#and they say visual comedy is dead

[n1ghteeea]

Janine and Peter absolutely obliterating a plane (shoutout to @rgbfactsdaily for mentioning this scene, I love it so much)

[coridallasmultipass]

.

[radiantrookie]

SEGA Mandates explained (Remake)

World Specific

Storytelling: The heroes must always win at the end

Mobius: The term Mobius and it's other terms, Mobians and Mobini are banned because they originate from 90s US Canon and Sonic Team wants to make it clear that Sonic games take place on Earth

Exception: Sonic Spinball being canonized via Origins, Ian Flynn and the Sonic Channel canonizes Planet Mobius and Mount Mobius, (unless they decide to change these)

Character Living Statuses:

Game characters cannot be killed off

Dead characters cannot come back to life

Character Families: Game characters cannot have family members unless they were established in the game canon

Exception: The Shadow Manga gave Shadow a brother, Gyoro/Bug-Eye

Male Characters: Male characters that aren't humans, can't wear pants

Exception: Tails Nine wears pants

Romance: Characters can have crushes but they can't date or get married

Money: Only Team Chaotix can talk about money, Sonic Team also considers treasure different from money

Rings: Ian Flynn has stated he has no idea if the Rings are canon or not, the Rings are most likely canon due to their multiple story appearances but they can't be used for story purposes

Humans: Due to complaints from critics and 90s US fans, humans besides Eggman weren't allowed to appear until Shadow Generations, which is why the Two Worlds retcon existed, stating there's a human planet and an animal person planet, however Tailstube has killed that Retcon and the current canon is that humans live on continents and animal people live on islands

Special Stages: In early canon, the Special Stages were wither distortions or subspace, they are no longer canon, thus Fang is no longer from them

Super Forms: Ian Flynn claimed that only Male Hedgehogs could go Super, however Morio Kishimoto would state that mandate never existed and had this to say:

"Whether one can become super or not, I think it depends on the necessity of the gameplay"

Super Forms of Tails, Knuckles, Mighty and Ray exist in Sonic Mania

Super Amy exists in Sonic Origins, (though non canon)

Super Knuckles is mentioned in Sonic Frontiers

Vector and Eggman have false Super Forms in Otherworld Comedy, Vectorman and Super Eggman/Light-Man

Hyper Sonic and the Super Emeralds:

According to Christian Whitehead, Hyper Sonic and the Super Emeralds are canon, but Sonic Team doesn't want them to come back

"I think you can say it happened. Visually the appearance of the Chaos Emeralds changed to a diamond shape in S3K and have remained so in subsequent games. But lore wise ST don't want to deal with multi-tier power level stuff so everything is just 'Super' now."

Sonic Frontiers doesn't break this rule because Sonic's form, Super Sonic 2 was a file name, the official name is Starfall Super Sonic

The Super Emeralds are also stated to currently be in another dimension

Sonic Chronicles: Sonic Team is allowed to acknowledge the game, they just can't make it canon because they don't wanna deal with Ken Penders, which is why it's still mentioned in the Encyclospeedia

Multiverse:

Sonic is not allowed to have alternate counterparts of himself, interestingly, the mandate has nothing to do with Scourge or Ken Penders

The Sol Dimension is no longer parallel to Sonic's Dimension, Blaze and Marine are also not alternate versions of Sonic and Tails

According to Nibroc Rock, universes where dead characters are alive are not allowed to exist, which is why Infinite couldn't be playable in Sonic Speed Simulator

"I asked Takashi Iizuka and he told me that we can not use infinite in this game because he already died in Sonic forces"

"you would also think that means we can just say "oh here's a universe where this character is still alive" but that's not allowed either"

Sonic Canon itself:

Confirmed Canon Status:

Majority of games

IDW Comics

Sonic Prime

Sonic Dream Team

Sonic Channel

TailsTube

Tie-in Meida

Weird Canon Status:

TMOSTH: Evan Stanley on Tumblr has stated the game is in headcanon status, the game if officially non canon but there's nothing contradicting it from being canon

"Also, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is not considered canon so it doesn't have a concrete place on the timeline. My personal headcanon is that a very similar event has happened sometime during the comic's run, thus why Tails can make his reference and why we keep seeing Barry/the Conductor/his wife cameos."

Sonic Speed Simulator: According to Nibroc Rock, the game is in temporary non canon status, the game is non canon until Takashi Iizuka can find a way to make it canon

"the workaround is just that our game is a hub for cross-universe, everything has to use ring portals to transfer in and out from other universes" "a bit flimsy"

"I mean, the story is always approved by SEGA and they have us re-wrirte things if there's a conflict with canon... so"

Sonic Speed Battle: In the same boat as Speed Simulator

the Sonic Forces mobile game gets away with it because they are all "phantom illusions"

Non Canon Status:

Crossover Media

Sonic Pocket Adventure

Sonic Chronicles

Most Mobile games

Sonic Lost World's Zelda and Yoshi's Island levels

Sonic Rumble

Most Arcade Games

Sonic Twitter Takeovers

Sonic and Friends

90s Cartoons

Sonic OVA

Comics that aren't IDW

Sonic X

Sonic Boom

Manga

Movies

Notes:

Eggman Nega's portal technology is the same one he uses in Winter Games DS

The Sonic Channel still brings up Cream being an assistant for the Olympics

LEGO versions of Sonic, Tails, Amy and Eggman along with Red and Chuck from the Angry Birds Movies appear in Speed Battle

Character Specific:

Classic Sonic: Classic Era characters aren't allowed to appear in Modern Era and vice versa, during the 2010s we had the Two Dimensions retcon that separated them, however TailsTube has since removed them, however this mandate might be removed soon due to the failure of Sonic Superstars along with:

Classic Froggy appearing in Channel Artwork

Classic characters being mentioned in TailsTube along with a Modern Trip being teased

Knuckles Chaotix being recanonized

Modern versions of Mighty, Ray and Metal Knuckles appearing in the Minecraft DLC

Sonic:

Sonic cannot cry or get too emotional, however Sonic Prime breaks this rule

Sonic originally had a house in South Island, later another one in Emerald Town, however it's been retconned that he's homeless

Metal Sonic:

Only one Metal Sonic is allowed to exist, (3.0 is a separate character)

Metal can only speak in this Neo Metal forms (He stills speaks in his base form in Sonic x Shadow Gens however this is only because they didn't bother changing the NPC dialogue)

Knuckles:

Knuckles is the last Echidna

Originally Knuckles had friends on Angel Island, we even see houses in Sonic Adventure's Ice Cap, however this was retconned as Knuckles is the only resident of Angel Island now besides Chao and Critters

Knuckles is not allowed to leave Angel Island without a reason now

Shadow: He has the most guidelines out of any character, this is because Takashi Iizuka co-created him, he also wrote Shadow 05, however some of these have been eased up a bit

Shadow's past isn't allowed to be mentioned

Shadow is an Anti-Hero and cannot be a Hero

"Vegeta really starts out as an enemy and then later becomes a friend and an ally and kind of, like, fights for justice and trying to save the world and whatnot. Shadow is not like that. I never want him to be like that. Shadow is doing his own thing, he's not friends with Sonic, and he's gonna go off and, you know, do whatever he feels is correct or right, or what he needs to do. And it's not like, 'Well, okay, we used to be enemies, but we're friends now. Let's save the world.' He's not that kind of character, and [I don't] want him to be that kind of character."

Shadow's job isn't a GUN Agent anymore, his only job should be protecting the planet

Shadow is allowed to work with Sonic, Team Dark, GUN and even Eggman but he isn't allowed to fully join them

Team Dark can be close but they can't be friends

If the relationship between Shadow and Rouge could be summed up in a few words… it would be “good business partners.” They have a reasonably long relationship, as they sometimes undertake missions at the same scene. However, they do not interfere with each other much and do not go beyond a certain level. At first glance, the relationship seems businesslike, but there appears to be a strong mutual trust that goes beyond mere colleagues, as they casually help each other out when they are in a pinch!

Silver: Silver's future is off limits, only Sonic Team can explore that if they choose to, however we do see it in IDW 31

Fang:

Name: His US name was Nack the Weasel, his JP name was Fang the Sniper, his current name is Fang the Hunter

Species: He was a Weasel in US and a Wolf Jerboa hybrid in JP, his current species is just Jerboa

Non Sonic Team Characters: Honey the Cat and the ghosts from Night of the Werehog have a hard time appearing in the series due to them not being owned by Sonic Team, however it's not impossible for them to appear

Gizoids: Emerl and by extension, Gemerl, are the only Gizoids allowed to exist

Exception: While non canon, the Minecraft Sonic Texture Pack turns the Zombie, Drowned and Husk Mobs into custom made Gizoids (Green for Zombie, Gold for Husk and Brown and torn ones for Drowned)

Infinite: The Encyclospeedia stated he got consumed by the Phantom Ruby, Takashi Iizuka would later state Infinite is dead and cannot come back, he returns in Otherworld Comedy and dies again

The elimination of otherworldification occurs in Infinite, and his body disappears with the light. The core in his hand slips through and falls into the glimmering lava… with a sizzling sound, it is lost to the world forever. Infinite was wide-eyed and stunned, but… “H-Heheh, haha…” He smiled wryly, lightly shaking his head, as if to say that it was for the best, and then vanished with the light. The world has been saved once again by a strange fate that no one had any way of knowing. The wind was merely blowing in the sky.

