#for dick to meet this son of a version of himself he could potentially connect with

[tisajest]

Okay so Peter in Gotham fics are neat and all

But what about Dick in NYC fics?

Dick somehow dimension travels to a Marvel universe and needs to figure out how to get back home

He encounters the Avengers and Spider-Man and they help him out

Some way or another, he or Peter connect Richard Parker to him and it’s suddenly “oh hey this is a superhero alternate version of my father”

I just think it’d be fun

[thewickedmerman]

The Swan Princess Live-Action Remake: What I’d Like to See

As many of you who follow me are aware, there is going to be a live-action remake of The Swan Princess. I know many of you are tired of these remakes but this one has the potential to be one of the greats because of the fact that the people working on it not only are the ones who worked on the original, but also people who interact with their fans and listen to their ideas. This is a good thing because of how the public has seen so many live-action remakes and have complained about them either being too different from the original (Maleficent and Alice in Wonderland for example) or too similar to the point of being pointless (The Lion King), so the fact that they listen to their fans is very much a good sign. Besides, despite the results of the universally hated CGI Swan Princess movies, a live-action remake is promising, especially since this is a passion project for them and not just a way to make a quick cash grab. That’s what brings us to this post of mine. These are some things I’d love to see in the live-action remake of The Swan Princess. Keep in mind that this is just my personal opinion on things I would love to see, therefore not everyone is going to agree with me.

Staying True but NOT Shot-For-Shot

As I’ve mentioned, bad remakes usually fall into one of too categories. They are either so radically different that they aren’t faithful to the spirit of the source material or are just pretty much shot-for-shot the same to the point where they are pointless. This is the difficult thing with adapting any work of fiction, especial one that is a beloved property, especially into a different medium. You have to know what iconic moments to do but also try to make it different enough to where it can be its own thing and justify its existence. I don’t want it to be afraid to try different things. The live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast was great and just as good as the original but I don’t feel like it made enough changes, not to mention some other problems. I hope it takes the same turn that remakes like Cinderella, The Jungle Book, and 101 Dalmatians took by staying true to the source material but also being different enough to where it’s not the exact same thing. We don’t want to see it be 100% the same because that’s boring and it would have no real point when we’d have the original.

One thing that they could do is maybe take deleted scenes from the animated film that are alternative versions of certain scenes. For example, the scene of Derek in the library and Uberta telling him about the ball. It’s different and helps to show the relationship between Derek and his mother. It shows how quick witted (When he’s not doing things like saying, “What else is there?” lol) and energized Derek is. It’s very fun and is able to show us how Uberta can be a mother that uses guilt to get what she wants from her son. Besides, there is no way for the live-action to capture the amazingness that is Uberta’s lip thing. That’s something that can only be captured in animation and attempting to do it in live-action would just be disappointing.

That’s just one example of using an alternative version of scenes from the movie, which are different but still charming in their own way. Another thing they could do is incorporate more elements from the original ballet, Swan Lake. I’ll get more into certain elements connected to that a little later, but it would show how it’s not only trying to respect the animated film but also the source material that lead to the beloved animated film. In the original ballet, if the vow of everlasting love failed, Odette actually wouldn’t die but instead she and the other swan maidens that Rothbart had cursed would become swans forever come daybreak and never be able to change back into humans again like they were able to before. Odette decided she would rather die than be a swan forever, so she and her prince (Named Siegfried in the ballet) committed suicide and that act of love was strong enough to destroy Rothbart and all his magic. This lead to the swan maidens being able to become human forever and the two lovers dance off to heaven together.

Let me be VERY clear about something, I’m not suggesting that they do this ending for the live-action movie because that really wouldn’t go over well with audiences. However, something they could consider doing is that instead of Odette dying if Derek makes his vow the the wrong girl, have her become a permanent swan. I don’t just meant have her physical form stay that of a swan but also have her end up losing her human mind. Before this, she still had full control of her human mind in her animal form but with Derek’s vow of everlasting love failing, she’d revert to that of a dumb and witless animal. It would have her die in a different sense and maybe it would help represent Derek realizing even more what he loved about her. It would be painful because she’d be gone even though she was still alive, which can sometimes be even more devastating than death. Now, this is just a suggestion and I wouldn’t mind if they decided to just have her die like she did in the original movie. Besides, there would be a happy ending anyway. That’s what is important lol.

