#also apparently this adaptation focuses on like.. the period of time surrounding the murder of clifford's father?

[zukkaoru]

full offense but whoever cast the 1940 the house of the seven gables adaptation did not read the novel

[femalechibiblogger]

My Top 7 Underrated Indie-Horror Games

1. Detention 

Set in 1960s Taiwan of the White Terror period, students Wei and Ray find themselves trapped and vulnerable in Greenwood High School (翠華中學), which is located in a remote mountainous area. The place they once knew has changed in unsettling ways, haunted by evil creatures known as the "lingered" (魍魎). While hiding from the rampaging monsters, the protagonists unveil mysteries which slowly reveal the dark past of the cursed school.

Detention is a horror adventure video game created and developed by Taiwanese game developer Red Candle Games for Steam. It is a 2D atmospheric horror side-scroller set in 1960s Taiwan under martial law. The game also incorporates religious elements based on Taiwanese culture and mythology. The game was released on 13 January 2017. A demo version was released on Steam Greenlight on 13 June 2016.

The concept of the game originates with the Red Candle Games co-founder Shun-ting "Coffee" Yao. In February 2017, a novel based on the game was published by novelist Ling Jing. A live action film adaptation distributed by Warner Bros. Taiwan was released on 20 September 2019.

2. Layers of Fear

The player takes control of an artist who has returned to his studio. His initial goal is to complete his masterpiece, and the player's role is to figure out how this task should be accomplished. The challenge comes from puzzles which require the player to search the environment for visual clues. The house appears straightforward at first, but it changes around the player as they explore it in first person. These changes in the environment provide scaffolding for the puzzles and provide regular jump scares common to games of this genre.

The game is divided into six chapters with various items for the player to find in order to complete his work. The game is heavily dimmed, and there are objects that uncover certain aspects of the painter's history. While completing the painting, there is a letter that is slowly pieced together, which shows the origin of his masterpiece, and objects which explain the secret of the painter through dialogue flashbacks.

Layers of Fear is a psychological horror video game developed by Bloober Team and published by Aspyr. It was released on Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One worldwide in February 2016.

In Layers of Fear, the player controls a psychologically disturbed painter who is trying to complete his magnum opus as he navigates a Victorian mansion revealing secrets about his past. The gameplay, presented in first-person perspective, is story-driven and revolves around puzzle-solving and exploration. Layers of Fear: Inheritance was released on 2 August 2016 as a direct follow up add-on to the first game. This time the player controls the painter's daughter with the downloadable content focusing on her apparent relapse into trauma after returning to her old house.

A definitive port for the Nintendo Switch, entitled Layers of Fear: Legacy, was released on 21 February 2018 and it features, in addition to the Inheritance DLC, Joy-Con, touchscreen, and HD Rumble support. A limited physical retail release for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, published by Limited Run Games in North America, would be available starting October 2018. A sequel titled Layers of Fear 2 was announced in October 2018 and was released on May 29, 2019.

3. The Blackout Club

You are a teenager from a small, modern town. Each morning, you awaken covered in mud or scratches, with no memory of the night before. You've heard of sleepwalking - but this is different. Sometimes you lose entire days.

There are others like you. Your new group of friends bonded over this shared secret, forming a club to investigate the cause of these BLACKOUTS. Together, you discovered a network of bizarre underground tunnels, hidden just beneath the surface of your quiet community. An uncanny, disorienting music beckoned from below.

You hesitated. But last night, your best friend vanished - and now, a mysterious group of adults wants to eliminate you. You must strike back, capture their activities on camera and expose them to the world.

The Blackout Club is a first-person co-op horror game centered around a group of teenage friends investigating a monstrous secret beneath the skin of their small town. 1-4 players explore procedurally-generated missions against a fearsome enemy you can only see with your eyes closed.

The developers describe the content like this:

There is violence in the game where players or enemies might use tranquilizer darts or electric stun guns on another human. Although there is no excessive violence or gore in this game, there are scenes with blood and evidence of crimes such as kidnapping and murder. It should be noted that the player characters and their allies are teenagers. Players are not allowed to injure or hurt another teenager, but the game does depict teens in situations of peril.

4. Cry of Fear

The player controls Simon Henriksson, a 19‑year‑old who wakes up in an alley shortly after being hit by a car. The player must navigate the city solving puzzles and fighting monsters to progress. The game switches between normal gameplay levels representing the city and surrounding areas, and "nightmare" levels, similar to those found in the Silent Hill series of games. 

Cry of Fear features many unique mechanics, such as the limited inventory system, which allows the player to carry only 6 items at a time and does not pause the game while the inventory screen is open. Another unique mechanic is the ability to dual-wield inventory items, allowing the use of two weapons at a time, or one weapon and a light source. Item combination is also possible from the inventory screen. Health is recovered by the use of morphine syringes, which can blur the player's vision if overused. Stamina is consumed through strenuous actions such as running and jumping, and can be recovered by resting or the use of morphine syringes.

Some days before Cry of Fear's anniversary, Valve released a Half-Life update for Linux compatibility, making changes in the folders and engine. This update made several Half-Life mods, including Cry of Fear, incompatible with the base game. Team Psykskallar decided that, since no more could be done for the mod itself, they would finish a standalone version. Confusion due to Valve regarding Cry of Fear's status as freeware caused the game to be delayed until April 25, 2013.

5. The Coma: Cutting Class

The story follows Youngho Choi, a freshman student at Sehwa High. In the midst of finals season, a student attempts to commit suicide during their study session. Despite this event, final exams are scheduled to continue as normal. Youngho proceeds to take his exam, but falls asleep from exhaustion due to having gotten no sleep the night before. Consequently, he wakes up at his school desk in the middle of the night and finds that there is more to Sehwa High than he thought.

The Coma: Cutting Class is a 2D survival-horror video game developed and published by Devespresso Games. It was released on October 19, 2015. It follows the story of Youngho Choi as he explores the mystery behind the abandoned Sehwa High school.

