#anyway i hope all of this makes sense!!! i tried to convey it as concisely as possible HAHAHA

[inkykeiji]

hihi! your rb with the tags about your profession had me intrigued and I wanted to ask, what DID kill the Hollywood system? if you don't mind me asking >u<

HI HI HI HEHEHE first of all i hope you’re doing well!!! seCONDLY OMGGG thank you for indulging me waaaaah i love talking about golden age/classical hollywood and the studio system!!!

beware: i rambled on and on below the cut >.< apologies for the mini essay in advance waaah

OKAY SO. first, a little context. the classical hollywood studio system originally utilized a practice called ‘vertical integration’, which basically means they owned and operated ALL channels of production, distribution, AND exhibition—aka, they controlled literally everything in regards to the films they made, which was like 90% of american filmmaking at the time. this, naturally, made it quite difficult for any film that wasn’t a film made by the Big Five (warner bros, paramount, 20th century fox, RKO, and MGM) or the Little Three (columbia pictures, united artists, and universal) to be screened at a theatre, because the studios owned a decent chunk of the theatres.

furthermore, the theatres the big studios DID own always got first run of their films, meaning that their movies were exclusively screened at the theatres they owned first, then were passed off to second run, third run and fourth run theatres. it’s important to note here that the film prints being distributed and passed around theatres were the same all throughout a film’s run—so by the time a print reached a fourth run theatre, the film stock was all scratched up and low quality. who wants to go watch that? (no one! audiences flocked to the first run theatres owned by the studios!).

the antitrust case between the supreme court and paramount pictures (aka ‘the paramount decrees’) was the first, and heaviest, nail in the coffin of the studio system. the paramount decrees did two things. first, they forced studios to stop a practice known as block booking. block booking was a practice where theatres not owned by the big studios were forced to buy a huge block or batch of films in advance. usually, these films included one A-list film and then a bunch of B-movies and other less desired films. second, they forced studios to cease owning theatre chains, which allowed for indie directors to begin screening their films, AND it allowed for more international films to be shown (which in turn helped break down the production code & replaced it with the ratings system).

this began the end of the system! it was then further impacted by consumer culture, car culture, and suburbia. after world war two, many people moved out of the city and into the suburbs, where they began to start families. car culture was booming and it was hip to have a car that you could use to commute to work (from the suburbs into the city!). disposable income was abundant, and many families were buying fancy new appliances for their new suburban homes—including televisions.

it’s a common misconception that TV killed the studio system. it was, in actually, only one of several nails in the coffin. television at the time was pretty crummy; it was low quality, the screens were small, and it only had about three channels (not to mention studios began allowing television networks to begin screening older films that no longer ran in theatres). but evidence proves that moviegoing attendance had fallen drastically several years before televisions became a fixture in the home. to combat TV and capitalize on car culture, studios began erecting drive-ins, to little avail!

anyway, i could go on and on and on but basically, in a nutshell, those were the handful of things that broke down the classical studio system and gave way to ‘new hollywood’…which then gave way to the blockbuster.

[writeyouin]

yoyoyo, for Halloween request I would absolutely love to see IDW Megatron. Imagine if the human liaison explained and somehow convinced everyone to celebrate Halloween so now they’re having a huge party and liaison notices megatron isn’t there. They go to his quarters and try to coax him to come out but he doesn’t budge and it turns out with him admitting that he feels as if though he doesn’t belong there and liaison is comforting him. I just imagine it to be a very “intimate” interaction :D.

Megatron (IDW) X Reader - Removing the Mask

A/N – What I’m about to say will make sense later: I don’t think Megatron would own a mirror, putting more into his mind than his looks… Ravage on the other hand… He a kitty… Kitty needs mirror.

Warnings – None.

Rating – T

Slowly, you weaved your way through the throng at Swerve’s, careful to avoid the stomping pedes of the overcharged bots that towered over you. Despite your trouble manoeuvring through the crowd, you were delighted to see everyone getting into the Halloween spirit. When you suggested celebrating the holiday in the meeting with Rodimus, you never thought everybody would be so interested, but apparently any excuse to cut loose and party was good enough.

However, as happy as you were, you were also disappointed to find that Megatron was nowhere to be seen. Over the past few months, you had started understanding him more, visiting him for friendly chats rather than professional meetings, listening to his poetry recitals, leaving him small gifts of Earth literature; you had broken free of your role as his keeper, opting instead to be his friend.

The memory of your last conversation replayed in your head; a reminder that you might have crossed the line from friends into something more without his wanting to. ‘You should come to the Halloween party tonight. It might be fun.’

Megatron hadn’t even looked up from his report, replying with a despondent, ‘Nobody will want me there. I am hardly adored on this ship.’

‘You’re wrong. I mean, I want you there…If you want to come that is.’

At that, Megatron didn’t say anything more and you wondered if you’d overstepped your boundaries. Now, as you craned your neck to look up for him, you realised that you might have sounded a little desperate.

You wondered whether you ought to check the hallway for him, in case he was out there, worrying about entering the party alone. The opportunity didn’t arise however, as you were knocked down by an over-charged mech. You were sure he was about to crush you when he turned around to check what he had hit. His pede came crashing down, and you held your arms up instinctively, trying to shout over the noise of the bar to no avail. Before his foot could come down, you felt yourself being yanked into the air.

Rodimus set you down onto the bar with a cocky grin. You saw his lips moving, though you couldn’t hear what he said over the pounding lyrics of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller,’ which blasted loudly over the bar’s speakers.

“WHAT?!” You yelled.

Rodimus tried again.

“I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

Rodimus frowned, his neck cables becoming taut as he yelled over the music, “I SAID IT WAS A COOL FRAGGIN’ SAVE!”

You gave an agreeable thumbs-up. Meanwhile, Rodimus commed Blaster through his internal feed, telling him to turn the music down so the two of you could have a normal conversation.

Finally, when he could hear himself think, Rodimus turned his attention back to you. “So, after that daring, debonair rescue, can I get you a drink?”

You grinned, “Do you even know what debonair means?”

“Not a clue.”

“Didn’t think so. Well, as much as I love those ‘debonair’ drink offers, I must decline. I’m looking for Megatron, you seen him?”

