#Ive been wanting to draw this for weeks I just kept putting it off hahaha
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
meldy-arts · 4 days ago
Text
Tumblr media
Sonic's extra clingy with Tom after the events of the third movie. Lil man hardly lets his dad out of his sight.
These two have my HEArT. I love themmmmmm
571 notes · View notes
moczothe1st · 6 years ago
Text
Let’s Play Fire Emblem IV: Genealogy of the Holy War, Part 30: Man, oh Man, oh Manfroy
Part 29
Welcome back to Fire Emblem IV: Genealogy of the Holy War.  Last week, we fought off like six armies all at once, and it was miserable, but on the plus side Hilda died. I think every game would be better if Hilda died.  This week, we finish taking her castle and… *sigh* And we regret it, probably.  This week, we start off mid-turn, so after moving most of my southern front up north toward the action, I end my turn and let the remainder of Hilda’s dorks take their shot.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
… Why couldn’t they have gone down that easy last week, huh?!
Now, on our turn, the enemy is down to four dark mages with staves, and one dark bishop with a siege tome in the castle. I have Fee cut down one of the former…
Tumblr media
And have Larcei and Seliph talk about love, because honestly I’m actually in no big hurry to finish this castle.
Tumblr media
Larcei: I’m coming with you on this one!
Seliph: Of course you’re welcome to… but why?
Larcei: It’s odd… I’m actually a little scared…
Seliph: Odd indeed! If there’s one thing you’ve never been known for, it’s fear.
Larcei: It’s… I just…
Seliph: Shhh. I understand. Now come! After all, what could ever inspire courage quite like having you at my side.
(… Damn, Seliph, smooth like silk. You win a little more of my respect, bro.)
Larcei: Seliph…
This conversation gives Seliph +1 to his Strength; it was apparently supposed to be +3, but he was actually only one point away from his (oddly low) cap. Apparently Seliph only has a natural 25 strength cap! That seems weird considering his descent from Sigurd the Humungous.
And… sigh. Guess I should kill the stupid boss.
Tumblr media
All right. Nothing left but sleep staves, and they can’t really hurt us. I have Fee and Altena purge them.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
And now we have the problem dealt with. A little jumping around before I set off the next story segment; I have Finn zapped home, where he repairs and sells his Brave Lance. I’m going to have Fee buy it after we take Freege.  Sorry, Finn, but you’re kind of just not holding up; you lasted longer than I expected you too, but despite being decent on offense you’re just kind of fragile.  Oifey will also be benched here, I think, he can stay to defend Freege castle after we take it.  Thankfully…
Tumblr media
… The game is polite enough to tell us where the next part of the chapter will be coming from. So I do spend a turn or two moving the kids up to this gate and ready to rock. Seliph?
Tumblr media
Seliph: But I can’t help but wonder… are the children at Belhalla still unharmed? I pray they are…
Lewyn: Funny you should say that!
(That’s not really the appropriate response to dying children.)
Lewyn: We’ve got a visitor who’s got a bit of news on that front, Seliph.
Tumblr media
(“I’ve seen… terrible things. Thank the gods I have no sister, for I fear I would never be able to look her in the eyes again.”)
Felipe: On secret orders from His Majesty, the abducted children were moved here to Freege for safe-keeping.
(Orders so secret that we never actually got to see Arvis give them in that whole scene where he was desperately trying to save all the children at Chalphy and failing, being immediately caught, and then getting cowed into submission by a man infinitely less powerful than himself. STOP TRYING TO MAKE ME FEEL BAD FOR ARVIS, GAME.)
Felipe: Rest easy, sire. They’re all hiding in the city’s abbey, and they’re all in good health.
Seliph: And all under Hilda’s nose, at that! That you’ve kept every last child safe in Hilda’s own city… color me impressed!
Felipe: Actually, sire… Princess Ishtar deserves your thanks. Without her generous aid given in secret, we could never have done this. No Imperial soldiers dared come even close to the abbey, on pain of the princess’s wrath.
