#extremely rare Nerd Media w

[cantsayidont]

The only mitigating factor in the rancidity of the IWTV fandom is that it's a (very) rare instance of a fan-favorite show whose key male leads ARE actually as attractive as the fans like to insist. (Usually, it's some extremely ugly white British man whose only notable aesthetic feature is being so skinny he's at risk of falling through steam grates.)

[januarymoreau]

alright so I know literally no one cares about this but it’s my social media I’m doing what I want /lh

I’ve been seeing a lot of slander about justin russo on the internet lately and I’m currently hyperfixated on wizards of waverly place so here’s why justin is an awesome character/doesn’t deserve the hate he gets

He’s kind and treats those he loves well. Justin is canonically really good at comforting people. Although he argues with Alex a lot, at the end of the day, he’s also her older brother and genuinely cares about her. When Professor Crumbs threatens to take Alex’s magic away because she doesn’t turn her report card in, Justin says that Crumbs will also have to take his magic away. Justin is ultimately selfless. We see again and again the sacrifices he makes for Alex and I think we mainly see his kindness in that relationship. Despite that, I think he’s also notably kind to Juliet. When he finds out that he made the mistake of reporting Juliet and her parents, he instantly tries to fix it. Not only does he try to fix it, but he puts his job as Monster Hunter in jeopardy for Juliet and her parents - her parents haven’t even been that nice to him. Justin is ultimately selfless and at the end of the day, he sacrifices himself or what he wants for others. When Rosie turns back into a good angel, instead of selfishly continuing to date her and keeping her in the mortal world (which he could have done - she literally offers to stay with him), he gives her up because he realizes the world needs a guardian angel more than he needs a girlfriend. Even though it hurts because he loved her, he gives her up. There’s no “award” for doing this - he won’t move up a level in the wizard competition, he really won’t get any recognition for giving Rosie up. He doesn’t even get any recognition for turning the moral compass back to good. He does it because it’s the right thing to do. Although later I’ll argue that Justin is constantly seeking validation, I also think that the heroic/good things he does are often done with no expectation of being praised for it. He does them because he has a strong sense of morals. He’s also kind to Harper, Zeke, his parents, and even Max, who people rarely ever show kindness to in the show.

He’s in touch with his emotions. When the show starts, Justin is very against anything that will show him as feminine or emotional. In fact, he even says he’s allergic to emotions (or something like that) to cover for the fact that he’s crying over his missing dog. As the show goes on, we see Justin start to embrace and accept his emotions more and to lose touch with his toxic masculinity. I think dating Juliet changed him in a lot of ways (making him more relaxed, etc), and I think one was encouraging him to be more emotional. After Wizards vs. Vampires, Justin is pretty emotional and open about his emotions in the show. He’s even open with talking about them. In the movie, he opens up to Alex about how he feels like Jerry & Theresa wouldn’t love him as much if he were less “perfect,” which brings me to my next point.

At the end of the day, Justin is a sad character. I know it’s a kid’s show but they really do cover a lot of issues so bear w me. I’m hyperfixated and I like to over analyze shows so I’ve thought about this a lot. Justin is the oldest, which means he already deals with pressure to be perfect. Then, add in the fact that his parents are constantly describing him as the “perfect child” and putting him on a pedestal, while pitting the kids against each other as a result of the wizard culture bc of the family competition (I love Jerry & Theresa but they’re not perfect). He’s also a high achiever and we know he puts extreme pressure on himself to do well - they always make a joke about it but it’s actually quite sad. He literally feels poorly about himself when he gets a B and bases his entire self worth on his grades and skills as a wizard. In fact, in the movie he voices doubt about whether or not he’s good at anything other than magic. I have a few things I want to say about all of this. First of all, I think Justin is constantly seeking validation. I think as the oldest and “best” child, he feels the need to be perfect all the time, but he also does many of the things he does because he just wants validation. When Harper decides to run a marathon, Justin does too, and sadly his accomplishment of finishing it is overshadowed by Harper “winning.” I also think Justin feels threatened by the success of others because he thinks it invalidates his. When he opens up to Alex in the movie, he says that he’s jealous of her because it seems like everything comes naturally to her. Justin feels as if his parents loving his siblings takes away from their love from his. It’s irrational, but very real. Which brings me to my next point - Justin has generalized anxiety disorder. It makes sense - the overthinking, the outbursts he has (Alex refers to it as a conniption once) of panic or frustration, the overachieving, etc. As someone who probably has autism, I also think he’s autistic (which would explain his troubles with tone, struggle making friends, obsessions with things like Captain Jim Bob Sherwood and science, being better w robots than people, and so much more).

Ultimately, Justin has a strong moral backbone. Although he’s a stickler for the rules and this oftentimes leads him to do bad things initially, he always does the right thing in the end. For example, when Justin and Alex go to court and Justin duplicates himself to be his lawyer, his lawyer ultimately proves that Justin is guilty; he even says something along the lines of “We’re Justin Russo. We always do what’s moral and just.” Justin has a strong sense of justice (which could also be from being autistic but I could do a whole other post about neurodivergency coding in WOWP and Disney & Nick shows overall bc there’s a ton of coding) and does what he thinks is right, most of the time. Sure, sometimes he does bad things, but he’s also a teenager at the end of the day and he’s highly competitive.

Finally, Justin Russo is super progressive - in fact, he’s probably the most progressive characters of the show. He acknowledges climate change and actively tries to create a solution for it. In fact, for his science fair project he makes a water powered engine, which would reduce carbon emissions. He also wears a shirt at one point that says “Make art not war.” I will admit that his biases against the werewolf he dated were problematic, but he clearly grew from that because he never held any of that against Mason. He’s also into science and is a nerd and although this is a stereotype, most young people who are into science and are nerds are progressive. I’m pretty sure he also is well aware of current events and would probably read the newspaper. Also I myself headcanon Justin as trans and bi (again could make another post about characters in wowp that are queer)

Little note even tho probably no one will see this - this is all just for fun. If you disagree with anything I said, just say it politely hahsh. Also please don’t make fun of me for this WOWP is a huge hyperfixation and comfort thing for me rn and I just wanted to make a silly little post where I analyze one of my comfort characters. Also I kin Justin so pls don’t like hate on him in the comments.

[centrally-unplanned]

Allocating Your Aesthetic Budget: Sailor Moon Edition

Sailor Moon is a show that undoubtedly built a powerhouse of a visual brand. Should I even bother posting a screenshot of the sailor scouts, given that I am 100% confident anyone reading this can recall them instantly? I guess it won’t hurt: 

Anime is often really good at creating iconic designs like this, through repetition of the visuals. It is awkward in live action shows if characters just wear the same outfit every scene (what, they only own one outfit? Are they homeless/work in the tech industry?), but animation gives us enough aesthetic “distance”, an awareness that this isn’t accurate to real life, that you can buy into the conceit. By wearing the same outfit every time, it just becomes the character. Not to mention a studio can really save quite a few bucks by streamlining production with neat tricks like having only one character design to animate - when you are on a shoe-string budget, like pretty much every anime in the 90’s was, every cut corner counts.

What is interesting about Sailor Moon is that most of the time it doesn’t really use this conceit at all.