“That sour-puss? He’s probably moping in his hab-suite. Why do you need him anyway?”

You chewed your lip, thinking about your previous invitation to Megatron. Denying Rodimus the truth, you shook your head, “No reason.”

Rodimus stared intently at you, trying to figure you out. He was about to say something more, but was quickly cut short by the sight of Ultra Magnus entering the bar, a stern look on his face.

“Scrap,” Rodimus blanched. “Gotta run! Homework attack! You haven’t seen me!”

You let out the breath you didn’t know you’d been holding, not quite ready to say aloud the private thoughts you’d been having about Megatron. Thinking of Megatron again didn’t help, other than to make you feel even glummer. Would it be a burden on him if you visited? What if he really didn’t want to come to the party? You wanted to believe that he did but was too shy, however the fear of him hating your weird Earth traditions scared you, as if he might be rejecting you instead of the holiday.

“Be brave,” You told yourself. “If you don’t ask, you’ll never know.”

With that small boost of courage, you vaulted off the bar, taking one shaky step at a time to visit the mech who you ought to hate, yet were slowly growing to love.

Megatron stared forlornly at the blank datapad in front of him. He had hoped to escape the jubilations of Halloween in one of his works of poetry, yet no matter how much he tried, he could think of nothing to write. Even from his hab-suite, his wonderful world of words could not protect him from the faraway sound of music that furthered the ache in his spark.

‘(Y/N) is out there, probably having the time of their life without me,’ Megatron thought sadly. He was your job, and though he was sure you were only making your job less tedious by conversing with him on a personal level, he held out a small slither of hope that it might be because you liked him, at least a little bit.

He rested his helm in his servos, loathing that fragment of hope for existing. He should be content with what he already had, yet that infernal emotion kept coming back, daring to dream of more. Why wasn’t it enough to be merely accepted by you? He’d tried to eliminate your planet, yet he still had the gall to wish to hold your light near him, snuffing out the darkness of his past.

‘(S)he said (s)he wanted me there…What did that even mean? Was it just a polite invitation? It didn’t feel like that.’

Megatron leaned back in his chair, sighing. He was glad that Ravage wasn’t around to see him like this; it was a very sorry sight indeed. Fortunately, the ferocious feline had taken to napping in the vents and wasn’t likely to come back for a while.

“Megatron?” You called from outside, having failed to reach the door-pad to buzz yourself in.

Megatron sat up straight, the corner of his lips fighting between a smile and a frown, causing him to grimace oddly.

“Megatron, you in there?”

“Just one moment,” Megatron replied. He lowered himself to the floor where there was a mirror for Ravage to preen. Seeing himself on all fours made him feel ridiculous, but he had to make sure he looked all right. He hadn’t buffed his paint-job in a while, though he supposed he still looked acceptable, at the very least.

‘What am I doing?’ He reprimanded himself, getting up quickly and walking over to the door in a controlled manner.

He let you in, keeping his expression neutral while he tried to figure you out. You waved casually, taking a few steps inside. The door closed quietly behind you.

“Hey,” You said, hoping whatever was coming wouldn’t sound desperate. “I uh, wondered if you were alright… I kind of hoped to see you at the party.”

Megatron blinked long and hard, putting too much thought into your words. So, you did want him there, but was it a pity invite? If it wasn’t then why did you want to see him of all mechs? Did you just want to see him as a friend? Could he dare ask for more? It felt selfish to think of you as a friend at all, but whenever he looked at you, he felt the need to fight again. Only this time, instead of fighting to destroy, he would be fighting to create a relationship worth protecting.

“Megatron?”

Your voice brought Megatron out of his reverie. He opened his optics, his gaze gentle as it met yours, making you feel vulnerable, as if he was seeing something in you that you didn’t know existed. “I am sorry (Y/N),” Megatron said humbly, “but I cannot attend tonight’s festivities.”

“Oh…”

Megatron’s spark squeezed in his chest cavity at the crestfallen look that befell you.

“I um… Is it me? Did I push you?”

“What! No. Primus, no. The fault is entirely my own- I just-” Megatron sighed; how could he concisely convey the eons of hatred that followed him where he went. He knew he deserved it, but every time he left his hab-suite only to be met with a look of the purest contempt from everyone he passed, he was reminded of the many iniquities of his past that he had no way of making up for.

“(Y/N),” Megatron lamented, half-covering his face with his servo as he leant against the berth. “Why can’t you see how much they hate me? Why… Why don’t you hate me?”

“Do you really think so little of me that you think I wouldn’t understand?” You asked, surprising Megatron. “I get why they hate you. When we first met, I honestly wondered how we were going to work together because I hated you. You attacked my planet, my home, my way of life. Considering how long your war was, I get it; everyone hates you.”

Megatron knew he deserved the verbal beating, but hearing it from you was far worse than he ever fathomed; every word felt like a bullet to his very spark.

“But then I met you.” Megatron risked a peek at you, finding your gaze distant, lost in the void of memories. “I was so sure you wold be the same Cybertronian I saw on T.V. all fierce and proud and so full of hate… but you weren’t. From day one you were so eager to make up for all the things you’ve done. I bet you didn’t even realise it but it was almost like if you showed just this one tiny Earthling that you’d changed, maybe everyone else could see it too.”

Megatron hung his head low, embarrassed that he was so easy to read; he hoped nobody else was as perceptive as you.

“You know, on Earth we have this… well it’s not really a saying, more of an idea really. It’s that if you feel ashamed of your past, it makes you a better person than those who aren’t, because at least you want to change. Somebody who is truly bad doesn’t care about their actions or who they are.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because, Halloween is a time for unmasking our ghosts and facing the skeletons in the closet… You shouldn’t force yourself to face your past alone. Everyone here has something they’re ashamed of, that’s why they don’t hate you as much as you think they do. I’d bet if you spent half as much time with them as you have with me, they might even like you.”

Megatron finally looked at you, your words reopening some old wounds inside him that would heal better thanks to your kindness. “(Y/N), I know what you say holds the truth, but I cannot go out there… not tonight.”

