#but. the fact hes the one that gets revived and becomes a baddie out of all the soldiers

[viralarcadian]

what was the whole point w adam anyways

like. i KNOW it's meant to be frankenstein and his monster w walsh and him, but. why?

was adam supposed to be a super weapon against demons? and also her son?

idk the fact walsh just IMMEDIATELY dies after he wakes up and shanks her is kind of a blah plot beat. personally i think it would've been more satisfying for her to survive, even if only long enough to have the "my god what have i done" moment. make her have to team up w the scoobies and then die at the end or something

[lazyliars]

/rp

Before I get into it, I want to state that is EXPLICITLY an analysis of the Characters, and is not intended to touch on how the cc’s played them in a meta sense unless specifically stated otherwise.

Also, this is technically a part two to my other post, which took a more in depth look at Techno and Phil’s reactions to Tommy’s death. It’s not necessary when reading this post, but I don’t address their reactions here.

So. The question must be asked.

Are we [the Syndicate] the baddies?

Yes.

The End.

 Why are the Syndicate the baddies?

They got damn logo is a wither skull.

The End.

That's not how this works.

Yeah, yeah. You’re right.

The Syndicate's goals as an organization are not inherently bad. They seem to have good intentions behind them, and the focus on the freedom of it's individual group members is important to remember when talking about it; It is not a government. There is no hierarchical power system. No one is forced to do anything against their will, or surrender any of their rights or power to remain a member. It is not a government.

I also want to address Techno and Phil backing Ranboo into a corner – I see them getting a lot of flack for this, but I personally do not think it is relevant to the greater discussion, or necessarily representative of any contradictions within the organization. It was clearly played for laughs, and after they back off they clarify to Ranboo that they won't force him. Then later when Phil and Ranboo are alone, Ranboo feels safe enough to express that he felt like he was pressured into it, and Phil assures him he is allowed to leave whenever he wants; He is not being forced to do anything, and he is not being coerced or blackmailed.

None of the Syndicate members have done any wrongs against each other in the context of the Syndicate, OR gone against any of the Syndicate's core principles.

That, said, holy shit are they the baddies.

Listen, there's trying to telegraph a meaning or message to the audience and then there's having your logo be wither skulls on blackstone. That is straight out of the skit I keep referencing, seriously.

Okay, but, they laughed at it! It was played as a joke, just like the Ranboo thing!

The Ranboo thing was improv, the Syndicate's headquarters were planned – the artistic choices that they made reflect on what role they want the build and the organization inhabiting it to play in the future storylines.

Wither Skulls kind of have some CONNOTATIONS. Techno is an English major, I don't think he chose the most threatening imagery possible on accident, and then joked about the way people would interpret it just to stir the pot. This reads as hugely intentional.

And beyond that, the jokes they make during this part aren't “haha yeah, we look bad but we're actually good!” they're “you can tell by looking at these that we're the good guys wink wink, this is good guy stuff right here :)” It is a joke about how they are definitely not the good guys. This isn't even a case of unreliable narrators, this is one step down from flat out saying the meta intent.

But okay, I hear you, I'm talking about things that haven't happened yet. The Syndicate hasn't used any Withers, they could be an aesthetic choice.  Lets look at what they do in practice.

So, they barge into private property, assess Snowchester's right to continue existing based entirely on their own ideals of what Freedom is, and then only once Tubbo assures them that they have no standing leader do they grant the place their approval to, and I gotta stress this part, continue existing.

 In my Quackity meta, I already talked about how Government in the context of a M1necraft RP cannot be compared to IRL Governments on a one-to-one scale. They don't serve the same purposes or have the same type of power. What I didn't talk about was Agency in the context of m1necraft governments.

In an irl government, if you are born into one, you can't really leave without committing a massive overhaul on your life, which can be expensive and difficult, if not impossible for many people. Even in a “benevolent” government, the simple physicality of where you were born can prevent you from leaving it easily.

The same hurdles do not exist in the Dream SMP. People who join M1necraft governments choose to. They want to, either at the beginning when they form one, or later on when they join up. So far, no Government has just Sprung Up and forced the current residents of an area to become dependent on them, except maybe the Eggpire, who's status as a government is... shakey.

And even when people want to leave or separate from the government, they have been historically able to do so without any trouble or any effort from said governments to stop them. Jack Manifold emancipated from Manberg. Fundy and Quackity both left to start new nations. In all cases they were allowed to do so without any attempts on the part of the governments to stop them, either through force, or institutions preventing them from doing so.

The most anyone has lost when leaving a government is their house, which is still usually their property anyway, and is something that is easily rebuilt elsewhere and is inconvenient to move anyway.

The only exceptions to this might be Schlatt exiling Wilbur and Tommy - but even then, they weren’t trying to leave, they were trying to get back in, and of course the original L’manberg revolution, where Dream attempted to force L’manberg back into the Dream SMP, which wasn’t even a government at that point in time.

I don’t consider Phil’s house arrest an example of a government forcing someone to stay a citizen - that was treated less as a matter of a citizen wanting to leave the country and more as a threat to national security. Still pretty fucked up, but it’s a different issue.

What I'm saying is, If Tubbo wants to create a government out in the middle of nowhere, threatening no one, forcing no one to join either through force or desperation, and allowing people to join willingly because they want to, then he should be allowed to do that.

The Irony of the Syndicate, a group of people consisting of some of the richest, strongest people on the server, going around and enforcing 'Freedom' that entails no one person having more power than any other, is absurd. 

It shows an extreme lack of self-awareness and/or self-righteousness, as they seem to think that they deserve to be the ones who decide what constitutes a government.

Snowchester is a small independent nation - they shouldn’t have to live in fear of being obliterated if they don’t walk on eggshells to meet an arbitrary standard decided by people who’s only authority on the matter COMES FROM THEIR PERSONAL POWER. No one elected them! No one chose them! They were not “approved” by the server at large to enact this kind of law.

The Syndicate are not a government, but they are an unsupervised power structure exerting their ideals on a land that did not ask for them. Like, These people have invented an actual Authoritarian-Anarchist faction. How the hell did they manage this?????

Back on topic.

Tubbo shows them the crater left by his nukes. The reaction is oddly positive – the nukes are fine by the morals of the Syndicate, apparently. I'd argue that they come across as more impressed than anything else; they seem to respect Tubbo for having gotten ahold of “real” power.

(There's a few good memes out there about “We can excuse nuclear weaponry, but we draw the line at Government!”)

So. By the Syndicate's standards: A single person or group of acceptably equal persons with weapons of mass-destruction are only worth “keeping an eye on” because they might provoke other people.

Like, I consider Project Dreamcatcher to be one of, if not the most morally ambiguous thing Tubbo has ever done, largely because it was all on his own initiative. He holds some culpability for The Butcher Army and Phil's house arrest, but they weren't his ideas and he was mostly following Quackity at that point.

And Phil tells Tubbo, IMMEDIATELY AFTER SEEING THE NUCLEAR CRATER:

“Looks like you've reformed a little bit Tubbo, I'm proud.”

And it's fine. Crimes against nature? Fine. A sign of healing in fact!! Tubbo is having a sweeeelll time and he definitely didn't make these nukes specifically in fear of being attacked by these exact people! Tubbo is doing great. Tubbo is doing fine. Tubbo. is. FINE.

Anyway.

I don't think this presentation of the Syndicate was an accident. Looking at the greater lore of SMP right now, after the Egg is done, their list of enemies is slim, and considering that they seem solely invested in taking down governments, that leaves maybe Snowchester, Kinoko Kingdom, and Eret and the greater Dream SMP.

Snowchester has not been shown to be corrupt, evil, or have any intent to go down that route. The most ambiguous thing they've done is, again, is the nukes. Other than that, it's pretty much your average cottagecore snow village.

Kinoko is presented in an even more morally 'good' light, Karl having founded it specifically for his Time-travel library purposes, which are currently being treated by the narrative as a selfless act, if not downright heroic.

Eret is also a fairly 'good' aligned character atm. He's been on that redemption grind since the og betrayal, and doesn't seem keen on backtracking. He's actively tried to leverage his position as king to make things better, and hasn't been quiet about that. He was also 'validated' by Tommy*, a character who has been described both by his allies and enemies as “the hero,” so take that as you will.

What I'm getting at is, all of the current potential enemies for the Syndicate aside from the Egg, are currently being cast as 'good,' and if they were to be attacked, they would undoubtedly have the moral high-ground, unless something drastically changed.

The only potential shakeups I can think of is are a Dream escape and/or a Wilbur revival, both of which could draw the Syndicate's attention and ire, depending on how things go. That said, it's just as likely that either or both of them would join the Syndicate – Dream still has that favor, and Phil and Techno both seemed to think Wilbur would've agreed with their blowing up L'manberg.

Both of those characters are currently **villains – the fact that they're both prime candidates for the Syndicate is a huge indication of the direction it's going to go as the plot moves forward.

((*I know some people are gonna come at me for painting Tommy as the “deciding factor” of what is morally good, so lemme just stop you there. I'm not talking about Tommy somehow having the 'right' to decide who is and isn't good, and definitely not the right to decide who should and shouldn't be king. I'm saying that Tommy, a character who the narrative treats as, if not a good person, then a person who is trying to be good, was in support of Eret, a character who has also been trying to be good.

Eret doesn't gain the moral highground because Tommy said so, he gets it because a character who the narrative treats as trying to do better, acknowledged Eret's earnest attempts at doing the same.

**I'm referring to Wilbur here as a villain because Tommy seemed convinced he would be if he were to be brought back. There is always the possibility that he's wrong.))

So, to summarize this: I read the Syndicate as being intentionally positioned as future antagonists, if not outright villains of a future arc. They are NOT a Government but their goals are contradictory with their means, and it is important to keep in mind that they plan to enforce their own brand of freedom on people who did not grant them either the authority or permission to do so.

So, uh. Can you tell I loved these streams? They were seriously so good. I kept switching between Ranboo and Techno's POV's trying to keep up with everything. I still have to watch Niki's!

All in all, I'm super, super excited for whats coming next, egg stuff, Syndicate stuff, Tommy stuff, all of it.

[kuiperblog]

Deathloop sure is a video game

Every October, there's pop-up entertainment venues like "haunted houses" (or other haunted attractions) that attempt to artificially recreate the motifs common in horror movies, complete with live actors who are dressed as vampires or zombies or serial killers or whatever who leap out and scare the guests who squeal in delight, if only because it gives them an excuse to tightly cling to their partner.  It's more exciting than going to a horror movie, because it's a more tactile experience, so you're mostly just there to experience the various horror motifs without being concerned about a plot.

The thing is, there are actual horror movies that are set in haunted attractions.  And while this does make for some fun early reveals (like when the teenagers laugh at the knife-wielding man who they assume is an actor and part of the attraction, only to realize that he's actually a homicidal madman), the very idea of a horror movie set in a haunted house kind of feels like cheating.  Haunted attractions are, in a way, a simulacrum of a horror movie, which I suppose is an odd thing to say considering that haunted attractions are real and the events in horror movies are not, but I think that is the main level on which most haunted attractions are designed: a haunted attraction is a "horror movie IRL," so to then make that the setting of your horror movie “horror movie IRL but in a movie” is like a simulacrum of a simulacrum.  It’s shortcutting past the part where you would ordinarily come up with some kind of lore-based explanation for why the teenagers are hanging out in a creepy house and why there’s a demented killer or vampires or whatever who are trying to kill them.

I sort of feel this way about one of the first levels I played in Deathloop, which is a video game both in medium and form. It's a bit like Dishonored (one of Arkane's earlier titles) in the sense that the core objectives boil down to identifying an assassination target, and hunting them down in their mansion or laboratory or whatever.  The first target I assassinated was a fellow by the name of Charlie Montague, who is obsessed with games, and has populated a section of the world where you can speed-run an obstacle course to be rewarded with a gun, because this is a first-person shooter video game that is set on murder island, where everyone's favorite hobby is killing each other because they’re in a timeloop where everyone will revive the next day.  However, when I found Charlie Montague, he was in the middle of a LARP session.  This is literally how the game describes it: Charlie is hosting a game where he invites guests to participate in a game somewhat akin to a murder mystery, or maybe more like Among Us. When I arrived, Charlie announced over the loudspeaker to all of his guests that the killer monster (me) had arrived, and the objective was now for them to hunt me down.  (I, for my part, did my best to avoid the guests, but I had to gun down the entire party before finally getting to Charlie at the top floor.)

So, this is a video game level that felt very much like a video game level.  Which I don't really mean as a knock against it -- it was a fun environment, I had fun hunting down the game designer Charlie Montague and murdering his LARPing buddies, and the environment was set up in a way that made the confrontation with Charlie himself interesting, since Charlie possesses the blink power that lets him teleport across gaps and between floors.  But it kind of feels like cheating to have a video game level where the setting premise is, as explained by the game's fiction, literally a game created by a game designer (as opposed to trying to sell you on the idea that the level you're traipsing through is just some rich dude's mansion, or a military base, or whatever).  It is the video game equivalent of setting your horror movie in a haunted house attraction.

As an Arkane Studios fan (who started with 2006's Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, and counts Dishonored among my personal top 10 games of all time), I quite enjoyed Deathloop.  But it is by far the most video game video game that they've ever released.

Games like Dishonored and Prey (2017) exist in what is sometimes described as the "immersive sim" genre, where there's a big emphasis on player choice and giving the players a bunch of tools to approach objectives without giving them a prescribed route through the game.  Dishonored pushes you in the direction of being stealthy and quiet (with a "chaos" system that causes the world to become more desolate if you kill too many enemies in each level), but there are many routes through the levels -- and sometimes, you'll find your way to an objective through what feels like it isn't a prescribed "route" at all. The objectives are often quite simple -- "infiltrate, kill a dude, exfiltrate" -- but a level that could be completed in just a few minutes might take an hour to complete the first time you play it as you spend time scoping out the target, gradually getting a feel for the environment and learning which parts of the level have lots of enemies and which parts are safe and easy to stealth your way through.

The immersive sim's emphasis on carving your own way through levels leads to a phenomenon where a lot of the progression that you make is "meta" progression that exists entirely outside of your avatar -- you might spend an hour prowling around a level, and your character hasn't gotten any stronger (apart from maybe finding a few optional collectibles), but you as a player have "leveled up" to the point that you now know the level like the back of your hand, which is how you have people who spend hours exploring a level in Hitman so that they can do a perfect 5-minute speedrun of that level.

Sometimes, this sense of "meta-progression" is further emphasized by making some of the collectibles information that you as a player can store.  I remember a part in Dishonored where I found a locked safe, and I had to root around the game environment and find the code to the safe before I could come back and get the goodie inside.  But if I wanted to, I could write that number down so that on any subsequent playthrough, I could just go right to the safe and open it right away -- which feels a bit like cheating, but it's no less cheating than sprinting through a specific route through a level because I know from previous playthroughs that the path I'm taking has no guards.

Deathloop isn't quite like that: the game is filled with combinations and whatnot (in one "puzzle" I had to insert specifically-labeled tapes into a machine in a specific order), but all of these are generated randomly: you can't take that information with you across playthroughs, and you can't look the number up in a walkthrough like some older immersive sims would let you do. But Deathloop takes this meta progression and makes it actual progression: it's a time-loop story, and your character (Colt) remembers everything that he encounters across playthrough, so when you find the combination to a door, Colt will make a mental note of it (no need to bust out your pen and paper), and the next time you come to a locked door that requires that combination, you don't even have to punch in the numbers: just hold the triangle button on your Playstation controller and Colt will automatically punch in the numbers that he learned during an earlier loop.

Deathloop is full of little things like this that, on first glance, almost just feel like QoL improvements.  But there's something that feels very different about how things are done in Deathloop: in gameplay terms, it basically boils down to, "Go to this place and press square to read the password, then go to this other place and unlock the door," which is really not that different from "go to this place and press square to pick up the key, then go to this other place to unlock the door."  The "passwords" that exist throughout this game are basically just keys that Colt can store in his brain and take with him whenever you advance to the next loop.

And to be clear, that's not necessarily a *bad* thing.  In fact, immersive sims are kind of a niche genre that don't have a very big audience, so anything that helps streamline and make it more like, well, what you'd expect from a "video game," is probably going to make the game accessible to a lot more people.  And they streamline a *lot* in this game.  The game is all about planning the "perfect loop" where you manage to kill the 8 big baddies in a single day, and everything before that point is just preparing for that final loop.  Even though that seems like an abstract thing that might require you to hold a bunch of disparate information in your head, the game is actually *really* good at making it so that Colt is already mentally mapping out the game plan as you go, to the point where you can just go into the quest book, select a thread, and then just follow the waypoints.  Colt is planning for the "perfect loop" and collecting all the information he needs (including passwords, and memorizing information about how to get certain bosses to go to certain areas where they'll be vulnerable), and Colt is so good at remembering these things that the player never has to: you can play the entire game from start to finish just by traveling from waypoint to waypoint and stealthing or shooting your way past anything that stands in your way.

That is, of course, incredibly reductive.  The process of getting from point A to point B in Deathloop is fun for the same reason that getting from point A to point B is fun in any other game.  The guns feel good to shoot, the levels are interesting to navigate, and the game lets you earn the ability to take certain pieces of gear with you between loops so it always feels like there's forward progression.  But I think that there's a critical thing that's missing:

Immersive sims aren't just about getting from point A to point B.  Before you can get to point B, you have to discover where point B is.  *Where* in this mansion is the assassination target?  Better spend some time skulking around and listening to his staff gossip about his daily habits so you know which parts of the mansion he's likely to appear in.  Oh wait, I don't want to just get in the same room with this guy, I want to get myself in the same room with him *when he's not surrounded by his guards*.  How do I do that?  Better do some more snooping.  And in a sense, Deathloop *sort* of does this.  Before you can follow the waypoint objective marker to your target, you have to find out where they are.  But the "find out where they are" is often, "follow this *other* waypoint objective marker to find the slip of paper that tells you where they're going to be, at which point you can follow the waypoint objective marker to their exact location!"

And to be fair to Deathloop, it's not *all* like that.  There are some times where the game sort of just points you in the right direction and leaves you to figure it out, like one dude who has hosted a masquerade party where he and his guests are all wearing the same masks, and so you have to figure out a way to ferret him out.  (Or you can just murder everyone at the party to figure it out by process of elimination -- which is actually much easier said than done, because this is murder island and everybody is packing heat, and this is an exclusive party so his guests are the type of people who carry around heavy weapons.)

Another way that Deathloop takes the "meta progression" inherent to immersive sims and makes it explicit in-game progression is by having a time loop where you can encounter and kill the same targets over and over again.  That's the kind of thing that tends to happen in immersive sims across multiple playthroughs -- Hitman doesn't *require* you to play each level multiple times, but you generally want to, because each level is filled with tons of different routes to explore and different ways to deal with each of the targets.  But that's all on the player: it's not as if in the fiction of the Hitman universe, Agent 47 is repeatedly murdering a bunch of people who magically revive so that he can kill them again, whereas in Deathloop, that is very explicitly what is happening.

The thing is, because Deathloop is kind of designed with the assumption that you'll kill each target multiple times, the first time you encounter them and blow their head off, it doesn't feel like the grand emotional climax.  In fact, in a way, it feels like the *start* of a relationship.  "Goodbye, Charlie Montague.  I hardly knew ye.  But I'm sure I'll know you better by the third time I'm leaving your LARPing session with that slab upgrade you're carrying."  I feel like that robs the kills of some of their impact, and maybe that's just inherent to what kind of game this is: in Dishonored, you feel as though over the course of a level, you get to know your target as you snoop through their quarters, overhear what their staff have to say about them, read the journals of their rivals while looking for possible weaknesses, and so on.  Because it's a stealth game, it makes sense to hide in the background and learn about their life.  Stalking a character through a level while waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike can actually feel incredibly intimate, because as  the eponymous Visible Man in Chuck Klosterman’s novel says, to truly know who someone is, you have to see them when they’re alone at home; their behavior anywhere else is just a performance.