Seliph: Princess Ishtar?! But why… why would she-
Felipe: Few people in this land are as kind and caring as Princess Ishtar.  
FEW PEOPLE IN THIS LAND ARE AS KIND AND CARING AS PRINCESS ISHTAR.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
YEAH SHE’S A FUCKIN’ TREASURE.
Felipe: All along, the princess has toiled behind the scenes to aid our cause.  It was Princess Ishtar herself who ensured that every last child escaped from the bowels of Belhalla.
(“Then… how comes she’s… you know… literally banging the Devil?” “Technically he’s a ghost dragon.”)
Seliph: I see… at any rate, thank the gods for their safety. I’m certain everyone will be glad to know the children are in good hands. You have my deepest thanks, Lord Felipe.
Lewyn: Well, Seliph, that’s one job done. Good to see we’re finally getting results out of this mess.
(Hey, screw you man, I’ve conquered three quarters of the country.)
Seliph: And yet, Julia still eluds us… where could she possibly be?
Lewyn: The only options left now are Belhalla and Velthomer. It’s got to be one of those two.
Seliph: And Belhalla is where Julius awaits…
Lewyn: Yeah. We’ll need to find Julia first if we want to go anywhere near Belhalla. Without Julia’s power on our side, we won’t have a hope in hell against Julius.
(Again, not technically true, but you really should listen to him on this one.)
Seliph: But no matter what’s happened, Julius is still her brother. Will she even want to fight him…
Lewyn: … You’ll have to convince her.
(I mean, you’ve met Julius. It won’t be super hard.)
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Ishtar: This will require that I leave your side, even for a while. I beg your forgiveness.
Julius: Feh.
Tumblr media
Julius: Why the rush to get out there so suddenly, Ishtar? All the soldiers they could ever throw at us could never so much as scratch me. Why even bother with those maggots?
Ishtar: Yes, I know… but for me, there is no greater pride than being one of Freege’s great mages.
(“Saving all those children? Doesn’t even compare.”)
Ishtar: My parents and brother lie dead, and I cannot stand to leave their murderers to run amok… please. All I ask is a chance for vengeance.
Julius: It sounds as if what you really want is to following your family to death on a rebel’s blade! Are you so desperate to escape me, Ishtar?
Ishtar: No… nothing like that, Lord Julius. I love you. Nothing will ever change that.
Julius: Hmhmhmhmhm… I know.  
Tumblr media
Julius: Very well! Fight if you must. I won’t stop you.
Ishtar: Thank you… now, I beg your pardon. Meng! Bleg! Mabel! We sortie at once.
(Oh god, we are really scraping the bottom of the name barrel this time. ‘Meng’?  ‘Bleg’?)
Julius: Now, then. I think it’s time we put an end to this sorry show. Deadlords, move out!  And order Arion’s unit to attack!
(… wait, what?)
Tumblr media Tumblr media
So. You may recall I told you to remember this moment.
Tumblr media
It was important for two reasons.
First: This is the moment the war becomes winnable. You see, Manfroy is not… really all that into Loptyr. Oh, he worships him, but it’s not really about loyalty so much as sadism. Manfroy hates the world, and every single human being in it. His overall goal in life is nothing more or less than to make humanity suffer as much as possible. But he’s generally pragmatic about it. He knew the best way to hurt humanity was to revive Loptyr, who possesses incredible powers and views humans as little better than food to eat and pets to abuse. This moment, right here, is the moment that Manfroy, flush with overconfidence in the presence of his god on earth and having enjoyed a long decade and a half tormenting the entire continent, finally makes a mistake. He lets his sadism overpower his common sense for the first time. And in so doing, he gives us a real shot.
Second: Because he’s still Manfroy, he’s a total fuckwad about it.  
