#That's the scariest thing in the series. Not the antagonists. It's that moment when your mother finds out about a secret you've been hiding

[the-halfling-prince]

Me: hmmm I wonder when the fifth season on the Nine Realms is coming out. Let me look it up-

Season 5: Literally came out earlier this month.

Me: How does this keep fucking happening

[syn0vial]

Top 5 Boba moments 🥺

ohh fun! :D i’m gonna go in chronological order for these, just for organization’s sake. i’m also going to try and only include moments i haven’t talked much about before, just to keep things fun and fresh!

1. freeing the sea mice: starting from the very first boba fett junior novel the fight to survive, bc, well, chronological order! i like this moment bc it really emphasizes how innocent boba used to be. basically, there’s an aquarium with an eel in the fett’s kamino apartment and while jango and zam are off making bad decisions on coruscant, boba is tasked with it feeding aquatic rodents called “sea-mice” to the eel, something he’s never had to do before. but he doesn’t like doing it. the sea-mice always seem to trust him when he picks them up and he feels guilty for betraying them by feeding them to the eel. so, one day, he decides it’s going to be different. that morning, he feeds the eel his own breakfast (which is like, both sweet and hilarious, like honey did you really just throw your lunchables into an eel’s tank bc you wanted to make sure it was fed even while you’re out here freeing feeder mice? A+ for good intentions, F- for knowledge of how animals work) and tries to free a few of the sea-mice into kamino’s oceans. unfortunately, they don’t survive. the next day, boba reluctantly goes back to feeding the mice to the eel, telling one before he drops it in, “sorry; life is hard on the small and the weak,” echoing a saying of his father’s. this then becomes horrible foreshadowing for the rest of the series, in which boba is orphaned and suddenly finds himself being preyed upon by all sorts of antagonists. i know it’s a kids’ series and it’s Not That Deep, but i do really like that there’s a parallel created between boba and the mouse and the implication of the series as a whole that boba fett didn’t become a notorious hunter because he was always that way, but specifically because he started out as prey. also, it’s kind of hilarious in retrospect that boba felt compassion for rodents, but literally days later attempted to take obi-wan’s life without hesitation. kid’s really got his priorities in order.

2. standing up to jabba the hutt: this is from the junior novel boba fett: hunted, which is my favorite of the junior novels for him. in the story, boba pretends a short-statured adult by concealing his face with his father’s helmet and attempts to find work from jabba the hutt. however, when he finally gets an audience with jabba, jabba indeed offers to bring him back to his palace—as an indentured servant. and this freaking, like, eleven-year-old, staring down the criminal kingpin of tatooine with no weapons and no armor besides a too-big helmet, snaps at jabba the hutt, “my debt to you? what do i owe you for?” naturally, he is immediately set upon by one of jabba’s guards, and, well, i’ll let you read the rest :D

Boba had no time to think. He acted.

Without a sound, he leaped to one side. The Drovian’s knife whistled harmlessly through the air where, a nanosecond before, Boba had been.

“Huh?” gaped the hulking alien.

A small table stood near the viewscreen. Boba grabbed the table and swung it in front of himself, fending off the Drovian’s blade. Jabba himself watched, laughing coarsely.

“You will pay for this!” croaked the Drovian.

As the guard bore down on him, Boba thrust the table upward. The knife stuck in the wood surface. While the Drovian struggled to free his weapon, Boba pushed the table up farther. Then, he darted sideways, kicking at the lumbering guard’s knees. With a groaning thud, the Drovian stumbled and fell. Jabba’s guests laughed as Boba turned to breathlessly face Jabba.

“I am no one’s slave or servant!” Boba said. “I will work for you, for a price—but I will name that price!”

like, this kid really just brought down an armed adult with nothing but an end table AND finishes it off with a badass line defending his autonomy and defying jabba the hutt! definitely one of my favorite moments from the junior novels.

3. the Look he exchanges with lando while han is being tortured in the background

look, idk why this is so funny to me, but it is. lando’s just so full of loathing for this man who is complicit in forcing him to betray han and boba’s just like “you got shit to say to me. or nah?” he’s such a fucking asshole, i love it.

4. staying conscious just long enough to express his displeasure with the situation in iiiiii think the mandalorian armor, idk it’s been awhile: this story takes place post-RoTJ, after boba has escaped the sarlacc pit, killing it in the process, and is being gradually regaining his strength with the help of fellow bounty hunter dengar and amnesiac former slave neelah. at this point in the story, he’s still quite weak and spends most of his time slipping in and out of consciousness. unfortunately, some of boba’s enemies find out he’s still alive and just start fucking carpet-bombing their general location, so dengar and neelah go “shit, we need a bomb shelter, stat!”...and then slowly turn to look at the subterranean corpse of the sarlacc pit. they thus drag boba’s unconscious body back into the pit so they can all hunker down and wait out the bombs. except, surprise, surprise! the sarlacc ain’t completely dead. one of its giant tentacles starts attacking the group and is succeeding in getting the upper hand over dengar and neelah, when suddenly, boba wakes up. takes a look around and realizes where he is. and then grabs the nearest blaster and just goes apeshit firing on the tentacle, finally managing to kill it. too exhausted to talk, he then turns and fixes dengar with the angriest, most hate-filled glare the man has ever seen... and then promptly passes out. i remember just dissolving into giggles the first time i read that scene. just the mental image of boba fett giving dengar the scariest fucking “why the fuck did you fucking bring me back here” deathglare in the galaxy and then immediately losing consciousness. energy well-spent, boba.

5. that time boba did a mission completely in his underwear for no discernible reason, because daniel keys moran: this one’s just like. so delightfully bizarre that i’m not even going to try justifying it logically bc literally the only reason it exists was bc renowned EU author and certified mad man daniel keys moran really wanted to give boba his strong female character moment, because he deserves it. so, in this subplot, boba is tracking this devaronian war criminal who is holed up in a safehouse equipped with security systems that are triggered by the presence of, like, metal. which means boba can’t wear his armor plates and can’t use any blasters or other gadgetry. so boba loads up a compound bow and knife and makes to hunt this guy down. now, what about his armor? obviously, the most logical thing to do would be to just remove the metal plates and hunt in his flight suit. or, if that isn’t satisfactory, go out and buy like, leather armor or something? or just clothes? BUT NOPE. boba apparently goes, “well, if i can’t wear my armor, i’m not gonna wear ANYTHING” and just. does the entire mission in his underwear. he tracks and stalks this man, shoots him with an arrow, and then chases him down with a knife, ALL IN HIS UNDERWEAR. daniel keys moran even goes so far as to explicitly specify that these ain’t no long-johns, either. he’s like, “and the underwear...... MAINLY COVERED HIS DICK.” LIKE, DANIEL? DANIEL? HOW IS IT THAT OUT OF THE TWO BOBA FETT STORIES YOU’VE WRITTEN, BOTH OF THEM MENTION HIS DICK IN SOME CAPACITY? DANIEL? WHO KEEPS LETTING YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS??? and, like, can you imagine being this poor devaronian? you’re just living your fugitive war criminal life when an arrow hits you in the shoulder and boba fucking fett comes sprinting out of the woods at you in his underwear with a knife? what the fuck. this was canon at one point. what the fuck.

[hamatoclan76]

My favourite TMNT 2012 episodes (part 1)

I have been thinking writing about my favourite episodes for quite while now.Keep in mind this is not supposed to be a list of ¨ top best episodes¨ from tmnt 2012. There are many episodes that i think that are amazing but they don´t enter in my favourite list episodes for different reasons.

Most of the episodes i included in this list are the ones i often find myself rewatching and are the first that pop up in my mind when thinking about the series. 

I'm going to write two parts about this because i don't want to make the post so long.

Let´s start!:

Slash and Destroy 

When tmnt 2012 fans and non- fans talk about the best episodes of the series, most of the time they mention Slash and Destroy and it´s easy to see why:

The episode itself plays like a psychological horror movie, with Slash as a physical manifestation of Raphael´s darkest desires. He represents everything that Raph could become if he let the most toxic parts of his personality take control him.

Slash himself it´s very good antagonist, he isn´t just some random mutant that appears to destroy Raph´s brothers. He´s Raphael´s best friend and he knows many things that the rest of the Hamato family doesn´t. His uses this at his advantage to make Raph join his side and leave his brothers.

Raph in this episode is fantastic as well. We get to see a lot of his character, from his bad temper and how he thinks the team is ¨holding him back¨ to how far he willing to go to protect his family, even if that means fighting his friend.

Despite it´s tone Slash and Destroy has some of the funniest moments in the season: The subplot about Leo trying to get the mutantgen canister from other humans it´s hilarious. It doesn´t feel forced and doesn´t interrupt the drama, it´s nicely connected to the rest of the story.

I could write a lot about what makes this episode work so well, but i would like to keep that for other post.

New Girl In Town

This episode serves as introduction for Karai´s character and it´s one of my favourite for many reasons:

1)  It´s excellent for Raphael´s and Leonardo´s character arcs. Leonardo tired of how his brother doesn´t respect him as leader, decides to leave the role to Raph since he thinks it would be better if he was the one in charge.

Later, Raph finds out that being the leader isn´t as easy as it seems, when he's forced to give an order that would put the life of his brothers at risk he completely freezes up. He learns he can´t handle the burden of making difficult decisions as he cares for his family so much he´s afraid of accidentatly hurting them.

As for Leonardo, he tries doing things his own way for once, he decides to take a break from the team and ¨have fun¨.  In this episode he acts more like a "rebel" than his typical "good boy", which is quite refreshing to see.

He also learns that he shouldn't expect getting praise for being the leader. Splinter explains to him that the important part of being the one giving the orders is choosing to carry the burden. That's why Leo is the leader because he knows he has to be responsible in making decisions.

2) Karai is very interesting character that completely changes the dynamic of the main protagonists. She usually likes playing Leo and tries pursuing to join the bad side in this episode.

Her exchanges between Leo are very entertaing as well. They acts as friendly rivals and we get to see that she's actually not that bad in the end since she helps the turtles fighting Snakeweed.

"New girl in the town" it's a wonderful introduction for her, as it shows her as someone who it's morally gray instead of just evil.

3) The fight at the end is awesome. I really like how Leo and Raph work together to defeat Snakeweed. Raph decides to trust Leo's orders and follow his commands.

I think it's good way of showing they both have learned their lessons and how their relationships is changing.

Metalhead rewired

One thing i really like of tmnt 2012 it when two character fight, there isn't always one side who it's "right" and other who is "wrong". Sometimes they both make good points and "Metalhead rewired" is a good example of that.

This one is great for Donnie since he really wants to help the team with his inventions but.. as Leo tells him, they can be a bit dangerous and Donnie can lose control of them.

Here we get to see how Donnie's passion for science and technology can put his brothers at risk and how Leonardo also can be stubborn at times and struggles with being open to new ideas.

It's one of those rare instances in the series in which we see Leo and Donnie fight. They usually get on well since Donnie has no problem with following orders. He sometimes sarcastic with Leo but he rarely tries to an argument the same way that Raph does.

The thing it's that Donnie's and Leo's arguments are usually more about strategy than personal problems. While Raph's and Leo's fight are related to their slibing rivaliry and how their personalities clash with each other.

This episode deals with loss as well: Metalhead sacrifices himself to help the turtles escaping from the Kraang prision. While it's true that he can be rebuild it, i think it's still a pretty sad moment that it shows that Metalhead was a robot with good intentions in the end.

Vengeance is Mine

This another very memorable episode that tons of fans remember. The plot and the dialogue it's very well written and much like "Slash and Destroy" has tons of metaphors that worth of analyzing.

This episode it's mainly about Karai and her relationship with Shredder. It how revenge often being doing more harm than good and end up hurting everyone involved.

It starts with great action scene about the turtles helping Karai escape from Shredder's prision. Overall it's very intense scene due to being surronded by very dangerous enemies and they in Shredder's lair.

The scene in which Karai reunites with Splinter is really heartwarning. She doesn't say any word, she just.. hugs him, happy that she finally able to be with her real father. It's a very memorable scene.

And i really love how she later hangs out with the turtles during their training. It's such a cute scene.

The problem is that Karai really wants to make Shredder pay for what he had done to her family. Splinter tells her it's not really worth of her time, that all that matters is that they are now finally able to be together.

Karai sneaks out anyways and she gets captured by Shredder.

This forces the turtles and Splinter to go rescue her. While they are fighting, Oroku Saki accidentantly cuts the chain that holds Karai, making her fall into the mutagen and transforming her into giant snake.

I think i really like how the episode ends in a tragedy, showing how blinded Saki has become for getting his revenge that he even hurt someone he considered her daughter in the process. The scene is acts as a parallel to death, who died exactly in the same way.

Buried Secrets

I really enjoyed April the first time watching the series. It's was very interesting to me to see this girl that used to have a normal life have it completely changed because of the Kraang and "Buried Secrets" was not the exeption.

I really like the amount of psychological horror this episode has: April just wants to be with her lost mother who really turns out a defective monsters that shares her mother's memories and devours each one of the turtles.

On one hand April is finally able to learn more about her backstory and why she has Kraang powers. It was something that wasn't completely necessary for the series to explore but i really like the writers took the time to explain how O' Neil family was being experimented on.

On the other hand it's a really sad since her "mother" wasn't real in first place. It's has to be desvasting to find out your mother/father is really just a monster who is hurting your friends.

And like i said, this is one of the scariest enemies in tmnt 2012. It's very creepy how she just goes hunting each turtles one by one and no one know what's happening.

Mikey was great here too. He was the one that first suspected that April's mother wasn't what she appeared to be. It shows that while he sometimes he's a bit naive, he knows when something is seems off and take things more seriously.

------

Okay, i leave the list here for know. I would probably be posting the other half during the weekend.

I hope you enjoyed my post! Feel free to talk about your favourite episodes in the comments (or by reblog). I would like to see which ones you like.

[nomattertheoceans]

The 100?

Thank you Nonnie!!! :) 

Top 5 favourite characters:

Echo / Emori / Raven / Murphy / Octavia

Other characters you like:

A lot, actually! Off the top of my head, Lexa, Clarke (although not in the way most people like her, I enjoy her as an anti-hero lmao), Bellamy, Monty, Jasper, Lincoln, Indra!

Least favourite characters:

Aside from the obvious villains obviously, I’m gonna say Kane and Abby. I never really cared for their stories, I’ve hated Abby since season 1 and Kane since s5 there’s just something about them being absolutely awful leaders and blaming kids for their failures that I can’t get behind.

Otps:

Basically lmao.

No but seriously, I think their love story is just great on so many levels, they’re the only love story I really care about in the show.

Other couples I really like are: Bellamy and Echo, Octavia and Lincoln, Octavia and Niylah, Octavia and Diyoza, Murphy and Emori and Raven, Echo and Raven, Jasper and Maya, Monty and Harper

Notps:

..... Bellarke lmao.