You nodded sadly, “I know. I saw it as soon as I came in here. Goodbye Megatron. I hope you find whatever it is you’re looking for on this ship of misfits. I know I did.”

As you turned to leave, Megatron reached out for you, “Wait!”

You inclined your head towards him, listening.

Although Megatron wanted to ask you what it was you had found during your time aboard the Lost Light, he couldn’t as another request came to mind. “I know it is selfish to ask on your holiday, but please… Stay with me tonight?”

“You sure you want me here?”

Megatron dropped to his knees before you, “I feel that maybe I could use some practice if I am to co-inhabit with the others of this ship. Will you ah-”

Your lip tilted at the corner and Megatron blushed. He had already admitted that he was being selfish, but if only you knew how selfish his processor desired to be. If he could keep you to himself for eternity he would; you were the only one to speak to him with full honesty. By admitting that you hated him once, yet had the room to grow, you had enchanted him; by telling the truth, you had accidentally made him realise that he loved you, though he hoped you would not unmask that side of him quite so easily.

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[pupa-cinema]

Tanabattalion☆Returns Analysis (七夕リアン☆リターンズ考察)

By Sekihan via https://lineblog.me/omedeta/archives/9380720.html. ~~Reading the Lyrics~~ I see. I don’t understand ‘em at all🤔 Let's review them bit by bit then, shall we.    'At my side you were when you said    “Do you know what Chikuwabu is?”    Today marks 2 years of nights we’ve spent together like this    I really hope I’ll be able tell her...' Ah, so it’s a song about a couple. Yeah yeah. “Chikuwabu” is buzzword for ‘Oden noodles’ that only people from Kantou know, so the girl asking the question must be from Kantou. Meaning her boyfriend, the main character, must be from somewhere other than Kantou, yeah that makes sense. It’s like their 2nd year anniversary together then or something like that. Yeah yeah.    'I stub my pinkie toe on the edge of a cabinet    It hurt so much I got sent into shock, I kicked the bucket’ I see. The main character dies.   'I’ve tried to tell you my feelings 100 times before, but still after all this time     I still left them unsaid' So he wanted to tell her something in the intro (on that special day) but... This clutz of a main character went off and died before he could say it. What a clutz. The number of attempts he’s made at telling her this important thing is.. exactly 100 times. He keeps track huh, he’s quite the feminine main character. So his 100th attempt also ended in a failure. Yeah yeah.   'Let me stay with you   Come wake up my cold corpse (body)’ A sudden twist into horror. Even after death he still wants to stick with his girlfriend. He wishes with all his heart: Enough to turn into the walking dead. Kinda like Colin🧟‍♂️🧟‍♀️     'I won't die, I can’t die     Because I love you     My 101st confessionI pray it reaches you     The Sanzu River, the galaxy’s rivers of stars     I’ll push through all of them just to see you     Our bond holds even millions of lightyears apart     A couple’s necromance, ah what a dumbbell' Wait this is ‘Monday 9’. So the writer just wanted to reference this, I bet. “I won’t diee. Because I love you.” (✳︎'Monday 9' is the word for the dramas that air at prime time on TV  https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Getsuku_(Fuji_TV), with the show '101st Marriage Proposal' among them. A notorious line from an episode is these exact words… After a character expresses their distress and terror of falling in love, another character runs out into the rain, almost gets hit by a bus, is safe by a hair, then wails them out at his beloved. Seki’s imagination recreated this zombie style.) On the night of Tanabata, do Hikoboshi and Orihime cross the galaxy that divides them. Once a year, this is the only time they can finally see each other. That’s the common conception of the legend of Tanabata. Likewise, the main character of Tanabattalion Returns.. crosses the galaxy’s river of stars, or more like the River of Sanzu, just to see his beloved. It’s truly necromantik. (A deadly romance).  Ah what a dumbbell. (✳︎Dumbbell - Or the true word “baka-chin” is a diss coined by Takeda Tetsuya. In stories he told on his shows, his mother would call him ‘baka-chin’. )    '"I love you so much thatI could just eat you up🤤"     This here zombie’s confession rehearsal' So it’s a joke based on the way Zombies are known for eating humans. That’s actually adorable. It’s not funny but still 🥺 I feel as if I’ve heard of this “Confession Rehearsal” thing before...       'I get dressed up from happy go lucky head to toe and head out      My legs are dragging, will I make it in time…' If you’re gonna see your special someone then you gotta dress up, y’know. The reason it’s “dress up from happy head to toe” is because it's a reference to our band name Happy go Lucky Heads. (✳︎ The word “Dress-up” is “おめかしOmekashi” here. As the word has “Ome” in it just like Omedetai, Seki changes the Ome in the lyrics to be written in the same katakana way as the band name, instead of the standard hiragana spelling. Imitating the way the band Boyz || Men change every “to” in their lyric booklet to be written as “||”. 

The main character... He died and became a zombie because he stubbed his toe so His ambulation is wonky, he can’t get much speed. Even though he needs to hurry up and reach her before the night of Tanabata ends! He’s in a pickle🥺     'I won't die, I can’t die     Because I love you     My 101st confession     I hope it reaches you     With my rotting brain I     Considered and chose     A bolt nut ring     I hope it will look good on your finger' These lyrics are the same as the first chorus so I omitted some of them. (✳︎Here Seki uses the word “割愛” for “omit”… A word which has “愛(love)” in it. It has “愛” in it because it’s a bit more intense than a mere omission, it more leans towards “Force self to let go of something, even if don’t want to.”Seki's word choice is cute.) I got the idea for the engagement ring from zombies’ heads. A bold nut ring. Ahh. ‘Cause it’s the whole Monday 9 thing. Yeah yeah. So when he says “I hope it looks good on your finger” ... He must be fully committed to giving it to her. 

