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sof-writez · 4 months ago

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Rewriting The Minecraft Movie because what the hell is that...

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I'm sure you've all seen the Minecraft Trailer at this point, who hasn't, honestly. Like everyone else, I feel absolutely disappointed, almost insulted by what the movie seems to be; a pointless cash grab for 6 year old's.

The CGI looks cheap, the characters look incredibly out of place and why do the animals look like that? Why are they making them boxy and realistic at the same time ? With high resolution fur? it doesn't work. Who made Jason Momoa wear that goofy ahh fit? Why, just so many why’s.

It is possible to do a video game movie adaptation well, we've seen it last year with FNAF. And Sonic...to a degree.

FNAF It was original and yet it felt like it was made by fans for the fans. There were so many small references, things were left unanswered and it also incorporated elements of fan culture. There were guest appearances, fan theories, just features reflecting the fan culture around the game.

Minecraft on the other hand; Jesus. It feels incredibly surface level. Of course you cannot compare the intricacy of the FNAF lore to Minecraft , but I feel like in terms of fandom culture, Minecraft has a greater following and a long running history among the fans. The game is over a decade old after all so the fandom for sure deserves justice.

Either way, complaints aside, my red flag is that I believe I can do the work of trained professionals better, so hey, why don't I rewrite the Minecraft movie?

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I feel like there are 2 routes you can take with this. The fun one and the horror one.Let me explain;

The fun one, similarly to the trailer, is targeted at a younger demographic. I can see it being similar to the Jumanji reboot Movies.

You have characters transported by some unexplained means into the Minecraft world.

Like in the trailer, we will keep the main cast as they are; live action. Let's say, for easier production and promotion purposes. However, the scenery will have to change. It cannot be the usual Minecraft look since that would clash with the actors too much. It cannot be the movie look because it looks sloppy, i can't even quite explain why, it looks bad. Maybe because the bright colors clash with each other too much in comparison to the og Minecraft color scheme, where all the colors aren't trying to be so cheerful.

(for comparasion)

But instead what we can do, and look, here's the first reference to Minecraft culture, is take inspiration from the many texture packs of Minecraft;

The actors would still stand out but it would look less artificial, less out of place.

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Back to the plot line, the characters in the game run around all panicky because night is coming, you know, like the classic game play everyone experienced. They slowly start figuring it out, in the process they (and audience simultaneously) get to explore the various biomes of this new world.

There can be references to the creatures and biomes we know, but they can mix it up with some new stuff, like bugs or animals that can be found in texture packs made by fans.

In the process, they start seeing signs of life, ya know, holes that look suspiciously human, weapons, at the bottom of a deep hole.

They eventually find this person, his name is Steve. See where I'm going with this…

Steve explains that like them, he has been stuck in the game for a while.

We can throw in a nice little reference to the previous Minecraft versions as he describes how the Minecraft world has changed over the times he's been there. From the first simple version of Minecraft, to the recent version of Minecraft, new animals, biomes and all. Steve knows that the longer he stays there, the more the world develops and new potential threats appear. Steve also tells them that he thinks he knows how to get out of the game; by defeating the ender dragon, but he can't do it alone. Now, it transitions to almost a road trip movie, where they need to go through all the steps to find and defeat the ender dragon.

To be fair, there's a very probable chance that i just described the plot of the Minecraft movie. It's the most cliche, predictable version. It's also somewhat true to Minecraft game plays. But, I feel like the ‘fun’ movie should not include cliche dialogue and jokes made for 6 year olds.

Yes this might be a movie targeted at kids, but Minecraft also has a very popular and active adult fanbase. These people will go see the movie because it's also their childhood, and these very same people will also make hate videos on it, if this movie flops. So the older audience shouldn't be overlooked! They should be the target demographic of this movie!

Speaking of, we now move on to the horror version.

This one is more for the adults than the kids now.

You know how many people say that after playing Minecraft on multiplayer, playing single player again feels frighteningly lonely. This would be based on that. So in this version, one single player appears in the Minecraft world.

Since most of the funds wouldn't go into casting A tier actors, they would go into the CGI of the world for example. In this version, you could tell multiple stories simultaneously,

For example different people spawning in different Minecraft biomes. You can have them struggle as they’re attacked, you can have panic as they appear in this lifeless silent world and try to make sense of it.

You can also take it a step further and introduce Minecraft villagers as these stagnant beings that don't really interact with the players until they’re provoked. There's a lot of horror potential there.

It could be backrooms-esque as the players find themselves in these infinite landscapes with no signs of life. For example they could be convinced they're in an enclosure since they can see the mountain's end and the ocean horizon cut short, but whenever they move forward, the front expands and the back vanishes again.

You can try telling 2 stories from 2 different people's point of view but when they meet, their stories merge into one as they try and figure out where they are and most importantly how to get out together. You could make it a point to highlight how the 2 people were absolutely desperate to hear something, to just escape the drowning silence and when they meet, they’re both so spooked from the overbearing silence, they both make it a point to talk to each other as much as possible to just fill the void with something.

You can then maybe introduce a third person who’s been there for longer or a lot shorter, how their new perspective would change the dynamic the 2 had developed. And together, again, they try to get out.

You can maybe bring Minecraft witches in there, Have them be another threat they have to overcome or act as a guide.

Enderman, zombies...

Maybe, as the minecraft lore suggests, the zombies were once Steves. The players then need to get out before they themselves turn into zombies.

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So yes, this movie would also have a lot of potential as a horror or psychological thriller movie.

All in all, It just depends on which demographic is more important for you. If you're more interested in producing another lifeless cash grab because you know the kids will go, buy the merch and get you money, or are you willing to put in the work and make a legitimately good movie. One that more than 1 demographic can enjoy.

At the end of the day, maybe we're all haters, and if we look past…everything....we saw in the trailer, there will be a decent movie.

But, if what we saw in the trailer was their best of the best, i don't see it as being much of anything.

#minecraft #minecraft movie #video games #movies #movie rewrite #minecraft story mode #minecraft scenery #minecraft gameplay #singleplayer #multiplayer #video game movies #scriptwriting #screenwriting #write

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birdsareblooming · 4 years ago

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Sonic may actually be lost royalty

I keep going down these rabbit holes I shouldn’t go down BUT! Although this theory is one that I don’t fully believe in (unlike the infinite/solaris theory and the chaos emerald theory) I still have a good argument that I want to talk about very bad.

I also tried to make this as short as possible but there’s a lot of ground to cover, but at least it’s not the infinite/solaris theory. But I have a TLDR at the end.

[Spoiler Warning for Sonic and the Black Knight]

let’s start with a ✨numbered list✨

1. Blaze the Cat

Blaze is the biggest caveat for this theory, but I think it’s best to start with her.

Now, firstly I need to clear up some things.

[Eggman: My world...]

[Eggman Nega: and my world...]

[Eggmen: are in a manner, inextricably linked!]

[Blaze: Like two Eggmans?]

Part of the Blaze’s world is that it’s a parallel universe. Parallel Eggmen, Parallel emeralds, Everything else that isn’t stated outright. Like how Tails and Marine are definitely counterparts. Seeming as Tails came from South Island and Marine came from southern island, Tails is definitely based on a kitsune and Marine, in theory, based on a tanuki.

And, although not stated completely, Blaze and Sonic are universal counterparts.

[From Sonic Wiki: Blaze was designed as a charater who was equivalent yet and alternate version of Sonic’s character.]

Much like the Sol and Chaos emeralds, Sonic and Blaze are a mirror version of one another, although slightly different.

Alright, now that we have that out of the way:

Looking at the connections between the others, Sonic and Blaze seem, a bit too different.

The Sol and Chaos emeralds fulfill the same role, although their different appearance, and have a similar story. Tails and Marine fulfill the same role, although their different appearance, and have a similar story. The Eggmen fulfill the same role, although their different appearance, and have a similar story.

Blaze and Sonic fulfill the same role, although their different appearance, and have a... completely different story.

Blaze was born to a royal family, and set to protect the Sol Emeralds and the Jeweled Scepter as her birthright, and it’s somewhat hinted that her powers may also be a birthright. Sonic, on the other hand, has no known past, and seems to have just run into the Chaos Emeralds by accident.

You could claim that Blaze does take on the role of both Sonic AND Knuckles, which is fair and stated on the wiki, however Knuckles is also never stated to be any kind of royalty, and certainly doesn’t have that kind of past, his past being one of the more tragically alone ones.

And here’s something interesting.

Time has warped our vision of Blaze. We all know her as “Princess Blaze the Cat.” But from watching Sonic Rush, her opening game... she is never mentioned to be a princess until the very end.

[Burning Blaze: As princess, it is my duty to protect the Sol Emeralds...]

From what I remember, this is the FIRST mention of her royal status.

From this game’s viewpoint, they reveal the mirror status of the dimensions. They then show both Blaze and Sonic having mirror super transformations using their emeralds, highly implying that Sonic and Blaze were mirror versions. (also this was implied already by just Blaze’s shoes.) and then it’s revealed that Blaze is royal, and a princess.

So if she’s the mirror of Sonic, what does that mean for Sonic? Especially right after showing the two of them being, well, mirrors.

2. King Arthur

SATBK is much less transparent about the counterpart universe thing.

Now this is an alternate universe, set up by Secret Rings, and surprisingly not just a story Sonic told as an elaborate excuse.

They don’t hide obivous Sonic characters being put into roles, and their in these roles for a reason.

Blaze and Silver as Percival and Galahad, the knights who quested together for the holy grail. Knuckles as Gawain literally only because of “Gawain and the Green Knight” But I respect that so much. Jet as Lamorak because of Lamorak’s fiery temper and competitiveness. Shadow as Lancelot because he’s the “closest knight to the king” stated in game (👀) Tails as a Blacksmith because that’s p much the medieval version of a mechanic. Amy as the Lady of the Lake because like. Fuck she’s the most powerful one there. (but seriously, in forces she’s shown to be the most level headed leader and strangest, especially in Sonic’s absence. As well as “sensing” that he was still alive and having a past in tarot.) And Merlina as Merlina because... well that’s a whole other theory.

(all my theories are being brought up in the post. like i know the first two were expamples of theories I fully belive in but damn this is like a avengeners, ok,)

But Sonic as King Arthur makes sense when it’s revealed. Although he wasn’t anyone’s counterpart in Secret Rings (because secrets rings was confused as hell) He is in this game, and as the ring leader of everyone following him in SATBK, it makes sense.

Although something that was never brought up...EVER is the Knight’s backstories, which are EXTREMELY important not only in Arthurian legends, but for the knights in Sonic lore. All of the knight’s mentioned backstories are important to their character, in both contexts. Although their never brought up.

*DEEP BREATH* Alright. The similarities between Sonic Character/Knight backstories.

Shadow and Lancelot have pretty simmilar backstories when getting down to it. Shadow/Lancelot were both raised for greatness, but still outshined by Sonic/Arthur. Although remaining loyal to them, even if for Shadow it’s only in times of need. Shadow doesn’t want to admit he’s a supporting role to Sonic, although Sonic generations kinda throws that Idea out of the water when Shadow cheers Sonic on while watching from the sidelines, much like early Lancelot.

For Blaze and Percival, in multiple interpretations Percival is of noble birth. Upon meeting Sonic’s Gang/The Knights, Blaze/Percival get’s inspired by their heroics and eventually joins them.

“Lancelot and Percival prove morally superior to Gawain who follows the rules of courtliness to the letter rather than the spirit.“ Is an actual quote from Wikipedia. Although it is VERY hard to find a concrete backstory for Gawain other than “separated from his home”, I think this proves enough. As well as the Gawain and the Green Knight story (in which Gawain tries to slay the green knight and then he picks up his head and says “see you in a year” is pretty representative of Knuckles constantly breaking the master emerald in a comedic light.)

Lamorak/Jet are known for challenging Arthur/Sonic to competitions.

Galahad/Silver are searching for an object/person aided by Percival/Blaze

So now that we’re all good, do you see the similarities between part one.

Although everyone else has given backstory similarities, Sonic is given none, seeming as, as far as we know, Sonic HAS no backstory.

