the couples that you already mentioned :)

Hi everyone! This lovely anon is actually referring to the previous ask on how our beloved ships’ children behave in school. On that note, I’m going to pick High School to fit the universe.

And can I just say that your ask is the reason why I decided to construct that whole next gen shenanigans? xD so thank you so much for being my motivation! I hope you enjoy this!

I’d love more headcanon requests to help me develop them better, if anyone’s interested ^^

Yukihira Soma - Nakiri Erina

Yukihira Jin:

Since Jin was in preschool, Erina has taught him that punctuality is important, so if he’s spotted sitting in front of the class exactly 15 minutes before class, don’t be surprised.

Besides the God Tongue, Jin was also born with his mom’s intelligence. No matter how badly he got distracted in class (Especially when Kana is sitting next to him), his right ear is secretly doing all the listening.

Polar Star Dorm member. Hangs out with the people regularly since they’re roommates, but doesn’t bother with their online shop business.

LIVES for Shokugekis. Either it is his own (which he would kill in), or people’s. Naturally curious and will absorb any new knowledge like a sponge.

Bad boy charm got all the girls (and ahem, a certain boy) to the yard, but only craves attention from the girl he’s been cooking for, though he tries not to seem aggressive to get it.

Would spot her from afar and run right next to her before saying something like, “Oh, Hayama-san! Funny how we keep running into each other. Signing up for Moon Festival too?”

Hayama Akira - Arato Hisako

Hayama Kana

Never leave home without a bag of pet treats in her bag. Kana loves going to the school garden and spend some alone time with animals she may find.

Is a founder of the brand new Vegetarian RS. Besides promoting the benefits of vegetarian and vegan food, they also grow an array of rare plants and edible flowers on their greenhouse and do research of those.

Kana always tries to stay out everybody’s narrative and hates drama, but she feels like it always has a way to find her. Also is oblivious that two most attractive guys in school are into her and doesn’t believe Sora Aldini when she tells her that.

Jin’s bad boy charm doesn’t appeal to her, thus causing her to have a hard time trusting the guy. “Oh, hello, Yukihira-kun. It’s good to see you again, but you caught me at a bad time. I’ll talk to you again soon. Sounds good?”

Thought Julius hates her because even though she smiles at him from time to time, he refuses to meet her in the eye, let alone sitting next to her in class when it’s the only one that’s vacant.

Takumi Aldini - Tadokoro Megumi

Julius Aldini:

Jin’s brother from another mother, advisor, and sparring partner to see each other on top. Sometimes Julius considers Jin more of his sibling than Marco, his own twin brother.

Knows about Jin’s crush on Kana, which is also his’, but doesn’t let him know and let him do his thing. Jin even thinks he’s the gay twin since he never talks about the girl he likes.

When not cooking, Julius can be found at the library. Loves to read anything whether it’s fiction or nonfiction. Joined a Totsuki Book Club.

Girls go crazy that one day he pulled up his hair into a half man bun, he didn’t know what the fuss was all about since it was just Marco wanting to do his hair. Awkwardly agreed every time a girl wants a selfie.

Regularly plays tennis with Marco to stay in shape. Julius is the better tennis player and Marco is not having it.

Marco Aldini:

Since he was born as an overachiever, he really cares about his grades, his cooking skill, and Italian Cuisine RS he’s leading.

Still in the closet, but it’s pretty obvious to people with strong senses though.

Wears sunglasses outdoor. Wears sunglasses indoor. Wears sunglasses when he reads. Wears it in the shower. Takes it off when he cooks. If people stares, has that deal-with-it attitude.

“JuSt wAtCh YoUR BaCK yUkIhIrA!! I aM CoMiNg fOr YoU!!!” *fades into the distance*

Nakiri Alicia’s BFF. One of the people he can comfortably be himself with. They call each other ‘bitch’, goes shopping together, and gives fashion advice for each other (but still won’t confess his attraction to her hot cousin Jin).

Valeria Aldini:

The youngest member of Polar Star Dorm.

Her way of thinking is straightforward and simple. Good at public speaking. That’s why every single one of her friends wants her in a group project.