    'I won’t die, because I love you      I won’t die, because I’m going to make you happy' For the recording I screamed this part of the interlude. The second line is still the 'Monday 9' thing. During concerts I’ll actually straight up tell a story here. What’s wrong with being a bit like King-Show. 🥺   I say it so fast, as if a guns to my head. So I need to put a lot of brain power into making sure it’s intelligible.     'July 7th, a sunny day     I found you     There, under the night stars shooting down, was the sound gunfire      I’ve been shot in the head' "'Us staff searched long and far. Until at long last I found Her 🥺'" ↑This reference is unrelated. I just wanted to say it. (✳︎A notable line from this variety show). Now. On this Tanabata night, under the wide open starry sky, did he finally find her. The moment of truth to confess his feelings. His 101st attempt! I won’t die! Because I love you! I won’t die! Because I’m going to make you happy! (In other words: please marry me). He says! Even though he’s already dead! Alas... Instead of hearing her voice say “Yes” The last sound he ever hears is Her scream, along with the roar of gunfire. It’s said that zombies can’t die but With a headshot you’re certain to K.O. them. Just like “Shoot him in the head! (頭を狙え！)”(✳︎Seki writes it in English here then adds JP translation. Thanks Seki for being fluent in English). The classic phrase from zombie movies. Hey, who the hell shot him! Who!     'I won't die, I can’t die     Because I love youThe bolt nut ring     It hope it reaches you     The Sanzu River, the galaxy’s rivers of stars     I pushed through all of them just to see you     Our bond holds even millions of lightyears apart     A couple’s necromance, for now and forever more' If you think about it.. He’s a zombie right, It’s hard to tell if he truly has consciousness or not. So then what the hell was this all about?! You may be wondering but This is fantasy, fiction. Or... You may instead be worrying “Will he not be able to give it to her anymore...” The “I hope it reaches you” lyric holds true for this too. And as you may have already guessed, in the last chorus, as his consciousness is slipping away He sees a dream. In his dream I bet he’s succeeded in confessing to her. In giving her the ring. If he was still human this would be considered homicide,It would be a bad-end but He’s a zombie soIs it a bad-end Or a happy-end..Which.. For her, who’s still alive, and for him, who's a zombie, This is how it has to be. Though it’s impossible to know what’s truly right but. Anyway That calls it for my explanation of Tanabattalion Returns. The title is reference to Return of the Living Dead 3. My favorite of the Living Dead/Battalion series. (✳︎In Japan the title of the series was localized to ‘Battalion’ and the 3rd as 'Battalion Returns'! This is because zombies come in such huge armies, my guess is this conveyed the sheer volume more concisely to the JP audience.) This is probably the first ever love story about a zombie and stuff like this, right? IDK but. The guy who wrote this song is gonna try his best to write lyrics that’re easier to understand from now on. Promise. 

[amrynth]

Like the Tide

For @kumeko​ for Sparkle Sparkle 2019.  Happy Sparkling!

Also on Ao3

By the end of her shift, Haruka was prone to mopping along corridors in the back with her headphones on and her head down.  The aquarium was closed at that point and she’d already done her portion of the front of house and moved on to back.  It was easier to work head down, following walls and corridors and only really knowing where to go based on door frames that opened with her keycard and door frames that rejected her card.  So, when she pushed through a partially open door without needing her card, Haruka didn’t think much of it or even notice the restricted personnel sign.

She had, as Makoto often liked to tell her, her head in the clouds.  Haruka insisted this couldn’t be accurate because she was trying to keep her head down this time, otherwise she was never going to afford to fix the engine in her car.  Not if she got fired again.  

The pattern of light on the ground she was mopping changed.  It had been solid from the fluorescents overhead; the behind the scenes part of the aquarium wasn’t quite as fancy as the front with the environmentally friendly, aesthetically pleasing lights and wide windows with a view of the bay.  But now there was the dance of water reflecting light onto the floor and Haruka stopped her mop.  This wasn’t part of her usual routine.  

Haruka lifted her head slowly to look where she’d ended up; half the room was a typical space set up for studying the very large tank that dominated the room.  The other half of the room was a glass wall separating her from the tank that made up the second half.  She watched the water ripple at the top of the tank, the way the grid guarding the top of it was set several feet beneath the surface and even above that it was lit artificially rather than being exposed to the open air.  Quarantine?  Was it a tank with invasive species inside?  She didn’t see anything moving inside  so maybe nothing was set up yet and it was all in preparation for a sample that was going to get moved into the tank soon.  

Something shifted in the corner of the tank and Haruka lifted her hands to lower her headphones from where they covered her ears.  She moved down the wall of glass between her and the water, trying to move to where she could see into the dim corner better.  

From the darkness the shape sprang at the glass, making Haruka jump.  It was bigger than she’d anticipated, longer than she was tall and just as wide.  In fact it was entirely too human shaped in most aspects, other than the long tail that made up over half its- her length.  Haruka almost dropped her mop, staring at what was, for lack of a better term, a mermaid trying very hard to intimidate her.  The mermaid was faintly blue-green from head to toe, the color concentrated on her tail, shoulders and hair and lightening to a pale mint on the more human torso.  Her hair, turning the darker green of a deep ocean toward the ends, floated in loose waves along her shoulders.  Now that her initial scare hadn’t chased Haruka off, she was looking at the human with blue eyes.

Haruka lifted a hand and pressed the palm against the glass.  She had her cart with her, when she was done in the room she would clean the glass to get rid of any fingerprints.  But she wanted to know if the mermaid was intelligent, she certainly looked that way.  This was a very small tank for a creature, intelligent or otherwise, of Haruka’s size to be stuck in.  Inside the tank, those blue eyes were moving from Haruka’s face to her hand, the broom, and up to the grid covering the top of her tank.  Even if she didn’t respond to Haruka’s hand, it was clear from her expression and her eyes she was intelligent, sentient.  And that wasn’t just the same anthropomorphization Haruka tended to give all her adopted strays at all.  

After a long consideration of the hand pressed against the glass, while the figure in the tank drifted slowly closer, she pressed her hand to the same point on the other side of the glass.  They remained that way for a moment, time seeming to hold still, Haruka’s eyes going from where their hands met to find those of the mermaid.  She smiled.  She felt hopeful that maybe, as human in appearance as half of her was, the gesture would communicate that she didn’t mean any harm.  

In the water, the mermaid’s hands moved, creating purposeful gestures as her eyes watched for Haruka to recognize them.  Haruka followed the motion of her hands and appreciated, not for the first time, elegant fingers and delicate wrists and a ridge of spine along her lower forearm that terminated in a frill of fin.  She was trying to talk to Haruka in sign language and she wished she understood.  

