#and other shows (not to mention season 1) have also turned established canon on its head
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procrastinatorproject Ā· 2 years ago
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On the Changing Nature of the Borg
I was thinking about Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard yesterday, and I was once again struck by one of the things that disappointed me about the show: The complete retcon they gave the nature of the Borg.
I'm far from the first person to make this observation, and when I complained to friends about it last night, I was a little worried I might be doing the S2 writers a disservice. Maybe I was misremembering the details from the show and putting too much of my own interpretation on top of it. Or I might have latched on to somebody else's criticism and not checked to see if it was supported by the text.
But then I rewatched episode 2x09, "Hide and Seek" today, expecting to have to look very closely for the details that support my reading - only to find that I didn't over-interpret some throwaway line, this is a key piece of dialogue.
So, here it is: my thoughts and feelings about what happened to the Borg in season 2!
Spoilers for season 2 of Star Trek: Picard ahead, obviously. Also quite a bit of saltiness. (I have tagged this post accordingly, so please take this as your sign to blacklist that tag and/or stop reading if you're not in the mood for saltiness ;) )
Let us begin with a quick walk through the history of the Borg. [Edit: That was a lie, I am incapable of "quick." Prepare yourself for a verbose trek through the history of the Borg.]
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In TNG, they were introduced as practically a force of nature. They didn't hold grudges, they weren't ambitious or greedy or megalomaniacal. They didn't spread across the Galaxy because they wanted to be conquerors or rulers. They simply spread. Like a virus, or an invasive plant.
They added new technologies and biology into their collective to improve themselves and their chances of survival. Assimilation was akin to evolution for them. (I know this is not how biological evolution works. I'm using it as shorthand. )
These Borg didn't care that people might not want to be assimilated because for one, their objections would be overwritten once they were Borg, and for another, they had no chance of escaping their fate, anyway.
This first, original form of the Borg, in my opinion, was the most truly alien they have ever been.
This characterization started to collapse a bit once First Contact decided to introduce the Borg Queen as a weird psycho-sexual horror component, making the Borg less of a force of nature and more of a nominally collective hive-mind that operated like a person would.
Voyager definitely added to this interpretation of the Borg, making them more beholden to the moods and wishes of the Queen. They were no longer simply a dispassionate alien organism, moving through the galaxy in a quest for self-improvement because that was their nature. Instead, their characterization became more human, pursuing specific goals, strategies and motivations.
On some level, I completely understand this choice. Making your main series villain a force of nature rather than a character with personal motivation is difficult to pull off, especially when that isn't the main story you're trying to tell. But it did end up taking the Borg one step farther away from their original alien-ness.
One thing Voyager added to the mythos, though, that I find deeply fascinating is that instead of having the Borg Queen lust for power and control, or having her act out of fear and self-preservation, they instead focused on the concept of Perfection. In "The Omega Directive", Seven of Nine explains that to the Borg, the pursuit of Perfection is almost spiritual.
According to this interpretation, the Borg don't simply search out and assimilate new species because of an "evolutionary" drive for self-improvement. Instead, they are on a quest to reach a state of absolute perfection. They add new technologies and biological diversity in the hopes of coming closer to this goal and one day finding this most ideal state of existence.
These Borg don't care about your objections to assimilation, because they are convinced that their vision of perfection is universal. Every species must obviously strive for perfection and they can offer that, so why would you ever want to resist? They have no concept of the fact that others might not define perfection in the way they do, might not strive for it at all, or that "perfection" at the cost of giving up all individuality and sovereignty might not be an acceptable trade-off for people.
(And no, Voyager is not internally consistent about this. Barely any long-running tv show is entirely internally consistent. But the point still stands.)
On some level, this drive also brings the Borg closer to humanity: less dispassionate virus and more colonizers who come to extract value from ā€œlesser culturesā€ and impose a more enlightened way of life on them because They Know What's Best. Still, I think the relentless, uncompromizing pursuit of a nigh-spiritual ideal of Perfection and utter disinterest in personhood and self-determination of other people make the Borg into a formidable and, at the end of the day, alien villain.
Which brings us to season 2 of Star Trek: Picard.
The thing that rubbed me the wrong way about the way the Borg were characterized here is summed up in an exchange between Jurati and the Borg Queen:
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Jurati: "Millions of species, planets, and still you always needed more." Borg Queen: "Perfection takes time, dear." Jurati: "This was never about perfection or evolution or any of that bullshit. It was never enough, because you're just like me. Lonely."
And that's it. In all of five sentences, we have retconned the entire history, motivation and fundamental nature of one of the main alien species of the Trek universe.
Everything we have been told about the Borg, everything they have said about their reasons and their character, none of it was true. They have been lying to all of us and to themselves this entire time. They aren't a force of nature or a people/collective organism in pursuit of a higher ideal. Instead, it was all a single woman's misguided quest to not feel alone anymore.
Now, I understand that for some people, this revelation adds a new layer of complexity to a villain that had grown somewhat stale. And I have seen others argue that they like the idea that the Borg collective is actually all about connection. If that's you, I'm not saying you're wrong or trying to ruin your enjoyment of these characters.
But personally, I find this development rather disappointing. This plot twist retroactively changes not only the philosophy, psychology, and raison d'ĆŖtre of a fascinating alien culture but also the narrative significance of the Borg in the Trek cosmos.
Before, they were in conflict with the Federation because they refused (or were unable) to look outwards and see that there was more than one "correct" mode of existence, and that the life of people different than them had worth. Now, the conflict arises because they refuse to look inward and acknowledge that what they are really looking for cannot be achieved through conquest.
Where before they assimilated civilizations in a quest for utmost perfection no matter the cost, now they are assimilating masses of people in the hopes of creating a chorus that will drown out the loneliness.
Don't get me wrong, that sort of twist can make for an intriguing villain arc, but firstly, it needs to be executed with a lot more care than season 2 made room for, and secondly, it works a lot better for individuals or groups of individuals than for a species that is ostensibly a telepathic hive-mind.
(Seriously, the in-universe implications -- for the Prime-timeline Borg, the Federation, the xBs -- are staggering and are glossed over completely on the show. Then again, this is the same season that doesn't bother to show (or tell) whether Agnes Jurati chooses to remain with the Borg Queen out of a genuine desire to create a new collective or as a desperate bargain to save her friends. You know. The culminating moment of her character arc in season 2. But that is another rant.)
At the end of the day, I don't feel like this newly-revealed secret motivation adds a fresh layer of complexity to a well-known villain. Instead, I think it takes away many of the aspects that made the Borg intriguing, both narratively and as an alien species, and turns them into something much more human and, frankly, much more banal.
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bryverros Ā· 12 days ago
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YAP MY LIEGE WHAT ARE THE HAPPENINGS IN THY KINGDOM
im going to be real immature on main so turn a blind eye guys
so. my beloved firefighter show. first, a brief introduction to the massive fandom drama. we have buck, eddie and tommy. buck and eddie are best friends since season 2 episode 1 (we are on season 8), tommy becomes an important(?) character in season 7.
- buck and tommy are canonically in a relationship. i want them broken up asap. its not even personal. i just dont think they work, even all the buckandeddie theories aside. and if they do break up, i will call it a win and clap my hands jollily. their fanbase is honestly making me feel stupid because theyre acting like bucktommy is this soulmates endgame couple and i tried seeing it. but i just dont.
exhibit 1. eddie appears in practically every single bucktommy scene. and when he didnt appear directly, he sure as hell was mentioned. a lot. which??? weird??? considering the fact that bucktommy are supposed to be in a relationship and very in love. like maybe i dont know shit about dating but im pretty sure that its objectively weird to include the best friend in all scenes the couple has. so far, in s8, buck and tommy had one (1) scene. and it had eddie in it.
then thereā€™s the whole weird thing on how buck and tommy got together in the first place and one might argue that buck was trying to get eddieā€™s attention, not tommyā€™s. so like yeah eddie sure is haunting their narrative a lot and for seemingly no reason which kind of stops me from feeling attached to the ship. which i tried initially before i started praying on their breakup.
- in the scenes buck and tommy (+eddie. cant forget that he was there) did have. sigh. their dynamics is just weird. first of all, tommy is older than buck. like, he was in the flashbacks of the older coworkers (he was kind of racist and kind of homophobic and misogynistic in those too, but ok ill let that pass, people change blah blah). and he called buck kid before they got together. which. sigh. im generally against age gaps i dont fw that stuff and theyre not letting me forget that they do have an age gap. but fine, ill put the age gap aside. theyre both adults so yk. surely it wont be THAT bad. alas. it is. moving to the next exhibit
exhibit 2. the bachelor party. so buck is really excited to organise this themed party for their his brother in law (a dude tommy was kind of racist towards in the flashback btw). the theme is. 80s. buck and eddie do matching costumes (suggested by eddie. very enthusiastically)! matching each others freak! yay! what does tommy do. he arrives in a henley. and as a person who kind of relates to buck in a way that i get excited about things. tommyā€™s low effort uninterestingness wouldve kind of been hurtful to me? like the way he casually kind of discarded that excitement buck had about this party was giving ā€œim not interested in your interests babe šŸ«¶ā€ and from personal experience! not nice! and buck already had like a shit ton of self esteem issues and like yeah im projecting but please please break up w tommy you deserve better buck please
- name. so evan buckley has been going by buck. everyone calls him buck except his parents (bad. he doesnt like that) and his sister. sometimes. tommy calls him evan all the fucking time. which feels. condescending. i do not like it in the slightest. break up bucktommy. for me. please.
now! onto the clowning part.
ok look. buck and eddie. theyre so special. their friendship is so special. and if they go canon. that would be absolutely historical. like a queer non established from the beginning romance? that has 6+ years of shared history? they were friends before they were lovers and they could be THE friends to lovers in my eyes. and look if they dont go romantic, i really wont be that sad? their friendship kind of remains regardless so like while i do think it would be bold and take some good writing to have them go down the romantic line. i also do really cherish their friendship. but i am strongly gaslit that they will go romantic. to the point where i fear that im clowning about it.
- the actor playing buck recently said that he wants some slowburn for buck. some will they wont they kind of relationship. that the audience will have to yearn for. like my man your character is in a relationship and that relationship came together in, let me checkā€¦ 2 episodes? slowburn? bucktommy? i have a VERY hard time believing that. there were a whole bunch of other quotes that could be interpreted as bucktommy breakup (yay šŸ«¶šŸ«¶šŸ«¶šŸ«¶šŸ«¶šŸ«¶šŸ«¶šŸ«¶šŸ«¶šŸ«¶šŸ«¶šŸ«¶). like you dont see any other member of the cast speaking about their love interest the same way this man does about tommy.
- the episodes 5 and 6 are centred on buck and eddie respectively. episode 5 will have tommy ā€œweirded out by something about buckā€ (surprise surprise). episode 6 is called confessions. eddie has a lot of potential queer coding (eddie: ā€œi just hate having to date. it feels like i have to performā€; someone else about eddies relationship: ā€œjust make sure youre following your heart. not christopherā€™s [his son]ā€ ahh stuff). and episode 6 is centred on him. it also is coming out on nov 7th, 2 days after the infamous destiel election day. so having eddies coming out in that episode would be the funniest thing ever. and the marketing for these episodes is driving me insane. like. will they. wont they. will they. wont they. i feel like im clowning so hard but i also feel like i cant be wrong about this stuff yk? too many coincidences?
so yeah. episode 5 is coming out today. wish me luck (bucktommy breakup ā‰ļø)
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queen-anne-music Ā· 1 year ago
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ok no. i'm not done.
firstly, from a meta standpoint of izzy's death representing the dying age of piracy, I can kinda get it.
BUT, hear me out
we didn't need that parallel, we got slapped in the face with it in episode 7 when ALMOST ALL OF THE SHIPS BLEW UP, that was representative of the "death of piracy"
additionally, the same meta-commentary could be made by saying that ed's retirement means blackbeard's death and again we get the death of piracy thing from a narrative standpoint
now by this point it is probably VERY obvious that izzy became one of my favorite characters this season, and I have to acknowledge that some of that is definitely clouding my view of this finale
but
i really, really think that this could have been handled better, don't get me wrong Con O'Neill's acting in his final scene was amazing, and I am so, so happy that izzy and ed finally talked about their relationship with each other, but this show has had crazier things happen then a character surviving things that should have killed them, off the top of my head: ed surviving this season, stede surviving being hanged, auntie surviving a whole explosion, buttons TURNING INTO A BIRD, and of course I think there is something to be said for izzy having a leg amputated!! and somehow not getting any kind of infection from that despite the less-than-ideal circumstances
while i don't think that David Jenkins intentions were to say a big fuck you to older disabled members of the lgbtqia community, this still hurts
also seeing time and time again a character go through a redemption arc only to be killed off at the end of it just gets old
but i have to wonder
maybe this isn't meant to be the end of izzy
here's what I think, recall the ending of season 1 where ed throws lucius off the boat and we were all like HE BETTER NOT BE DEAD, I have to wonder if this is meant to parallel that
i'm not trying to pull a tjlc here, but here's a few other things that don't quite add up that support this theory
firstly, the title of the episode. perhaps I'm looking in all the wrong places but I haven't really seen anyone discuss this? the title of each episode usually plays into the events of the episode in some way (sometimes in obvious ways like calypso's birthday and sometimes in less obvious ways like impossible birds) but I can't really see the connection here? its an obvious callback to stede's mermaid scene but it never really came up in the episode which seems a bit odd
next, izzy was buried on land, this feels wrong for so many reasons (yes I know half the time pirates were buried on land shush), there feels like no good reason to bury him on land, something could be said for the fact that he's watching over ed and stede's inn but for someone who represented the pirate ideal I would have thought they would bury him at sea, which leads me to my next point
buttons landed on izzy's grave again i repeat BUTTONS LANDED ON IZZY'S GRAVE the same buttons who turned himself into a BIRD, magic is canonical to the OFMD universe, and it has been established that buttons is an actual sea witch, they didn't do much to establish the limitations of these powers so it would not be out of the question for buttons to potentially bring izzy back, which maybe he can only do if he has access to izzy's body?
i feel the need to also mention that from a narrative standpoint ed and stede's ending feels a little bit rushed (this could be for a lot of other reasons that have nothing to do with this theory I'm not in denial nooooooooo) but it did feel a little bit interesting that we got the whole scene with ed trying (and failing) to be a fisherman contrasted with the ending of him as an innkeeper to say nothing of stede's love of being a pirate captain (and subsequently leaving all of his crew behind) also there was one other scene that make me think that this doesn't feel quite right, the anne and mary dialogue. while I do understand that it was an interesting look into how their relationship turned sour because they both sucked at communication I have to wonder if it is foreshadowing the downfall of ed and stede's relationship now that they've left piracy? again I'm very happy that they seem to be able to communicate a bit better this season, and that they are happy living what ed would call the simple life, but I'm not confident that this ending means smooth sailing for them
(it also seems a bit odd that ed isn't on the ship to take revenge on ricky? but maybe he needed some time to process?)
i think a solid case could be made to bring izzy back in season 3 if we get one (but they also say denial isn't just a river in egypt and I don't wanna give anyone any false hope)
at any rate they certainly have given the fandom quite a bit of stuff to play with for fix-it fics
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useyourtelescope Ā· 1 year ago
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rarepair exchange 2023
Hello! Lately I seem to be into a lot of pairs there is very little fic for so I'm excited about this exchange! I hope that my additional info is helpful and, most importantly, that you have a fun experience writing my fic! Iā€™ve a tendency to write a lot here to help provide inspiration, but if you already have an idea that youā€™re really inspired by Iā€™m totally happy for you to run with that as long as it doesnā€™t touch my DNWs.
Iā€™m also useyourtelescope on AO3, you can find me here for reference. My account is open for treats, which are very welcome if you are so inclined. Although my requests are all for fic, art treats are welcome too
General Preferences & Prompts
I prefer third person to first person fic, though focusing on the POV of one or more characters is fine. I love both fluff and angst, though I like my angst with a happy or at least hopeful ending. I only read heavy angst in specific situations, none of which are my preferred prompts for these fandoms. Below are some tropes/moments I enjoy:
Fake relationship (in all its forms, especially marriage of convenience and undercover as a couple)
Arranged marriage
Mutual pining (unrequited pining turning into mutual pining also welcome)
Friends to lovers
Hurt/comfort (maybe patching s.o. up after an injury, looking after them when theyā€™re sick or taking home when drunk - emotional h/c is welcome as well as physical)
One partner reassuring the other
Fixing the other characterā€™s clothes (straightening collars, fixing ties)
Clothes sharing/stealing (especially female character wearing male characters jacket or sweater)
One character covering the other with a blanket when theyā€™ve fallen asleep
Domesticity (e.g. cooking together, going grocery shopping, house-hunting, painting their house) either in an established relationship or in the ā€˜friendsā€™ stage of friends to lovers
Letters / Emails / journal entries / texts
Sleepy snuggles, intentional or accidental
Hand holding (or some sort of hand or touch related moment)
Capers/Heists
ā€˜Bottle episodeā€™ style fic
Outsider POV
5 times/5+1 fic (e.g. five times a character stole the otherā€™s clothes, five times character a looked after character b & 1 time character b returned the favour, five times they secretly held hands & 1 time they did in public, etc.)
As I have 2 requested fandoms in a Regency setting, a few generic things I love for those are men rolling up their sleeves (forearms!), dancing, accidental hand-touches and characters in love not calling the other by their first name until a very meaningful moment.
As Iā€™m okay with Explicit fic for some of my requests here are some smut general likes:
foreplay | foreplay/making out without necessarily leading to penetrative sex | communication | enthusiastic consent | dirty talk | sexting or phone sex | praise kink | competence kink | mutual masturbation | oral sex | wearing partnerā€™s clothes | character showing their partner what they like/sex ā€˜lessonsā€™ | inexperienced partner reassured by their more experienced partner | established couple experimenting in bed together | fun and flirty | sweet and tender
General Do Not Wants: Darkfic, horror, incest, rape/noncon, torture, suicide, non-canonical character death, terminal illness, threesomes/moresomes, cheating, genderswap, bestiality, humiliation, unhappy ending, reader/you fic, high school AUs, sex without feelings, pregnant sex, mentions of COVID-19.
Fandoms
Nancy Drew (TV 2019) - George Fan/Ned Nickerson
Canon-related prompts: Iā€™m mostly thinking post season 3 for canon prompts. A fraught moment on a case or near-death experience pushes one of them to confess their feelings / One of Georgeā€™s sisters wants Nickā€™s help with something / Babysitting together / Future proposal / Undercover as a couple / One of them helping the other get ready for a date with someone else leads to feelings
AU prompts: Meeting through Nancy as they solve mysteries in other time periods (esp. an Agatha Christie-style 1920/30s mystery setting) / Regency AU where they were once engaged but had to break it off / College AU
Rating up to Mature.
The show coming back has reminded me just how much I love the whole crew and there is not enough fic out there for these two. As sad as I was about their breakup in season 3 it still made sense for what the characters had been through and I'm actually loving where they were right now in early season 4 (this was written after 4.02) being firmly not getting back together but still each other's biggest supporters.
On the canon front I'd be equally happy with something that showed them having that solid friendship still even though they're not together, or something that leaned into the angsty exes side of things. I will be keeping up to date with this show as the new episodes air so no need to worry about spoilers. If you go for AU, I'd prefer that George and Nick have some history between them rather than it being their first time in a relationship.
Source material: The Fourth and final season is airing now (can be seen on the CW website if you have a VPN) the earlier 3 seasons have 44 episodes combined.
Sanditon (TV 2019) - Charlotte Heywood/James Stringer
Canon-divergence or post-s1 prompts: Meeting again after heā€™s an architect (either with Charlotte's situation being the same or lowered so their class/status has been reversed) / Charlotte tending to James after a work accident / established relationship domesticity / meeting the family / trying to spend time together while engaged / post-marriage learning more about sex & trying new things / class differences affecting married life / arranged marriage or marriage of convenience
AU prompts: University housemates / Great British Bake Off AU / Undercover as married / Murder Mystery (Regency or 1920s/30s) / James teaching Charlotte how to fix things around the house
Rating up to Explicit.
I was debating whether to nominate them for something again since they were always on the rarer side for this fandom even before the show changed course in s2 & 3 so it seemed very unlikely to get matched on but then they were in the tagset already which felt like a sign that I should make a request at least! James Stringer is such a delight - love a working class hero trying to better himself - and its such a shame we couldn't explore the dynamic between him and Charlotte more. I think their characters would be really sweet together and I'd love to read your take on them.
My ā€˜canonā€™ prompts are focused on divergence and post-s1 as Iā€™m more curious about what might happen later than scenes we might have missed. I think in a period fic it would be very interesting to see how class differences would affect their marriage. Charlotte said that Stringerā€™s house reminded her of her own, but they probably still have different expectations of some aspects of home life. It would be interesting either to see Charlotte struggling with certain aspects of being married to someone of a lower rank, or perhaps a future, successful James struggling with aspects of having raised his rank and how they support each other through those journeys.
I put the prompts under canon (i.e. Regency) or AU depending on how I imagined them, but you could easily swap some around (e.g. the accident hurt/comfort in modern AU, or James showing Charlotte handy skills in Regency setting). The Undercover/Murder Mystery prompts probably seem like outliers, but Iā€™m a big fan of the falling in love while solving mysteries trope so Iā€™m always down for that. Re explicit fic: Iā€™m not sure that canon James would have all that much experience and it would be great to read them figuring that out together and having fun. Iā€™ve only mentioned sexy times in my canon prompts because I have a soft spot for a period piece smut fic (plus given what James deals with in canon that man needs to blow off some steam!) but modern smut is fab too - AFAIK there is only one explicit fic for them and I wrote it so it would be great if there were more.Ā 
Source material: TV show loosely based on Austenā€™s fragment. There are 3 seasons- however for my request only the 1st season (8 eps) is required.