A remastered version was released on September 22, 2017 for Steam, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, and on December 21, 2017 for Nintendo Switch. A mobile version was released on January 17, 2019 for Android and January 22, 2019 for iOS. A sequel, The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters, was released on PC platforms (Steam, GOG) on January 28, 2020.

6. The Park

The game follows Lorraine, a struggling single mother and widow with a troubled past, as she searches for her young son, Callum, who goes missing in Atlantic Island Park. Lorraine enters the park after her son just as the park prepares to close for the afternoon, only to find that nighttime comes unnaturally fast as she ascends the escalator and discovers the park to be abandoned, vandalized and rundown as if several years have passed. Despite abandonment, the rides and lights mysteriously still function. Lorraine calls for Callum and his voice calls to her, leading her through the decrepit park.

Lorraine boards several rides which reveal the themes and backstory of the game: the Tunnel of Tales tells the story of Hansel and Gretel, this time with a new ending - in which after cooking the witch in the oven, Hansel and Gretel devour her. On the Ferris Wheel, Lorraine remembers Callum's father Don, a construction worker at the park who died in a fall from the Ferris Wheel when Lorraine was still pregnant with Callum. Between rides, Lorraine expresses her frustration with Callum, her belief that she is a failure as a mother, her history of mental health problems, and her fear that Callum is becoming changed by some mysterious threat. However, while aboard the roller coaster, a monstrous top-hatted ringmaster (identified in the credits as The Boogeyman) accosts Lorraine and claims 'the Witch' has her son.

The Park is a first-person psychological horror adventure game developed and published by Funcom. The game was released for Microsoft Windows via Steam on October 27, 2015 and is a spin-off of an earlier Funcom game, The Secret World. It was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on May 3, 2016 and Nintendo Switch on October 22, 2019. It will be released in Japan on September 24, 2020. The game takes place in the Atlantic Island Park that closed back in the year of 1980 for mysterious reasons that are gradually revealed throughout the game.

The Park is experienced from a first-person perspective as the player, Lorraine, interacts with and experiences the decrepit environment of Atlantic Island Park. There is no combat or defense and the player has no health HUD as Lorraine can only interact with limited objects in-game and there are no enemies to battle. These objects mostly consist of pages that reveal the backstory of the park and later, Lorraine. Lorraine can call out to character Callum at any time during gameplay, and this may have a small affect as it allows Lorraine to follow Callum's voice and thus continue the narrative of the story or to reach necessary areas or objectives within the park such as the rides. The rides act as both exposition and scares. To enter the House of Horrors, Lorraine must find a flashlight. Throughout the game, Lorraine narrates her feelings and memories to the player.

7. Mad Father

Mad Father takes place in northern Germany, where the 11-year old protagonist, Aya Drevis, lives with her father, Alfred Drevis, and their maid Maria. Aya is a shy girl who never goes outside. Her mother, Monika Drevis, was incredibly ill, and presumably died of illness before the occurrence of the game. Her father performs secret research in his laboratory in the house's basement, with the assistance of Maria. Aya is aware that Alfred experiments and kills humans in the basement, as well as the fact that he is involved in an extramarital affair with the younger Maria, a former homeless woman he had taken off the street some years prior.

On the anniversary of Monika's death, the very beginning of the game, Aya awakens at midnight to find herself surrounded by test subjects that escaped from the laboratory. Fleeing back into her room, Aya encounters the mysterious salesman Ogre, who offers her the task of solving puzzles to break into her father's laboratory and uncover his secret. Aya discovers that her father had intended to perform taxidermy on her and convert her into a doll, as he had done to numerous other children, having been enamored with preserving humans after having killed his own mother as a youth. Aya soon discovers that her father killed her mother in fear of her mother taking Aya away to prevent him from performing taxidermy on her.

The game has three endings based on the player's choices. In one ending, Aya allows her undead mother to take her father away to another world. After returning to the real world, she runs into Maria, who knocks her out, takes her to the basement and then kills her, turning her corpse into a doll. In the second ending, Aya saves her father from being taken by her mother's spirit. However, after doing so, Monika reveals to Aya that Alfred murdered her for one of his experiments. Horrified, Aya flees while being chased by a chainsaw-wielding Alfred. While attempting to escape, she runs into Maria. Maria attempts to follow her, but when she fails to capture her, Maria is attacked by Alfred. The game then branches into two endings depending on Aya's actions; if Aya neglects to help Maria and instead attempts to escape the mansion, she is found by her father and killed, with Alfred performing taxidermy on her corpse and rendering her into one of his dolls. In the true ending, Aya helps Maria, declaring that the two shall henceforth live together. Maria then kills Alfred and the two women leave the mansion, which is burned down by Dio, the spirit of one of Alfred's human test subjects.

As the house burns down, Ogre transports Alfred's spirit to another world, where he is free to experiment to his heart's content, creating a mature adult clone of his daughter, leading into the events of Misao. Meanwhile, while walking away from the burning mansion, Aya notices that her father's medical book has survived the blaze. Some years later, Aya and Maria have created a clinic, where they perform medical services free of charge. A poor woman named Jean Rooney arrives for an examination, and Aya uses anesthesia to render Jean unconscious, claiming that Jean will no longer suffer from her illnesses. In another room, Maria muses that Aya has become just like her father and that the tendencies run in the family, heavily implying that Aya has followed in her father's footsteps.

[tlbodine]

1970s: Exploitation Horror

The 1970s were a strange period in history, and that oddness shows through in the horror of the time. The decade is a grab-bag of content, featuring the rise of some of the best-known tropes and landmark films of the genre, but also some really baffling, awful movies. 

We decided to launch our journey through the decade by getting one of its most unnerving trends checked off the list early: the exploitation film. 

