#LET! DAN! BE! RE-ANIMATOR’S MONSTER!

[melioricism]

#amazing that dans opening scene is him desperately performing cpr on a stranger#making excuses because hes CERTAIN he can save her#because he cares so much for other people he cant let people die he wants to save as many people possible because no one deserves to die#and then his final scene is him committing the atrocity of reanimation on a woman he claims to love#knowing full well that shes going to come back violent and deranged. that she wont be the person she was just a twitching corpse puppet.#and even if she is stable why would she still want to live after what shes been through#but he doesnt care anymore its not about meg its about proving that he CAN

yall all keep saying "i can make him worse" but NONE of you have done it with the ruthless efficiency of herbert west to dan cain in the reanimator. step it up

[thefoxholecast]

The Original Foxhole Court Extra Content (Archived from Nora Sakavic’s Tumblr)

We copied the following text directly from the pre-2024 version of the Foxhole Court Extra Content page on Nora Sakavic’s Tumblr blog (korakos.tumblr.com/fox). In March 2024, she did “some spring cleaning” by shortening the list of links and deleting/hiding old posts. The links in this copy lead to archived snapshots of the old posts on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Some of the links are broken. If you have copies of these posts, please let us know so we can fill in missing content!

Because Tumblr only allows up to 100 links per post, we're unable to replicate the full list here. View the full list of links on our blog here: thefoxholecast.tumblr.com/FoxArchive

The Foxhole Court

ETA 2023: most of the posts here are from 2013-2015. Some of them overlap with older drafts. Some answers have evolved over time, even if they haven’t been updated here. Most I haven’t changed my mind on, for better or worse. Take ‘em or leave ‘em, and good luck making sense of ‘em around all the drunk rambling and detours. One day if I have the energy I’ll just sort it into a coherent reference.

~~

Two sections here: the questions submitted by tumblr users, and a miscellaneous collection of stories & factoids pulled from the oft-neglected blog. The questions aren’t in any particular order, though I did try to organize them by subject matter. Ish. Once the dust is settled a bit I’ll try to find a better sorting system. Also, the tumblr tag I use for questions is http://korakos.tumblr.com/tagged/foxhole-court-questions-and-spoilers

Lots of spoilers for The Foxhole Court ahead!

Preface: Why are Asks disabled in 2016?

COURTING MADNESS

—Exy Rules & Regulations

—Exy: A History of the Sport

—Palmetto State University

—The original “What Happens After King’s Men” post

—SON NEFES, the cousins’ freshman year through Renee’s eyes

——One . Two . Three . Four . Five

—Nicky Hemmick

—Seth Gordon

—Aaron Minyard

—Matt Boyd

—Kevin & Andrew

—David Wymack & the Monsters

—Wymack & Andrew re: Neil

—Dan Wilds is recruited to the Foxes *

—Allison through Dan & Renee’s eyes *

——pulled from an abandoned, unfinished book about the Foxes’ women

TUMBLR

NEIL

—Neil’s life on the run

—Do they ever celebrate Neil’s birthday?

—What if Neil told the truth earlier?

—Neil through the Foxes’ eyes

—Neil through Ichirou’s eyes

—Neil’s looks post-book and relationship with his reflection

—Does Neil ever talk to Bee?

—Neil’s millions

—Neil’s fight training

—Who’s Neil closest to beside Andrew

—Neil’s fashion style

—Cellphone ringtone

—Christmas/birthday presents for Foxes

—Does Neil ever cry?

—Neil’s lonely fifth year

—When Neil’s overwhelmed

—Does Neil crush on his teammates?

—Neil & Ichirou’s intimidation

ANDREW

—Andrew’s sober look at his teammates & Neil

—How did Andrew react to Cass’s letter?

—Andrew’s medication and the follow-up

—Has Abby seen Andrew’s scars?

—Andrew & Mama Bee

—Andrew & Roland

—How far has Andrew willingly gone?

—What animal figurine did Andrew buy Betsy?

—Andrew’s eye color

—Andrew’s opinion of the cats

—What’d Andrew say to Nicky in TKM?

—Andrew’s honest opinion of Exy

—Andrew’s thoughts on Neil’s binder

—Andrew and his sexuality

—If Andrew had met Neil’s mother

—Andrew’s thoughts on Neil’s sexuality

—Andrew’s fondest memory of Neil

—Andrew’s aforementioned withdrawal

—Do you think Andrew is really really really awesome?

—Proust and Andrew

—What happens to Proust?

—Andrew’s reaction to Neil’s bday blood

—Andrew on Neil eventually changing out

—Does Andrew get grumpy?

—Does Andrew get less dead inside?

—Does Andrew call Neil by his name?

—Why give the Foxes crackers?

—Andrew’s first choices in winning a fight

—Who liked knives?

—What got chopped from Drake’s arc?

—Does Andrew get off thinking about Neil?

—Post Andrew & Bee’s side story?

—When did Andrew start thinking Neil was interesting?

—Any other words he can’t stand?

—What does he think about nicknames?

—Explain Andrew’s fatal disease in the comic version

—Andrew’s canon mental state

—How did Andrew not know about Tilda’s abuse?

—Why punch Neil for “Sorry”, and when Andrew is sick

—What’s with Andrew and promises

—Andrew’s thoughts on Roland’s premature confession

—Andrew’s arrest

—Wanting nothing vs not wanting anything

—Why was Andrew laughing after Drake?

—If Neil had chosen Dan & Matt over Andrew

NEIL & ANDREW

—The other 10%

—Which teammate caught on first?

—Do Andrew & Neil go on dates?

—When did they first hold hands?

—When did Andrew clue in?

—Exites self-censure

—Betsy’s & Aaron’s reactions to the news

—Roland’s opinion of things

—The breaking point

—Who tops?

—On tying people up

—Their domestic life aka Sir Fat Cat

—I love you

—Andrew and the bed issue

—Nightmares

—Do they learn to talk to each other?

—Blaming Neil for Drake

—Andrew comforting Neil?

—Neil’s fondest memory of Andrew

—Neil getting Andrew off for the first time

—Neil seeing Andrew naked

—Neil & the sex how-to

—How was the first time

—Where’d it happen?

—When was their first hug?

—“I won’t let you let me be”

—Their roadtrips

—Neil waking Andrew up

—Andrew’s real smile

—How does Andrew show appreciation for Neil

—Their happiest moments

—Does Neil ever make Andrew laugh?

—Does Andrew take comfort in Neil

—Does Andrew get protective/possessive?

—Doesn’t Neil crave affection?

—Andrew re: Neil’s panic attacks

—Media reaction to Andrew/Neil

—Further reaction to Andrew/Neil

—On “accidentally” sitting in laps

—What if Andrew died?

—What if Neil died?

—Reaction to getting hit on by others

—Do they celebrate anniversaries?

—The first time Neil pushes Andrew down

FOXES

—How tall are the Foxes?

—Why is everyone so short?

—Where did their names come from?

—What were their majors?

—What do the Foxes look like?

—What are their Hogwarts houses?

—Reaction to the kidnapping

—Do Neil & Renee become friends?

—What did Allison do with Seth’s urn?

—Nicky’s evolution over the drafts

—Do the Foxes get their skiing trip?

—Does Andrew know Nicky kissed Neil?

—When did Aaron & Katelyn fall for each other?

—How did Andrew and Wymack end up handcuffed together?

—Kevin’s favorite things

—Kevin and Andrew’s on-court kerfuffle

—Dan’s haircut

—Dan & Matt’s relationship

—Dan & Matt’s first kiss

—Matt bouncing back from Columbia

—Matt rooming with the monsters

—The other what-if OT3 aka D/M/N and the dynamic

—Do Allison and Renee have the hots for each other?

—Matt forgiving his father

—Any mistletoe shenanigans?

—Thanksgiving and the Foxes

—Kevin’s best friend

—Janie Smalls

—How did Kevin and Thea meet?

—Foxes’ favorite ice cream flavors

—Kevin & Andrew’s on-court argument

—Foxes’ taste in music

—Kevin’s middle name & drink of choice

—Do Kevin & Neil want to kiss?

—Which Fox would Kevin kiss, then?

—Kevin’s best non-Exy memory

—Allison’s three bets

—Why is Allison’s middle name Jamaica

—Kevin, Andrew, and Neil staying friends

—“Joan of Exy”?

—Can the Foxes sing?

—Some of the Foxes’ previous bets

—Do Nicky & Allison become friends?

—Are Foxes based on RL people?

—Nicky when Neil asks about friendship

—Dan & the monsters in Columbia

—What if Kevin was killed?

—Renee and her near-death experiences

—More background available on Renee?

—Why doesn’t Aaron let the Foxes in?

—Team’s reaction to Drake, Andrew’s reaction to being outed

—Andrew & Aaron’s time with Tilda

—Does Aaron reconcile with Andrew over Tilda?

—Nicky & his parents after Drake

—Foxes thoughts in Baltimore

FOXES POST-TKM

—The Pro Teams

—The Weddings

—Neil as the Best Man?

—Kevin after TKM —Thea, Jean, Foxes, and Riko

—How does Kevin & Wymack’s relationship evolve?

—Renee after TKM

—Nicky after TKM

—Aaron after TKM

—Allison after TKM

—Dan & Matt after TKM

—Dan and the US Court

—Any pro-period scandals?

—Andrew & Neil’s relationship with their team

—Would Neil hold Matt’s children?

—Neil & babysitting the Foxes’ kids

—Which Fox’s child would curse first

THE FUTURE FOXES

—Who is Robin Cross?

—Neil and Jack

—Andrew’s reaction to Neil punching Jack

—Foxes’ reaction to Neil punching

—Kevin and Jack

—Neil’s new recruit

—Andrew and Jack

RIVALS

—Who is Riko Moriyama?

—Riko & Kevin’s evolving relationship

—More about Riko & Kevin’s past

—How did Riko break Kevin’s hand

—Riko’s brutality toward Jean

—Any draft where Riko wasn’t killed?

—Were Riko, Kevin, and Jean involved sexually?

—Does the Fox-Trojan rematch happen? Also how do the Trojans & Jean get along?

—Do Alvarez & Laila (Trojans) have backstories?

—Thea’s number & thoughts on Raven brutality

THE “ADULTS”

—Kayleigh Day & David Wymack

—Abby Winfield & David Wymack

—Wymack’s parents

—Did Wymack cry during the trilogy?

—Did Kayleigh know about the Moriyamas?

.

.

.

.

Nora & the Foxes

—Fancast and Andrew

—Changing opinion of Foxes over the years

—Bits of the scrapped K/N/A threesome here and here

—The KxAxN AU where Kevin died

—Will there be a sequel?

—What inspired you to develop Exy?

—Fox fanfictions, collected by coldsaturn

—Why a pseudonym?

—What came first, characters or story?

—Were you the artist of the comic version?

—What did the comic-Foxes look like?

—What do you do when you’re not writing?

[ninyard]

Hellooo i saw that you were asking for asks (that sounds funny) and I wanna know some of your hcs on Kevin and Allison being besties/ kevjean relationship

This is my chance to finally share some Allison/Kevin hcs so I'm gonna seize this opportunity with both hands and give you this total MESS of a brain dump

- Allison is the only fox that doesn't make fun of Kevin's eating habits. Kevin KNOWS his relationship with food is fucked up because of the nest and Allison knows it too, so she refuses to make bets or make fun of the way that he eats. Kevin only realised because she once tried to quietly tell Nicky to knock it off when he was pushing Kevin to have dessert or making fun of what he'd decided to have instead.

- Kevin also knows not to talk about the numbers or macros in front of her, too. They have a weird unspoken mutual respect RE: food and they both appreciate each others efforts on that front without ever actually mentioning it. they also have a gesture for each other that's code for "i want a snack do you have anything" and they'll throw each other protein bars if they're out/on a long bus journey etc.