I enjoy the dynamic between Bellamy and Clarke, but I never saw it as romantic, and that’s how I enjoyed it. I love their ennemies to reluctant allies dynamic, I love the fact that their relationship is dysfunctional I love the parallels between Clarke and Octavia. But I don’t enjoy it at all as a romantic dynamic.

Favourite friendships:

Monty and Jasper, Octavia and Jasper, Raven and Murphy

Favourite family:

This is almost only found family because this show has a ton of found family dnamics that I love!! The Blake siblings, Spacekru, Octavia Diyoza and Hope, Raven and Finn.

Favourite episodes:

Murphy’s Law, Blood Must have Blood part 1 and part 2, Thirteen, The Chosen, Pramfayia, Red Queen, The Garden

Favourite season/book/movie:

Season 2. It has my favorite version of Lexa, it has Bellamy and Echo meeting, it has the most interesting antagonists (in my opinion haha). Season 4 is a close second though!

Favourite quotes:

“You believe that to defeat an ennemy who will stop at nothing, you must stop at nothing. How is that any different than Blood must have Blood?” - Luna in s3, because I think this quote shows very well the central conflict of the show, one that was established by Finn in s1: We have to try not to repeat history, and yet everytime, they do repeat it. I disagree with Luna in that instance because the threat that was ALI wasn’t like any other, but I agree with her sentiment.

“In peace, may you leave this shore. In love, may you find the next. Safe passage on your travels. Until our final journey to the Ground. May we meet again.” LISTEN. If there’s is one thing of the world building I absolutely adore, it’s the Traveler’s Blessing. It’s a beautiful prayer, and it gives me all the right emotions when I think about it. I was disappointed with what the show was making of it in seasons 2 and 3, with characters saying it all around, but then there are two instances that really get to me: Octavia and Bellamy saying it over the dead radio at the end of s4, and Monty / Bellamy and Clarke saying it at the end of season 5.

Best musical moment:

I loved the way the music carried the scene right after Lexa’s death, how it melts from Lexa’s death and Titus saying his ritual words, to Becca reaching earth, back to Lexa and the Flame coming out of her.

Moment that made you fangirl/boy the hardest:

Oh boy there are a LOT Off the top of my head: when Monty refuses to leave Jasper alone when he gives his blood to Maya, when Murphy says “Touch me again and I’ll end you... in a non-criminal way”, when Becho was confirmed in s5, When Clarke managed to align the satellite dish in Pramfyia, when Octavia confronted Skaikru in The Chosen,.... I can’t think of others right now but there are a lot lmao You can check out my favorite scenes series if you want, I’m working on it slowly!

When it really disappointed you:

A lot of times, honestly... I’m gonna say, all of season 6. I hated it. It had so much potential, with characters having to deal with the aftermath of season 5, Monty and Harper dying, Jordan existing, Wonkru.... Instead we got a whole mess that didn’t do much for any character and I was really disappointed.

Saddest moment:

Lincoln’s death. I knew it was coming because I knew the actor was leaving the show, but I was so NOT READY for it omg it’s the scene I still cry everytime I watch it because it’s so sad and heartwrenching....

Most well done character death:

Okay so I think The 100 is really bad at having well done character deaths, so I’m gonna say my less well-done one lmaoooo

Lexa’s. Her death was so stupid. I wasn’t in the fandom at the time so I wasn’t aware of the awful queerbaiting that was going on, so without talking about BTS and marketing ploys, I do believe that her death was heavily predicted by the show. However, it was a stupid death and Lexa was too awesome a character to die by a stray bullet. She deserved a proper send-off, she deserved to die in an epic battle, or fighting for what she believed in,..... not a bullet. 

Favourite guest star:

I know Shawn Mendes (Mendez? I don’t know lmao i don’t know him) was a guest star but I don’t know any other guest star so I guess that’s my answer lmao

Favourite cast member:

I don’t follow the cast, so I don’t have a favorite xD

Character you wish was still alive:

Jasper and Finn both deserve to still be alive, because the show treated their mental struggles like shit and I’m very bitter about that!

One thing you hope really happens:

Honestly, I don’t know? We have four episodes left of the entire show and I have no idea where it’s headed lmao I guess I hope both Emori and Murphy survive to see the end and have a long and happy life <3

Most shocking twist:

Okay I actually have three so I’ll you my top three:

1- The revelation of the Mountain Men. I was absolutely NOT expecting this to happen and I was gasping and going “nooooooooo way!!!” at my computer because it was so out of nowhere!! I loved it lmao

2- Murphy discovers that ALI destroyed the world: the ending of s2. That scene is so chilling, Murphy watching the video of Chris crying and killing himself, cut with scenes of Jaha getting to the mansion and the wholse scene with ALI herself... that whole scene was really cool and unexpected!

3- Clarke and Jaha steal the bunker during the conclave. I was so SHOOK by this moment, it was such a bold move and I loved it!

When did you start watching/reading?:

Early January, 2015. I was back at my appartment waiting for the semester to start, my roommates weren’t back from the holidays yet, and I was bored. So I started the show, and I binged all of season 1 and half of season 2 in 24 hours xD I caught up at Spacewalker, and then had to wait two weeks for the next episode to air and it was agony!!!!

Best animal/creature:

HELIOS THE BEST HORSE THERE IS

Favourite location:

The Second Dawn Bunker. Yeah I know it’s strange coming from me because I absolutely hate so many things about the bunker xD But it was such a cool location!! With the rotunda/arena, the farm, the huge corridors,.....

Trope you wish they would stop using:

“It’s the end of the world, whatever shall we do???” I’m just tired you guys. Nuclear apocalypses and other bombings should not be that common lmao

One thing this show/book/film does better than others:

I love the fact that it has so many different and well developped female characters.It shouldn’t be rare, but it still is, and this show really stands out to me for that reason. I’m not saying it’s the peak of feminism or anything because lmao IT’S NOT. But the women of the show have agency, freedom, they’re all distinct from one another and not just tropes and cliches. I really like it.

Funniest moments:

Nothing comes to mind right now? I feel like an idiot lmao I have so many moments that make me laugh and I can’t think of a single one right now x)

Couple you would like to see:

I would love to have canon Murphy x Emori x Raven!!

Actor/Actress you want to join the cast:

Nobody haha sorry

Favourite outfit:

Blodreina’s cape thingy!

Favourite item:

Raven’s necklace!!! I’m actually hoping to make myself one someday, it’s my favorite thing ^^

Do you own anything related to this show/book/film?:

Nothing!

What house/team/group/friendship group/family/race etc would you be in?:

I wish I could be spacekru haha they’re the best found family of the whole show and we deserved a flashback episode for them <3

Most boring plotline:

the entirety of season 6 xDDDDD

No but seriously, I’m gona say Illian’s plot. Honestly I never got into it at all, I didn’t care enough about him, or his family.

Most laughably bad moment:

I mean, the pilot is pretty cringe-worthy xD

Best flashback/flashfoward if any:

the flashbacks of the Dark Year.

Most layered character:

Octavia

Most one dimensional character:

Jordan lmao I was so disappointed with his story in s6.....

Scariest moment:

OMG in season 2 when Bellamy, Octavia and the guards go into the old parking garage and CAROL OF THE BELLS START PLAYING THAT WAS SO FUCKING CREEPY

Grossest moment:

Ewwww the whole worm thing happening in s5, AND the weird trees growing inside people in s6 xD

Best looking male:

S5 Murphy, hands down. Also s7 Murphy cause he spends half his time shirtless lmao

Best looking female:

Emori! She’s so pretty.

Who you’re crushing on (if any):

I mean everybody is gorgeous but I don’t have a particular fixation haha

Favourite cast moment:

I don’t watch interviews or BTS stuff so I don’t know much, but Richard Harmon wearing hie sister’s costume and wig was really funny ^^

Favourite transportation:

Becca’s rocket

Most beautiful scene (scenery/shot wise):

It’s very obvious symbolism, but I love the last shot of Blood must have blood part 1, with Clarke standing alone in front of the door of Mount Weather.

Also, Octavia forcing the clans into submission in Red Queen, the mini conclave in fron of the doors of the vafeteria. The shots in that scene were really good!

Unanswered question/continuity issue/plot error that bugs you:

Lmaooooooo do you have ten hours? Because that’s how long I can ramblr about the inconsistencies and plotholtes of this show x) Off the top of my head:

- Why does everybody on the Ark speak Enlighs?

- If Becca knew Nightblood could let you live on Earth then why didn’t she distribute it among the space stations?

- Why did Cadogan build the bunker in the middle of the city when he had a prefectly good FOREST??

- If Lexa is the first Commander to unite the clans then what was the role of the Commander before her?

- Why didn’t the Ark send one adult with the 100 (Pyke) to protect and help them?

- How come the Eligius IV prisoners don’t die when they come back to Earth in s5 since they have no nightblood and didn’t adapt through evolution?

- How is it that Spacekru survived with algea alone but Wonkru had to have this huge variety of plants?? WHAT’S THE MAGIC ALGEA MONTY???

- Why did Mount Weather crash the Exodus ship?

- If the ressources on the Ark are so scarce then why would they float people with clothes on them?

- How come Raven could visit Finn in prison but Bellamy couldn’t visit Octavia?? If Octavia was in solitary, why?

...... Okay i’m gonna stop for now lmao but I could write an entire memoir on the inconsistencies of this show lmao

Best promo:

That one:

At what point did you fall in love with this show/book: 

I’m thinking Murphy’s Law? The first few episodes were a little too teenage-drama for me but this episode shifted my opinion enough to get me to keep watching ^^

[habitmorelikefuckyou]

EverymanHYBRID - Pacing, Character-Driven Plots, and Comic Relief

Everyone shut the FUCK up I’m shifting into hyperfocus mode

In all seriousness, EverymanHYBRID is one of my favorite series period, and I have SO much to say about its writing and production. It’s, in my Personal Opinion, probably the best-written of the main Slenderverse ARG (Though I’m willing to admit that this is probably influenced by personal bias and you’re absolutely allowed to disagree). And I just want to go in-depth with some of my favorite elements!

(obvious spoilers for EverymanHYBRID if you haven’t seen it)

I think HABIT, and the way his character is written and used, is probably the best place to start.

HABIT, in my opinion, is an EXTREMELY interesting villain- right down to the concept. HABIT is literally the personification of the darkest, most horrible things people are capable of. He is a literal embodiment of humanity’s sins. That is quite possibly one of the scariest and most cosmically threatening concepts they could have chosen. And what’s even more interesting is the way they then approached that concept-

They made him fun.

That’s something I see everyone who watches EMH hook onto. The villain, the main antagonist, the horrible old-as-time pure evil mastermind, is a fun character! He’s witty, he’s funny, he’s rude in that flippant, crude, lighthearted way we’ve come to associate with characters like Deadpool. He doesn’t act with any sort of discernible logic or pretense. And that’s the point.

Let’s skip ahead to the last stretch of the series for a moment. After “:D”, pretty much the rest of the videos consist entirely of Vinny and Habit alone, with occasional appearances from a very traumatized Evan. That’s 25 videos- about a full fourth of the story. The final 1/4 of EMH is almost entirely Vinny and HABIT. Now, why is this important? Well, look back to the beginning. If you look at this entire series with an analytical perspective, you realize that among some other themes, one aspect of the series never leaves entirely- its humor. 

No matter what arc or event the story touches on, there’s always some form of comic relief. It wasn’t always doom and gloom. One of EMH’s trademarks, in my opinion, is how they constructed the plot to move consistently between those two tones, and even mix them.

How does this relate to HABIT? Think about that thing I said- for the last fourth of EMH, the only characters we get to see for the most part are Vinny and HABIT. Vinny, at this point, is a very changed man. He’s not the same college guy making videos with his friends that he was in video one- he’s worn out, scared, broken. Before this, all of the humor or heart the story had come from the guys’ interactions, but Vinny is alone and empty now- he can’t provide that without breaking character.

And THAT is why HABIT being a fun, flippant character is so important. He not only gets to have that creepy, unhinged vibe- it’s a utility. It’s a way to incorporate that element back into the story in a way that still upholds the plot. They made the villain funny because only a villain could possibly be funny in that kind of situation.

Like I said earlier, the story wasn’t always oppressive and scary and sad. It broke up its tragedy with humor or love. That wasn’t just a style choice; it was necessary to tell the story the EMH crew wanted to tell. That’s the thing that some people don’t seem to get- you can’t have a story be nothing but sad, upsetting things piled on top of each other with nothing in between. It’s not the low point that you feel, but the drop from a high point to get there. You need highs if you want your audience to care about the lows, so you need some element of levity to a dark story if you want people to care when it gets dark again. That’s what makes HABIT so cleverly written. He manages to do that without moving an inch outside of the character we’d expect. 

That point also serves as a good segway to something else I want to talk about- Pacing.

EverymanHYBRID, in comparison to most other ARGs, is a slow-paced story. Yes, the conflict begins about six videos in, but if you think about it, that was barely the start. We don’t even get a direct hint to HABIT’s presence until 20 videos in. There’s also the livestreams they did, and all those normal videos were included for a reason- to let us get attached. The thing about EMH is that it was a HEAVILY character-focused narrative. That means that taking your time to get the audience attached to your characters is crucial.

Because of the long-form medium chosen to tell the story, the guys had to establish a foundation that would last. In a particularly short piece of media, like a small book or a movie, a few (WELL WRITTEN) scenes can give you all the character-building you need, because those scenes will still be fresh in the audience’s mind at the climax. But in a longer story, like EMH, you can’t do that- you need to take a while to establish those characters as people, because the audience needs time to build that association. Your audience isn’t going to be thinking about that one time that character had that one conversation in video ten by the time they’re getting murdered in video sixty. There needs to be a substantial connection between character and audience if that sad stuff is supposed to have any impact.

And EverymanHYBRID does that- and then they do more. They don’t just take it slow in the beginning. They set up that foundation, and then they keep building onto it. 

During my second rewatch when I was paying much more attention to the actual writing of the series, one thing I noticed is that after every arc- every major event or tragedy- the story hits the breaks a little. We get a step back, we get a breather, and once again it’s just us and the characters with the threat pushed to the backburner. We not only got to see the characters as people in the first act; we got to see them at every step of the story. 

We get to watch in detail how Jeff unravels from the sweet, helpful, kinda goofy guy he was in the first episode to the depressed, hopeless shell he’s become by the time he dies. We get to see every stage of Evan’s devolving mental state from the funny, hot-headed sidekick to the suicidal, broken mess HABIT makes him. Vinny’s journey from the soft-spoken, friendly leader he was at the start to the hollow murderer he is by the end is long and arduous, and we get to see every checkpoint of that transformation. They don’t just break these characters. They make sure that we get to watch them break- because that’s the point.

That’s what makes EverymanHYBRID a character-driven story. The essence of the story isn’t the scary supernatural conflict; it’s how that conflict affects and changes and torments these characters, their relationships, their reactions and then the consequences of those reactions. The pacing was designed to make sure that those aspects were always the main focus, whether we realized it or not. At its center, EverymanHYBRID IS a horror story, but it’s absolutely NOT a thriller- EverymanHYBRID is a tragedy.