-----------

Episode 15 of Sailor Moon’s first season has, in its opening act, this shot of all of the Senshi (at the time) talking to the plot-of-the-day character, who clearly trains rock Pokemon in 16-bit caves in his off hours:

If you knew nothing about these three characters, you could probably infer about 80% of their personality just from their outfits. Usagi (the blond one in the middle, if that's necessary) is wearing:

Light pastel colours, with pink on top of that: girly, feminine, bubbly and breezy

Short-but-not-too-short of a skirt, and red heels: cares about fashion, wants to project an image of being a woman with a romantic hint to it

Long-twin tails w/ buns: Contrasting the shoes, she is still immature and childish. It also means she is the protagonist of an anime 

Rei (far right) rocks a very different look:

T-shirt and jean shorts, shoes over heels: sensible, practical, a bit sporty

Very short shorts, long black hair: Confident, a bit aggressive, and suggestive of a more overt sexuality

Ami (far left) settles into a more restrained vibe with:

Full, long, but sleeveless dress, bob-cut hair: Chaste, more conservative, but not to the point of prudishness; particularly with the length (and the hand posture, shielding her body) probably a bit shy

Monochrome blue colour in outfit & hair: reserved, serene, possessing a calm demeanor

I know I have seen the show already, but really none of these details are a stretch - this is just the language of fashion. And all of these outfits are outfits that the characters have never (or rarely) worn before up until this point. The cast of Sailor Moon, far from that animation conceit of “standard outfits”, change clothes all…

the….

time.

     I just randomly clicked on episodes to find these, it requires no hunting

And while it isn’t always as spot on as the top picture, they all in some way embody the language of visual design to speak to the personality of the characters. If you want to see more, check out one of the multiple tumblrs dedicated to the everyday clothing the Sailor Senshi wear, because of course those exist.

If this was a 2010’s Kyoto Animation show, pointing this out would be the end of it - every one of their shows has this level of impeccable detail. Sailor Moon is notable in that it is not at all that kind of show; the animation and designs in Sailor Moon take perpetual shortcuts to get the job done. I don’t think the transformation sequences need to be belabored - the way they permitted the team to recycle identical animation sequences, multiple times per episode, was surely a godsend to the production schedule. Yet not all of the budget limitations are so prettily masked:

     I’m sure they finished the background art in the...VHS release?

The show is filled with dirty animation, unfinished backgrounds, backgrounds that are a simple color gradient for no clear reason, and so on. It is clear that the Sailor Moon team did not have the resources for every detail - which is why the decision of what details they did choose to prioritize is so interesting.

----------

What is the point of Sailor Moon? I do believe that shows have “points”; and by that I don’t mean a message or theme but a core appeal to an audience, something specific that they will get out of the show. Almost every show appeals along multiple axes, and Sailor Moon is no exception, but I want to focus on one: aesthetic identification.

If you learn someone is a Sailor Moon fan, there is the obvious follow-up question you have to ask, namely “which Sailor Senshi are you?” It’s the which-Harry-Potter-house-are-you question of anime, a horoscope where you can choose your sign (in this case literally). The premise of this concept is not hard for media to execute on - it is just personality traits and aesthetics grouped together under a label, a basic building block of media and clickbait internet quizzes. Harry Potter, ironically, raised up its memetic question almost by accident, as its focus is so squarely on House Gryffindor that the others are almost forgotten; it was just so mind-bogglingly popular that it didn’t matter. 

Sailor Moon, however, takes this concept and allocates so much of its aesthetic budget into making it a centerpiece of the show. Sailor Moon herself is a klutzy, lazy romantic, Sailor Mercury is a shy, earnest bookworm, and so on, with none of them ever really becoming very complex characters. However, the show devotes itself to making you *feel* these archetypes as strongly and intricately as possible. All of those outfit changes are chosen because not only do real girls care about their outfits and can therefore identify more strongly with characters who do the same, but so they can constantly emulate their archetype in diverse, different ways. The show doesn't have the budget for intense action scenes, so after Sailor Moon engages in her hyper-serious transformation sequences, she proceeds to, nearly every time, bumble through the combat scenes like this:

Oh sure, the scenes are done this way because it is funny (and good comedy can be done on any budget - these shots are frequently still frames with motion lines!), but it is also done this way because Sailor Moon is a total screw-up, and if you identify with that it is validating to see someone “just like you” able to pull off wins despite it all. The transformation sequences are not only beautiful animation that showcases aspirational power, but are also crafted to highlight the personalities of the Senshi in question - unless you think aggressive, combative Rei got fire powers by coincidence. Half of the run-time of every episode is spent, not on the plot du-jour, but on light-hearted personal squabbles between the cast because those scenes are not just funny, but also allow for far more moments of character expression. 

All of that work pays off in building with the audience, not a connection with a character who reflects their identity in total, but a connection that reflects one aspect of their identity in an extremely deep (dare I say multifaceted?) way. I think if you were to describe Sailor Moon as a “shallow” show, you would actually be right to say so, in a sense. These characters will never have the true depth of personality, themes and so on of a more ‘adult’ show. But those adult shows have to spend their effort somewhere - for all that the themes of say Evangelion or Paranoia Agent are pristinely detailed and impactful, you aren’t ever going to be memorizing the moves of their transformation sequences. The way Sailor Moon committed so strongly to fleshing out the archetypes the Senshi stood for is, I think, one of the keys to how this cast of five became so iconic.

     Not even their school uniforms match! They had to spend time in-universe *justifying* this!

----------

A Final Note:

At least, everything I’ve said here applies to Sailor Moon at its peaks. The show, however, is not one without its stumbles, even in Season 1. This section doesn’t flow into the core essay too well, but I wanted to note it because if you were to watch Sailor Moon today, you might struggle to feel the dynamic outlined above. The biggest culprit here is the length - Season 1 is 46 episodes long, and sections of it most certainly drag. They also take a startlingly long time to introduce the cast - this choice builds tension around their arrival, but it also means the later Senshi get a lot less time to establish themselves. Sailor Venus in particular gets hamstrung by this - she is introduced and then immediately arc plot elements sweep the narrative, and so she is left as a hollow shell for some time. The pacing of the show is undoubtedly flawed.

I think Sailor Moon is a show that you do have to keep its time and place in mind for - namely, middle schoolers and anime nerds watching it on broadcast TV in the 90’s. As an adult you “get” the point of the show pretty quickly, and get satiated on it almost as fast. Watching it all in a few sittings only heightens this problem. For a younger audience, and one that is waiting for a week between episodes with no internet for plot reminders, all that extra time is needed to jog memories and build connections. And younger audiences just have that limitless commitment to the things they love! If you think no one could actually enjoy seeing the same transformation sequence for the 30th time, watch it with someone who would have died for this show when they were 10 and you will be disabused of that notion *very* quickly. 

Still, we can’t travel back in time - Sailor Moon is a show of its era. There are “filler-reduced” guides out there, though I caution that the plot of Sailor Moon is absolutely not the point of the show in comparison to the character dynamics, and so sometimes the filler is the best part (Cat-Rhett Butler is the best character in the show YOU KNOW I’M RIGHT). Certainly, however, some method must be used to cut down on its length. If you are going to be a first time viewer in adulthood, that reality should be kept in mind, and if you do accept it for what it is you can really appreciate its core appeal - and don’t forget to finish it off with a 1990′s era internet personality quiz to really wrap it up!

[trinitykitten]

BNHA Ideas. Angsty and Gay.

Okay! These are some BNHA Au’s and little ‘skits’ I came up with and have had for a while. I have two more that are far more thought out. I don’t really plan on writing out any of these so feel free to use the ideas! I’d love to see them come to life! I’ll post the other two if people want them.

*Bakugo and Uraraka fighting*

Tsuyu to Todoroki: Unstoppable force meet immovable object.

Midoriya: Both of you stand down now.

*Uraraka and Bakugo grudgingly comply*

Todoroki to Tsuyu: Unstoppable force, immovable object. Meet undeniable order.

———

Angsty one:

Midoriya records the stories of all his classmates and friends.

And a lot of there deaths.

Yeaaahhhhh fucking morbid, but hey. He’s preserving their memory.

Also even better if he becomes a villain.

———

Animatic:

Girls/Girls/Boys

Tsuyu Ochako Izuku

I think this one explains itself.

———

YUTS Midoriya plays a prank on Endeavour he calls the “Christmas Carol” prank.