- they are the BEST drinking buddies. Whenever the team starts drinking/partying/clubbing more together post-TKM, they are literally CHILDREN when they're drunk together. Kevin gets tired of the monsters being boring when they go out and there's only so much dancing he can do with just Nicky and Aaron alone. So Allison pulls him up to the bar one night to do a tequila shot, and they literally have the most unexpectedly fun night ever. Kevin loosens up a whole lot without the threat of Riko etc post tkm, and when I tell you he is such a fun drunk. now he doesn't really drink THAT much during the season but off-season? oh he's a party animal. I could write thousands of words about him and Allison getting drunk together and becoming literal best friends as soon as they have a drop of alcohol in their systems but here's some things I think they've done drunk

stole a shopping cart and sat in it as they pushed each other down the road in it (and fallen out of it and laughed so fucking hard) ((but were bruised up as fuck the next day because of it)

he's sat her on his shoulders - while dan sits on matt's - as the two girls try to push the other one off

he's really easily convinced to do things by her. another shot? sure. and another shot IMMEDIATELY after that? alrighty! karaoke? well, okay. jockeyback? stealing traffic cones? pulling pranks and fucking with the other foxes? acting like actual teenagers? okidokie!

she's probably the only person in the world who has successfully convinced kevin day to sing

he holds back her hair if she has to puke

she convinced him to let her do his makeup once. full glam. like a serious look, fully beat, full coverage look. there's a picture out there somewhere of it that she saves for blackmail.

fucked. make out sometimes. strip poker. they dance together :)

he never lets her walk alone anywhere when she's drunk. if she can't find one of the girls to accompany her to the bathroom at a party she'll take him.

she's taught him full dance routines

she was joking that there's no way the raven warmups could be that different to theirs, and bet him that she'd be able to do them without breaking a sweat (he won)

they've both ugly drunk cried in front of each other (but they never talk about that sober)

she's pretty light so he's bench pressed her before

- They know each others drink orders/favourite shots

- if Allison is out, say she's with her friends and not with the foxes, and she has to wait alone for a taxi or walk somewhere alone, she'll call him and he'll stay on the phone with her until she's safe

- They make fun of each other and bully each other like there's no tomorrow (affectionate). the whole "Allison hates Kevin" thing WAS true for a while, but once they get closer, she just pretends to hate him. he's like an annoying brother to her

- Allison is really easily frightened, and Kevin thinks it's funny to scare her. she's never safe walking around a corner or into a room if Kevin is there and in a good mood.

- they're not BEST FRIENDS. like they're not in each others pocket all the time and laughing and joking ALL THE TIME but she can read him like a book. she knows when he's having an off day, or thinking about something too much.

- She also knows when he's being serious and when not to joke around. She knows when he doesn't want cheering up or to joke about something and knows when to back off. The same with him - he knows when she's having a mood that requires being cheered up, or a mood that requires him to leave her the fuck alone.

- He's a big reason why she puts a whole lot more of herself into Exy post tkm. She's always been invested, but once they talk more, and they consider each other friends, she listens to him talking about Exy and it really clicks for her. his dedication. and also how fucking talented he really is. She doesn't do the night training with him but they'll occasionally go to the gym together or start practice a half an hour early to run some basic raven drills.

- They're iconic when they get together to do press after games. they bounce off each other like nothing else. they're just so funny. and he's also like andy murray in that he will ALWAYS defend her, dan, and renee's talent if interviewers start to focus more on him instead of the girls. he'll step in if an interviewer says something shitty or misogynistic. she LOVES directing objectifying and misogynistic questions his way.

- She calls him a bitch and makes fun of him for being a nepo baby. He calls her an asshole and makes fun of her for being a rich kid.

- Have gone to banquets as each others date.

that's just a few random thoughts off the top of my head but yes. Allison and Kevin. Literally the only Two Pretty Best Friends ever to exist.

[nothingenoughao3]

Re-Animator/Arkham Horror Custom Game Content: The Investigators

I don't have a title for this project yet, but it's basically its own expansion pack at this point. If anybody has any ideas for a rad name, lemme know!

These cards have only been playtested in a non-representative game; I will probably try to playtest them again tonight!

Card info reads as follows:

Francesca Danelli the Journalist 4 Sanity 6 Stamina

Home: Newspaper Fixed Possessions: $7, 1 Clue Token, 1 Special (Retainer) Random Possessions: 2 Common Items, 1 Spell, 1 Skill SPECIAL: She is a Wartime Journalist. Any phase: Francesca gains +1 to combat rolls when wielding guns. She gains 1 extra Clue token from all in-game events or items, excluding Clues collected from unstable Locations.

Focus: 2 SPEED: 0 1 2 3 SNEAK: 5 4 3 2 FIGHT: 1 2 3 4 WILL: 3 2 1 0 LORE: 2 3 4 5 LUCK: 4 3 2 1

Creator Comments: The hardest part was, let's be real, trying to make Francesca into a character who isn't defined entirely as "one leg in the really toxic love triangle between her, Dan and Herbert". It's a shame that "Bride" never gave her space to be somebody. Being an international journalist who is habitually embedded in war zones in the late 1980s is truly rich soil for a character to grow in.

Francesca is slow because she's unfamiliar with Arkham's layout; this gives her a higher Sneak so she can escape monsters if need be. Her low Will and low-ish Sanity mean she may well break from the horror of seeing monsters before she gets a chance to fight them, but everybody's gotta have weaknesses. She has mid-grade Luck to help her cope with random encounters.

Her high Lore is partly to justify giving her a Spell, but mostly because "Lore" as a stat relates to how well an investigator correctly understands and copes with the Mythos as they encounter it in-game. And, well. Francesca had Herbert's number from frame one, didn't she? She could've gotten an award for Most Correct Character In "Bride" On Literally Every Call She Made, if she hadn't decided that Dan was Dudley Do-Right.

[droogiesanddiscourse]

“I’ll Fake God"

Pairing: Herbert West x GN!Reader [Re-Animator 1985]

Summary: A lab accident renders you on the brink of death with little to no hope for recovery. But Herbert isn't about to let the only person he's ever loved to leave his life so quickly.

Warnings: Body horror, death, the usual re-animator content.

A/N: we love the angst. Changing a little bit of the ending to re-animator (1985) to fit my sick little evil narrative. This was written in an odd dreamy like stream of consciousness thing im not exactly sure what this is or if its even good, but I hope you enjoy it.

Memento Mori. Remember that you will die.

When you feared monsters as a child, ones that hid in the deepest corners of your room, you would close your eyes and count to ten. The fear dissipating as your heart rate returned to normal, there was nothing that could hurt you in the first place.

Applying that same practice now, you squeeze your eyes shut; hoping to re-awake in the comfort and safety of your shared apartment. In bed. Waking up from a horrible, incredibly lifelike dream.

But the monsters were real, now. They walked among the same Earth you did. There was no escaping the re-animated monstrosities of flesh and bone that clawed it's way out of the dark makeshift laboratory deep within the basement. The sound of inhuman claws ripping through your flesh, right through your delicate insides.

It's not a dream.

The white coffee cup in your hand you brought for Herbert loosened from your grip, making a resounding crash on the concrete floor. Shattering into uneven pieces as the brown liquid pooled beneath your feet. You didn’t scream. Simply widened your eyes at the spectacle before you, as the monster’s hand continued to create a penetrating trauma; right through to the other side.

The way you looked up at Herbert will be permanently etched into his mind for the rest of his days; a mix of terror, shock, pain, and something else within your [e/c] orbs.

One that Herbert immediately recognized as betrayal.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Herbert and Dan’s worried faces loom over you on the gurney as you are pushed through the Miskatonic University ICU. Your hand desperately clutched to your chest, doing little more than coating them with the blood gushing out of your open wound; painting the digits a bright red.

You didn’t dare to look down at it. If you couldn't see it, it wasn't real.

Metallic iron and antiseptic.

The faces of horrified onlookers parted the aisle like the red sea. Each of them blurred into a mirage of color, unrecognizable as they merged into a single entity. Your colleagues, friends, and professors surely spectating the horror no doubt.

What will they say about you in the morning paper, what photo will they use?

"I'm dying, oh god this is it isn't it? I'm dying, Herbert. I'm sorry I'm so sorry I'm sorry”

You hold your bloodied hand up to the overhead fluorescent lights zooming by above you, marveling at the way the harsh light bounced of the ruby liquid. In other less dire circumstances, one might even find it beautiful. Your fingers grasp and coil in the air towards Herbert's direction, desperate to make skin-to-skin contact with the one you call your partner. Your palm presses flat against his cheek, transferring your sticky blood onto his flushed face.

“Shut up, [____], you’re not dying," he huffs out, the warble of uncertainty in his voice makes you doubt him. "Stop being dramatic." He presses his lips against the middle of your palm, giving the area a chaste kiss.

These usual terms of endearment do little to comfort you; having never seen Herbert look this concerned before. The most unhinged events he's encountered have simply been brushed off with ease; he is the only man to have stared down death in the eye and challenged its finality. Never in those intense moments did his eyebrows even dare raise in shock. You lull your head to the side, attempting to hold back a choked sob stuck within your throat.

"Is it bad?" you ask, your chest rising and falling as you let out a pathetic laugh. He doesn't even bother to respond. You know the answer anyways. You'll be entering oblivion tonight.

Pushing you into the empty examination room, Dan and Herbert already knew it was too late. They weren't quick enough, not fast enough. Your eyes glazed over as blood continues to pour from you -- trailing and spilling its way down the side of the now still gurney. A cascading river of crimson. Your arms were stuck with a crosswire of tubes, gathering your vitals. It seemed more a formality at this point, as your heart rate already starts to fade.

Dan, with all his optimism, understands any attempts to save your life would be futile at this point. Instead, his infinite mercy injects morphine into your iv bag - a type of drugged-out relief washing over you almost instantly. Kneeling next to you, he holds your hand as your labored breathing fades into short breaths as the medicine enters your veins. Still painful, yet not unbearable. Just enough to bring you comfort before your expiration.

"You're gonna be fine," he smiles, squeezing your hand. You don't have the heart to tell him he's lying. Instead, you just give him a closed mouthed smile back.

Euthanasia. What a beautiful word.

You can hear the rummaging of vials in between your haze, your stomach twisting as Herbert pulled out his precious container of re-agent. His facial features become illuminated by the sickly green glow emanating from the bottle, neon reflecting off of his wire rimmed glasses.

Herbert notices you staring at him, as he waves his hand in front of you, seeing your eyes already grow wide in fear. “It's okay, this won't hurt. You'll be okay in no time, back in our apartment, you just have to trust us-"

"Oh, no no no. NO. You've got to be fucking kidding me, Herbert. You're not doing that to [____!]" Dan interjects, jumping up from his kneeling position next to you. Lunging forward, Dan attempts to grab the liquid. Doing what should have always been done.

Where it should have gone the first time Herbert played God.

Smashed onto the floor into a million fucking pieces.

But Herbert's too quick, as he moves backwards away from Dan's rather pathetic attempt. He cradles his potion like a newborn baby, holding it to his chest for dear life. Lips pressed together into a harsh line; his eyes aflame with fury. "It's the only way Dan. This, or we lose them forever."

Dan stares stunned at his partner, his eyes welling. "You want to turn them into one of those monsters, Herbert? Is that what you want? You want [____] to turn into a snarling, disgusting reanimated beast? Because that's what will happen! That's what happened every FUCKING time before, Herbert! I know you want things to be different but you can't save them. I-I'm sorry," his voice waivers as a sob threatens to steal his voice. "It's not working. At least the way you want it to."

"NO. That's not true. It's different! B-Because this time it's a fresh body, Dan! It will work," Herbert explains, hands shaking, barely getting the needle to plunge into the green fluid. "It's different!! It's different this time because...because it's THEM, Dan! Don't you understand? It has to be different!"

Dan shakes his head solemnly. "But it won't be, Herbert. No matter how much you love them."

"Is that truly what you think? What if it was Megan, Dan? Wouldn't you do the same for her? Give a second chance to the person you love the most, breath new life into what was lost?"

Silence.

"Look me in the eyes right now and tell me you wouldn't. This is what we've worked so hard for, Dan. We will eradicate death altogether. There will be no more suffering, no more pain. No more grief."

He wouldn't admit Herbert was right.

"I can't lose anyone else, Dan," he emotionlessly states, turning his gaze towards you.

"Herbert, please," you beg desperately, a gargle from the blood invading your airways makes your speech difficult to understand. There wasn't much time left.

“You're a monster, Herbert."

“And you’re a hypocrite, Dan,” he spits coldly, flicking the tip of the syringe with his middle finger. “I don’t need your moral superiority interfering with this."

With what little strength you have left, you push yourself to the corner of the gurney, cowering with fear as he stalks towards you. You feel like a lab rat, as Herbert stands before you with an emotionless gaze.

This isn't what love was supposed to feel like.

