#MOST OF THEM ARE REALLY REDUNDANT BUT SOME. SOME ARE EPIC

[nudibutch]

dont talk to me or my 900+ hairstyles in skyrim ever again

[dailyadventureprompts]

Tableskills: Making a Game of It

Recently I learned a bit of an unspoken truth that I'd brushed up against in my many years of being a dungeonmaster that I'd never seen put into words before: If you want to liven up whatever's going on in your adventure, figure out a way to engage the players in some kind of game. It's simultaneously the best way to provide a roadblock while making your player's victories feel earned.

This might seem redundant, since you're already playing d&d but give a moment of thought to exactly what portions of d&d are gamified. Once you learn your way around the system, it becomes apparent that D&D really only has three modes of play:

Pure roleplay/storytelling, driven by whatever feels best for the narrative. Which is not technically a game, nor should it (IMO) be gamified.

Tactical combat with a robust rules system, the most gamelike aspect.

A mostly light weight skills based system for overcoming challenges that sits between the two in terms of complexity.

The problem is that there's quite a lot of things that happen in d&d that don't fall neatly into these three systems, the best example being exploration which was supposed to be a "pillar" of gameplay but somehow got lost along the way . This is a glaring omission given how much of the core fantasy of the game (not to mention fantasy in general) is the thrill of discovery, contrasted with the rigours of travelling to/through wondrous locations. How empty is it to have your party play out the fantasy of being on a magical odyssey or delving the unknown when you end up handwaving any actual travel because base d&d doesn't provide a satisfying framework for going from A to B besides skillchecks and random encounters (shameless plug for my own exploration system and the dungeon design framework that goes with it).

The secret sauce that's made d&d and other ttrpgs so enduring is how they fuse the dramatic conventions of storytelling with the dynamics of play. The combat system gives weight and risk to those epic confrontations, and because the players can both get good at combat and are at risk of losing it lets them engage with the moment to moment action far more than pure narration or a single skill roll ever could.

I'm not saying that we need to go as in depth as combat for every gamified narrative beat (the more light weight the better IMO) but having a toolbox full of minigames we can draw upon gives us something to fall back on when we're doing our prep, or when we need to improvise. I've found having this arsenal at hand as imortant as my ability to make memorable NPCs on the fly or rework vital plothooks the party would otherwise miss.

What I'd encourage you as a DM to do is to start building a list of light weight setups/minigames for situations you often find yourself encountering: chase scenes, drinking contests, fair games, anything you think would be useful. Either make them yourself or source them from somewhere on the web, pack your DM binder full of them as needed. While not all players are utterly thrilled by combat, everyone likes having some structured game time thrown in there along with the freeform storytelling and jokes about how that one NPC's name sounds like a sex act.

A quick minigame is likewise a great way to give structure to a session when your party ends up taking a shortcut around your prepared material. Oh they didn't take that monster hunter contract in the sewers and instead want to follow up on rumours about a local caravan? The wagon hands are playing a marble game while their boss negotiates with some local mercahnts, offering to let the party play while they wait. The heroes want to sail out to the island dungeon you don't have prepped yet? Well it looks like the navigator has gone on a bit of a bender, and the party not only need to track them down but also piece together where they left the charts from their drunken remembrances as a form of a logic puzzle.

Artsource

[arttrampbelle]

Disney villain confessions:

Fave Disney villain and why: look it's really really hard to choose. But if i had to. Judge claude frollo. Simply because let's be honest. We will NEVER get a villain like that ever again. Dark,real,raw,and complex af. He's not enjoying being a villain let alone thinking he is one. One could argue he is a victim of the very faith he claims. Ah yes. That guilt be thicc boiz! But anyways,i feel he deserves the top spot because solely of the simplicity in the character and the fact he is ironically the most human in his downfall,his motives,his anger. And that my dears is what is terrifying.

The most closest to him in my fave list is hades but that's because he is the closest to his actual mythos counterpart. Chill,funny,just wants to do his job and everyone is making that a problem for some reason. Because some douchebag son of zuse wanted to show off and be a heroic epic. Thats it. The grand scheme of disneys Hercules is funny af if you really think about it. And meg,honey,he's cute and nice and all that but really?! But it's funny more so because greek mythos is kinda ridiculous too. But ya know.

Oh and captain hook. But more so the character in the movie hook. So damn good. R.i.p robin williams. I love you and miss you so much. He was like a childhood friend to me and i cried when i heard of his passing. Plz in all seriousness,check on your loved ones. Advocate for better mental health care. But back to disneys hook in peter pan. He was fun. Just plain fun to me. It was the feeling on playing on a playground,and that was the point. Tho it could get twisted and dark real quick. Oof. But as for overall. He's fun. I think he's neat and charming.

Scar. Oh my god,Jeremy irons. Legit blew his voice out for this character. Great villain. 10 outta 10.

All the lady Disney villains absolutely kill it but we already knew. Cept mother gothel to me. I feel she's redundant. Cool character,fun. But overall redundant in the grand scheme of things. At least compared to other villains,motives and overall vibe. *shrug* i dont hate her. I just feel she's pointless. Dont hate me plz.

But sadly as all the villains are great. Frollo is my top one.

Now onto my least favorite disney villain:

Gaston. Yeah. I mean he served his purpose. His role. But he's the least appealing of the classic villains. As for any new villains? Nah none of them are as appealing as the classics. They are golden years and renaissance for a reason. you just dont see any oomf to disney villains anymore. Hans is a close 2nd. It's legit just gaston but "pretty" and frozen and motives are weak. Gaston is at least upfront. We know what he's about. But overall I'd punt him into the sun. Hell i feel a lot of Disney villains would find this guy obnoxious and eff him up on spot. I feel it would even make frollo,the most repressed man alive,pissed off and defending belle from this douche. Frollo ffs. Just saying in hypothetical. Look it's no shade to gaston stans and enjoyer. He's a great villain. But he's the least appealing because to me,he's slightly boring but he serves his purpose so i can't hate 100% either. But hans? Nah nobody likes him. Nobody i know.

Again these are just my opinions. No shade to any Disney villain truly. But i neeeeeed oomf,that spice,that charisma,that je ne sais quoi so to speak. I need tragedy,comedy,and either a simple to follow motive or something so complex and straightforward it's believable. Which comes to my point. MAKE THE BULLSHIT BELIEVABLE!!!

Which is why we dont see many disney villains that are appealing anymore.

Now onto fave Disney villains songs.

Omg too many!

Helfire still ranks as my most fave a chilling song.

Poor unfortunate souls. Hell yeah Ursula my girl killed that! Love you sweetheart.

Be prepared. Once again. Jeremy irons rules.

I got friends on the other side. Princess and the frog. Underrated af. And that song is catchy and i love jazz. Lousiana. And this soul that is put into this song? Absolutely delicious.

Overall. I absolutely love Disney villains. And honestly. I loved them more than the princesses. Sorry. But definitely more than most disney princes. Until naveen,i didn't care for any of em really. Maybe beast but more so as beast so it doesn't count. And yes,some that aren't "official" princesses,i count as princesses. Because they are to me. And disney can suck it for that. But yeah naveen was fun,simple,cute,and he actually got character development in the movie. Pretty sweet. The only disney prince i felt earned his princess. That's the gospel truth. Hee hee.

Ok anyways im done ranting and raving about Disney villains.

[waldensblog]

So I finally caught up (my library hold came in) on Born of Blood and Ash.

Full review including some spoilers below the cut, but my TL:DR of the book/Flesh and Fire series as a whole:

I really liked it, 4/5. Some parts did drag on for me, but I was ultimately satisfied with the world, the story, and the romance, and it's not a series I'll forget anytime soon. I'm eager for a Primal of Blood and Bone next spring to see if the FBAA series sticks the landing for me the way FAF did.

Worldbuilding:

I really vibe with this world. I like the Greco-Roman inspired pantheon, with all the different primals and their courts and the fates. I also love the concept of the drakkens and a lot of the different creatures we see, and the way that drinking blood is something associated to the Primals/Gods - it ties in really well to the Ascended/Vamprys needing blood and being undead as Kolis' creations, compared to the Atlantians, created later, who can walk in the sun, etc.

That said, it does get very confusing. There's just.so.much. In part because of how much time went between books (due to publishing dates and the wait between library holds), and just the sheer volume of world-building, I sometimes had to open google to remember what a dakkai was, or the difference between a Demis and a Godling, etc. The Romance: I love Seranyktos. I picked up these books for the Persephone/Hades vibe, and I love how it evolved, with her becoming the True Primal of Life as he remains a Primal of Death, the yin/yang of it, the way they're heartmates, how even though he had his kardia removed he fell in love anyway.

But, sometimes, the smut was a bit much. And I'm not saying that in a prude way - no no, I like smut, I'm all for spice, it's one of the reasons I picked these up. What I mean is... sometimes they'd be going at it for like... 30 pages? Just over and over, and then finally leave the room to do something else, or they'd just get horny at the most random times, etc. It just felt weirdly placed at times, or like the smut wasn't thematic, which is a contrast to how it was in the first two imo. Idk, I guess I like when the smut informs the characters or advances the plot, rather than is in there to be in there as I felt it was in the last volume.

The Story:

I like it, I like the epic scale of the story taking place over eons, the connected generations through Sotoria's line, the eternity of Callum and how it all comes together between the two series. You don't have to read FBAA and FIF together, but it's clear they're meant to go together.

But it did definitely drag at times. The pacing was just off.

Language/Writing Style:

I'm mixed on this one. One the one hand, I really do not mind the more sarcastic tone of these books - it's kind of fun, actually. It's kind of funny when there's meta poking-fun commentary (everyone pointing out that "Lasania" sounds exactly like Lasagna for example).

On the other hand... the writing could be very repetitive. Sometimes Sera would think something, and immediately proceed to say it - which was just... redundant for the reader, or a character would actually say "Not to be repetitive, but". And I lost track of how many conversations had Sera eventually say "Oh, my gods." JLA really does seem to like to give her characters their catch-phrases, and that's not a problem when used in limited doses. But... over and over can be a bit much, and at times I started scanning dialogue pages to get to the point.

There was also the way sometimes something slipped in that shouldn't - I've heard people mention "wind tunnels" before - I don't remember seeing that, but I did make a face when in one of these books, I read "What the hell?". Why is someone saying "Hell" in a world without a Hell? They have an Abyss, that could have worked...

Overall

So, overall, I'm giving these books a 4/5. I do really like them, despite their flaws, and I won't forget them any time soon, and if Primal of Blood and Bone sticks the landing, I might be interested in re-reading them in the future and falling back into this world and the romances.

[septicmomma]

The Problem with Gallifrey (and how to fix it)

Gallifrey is kinda boring…by that, I mean it's as boring as it has been written to be.

I think Gallifrey can be tough to have stories on because majority of the time it serves a lot of plot functions that don’t add up to it being a particularly coherent or grounded place. Which is to say that when it’s been televised that seems to be ALL it’s there to do.

It’s been stuck in this weird limbo position of writers having to base stories purely within the Citadel or use it as a pretence for other stories, we almost never get to meet the people outside of that or spend much time digging into political machinations of their civilisation. Instead, writers have to create arbitrary situations and throw the Doctor into them.

Because their way of life is so alien, part of me thinks it’s out of fear of delving into deep would remove the mysticism that comes from them. Considering there's basically no tangible constrains on what they can do it basically gives anyone free reign to come up with whatever mad conceptual idea their hearts desire. It’s Simultaneously beyond human and extremely human; it’s said to be fantastical but when we see it it’s presented as extremely mundane.

