#also this is coming across as way more epic than I originally intended it to be

[pynkhues]

What do you mean when u say Lestat is a Milton’s Satan hero?

Ah! Okay! Going to try and keep this shorter than my Byronic Hero post, haha, but we’ll see how we go.

Before we start…

When we talk about Milton’s Satan as a character archetype, we’re talking about something that was originated in John Milton’s epic poem, Paradise Lost, which was published in 1667. This was before gothic literature was quote-unquote ‘invented’ (as I mentioned in my first Byronic Hero post, gothic literature is widely accepted to have begun with Horace Walpole’s 1764 novel, The Castle of Otranto – worth the read, even just for the bonkers prophecy-speaking skeletons and a character dying from a helmet falling on his head, haha), but had, and continues to have, an enormous impact on gothic literature and horror in general.

The poem is set across twelve ‘books’ (chapters, basically), and is effectively a re-telling of the Book of Genesis but with two narrative throughlines. One throughline is Adam and Eve who represent more conventional biblical heroes in the poem, and the other is Satan (also called Lucifer in the poem). We’ll talk more about them in a sec, but before we begin it’s important to note that Paradise Lost was never intended as a criticism of the church.

Milton was a religious man, which is a really important thing to note when we start talking about Paradise Lost, but he was also heavily influenced as a writer by King Charles I’s autocratic rule and the English Civil War which lasted from 1642-1651. I’m not going to get into the nitty gritty of all of that, but what’s important to note is that he wrote Paradise Lost in a really increased period of anti-authority sentiment in the UK and believed strongly in rebellion against authority, which feeds into how he invented his Satan.

Milton’s Satan in Paradise Lost

Lucifer’s arc in Paradise Lost is a relatively straight forward one. He begins as God’s favourite angel but his pride and his vanity gets the better of him as God starts to invent (and favour) earth and mankind, and he comes to resent God’s authority over the kingdom of heaven. He believes he deserves to be loved as God is, so he leads a rebellion against God, only to lose, and he and the rest of the fallen angels, get cast out of Heaven and into Hell.

Out of spite, Lucifer decides to make Hell his own, with the iconic line “Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav’n” and to set his sights on corrupting God’s new favourite thing – Mankind (at this point, just Adam and Eve) – and he’s ultimately pretty darn successful. I’m not going to talk too much about the specific ways that he does that, but it’s basically a mix of deception and sowing seeds of lust, and the end result is that humanity’s corrupted, and God further punishes Satan by turning him and the other fallen angels into snakes.

The devil had been depicted a few times in literature and poetry before this time –most notably in Dante’s Inferno – but these depictions of the devil were always monstrous. Dante’s Satan is a three-mouthed beast keeping his sinner’s constantly in pain, trapped in Hell himself instead of reigning over it, and this is where Milton’s Satan hit the streets and changed character archetypes for good.

Because Milton’s Satan was hot.

Sure, he was evil, proud, vain, impulsive and did terrible things, but he was also charismatic, beautiful, graceful, funny, with all the best lines in the poem. He was “a lonely rebel…[and] an appealing, sympathetic deviant.”

And – I can’t stress this enough – nobody had ever done that before in Western writing.  “[Milton] transformed the way evil was depicted in Western texts and cultural imagery,” and also created the hero-villain archetype, something we now often refer to as an antihero.

On top of that though, Milton’s Satan was deceptive (literally a shapeshifter!), impulsive, had an incestuous family, and made sex sinful by making it lustful (Milton’s thesis over and over in his writing is that sex is great as long as nobody feels lust lol). He was also a loser, haha – he lost every battle he fought, and is in some ways regarded as a caricature of the epic odyssey hero, but look, I’m not going to get into all of that here.

Milton’s Satan is a tragic struggle between the entirely villainous and the entirely heroic.

Let’s just grab a quote from the excellent paper Miltonic Influences in Gothic Victorian Literature:

“As a rejected, troubled child of God, Satan decides to forcefully take what he thinks he should have by birthright. When he does not succeed, he decides to corrupt God’s new children…Satan is narcissistic, vain, proud and jealous. However, he is also remorseful and aware of the wrongness of his actions. He alone thinks he cannot be pardoned for the sins he commits so he forcefully pushes forward in his need for revenge. At the same time, Satan shows disturbingly human characteristics, but also inexplicable immorality. Just when one thinks one can reach a humane reason for Satan’s behaviour, one is left baffled by how evil he actually is.”

The important thing to remember about your Milton’s Satan archetype is that he was not just invented as a means of Milton’s grappling with autocracy and anti-authority sentiment, he was also really Milton’s way of grappling with humanity.

He leaves Adam and Eve as the Biblical heroes of the story, which makes them hard to engage with. What Milton wanted with Satan was to lean into the fallen angel element of him and show him as a character with the capacity for both good and evil, and the tendency to choose evil, thus making him both ultimately tragic, but also more human than the human characters. He was a way for Milton to explore what he felt were his own sins and moral failings, and in the process of that, became a way for readers to explore that too.

Evolution of Milton’s Satan

Milton’s Satan as an archetype has grown a lot over the years since his invention. Even by the time gothic literature started being ‘officially’ written a century later, the character archetype really existed on a spectrum, with some Milton’s Satan’s such as Ambrosio in Matthew Gregory Lewis’ 1796 novel, The Monk leaning more villain than hero, and the Monster in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, Frankenstein, who’s cast out by his maker and not given the chance he needs in life to be good. The Monster lacks a lot of Milton’s Satan’s typical traits like pride and self-love, but he continues the archetype’s throughline of being a cast out child who out of loneliness, becomes vengeful against the authority that rejected him and ultimately depraved/

Like I said, this archetype underpins all antiheroes today, and there’s a lot of writing about characters as wide-ranging as Hannibal Lector to Batman as being owing to Milton’s Satan, so there’s heaps out there to read if you’re interested, but yes! Let’s talk a little about Lestat.

Lestat as Milton’s Satan

Trying to keep this short(ish, anyway, haha): I really do think Lestat is born out of this archetype. Lestat’s an anti-authority character – an enormous part of which stems from his father’s autocratic and abusive reign of the household, and the feeling of abandonment by God when his father pulled him out of the church where he’d learn to be a priest only to continue his abuse. Lestat in that sense also faces rejection from three ‘God’s’ / makers not just one one – his spiritual God, his biological father, and later Magnus as his vampiric maker.

Interestingly too, Miltonic Satan’s remain heavily tied to their maker’s even after their rejection. In that paper above on Miltonic Influences in Gothic Victorian Literature, they note:

“The Satanic hero or the hero-villain is a dark, troubled and mysterious individual. He is shaped by life experiences and traits which he inherits from his maker.”

Something the show has reminded us a few times now. Lestat’s grounding in trauma and abandonment is steeped in the Miltonic trope of rejection by authority leading to rejection of authority, but even beyond that, Milton’s Satan is impulsive, morally weak, self-centered, proud, vain, lonely, beautiful but also, vitally, has a capacity for real good and an ability to love (and, more often, lust, haha). He’s a hero-villain that ultimately draws the viewer in because he’s exceptionally human in his monstrousness, and that is what is at the heart of the Milton’s Satan archetype. He’s evil but he’s human in a way traditional villains were robbed of, and similarly, he’s good but he’s human in a way traditional heroes weren’t allow to be, and to me that is Lestat in a nutshell.

[mittensmorgul]

For anyone interested in long-term residence in the supernatural fandom, please have some observations I’ve made over the decade I’ve been here. Take it or leave it as you will, but I’ve found all of this info useful over the years I’ve been here.

I wrote this yesterday, and it achieved its mission of identifying the sort of folks who would react negatively to it (i.e. a lot of block lists have been updated), so now that it’s been edited for content, it’s going under a cut (because that is how we do things on tumblr in general, unless we have a deliberate purpose for annoying readers with excessively long text posts) for the sake of people who actually do care about the fandom and its history. If that’s not you or your reason for being here, then keep on keeping on with your own thing, I guess. For those who are interested, there’s a lot of fandom resources some of us have been building for years that you might enjoy knowing about.

First off, I’ve been informed by a few friends who’ve read through this for coherency’s sake that it sort of reads like a *shakes cane from porch* fandom grandma complaint, but honestly... I earned this rocking chair and goshdangit imma rock now. So apologies for any “back in my day” vibes or faint aroma of tiger balm this post might give off. Then again, it’s loosely based on a similar post from 2012 so like... time is a flat circle anyway I guess.

1. There is no such thing as “tumblr famous,” unless you’re referring to the hilarious and delightful fic of the same name (please go read it, you will cackle). Posting Hot Takes for imaginary Clout™ on this site is kind of pointless in the long run. Sure you can post solely for the sake of stirring shit and getting notes, but the majority of the folks who do aren’t long term residents of the fandom. They’re just tourists moving through our little beach town for spring break. If you’re actually intent on moving to this corner of the fandom for an extended stay, please bother to really feel out the permanent residents and understand the culture and general mood of the neighborhood. It bears no resemblance to whatever’s going on across town where all the bars and beach parities are happening, and those loud, drunken revelers are, again, gonna disappear back to their regular lives or on to the next party eventually. That doesn’t mean the fandom is dying, it’s just evolving.

(funny how I had several comments implying that I’m just trying to keep the fandom from evolving with this post, because I sincerely do want the fandom to continue on for years to come, and that is impossible without evolution. We can evolve without self-immolating, though. mostly i included point 1 for an excuse to push ancient but hilarious fanfic on you.)

2. Once you post something here, it’s been unleashed to the fandom winds. You never know where it will end up, or who will comment on it or add to it. Remember that time Misha tweeted the link to the Epic Cockles Love Story post? No? It was wild. That was 2012. They all know we’re here, and how to find us if they want to. Please don’t take it to their doorsteps.

Obviously if someone is being a dick on your posts, please feel free to block them, but the whole entire point of this site is to engage people with your posts. Being big mad that someone reblogged your post with comments or supporting evidence, or happy headcanons or “HECK THIS IS GREAT BECAUSE (insert personal story about their experience or whatever else made them Feel Things about your post)” is frankly ridiculous. If your goal is to avoid any sort of engagement with your posts, then maybe try instagram instead. From what I understand, there is a SPN fandom presence there, and nobody can tarnish your original posts with unwanted commentary. But the ability to reblog with additional commentary is a FEATURE of tumblr that builds community through conversation. Otherwise we’re all just talking to ourselves in a vacuum, and that’s what actually kills fandoms.

(and for the folks who just want to blog how they want to blog and don’t want people to engage on their posts at all, please feel free to block anyone you want, as well... nobody wants to step on your toes, but most of us also don’t want to walk on eggshells wondering if this post is one of the “do not add comments for any reason” sorts of posts, either. This is a huge fandom and most people can’t even begin to keep track of every creator and their url du jour, and what their personal rules might be regarding interaction with their content. Including a “please don’t add comments” note at the bottom of your posts-- and not in your tags that won’t even show up on reblogs, but in the actual body of the post-- would sincerely help avoid any awkward or unwanted interactions, too. At the end of the day, you are in control of your own fandom experience and the block button exists.

For the record, I block zero fandom blogs (which is why I posted this, I wanted it to reach a wide scope... refer to the opening paragraphs as to why).

3. Since this post was partly inspired by a tag I left on that post going around about how “previous tags” mean fuckall on this site (which you can read here), just a reminder that if you like someone’s tags or feel they add value to the post, part of the Peer Review structure of tumblr encourages you to PASTE THEM INTO A REBLOG. If you do this, then at least credit the person who actually wrote the tags! Don’t just copy someone else’s tags into your tags on your reblog of the post without credit either. They were not YOUR tags. (I have had this happen to tag rambles I wrote and someone else got credited with them on a subsequent reblog and it is FRUSTRATING). Just... don’t even bother to write “previous tags” because WHAT PREVIOUS TAGS?! Nobody is gonna bother to chase back the chain of reblogs trying to find where the mystery tags came from, friendos. That way lies madness.

(for the record, since some folks seemed to focus on this point solely, writing “previous tags” on a post isn’t inherently a BAD thing, but for anyone who actually is here for more than one-off shitposting, then it’s sort of a pointless thing in the long run. This wasn’t intended to suggest people who ARE here for one-off shitposting are bad or “doing it wrong,” but for people who might actually want to preserve that hilarious joke or insightful comment. People delete posts and entire blogs all the time around here. Links break. I get that the upcoming generation just shrugs at that and moves on with their lives, but heck... you don’t have to accept that all entertainment is disposable if you don’t want to. There’s a bizarre sort of nihilism plaguing us all about the impermanence of pretty much everything that feels like something we should be fighting against rather than buying into wholesale, even in our escapist entertainment. I’m just exhausted by the complete loss of joy in community.

*shouts from the peanut gallery* IT AIN’T THAT DEEP, JUST GET SOME FRESH AIR AND LOOK AT A PUPPY OR SOMETHING

Yes... yes it isn’t really that deep, but bigger picture in the state of reality we’re all entirely disillusioned with, are we supposed to just give up on everything, including the things we cling to because they bring us a tiny spark of hope that we’re not all just trapped in this dystopian nightmare and things might actually be worth living for?

*peanut gallery clinging to burnt husks of peanuts in a barren peanut field* but this is how we have chosen to cope

Okay... you do you... I feel bad for you but if that’s the case then this post is NOT FOR YOU. AND THAT’S FINE. I honestly do not care if you don’t care! I mean, I’m sorry anyone has to live in a world that drives them to that mindset, but I understand. This post is for anyone who might look at their lives and their choices and think “no wait, I unironically enjoy this and want more from the experience of that enjoyment than I’m currently feeling.” Everyone else can continue with their lives as usual.)

4. CONTENT THEFT IS NEVER OKAY. PERIOD. Things like “credit to the artist” or tagging gifs or images you found on pinterest as “not mine” isn’t actually credit. If you can’t source an image or gif set, DO NOT POST IT! We don’t REPOST (i.e. save an image and then create a new post with it as if it was our own creation). We REBLOG (click the little square arrows and reblog from the actual creator). That goes for gif sets, fanvids, screencaps, meta, fic... everything.

(hopefully everyone here already understands this one, but I felt compelled to include some “these are stupidly obvious” reminders anyway, since this is ostensibly some sort of advice column. This is the equivalent of the warning label on your toaster reminding you not to use it in the bath. Like... duh...)

5. Close kin of item 4 is SOURCE YOUR SHIT. 

(for 100% disclosure purposes, I specifically discussed this one in this specific way because of an influx of anon ask messages I received in the wake of the finale. Literally the inciting incident for creating this entire post was what I can only assume was a joking ask about a comment Misha made at a con years ago. Someone actually bothered to take the time to type out those sentences to me. I have no idea what they were expecting in reply, or what could possibly motivate them to send this comment about something so entirely random from, again, several years ago. Just a joke? No idea, but whatever... it got me thinking that there might actually be people who are new to the fandom who MIGHT actually care about the fandom history, and maybe they just don’t know where to go for that info, or how to even begin searching through 16 years of history for things they might actually find enjoyment in, rather than just hauling random out of context garbage out on main and pointing and laughing about it now. People are actually allowed to care about things. It’s not cringeworthy to actually care about things, and you are not alone in actually caring, and there’s this whole big room over here full of people who are thrilled to share in that with you. This post is intended FOR THOSE PEOPLE SPECIFICALLY, so if that is not you, please just continue walking by.)

Yes, I know lots of y’all are new around here right now, but dredging up stuff from years ago that fandom has completely debunked and presenting it as TRU FAX again is just exhausting. We’re not trying to be party poopers, but seriously, we have seen it all and are mostly done with extinguishing bags of flaming dog poop on our front porches for the umpteenth year in a row. I’ve seen a lot of posts that have the same tone as “I saw Goody Proctor dancing with the devil” or “I heard kylo ren has an eight pack” and just... the information is there for anyone who cares enough to find it.

This goes double for “why is nobody talking about this thing I just discovered while watching the show for the first time?!” And, oh hon, we have talked it all into the ground over the last fifteen years. We’re happy you’re discovering it again, but I promise we talked about it plenty when the episodes originally aired. We have such a rich meta history that lots of us have worked really hard to preserve. I encourage you to seek it out, if nothing else than as historical artifacts. The way we have discussed the show has been a 16-year evolution. People have written literal doctoral dissertations on this show. Your shitposts are fun! We love reliving our own experience through fresh eyes, and seeing your wonder at experiencing it all again for the first time! But y’all didn’t invent this fandom in the last six months, either.

