#but for Alice in Wonderland (and it’s sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass) it works because it fits.

[elalalune]

Heyo,

I was wondering if there would be a sequel to your buggy in wonderland au fic. I'm assuming the au is based on the 2010(?) movie, which I watched only to know more about your fic because before that I had only watched the 1953(?) animated film and according to that your au made no sense but when I watched the 2010(?) film it made perfect sense.

So basically what I'm asking is if there will be a sequel to this au of yours cause 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' is amazing and it instantly made me think of your fic (as most AiW things do nowadays) and if your are making a sequel I feel that a good plot would be Time (whose identity does not fit any one piece character I know well) being obsessed with Shanks and being jealous of Buggy and trapping Buggy in his past where we actually meet the Buggy Pirates and then Buggy breaks out of the illusion and rescues Shanks and they get present time Buggy Pirates who are really worried about Buggy and theyalllivehappilyeverafterinwonderland.

Sorry for the rant 😅

Anyways, even if you don't have a sequel planned it's no big deal, the idea has just been swimming in my mind for a bit and I had to get it out.

P.S: How did you come up with the 'Buggy in Wonderland AU'?

Hello! The AU is mostly based on the original novels (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass)! Especially things like the roles for the characters (ex. Robin = the Mouse in ch.3 of the novel that talks about history to Alice (sidenote, the Mouse also mentions a poem that really fits as foreshadowing for the trial and I can imagine Queen Shanks being like this to Buggy 🫣) (another sidenote, ch.5 has a poem called Father William and I thought it fits Garp 😂)), but I didn't have the plot follow the same events because I'd get bored if everything has to be exactly the same story and I wanted to throw in my own ideas (merging some roles/titles, the pawn/queen candidacy, etc) + I gave Mugi (the fic writer) a lot of creative freedom on what happens in Buggy's adventure

The part where Buggy comes back to wl is based from the 2010 movie but other than that I can't remember anything else since I last watched it when it came out 😂 so I cant claim that as my main inspo

I made this AU because I really love wonderland themed stuff!! I've read so many alice inspired manga and games too (HNKN my beloved 🫶) so I wanted to draw Buggy in Alice's outfit (someday,,) and at first I planned for Shanks to be Bill the Lizard and that he's secretly the Jabberwock but Red Queen/Queen of Hearts worked out better

Your idea for a sequel sounds interesting! Unfortunately I'm not really into Shanks/anyone-that-isnt-buggy even if it's unrequited so I don't have any thoughts on this 😔

Mugi and I do have some ideas for more fics of this AU and it's mostly going to be about their past since we haven't really touched upon most of the world building I mention in the asks because the main fic was in Buggy's pov 😂 though it might be a while before I start bugging Mugi again into writing this

Here's the poems:

[erikiara80]

Parallels

I was working on this post and saw these Willel parallels. I took a couple of screenshots, because I noticed something.

Here. Axel mentions schizofrenia as he touches his neck, like Will and Henry (more at the end of the post (*)

In psychiatry, the name Soteria stands for "an alternative low-drug milieu-therapeutic approach to acute schizophrenia".

Also, interesting tattoos, Axel.

Brain damaged. I've talked about this one. I think it's not a coincidence that we only get a close up of it during the police chase in 2x01, because later Axel wears this mask. Same mask at Melvald's, and it's also a parallel to how Brenner Senior looks when he comes back from Dimension X (in S3 Mike says that using too much power could damage El's brain)

I could be wrong, but that little tattoo on his cheekbone reminds me of the blood stain on Henry's cheeckbone. The one that keeps changing, from an X to a Y

And then there's the claw scratching Axel's skin. They're definitely hinting at something, here.

More parallels

In S3, Steve and Robin are the "twins", Dustin calls them Tweedledee and Tweedledum, characters in an English nursery rhyme

And in Through the looking glass, the sequel to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. The man who fries Terry's brain is Ray Carroll.

In the TV show Ray is watching, a kid wakes up from a nightmare, hugs his dog and tells his father that he dreamt that his doctor was giving him his shot in his arm. Will being drugged in S2, yes, but the mention of the dog also makes me think about Chester and the vanishing scene.

In fact, El opens the door of Ray's house, like the Demogorgon opens the chain lock in S1.

Another interesting thing is that Ray Carroll did three tours in Vietnam as a MSC officer, so there's also a connection to Hopper (here). And speaking of drugs, Carroll and Alice in Wonderland,

in the 60s and 70s, Alice became a slang term for LSD

There are many references to rabbits and Alice in the show. Alice Creel says that their new house is like a dream. Her brother kills a rabbit, in S1 Jon says that his father forced him to shoot a rabbit. I could go on (and talk about the cigarettes), but here I want to focus on Hopper, Ray, El and Terry.

Ray Carroll->Vietnam->Hopper

Carroll->Alice in Wonderland->Alice->slang for LSD (Kali's powers and her nickname K are also connected to drugs/mind control)

two white rabbits in Jane's room

All the times someone mentions LSD or the word psychedelic, they're talking to Hopper

Powell in 1x03: "LSD mind control experiments"

In 1x06 Becky talks about LSD and psychedelics and then says that Hopper and Terry would've gotten along

Owens in 2x02: "These patterns here are really pretty. I like the design. It's almost psychedelic."

I doubt this is a random line. Look at the orange books behind Owens. In S4 Hopper says that Uncle Sam wanted him to fight in some jungle, and in Vietnam he was exposed to Agent Orange. Yeah, it's all connected to Will, El, Terry, Hopper and Joyce.

(*) There's so much in this shot. The fire and the car make me think about an accident (here, here and here). And Axel touching his neck while mentioning dream circles seems to hint at powers and timeloops

Later in the episode we actually see a burnt car and, imo, a hint at One. No. Ace-> Number One.

[forthegothicheroine]

Ah, Waxwork II: Lost in Time! Or as I like to call it, Bill and Ted's Army of Darkness!

In case you missed my recap of the first Waxwork film, this is a duology of horror comedies characterized by three things: classic horror homages, sexual perversity, and the repeated humiliation of Mark the protagonist. The sequel doesn't hang together quite as well, but I think it's interesting nonetheless, in that the worldbuilding gets weirder with every scene, and my hypothetical novelization in which I try to work it out grows in increasingly epic proportion.

Ready to see more of Mark not getting laid? Read on!

We open with a quick flash of images from the end of the first film, not that it really matters- the whole waxwork conceit is over now, despite the title. Things are off to a weird start, since Sarah has not only been recast, the new actress isn't even styled the same- they have the same ending scene, but now there's a girl who looks like Kim Basinger in LA Confidential. It's similar to what they did with Jodie Foster and then Julianne Moore as Clarice Starling, but Foster declined that sequel because she was offended by the original ending, whereas here I guess they wanted as many actresses to not sleep with Mark as possible.

The theme music in this film sounds like a legally distinct version of the song from Suspiria. I thought I should mention that.

Unfortunately, a severed zombie hand also survived the last movie. It follows Sarah home, where she is threatened with an abusive stepfather who was never mentioned before. He is angry that she's sneaking home after being out late, which begs the question of how she got away with partying with China in the last film. Maybe China always drugged the stepfather and now that she's dead, there's nobody with access to narcotics? Anyway, he dies pretty much as soon as he's introduced, courtesy of the severed zombie hand. Sarah disposes of it in the sink garbage disposal, but that leaves her covered in gore beside her dead stepfather.

