#a bit of Castlevania netflix reference reference

[cabe0512]

I don't know why but I'm so obsessed recently with writing a fanfiction adaptation of Castlevania: Curse of Darkness and I feel like I want to give it a shot.

My vision is that it combines the story/characters from both the game and the tie-in manga (add in a bit of lore from Judgment in there) while being an unofficial follow-up to N!Castlevania, tying up all loose ends and character arcs from Season 4 and retconning Nocturne from existence (more on that later!).

Don't get me wrong, I liked the first two seasons of the original show but it all went downhill for the third season all the way to Nocturne (the latter which, as a hardcore fan of the series, left an awful taste in my mouth). My general perspective of the show also turned very sour as soon as I played the games and took a deeper look into its lore.

Outlining the story, it's going to include Hector as the main protagonist with a much deeper focus on his relationship with Rosalie, whom I reimagined as the twin sister of the witch Julia Laforeze.

Since Hector has become my favorite character in the game, it saddened me just how much he's been treated in the show, both within the storyline and outside of it (looking at you, Ellis!). So I wanted to give him a little bit of justice and redemption for this one.

Carrying on from Season 4, this would give me the opportunity to start his character arc from scratch and gradually transform from the person we ended the N! show with into the badass that headlined the original PS2 game.

Some characters who appeared in the game - like Trevor Belmont, Isaac, Saint Germain - won't be included due to how vastly different they've become compared to their game counterparts (for better or for worse).

Instead, their roles within the story are being filled in with new characters, mostly those that were left out from the games but should've been included in the original show to begin with (cough Grant cough).

Another aspect that I want to include in this story is more emphasis on the magical (albeit somewhat Lovecraftian-esque) side of this universe, which I wanted to explore through Julia and Rosalie as well as Hector's evolution as a Forgemaster.

I feel like making Castlevania too grounded ALA Game of Thrones came at the expense of the gothic/fantasy aesthetic the games were known for. The Infinite Corridor is only a gist of that, but it even felt underwhelming for how little it was utilized at all.

On the topic of loose ends, I feel like the show left so many more questions than answers when it ended. There were two characters whose ultimate fates are left in the wind, a plot hole which I found too egregious to ignore, combined with an ending so convoluted it nearly ruins the purpose of the games that follow it down the timeline.

In the process of fixing those issues while taking reference from the original games' lore for solutions, I ended up making an alternate timeline separate from the Netflix canon. This occurred when, in planning the finale of the story, I would have to address the consequences that the actions of the characters bring to the overall timeline.

Due to this, the timeline would remain relatively unchanged from the games' canon minus a few changes (such as Dracula's appearances, though his presence is more prominent). As a bonus, this would also mean completely ignoring/retconning the events of Nocturne (Rondo of Blood still happens albeit very differently, as that's a story I want to write about next).

All in all, I'm currently writing the first chapter now, sharing a few snippets at a time whilst doing so. I appreciate your time in reading this post.

[commenter2]

The Show Must Go On episode review (Hazbin Hotel S1 finale)

The finale of season 1 of Hazbin Hotel. MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW! Also long post warning

Did the title of the episode strangely remind anyone else of the failed videogame “Showdown Bandit”? Anyone?

Charlie wishing her mom was there. Likely foreshadowing her appearing near the end.

Charlie really likes a man in uniform. Maybe take some notes on that Vaggie XD.

Looks like we got a glimpse at how Niffy sees the world, which is apparently similar to Randy Cunningham when as the Ninja.

Again CHARLE=PURITY

I’m not liking how Pentious said that quote about living and dying.

During Al’s speech, you can see Charlie realizing that Pen likes Cherri and being happy for him. Charlie is Pen X Cherri shipper confirmed XD

Could Al be really starting to care about the others?

Angel X Husk and Pen X Cherri fanservice, Charlie liking the last one XD

Oh now Cherri is interested in Pen.

COME ON, KISS YOU TWO! YES!!!

Gross, Adam’s personality is rubbing off on Lute. Even Adam is getting uncomfortable with it and considering its Adam that’s saying something.

The Heaven Bucks things sounds really fake, mostly cause I feel like money doesn’t exist/is necessary for Heaven.

WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE OUTFITS CHARLIE AND VAGGIE ARE WEARING!?! And why am I getting She-Ra/RWBY vibes from them? Also Charlie is wearing her crown, cute.

I’m intrigued by Charlie’s shield cause I was kind of expecting to see Charlie use her pitchfork along with it, but the shield is still a nice bit of symbolism for how she wants to protect people and not harm anyone…that much. It also shows that she and Vaggie are a great team/couple as Charlie is the defense while Vaggie is the offense.

My fellow DEATH BATTLE fans (which is hopefully a lot of you) get ready to analyze Charlie’s powers, skills, and feats in this fight!

Al’s shield being another feat of how powerful Alastor is, though I wonder if his recent deal with Charlie helped with it?

Aww come one Niffty finally has a chance to go all psycho and all we see is her just stabbing corpses!

While Charlie’s crown is black on the outside, its gold on the inside/other side. Not only do I think this is a Dante’s Inferno reference (it reminds me of the hypocrites’ part but reversed) it also symbolizes how even though she is the daughter of the Devil, Charlie is still a good person.

Alastor’s using shadow jutsu!

OK I DID NOT SEE AL’S VOICE CHANGING after his cane got destroyed. At least this explains how those times I noticed his voiced changed in previous episodes.

Valentino was really saddened when Vox said seeing Alastor about to die was better then sex XD. It’s also funny cause there is a similar line in Netflix’s Castlevania series, which I could definitely see fans making parodies of soon.

Wait WTF is going on now with his voice? Ugh.

That’s our Charlie, even when in a war she is still apologizing. Also her glitter is WAY more effective than Dale Gribble’s pocket sand XD

Also if you slow down the scene enough, you can see that Charlie’s shield damaged and dented the angelic spear, meaning its likely made of something stronger then the angelic steel mentioned by Carmilla in “Hello Rosie”

Charlie shooting fireworks from her fingertips, a nice example of her powers AND a callback to the pilot.

NO NOT THE EGGBOIS! Luckily Angel finally used his secret set of arms to save one of them, we even get to hear his theme song.

And Pen X Cherri fans REJOICED! Also again showing how shallow Cherri can be.

Aww this can’t be goWHAT THE FUCK! I couldn’t even finish writing this sentence because of how fast Pen’s death was! I mean it was implied he was going to die but I thought it be more dramatic than that! Can the Helluva Boss writers at least do this for when they finally kill Striker, or have it happen in my episode idea where Moxxie and his father in law do it?

OOO ITS TIME FOR CHALIE’S DEMON FORM. And in a Sailor Moon kind of way too.

WAIT THAT’S IT? It’s just her regular horns and a tail. The writers really need to amp up these “full demon” forms of the characters as this, Ozzie’s, and Mammon’s forms have been really disappointing to me especially when compared to Stolas and even Helsa’s odd form from the pilot. I hope that this is some kind of semi form or one of many transformations of Charlie’s, and her REAL demon form is something more monstrous but it results in her losing control.

I do like Razzle and Dazzle being dragons, as I did recall them having such a power but this is better than what I was thinking they’d transform into.

DAZZLE NO! At least he died protecting Charlie.

VAGGIE VS. LUTE ROUND 2 (ding ding sound effect from episode)

(Adam slaps Charlie) Again we need fanart of Lucifer and Lilith kicking Adam’s ass.

So a part of me likes that Vaggie spared Lute cause it shows she is better than the so called “angel”, but a part of me knows this is going to bite back later on.

Lute riping her own arm off just proves the previous statement. Still I wonder what a cyborg angel will be like.

You can control fire and shoot fireworks from your fingers, you these things to make Adam let go of you Charlie!

SO Adam is wearing a mask, like I brought up before. I wonder what he looks like under it.

I’m not mad at Lucifer coming in late, cause he likely couldn’t as he probably realized it would just lead to more problems involving Heaven, but again he shows that he is the best dad so far in the series by coming in to save Charlie. Take notes Stolas!

Huh, Adam looks pretty normal looking, even looks a bit like Lute. I was expecting something really ugly under the mask like a pale complexion, sweat, and an unshaven face especially since he has worm that the entire time we have seen him.