But isn’t it interesting that King Arthur’s backstory is being lost royalty? And the secret son of the king? Wack.

3. Sonic Fucking Underground

Now, most of you are probably unfamiliar with Sonic Underground. Good.

If you’re not, you watched it as a kid and you’re nostalgic, and let me tell you I watched the entire show recently and it’s not as good as you remember.

But Sonic Underground’s quality and history could be a post on it’s own, it doesn’t matter here. What matters is the plot:

[From Sonic Wiki: Sonic, Sonia, and Manic are the children of Queen Aleena, the rightful ruler of Mobius and are pursued relentlessly by Doctor Robotnik and his bumbling bounty hunters sidekicks, Sleet and Dingo. As infants, the siblings were separated and placed in hiding to fulfill a prophecy made by the Oracle of Delphius (a spoof of the Oracle of Delphi of Ancient Greece) that the triplets would grow up to find their estranged mother, overthrow Robotnik and take their places once more as Mobius' rightful rulers.]

FORGOTTEN ROYALTY YOU SAY.

Now, Sonic Underground is VERY SEPARATED from Sonic Lore, and nothing has ever taken from it besides Manic appearing in some comics, although from what I know he’s never mentioned to be Sonic’s brother. So This is the part I always take with a grain of salt, however;

4. In conclusion/TLDR

We have Two Instances of Sonic being lost Royalty (One in a separate reality and one in a separate continuity) We have Two Instances of Dimentional Counterparts of Sonic being Royalty (Blaze and King Arthur) We have zero given backstory for Sonic We have Three instances of Sonic, or a counterpart, being royalty

And from what I remember hearing, three’s a pattern.

#sonic the hedgehog #theory #sonic theory #royalty theory #sonic rush #sonic rush adventure #sonic and the black knight #satbk #sonic underground #sonic wiki #Not only is this a deep dive into sonic #but I accidentally did a meta abput the satbk round table and their simmilarites to the og knights

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singledarkshade · 4 years ago

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Magical Mix Up

Chapter Seven

(Chapter Six can be found here.)

Author’s Note: Again a huge thanks goes to @theadrogna for being my historical guide for all things Roman. I have learned some fun things for this fic.

Amy hated that Rory had been taken from her once more. Sometimes it felt as though the universe did this to them every few years just for laughs.

“We’ll find him, Amelia,” the Doctor wrapped his arm around her, “You two always find one another. Even when he died and was erased from time, Rory came back to you.”

Amy took a deep breath, “I know.”

“Then don’t worry,” the Doctor smiled, “This place especially is somewhere that he knows. Somewhere he can blend into, so we just have to look for any signs he’s left for us. And if we’re in the wrong part of the city, then Rip will find him.”

She sighed looking around what she once would have been excited to see. The Romans had been her favourite subject at school, but while Rory was missing nothing else mattered.

Amy had tried every so often to ask him about the memories he held but Rory didn’t like thinking, never mind talking about them.

They continued through the marketplace, hoping that they’d find him but so far nothing. Amy’s heart leapt every time she saw a flash of red, hoping Rory would appear before her but there was no luck so far.

As they walked on Amy suddenly sighed, “Why haven’t we found anything? Rory would leave us a sign, where is it?”

The Doctor mused before shaking his head, “Of course, we arrived here not long after him. He wouldn’t expect us yet. Rory is probably finding a place to hunker down first.”

“So, what do we do?” Amy demanded.

The Doctor wrapped his arm around her once more, “We keep looking for him. He would have entered through the same gate we did. We’re in the right section of the city and there are only a certain amount of places Rory will be able to go without connections. We’ll find him.”

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John winced as he was tossed out the window and slammed into the ground. Scrambling to his feet, he turned to see the multiple guards appear swords drawn.

“Look,” he held out his hands, “Obviously mistakes were made, and I shouldn’t have been in there, even if she did invite me but there’s no need for all this. I was just asking for help to find someone.”

John grimaced as his explanation wasn’t swaying them and they continued to advance. Spinning round to run away, John found there were two guards behind him and groaned as someone hit him across the back of his head. Dropping to the ground, John swam in and out of consciousness as he was grabbed by each arm then dragged through the crowd. His head was buzzing, and John wanted to pull away but couldn’t. John groaned as he was yanked to his feet and came face to face with a large man who listened to one of the guards before nodding. John struggled weakly as he was dragged through the gates and into a room with a hole in the floor covered by a metal grate. The grate was pulled off it and a rope ladder tossed down.

John was shoved to the hole and pushed down.

“Climb or fall,” the guard told him, “Your choice.”

Against his growing headache, John climbed down the ladder knowing the other way would probably result in worse injury. The moment he touched the dirt covered ground, the ladder was pulled up, leaving him in the cell with circular walls and nothing but a hole in the ceiling.

Waiting until the guards were gone, John gently touched his ear to activate his communicator, but it wasn’t there. Frantically checking his clothes and the floor of the cell, he sighed finding nothing.

“Bollocks.”

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Gideon sipped the tea she’d made for herself while the others worked to fix the Waverider. She could hear the annoyed cries as things wouldn’t work, no matter what they did. Jax was currently swearing at the systems as Rip had shown him several tricks that normally got the computer to start, but this time everything refused to work for him.

“Gideon,” Cisco appeared, “Can I talk to you?”

She nodded, “Of course. Take a seat.”

“Okay,” he frowned, dropping into the chair across from her, “I get you’re annoyed at them, especially the fact Sara hid they’d found Rip from you.”

“And kept him imprisoned,” Gideon added sharply.

Cisco nodded, “I get all that but fixing the ship should be a priority?”

She smiled slightly at him, “It is. Mr Ramon, I would never do anything to put the Waverider in danger. The self-repair systems are already working, and the ship shall be repaired within the next six hours.”

Cisco frowned, “Then why are you letting them struggle?”

Amusement covered her face, “Because they believe they do not need me.”

“What about Rip?”

“Sending more people is not a good idea,” Gideon remined him, “Mr Constantine is currently searching for him. Adding the others while the situation is unknown is reckless. Once the systems are running again, I will be able to locate him within seconds.”

Cisco frowned, “You can find Rip that easily?”

“Now we are within the same time, yes,” Gideon told him, “It was a problem when I had to search the entirety of time and space.”

“Then what?” Cisco asked softly.

“Gideon smiled beatifically, “Then I take my ship and if others wish to travel with me, then we shall work out an arrangement.”

Cisco nodded, “Sara is going to love that.”

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Rory gripped his sword, feeling the familiar handle bite into his hand. He felt better now, having his own weapon but they couldn’t use them just now and caught Rip’s arm holding him in place.

“Where will they take him?” Rip asked, watching his friend dragged away.

Rory turned asking, “Don’t you know?”

“I learned enough to pass myself off as a soldier within a guard station in order to retrieve a shotgun,” Rip told him, “Not to mention it was one of my very first missions, so I’m a bit rusty on the customs.”

“He’s been taken to the Tullianum,” Rory explained, “It’s a dungeon. Prisoners were left in there until trial, usually without food and water.”

Rip frowned, “How long until he’s put on trial?”

“Depends on who the house belonged to,” Rory mused, “And whose bedchamber he violated. From what I know that house belongs to a very important member of the Senate. Your friends are not the best at keeping a low profile, are they?”

“John tends to not to think at times,” Rip sighed, “Not with his head anyway,” he bent down and picked up a small metallic disc, “And this is his comms link, so he can’t call for help.”

“Let’s face it from what I’ve seen of the others is a blessing for the timeline,” Rory noted.

“How do we get him out?” Rip asked.

Rory frowned as he thought, “Well, that’s the problem. I suggest waiting until tonight, there will be fewer guards for us to get past on the night shift. The sun will be going down in about three hours if I’m right.”

Grimacing Rip said, “Then I suggest we get back to the TARDIS and reunite you with Amy. We can make a plan there.”

Rory nodded, “That is a great idea.”

Motioning towards the city gate, Rip smiled, “This way.”

The blue box Rory expected to see was not there and he frowned turning to Rip.

“There’s a camouflage shielding on,” Rip explained, “The Doctor told me to look for a pattern on the wall,” he stepped forward and studied the area finding finally a few squiggles made by chalk. Turning Rip took a small step forward and banged into the hidden TARDIS.

Rory began to laugh, the lightness made him feel more like Nurse-Rory and less Centurion-Rory.

“I appear to have found it,” Rip winced, rubbing his forehead.

Rory stepped forward, his hand stretched out and gently touched the door feeling the wood beneath his fingertips.

“It’s me,” he whispered, “Can I come in?” There was a pause before the lock clicked, and the door opened for him. Stepping inside, Rory smiled, “Thank you.”

Rip followed him inside, closing the door and joined Rory at the control console, “Do you know what you’re doing?”

Nodding Rory replied, “The Doctor showed me how to send a signal to the sonic once. Just in case. I could, in theory, also take us somewhere.”

“How did you unlock the door,” Rip asked suddenly, “I noticed a lock earlier. And a ship this advanced, the Doctor would not leave it accessible.”

Rory shrugged, “Normally I’d have a key, but the TARDIS likes me. Don’t ask me why but she apparently does.”

Rip frowned in thought, “Like an AI?”

“Like a soul,” Rory replied.

Rip watched the other man for a moment before deciding to ask what had been weighing on his mind since he’d connected with the computer on his own ship.

“Rory,” he said, “When you were on the Waverider, did anyone mention Gideon?”

Musing for a moment, Rory finally replied, “Your friend John stated Gideon wasn’t able to help at the moment.”

Rip sighed, “I’m really hoping they haven’t damaged her permanently.”

“Who is she?” Rory asked softly.

“She’s the AI for the Waverider,” Rip replied shortly.

Rory stared at him for a moment before asking, “Who is she to you?”

Amazed by how perceptive the other man was Rip shrugged, “My best friend. The only family I have left.”

“He only said at the moment,” Rory reminded him, “We can ask him when we get him out, so don’t lose hope.”

Rip shook his head, “You are very different from me. I lost the ability to hope a long time ago.”

Before Rory could answer they heard the door opening and Amy ran in, followed closely by the Doctor. Without a word, the redhead ran to her husband and grabbed him in a tight embrace. Rip watched Rory’s eyes close in relief as he held onto Amy. Pulling away from Rory, Amy turned to Rip.

“Thank you,” she breathed, as the Doctor hugged Rory, “Thank you.”

Rip shrugged, “He was fine without any of us.”

“So,” the Doctor said, “Where to now?”

“Actually,” Rory spoke up, “One of Rip’s people has been arrested and we need to rescue him.”

Amy’s eyes darkened, “Is this one of the people who held you hostage?”

“They thought I was Rip,” Rory soothed before continuing, “Besides, he violated the sanctity of a Senator’s wife’s bedroom and, as he is definitely not a citizen, then this will not end well for him unless we get him out.”

“What about his friends?” Amy demanded, “Can’t they risk their lives instead of yours, again.”

“His communicator fell out,” Rory replied softly, “He has no way to call for help.”

Annoyance flickered across Amy’s face, but when Rory took her hand, she sighed and nodded.

“Fine,” Amy said, “But I’m coming with you.”

“No,” Rory told her, “I’ve seen you with a sword. We’re not looking for that level of carnage.”

Before Amy could argue, the Doctor spoke up, “I agree with Rory, Amy. He knows what he’s doing.”

“Besides we’ll need you to come after us if something goes wrong,” Rip noted wryly, “Which, with my current track record, it will.”

“You’re a bundle of joy,” Amy rolled her eyes.

Rory wrapped his arm around Amy and pressed a kiss to her temple before turning to Rip, “First thing first. I want my own uniform back. Then we’ll work out a plan.”

#fic #legends of tomorrow #rip hunter #gideon #john constantine #doctor who #rory williams #amy pond #eleventh doctor #the flash #cisco ramon #crossover

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bisexual-medal-alex · 5 years ago

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I’m seeing a lot of criticism and hate on this latest issue of IDW Sonic, specifically with how they’re treating Dr. Eggman and Dr. Starline. I wanted to offer my own counter argument to the table and explain why I personally don’t think they’re being handled badly.