New who especially I think has failed to reach a concurrent middle ground. You either have disgruntled civil servant types spouting out typical political jargon or roaming around Gallifreyan residential areas that suspiciously resemble huts. Classic who had a similar issue too, by spending far TOO much time on Gallifrey, mostly being confined within the Citadel walls straining itself into a chokehold that’s never been allowed to breathe outside of the limited boundaries it set itself. andd the budget being about 10p.

I always think in a society where someone can regenerate into anybody else is quite unlikely to resemble the stuffy world of pompous old duffers we’re use to seeing, although from a mythic perspective it kind of needs to look like that, but the show shouldn’t be strictly beholden to that association otherwise you have the dilemma DW has been in since the War Games.

Big Finish/NAs on the other hand, have created a vast expansive history. You get stuff like the Divergent Universe where the TimeLord's mastery of the cosmos came at a terrible cost that comes back to bite them. They have sentient houses for crying out loud! The expanded media is rich with ideas and weird lore to spawn a sloth of interesting stories.

Unfortunately, the problem with Gallifrey is that it’s a big epic sci-fi/fantasy setting designed ought to have big epic narratives built around it. But these types of narratives don’t really fit into the format of the show. Big Finish’s Gallifrey series is great outlier, because they can have seasons worth to delve into the mythology and intrigue surrounding it. Any Gallifrey story that has to be encompassed in one or two episodes is bound to leave wanting more.

However, we’re now in the rather unique (or redundant) position where Gallifrey is gone, but given the events/time when this happening occurred were left incredibly vague, it's now open to opportunities to carry on without the overplayed time war angst story, without completely undoing Chibnall’s contribution.

Most people I’ve seen feel the need to remove TTC from canon, simply because they don't like it. Whatever anyone thinks of it, the Timeless Child happened. Trying to headcanon it as “The Master/Matrix lied, Susan/The Master/Yaz is TTC instead” doesn't solve anything as there is no way it will stand as a valid argument when the next series rolls around and next one after that, which may or may not choose to cross paths with it.

Personally, I think a good direction to follow would have the scattered survivors be forced to move on in the wake of their planet’s destruction. Perhaps some TimeLords managed to escape and are now scattered across the universe. Potentially have ppl come across the ravaged remains of the Citadel, scavenging for weapons and technology or have the Doctor and CO occasionally run into a Timelord just living life on an alien world.

Essentially Nomads wondering throughout the universe. Have them adjust to new surroundings/environments. Gallifrey has been such a crutch for the Timelords, its stunted them from allowing to grow and evolve as actual characters as well as a society, other than stuffy bureaucrats in daft headgear.

If they wanted to commit to the idea of it being destroyed but want it to feel distinct from the post-time war arc, then this is the way to move forward. Bringing it back for the sake of satisfying disgruntled fans is NOT the right direction.

Bring them back down to feeling beyond our understanding. Make them feel otherworldly. Conceptually Gallifrey can be interesting but DW has rarely capitalised on that. They need to focus on the Time Lords as a mystical powerful force, not the planet itself. Having the status quo reset AGAIN is pretty tiresome as well as pointless, there’s so much story potential in having them be an active presence for once.

They’re much more engrossing when used conceptually and thematically. Russell had Gallifrey/Timelords represent a traumatic period in the Doctors life, Chibs used them as a colonial allegory, Moffat…had them exist I guess.

Now better than ever is the perfect time to reinvent them, wether its dealt with in S14 or 10 years from now. It’s time to move forward.

[legionofpotatoes]

Sorry, knee-jerk reaction straight out the theater. It was more of a death by comparison situation for me. I'll try to explain (spoilers):

I came out of into the spider-verse soaring. The pure cathartic joy that story hit me with is still one of my most treasured cinema memories. Pemberton's triple note motif would send chills down my spine just thinking about it. The scene with dad's quiet apology from behind the door. The leap of faith. The collider goodbyes. The shoulder touch. All of those delicious moments of growth and resolution elevated and magnetized by the fantastic visuals and music. Anyone can wear the mask. A pure, distilled idea that coalesced out of a seemingly complicated, but impressively elegant plot. It still is one of my favorite movies of all time. It swells with joy and love in my heart.

By comparison, across the spider-verse is half a story, and it feels flawed just in that concept alone. I don't know what MCU poison spilled over their instincts, but it's essentially a giant setup for a sequel with only Gwen getting a semblance of closure and resolution. Everything else is tits-up, dramatically confusing at times, and the end drops the ball with the rhythm of the edit so bad that the cut to black hits with a dull, sad thud amidst a chorus of starts and stops. It's a god damn mess. And I hate how much I hate it.

I wanted to love it so, so badly. The visuals are truly incredible, there are no words or praises high enough to credit the artistry on display. Smarter people than me have tried, so I won't waste time on that. The cameos are wild and fun; as maybe another staple of the MCU, but one that feels more at home in the context of this plot. Although still ultimately feeling like a distraction from the aimless story optics. Some of the ideations in theme were interesting; I was excited to see Miles made into the revolutionary against canon, but it all went nowhere. He is robbed with a fake-out resolution with his not-mom and then thrust into a nothing burger plot twist that is painful to watch; it is one of those scenes that has no idea what it wants or is for, so they just keep stretching the aesthetic beats until the edit relieves them with a cut. And everything with the Spot and Miguel was similarly... compelling but just fully dropped with no tact or clarity.

This is without even mentioning the wholly weird timeline cop nonsense they pull with the spider society where every single spider person becomes a willing accomplice in some demented minority report-ass cult of trolley problem judges, with their motive based on an utterly left-field conditional that they all have to specifically lose a police captain in their lives. I realize this whole thing is set up as a false ethos that will be interrogated in the sequel, but to have all of those spiders surround miles as miguel is explaining to him why he has to let his father die... still seems pretty insane? also didn't he lose his uncle already? how is he still being qualified for the trauma olympics??? what are we doing here?

I know, I know. It's a part 1. And in that vein it's all truly fine. It's just a me thing, I don't like these chaptered epics. Feels so redundant somehow. They're not telling a complicated story here, they really aren't. I left the theater so bummed out and disappointed. Why do that to this property. Why make it into a sequel-baiting cash cow. I did think losing Peter Ramsay as director would hurt a little, but not this much?? Like what happened. Lord and Miller were still involved in writing, no? Why did they decide to make this choice?

My kingdom to the audio-visual teams on this project. I loved every tiny little detail - their skin sags upwards when they talk upside-down on that skyscraper - but it's still all embellishment and texture for your story. And the story just didn't land for me at all :(

we’re going to see the new spidered man today i’ll let everyone know if it’s good!

[faroreswinds]

Controversial opinion but I saw you already posted about it: I think Byleth fits far better into the story of 3h than Claude ever did and I find even the existence of Leicester very redundant when it’s one of the least developed parts of the game. I admit to being biased as a Blue Lions fan (and as a multishipper who also throws in a lot of Flayn and Byleth ships into the Lions) but at least they get their culture and conflicts and issues shown. The church isn’t as developed but it still is clearly very important. Byleth is also excellent in Azure Moon, Flayn gets some of her best supports with the Lions (and Azure Gleam is right there), the church and Faerghus have a close relationship and history, and they tell the story of the continent extremely well. But what does Claude, and by extension, Leicester, bring to the table, when even in the mess that is Hopes the Lions stay morally and thematically consistent but Claude is apparently able to become an incoherent indescribable quagmire after part 1? We don’t know any specifics about his governance and even his “dream” is very much based on his wants even when he supposedly develops more compassion for the peasants Dimitri has always been concerned about from the start, and his fans are so closely related to Edelstans that I can’t see why people like him yet throw mud at my fave lizards.

Well, setting aside Byleth here (who should make sense in the story since the story was basically created for them), I wouldn't necessarily call this a case of bias with your complaints.

Besides wanting to end racism, what does Claude and, by extension, the Alliance really bring to the table that is different from the other two. Sneaky plans? Because I can't think of much.

I've seen the Alliance described as "recruits for BL or BE" and that's honestly pretty accurate. They have almost no allegiance to their nation (Hopes has an entire scene in SB where the few students Claude could gather up all had a "we will stand with you Claude! ... Unless something happens, then we will join the other side" spiel). Not even Claude really does. He is more loyal in Hopes, wishing to give his nation that big edge and screw the other nations over, but in Houses he's quick to dip or to hand over the entire Alliance. Claude's loyalties really are with Almyra... which is almost no development or screen time at all. Heck, Hilda is not even Claude's retainer, NADER is.

What about their culture? Well, officially, it's described has being both the Kingdom and the Empire's cultures sort of mixed into one. The Alliance inherited a lot of leftovers from the Kingdom from the days when they were under their rule, but adapted Empire fashion. Which makes sense, but then they have such little unique identity that it makes it hard to distinguish them from the other nations. What seems to be uniquely their own culture is to not care about their own culture.

And in terms of themes.... well, I can't think of anything they bring to the table that the Empire of Kingdom doesn't already. Change the world? Edelgard already has that covered. Racism? Dimitri actually has the better story about that and talks about it way more, surprisingly. Being an outsider? That's probably the "thing", but like... no one treats him as an outsider, and neither GW or VW are ever about feeling like you don't belong. Heck, people don't even know he's half Alymran. Come on!

Claude is honestly the most privileged of the three lords. Edelgard's family was killed, her father made inept, and her mother is a murderer who happily planned to have her own step-son killed. And she was put through some serious experimentation. Finally, she had to fight her way to the throne, else she would have been a puppet ruler like her father. Dimitri... Well, Dimitri is just a tragedy epic. But Claude? Two parents, two hereditary "thrones" and one he got with little resistance. I know his life was still hard but man, you wouldn't know it with how little he talks about his troubles and woes.

And you know, I like Claude. I do. Except his GW self, that one can fuck off. But Claude as a concept is great. It's just that... they didn't know what to do with him.

[randomnumbers751650]

So, I saw a complaint in Twitter about Touhou LostWord by saying the writers make the characters too kind. TLW gets a really bad reputation in Twitter because of its gacha nature and how some people consider it doesn’t represent Gensokyo. As usual with Twitter, the chances of anything going toxic are high, so I’m posting here because I don’t want to deal with Twitter. It might even seem that I’m giving way too much effort to a petty complaint, this thought did pass through my mind, but I also see an opportunity to write about storytelling styles, so I feel this is going to be long. And venting because there are a lot of things I regret when I was more active in the fandom.

But I wanted to say that I don’t disagree. I’ve discussed with friends on how the characters are much kinder than in canon. I disagree is that this is necessarily a bad thing (notice the word “necessarily”, it’s not the usual redundant adverb).

In canon Touhou, the characters don’t need to be “kind”, because they’re fighting and being rude to each other, because they’re essentially playing a sport - spell cards. Trash-talking is part of it. Like, one of Reimu’s most memorable quotes is her wanting to punch a child to calm down. But, in the end of the day, when the incident is solved, they go for tea (and sometimes beer), which shows that deep inside they are on friendly terms or at least want to be in friendly terms in spite of rivalries that can even get bitter for a few characters. There are genuinely kind characters like Hina, but the roster is full of the most different personalities.

The point is that most canon plots don’t have a need to have the characters being kind. Like, they’re solving their difference by blasting each other with non-lethal bullets, in which the objective is to make the prettiest pattern. From what I heard, there are cases they’re kind in the mangas, but I feel it must serve its context. ZUN explores more slice of life episodes in the companion mangas. Sometimes he explores a wider story, which was the Moriya arc. But he makes sure to write the story he wants and he’s made clear he’d rather not write stories that potentially change the status quo of Gensokyo. Even if new factions are added to Gensokyo, they don’t change the status quo.