The next scene we see of her is at a murder trial. (I think? More on that in a bit.)

Sarah's legal case that a severed zombie hand killed her stepfather isn't going over well in court, although to paraphrase Legal Eagle, once your lawyer enters a plea of "not guilty because monsters are real", the judge should probably declare a mistrial. We also learn that over 200 people were found dead when the Waxwork burned down, which really doesn't square with the crowd we actually saw there. It was a big mob fight scene, but it did not look like over 200 people.

Strangely, after the court arguments, Sarah gets into a cab with Mark to try and go prove her innocence. Can you do that if you're on trial for murder? I don't think you can do that. Maybe this wasn't actually the trial, but a grand jury or an inquest or something? Anyway, they go back to the home of the occult professor guy from the last movie, and find some more of the monster hunting artifacts he and his colleagues collected- including a bloody Jason mask. Maybe this is in the universe where Peter Cushing accepted the role of Dr. Loomis when he was offered it, then proceeded to just kill all the available slashers?

Before he died, Sir Wilfred (the professor guy) recorded information about traveling to other times and places via "going through the looking glass." Sarah has read Alice in Wonderland, which is lucky because Mark can't even put together that "looking glass" means "mirror" without her help. He has gotten significantly dopier since the last movie. The key to opening the portal to other times turns out to be a chess set with Alice in Wonderland pieces, so off they go to find a new disembodied hand to prove to the jury that such things are possible.

If I were Sarah I would probably just say "fuck it" and find a new world to live in.

The first horror movie- I mean, time and place- they land in seems to be the Universal Frankenstein movie, but with Udo Kier instead of Colin Clive. Mark takes the role of Henry Clerval remembers who he is in the future, while Sarah takes the role of Elizabeth Frankenstein and does not. Unfortunately, the bad doctor sees his friend making eyes at his wife, and has his cackling hunchbacked assistant throw him to the monster to kill. I love it whenever Frankenstein is portrayed as a bit crazy over Elizabeth, so I appreciate it here. (I loved The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, and I will even defend it.)

Mark gets on the monster's good side by finding him food, but only after suggesting they "order a pizza." Mark seemed reasonably put together in the first movie, but here he is not the brightest jack o lantern on the street.

Even in the face of an angry mob, Frankenstein rails and attacks his romantic rival. It's bad enough that he found Elizabeth talking in private with another man, he says, but with that dork Henry? Mark is sad to be spoken of this way, but he's used to it by now.

Mark's previous kindness to the monster pays off, and he and Sarah head off to find other portals while Frankenstein gets throttled (in good Frankenstein tradition.) They get separated in the ether, however, off to different places and scenes. These scenes cut back and forth between each other, but for the sake of convenience, I will discuss them separately in their entirety.

The theme song in the Frankenstein sequence sounded like a legally distinct version of the song from Young Frankenstein. I thought I should mention that.

Mark finds himself in The Haunting of Hill House- or rather, the 1963 film The Haunting. (Do horror kids today still watch The Haunting? They should.) Further cementing any associations with Army of Darkness, Bruce Campbell himself, in tweeds and with a pipe, leads a crew of paranormal investigators in black and white footage; Mark is his friend in a bad blonde wig, and Sarah is now the mousy Eleanor, whose main function is to constantly be hit on by Theo. Which I guess puts it one up on the Netflix adaptation. We get the classic scares from the 1963 film, with mysterious pounding and bulging at the door and voices calling Eleanor to come home, but Eleanor escapes her dark fate in this timeline. The others, though, fare worse.

Theo is hanged and then possessed by a ghost, but that's a kindness compared to what happens to Bruce Campbell. We find him at the climax of the sequence chained up, flayed open to his ribcage, with an eagle pecking out his organs. He then gets knocked face down on the ground, knocked in the head repeatedly with various objects, and has his wounds comically doused in salt and vinegar. He keeps up a cheerful, vaguely condescending fifties dad attitude nevertheless.

This sequence is what makes the entire movie for me, and it's kind of a shame when it ends with an exorcism.

Sarah, meanwhile, is in Alien, as the captain of a salvaging space crew with a xenomorphic hitchhiker. The men on board get into a comically macho yelling match, but it doesn't save them when the alien attacks. I make fun of these films, but despite being cheap B-movies, they make the most of their limited budget and give us some good, pragmatic practical effects setpieces. Sarah blows the alien out of the airlock, then meets Mark again, who tells her about various adventures he went on that we didn't see. I'm not sure if this is a joke or if those scenes were cut.

When Mark and Sarah proceed to their next portal-hopping rest stop, they change genre a bit- instead of doing a horror pastiche, they do a pastiche of shlocky 80s fantasy movies. I love shlocky 80s fantasy movies, but this part of the movie lasts a weirdly long time for something that's supposed to be a horror comedy. They have an actual character moment where they talk about how Sarah wants to go back and show the jury the truth about the zombie hand because she feels guilty about their friends dying in the last movie. Those friends will never be mentioned again.

Sarah is carried off by evil knightly henchmen, and the mullet and jerkin-clad Mark is left on his own- all except for a mysterious man who I think is doing a David Carradine impression. He tells Mark that an evil overlord called The Master abducts and torments the women he desires, including his own lost love Lenore. To avenge her and save Sarah, he gives him some kind of magic sword and vanishes into thin air. Great.

Like I said, this part of the movie lasts a long time, so I'll try to be concise here. ("No, there is too much- let me sum up.") The Master is a perverted dark magician overlord who wants to usurp the King of England, despite this not looking like a world that would have an England. He has a creepy henchman who evokes what I call the Fancy Sadist Problem, but that's its own long post. Sarah is the sister whom The Master incestuously desires, and Mark has to be helped out of humiliating captivity by the ghost of Sir Wilfred. This ghost tells him that he has been playing in "god's Nintendo game", time hopping to keep fighting evil in different universes. I think. I'm not entirely sure how it works. It sounds a bit like Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion mythos. I would expand upon it in my novelization.

The second best scene in the movie happens when Mark fences with the Master, and they crash through the portal to keep fencing though the street of various other horror movies- Jekyll and Hyde, Dawn of the Dead, Godzilla, Nosferatu, I think Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and something with Jack the Ripper. Whom they defeated along with the other evil souls in the first Waxwork movie, but time and space and alternate universes, etc. Hyde does the "How much of this bottle did I drink?" gag, which was very funny when done with a boiling beaker.

Mark and Sarah manage to snag a hand in Dawn of the Dead, but only she can go back through the portal because Wilfred's ghost says she needs to sort through her own problems before she can be a time warrior. I wish this was the first movie so that that meant accepting her masochism and finding healthy BDSM partners, but no, it means showing the severed hand to the jury.

Mark tells Sarah that he loves her when she leaves through the portal, but she doesn't hear him. Story of Mark's life. At least he manages to send her a letter via a postman who delivers letters centuries after they were first postmarked. And that postman's name, I assume, was Moist von Lipwig.

Even once Sarah is exonerated and goes off to be a time warrior with him in the final few minutes, though, she never requites his affections. Maybe we can assume she will, and she clearly cares about him deeply, but she never says she loves or even likes him, and they don't have what would seem to be the obligatory ending kiss.

Throughout time and space and alternate universe, the only thing that remains constant is Mark not getting laid.