Well I say that but when looking at it from a first glance it seems like they’re really making him more of a self-defeating moron than any of the games ever did. It’s been established that Eggman’s tendency to outsource his schemes to some sort of powerful force tends to lead to it blowing up in his face just when he’s reached peak overconfidence. Even in most of those situations though he’s taken more precautions to keep said powerful force under his control and when it does blow up in his face he does recognize it. The way Eggman is being portrayed so casual about the possibility of his own failure is pretty comical (pun not intended).

But this isn’t the first time Eggman has been depicted as self destructive, especially in the comics. In both the Archie comics and the Fleetway comics Eggman/Robotnik has at one point reached a breaking point where too many defeats at the hands of his furry blue nemesis where he started to get very sloppy with his schemes and apathetic to the idea that his own forces would take a heavy loss because of his actions. Granted both of these incarnations of the character went through years of failure to get to that point but then again since the IDW comics is canon to the games and since they take place directly after Sonic Forces where Eggman was upping his game desperate to get a win, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to assume that Eggman here has finally reached that breaking point where he just wants to win damn the consequences.

Then again that’s assuming this is still the same Eggman. See I’m not 100% convinced that the Eggman we’ve been following for the last 20 or so issues, the Eggman who uses to be Mr. Tinker and who Dr. Starline has been fanboying over is the REAL Dr. Eggman. I’m convinced that this is some elaborate plan by the real Dr. Eggman who used the Phantom Ruby to create a duplicate of himself to lure people into a false sense of security but then Dr. Starline mistook him for the genuine article and conditioned him into assuming the mad doctor’s role.

You might be wondering how this is possible since Mr. Tinker clearly retained memories of being Doctor Eggman in his subconscious and he acted fully independently after he showed up in that little village?

This is just me theorizing here but I think Eggman left him those subconscious memories on purpose so that Sonic and friends would buy the ruse. The Phantom Ruby also reacts to the user’s subconscious desires to create its elaborate illusions so its possible that Eggman put them there intentionally or accidentally when he made Mr. Tinker. Plus all of the duplicates of the villains Infinite made in Sonic Forces were able to act independently, they just couldn’t be anything more than henchmen since they were create by Infinite’s single-minded drive for conquest whereas Mr. Tinker seems like a much more complicated creation than that.

The one problem with this theory of mine is the issue of Metal Sonic. How did Metal Sonic trigger Mr. Tinker to have actual memories of being Eggman if he’s just a holographic construct? Even accepting that’s what he is I’ll admit it’s a big stretch to say that the hypothetical “real” Eggman in this scenario embedded this construct with enough memories to drastically switch personalities.

I don’t have a good explanation for this, it really does poke a big hole in this theory of mine. But I do still think it’s a strong possibility since the setup for it is there in the early issues and it would explain why Eggman is so uncharacteristically careless. Mr. Tinker didn’t want to be Eggman to begin with, maybe he wants to fail deep down. He clearly has some remorse about what he’s left behind as this issue has shown.

I don’t know if I’m right. The pieces of the puzzle are there and that setup in the early issues to too obvious to ignore for me. For all I know the writing team originally intended Mr. Tinker to be a Phantom Ruby double but then Sega vetoed that idea and this is the genuine Doctor that we’ve been following. It wouldn’t be the first time Sega has meddled with this comics’ writing and imposing their own arbitrary characterization (Shadow anyone?)

As for Doctor Starline honestly this one boils down to personal opinion but I do not think he’s being ruined and in fact I actually like that they’re setting him up for him going on his own villainous path. I’ve heard some people say they’re just turning him into Snivley 2.0 and I don’t think that’s an unfounded criticism. On paper they have a similar characterization as someone who started out idolizing Eggman but then grew bitter after secondhandly observing their failures and being treated like a lackey and as a result grew a treacherous side. Also if you read their arguements next to each other they sound very similar.

But I don’t think it’s entirely a fair comparison, I think the two characters differ greatly in terms of their own skills and how they came to work for Eggman. Snivley was Robotnik’s nephew and since they were both rejected by their own kind Robotnik took pity on him and made him his chief henchman. It was only after years of abuse and standing in his uncle’s shadow that Snivley started considering overthrowing his uncle and whenever he did strike out on his own he always just copied his uncle. He is a technological genius in his own right but his most successful schemes are the ones where he gets someone stronger to do his dirty work and when they fail he’s always quick to hide behind someone else to avoid the full consequences.

Dr. Starline on the other hand is clearly on another level than Snively. A lot about his backstory and origin is shrouded in mystery but it’s obvious that he has the capacity to be a full on threat if he worked alone. He is enough of a scientific genius to create a working portal gun on his glove, he was able to single handedly get all seven Chaos Emeralds and he even came close to beating Sonic and Silver in his first run in with them. All that’s holding him back is his own fanboy adoration for Eggman, he put all of this effort and energy to become a credible threat but he’s choosing to play second fiddle for the mad scientist.

Actually recently his adoration has been turning to cynicism similar to Snivley. But unlike Snivley it’s not because of years of abuse and a inferiority complex driving him, rather it’s more out of a glass-shattering “never meet your heroes” revelation and a desire for better efficiency that he’s working towards undermining the big red egg.

So yeah to sum up I think (or at least I hope) there is a good reason that Eggman has been acting OOC in these recent comics and I actually like the direction Dr. Starline has been going in. Wherever the comics end up going with all this I have faith that I’m going to enjoy them.

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kjissexy1994 · 4 years ago

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WORDS OF SHAKESPEARE: ALBUMS OF SUCKAGE: Limp Bizkit-Results May Vary

The year was 2001, Nu Metal was riding high with bands such as Alien Ant Farm with their cover of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal,” Linkin Park had a dynamic debut with Hybrid Theory and of course Jacksonville’s Red capped dynamos Limp Bizkit were still breathing in the success of their third album suggestively titled “Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavoured Water” with tracks such as “My Generation,” “Boiler” and of course “Rollin (Air Raid Vehicle)” famously used as the entrance theme of legendary professional wrestler The Undertaker in the WWE (then known as WWF) during 2001 when he had the guise of the “American Badass” biker gimmick, but however with Limp Bizkit still embroiled with the controversy over the crushing and death of 15 year old Jessica Michalik during their infamous set at the 2001 Big Day Out Festival in Sydney and the Announcement of guitarist and heart and soul of the group, Wes Borland parting ways with the band to focus on side projects and his other band “Big Dumb Face,” left Fred Durst to pick up the pieces to record their fourth album.

As the band went through six guitarists during recording of the album (including Fred Durst and Bassist Sam Rivers) They went on a nationwide search for a new guitarist with the “Put Your Guitar Where Your Mouth Is” competition, Limp Bizkit then settled with former Snot guitarist Mike Smith and recorded a number of songs for the album which went through name changes with “Bipolar,” “Panty Sniffer,” “Less is More,” “The Search for Teddy Swoes,” before ultimately going with the generic and subtle “Results May Vary.”

Most of the songs recorded with Smith were cut due to executive meddling by Durst and it showed resulting in a depressing puerile mishmash of heavy and bleak tracks.

This album received a massive tonne of negative reception when it was released in September of 2003 after numerous delays, being ranked in at number 3 as the lowest scored album behind “Playing with Fire” by Kevin Federline. It was even being touted by some people as the album that “killed Nu Metal” which is a genre I loathe entirely as it was in a deep decline during that year.

Let’s go in the deep hole of RMV to hear why this album goes into the mantle of an “Album of SUCKAGE.”

RE-ENTRY

The intro track consists of a circus barker yelling to a kid (voiced by Fred Durst) for sixty seconds explaining about Limp Bizkit as “the most ferociously soothing ways of sonic communication to ever be created”

Okay, so I guess they were trying to copy the “Insane Clown Posse” here?

Then it bursts in a generic rock riff with Fred Durst telling people that all around the world knows him, slowing down and fading out with a drum beat... that’s it.

I mean, I was expecting the guitar riff to build up to something exciting instead of this. I know it’s only an intro, but I do know that it’ll go down hill from here on followed by the first single of this album known as...

EAT YOU ALIVE

This song running for four minutes is outright disturbing, the lyrics, the main chorus even the music video featuring Fred Durst kidnapping Thora Birch in a forest, spraying her with gasoline and screaming into a megaphone to her whilst the band plays! The lyrics consists of Durst singing about wanting a girl to look at him and having a strong desire to “sniff her panties?” *VOMITS!* If you ever said those lyrics to a girl that you love in real life, she would immediately break up with you and be warranted a restraining order. The drums and bass sound generic and the guitar work tries to build this up as some sort of a fight song which immediately fails to do so...this was also the first single of this album. THIS WAS THE FIRST SINGLE OF THIS ALBUM...I am not making this up, why on earth would Limp Bizkit release this as the first single of this album, not to mention getting a disturbing music video?

Ugh...

GIMME the Mic

This track is just another generic Nu Metal sounding track, the guitars sound very pungent in aggression but the rest of the instruments deliver nothing. The main hook is heavily sampled from Eric B and Rakin’s Microphone Fiend, later covered by Rage Against The Machine (which I kind of dislike due to their political beliefs) On their posthumous “Renegades” covers album as Limp Bizkit are downright infamous for sampling hooks such as the main chorus of Nine Inch Nails’

“Closer” for their expletive laden song titled “Hot Dog” on “Chocolate Starfish”. Add in Durst’s trademark whiny anger, pathetic song writing and rapping and you have a stinky sounding Nu Metal song that can be made on a “Nu Metal Band Maker” software. Aggressive generic riffs, whiny angry lyrics, fake b-grade angst: profit!

No wonder why that this album and the cover song that I’ll get to later on is one of the factors that killed mainstream Nu Metal in 2003! Next!

UNDERNEATH THE GUN

This song is the first in the number of songs that Fred shows his singing ability and it just sounds absolutely bland and Monotonous. The instruments such as Sam Rivers on the drums and the chords on the guitar have very good delivery and build up in the bridge, but it just sounds absolutely hindered with Fred trying to stay awake singing a song about “suicide and the struggle you have when ending your life becomes an option” with such a dull melody and it goes on for almost six minutes...I mean why did many red Yankees cap wearing Limp Bizkit fans fall for buying this album? The sad sad fact that it sold more copies than any Motörhead albums baffles me extremely. Our god Lemmy must be turning in his grave...

DOWN ANOTHER DAY

Jesus tap dancing Christ, we go from Fred’s whiny anger fuelled tirades to another mellow monotone delivery about our hero singing about missing his summer love (presumably Britney Spears during his somewhat extremely messy affair during the recording of “In the Zone”) and having to deal with the next winter. The lyrics in the main chorus and bridge are repetitive as hell and the instruments are just nearly nonexistent with little or no effort, not to mention that this song is also plagued with very pathetic songwriting...just garbage time indeed...

ALMOST OVER

Yet another extremely repetitive track, explaining Durst’s life from growing up learning how to rap, taking a lot of crap, and being treated as a clown as a little boy to learning how to lose and getting treated as a clown as an older man. Fred rhymes the end of the verses with the words “Little Boy,” and “Older Man” 16 times and the word “Baby” 19 times, totalling up to 51 times!

Another song wrecked by abysmal songwriting from the red capped turd himself, The instruments are getting worse with every track sounding more and more generic with little or no build up, which is sad because Sam Rivers, John Otto and Mike Smith are such good musicians but are being hindered heavily due to Durst’s whiny vocals...the next track should be good, can it?

BUILD A BRIDGE

Ehhh...okay, this song has a bog standard melody and instruments with such a strong build up in the bridge but it’s passable at least, this song features Brian “Head” Welch from KoRn who is a very talented guitarist and perhaps one of the only Nu Metal bands I can tolerate listening to, but his ability is kind of wasted here due to Durst’s sub par ability to sing, not to mention these are one of the songs rumoured to be impulsively directed to Britney Spears. Imagine being one of the guitarists of one of the bands that invented the “Nu Metal” genre only to record a song about being involved with one the most popular pop singers of the time of release?

“LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!” - Chris Croker, 2007

RED LIGHT GREEN LIGHT (Featuring Snoop Dogg)

Another Rap/Hip Hop duet with one of the biggest rap/ hip hop legends, and still it’s repetitive as hell despite the funky beat from DJ Lethal as well as Snoop Dogg calling Fred Durst his “nephew” with the lyric “Snoop dogg is in the place to see, do it with my nephew Freddy d.”

You have no relation with this pile of gutter trash whatsoever!!!

This song is attempting to repeat the success with “N 2 Gether Now” featuring Method Man four years earlier in “Significant Other” but it fails massively with Fred’s lyrics in the first and third verses ending with “Baby” 25 times with the same word repeated 10 times in the main chorus totalling up to 35 times. I would be ashamed to have been Snoop to record a duet with who used to be one of the biggest people in music during Limp Bizkit’s popularity from 1999-2001 not to mention rapping a duet to call him his “nephew!”

The bonus track “Take It Home” which heavily samples the song “Milk and Honey” by Bonnie Dobson is another sub par effort having Fred repeat the lyric “Crying Myself To Sleep” whilst DJ Lethal jams....NEXT!

THE ONLY ONE

Mike Smith is trying to do an acceptable riff or two which I praise for but the effort is just completely wasted, this song is just another whinge-fest with lyrics about using terms of having sex and making out such as “first base” (again presumably directed to Britney) but it just sounds absolutely whiny and generic with Fred singing with heavily instrumentation behind him as he repeatedly screaming the word “NOTHING!” Towards the end and it just ends after that.

Such a putrid mess...

Oh and the lyric “It’s No Big Deal?”

It is a big deal when you’re trying to record a follow up to your previous multi platinum when your most talented member leaves and you have to pick up the pieces with six guitarists, two being yourself and Sam Rivers.

LET ME DOWN

“Let Me Down” has a lot of effort but has simple and dull instrumentation and Durst sounds a lot better than the previous tracks, but however the lyrics are very iffy such as “Heartbreak is a Headache, like a toothquake or an earthquake” “Spontaneous Combustion leaves a taste that’s so disgustin’” and “Rumours are Tumours?” Whilst this song is somewhat passable it’s still coming from a 33 year old at the time whining about life and struggles.

LONELY WORLD

Another song about Fred Durst, whining about his past life such as hating high school with bullies trying to put him down as well as making out with his gothic girlfriend out in the creek whilst his mother was asleep along with gross lyrics such as “Just a little skater boy they could pick on

I learned to forgive 'em

Now I got the balls they can lick on”

Jesus Christ Fred! You were 33 years old at the time of release! Just do us a favour and grow up at least. The main chorus and bridge is still very tedious repeating the main title of the song in a total of 37 times. Un-fucken-believable!

PHENOMENON

After what would’ve been an extremely energetic guitar intro from Mike Smith, The band just slams on the breaks with our hero Fred introducing himself as “the incredible, subliminal, the INFREDIBLE D.”

Here we go again with copy, pasting and editing lyrics of other music groups songs and claiming them your own (the song being Bring the Noize with Anthrax featuring Public Enemy).

The main chorus has a lot of effort but the verses, consisting of Fred Durst’s cruisy rapping,

Not to mention the section after the bridge references “Pollution” from their debut album from 1997 “Three Dollar Bill Y’all” which contains the lyric “Gonna Bring that beat back” which is perhaps the only good album from the band themselves (apart from that Faith cover).

“Phenomenon” is just a ratty mishmash of heavy instrumentation in the main chorus and laidback rapping from Fred in the verses.

CREAMER (RADIO IS DEAD)

Another song with Fred Durst taking an aim against the haters proclaiming “Take a look at me now I’m Mr Worldwide and you’re nothing!” But it contains such sucky lyrics and rhymes such as “Mr Halitosis-of the Breath” and verses and the main chorus such as “Hateraid”, and “rolling dice and getting laid” respectively. Fred also believes that “Radio is Dead. Why’s that? Because many radio stations worldwide won’t play your shoddy music anymore? (Unlike Triple M that continues the play that song in two tracks time) plus what’s with the title “Creamer?” A Frank reference to ejaculation? A quick fact, A massive portion of the song was recycled from Limp Bizkit’s unfinished cover of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “Relax” which was intended to be in the Ben Stiller movie “Zoolander” hence the title being in the second verse” and Fred Durst’s “blink and you’ll miss it” cameo in the aforementioned movie. Ben Stiller is his “favourite motherfucker” after all.

HEAD FOR THE BARRICADE

An energetic, aggressive fight song against bullying which blatantly references the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in the intro, not paying respect to the victims? How fucking low is that? This song also heavily borrows the refrain “Stick Em, Ha Ha Ha Stick Em!” From The Fat Boys song titled “Human Beatbox” for the main chorus which most of the album and previous albums before it samples lyrics from other songs. Another lyric that catches my ear is “The World can make you sick to your stomach so I put on my headphones and listen to the “Deftones.”

Yeah, I’d rather listen to a huge dose of Deftones after listening to this pile of puke.

I praise the guitar work and build up from Mike Smith which shows his full potential in this song as his talent was heavily wasted in this album, but I still criticise this song for deliberately referencing the shooting tragedy at Columbine High School with no respect to the victims families. You’ve just damaged your reputation with this song in this album Fred, oh wait...it’ll be damaged even further with the next track....

Now we’re getting to the “shitty gritty” of this album...one of the...most disrespectful covers...that still gets played on Triple M seventeen years after it’s original release...and what cemented its place as the cover song that signalled the death of mainstream Nu Metal...

*WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE USED HEAVILY*

BEHIND BLUE EYES (THE WHO COVER)

*VIOLENTLY VOMITS INTENSELY*

WHERE DO I FUCKING BEGIN WITH THIS PILE OF MONKEY SHIT?

This cover of a classic rock ballad from The Who, one of my favourite rock bands of all time from my favourite albums “Who’s Next” is just indescribably DISRESPECTFUL, PUTRID AND WEAK AS PISS!!! Complete from the non existent sampled guitar work, Fred Durst’s inability to sing with his monotonous delivery of vocals and the dreary sound effects in the main chorus sounding like when you turn on a Sony PlayStation 2.

There is absolutely NO EMOTION in this cover at all! In the original version from The Who, Roger Daltrey sings this song with heavy emotion plus he sounds very angry in the bridge section. And where is the bridge section in this cover exactly? Oh...it’s replaced with a Speak N Spell, A FUCKING SPEAK N SPELL saying “Discover” and spelling “L.I.M.P” part of their terrible band name that’s named after a disgusting sex game in Britain, not to mention, Fred’s statement that he’s not telling lies is another stealthy direction to Britney Spears FOR FUCKS SAKE! I thought that I was hearing a demo version of song containing the section with the Speak N Spell during the instrumental break and Fred whining about “being sorry and not telling lies” would be a placeholder recorded before Mike Smith joined hoping that they would record a much more aggressive, rap heavy version of the bridge from the original but nope! They apparently released this absolute joke of a cover as it is! Was it really such an absolutely bright idea to bastardise such a classic “The Who” song from one of my favourite albums of all time? At least Faith No More knew what they were doing when they recorded their cover of Lionel Richie and The Commodores’ “Easy” on the rerelease of “Angel Dust.” Surely a verse was absent in that cover, but at least it was slightly faithful to the original version. (Still makes me sick that Limp Bizkit opened up for FNM during their American leg of the “Album of the Year” tour in September and October of 1997.) Did you know that song also got an awful music video to promote the 2003 movie Gothika (which this song appeared in) where Fred Durst tongue wrestles Halle Berry in a Psychiatric Ward?

The fact that this was the second single from this neanderthalic mess of an album, charting in at number 4 on the Aria Charts in 2003/04 not to mention being overplayed on mainstream radio stations such as Triple M to prove that Limp Bizkit had a soft side makes me undesirably sad to this very day...

Truely such a horrible cover song in rock, and don’t get me started on that cover of George Michael’s “Faith” that is the same level of absurdity of this song.

The song features another bonus track titled “All That Easy” featuring another monotonous delivery of lyrics with a simple beat from DJ Lethal...it just sounds like a song from a dollar shop Massive Attack...

DROWN

The final track on this album is yet another sad, mellow, monotonous melody from Fred complete with the repetitive chords from his guitar (one of the few songs to feature Fred playing guitar prior to Mike Smith joining the band). There’s nothing to describe about the half asleep sounding lyrics but it’s just absolutely sluggish at best and just another garbage time track to end this massive garbage fire of an album.

FINAL VERDICT ON WHY THIS TAKES THE TITLE OF THE ALBUM OF SUCKAGE

“Results May Vary” is nothing but an album filled with monotonous, lyrically repetitive songs, mostly directed to Britney Spears for being left out of writing for “In the Zone” as well as stated by on and off again guitarist Wes Borland as “Fred Durst’s solo project.” A massive chunk of songs were cut from this album such as “Crack Addict” which was performed live at WWE Wrestlemania 19 in Seattle earlier that year in 2003, “Just Drop Dead,” another bloody song directed to Britney Spears which appeared as a B-Side of “Behind Blue Eyes, “Why”, Lean on Me,” and their double cover of “Home Sweet Home and Bittersweet Symphony” originally performed by Motley Crüe and The Verve respectively, the latter three songs being put on the “Greatest Hitz” compilation two years later. Other songs that were cut from RMV, were titled “Press Your Luck,” “Poison Ivy,” “Cowgirls from Hell,” “Shot,” “Armpit,” “When it Rains,” “Let it Go,” the subtlety titled “Masterbation,” “Lean On Me” and others. However these songs wouldn’t have saved this album from being such a colossal disaster and a huge reliance of being a schadenfreude to various haters of the Nu Metal genre like me!

“Results May Vary” is Limp Bizkit’s equivalent to Metallica’s St Anger which was released the same year three months earlier. St Anger got a massive tonne of negativity when it was originally released but later got a huge amount of love and respect over the years. RMV will never have that type of respect as it simply nuked the careers of Limp Bizkit following its release. Limp Bizkit later released its EP titled “The Unquestionable Truth” with Wes Borland returning two years later and it’s comeback album “Gold Cobra,” with “The Stampede of the Disco Elephants” forever burning in Development Hell but the unsalvageable damage had already been done by then, and that’s why I give it the mantle as

THE ALBUM OF SUCKAGE!

Happy Trails...

#limp bizkit #words of shakespeare #results may vary #eat you alive #behind blue eyes #2003 #undertaker #nookie #fred Durst #Mike Smith #Wes Borland #build a bridge #albums of suckage #what were they thinking

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comicgeekscomicgeek · 4 years ago

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Their Hero Academia – Chapter 60: Final Exam Part 2: Multiple Choice

Presenting the next chapter of my on-going, next-gen, My Hero Academia fic, Their Hero Academia!

All chapters can be found here

Shota took in a deep breath and let out a scream, high-pitched and powerful. The sonic waves passed through the buildings ahead of them and then bounced back, giving him a detailed outline of everything and everyone those waves had touched. It was like seeing a picture in his head, online mostly just in sharp blue outlines. Normally, he couldn’t get this good of a picture. Solid objects slowed down the soundwaves and bounced them back. But with so many of the buildings having shattered windows or other hole in them, he could get a much better picture of what was going on.

“I count four people in the buildings,” he said, pointing. “Two there, one there, one there. Plus three people outside it and at least four more people up past that building, but it gets fuzzy after that.”

“Good job, Shinso,” Sora Iida told him. In her red and silver armor, combined with her height, she stood out distinctly in the morning sun. “I can scout ahead and take the far point, while you three work on the closer rescues.”

“Who put you in charge?” Aoyama asked. He was lit up like a small sun himself; with his arms and face exposed, his glow made him hard to even look at directly.

“Do you have a better suggestion?” Iida asked. It wasn’t a challenge, the way Kirishima-Bakugo might have asked it, but genuine interest. Of course, given Iida’s scientific leanings, she would be interested in the best outcome.

