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catsafari25 · 1 year ago

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A/N: Hello! This is my first foray into bionicle fic, where I wanted to explore a possible line of reasoning that Roodaka might have used to turn Vakama against the Rahaga specifically... and then this became a Roodaka-POV fic because villainous POVs are so muxh fun to write (plus it makes it distinct from the book version).

Please forgive any glaring inaccuracies; until a week ago, I'd only ever seen the films and am still familiarising myself with the lore/other content!

Roodaka almost doesn't recognise the creature her Visorak bring to her.

Almost.

There is more the monster than the Matoran, more the Rahi than the Toa, about the once-warrior now, and the two sides war in odd ways across the ensuing form. The limbs are elongated, but erratically; one side might almost be called Toa-like if one was feeling generous, while the other ends in a wicked-looking blazer claw. The mask bears the least resemblance to its former shape, a mockery of the Great Kanohi it had once been.

"Alone, you say?" she asks the Visorak.

It bows its head in the best approximation its spidery form can muster, and chitters in its gnashing tongue a tale of a single Toa Hordika wandering far from its pack. Then, after a dubious pause, it asks if it should send word to the King.

"No."

More chittering, nervous now.

Roodaka snaps her head away from the unconscious Toa. "Do you doubt me?" she hisses.

The Visorak shakes, as if knowing all too well that any alternative answer will lead to a rapid drop in its quality of life, followed by the abrupt cessation of it. It instinctively lowers itself to the ground, reassuring her it knows exactly how far down it hangs in the pecking order.

Roodaka is mollified enough to let the infraction pass. "Why bring Sidorak back for one captured Toa when he is still in pursuit of the other five?" she croons. Fear works wonders, but a pinch of reason never does any harm. "Better to let him focus on the task at hand, and have this as a pleasant surprise upon his return."

The Visorak doesn't respond immediately. Then, in as careful tones as its speech will allow, asks what is to be done with the Toa.

What to be done, indeed?

A more cautious Vortixx than she might harvest the elemental power now – one fewer strand in her web to tie up later – but, then again... he is only one Toa, and she needs all six for her scheme to succeed.

"Keep him somewhere he won't cause trouble," she orders. And then, "No cocoons. I want him to be able to wake eventually."

After all, live bait is always a better lure.

The Toa returns to consciousness the same way he left it: alone.

So much for their precious unity, Roodaka scorns. The reports from the Visorak tell of the other Toa moving across Ga-Metru, with apparently no looking back for their missing companion. Is it confidence in his capabilities that leaves them unaffected, or something more... fractured?

Either way, she is left with a Toa on her hands, alive and kicking and doing precious little to serve as the bait he should have been.

That's fine. She can work with this.

Awake, the Toa's reaction to the Hordika venom is ever more marked; his movements are capricious, tarnished with that feral fear of a caged Rahi, and there is little left of the tactician leader the Toa had once been.

So she leaves him to it. Sidorak is not due back yet – not unless he captures the other Toa, and the whispers that reach Roodaka tell of a merry chase – so she has time. Let the Toa wallow in his fear and his desperation for a little while longer. Let him descend further into his rage.

She can wait.

It is only once the howls begin that Roodaka makes her approach.

She has heard the like before, when an ash bear had fallen into a freshly-made crevice, courtesy of the quakes, and broken a limb. It had howled all through the night, calling for its kin and only summoning the Visorak instead.

The howls hadn't lasted long after that.

The howls of the Toa are similarly primal, gutteral with a wordless rage that sends him reeling in its wake. Only when she hears his horrified, "What is happening to me?" that she realises she is surprised to hear speech still remains. If the venom keeps up its course, it may not be long before even that is gone.

An idea takes root, insidious and brutal if she can pull it off. After all even a beast, if it retains some semblence of language, can be reasoned with.

Or manipulated.

He was found alone, her Visorak had told her. And alone he still was. A strange state of affairs for a Toa... but perhaps not so much for a Hordika.

"You are becoming," she rattles.

The Toa scoffs, ire curdling the sound. "Yeah, but what?"

She steps into the light. The Toa keeps his gaze averted as she nears, evidence enough that the Hordika in him knows not to challenge with a stare. She crouches before him, one claw catching the base of his mask and tilting his eyes to meet hers. The eyes, she sees, still carry a Toa spark. The rest is Hordika. "A friend," she offers.

He snarls and tears his gaze away.

"Or a foe," she adds. She rises back to her full height. "That's for you to decide, and why I invited you here."

"Some invitation."

She surveys her captive. Hordika venom is such a messy process, Roodaka can't help but judge. It lacks the finesse, the cruel creativity of her own power, changing at random what would be better done with intent.

Still, she cannot fault its effectiveness. It might be a sledgehammer to her chisel, but in a matter of days it has reduced the Toa responsible for trapping the Makuta into something belonging to a Matoran's nightmare.

"Then perhaps this one will be more to your liking," she says. "I have a... proposal for you."

"And if I don't want to hear it?"

Roodaka smiles, and approaches the Toa once more. From this proximity, she can appreciate the subtler touches of the Hordika venom – the joints that fit at odd angles, the crude connection between the Rhotuka spinner and armour – and as she brings his gaze to meet hers once more, she sees rust-flecked spots across his mask. A side effect of the mask losing its powers? Or a consequence alone of the Hordika venom?

"Be reasonable, Vakama," she croons.

"How do you know my name?"

Her hand dips from the mask and lingers before his heartlight. It's green, she notes; a far cry from the burnished red that had once matched his eyes. A sign, perhaps, that her plan has merit. After all, if the venom has already taken root there, it's only a matter of time before it spreads further.

"I know a great deal about you," she says, and cleaves a claw through the webbing that binds him. "What harm could come from listening?"

And when she tips his gaze again, he does not look away.

While fools might prattle on about the power of love or loyalty as a driving force, Roodaka knows power itself is the strongest motivator of all. And so she speaks to the fragmented Toa of strength and fear and authority; things she knows the once-leader has fought with himself. As a show of her own confidence, she allows him to trail behind, and only once does she hear the whirr of his spinner warming up.

("I wouldn't do that, if I were you, Vakama," she had warned without even glancing to him.)