Off Limit Characters: Only Sonic Team can use these characters

Tiara Boobowski and Gazebo Boobowski (Though Gazebo appears in the 30th Anniversary Comic)

Eggman Nega

Black Doom

Solaris (Iblis and Mephiles)

Chronicles Characters

Infinite and the Jackal Squad

Alternate Media:

SEGA and Sonic Team like to keep US Media and Adaptions separate from Main Canon, thus characters and content from these are usually forbidden apart from some exceptions, mostly JP Media:

Shogakukan:

Charmy Bee

Miss Wing, Monica the Mouse and Anton Veruca were canonized in the 30th Anniversary Comic

Aosth Content:

Sonic liking Chili Dogs

Various Quotes

Mean Bean Machine in Sonic Mania

The concept of Eggman having two robot henchmen

The concept of Eggman having a super form

Scratch and Grounder cameo in an IDW Cover

Sonic Says segments

Sonic Satam:

Sonic being referred to as the Fastest Thing Alive

The "Let's do it, to it" line

The canonization of Spinball, though Ian Flynn states they're just cameos

Sonic OVA:

Tails being afraid of lightning

Knuckles's hat

Knuckles being a treasure hunter

Metal Sonic's personality

Archie Sonic:

The Eggnet

The term, Super Badnik

The Gun Commander being named Abraham Tower

Fang, Bean and Bark being part of a trio

Bark being mute

Ray having blue shoes

Shadow using Chaos Spear like an actual spear

E-106 Eta and E-107 Theta

Mimic the Octopus (Was intended for Archie)

The Metal Virus (Was intended for Archie)

Various homages in IDW, Restoration, Eggperial City, etc

Sonic X:

Gotta Go Fast

Shadow's Inhibitor Rings

Vector's crush on Vanilla

Cosmo's plant form appearing in artwork and TailsTube

The Eggman Chao

Cream's favorite show being the NEXT show

The Chaotix Office Building and the Croc Canteen

Dark Sonic mention

Sonic Boom:

Sticks the Badger exists in canon due to being co created by Sonic Team (Aoi Yuki, Stick's JP actress even still works for Sonic Team), however she only appears in Sonic Channel Artwork and a mention in the English Script of Frontiers

Eggman's Evil Cookies appear in the Sonic Cookbook

Sonic Movies: The Movies get the most synergy due being the main media being used to get new people into Sonic

Sonic having electricity powers now

Movie Characters in Speed Battle

Tom and Longclaw as skins in the Minecraft DLC

Movie Stage in Shadow Generations

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Veronica Lake (I Married a Witch, Sullivan's Travels)—her look is so iconic they used her as a visual model for jessica rabbit in who framed roger rabbit and a bunch of other femme fatale types in cartoons and live action alike. i didnt think i liked women and then i saw her in sullivans travels and said gee i hope this doesnt awaken anything in me! every role ive seen her in she absolutely oozes an aura of "i know people would ask me to step on them" and her EYES bro every photo ive looked at for this submission its like shes piercing thru time and space to judge me <3

Eartha Kitt (Anna Lucasta, St. Louis Blues)—My friend and I have a saying: NOBODY is Eartha Kitt. A thousand have tried, and they've all come up empty and will continue to do so. Everyone knows her for something: from "Santa Baby" to Yzma in Emperor's New Groove to Catwoman to making Lady Bird Johnson cry for the Vietnam War. She was a master of comedy and sex, an extremely vocal activist, and she aged like fine wine... I honestly don't know what I can say about her that hasn't already been said, so I'll stick to linking all my propaganda. Like what else do you want from me. She was iconic at everything she ever did. Literally name another. How can anyone even think of her and not want to absolutely drown?

This is round 5 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Veronica Lake:

Her HAIR, her FIGURE, her VOICE, the way she wore LEATHER AND SANG SONGS FOR NO REASON.

I don't believe there's a person on earth who can watch Veronica Lake in I Married A Witch and not be struck by how gorgeous she is. She had that youthful wonder about her that almost every Hollywood starlet was trying to achieve. Her hairstyle (peekaboo bangs) became an iconic Hollywood style after she popularized it, and made her signature look all the more suggestive. Also, witches are tumblrs favorite!

ICONIC hair sweep

The US government literally begged her to change her hairstyle because it was TOO HOT to handle and women who copied it were getting their hair caught in machinery

Her hairstyle was so iconic and popular that the war department had to come out with a PSA instructing lady ironworkers with ways they could pin their hair up to avoid it getting bound in machinery. [https://veteranlife.com/military-history/veronica-lake/]

She played a lot of femme fatale roles but my favorite is Sullivan’s Travels opposite Joel McRea, which is a comedy. She became famous for her hair style at the time—she wore it long and parted on one side so it would fall over half her face in a very sexy way. They called it a peek-a-boo I think. You’ve definitely seen Bugs Bunny dressed up like her, so I think if she’s being honored in such a way she’s very cool.

look at her

she's GORGEOUS in her little witch outfits that she wore for promos and also in the oversized coats and pajamas she wore throughout the movie...she's got RANGE

My Grandpa supposedly dated her in high school, he drove her to school in his car every day. This is legend in the family.

She has gorgeous hair, has got the smouldering look over the shoulder down PAT, and is just drop-dead gorgeous too!

Schizophrenic icon, popularized the peekaboo hairdo long before Jessica Rabbit

She’s just so prettyyyyy

So much hot in such a tiny package. She was no more than 5 feet tall, and some reports claim as small as 4'9"

If you picture a femme fatale in your head, almost certainly Veronica Lake had a hand in shaping the image you think of. She came to embody the look of the noir leading lady as well as the sound and the performance. Certified Noir Baddie.

Eartha Kitt:

"A hot vintage woman who was not just known for her voice, beauty, poise, and presence, but also her unapologetic ways of speaking about how she was mistreated in the show business as a girl who grew up on cotton fields in South Carolina in the 1930s through the 1940s coming to Broadway first and then Hollywood."

"Have you watched her sing?? Have you seen her face?? Have you heard her talk?? How could you not fall instantly in love. She makes me incoherent with how hot she is."

"She can ACT she can SING she can speak FOUR LANGUAGES she is a GODDESS!!! Although she is (rightfully) remembered for her singing, TV appearances (Catwoman my beloved), and later film roles, her early appearances in film are no less impressive or noteworthy!! She’s an amazing actress with so much charisma in every role. She was also blacklisted from Hollywood for 10 years for criticizing the Johnson administration/Vietnam War, so. Iconic. Also Orson Welles apparently called her “the most exciting woman in the world.”

"She had such a stunning, remarkable appearance, like she could tear you to shreds with just a glance- but the most undeniable part of her hotness was her voice, and it makes sense that it's what most people nowadays know her for. Nothing encapsulates the sheer magnetism of her singing better than this clip of her and Nat King Cole in St. Louis Blues, she pops in at 2:49. Also I know it's post-1970 but her song that was cut from Emperor's New Groove is likely to make you feel Feelings."

Even with as racist as Hollywood was in the 1950s and 60s, Eartha Kitt STILL managed to have a thriving career. She also once had a threesome with Paul Newman and James Dean, and called out LBJ over the Vietnam War so hard that it made First Lady Johnson cry. Eartha Kitt was talented, sexy, and a total badass activist.

[pinkpastels113]

Tell us how you feel about arcane. Use your emotion words! Use a visual aid if you must, too lol.

you want some visual aid? i'll give you some visual aid:

that describes perfectly ab how i am feeling rn

first of all the LESBIAN SEX SCENE????!! I-??!! i knew that something was bound to happen (esp after meljay and the rated for sex warning in season 2) and i celebrated when they (finally) kissed but oh my god?? an actual lesbian sex scene? in a prison?? in vi's sister's prison?? after a parallel about how cait is always finding her in a prison and expected her to be there?? (with dramatic music and banter and soft giggling and the ANGLES and HAND PLACEMENTS??) I AM NOT OKAY

just that scene alone is enough to nudge me off a cliff. but moving on

how is JAYVIK more homoerotic than now-100%-canon caitvi?? that's all i have to say. (what do you MEAN that love conquers all?? that he loved and admired viktor for all his imperfections and that was what made him special and beautiful?? GET OUTTA HERE)

i did not know that i needed timebomb until this season but HOLY FUCKING SHIT why must you make ekko fall (surprisingly, even to himself) in love with jinx/older powder and have that ripped away from him not like two days later?? WHYYYYY (the dance. the "can we pretend it's like the first time?" the "oh and he's got lines." the nervous wave after he fucked up in that scene with dead vi and powder was like hmp and he goes :(. the mural. im sent. im gone. nobody speak to me.)