“Don’t. You promised...you wouldn’t." You feel the cold metal of the needlepoint run against the delicate flesh of your inner arm, and you jump. Your sobs of pain slowly materialize into ones of pure terror. "Don't turn me into one of those creatures! Please!"

The pleads fall hopelessly on deaf ears as every ounce left of your body thrashes in protest, fists weakly hitting against his chest. Your voice hitting a shrill octave that was unfathomable and almost out of the human sound waves. Dan turns his head, unable to bear witness.

"PLEASE, PLEASE HERBERT LET ME DIE. PLEASE!!!"

This was for your own good. You couldn't leave him now, not yet. There was so much more to accomplish, so much more that you had to experience together. You are the exception.

Reversed human decay. Memento Vivere. Remember that you must live.

Your clinical death was called at quarter to twelve.

You rose again at midnight.

[wqbytop100]

WQBY

Top 100 for the week ending June 9, 2024

End Of Time --Lucas & Steve, LAWRENT feat/Jordan Shaw -1

One, Two & 3 ---Galantis -6

Love & Pain --Enrique Iglesias -5

Buscando Money --TWENTY-SIX, Tayson Kryss -3

I Had Some Help --Post Malone, Morgan Wallen -8

Lighter --Galantis, David Guetta, 5 Seconds of Summer -2

Eyes Closed --Imagine Dragons -7

Heaven Or Not --Diplo, Riva Starr, Kareem Lomax -13

Sleep Tonight (This Is The Life) --Switch Disco, R3HAB, Sam Feldt -4

Addicted --ZERB, The Chainsmokers feat/INK -9

Hell Together --David Archuleta -10

Take A Moment --ATB, David Frank -21

Underwater --DubVision, Afrojack -11

The Moves --NEIKED, Muni Long, Nile Rodgers -18

Lovers In A Past Life --Calvin Harris, Rag'N'Bone Man -17

Beat Of Your Love --Ownboss, LAWRENT feat/Ekko -15

We Ain't Good At Breaking Up --Brothers Osborne -12

Fallin Luv ---Gordo, Jeria -14

Jet Plane --R3HAB, VIZE, JP Cooper -19

What If We Met --Ali Gatie -16

Kissing Strangers --USHER -20

Whatever --KYGO feat/Ava Max -55

Role Model --Fatboy Slim, Dan Diamond, Luca Guerrieri -24

My Favorite Drug --Justin Timberlake -22

Automatic --Roosevelt -32

Glad I Found You --Elderbrook & George Fitzgerald -23

Left Or Right --Laidback Luke, Mathew Nolan -45

***Multiply --Becky Hill -(new)

Enhancer --Northeast Party House -29

Nothing Ever Changes --Vintage Culture, MAGNUS -30

One Cry --Galantis, Rosa Linn -73

Level Up --Wolfgang Gartner, Scrufizzer -33

Weight Of The World --Bonnie X Clyde -25

Anthem --Diplo, Shram, Pony -26

Willing To Let You Go --Diplo, Anella Herim, Abby Anderson -35

God Don't Leave Me Alone --Gioli & Assla -38

No Shade At Pitti --The Chainsmokers -52

***I Go Dance --Kiesza -(new)

My Body --Illusionize, Y&M -31

The Craving ---Twenty One Pilots -95

Shadow --Trixie Mattel -37 -5weeks-

Without You --Disco Fries, Lavish Life -27

When I Wake Up --Lucas & Steve, Skinny Days -28

Make Me Your Mrs. --Mae Stephens -34

Monster --A7S, ALOK -36

Feel This Way --Victoria Nadine, R3HAB -39

Low Again --BAKERMAT -40

Reckless Child --Milky Chance -41

Houdini --Dua Lipa -44

Young & Foolish --Loud Luxury, Charlieonafriday -42

Forgive Me --ODESZA, Izzy Bizu -54

Disconnect --Becky Hill, Chase & Statis (Tiesto Remix) -61

Come Come --Vintage Culture, Tube & Berger, Kyle Pearce -90

Never Ending Song --Conan Gray -51

Outlaw Love --Brooke Eden (Dave Aude Remix) -43

The Afterhours --Kyle Watson -46

Lil Tune --Gus Dapperton, Electric Guest -47

Loose Ends --Lucas Estrada, Syn Cole -49

Don't You Cry --Sunday Scaries, Discrete -48

Wake Up --Young Franco, Master Peace -60

Undone --Forest Blakk -50 >>>

Hero --Vintage Culture, Emery Taylor -96

Without You --Felix Jaehn, Jasmine Thompson -62

Make You Mine --Madison Beer -65

Last Night --LOOFY -66

Weatherman --Zach Hood -67

Wake Up --Skylar Blatt feat/Chris Brown -68

LA --Northeast Party House -72

Animal --R3HAB, Jason Derulo -74

Naked & Alive --Milky Chance -83

America --Charlie Crockett -85

I Believe --Bassjackers, WUKONG, D Jayne -86

The Weekend --Anti-Up -87

Promised Land --Vintage Culture, Paige Cavell -88

Sun Comes Up --Timmie Trumpet, Sam Feldt, Ekko, Joe Taylor -94

***Paradise --Madison Rose -(new)

***Old Fashion Feeling --Midland -(new)

NNTS --Ookay -98

Outside Of Love --Becky Hill -99

Morning --Cheat Codes, Jason Derulo -92

Better Me --Michael Schulte, R3HAB -81 >>>

Regret The Morning --SILK, Mali-Koa -82 >>>

Illusion --Dua Lipa -71

Man In Finance --Girl On Couch, Billen Ted -97

***Gravity --Frank Walker, Tyler Shaw -(new)

***U Should Not Be Doing That --Amyl and the Sniffers -(new)

***Southern Rock --Travis Demming, HARDY -(new)

***Can't Slow Down --Almost Monday -(new)

Why Should I --Z3LLA -80 >>>

<>Kettle's Up ---Mahmut Orhan, Axelax, Botin -(re-entry) >>>

<> Same Drunk --Walker Hayes -(re-entry) >>>

Give It To Me Good --SIDEPIECE, Disco Lines -89 >>>

Dance Alone --SIA feat/Kylie Minogue -79

She's On My Mind --Romy -70 >>>

Never Be Friends --Jost, Minogue -75 >>>

Lonely Dancer --Conan Gray -63 >>>

Before You Go --Seeb -57 >>>

One On One --Robin Schulz, Oaks, Topic -56 >>>

Cutting Loose --Disco Lines, J Worra, Anabel Englund -76 >>>

Murder On The Dancefloor --Sophie Ellis-Bextor -91 >>>

2 -<> re-entries 8 new =10 6.9.24 <> #90 Kettle's Up <> #91 Same Drunk 8 NEW on the chart this week #28 Multiply #38 I Go Dance #76 Paradise #77 Old Fashion Feeling #85 Gravity #86 U Should Not Be Doing That #87 Southern Rock #88 Can't Slow Down

[omercifulheaves]

Favorite Monsters - The Trioxin Zombies

From: The Return of the Living Dead, written and directed by Dan O'Bannon. You know what's wrong with zombies today? No personality! None of the social commentary of Romero's pitiful revenants. None of the wonderful grottiness of the Italian knock-offs. Nada. Just swarms of snarling, gray monsters that blur together and serve as little more than cannon fodder for our manly man heroes to mow down while they muse "maybe man is, like, the real monster, dude." I try not to be all "Back in my day..." but one can't help but weep at what has become as the genre upon revisiting something like The Return of the Living Dead. Positing a world where Night of the Living Dead was a fictionalized account of what happened when experimental chemical  245-Trioxin stirred up trouble in a local morgue, The Return of the Living Dead -- itself originally intended to be a direct sequel to Night based on a novel by Night’s co-writer John Russo until Alien screen writer Dan O'Bannon came on the project and threw out everything except the title so as not to step on George Romero's toes -- continues with that screwy meta-approach through out, especially when it comes to how it handles the film's undead hordes. 

Think removing the head or destroying the brain will put them down for good? Not hardly, seems like nothing short of burning them ashes will put down these revenants for good and that itself comes with its own host of problems. (A throughline in Return’s dark humor is built around how any attempt to fix things just makes the situation several magnitudes worse.) Used to seeing zombies being these slow, unintelligent shamblers? Not these ghouls. They speak, they're fast, they're agile, they're aggressive and they're smart enough to set ambushes and will even use police and ambulance radios to order some zombie take out. Early on a character in the film asks "YOU MEAN THE MOVIE LIED!?" when burying a pick axe into a zombie's brain just leaves you with a squirming cadaver stuck to the floor and that phrase seems to be the entire ethos the film operates under. And yet, as much as Return's zombies deviate from the Romero model, like all good send ups and deconstructions, there's an greater understanding of the material they're thumbing their nose at than you'll find in a million straight faced knock-offs. Like Night, Return is a movie about how Alpha Male posturing means jack and spit (and as the man said, Jack just left town), having good intentions and being young pretty and in love won't save you from a horrifying fate, and boy oh boy, are the Proper Authorities Not Your Friends. This extends to the zombies themselves. Something that I feel has been lost in a lot of zombie fiction today, as it's been slowly taken over by meat headed survivalist fantasies is there was always an underlying amount of pity to how Romero's work viewed the zombies. They're dangerous yes but there's clearly something sadly pathetic about them. The human machine has broken down and fallen apart. You can see a similar thing here. While more feral, Return's zombies are just as pitiable as a captured one reveals that they're little more than amped up junkies, needing to feed on the brains of the living to temporarily stave off the pain of their existence. These things didn't ask to be returned to some mockery of life by some idiots who tried to cover up a mistake rather than own up to what happened and now everybody's going to suffer for it. But none of this would work as well as it does if the zombie make up and effects weren't up to snuff. Designed by comic artist William Stout, we've got an undead horde that looks like it could have walked out of the pages of an EC horror comic. (Honestly, Return's aesthetic is more true to EC Comic's than some official EC comic adaptations. See also: Romero's Creepshow.) There's civil war soldier zombies, half-an-old-lady zombies, midget zombies, punk Linnea Quigley zombies, zombies that look like they walked out of a bog, walking skeletons, and of course, the piece de resistance, the Tar Man, a pile of walking sludge and bones that leaves you wondering what holds that thing together. There's a bit late in the movie where somebody knocks its head clean off with the baseball bat and it lets out a confused roar *even though it doesn't have a head* as it flails about. It's pretty funny. There were a bunch of sequels to Return of the Living Dead. Other than Return of the Living Dead 3, which was really more of a rejiggered Re-Animator sequel, they're all pretty bad. Watch this one.

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Weekly Media Roundup

-Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Movie) - Much like the first one I would love to break this movie apart and reconstruct the individual elements to create the ultimate ideal Monster-lover movie, but as it is it was still pretty fun. They fixed a lot of complaints I had about the first one (cut out unnecessary backstory, made the villains more interesting, made the Venom/Eddie relationship the focus, stopped trying to force Anne as the love interest and just let her be happy with Dan), though I still felt like we needed some more positive interactions between Eddie and Venom to make the whole “We’re a team and the villains aren't” thing work for me. Still the fact that this movie exists is hilarious and fantastic, really hope Marvel doesn’t fuck up my boys by making them villains.

-Ennead (Webcomic) - I don’t usually have guilty pleasures as I’m pretty unapologetic about the things I enjoy but in this rare case, yeah I’m kinda guilty about this one. I stand by the it has a lot of good elements (breathtaking art and character designs, a unique setting in Ancient Egypt, complicated characters with interesting motivations, ect), I really would not recommend most people check it out, and if you do definitely read the trigger warnings before hand. I would be lying if I didn’t say it occupied a lot of my brain space this week though so here it is.

-Link Click (Anime) - This has been hyped up as one of the Anime of the Year contenders, so I wanted to try it it before making my personal final judgement. I really like the art direction so far, and time travel stories definitely have the potential to be pretty dope, so wile my first impression is “pretty good”, I have expectations for it to impress me further. Also I realize that this is partially because I’m attracted to this genre anyway but with this, the MXTX works, 19 days, and Their Story, most of what I’ve read from China seems to fall into the “unusually long gays” category. 

-JJBA: Stone Ocean (Anime) - Anime night continues with the newest Jojo, we’ve just been introduced to a sentient collective of plankton inhabiting the body of a dead girl and I think she’ll be my favorite .I’ve been impressed by some of the creative way’s they are able to use Jolyne’s Stand, and am looking forward to seeing whatever weirdass shit Araki has in store for us.