("Then perhaps you should know better than to turn your back on someone," he had replied. "What's to stop me blasting you off the face of Metru Nui?")

(She had gestured almost lazily to the Visorak guard trailing them. "You can try, if you so wish. But how far do you think you'll get before you're trapped in another web?" She had waited for this thought to sink in before adding, "Who knows what another round of Hordika venom would do the second time? That is, assuming you ever wake.")

The Rhotuka spinner quietened after that, and Roodaka hasn't heard it since. Just enough sense left in him, then, to listen to reason. And listen he does, albeit not without complaint.

She wasn't lying when she said she knew about him – from the whispers of Makuta, from the reports of the Visorak, she knows enough to know where the Toa's insecurities lie. She brings him to a balcony that overlooks his old home.

Ta-Metru still glows with the light of fires and molten protodermis, but rather than forges and foundries hard at work, it is the result of cracked furnaces and flooded lava that raises such smoke. Still, there is enough to leave the Toa scrambling to the edge to catch just a glimpse of his metru.

In better times, it would have been his to protect, the same way the Toa of Fire before had, but now it is only a place to be fled. So she offers him the chance to change that, talks of leading the Visorak to rule rather than ruin.

And when she orders her own guard plummeting over the edge and they follow – not because they trust her, not because they think she has a plan, but purely because not following is a worse fate than an almost-certain death – she knows she has his attention. "Obediance," she proclaims. "This is but the first of many lessons I can teach you."

The Toa hesitates. But not as much as he ought to. "And this is something your king would allow?"

"There is a way," she purrs. "Six ways."

She senses something shift then, the balance of the conversation tipping in her favour as a wall, somewhere, comes tumbling down.

And when Vakama looks to her, it isn't the gaze of a Toa, but of a Hordika.

"I'm listening."

"Good." Roodaka starts towards the main body of the tower, and only hears the slightest falter before Vakama follows after her. His shambling gait is still the noisy thing it was before, but now there is a pattern to it. A natural rhythm.

"If you wish to gain Sidorak's trust, you must prove yourself," she says. "The Rahaga have been a thorn in Sidorak's side for too long; deliver them, and he will surely see your worth."

The Toa stills. "The... Rahaga?" There is hesitation in his voice, as if even he is surprised that his response is not the outright refusal it once would have been. "What have they done?"

"They are meddlesome creatures, as I'm sure you've discovered, too fond of interfering where they don't belong."

"Like saving your captives from certain death?" he asks.

Roodaka smiles, and ignores the bite in the question. "Do you think they rescued you for anything but their own purposes?" she returns. "Or are you blind enough to think it was purely an act of selfless generosity?"

A growl rises through the Toa, and she hears him continue behind her. "What are you saying?"

"Only that if they were rescuing you solely from an untainted sense of duty, then where are they now?" Roodaka glances back and reads the defensive hitch of the Toa's shoulders. "Where are any of your friends, Vakama?"

"Like I would tell you–"

"You don't need to. I know where they are. The question is: Do you?"

Vakama doesn't meet her gaze. "If you're thinking that I'm expecting any sort of great rescue–"

"I never said anything of the sort," Roodaka croons. She doesn't need to. By the sound of things, his mind is already doing it for her, wondering when the other Toa will realise he's not coming back. Wondering if they will even care. "Only, how sure are you that they will follow their duty without you to guide them?"

"Toa are bound to their duty," Vakama begins.

"Of course. As they are to their unity." Roodaka gives this a moment to sink in to the lone Hordika Toa. "And their destiny."

The once-Toa of Fire has no reply to that, and that is all Roodaka needs to know the truth of their origins have come to light. She steps out onto a neighbouring balcony, but Vakama lingers in the archway.

She motions to him. "Come along."

He begrudgingly does so, and his gaze finds little of interest in the waterway metru below. "Why have you brought me here?"

"Because this is where your friends are."

Vakama takes a second look at Ga-Metru, overrun with webs but presumably still recognisable from its better days. His head tilts, his eyes narrow. "Ga-Metru? Why...?"

"My Visorak say the Rahaga are leading them to the Great Temple," Roodaka relays, and this indeed is true enough. "They say the Rahaga are seeking an ancient Rahi, the next steps of which they hope to find within the temple."

"Keetongu," Vakama mutters.

"Yes."

Vakama wars with this knowledge, the conflict clear in his silence and his mask. Then, in a halting, hating tone, "The Matoran–"

"Are not the Rahaga's priority," Roodaka finishes. "Don't you see that, now? Why else would they turn the other Toa away from their duty the moment you weren't there to remind them? All they want is to chase after a Rahi myth, and with the help of Toa, they finally have the strength to do so." She sets a clawed hand upon his shoulder, anchoring him. "The Rahaga are not all they appear, Vakama."

A scoff rises through the Toa. "They are old and weak."

"They were not always so," she says. "Once, they were Toa like you, until their meddling left them as the malformed creatures they are now. That is why they truly seek Keetongu; they believe he has the power to undo their change."

It is a half truth, but one supported by enough that the Toa has no reason to doubt her. He has no way to know Roodaka's powers were the catalyst of the Rahaga's transformation, nor that nothing – no mythical Rahi, no Kanohi power – can unravel their altered forms.

Her hand tightens. "Or perhaps you've already begun to suspect the truth?"

A tremor in his breathing betrays that questions of the Rahagas' origins have crossed his mind before, but only now is he realising the possible ramifications of it. "They want to find Keetongu for themselves," he snarls.

"And they need the support of the other Toa to do it," Roodaka says. "Now do you understand? They are not your allies, Vakama; they are parasites. And you know what should be done with parasites."

"Yes," he growls. "I do."

