#ehh a short and simple thing that I may come back and edit later I don't really care about it much

[visionmarred-archive]

Amethylia shuffled nervously in the doorway to the men’s dormitory, her hands fiddling with her jacket pockets while she looked for her voice. Lock looked up before she could say anything, the ex-Jedi quirking an eyebrow at her and regarding her with a neutral expression.

Finally, she spoke. “Quill. Uh. Mind if I...?” She asked, pointing at the bottle of Corellian whiskey that was sitting on the floor besides him.

Lock raised the glass in his hands and tilted his head towards the spot beside him on the bed. Muttering her thanks, Amethylia moved and sat next to him, pulling a glass out of her pockets that she had grabbed for just the occasion. Neither of them spoke while she filled it with a generous amount, then taking a hearty gulp. The Corellian whiskey burned as it went down, but so pleasantly that she understood why this was more-or-less the man’s hobby.

“So.” She said, looking down at the booze in her hands. “You knew who I was the whole time.”

“Yep.” Lock replied, too nonchalantly for it to be genuine. “The second I saw you in my apartment, I knew who you were. Hard not to know the woman you served under.”

“...Huh.” Revan took another drink - it had been a couple days since Malak and Bastila had told her who she really was, and her mind had been a maelstrom of both reconciliation of truth and a failure to comprehend ever since. A couple days since Bastila had been captured, and the absence of the woman she loved burned Revan more than the whiskey did.

“Look, Amy - Revan - Revathylia.” She snorted at the last name, raising her eyes to look at his. “I’m sure you wanna know why I didn’t say anything, right? So do it.” Lock shrugged, taking another drink. “Ask.”

Amethylia’s gaze softened, and she shook her head slightly. “It was for Bastila, right? I know you care about her.”

Lock sighed, taking another drink before looking back at her. “I doubt you remember yet - or if you will - but yeah. She’s like a little sister to me. I find Malak, I’m gonna tear him apart for hurting her. No offense.” He added, a ghost of a smile on his lips. “You two used to be close, after all.”

Amethylia bit her lip, polishing off the rest of the glass and refilling it before continuing. “Still hard to believe. Not the part where I used to be a Sith Lord - always knew I was one of the worst schuttas in the galaxy - but the fact that Malak and I used to be friends. That I was your commander once.” She shook her head, brow furrowing together as she blinked away sudden tears. “Lock, you knew who I was the second you saw me. I get why you didn’t tell me. What I wanna know is... why didn’t you kill me when you had the chance?”

She could feel Lock staring at her for a long moment, the man humming as he considered his words. 

“That’s a fair question,” He finally said, “and one that requires some backstory, I guess.” Lock took another drink of his whiskey before continuing, and Amethylia looked back over to him. “When the war ended after Malachor V, the Jedi that you and Malak rallied stayed with you. Only ones I can think of that didn’t were me and a general named Skysargas. Think maybe she was 24, 23? Young woman. Nice, sweet. Sky wanted us to go back to the Jedi, face punishment - I never knew her very well, but I know that the war hurt her in a way I couldn’t understand. Me?” He shook his head. “I just wanted to disappear, run away. I didn’t want anything to do with the Jedi or the Republic. I knew something had changed about you, that the Dark Side was rising in you, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to run away. You were getting ready for something, something that almost everybody was supporting, but like I said, I didn’t care. I didn’t want a part in it, and Sky didn’t either. So we told you and Malak that we were leaving. And do you know what you did, Revan?”

He asked the last question casually, meeting her eyes as he did so, and Revan swallowed hard, her hands suddenly shaking.

“Lock... did I... did I hurt you?” She whispered, terrified of the answer and yet needing to know more than anything.

Lock simply gave her a half-smile, shaking his head. “Actually, you just nodded and thanked us for our hard work. Even paid for our transportation to the planet of our choosing. You didn’t get why Sky wanted to go back to the Jedi, but you still did that for her anyway. Malak, on the other hand?” His half-smile turned into a full-blown grin. “He was furious. Said we were traitors to your cause. You told him to be quiet. ‘Keep your mouth shut, Malak, they’ve done more than enough!’” 

His imitation of her voice was enough to startle her into a laugh, and Revan exhaled in shaky relief.

“Thank the Force I did something right, at least.” She said, a small smile on her face.