ISHA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (she was just trying to be like jinx and copy everything that she does and is and looked up to her as a hero STOP WHY MUST YOU DO THIS TO ME. also the song?? IM CHINESE BRO AND I WAS SOOOO EMOTIONAL OVER THE LYRICS like hit me where it fucking hurts why dont you)

i cried at how vander suffered a fate worse than death. @becasbelt can attest to that

caitlyn adfshjk i knew she would come around and she was and always has been my blorbo (even if she stayed evil) MWAH my female rage filled, slightly wild, grief clouded, confident, "im an excellent shot," sexy, " i am a decorated officer, leader of house kiramman, address me with respect, or keep your mouth shut." dictator, vampire, badass, mofo. YES

the way she said "no amount of good deeds can undo our crimes" hit me bc she's acknowledging that she went off the rails and did some pretty bad things to justify and achieve (which she didn't. not really) her goals

i LOVED jinx in this season. she single-handedly made it a comedy show and was the sole focus of a lot of the emotional damage the storytellers and animators wanted to convey

the way jesus came to be and then quickly became evil SDFHSDKJ i was legit like WEEO WEEO ABORT ABORT JESUS HAS TURNED EVIL (also want to point out the "no you wont" sky dialogue bc DAMN she really called you out huh viktor)

that alternate universe timebomb episode had me gasping so much (like SILCO?? WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE?? WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?? what do you mean everyone is well and happy but at the cost of vi's death???) i think i had asthma for a split second there

MELLLL MY GODDESS MVP PLAYER you saved cait's ass so many times it's not even funny and ugh the way you finally stood up to your mom (very cleverly too, i might add) ugh i applaud

EKKO MY KINGGG the way he hurts himself so bad turning back time and specifically saving jinx from offing herself BYE

HEIMERDINGER MY TINY ANNOYING/affectionate FURBALL WHYY

no but yea i am ruined and my emotions have faded away into numbness and i hope this post was relatable to the people in the arcane fandom and i also agree that this season was way too condensed and rushed and the last episodes in particular needed at least a couple more to drag out the events and character development bc at times when i am supposed to be cheering i am crying and at times i am supposed to be crying i am screaming and at times i am supposed to be screaming i am Horny and at times i am supposed to be Horny my heart is wrenching but only a few tears slip out bc IT IS CUT TO THE NEXT SCENE AGAIN??? does that make sense??

(also do we think jinx is actually dead or no. im still not sure but obv i would hope/am hoping that she is lmao)

[unhingedmarvelandclassicwhobuff]

Apparently at some point MCU fans collectively agreed that the Blip takes place on October 17th, 2023. Which is today. So I figured I'd take the time to detail the four biggest reasons why the time jump in Endgame was a universe-shatteringly horrible idea that should never have seen the light of day

the absolute biggest problem, of which there are many, is the fact that countless people died as collateral damage in the initial Snap. Hell, we are shown it in the Infinity War post-credit scene with those multiple car accidents and that helicopter slamming into a building. And that was just the tip of the iceberg; imagine how many planes crashed because the pilots were dusted, or how many babies starved because both their parents were dusted, or people who may have died on the operating table because a surgeon got dusted. All of these people are totally ignored. It's never so much as mentioned when talking about bringing everyone back, and Tony insisting that the last five years remain unchanged is implicitly saying all of those people remained dead when the dusted returned.

the second big problem with this plot point is that it's used as an excuse for every character except Nat to be totally unrecognizable. Bruce becomes Professor Hulk, Thor gets fat, Tony has a family (and I fucking love how the movie inadvertently says he just let the world rot for five years instead of using his billions of help. That is 100% in character for him), Clint went on a mass killing spree, and Steve... I actually have no idea what made him change so radically. None of this is shown to us at all, it's just told to us.

this is less a problem with Endgame and more a problem with Phases 4 and 5, but the other worse thing about this development is that absolutely nothing has been done with it. Far From Home played the time-jump for comedy, WandaVision had that one great scene in the hospital and then did nothing else, Shang-Chi had a singular throwaway line about the Blip, Hawkeye had that one neat visual of getting Snapped from Yelena's POV and then nothing else, Multiverse of Madness had a single conversation where Strange wonders if letting Tony have his way was the only way to save the universe, Quantumania had a single scene addressing the homelessness issue and then nothing else, and I think Secret Invasion tried to do a bit of a look at how Talos reacted to the Blip, but that show was so awful that I'd rather not think about it. The only projects to do anything at all with the Blip as a major plot point are Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Eternals.

the fourth and final massive problem with the Blip is pretty simple yet complicated; it ignores the absolutely insurmountable societal implications both the Snap and the Blip would have. Think about it; half the fucking universe disintegrates into ash. There are SO many things that would do to just human society alone. But even more importantly, five years after all those people were declared dead (meaning wills are executed, spouses remarried, jobs and homes redistributed, etc) those people suddenly reappear, and from their POV it's only been a second. Just to put it in perspective, the Snap happened on April 29th, 2018. Doesn't that feel like forever ago? If the Snap were real, all those people would have been gone until today. That is such a huge mindfuck that I'm shocked no one went insane. And even looking aside from the psychological impact, all those people are pretty fucking screwed. Far From Home had a single scene addressing this, then promptly forgot about it.

My final point is less of a problem and more of an amusing byproduct; since Tony directly forbids Bruce from undoing the last five years, that means the events of WandaVision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, No Way Home, Multiverse of Madness, and Secret Invasion are on some level his fault. That’s fucking hysterical.

I suppose I'll be absolutely fair and say that rewinding time isn't a morally perfect solution either, as you would be erasing any maturity the survivors gained during those five years, as well as anyone born in that time. But that's just all the more reason to NOT HAVE A FUCKING TIME-SKIP!!! I still think the only reason it was done was for cheap shock value.

All in all, the five-year time jump is the single worst major plot point in the MCU. Fight me.

[swallowtailed]

misericorde vol 2 (full 100% spoilers, i’m so serious)

ooooh i’m so compelled by angela. she sucks so bad, but in a perfectly clear and logical way. very well written character

on a related note it is SO funny how unpitchable this visual novel is. “sex comedy about an anchoress who discovers that all the nuns in the abbey think she’s cute” is both exactly and not at all what it’s about, and also, somehow, a gigantic spoiler

it’s really good.

it didn’t click for me that the abbey was supposed to burn down, and therefore it didn’t make any sense for hedwig to be back in the cell, until i heard the keys jangling in the cell door. excellent.

i… don’t think i believe flora is dead, actually. we haven’t seen a body, and the pacing of it doesn’t make much sense. something else is yet to be revealed there.

hidden chapter! HI EUSTACE <3

with the introduction of another suspiciously familiar individual i gotta say i’ve now got no idea what’s going on at all. catherine inventing time travel or reincarnation or both feels as likely as anything

i think the biggest missing piece, for me, is what catherine wants. all we know is “to kill the antichrist”, which… frankly could mean anything. a question i have about her is how ontologically correct she is: did she really have the means to kill the antichrist? if not, what was/is she wrong about?

do have to say i’m ultimately not that compelled by “the devil did it”. as a solution to the mystery, that feels like it reneges on a promise of the narrative (that it was one of the sisters). but who’s to say

i am satisfied by eustace’s explanation—as of vol 1 my assessment was that she knew something was up and so genuinely didn’t want hedwig to get involved, which seems to bear out. now, the question that does remain is, does she have a clearer idea of what really happened to catherine. unclear as yet imo.

i do still really think that not getting charity’s account of finding the body is sus. not that i think charity did something, i just feel like that’s hidden information

also in hidden information: what’s in the last sherry cask!!! with the odd little note about the massive sale i’m still suspicious

really good handling of distinct plotlines in this volume, also—i felt the wheels turning outside hedwig’s perception.

i don’t have a single clue what’s up with the disappearing shelves in the back of the library, although it does bear some thematic similarities to whatever tatiana/catherine is up to, and new!eustace’s appearance is also rather suggestive

on that note, i’m curious about the physical structure of linbarrow abbey. the name suggests it’s built on burial grounds, there are passages in the walls, something is up with the library, and we were told early in vol 1 that neither the plan nor the architectural styles line up. burning it down also seems to indicate some significance of the structure. so… hm.

thinking about where the mystery stands now. hedwig was made to promise not to investigate further, but of course the field of play has changed greatly. (god, poor james.) the abbey still has to burn down in the year 1434, and moira still has to be killed with the sword. angela as superior would surely want to keep pursuing suspicions of witchcraft. and hedwig is getting dragged back out of her cell, rupturing the framing device and narration. fascinating. perhaps someone else will be taking over as narrator?

sure, i’ll bite. why is there a picture of christopher columbus in a book about english nuns?

[whirlerwhirler]

my stage/fright thoughts!!!!!!

The two times (unless there were more!!) that Toby was onstage I knew it wasnt Reece, but by the time he was there for the second time I saw ("curtain call"), I had completley forgotten the first (opening theatre scene). The first time, I just thought i must have been wrong about it not being him after they switched, and then at the "curtain call" bit I thought "he has aged strangely in the past few minutes" lmao

Genuinely thought for a moment that Steve was gonna say his wife had died and I had missed an update before i put two and two together about the switch. Felt horrible 10/10.