Remember Ayra? Waaaaaaaaay back in Verdane, remember how we recruited Ayra. How we had to get to a castle to turn her non-hostile to us, only she was between the army and the castle and she was trying to kill us the whole time?
Yeah, that’s happening again. Only it’s Julia, our lil’ atomic vampire gatling gun trying to kill us. Of course she’s just as strong as she was when she was on our side, why would you even ask.  Oh, and just for fun…
Tumblr media
Here’s the map of what we need to achieve.  The blue X is where we are. The red X is where we need to get to save Julia.  The ravenous piranha is Ishtar’s army, waiting to pounce upon us and tear us limb from bloody limb.  And to her right, marked by the douche, is Julius. You don’t have to fight him, and you in fact definitely should not because getting anywhere near him will also draw the Deadlords out to fight you, but of course has a siege tome now and will cheerfully wreck the shit of anyone who gets anywhere near him, therefore heavily limiting the space we have to move.
And of course, Julia will be trying to kill us the whole time, and we can’t fight back and risk killing her.
And hahaha, yeah, Arion will be showing up soon.  
This is not going to be any fun, is what I’m getting at here.
First thing’s first, let’s take a look at our piranha.  
Tumblr media
Ishtar has taken yet another level in badass; her magic has gone up two points, skill by three, luck by 2, defense by eight, and resistance by one. And this time, she’s got an actual army with her instead of fighting us alone; three Snipers, three Heroes, three Sages, three High Priests with Fortify (of course) staves, and of course…. *snerk*…. Bleg, Meng, and Mabel.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
They’re three identical Falcon Knights, both in picture and stats, so I’ll only be showing one of them. Despite the intensely crappy names, they honestly three ridiculously dangerous units. They all have Earth Swords, meaning any hit they land is going to heal them, and they’ll be hitting often what with that maxed-out Speed and solid 23 skill. And to make things worse, they all have the Nihil ability to prevent us from just shooting them down with arrows or relying on Astra to solve our problems.  
So! This is going to suck. A lot. But thanks to Ced being awesome, there’s an option I can take to make this a lot more manageable.  Lana sells her Silence staff, and he buys it…
Tumblr media
And with his 35 fucking magic he can overpower Ishtar’s 32 Resistance to Silence her up to three times, basically removing Mjolnir from the equation for this battle. And Mjolnir is like… half of this battle’s equation.
I literally cannot believe I’ve never tried this before.  From here, the army moves forward, Seliph leading the way; he’ll be attacked by quite a lot of people here, but he’s a living iron wall of destruction, and the more of these people I can lure away from the main melee, the better.  So. End turn!
Tumblr media
(*sigh* Must you, now?)
Arion: Chalphy’s fall to our blades shall be the first step to winning back our fatherland. Now, move in! Show these liberators one final defiance from the drackoknights of Thracia!
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
A solid enough start! We hurt one Falcon Knight, and didn’t take much damage in return.  And now that Ishtar is in range…  
Tumblr media
Oh, that is delicious.  Now, my first goal here is to kill at least one of these three annoyingly fast pega-bitches, but I also have to get Altena (and yes it has to be her, of course it has to be her) down to the castle to intercept Arion.  I hate everything forever.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
One down!  Let’s keep this train rolling and clear out some more jerks.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Two out of three ain’t bad!
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Okay, I think that’s about all the damage I’m going to get done this turn.  And not bad at all, frankly, so I’m happy.  I have Lene dance Altena, and warp her home with Lana.
Tumblr media
Ignore the pentagram. It’s a good pentagram. Down at the bottom, Altena equips Gae Bolg and flies to just outside Arion’s range. The rest of his buddies don’t matter at all, but I don’t want her to fight him. There’s a reason for this, of course. It’s unsatisfying, but it makes her happy.
Tumblr media
The things I do for my kids, I swear.
End turn.  
Tumblr media
… Huh. They don’t attack her? Or maybe they can’t damage her. I honestly am not sure.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
*sniff*
I remember the last time I played this map.