The death knell of the Hays Production Code and the moral gatekeeping by the 1960s left a period of cinematic anarchy. The MPAA would take a bit to solidify our modern rating system and lay out the rules for film content, so for a while the only real limitation on movie content was what a movie theater would play. These decisions came on a case-by-case basis, and so-called “grindhouse” theaters capitalized on it by offering the kind of shocking, low-brow, vulgar or otherwise unpalatable content other theaters wouldn’t touch. 

Thus, “exploitation” films were all about exploiting the tumultuous times in cinema. 

One popular genre to crop up in this setting was the rape-revenge movie. The basic formula: a woman is raped, left for dead, and returns to wreak bloody vengeance on her attacker(s). The plot provides an excuse to show both graphic sex and violence, which is like a 2-for-1 exploitation buffet and also incidentally the theme of this week’s film series. 

Analysis below the cut! 

First up: I Spit On Your Grave 

This 1974 film, written and directed by  Meir Zarchi, is probably the best-known and possibly best-made of the rape-revenge movies of the era. It’s also incredibly hard to watch.

The story is straightforward. Jennifer, a female author, moves to a remote summer home to work on her novel. There she attracts the attention of a group of men, including one mentally challenged delivery boy named Matthew. Matthew’s friends are assholes, and they goad him about the “crush” he has on this fancy city woman, and decide it would be entertaining for him to lose his virginity to her. So they, uh, harass her, physically assault her, and take turns raping her before leaving Matthew to kill her (he doesn’t, and lies to his friends about it, leaving her beaten but alive and thus able to exact revenge). 

There are several things about this movie that are noteworthy: 

It portrays the rape in the least-sexy, least-romanticized way imaginable. It is not titillating or exciting in any way. The rape sequence lasts for 30 minutes of film time, and they are excruciating to watch. There is no soundtrack, so you have only the flat silence punctuated by screams, grunts, and scant dialogue. The camera is often stationary, focused on the scene as an objective viewer rather than spending a lot of time cutting and zooming -- putting the audience in the role of helpless witness. 

The character of Matthew is interesting and, honestly, sympathetic. It’s pretty clear that he has the intellect of a child, and he has no real idea of what’s really going on. He’s goaded and pressured into participating, and he’s reluctant and tries several times to stop and escape. In a way, he’s a victim almost as much as Jennifer. 

The second half of the film is pure revenge fantasy. Jennifer is transformed. She is suddenly cool, calculating, physically capable, and able to deliver cutting one-liners. The villains, never the sharpest tools in the shed, transform into unbelievably stupid caricatures capable only of thinking with their dicks. Jennifer systematically seduces and murders them in increasingly violent ways. 

It’s probable that the film’s events are meant to be taken at face value, but I think a more interesting read on the story is that the second half -- the revenge portion -- is literally a fantasy. After the attack, we see Jennifer spend some time recovering physically, then piecing together the torn pages of her manuscript before sitting down to write. Perhaps, then, the revenge is happening on the page rather than in reality. Perhaps she has put together the pieces of her life and rewritten her narrative such that she can take control of her sexuality and work through her anger and grief and pain. 

Maybe it’s just the writer in me, but I think that’s a cool interpretation and one that makes a lot of sense in context. 

Either way: I Spit On Your Grave is an uncomfortable but well-made film that’s worth talking about. There’s a lot of controversy surrounding it even to this day (and it was a box office disaster, grindhouse or no), but I think on the balance it’s ultimately a feminist film, or at least a sympathetic one. 

Note: There was a remake and multiple sequels released in the 2010s. I haven’t seen any of them, but my understanding is they’re more over-the-top violent and sensationalized, and I can’t help but suspect that cheapens the brutal elegance of the original. If you’ve seen them, feel free to weigh in! 

The second film of the night was The Last House on the Left. 

Wes Craven’s directorial debut, The Last House on the Left (1972) tells the story of two teenage girls who run afoul of a gang of psychotic thugs who kidnap, torture, rape, and eventually murder them. The thugs then end up coincidentally at the house of one victim’s parents, who exact their revenge after discovering their daughter’s body dumped in the woods nearby and put two and two together. 

All I can say is: What the fuck did I just watch. 

I’d never seen this movie, although I was familiar with it by reputation. It’s famous, and I heard good things about its 2009 remake. What nobody thought to warn me about is the goddamn soundtrack. 

I can respect the artistic technique of pairing graphic violence with tonally inconsistent music as a way to create dissonance and cause audience discomfort. But that’s not the effect this had. This had the effect of causing me to burst out into laughter at the absolute absurdity. There is synth keyboard. There is banjo. Snare drum. A fucking kazoo. And it’s relentless, showing up to hammer you over the head and also drown out everything else that’s happening in the movie. 

Like, at one point, I seriously considered muting the damn movie so I could at least try to concentrate on the story because the music is so distracting and undercuts the tension at every possible moment. 

Music aside (and boy do I wish the music had been an aside), the film just...wasn’t great. The violence is comparably tame and lacks the visceral discomfort of I Spit On Your Grave. The villainous gang members are pretty much flat characters who seem like a bad parody of Sopranos extras. Even the parental revenge is bizarrely absurd, with the father opting to booby-trap the house in a Home Alone-esque fashion despite literally owning a shotgun and literally using the shotgun to threaten the bad guys. At least in the remake a guy’s head gets exploded in a microwave! No such fun here. 

Oh. And do we need to talk about the two bumbling police officers who end up running around town in a long-running slapstick gag? At one point their squad car runs out of gas because one of them is too stupid to fill up the tank, so they have to waddle around on foot and hitch a ride on the roof of a car loaded up with chickens. For. Some reason. 

Honestly, this movie was a disaster, and I’m honestly amazed that Wes Craven managed to make more movies afterward (and I’m glad he did, because they are much better than this). Sweet lord. 

I give you permission to skip this one. As far as I’m concerned it’s irredeemable. 