Lots of series have this style, of daily shenanigans, mysteries and still keeping character development to a minimum or subtle, but I wished I could see more of it in Touhou. In my opinion, it’d be nice a story that’d show the progress of Gensokyo after the spellcards, the human characters growing, but this is not the kind of story that ZUN wants to tell. Gensokyo, in canon, is essentially a place where the moment is preserved, it’s a dream that has no set time to end. I feel the moment Reimu starts to show she’s growing up, it’ll be the moment ZUN will start to close the curtains of Gensokyo, to give his own ending to it. That’s why I think something like Concealed the Conclusion, even if outdated, would be a fitting series finale. I’m really not a great danmaku player (only reached Remilia once), so this is a reason why I fell off the fandom after Hopeless Masquerade. I still listened to the songs and from times to times I looked on fanart and I wondered who were these new characters.

Another reason why I fell off is one I think that I’m not proud. I used to read and write fanfics and, of course, it involved Touhou fanfics. And, of course, there were fanfics that gave the “epic” treatment to Touhou, in which fics followed an OC or even a canon character. The quality of most fanfics was questionable, but I had lower standards and knew what I wanted.

And in most of these stories, they portrayed a really edgy view of Gensokyo. I remember one of them had the plot that the people from the Human Village purposefully luring outsider humans to feed the youkai to let them alone. A lot of them had some sort of social darwinistic vibe to it. I even have to admit got a bit of sadistic liking of seeing OCs (“gappies”, remember that term? I helped propagate it and I hope I’m overestimating myself) being tossed in the Gensokyo meatgrinder, because what kind of idiot would want to live there, the Human Village is a zoo for youkai and the outsiders are just imbeciles for merely desiring it. If you weren’t rescued by Reimu or any incident solver, you’d be dead, and if you were, they’d be complaining all along about having to save useless outsiders. Triumphing over all that and mastering magic, sometimes better than the natives, using the superior knowledge of the Outside World was a common theme and the more I think, the more it sounds like some “white man’s burden” story.

I remember how stories became so big, so massive. Gensokyo in canon is just a small - for our standards - valley in some forgotten rural part of Japan, but fanfics were treating it as if it was some sort of continent. So, the idea that Gensokyo is a hellhole, full of jerks, started to settle down on my mind. In hindsight, they took the series’ trash-talking too seriously.

Did I mention I was an idiot?

I got really bummed and move on to other fandoms. But I mellowed out my opinion of Gensokyo. Then I started to study mythology and it’s frustrating: I wish I knew the things I know today back then. Touhou follows a “traditional” style. For example, the question “what is a youkai?” refers to unexplained phenomena given personality. Traditional societies didn’t have a developed concept of “chance” or “uncertainty”; everything had a will.

Let’s pick Rumia, for example. It’s useful because most of those fics had Rumia as the first enemy youkai encounter, which either ate or was defeated by the protagonist and it was the first Windows character to fight against.

Imagine the exchange:

Outsider: “This man died because he walked in the dark and tripped, breaking his neck. Then, the animals ate his corpse.”

Gensokyan 1: “What are you talking about? This is clearly work of Rumia! She placed a dark spell over him and ate him.”

Gensokyan 2: “Yes, I saw her the other day stalking me. Luckily I had my lantern and my rosary.”

The Outsider represents the rational person, while the Gensokyans represent the traditional one, what was once the common sense. But since Gensokyo is where the modern common sense dies, they’re right. They follow the same principle of personalization of phenomena to better cope with them and potentially bargain with them, that’s what offerings and rituals – and danmaku in Touhou – are for and Akyuu’s recommendations on how to deal with different youkai. The modern world introduced rationality, eliminating the need to personalize phenomena and there’s no “need” to bargain with them anymore.

This was a reason why Gensokyo was separated from the Outside World and why Kanako is setting herself as a goddess of science. I think knowing this knowledge doesn’t hurt a youkai (TLW has a line that the Fairies of Light from an alternate Gensokyo read science books to better use their powers), but the problem is letting people in the Human Village understand the natural causes. I remember there’s a case of the villagers understanding the nature of echoes and that made the yamabiko disappear (but Kyouko is still at Myouren Temple, so even that might not be as absolute).

That has been the subtext of most works that deal in “traditional magic”, including Touhou (as opposed to “modern magic” that treats magic as unanalyzed science and can be quantified to, like, make D&D spells), that magic is a means to explain the world through forces of narrative, instead forces of nature.

Clarke’s third law says that any sufficiently advanced technology would be indistinguishable of magic, but Arthur Clarke, in spite of being a giant of sci-fi, never studied seriously pre-capitalist societies as far as I know. Therefore, I don’t think this law is right in most of cases. Even when traditional societies treated something from more technologically developed nations as magic, it didn’t last. On the contrary, magical explanations emerge from too many questions and too little answers. That’s why there are so many esoteric charlatans who take advantage of quantum physics, the volume of questions created by quantum physics is much bigger than answers.

But most fanfic writers and readers never really understood this. I, who had both roles, didn’t as well. I remember I couldn’t understand that youkai were “presences” – which is the translation of the term – and I couldn’t stop treating them as creatures, as real beings, applying the same set of principles than when seeing a dog or a cat. They kept treating Touhou as if it was Star Wars, a franchise directed for epics and stories of triumph – at best, the original Star Trek would be a better model. The very idea of danmaku itself is very hard to translate in print to the point of begging the question if it should even be. And that created all those edgy worlds full of jerks. So that got me very jaded, but I was starting to mellow out in late 2020.

So, when I downloaded TLW, I did it out of curiosity. The art attracted me and, although a certain part of me wanted to quit with Buttchouli, I continued. And when Protagonist finally meets Reimu, due to my previous experience, I fully expected Reimu to be grumpy and complaining about “rescuing another loser”. Instead, she went out of her way to help a complete stranger. She didn’t even think twice about helping Protagonist.

That…shocked me.

I know TLW isn’t canon, but would it be different in canon? She might be the grumpy, rude shrine maiden, a complete parody of the yamato nadeshiko traditional in Japanese society, but would she deny help to stranger like Protagonist?

It’s true that the big players in Gensokyo banded together to help Protagonist because she is now a Person Of Interest, but would it be that different if Protagonist was just a(n even more) normal person that got spirited away and wanted to return home? Maybe Gensokyo isn’t the hellhole that’s portrayed in darker fanfics.

As cursed as the little sister event was, it was good to show that Protagonist is the “little sister” of Gensokyo not because of her age (she’s probably as old as Maribel, Renko and Yumemi), but because of her inexperience. One wrong step in Gensokyo and she will be gone and the incident might destroy the place. That’s why she needs to be under constant supervision, like a little sister.

Protagonist, therefore, allows the Touhou characters to show the sides that they don’t need to show much in the canon series, like their kindness towards others. Like Reimu caring for Protagonist as if she was a little sister since for an important clan, her family is conspicuously absent, Sakuya showing a warm side, Yuugi saying Protagonist is safe with her if she goes to hell, Medicine learning that there are things more to life than her avenging dolls, Flandre learning self-control to not explode Protagonist, Cirno having someone who’s not annoyed with her boasting, Marisa risking her life for her friends. Daiyousei and Koakuma, who have zero characterization in EoSD, are actually the kindest members of the cast. In this sense, the writing is good because it shows something apparently new with canon characters that have always been there, but didn’t have much opportunity to explore.

Again, it’s because it makes sense for the story. If this was a canon Touhou game or manga, it’d be strange, because that’s not the story ZUN wants to write. But, because they’re fighting a threat that requires all Gensokyo united, it’s not strange. The characters can develop with a catalyst in the form of Protagonist. The fairy event is another example, where fairies can get strong, in other words, they can develop without causing problems to Gensokyo.

That is why Hifuu is probably the best chapter. It’s not because it’s a tragedy, but because, when Protagonist discovered the lost word of the place, the writers showed to understand the meaning of magic. And it understands what happens if it wanted to be a more “serious” story.

In conclusion, Gensokyo isn’t a hellhole, neither a paradise. It is what you want it to be, depending on how well you respect it. It’s a dangerous place, but people all over the world live in places we’d consider dangerous. It only has the addition you’ll have to bargain with personalized phenomena and forces of nature in a more literal-fantastic way. Do you want to have a Gensokyo experience in real life? Go to the deep of the Amazon forest or a desert island with minimal equipment, you’ll start to “see” youkai everywhere. I guess I like TLW because it’s the kind of story I wanted to read, but written with the mindset I wish I had earlier. It’s detrimental it’s a gacha with very questionable prices and thus requires money or else they’ll pull the plug off, but while it’s here I hope to continue enjoying. But it captures well what ZUN wanted Gensokyo to be: a place that can accept anyone.

[hacawijo]

SJM ACOSF Live Event Notes: Canada

I’m not Canadian but this is the stream that worked in my schedule lol. Also sorry if any of this is redundant, I didn’t want to leave anything out in case this is the first you’re reading about any of these lives.

NOTE: she specifically didn’t give confirmation about who the next book will follow, she knows, but she said her publishing team will probably want to find the right time to announce it! Thus, we can only guess for now what the NEXT book will be about.

SJM Live - 7PM EST. Wed. 2/24/21

Indigo — CA Live

— Sarah began writing this while writing the third book in the ACOTAR series. She wanted to look at what happens after, Cassian and Nesta’s chemistry made her want to write them first. “It was almost like writing fanfiction of my own stuff…”

— Accidentally pitched the sequels — wanted to tell the stories of all these other characters, wanted to explore the world, and what happens when the big battle is over, who makes a play for power. How will the Night Court involve or not involve themselves?

— World-building meets steamy romance - her two favorite things

— She knew from the start that Nesta was a lot more than you were seeing, she’s actually the one person who saw through Tamlin’s glamour. Someone who is closed off and appears as if she doesn’t care - but she does, and deeply, she just doesn’t know how to express it.

— Her own mental health journey informed her work on Nesta’s - things got worse for her and this was around when she started Nesta’s story over. She finally decided to go to therapy and started meds and coping skills and went on this journey that happened to be similar to what Nesta was going through. None of it is autobiographical though!

— Honestly going to cry about how she’s talking about Nesta, she didn’t need to be redeemed, she just needed to be able to understand what she had done and experienced and move forward.

— How do you face the things you’ve done that you’re not proud of and how do you face the people you’ve harmed?

— She’s come to realize that she has a giant soft spot for the tall goofy guys that seem tough but are big softies. She has a big crush on Gronk, which is hilarious. She described her husband as tall and goofy. She immediately loved Cassian and understood him more-so than some other characters.

— OMG this interviewer. “Tell me a little bit about their sex…”

— Her father is currently reading the book, Sarah begged her mother to take the book away from her father. There’s a big difference between her mother and her FATHER reading the sex scenes.

— BJ SCENE: Nesta’s sexuality is a way for her to express herself through her body and in a way she understands and is good at.

— Sarah wants to write in the sweet spot between really steamy and epic romance and epic fantasy and world-building.

— How does Sarah world-build? She actually builds it while writing the story, but starts with a vague understanding of the world - she wants to know how they get the fruit for their breakfast every morning, and all of those little details. She comes across little details that just live in a magical place in her head - she discovered the Weaver in the woods while she was in New Zealand.

— She was inspired by her own New Zealand hikes to write Nesta and Cassian’s.

— She takes notes on all of her experiences so that she can use them later in her books (i.e. when she has a fever and is sick she even takes notes so she’ll be able to describe that sensation accurately).

— Sarah loves world mythology and she loves the really messy, terrifying fairy tales and folklore - stories that taught survivalist lessons. The Scene with the kelpie is one of her favorite scenes she’s ever written because it took her to a place of primal terror. This scene was barely edited from the first draft, it has basically stayed the same since she initially wrote it.

— Yeah this interviewer is behind, she asks the mega-verse question again. Sarah took the scene out of ACOSF where Rhys sees Aelin, but she did confirm that he was talking about Aelin when he told people he saw a star - he saw Aelin but was spooked and didn’t want to tell everyone.