OH HO now were getting that Adam ass kicking. Too bad that line from Lucifer kind of ruined it. I mean I can kind of see it being on brand with his goofy personality but still.

Again no one is saying Lilith’s name here. Also I know Lucifer is likely joking about him and Eve being together and just referencing the apple, but I really want to hear Lucifer say he’s only been with Lilith for all his life, then took a break after the divorce.

“NOT THE HOTEL”, is what I would be saying if the trading cards weren’t released early. Still devastating to see.

Like when Adam was choking her, Charlie had the means to save herself there as she is confirmed to have wings. Maybe their waiting for a special occasion to use them.

(Charlie transforms) What was that? At least this confirms that Charlie can transform and confirm that hoove/foot idea I brought up in the last review. I wonder if this is some kind of power from her mother?

Okay Lucifer’s demon form is pretty good. This does make me wonder what that shadow thing of his form the pilot is, if that is still canon. Hopefully it is and it confirms that Charlie can have multiple demon forms.

Holy crap they killed Adam off and Death by Niffy no less! I mean I wanted Adam and Lute to get out of the picture so someone better could take the role of angelic antagonist, but I never thought they would just kill Adam off. At least Vaggie is really happy about this, and I don’t blame her XD. It’s nice to see her smile like this.

Again we see that Lucifer has restraint, which is still interesting.

Lute took his halo. I sense some trouble coming from this. Fingers crossed that it involves how Heaven is okay with Adam being gone, and Lute becoming the thing she hates to destroy Hell AND the “traitors” of Heaven.

I’m still mix on Katie Killjoy being voiced by Brandon. It is making me wonder if Katie was always going to be like this or if they’re altering her to be more like Brandon’s female characters like Bryce. I mean I always though Katie would have a role where she just keeps spreading bad things about Charlie’s hotel, even making things up/ hire others to cause trouble for Charlie so the news can keep reporting on her. Heck she is even thanking them which I never saw pilot Katie never doing through she could be doing it to save face on livestream television. It’s still a funny idea and it has even remined me that there was a time in animation where shows had reoccurring characters whose main thing about them was being obvious references to other fictional or even real characters like Total Drama had characters such as Harold being a Napoleon Dynamite parody and Anne Maria referencing Snooki, Dr. Orpheus from the Venture Bros. was a cheap Dr. Strange knockoff (but still really funny), and there is one character in Atop the 4th Wall that I won’t spoil here cause it’s that crazy, so check it out for yourselves when you can.

Another cameo of Baxter and ARACKNISS!

I also wonder if the Exterminations will be put to a halt here as pointed out in the sliding text on the news channel. It would be interesting to see if Hell really does have an overpopulation problem, and what that would look like.

I’m surprised the V’s aren’t reacting to this more, more so with Vox but it’s likely that he saw the fight with Adam and Alastor and now has a plan on destroying Alastor. That would be cool to see in the next season.

THANK GOD FAT NUGGETS SURIVED! I think VIvzie would have had a riot on her hands if she allowed him to die.

Lucifer said the episode title!

So it looks like Alastor DID care for the others, but now he is dedicated to getting his freedom back from what I still think could be the Lilith imposter who will also be an upcoming deadly force/threat

KeeKee has a Keyblade form!

Yeah Vox and Val are definitely going to use this news for personal gain. The real question is if Velvette will aid them, as her recording them say all this feels like she will try and go out on her own, dragging her allies down in the process. Fitting given her song from “Scrambled Eggs”.

Nice song, great that both Sir Pentious AND Dazzle got memorials, and the new hotel looks amazing as it has a little bit of symbolism from all the others like Husk’s casino vibe and Angel’s career.

PEN IS IN HEAVEN! Emily is loving it while Sera looks confused and scared, BOTH cause she has never saw this happen before or knows that this will kick off some serious consequences like a version of the Armageddon prediction. This is great as now even if the recent fan theory of Emily becoming a fallen angel happens, Charlie now has another ally in Heaven to help spread her redemption plan on that side of things, great for what I can see happening in the next season.

Oh hey everyone its “Lilith”. Yeah I still believe in the “Imposter Lilith” theory that I’ve been talking about lately, and the sunglasses bit adds to it since it is hiding her eyes, like how her face was covered in “Dad Beat Dad”. Plus there have been many times in stories where sunglasses were used to hide something in fiction. Also in the past, we’ve gotten info on her saying how she would like to fight against Heaven, so its odd that she would want sanctuary in it unless she has plans that involve her being there. The biggest clue would have to be that the real Lilith would likely have cheered when she heard Adam was dead. I did talk about how the Imposter could likely want to destroy everything, so for all we know she is pretending to be Lilith who wanted sanctuary in Heaven (if they even know she is there) which is all just a ruse to get info on how to destroy Heaven to fulfill her life’s work and if anything ever happens, the Imposter can rely on her servant Lute and the Exorcist to aid her.

I will admit that it COULD be the real Lilith. I did make a recent post on my Tumblr going over how I think Lilith actually recruited the Imposter to help her take down Heaven a peg a long item ago, but she eventually realized the Imposter had bigger plans that involved destroying everything in existence and Lilith has since been trying to stop the Imposter. At one point things could have gotten so bad to a point that she had to hide in Heaven (again if they even know she is there) until she thought of a plan to stop it like having Lute work for her (again maybe Al works for the Imposter) and similar to what I have in my “Season 1 is a test for Charlie” Lilith knew Adam wasn’t up for the task of defending everyone from the Imposter, so she had to install Lute as leader of the Exorcist so there would be at least a small capable army to fight against the Imposter/upcoming threat if things got bad. However now that Charlie’s redemption plan is getting more support and is proven to be true, Lilith could be scared that the Imposter could go after her and Lucifer next, so I think next season she will try and convince Charlie to stop her goals until they have a plan of stopping the Imposter. Maybe since she made a deal with Lute, she has no choice but to stop Charlie or risk losing the one chance they have at saving everything from the Imposter…until she learns that her daughter was able to make an army to stop the Exorcist which could lead to Lilith changing her mind and maybe think that Heaven and Hell should work together to stop the Imposter/big threat. Even then there could be consequences as we don’t know what exactly happens if a deal with a demon is ever broken. Would said demon die or would the natural of the forces of the universe go crazy until something happens? For any non Percy Jackson fans and those that don’t care about spoilers for it, look up “Trials of Apollo” and “River Styx” to get an understanding of what I mean by broken deals.

That was a GREAT episode AND a great finale for the first season of Hazbin Hotel.

We got tons of action, drama, suspense, fanservice, and mystery just like how I like my shows. The finale was really good cause its on track for what I’ve been saying I would like to see Charlie go through when it comes to the next step of trying to convince the people of Heaven and Hell her redemption plan is a good thing in general for the afterlife.

The only minor problems I have with it is that they didn’t utilize Niffty as much as I thought they would in the battle.

When it comes to the season as a whole it was great, with episode 4 being the worst as we all knew those events were coming but thanks to Helluva Boss it was made less serious to me.

I also agree with other fans that biggest problem the season had was that there should have been more episodes. I mean people know how popular Hazbin Hotel AND Helluva Boss is so it’s a bit odd that they didn’t get more then 8 episodes, especially since they aren’t the usual hour long episodes that are everywhere. Not to mention how half the season came out all at once here on Amazon Prime.

Apparently this is a big problem with Amazon Prime shows in general, BUT luckily given how well received the whole season has been (wordplay pun not intended), I’m hopeful that this will convince the people at A24 and Prime to give Vivzie and the HH cast more funding to make MORE episodes for next season, like maybe 14 this time. Sure this could delay the release of season 2, which is apparently already being made, but I bet I’m not alone when I say I’d be okay with such a delay if it means more Hazbin Hotel.

Hopefully next season though there are less trailers and clips released, another reason why there should be more episodes to help dimmish such things, AND if there is another early release on A24 it should just be like 2 days before the season comes on Amazon Prime and NOT a whole week.

I’m also calling it now that the season 2 episode premiere of Hazbin Hotel will start with a news segment with Katie Killjoy and Tom Trench recapping some of the events of last season and telling us what has happened to both the characters and Hell/Heaven since the finale. I also predict that Lilith, whether the real one or the Imposter posing as her, will appear at the end of said episode starting off that season’s main story.

I definitely want to hear your thoughts on not only this episode, but also on the entire season so don’t be shy. What do you think/hope will happen in season 2? What kind of episodes or stories would you like to see in the next season? What theories do you have?