The story isn’t about Slenderman, or The Rake, or even HABIT. It’s about the Mining Town Four. It’s about The Voyeur, The Guardian, The Firebrand, and The Everyman. It’s about Stephanie, Jeff, Evan, and Vinny. It’s about a group of innocent people cursed to be reincarnated over and over in an infinite cycle, while trapped in a neverending conflict with unimaginable horror that they can’t ever hope to defeat. It’s about the hopeless, destructive, unfair struggle between man and evil. 

And they represented this idea through the most obvious and yet most clever medium possible- through four young, innocent, likable friends, who are tortured, driven apart, and destroyed by a formless source of malice that they don’t understand. EverymanHYBRID, in the end, is a tragic retelling of the oldest moral concept there is, on an impossibly large and yet painfully personal level.

And in my opinion? It’s pretty damn impressive that they managed to do all that with a youtube channel.

[twentiethcenturymoviesandtv]

The Wizard of Oz: Genre and Themes

The Wizard of Oz is about a lot of things.

It’s a story about courage, brains and heart.  It’s a story about the importance of family and the home. It’s a story about coming of age, and growing up.   It’s about traveling down the Yellow Brick Road of your own life, facing down your own witches, and realizing your own potential and place in the world.

Of course, that’s all what the movie is about.  Today, I’m interested in finding out something different: what type of story is The Wizard of Oz?

To answer that, we’ll be looking at the one facet of film that most dictates the elements of a story, be it characters, setting, or plot: Genre.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, genre is defined as being a category of ‘artistic composition’, such as music, literature, or film, characterized by ‘a particular style, form, or content’.  Put simply, genre is the sum of a series of similarly themed parts that come together to create, in this case, a movie.

It’s easy to think that movies can be placed neatly into little boxes because of this, but the fact is, each film, while predominantly carrying characteristics of one specific genre, also shares some themes and attributes with other genres, and that’s where things get tricky.

No film is categorized into merely one genre, and The Wizard of Oz is certainly no exception.  It’s a combination of compatible themes and morals, merging seamlessly into the story.  From the fantasy to the comedy, The Wizard of Oz has it all, and that’s what we’re going to be looking at today. Spoilers below!

First and foremost, we’re going to be looking at the obvious category: the musical.

You don’t get much more musical than Somewhere Over the Rainbow.  Dorothy Gale’s famous ‘I Want’ song was so memorable that it became the template of many hopeful songs in the future of musical theatre, such as ‘Part of Your World’, ‘Little Town’, ‘Tomorrow’, and ‘Somewhere That’s Green’.  That’s only the tip of the iceberg, as The Wizard of Oz holds an impressive amount of catchy tunes throughout the whole film, including ‘We’re Off to See the Wizard’, and the ‘If I Only Had‘ trilogy.  

But there’s more to a musical than just the songs. Protagonists in traditional musicals usually all have a few things in common, most notably something to sing the ‘I Want’ song about, and the struggle to meet their goals and find themselves.  In that, Dorothy works extremely well.

As we’ve mentioned, early in the story, Dorothy looks around at the dry, expansive, brown nothingness that is Kansas and wants more, wants to travel somewhere over the rainbow.  Once there, in that multicolored, eventful, unknown land of Oz, Dorothy begins her journey to find out where she belongs.  I’ve often compared this progress of events to that of the Hero’s Journey, which also goes hand in hand with another genre: the Fantasy, specifically fantasy-adventure.

Witches and wizards, magic ruby slippers and talking scarecrows, Oz is clearly a fantasy land, taking place somewhere that’s very obviously Not Here.  There’s a whimsical, optimistic feeling to the whole film, echoing the ‘fairy-tale’ vibe intended by the original novel.  By that alone, it could be argued that The Wizard of Oz is very much a fun, family, fantasy flick, but there’s more to it than that.

It takes more than a setting to make a fantasy.  Just like with the musical, a fantasy comes with its own set of usual tropes and themes for its story and characters.

Dorothy’s adventure, from her beginning in the Ordinary World to Crossing the Threshold to Oz, to meeting her Tests, Allies and Enemies, fits in very nicely with several other stories of fantasy heroes whisked from their humble beginnings to a series of events that happen outside the normalcy of the protagonist’s ordinary life.  Her ‘dragon slaying’ moment, while coming about in a less than usual way, also falls in line with other fantasy-adventure characters.  (Stay tuned in the upcoming articles for an in-depth look at The Hero’s Journey)  In a way, The Wizard of Oz’s genre seems clear, doesn’t it?

Well, maybe, but wait, there’s more!

Despite its bright colors, uplifting story, and entertaining songs, there is a sometimes scary edge underlying throughout this story. Dorothy’s life is in constant danger, as are the lives of those around her.  The Scarecrow is set on fire, Dorothy is abducted by flying monkeys, and the Wicked Witch is often among the first (and scariest) antagonists young children meet. The Haunted Forest borrows a tense atmosphere from horror movies of the day, and yet, we do not say that The Wizard of Oz is a horror movie at all.  

Similarly, there is a quick-witted, banter-esque quality to the dialogue, with a lot of Vaudeville humor making its way into the movie to endear the characters to us as well as lighten the danger to the audience.  The Cowardly Lion, Tin Man and Scarecrow especially pack in quite a lot of humor during their time onscreen, ranging in material from jokes to the Scarecrow’s ragdoll movements, and yet we do not think of The Wizard of Oz as a comedy.

‘Now, wait a minute’, you might say.  ‘Are you trying to tell me that The Wizard of Oz can be considered a horror or comedy movie?’

Absolutely not.  In fact, I believe this movie should be categorized as it often is: a fantasy/adventure/musical for the whole family.  The question I’m asking by pointing out any other ‘aspects’ taken from other genres is this:

How do we know what genre a film is, when each film is a combination of multiple elements from different genres?

The answer is very simple.

In my opinion, we can tell what genre a film is by answering two questions that are connected very closely in the realm of entertainment.

Question 1: What style of story is this?

Question 2: What style of hero/protagonist is this?

One of the things we’ll be looking at as we continue this study will be the many different kinds of heroes and the stories they belong to, so stay tuned for more detail on that front, but in the meantime, let’s focus on the topic at hand.

Put simply, The Wizard of Oz is an upbeat fantasy/adventure/musical because of Dorothy Gale, and how she interacts with her story.  Dorothy as a protagonist works in the world she’s been placed in due to a working combination of the setting, as well as her own traits and journey as a character.  If Dorothy had been an eccentric, quirky joke-cracker, she might have worked in a comedy take on the story, but that would have changed the primary genre.  If she had been a vulnerable skeptic, she might have been cast in a horror version of the film, but again, that would have changed the style of story.

Dorothy Gale is an earnest dreamer, a brave, but frightened girl trapped in another world and desperately trying to get home, facing down obstacles in her path to fulfil a quest that happens to be in a very magical and fantastical setting.  As a result, The Wizard of Oz is, at heart, a fairytale fantasy, a fun family musical/adventure with something for everyone, another reason this film has endured and endeared for so long.  

Thank you all so much for reading!  Please, let me know your thoughts and ideas.  Stay tuned for next time, when we’ll be discussing the colorful, charming characters of The Wizard of Oz.  I hope to see you all in the next article!

[purplesurveys]

800

.·゜゜·. Holy Cow A Survey .·゜゜·.  (and holy cow, it’s my 800th on here) by junkie_dreams

1. What made you pick up the last book you started reading? I started reading it for a while, then thesis made me too busy to read it for a few weeks, then when I was finished with that I realized I’ve left the book alone so I continued it and proceeded to finish the whole thing.

2. Have you received any bad or troubling news lately? All things revolving around Covid19, George Floyd, & Trump < Pretty much, though replace Trump with Duterte. He’s being such a cranky ass about hastily passing this new bill that will essentially allow warrantless arrests to anyone complaining about him on the internet, so everyone’s kinda stressing out about that right now. 

3. When was the last time you were relieved about something? Since Tuesday, every day that I’ve woken up without a fever is a relief. Another thing is that it’s Gabie’s birthday today and I was relieved to find out that she loved the surprise I made for her :) I pooled all her friends together and made them do video birthday greetings and submit photos that they have with her and I compiled it in a simple short film. It turned out super cute!

4. What about your life concerns you the most? Anything job-wise. They say 2020 graduates are heading into the worst job market in a very long time, and I think that’s pretty straightforward information.

5. Is there a common thing most people seem to do without trouble, but it scares you (talking on the phone, driving, interviews, etc)? When was the last time you had to do one of these kinds of things? Talking on the phone, ordering in a restaurant, and asking for help in any kind of store. I had to talk to a Grab delivery driver the other day to help him with directions going to my house; andddd I don’t usually have to recite my order or ask for help at a store myself because my girlfriend will often be the one to speak for me HAHAHAH.

6. Is a pen pal something you would enjoy? If so, what kinds of little things would you send your pen friends? No, only because writing exhausts me these days. I only enjoy writing for people I already know very well and love, and I wouldn’t feel invested enough to write to people I don’t know all that much yet.

7. Describe a time when you were there for a friend? Angela was sad the other day so I dropped her short messages to let her know I was there for her. She never replied, but it’s okay; it was just important to me that she knew I wasn’t going to leave her alone.

8. When was the last time you went somewhere for the first time? I dunno, I obviously haven’t gone around the city in months...though I’m thinking it’s the milk tea place we have at campus, called Nomu. I was there to pick up a drink a week before lockdown.

9. What is a situation that makes you feel especially confident? If it’s a situation that I know I can handle, like a test I studied a lot for; or if it’s a situation where I have a lot of support.

10. What was the subject of your most recent conversation? My dad was asking if he can have one of my soju bottles (my mom recently bought me five) and was also asking what flavor is really good. That prompted me to walk over and hesitatingly point out the good flavors, until he said, “Just kidding, I was just checking to see if this will make you stand up. You’re so predictableeeeeeeee” hahahaha

11. Hypothetically and generally speaking, how would you go about breaking up with someone? Is there anything you would make sure to say, or perhaps not say? I’d do it personally, say everything there is to say, and let’s face it, I see myself crying a lot too because I can never have serious conversations without tearing up lol.

12. Are you more of a night person or a day person? What is it about the night/day that you favor? I like the nightlife more. I hate the sun and when it’s bright out, so I’m most active when it’s evening and the lights and stars are pretty.

13. What do you find particularly offensive? Would you say you’re easy or difficult to offend? Mostly anything racist, misogynist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, biphobic, acephobic, and anti-poor. I’m very alert about these things and will call out anyone making insensitive sentiments about any of them.

14. Is there a belief you have that most others around you don’t have? Do you share this belief with others, or do you tend to keep it to yourself? Have you ever offended anyone with this belief? Ok so it’s technically the opposite of belief but I am atheist in a predominantly Catholic country. I’m very vocal about it except with my family. I probably have offended some people by stuff I’ve said or shared, but I don’t care. If they choose to ignore the myriad of issues surrounding their religion, they’re part of the problem and the reason why I’m so wholly against it.

15. Do you consider internet friendships as important as offline friendships, or do you view them differently? I value offline friendships more.

16. When was the last time you visited relatives or friends of the family? Is visiting family something you enjoy? I visited my lola, aunt, and cousins last Sunday when I was sick, since the doctor we were heading to lives in the same village. I hadn’t seen them since December I think? so my lola cried when she saw us walk through the front gate :’) I love visiting family, whoever it may be. It’s always fun to catch up, as long as conversations don’t turn into politics lol.

17. What did you do for the last holiday or event you celebrated? For my birthday we were stuck in lockdown so I couldn’t really do anything, but we had lots of food which is the easiest way to make me happy anyway. My parents and sister bought a blueberry cheesecake but had the blueberry part scraped off and then they crushed a whole pack of Oreos to turn it into an Oreo cheesecake lol; and Angela sent me a box of sushi.

18. If you’ve moved out from home, what was the scariest thing about it? What was/is your favorite thing about it? I haven’t yet.

19. Are there any fictional characters you like even though they’re “bad” or “evil?” What qualities draw you to a character? Yeah. Many antagonists speak the truth, and that makes it so easy to root for them. It’s this case very often in pro wrestling.

20. What are your thoughts on “forgiving” murderers, rapists, attackers, etc? Do you think it’s even possible to forgive these people? I don’t even forgive friends who betray me, so much less would I forgive assholes like the ones you listed. It’s definitely possible; I just choose not to do it because that’s my way of being in peace.

21. What was the last series you finished watching? Do you have any plans to begin another? I’m awwwwwwwful at finishing series man. I’m still on Descendants of the Sun but I also started a rewatch of The Big Bang Theory lmao. I want to finish DOTS first though and then maybe move on to Crash Landing On You, another Korean drama. Big Bang’s not really a priority for me and just something I wanna watch when I don’t want anything too heavy.

22. What is one way in which you are different from a year ago? What is one way in which you are still the same? I’m a lot less afraid of dealing with people (and been better with it) thanks to the stuff I’ve had to do in the last year, like my internship and heading external relations for my org. I’m still the same in the sense that I’m still deathly terrified in the last few moments before I do the aforementioned dealing with people lol. Once I jump into the conversation I’m perfect, but I take f o r e v e r to get prepared.

23. When was the last time you had to walk somewhere in the rain? How about the snow? I don’t like walking in the rain and we don’t get snow.

24. Are there any types of survey questions you dread or don’t like answering for whatever reason? What kinds of questions do you like best? Questions that make me think too much or are too deep. I also don’t like basic surveys. Random is where it’s at. Ask me what I got at the last restaurant I was at, places I plan to visit soon, the last time I got mad, stuff like that.

25. If you could learn about anything without the stress of grades or cost, what kind of classes would you take? Law.

26. What was the last item of clothing you purchased? Do you wear it often? Two identical tops in different colors. I haven’t gotten the chance to wear either a lot because lockdown happened shortly after I bought them.

27. Has anything made you feel nostalgic lately? Sure. When I was compiling stuff for Gab’s surprise video, I came across some very old photos of us and of her and Angela.

28. What was the last chore you completed? Wash my plate from breakfast.

29. Name a song you’ve listened to today? 7/11 by Beyoncé, heh.

30. Is there anything you’ve promised yourself you’ll never do again? Drink buko juice. I had to drink it for the first few days of my UTI treatment and it’s so disgustinggggggg.

[kenkamishiro]

Ishida’s Q&A comments from YJ compilation, Part 9

Ishida’s comments from 2017! Only one more part left to go which will cover the 30-something questions from 2018.

For anyone who doesn’t know about the relevant Questions to Ishida contest, please read here. You can start from Part 1 here.

The recent set of zakki:re and interview translations take a lot of time and effort, so if you enjoyed it please reblog or leave a like. Thank you!

2017

No. 1

Sensei, if you had to pick a character from a manga/anime/novel to become the president, who would it be?