Meta Sources and Minerals provided by our friendly neighborhood fandom archivist, @lets-steal-an-archive

Academic books and articles about SPN 

A collection of Meta Essays going back to s1 and organized by topic (all of this has happened before, all of it will happen again)

SPN Heavy Meta Archive (s1-3)

Mel’s Dreamwidth archive of meta (s1-12)

Oranges8hands Dreamwidth archive of meta (s1-15, with many similar entries to Mel’s... though ymmv on viewpoint in a lot of these too)

Anyone remember Fandom Wank? Not the concept but the actual LJ... No? Okay have a link to SPN topics that ended up there. Through 2013. We have seen so much... including several fandom containment breaches.

for all your art sourcing needs, please see @theroadsofararchive, the repository for so much fandom art.

need to find a gif of something? canonspngifs is a vast repository of gifsets of the entire series. If the gif you want to use in your post happens to be the first gif in the gifset, in the tumblr gif finder thingy just paste the permalink to that post from canonspngifs (which is easily searchable by episode, character, location, situation, quotes, and sometimes even color and clothing items the actors are wearing... it’s really well organized, especially for tumblr >.>) and the first gif will be automatically linked with credit to the gif creator attached. It makes life easy that way. It’s also convenient when trying to remember something specific but can’t remember what episode it’s from. I’ve used the site to jog my memory before going to the superwiki armed with more specific search results to find episode quotes and references. Or sometimes I just scroll through all the nice gifs for fun, too.

Need a screencap of something and know exactly which episode it’s from? Try Home of the Nutty. You might not find the exact screencap you’re looking for, but they have a complete set of caps of every episode, and it’s an incredibly useful resource for quick reference checks and the like. Just give pages a chance to fully load before clicking on the next one. The site is easily overloaded, but it’s still free to use (and again, with credit... Pretty much every screencap on my entire blog is from HotN unless otherwise credited).

As you can see, this is a fandom built on preserving our history. You absolutely are not required to engage with any of this if that’s not of interest to you, but I can only assume that there are people who would be interested in it if only they knew it existed and how to find it. Well, now they do.

6. A few more notes on tags, and how they work on tumblr. The first 20 tags on your ORIGINAL posts are searchable sitewide, so if you want to be able to find something again, tag that thing first before going on general tag rambles. The only place tags on reblogs are searchable is on your own blog. So you don’t have to put 50 tags trying to get a post seen if it’s a reblog. You’re just spitting into the wind at that point. If you have a filing system for finding things again, then by all means add those tags (again, in the first 20, so they’re searchable), but you don’t need to tag a reblog “destiel” and “deancas” and “dean” and “cas” and “dean x cas” or whatever. Pick one for your personal blog’s filing system, that’s all you need.

(this was only added because tagging and searching on this site is so very broken... I get that a lot of folks don’t care about ever searching their own blogs again for anything, so this one only really applies if you do often find yourself trying to find old posts. If not, then it’s not really relevant.  It took me years to work out a decent tagging system, and at the beginning of my time here I never thought I’d end up camping out here for a decade and falling this deep into the fandom, and I regretted my lack of consistent tags only years later when I realized I actually wanted to be able to go back and find specific old posts again. So... for anyone who wants to err on the side of caution, working out a sensible tagging system really helps if you’re here for the long term. I personally tag content by episode, because some of my other general tags are so large as to be practically useless as a search term. But whatever system you choose to file stuff on your own blog, it really only has to make sense to you. And again, if this is pointless advice for someone who has no intention of settling here for the long term. Please feel free to ignore it. I just wish someone had explained it this way to me ten years ago and saved me the hassle of retroactively tagging something like 30k posts... especially now that using the mass tag replacer is the fastest way to get your entire blog deleted... oops? so yeah, don’t use the mass tag replacer either >.>)

7. Tags on Tumblr DO NOT WORK LIKE TAGS ON TWITTER. If you @ someone in the body of the post, it will show up in their notifications (if they’re the sort of person who even checks their notifications... not all of us do. For the record, I generally don’t...), but putting actor or ship names in the tags on a tumblr post does absolutely nothing. It’s not the same as tagging the actor’s twitter account in a tweet. Nobody’s getting notifications about you tagging a post about Jensen here as “Jensen Ackles.” There is a difference. Please learn it. (and don’t take headcanons and ESPECIALLY RPF or otherwise explicit art or fic from tumblr to twitter and tag the actors in it. That’s just... not okay.)

(I have seen the pearl clutchers getting all in a huff about the mere existence of RPF or even explicit content of fictional characters if it doesn’t meet their purity standards, but tagging those things allows people who don’t want to see it to actively avoid that content here. Nobody has a right to tell people their fictional content shouldn’t exist at all, or that creators of that fictional content somehow deserve harassment or threats for having dared to create such “immoral” content, won’t somebody PLEASE think of the children... and no... you do not do that here. Don’t be the problematic behavior you wish to ban from the world. Learn to use tags to protect yourself from, as i have attempted to emphasize here, fictional content you are personally upset by. That’s a you problem, not a problem for the creators of potentially upsetting content that they tag appropriately for.)

8. General formatting stuff: If you’re writing long text posts, visually break them up so people aren’t faced with one long wall of text. The enter key is your friend. Also, if you put long text posts under a Read More break and send people to your blog to finish reading, please ensure that your blog is actually visually accessible (tiny text, or light grey text on a dark grey background, or a visually busy background might be aesthetically pleasing to you but nobody can actually read it. Loads of folks won’t even try. Which is great if you don’t actually care whether people are able to appreciate your content or not, but something to at least consider if you *do* actively want to encourage engagement with your work. Confirm how your blog looks on both mobile and desktop and make sure it’s actually functional in both, too).

And since I mentioned that most of my experience on fandom tumblr has been in the SPN fandom, here’s a bit of a reminder for folks who are new around here. With the reminder that I have been here more than a decade and still feel like a newbie myself sometimes...

This is an OLD FANDOM. There are many, many people who have been at this longer than some of you have been alive. The average age for creators in this fandom is older than you think (I think of my friends in their 30′s as young’ins okay? okay). With that understood, you are responsible for the content you consume and are exposed to. Curate your experience. Ship and let ship. YKINMKATOK. Don’t deliberately expose yourself to content you find upsetting for whatever reason. Tags and warnings are your friends, not targets for you to attack in some sort of purity war. People will ship things you do not like (or in specific ways you do not like), will say things you do not agree with, and will find their happiness in things you abhor. That is not your concern. Find what you do like, and support and engage with it, and ignore (or block, or unfollow) the rest. Tumblr has a feature that lets you blacklist tags so the content you’re trying to avoid won’t appear on your dash.

Remember the paradox of tolerance.

It is not your job in fandom to police how other people enjoy the fandom. It’s not *my* job to police how *you* enjoy the fandom, UNLESS your enjoyment is in actively harming other real human beings in the fandom. If you don’t like their take on the character or the show or the plotlines or their ships or anything else, you don’t need to engage with their posts at all! The necessary corollary to this is that clarifying misunderstandings or correcting factual misinformation is not “policing.” 

(this is where the peanut gallery reminds me it ain’t that deep, and I plead with them to put down the social media and find just one (1) thing to actually believe in in this godforsaken life, find something other than disdain and cynicism and spite to live for. If those things motivate you to find a larger cause for yourself, then great, use them to your advantage, but use them to find something that makes you a better person or brings you a modicum of joy and connection to your fellow human beings despite living in a dystopian hellscape of a world)

I have seen a lot of posts lately that are founded on the sort of authority that comes with “I watched through tumblr for a few months and then watched the last three episodes of the series” and as such are just... missing the larger context of the entire show, and are unfounded entirely in canon. I 100% appreciate the new enthusiasm for the fandom that we’ve been living in here for years, and it’s wonderful to see new people enjoying the thing we love. Your headcanons are valid, you are valid, but recognize that your headcanons aren’t canon. All of us finale denialists have accepted this in some measure, so we feel you. We truly, truly feel you. But regarding actual canon, we have a resource for that: the Superwiki. Learn it, live it, love it, as Metatron would say.

(which you could discover he said in 10.17 Inside Man, thanks to the superwiki! accept no substitutes!)

(and again, there have been people who have been involved in fandom for years who haven’t engaged with canon in years, either! You can play in this universe however you choose, BUT FOR PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT CANON AT ALL, WHICH I AM AGAIN POINTEDLY SAYING MIGHT NOT BE YOU, READER, AND I’M NOT SUGGESTING YOU ARE WRONG FOR NOT WANTING TO ACTUALLY ENGAGE WITH CANON, but if you DO want to engage with canon, please have some useful resources. Why do people feel personally attacked by being presented a list of helpful resources? Absolutely baffling.)

(also: words have definitions. “Canon” is a specific thing, meaning in this case “the finished media product that aired on television.” Anything beyond those limits is secondary canon (think: john’s journal, which is not canon but canon adjacent at best...), word of god (i.e stuff said by the writers and showrunners), or headcanon (which includes actor commentary-- they may have helped create the show with their acting choices and whatever, but they are not in control of the story overall). If there’s something you dislike about actual canon, you can reject it and supplement it with your own theories or preferred outcomes-- that’s basically what fanfic is-- but that doesn’t make your theories canon (much to all our dismay, that’s just not how any of this works. This is not to invalidate how anyone engages with the show or the fandom, just trying to clarify what seems to have been a source of unintentional misunderstandings. Your theories do not have to be “canon” to be legitimate interpretations.)

***I am setting this section apart, and did make a separate post of just this following information, because this is where we go from being relatively chill about different parts of fandom choosing to interact in different ways and you do you and blog however you want, to “hey can everybody please understand that the way you are interacting with this specific material might be harmful for specific legal reasons, and stating that you do not care about the consequences of your actions does actively make you the asshole here...” Okay, now that we have that understood:

The spnscripthunt collective has been steadily acquiring new scripts (which are posted in full on the superwiki for everyone to enjoy, for free). The language around how some folks are talking about these scripts is... concerning. For very real legal reasons, actually, and not because we’re feeling precious about the collection and don’t wike it when meanies use them in shitposts.

-First off, these scripts are not “leaks.” They are all verified and legally purchased (or gifted, in some cases, but still acquired entirely above board. we didn’t whack anyone over the head in a back alley for these scripts, or swipe them out of someone’s trailer on set).

(in case anyone was unaware, these scripts are the copywritten protected property of Warner Brothers. So yes, how we use them and share them with the fandom could have legal repercussions. We present them as a collected resource of fandom history which SHOULD fall under Fair Use doctrine, but this is untested legal water. Insinuating that the scripts are somehow not entirely legally obtained, or that posting them for public access involved less than 100% transparent and entirely legal transactions is incredibly concerning.

Once again for the peanut gallery, if you don’t care about any of that and are just having a good time with it, at least be mindful of the work and expense a large group of people have gone through to acquire and present the content you’re all too eager to exploit for cheap thrills. Some of us do actually care and are not exactly comfortable with the fact that others don’t seem to care about burning it all to the ground. We can’t force you to listen or behave as we’d hope you might, but at least be aware of the potential consequences of your actions. All we’re asking is for you to not be the douchebag who sets the whole neighborhood on fire with your illegal fireworks display. Is that too much to ask for? more on that in a second, first... a psa)

-If you see a script for sale and are unsure if it’s legit (or believe it might already be freely available in our collection), please feel free to ask us for advice. Our goal is to make as much of our fandom history available to the entire fandom, and we absolutely do not want anyone shelling out money for stuff you can already find for free.

(seriously, we’ve seen a bunch of resellers cropping up selling printed versions of the scripts we bought and uploaded for everyone to enjoy free of charge, or scripts that are otherwise of dubious origin. We’ve been at this for years now and know what’s actually out there. We don’t want anyone to fall for a scam if we can help it)

-Also, the usual reminder that the scripts we acquire ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE FINAL SHOOTING DRAFTS. In fact, the majority of scripts in our collection are NOT. Changes are made daily to scripts, even during filming. Comparing a Production Draft (white pages, effectively the first “final draft” of what usually becomes a series of drafts before filming wraps) to a much later revision (say... green or goldenrod revisions, several of which we DO have in our collection for comparison) and how those earlier drafts often differ wildly from the aired version versus how similar a much later green draft is to the aired version, for example, can teach you a lot about the television writing process. The link above to the superwiki scripts page has a nice little explainer about how this process works.

Differences between our posted scripts (many of which are white drafts, aka FIRST complete drafts, which will likely go through multiple rounds of revisions before filming even begins) and the aired version of the show are not all “acting choices” or a director or editor just cutting whole scenes on a whim. It’s insulting to everyone involved in production to suggest that’s the case.

(and yeah, fine... whatever, make any sort of posts you like regarding how those changes came about, but at the very least understand that it’s not actually the truth about how any of this works. Don’t care that that’s not the truth and want to make the posts anyway because shitposting is fun and that’s the extent of your sense of humor? FINE! You’re entitled to do that! But at least you DO know the truth now, and hopefully so do the people who engage with your posts. Deliberate ignorance isn’t cute, smooth lions notwithstanding)

There’s probably a whole other post to be made on fandom tagging etiquette, but again I don’t really use the tags enough to know what’s going on with that whole situation. I’ve also probably left a lot of stuff out, so please feel free to add things I’ve overlooked.

Thanks also to @trisscar368 and @thayerkerbasy for help compiling this, too. They were kind enough to escort me through the park to feed these pigeons. Now I need to take them out for ice cream. :’D

So I guess welcome to the neighborhood. Make yourself at home, but like... try not to trash the place while you’re here. Some of us live here by choice, lol.

[johnmccharmly]

Sorry to ask your opinion again so soon but I really would like your input on this. i saw a video on youtube recently of Paul singing Here Today but before he sang it he said it was originally intended for John meaning now it could be for anyone, I guess. i’m completely baffled as to why he would say that as the lyrics really don’t fit for anyone else. i think this was from 2008. i read a comment that said he was now dedicating it to Linda and Geo as well but I didn’t hear him say that in the video. Either way, I still think that’s really shitty to make it blatantly obvious that is no longer solely intended for John. Btw, the video is from a performance at Amoeba in L.A.-Rings was also in the audience. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.����

Hi again!

Here Today has always been one of my favorites... It never fails to leave me teary eyed. Specifically for the meaning behind it, which is that it was written FOR John.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Paul wrote Here Today shortly after John’s passing, as a way to process it all, and get across those words never said, the words he could only communicate in the best way he knew how to, through his music. The song was a letter to John, no one else, but John.

However, as the years went by, and Paul lost more loved ones, yes, I do believe he could dedicate the song to more than one person, because truthfully, the lyrics still stand for any lost loved one that things were left “unfinished” with... Such a beautiful piece, filled with so much emotion. It’s incredible truly, especially coming from Paul who we never have gotten much from, vulnerability wise. He always has the walls up between his true feelings and the public, but not in this case, this song is so raw and filled with the pain and bittersweet memories of the most epic love story /connection of his life. A story of two lads from Liverpool that made history together, only to have fate end their story short. There are really no words to describe the depth of the connection those two shared...

So in the end, Here Today will always be to me, Paul’s love letter to his beloved twin flame, John Lennon.

Here Today, is and always has been, John’s song <3

[bigskydreaming]

Something else to keep in mind is the way things compound? Like for instance, I’ve seen a mini trend of fics lately focusing on the issue of Dick dropping out of college or not wanting to go, which for the record, I feel is another way of building up to the idea that he and Bruce have all these fights during this period that are two way streets instead of like....what canon actually was (reminder that in the canon that Dick actually dropped out he and Bruce actually were never really NOT on good terms, like there’s never been a big fight in the comics about this topic so.....incheresting).

But anyway, my point is its worth keeping in mind that how you frame something at one point in a narrative like.....ideally, you want it to mesh up and align with other things you’ve brought up throughout the narrative, and not accidentally contradict yourself narratively.

I mean, this is really the big gripe most Dick Grayson fans have with his fanon characterization overall:

The fact that it just doesn’t make sense.

In Jason-centric fics that are after his resurrection, how often is Jason utterly convinced that Dick can’t even wipe his ass without Bruce’s approval? And yet in Jason-centric fics that are before his death, how often is Jason thinking about how Dick and Bruce are constantly fighting and Bruce can’t seem to do anything without Dick objecting? Reconcile these two things. They make no sense.

Same thing with fics that talk about Dick being the emotional glue of the family, the one keeping a cool head to calm down everyone else when they’re all taking shots at each other.....until randomly he just pops off without warning because he’s just that hot-tempered. These things mesh, how?