Lock placed a hand on her shoulder, pulling his friend a little closer.. “Why didn’t I kill you? Well...” he trailed off, finishing the last of his drink. “I thought about it, not gonna lie. But I saw you there, helpless and thrashing in your sleep, and I remembered how you showed me mercy when your best friend was screaming for my head, and... I couldn’t. I wondered if I was making a mistake, if you were going to kill me when you woke up. But I couldn’t do it.”

“That was one kriffing gamble you took, Quill.” Amethylia scowled, her eyes narrowing. “I mean... I’m grateful. But - ”

“It paid off, didn’t it?” Lock shrugged. “Revameth, I’m not gonna lie and tell you that you secretly had a heart of gold. You... you did bad things. You already know that. But the person you are now? I trust her enough to help her see this through to the end. Even if you’ve got all the charm of a stuck rancor.”

“Oh, thanks.” She rolled her eyes.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I didn’t say anything to you sooner.” He said. “I made a promise to Bastila. Told her I’d keep her secret, then told myself that I’d keep her safe - didn’t think the Council cared about her, figured somebody should. Then I got to know you and realized that whoever you were isn’t who you are now.” He reached down and grabbed the bottle, refilling his glass and topping off hers. “So I told myself I’d keep you safe too, let you try and make things right.  Everyone deserves a chance to start over, right?”

He didn’t say anything else after that, for which Revan was grateful - he merely clinked his glass against hers, leaving the two in contemplative and companionable silence.

[kaiowut99]

Dark Side of Dimensions - A Lance Review

So yeah, got back from watching DSoD, and first and foremost, let me just tell you, the animation was stunning.  Aside from a few lolquality shots, but more on that later haha.  Spoilers below--I repeat, SPOILERS--(and given this is the dub, I’ll be using the dub names; expect an update with the originals whenever I get to see JP!DSod):

1. Acting: solid for the most part, especially coming from the veterans we haven’t seen since DM.  Téa, Joey, Tristan, Bakura, Duke... They all sounded spot-on.  Even Duke’s dad’s voice was appropriate.  Dan Edwards NAILED it as Aigami/Diva; there were his laidback scenes, but then he really shone in his more emotional scenes, like when he confronts Bakura or when he voices over Joey’s running through his crumbling memory world, and he was also good during his Ring comeback.  Sera sounded good, if just a tiny bit high-pitched for my liking, but otherwise no complaints.  KAIBA... While I’d still like it if he went back to his Duelist Kingdom voice for him, nothing about Stuart’s performance took me out of it.  His delivery on the quality 4K lines I’ll get to got a few chuckles out of me, haha.  Dan Green was perfect.  Remains to be seen how well he does compared to Kazama, but his line delivery was on point, emotional scenes or otherwise.  I do like how he voiced those lines about Atem leaving; as extraneous as some of those lines are, he does get across the angst that Yugi must’ve felt. 

2. Visuals: Again, the animation alone is worth the price of admission! Being the geek that I am, I was taking notes on my phone throughout the movie (mainly for any lines that stuck out because lol4K but also for other key stuff), and I definitely noticed some Ebina and Kagami in there (specifically, the “Where are they? They’re running late” Yugi scene and the Yugi/Atem smile staredown scene), but the best was that awesome Takahashi cut of Yugi setting up his Duel Disk against Aigami.  Such detail, much flow... It looked hella good.  One lolQUALITY shot I remember is the shot after Kaiba comes down to meet Yugi post-Aigami and they exchange some words; oh Yugi.  Oh, also, that was totally Junpei Ogawa who animated the glorious Atem returns scene with the Puzzle glowing.  Had to be.  In terms of backgrounds, Joey’s dream world crumbling looked pretty, and overall things looked sharp and detailed; think backgrounds in ARC-V.  I’m amazed they didn’t take the chance to make this a 3D movie... Speaking of ARC-V, one of the Plana kids was totally Masumi.  That explains where she’s been throughout this war... 

3. Script: ALRIGHT.  My FAVORITE part.  So, for what it’s worth, I think the script overall came out alright.  There were many parts that sounded like they’d be lifted from the Japanese version (Kaiba’s “It’s not a Monster--it’s a GOD!” line reminded me of Tsuda so much), and they surprisingly kept “Solid Vision” when he mentions Duel Links.  The scene with the Ring taking out Shadi seemed alright to me, too.  They did add a few offhand lines (like the gag with Bakura’s accent, Yugi’s “My cardio stinks” [same], or “You fight me with fRUIT?!”), which were fun, but there were more 4K-isms that made me sorta groan because I could tell they wouldn’t be there.  From my notes, they are:

Joey jumping down to Aigami with Kudaragi, stumbling: “That was on purpose!”