“Wait a second, let me look…”

Haruka help up one finger and turned to consider the room behind her, looking to see if there was, say, a primer on how to ask in sign language if someone needed help.  Of course there was nothing of the sort so she pulled up her phone and looked up a few signs.  

She knew her hand signals were, at best, probably childish and Haruka kept looking at her phone and then back to the mermaid as she signed them.  “You.  Happy?”

The mermaid watched her hands, head canted to one side as she tried to make sense of gestures that were little better than a toddler’s.  Slowly she repeated what Haruka had said, elegant hands making the gestures clearer and much more like those she had looked up on her phone.  Haruka copied her, hoping that she understood what she was asking.  She knew she didn’t have the finesse (yet) required to ask the mermaid if she was a captive, if she wanted to be in a tank smaller than the closet in Haruka’s studio apartment.  

After a moment, the mermaid shook her head, hands moving to say more than Haruka could follow.  She paused and signed with slow, exaggerated motions that even Haruka was able to understand.  “Not happy.”

Haruka had the mop leaning against her shoulder and neck so her hands were free to move and to navigate her phone.  She frowned when the mermaid made herself clear and had to turn to her phone to try and ask in a concise way her next question.  A few steps and she was standing right at the edge of the tank and kept sneaking glances at the mermaid.  She was, perhaps, the most beautiful thing Haruka had ever seen.  It was a shame anything was trapped in a tank like this, particularly if it was sentient and knew it was trapped.  

“Want. Help?”  Haruka tried to be more deliberate in her gestures, more precise to make her meaning clearer.  

There was no hesitation in the mermaid’s response, moving toward the glass and nodding fervently.  

“Help.  Help.”  She repeated the gesture at Haruka, then swam up to push and rattle the grid keeping her in the tank.  

Haruka gazed at her, then switched from the browser on her phone to her contacts, scrolling for the one person she could rely on to help.  It was fairly late so she let it ring through once, waited long enough to clean her handprint off the glass, and then dialed again.  

“What is so important you’re blowing my phone up?”  The voice on the other end of the line was heavy with sleep.

“Hi Makoto,” Haruka put the full power of a smile into her voice.  

“No.”  The other side of the conversation hung up.  

Stubborn, Haruka dialed Makoto again.  It wasn’t until the very last ring that Makoto picked up, sounding less sleepy than before.  “Okay.  Yes.  I’m awake.”  

“Have I told you how delightful you are today Kino-san?”  

Makoto made a noise on the other end of the line that was somewhere between a laugh and a snort and a sound of disbelief.  “Stop.  What’s up?”  

“Do you think you could bring your truck to the aquarium?” Haruka asked, cutting to the point rather than trying to flatter her friend.  

There was a pause, then the sound of movement that was probably getting pants from the laundryheap.  “Is this anything like that time you needed a favor at the zoo?”  

“No-”

Makoto interrupted her, picking up where she’d left off.  “Because if you get fired again for, I don’t know, trying to free the penguins-”

“Look there was a perfectly good excuse for breaking that animal out, she was being-”

“-You’re never going to afford to fix your engine, is the point I’m trying to make.”  

Haruka frowned at her mop.  She quite liked her job actually, cleaning up after people wasn’t the most glamorous thing in the world, but at least she was cleaning up after crowds that mostly consisted of small children experiencing wonder.  And scientists who were trying their best to keep the oceans diversely populated.  But there was days like this where she found out at least one of them was doing something that seemed sketchy on every level.  It was just like the zoo, when she’d found one of the snakes was being experimented on and she’d packed it home, cared for it, and then found a safe, happy home for it.  

“Makoto it’s really important this time.”  

There must have been something in her tone of voice that made the voice on the other side of the phone pause.  Makoto sighed.  “Okay, but you’re going to owe me.”  

“By this time tomorrow I might be working for you full time,” Haruka said, but she was only partially joking.  

“Okay.  I’ll be headed there in a few minutes.  We’re not setting a whale free or anything, are we?” Makoto didn’t sound as though she thought this was outside the realm of possibility.  

“No, not a whale,” she assured her.  

“Mmm.”  Makoto wasn’t entirely convinced but hung up on her anyway.  

Haruka looked up from her conversation to see the mermaid watching her with interest.  She appeared to have neutral buoyancy, just floating and moving slightly with the lightest movement of her tail.  After searching on her phone for a few words she needed, Haruka waved for her attention, smiling again.  

“Friend.”  

The mermaid canted her head so Haruka repeated the sign and pointed at herself, not sure if she hadn’t understood what she was trying to convey or if her signing was too sloppy.  

“Friend help.”  The mermaid took a moment to sign back, combining words they had already used.

Haruka nodded.  Yes, she was going to help her.  She narrowed her eyes and looked at her phone again, struggling to make a complex enough sentence to ask her next question.  Or rather, to ask her questions in such a way the mermaid could answer in simple yes or no.  

“No water, death?”  Haruka had to repeat herself, clarifying her gestures to get her question across to her mermaid.

The mermaid frowned at her, playing with a bit of long, green hair that had trailed over her shoulder.  Her eyes were moving quickly, looking at Haruka and the room behind her.  Was she considering her options?  

“Help.” Haruka signed hoping she would understand.  Getting the mermaid out of the aquarium would be difficult enough, getting her out in a truck capable of holding water was going to be even more difficult.  Not that they had access to that, Makoto’s truck was pretty basic, that meant it wasn’t a waterproof bed.  

After another moment’s consideration, the mermaid indicated 3 and then a gesture Haruka didn’t know.  She tried hunting it up, then searched for words to do with time.  Three hours.  

“Three hours.”  She signed back, repeating a little more awkwardly.  

On the other side of the glass, the mermaid tilted her head and gently corrected the motion, getting Haruka to repeat herself until she had apparently done it to her satisfaction.  Then she smiled and Haruka forgot everything she had been trying to learn to say with her hands.  When the mermaid smiled, time stood still and Haruka couldn’t hear much other than the soft lap of water and the singing of an angelic choir.  

Oh boy.