“…Non,” he admitted. His shoulders slumped and he gave his cape a flick. “Let us do your plan then.”

“We must also be vigilant against the presence of Villains, Aoyama,” Koda said, cautiously. She usually was the one to rein Aoyama in when he was getting an attitude or pouting. “Iida is the fastest of us. If anyone should be scouting ahead, it is her.”

Aoyama crossed his arms, but grumbled his assent. Shota knew he liked to show off and be the center of attention, but now really wasn’t the time for it. Not with all of them passing or failing depending on it. Shota was already worried enough that he was going to drag everyone down… He’d kept it together during training since he came back to school, but this was a lot more intense.

“You are correct as always, Mademoiselle Koda,” Aoyama conceded.

The matter settled, Iida said, “Remember, we are to check in with Tos—Gravi-Might and the others in ten minutes, unless they contact us first.” With the roar of her Jetpack, the wings of her costume snapped up and she took off, quickly speeding into the distance.

Shota, Koda, and Aoyama snapped into action as well. None of them possessed Quirks which granted much speed, but they were all still in good enough shape for a quick jog. On the road ahead of them, a pair of cars had crashed into each other. One had been abandoned, but the other was crushed where a downed electrical pole had landed on it. It showed no obvious signs of still being active, but…

“Hang on, sir!” Shota called out to the robot behind the wheel of the car. “We’re going to get you out!”

From the robot, there was no response. Unconscious, then? That meant they really needed to move.

Fortunately, Koda was one step ahead of him. From the seed pouch on her belt, she produced a handful of seeds and tossed them near the car. Once in the ground, she applied her Quirk and they immediately started to grow, becoming vines that wrapped their way around the pole, covering each stray wire, and slowly lifting it off the car.

“My hastily grown friends do conduct a little electricity,” she said, “but not enough to do them significant harm. And far less harm than that would do to us.”

Aoyama stepped in next. With the car partially smashed, there was no way they were just opening the door to get the robot out. From the mirrored wristband on his right arm, he released a small portion of his stored light, going for a concentrated blue-white laser beam that cut through the car like a hot knife going through butter, leaving an orange-hot line behind it. When he had gone completely around the edge of the door, he took a quick step back as it fell.

“Watch the edges!” Shota said. “They’re going to be hot!”

Aoyama shot him a dirty look. “I know that!” he snapped. But the look on Aoyama’s face said he didn’t. With care, though, he extracted the robot. “Do not worry,” he told it. “We shall get you somewhere safe.”

Getting it a safe distance away was enough for the robot to tell them they had completed its rescue. The other rescues went just as quickly. Shota was even able to use his Quirk to blast away some rubble, letting Koda and Aoyama finish up the rescue. It felt good. Even if they were robots, using his Quirk to find people, to help them, not to cause harm, was a welcome change. Still, some small part of him still flinched at unleashing the more destructive aspects of his Quirk, even for rescue work. He could still see the Nomu simply disintegrating under his power. Even if it had turned out not to be alive, he hadn’t know that at the time…

With a road of jet engines, Iida returned, landing near them. “I was able to rescue two, but I will need additional support for the others,” she said. “But first… Loud Kid, another sonar sweep, if you would, in case the parameters have changed?”

Shota nodded. But just before he could let out another sonar pulse, a loud crack sounded, echoing off the buildings. Something struck Aoyama in the head and he went down!

***

Isamu skidded to a stop, braking hard with a bit of reverse-thrust. The section of Omega City his group had headed to was a wreck, looking like a tornado had hit it. Robot civilians were running from a Villain, a muscular man with bird-like feet that ended in sharp talons, hair that turned into feathers and spread along his back, and massive wings. He wore tattered jeans and very little beyond that, with tattoos covering the space on his back between his wings. When he flapped his wings, he unleashed massive gusts of wind, blowing over everything in his path. The tornado theory was looking pretty solid.

The Villain hadn’t noticed them yet, content in his rampage, with his back to them. His shock momentarily halted, Isamu stood up. Already, he could feel his heart thudding in his chest. Even if this was some Pro-Hero helping out U.A. or one of the other year teachers or something, this felt like a Villain attack. Whoever they were, they were doing a damn good job getting into their role.

Of course, if he was a Hero, Isamu felt like he should have recognized him. But there weren’t a lot of Pro-Heroes with wings (Hawks and Kestrel immediately came to mind, but this definitely wasn’t either of them) and this guy didn’t seem to match up to any of them. Maybe from another country? He wasn’t so good with those.

“That’s right!” the winged man shouted. “Run! Run!” He flicked his wings forward again, sharply. The wave of air was more compressed this time, slicing through everything in its path. The change in air pressure was intense. Even as far away as they were, even from behind him, Isamu could fell it. This guy’s Quirk might make him even stronger than Gale Force…

“…I’m open to suggestions here,” Sero said. “I mean, I could probably shoot some Tape at him, but those wings look pretty strong. I’d have to take him completely by surprise and I’m just not fast enough to wrap him up before he notices.”

“Yeah, this why I’m going into Rescue Heroics,” Ojiro added. “I guess I could go invisible and kick him in the balls…”

“X-Ray,” Isamu said, and he had to force himself to say Sero’s Hero name, “Stick ‘Em Up… Rescue the civilians. Amaterasu and I will get his attention and hold him off.”

Behind the clear face plate of his costume, Sero gave him an astonished look, then performed an exaggerated salute. “It’s been nice knowing you, man. You ready, Kimmie?”

Ojiro nodded, a gesture only visible because of the visor she wore with her eye-searingly bright costume. Sero wrapped an arm around her and in the blink of an eye, they both became invisible, shielded from view by the power of her Quirk. Isamu heard the “thwip!” sounds of Sero firing off a strand of his Acid Tape and he knew they were on the move.

Tokoyami’s expression was more unreadable, but Isamu had known her long enough now to read some of the more subtle movements of her feathers and her eyes. She was uneasy, but ready to fight.

Training had mostly pitted them against robots or, occasionally, each other. And yes, they’d been allowed to engage some very minor level criminals and Villains during their Internships. But this was something different entirely. Who even was this guy?

“Ready?” he asked her.

“Ready,” she said.

“Could be bad,” he said. “Guy seems pretty powerful.”

“So are we,” she said. “Have confidence, Haimawari.”

She had a point. “I’ll go low. You go high.”

There was a small nod between them, and Isamu launched himself forward, employing his Quirk as soon as he hit the ground. “Hey!” he shouted, pouring on the speed and trying to get the guy’s attention. “How about picking on someone your own size, you big blowhard!”

That got the guy’s attention. He turned quickly and Isamu could now see that he had harsh, yellow eyes like a bird as well. “Well, well,” the guy said, a trace of a Chinese accent in his voice, “if it isn’t the brave little Heroes!” His wings flared out and Isamu felt a massive gust of wind push against him. He poured on the thrust, fighting against it, more grateful than ever for the goggles and bandanna protecting his eyes, mouth, and nose. There was plenty of dust and debris in the air that could have been really nasty otherwise.

Fortunately, he was just the distraction. With the bad guy focusing on him, he didn’t see Tokoyami’s Frog-Shadow snaking around from above. But suddenly, Frog-Shadow swerved from her path, flying erratically through the air, until she smashed into the ground, leaving a small crater from the impact. Isamu too, suddenly saw the world spinning around him, making it impossible to tell where the street was. He swerved, hard, and saw a wall coming up right in front of him…!

***

Midoriya had one of the strongest Quirks in the class, up there with Izumi, Shinso, and Tokoyami, and he’d bounced off the Villain like a ragdoll! He was getting back up, but it would take him a minute. That impact looked like it was going to hurt tomorrow.

The metal man grinned in a way that vaguely reminded Chihiro of Kirishima-Bakugo, the same kind of “this is gonna be a fight and I’m gonna enjoy it” sort of smile she got before she punched someone. It was made all the worse by the truly massive underbite the guy had. His bottom jaw was huge, like the scoop bucket on a steam shovel. Where the hell had U.A. found this creepazoid? It was part of the exam, right? It hadn’t been crashed by some real Villain, had it? No, if that was the case, Aizawa and the other teachers would be intervening already…

“You going try and fight me like the green kid there?” the metal man asked. Despite looking like a thug, he didn’t sound stupid or uneducated. The voice was deep, rumbling, and confident like a champion fighter. “Nothing wrong with running. I’ve fought plenty of Heroes before and come out on top. I don’t like fighting girls, but if I have to…. Well, I’m not leaving without the doc.”

“Girls”? Mika repeated. She stamped a hoof on the ground and pointed an indignant finger. “The nerve of this guy! We’re Heroes in training! And he’s trying to softball us? I demand the right to be fought just like a guy!”

Anybody else, Chihiro would have thought they were babbling. But among Mika’s many skills was provocation. It had worked well for her during the Sports Festival and judging by the guy’s expression, it was working now.

“I mean, really,” Mika went on, “what rock did they find you under? Haven’t you heard of women’s liberation? Have you even talked to a woman in the last twenty years..?”

The metal man let out a roar and charged, smashing his metal fists down. Mika dodged out of the way and his fists hit the ground. Or rather, they hit what was on the ground: Mika’s sticky balls, the trap she’d seeded earlier.

He tried to pull his fists back but was unsuccessful, the sticky balls adhering quite well to his fists and the ground. His eyes widened in surprise as he realized he was trapped.

“Shock-Jock!” Izumi called out. “Now!”

Which was when Chihiro and Izumi let him have it. Her Cords slinked down and plugging into her bracers and she brought her hands up, sending out dual blasts of electricity. Bless Aunt Momo and Mrs. Hatsume, they did their job well, specialized circuits in the bracers and gloves directed the electricity in a straight line. Izumi, meanwhile, released some of the heat she had stored up from building the ice walls, projecting yellow-orange blasts of flame at the guy.

Her electric attack hit first, setting the guy twitching and screaming, before Izumi’s flames washed over him, turning some of his metal body white hot. Chihiro actually felt kind of bad. This was still just the exam, right? She had to take it serious, but she didn’t want to give the guy permanent nerve damage or anything.

Izumi ceased her fire attack and held up a hand. Chihiro caught the signal and let up on her electric one. The guy stood there, groaning, his metal skin making a slight pinging sound as it cooled.

“That hurt,” he snarled. “But this is going to hurt more!” With a massive grunt, he freed his arms, not by removing Mika’s balls from them, but instead simply being strong enough to tear the sections of ground they were attached to up with them.

“…That’s new,” Mika said, quietly.

Fortunately, by this time, Midoriya had recovered. “GRAVITY...BOOSTER!” He shot forward like a rocket, then hit the guy with an uppercut that made her ears ring. The metal guy was in motion this time, not braced like before and went flying high into the air from the force of the blow, disappearing from sight.

Still, Chihiro couldn’t help but stare, wide eyed. “You sure All Might is only your step-grandpa?” she asked.

He didn’t bother answering her question. “See if you can get any of the other teams on the comms. Mine got smashed when I hit the wall.”

***

Kenta had been exploring the inside of the building with Tensei Iida, looking for people to rescue, when something had taken them by surprise. Or rather, someone: a massive, muscular woman who looked like she could snap you in half just by staring at you hard enough, the kind that Mineta would say could crush your head between her thighs. And for just a moment, Kenta had frozen, the memory of the Nomu rearing up over him playing on a continuous loop in his head.

Iida had saved him, rushing in with his Jetpack to shove him out of the way. The woman had hit Iida instead and seemingly forgot about Kenta. He hoped Iida was okay. It would be really bad if he had to tell Takuma he’d gotten his boyfriend killed or put in traction.

Great. He was making jokes at a time like this. Takuma really was rubbing off on him.

He forced himself to get moving, heading back out the way he had come in. Outside, he could see all three of his classmates (Iida was upright, that was good!, even if he was sporting a nasty dent on his armor!) fighting with the woman. Her costume left a lot to be desired, being only stylized biker gear, with heavy spikes on the shoulders of her jacket.

Kirishima-Bakugo fired off a round of disks from her gauntlets, peppering the ground with a series of small explosions that kept the woman off balance, while Iida flew around behind her and snagged her with a capture-line from his gauntlet. After they’d taken her off balance and restrained her, Shoji moved in, swinging all three of his right-side arms.