I died five times on this battle alone.
And now it’s going better than the fight against the fucking Beige Knights.
I don’t understand what’s going on.
Tumblr media
Altena: How could you be so craven?! How dare you place your vanity and pride over what truly matters!
(You tell him, honey!)
Arion: What do you want from me, then?
(God, don’t ask her that. This LP is not rated Adults Only.)
Altena: Take a good, hard look at Prince Seliph! Ask yourself, this: why is he still fighting? For whom is he out here day after day, setting his own suffering to the side?
Arion: So Seliph fights for justice, and I somehow do not? Is that what you’re trying to say?
(…. YES!)
Altena: Very well, Arion… if you won’t see reason, so be it. Come on. Kill me. End this. My… my life is in your hands. I die with no regrets.
Arion: A-Altena… very well. You can rest easy now. I get it. I was wrong… my mercenary days are at an end, and my final task is with Seliph. Wait… no. With you. I now fight for you, Altena.
Altena: Arion…
Yeah, it would have been neat if you’d done this a few maps ago, jackass, but Arion is on our side now. Or, well, sorta. He doesn’t join the army, but his unit becomes neutral and are programmed to stay close to Altena and be hostile to any Belhalla units that get near them. I know we all sort of wanted to kill him, but he still has Gungnir and I really just didn’t want to risk a screwup when things are going so well.  I mean, I’m not even gonna use him. At this point, letting him get near the enemy would likely result in him rushing Julius and dying, which sorta defeats the point. Let’s just end this; time to wipe out the remains of Ishtar’s unit.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
And now, a special treat. Since Ishtar can’t fight, we get to see a conversation that even I have never actually seen.
Tumblr media
(…. ‘Nothing but kind’.)
Tumblr media
(Just sayin’.)
Ishtar: … I may be in the wrong. But I can’t turn back now. Forgive me, Tinni… please….
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
And thus passes Princess Ishtar of Freege. She died as she lived: getting nuked by her cousins. And without her leadership stars…
Tumblr media
All right. Now, the rest of the army is going to stay right where they fucking are. Julia cannot be trusted to not kill herself, or more troublesome to not kill me.  The only people going forward are Seliph and Ares, who are going to go north across the forest, out of Julius’s range, and try to lure Julia into following them. Their resistance is tremendous, and they’re both on horses. Ideally she’ll try to kill them, fail, and be following them and unable to catch up until I can free her. This will take a few turns of nothing but movement because I will not be going anywhere near Julius.
Trust me.
Tumblr media
She seeeeeeeeeees uuuuuuuuuuussssss…
Tumblr media
Okay. There’s two things that could happen here. She’s either going to go east and cut us off, in which case we’ll be dodging vampire lasers the rest of the map, or she’s going to go north through the forest and we basically win the game.  Let’s see!
Tumblr media
…. Bitch. Okay, straight west you guys! Hide on the healing church, you beautiful bastards. God, haven’t used one of those in awhile, with those fifty healers in the army lining up to zap everyone with staves.
Tumblr media
Dammit, Loptyrians, I am trying to flee in terror from a small woman.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Okay. We can do this. Ares heals up, and all we have to do is clear out those priests and kill Manfroy. Go get ‘em, boys!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Are you fucking kidding me.  
Of all the.
That.
I.
I.
You.
HOW.
What the!
NO.
………………
Well. You know all those times when I was questioning my good fortune? The moments where I was like ‘oh, man, I don’t trust how generous the game is being, bet it’s gonna screw me later!’ Well, that just happened.
*sigh*
End turn. If I survive this, I will be genuinely stunned.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Oh hey it’s as though the Hel tome is really easy to dodge and you should have dodged it all along. But here we go…
Tumblr media
(How do you know that’s Manfroy? You’ve never met him…)
Manfroy: So I did. And so long as I live, my puppet she shall remain! Hehehehehe!  She’s every bit as helpless before my magic as her mother was…
Seliph: I should have known. If not for you, Mother… Gah! All of this misery… all these agonizing years… It was all your doing from the outset!