As a note, the movie is apparently a (very) loose adaptation/inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring, which was itself adapted from a 13th century Swedish ballad. Go figure. I don’t think I’ve seen it (although I may have watched a part of it in a college film class, because it does seem familiar) but I feel pretty confident that it’s a better movie so...watch that instead, probably. 

Or, if you can stomach it, check out one of the other many...many...rape/revenge stories from the 1970s and beyond: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_and_revenge_film

[abadpoetwithdreams]

Nirvana in Fire Episode 2 Reaction

(Hello, yes, it’s me again, the person who said she’d write a reaction post for every episode she watched and then went and watched SEVEN EPISODES IN THREE DAYS. I have regrets. I actually didn’t even want to stop watching long enough to write this, but I have to before I get too much deeper in. Everything below is written from my episode notes I made while watching episode 2 for the first time, so none of my later knowledge applies, here. I actually know names much better now, obviously. Also I continue to do really badly at not getting attached to anyone. Comically badly, really. I’m setting myself up for a lot of grief, I can tell.)

• So, episode two of Nirvana in Fire! We start this episode by immediately focusing on the princess (whose name is Ni Huang) which I was not expecting but which I welcomed wholly. After she had such a fun, powerful introduction, as well as that cheeky conversation with the Emperor, I am happy that her character gets even more fleshed out here. The fact that she is still unmarried is apparently a Big Deal, because until she is safely paired off with a suitable husband, she is a political wild card. Whoever marries her will essentially have her army of 10,000 men as a dowry, with all the clout that entails, making the Emperor anxious to arrange her marriage as quickly as possible. Unusually for this sort of story, though, he actually cares about her enough that he has let her put off marriage for a many years, so that’s rather sweet. He even seems proud that so many guys are interested in marrying her, which is cute. (He wavers between being proud that she’s so awesome and that so many people would want her, and being worried that so many people want her for the power she has.) In fact, even though this whole tournament for her suitors that he’s arranging seems like a final ultimatum, he seemingly is also going ahead and letting her have final combat with the top candidates, so I guess he’s potentially still letting it slide—for now.

• And why hasn’t she married, even though she is (as he friend so kindly tells her) no longer young? OH I CAN GUESS. *senses Doomed Romance looming closer*

• Side-note: I wish the Emperor’s eunuch buddy would stop smiling. He’s incredibly creepy. The performance reminds me of whoever played Osric in the Tennant production of Hamlet (arguably my favourite Hamlet: that perpetual smile that’s hilarious but also massively unsettling).

• Also Ni Huang has a younger brother? And he is going to take over the army now? Because the emperor is worried about the popularity and influence Ni Huang has among her own army? I’d say the Emperor is being needlessly paranoid, but I’ve watched various Asian period dramas before. He’s right to be skittish.

• Ok and then we get introduced to a general (??) who is immediately also on my list of faves in this show (I said I wouldn’t pick favourites. I SAID I WOULDN’T GET ATTACHED. GAH) because he is introduced with some great drumming music and while punching out two people at once, and also he has fantastic eyebrows and is maybe the only person on this entire show so far who has a Beard that isn’t an Evil Beard. Excellent. He seems very fierce and reminds me a lot of our hero’s surly teen bodyguard, and now I want them to fight.

• The prince who isn’t the Crown Prince (Yu, I have gathered his name is—see, I’ll get all the names gradually, I should have them all solidly by the end of ep3. Being able to keep track of a million names and complicated family trees is one of my Silmarillion powers) seems increasingly snakey every time I see him. This time it’s him praising the two guys the general beat up to his face, and then going off to scold them harshly and be really generally mean later. A harmless bit of two-faced-ness? Mayyyyyybe. But I’m guessing this is just the tip of the iceberg with this guy.

• He has really beautiful clothes, though. That red and gold. NICE.

• We finally come back to Chang Su—yeah, I know I was going to call him Lin Shu last episode because that was the first name I remembered, but everyone’s calling him Mei Chang Su so I’ve picked up on that now and will stick with that I guess… Or, actually, I’ll probably just start using all the names interchangeably and be both confusing and confused. It’s fine.

• Anyway, our mysterious man in white (side note: I adore the simplicity of his costume and how it makes him look even more washed out and ghostly when surrounded by the vibrant colors and detailed patterning of all the other men’s costumes) is hanging out at the Marquis’ house where he is reading and drinking tea in the garden, which just makes me like him more because that is how I, too, like to spend my time. His angry teen bodyguard is busy jumping from rooftop to rooftop and wire-flying through the air, as one does. The bodyguard’s name is Fei Liu and I adore him. More of this kid, please, show, and thanks.

• Chang Su sends Fei Liu out to play, and when Jing Rui wonders at that, Chang Su assures him it’s fine: Fei Liu has a good temper. Immediately I know something is up. Either that, or our entire premise that Chang Su is a brilliant strategist is a lie, because that teen murder machine is the angriest character in this entire show and you’d have to be an idiot to think otherwise.

• These boys, by the way—Jing Rui and … Something Jin? His happy sidekick— continue to be the nicest, most cheerful and pleasant duo. They’re in temperment like the Merry and Pippin of this show. Every time I see them in a scene with Chang Su I get intensely uncomfortable because I’m certain he doesn’t really see them as the friends they think they are to him.

• And then I get my wish and the general and Fei Liu have a mighty sky and roof battle, and it’s glorious. The cinematography is so good in this show, it really lets the wirework and choreography shine. Usually I prefer my combat more House of Flying Daggers over the top and less Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon over the top, but it’s working for me 100% here. The dancer in me digs it.

• “I will be sure to discipline him” -Yeah, sure you will, Chang Su. Suuuuure.

• The general seems suspicious, but that’s only to be expected when you are accosted by a strange, vicious, flying child in a garden.

• “There is nothing exceptional about me. Except for my stunning good looks.” -Chang Su, when questioned by the general. I might have added that last part.