-Blue Period (Anime) - Still very good, will probably have more to say when it concludes in a couple weeks.

-Sleepy Princess in The Demon Castle (Anime)- Finished! Up in the air about whether I’ll read the manga-I did really enjoy the wholesome demon castle setting and the cute, lovable character dynamics, but I’m not sure how many more stories they’ll be able to tell with the same “hostage princess looking for ways to sleep” gimmick. That being said, really love how all the castle residents are these skeletor minion looking demons but have a very chill coworker dynamic, exactly my taste.

-Yotsuba&! (Manga) - A new book finally came out so in celebration I’m going to be rereading the series. I’ll have more to say next time.

-The Vampire Dies In No Time (Anime) - Finished! My interest in the series waned a bit near the end as they started to get less creative with the jokes and enemy vampires, but overall I really enjoyed this, especially John-who is unbelievably cute and precious-and Draluc, who I liked a lot more than I thought I would thanks to his genuine excitement at everything and his malewife energy. Would recommend if your a fan of friendly monsters and stupid humor. 

-The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (Video Game) - As you do with hyperfixations, I have found a good playthrough to watch and vicariously re live the entire story again. The playthrough I’m watching has all the people involved gushing over how charming all the characters are, and it’s nice to have my tastes validated haha. 

Listening to: Bad Habits by Ed Sheeran, Dive Back In Time (Link Click OST), Glad You Came (D Sharp’s Violin Cover), Electric Feel by MGMT, Don’t Stop by Innerpartysystem, No Body No Crime and Willow by Taylor Swift, Majora’s Mask OST, Kill Everyone by Hollywood Undead, All Eyes on Me by Bo Burnham

[shijiegongzi]

All the Chinese Dramas/Movies I’ve Watched or Started (85 Listed Here)

Painted Skin 1 (Hua Pi 1) (movie)

Painted Skin 2 (Hua Pi 2) (movie)

She Diao Ying Xiong Zhuan 2008 (Legend of the Condor Heroes)

Shen Diao Xia Lv 2006 (Return of the Condor Heroes)

Xiao Ao Jiang Hu 2013 (The Smiling, Proud Wanderer)

Tai Zi Fei Sheng Zhi Ji (Go Princess Go)

Huan Cheng (Ice Fantasy)

Hua Qian Gu (Journey of the Flower)

San Sheng San Shi Shi Li Tao Hua (Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms)

Chu Qiao Zhuan (Princess Agents)

Shuang Shi Chong Fei (The Eternal Love)

Legend of Fu Yao

Yan Xi Gong Lve (Yanxi Palace)

Ruyi Zhuan (Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace)

Zhen Hun (Guardian)

Zhifou Zhifou Yin Shi Lv Fei Hong Shou (Story of Minglan)

Xu Ni Fu Sheng Ruo Meng (Granting You a Dreamlike Life)

Bian Cheng Lang Zi (Border Town Prodigal)

Xia Zhi Mo Zhi (Rush to the Dead Summer)

Shuang Shi Chong Fei 2 (The Eternal Love 2)

She Diao Ying Xiong Zhuan 2017 (Legend of the Condor Heroes)

Xiang Mi Chen Chen Jin Ru Shuang (Ashes of Love)

Dong Gong (Goodbye My Princess)

Mei Zhe Wu Jiang (Bloody Romance)

Legend of Yunxi

Dugu Tianxia (Legend of Dugu)

Xiao Nv Hua Bu  Qi (I Will Never Let You Go)

Qin Shi Li Ren Ming Yue Xin (King’s Woman)

Huan Le Song (Ode to Joy)

Huan Le Song 2 (Ode to Joy 2)

Qin Ai De, Re Ai De (Go Go Squid)

Ying Xiong 2002 (Hero) (movie)

Shi Mian Mai Fu (House of Flying Daggers) (movie)

Zhi Wo Men Dan Chun De Xiao Mei Hao (A Love So Beautiful)

Bai Fa (Princess Silver)

Zhen Huan Zhuan (Empresses in the Palace)

Bubu Jing Xin (Scarlet Heart, Chinese version)

Zhi Wo Men Nuan Nuan de Xiao Shi Guang (Put Your Head on my Shoulder)

Bai She: Yuan Qi (White Snake) (animated movie)

Chen Qing Ling (The Untamed, live action)

Mo Dao Zu Shi (Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, donghua)

Jing Ying Lv Shi (The Best Partner)

Qing Yun Zhi (Noble Aspirations aka Legend of Chusen)

Qing Yu Nian (Joy of Life)

Meng Hui Da Qing (Dreaming Back to the Qing Dynasty)

Legend of Hao Lan

Jiang Ye (Ever Night)

Fa Yi Qin Ming (Medical Examiner Dr. Qin) (2016 version with Zhang Ruoyun)

Wu Xin Fa Shi (Wu Xin: The Monster Killer)

Gu Hua (Talking Bones)

Xin Ling Fa Shi (The Listener)

Jiu Zhou Tian Kong Cheng 2016 (Novoland Castle in the Sky)

Wu Dong Qian Kun (Martial Universe)

Wo Zhi Dao Ni De Mi Mi (I Know Your Secret)

Da Song Bei Dou Si (Plough Department of Song Dynasty)

Ai Qing Jin Hua Lun 2018 (Evolution of Our Love)

Da Wang Bu Rong Yi (King is Not Easy)

Qing Ping Yue/Gu Cheng Bi (Serenade of Peaceful Joy/Held in the Lonely Castle)

Lang Ya Bang (Nirvana in Fire)

Xia Tan Jian Buzhi (Ancient Detective)

Gu Jin Da Zhan Qin Yong Qing (Fight and Love with a Terracotta Warrior)(movie)

Shen Tan (Detective L)

Min Guo Qi Tan (My Roommate is a Detective)

He Shen (Tientsin Mystic)

Zui Ye Wu Jian (Evil Nights)

Jue Ji Lin Jie Tian Xia (LORD Critical World)

Xiong An Xian Cheng (The Truth)

Wei Zhuang Zhe (The Disguiser)

Chuan Shuo Zhong de Chen Qianqian (Romance of Tiger and Rose)

Ru GUo Wo Niu You Ai Qing (When a Snail Falls in Love)

Xi You Ji 2019 (Tian Zhen Pai version) (Journey to the West)

Dian Xia Gong Lue (To Get Her)

Hong Lou Meng (Xiao Xi Gu version) (Dream of the Red Chamber)

Ming Xing Da Zhen Tan (Who’s the Murderer)

Hong Lou Meng 1987 (Dream of the Red Chamber)

Xiao Huan Xi (Little Reunion)

Fei Ren Zai (Non-human) (animated series)

Da Song Shao Nian Zhi (Young Blood)

Lang Ya Bang 2 (Nirvana in Fire 2)

Hei An Zhe (Death Notify: The Darker)

Hen Ji (Trace)

Jin Yi Zhi Xia (Under the Power)

Wai Ke Feng Yun (Surgeons)

Shao Nu Da Ren (Maiden Holmes)

Ren Zha Fan Pai Zi Jiu Xi Tong (Scum Villain Self-saving System)

[mollyencrypted]

A Marriage, For Better Or Worse

Okay, I think I've worked out how a Re-Animator Corpse Bride AU would work:

It's kind of a mixture of film and serial canon, plus some stuff that doesn't align with either, set somewhere around the time Part II would have taken place.

Dan and Meg are engaged but her father was incredibly reluctant to agree to it so there's a lot of pressure on him to Not Fuck This Up.

So predictably he fucks it up because he's a moron who cannot take anything seriously.

Consequently, the esteemed Doctor Halsey tells him to fuck off until he gets his shit together, and so he wanders off to go practice Not Being Terrible somewhere away from people, and immediately gets killed by something (probably cultists) because he is utterly useless.

Really, really useless.

So he wakes up, very dead and being bothered by a goddamned zombie and a dog-demon-thing, and proceeds to freak the fuck out and run for it, which is fair enough really, it’s a very weird situation.

He also hasn’t yet worked out that he’s dead, and so it’s rather a shock for him when a slightly-less-horrifying fellow ex-being informs him of this fact.

Once he finally gets over his shock, he starts asking about the creepy guy from earlier, who turns out to be one Herbert West, a former medical student who was murdered ten years previously by his academic supervisor, who proceeded to steal his research and pass it off as his own.

He's also somewhat estranged from the rest of the local deceased, being seemingly the only one who resents being dead and very much committed to finding a way of reversing his condition. Nobody else wants any part of this, partially because they don't see the point but also because his experiments just tend to make things worse. He is Not Good at necromancy.

As it turns out, a means of returning to life is exactly what Dan needs, because he's engaged to a living woman and his being dead makes this rather inconvenient. And hey, he's a doctor, maybe he can help out!

West is surprisingly easily convinced to take him on as an assistant. That's mostly because his current assistant - one of the local ghouls - isn't terribly useful due to a lack of medical knowledge and a tendency to get distracted with pining after a certain human scholar who broke things off with him following the whole 'turning into a corpse-eating monster' thing

Turns out they're still not very good at necromancy.

Meanwhile, in the world of the living, Halsey is convinced that his almost-son-in-law has probably run off and has no intention of going through with the wedding, and as such isn't being the most comforting presence to his daughter, who is equally convinced that something terrible has happened to her fiancé.

Especially because he's already found a replacement husband for her.

By which I mean his associate, a certain Doctor Carl Hill, has talked him into arranging a marriage to his much younger, very much uninterested daughter. Gross.

Understandably, she's utterly disgusted by the prospect and resolves to use her week-long grace period to find out what happened to Dan, hoping he might still be alive. (Sorry, Meg, he ain't.)

She doesn't have much luck in her search for answers, but at one point does run into a certain human scholar mentioned earlier, one Randolph Carter. They're both pretty miserable and end up confiding in each other about their respective issues.

News of Meg's circumstances get back to Dan via the ghoul formerly known as Richard Pickman (you knew it was him already), who'd overheard that during an attempt at following Dan's terrible relationship advice. Dan is a moron who cannot boyfriend, please don’t take his advice on anything.

The revival of the moron who cannot boyfriend now has a closer deadline than anticipated because whilst he doesn't know exactly who the new guy is he isn't going to stand by and let the woman he loves be married off to someone she wants nothing to do with.

It is, however, somewhat awkward, because whilst he's definitely Very Much In Love with Meg and she with him even though she could really do better, he's also kind of caught feelings for his accidental colleague, who maybe also caught feelings for him, and he really doesn't know what to do in this situation except Ignore It And Hope It Goes Away.

And when Herbert tries to convince him to just give up on Meg and stay on as his assistant he immediately refuses because in this house we do not screw over female characters for the sake of creepy men. So they fight but ultimately try and be professional about the whole thing because Science.

They know they won't make the deadline, but at the last minute someone in this idiotic company points out that actually, they don't need to revive Dan before the wedding - he's ambulatory, not particularly decomposed, and the only thing keeping him from interacting with the living is Convention. They can work on a proper treatment after the immediate trouble is over.

What follows is some ungodly fusion of the climaxes of both films, in which we learn that one member of our cast actually is rather good at necromancy (just not any of the ideal members), and Meg dies.

It doesn't stick.

And she gets to be the one to remove Hill from the mortal coil. He promptly gets devoured by ghouls and is mourned by no-one.

And so Dan and Meg get to marry, more or less, so that's nice, except she's not terribly happy about the whole being dead thing and her new husband still hasn't warmed up to it so they end up going off with Herbert to figure out a solution. And also to figure out some less scientific stuff. After all, they have all the time in the world now.

(also Randolph and Richard get their shit together because this is my AU and I do what I want)

And they all died (somewhat) happily ever after until Cthulhu breaks free or some shit.

The end.

[metalgearkong]

MediEvil 2019 - Review (PS4)

10/28/19

Developed by Other Ocean Emeryville / Sony Computer Entertainment, released October 2019

It has risen again! The original MediEvil from 1998 is one of my favorite games of all time, and one of the games I have completed the most. Like other games from the PS1 era, I discovered MediEvil on a demo disc and replayed it constantly. I loved the Nightmare Before Christmas aesthetics and music, and liked that it stared a cowardly bumbling skeleton. The late 90′s was a time of experimentation for 3D action/adventure games, and while some people hold Ocarina of Time or Super Mario 64 as their favorites of the genre, MediEvil has always been my personal favorite. MediEvil II released two years later, but lost a lot of its appeal for me because it took place in Victorian London instead of the graveyards and spooky locations of the original. MediEvil: Resurrection was made in 2005 for the PSP, but was more of a re-imagining of the original game, and not a true remake.