An advantage that live-action movies have over animation is that they can be longer than just an hour and a half, so they can expand upon certain elements. We could see Odette and Derek maybe meeting secretly over the course of a few nights (After Odette manages to get reveal the swan spell to Derek, of course) to help their relationship and chemistry feel more organic and natural. The romance in the original is great but everything can be improved.

Other elements could be expanded upon like actually showing Odette’s mother and her giving birth to Odette, as well as King William and his wife longing for a child. Live-action remakes from Disney seem to have a thing for actually talking about the deceased mothers and even showing them interacting with their child. True, Odette’s mother would’ve died after childbirth but it would add something with how protective William is of Odette and even adding a song for the queen to sing, which I’ll elaborate on further when I talk about the music. Odette’s swan necklace could also have originally belonged to her mother rather than being a gift from Derek when she was an infant. It would help give her more of a connection with her dead mother and wanting to be a strong and kind leader like her mother was.

It should also show more of Odette’s sorrow and trauma from her father being killed by her kidnapper and not being able to hug him, say goodbye, or tell him that she loved him one last time. Her love for her father, as well as her people, would give her strength whenever Rothbart would try to break her down. She’d stay strong and wouldn’t back down. They should also try to make it more clear that Derek isn’t really shallow but rather he just has a hard time expressing himself into words. That’s the way I always saw Derek and I think to help audiences identify more with him that they should do a better job of making that clear. They should also show more subtle hints of Odette and Derek liking each other as kids but not being mature enough to admit it to others or even to themselves.

Overall, this remake shouldn’t fall into the same trap a lot of remakes do of basically just being a shot-for-shot remake. Don’t be afraid to make changes to justify its existence but also stay true to the spirit of the original.

Music

With this being a musical, it’s important for me to talk about the music for the live-action remake. A complaint the musical live-action remakes from Disney get are that they aren’t energized enough and aren’t as big and grand as they were in the animated movies. In certain musical numbers I can see where they are coming from. Musicals are a very stylized medium, which require big dance numbers and a chorus with a lot of energy, especially in numbers like “No More Mr Nice Guy”, “This is My Idea”, and “Princesses on Parade”. When making the original movie, they used a lot of choreography that was Broadway-styled. That’s something they should do with the musical numbers in the live-action remake. I don’t mean to copy the exact choreography from the animated movie but still put in a lot of energy. Look at musicals like Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, The Greatest Showman (Apart from the lack luster choreography of “Rewrite the Stars”), Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (With Whitney Houston and Brandy Norwood), Moulin Rouge, Newsies, and any musical with THE GREAT dancing talents of Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, and Dick Van Dyke. They have a lot of energy in the musical numbers with elaborate dancing that gets the audiences pumped and excited. They are fun and vibrant.

Now, big dance numbers aren’t something required for all the musical numbers, like “Far Longer Than Forever”, which is more romantic and intimate, but should still have stunning visuals, which I’ll get more into when I talk about the visuals of the film.

It could also take certain songs and make them different. The song “Practice, Practice, Practice” for example, which is played as a comedic number, could be a song for Uberta. It could be used to show she’s concerned about her son and how he’s just obsessed with practicing and trying to find Odette, which everyone (Herself included) considers an endless path because Odette is believed to be dead. It would help show the relationship between her and her son. She’d be questioning what she should do and what her late husband (Who was likely MUCH less pushy and more understanding than her) might’ve done if he were still here. True, it would also require the song to have more lyrics to it and be longer, but it would be a welcomed change. While the song is great and a lot of fun, it’s utterly pointless when you think about it. This would be taking a song that was short and comedic and making it different, meaningful, and adding something to both the characters of Uberta and Derek. Showing Uberta’s love and concern for her son as well as Derek’s stubbornness and determination, not to mention his skills.

Another song that could be used differently is the song “No Fear”. When I discuss the tone of the film, I will elaborate on why the animal sidekicks shouldn’t be in the live-action remake (Even though I love the animal sidekicks). In the live-action movie, it could go one of two ways, either a solo for Odette showing her courage as she sets off to find Derek or could be a duet for both Odette and Derek as they set off to find each other, as well as Derek’s hunt for The Great Animal.