Why Didnā€™t They Ask Evans? (TV 2022) - Frankie Derwent/Bobby Jones
Canon prompts: Missing scenes from late episode 3 (e.g. their journey back to Marchbolt together, the time between the proposal and the wedding) / Future fic of them settling into married life and how their different upbringings affect that / dinner with Bobbyā€™s Dad or Frankieā€™s parents (or perhaps all three at once) / learning a dance together / Frankie ā€˜borrowingā€™ Bobbyā€™s clothes again this time leading to sex / Frankie wants to roleplay with Bobby in uniform / Frankie appreciating Bobbyā€™s tattoo / Frankie buys some handcuffs to practise getting out of them after Chipping Somerton & realises thereā€™s more fun ways to use them too / Reunion post-WWII
AU prompts: What if they hadnā€™t got caught up in the mystery and they didnā€™t see each other for a while after their conversation at the end of episode 1? / Regency AU where Lady Frances and Bobby the vicarā€™s son fall in love (with or without the murder mystery)
Rating up to Explicit.
A light-hearted mystery series where the leads fall in love while investigating is exactly my vibe so no surprise that I loved this series. Bobby and Frankie have great banter and chemistry, and the show delighted me by including so many tropes I like - Friends to lovers! Mutual pining made awkward through class differences! Casual domesticy!Ā I think most of my prompts are self-explanatory - I haven't mentioned the obvious one of them being caught up in another case because Iā€™m not that interested in detailed case fic right now, though it would certainly be fun to see them bantering as they try to solve another case this time as a married couple if you want to do something where a case is on the fringes in the fic. The 'Reunion post-WWII' prompt is because I don't think I could handle a super angsty separation fic set during the war, but I'd definitely be up for reading something that explored some of that emotions that had a happy ending with them seeing each other again.
For the Regency prompt Iā€™m mostly interested in seeing how their canon dynamic plays out in the different time period - the class stuff in particular would be felt more keenly in a Regency AU. My canon ā€˜what if?ā€™ prompt is because I loved the angst of the way they left things at Frankieā€™s house near the end of episode one and Iā€™m curious about a scenario where Bobby went off to London when heā€™d originally planned and had been working/getting himself set up there for a while before he and Frankie next saw each other.
For Explicit fic the show gave me one of my general preferences having Frankie wearing Bobbyā€™s clothes so Iā€™d love a fic that went one further and turned into smut - or you could lean into Frankie finding Bobby ā€˜dreamyā€™ in uniform. Honestly they both have a few lines which you could take in a smutty direction! I could totally see these two having fun in the bedroom, experimenting and figuring things out as they go. They would absolutely roleplay.
Source material: TV mini-series, 3 episodes about 60 minutes each. Based on the Agatha Christie book, but that isnā€™t necessary to fill the prompt.Ā 
Bath Tangle - Georgette Heyer - Fanny Carlow/Hector Kirkby
Canon-related Prompts: Hector POV feelings realisation / Navigating the time between knowing they want to be together & it being appropriate to make their romance public / Married domestic life / 'Honeymoon' / Hosting their first dinner party post-marriage / possible Heyer crossovers (more details in letter)
AU Prompts: Marriage of Convenience (maybe thereā€™s financial issues so Hector and Fanny end up marrying for practical reasons before he realises his feelings for her) / Modern AU of the novel (e.g. Fanny & Serena are housemates when Serenaā€™s ex Hector comes to town and Fanny feels guilty for liking him because she thinks he and Serena are going to get back together)
Rating up to Explicit.
Fanny & Hector may be the secondary couple of this book, but they are one of my fave Heyer couples - their scenes are just so good! In canon this would be Fannyā€™s 2nd marriage so Iā€™m interested in how itā€™s different to her first. Thereā€™s a clear sense of her deferring to Serena and the late Earl in the past, and Iā€™d love to see her thrive and grow more confident as the mistress of an establishment more suited to her, with a husband that she truly loves. Maybe she worries about some of her duties as his wife and/or feelings that she does not match up to his former ideal of Serena and Hector reassures her? From Hectorā€™s side, what were the things that drew him more to the woman who he thought would be his mother-in-law? The backstories would be a little different in a modern AU, but Iā€™d like to see a similar dynamic play out.
If you wanted to go down the explicit route Iā€™d love something sweet but still smutty; Fanny is quick to reassure Serena that the late Earl was kind, but since it wasnā€™t a love marriage maybe she wasnā€™t as into it before and now with Hector sex can be something she really enjoys rather than more of a duty she has to fulfil? Note I donā€™t mean I want fic where she was previously unwilling (see my noncon DNW), but more that her feelings for the Earl were very different to how she feels about Hector and Iā€™d like to see how that affects their sex life. I see the dynamic likely to be Hector being the more experienced one, but I think there could be some fun potential to write him as having been so devoted to his memory of Serena all those years away that heā€™s a virgin, which would mean Fanny technically has more experience, but given she wouldnā€™t expect to take the lead in the bedroom how might that play out? (I received a fab fic exploring this particular idea last Yuletide, but there is so little Fanny/Hector content out there I'll always be happy to read more.)
If youā€™d like to write a crossover with some other Heyer characters (either in the dinner party prompt, or something else canon-related) I think that would be really fun! The Heyer couples Iā€™d most like to see in a crossover are Freddy/Kitty from Cotillion, Ancilla/Waldo from The Nonesuch and Kit/Cressy from False Colours.
Additional clarification: Thought Iā€™d add this note in regards to my general DNW of cheating since there is some overlap in the book when both Hector and Fanny are aware they have feelings for one another but Hector is engaged to Serena. I was fine with the way things went down with canon, in part because Serena also had feelings for someone else at the same time but mainly because they didnā€™t start conducting some big affair behind her back - they realised they both liked each other, but werenā€™t going to do anything about it because they also cared about her. If you write something AU or canon divergence feel free to change how they get together, but if you still want to keep the ā€˜tangleā€™ of having Hector mixed up with Serena before Fanny I ask that thereā€™s no affair even if there is feelings crossover.
Source material: One 320-page length novel; as well as the usual shops/libraries you can find it free to read online at archive.org.
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j4gm Ā· 3 years ago
Text
TOGETHER AGAIN SPOILERS
A thread of lore, Easter eggs, episode connections, and background details from Adventure Time: Distant Lands: Together Again! Let me know if I missed anything! This is adapted from my original Twitter thread.
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Keep reading ā¬‡ļøā¬‡ļøā¬‡ļø
1. I was expecting them to perhaps do a classic style title sequence for this episode, but I wasn't expecting them to straight up use the original title sequence. The only difference is this final screen saying "Distant Lands".
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2. The background of the title cards is also the hill from the title sequence.
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3. The ice cream having "50 flavours" and having an image of an enlightened soul is an obvious reference to the 50th Dead World as we see it later in the episode.
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4. Continuing with the metaphor, the dirt in the ice cream could be a parallel to the fact that Jake's Nirvana actually wasn't perfect, because his inaction was allowing for injustice to perpetuate.
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5. This whole scene feels immediately slightly off. Finn has his Scarlet sword and is out on a classic Ice King adventure, but he speaks in his grown voice and all the slang feels much more forced than it did in the real season one. Turns out this was deliberate.
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6. The snow golem speaks with a baby voice like it did in the pilot episode, even though in canon it has a deeper voice. This further hints that something is not quite right.
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7. The first major break in continuity is these snow golems resembling Uncle Gumbald and Peace Master, who Finn didn't meet until later in his life.
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8. LSP sitting on Finn's head like this is reminiscent of Pen Ward's piece for the 2018 Ble crew zine.
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9. Finn being given the choice of helping somebody but ending up helping everybody reminds me of "Memories of Boom Boom Mountain". It's the kind of resolution that wouldn't happen so much in the late seasons of the show, which helps make this scene feel even further out of place.
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10. Jake is half frozen by Ice King in pretty much the exact same way as he was in "Prisoners of Love", and even has a very similar line.
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11. The Snail is seen here. The crew have said that the Snail has been deliberately left out of previous Distant Lands specials, so its placement here is another very deliberate hint that this whole sequence is "trying too hard" to be like the early seasons.
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12. The book "Mind Games" appears a couple of times, as seen in several previous episodes of Adventure Time. The first is as Finn is approaching the library in his dream. It also appears as one of the items in Finn's backpack later.
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13. Jake is hurt when Finn fist bumps him with his metal arm, revealing that this scene is not real. This is also a callback to the title sequences of "Islands" and "Elements".
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14. A whole bunch of familiar skeletons are seen in the bird's nest: Dirt Beer Guy, Abracadaniel, Me-Mow, Lemongrab, Mr. Pig, and the Snail again. This doesn't necessarily mean that all these characters are dead, since this scene is just a hallucination.
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15. Old Man Finn! He's still got the chest tattoo of Jake, and this time we know that Jake is dead, so the theory that Jake died before "Obsidian" seems pretty likely. He looks similar to his old man design from "Puhoy", with the same facial hair.
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16. There are several cameos of familiar characters who apparently died at the same time as Finn. The first is this duck, who previously appeared in "Ocarina".
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17. The second is Donny, from the episode... uh, "Donny".
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18. This goblin guy is an unnamed background character from ā€œThe Silent Kingā€.
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19. This old lady first appeared in "The Enchiridion", way back in season one. Old ladies are a species in the Land of Ooo, so I guess she wasn't actually very old back then, given she just about outlived Finn.
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20. This is the cobbler who first appears in "His Hero". Amazing that he lived so long given all the trouble he got into in that episode.
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21. Land of the Dead! This place was first seen in season two's "Death in Bloom", and now we are finally learning its actual purpose. It's a sort of gateway and hub to all of the other dead worlds.
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22. There are some more minor cameos at the gates: a house person from "Donny", a soft person from "Gut Grinder", and a wood person from "When Wedding Bells Thaw". And, of course, the gate guardian himself from ā€œDeath in Bloomā€.
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23. Finn completely ignores the gate guardian in the same way he did in Death in Bloom. This also has the convenient effect of not having to reveal how Finn died, leaving it up to the audience's imagination.
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24. Mr. Fox! We already knew he would die at some point because BMO had his skull in the finale.
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25. Finn has his design from the first Distant Lands poster in this scene. Turns out it's young Finn in old Finn's clothes. But they gave him a shirt in the poster so you wouldn't be able to see the tattoo.
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26. The clapping that Finn does while he's looking for Jake is a callback to "James Baxter the Horse", when Jake tells Finn to listen for that same rhythm if they are killed and need to find each other in the afterlife.
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27. Mr. Fox talks about a "past life quotient", suggesting that there might be some kind of limit to how many times somebody can reincarnate. Finn's reincarnations are also seen in this scene; a callback to "The Vault", and confirmation that reincarnations share the same soul.
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28. Boobafina, the goose who Mr. Fox was in love with in his debut episodeĀ ā€œStorytellingā€, apparently reincarnated into a tugboat. We've already seen that objects can have souls in the episode "Ghost Fly".
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29. Finn is initially assigned to the 37th Dead World, which is the same one that Jake went to when he died in "Sons of Mars". We can only guess at what the other numbers on the ticket mean ;)
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30. Tiffany! Despite several lucky escapes throughout his life, Tiffany has finally died. I like the use of this imagery to express Finn's conflicted feelings about him.
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31. The 50th Dead World has long been established as the "highest" dead world, and the one synonymous with Heaven within Adventure Time's universe. It was first mentioned in "Ghost Princess" back in season three.
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32. It's unclear what happens to souls which are destroyed within the dead worlds. It is a similar question to asking what happened to the ghosts that were killed in "Ghost Fly".
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33. Death doesn't speak at all in Together Again because his voice actor, Miguel Ferrer, passed away in 2017 long before production began.
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34. Finn phases through New Death when he tries to attack him, just like what happened way back in "Death in Bloom".
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35. The 30th Dead World contains Tree Trunks as well as many of her love interests; Mr. Pig, her alien husband from "High Strangeness", Danny and Randy who first appeared in "Apple Wedding", and several more who we don't recognise, including at least one who presents as a woman.
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36. Literally yelled when these two showed up. Joshua calls Finn a crybaby, which is a callback to "Dad's Dungeon".
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37. The wall of weapons in Joshua and Margaret's house includes the iconic Demon Blood Sword, which was broken in "Play Date", as well as Margaret's auto-loading crossbow from "Joshua & Margaret Investigations".
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38. Jermaine is sidelined a few times through the episode, in reference to his attitude in "Jermaine" where he feels that Finn and Jake were always their parents' favourites. I would have hoped things would be a bit better by now.
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39. Fern gets name dropped while Finn and Jake are reuniting. A shame he doesn't actually show up in the episode.
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40. In this scene, Finn says "What time is it?" This is a very subtle reference to the 2010 cartoon "Adventure Time".
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41. In a couple of shots during this fight scene it looks like Jake might have a tattoo. It seems like it only becomes visible when he stretches out his arm.
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42. New Death's amulet in this scene resembles parts of the Lich's cape, foreshadowing his influence on New Death.
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43. There are several more cameos in the 50th Dead World: Booshy from "High Strangeness", one of the Marshmallow Kids from "Scamps", and Ghost Princess and Clarence, who were seen ascending to the 50th Dead World in "Ghost Princess".
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44. Finn didn't interact with Booshy in "High Strangeness", but it seems they must have met at some point before they both died because Finn knows his name.
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45. It seems like people in the 1st Dead World are slowly melted away until they become part of the landscape. Nasty.
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46. Lots more cameos in this scene: a gnome from "Power Animal", a gnome from "The Enchiridion", a Bath Boy from "The Vault", Blagertha from "Love Games", Maja the Sky Witch, a troll from "Dungeon", Chocoberry, Choose Goose, Wyatt, a spiky person from "Gut Grinder", and possibly more.
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47. Tiffany's insults are consistently nonsensical and amazing, as they were in the original series.
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48. The Candy Kingdom looks extremely different. Peppermint Butler is wearing the crown so he might be in charge now, which is supported by the kingdom's very magical-looking augmentations. Itā€™s not clear whether Finn and Jake were expecting to find Princess Bubblegum or Peppermint Butler, since both have the initials ā€œPBā€ and both could be going by the title of ā€œPrincessā€. Perhaps Peps and Bubblegum share the princess duties now that PB is living with Marceline more of the time.
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49. Peppermint Butler has a "Boss" mug, although it's not the same colour as the one from "Obsidian".
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50. Jake's ghost has the same design as he did when BMO killed him in "Ghost Fly". I also absolutely love Finn's ghost. This scene establishes that ghosts are just visitors to the mortal plane from the dead worlds.
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51. Life has only appeared in animated shorts before now. Namely, "The Gift That Reaps Giving" which establishes her relationship with Death, and "Frog Seasons: Winter". This episode gives her a concrete place within Adventure Time's pantheon: she is in charge of reincarnation.
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52. A translation of Lifeā€™s angry French dialogue by Shado: ā€œAfter all I did for that boy. After all I did for him. No, it's not possible. It's not possible no, that... that makes me so mad but it's not possible.ā€
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53. We finally have in-universe confirmation that Shoko's tiger is a previous life of Jake. This was previously confirmed by one of the writers, but wasn't canon until now.
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54. I feel like Finn pulled off Shoko's look even better than Shoko did. I wonder whether Finn has gained the memories of his past lives now that heā€™s dead.
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55. No Easter egg here, just want to appreciate this image.
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56. There is an elemental symbol on the wall here, as seen in "Jelly Beans Have Power".
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57. Tiffany's dramatic internal monologue is a recurring gag, as is his habit of nearly dying from falling into holes.
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58. The Jake suit makes a cameo in the fight against New Death. It was last seen in the episode "Rebootā€.
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59. Finn's backpack contains a few familiar items: the t-shirt with the pocket from "It Came from the Nightosphere", Finn's underwear from "Little Dude" and other episodes, and a copy of Mind Games as I've already mentioned.
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60. The Lich's Hand is present in the background of Death's... death scene. This is probably the unseen "friend" who New Death keeps talking about.
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61. The Lich's menacing monologues often begin with a single command. Previously they have included "Fall" and "Stop". This time, the command is "Burn".
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62. Jake uses the word "boingloings", which is a callback all the way to "Hitman" in the third season.
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63. Jake's blue shape-shifter form from "Abstract" appears very briefly during his fight with Finn.
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64. Finn's lumpy space person form also makes an appearance. This design was last seen all the way back in the second episode of the entire show, "Trouble in Lumpy Space".
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65. Jake steps on the Lich's hand in a very similar way to how he stepped on Ash in "Memory of a Memory", which is itself a Monty Python reference.
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66. The credits include a dedication to a few AT cast and crew who have passed away. Polly Lou Livingston was the voice of Tree Trunks. Miguel Ferrer was the voice of Death. Michel Lyman and Maureen Mlynarczyk were both sheet timers on the original series. Rest in peace.
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67. The message that Finn and Jake write out on the ouija board is "BUTT", which Peppermint Butler takes as a distress signal. This message is also used as a distress signal by the Hot Dog Knights in "The Limit".
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68. Peppermint Butler's reversed dialogue from the scene where he makes contact with Finn and Jake is "Kee-Oth Rama Pancake", the spell from ā€œDad's Dungeonā€ for banishing demons.
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69. That appears to be President Porpoise with all of Tree Trunksā€™ other lovers.
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70. In this scene, Life is humming part of "Lonely Bones", the song which Death tried to record for her in her debut short "The Gift That Reaps Giving". It's hard to notice because it's so brief.
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71. Finn and Jake's cover is blown while in the Land of the Dead because Jake loudly farts, which also happened in "Death in Bloom".
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72. The place where Mr. Fox explains the perception mechanics of the afterlife is the exact same location as the River of Forgetfulness from "Death in Bloom", which, as it turns out, was imaginary.
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These are sort of out of order at the end because I was adding stuff to the Twitter thread as it got discovered. Thatā€™s all for now!
476 notes Ā· View notes
oviids Ā· 4 years ago
Note
pls share some of your spn fic recs šŸ„ŗšŸ„ŗ
ok, a few things first:
followers and mutuals who do not have supernatural brainworms, kindly avert your eyes
i donā€™t normally rec or even read much fanfic any more but this is a CRISISĀ ok (cont.)
there is so. much. content for deancas out there and i have incredibly high standards, several ancient ao3 bookmarks, can speedread, and want to spare you guys the experience of wading through it all.
i also have a section for spn femslash since I was pretty into that back in the day (sadly a lot less fan content for this :/)
I donā€™t really like auā€™s or pure smut (I honestly usually just skim or skip those scenes) so if youā€™re mainly looking for that kind of thing this probably wonā€™t be very helpful to you. jsyk.
iā€™m not great at describing stuff but iā€™ll do my best, iā€™ll also try and add twā€™s when neccesary.
i wil try and keep updating this with any other decent fics i find, feel free to rec stuff too since iā€™m like 7 years behind.(edit 1/25/21) this is getting looooong so iā€™m going to start making another list on my spn blog rather than update this one
(edit 1/3/21) since this has gotten pretty long iā€™ve added rating/approximate word counts and marked my particular favorites with an asterisk.
Dean/Cas fic:
So Says The Sword*** - explicit/85k. FUCK its good...au/time travel where dean is not pulled out of hell by cas and says yes to becoming the michael sword. honestly could serve as an alternative to actually watching the show, if you want to get into dean/cas without actually doing that to yourself.
Fata morgana.* Ā - teen/6k, pst s9 finale. very bela centric and i love it, she finds cas looking for dean in hell.
Redemption Road -misc/600+k. an incredibly long fic from a collaborative writing group back in the day. canon divergent from the end of s6 on, has a cool take on godstiel and the leviathans, as well as the lovecratian mythos connection. ngl when i reread it i only made it about 28% in but imo the casual reader can actually stop around there, the rest concerns a lovecraftian apocalypse that is still good (i think i donā€™t remember it very well) but not required to enjoy the first half. if you prefer i have an ebook version i can send you on gdrive.
Someone Who's Feeling For Me* - mature/45k, s12. they run into lisa braeden and dean thinks cas is into her while cas thinks dean still likes her. treats lisa way better than the show ever did and the miscommunication is pretty funny rather than annoying.
a turn of the earthĀ - mature/95k. time travel fic where cas from s10 keeps showing up in deans life from a few years before s1 to right before the hellhounds take his soul.Ā  slow burn, good character study, and at one point cas punches the dad in the face and it rules.
On the Wings of War - teen/85k, canon divergent s5. dean accidentally becomes the Horseman of War. plays fun, fast and loose with biblical lore, michael has some rights.
Named - mature/95k, alternate s5. EXTREMELY blasphemous in a fun sexy way. manages to predict metatron almost to a T. thereā€™s one major character death and its literally jesus christ, everyone is very sad about it and it sets the rest of the story rolling. an alternate interpretation of casā€™ mission to raise dean from hell which had me on the floor. ngl its kind of misogynistic at points, but its from 2010 and tracks with late oughts-2010 spn (sorry anna the author did you dirty here:/).
The Girlfriend ExperienceĀ - explicit/15k. uhhh i donā€™t normally rec or even read smutty stuff unless someone i know is specifically asking for it but this has stuff like sam trying to be a good ally and dean thinking holding hands with cas is ā€˜kinda gay :/ā€™ minutes after having gay sex with him.
i crippled your heart a hundred times - explicit/19k, s8. cas confesses his feelings and dean spends a long time getting his head out of his ass about it. truly hits different after the actual confession, despite being written six years early it feels like its actually what could have gone down more or less if the writers werenā€™t talentless demons who hate us.
My Roots Take Flight**Ā - mature/125k. reverse au where cas is a hunter and deanā€™s an angel...OR IS IT???? an alternate retelling of s4. tw for briefly being set in a psychiatric hospital/the hospital being mentioned somewhat frequently throughout the fic, plus more references to torture in hell and heaven than usual.
The One Thing You Can't Lose*Ā - teen/4k.you know those posts about how cas is a super-strong super-tough ancient warrior but he just lets dean tug him around because he likes it? thats it thats the fic.