Great. He was definitely going to fail the exam and make everyone else fail. Because he’d frozen up like a damn coward. Maybe one bad moment wouldn’t be enough. But he needed to make himself useful somehow…

Shoji’s blows connected, but they didn’t rock the woman back even an inch. Thought the bottom half of his face was covered, Kenta could see Shoji’s eyes widen in surprise. The woman just laughed.

“No bad, kid,” she said. “That was a nice gift. Let me return the favor!”

She flexed her arms and snapped Iida’s capture line like it was made of string, then hit the six-armed boy with a blow that sent him flying.

“Finally!” Kirishima-Bakugo shouted, throwing her head back and laughing. “A challenge!”

She charged, lashing out at the woman with a series of close-range blows. Every time a blow connected, she fired off an explosion. Some kind of contact transfer from her gloves, if he remembered right. It was hard to keep up with everyone’s costume and Support Gear updates. Maybe he needed to invest in something if he wanted to keep up.

The woman may have been sent off balance by the explosions fired at her feet, but this time, they didn’t seem to do anything. They didn’t even singe her skin.

Kirishima-Bakugo took a step back, fists still at the ready, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “What the hell, lady? What’re you made out of?!”

“Can’t stop everything by hitting it, girl,” the woman sneered. She swung her fist in a wide arc, but Kirishima-Bakugo was lighter on her feet, dodging out of the way. Iida swooped in, striking out at high speed. The blow clipped the woman’s chin, knocking her back for a moment and spinning her head around, before she struck out, faster than anyone that big should be able to move, swatting Iida from the sky.

What the hell was he supposed to do against that?

Wait…

She’d gone from being thrown off balance by Kirishima-Bakugo’s explosions to being unaffected. She’d shrugged off blows from Shoji but gotten her head spun around by Iida. Even with Iida putting his speed behind it, Shoji had a lot more power to his punches. What if she had to know a blow was coming to block it?

Hang on guys, he silently pleaded. He had an idea… he just needed her to stay in one place long enough.

He’d say this for all three of them, they kept taking her hits, but they kept getting back up again. And the huge woman gave as good as she got. She’d called Shoji’s blow a “gift” too…

But there, a telephone pole, right across the street…

As he ran towards the telephone pole, Kenta did a little math in his head, grateful for the fact that unlike Takuma and Kimmie, he actually paid attention in class. There was lots of math involved in baking and he was good enough at helping his dad to do some calculations on the fly. If she didn’t move too much, it would be just about right.

CHOMP! Kenta’s jaw muscles were strong and he could open his mouth wider than a normal person could. Combined with the fact that his teeth were incredibly tough, he could bite through anything very quickly. He bit, chewed, and swallowed as fast as he could, feeling like some kind of beaver as he worked his way through the wood. He kept his eye on the fight and the woman was still in just about the right position. In seconds, the telephone pole started to pitch forward. “TIMBER!” he shouted, giving it a strong push to finish the job.

He saw Shoji backpedal out of the way and Iida grab Kirishima-Bakugo (who protested that she wanted to stay and fight), and the woman try ineffectually to hit them as they fled.

THUMP!

The telephone pole came down on her hard, driving her into the ground. She’d started to turn, but hadn’t had time to fully do… whatever it was she did. For the moment, she was trapped.

“Sato!” Kirishima-Bakugo shouted. She looked mad. Probably about him “stealing” her victory. “How the hell did you do that?” When she couldn’t was left unsaid.

He ran across the street to join the others. “I think… I think she can absorb whatever force you throw at her. But she has to know it’s coming. I just got lucky.”

Kirishima-Bakugo scowled. “Yeah, okay. …Not bad, Lips.”

“As soon as I get out of here,” the woman yelled, “you’re dead! You hear me! You’re all dead!” Already, she was struggling and working her way out.

“We’ll see who’s deader, ya witch!” Kirishima-Bakugo shouted back. “I’m gonna explode you so hard your grandkids will have burn marks!” She brought up a gauntlet, ready to fire it.

“Ah,” Shoji began. He put a hand on her gauntlet.

“What?” she demanded.

“Perhaps we should continue our rescue work while she’s trapped?”

“I agree,” Iida added. “She is quite capable of neutralizing our attacks and is more than ready to anticipate them. We should rescue who we can, retreat, and fight another time.”

Kenta raised a hand slightly.

“You’re gonna agree with them, aren’t you?” Kirishima-Bakugo demanded. Her teeth were gritted in anger, her body language tense. She was not exactly the type of person who ran from a fight.

He gulped, then nodded. “Maybe we can get somebody like Kaminari or Todoroki or even Takuma or Minet to fight her. Somebody more zappy or who can restrain her.”

“AAAAARRRRGH!” Kirishima-Bakugo let out a scream of frustration. “Dammit, you’re right. Fuck!”

She gestured off in the opposite direction they’d come. “Iida, get eyes in the air, get on the comms and get somebody we can use. The rest of you, move!”

***

“Aoayama!” Koda cried out. The glowing boy went down, smacking his head on the ground, before any of them could react. But they had little time to panic. More shots followed the fist, one several impacting into the ground, others ricocheting off the building behind them. One even stuck Iida, making a clang where it hit her armor.

In response, Shinso screamed. But it was not a scream of panic, instead, he directed the soundwaves outward until they formed a protective, shimmering dome around three of them. Akaya said a small prayer that their classmate was all right. It may have only been an exam, but students had been greatly injured in training and exams before.

“Is he…?” she began, softly, bending down to examine Aoyama.

Around them, shots bounced off of the force field dome Shinso was screaming into existence. They came quickly and from multiple directions. Was there more than one person shooting at them? Guns were a rarity in Japan to begin with, even more so among Villains and Heroes, unless that gun augmented or worked with an existing Quirk, such as their teacher Hawkeye and her Super-Accuracy.

“Breathing,” Akaya continued, after taking his pulse. A nasty bruise was forming along the side of his head, one she could see even through his glow.

“Then we must move,” Iida said. “As soon as we can. I will distract them, while you three get to cover.”

The urgency was apparent. Shinso’s shield was already weakening. He could not sustain the scream for much longer. He held up a shaky thumbs up to say he agreed.

Akaya scooped up Aoyama. He was a fit boy, but slender and not as muscular as Midoriya or Haimawari, let alone Shoji, and while hers was not a strength Quirk, her size and rocky countenance did make her stronger than many. Despite his glow, his skin was not hot, but soft against her rocky one.

“Go!” Iida shouted. “Now!”

Shinso stopped screaming and the dome dropped instantly. He took off and Akaya followed close behind, while Iida rocketed into the air. Shots rained down around them, one narrowly missing her.

Slinging Aoyama over her shoulder instead and apologizing for the rough treatment, Akaya reached into her seed pouch with her now free hand and dropped seeds behind them, using her Quirk to make them grow rapidly. Trees sprung up like lightning behind her, offering temporary shielding from the gunfire.

She kept her eyes on the road ahead, but she could hear the sounds of gunfire still, hear it bounce off of Iida’s armor.

“I cannot see them!” Iida’s voice rang in her ears from their communicator headset. “Shinso, can you pinpoint them?”

Looking around, Akaya and Shinso came to a stop, sheltering behind a car. Shinso looked around, cautiously, then let out one of his sonar screams, casting it in various directions. When he stopped, he made a confused face. “I keep getting something, but it disappears as soon as I make contact. I guess it could be a teleporter, but those kinds of Quirks are, like, super rare! I mean, other than that kid who won the obstacle course, and we probably wouldn’t be fighting him…”

For a moment, the gunfire went quiet. Worryingly quiet. On her shoulder, Aoyama started to stir. Unconscious, the arrogant boy looked much smaller and vulnerable than usual, as though he puffed himself up like a hissing cat when awake.

She wondered sometimes why she tried so hard to be a friend to him. He was a walking tribute to the sins of pride and envy, and just as often prone to wrath. But there was something behind his eyes, a sadness that touched her deeply. There was a pain he carried with him he did not share, but which fueled his vices and she wished she could ease.

Aoyama groaned. “I… claim this land… for France!” he exclaimed, one arm shooting straight up into the air. “Ugh… what hit me?”

“Some kind of projectile,” Akaya told him, helping him get on his feet. “Iida attempted to draw their fire while we escaped.”

Aoyama frowned. She should tell his pride was hurt. “Merci,” he said, simply.

Around them, the world had gone deathly silent, save for a lingering echo of Shinso’s screams. Akaya quickly wished that she had chosen a different word to describe it than that. But it was apt. The strike had come out of nowhere and wasn’t even from a Quirk. They knew less than nothing about who was attacking them.

Iida’s voice again filled their comms. “The shooting seems to have stopped,” she said. “Like it or not, we must continue our mission. I will try to apprise the others of the situation and then join you.”

“She wants us to go on with some maniac with a gun out there?” Aoyama hissed. “Is she crazy?”

“We’ve… we’ve got to rescue people,” Shinso insisted. “Even if it’s dangerous. We’re Heroes. We can’t let everybody down.

It made sense, however dangerous it was. Real Heroes couldn’t just huddle and hide until the danger passed. They had to move on. As they got up to go, something made Akaya stop. There was the slightest of sounds, like a window shade being drawn back. Behind them, rising up from the shadow of a building like a swimmer appearing out of the water was a woman, her features plain and ordinary, especially for this day and age. She wore a black catsuit and carried a dangerous looking rifle.

“Then prepare to disappoint everyo—“ the woman began.

“Hey!” Shinso called out, suddenly sounding excited for some reason. “I know you!”

#my hero academia #their hero academia #fan fic #fan fiction #my writing #shota shinso #chihiro kaminari #kenta sato #akaya koda #isamu haimawari

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drgrumpyface1 · 6 years ago

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There, out in the darkness, a fugitive running {commanderschntgaispock}

It had started out as a normal day, The Doctor having set the TARDIS in orbit around a burning up star to charge her up a bit - plus he hated missing burning up stars, they were beautiful and only happened every 100 thousand years. The star had been doing beautifully too, then all of a suddenly the TARDIS had lurched, almost throwing him from his sitting position into space, bright out the open doors. He’d scrambled up very quickly as she’d let out a bone-shuddering groan, the Timelord pulling the doors closed and hurrying up to the console to tap away at the scanner, trying to figure out what was going on. The TARDIS gave another lurch and the the sun exploded in a bright array of light, the sonic boom sending them flying backwards. That didn’t last long though because that same star was soon dragging them spinning right into a rippling black hole.

“Come on, Old Girl,” The Doctor muttered, rushing around the console, trying to get them out of the gravity well they were now being pulled into. “NonononoNO!” he cried out as the TARDIS suddenly felt like it was being pulled apart from the seams, the machine whining in a high pitched way before there was silence. At first he wondered if he was dead, but as he clapped his hands over his chest and looked around he realised they were fine. But how was that even possible?! Everything that got pulled into a black hole was ultimately crushed. Sure there was theories that it could turn into a worm-hole or have something on the other side, but that’s all they were theories. He’d been traveling through space for far to long to believe a theory.

Grabbing at the viewing screen, The Doctor saw nothing but deep space. When he turned the scanner on, it couldn’t tell him where they were. Strange. Instead of worrying about it, the Doctor instead entered some co-ordinates that he knew and pulled the flight lever, the TARDIS letting out a whine and then entering the time vortex only to jump out seconds later, spiraling toward what seemed to be a ship being attacked by two other ships.

Tapping in more co-ordinates, he decided that the TARDIS had obviously brought him here for a reason and instead landed the ship onto the ship being attacked, thinking that he might as well help now that he was there. The ship materialized in what looked to be a corridor, the TARDIS’ engines giving a low hum of approval as he rushed to the doors, pulling them open only to be faced with emergency lights and humans running in all directions. He watched them at first, following them with his eyes before he stepped out and closed the doors to his ship, locking it and dragging his sonic screwdriver from his pocket, scanning the area in front of him. It was funny, his sonic couldn’t tell him a lot about this place, it was as if the TARDIS herself was confused.