#bionicle #lego bionicle #cat writes #also written in present tense because i find that easier for some reason w/ emotions #this was mostly fuelled by 'what if roodaka revealled part of the rahaga's origins and convinced vakama they were using the toa?'#thus making his first step down this path one that isn't inherently lashing out at his team #but will make returning to the light that much more difficult #also discovering that roodaka's power is mutation really put fuel on the fire for this #i love the idea of her seeing the toa hordika not just as mutated toa #but as a variation on her abilities #part of her dissecting the changes and judging them #i also like writing scheming characters who have a pov with an aggressively agendaed take #anyway idk if ill post this elsewhere #i also want to explore the idea that roodaka sent vakama to the great temple for not just kidnapping the rahaga #but also to drive another wedge between him and his destiny #since entering the great temple will feel Wrong to him #and if nokama hasnt shared her experience then he might just take it personally #okay enough rambling in the tags #if you got this far: congrats!#feel free to shout at me about bionicle

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adarkrainbow · 1 year ago

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Spooky season fairytales (6)

And we reach the penultimate post of this series! After looking at actual fairytale adaptations (well... roughly), for this post I want to love at fantasy movies that are not any adaptation of any specific tale or story... But which were made with the intentions of having a "fairytale feel" or a fairytale lore. Dark or creepy movies inspired by fairytales as a whole. Basically "dark fairytale fantasy".

And of course I have to begin with the most FAMOUS dark fairytale movie of our century... Guillermo del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth", in the original Spanish, "El Laberinto del Fauno".

Do I need to present this movie? Probably not, since it was one of del Toro's masterpices, but to simply put it... This is a dark, haunting, poetic but tragic movie following a little girl's life in the Spain of Franco. Said little girl meets in the ruins of an old labyrinth, guided by fairies, a faun, who reveals to her she is the lost princess of a fairy realm... But to regain her place, she will have to undergo fairytale-trials. All while the little girl enjoys her "changeling fantasy", we follow the harsh and horrifying everyday life of World War II Spain that unfolds around her: the girl's step-father is a Falangist captain who hunts down with cruelty the resistance in the area, while her mother is having a very complicated pregnancy. And as the real-world piles on the horrors - famine, execution, torture - so does the fairy-world becomes darker and darker, filled with monsters, ogres and blood...

Of course, Guillermo del Toro did other dark "fairy pieces" - such as Hellboy II, which is a dark and gritty urban-fantasy homage to the fair folk - and recently returned to the fairytale world with his acclaimed Pinocchio.

1985's Legend, by Ridley Scott, is usually considered as one of the "great 80s fantasy movies", alongside pieces such as Ladyhawke, The Dark Crystal, Conan the Barbarian, Willow and more. However "Legend" is also, and this is less evoked, one of the prime examples of a movie belonging to the genre of "fairytale fantasy" - alongside stories such as Stardust or The Neverending Story.

After all, all the elements are there. The main hero is a brave young "wild man" of the woods, who must save a princess trapped by an evil monster, with the help of fairies and elves, and the whole quest goes through numerous folkloric motifs and characters - the unicorn, the water-hag, the fight of day and night, the endless winter... But speaking of "endless winter", the reason why this movie is featuring here is because of how dark it becomes. Truly. The main villain is even the literal embodiment of Darkness, an evil creature sporting the most iconic look of a devil in the history of cinema, and played by none other than Tim Curry himself. He sends hordes of goblins devour babies and kill unicorns throughout endless winter and ever-ending night... To reach him one must cross a monster-infected swamps leading to a dark palace of venomous charms, dancing statues and cannibal feasts... And even the elves and fairy sidekicks are truer to Brian Froud illustrations and the original "fair folk", being whimsical, capricious, easily angered and just as dangerous as the villains they're fighting...

Coraline. Another great piece of "fairytale fantasy".

Coraline (the movie or the book it is based on, the two have several differences but complement each other very well) is the story of a young girl living your typical "travel to another magical world" plot, as she discovers a secret door allowing her to escape her dreary, boring and unpleasant life to find an alternate, whimsical, fantastical and charming version of her own family and neighbors. But of course, this being a Neil Gaiman story, things quickly grow strange and eerie, as talking cats, fairy-ghosts, shapeshifting witches and buttons sewn in place of eyes come to turn the dream into a nightmare, and then into a battle of wits to survive against a dark and old magic...

Yet another VERY famous piece - there's a lot of famous pieces I am covering here, but hey, not my fault the good stuff is getting the recognition it deserves!

Over the Garden Wall, an animated mini-series that was created by the same man behind "Adventure Time", telling the story of two brothers as they try to find a way home while venturing into a bizarre and magical forest called "The Unknown". They are guided by a talking bird in hope of finding a good witch who will help them - all the while mysterious and dark figures such as the Woodsman or the Beast linger in the shadows and keep crossing path with them...

Over the Garden Wall is a perfect autumn watch, since it actually takes place during the autumn season, the first episodes exploring an Halloweenesque harvest festival, while the lasts take place in winter. More than just autumn imagery, the show relies heavily on the "vintage" and "old" imagery of early 20th, 19th and even 18th centuries America, building its wonders and magic with vintage Halloween cards, Colonial or Industrial-era fashions, Betty Boop or Silly Symphonies cartoons, the Dogville Comedies and the "Game of Frog Pond" board game... However, under its at first whimsical and fanciful appearance, the mini-series quickly reveal a haunting tale worthy of the darkest fairytales, exploring themes such as betrayal, despair, death and sacrifices.

In fact, "Over the Garden Wall" was inspired by numerous fairytales, hence its fairytale feel. Many, many people commented that, upon watching the series, they felt the exact same thing they experienced when, as a kid, they discovered new fairytales - I also felt it, and this proves the power of this series that truly captures the essence of what a fairytale is. On top of reusing fairytale tropes (two children exploring woods filled with girls turned into birds, good and bad witches, strange talking beasts...) and explicitely referencing some "fairytale-like" children novels (especially "The Wizad of Oz"), the very artstyle of the show was inspired by "fairytale art", ranging from Gustave Doré's illustrations of Perrault to Tenniel's Alice in Wonderland drawings, passing by old Andersen illustrations.

Ah, finally a more obscure piece! At last for non-French people... La Cité des Enfants Perdus, The City of Lost Children. A 1995 movie by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Now, Jeunet is one of those French moviemakers distinctively recognizeable thanks to his very unique style of movie making. You will recognize this when you know that he is behind the movies "Delicatessen" (the one about a former clown in a post-war world behind hired in a building dominated by a cannibalistic butcher) and the "Amélie Poulain" movie (about a quirky Parisian waitress who decides to change whimsically the life of those around her). Jeunet enjoys the bizarre, the unusual, strange technologies, extravagant characters, dark humor, absurd comedy, and oniric or fairytale-like atmosphere... And this all blooms in the darkest and eeriest way in this movie.