LET ME HEAR IT!!!

[aimzicr]

Okay I saw Last Voyage of the Demeter! I have thoughts. As someone who spent three years essaying about Dracula, as a fan and student of literature-to-film adaptations/transformations, and just as a reader and listener of Daily Dracula and Re: Dracula, I have thoughts. Mild spoilers below the cut, but nothing that would ruin the experience completely if you haven't seen/can't see it.

But please be aware: Dracula DOES go about in his Lizard Fashion™.

I wasn't expecting a one-to-one transformation of the Demeter's Log to make it on screen. After all, the story of men being silently hunted until all are dead makes for a great dread-inducing setpiece for Stoker's novel, but not so much for a standalone film. I did enjoy seeing how the story took the 'based on' as far as they could before they started stretching it.

I did have a quiet laugh as the first title-card almost seemed to suggest this was REAL and TRUE EVENTS for a second. Way to get me engaged and reference the epistolary nature of the original novel.

But yes, the story does get turned into a bit of a Last Girl Horror Movie, because they see and know there's something wrong and they're actively fighting against it, even as they get picked off one by one. An interesting take, a pretty damn good method of turning a bleak setpiece into a proper standalone story.

Dot points to follow, before I forget:

The opening with the wagons moving through the countryside was breathtakingly beautiful

(I couldn't help but think 'oh they're wearing the same hats my good friend Jonathan Harker wrote about')

The captain's log being read aloud, word for word, in quieter moments was very very good. (And, of course, by this point I know it word-for-word, so picking up on the small tweaks was quite a delight).

I enjoyed hearing the familiar names as we're introduced to the crew.

The captain's decision to retire and pass the ship on does make me reconsider the mate's stoic nature in the story as a man dedicated to his duty, rather than just an antisocial asshole. Always nice to consider things from a new angle.

Chekov's Black Dog (kind of a missed opportunity to not show Dracula using a mockery of Huck to escape, but this wasn't a one-to-one transformation of texts as I said; also no reference to a black dog being an omen of death? Missed opportunity.)

Dracula being the only one on the ship being allowed to eat meat, just a glimpse of his hypocrisy and tyranny

(Though I'm not a huge fan of modern vampires being depicted as messy eaters, Netflix's Castlevania etc: just DRINK THE BLOOD stop biting people and letting them BLEED EVERYWHERE, did your mother not teach you dining etiquette???)

"Can this disease be passed to people?" "No. Not without a bite" very cute.

The initial reveal of the face in the spyglass FUCK that was terrifying.

Considering inwardly 'why he look like that? We know he was an aristocrat when he left his castle -- wait, hang on, is this what happens when vampires get seasick? When they cross running water? They stop wearing clothes and go feral?' before I turned off my brain and stopped thinking about Seasick Naked Count Dracula

They really did need to add this new character, because the audience and the crew both needed the context and information. Otherwise, how could the crew fight back? RIP to canon, I guess, (but look at it this way: once Mina starts putting all the letters together, she gives Hellsing and the others the necessary information to kill Dracula, so... not too much of a reach?)

But Dracula, sir, bringing along a snack for the road and it ISN'T our friend Jonathan Harker?

The subtle reveal-and-conceal in the early parts of the voyage of Dracula's face and form was well done and genuinely terrifying. Just the parts where you look away for just a second and he's gone? Fuck.

"No, please! D:" "No, please~ :3"

HE'S GOING ABOUT IN HIS LIZARD FASHION AGAIN. THAT BOY AIN'T RIGHT.

Knock Knock. Who's there? Not your friend, that's for sure. (Dracula stealing this is Fucked Up, in the best way. He takes EVERYTHING from you! :) )

Vampirism as possession is an excellent way to recontextualise its parasitic history/links

Where's that tumblr post about how you can tell what a good horror film is? 'This movie's great, a kid DIES in it!'

Seeing the cloth move a second before the captain says 'I saw him move' but doubting myself. I didn't see that, right? It was just the wind. Right?

Oh. It wasn't the wind.

Men of Strength overpowered, Men of Faith made to doubt, Men of Reason rattled by answers that make no sense, and the Innocent hunted down. Dracula as a force of Pure Terror that tests one's character (and then eats, because he's a boyar and he dines on the cattle of his choosing)

Did he just slam this guy down so hard his BRAIN popped out of his skull, holy shit

'In my country, there's no-one else for him to feed on' what, do people go stale after a few bites? Dracula's a picky eater?

'He's rationing' puts the journey into even greater context. A chilling sentence in the film and in the broader understanding of the Demeter's place in the novel.

a Cool Plan to Survive The Monster is very action-movie, but I knew it wouldn't work (sorry, sometimes the spoilers/pre-knowledge ruin things)

'This is my home.' Augh. 'I'll do it.' AUGH.

The slow creeping fog rising up (like hands? like an embrace?) in the final hours was CHEF'S KISS. Beautiful effect

(Also loved the effect of the wind from His Wings displacing the fog, too. Even if you don't see him, you can see where he's been)

"What's going on?" "He knows." Oh. Well. Fuck.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter isn't told from the Captain's perspective, so much of the man's nobility and sacrifice in the name of duty is lost (even to the point that his iconic death pose is capital-m Mocked by The Dracula (almost like the old BAsTard was like 'I know you've read Stoker's book but I'm here to fuck with you, dear audience'). The Captain isn't the Final Girl in this horror movie, but they do give him a proper end as far as the film goes, even if he does get a lot more rattled and shaken than his log might suggest

There's also a sense of blurred intertextuality in vampire lore here, because they drew heavily on the Hammer Films/Buffy The Vampire Slayer context of 'vampires burning in sunlight'. Not truly Stoker's Dracula...

... then again, Dracula has a very particular Design, and is credited in the crawl as 'Dracula/Nosferatu'. He was for sure Count Orlock, rather than Dracula.

Knock Knock. I'm here watching you :3

That brief touch from Dracula as he leaves the bar was - fuck, it was a split second to make a poor man flinch, but in that brief touch was the playful terror of a tyrant: I own you, I don't fear you, you can't stop me, I control you. Nothing you said to me on the Demeter had any effect on me and you are just meat. Ta ta, darling~

The movie ending with a new survivor, the potential for a new vampire hunter, was very good. Instead of the Log of the Demeter ending in bleak despair and all hands lost, instead we have a man galvanised and ready to fight against evil, even if he has to do it alone.

Music kicked ass. Very raw, very primal, very Gothic Victoriana

Lots of fun! It felt a little like they were setting up for an Extended Dracula Universe (I hope I'm misinterpreting) but I did like how Getting To Live after a traumatic experience leads to 'Fuck this guy, he's not getting away with this in the future'. Like I said before, we wanted the monster back so we could kill it, so I appreciate that's the vibe they went with for LVotD. A little bleak? Sure. But the fact that people are willing to keep fighting, even in the direst circumstances with the odds against them? That's what we need. That's what it's all about.

[beevean]

Your essays on castlevania and why the games outshine the Netflix version got me interested. While I’ve yet to see the entirety of castlevania nocturne, I can’t help but feel a growing sense that these characters deserve better. Like there’s something off with the castlevania references. There’s no real love in them.

And the action scenes are flashy and cool, but that’s as bits and not as a whole.

And I remember wondering how much netflixvania jumped the shark with a nobody cult or two trying to resurrect Dracula over and over again, until I read your explanation that Dracula and the belmonts are thematically forever bound to each other. In an eternal dance of life or death. Netflix just executed that theme in a way that feels…Netflix voltron-y. Like they’re out of ideas or are conflicted in what to write.

I didn’t even learn that the morning star has a soul connected to it until recently. Netflix could’ve explored that more!

Furthermore, if it’s true in game that elizabeth the vampire was Dracula’s niece, they could’ve explored that in the Netflix adaptation on how much are family ties innate to your nature! Like how the belmonts are tied to fighting and vampire slaying, especially against Dracula.

Final note, I wonder if there’s an exploration if a progeny adopted into the Belmont family can defeat Dracula or is that skill always tied to blood. The most I could think of an adopted progeny taking down Dracula is shanoa, and she’s an adopted sister tied to an organization after the belmonts vanished. Or maybe I missed something?