[mihai-florescu]

I also have more thoughts on ES!! from a few nights ago if you'll permit me being annoying about the things i'm passionate a bit more tonight. I know I made a similar post a few weeks ago but I'm still turning the subject around in my head.

I keep rewriting my thoughts on the direction of enstars!! since we're about to enter a new era soon... to me enstars! and !! have become completely different stories. ES!! has expanded way too much and it's doing everything, but in the process forgot what was good about the story before. Leaving aside that i think they should slow down, most of the stories of !! are filler and they have added too many writers imo. But it's working well for them, they're constantly at the top of charts in revenue, so i don't think they're gonna change this...

But i can't help but think of the conversation in wonder game about alice in wonderland vs through the looking glass about the clumsy but loved story vs the sequel made for demand, and how in the climax events akira is deviating from what made enstars! special before (which is to me the focus on humanity in all its forms and what it can do, working for a better future to make up for past sins, learning to love and be loved, as well as on a meta level the relationship between author, audience, and protagonists). The more science fiction plotlines are in line with akira's other non enstars stories, and the climax events do end with a message that's reminiscent of enstars' themes, but they feel very sudden and disjointed from the previous fillery unit stories? Like how did we even get here (sentient AI born from a comatose girl, for example).

I don't even think the addition of npcs is inherently bad, there are npcs i'd loveee to see more of, like maguro, the oukawa sisters, amano, etc. But it doesn't read as these climax events wrapping up 4 years worth of stories as much as setting up a side quest and then wrapping that up, but leaving it still open enough for future explorations. And sure ! era had foreshadowing and setting up for !! in the form of Tsumugi going to work at a new agency after graduation, Izumi going to Florence & Shu to Paris, the creation of ensquare, but at the same time those final stories wrapped up their units' journeys over the course of that in universe year satisfyingly, relying on interpersonal drama rather than external influences to push them around. Maybe it also helped that they were following a formula: having to perform a repayment festival. Whereas now that we've expanded So Much, the world is their oyster and they're getting too ambitious.

I guess... there are just way more memorable character moments and hard hitting scenes in ! era for me personally, a nicely contained story. Forever waiting for !! era to finally have Subaru learn of the Tojou family's past, hopefully with no gimmicks, just heart to heart conversations about the event that changed all their lives forever, and how to deal with finding out Kaname's mom is the reason Subaru's dad is dead. That is I would say my biggest wish rn. But as much as I can criticize enstars, I am saying all of this *because* I love this story and characters, and especially what it was but lost along the way.

[wanderingmind867]

Okay, I didn't get through my whole bookshelf yet. And it's annoying having to search through my bedroom for all my books. So let's try to make this a lightning round, listing all the books I saw in my room (specifically, all the novels i know i read):

The Guardians of Childhood by William Joyce (These were the books that first made me love reading, I think. The first novels I ever read, in Grade 1 or 2. They were turned into that movie, Rise of The Guardians. But the movie came out before he was done with the books, and the books took forever to come out. He finally finished them recently, but now I feel like it's too late. Also, I didn't like the summary when I looked it up).

Alice in Wonderland (This book is amazing. Lewis Carroll is a genius. I have a whole massive book full of his works. It's too big to bring it to school, but I've read Alice in Wonderland many times. Genius book. Fun and clever and not at all depressing. I never really got into the sequel, Through the Looking Glass, as much. But I still like Lewis Carroll. He's also a great poet.)

Sherlock Holmes (Somehow, I ended up buying a big book of Sherlock Holmes stories at a library clearance sale or something years ago. It's now too old to feel safe reading it again, but I liked it. The short stories with Sherlock Holmes were the best. Arthur Conan Doyle is one of the few mystery writers I know I like. Although the full length novel didn't hold my attention nearly as well as the short stories did. I guess I couldn't handle a full novel of detective stuff?).

Roald Dahl's books (I read most of these, including the one where he wrote about his childhood. The only one of his children's books I skipped was the one about his war service. It was boring to me. But his books were pretty good. A bit creepy and weird in some spots, but never enough to scare me into dread the way many other things do. Also, I don't want to read his adult stuff. In elementary school I had to read a crime story he wrote. It was dark and weird, and it made me uncomfortable. So he's a complicated writer).

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (This series. God, this series. I started out really liking it. Historical figures, magic, mythology? It was amazing. But the ending. God, that ending. Time travel, time loops, immortality and more. It just became too confusing for me. I couldn't stand that last book. I did like how the book introduced me to Niccolo Machiavelli and Billy the Kid and other historical figures, though. I just really, really hated that ending).

The Seven Wonders series by Peter Lerangis (I barely remember these books. I don't think I actually ended up loving their ending, but I did somehow sit through them. So that was probably a deep disappointment to my younger self).

Fine. I have to stop again. Turns out I have at least four more book series. So I'll make a third part, then i'll probably be too burnt out to mske any more posts for an hour or two. But to think, I started making these posts hoping I could eventually use them to ask for suggestions for books for my Christmas List. But I guess that'll have to wait. sigh...

[daisyprayers]

On July 4 1862 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (pen name Lewis Carroll) took the three Liddell sisters, Lorina, Alice and Edith, on a boat ride along the River Thames. On the bank at Godstow he told the story of Alice’s Adventures Underground (later renamed Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland) for the first time.

161 years later this book, and its sequel Through The Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There, have had an indelible mark on our culture. A classic of children’s literature, it has never gone out of print. It has been translated into 174 languages, adapted into dozens of films (the first of which was made in 1903) and inspired countless works of art. Its nonsensical whimsy and celebration of childhood is beloved by children and adults everywhere.

Out of any story I’ve read, Alice has had the most profound impact on me. I am forever grateful to the man who told it and then wrote it down, the man who captured its magic with his illustrations, and - above all- the little girl who inspired it.

“Thus grew the tale of Wonderland: thus slowly, one by one, its quaint events were hammered out and now the tale is done, and home we steer, a merry crew, beneath the setting sun. Alice! A childish story take, and, with a gentle hand, lay it where Childhood’s dreams are twined in Memory’s mystic band. Like pilgrim’s wither’d wreath of flowers pluck’d in far off land.” - All in the Golden Afternoon, Lewis Carroll

[dndhistory]

233. Gary Gygax - EX2: The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror (1983)

The direct continuation of EX1: Dungeonland, also by Gygax, this is also a direct adaptation of Lewis Carrol's sequel to Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass. As such, in a similar vein to the previous module, it's a fun, whimsical but incredibly punishing adventure.

Wonderland works pretty much in a similar way to the Feywild, a place where no being can be trusted, where nothing is exactly what it seems and where apparently innocuous things will get you dead in no time. And Gygax is true to that spirit, never a designer of easy or forgiving dungeons, this is another case of a dungeon for experienced and canny players who will know how to keep themselves alive and not put greed over survival.

Another interesting aspect to the EX modules is the fact that they are EXpansions, originally for the Greyhawk Castle dungeon, they were released before there was a proper release of the Greyhawk dungeons (it was never to be, there are some reconstructions out there, but the original stayed with Gygax). However, you can insert these into any ongoing dungeon as its own demiplane. This module is also a tribute to Don Kaye, a co-creator of D&D who died in 1975 and was Gygax's childhood friend, his player character, Murlynd, a kind of Wild West transplant to Greyhawk, has a central role to play here.