Manfroy: Heh… of course. Everything I’ve done has led to this moment: the revival of my lord Loptyr. And at last, it is so! Loptyr’s advent in the form of Prince Julius is complete, and darkness shall soon engulf the world. You cannot prevent it. Nobody can…
Seliph: Manfroy, you… Father’s grief… Mother’s despair… if not for you and your foul ambitions, none of this would have ever happened… Damn you, Manfroy! I cannot allow you to win! I will not! You’ll NEVER know mercy for your crimes!
Tumblr media
Yeah, not the dramatic win I was hoping for after that great speech. But I guess I saw that coming.  Reset! I start off a little differently; Seliph and Ares park themselves on trees. With the 20% dodge bonus, they should have no chance of being hit by Hel, and very little of being hit by Julia. We need to clear out these Dark Mages before we go for Manfroy.
Tumblr media
Better! This repeats for all of them; one actually dies because they’re forced to attack at close-range thanks to being blocked off by their own buddies, which is great.
Tumblr media
Yeah, yeah.
Tumblr media
He only does one damage. Seliph could have survived him with no problem in any other situation. I hate this game sometimes. On our turn, I have Ares and Seliph each clear out a mage…
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Then immediately go hide in the woods again. I am playing this as cautious as humanly possible, honestly. Better to spend three turns killing mages than let the reset counter jump up above the number of updates.
The enemy misses again on their turn, because they literally can’t not miss. Two more deaths…
Tumblr media Tumblr media
All right! That’s that for dark mages. On the next turn, Ares is going to park his butt on the healing church forever, and Seliph goes to fight Manfroy.
Tumblr media
You stay out of this.
Now then. It’s time. It’s time to face Manfroy himself.  In direct combat. The enemy behind it all! The dark schemer who has given over our kingdom to the dark god.  And he…
Tumblr media
Is a loser.  I mean, he’s not the worst enemy in the game. He’s okay. But he’s definitely no match for Arvis, or Ishtar, or… anyone with a holy weapon, really.  Which fits, really; his danger is his skill and intellect, not his power.  But considering he’s basically the final boss, it’s a little sad, still.
Seliph. Teach him some manners, bro.
Tumblr media
And with two shots, he’s down to six HP.  End turn.
Tumblr media
I miss the days when I was the one with the Julia Beams.
Tumblr media
*sniff*
God. That is just cathartic to do. Now. With Manfroy off to Hell, where I’m assuming he will meet Hilda and strike up a whirlwind love affair, Seliph can take the castle.
Tumblr media
Lewyn: That’s right, isn’t it Felipe?
Tumblr media
Felipe: My liege concealed the key within his most treasured memento…. The circlet once worn by Empress Deirdre.
(HURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRK!)
Felipe: If we can find that circlet, sir, the Book of Naga is yours.
Lewyn: Deirdre’s circlet…
And that’s that! Ares runs toward the castle, with intent to lure Julia toward us. Of course she’s still hostile, why are you even asking? She has to talk to Seliph to get back to our side. Tee-hee, Fire Emblem hates you.
Tumblr media
God, you are just like your mother. Seliph, go fix this please.
Tumblr media
Seliph: It was Manfroy’s dark arts. He brainwashed you into his service.
Julia: Manfroy… that’s right, he caught me…
Seliph: Thank goodness you’re safe.  
Julia: Lord Seliph, I…
Seliph: It’s fine, Julia. I know. Lewyn told me everything. I’m sorry… I failed to protect you.
Julia: No… it’s fine. Don’t worry, Seliph. I finally know why I’ve survived for all these years. I know my fate… I’m fated to fight. I’ll never run away again!
Seliph: You’re right… This is the will of fate, tragic as it is. None can afford to cower or flee now. Until the bitter end, we must march on.