Haruka was startled from her reverie when her phone buzzed and she nearly jumped out of her skin.  Just Makoto texting to ask which gate she should pull up to.  How long had she been staring at the mermaid?  Haruka flipped through her browser to figure out how to tell the mermaid she would be back, and then returned to her cart out in the hallway.  She made careful note of what room she had been in and the restricted access sign she hadn’t seen when she’d first gone in.  

She took a moment to text Makoto the best gate, along with a message that she needed to at least make sure her work could pass inspection for the night.  Also could Makoto perhaps get her mad scientist friend to hack the security system so maybe none of them would spend time in jail.  Haruka cruised through the rest of what she should have mopped, grabbing garbage and otherwise making sure it would pass a cursory inspection.

And then she jogged up to the ground level to meet up with Makoto out in the staff parking lot.  

“What is all of this about?” Makoto asked, phone in her hand.  “Ami’s not a mad scientists by the way.  She’s just really really smart and I have no idea what she does.  But she’s on cameras, we’re basically ghosts.”  

“Do you think we can drive to some secluded beach in three hours?” Haruka asked.  

“If you got me out of bed because you want to go on a drive- Haruka you have a bike even if your car isn’t running.  I have to be up to open the bakery in a few hours.” Makoto sounded more than a little exasperated.  

“And, assuming we’re not all in jail tomorrow morning, I will be right at your side burning muffins.”  Haruka was gratified that Makoto laughed at this statement.  “But this is important.  Back the truck up this way, I’ll direct you.  We can do it in three hours, right?  Way less, right?”  

“You’re not driving, I can do it in one hour.”  

“I could do it in half.”  

Makoto got into her truck and didn’t dignify this with an answer.  

Haruka helped her back into a space as close to where she would guess the tank was.  “You okay to wait here?  If someone comes by let them know you’re on a drop off.”  

“That’s only going to work so long,” Makoto said, leaning out the window to talk to her.

“I’ll be fast.”  Haruka spoke with confidence, grinning at her friend.

Haruka jogged again, finding the staff entrance that would get her where she needed to go.  It wasn’t a long hall, counting doors and corridors until she found the one that said restricted access and correlated to the door she’d accidentally slipped through earlier.  She texted the door number to Ami who was, as far as she was concerned and despite what Makoto said, a mad scientist.  A few seconds later the door clicked and Haruka was through.  

The upper part of the large tank the mermaid was far less interesting than the lower part- if you didn’t know what was in the tank.  It was much harder to make out what was below the surface and the grid from above and there was little more up in this part of the building but tank controls and monitors.  

She was tempted to glance at the security camera, trusting Ami had taken care of it, but kept her head down just in case.  Not that she was easily confused for anyone else in janitorial coveralls anyway.  She was the tallest on the janitorial staff, lean and angular and blonde.  Haruka kicked her shoes off, rolled her pants up, and dropped down to where the grid was preventing the mermaid from attempting to escape, gasping at the cold water.  She knelt down, one pant leg soaking up to the knee.  There wasn’t anything to be seen with the light reflecting off the water, so she wove her fingers down into the grid.  Immediately, soft fingers touched the ends of hers, weaving to meet them.  

Haruka grinned and got back to her feet to climb out of the tank.  Now that she was certain she had the right tank, she operated the machinery ro raise the grill and open the top of the tank.  Almost as soon as it was open, the pale, green-blue shape of the mermaid was emerging from the water.

“Hi.  Can you hear or, I don’t know.  Talk?” Haruka asked, getting the grid far enough out of the way she could kneel down where the mermaid was climbing out.  

“Yes.  But once I am out of the water it is best if I do not try to talk.”  

“Here, take my hands.  I’ll help you up and then my friend has a truck and we’ll get you out of this place.”  Haruka offered her arms and found them soon very wet and very full of mermaid.  She was colder and lighter than Haruka had expected, skin the same temperature as the salt water in her tank.  The mermaid wrapped her arms around her shoulders and her tail wound down around one leg so that Haruka could still walk.  

She stopped just long enough to close the grill and shove her feet back into her shoes.  This was the part that worried Haruka the most, walking through the building with a mermaid in her arms.  Just regular janitorial work.  That it was long after business and working hours was to their benefit, as they didn’t pass a soul.  

“The hell is that?”  Makoto half stepped out of her truck but then got back in and started the engine.  

Haruka pulled the blanket from behind the seat and, with Makoto’s help, put it on the seat so that the mermaid could cover most of her tail with it.  She almost looked human- strangely dressed perhaps and a little more green than the standard variety, but human.  

“Um, so you can see why we needed to bust this one out, right?” Haruka asked.

She settled in the passenger seat so that the mermaid was between them and the least visible from either window.  Still damp and cool, the mermaid leaned against her side and watched the window, her breathing shallow but steady.  

“Yeah.  And the timeframe.”  Makoto glanced at them from the corner of her eye and smiled at the security team member who was manning the booth.  Once past, she adjusted her rear view mirror.  “You know, he smiles just like my senpai.”  

Mostly the ride was quiet, the streets rather empty now that it was past the time most people were still out.  Once the aquarium was closed, there wasn’t a lot of reason for anyone to be out this far.  The whole truck grew tense when flashing lights started to come up behind them, but Makoto pulled to the side of the road and they passed right by.  

“I think I might be sick.”

“If you’re going to be sick switch places with me,” Haruka said, glancing over at Makoto.  

“I’ve got this.  I don’t trust you with my transmission after what happened to yours,” was the retort.  

Haruka was about to let Makoto know that if her transmission had been built to the specs she wanted, it would have done fine with the way she changed gears.  And it would be, someday.  If she could keep a job.  

When the mermaid was determined missing, would she still have a job?  She had been more interested in making sure Makoto wasn’t going to get traced to this but it would be obvious when Haruka wasn’t clocked out at all that she was a person of interest in the specimen’s disappearance.  Maybe most of the aquarium didn’t even know about her.  

“What do you think, good beach?  Should we go further?”  Makoto pulled to the side and checked the map on her phone.  

Haruka looked at the mermaid leaning against her.  It had been almost an hour and her breathing was more shallow, her skin clammy and wan.  Although she’d said three hours, Haruka thought maybe that was an overestimation on her part.  