Same thing with Dick being frequently referenced as idealized by the hero community......but every time he interacts with someone like Roy or Kori or other Titans he can’t seem to avoid pissing them off and creating epic grudges. Make it make sense.

Or how Dick disliked or didn’t care about Jason to the extent that he only references him as a cautionary tale because of one line in canon......but the whole damn story where he kills the Joker because of Jason doesn’t count.

Or how its not okay to blame Dick for his own rapes but both of his major breakups which are intrinsically linked to the actions of his rapists like....were clearly and objectively all his fault somehow.

Dick Grayson fans aren’t on board with most of fanon because you can’t sell people on a constantly conflicting characterization that makes no sense and has no internal consistency.....you can only cater to people who don’t NEED to be sold on that because they’ve already decided they’re down with hating a character or largely ignoring him.

And I think people have gotten so used to not thinking twice about contradictory takes on Dick Grayson that they unintentionally undermine their own fics by contradicting themselves without even realizing it.

Like its ridiculously common to come across fics that reference Dick being beloved and charming everyone at the society galas they all have to go to.....but these fics take pot shots at Dick’s name, fashion, mannerisms etc all throughout it just because the author likes it or fans expect it or whatever reason.

But actually THINK about it:

Think how snobby the socialites at these galas are characterized as being any time its Jason their noses are turned down at.....and then look at like.....the constant jokes you as the author make YOURSELF at Dick’s very name, fashion and circus origins......how on Earth does it make ANY sense that these same people aren’t doing the same damn thing about Dick? That they’re actually any more fond of him than they are Jason, if no matter how charming he might be in the moment, the second he turns around its just as easy and likely for them to make a joke about his circus background or name as it is for writers and readers? If you can’t resist doing it, you really think snobby one percenters would bother in-universe?

Hell, they’d be more likely to hate him BECAUSE of his name, his fashion, etc.....because think of how often people not so subtly infer that he’s making a bad choice when he refuses to go by a different name, or dress more accordingly to normal fashions, etc.....

Dick has a million ways he could more easily fit in with the society he was brought into and ease his passage through it, but he puts his foot down at practically every opportunity. The idea that everybody is just dazzled by him at these galas makes no sense because the most consistent character choice made by Dick throughout the decades is that he refuses to CONFORM to others’ expectations of what he should be like. 

EVERY SINGLE CHOICE he makes from his name to his wardrobe to his costumes to his education to his city to his living arrangements and on and on is in complete and utter DEFIANCE of what people expect of the eldest son or ward of Bruce Wayne, Prince of Gotham, and that’s by Dick’s conscious and consistent choice. He knows damn well how to be more what people want or expect of him, and that’s not what he wants so he says mmmm but also how bout no.

Dick constantly embodies the idea that you can take the boy out of the circus but you can not and will not take the circus out of the boy no matter what environment you place him in or who you surround him with. He will not allow it. He will not play along.

In what universe is that going to endear him to the very people who would most likely view his choice to prioritize the very things they look down upon as something he consciously PREFERS over their projected expectations or assumptions?

Its not.

Personally, I think Gotham high society despises Dick Grayson no matter what they pretend to his face, and he’s perfectly aware of it. And probably gets some kind of trollish glee out of it because fuck them too, anyway.

(And all of that is WITHOUT even taking into account the fact that a good number of the people at these society galas all along were looking at Dick as their future property, given that they were Owl members who knew all along what they intended for their Gray Son. These people simply do not view and treat Dick as an equal. Its impossible. There’s no way).

Or then back to the idea of Bruce and Dick’s fights in his later teenage years being a two way street....

The core problem at the root of all this is the very idea of a two way street implies a certain give and take. A clashing of equals.

And that’s just not the reality in ANY continuity.

Because the question is, in any given fight between Dick and Bruce in ANY canon....

When does Dick ever WIN these fights?

When does Dick get the outcome he wants OVER what Bruce wants? When does Bruce ever cave? When is it NOT Dick leaving the manor without getting what he came for, or even being kicked out? When has Dick ever been able to say no, I’m NOT fired, or no, I’m NOT giving you control over what happens with Robin. Even when he DOES confront Bruce on these matters, Bruce STILL infamously never caves. He never actually apologizes or admits wrongdoing, he still usually tells Dick to leave. Like I said, basically the only time Dick’s ever got the upper hand in an argument was over the college thing and that time it wasn’t even a fight! Bruce didn’t actually care that much! That was the good timeline! LOL.

But there’s never actually a reversal. There’s no real precedent for Bruce caving to a teenage Dick Grayson and saying hey you know what, you’re right here, I’m overstepping or I’m in the wrong or I’m the one who doesn’t know what he’s talking about because our divergent life experiences here have mine as less relevant to the issue in question than yours do?

It doesn’t happen.

And here’s the problem with that:

Dick’s a literal genius. Every member of the Batfam is. Its how they’re able to do what they do. They’re ALL smart as fuck, capable as fuck. Put any of them in any other situation where they’re the only Bat present, and everyone usually defaults to them. They know what to do, they know what call to make, their approach is borne out by the narrative as being the correct approach. Their intelligence and strategy is validated by the narrative, with Dick being no exception here. In fact he’s particularly NOTED within canon narratives for being the guy everyone in the DC universe trusts to lead them.

Now.....imagine being this guy, who while although still a teenager, is in his late teens, and has YEARS of leading his own team under his belt. Years of being responsible for the lives of teammates and civilians. Years of becoming aware of and comfortable with his own natural brilliance. Years of becoming confident in being capable of making the right call when the situation demands it. Years of learning to TRUST in his ability to make the right call, to know the right approach, because not only are people relying on him to make those calls, he needs to be able to trust he can make them in order to have the confidence to follow through and DO so instead of being frozen with indecision or trying to pass the decision off to someone else, which he NEVER does?

With all that....and even with all due respect to Bruce’s own genius and experience....

What are the chances that in all the times that Bruce and Dick clash in his late teenage years....

Dick is NEVER right?

And yet.....when in any of these conflicts.....is he ever validated in that, versus shut down by Bruce who insists his way is still right?

Imagine being an acknowledged genius with years of experience and responsibility under your belt, but NEVER getting to be right in any arguments with your father, even when just based off pure freaking statistics, its frankly impossible for you to be 100% wrong EVERY SINGLE TIME?

Do you see where the two way street thing starts to fall apart? How can it truly be a two way street if part of the reason the two of them so often end UP aggressively opposed to each other during this time period.....is because of how many times previous encounters have only ended ONE way no matter WHAT?

It makes sense for Dick and Bruce not to clash as much during their younger years, because even the most stubborn kids do understand on a fundamental level that they have things to learn from more experienced adults. And Dick has never been someone mindlessly predisposed towards conflict. He didn’t become an exceptional acrobat by the age of eight by butting heads with his parents every time they tried to teach him, he couldn’t have. He KNOWS how to listen, he KNOWS how to acknowledge when someone else is right. 

But as he grows older, when he has more and more experience under his belt, more and more confidence in his own insights in large parts thanks to Bruce’s own efforts in buttressing his confidence in his younger years.....what happens when the balance of who is right and who is wrong in their arguments NEVER EVER starts to shift in his direction even a little bit, no matter HOW much more experienced he seems to get....and what happens when communicating this problem, this imbalance, to the person that really matters here, Bruce himself....still inherently requires Bruce accepting blame and acknowledging even just in THIS case, the idea that he’s not always right at this point and Dick has insights that can challenge his?

Of course there’s going to be more and more conflict....but can you truly argue that its a two way street, even just based off THIS? Is the teenage son truly to blame for being frustrated that he’s not allowed to ever be right, because the thing getting in his way is his father never ever being willing to back down or cave or not have the last word?

This is the sort of inherent contradiction I think lies at the heart of a lot of conflicting viewpoints here. It doesn’t matter how much lip service is being paid to the idea that Dick is intelligent, that Dick is respected, if all your content continually bears out the idea that actually no he’s not, because Bruce is always right, Dick never is in the right in arguments or conflicts.

The latter evidence just is not aligning with the former claims, and thus readers are innately forced to make a choice as to which to believe.....and more likely than not, they’re going to err on the side of substantiating whichever stance actually has more narrative support behind it, in any particular story.

See what I’m saying?

You need to make sure your story is ACTUALLY saying what you think you’re saying or you intended to say....or you end up undermining your own intentions.

Anyway. Just throwing that out there. 

[skysplinter]

Fanfic: Buried Deep (pt1)

There was nothing anyone could do. When the lightning struck, it spread too fast to be stopped. The old tower was no match for the forces of nature. The city folk could only escape while they still could and watch as the building burned. Even the guardian of the tower could not hope to stop the flames - as the wood smoldered and collapsed around it, it spread its wings and fled far to the west where the fire would not spread.

The blaze proved to be unquenchable, and the people of the city feared that it would take the next tower, and the city itself if it continued to grow. In a panic, they sent word of their plight to the south, begging their neighbors and friends in the hopes that others could save them.

But while their pleas for help spread from person to person, another message was being sent. The birds and beasts of the wild passed a message of a great tragedy, as yet unknown to the people of the city. In the old burning tower, three poor creatures had been trapped by the debris.

The birds and the beasts gathered together and sang out for their three lost children. Their song reached the heavens and brought a great downpour of rain, finally putting out the flames that had destroyed the tower. The people of the city rejoiced. They were saved!

However, it was too late for the three little creatures that had been trapped inside the burned out building, for they had already perished. The birds and the beasts cried in mourning for their lost little ones.

This time, their voices were heard by another - the brethren of the burned tower's guardian, who lived in a tower made of tin. The second guardian took pity upon them for their loss, and granted the three little creatures life once more.

One was born again in a blinding flash of light as a memory of the storm.

The second returned in a blaze of fury, an echo of the flames that had consumed them.

And the third was formed from the tears of the birds and the beasts in a great deluge, as a reminder of the rain which had quenched the fire.

Then, with its gift bestowed upon them, the guardian of the tin tower disappeared into the clouds. It left a glittering rainbow in its wake as it departed, never to be seen again until the time was right and the world needed it once more.

Meanwhile, the three reborn beasts remained in the ruins of the old burned tower. Imbued with new powers given to them by the guardian, they served as a reminder for the tragedy that had taken place, and as a symbol of nature's wild power. It is said they lie beneath the tower even now, sleeping and waiting for their time to rise again.

***

'This is Reed signing off,' said the radio host. 'And remember, all you beautiful listeners out there - keep yourself tuned into the Lucky Channel.'

His voice trailed off and was replaced by one of the cheesiest jingles Ryo had ever heard. In a temper, she leaned over to the front of the car and turned the radio off. Anything was better than listening to that garbage.

Unfortunately, turning off the radio only left her more thoughts to contend with. With no sound to distract her, she could only dwell on what was probably going on inside Professor Elm's lab. Her mom had driven her here and asked her to wait in the car while she discussed something "really important" with her dad.

Knowing her luck, she was probably in trouble again. Ryo couldn't remember a time where she hadn't been in trouble. For the past year or so, she'd had her parents breathing down her neck almost constantly for one reason or another.

First, it had been her run-in with the neighbour's kid, Lyra. The girl had been so smug about the Pokémon her parents had gotten her and paraded the stupid blue mouse ball all over the place for weeks - Marill or Mareep or whatever it was, Ryo didn't care. Her parents hadn't found it funny when she'd taken Lyra's stupid pet and offered to show off her soccer skills with the thing, whatever it was called. Clearly no one in New Bark Town could take a joke.

Then after that, there had been the incident with another one of their more gullible neighbours. Her mom in particular hadn't been impressed when she'd found out that Ryo had convinced the guy to stand out all night in the pouring rain just to find a Pokémon that would only come out of hiding in the daytime. It was his own fault for actually going along with her, but apparently that didn't matter.

When that had all blown over, Ryo had accidentally broken the Pokégear her parents had bought her for her birthday. A Pokégear was an expensive gift, she knew, and her dad had apparently worked extra hours in the lab for Professor Elm just to afford it. Obviously she hadn't meant to break it, but one peaceful walk in the fields just on the town outskirts had turned into a nightmare when a bunch of what she had _thought_ were rocks turned out to be a family of very grumpy Pokémon who didn't enjoy being sat on. She'd come home covered in bumps and bruises after the little rock monsters had finished pelting her with pebbles, and her brand new Pokégear had been all but smashed to bits.

It never stopped. When her parents had finally forgotten about one problem, they'd find another reason to get mad and punish her. She was beginning to forget what a life without being grounded was like, and her TV probably didn't even know how to turn on anymore, but worst of all - worse than anything else that her parents had thrown at her these long eighteen months...

They'd forbidden her from getting her first Pokémon and becoming a fully fledged trainer. While all the other kids her age had been given a Pokémon by Professor Elm and sent off to explore and battle one another, Ryo could only sit and watch from the sidelines.

It wasn't fair. Okay, she had to admit - she might not have been the perfect kid all the time, but it was cruel to keep her hanging back for so long. She was already a teenager now, easily old enough to start her Pokémon journey - and yet here she was, stuck in a stuffy old car while her mom and dad cooked up new ways to make her life miserable. Meanwhile, kids much younger than her were probably setting fire to gym leaders and punching the Indigo League champion, Lance, in his stupid pretty face.

But what could she do about it? She didn't have the money to go out and buy Pokéballs, so catching her own Pokémon was out - and she couldn't just steal a Pokémon from someone else.

She slumped back in her seat. In time, maybe she'd meet other losers who never became a Pokémon trainer. Maybe she'd train to become an accountant or a bus driver or something else that didn't involve Pokémon, and she could be happy watching other people have fun while she begrudged her parents for forbidding her to get her first Pokémon until she was old enough to retire.

'Ugh.' She punched the seat in front of her and took a deep breath.

She was being stupid, she knew that. She just hated this. She hated waiting, she hated feeling useless - and she hated being held back like this. Maybe it was her own fault, or maybe it wasn't. It didn't really matter. She just couldn't stand feeling like all that was waiting for her was a great big nothing. If her parents were going to punish her, they could have made her do any chore they wanted - but this? This was pure torture.

Ryo was shaken from her misery by a knock on the door. Her mom was glaring at her through the window, tight lipped and stiff-limbed like she always was when her daughter got herself in trouble. Ryo opened the door and climbed out of the car.

'Come with me,' her mom said sharply. She was a very severe looking woman even at the best of times, with her sharp haircut and thin, angular build - about as far away from Ryo's dumpy, grumpy look as it was possible to be - but when she was in a mood like this, she looked even spikier than usual. 'You're needed in the lab.'

'Oh boy,' said Ryo. 'Is that where the electric chair is? I didn't think they did public executions any more.'

'Don't be smart, young lady. Come on, we shouldn't keep them waiting.'

_Them?_ She was beginning to like the sound of this less and less, but she didn't have time to dwell on it. Her mother grabbed her arm and guided her through the lab's double doors, past a cloud of glasses-wearing nerds in lab coats, and finally - worryingly - to the entrance to Professor Elm's private office.

'What's the professor got to do with this?' asked Ryo. 'I just thought you and dad were going to ground me again...'

Her mom didn't answer her. She swung the door open, still frowning. 'In,' she said.

Inside the office, she was greeted by her dad and Professor Elm standing by a large machine on the far side of the room. It was a little difficult to tell the two men apart, if she was honest - they were both tall, thin, prematurely balding geeks, and right now, they were both staring at her like she had grown another head. One of them tried something that looked almost like a smile. Her mom closed the door and stood beside the pair, her arms folded firmly against her chest.

'Oh, Ryo! There you are!' One of the men greeted her cheerily. By his tone of voice, she presumed she was talking to the professor; he sounded a little less disapproving than her dad when he sPoké to her. 'Now, I suppose you're wondering why I asked you here.'

'Uhhh...' Ryo shrugged. 'I figure I've done something wrong?'

Elm laughed. Her dad followed nervously. Her mom was still deathly silent.

'No, no. In fact, quite the opposite,' said the professor. 'I need to ask you a favour. I've been trying to ask for your assistance for the past... the past... I'm not quite sure how long, but it's no doubt been several months at least. Unfortunately, with one thing or another, I just haven't had the opportunity to ask. With recent developments, however, I simply can't put off asking you any longer, which is why I've gathered both you and your parents here.'

Ryo was already baffled. A favour? Something her dad's boss had been meaning to ask her for months on end? But that meant... No, they couldn't have...