#commanderschntgaispock #ic #verse: star trekked #there out in the darkness a fugitive running.

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bringinbackpod · 3 years ago

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Interview with Oliver Francis

We had the pleasure of interviewing Oliver Francis over Zoom video! The Columbia, MO rapper, singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Oliver Francis creatively nods to Blade Runner and The Fifth Element as much as he nods to The Weeknd and Travis Scott. Now, he presents a bold blockbuster vision without boundaries. After amassing 100 million-plus streams, selling out shows, and receiving acclaim from Elevator and more, he widens the scope of the genre, fusing sci-fi ambition to gritty trap. “I had a bit of a breakthrough,” he admits. “I wanted to mix these great sci-fi movies with melodic hip-hop, trap, and pop. Once I struck this balance, I was on a roll. This phase took a conceptual turn, and it tells a very loose story. Thinking conceptually allows me to say things a rapper wouldn’t normally say. At the time, I was sick of saying all of the same shit about Balenciaga bags over and over again. I was tired of using the same drums too. I wanted to break out of the box and try new things sonically and lyrically.” A lifetime dedicated to music enabled him to do just that. Hailing from the small town of Ashland, MO, he grew up listening to Green Day, skateboarding, and obsessing over alternative culture to the “very conservative Midwestern landscape.” Raised by musicians, dad played guitar and performed worship music in church—where Oliver also picked up the drums. Listening to punk and emo, he played in numerous bands with the dream “to become a famous rock star.” He worked as a janitor for five years as he quietly wrote and recorded music. Taking the reins as a producer and artist, he introduced himself in 2017. Off his Essentials EP, “Aahhyeahh” posted up 39.5 million Spotify streams followed by “Anti-Grav,” “Gemini,” “3 Deep,” and “Chernobyl”—all of which also cracked the 10 million mark on Spotify. In between, he packed shows on tour and dropped three albums, culminating on 2019’s The Adventures of Oliver Francis. Praising the latter, Elevator predicted “[he] is destined to become a superstar.” Working out of his bedroom studio, he expanded the sonic palette for this next chapter. “I’m a guitar player and a drummer, but I find a lot of samples for my music,” he explains. “I stumbled on an eighties synth sound, and I knew immediately I had found where I wanted to go. Over the summer and fall of 2020, I was running about ten miles per day—and I even ran a marathon. Running allowed me to think creatively. It was during this time I knew where I was going sonically, and everything fell into place.” He kicks the door open with “Toxic Paradise.” As if musically finding the nexus between Travis Scott’s Rodeo and Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory, a glitchy beat cuts through booming bass as he sets the scene with intensely anxious rhymes, “Girl, you know that heaven’s overrated, and you know that the angels honestly hate it.” Co-written with Aaron Gillespie of Underoath, it culminates on an irresistible and infectious refrain. “It was the discovery of the sound for sure,” he explains. “As far as the overarching narrative goes, it’s the moment where I arrive. I’m landing in Los Angeles, looking for drugs, obtaining them, and taking them, ultimately. ‘Toxic Paradise’ is giving away a piece of yourself to get high.” The entire project traces this story as the protagonist from “Toxic Paradise” goes undercover as part of a resistance against a mega-pharmaceutical company called Violence Labs. Twists and turns follow as he falls down a rabbit hole of deceit, lust, addiction, and ultimately catharsis. Ultimately, Oliver Francis gives the world something it has never heard before in 2021. We want to hear from you! Please email [email protected]. www.BringinitBackwards.com #podcast #interview #bringinbackpod #OliverFrancis #zoom #aspn #americansongwriter #americansongwriterpodcastnetwork Listen & Subscribe to BiB Follow our podcast on Instagram and Twitter! source https://www.spreaker.com/user/14706194/interview-with-oliver-francis

#podcast #interview #bringinbackpod #music #aspn #americansongwriter #americansongwriterpodcastnetwor

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sassyhedgie · 7 years ago

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(Werehog!Sonic x Fem!Reader) Long time no see? (Pt. 1)

"Hey, (Y/n), you don't suppose you could deliver this last one before your shift ends, could you?" your manager asked, gesturing to the box in his hands.

You gave a bright smile and happily took the package from his grasp. "That's not a problem, sir. I'll have it done in no time," you practically sang as you skipped out from the store.

With a chuckle, your manager shook his head. How you had so much energy during such an hour was beyond him but he had no reason to complain about it. In fact, it was your high spirits and enthusiasm that kept the delivery business running so smoothly. Mr. Adams really wouldn't know what he'd do without you.

The sky was as clear as a freshly cleaned window, allowing your shining, (e/c) eyes to gaze upon the twinkling stars that shone through space. "Moony" also made an appearance up there with them and you so badly wanted to stop and admire the scenic town you loved but you had a job to do. Luckily, the residents who had ordered the antique pottery set all the way from Chun-Nan weren't based too far from your work place, making it a quick, easy delivery. You strolled leisurely along the cobblestone pathway by the sea. Fortunately, this precious box had arrived just before your gigantic, spherical home broke apart. It was crazy to think that the planet you inhabited had really split into several pieces but considering how much controversy there was, you couldn't help but believe the hype. Some of the townsfolk had been acting pretty strange as well, which was understandable with the current circumstances.

No matter.

Regardless of whether or not the planet was in shambles; you were still going to live every day as you normally would because why bother worrying when someone as brave and heroic as Sonic the hedgehog was around to protect everyone? You had your complete faith in him. After all, he was a good, true friend that you had known for many years. Unfortunately, due to how often he had to save the world, it had been a good, solid year at least since you last saw him. Sometimes (if you were lucky) you would receive a message from Tails on behalf of the blue speed demon, often asking the generic questions like, "how have you been? anything new going on? what's the weather like in Spagonia?". It was sweet to know that they were thinking about you but you missed seeing them in person.

Your thoughts were interrupted when a series of loud noises resounded from Spagonia University. Clangs and stomps shook the ground beneath you (not nearly as much as the splitting of the planet). Your body wavered before you sprung into action and started running towards the school, hoping no one was hurt or in danger. Or worse.

With the university not being too far, you got there fairly promptly but apparently you weren't fast enough. Whoever or whatever had struck the building left as quickly as they had arrived, leaving a gaping hole in one of the offices by the looks of it. You hurried over to get a better look, inspecting the damage that had been caused by Chaos knows what. Your heart sank when you searched through various documents that had be strewn about the room and discovered that it was Professor Pickles' office, which could only suggest that the professor in ancient literature had been kidnapped. If not for the dire seriousness of the situation, you would've pondered why such a thing had happened but other matters had to be addressed to; authorities had to be called and the poor assistant, who had been found trembling in the other room, was in major need of a blanket and a cup of tea. He was left in the hands of the paramedics that had arrived swiftly and you were advised to go back home for the night. Although, sleep wasn't something that came to you easy, your mind overflowing with questions and theories as to who had taken the poor man and why he was taken in the first place.

Morning eventually arrived before it shifted into the afternoon and you had only just awoken, the tossing and turning from the night before paying you no favours. If it weren't for the fact that it was a Sunday, you'd have surely lost your job. Yet again, with the planet split apart, there weren't many deliveries that could be made to the locals unless it was from the locals. Heaving yourself up from your mattress, you took a heavy, tired sigh and rubbed you eyes, trying to rid of the sleep from your sight. As soon as your mind re-calibrated and regathered all key thoughts and any important information, you kicked yourself into gear and hastily dressed and caught a quick bite to eat.

To the many citizens you had passed, your urgency was found to be most peculiar as you sprinted towards the university. The same assistant was there and he appeared to be a lot more calm compared to how you had found him the previous night. He explained how the professor had been kidnapped by a not-so-gentleman with a large moustache, accompanied by a huge pack of robots. You immediately knew it was the notorious Doctor Eggman just from the pure mention of his moustache and sought to further investigate. However, you were informed that no such help was necessary as there were already people on the case. You left it with a nod and chose not to further endorse yourself in the situation but you wanted to assist so badly. Standing by and watching made you feel utterly useless but you accepted that there was nothing you could do that would provide any significant benefits. After all, you were just a delivery girl.

The occasional sigh would escape from between your lips as you sat on a bench by the coast, watching the afternoon fade into evening and, eventually, early night. You knew damn well that you needed to get home and sleep in order to avoid another late start to the day, especially considering you actually had work, but your head was suffering the effects of a tornado with so many unanswered questions and not once had you thought of Sonic and his pals. Turns out the world you inhabited wasn't the only thing that had fallen apart.

With a shake of your head and a short burst of a huff, you pried your body from the bench and leisurely made your way back home. Once again, your mind drifted and you found yourself staring at your feet as you walked, paying no attention to anything around you, which included the object that had suddenly flown into you and knocked you off your feet. You fell hard on your bottom and winced slightly as you rubbed your head.

"Easy, Chip! This is why you shouldn't fly and eat ice cream at the same time."

That explained the freezing substance on your head.

"Hey, are you okay? Nothing broken?" that same gruff voice asked kindly.

You looked up to see a large, navy-blue Mobian with blazing green eyes. He extended a clawed hand out to you and you stared at it for quite a while in disbelief before taking it. Not once had you ever seen a Mobian quite like this one before, so to see one now obviously caused for some surprise. Now that you were stood up, you could get a better look at him, the height difference all the more evident and his sharp canines practically in your face. However, the main defining feature that really had you were his eyes - his bright, emerald green eyes. Somehow, you felt like you had seen them before but, for whatever reason, you just couldn't figure out where.

A violent shake of your head brought you back to the real world and you realised you hadn't actually answered the strange Mobian's question.

"Oh! Uhm, yes, I'm quite alright, thank you," you laughed nervously as you rubbed the back of your neck and it seemed you weren't the only one who was anxious.

Judging by the way this guy was avoiding eye contact and was now suddenly keeping a fair bit of distance between you two after helping you up, you could only guess that he was ashamed of his appearance. You cleared the sticky puddle from your head and held out your clean hand, smiling softly. He gave it a glance and went to hesitantly shake it before a small, burgundy and white creature flew up in front of you, the green bauble necklace adorning his furry chest immediately caught your attention.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, ma'am!" he bellowed as he tried to help clear away the melted ice cream, returning to his position in front of you and reaching back for something. "Here, let me make it up to you. Want some chocolate?"

He presented to you a bar of chocolate, eagerly grasping onto it with his tiny hands and staring you in the eyes, near close to tears. There's no way you could possibly find yourself being mad at such an adorable critter and you politely declined his offer - he needed it more than you did. As if nothing had happened, he thanked you and gorged on the sweet treat with a contagious smile (while also flying away to wherever) and you had almost forgotten about the tall gentleman. However, he had gone, along with the chocolate fanatic. Your form deflated and you let out what must've been the hundredth sigh that day before heading back home.

"Hey, Sonic, who was that girl? Do you know her?"

"No," Sonic lied, continuing his course to Tails' plane in the shadows to avoid being seen by that girl - by you - again.

In the midst of this crazy adventure, Sonic had failed to remember that you were living in Spagonia. He hadn't really realised how long it had been until he saw you; a whole year it had been and he didn't even make one call. He concluded with himself that this was the reason he escaped before you recognised him, that he'd be too ashamed to even say a simple "hey" when it had been so long without much contact. Hence why he pretended not to know you.

He was lying though. Deep down, it was obvious that the real reason for his sudden retreat was because of his horrific appearance. Or, at least, that's how he saw it and if that's how he perceived himself then there was no way he was going to stand around and wait for you to see the same abomination he did. Not you. Anyone but you.

"She's kinda' pretty," Chip blurted out before stuffing his face with chocolate.

"Yeah," he murmured to himself, "she is."

#sonic #sonic the hedgehog #sonic unleashed #sonic the werehog #x reader #oneshot #chip #light gaia #spagonia

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sydneythecoherent · 7 years ago

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My gay agenda via a series of headcanons that I occasionally daydream about at stoplights and while waiting for my mozzarella sticks at Sonic.