"There's no real love in them" yes, that's it. Nothing else needs to be added. Those shows are made with arrogance and spite in mind, and the Deats brothers and Adi Shankar can call themselves fans all they want, it's obvious that they start from a premise of "how can we improve on the stupid games?". (Warren Ellis was much more honest about his lack of care)

Eh, it wasn't even over and over. In Season 3 there was this cult who wanted to resurrect Dracula but didn't get anywhere close to it (because S3 was a waste of time, especially Trevor&Sypha's story), and in Season 4 Death managed to do it, but only to drive him even more mad by stitching him to Lisa so that he'd go on a rampage again and give Death souls to eat - Death working to bring Dracula back to life is a recurring element in the games, but because Death is Dracula's most loyal servant, not to use him as a pawn. I pointed out how this change devalues Dracula even further. And no, since Trevor did not kill Dracula himself, he let himself be killed by Alucard, the whole point of the cycle of death and rebirth officially doesn't exist in the Netflixverse. This is why Nocturne had to create a stupid Sun Thundercat who recycles Princess Luna's plan as the main antagonist.

(small correction: it's not the Morning Star specifically that has a soul in it, it's the Vampire Killer! The MS is basically an upgraded version of the VK, not a separate weapon as in the show)

The show has this ugly tendency to take minor characters and, instead of using their untapped potential, turn them into OCs out of convenience. Erzsébet was Dracula's niece who caused WWI? You can explain her tie to Dracula, or her desire to bring chaos to humanity! No, she's Sun Thundercat now. Olrox was a rat-like vampire who lived in his own quarters in Dracula's castle and could turn into a lizard? Who is he, why is Dracula allowing another vampire to live with him? Nah, he's an Aztec sex idol now. Drolta was a witch who served Erzsébet? Nice, give us an old magician to fight! No, she's Female Isaac now. Isaac himself was turned from a compelling, tragic and fun antagonist, if not on the stereotypical side, into a completely different character that ended up stealing another character's personality, and with a much more boring design to boot. And these OCs end up replacing the original minor characters, and fans fly in droves to them, while praising the show for "improving" the stupid source material :\

As for the last part: yes, it's blood magic. The Morris Clan (John Morris from Bloodlines, Johnatan Morris from Portrait of Ruin, and the unseen Quincy Morris from Dracula lmao) are related to the Belmont Clan, and they hold the VK from the 1800s to 1999, but it's then revealed that they can't use it too much or the soul inside will consume them: John died this way, and refused to teach his son how to use it. Maria Renard is also said to be a very distant relative of the Belmonts, although her accomplishments are played for laughs :P The three heroes with absolutely no ties to the Belmonts are Alucard, Hector and Shanoa, and all three defeat Dracula by using his own power against him: Alucard because he's his son, Hector because he was imbued with Dracula's magic when he learned Devil Forging, and Shanoa because she absorbed the Dominus glyphs which contained his remains.

[alpaca-clouds]

Also, the thing with Hector

You, after blogging about the entire Trevor thing, I really wanna write about something else, too. And that is Hector. Because steady as clockwork there will be tweets on Twitter and blogs here on tumblr, about how horribly written Hector supposedly is and how little sense his role in the animated series supposedly makes.

And, honestly, as an autistic person this almost feels a bit hurtful.

Because… Look, I have no idea whether it happened on purpose or accidentally (there is just a large number of neurodiverse folks running around in creative areas after all), Hector very much reads as a neurodiverse, possibly autistic character. And as such, yes, he very much makes sense as a character to a lot of autistic folks.

Yeah, yeah, I know, a lot of folks will be like: “But why make him a general?” To which I will just look in confusion, because, well… A) Dracula explains his reasoning (Hector and Isaac are humans aligning with his goals, hence he deems them more trustworthy than the other vampires). B) We know forgemasters are rare (probably, because they get hunted down by the church) and the two might well be the only forgemasters he knows. And he needs forgemasters and had to make sure they were loyal. C) It is not as if Dracula is of sound mind – while the other vampire generals only listen to the two forgemasters, because Dracula tells them to.

And everything else kinda makes sense, too, especially reading him as autistic. He is a victim of child abuse, he clearly has some developmental delay (several characters refer to him as being “child-like”) and he is really bad at reading other people’s intentions (again, something that very much speaks for him being neurodiverse in some capacity), leading to him easily getting manipulating. It might be noted that the fact, that over the entire course of the series, no matter how much shit he gets put through, he never actually cries, also speaks to this.

The thing that most annoys me, though, is how people will then argue, that his game version was better written, which… it is just not? I am sorry, in general I like the Castlevania games, but as written in the Trevor rant this morning: The 3D games are the exception. I hate them. All four of them. With St. Germain (yes, the one character, where I agree that the series kinda did him dirty) as the sole exception, I think that Curse of Darkness is horribly written.

And you know what? The reason I consider the Netflix version of St. Germain to be bad, is the same reason I hate the game version of Hector: Their sole reason for acting is a refrigerated woman. Their entire motivation in the plot is a woman getting lost (in the case of Netflix!St. Germain) or killed (in the case of Game!Hector). Though, really, Game!Hector takes is to a whole new level, because he then goes, finds a woman who happens to look like the refrigerated girlfriend, shrugs and goes living with her. Which is just… Wow, that is just such horrible writing!

Just the disdain that game has for the female characters in question… Thanks, I fucking hate it.

And yes, I am very much aware that the manga exists. But… It really does not make things better, doesn’t it, except from giving Rosaly some basic character instead of making her the “quickly mentioned dead girl, who gets replaced by Julia”. But to be frank, the heel-face-turn still does not make a lot more sense with that context added.

Really, I cannot shake the feeling, that the main issue, folks have with Hector’s arc in the series, is, that it categorically refuses to give them a power fantasy, aka the thing that the game obviously is all about. Hector does not get a power fantasy, he gets a disempowerment fantasy instead, his big moment of agency involving him cutting of his own finger.

But here is the thing: You can dislike that… but it is not “bad writing”. Just because you wanted that power fantasy and did not get it, it is not bad writing. Especially in an ensemble series like Castlevania it is perfectly fine, that not all characters get the big power fantasy.

And honestly, there is some shaky writing in the series. Again, St. Germain and just… season 4 is at least weirdly written. The pacing is super weird and it is just so weird, how the series shrugs off most of the trauma from season 3. And I have spoken before about how I did not like that Hector somehow forgave Lenore off-screen. But him not having a big hero moment? Yeah, I am absolutely alright with that.

[wispcherry]

second time around on the same url baby! I swear I am NOT a bot

hi okay so this is, at the moment, a fanpage. probably for fanart and mumblings and what have you. really been consumed by good omens (+ related Europeans) lately but i also get silly with poetry, geology, linguistics, art, Scooby Doo for some reason, dungeons and dragons, Zelda. I cannot stress it enough that I'm into Mitski, and everything queer under the sun. and out of it. we here at wispcherry stay goofy.

tag guides for your favoritest weird guy:

Good Omens (Good Fucking Grief Neil)

#past my ear = good omens reblogs! not my own thing

#the plume of my imaginary tante = my own ramblings about good omens.

Still working on a fanart tag because. I haven't posted fanart yet.

Supernatural (I haven't finished it so I can only post + look at so much. Grief)

#big super naturals = my own original spn posts. you're a tumblite you know what spn is

Scooby Doo

#ruh roh. reblog = this franchise consumed me at a young age

ZELDAAAAA

#skyward shitposting = im too tired for separate game tagging. love link and zelda though

Staged

#six characters in search of one single braincell = our boys.

Unhhh/Trixie Mattel/Katya Zamolodchikova

#i got a sunburn and im fucked now = definitely unhhh, until I post more this might just be an umbrella tag

gritted teeth. dungeons and dragons / dropout

#two hundred and twenty five adult blog posts = fantasy high reblogs and posts...

#hairy baby spam = the unsleeping city... oh god..

Castlevania. Drops to my Knees.