I had heard about MediEvil being remade yet again a couple years ago, but tried to have tempered expectations, and not buy into what could amount to be rumors. I imagined it would be akin to a big screen version of MediEvil: Resurrection, or at least the developers would butcher the original game. Last year was when I saw the trailer for this MediEvil remake, and I felt more confident in it. While most people were anticipating big triple-A or franchise games for 2019, my sights and hopes were dead set on this. Finally, after all this time of waiting, MediEvil 2019 has released exclusively for the PS4, and I couldn’t be happier with the final product. Other Ocean Emeryville has created a deeply loyal and extremely faithful remake of the original game I cherish so much, but I feel like only true fans will be able to truly appreciate it for the accomplishment it is.

Before I talk about the game proper, I have to elaborate on the unexpected odyssey it took to actually get the game going. Not only do I have to make a three hour round trip to the nearest Gamestop to get a copy, the game had to immediately download a day one patch: version 1.01. This update was a massive 16GB, and with my super slow mountainous wi-fi speed, my PS4 predicted it would take at least 50 hours. There was no option to begin the game without this update. I was floored. It put me in a state of blue-balled depression and denial. So I took my TV, PS4, and all the necessary cords, and physically hooked in my PS4 to my work’s ethernet cable in a public building, hoping no one would disturb it. The estimated time dropped to a meager four hours, and it made me feel a lot better. Ironically, my PS4 only realized I didn’t have enough storage space to download the update, and somewhere along the line it quit. Thankfully, it let me play after giving up.

Expectations mean a lot, and leading up to this MediEvil releasing, I intentionally did not do a lot of research on the game in order to discover it in person as I was playing. I didn’t realize this was a fully committed remake of the original. MediEvil: Resurrection disappointed me because it changed a bunch about the game and left out a lot of my favorite levels. 2019′s MediEvil recreates every inch of the original game with modern graphics. I was so thrilled I can’t even describe how cool it was to see one of my favorite games of all time with a new coat of skin, especially because I never thought THIS game would be chosen to be remade. Not only that, but the game uses the same exact audio for most of the dialog; each and every gargoyle head and character Dan meets plays the same audio as I’ve had engraved in my skull for over twenty years, only with new character models and more elaborate animations.

The developers even used the same music for each level, only re-recorded it with only small differences or flourishes. Even insignificant things like textures on a doorway or on the ground were recreated in 3D to look just like they did. I would have been perfectly okay with the developers simply using modern graphics and textures to remake certain pieces of architecture or focal points in this game, but no, every corner of Gallowmere represented the original locations, and I constantly had to pick my jaw off the floor (no offense Dan). Cinematics also play out exactly the same, with the same camera angles and movements. Part of me thinks about how maybe Other Ocean Emeryville could have taken these short cinematics sprinkled throughout the game and elaborated slightly on lore, but that would veer dangerously close to a “re-imagining” territory, and I’m just thankful everything is kept so faithful in the end.

The banished necromancer Zarok has raised an army of the dead to conquer the realm of Gallowmere. Unwittingly, Zarok also brought back to life Sir Daniel Fortesque, King Peregrine's captain of the militia, who perished embarrassingly years prior in an earlier battle against Zarok and his armies. After Fortesque’s death, fables, songs, and legends told of his false bravery and battlefield accomplishments, but now he has the opportunity to live up to his own mythical status as the hero of Gallowmere. I’ve always loved this story, wherein the bad guy accidentally raises the very hero who would thwart him. I’ve always loved Dan because he’s so unlike most knights and heroes. He has to live up to his own reputation, and prove those wrong who know what truly happened. We play as Dan and travel from the hum drum graveyards of Gallowmere all the way through more exotic levels such as a pumpkin gorge filled with demonic pumpkins, crystal caverns filled with Minotaur-like monsters, an enchanted forest containing a demonic prison, and much more.

The first advantage to the modernization of this game was being able to see the Hilltop Mausoleum (the 2nd level) from The Cemetery (the 1st level). It would make sense if you had an expansive cemetery, and the very next level, adjacent to that level, had a massive building on top of a hill, and you could see it from far away. As a PS1 game I’d never expect to see something like that, but with this remake, they had the care to include things such as this, which only helps the world feel that much more real and connected. The controls and mechanics are nearly the same as the original as well, only made slightly more convenient. Dan can still equip a one-handed weapon and a shield, and switch between weapons in a menu. He can block attacks, but only as long as the shield’s HP holds out, until you need to find a new one. Dan has all the same moves as the original, but the more free-form camera makes the game a bit more convenient to play by making platforming and seeing things easier.

As you slay enemies in each level, you fill a chalice, and bringing back a full chalice to the end of each respective level grants you a visit to the Hall of Heores before the next level begins; this world’s version of Valhalla, where the most accomplished heroes of history drink, feast, and arm wrestle for eternity. A side goal of this game is to collect the chalice from every level so Dan can also become a member of this ethereal warrior’s afterlife (twenty in all). This is something I struggled with as a kid, but in the past many years I’ve always gone out of my way to make sure Sir Fortesque gets into the Hall of Heroes where he rightfully deserves to be. Sometimes items can be found in a level which are to be used in entirely different levels, something the game only hints at. Case in point are the Ant Caves, which is a maze-like level hidden within a level that is completely optional to complete (but not if you want all twenty chalices). 

Some of the original game’s drawbacks could be regarded as similar drawbacks for this remake. Criticisms like haphazard combat and imprecise platforming are somewhat the same case here, but I would argue that’s half the point playing as a gangling hero who hasn’t yet earned his stripes. I honestly can’t take an unbiased position on some of the game’s more objective problems, not only because I’m such a fanatic and have played the original so many times, but also because it’s impossible for me to have a fresh perspective on the game. I can’t tell you how hard the puzzles are or how tough the game is simply because I’ve played the original so many times, I’ve gotten used to any perceived problems and solved all the puzzles so long ago. Reviews for this game seem to be lukewarm, and it’s an opinion I can’t share because I’m so impressed by how faithful one of my all time obscure favorites has been recreated.

In fact the very few changes the developers did make I could count on one hand. Mostly these changes have been made to a few of the game’s boss fights. Most of the bosses have always been very easy, especially compared to today’s obsession where bosses are meant to be extremely punishing. I can honestly say the changes are for the better and improve on these boss fights. For example the fight with the captain of the ghost ship has been improved, allowing you to manual aim a canon before firing it at him, rather than running back and forth between two fixed canons, hoping one of your shots hit the captain as he paces back and forth. Another addition are the “Lost Souls” which are hidden collectibles, one in each level that can be found by Sir Dan. This basically makes you replay every level to find the Lost Souls, as they only appear once you’re already near the end of the game. I can’t say I was motivated to find them, at least not right now, since it appears to be a shallow fetch-quest.

Besides getting the game booted in the first place, I did a have a few technical problems while playing the game. These are probably because the version 1.01 patch never actually downloaded and installed, and I may have been experiencing what the developers were trying to fix. One example was a door not opening once I had defeated all the enemies in the room, effectively trapping me there forever, forcing me to restart the level. The problems were mainly things such as this, and I bet I’m the only person in the world who had to complete the game from beginning to end raw without the day one patch. Otherwise the game ran great, and looks good as Hell.

I’m so glad Other Ocean Emeryville didn’t try to subvert expectations or put a clever twist on certain things, leaving it as is. MediEvil 2019 constantly impressed me, and I don’t think I’ve felt this much fan service and satisfaction since the Shadow Moses chapter of Metal Gear Solid 4 from 2008. The music, dialog, weapons, level design, aesthetics, enemies and controls have been painstakingly remade, giving this cult classic an impressive new look. Its the restrictive nature of the developer’s design philosophy I appreciate the most; this is simply a game for the fans, and very obviously by the fans. MediEvil was my most anticipated game of 2019 and I am deeply satisfied and surprised about how well it turned out. Annoying day one patch download aside, I had an incredible time experiencing this remake. While some gameplay flaws might still exist, and those who don’t already love the original may not see it in the same level of reverence, this was a big payoff for me and I’m sure other dedicated fans feel the same. Thank you Other Ocean Emeryville, this has been a wonderful gift.

9/10

[hyper-fic-sation]

Jack-O-Lanterns and Candy Corn

Here’s another re-upload of one of my older works but I really hope y’all enjoy it because I based it on one of my favorite older movies, Re-Animator! Please leave likes and comments down below!

So much had changed since his childhood, everything from style to speech to entertainment to medicine, hell, even the cost of money changed!

But each of these changes, with time, had become the new normal for Bucky Barnes. Eventually a twenty dollar book didn’t give him heart palpitations and words like “Hootch” and “Horn” faded from his vocabulary.

The one change that had perhaps shellshocked him the most though came in the month of October with the arrival of Halloween.

As a child, Halloween had been the best night of Bucky Barnes’ life. His mother and Steve’s would have worked weeks on their costumes, transforming them from boys to beasts, and would let them roam throughout the city streets, knocking on neighbor’s door for candy, Bucky promising Sarah that he would watch out for Steve, and then promising his mom the same for Rebecca. They would return home late at night and sneak into their rooms, swapping candy for candy, talking about particularly scary house decorations, and discussing their plans for next year. It was a night where magic became real and where everything truly scary and frightening about the world slipped away, covered up by toilet paper cobwebs and sheets with holes cut out for eyes. On that night, he didn’t have to worry about whether his best buddy would make it to see sixteen, or whether they were gonna have to sacrifice dinner so the twins could have diapers. It was a time where he was just free to be a kid and nothing else. It was no wonder why it was his favorite time of the year.

But these days? Halloween was different. Costumes were more about being sexy than scary, and here in the city, few kids ever went trick or treating alone. The occasional scary decorations that had once seemed so impressive were now pitiful when compared to the new plastic skeletons and automated hand grabbing candy bowls. It was almost entirely unrecognizable as the day of magic that it had once been, instead it became just another foreign experience upon a pile of other ones.

He still tried to make the best of it, however, he really did, but it just wasn’t the same anymore. After everything that happened to him, everything he’d done, he couldn’t find it in his heart to get excited about a night of playing monsters when, in his mind, he already was one.Add to that the fact that almost all the Avengers seemed to think Halloween was just another day and it was even more difficult to get excited. In fact, he could only think of two teammates of his who were genuinely excited for the day.

The first was Tony, who was apparently planning a crazy costume party the night of that all the Avengers were invited to attend.

The second was (Y/N), who just seemed excited for the day as a whole. The whole month was seemingly leading up to this day for her. She practically skipped around the house, leaving lit pumpkin spice candles in her wake and the sound of some song about skeletons ringing in your ears.

She had come to the compound around the same time as Bucky had, her powers of flight and telekinesis landing her onto the Avenger’s radar during her final year of college where she was trying to graduate in peace with a Bachelor's in Journalism and Communications. Right away she had swooped in with her sarcastic personality and wit and secured her place inside every one of the Avenger’s hearts, even his which he had thought of as nothing more than a block of ice in his chest until then.

His feelings for you had been stirring inside him for a long time, he had tried to ignore them at first, tried to repress them and keep them hidden from view, but, with one smile from you it was as if all his hard work were for nothing. His heart would soar and his own lips would spread into a grin, and he would feel a little bit of that ice begin to thaw before he would remind himself that you would never, ever give him the time of day, maybe once, but not anymore, not after all he’d done.

“Hey, Bucky,” your voice called out, snapping him out of his thoughts and returning him to the real world where he was currently sitting in the Avengers’ tower common room, “do you wanna watch a movie?.

He turned up to look at you and instantly he was enthralled, it took him a few moments before your question fully registered, “what kind of movie?” he asked even though it didn’t really matter, you could have wanted to go jumping off cliffs and he would follow you.

You smirked, “what kind do you think, Buck? Do you even know what time of year it is?”

He laughed a little at your dramatics, “alright, what movie is it then?” he asked. A smile lit up your face, so wide he thought your cheeks might burst from the strain, “it’s called The Re-Animator,” you said, “it’s a cheesy film from the eighties, I’ve seen it like a thousand times.”