I wonder if theres people out there who aren't that into the show or who dont know their faces well enough that they might have believed that they were watching a show without Reece in it when that was "revealed"?

LOVE Reece doing ridiculous physical comedy fuck OFF he's so good at it!!!! Chopping off his own leg????? Creepin round the stage in his pyjamas like a nasty lil gremlin?? He's SO FUCKING GOOD AT IT AND HE SHOULD DO IT MORE

I could never have imagined that Steve's character from AQNI, when allowed to speak, is literally just the icon that is Barry Baggs. Same voice, same manerisms, same loveable moron absolutley fuckin everyones plans up because he wants a snack. Perfection.

I had seen a spoiler 2 days ago - photos of them in their "Tears Of Laughter" costumes and thought they looked too much like angels for the twist not to be that they're both dead, which really pissed me off and I still maintain that that tumblr user who posted them is a n absolute dickhead because they spoiled the final twist and whole ending of the show. There are signs ALL OVER the theatre saying not to post anything online and no one else that I've seen literally in the whole fandom has posted untagged spoilers.

anyway

STEVE STEVE STEVE STEVE STEVE yeah u get it but let me say it more STEVEN JAMES ELIZABETH PEMBERTON THE MAN THAT U ARE. DONT EVEN START made me cry a lil even tho I knew Reece wasnt actually dead and just in general watching him perform anything is GLEEFUL AND JOYOUS AND HE IS A MASTER OF HIS CRAFT (BAFTA FOR BETTER MAN PLEASE)

I thought it had JUST the right amount of references to the series. Now that I think about it, it makes sense that they would do all of BCDR. They started all the TLOG live shows with a first act full of sketches from the TV show before doing something new, so it makes sense that they do the same here. And it makes sense that they would pick their most successful and beloved episode (one that paralells some of their own careers and relationship to an extent too). I always found the BCDR wasnt a particularly funny episode, all the puns and physical comedy was more charming and sad, and that was mostly due to Reece's performance and the writing of Tommy (Steve u are absolutley BAFTA worthy in most roles but for this particular episode it does kinda baffle me that Reece was overlooked because he is just so good in it). but actually being in the room with them, being performed to an audience as they were "written" to be was a completley different experience that has changed the episode for me i think!

Reece and Steve both canonically dead in the INo9 universe, or maybe even the extended pembersmith cinematic universe? maybe now they can write something where they dont end up playing themselves being haunted by their work and characters? if not who cares cos i love it when they do

the SET DESIGN!!! especially the hospital scene! its so fuckin visually engaging!

loved the use of the camera onstage, was a really fun device and incredibly well done!

i had heard the term "celebrity guest" in a tag about the show and expected maybe that they had like a guest onstage every few days or a new guest every week, but have just realised they have a new guest every day!!!! so cool to see how many people love their work and respect them to come out for a single evening of work with them, even people who werent already guest stars on the show. i didnt know our guest star, but she was funny and really engaging throughout her scene haha

oh to be a fly on the wall in their little office while they were writing this. "and what if youre dead all along? not your character, YOU. and i walk offstage crying and thank the audience for being so supportive of your understudy? and what if we make 90 different celebrity guests attempt a flamenco dance and a geordie accent on stage?"

spotted the hare ofc

LOVED the live violins!

i hope they do film it. i know with the celebrity guest thing no two shows are the same but i hope they have a specific guest in mind to film it with because i'd love to see it again and pick up on all the things i missed, plus there are people around the world who the live show isnt accessible to who deserve to be able to join in with the fandoms discussions and celebrations of it

anyway i'm very tired because ive done 6 hours of travelling today, the theatre seats were wildly uncomfortable and also i live underneath a crack den so i havent had a full nights sleep for 11 months, so thats all i have brain space for today! really enjoyed the show. so glad i got the tickets even tho it was a stupid financial decision lmao

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #63 – Saga, Book 1 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

I first starting reading Saga a literal decade ago (I think literally because Rachel Maddow recommended it on a podcast? Which, god, what a 2010s sort of sentence). I absolutely loved it at the time, and read intermittently until it went on an extended hiatus. So extended, in fact, that I’d kind of assumed the series was dead and only learned it had restarted a couple years ago quite recently. So, seeing as I am now in need of a new comic, I figured I’d restart from scratch and work up to the new stuff. It holds up! (and the letters to the editor are a fascinating cultural time capsule).

The series follows Alana and Marko – star-crossed lovers who eloped together from opposite sides of a brutal and galaxy-spanning race-war – and their newborn daughter Hazel as they evade the numerous forces trying to see them all murdered before than can become an embarrassment. The first arcs of this are most one long blind panic finding transport off-world and only afterwards deciding upon a destination, it’s only in the last volume (with the pointed assistance of Marko’s parents) that there’s any thought of finding stability or a status quo. Along the way, both the family and the series collect a wider and wider circle of colourful hangers-on – and the narrative begins switching focus to give real narrative focus and character arcs to three different groups that find themselves tracking down the family. None of them are particularly happy lives, but they all make for very compelling drama.

The best way to describe this is I suppose a ‘science-fantasy dramedy’. Which sounds viscerally and violently wrong, but the comedy and the drama are both absolutely vital motors keeping it running. And this is the incredibly rare work that actually makes them work together seamlessly. It’s an incredibly vulgar book in a dozen different ways, but the characters are all plausible and compelling, and once you have granted the slightly contrived explanation for why both governments care so immensely about Marko and Alana the plot coheres enough to never take you out of the story. Which is helped by the pacing being fast and tight in a way that always kept me (at least) engaged. I do deduct points for the wise author character basically looking directly at the fourth wall and saying ‘and the profound message of my work is-’ (moreso because said message is truly eye-roll-inducingly vapid and dumb, granted), but that’s easily forgiven.

The comedy was...more hit-or-miss. There is a lot of clever wordplay and funny, high-context character beats. There are also a bunch of just absurd or striking visual gags or background details that really work. And then there is the giant with balls so big and hideous that they almost crush someone to death.

It’s been said (by people with far more knowledge of and investment in the medium than I) that mainstream American comics are these incredible wells of repressed sexuality – full of physically implausible women dressed for a burlesque and with panels framed by a particularly sleazy tabloid photographer, but oddly coy about actually talking about or including sex itself. Which tracks with my limited experiences, but might just be bullshit I don’t know – what I do know is that Saga is basically the exact opposite of that.

Which is to say, this is an intensely sexual comic, but an atypically non-sexualized one. Which is a bit of an odd distinction, but compare how Saga shows an uncensored orgy and how any given artist at a con draws prints of Power Girl and you’ll get the idea. This is on balance a very good thing, occasional junior-high-level visual gags and gross-out humour aside. Sex is a part of life, of varying importance to different people but something present and shaping the world regardless (and Marko and Alana very much do believably seem like a couple that’d have a kid together without a huge excess of planning beforehand).

Aside from Alana, Marko and Hazel (and hangers-on including a phantom babysitter and Marko’s somewhat-approving parents), the various groups hunting them get a really surprising amount of page-count – The Will, Lying Cat and Prince Robot are all basically main characters in their own right, and Gwendolyn, Sophie, Upsher and Doff aren’t fair off. It’s an immense accomplishment that a series of 28-30 page comics manages to bounce between so many characters and always keep them all moving, both physically and emotionally. (The character work and character design of this is worth at least the price of admission on its own, really).

The thing that most makes me love the comic is, I think, how it will introduce characters and tell you explicitly they are murderers and monsters – and then show them struggling and risking their life out of guilt or altruism or love, show them falling for people and being part of rich social worlds, show the trauma and baggage and shitty relationships that made them who they are. Make you care about them and root for them, want them to accomplish what they need to to get a happy ending – and then have them destroy something or kill someone else you’ve grown to care about. Aside from the really obvious stuff about intolerance and war, it’s one of the most consistent themes of the series that monsters have lives and loves too, which is frankly something I wish more stories (and just, people) took to heart.

The setting is glorious, in a ‘mural on the side of a stoner van’ sort of way. Laser guns and spaceships that are giant flying trees, a kingdom of robots with TVs for heads and the planet-sized egg of what’s basically a living black hole – nothing that’s designed to bear scrutiny, but endlessly inventive and evocative and clearly very fun for the artist.

The most striking thing is that – even for now, let alone fucking 2012 – the comic is just incredibly diverse. Even leaving aside the really weird or cartoonishy exaggerated species there’s more diversity in body type and silhouette in one crowd scene of Saga than in most Hollywood movies I’ve seen recently. Same with race and sexuality—the whole setting seeming functionally queernorm except for the one couple whose character arc requires that they come from Planet Homophobia is slightly eyeroll inducing but again, compared to the early 2010s norm it’s soaring so high above the bar you can’t even see the ground.

So yeah, have fallen entirely back in love with it. Can’t wait to start in on Book Two.

[maxwell-grant]

Thoughts on the master of fear, Scarecrow? Also, fave design, he has so many good ones (second BTAS, his trading card one, mistress of fear, Gaslight,, fear for sale, the Arkham Games etc)?