But when I'm chasing down Charlie Montague with an SMG in one hand and a pistol in the other, the only thing I really know about him is what he's announcing over the loudspeaker.  (I don't really remember exactly what he said, but the subtext is that he's mentally unstable, and he's obsessed with games.)  And even though Charlie Montague was shouting at me what kind of person he said, I feel like I never really got to *know* him like I got to know some targets in Dishonored.  In fact, the moments when I got to know Charlie best weren't when he was yelling at my over the loudspeaker as I ran through his level as Shooty McFPS guy, but the moments when I got to read his notes or chat correspondence (which is *entirely optional*, because even if I don't learn the relevant facts from Charlie Montague's notes, Cole will -- and he'll verbally narrate the cliffsnotes version of them as I'm headed to the next objective)

Despite feeling like a clear descendant of Arkane’s earlier titles, Deathloop feels neither "immersive" nor "sim."  It's constantly doing things that remind me that I'm playing a video game -- which, to be clear, is not a bad thing!  It’s fun to be Shooty McFPS guy without worrying about hiding guards bodies or making noise. More than any other Arkane Studios game, it does everything it can to minimize player frustration, whether that means feeling lost, or feeling like you're not making forward progress, or feeling like your progress is being gated by a huge spike in difficulty.

Dishonored is a game that rewards patience.  This is one of my favorite things about it, but the fact that it rewards patience so generously means that it also *asks* patience of the player in order to get its best moments, which means that some players will never experience them.  Deathloop asks very little from the player.  Deathloop is a very "even" and "smooth" experience, but that's both for better and for worse.  The lows aren't as low, but the highs aren't nearly as high. Deathloop is a good game.  And it will probably be a "good game" to a greater number of people than Arkane's previous titles, but it didn’t have nearly the same impact on me.

Anyway, more than anything, my time with Deathloop has convinced that I should go back and play Prey (2017).

[dtrhwithalex]

TV | Leverage (Season 1, Rewatch)

Rewatch of the first season of TNT's LEVERAGE (2008-2012), created by John Rogers and Chris Downey together with Dean Devlin and his production company Electric Entertainment.

In anticipation of the show's reboot / revival / sequel LEVERAGE: REDEMPTION coming to IMDbTV on 09 July this year, I am rewatching the original 77 episodes and writing about my favourite moments and things from each episode, season by season.

(Just a note, this first season was aired out of order, so the dates won't actually form a chronology, since I'm going with the intended order rather than the one they were aired in.)

101: THE NIGERIAN JOB

D: DEAN DEVLIN. W: JOHN ROGERS & CHRIS DOWNEY. Original Air Date: 07 December 2008.

I have lost count of how many times I have seen this episode (or any episodes of this show to be completely honest), but it holds up every single time. It is one of my favourite, if not the favourite TV pilot episode I have ever seen.

The way this pilot sets up who the main characters are and what the core of this show is, is simply perfect. The introduction of Nate at the bar being approached by Dubenich, then the intercut between him convincing Nate to do the job and the actual job happening -- just wonderful. The same goes for the individual introductions of the other players. Nate's comment about Parker ("no, but Parker is insane") which plants a thread for the rest of the show already, the flashbacks of each character to exemplify who they and what their talents are, combined with the episode then showing you those talents and what Nate can do with them -- which is, of course, his talent -- sets up this whole show so well.

So many seeds that come to fruition throughout the show are already planted right here. Nate's mentoring of Parker to become his eventual successor as Mastermind ("Haircuts, Parker, count the haircuts" -- "I would've missed that"), Eliot's role as protector, the iconic overhead shots and the gloating, the alternate revenue streams, "Hardison dies in Plan M" -- it's all already right here in this episode. A brilliant piece of writing. Hats off to Rogers and Downey, no questions asked.

Rewatching this episode made me think of what this show is about, in its essence. Yes, it is about standing up for those who can't do so themselves, taking on the bigger bad, showing how corrupt and terrible the world can be, but also how much good there is to still find in the world. But also, this show is about a lonely man being actively bullied into the family he didn't know he needed or wanted, but will eventually come to realise is the one thing, the only thing that is keeping him alive. LEVERAGE is the story of a man and his crusade to avenge the death of his child, but is is very much also the story of a man who finds a reason to keep getting up every morning in the four people who are on this crusade with him. And this pilot episode already holds the seed and the potential of all of that. And that is why this show is to this day still my favourite show of all time, because it is utterly perfect in every way.

102: THE HOMECOMING JOB

D: DEAN DEVLIN. W: JOHN ROGERS. Original Air Date: 09 December 2008.

I absolutely love how John Rogers was like okay first episode, some greedy asshole who does whatever he wants for his own gain, we'll take him down a notch. Episode two? Hmm, oh yeah, the government is completely corrupt, filled with rich greedy assholes who do whatever they want for their own gain and always get away with it. Not on my watch (I love him very much, thank you).

This episode, once again, so good. The re-introduction of every character in this new reality of Nate's crusade is just as brilliantly done as the original introduction of them all. Sophie at an audition (love the John Rogers cameo here) completely butchering it once again, Eliot beating up some thug, Parker stealing valuable art, and Hardison doing what he does best: creating a beautiful office-slash-home space for the team, putting his all into their backstories, the equipment, the behind-the-scenes workings of what they need to get the job done. My man.

The message of this particular episode is also just something I am very fond of. The rehab facility doctor's words in the beginning, and then in the end again -- "people don't just show up to help. that's not the way the world works" -- as well as Nate's ultimate answer to her, "so change the world." That right here is the message of this show. It's already right here, all up in your face, episode two.

I completely adore what this episode does for the character dynamics already. The detail Hardison puts into the other's backstories, the interactions around the conference table, Eliot sharing his knowledge, Nate explaining the money laundering scam, the whole thing about laws being in a wooden box, Sophie elaborating why she knew Congressman Jenkins was lying to her -- they don't just work together, they already start giving the others insight into their talents and their knowledge and share that. It's beautiful. I especially adore the shot of them at the end, everyone leaning against the car while watching Corporal Perry and the other veterans debating what to do with the money. They are already so comfortable and at ease with each other, leaning into each other's spaces. They're family. You can see it here already.

Absolutely fantastic episode. For a long time, whenever I thought about The Homecoming Job, I somehow associated a more negative emotion with it than with other episodes, but I don't quite know why, because this is a brilliant episode and I love watching it.

103: THE WEDDING JOB

D: JONATHAN FRAKES. W: CHRIS DOWNEY. Original Air Date: 13 January 2009.

We love Jonathan Frakes in this house and every single time his name shows up with the director tag on this show, I know that I will enjoy every last second of the episode I am about to watch. Frakes directed the hell outta this thing. The Wedding Job is an absolutely excellent episode. Dan Lauria as our main baddie Nicky Moscone is perfect casting and there are so many great comedic beats in the scenes with him and Nate. Everyone, generally, is so weirded out by Priest!Nate, but Moscone just takes the weirdness in stride. This episode holds a very special place in my heart because it contains the introduction of my favourite FBI duo -- McSweeten (McSweetheart, as we call him) and Taggert. I adore these two bumbling fools so much, and I am so glad they kept being brought back, because they are both just so lovely. McSweetheart especially is very dear to me because of the D.B. Cooper Job from the last season (where, I ask, do I start my McSweetheart for Leverage: Redemption campaign?). Overall just such an excellent episode, really. So many great moments between our main characters--Sophie and Nate and their little "relationship" problem, Hardison and Eliot talking about marriage, Parker pretending she was waiting in the screening room to have sex with Hardison, Hardison appreciating Eliot's cooking. I also absolutely adore the beginning, the four of them convincing Nate that Teresa is definitely the type of client they take on. And Nate's resigned "Yeah, okay, yeah. Let's go rob Nicky Moscone. A guy who kills people and lives in our city. Yeah, let's go do that" as if they weren't going to go above and beyond any of that in the five years they will spend together on this crusade of his. You're so precious, Nathan. Of course, the ending of this episode is beyond brilliant, and lives both in my heart and my head rent free. It is such a magnificent found family moment. Getting Teresa the restaurant back, the news footage regarding Ray's appeal, and of course, Eliot cooking for them all, and them celebrating together, all of them. It is such a beautiful moment.

104: THE SNOW JOB

D: TONY BILL. W: ALBERT KIM. Original Air Date: 27 January 2009.

I adore what the client says to Nate in the beginning of the episode: "You work hard, you play by the rules, but when you need help, you really need help? They let you hang. They let you hang and it's your kid who pays the price." This show hammers home its message so many times in such great character moments and it makes watching these brilliant people take on these greedy bastards and robbing them for all they've got that much sweeter. It is such a satisfying thing to watch. Especially because they're all so damn good at this.

This is a great episode but it is infinitely funnier if you know and speak German, because it makes the scenes between Sophie and Eliot absolutely hysterical. And the delivery of the line that Ute Ausgartner says when she discovers they replaced her with Sophie is just wrong enough to crack you up.

Again some wonderfully brilliant comedic beats -- the Frakes cameo in the hospital waiting room, Parker casually hanging off the ski lift, Hardison and Eliot arguing over who puts dye in the dead body, Eliot carrying off a pissed of Parker, and so many more.

This episode also, for the first time, really gives insight into Nate's drinking problem. We had the one moment in The Homecoming Job, but this episode starts to explore it more in depths. And something that I've always appreciated about this show is that it never glorifies the drinking, but Nate is also never vilified for it. It is a fact of Nate's life and they explore different aspects of it, and everything is done with such care (which does not surprise me one bit since this is John Rogers' show).

The ending of this episode is also, once again, so beautiful and nicely done. It is just so incredibly satisfying to watch these greedy bastards get what's coming to them, and to see the clients be compensated beyond anything they'd ask for.

105: THE MILE HIGH JOB

D: ROB MINKOFF. W: AMY BERG. Original Air Date: 20 January 2009.

Another fantastic episode (you will realise that I will say this about every single of the 77 episodes this show has)! Amy Berg wrote some excellent stuff for this show, and this episode is one of them. Always a lot of great character relationship moments, and absolutely brilliant comedic beats.

I am very fond of the fact that here, in the early days, we have the whole team present around the table during the client meeting. We see all their reactions and inputs here already, and not later when Nate or Hardison (usually) relays the information of their next job to the rest of the gang. It's a very lovely moment.

I am also very fond of the entire recon bit at the GenoGrow office. Sophie's French rave-girl act, the others having to climb stairs, Hardison's absence, the cut from Parker's bomb to the microwave at the HQ, Nate, Eliot and Parker yelling "Oh it's right behind us, it's chasing us!" and grabbing Sophie on the way out, meanwhile the security guys completely buying it. Absolutely brilliant, all the way through.

Both Hardison's adventure at GenoGrow as well as the others on the plane contain so many great comedic moments. Hardison's Spanish maintenance guy act, his interactions with both Cheryl and Steve (talking into the cupboard? His fake meeting and getting Steve to take a dive? The whole birthday thing? A+ all around. Amy Berg, everyone) and of course the reaction he has to the plane safely landing on the highway ("lord I was so scared, I wanna cry and call my momma" I love him so much, y'all). I also have big feelings about Nate's pep talk to Hardison, "you can do this, I trust you ... the only guy I can count on in a situation like this." Sir, I am experiencing an emotion alright.

The sequences on the plane are of course also absolutely fantastic. Nate and Sophie's domestic, Parker's day job and her interactions with Marissa, Eliot being a big softie who holds Marissa's hand all the way up to the in-flight bar and hugs the woman he sat down next to when they safely land (womaniser, big softie. tomayto, tomahto). Also big shoutout to the fake names Nate and Sophie have. We love our DOCTOR WHO references in this show. I love these nerds very much, thank you.

106: THE TWO HORSE JOB

D: CRAIG R. BAXLEY. W: MELISSA GLENN & JESSICA RIEDER (GRASL). Original Air Date: 16 December 2008.

This episode also holds a very special place in my heart because it contains the introduction of our dearly beloved antagonist, Mr Jim Sterling, the absolutely amazing Mark Sheppard. We love Sterling in this house, yessir (again, where do I have to address my Jim Sterling For Leverage: Redemption campaign to?). Every moment he is in is fantastic, but I especially adore the conversation he has with Nate at the race track (especially the "Nathan Ford is a common criminal" -- "Common. That's just hurtful" bit of it).

This, of course, is an episode by our wonder twins, Glenn and Rieder (now Grasl), which they ended up naming the in-universe safe company after. Always fantastic work when the two of them are involved. Some amazing character moments again here.

We get to see some of Eliot's backstory with Aimee which in turn gives us two fantastic moments with him and the women of the team. I love his interaction with Sophie at the racetrack: "I like Aimee, I do. I mean it, I like you both, Eliot. I just, I don't know what comes of chasing the past, you know." -- "Well Sophie, sweetie, I don't think you and Nate get to serve me that particular meal." Just fantastic moment between these two, who I like to call The Conference of Mom Friends whenever they are in scenes together. The other interaction is with Parker in the car: "We need you to do this. I need you to do this." I adore Eliot and Parker's relationship and this already is a very early glimpse at the dynamic they develop which will eventually lead to beautiful moments like that in the ice cave in The Long Way Down Job in season four.

I also love how it is Hardison and Parker's discussion about horses that ultimately reminds Nate of the Lost Heir con. Aldis' delivery of "Wilbur loved Mr Ed! He loved him like a second cousin twice removed" is absolutely brilliant. Unsurprisingly, however, my favourite interaction of this episode is the one Eliot has with Aimee at the end: "You're never gonna be the kind to settle down, but I'm glad you found a family." -- "Th-those guys?" Yes, Eliot, those guys. You might not know it just yet, but that is absolutely your family, and the fact that an outsider already comments on it this early is simply perfect. My deepest gratitude to you, wonder twins.

107: THE BANK SHOT JOB

D: DEAN DEVLIN. W: AMY BERG. Original Air Date: 30 December 2008.

Amy Berg on the typewriter once again (typewriter? Alex what are you talking about this was 2008...)! I really like this episode a whole lot. An excellent one for Nate/Sophie, as well as Hardison/Parker. I have a huge soft spot for my crime children pretending to be law enforcement. Any combination of them is good, but Parker and Hardison as FBI agents especially is just exquisite.

This episode is also just fantastic for illustrating some of the small town criminal activity that happens from the top down. Judge Roy's entire bit about how "these little people" will do and say whatever he tells them to do and that, because he is the law in the town, he gets to decide what is actually true and what is not. To then have Hardison fake security footage and them turning the story against Judge Roy is of course poetic justice. I adore the moment when the bank manager Frank decides that sticking with the false facts these random people have come up with is the better choice than having the judge remain in charge.

I also really love the interaction Derrick has with Sophie and then later with Parker, as well as the moment of uncertainty in-between. His "I don't know what to do with that" when Sophie tells him she's a thief is so funny and so good. The turn of "but they're criminals....then again" when he looks out of the window on the way to Parker is also just a nice moment to illustrate exactly what Parker then later says, "sometimes bad guys are the only good guys you get." Ethics and justice are such muddy concepts and especially in situations like Derrick is currently in, there is no way of knowing who is actually good, who is bad, and who is just trying their best. It is a lovely moment and once again, one of those great instances of "important message within character moment" that this show does so well.

Of course, I am also very fond of Hardison's mention of DOCTOR WHO, his "Geek power baby, stay strong" line, Eliot's fight scene with the crack dealers ("stay in the car!"), Hardison's bullshitting the demands at the bank (Hall & Oates!) and, of course, last but not least, the return of my favourite FBI fools, McSweetheart and Taggert, getting yet another win laid in their lap by the Leverage crew. This episode is filled to the brim with greatness.

108: THE MIRACLE JOB

D: ARVIN BROWN. W: CHRISTINE BOYLAN. Original Air Date: 23 December 2008.

An absolutely excellent Nate-centric episode! We finally get a bit more of a view into Nate's past, aside from the ever-present flashback to Sam's death at the hospital. I really like the relationship of Nate and Father Paul, which I think is very interesting and so well done. Through Paul we get another side of Nate, which may have stayed hidden otherwise. I am also very fond of how Maggie is introduced here. She doesn't get a voice yet, but we learn about her through Nate, Sophie and also Paul, and I quite like that. It sets up expectations for her appearance in the finale, which is really intriguing.

This episode has so many great comedic beats as well, and I barely even know where to begin. From the team's inability to deal with Sophie's acting talents (or lack thereof) to the whole "It's not Santa" gag, the amazing faces Sophie pulls when the mark tells her about Bibletopia, Hardison's "God will smite us" thing -- there is just too much good stuff in this episode.

One of my favourite interactions in this episode was on the construction site, after Grant takes what he thinks are his meds.

Sophie: What is that you just took? Grant: Xanax. For my nerves. Parker: Actually caffeine. With a dash of dextroamphetamine. Eliot: You have him speed? Hardison, shrugging: He beat up a priest!

The look Eliot gives them then with a half-shrug, an expression which cannot be described as anything but "aight, fair enough" -- just absolutely excellent.

What I also really loved about this episode, is that we get to see more of the HQ than just the conference room. We have the team meeting in Nate's office, we see Sophie picking through her mail, Hardison making space so he can build fake Saint Nick statues. Added to that, the team is setting into such a nice familiarity with each other. Eliot brings Sophie a cup of coffee to the meeting in Nate's office. The fact that they all do get mail at the office. This is their space. I love it so much.

What this episode also gives us, is a first instance of the con possibly going side-ways because of how convincing it is. I adore that their possible downfall will never be incompetence, but rather over-competence. They are so good at what they do that sometimes their talent comes to bite them in the ass. We see this again, a bit different, in The Juror #6 Job.

The ending of this episode is very dear to me. It is a very lovely moment between Nate and Paul, but also Nate and the team. It creates such a beautiful moment of intimacy between these characters, which I think is done with extreme care, and it shows. This episode also very nicely sets up a nice sort of grounded-ness for the next episode, which I think the subject matter really deserves and needs.

109: THE STORK JOB

D: MARC ROSKIN. W: ALBERT KIM. Original Air Date: 06 January 2009.

This one and the next episode are excellent Parker-centric plots and this one in particular also has some wonderful Parker/Hardison content. Nate, also, is just very good in this episode as well. Keeping the tone the last episode established especially toward the end, this episode has such a nice grounded-ness to it. Nate's first meeting with the client is so careful in a way, and we don't always see that. Generally, Nate is careful and considerate in this episode, I think. Even when Parker goes rogue, he is so good with Parker (I attribute the brashness entirely to his director role here). It meant so much that he doesn't shoot down the idea of coming back for the other orphans, he knows how important this is to Parker (and Hardison).

With this episode we learn that both Parker and Hardison have grown up in the foster system. I really adore the conversation they have at the van after they find out about the orphanage -- Hardison telling Parker about his Nana, Parker's fear that foster system will be cruel to those children, Hardison's "I like how you turned out" -- it is such a lovely and meaningful moment. This and the "we're a team" / "a little more than a team" moments are such great instances that highlight the importance of these characters and their relationships in this show. It isn't just some crime procedural where every characters is replaceable at any given moment -- this show is about people, and about these specific people.

On a lighter note, I also really adore Nate and Sophie's dynamic in this. How they coach Parker and Eliot individually but at the same time, while also arguing about Sophie conning Nate back in the day, is just brilliant. Their "delightful banter" as Hardison calls it, is so good, and I absolutely love that Nate figures out the way to con Irina is the same way he would have to con Sophie. It's just too good.

David S. Lee as Nicholas is also incredibly good, although since watching THE LIBRARIANS I always expect him to swoon over a blonde and call her Duchess any minute.

110: THE JUROR #6 JOB

D: JONATHAN FRAKES. W: REBECCA KIRSCH. Original Air Date: 10 February 2009.

The lighter of the two Parker-centric episodes, but a brilliant one nonetheless. This episode also brings us the introduction of Peggy played by the lovely Lisa Schurga. We love Peggy in this house and, once again, I ask: where do I address my Peggy For Leverage: Redemption campaign to?