— She identifies with Nesta’s emotional journey the most, Sarah feels like she’s the most like Bryce (but her parents might say she’s like Aelin). It’s like a personality test, sometimes she feels more like a Feyre or an Aelin. They all have parts of her.

— Sarah pictures the fight scenes in her mind, but with Nesta’s book she actually paid attention to how someone builds those skills (her other protagonists were already trained fighters). She talked to her personal trainer who taught her a bit about swordplay. She went through sessions and she paid attention to where she was sore afterward and such.

— What would Nesta’s beast form be? Sarah says something feline, like a snow leopard with gold wings and iron teeth and silver claws. Mesmerizingly beautiful and dangerous.

— She’s currently editing CC 2, about to get edits back! She says a lot of the side characters will get their own subplots in the second book- it will open up the world a lot more.

— Writing through COVID was hard for her, she felt guilt going off to play in fantasy worlds when so many people were struggling with job loss and sickness. But now she can work and is grateful for that escapism.

— Plans for next ACOTAR: She has it plotted out in her head and knows exactly who it will be about and what will happen. It’s in the queue. She won’t say who it’s about because she thinks her publishing team will want to weigh in on when to announce.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Final Thoughts on Star Twinkle Precure (From Someone Who’s New to the Franchise)

So I just finished my second Precure season last night, and I really think this show got better in its third act

There were a lot more character focus episodes as the Precures focused on discovering their “Twinkle Imagination”, and it was interesting to see them try to make amends with their enemies while thinking about the future. Admittedly, it was a little redundant, because nothing really changed in their team attack with Fuwa, but the new forms looked pretty cool.

My favorite episode has to be 45 because it touches on a lot of harsh subjects that come with getting older and had an amazing fight between Cure Star and Kappard, and a pretty chilling echo of Star’s catchphrase by Kappard as he tried to break her spirit, which only leads to her triumphantly unlocking her Twinkle Imagination.

The villains also got a lot more depth, and their redemption felt more natural compared to Heartcatch, as there was more buildup to how they turned to evil in the first place. It just felt cathartic to see them all team up with the Precures and the not-Federation to stop the big bad together

The one villain who wasn’t interesting was Madoka’s father whose name I don’t even care enough to look up, so I’m going to call him Dad-Doka. Yeah, he’s just an asshole. I get we’re supposed to hate him, but he’s just so underdeveloped, and despite supposedly hinting at playing a big role in the show early on, he doesn’t really do anything until Episode 40. What does he do? Despite being part of an organization dedicated to discreetly finding ways to prove aliens exist, he decides to tell a bunch of middle schoolers he thinks Lala is an alien just to draw Lala out. Let me repeat this. A man part of a government-sanctioned project to secretly proving aliens are on Earth thinks the best way to do so is to tell a bunch of civilians about them and hope they’ll keep it a secret. You all know where this is going.

I mean, he does basically get fired for his incompetence, but we never find out what exactly he had against aliens in the first place. Was he abducted by one? Did one take his favorite childhood sled? Did one sleep with his wife? We don’t know. The most I can gather, and this is pure speculation, is that it’s because one episode hints Madoka comes from a family of monster hunters, and other episodes imply that certain cryptids are aliens, this is an extension of Dad-Doka carrying out his family’s legacy. It’s not much, but it’s something.

And then he tries to force Madoka to study abroad in London for a semester (implied to be because he’s tired of her disobedience), and when she finally tells him to piss off, he wonders if he was too soft on her. At least it’s implied Gabriel was happier and less of a hardass before Emilie died, but this asshole has no excuse at all! And his wife was complicit in the treatment of Madoka, so how is she any better?

And then there’s never really resolution outside of a scene in the finale where it turns out Madoka (who’s in charge of Japan’s space program) is still working for Dad-Doka because he somehow became the Prime Minister of Japan. I get I’m not really one to judge with some of the last few Presidents we’ve elected, but how the hell did this guy get into that position? In fact, doesn’t that undermine the whole point of her character arc? Wouldn’t it make more sense if Madoka was the Prime Minister and Dad-Doka was working for her? God, this is stupid...

In conclusion, this character sucks, and I hate him.

Other than that, the action was still good, and the twist of who the big bad was was really clever and made a lot of sense, even though it made the Star Princesses look like a bunch of morons without giving much away. The finale (not the epilogue episode) had some tight drama between the Precures struggling to regain their resolve after everything goes wrong, leading to an emotional recreation of the transformation song (Yeah, they sing while transforming, I forgot to mention that), and an epic final battle followed by a tearful goodbye for the heroes.

Overall, I really enjoyed this series, and while I think it had a better final arc than Heartcatch, I think I prefer Heartcatch because it had more consistent writing and quality to it, and it didn’t really dip much outside of a few hiccups, though it barely edges out Star Twinkle for me.

So yeah, that’s my second Precure season done, and I’ve already thought of which one I’ll check out next. I’ve gotten a lot of recommendations from my anons, so even though the show told me to watch Healin’ Good next, I’m going to go with Go! Princess Precure next, as I’ve heard a lot of good things about it.

[marimo-o]

ok so im making a long ass post about Abzu (the game) within the context of mesopotamian mythology because I'm insane. It's gonna be a doozy and likely incomprehensible so <3 below the cut it goes! There's gonna be TONS of spoilers for the game, and, like, I guess for the mesopotamian creation epic, so. Play Abzu if you haven't and if you wanna read the Enuma Elish that's also cool. Good for u

(a note from afterwards: it's long. like, REALLY fucking long, holy shit. if you actually want to read the whole thing, be. prepared or something idk take breaks! the last two paragraphs (i know they're walls of text pls bear with me) contain most of the important information. like, the final hurrah of my brain after working on this for multiple hours! So if u wanna save time and avoid some of the redundancy, just skip to those last two <3)

So "Abzu" referred to two things; the fresh water people got from underground aquifers (also as the void-sea which was underneath the Sumerian underworld, Kur), and the deity; he only appeared in the creation story, Enuma Elish, because a big part of that whole thing was that oh no! He dies! And that's also a thing I'm gonna touch on (sorry about the lack of accent marks in advance, it's not available on my current keyboard^ ^;)

I'm gonna start off with a brief tale of what happened with Abzu the deity, and then move onto how both the deity and the concept relate to the game!

So like I mentioned, Abzu the deity only really appears in the creation myth. The story goes that the Primordial Soup divided into two beings, with Abzu representing the freshwater and Tiamat being the saltwater. They were married, and together birthed some of the first formative gods! Some of these gods, jealous of Abzu's power convinced Tiamat to kill him (or, I thought it was started by Tiamat growing resentful of the younger gods, one of those). Either way, Abzu was killed, and Tiamat ended up lashing out, creating the first "dragons", or perhaps becoming one herself; with "poison instead of blood". She is killed by Marduk, the god of storms and the child of Enki (one of the first gods created by Abzu and Tiamat), and from her body the heavens and the earth are formed. Imagine getting killed by ur grandson lol cringe /j

Now! The waters itself! This also brings Enki into the equation, who kinda took over as god of the waters in place of his dead father. He's also the god of creation, intelligence, crafts, mischief, and more! Very important guy.

Abzu refers to both the groundwater reservoirs that people depended on for both accessible clean water and for some agricultural work, and also to the void-sea beneath the underworld, where it is said that Enki rests. He had a temple at Eridu, a now-ruined city, and I remember hearing somewhere that he lived in a temple in an underground aquifer? But I can't find wherever I read that anymore so don't take my word for it. Anyway, the basics of Enki as a deity is: child of Tiamat and Abzu, widely worshipped in his time, god of the waters, generally a cool and important dude.

And now. Finally. We move onto the game. My head hurts.

So, for a quick (post-writing: lol it's not quick) overview of the game; you play as a funny little diver, who woke up in the middle of the ocean and, as the player, are given no clues as to who or what you are. You explore through the ocean levels peacefully at first, and with the guidance of a scarred shark (painted as a bit of an antagonist at first with the audio cues) you make your way to wells at the bottom-center of each level that revitalize the space around them; as they progress, many levels start out as barren, empty landscapes that give you a foreboding, nervous feeling going in, before using an energy from yourself to rekindle the life. Huge coral growths, seaweed, and a myriad of ocean animals spring to life. The player character can also ride on the sides of the bigger ones! The game also puts a big stress on unity between yourself and the environment; there's not a whole lot you can physically interact with, but you can play with the animals there and, like I said before, ride on some of the larger animals. There are also "meditation spots", statues where you can sit and explore the wildlife from more of their point of view, able to follow them seamlessly and see what the different kinds of fish and such are called. It's a calming experience, and really the most interaction you get with some of the more timid animals, letting you still see them up close even if you can't get there as the player character.

The story of the game is told via writings on the walls, which you can light up and access by solving small puzzles regarding connecting reservoirs of glowing waters, similar to that of the almost cosmic area you go to between levels; one thing I read described it as a kind of "rebirth area", which I can definitely see hehe!

At the end of the game, you've held the shark in its dying moments, you've discovered a strange factory that builds the weird triangular prisms that deliver anything that touches them a shock, the little flashlight dudes that you've found over the levels, and little divers that uncannily resemble yourself, and you've seen yourself disassembled to your funny little mechanical skeleton, weak and slow as you try to walk on land, before you are rebirthed from the void-cosmic-water area once again, fully yourself. There's a wonderful ending sequence where you swim through all these rivers, bringing life with you as you go, with the shark once again by your side. The whole game, you saw no land when you poked your head above water, just miles and miles of water, but you've travelled far enough to reach a reservoir. You cut the chains to a central triangular prism, and it grows over with moss. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it, really, it feels like such a... grand gesture as you play through it. It feels personal.

Okay. Theory time. Finally, we're getting into the meat of it. Fucking hell.

So, imagine that you are this being. You're wandering an oceanic wonderland, observing and caring for what you need to, doing as any good little diver should. After a bit of poking around, you discover the start of the engravings on the walls; they tell the story of the people that were here before you, who built these temples and halls and used, or at least stored, the strange blue glowing "water" that you connect and move. It's a water of life, of sorts, one that they truly valued. You come to an impasse between areas, and this massive, scarred-up shark cuts in front of you. You're gonna stay hidden, that thing is terrifying! You try not to move. It doesn't spot you, or at least doesn't move to attack you. However, once it's safely out of view, you do follow it, and it leads you to a dark, desolate, empty chamber. This is wrong, you think to yourself. This isn't how it should be. There's a well, towards the bottom, and you approach it, taking... a fragment of light, from your chest, and imbuing that spark of life into the well. And, lo and behold, that intuition proved helpful, because the world around you springs back to life. Congratulations! You did it! And you continue to, as you work past puzzles and challenges and the appearance of these strange triangular mechanisms, that shock you when you get too close. These people worshipped a shark, as well, likely the same as the one you saw; the guide, now old and scarred, that brings you to where that spark is needed. Even later in the game, you see depictions of the triangular mechanisms, at first heralded as a positive, before these things are found to be the reason for this society's collapse. As if that wasn't perplexing enough, you see a depiction of a being that appears suspiciously similar to yourself, once again treated with reverence from the past civilization. In their hand is a ball of light, similar to the one shown when you revitalize the oceanic chambers. Well, that's certainly odd, you think to yourself. Perhaps this was a being that postponed the death of the civilization, or first allowed for those small chambers of life to exist in captivity instead of the open, natural landscapes you explored at the start. Regardless, it's now a relic of something long gone; but it still gives you something to think about. Later on, that strange coincidence of your similarities to that person are explained; you find a manufacturing plant, full of the vicious triangular mechanisms in each tight hallway, and right at the center of it all... multiple iterations of yourself, running down an assembly line, a spark not unlike what you saw before imbued into each of them. My, look at that; you've been responsible for part of this destruction all along, haven't you? Borne from that same ill that has been forcibly removing that spark from each of the places you've gone to. A bit inconsiderate of you, no? And yet... look at all the good you've done. You've rebirthed, revitalized, purified these ocean fragments, is that not enough? You are the keeper of these waters, regardless of the evil you had come from, despite the terrifying empty things may have reverted to. You, who trusted and followed the shark that seemed so scary at first. You, who followed it as it tried to attack a source of the evil, of the thing that was draining the oceans of their life. You, who held and comforted that shark as it lay dying, despite any fear you may have had. You, who attempted to traverse a minefield of those triangular machines, shocked over and over again and at the final moment, unable to make it to the finish line. You, who was rebirthed in full regardless by the oceans you'd cared for, by the void-sea you always returned to, to rest. You, who traversed a now-ruined citadel, temple, all of which had been flooded and had been dedicated to you. You, who brought life with you.