It might be a little different than what some ultra conservatives think, so I’ll probably have to forward them this update of my plans as a lesbian as their current copy of the gay agenda seems to be a little out of date and far fetched and complete bullshit.

Headcanon 1

Sunday morning. The warm glow of sunlight peeks in through the windows, lighting up a slightly messy room. It smells like donuts and jasmine tea. We’re in bed with breakfast, fuzzy socks on feet, watching Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends and theorizing that Frankie is a manifestation of Madam Foster’s reminiscence of her youth and losing our fucking minds.

Headcanon 2

Doing laundry together and having to carefully inspect clothes, arguing “no, this ones mine. Yours has a hole in the armpit from where you insisted on reaching through the fence to pet that anteater after I explicitly told you not to.”

Headcanon 3

Stretched out together on the couch, warm salted popcorn between us, and an argument breaks out.

We’re suddenly and fervently searching Google to see if there is any truth to Dale Gribble’s insanity and conspiracy theories.

Headcanon 4

I’m off one day and you come home from a long shift at work. I’m playing Overwatch. You glare at me and walk off. I cringe, tell my friends I may have to go because you’re upset, but you log on to your Overwatch and play healer to help us because We CANT KEEP A FUCKING GOOD HEALER ON OUR TEAM.

Headcanon 5

We send a series of ambiguous texts to each other throughout the day. If someone were to read our conversation, they’d blush and drop the phone. We get home, embrace in a deep hug, I whisper into your ear “are you sure you’re up for this?” and you give a mischievous smile.

We then retreat to the dining room, I sweep everything off the table with my arm in one swift motion…and lay out all the latest editions of D&D rule books as we start preparing a new campaign.

Headcanon 6

I see you’re low on gas and fill up your car while you’re still napping before work

Headcanon 7

I say “I love you”

…and you say it back

And fucking mean it

Headcanon 8

It’s 28 degrees outside. You have to be at work soon and I’m already up and getting ready. I throw your work clothes in the dryer to warm them up for you.

Headcanon 9

We run into a straight Christian family. Mom, dad, son, daughter. They’re arguing, stressed, and it looks kind of rough. The wheels in our heads start turning. We look at each other and know this is a great opportunity for us to break…..down some walls and let them vent to non biased outside sources so they can maybe communicate their feelings better and make amends, because family is important and sometimes you just need a friendly face to talk to about things.

Headcanon 10

We somehow both have a Saturday off at the same time. What the fuck. Time for a very rare, midday date. McDonald’s Dollar Menu while we sit on the ledge of a retaining wall outside an art museum, shoveling food in our faces before we go inside, hold hands, and make people uncomfortable about how passionately we argue over 16th century art theory and interpretation.

��

#gay agenda #lgbt #pride #gay pride #gay af #wishful thinking #salty #late night #2018 #valentinesday #valentines2018 #winter #ramblings #lgbtq #love #Overwatch

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un-nmd · 7 years ago

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Recent listening—

The Mothers of Invention, Weasles Ripped My Flesh (1970) Strikes a somewhat psychotic balance between the whimsy of a Ween and the all-out avant of a Beefheart. The musicianship’s all there lest you fear that Zappa’s noisy conundrums were meant to hide a lack thereof—his magic band equivalents are able to don ‘general public’ masks and jam away just like any contemporary fellow, as they do on “Directly From My Heart To You” and “My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama” (note the electric violin on the former). But to those with ears of gentle predisposition: beware, and don’t be fooled, for the joke’s on you. The visceral beasts behind those vaguely satirical eye-holes are let loose more often than they’re contained. Take the two characteristic collages, “Didja Get Any Onya?” and “Prelude To The Afternoon Of A Sexually Aroused Gas Mask”: chaos, yes, but ritualistic chaos; Zappa, wielder of the wild. The sheer number of ideas, themes, and allusions introduced and just as quickly passed over in the space of, for each, less than four minutes, is nauseatingly impressive. E.g. about halfway through the latter, whose title suggests Debussy’s own ...d’un faune, some Satanic call and response gives way to the distant strains of the second subject of the first movement of Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique, over which some madman projects an uncanny valley imitation of a big cat growling—then final tremors from kit and a deep down electric rumbling to close. And if you thought music was one-dimensional (audio, you could argue, perhaps is) wait till you hear Zappa break the fourth wall on “Toads Of The Short Forest” which itself ends on a parodic consonance that’s rich with the same commercial irony of the album’s parting words— “Goodnight, boys and girls”—which follow one and a half minutes of some of the harshest noise you’ll ever hear. If you thought Penderecki was aggressive listen to this and reconsider.

Various artists, Planetarium (2017) You would think that with the extra personnel Sufjan would be somewhat protected from the subsuming ambition that fed Illinois and Adz to over an hour each—or that he’d personally outgrown it, as these mature words here would suggest:

A lot of those flourishes and gestures and aesthetic wanderings on earlier records were smoke and mirrors, a lot of obfuscation that were probably the result of me feeling either inadequate or feeling coy. There’s a lot of role playing and constructing facades.

But the 76-minute run-time indicates otherwise. Perhaps it’s the subject matter. These four gentlemen’s ode to the cosmos is as much about space as it is about substance—by which I mean: aside from the planet portraits they also craft sonic voids to match that of the great vacuum, and call it ‘ambient music’ so its justifiable. Is Muhly to blame? If so, its at least theoretically intriguing for its marriage of post-minimalism and popular music. It makes for dull listening though. You accept it the first couple of times but there’s no way I’m sitting through “Sun” or “Tides” or the “Moon” coda for a third or further. However with “Black Energy” the suspended dissonances are at least something for the ear to work on, and “Halley’s Comet” and “Black Hole” are short enough to accept as outros/intros to tracks preceding/following, with the latter also being interesting for its similarity to certain parts of Badalamenti’s score to Fire Walk With Me. But of the actual songs?—“Jupiter” and “Mars” quickly go from overwhelming to simply overcrafted. Likewise “Earth” is overcome by temporal grandeur, but it is defensible in the same way that the Mahler symphonies are, i.e. gushing Romanticism kills itself yet in doing so also transcends itself. “Pluto” and its interstellar string line provide the appropriate sappiness required of a work named Planetarium. The real gems, however, are “Neptune”, “Uranus”, “Saturn”, and “Mercury”—is it any coincidence that these are also the most Sufjan-esque?

John Coltrane, The Olatunji Concert (1967) This was all the Gods could muster: a cheap, dingy mic, a 30-sec intro, time for two jams with the latter cut off before the final hit—there the master laid down his pen. Like J.S. centuries ago it was, fittingly, on his signature move. Did he know it would be his last live recording? The notion would at least have been entertained as by then he was probably well into the throes of the cirrhosis that would eventually take him. Trane’s apocalyptic final will and testament, the culmination—if only chronologically—of a lifetime’s innovation, comes at you through an otherworldly haze, through cigarette smoke and spirit vapours, through half a century (exactly) of sonic decomposition of tapes that were at a poor enough quality to begin with. All that’s pretty is shed away, left behind for the blind and the shallow to fuck with. This is the primal essence. Trane, on the precipice, delivers a performance of catastrophic immensity. This was no Mahler 9, no sweet surrender—with one foot in the grave he raged.

Deep Puddle Dynamics, The Taste of Rain... Why Kneel? (1999) And re-calibrate again for the emcees in this realm require of the listener a completely different approach. Here the gamut of receptors is tuned less to harmony, instrumental skill, or ‘compositional rigour’ (in the Western art sense), and more to verse, cadence, dialect, timbre, rhythm, and so forth—it’s only empty if you ain’t looking hard enough. And four voices means there’s plenty of variety to go round. The interplay between the distinct bodies to their voices makes them stronger as a unit, à la Tribe preceding. E.g. I don’t think I could handle an entire full-length full of Doseone’s nasal delivery but on this the other three contextualise the texture space he resides in so that his grating-ness means something. (See his entry on “The Scarecrow Speaks”.) Another point of difference between this and the records surrounding: I’ve had genius.com open for probably half my listens. The pace, density, and abstraction of the ideas expounded deserve more comprehension than a fleeting ear’s able to discern; the work is the word, mostly, so read the libretto. We open with Slug: “Descending on the centre / from the outskirts of obscurity”. An apt heads up for such is how you approach the meaning to these tracks, most of which exceed five minutes. Within them the majority of time is spent dealing in Impressionistic strokes of free-verse, free-associative syllables strung streaming out to the potent symbology of, say, a candle flame (as on “The Candle”) or the psychological landscape of a peeling ceiling (as on “Heavy Ceiling”—distant progenitor to Courtney Barnett’s “An Illustration of Loneliness”). However at times a rhyme catalyses the crystallisation of these supersaturated abstractions—here’s Sole towards the end of “Thought vs. Action”:

Man, I once had an idea but it didn’t get me anywhere Read The Art of War when I should have been out fighting Why is it the mass is unexposed to so-called great thinkers until they die? And why do they live in fear Of the fighters afraid to leave their insides?

But wait! Don’t forget ‘compositional rigour’ just yet as a certain hook on the track just discussed, the chant chucking nouns at each crotchet (“catalyst, cataclysm, fallacy, fortitude, medulla...”), appears also on “Deep Puddle Theme Song” and “June 26th, 1998”, albeit with different words, and as different answers to different questions. And formwise you’ve got the partition between the ‘98 tracks and those from June 26th, 1999. There’s a palpable maturation from the former to the latter. In the year of ‘98 they had more answers than questions—see the noun chant above, see the youthful arrogance on “The Scarecrow Speaks” and “I Am Hip Hop (Move the Crowd)”. And even the cynicism that closes #1 has with it a little bit of nihilistic tongue-in-cheek. One year on and they’re a lot more tired of the world. That sly grin’s nowhere to be found on lines like these...

How is it I’m motivated to endure Eight hours of pure unadulterated boredom? Then sit in front of another computer for Four more hours using the same old drum set Trying different loops, can’t find one to fit Maybe this is why I sit in front of a pad of paper, pen in hand with a blank mind And I ask myself Is the writer’s slump the best form of meditation? Rhetorical, don’t have an answer And I also don’t expect one.

...and all that’s left is a deathly wit...

It ain't all love, it's confusion and a waste of time It ain't all time, it's confusion and a waste of love It ain't all waste, it's confusion and some time to love It ain't all confusion, it's love and some time to waste It ain't all that It's all of the above So scared into this And you are And you wonder from the shores how deep the puddle is.

...borne of the same fin-de-siècle dread that fed Radiohead’s OK Computer.

Alvvays, s/t (2014) Music that’s dense and complex and meticulous will never be difficult to write about, or, for some, even to listen to, because there’s always the task of ascribing theory to composition to hide in. Such an approach, however, can neglect what you might say to be the primary purpose of music: evoking a meaningful emotional response in the listener. This, to trained ears, can be tempered by knowledge and understanding of the underlying theory, but for the most part it is governed by right-brain perception; that is, the Dionysian response as opposed to the Apollonian. For example: I could write about how on “Dives” you can developmentally derive the verse theme from the prelude’s sinister synth line, or about the 3/2 bars on the refrain to the same and how Molly’s melody overlays a 6/4 structure in a sort of inverse hemiola to the colossal opening of Brahms’s 3rd—or, instead, I could write about the sweet, sweet ache I am immediately plunged into upon the first words to the first song (”How / Do I get close to you? / Even if you don’t notice / As I admire you / On the subway”), or the simultaneous melancholy of lyric and uplift of melody on the chorus to “Archie, Marry Me”, or the crack in my heart that accompanies, every time, Molly’s crack up to that high note on “Ones Who Love You”, that velvet vowel vocalise that’s recalled, in spirit, on the final seconds of their latest single when she, unexpectedly, epiphanically, goes up the register to a transcendent 5th scale degree falling to the major 3rd on what itself is a 6-3 on the I, i.e. a first inversion founded on yet another radiant, overtone-heavy 3rd. Point being, who really cares about the details when all you can think about is that it’s making you soar, or in some cases, sore (in the chest).

#planetarium #frank zappa #the mothers of invention #john coltrane #deep puddle dynamics #alvvays

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