This episode is great for many different reasons, one of course being that Hardison is so good at what he does, that Parker's alias has to go to jury duty. What a talent, we absolutely have no choice but to stan. I love him so much. Other fantastic things that make this episode absolutely excellent are

- Nate's "there is not some evil conspiracy lurking behind the curtain of every routine civic activity" speech which he then has to retract,

- Sophie teaching Parker about persuasion with the help of Eliot who is absolutely precious in this interaction,

- Eliot's friend Donnie, who poses as another employee from the company Sophie pretends to be from, who then turns out to be Scottish,

- Nate and Sophie sending the kids off to work at the door, with a briefcase and handshake for Hardison and a snack and high-five for Parker,

and Hardison's entire act as a lawyer. He is so good. Of course his stalling is brilliant, but the turn-around once he has to actually try and win the trial? A masterpiece. I love how he tears the doctor apart for his drunken airplane misconducts, but what takes the cake by miles is of course his closing statement. He is just, so good, and such a goodhearted, wonderful person. I love how he directly addressed Parker. Hardison is full of sunshine and I love. him. so. much.

And I would be remiss not to mention how incredibly fond I am of the rest of the team watching the feed of the jury room from the HQ with such proud looks on their faces as Parker leads the other jury members and they vote in favour of the plaintiff. This is their girl and she's done so well. What a brilliant episode. My love to Becky Kirsch, honestly.

111: THE 12-STEP JOB

D: ROD HARDY. W: AMY BERG & CHRIS DOWNEY. Original Air Date: 03 February 2009.

Another episode, another instance of me asking the question: Where do I address my Hurley for Leverage: Redemption campaign to? We love Hurley! Drew Powell is absolutely fantastic, I adore him. Also huge shoutout to Joseph LoDuca for that absolute banger of a song that plays during the intro and the credits.

This episode has some fantastic Eliot/Hardison moments that are very dear to me. The two of them looking for Hurley and fighting over Hardison's slushy spill is just lovely. The whole car bomb sequence is also just completely brilliant. It's such a step in their relationship and I love it so much. The moment of "D'you want me to kick it?" / "God, I'm gon' die" is a wonderful comedic beat in this tense situation, but it is the bit after that I really adore. Hardison figuring out how to trick the bomb and then,

Eliot: What's our margin of error here? Hardison: 'bout half a second. Eliot: Run the ba-bag of bricks by me again? Hardison: Are you ready? Eliot: No.

I am just, so fond of these two. Also the fact that Eliot's hand shakes when he reaches for the cables and waits for Hardison's signal always puts me all up in my feelings about him. I also of course adore the scene at the rehab facility with Hardison's "I'm with him. No, I am with him. See, he thinks the flirting makes me jealous, but it doesn't. But if you was like Brad Pitt or Denzel or somebody, oh girl it would be on." It love it so much.

Nate, of course, is also just great in this episode. His entire experience in rehab is another wonderful insight into his character, his issues, how he sees himself and so on. The hallucination of Sterling says so much about him. I think this also very nicely sets up how Nate behaves in the finale double episode.

I also really want to mention Parker here, because Parker in rehab is also something I am very fond of. I love the moment where she pickpockets the Koreans searching for Hurley and then so innocently comes to Nate to confess what she's done and tells him in this tiny voice "I didn't meant to, it was just instinct." I love her so much. And her, at the end of the episode, skipping along and then running toward her people, jumping on Eliot while tossing her stuff at Nate, and then going to hug Hardison, is such a lovely moment. I love how the three of them then walk toward the car arm in arm, too. I love these kids.

112: THE FIRST DAVID JOB

D: DEAN DEVLIN. W: JOHN ROGERS. Original Air Date: 17 February 2009.

First half of the first finale! I gotta say I really love the David Jobs very much. It is such a fantastic first finale. I really adore how the opening of this episode is mirrored in the opening of the second half.

Given the set-up of the previous episode, I really like how for a first time watcher, this opening sequence very much looks like Nate is completely off the rails doing his own thing getting revenge on the man who, basically, killed his son. It isn't until Blackpoole introduces Nate to 'Portia' and we see Sophie turn around that it becomes clear that we're on the con, which I think is done very nicely. Only then giving the viewer the "how we got here" part is just great.

This episode of course also brings us, finally, Maggie (yes, I'll ask again: where do I address my Maggie For Leverage: Redemption campaign to?). I absolutely love how she is introduced here as Eliot's date. I also love how absolutely terrified Eliot looks once he realises that she isn't just anyone, but Nate's ex-wife. Maggie is such an excellent character, and I adore her. I also am very appreciative that this episode holds the singular moment of jealousy Sophie has toward Maggie. After her momentary outburst as Maggie tells Nate she hasn't stopped caring about him, we never see it again. Even better, once Maggie learns about Nate's crew, Sophie and her even become friends. And it is lovely.

We also have some great Parker/Hardison moments in this episode as well. I adore Parker and her enthusiasm for their "little naked man" and Hardison being weirded out about it (and turning the little David around so Parker can change in private). I, of course, absolutely love the kiss (and Eliot's grinning question at Sophie who of the two of them Parker had kissed) and then the theft of the First David. Hardison is so in awe of Parker and it is a sight to behold.

I also quite enjoy the "downfall" in this episode. Sterling showing up (we love the bastard), the fight between Eliot and Mr Quinn, the conversation about Sophie conning them on the roof, and then of course the final confrontations on that same roof as well as the HQ. This whole thing of "and then I asked myself, what would Parker do?" / "but then I thought, what would Hardison do?" is just brilliant and lovely. It shows how far they have all come throughout this first season and how much they have learned from each other already. I am very fond of it.

I am sad about the offices being blown up, though. As much as I love both McRory's pub and Nate's apartment in Boston, as well as the Brewpub in Portland, I've always really liked the LA offices as well. It was their first home and it was lovely. I am however very happy that Old Nate made it out unscathed.

113: THE SECOND DAVID JOB

D: DEAN DEVLIN. W: JOHN ROGERS & CHRIS DOWNEY. Original Air Date: 24 February 2009.

And the last episode! As I've said above, I adore how this opening sequence mirrors that of The First David Job. Similarly, I also love how until Sophie notices Parker's laser pointer and Eliot sees Hardison, as a viewer you assume they are on the job together, which is again the reversal of the first half of the finale. Just lovely storytelling, I adore it. Speaking of mirrors, the scene in the MC Hammer mansion where Nate inconspicuously manages to get them all thinking about the con together and putting their differences aside once more, also mirrors one of my favourite scenes from the first episode of season two, where the team does the same to Nate.

This episode on the whole I also just marvellous. Eliot's awkward date with Maggie, Nate finally telling Maggie about Blackpoole's involvement (or lack thereof) in Sam's death, the team involving Maggie in the planning of the con and her, precious as she is, questioning Nate's ability to just get people to do what he wants -- it is all just so good. I love Maggie on the con, too. Sophie coaching her, how good Maggie is at it immediately. Just lovely.

Then, of course, the entirety of the con from the moment Nate shows up at the museum. Sterling hurrying all over the place trying to figure out what Nate's plan is, finding out about the mummy, the release of the gas, the evacuation, the David statue replicas, them finally getting in and finding Nate alone in the exhibit room. I adore that shot of him leaning against the display case with the two Davids still inside, only highlighted from the open hatch in the roof. It is such a beautiful shot. I really enjoy Nate and Sterling's dynamic here, too. And I am very happy that Maggie gets to punch Blackpoole just like Nate got to in the episode before. They both deserve to give this man hell.

The ending of this episode and therefore this season always has me in all of my emotions. If I didn't know there would be more after this, I would just go lie down and weep for a while after watching it. The trademark overhead walkaway shot is of course a must, but the fact that they stop, that all of them hesitate, thinking about turning around, thinking about changing their minds. And then it cuts to black, and if this had been it, we would've never known! Ah, what a show, what a first season. I am completely in love with this show, as pretty much everyone knows, but I just -- this show is so damn good. It gets me every single time. Every time.

[image taken from the electricnow website]

[yusuke96universe]

Turles and Lord Slug Team Up Pitch

Introduction

Hello guys, after watching MasakoX's What If Turles Turned Good parts 1 and 2 [which act more like an origin story for him within the frameworks of modern Dragon Ball similar to Super Broly] I thought I would share an old headcanon origin I had for another Dragon Ball Z movie Villain, Lord Slug and how it could make for an excellent part in this What If story that has captured my imagination. Also, it opens up a lot of potential avenues for ood DBZ storytelling.

I know he's considered one of the most uninteresting Villains in the franchise since he is essentially King Piccolo from space, but rushed in an hour long movie. Let's face it, a lot of DBZ villains aren't inherently interesting characters and usually are introduced as Pure Evil tropes

Trope Talk: Pure Evil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-XprjlATEo

Irrelevant backstory

very simple motivation

enthusiastic, zestful villainy

Pure self-confidence

Third -Act Breakdowns (where they are faced with what they truly fear and usually fail)

Afterward, they could be open to becoming a more nuanced character to explore as we've seen done time and again with cast of redeemed or evolved villains in Dragon Ball

A lot of the movie villains from the franchise would be more interesting if they weren't rushed or were expanded on and boy does Lord Slug bring a lot to the table if he is expanded on.

1) You could have Turles and Lord Slug form a dynamic duo that counterparts Goku and Piccolo. Turles is a trouble-making youth-filled underdog who has taken a shine to the crabby old man that is Slug. Turles could use a lot more modern methods to contrast Slug's far more traditional warmongering that he's developed over the centuries. (They did it a little in Xenoverse 2, but you could really expand upon it in a MasakoX styled What If) Plus, the Tree of Might likely has the ability to restore Lord Slug's youth since it canonically resurrected fossils, so Turles literally has the solution to Lord Slug's main problem plaguing him and is an open-minded businessman by nature. This hypothetical team-up of working together to gain more power, invade planets for their resources and overthrow the Universal order by killing Frieza before returning to enemies, acts as an inverse counterpart of Goku's and Piccolo's initial alliance against the Saiyans invading the Earth interfering with Piccolo's own conquest, but opened the doors for change in him and others.

2) Most likely these 2 would start off as enemies and have their forces face off against one another, but this struggle is a good thing in the long run because they could potentially provide each other, their own personal Third Act Breakdowns or at least teach each other recognize their own flaws and weaknesses to help each other grow as characters.

Lord Slug's backstory, retooled

Planet Slug

The most fun thing I found was that they gave Turles a proper origin story to build a character around, well I have a suggestion for a similar concept for Lord Slug that I think you guys could use in many different ways, but before that. Here are the facts. In the backstory I found in supplemental materials, it is stated by Guru that Lord Slug and other Evil Namekians could have possibly escaped the crisis on Namek and moved to far-flung planets in other parts of the Universe. One Super Namekian named himself after the Demon inhabited world he found himself on, known as Planet Slug. And judging from the movie, Planet Slug is most likely an icy or snow-covered planet since the Demons needed special suits to withstand the Earth's temperature.

By the way, I imagine that Planet Slug and its people could have a Mongolian theme. (I have a sketch I did for an alternate costume for Slug, but I don't remember how to post atm)

If say Lord Slug came to this planet and eventually took it over in the King Piccolo style, then I could see him having birthed a clan of Evil Namekian children to help him in this endeavor. So let's say there are about as many Namekians children as Guru or King Piccolo birthed, then they are likely different clans of Namekians on the Planet, including a Dragon Clan member capable of creating their own set of Dragon Balls. In this way, Planet Slug could act as an alternate substitute for Planet Namek, but one closely resembling how the team initially pictured Namek as a planet full of evil Piccolos, instead of the peace-loving farmers of Namek. Now, why would Slug be in space expanding his Empire and searching for Dragon Balls when his planet likely already has a set? In the movie, it's best not to think about it, but here is my idea.

Why Lord Slug is REALLY in Space

One of Lord Slug's offspring usurped him from the throne due to his old age and sickly body. So Slug was humiliatingly forced to flee his home or was looked down on as a non-threat banished him and his most loyal men off-world to live in shame and to never be seen again. So he is conquering other planets, partly because he is a refugee, but mostly because he is overcompensating for his lost and trying to help his ego by living in denial and reassuring that He is the Baddest Baddie who ever lived and terrorize/kill those weaker than him as he ever expands his empire, lamenting his old age and sickened body. He believes that if he was in his prime, he could take his throne back no problem and make them all pay for wronging him. Luckily, Slug doesn't need the Dragon Balls to regain his youth. If the Tree of Might's Fruit is capable of reviving fossils, it should be able to restore the Super Namekian to his former glory once again.

Turles's Crusher Corps vs Lord Slug's Army

A fun way they could introduce the factions to each other is as competition for a lush planet. Turles wants it for the Tree of Might, and Slug wants to freeze it for them for their conquest. They both are in each other's way, so they all fight it out. I think Slug has stronger minions, but Crusher Corps have better teamwork, and with Turles being in prime fighting condition, he would tip the scale in their favor much like Goku did in the movie.

At first, I thought Slug wouldn't be much of a match for Turles in his old and sickly state, a little trouble sure since he is the strongest, but that aged body wouldn't do him any favors. However, the first Google search result I got on Old Slug's Power level said he was at 79,000 so he's stronger than I first thought. (I thought he was around Nail's power level roughly in the 40,000) I also heard that Turles was around 19,000 but by the end of the movie was like 300,000. These power levels don't mean too much when reimagining the stories, just that Turles might have more of an uphill struggle. So, Turles would first have to eat some Fruit to win in a landslide and hopefully, the Terrafreezing process didn't ruin the Tree of Might's process.

Right before the killing blow, Old Slug might've mentioned something In desperation to save his own life. He could've brought up the Dragon Balls on his home Planet Slug/ Namek could grant any wish he wanted. This is just enough to stop Turles from following through with his attack, but it takes a little more coaxing for Slug to sell the legitimacy to Turles. A part of Turles thinks this might just be hogwash, but if this is anything like the Tree of Might, this could be a huge find. Another game-changer. He has his men take Slug with them as he checks in with the Heaters' database and finds there could be a kernel of truth to this tall tale. So Turles generously spares the old Slug's life for this useful tip which is met with some impatient ire.

If you hate being old so much, why don't you just use these Dragon Balls of yours to make yourself young again? -Turles

I would if I could, but... but I can't. I've been banished from my homeworld by my own children after they usurped me from my throne.-Slug

hahaha So you're just some washed-up old geezer trying to feel tough by throwing your power around at a bunch of weaklings. -Turles

Watch it! If I was in my prime, I wouldn't have ever let that rebellion get that far and even made short work of you and your men. If it weren't for that Fruit of yours, you'd be nothing. -Slug

WHAT WAS THAT. (composes himself) Interested in the Fruit are you, well I am not naive enough to let you ever sink your rotten teeth in one. At least, not for free. We, the Crusher Corps, are branched off of the Heaters' group who are known to deal in intelligence. If you have some more valuable information to pass on then, I could be convinced to trade off a leftover Fruit from our latest venture. Do you have anything else to offer me, old man?

(Slug’s low growling sounds are giving Turles just the biggest shit-eating grin on his face)

Slug could tell Planet Slug's coordinates, could act as their guide, or how to use their Dragon Balls, or even that they need a native speaker to use them and a password.

Turles throws him a Fruit as he is a businessman and honors his deals. This not only works in reviving the Elder Namekian, but the results are far better than expected by restoring Slug to his prime. Turles is both impressed and a little unnerved by this so he opens up a dialogue as he scans Lord Slug's new power. (he thought it would add a few decades back onto his old life since he seemed ancient, but it straight up made him young again) They discuss what had just happened and Turles's operation using the Tree of Might's Fruit to amass enough power for him and his men to kill Frieza and possibly overthrow him. Lord Slug in the meantime has been enjoying his youthful appearance and renewed vigor during the conversation, not looking Turles in the eye, but still expressing interest in this operation and compliments the plan. Turles offers a proposition to Lord Slug to join them on this endeavor if he helps them get those "Dragon Balls" he mentioned right before.

That's right. You're interested in the Dragon Balls, are you? Well, I am interested in that Tree of yours. It could keep someone young and strong forever, and this whole operation of yours is simply remarkable! -Slug

So you're in? -Turles

Remarkable enough for me to take it for myself! So I'll be doing just that! - Slug

Round 2 Super Namekian Rampages

The Super Namek overwhelms all of them, even Turles, after just eating a bunch of fruit, the gap is just too wide. He sadistically tortures them and strikes fear into their hearts. Turles isn't just put on the backfoot, he ends up on the brink of life and death. He needs to reach down deep, and something in him snaps, could be his Saiyan pride, could be becoming helpless and at someone else's mercy, could even be one of his men, that unbeknownst to himself, he had grown fond of perished, his regret for overly relying on outside gains to accomplish his ambitions. Don't know, don't care, but something doesn't sit right with Turles and this something acts as the catalyst for him to transform, but not into the traditional Super Saiyan we've all come to know. No, Turles goes into the False Super Saiyan state and overwhelms the Super Namek almost beat for beat like FSSJ Goku vs Slug from the movie, but this time, it lasts the duration of the fight. It's more of a SSJ Goku vs Frieza kind of fight with Turles's victory.

Turles diet of Tree of Might fruit has affected his body's genes and so when he transforms it's not the traditional SSJ form like everyone else, but the False Super Saiyan state that Goku used against Lord Slug. (The Saiyan loses their pupils and also uses SSJ's original color scheme with the flickering red and black hair and the orange skin with a lingering Aura effect) They could have a lot of fun with the benefits and drawbacks this form and its potential evolutions could have. False SSJ potentially falls into the theme of using Fruit as a shortcut to power vs earning the power legitimately or as a simple means to contrast with Goku.

Post Fight ~ Alliance?

Slug doesn't die though, or if he does, Turles is smart enough to revive him with the Tree of Might's extract in a similar way as the fossilized twins were. The reason is simple, Turles believes that Slug's knowledge of his people is going to be essential in the nearby future, and since he's shown whose boss by dominating the Super Namekian, they can now work together to overthrow stronger enemies like Frieza by using his Planet's Dragon Balls. The Crusher Corps gets a guide and an ally; Slug gets his revenge and the prospect of taking Frieza's empire for himself by joining this operation is too much for him to pass up. This is a temporary truce to defeat stronger opponents and gain power, but once that is over, they are going back to killing one another similar to how Goku and Piccolo formed an alliance against the Saiyans invading earth.

1) A Super Namekian could exploit their race's fusion ability through some method of Mind Control like in the original Broly movie. So Slug or his evil offspring could literally absorb one another or even someone as powerful as Nail or Piccolo if the influence is strong enough to join together. And Turles with the Heaters' resources might just be able to provide a means to provide Slug this, with some precautions of course.

2) Slug might have knowledge of Kai and Demon Realms considering he is both an older Namekian like Guru, and the fact that he Planet Slug is literally inhabited by Demons, a different breed of Demons, but still Demons nonetheless. In the games, the Tree of Might's Fruit had its effects amplified in the Demon Realm, but the same might be said if the Tree is planted on the World of the Supreme Kais or Beerus' planet. It's just a possible option for later down the line, but if there was ever a planet that could sustain that Tree and boosts its effects it would be one of these places.

This is it, I know MasakoX likes to do the space opera thing with multiple factions and also like to mix things up from the original story from time to time, so I thought Planet Slug would be an interesting means to do so and giving Turles a partner to bounce off of is typical Toriyama writing, could even open up new avenues to explore.

Am I expecting this to happen. Honestly, I have low expectations MasakoX and his team would do this and they got their own plans of inserting Turles into the main story likely connected to the character in the hood (who is probably Zamasu for some reason like in the Gero What If) or one of the Saiyans from Turles' team or even eager to get him into the main story with the Z-Cast, possibly trying to win Gohan to his side, but getting converted by him like what happened to Piccolo, but I don't mind. My expectations are low, but my hype is through the roof, and needed to share my fan theories with someone.

[vagrantblvrd]

dinluke destiny au? >:3

FRICK.

Well, okay then, friend, if you insist???

Luke is definitely a Warlock because Space Wizard? All floaty mcfloaty cool kid in the rad robes and stuff. (Hunter tendencies though because totally cool hooded cloaks and man, fashion choices, right?)

I really kind of love the idea of Artoo being his Ghost? Perhaps inherited from Anakin and then you get Luke with all this self-doubt about not being a “proper” Guardian and such.

(Artoo honestly has no goddamned time for his nonsense because Darkness to be defeated and also, is this Skywalker really going to question his judgement about these things? IS HE???)

But also, also. Lends credence to the story Obi-Wan tells him about his dad being killed by Vader if he has his dad’s Ghost and all, you know? So, yeah.