[twistedtummies2]

Fifteen Days of Disney Magic - Number 6

Welcome to Fifteen Days of Disney Magic! In honor of the company’s 100th Anniversary, I am counting down my Top 15 Favorite Movies from Walt Disney Animation Studios! To introduce today’s entry, I have only this to say: “Most Everyone’s Mad Here.” Number 6 is…Alice in Wonderland.

This is the other film, alongside “The Great Mouse Detective,” where I feel – if you know me well – it’s high placement will not remotely be surprising. Whereas, if you don’t know me well, it will likely be VERY surprising. Honestly, I can settle why “Alice” is so high on my list with a single sentence: Lewis Carroll’s “Alice” stories are my favorite books, and I personally think the Disney version is the best movie treatment of the books, as well as one of my personal favorites. That’s really all I NEED to say. But you came here to hear me ramble, I think. Possibly. Maybe. So I guess I have to. :P The history of Walt Disney and “Alice” is actually pretty fascinating on its own, leaving the movie alone: this, alongside “Peter Pan,” was one of the first movies Walt wanted to make, and was actually considered for his first feature film, and then his second, way back in the 1930s. Ultimately, Walt went with “Snow White” for his first film, but he never gave up on “Alice.” It’s pretty clear that Walt loved the story, because even before the Disney film ever got put into development, he’d used Wonderland as the basis for several of his earlier works. There were the famous “Alice Comedies” he produced during the silent era, which were not so much directly based on the books so much as just inspired by them, but are still worth noting. Later there was one of the best Mickey Mouse cartoons ever made, in most people’s minds, “Thru the Mirror,” where Mickey goes through the Looking-Glass, dances with the Queen of Hearts, duels the King, and has to deal with a multitude of animated objects. Initial treatments of the “Alice” story were much darker and more surreal than the final product; most notable was a treatment of the film by artist David Hall, which has sort of become legendary amongst Carrollians and fans of Disney trivia and lost media alike. However, it wasn’t until artist Mary Blair came onto the project – and after World War II drew to a close – that Disney finally felt confident in making the movie. Interestingly, when the film finally came out in 1951, it was something of a disappointment: critical reactions were lukewarm, at best, and it underperformed at the box office. However, over the years – with subsequent re-releases and exposure through various forms of merchandising and rides at the parks – the film gained a bigger and grander following. Nowadays, “Alice” isn’t exactly considered a great Disney classic, but it’s definitely not considered a failure.

In fact, in some ways, one could argue it’s one of the single most influential Disney movies of all time. It was certainly influential on later renditions of the story: coming from somebody whose obsession with the Carroll classics is well known, I can say with certain fact that the Disney film is actually far more responsible for the public perception and love of Alice today than perhaps ANY other version of the stories, including the books. (The only other possible contender is the video game “American McGee’s Alice” and its sequel, “Alice: Madness Returns.” Incidentally, RIP “Alice: Asylum.” May flights of EA idiots sing thee to thy rest.) A lot of things in this film that weren’t in the books now seem to just be accepted as common knowledge: for example, the Cheshire Cat in the books was an ordinary orange or gray tabby cat. The popular purple-and-pink design you’ll find riffed on in some fashion throughout so many interpretations was ENTIRELY the invention of Disney; it never existed before them, to my knowledge. Similarly, characters and story elements that are in the books but WEREN’T in the Disney film tend to be forgotten, even if they’ve been used and reused in tons and tons of other adaptations: there are plenty of versions of the Duchess and the Gryphon out there, but since neither of them are in the 1951 movie (nor the 2010 feature made by Tim Burton, for that matter), most people forget they even exist.

Even beyond other versions of Alice, however, the film has had a huge impact on pop culture, and even Disney itself, than most other films in the canon. Heck, at Disneyland, right now, there are no less than four rides that all reference “Alice in Wonderland.” Four! And that’s not even counting any other shows or attractions, or even any of the other rides at other parks. Nor is it counting video games, nor the numerous other Alice reimaginings that have come out and in some way been influenced by the 1951 picture JUST from Disney’s vaults alone, nor the ABUNDANCE of merchandise – both official and fanmade – based on this one movie. It isn’t a film that has the depth of plot, character, and thematics as something like “Beauty and the Beast” or “The Lion King,” nor is it as historically important as movies like “Snow White,” but I think “Alice” makes up for it by just being fun. It’s a fun, weird, psychedelic ride through the wilds of the imagination, and really, that’s always been what “Alice” SHOULD be, at the end of the day. Really, given my love of the story, in general, the REAL question should be not why “Alice in Wonderland” ranks so highly for me…but why isn’t it even higher? All I can say is, perhaps the films that do rank above it will offer some explanation… The Top 5 are upon us! The countdown continues tomorrow with my 5th Favorite Disney Movie! HINT: It’s the Only Modern Movie on The Countdown.

[jadelotusflower]

13 Books

tagged by @nerdgatehobbit - thank you!

The last book I read: Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett, which I had mixed feelings about. Absolutely loved the premise and take on the fae, but thought the romance was terribly bland. Sometimes I feel like authors forget that the love interests are actually meant to like each other right? Not just annoy each other until suddenly they're in love?

A book I recommend: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, which I also read recently and really enjoyed. The setup is better than the payoff, imo, but for me it was the right amount of whimscal and referential without becoming too twee. Don't expect actual historical fiction though, this is more about the vibes.

A book that I couldn't put down: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, also one that I would highly recommend! I went in knowing nothing other than it had been suggested as something that would appeal to me, and was so glad I did, able to let the narrative unfold without expectations or preconceptions - this one will stay with me for a while. The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; it’s Kindness infinite!

A book I've read twice (or more): The Scarlet Pimpernel by the Baroness Orczy is one I've read many times since I was a teenager, and have an enduring affection for despite its faults.

A book from my TBR: It's a very long list! One that’s been on there a while is 1001 Arabian Nights, which I actually did start but part 1 alone is over 1000 pages and I had to return it to the library, so it’s technically back on the TBR list.

A book I've put down: I don't often DNF books, even if I'm not feeling it I'll usually put it down intending to get back to it later. But one that’s been put aside for a while is Myrren’s Gift by Fiona Mackintosh, lent to me by my mother because “it’s got witches and magic” but the first chapter is about two dudes and their rivalry which didn’t exactly capture me.

A book on my wish list: The Annotated Alice which is Martin Gardner's annotated version of Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. Sadly not available in my local library and I've promised myself not to buy any new books until I get further through the pile I actually own.

A favourite book from childhood: Rowan of Rin by Emily Rodda - a seminal work of my childhood and extremely foundational to my love of fantasy. Severely underrated children's book! I also loved the sequel Rowan and the Travellers but didn't read the rest of the series until adulthood so they're not as burned into my psyche.

A book you would give to a friend: It's hard because people are into different things and interests don't always overlap. Maybe The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, since it’s pretty accessible and should be compelling to a wide range of readers, as well as being one that I have long loved.

The most books you own by a single author: Probably Jane Austen, so - 6?

A nonfiction book you own: I own a lot of history books, a few biographies, old textbooks, literary analysis, and even some travel memoirs. One I have held onto for a long time is Almost French by Sarah Turnbull, an Australian woman exploring the culture shock of Paris after moving to marry her French partner.

What are you currently reading:. I always try to have one fiction and one non-fiction book on the go at any one time - at the moment that's Burn it Down: Power, Complicity, and a call for change in Hollywood by Maureen Ryan, and The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne.