He gets Hino to be past, Nana present, and Rei future. Christmas Day Endeavour gets a special visit. Todoroki is informed, probably after he notices his father panicking, that this is a Christmas present from the ghosts and Midoriya.

OKAY BUT HOW DID NO ONE MAKE THIS YET ITS TO PERFECT.

———

Kohei Horikoshi as a BNHA character.

Quirk: Guiding flame

His quirk allows him to manipulate the world and people around him as if he were writing them in a story. Limitations are that the “rewrites” have to already be possible and he can not change the past no matter how much he may want to.

Horikoshi seems to like fire quirks a lot so I put a nod to that in naming his would be quirk.

———

1-A fights for Deku’s love but Shinsou pops up and joins in.

They set up a tournament style thing with trivia and obstacle courses. Eventually they all just start arguing over the results and how it’s unfair and doesn’t mean anything.

Then Deku, who has been trying to get there attention this whole time, is told to decide who gets to be his boyfriend/girlfriend and he just yells “IM AROMATIC YOU IGNORAMUSES.”

They are all shocked the precious bean called them dumb but more saddened by the knowledge they never had a chance to begin with.

———

“Todoroki you bitch get back here!”

Uraraka “W-was that??? DID DEKU JUST CALL TODOROKI A BITCH??”

Todoroki running for his life “Can we PLEASE focus on calming him down?!??!!??”

Uraraka “If even Deku is cursing you out you probably don’t deserve being saved from his wrath.”

Bakugou hiding under a couch “Bitch your on your own try not to fucking die.”

———

Soulmarks AU:

People are connected with soulmarks which are pictures of animals like bunnies or deer and such. To differentiate between different ‘Clans’ all people within a group have the same animal with the same colors. It is possible to be apart of several groups though it’s extremely rare to be connected to more than three groups. Groups consist of ‘Watchers’ and ‘Followers’. Watchers take care of their followers physical and mental health and followers are extremely loyal and protective of their watchers.

Watchers are not necessarily stronger or older than their followers but they are often empathetic, or have leadership qualities. Many clans stay together or stay in touch most of their lives. Some even work together as heroes or in gangs.

———

Todo, Deku, Uraraka, Iida, and Bakusquad are hanging out in the dorms. Bakugo went to bed at 8:30 like the nerd he is.

Ashido: Hey Mido, why does Bakugo seem to hate you so much? What happened?

Deku: Oh I think it’s mostly because I dumped him.

Denki: Wait, WHAT.

Uraraka: You dumped HIM?

Todo: You dated him?

*Iida, Ashido, and Hanata in shook silence*

Kirishima: Dude you need to explain a bit more than that.

Deku: *eyes shining with manic glee* Middle school was fun.

Kirishima: Maybe be a little more specific?

*Text from Baku* : I sense a disturbance.

Everyone starts freaking out while Deku just starts texting back : I was wondering, does your dislike of me have anything to do with getting absolutely overthrown in middle school?

Baku: Fuck you. No. I’m not that petty I just wanna destroy the competition.

Deku: I’m competition? I’m flattered!

Baku: Whatever nerd. When you gunna ask out IcyHot?

Deku: When you gunna stop hitting Kiri and just ask him out?

Baku: NIGHT BITCH.

———

Trans!Bakugo

His parents are fashion designers in canon so to add a bit to that they make more androgynous cloths and things like sports wear including some top of the line sports bras and jackets.

———

Midoriya attempts to get Aizawa off coffee onto hot chocolate instead. (With help from Mic and Midnight)

He starts bringing coffee to Aizawa in the mornings at the dorms because ‘I made to much and figured you want some’ he just keeps doing this until it’s expected. He also slowly starts changing what he brings to be more hot chocolate than not. Mic and Midnight help this along by swapping Aizawa’s own coffee out with a mixture Midoriya made of coco powder and coffee grounds.

Eventually after like three months he walks up to Aizawa in the teacher dorms and hands him a big hot chocolate with wiped cream and says “here’s your coffee.” In deadpan while the other teachers giggle in the background.

Aizawa who immediately figures out what’s happened just takes it and says thanks. Making Mic start laughing like a maniac.

———

Midoriya

Quirk: Split.

It lets him ‘split’ himself creating clones of himself that represent different sides of himself. This includes ‘Sunshine boy’ ‘Deku’ ‘Villain’ ‘Hero’ and ‘Nerd’.

‘Sunshine Boy’ or Midori is the child like caring side that gets the other sides to get along.

Deku is the depressed one that, after meeting his new friends at UA starts to basically turn into Amajiki.

Villain who goes by Midoriya is like Monoma and is kinda crazy. He’s also the second smartest of the group.

Hero responds to Izuku and ‘HELP ME’ (hehe jokes) he’s the super determined one that runs at danger without realizing to save anyone. He’s kinda an idiot.

Nerd likes to be called Izu and is the smartest and the one that generally keeps the others in check. He is analysis and knows everything there is to know about every hero and villain he is aware of. Which is basically all of them.

They sometimes only come out a few at a time which lets the others influence change their personalities slightly.

An example being if only Deku and villain ‘came out’ they would be really chill. Deku just being a bit shyer than Midoriya usually would be and Villain having a shorter fuse.

- Villain (Midoriya)

Is a huge dork and would rather cause wide spread inconvenience and petty theft of snacks rather than actually hurting anyone due to the efforts of Midori and his therapist. Midori is pretty much the only one he listens to and is the one who first got through to the big old tsundere.

———

Deku does a flip off the roof and starts haunting Bakugo to make sure he becomes the number one hero. That his punishment. Atone you don’t have a choice.

Everyone else can see Deku when he wants to be seen, he chooses to let Bakugo see him most of the time. Turns out broccoli boi had a quirk. That quirk is called haunt. It lets him hang around some and keep track of his mother and the Bakugous because they where the only people he really knew and cared about when he was alive. He hangs out with his mom some times when he can but mostly he sticks to watching Bakugo and his new friends.

When Bakugo gets kidnapped he’s pretty sure Deku will just float around and watch to see how it goes like normal but instead he flips out. He wasn’t teleported with Bakugo cause he flitted off to help Kota, this lead to him not being able to get through the portal in time. So he makes himself known and basically drags Aizawa and All Might to where he is. He goes to Bakugo ahead of the heroes and frets and fusses about his precious Kacchan severely confusing the villains because “Why can’t I hit this kid?!??”. Deku had been becoming more protective of the class but after that basically decides 1A is now his adopted family and devotes himself to keeping them out of trouble.

———

Deku is a mob boss but runs it really well and takes care of his employees. Then on the side he’s taking out super villains and dealing with media drama. He’s got different people running different things; Todoroki, Bakugou, Uraraka, Iida, and Tsu help take care of organization, distribution, security, and resources. While the rest of the class has slightly lower and more specialized roles but are still in charge of their respective programs. Some by themselves while others work in groups of two or three.

1A are all apart of ‘security team A’

Most of them have other jobs they do within the mob but some, like Bakugo work full time in the security team. The A team work as bodyguards for the ones in charge while in public and they all work together to take out strong villains and especially villain organizations.

So there working on taking out the Eight precepts of death and they decide they’re gunna need some outside help with it. So Izuku, being the all knowing people person that he is in this Au calls Aizawa up on his phone and asks if he wants to help destroy a villain organization. Aizawa thinks it’s sketchy as fuck but he goes anyway and is extremely confused when this LITERAL CHILD. Yes a FIFTEEN YEAR OLD BOY. Just walks up like “Hello my name is Midoriya Izuku.” And Aizawa is even more confused because This is apparently the guy that owns most of the fucking city. Izuku is having none of the “your a literal child how are you CEO of so many businesses” and he just replies with “When you own the mob the mob does things for you.” And turns around to walk down the street towards where Bakugo and Todoroki are waiting with a tinted window car and fully decked in suit tie and so many god damn weapons it’s ridiculous you can’t actually see any of them. So of course Aizawa is n o t getting in the car with a bunch of shady fifteen year olds that may or may not be affiliated with the mob. “Alright what do you want from me.”