Mozgus-sama.

Just stop.

[T/N: One of the antagonists of Berserk...]

No. 2

The winners of the New Word/Buzzword awards have been announced for 2016, but in your opinion what new word or buzzword should have won for this year?

「～てわけだし」。

I wonder why.

[T/N: The phrase 「～てわけだし」is difficult to translate on its own since it’s more of an implied feeling, but basically it’s used when you’re stating a conclusion based on reasons that were given in the conversation.]

No. 3-4

It’s that time of year when hot pot is at its most deliciousness! What is your favourite kind of hot pot or hot pot ingredient?

Motsunabe.

Wasn’t there a question just like this before?

[T/N: Yes, yes it was. (In 2013, Issue no. 49.)]

No. 5-6

2016 was also a year where all kinds of events shook the world. Now then Sensei, please tell us about your biggest event of this year!

That I got the opportunity to meet Togashi Yoshihiro-sensei.

It was amazing...

No. 7

The first issue of Young Jump for 2017!! Sensei, what words do you want to write for your wishes for the New Year?

To be on time.

Do your best.

No. 8

Sensei, please tell us what you want to challenge yourself to do this year!

To become an apprentice.

That’s a good one.

No. 9

January 26 is Mobile Apps Day! Please share with us your favourite app or an app that you feel has been useful recently!

Voice recorder.

Apps with shogi problems. It’s perfect for when I have free time.

No. 10

February 2 is Pigtails Day! Please share with us a hairstyle of the opposite sex that makes you feel things!

Short cuts.

Indeed.

No. 11

February 9 is Manga Day! What was the first manga that you read or bought?

I forget what my first one was, but my most recent was volume 45 of Kingdom.

It was probably something like Crayon Shin-chan I think? Most likely...

No. 12

Sensei, please tell us about a sports match that has moved or excited you to this day?

Rocky vs. Mason Dixon.

I haven’t really seen much, huh.

No. 13

Sensei, what item makes you feel “I haven’t seen this lately/it’s gone now, what a shame?”

That crunchy salad thing from Family Mart, the Mexican something-or-other.

I’ll say it again.

No. 14

This may seem out of the blue, but please tell us about a memory that’s related to your birthday!

Thank you for last year.

I received a lot.

No. 15

Sensei, please share with us what you usually eat or do for your health!

Nuts.

I’ve been running recently. Last month I clocked in 100 km.

No. 16

Sensei, please share with us a time where you felt full of energy or gained courage to this day!

I was so scared of Biohazard in VR that I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my body.

I haven’t been playing any VR games recently.

No. 17

Sensei, please tell us about a local rule that surprised you, or any unusual rule that was considered as normal in your local area!

Libatape.

It’s a bandage.

No. 18

Sensei, please share with us what you’re secretly obsessed about!

88Kasyo Junrei and Ziyoou-vachi.

Ohh.

No. 19

Sensei, please tell us what you’d like to eat right now!

Corned beef.

I wonder if I was craving junk food at the time.

No. 20

Sensei, please tell us about a moment where you felt like spring was coming!

I don’t really feel it. Though it does feel like summer.

What’s with that force.

No. 21

If you could send a letter to a person again, who would that person be and what would you like to tell them?

A friend from a long time ago, since I moved around a lot.

I’d tell the friend that I’ve become a mangaka.

No. 22-23

We’re at the cusp of Golden Week! Sensei, please share with us where you’d like to go, or something you’d like to do!

Read.

Just get out of the house already.

No. 24

Sensei, please share with us a technique you thought was amazing or moved you!

I saw it recently, but Terada Katsuya’s live paintings.

Man it was amazing.

No. 25

If you could choose any one special ability or superpower, what ability would you want to use?

The ability to fix my back.

The ability to be motivated at any time.

No. 26

Sensei, what book do you want to read the most/want to know the contents of right now?

I want to read all kinds of books.

I’m currently interested in Russia/Soviet relations.

No. 27

Sensei, please tell us about the scariest story you’ve heard or experienced in your life!

Missiles.

When I was drawing the manuscript for the final chapter that everyone associated with it was waiting for. My heart was pounding like crazy.

No. 28

Sensei, please tell us about something you’re particular about in your home/room, or something you’d like to be particular about if you moved!

Delivery boxes.

Where there are delivery boxes, no bugs crawl out...

No. 29

Sensei, please tell us about a movie or drama that you thought was interesting/would be interesting!

“Documental” was interesting.

“One Cut of the Dead” was interesting too.

No. 30

If you could know just one thing from the future, what would it be?

I wouldn’t want to know anything.

Whether manga still exists or not.

No. 31

Sensei, please tell us what your favourite appetizer is!

Nuts.

Raisin butter.

No. 32

Sensei, please share with us a day that only you celebrate, or a day that is special only to you!

Since the day my series first began is in September, I consider that to be a day for celebration.

I’m sure I’ll forget it.

No. 33

When you think of summer, you think of festivals! What comes to mind when you hear the world “festival”?

Live performances.

Fireworks, food stalls.

No. 34

How would you describe your personality in a single word?

Uncoordinated (To everyone involved, I apologize for causing trouble last week).

What happened...

No. 35

Sensei, please share with us a dinner meal that gets you excited the most!

I don’t get excited over meals.

I do now!

No. 36-37

Sensei, please tell us what you’re glad to have done as a child!

Play Dragon Quest.

Study. Not for the contents necessarily, but more so cultivating my ability to concentrate. Well, that and Dragon Quest too.

No. 38

Sensei, please share with us the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning!

Sleep.

Huh?

No. 39

Please share with us something about Japanese traditional culture or events that you like!

Sweet mochi cakes.

I think it’s wonderful that we have events for each season. Though I don’t take part in them.

No. 40

August 31 is Vegetable Day! Sensei, please share with us what vegetables you like!

Orange paprika.

Celery, paprika, tomatoes.

No. 41

If there was a moment in your life where you thought, “I’m saved!”, please tell us!

I did have one.

I’ve only ever been helped.

No. 42

It’s September but the blazing hot days aren’t over just yet! Sensei, please share with us your steps to combat the summer heat!

Pray.

You didn’t even do anything for the heat did you.

No. 43

Sensei, please share with us something that you thought you wanted to throw away, or wanted to throw away but couldn’t!

My chair.

Stuff like packages or stuffed toys that the staff left behind.

No. 44

Sensei, please tell us about a moment in your everyday life where you get a bit excited/feel a bit of small joy!

When I manage to wake up early.

I know the feel.

No. 45

Please tell us who you thought was the most beautiful woman you’ve seen in your life (can be a real person, or a character from a manga/drama/novel)!

Andrea Pezick.

It’s hard to say who the most beautiful is.

No. 46

October 13 is Moving Day! If you were to move, what town would you want to live in (can be real or fictional)?

Kansai.

Kanto or America or Taiwan.

No. 47

Sensei, please tell us about a moment in your life where you noticed a discrepancy and realized it was different from what you expected!

Turkish rice.

Robot Restaurant.

[T/N: Ishida went to Robot Restaurant last fall with some friends.]

No. 48

Sensei, if there’s a character that you want to make a guest appearance in your own work, please tell us (even real people are acceptable!)

Me.

Don’t need me there.

No. 49

Sensei, please share with us what you do when you can’t fall asleep at night!

I fall asleep right away, so please tell me what to do instead.

Please rest assured that my sleep schedule returned to normal after TG ended.

No. 50

Sensei, if you’ve had a moment where you wanted to keep experiencing the same thing in your memories, please tell us!

I want to erase my memories and play Bloodborne again.

I don’t want to repeat it again.

No. 51

It’s harvesting season! Sensei, please share with us what you thought the best harvest of the year was, or something that was significant to you for this year!

Live performances.

Recently I’ve been doing stuff like practicing drawing and studying. I’m not sure if you’d call it harvesting or planting seeds though.

No. 52

It seems November 22 is Carpenter Day. Sensei, if you have a memory of the house you’ve lived in to this day, please tell us!

Centipedes showed up a lot in my dormitory.

Whenever they got inside the soap box they would cluster together.

No. 53

This is the final issue of 2017! Sensei, please share with us what you want to eat as your last dinner of 2017!

I’d be fine with soba.

That way of speaking is an affront to soba.

previous || next (coming soon!)

[aion-rsa]

The Horror Hiding in V.E. Schwab’s Bestselling Fantasy

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Bestselling author V.E. Schwab isn’t known as a horror writer, but once you begin looking for horror elements in her prolific body of speculative fiction work, you’ll start finding them everywhere: A library where dead people are kept on the shelves like books in The Archived. A world where people come away from near-death experiences with superhuman abilities in the Villains series. A kid who can see ghosts is dragged to the most haunted places on Earth by her ghost-hunter parents in the Cassidy Blake series. Even The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, the tale of a young woman who makes a deal with the devil to life forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets, has its morbid moments. In November, Schwab will be releasing ExtraOrdinary, a graphic novel. ExtraOrdinary is set between the first two books in the author’s aforementioned Villains series, and as with much of Schwab’s other fantasy work that has come before, the story’s magic comes with a dash of the macabre, perhaps more explicitly emphasized by artist Enid Balam‘s accompanying illustrations.

ExtraOrdinary follows Charlotte, a teen girl who develops the ability to see people’s deaths in reflective surfaces following a near-fatal bus crash. When Charlotte sees Villains antagonist Eli Ever as the culprit of her own future murder, she is pulled into the Villains story in definitive ways, starting both new and old fans of this darkly superpowered world a suspenseful and emotionally satisfying journey. Will Charlotte be able to change her own death, or the other deaths she sees around her? Or is she powerless to stop what’s to come? You’ll have to read to find out…

In the lead up to the November 23rd release of ExtraOrdinary and as part of this Halloween season, Den of Geek talked to Schwab about what makes her stories spooky…

Note: This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Den of Geek: Do you think of yourself as a horror author?

V.E. Schwab: I don’t think of myself as a horror author. And yet, if you look at my work, if you look at Gallant, my next book, it’s very horror. The Archived has horror in it, and I mean Vicious has body horror. I think what it is, is that both death and fear play really large roles in my work, and it’s hard to have death and fear without at least grazing horror. So I think it really is the fact that I like write about death and fear. And that has a Venn diagram overlap, I think, with horror. As a consumer of stories, is horror a genre that you’re drawn to? Absolutely not. I used to feel really self-conscious about it, but I think, because I have a really vivid imagination, horror works a little too well on me in that I’m fine with it until I go to bed that night. And then I’m lying awake.

I love creating horror because I can’t be scared by the thing that I’m making, because I’m in complete control of it. So I think I think it’s not that odd to like creating something that you are slightly apprehensive about consuming. It’s really the only caveat I think whenever I talk about ‘you better write what you read,’ and I do read horror, but I don’t like watching horror films. The seeing of it, the codification of it, is hard for me because it will stay with me. And mostly supernatural. I’m fine with serial killers and the mundane horrors of our own world. But, as soon as you get into things that go bump or shadows that move, I start to get really nervous if it’s nighttime out. But when you write, you’re dictating. There is no ‘boo!’ moment for you. There’s no jump scare. When you’re writing something like that, because you’re creating it, you’re the god in that situation. Which of your stories do you think is the scariest? I think it depends what scares you, right? It’s very subjective. In some ways, my middle grade novels are the scariest because they deal with actual ghost stories. All of the ghost stories in the City of Ghosts series, in the Cassidy Blake books, are real. They’re all local legends. So, those are recorded urban and local lore. I think that’s pretty scary. I do think Gallant, my next novel, which is like the Secret Garden meets Crimson Peak… I think that novel is going to be fairly scary. You’ve written for different age groups and I’m curious if you think about that when you’re writing based on the audience, in terms of the horror elements. You know, what’s interesting is… I think I write the scariest things for my middle grade audience. Because I think kids are actually much better at dealing with horror than adults. I think that what scares them is really different. I just think, from my experience, young readers are a lot braver. I think because they don’t have a parental perspective or a generational perspective yet. So, weirdly, I never worry about making my kids books too scary, but I do think that my YA novels are usually my darkest.

So like This Savage Song—which has horror in it as well, I’m realizing—is very dark, and Gallant is very dark, and those are both YA. So I do think that, you know, I’m always writing for a version of myself, and I think I was probably my darkest self as a teenager. I was my most morbid self as a teen, and so I think I’m definitely speaking to that version of myself when I write YA.

But I mean, I think I don’t shy away from it. In any audience. I think probably my adult books are my lightest, weirdly, because I’m like, ‘oh, adults, we’re all grim and everything is awful.’ So I’m going to infuse my adult novels with hope. Yeah, my adult novels have a lot more hope in them, and a lot more like balance, whereas my YA and my middle grade novels are just scary.

I also put the younger characters through more than I put the adult characters. So even in something like ExtraOrdinary, I put a 16-year-old girl like Charlie through a horrific superpower, which is the ability to see death in reflective surfaces. I don’t know why I traumatize my teens and my children in my books more than I traumatize my adults, but I do. Listening to you talk, I do realize I’ve been thinking a lot about how scary the world can be for kids. Things are hard when you’re an adult too, but you’ve hopefully developed more coping mechanisms at that point. I think everything feels bigger when you’re young, like the things which are scary or hard. They feel insurmountable. Rather than shy away from that, I try and give that validation to my younger readers, like, ‘Yeah, it does feel like the end of the world. It does feel everything feels awful.’ And when you’re an adult, it can still feel like the end of the world, but at least have a little bit of retrospect and a little bit of like, ‘OK, it’s not the end all be all,’ or ‘I’ve been here before.’ I don’t think we have those things as kids. We don’t have the benefit of hindsight or experience. And I think that makes everything feel 10 times harder. You’ve talked before about how you like to issue a challenge to yourself when you’re working on new novels. For Vicious, it was to write a book without any heroes. And I was curious if you had something like that for ExtraOrdinary. I wanted to write something set between my books for one. So ExtraOrdinary is set between Vicious and Vengeful. And I wanted to do it without breaking my world. It had to fit, and it had to intersect only at points where it could intersect the narrative of Vicious and Vengeful without undoing anything. I didn’t want to retcon myself into a corner. Normally, I’m a planner, so I make sure that I build space for that kind of work. So, with this, it was like, ‘Can I fit the story into a framework and have it feature Eli, in a way that doesn’t break the story that I’ve set for Eli over the course of the book series?’

Read more

Books

For V.E. Schwab, Vengeful Was a Struggle Worth the Effort

By Kayti Burt

Books

Vengeful by V.E. Schwab Review

By Kayti Burt

There’s an entry point in ExtraOrdinary for people who haven’t read the novels. Did that aspect feel new to you? I’m not very good at it. You’re always told when writing books [series] ‘Oh, and make it so that if somebody picks this book up first, [they’ll know what happened in the last book].’ And I’m such an ornery reader, as well as a writer, that I’m like, ‘Why would I want them to pick up this book first? This is Book Three. Why do I have to pretend like it’s Book One?’