#my immortal netflix adaptation = feral about this but the hyperfixaton hasn't kicked into full swing yet

ohhhhgod. Doctor Who

#just a few days ago i was this really brilliant secondary blog = im on series 2 baby

ATLA (all versions. we don't talk about the old live action)

#the newly refurbished blog tag

ace attorney trilogy

#gay japanese and european. triple homocide

the other ones :]

#beanfreaking = just me carping around on this account. bein a little guy. reblogs and original bits

#wispy bits = it's a staged reference. it's men. it's. i like men. men related thing. women and others too. just folks i like :]. reblogs and original bits

#queue idiot. we could have been us = IM SORRY LMAO. queued bits.

if you want to get to know a brief bit about me:

Hi, my name is Monty, I'm a trans. Something. and I use he/they pronouns. 17 going on 18. Filipino-Japanese-German-Irish. It's a mouthful. Unfortunately a boykisser, luckily a ladyliker, always an appreciation for those in between. Friendly to most. Most. I think roleplaying is kind of sick (positive connotation) and that being in fandoms is positively delightful. AI is shit. Free Palestine. TERFs, MAPs, MRAs, fascists, you know the like, can fuck off. ACAB. Unless it's Inspector Constable. (Can't say much about inspectors and constables, I'm from the states.) I'm a silly guy but please be decent on the page. And off of it.

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #452: Visiting my Father, James (Super Smash Bros Ultimate)

4:50 p.m. Corneria Memorial Cemetery......

Samus: (Spotted a Wide Gravestone Nearby) This is the one?

James McCloud

A Brave Leader.....

A Loving Husband....

An Amazing Father.....

And Each and Everyone's Hero.

Rest in Peace....

Fox: Yep. (Chuckles Lightly) It's even more recognizable than it was before....(Turns to Samus) Thanks again for coming here with me, Samus.

Samus: (Smiles a Bit) No problem. I know it can be pretty difficult it is being in a cemetery all alone and junk.

Fox: I've been here by myself a long time ago. And yeah.....('Sighs Sadly') I'd be lying if I say I didn't walked out here depressed.....

Samus: Least you don't have to go through this alone anymore. We're always here for you, Fox.

Fox: (Smiles a Little) I know. Thank you.

???: You two are here too, huh?

The duo turns to see a familiar face making his way to them and James' Gravestone.

Fox: Wolf? What are you doing here?

Wolf: Visiting James. Really thought I was the only one here, honestly.....

Samus: Wait. You're saying that you and Fox's dad actually knew each other?

Wolf: Yep. We've tussled throughout the skies when I was younger. (Chuckles Lightly) I remember him being a lot more of a smart-ass than Fox ever was.

Samus: (Chuckles Lightly) Yeah. I can somewhat believe that.

Fox: (Rolls his Eyes while Groaning a Little) Whatever....

Wolf: But joking aside, he was still a humble, good to honest man. Fighting for what he thinks is right to the bitter end.

Fox: Yeah..... (Takes a good look at his father's Gravestone) That's my dad for ya. Always willing to do whatever it takes to protect those he loves and care about. No matter how hard and challenging things get.

Samus: (Smirks Playfully at Fox) He kind of reminds me of you in a way, Fox.

Fox: Yeah. Well.....I always try to do whatever I can to be the best that I can be. For my team and for myself. (Frowns a Little) Although......

Samus: Hm?

Fox: Sometimes I..... couldn't go but to think that my best..... isn't really good enough. Even after everything I've been through so far in my life.......

Wolf: Hey.

Fox: (Turns to Wolf) Yeah?

Wolf: You remember what I told you years ago? D-

Fox: "Don't hesitate. When the time comes, just act." Am I right?

Wolf: (Eyes Widened a bit before Chuckling Lightly Again) Well, I'll be damned. You actually remembered my advice.

Fox: (Chuckles Lightly) Well, it was the same advice that helped me pull through over the years. (Shrugged) So I might as well be thankful that you gave me this in the first place, Wolf.

Wolf: Whatever you say, McCloud. I'm just glad you're yourself again.

Fox: (Smiles Softly) Yeah. Me too.

Samus: Okay. I don't wanna ruin this heartfelt moment or anything, but..... I'm starting to find it weird that you two are acting friendly to one another nowadays. You sure you two aren't-

Wolf: ('Scoffs') Please. Fox wishes he would be friends with me.

Fox: (Rolled his Eyes while Crossing his Arms) I can say the same about you, 'O Donnell. I'm still surprised Isabelle has fallen for you.

Wolf: (Points his Middle Finger at Fox with a Intense Glare) Eat shit and die.

Fox: (Glares Back at his Rival) Right back at you, jackass.

Samus: (Gives the Duo a "Really?" Look) Okay. Nevermind. I can clearly see you two still hate each other. But, Fox.....

Fox: Yes, Samus?

Samus: I just wanted to let you that if you ask me, I don't think you should worry too much about your self growth or anything for that matter. (Smiles Softly) Cause I think you're good enough as it is.

Fox: Really?

Samus: Yeah. I mean, you did everything you can to protect your team and even us in some occasion. Plus, when things get risky or even frustrating, you never once gave up on yourself and always did whatever you could to push through in the end. So trust me when I say that if your dad were here right now, I'm positive that he would be very proud of you.

Fox: (Begins to Smile Sincerely while Wiping a Tear from under his Eye) You know....I really thought this would be another depressing day for me today. Hell, I never even wanted to be here at all. But now.... I'm just really glad you guys are here with me to shed some light.

Wolf: I came here in my own obligation, McCloud.....But I suppose it was...sort of nice to have company in a cemetery. Even if it happens to be you two bozos....

Samus: (Rolled Her Eyes) Likewise, Wolf.... Really. (Turns to Fox with a Small Smile) And I'm glad you're feeling better now, Fox. (Ruffles the top of Fox's Head) And like I said before, we always got your back.

Fox: I know. (Smiles Brightly) And I honestly can't thank you enough for this.

Meanwhile From the Heavens Above.....

James: (Smiles Softly at his son Below) That Bounty Hunter's right. I am proud of you. I will always be proud of you. Because no matter anyone else says, you are Fox McCloud, the leader of Star Fox and my own son.....(A Tear Fell out from his Eye) Whom I love to this very day.

@keyenuta

@cyber-wildcat

@26shann

@albion-93

@ink-correctsmashbrosbloo

@chompycroc

@ma-lemons

[appleb18]

Castlevania is the Best Netflix Cartoon Exclusive of all Time.

Out of all cartoon that came out of Netflix, Castlevania is the best Netflix exclusive cartoon series I have ever seen in a while from beginning to the end.

It truly impressive that a series based on a video game. which is usually not good, is surprisingly amazing, especially how faithful to the source material. With the end of great series, I believe it’s time to talk about how good the show is and it single handily became the best Netflix cartoon series of all time.

The Characters Are Given a Personality 

So in the game, the characters of Castlevania have a character, but in the series, the writers decided to give them a personality and works well. 

Such as Trevor Belmont, he isn’t your typical naïve hero that helps people with no questions ask, but a drunk outcast that likes to drink and sleep. His introduction is him getting beaten in a bar. It takes a while for him to realize to use his monster hunter skills to help people.

It’s not just the main cast that gets screen time but it’s also the antagonist and support characters are given the same amount of character work as the heroes. The series gives time to show their motives, and development. It makes the vampires, night creature, and supporters to Dracula more human. 

Dracula wants a peaceful life with his wife, Lisa, and spend time with his son, Alucard, but the humans have to kill his wife because they think of her as a witch. Causing him to go on a massacres the human race. 

After the downfall of Dracula, Isaac wants revenge on the people who betrayed his master and the ones who killed him. However, after traveling, and interacting with the Captain, the Merchant, and the Old Lady, all he wants is to live and build a better world for people. 

Lenore found out she was living a lie and will always live in a cage because she’s a vampire. She lived in a life to a tool for someone and her vampire nature. She despise her master, Carmillia plan for needless bloodshed to get what she wants. Her only freedom is her to commit suicide by watching the sunrise. 

The character writing is so damn amazing and I can’t believe their based off 8-bit characters with no actual character. 

The Animation is a God Send 

The animation is so breath taking and it gets better every season, especially the fight scenes. 

Castlevania References in the Series 

The references in the series to the games is well put out that it doesn’t force. 

While of course there’s the scene they use from Castlevania: Sympathy of the Night.

But there’s tons of  details that reference to the games such as 

Castle teleporter is the save room from Castlevania: Sympathy of the Night

Trevor Belmont newest weapon, the cross from most Castlevania games 

Trevor found the morning star from a hidden wall, just like every other Castlevania games. 

It just shows how much the creator and the writers knowledge of the series. 