Have tried every local and international fast food places in town (yes, she spends her allowance on it). Valeria likes to analyze everything that’s right and wrong with the food which drives her to her goal: to make the best burger ever.

Once punched Yukihira Jin’s nose for trying to trick her into eating his ‘creation’. “If you think I’m eating that shit because I’m Jul’s sister, you are seriously messing with the wrong girl, pal.”

Claims that Julius is her favorite brother, but her attitude is mostly influenced by Marco’s mouth.

Nakiri Alice - Kurokiba Ryo

Nakiri Alicia:

Being the queen bee of Totsuki herself, Alicia has two loyal minions who follow her everywhere… except when she tells them not to.

Walks the hallway like she owns the school (well, her family technically does). The girl knows she’s hot. One hair flip (inspired by Aunty Erina) is all it takes to get her the attention.

Molecular gastronomy princess, social media queen, part-time model. A portion of it could be caused by Alice who had started to expose her to that world by creating a baby Instagram account @babyalicia, which she still uses to this day (the username is now @queenalicia).

“I’ll show you a good time.” Is her line before starting a Shokugeki while putting on her goggles.

May look like your typical self-centered brat, but actually cares a lot for her sister, Athena. Every time she goes shopping, she would buy Athena clothes or accessories that would suit her (plus, she knows her taste and size).

Kurokiba Athena:

Like Alicia, Alice also made her a baby Instagram account @babyathena, but as she grew up, she realized social media isn’t her thing, so she’s no longer using it (but did change the username to @kurokibathena17).

Compared to her big sister, there’s not much social life going on at school for her. If not hanging out with Ibusaki Abel or Alicia, she prefers sitting under the tree with her headphones on, blasting Iron Maiden out.

Sometimes catching herself stalking her self-appointed rival, Kana. Athena knows when she’s been experimenting, and she tries to be one step ahead of her with charcoal as her weapon.

In that iconic, 6-hour long Shokugeki between Athena and Kana, she won it after a hard fought battle on a ramen challenge with her wildcard that surprised everyone– seafood.

When she’s not cooking, she’s drawing, and quite well too. The rose bouquet neck tattoo Alicia has is her design.

Tsukasa Eishi - Kobayashi Rindou

Tsukasa Oda:

Being one of the Elite Ten members, Oda gets instant attention everywhere he goes without even trying, and he’s not sure if he’s into it.

Once modeled for Swatch alongside Alicia, and when their pictures were on Totsuki magazine that caused people to go frenzy that day, unlike Alicia who’s loving it, Oda chose not to attend school for 3 days.

Since he’s linked with Kuga and has considered him his mentor, he is an honorary member of Chinese Cuisine RS.

When Moon Festival comes, he always books one stall to showcase his pretty dim sum and his creative talent by doing a demonstration in front of everyone (Rindou’s suggestion as a part of his risk-taking challenge).

[professorprophetess]

Lost in Adaptation

Though there have been successful game based movies before, like Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, that was about a fictional game coming to life. It worked for a different set of reasons and they all had to do with the concept of half-real Juul talks about in the book of the same name(Juul 121-162). That begs the question, can real games get proper adaptations into film without having their attempts fall flat. The short history of video game movies does not really suggest that this is usually possible. Yet even then exceptions can exist. For the sake of simplicity I will be sticking to movies produced by the West AKA Hollywood that are not animated that feature real game properties being adapted into films. To get the greatest breadth of the attempts to adapt games into movies I’ll pick one per decade since the very first live action adaptation of a video game came out in 1993. That movie is one that I’ve often chosen to pretend doesn’t exist as it was a very disappointing childhood memory: Super Mario Bros. Next I’l jump ahead to the 00’s with 2008’s Doom. Finally, I’ll look at the recent game based movie Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. Where did the previous two movies from prior two decades go wrong where Pokémon: Detective Pikachu got things right is the question I seek to answer by analyzing these games based films from those decades. Please note, I will not be counting any movies made by Uwe Boll amongst adaptations that got things wrong as I am lead to believe he does not care about how far off track he takes his films and it would appear as if he does it on purpose. Therefore, all films he makes are anomalies and should not be counted.