• Fei Liu’s faceplant of shame against the wall made me laugh out loud. Gosh, I love this kid.

• And! It turns out Jing Rui’s brother with the sneaky face was eavesdropping for Prince Yu, and of course when he scuttles away to report his findings we cut to Chang Su looking immensely smug. Yup, he planned that whole fight out. This guy.

• Meanwhile, the Marquis is in the pocket of the Crown Prince, and reports to him the same news. But these guys go a step further and not only are they planning to win Chang Su over; they are planning that if they can’t win him, they will kill him! I’m just assuming Yu hasn’t thought that far ahead.

• “I took to the battlefield in my armor when I was seventeen years old. After witnessing bloody battles for seventeen years, all I have left is a heart of steel.” -Ni Huang, lying. But also continuing to be immensely quotable.

• Also her friend is a super-important intelligence agent? She has this fantastically dangerous attitude, so I can’t wait to see more of her. I love how competent these women are, and they aren’t presented as awesome warriors simply as window-dressing; they make their awesomeness seem earned and genuine and an core part of their characters, so well done show (or novel? I think this is an adaptation of a book? Either way, bravo, and bravo to the actresses for being so effortlessly cool).

• It’s another prince! Prince Jing, this time, and I love this guy immediately. He has a perpetually sad grumpy face but the more you see of his life the more it’s understandable. Guy has it rough. But he seems to be very close with Ni Huang, which is yet another point in his favor! His short, abrupt mannerisms are hilarious, when contrasted with his brothers’ constant waffling and wheedling and whining.

• Oh, and a thread I had questions about last episode gets pulled out a little more: Ni Huang’s friend in the intelligence force was one of those who investigated Lin Shu’s family all those years ago and who came to the conclusion that they were treasonous due to (what I am assuming was planted) evidence that Prince Jing thinks was bogus. He still hasn’t forgiven her, and she still hasn’t forgiven him for continuing to think well of the traitor who killed her husband. Supposedly. Furthermore, Ni Huang also still does not believe Lin Shu and his family were guilty, which hurts her friend’s feelings. Sheesh, I can’t wait for whenever the flashbacks start and we can ACTUALLY SEE what happened 12 years ago! Everyone’s lives seem to be divided into a before and after centered around that event, whether they realize it or not, but everyone also has different takes on what happened. The pay off had better be amazing, because the constant teasing is killing me.

• So now we come to what I thought was going to be the worst scene of the episode, where the Emperor makes poor Prince Jing just stand at attention, ignored, outside his palace and then legit forgets about him and we get all this backstory about how his father treats him harshly due to his sympathizing with Lin Shu’s family and inability to keep his mouth shut and I just felt so bad for this poor guy. But sidenote: the Emperor’s happy air-calligraphy as he admires the handwriting he was looking at when Prince Jing first arrived made me laugh. I really, really like whoever this actor is who’s playing the Emperor. I don’t think I’ve seen him before. But he gives what could easily be yet another trope-y Emperor role a lot of nuance.

• And then when Jing is finally allowed inside, the Crown Prince immediately starts haranguing him about how filthy he looks and why didn’t he go home to clean up first and I wanted to slap him. And then slimy Prince Yu cuts in to argue against the Crown Prince in an attempt to get Good Son Points from their Emperor Dad, and I wanted to slap him, too. My gosh, they’re a pair of five-year-olds.

• Also, Prince Jing continues to be very laconic, but I love that he is both quieter than his brothers AND plagued by the problem that he doesn’t know WHEN to shut up. Someone who speaks their mind like he does and who cares more about what is Right instead of what is Safe reeeeeally needs someone a bit more sneaky and pragmatic looking out for them. Someone like … CHANG SU? HMMMMMMM

• Jing Rui fiercely defending his buddy Chang Su from court politics, and then proudly saying his father is neutral in politics (oh poor boy) is so Good, it breaks my heart.

• And with that it’s finally the start of the tournament to find Ni Huang a husband! Fei Liu angrily fails at putting a ribbon in his hair in the background of a scene and I had to rewind to actually pay attention to what the boys were saying because it distracted me. Chang Su is still being the most polite little troll and is like ‘hey, how about we show up SUPER LATE’ all the while surely knowing that the two princes are desperate for a glimpse of him. He really wants to make a big entrance, ahahaha.

• Ni Huang’s baby brother is PRECIOUS. I ADORE HIM. “Princess Ni Huang probably doesn’t worry as much about this tournament as the young prince” PRECIOUS I SAY.

• I’m perplexed by how expressive Hu Ge can make his expressionless face be. He emotes a lot without emoting at all and it’s uncanny. There was a whole story on his face when he commented on how close Ni Huang and her brother are, and I REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT IS.

• And then this show briefly turns into a brilliant comedy where Prince Yu and the Crown Prince basically both race out of their private box to where Chang Su is and immediately start trying to win him over with a forcefulness that grows in awkwardness and eagerness until it’s basically a farce. It’s glorious. And once again I have to commend the acting in this scene, because what they’re saying isn’t even inherently funny; it’s the way they say it and the pacing and their expressions that made me rewatch this scene twice just so I could cackle over it again. Jing Rui increasingly offput by their posturing, Chang Su increasingly dying inside, Yu Jin completely oblivious. Hysterical. Also there’s a shot that makes me realize the reason why I like Chang Su’s face and specifically his eyes so much is because he has this weird resemblance to Buster Keaton, so there’s that.

• AND NOW WE COME TO THE WONDERFUL GRAND EMPRESS DOWAGER SCENE.

• JUST A NICE SCENE WITH A NICE OLD LADY AND HER DOTING GRANDKIDS.

• JUST A NICE HAPPY FAMILY SCENE. • YUP.

• NOTHING ELSE TO SAY HERE.

• … .