To put the story simply (which is a challenge since it is a complex movie)... Off the shores of a shadowy, dirty, corrupt fishing town, in a manor in the middle of the sea (on top of an abandoned oil rig), an old mad scientist regularly captures children. For you see the scientist is unable to dream, and tries to steal away the dreams of children - which never works, since being captured by a creepy old man makes the children have nightmares rather than sweet dreams. One day, the little brother of a simple-minded circus strongman is captured - and the strongman teams up with a little girl, a street-savy member of a group of street urchins, to try to get him back. The story is further muddled by the presence of a cult of "cyclops" in town that do the dirty work of the mad scientit for him, the threat of greedy conjoined sisters that run the gang the little girl is part of, and the strange entourage of the mad scientist himself (six identical brothers acting like children, a dwarf-wife, and a sentient, talking brain in a jar).

This movie truly feels like a dream - like one of those dark, strange dreams that never fully go into a nightmare while still walking at the edge, and the story, no matter how feverish it can get, still keeps certain cohesive elements to maintain its flow of sinister wonders (such as the theme of family, heavily explored). The movie never goes into actual magic - we are more into a proto-steampunk world crossed with the mad science of Gothic literature and horror movies - but its oniric, bizarre and borderline surreal treatment of the subject did earn this movie the classification of "science-fantasy" and "dark fantasy", as mythological, folkloric and fantasy archetypes can be clearly seen throughout the science-fiction setting (the "cyclops" for example, or the very idea of "a creepy old man stealing children's dreams").

Heck - this movie was one of the prime inspirations behind "Little Nightmares"!

And finally, I cheat a little here, but I had to include it: Disney's Hocus Pocus. This is a classic of Halloween movies, a fun but dark horror-comedy for teens, (well rather like a full comedy but with elements that make it horrific here and there), campy in all the good ways, and with the greatest trio of witches ever depicted on stage since Shakespeare's Weird Sisters.

Now, the movie itself is not very much fairytale like. It is a Halloween comedy, an urban-fantasy story for teenagers, drawing upon the myth of the witch and the legends surrounding witchcraft. However, precisely because the movie explores the figure of the witch, there are several fairytale references here and there. While the Sanderson sisters were mostly build out of the Christian myth of the witch (using human-skin bound grimoires, having sold their souls to the devil, tied to black cats, summoning ghouls out of graves, hate salt...), there are also several parts of their characters tied to fairytale witches. Hansel and Gretel is the most obvious one - they are child-eating witches living into the woods who lure children to their home before "devouring" them (in souls if not body) - but Snow-White is also among the references (a very vain witch who is obsessed with staying the fairest/youngest and kills children to do so?). And of course, there's all the fairytale-witches tropes ranging from "turning people into animals" (here a cat rather than a frog) to the use of the number three.

Oh yes, and let's not forget the specific use of an oven...

#spooky season fairytales #spooky season #dark fairytales #fairytale movies #over the garden wall #pan's labyrinth #legend #hocus pocus #the city of lost children #coraline #fairytale fantasy

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lokigodofaces · 2 months ago

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First entry for Whumptober 2024!

Prompt: Venom (Alternative)

Summary: After Thanos' defeat, the Infinity Stones are ill from their time in the Infinity Gauntlet.

#whumptober2024 #no. 1 #altprompt #venom #tesseroki #loki laufeyson #fic #poison #collapsing

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bearmemesreviews · 8 months ago

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FotW: SDMI - The Shrieking Madness

As you can tell by our episode's title, today Mystery Incorporated tackles the Chthulu mythos! Gotta love those weird ugly squid gods, and the fact that their writer chickened out when it came to describing them only adds to their charm. Everyone loves designing creatures that can "break" the mind of anyone who looks at it directly.

Scooby-Doo was neither the first nor the last children's show to tackle this topic, but MI is our first real representation of it for the franchise. Let's talk about it and the gang's first college tour.

Backstory: The gang are all driven to the Darrow University by their parents whose motives are far different from their children's. Meanwhile, the college is playing host to two popular writers who couldn't be any more different. Harlan Ellison is a no-nonsense tightwad whose work is more "respectable" than the cosmic horror tales written by H.P. Hatecraft - this universe's version of our H.P.

One of Ellison's fans disparages the works of Hatecraft, and is swiftly attacked and kidnapped by the main villain of those stories. The gang mostly stumbles into this mystery by accident, preoccupied by their early brushes with college life. Daphne becomes a communist, Fred is put through homoerotic hazing, and Shaggy points out that he's no longer voiced by a vegetarian in a very unsubtle way.

Velma is the one who actually came to meet Ellison at a book signing, and the gang soon cross each other's paths before finding Ellison being terrorized by green Squidward.

The gang still have their hang-ups, much more strained thanks to everyone's love troubles. They even get distracted from the mystery thanks to their previous college antics, until Char Gar Gothakon attacks Shag and Scoob directly. When the gang confronts Hatecraft, he first gives them the "whispers from another world that I translate into the best-selling written word" spiel. However, to dispel the beast he decides to reveal to an entire class of people the truth.

He made it all up, there is no dark force from an alternate dimension giving him material to write. This upsets his number one fan, but that pales in comparison to how badly Charizard Gengar Gothita takes the news. The Gangrene Illithid kidnaps his creator and takes him back to Hateman's house, which is also where the Ellison fan was being kept prisoner in.

Chary Gary becomes another attempted murderer, deciding that Hatecraft deserved an appointment with the ground after a trip to the roof. The gang distracts the monster long enough to save both Hatecraft, and Char Gar Gothakon, when they nearly fall off the roof. They finally muzzled his tentacles, a trick Fred learned from his college buddies, solving the mystery you already did several minutes ago.

Design: Char Gar Gothakon is a humanoid octopus-human hybrid wearing cultish robes, obviously based on Chthulu and Illithids from D&D. Octopus-faced monsters are just awesome, with the sea creature they're based on already being some of the coolest things on our planet. Did you know all of them are venomous, and some of the best hunter-killers in the sea? They're like wolves in that way, creatures we can both hype up as supernatural omens of death and real-life predators you don't mess with.