I don’t think my books are necessarily designed for that kind of audience, but when you’re changing format or medium, you do really want to try and create an avenue for new readership. And so, yeah, one of the tricks of that is setting up a world and the rules of it. And that’s kind of nice. The whole comic arc of ExtraOrdinary teaches you how the rules of the world work so that you could go from ExtraOrdinary into Vicious, or even Vengeful and at least know the rules of that world.

So, yeah, it’s always kind of an added challenge to say, like, ‘I have to reteach you again. How will I teach you differently how this world works in like three pages of a comic, instead of a few pages of a novel?’ Yeah, I don’t think of your novels as as having that element, but I don’t think of them as needing it either. I’m so ornery about it. I’m working on Book Four for Shades of Magic—I’ve got my new arc for Shades of Magic—and my publishers are like ‘No, we need to make it so that people could start at Book Four,’ and I’m like, ‘Why? That’s not what it’s for.’ And I get it, I get it. It’s business. But it’s also hard, because I’m like, ‘But I don’t want to reward that. I want to reward the people who started at Book One.’ I happened to read this graphic novel close to when I read your contribution to Don’t Call Me Crazy, and it was really cool to see the parallels between the two. I always feel weird asking this question of authors, because I assume every character you write is probably personal, but do you consider Charlotte a very personal character? I mean, in a way, you are right. All of my main characters, to some extent, are very personal avatars for me in different ways. It’s interesting because I always was Victor in the [Villains] books, so giving myself to a different character feels kind of like adultery. But whenever I’m writing a teenager, a teenage girl especially, it’s a version of me. Like, somebody who’s feeling on the outside or feeling not at home in their skin…

I had this, and I still have it, a morbidity complex, especially about my family. Like just being I remember being like 10, 12, 16, 34 and just being paralyzed by the fear of something happening to them. I had a kind of god syndrome about it where I became convinced that, if I could just be there and be hyper-vigilant, then I could stop something bad from happening to them.

So, in that way, Charlotte’s a really interesting juxtaposition, an interesting kind of avatar to live through, because she can actually see what is happening. Now, there’s a question [in ExtraOrdinary] about whether or not you can change what you see, and that’s something she’s obviously trying to figure out over the course of the comic, but, yeah, I mean, I think in that way, it’s kind of a weird wish fulfillment, isn’t it? I needed the power taken out of my hands, right? I needed to know that I couldn’t always be there to stop everything.

I think it’s a terrible power to have, one of the worst powers. But, at the same time, is there a sense of liberation or obligation in having that power? Do you fight it? Or do you accept that? I think I would have handled her power differently than she does, if that makes sense. At the same time, I definitely experienced that fear. I would play out worst-case scenarios in my head for everyone that I cared about. So, in this way, she’s only seen like one version, but sure, yeah, there’s definitely similarity. I think of one of the conventions of horror as being a recognition of how much is outside of a character’s control or your own control, but I think your writing often is set in the same kinds of spaces, but it gives more agency and control to the character.

You write a lot about this… I don’t want to call it a line between life and death because I feel like you create a space… You know, what it is is the dotted line. It’s a porous threshold. We’ll call it that. When I was like I was looking for horror elements in your work, it just popped up in everything. Villains, City of Ghosts, The Archived, Addie. But I don’t think of your work as repetitive like at all. I once heard an author, I think it was Melissa de la Cruz, say that we are, most of us, as authors, dealing with the same theme over and over in our work, like we’re almost using it as therapy. We are finding some catharsis in the creating of it, not just in the reception. And I think if there is a theme that I am constantly drawn to and exploring, it is the porousness of that boundary because, again, as someone who was very afraid of losing people, I think there’s a comfort to be had in the idea that it’s not a one-way street.

So I think it’s just it’s the thing that intrigues me most. And it’s the thing that compels me and kind of swallows up my thinking. And so I think writing about it and envisioning different interpretations for it is an act of agency. Like it’s taking control and imposing it on a situation where I have none. Do you think your relationship to that theme has changed over the course of your career? I don’t know. I obviously haven’t finished with it. I haven’t gotten away from it. I haven’t gotten tired of it. Obviously, there’s something about it that has still got its teeth in me. And I do try to explore it in really different ways in each book. I’m not sure it’s a thing I’ll ever be done with. But I’m interested to see how it changes in each work.

In some ways, my upcoming book, Gallant, is probably one of my most on-the-nose about it, like the literalness of a threshold. It’s about a door and a garden wall, right? So there’s a very physical threshold there. Sometimes, it’s a lot more metaphorical and sometimes it’s a lot more literal.

But I don’t know. Now, I’m working on Threads of Power [the new Shades of Magic arc]. And it’s not really… actually, no, totally wrong. Yeah, one of the biggest themes in Threads of Power, which I’m writing right now—and I suppose it could change—but it’s not so much about life and death, but about haunting and what stays behind? So I think maybe I’m exploring the terrain of my theme a little bit more and looking to either side of it. And so, obviously, you have the line between life and death, and then you also have legacy and what remains and heritage and echoes and things like that. So I think maybe I’m just expanding my purview. Yeah, I do think you have expanded the theme so much. I haven’t read the Near Witch…

Because that’s the first one. Yeah. And also about life and death and about lineage. I think they all do in some way. Obviously, things set in the Villains world, like ExtraOrdinary, deal with it a very codified way. You literally have to touch that line between life and death in order to obtain those superpowers. There is no way to obtain those powers without blurring the boundary. And so, in that way, their near-death experiences are the catalysts for the entire narrative. Yeah, so it is very rarely as codified as it is in the Villains books.

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Sponsored

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: A Tale of Immortality A Decade in the Making

By Kayti Burt

Books

City of Ghosts: A New Middle Grade Series From V.E. Schwab

By Kayti Burt

In recent years, you’ve worked in the graphic novel format and you’ve worked in live-action TV. I think of both of those mediums as much more collaborative compared to writing books. How is that aspect of of it for you? I mean, yeah, it’s a positive and a negative, isn’t it? When you’re a novelist, you’re the god of your own world and what you say, what you put on the page is the extent of what’s on the page and the extent of what’s there for interpretation. And it’s very lonely and it’s very singular.

When you’re working in comics, you have partners, right? Who are creating their own voice and their own vision and interpreting you. And, with a TV show, you have 100 cooks in the kitchen. So, you have incredible collaboration, but you also have much less ownership. And it’s hard.

And so I think there’s a positive and a negative to each medium in which you work. I really like writing novels because I’m in control. And I really like writing comics because I feel spoiled. I get to see a professionally commissioned vision. And I like telling TV show stories because it’s an entire… not just a village, it’s a city worth of talent. And there’s compromise on each front of the collaboration. But I don’t know. They’re all just completely different games. I definitely think there’s a reason that I’m primarily still a novelist, which is that, at end of the day, I want to dictate. I want to be the god of my world. Yeah, that’s fair. I know, at one point, you had like a Victor Vale TV pitch out there. And I’m curious if working on the TV adaptation of First Kill made you reflect on that idea? I’m not sure. I think First Kill was a really easy experiment to have because it was based on a short story. So there was a lot less of my own creative vision at stake. Whereas like, if I had had to hand the reins of something like Shades of Magic over and then not have creative control at all, that would be really difficult.

So First Kill, you know, it was an education. And it was cool and deeply addictive. And it showed me why people want to be in television so much because I mean, there’s casting and there’s sets and there’s filming and it’s so mundane and so magical all at the same time.

I always like to refer to the TV and film industry as “the loud maybe,” and then to the the book industry as the “quiet yes.” And I think it’s because it’s really easy to get caught up in the bells and whistles and the flash and intention, but the big downside is like there’s no creative control for the author or the creator unless you’re also the showrunner and and that’s really hard. I’m not sure it’d be as hard if I didn’t come from books, but I come from a space where, if I want a coat to be red, the coat is red. Or, if I want a person to look this way, they look that way. All I have to do is write it.

The flip side is, in TV, you get to work with actors and you get to see them breathe life into characters. It’s something I’d never experienced before because, as a novelist, the only life in the characters is what I breathe into them. So there’s not that added depth. Obviously, the reader brings some of it but nothing like writing a few lines for an actor and then seeing them become that person. That, to me, was by far the coolest part of the experience and is probably the thing that is like the catnip, drawing me in.

Most of my books are in some stage of development. But, as you know, it’s so hard to get anything made. I mean Shades of Magic is just trucking along. And it’s been like five years. And people ask me, ‘Oh, is Shades of Magic not happening anymore?’ I’m like, ‘No, it’s still going.’ We’re on like draft five of the script. It just is what it is, you know? As nonsensical as publishing is, TV and film are both less logical and 10 times slower. Yeah, it is a miracle to me anytime anything gets made. It’s a miracle anytime anything gets made. And then it’s like a miracle of miracles when it’s good. When you like, how many cooks there are in that kitchen? How many divergent opinions and ideas? It’s remarkable anytime anything is halfway decent. Yeah, halfway decent and also specific to the initial vision. Going to sets and listening to them talk about the vision, you’ll be like, ‘Oh, wow, yeah, that sounds great. That sounds like a great story to tell. I can’t wait to see it.’ And then you see it, and you’re like, ‘Yeah, that’s not the story you told.’ And I get why it’s so hard. You almost have to go through the experience of both sides to appreciate both sides. But having gone through both sides, there is definitely a joy I feel when I sit back down at my computer and I just type the words I want to type. Obviously, I have to work with my publisher and my agent and my editor, but like, at least I know I’m the captain of the ship.

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ExtraOrdinary hits comic shops, bookstores and digital devices on November 23, 2021 and is available to pre-order .ow from Amazon or in the UK/Europe from Forbidden Planet.

The post The Horror Hiding in V.E. Schwab’s Bestselling Fantasy appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3vVex4w

[dreamytfw]

I’m bored and impatient again, so I’m answering stuff from an ask game. OP here. I just want to say preemptively that the shipping questions only pertain to me and how I ship or don’t ship them. I don’t care what y’all ship.

1:What is your Supernatural OTP? Destiel.

2:What’s your opinion on John Winchester? I have a lot of strong feelings about that fucking dickhead.

3:Which season finale was your favorite/least favorite? Favorite: season 8′s was really good. Least favorite: season 10. We almost had Dean in space.

4:Which is your favorite episode? Either Changing Channels or The Man Who Would Be King

5:Which episode makes you cry the most? The episode where Ellen and Jo die ALWAYS makes me cry.

6:Which episode is the funniest to you? The Real Ghostbusters

7:What’s your opinion on Megstiel? I’m okay with it up to a point. That point is crazy!Cas.

8:When did you start watching Supernatural? The hiatus between seasons 7 and 8. I finished my Netflix binge something like the day before season 8 premiered.

9:Which episode title do you think is the funniest? The French Mistake. Gotta love Mel Brooks.

10:What’s your opinion on Garth? I loved Garth! Such a massively under-utilized character.

11:If you could bring back any character, would you? If so, whom? I’d like to finally get Adam out of Hell, but I don’t think that’s quite what you’re asking.

12:Who is your favorite angel? Cas. Duh.

13:Who’s your favorite archangel? Gabriel.

14:What’s your opinion on Wincest? Squicks me the fuck out. Sibling incest does in general. Like, we’re not supposed to want to fuck our siblings guys. That’s how we get Joffery and El Hachizado.

15:What’s your opinion on Lisa? (and Ben, if you want) Ben was kind of blah outside of his first episode. I really liked Lisa and how she refused to take any of Dean’s crap.

16:When did you start blogging about Supernatural? Uh... I think I jumped on board right away?

17:Do you think that Chuck is God? How old are these questions???

18:Do you have a favorite Dick (Roman) joke? If so, what is it? Not a joke, but I’m really weirdly amused that his actor does the voice of a recurring minor character in the Kingdom Hearts series.

19:Which is your favorite episode? We had this question before.

20:Who do you ship Sam with? Samena, but I really love fluffy snuggly Samstiel.

21:What’s your opinion on Destiel? OTP

22:Did you like the first or second Ruby better? iunno.

23:Who’s your favorite demon? Demon!Dean deserved a longer arc.

24:Do you read smutty fanfiction? I fucking write smutty fan fiction (I’m just bad at finishing and publishing it).

25:Do you think Destiel will become canon in season 9? (Regardless of whether you want it to or not) Christ this is old. Unfortunately they did not. But fingers crossed for season 14, aka their 10 year anniversary.

26:Have you ever had a dream about Supernatural/the characters/the actors? If so, can you describe what you remember? All the time. I used to be able to lucid dream to some extent, but since I’ve gone off my psych meds I can’t seem to do it as much anymore. The most recent one I had was the other night. I don’t remember it too clearly, but Sam and I said bye to Dean and Cas before heading off on some sort of mission or something.

27:Which episode is the scariest to you? (Horror-movie type scary) That episode where Sam got his throat ripped out this season was the first time Supernatural has actually scared me. Other episodes have been suspenseful, but I was legit scared during those mine scenes.

28:What’s your opinion on Sabriel? I don’t really see it. MAYBE unrequited on Gabriel’s side, but other than that I just don’t get the appeal.

29:Do you think End!verse will happen? If so, are you looking forward to it? Well, Lucifer’s dead now so I’m guessing no. If End!Verse does happen, Dean and Sam’s places are going to be swapped.

30:Do you have any friends off of the Internet that watch Supernatural? Yes.

31:Do any of your family members watch Supernatural? I got my dad and my brother to watch it, but they kind of dropped it. My mom is currently watching it and I regret everything that has led to this point in my life.

32:What’s an unpopular opinion or headcanon you have? The “romantic” subplots in the Scoobynatural episode were gross and the episode would have been better without them.

33:Do you like AU fanfics? DO I!!!!

34:Have you ever written/started writing a fanfic? See my answer to number 24.

35:What’s your opinion on Samifer? That... really depends on the vessel Lucifer is in. See, I’m a fan of selfcest so if I do read Samifer stuff, I always imagine it as Sam basically fucking himself.

36:If you have an OTP, at what point did you start shipping it? First time I watched. Literally that second episode Cas was in when he was standing in the kitchen with Dean and told Dean to show him some respect I was just like “...are they gonna fuck?”

37:Do you think Sam should have completed the demon trials? Nah.

38:Which director/writer is or was your favorite/least favorite? Favorite: I don’t know. I don’t really pay attention to the good writers because I’m too busy enjoying their content. Least favorite: Bucklemming really needs to be fired or relegated to only filler episodes.

39:Which actor would you most like to meet in real life? MISHA!

40:If you could be any character on the show, would you want to? If so, whom? If not, why? Nah. I kind of like being me. I’m the only person I know how to be.

41:Do you prefer cake or pie? Both ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)

42:What is your opinion on Sastiel? Is it Samstiel or Sastiel because I just don’t know. I prefer it fluffy. For whatever reason I have trouble getting into smutty Samstiel.

43:Have you ever made a Supernatural reference out loud and received strange looks from some of the people surrounding you? Yes...