Hands, From Which All Things Are BuiltĀ - teen/14k, post s8ā€²s ā€˜goodbye stranger.ā€™ cas is on the run with the angel tablet but keeps in touch with sam and dean by text, he and dean still manage to be terrible at Actual communication.
Autrement, Danger - or, The Account of an Exceedingly Long DayĀ -Ā mature/30k, post s11. a monster that takes the appearance of your soulmate leads to some wild miscommunications and dealing with years of repression, also dean gets to see casā€™ true form which is always cool. tw for non-graphic mentions of underage sexual assault/sex work.
Down to AgincourtĀ - mature/explicit/900++++k, endverse continuation. endverse!cas survives his encounter with lucifer and discovers another time-displaced dean from s7. iā€™ve only read the two of four parts but its really good, veeeeery slow burn, has a lot of fun ocā€™s and takes a rather surprising but (imo) entertaining and intriguing turn into Hellenic history and mythology. usual twā€™s for endverse/endverse!cas but nothing graphic, itā€™s actually pretty light-hearted (relatively speaking of course).
Nothing Equals the Splendor**Ā - explicit/8k, THEE finale fix it fic youā€™ve been waiting for! posits that the entire final episode was just a (very bad and lame) djinnā€™s vision.
like moses and batman and james deanĀ - explicit/31k, post s8. explores deanā€™s trauma and internalized homophoba from his technically canon experience with sex work and its impact on his relationship with cas. the sex work itself isnā€™t really shown in any detail but itā€™s still a relatively heavy fic.
Crazy DiamondsĀ - explicit/25k, s4/alternate s14. fresh-out-of-hell dean and dean from 10 years in the future are displaced from time and sent to each otherā€™s present.
where the weeds take rootĀ - explicit/30k. au where the men of letters kick them out of the bunker and they accidentally move out into the country, get over their codependence and semi retire. featuring chicken coop building, sam volunteering at a dog shelter, gardening, and blissfully mundane domesticity.
No Resting PlaceĀ - teen/6k. djinn dream fic, switches back and forth between casā€™ dream of being married to dean and retired from hunting to the aftermath when he wakes up. tw for brief mention of suicide since, yā€™know, djinn dream.
any port in a stormĀ - mature/52k. post s8 finale. cas and dean have to pose as a couple going through a rough patch for a case and actually deal with their emotional baggage, cas struggles with being human and metatron is up to stuff.
all this and heaven too*Ā - explicit/7k. in the authorā€™s own wordsĀ ā€˜...a love letter to every trans person who ever projected onto Dean Winchester.ā€™ absolutely unzipped me emotionally and theologically, its just. so good. tw for very brief mentions of internalized transphobia/dysphoria.
Because it is*Ā - mature/6k, finale fix it. killing chuck does not bring back anyone back and the winchesters spend a very long time dealing with what theyā€™ve lost, cas and dean SOMEHOW still manage to have signifigant communication issues even after the confession. tw for suicidal thoughts/brief attempt.
Vena Amoris and Other Old-Fashioned Bullshit*Ā - teen/4k, s6. when cas fell for dean it automatically soulbonded/angel married them, shenanigans ensue when dean finds out during the angelā€™s civil war. funny and actually written back when s6 was airing so cas is still (or at least pretending to be) kind of an OP asshole which is fun.
Rinse, RepeatĀ - teen/3k, s8. angsty character study of cas as heā€™s reprogrammed and trained to kill dean. not really dean/cas since its just casā€™ pov of canon events but its beautifully written and ends with him snapping out of it through the power of love (also now a canon event!).
EmergenceĀ - explicit/59k, canon divergent after s11. dean meets a hunter he only recognizes as their friend claire novakā€™s missing father, but soon realizes he might be the answer behind the mysterious void in his memories and feelings (aka everyoneā€™s memories of cas are completely wiped away for three years).
Cuckoo And NestĀ - explicit/10k, early established relationship/character study, cas tries to figure out how he fits into deanā€™s life and space in the bunker.
Build a Home*Ā - teen/20k, canon divergent s12. sam and eileen are cute and turn the bunker into men of letters/hunters hq and everyone but cas moves in, mutual miscommunication issues and pining ensues.
Down in the RiverĀ - teen/5k, early s8, cas prays to dean in purgatory while sam and dean try to figure out a way to get him out.
Teaching Poetry to Fish*Ā - mature/52k, ?? BC through the entire series/canon divergent s14 and 15. retelling of crucial scenes throughout the shows timeline from casā€™ pov, feat. actual fish and poetry.
the minor fall, the major liftĀ - gen/4k, post confession/finale fixit. dean goes into the empty to save cas and runs into several old friends (and enemies).
With the Kisses of His Mouth*Ā - teen/3k, gen later seasons. dean and cas keep kissing by accident.
Remaining GraceĀ - explicit/109k, alternate s6. au where cas asks dean for help with raphael and dean, of course, does. tw for temporary major character death/semi-graphic depictions of alcohol withdrawal.
The face of heaven.*Ā - teen/10k, au, dean is a regular guy and cas is a fallen star (think ā€˜stardustā€™, kinda).
Stories Are Made of Mistakes*Ā  - teen/5k. newly human cas has trouble getting used to a human body and humanity in general, but still figures out that he and dean are A Thing before dean does.
Hurry Up And WaitĀ - mature/21k, canon divergent s12. a fairyland and quite possibly LOTR related case comes up and dean goes full fanboy, mary is introduced to the wonders of the peter jackson adaptions, many references and comparisons (including between cas and deanā€™sĀ ā€˜friendshipā€™ and arwen/aragon). also charle is still alive and has just been doing fairy stuff this whole time.
There Are Many ThingsĀ - explicit/28k, s9. cas is extremely lonely/touch-starved and trying to figure out this whole human thing, as well as where he and dean stand after being kicked out of the bunker.
It's A Long Life to Always Be LongingĀ - teen/40k, post s11 finale. amara helps dean by putting him in a magical coma so he can finally get some much needed rest and show him possible futures for him, sam and cas. meanwhile sam and cas go on a roadtrip (or several) to find componets for a spell to wake dean up. really good sam and cas friendship, they actually talk about their shared lucifer trauma and stuff.
Non-Photo BlueĀ - gen/2k, s4/5/alternate s5. fifty moments from casā€™ memories of dean.
Tall GrassĀ - explicit/57k, canon divergent post series. cas becomes the ultimate plant dad. feat the wayward sisters gang, cathartic character growth, fun ocā€™s, domesticity, and lots of actual botanical info-dumping.
on vesselsĀ - no rating/gen/2k. established dean/cas, cas tells dean about how he used to imagine what it would be like to have him as his vessel.
search for tomorrow on every shore*Ā - teen/11k, post-finale (extremely derogatory). some angels in jackā€™s new heaven act out and dean gets temporarily resurrected in 2003 and runs into his younger self.
Architecture of the Minotaurā€™s HeartĀ - explicit/45k, very canon divergent post s1. deanā€™s new house seems to have a life and mind of its own, while in his dreams he sees glimpses of a world and apocalypse that never came to be and an angel that looks strangely like his mysterious neighbor, cas. looselyĀ inspired by the book house of leaves (which i highly recommend for fans of weird horror).
The Distance Of The Setting SunĀ - explicit/17k, post s5. established dean/cas relationship, team free will finally takes advantage of casā€™ abilities to go on vacation around the world.
diamond star haloĀ - teen/5k, s11. dean lets cas use him as a temporary vessel while he recovers from rowenaā€™s spell, sam is a long-suffering third-wheel.
Make Known**Ā - teen/16k, s6/7. dean struggles to understand how cas could have become his enemy and whether he ever truly knew him in the first place.
blunt little instrument*Ā - mature/1.4k, post finale. dean finally confronts his father in heaven, very cathartic.
my heart a compass***Ā - teen/10k, post confession. the empty forces cas to re-experience his most regretted moments while dean tries to snap him out of it and bring him home.
A Crash Course in Someone Else's HistoryĀ - teen/11k, s6. cas from the very start of s4 is brought forward in time by s6!cas to distract the brothers from his and crowleyā€™s plans.
The Cuckoo FatherĀ - mature/8k, s7 au. the woman who found cas in the river post-leviathans does not marry him bc he was sent to her by god or whatever, but actually identifies him as jimmy novak and sends him back to claire and amelia.
The Dead Dean Clause*Ā - teen/5k, post alt s5 ending. team free will celebrates surviving taking down lucifer by getting blitzed, cas lies to a cop and gets an impromptu driving lesson. title/description sound dark i know but itā€™s actually very funny and light.
Suck It, Judy GarlandĀ - mature/20k, s12 (after theĀ ā€˜i love you...i love all of youā€™ episode). cas and sam have to pretend to be a couple for a case and dean is NOT happy about it.
By Daylight and In DreamĀ - teen/16k, s5. pre-dean/cas, dean invites cas to use his dreams to hide from the other angels. tw for very brief mention of a memory/dream of alastair sexually assaulting dean.
The Five People You Meet in HeavenĀ - mature/22k, post-canon. an actually happy (if sometimes bittersweet) heaven endgame written several years ago, though some details are rather eerily similar to the showā€™s ending.
heaven is a place on earth*Ā - teen/2k. deanā€™s pov of some of the times cas left him behind throughout the show, and one alternate ending where he finally gets to stay.
I Cleanse The MirrorĀ - teen/20k, alternate s6. deanā€™s body is stolen by an ancient elemental and his soul has to hitch a ride in casā€™ vessel.
an exploration of gender; angelic*** - mature/4k. *oscar isaac voice* lets get into angel gender politics!! aka cas is trans.
ZenithĀ - explicit/33k, s9. after 9x06 an angry witch curses cas with the ability to see supernatural beings and human souls.
La cucina.Ā - gen/3k, alt s9. dean goes wild helping a newly-human cas find out what kinds of food he likes, or the early s9 domesticity we deserved!
Dean Winchester, Cocksucker at Rest*****Ā - teen/7k, post-finale. john and mary finally come over for dinner and john reacts to dean/cas in a rather predictable fashion. SOOOOOOOOO good omg, its so funny and a little sad and very very cathartic. part of a series that has a few other really good short fics.
The Way You Didn't GoĀ - teen/5k, s15. coda to 15.09, dean has nightmares about the moc!cas timeline.
On DrowningĀ - teen/28k. dean saves cas after he nearly drowns, they both try and deal with the physical/mental fallout (aka the fic where thee iconicĀ ā€œyou only touch me when you think Iā€™m dead or dyingā€ originates). tw for realistic depictions of drowning/triage/misc medical information.
The Thirty-Six Questions That Lead to Love*Ā - mature/13k. claire has dean and cas pretend to be her gay dads for a case and they play the titular 36 question game, get mistaken for swingers, and birdwatch, among other things.
Assorted F/F stuff:
Deep Breaths* - mary/ellen, au where mary said no to azazelā€™s deal and let john stay dead, still becomes a milf.
Like Rebel Diamonds - krissy/claire, they become hunter gfā€™s on the hunt for cas to kick his ass for taking jimmy. not-so-stealth dean/cas as well.
To Ash and Bone - anna/ruby, same author as the previous fic (p much all of her stuff is good from what i recall). au where ruby is a witch and helps anna when sheā€™s cursed.
Holy Clockwork Angels - jo/ruby, STEAMPUNK au with very cool worldbuiilding.
At Day's End - jo/anna (my fucking KINGDOM for more jo/anna content, the dean/cas parallels are allllll there), au where they are both at the camp in the endverse and gfs.
these postsĀ - ok so not actually a fic but iā€™m now obsessed with this hannah/meg dynamic.
TageliedĀ -Ā mary/ellen, the true story of how ellen got into hunting before angels interfered.
Hell's Bells**Ā - meg/abaddon, alternate s8/9 where meg survives crowleyā€™s attack with samā€™s help and teams up with abaddon (who she has a sk year old crush on) to take back hell.
The Ecstasy of the RoseĀ - anna/ruby, anna travels back in time to escape heaven and becomes a signifigant part of rubyā€™s old human life.
Angel UndergroundĀ - anna/jo, kind of an urban fantasy au with a very intriguing premise (sadly its very short, iā€™d love to see more if thisĀ ā€˜verse).
Clover, FlameĀ - billie/mary, billie was always the reaper that showed up to take mary after her death(s) over the years.
Drag Me To HeavenĀ - anna/ruby, a variant on theĀ ā€˜last night on earthā€™ thing with dean.
Come Home*Ā - jo/anna, canon-divergent au where anna is the new waitress at the roadhouse and helps jo set up a (probably not really) haunted house for halloween.
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queen-erika-the-songful Ā· 2 years ago
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I will probably re-do ALL of this thinking again later and make a proper chart but I just finished re-watching Dolphin Magic and have a lot to say about the Dreamhouse Adventures timeline, specifically how it fits in.
After re-watching Dreamhouse Adventures + Go Team Roberts and THEN watching Dolphin Magic, it really does just make more sense that DM came later in the timeline despite being released first and introducing this canon. Like I said in my last post about this, starting with the lesson ofĀ ā€œyou donā€™t have to question everythingā€ (ep: ā€œThe Roof Fairyā€), then transitioning intoĀ ā€œmysterious things can just be mysterious (but also yes magic exists here)ā€ (ep:Ā ā€œMagical Mermaid Mystery Part 1-4ā€³), and THEN having the characters fully exposed to magical creatures in Dolphin Magic is a much more believable transition. If DM truly started this canon, thenĀ ā€œThe Roof Fairyā€ and especiallyĀ ā€œMagical Mermaid Mysteryā€ do not make sense.
Putting Dolphin MagicĀ later in the timeline also helps with the overall messiness of it. If Barbie is supposed to be in fact 17 during episode 1,Ā ā€œWelcome to the Dreamhouseā€, which is confirmed in episode 4,Ā ā€œNobodyā€™s Cupcakeā€, then she must have JUST turned 17 during her last birthday, which is March 9th. We can also play around with this idea that her birthday in this series is different from her official birthday, so maybe she turned 17 at the start of that summer. For this idea, letā€™s just June 1st as her birthday. Either way, sheā€™s 17 and Seasons 1-3 take place during summer. Then when GTR starts (Seasons 4&5 of DA), itā€™s still summer during ā€œMagical Mermaid Mystery Part 1-4ā€³. Then episode 5,Ā ā€œSister Class Actā€, comes around and Barbie starts a new school year. If she just turned 17, then this would either be her junior or senior year depending on her birthday and what age she was when she started school, which so far is unconfirmed. TV shows usually make a big deal about characters starting their senior year, so since there was no fanfare, Iā€™m pretty sure its her junior year. I especially think that now since Barbie is spending an entire school year at the Handler Arts Academy duringĀ It Takes Two, which we know to be canon to DAā€™s continuity.
One more thing I have to mention is Barbie and Kenā€™s relationship. DA establishes them as neighbors who have grown up together since Barbie first moved to Malibu. The Roberts see him as family and he and Barbie are really close. Over the course of DA, we see them develop fromĀ ā€œjust friendsā€ toĀ ā€œmore than friends but not officially anything elseā€. They really like each other but neither will say it first. In the very last episode, ā€œDreamhouse Holidaysā€, Chelseaā€™s Christmas gift to Barbie & Ken is mistletoe. The episode ends with an ambiguous note from Barbie as to whether or not they actually kissed. We also have to keep in mind that "Curse of the Minerā€™s Ghostā€ from earlier in the season takes place at Spring Break, but if itā€™s still the same school year, then it would have to take place chronologically AFTERĀ ā€œDreamhouse Holidaysā€. This would mean they didnā€™t progress in telling each other how they feel, but something is obviously there.
So, with all of this in mind, I have 3 ideas for where Dolphin Magic could place better in this timeline:
1 - Between Seasons 3&4 - This would have Barbie be introduced to magic the summer before her junior year and not interfere with the kiss or how their relationship develops.
2 - BetweenĀ ā€œMagical Mermaid Mysteryā€ &Ā ā€œSister Class Actā€ - This would again put the magic thing before the school year and not interfere with the Barbie & Ken development.
3 - After the school year of Seasons 4&5 - This would keep to the timeline of other stuff in DA as well as not clash too much with how DA+GTR transitions into Big City, Big Dreams and It Takes Two. It could take place during the very first week or two of summer, with Barbieā€™s time at the Handler Arts Academy coming right after. And if the Summer Program is for the entirety of June & July, then DM could take place during the very last weekend of May instead (some schools get out & start earlier than others here in the US, so itā€™s possible).
Or, we could go with the simpler idea: Dolphin Magic is just its own thing, as it should have been. We could also go the M*rv*l route and just say itā€™s part of a timeline that branches off into a separate continuity from what we have now with BCBG+ITT. The entire Barbie movie line has movies that may-or-may-not connect anyways, so maybe thereā€™s just lots of timelines and timelines that branch off into other timelines and convoluted stuff like that.
I know Iā€™m WAY overthinking this, but Mattel has been pretty adamant about staying in this specific canon the last 5 years, and itā€™s all pretty messy so Iā€™m just trying to make it make a little more sense. I havenā€™t even tried incorporating Princess Adventure or Lost Birthday into this either!!
P.S. Also I was totally wrong about the resorts in DM and DA looking the same. They have similar layouts but much more different than I remember, especially inside the rooms.
P.P.S. Barbieā€™s age is not verified in BCBG and I believe not in ITT too so Barbie should be 18 now during this canon. But I find out that sheā€™s still supposed to be 17 I will probably explode.
Again, going to re-do this whole post again later and use charts to figure this all out. I will wait until at least the second half of It Takes Two drops on Netflix. But I may also wait until the next two movies, Mermaid Power and Epic Road Trip come out too.
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caffeinatedseri Ā· 4 years ago
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Dead Apple Light Novel
Recently, I decided to buy LN 5, Dead Apple, purely because Iā€™m a sucker for all of BSDā€™s light novels,Ā so this post will revolve around what I took away from this novel.Ā 
Dead Apple is Canon
Since the story jumps around in the timeline a lot, I had originally thought that Dead Apple took place outside of canon (especially with Atsushiā€™s flashback).Ā 
However, a particular part of Asagiriā€™s afterword stuck out to me:
Now, allow me a moment to discuss some of the particulars of Dead Apple. Chronologically, the story takes place after the second season of the anime ā€” in other words, after the war with the Guild, which puts Dead Apple somewhere between the ninth and tenth volumes of the manga.Ā 
The novel also ended up affecting the main story in numerous ways, and Iā€™m sure this new experience will continue to influence my future work as well.
Itā€™s not unusual for a light novel to insert itself into the main timeline (see 55 Minutes which takes place in the 10th volume), but itā€™s nice to have confirmation that the same applies to Dead Apple.Ā 
Of course, just because a work isnā€™t canon compliant (see BEAST), doesnā€™t mean that it has no potential for further analysis or it doesnā€™t bring any added complexity to the main plot. Regardless, this post serves as somewhat of a precursor to my other posts concerning Dead Apple since I have a tendency to talk about it a lot, and Iā€™d like to establish a basis for a lot of my posts.Ā 
Differences between the Movie and Light Novel
In the afterword of the light novel, Hiro Iwahata (the author of this LN) said:
ā€œFurthermore, I worked on this book under Asagiriā€™s supervision, meaning there are several lines in certain scenes that differ from the movie. It might even be fun comparing the two!Ā  Nothing would make me happier than the fans enjoying this novel alongside the movie.ā€
As per Iwahataā€™s request, I went into the light novel, looking for differences between it and the movie. However, the novel is surprisingly, almost identical to the movie (maybe not surprising considering it is aĀ ā€œmovie novelizationā€).
Because the differences are so miniscule, I believe they hold an even greater significance, since Asagiri must have wanted to change these specific details for a certain reason.Ā 
Some of the differences I talk about might be unimportant, but I did my best to catch everythingĀ that was changed from the movie.
1. The movie doesnā€™t mention SKK as a part of the Dragonā€™s Head Conflict, but the novel says,Ā ā€œSome fought under the alias Twin Dark.ā€Ā 
This probably means that SKK became a pair either before the Dragonā€™s Head Conflict or during (although Iā€™m pretty sure that theĀ ā€œorganizationā€ they destroyed over night was Shibusawaā€™s organization).
2. When Dazai says that he wouldā€™ve continued killing people in the mafia if it werenā€™t for Oda, Atsushi has little to no reaction in the movie; I would describe it as maybe a hesitant or concerned feeling.
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In the novel, Atsushi has a more outward reaction.
ā€œā€œHuh...?!ā€ Atsushi was baffled. He had no idea whether that was true. What did Dazai mean by that? (...) The melancholy Atsushi felt from Dazai had disappeared, and Dazai continued to speak in his usual lighthearted manner.ā€
Not only does he react verbally, but the novel also adds an inner monologue (mainly for Atsushi) that canā€™t be portrayed as well in movie format.Ā 
To me, this change highlights how Atsushi sees Dazai purely as a good person; he reacts in such a startled manner because he believes that Dazai is too good of a person to be in the mafia killing people (which we know Atsushi hates). This trend reoccurs throughout the story, of Atsushi turning a blind eye to Dazaiā€™sĀ ā€œbad side.ā€
3. This one isnā€™t at all the movieā€™s fault, but the novel gives a lot more clues as to what the ā€œdead appleā€ and the dagger in the apple motif represents.
The first time it appears is when Kunikida and Tanizaki meet the Special Divisionā€™s agent, but they find out that heā€™s already dead.
ā€œIt [the apple] was, without a doubt, a simple fruit... save for the fact that there was a knife sticking out of it as if to condemn the taste of sin. A blade had been driven into the symbol of original sin. A dreary, ominous aura, oozed from the ripe fruit like venom.Ā 
Throughout the novel, it seems to associate theĀ ā€œdead appleā€ motif with Fyodor pretty strongly, especially since this paragraph ties in Fyodorā€™s ideals nicely with the symbolism of the apple and dagger.