Char Gar Gothakon: The Beast with no name, is rather lanky despite how stocky its wearer is. It has diamond-shaped eyes with orange irises and yellow sclera and pupils. It has a globular smooth head and wriggling tentacles encompassing most of its lower face. It's body, especially its "forehead", is covered in skin patterns resembling green splotches like the markings of a frog. It also has small siphons, two on each side of its head, in place of ears. Another easy to miss detail are the gillman-like fins on its forearms.

Its outfit is rather flamboyant, resembling a priest's dressing with a turned-up high collar that's too large for its already giant head. Its shoulder pads are gigantic and connected to the rest of the outfit by the belt. It's belt and bicep bracelets are all gold.

It doesn't even wear a shirt, the middle piece of its outfit being mostly made-up of intersecting strips that expose its shoulders, ribs, and V-line.

Honestly, it's a pretty slutty costume. Besides it's vertical striped long skirt it also wears fingerless elbow-length gloves that also have gaps to expose MORE of its skin.

For powers, it uses a sonic screech that's powerful enough to Launch a grown man onto a car's hood. Its face tentacles can also stretch out, revealing a large circular maw full of sharp teeth underneath, to entangle a victim. The tentacles also stretch and contort in a way that shouldn't even be physically possible since they were taken from a real dead octopus.

Reveal: The true culprit turns out to be Hatecraft's own superfan and student assistant, Howard E. Roberts (named after Robert E. Howard). He decided to bring Hatecraft's monster to life to get back at the haters. However, when Hatecraft declared himself a fraud the superfan decided that the author needed to be destroyed. He made his sonic death blast technology with the help of his college courses by the way.

It is actually through deriding their fans that Ellison and Hatecraft find companionship with each other, leaving the gang to discover the archived documents stolen by Mr. E left in the Mystery Machine.

The plot thickens.

5/5, Western Media needs more Mindflayer rep. Nice Gregorian Chants by the way.

See, you can talk about Lovecraft without mentioned his cat being named after the N-Word.

#bmoreviews #scooby doo #scooby doo mystery incorporated #bmoreviewsmysteryinc #mystery incorporated #illithid #chthulu #char gar gothakon

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cupidsbower · 2 years ago

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My Venom stuff

Note: All of these are self-contained stories, unless otherwise indicated. Even the stories within the same ‘verse can usually be read alone.

The NorCal ‘verse

Glory, M, Eddie/Venom, 6k

Eddie has an existential crisis, Venom licks things, and several chickens go missing.

A curd in the hand is worth two in the bush, G, Eddie/Venom, 6k

Eddie and Venom go on vacation.

Sci-Fi AUs

The End of Happiness, E, Eddie/Venom, 46k - with art by ifer

Eddie and Venom accidentally court each other, and accidentally vie for the galactic throne.

As the Asteroid Turns, M, Eddie & Venom, 7.5k

On a lonely asteroid, a human discovers an alien in distress.

And They Were Soulmates, T, Eddie/Venom, .8k

A fairy tale.

Role Confusion series

In which Venom becomes encultured to Earth and to Eddie.

Food/Trust, G, Eddie & Venom, T, Eddie & Venom, 4.4k

Venom is hungry. Eddie provides.

Compromised, G, Eddie & Venom, 3.5k

Venom learns to want; Venom learns to ask.

Here be Monsters, T, Eddie & Venom, 4k

Venom confesses his sins.

There is one more story to come in this series - currently a wip in my Google docs.

One-offs

Refuge, T, Eddie/Venom, 3k

Venom faces a deportation problem.

Eat, Prey, Love, M, Eddie/Venom, 1.5k

Venom starts taking souvenirs.

A Partial Treatise on Love, E, Eddie/Venom, 6.5k

Venom doesn't understand human emotions.

(An)aphrodisiac, T, Eddie/Venom, 2k

Eddie volunteered to buy the replacement condoms.

The closest thing to a perfect man (is made of gingerbread), T, Eddie/Venom, 1.5k

Christmas has never been tastier.

Alternative pipe-cleaning methods, E, Eddie/Venom, 1.5k

Venom misunderstands Eddie’s biology.

Fanvids

Mind Fight, Eddie/Venom, T, Eddie/Anne

I'm lying in bed Imagining ways I could make you dead

Elephant, T, Eddie/Venom. Eddie/Venom/Anne

He knows that you're dreamin' about being loved by him Too bad your chances are slim

Beware the Friendly Stranger, T, Eddie & Venom

The same meeting, different place.

Wear you like a suit, T, Eddie/Venom

You're so cute I want to wear you like a suit.

Fan art

Movie Night, G, Eddie/Venom

Winding down after a full day of lethally protecting.

Skylarking, or Venom Takes a Holiday, G, Eddie/Venom

Eddie and Venom go on a space picnic for Valentine’s Day.

Breaking News, G, Venom/Food

Venom’s reaction to Earth food.

#venom #symbrock #eddie brock #venom symbiote #venom x eddie #eddie brock/venom #eddie brock/venom symbiote #mcu #marvel #marvel comics #marvel cinematic universe #fanfiction #fanart #fanvid

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venom-alt-tale-comic · 7 months ago

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CW: This chapter will contain suggestive themes/moments and mentions of death!

Please skip this chapter if you are at all uncomfortable with any of these topics!

Written & illustrated by Megan Moonbear [moonbear-from-space]

Thank you so much for reading the last chapter of volume 1. It's been fun to work on it and I'm pretty happy with how the art looks now than previously. However, the reason why this took so long to come out is due to the more risky and suggestive tones this chapter has there were times I wanted to get rid of it altogether as I wasn't sure if they were worth keeping in and if it was too much. It's why it has the mature filter on just to keep me on the safe side of things. But then again I'm on Tumblr so people do enjoy the symbrock ship and all it's why I did it I love that ship a lot.