Izuku explains Eri’s situation and somehow convinces Aizawa to help and he eventually just kinda joins the mob as an unofficial babysitter for all of them.

———

The “Midoriya saved us from low key pedophile villains” club

It’s just Bakugou, Kota, and Eri.

———

Let her go

Post BakuDeku

Baku sad cause Deku is either dead or a villain.

———

Symphony of... Delay idea

In an exercise both classes are apart of everyone gets into pairs of two, trying to last as long as possible against the rest of the two classes. It’s basically a giant man hunt in one of the bigger training areas. However, to make it more fair on the pairs that have to run away and defend themselves, the classes where given two weeks to prepare a strategy and gear. Todoroki and Midoriya of course team up and come to the brilliant conclusion they’re going to become a dark souls boss and totally screw everyone over.

They recruit Mei to make them extra warm winter outfits that still let them fight. Then they get to work on making Todoroki’s ice more precise with Mido boosting it. They also ask Recovery girl about the energy gummies she has after checking they could bring snacks. After asking Aizawa if he had any suggestions as to where they could practice a particularly large and blatantly obvious “Move” they where trying to perfect Aizawa got them a pass to one of the training grounds that weren’t being used at the moment. Aizawa was (though he’d never admit it) kinda exited to see this play out. It was going to be hilarious.

The day of reckoning. Todo and Mido went last. Everyone was given breaks in between each persons turn which lasted from a minute to ten minutes each. Though the breaks weren’t particularly short, they had been doing this all day and where getting tiered by then. A couple people where cocky due to the last pair seeming distracted earlier. Someone had seen the two arguing and it made it even easier to doubt them.

That was a mistake.

Todoroki and Midoriya’s plan included this:

- Act like they’re not working together properly.

- Go in to the area as far away from the starting point as possible.

- Midoriya boosts Todo’s ice and they frost the entire area.

- Ice palace.

- Todoroki sitting on a throne in the main hall with Midoriya on a balcony behind him playing the Boss Music which consists of different boosts he can use on Todoroki the ice king : New Dark souls boss.

- Midoriya of course snacking on energy gummies and using offensive music against anyone who gets to close to his perch.

Chaos ensues.

———

Midoriya, Shinsou, and Todoroki’s spirit animal: Scotty Sire

Mido: Mister Glassman

Toshi: awkward

Todo: Notice me

[animusbell]

Hm! So! @nintenerd64 tagged me to list top 10 female characters from different pieces of media, like, a million years ago, SORRY FOR TAKIN’ FOREVER.

so let’sssss DO it. in no particular order;

1. Undyne from Undertale. Because how could I not list my favorite character from my favorite game! Ultimate lesbiab...

[Pictured above: challenging a 10 yr old to armed combat inside her own home, which is on fire] She is... passionate about passion, for lack of eloquence?? She LOVES Alphys not bc she’s a nerd but because Alphys is excited about what she does & what she likes. That’s just, so good. Being excited for others’ excitement, and just being passionate in general, is a trait I actively try to cultivate in myself.

2. Chie from Sakana. She’s just. Really Good.

[Pictured above: devising a nefarious plot to talk to her BF at work]

She’s just so funny and good and perceptive, a genuinely cool person rather than Girl To Be Romanced(tm)... ((Honorable mention: Sango, the wonderful gal pulling off this plot))

3. Garnet from Steven Universe. Because I’ve gotta, right?

[Pictured above in THE BEST OUTFIT EVER. THE COMBO TUX-DRESS DROPPED MY JAW 2 THE FLOOR.]

Made of love!!! Powerful! Confident! My favorite character from when I first started SU way back in 2013. And I found out I had 2 extremely good lesbians for the price of one. Wonderful, beautiful, we have come so far,

4. Rosemaster from Cucumber Quest. Trans ICON. I just got book 4 recently and I’m SO delighted to see her in physical print.

[Pictured above: Elegant. Stunning. Showing off that vine power with STYLE.]

She’s SO good, and her depth of character is astounding, and her magic power is super creative??? And the way the Roselings love her genuinely because she’s kind to them--yes. YES!!!

((Honorable mention: Glitchmaster, because hell YEAH we are past exclusively nonbinary “robots.” give me more sentient computers that have chosen a gender for themselves and organic people who are nonbinary.))

5. Lucretia from The Adventure Zone

[Pictured above: inoculating some goofs]

She’s fantastic! A female character who’s allowed to make massive mistakes and still be redeemed--that’s rare. And she has such a fantastic development and depth to her character, too, the way she grew during the Stolen Century, the way she interacts with characters, her top notch deadpan goofs... we stan.

6. Johanna (Hilda’s mom) from Hilda

[Pictured above: about to be asked if she’s talking to herself]

Ninte put Hilda herself on the list and i’ve just gotta include this absolute mom of the year. Can I just say, Johanna really struck me from the first episode because of how she treats Hilda (as a capable girl, but still being a reasonably protective mom all the same) and how she’s a character w/ personality and goals in her own right!

I genuinely didn’t know whether to expect a Gravity Falls “that stuff’s not real, dont interact with it” situation or not, but in the moment when she both acknowledged the supernatural stuff AND was okay with Hilda adventuring through it, i just... i really liked that?? I really like that she’s a sensible & important character in her own right instead of a Mom Stereotype of some sort, and I also like her interactions w/ characters other than Hilda, like Alfur (in the image) and David (reassuring him when their souls were gettin’ stolen)

7. Sulla from O Human Star

[pictured above: p l e a s e just do this for me let me have human soup dont out me]

Sulla is so good!! And her narrative is SO important, her struggles with identity and her finding someone like her but still different, and trying to fit in with others. She’s really important, my favorite flyin’ robot gal, bless.

8. Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender

[pictured above: absolutely destroyin’ a tournament]

Toph is just extremely good. Is there even anything else to say about how good Toph is anymore? She’s a disabled character who still absolutely gets her due and invents an entire new form of earthbending. Also! One of my favorite (and most relatable) moments in the show is still her reaction to her Ember Island Players actor... absolutely fantastic.

9. Ciela from Phantom Hourglass

[pictured above: thinking that because he wasn’t moving, Link was done for]

BET YOU DIDN’T EXPECT A ZELDA FAIRY ON THIS LIST. Phantom Hourglass was the first game I ever played that had like... a story instead of being a series of weird educational minigames. Lots of good memories. Ciela had a very good journey of self-discovery and also every time she sasses Linebeck gives me life.

10. Nyneve from Witchy

[pictured above: ‘bout to do Somethin’ Real Bad]

Nyneve is such a fantastic character and I’m loving her journey so far. A character who clearly has a lot of struggles and flaws but is also so strong and smart and I’m just eternally intrigued to see what’s going to come of her decisions. (Also the comic in general has some fantastic worldbuilding and lots of great characters, check it out!)

...

wow that’s all of em!! tagging.... uh.... you, reader. (or whoever wants to!)

[paulisweeabootrash]

First-ish Impression: Angelic Layer

Welcome once again to Paul is Weeaboo Trash! 

Today’s topic: Angelic Layer (2001), based on three episodes.

I went to Saboten Con, an annual anime convention in Phoenix, AZ, this year, and I attended a panel on the history of the influential manga group CLAMP.  Even if you’re not an obsessive or long-time otaku, or only really pay attention to anime, not manga, you may be familiar with them from works like the TV adaptations of Cardcaptor Sakura and its brand-new sequel Clear Card, or tangentially from Code Geass (which they did not write, but did design characters for), or perhaps from the work of theirs I’m by far most familiar with, Chobits.  In addition to telling me some stuff I didn’t know about CLAMP’s members and catalog of works, the panel gave me a few promising things to add to my “to do” list, both for reading and for watching.  One of which, it turns out, my wife owns and I’ve seen the first episode of before, but which I somehow entirely forgot about: the earlier series to which Chobits is the sequel, Angelic Layer.