“Do you really wanna watch it again then?” Bucky asked.

You nodded, “yes, yes I do,” you said, “it’s one of my favorites so will you please watch it with me? Please, please, please, please!”

Bucky laughed and nodded, “alright doll, I’ll watch it.”

Almost instantly after his reply she launched herself into his arms and kissed his cheek, “and this is why you’re my favorite Avenger!” you squealed and Bucky blushed at the sudden display of affection, not that you seemed to notice though, pulling away and rushing back into your room only to return a few moments later in a pair of pajamas carrying the DVD Case proudly in your arms.

“What’s this movie even about?” Bucky asked as you put the disk into the player and worked your magic on the television to make the movie play.

You rolled your eyes, “will you please just let the movie happen?” you said, “I wanna see it through a first-timer’s eyes.”

And so that ended most of the conversation for the duration of the movie. The story was about a doctor named Herbert who used a special green sludge to bring people back from the dead, and it was safe to say that the film was different from anything Bucky had ever seen before. Topless girls filled screens, fake blood and guts spewed from corpses, morbidly funny jokes had him laughing one minute and gasping in shock the next. It all came to a head however in the film’s climax where the doctor was strangled by a corpse’s small intestine and the screen cut to black leaving Bucky in suspense.

“What, that’s it?” he cried and you laughed.

“What happened to Herbert? Did the serum work on Meg? What is Dan gonna do about all the dead people just roaming around?” he cried out before looking at you desperately, “please tell me there’s more!”

You giggled, “there’s a sequel,” you sighed, “but it’s not very good…”

“I don’t care,” Bucky responded, “I need more!”

So there the two of you sat for the rest of the afternoon and night, glued to the television watching a movie that in all honesty kind of sucked after the first twenty minutes, but neither of you truly caring, just too wrapped up in the characters to mind the terrible plotlines and inconsistent character development. 

When the movie finally came to an end and the credits began to roll, you launched into an excited discussion on Herbert West’s motivations and Dan’s inability to touch a patient without immediately killing them. It was some of the most fun Bucky had had in awhile, and, for a second, it was almost like he was a kid again ready for Halloween to arrive.

“Can I tell you a secret, Buck?” you asked leaning into him, so close he could practically smell your strawberry shampoo.

He nodded, “of course,” he said.

“No,” you said, “I mean, it’s like top secret, like, some CIA shit, can I still trust you?”

He smirked, “what, are you gonna tell me you’ve been reanimating people on the side?”

You laughed, “no, the only thing I bring to life is the spirit of Halloween in this place,” you said, “so, can I trust you or not?”

Bucky nodded, “lay it on me doll,” he said and he could swear he saw a faint blush creep into your cheeks.

“Alright then,” you said, glancing away for a moment before returning to meet his eyes, “it’s about my costume for Tony’s Halloween party.”

The got Bucky’s attention. You were notoriously secretive about your costume for the party, deflecting any questions aimed at you about it, hiding it away behind the locked door of your bedroom, even refusing to ask for help when you came out of your room bleeding from sticking yourself with sewing needles one too many times. The fact that you were willing to trust him with your secret costume was something of an honor.

“What is it?” Bucky asked?

You smiled, “not so fast,” you said, “why don’t you tell me what you’re going to be.”

Bucky’s excitement faltered as he contemplated lying to you and saying something basic, he’d gone to the party store with Sam and Steve who’d tried to rope him into being the third stooge with them, but he’d refused, it just hadn’t felt right, none of the costumes they’d suggested had, in the end, he’d just decided not to go, he just wasn’t up for it, but he knew telling you that would be the most disappointing thing ever.

So he just shrugged, “I don’t have one yet,” he said, “I’m still weighing my options.”

Your smile grew wider, “would you like to do a partner costume with me?” The proposition was shocking to say the least, taking him by surprise. Halloween was two weeks away and you’d been working on your costume for months, did you really expect him to just have something ready?

“What is it?” he asked.

Then you leaned closer, your lips touching the lobe of his ear and sending shivers down your spine, and you told him, and his smile only grew. When you pulled away he nodded excitedly.

“I’ll do it,” he said.

“What’s up with Frosty and the Little Girl?” Sam asked confused though Steve could barely hear him over the music blasting throughout the party room, “they’ve been spending a lot of time together lately, and now their both late, what’s up with that?”

Steve shrugged, “I didn’t think Bucky was coming, but (Y/N) surprises me, would’ve thought she’d be the first one here,” he practically shouted to be heard. “I know! That girl is crazy about Halloween, and I wanna see this costume she’s been obsessing over,” Sam replied.

Steve was just about to say something else when the doors to the party room opened and in stepped you with Bucky in tow. You were clad in a disheveled looking, blood covered dress shirt and suit with your hair pinned back to make it look shorter and quoiffed. A skinny tie was around your neck and you held a vial of what looked like green glow stick fluid in your hand while a pair of huge glasses took up most of your face.

Bucky stood behind you, his outfit was much simpler with a blood-soaked white tank top and a pair of bloody blue jeans, his hair had been styled shorter too, and in his hand he carried a blood-stained axe.

Steve had absolutely no idea what you two were supposed to be, but you both someone worked it so well that he didn’t care. You two had the biggest smiles on your faces both relishing in their parts.

He approached you and smiled back. 

“What the hell are you two supposed to be?” he asked.

“You remember that movie I tried to get you to watch a few weeks back?” Bucky asked.

Steve rolled his eyes, “you mean the really crappy one from the eighties?”

You gasped with mock outrage, “how dare you! It’s a tour de force!”

“We’re the main characters from it, Herbert West and Dan Cane,” Bucky explained further.

Sam laughed, “you two are such dorks,” he said.

You just beamed and entwined your arm with Bucky, “yes,” you said, “yes we are, and we’re gonna go kill it on the dance floor now, so if you’ll excuse us,” you pulled Bucky towards the crowd of dancing people and both of you were quickly swallowed up by the crowd.

And that night, dancing with you, laughing until his sides hurt, taking terrible pumpkin flavored shots, and wearing one of the best costumes in the world, Bucky felt every real struggle and fear melt away from him, he felt his heart begin to thaw and he remembered just what he loved so much about Halloween. It truly was a night of magic.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns (2000)

Until I actually re-watched Pokémon: The First Movie I had a soft spot for it. If you still think it's good we can agree to disagree but let's at least stay on the same side when it comes to its sequel, Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns. This one flat-out sucks.

Mewtwo (Dan Green) and his clone Pokémon have traveled to the far region of Kanto and now live in an unreachable plateau on top of Mt. Quena. When Ash (voiced by Veronica Taylor), Misty (Rachael Lillis), Brock (Eric Stuart), and Pikachu (Ikue Ōtani) pass through the region, they are attacked by Team Rocket members Jessie (Rachael Lillis), James (Eric Stuart) and Meowth (Maddie Blaustein) just as the less bumbling members of the criminal organization prepare a full-on assault on Mewtwo.

What a catastrophe. There’s bad dialogue, plot holes left and right, and it's all in the service of a story which feels completely unworthy of following the first film. You think Metwo was a cool character, with his immeasurably strong psychic powers, his bad-ass look and his origin as a genetically-created super Pokémon? Get ready to see him complain endlessly about how he doesn’t belong in the world and how he feels like an outsider. Some might say it’s a defining characteristic that adds depth to the pocket monster. I say it makes him look like he’d be more comfortable writing poetry while painting his nails black and dying his hair than battling or doing anything cool.

The bad dialogue is a little bit more difficult to give concrete examples of. It’s a combination of different factors that make Mewtwo Returns a chore. The first offense is the constant barrage of puns and bad jokes, courtesy of non-threats Jessie, James, and Meowth. Next are the 'mons themselves. All but two speaking entirely by repeating their names repeated over and over. It’s a neat gimmick to have audiences remember and differentiate a Pidgeotto from a Voltorb, but it sure is repetitive. This issue is compounded by having Mewtwo as a protagonist. He can speak English. No one he speaks to can, meaning every time it “speaks” it has to repeat what the Pokemon it’s talking to said so that the audience can understand what’s going on. It’s the equivalent of those “Hey there you are my little brother!” exchanges that you hate hearing so much.

The biggest sin committed is by the story. You’ll tear your hair out at the overwhelming amount of scenes where our heroes forget they have Pokémon to help them perform tasks. In fact, the movie seems to forget that Pokémon have the ability to shoot fire, beams of energy or spontaneously create vines or razor-sharp leaves at any time. If it did, this plot would be done in ten minutes. We're asked to believe the elite members of Team Rocket would be stupid enough to put a bunch of Pokemon in a cage and just assume they wouldn’t attempt escape. Did they not see the Gyarados?! Thing's essentially a sea serpent that “remains enraged until it demolishes everything around it” and they just place it in a cell with dozens of its friends? The same problem applies to the heroes. Ash and his friends spot and obstacle. What do they do? Run and try to tackle it themselves. That's just scratching the surface but we don't have the time to discuss the breeding-related animation errors seen here or the other problems.

What a huge disappointment this “film” was. It’s badly written, the animation is of TV quality, the characters are one-dimensional, the characters are morons and it isn’t the least bit exciting. Even hardcore Pokémon fans won’t be able to enjoy it due to the squandered potential. Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns isn't worth taking a single look at. Stay away. (On VHS, September 7, 2015)

[thepelagoislands]

Camping Trip || July 18th - July 29th, 2018

Posted on the boards of both of the Explorer’s Guilds are notices about a special event available for every citizens on the islands. It’s a camping trip, with supplies and transportation provided by the Explorer’s Guild! The guild believes that this trip will help potential voyagers with their survival skills, possibly encourage people to go on their own independent voyage, and help people of the islands to get to know each other. And due to the success of the first camping trip last year, they’ve decided to hold it for another year!

While last year, this trip took place on Forest Haven, the guild has decided to be a little more daring this year. Several scouts have personally gone out to the sea to find the perfect venue for a good camping trip, and have found an island rife with ruins, mystery, and even more. They have declared it Fenith Island.

The camping trip lasts roughly three days, with participants arriving in the evening of the first day, spending the night, spending one entire day on the island, spending another night in, and then leaving the next afternoon. There will be a special area set up by the shore that wards off monsters for the participants to make up camp! Participants are allowed to bring their weapon and one small backpack of their essentials. All food and camping supplies will be provided by the guild.

Since this island is recently discovered and you may find dangerous things lying in wait outside of the designated safe zone, each camper will be given a two-charmed necklace! This is a silver-chained necklace with two distinct charms on it: a white circle and a red square. The red square protects against a normally killing blow, absorbing whatever would have killed you. The red square can only be used once, and will shatter into dust when it has been activated (and, of course, it doesn’t work at all if you’re not wearing it). The white circle is meant to be a distress signal. If you press your thumb into the white circle, then it will send a signal to the closest campers to your location, making their white circles flash red. The circles will then act as a compass that brings you to the camper in distress.

Citizens of either island can sign up to be randomized into a 2-3 person tent! At the beginning of the event, these random pairings will be announced! Let’s hope that you don’t end up with someone who snores…

The deadline to sign up for the camping trip is July 17th at 10PM EST:

Sonja

Kamil

Elliott

Maerwen

Marlin

Carlos

Neil

Laney

Emily

Kuruna

Dan

Iluka

Alicia

Pia

Lisette

Violet

Masked Man (Matai)

Celia

Georgia

Jake

Sam

Vishnal

Sebastian

Danny

Mist

Leon

Kai

Forte

Ivan

Michelle

Zavier

Tina

Raeger

Witchie

Leia

Lily (RF)

Pandora

Lyric

Elise

Shane

Wayne

Dylas

Popuri

Leah

Henri

There will be three main events you can participate in during this camping trip! And unlike other events, all threads made during this event must be completed before the end of the event. So keep that in mind as you’re going off on your shenanigans!

You may also Discord thread or Tumblr thread in groups outside of the three main events. However, all threads done in this manner also must be completed, or at least must end, before the end of the event.

FIRESIDE CHAT

In the center of the safe area on Fenith Island is a large, magical bonfire that will be ablaze all night. The bonfire itself produces whatever ward is used to keep the monsters at bay, so it’s been made extra strong so that it won’t go out! Along with this bonfire, the is plenty of food to procure in this center area, and there’s even a cool little radio playing music!