Din as a Titan because he relies so heavily on his armor to take punishment in a fight - super obvious in s2, ep 15 when he was in disguise and was like :O at the fact he couldn’t just take a hit without getting injured and anyway, Din’s definitely a Titan.

Grogu is too young for all this nonsense, but he’s showing far too many Warlock-ish tendencies for Din’s peace of mind. (Like. Look at Luke, okay. Just five minutes of watching him is enough to serve as a cautionary tale, pls Grogu, do not be like the space wizard with no sense of self-preservation instincts to speak of.)

Leia I’d put down as a Hunter? Like. Rebel Alliance and all and her stint as Boushh and Endor, and anyway, definitely a Hunter. Gunslinger because pew-pew shooty and, but also Arcstrider with the staff, and anyway, yes. Nightstalker because sneaky mcsneakerson and such which would be useful with the Rebel spy stuff. Revenant because awesome.

Also, also, I love the idea of C-3PO being her Ghost? Like. He was just a Guardian-less Ghost who ran around with Anakin and Artoo and such in the Before times and it wasn’t until Leia that he was like, “Oh, dear.”

Obi-Wan is totally Space Wizard Warlock and delights in it. Just. Utter bastard about it and so charming people can’t hold it against him for long.

Han is just. I really love the thought of him being lightless? Just your average smuggler with his BFF Chewie who might as well be a Titan

Anakin is definitely a Titan in my mind? Like. Especially as Vader with the everything, but mostly the armor and the way he just bulldozes anything/anyone in his way and yes. (Though really, even as a Jedi he has Titan-ish tendencies.)

When Palpatine corrupts him he loses his Light, and Artoo is forced to ~flee for his little Ghost life, C-3PO shoving him along and keeping him from trying to go back and get Anakin to snap out of whatever happened even though he knows it won’t work, but Anakin is his Guardian, and anyway, I just made myself sad?

So yeah.

Palpatine’s a complete bastard of a Warlock, that’s petty much it???

(Although I’m bot above suggesting he experimented on his own Ghost and such in pursuit of understanding this new power he unlocks, because yes.)

NOW FOR THE “PLOT”.

Some...thing in which there was an Incident wherein a Guardian by the name of Palpatine was corrupted by some ~dark power or what have you. Experimented with the Darkness and went a little (lot) mad, and nearly took the Last City down with him.

Corrupted another Guardian as his apprentice, and Padme took the twins and went into hiding.

Fast forward a few years and this little resistance and Luke and Leia as part of it and anyway, things don’t go well for them.

Vader finds them and either recognizes them as his and Padme’s children, or worse, possibly, and doesn’t.

Fight sequence in which our heroes die very heroic deaths and are resurrected by their respective Ghosts who totally stowed away to wherever they were going when Vader found them, and anyway.

The whole Amnesia thing with these two Ghosts who definitely know more than they’re letting on.

Artoo’s a little odd in that he communicated in beeps and whistles and so on, and C-3PO is super sketchy about ducking Luke and Leia’s questions as to what the hell is going on, and anyway.

There’s this old Warlock - hermit type, recluse and all - who will be able to help and so they head out to look for him rather than heading to the Last City and the Tower and the Vanguard.

Along the way they run into these odd characters like a certain Titan and this tiny gremlin kid of his - kind of green, but adorable as hell - and this smuggler and his BFF, and anyway.

Vader and Palpatine find out about Luke and Leia and send people after them constantly for very different purposes.

Vader wants to recruit them to his side, Palpatine wants them dead, but doesn’t tell Vader that, and anyway.

Lots of close calls and Din watching this human disaster of a Warlock learning to use his Light.

Meanwhile Han is doing the same with Leia although she’s more >:((((((((((((((((( about the that than Luke is with Din because Han, right? Kind of an asshole.

Anyway.

Situations in which they get separated, Luke and Din and Grogu going it alone to get to some rendezvous place while being pursued by baddies. Conversations around campfires at night when it’s safe to start one, and huddling together for warmth when it isn’t.

Fighting back-to-back against a patrol of Fallen or Cabal or whatever. Rushing over when one of them goes down and reviving them, and just.

All that kind of stuff?

BUT ALSO.

Din catching Luke at sunrise one morning - or more than one, who knows - when he’s still trying to get the hang of wielding the Light and he’s meditating. Helmet at his side, eyes closed and serene look on his face. Sunlight hitting hi just right, bathing him in soft colors to make Din go oh no, he’s hot, in his head because he totally has feelings for the most exasperating Space Wizard he’s ever met.

More shenanigans in which they’re totally terrible at flirting and Han and Leia who had their own oh no, they’re hot moments a while back are like dear God, they’re so dumb.

ANYWAY.

They get to Obi-Wan who is like, well, this is a thing, isn’t it?, and then Vader attacks and more fighting and shooting and even some stabbing?

And just.

General Adventures until Luke does his Space Wizard nonsense and Vader denounces the dark power Palpatine used to corrupt him for love of Luke and Leia and doesn’t die, because space magic.

(And also Artoo, although he can’t quite fix everything because whatever the dark power Anakin was corrupted by broke that link between them and it’s like. He saves Anakin but Anakin’s sacrificed his Light, and anyway, small price to pay for what he’s done.)

Luke has this moment, though, right, because Artoo was his father’s Ghost and his father is dying and Luke is willing to give up his own Light for his father, but Artoo can’t just do that even if he wanted to, and really.

Luke is his Guardian now anyway, so.

Yes.

Just all kinds of Drama and Angst.

AND THEN.

When it’s all over, Anakin wants to find Padme and seek her forgiveness - no knowing if he’ll get it with all he’s done, but he wants to try if she’ll let him, and anyway. He needs to get his head sorted out first, and just. Wanders about doing just that.

Obi-Wan looks at Luke and Leia and mentions the fact they still haven’t been to the Last City or the Tower, and could do that if they want? Meet with the Vanguard mentors and join the ranks of the Guardians in an official capacity and the whatnot.

Leia glances at this scruffy smuggler and his BFF and the way Han looks less than thrilled at the prospect because if they see him he’d be in all kinds of trouble, and anyway.

Not like there’s any rush to get to the Tower and all that just yet, is there?

And Luke, okay, Luke.

He looks at Din and Grogu and is like, “What she said.”

But also, okay, also.

They find Padme because she never knew what happened to them and it’s all Drama and Angst and whatnot - Luke and Leia remember their lives before the whole becoming Guardians thing, but it’s still a little fiuzzy and it’s all-over awkward and Drama and Angst, but hope of things getting better in the future and I made myself sad again, but they definitely get better.

And then, idk.

Shenanigans in which they eventually do make their way to the Tower and Zavala, Ikora, and Cayde are like “You’ve certainly been busy” because of course they know all about what happened, but busy with Vanguard matters/other crisis and anyhow.

~Adventures!!1!

[colossalbeltloop-art]

Would you change something about the way Gabriel & Nathalie's relationship is portrayed in canon?

Oooohhhhhh, there’s so many layers to this. But I’ll try to abridge it and list it.

1. I really, REALLY want to see a moment where Gabriel overhears Nathalie speaking to Adrien in his room. He doesn’t understand why, but is compelled to take a peek. Something about the softness in her voice maybe; because it’s kinda rare– and it intrigues him more than he would like to admit. And just at the threshold, he gets to witness a sweet, simple moment between a pupil and her student/son. Nathalie is candid but kind. Adrien is receptive. And happy. He doesn’t look lonely, bitter or withdrawn. He has respect and love in his eyes for this person who, quite frankly, has long been a mother figure to him, and has vouched for him on multiple occasions at her own detriment. Adrien overflows with gratitude.And by God, let me get my hug between these two.

-And I want it all to have a real effect on Gabriel. He steps away, maybe hunkers down in his room instead of his office for once; where his heart has to cope with this shakeup. Even if you don’t sympathize with Gabriel, part of what will make the conflict more interesting and compelling is if he truly struggled with it. And I mean struggle mentally and psychologically. Not akumatizing the Pigeon Man 25 times or some dumb shit like that.

2. Exploring what is in Nathalie’s head.

-So first and foremost, I want to emphasize the fact that Nathalie does indeed live at the Agreste mansion. Unless governess rules have changed, she most definitely lives there, because that’s part of her job. She’s a governess. Historically, a governess was a young woman in a very awkward position. They’re not servants, and they’re not family. They don’t reside in servants quarters, and they definitely don’t reside anywhere near the main family. It was common for them to be outright despised by the wife of the household because unconsciously or not, real or not, the governess seemed to impose an invisible threat to the husband. A governesses only escape was saving enough money to get another job, and/or get married.

-This is all sounding like an interesting recipe for disaster, isn’t it? Especially as it pertains to this show.

-Nathalie’s problems are obviously much worse than just the job position itself. She’s a governess in love a man hellbent on bringing his wife back.

-Plus, it would be so great to see one, just one moment where she’s in her room, contemplating this. She’s both in a setting and state of attire we’ve never seen before. It’s night. She’s sitting at her desk, hair falling over her shoulders, staring blankly at a pile of letters from a single concerned family member; because the others have given up on her or don’t care. She doesn’t care either. At least she thinks she doesn’t, as her main concern is the family she’s currently with.

-And she understands that she’s just as crazy as Gabriel for being in love with him, as he is for trying to revive his wife.

But that’s why they’re made for each other.

3.The little things. The little interactions/reactions/moments.

-I know how budget animation works. You can’t always get what you want, in fact, you rarely do. It’s often a monumental achievement to use up precious seconds to address a character interaction, unless it is directly plot related.

-Said moment is always fought for by the storyboard artist doing his or her darnedest to get that shot approved, but they can only do so much. The first gatekeeper being their supervisor, then the directer, and after that, a whole myriad of producers. If it doesn’t make the cut, it’s not from a lack of effort. At the end of the day, Netflix is the final boss.

-In other words…as a nondescript audience member, I’m asking for the near impossible. Gabriel and Nathalie aren’t the main focus of the show, even though they are one of the main driving forces of it. Still, asking for more complicated, nuanced interactions that aren’t plot driven will be rare.

-With that said, we have a few things in our favor. It’s easier to write romance for adults than awkward, derpy kids. The tension between Gabriel and Nathalie is more interesting and impactful than blushing, shuffling teenagers. And finally, Gabriel and Nathalie have a history that lends itself to romantic tension more than the silly kids. Seriously, what other direction can their relationship go but up? If Gabriel backtracks, it would conflict with these other characters vying for main antagonist and would muddy the water. I think EVERYONE is tired of Gabriel being the main baddie. We know Nathalie is.

4. Maybe I should actually get around to answering your question more directly lol

-Gabriel having a moment of quiet concern for Nathalie as a whole, not just a panic reaction from a cough. As selfish as Gabriel is, it would do his character good, and quite frankly, be pretty damn realistic for there to be at least one reason for altruism on his part. He’s getting there gradually, judging by his concern and “sacrifices” for Nathalie in the last three eps. It needs a healthy boost though, keep it goin’.

-I want there to be at least one really contentious moment where they have an intense stare down. It’s obviously an issue involving Adrien, because there’s no other reason Nathalie would ever challenge Gabriel. In this case, she’d be uncharacteristically firm, more than the last few times, but dammit, Adrien is worth the battle with Gabriel.

-Nathalie reasoning with him while adjusting his collar or something. Perhaps this is where we have a ‘soft stare down’. I need this.

-Gabriel crowding Nathalie and brushing up against her and putting a hand on her. It’s pure instinct. He does it naturally. He doesn’t realize how much comfort it brings him until he has to refrain from doing it because guests are around.

-I really want it to get to the point where you really don’t see one without the other. Whenever you see Nathalie, Gabriel is trailing her– and vice versa. Even outside or other areas of the house we haven’t seen yet. It just becomes one of those subtle things that starts to become more obvious as the episodes progress.

TLDR; Basically, I just want Gabriel and Nathalie to look and act more like a couple in effortless fashion, and Gabriel becomes a hot mess because he can’t fight it anymore. He starts to chill the fuck out and melt under her touch and presence. Nathalie– keen, excited, and desperately impatient enough to understand this, finally goes all in. And it tosses them headlong down a beautiful, vicious spiral that leads to love, but their problems are only beginning, as their risky behavior is observed by the wrong pair of disapproving eyes.

[hypexion]

Nightmare in Silver is the episode that rebooted the Cybermen from clunky metal men to sleek, futuristic clunky metal men. This is probably an improvement, honestly.

As episodes go, this one has a weird starting premise. Somehow, the children Clara is... nannying have managed to successfully blackmail her into taking them on a TARDIS trip, and also the Doctor has agreed to this. They all head off to the best theme park ever, except it’s been shutdown for years and is now the dumping ground for soliders who have failed the empire. The Doctor soon finds a mystery, followed by Cybermen, and does not send the children home before investigating, leading to all manner of problems for himself later.

The big thing about Nightmare in Silver are the new and improving Cybermen. No longer are they weak to gold, or being shot or zapped. In the grim, dark future, Cybermen have upgraded themselves to be harder, better, faster and stronger. Nightmare in Silver completely overturns how the revival has treated Cybermen. Previously, they’ve always been small groups that the Doctor has easily defeated. But now, they’ve become a threat so great, someone had to blow up a galaxy to stop them. The most important detail, however, is that the Cybermen can now “upgrade“ non-humans. The Cyberium is now truly ready to strip all individuality from the universe, replacing it with soulless steel. Which is the point of the Cybermen, really. Nightmare in Silver might be making the Cybermen more dangerous by effectively turning them into the Necrons, but the threat of the Cybermen isn’t that they want to kill everyone. It’s that they want to make everyone into more Cybermen.

This means that the actual villain of the episode, “Mr. Clever“, is a bit of a contradiction. Matt Smith puts across a strong performance as this demented yet sinister Cyberplanner, who attempts to threaten and manipulate his way to victory. He’s a strong character, who expertly exploits the fact that he can control the Doctor’s body, and he’s probably the highlight of the episode. The problem, of course, is that Mr. Clever is giving the Cybermen a face. The Cybermen aren’t meant to have strong, emotive characters. The whole point is that they remove those pesky emotions and squash everything into the approved Cyber-temple. So it’s a weird situation where this episode has something Very Good that is also Very Wrong.

Also as a computer science man I have to point out that the way the Doctor beats Mr. Clever really doesn’t make sense. While Chess is complicated, a mate in three is going to be a fairly shallow search tree, so all the Cybermen shouldn’t need to grind to a halt to process it. Especially ones in an active combat situation. But I digress.

Really, if there’s one thing I’d have to pick out about Nightmare in Silver that’s not so good, it’s that the conclusion is incredibly sudden. The Doctor zaps Mr. Clever which you’d think he’d of done earlier, then Porridge is revealed to be the Emperor and saves everyone. Then all the Cybermen get blown up. Other than Porridge’s one line where he expresses sympathy for the person who had to blow up a galaxy, there’s no real build up to this. No, Angie looking at a coin and a statue doesn’t count. It comes off as one of those times where the story has been written into a corner (literally, in this case), so something has to suddenly appear to fix things.

Gripes aside, however, Nightmare in Silver is pretty good. The baddies are threatening, there’s a few interesting side characters, and we get some interesting worldbuilding about the “Cyberwars”. Perhaps it didn’t need to be about Cybermen specifically, but if it works, it works.

[thecrazydragonlady]

My -not requested- thoughts on the new Godzilla vs. Kong Trailer

So... 

It’s here.

The trailer that I think a lot of people might have been waiting for. The official Godzilla vs. Kong movie trailer and BOI was it a ride. 

Before you read this post, please be aware that these are only my initial feelings/ thoughts on the trailer after taking a look at it. This does not reflect my ideas or beliefs on the franchise as a whole. These are going to be subjected to change once I get a chance to see the full film. 

That being said, I’ve got a couple of thoughts on the trailer which are below:

1. Kong in chains? Really guys?

Let’s face it, the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to King Kong are probably the popular stereotypes: Climbing a tall building, carrying a scantly clad woman, oh and don’t forget about the chains. 

Seriously?

Look, if Kong really does this listen to this little girl, or at least trusts her enough to defend her, the chains aren’t needed. Seriously. Just ask the girl to help convince Kong to sit on the boat long enough to get to wherever the hell Godzilla is. It would be nicer than falling back on a rather racist mentality where “dangerous things” have to be held down while in transit. Sound familiar? 

Or the writer’s could have done the odd thing and given Kong a reason to willingly work with these humans, like say, Godzilla showing up one day to Skull Island, wrecking everyone’s shit, pissing off Kong, and then ducking out. Kong’s good, but he’s not an aquatic lizard. He’d definitely need help getting back at the Big G then. What better than with the tiny humans in the big ass boat? He’d probably go sit on it himself and tell them to hurry it up. 

TL;DR the trope is out dated and racist. 

2. Battle on the ocean is cool and all....

But if you’re going for realism, those boats, no matter how big, don’t stand a chance. Realism has been the goal of these versions of the movies. Godzilla was specifically designed to be as realistic for what a large, water-dwelling monster, could be if it ever stepped into our universe. All of the kaiju have been designed this way so far. 

“But Dragon,” you say, “They’re kaiju movies. They can’t be realistic.”

To that, I say, touché. Correct in that regard. 

However, each of the monsters, Godzilla, Kong, Mothra, Rodan, Ghidorah, Skullcrawlers, Warbat, the Mutos, and so on, were all designed with realism in mind. Their main purpose was to be designed in such a way that there was no question that they couldn’t exist in our world. The creative team behind the movie is banking on the realism to give these movie an edge that a lot of rubber suit Godzilla movies don’t have. These affects are part of why the only other, hyper-realistic Godzilla movie, Shin Gojira (Godzilla Resurrection in America) did so well in Japan. There was no question that Shin Gojira couldn’t exist, and wouldn’t come out of the ocean to destroy all of Tokyo. 

3. Godzilla changing sides wasn’t out of nowhere. We knew this was going to happen. 

They totally foreshadowed that at the end of KOTM when the plane/airship flew away. Their whole conversation was pointed out for this main reason. They were setting up for the Big G to be the bad guy in this movie. 

Not that that’s unusual. Godzilla has flipped sides a lot in his time. Shin Gojira, for example, depicts him as an obvious villain. The Showa Era movies see him more as a relatable hero of humanity. Heisei has him flip a bit back and forth, or at least hold a neutral tone. Millennium Era was roughly the same with movies like GMK having him as an obvious villain while movies like Final Wars gave him a more neutral tone. 

Now the American versions have been aiming for him to be a friend to humanity that suddenly turns with only a small handful of stubborn characters (Millie Bobby Brown’s character for example) absolutely believing that someone, or something, has caused Godzilla to go on a rampage against humanity. Another movie that made this switch? Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991). Godzilla starts out as a dinosaur living on an island that saves the Japanese forces during WWII, only for him to be essentially reincarnated in a new form after the shenanigans of the movie, turning him into humanity’s enemy, further forcing them to revive King Ghidorah as Mecha KG to fight him again. 

No where in Godzilla’s history, has he ever been 100% friend of humanity. Even in the Showa Era movies, which were altered to be very child friendly, one could place a lot of argument for neutrality, at best. 

4. But all of this doesn’t mean that we as viewers can’t be frustratingly upset about this fact. 

Godzilla and Kong both have ardent followers. There are probably many that are upset over the sudden turn. Finally, here, we have the best American versions of the Big G depicting him as a hero of humanity, only to be suddenly hit with the idea that he’s now the big bad and will lose to Kong. 

Kong people, you’re awesome. 

But I’m rooting for Godzilla. 

Of course Big G fans are going to be upset. If history has taught us anything, it’s that Godzilla is about to have his tail handed to him by Kong. May I remind everyone of this gif? 

Unfortunately, this point is going to have to sit until the movie comes out. Until we can be certain of the storyline, there’s no way to say, one way or the other, who the victor is going to be. 

As viewers, we’re allowed to feel betrayed by this change in storyline and characterization. They better have a damn good reason why they’re suddenly making G out to be the villain. The writing is going to have to be on point for this movie to be a success. 

5. This movie is going to have to choose between two endings: Alternative endings OR  a Combined ending. 

Buckle up. This is my longest point/ section so far. 