Something important to discuss is the song “This is My Idea”. Apart from “Far Longer Than Forever”, it’s the most iconic song in the movie that people just adore. What definitely needs to be made clear is that they NEED to get child actors that not only look like the actors that are playing the adult versions of Odette and Derek, but can also actually act and sing. I don’t want any lame excuses that they are kids and we shouldn’t expect great acting from them because there are PLENTY of amazing child actors that give it their all. Besides, one of the things that made the song so awesome was that the the younger versions of the two leads were full of so much energy and personality. They really need some strong child actors that can capture the spirit of the song. Not to mention make sure that they can sing, which is something they need for all the actors in general.

With “No More Mr Nice Guy”, with the tone I have in mind for the film (Which, again, I will get to soon) probably would make the jazz styled song feel out of place. I mean, I still want it to be energized but also to fit with Rothbart’s character. I’m thinking maybe a style that is similar to the overture of Phantom of the Opera or “In The Dark of the Night” from Anastasia. Those are musical styles that are more serious in tone but are still fun and energized, which will help bring the song to life in a new way, as well as show that they are growing with their audience. It would show him causing chaos but not so comedically but also not entirely serious. Odile should also be allowed to sing a little in this song, in fact, I have one particular moment in mind. I’m imagining with the line, “Who’s a real dead ringer,” that at first it’s Odile’s real voice but she holds out on the word “ringer” and her voice is transitioning to Odette’s voice. That would be fun and creative.

Of course, with this being a live-action remake, it will need to add more songs to the film, especially since you gotta think about that “Best Original Song” nomination. However, it needs to be careful about where the songs are placed. They can’t be too soon after the previous song or feel like they came out of nowhere. One song I think they could add is a lullaby that Odette’s mother sings to her infant daughter as she slowly dies. I think it should have lyrics that foreshadow the events of the film and the journey that Odette will have in the same way the song “All is Found” did in Frozen II. It should also add a solo for Odette, maybe a song for her to sing when she’s escaping from Rothbart’s prison and flying to the ball that is similar to the song “Speechless” from the 2019 live-action remake of Aladdin. Another song could be a short one that is meant to be Odile just vocalizing like a siren to scare the carriage drivers. The way I see it is that she’s flying around in her animal form (A black swan) singing to give them a feeling of unease and catch them off guard while also occasionally flying fast close by to scare them for fun. All leading up to the reveal of her human form and then the attack of The Great Animal (Which should remain in shadows until the climax). Maybe even a possible duet between Odette and Odile, to show how opposite and similar they are. Just a few suggestions.

The last thing involving the music that I want to talk about is the instrumental music. I want them to have the movie mix three types of music; the music from the original movie, the music from the original Swan Lake, and original music like in the live-action concept trailer. Something the film is criticized for is not using any of Tchaikovsky’s music from the ballet when the film is based on the ballet. I do agree with people that it’s very strange, especially since even products of lesser quality and budget have even used music from Tchaikovsky. However, there are iconic instrumental music moments from the movie that I can’t imagine the film being without, especially the music for Odette’s transformation. Disney also seems to have a thing for adding new instrumental music to their remakes like in Cinderella, Mulan, 101 Dalmatians, and The Jungle Book while still including music from the original animated film. So it would be amazing for them to use all three types of music for the remake to show them respecting the animated film, showing respect for the source material that led to the creation of the beloved animated film, and doing something new. True, it will be hard to make sure they all mess together naturally but it’s not impossible.

Tone

This is one of the most important things about a film, especially when adapting a beloved property, particularly into a new medium like live-action. I do want the tone for the film to be more serious than the animated film but I DON’T want it to be so serious to where it’s too dark, too grounded in reality, and would feel out of place as a musical. Being too dark and serious seems to be a trend with some childhood properties that really have no real understanding of the source material, as proven with shows like Riverdale, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and the upcoming disaster that is Fate: The Winx Saga. Trying to be all serious limits them too much in “reality” and therefore can’t go too far with being stylized and aren’t able to be as memorable. This is also something that goes hand in hand with the visuals, which I will get to later on.