And with that, Julia rejoins the team. She’s just as strong as ever, barring one fact; she’s picked up Deirdre’s circlet, adding Renewal and Miracle to her list of abilities, which is a heck of an upgrade.
But not as good as the one she gets from reaching Velthomer.
Tumblr media
Lewyn: It worked… it really worked! And there it is, the Book of Naga! It’s yours for the taking, Julia!
Julia: … Oh! How strange… it feels so warm. It’s almost as if I’ve known this book all my life…
And now, the game is over. See, here’s the thing… Julius is just as dangerous as before, if not slightly moreso. His stats are slightly lower than his first appearance where you are very clearly not meant to fight him, but he still has Loptyr’s game-breaking effect, and his ability list is now Wrath, Pursuit, Nihil, and Accost. So he can double most of our army, null critical hits and combat abilities, and gets a huge critical boost when his health drops below half. And of course, he’s on a castle and gets the defense bonus and health regeneration that gives. Basically, he’s borderline invincible. The only real option if you lose Julia is to have Seliph fight him, and poor Seliph can only do about 15 damage per turn (if he hits) some of which will then be healed.  While getting blasted in the face repeatedly, so you’ll need to get someone in to heal him between rounds, and they’ll very probably die to having Meteors dropped on their head unless you’re very lucky. And then there’s the Deadlords, who are just a pain.  
But if you do have Julia…
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Yeah.
YEEEEEEEEEAH.  
Naga is the best weapon in the game. +20 each to Skill, Speed, Defense, and Resistance, instantly turns Julia into a hyper-fast, hyper-accurate, hyper-durable killing machine. And as a light magic tome, it has no disadvantage to any kind of weapon. And, of course, it negates Loptyr’s half-damage effect.  Your reward for the most annoying recruitment in the game is the weapon that ends the game. Big time.
So.  
It’s time to lay back and let Big J play us out, I think. I have her do the Arena, just for old times sake. Nothing even touches her.
Julia: Seven wins, gained two levels. +2 HP, +1 Speed.
About as good as can be expected at this point, honestly. And it…. Doesn’t really matter, you know? She heads to Belhalla, and Julius has no chance to hit her with Meteor, so he doesn’t even try.  The Twelve Deadlords rush up to meet her, of course…
Tumblr media
They’re going to regret this. The Deadlords are named for the animals of the Chinese Zodiac, and each one has a different class and some very good weapons and abilities. They’re a dangerous group! Usually.  
One down, eleven to go. End turn.  
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
And then there were nine.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Sorry, seven.
Tumblr media
Six of one, half-dozen of the other.
Tumblr media
Fun fact, ‘Lepus’ means ‘Rabbit’. And ‘Dead’.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Well I’ll be! Someone landed a hit!  Too bad Julia did too. Four to go.  
Tumblr media Tumblr media
I’m so bad at counting! It’s actually three. Congrats to Equus the Bishop on surviving a round with The Julinator.  But with that, none of the remaining Deadlords will actually take a shot at Julia anymore, so I’m just going to ignore them. It’s time for a family reunion.
Tumblr media
(He isn’t wrong.)
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Yes, that was a single round of combat. Julius procced his Accost skill and made the fight last an extra round. This… was not helpful to him.
Tumblr media
Julius vanishes, the spirit of the dragon arising from the castle as the entire map shakes…
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
But it’s just bluster. Naga’s power has destroyed Loptyr’s vessel, and with its bloodline finally ended the dragon’s grip on this world is gone. Loptyr returns to whatever void it came from, and with the power that animated them gone, the few surviving Deadlords vanish.  
I’m going to cut out here, but no sense waiting a week, huh? So see you tomorrow for the epilogue, kids. I think we earned it.
Final Reset Total: 30.  Y... yay.