Another thing why it took so long was the re-writing it's gonna be longer but the pacing just felt too slow and get more straight to the point. I have been thinking a lot about how I write Eddie and Venom and notice they leaned too much at times to the recent movie counterparts. Nothing wrong with them, but I want to make sure that they are their own thing and not a copy trying to make sure that they are as close to how the portrayed in SM3. I hope by volume 2 I can fix that and improve on their characters more if I could go back and change the first two chapters and even the art I would, but I don't want to waste any time.

The art itself while I am happy with how it looks now, there is still a bit of inconsistency. I apologise on that behalf I'm not the best artist out there and I hope to keep improving each time as the comic carries on. Especially if I want to get good at dynamic poses for the action scenes I plan on drawing.

Until then this will be put on hold as I have other projects that I'm busy working on with other people too and so on. I hope to get back to it at some point and will be writing up the next script whenever I get time to do so, I was working on the volume 2 script a while back but looking at it I really need to change up a lot of it so it flows better overall.

Anyway, thank you once again for taking the time to read my rambly thoughts and the comic too, so take care as always.

part1 part2

#venom alternative tale #venom #eddie brock #raimi venom #webcomic #venom au #venom symbiote #spider man 3 #eddie brock jr #symbrock #raimi eddie #raimi spider man #eddie and venom #my art #raimiverse

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moonbear-from-space · 1 year ago

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Anytime someone likes a bunch of a my Raimi Eddie/Venom fanart, posts and even my comic I'm like hello funky person on my phone you also like this silly fucked up guy too?

Always most appreciated when that happens and keeps me motivated to keep going with what I'm working on. <3

#venom #eddie brock #raimi eddie #raimi venom #my dumb posts #venom alternative tale

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patinorenato · 1 year ago

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Preserving the Flow: A Water Conservation Crusade

-----DEFINITIONS---------------------------

Story: A description, either true or imagined, of a connected series of events.

Tales: A story, especially one that might be invented or difficult to believe.

Science Fiction: Books, films, or cartoons about an imagined future, especially about space travel or other planets.

-----STORY-----------------------------------

Words in bold and Italics: Transition Words

Words in Red and Bold: Borrowings

Renato, a young man living in the year 2047, was struggling to survive in a world where the water was contaminated by a venom/toxin created by an evil factory. In addition, the toxin turned humans into feral monsters, and Renato had lost his family to it. Due to this, He was determined to find a way to save humanity from extinction.

-Renato: Everything is lost, my water supply will end next week, There's nothing I can do. If only I could find a way to revert things...

When he stumbled upon a time machine called “Timecochet X” that worked with contra particles, he decided to travel back in time to stop the facility from being founded. After that, he met Pokey inside a Café which was in ruins, Pokey was from an alternate future who had come back in time to help him, he was some kind of vigilante in his timeline.

They were the same person, however they were really different in personality, Renato had to change due to the toxin, but Pokey was someone who never gave up and motivated Renato in order to save the world, because he was unable to save his own from this apocalypse.

As soon as they arrived in the year 2025, they discovered that the factory was about to be founded in the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador. They knew that they had to stop it at all costs.

They ingressed the facility and discovered that it was being run by a group of depraved businessmen who were only interested in making money. They were using the venom as a way to control the population and make them dependent on their products, little they knew what this toxin could do.

Despite the security measures and sentinels equipped with the best technology, they fought their way through the factory and managed to destroy it before it could be founded. They returned to their own time and found out that the water had been purified and humanity had been saved from a total eradication.

As a result, Renato realized that he had been given a second chance to make things right. Because of this, he decided to dedicate his life to helping others and making sure that nothing like this ever happened again. At the end, Renato and Pokey enjoyed some coffee at the café where they first met.

-Pokey: It was nice to meet you, other me. I'm glad we were able to at least save your world. -Renato: I wouldn't have been able to do this if you weren't there with the Timecochet X. Everything you see here and now is thanks to you buddy, I'm really grateful, thank you very much other me.

-----REFERENCES--------------------------

story. (2023). https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/story

tale. (2023). https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/tale?q=Tales

science fiction. (2023). https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/science-fiction?q=Science+Fiction

-----PICTURE--------------------------------

Generated in Gencraft.com

A person walking through a futuristic city where water was contaminated by a toxin.

-----VIDEO-----------------------------------

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

#savewater #savetheplanet #history #project #school

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warningsine · 2 years ago

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Have you ever been enjoying a film or TV series, only to suddenly find yourself squinting at the dark screen? Recent releases including “Euphoria,” “The Batman” and “Handmaid’s Tale,” as well as classic films including “Alien,” “Taxi Driver” and “Seven” all utilize dark imagery, but what if the visuals are simply too dark to see everything in the frame?

While dark scenes are usually due to the filmmaker’s vision, there are several factors both at movie theaters and when viewing at home that will affect the viewer’s ability to see what’s going on onscreen.

Home viewing

For home viewers, one culprit could be the viewing environment, according to digital imaging technician Nicholas Kay. When he goes to visit his parents’ house, he’s aghast at the butchered image quality on their television screen, which Kay believes should be as neutral as possible. As someone who spends countless hours perfecting visuals on- and off-set, he feels personally offended by the settings on his parents’ TV, from motion smoothing to brightness, which Kay said shouldn’t be turned up or down.

“They watch this stuff, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, you’re killing me, like please, let me help you,’” Kay said. “And then I help them, and they’re like, ‘Oh, what happened?’ I’m like, ‘What do you mean, what happened? This is how you’re supposed to see it!’”

The settings on a TV are just one factor when it comes to how a film is ultimately viewed. Other determinants might be the lighting in the room or the size and quality of the monitor.

Images in movie theaters, which should provide the ultimate viewing experience for cinephiles, can be just as dark as a badly adjusted home screen. Many projectors are not well maintained and even 4K resolution can fall flat.

But ultimately, the reason a movie or series seems super dark is that it’s how the filmmaker intended it to look.

A few years ago, a final battle in the “Game of Thrones” finale was criticized by many viewers for being so dark that it was impossible to see what was going on. Cinematographer Fabian Wagner defended his work at the time, telling Wired, “Everything we wanted people to see is there.” He also pointed out that the scene was shot at night and said the intention was to differentiate the battle aesthetically from other scenes throughout the series. He also stressed that watching the show anywhere other than a darkened room with a neutral, large monitor was a disservice to the viewer.