However, there are some things in the original movie that should be taken out for the live-action remake, the main thing being the animal sidekicks. Don’t get me wrong, I love those characters dearly but their style of humor wouldn’t work in a live-action setting. Their style of humor is similar to that of the Looney Tunes, which works in animation but not in a live-action remake. They’ll feel out of place and cause the tone of the film to feel unbalanced. This is also why I don’t think The Hag (Later named Bridget) would work in the live-action remake, but I’ll get to that later.

Jean-Bob, Speed, and Puffin are iconic and beloved characters that do help progress the plot and don’t feel like needless comic relief, but they wouldn’t work in live-action. They’d feel out of place, come off as if they are hijacking the film, would likely look weird with CGI (Especially Jean-Bob), and removing them would allow them to have more time to expand upon other elements.

The film should still have humor but it should come from things like Rogers’ dry wit, Uberta’s pompous and flamboyant personality, Chamberlain playing off of Uberta with his nervous and silly character (While still not feeling too silly), Derek being charmingly humorous and playing off of Rogers, Odette’s savage comments to Rothbart in the way she rejects him and stands up to him and her wit in general, Rothbart’s dark humor, and Odile being a major sass master with a lot of sarcasm and clever lines.

This film should have a balance of romance, being serious but comedic without doing too much of either, having fantasy, being like a fairy-tale, stay true to the original while being its own thing, and just being what the film needs to be. It needs to appeal to the fans while also trying to win over people who aren’t really a fan of the original movie. It basically needs to do what a good remake needs to be, which can be done when you look at the example of the 2015 version of Cinderella. Also, DON’T do make any pop culture references like the CGI movies, which instantly date the movie.

Odile/The Black Swan

Many of you are already aware of how I’m really crazy about the idea of Rothbart’s daughter from the original Swan Lake, Odile, being in the live-action remake. It honestly would be a welcome change for so many reasons. A lot of the fans are wanting to see Odile appear in the live-action remake, so that is one reason to include her. There’s just so much potential with her.

However, before I get into her potential, I need to discuss why it makes much more sense for her to be in the movie instead of Bridget. The Black Swan is supposed to act seductive and also give Derek some hesitation to show that he has a feeling something isn’t right. It shows how he isn’t only interested in Odette because of her looks. This makes more sense with Odile because her behavior and mannerisms should be more like her own rather than like Odette’s, which doesn’t work with Bridget. In all the scenes that Bridget is in, she’s very comedic, wacky, silly, and over-the-top in her behavior and mannerisms. That makes her entertaining, but it doesn’t make sense in the context of The Black Swan trick. It kind of hurts Derek’s character by having him so easily fooled and not hesitating enough. Don’t get me wrong, he does hesitate but it could’ve been better a lot better. Just an observation of mine.

Now for her potential, which she really has a lot of. She’s a seductive and sensual woman that is also a sorceress. I imagine her being very clever, sassy, sarcastic, and just has a badass aura about her. Her personality would basically be Shego from Kim Possible. She should really go one of two ways, either a full blown villainess or an anti-hero with a redemption arc. She’s a fascinating character that would help bring a layer of depth to Rothbart by having a great love for his daughter, and while he is motivated by greed and power, he is also motivated by his love for his daughter and wanting her not to struggle in life like he did.

If they made her an antihero with a redemption arc, it could be because she slowly grows a bond with Odette and relating to having a loving but protective father and never really knowing their mothers. She’d think men were all the same and would be confused why Derek would hesitate when she’s disguised as Odette because she was unaware of genuine romantic love due to always using her looks and sensuality on men to get what she and her father want. Maybe she could take the place of Bromley by helping Derek with defeating her father.

When she dances with Derek, it should feel different for him compared to how it felt when he danced with the real Odette. Both should be elegant and vibrant but done differently. When Derek dances with the real Odette, it should be more intimate while with Odile disguised as Odette, it’s more sensual and makes Derek feel like something is off about “Odette.”

Either way, she’d make for an incredibly compelling character that would help add an element from the original ballet to the film and be something different. Odile is a popular character in the world of fiction, especially for those fascinated with ballet. She’s meant to be Odette’s opposite and yet they could have a connection the same way that Mulan and The Witch did in the live-action remake of Mulan. I also have made it VERY clear that the ONLY real choice for Odile is Bella Thorne. She has the right look, she’s sexy and seductive, she’s gorgeous, she’s an amazingly talented and versatile actress (She’s even getting some Oscar buzz for her performance in the movie Girl), she can sing (Listen to the songs she did for Midnight Sun if you don’t believe me), has experience playing villainess characters, really puts her all into her craft, and everyone who has worked with her has just raved about what a joy she is to work with.