Epilogue
4 notes · View notes
cubansandwichfestival · 7 years ago
Text
Paul Calderon and David Zayas
Victor Padilla:  Were going to talk about the Divine Horsemen and many things I definitely want to al about that and promote it on our online magazine. S tell us how you guys started, you guys started this like way back? What year was it that you actually started or go the idea to do the Divine Horseman?
Paul Calderon: 1995
Victor Padilla:  95 wow, and what was the inspiration behind it?
Paul Calderon: uh we needed a play to open the season with hah, we didn’t have one haha
Victor Padilla:  So whose idea was it, both of you guys got together and created it or?
David Zayas:  No, I was really just starting out I hadn’t really done much when and Paul wrote this I wasn’t going to be in it I was going to be the stage manager of it, that had to be 1995, but circumstances happened that the actor that was playing the role of Iffy which Im playing now, he couldn’t do it, so I jumped in and it was a really great experience.
Victor Padilla:  Wow, tell us a little about the show and the baseline of it, the purpose behind it
Paul Calderon: Back then or now?
Victor Padilla:  Well back then and then now, kind of like a recap                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Paul Calderon: Well back then again I was working on a novel and my wife was the artistic director of the theatre company at the time and I said listen you need a play to open the season with, you don’t have one, turn those ideas that you are working on in the novel into a play and I wrote it like in a couple of weeks and lucky for me I had great talent behind me, you know David was able to step in to take over a very challenging role, we had John Ortiz, Phillip Seymore Hoffman, and you know, we had a great experience we did a workshop and the response was great, and then shortly after it was auctioned off, it just didn’t go the way that I envisioned it, because all of a sudden the Latino characters were turned into something else, I took the rights back and shelved it. Then this past year David and my wife coerced me into bringing it back.
Victor Padilla:  That’s cool, so David, tell us where your from and a little bit of your family history
David Zayas: Well my parents were born in Puerto Rico and I was born in the Bronx and raised in the Bronx and yea over by I grew up by southern blvd over there and when I got older we moved to the Soundview section of the Bronx. And yea that where I grew up. I come from a really strong influence Puerto Rican background, still am, still living in the Bronx, I’m living in the ghetto right now, things are going good got into acting late in life, joined the air force when I was 18, came back became a cop for NY for 15 years, then started acting.
Victor Padilla:  So playing police parts is easier for you for or is it weird?
David Zayas: None of it is easy really, you know certain things come easy, the jargon, the police jargon, comes more naturally to me maybe more than someone else you know, but It all boils down to the specificity of what was written for you and you try to make that true as you can
Victor Padilla:  Yea that’s true, and Paul tell us a little about your history and stuff which I already know but let’s talk about it hehe
Paul Calderon: I was born in Puerto Rico, I came here when I was 6 I didn’t know any English, my uncles kept stressing when I would speak to them in Spanish and they would say to speak in English but I didn’t know any English. It was rough coming here because there was no bilingual education in school back then, it was pretty tough. You know the public school in New York back then in the 50s were pretty rough you know but it gave me a lot to draw from for characters in the future.
Victor Padilla:  And things are so different with school now a days you know and kids are going to grow up with hunchbacks because they’re all hunched over looking at their phones hahahha.
So David tell us a little about what your inspiration was to get into acting what and who inspired you
David Zayas: I think I was 12 when I went to see Dog Day Afternoon, and I was like oh wow I don’t know what’s going on but I kind of want to get involved in whatever the experience Im going through in this moment with this film and from there it was always in the back of my mind, I wanted to be involved somehow.  You know then life takes over and you put it on the back burner and then when I was like 29 I said you know I’m going to give it a shot. Started going to acting classes and getting involved with everything that was there at the time that I was able to get involved with, I had to surround myself with people that I saw had took this seriously and was going to teach me how to have a good work ethic. I’m a good observer.
Victor Padilla:  So Paul tell us a little about your inspiration and what got you started into acting..