I hope you see what I'm getting at here. You're serving as a figure not unlike Enki, god and guardian of the waters. In the wake of Abzu, the avatar of the fresh waters, now confined to irrigation canals so as not to kill the younger gods, Tiamat lashes out. Her husband is dead, as far as she is concerned, and she goes to those younger gods to seek her revenge. The dragon, that which sucked the life from the seas and poisoned the waters. That which Marduk killed, to carve new life from. I would say that the shark is Marduk, even; given how the shark is the only one who is openly on the offense to those mechanisms, and who comes in at the endgame to finish them off, bringing new life with it. Even in how it all shapes up with the civilization before, in connection to the constructs; Tiamat was the mother of all in existence at that time. She was surely loved; but she turned hostile and violent. She could no longer be safely loved. And Abzu, both the glowing water we use to open doors and the light that we hold and the deep void-sea we enter between levels and father to all in existence, he was confined to small canals and reservoirs and put in a deep sleep so that he would not kill his own children. And by you, no less. Enki put him there. That is why you can use that water from the start; you lived in the Abzu, you came from it, and each time, that is where you return. That temple, now submerged and decrepit, is Eridu; the place where Enki was most worshipped. The other diver clones are the other gods, or perhaps the "dragons", now, that Tiamat had mothered. The smaller prisms definitely count in that "dragon" category; purely harmful beings that seek to destroy life. And in the end, indeed, you restore life; you and your son, upon killing Tiamat, return life to the world from her body. Perhaps you could not save those who once worshipped you, perhaps those structures will forever be in ruin. But there is no more danger, now; there is space to build and replenish. There is space to grow.

Fuck ok that was long as hell. Hi if u made it this far i love u. god fucking damn im never writing anything again after this. it took about as long as a full playthrough of the game, coincidentally!!

[guynamedultimax]

What if Kirby had a traditional fighting game?

Listen, I know I should’ve done more “FNF fighting game characters” but i doubt anyone cared for that, and even then I lost a bit of interest, so if you actually cared sorry about that, you can still come up with whatever you want for the characters I didn’t talk about!

That being said, I think all Kirby fans here know Kirby Fighters 2. Personally speaking most of it was just the same as Kirby Fighters Deluxe BUT there were five playable Dream Friends. FIVE. Priority to the Copy Abilities a bit too high, isn’t it HAL? Sometimes it feels a bit barebones if you ask me. So I’m here to discuss what would a non-platform Kirby fighting game be.

THE GAMEPLAY

It’s the same as any basic fighting game, there isn’t really that much that the Kirby franchise can offer to make the genre a bit more varied, and that’s mostly due to the fact that Kirby makes friends wherever he goes and combat is pretty much straightforward in these platforming games, the crazy stuff comes from learning specific moves with each copy ability/character in the games and that’s also true for this game.

THE PLOT

I have quite a few ideas for how this can go:

-It’s a “what if” re-telling of Kirby Star Allies where Hyness’ ritual (somehow) also causes space-time rifts across the entire universe to be generated, pulling in Kirby villains from previous games but also allies, which would ALSO explain Dream Friends in the game’s canon a bit more properly.

-It happens in an AU. Plot would basically be Kirby Battle Royale’s but instead of shooting a loadshit of Kirbies onto Kirby, Dedede would just call upon all of their friends to fight for that cake before things escalate and Dedede loses control of the tournament to greater evils, forcing him to work with Kirby to stop the threat, be it old or new.

-Another AU idea but this time it’s original/based on Milky Way Wishes. Galactic NOVA appears every thousand years above Pop Star’s skies, and everyone tries to fight for the right to get the wish. Villain wouldn’t necessarily be ONLY Marx though, most of the Kirby villains could easily win against him if they get to NOVA and get their wish granted. Which means yes, all plots happen at once and Kirby has to deal with everyone at once.

-The least interesting idea: it’s Kirby Fighters 2′s plot but without tag team duos and with all Kirbies replaced with the roster.

THE ROSTER

Now we’re about to have some fun.

RETURNING CHARACTERS: The Dream Friends (and Kirby, of course)

-First up, all Dream Friends are coming back. You don’t even need to change their movesets that much, just add/tweak things, but just for funsies (and for a specific reason too) we’ll also give them specific copy abilities or more than one to categorize them.

-Kirby is the specific reason. He has the same moveset as his Smash Bros incarnation, although he incorporates more copy abilities (and also super powerful stuff like the Star Rod that he usually uses in endgame fights) in it now due to being a traditional fighting game. And yes, he still has his inhale. Using it will have the inhale be replaced by another move in-game, the closest one to a “neutral special” in the opponent’s arsenal. His copy ability is therefore, Smash Bros. And since the game has multiple super moves, we can make his gimmicks from the Kumazaki games the super moves: his level 1 would be a random Super Copy Ability from Return to Dreamland (cutscene is random everytime but damage is always the same), his level 2 would be using the Robobot Armor to stomp foes around, ending with a giant ground pound/fist to the ground and his level 3 is Hypernova Kirby due to the inhale being one of his most unique properties.

-Meta Knight and Dedede will also have heavy Smash influences but they’ll also use techniques from most of their boss fights, such as Meta Knight splitting himself in four clones temporarily for an attack or Dedede actually pulling out an axe instead of his hammer for some attacks based on his Triple Deluxe incarnation. Their copy abilities would formally be Sword and Hammer but with heavy Smash Bros inspiration. Meta can also call in for the Meta Knights to help him in one of his unique super moves. They’d all be there except for Sailor Dee and Captain Vul (one’s an alternate costume and the other is never seen outside of dialogue text).

-Bandana Waddle Dee’s moveset incorporates both Spear and Parasol, but due to the Spear being his most used tool he’ll be categorized with that.

-Marx is the first character with Unique as its own copy ability due to his arsenal being entirely based on his boss fight. Inhaling Unique characters doesn’t always allow Kirby to get copy abilities but when it happens he usually has their most basic move replacing the inhale. Gooey is in the same situation, but i have no idea what would Kirby get from him as an ability since he’s technically player 2 in the Dark Matter trilogy’s first 2 games. Rick, Kine and Coo would technically be categorized as Unique only because they have Fire, Water and Wind in their moveset. You could say they’d be stance characters while Marx is a zoner and Gooey a rushdown character.

-Dark Meta Knight is categorized as Mirror, and Adeleine (with Ribbon as an assist of course) is Artist. Daroach would be Animal, which is missing since its debut in Squeak Squad, as far as I can remember, but he naturally still retains his moveset of calling the Squeaks to help him.

-It’s pretty easy to categorize Magolor as ESP, and Taranza as Spider, while I have no idea what would Susie’s ability be even. Spark? She is mostly around in the Robobot Armor to be fair. The Three Mage-Sisters would be treated equally to the Animal Friends

THE NEWCOMERS

-NAGO, CHUCHU & PITCH: The other set of Animal Friends. I theorize a moveset revolving around the Cleaning ability like in Star Allies would be easy to make, although it can also incorporate moves from other abilities that have been in Dream Land 3.

-CHEF KAWASAKI: I think it’s safe to say this one is pretty easy to do just like the returning Dream Friends. He has a unique moveset in comparison to Chef Kirby that also has him use Kirby’s Final Smash from Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

-LOLOLO & LALALA: Aside from pushing boxes and Gordos they can be the Ice Climbers of the game, and most importantly one of their super moves could have them fuse into their original form in the anime to reference that further.

-SHADOW KIRBY: A clone (in terms of moveset) for Kirby that lacks the inhale ability and has more attacks based on his appearances in Amazing Mirror (and also on Kirby’s unique ability to split in four in these games) and the Kirby Fighters spinoffs. Simple as it is.

-THE MIDBOSSES: They all play the same as their fights too, so doing a paragraph for each of them would be a bit redundant. I chose to add minibosses in because most of them are pretty iconic among Kirby enemies and some of them are also technically friends of Kirby’s. I picked Bonkers (whose coconut throwing and some special moves could make him different enough from Dedede if you ask me), Mr. Frosty (also because we don’t have an Ice-based character in the game), Buggzy (which I can see being the ultimate grappler), King Doo (because we don’t actually have a Waddle Doo in the roster and he’s technically not only their king but also the most unique of them) and Grand Wheelie (look, I like Wheel as an ability ok? it’s like playing as Sonic in a Kirby game)

-KNUCKLE JOE: Taking stuff from both his Star Allies moveset and his Assist Trophy from Ultimate PLUS a few references to the anime and you have the ultimate Shoto character in the Kirby franchise. Ryu mains, this is the character for you.

-GIM: Look, my three favorite abilities are Yo-Yo, Wheel and ESP, in no particular order, so I HAD to include him and the Grand Wheelie. Magolor covers for ESP enough. This lil fella looks more unique than most of the generic Kirby enemies and even among the copy ability ones he’s always been a bit of an oddball due to being a robot. The trickshots you can do with this copy ability make Gim perfect to camp, so he’d be a pretty good zoner as well.

-TAC: He’s been a Helper in Super Star where he also has an unique moveset. Expanding on it and on Tac being generally a copy ability thief could mean more copy abilities can be implemented in a moveset, probably even more than what Kirby can do. Also his design just screams potential to me.

DLC FIGHTERS

WAVE 1: Spinoff Dream Friends

Cuz these guys have been done dirty by Star Allies’ devs. Elline would be the other Artist character in the game and call for Claycia’s assistance in specific attacks. Prince Fluff would play mostly just like Kirby himself did in Kirby’s Epic Yarn and implement specific transformations in some attacks, ending with the tank one from the end of that game. Then we have Gryll. If you know how to make a Tetris/Puyo Puyo based character in a fighting game then good for you, I absolutely don’t know how. What I KNOW however is that she has a float like Peach’s in Smash Bros and I-No’s in Guilty Gear.

WAVE 2: Dream Villains

These guys would all play exactly like their boss fights. Hyness and Sectonia would remain mostly unchanged while Haltmann in terms of moveset is the same as Susie, just without every non-Robobot move that she has.

WAVE 3: Clash of Blades

THAT’S RIGHT, IT’S ALL ANIME SWORDFIGHTERS. They all pull from their boss fights, but Morpho Knight is gonna be a bit more unique compared to Galacta, Dark Meta and Meta Knight, having in the swordfighter equivalent of Akuma’s Raging Demon. Meanwhile, Dark Matter Swordsman and Galacta Knight are completely faithful to the source material, but they’d probably be a bit nerfed due to Galacta’s universe-breaking powers. (you can bet that if we get the remaining legendary heroes who sealed Void Termina in future games they’d be their own separate Wave 5 DLC pack)

WAVE 4: Revival of Old Faces

Nightmare and Drawcia are back and they’re here to stay! Their movesets don’t really need that much changes. Void however is an entirely different beast. He’d be a mix of Kirby, both Zero incarnations and Dark Matter. His design wouldn’t just be giant orb that switches between Kirby and Dark Matter faces, he’d be Kirby-sized and with legs and stubby lil arms like the pink puffball. And you can bet your ass he’d be broken as fuck.