Visuals

There is a lot of things to talk about here. The costumes, the effects, camera work, the sets, the atmosphere, and so on. I’ll try to be as clear and organized about this as possible.

The costumes are a major part of the movie because they help to establish the characters personalities and the journey they go through. I do think the outfits should be as similar to their animated counterparts as possible but also not look too similar to the point where they just look like cosplays. Something live-action remakes often do is change the look of the outfits to the point where they are completely different. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing because it can help the film stand out, especially when you look at the outfits in the 2015 version of Cinderella. However, it can just as often be a bad thing, such as with Belle’s yellow dress in the 2017 remake of Beauty and the Beast, which didn’t even do very good jobs with her pink and green dresses either (But her blue dress and her wedding dress were good). I can understand why changing the design of the costumes happens because some things that look good in a drawing don’t translate well into live-action. However, when done well, they can make them look similar enough and add details that are too expensive and time consuming to put into animation. A good example of this is Jasmine’s turquoise outfit in the live-action remake of Aladdin. It looks similar enough while also being a good translation to the real world. Although, I do think they should take more liberties to Rothbart’s outfit to make it look more badass. Not to mention they’d have creative liberties with Odile, but should make sure there is a contrast with her appearance and Odette’s.

Another thing about the costumes is that I want the characters to have a variety of outfits to wear. It’s true that Odette would be wearing the same dress for a majority of the film because of how she’s been kidnapped and wouldn’t give Rothbart the satisfaction of her accepting any outfits he might offer her. However, considering that the major characters are either royalty or well off enough to afford some good clothes, they should really be wearing more than just one outfit. Queen Uberta in particular would be wearing a large variety of outfits (Not just the same outfit in a different color) and maybe even different hairstyles. It would go with her flamboyant personality and style. The younger versions of Derek should also be wearing different outfits and have different hairstyles like Odette did. It shows how people grow and change as they get older. Maybe even make Derek have his awkward phase as a teenager the same way Odette did as a preteen. However, definitely don’t have his younger versions wear the same outfit because it’s weird that he never changed his style at all growing up. Plus, I think the entire fandom agrees that Derek’s weird haircut has GOTTA GO! I’ll get more into the costumes when I discuss diversity because what I have left to say about costumes has to do with “Princesses on Parade”.

As for the effects, I’m hoping that they do their best to mix practical effects and special effects together. Hollywood is too reliant on CGI and people often call it out as fake looking. There are movies that mixed those together like Lord of the Rings, Hocus Pocus, Jim Carrey’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and the first Jurassic Park movie. The effects in those movies are still praised because they aren’t reliant on just CGI. It can be helpful but it shouldn’t be the only thing that is used.

Something important about the visual look with this movie, at least to me, is Odette’s transformation. A problem I have with the concept trailer (Although, I will give it leeway because it didn’t have much of budget for the effects) and the CGI movies is how Odette’s transformation lacks color, which makes it less magical looking. People love Odette’s iconic transformation with the gold glowing light where she stands (Or floats in the case of her swan form) and her getting surrounded by the pink and purple water (Along with some purple sparkles). It’s such beautifully animated scene because of the vibrant colors that pop in the night time setting that is full of different shades of blue. By making the transformation have normal colored water just makes it not as memorable or imaginative.

The look of Odette as a swan (As well as Odile in her literal black swan form) should still be expressive and slightly stylized like the animals in The Chronicles of Narnia movies, the 2016 live-action remake of The Jungle Book, the live-action Stuart Little movies. It’ll make her feel more human and if they were to use the idea about Odette losing her humanity if Derek makes his vow to the wrong girl, it would show her looking and feeling more like a real dumb and witless animal. But definitely make sure that there is texture to her with the feathers and bill. Basically make sure she doesn’t look fake but not too realistic to the point she can’t be stylized a little. Basically DON’T make the same mistake that the pointless “live-action” remake of The Lion King did.