Hey so, do any of you remember Batman Live? It was this really fun, extravagant stage show that touched on a lot of Batman hallmarks and was generally a really fun time as far as I recall. I went to the São Paulo premiere with my family, and I was a little too young to really recall most of it now, but some things I definitely remember like the huge Joker hot air balloon made of performers in bodypaint, or the comedy sequences in the Iceberg Lounge. The one thing that stuck with me the most was when the Scarecrow showed up. Batman goes to Arkham Asylum and the entire comedy camp tone drops dead, as he walks in and finds all these bodies in straightjackets hanging from chains, and the doors open as The Scarecrow walks towards him in stilts, summoning loud smoke eruptions that are poisoning and weakening Batman as he leers over him. That part actually did scare me as a kid, and it was probably the first time I had any kind of feelings on Scarecrow imprinted in me.

I was introduced to The Scarecrow as this uniquely horrifying villain who could terrify through presentation alone. I didn't particularly understand what the fear gas was, I was too taken with that ungainly thing up there with the stilts and all those people turned into cadaverous decorations, lurking from the endless halls of the asylum, who towered over everyone and placed Batman into a writhing breakdown with a few gestures, and never appeared again until the cast roll, completely absent from the rogues gatherings after. Granted, of course that's because the stilts prevented him from joining the fight scenes, but that helped to reinforce his mystery. He wasn't someone Batman was going to punch back, no no, the Scarecrow simply vanished as soon as he was done with disarming Batman, and you'd just have to pray for that unfathomable creep to never show up again.

And I'd say this might be part of why I've never been too big on the fear gas, in part because I was first enraptured by a version of The Scarecrow who clearly didn't need it that much, or at least, could do much more besides it. The Scarecrow is, I'd say actually one of my top 10 DC characters, half of that on the basis of his designs, but he's a character who tends to really, really struggle under a lack of cohesion and being subordinate to his gimmick, much more so than the other rogues. The fear gas is a good gimmick, but it is just that, a gimmick, and one that's usually reliant on how far can the story push the horror and the visuals to at least make it effectively scary for us, otherwise it gets incredibly boring very fast, and it's not even a gimmick exclusive to him since so many other characters have similar mind control/illusion abilities/gadgetry at hand (and to say nothing of Hugo Strange, who first used fear gas and who quite frankly kicks the Scarecrow's ass in terms of quality storylines, although Hugo does that to most of the other Batman villains too)

The Scarecrow has become the go-to character for hallucination sequences / revisiting character traumas, which frequently makes him less of a character and more so a convenient plot device, a problem heightened by the larger issue here that is his inconsistent motivation, or lack thereof. He lacks the kind of "breakout" stories that his fellow major Batman villains have had that usually cement an ongoing characterization, and his most famous/celebrated appearences in mass media don't really do much to combat the assertion that he is shallow and weak and whose only asset is the gas (namely, his boss fights in Arkham Asylum, which are all about the fear gas hallucination scares, and his role in Nolan's Batman, which is very fun, but also purposefully plays him up for ridicule and lack of depth next to the other villains)

These days, the Scarecrow is a tedious pip-squeak. His schemes lack verve, his cruelties stir little in the way of frissons. Haunted by cliché to an even greater extent than the other rogues, he’s often brought low with a single sock to the jaw delivered by Batman, or by finding himself on the receiving end of his own fear-inducing concoctions. He often acts as a pawn in the hands of bigger, badder third parties. He’s ostensibly a stand-in for the figure of the reductive, smug and hypocritical psychologist, nicely bundled up for the audience to humiliate in effigy - TheMindlessOnes's rogue review for Scarecrow

In "Nothing to Fear" it is explained that Jonathan Crane has always had this "thing" for scaring people. (Just as Snidely Whiplash had his "thing" for tying women to railroad tracks, I suppose.) But this is a wan kind of motive. One senses sadly that the real motive for the Scarecrow's behavior lies in the writer's need for someone to do something reprehensible. At the root of the matter may be a difficulty in sorting out the Scarecrow's ends from his means, with a consequent confusion between the goals the Scarecrow intends to reach and the tactics he employs in reaching them.

As a psychologist specializing in phobic disorders, Crane knows how to induce fear and trembling in his victims. But this tells us nothing about what the Scarecrow wants to accomplish. And without a sense or statement of what those goals are, the writer will be tempted to substitute means for end and make the Scarecrow's goal simply the scaring of people. Usually his actions are woefully underexplained - Dreams in Darkness' review by Toonzone

You might think that I'd be advocating for the Scarecrow, then, to disregard a need for a motivation and become as unknowable and horrific as possible, to recapture the awe I felt at his Batman Live self, but no, not at all. For one, I don't think the best version of anything is necessarily the one that made the most impact on me as a kid. Two, there have been some attempts over the years to remove Scarecrow from the toxin or seriously amp him up as a threat, and frankly, most of those have only made the character dramatically worse and more boring (I don't remember the name, but there was a Batman story a while ago where he goes on a big scary killing spree with no toxin just to prove he can and it was fucking terrible). Three, and the big one here, is that this pretty much forces you to get rid of Dr. Jonathan Crane, and I think that does a disservice to the character's potential. I think that's giving up on trying to make him work as a character and I don't think you have to do that.

My preferred characterization for Crane is one that emphasizes his nature as a scholar turned supervillain. The cold and misanthropic and neurotic nerd professor who spent most of his salary on books and took to terrorizing the city as a costumed criminal in part because he wanted money to buy more books. Who takes off the costume mid-crime spree to school his henchmen on specifics of brain chemistry, who gets revenge on those that wrong his students or even employs them as henchmen, still the same guy who thinks there's nothing wrong with firing a loaded gun in a packed classroom as a demonstration. Far less interested in human connections than he is in human reactions, things that can surprise him or that he can catalogue or research or write about. Someone who's not a sadist for sadism's sake, but who doesn't really see you as a person so much as he sees a test subject. I like Crane as a snarky humorous heel who thinks of himself as amoral and mature while doing horribly immoral and childish things, the Herbert West or Rusty Venture of Batman villains (James Urbaniak is definitely the voice I'd pick for him).

My preferred kind of motivation for him is something along the lines of how he's portrayed in most of Kings of Fear, where he puts Batman through the wringer in part as an attempt to get to him and cure him once and for all, or issues #4-5 of The Batman Adventures where he induces city-wide illiteracy in part as a protest against the city's failing education. In Gothtopia he makes all of Gotham hallucinate their perfect ideal lives, eliminating the crime rate but causing the suicide rate to spike up in return, and yes it does turn out to be the set-up for a really generic "fear gas everyone with blimps and make everyone twice as scared" pay off when his involvement is revealed, but I always thought Scarecrow being able and willing to do that, to create these huge and even benevolent-seeming social experiments, as an idea with legs. Fear State was frustratingly halfway there, with the initial set-up of Scarecrow pursuing a theory for fear-based social upheaval, but on top of not being very good, it also wound up that he was just doing the same old thing again and had Batman call him out as someone who just wanted to gas the city and make everyone scared again and never changes and does anything different, which seemed like Tynion defeating his own purpose of trying to make a defining Scarecrow story and address his lack of one, completely failing to address the why the character has that kind of problem and upending itself for meta commentary before doing anything interesting.

Even Kings of Fear, easily the best Scarecrow story of the past decades if not outright ever, kinda ends in a bit of a cop-out where The Scarecrow has to be wrong ("Even when he's telling the truth, he's lying, and even when he's right, he's wrong", Gordon tells Batman to reassure him, to nullify the past 5 issues criticizing and tearing into Batman from every angle imaginable), and he has to be a sadist who just wanted to fuck with Batman and uncover his worst fears because it's what he does. Why does Scarecrow want to unravel people and wrench their worst fears into the surface? Because he's a sadist who gets off on it? I guess that's the canon answer most of the time, but it's such a boring, weak one. Because he wants revenge on the world / bullies? Still weak, done better by other villains even. Because of an unspeakably traumatic childhood that taught him the world was ruled by fear and therefore driving him to become it's master? Okay, but it still doesn't actually answer what he wants to get out of doing what he does.

We know that Jonathan Crane was a fragile youth routinely terrorized and abused by others and plainly traumatized by his experiences. We know that he is learned and brilliant and given to introspection and fantasy.

From this base it is not hard to imagine Crane turning into a man fiercely devoted to solitude and study and capable of a murderous rage when his privacy is violated. It is possible, in other words, to imagine him as a reactive force, in the mold of Freeze, systematically terrorizing and destroying anyone who crosses him but rarely wanting to start trouble himself.

Or we can imagine him as a mercenary, a specialist hired by others for nefarious purposes, but who is not himself strongly motivated by particular rages or desires.