'Now,' Elm continued. 'I have an acquaintance who goes by the, uh... the intriguing moniker of "Mr. Pokémon". He is, uh, quite fanatical about his research, you see, and he continually raves to me about his strange discoveries. There have been numerous accounts he has regaled me with that, despite their preposterous nature, have intrigued me... but just this morning I received a message from him that was too remarkable for me to ignore. It really is an intriguing case, and I would love to go and visit him myself, but we're so busy with our research here, and I simply can't spare any of my assistants at the moment. And obviously, I have considered asking others to go and visit him, but given his... um, peculiar living arrangements, I daren't send anyone without a Pokémon to visit him - someone trustworthy and reliable. And I was wondering -'

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. 'You want me to visit this Mr. Pokémon guy?'

The professor nodded. 'I've already asked your parents' permission, and they've agreed,' he said. By the looks of her mom, asking for her permission would have been no easy feat: she was practically quivering in the corner, her face pulled into a furious scowl. 'I understand you haven't yet been given your first Pokémon, so I would be happy to give you one of the rare creatures we've recently discovered to help you start your journey...'

'Yeah,' Ryo interrupted, glaring at her mother. 'Yeah, that sounds great, doc. Sign me up. I'd love to have my first Pokémon. I've waited for so, so long,' she said, labouring the words, 'I never thought I'd ever get one. But yeah, I'd be happy to visit your friend for you. After all, you said yourself - I'm pretty trustworthy and reliable, aren't I? Kind of a perfect candidate for this kind of job, really. And if mommy and daddy dearest have said it's finally, _finally_ okay for their trustworthy, reliable daughter to start something that everyone else started months ago, then I guess I have no complaints.'

Thankfully, all of her snide remarks sailed over Professor Elm's head. 'So enthusiastic! Well, let's not delay any longer. Let's get you a new Pokémon, shall we?' He smiled and pressed a button on the machine next to him. A panel opened, revealing three Pokéballs. 'I thought I'd give you a selection, so you can choose one that suits you.'

She'd been waiting for this for so long. If it had been any other situation, she would have taken her time, too overwhelmed by the prospect of finally getting her first Pokémon to know which one to choose.

But her parents had done this on purpose. They didn't want her to get a Pokémon. They didn't want her to become a trainer. They wanted her stuck at home with them, miserable and left out. She stalked over to the machine, swiped the first ball her hand came to, and turned for the door. 'Thanks doc,' she said. 'I guess I'll go and see this Mr. Pokémon guy then. See ya.'

'Aren't you going to check your Pokémon first?'

Ryo's hand was already on the door. 'Nah,' she said through gritted teeth. 'This one will do. Thanks again, doc.'

She threw the door open and slammed it behind her. She could hear her mother erupt in the room as she left, and she broke into a run, bursting out of the laboratory and onto the street.

[albertonykus]

A Long Road to Happiness: The Story of Perrine

This post was co-written by @killdeercheer. The use of "I" in this post refers to myself (Albertonykus), whereas "we" refers to both co-authors. A version of this post has been cross-posted to my Raptormaniacs blog.

Over the last few months, I have not had much time to devote to anything other than my thesis, but taking breaks is supposed to be healthy, even for—uh, especially for final-year PhD students. And so it happened that on some of these breaks I was inspired to revisit a series I hadn't watched since my childhood, The Story of Perrine. I remember enjoying it as a child (which in hindsight is surprising in some ways), but having rewatched it recently, I'd go as far as to say that it may now be one of my favorite shows of all time.

The Story of Perrine originally aired in 1978 and was based on the 1893 French novel En Famille by Hector Malot (which has been translated into English as Nobody's Girl or The Story of Perrine). It is one of the entries in World Masterpiece Theater, a series of animated Japanese adaptations of classic children's literature. The story follows a 13-year-old girl, Perrine, as she travels across Europe with her mother Marie (who for some reason is almost always left out of promotional posters for the show), their dog Baron, and their donkey Palikare to see Perrine's paternal grandfather in France, who none of them have met before.

This anime was never dubbed into English and accordingly appears to be pretty obscure in the English-speaking world. The version that I knew as a child was the DVD release of the Mandarin dub that had aired in Taiwan (where my parents grew up). Fortunately, as of the time of writing, the original Japanese dub is available on YouTube with fan-made English subtitles, and it was through this version that I revisited the show earlier in the year.

One of the reasons I'm surprised that I sat through this series when I was little is that it's slow paced and has a very tranquil atmosphere. It's certainly not a show with constant action or epic magical quests. At the same time, it's telling a continuous narrative with strong continuity and consistent character development. The stakes in the show are rooted in the magic of reality: the way one can find joy or laughter or sorrow or great lessons even in everyday life, and how that appreciation for the mundane can be its own magic. It's a type of storytelling that I haven't seen in many other fiction shows.

(Cover art for the series soundtrack. As you can see, Marie has been left out of this one as well.)

The closest comparison that comes to mind may be the Netflix animated series Hilda, which we also adore. Both shows are wholesome, down-to-earth, and sometimes very emotional series that feature precocious young girl protagonists being raised by single mothers. Other good comparisons might be the Studio Ghibli films Kiki's Delivery Service and My Neighbor Totoro. Unlike Hilda and the aforementioned Ghibli films, however, The Story of Perrine has essentially no fantasy elements at all. It really is more or less realistic fiction, such that one could probably re-enact almost everything that occurs in the series if circumstances were right. It also arguably gets a bit darker than Hilda, with permanent character deaths that are taken dead seriously. There are parts of the series that get pretty sad and bleak, though the story does ultimately have a happy ending.

The Story of Perrine was produced not long after the characteristic anime art style was popularized in the 1960s, and in some ways its character design actually deviates a bit from the "standard" anime style that is familiar nowadays. Its age shows from a technical perspective; though it evidently had the appropriate budget to portray the story as intended, there are definitely noticeable inconsistencies in the animation here and there. Even so, they are more fun things to point out instead of strong criticisms, and most certainly do not make the show any less compelling. Also amusing from a modern standpoint are the previews that play at the end of each episode, which tend to give away most of the plot of the subsequent episode—presumably symptomatic of a time without on-demand streaming services, meaning that missing entire episodes was a real possibility for viewers.

What follows are some of our thoughts on specific storylines and themes from the show. If you are at all interested in seeing The Story of Perrine for yourself, we strongly recommend that you stop reading at this point and just start watching. We would even advise against looking up anything else about the show, because nearly all the English summaries we've seen give away major events in the series. Additionally, if you'd prefer to get our thoughts in podcast form instead (along with a more detailed plot recap of the series), you can check out the review we did for our YouTube channel Through Time and Clades (embedded below).

SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT

The characters in The Story of Perrine are a big part of what makes the show so compelling. Perrine stands out among fictional child characters in that her circumstances force her to grow up early and take on more adult responsibilities, but she does so with such willingness and care that it's very admirable. At the beginning of the story, Perrine and Marie are grieving over the recent passing of Perrine's father, Edmond, and there's an interesting reversal of the expected roles in this situation in that though Perrine is clearly saddened by her father's death, her mother ends up relying more on her for emotional support than the other way around. In general, Perrine and Marie's relationship is a very emotionally open and honest one, and that is quite refreshing to see among fictional characters.

The series takes place in the late 19th Century, and though for most part there are no explicit mentions of major historical events, the historical context is evident throughout the show. Perrine's parents are said to have gotten married in India (with Marie being of Anglo-Indian heritage), presumably at a time when India would have been a British colony and later fallen under crown rule. Indeed, Marie is established as knowing English and having been raised Catholic. On their journey, Perrine and Marie make a living by continuing Edmond's traveling photography business, and the rural European communities that the protagonists pass through are often unfamiliar with cameras or with the sari that Marie wears while working.

Most of the people that the protagonists encounter during their travels only appear for one or two episodes. However, there is one character who accompanies them for a good stretch of their journey, and that is the little boy Marcel. When he first appears, Marcel has run away from his aunt's home to try and reunite with his parents, who operate a traveling circus, so Marie offers to help him catch up with them. I remembered Marcel from my childhood memories of watching the show, but I don't think I appreciated his character as much as I do now. He could have easily been written as an ungrateful brat who did little more besides getting into mischief, but he instead expresses genuine gratitude towards Perrine and her family, and the friendship he develops with them feels very organic. There are a couple times when Perrine meets up with Marcel again after they initially part ways, and these are among the happiest moments in the series.

Another memorable arc from the early part of the series comes when Perrine and Marie are antagonized by another pair of traveling photographers, who view them as business rivals. Perrine is quick to respond to them in kind, but Marie admonishes her and tries to get her to empathize with the other photographers' perspectives. When the rival photographers are caught trying to steal Marie's camera, Marie defuses the situation by passing it off as a misunderstanding, and her show of compassion is enough to inspire a change of heart in the other photographers. Of course, real life conflicts cannot always be resolved in this manner, but sometimes they can, and the lesson that one should give kindness before they receive it is certainly one that has a lasting presence in the rest of the story.

(I remembered this subplot pretty well from my childhood, but I'd forgotten just how sassy Perrine could be. Damn.)

Subsequently, Perrine and Marie reach Paris, and here the story delivers its biggest emotional punch up to this point. Marie is shown early on in the series to be in poor health, and over the course of their travels her condition deteriorates until she is no longer able to continue working, such that the family is forced to sell nearly all of their belongings (including Palikare). Ultimately, Marie passes away from her illness, though not before dispensing a few final words of wisdom and reassurance to a devastated Perrine. (Knowing that this was coming, there were more than a few moments in the preceding episodes that came across to me as ominous foreshadowing.)

Apparently, the original novel that the show was based on began around this point, with Perrine and Marie's arrival in Paris, and I've seen commenters suggest skipping to this part of the show as to better follow the source material. I'm admittedly biased due to having grown up watching the series, but that is not a recommendation I can get behind. I doubt that Marie's death scene would have been nearly as impactful without the previous 20 or so episodes of getting to know her character and her relationship with Perrine.

The Paris storyline at least ends on a bittersweet note, as Marcel (whose parents' circus is performing in the city at the time) and Perrine's neighbors all sympathize with Perrine and share in her grief. Several of them, even the innkeeper (who'd originally seemed greedy and standoffish), go as far as to offer to take Perrine in if her life with her grandfather does not work out. The way that Perrine finds an emotional support network and a found family of sorts in these people is very sweet.

(This guy had wanted to charge her for almost everything when they first met.)

However, I found that the next stretch of the show was probably one of the hardest parts for me to watch. As Perrine continues her journey on foot with only Baron for company, she gets swindled out of her money by a dishonest baker. I remember this scene being upsetting even as a child, given that this is perhaps the only time in the series that Perrine encounters someone who is actively malicious and probably sees her as nothing more than a victim to be taken advantage of.

Perrine does get her money back with the help of some local farmers, but over the course of the next few episodes, her cash and supplies gradually run out, she is forced to travel in the summer heat, and she sleeps exposed to the elements at night, which leads to her coming down with a sickness that nearly kills her. It's a lot for anyone to go through, let alone a 13-year-old child. The scenes where Baron runs off desperately trying to find help are anxiety-inducing, and the moment that Perrine finally gets rescued comes as a big relief.

Perrine's arrival in her grandfather Vulfran's hometown of Maraucourt (which, in real life, apparently no longer exists under that name) kicks off the remainder of the series. Having been warned by her mother that Vulfran had opposed Marie and Edmond's marriage and may not welcome her with open arms, Perrine introduces herself to locals under a fake name, Aurelie, and starts work as a manual laborer at Vulfran's gigantic textile factory.

Finding that the dirty, cramped workers' dormitories are not to her liking, Perrine ends up living in a hunters' hut in the woods (which is otherwise unused at this time of year). This is another particularly interesting and memorable story arc, and it's one in which Perrine's ingenuity comes to the fore, as she saves money by making her own shoes, clothing, and tools from resources she gathers in the woods and cheap supplies she buys from shops. She also prepares her own meals from the fish she catches and the edible plants she collects, even inviting her friends over for lunch in one episode.

(Perrine discovering the hunters' hut [center], making her own shoes [top left], showing off a homemade fork [bottom left], catching a fish [top right], and hosting her friends [bottom right].)

Much of the story at this point focuses on Perrine trying to connect with her grandfather without revealing her identity to him. Her big break comes when the factory is in need of an interpreter for some visiting English businessmen, and Perrine is the only English-speaking employee who happens to be available. (There's an interesting sequence here in which Perrine and the English visitors actually hold a conversation in English, while still being voiced by Japanese voice actors.)

Vulfran is very impressed by Perrine's work as an interpreter, so he also has her translate English letters and articles for him, and the two of them get the opportunity to know each other better. Despite Vulfran's reputation as a strict, cold man, he consistently treats Perrine with respect and sympathizes with her plight when he learns of her background and living conditions (while still remaining unaware that she is his granddaughter). Over time, he grows to rely on Perrine more and more, eventually appointing her as his personal secretary and even bringing her to live with him at his mansion.

This part of the series is a real emotional rollercoaster though. Not knowing of Edmond's death, Vulfran has been corresponding with contacts in India to try and determine his son's whereabouts, and when a letter from India brings up Edmond and Marie's marriage, Vulfran expresses disdain for Marie and indifference towards his grandchild. This of course hurts Perrine deeply, and she remains upset over it for most of the following episode. At the same time, she faces workplace bullying from the factory's head manager and from Vulfran's nephew, both of whom seek to inherit the factory for themselves and are very interested in the confidential documents that she has been handling for Vulfran. Watching the poor girl go through these experiences is pretty unpleasant.

(The subtitles are relaying exposition from the narrator; Vulfran doesn't know Perrine's real name or the fact that she is his granddaughter yet. This moment is no less heartbreaking though. Also, Vulfran is blind, so he cannot see Perrine crying. Guess we should have mentioned that somewhere.)

One of the most difficult and surprising subplots in the series occurs even later, however. When Vulfran eventually does learn of Edmond's passing, he gives his employees a day off to attend the funeral, but few of them show up. Fabry, the factory's engineer, explains to Perrine that the workers do not have much reason to care about their employer's loss, as Vulfran has done little to improve their working and living conditions.

The poor conditions result in tragedy when a fire starts in a local daycare and kills some of the workers' children. The grief expressed by the parents and caretakers in this scene is quite possibly some of the rawest emotion ever shown in a children's series like this. Perrine convinces Vulfran to speak to the grieving workers, who are quick to give him an earful and pin the blame on him. Although Vulfran initially seems dismissive of the workers' accusations, he is clearly affected by the experience, and with further encouragement from Perrine (who recalls Marie's lessons on giving and receiving kindness), he ends up ordering the construction of new facilities to improve the welfare of his employees. It's a moving conclusion to a brilliant story arc.

The real emotional climax of the show though comes when Vulfran finally discovers that Perrine is his granddaughter. We'll say no more about it except that it is very, very satisfying. This is a series for which, even if we were given the opportunity to, we would probably change essentially nothing about. Although we've highlighted many moments in the show that are rough to watch, none of them are overly traumatic, and they really serve to make the emotional payoff to the story even more spectacular. If there were officially designated poster children for the "Earn Your Happy Ending" trope, Perrine should be one of them.

The balance struck in Perrine's characterization throughout the series is interesting, because she is established early on as being very wise and mature for her age while still coming across believably as a child. The period of time that she lives in the hunters' hut is a great show of her resourcefulness, but it could also be viewed as an expression of child-like creativity. An adult in Perrine's place might not have been so quick to see the hut as a potential home, whereas having a secret hideout in the woods would probably be a dream come true for many children.

These different facets of Perrine's character are also seen in her role as Vulfran's secretary. She ends up being offered this important position by proving to be mature and dependable, yet at the same time her motivations for helping Vulfran come from a very innocent and child-like desire to be loved and accepted by her grandfather. Some of my favorite scenes in the show occur near the end of the series, when Perrine is shown playing with Baron in the courtyard of Vulfran's mansion. By then, she has become the trusted assistant and closest confidant to the owner of this huge factory, but she still takes the opportunity to play with her friends when she can. After everything she had gone through up to that point, she certainly deserved to goof around a bit and embrace being a child again.

(Whether giving a pep-talk to her mother or frolicking in Vulfran's courtyard, Perrine is Perrine.)

In the end, Perrine earns her happy ending by being clever and resourceful, yes, but also by being kind and by receiving help from others. Ironically, that makes this 13-year-old child a good character to look up to. After all, if she can strive to be a good person and help improve her community, what's to stop just about anyone else from doing so?