Here’s the thing: When the original GvK (depicted above in gif form) came out way back in the start of Godzilla’s long and storied history, Kong was the winner. Plain and simple. For years, there’s been a false story or rumor going around that this version of the movie had two endings- one where Kong won (which was presented in America) and one where G won (presented in Japan). 

But that’s not the case. 

See, Godzilla had just become a thing a few years before hand. He only had, like, twelve or so years in existence at the time. Kong had been around for around thirty years and was wildly more popular to viewers. Therefore, Toho made the executive decision to save Godzilla by having him fight Kong, and have Kong win. There never was a second ending where Godzilla won. He didn’t have the follower numbers, yet, to allow that to happen. Even then, the numbers of box office tickets for each of the Godzilla movies shows how up and down his stardom has been. This can even be seen in the ten year gap that happens between 1975 and 1985 where no Godzilla movies are made; the Showa Era ends in 1975 with Terror of Mechagodzilla and the Heisei Era doesn’t even begin until 1985 with The Return of Godzilla. 

Now, Monsterverse is going to have to make a tough choice: script, write, and create two alternative endings where Godzilla and Kong win in each, ultimately making the other a loser, and then having a continuity issue that they’re going to have to deal with in all subsequent movies OR combine the two by making Godzilla and Kong chill on each other and fight a different kaiju all together. 

Honestly, as cool as the alternative endings would be, I just don’t see it being feasible to do. 

Therefore, I’m under the impression that we’re going to have a third kaiju enter the ring. One that is going to be powerful enough to get the two most powerful kaiju on planet Earth to team up with each other. 

You’ve got three (four if you’re digging) options for this particular villain: The new Warbat kaiju, King Ghidorah (and subsequently Mecha King Ghidorah, making number four), OR MechaGodzilla. 

Warbat seems to be the more obvious answer as some of the smaller ones were presented in the trailer, and Ghidorah/Mecha and MechaG may appear random. 

Or maybe not. 

Some leaked toy images for figures that are/were released for the movie, depicted a MechaG as part of the set. I do not know how reliable that information is. They could have pulled it for all I know and, no, I don’t have time to research it now. If you’re at this point in the essay anyway, might as well read to the end. 

Here’s the deal: if MechaG exist then so can Mecha KG. I’m not talking about realism at this point (number two if you skipped that part), because neither could technically exist in a more “realistic” version of kaiju movies. The science just wouldn’t be there in this civilization that mirrors our own specifically. I haven’t heard anything about free fighting, giant robots being a thing in this world. No, the giant Gundams in Japan don’t count. These movies have been rather strict in following the “laws of reality”. Everything in the them could feasibly happen if, and only if, kaiju were real in this world. That is what makes them appealing to viewers. It only makes sense, then, that if they’re willing enough to break their own rules over realism, then both options would be viable candidates for a combination baddie that gets G and K off each other’s throats. 

My question then would be- who’s controlling them? 

Is MG and MKG going to be controlled by aliens again (as depicted in both of their origin stories)? If so, that would help to heal Godzilla’s relationship with the humans and force him and Kong to work together. It would also open the Monsterverse all the way up for new storylines that involve space like, say, SpaceGodzilla or even Biolante (my absolute favorite who I would love to see in the Monsterverse, but, I digress). If not, then humanity is going to have two very pissed off kaiju on their hand. Godzilla for being betrayed by them again and Kong for being dragged off his island, forced to fight, only to get backstabbed by them. It definitely wouldn’t help that they are, quite literally, the two strongest kaiju on the planet. 

More than likely, the space angle won’t happen. Monsterverse will probably make MG Monarch’s creation, but then make MechaKG/KG Alan Jonah’s creature since we saw how he was so gun- ho on getting that KG head at the end of KOTM. However, it doesn’t stand to reason that Jonah’s character would have the resources or know-how to build a Mecha out of nowhere. While resourceful, that information wasn’t provided at all in KOTM. 

Monarch, on the other hand, could say out of nowhere, “Oh, yeah. We’ve been studying these kaiju for so long that we figured out their weaknesses so we built a giant robot to beat the shit out of them all, but we kept it secret because the Government cut all connections with us and we didn’t want to lose our ace just yet.” See, unlike Jonah’s character, they have the resources. They have the know-how. They have the people to do it. That storyline would be more believable than what they’re attempting to do with Jonah, which is somehow giving him control of Ghidorah. 

I have better chances of teaching my cat to tap-dance than Jonah has of controlling Ghidorah. 

I doubt anyone on this planet would be able to control KG. After all, it was very pointed in his origin story in KOTM that KG was a space alien, sent to Earth for some reason. To change it? To control it? Who knows, but it definitely didn’t come with good intentions. If KG in the Monsterverse is a space creation, much like in his origin story for the Toho branch, then it would stand that only the aliens who created it would be able to control it. Meaning that, unless he has the override passcode for the genetic mutating the space creeps have to do to control such a large kaiju, Jonah’s character is going to be the first one squished once KG has time to revive. I’ll eat my hat if he manages to figure it out. 

As of right now, we can’t be certain how long it has been since the end of KOTM. Millie Bobby Brown’s character appears aged but that could just be her growing in real life since the last movie came out. There’s no real way to tell right now. Nothing that I saw in the trailer at least would be helpful. I would imagine that it would take KG a long time to come back since all that remained after that final battle was one pretty dead head that had been at the bottom of the ocean if his regrowth factor is going to even be considered here. It would have to regrow its other two heads and its complete body again. Honestly, I just can’t determine how much of a threat KG is going to be in this movie, if at all.

My money’s on Warbat being the big bad with possible MechaG undertones. 

*****************************************************************************

There you go. My unsolicited Godzilla movie trailer thoughts. Remember: these are only the initial thoughts on the trailer that came out today. Some of these will be changed as soon as I possibly can when the movie drops. 

[arkus-rhapsode]

Rhapsode’s Top 10 Favorite Fire Emblem Antagonists

Hey guys, so I wanted to do something a bit special because of a few asks I’ve gotten from time to time. Namely, who are my favorite villains in FE. Thing is, I wanted to do something with this for a while outside of an ask, and hear I am.

Now before I even start, these are all MY OPINIONS. These are my favorite antagonists in FE, not some objective masterlist that means anyone who isn’t on here is a bad villain. If you agree with me on this list, great! If you think I got everything wrong, I respect that opinion.

So if I left out any of your personal favorite villains in FE, let me know in a reply or reblog.

Now a little bit of criteria on how I had made choices,

Uniqueness: What does a villain bring as a character. Because FE is nothing if not a bit archetypal.

Impact on the Narrative: Now I think a good villain should be an active participant in the narrative as well as have a level of relevance. They also should have relation to the lore of the world they’re in.

Personality: In my opinion even a poorly written character with a magnetic presence can be more tolerable than a poorly written character with no personality

Were they satisfying of a boss in game: While FE emphasizes narrative, it has some terrific gameplay. So I would hope the opposing units really give you a run for your money.

Oh and fair warning, this will have spoilers.

With all that out of the way, sit back and I’ll tell you all about my favorite FE villains!

10. Uhai (Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade)

Yeah, so, we’re starting with probably the most tertiar antagonist on this list. While Uhai might not seem that important in the grand scheme of things. Being a Black Fang member who’s scared of what Nergal is going to do and is out for Ninian. 

So why did I pick him over other Black Fangs or Saceans?

Well in terms of Saceans, I really felt Uhai brought the most personality compared to someone like Glass, who was pretty basic. Especially for Lyn’s final villain. Uhai definitely felt the most… “Sacean,” if that makes sense. Having a code of honor and integrity. As well as acting on self preservation.

And while Uhai isn’t my favorite Black Fang, he shows something different as being one of the original fangs and having this sense of honor. Which was a really nice reminder about the humble origins of the Black Fang.

I also really like how he could’ve easily killed Lyn when he kidnapped her, but let her go to kill her as a warrior. Given Lyn’s underlying theme of fighting sexism, to have an opponent that didn’t factor in her gender and would fight her on equal terms, it was a really cool scene.

Sadly, he’s just a minor antagonist and if he got more time like being a part of the Four Fangs, I think he could’ve really added more.

9. Orson (Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones)

Orson seems pretty simple all things considered. He loved his wife, Monica, and after losing her, he is willing to make a deal with the devil to bring her back. It’s not much, but I think what plays into the effectiveness is seeing him before his wife is revived and having him on your team, then watching what he has become after her revival.

Having a villain who starts off as a playable character and then later is an antagonist is always tricky. From a story perspective, you spent time with them that even you, the player, feel negatively affected by the heel turn. However, from a gameplay aspect, it's a tad annoying if you spent time grinding them. 

Orson, is pretty obvious in that he’ll be turning against you, but we really see him as a somewhat charming and endearing guy at first. But then when he returns to Renais to be with his wife, it leads to one of the most unsettling narrative shifts I think FE has done.

We see him now in charge of Renais, but now more mentally disturbed, physically malnourished, and locking himself away from the rest of the kingdom to be with his wife. Seeming like magic has possessed him. But when you find that this is due to being reunited with his wife who is now just a corpse that can only say “Darling” you really feel this messed up mood permeating the chapter.

There's so much unsaid, and I think that it works to the advantage of the story. Comparing the Orson you meet when he’s your ally to the Orson you meet as an opponent, it really doesn’t need to be said how he fell so hard. That Orson has given up so much and now that he has his wife back he’s just convincing himself that she’s alive.

While another villain on this list did the heel turn far better than Orson, I still think that the sheer shock of Orson’s story really makes you feel for him, while just wanting to end him.

8. Bloom, Hilda, Ishtar and Ishtore (Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War)

So this one is definitely cheating. 

While only two members of the Friege family could really stand on their own as definable villains, I actually think when all are together they offer something more unique for FE. Families of villains are a bit of a rarity in FE, especially ones whose family dynamic is well defined in the main story, and not supports. 

But with Bloom, Ishtar, and Ishtore, you get to fight all of them in a chapter thanks to the set up of the Genealogy of the Holy War. It allows for a more unique encounter and this growing feeling of outrage if you end up killing a member of the family.

House Friege continuing on as secondary antagonists in the second generation was a great addition. Giving this sense of history repeating itself, with Bloom seemingly no better than Reptor from the first generation, but where as he is a power hungry politician, Bloom shows some shades of gray in his detestment of Child Hunts and actually being a somewhat decent father figure to Tine. Which actually leads to some interesting contrast to his wife, Hilda.

Hilda is easily the most monstrous of the family, and while I was considering her to be her own separate entry, as she is possibly the most wicked and cruel female villains in the entire franchise. Driving Tailtiu to death, and using Ishtar as a step towards more power. Her additional role a matriarch of the household who married for Bloom’s money and power, adds an extra layer to the band of villains.

Ishtar and Ishtore also offer a role as both not being Child Hunt supporters but act in different ways to them. With Ishtore not getting involved and instead spending more time on Liza and Ishtar actually working with Arvis to free the children rounded up.

As a family unit, it offers a lot of unique villain interaction that I’m sad the limited technology of the time couldn’t capture all of. I’m glad that games like Fates have tried making family units as opponents, but I’d like to see a dynamic similarly fleshed out as the Frieges.

7. Jedah (Fire Emblem Gaiden/Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia)

Okay, how the hell did this guy so high up on the list? No joke, Jedah started at the bottom when I first started this list. I mean, he’s just another Gharnef. What makes him all that different from Nergal or Manfroy?

Well, truth be told, what got Jedah so high up for me is presentation. A lot of Gharnefs are the big game manipulators, and sometimes that can be frustrating if you’re not really in the character. I think Manfroy is one of the most effective villains, but he’s not particularly stand out. 

Nergal is a far more justifiable villain with his motivations, but he’s basically corrupted by “Darkness.”

Jadah, especially in FE15, oozes personality and charisma. I give a lot of points to his more inhuman design that went beyond just making his a wrinkly old man. As well as his expressions. When playing Three Houses, I was shocked at how stone-faced Thales was. But with Jedah, I feel like the artists took a lot of opportunity in giving him a face that could contort in such a way to to sell how much of a schemer and villain he was. 

He has this look of a guy you love to hate.

Also, in terms of story, Jedah really does eclipse Rudolf as a villain (Yes I know, Rudolf is not really a villain) and is easily a more proactive villain than even Berkut. While Jedah serves Duma faithfully, the purple baddie still seems to have done more as an antagonist then the detriorting dragon.

He’s really the most satisfying overarching villain next to Berkut. And power, don’t get me started. While Gharnef’s Imhullu seemed relatively foreshadowed on how he wouldn’t be beaten by normal means, the first time I fought Jedah, I was surprised just how much of a gap in power there was between us. As well as the terrors he summons for the first time are more lovecraftian than the other terrors you fought before.

While Jedah is definitely a fun villain, his greatest weakness is that he is unquestionably in the morally black category. The man sacrificed his own daughters to prove his loyalty. Before then, there was a bit of an argument to be made that witches were just a sign of society and that offering up your soul for more power was just common in a power focused structure. But sacrificing your daughters is a tad on the unforgivable side.

As well as his end goal is really just war and conquest, while being Duma’s number one servant. So ultimately, he’s not very complex. But that lack of complexity still added a chaotic edge to Echoes that was really welcomed.

6. Reinhardt (Fire Emblem: Thracia 776)

Now speaking of complexity here we get, who I consider the best of the Camus archetype. First off, I really like how Reinhardt is built up as the second coming of Crusader Thurd. Especially if you’ve played FE4 and know just how much of an obstacle Ishtar, Bloom and Ishtore were. 

Second is just how tragic his story is. I never really cared for the romance between Camus and Nyna, so at times I didn’t really care for his internal conflict. But the fact that Reinhardt has eyes for Ishtar to the point that Julius is feeling jealous and stripping him of his title. You also get the heartbreak of his sister, Olwen choosing to side against and how much denial he feels until Saias needs to point out how Olwen made this choice herself.

It’s just sad to see a guy who comes off as so imposing and level-headed have so much internal strife because his convictions of loyalty keep putting him on the wrong side of things. At times it feels like you can invest more into him than Lief, I really hope to see an expanse of him in a remake.

Reinhardt is not a character I enjoyed fighting because I wanted to see him be with the Liberation Army. He’s suffered from Julius’s pettiness. He knows how bad things have gotten with Grannvale’s expansion. Yet he just won’t because of his loyalty to his home. 

(I like to think that if you release him, he goes onto serve Tine and Arthur.)

Now, as I said, he still fits that Camus archetype. But unlike Camus or someone like Xander, I wish I had more of an expansion of his loyalty to Friege. I know he loves Ishtar and he probably has some ego built up about “second coming.” But if you’re not a fan of, “he did this out of love.” You’re probably not gonna like him. As a lot of the Camus archetype have always suffered from a, “why are you so loyal.”

People like Dedue and Catherine had the benefit of being playable characters, so you could support them and peel back a lot of their reasonings. And even Camus got more of a reason when he became Zeke and was saved and given a new life in Rigel.

So while Reinhardt makes for a great adversary, I do find him leaving me wanting more that other rival characters could give me.

5. Grima (Fire Emblem: Awakening)

(Note: I’m using masculine descriptors for Grima because I’m personally more used to male Grima and male Robin)

Here’s another baddie I wasn’t too sure where I was gonna put on the list. I knew I wanted him on here, but again, I wasn’t expecting Grima to be so high. He’s built up all throughout Awakening, as well as turning out to be reincarnated in the main character, Robin. Already does push him up on the list. But if you were to dissect his personality, he’s really just your godly final villain, who condescends down on you.

But there’s actually a lot more to this monster than you’d expect.

At first, I see a lot of similarities between him and Duma: Cult worshipers, really powerful dragon, catalyst for a war etc. But Duma as a villain is due to the dragon deterioration. Sure, he’s got bad followers, but losing his sanity kinda enabled them. But Grima… This guy wants to wipe out all life because he can.

Grima is much more a force of nature as a villain. He doesn’t try to dress up his simplistic desire with fancy philosophy. No, he embraces just how above everyone he is and how he’ll enjoy wiping them out. 

Not only that, but design-wise… Holy crap.

The sheer size and power of Grima, coupled with one of the most unique designs for a dragon, makes for a truly nightmarish foe. The boney, almost mechanical way Grima turns his head when ready to attack, just sends shivers down my spine. His size and pension for only wanting to destroy all life really gives off this sense of being an inevitability. A force that can not be stopped from washing over the world.   

It really works with the overall theme of Awakening. Robin trying to forge his own identity and is not tied down to fate. But how exactly can you fight that fate when its just so intimidating? Why with friends, of course! The final moments of Robin and Chrom slaying Grima is one of the most tragic things I’ve watched. With Robin knowing he needs to die to prevent Grima, but the only way to kill Grima is with a Falchion in the hands of Chrom. So Robin must be slain by his best friend, the one he’s gone through hell with and gave him a chance at making this new life for himself. It’s a final battle that breaks my heart.

Speaking of final battles, Grima offers one of the most unique environments for a final battle. Using that monstrous size to serve as a stage for your final fight against the Grimleal on the back of their god. Not to mention the priest warping in to keep bogging you down as you try to get off that killing blow on the Fell Dragon.

The background added by Shadows of Valentia about a young Grima actually being an alchemic monstrosity made to find a way to cheat death not only elevates Grima thematic impact, but also make him more like a lovecraftian horror. Which is something rare in this series. 

That said, the biggest fault in this character is hw sidelined he is. There’s nothing wrong with a simplistic villain, but even in Robin form, Grima really doesn’t take much part in the events. I would’ve liked more interactions with him and Chrom or Robin before the revival.

I also completely understand if someone doesn't care for the “kill all people in the world,” type of villain. What is the endgame after destroying everything? Guess make some zombies. 

I do argue that Grima being a force of nature makes him unique to the whole point of “what happens next?” But again, as a finally boss, I can see if that’s not your style. And while I think the simplicity is kinda beautiful, I myself have a preference for more complex villains.

4. The Black Knight (Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance/Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn)

Hoo boy, I’m not gonna make any friends with this one.

How do I even talk about this guy properly? Mainly due to some narrative… Disconnects... between Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. Well I’ll just try and keep with his outing in Path of Radiance.

Black Knight has easily some of the most thematic presence in the series. His anonymous name and sleek design make almost all of his cutscenes a treat. Just stepping onto the battlefield and killing Greil, with the only hint of who he is being that he was one of Greil’s former students already sets him up as an anomaly.

But something you notice quickly, Black Knight has chivalry. He offers to give Greil the legendary blade of Ragnell so they can have an even fight. Sure, Black Knight wants to kill his mentor to prove he has become better, but he’s not gonna do it unfairly. And he lets Ike keep Ragnell, so that he can truly grow as strong as Greil and then give him a true fight.

Speaking of Ragnell, I actually love how it and Black Knight’s Alondite blade are sister swords. Setting up for a rivalry that goes beyond just Ike getting revenge for his dad. It leads to a lot of interesting encounters over the course of the game, building up to a crescendo of when Ike will finally defeat the armored menace.  It honestly makes for a more compelling final brawl than Ashnard.

Also with Ashnard, we come back to that whole chivalry thing. Because while Ashnard displays himself as a “Mad King,” Black Knight still honorably serves him. In fact, while I’ve seen many people debate the true identity of Black Knight, I actually like the idea that he was just a student of Greil. He needs no true identity except being an embodiment of knightly principles and power.

For all the good and bad that entails.

Leading to great parallels between him and Ike. Ike being a mercenary whose principles differ so much from the Black Knight make him an ideal opponent for the Black Knight.

Now all that said, we need to get to the big but. The actual identity of the Black Knight being Zelgius raises a lot of questions and messes with the consistency of the story. I genuinely feel like it would be more powerful if Zelgius was his own character. While the ambiguity of the Black Knight added to his.

The best moment in Radiant Dawn for me is honestly his end, where he’s at least proud to have helped perfected Ike’s swordplay. But after that, I can’t exactly say he’s the same character. And that unfortunately keeps him from being any higher on the list.

3. Berkut (Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia)

Top 3, everyone! And we’re kicking it off with the Rigelean Prince, Berkut.

After coming off Fates, there was this really big cloud hanging over the FE fandom if they’d actually be able to recover from their dip in storytelling. And then Echoes came up with the game-exclusive addition of Berkut. 