But if the Scarecrow is going to remain a sadist and a sadist only—if he is going to be moved only by the psychotic desire to harm others—we ought to be made to feel the seductive power that sadism has over its practitioners; we should be made to feel and appreciate the hot and sour joy that comes from the purposeful humiliation of another - Dreams in Darkness review by Toonzone

It's kind of a frustrating pattern in a lot of his stories where he gives a reason for doing something, and it turns out to be a cover for yet another sadistic fear gas attack, but his cover reason was a more interesting motivation for him than what he actually was going for. A villain who mainly just gets a kick out of hurting people and concocts bullshit excuses and reasons to justify said hurting? The Joker does that already, but the Joker always clearly states what he wants and has all those ways to make cruelty for cruelty's sake entertaining. If that's all The Scarecrow is also, no wonder he's going to be so incredibly lacking most of the time (nevermind the fact that he's never going to be the guy most infamous for gassing Gotham City).

Yes, he may be sadistic and cruel, he may enjoy what he does too much, and maybe there really isn't any kind of realistic explanation as to why a man would dress up as a scarecrow to commit terrorism and spray innocent people with chemicals to make them terrified, but refer to the guy he's fighting. "Realistic" is the wrong term. The issue here is less "why" the Scarecrow does what he does, and more what is he hoping to get out of it. Granted, this is less of a concern if you're playing The Scarecrow as a figure of horror, someone who's not even really human underneath that outfit. But I think that locks away much of his versatility. The Scarecrow needs Jonathan Crane, and I think there's good stuff to like about that awful man.

I like Jonathan Crane the sardonic pragmatic scientist who still embraces his hopelessly ridiculous life, a guy who's not nearly as above it all as he'd like to be and has wants and needs moreso than he really likes to admit. I like him as a book lover, as a fan of horror, I like him as the kind of guy who'd send fan mail to Elvira and break out of Arkham just to catch a Halloween parade and guest star in a Scooby-Doo movie for a change. I like him as someone who'd have a decent working relationship with the other rogues and pal with the Legion of Doom and get into a physical spat with Riddler over a chess game. Someone who custom-makes his own outfits and equipment, who makes scythes out of animal bones to fight Batman with, who picked the scarecrow motif in part because it was a term of derision his colleagues used on him.

Who pours himself over his research as he records his theories in a tape recorder, the kind of guy who grouses at having to clean another cell because he's getting annoyed at his test subjects killing themselves, seriously guys the cleaning supplies for this batch were as fresh as they could be, and the iguana amygdalas I used should be stopping your neocortexes from overreacting this strongly. Subject #3 over there got over his fear of centipedes yesterday and he hasn't screamed all morning, I'm gonna need the rest of you to stop being such babies, okay?

It must be terribly liberating for Crane, to transcend mere ugliness and become inhuman. Of all the rogues, he’s easily the one who takes Batman’s “I need a disguise; I shall become a beast of the night” schtick and runs with it the farthest - TheMindlessOnes's rogue review for Scarecrow

And that's for Jonathan Crane, man of science. The Scarecrow, however, is not science, he is unreason incarnate, and to me what most makes The Scarecrow work as a Batman villain has nothing to do with "they both use fear as a weapon", I always thought that was a bit shallow of an angle to pursue (most, if not all, the villains rely on fear, it comes with the whole "crime" thing). The two have a stronger connection via the costume, the theatricality, the becoming a creature of the night angle. None of the other major Batman villains are going into their costumes the way The Scarecrow is. They have their personas and varying degrees of division between them and their "real selves", but few of them are wearing outright identity-separating Halloween Monster Costumes with separate names and personalities they can dip in and out of at their convenience.

And I'm gonna interrupt myself to answer your second question. I couldn't pick just one design, so counting the Batman Live one above, I picked 10. These are not in order and they're not necessarily how I'd design him, I'd say my actual favorite Scarecrow designs are fan-made, but if I was going to pick out of "official" material these are the ones I'd go for. It's time for:

(Left-to-right: George Pratt's Scarecrow pin-up, Phil Jimenez's Scarecrow design, Ed Natividad's concept art for Suicide Squad)

(Left-to-right: His TNBA design by Bruce Timm as drawn by Luciano Vecchio, Alex Ross's design for Justice, and Tim Sale's Scarecrow)

(Left-to-right: Kelley Jones' design for Kings of Fear, Jeremy Raapack's design for Legends of the Dark Knight #25, Scarecrow's design in Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!)

*cough*, anyway: Most of the other rogues with their signature suits or masks or body distortions don't tend to have closets full of different variant Batsuits and scarecrow costumes to choose and devote to their cause and ideal, that they sit at night tailoring on how to make scarier or more loaded with weapons, that they might even have conversations with, things that sit in their closets waiting because both of these brilliant men, men who have (or at least had) different civilian lives, men who could stop doing this at any time, who both decided that becoming a Halloween monster prowling the streets to inflict terror is a necessary, even productive use of their time.

And I think that's the key word I want to end here, productive. I think The Scarecrow needs to be more productive. Because even if he's not aware of it, he is achieving progress via his research, and there is one way he's proved his ideas: Batman walks out of every fight they have stronger. Every encounter they have is a test that Batman resists and walks out of more able to cope with his own traumas, or at least, better able to resist them being weaponized against him. I always wanted to explore the idea that Crane is genuinely convinced he's doing people a favor or at least achieving something via all these horrible Scarecrow campaigns, and one thing he has achieved is that Batman is never not prepared for chemical attacks or assaults on his mind, Batman resists ungodly trials of willpower and determination and courage, in part because he has to deal with the Scarecrow pumping terror juice in his brain semi-regularly.

The fact that Crane loses and gets beaten up and has to retry schemes again and again and kill people and join the costume parade just to lure Batman is fairly inconsequential to him, so long as it gets results. He's not interested in dissecting Batman's brain or being more like Batman, that's Hugo Strange's thing. Hugo Strange needs Batman to be fearless, allmighty and perfect, where as Jonathan Crane wants nothing more than to unearth and study the fears and kinks in the armor, the dead last thing he wants is a perfect man. Hugo Strange wants to crawl naked into the mask of the great and terrible fascist and never come out, where as The Scarecrow wants to crack open all the masks in the world and feast luridly on whatever seeps out.

Batman isn't just the ultimate trial against his fear-ruled worldview (or even affirmation), and he isn't just a breakthrough waiting to happen: he might be his greatest success as of yet. A case study on the success of exposure therapy, proof of potential medicinal applications for his formula, the greatest guinea pig of all time because he won't die no matter what you pump into him, you name it. So what if all those other people couldn't stomach the procedure, so what if those precious innocents are too weak and stupid and useless to not get in the way of research, it's clearly worked wonders for those who could take it.

And if the future belongs to men like Batman, if all of these superheroes and supervillains are the way things are going to be like forever, if the future is Bat-shaped and as vast and uncertain and horrible as the forces shaping it, the future needs to be prepared. The future needs to grapple with it's past and face it's greatest horrors and become stronger for it. There is no such thing as overcoming fear, there is only living with it, embracing it, bowing to the primordial instinct that knows the answer before you do. Mankind grew and developed it's intelligence and tools out of fear, fear of the bigger predators out there, fear of the other cavemen, fear of starvation and death and everything they couldn't understand and master until they learned to fear it. What better knowledge to pass along than fear? And who is better qualified to teach about fear?

Maybe Crane isn't just another monster with a grudge, maybe he isn't another costumed revenge killer, maybe he isn't just a power-tripping sadist bully out to torment others because he can, and maybe he isn't a hopeless traumatized madman who destroyed his professional and personal life in a monstrous quest to satisfy an obsession ruling his soul.

Maybe he is a sane response to an insane situation. Ever heard that one before?

[velvet-vox]

Why Doll perfectly exemplifies all of the strengths and flaws of Murder Drones as a series.

From the amount of posts present on my blog about the specific individual, it is rather obvious to assume that Doll Yurikova (I'm still convinced the fandom made up this surname) is my favourite character from Murder Drones and you wouldn't be wrong.

She just simply tickles my needy scratch for weird, cool complex villainess characters.

However, eventually I also realised that she more than any other character embodies everything that makes murder drones a great show and everything that detracts the show from being genuinely amazing.

Let's start off with the good, anything I say applies to the both of them:

Doll/Murder drones are generally cool, unconventionally attractive, have great potential (this point will be elaborated upon) and are very complex in both the themes that they bring to the table and the philosophical standpoints discussed.

Coolness factor is mostly subjective, but I am sure any Murder drones fan will tell you that the sci-fi/horror/mystery/romance/comedy show about sentient cannibalistic robots who fight against eldritch atrocities with Portal 2-esque music is an absolute blast conceptually and visually. In the same way the russian robo vampire who was previously a cheerleader before deciding to commit cannibalism to avenge her dead parents has swarms of fans simping for her.

Unconventionally attractive is determined by unconventional people, said people also have rewatched the show seventeen different times.

Now, regarding the great potential, although I've also elaborated the previous points, this is one that will carry over when discussing the negatives of both the character and the show, but as for positive, you can just feel that Murder Drones is so much different from anything else you have ever watched, it truly gives me haunted Ghibli vibes in the way the story plays out. It could really be amazing. As for Doll, every time I watch her in the show up to her death I just get really sad thinking about what could have been if she had a redemption arc or just a better life in general.