Conclusion

Out of all Netflix cartoon series I’ve watched previously such as Hilda, She-Ra and the Princess of Power, Voltron, Kibo and the Age of Wonderbeast, and Carmen Sandiego, Castlevania is the best Netflix exclusive I’ve watched. It had good character writing, animation, and respect for the source material. I do hope the show gets a sequel series to show Dracula and Lisa traveling the world, Isaac and his night creatures, Hector writing his book, and Striga and Morana building their own kingdom, 

[sepublic]

Names for Isaac’s Night Creatures!

I got my hands on the art book for Castlevania Netflix, and it had a lot of cool stuff! Unfortunately, if you’re here for a comprehensive look at the show’s night creatures, you might be a bit disappointed... Only a few have their models shown, but never a full character model sheet; Some are depicted only in concept art, and some not at all, such as Queen B, whom we DID get an actual character model sheet for!

But amidst this disappointment, we did get lots of new information! Particularly with Isaac’s army of night creatures, my favorite... Apparently a lot of his monsters are based on creatures from African folklore, something I’d never considered, but in hindsight it makes a lot of sense! African folklore is an incredibly broad yet highly underrepresented category.

Since Castlevania is no stranger to directly naming/adapting its bestiary after folklore and myths, we may as well go with these names! Of our new names, there’s the Abada, AKA Isaac’s demonic steed;

There’s Ninki Nanka, a long and reptilian creature once compared to a Chinese dragon;

We also have mentions of a Bultungin. In folklore, this is a werehyena... So most likely this night creature, which fits the description more than anyone else;

Impundulu means Lightning Bird, so obviously these creatures (also shown in the previous picture on the right)!

They’re a particular favorite of mine, and I liked to call them Lightning Harpies before we got the art book! There’s also the Rompo, though we already know that the one we see in the show is called Rompa, according to a tweet!

Finally we have the Grootslang, which... Aside from Abada, none of the names are specified, so it’s up to the reader to figure out which Night Creature was adapted from which myth named.

The Grootslang confuses me most, because in folklore it’s described as a giant serpent... So possibly the night creature with actual scales, but some renditions of the myth give the Grootslang elephantine features.

The latter creature has more mammalian characteristics in addition to its serpentine tail, as well as the larger fangs that are more like tusks! I honestly can’t tell which of these is meant to be the Grootslang, the night creature with the spear, or the one that gets memorably killed as the first casualty against Legion.

We also have the Merman and Abel (from the games), as well as Flyseyes and Fisharoo (fully original). To cap this all off, knowing Isaac’s night creatures are named after African folklore, might I suggest Anansi as the fanon name for this spider-like creature?

Anansi is a famous spider trickster deity from Akan folklore, and this night creature’s appearance reminds me of the story of how Anansi’s legs became long and thin; To put it in a nutshell, it’s because of his hunger that led to Anansi’s limbs being pulled and stretched out like that.

The spider creature also has attention drawn to its potbelly in the art book, which COULD be a reference to that appetite, amidst the obvious drool... Is this a stretch? Perhaps. But for now, I’m happy with my suggestion of Anansi as the name for this night creature!

I might look into creatures from African myth after this... Knowing some (but not all) were inspired by that folklore makes me want to find names for the rest, same with Anansi!

[dimir-charmer]

I posted 5,445 times in 2022

That's 1,715 more posts than 2021!

33 posts created (1%)

5,412 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@blysse-and-blunder

@trainwreckgenerator

@pep-squad-lizzie

@yellowmarshmallows

@andhumanslovedstories

I tagged 919 of my posts in 2022

#yeah - 19 posts

#goncharov - 18 posts

#severance - 14 posts

#yoi - 13 posts

#nope - 10 posts

#ah - 9 posts

#gore - 8 posts

#berta - 8 posts

#the untamed - 7 posts

#tut - 7 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#absolutely about making you conform to notions of femininity and not something you do not have to 'unlearn' your distaste for pink n girly t

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Not to earnest post on main but more than ten years after I first picked it up minecraft is still delivering some of the most melancholy, sublime and wonderous experiences ive ever had playing a video game.

54 notes - Posted April 3, 2022

#4

Obsessed with how much each consecutive castlevania soundtrack sounds like its sole intent was testing the audio limits of the console the game was made for. Every available bit byte and chiptune straining to pull off bombastic synth and an organ that gallops and bellows. The speakers can barely handle as many notes as they game is trying to play at once, the music groans under the weight of its own audacity.

64 notes - Posted May 29, 2022

#3

Girl help my avoidant behaviours have made things much worse for me in the long run

70 notes - Posted March 2, 2022

#2

I love the goncharov mania it feels so vintage tumblr

Discourse about romanticizing mafia aesthetics directly under analysis posts about the movie skewering the ideal of power and masculinity advanced by mafia movies

Obsession with a character so minor even the films own credits refer to him as "Joe (ice pick)"

Reading movie concerned only with men's internal lives and relationships as homoerotic rather than misogynistic

Everyone insisting that we love Katya, #GIRLBOSS, #goodforher But when was the last time you saw a meta post ABOUT her

The dozens of gifsets of the same scene made with wildly different colour saturations than the movie

Picking a movie to be obsessed with just because its on netflix again for the 50th anniversary and creating a fandom from scratch overnight

It feels like the day after an [S] upd8 in here what can i say

4,590 notes - Posted November 20, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Girls will be like Idk why im so unproductive recently and then you ask whats going on in their life and they list eight lifestopping crisies and then say 'yeah but i should be fine :/ '

182,545 notes - Posted January 7, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[isablooo]

I know this is just me but I'm never a fan of modern vampire media using the names of pre-existing vampire characters and then making the character entirely unrelated to them (unless it's Dracula because he's so ubiquitous that idm). I've seen more characters called 'Carmilla', just because it's the first female vampire name that comes up from a quick google search, than I have seen actual adaptations of the book Carmilla!!  

Netflix Castlevania is a big perpetrator of this. I find Netflix Carmilla compelling as a character for sure!! But it was a bit of a sting getting excited when she first showed up and then coming to realise she had nothing to do with Carmilla at all, apart from living in Styria. And like, idm!! Make cool, dynamic new vampire characters!! But the need to justify their existence by tacking on the name of a pre-existing vampire character is bizarre and lazy to me???  

Also I got the biggest whiplash when Varney the vampire showed up in Netflix Castlevania. SO many questions about that weird plot twist with him, and I found it so jarring (and kinda funny) that they dressed him like a Victorian with an inverness coat so that he looked like he came straight out of the original penny dreadful despite the fact that they ESTABLISHED specifically that the show is set in the 15th century! (But that's one of my more general issues with the character designs in the show lol) 

But anyway, there's just a clear disinterest in engaging with the source material it’s referencing and yet it still tries to reference it for kudos. It comes off as a little tacky!! 

And that's why What we do in the Shadows is still the best vampire media to come out in the 21st century imho. They just get it!! The show rarely if ever mentions pre-existing vampire characters, most of the cast are original characters. Instead, if you've ever played a vampire in a movie, you're canonically a vampire in wwdits (Like Tilda Swinton is a vampire since she was in Only lovers left alive, Wesley Snipes from Blade is a dhampir etc etc) That shit is so funny. Van Helsing is also canonically real in the world of wwdits because of how he embellishes Guillermo’s character arc!

Ofc I’m not saying that including these pre-existing vampire characters is bad because I personally love 19th century vampire lit, it’s the main thing that interests me about vampires and I’m doing a whole ass dissertation on it, but I would like there to actually be engagement with the source material and the character (and their legacy) if they are included. 

[clownerymp3]

Hiya

I’m Hurit! I’m your local rabies having vampire ^_^

I use she/it/bite pronouns mainly, and most of my identity is based around female-aligned darker/more horror themed genders. My ‘main’ genders are Transmasc and Girlflux. You can refer to me with nonhuman/feminine terms.

I’m a lesbian! I identify with Aroflux, Cupioromantic, and Polyamorous as well.

I’m indigenous! I’m descended from the Siksika Blackfoot tribe. I speak very little Siksika, and grew up with little of a cultural identity, but as an older person now, I’m hoping to reconnect with my ancestors. 