What are you planning to read next: Next up it will probably be Judi Dench’s Shakespeare: The man who pays the rent. I’m also revisiting the original Oz books by L Frank Baum and am up to book 4: Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz.

Tagging anyone who wants to do this - I love seeing what other people are reading!

[chiyoda-division2]

“The taste of death is upon my lips... I feel something, that is not of this earth.” -Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Introduction🩸

Fusao Ise(異世フサオ)、 a.k.a. Revenan† on rap battles, is a CEO and leader of Chiyoda Division’s 狂音INC., he is the CEO of the successful audio equipment company ‘Wonder⇓anD Sound Systems’, he is a man shrouded in mystery to the masses, especially with how he sprung back into his job like he did not just stop appearing to the public 8 years ago.

He was forced to join the DRB after the Party of Words found out that he kept ‘something’ someone that should’ve been disposed of years ago.

Link to picrew used

Appearance

Despite his old age, he has a well kept appearance, Fusao is a middle-aged man albeit taller than average. He has neck-length brown hair that he preferred to dye in dirty blonde and he has pistachio green eyes with visible wrinkles underneath them.

At work, he is usually seen in a black dress shirt, a white suit jacket in pinstripe pattern, a red tie hidden by a scarf of a similar color, black pants and black dress shoes. He is often seen clutching on a black service cap rather than actually wearing it.

He doesn’t really look that different outside work, save for changing his white suit jacket with a black trench coat.

Name Meaning

Fusao(フサオ) - no concrete meaning as it’s written in katakana

Ise(異世) - Different world (literally just one character away from ‘isekai’)

Nicknames and Aliases

Revenan† - MC Name

Boss, Sir, etc. - employees

Hun - his wife Ageha

Papa - his children

Pops, Sao - Nayomi

“The Living Dead” - himself

"Mad Hatter" - Eiji

Hazumu

Biographical Info

Gender - Male

Age - 52

Birthday - March 3

Star Sign - Pisces

Ethnicity - Japanese

Hair Colour - Dirty blonde (dyed), Brown (natural)

Eye Colour - Green

Height - 6'3"

Markings - Scars at the back, stab wounds on his stomach

Piercings - Lobe

Family - 

??? (deceased)

??? (deceased)

??? (deceased)

Wife

Stepdaughter

Biological daughter

Triplets

Voice Claim: Ryotaro Okiayu (speaking); SymaG(singing/rapping) 

Fun Facts 

Occupation - CEO of Wonder⇓anD Sound Systems

Division - Chiyoda

Team - 狂音INC.

Position - Leader

Favourite Food - Rum chocolate

Least Favourite Food - anything with too many bones

Likes - His children, profit, drinking with his business partners, stories about the undead(mainly zombies)

Dislikes - Raiden’s antics, his in-laws, the authorities, those who try to look into his past

Image color - Dried Blood (#4B0101)

Hypnosis Microphone

Fusao’s Hypnosis Microphone takes the form of a silver ribbon mic on a black stand, the stand is wrapped with thorny vines of white roses, the roses contain dripping red paint painted on, as if to hide the fact that it’s white, the stand’s lower section has a large splatter of red paint.

Fusao’s speakers take the form of a large black coffin with gold linings and red paint splatters, the coffin opens to reveal a bunch of roses the same as his mic’s with a large black speaker with gold lining resembling shaped a lot like himself laid on top, the cofffin’s lid contains a gold relief carving of a cat’s head with its left eye replaced with roses on the outside and the inside reveals 4 small speakers of varying sizes. Black, thorny vines stained with red take the shape of a hand as it holds the lid open.

Whenever he activates his mic, he is contained inside of his speakers and comes out of it as if he’s a vampire.

Fusao’s rap ability, Rabbit Hole—[REDACTED] “Tch, I won’t let you know that yet.”

Most of Fusao’s rap themes revolve around the concept of life and death, that he is phasing in and out of both of them and how he is a dead man in the world of the living and a living man in the world of the dead. He occasionally slips in references to the children’s novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, this is often paired with him telling the listeners to just for once, throw away logic and common sense out of the window.

Personality

Fusao likes to joke around a lot despite his position inside work and is quite easygoing compared to the typical boss, yet at the same time, he comes off as a complete enigma for he is very secretive, not easy to reveal his intentions and things like his personal life especially the days before he met his wife or how he got the position as CEO of his company.

Fusao has a petty side toward people he see as enemies, he will act out against them without any explanation whatsoever, mainly doing so just to see their reactions.

People say that he has a twisted view on the concept of ‘second chances’ for he has a history of employing people with… not the best records. He says that he does have a limit but it’s quite hard to believe…

Background

<???>

Trivia

His birthday is also Alexander Graham Bell’s birthday, not only is Bell credited for the telephone but he also is one of the first people to have patented a loudspeaker

He bites his thumb whenever he gets mad

He’s the only older member in the Ise family that Nayomi gets along with nowadays

He was pissed off when he found out all of his social media accounts were memorialized (not like he’s gonna make new ones anyway :p)

Wonder⇓anD Sound Systems is not at the same level as E.L. Medical or Arakawa Tech Industries though his company is quite popular amongst audiophiles

Though Wonder⇓anD is a competitor against Arakawa Tech, he seems to be in neutral terms with Misa herself

He was acquaintances with Reika Aichi’s mother, Minako time before her death

He is very fond of the series Handead Anthem, even though it was long discontinued

He has quite the dislike against Eiji Noguchi for… some reason

[88moofs]

Kasafes should be Through the Looking Glass themed I will never leave this boat

WxS as a whole has pretty strong Alice in Wonderland themes, considering they straight up have a Wonderland sekai and a very explicitly alice themed banner so isn't it weird that WxS has no Alice? BUT- if his fragment is based off the sequel (stepping into a mirror world- a fragment in his sekai- trust me it works) there's two particular parts that stand out to me that can be linked back to kasa first is the woods where things have no names, where Alice and any other living creature in there will forget all nouns, including their own name (Take an eraser to your memories!) and the second is where Alice is promoted from Pawn to Queen- making a crown suddenly materialize onto her head. It would add context to Kasa's constant crown motifs and why he's the King in the WMS set- he's already been through his own Wonderland (*it would feed the Kasa made the sekai as a kid theory)

thematically...I see it as the fragment reminding Tsukasa that Wonderland/smiles dont have to be exlcusively for other people, if that makes sense? That he himself loves wonder and going into the various worlds he creates through the scripts he writes both to perform for Saki and for WxS. The Wonderland Sekai in of itself is essentially another world he created. While he now is the King of Diamonds that brings smiles to others, at heart he's also still Alice. Some of the fes I remember reading apply very heavily towards their focus events after their fes cards (i remember Anfes and Ruifes applying here) so I think such a thing could be a good nudge towards Kasa's next focus event. Considering how much more seriously and how hard he's pushing himself to grow as an actor, and how he couldn't smile at both Riley Stage and his idol actor's plays bc all he could think about was how far away he is from their level, it would be nice if we can see Kasa having fun with acting in a play again. idk sorry if this comes off as nonsensical askdkh

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Much Ado About MOANA

Say it ain't so!

Walt Disney Pictures is working on a live-action "reimagining" of MOANA that will involve Dwayne Johnson himself, who of course voiced Maui in the original animated feature directed by Ron Clements and John Musker for Walt Disney Animation Studios and released in 2016.