SKINS

If a character’s appearance changed across the series’ history (like Marx Soul, Girl Blob Gooey, Shoppe Magolor, Mecha Knight, Dark Taranza/Taranza in the Super Kirby Clash games, Masked/Shadow Dedede, Anime!Knuckle Joe, Parallel/Pres. Parallel Susie, EX versions and so on) they’d just be an alternate skin/palette swap for the specific character. Multiple characters of the same species with little changes (like a normal Waddle Dee or Sailor Dee, or literally all Kirby colors including Keeby) are the same. I’m also debating on how Dark Mind would be a skin for Nightmare or if there’d be a skin inspired by him for the Dark Matter Swordsman. Zero and Zero Two would probably be turned into palette swaps/outfits for Void (imagine a white Kirby cosplaying as Zero Two that’d be so cute lol).

ATTACKING ASSIST CHARACTERS

Characters who appear in other characters’ attacks. Like the aforementioned Squeaks, Meta Knights and Claycia. Normal Dark Matter would appear in DM Swordsman’s attacks in some capacity outside of the eye laser and the Gordo Throw would return from Dedede’s previous Smash incarnations alongside the Waddle Dee Throw from Brawl. And naturally Magolor can call in the Lor Starcutter for one of his super moves. I am actually considering giving Tac the ability to throw random items/enemies at opponents, with the Bomber being one of these. It’d be a very RNG attack with the Bomber being the best outcome, blowing on the opponent’s face.

HELPERS

All characters in the game can be called on for an Helper attack, that can help you in some form against the opponent by either damaging or tampering with the opponent or by having you get healed or with some buff. Outside from the playable roster enemies that give you copy abilities would also be Helpers, but the specific ones I’m not so sure on.

BOSSES

Characters you can fight in Arcade mode, in Story mode or in a specific Boss mode. There’d also be a Ganon’s Fury (Hyrule Warriors) inspired mode where you’d play as the bosses pitting them against each other. I specifically picked Dyna Blade, Whispy Woods, Landia, Star Dream, Kracko, Great Edge, Pyribbit, Ice Dragon, Fire Lion, Masher, Grand Mam, Metal General, Kibble Blade and Pon & Con.

STAGES

There’d be quite a lot of stages, but I haven’t thought out specific ones except for Green Greens, Butter Building, a Ripple Star stage, one for Dedede’s castle with stage cameos by Tiff, Tuff and Escargoon from the anime and every final boss’s fighting arena.

THE MUSIC

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is gonna be nothing compared to this one. We’re getting all the important music from all pre-Kumazaki games, all music from Kumazaki games and spinoffs, and online arrangements with focus on orchestral (Desolo Zantas), metal (GaMetal, of course) and EDM (Acid Notation, Qumu and various others), including stuff like Itoki Hana’s vocal arrangements. We’re going all out on this one.

Aaaaand that’s it. Thanks for coming to my TED talk. Stay hydrated.

[crystalnet]

Current X-book Mood-Ring Guide

There are an awful lot of X-books on the shelves right now. They are most of my monthly haul. No joke it is at least 12 books at this point. So, in order to cope with that, I’ve organized all the books into one of four different categories, aka “booster-pack” themes. Click through if you want to jump aboard the best X-men run since Morrison before the boat pushes off for the Hellfire Gala this summer! These are the 4 categories:

-Mainline Blue/Gold-style 

-Jr. Mutants Academy 

-2nd-Wave Krakoa Niche (aka “the good stuff”)

-Cetera

#1. Mainline Blue/Gold-style

Mood-color/vibe: Actually 90s-style Blue/Gold and like bright primary colors (but also muddy-ass colors from X-factor). 

Books included: X-men, Excalibur, Marauders, X-force

Typical Pokemon: Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Betsy Braddock, Kate Pride, Beast, Black Tom, Storm, Bishop, Emma Frost, Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, Kid Omega, Domino, a Pyro, Iceman, Avalanche. Rare drops: Apocalypse, X-23, Synch, Darwin, Kid Cable, Fantomex (in that Giant-Sized!)

These be the books for someone who wants those direct, mainline, core-members-style lineups. On the main book (adjective/word-play-less X-men) Hickman/Yu have worked wonders with their run, but it hasn’t been a stable team, instead focusing on Scott and his adventures dealing with some of the more prominent threats to Krakoa. 

So it’s essentially been a revolving door of a book with Cyclops sometimes leading assaults against major problems and sometimes just being a dad to teenagers from the future, and it’s been generally great. 

Meanwhile, the teams we find on the other 3 books could basically be a main X-men team if you just throw Jean/Scott/Logan onto them (except for X-force because Logan is usually on that one, actually, and Jean sort of is..)

X-force: Wolverine usually, Kid Omega, Beast, Jean (quitting?/back-up), Domino sorta, Sage, Black Tom Cassidy, Colossus once? Forge sorta. [Lot’s of backup or sometimes-members on this team but kinda centers on Beast, Omega, Wolverine and Jean or Domino]

Excalibur: Betsy Braddock, Rogue, Jubilee, Gambit, Avalanche, baby/dragon Shogo, Apocalypse (honorary, mia)

Marauders: Kate Pride, Storm, Emma Frost, a Pyro, Iceman, Bishop

On X-force, you get a little Morrison-homage energy going on what with Beast being sus, Quentin Quire having a character arc and dating a cuckoo and then all the body-horror. This one hasn’t been amazing and the art sometimes has issues for me but it’s been a solid expansion on Krakoa-Era lore. 

On Marauders, you get a book centered on Kate Pride and the Hellfire Club. It’s been aight but I’m not the biggest Kate fan. Definitely has heart and the art has been beautiful. 

Excalibur started a little weird for me... I lack the references or attachment to Otherworld or Davis/Moore-era Excalibur so I don’t think I’m even really the target demo, but I will say it recently, post-X of Swords-- which it set up single-handedly basically [along w/ one ish of X-men]-- has gotten more interesting in recent months. The Betsy + Kwannon stuff was great! And Howard did great with Apocalypse before he went off to another dimension. (points off for iffy color-palettes sometimes). 

#2. Jr. Mutants Academy

Mood-color/vibe: Pastel

Books: New Mutants, X-factor, Children of the Atom, Cable

Common Pokemon: Magik, Cable, Rachel Summers, Doug, Warlock, Armor, Boom Boom, Scout, Dani, Warpath, Karma, Glob, Beak, Daken, Eye-boy, North Star, Rachael, Prodigy those Children of the Atom kids, Magma, Rahne, and a lot of lil kid mutants runnin’ around in Akademos/the Wild Hunt area of Krakoa whose names I don’t know yet.

This is the junior-crew club. New Mutants would be in the Blue/Gold books practically due to being part of the first wave of post-HoX/DoX books, but its basically been 3 different books/teams over its run and along w/ Children/Cable/X-Factor, it feels like there a whole handful of books offering up junior-crew shenanigans specifically. 

So New Mutants has been all over the place, starting with a lineup of OG Claremont era New Muties, then focusing on a team consisting of Glob, Armor and Boom Boom (perpetual...”young adult” I guess?), now settling on a new team under Vita Ayala with Magik and Warpath heading up a squad of young ‘uns (beautiful art on the recent stretch). Hopefully it’s settling into its self now, because I can see longevity for this new squad... maybe. 

I still have to read the 2nd issue of Children of the Atom,  but am intrigued by it. X-factor meanwhile seems to be focusing on queer representation with people like Prodigy, Daken, North Star and Rachel on the same group together. Polaris started out the lead of that title only to be plucked out by Duggan (or the fanbase) for the main X-team coming up. This honestly makes sense, because even though she isn’t drawn this way, shouldn’t Polaris be considerably older than someone like Rachel? Eh. 

Also, in issue #4 of X-factor we had a beautiful homage to the Academy X mutants, with several cameos, so it seems like Marvel is intentionally using these junior-crew books to acknowledge all the various junior-crews, whether it be OG Claremont kids, Generation X people, the kids intro’d under Morrison and Whedon, or even the dang ‘ol Academy X ones, they seem to all be getting at least some representation in some book. 

Also Cable owns. Didn’t know I’d like the Kid-Cable guy until this book and his appearances in the main title, but now it’s confirmed. Him dating Esme, Kid Omega dating Phoebe? These crazy telepaths! Anyway, I hope Duggan’s main-team book is more like Cable than Marauders, in terms of pacing and characterization, but they both have beautiful art!

New mutants: Karma, Magik, Mirage, Scout, Warlock, Warpath and Wolfsbane

X-factor: Daken, Eye-boy, Polaris (quit?), North Star, Rachael, Prodigy

#3. 2nd-gen Krakoa Niche aka “the good stuff”

mood-color/vibe: purples, metaphysical/cosmic pallets, tertiary colors

books included: Hellions, S.W.O.R.D., Way of X

common Pokemon: I mean they’re basically all rare drops

This is the good stuff! Who would have thought. And when I think about it,  Way of X and S.W.O.R.D., as part of the second wave of Krakoa-era books that started with Cable, both address some of the core issues and ideas that the whole HoX/DoX mini kicked off better than-- or at least more directly-- the other books. So I guess the non X-men, first-wave Krakoa books feel “mainline” in terms of their team lineups, but in terms of content, these newer ones almost feel more relevant by design. S.W.O.R.D. focuses on the cosmic context of the mutants post-Krakoa and Way is Kurt’s first spot-light moment in the era and is expressly concerned with Kurt’s addressing of the deeper moral quandaries that a people who have conquered death will be faced with. I mean, it's expressly about religion and like, spirituality-- a very tall order, but first issue pulled it off super deftly.

Also Hellions is better than it has any business being! Read this if you want savagely dark humor and some very obscure mutants + Havok/Psylocke/Sinister. But if I had to reccomend one, it’d be a tie b/w S.W.O.R.D and Way. First issue of Way was exceptional and got right into things and Kurt’s very well-written and will surely prove a meditative lead for a book like this, whereas S.W.O.R.D is epic in scale while still have sick character moments/dialogue. Manifold had a great issue or two and is now my favorite new mutant, even in the context of a somehow-actually-good King in Black tie-in. Damn! And everything going on b/w Magneto and Fabian Cortez (who was made to argue for why mutants should be allowed to murder “flatscans”/humans to the whole Krakoan council this week whilst naked. It’s fantastic. Hell, even the Snark-War sounds...interesting? What’s happening to me. 

S.W.O.R.D.: Fabian Cortez, Magneto, Abigail Brand, Peeper, Manifold, Wiz-Kid, Mentallo, Fenzy

Children of the Atom: Cherub, Marvel Guy, Cyclops-Lass (?), Gimmick, Daycrawler

Hellions: Havok, Psylocke, Empath, Orphan-Maker, Nanny, Wild Child, Sinister, Greycrow

#4. Cetera

Mood-color/vibe: colorless, “normal” element

Books included: Fallen Angels (complete 6-ish mini), All the damn Wolverine books, the uh Sword of X “guidebook” and the new Peach Momoko Demon Days books and whatever X-men Legends is.

These are titles which are either complete or don’t fit in with other things or in Demon Days or the X-men Legends’ books’ case, I think don’t even occur in-universe. And per usual of course there are multiple Wolverine books... the main one seems fine. 