One occasionally encounters the perception that realism in fiction equates to gritty cynicism, but The Story of Perrine is one example where that is emphatically not the case. Although the narrative, setting, and characters are portrayed realistically, it also maintains a very humanistic and optimistic outlook throughout. It's a story where bad things can and do happen to good people, but it's also one where people can help each other overcome those bad things and furthermore, one where people can change themselves for the better.

(One of the final shots in the show and the closing words from the narrator.)

So I'm very happy to have rediscovered The Story of Perrine, and I think it deserves to be better known. That's certainly one of the reasons we wrote this long post and recorded a 4.5 hour podcast about it. Shortly after I finished rewatching the show, I also decided to draw some fan art of it as tribute. If you are at all familiar with my approach to fan art, well, you know how this works by now.

And if you've read all the way to this point without having watched The Story of Perrine, it probably goes without saying that we'd still highly encourage you to see it for yourself. It's a wonderful story and a truly positive light in the world.

[allbeendonebefore]

hey Hapo, I was wondering if you might be able to help me out with character names, specifically if you might know how to properly formulate "skill (metis) from above" or "ancient skill(s)" in classical Greek, in the vein of Homeric epithets like Polymetis or Ankylometes. thanks :>

Hi good morning/whatever time it is and I will just preface this with I haven't studied Greek seriously in years But I would like to just pick apart the root of your question before I start to churn out a (most likely incorrect) answer :') And: if you are serious about proper word formation, the absolute best person to ask is @interretialia (greek blog: @diadiktuaka) who is way smarter than me about classical languages and creating neologisms. I also open the floor to anyone else in classics/tagamemnon to chime in as well, of course.

Of course I don't know whether your characters originate in Ancient Greece or if the setting is just supposed to evoke Greek vibes, so it's up to you how far down the rabbit hole to go.

Also, Greek is also very gendered language: the gender of the subject needs to be specified as either masculine or feminine. While neuter gender also exists, I would strongly discourage using neuter for non-binary characters and instead use masculine as a catch-all.

Rambles under the cut but I'll say up front that I don't come up with an answer, just a lot of questions and a few possible word/roots xD;

Ancient Greek

So my background is in what we in the modern world understand as Classical Greek, that is the dialect of Greek from the classical period in Athens (Attic). Homeric or Epic Greek as we know it in written form is influenced by Attic, but it's a few centuries older and closer to Ionic/Aeolic Greek. I'm not certain whether using one or the other is better for names or Homeric-like epithets or what the differences may be because my Homeric Greek is extremely weak xD;

I also need to think about whether your translations fit the structure of a Homeric epithet and I need some clarification about whether you are looking for a name that just has epithet vibes or an actual epithet for a name you already have? An epithet is descriptive of a person in the sense of "skilled" rather than just descriptive of skill/skills, and you might want to split all the meanings between the proper name and the epithet instead of trying to put them all into one, etc.

Skill

Here is a can of worms that you probably didn't intend on opening but after a class on Plato many eons ago I feel like the translation of "skill" gets super loaded in Greek, and you might want to spend some time with the differences between metis and techne and how they relate to that particular english translation. The reason I bring this up is because Plato's Ion deals with this idea of "skill from above" where Socrates ends up completely roasting a guy for thinking he has some kind of divine skill and arguing instead that there's no actual skill involved in being some kind of lightning rod mouthpiece for whatever it is the gods are using him for.

Anyway most basically I believe that Metis is contextual, local, practical skill from repeated experience, and Techne is more abstract, formulaic and universal skill that can more easily be taught to others. What role divinity plays in either of these is very much up for debate.

Ancient

The most obvious words for 'ancient' in greek are the same we know in english 'archai-' and 'palai' as in archaeology and paleontology etc. Archai i would say carries more of a meaning of "first" or "the beginning" than palai which is a less specific 'very very old'

From Above

I'll be honest this is the idea that's throwing me off the most. 'anōthen' is that kind of "from on high" idea that could also refer to one's ancestors 'by descent'.

I think, epithets aside, that 'dō' ('gift') which is common in Greek names might get that meaning across also (think Theodorus/Theodora which could translate as 'gift of the gods' or Pandora 'all gifts')

But tl; dr I'm not sure how to squish these ideas into a Homeric epithet because creating words is not at all my forte and, as I mentioned, you might want to divvy some of the meanings between the proper name and the epithet if that's something you're going for.

[xiolette]

Reworking Ansem SoD and Xemnas: Fuck Xehanort

Ansem SoD and Xemnas were interesting characters when they were introduced. Remember that? I’m going to recreate that, because their entire characters being reduced to “bleh Xehanort!” pisses me off!

Xehanort’s plan to take over Terra’s body didn’t work out the way he planned. 

He was successful, for a bit, until the fight with Aqua. When Terra took control and turned his keyblade on himself, that was the end of Xehanort. 

It was also the end of Terra, unfortunately. 

Or, at least, Terra as we knew him. 

It continues as it originally did: An amnesiac Terranort is taken in by Ansem and the apprentices. The only name he remembers is Xehanort but it feels wrong. He doesn’t like it. He has a feeling that he was someone else, but its the only name he has so they go with it. It always rubs him the wrong way. 

Master Xehanort is dead. He is not an influence on Terranort, besides the little remaining memories that cling to him. The important thing here is that this is Terra. Just... an amnesiac, broken down, more susceptible to darkness after All That Terra. 

He takes to being an apprentice surprisingly well! After Ansem and the gang were able to set up some accommodations (I hc that Terra has really bad dyslexia) he’s thriving. Terra is smart, he’s just never had the opportunity to show it. Eraqus saw that he struggled with the more academic side of things and redirected him towards physical keyblade handling because that’s obviously where he thrived. (Which is accurate to an extent, but left Terra with the impression that he’s just dumb and shouldn’t bother with anything else)

In the absence of internal shame and embarrassment and with an instructor that’s actually working with him Terranort soaks up everything like a sponge. He’s guided towards the more metaphysical side of things, latent influence from both Terra and Xehanort being keyblade masters and that knowledge running around deep in his subconsciousness. 

 Ansem’s fascination with his missing memories and Terranort’s own need to figure out who the hell he is spur the experiments that kickstart the whole plot of KH. 

Terranort is being led along by the idea that the heart is important somehow that this is the key to everything. He has bits and pieces that point to something and that something becomes an obsession. This obsession in more than encouraged by Ansem who proposes his own theories and is just glad to see his young apprentice excited about something. 

Terranort convinces Ansem to use him as a test subject, because it’s his heart and his memories and he doesn’t want anyone else being dragged into this. (ha.) 

The experiment was a success.... to a point. Terranort unlocks some memories, but they’re disconnected and scattered and the lack of context leads to the conclusion that whoever he used to be was not a good person. In fact he may have killed a few people. 

This is distressing and Terranort immediately withdraws into himself. Ansem, noticing the change, put an end to the experiments because sometimes things are best left in the past. 

The added pieces of the puzzle only make Terranort more obsessed. He’s angry and bitter over who he (thinks he) used to be be and is angry and bitter over the perceived abandonment of his mentor. (A small part of his mind tells him that this has happened before.) 

Insert: the recruitment of the rest of the apprentices and the KH1 Ansem Reports. 

Curiosity and (mostly) good intentions go horribly wrong and everyone ends up jumping off the slippery slope. 

It’s so interesting when you read the original Ansem Reports how he comes across as a well-intentioned figure that just slowly lets the darkness eat away at him until he’s convinced that this is all there is and all there will be. Then he, y’know, causes the apocalypse over of it. ❤️

Lead up is different, motivations are different - end result is the same. 

Then on the other side in KH2 you have Xemnas who is treated as a villain, yes, but a distinctly tragic one. Remember when his only motivation was to get his heart back? He may not have cared about anyone else also getting their hearts back, but he wanted his. 

Remember when he wasn’t trying to turn everyone into a Xehanort clone and never intended to get his own heart and that despite the supposed amnesia he’s still Xehanort and when he didn’t do everything because of Some Grand Evil Plan? 

I’m angry

But the desperate (and Nobodies are desperate creatures) want/need for his heart despite only remembering the negative emotions always struck me. Like, one: It’s better to feel bad than to feel nothing. Two: That’s fucked up man. 

I do like to believe that Xemnas cared or at least felt a certain kinship to his fellow Nobodies, but also he can’t feel nor does he remember how to fake empathy and still saw everyone as more of a tool than an individual. 

Because that’s, y’know, interesting. 

Again, everything is pretty much exactly the same as what happens in the main games. Nothing much needs to change there, because, like I said, they were interesting characters when they were introduced. 

Post KH2 reformation we get Terranort again! And he feels like shit! (As he deserves.) 

I would like for the protagonists to deal with the fact that the Big Grand Evil Villain was Just Some Dude who was a decent person at first but just went overboard. I would also like Terranort and friends to deal with the fact that this was on him. There wasn’t an evil mastermind brainwashing their friend - it was their friend. 

Uhhhh more solid parallels between him and Riku where Terra didn’t have anyone to reign him in, but Riku did. 

I should mention in this AU Ansem SoD becomes like a weird sort of father figure to Riku that actually gives advice and tries to get him to see his side while Riku is like, “Dude. You killed so many people.” “Fair.” 

Evil father figure Riku has mixed feelings about ❤️

The end result isn’t a full redemption arc, because Terranort really can’t get that. He crossed too many lines to have a fully happy ending. He does get reunited with the BBS dudes, though, and they all have to deal with the aftermath. His memories are never fully restored and, yeah, the Terra they knew is effectively dead and there’s some dude who looks like him in his place. 

It’s messy! 

DDD who? KH3 what? Real Organization XIII? 13 Darknesses??? I don’t know them. That sounds made up. 

(DDD is just the Mark of Mastery and Sora AND Riku both dealing with their trauma. Also the discovery of Aqua and Ven who need help like NOW) 

(KH3 is just Sora and Co. rescuing Aqua and Ven and Roxas and Namine and just giving everyone a relatively satisfying conclusion. No need for a grand epic battle. Just people picking up pieces and finding ways to move on.) 

(That’s it that’s the end of the series goodnight.)

[imreallyhereforkataang]

I'm unsure about how's the best way to articulate this, but I'm kind of surprised there's not more fan content highlighting the otherworldly aspects of Kataang, and a part of me wishes we could see a bit more of that.

I'd expect that most if not all fandoms frequently have an affinity for glamorizing aesthetics of characters and ships, and content creators who I know often look for ways to convey that sort of thing. I've also witnessed lots of people on this site claim that they first became attracted to a ship for its aesthetic because they saw embellishing artwork that didn't really highlight much about the characters' personalities, but was still gorgeous and impressive to look at.

And yeah, it makes sense that content creators and consumers in fandom engage with works that make epic an idea that may be primarily based off the “what” of the characters, or the situations they find themselves in, rather than the finer details of the “who.” The resulting creation is similar to what happens when the personal elements of a legend get lost over time, while the sensational aspects continue to be retold and glorified. That sort of thing makes for extremely intriguing depictions of the original source material, even if it’s at the expense of some of the subject’s humanity. Though, even when that depiction becomes so far removed from the original that it's totally unrecognizable, I do think it's often still fascinating and creative, and maybe should be its own celebrated thing altogether.

It's just surprising to me, and kind of disappointing if I'm honest, that, based on the relative lack of fan content doing this, many people seem to either not recognize or not act upon how Kataang has that exact aesthetic potential.

If you were to keep the basics of their story intact but tell it through a different lens or genre, maybe dramatize it a bit, it would be so easy to emphasize how Kataang is literally like a demigod and a mortal falling in love. That on its own to me sounds like the premise for the epic love story fandom culture would traditionally find appealing. And it's really not much of a stretch -- that is one legitimate way to look at the pairing if you broke it down to its objective pieces, even if it's not the most focused-on part of their relationship in the original material (though it certainly is alluded to). The source material is much more detailed and personal, like watching a show where Oma and Shu are the main characters versus hearing the major beats of their legend.

For Kataang, we can definitely take it further with drawing out their major beats. The mortal comes into her own and is shown to be a force of comparable measure to the demigod, as she is his self-appointed protectress. She releases him from dormancy, bringing him back into the world to fulfill his grand destiny, and on their quest, she would become his teacher, both in training and in reacquainting himself with the new era. At one point she would even revive him and his line of divinity after watching him be struck down and killed. This mortal is his first devotee, and his personal connection with her makes her his attachment to the world and, in extension, the mortals he protects.

Meanwhile, the demigod is the personification of the mortal's faith, a vessel of the compassion she feels so deeply for others. He takes her places, literally and metaphorically, she never could have gone before, teaching her in turn about lost practices and new perspectives. He can legitimately bring her to the skies with a unique ability that no one else in the entire world possesses -- an ability that also defines much of what he stands for and what her world has been missing in his absence.

Not to mention how the mortal was one of the only people who believed this demigod would resurface, and the only person by his side from the start of meeting him in their warring environment. The two were born nearly 100 years apart, yet their connection and love is shown to transcend both time and space. Their elements and roles to the world and to each other can be represented by synergistic air and water, which are associated in canon with freedom/peace and change/virtue, respectively. And if one were going to dramatize Kataang's relationship and what it stands for, their exchange could reasonably be depicted as the bridge between the heavens and the earth (moon and ocean).  

Like, truly, their story is so mythical. The pieces are there. Think about how their theme is called "The Avatar's Love" and segments of that theme are reused for LoK, pointing to Aang's reincarnation cycle and how the love he feels transcends so many lifetimes, but he chooses Katara in this particular one. Think about what Yangchen says to Aang about the reason the Avatar is born a human and not a spirit, that the Avatar must live amongst humans and experience human emotions to recognize how precious the life is that the universe entrusts him with protecting. Think about Aang's chakras in The Guru, and not just the Love and Thought Chakras but nearly all of them, and how truly tied Katara is with his energy, his spirit. That can't be faked -- that's real, genuine influence, her touching his life in ways that highlight his humanity. Think about how Aang has a real-time vision of Katara without even intending to, and the only other being we see Aang do something similar (but intentionally) with is Appa, to whom Pathik says, "You and the Avatar's energies are mixed. You have an unbreakable bond."  

Think about the Pietà pose in The Crossroads of Destiny and all that symbolizes about Aang and Katara (honestly that alone should be enough because it speaks volumes), including their world savior/first believer dynamic. How Katara brings Aang back to life and says, "I don't know what I did exactly," thus giving fuel to the idea that saving him didn't just constitute normal healing on her end. Think about the visual parallel between her resurrecting him and her releasing him from stasis in the first episode. Think about Katara's extended opening narration in the pilot and how it evolves to when she meets Aang, with just as much trust in an idea as in what ends up being the real thing.  

Think about their relationship when Aang goes into the Avatar State, embodying his most divine form. How Katara is able to speak with and approach him, and how he can hear her and respond to her while in that state, honing all his past lives. Think about when Aang deals the heavy attack at Fong's base that would continue to haunt Aang for so long afterwards, which showcases how out of control he is here, yet his blow from all Avatars completely and deliberately avoids Katara while targeting everyone remotely near her. Think about how Katara is so unafraid of a raging demigod, even when the person underneath hasn't been acting like himself lately, that she doesn't flinch at the output of his anger and just goes to him as everyone else runs. Think about that visual where she grabs onto his arms and pulls him from the air that only he can bend to the ground she's tied to and into her arms. Think about how she always tries to catch him when he falls, because she is adamant about being his cushion to the earth.

Think about how Aang is the reason Katara gets to touch the heavens. Think about how he takes her on an epic journey across the world so she can learn waterbending and make the difference she's always wanted. How being with him, the one person with a divinely granted duty to the world and who will always choose her, puts her right on the foreground for making that difference. Think about how they can still waterbend together even if Katara can't airbend -- no one can besides Aang. Think about their push and pull of the water and how it highlights their equal footing, and that although, as the demigod he is, Aang can master all the elements, Katara is the mortal who teaches him mastery in the one they share between them.

I don't know, to me it's all so cool and awe-inspiring. Obviously the most important part of Kataang's relationship is how their personalities play off each other and how they treat each other, but in terms of this kind of grander depiction, I think of it more like Oma and Shu. We don’t know the details of how Oma and Shu acted towards each other, yet we hear the story about the power of their love and take inspiration from it.

So yes, I unfortunately don’t see this pronounced demigod/mortal iteration of Kataang very often in fan works, but it makes for a pretty dang fascinating legend to contemplate anyhow.