As of now, the movie has three forthcoming extensions: This project, a land at Epcot in Walt Disney World, and an animated series being produced at WDAS (namely its recently-opened Vancouver unit) for Disney+.

I used to grouse to the moon and back about how much I detested much of these particular remakes and reimaginings of Disney's animated features and characters. You know, the ones made in the aftermath of Tim Burton's ALICE IN WONDERLAND throughout the 2010s, and even into now. I used to see them as something of a threat to animation's reputation, and they all came at us fast! MALEFICENT in 2014, CINDERELLA in 2015, THE JUNGLE BOOK (a largely CGI movie with one live actor and maybe like, 5 real-life plants) and ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS in 2016, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST in 2017, and a five-finger-punch of DUMBO, ALADDIN, THE LION KING, a MALEFICENT sequel, and LADY AND THE TRAMP in 2019... And then MULAN in 2020, CRUELLA in 2021, and PINOCCHIO this past year. Mixed in with these movies were a genuine new take on hybrid film PETE'S DRAGON and a legacy sequel to MARY POPPINS, MARY POPPINS RETURNS. Even Burton's ALICE, which got this whole ball rolling, was pretty much its own thing, ditto the 2016 sequel.

On the horizon? PETER PAN & WENDY, THE LITTLE MERMAID, SNOW WHITE, MUFASA: THE LION KING, BAMBI, THE SWORD IN THE STONE, a JUNGLE BOOK sequel, THE ARISTOCATS, ROBIN HOOD, THE CHRONICLES OF PRYDAIN (which the 1985 animated feature THE BLACK CAULDRON was adapted from), THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, HERCULES, and LILO & STITCH. Now MOANA joins the ranks, the first all-CG animated Disney film to get the "live-action" treatment.

That's a ton of remakes in the span of almost 10 years, if we peg the actual start of this trend with 2014's MALEFICENT.

I think I've only seen... ALICE IN WONDERLAND, and THE JUNGLE BOOK, in full. I refused to watch the others. Back then it was out of protest and me just genuinely not being interested, nowadays? It's just the latter. These things aren't for me, and that's okay I guess. They haven't erased animation, nor did other recent "realistic" takes on animated classics, such as the 2017 GHOST IN THE SHELL movie with Scarlett Johansson. It hit me one day at my cinema job when THE LION KING was released. The Cinemark that I work at used to have a cart for movie merchandise, including things like T-shirts and Funko Pops and such. Most of the merchandise for the remakes that came out that year? Were for the animated originals... (I use the word loosely, but... You know what I mean!) I'd say it was an 85/15 ratio. Some stuff for the new remake, but mostly stuff for the classic animated movies that inspired them... It hit me... These are just over-glorified theatrical re-releases of the animated classics, made to move some merch and stuff at your local Hot Topic. It's kind of a weird transition from the way Disney used to keep their films in the public eye, whether it was a re-release cycle from the 1940s up until the mid-1990s, or their video releases being available for a limited time before being retired to the infamous "Disney Vault" (a ruthless marketing strategy thankfully put to rest with the arrival of Disney+ in 2019).

But in 2017-ish, I remember just being so goddamn grumpy about these things. Made worse by various directors, actors, and producers involved with the remakes making disparaging remarks about the classic movies for being... Well... **Animated**. Imagine that! The director of live-action BEAUTY AND THE BEAST declared that filming that story with real people gave it layers of psychological depth and nuance or some such bullshit. An actor on ALADDIN said almost verbatim the same exact thing. Disney stressed that their LION KING remake wasn't animated, even though the entire thing except a single shot was computer generated and "animated"! Then of course, several folks involved with the remakes making up nonsense about the princesses and heroines in the originals. We're seeing that now, even, with THE LITTLE MERMAID. Though these particular remarks about classic Disney heroines are nothing new, they remain nonetheless a bit irritating and proof that media literacy is lacking in many people. Then again, we do live in a world where people constantly parrot nonsense like "Batman is a rich guy who beats up poor people" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is about being bullied until you're useful to your bullies."

Some people just don't pay attention to what they watch, do they?

But really, the remakes come, make a lot of noise, often times make a crapton of money at the box office... And then they just... Disappear. Like, it was insisted that BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 2017 fixed the plot holes of the 1991 movie and was "darker", more "adult", whatever- Uhhh, I don't really feel its presence anymore, whereas the 1991 animated movie directed by Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale? Still here, still beloved, still holds up. I guess you could not outmode the dumb ol' kiddie cartoon, now could you? All that "darker" and "more psychology" talk is gimmicks at best, and most folks just kinda watch 'em because they saw the originals... and then that's it. It's a movie, it's a thing, it exists. You got what was on the tin: It's [insert Disney movie here], all over again!

This all being said... Now the CG movies are fair game, and possibly Pixar's some time in the future. It ain't just the 2D movies they're going after anymore. Look at Universal, they're readying a HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON live-action movie for 2025 with Dean DeBlois himself - director of all three of the animated DreamWorks HTTYD movies - at the helm! It's either going to be a straight-up live-action version of the DreamWorks adaptation released back in 2010, or it's going to be a whole new take on Cressida Cowell's book series. I hope it's the latter, honestly, then I might give it my attention.

To this day, many rightfully concerned folks still feel that these live-action/photorealistic remakes insult pure animation. Pure animation as in, animation that KNOWS it's animated. Straight-up cartoon or abstract. That Hollywood sees animated movies as but a "stepping stone" to superior live-action, but really... What I see is this... Money. People love an animated movie or show? Money. How many different coats of paint can we put on the car?

Some are asking... Why not just a MOANA sequel?

The weird thing about that is, Ron Clements and John Musker left Disney Animation. They were last seen developing a METAL MEN movie for Warner Animation Group. Of course, the directors being off on a new adventure doesn't mean anything in capitalism, Disney could plow ahead with a MOANA sequel if they wanted to. But they choose not to at the moment, only this and a D+ series. Kind of keeping in line with a history of not really making sequels in-house, and the days of outsourced direct-to-video fare has been loooooong over. (The remakes are often compared to the DTV sequels of the '90s and '00s, and for good reason. They're little more than brand extensions, and you can ex 'em out of the equation if you so choose to do so. Disney EU or Disney "Elseworlds" if you will...)

But what's actually seemingly upsetting is that... In the past few months, on the year of Disney's 100th anniversary... Most of the movie announcements have been nothing but continuations and brand extensions. They also serve as a nice distraction from needless layoffs, but yes... The big announcements have been things like TOY STORY 5, FROZEN III, ZOOTOPIA 2, Live-Action MOANA, etc. etc.

However, one ought to look closer. In-between all the franchisey stuff and synergetic things, there's still original movies being made... Like, there's not only 20th Century Studios continuing to make new live-action movies that aren't remakes or re-dos or new adaptations of books (y'all seen THE MENU and BARBARIAN last year? Great stuff! Highly recommended.), but you still have Pixar. From March 2020 to March 2022? Four straight original animated movies: ONWARD, SOUL, LUCA, TURNING RED. After spin-off LIGHTYEAR, we're getting ELEMENTAL in two months, ELIO in spring 2024, and presumably many more on the horizon.

Oh, but ELEMENTAL looks "mid", you say? "A parody of Pixar"? Or whatever else is being mindlessly parroted at the moment? Whatever, I don't know what to say to that, but like it or not, a movie like ELEMENTAL is the rare original movie from Disney, a small island in a sea of remakes, Marvel, and Star Wars. Ditto ELIO, and again, whatever is in the works after that that isn't a sequel.