I’m otherkin. I identify with a White-Tailed Deers, Fruit Doves, Vampires, and Slimes/Oozes

I’m an artist, though I prefer to use the term ‘illustrator’ and ‘writer’ since artist is a very broad term. I draw humanoids mainly, but I have experience drawing furries(anthropomorphic and feral)

My main interests right now are Castlevania (Mainly the Netflix anime, and the upcoming sequel) , DnD, and Anatomy and Physiology

Sorry if this is a bit to formal for an introduction, I have no clue how to talk to people that I don’t know

Now for the DNI 

Transphobes/Transmeds/Transcum/TERFs, Homophones, Islamaphobes, Antisemitists/Nazis/Neo-Nazis, Pro-Lifers/Pro-Birth, Ableists, Proshippers/Comshippers, Vivziepop Supporters, Yana Toboso Supporters, Pewdiepie Supporters, DSMP Supporters

[ambersky0319]

Hiya!

Felt it was time to create a new pinned post- anyways! Gonna try keeping this short!

My real name is Grace, but lots of people call me Amber, take your pick. I'm 19, use she/they pronouns, and am aroace. And this is my main blog!

This blog is, frankly, an unorganized mess. One that I'm not gonna try and organize because, that would be too many posts to sort through. My sideblogs are a bit more organized, at least 😅 anyways! Take care of yourself ^^

Links

Fan Reference Masterpost Fic Masterpost | Original Writing Masterpost Sanders Sides Masterpost Commission Info or Buy me a Ko-fi OC Masterpost NNT Rewatch Masterpost

Sideblogs

@ambersky-art - art blog! (used to only be fanart) @amberskywrites - writblr!

Other Places to Find Me

Instagram - ambersky0319 Discord - Ambersky0319 Ao3 - ambersky0319 FF.net - Ambersky0319

Fandoms

Nanatsu no Taizai (The Seven Deadly Sins)

Stardew Valley

Trafficblr (Third/Last/Double Life SMP)

The Dragon Prince

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Avatar the Last Airbender

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

The Umbrella Academy

Carmen Sandiego

How to Train Your Dragon

The Owl House

Soul Eater

Castlevania

Arcane

All of Us Are Dead

The Arcana

Hilda

Kingdom (Netflix)

The Sandman

Lumine

unOrdinary

Danny Phantom

DNI

Pro-life / Anti-choice / Anti-abortion Bigoted (racist, ableist, homophobic, transphobic, terf, etc.) Please note that I block liberally

[catsvrsdogscatswin]

I was really excited seeing the alchemical elements included in Netflix Castlevania, because have I read a metric shit-ton of alchemy books and I’m always excited to see what, if anything, a show will use that clicks with real-world alchemy lore.

Not gonna lie, I snickered a bit in S3 when the monks carved those marks into various places in the village, because while they are the alchemical markings for lead/Saturn, that’s just it --as far as I know, they’re just markings. Representations of the larger thing (which does include the elements of death/harvest etc. as discussed in the show); you know, like a chemical cypher. It's a bit like carving H20 into a tree and expecting that to do something.

I was fascinated by the conversation between Saint Germain and the Alchemist (whose glowing arm tattoos were more alchemical element signs), though, because a lot of what they discussed wasn’t necessarily wrong. The ultimate goal of alchemy is to create the magnum opus, the Great Work, which manifests itself as the Philosopher’s Stone. An important part of that is the calcifying and the other processes Saint German mentions, as well as the Rebis. Where Castlevania goes off the alchemical rails is by saying that the Rebis must be created through loss, pain, sacrifice, etc. --and by just plain killing people-- but it is a dark fantasy series, so like, I can understand the narrative choice/artistic license. The original idea is actually really neat though, so I’d like to infodump about it.

In alchemy, the Philosopher’s Stone/Great Work is created through a very long and involved process involving both physical and spiritual materials. It’s a very “as above/so below” situation, a phrase which actually sprouted from alchemy. It starts with putrefaction, and moves through a complicated dance of other processes that involve repeated firings and temperature adjustments until at the end, in theory, you have concocted a Philosopher’s Stone. The process won’t work, though, unless the alchemist is going through those same processes on a mental/spiritual level, i.e. putrefying and burning away all their old impurities at the same time the physical material is undergoing the same process.

There’s a lot of symbolism wrapped up in it, and one of those symbols is the male/female duo. Variously represented as the Red King and the Sun, and the White Queen and the Moon, they represent the feminine and masculine parts of both the world, the alchemist, and the alchemist’s mind, and they symbolically commit several acts throughout the process of creating the Philosopher’s Stone, including separating and defining themselves, coming into their own sphere, meeting each other again, copulating, and eventually having a child --the Philosopher’s Child, a perfect being which represents the final result, the Magnum Opus/Philosopher’s Stone itself. This is the Rebis, a divine intersex person (alchemy texts refer to this divine figure as a hermaphrodite, but that is very much not what you should use to refer to an actual intersex person IRL) --and it is not a stitched-together corpse. (Again, though, no hate for Castlevania taking artistic liberties with the process for narrative weight.) 

But the actual Rebis isn’t a physical thing at all; it’s a concept, the unification of the male and female halves in one body --it's perfection because it’s a complete being, unlike the rest of us. By uniting ourselves with our other half, we become whole, which is the ultimate goal of the whole process. Using Saint Germain as an example, a (successful) male alchemist would, after burning away his impurities, essentially get in touch with and understand his feminine side during the process to create the Great Work, as well as get in touch with and understand his masculine side, and use that understanding to accept and unite both parts of himself to create the final product. Philosophical alchemy is very firm in that all people have a bit of the opposite gender in them, and that repressing or rejecting that aspect of yourself (or indeed, any inner aspect of yourself) is a huge impediment to the process of creating the Philosopher's Stone.

I saw a post frowning about the implications of intersex people created by Castlevania’s portrayal of the Rebis, which is valid, and I felt motivated to chip my two cents in. Real-world alchemy generally treats the concept of an intersex being with a lot more awe and reverence (albeit strictly as a theoretical/symbol), and I felt that more people should know that. If I remember correctly, the Hermetic retelling of Biblical Genesis even includes a bit where Adam was intersex, and as part of his punishment his other side was split off from him in the Fall when he was cast down to Earth for falling in love with it and becoming impure.

[beevean]

I enjoyed Netflix’s Castlevania quite a bit during the time when it was running but afterwards it’s really clear that there were like, tons of issues. Lenore as a character and what they did with her and Hector was definitely one of the big ones (he 100% should have been playing her and then killed her in that scene with Isaac in the tower, none of this Stockholm syndrome that gets played as a tragic romance ew) but also the shoehorning in of Greta, who I believe is suppose to be a reference/substitute for grant? But has nothing in common with him. She is sort of implied to get together with Alucard at the end of the show, though 90% of their interactions are off screen and feel pretty rushed (despite being a stranger she and Alucard also have a conversation about his traumatic sex scene) She felt more like away for Alucard to stay distracted so he couldn’t reunite with Trevor and Sypha and also to get to finale of turning Castlevania into a place for Greta’s town.

Hard agree on the Lenore part. It's so jarring to go from that scene in S3 where Hector has a breakdown over being enslaved, to him sassing at Lenore for making dick jokes in S4. I'm... pretty sure that Lenore crossed the Moral Event Horizon there? "oh but she meant well, oh but she probably never touched him again after that" I don't know if I'd become buddy buddy with someone who tricked me during sex in order to enslave me and said things like "shh, the real people are talking!".

@spinningbuster98 compared her with Farnese from Berserk. You know when Guts accepted Farnese as an ally? Way after she proved her worth, after she learned how to take care of an helpless Casca without getting anything in return, after her whole world and identity crumbled all around her. Farnese dearly paid for being a religious fanatic with weird fetishes lmao. Did Lenore suffer any consequence for what she did to Hector, aside from being trapped in her own castle by Isaac?

But from what I've heard, S4 tried too hard to backpedal after S3 was criticized for being too dark and depressing, and ended up overcompensating. This is also where Greta comes from, most likely, or Dracula and Lisa coming back from hell.

(and yeah ignoring Grant because "hur dur a pirate in wallachia" is dumb. Read the lore. It's there.)