First, the movie that started it all. Super Mario Brothers was a very big deal in the early ’90’s. As a child of that decade, I know first hand how ascendant Mario and Luigi were. My older siblings and cousins all clamored to play as much Super Mario Brothers games on their NESes as they could. Naturally, a movie based on their beloved game was going to be awe inspiring.Oh, it was but for all the wrong reasons. To be fair to Hollywood, games are hard to adapt into a movie because of that half-real element many games have to them, especially story light platforming games of the NES era. However, that still doesn’t fully explain how they went from a fantasy romp where the hero—an everyman Italian plumber— rescuing the princess from a monster into gritty sci-fi dystopia, extra emphasis on the gritty. The set design, cinematography, plot choices, and direction are all bizarre when one takes a step back to just look at it. For instance, their redesign of the iconic Bowser into a man with weird hair. Because of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film coming out three years prior, the ability to have made a puppet suit for someone to wear to bring Bowser to life in all his dragon-turtle glory existed. Yet, for some reason, instead of respecting the intellectual property, whomever had purchased the rights handed the project off to writers who clearly were so embarrassed to be adapting a video game that they didn’t bother actually adapting it. As a small child, all I’d cared about was that they’d made Yoshi look weird and the goomba’s looked wrong. Now that I’m older, I’m more perplexed by why they’d choose to go so far a field. Their idea had no business being grafted into the Super Mario Brothers’ universe. In fact, had they not been supposed to be adapting Super Mario Brothers, their idea would have been fun for a Sci-fi B-Movie. Instead they just went so far off to the side that it left a shadow that kept Nintendo from allowing anyone to make movies from their IPs. The actors did what they could but a bad script and bad direction cannot be overcome by anyone. (Super Mario Bros)

The shadow wasn’t just cast by Super Mario Bros but other movies kept the belief that video game movies just would not work alive. Thus we get to Doom. I was far too young to play Doom at its initial height of popularity but I knew what it was. So by 2005, after strings of other not-so-good-to-so-campy-its-fun video game adaptations, it was Doom’s turn. The trailers looks promising. Then what happened was a clumsily cobbled together film that used elements of Doom’s barely there plot, as well as plot threads from Alien and other space horror flicks to produce a B-movie that bears next-to-no resemblance to Doomat all. There’s an instance where the movie switches to first person POV like the game, and the human antagonist has become and alien creature called a “pinky” which is a demon from Doom, but ultimately being PG-13 could not deliver on the gore factor needed to fully capture what it was that Doom was: a bloody maze of gore and violence. In this case, it was likely based on the fact it was Doom that they thought adapting it was a good idea, but in their fumbled and neutered execution they made a so-so space horror that almost utterly fails as an adequate adaptation of the game of the same name’s fame it had tried to cash in on. Again, the set design is questionable as it is set largely on a space ship instead of in a maze of tunnels through Hell, and the tame levels of violence are not reflective of the core part of Doom’s appeal at all. The acting was decent enough, but otherwise the story direction and direction in general are suspect. 2005’s Doom failed because it did not try to be the by proxy gore fest that its source material was and without that gore, the classic Doom doesn’t have enough of an identity to fall back upon (Doom).