Anyway all-in-all, these books are doing weirdly well. Mutants as a concept shouldn't be able to be spread this thin story-telling wise, but the books don’t really feel redundant and most are filling a specific niche or purpose. I may be dropping some of the first-wave Blue/Gold style books (Marauders and X-force I'll probably just check in on from time-to-time), but S.W.O.R.D., Way, the main book under Hickman or Duggan and Hellions all have me verrrrrry satisfied. Even standard stories in the Krakoa era feel special, and that speaks to the power of Hickman’s vision. Hellfire Gala, here we come. 

[hayleewritesaboutbooks]

The Hunger of the Gods review

My Overall Thoughts - 4/5

The Shadow of the Gods is the first installment in a Norse epic fantasy series. With three main POV characters and a wide, dangerous world to explore with them, I was excited. (And also, DRAGONS!?!) Give me Skyrim, but a book, and I’m a happy camper. This book delivered on all fronts, to an at least satisfactory extent. The tiny creatures that collect human teeth? Heck to the (creepy) yes. Mild spoilers below the cut.

Character Development - 3.5/5 I connected to the characters unevenly throughout the narrative, and that’s always a slight bummer. Orka was my favorite and I loved her from the get-go. As the mother of sons, we had commonality on our side and I adored her relationship with her family. The reader had the opportunity to see the nuance and tension in her relationship with Thorkel while not being held back from seeing their affection for each other as well. Next for me was Varg. He had it hard and early in the book had some of the most brutal scenes. His place in life as a thrall and what he discovers through the book was all very interesting, though, and I enjoyed his POV. Last was Elvar, whom I started to connect with more after the 50% mark. She did have the bit of romance going for her, but it was short-lived. I liked her backstory and her interactions with people, but she offered the least tangible umph in her personality. 

Story Structure - 3.5/5 In huge fantasy books, I often like short, manageable chapters, but in this book I think the short chapters generally worked against it. Three virtually unconnected POV characters share the stage and the reader doesn’t have a lot of chance to spend time with one character before switching to another one, with other friends in another place. I personally really like multiple narrators in big stories, though, so that overall was a plus for me, though it would have been nice to have slightly longer chapters.

Tone/Style - 4.5/5 The tone of the writing really suited the book, grim and honest. There were some turns of phrase that were redundant here and there, but overall the writing was really clean and concise. 

World Building - 4.5/5 There was really no easy way to create a Norse-fantasy world and not have me like it. The divisions, the danger, the creatures…it was all great. One advantage of using multiple POV narrators is getting to show the scope of a world and this book does that very well. Not only do we get three characters in different physical and social perspectives, but utterly different socio-economic backgrounds and entirely different goals. It really works to show the wideness of the world in a figurative sense. The only downside (for me) was the extent of Norse language and names. There were a lot of similar names and it occasionally got confusing. I could not have listened to the audiobook for this one because I would not have been able to keep them straight.

Representation/Diversity They’re all Nordic and, as far as can be seen in this book, heteronormative. That’s a non-issue for me, but I always try to mention it.

Content Violence and gore like there’s no tomorrow. 

My Final Thoughts It’s a lengthy book, but is it long enough to contain a full story arc? Apparently not. That last scene will haunt me until I can get some resolution in the second book—which I WILL be reading—because I am a mom and I have to know. If you like violent epic fantasy with a heart (and the occasional dragon), this read is probably also for you.

[ratingtheframe]

So 2020 sucked... but the films didn’t! The top twenty films of 2020 (in my humble opinion).

AT LAST. This godforsaken year is over and as we venture into a new year, let's hope and pray that the art’s industry finds a way to build themselves back up again, in a way that is safe and necessary for them to bring us the entertainment we so crave. It has been a crazy and unprecedented year for the film industry, a year that it has never seen with losses of an estimated $5 Billion at the end of March. Some of the most anticipated blockbusters of all time had to be put on hold and postponed for hopefully next year with No Time to Die, A Quiet Place II, Wonder Woman 1984, Dune and Black Widow being a slim few that never got onto a silver screen this year. However, there is no reason to fret or relinquish the loss film has had this year, as hopefully next year once we’ve had a better understanding of this virus, these films along with many others will have their audience. Amongst the postponed releases, many films have been resilient to the virus and still managed to gain a spot in the cinema despite the circumstances. 

Christopher Nolan’s Tenet was the only multi-million dollar film to be released this year and even though the risk of release could have meant nothing for the film, it still managed to rake in a staggering $361 million, an expected profit for a film of its size. However, despite the film's success, Nolan made it clear that this shouldn’t be taken lightly and that the safety of film consumers comes before the profits themselves. 

Even though we will have to be more cautious in the cinema, films will return, once we have regulated safety measures in cinemas and film festivals to ensure that customers can feel comfortable. For now, HBO has planned to put many releases from Warner Bros. straight onto its streaming platform as well as in the cinema next year, in an attempt to prevent the spread of COVID whilst still being able show the films we’ve been craving. There’s no telling what next year will bring, what the Oscars will look like or if filming for the next Batman film will ever end, however it's clear to see that the film industry has shown resilience amongst this pandemic and will continue to do so in years to come, no matter the challenges.

Here are twenty of the films that made it to the cinema (or streaming platforms) this year, that proved the durability of the film industry during this time. 

20. Tenet directed by Christopher Nolan 

We can all agree that Chrisopher Nolan’s Tenet should be handed the award of Most Confusing Yet Entertaining Film of the Year, or ever made in fact. The sci-fi epic adventure that sees its lead (named “the protagonist) travel back in time and then forward in time and then back in time again (?)... yup, I didn’t get it either, but I’m not the only one seeing as Robert Pattinson who played alongside John David Washingston hadn’t a clue what was going on either. And he was in the film. However, despite the film's confusion, it doesn’t make it a bad or “lazy” film, for every aspect of this film from lighting, sound design, casting, direction, stunts WAS ON POINT and those elements are truly what sets this film apart. The story may have been perplexing but at least there was one. 

19. Nomadland directed by Chloé Zhao

It is such a shame that Nomadland may not get the audience it deserves due to the COVID-19 pandemic as it is a truly moving and rich film. The Nomads are a group of real Americans who’ve hit the road in various mobile homes after the Great Recession in 2008 caused millions to be homeless and redundant. Frances McDormand plays Fern, one of these Nomads and child of the road whilst the film follows her simple, yet melancholy journey across Western America.  Chloé Zhao has been tipped several times for an Oscar with Nomadland after winning the Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival. Let’s hope that if this goes onto the Academy Awards, Nomadland will find the audience it so craves. 

18. Uncut Gems directed by the Safdie Brothers 

YES, Uncut Gems came out THIS YEAR, which is an insane thought seeing as I saw the film in a packed cinema before it was released onto Netflix. The Safdie Brothers, Josh and Benny brought us Uncut Gems this year, a declining tale of a man’s test with fate and the many many second chances he gets at life, only to f*** all of them up. Adam Sandler plays Howard Ratner, a pawn shop owner and frequent gambler. This is Sandler’s best ever role and the multifaceted, gritty work of the Safdie Brothers (Heaven Knows What, Good Time) really brought something brilliant out of him. 

17. The Half of it directed by Alice Wu

The Half of It wins the Most Surprising Film of the Year. A highly credible film directed by Alice Wu, The Half of It is EVERYTHING we want and need in this world. In fact, it’s everything we kind of already have in this world, but hardly see on screen. Non white leads, queer non stereotyped relationships, unpredictable endings; The Half of It was an all rounder for me. Some may roll their eyes at the amount of diverse elements to the film and see it as a way of gaining brownie points, but why does that have to be a thing? Why can’t having active and authentic representation across all films just be normal rather than political? If anything, it should be encouraged. The story was brilliant (and made me cry) as it had so many layers to it as well as the characters.

16. 7500 directed by Patrick Vollrath

Definitely the wildcard of this list, 7500 is an Amazon Studios film starring Joseph Gordon Levitt. I’ll admit, my hopes weren’t high, but after taking the time to watch this film I was truly blown away. And who KNEW Joseph Gordon Levitt could be so deep and in tune with his emotions on screen. He plays a pilot whose plane gets hijacked mid flight. There. Enough said. I could hardly BREATHE throughout this film in apprehension of what was going to happen next.

15. Kajilionaire directed by Miranda July

2020 thus far has been the best year for female filmmakers. From Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Josephine Decker’s Shirley, Rose Glass’ Saint Maud and Miranda July’s Kajilionaire, a clear cut foundation has been carved effortlessly for female filmmakers this year. Miranda July’s Kajilionaire especially rocked my senses a little as I saw so much unfamiliarity yet beauty within this film. A simple storyline that follows Old Dolio (Evan Rachael Wood), a young woman trying to feel more connected with her parents. A certainly bittersweet tale that has this rose tinted like vibe to it that attaches itself to the visuals and music of the film, that make everything feel light and playful. This contrasts well with the story itself as being sad and melancholy, further proving the fact this film is more than face value. Face value films have never gotten us anywhere and its films that go beyond entertainment that truly last in the industry. 

14. Bombshell directed by Jay Roach 

Bombshell is a PERFECT title for this film; a film that left me angry, sad and questioning the immorality that is still prevalent in the mostly male dominant society we live in. Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie and Nicole Kidman (best trio ever) star as three news anchors on Fox news whose lives are brutally torn apart when the Head of Fox News, Roger Ailes is accused of sexual harassment on many different occasions by female members of the workplace. Despite the silence being now broken, these three women still face a whole load of other problems that come in speaking up against a powerful, white and rich male. Threats of permanent job losses, victim blaming and a weak image are the consequence of speaking up about sexual assault as a member of Fox news. The brand itself has an incredibly misogynistic view of women and continues to have an idealised image of how women should be on the news with those working at Fox actually admitting it brings in viewers. Women with tons of makeup and dresses shorter than is comfortable is Fox news and Bombshell went above and beyond exposing this scandal that truly shook American broadcasting forever. 

13. Borat Subsequent Movie Film directed by Jason Woliner 

Borat Subsequent Movie Film wins the award for Most Jaw Dropping Film of the Year, as its protagonist and creator Sacha Baron Cohen, went above and beyond to show us the true dark depths of America. Ballsy, outrageous, jaw dropping, scandalous; every bold word can be used to describe this film and the lengths it went to get right to the heart of American society. The ugly heart. By now you should be aware that the ex president’s attorney was shoved right into the firing line after he was taken into a hotel bedroom by a reporter who happened to be an actor. Rudi Gulliani was left red faced after Borat bursts into the hotel room proclaiming the young reporter is his daughter, with Gulliani still unaware the entire outrageous event had been caught on camera. And not just any camera. A MOVIE camera. A true triumph in free speech and comedy, Borat Subsequent Movie Film will live on forever as the most outlandish film there is.

12. Miss Juneteenth directed by Channing Godfrey-Peoples 

A real eye opener into current American society using a touching story between mother and daughter as a backdrop. Turquoise is a single mother struggling to get by and support her daughter Kai through the Miss Juneteenth pageant, held annually in Fort Worth, Texas. A real competition, the Miss Juneteenth pageant promises one lucky young woman of colour a full scholarship to a black historical college of their choosing. Turquoise desperately wants this for her daughter as it’ll give her the opportunities in life she never had. A truly moving and authentic film, this scored 100% on Rotten Tomatoes which is a highly impressive and deserving score.

11. The Trial of the Chicago Seven directed by Aaron Sorkin

Aaron Sorkin’s lyricism in words was again brought to us on screen this year with his depiction of the Chicago 7 (eight if you count Bobby Seale); seven men who were accused and put on trial for eliciting the Chicago riots of 1968. When in actuality, the police themselves had more to do with riling up the protestors than anyone else, even pushing a crowd of protestors through the front window of a restaurant to make it seem like they had vandalised the property. If anyone was going to make such a film, Sorkin would be the one to do it as with any event or idea he covers, Sorkin’s words as a writer MAKE YOU CARE. Even when you had no recollection or understanding of something, the way Sorkin depicts these events on screen has you absorbed into the story till the last second. An incredible and powerful story and a film that I could constantly go back to in order to learn about the injustices of American politics.  