Angelic Layer follows the story of Misaki Suzuhara, a middle schooler moving on her own to Tokyo to live with her aunt.  As soon as she sets foot outside the train station, she is captivated by an enormous screen on a nearby building, showing footage of a fight during the championship of Angelic Layer, a sport where two players duel via remote-controlled robots called "Angels".  She immediately feels the need to learn to play, rushes off to the nearest department store and, with the help of an enthusiastic random stranger (who is understandably mistaken for a kidnapper by a store employee), spends all of her money (including money set aside for local train fare from the station where she arrived to her aunt's place) on the beginner essentials for playing Angelic Layer.  Including, apparently, a special purpose laptop preloaded with the necessary software.

The random stranger, by the way, is named Icchan, and he immediately takes an interest in Misaki as a player and teaches her the basics of the game.  He is revealed to the audience to be a comedic relief-level eccentric who works for the company that makes Angels and runs the Angelic Layer tournaments.  Misaki does not know this, which is bizarre and uncomfortable.  His insistence on teaching her could be portrayed as reasonable and kind of endearing, except that she has absolutely no idea who he is or why to trust him, and does not seem to question that he keeps showing up to offer her his help, which alarms me, at least.

Anwyay, Misaki gets to work setting up her Angel, which she names Hikaru, modeling her on Athena, the winner of that first fight she watched.  She even makes her own clothing for Hikaru, using what turn out to be experimental fabric samples given to her by Icchan.  Who was supposed to bring them to a meeting.  Oops.  As of episode 3, Misaki has won a couple of pickup fights against other, much more experienced Angelic Layer players -- getting into those fights accidentally both times -- met both extremes of the spectrum of realistic gamers (from supportive veteran encouraging new players to the antisocial jerk bent on pwning noobs), and made friends at school who share her interest in the game.  Icchan has even decided to sign her up (without her knowledge) for the upcoming tournament, for which she is technically eligible purely because of those pickup fights.  And this is where I am now, staring down the prospect of a tournament arc.

Usually, I would dread this sort of thing, especially with the way we’ve seen Misaki start out playing so easily.  I would be fearing the worst: an unreasonably talented competitor breezing their way through fights where the writers are inconsistent on or don’t bother to establish how their own narrative universe works as long as it furthers the plot goal of the main character winning... but Angelic Layer seems promising on this front.  It really seems like it should be a lot harder for any player to pick up even the most basic controls of this game, but I guess that could be chalked up to very good thought-reading technology -- and there’s a pretty obviously-foreshadowed but technically spoiler reason I happen to already know for why Misaki in particular would be talented.  But despite her too-easy start to the game, she also is shown winning partially through her opponents simply not anticipating her unusual choices, and more importantly, she is shown needing to actually learn new skills, which together make this angle not bother me as much as it otherwise could.  So maybe the tournament will turn out more reasonably than such arcs have a reputation for.

One thing that tangentially occurs to me about the setting: I wish I could put myself into the mindset of the original audience in 2001 (or 1998, when the manga came out), to know how immediate this felt, or didn't feel, then.  In 2018, it feels just around the corner.  Thought-controlled computer interfaces, e-sports, personal robots... these used to be the realm of sci-fi generally, and probably more prominent in otaku circles than in Western-focused nerddom.  Now they're things that get mainstream media attention, and there are even easily-available toys for small children based on customizing and programming robots.  If not for the more fantastical elements of the sport as depicted (the energy ball thing in the first episode, for example), I wouldn't be that surprised if people started playing it IRL in a few years.

I’ll definitely keep watching, and I’m glad I went to that event to remind me how many CLAMP stories I need to start or resume.

-----

W/A/S: 2/2/5

Weeb: Because of what I mentioned above about the trajectory of nerd culture and technology, I think this probably used to be far far weeb-er when it came out than it is now.  These days, probably the most foreign concept depicted is a minor being considered competent and responsible enough to take the train between two cities on her own.

Ass: Very little suggestive content, but still not something for small kids unless you want to answer uncomfortable questions about a couple jokes, e.g. Icchan realizing he's coming off as possibly perverted after he looks under Hikaru's clothing to examine her.

Shit: This is shaping up to be an interesting premise and enjoyable characters, but something is just... off... with the art, and I'm not whining because it's in a simpler art style than earlier CLAMP projects.  I mean things like uncomfortably long still frames, eyes that look like they're in the wrong place, and inconsistency in character drawings between different scenes in the same episode, suggesting this was rushed.  Finally, at my wife's insistence, I watched the dubbed rather than subtitled version for the first couple of episodes because she remembered it being pretty good, but some lines are just delivered with such awkward inflections that we questioned the competence of the direction, so, uh, add a full point of shit if you're watching that version.

-----

Stray Observations:

- Real life gamers like Kyoko, the player who challenges Misaki because she’s new and therefore presumably an easy target, are the reason I so rarely play online games.  That and I’m bad at just about all of them.

- Speaking of gamers like that, do kids these days even say “pwn” anymore?  I’m getting “old” by internet culture standards.

- Oh wow.  I knew this was an old DVD, but I was still surprised when it had an ad for Newtype USA play before loading the menu.

[republicstandard]

9 Things Alt-Right Men Need to Know

1. Aesthetics matter more than optics

It Doesn't matter what you do, it matters what you look like while you do it. They hate you, no matter what. You can save an entire school bus of children from drowning in a river in a flash flood, but the second your politics are revealed they will hate you and try to discredit and destroy you. Are we clear? Yes? Good. It doesn't actually matter what you say, hardly anyone will remember it unless it's exceptionally profound and you are a person of note. It matters what you look like, a well kept man is immediately notable versus a disheveled bum. How you are dressed -clean, well-fitted, matched- and what your hair looks like -effort vs no effort- your footwear -appropriate shoe for the occasion- and, if in person, how you smell. These are the things that impact people and it happens in 1/10th of a second. If you can make someone like or trust you in 1/10th of a second they will second guess everything that comes after that, you can only do that visually. First impressions are forever. If in doubt, start with the footwear and move upwards.

(function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:10817585113717094,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-7788-6480"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="//cdn2.lockerdomecdn.com/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");

2. Not everyone is an erudite gentleman. Nor should they be.

To the untrained eye this may seem in opposition to my previous point. It is not. Authenticity is as much a part of aesthetics as anything else. Cosmopolitan dwelling fellas, you ain't getting a country boy in a suit and tie if he isn't getting married or burying a relative, and that is okay. Some of the issues you have with “optics" is expecting a regionally distinct nation to follow the rules of only one region; which is exactly what the liberal coastal elites have been doing for decades! Speaking of regional conflicts...

3. The South is for Southerners

There is no rational reason to concede ground to an enemy preceding a war, unless you have an advanced strategy to counter the push. You don't volunteer your losses ahead of the game, and you certainly don't reveal your hand of what you find most valuable. Alienating swaths of people by volunteering their homes as tribute to the very people who swarm their neighborhoods making them unsafe and barely habitable may seem like a funny meme or a rational concession; but it isn't and by the by, I don't hear an alternative where you give up your homes and flee to the South. The idea of an ethnic homeland for our people is a good one, but we need to think smarter than Balkanizing the United States of America.

4. Shitposting isn't going to save the world

These ideas have to make it into the real world where people live. Even the people you have contempt for have life experiences they can relate to our ideology. Why? Because the things that you've noticed aren't unique to you just because you noticed them already for what they are. Online we live in a polarized meta-reality of extremes. Fascist or Marxist. Right or left. Genocide or victory. Those extremes simply don't exist on the typical person's radar. There is a season for all things and now is the season to forge real life connections with real life people. The way forward is not tiki-torches and marching, it is a quiet, responsible conversation about real affairs that matter to the man or woman in the street.