This will be the scenario for the Fireside Chat, which will be the group Discord channel of the event! Campers are free to mingle with whoever else wanders into the center area, between whatever else they are doing during this trip!

TENT SHENANIGANS

Since all of the tents will be assigned randomly, you’ll have plenty of time to get to know your tent-mates during the trip. You can decide where to set up your tent and get to know everyone else! Remember to keep your tent in the safe zone to avoid monster encounters!

Unfortunately, while the Explorer’s Guild attempts to be as perfect as possible, there is a possibility that there may be an issue with your group’s supplies. When your groups are matched up, roll to see if something has unfortunately happened to your tent group:

t!choose nothing | bags | tent | animals | BEAR

NOTHING means that nothing bad has happened! BAGS means that your group is missing one sleeping bag! TENT means that the tent is faulty and can’t be set up! ANIMALS means that some harmless forest creatures have somehow stolen the participant’s personal bags! Finally…BEAR means that once the group has set up their tent and left for a while, they’ll come back to find that a bear has taken up residence in their tent. Unfortunately, the magic fire does not repel bears. Only monsters. Go punch that bear.

FENITH ISLAND EXPEDITION

Fenith Island is a newly discovered island, and the voyagers who found it didn’t do anything aside from take a cursory glance at it. So, the Explorer’s Guild has decided to put out suitable rewards for going out and finding out what the island used to be. 

By going out in teams of 2-4 people...or if you would rather journey out alone...you may find certain artifacts and items of interest around Fenith Island while on expeditions. These artifacts can either be kept by a member of your team...or handed over to the Explorer’s Guild at the end of the trip for 15,000G. Regardless, once you find an artifact, it will be in your possession for the remainder of the camping trip, whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

Artifacts and Items of Interest can be found by journeying outside of the safe zone on an expedition of 1-4 campers. There are several points of interest that you may encounter while you’re out there. The Sea Cave, the Town Ruins, the Dragon Shrine, and the Underground Tunnels. While you’re free to explore each of the locations at your own leisure when you’re outside of an expedition, these locations hold secrets that are only found on expeditions.

The Sea Cave is a large cave found by the northern shore of the island. It’s a rather large cave dug into the island itself with a long river of sea water cutting through it. There are several offshoot caves leading out from this one, each with monsters lurking inside.

The Town Ruins are the ruins of a small town that once resided on Fenith Island. It appears to be just an average town dated at least two hundred years ago. There doesn’t seem to be any monsters taking up residence in this area. Maybe some friendly wildlife just lives here!

The Dragon Shrine is a small shrine located high in the island’s lone mountain, onlooking the rest of the island. The view honestly can’t be beat! There is an altar to pray at, a small shrine to visit and look around in, and a breathtaking view to take in! There are a few monsters roaming around on the path to the shrine, so take caution!

The Underground Tunnels are a massive network of caves beneath the surface of the island. However...finding an entrance is nearly impossible. But falling down a hole into the tunnels is easy! If you find the tunnels, it’s probably because you fell down a hole into them. And finding a way out will be tricky. There are many monsters down in this area, so be prepared!

Each character may only go on one expedition for the camping trip. Campers are free to explore all areas outside of their expedition and get into their own trouble, but cannot find an artifact or item of interest without being given an expedition prompt.

Once you have gathered your expedition party - or decided to journey out alone - roll a number from 1 to 20 in a designated Discord channel! Tag a moderator once you get your number to get your expedition prompt.

There are twenty different artifacts to find on Fenith Island. Each artifact has its own expedition prompt to go with it. They will have their own unique events that involve the artifact or item of interest in some way! As such, once a number has been drawn, it cannot be drawn again. So if a team draws 20, then all future expeditions must re-roll if they draw 20.

Content Warning: All expeditions are considered Level One on a voyage scale, which means that anything you see on these expeditions are something you would reasonably see in a Rune Factory game. Nothing intense this time, folks! 

Please note that if you want to push the boundaries content-level wise of your expedition (ex. explicit descriptions of injuries, going ham on horror-related genre stuff, writing in some extra details that may not be RF friendly, or anything else comparable) you must get explicit permission from all other expedition members involved before you write it. If your expedition members are uncomfortable with these subjects, then leave that shit at home, son.

If you choose to get into teams and roll for your number before the event actually begins, that is completely fine! We’ll make a note of it and post it once the event begins!

Current Expedition Availability:

Reserved by Laney

Reserved by Popuri, Neil, and Shane

Reserved by Elliott, Sebastian, and Sam

Available 

Reserved by Kamil, Phillip, Georgia and Raeger

Reserved by Maerwen, Witchie, Kuruna and Jake

Available

Available 

Reserved by Carlos, Alicia, Dan and Kai

Available 

Reserved by Michelle and Tina

Reserved by Lyric

Available

Reserved by Sonja, Zavier, and Lisette

Available

Reserved by Danny

Reserved by Violet

Reserved by Marlin, Forte, Ivan, and Mist

Reserved by Matai

Available 

[aion-rsa]

Doctor Who: Which Monsters Will Return in Series 13?

https://ift.tt/3eU5OIX

Spoilers: contains reference to unofficial series 13 filming photography

Doctor Who began life as a time-travelling sci-fi show with a historical bias and an educational bent. One thing – or, rather, one race – changed all of that: The Daleks. Those oppressive pepper pots gave the public a taste for the fearsome, the far-off and the fantastic, and the following five decades would be stacked with all sorts of aliens and monsters, from the sub-slime to the Drashig-ulous, and everything in between.

A new showrunner always wants to put their stamp on the series, but if novelty is vital to Doctor Who, then so is nostalgia. The allure of bringing back an old foe to put face-to-face with a Doctor’s new face is too strong to resist. At first, Chris Chibnall let Jodie Whittaker settle into her performance unburdened by the baggage of monsters past, but it wasn’t long before the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Master and the Judoon arrived to claim their places in the ever-expanding continuity of the Who-niverse.   

Series 13 is on its way, and yet more familiar monsters have been spotted as joining the fray. Here are the alien races confirmed as returning, along with some speculation as to who else might come back in the seasons to follow…

The Sontarans Are Back!

The Sontarans – those war-like, unbudging, unblinking little kick-ass clones – have been spotted on location, so they’re a shoo-in for 13’s thirteenth. We first met the Sontarans in 1974 when Jon Pertwee’s dashing, debonair Third Doctor caught a crash-landed specimen of the species, Linx, abducting scientists from present-day Earth (using timey-wimey-ness) and putting them to work fixing his kaput spacecraft back in Medieval England. Later, Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor encountered them on a barren Earth in the future, again abducting human beings, but this time to study them like lab-rats in a bid to probe mankind’s weaknesses and thus their ripeness for conquest. Sontarans showed up again later in his tenure to invade Gallifrey in perhaps one of Doctor Who‘s most overblown yet underwhelming of stories, ‘The Invasion of Time‘ (an episode that features the world’s longest chase sequence involving the same swimming pool and gym corridor in monotonous rotation). Each time the Sontarans appeared in Classic Who they lost a little of their mystery and lustre, to the point where their appearance in the much-maligned sixth-and-second-Doctor team-up, ‘The Two Doctors’, was largely superfluous. 

The Sontarans used to look like malevolent jacket potatoes. They sported weird, ventriloquist-dummy mouths and bristly little beards. Their weapon of choice was a noisy torch that triggered fatal bouts of over-acting in its victims. When Russell T Davies brought the Sontarans back to battle with David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor in 2006, they were upgraded to match the show’s new-found popularity and bigger budget. They had sleek and shiny new metallic-blue body armour, almost perfectly spherical heads, and a voracious appetite for conflict and killing that was finally able to be properly conveyed on screen. Blustering and almost comically pompous they may have been, but, boy, did those doppelgangers give UNIT a run for its money in the massacre stakes. Showrunner Steven Moffat leaned into the comically pompous aspect of the Sontarans for their return in seasons six through eight, in the shape of Dan Starkey’s Strax, a played-for-laughs associate of the Doctor, who was perhaps one of Sontar’s most pacifistic sons – although he did enjoy sojourns to Glasgow to fist-fight with the natives.

So what mode of Sontarans will we encounter in season 13? Apparently they’re going to be back in the black-and-grey combat gear of their 1970s heyday. But will they be brutal and militaristic – Doctor Who‘s very own Klingons – or will they be more Strax-like – Doctor Who‘s very own Ferengis – perhaps with an invasion story that’s equal parts Keystone Cops to Charlie Chaplin? Or will we see a story wherein a breakaway faction of the clones wants an end to war and the right to individual autonomy – Doctor Who‘s very own Borg?

One tantalising possibility presents itself, one that could bring back yet another of the show’s long-unseen menaces…

Could The Rutans Join Them?

Chris Chibnall said in this Radio Times interview that he would only consider bringing back old favourites if they’d already appeared in the post-2005 iteration of the show. That means no Sea Devils, no Axons, no Drashigs, no cybernetic pirates with killer robot parrots perched upon their shoulders. But might he make an exception to allow an old foe from the classic series to ride into the modern era on the coat-tails of a qualifying species like the Sontarans?

Read more

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Christopher Eccleston on Why Doctor Who Canon Needs Exploding

By Ryan Britt

The Rutans look like the result of a union betwixt a floating brain and a jellyfish. The Fourth Doctor found one in Victorian England imitating, manipulating and murdering the occupants of a lighthouse. These are the creatures with whom the Sontarans have been locked in an aeons-long battle that has raged across the galaxy, claiming in its wake countless millions in collateral damage. Might we see the Sontarans face off against their sentient-snot rivals using Earth as a battlefield, with only the Doctor standing between humanity and oblivion? I think we’d all enjoy seeing the Rutans updated for the 21st century, rendered so they resemble what they’re supposed to be, and not a plastic bag filled with Vaseline that someone has stuck a torch in. 

Return of the Weeping Angels

The Weeping Angels have also been seen on set, so expect to enjoy some counter-chronological tomfoolery in season 13.

The Weeping Angels were, of course, the brainchild of Steven Moffat, who set them against the Tenth Doctor and Martha (Freema Agyeman) in ‘Blink’, one of the series’ most warmly-regarded episodes to date, classic or contemporary. While ‘Blink’ had its share of timey-wimey-ness, it was at root a simple story, simply told; a satisfying blend of heart and horror, pathos and peril. Each subsequent appearance of the Angels has diluted their impact, although Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor two-parter ‘The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone’ did a commendable job of maintaining much of their menace whilst also doing something a little bit different with them.

The question now is: where have these angels left to tread? We’ve had their spooky debut, their far-future follow-up and a companion swan-song that also saw the city of New York petrified (both figuratively and literally). Many potential scenarios suggest themselves: an Alien-esque race against time on-board a spaceship with an escaped Angel wreaking havoc?; the Doctor entering their quantum realm to communicate with them directly?; the Doctor hurtled back through time by an Angel and having to contravene, or at least bend, their rules on occupying the same point in time and space twice, perhaps by secretly piggy-backing a ride in his/her own Tardis?

I’m secretly hoping we’ll never see a true origin story or get a glimpse of their home planet. Some things are better left mysterious (though many would level that same comment at the events of ‘The Timeless Children‘).

Given that the Angels have been snapped on a sleepy suburban street somewhere in contemporary Europe we can assume that the action is going to be a little more Earth-bound. But might the re-appearance of the Angels (barring their very small prison-based cameo in ‘Revolution of the Daleks’) coincide with the introduction of John Bishop’s Dan, and, if so, what heart-ache might the unforgiving gargoyles have in store for him?

Is The Judoon‘s Story Finished?

The Thirteenth Doctor put herself in the Judoon’s crosshairs when she interfered with their pursuit of a hitherto unknown version of the Doctor, played by Jo Martin. Her solidarity saw her snagged by the Judoon at the climax of ‘The Timeless Children‘, and dragged off to a prison complex that bore more than a passing resemblance to the infamous Time Lord facility ‘Shada’ (glimpsed in all its glory for the first time in the animated reconstruction of the incomplete Tom Baker serial of the same name). The Doctor escaped, with Captain Jack’s help. Does this mean they’re both to be considered fugitives of the Judoon? It all depends who hired the Judoon. If they were employed by the Time Lords to track down Jo Martin’s Doctor and punish her for absconding from The Division (one distinct possibility) then surely the Time Lords would have to re-enlist the Judoon to recapture the Doctor, the one reasonably huge snag there being that all of the Time Lords are dead.

Still. It’s never stopped them before. 