“I think this will do.  Once she is back in the water, everything will be okay.  Right?”  Haruka caught the mermaid’s attention.

The mermaid blinked slowly at her and nodded.  

They turned off the highway and made their way down toward the beach.  The mermaid picked her head up when the car door opened and she could hear the ocean, her blue eyes turning intense.  

“Come on, almost there.”  Haruka slid one arm under her tail and the over behind her back, leaving the blanket behind in the cab of the truck.  

The beach was virtually empty and Haruka just walked out, thigh-deep, into the water with the mermaid and lowered her into the water.  Still holding onto one of her forearms, the mermaid breathed a deep sigh when she touched the ocean water, then smiled up at Haruka, her brilliant and time-stopping smile.  

“I ought to tell you something,” she said, her voice soft enough that Haruka had to lean down to hear her.  Instead of saying anything, the mermaid leaned up and kissed her on the cheek.  

Haruka dropped her, stunned by the soft, cool lips on her cheek.  

“My name is Michiru.”  

There was something she was supposed to say but Haruka just put a hand on her cheek and stared at her, at a loss for words.  Makoto came to her rescue once again, throwing a rock in their direction.  

“Tell her your name, dummy!”

“Haruka.  My name is Haruka.”  

With a flip of her tail, Michiru was gone.  Haruka was left at the shore with a cool spot on her cheek and one last time-stopping smile.  

[periodicreviews]

RWBY/RTX Austin 2018

Last weekend, I went to RTX Austin which is Rooster Teeth’s annual convention. Last time I went in 2016, it was about primarily to try it out, but I was also interested in seeing the RWBY panel for the plan the staff had for the forthcoming Volume 4, the first without Monty. I was pleasantly surprised when I heard Jeff Williams would be performing a concert and this turned out to be the highlight. 

I skipped 2017 because there was no Jeff Williams concert and partially due to being disappointed with Volume 4.

I bet this year on the fact that Jeff would be coming back and that turned out to be a good choice because the show did not disappoint. I don’t think the 2016/first time experience can ever be topped, but this 2018 show was equally worth the money.

After the disappointment that was Volume 4 and the mediocre Volume 5, I wasn’t as hyped about RWBY, but I figured I should still go to RTX and see it since I’d be there anyway. But admittedly I was going more for the concert than anything else.

The following is a summary of the RWBY panel #1 on Friday, the JWFO concert and Q&A, and a few other things.

RWBY pre-panel

There were several things that stood out to me at this panel.

Before the panel began, two women came out on stage to warm up the crowd. (This was after Craig from GameAttack came out to ask for donations for the Extra Life charity stream that they do). I hate to reduce them to stereotypes because I don’t really know anything about them and don’t have anything against them, but it’s the easiest way to convey the scene. Girl #1 was cosplaying as Yang. She seemed to be a very energetic and outgoing type of person and I got the impression that she is trying to get hired by Rooster Teeth in a marketing/PR role. Girl #2 was wearing a RWBY dress and was the quieter kind of nerdy girl who had a little trouble speaking either due to nervousness or she just stutters when she talks. Girl #2 also had a bat wrapped with barbed wire, like from The Walking Dead which apparently someone just gave to her as a gift.

I bring up their appearances/personalities because they mentioned they had introduced several panels together, meaning that some organizer had put them together for some reason. There just didn’t seem to be any chemistry between the two. Girl #1 would start to go off on a PR line about how beautiful all the Yangs/cosplayers looked and Girl #2 would say “I like turtles”. She didn’t actually say “I like turtles” but I’m just trying to illustrate the kind of disconnect between them.

 “So amazing!”

Girl #1 repeated this phrase at least 20 times while she was on-stage. I get she was there to hype up RWBY and RT, but maybe she went a little too far. She made it sound like everything at RTX was the best thing ever, which I get for fans, it’s a very enjoyable experience and from a PR perspective that’s what you want to convey. This is no different from something like Electric Daisy Carnival where they really push the “You are loved”/“We are all friends” message as you bake for 12 hours in the sun.

“Proud of me yet dad?”

Girl #2 said this near the end of their time and it felt like it was one of the few genuine moments during that opening.

“RWBY is the most forward facing property that Rooster Teeth has.”

Girl #1 said this and it’s one of many things she said that made me think she was trying to get hired.

“Are you guys ready for the Yang-bang with Barb?”

I cringed at this. I was completely unaware that the group selfie with Barbra Dunkleman (the voice of Yang) and other Yang cosplayers was referred to as a Yang-bang (I looked it up and that is what she tagged it as in 2016). I get that RWBY is now dark and gritty and no longer a “kid-friendly” show per se. But phrasing the selfie like this seemed to be a little too casual pun on “gangbang”.

Besides this, they went through the usual crowd questions like “Who’s here to see RWBY?”, “How many people have been to RTX before?”, “Did you guys get your merch? Oh that merch is so great.”, etc.

RWBY main panel

Once the panel officially started, I was confused as to why, just like in 2016, everyone seems so unorganized/unprepared. Maybe they think it’s funny, but I’d much rather prefer just a concise 45 minutes of presenting/banter, with 15 min for question. Kerry is always like “Oh guys, where did I put that? Is this next? Is that later? Should we just do it now?”

They announced “RWBY After the Fall” a new set of YA novels from Scholastic. It makes sense that they’re exploring the RWBY universe but it does make me wonder whether the V4 timeskip was seen as more of a business opportunity or done more in service to what would make the story better.

The most shocking thing about the panel was the discussion about how the writing process is different for Volume 6. Kerry and Miles initially started to say “In the past” but then quickly altered course and said “Let’s not talk about how we used to do it, just how we’re doing it now.” They basically described how they are writing more than one draft/getting the opinions of other people in the company who have been on the RWBY team for a long time.

It was shocking that they are doing it just now in Volume 6. I can understand Volume 1 and 2 just being a product of Monty/Miles/Kerry and 3 can kind of get a pass. But before/during Volume 4 and 5, wasn’t there anyone that said “Hey, maybe we need to do something different”? Maybe they did and it didn’t work out like they hoped. I am glad to hear that they are trying to improve the process.