• Ok no, that’s all a lie, but I had been lulled into a false sense of security by the hilarity of the fighting princes, so I thought this was just going to be cute. And at first, it was. Well, after Lin Shu’s brief, unusually intense moment with Fei Liu where he orders him on exactly how he is to behave with the old lady, that is. “She’s the kindest grandmother in the world,” he says, his eyes drifting to middle distance, and I got a little choked up. But it’s ok, the moment is brief, just enough to color the next scene with poignancy, and I thought that was it. He gives his instruction, he goes in, everything seems fine (except for the fact that he seems legit scared to look his grandmother in the face, THIS POOR MAN), Yu Jin is a cheerful doof as usual, the Empress Dowager is DELIGHTFUL and her obsession with everyone’s marital status is charming (as is Jing Rui’s discomfiture, I like his hair-down look btw), Fei Liu makes an epic eyeroll and continues to climb in my esteem, and then—

• Dangit.

• Ok, so story time: I don’t know Chinese. Not at all. I am ¼ Chinese, actually, as well as ¼ Japanese, but I know more Japanese because I have never been in contact with my Chinese side of the family as much. Anyway, so I have always relied entirely on subtitles when watching Chinese media, but dramafever’s subtitles have seemed a little inconsistent to me. And I THINK they were in this scene. Because when Jing Rui introduced himself to his aged great-grandmother, she asked if he was “Xiao Rui,” according to the subtitles, and he said yes. Now, I figured something was up here because I could have sworn his name was Jing Rui? So I paused the episode for a quick detour to google, and apparently Xiao means small??? Which makes sense contextually and is super cute????? So this meant I was like ‘Aww, how sweet’ and then went back to the episode full of warm fuzzy feelings and a vague sense of accomplishment, hit play, and was armed with just enough Chinese knowledge to feel the moment when that kindly old woman calls Lin Shu “Xiao Shu” LIKE A FREAKING FREIGHT TRAIN OF PAIN. HIS EXPRESSION WAS MY EXPRESSION IN THAT MOMENT. AUGHHHHHHHHH

• AND THEN • IT JUST

• KEEPS

• GOING

• She comments on how thin and sickly he looks and I was like bye

• And then that horrid woman who I THINK is the Crown Prince’s mother (out of everyone it’s all the women in the court that I have the most trouble differentiating, which is weird because I should be able to tell them apart easily by their headdresses but idk) makes a joke about haha she said he’s thin and she called him small Su what a rascal that grandmother and meanwhile both Chang Su and I are over here dying inside and I’m like bYe

• And then she gives him a stupid snack that was his favorite when he was a kid because she can’t remember anything recent but by golly she’s going to remember what her grandkids like and that reminded me of my own great-grandmother who had this same memory problem due to a stroke but anyway he takes it and looks absolutely terrified by both the emotional battering he’s getting and also the possibility his cover will be blown, probably, and he wraps that thing up in his hands like it’s the most precious thing in the world and I was like bYE

• And then good ol’ grandma is like “Hey, Ni Huang, get over here and hold hands with your boyfriend” and I was like BYE

• And then when the Empress Dowager is getting distressed because the women are all telling her ‘Oh, that isn’t Shu, they aren’t getting married, she broke her engagement years ago’ Ni Huang is obviously hurting and tries to quietly slip away but HE GRABS Her HAND LIKE HE JUST CANT HELP HIMSLEF ANDHER FACE I WAS JUST AAAAAGHHHHHHHHFSLSLWHDKls:KdJk:SK;;;;;

• And my girl Ni Huang, she knows. She doesn’t know what she knows, but she KNOWS.

• “Xiao Shu, you’re leaving?” *DEAD*

• Also that music came back

• Dangit

• I don’t even know what else happened in the episode after that. I had to go back and rewatch it for this post because I was so shook. Ni Huang, bright thing that she is, corners Chang Su and asks him to walk with her, and she starts probing at him to try to figure out why he behaved so oddly and why she felt so strange with him (ok the last is more me speculating based on the actress’ body language and expressions more than anything in the actual text, but it’s definitely what’s going on ok). And they are the perfect couple they’re both so sharp and even their colors compliment each other and I’m very distressed.

• And then the episode ends with a child getting beaten up. The end.

I’m exhausted. On to episode 3.

[thevalicemultiverse]

Things You Need To Know About: The Secundus Verse

Tag: ~V: Secundus

Premise: It is a world ruled by Mad Science – not that that ever really affected Victor Van Dort. Living in a quiet cannery village in England, the son of wealthy upper-middle-class fish merchants, Victor expected his life to follow the path his parents had set out – marry well, take over the family business, and grow old and die in the same place every Van Dort before him had. And while his heart secretly longed for an adventure, he didn’t think he’d ever actually have one…until the day he encountered the mysterious steam train in the woods just outside his home…

This AU is a multifandom steampunk stew, originally conceived as a NaNoWriMo project for 2010. The general premise is loosely based off comics like Girl Genius and Narbonic -- mad scientists have a specific condition responsible for their reality-warping ways, and the world has changed appropriately -- in this case, into something much more steampunky. The verse is named after the city the stories are set in, which is the Mad Science Capital of the World (or, well, the Western bit of it anyway) and houses a variety of scientists from many disciplines and fandoms. You can read the fics that make up the verse here: The Secundus Verse. But for the newbies:

This verse picks up a couple of weeks before Corpse Bride would have happened (if Emily hadn't already been picked up by Dr. Finkelstein and Sally a few years in the past and Reanimated in Secundus). Victor is on the run from some of his bullies when he stumbles across a puzzling sight -- a steam train sitting in a clearing in the woods. The bullies are similarly confused, and force Victor to investigate the inside to figure out what's going on. They scatter when they hear the train's owner coming back -- Victor tries to follow their example, but ends up tangled a rope ladder he knocked out the door while hiding. The train lifts off with Victor still attached, and he is accidentally kidnapped to the fabled city of Secundus, Mad Science Capital of the World! The train's owners, "Doc" Brown and Marty McFly, are shocked to find him as an inadvertent passenger and take him in to calm down before bringing him home. Their hospitality and warmth, and his own growing interest in the mad science on display in the city, convinces Victor instead to stay with them, accepting a spur-of-the-moment job offer from Doc.