Pokémon: Detective Pikachu: A film I’d initially thought would also fail. One reason was because I thought the game it was based on was a silly idea when it came out, but also because it had become an almost accepted maxim that all video game based movies would continue to be awful because when it comes to gaming that Half-real effect I mentioned that Juul wrote about makes it hard to fully adapt a game because we, the players are not just passive watchers but active participants with game play, meaning what we do is projected into what happens so even with highly story based games, like a Final Fantasy title, no two people are going to have the exact same gameplay experience (Juul 121-62). Yet, those games have a higher chance of being adaptable.  Those games prior to Pokémon: Detective Pikachu that most consider to be meh-to-passable all tended to be those based on games that tended to have far more of a narrative world to them than something like Doom or Super Mario Bros which were adapted from a story light FPS and story extra-light platformer. In the case of Pokémon: Detective Pikachu versus the series it spun-off from, until Generation V, there really wasn’t much to the story to speak of, and though it’s still not central to the main games, it’s stepped up to keep with what Generation V did. Pokémon: Detective Pikachu is a point and click adventure the is full of story and characterization that is not dependent wholly on the player, making its world and story far more adaptable into film format. A second thing the makers of Pokémon Detective Pikachu got right was they kept the aesthetics of the Pokémon world whenever they were designing the set design. They only deviated as such to make sure that these things looked coherent and real in that sense but it still reflected the worlds the games had presented. The pokémon were also a huge factor. They had to be redesigned to fit with the humans in the movie, but those redesigns were made with respect to how these creatures would look were they actually real creatures, keeping the uncanny valley at bay. Also, in a start contrast to the Super Mario Bros movie, this world was not only vibrant but it was a live and full the the fantastical creatures people expect to see in a world full of pokémon. Which is to say, we expect to see pokémon and they fulfilled that and then some. The plot is nothing extravagant or especially complex, but it was fun, it had genuine moments of heart and it fit in perfectly with the insanity that can happen within the pokémon universe. It felt like it and the games took place in the same world (Pokémon: Detective Pikachu).

Doom and Super Mario Bros on their own are not actually purely awful films. Doom fits right in with a lot of passable sci-fi horror trying to be Alien—and failing— whereas Super Mario Bros is more like an 80’s sci-fi B-flick that is trying to be cool—and also failing. However, the problem is these movies do not exist on their own, they were in fact adaptations of other intellectual properties that their makers did not respect enough to properly adapt to the silver screen. Whereas the Pokémon: Detective Pikachu film had nothing but respect for the game franchise it was representing into a live-action/CGI hybrid. Pokémon Detective Pikachu fits into the Pokémon World. It feels like it belongs there, and these events could be in that same universe. That, ultimately, is where the other two films failed horribly. Both films, so caught up in trying to be appealing to everyone, lost their identities to the point that they no longer fit in the worlds they were supposed to be adapting.

Works Cited

Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. Directed by Rob Letterman. Performances by Ryan Reynolds, Justice Smith, and Kathryn Newton. Legendary Entertainment, 2019.

Doom. Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak. Performances by Karl Urban,Dwayne Johnson, Rosamund Pike. Universal Pictures, 2005.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Directed by Jake Kasdan, performances by  Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart , and Jack Black, Sony Pictures, 2017.

Juul, Jesper. Half-Real. MIT Press, 2005. pg 121-162.

Super Mario Bros. Directed by Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton. Performances by  Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper. Allied Filmmakers, 1993.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #422

Top Ten Brothers in Fiction

So last year one of my Top Tens went out on my brother’s birthday and he asked me why I didn’t do a “Top Ten Brothers” in commemoration. I didn’t have a good reason other than not really thinking of it in the first place, so I promised him I’d do one this year.

That time is now.

That’s it. that’s all there is to it this week. No in-depth analysis. No arcane rules. Just Top Ten brothers.

I have spoken.

Jake & Elwood Blues (The Blues Brothers, 1980): the coolest brothers ever, style icons, on a mission from god and packing great tunes (as well as half a pack of cigarettes). Dependable, unflappable, devoted to each other and to their mission.

Thor & Loki Odinson (MCU, from 2011): from the initial brawny idiot/evil genius paradigm, their filial bickering and undercurrents of genuine affection have been a highlight of the MCU. Their gradual evolution into more-or-less equals, and Loki’s final, tragic act, seal the deal.

Sideswipe & Sunstreaker (Transformers comics, from 1984): back when the notion of how siblings even work in Transformers was a vague and ill-defined concept, these two smokin’ hot supercars were a brilliant team. Subsequent iterations have given them more and more wrinkles, but gruff warrior/preening dandy is an adorable pairing.

Data & Lore (Star Trek: The Next Generation, from 1987): like Thor and Loki with worse hair, we have another good/evil brotherhood. Data wants emotion; Lore is haunted by it. More than just an “evil twin” dynamic, Lore’s tragic backstory reinforces Data’s growing humanity.