[anothertimdrakestan]

Shakespeare And Dog Slobber Damian Wayne x Reader

Words: 1k

Requested? Yes! From the lovely @jovialcashangelegg 

“Hii! Well, I have a habit of thinking out loud and this has already put me in very awkward situations, so I would like to ask for a Damian x Reader "promp. 26 did i just say that out loud?" Thanks!”

LINK TO PROMPTS  -> REQUESTS ARE STILL OPEN!

I feel like someone came up with the whole “walking dogs and bumping into Damian” cliche but I can’t find it so if you know who/if it did happen message me, comment, send anon just tell me and I can take this down/give credit!!! This request is adorable because Dami can get flustered especially when someone says something totally out of nowhere. Btw - I blurt stuff out too you’re not alone angel :) Thank you for the wonderful request! 

Ottie was not slowing down as he pulled you across Gotham, breaking into a jog to keep up with him, the two of you bounded across Gotham, the freedom that comes with the wind in your hair and dog leash in hand was your safe space. Feeling the light burn of running with Othello your german shepherd was a welcomed warmth, getting to stretch your legs was good for you and Ottie. 

Slowing down to walk through Gotham Park was perfect, under your breath you mumbled through ideas for your newest school project, off in your own world of epic scientific explosions when Ottie broke into a sprint, pulling you with him. If that wasn’t shock enough, a huge black dog tackled you, sniffing your face and delivering a large lick. Wiping slobber off your face you sat up and saw your own dog also on top a stranger and you scrambled for his leash. “Oh my god Ottie get off!” you pushed the black dog off of you and began tugging your dog away from his new, slobbery toy. 

One fucking hot new toy. As he sat up, pushing his, slightly damp, black hair back, gorgeous green eyes glancing at you while his lips crinkled into a frown your heart began to beat a million times a minute. “I’m so sorry my dog Ottie, he never does this but I guess Ottie just really likes you then again your dog likes me too haha, I guess our dogs like us maybe it’s a sign or something, my dog definitely has good taste - oh my god I’m gonna shut up now” you clamped you’re mouth shut, trying to stop embarrassing thoughts from tumbling out. Sheepishly you mumbled “did I just say that out loud?” smacking your palm against your forehead. The boy in front of you looked stunned, “I- um, a sign? I’ve known Titus to have a good judge of character and he seems to like you, as does your dog I suppose.” Wiping the shock off his face he stood up quickly, moving over to you he offered a hand which you gratefully took. 

Praying to every god ever for a smooth pickup you smiled “well since my dog has taken a liking to you and licked you I have to know your name!” you watched his eyes light up but again he put up another poker face. “Damian” He said cooly, sticking out his hand. “Y/N” you replied. “Woah you have a strong grip!” again you were cursing yourself for letting words fall out. He smirked “I suppose I do” and you couldn’t stop swooning. Ottie came up, plopping in between the two of you looking at Damian expectantly. He squatted to get on the same level as your dog, and began petting him softly. “Ottie is an interesting name for a german shepherd.” he stated and you tried to fill in the blank. “Well I’ve loved tragedies and especially Shakespeare and I wanted to give him a cool name so I went for Othello because I liked his weakness of insecurity and how to covers it in military titles and bravery but can really be uprooted by little comments. Sorry that’s too much, his name is Othello.” feeling like you were totally blowing it you looked at Damian, his face slightly smiling, impressed.

“My dog is Titus, from Titus Andronicus, so I understand your appreciation for Shakespeare.” he said as he ran his hands through Otties fur. Deciding to try to get closer, you bent down to pet Ottie too. The two of you shared a silent moment, just enjoying the others presence, comfortable together. Ottie flopped over, belly up, and Titus came to join the group. With a giggle you sat down with Damian, “our dogs seem to want rest, care to relax with Titus and I for a bit?” Damian asked nervously, smiling you nodded. 

After a few minutes you and Damian set next to each other with your dogs sprawled across you. While running your hands through Titus’ sleek fur you brushed hands with Damian. Cooly he noted “your hand is so much smaller than mine” and you couldn’t help but note “I read that when guys say that it’s cuz they’re imagining holding the girls hand.” your cheeks flushed, so smooth y/n you cursed yourself. Damian was blushing too, his hand frozen. “I suppose your article was correct” was all Damian said softly before reaching for your hand. Instinctively you reached for him too, he was right, your hand was engulfed in his, warmth spread between the two of you and you glanced up at Damian. “I can’t lie y/n you aren’t the smoothest, but neither am I.” you nodded, “and we both like shakespeare so that’s two things in common!” you grinned as he rolled his eyes with a grin. “you’re correct again”. His smile was breathtaking, you could tell it was rare, but you decided you could bring it out more often, it just felt right. 

Damian spent much longer at the park then he intended. He also smiled more in the hours he spent with y/n then he had in months. Deciding he needed to be blunt for once he looked glanced down at the girl who was now resting on his shoulder, their hands still linked together, and he knew he had to try for more. “Y/n, since we do both enjoy Shakespeare would you care to see one of the original manuscripts with me this weekend?” You jolted up. “Um yes! Is there like a museum or something this weekend?” you felt like you would’ve known if a real shakespeare text was coming in. Again with the butterfly-giving smirk Damian shook his head. “Actually my father has one, it’s at my residence, is that okay?” You nodded, shocked that he had an original text. “Saturday at 2?” “Sounds good!” the two of you exchanged numbers and untangled leashes before departing. With a wave you went your separate ways. 

Once you were out of sight Damian pulled out his phone. “Hello? Father? Do you remember when you said I could come to you when I’m in dire need?” he mumbled. “Damian what is it, are you in trouble?” his father’s worried voice came through, Damian rarely asked for anything. 

“Father I need an original copy of Shakespeare’s Othello by Saturday.”

“Damian what the actual fuck I thought you were dying”

[ren-c-leyn]

Happy WBW! About Shackles of time - how did such big legends and epic fights influence the culture of the world? How are guilds and adventurers/heroes viewed by the public? @writingonesdreams

And a happy world building wednesday to you as well ^^ It's always good to hear from you.

I get into this a bit in chapters 5 and 6, The Mentors chapters, but it's much more complex and runs deeper than what was presented. You've seen part of it too, with Arlen's fan-boying over Wyndulin and The Time Keeper and Merle's deep seated hatred of The Howling Ice guild.

My answer kind of turned into a long ramble, so I'm going to put it under a read more. I hope your chair is comfy, it's a bit of a read ^^

I haven't completely worked out how the last generations' major quests have shaped the current culture, as I haven't thought of them all yet, though I have been thinking about it more and more recently since I realized that it's going to come up more and more as our little trio gets further and further from the guild and out into the world.

There's a lot of the culture that's been shifted just within the careers of The Time Keeper, Wyndulin, and their former party members alone. Just their discoveries within the lost cities for example, have brought back old technologies and magics that hadn't been seen in many generations, and started up a number of industries in cities near the lost cities.

Their fight with the Mad God, I believe might have started to change people's relationships with their religions, though I haven't yet decided to what extent and I imagine that it varies. Still, if you think about the implications of a team of mortals ganging up and sealing away a god, I imagine the entire quest would have proved two things: Gods in that world weren't infallible. They could be corrupted, and defeated. And there's no way something like can happen without a lot of fallout, particularly among the temples.

And these are just two examples of what one party in a famous generation of adventurers did. I imagine as we start getting into inter-guild politics and meeting the other guilds, I'll be exploring what their older members have done and how it affected their parts of the world. I also imagine as we see more of Wyndulin, Cassandra, and The Time Keeper, we'll learn more about the deeds they did and how they changed things. (I'm thinking of following multiple threads. So one arc might be a quest that the main trio does and then there might be a mini arc that follows what's going on with other members of the guild just so I can explore these kinds of things more thoroughly.)

Now, the second part of your question I have more insight on, and it was a rabbit hole I fell much, much deeper into than I had originally intended XD But it was an important rabbit hole.

Guilds and Adventurers have a kind of dual reputation. On one hand, you have those heroes who are idolized like celebrities. They are known for saving people, going on grand adventures, doing things no one else was brave enough to do. From the defeat of the Mad God to the driving out of the malicious dragons, their stories are told and retold around hearths across the land.

This has it's own set of problems, of course. There's no shortage of people trying to become the next Time Keeper or the next Frostblade. The problem with this comes that stories tend to glorify adventuring, and many of these young people do, unfortunately, find themselves quickly in over their heads, not having the training they needed to fight or survive in the wilderness alone in harsh conditions. Many of them do die. Many of them simply quit. A few of them do, however, become adventurers and continue the legacy their idols started.

These legacies are not all good, however. There are many shady adventurers mixed in with those who genuinely wish to do good. And some who wish to do good, but go about it in all of the wrong ways. They cause many, many problems for the common people ranging from simple property damage to... the more sinister and detestable. Some even actively work with the bandits and cults and whatnot that they were hired to drive out. There are others who just accept any high paying job regardless of the moral implications of them. And I'm sure there's other shady business going on that I haven't even thought of, yet. As a result, there are many communities that are wary of adventurers.

There's also a growing elitist attitude among the guilds since the battle with the Mad God, the dragons, and the other epic quests of old that inflated many egos and reputations, which is causing all kinds of problems from inter-guild fighting, infighting within the guilds, and them getting uppity with people of pretty much any other profession, to bigger problems I don't think they realize they're causing for themselves, yet. I think I've hinted at this part of things a bit from Merle's pov from time to time when she thinks about The Howling Ice guild.

Thanks for dropping in! I always look forward to seeing what questions you come up with for wbw and sts, and had a ton of fun talking about this.

As I said, I'll be exploring all of this more in the writing, and there's a lot of factors I'm still considering and weighing in my mind as well as things that will probably just randomly pop up as I write. This is just the basics of what's kind of floating around in my head right now and will be kind of the framework for those future explorations. There's already pieces of it showing up in the story, and I think these subjects will end up becoming a major part of The Shackles of Time as a whole. Exploring both the positives and negatives of it all.

I hope you have a lovely day/evening.

[raeloganthesonic06fangirl]

Your QJ & DW in FNAF posts are killing me 🤣 But I’ve gotta know, what do you think Quackerjack’s reaction to the actual lore of the games would be? (Besides “this is needlessly complicated!”) We all know QJ has no problem with violence, but he’s not cool with murdering kids. And I don’t know if his actions would change when/if he realizes that the robots trying to kill him are dead children… 1/2

Thank you! FNAF is probably one of my favorite modern franchises right now, especially just because of how convoluted it's become, like, I really just dig that it's taken every direction it can and has gone to town with it. It doesn't really take itself too seriously, and I'd probably liken it to a modern day Goosebumps-esque sort of thing these days, where it just has fun with the spooks atmosphere and isn't really trying to give people nightmares. And yet, the fans themselves can create some really stellar content based around it.

I feel like, before I continue, we need to at the least acknowledge the fact that QuackerJack has honestly tried to murder Gosalyn at least twice because he decided she'd gone past her usefulness in his plans:

Like, yeah, he does seem to be more inclined to interact with children than adults, but he's also legit insane and thinks that alternative to people with gaming addiction is to just enslave them himself so he can repurpose thier skills for what he deems more useful in his eyes.

Like William Afton, QuackerJack is quite skilled at achieving mechanical marvels that have a tendency to create a questionably safe environment for the intended core audience. However, QuackerJack achieves this by utilizing his own technical know-how and by reverse engineering things he comes across to figure out how to modify it to do what he wants, so he's not using supernatural mumbo jumbo to do so, and if his devices turn on a kid, it's because it's just designed to do that in general, regardless of who's handling the item. Afton is just out to trap kids overall.

I suppose the key difference between him and Afton is that QuackerJack isn't harvesting children's undiluted pure agony to fuel robots to cheat death and resurrect the souls of his children that were killed and absorbed by his creations.

QuackerJack just wants to push the limits of what he can create. I think it's worth noting that, based on the original canon, QuackerJack is part of the Boomer generation, which, I should note, my Mom (I should note that she's actually my grandmother, but she adopted me, so that's why there's a generation gap that big between us) is of the same generation as well, and I've heard plenty about the types of toys that existes back then, such as kid sized working power tools made for tiny hands that actually sawed wood and stuff, or small working clothes irons that plugged into a wall and were basically a hot plate for kids, or the literal Atomic Lab for kids that had actual utonium in it, and the metal melting die cast kit where you can melt metal and pour the hot molten metal into molds to make little metal army men and horses and stuff.

Which, honestly, sounds pretty epic, albeit probably not very safe by today's standards. My Mom usually has an expression of nostalgia if I mention these sorts of items, but she'd also absolutely would not want me anywhere near a toy with a hot plate as a key feature.

That in mind, it does suddenly make sense as to why exactly QuackerJack would have a skewed sense of safety when it comes to his retro style of toy making. He's not intentionally being malicious; he's just offended when someone takes a potshot at something he's poured his entire adult life into fine tuning. And, given that it's most certainly canon that he's got a few things wrong with how his brain ticks; this manifests in some form of: "If you're not going to play this my way, then you're not going to play at all."

All that said, I could definitely see him reacting to finding out what exactly is going on with the Animatronics with probably a "... What... the actual heck?" sort of dawning reaction, and then probably expressing the desire to kneecap Afton with the pipe wrench he found in the Parts and Services room.

Although, since I've done a bit of math to figure out on what scale Darkwing and QuackerJack would be in this sort of thing, I have to admit that imagining a 2ft 8in bird dressed as a jester running after some guy while swinging around a spanner to decimate the guy's legs does sound a tad ridiculous.

But it would probably be satisfying.

QuackerJack: This guy is out here harming kids with his robots that are masked to look like cuddly toys!

Darkwing: 🤨

QuackerJack: OH, SHUT UP, MINE ARE NOT THE SAME THING!

[deaku]

   This is Terranor Kalanhaven; Knight of Melsaria, Paladin of Light

  He’s also a sentient suit of animated armor, but that fact is generally not very well-known.

   Terranor's story begins long ago with the elven wizard known as Kalanhaven of the Moonlight Spires, who was not only a powerful wizard but also an avid explorer. While on an expedition into the far northern wilderness Kalanhaven discovered an odd blade. They didn’t find it delving into a dungeon or winning it in some epic battle, Kalan simply found it sticking out of the wall in an icy cave. It was a well-crafted blade that seemed to radiate a form of divine energy but Kalan could not figure out the blades origins or even what it was actually made out of (other than it was some sort of crystalline metal) no matter what spells they used. Kalan eventually went back home intending to study the blade further. But one night Kalan had some sort of dreaming vision, something unlike they had ever experienced. It was hard to put into words but Kalan was positive that the blade was a weapon that was involved in some grand destiny and that it was their duty to find the person that was meant to wield the blade.

   Kalanhaven chose a remote "dungeon" to hide the blade until they could find the one to wield it. It was a place known as Ulvanor. It had once been a thriving city built at the bottom of a canyon but a massive earthquake in the past brought the canyon down, burying the city. However the city hadn't been completely destroyed, many buildings survived and they combined with the natural gaps that had been left in the stone and earth resulted in a strange labyrinth. Many creatures had moved into Ulvanor over the years making it quite a hazardous place. Kalan used their magic to find and restore an ancient vault that existed deep within Ulvanor, then got to work crafting a guardian for the blade. Using all the tricks and techniques they knew Kalan created an armored guardian, something they was sure would be strong enough to watch over the blade while Kalan searched for the person to wield it. Kalan put the guardian in place and added a few more magics to the vault that would help keep the armour in top condition. Satisfied that the blade was well-hidden and protected Kalan set off on their own quest, only visiting occasionally to make sure the guardian was still functioning and the blade still in place.

  Over time the Armour was accepted by the other denizens of Ulvanor as just another part of the dungeon, a particularly hazardous part, and most just avoided the immediate area entirely. There were many, many adventurers over the years that would make it through all the dangers of Ulvanor only to meet their end at the sword of the Armor. Eventually a tribe of goblins that lived in Ulvanor began to take advantage of how good the Armour was at disposing of adventurers. While there was magic in place that would teleport things, besides the Armor and the blade, that remained in the vault too long away, they would remain long enough to be salvaged by those clever enough to do so. The Goblins would set traps to try and herd adventurers towards the Armour and when it worked they would simply wait awhile and then go check and see if the adventurers had met their fate. Then using hook and line the would try and fish for the bodies, hooking them and then slowly dragging them out of the vault since the Armour never left that room. It would work most of the time; unless they moved the bodies too fast, then the Armour would react and chop their lines. The Goblins even started rumors of "The Terror of Ulvanor" and the fabulous treasure it guarded in an effort to lure in more adventurers.