... I really should watch it, but I can hardly stand a few clips of its "witty" writing :\

[macgyvertape]

Castlevania kinda had a pacing problem

spoilers for all of Netflix’s Castlevania. I haven’t seen much analysis for the show on tumblr, im honestly curious if discussions I had with irl friends mirror what fandom talks about

tldr: Castlevania seems inconsistently paced from season to season, and within season as well, leads to a lot of characters motivations feeling unclear so characters repeatedly explain why they are doing something while they’re doing it

overview of the seasons:

S1 I know somewhat of a test for Netflix but it has good main trio character establishment and sets the scale of the conflict

s2: pretty complete emotional arc for most characters and resolves the plot of killing Dracula while setting up additional characters to continue the story. Isaac, Hector, Carmilla all established with the audience as characters whose story would continue

honestly I would bet this is the most popular season

S3: s2 did a bit of worldbuilding, but this season really fleshed out the world with both a wide range of locations and exploring the question of “what now, Dracula is dead but vampires and night creatures remain”.

There were basically 4 plot threads: 1) Sypha/Trevor investigating the cult & Saint Germain; 2) Hector & Carmilla (also introducing Lenore, Striga, Morana); 3) Isaac’s journey of revenge & self discovery; 4) Alucard sits around the castle and is betrayed.

overall characters roughly feel like they are in the same place if not worse. A big criticism I saw at the time, which hold up after rewatching this before s4 is nothing felt resolved for the main characters

I would say this season is where the pacing issues start to become apparent, juggling 4 plot threads that lack a central theme or even mutual character connection. If there was a central theme it would be “humans are awful to each other”. The Judge doing Hot Fuzz style murders, The Wizard in the tower, Sumi & Taka

S4: it starts with the same 4 plot threads, though upfront it is made clear that the plot theme is “people are trying to resurrect Dracula”, and the progression of the plot works to resolve unrelated plot threads until the main trio reunites for the boss fights. To me and my friends watching it was obvious that the show would reunite the main trio, the question was how and how far into the run time.

Season 4 is why I’m writing this essay, for the past 2 days I’ve been like, yeah that character sure explained their motives repeatedly maybe with some philosophical discussion, but it’s just such a weird place considering where they were in s3

Alucard’s arc:

Where he was left in season 3, it was after killing people he had trusted in self defense and impaling their corpses. It was clearly meant to parallel Dracula’s dislike of humanity. However overall his character lacked a proactive motivating force.

Honestly the most interesting thing I found in s3 was Alucard clearly misses Sypha and Trevor, however they don’t miss him or refer to him

One reason Sumi & Taka betray Alucard is for the secrets and power of Castlevania. After inviting the village including St Germain who Alucard was warned of into the Castle, Alucard makes 0 effort to secure anything, not even his personal childhood room. Guess he really learned nothing

Discussing St Germain, I think it’s funny that they had a several minute flashback sequence for his lost girlfriend (who doesn’t have a name or a voice actor), to remind the viewer of who he is, and to justify how he’s suddenly back and down for murder.

In s4 there is the call to help the village, and the walk back to the castle is a montage of Alucard opening up to Greta and becoming friendly literally overnight. He laughs off the impaling, and basically all of the darker things he went through in season 3, which has me asking what was the point of his season 3 arc then? 

Honestly writing this I realize the biggest parallel he has with Dracula is the call to action from a bold woman with a dramatic entrance speech which then leads to a romance

Isaac’s arc:

in s3, with all the other themes of “humanity sucks” I was always unsure if the townspeople were meant to appear irrational while attacking a larger force instead of letting him pass through an leave, or him not caring about how he’s provoking them is meant to show his insanity

ive seen the discussion elsewhere, curious about the Discourse here

is s4 Isaac has the whole monologue about how he now has agency but him gaining that agency was his s3 arc. In s4 he’s already at the point of accepting it. By the end of s4 he’s one of those who comes the furthest from his first character appearance to his last.

s4e5 where of Isaac attacking Carmilla in Isaac’s 2nd appearance had him resolving like 4 plot threads at once (Carmilla, Striga& Morana, Hector, and Isaac himself).

but i do wonder if Trevor, Sypha, or Alucard even know any of these people exist. I think not

I was honestly confused if I missed a scene from his dialogue about building something and what is inherent nature, to “My plan has evolved, my plan is now conquest” because he only conquests the one castle and the rest is left unclear

Upon rewatch the connection there is “killing [the wizard] felt just ... I liked that feeling”, so the show says that Isaac in the end attacked Carmilla for the sake of justice and not revenge.

Isaac in his last conversation expresses the theme of s4 “build something new on these old bones, where people can live for the future”

however, his arc honestly feel scenes were cut, and then dialogue was written around it. He’s the only living character who doesn’t show up in the epilogue and the sentient night creature “what if I could empty hell” dialogue was some of the most interesting worldbuilding. Night creatures with sentience and possibility of regaining memories!!!!

The Council of Sisters & Hector’s arc:

oh I’ve already seen s4 discourse about Lenore/Hector while searching for character analysis, a chunk of it seems to be rationalizing the absolute difference between how s3 ended with these characters and s4. It was extremely confusing for me and my friends; wondering if 1) was Hector showing more emotional intelligence than before and putting on a facade to cover up hatred? Nope 2) did more time pass than 6 weeks for there to be some kind stockholm syndrome? No, Hector seems fine to let Lenore kill herself

The slave control ring: played up in the climax of s3 and easily solved s4. s3 Lenore says if he tries to harm them, flee, or take it off it would cause crippling pain, in s4 Hector just easily cuts off his own finger.

for a control ring that they take time to show a version being on the Rebus, it doesn’t do much controlling of Hector

also guess the definition of “do harm” just refers to direct action

Lenore in s4: has no purpose in conquest, has that useless remarked on by multiple characters, is imprisoned, then kills herself after a genre aware philosophical discussion. This essay is long enough, but what the fuck happened to this character who ended s3 clearly physically and sexually abusive? Seriously this was one of the biggest writing changes to the point where she was treating Hector as an equal. Compare her last words in s3 “shh the real people [vampires] are talking”. The change in the relationship is actually something I would have taken being shown, or atleast told of what exactly caused this change other than the vague “you adopted him”

Striga&Morana get the best arc of the Council. 3 scenes: the tent argument, Daybreak armor fight & argument resolution, declaration of feelings and turning away. You could argue Castlevania is plot to be connective tissue between fight scenes, but for all the dialogue about human resistance in different seasons it was nice to see it. Overall the scenes were short but had a lot of showing what their relationship is not just telling,

unlike Carmilla. For as much hyping up as they did with her, and as much power as she had, she only appeared in 2 episodes and no other group except Isaac knew about her military conquest.

the map scene where she states her motive for conquest of wanting to take things from old men is the key example of how characterization became tell not show. How interesting was that monologue compared to the past seasons flashback to her murmuring the old vampire lord, or all her repeated insults of men/man-children that shows how she judges people??

That monologue had to carry the weight of justifying the Sisterhood bonds falling apart as well as why her motivation changed from building a human pen from Styria to Braila to world conquest. I think it did so poorly

Sypha & Trevor

really Sypha & Trevor have the main plot in the show. I checked and post season 1 the only episode they don’t appear in is s4e6, which is entirely devoted to the Isaac, Hector, and Council of Sisterhood arc. Their partnership and adventures are the main plot of the show.

Its easy to see what Trevor’s arc was over the show: coming to peace with the deaths of his family, taking up the mantle of being a Belmont, and starting a new family with Sypha.

With Sypha I actually had to scroll through tv tropes for what is her character arc, and I guess hers is disillusionment from adventure and life outside the speakers? My friends joke that Sypha’s magic is what the plot demands to look cool in a fight, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Tangent: the ending of their arc was easy to guess: as soon as Trevor went to fight the final boss alone I literally said “oh i bet Sypha’s pregnant, Trevor’s doing a heroic sacrifice, theyll use the unexplained magical dagger mcguffin, and 60/40 odds that he goes through an infinite corridor to outright come back vs just the implication he might come back”

I guess my final thought of the show, was overall the SUPER Final Boss got my by surprise. It was a good twist I enjoyed. Not that Death appeared, I had guessed that from the heavy foreshadowing, but I was surprised by who it was, because I had thought I thought the characters involved feeling shoehorned into the plot was just more bad writing. The Alchemist who put St Germain on the path or murder for no discernible motive for helping? Sure gotta move the plot along. New Dracula court member Varney who has a whole introduction with almost every character he meets and banter about his smell? Sure thats basically how all characters talk with a snarky and acerbic voice.