Berkut really was a return to for with understandable villains. Having grown up being a noble of Rigel and as nephew of Rudolf next in line for the throne. In a society that prides itself on power, Berkut was only ever asked to be strong enough to ascend to that title of king.

And when you first see him dancing with Rinea, he really does seem invincible. Dancing in the conquered halls of Zofia Castle with his one true love as he does not need to take to the battlefield to assist in fighting the Deliverance. Only bothering to fight Alm as “sport.”

At first, he really just comes off as an arrogant Blue Blood that you wanna knock off his horse. But after he loses once and sees Alm’s brand, it just starts this downward spiral. Begging is uncle for one more chance, rejecting the help of Nuibaba’s mirror, only to use it out of fear that he might actually not be able to win against Alm.

Also, massive props to Ian Sinclair as Berkut’s english voice. As FE had started going fully dubbed, Sinclair brings such a performance as the deteriorating prince.

I like he even makes more dynamics with the Duma Faithful, believing that they’re supposed to serve his house and respect him, but Jedah counters that their real allegiance is to Duma. Tempting Berkut with his power. But Berkut himself even finds Duma’s strength disgusting.

When he finally falls after Rudolf naming Alm his true heir, so see just how low he’s fallen as he sacrifices Rinea to make his pact with Duma and use his new mystical enhancements to take out the Deliverance golden boy Alm, once and for all.

Berkut’s story is easily an ideal tragic character. Very powerful and smart, but flawed. His own fears motivating his actions as well as the constraints of his society and family pressure. Add on how he’s made that he will not marry Rinea until he becomes Emperor, as he feels that is only when he’s worthy enough, and this guy’s basically telegraphing the grave he’s about to dig himself.

No way can I undersell how much Berkut seemingly revived faith in writing for future FE antagonists as the series was still suffering from the… mixed reaction to Fates.

2. Edelgard von Hresvelg (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

God what have I not said about Edelgard? Well if you want to read more comprehensive stuff I’ve written about her, you can find it here.

But in short, Edelgard was a phenomenal twist character. Built up slowly over the course of the game and the fact someone as high as a lord would secretly be planning to destroy the church was a shock. 

Her role as the most intellectual of the three house leaders, motivated by logic and pragmatism offered a unique opposition to the over emotional Dimitri. Her being the product of crest experimentation and the second wielder of the crest of flames makes for a pretty powerful backstory. Not to mention being one of the few lords whose political system we fully get to see realize. With the multiple ministers having robbed power from her family.

Her relationship with Dimitri is also one of the sweetest villain backstories. You see the two actually sit down and try to end this and you know it’s probably only because of their shared past. The oath of the dagger of how they both have made their own paths that veer off in different directions is the first signs of turmoil that El has felt ever since her declaration of war.

And then there’s her final fight. I don’t think I have felt a more satisfying final battle than with Hagemon Husk Edelgard. The long throne room crawl as guards and monsters poured in to try and stand in your way. All whlie Edelgard tries to snipe at you from a distance with her new fireball technique. 

Also if were giving points to acting, Tara Platt brings a great performance as both Edelgard and the Flame Emperor.

Now like Black Knight, the biggest flaw is a lot of minute nitpicks that really add up over the multiple routes. The Black Eagle route even seems to do away with a lot of Edelgards ambiguity. But if you stick to BL and GD Edelgard, you have one of the best antagonists in the series. Leaving me excited what FE17 has in store.

1. Arvis (Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War)

Yeah, you all knew this one was coming. The OG Flame Emperor himself, Arvis.

So for those who don’t know, Arvis was basically Edelgard before Edelgard. Having watched corrupt nobles run Grannvale for a time as well as grown up under the self destructive Duke Victor, Arvis had intended to make Grannvale a more fair world. Free of prejudice and pain.

Use the feuding lords to his advantage to claim land and renown, Arvis also stayed by the current King of Grannvale, Azmur. Earning him some brownie points. Arvis’s alliance with Manfroy and the Lopto Sect ultimately leads to him getting his chance at the throne. With Manfroy finding the long lost granddaughter (and wife of Sigurd) Deirdre,  wiping her memory clean and “conveniently” leaving her for Arvis to find and fall in love with. 

By marrying and impregnating the newly found prince, Arvis was named Emperor Regent by Azmur till their child came of age. However, to unilaterally have Grannvale under his control, he had to take out Sigurd in one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the history of FE, The Belhalla Massacre.

At first Arvis seems like this manipulative puppet master with delusions of conquest, but the more you learn about him and the environment he came from. Arvis truly wants to make a better and more fair world. And unlike someone like Zephiel, he doesn’t think that means wipe out all humans. You see that he doesn’t even hold contempt for Sigurd, more indifference as he regrets that Sigurd would not be able to see Arvis’s new world.

But with his ultimate tragedy being that faustian deal he cut with Manfroy ultimately led to the birth of Julius. Who, with the Major Loptous blood, would go on to not only be Loptous’ vessel, but also wrestle away power from Arvis. The tragic irony of what secured his hold on the throne being what ultimately makes him lose it. Add on some more angst as he realizes that Deirdre is actually his half sister and that Manfroy’s intention was for them to bear a child like Julius, you have easily one of the most tragic tales in FE.

We also see more of the dynamics of Arvis in the Seliph book of FE4. Actually trying to save all the children taken by Julius with Ishtar. As well as his love for his own children, Julius and Julia, going out of his way to save Julius and finally face his reckoning against Seliph.

His battle is brutal, as after what he did to Sigurd, you want to beat down Arvis with Seliph. You want nothing more but to his rule. But as you’ve gone on, you see just how much of person Arvis is. And while you want Seliph to get his vengeance, it doesn’t make the fight any easier as you are left to wonder what things would be like if Arvis was Emperor without Manfroy using Julius.

 His final words to Seliph just echo in your head, making you wish there was a better way this could’ve turned out.

If there is one negative I could say about Arvis, its the fact he basically monopolizes the story for his own. His actions basically pushing so much of the narrative he eclipses Sigurd. But honestly, if we got a remake with more time devoted to character interaction in Sigurd’s army, I think it would balance out nicely.

Welp, that’s my Top 10 FE antagonists. Let me know if you agree or disagree. And if this gets enough hits, I might do similar posts in the future. Till next time, take care!

[darkspellmaster]

Young Justice: Outsiders Theories -What’s going to happen in Season 3

Minor YJ speculation and worries

With the return of Young Justice, now with the added, Outsiders, a lot of reactions are happening based on the first three episodes. Now that I have had the pleasure of watching the three episodes, a few things have crept into my mind. So I figured, why not theorize about them. 

Side note...Going to add pictures later today because of time by me right now, and I need sleep, so I hope this doesn’t come out jumbled. Pictures when they are put in will be under cut, and some will have blood and may be less then pleasant. You  have been warned. 

Also spoilers for DC comics from around seven or more years ago, again, you have been warned. 

Terra being a Baddie? 

So right now we know that Terra has been Kidnapped and there’s some speculation as to where she is, and what’s going on with her. As many know thanks to the Teen Titans and a movie for the Teen titans as part of the DC Animated movie series, Terra was working as a agents for Slade Wilson, aka Death stroke. We know that Death Stroke exists in this world and that the YJ team has come up against him. 

Given that Judas Contract is such a well loved story, and something a lot of people would like to see done right, I’m wondering if we’re going to see it play out again under Greg and Brandon. If so, is Tera going to be brainwashed or is she going to be actually someone who is evil. We’ve had it in the past where she’s manipulated by Death Stroke and was actually a decent person. However, with YJ nothing is that simple. 

My only concern right now is that people will be upset if they go with the real event in the story and have Princess Tera actually follow her other selves path, only being more true to the actual story. Greg did say they were going to push things with this season, and her parent’s death are one way of doing that...another would be to reveal that she’s in love with Death Stroke and has been sleeping with him, which is what was going on in the original story. That could cause a lot of drama for Geoforce,and he would have to contend with what happened with his sister and a way older man. 

Also I wouldn’t put it past them to have her be saved by Slade and that’s why she feels connected to him. Terra from the comics was complex. This one probably will be too. 

Where is Wally West. 

So according to Greg there is no Speed force, however, we haven’t talked yet about time travel. One of the stories that happened for Barry Allen was that he and his wife Iris West wound up traveling into the future where they had their two kids, a pair of twins, one of whom has Bart, which I can’t remember right now. We know Bart came from the future, so we know that you can travel through time. 

So what if they gave Wally Barry’s story here. Suppose that the speed was enough to actively send him forward in time. But what period? Well there are a few times. Bart’s is one, Possibly to the time of the Tomorrow Titans, or the the time of the Legion of super heroes. Any one of these could lead to him coming back in various ways. 

However I caution something. Wally would not be coming back as the Wally that we knew. He would have changed, probably matured more, and, more than likely depending if they want to go farther with the story and hit home on the idea of merging both Barry and Bart’s stories into Wally’s trip, having him come back as an adult with a family and married to Linda Park. 

Now who is Linda Park? Well she’s Wally’s longest lasting and more famous love interest. She’s a tv news investigative reporter that he met after he became the Flash and for years they’ve had a bit of a contentious sort of romance where Wally tried to win her over and she didn’t fall for his typical charms, this eventually led to the two becoming friends, and her helping him on a number of cases. Eventually, after dating and her worried she couldn’t fit into his world, the two were married and had twins, Iris and Jai, both who had speed powers, though Jai’s were more connected to making him strong. (Both seemed to be based a bit on Mark Waid’s two kids of Wally’s from Kingdom Come.) 

If they decide to go this route it would fit in with the idea of Wally possibly becoming a second Flash, or work in some other way. Not sure yet. Also adding to this theory is that Greg used to work on a show named Gargoyles, where at one point he planed to have one of the main characters, Brooklyn, time travel back to Ancient Japan, meet another Gargoyle from the past there, marry and have a family, only to be brought back into modern time. 

Now I’m not sure how the time travel aspect works in YJ, if it’s only been two years in the future or not. But we do know it’s possible to move through time thanks to Bart. We also know there is no speed force, and thus he can’t be there, so logically the only time that would make the most sense is that he is in the future. It’s not hard to buy into the idea that Wally ends up meeting his Niece -Dawn Allen, and Nephew -Don Allen, also known as the Tornado Twins (who seem to be not dead in this version of the characters history) and possibly the Legion of Superheros, with Jenni Ognats, aka XS (Barry and Iris’s grand daughter and Bart’s cousin, Dawn’s daughter) who is one of the Legions members. 

Given that in the comics both Bart and Conner were revived in the future do to the work of the LoS, I wouldn’t be surprised if they agree to help Wally get home thanks to Braniac 13, who is their tech head. My guess is during this time away Wally will probably meet Linda Park, a local investigative reporter. The two probably will become friends, and then possibly fall in love. Due to not knowing how time flows in this case, I have to wonder if they will have kids or not, so Wally may come back married or in a relationship with Linda, who goes with him back to the past. 

What does Bruce know and why did the others up and leave the team? 

So Batman pretty much blindsided the team, and this is typical of him. Actually this fits in with his actions when he created the Outsiders. Back then there were issues with the UN about them going into Markovia (same as in YJ) only they had Lucius Fox in this case as captive and he needed to get in and get him out. 

So we have Batman forming his own group, probably Batman Inc, or they’ll be called the Outsiders while the other team will be something else. In any event, Bruce doesn’t do things unless he has reasons. Given what happened off world and the fact that there have been over 16,000 kids that have gone missing, this would have gotten his attention long ago. Knowing Bruce, and that he has ties to Talia in YJ, he more than likely has some clue of something going on thanks to Ra’s al Ghul having ties to the light. This would mean that he probably knows it has something to do with the light, and that with Luther on the UN this would lead to him trying to stop the JL and YJ in helping others. 

So what would he know? My guess, is that he knows about what Dick found and I think that Dick’s working with him on this. Bat Family tends to stick together, so he probably has them knowing that he knows something. How much they know, it’s up in the air. I don’t think Tim, Steph or Cissie know much of any thing outside of the fact that they’re going to try to stop Virtigo and other’s like him from kidnapping kids. But Dick and Babs, Katana, and Batwoman probably know more about the situation. As we know that both Dick and Babs were already on the case, and Batwoman is Bruce’s cousin Kate Kane, and a former Marine who is possibly dating Renee Montoya, (possibly the Question) who is a detective on the GPD, which means she would have info from her. Katana is probably working with Lady Shiva, anti-hero of the Batman comics, so she’s probably gathering info via her typical way of doing that. On top of that her family was killed by one of Baron Bedlam’s helpers, so she’s probably wanting revenge. 

I’m pretty sure Bruce knows that the Light are involved, I’m pretty sure that given the death of Ana, that she was used like many others that there’s hints of Apokolips. I’m damn sure that he’s trying to put two and two together and more than likely thinks the watch tower is bugged at this point, that was why he didn’t explain more. I have no doubt he sent Dick to recruit Jefferson. This is Bruce, leave no plan unfinished, Wayne. 

As for Hardware and Plastic Man, I get the feeling that both wanted in because of the kids as well. Both have had connections to kids and both are good guys. So Plastic, who has been sometimes Team Bats and sometimes not, but he was a criminal that knows about how kids fall through the cracks, and would want to help them. Hardware focuses a lot on inner city kids and believes they need a chance to better themselves and his genius intellect and past connections would be a boon to Bruce in this case. 

So what about Ollie? I don’t think he knows as much as Bruce, but I think he does know enough that he suspects there’s something darker going on with the missing kids. People keep forgetting that Oliver is only a bit less rich than Bruce and has his own group of people that watch out for things for him. So he probably has his own suspicions. Keep in mind Ollie is a guy that wants justice for all social issues, and if one thing would piss him off more than anything it would be missing kids. So he would probably meet with Bruce, talk about what they knew and Bruce would play to Ollie’s hot temper and get him to join in leaving. 

Cissie, who is connected to Ollie through her mother, probably is going to be more like Mia from GA going forward as her outfit seems to mirror Arty’s and Mia Dearden’s Speedy look, rather than her own main YJ look from the comics. More than likely Cissie feels the same way as Ollie about things, and (unless they change her back story to be Mia’s -please don’t) she would want to do whatever she could to protect kids due to the fact that so many look up to her because of her time in the Olympics. So her leaving for Ollie makes sense. 

Stephanie, who’s father is the Cluemaster, is known for her more hotheaded choices and for going in to prove herself. She’s also someone who would want to protect kids because of what happened in YJ’s past where she got taken, and probably also because kids like her who’s family is messed up may slip through the cracks and people don’t notice. Her leaving would make sense as she’s going to want to prove herself to Bruce, given that Tim’s probably the one that brought her in and they’re friends (at least right now -crossing fingers more later), and she would want to do her best to prove to Bruce that she can be trusted and is loyal. 

Tim did not look happy about it, but it makes sense for him to want to go too. Tim may not have grown up in a hard life, but he’s also the one that brought Bruce back from the deepest depression he had after Jason Todd’s death. His actions make sense as Cassie has always been a person that would butt heads with him due to him wanting to be like Bruce. He’s more of a detective type then Dick, or Jason, and with his computer skills he’d have probably agreed to this after realizing how this could affect people like the Runaways that they saved in the last season. Yes he wouldn’t have told Cassie as he would know she would tell Diana because the two are very close and would break everything. 

Why are Roy and Artemis living with Lian in the same house? 

I’ve seen a lot of people discussing what is going on with Roy and Arty. People are thinking it’s Roy and Jade’s house, but if it was you would see things that would indicate Jade is around, and we do not have that. In fact it’s clear that the house is very simple, meaning that it’s more than likely Roy decorating at this point. We know that the other YJer’s aren’t exactly okay with Jade/Cheshire, and she and Arty are not perfectly okay either. We also know she tends to fall off the bandwagon and follow her dad’s footsteps. 

So I don’t think she and Roy are together anymore. That doesn’t mean he and Arty are either. Given her loss, Roy would have been the first to take her in as he knows what dealing with pain and loss and that sort of thing can do to you, see his...um China-cat episode (and yes I am calling it that as you can’t tell me that wasn’t a nod to him being on Drugs way back when). Arty is still a college student, she’s gonna have loans and the like as she’d probably not take a lot of money from Ollie. So who’s paying for the house? Who’s house is it? Why it’s Ollie’s. 

Again, it’s in Star City, which is GA’s home town. No doubt Ollie saw what Roy saw with Artemis and Dianah probably pointed out her being down as well. Roy more than likely said he’d take her in, rather than her living on her own, and Ollie was like, no way are you and your daughter and Artemis living in that crappy apartment. Then took Roy and her house hunting and they chose a simple house. Ollie probably paid for it and they live there. It’s a lot like Roy’s house in the comics, that he bought back when he was working for Mr. Bones. 

Dr. Jace and her role in all of this? 

Okay so I’m sure a lot of people are probably going to like the idea of Helga and Brion, given that she’s very touchy with him. The problem is that they are probably going to make Helga also the reason that Metamorpho-Rex Manson (dude on the poster cover with the other outsiders) becomes what he is. He wants her to fix his issues. (Aso there’s a chance that Rex may connect back to Jamie with Egypt and that connection to the beetle.) 

Here’s the thing, Helga Jace is a known villain who works for the Manhunters, a group founded before the Green Lanterns by the big blue heads of Oa. The Manhunters are ruthless and dangerous and I think we see them in the trailers. They were supposed to police the universe like the GLs but they sort of screwed that over. Given we have John Stewart as a mention, we probably will see him and the other Lanterns later. 

So what would she want with Brion? Well if she’s working with the Manhunters than she’s going to have ties probably to Apokolips plot in some way. She’s helping make the kids into these monsters so she would have some idea of what they are being used for. Unless they change that. My guess is that she’s going to turn out to be actually one of the major baddies later on in the season and helping out the Light. 

Halo....

Okay so Halo was a young woman that got killed, lost her memory and was brought back by an alien and now they share the body in a way and she can use powers. In the case of Halo for YJ one thing I noticed is that her powers are very much the same look as the powers from Apokolips. As other’s have noted the color scheme is off with what does what in regard to healing and her force field. The thing is that the color scheme does match that of powers from Apokolips. This means that this may be tied to something or someone from that world. Could we possibly be seeing the New Gods in the near future? 

Darkseid and his plans...

Something’s been bothering me since I’ve seen these first three episodes and that’s the fact that a lot of this is reminding me of Infinite Crisis, or at least parts of it are and there are things that are reminding me of Final crisis as well. 

So there’s this thing in the DCU called the Anti-life equation. Humans seems to have it connected to the subconscious. Darkseid has been looking for this for years, and in Final Crises he was using humans and other beings in experiments to find the equation. This lead to the vanishing of Batman (Long time travel story there) and the battle for the Cowl in Gotham. 

On the show we know that Vandal Savage had brought War World to Apokolips, and said that their alliance still stood. Now we don’t know what the deal is, but it’s looking more like Apokolips is using the Light to create the monsters that we saw fighting the League at the start. But why would he need such things? Well I think that it’s got to do with the equation. Using them for the experiment would be a way to gather information in regard to pulling out the equation. 

It could also tie into the New Gods, and their war with Apokolips. We could be seeing an attempt at building up to a all out war between these two and the building of an army to use against the New Gods. 

Conner and Megan...and Match

I’m not sure how to talk about this one because it’s got a lot of twists and turns. I’ll do my best with this theory. 

So when I was watching the season so far, one thing that stood out to me was the fact that Megan and Conner’s actions are reminding me a lot of what Conner and Cassie were going through during Infinite crises. During the story line Conner was trying to deal with his previous actions. He had been taken over by Lex Luthor (triggered by some stuff in his DNA, and later it turns out it wasn’t Lex who was the main DNA, it’s confusing) but Conner fought his friends and was saved and felt guilty about it. Not long after there was a huge deal with the Infinite crises that was coming from Alexander Luthor (long story there), the first Superman, and Super Boy Prime, who were trying to fix the darkness that had come over the DCU. 

So who is Match a clone of Superboy that wound up fighting with him. He later became a good guy. and joined Titan’s east. But for a while he outright hated Conner and wanted him dead, as I recall. He was made to serve an The Agenda and kill Superboy. He eventually started to go good then started to Rot and was later killed by Superboy Prime. 

The reason I bring both these up is because of how Greg seems to be playing with the story for both these crises and it’s not hard to see similarties here. 