  However one fateful day the Armour was once again doing it duty and protecting the blade from a group of adventurers that sought to claim the treasure. The last to fall was a mage whom was trying to get off a spell just as the Armour struck them down. Somehow interactions between the mystical energies of the Armour, the magical energy of the nearly cast spell and other unknown variables caused the armor to gain sentience and free-will. After being confused for a bit at the new sense of self the Armour decides to leave and take the blade with them, sudden sentience is no excuse for shirking one's duty after all; their goal to find Kalanhaven or at least complete the mission of finding the one meant to wield the blade. While the Armour had to fight through some of the other denizens of Ulvanor they eventually made their way to the surface and headed out into the wilderness.

  After wandering the wilderness alone for a time the Armor eventually stumbled upon the home of a former adventuring Paladin that had retired to settle down and raise her family, the paladin's name was Melsaria Luzera, Paladin of Light. At first Melsaria was ready to fight when she saw this magic armor walk onto her property; but then she could sense there was something different about this armored guardian than ones she had come across before and she could feel divine energy radiating from the blade it carried. The biggest shock however was when the Armor spotted and greeted her, even sounded a bit unsure while doing so. In her experience those types of things were not supposed to be able to talk. Melsaria greeted back and began to converse, both out of sheer curiosity and an attempt to find out just what was going on. The Armor introduced itself, again a bit unsure sounding, as Terranor, and answered Melsaria's questions the best it was able. After hearing Terranor's story Melsaria decided it was her duty to help; it is the duty of all Paladins of the Light to help those in need, and Terranor was perhaps in as much need as she had ever seen someone. Melsaria's spouses were unsure of the whole situation but would support Melsaria if this was something she really wanted to do, the children’s general reaction was that Terranor was one of the most awesome things they had ever seen.

  Sensing potential and an affinity for Light in this Terranor, Melsaria decided she would train him in the ways of the Paladin. Terranor was already well-versed in the ways of combat, just needed a bit of refinment, so Melsaria focused more on the moral and spiritual. And while Melsaria was training Terranor to be a Paladin the whole family helped him learn how to socialize and taught him many other skills he might have need of in normal society. Terranor proved to be a quick leaner and took in any knowledge he was presented with, it wasn’t long before Melsaria felt that Terranor’s training was complete and it was time for him to go out into the world and use his skills to help those in need. Terranor thanked Melsaria and her family and said his goodbyes as he set out on his journey.

 Now Terranor wanders the land helping those in need; but always keeps the mission of finding the one destined to wield the blade in mind, no matter how long it may take.

  Here’s a new drawing from me after a very long time, hopefully it won’t be as long before my next pic ;P heh The idea for this guy came to me one day as I was going through the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual, just one of those random ideas that develops a backstory and such.

[red-winters]

*Batfam fic-recs

*Some are Tim Drake Centric

**Some links are not working in mobile (and ONLY mobile) for some reason? And some titles that were bolded in the original post are ALSO not displaying on mobile correctly. Idk what to do about that, but you can still look up the fic, I guess.

The Bat’s Crest - livierambles

Note: I will always keep recommending this fic. It’s epic, thrilling, and hilarious and sometimes angsty. Also, everyone is confused, including the ones doing the confusing. Maybe especially the ones doing the confusing. Also, some Tim and Damian bonding, which is always nice.

Summary: Tragedy strikes the hero community when Bruce Wayne commits a crime so heinous even the best start asking for blood. However, as the heroes try to recover from the hit and carry out justice for their friends, a random assortment of people start acting oddly, including the current Speedy Tim Drake, a child hostage in Gotham, and a young man from an unremarkable circus amongst others. All of them seem intent on saving Bruce Wayne from the grasp of the Justice League for no apparent reason, going as far as betraying their previous allegiances.

Unknown to the Justice League, these people are equally confused. Clearly they're stuck in another dimension, but how do they get back? How did they even get here? Who else is stuck in this world? And how long will Tim's patience last? Back home, the Bat was a planetary symbol that struck fear in the hearts of criminals. In this new world, it has no meaning, save for the handful of stranded souls.

In the Shadows - Kieron_ODuibhir

(shortened) Summary:

“I’m not like you.”

The cowl still looked like something he was wearing, but Clark knew it was not. It flexed like skin when Batman narrowed his blank white eyes and said, “I can see you know that.” 

Chirp - AmariT

Summary: Every piece of the signal Tim unlocked revealed more locks, and by the time he broke through the last one, he was already mentally rehearsing his many upcoming talk show appearances. 'Yes,' he told the interviewer, 'it was difficult for me, a ten-year-old genius, to break open the worldwide alien conspiracy. That's why it took a whole hour.'

When the crackling audio started, he expected some weird alien language. Maybe squawks and high-pitched squeals mixed with musical woofs. Maybe they wouldn't talk at all, and images would beam directly into his mind. Maybe they'd talk in practiced English with a Midwestern drawl like their other resident alien.

Instead he heard a low, guttural voice growling out of his computer speakers. "Robin," it said. "Are you in position?"

A Better Cage - Mangaluva

Note: I was absolutely DELIGHTED to see a Young Justice Crossover with the Justice Lords (Earth-50) from the animated Justice League series, which is near and dear to my heart. I admit I haven’t really had much time to hunker down and read this, but even skimming, it’s an intriguing piece of work. Also, Justice Lords.

Summary: Wally's grateful to have woken up at all, really. He just doesn't know what to make of the world he's woken up in. At least they want to find a way to his world as much as he does, if not exactly for the same reasons...

Common People - AmariT

Note: The Bat boys are all Bruce’s blood sons, but it still feels very much like a found family. I haven’t really read everything in this series, but I feel the author has an amazing grip on all the characters. Lovely and heartwarming.

Summary: His whole life, Jason’s mom had told him his dad was Bruce Wayne, but he’d never been dumb enough to actually believe it. They lived in a rundown, one-room apartment in the worst part of town, and in every single picture he’d ever seen of that rich bastard he was wearing a suit or sipping champagne worth more than everything they’d ever owned.

But if he wasn’t Bruce Wayne’s kid, then what the hell was he doing sitting outside the man’s office in Wayne Towers?

Red Robin and the Hood - momoejaku

Note: Haven’t read this in a while, but it made an impression. Though it’s a fic set during the Red Robin arc, it very much is about both Tim and Jason. Plus, it fleshes out the Pru and Z a bit more, too.

Summary: Bruce Wayne is dead. Superman brought back his body, and the family mourned him, holding a quiet funeral in secret so that the legacy of Batman could live on. But not everyone has been able to put him to rest.

Reeling from the loss of Bruce, his identity as Robin and his trust in his family, Tim Drake sets out on a personal quest that will take him across the world to prove what he knows in his heart: that Bruce Wayne is alive.

Though intending to make his way alone, Tim reluctantly accepts help from his predecessor, Jason Todd, who knows from personal experience that death is not always as final as it seems.

Together, they are Red Robin and the Hood.

Liminal Spaces - Calamityjim

Note: Skimmed this only since I’ve been busy, BUT it does look well-written, and I’m always a sucker for alternate dimension/dimension travel intervention-type of fix-its. It’s a very specific trope.

Summary:

Bruce's habit of collecting strays is not limited by dimension.

Or

When Young Justice Batman comes across an angsty, seemingly abandoned by his Batman Tim Drake, he decides to step up to the plate and parent the crap out of him.

Little Bird’s Vengeance - KatHarkness-Katara

Note: Crossover with Avengers. Awesome fic with Tim and Jason and some Outsider POV (via the Avengers) of these dimensional stragglers. I think Tim’s team shows up in the later chapters, too. If you’re reading on mobile, it’s still very much worth reading despite FF.net’s horrible format and abundance of advertisements in the mobile version.

Summary: Why is life never simple? Red Robin's ended up worlds away from home once again, and now what's he to do? What do the Avengers want from him; do SHIELD have another agenda; and is there any way back? Pre-New 52. No slash. Rated for inevitable language/violent themes.

A Displaced Red Robin - dragonprincess1988

Note: Worth reading despite FF.net’s horrible format and abundance of advertisements in the mobile version. Well-written fic! EMOTIONS! I love them. Younger Dick Grayson is adorable, Tim is a competent fixer-upper for other people but not so much himself. He’s kind of angsty and making YJ Dick want to keep him (and YJ Bruce, too, if you read between the lines). On the plus side, seems like he’s making good friends with Young Justice Roy. This fic was written before certain episodes of YJ came out, though, and the fic reflects/will continue to reflect that. Still, I give it five stars.

Author’s Summary: Tim gets transported to the cartoon Young Justice world, and he's not sure he knows how to deal with it. Attention: If you want to know about Artemis or people from Tim's world the final note on my profile is for you. Also, a special thank you to angel-gidget over at Tumblr, who made the wonderful cover art for this story.

The Till-then From the Ever Since - Keiron O_Duibhir

Note: Fandom classic. Definitely a must-read for Batfam fans, in my humble opinion.

Summary: It began, or seemed to begin, with Jason.

Usually that would have meant something in the order of fire and explosion and probably at least one gunshot wound, but for once (as Tim said, sourly), it wasn't actually Jason's fault.

The Wayne Family Ghost - pupeez4eva

Note: Please read this. Especially if you’re sad or anxious or just have time. I couldn’t stop laughing. It’s my go-to cheer-up fic. Absolutely hysterical.

Summary: In which Bruce realizes that having a legally dead son, who regularly hangs around the family, might be slightly problematic. 

Bloodline - chibi_nightowl

Note: Complicated family dynamics, this time centering around Tim, Selina, Bruce and, surprisingly, Damian. Jason and Dick make an appearance as supportive big bros, too. It works. Take a read, it isn’t that long.

Summary:

“Mr. Drake, I can’t think of a better way to say this, so I’ll just be blunt. This file is for your first adoption. By the Drakes.”

Tim blinked. “My what?”

“You were adopted as a newborn by Jack and Janet Drake.”

“Excuse me, but what the fuck are you talking about?”

Talon!Tim AU Series by keeptogethernow

Note: Found family, from a different angle. Cool fic and well-written.

Summary of Tso’ape Mumbichi, first in the series: Ten years ago, two people made a deal with the devil--unlimited funds in exchange for their child. And now it's time to pay up. But there's no way to ensure that the child will cooperate.

Shutterbug Series by goldkirk

Note: Exactly what it says on the tin! Found family.

Summary:

Tim Drake is thirteen, runs the famous BatWatch blog that has spiraled hilariously out of control, has absentee parents that suit his purposes just fine, is training himself to run the streets at night, and is doing absolutely peachy, thank you.

Alfred and Jason disagree, and get Dick and Bruce involved in figuring out their weird next door neighbor kid’s life. Everything goes uphill from there.

Thursday’s Child - anthalogia

Note: Well-written and has found family and Tiny!Tim? Automatic win.

Summary:

He’s not the first child with nowhere else to go that Bruce Wayne has taken in. Dick Grayson was the first and the most high-profile – because no one would have thought Bruce Wayne was interested in ever raising a child, let alone the orphaned son of circus performers – but Jason was maybe just as much of a shock to society for being a street kid who came out of seemingly nowhere. Tim Drake is ordinary by comparison – his parents died in a plane accident. He can’t think of anything very special about him except that he met Bruce a few times when his parents hosted parties to keep in touch with Gotham society.

Or, tiny Tim Drake is adopted by the Waynes a little earlier than scheduled.

We’re Not Driving (How did we get here?) - TimTheToaster

Note: Short and sweet, a little angsty, and then very sweet.

Summary:

Tim stared at his phone, as if that would change what was on the screen.

Dick Grayson @FlyingDGrayson

It took some doing, and in some cases a little blackmail, but we've finally got the whole family together for a movie night! #WayneManor #movienight #familytime #schedulingisanightmare

15 minutes ago

Take It Back Now Y’all - TimTheToaster

Note: And Tiny!Jason has made his appearance. Also, Tim, I am begging you to please take care of yourself—ah, Bruce has made his appearance. Interesting. Also, I gotta say this author is good.

Summary:

There was absolutely no way this sunshine was from Gotham in April.

Not possible.

Which meant, Tim was no longer in Gotham, in April.

(In which Tim finds himself in the past, and tries to do the right thing. It's more complicated than he'd like.)

Takes a Little Time, Takes a Lotta Twine (To Get Us Back Together) - TimTheToaster

Note: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, beginning of reconciliation, and brotherhood. A satisfying, cathartic moment during the Red Robin arc to soothe your heart.

Summary:

Tim was in Gotham.

Tim had pretty specifically been avoiding thinking about Dick as much as possible for the last few weeks.

For the last year, really. No need to open that can of carnivorous worms.

Dick had other plans.

Everybody’s Heard (Bird is the Word) - TimTheToaster

Red Robin Era ANGST, but like, deliciously well-written. Also, protective Dad Bruce is always epic. Light bashing of Green Arrow and BC, though. But considering the situation (in this fic), kind of warranted.

Summary:

5 times Batman heard other heroes talking about his wayward brother,

And 1 time they were talking about his son.

A Choice to Make - scorbusfics

Note: fresh and interesting premise! Cool world building, too.

Summary: They have to choose. Dick and Bruce have to choose one person each to save, and one to disappear through the door.

“Send one of us,” Dick says fiercely, not for the first time. His face is dark and angry and desperate, eyes flicking from brother to brother. “Send one of us instead. I won’t choose.”

“Neither will I,” Bruce says.

But Tim knows.

Secret Places - RenaRoo

It’s ANGST, but the author knows how to use it well. Also, Jason’s line at the end killed me. Damn.

Summary: Tim Drake goes missing. The search to find him begins.

[ultrahpfan5blog]

Rewatching the Bourne series

Just recently rewatched this series. In my opinion, one of the best action-thriller franchises around. I caught onto the Bourne movies fairly late. In fact I think Ultimatum was the first movie I saw in theaters. But I caught up with Bourne Identity and Bourne Supremacy before watching Ultimatum. The initial trilogy in particular is pretty superb trilogy of movies. While I know there are people who don’t like The Bourne Legacy and Jason Bourne, I still find them enjoyable to varying degrees. 