44:Have you ever cried over a non-OTP ship from the show? I’m not entirely sure what this question means... Like, have I ever cried over characters in the show that I don’t ship? Yeah. It’s Supernatural.

45:What is your favorite moment from any of the gag reels? “When did you forget how to act?” “Season 2?”

46:Superwholock? Please no.

47:What is/was your favorite Sam hair length? I really liked season 10.

48:What’s an unpopular ship you have? Meg/Bela. Don’t ask, I don’t understand it either.

49:What’s your opinion on Wincestiel? I prefer it as more of a love triangle where Sam and Dean are fighting over Cas’s affection than as a throuple.

50:Can you dig Elvis? Fun fact: I never finished that fan fiction. I loved every moment of it, but I got as far as Dean meeting Adam in Vietnam before I chickened out because I knew there was a bunch more pain on the way.

51:Do you listen to Carry On Wayward Son even when you’re not just watching a finale? I used to, but I’ve since been conditioned to feel pain every time that song starts playing.

52:What’s your opinion on Zachariah? Good antagonist.

53:Do you think Adam will ever get out of the cage? (not as Michael) Not at the rate we’re going.

54:Do you think Sam should have completed the trials? Why are there repeat questions?

55:How long would you survive as a hunter? I wouldn’t.

56:What’s your opinion on Calthazar? Foxhole love/friendly former fwb.

57:Do you have a Netflix account? If so, what’s your username and password? Wait a second, just the first part. I do and I’ve basically just been watching Supernatural on it the past month or so.

58:Have you ever participated in GISHWHES? I did the first year (the one with the pigeon rat mascot). It was fun, but it was stressful to the point where I don’t want to do it again.

59:What movies/shows have you watched because of (or by coincidence) Jared, Jensen, or Misha? Jared: House of Wax... kind of. I turned it off as soon as he got murdered because it was just awful. I also tried watching Gilmore Girls, but I dropped it after two episodes because every character in that show is either a terrible person or blah. The Supernatural Anime. Jensen: My Bloody Valentine, Batman Under the Red Hood. The Supernatural Anime (I know he only voiced the last episode, but he was in it so it counts). THAT ONE EPISODE OF WISHBONE AKA MY CHILDHOOD. Misha: the TSA short films, Karla, NCIS

60:If you could change just one thing about the series, what would it be? I’d make Dean better at using his god damn words.

61:If you were at a Con, what would be a question you would ask?(can be any of the actors) UUUUHHHHHHHH...

62:Why did you start watching Supernatural? Saw it all over tumblr. Got curious. It’s all been downhill from there.

63:What’s your opinion on Sam/Crowley? That’s a thing??

64:What’s your biggest fear for season 9? I honestly don’t remember what it was.

65:What’s your favorite (or at least a memorable) pop culture reference that has been made on the show? Them referencing themselves is always pretty great.

66:Just a random confession you have regarding the show/Asker makes up their own question.

[lady-of-rohan]

My sincere and honest thoughts regarding The Evil Within 2:

So, I'm finally sitting down and writing out ALL my thoughts on TEW2... at first, I was kind of nervous. After all, I mean so many people are going to love it, right? Well, to put things into perspective, @detective-joseph-oda and I literally returned the game. I've never taken back a game in my life.

It's been a difficult rollercoaster for me. TEW fandom is my everything... so, it's not like I'm leaving, or going to stop being mama or shipping or cosplaying or anything like that. I love this community and I want to contribute and continue to support my kids. I also would never want people to not play a game, or not get enjoyment out of it by voicing my opinions. A lot of people have asked me what I thought ... so here's my honest write-up, as someone who picked up TEW1 on its release date back in 2014 and has been in the fandom ever since.

MAJOR SPOILERS naturally.

Let's start out positive with things we actually liked:

Stefano! He was a super cool character, a total flamboyant psycho, and I adored all of the artsy, musical-inclined deaths with the slow-mo blood. That was really aesthetic, and really gorgeously done. Like, I couldn’t get enough of it.

Obscura is also amazing, though her moaning noises were a bit odd.

Anima (the singing enemy) was nicely done.And probably the scariest thing in the game.

The graphics are beautiful.

Gameplay controls are good.

Music is also nice.

Save kitty and Tatiana are back, which was a brief treat, but awesome ones.

Green gel and syringes are back (eyyy~).

Getting to walk around KCPD in Seb's old office.

The beginning fire sequence with Seb entering the house. GORGEOUSLY and amazingly done... it really built it up and started out strong... but then... well...

General things I sincerely disliked:

Firstly, the OPEN WORLD SEGMENTS. Ugh... this was the worst part of the game. Hands down. It was unnecessary, and not remotely horror at all. It was easy to see where this game drew influence from other games recently, and quite honestly , it didn't work for me. It was wicked distracting and out of place. This does not belong in this genre, making the game feel like it was torn in several different gameplay directions. It couldn't decide whether it wanted to be linear or open world. The tracker was annoying, and straight out of Silent Hill Shattered Memories which is certainly nothing new.

The game also sometimes flipped from third to first person. Very distracting. To be fair, I think a lot of this game mechanic confusion happened due to the following reason:

It's American horror transformation from Japanese horror. I won't lie, I'm a Shinji Mikami fangirl. I find him to be brilliant.  Always have... and I stopped liking Resident Evil as soon as 5 came out, and he left as director. TEW was supposed to be his love story to horror fans. Something he could leave us, as he described in one interview, that didn't suffer from "sequelitis." So you can imagine my true horror when I heard that Johanas was the new director.

The jump from American horror from Japanese is stark, and shattering if you're a big horror gamer like I am. Japanese horror isn't afraid to leave things up in the air or neatly explain everything. They often leave you confused, and often in high anxiety or suspense. They don't give straight answers.  In TEW2, though, nothing is really scary any more. It also relies HEAVILY upon mechanics, plot devices, and gameplay from other games... most notably The Last of Us but also Uncharted, Resident Evil 7, The Division, Outlast, SIlent Hill and SH Shattered Memories, Layers of Fear. Of which TEW was nothing like ANY of these. And yes, I know the new director, Johanas, is the same as the DLCs... but at least the DLCs provided some sincerely terrifying moments.

(side note: I was the most peeved that the ending of both TLOU and TEW2 is literally carrying your daughter or daughter figure in your arms... and that the emotional moments between them take place in a vehicle as they gaze at one another. Influenced much?).

Which brings me to... the main thing a survival-horror game should have. Horror.

This game is not scary. Nor was it difficult in any sense of the word. Unless you count... actually getting through it, which was very painful at times.

We honestly didn't die once during our 12-hour stream. This was absolutely disappointing. And confusing. Why wasn't this game more difficult? Sometimes I still die in the beginning sequence of TEW1. It's still terrifying as the Sadist comes at Seb, he injures his leg, and Seb limps for his life.

Furthermore, the utter sense of isolation, confusion, and abandonment is gone. In TEW1, you literally have no idea what the hell is going on, left in the dark figuratively and at times, literally. That's what makes it scary, aside from the hideous creatures out for blood. With so many Mobius NPCs, you always know a safe house, or a safe room, is well within running distance. It's so easy to use avoidant tactics and not fight much, rather than fighting for your life every few minutes.

Which leads us into...

The NPCs. I'm sorry, everyone was so cardboard and generic. Also boring in my opinion. Their interactions with Seb felt awkward and forced. I didn't give a damn about any of them ( @detective-joseph-oda, liked Sykes, which is fair because he had the most personality out of all of them). Again, the isolation and terror is gone. You have friends... and not just Kidman in your ear telling you what to do. Unlike the first game, where you were absolutely alone 90% of the time, with increased anxiety every time Joseph left your side and you were left to your own devices again.

On that note, this game provides way too much information as you work with Mobius. TEW1 left theories in the online community for months. No one knew what truly went on behind Beacon. It was fascinating to theorize about the character's fates. Mobius was just a terror in the distance, vaguely mentioned and yet their symbols were emblazoned on doors every so often leaving a sense of intrigue and mystery.  What was real and what wasn’t? Not something to worry about any more, as everyone directly explains everything to you, every step of the way. Even the DLCs added more information than answered questions, and the fandom was, well, for lack of a better word, shook.

The DLCs suddenly made Mobius, and Kidman,  Administrator, etc... the main focus. Suddenly, Beacon wasn't so spooky any more because they were tugging the strings. Which brings us to our next point...

The importance is suddenly almost entirely placed upon Kidman as a side character (she's the only other one you play as, after all).  I get it. People love Kidman. She’s a familiar face. This was obviously shifting this way in the DLCs. Not only was this Seb's story arc (unless you count the DLCs) but it felt out of place seeing as you only get to be her a few brief segments.  It seemed to me like the game wanted to neatly tie up BOTH of their character arcs in one game, rather than provide another Kidman DLC to see how things went down on her end again. It felt like a bit much going on.. not to mention Joseph was Seb’s actual partner and his focus in TEW1. More on that later. On that note, The Administrator was such a wasted opportunity. Instead of being a creepy monster influence like he once was inside of STEM, he just sits in his chair like a typical Bond Villain and has agents do his evil bidding. He sits back and "MWAHAHAS" rather than actively playing a part in the events around him.

And now we get into the nitty gritty, and the things I am most passionately outspoken about with this game.

Stefano is HARDLY in it, and the game has far too many antagonists. I was so disappointed to see Stefano ended by chapter 9 because he was the best part of the game. That's only halfway through that he makes it, and he is the character they used on all of their promotional material, and even their art contest. Super disappointing.

New Seb... isn't our Seb. He's down on his luck, sure, but he's almost at peace with it given his other behavior. We only really see that Seb is downtrodden because he's written in a bar at the beginning of the game and he has a beard of sorrow. Everything else leads to Seb seeming pretty high functioning and generally in better spirits. It almost feels like invasion of the body snatchers. His facial features are different (rendered to be more classically handsome, perhaps). He's suddenly more sassy, and infinitely more talkative, making him far from the near-silent protagonist he once was. Instead of playing his cards close to the vest, he wears his heart on the sleeve, often openly emotional. Which, given the contrast between he and Joseph in the first game, is not his usual style. Joseph was the "emotional" of the two. He also hardly swears or even says his token trade-marked 'FUCK.' You can't get through five minutes of the game without him making some kind of snappy, cheesy one-liner or talking to himself. It’s hard to take the game seriously as horror this time around.The obviously new voice actor for him, compared to Anson's experience, is also a rough transition.

Is it because he's after his child, who he thought was dead that he's so different? I dunno... I don't buy it. And speaking of, Lily's crying was some of the worst voice acting I've heard in a game in a very long time. I won't say much on her, other than I was severely disappointed by the overly-happy ending, neatly tied up in a package with a bow. TEW isn't The Last of Us. It was never a "father saves his daughter" game. It was horror. Lily and Myra were there for backstory only.This seemed like a money-making gimmick to me, given the popularity of such series that have gone the familial route, rather than sticking to their original genres (Uncharted for example). Family sells. Saving your family sells. Although I'm happy for Seb, I truly am... it's absolutely jarring to see the end of this game compared to the first.It’s almost alien.

The characterization, and dialogue writing... overall was bad. Especially between Seb and Myra (O'Neal, too).

Myra... well, again, I won't say much. I was very disappointed that she had a redemption arc, and that she wasn't out against Sebastian from the start as the DLCs perhaps hinted at. She was a good wife. A good person. Very clean for a horror game. It was an easy out. And her design was a direct rip off Ruvik and honestly really reaching. Shoutout to the fact that she looks like literal cum.

Finally, and here we go... the original story arc was about Ruvik. His pain, his motivations, his invention of STEM to bring Laura back. As far as we know, he's still out there inhabiting Leslie as a vessel. This... was just dropped in favor of a retconned Seb saves Lily story. Ruvik was so much more interesting. They could have at least given him a little bit of screen time. I really feel like they dropped the actual horror ball, shifting the focus from the mind of a madman, as the original game called it.. to a very Umbrella-esque organization. Seeing Seb face Leslie/Ruvik in the real world was a HUGE missed opportunity.

And last but certainly not least.. the fandom's beloved Joseph Oda. Going back to Kidman who was the Junior Detective, and not Sebastian's actual partner of 9 years like Joseph was, it just hurts to see him discarded. Yes, we got our confirmation that he's alive which is something the fandom has theorized for years. Johanas himself had left Joseph with a heartbeat in the DLCs, hinting at his state of life. But you also have to work for it. HARD. To even see this happy information flashed on your projection screen, you need every single photo slide and side quest finished. It isn't even remotely satisfying, and again, it's another tease. Kidman gives you an excuse and dodges questions about his whereabouts, or how he is, or if he's just a brain in a jar...

The ending hints that someone is now running STEM again as the Core. Is it Joseph? Who knows... DLC perhaps? If so I'm not sure I'm interested. Joseph may not be who he once was if he gets the same treatment of the other characters.

Going back to Seb's characterization, (I think @debussyj will agree with me on this) his partner for most of his detective career has been supposedly "dead" in his eyes for three years.  He was willing to believe Lily was alive again, but why not Joseph? The care that they showed for each other in the first game was so apparent. All shipping aside. They cared for each other so much and yes, Lily is his blood, but Joseph was part of his life far longer. And now Joseph is just a footnote in Seb's life, because he got his daughter back. Blood is thicker than water I guess, but boy Seb, that's no way to treat the man who helped you through your personal tragedy, as the DLCs went out of their way to mention, and the partner you came to work beside, admire and respect. This more than anything felt the most disappointing and OOC for me. It felt downright disrespectful, especially since Ruvik pointedly mocks Sebastian by using Joseph in the first game ("poor little Joseph") and Seb's motivations throughout the first game are first and foremost, helping his partner get through it, too. It's like the two almost never existed as partners.

The TLDR version; this game is not an actual horror game, is a far cry from its original genre, theme, and atmosphere... it uses a heavy reliance upon other popular games, the writing isn't good or consistent, the characters feel entirely different, and no, Joseph is not in it.

[ruvik-haunting-eyes]

My thoughts about The Evil Within 2 (spoilers)

I’m not good at constructing criticims (besides I only played it once for now) , but I just want to let you know my thoughts about The Evil Within 2, guys. 

The first game was such an amazing surprise when I decided to purchase it. I’ve never been such passionate by a game for years. I bought it on PS3, then PS4, did the freaking Akumu mode twice. I’ve played this game again and again, without ever growing weary. Sure, it wasn’t perfect. But this game has such a good balance in differents ways : difficulty, recent/old school games mechanisms (I miss those), true boss fights (not just quick time events), horror/infiltration and actions phases. The story was really intriguing, it was like a puzzle you had to reconstitute. Every detail was important, the files were important. The game was literally making you losing your mind.

So, of course, I really wanted a sequel. I’ve made several dreams about it. The story wasn’t finished, and I always thought that this game has great potential, and a uniquness. 