The apple represents sin, the very first sin ā€” which you could interpret as sin at its purest ā€” while the dagger represents the condemning of such sin. However, the apple can also potentially symbolize life, while the dagger stabbing into life can mean death.Ā 
Fyodorā€™s ideals revolve around ā€œremoving the sinā€ of ability users (represented by an apple in this case) but he does so through manipulation. The dagger is associated with stealth and deception, which is fitting with what Fyodor does toĀ ā€œremove the sinā€ of ability users.
However, heā€™s also taking the lives of ability users in this process, hence stabbing the apple, coincidentally committing another sin in his attempt to relinquish all sin.
4. In theĀ ā€œSnow Whiteā€ Oda and Dazai flashback, everything is identical to the movie (word for word), but there is some additional narration.
ā€œIt was an alarming sight ā€” Dazai sounded like he was in a trance. It was as if he was ignoring all this world had to offer while in pursuit of something else.ā€
Iā€™ve talked about this particular scene before here, but the gist is that Dazai was discreetly talking about himself while referring to Snow White.Ā 
Dazai joined the mafia because he believed that the violence (or true human nature) would give him a reason to live, but we already know that this kind of thinking was flawed.Ā  Thus, this line most likely means that Dazai was ignoring all of theĀ ā€œgoodā€ qualities of the world while pursuing a reason to live, which inevitably wouldnā€™t work.Ā 
5. Right after the flashback, when Dazai takes the pill, the novel really sells the act ofĀ ā€œDazai walking towards his death and going to the evil side.ā€Ā 
Personally, this scene in the movie felt more open to interpretation after youā€™ve seen the ending. You could say that Dazai took the antidote and saidĀ ā€œBeing on the side that saves people is more beautiful,ā€ because his plan is to continue living to save more people.Ā 
However, the novel throws away any possible double meaning with this paragraph:
ā€œDazai then reached for the pill with his bandaged hand, neatly picked it up, and slowly brought it to his lips ā€” just like Snow White and the sweet, poisoned apple. The venomous red-and-pure-white-pill disappeared inside his mouth.ā€
After Dazaiā€™s tangent on how Snow White couldā€™ve committed suicide out of despair, the narration compares him directly to Snow White. With the addedĀ venomous pill stated outright, it only further cements the idea that Dazaiā€™s actually committing suicide here.
I donā€™t particularly like this change, because it feels like this moment was set up entirely just to divert the audienceā€™s expectations, rather than it be a standalone scene that makes sense when considering the rest of the story.Ā (It might not necessarily be a change, possibly just a rough translation from movie to novel).Ā 
6. When Atsushi wakes up from his nightmare, thereā€™s some additional inner monologue:
Everythingā€™s okay. Iā€™m not the same person I was when I lived at the orphanage. I have friends. I have a place where I belong ā€” the Armed Detective Agency. Things are different now.
The anime (and in turn the movie) tends to downplay the effects of Atsushiā€™s trauma ā€” probably due to the limitations of anime ā€”Ā but regardless the novel portrays it much better with how Atsushiā€™s trauma affects practically every aspect of his life.Ā 
7. I thought Fukuzawaā€™s ability only gave his subordinates control over their abilities, but the novel says:
ā€œYukichi Fukuzawa and his skill, All Men are Equal, a peculiar ability that allowed him to suppress and control his subordinatesā€™ skills.ā€
Does this mean that Fukuzawa could control and suppress all of the agencyā€™s abilities?Ā It could be a weird translation, but it seems oddly specific.
8. This detail isnā€™t actually a novel exclusive, but it is an extremely small detail that I missed while watching the movie, so I figured I would add it here too.
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ā€œthe phantomā€™s notebook had the word Compromise written on the cover. A copy of himself that didnā€™t follow ideals but made compromises was an abomination to Kunikida.ā€
Considering how abilities act as the shadow to every character in this story, this is a nice detail that shows how Kunikidaā€™s inner desire is to compromise, because carrying such heavy ideals is undoubtedly a burden. However, because he holds onto his ideals so strongly, it becomes his biggest weakness AND his biggest strength.
9. Thereā€™s a super small detail added to this scene with Dazai, Fyodor, and Shibusawa. When Dazai suggests that Shibusawa could be saved by an angel or a demon, the following exchange occurs:
ā€œHmm... Maybe an angel?ā€ Dazai picked up the skull on the table. ā€œOr maybe a demon?ā€ ā€œItā€™s obvious what both of your true intentions are, if you ask me.ā€ The third man mirthfully cackled and took the skull from Dazaiā€™s hand.
In the movie, Dazai doesnā€™t pick up anything, so as a result Fyodor doesnā€™t take anything from Dazai either.Ā 
Because Fyodor walked into the scene after Dazai suggested that an angel or demon would save Shibusawa, I strongly suspect that this was foreshadowing future events in which Fyodor doesĀ ā€œsaveā€ Shibusawa by giving him his memories back.
The novel adds more to this foreshadowing by having Dazai pick up the skull before itā€™s taken by Fyodor ā€” essentially having Fyodor take the cards out of Dazaiā€™s hands and put them in his favor.Ā 
Itā€™s also worth pointing out that the skull is also the object that Fyodor uses to revive Shibusawa into a supernatural ghost of some sorts at the end of the story.
10. This may be just a difference in translations but in the movie, Shibusawa refers to Fyodor asĀ ā€œDemon Fyodor-kunā€, whereas in the novel Fyodor is calledĀ ā€œFyodor the Conjurer.ā€ (Ango uses the Conjurer title as well).
In western esotericism, a conjurer is a person who summons supernatural beings, like spirits, demons, or God.
This slightly changes the connotation of Fyodorā€™s title from a inhuman being of pure malicious intent to just a human who summons these otherworldly beings. This idea also aligns with Shibusawaā€™s revival, since heā€™s some sort of supernatural ghost that wasĀ ā€œsummonedā€ by Fyodor.Ā 
11. Skipping past the parts where Kyouka and Akutagawa regain their abilities, and Chuuya talks to Ango in the government facility, (since they have little to no changes between the movie and the novel) there is a somewhat significant detail changed in Draconia once again with Dazai and Fyodor.
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In the novel, this glowing ball of energy from the movie is actually described as an apple:Ā 
The two lights melted into one and spun until they formed a juicy sphere. They had produced a single apple ā€” a juicy, poisoned apple red as blood.
It birthed a skill ā€” and an extremely powerful one at that ā€” the ability to absorb. Every last crystal adorning Draconiaā€™s walls was sucked into the apple with intense force. Ten ā€” a hundred ā€” a thousand ā€” two thousand ā€” every last one was greedily devoured by the apple...
The apple swelled as it absorbed the numerous crystals until the red light became hotter than the surface of hell.
Since theĀ ā€œdead appleā€ motif aligns with Fyodorā€™s character, we can assume that the apple is representative of sin, and sin is associated with abilities, as Fyodor believes.
This strange poisoned apple is made of abilities and has an ability (the ability to absorb), and it commits a sin (greed) in its devouring of other abilities; itā€™s also hotter than ā€œhellā€, which is a very specific connection that leads me to this idea:
My theory is that a normal apple represents life, while a poisoned apple (or dead apple), indicative of a stained, impure life, represents sin. Fyodor believes abilities are akin to sin (what a clever rhyme), therefore all of their lives are sinful.
12. This is arguably the most insignificant change of this entire post, but I feel obligated to put it here regardless since it was different from the movie. When the Special Division detects the singularity of Shibusawaā€™s dragon form in the novel, it says:
ā€œAbnormal values for singularity are increasing! Theyā€™re twice ā€” no, 2.5 times higher than they were six years ago.ā€
In the movie, the number is five times higher instead.
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Why did this number change? Is it significant? I honestly have no idea (Iā€™m surprised I even caught this), but itā€™s there and I had to document it anyways.Ā 
13. The novel adds this narration for Shibusawa when he gets his memories back and heā€™s in the orphanageā€™s room with Atsushi:
ā€œShibusawa clearly recalled the events from six years ago. Fyodor had enticed him to go to the orphanage where he tortured a young Atsushi... until Atsushi fought back and killed him.ā€
Thereā€™s two things to take away from this: Fyodor had known Shibusawa for at least six years, and Fyodor had been planning the events of Dead Apple since at leastĀ six years ago.Ā 
I find it hard to believe that Fyodorā€™s plan was thwarted by Dazai, because of how Fyodor demonstrated his ability to plan ahead in the main series, but Iā€™m not sure what the long term effects of this plan could be.Ā If Shibusawa succeeded, then it couldā€™ve aligned with the DOAā€™s goals, but once again I donā€™t think Fyodorā€™s plan was actually foiled.
14. Super minor once again, but right after Shibusawa gets revived, the last sentence of chapter 5 is,
ā€œNobody would ever see the smile on Fyodorā€™s face.ā€Ā 
Honestly, I think this was just added to create an ominous tone, but itā€™s a nice detail regardless.
15.Ā As the red fog spreads across Yokohama, thereā€™s a good part of exposition that connects theĀ ā€œdead appleā€ motif to Fyodor once again:
ā€œAfter the red fog devoured the earth, the planet would undoubtedly look like a floating red apple from space. There would be no humans left on its surface, nor any signs they ever existed. It would be a true paradise, and with that, the Dead Apple would finally be complete. A dead planet covered in red fog ā€” that was what Fyodor had planned and sought out.
Nothing other than death could wash away the original sin of man, so it was only fitting for the sin, which started with a fruit, to end with one as well.Ā 
Itā€™s pretty long, but I like the way this passage is written, more specifically the last part since it fits well with the sinful poisoned apple idea.
It also aligns with Fyodorā€™s ideals of creating a true paradise, free of ability users. However, if Fyodor had planned to have the Earth covered in fog, that could mean that his plan was actually stopped by Dazai and Atsushi in the end.
16. Shibusawa has a few additional lines of dialogue when he talks to Atsushi in their final fight.
ā€œThe dragon and tiger... I see now why they are called rivals.ā€
The dragon and tiger have their roots in Chinese Buddhism, but to go further into that topic would make this already lengthy post even longer.
ā€œDonā€™t get the wrong idea, though. Iā€™m not blaming you for what happened.ā€
This line is a brief moment of weakness for Shibusawa, which is interesting in contrast to his strong will to kill Atsushi. Just as Atsushi learned to accept the past and the tigerā€™s ferocity, Shibusawa shares the same attitude by separating the blame from himself to just simply accepting the past for what happened.
17. In the aftermath of the last fight against Shibusawa, Atsushi and Kyouka meet up with Dazai.
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Kyouka asks,Ā ā€œAre you sure this is what you wanted?ā€ which prompts two different responses in the movie and novel respectively.
In the movie, Atsushi says,Ā ā€œJust as Shibusawa was able to forget that heā€™d been killed before, I think Dazai can put his past behind him again. But this is fine.ā€
In the novel, Atsushi says:
ā€œ... I could probably seal away this memory just like how Iā€™d forgotten Iā€™d killed him before. But... Iā€™m okay with this.ā€
I interpreted Kyoukaā€™s question in the movie to be questioning Dazaiā€™s loyalties, as he did betray everyone, and Atsushi responded in Dazaiā€™s defense because he trusts him.
However, the novel does change Atsushiā€™s response to focus on himself rather than Dazai, which in turn changes the implications of Kyoukaā€™s question.Ā 
Kyouka seems to be asking Atsushi whether he was okay with killing Shibusawa, and Atsushi responds by acknowledging that he did kill Shibusawa, and thatā€™s okay. (a very clear development from the beginning of the story when he believed it was unnecessary to kill anyone, and he didnā€™t want to kill anyone)
18. In the epilogue, Ango talks about the underlying motivations behind the ā€œDead Appleā€ case. This change could be attributed to translation differences (like many others in this post), but the connotation does slightly differ from movie to novel.Ā 
In the movie, Ango says,Ā ā€œHow is a man like Shibusawa, so intelligent that others look like alien creatures to him, to act, to be destroyed, or to be saved?ā€
In the novel, Ango says:
ā€œPerhaps the two of them [Dazai and Fyodor] just wanted to get a glimpse of someone like them... Perhaps they wanted to see what he would do and how he would meet his demise... or perhaps how he would be saved.ā€
The movie simply poses a broad question of what would happen to Shibusawa, a person alienated from the rest of society.Ā 
The novel changes this to focus on Dazai and Fyodorā€™s perspective ā€” two irredeemable aliens from society just like Shibusawa ā€” executing this grand scheme out of curiosity to see what would happen to someone of the likes of them, and if thereā€™s a possibility for redemption.
19. This is the final difference on this list, and itā€™s quite a large change. In Fyodorā€™s monologue at the very end of the story, he has a completely different tone from the movie to novel.
In the movie, Fyodor says,Ā ā€œBut in order to end this world, rife with crime and punishment, I do need that book.ā€
The novel says:Ā 
Glittering high-rises and stately brick buildings stood side by side in this port city with its countless citizens who struggled against crime and punishment. ā€œI think Iā€™ve taken a liking to this city myself..ā€Ā  Fyodor took a bite of the apple in his hand, and the juicy nectar ran down his delicate fingers. ā€œYouā€™d all better be on your best behavior until next time.ā€
The reference to the book may have been removed for consistency with the main series, as the book is a part of the DOAā€™s plan (or more specifically Fukuchi).Ā 
It also seems like Fyodor has grown fond of the city, and no longer wants Yokohama to be destroyed, so itā€™s still possible that his plan deterred from what he had originally intended.
Beyond that, Iā€™m not entirely sure why crime and punishment was mentioned, or why thereā€™s such an ominous tone to his ending statement, but thatā€™s up to personal interpretation.Ā 
That concludes the long list of extremely specific and minor differences between the Dead Apple movie and light novel!Ā 
Overall, I would say itā€™s worth checking out the light novel if you donā€™t have a strong grasp of the Dead Apple story, because it definitely presents the small intricacies of the plot in a more comprehensible way.Ā 
On a side note, the manga adaptation has a lot of noticeable differences from the movie and light novel, mostly with the addition of entirely new scenes (which you can read @buraihatranslationsā€‹ ā€” what a shameless self plug). I would highly recommend reading it as those extra scenes are very amusing, to say the least without giving any spoilers.
Honestly, this post was a lot longer than I intended, but I hope you enjoyed it regardless.Ā Thank you for reading!
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beepboop358 Ā· 3 years ago
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Victor Creel Theories
(also includes ST movie DNA series: Star Wars)
Victor Creel is described as "a disturbed and intimidating man who is imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital for a gruesome murder in the 1950s." We know he will be institutionalized at Penthurst mental hospital, where Peter Ballard works, based on leaked on set pics.
There a few possibilities regarding his character:
He could be a former test subject with some kind of powers and a connection to the upside down (which would also follow the even/odd season pattern of a main character being directly involved with the upside down creatures) I think it's highly likely that Victor Creel will be involved with the mystery/danger in Hawkins in some way, and have a connection to the upside down. He could also be disturbed on top of this, and he could be involved in Eleven's storyline this season.
That he is not a test subject and is ONLY mentally disturbed.
He may be related to one of the already established characters. Most likely Joyce, and maybe Terry but it's a stretch.
Before I go any further into that last possibility, I just want to preface that this idea of an "evil father/grandfather with powers" could be a purposeful Star Wars parallel. The Duffer brothers have already paralleled and used Star Wars references a few times in the show:
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In Star Wars, Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father, and Palpatine is Rey's grandfather (aka the literal worst guy in the universe). A common theme in ST is abusive/bad fathers - that post here. Interesting...
Palpatine is also Anakin Skywalker's father, so Luke and Leia are both the grandkids of Palpatine as well as Rey is, but it's unclear if they are just force midichlorian related or actually dna related as well but I won't get into that here!
Luke and Rey are both force sensitive (have powers), so are Darth Vader and Palpatine; their descendants (kid/grandkid) have powers, and so do they (father/grandfather) The descendants use their powers for good, while the ancestors use their power for evil. Who has powers in ST? Eleven and Will - and they both already have this idea of abusive/bad/evil fathers: Will has an abusive father Lonnie, and Eleven has an abusive father figure Dr. Brenner "Papa".
So... Victor Creel being the evil/bad grandfather to either Eleven or Will and the evil/bad father to Joyce or Terry, would make a FULL Star Wars parallel to people who are morally good and have powers (Will and El - Luke and Rey), discovering they are the descendant of an evil male figure who also has powers (Victor Creel - Darth Vader and Palpatine)
If Victor Creel turns out to be the father of anyone in the show my bets are it's either Joyce Byers or maybeee Terry Ives.
If he was a test subject, its likely he went "crazy" with some of his powers and the government couldn't cover it up so they declare him mentally insane to get him committed, and he probably goes insane being locked away as well. Personally, I think he may be 001 or an early test subject, when they were still working out the kinks of the program, and I think he does have a big connection to the upside down.
The Duffer Brother's on s4: "In Hawkins a new horror is beginning to surface, something long buried, something that connects everything"....
Now let's get into the possibilities for Creel's storyline/who he could be related to (split into 3 parts).
Part 1: Creel could be Joyce's father
Based on Victor Creel's description as "disturbed" and that he is "in a psychiatric hospital", it could connect him to Joyce's bloodline.
There are several comments in the show hinting to this idea of mental instability in Joyce's family:
s1 ep.5: When Lonnie comes to visit in s1 after Will goes missing, Joyce says to Lonnie "No, don't look at me like that, like how everyone is looking at me, like I'm out of my damn mind" He responds saying "I think you need to consider the possibility that this is all in your head. Remember your Aunt Darlene?" Joyce quickly replies, "No, this is not that."
That conversation, although quick, is very telling. Lonnie is implying that Joyce had an aunt who was mentally unstable - and Joyce clearly knows about her aunt being unstable because she responds to his comment by saying what's she's experiencing is not that (the mental instability of her aunt)
s2 ep.2: Joyce says to Bob, "this is not a normal family", when he suggest moving out of Hawkins.
I used to think Joyce was always was referring to the whole 'my son got stuck in an alternate dimension with supernatural monsters and is now traumatized, and we were sworn to secrecy by the government' thing but maybe she is also referring to her biological family.
s1 ep.2: When they are searching for Will, one of the other police officers, says "Joyce is one step from the edge" and the other officer responds "She has been several steps for quite a while now".
If Joyce is related to Victor Creel biologically, and he did also happen to be a test subject, has powers, or has some other relation to the upside down, this could possibly have contributed to whatever kind of abilities Will has, because he would be a descendant of Creel. But Joyce does not seem to have any powers and neither does Jonathan. If they were related to Creel, it's odd that they both didn't get powers, but Will did. I've always thought Will was born with his powers, like El.
We know almost nothing about Joyce's past, it's never discussed in the slightest in the show, which I feel like is purposeful. We don't know Joyce's maiden name; she doesn't change it back after she and Lonnie divorce. Maybe the Duffers are saving Joyce's backstory for s4 (and possibly s5), like I think they are doing with Will and El's connection. Will, El, Hopper, and Joyce were pictured in a series of 4 tweets posted by the stranger writers, hinting to the main 4 storylines for season 4. My analyzation of this tweet here.
I think it's possible that Joyce's storyline this season could also have to do with her past- not just her searching for Hopper- but also more personal information about her. Perhaps we will see flashbacks of younger Joyce and maybe learn about her biological relatives.
Noah also said this would be the darkest season for Will, so this idea of being the grandkid of someone evil or disturbed could fit into that.
Part 2: Creel could be Terry's father/Eleven's grandfather
The only other person I could see potentially having a biological; relation to Victor Creel could be Terry Ives and Eleven, (because it would complete the Star Wars parallel mentioned earlier) but it's a stretch for several reasons, the main one being that Terry and Becky's father Bill Ives, died in a car crash (year unknown).
So for Victor Creel to be Terry's father that either has to be:
Her adoptive father OR
Her mother cheated and led Mr. Ives to believe Terry was his kid but her father is really Victor Creel, and Becky is actually Bill Ives son (which would explain why Becky has no powers)
Right of the bat it's interesting Terry's father's name is Bill. Bill is a nickname for William (Will Byers full name is William), and Billy's a nickname also for William... Hmmm....
Immediately after El is born, Terry is adamant that Brenner stole her child to use as a weapon to fight the commies BECAUSE SHE HAD SPECIAL ABILITIES - and she's completely right about everything. How does Terry know El had powers immediately after she was born? Because she knows she has developed some kind of special abilities from the experiments as well. When El goes to visit her mother in s2, THE LIGHTS FLICKER, just like they do when the upside down is near, but it's not Eleven controlling it. Her Aunt Becky says it's just the wiring, and Eleven responds: "IT'S MAMA. She wants to talk." And then we see Terry's NOSE BLEED, just like El's does when she uses her powers.
Quick side note about El's biological father is Andrew Rich: (It's revealed in the canon novel Suspicious Minds that Andrew Rich is El's father) He was a college student who got expelled from school due to protesting the Nixon address, making him eligible to be drafted in the Vietnam war, and he died in battle. Terry was involved in the Project MKUltra experiments at Hawkins National Laboratory in College, under the direction of Dr. Martin Brenner, but didn't know she was pregnant at the time. Andrew never even knew Terry was pregnant, meaning she was extremely early on in her pregancy at the time he was sent away, not even Terry was aware yet. It's also stated in this book that BRENNER HAD A HAND IN GETTING ANDREW EXPELLED SO HE COULD SEND ANDREW AWAY. The novel states that Brenner has Andrew drafted because he wants to SCARE Terry, to show her how much power he has over her life. There's definitely some history between Terry and Brenner that we don't know about yet.
If Victor Creel is in fact Joyce's father it's interesting that the powers seem to have skipped a generation with Joyce, and also one kid with the Byers, but if Victor Creel is Terry's father, no generations were skipped in passing down powers. ANYWAYS, this is all just theories and speculation since we have no actual concrete reasons to believe he will be related to Joyce or Terry.
Part 3: The possibility that Creel could be involved in Eleven's storyline this season does not rely on them being biologically related.