And of course, Walt Disney Animation Studios, who have all but abandoned literary adaptations outside of public domain fairy tales, keeps up with original stuff, too. After releasing no new movies in 2017, two back-to-back sequels from 2018-2019 and taking 2020 off due to COVID-19 complications, they hit us with RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON, ENCANTO, and STRANGE WORLD. Next up is WISH, also an original story, despite the weird way it was presented and reported on at D23. Whatever releases after that, I do not know, but FROZEN III and ZOOTOPIA 2 aren't the only things in development there. Plus, they have partnered with Nigerian upstart studio Kugali to make an original show for Disney+ called IWAJU.

Much like the reception ELEMENTAL is getting online, a movie that isn't even out yet, a lot of the recent WDAS output and what's next is just being written off... But it's all there, it's original, it's a mere morsel of something coming out of the company that seems to be all about them brands. I'm not blaming audiences specifically for, say, STRANGE WORLD's epic floppage this past holiday season, buuuuut- Those numbers are looked at, and they possibly bring about consequences.

I do get the worries, though. Under former CEO Bob Chapek, we saw Pixar's originals post-ONWARD all go straight to streaming while franchise entry LIGHTYEAR hit the big screen... and lost money. WDAS movies had a hard time, too. RAYA did a day-and-date thing with Disney+ before most of the vaccine rollout, ENCANTO dealt with Delta and Omicron before being a huge hit at home, STRANGE WORLD was straight up left for dead after testing very poorly.

With Bob Iger back in charge, Chapek's strong pivot to streaming is being reversed, as it's being realized that streaming is not the be-all end-all of the movie world. And sharp eyes knew it never would be, either, but you know how things go in capitalism: New thing shows up, abandon everything for the new thing! Disaster! Hey, that's how hand-drawn animated features prematurely got the boot circa 2001. Anyways- Yes, Iger rearranged a lot of things, and now the release strategies and marketing campaigns are back in the hands of the studios and creatives, and I'm pretty sure that there's an effort, a commitment to make ELEMENTAL the first Pixar box office success in four years. That's right, the last Pixar movie to make its money back at the box office was... TOY STORY 4... Back in 2019... And you wonder why a fifth one was greenlit?

I'd imagine Iger saw how Chapek and co mandated Pixar to send TURNING RED straight to streaming, and knew what to do from there. Ditto how, on the WDAS front, STRANGE WORLD was just straight up abandoned. TURNING RED probably would've made ENCANTO or BAD GUYS numbers at best, which wouldn't have been enough for its hefty budget (Pixar needs to stop overspending on these things), but I wonder what's in store for ELEMENTAL. Few animated movies post-2020 have passed the $100m threshold domestically, and I feel that is due to how many trips to the movies families can afford a year. (Say the line, Kyle: In 2014, statistics showed that the average American family goes to the movies four times a y-) It's opening amidst a ton of blockbusters and other animated family movies, including Disney's own LITTLE MERMAID, and the fifth INDIANA JONES movie. Maybe movies should just be more affordable? And theaters, better places to sit down and see a movie? I can see why many just don't go anymore, again, having worked at a theater for 7 1/2 years (and ready to move on to something better).

Or better yet, Pixar and WDAS need not spend more than $150m on the movies that they make. DreamWorks, Illumination, Sony, et al. put out dynamic-looking movies that are rewriting the CG animation book for way less, WDAS and Pixar should probably consider that. Leave the tech-flexing to things like that LION KING remake and prequel, let their animated movies experiment and have fun again. But even movies they don't seem to be flexing tech cost so much. Why, though? I know in California, these things are expensive, but DreamWorks is based out of California, too. I guess that Moonray software they themselves created and other solutions have gotten their movies to cost less than $100m each time out. Well, WDAS opened their Vancouver unit, so maybe they can up them to feature status? Like they did with the defunct Florida unit way back when? Split the effort with Vancouver, lower the cost? I dunno, just spit-balling here.

Basically, I don't want ELEMENTAL and WISH to come up short at the box office. Or any of the original stuff coming out, period. Again, WDAS, Pixar, and 20th Century/Searchlight are like Disney's last outlets for that kind of stuff on the movie end of things. 20th is fine and good, because in small-scale live-action, most of the time the studios know how to be smart with budgets. $150m budgets make the average WDAS and Pixar movie a risk, that they have to get on the stage and essentially perform like a Marvel movie just to break even! That's a lot to ask of an original animated movie! And not even the WDAS name nor the Pixar name can guarantee people will show up, both have had their fair share of flops. And now, judging by how ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA is doing, the Marvel name ain't a guarantee anymore either. Ditto Star Wars, remember how SOLO just sorta existed at the box office and lost a lot of money? TV and elsewhere is a different story, of course, there's plenty of original stuff to choose from there.

MOANA Live-Action is likely being made to fund the fun cool stuff, much in the same way sequels help fund originals. They... Pay the bills, shall we say.

In other words, I'm just indifferent. Whatever. Tell me more about the original stuff coming out, and you'll have my ear.

[adarkrainbow]

I will try looking through Zenescope’s Grimm Fairy Tales comics, the main series.

I have already some experience and knowledge of Zenescope’s Fairy Tales franchise, but throughout the many spin-offs and side-series that form the vast Zenescope-verse. Their Oz comics, their Wonderland comics, their Gretel witch-hunter mini-series... This allowed me to see the best and the worst of the Zenescope-style, and the worst is precisely why I avoided for a long time the main series.

If you know a bit Zenescope, you know the flaws I am talking about. Gore for the sake of gore and shock value ; an uneeded amount of female nudity and sexual scenes that makes the comic borderline erotic ; over-simplified knowledge and appreciation of the original work they are re-creating, so-called grand and ambitious fantasy stories that are just flat and stereotyped plots filled with cliches and uninventive takes... 

These flaws were most notably what made me go as fast away from Zenescope’s Oz comics as possible when starting to read them ; and I know they are part of the main series (since they are present in all of Zenescope’s products). BUT... things are not all bad - it is just that the bad tend to out-shine the best. I did notice here and there, from series to series, interesting concepts, some fascinating ideas, some cool monster designs from time to time. The Wonderland series in particular, despite having prevalent flaws as described above, including very gratuitous and unecessary nudity, and shock value content that could have been conveyed more elegantly, actually started out in an excellent and very clever way by (slight spoilers here) mixing the Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass world with a world of “madness, eldritch horrors, cursed dimensions and dark cults” a la H.P. Lovecraft. The mix was done very, VERY well and this is why I binged the original series... too bad after its conclusion, its various sequels and continuations just devolved and worsened into a more and more cliche and empty action-fantasy line that didn’t made any more sense... 

And from a first look at the first issues of the main series, I find the germs, the seeds of both the good and bad. Zenescope’s Grimm Fairy Tales clearly is one of those “edgy” works that makes everything dark and violent on purpose - but the horror elements are relatively tame and the gore quite soft compared to what later series would bring to the page ; and it is also very clearly one of those “adult” American comics that purposefully designed all women as “sexy” and had them ending up half-nude one way or another, to appeal to their lecherous demographic... But this early in Zenescope’s development we weren’t yet into the borderline-porn state some of the later comics would end up into. And for the good, there are a few interesting retellings and details here and there. Given it is an anthology format, with each issue briefly twisting one tale, these interesting ideas aren’t very much fleshed out - but between quite expected and “usual” takes on the tale (such as the Little Red Riding Hood issue) and twisted takes that don’t really twist so much as just edgy-out a summary (the Hansel and Gretel issue), there are some stories with interesting more mature takes (the Sleeping Beauty issue) and with some plot twists I did not see coming and felt quite good (the Rumpelstilstkin issue). 