Mortimer & Randolph Duke (Trading Places, 1983): we’ve had a couple of “evil” brothers, but never two brothers who – as a pair­ – are just utter bastards. And these guys are, deliciously so; devious, cruel, racist, greedy, and utterly hilarious. Bonus points for their Coming to America cameo, which may have been the first in-joke I ever got.

Jules & Vincent Benedict (Twins, 1988): whilst it’s not aged superbly, there’s no denying the great chemistry between Schwarzenegger’s alpha male and DeVito’s runt of the litter. They’re both really funny in their own way, and even if the film is a little floppy and dated, the pair remain great company.

Mario & Luigi Mario (Super Mario games, from 1981): from characterless avatars and simple palette-swap twins, Mario and Luigi have developed distinct and different personalities and playstyles. M is obviously the main man and stock hero, but it’s L’s subtle idiosyncrasies that end up giving both of them a lot more life.

Niles & Frasier Crane (Frasier, 1993-2004): beautiful, transcendental snobbish bickering; an echo chamber of entitled one-percentery. But it’s the humanity that filters through; their contrasting but complementary personalities, their compassion and love for each other. Honourable mention to Bob and Cecil Terwilliger.

Más y Menos (Teen Titans, from 2005): a bit left field, and really there’s not much to say beyond the pair of them being great fun, visually very interesting, a nice piece of diverse casting, and that they have a tremendous hook: they can run fast, but only holding hands.

Boromir & Faramir (The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien, 1954-55): the good son and his beloved brother; the tragic hero and the guilt-wracked survivor. Faramir’s inner strength is beautifully contrasted with Boromir’s outward courage, resisting the ring where his brother could not. Boromir gets the best death in the movies, though. None more heroic.

Right, there we are. Top Ten bros. Hope you’re happy, Villmot.

[ramajmedia]

The 10 Best Villains From The Die Hard Franchise, Ranked

In Hollywood’s storied history with tenacious action heroes, there are few as beloved as Bruce Willis’ John McClane from the Die Hard franchise. And, as they say, what’s a hero without their villain?

The Die Hard movies have delivered some of the most stand out bad guys in cinematic history with its revolving door of highly-trained thieves who run into the beleaguered cop. McClane is consistently accused of being ‘the guy in the wrong place at the wrong time’ but things always seem to go much more wrong for the villains who cross him.

These are our picks for the ten best villains from the Die Hard franchise so far.

10 Major Grant

Major Grant is the commander of a Special Forces anti-terrorism squad who appears some time into the events of the crisis at Dulles Airport in Die Hard 2: Die Harder. It initially seems as if the Major and his men are there to resolve the situation but McClane soon discovers that Major Grant has been working with his contemporary, the antagonist Colonel William Stuart, to accomplish his goals.

RELATED: Marvel: 10 Movies to Watch Featuring Your Favorite Villains

Major Grant is a memorable character because of actor John Amos' commanding performance but also because of his death, where he fights McClane on the wing of a plane that's taking off before being sucked into one of the engines.

9 Johnson and Johnson

The two FBI agents, similar to Major Grant in Die Hard 2, appear some ways into the initial hostage situation at Nakatomi Plaza in Die Hard. However, they are not revealed to be in league with the movie’s main antagonist and his goals (though they do end up helping him through incompetence). They are still, by no means, heroic characters and end up being a dangerous force working against John McClane.

After expressing a lack of concern for the safety of the hostages with a dangerous plan, they fly into the situation on the roof of the building with guns blazing. After one of the Johnsons attempts to kill McClane in the confusion, the terrorists detonate the explosives on the roof, killing the agents and resulting in McClane’s iconic leap from the top of the building.

8 Mai Linh

The right-hand woman of the main antagonist in Live Free or Die Hard (A.K.A. Die Hard 4.0), Mai Linh is a mysterious character played by Maggie Q. Clearly ruthless and highly trained in hand-to-hand combat, she’s a formidable opponent.

RELATED: 20 Little Details Behind The Making Of Die Hard

Like many Die Hard villains, her most memorable moments come out of her death. In a great example of the fourth movie’s ability to effectively scale its action scenes up and up until they reach a point where the audience never expected them to go, Mai Linh dies in a close-quarters fight with McClane inside an SUV which, itself, is stuck halfway down an elevator shaft.