Victor quickly starts adapting to life in Secundus: getting the right sort of clothes, learning the lingo, and meeting the people. One of the first he meets is Alice Liddell, local monster hunter and clerk at a haberdashery. While initially a bit cold to the newbie, she rapidly warms up to him, and the two become firm friends. Victor also befriends her boss, Richard Dodgson (a steampunk cyborg hatter), local hero Sir Christopher Lloyd, and biologist Lewis Carroll, the owner of Wonderland Park. Finding himself surrounded by people who like him for the first time in his life, Victor definitely feels like he made the right choice in staying.

Unfortunately, his parents don't agree. To Victor's shock, they show up in the city, determined to drag him home. His protests that he's happy in Secundus fall on deaf ears, as they're convinced he's been put under mind control. They've also convinced his erstwhile fiancee and her family to join them on the trip -- while Victor quickly discovers that he likes Victoria Everglot, the meeting also clues him into the fact that he's fallen in love with Alice. He's reluctant to say anything, however, sure she could never feel the same way about him. Even after meeting and befriending Emily and getting encouraged by her to admit his feelings, he can’t convince himself that Alice would give him a chance.

Fortunately, fate intervenes, and after another stressful meeting with his parents, Victor blurts out that he loves her right in front of her. He attempts to flee -- but Alice catches up with him and assures him that she returns his feelings. A delighted Victor enters into a relationship with her -- and with Victoria finding romance with Sir Christopher, and Emily matched with Richard, it seems all will be well.

Sadly, this is not the case -- Victoria's parents are violently against having a "Touched" as a son-in-law, even one as honored as Sir Christopher, and do everything in their power to keep the lovebirds apart. Their attempt at engaging Victoria to another man are foiled when said man, Lord Barkis Bittern, is revealed as Emily's murderer, but it becomes readily apparent that they're only too willing to drag her away from Sir Christopher by force if necessary.

Rather more of a problem is Lewis's unarticulated crush on Alice, which leads him to decide to create a clone of her out of jealousy over her and Victor's relationship. The clone, Suzie, turns out a bit wrong, with tentacles in place of a lower body and a vicious, spiteful, greedy nature. She eventually decides to take over the entire city, installing herself as the Queen of Hearts and killing Lewis in the process. Barkis joins up with her while fleeing the police, and together they make a squadron of monsters and unleash them on Secundus.

Secundus, of course, fights back, and Victor and Alice are able to track the source of the problem to Wonderland Park. Victor is captured by the Queen and imprisoned to await transformation into her king -- the stress ends up triggering his own Creativity and turns him into an entomologically-focused mad scientist. Alice, Doc, Marty, Sir Christopher, Richard, and a few others mount an assault on the park's Looking-Glass House to rescue him and some other captives (including Victoria and Emily). After some initial success (including getting Barkis killed by the Queen's favorite footsoldier, the Executioner), they are captured by the Queen and taken to her throne room. Alice engages with her in an epic battle --

Which is interrupted by Victor showing up, having heard what was happening and absolutely furious. He kills the Queen via an injection of fast-growing, flesh-chewing spider eggs (it IS as gross as it sounds), and reveals his own Touched nature in the process. A guilt-based breakdown follows (he experimented on Emily when she came across him briefly), and he is forced to be sedated before the group leaves. He attempts to put himself in solitary confinement for a few days after he awakes, struggling with his new madness and the fear that he'll hurt his friends, but Alice is eventually able to calm him down and settle his mind, and he reemerges ready to start life as a proper mad scientist.

Of course, such a decision doesn't come without consequences -- disgusted that their son is one of "them," the Van Dorts disown him and leave the city. Happily, Doc and Marty are only too happy to pick up the slack as his family -- as is Alice, whom he marries that summer. Add on that the Everglots finally gave in and let Victoria marry Sir Christopher after he saved her from the Queen, and Emily and Richard followed suit in the fall, and Victor thinks things have turned out pretty darn well. He still has bad days, of course -- but now he has a safety net of people who love him to keep him from falling. And besides, how can one regret the decisions that led him to being able to make the most amazing butterflies in the world? Including one he can even ride...

Be advised that the main fanfic at least has some disturbing imagery – the same shouldn’t pop up in the threads, though! (Unless someone wants one set in the creepy flesh house…) At any rate, I'll tag if anything too creepy comes up, but keep in mind mad science isn't always pretty.

This verse has two distinct time periods and one special sub-AU that threads can be set in:

Welcome To Secundus: January 18- to early March 18- -- in story terms, about up to Chapter 15 of "Secundus." Victor's still quite new to Secundus, but he's adjusting as best he can. He has a couch to sleep on, a steady job at Dr. E. L. Brown's 24-Hour Scientific Services, and a rapidly-developing interest in the green-eyed warrior who works in the hat shop nearby. He'll happily offer to help you if you come wandering into the store -- shoving something into his hands and telling him to "drink this" will be met with rather more reluctance, though. (American McGee's Alice happened in abbreviated form, ending with the Jabberwock boss fight; Alice: Madness Returns never happened at all)

We're All Mad Here: March 18- onward -- after Chapter Twenty of "Secundus." Victor's gone Creative as a result of the Queen's machinations, and now no one can accuse him of not fitting in with his adopted city. While he still works at Doc's on a part-time basis, he's got a house now, and is busy setting up his own lab to show them all! Anybody want to see his butterflies? He's got ones that glow now! If a time period is not specified for a thread, it'll probably be set here, because I love my little mad science dork. (American McGee's Alice happened in abbreviated form, ending with the Jabberwock boss fight; Alice: Madness Returns never happened at all)