Paul Calderon: You know I was always a movie buff, my mom was very strict and sometimes she wouldn’t let me go out especially when we came to this country. I used to spend hours and hours watching movies on tv because back then it was just movies around the clock. Then my mom and my step dad, we would go to the movies religiously on the weekends, and I remember seeing Viva Zapata, Shane, The Blob, a whole bunch of great films, and back then, before the movies would begin, they would part the curtains, and it would be such an experience I remember asking my mom “do these actors know each other?” Haha. I told her I think I wanna be an actor I must have been 6 or 7. Then it went on the backburner for years.
Victor Padilla:  So David tell us about a something funny that happened during filming…
Paul Calderon: Funny moments, I have so many of them. I think filming a scene where I come out of the car with my gun running after somebody and had a woman come and put her arms around me because she recognized me and having to yell cut, and then I have the gun in my hand so it was weird and funny
Victor Padilla:  So Paul tell us a funny moment
Paul Calderon:   Well my wife is here so she recently pointed out this moment, I was doing Sea of Love with Pacino in 89, and we were shooting by west 86th st it was like 2 in the morning and we had a break we had a dinner break, at 2 in the morning, Pacino says, Im going to Hermes which was this famous restaurant on 72nd st and Broadway, hahah we all started running after him because he’s walking down the block to get in the cab and I push my wife to the side and start running after Pacino to go to Hermes with him hahhha!
Victor Padilla:  Did she yell bring me something back hahah
Paul Calderon:  She was pissed hahaha
Victor Padilla:  So tell us a little bit about where Divine Horsemen is showing and how people can get tickets and stuff and where to go online
David Zayas: Well we have one more week left, from the 4th through the 27th and its at Access Theatre, on the 4th floor, tickets are $25.oo, they can visit our website: https://divinehorsemen.brownpapertickets.com, itll sell out quick so buy the tickets
Victor Padilla:  Are you only doing it there are you going to start doing it out of state in different locations
Paul Calderon:  The reason why we went ahead with the interview is that were open to move it to continue with it.
Victor Padilla:  Now we come down to the very important question for both of you which is : What is your favorite Latino food and do you love Cuban sandwiches?
David Zayas: Where you at, are you in Miami?
Victor Padilla:  No, No, I am 5 hours away from Miami but Im a Tampa boy, Im from Tampa, Ybor city area.
Paul Calderon:  You mentioned the Cuban sandwiches before Victor hahahha
David Zayas:  You know listen, its always been a favorite of mine the arroz y habichuelas con pernil, I don’t say no to that wherever Im at and if its done good its even better. Ive curved on that recently trying to keep my weight down.
Victor Padilla:  Yea that’s a hard one to resist, any latin food lol.  So do you like Cuban Sandwiches?
David Zayas:  I do like Cuban Sandwiches, not a big pickle fan, and they usually put pickles in it, but I can get used to a good Cuban sandwich
Victor Padilla:  Good! And Paul
Paul Calderon: Probably my favorite latin food now that I think about it is when my mom would make arroz con gandules y carne guisada.
Victor Padilla:  So who in your lifetime guys has been your hero or inspiration in Life
David Zayas: That’s a very objective question, I think that it would be my father, because of the amazing work ethic that kind of brushed off on me, the responsibility. There is a lot of family members that Ive observed that have had a positive influence on me
Paul Calderon: Positive impact? Early on I can’t say I had too many. I had to get through a lot on my own. I had some Uncles that were cool guys but some of their habits were not something to emulate, so years later in life when I met someone that was a beautiful spirit I was able to learn from later on in life, he has since has passed he wasn’t an actor, he was just a  beautiful spirit and I was able to learn how to work others through him you know.
Victor Padilla Speaks with Puerto Rican Actors Paul Calderon and David Zayas Paul Calderon and David Zayas Victor Padilla:  Were going to talk about the Divine Horsemen and many things I definitely want to al about that and promote it on our online magazine.
0 notes