When I finished The Evil Within 2... I had mixed feelings. I felt empty. In a good, and in a bad way. In a good way because, the ending made me feel nostalgic which is the proof to make me think that the game was obviously good enough. In a bad way, because all the answers I’ve been waiting for were mostly unanswered. 

When you think about it : what answers The Evil Within 2 gives us about the questions we have from the first game ? If you bought the game to know what happened to Ruvik/Leslie and Joseph, well, be on your way. The first game was essentially focused on Ruvik’s backstory. Now, it is the turn of Sebastian and his family. Now, don’t get me wrong : I couldn’t wait to hear way more about Sebastian, and also the new antagonists Stefano and Theodore. But it still turned out pretty much different from what I expected it to be. “What happened in Beacon is in the past. You need to forget it.” says Juli. Well, that’s exactly what I felt while I was playing this game. It’s almost like a message from the developpers : this game was made for a new public so forget everything you know about the first game. What is the point to make up the plot and have such a huge cliffhanger at the end, if there’s nothing behind it in TEW 2 ?! Do you want to save Ruvik/Leslie & Joseph for another TEW ? Fine, no problem. I am open minded, and I have nothing against the idea to make the sequel focused about Sebastian and new characters. But you can’t just make us completely ignore these facts in the sequel, like nothing happened. It’s been years since we’re talking and making theories about it. And the game shows NO sign at all from them. At least, Joseph was confirmed to be alive. But Juli said that Sebastian stopped Ruvik. So what ? Are you going to decide that he and Leslie are truly dead now ? I don’t get it. That little moment at the very end of the game, when you see the STEM coming back online by itself... I don’t want my enthousiasm to take over. It could be anything, anyone. Maybe Myra, who knows. 

There was also interesting moments about Sebastian’s past (the events after beacon, his memories,the psychologist) with Anima, but most of them are completely optional. Why ? They should have make this inevitable ! In my first walkthrough, I missed the Anima parts and these moments are one of the most scariest in this game ! After you meet her, she occasionally appears to haunt you while you’re exploring. It’s adding that pressure you had just like in Chapter 9 while you are exploring the mansion with Ruvik’s ghostly appearance. 

It leads me to a point that unfortunately, affected my horror experience for this sequel. The semi open world. I really don’t want to say bad things about it. I love to explore. Semi open world, linear world, both of them have their advantages and flaws. The thing is : in the first game, you were somehow forced to confront the enemies, especially in the action parts of course. The thing is, I really felt tension in the first game. I felt danger. And to be honest, it didn’t really happen in the sequel. Because I think that the semi-open world gives so much possibilities to hide and avoid combats. My way of playing, I think, didn’t allow me to sense that stress that I felt from the first game. The places were big enough to run and hide, but still, it was limited, you couldn’t always choose the stealth option. Sometimes, you just had to think fast, and do with what ressources you possess (Chapter 6 with Joseph, for example). Do you remember Chapter 10, The Craftsman's Tools ? That chapter was really oppressing. In fact, you were in that mood since the first chapter. Chapter 1 in TEW2, is just a flashback, plenty of cutscenes, and walking in a dark screen. Anyway, I hope there is some understanding here. I think they were also much more enemies in the first game, more variety too, that’s why I felt more uncomfortable. 

Which leads me to another point. The sequel clearly doesn’t have the same atmosphere from the first game. It is not about the gore, blood everywhere or something. Gore doesn’t necessarily means that’s it’s super scary. I really felt that Shinji Mikami was not the director in the sequel here. The first game was 100% Japanese. There was definitely a big American touch in many ways in the sequel. And the fact that it was made for a larger audience. More scripted like a movie, playing less, more “simple”. Without any doubt, the game is shorter than the first one to me, if you don’t take the time to explore and wander in Union city. I was shocked how much the chapters seemed to pass before my eyes so rapidly even though I am definitely not the kind of person who rushes through the levels of a game, I can assure you. I finished TEW2 in a little more than 17 hours. I finished TEW1 in 22 hours. Where’s the error ? o_o

Okay, I still enjoyed the story. A lot of people seemed to complain about how Sebastian gets too much emotional here, and I was also scared that the developpers would turn Seb into a Drama Queen. But I honestly think they added more depths into Sebastian’s character, without changing his tough personality. Hey, he’s been through a lot, his reactions are normal. I was touched whenever there was the family moment. Especially at the end of the game, with that damn good “Ordinary world” theme. As awesome as “Long Way Down” by the way. Didn’t think it sounded too much cliché. It was cool to see Seb’s “dad side”. I was just hoping that he would find more on his journey, with the events from TEW1, even as a minor part. But no. NOTHING. 

Once again, the other characters could have been so much more interesting. But to be honest, let’s face it : in TEW1, Ruvik was the only character that was well developped. Sebastian’s backstory was only present in his journal. We barely knew something about Joseph and his friendship with Seb. And I don’t even talk about Juli, you had to play the DLCs for that. I’m trying to stay impartial, TEW2 was still better on this side. I was just hoping something better. The Mobius agents, well... When they begin to die one by one, you just understand that is going to happen for the rest of group. Hoffman’s sacrifice was predictable. It would have been a good suprise if she didn’t die. It would have been a good thing if you were able to save some of the agents depending on your choices. But they would have died anyway because of the ending (I’ll get back to this later on.)

Stefano and Theodore... Well uh... When I encountered Stefano, it felt like, the chapter after, I had to kill him already. Stefano : “Ok let’s fight because you know, Theodore is about to replace me, we don’t have much time.” XDDDD

Whyyy ? I wanted more to just “admire” Stefano’s seedy gallery, needed more backstory again, more interaction with him. But Theodore was the one who disappointed me the most. This kind of character are often the most interesting for me, the ones that use the words with such ease to make you feel uncertain, distort you thoughts, or all the contrary, convince you they’ll change your life for good, manipulate you, uses your inner fears and desires... From what I reminded, his speech was all about “Give me Lily, blablabla, give me her power blabla.” I was expecting more charisma in these two characters, but their apparitions and personalities were unimaginative, or rather too much furtive. It felt more like minor characters to me while they could have been more remarkable. :( Their presence weren’t as memorable as I thought. Still like them. I just think that the developpers would have take one more year to do this game. I am sure that it would have been more in-depth in the form. That moment when Theodore tries to destabilize us with the events from Beacon ( Laura, Keeper, Sadist Boss Fight ) was pure gold. Fan service, but still epic, and intense. That reminds me how much the first game left his mark on me. Maybe because it was the surprise. The mystery of the story, where you were wondering and trying to discover what the hell was going on in this place. By the way, does anybody know what this religious sign we saw everywhere in the first game, and now in the sequel, actually means ? We still don’t get any information from this, do we ? It is a cult but... Is it finally somehow linked to Mobius, or not ?? I didn’t understand. Oh, and I still don’t get why the boss all look like Laura. No answers again. Is it really her, or a model of Stefano ? If that’s the case, they could have changed her design because she looks awfully like Laura. Is it simply because Sebastian’s memories have an impact in this world, so he sees Laura everywhere in different forms ?

And Mobius is dead. The Administrator is dead. 

... WHAT ? ALREADY ??? Oh my, I saw a future where Mobius represented what Umbrella represents in Resident Evil series. A powerful organisation that will persist in the years. And they all dropped like flies. Are they going to make a conclusion to the story already ? Or was it necessarily for a possible reunion with Ruvik ? I mean, Mobius was in the way. Ruvik needed to take them down. I suppose he played a part in TEW2, even if we don’t see him. I’m pretty sure his consciousness is still alive. Ruvik had plans to make sure he’ll be “born and reborn again”, just like he said in the torn letter. I’m pretty sure parts from him still resides in the persons who were connected to the machine such as Sebastian, Juli and Joseph. We still don’t have a clear explanation for Juli’s wound. 

TEW2 is a good game. It’s a step forward in some ways, and a step down in other ways. I know I haven’t discussed a lot about what I enjoyed about this game but... I needed to speak more about this sensation of dissatisfaction. I was pretty sure that I was going to think “WOOOOW THIS GAME WAS SO AWESOME !!!” and instead, I was more like “Oh... that’s it?” When I had TEW1 I just couldn’t wait to play it again. Now, for TEW2, a new day comes and I ask myself “Should I play it today ?... No, I don’t really want to.” which just makes me feel really, really sad.

[lukegreensmith]

IT - Cinema Review

What is IT?

First part in a kind of reboot (although technically first theatrical) adaptation of a classic Stephen King novel/door stop. Every 27 years the town of Derry, Maine has a large scale disaster or spate of disappearances, in 1988 it began with a little boy playing near a storm drain vanishing. The children of Derry see things the adults can't during these disasters. Disturbing images, something more than just hallucinations. They see their greatest fears, and during these experiences they all see the same clown. Left alone to face a supernatural predator a group of friends band together for safety. But there's more to do than just avoid Pennywise for the Summer as the very town itself is warped by what lurks beneath it. With dangerously unhinged bullies and bitter twisted adults just as much a threat as what lurks in the shadows, the Losers Club soon realise they're the only ones who can break the cycle though if they're just kids...

Is IT good?

It's great! Everything is firing on all cylinders here. All the actors are good, the cinematography is great, there is some frankly genius set design throughout this movie, Skarsgard makes for a brilliant supernatural antagonist with a deep layered performance underlying all the effects. The CGI can go a little overboard, but it's always when something incredibly surreal is happening so isn't too much of a deal breaker. There's nothing to point at and go "that's wrong!" as the production values are through the roof. I doubt there's any member of cast or crew who can't hold their heads high for what they've achieved here. 5/5 I wish every horror could hit this high a standard.

Is IT scary?

There's something slightly amiss here. I'll try to explain but first a huge disclaimer. Within the first ten minutes of this film, you are going to see something you did NOT expect to see. There's an obvious point it should cut away and just imply, but it doesn't cut away. You see everything, and what you see isn't nice. There's no way in hell this should be a 15! The distributors did some serious lobbying with this one. From there, it just keeps pushing boundaries. This film will shock you. Even if you're jaded to the gore, and you can definitely find nastier, you'll still take a moment to wonder how they managed to get away with some of these scenes at a blockbuster push friendly 15 rating. Blood, gore, horrific scenarios, intense pressure of child victims. It gets away with A LOT. But it isn't the scariest film you're ever going to see. It's a victim of being a bit too good a movie. All the characters are well rounded and likable ones you're rooting for and want to survive, but this becomes a self defeating problem for the horror aspect. It's devoid of a blank cipher. There's no one to project yourself on to, no "what about if this happened to me" self insert. That what-if-ism drives a lot of horror that sticks with you. Playing out the scenarios in your head, daydreaming about these events happening to you then spooking yourself with an overactive imagination, this fun quirk of the genre feels sadly lacking. But the story, setting, and characters are all so well executed this is all happening in a well defined sand box that doesn't feel like it could spill over into your life. It's a great adventure. I can happily call this as a classic movie that's going to have long term appeal! But it doesn't feel like IT will be following you home. That being said, keep this away from children. And i mean that without a trace of hyperbole as IT isn't pulling any punches, and a younger audience will probably lack the empathetic disconnect a jaded old fart like me enjoys as a buffer. You're going to be horrified, but you're not going to be too scared overall. 4/5 The paradox of being too good to be affectively frightening is worrying...

Genre value

IT is poised to be a box office smash. It got all the budget and time it needed to be a genuinely great film, and the filmmakers smashed it. This is exactly the kind of mainstream hit that will push the genre forwards. The cast and crew are all stellar, and it actually got the funding it needed to pull of the high concept horror. This isn't something that should even be attempted by amateurs with a handicam and even the good run of mainstream modest budget horror we've been enjoying in recent years doesn't come close. It's in a whole different league to the TV mini series, no matter how memorable Tim Curry's turn as the Dancing Clown was. I went on at some length about how the quality being so high that it managed to hurt the scare factor, which is a worrying paradox to ponder going forwards, but when it's this good I'll gladly take it. If all that follows is a second chapter this good that'll be fine, but fingers crossed it opens up an era of boundary pushing blockbuster horror. Bonus game for the jaded horror fans this won't quite have the impact upon they would hope: Try to drag wimpier friends and family along to see it... You can honestly say it's a good film! Still got an evil clown killing kids in it though, and that's going to have some people fleeing the theatres. 5/5 Significant contribution to the genre.

Conclusion

Make no mistake, THIS FILM IS GREAT. I look forwards to seeing it again as soon as possible, and I hope that studios take the right lesson from this and not just light a pile of money and throw Stephen King books into it trying to superficially recreate the lightning in a bottle here. This is a hard 9, possibly a shy 10, only failing to haunt viewers by being too good a movie experience overall and paradoxically hurting itself as a pure horror. This film may struggle a little yet by being too intense for casual viewers while not doing enough to scare older (grumpier) genre fans. Hopefully it will hold up with it's own merits, it sure as hell has enough of them. 9/10 Watch it. Watch it again! Then buy it on home release. It's really, really good.

[surveysonfleek]

171.

1. First console you’ve ever owned? sega.

2. First game you played? pretty sure it was alex the kid. 3. Favorite childhood game? the sims. 4. Longest consecutive hours you’ve played a game? i honestly can’t go any longer than 2-3 hours these days. but back when i was into the sims, idk probably like 5 lol. 5. Game with the best soundtrack? never really noticed.

6. An underrated game from within the last few years? sims 4 didn’t take off as much as i thought it would. but it’s good. 7. Most disappointing game you’ve played? fighter within lol. 8. The game with the best atmosphere/scenery? watch dogs 2, makes me wna go back to sf. 9. Last game you played? rise of the tomb raider. yes, it’s a bit old but i’m slowly getting back into gaming. 10. Prefer PC or console? console. never had a pc that would run things smoothly. 11. Have you written any fanfic or made any fanart? no. 12. Most bizarre game you’ve ever played? forgot the name of it, but it was one of those .io games. 13. Scariest game you’ve played? i forgot what it was called :( i tried googling it, cant find the name. 14. Do you watch playthroughs online? sometimes, depends on the person leading it. 15. Favorite animal in a video game? probably a pokemon.

16. The best year in gaming you’ve experienced? lol no idea, not a huge gamer. 17. Have a video game themed background or lockscreen? no. 18. Worst game you’ve played? probably a couple bootleg ones from my psp days. 19. Hardest game you’ve ever played? i stopped playing assassin’s creed after i couldn’t pass this one task lmao. would love to try it again tbh. 20. Favorite publisher and/or developer? ubisoft. 21. If you had to play one game for the rest of your life, what would it be? unlimited watch dogs series. 22. If you could turn one game into movie, which would it be? watch dogs. but #2. 23. Favorite genre of video game? rpg i think. 24. Ever cried because of a video game? Which one(s)? no. 25. Proudest accomplishment in gaming? lol nothing? 26. How often do you play online? Co-op? nope, cbf paying for xbox live. 27. Have you gotten any friends into gaming? nah.