5. Stop trying to purge people!

What kind of whacked out brain-fry drug den did you just crawl out of to think that any white person to the right of center is disposable? Identify them for what they are, and then utilize whatever it is they do or can do to benefit our immediate concerns. We have other concerns than just Zionism. We have to get legislation passed or stopped. We have to spread the word of first and second amendment breaches and violations. We have to talk about immigration. We have to talk about MS-13 and other gang activity. We have to have discussions existing on the internet that we don't have a million hours in the day to have. I personally am very critical of basic CivNat conservatives. They are weak and ineffective at conservatism, but i never advocate for purging their huge, beautiful, rarely banned platforms. Stop being ridiculous. Immediately.

6. There's no such thing as "Punching Right"

Nobody is above criticism. Nobody is above harsh criticism. Nobody. This doesn't mean that person needs to be “purged” from the movement. We refine ourselves through defending our positions, we refine our arguments by having them more than once, and losing more often than we win. We refine our ideology through discussion; and you aren't the gatekeeper of how that discussion is meant to be hosted. Anyone who has put their name or pseudonym forward accepts the inevitability that they will be challenged intellectually, morally and spiritually. There is surely no reason to schism between fans of this guy or that guy. That guy is not the be-all end-all, and this guy is only the guy until we find a better guy. Avoid cults of personality.

7. Get a thesaurus

Stop using words you know will get you banned on leftist social media platforms. The English language is the best language on the planet; and there are about 40 legitimate words that aren't bannable for every bannable word you type. For example whore is bannable, strumpet is not. Retarded is bannable, simple is not. Understand that in one moment we talk about white excellence and in the other we show that we can't learn, collectively, how to stop saying bad words and getting shut down. Adapt.

8. Quit pretending you don't want women talking about politics

Yes you do. You need women to talk about politics. You may not want them in politics or to hold office, after all,who does; women are inherently terrible at it. Please though, stop with the ridiculous assertion that you want women to stop talking about current affairs or identity issues. It's an aphrodisiac when a woman agrees with you about topics that you care deeply about. For her to understand what concerns you and why, is a comfort to you. To be able to vent your frustrations to someone who can hear you and can fathom your concern is a boon. Do you really want to come home to dinner, start moaning about Mueller, communists or the latest political compromise in direct opposition to your immediate needs and be met by a blank stare? No. We are a partnership, always. If you happen to be the very small amount of men who actually hate women, shut up and get out of the way of the men who would like to make lots of babies with the women that you despise.

9. Jews aren't that powerful.

I am not suggesting you should give them a single moment of respite from pointing out each and every instance they exercise what influence they've been permitted to have.

I said permitted.

They are not innovative or cutthroat or fun. They merely exhibit an enviable in-group bias. This is the fundamental crux of the relationship between the West and those Jews who take advantage of systems we create for their group benefit. It is not every Jew you meet in day to day life; and therefore our attention to relations between our peoples as a whole should be fair, polite, but firm. The cry of antisemitism arises when the grand arch of Zionist influence is threatened- because it can be taken away from them in an instant, as has been done in many other civilizations throughout history. They cannot outperform us, purely based on the relative sizes of our populations; it is a logical strategy to shape a society to better suit your own interests, given this understanding. It is our role to politely refuse such machinations.

(function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:10817587730962790,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-5979-7226"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="//cdn2.lockerdomecdn.com/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");

Ultimately, though the Jewish lobby has poisoned our society in many respects they will ultimately only destroy themselves with success; just as a parasite cannot live without a host, they cannot live without the protection of Western Civilization, either in our lands or in Jerusalem. We can recognize this reality in the declining Jewish population in the West, through intermarriage and emigration to Israel. This force is in a process of decline in the West- for as much as we can say demography is destiny, this is true for all peoples. It is thus far more important in this context that you rediscover your power and learn to start saying, "No, thank you. This is not in our interest. Good day."

Absent of criticism we cannot take the steps necessary to accomplish our collective goals. It is what happens within our small but growing community that sets the stage for the future battles we will face; be they culturally, politically, or in some cases physically. We need to learn to turn into ourselves and each other, first to strengthen from within and only after that push forward into the mire that awaits us. If we do, then bleak prospects will become victorious battles rather than nihilistic concessions and defeat.

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.

Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Thank you for reading Republic Standard. We publish this magazine and the Freebird Forum because we believe in free speech. Make a donation towards our running costs by clicking here.

The Republic Standard Web Shop is now open! Every piece of merchandise you buy is a victory against the nerds.

from Republic Standard | Conservative Thought & Culture Magazine https://ift.tt/2JJBHoN via IFTTT

[gillespialfredoe01806ld]

Want to Live Like Johnny Depp? We Dug Up 5 Homes With Tunnels

A-list actor and part-time musician Johnny Depp is reportedly interested in building a network of underground tunnels to connect his five homes in the Hollywood Hills, Us Weekly reports.

The thought of these tunnels burrowed its way into our brains. Underground tunnels in homes are rare, but we do see a few worthy ones on the market. We’ve compiled a list of five homes currently on the market featuring tunnels of their own.

“There are not very many homes [on the market with tunnels]. They’re considered extremely desirable, and we happen to have one,” says listing agent Chris Downey of her client’s $7.5 million mansion on the shores of Lake Michigan.

One caveat? Living out your subterranean fantasies doesn’t come cheap—the most affordable home on our list is priced at $2.25 million. Let’s dig in!

965 E. Deerpath Road, Lake Forest, IL

Price: $7.5 million

Why we dig it: The owner of this eight-bedroom, 13,650-square-foot Georgian-style mansion bought the home in the early 1980s and built a tunnel out to the home’s two-bedroom carriage house, which includes a seven-car garage.

The 1920s-era home is located in the wealthy Chicago suburb of Lake Forest, on the shores of Lake Michigan, and the tunnel helps the homeowner get to the carriage house and garage without having to brave the winter elements, Downey says.

“You may have heard Chicago gets snow every once in a while,” she jokes.

Children love to ride skateboards down the tunnel, and otherwise play in it year-round, she says. “It’s very intriguing to have a tunnel, as you can imagine.”

Exterior

realtor.com

———

8387 Ford Road, Superior Township, MI

Price: $5.9 million

Why we dig it: There’s a lot to love about this 9,025-square-foot mansion outside Detroit: It has an observatory, wine cellar, wood shop, and kids’ room with castle-themed bunk beds.

A note about the observatory, for my fellow space nerds: It has a rotating dome and high-powered telescope. There’s a conservatory below it, with Italian tile flooring. It was built on an independent foundation and pillar, so the telescope can align with true north.

This full-featured property also includes a 130-foot tunnel connecting the main house to the carriage house.

“It serves many purposes,” says listing agent Jeffrey Post. “Access to carriage house, escape from the main house if needed, shelter if storm or an event might happen. It is structurally strong enough to withstand all kinds of impact, and is lit with self-closing fire doors on either end.”

As a bonus, the homeowner built the tunnel to potentially serve as an indoor shooting range.

Post occasionally sees properties hit the market with old fallout shelters, but says tunnels are relatively rare. One notable exception outside Detroit is the estate of late Ford executive Harry Bennett, who was rumored to have a tunnel leading to a fortified concrete cabin, complete with gun ports in the attic.

Exterior

realtor.com

Castle-themed bedroom

realtor.com

Tunnel

realtor.com

———

1536 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA

Price: $2.25 million

Why we dig it: This stately mansion in the historic downtown neighborhood was built in 1895 and subsequently renovated and updated. It includes a state-of-the-art kitchen, wet bar, exercise room, media room, and outdoor kitchen with pizza oven and fireplace. The homeowner built a 26-foot tunnel out to the garage in 2005, says listing agent Justine Wirtanen.