When Will We See the Master Again?

Sacha Dhawan‘s Master doesn’t just chew the scenery: he chews the galaxy. His hysterical, histrionic, genocidal iteration was one of the true highlights of series 12. It’s debatable whether this Master comes post-Missy (after all, few things in the Who-niverse can truly fell a Time Lord, least of all a script) or pre-John Simm (more likely); what isn’t debatable is that we’d love to see him return. He’s almost certain to. Though perhaps not in series 13’s reduced run of eight episodes.

Who Else Could Return?

There may not be room for it this series, but might Chris Chibnall or some yet-to-be-specified future show-runner consider redeeming the Slitheen? Season one’s ‘Boom Town’ showed that there was plenty of pathos lurking behind the raucous farting of this on-the-run criminal family. Could we see their home world? Meet more of their species? Capitalise a little more on their imposing physical presence and terrifying strength? Make them a credibly scary and engaging villain?

And perhaps the Reavers could return to mop up whatever mess the Master has made of Gallifrey’s timeline.      

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Which monsters do you think deserve another crack of the whip? Let us know who you’d like to see making a return…

The post Doctor Who: Which Monsters Will Return in Series 13? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[pirirps]

Piri’s Ultimate List Of Horror Recs (2017 Version)

my go-to compilation of ever single horror/horror-related media i’ve ever enjoyed, including slashers, paranormal, thrillers, creature features, and much, much more 🎃

note: this list has trigger warnings but i am operating under the assumption that you are okay with the standard level of explicit sexuality, vulgarity, violence, and gore present in mainstream horror

horror

original nightmare on elm street series, but especially 1, 3, 4, 6, and freddy vs. jason (tw for implied pedophilia and explicit child murder, tw for rape in #6)

friday the 13th (original and remake)

honestly all the friday the 13th sequels are A Treasure but if you want The Core Canon watch 1-3

my bloody valentine (original)

psycho (original) and tbh all its sequels (tw for sort-of-kind-of incest vibes)

psycho ii and psycho iv are my favorites because (1) meg tilly is adorable in psycho ii and (2) psycho iv has a harley quinn/norman bates cameo and nobody can convince me otherwise

child’s play, child’s play 2, bride of chucky, maybe some sequels after that idk i haven’t seen them yet :(

scream franchise

not the mtv scream series

i mean s1 is decent but there are definitely other horror shows that i would recommend more (will show up later in this post)

1-3 are the best, 4 is worth watching if you really like the characters but as a concept the series has p much run its course by then

tw for rape mentions in scream 1 and 3

predator

peeping tom

kenneth branagh’s frankenstein (tw for a graphic depiction of death in childbirth)

james whale’s frankenstein

bride of frankenstein

the phantom of the opera (1925)

the phantom of the opera (1989) (tw for mild body/surgical horror, general grossness; personally speaking, this is one of my all-time favorite phantom adaptations, because 1. robert englund as the phantom hello oh my god, 2. although it’s much more of a slasher movie than a gothic romance, it does an amazing job of portraying the tragedy in erik’s backstory and his attraction to christine, without implying that he is entitled to christine’s affection and that her love will magically fix him, as some phantom adaptations do)

the phantom of the opera (1943)

alien franchise

the wolfman (2010)

darling (tw for rape)

house on haunted hill (original and remake)

final destination franchise

medium raw: night of the wolf (tw for pedophilia and child murder)

the babadook

the final girls [horror comedy]

the shining (tw for implied child abuse)

the cabin in the woods

hellraiser (tw for incest-y vibes for very brief periods of time)

heathers (tw for eating disorders, suicide, everything high school kids are insensitive assholes about)

from dusk til dawn

an american werewolf in london

the guest

it follows (tw for dubious consent)

nightwatch (tw for implied necrophilia/descriptions of necrophilia, self-mutilation)

re-animator (tw for rape, pedophilia mentions)

carrie (original) (tw for child abuse, religious iconography)

the remake had some interesting like... subtext/imagery but other than that it was pretty *wet fart noise*

the awakening

the craft

the blair witch project

honestly i loved the book of shadows: blair witch 2 bc it kind of parallels the crucible but i can admit that objectively it is Terrible

elvira, mistress of the dark [spooky comedy]*

american mary (tw for rape, (consensual surgical) genital mutilation)

fright night (original and remake)

jaws

listen. this is a horror movie. it was a horror book before that. it was specifically written and later adapted for the purpose of scaring and entertaining people. real life is nothing like this. real sharks are nothing like this. there’s nothing wrong with this movie scaring you but there is everything wrong with using this movie as an excuse to advocate for the wholesale slaughter of animals. sharks are quite possibly the most graceful and beautiful creatures on this earth and i will personally fight anyone who says otherwise

halloween franchise

1-5 are the best imo but no matter what skip #3 because it literally has nothing to do with any of the other movies

not the rob zombie remakes, those are awful

let the right one in [swedish (?) film, watch with subtitles]

rosemary’s baby (original)

night of the living dead (original)

28 days later

suspiria

silent hill (tw for child molestation)

crimson peak (tw for incest)

the lost boys

interview with the vampire

the ring

one missed call

the raven (2012)

repo! the genetic opera

teeth (tw for rape, incest, it’s??????? about a girl who literally has razor-sharp teeth in her vagina and it’s a very tongue-in-cheek commentary on religious repression???? so idk like it’s a wild ride and i love it but watch at your own discretion)

american psycho (tw for rape, general misogyny)

sweeney todd

speaking from experience, this is much better live, the movie sucked out all the fun and humor that wasn’t literally written into the lyrics, so i recommend watching the original broadway cast on youtube or something

there’s also a 1936 movie which i haven’t seen so i can’t speak to its quality BUT i would recommend it on the basis of it being made before the musical was created and thus being based more directly on “the string of pearls” novel which is where the sweeney todd urban legend was originally documented

abott and costello meet [insert universal horror monster here] [spooky comedy]

little shop of horrors (original and remake) [spooky comedy]

the last man on earth (1964)

adapted from the same book i am legend (2007) was adapted from but the last man on earth stays much closer to the original book imo

c. h. u. d.

ghostbusters (1984 and 2016 versions)*

ghost ship

sick girl (tw for bugs, pregnancy horror)

misery (tw for torture)

puppet master series (tw for rape, nazism)

the haunting in connecticut

zombieland**

jurassic park series

lizzie borden took an axe

wolf creek (tw for rape)

it (1990, 2017)

i have........ some nitpicky issues about putting it on this list, because neither movie adaptation really did justice to the whole concept of “derry itself is an extension of an eldritch horror and the real scary part of the story isn’t the clown, it’s the horrible violent tragedies that have repeatedly occurred and then been dismissed throughout derry’s history, leaving the entire town in a large-scale sort of cycle of abuse” so ????????????? idk like i truly do recommend reading the book as well as seeing the movies for The Whole It Experience(TM), but i totally get that not everyone is gonna do that

the 1990 version tells more or less the complete story, but because of that it didn’t have time to include a lot of fun details

the 2017 version only tells the childhood portion of the story, which leaves it time to include fun details. i was really hoping to see more of derry’s backstory or more development on mike and stan as members of marginalized groups -> how that influences their life in derry, but we didn’t get much of that? mike’s importance to the losers (researcher, somewhat of a skeptic/hardass at times to keep the others together) was removed, his healthy family dynamic was removed (mike, richie, and possibly stan are the only characters in the book with healthy family dynamics, somewhat underscoring the concept that derry itself is trapped in a cycle of abuse), and derry’s history of racism is never touched on aside from the kids mentioning “the fire at the black spot” a couple times in passing. overall it was a fun movie and you can tell everyone making it had a blast but compared to the book it’s like. mmmmmmmmmmmmm

BASICALLY what i’m saying here is that the book is really deep wrt social issues, and while neither movie really touches on those concepts in-depth, they are still good horror movies on their own and ofc a part of american pop culture

house of wax (1953)

marnie (tw for rape, abuse and coercion in a marriage dynamic, animal/pet death, graphic depictions of psychological abuse, graphic depiction of a violent death involving a child)

cabin fever (tw for sickness horror/body function horror/unsanitary horror, occasional slurs)

mega shark vs. giant octopus

i don’t even have a real reason for listing this i just can’t believe it exists and i want the whole world to know

texas chainsaw massacre (1974), texas chainsaw massacre 2, texas chainsaw 3d

ju-on: the grudge

phantoms

the plot is pretty ehhh imo but the effects are great; rose mcgowan is gorgeous as always, peter o’toole’s character is great, and ben affleck’s character lowkey has some batman circa arkham knight vibes going on. also, liev schrieber becomes a tentacle monster. i couldn’t make this shit up if i tried y’all

vamps*

this movie. this movie

krysten ritter and alicia silverstone are a couple of vampires, sigourney weaver is their hot mess of a vampire mom, dan stevens is krysten ritter’s boyfriend, wallace shawn is van helsing but he’s basically just vizzini: vampire hunter au and it’s GOLD

it’s literally the cutest and funniest vampire media i’ve ever seen in my life as well as one of the most detailed when it comes to vampire lore i cannot recommend it enough

bram stoker’s dracula

death becomes her**

what we do in the shadows**

disturbia

frankenstein (2004 miniseries, more like a 2-part movie than a tv show)

flatliners (1990) (tw for drug use, uncensored depictions of cadaver dissection)

the cabinet of dr. caligari

the limehouse golem (tw for sexual assault and csa)

repulsion (tw for sexual assault)

the trial (1962)

*spooky comedy: a comedy movie with a spooky premise that i am categorizing with horror movies due to the genre overlap, but that lacks the intense violence, gore, etc. of a horror movie

**horror comedy: a spooky comedy that does not lower the level of violence, gore, etc. that is standard in a horror movie

thrillers

stoker (tw for incest, has a scene in which the protag’s mother verbally abuses her)

m [german film, watch with subtitles] (tw for themes of pedophilia/child molestation/child murder, but it’s worth noting that the whole point of the movie is to condemn and demonize pedophilia)

also one of if not the very first detective movies

nightcrawler (tw for rape)

the vvitch/the witch/however the fuck it’s spelled

rear window (1954)

zodiac

hannibal lecter franchise (tw for cannibalism, obviously)-- the silence of the lambs, hannibal, red dragon, manhunter

manhunter is adapted from the same book red dragon is (red dragon) except manhunter was made before anthony hopkins became The Iconic Hannibal Lecter(TM) so it focuses much more on will graham and francis dolarhyde

hannibal rising is worth watching for gaspard ulliel’s performance but the book was much better

the hannibal movie adaptation changed the ending of the hannibal book while still maintaining a really good and really compelling storyline so the book and movie are definitely both highly recommended by me

gone girl

shutter island (tw for asylum horror)

pan’s labyrinth

tiger house

the champagne murders

the plot and pacing are a little ehhh; in my opinion there was too much tension buildup between characters and not enough actual plot development. BUT, anthony perkins is in it so it’s worth watching if you love him like i do

documentaries

cropsey (documentary on child murders)

urban legends (another documentary, by the same people, talks about how real-life crime affects the american psyche and lives on as urban legends/horror tropes)

the poisoner’s handbook

h. h. holmes

nightmares in red, white, and blue

his name was jason

never sleep again: the elm street legacy

american ripper [currently ongoing tv series]

television/youtube

bates motel

ahs s1 (tw for... literally everything)

slasher

similar basic premise as ahs, but imo ahs is v exploitative and builds the plot on violence and vice, whereas slasher builds the violence and vice on the plot

supernatural (LISTEN........ LISTEN....................... conceptually it’s the bees knees okay)

penny dreadful (tw for constant explicit sexuality, religious iconography/sacrilege, asylum horror)

criminal minds

bbc broadchurch

bbc river

bbc sherlock but literally only ep. 3.4 “the abominable bride”

rosemary’s baby (2-part made-for-tv movie)

unedited footage of a bear

marblehornets

true detective

frankenstein (2004 miniseries, more like a 2-part movie than a tv show)

tbs’ search party

podcasts

the black tapes podcast

small town horror

alice isn’t dead

king falls am [spooky comedy, more sci-fi than horror but there is One Episode that positively screams “love letter to 80s horror movies” so i can’t leave it out with good conscience]

limetown

welcome to night vale [spooky comedy]

the dark tome

video games

until dawn

outlast series

five nights at freddy’s

dead by daylight

bioshock