The Bourne Identity is my second favorite film in the franchise behind Ultimatum. In context of the series, you can tell this one is made by a different director since the action scenes look different. The film is a bit more of a mystery because we are basically finding out about what is going on as Bourne does, which can be tricky because, if not executed correctly, without knowing who the character is, you can find it hard to feel attached to the character. That’s where I think Liman did a great job in making Bourne seem like an underdog but still making him a complete badass. The relationship with Marie is key here. Unlike in many spy films where romance seems extraneous to the story, here it works to ground Bourne to some sort of normalcy which he craves and which is why he doesn’t want to continue being a killer. The CIA stuff is also compelling because actors like Cooper and Cox are able to deliver exposition in a compelling way. The pacing is key, which is key to the entire franchise. All 4 movies with Damon clock in under two hours and not a minute of the movie is wasted. The action is excellent but the highlight action piece is definitely the car chase, which is superbly coordinated. Also surprisingly affecting in a very short role is Clive Owen. His death scene is exceptionally well executed and his performance in that scene is really well done. What he says in that scenes comes back later in Ultimatum. Matt Damon was all fresh faced around the time this movie came out and it really was a casting against what he had done prior to this and that works big time. He has a casual, unassuming presence but he just turns on the badass in an epic way. The role suits him perfectly and he’s excellent in it. Franka Potente is also great as Marie. A 8.5/10

The Bourne Supremacy is my third favorite film of the series, just a smidge behind Identity. Its still excellent. Its the shortest film of the series and it does feel it at times. It just hurtles along. I was initially a little annoyed at how they killed off Marie to give Bourne a motivation, but I also understand that practically, its impossible for Marie to keep up with Bourne as he shuttles all the way across the world. The scope of this movie is significantly increased. Whereas the first movie was set in interconnected Europe, largely in Paris, this film goes from India, to Naples, to Berlin, to Moscow. The film also gradually expands Bourne’s past as we gradually start learning about the things he’s done. The film acts as part revenge thriller and part mystery as Bourne tries to figure out his memories. There is a bit of narrative convenience here, that Bourne is remembering details of that assassination just as the CIA is digging into the Neski files. But the film flows so well that you can forgive minor narrative conveniences like that. The film introduces Pam Landy and the CIA side of things is given a bit more of a stronger narrative. Whereas in Identity, the CIA guys were the clear antagonists to Bourne, here Pam Landy is also posed as a figure who is trying to do the right thing. Cox and Stiles are back as Abbott and Pasrons respectively. Julia Stiles didn’t have much to do in Identity other than follow orders but you start to see her role get expanded. Cox takes the role of the primary CIA antagonist. Karl Urban as the Russian assassin was a welcome presence, but in the end the film is carried by Damon. He’s a bit angrier and bit more emotional and he’s excellent throughout. The film introduces Greengrass’ now infamous shaky cam action. For me, while I normally don’t like it, Greengrass is one of the few directors who knows how to do it well. Admittedly, the fight scene between Bourne and Jarda is not the best filmed one, so his technique was still a work in progress, but the rest of the action is top class. Again, the car chase sequence in the finale is top notch and thrilling. Also, it has probably the coolest ending of the series. A 8/10

The Bourne Ultimatum was the first Bourne film I watched in theaters and its my favorite. I think the film is near perfect across the board. I think this film makes the best use of all the cast and Greengrass gives us some terrific action sequences throughout the movie. And because this Bourne tracing back his origin, its perhaps the most compelling mystery of the series as he tries to find out how he became who he is. Firstly, the action is the best it is in the series. The Bourne vs Desh fight is the highwater mark when it comes to individual fight scenes in the series. Its compelling, brutal, and you feel every punch. All the chase sequences, be it foot chases or car chases are incredibly intense. I think the CIA part of the movie is the most compelling it has ever been with David Strathairn is excellent as Vosen, who plays the new CIA antagonist, and Joan Allen continues to be terrific as Pam Landy. Them playing counterparts to each other makes it fascinating to watch even the non Bourne scenes. Then Julia Stiles get an even more expanded role as Nicky Parsons. The Bourne and Nicky dynamic is interestingly played with a touch history and one sided romantic tension which is never directly addressed. But it does make it compelling. Albert Finney shows up as the Dr. Frankenstein of the Treadstone/Blackbriar operation and he’s enigmatic as hell. The climax between Bourne and Hirsch is terrifically acted by both parties. We also see a mirror of the scene from Identity where Bourne repeats the same dialogue to Edgar Ramirez’s assassin that Owen’s character had said to him. Damon is superb as always. Completely natural in the action and perfectly balancing stoicism with vulnerability when required. The film ends on a note that would have been perfect if they had chosen to end the series here. A 9/10.

The Bourne Legacy is kind of the step child of this series. The only movie which doesn’t have Damon/Bourne in the series. Intended to start a spinoff series but didn’t quite have the commercial success to do so. I admit that when I first saw the film in theaters, I didn’t like it. Over time, I have grown to appreciate it more although its still well below the original trilogy of films for me. Firstly, what’s good. Jeremy Renner is an excellent protagonist. Being compared to Damon is a thankless job but he managed to forge a different character in Aaron Cross. Rachel Weisz also does a strong job as Dr. Shearing and Renner and Wesiz have decent chemistry. The film doesn’t try and ape the previous Bourne films and it goes for a different angle. Its more a survival film for the protagonists than a mystery. The characters aren’t trying to bring down the program, not trying to find out something, just trying to escape the clutches of the Defense Department. The action scenes are good. However, the film is the longest of the series and it feels like it. The film also royally wastes an actor of the caliber of Edward Norton. He does fine with what he has but he’s literally just there barking orders in front of monitors. He shares one short flashback scene with Renner, but otherwise is disconnected from the other two leads, Whereas in the previous Bourne films and even in Jason Bourne, there were always at least two main characters who had interactions with each in the rooms of the CIA, allowing for some interplay, this time Norton is all on his own which makes the search for Cross and Marta a lot less interesting. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the idea of chems, but I have grown to accept it. The film also doesn’t have any major hand to hand fighting sequences. They hype up the Larx assassin but he ends up dying because Marta pushes hum while he was riding a bike. Pretty underwhelming after all the build up. What I especially didn’t like is how the film tries to undo Ultimatum’s ending. I don’t know who thought that was a good idea but it pissed me off. In the end, its a decently entertaining movie but its disappointing within the context of the franchise. A 5.5-6/10

Jason Bourne is a bit of a polarizing movie. Everyone was really excited when this movie was coming out and a bunch of them were disappointed. While I do think this is not as good as the initial trilogy of movies, I still do enjoy it. My issue with the movie lies on two fronts. The film is essentially divided into 3 sections. The main part is Jason Bourne continuing to track into his past as he finds out that there might be more to his recruitments than he thought. That part works perfectly and its very compelling. There is the CIA backroom drama between Dewey and Lee and the Asset, which is also solid. What doesn’t work is the third angle about the new blackops program connected with Deep Dream. It feels like the writers and the director stretching to try and be very timely and addressing issues of privacy without making it fit very organically to the story. I mean, Bourne isn’t even really connected to that part of the story and whenever that portion of the movie takes focus, its less interesting. In addition, the film doesn’t make it clear exactly how Dewey is connected to Bourne’s past. The film indicates that Bourne knows Dewey but the how isn’t explained. But everything directly connected to Bourne works well and I did like that the Asset is given a more direct personal connection to Bourne, which makes their individual fight be more personal. I think Matt Damon is excellent in this movie. He plays Bourne more broken and on the edge than he’s ever been in this movie. There are several scenes, such as his climactic scene with TLJ, where you feel him teetering. Julia Stiles shows back up as Nicky who starts Bourne on her journey. Like with Marie, I was disappointed she was killed off but I also get that Bourne needs to be alone in order to be able to move as fast he does from one place to another. TLJ is an old pro at roles like these and it shows. He does it with ease. Alicia Vikander is good as Heather Lee but I feel as the role needed someone a little bit older to be believable as someone as high up as her in the agency. But I suppose her being a young ambitious upstart is part of the point. When it comes to the action, I think its all top notch. I know not everyone likes shaky cam but Greengrass uses it well. The Greece sequence, the car chase in the climax, and the hand to hand fight sequence in the end, is all well done. I am also glad thiat it does seem to indicate that not everything that Bourne exposed in Ultimatum was covered up and Blackbriar was exposed, unlike what Legacy indicated. The film doesn’t address Legacy at all apart from listing Outcome and Larx in the list of Blackops programs. Overall still a good movie. A 7/10 for me.

I do think the series should be ended. There is a feeling of the films becoming formulaic setting in at this point and Bourne has taken down everyone who had to do with him becoming who he was and has no figured how he became who he was. So I don’t think there is anything more to explore. I don’t see The Cross series continuing since it underperformed at the BO and its been a long time since that movie came out now.

[officialotakudome]

New Post has been published on Otaku Dome | The Latest News In Anime, Manga, Gaming, Tech, and Geek Culture

New Post has been published on https://otakudome.com/sentai-acquires-new-anime/

Sentai Acquires New Anime

Sentai Filmworks has acquired several new anime titles for this year:

HOUSTON, TX — May 27, 2021 — Sentai announced today that it acquired Nozo x Kimi, the risqué comedy OVA spinoff series of Nozoki Ana, for audiences in the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Republic of South Africa, Latin America and Scandinavia.

Kimio Suga didn’t intend anything untoward, but a cascading series of unlucky events leaves him hiding in a gym locker as his female classmates return from PE class. Luckily he’s found by Nozomi Komine, a shy classmate who covers for Kimio despite his incriminating predicament. But Nozomi isn’t as demure as she seems, because shortly after saving Kimio, she blackmails him into a series of clandestine and compromising scenarios!

A production of Studio Zexcs (Diabolik Lovers, Cuticle Detective Inaba, Say “I Love You”), Nozo x Kimi is directed by Masato Jinbo (Senryu Girl, Restaurant to Another World, Shomin Sample) with series composition from Hideki Shirane (Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Hayate the Combat Butler!!, Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar). The OVA series stars Ayaka Suwa (The Fruit of Grisaia, Love Lab, The Demon Girl Next Door) as Nozomi Komine and Yusuke Kobayashi (Darwin’s Game, Dr. Stone, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-) as Kimio Suga.

Sentai will stream the Nozo x Kimi OVA in association with select digital outlets with a home video release to follow.

For Sentai’s latest announcements regarding this and other great titles, be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

About Sentai

A Cool Japan Fund portfolio company, Sentai is a leading global supplier of anime and official anime merchandise, distributing and curating one of the industry’s most diverse libraries of top trending and classic titles. Sentai offers thousands of hours of content across both traditional and digital platforms and is dedicated to bringing captivating stories and iconic characters directly from Japan. With hit series that include MADE IN ABYSS, Food Wars!, Princess Tutu and Parasyte -the maxim-, Sentai’s catalog continues to grow with new favorites like Bloom Into You, Revue Starlight and O Maidens in Your Savage Season, as well as classic anime series such as Legend of the Galactic Heroes and The Big O. For more information, visit www.sentai.com.

HOUSTON, TX — May 24, 2021 — Sentai announced today that it acquired omnibus movie The Magnificent KOTOBUKI THE MOVIE, which sends the high-flying aerial action of The Magnificent KOTOBUKI to new heights. Sentai will distribute the film to audiences in the Unites States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Central America and South America.

In a desolate desert world, air pirates rule the skies. They prey on aerial commerce and hold remote towns for ransom, but the talented pilots of Team KOTOBUKI use their impressive aerial instincts and hard-won skills to defend cities and cargo shipments from these vultures… for the right price, of course. In their existent reciprocating engine aircraft and with ice in their veins, Team KOTOBUKI will take on any enemy that comes their way in an explosive frenzy of aerial dogfights, including never-before-seen new fights unique to The Magnificent KOTOBUKI THE MOVIE.

The film stars Sayumi Suzushiro (Bloom into You, We Never Learn) as Kylie, Eri Yukimura (A Certain Magical Index Ⅲ) as Emma, Sayaka Nakaya (AKB0048, Momokuri) as Kate, Asami Seto (Chihayafuru, Food Wars!) as Reona, Hibiku Yamamura (Arata The Legend, DOREIKU: The Animation) as Zara and Miyu Tomita (MADE IN ABYSS, Holmes of Kyoto) as Chika.

Sentai will release The Magnificent KOTOBUKI THE MOVIE on home video in Summer 2021.

For Sentai’s latest announcements regarding this and other great titles, be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

About Sentai

A Cool Japan Fund portfolio company, Sentai is a leading global supplier of anime and official anime merchandise, distributing and curating one of the industry’s most diverse libraries of top trending and classic titles. Sentai offers thousands of hours of content across both traditional and digital platforms and is dedicated to bringing captivating stories and iconic characters directly from Japan. With hit series that include MADE IN ABYSS, Food Wars!, Princess Tutu and Parasyte -the maxim-, Sentai’s catalog continues to grow with new favorites like Bloom Into You, Revue Starlight and O Maidens in Your Savage Season, as well as classic anime series such as Legend of the Galactic Heroes and The Big O. For more information, visit www.sentai.com.

HOUSTON, TX — May 20, 2021 — Sentai announced today that it acquired exclusive home video distribution rights to critically acclaimed Vinland Saga, WIT STUDIO’s Viking-inspired anime epic based on the award-winning manga of the same name. Originally a streaming-only release, Sentai is now readying Vinland Saga for home video and targeting a Summer 2021 release. Sentai is planning both collector and standard editions for this highly anticipated series.

Raised on tales of the legendary land of Vinland, where warmth and plenty abound, young Thorfinn dreams of leaving behind the cold climate of Iceland and venturing into the great unknown. But when Viking sails appear on the horizon, the young boy is conscripted into a life of violence and brutality at the hands of merciless Viking Askalaad. With nothing left to him save revenge, Thorfinn swears vengeance against the man who slew his family, plunging headlong into a sprawling, blood-soaked, coming-of-age epic that marches to the drums of war.

Vinland Saga is animated by WIT STUDIO (Attack on Titan, Great Pretender, The Ancient Magus’ Bride) and directed by Shuhei Yabuta (Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress: Director, Inuyashiki: CG Director, No Game, No Life: CG Director). Hiroshi Seko (Jujutsu Kaisen, Mob Psycho 100, Dorohedoro) provides the series’ script and series composition; Kenta Ihara (Ajin: Demi-Human, The Saga of Tanya the Evil, Cautious Hero: The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious) provides the series’ script and screenplay. Vinland Saga stars Yuto Uemura (Tsurune, Bungou Stray Dogs, Darling in the FranXX) as Thorfinn, Naoya Uchida as Askeladd (Dororo, Kaiji, Drifters), Kensho Ono (Tanaka-kun is Always Listless, Kuroko no Basket, Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign) as Canute, and Yumi Hara (Overlord, Trinity Seven, Brave Witches) as Anne.

The series was awarded Anime of the Year at the 6th Anime Trending Awards, with Gerald Rathkolb of Otaku USA stating, “[Vinland Saga] is one of those rare anime that could have appeal outside of the anime sphere because of its setting and focus on complex characters and the excellent political intrigue ever-present in the show. It comes with my highest recommendation.”

For Sentai’s latest announcements regarding this and other great titles, be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

About Sentai

A Cool Japan Fund portfolio company, Sentai is a leading global supplier of anime and official anime merchandise, distributing and curating one of the industry’s most diverse libraries of top trending and classic titles. Sentai offers thousands of hours of content across both traditional and digital platforms and is dedicated to bringing captivating stories and iconic characters directly from Japan. With hit series that include MADE IN ABYSS, Food Wars!, Princess Tutu and Parasyte -the maxim-, Sentai’s catalog continues to grow with new favorites like Bloom Into You, Revue Starlight and O Maidens in Your Savage Season, as well as classic anime series such as Legend of the Galactic Heroes and The Big O. For more information, visit www.sentai.com.

HOUSTON, TX — May 13, 2021 — Sentai announced today that it acquired the psycho-suspense thriller Alice in Borderland OVA series, based upon the manga series by Haro Aso, Imawa no Kuni no Alice. Sentai will distribute the three-episode Alice in Borderland OVA series to audiences in the United States of America, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa as well as Latin America.

Be careful what you wish for. Antisocial misfit Ryohei Arisu wanted nothing more than to leave his mundane life behind, but a careless wish on a firework transports him to the post-apocalyptic Borderland, a sinister parallel reality where danger lurks around every corner and survival is not guaranteed. To live to fight another day, Ryohei and other unwilling contestants must win a series of deadly games, each more dangerous than the last — but returning home means putting not only his skills, but also Ryohei’s humanity to the ultimate test.

The OVA series stars Yoshimasa Hosoya (Akame ga Kill!, Chihayafuru, ID: INVADED) as Ryohei Arisu, Takahiro Sakurai (7SEEDS, Babylon, Mob Psycho 100) as Shuntaro Chishiya, Tatsuhisa Suzuki (Beyond the Boundary, Diabolik Lovers More,Blood, My Little Monster) as Daikichi Karube, Tsubasa Yonaga (Free!, Demon King Daimao, D.Gray-man HALLOW) as Chota Segawa, Maya Sakamoto (Cutie Honey Universe, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?: Arrow of the Orion, Black Butler) as Saori Shibuki and Minako Kotobuki (Punch Line, K-On!, Bloom Into You) as Yuzuha Usagi.

A production of studios SILVER LINK. (Chivalry of a Failed Knight, Armed Girl’s Machiavellism, Strike the Blood), the Alice in Borderland OVA is directed by Hideki Tachibana (Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? III, Armed Girl’s Machiavellism, Dragon Crisis!) with series composition from Ryosuke Nakamura (director Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions, episode scriptwriter Monster, Aiura).

Sentai will stream the Alice in Borderland OVA in association with select digital outlets with a home video release to follow.

For Sentai’s latest announcements regarding this and other great titles, be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

About Sentai

A Cool Japan Fund portfolio company, Sentai is a leading global supplier of anime and official anime merchandise, distributing and curating one of the industry’s most diverse libraries of top trending and classic titles. Sentai offers thousands of hours of content across both traditional and digital platforms and is dedicated to bringing captivating stories and iconic characters directly from Japan. With hit series that include MADE IN ABYSS, Food Wars!, Princess Tutu and Parasyte -the maxim-, Sentai’s catalog continues to grow with new favorites like Bloom Into You, Revue Starlight and O Maidens in Your Savage Season, as well as classic anime series such as Legend of the Galactic Heroes and The Big O. For more information, visit www.sentai.com.