**One of the filming locations for this season is the Claremont House, which is RUMORED to be Creel's house and also "Vecna's lair" the new monster for s4 (unconfirmed) This is the house the Hawkins group goes into in the ST4 sneak peek, where they see the grandfather clock striking midnight. If that's true, there's a connection between Creel and the upside down and having powers, which could connect Creel to Eleven. The Duffers: "In Hawkins a new horror is beginning to surface, something long buried, something that connects everything". This thing "that connects everything", could be Creel's storyline (his possible connection to the lab/upside down/person in the show), because Creel's storyline also spans all the way back to the 1950's and before that, so there's our "long buried" part most likely.
Robert Englund recently revealed in *an interview* that his character Victor Creel gouges his eyes out, making him unable to see. Englund also mentions what it's like working with Millie Bobby Brown and talks about the first time her met her, he doesn't mention any other cast members in detail like he does Millie.
He's clearly working closely with Millie's character Eleven.
But why? I think Creel could be involved with Eleven getting her powers back, and her reliving her past. Once the government baddies realize El has no powers, they're gonna want them back. If Creel was in fact a test subject, maybe there is some kind of connection between them, Such as Eleven revisiting what happened to her in her past and how that could relate to her getting her powers back.
Another thought I had was that perhaps the gruesome murder he committed is somehow related to something that ends up impacting in Eleven's life.
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Whatever Victor Creel's storyline is, it will be an important one, and it will carry somewhat into s5, since he will be a returning character. He is not signed as a series regular, but as a recurring character, which means we don't really know to what capacity he will be in s5. It could be flashbacks mostly, or he could have just as big or small of a role.
Source: indie wire
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That detail about eyes being gouged out reminds me of fear street 1666 when the townsmen who was sacrificed to the devil becomes possessed and gouges the kids eyes out. Leigh Janick, director of fear street, is married to Ross Duffer. They both direct and make horror/sci-fi themed series about kids in a small town set in the 80's, who fight supernatural evil with a heavy undertone of queer themes, that are even filmed in a lot of the same locations (the mall, the town streets, etc.) I'm not saying it's the same thing, it definitely won't be. But there's so many similarities between ST and Fear Street, I thought I would mention this as another.
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beevean Ā· 4 years ago
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Opinion: How could Sonamy progress in IDW?
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[note: the original article was written in Spanish by @latin-dr-robotnikā€‹]
Today weā€™re going to discuss a recurring topic on my blog, with a more complete perspective.
Todayā€™s article was inspired by an ask I got a few days ago about my possible perspective on the future of IDW Sonamy. I thought it would be interesting to revisit and expand this topic, because itā€™s still something of great interest for thousands of fans all around the world, and because SEGA has recently adopted a very peculiar position on the couple and their dynamic. As I detailed on my article SEGA and its most recent Sonamy side ā€“ more canon than ever, the dynamic has been going through a shift that can be distinguished into two main parts: 1) the commercial potential of Sonamy as a merchandising and marketing icon; 2) the stability of the interactions in the comics, in the short monthly stories on Sonic Channel, and so on.
That being said, thereā€™s no need to mention that weā€™re going to focus entirely and nothing more than on this ship. I usually suggest other articles for those who prefer to read on other subjects, but today I will recommend our Discord server [translatorā€™s note: the server is mainly Spanish-speaking], where discussions about ships are limited on their own canal that is separated from other themes: general discussions, music, fangames and mods, fanfics, fanart and even gaming in general. As you know, if you want to bring something else to our community, or just avoid talking about Sonamy, youā€™re more than welcome to join. Now, back on track.
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Whatā€™s going on with Sonamy in IDW?
To recap whatā€™s happened in these last months: Sonic and his friends finally got through the nightmare that was the Metal Virus, he and Amy hugged a few times, and since very recently theyā€™ve been involved in a short arc about Chao races in Twinkle Park Zone, with a sinister background. In these last months after the eradication of the virus, there have been much closer and warmer interactions between our two hedgehogs, and I suspect that part of this is what inspired that question in the first place: whatā€™s going on?
As I commented in the article where I proposed that Sonamy is ā€œmore canon than everā€ (I know that itā€™s an exaggeration, that was the point), SEGA is treading carefully and the main canon seems to be willing to negotiate a more open representation of the relationship between the two in their different continuities, from best friends to something more. What I did not expect to happen was reading an answer from Evan Stanley (artist and writer that replaces Ian Flynn) about their dynamic, summing it up with ā€œthey like each otherā€.
The redrawing of Sonicā€™s expression when Amy hugs him in a recent drawing of hers made people wonder if this was yet another example of SEGAā€™s ā€œcensoringā€ (comparison below), to which Evan answered that it was modified to keep Sonic in character: heā€™s a guy that does not show much emotional vulnerability or too many negative emotions, and this is why sometimes the artists have to adjust WIPs to keep in line with this official point of view. Evan assured that this is not any kind of confirmation that Sonic does not like Amy, and doubles down by highlighting that in the official material, in the wikis and on Sonic Channel they show that, and I quote: ā€œThey like each other, but Sonic just isnā€™t the kind of guy who is going to make goo-goo eyes at Amy or perform grand acts of romance. If you wanna see that, thatā€™s what fan works are for.ā€
And Evanā€™s words are a great way to sum up whatā€™s going on with IDW Sonic right now. When it comes to interactions, theyā€™re working with two characters who deep down ā€œlike each otherā€, but both show it in their own way. Amy is much more proactive when it comes to express her feelings, while Sonic only sometimes shows a glimpse of his feelings, with a smile or a small gesture. But at the end of the day theyā€™re still friends and, depending on the situation, the comic can focus more or less on these details.
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Comparison between the first sketch showed by Evan and the final product. The modification of the expression was minimal: Sonicā€™s slight blush was changed into a smile, maybe being a little overwhelmed by the gesture of affection.
The ā€œprogressionā€ of the dynamic in the future
A good part of the answer to this question is based on my idea that right now, when it comes to Sonamy, we reached some kind of comfortable plateau. What am I referring to? To the fact that there have been a lot of varied interactions in these last 3 years of the comic, and theyā€™re everything I could have asked for and then some. When we talk about Sonamy in canon, as Evan said, we donā€™t tend to hope for great romantic gestures from Sonic, we barely even ask for a look that hints that they understand each other beyond what it seems at first glance, so the fact that the IDW continuity is betting so much on this ship is basically a dream come true. For this reason, I donā€™t think things will change much in the future.
If I have to make a prediction on Sonamyā€™s future in IDW, I believe that there are still a lot of possibilities that our known writers (and maybe new writers!) could explore more, to see what makes this dynamic work so well. Actually, about 10 years ago, Ian Flynn wrote that if they could take advantage of the abilities and similarities between the two characters as adventurous spirits and with a strong moral sense, they would be ā€œlike poetry in motionā€. This largely happens in IDW Sonic if you look carefully, but there are always new stories to tell and opportunities for them to work together and explore a bit more their strong bond, stronger than other friendships that they share. When the next major arc comes (which seems to be getting closer), they could explore aspects of their dynamic that are slightly more experimental, like being separated for extended periods of time and under dangerous situationsā€¦ as long as they donā€™t turn it into a painful experience like the Metal Virus arc.
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What Ian Flynn wrote about Sonamy, what works and what doesnā€™t. This was written in 2011, when Archie Sonic was still the major comic continuity, and when, according to Ian, Sonic was still ā€œtiedā€ to Sally Acord, leaving little room to the writersā€™ opinions.
The reality is that I see a stable future for the dynamic in the IDW universe. Sonamy is not fit for a lot of drama (fights, breaking up, etc.) without feeling forced or completely out of place, and only fanfics and fanart could be capable of capitalizing on this kind of content. On the other hand, for reasons I detailed in past articles, SEGA would not dare to alter the established order of the dynamic, let alone new that they managed to recover and maintain control over the ways Sonamy is being portrayed everywhere. SEGA wonā€™t pull a Dragon Prince, which ended up confirming the main ship and then they made them go through a crisis and break up in a heartwrenching way in the graphic novel that acts as a bridge between season 3 and 4.
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In short
The future of IDW Sonamy is looking bright and stable. I donā€™t think there will be serious changes to what weā€™re experiencing right now, and this is why both Evan Stanley and Ian Flynn agree that the dynamic is practically in the perfect place, keeping in line to how SEGA wants them to be represented together. This means we wonā€™t see more affectionate gestures than what weā€™re seeing now (I doubt weā€™ll ever see again Sonic offering Amy a rose like in Sonic X), but it also means that we have now a solid basis for our expectations. In the now old IDW Sonic #2, Sonic and Amy had the chance of seriously talking a bit about what they thought of each other, with Sonic being determined to keep living life his own way (although he wouldnā€™t mind Amy to accompany himā€¦ or even suggesting himself that she could come), and Amy being determined to respect his way of life, because thatā€™s what she loves about him, and she doesnā€™t want him to change. Since then, all we have seen and weā€™ll keep seeing in the comic is a consequence of this key moment; the two philosophies that they have and they share, in a constant back-and-forth with some tense moments and some cute moments.
An interesting detail that wasnā€™t included in the ask and that makes me think is the possibility that all of this will feature in the games as well. This is a completely different matter for another day, but I like to think that there is the possibility that weā€™ll see SEGA being more interested in inserting more Sonamy in the games, even if in an indirect way like in Sonic Unleashed and its emotional support, especially if the rumors that weā€™re about to get a soft-reboot are true. Romance is not something Sonic games are famous for doing wellā€¦ at all, but that doesnā€™t mean it would be a bad idea to add a little sprinkle of IDW Sonamy in the mix.
And finally, I think Iā€™ve talked enough about this topic, As you know, weā€™re waiting for some news, and I hope weā€™ll see each other again here or on our Discord. Weā€™ll see if on this 25th something interesting happens. In any case, see you next time!
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The moment that shaped the present and future of their entire relationship, 3 years ago.
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watch-grok-brainrot Ā· 3 years ago
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A Good Sword
Written for @mdzsnet 1 year net anniversary event.Ā Request sent in by @susuwatari-kompeitoā€‹
Rated: G
Word Count:Ā  4392
Characters: Lan Zhan | Lan Wangji, Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin,Ā Suibian (MĆ³dĆ o ZĒ”shÄ«), Lan Yuan | Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi,Ā OC character mentions
Other tags:Ā  Post-Canon, sentient weapons, cw blood, cw injury, Night Hunt, Yunmeng, Post-Canon, Established Relationship WangXian,Ā Gusu, Jiang Cheng being difficult, I stan the least Lan of Lans who also happens to be the best Lan,Ā food mentioned
Summary:Ā Wei Wuxian is forming a golden core in Mo Xuanyu's body. He realizes this means he can wield Suibian again but Lan Wangji reminds him it's with Jiang Cheng in Yunmeng. Their help is requested to subdue supernatural disturbances on Mushan Island so Wangxian head there with some juniors. During the night hunt, they run into Jiang Cheng who happens to have Suibian with him. How will Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian resolve who gets to keep the sword?
Thank you @merelhyn and Aube for the beta!
[Gusu, Cloud Recesses]
A warm spring breeze drifted through the bamboo forest outside the Jingshi, rustling the leaves. As the wind ebbed and flowed, the rustling rose and fell, mimicking the sound of ocean waves. The soothing sound of the bamboo served as stark contrast to the stillness of the Jingshi. Cool sandalwood smoke curled up from a small ceramic incense burner, tumbling up and dissipating into the air. Lan Wangji knelt before his desk with his back straight and shoulders relaxed. A small mountain of letters piled to his right. Three stacks sat neatly to his left. He took a letter from the pile to his right, skimmed it twice with his pale colored eyes, and carefully set it in the appropriate pile to his left. The sandalwood smoke continued to rise as Lan Wangji methodically moved through his work. Only the occasional crinkling of paper and the wave-like sound of bamboo could be heard. The stillness was interrupted when Wei Wuxian charged into the building. Lan Wangji looked up at the sound of quick footsteps. ā€œLan Zhan! Look what I noticed today!ā€ Wei Wuxian shoved his wrist in front of Lan Wangji. His shirt was half open, showing his bare chest, and his cheeks flushed from exercise. ā€œMn?ā€ Lan Wangji asked, setting down the letter he was reading. He looked up at Wei Yingā€™s face and then his gaze drifted to Wei Ying's bare chest. ā€œFeel, Lan Zhan! Feel my pulse!ā€ Wei Wuxian waved his wrist in front of Lan Wangjiā€™s face as he plopped down next to Lan Wangji. Lan Wangji caught the flailing limb, set Wei Yingā€™s hand gently onto the desk, and pressed his fingers against the other manā€™s pulse. Wei Ying beamed as Lan Wangji assessed his pulse, feeling along the paths of the shorter manā€™s meridians. Lan Wangjiā€™s qi was met with Wei Yingā€™s own energy and ferried to Wei Yingā€™s core. A golden core was forming inside his Wei Ying at last. ā€œItā€™s coalescing.ā€ ā€œYes! And at a decent pace too! Before you know it, Iā€™ll be able to fight with a sword again! Are you looking forward to sparring with me?ā€ ā€œMn,ā€ Lan Wangji felt the corner of his lips pull back slightly. ā€œHey, Lan Zhan, speaking of swords, do you know what happened to Suibian? I havenā€™t seen it for months. Did I misplace it somewhere in Jingshi?ā€ ā€œJiang Wanyin has it.ā€ ā€œWhat? Since when?ā€ ā€œWhen we left Yunmeng.ā€ ā€œHuh. I donā€™t remember this.ā€ ā€œDo you remember Jin Guangyao provoking Jiang Wanyin about the core transfer?ā€ Wei Wuxianā€™s eyes darted up towards the ceiling briefly. ā€œHe could pull Suibian from its sheath. I remember that now! Hmā€¦ I wonder if heā€™s planning on keeping it or ifā€¦ā€ Wei Wuxian trailed off as he turned around and leaned against Lan Wangjiā€™s shoulder. ā€œLan Zhan, were you working this morning?ā€ ā€œPerusing correspondence. I should continue,ā€ Lan Wangji responded as he wrapped his left arm around Wei Ying. He placed a kiss on the other manā€™s hair and breathed in ā€” musk from exercising, dust from outside, pine resin, and hint of prickly spice. ā€œWei Ying always smells good.ā€ The other man laughed. ā€œYou always smell good too, Lan er-gege.ā€ Always active, Wei Ying reached towards Lan Wangjiā€™s desk. ā€œLan Zhan, watcha reading now?ā€ ā€œWe received a letter seeking help from Wuhu Gong Sect.ā€ ā€œWuhu? Where is that?ā€ ā€œBetween Gusu and Yunmeng, east of Hefei.ā€ ā€œWhat did they want?ā€ ā€œDisturbances on ChaoHuā€™s MuShan Island near Hefei.ā€ ā€œWhat kind?ā€ ā€œUnclear.ā€ ā€œAre we going to go help?ā€ Lan Wangji waited, choosing not to answer. Wei Ying will figure it out. ā€œSilly question. You go where the chaos is,ā€ Wei Wuxian turned and kissed Lan Wangji. He then laughed, ā€œAnd here I thought I was the chaos.ā€ Lan Wangji huffed out a small snort. ā€œAlright, alright. We should write back and go help out. Iā€™ll find Chenqing and pack our stuff. You can finish your pile of letters.ā€ ā€œCheck between the bed and the window.ā€ ā€œWhat?ā€ Wei Wuxian hopped from where he was sitting and bounded over to the bed. ā€œYou left Chenqing there earlier in the month.ā€ ā€œYou really remember everything, donā€™t you, Lan Zhan?ā€ ā€œNo. Only if it pertains to Wei Ying.ā€
[Yunmeng, Lotus Pier]
Jiang Cheng snapped his head up at the sound of running. ā€œZongzhu! Help is requested urgently from Hefei!ā€ A young disciple charged into the room waving a letter. ā€œIs there the need to yell and run? Will a few additional moments change the outcome?ā€ Jiang Cheng scolded as he snatched the folded message from the frantic disciple. ā€œGo practice ā€˜Picking Lotus Roots in the Mudā€™ in the courtyard at one fifth the standard pace.ā€ ā€œUhā€¦ One fifth?ā€ ā€œDo I need to repeat myself?ā€ Jiang Cheng looked the boy in the eye. ā€œNo Zongzhu. Right away,ā€ the disciple scurried off. Jiang Cheng watched the retreating figure and wondered if he himself could even perform the form at one fifth the speed. No matter, the boy was supposed to practice and it would teach him patience. Jiang Cheng turned his attention to the message in his hand. It was from Hefeiā€™s Mi sect, a small sect allied to Yunmengļ¼š ā€œSeeking help from Sandu Shengshou Jiang Wanyin and the Yunmeng Jiang Sect. Mysterious yao disturbances on ChaoHuā€™s MuShan Island. Hefei Mi and Wuhu Gong attempted to subdue to no avail. Many spiritual weapons were lost in the process. The disturbances have been intensifying over the past three months. The people suffer. Area sects are forced to seek aid from major sects. Hefei Mi Sect Mi Tayanā€ Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes and refolded the letter. Why canā€™t minor sects be more competent? He and Wei Wuxian were probably subduing yao of that caliber when they were thirteen. Then again, Gong and Mi have had decent reputations lately. Maybe he should not underestimate the yao. Jiang Chengā€™s right thumb began idly spinning the violet ring on his middle finger. ChaoHu was large. Yao thriving on those resources could be powerful. Such situations would be best approached with caution. A pity he couldnā€™t simply ignore this. As the Mi sect was Yunmengā€™s most loyal supporter, Yunmeng was obligated to help. Luckily he had at least one spiritual weapon to spare. He stood and swept out of the room.