“The current owner wanted access from the house to the garage for his family, so he dug a tunnel creating access to and from the house,” Wirtanen says. “The tunnel created a mudroom, offering tile flooring with radiant heating, and the finish work is stone with wood built-ins.”

Exterior

realtor.com

Tunnel entrance

realtor.com

———

14684 Meadow Lane, Lakeside, MI

Price: $7.2 million

Why we dig it: This 11,259-square-foot home on the shores of Lake Michigan was built in 2010 and inspired by the California Coastal Craftsman style. The home’s tunnel, which has a brick roof and stone floor, leads to the beach, according to the listing.

Exterior

realtor.com

Tunnel

realtor.com

———

14125 W. Ben Jaffe Blvd., Wickenburg, AZ

Price: $4.75 million

Why we dig it: This property is literally a gold mine. The 266.7-acre Octave Mine property is about an hour north of Phoenix, in the Arizona desert. The mine produced an estimated $4 million in gold between 1905 and 1942, the Arizona Daily Star reports.

If you’re a fan of tunnels (and gold), the Octave Mine has both: At one point, the mine featured 26 miles of tunnels and had produced 200,000 ounces of gold, the listing reads. The property was even featured on the Syfy series, “Ghost Mines.” It includes a an income-producing FM tower, energy-efficient home, dedicated well, and solar panels.

Exterior

realtor.com

Tunnel

realtor.com

The post Want to Live Like Johnny Depp? We Dug Up 5 Homes With Tunnels appeared first on Real Estate News & Advice | realtor.com®.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2kIW4qG

[realtor10036]

Want to Live Like Johnny Depp? We Dug Up 5 Homes With Tunnels

A-list actor and part-time musician Johnny Depp is reportedly interested in building a network of underground tunnels to connect his five homes in the Hollywood Hills, Us Weekly reports.

The thought of these tunnels burrowed its way into our brains. Underground tunnels in homes are rare, but we do see a few worthy ones on the market. We’ve compiled a list of five homes currently on the market featuring tunnels of their own.

“There are not very many homes [on the market with tunnels]. They’re considered extremely desirable, and we happen to have one,” says listing agent Chris Downey of her client’s $7.5 million mansion on the shores of Lake Michigan.

One caveat? Living out your subterranean fantasies doesn’t come cheap—the most affordable home on our list is priced at $2.25 million. Let’s dig in!

965 E. Deerpath Road, Lake Forest, IL

Price: $7.5 million

Why we dig it: The owner of this eight-bedroom, 13,650-square-foot Georgian-style mansion bought the home in the early 1980s and built a tunnel out to the home’s two-bedroom carriage house, which includes a seven-car garage.

The 1920s-era home is located in the wealthy Chicago suburb of Lake Forest, on the shores of Lake Michigan, and the tunnel helps the homeowner get to the carriage house and garage without having to brave the winter elements, Downey says.

“You may have heard Chicago gets snow every once in a while,” she jokes.

Children love to ride skateboards down the tunnel, and otherwise play in it year-round, she says. “It’s very intriguing to have a tunnel, as you can imagine.”

Exterior

realtor.com

———

8387 Ford Road, Superior Township, MI

Price: $5.9 million

Why we dig it: There’s a lot to love about this 9,025-square-foot mansion outside Detroit: It has an observatory, wine cellar, wood shop, and kids’ room with castle-themed bunk beds.

A note about the observatory, for my fellow space nerds: It has a rotating dome and high-powered telescope. There’s a conservatory below it, with Italian tile flooring. It was built on an independent foundation and pillar, so the telescope can align with true north.

This full-featured property also includes a 130-foot tunnel connecting the main house to the carriage house.

“It serves many purposes,” says listing agent Jeffrey Post. “Access to carriage house, escape from the main house if needed, shelter if storm or an event might happen. It is structurally strong enough to withstand all kinds of impact, and is lit with self-closing fire doors on either end.”

As a bonus, the homeowner built the tunnel to potentially serve as an indoor shooting range.

Post occasionally sees properties hit the market with old fallout shelters, but says tunnels are relatively rare. One notable exception outside Detroit is the estate of late Ford executive Harry Bennett, who was rumored to have a tunnel leading to a fortified concrete cabin, complete with gun ports in the attic.

Exterior

realtor.com

Castle-themed bedroom

realtor.com

Tunnel

realtor.com

———

1536 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA

Price: $2.25 million

Why we dig it: This stately mansion in the historic downtown neighborhood was built in 1895 and subsequently renovated and updated. It includes a state-of-the-art kitchen, wet bar, exercise room, media room, and outdoor kitchen with pizza oven and fireplace. The homeowner built a 26-foot tunnel out to the garage in 2005, says listing agent Justine Wirtanen.

“The current owner wanted access from the house to the garage for his family, so he dug a tunnel creating access to and from the house,” Wirtanen says. “The tunnel created a mudroom, offering tile flooring with radiant heating, and the finish work is stone with wood built-ins.”

Exterior

realtor.com

Tunnel entrance

realtor.com

———

14684 Meadow Lane, Lakeside, MI

Price: $7.2 million

Why we dig it: This 11,259-square-foot home on the shores of Lake Michigan was built in 2010 and inspired by the California Coastal Craftsman style. The home’s tunnel, which has a brick roof and stone floor, leads to the beach, according to the listing.

Exterior

realtor.com

Tunnel

realtor.com

———

14125 W. Ben Jaffe Blvd., Wickenburg, AZ

Price: $4.75 million

Why we dig it: This property is literally a gold mine. The 266.7-acre Octave Mine property is about an hour north of Phoenix, in the Arizona desert. The mine produced an estimated $4 million in gold between 1905 and 1942, the Arizona Daily Star reports.

If you’re a fan of tunnels (and gold), the Octave Mine has both: At one point, the mine featured 26 miles of tunnels and had produced 200,000 ounces of gold, the listing reads. The property was even featured on the Syfy series, “Ghost Mines.” It includes a an income-producing FM tower, energy-efficient home, dedicated well, and solar panels.

Exterior

realtor.com

Tunnel

realtor.com

The post Want to Live Like Johnny Depp? We Dug Up 5 Homes With Tunnels appeared first on Real Estate News & Advice | realtor.com®.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2kIW4qG

[realestate63141]

Want to Live Like Johnny Depp? We Dug Up 5 Homes With Tunnels

A-list actor and part-time musician Johnny Depp is reportedly interested in building a network of underground tunnels to connect his five homes in the Hollywood Hills, Us Weekly reports.

The thought of these tunnels burrowed its way into our brains. Underground tunnels in homes are rare, but we do see a few worthy ones on the market. We’ve compiled a list of five homes currently on the market featuring tunnels of their own.

“There are not very many homes [on the market with tunnels]. They’re considered extremely desirable, and we happen to have one,” says listing agent Chris Downey of her client’s $7.5 million mansion on the shores of Lake Michigan.

One caveat? Living out your subterranean fantasies doesn’t come cheap—the most affordable home on our list is priced at $2.25 million. Let’s dig in!

965 E. Deerpath Road, Lake Forest, IL

Price: $7.5 million

Why we dig it: The owner of this eight-bedroom, 13,650-square-foot Georgian-style mansion bought the home in the early 1980s and built a tunnel out to the home’s two-bedroom carriage house, which includes a seven-car garage.

The 1920s-era home is located in the wealthy Chicago suburb of Lake Forest, on the shores of Lake Michigan, and the tunnel helps the homeowner get to the carriage house and garage without having to brave the winter elements, Downey says.

“You may have heard Chicago gets snow every once in a while,” she jokes.

Children love to ride skateboards down the tunnel, and otherwise play in it year-round, she says. “It’s very intriguing to have a tunnel, as you can imagine.”