Mood-setter

Other than the viewing environment, though, Kay, a two-decade industry vet who has worked on movies including “Joker,” “Venom” and “Black Panther,” said there are practical and emotional reasons for dark images. Whether “dark” refers to the moodiness of a piece of media or its literal lack of light, the two often go hand-in-hand.

Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” takes place largely at night, “The Handmaid’s Tale” is set in a gloomy dystopia, and horror movies like the “Fear Street” trilogy rely on the cover of darkness to keep viewers on their toes. Those works and more have all faced criticism for being too shadowy (the West Wind Drive-In in Las Vegas told patrons that they couldn’t get a refund for “The Batman” if they found it too dark) but the alternative might be an unrealistic depiction of the plot.

“I think that a lot of cinematographers, when they do certain things like that, they’re trying to make it feel extremely truthful,” Kay said. “I don’t think the intention is to struggle to see, but there are times where I personally feel like I’m struggling, like, ‘Is it taking me out of it?’ My job really is to calibrate my eye to what the cinematographer wants it to look like.”

Of course, it’s not just newer titles that have viewers straining their eyes. Over the years, films from “Alien” (1979) to the aptly titled “Dark City” (1998), have been presented with extremely dark images. One difference, Kay says, is that those movies were shot on film, while most modern cinema is shot digitally. Even the digital remasters of those classic films might appear much flatter than the original, because 35mm film has two to three times more grains per square inch than 4K has in pixels. That means cinematographers have to get creative when it comes to crafting a unique and “organic” image.

“What they’re fighting is the sharpness and the crispness and the perfection of digital,” Kay said. “That’s what they would all say, and that’s why they want to shoot on film or that’s why they want to use a lot of smoke and filters — to basically take away the perfection.”

‘Euphoria’s’ Special Treatment

One of the most notable deviations from the digital landscape is Sam Levinson’s HBO teen drama “Euphoria.” The show’s second season was shot on 35mm Kodak Ektachrome, which forced Kodak to convert part of its factory to produce the discontinued film stock.

“Euphoria” has become well-known for its unique visuals, and cinematographer Marcell Rév said the stock’s film speed of 100 ISO (the metric for how much light the film picks up) forced them to light the set “like we were lighting a sitcom.” The result is an extremely textured final image that allows Rév to play with light in ways most filmmakers can’t, and he acknowledged that contrast is an important aspect of his vision.

“We were trying to do like velvety deep shadows, but I don’t think they are dark,” Rév said.” You always have very bright reference points in every image. I don’t think there are images where you’re wondering what’s on the image.”

Rév said he doesn’t believe that films are trending darker or lighter in general, but noted one inspiration in the world of film noir: David Fincher — specifically his 1995 film “Seven.”

“It’s a really dark [film],” Rév said. “That revolutionized the way they shot movies in the ‘90s, the way that [cinematographer] Darius Khondji used film stock and how he underexposed film stock and how he lit that movie. It was something so original and unique. It was in the ‘90s and it was way darker than anything I can see now in the cinema.”

In “The Batman,” Reeves and cinematographer Greig Fraser employed a technique similar to Khondji’s, where they printed the digital print of the movie onto film and used a bleach bypass to achieve a more high-contrast image. The technique marries aspects of film and digital, and creates a more textured look than most digitally shot superhero movies would allow.

As a technician who entered the industry as it was transitioning from film to digital, Kay’s job, he said, is often to help directors and cinematographers capture the essence of the films they grew up watching, trying to emulate the look and feel of film without any special treatment from Kodak.

Kay said that ever since digital has taken hold, studios have also gained more control when it comes to the final product. As a result, he said he believes many films are actually brighter than they need to be, with the exception being the works of well-known auteurs and cinematographers who have full control of the resolution and coloring of their movies. He referenced the work of his friend, cinematographer Bradford Young, who has shot films including “Solo: A Star Wars Story” (2018), “Arrival” (2015) and the 2019 mini-series “When They See Us,” which Kay also worked on. Those works all utilize dark imagery, but Kay said that’s entirely on purpose.

“He likes things darker, as an example of people who like to be more honest with the image, and certain scenarios and scenes are dark,” Kay said. “‘When They See Us,’ I know, was dark and smoky, but it was meant to be this organic, visceral experience where these kids are suffering.”

Lighting darker skin tones can also lead to problems for cinematographers, and the industry has only recently begun to acknowledge the inequity faced by Black actors and other people of color on screen. Many of the technologies used for lighting have been historically calibrated for white people, which is why the work of cinematographers like Young and Ava Berkofsky on “Insecure” has contributed so much to the craft.

In terms of his work on “Joker” (2019), photographed by Lawrence Sher, and “Venom” (2018), photographed by Matthew Libatique, Kay said the dark visuals were justified.

“‘Joker’ wasn’t even that dark to me,” Kay said. “It was more dark in theme. I don’t feel like you’re struggling to see it. It’s more like it takes place at night a lot of times or on subways or things like that. You know, the lights are going on and off … It’s all practically motivated.”

Beyond aesthetic or practical motivation, though, sometimes the reason for a scene’s dark lighting is much more mundane. If a movie utilizes special effects makeup or if a shot picks up lighting cables in the background, the darkness provides a great solution for hiding things that filmmakers don’t want the audience to notice. The modern techniques of CGI and VFX editing can fix the issue, but for lower budget projects, the old-school way is often much easier.

“‘Just paint it black’ is literally the answer to everything,” Kay said. “‘Alien’ is a great example of hiding things like prosthetics, all that kind of stuff. Those prosthetics look real, because they’re in a real environment and they’re lit realistically. To light them more, you start to reveal that they’re fake.”

Adjust Your TV

But, regardless of why an image seems dim, Kay has a few tips for making sure you have the best shot at seeing a film the way it was intended. He suggested Googling the make and model of your TV set to learn how to neutralize the settings, adding, “If a window outside is pointing at your screen, you’re fighting an uphill battle.”

When it comes to your local movie theater, keep an eye out for smudged screens or washed-out picture quality, and alert the theater manager. Make a point of patronizing cinemas that prioritize the viewer experience, such as AMC’s Dolby Cinemas or Alamo Drafthouse.