[MuShan Island]
Dusk blanketed the island in the middle of Chaohu. As the long shadows of trees merged into deep blue darkness, a full moon rose to cast a crisp white light over the party of cultivators on a night hunt. ā€œLan Zhan! Thereā€™s something over here!ā€ Wei Wuxian said as he threw out a talisman towards a large tree. They had been scouring the island since lunch time and Wei Wuxian was growing hungry. The talisman flew forward, glowed bright red, and expanded into a spiritual net, aiming to capture an unidentified target. Wei Wuxian followed his talisman attack by pulling out Chenqing, twirling the flute in his hand once to adjust positioning, and bringing it to his lips. As the high pitch trill of the black bamboo flute pierced the air, the red glow of the spiritual net flickered and flared. Shadows pulsated against the net and Wei Wuxian closed his eyes to focus on pushing his will onto the creature with his infamous demon flute. ā€œSizhui, flank right with your group. Jingyi, flank left with yours. Aim to subdue, not kill,ā€ Lan Wangji instructed the group of juniors. He then summoned Wangji qin from his qiankun pouch and set about sending spiritual energy towards Wei Wuxianā€™s net. Sizhui and Jingyi had developed enough experience that they were leading small groups on their own in major night hunts. The two juniors directed their groups to take up positions based on the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper. Then, they all unsheathed their swords and sent them towards the being under the net. The spiritual blades danced around Wei Wuxianā€™s talisman. As they flew, the swords collided continuously. ā€œPoZhangYin!ā€ Wei Wuxian opened his eyes and exclaimed after a few collisions, realizing the clanging of the blades played out Gusuā€™s famous battle melody. ā€œThatā€™s a clever use of swords! I see someone has been teaching useful things like creativity and practical application of known skills!ā€ ā€œWei-qianbei has a good ear!ā€ Jingyi said as his sword hit Sizhuiā€™s. ā€œIt was Sizhuiā€™s idea. He remembered that awful blade of grass you used and thought we could do the same with our swords. We have been practicing!ā€ ā€œJingyi, focus,ā€ Lan Wangji chided, sending another wave of qin energy towards the target. ā€œWei Ying, do you know what it is?ā€ ā€œSome sort of old waterfowl yao. I canā€™t quite get a sense of it yet. Possibly a duck. Hey, Hanguang-jun, do you want to have roast duck for dinner?ā€ ā€œI prefer sampling local delicacies,ā€ Lan Wangji responded, his voice steady as he sent another wave of energy towards the trapped yao. ā€œYou do have a point, Lan Zhan. I hear the Binjiong cakes here are good. We should give them a try.ā€ ā€œMn. Focus so Wei Ying can eat later. Itā€™s loquat season.ā€ Wei Wuxian laughed, ā€œAlright! Your treat, Hanguang-jun!ā€ He turned his attention back to the trapped yao. As the nine cultivators poured their energies into the talisman and sword formation, the shadows emanating from the net began to subside. After a stick of incense worth of time, the last notes of PoZhangYin clanged from the swords and the talisman netā€™s bright glow softened to the dim light of embers. Anguished quacks could be heard. ā€œWei-qianbei! Youā€™re right, it is a duck yao!ā€ The noises continued and Wei Wuxianā€™s brows furrowed. Something did not feel right. The sound was notā€¦ Wei Wuxian cursed and bolted to the yao. He hurriedly started casting a silencing talisman while explaining, ā€œThis isnā€™t a duck yao. Itā€™s a mandarin duck yao and sheā€™s calling for her mate. Heā€™s probabā€”ā€ Something fast crashed into his back, knocking him forward. He fell, crushing the talisman net and releasing the yao inside. ā€œWei Ying!ā€ Wei Wuxian heard Lan Zhan yell as energy waves from Wangji washed over him. Both yao being hit by the chord attacks reared up and expanded in size. The smell of rotting fish, stale lake water, and decaying wood filled Wei Wuxianā€™s nose. The two yao propelled themselves into the air, their attention diverted from Wei Wuxian to Lan Wangji. ā€œLan Zhan!ā€ Wei Wuxian yelled as he scrambled up and brought Chenqing to his lips again. The strong melancholy notes from Chenqing pushed towards the yao, attempting to control them. ā€œSizhui, Jingyi, Bagua formation! Contain them. Vanquish if necessary,ā€ Lan Wangji ordered, Wangji still in hand. He swept his fingers over the seven strings, sending out seven separate chord assassination attacks. The juniors took positions in accordance to Bagua with Lan Wangji at the Qian position and Sizhui at the Kun position wielding their respective qin. The other juniorsā€™ swords wove around the two yao. Marsh, Fire, Thunder, Wind, Water, and Mountain anchored between Heaven and Earth. The Bagua formation shifted between its permutations, drawing upon these primal aspects of nature. The two yao, trapped in an ever-mutating array of sword and qin energies, struggled against the Lan sect attack at first. The female soon calmed. She flew around the male, calming him as well. They hovered in midair observing the attacks. Then, the two yao moved. The female allowed herself to get hit by an attack from Lan Haoye. The sword stabbed into her left side but seemed to do little damage. Instead, the sword became embedded in the yao and Haoye lost control of her sword. Then, the female dove for the youngest cultivator, Lan Pinshu, who stood halfway between Lan Sizhui and Lan Wangji. The male, similarly, took a hit from Lan Runchan and dove for Lan Jinglin. Haoye stood on the water position and Pinshu on fire. Lan Runchan was on marsh and Jinglin on mountain. Wei Wuxian cursed again, ā€œEveryone be careful. Theyā€™re taking hits aligned with their nature to strengthen themselves and attacking the opposite element to counter us. The female is cunning.ā€ Wei Wuxian gathered his qi and pushed off the ground towards Pinshu. Times like these he missed his old body. This one was still too slow and had too little reach. To accelerate himself further, he slapped a talisman onto his lower back. He was closer to the boy than the female yao. He had a chance to protect the boy if he could just move between them. The force of the magic boosted his speed, giving him just enough time to step between the yao and the boy. He tucked Chenqing into his qiankun sleeve and grabbed Haoyeā€™s sword jutting from the yaoā€™s side. The yao screamed, strong resentful energy burst forth from her body. Gusts of resentment whipped around Wei Wuxian and Lan Pinshu, lifting up small pieces of foliage and debris. Wei Wuxian stood firm, putting himself between the yao and Pinshu, using his body as a shield. He clung onto Haoyeā€™s sword and sliced down, aiming to split the yao in half. The yao screeched for her mate. The male yao abandoned his trajectory, shifting his body and arced towards Wei Wuxian. In flight, his form flattened into a blade with his beak elongating and sharpening into a point. Wei Wuxian saw the male yao approach but stood his ground. Haoyeā€™s sword cut through and broke free from the female yao as the male yaoā€™s beak pierced Wei Wuxianā€™s left side, sliding between two of his ribs. Before Wei Wuxian could redirect Haoyeā€™s sword to slice towards the yao embedded half way in his chest, a bright flash of purple accompanied by a loud pop grabbed the tail end of the yao and forcibly pulled it out of Wei Wuxianā€™s chest. Wei Wuxian bit down on a scream. There was no reason to scare Pinshu right now. Wei Wuxian heard his name through a daze as something zoomed towards him. He lifted up Haoyeā€™s sword to deflect the projectile but instinct took over and he found himself catching the object at the last moment. Suibian, his old sword, rested in his hand. In his previous life, Suibianā€™s hilt fit his hand so perfectly it was as if the sword had formed knowing it would be his. Considering the inscription on its sheath, maybe it did know. In this new body, his hand was just a fraction too small to wield Suibian with that old familiarity and ease. Wei Wuxian tightened his grip on his old friend. ā€œWei Wuxian, pay attention!ā€ The sound of Jiang Cheng yelling shook Wei Wuxian from his thoughts. The female yao charged at him with half her entrails spilling from her body. Wei Wuxian unsheathed Suibian, pulled spiritual energy from his newly forming golden core, and sliced towards the yao. After a few exchanges, Suibian decapitated the creature, its body falling to the ground with a splat. Wei Wuxian smiled, ā€œSuibian, looks like we still got this.ā€ He thought he felt the sword shiver in response. Looking around, he saw Jiang Cheng and the Lans had disposed of the male yao as well. Lan Wangji and Sizhui were putting their qin away; Zidian was receding into Jiang Chengā€™s ring; and the juniors were all sheathing their swords. Wei Wuxian watched Lan Wangji give instructions to the five unseasoned juniors to cleanse the area of residual resentment. Everyone was safe and well. He let out a sigh of relief which turned into coughs. Blood dribbled from his mouth and he fell to his knees. As he toppled forward, his right hand shot out to support his weight as his left hand pressed against the suddenly searing wound on his chest. Footsteps and people yelling his name closed in around him. ā€œWei Ying!ā€ ā€œWei-qianbei!ā€ ā€œWei Wuxian!ā€ ā€œIā€™m ok. Just a small wound,ā€ Wei Wuxian tried to wave everyone off. Lan Wangji knelt by Wei Wuxian and started examining his puncture wound. ā€œI canā€™t believe you let that yao hit you. What were you thinking? What if it were trying to curse you?ā€ Jiang Cheng walked up and started scolding. ā€œI was fighting the female.ā€ ā€œYouā€™re coughing up blood.ā€ ā€œJiang Cheng, you try having something stab you in the lungs. Iā€™m sure youā€™ll cough up some blood too,ā€ Wei Wuxian retorted, making himself cough up more blood. ā€œJin Guangyao did a few months ago, remember?ā€ ā€œWei Ying. Stop talking.ā€ ā€œJiang-zongzhu, maybe itā€™s not the best idea for you to antagonize Wei-qianbei right now,ā€ Sizhui spoke up, giving Lan Wangji nervous glances. Lan Wangji stymied the blood flow by hitting a few choice acupoints. He then disinfected Wei Wuxianā€™s wound with a stream of qi and sprinkled some wound sealing powder to help accelerate clotting. He wrapped his right arm around Wei Wuxianā€™s waist, ā€œCan you stand?ā€ Wei Wuxian gave a nod and let Lan Wangji help him up. He looked at Jiang Cheng awkwardly. ā€œUmā€¦ā€ ā€œIā€™m just here to retrieve my sword.ā€ ā€œSandu?ā€ ā€œThe one in your hand.ā€ Wei Wuxian felt his grip on Suibian tighten. ā€œSuibian has always been my sword.ā€ ā€œIt unsheathes for me.ā€ Wei Wuxian paused. What argument could he use? They both knew Suibian would unsheathe for Jiang Cheng because Jiang Cheng has Wei Wuxianā€™s golden core. Because it was what Wei Wuxian owed the Jiangs. Because Wei Wuxian did not believe Jiang Cheng would be able to survive without one. But that was not an argument he could make. His chest was hurting and he did not need to revisit Jiang Chengā€™s reaction. ā€œIā€™m taking your silence as agreement,ā€ Jiang Cheng reached for the sword. Wei Wuxian pulled Suibian out of Jiang Chengā€™s reach. ā€œSuibian also unsheathes for me.ā€ ā€œSuibian was given to you as the head disciple of Yunmeng Jiang. Youā€™re no longer in the sect. You defected. I should have taken Suibian with me then,ā€ Jiang Cheng drew himself to his full height and looked down his nose at Wei Wuxian. ā€œSuibian is sentient. It knows Wei Ying,ā€ Lan Wangji spoke up, glaring down at Jiang Cheng. ā€œSuibian is made from the trees of Yunmeng, its blade quenched with our waters. It belongs in Yunmeng. And it knows me as well.ā€ ā€œSuibian has always been Wei Wuxianā€™s sword. You did not take it when Wei Ying moved to the Burial Mounds. It is not yours to take right now.ā€ ā€œWei Wuxian would not even have it had I not brought it as a backup to Sandu today.ā€ ā€œJiang Cheng, why are you here anyway? And why bring Suibian?ā€ Wei Wuxian asked. ā€œMi Tayan wrote Yunmeng seeking help. Apparently the Gong sect and Mi sect could not handle these two on their own. Suibian served as a spare since the yao had been taking spiritual weapons,ā€ Jiang Cheng answered frankly. He then looked Wei Wuxian up and down. Wei Wuxian shrunk into Lan Wangji, hearing Jiang Chengā€™s unspoken words: Your new body is weak. You donā€™t have a golden core anyway. You canā€™t use it for long. ā€œA few days ago, I felt the beginning of a golden core coalescing.ā€ Jiang Cheng raised an eyebrow. ā€œWhy are you telling me this? Why would I care?ā€ ā€œI will have the strength to wield Suibian again. Suibian is mine.ā€ ā€œYou can take it when you can and are willing to take the golden core inside me back,ā€ Jiang Cheng spat. His ring crackled as Zidian sent forth a warning shock. ā€œYou know I would never do that.ā€ ā€œThen give me back my sectā€™s sword.ā€ Wei Wuxian pushed Lan Wangji away and placed his right hand on Suibianā€™s hilt. ā€œI donā€™t want to fight you Jiang Cheng but Iā€™m not someone you can bully.ā€ Zidian crackled. ā€œSuibian belongs to Yunmeng. I will not let Lan-er or any other self-righteous, headband wearing, cultivator take what belongs to my sect. Yunmeng will not back down.ā€ Sizhui interjected, ā€œWait. Fighting now is unproductive. Jiang-zongzhu, Wei-qianbei, is there no other resolution? If Suibian is sentient, can we not ask it to choose?ā€ ā€œYeah! Even if Jiang-zongzhu beats Wei-qianbei, it wouldnā€™t reflect well on Yunmeng. I didnā€™t think Yunmeng would be the type to pick on someone who was just injured and without a fully formed core,ā€ Jingyi added. Wei Wuxian scoffed, ā€œYouā€™re not holding back, are you, Jingyi?ā€ ā€œSorry Wei-qianbei. Fighting Jiang-zongzhu right now would be so unfair to you.ā€ ā€œAsk it to choose?ā€ Jiang Cheng scoffed at Sizhui. ā€œSuibian isnā€™t some spirit you can just ask with WenLing who it is, how it died, what it wants. Itā€™s a sword that has bonded with a person.ā€ Jingyi laughed, ā€œWell, then we just have to show if itā€™s bonded more to the soul or the golden core.ā€ ā€œAnd how do you propose to do this? Iā€™ve never heard of such an assessment.ā€ ā€œJiang-zongzhu, we just need to be a bit creative. Would you mind performing some initial tests with us?ā€ Sizhui asked. ā€œIā€™m not here to play games.ā€ ā€œWe are serious, right, Sizhui? We are simply trying to apply our new-found creativity and practical application of known skills!ā€ Jingyi beamed. Sizhui did not roll his eyes at his smug friend. ā€œJiang-zongshu, has Jin Ling ever spoken with you about the events that transpired at Yi City involving Xue Yang, Song Lan-daozhang, and Xiao Xingchen-daozhang? ā€œSome.ā€ ā€œAre you aware that Xue Yang had Shuanghua at the time? And Hanguang-jun was able to take it from him?ā€ ā€œJin Ling did mention something like that.ā€ ā€œShuanghua was aware that Xue Yang did not align with Xiao Xingchen-daozhangā€™s world view and thus abandoned Xue Yang. I believe if you and Wei-qianbei are both able to wield Suiban then it becomes a matter of seeing if one of you can override the otherā€™s will.ā€ Jiang Cheng pursed his lips into a line. Sizhui added, ā€œJiang-zongzhu, you have the advantage here. Considering Wei-qianbeiā€™s lower cultivation, he would only be able to override your will if Suibian is truly loyal to him. You have very little to lose.ā€ ā€œFine,ā€ Jiang Cheng scowled. ā€œLetā€™s get this over with.ā€ Sizhui then turned to Wei Wuxian, ā€œWei-qianbei, would you mind sending Suibian out to encircle that tree, approaching from the left, and returning it to its sheath?ā€ Wei Wuxian performed the task. ā€œWei-qianbei, hand Suibian to Jiang-zongzhu,ā€ Jingyi ordered. ā€œJiang-zongzhu please do the same but approach from the right.ā€ Jiang Cheng performed the task with a bored expression. ā€œJiang-zongzhu, please hand Suibian back to Wei-qianbei. Now, Wei-qianbei will perform the same task as he did earlier. You goal, Jiang-zongzhu is to get Suibian to circle the tree from the other direction.ā€ Wei Wuxian stared at the sword that was too big for his hand. Are you really mine? Or have you bonded with Jiang Cheng in the last few months? He closed his eyes, sighed, and sent Suibian flying. Suibian flew true and returned to Wei Wuxian. Jiang Cheng scowled, ā€œIs that it? This proves nothing.ā€ ā€œThere is at least one more step,ā€ Sizhui answered respectfully. ā€œWei-qianbei, give Suibian to Jiang-zongzhu. Your turn to try to make Suibian fly the other direction!ā€ Jingyi said, shaking with excitement. ā€œJiang-zongzhu, if Wei-qianbei is able to divert Suibian, then it is likely bonded with him more than with you. If not, then we will need to find a different way to assess the ownership of the sword.ā€ Wei Wuxian nodded and whispered to the sword, ā€œSuibian, you sealed for me for thirteen years. I cannot ask for more. But maybe do me a favor this one time.ā€ He then handed it over to Jiang Cheng. Sizhui stared Jiang Cheng in the eye. ā€œYou may proceed.ā€ Suibian flew out from Jiang Cheng towards the pre-appointed tree. It started veering right but wobbled. Jiang Chengā€™s brow furrowed, driving it back on course. Wei Wuxian bit his lip, his eyes narrowing slightly, shoving his focus into the sword. The distance between where they stood and the tree was only ten zhang or so. He didnā€™t have much time. He could feel Jiang Cheng urging the sword to the right. Wei Wuxian shifted his weight onto the balls of his feet, mentally reaching for Suibian. Suibian, I miss you. Please. Wei Wuxian could feel Jiang Chengā€™s connection to the sword snap as Suibian swerved in mid-air, circled the tree from the left, and flew into Wei Wuxianā€™s grip. Jiang Cheng let out a startled grunt. Wei Wuxian almost laughed at the familiar sound. It reminded him of childhood in Yunmeng, of waking up to that sound and a thud as Jiang Cheng rolled off his bed. A grin spread across Wei Wuxianā€™s face. ā€œIncredible! Suibian really is sentient,ā€ Pinshu sighed in admiration. ā€œI thought only cultivators who had bonded for a lifetime with their swords had that sort of loyalty!ā€ ā€œSuibian has always been loyal to Wei Ying,ā€ Lan Wangji explained. ā€œIts inscription is indicative of its devotion. Sizhui, Jingyi, good work." The two juniors stood up straighter and grinned at each other under Lan Wangji's praise. Jiang Cheng handed Suibian's sheath to Wei Wuxian, ā€œYours. Donā€™t be too smug. I donā€™t want it if it doesnā€™t belong to Yunmeng. And stop leaving it places.ā€ ā€œJiang Chengā€¦ā€ ā€œWhat?ā€ ā€œThank you.ā€ ā€œWhatever. Itā€™s not like itā€™s that good a sword anyway,ā€ Jiang Cheng said and stalked off into the darkness to look for the other members of his sect. Wei Wuxian clung onto Suibian, ā€œWelcome back. Iā€™ve missed you.ā€ He suddenly lifted up Suibian and stared at the sword in awe. ā€œWei Ying?ā€ ā€œLan Zhan, is my hand suddenly bigger?ā€ Wei Wuxian asked, holding up a hand that once belonged to a man named Mo Xuanyu. Lan Zhan held up his hand as well. Wei Wuxianā€™s hand was smaller by the same familiar margin. ā€œNo. Why does Wei Ying ask?ā€ Wei Wuxian gripped Suibian by the hilt and held out his fist out. ā€œMy hand was a bit too small earlier tonight. And now itā€™s perfect for my hand again.ā€ ā€œMn. Suibian is a good sword.ā€ ā€œSuibian really is a good sword,ā€ Wei Wuxian echoed. ā€œHey, do you think you can treat your poor wounded husband to some roast mandarin duck and Binjiong cakes now?ā€ ā€œLoquats as well. My treat,ā€ Lan Wangji nodded once with a hint of a smile.
Authorā€™s notes:Ā 
1) For SHL/WOH fans, I was working on this request and trying to find a place between yunmeng and gusu. I ended up seeing Hefei, Chaohu, and Mushan Island. As I was zooming out, I noticed Wuhu was a town pretty close byā€¦ so I decided to shove a reference to Gong Jun and his Wuhu singing into my story as an easter egg. Iā€™m not sorry.
2) Poetry references: A - The name of the form JC asks the disciple to practice is ę³„äø­é‡‡č—• in chinese. I pulled it from this poem: 元 Ā· äøé¹¤å¹“ ę°“äøŠę‘˜čŽ²é’ēš„ēš„ļ¼Œę³„äø­é‡‡č—•ē™½ēŗ¤ēŗ¤ć€‚ 卓ē¬‘åŒę ¹äøåŒå‘³ļ¼ŒčŽ²åæƒęø…č‹¦č—•čŠ½ē”œć€‚
B - This is completely me being derp. Hefei is a location where the name fertile (in terms of soil)/fat is part of the name. I chose the sect to have a last name related to grains. And then I looked up that character in poetry to name the sect leader: 黄åŗ­åš (宋ļ¼‰ 嚼冰čæ›ē³œé¤ļ¼Œå†²é›Ŗčøå±‚å·˜
C - Since CRā€™s name is from a Jia Dao poem, I chose to pull all the names of the OC juniors from Jia Dao Poems as well: Pinshu is from: 怊让ēŗ ę›¹äøŠä¹ä½æå›ć€‹ ē“¶ę±²å—ęŗŖę°“ļ¼Œä¹¦ę„åŒ—å²³åƒ§ć€‚
Haoye is per: 怊äøŠč°·ę—…å¤œć€‹ ęœˆåˆ°åƒēŖ—ē©ŗēš“ꙶļ¼Œé£Žēæ»č½å¶ę›“飕飗
Jinglin and Runchan I took inspiration from: ć€Šå‡é“ē²¾čˆå—台åÆ¹ęœˆåÆ„å§šåˆć€‹ ęœˆå‘å—å°č§ļ¼Œē§‹éœ–ę“—ę¶¤ä½™ć€‚ å‡ŗé€¢å±å¶č½ļ¼Œé™ēœ‹ä¼—å³°ē–ć€‚ 冷露åøøę—¶ęœ‰ļ¼Œē¦…ēŖ—ę­¤å¤œč™šć€‚ ē›øꀝ聊ꀅꜛļ¼Œę¶¦ę°”éč”£åˆć€‚
3) Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper is the big dipper. Itā€™s common in wuxia as a formation. Same goes for Bagua. Both are daoist but so is Xianxia type cultivation. I know the Lans are Buddhist in origin but they really arenā€™t that way religion-wise.
4) Mandarin ducks are yuanyang and a term/symbol of a loving couple and monogamous faithfulness.
5) ę»Øē‚Æäø€å“ēŽ‰åø¦ē³• are binjiong yiping (first ranked) jade-belted cakes. Theyā€™re a famous pastry/cake in the area. Idk if itā€™s period accurate but mdzs isnā€™t period accurate so iā€™m using it. å§„å±±ęž‡ę· (mushan loquats) are supposed to be large, sweet, thin skinned with lots of flesh and super juicy. It was a good thing to include since this story is so heavily wangxian. And i donā€™t know if people eat mandarin ducks, but I would want to if i were wwx after that night hunt.
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thepapergirlandthespiegelman Ā· 3 years ago
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Castlevania Season 4: Iā€™m not mad, just disappointed
Season 4 is poorly written fanfiction, which is...better than a lot of things could be, I guess.
Spoilers below the cut.
Content warning: trauma, sexual assault, psychological manipulation
The Gods Have Had a Change of Heart
Or, ā€œSeason 3 Blocked and Ignoredā€
Season 3 felt like the fabric of the universe had been twisted just to inflict additional pain. Season 4 overcompensates in the other direction; trauma evaporates, and good things happen for no other reason than to make our favorite characters happy.
The Season 3 finale left two characters in particular totally devastated: Alucard and Hector. Alucard is violently betrayed in a horrifying sexual assault by the first two people heā€™s spoken to since Trevor and Sypha left. He ends up killing them in self-defense and puts their bodies on stakes outside the castle, alluding to his fatherā€™s habit of doing so and potentially hinting at a turn toward evil. Hector is seduced by Lenore and then enslaved using a magic ring.
Yet at the start of Season 4, itā€™s as if these things never happened. Alucard is troubled, but not totally devastated, certainly not evil. Taka and Sumi are referenced in exactly one conversation with new character, Greta, in which she says the rather tactless throwaway line, ā€œI had a boyfriend and girlfriend at the same time once. But they never tried to kill me.ā€ Hector is nominally imprisoned, but immediately seems highly agentic, perhaps even more so than before. He studies, lays traps, and makes secret plans with other people. Furthermore, his relationship with Lenore is completely transformed. From falling to his knees in abject horror and despair at being enslaved, he suddenly switches to light banter, in what is apparently a basically okay, mutually enjoyed romantic/sexual relationship. Manipulative, selfish Lenore is now a sympathetic character struggling to reconcile her own role and feelings with Carmillaā€™s plans.
The events of season 3 happened, remaining canon in the most basic, literal sense. But the emotional weight attached to them has disappeared into thin air.
Not gonna lie, I did breathe a sigh of relief when I saw that Alucard and Hector were okay. Iā€™m soft-hearted! I donā€™t like seeing characters I like suffer! I mean, conflict is important, and I can deal with (or even enjoy in a certain sense) seeing characters suffer if it makes sense and serves a narrative purpose. But as far as I can tell, the season 3 finale was nothing more than lurid, meaningless violence. I probably wouldnā€™t have continued watching the show if it devolved into nothing more than finding novel ways to torture the characters.
Still, it doesnā€™t feel quite right to pretend like nothing happened either. Or, really, not that nothing happened, but that those things didnā€™t matter, didnā€™t hurt, didnā€™t leave lasting scars. Thatā€™s...almost kind of worse.
But, I thought, I can sort of forgive this sudden shift in the stars, given that there may have been some sort of change in creative direction relating to Ellisā€™ decreased involvement with the show.* Plus, season 3 was insanity. Itā€™s not like it was full of great writing choices, so if we quietly ignore some of them, maybe thatā€™s for the best.