10. The Devil All the Time directed by Antonio Campos 

I feel like The Devil All the Time still hasn’t got the recognition it deserves. There is something incredibly powerful and priceless about having a group of exceptionally talented people come together to create something for screen. This film wins Best Casting of the Year (if you don’t count Dune) as the likes of Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Eliza Scanlen, Sebastian Stan, Bill Skarsgård,  Mia Wasikowska, Harry Melling, Riley Keogh, Jason Clarke and Haley Bennett graced our screens in this dark and ominous tale. Any story that is set in a small town and is about stories interweaving is bound to be interesting and thought provoking in it’s telling, with this adaptation being no different. The star of the show was Robert Pattinson’s thick Tennessee accent along with his clean yet filthy character interpretation of a perverted priest. Not one line in this film was thrown away and every single moment held a weighty tension, further confirming to us each character’s downfall by the end. An amazing adaptation and something you will reeeeeally enjoy.

9. Soul directed by Pete Docter 

What was supposed to be Pixar’s second release of the year, Soul is Pixar’s most highly executed film to date. The amount of detail and care the animators and creators of Soul had taken to this picture is INSANE; insanely beautiful. With the black community going through so much this year, having something like Soul be put out to audiences shows support of this ever changing and growing movement. Even though having black representation on screen isn’t on the top of everyone’s priority list, it’s still important that the effort is there in order to really show what the world is like on screen and to cater to more audiences. Soul itself had everything; diverse, three dimensional characters, a clear and heart warming story and comedic, uplifting points that only strengthened the important message of this movie; life itself.

8. The Lighthouse directed by Robert Eggers 

Again, another film that came out right at the beginning of the year, Robert Egger’s The Lighthouse was a whole new world that we had never seen before. Shot on a Panavision Millennium XL2 using a lense from the 1930s and black and white film, The Lighthouse was a decrepit, eerie and brilliant movie to watch throughout. It just makes me satisfied as a viewer when a director not only creates a film, but creates one that is so beyond anything we’ve ever seen and could likely have been made in an entirely different era altogether. Robert Pattinson KILLED IT in his role as a surly drunken sailor alongside Willem Dafoe, whose Irish accent was enviable. Overall a highly executed film that exudes brilliance and a creative mind.

7. The Hater directed by Jan Komasa 

I would say The Hater is the second wildcard on this list. It’s a Polish drama that hasn’t had a lot of rep in the media, however, this doesn’t detract from the film’s execution and drama. A real downfall story that sees a jealous ridden man go from a media intern into illicting terrorism. Like, HELLO how does one go to such an extreme? The only way to find out would be watching the film...The film really spoke to the dangers of social media and the ease of getting someone to insight violence onto someone else, all through a computer. My mouth was hanging on the floor during several moments of this film and I can 100% guarantee the Netflix film will have the same affect on you.

6. La Belle Époque directed by Nicolas Bedos 

La Belle Époque (or “The Good Times”) wins the award for Most Heart Warming Film of the Year. A surprisingly unique concept that follows a man trying to relive the best moments of his past after his wife wishes to divorce him. A company that specialises in creating your past memories offers him the opportunity to go back to the time when he and his wife first met, using actors, set design and music to recreate the moment. The French film emits a strong sense of nostalgia throughout with brilliant music and set design. It’s just one of those films that heavily expresses the idea of “what if” within a film whilst answering it boldly through its unique story.

5. Ema directed by Pablo Larraín 

Ema took me a few days to fully absorb and appreciate as an experimental film, rather than one with a clear cut narrative. It's a film that expresses an idea, a feeling as opposed to a story which is completely okay and doable in this day and age. Ema is a liberating, freeing and psychedelic world of a film, with the message of the film being wrapped up in Ema’s attitude as a woman and the way she sets fires to things wherever she goes. Literally, as the opening sequence is of her setting alight a basketball hoop. There is some strong, vivid imagery within this and the MUSIC...definitely the best sound track I’ve heard this year. Ema’s in my top five for its uniqueness, rawness and the weird sense of liberation it gave me after watching it.

4. Saint Maud directed by Rose Glass

Probably the biggest breakthrough film of the year and despite the pandemic, Saint Maud certainly got the rep it deserved. An entirely new perspective of horror was brought to use in troves in the form of this Irish film created by first time director Rose Glass. I cannot express how brilliant and revolutionary Saint Maud was for its simplicity, story and filmmaking techniques. An ambitious and all round brilliant film that sits prettily in my top five films of the year.

3. Portrait of a Lady on Fire directed by Céline Sciamma

Portrait of a Lady on Fire wins the award for Best Foreign Language Film and it still hurts to think it never even made it to the Academy Awards this year. One of the most moving and earthy films that I’ve seen this year, Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a slow, sensual and ambiguous picture that shows a love story between two women through the form of art. I became quite obsessed with the music of Antonio Vivaldi after seeing this as the time period and music intertwined really well in this film. Exceptionally made and incredibly raw, Portrait of a Lady on Fire went straight for the heart in this film by also putting the grievances of love at the forefront of this film. 

2. Parasite directed by Bong Joon Ho 

You are probably extremely bored and tired of hearing of the success of Parasite as a breakthrough picture, however there are an abundance of reasons for it! Winner of Six Academy Awards including Best Picture, Parasite really pulled the rug beneath the Academy Awards feet and certainly proved that no matter your race, it's the story that sells and that will bank you an Academy Award. A wonderfully crafted story, one that could have been found in theatre or even opera and those sort of structured narratives are what really grab people’s attention. 

1. Another Round (Druk) directed by Thomas Vinterberg 

And finally, my favourite, Most Enjoyable Film of the Year had to be without a doubt, Thomas Vinterburg’s Druk, which I had the pleasure of seeing at the BFI London Film Festival this year. The theatre-like structure of a narrative has been implemented seamlessly into this film and even if structure means nothing to you, you can feel when a film has been crafted differently to bring about a dynamic and earthy narrative. I’ve previously watched two films of Vinterberg’s; Festen and The Hunt and even though those two films hold a high rating, Druk is definitely Vinterberg’s best film yet. Extremely entertaining whilst also carrying a rather dark side to it, Vinterberg sells you the best and worst of two worlds whilst exposing the effects of alcohol consumption. 

And that’s it! 2020 in films! If you agreed or disagreed with anything on this list or think something else should’ve made the list that came out this year, be sure to leave me a comment on this post or via instagram on @ratingtheframe. It’s crazy to think that this obsession of mine turns two years old next year and there are still so many amazing pictures to be seen! And as always, you will find each and every one of them right here on @ratingtheframe.tumblr.

Bring on 2021!

[icebreaker01]

Season 3 Predictions - Part I

OK, folks.  This is only like forever late, but here it is: Icebreaker’s S3 predictions! Strap yourselves in and lets go. So I know I said WAAAAYYYY back when I would do predictions for S3, then never did. Reason for that. The show suddenly started handing out previews like candy at Halloween...., but with much more frequency, and it was hard to keep up.  I would no sooner write my prediction, then something would be in the next preview that would cause me to have to rewrite about half of it. So I have modified my predictions to things I am fairly certain about now. I will also be doing this in several posts, not just one incredibly long one.

First off:  My favorite.  Is Melanie coming back in S3? Folks, I haven’t seen secrecy like this since ‘Who shot JR?‘. (Everyone born after 1980, go look it up.)  The producers even kept things under wraps from the actors by only allowing them access to single show scripts at a time.

So, is she coming back? From the previews alone, I would say ‘possibly only as a flashback/hallucination’ right up to the very last episode.  We have two, what I consider, clear hallucinations.  One is from the first promo with Alex.  Lots of fuzzy borders......, folks I’m guessing hallucination.  The second was in the latest promo with Melanie and Wilford having a drink.  Again, fuzzy borders, bright, obscuring lights.  Hallucination.  I mean, if Melanie can hallucinate Wilford, surely she can return the favor.....am I right? However, I also feel the previews are wanting to give us that impression.  Because later we are shown a brief single shot where she could be standing on SnowPirate, as she has that ‘WT.....WHERE’S THE REST OF MY TRAIN?!’ look on her face as she looks around her.  I do not think this is a hallucination mainly because in the scene it is suggested no one else is around.  Hallucinations do not hallucinate themselves, folks.  That just starts to get weird. Personally, I REALLLLY hope to get that scene.  I want to see this woman go totally nuts just once over someone hurting her train.

Also, WWWAYYYYY back when S2 was just starting and they announced Asha as the new character, they clearly stated in that article that Asha would be an ally for Melanie.  Folks!  You do not have allies for dead people.  They don’t need them.

Now, my next case for Melanie being alive is likely the weirdest of the three.  There was a comment made by a character in one of the promos who did not sound like Melanie at all (possibly Asha?) ‘The eight of you against the great Mr. Wilford?’  Those on SnowPirate are Layton, Till, Bennett, Alex, Audrey, Josie, and Sykes.  That makes seven.  Who is the eighth person they are talking to?

But likely the two most compelling pieces of evidence I see to her being alive have nothing to do with the previews and everything to do with the posters that have been coming out. Poster one, the first one released, was of Melanie, displaying the ‘Fight For Life’ banner.  Dead people don’t fight for life, folks.  It’s plain redundant. My second biggest point is if you look on the main poster, which features the three main characters, you’ll note JC’s name is first. Folks, if you know anything about Hollywood agents, I don’t care how big your client is, you DO NOT push for star billing if they are not in the show.  Nor do you go for that star billing if they have a five second cameo.

Also, in regards to her return, let’s add to the confusion.  Two of the creative directors have directly contradicted each other in interviews.  One has said ‘We are pleased that JC will be joining us for S3’, while the other has said that Melanie is ‘not necessarily alive’. What the &%^$*%(#*&*% is that suppose to mean?

In addition, there has been one clear leak that some event occurs on the train which Melanie and Layton resolve.

Now, in regards to Melanie’s possible return, I have just one scene I can not wait to see.  Mostly because it has so much potential to be either really epic, or fall on it’s face.  Keep in mind, though I’m not sure how they managed to bring back Josie, but keeping that completely from Melanie.  What?  No one on this train GOSSIPS? SERIOUSLY? As I said, really epic, or flat on its face when these two meet again.  And I actually have a possible scene in a promo of that happening, as it makes no sense otherwise who these two people are.  The scene is of two people outside.  The first scene clearly shows them with a few yards of SP, and while the one in the larger survival suit could be Melanie, the other, having a sleeker and less bulky suit suggests this is Josie. HOWEVER, there is also a scene in a promo of Layton and Josie in one of the train’s ‘airlocks’ together.  He in a survival suit and her in that tight-fitting little number the writers like to see her in. So who can say?

Now, when might we see our favorite little dictator with a heart of gold?  My most firm belief is that since JC was on the set for so short a time, and she is their biggest draw on this show right now, there is simply no way they are not going to suck every ounce of draw they can out of this cliffhanger.  So I firmly do not believe we will see Melanie in the first episode.....or the second....or the third....or the forth.......(moving on)...or the ninth.  I think she will be the cliffhanger of E10 leading into the fourth season.  Anytime she is seen up until the last episode will be strictly in flashbacks or as hallucinations.

But, as I have said before, this show has thrown out enough red herrings to refill the aquarium car, and I’m off on my way to throw another one into the tank apparently.

If you are into further torturing yourself, like me, I give you: https://screenrant.com/snowpiercer-melanie-alive-dead-theories/ This was a fun read, but I felt they gave more credible evidence for her being alive than dead, folks.

Have fun.