Exterior

realtor.com

———

8387 Ford Road, Superior Township, MI

Price: $5.9 million

Why we dig it: There’s a lot to love about this 9,025-square-foot mansion outside Detroit: It has an observatory, wine cellar, wood shop, and kids’ room with castle-themed bunk beds.

A note about the observatory, for my fellow space nerds: It has a rotating dome and high-powered telescope. There’s a conservatory below it, with Italian tile flooring. It was built on an independent foundation and pillar, so the telescope can align with true north.

This full-featured property also includes a 130-foot tunnel connecting the main house to the carriage house.

“It serves many purposes,” says listing agent Jeffrey Post. “Access to carriage house, escape from the main house if needed, shelter if storm or an event might happen. It is structurally strong enough to withstand all kinds of impact, and is lit with self-closing fire doors on either end.”

As a bonus, the homeowner built the tunnel to potentially serve as an indoor shooting range.

Post occasionally sees properties hit the market with old fallout shelters, but says tunnels are relatively rare. One notable exception outside Detroit is the estate of late Ford executive Harry Bennett, who was rumored to have a tunnel leading to a fortified concrete cabin, complete with gun ports in the attic.

Exterior

realtor.com

Castle-themed bedroom

realtor.com

Tunnel

realtor.com

———

1536 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA

Price: $2.25 million

Why we dig it: This stately mansion in the historic downtown neighborhood was built in 1895 and subsequently renovated and updated. It includes a state-of-the-art kitchen, wet bar, exercise room, media room, and outdoor kitchen with pizza oven and fireplace. The homeowner built a 26-foot tunnel out to the garage in 2005, says listing agent Justine Wirtanen.

“The current owner wanted access from the house to the garage for his family, so he dug a tunnel creating access to and from the house,” Wirtanen says. “The tunnel created a mudroom, offering tile flooring with radiant heating, and the finish work is stone with wood built-ins.”

Exterior

realtor.com

Tunnel entrance

realtor.com

———

14684 Meadow Lane, Lakeside, MI

Price: $7.2 million

Why we dig it: This 11,259-square-foot home on the shores of Lake Michigan was built in 2010 and inspired by the California Coastal Craftsman style. The home’s tunnel, which has a brick roof and stone floor, leads to the beach, according to the listing.

Exterior

realtor.com

Tunnel

realtor.com

———

14125 W. Ben Jaffe Blvd., Wickenburg, AZ

Price: $4.75 million

Why we dig it: This property is literally a gold mine. The 266.7-acre Octave Mine property is about an hour north of Phoenix, in the Arizona desert. The mine produced an estimated $4 million in gold between 1905 and 1942, the Arizona Daily Star reports.

If you’re a fan of tunnels (and gold), the Octave Mine has both: At one point, the mine featured 26 miles of tunnels and had produced 200,000 ounces of gold, the listing reads. The property was even featured on the Syfy series, “Ghost Mines.” It includes a an income-producing FM tower, energy-efficient home, dedicated well, and solar panels.

Exterior

realtor.com

Tunnel

realtor.com

The post Want to Live Like Johnny Depp? We Dug Up 5 Homes With Tunnels appeared first on Real Estate News & Advice | realtor.com®.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2kIW4qG

[exfrenchdorsl4p0a1]

Want to Live Like Johnny Depp? We Dug Up 5 Homes With Tunnels

A-list actor and part-time musician Johnny Depp is reportedly interested in building a network of underground tunnels to connect his five homes in the Hollywood Hills, Us Weekly reports.

The thought of these tunnels burrowed its way into our brains. Underground tunnels in homes are rare, but we do see a few worthy ones on the market. We’ve compiled a list of five homes currently on the market featuring tunnels of their own.

“There are not very many homes [on the market with tunnels]. They’re considered extremely desirable, and we happen to have one,” says listing agent Chris Downey of her client’s $7.5 million mansion on the shores of Lake Michigan.

One caveat? Living out your subterranean fantasies doesn’t come cheap—the most affordable home on our list is priced at $2.25 million. Let’s dig in!

965 E. Deerpath Road, Lake Forest, IL

Price: $7.5 million

Why we dig it: The owner of this eight-bedroom, 13,650-square-foot Georgian-style mansion bought the home in the early 1980s and built a tunnel out to the home’s two-bedroom carriage house, which includes a seven-car garage.

The 1920s-era home is located in the wealthy Chicago suburb of Lake Forest, on the shores of Lake Michigan, and the tunnel helps the homeowner get to the carriage house and garage without having to brave the winter elements, Downey says.

“You may have heard Chicago gets snow every once in a while,” she jokes.

Children love to ride skateboards down the tunnel, and otherwise play in it year-round, she says. “It’s very intriguing to have a tunnel, as you can imagine.”

Exterior

realtor.com

———

8387 Ford Road, Superior Township, MI

Price: $5.9 million

Why we dig it: There’s a lot to love about this 9,025-square-foot mansion outside Detroit: It has an observatory, wine cellar, wood shop, and kids’ room with castle-themed bunk beds.

A note about the observatory, for my fellow space nerds: It has a rotating dome and high-powered telescope. There’s a conservatory below it, with Italian tile flooring. It was built on an independent foundation and pillar, so the telescope can align with true north.

This full-featured property also includes a 130-foot tunnel connecting the main house to the carriage house.

“It serves many purposes,” says listing agent Jeffrey Post. “Access to carriage house, escape from the main house if needed, shelter if storm or an event might happen. It is structurally strong enough to withstand all kinds of impact, and is lit with self-closing fire doors on either end.”

As a bonus, the homeowner built the tunnel to potentially serve as an indoor shooting range.

Post occasionally sees properties hit the market with old fallout shelters, but says tunnels are relatively rare. One notable exception outside Detroit is the estate of late Ford executive Harry Bennett, who was rumored to have a tunnel leading to a fortified concrete cabin, complete with gun ports in the attic.

Exterior

realtor.com

Castle-themed bedroom

realtor.com

Tunnel

realtor.com

———

1536 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA

Price: $2.25 million

Why we dig it: This stately mansion in the historic downtown neighborhood was built in 1895 and subsequently renovated and updated. It includes a state-of-the-art kitchen, wet bar, exercise room, media room, and outdoor kitchen with pizza oven and fireplace. The homeowner built a 26-foot tunnel out to the garage in 2005, says listing agent Justine Wirtanen.

“The current owner wanted access from the house to the garage for his family, so he dug a tunnel creating access to and from the house,” Wirtanen says. “The tunnel created a mudroom, offering tile flooring with radiant heating, and the finish work is stone with wood built-ins.”

Exterior

realtor.com

Tunnel entrance

realtor.com

———

14684 Meadow Lane, Lakeside, MI

Price: $7.2 million

Why we dig it: This 11,259-square-foot home on the shores of Lake Michigan was built in 2010 and inspired by the California Coastal Craftsman style. The home’s tunnel, which has a brick roof and stone floor, leads to the beach, according to the listing.

Exterior

realtor.com

Tunnel

realtor.com

———

14125 W. Ben Jaffe Blvd., Wickenburg, AZ

Price: $4.75 million

Why we dig it: This property is literally a gold mine. The 266.7-acre Octave Mine property is about an hour north of Phoenix, in the Arizona desert. The mine produced an estimated $4 million in gold between 1905 and 1942, the Arizona Daily Star reports.

If you’re a fan of tunnels (and gold), the Octave Mine has both: At one point, the mine featured 26 miles of tunnels and had produced 200,000 ounces of gold, the listing reads. The property was even featured on the Syfy series, “Ghost Mines.” It includes a an income-producing FM tower, energy-efficient home, dedicated well, and solar panels.

Exterior

realtor.com

Tunnel

realtor.com

The post Want to Live Like Johnny Depp? We Dug Up 5 Homes With Tunnels appeared first on Real Estate News & Advice | realtor.com®.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2kIW4qG