*I only later learned that Netflix actually chose to continue with Ellisā€™ season 4 scripts. It is not lost on me that maybe Ellis doesnā€™t know how to write about the lasting effects of traumatic sexual experiences or how power dynamics can make a sexual relationship problematic because he doesnā€™t understand that those things exist.
Characters Being Nobody and Nothing Happening
Pretty Pictures, Not Much Else
Unfortunately, the disconnect between seasons 3 and 4 isnā€™t the only problem with this season. Although I felt that season 4 was a bit less boring than season 3 (I particularly enjoyed some of the earlier episodes of season 4), it suffers from the same basic problems of Characters Being Nobody and Nothing Happening.
None of the characters experience any significant development, let alone any sort of coherent arc. Sypha has changed slightly, becoming more rough and jaded. I did really like the scene where she talks about becoming the kind of person who says ā€œshit.ā€ I think it really speaks to how entering into a relationship with someone means taking on aspects of their lifestyle, and how that can change you in ways that you canā€™t predict and therefore canā€™t exactly ā€œagreeā€ to. Sometimes those changes are good, sometimes theyā€™re bad, sometimes theyā€™re neutral, and sometimes itā€™s difficult to know. But you have to accept that youā€™re sacrificing some aspects of the person that you could have been if you chose to live completely independently, or with someone else.
Trevor really hasnā€™t changed since season 1 when he first decided to take up the mantle of hero again. Likewise with Alucard. Hector and Lenore change, as previously noted, but that change is sudden, jarring, and occurs completely off screen in between seasons 3 and 4. Carmilla dies as exactly as she lived: bitter, angry, and violent. Saint Germain just kind of...gets fucked over in a nonsensical subplot, which is its own whole can of worms.
We also get several new characters in season 4, none of whom have developed personalities or motives, nor do they develop any of those things over the course of the season: Greta, Zamfir, Varney, Ratko.
And nobody. Does. Anything.
Trevor and Sypha spend the entire season trying to explore and aid Targoviste, which comes to absolutely nothing. Theyā€™re unable to help anyone, Zamfir dies, and they end up just jumping through a magic portal to the actually relevant subplot in the finale. Carmilla literally does little more than draw maps until sheā€™s ultimately killed. Hector plays a minor role in Saint Germainā€™s extraction of Dracula from Hell; otherwise, he and Lenore basically just exchange banter. Saint Germain does sort of do some stuff? But itā€™s often unclear how heā€™s made his connections, who the people who are helping him are, or what exactly heā€™s doing in terms of his magic beyond ā€œwhatever it takes to get back to his lover.ā€
Sure, there are fight scenes, but they feel meaningless. Thereā€™s no context, no stakes. Thereā€™s also a LOT of dialogue, and it is. Not well written. Exposition is embarrassingly clumsy at times, and the philosophical musings are cliche at best, muddled and confusing at worst. Thereā€™s just not all that much going on.
That is, except for Isaac. But more on him in a second.
What Kind of Show Is This?
When the plot line adapted from Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse ended with season 2, the show struggled to establish a new identity.
Despite nominally dealing with themes like whether humanity is inherently good or evil and how to cope with wrongdoing and loss, seasons 1 and 2 ultimately boiled down to a pretty generic action-adventure/fantasy plot with found family/power of friendship elements. Main characters Trevor, Sypha, and Alucard donā€™t really wrestle with big philosophical questions or suffer any major defeats. They know that they have to take down Dracula for the good of the world, and they work together as a team to do it, with a little character development relating to their various backstories sprinkled in.
Then season 3 happened, and things got weird. The trio is broken up for what feels like a pretty trivial reasonā€”Alucard has to protect the castle and Belmont hold, I guess? And the result of that decision is that the dynamics for the three main characters are completely unbalanced.
Ellis openly admits that he basically went feral with the writing of season 3, and it shows. The messaging in seasons 1 and 2 was cliche, but consistent. The message of season 3? Anyoneā€™s guess.
Season 4 reversed the darkening of tone from season 3, but shares its inability to pick a story and tell it.
Isaac is the Main Character
Always has been.
While I canā€™t say that his character or arc are perfect, I can say that he actually has a character and an arc. He starts off motivated by his fierce loyalty to Dracula, then has to struggle to find his purpose once Dracula is gone. He goes from subservient to agentic. He goes from fully endorsing the genocide of humanity and not caring about his own life to seeing some worth in humans and genuinely wanting to live. He has an interesting moment that deepens our understanding of what night creatures are, while also serving as an exploration of the meaning of oneā€™s fundamental nature. Most importantly, these changes happen naturally over the course of the show. They never feel forced or out of the blue, and while I feel like even more could have been done with Isaacā€™s character, thereā€™s a lot to appreciate about what is there.
If thereā€™s any thread holding Castlevania as a single, coherent work together, itā€™s Isaac. Not only is his character the best executed and the most coherent over the course of the show, his character explores themes that are larger than himself and relevant to the show as a whole, like those mentioned earlier: misanthropy versus a belief in the value of humanity; the ability to go beyond oneā€™s ā€œnatureā€ or initial circumstances; and how to respond to being wronged or losing something important to you. Exploring the individual lives of characters is great, but really good writing usually requires going beyond that to reflect on broader questions and ideas. Isaac is the only character here that serves that larger purpose.
Sorry...I Just Donā€™t Buy It
The season 4 finale is crazy, although in a different way from season 3ā€²s.
Varney being Death makes no sense on several different levels. Iā€™m not going to spend a lot of time picking that particular plot twist apart, but I will talk about why I think it doesnā€™t work at the largest scale, and how I think season 4 might have been done better.
Last minute twists with zero foreshadowing are rarely a good idea, and this is no exception. Why introduce this ā€œDeathā€ entity at the last minute to be the most important battle of the season? The finale of the entire show, even? Besides the lack of logic or emotional buildup, this robs the show of the opportunity to make use of the antagonists that it already has. Since Dracula died, Carmilla has been the obvious choice for a new big bad. Why hasnā€™t she done more?
Season 4 feels crowded with characters and plot lines that amount to nothing. Why not bring some of these characters together? If Carmilla is the main antagonist, how come she never meets any of the protagonists (except Hector, who is a pretty minor player in this ecosystem) or even affects them in any way?
Season 4 feels like maybe it was trying to make something out of season 3 and the model that it presented, but it ultimately fails to do so. The writers throw the trio back together at the end anyway, so why not have them rejoin sooner and work together? Maybe Sypha and Trevorā€™s past experience with Saint Germain could have helped Alucard and Greta piece together what he was plotting sooner, rather than all four of them being completely blindsided by it in the penultimate episode. (Sypha and Trevor know that someone is trying to resurrect Dracula, but they fail to find out any actual detail about the plans, despite their supposed attempts.) Have characters actually do stuff, figure stuff out, advance the plot!
Likewise, maybe Carmilla becomes aware of Saint Germainā€™s scheming, sees it as a threat, and tries to take him down. Maybe she tries to get involved and somehow use alchemy or the Infinite Corridor to her own benefit. What does it look like when power-hungry Carmilla, who wants to rule the world, finds out thereā€™s an entire multiverse out there? That could easily set her up to be a foil to Saint Germain, causing him to realize that what heā€™s doing is wrong.
What actually ended up happening in the show feels disjointed and often empty. In particular, most of the events that happen in the last two episodes just donā€™t really work for me. I didnā€™t like Trevor suddenly sacrificing himself to this random, new, super powerful enemy, or how the gems and dagger that he found just happened to be the perfect weapon to kill this new enemy, or how he inexplicably returns from the dead.
This kind of thing is what I mean when I say that this season feels like fanfiction. Trevor comes back from the dead for no discernible reason other than that it would really suck if he died. Greta as a character seems to literally only exist to be Alucardā€™s girlfriend and support him so that he doesnā€™t have to continue to be alone and potentially turn evil. Alucardā€™s trauma from Taka and Sumi and Hectorā€™s trauma from Lenore are both conveniently erased. Even Dracula and Lisa are resurrected somehow and get their happy ending. And itā€™s like, I guess I prefer deus ex machina to the opposite (Does that have a name? When everything is going well but then something terrible happens for no reason other than to make things worse for the characters?), but theyā€™re both bad writing.
God. This isnā€™t even getting into what happened with the Council of Sisters. And I donā€™t even really like those characters, but that doesnā€™t mean I want to see their characters handled poorly.
Iā€™m not sorry that I watched until the end, but I canā€™t in good faith recommend the show as a whole. If youā€™ve yet to watch Castlevania, just stop at the end of season 2. While there are some shining moments in seasons 3 and 4 (4 more than 3), itā€™s just really not worth it.
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theonceandfutureking6481 Ā· 3 years ago
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BBC's Merlin Season 1 Episode 1: The Dragon's Call Analysis
*SPOILERS- FOR THE WHOLE SHOW*
So I just re-watched episode 1 of Merlin, The Dragon's Call and I thought I'd post my thoughts here, since this is the kind of thing I always wanted after I watched Merlin for the first time. Sorry, it's quite long!!
This episode is great fun to watch but also really interesting from a thematic perspective, as it introduces all the key characters and many key themes that continue throughout the show.
Setting it up as subverting traditional telling's of the legend
The wonderful thing about Arthurian legend is how many ways you can tell it, there is very little canon, it's whole point is that it has been reinterpreted time and again to say different things, be that as it may there are traditional elements which tend to remain constant and Merlin keeps some of these but many it takes out and it sets that up here.
The introduction is like a fairytale, "the young warlock arriving at the gates of Camelot", feels very much like the introduction to a fairy tale. This is on one hand telling us that this is a story we know like any fairytale, but the very fact that Merlin is young shows us that it is going to be different.
On the side, I love the line "A boy that will in time father a legend", because there's just this wonderful gap between the audience and the characters (as there is throughout the whole story), we know that Merlin will do great things, we know that Arthur will too, they are stories we have heard (tying again into that fairytale esque introduction), and its wonderful to know that, to see Merlin and know that he is destined for greatness.
Introduction to characters:
I haven't got a specific section for Merlin here, but its sort of strewn throughout everyone elses.
Morgana:
If you know Arthurian legend you will know that in many (even most) versions of the story Morgana is a villain, so her introduction here is both scary and fascinating. She is so clearly not a villain, and you wonder (if Merlin stays true to this element) what is going to change and happen that she will become one. I knew from the start that Morgana would become a villain (I had heard a lot of spoilers), so it was especially tragic and interesting to watch her character arc because I always knew. Interestingly she is immediately set up in alliance with Merlin, even though they barely interact. We know that he is a sorcerer, and her first lines are oppositional to Uther's stance on magic, she out of everyone in Camelot seems the most likely ally. This is the start of what becomes parallel character arcs, Morgana and Merlin are both fighting for magic to become legal but they end up going about it in different ways, and one is the main villain, the other our hero. They are the same and yet opposites, and the setting up starts from here.
Arthur:
Arthur appears quite simply to be a spoiled bully, not exactly what we expect from the King Arthur we know and love. The position he starts in though is important for a key element of the story which is Merlin and Arthur creating a better world in many ways directly oppositional to Uther's teachings, based on love, kindness, willingness to put others first and respect for others. Uther's world is one where strength is rewarded and he is (in a more adult way than Arthur) a bully, as we learn later he is someone who takes his anger and fear out on others, who takes advantage of his position to hurt people even those he loves. Uther can be a good king, but not when it asks him to make sacrifices of his worldview or things that really matter to him. Uther teaches Arthur some important things but there are many things Arthur has to unlearn, and these bullish tendencies, and lack of respect for others inherent in them are one of them. We do however see Arthur's inherent nobility and goodness in this episode. When he lets Merlin go because even though he's an idiot "he's a brave one", it shows us how Arthur respects what people do rather than who they are. Uther wouldn't of let Merlin go (though to be fair Uther probably wouldn't of picked a fight with a peasant), he would have thought that the law had to be upheld no matter the individual circumstance. Merlin attacked the prince that is definitely illegal but Arthur respects his courage (even though it came at the cost of his humiliation), and there is something different to Uther in that, even good.
Merlin and Arthur:
This episode aside from setting the tone for the more hilarious aspects of Merlin and Arthur's relationship establishes some other interesting things about what they are going to be to each other in this version of the story. Traditionally Merlin is Arthur's teacher, often tutoring him as a child, obviously this doesn't happen here but they retain that element of teaching here. Kilgharrah literally says that maybe it is Merlin's job to change the fact that Arthur's an idiot. Merlin challenges Arthur from the start, willing to criticise him and treat him as an equal (which Arthur actually appears to love), and we see perhaps what Merlin is going to teach Arthur and the more noble elements of Arthur's character that Merlin's going to bring. It is also only within the context of his interactions with Merlin that we see Arthur's best side (at least in this episode). Merlin shows Arthur that he has to treat all people with respect, Arthur recognises that Merlin is brave and full of qualities that Arthur himself admires. When Merlin saves Arthur's life you can see Arthur re-evaluating everything he thought he knew about him, there is a respect there.
Arthur's Mum Igraine
She's not a big part of this episode but she was mentioned and I think its interesting how she's represented. In many ways her representation is highly simplistic, she falls to the fate of many fairy tale mothers in being dead before the story begins, she's a plot device. She is presented (not outright but implied) with all the stereotypical virtues mothers are ascribed with, the woman who's trying to kill Arthur this episode talks to Uther about how hard it must have been for Arthur to grow up without a mother. It's not a huge scene but its an insight into Arthur's character, he was brought up with all the hate and bullishness of Uther without a mother who could have taught him love and kindness. As we later learn Igraine's death triggered the great purge, her loss very much symbolises the loss of love within the kingdom, both in what Arthur's like at the beginning as well as what Camelot has become under Uther's leadership.
Gwen (and Merlin):
She is wonderful and sweet and interestingly (especially for an audience that knows Arthur is going to marry her one day) a servant. It is interesting that the two people who become in the show (and we know as an audience will one day be) closest to Arthur are servants.
The thing about Arthurian legend is that typically its very much set within a context of Medieval feudalism, which means stringent social barriers. The code of equality inherent in the idea of a Round Table is equality among nobles, the code of chivalry is a code of honour for knights not for ordinary people. It's a reflection of the social realities of the era that inspires much of the aesthetic of Arthurian legend as well as the era in which most key tenants of the legend were formed. In making Merlin (Arthur's teacher & (in this show) best friend/soulmate) and Guinevere (Arthur's wife) servants, this show is changing this idea for one more reflective of our own times. It is about absolute equality of all people, and as I've said already the inherent value that every single human being has and the individual capabilities for nobility and goodness and everything the Knights Code admires. It thus sets the tone for what Arthur is going to represent, not just the ideal of knighthood and courage but the ideal of kingship for all people and the ideal of the world that matters to every person.
The self reproducing nature of love and hate
This is an idea which I've always viewed as the main theme of Merlin, the idea that hate begets itself, as does love. This episode is a perfect encapsulation of that theme which recurs again and again. Uther kills a man who is innocent (in the sense that he didn't actually hurt anybody) and the man's mother seeks vengeance and in doing so kills more innocent people because she hates Uther enough that she doesn't care who else she hurts to get at him. This happens again and again in the show, but what this show does that I love is turn it into a main theme by depicting the reverse. Arthur and Merlin are great because they act against this world of Uther's creation, they act with love and compassion and respect for all people, the ends rarely justify the means and most importantly, especially when their actions seem morally grey, they are always motivated by their love for others (not fear or hate- unlike Uther and any number of villains). Uther is the main villain of the show precisely because it is his actions that create every other villain they encounter, Morgana sums it up nicely and somewhat ominously (given what side she ends up on)- "the more brutal you are the more enemies you'll create". Uther views that brutality as strength, but it is the weakness at the heart of his kingdom, it is what makes Camelot a worse place it is what puts everyone he cares about in danger. Essentially the plot of the first episode sets up the cycle of violence that Uther started, though it doesn't set up Merlin and Arthur as breaking it it does set up the idea of equality and respect for all people that Arthur will learn and is essentially opposed to the brutality and cruelty and hate represented by Uther.
Fun non-analysis things
It mightn't seem like it but I do actually watch Merlin for reasons other than copious analysis of themes. It is a highly enjoyable show with characters and relationships (Merthur but also just generally the wonderful representation of friendship and loyalty) I love, and its actually really funny.
Gwen saying "Who'd want to marry Arthur" is peak comedy because we all know, well you.
The weird set up in Gaius' first scene as him being bumbling and slightly insane (in the mad wise old man sort of way), there is literally no carry through, he's not even like this in the rest of the episode, but its hilarious so who cares.
Merlin and Arthur's whole exchange is the funniest thing and Arthur had every insult coming. Also this is exactly how you set up enemies to lovers.
All the writers names begin with J? It's just something I notice every time the intro credits roll and it's just funny (Julian Murphy, Johnny Capps, Jake Michie and Julian Jones)- also two Julian's, I mean what are the chances?
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evilwickedme Ā· 3 years ago
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ok so to sum up my feelings for leverage: redemption, season 1(a): (long post warning, thereā€™s a tl;dr at the end)
I knew that Hardison wouldnā€™t be in most of the season due to Aldis Hodge being a busy bee nowadays, but I didnā€™t realize that meant heā€™d only be around for the first two episodes. He was sorely missed, not only because of my attachment to him, but also because heā€™s usually the grounding factor in the group dynamic, and his role as info guy and tech guy was split evenly between two characters who had their own issues.
That said, Hardison is absolutely a highlight of the two episodes heā€™s in. his speech about redemption was everything I couldā€™ve hoped for (plus, more evidence for the Jewish!Hardison pile...). I wish weā€™d gotten to see more of his dynamic with Breanna because what we saw was funny and sweet and we donā€™t generally get to see Hardison taking care of somebody who so desperately needs taking care of. I hope that Aldis Hodge is around for more episodes in 1(b), because what weā€™re left with feels a little hollow.
Sticking to original leverage characters for now, for the most part the leverage crew still felt true to the original series as characters, even if the show itself was a little bit confused at times. The actors understand their characters and embody them so well that I think one could give them the trashiest script ever and theyā€™d still sell it. Sophie is a particular focus in 1(a) because of Nateā€™s death, and sheā€™s particularly well written as a result.
That said, Iā€™m super bitter that we saw little to no mastermind!Parker. Parkerā€™s character being given the mastermind role was a big deal and it feels like theyā€™re walking it back because they feel uncomfortable with it. It is eventually given an in-text excuse, but literally in the last episode, and it was not a particularly convincing reason, and in fact contradicted moments from previous episodes (Sophie leaving for a client meeting and ignoring Parker in ep3 comes to mind). Itā€™s frustrating, it makes the end of the original leverage feel pointless, and letting Parker make a decision once in a while is not the same thing at all. The original series repeatedly showed us that while everyone in the team had their strengths, Parker works problems and solves them in unique, interesting ways, and other charactersā€™ days in the limelight tended to be comedic or even failures. Itā€™s a broken promise, and a pretty major broken promise at that.
On a more positive note, Parkerā€™s dynamic with literally everyone was fantastic. Sheā€™s possibly the best written character this season. Theyā€™ve taken the autism out of the subtext and into the text (although obviously still undiagnosed), and given her coping mechanisms that were taken seriously in the text even when they were played for laughs, which I appreciated. Her attempts to mentor Breanna were sweet, her friendship with Sophie was electric and at times (CRIMES) hilarious, and as usual, she has a fantastic dynamic with Eliot that makes my heart burst. If you donā€™t think theyā€™re romantically involved, at least acknowledge thereā€™s a life partnership here. Theyā€™ve spent the last decade together.
(Weā€™ll get to Harry.)
Eliot isnā€™t given much arc-wise, which is frustrating since heā€™s my favorite. Heā€™s being presented as the goal at the end of a redemption arc, ie to keep working at it every day until your soul heals or whatever, and it doesnā€™t reflect the message theyā€™re trying to convey via Hardisonā€™s speech and our two new characters. Heā€™s got his moments, but I think they under utilized his potential.
Breanna!!! Breannaā€™s my new favorite, except for Eliot. Sheā€™s hilarious, sheā€™s insecure, sheā€™s nerdy and excited in a way thatā€™s similar to Hardison but still distinct in its inherent teenage-girl-ness and I LOVE IT. Unlike the previous series, where Hardisonā€™sĀ ā€œage of the geekā€ was often a joke played on Hardison, weā€™re at the point where Eliot and Parker are both right there with him, and so they accept and even appreciate Breannaā€™s nerdiness. Also, canon gay character? In YOUR Leverage? Itā€™s more likely than you think.
(No, I never thought theyā€™d make ot3 canon on screen. I hoped, but I didnā€™t think it would actually happen.)
I think Breannaā€™s the character that willĀ be the most interesting to see grow. Sheā€™s got a lot of potential and a list of crimes a mile long (or more). I adore her with all my heart. I want to see her tiktok account.
Harry. Oh, Harry.
It took me a while, but I do like Harry. It took a while, because the narrative positioned him at the same level as Nate back in episode 1 of original Leverage. But in episode 1 we didnā€™t know the other characters. We had Nate as the POV character, and so we cared about him because we were seeing the world through his eyes. (This is TV Studies 101. I know this, because I took TV Studies 101 in 2019.) In Leverage: Redemption, we no longer have a POV character, for several reasons:
Nate, previously the POV character, is dead.
As it is, by mid-season 3 of leverage Nate was no longer a POV character. This is, coincidentally, the point where the leverage writers realized they had four other characters in the main cast they could do something with, and in-universe, Nate accepted that he was a thief, not a special Good Man.
Sophie is sort ofĀ a POV character for the first episode of the revival, but only for the first few minutes. Afterwards, the series settles into the groove of seasons 3-5, i.e., the entire crew is our POV. We know our crew, and we love them as is.