The other big thing they did was to show a new character short. This one focused on the villains, mainly the White Fang/Adam. The short featured at least one new Jeff Williams vocal track and some of the animation looked amazing. In general, the animation for V4 and beyond has been decent to good, but there aren’t many instances where it really blows me away.

The short shows Sienna Khan using a chain rope weapon against multiple enemies at the same time. The chain (with a blade at the tip) moves so fluidly and the combat has a real sense of rhythm to it. Sure, you can have the greatest animation in the world, but it doesn’t mean anything if the story isn’t there to match it. I’m willing to stick around some more to see if the script improves. They did also announce a new RWBY Co director and if this short was a product of his involvement, then I like what I’m seeing so far.

Jeff and Casey Williams Q&A

When tickets first went on sale, the only option to be on the floor was to pay 60 dollars for a poster, ticket, and Q&A with Jeff and Casey. I think afterwards, you could just buy the standalone ticket, but I didn’t want to risk not being on the floor.

I get that the concert is hosted by ACL and not by RTX, but you would think there would be a little more coordination between the two organizations given that the concert appears on the RTX schedule and the graphic says “RTX presents”. On Saturday afternoon, I tried to figure out when and where the Q&A would be held. The regular guardians didn’t know and referred me to their manager. I was told to contact the venue to find out and that RTX wasn’t in charge of the event. It was just weird that RTX staff didn’t seem interested in finding out for themselves. I would bet I was not the only person to ask someone at RTX for information about the concert. Additionally the guy in charge of coordination was apparently not at RTX that day so I guess maybe he would’ve known. I ended up getting an email at 4pm telling me to go to the venue at 6pm. But for anyone who didn’t see that email, they were pretty upset that they missed it.

When I got to the venue, one of the staff members saw my Babymetal shirt and asked if I had seen them at ACL. I said no, but that I had seen them elsewhere. From that guy’s reaction and some of the looks from the other staff members, it felt like they instantly had a level of respect towards me. Like they had seen how the fans of Babymetal were at the show and thought “hey, this guy knows his good music.” Maybe I read them completely wrong. It was a very bizarre feeling because few people know what Babymetal is and fewer can read my almost illegible shirt.

Jeff seemed like he didn’t enjoy the stress of having to put on a big show and seemed kind of bored or just tired? Maybe RWBY fatigue is setting in and he feels kind of trapped by the constraints of the show. He talked about wanting to retire and start his Rush Limbo side project, which is music by the band Rush set in all 4-4 time in a reggae style. Obviously someone had to be that guy to ask Casey if she was single. I realize the guy thinks he is being funny or has a chance, but I think you’d be far less likely to go out with someone after subjecting them to a question like that where they are obligated to give you a response.

They floated the idea of playing shows in other locations but that seemed to be constrained by the forces at Rooster Teeth. Or maybe they’re just concerned they aren’t big enough to make any money off a tour. Jeff recommended everyone read a book called “The War of Art” which is about overcoming yourself to create the thing you’ve always wanted but never finished.

JWFO concert

The concert itself was great, but got off to a late start.

I almost forgot about all the weird things that happened while waiting for the concert to start. Someone started a sing along to Bohemian Rhapsody and several other songs. I’ve experienced the Bohemian Rhapsody sing along before, but never at another concert. When they played Numb by Linkin Park as background music, everyone sang along to that too, which is something that I have seen at other concerts at Hard Rock/House of Blues. At one point some people in the crowd erupted in shouts of “Jason?!” which I can only assume was a Heavy Rain reference. Then the crowd started to cheer whenever any technician or photographer came on stage. Again, this is not something I experience at many/if any shows.

This super hype atmosphere is fine, until it turns into everyone trying to be a comedian while there’s either a break between songs, or when the musicians are conversing on stage. Someone said like “Rest in pieces Pyhrra” or something like that at one point and sure I can handle one or two jokes or the occasional shout out. But at the end of the day, I’m here to see the band, not the crowd. I don’t blame those people in the audience trying to get Jeff or Casey to notice them and to have that deeper connection, but it gets old after a while.

There seemed to be communication issues or just not enough time to practice the ordering of the songs. Richie Branson was incredible as an opening act. I’ve seen him three times before and he is great every time. I think a lot of the audience didn’t know who he was or that there would be an opening act, but he seemed to win everyone over by the end of the first song. Adrienne Cowan, Lamar Hall, and Lydia were great again on vocals during the main act.

There were sadly no solos sections like there were in 2016. I remember vividly the extended piano solo the keyboardist performed to lead into “When It Falls”. Jeff also didn’t crowd surf this year either. But I think they were just pressed for time. Casey still seems to struggle more on some songs than others, but she was frank during the Q&A that she has a long way to go and it’s a struggle to keep up at Berklee.

Highlights for me were “Ignite” and “Smile” off the Volume 5 soundtrack.

 Other things

I spent the majority of my time in the Vendor Room playing Rock Band 4. Harmonix was there because “This Will Be The Day” is now available as DLC. But with everyone playing the same song, I think they were grateful for anyone who wouldn’t play that. There were some talented players there and it just felt good to play Rock Band after not having done it with a group in a while. I think the people in the Rock Band line were some of the friendliest I met all weekend.

I felt like I struggled socially during the whole weekend. Maybe it’s just that most con-people aren’t very good at socializing. Or it’s just me or a byproduct of going alone. Everyone else staying at the hostel I was at was interested in talking though.

I went to see an improv comedy show at the Fallout Theater. The show was called “Penalty Box” and there were a set of rules that the audience knew but the performers didn’t. So every time they violated a rule, they would get sent to the penalty box and through trial and error they would figure out most of the rules. It’s entertaining as an audience member, but as someone who is taking improv classes, I recognize how painful it is for the performers. Some of the rules prevent you from doing things that you are taught to do, resulting in at least one scene where the performers just stood still on stage and didn’t talk.

The Mega64 panel was also very enjoyable. Arcade UFO is a pretty nice arcade with a lot of games you don’t normally see in the US. I also got to see a friend I haven’t seen in a while. I have mixed feelings about Troy Baker’s “TED” talk style panel, but I respect that it was not just “another Q&A” type panel.

 Maybe I’ll go back next year.