When it comes to lack of control over how someone will watch one of the projects on which he spends months perfecting the imagery, Kay takes the challenges of his work in stride.

“Most people are gonna be watching this on an airplane or an iPhone anyway,” Kay said, “but that doesn’t stop you from trying.”

#film #cinema #cinematography #lightning

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voidendron · 2 years ago

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Alternatively, would you want to tell us about some of the eery mermaid backgrounds, or is it more concepts/vibes than actual stories? (~Dina) ❤️

I'll have you know I'm rubbing my little hands together and grinning like the gd Cheshire Cat right now ajskdl;asjkd Thank you, Dina! 💚💜

It's a little of both, to be honest! Xaerez and Jen are the most fleshed out with actual tales for them, the rest are more-so concepts/vibes.

For Xae and Jen, I made little snippets for both of them a long time ago, so I'll post those and explain a bit more about them!

Xaerez:

The tall tales of old fishermen? Or an ocean predator lurking just beneath the surface..?

They say his hair is made of venomous barbs, his teeth like needles, and claws of steel. They say he’s only ever seen during nasty storms that make the waves rage and tear at the hulls of ships caught in the middle of it all.

They say he waits, watches, for the storm to tear a ship apart to provide a bountiful feast...

He's never been seen by humans save for his shadow beneath the surface, but the stories are enough. He's dangerous, and is said to follow ships for days or even weeks waiting on that perfect storm. Some believe he even helps the storm tear a ship apart.

Jen:

Fishermen say they often hear beautiful songs, far out in the fog. Songs, that promise their greatest desires. Wealth, or love, or fame - anything between, and beyond.

They warn to never follow the song, for a siren’s razor-sharp claws await…

As the tale says, he's a siren. Where Xaerez waits for storms to do the job to give him a meal, Jen lures sailors in himself.

And for concepts I have for some others, but haven't yet figured out how to write their tales:

Terrin: A protective mother with the teeth of a shark

Synnda and Qizulth: Often seen as a pair, curious, cause unintentional damages in their attempts to learn

Varrich: A recluse, doesn't take kindly to his territory being encroached on - especially by humans. Severe injuries, likely from failed attempts to capture or kill him. Just wants to be left alone

Leo: The guide. Points lost sailors in the direction of the nearest land, or leads them through deadly waters - but can also be incredibly dangerous to those foolish enough to attempt to harm or capture her.

#voids ocs #oc: rediaex'aere'zortiea #oc: jen sept #oc: ar'eonis'terrinxx #oc: synnda v'ehsz #oc: qizulth verryn #oc: varrich tophrik #oc: leo vetiko #mermaid au #answered ask #justanothermainblog

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theauthor0 · 2 years ago

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JT!Void

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GENERAL INFO

=======================

Void is the fused version of DT!Rain that fuses Last!Tale Frisk, Ash!Papyrus, and Abyss!Sans

An not so normal amalgamate that keeps his form

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BACKSTORY

=======================

This originates in Abyss!Tale setting with minor differences

The papyrus in this Au had an accident in hotland, where he fell into the lava but the CELLs in his soul kept evolving to withstand the lava

Eventually leading into Papyrus bones being turned to black similar to Ash as well as gaining two new abilities being that his body now constantly produces smoke and learning fire magic

However after this incident Papyrus personality changed, now being more hot tempered and cold hearted

After the human fell even more accidents had occurred and while unknown it caused Papyrus, Sans, and Frisk to fuse into 1 being as well as being transported outside their Au in the void

They were then found by Mainframe who took them to the Omega Timeline and gave them the name Void

=======================

PHYSICAL INFO

=======================

Art made by CD

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PERSONALITY

=======================

Void has the kind person similar to a passive Frisk but also the seriousness and comedy of Sans

However Void can at times can have a outburst of Rage making them very violent

Besides that they mostly have the same personality as DT!Rain

=======================

COMBAT INFO

=======================

(Statistics)

(Traits)

CELL Justice Soul: Void possess the Justice trait and Cells in his soul. The Cells are the true definition of evolution, they can create their own energy that can surpass magic. The cell core/soul has evolved into the next stage, making JT!Void, magic surpass regular monster magic. Void can create shields, chains, and some energy from his CELL.

Incredible Regeneration: Abyss is able to regenerate his wounds due to technically being a amalgamate. For instance, a small injury can be healed in 1 second and mild or medium injuries can be healed in 2 seconds. If he had severe injuries (such as destroyed limbs or other major fractures), it can take 3 seconds.

Energy Detecting: Void can detect every energy of living beings within a certain distance

Immunity to all viruses, illnesses, venom and toxic: Due to the cells within their soul, they can never get sick

Immunity to code modifications and hacking: The cells provide protection against any changes to his code and code deletion

Extreme temperature immunity: No matter how cold or hot a place is, it does not effect Void even if you set him on fire or dump lava on him

(Abilities/Attacks)

Bow of Justice: Void can summon a yellow Bow, they are able to create Arrows of Justice to use as ammo. These arrows have better tracking, precision, and are faster than normal arrows. Void can also apply different effects on the arrows making them split into multiple arrows or home, however this takes more magic and he has no control what effect the arrow might have, he can control which arrows have effects tho

Fire magic: Self explanatory

Au hopping: The ability to jump between Alternate Universes. (Does this by traveling through the void)

Gaster blaster: Can summon a singular Gaster Blaster that is eight times more powerful however they can only summon 1 and can only summon it again after 1 hour

Bone Manipulation: He can summon bones both blue and orange however they constantly change with Void having no control over it. He can also summon cell bones which contain cells that can inflict energy and electric bursts to an opponent causing them to be inflicted with paralysis however he has no control over when he can summon them.

(Weaknesses)

-The Cells in his soul cannot survive outside outside his soul, meaning if his soul is cracked it can do some serious damage

-During outbursts rage Void cannot tell who is friend or foe and just attacks everyone he can see losing all reasonings

-Void doesn’t like fighting and despite Abyss and Ash being experienced in combat, he himself is not

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CREDITS

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DT!Rain by @6nimus9

LastTale!Frisk by Mr.Rose

Ash!Papyrus by @insomniac-x

Abyss!Sans by @metakazkz

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