28. Who got YOU into gaming? well my parents/cousins as a kid. when i got a bit older, youtube convinced me to buy an xbox one. wish i bought a ps4 instead. 29. Watch cutscenes or skip them? it depends, i’ll usually watch it. but if it’s dragging on/boring i’ll skip. 30. On average, how long does it take you in the character creation screen? pretty long. i’ll look at every option available.

31. Game with the best theme song? hmm idk. 32. Do you cosplay? no. 33. Favorite female npc? idk. 34. Favorite male npc? t-bone from watch dogs i guess. 35. Best protagonist? marcus from watch dogs 2. 36. Best antagonist? heihachi from tekken. 37. Ever been made fun of for playing video games? yeah. 38. Have you tried a game, hated it, then tried again, and loved it? not yet... 39. Do you play for achievements/trophies? nah.

40. Favorite voice actor? none. 41. Gone to a midnight release before? nope lol. 42. A game you will never forget (in a bad OR good way)? tekken 2 probably. it started my love for the franchise. the sims too. 43. Favorite sidekick or companion? rc jumper from watch dogs 2.

44. Do graphics matter? yes and no. 45. Do you like funny or more serious games? funny. 46. Always, sometimes, or never use subtitles? just whatever it’s been set to. 47. First person or Third person? both. 48. A game you’ve always wanted to play but have never gotten to it? i have fallout 4, haven’t installed it yet. don’t really have time right now. 49. A game you haven’t played in forever, but want to replay? the sims 4. i already uninstalled it from my laptop, way too lazy to redo it. 50. How many games to do you own? not that many. 51. First character you’ve had a crush on? jin from tekken haha. 52. A game you will always stand behind, and support no matter what? watch dogs. i hope it’ll be a long lasting franchise. 53. Your most immersive game? the sims i guess.

54. A sequel you really want? more watch dogs!! 55. How much time, on average, do you play in a week? haven’t played at all within the past week. haven’t really been interested in tomb raider tbh. 56. Do you tell people irl that you play video games? only if the topic comes up. 57. What is an overrated game you’ve played? roblox. 58. Ever have someone walk in on a sex scene between you and you LI? no. 59. A game you are looking forward to this year? no idea. 60. The game you are best at? tekken. 61. A game you know everything about? i guess tekken. 62. Would you want to work with video games when you are older? not really. it would be cool thought. 63. What’s a game that has inspired you? lol none really. 64. Describe your favorite video game using only three words? perfect k.o.

65. Any favorite screenshots of games? no? 66. Game with the yummiest looking food? haha umm no idea. cooking mama? 67. Most violent game you’ve played? tekken i guess.

68. An older game that you’ve just recently gotten into? tomb raider. 69. Your first LI? lol i have no idea what that means. 70. Do you play any mobile games? yeah. cookie jam and fightlist are my go-to’s at the moment. 71. A game you can’t stop talking/thinking about at the moment? watch dogs 2. 72. Have any guilty pleasure games? tekken. 73. A game with the best fandom? idk. 74. Which game has the best lore? idk. 75. Do you focus on main storyline/quest or do sidequests first? i’ll alternate. but usually start off with a lot of side quests to get used to gameplay.

[boyfriem-moved]

A thing on Kavinsky

I love Kavinsky’s character. Not Kavinsky himself, but his character, and there is a difference there. I love the writing and the implications and the character on paper and all the things that come with it. However, if he was a real person, I would run like hell.

First of all, people who call him your sweet baby angel and write dream pack fanfictions where you somehow manage to justify all his actions and explain why everyone should stop being mean to him because he was misunderstood, before we start, I have some things to say to you.

1.       It’s almost directly stated that Kavinsky killed his father.

2.       It’s heavily implied that he killed Prokopenko as well and replaced him with a dream clone.

3.       He kidnapped Matthew and was planning to kill him just because Ronan didn’t give him attention.

4.       He was fully ready to let the entire town be destroyed by a giant fire dragon.

5.       He drugged his mom.

6.       Lesser offenses: he casually referred to a girl as “bitch” at the substance party which (justifiably, I think) pissed me off, he made an obnoxious amount of gay sex jokes about Ronan and Gansey, he broke into Monmouth, he did some suggestive shit to Ronan when he was drugged and defenseless, etc. etc. I could go on.

Here’s a gif to sum up what I think of your reasoning for why Kavinsky “isn’t so bad”:

Now fuck off. (Or stay, I don’t care, maybe this will change your mind)

Now that they’re gone, let’s get down to business.

So. Kavinsky. Fuck what do I write how do I describe the pure undiluted genius that is Joseph Kavinsky.

Joseph Kavinsky is unlike any character I’ve ever seen. The closest to another Kavinsky I’ve found is JD from Heathers, and even he comes nowhere close to the sheer beauty and mindfuckery that is Kavinsky.

For starters, Kavinsky could have had a redemption arc. He could have. Ronan could have spent the second half of The Dream Thieves teaching him how to be good again. He could have been reformed. He could have abandoned his hundred white Mitsubishis and helped the gangsey find Glendower. He could have been good.

As a parallel, the Gray Man was set up to be a completely numb, unfeeling villain. He was a hit man, he was an adult (much harder to sympathize with than teenagers, and less suited to be a long term character in a ya novel), he didn’t have any problems with killing people, it was all there.

And instead? Maggie Stiefvater did the exact opposite of that. She made the Gray Man this wonderful, compelling villain-turned-hero, and Kavinsky was the horrible irredeemable monster.

Kavinsky was such a fascinating character to me, because never once did the possibility of him turning good ever come into play. He was an antagonist to the core, pure, undiluted villain, crazy and masochistic and just really the best written villain I’ve ever seen.

I’m not saying Kavinsky is an evil to the core stone cold monster. It’s clear he has a tragic backstory. Shit happened, his life is fucked up, he’s angry and self-destructive and needs help, but the best thing about him is that by the time The Dream Thieves rolls around, it’s too late for him to be saved.  He’s already damaged beyond repair. He has his heart set on doing exactly what he wants and god be damned if anything stands in his way. If he doesn’t get what he wants, he takes it. He’s everything you need in a villain. He’s like this crazy mix of JD from Heathers and Riko Moriyama from the All For The Game series and it works, it works, oh god, it works so well.

One of the things about Kavinsky that has always interested me is the parallels between him and Ronan. It’s obvious and 100% intentional, but I feel the need to point it out nonetheless. Joseph Kavinsky and Ronan Lynch are angry, self-hating, car racing, gay (I know it never says Kavinsky is gay but I mean, come on) greywarens, and if you strip away most of their personalities, there’s not much different about them. There’s that one quote from Gansey that’s been stuck in my head since the last time I read the book (which was literally this afternoon but you know):

“At that moment, Gansey’s memory of Ronan and his filthy smile didn’t look very different from Joseph Kavinsky and his matching dirty grin. Gansey had to remind himself that they had very important differences. Ronan was broken; Ronan was fixable; Ronan had a soul.” – The Dream Thieves, pg. 293

I don’t think it’s possible to explain it any better than that.

And now, the thing that’s been haunting me since last week, the thing that inspired me to write this whole damn shitshow instead of studying for my English test, drumroll please…

Kavinsky’s creepy obsession with Ronan.

The particular part of Kavinsky’s character has always captivated me, for reasons I’m not quite able to explain. Put quite simply, Kavinsky’s obsession with Ronan, his need for Ronan’s approval and friendship and acceptance, is his driving force to do everything, which is really just…wow.

Let me explain a little more. For most villains, their motivation is largely centered around themselves. Even if it contains another person, without that person, their driving force wouldn’t change much. They’re selfish. They want things for themselves and nobody else. And Kavinsky is no different. He wants Ronan, literally. He wants Ronan to follow him around and be his friend and wants other things from him as well, things that are only implied, not stated, but obvious all the same. He gives Ronan a goddamn car. He teaches him his secrets. And in the end, when being nice (or his twisted version of nice, at least) doesn’t work, he straight up kidnaps Ronan’s brother in an attempt to force him into doing exactly what Kavinsky wants.

The interesting part about this, is that without Ronan, Kavinsky has no reason to live. For him, everything stops and end with Ronan. Literally: when it’s clear that nothing he can do will convince Ronan to join him, he kills himself. Dies. Full on, big spectacle, flaming dragon to the face, suicide. He does it without hesitation, too, which is the scariest part. There’s no deliberation, no thinking about it – Ronan doesn’t want to be with him, so he lets himself be destroyed by a flame dragon. Literal seconds after he gives up on Ronan he kills himself. He’s a fucked up monster teetering on the edge of destruction, and without the one thing he was clinging onto holding him up, he lets go. Just like that.

Well, I have an aforementioned English test to study for, and I’m sure I’ve rambled for long enough without ever making my point all that clear, so I’ll leave you here. Maybe I’ll add more to this, maybe I won’t. Feel free to add your comments about Kavinsky, as long as it’s nothing along the lines of “I can’t believe you called Kavinsky evil and creepy he’s just misunderstood and you don’t understand!!!”.

[xmydaysinmilanx]

1 to 75 because why not xd

1. First console you’ve ever owned? PS12. First game you played? Possibly Tekken or Spider-Man for the PS13. Favorite childhood game? I cannot choose one!4. Longest consecutive hours you’ve played a game? I honestly have no idea. Maybe 6 hours approx as I would have dinner and bathroom breaks etc. 5. Game with the best soundtrack? I adore the soundtrack of Final Fantasy X but I think the 13 series was composed beautifully.6. An underrated game from within the last few years? The Jak series. Jak 2 and 3 are excellent games.Think of a hard edged Spyro combined with Grand Theft Auto and you get Jak 2/3. 7. Most disappointing game you’ve played? Final Fantasy 12. The visuals are astounding but I could not take to it at all.8. The game with the best atmosphere/scenery? 7 has a lot of potential in the remake. X has beautiful scenery with plenty of places I’d like to visit in game. I adore Macalania Woods!9. Last game you played? FF XIII. 10. Prefer PC or console? Console, never owned a desktop.11. Have you written any fanfic or made any fanart? Fanfic ‘ideas’ yes but have not branched out into the writing world yet.12. Most bizarre game you’ve ever played? Non strike me as being ‘bizarre.’ There are elements in FF 7 and 13 that are quite strange. Oh and Necron in FF9 - okay.13. Scariest game you’ve played? Abe’s Oddysee freaked me out, must say lol. 14. Do you watch playthroughs online? If I am really stuck on configuring strategy. 15. Favorite animal in a video game? Donald Duck, Kingdom Hearts series.16. The best year in gaming you’ve experienced? The 2001-2006 era. I was younger and so it feels more nostalgic. 17. Have a video game themed background or lockscreen? Of course.18. Worst game you’ve played? I find games such as Call of Duty quite the yawn fest.19. Hardest game you’ve ever played? Lightning Returns on normal mode is pretty challenging due to the time constraints. Also many of the enemies in XIII are tough nuts to crack. Not really sure though.20. Favorite publisher and/or developer? Square-Enix21. If you had to play one game for the rest of your life, what would it be? FF722. If you could turn one game into movie, which would it be? X would be an awesome film. 23. Favorite genre of video game? RPG24. Ever cried because of a video game? Which one(s)? Only one. The ending of XIII. Games do impact me emotionally but I just don’t necessarily cry over them.25. Proudest accomplishment in gaming? Training the golden chocobo in FF7, I managed to win a game of Blitzball (which I hate lol) ONCE by pure chance. Oh and Anima in X. I did pretty well in GTA Vice City come to think of it and I was only 12. 26. How often do you play online? Co-op? Never really played a game online but FF14 ARB intrigues me. 27. Have you gotten any friends into gaming? I do not believe so.28. Who got YOU into gaming? My mum’s boyfriend at the time introduced me to Spyro/Spider-Man games before gifting me X. I’ve been hooked since.29. Watch cutscenes or skip them? Watch unless it’s imperative to progress in the game. I’ll skip if I am re-doing a mission/boss and I can’t  be arsed to watch a scene over again. 30. On average, how long does it take you in the character creation screen? Very little time.31. Game with the best theme song? Kingdom Hearts Simple and Clean is a classic.32. Do you cosplay? I wish but I do not have the confidence.33. Favorite female npc? Maybe Yunalesca. Kinda hard to decide haha.34. Favorite male npc? Maybe Axel from the Kingdom Hearts series.35. Best protagonist? Cloud Strife although, it’s really hard to pick. I also admire Serah Farron and Lightning.36. Best antagonist? Sin/Jecht is pretty ‘up there’ isn’t he? I also love Sephiroth.37. Ever been made fun of for playing video games? Nope, only other things haha.38. Have you tried a game, hated it, then tried again, and loved it? FF XIII really bored me then I tried again a year down the line and have loved it since.39. Do you play for achievements/trophies? Nope.40. Favorite voice actor? David Gallagher (Riku), Adam Croasdell (Ignis), 41. Gone to a midnight release before? Nope.42. A game you will never forget (in a bad OR good way)? FF7.43. Favorite sidekick or companion? Ignis44. Do graphics matter? Nope.45. Do you like funny or more serious games? Elements of comedy and seriousness in one. 46. Always, sometimes, or never use subtitles? They’re always on.47. First person or Third person? Third.48. A game you’ve always wanted to play but have never gotten to it? FF14 A Realm Reborn. Oh, also World of Final Fantasy and some DLC’s for XIII-2.49. A game you haven’t played in forever, but want to replay? 7 but I always hold it off because I want my experience to be magical each time.51. First character you’ve had a crush on? Tidus.52. A game you will always stand behind, and support no matter what? FFXIII and 13-2.53. Your most immersive game? Eh none of note.54. A sequel you really want? FFXV-2 >_> Ignis as lead!55. How much time, on average, do you play in a week? Depends, sometimes none at all sometimes an hour or two 6 days a week lol56. Do you tell people irl that you play video games? Yep57. What is an overrated game you’ve played? FF8/FF9/FIFA/COD58. Ever have someone walk in on a sex scene between you and you LI? Nope59. A game you are looking forward to this year? Not sure if they’re out this year but KH3 and FF7 Remake!60. The game you are best at? Fairly good at X and 7.61. A game you know everything about? FFX/7/13/13-2/KH1/KH262. Would you want to work with video games when you are older? Voice acting lol63. What’s a game that has inspired you? They all have in their own way64. Describe your favorite video game using only three words? Nostalgic, Intriguing, Haunting.65. Any favorite screenshots of games? Check my page haha.66. Game with the yummiest looking food? FFXV - I’VE COME UP WITH A NEW RECIPEEEEHHH!67. Most violent game you’ve played? GTA lmao68. An older game that you’ve just recently gotten into? I’ve already played games over a decade old or more!69. Your first LI? Is it bad I am unsure what these initials stand for?70. Do you play any mobile games? Nah71. A game you can’t stop talking/thinking about at the moment? FFXV72. Have any guilty pleasure games? Not really guilty pleasures lol73. A game with the best fandom? FFXV and KH or sure74. Which game has the best lore? X75. Do you focus on main storyline/quest or do sidequests first?  I do all.