7 Theo

The so-called ‘Tech Guy’ of the original Die Hard’s group of supervillainous thieves. Theo is such a minor character in the overall scheme of things that he could easily have fallen into total obscurity if it wasn’t for actor Clarence Gilyard’s exuberant performance.

Perhaps best remembered for his reaction to a large explosion with “Oh my God! The quarterback is toast!” Theo became one of the most memorable parts of Die Hard as a result and his character still echoes today in Die Hard-Esque siege movies that require a computer whiz.

Considering that he’s the only member of the group of thieves to survive the events of the movie, it’s a shame that audiences never got to see him again.

6 Katya

Played by singer/songwriter Sam Phillips in Die Hard with a Vengeance, Katya is, ironically, a mute character but a hugely iconic part of the movie thanks to her deadly looks alone. She’s a fearless soldier and the second-in-command to the movie’s main villain.

RELATED: 10 Gifts For Fans Of Die Hard

With her oval 90s shades and a cigarette dangling carelessly from her mouth, she’s an unforgettably cool villain that saunters through the most dangerous situations in the movie. She’s perhaps best remembered, though, for her curved, claw-like, dagger and her vicious use of it.

5 Karl Vreski

Played by former Bolshoi Ballet dancer Alexander Gudonov, Karl Vreski is the most memorable of all of the original Die Hard’s henchmen. When his brother, Anthony, is killed by McClane relatively early on in the movie, and McClane uses his body to taunt the other thieves with the famous words “Now I have a machine gun Ho-Ho-Ho” written on it, Karl becomes determined to personally kill McClane as painfully as possible.

After being successfully defeated, and left hanging by the neck by McClane, Karl suddenly springs back to life as his body is being taken out of the building. Before he can shoot McClane, however, he’s taken out by police officer Al Powell, having rediscovered his mojo. 

4 Thomas Gabriel

The main villain of Live Free or Die Hard, Thomas Gabriel is a former analyst from the Department of Defense who, as villains in such action movies often are, was fired for attempting to reveal the country’s electronic vulnerabilities in a misguided fashion. His revenge against the government takes the form of a ‘fire sale’, which uses cyberterrorism methods to shut down the United States’ infrastructure.

RELATED: 15 Crazy Things You Didn’t Know About Die Hard

Though he spends the majority of the movie in his mobile command center attached to an 18-wheeler - kept constantly moving throughout Washington, D.C. so as to avoid detection - he’s no pushover in his final confrontation with McClane. Forcing McClane to shoot him through his own shoulder as Gabriel holds him hostage and tortures him by pressing the barrel of the gun into an open wound.

3 Colonel William Stuart

Perhaps best remembered for his mesmerizing naked martial arts routine at the beginning of the movie, Colonel William Stuart is the leader of a group of military conspirators in Die Hard 2: Die Harder who seek to free an imprisoned dictator from screenwriter Steven E. de Souza’s fictional South American country, Val Verde.

Stuart engages McClane in a hand-to-hand fight on the wing of a plane as it takes off, just after McClane kills Major Grant. He’s able to defeat the comparatively-schlubby, and severely beat up, McClane with ease and throws him from the wing but not before McClane is able to open the wing’s fuel hatch. Down on the runway, McClane is able to light the spilled fuel and blows up the plane with Stuart onboard. 

2 Simon Gruber

The brother of the main antagonist of the original Die Hard, Simon Gruber is as equally cunning, and equally intoxicated by his love of his own villainy, as his sibling. His taunting games of “Simon Says” over the phone echoing the same back-and-forths that McClane has in the first movie.

RELATED: 5 Disney Villains That Are Better Live-Action (& 5 That Work Better As Cartoons)

Simon is played to perfection by 90s villain icon Jeremy Irons and he comes off as the only actor really capable of living up to the original Gruber brother in any way. He’s ultimately dispatched in an explosive helicopter crash but an alternate ending sees him die in a much more bizarre incident involving a game of pseudo-Russian roulette with rocket launchers. 