Secundus Madness Returns: Specialized AU where Alice and her family were never part of the Secundus community. Alice instead followed her normal path through the games. In addition, the Van Dorts were unable to convince the Everglots to accompany them when they went to Secundus and so pursued Victor alone -- and, without the added pressure to get him married to Victoria, gave up on him earlier, disowning him by February and leaving. There's also the small matter that Lewis, never getting jealous of Victor and Alice's relationship, also never made the Queen of Hearts, so THAT nonsense was avoided too. Victor and Alice met after the events of Alice: Madness Returns, and Alice found she fit in very well with Victor and his world, leading to a very unusual romance. This is the universe I came up with for my old Butterfly Boy blog, since I wanted to leave open the possibility with shipping him with a non-NPC Alice. And as he got said Alice -- delusional-beauty-alice -- and has actually had a child with her. . . Personality-wise, this Victor is functionally identical to We're All Mad Here -- a lepidopterist-based Touched who still works at Doc's shop from time to time. He's just also a new father on top of everything. Anyone's welcome to play in this verse -- you just have to specify this is the timeline you want when doing the starter/asking. (Well, unless you're his wife. I'll assume in that case.)

Common NPCs:

Alice Liddell (Welcome To Secundus/We're All Mad Here)

Victoria Everglot (Welcome To Secundus/We're All Mad Here)

Emily Cartwell (throughout)

Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown (throughout)

Marty McFly (throughout)

Jennifer Parker (We’re All Mad Here/Secundus Madness Returns)

Clara Clayton (We’re All Mad Here)

Sir Christopher Lloyd (Welcome To Secundus/We're All Mad Here)

Richard Dodgson (throughout)

Lewis Carroll (Welcome to Secundus/Secundus Madness Returns)

Lightning the corgi (We’re All Mad Here/Secundus Madness Returns)

Ferdinand the riding butterfly (We’re All Mad Here/Secundus Madness Returns)

Shipping: Purely Victor/Alice. The timeline of the AU has him leaving Burtonsville before he ever meets Victoria, and while in "Secundus" (and by extension Welcome To Secundus/We're All Mad Here) he does end up encountering her (and Emily), by that time he's already fallen in love with Alice. She never showed up officially in the Secundus: Madness Returns timeline, and that world's Emily only appeared in a brief thread long ago that involved Victor being temporarily deaged. Add in that by this point that version of Victor has celebrated two anniversaries with his Alice, and -- yeah. Advances will be met with friendly but pointed comments about his girlfriend/wife depending on time period.

NPC Ships: Victoria Everglot/Sir Christopher Lloyd, Richard Dodgson/Emily Cartwell

Important Facts:

The Welcome To Secundus/We're All Mad Here NPC Alice has a different family structure, as I started "Secundus" before Alice: Madness Returns came out. Specifically, she's traded sister Lizzie for Uncle Charles Liddell and Aunt Susan Liddell, whom she lives with before marrying Victor. Also, her father's name is Henry, like the historical Alice's father. (On the multiverse level, I decided that his parents were evenly split between "Arthur" and "Henry" for the name and chose at random for the first -- so Secundus's is Henry Arthur, while Forgotten's is Arthur Henry.)

NPC Alice also has a different history. Much of her Wonderland is based on things she actually saw in real life -- a pertinent example is Richard Dodgson, hat-maker, who basically is Hatter without some of his worst personality flaws. The fire was genuinely started by Dinah knocking over a lamp -- no shenanigans here (and thus no Madness Returns plot)! And, most significantly, while Alice was committed afterward, she only stayed in Rutledge for eight years. Since the Queen of Hearts is a real person in this verse, I decided her personal journey against her madness and guilt ended with the Jabberwock boss fight (which I think anyone who has played the game will agree is a perfectly good final boss battle).

While Wonderland Park is always available as a location for threads (good place to catch Victor, in fact -- no matter the time period, he LOVES the place), Lewis Carroll is only available as an NPC in Welcome To Secundus and Secundus Madness Returns. Reason being (spoiler for fic!) the Queen kills him shortly before the shit hits the fan in Secundus. So if you want to play with him AND a Touched Victor, you want to go for the Secundus Madness Returns mini-verse.

Some common lingo thrown around the city is "Touched" (their name for a mad scientist), "Fabricated" (person created through biological processes, such as being sewn together from multiple corpses), "Automaton" (person created through mechanical processes, such as your average self-aware robot), "Reanimated" (person who has been raised from the dead), and "Mixed Bag" (some combination of the above that doesn't fit into a neat category -- Richard, for example, is a Touched but has replaced a lot of his body with mechanical components). I recommend reading the Lexicon, the City Guide, and the article on Atypical Scientific Neural Disorder on my website for more information.

Victor is quite friendly as a mad scientist and will happily show off his inventions to anyone who asks (and occasionally anyone who doesn't). Being a lepidopterist Touched, expect to see lots of weird and wild butterflies. Quick warning, though -- he does have a few nasty variations for people who annoy him. . .

It's not a good idea to threaten anyone Victor cares about within earshot of him, but ESPECIALLY not Alice, Doc, or Marty. They’re basically his new family and he will NOT hesitate to defend them with his life.

As for his old family. . .Victor has a sour relationship with his parents and will not appreciate being forced into contact with them. (Nell said that he ought to be “fixed,” after all.) He still has some regrets about how things turned out, though, leading to some complicated guilty moments.

Victor loves his pets, and has two (that I play) in the We're All Mad Here and Secundus Madness Returns periods -- Lightning, a super-excitable Pembroke Welsh corgi with a jagged white streak on his head; and Ferdinand, a giant blue butterfly that Victor uses as a steed when he needs to get places he can't get to by walking. He's quite willing to give rides on the latter (he'll show you how to actually get on without hurting Ferdy).

Most common NPCs to answer questions will probably be Doc Brown and Marty McFly, as I tend to set open threads/asks at the shop for ease of interaction with other people.

This verse is open to everyone!