We have had clones before in the series, Match is a clone. Conner asks Megan to marry him, Conner and Cassie consumate their relationship in the barn at the Kent family farm (don’t ask that’s John’s writing), we know that Apokolips is playing with things right now, and we know that they took samples of DNA from the boys in the first season that hasn’t come into play (even if they smashed it, that doesn’t mean all is gone) and it wouldn’t be too hard to see them turning a Superboy clone into a Superboy Prime, by using Match. 

So what does this all mean for Megan and Conner. Well, honestly my guess is that we may see Conner sacrificing himself ala his character in the Infinite story line. 

Superboy Prime and Conner fought till Conner was wounded and SB P had to go get power armor to make himself stronger to beat him. However Conner managed to destroy a tower that SB P had made to change the realities. However he died in the process in Cassie’s arms. 

We know that YJ has a habit of killing off heroes each season. Kent Nelson in season 1, Zartan and Walley in Season 2, so could Conner be up next? We already have an engagement, and it would fit right in with the above story. 

There are a few options here though that could play out.: 

1. Conner doesn’t die, he and Megan get married and live out their lives as heroes, with the complication of them having to deal with his aging problem (You know, stuck at 16). 

2. Conner does die and we are down one Super character. They chose to bring in Damian and Jon Kent in the near seasons, and Jon becomes the new Super boy, or we see the arrival of Chris Kent (lois and Clark’s adopted child who is the son of General Zod), and he takes over the role as Superboy. Or we get Kara Kent, aka Supergirl to join in Conner’s stead. 

3. Conner dies and Megan goes through what Tim did, trying to clone him. Case A: she fails like Tim did and has to move on. Case B; she succeeds, but the Conner that comes out is closer to the original Conner from the comics and less serious and possibly isn’t interested in her. Case C: she makes a perfect Clone of him and that comes back as a story plot point later when he comes back alive. 

4. Conner dies, but is revived by the Legion of Superheroes, just as it was done in the comic and he comes back to the past with them for another season arc. 

There is also the option of Megan dying too, but I’m not sure if they would do that as of yet. 

Okay on to happier thoughts: 

Character’s that I hope we get in the near future.....

Anita Fite -Empress. It would be so cool to have her join the team and have an interesting relationship with Cassie and the other girls on the crew. Her powers are more magic based so that would fill in for the missing Zee. 

Slowbo- Clone or kid from the same planet as Lobo. He could claim to be Lobo’s kid, that would be amusing. Come on we need the trash talking nerd to get on Con’s nerves. 

The Ray, already being used by the CW seed, Ray was on YJ for a short time and was older than the other kids but he turned out to be a good mentor figure for them. 

Jade and Obsidian, Twin children of the first Green Lantern Allen Scott. Jenny (Jade) has powers like her father, except they are internal, Todd (Obsidian) manipulates shadows and merge with them allowing him to do things like fly and the like. 

Powergirl -if we can’t have supergirl then at least give us Power girl, as Karen Star is amazing and being Clark’s cousin with the same powers is cool. Also bonus if this gives us the idea of Earth 2. 

Since we have Courtney can we get the kids from the JSA? Like all of them? 

Also just where is Bunker? I could easily see him joining the cast as he would fit right in and be a fun character to have. 

Rose Wilson and Eddie -kid devil, would be a nice added bonus, along with Jericho (and leave him mute please). 

There’s way to many people I would like to see, including Argent, as Toni would make for an interesting female character. 

Can we also get Raven in there please. I miss Rachel.  

[angelofberlin2000]

May 17, 2019 6:15am PT by Josh Spiegel

Like 'Mission: Impossible' star Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves is the one doing the stunts — as the clear camera work shows.

[This story contains spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum]

Though it’s hard to choose one moment in particular, there’s a specific scene in the wonderfully tense new action film John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, the purpose of which is solely to show us John Wick as being an imperfect fighter. It’s in the protracted third act, as John is facing off against a group of martial-arts masters in an inner sanctum of the New York outpost of the assassin-friendly Continental Hotel. Though we’ve seen John Wick murder plenty of men (and a few women) by hand and by gun, he seems extremely outmatched here. He’s only fighting two men, but they keep forcing him to back off his ground, punching and kicking him into row after row of glass columns in a stylish underground chamber. There’s two remarkable points to note: the shot in which this happens extends for maybe 30 unbroken seconds, and there’s no shaky cam or obvious tricks to try to hide the action.

Action of some kind is easy to find in most mainstream films these days, whether it’s in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Fast and Furious films, Star Wars or the like. But it’s exceedingly rare to watch an action movie where you know for a fact that an actor is doing his or her own stunts. There are currently two standout franchises where this exception is the rule: the Mission: Impossible series and the John Wick films. With the M:I films, which has two more movies on the way in the next few years, Tom Cruise has put himself through such an intense amount of physical rigor that it’s become an easy joke to wonder what exactly could happen next for his secret agent Ethan Hunt. When, for example, you literally climb up the tallest building in the world, or are left dangling from a rope at the bottom of a helicopter, or do a multi-thousand-foot skydive off a plane, where else can you go? (Let’s reiterate the real hope, which is that Ethan Hunt goes to space. Ethan Hunt needs to go to space.)

The John Wick films are a little bit more earthbound. Yes, Keanu Reeves — who has excelled in different roles over the years, but truly found the perfect part as the terse ex-assassin lured back into the business — does a lot of his own stunts in these films. But the stunts he’s doing are rarely quite as death-defying as what Cruise does. Each of the John Wick films has gradually re-emphasized that even though Reeves is in his fifties, he’s still physically fit enough to both pose a threat to a lot of different tough-guy types and throw his body into violent battles with aplomb. There’s almost something comic about Reeves’ ability to do so. It’s arguably no mistake that both John Wick: Chapter 2 and Parabellum feature brief images of the silent comedian Buster Keaton, whose own propensity for stunt work could be remarkably death-defying in an era when special effects and wire work weren’t exactly in large supply.

The premise of Parabellum manages to further the mythology in the previous John Wick entries, and be almost infuriatingly simple. At the end of Chapter Two, John is deemed “excommunicado” for having conducted business on the Continental grounds — to wit, he killed someone in the hotel, which is a big no-no. Even though his old friend Winston (Ian McShane), the manager of the NY Continental, gives him an hourlong head start, Parabellum begins as John realizes that just about everyone in the Big Apple, let alone the rest of the world, is gunning for him, literally and figuratively. His quest to restore his status and extricate himself from the world of murder dovetails with ... well, a lot of murder.

The John Wick franchise has quickly become one of the best, most exciting, and most career-reviving series, over just five years (and without being the kind of hit that makes close to a billion dollars worldwide). A large reason why is the action. It’s not just that director Chad Stahelski frames and shoots each action sequence so well, though he absolutely does. The number of set pieces in this film featuring shots that don’t cut away every time a combatant lands a blow or gets shot is ... well, basically all of them. The choreography of these action sequences is coherent and clear, and you’re always able to understand where each character exists in the space onscreen, making each punch, each shot and each kick even more visceral.

But equally visceral is what you’re seeing in those eloquently composed shots. Reeves and the other actors are really getting into the muck of fighting. It might seem shocking to read about how Halle Berry, playing an old friend of John’s with whom he reconnects in Morocco, had to train for six months to be in fighting shape for this film (especially since Berry’s only in about 20 to 25 minutes). But the extended fight and shootout in which she appears is full of long, clear camerawork, courtesy of cinematographer Dan Laustsen, where there’s no doubt that Keanu Reeves and Halle Berry are going head to head with unnamed baddies, not stuntmen and stuntwomen.

The bloody joy of the John Wick franchise is that you’re not watching a series of special-effects-laden tricks. Too many action films, or films that have a handful of fight scenes, suffer from having incoherently staged and composed battles. (The Marvel movies have this problem often, though there is an exception: Captain America: Civil War, with the hangar fight scene between all the heroes. That film’s second unit directors were ... Stahelski and David Leitch, who co-directed the first John Wick.) Keanu Reeves, whose strengths lie in being taciturn (he speaks even less in this film than its predecessors), is more willing than most actors to put his body through the ringer for entertainment value. The good news is this: in John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum, the choice pays off in spades.

[quranreadalong]

THE BAD QURAN, PT 1: SURAH 1+SURAH 2

And now, presenting... the horrible, violent, and intolerant ayat from suwar one and two, the first chapter of our Bad Quran.

There are, alas, more than twice as many bad ayat as good ones here. We’ve got 83 baddies out of 293 total ayat. Get ready--this one’s long.

Remember how, in our very first section, we began with a long-ass rant about the disbelievers? 2:6 and 2:7 tell Muslims that there is no point in trying to warn disbelievers about their impending trip to hell, as Allah has sealed their hearts. It is also our first mention of “the doom” awaiting non-Muslims. 2:8, 2:9, and 2:10 all call disbelievers liars, with the latter again dooming them for this. 2:11 and 2:12 call them mischief-makers. 2:13 and 2:14 say that they mock Muslims behind their backs (I’m doing it to their fronts!). But 2:15 reminds Muslims that Allah is the one who mocks them, and lets them “wander blindly”. 2:16, 2:17, and 2:18 all continue this thought, with 2:17 again saying that Allah “leaveth them in darkness, where they cannot see”, and 2:18 (and 2:171) calling them “deaf, dumb, and blind”. 2:19 and 2:20 continue the disbelievers-walk-in-darkness metaphors.

We then take a turn for hotter punishments, with 2:24 telling us disbelievers are going to “the Fire prepared for disbelievers, whose fuel is of men and stones”. 2:27 is a slightly kinder one, simply calling those who disobey Allah “losers”, as does 2:121.

2:39 is yet another condemnation of the disbelievers, which frankly is getting a bit old already: “they who disbelieve, and deny Our revelations, such are rightful Peoples of the Fire”. 2:48 and 2:123 further emphasize that no prayers or intercessions from others will save the disbelievers from Allah’s wrath.

Our first Biblical re-tread is the story of the Hebrews in Egypt in 2:49; Allah calls their suffering and genocide at the hands of the Pharaoh’s army “a trial from your Lord”. 2:54-56 is a bizarre and awful Exodus fanfic (not found in the actual Book of Exodus) about Moses telling his people to kill idolators, them continuing their disbelief, Allah killing them with a lightning strike, then reviving them and expecting them to be thankful. In 2:59 he punishes more Jews for... failing to say a prayer properly. 2:61 tells us that the Jews continued to disbelieve Allah’s prophets regardless and thus “humiliation and wretchedness were stamped upon them”.

Complaints about the Jews are common in this section. 2:65 has Allah turning Sabbath-breaking Jews into apes, which was meant to serve as an example to all following generations of Jews.

2:85-86 tells us that those who believe in only part of Allah’s revelations but disregard the rest (attn: “liberal Muslims”) are going to hell. That was in reference to the Jews again, who Allah repeatedly and confusedly chastises for doing things he told them to do, like kill each other (see two paragraphs above). 2:88 calls them “cursed” by Allah for being disbelievers, which is repeated again in 2:89. The “doom” that awaits them is mentioned for the millionth time in 2:90.

2:94-96 is pure, unvarnished antisemitism directed towards Jews in Mohammed’s time. He mocks their supposed belief in only Jews going to heaven (Muslims believe that only Muslims are going to heaven) and tells them to “long for death” if this is true. 2:95 says they never will and calls them evil-doers. 2:96 says the following of Jews: “thou wilt find them greediest of mankind for life and (greedier) than the idolaters”.

Anyway... we’ll be told more about how the Jews suck in later suwar. Let’s talk about how Allah hates disbelievers in general again (2:98) and how only “miscreants” refuse to believe Mohammed is a prophet (2:99); Mohammed must never be questioned (2:108). And just to remind you, disbelievers are going to hell (2:104).

2:118-120 is yet another boring rant against the disbelievers. 2:118 mocks people who just want Mohammed to demonstrate some sign of actually being a prophet; they are going to hell (2:119). 2:120 tells Muslims that Jews and Christians won’t leave them alone until they become fellow disbelievers (anyone who does this is, of course, going to hell). 2:126 tells us disbelievers are hellbound, etc. Zzzzz.

Remember the part where Mohammed changed what direction Muslims pray in randomly? People who questioned this change are fools (2:142), for they do not realize that the initial instruction to pray towards Jerusalem was merely a test to see who would unquestioningly obey Mohammed (2:143), who is Allah’s prophet. Jews know this is “the Truth”, but they refused to acknowledge it; Allah is aware of their wrongdoing (2:144). The real reason for the change was partly because Mohammed did not want his followers to share a qiblah with “others” (wonder who!); those who continue to pray in the direction that the “others” do are evil-doers just like the aforementioned Jewz (2:145).

Again we are told that some Jews conspire to conceal the “truth” about Mohammed being a prophet, which they know due to.... uh... something... in the Torah. Those who try to “hide” the “fact” that the Torah predicted Mohammed’s prophethood are going to hell (2:174-75). One might ask Mohammed “wanna clarify what, exactly, they’re supposedly hiding?” in response to this, but Muslims are told to never be among “those who waver” by questioning any of this (2:146-47).

Anyway, Allah mentions again in 2:155 that he subjects people to terrible tests like “fear and hunger”; same in 2:214. 2:159 again says disbelievers are cursed, and again in 2:161. They are also doomed to hell, as 2:162 reminds us again. Idolators are especially going to hell and cannot escape from it (2:165-67). 2:170 calls people’s disbelieving ancestors dumb. Allah will punish those who refuse to abide by the revelations they have been given (2:211).

2:178: “Retaliation is prescribed for you in the matter of the murdered; the freeman for the freeman, and the slave for the slave, and the female for the female”. Revenge killing wards off evil (2:179).

Any group that tests/tries/persecutes (fitna) Muslims must be killed: “slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter” (2:191). The fighting cannot stop until the “fitna” ends and the disbelievers surrender and accept that “religion is for Allah” (2:193). “Warfare is ordained for you” and is good for Muslims (2:216). 2:217 again repeats that fitna “is worse than killing” and also sentences apostates to hell. We see later that Mohammed’s idea of “fitna” involves “people not being Muslims”.

2:221 forbids Muslim men from wedding “idolatresses” and says they are better off marrying Muslim slave girls. It repeats that idolators are hellbound, as are believers who marry them.

2:222 calls menstruation a “harm” and tells men to avoid physical contact with their menstruating wives. 2:223 tells men to otherwise plow their wives, as “women are a tilth for you (to cultivate)”. 2:228 says that men are above women. Legally speaking, one man equals two women (2:282).

2:243 has Allah killing and then reviving people again, and then again in 2:259, what’s his problem? 2:244 tells Muslims to “fight in the way of Allah”; those who refuse, like the Jews of old, are called evil-doers in 2:246. Speaking of Jews, 2:247 has them questioning their king’s legitimacy and Allah tells them to shut up and accept him.

Allah could have stopped warfare between religious groups but didn’t want to, says 2:253. Also the disbelievers are wrongdoers (2:254) and are going to hell (2:257) in case you forgot.

SPECIAL BONUS SECTION: HALL OF SHAME!

The following ayat were hits on our kuffar hell counter. They will be copied and pasted word for word. Enjoy... the doom.

As for the Disbelievers, Whether thou warn them or thou warn them not it is all one for them; they believe not. Allah hath sealed their hearing and their hearts, and on their eyes there is a covering. Theirs will be an awful doom.

In their hearts is a disease, and Allah increaseth their disease. A painful doom is theirs because they lie.

And if ye are in doubt concerning that which We reveal unto Our slave (Muhammad), then produce a surah of the like thereof, and call your witness beside Allah if ye are truthful. And if ye do it not - and ye can never do it - then guard yourselves against the Fire prepared for disbelievers, whose fuel is of men and stones.

But they who disbelieve, and deny Our revelations, such are rightful Peoples of the Fire. They will abide therein.

Believe ye in part of the Scripture and disbelieve ye in part thereof? And what is the reward of those who do so save ignominy in the life of the world, and on the Day of Resurrection they will be consigned to the most grievous doom. Evil is that for which they sell their souls: that they should disbelieve in that which Allah hath revealed, grudging that Allah should reveal of His bounty unto whom He will of His slaves. They have incurred anger upon anger. For disbelievers is a shameful doom.

For disbelievers is a painful doom.

As for him who disbelieveth, I shall leave him in contentment for a while, then I shall compel him to the doom of Fire - a hapless journey's end! Those who disbelieve, and die while they are disbelievers; on them is the curse of Allah and of angels and of men combined.

Yet of mankind are some who take unto themselves (objects of worship which they set as) rivals to Allah, loving them with a love like (that which is the due) of Allah (only) - those who believe are stauncher in their love for Allah - Oh, that those who do evil had but known, (on the day) when they behold the doom, that power belongeth wholly to Allah, and that Allah is severe in punishment!

And those who were but followers will say: If a return were possible for us, we would disown them even as they have disowned us. Thus will Allah show them their own deeds as anguish for them, and they will not emerge from the Fire.

Lo! those who hide aught of the Scripture which Allah hath revealed and purchase a small gain therewith, they eat into their bellies nothing else than fire. Allah will not speak to them on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He make them grow. Theirs will be a painful doom. Those are they who purchase error at the price of guidance, and torment at the price of pardon. How constant are they in their strife to reach the Fire! Ask of the Children of Israel how many a clear revelation We gave them! He who altereth the grace of Allah after it hath come unto him (for him), lo! Allah is severe in punishment.

And whoso becometh a renegade and dieth in his disbelief: such are they whose works have fallen both in the world and the Hereafter. Such are rightful owners of the Fire: they will abide therein. Wed not idolatresses till they believe; for lo! a believing bondwoman is better than an idolatress though she please you; and give not your daughters in marriage to idolaters till they believe, for lo! a believing slave is better than an idolater though he please you. These invite unto the Fire, and Allah inviteth unto the Garden, and unto forgiveness by His grace, and expoundeth His revelations to mankind that haply they may remember.

As for those who disbelieve, their patrons are false deities. They bring them out of light into darkness. Such are rightful owners of the Fire. They will abide therein.

And that’s really it. That’s the last time we’re ever talking about this dumb surah until the very end of the project. We’re free. We’re finally free, and for us is a painful doom.

Tomorrow is the start of surah 3, where we’ll talk about more mangled Biblical fanfics (this time New Testament ones!) and why Allah didn’t kill the disbelieving armies even though Mohammed said he would. Don’t miss it, fam.