Murder drones has abuse as his main theme and how it circulates into destructive chains and Doll is definitely one of the more interesting examples of said theme, being part of the abused and mauled drone designation that became an abuser herself. I say one of the more interesting examples because her story is fleshed out better than someone else's, say Tessa or Alice.

And now for the negatives, we need to bring out the big elephant in the room:

The show is only 8 episodes long and they are writing the season one finale in the same way you would write a series finale since making Murder drones costs Glitch a crap ton of money when they could just lower the animation quality and allow the story more time to breathe (mind you this is also Liam Vickers fault). I just hate the 8 episodes 20 minute long formula, it has, in my opinion, destroyed modern show telling and I honestly can't bear it any longer.

Besides that, 8 episodes of 20 minutes means that Doll's arc has to be paced quickly in order to get all the other characters (particularly the main ones) and elements to shine and that unfortunately leads to the fact that both Doll and Murder drones lack the one thing that separates Doll from being a human being and Murder Drones from being an amazing show, and that thing is (drum rolls) the tissue.

To explain, they have the (exo)skeleton, the organs, the mandibles and all the things that would make a piece of fiction feel truly human, but without the connective tissue, the skin, they both end up just short of those standards and as a result I can't confidently say that they are truly evocative individuals. Tissue of course is a metaphor for quote on quote "filler" in regards to the show and "villain at rest" moments in regards to Doll and her arc. And let's talk about the ending of said arc because of its possibility of paralleling the conclusion of the show;

You can say a lot of things about Doll's death but one thing that's impossible to deny is the impact of her death in your mind, everything about its execution is just so brutal that it leaves you a lasting feeling in your body; in a similar manner, the show could end with an absolute gut punch that remains impressed in your mind for months to come.

Want more?

[lildoodlenoodle]

Not to be That Bitch but I’ve seen people talking about this so,,,

Who is actually most likely to die in BTSV?

Yep, yikes I’m going there. Again all theories so I’m open to conversation/opinions on this!

Jessica - She’s not gonna die. There’s no way. Spiderverse is known for breaking boundaries but they aren’t going to kill a pregnant woman.

Miles - Again spiderverse is known for breaking boundaries so killing a protagonist is not outside of their range but I do not think they can kill Miles because of how integral he is to the trilogy and general synergy with comics and video games. Miles is too important of a character outside of this film in a monetary and societal way for them to kill him off in my opinion. He is the character that people associate with ‘Anyone can wear the mask’

Peter B. - The man has a baby. They aren’t gonna kill him. It just isn’t gonna happen. Nor will they kill said baby.

Hobie - They won’t do it. I love him but I don’t think his death would be enough of a catalyst or whatever. Like I just can’t see it. Not to say he isn’t important to the story but with the role he takes on, his death wouldn’t make sense.

Ben Reilly - I’m not even sure he’s currently alive lol. Gwen broke his watch and then tossed him into a random ass dimension. He’s probably fine… He’s fine.

Noir - unlikely. It wouldn’t have the emotional impact a death would need in the next movie. If, for whatever reason, multiple members of the team die then I could see it, but just him? No.(either way bro’s been resurrected multiple times in the comics, he’s fine.)

Ham - ok I could see it, but only in the comedy angel wings ‘death’ way. Like it wouldn’t be real, it’d be a gag.

Peni - ugh I can kinda see this ngl. She was the only member of team B we saw in the society and had a speaking role. Maybe I’m jaded but doesn’t bode well for a young female character… she will most likely be fine though.

Pavitr - People have said it and I do understand it. I don’t think they’ll do it but I could see it happening in a couple of different ways. His death would have be a perfect mid-late movie catalyst simply because of the parallels between him and Miles, ‘being spiderman is easy!’, and inspector Singh and Gayatri ‘escaping’ death. Will be crying in the theatre.

The Spot - I’m 50/50 on this. Like he could totally be too far gone where the only way out is him imploding but also he just wanted attention 😢

Gwen - God I can see this happening. I really hope it doesn’t but,,, Specifically, her saving Miles or one of his parents and that somehow being it for her. Her home storyline is tied up, her only remaining loose thread is with Miles, and once that’s done her ‘arc’ is over, and also the foreshadowing. Like if it happens that’s how it’s gonna happen and it’ll parallel when Miles was saving inspector Singh and that moment where we can’t see him god,,,,,,

Miguel - I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I don’t know what they are going to do with this man by the end of the next movie. Dude has put his whole being into his canon events theory, cause remember he genuinely believes or is in heavy denial about this. I don’t think being visually proven wrong will fix anything for him. I genuinely believe it’ll destroy him. I could definitely see him dying in the next movie by saving Miles/his dad in some desperate attempt to do the right thing, or taking down the spot with him type thing.

Jeff - Look, we all know it’s a possibility. It’s like algorithmically predestined, so it definitely could happen and I wouldn’t be surprised necessarily. But do I actually think it will happen? No. It’s too built up, especially with Miles going to 42 where his dad IS dead.

Rio - I’m gonna be so honest, she’s more likely to die than Jeff. SORRY! She’s the one that dies in the comics, she’s the one alive in 42, and she has that big speech about Miles not being with her any more and to look out for himself for her. I really hope they don’t do it, I really hope cause I will sob in the theatre but if one of Mile’s parents is going to die, it’ll be Rio.

[bam-here]

Anime I think are underrated

Disclaimer (because the internet is the internet): this is MY opinion. You are free to add what you would like to the discussion, but this is all opinion based.

I have plenty of others I would love to talk about/recommend to you guys so if this something you like please let me know and I'll make more.

Blood Blockade Battlefront

Let me first start with the fact that the opening and ending for both seasons are absolute bangers! The characters in this show have so much personality. And for the Obey Me fans, Zapp is literally Mammon lol. The animation is soo good too, I'm sure many people have seen it without knowing in anime edits (or amv). The story has a great balance of comedy, action and sobbing moments. It truly is a one of a kind show and I love everything about it. Also Klaus is hot aff lol

Michiko and Hatchin

When I say great female lead and storytelling *chefs kiss* This has a lot of action in it, but I don't mind because we can see these characters change through the story. They are realistic in that they make mistakes and say things they probably shouldn't, but they still have qualities that make you love them and just want the best for them. Michiko is a bad bitch and will always be. I'm also bringing up the fact that her outfits and hair change through the show which is something I LOVE especially in anime. The music is amazing and the visuals are stunning. This made me cry for sure, but the ending was worth it.

Dead Dead Demon's De De De De Destruction

Coming of age meets apocalypse. I loved the character designs and all the characters in this show are quirky and a bit awkward. The story again is a perfect balance of slice of life meets action, mecha, apocalypse. It gave me a bit of evangelion vibes but the depressed person actually has friends lol. Relatable characters that I think should be shown more in anime especially female characters. Surprisingly it has some funny ass moments and phrases in it too (if you watch it dub)

Thanks for reading my shitty opinion lol :)

[crooked-wasteland]

Hazbin Hotel Live Blog: Overture

. While I am being kind to the show as it is, I cannot push out of my mind the fact that this is still Vivienne Medrano, and while this seems to be an interesting direction the series is considering to take the story, I am lacking any intrigue. Medrano has a knack for interesting ideas, but once executed are often trimmed down from all nuance and then played in the most straight forward and storybook fashion.

Evil existed before and separate from Lucifer

Eve is linked to the root of evil through the animation

Dichotomy of Lilith and Lucifer

Why does Heaven think Hell will rise up?

Charlie is reading the storybook to herself. Aloud. And the reason is because she’s like a child seeking comfort. Also Charlie’s delivery of “Pretty worked up” is just feeling off. Like isn’t this supposed to be a somber moment? Why is it delivered so chipper? The pilot had her crying and singing a lamentation. Downgrade.

Info dump dialogue

“This kingdom was something she really cared about.”

Vaggie’s voice is such a downgrade. She sounds so uninterested.

“Daddy issues by fixing you” So alastor knows about Charlie’s family situation already.

The lineart around Alastor is so distracting. It’s so bizarrely thick.

I wish there was no dialogue

Her dad calls her but she is supposed to have a strained relationship.

I feel like Medrano doesn’t know what Angel Dust is. As in the actual drug. PCP is not Cocaine.

That was the worst segue into a song I ever saw.

“If you dont mind the smell, it’s a happy day in hell.” I hate this line.

Vaggie just never sounds right, does she? Her singing is so nasal dominate it doesn’t sound like her throaty modal voice.

What was the contract? What did it say? Why even have Charlie sign anything if we have no concept of what that is? It is such a rip off from Ariel’s contract in the Little Mermaid that it feels more like an Easter egg than relevant to the story actively being told. You need to show why the actions happening are taking place, you cant just do things and expect us to pick up the pieces for you. Are you trying to get across that Heaven is full of bureaucracy and paperwork? There is no receptionist and no other person in the building until she signs ONE paper. You failed at portraying an overabundance of bureaucratic red tape and it is distracting and infuriating. All I see are the better DISNEY MOVIES that were clearly just plagiarized. Not an homage, not inspired. Plagiarized.