My last and final problem will without a doubt be the reading order. For now it is quite easy, since the main series is one straightforward line of issues. But when I tried to read the Wonderland, and then the Oz series, it was a true nightmare because of Zenescope’s particular marketing and publishing style. Basically they build these spin-off series by doing mini-series after mini-series ; sometimes breaking a full series into several mini-series, other times adding mini-series after mini-series, and then when they become succesful redoing it all as a full on series - and that’s without counting the specials and the annuals, that should be “special” side-stories but rather are half of the time actually needed stories to understand the unfolding of the mini-series, or bridge-pieces between two series - so if you miss them, it makes no sense to read the rest. This gets especially complicated since some of these stories are found into general and annual Fairy Tales issues covering the entirety of the franchise and mixing the series together - without even talking of the numerous crossovers in this shared universe, making it so that, at one point in each of the side-series you are forced to read all the others to understand what the heck is going on... Reading the Wonderland comics was fun - but I had to track them down one by one, note down each specific title and date, and then look on the Internet to see in which order they actually come, and in which order they should be read, since I could spoil myself by going over the wrong title and not all series were linked the same way... This franchise is furiously confusing since it seems to basically spread out its stories and break down its series into a quite anarchic way, making it a whole maze of issues and titles, a puzzle you have to piece by yourself. 

[roskirambles]

(Archive) Animated movie of the day: Alice in Wonderland (1951)

Originally posted: January 13th, 2023 Can a passion project be an artist's great disappointment? What happens when time, effort and a desire to bring something strange to life becomes that unfulfilling work of yours? Well, good ol' Walt found out in his life time how that feels, as after decades of trying to get an adaptation of Lewis Carrol's seminal literary classic made, when the day came… he didn't feel like the end result matched the book's quality, claiming it had "no heart". Which is ironic since visually speaking it became the version that most likely comes to people's mind when the story is discussed.

I've already talked about the woes of adaptation from page to film, and in the case of this film it is no different… mostly because there's a lot here that isn't technically from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but it's sequel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. The result of development hell in lieu of World War II getting in the way of the original (much darker) planned film, this one just mixes characters together from both books and changes the tone of the whole thing. While admittedly oniric, the book was clever and full of humor and satire with a distinctively British edge, something that may get lost in the decidedly American slapstick of the film.

And of course, there's surrealism of the visuals. If there's something that down the line allowed this adaptation to be regarded as the classic it certainly wasn't when it came out, is the eccelctic redesign of it's illustrated counterparts. In contrast with John Tenniel's hatched illustrations, the film favors a modernist aesthetic with bright colors and simplified shapes, which lend themselves to exaggeration in the movement. A bit of a narrative mess otherwise, but that comes with the territory, the novel wasn't built on conventional plotting.

It may not be a powerful three act structure but it's engrossing on it's imagination alone.

Seriously, EVERYTHING about this film is kind of a glorious, hypnotic mess. Some of the sequences came from improvised places, the production was halted and restarted as something else multiple times, and the source material was already a complicated one as it was trying to mimic(at points too effectively) the incoherent nature of a dream.

Which is why it saw success when it was re-released along with Fantasia in 1974, with a new marketing approach to appeal to college students of psychedelic interests.

And then there's the impressively darker take they were going for in the 30's. You can read more about that here: http://lukefarookhi.blogspot.com/2008/08/david-hall-and-alice-in-wonderland.html

[theslotherin18]

Y know, I didn’t realize how Alice in Wonderland-esque Deltarune was until I read this post.

Apart from the Cheshire Cat smile, Kris and Susie FALL into this world not unlike Alice and deltarune chapter 1 has many card themed characters.

Also while doing some research, in the sequel of Alice in Wonderland, named through the looking glass, the entire premise of the story is Alice playing chess in wonderland.

Anyone with as much deltarune theory brainrot as I knows about the chess theory, which basically goes that all the main bosses in deltarune will follow chess pieces in descending order. Basically King, Queen, Rook, Bishop, Knight and Pawn.

In addition to that, at the beginning of the book, Alice looks through a mirror because she wonder what’s beyond lo and behold there is an alternate world where inanimate objects come to life. Sound familiar?

Then freaking Humpty Dumpty the egg man pops in as well.

I don’t think there is more lore relevance beyond the chess motifs but interesting none the less. Could also be a coincidence since chess isn’t that uncommon of a motif.

[nomorefstogive]

I have an idea for a power that can be really op. The power to manifest fictional creatures and fates of people that appear in physical literature. How I discovered this is a character from Fate known as Nursery Rhyme. She is supposed to be a manifestation of children's hopes and fairytales. Nursery Rhyme is one of the most powerful caster servants. Theoretically could have been a Grand Caster had the requirement of Clairvoyance not been a requirement. Currently She is in the form of alice in wonderland and the sequel through the looking glass as the source of her power. She can also manifest as any fairy tale as long as it is fictional. What makes her ludicrously powerful is called a story in through the looking glass. Alice is told not to wake the red king as we are all in his dream and life itself would be a memory of its morning haze. Not to mention Queen's Glass Game, which is the equivalent of quitting the game and opening a save file at the start of the day.

Hmmm, that power reminds me of something called Annihilation Maker from Highschool DXD or maybe even a high level reality manipulator, well at least the ability to breath life into fictional characters, although the reality manipulation/Annihilation maker can outright create whatever the wielder desires.

I will admit it is a broken ability, especially in the hands of someone like Fischl, Lisa, Miko, or really any other bibliophile with an active imagination.

The bit about the 'Red King' though...that reminds me of the Cthulu Mythos, to be exact Azathoth, the Nuclear Chaos that slumbers at the center of infinity, all of existence, both material and immaterial, being nothing but his dream, a dream that will one day end when he awakens.

I know Alice is powerful, but to be able to potentially cause an EOD level event like that is...yeah let's just call her an honorary 'Grand' level servant and be done with it because she could probably solo a grail war, especially if someone decided to give her a LOTR book and she summoned the Nazgul or the Balrogs or something like that.

An interesting way of limiting it's power and potential threat would be to make it to where the power is only usable on the type of story that resonates most with the wielder, for example fiction for Fischl and maybe slice of life or humor for Miko, but I doubt that would work.

Perhaps it could have a limit of how many could be summoned at once in terms of beings, or that certain fate's could cancel each other out 9I might be mistaken by what 'Fate' means in this context but I am assuming it is the end result or state of a character from the novels), for example manifesting the fate of 'Sleeping Beauty's Eternal Sleep' on someone, would be cancelled by manifesting another fate that effects the body such as the fate of 'The Little Mermaid' Turning To Sea Foam', but that may not work either.

I suppose the real limit to it's power would be just how well read the wielder is and just how powerful their imaginations are.

In many people's hands this could indeed be broken, but in the hands of those who are not that literate or have weak imaginations might not be able to make much use of it.

Also, glad to hear from you again, hope everything has been okay on your end.