⇚ previous day | next day ⇛

[saintheartwing]

Fallout is the Bomb

I can't believe I've only brushed over this series before. There was a whole, beautiful, irradiated world to explore within its boundaries that I never knew of! Lemme explain. Fallout is, well, post-apocalyptic. That alone had me worried. I'm not a big fan of the post-apocalyptic setting because of how it essentially gets so misanthropic, and assumes everyone turns into the kinda scumbags you'd see in "Violence Jack". The good news is that Fallout actually has a sort of "out". You see, in all of the series...well, most of it, anyway...you play as a Vault Dweller, someone who was sealed away along with others in big, social experiments set up by the government before a great war between China and the USA over resources that ended in nuclear fire. The Vaults have everything you'd need to survive for decades, even centuries! But not for all of them. You need to leave your Vault eventually, either to get a much needed Water Chip that will ensure your people can survive, or to find the "Garden of Eden Creation Kit", or you're forced to leave because the head of your Vault is a big fat jerk, or you leave because your SON has left the vault long before you while you were essentially frozen in suspended animation, and you've gotta track them down. In New Vegas, it's different, but I'll get to that later. Fallout 1 and 2 introduced the factions that basically dominate the universe. The Brotherhood of Steel, who sealed themselves away and hoard technology, hoping to someday come back up and revive the best of mankind in better days. The Super Mutants, mutated humans infected by a virus made by a lunatic who thought that as long as there were differences of ANY kind in humans, we'd keep tearing each other apart. Hence, why not make a race where everyone looks and sounds basically the same, AND is super strong, AND can easily withstand the radiation-filled wastes that fill America? There's the Enclave, the remnants of the previous government, heads of corporations, the rich and powerful, who helped MAKE the Vaults, and who basically think any life that's out on the Earth at the moment isn't really human because their DNA isn't like the "old world" humans anymore. Even if it just means people just have an extra toe or the like, they think you're a subhuman mutant as bad as the two-headed, skinless cows that now walk around. There's Ghouls, people who are heavily bombed to s--t, their skin burned off, looking like they've been flayed alive and yet linger on, some who are very intelligent and still retain their personality, others who are feral and twisted and evil. And then there's the NCR, the New California Republic, founded by war heroes and remnants of the army who are trying to sort of rebuild America or at least, what it stood for, out primarily on the West Coast. Their leadership's too concerned with bureaucracy and the amount of red tape and incompetence can be a real issue, but you can clearly tell most of them, the soldiers included, are just trying to stick together and do as much good with as many people as possible. In the first two games, it's a sort of isometric perspective. In the third, it switched to a sort of first person shooter mechanic, and the series has kept it like that, with RPG elements throughout. You have "perks", abilities like being able to carry a ton more, being able to avoid fighting with wild animals because they all like you, having a random, mysterious, gun-toting stranger randomly pop up to help...and you can choose how you want your character to look and act, like in most open world games. Now, which one is the best? I'm not sure for everyone, but for me? New Vegas is the best blend of old school and new. You play a courier who's lived out in the Wasteland. It was your job to deliver a "Platinum Chip" to Las Vegas or, as it's now called, New Vegas. But you got caught by some fancy dressed mobsters, shot and left for dead. It didn't stick. Now you wanna find that Chip, find out WHY it's so important, who the hell killed you, and maybe...or rather, most LIKELY...get revenge. There's a problem, though. For one, you don't know where the mobsters went. And you've got to contend with raiders, the NCR who aren't sure if they can trust you, wild mutated animals, and everything in between. AND...a new, Roman-themed faction that's raping and pillaging every town they find, selling the women into slavery and following a mad lunatic named Caesar. And I do mean Roman-themed, they wear Roman armor, have centurions, the whole shebang. The Legion's boss, Caesar, actually gives a damning condemnation of Democracy in the game. After all, it was Democracy and electing the idiots that were in the govt that cared more about the Red Scare than people having fresh water to drink that led to the war. Might makes right. The good news is you can play someone who's both good and bad, someone who's a blend. There's not merely morality, but "reputation". You can have a good reputation with the Brotherood, but be HATED by the NCR. Or idolized by the NCR and despised by the Legion. If you're smart enough, or charming enough, or have the right perks, you can talk your way out of almost anything, or, if you've the skill, blow the beejbus outta anyone you want with a ROCKET LAUNCHER! HAHAHAHA! KIBBLES AND BITS! It's fun watching baddies explode. And there's a lot of funny moments too. Take, for example, a subquest at the Atomic Wrangler, as you try to earn money to gain access to New Vegas, for you need 2000 bottle caps to get in, and that means you need to either sell a lot of highly valuable stuff...which you probably don't have...or you've gotta get dirty and do things like be a pimp for a whorehouse. Which I had to. The boss says we need a ghoul cowboy, a charming older lover, and a sexbot. Then when you tell him you've got the sexbot, he's all giddy like a schoolkid, making it abundantly clear the sexbot was for HIM. Which he tries in vain to pretend isn't true. And of course, the guy who shot you has a talking droid. Because of course he does. His name is Yes Man. When you tell Yes Man you're the Courier his boss shot? Yes Man: Hahaha! I know that's not true, because you still have a head!

Courier: I'm serious. 

Yes Man: Hahaha! That's... not funny... you getting shot in the head. I really shouldn't have taken so much pride in how I set that up, huh? ... I feel really bad right now. Yes Man has a lot of great lines. Oh, and did I mention Elvis Impersonators run a good chunk of the Strip? Because of COURSE they do. Of COURSE they do. Guess what they have to say about their HQ? "Near as I can tell, it was some sort of religious institution. Oh, I know it says "school" out front, but everything in here seems to be related to the worship of some guy from back in the day. People used to come here to learn about him, to dress like him, to move like him. To BE him. If that's not worship, I don't know what is." Hey, if you're gonna imitate ANYBODY, why NOT the King? And yes, in Camp Searchlight...deep breaths... THERE IS...a set of HOLY HAND GRENADES in the Church.  The sign just reads, "Pull pin and count to 3." And the grenades will make a bigger boom when you count to 3. Don't believe me? Look for yourself!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tZUFKe-uYw&feature=youtu.be It's too beautiful for words.  ^_^

hbomberguy on Youtube did a really good analysis of the themes of Fallout. And as he said, “FO1's villain is 'the future', represented by mutations, evolution, technology and so on. The Master embodies this by being a mutated machine-man. The old world is gone, and the future is coming to get you.

FO2's villain is 'the past', in the sense that the largest threat to the world is the stuff that destroyed it the first time. People are trying to move on, inventing new money, but the real threat is that we haven't changed enough, and are still doomed to destroy each other. Hence the theme of newly-invented drugs, money troubles and so on. You're chasing an artifact of the past to survive, but that past killed the world. How much of the past is it good to dig up? The Enclave dream of a return to the prelapsarian america that already had its chance and got blown up.

Horrigan (the main villain) embodies this. He 'is' the ideology of the past, personified. He wants to kill you because mutants must die, and you must be a mutant because he's been ordered to kill you. Symbolically we're seeing that humans have a thirst for purity, and this thirst is itself our greatest flaw. You also HAVE to kill him with violence. It's not possible to talk him down, and the real challenge is how you deal with that fact. It's a nice final twist. Your first proper conversation allows you to claim you believe peace is always possible - and the last one is a counterpoint, saying - but the other person has to be willing to try this too.

The game criticisms mankind's inner violence, but then points out that to escape this, violence becomes necessary - it just has to be used differently from before. Being able to recruit some Enclave soldiers AGAINST the main Enclave soldier is a fun moment. The military industrial complex is bad but can be wielded against itself.All FO's main villains and central characters are rendered 'faceless' by masks or armor or mutations, because they represent something prevalent in humanity itself, more so than any one person. it makes them larger than life, like you're battling a concept. The Master is a monstrous creature-machine, Horrigan is always behind a mask, as is Lanius, and the burned man and Ulysses are similar too. This is one reason why making the villain of 3 just 'some guy in a jacket' really annoys me. Make me contend with the faceless monster that is the darkness in man. Don't make me shoot some southern-talkin' dude.Even then, I can see that being a really cool twist on the formula. But it's so badly done. Poor Autumn.”

Indeed. The main “villains” of New Vegas are sort of “faceless” and represent greater concepts. Mr. House is, in many ways, a refusal to let go of the past. He wants all of Las Vegas to be like his snowglobes: perfectly pristine and preserved under a glass bubble, unchanging. Caesar’s idea,, the LEGION’S idea of the “future” is a take from the past as well, a sick, dark past, the ROMAN heritage, embracing the past’s more cruel elements in the name of a greater organization and unity. Sort of similar to the Master’s Unity, but this time not coming from looking to the future, but to the past. The NCR is the present, and they are, in a way, a problem as well, something to contend with. Because people are suffering here and NOW, and they’re stretched so thin and so tied up with red tape that people slip through the cracks easily, or they just use outright violence instead of better, smarter solutions. They can’t see ahead properly, and aren’t learning from the mistakes of the past. Cassandra Moore, in particular, is a good example: every solution she has involves killing someone or a group of people. She refuses to open up to the idea of diplomacy. She’s as closeminded and narrowminded as the idiots who helped cause the bombs to fall to begin with. By only seeing other factions as enemies and never considering they could be allies or friends, or dealt with more kindly, you close yourself off to better, more moral, or smarter solutions.

The Brotherhood of Steel are similar: they want to preserve the elements of the Past, but they can’t see that their refusal to really help those in the present is dooming them. They’re well-meaning, they CARE, but...they’re wrong. They’ll just die out if they just stay inside their bunkers. They need to take a more active role in the world outside.

So what I'm saying is...play Fallout: New Vegas when you get the chance. Check out the Fallout series. There's a lot to love in there that might surprise you. I know it surprised ME.

[cwalshuk]

Doctor Who review - Fugitive of the Judoon

Spoilers! Obviously.

If you haven’t watched the fifth episode of the 2020 series, then go watch it now. Seriously.

No, really, extra seriously - go watch it now.

This episode sees the Tardis Team intervene when the titular space police cordon off Gloucester in their search for a criminal.

Fugitive of the Judoon will be remembered for a number of different reasons, but perhaps least among them is the actual initial set up involving the Judoon.

The canny marketing decision, probably made months before production on series 12 began, to keep as much under wraps as possible has paid off so far.

As noted on some of my favourite Doctor Who fan podcasts, pretty much the only image we got during production was of Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor facing off against a Judoon. This was probably only because news of the space police returning was about to leak, due to their appearances on the streets of Gloucester.

The amount of work that has gone into keeping all the secrets safe is astonishing, ensuring that the various surprises so far this series have the fullest impact.

My previous reviews have covered Spyfall’s revelations, which have the most direct influence on the events of Fugitive of the Judoon, but the reveal in Orphan 55 was not spoilt ahead of broadcast either. Last week’s episode does not appear to have too great an impact on the series storyline, though the fact that it's two historical celebs did not have their minds wiped allows for a return appearance.

Speaking of return appearances, the Judoon make their presence felt early on in this episode, stomping around their ship, then Gloucester, and then on the rights of its residents. We are also introduced to two characters who, it turns out, are the main subjects of the Judoon’s unique attempts at law enforcement. Lovely, hard-working tour guide Ruth, and her shifty, forgetful husband Lee are brought to life expertly by Jo Martin and Neil Stuke respectively.

That this episode was so hyped by the BBC, but with only the Judoon return common knowledge, left a number of fans anticipating all sorts of things, including a major disappointment. What could possibly be happening in a story so far so pedestrian?

Well, with Thirteen and her fam on then case, at least the Judoon were unlikely to be a big threat for very long. The Doctor draws upon Yaz’s police experience to wangle themselves a few minutes to get to the bottom of Lee and Ruth’s supposed crimes. And with Lee acting so suspicious, and Ruth so not, it was clear who the Judoon were after, right?

Having mislaid Graham, and then losing Ryan and Yaz too, it's left to The Doctor to get Ruth to safety, as the Judoon close in on Lee, who sends a quick text.

But where have her three companions got to? They’ve been timescooped by Captain Jack Harkness! A favourite returning character, who sits alongside River Song in a category adjacent or overlapping ‘Companion’ status, he last appeared in the show just over a decade ago, a cameo in the Tenth Doctor’s final story as current Doctor. An intriguing and popular enough character to sustain the spin-off show Torchwood for four series, Jack is a big enough return to justify the BBC hype all on his own. That actor John Barrowman hasn't lost any of the charm he brings to the role really helps sell Jack’s return as the big event of the episode.

But Jack isn't just back to snog Graham and reminisce about past dalliances, he has an ominous message for The Doctor. Beware the Lone Cyberman, he says. Don’t give it what it wants, whatever the cost, he says. The fam, confused as well as worried, need a little of Jack’s vast experience saving the Earth (and elsewhere), and he delivers. His snapshot summary serves also to clue in newer audience members that the Cybermen are baddies, and for everyone, that they are desperately attempting to keep their empire alive.

The return of the Cybermen was revealed during pre-broadcast promotion, including on the front cover of the Radio Times, and a solitary Cyberman had already appeared in some trailers. So we knew they were coming back, just not what state they were in as a whole.

So that's two big things already this episode, but Thirteen isn't back in her Tardis yet.

Lee, meanwhile, is face-to-face with Gat (ably played by Ritu Arya), who knows him! She’s with the Judoon, and has tracked him to Gloucester because he has kept a service medal in a box. One which gives off an alien energy signature. Gat is one step ahead of Lee, stopping him reaching for a gun, because they have the same training, suggesting some sort of military or police agency. Lee doesn't get much chance for final words, between Gat’s goading and her arguing with the Judoon over regulations. Gat dispatches him with a mocking obituary, he was a ‘faithful companion’, apparently. But to whom?

The obvious answer is Ruth, on the run with The Doctor, who has just got Lee’s text. Reading it seems to have stirred something deep in her, and Thirteen’s noticed. That Ruth can suddenly and inexplicably see off a bunch of Judoon, dishonouring their captain by breaking her horn, further perturbs the pair of them. Seeking answers, Ruth shares the text with the Doc, and they head for Ruth’s childhood home, a lighthouse. It seems Ruth’s visions, awoken by Lee’s text, want her to break the glass on a round panel there.

As The Doctor and Ruth drive to the lighthouse, Thirteen gently interrogating her all the way, her companions are finishing up with Jack. His stolen ship is attacking him, so he just has time to send them back to Gloucester, before the immortal former time agent succumbs, presumably to try to meet the Doctor again once he has revived.

Since the Judoon seem to have found their man, the Gloucester cordon is lifted, so at least the fam are safe there. But there's no sign of The Doctor.

We don’t see them search though, as things are becoming clear at the lighthouse. Thirteen is up top, scanning stuff, and Ruth has broken the glass. She releases a golden light which flows into her, her eyes glowing momentarily as it infuses her.

This sequence will be familiar to some viewers, particularly those who remember Martha Jones’ time as companion. Her run of stories introduced the Chameleon Arch, a Timelord device which rewrites the user to appear human, capturing their real identity in a specific object. For its use during Martha’s time with The Doctor, a fob watch was preferred. That Ruth appears to have had the device use part of the lighthouse, or something that could pass for such a part, helps keep the mystery a little longer. But a large part remains - which Timelord is she?

With the Master at large, and having appeared before as the female Missy, could she be what Ruth becomes?

The Doctor has decided that an unmarked gravestone, which Ruth said marked her parents’ burial place, warrants further investigation. With her companions back in Gloucester, she has no one to question her actions. Thirteen literally, shockingly, uncovers a Police Phone Box instead of any coffins. Segun Akinola’s musical cues help ram home the significance of this discovery. It is a Tardis.

And then she appears, now dressed in a suitably signature outfit, behind Thirteen. Ruth introduces herself as The Doctor, and takes Jodie’s incarnation inside her Tardis, seemingly unaware that her guest is a Timelord herself.

This Doctor’s Tardis interior looks much more like those from the Sixties era of the show, but Thirteen is more interested in figuring out what is going on.

Thirteen is sure that this other Doctor is not a previous incarnation, but so is she. They agree that they can't both be right, but are interrupted by the Judoon ship, unearthing the Tardis to bring it on board.

Gat is there to greet the two Timelords, Thirteen having promised to let the other Doctor take the lead against her. That does not last long though, since the discussion intrigues Thirteen too much. She prods, and learns that Gat is Gallifreyan, but not ultimately in charge. It seems, from various snippets of conversations across the episode, that Gat, ‘Lee’ and ‘Ruth’ trained at the same organisation, with Gat tasked with tracking the other two when they fled it. Quite what exactly any of them were up to is still unclear.

It is at this point where waiting to review an episode has its benefits. Now that I have listened to a few reviews from fans, I’ve settled on one particular theory, which has some supporters amongst the podcast community, and probably many elsewhere too. It is based on events surrounding the Second Doctor, played by Patrick Troughton, and his replacement in the role, Third Doctor actor Jon Pertwee.

Troughton’s departing story saw some Timelords force him to change (in other words, regenerate) and they sent his companions away, mindwiped. We later see Pertwee fall out of the Tardis, with other friends of the Troughton Doctor left to decide if he is the same man they once knew. He isn't the same man, exactly, but they like him just the same. No regeneration scene was filmed for the change. Probably because the production team hadn't really settled on the idea, at least not under that name.

Much later, Patrick Troughton returned to the role in a multi-Doctor story, having noticeably aged in the meantime. The idea that his incarnation had other adventures, working for the Celestial Intervention Agency, accounting for the aging, was explored in some novels.

I think this CIA could be the organisation that Gat is from and the couple fled. If true, this would mean more than one incarnation of The Doctor worked for them, greatly widening the potential for stories in what was a fairly small gap in the character’s life.

I think this is a good and intriguing idea, as it opens up a situation which has lots of narrative potential, whether for the main show or, say, Big Finish, who make audio adventures.

That Chris Chibnall and returning writer Vinay Patel have found this gap in the Doctor’s life (if indeed they have) and seem set to explore it, is great news.

That, as this episode ends, Jodie’s Doctor returns with her fam to her Tardis, and they get most of the recent secrets out of her, does not bode as well.

I think that there's been too much stability with these companions and their Doctor, and it would be a shame if Thirteen doesn't get to travel with someone else before Jodie hands on her shoes.

Before that though, the Tardis has an alert, promising a diverting adventure. Whether that's what actually happens? Who knows?

[culturejunkies]

Titans: Nightwing

By Kenshiro

If you’ve been following along with my very infrequent recap/reviews of Titans, you’ll recall that for the most part, I have been digging the direction of the show since the plodding, dour first season shook off the Trigon storyline.  We were introduced to Deathstroke, teased with a prison escape of a classic Titans baddie, seen some shades of George Perez’ epic The Judas Contract  in the story beats, and seemed to be on a path to get this show on track to be where most thought it would be: a mature take on a superhero crimefighting team.

And I hate to say that…we still aren’t there.  BUT, I do feel we’re a little closer than before, so I guess that’s good news?

Yet ultimately its really REALLY frustrating that its taking so long to get to that place.  After this episode, this will be a full 2 seasons that have passed, and there’s little in this show that makes us hearken back to memories of reading the adventures of these heroes trying to step out of the shadows of their mentors (Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Superman, etc.)  I wrote a brief overall recap to the season so far before I watched this episode, so I won’t bemoan all of my gripes with this season again here, but I will say that many of those feelings still remain post-watch.

On to the actual review:

This episode was definitely one of the better ones of the season, but that’s not really saying a whole lot.  There’s a lot to like here: Dick finally becoming Nightwing and getting into an awesome mano-e-mano with Deathstroke over Jericho’s soul; Seeing the Titans together FINALLY fighting crime together as a team (albeit a little loosely); Donna vs. (brainwashed) Superboy; Dawn putting an end to the toxic relationship with Hank; Hank coming to grips with how out of control he is and pledging to work on it.  All good stuff here.

The showdown we’ve been promised was epic, but still managed to be a bit of a letdown.

It is almost completely tarnished however by some truly maddening story decisions and plot holes.  SPOILER ALERT: Donna Troy dies in this episode…but its not her death that’s the troubling part.  No, its the WAY she dies.  Which is by electrocution saving Dawn and some innocents from a collapsing carnival ride support tower.  The act of heroism isn’t what ruins all of it.  Its the fact that Donna is a Themyscrian.  She’s got powers similar to Wonder Woman, so she’s pretty sturdy…and she’d just thrown down with a brainwashed Superboy without breaking too much of a sweat. Its made even worse when the episode had placed a recently restored Superboy, right nearby WHO DIDN’T MOVE AN INCH.

It’s the most glaring, frustrating example of how BAD the writing has been this season.  This is indicative of some truly poor decision making by the showrunners, since Donna could have had a more impactful death by being killed by Deathstroke seeking her revenge for the death of her beloved Garth/Aqualad, or even fallen at Superboy’s hands defending her friends from him.  You guys needed Donna to die?  Cool. Fine.  Kill her like THAT?  No bueno!  There’s much better ways for it to have happened that wouldn’t have made fans immediately cry foul.

Speaking of Deathstroke, the resolution of that whole storyline totally lacked any punch.  He wasn’t the ultimate big bad at the end…that honor was reserved for the terribly executed Cadmus Labs badguys headed by Mercy Graves (yes, Lex Luthor’s right-hand gal Mercy Graves).  The end of the Deathstroke storyline felt a little predictable as well.

Titans Together at last! — Photo Credit: Brooke Palmer / 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The season ends with Rachel choosing to depart the team to go to Themyscira perhaps to help possibly revive Donna with her powers, leaving the rest of them to commit to being the superhero family that we’ve known them to be in other mediums.  So, we’re finally getting to the destination we were promised 2 years ago, but I for one am imploring anyone in charge that can do something about it: PLEASE FIND NEW WRITERS.  They are killing the epic potential for this show!  If they don’t fix this issue next season, I don’t believe there will be any saving this show from being ultimately an underwhelming representation of what it could have been.  It has an excellent cast, and their talents are being wasted.  They deserve better, but all of us as fans deserve better than what we’re getting right now.