Lucifer calls Charlie to meet Adam. Adam says he knows. So this doesn’t feel like this is Charlie filling in, the way the dialogue is written is that it was specifically planned for Charlie to meet Adam.

Everything has a gradient.

I bet $15 that the Dickmaster portion of Adam’s dialogue was Alex Brightman’s improv. I was not impressed by his Kaiju Dick improv in Oops and this is just as flaccid. Pun intended.

There is a clear discccrepency in talent between Alex and Erika. He has such a smoother voice and range while Erika feels like a Disney understudy where every delivery is pretty much identical to the last. Like the songs themselves are not doing her any favors. They range from bad to mediocre, and even in the better songs, there is always one horrifically bad lyric that just ruins the entire experience.

I like Lute. She feels like Peridot.

RIP Katie Killjoy.

Nifty is cute. The joke for her had a lot of potential of being hilarious but didn’t meet my threshold of comedy due to lacking a feel for Nifty. Imagine if she was in every scene with Vaggie talking her head off and never shutting up. Then when Vaggie is like, “If anyone can sell this hotel, it’s Nifty.” And we had this foundation that Nifty is known for being a huge chatterbox only to then be dead silent when the camera is on her. It would have been hilarious. But we see her once and she has one singular line previous. So it just feels like a cheap visual gag.

As a musical, it is lackluster. I see that Evil is something separate from Lucifer and something he dislikes. Lucifer is said to see free will as a spring of creativity, but humans used it to suck and that killed Lucifer’s love of life. In the meantime, Lilith is empowered by Hell. Hell fuels her sense of freedom, which she spreads through her “songs”. Only for her to just vanish I guess. She just hopes out without a word, Charlie says she must be doing something important over the last 7 years, but no inclination on what important things Lilith would be doing. Additionally, Lilith is said to have loved Hell, like Charlie. So it sets up this idea that Lucifer dislikes Hell or even hates it, while Lilith revels in it. Alluding to their marriage falling apart from this dissonance. At the same time, Lucifer calls Charlie to meet with Heaven, despite the pilot being canon. So we get the impression that Charlie and Lucifer had a falling out (“Maybe dad was right.”) but she doesn’t have much more than surprise at her father calling. Then he just sets up this meeting for her to meet with Adam off screen entirely. It is unclear how this was conveyed, but Lucifer doesn’t believe in Charlie and her meeting Adam has nothing at all to do with her hotel.

But the way Adam talks about the meeting is unusual in that it gives the impression that it wasn’t about Charlie “filling in”, but that this whole meeting was specifically set for Charlie and Adam. This is compounded by how the ending reads like they didn’t know if the angel was dead until that moment. So the extermination being moved up has nothing to do with the angel’s death. Maybe I’m wrong, but this all feels really disjointed.

But Lute really is just Peridot. So much so that when asked what I liked about the episode, I literally said “Peridot”, not Lute. The one good aspect of this episode is another stolen concept from a better show with a more competent creator. But I also like Alex Brightman’s singing. He is very talented and he does elevate the material by really playing with his delivery, but it’s still at best Mid due to the weak lyrics,

3/10

[cptn-m]

One Piece chapter 1140 review and analysis

Oda is such a tease. Let there be no fear that the series is wrapping up anytime soon. Despite a hugely memorable entrance Shamrock seems to be ducking out to save his boss status for later, and even Scopper hints that he plans to sit things out and not reveal anything he has to say to Luffy until after things with Loki wrap up. Although, it seems reasonably likely the abduction of his son will pull him into the mix anyway. And Shamrock hasn't actually left yet, so maybe I'm jumping the gun on character departures.

I guess the cover story is going to lead to some kind of Ulti and Page One redemption. Sure, why not. Maybe the Beast Pirates officers who were endearingly evil rather than wholly, cruelly evil are going to end up as Yamato's crew. Although, 26 installments in, there's not going to be a lot of time to go track down Sasaki and whoever else. And what happened between Ulti and Who's Who that he's happy to just torture her anyway?

I'm not surprised the Scopper fight turned out to be a low stakes test rather than a proper showdown, but I'm pleased to see him using the key to fight at least for a little while. It stands out a lot more visually than the axes (though the spread where he cuts up the tower is a banger), and gives us some fun physical comedy when he jams it in Luffy's mouth. I'm searching desperately for subtext in the dialogue about the straw hat, some hint about its relevance or purpose that Scopper knows from the old days, but there's not really much to see besides Scops trying to wind Luffy up.

Two new villains make a great entrance this week with fascinating designs and a great comedic bit when they're summoned in the process of receiving their orders. I'm going to headcanon that being pulled through without getting fully dressed yet is what happened to Gunko. Also Sommers has medals all the way down to his boots after he's dressed. It's a fun detail.

But the real interest here is the new summoning circle lore. People can't go without a "mark," but some inanimate objects can be pulled in. It makes this mysterious mark a double-edged sword - giving the freedom of fast travel, but but also vulnerability of being pulled in against your will any moment after you've been branded. Hey, I wonder if we'll see the good guys exploit that at some point to eject a particularly dangerous WG enemy? And what would have happened if the guys Brook went to for the timeskip had actually stumbled onto the number for a Holy Knight or even an Elder?

We also learn a little bit about the structure of the Holy Knights. Shamrock sends a request up the chain for backup, it gets relayed by his superiors to the other Knights, evidenced by Sommers and Killingham arriving while in conversation with someone else, and with new orders for Shamrock. It's an opaque system for the Knights, and must put some frustrating limits on their autonomy that the plan can be changed so suddenly. Curious about the summoning circle being called an Abyss too. Does the word they use for that in Japanese reveal any connection to the "void" or "emptiness" that come up in the Harley text?

One more time it's hinted that Harald wasn't as good as he seemed. I can't think of a single good reason it would even be on the cards for Shamrock to visit his grave if he wasn't in cahoots with some of the world's worst people.

Shamrock suggesting a game before he departs is curious. The hunting game from God Valley is the first thing that comes to mind, but how does that work for an abduction mission? Or a nation you plan to subjugate rather than exterminate. Hunting giants for sport will not result in an army of giants for the WG. Hunting giant children for sport will make the adults only marginally more cooperative than if they were dead. There must be something else on the cards.

As setup chapters go, this was a fun one. Looking forward to seeing where Oda's taking it all next week.

[hugzsz]

Thriller/horror movie and show recommendations from a self proclaimed non thriller/horror watcher (in no particular order + reasons + no spoilers)

Hot Fuzz: This plus shaun the dead and dawn of the dead were the movies that got me in LOVE with thriller comedies. It's comedic, it has mystery, it's a thriller. It has the perfect combo of all of these things + great cinematography + great writing

2) A Killer Paradox: You accidentally kill someone. You get away with it. You are pained by it..but you realise you have a lnack for murdering bad people and getting away with it. I am a sucker for the visuals of this show, it has the slightest hint of Wes Anderson vibes. It's definitely a crime/thriller and makes you question your own morals because of the morally grey main character. It stars Choi Wooshik and Son Sukku and this is making me realise maybe I like most shows they're in. Anyhow heavily recommend this.

3)Miss and Mrs Cop: It's an easy, comedic, crime-thriller. It's easy to enjoy and easy to get excited by.

4)Re/member: It's a fun mix of high school, horror, fantasy, time-loop movie with the slightest hint of romance. It was definitely a nice comedic horror watch that I as a horror disliker didn't find scary but enjoyed a nice sense of thrill and liked the comedic aspect of it.

5) The Call: Now this on the other hand I found scary. Like the thought of it is scar and the way it was portrayed I found scary. It was also very intriguing as I am a LOVER of anything to do with time-loops, time travel, inter time blah blah blah, so this really hit the spot.

6)Bloodhounds: I love love love this. I love the friendship dynamic. I love the comedic elements. I love the thriller/crime scenes. Though I did skip parts with the plot lore, I just wasn't in the mood for corporate corruption explanations. Also this is just a classically good Korean crime/thriller + it has a second season on the way.

7) A Shop For Killers: You find out your uncle has been an arms dealer and now that he's not here his enemies are after you. I am also a whore for single day, single location setting. It makes it work and it doesn't get boring. It has plot twists I couldn't see coming. It is a little gory for anyone whose not a fan of that just be mindful, but I just skipped past the really gory parts and it was fine.

8)Moving: A fantasy thriller with some romance and comedy. I found this truly enjoyable to watch. It really kept me hooked from the start and had me there till the credits. I lived for the action. I lived for the family scenes. I lived for the romance. It has great acting. Thats it I've got no more to say go watch it.

9) Midnight Runners: Two police rookier take a case onto their own hands. Has the same vibes as Bloodhounds and Miss and Mrs cop. It has a great friendship dynamic that provides a good comedic balance to the thriller/crime action going on. It really keeps a good balance of the two and has good acting.

10) Okay! Madam: It's a good comedic, thriller movie that starts with a good plot twist that really swung in from left field for me. A family on their first international flight to Hawaii run into an incident on the plane that reveals secrets and past lives. Really a great watch if you're looking for an easy action filled watch. Has similar vibes to Exit and Extreme Job.