Narratively, however, Redemption insistsĀ on positing Harry as the POV character, because it is hisĀ redemption we are pursuing most vehemently. And I think they reallyĀ relied on us already knowing the actor - Iā€™ve never seen him in anything before, so to me he was a completely fresh face and they put almost no effort into selling him to me. Beyond being competent and consistently mildly baffled by the antics of the leverage crew, I honestly donā€™t know who this man is by the end of EIGHT episodes with him. I have a much better handle on Breanna by the end of 1(a), and I can tell you I knew all five of the original leverage crew better by the end of the first episodeĀ of the original series than I do Harry. Whatā€™s the name of his daughter, John Rogers. Is he still married. How old is the daughter. Why is none of this worth mentioning.Ā Give him a sense of humor that isnā€™t reacting to other peopleā€™s shenanigans. Iā€™m so frustrated. Itā€™s bad writing.
I did manage to grow to like Harry by the end, but Iā€™m pretty sure this is down to Noah Wyleā€™s charismatic portrayal of an under-developed character, at least partially. And I never stopped being frustrated at not knowing who this man is at all.
The two highlights of the season are undoubtedly episodes five and six. Episode five was the first time I felt like the episode was more than a collection of good moments between the main cast and mediocre moments between the main cast and also the main plot. The issues with pacing and tone that I suffered through for most of the season were mostly non-existent in ep5 and 6, and at least in episode 5 I attribute that to the pared down cast. They had time to focus not only on our actual characters - Sophie, Parker, Breanna - but also on the case. This is the only client from 1(a) I am going to remember next week without googling it first, mark my words.
Episode six worked for the exact opposite reason - it completely disregarded the client and plot and immersed itself in the characters. Breanna gets a moment to shine, but everybody else gets their bits and I wouldnā€™t be surprised if that was the script that was most fun to write. The characters felt natural, real, and captured the found-family dynamic thatā€™s been missing all season for the first time.
While episode 2 is the weakest episode, I donā€™t actually have much to say about it. I amĀ disappointed in episode 8. For a mid-season finale, I really expected them to doĀ something. Instead, it was an episode about Nate Ford that copped out of being about Nate Ford (both with fake-Nate and with the new version of him being relayed to us). I would have told the writers to give that energy back to episode 1 and write an episode thatā€™s about anybody who isnā€™t Harry, oh my God. I know I said I grew to like him but so many episodes were about Harry. Heā€™s the newbie! Why didnā€™t Hardison get an episode that was actually about him, considering he was only around for two episodes? Why does Eliot have to be the butt of the joke when the theme of the series should directly tie back to him in a much more meaningful way? The last episode parodies their own tagline by saying Eliot isnā€™t just a hitter, but it deftly avoids noticing that theyā€™ve turned him into nothing more than very muscly comic relief, including in that very episode!
Also, I hated the Marshal. Eliot actively looked uncomfortable around her.
tl;dr
The season took a while, thatā€™s definitely true. But it did find its footing eventually, and by the halfway mark of 1(a) it finally felt cohesive again. The characters were played fantastically even when they werenā€™t well-written, and if nothing else, the humor landed every time. It still has its kinks and problems to work out, but if you look at it as a brand new show rather than a continuation of one that went off the air over eight years ago, itā€™s actually doing rather well. Iā€™m choosing to judge it in both lights - according to its own standards, it establishes its identity in episode five; according to Leverage standards, it establishes its connection to its roots in episode six. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed 1(a), and continue to have high hopes for 1(b).
fic writing will commence in three, two, one...
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thesims4blogger Ā· 4 years ago
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The Sims 4 Paranormal Stuff: Developer Blog (Part 1)
SimGuruConnor has released part 1 of the Sims 4 Paranormal Developer Blog series.
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Hello Simmers! Welcome to a small 2-part Dev Blog about our newest Stuff Pack, Paranormal Stuff! This pack has been an absolute blast to work on, and Iā€™m excited to share what this pack is all about!
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Iā€™ll try not to reveal too many spoilers for the pack either, so Iā€™ll keep things somewhat brief. Our topics for today are the new Scared Mood and the Haunted House Lot Type, plus an interview with our Audio Artist too!
Get Scared
Sims can now relish in the mortal dread of the Scared Mood! The Scared Mood affects Sims in a variety of ways, with my personal favorite, the new Scream Incoherently interaction, where a Scared Sim runs up to another Sim to scream their lungs out. This can result in the other Sim calming down the Scared Sim, or resulting in both Sims becoming Scared. This can create a Scared Mood wildfire if youā€™re not careful!
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Whoa, whoa, whoa, it's okay!
Sims afflicted with the Scared Mood also have trouble communicating with others, the urge to panic-run everywhere, and are slightly more prone to accidents. If no other Sims are around to help calm down a Scared Sim, they might just have to Hide Under The Covers for a while.
But if being Scared just isnā€™t your Sims style, consider purchasing the new Brave Trait. This Satisfaction Reward Store Trait will rapidly reduce the incoming fear a Sim feels and help Sims regain their composure faster. While no Sim is totally fearless, this trait should help mitigate some of those creepy feelings.
The Scared Mood and the Brave Reward Trait are all base game features coming with the Paranormal Stuff patch on January 21st. Tons of previous Uncomfortable Buffs are now becoming Scared Buffs, such as the ā€œStartled By Ghostā€ Buff or the ā€œThalassophobiaā€ Buff from Island Living.
While being Scared might not be a common occurrence in your everyday Sims life, living in a Haunted House is a whole different storyā€¦
Happy Haunts
Introducing the Haunted House Lot Type!
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The Duplantier Dwelling, created by Doctor Ashley! This ā€œcanonā€ Haunted House will be available in the gallery!
Theyā€™re like regular houses, only haunted! Although unassuming during the day, at night, these places get super weird. Your Sims may notice things like flickering lights, pipes rattling, or even creepy dolls staring at them in the corner. All are totally normal occurrences in a Haunted House, but it may take some time for your Sims to adjust to their new surroundings.
Sims living in a Haunted House will also be introduced to floating apparitions known as Specters. Theyā€™re cute little critters, but their motives arenā€™t entirely clear. You can try talking to them, or even offer them presents in hopes of establishing a good rapport. If they like you, theyā€™ll drop special loot for you and your family. If they donā€™t like you, well, youā€™ve been warned.
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o o o (> ā€˜ u ā€˜ )>
Learning to get along with your new ghostly inhabitants is crucial in a Haunted House. Things like botching seances, neglecting Specters, or letting accursed objects invade your house will have a negative impact on its spiritual serenity. There is a delicate art to co-existing with the entities of the house, and thankfully youā€™ll have an expert on the matter to assist you!
Meet Guidry
Claude RenĆ© Duplantier Guidry was a seasoned Paranormal Investigator in his previous life, but now he exists to help anyone brave enough to live in a Haunted House! Youā€™ll probably run into him eventually living in a Haunted House, but donā€™t worry, heā€™s a nice ghost!
Guidry will gladly offer his wisdom to those who seek it. If youā€™re confused, alarmed, or slightly uncomfortable by your new haunted surroundings, give Guidry a holler and he might be able to help. He can also offer valuable objects to help your Sims, too; all you need is to reach out!
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Still got it.
All Guidry wants in return is to crash at your place for the time being. Sounds like a fair deal, right? But if youā€™d prefer to fly it solo, you can always disable his nightly visitsā€”he wonā€™t be too upset, maybe.
As mentioned before, Guidry was a Paranormal Investigator before his untimely demise. If he sees potential in you, he can certify you with a Paranormal Investigation License, granting access to the Paranormal Investigation Freelancer Gigs. Only those who are qualified enough can join the ranks of Paranormal Investigators, but more on that next time!
Be Brave!
Living in a Haunted House adds a layer of risk and reward for your Sims, and each successful night yields Reward Store Satisfaction Points for everyone in the Household. Specters can also drop treasure that can also be collected, consumed, or sold to an Oddity Collector. So although your Sims might go through a bit of peril, theyā€™ll thankfully be compensated.
One of my favorite pieces of haunted treasure is the new Sacred Candle. Not only do they look cool, but they also help protect Sims from paranormal influences. Place them around your house to make sure Sims are properly shielded!
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A properly protected Sim.
Things like Sacred Candles and performing ceremonies at the SĆ©ance Table are integral to keeping your Sims happy in a Haunted House. Without using these paranormal tools, the entities of the house might get a little bossy.
And while it might be in your Simsā€™ best interest to keep the spirits of the house in check, watching things go horribly wrong in a Haunted House can be just as fun too. So whatever works for you!
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Like Tiny Homes, this Lot Type can be toggled on or off at any time. So whether youā€™re a casual thrillseeker who wants to spend a couple of nights in a Haunted House, or a seasoned Paranormal Expert who wants to take on a new challenge, this Lot Type should offer something for you!
Crosspack Stuff!
Pets get to share the fun too! They especially love the accursed objects that show up!
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I think theyā€™re gonna get along great.
As mentioned before, a ton of old Buffs from multiple packs are now being converted to the Scared Mood. I think 70 something Moodlets were converted? Honestly, I lost count. Anything that seemed more appropriate for the Scared Mood was transferred over.
Oh, and you might remember an old Lot Trait from City Living called Haunted. For clarityā€™s sake, it needed a name change, so now itā€™s the Spooky Lot Trait. It also benefits from being combined with the new Haunted House Lot Type and will have an increased chance of spawning Ghosts at night. So use both for maximum haunted-ness!
Audibly Frightened
Last but not least, Iā€™d love to turn it over to our Audio Artist for this pack, Briana Billups! She did a killer job bringing Haunted Houses to life! Trust me!
Conor: Can you tell us what an Audio Artist does on The Sims 4?
Briana: Big, broad picture: an audio artist decides what everything in The Sims 4 sounds like. We record, create, and edit sounds to the art and animation of the game. Little, very detailed picture: creating the actual sounds is usually one of the smaller aspects of our job. We are meeting with other departments, like design, animation, and VFX, to understand the overall vision of new game features and how we can fit in sonically. We are meeting with each other to make sure all our new content still keeps the very fun and quirky vibe of the Sims. We come up with new tools and implementation where necessary.
Conor: What sort of things go into the creative process for creating audio?
Briana: Every audio artist/sound designer has their own creative process, but I like to make a ā€œsonic mood boardā€ of sorts. I typically like to have a good idea of what I want something to sound like in my head before I record or edit it, so itā€™s nice to have sound effects or music to refer to that represents my original inspiration or ideas. When I was in college, I would make Spotify playlists for whatever I was working on. I would listen to them once a day, adding and editing as necessary, so when I actually got to work, I was in the right headspace. Now Iā€™m usually less formal about this sort of stuff, but for this pack, I would refer back to things like Vincent Priceā€™s demonic laugh from Thriller or Casper the Friendly Ghost Cartoons and the looping soundtrack from the queue of a horror ride at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (Ghost Blasters)
Conor: What were you most excited to work on for this pack?
Briana: Definitely all the haunted house sounds! Good sound design is the crux of so many horror movies and video games, so even if we were keeping things more ā€œCasperā€ and less ā€œPoltergeist,ā€ I still wanted to give a good scare here and there. I actually scared myself one day while playtesting another feature in the game!
Conor: If you had to choose, what is your favorite audio clip youā€™ve ever added to The Sims 4?
Briana: I would say my favorite SFX were the sports arena loops in EP08: Discover University. When you visit the arena for the soccer/esports match or graduation, you can actually listen to the whole game or ceremony. It was great to craft a whole story from start to finish using just sound. I also snuck in a lot of developer names when writing the scripts for our voice actors.
Thanks, Briana!
More To Come!
That about covers this first foray into the Paranormal Stuff Pack! This pack has been a ton of fun to work on, and watching my Sims flee in terror has been more enjoyable than Iā€™d like to admit.
Next blog, weā€™ll focus on the SĆ©ance Table and developing your Medium skill, as well as the new active freelance career Paranormal Investigator.
Big thanks to the Stuff Pack team for helping this pack come to life, and thank you, Doctor Ashley, for building our featured Haunted House!
Until next time, SimGuruConor
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gffa Ā· 5 years ago
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THE MANDALORIAN - A TIMELINE Assumptions this post will make: - Itā€™s possible that theyā€™ll throw out canon/contradict something thatā€™s been established up to this point (Iā€™m hoping not, as Dave Filoni is one of the main people who oversaw the creation of that canon, but itā€™s still a possibility!), especially as Favreau has mentioned that he wants to recanonize some Legends stuff, but for now weā€™re assuming canon is canon and theyā€™re going to work with that.Ā  This is a post that is focused on what canon and creators of canon have said! - Din Djarin is ~44 years old, as a reflection of Pedro Pascalā€™s age. - Out-of-universe, Star Warsā€™ timeline is referred to by BBY / ABY (Before the Battle of Yavin / After the Battle of Yavin) because thatā€™s when the Death Star was blown up/the Rebellion battled the Empire over Yavin IV, which was because A New HopeĀ was the central compass point as the very first SW movie.Ā  However, this timeline will focus on The MandalorianĀ season 1 as Year 0, as I think thatā€™ll make it clearer how everything relates to thisĀ show. THE TIMELINE SO FAR: 50 Years Ago - The Child (Baby Yoda) was born, Anakin Skywalker was born in the same year 41 Years Ago - The Phantom Menace ?? Years Ago - The Mandalorian Civil War.Ā Ā There was an insurgency against Satine Kryzeā€™s rule of Mandalore, which eventually required the intervention of the Republic, by sending two Jedi (Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi) to protect her, causing them to go on the run for a year. Ā  Ā  Ā  Obi-Wan later describes this as, "An extended mission when I was younger. Master Qui-Gon and I spent a year on Mandalore protecting the Duchess from insurgents who had threatened her world. They sent bounty hunters after us. We were always on the run, living hand-to-mouth, never sure what the next day would bring. A civil war killed most of Satine's people, hence her aversion to violence. When she returned, she took rebuilding her world alone."Ā  Whether he means that the people loyal to Satine were killed or nearly all of Mandalore was killed, itā€™s hard to say.Ā  (Presumably the latter?)
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31 Years Ago - Attack of the Clones, the Clone Wars begin, Kaminoā€™s clone army is discovered, they become part of the Republic, which may tie into Dr. Pershingā€™s arm patch symbol likely being the Kamino emblem.
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~31-28 Years Ago - The flashbacks we see in The Mandalorian are likely to take place during the Clone Wars, that the people were attacked by Separatists (hence the Super Battle Droids we see being used) and were rescued by Mandalorians, adopting Din Djarin as a Foundling, raising him in the Fighting Corps.Ā  Ā Din would have likely been around 10+ years old? Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā At least one of the Mandalorians in the flashback was wearing a Death Watch symbol, but itā€™s unclear how the politics of this were going, since theyā€™re fighting Separatists in the flashback and itā€™s unclear precisely when Pre Vizsla joined with Dooku and the Separatists.Ā  (Separatist alliances shifted all the time, so this isnā€™t hard to work with!)
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~31-28 Years Ago - Death Watch, a Mandalorian splinter group, publicly arises as a protest against Satineā€™s pacifist ways and determination that Mandalore leave behind its warrior past.Ā  They bomb targets in the city of Sundari and work with the Separatists to try to kill Duchess Kryze and put their own leader into place on Mandalore proper. Ā  Ā  Ā  Pre Vizsla of Clan Vizsla is the governor of Concordia (a moon of Mandalore), voiced by Jon Favreau, secretly leads the Death Watch and reveals that he has the darksaber when he fights against Obi-Wan Kenobi after its revealed that Pre is part of Death Watch.Ā  (Clan Vizsla is one of theĀ most central Clans of Mandalore.) Ā  Ā  Ā  They are not successful in their plot (to have the Republic Senate forcefully invade Mandalore under the threat of Death Watch/the rumor of Mandalore joining the Separatists) and remain neutral in the Clone Wars. Ā  Ā  Ā  Itā€™s also later revealed (a few months later/a season later) that Bo-Katan Kryze, Satineā€™s sister, is a lieutenant in Death Watch.
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28 Years Ago - Darth Maul creates his own Shadow Collective (an alliance of various criminal organizations) by allying with Death Watch and taking over Mandalore.Ā  Duchess Satine Kryze is murdered by Maul as part of his takeover of Mandalore/his revenge against Obi-Wan Kenobi, as well as Pre Vizsla is killed by Maul when they disagree over the direction/who is leading Mandalore.Ā  Maul takes the darksaber. 28 Years Ago - Fenn Rau, as part of Skull Squadron of the Protectors (a group of Mandalorian royal guards), assisted the Jedi in the Clone Wars, including helping out in a fight with Jedi Master Depa Billaba and Padawan Caleb Dume (Kanan Jarrus). 28 Years Ago - The Clone Wars are nearing the end, the Siege of Mandalore happens at the same time as ROTS/Order 66, this is referenced asĀ ā€œThe Night of a Thousand Tearsā€ by Moff Gideon,Ā ā€œwhen gunships outfitted with similar ordnance (to the e-web cannon) laid waste to fields of Mandalorian recruits in the Night of a Thousand Tearsā€.Ā  He doesnā€™t say who the gunships belonged to, if they were Republic gunships or Maulā€™s Shadow Collective gunships or something else.
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Ā  Ā  Ā The Siege of Mandalore is basically:Ā  Darth Maul has set himself up as leader of Mandalore, so Ahsoka Tano and a battalion of clones (including Captain Rex) lead a mission to retake the planet.Ā  While theyā€™re in the middle of this mission, Order 66 happens, where the clonesā€™ inhibitor chips have them turning on the Jedi, including Ahsoka though she is no longer officially a Jedi. During/after this huge shitshow, Bo-Katan Kryze is appointed Regent of Mandalore. 28 Years Ago - Revenge of the Sith, the Republic fell, the Empire rose, the Jedi Order was genocided basically out of existence. 11 Years Ago - The GhostĀ crew discover Maul hiding out, who still has the darksaber, and they retrieve it.Ā  Sabine Wren (of Clan Wren) briefly trains with it, but struggles to decide how to proceed with it and her contentious relationship with her family. Ā  Ā  Fenn Rau (governor of Concord Dawn, as appointed by the Empire) explains the history behind the darksaber to Kanan Jarrus, that a thousand years ago (give or take) the first Mandalorian Jedi was named Tarre Vizsla who created it as his weapon, that it stayed with the Jedi until a few decades ago, Clan Vizsla stole into the Jedi Temple and took it back, as it was a symbol of House Vizsla and had the power to unite the Clans/Houses in the right hands.
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10 Years Ago - Sabine Wren rallies her family into deciding to fight back against the Empireā€™s occupation of Mandalore and gives the darksaber to an initially reluctant Bo-Katan Kryze.Ā  Leaders of several clans of Mandalore swear allegiance to her and they vow to fight the Empire, after many years of living under Imperial rule.
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9 Years Ago - A New Hope, Alderaan was destroyed, the Death Star was destroyed, also the events of Rogue OneĀ happened. 6 Years Ago - The Empire Strikes Back 5 Years Ago - Return of the Jedi, the Second Death Star destroyed, Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader died, Yoda died, formation of the New Republic 4 Years Ago - The Battle of Jakku, which is the final giant battle between the New Republic and the Empire, where theyĀ officiallyĀ lost (see: Star Wars Battlefront IIĀ for the story) 0 Years Ago - The Mandalorian, season 1 THINGS Iā€™M NOT SURE WHERE TO PLACE ON THE TIMELINE: - Din and the other Mandalorians have cultural differences from the Mandalorians weā€™ve seen up to this point.Ā  The tradition of being unable to take their helmet off, lest they cannot put it back on, doesnā€™t match up with what we see of Pre Vizsla in The Clone Wars,Ā who was the leader of Death Watch, rather than Satineā€™s New Mandalorians who were pacifists.Ā  This also strongly contrasts what we see of Bo-Katan Kryze (who was affiliated with Death Watch) and Sabine Wren (along with her family, who all took off/put on their helmets).Ā  Is this a splinter group?Ā  Is it different for people who were born Mandalorian vs Foundlings who must prove themselves? Something else? - Satine says that Jango Fett was notĀ Mandalorian, but a regular bounty hunter and she didnā€™t know how he acquired the armor.Ā  Out of universe, Pablo Hidalgo has supported this, but that was years ago and canon evolves over time.Ā  Dave Filoni has also talked about how, as far back as Attack of the Clones, George Lucas intended for Jango to not actually be Mandalorian. THE BIG QUESTION MARKS: - Paz Vizlaā€™s name is spelled without theĀ ā€œsā€ in the credits, is this a reference to the different spelling as used in SWTOR?Ā  Or is it a typo?Ā  Favreau has been re-canonizing some Legends things, but also the credits for Chapter 5 haveĀ ā€œTuskan Raiderā€, which is a typo ofĀ ā€œTuskenā€, so typos are a thing in the credits. - The Great Purge isnā€™t clearly set within the timeline yet.Ā  It does not seem to be the same thing as the Siege of Mandalore or Order 66, because itā€™s too significantly tied to the Empire.Ā Ā 
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Ā  Ā  Ā  While the Empire was being created during those moments and itā€™s possible that Paz Vizla was referring to something that happened in the aftermath of the Siege of Mandalore, something big enough to referred to separately, it might also very well refer to something that happened after Bo-Katan Kryze received the darksaber and united Mandalore against the Empire, as we donā€™t know how that fight happened, and may little comments in The MandalorianĀ indicate that seeing Mandalorians is very rare these days.Ā  Last we saw them, when Sabine talks about the Imperial Academy on Mandalore or when we see House Wrenā€™s interaction with the other Clans, they donā€™t seem to be thatĀ rare. Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā Paz Vizla says,Ā ā€œOur strength was once in our numbers. Now we live in the shadows and only come above ground one at a time. Our world was shattered by the Empire, with whom this coward shares tables.ā€Ā  andĀ ā€œThese were cast in an Imperial smelter. Ā These are the spoils of the Great Purge. Ā The reason that we live hidden like sand rats.ā€œĀ  Ā Unless they are a splinter group, Mandalorians didnā€™t live hidden away 10 years ago in the events of Rebels.
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