Kudaragi: “We got ways of making you cry, and I don’t mean an onion!”

Kaiba’s talk of his Atem simulation: “Quiet, you sniveling syncophants!”; “...to imitate his skills...his perfectly coiffed hair--that part took the longest” made me laugh, lol

Kaiba, after throwing a bottle: “Have the engineer who developed that bottle fired. KaibaCorp’s bottles shouldn’t bend that easily” PFFT. Also why.

Kaiba, on why it took Yugi 8 years to finish the Puzzle: “Because he’s a simple-minded child;” I think at this point, “was” would be more appropriate, no?

Kaiba to his Puzzle Assemblerbot’s system exposition: “Don’t you think I know that?”; its response: “I’m aware that you like to be reminded of your genius” or similar; also lol’d.

Aigami explaining Joey a thing: “Oh, you’re the slow one, aren’t you?” Because character shots fired

Yugi using Lemon to attack Kaiba: “Make some lemonade out of that!” why

Lots of 4K’s typical move punch-ups ala ARC-V, like “Bring the pain, Pandemic Dragon” or “Unleash your fury, Blue-Eyes!”; Yugi saying that Celtic Guard would cut something’s ATK down to size made me think we lost out on an effect explanation.  Also, why don’t they just call these “effects” and not “[special] abilities” already

And the good/funny:

Aigami, responding to Kudaragi’s goon saying he’s history: “No, history is remembered” bc OH SNAP

EDIT: How could I forget Atem’s “I take it you want to duel?”/Kaiba: “I didn’t come all this way to dance!” dance duel revolution when konami

Atem: “Not bad...”; Kaiba: “Got that right!”

Atem, in classic sore wa dou ka na fashion: “I beg to differ.”

Kaiba’s lead excavator or Roland, I forget, when Kaiba gets to the site: “You grace us with your presence”

The aforementioned “It’s not a Monster--it’s a God!”

Kaiba, leaving his duel with Aigami: “Aigami! To be continued!” which instantly made me hear “Roundabout” in my head (I love JoJo)

Joey, after Kaiba reveals the plane blowing up was Solid Vision: “You owe me a new pair of drawers!”

Yugi, to Kaiba trying to control things with Bakura taken: “Now, back off or we’re going to have a problem!” Because DAMN.

4. Music: So the music was surprisingly well-done, and I have to give credit where it’s due to Michael Brady and the other composers and editors who worked on it! It flows like a score should, with plenty of moments of silence (which sounds really nice for a 4K production), there were a few really nice pieces, and they generally fit the mood of the scenes; the music wasn’t just there like it tends to be in their series dubs (especially ARC-V given the treasure that its score is replacing).  As a fan of nostalgia, having grown up with the 4Kids dub, I appreciated the “I’m Back” use, as well as the “Kaiba Hacker” theme (seemed to be from that awful Duel Madness song, but the instrumental is hella nice).  I’m super disappointed that we lost out on “To Believe in Something” for what sounds like a drum-n-bass remix of YGO Theme (which was ok, but like, ehh). Also, according to the credits, “One Card Short” played, but I don’t remember hearing it... Very eager to hear the placements in the Japanese version. (And to rescore the dub to those placements hehe)

5. Side-Notes: -So while Yugi’s working in the Game Shop, we see he has a game called “Dice Panic.” Is that Duke’s? -When Aigami summons his Cubic King against Yugi (I think it was), its name rolls off the screen for it; unintentional editing goof, I’d think. -People were saying the duels were kind of blowing by fast, but moves didn’t seem to be going that quickly to me. Remains to be seen if we lost out on some helpful explanations though. -The end credits touched on the Japanese staff, but unlike BBT’s, made no mention of any of the animators. :|

So, overall, if you’re a fan of the franchise, you’ll enjoy this movie; I feel like I’d have liked it a bit more if I got to finish the manga like I’d wanted to before seeing it, but hey, that’s what the DVDs’ll be for.  Wish Viz could release these 3-in-1s sooner... I’m still super curious about what got cut from the originally 3hr runtime this movie would’ve had, too.  I’m glad I got to go by myself so I could appreciate it before dragging a few friends along who’ll likely rip on it here/there, lol.  Have fun when you go see it! I just have a bone to pick with someone over an Obelisk card I should’ve gotten

(And yes, I do plan to work on a dub/sub comparison when we get the DVD rips.  May also contribute to a sub, but we’ll see...)