1 Hans Gruber

The one and only. Hans Gruber is arguably the best bad guy to ever grace the silver screen and, while he’s as well-written as the rest of the movie, the lion’s share of the credit has to go to the incomparable Alan Rickman for his performance; which was his very first credited screen role.

Delightfully devious and infinitely quotable, Hans Gruber is a byword for the kind of villain who audiences often root for against the hero. Initially masquerading as a terrorist with political goals, Hans, like his brother, is really just in it for the money. His apparent vanity and dissatisfaction with those who he deems less intelligent than himself (which is just about everyone) allows him to come off almost like a Disney villain. A thread that Irons continues with relative ease in Die Hard with a Vengeance.

NEXT: 10 Best Alan Rickman Performances Of All Time

source https://screenrant.com/die-hard-franchise-best-villains-ranked/

[ramajmedia]

The 10 Best Villains From The Die Hard Franchise, Ranked

In Hollywood’s storied history with tenacious action heroes, there are few as beloved as Bruce Willis’ John McClane from the Die Hard franchise. And, as they say, what’s a hero without their villain?

The Die Hard movies have delivered some of the most stand out bad guys in cinematic history with its revolving door of highly-trained thieves who run into the beleaguered cop. McClane is consistently accused of being ‘the guy in the wrong place at the wrong time’ but things always seem to go much more wrong for the villains who cross him.

These are our picks for the ten best villains from the Die Hard franchise so far.

10 Major Grant

Major Grant is the commander of a Special Forces anti-terrorism squad who appears some time into the events of the crisis at Dulles Airport in Die Hard 2: Die Harder. It initially seems as if the Major and his men are there to resolve the situation but McClane soon discovers that Major Grant has been working with his contemporary, the antagonist Colonel William Stuart, to accomplish his goals.

RELATED: Marvel: 10 Movies to Watch Featuring Your Favorite Villains

Major Grant is a memorable character because of actor John Amos' commanding performance but also because of his death, where he fights McClane on the wing of a plane that's taking off before being sucked into one of the engines.

9 Johnson and Johnson

The two FBI agents, similar to Major Grant in Die Hard 2, appear some ways into the initial hostage situation at Nakatomi Plaza in Die Hard. However, they are not revealed to be in league with the movie’s main antagonist and his goals (though they do end up helping him through incompetence). They are still, by no means, heroic characters and end up being a dangerous force working against John McClane.

After expressing a lack of concern for the safety of the hostages with a dangerous plan, they fly into the situation on the roof of the building with guns blazing. After one of the Johnsons attempts to kill McClane in the confusion, the terrorists detonate the explosives on the roof, killing the agents and resulting in McClane’s iconic leap from the top of the building.

8 Mai Linh

The right-hand woman of the main antagonist in Live Free or Die Hard (A.K.A. Die Hard 4.0), Mai Linh is a mysterious character played by Maggie Q. Clearly ruthless and highly trained in hand-to-hand combat, she’s a formidable opponent.

RELATED: 20 Little Details Behind The Making Of Die Hard

Like many Die Hard villains, her most memorable moments come out of her death. In a great example of the fourth movie’s ability to effectively scale its action scenes up and up until they reach a point where the audience never expected them to go, Mai Linh dies in a close-quarters fight with McClane inside an SUV which, itself, is stuck halfway down an elevator shaft.

7 Theo

The so-called ‘Tech Guy’ of the original Die Hard’s group of supervillainous thieves. Theo is such a minor character in the overall scheme of things that he could easily have fallen into total obscurity if it wasn’t for actor Clarence Gilyard’s exuberant performance.

Perhaps best remembered for his reaction to a large explosion with “Oh my God! The quarterback is toast!” Theo became one of the most memorable parts of Die Hard as a result and his character still echoes today in Die Hard-Esque siege movies that require a computer whiz.

Considering that he’s the only member of the group of thieves to survive the events of the movie, it’s a shame that audiences never got to see him again.

6 Katya

Played by singer/songwriter Sam Phillips in Die Hard with a Vengeance, Katya is, ironically, a mute character but a hugely iconic part of the movie thanks to her deadly looks alone. She’s a fearless soldier and the second-in-command to the movie’s main villain.

RELATED: 10 Gifts For Fans Of Die Hard

With her oval 90s shades and a cigarette dangling carelessly from her mouth, she’s an unforgettably cool villain that saunters through the most dangerous situations in the movie. She’s perhaps best remembered, though, for her curved, claw-like, dagger and her vicious use of it.

5 Karl Vreski

Played by former Bolshoi Ballet dancer Alexander Gudonov, Karl Vreski is the most memorable of all of the original Die Hard’s henchmen. When his brother, Anthony, is killed by McClane relatively early on in the movie, and McClane uses his body to taunt the other thieves with the famous words “Now I have a machine gun Ho-Ho-Ho” written on it, Karl becomes determined to personally kill McClane as painfully as possible.

After being successfully defeated, and left hanging by the neck by McClane, Karl suddenly springs back to life as his body is being taken out of the building. Before he can shoot McClane, however, he’s taken out by police officer Al Powell, having rediscovered his mojo. 

4 Thomas Gabriel

The main villain of Live Free or Die Hard, Thomas Gabriel is a former analyst from the Department of Defense who, as villains in such action movies often are, was fired for attempting to reveal the country’s electronic vulnerabilities in a misguided fashion. His revenge against the government takes the form of a ‘fire sale’, which uses cyberterrorism methods to shut down the United States’ infrastructure.

RELATED: 15 Crazy Things You Didn’t Know About Die Hard

Though he spends the majority of the movie in his mobile command center attached to an 18-wheeler - kept constantly moving throughout Washington, D.C. so as to avoid detection - he’s no pushover in his final confrontation with McClane. Forcing McClane to shoot him through his own shoulder as Gabriel holds him hostage and tortures him by pressing the barrel of the gun into an open wound.

3 Colonel William Stuart

Perhaps best remembered for his mesmerizing naked martial arts routine at the beginning of the movie, Colonel William Stuart is the leader of a group of military conspirators in Die Hard 2: Die Harder who seek to free an imprisoned dictator from screenwriter Steven E. de Souza’s fictional South American country, Val Verde.

Stuart engages McClane in a hand-to-hand fight on the wing of a plane as it takes off, just after McClane kills Major Grant. He’s able to defeat the comparatively-schlubby, and severely beat up, McClane with ease and throws him from the wing but not before McClane is able to open the wing’s fuel hatch. Down on the runway, McClane is able to light the spilled fuel and blows up the plane with Stuart onboard. 

2 Simon Gruber

The brother of the main antagonist of the original Die Hard, Simon Gruber is as equally cunning, and equally intoxicated by his love of his own villainy, as his sibling. His taunting games of “Simon Says” over the phone echoing the same back-and-forths that McClane has in the first movie.

RELATED: 5 Disney Villains That Are Better Live-Action (& 5 That Work Better As Cartoons)

Simon is played to perfection by 90s villain icon Jeremy Irons and he comes off as the only actor really capable of living up to the original Gruber brother in any way. He’s ultimately dispatched in an explosive helicopter crash but an alternate ending sees him die in a much more bizarre incident involving a game of pseudo-Russian roulette with rocket launchers. 

1 Hans Gruber

The one and only. Hans Gruber is arguably the best bad guy to ever grace the silver screen and, while he’s as well-written as the rest of the movie, the lion’s share of the credit has to go to the incomparable Alan Rickman for his performance; which was his very first credited screen role.

Delightfully devious and infinitely quotable, Hans Gruber is a byword for the kind of villain who audiences often root for against the hero. Initially masquerading as a terrorist with political goals, Hans, like his brother, is really just in it for the money. His apparent vanity and dissatisfaction with those who he deems less intelligent than himself (which is just about everyone) allows him to come off almost like a Disney villain. A thread that Irons continues with relative ease in Die Hard with a Vengeance.

NEXT: 10 Best Alan Rickman Performances Of All Time

source https://screenrant.com/die-hard-franchise-best-villains-ranked/