Something else important to talk about is the look of The Great Animal. First of all, I think that the way The Great Animal looks should be kept a secret up until the climax when Derek is fighting Rothbart. This includes commercials and trailers because it’ll make an even bigger impact if no one has any idea what it looks like until the very moment they see it. As for the design of it, the original movie had a very interesting design with it being a combination of different animals. The head of a wolf, the wings and snout of a bat, the talons of a falcon/hawk/eagle, the tail of a lizard, and torso of a bear. Not sure if this would work in live-action (It might if done right) but if it can’t, they could get creative with a new design. Making it look either like some demonic creature or something. Either way, I’m sure it’ll be awesome.

With the sets and such, I want them to be absolutely MASSIVE! As I mentioned before, some live-action remakes don’t have things on as big a scale as they were in the animated movie. When you compare the ballroom scene in Beauty and the Beast, the live-action remake doesn’t look nearly as grand as the original did and was much smaller in scale. I hope that they go all out with the sets to make it feel big, grand, and epic. It will especially help with the “Princesses on Parade” scene. Even with Rothbart’s castle, which would look more decayed, should have an eerie feel to it with a lot of dark colors to contrast with Uberta’s castle and the castle from Odette’s kingdom.

The visuals also shouldn’t be afraid to not be vibrant enough because just earth tones are boring and not as eye-catching. The look of the live-action concept trailer has a good look, at least for the night scenes. The visuals and colors weren’t too dark, had a mysterious atmosphere, it was pleasant to look at, it would make Rothbart and Odile’s magic really pop because of how their magic has warm colors to contrast with the cool colors of the setting, and would show a contrast to the world that Odette was used to before she was cursed. How she could feel the warm sun on her skin and that refreshing daylight breeze blowing through her hair. It’ll make when the spell is broken all the more meaningful because she’ll be able to experience those senses she missed so much from when she was a human that could enjoy the daylight. They definitely need to take advantage of the landscapes as well, since many scenes take place outdoors.

As for the camera work, it’s very important to have a lot of interesting angles, dynamic movements, and pleasant shots. They shouldn’t go too crazy with the camera work to the point where it is annoying and messy, but they should have fun with it. Such as when Odette is flying in the air, they need to take advantage of that. The musical and dance sequences need to have some fun camera work. With something like “Far Longer Than Forever”, they should keep it intimate but also creative and interesting. Not to mention have it look visually stunning with the stars, the moon, and how in some scenes that Derek is inside where there is light to contrast with the nighttime setting where Odette is. The action scenes should definitely be creative, like when Derek uses his bow and arrow. Not to mention have the climax be epic.

A particular camera work I want them to do is to slowly reveal the face of The Black Swan at the ball when she arrives. Yes, we know it’s Odile disguised as Odette, but playing with the camera to not reveal her face until she’s close enough to Derek will make it more exciting. Similar to the way that Cruella De Vil was slowly revealed during her introduction in the live-action remake. That just helps with great storytelling.

Diversity

First of all, listen to me before you pass judgement. I’m not saying for them to racebend characters, especially since many people of color are seeing through that as a, no pun intended, skin deep gesture just for brownie points. However, I want the background to have a lot of diversity with races the same way that movies like the live-action remakes of Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella did. One of the great things about the original animated film was that, even though it was about white people, still had racial diversity with people from the background. They weren’t just with servants and peasants but also with royalty and nobility. There were people that looked black, Hispanic, mixed, and it was just for the heck of it, which I love. It shows that the movie is stylized and acknowledges that people of color do exist (Something certain movies fail to do).

However, I want them to take it a step further by not only having the background characters/extras to be racially diverse (Only include more than just blacks and Hispanics) but also show diversity in culture at the ball. What I mean is that the princesses at the ball attending the ball in the hopes of winning Derek’s heart should be racially and culturally diverse. The live-action remake of Cinderella did this, particularly with this one Hispanic princess that had a very cultural looking dress. There were some princesses in the animated movie that were people of color but they were just wearing European clothes. They need to show some diversity for different racial cultures, even if it is only for a the ball/”Princesses on Parade”. After all, the first line of the song did say, “Every single princess on the planet pray to be invited to the ball,” so it should be showing different cultures around the world with these princesses. I mean, Uberta would definitely be inviting princesses from kingdoms far and wide in the hopes of Derek finding a wife. Besides, she never does anything without it being absolutely BIG and GRAND.

Not only should there be diversity on screen, there needs to be diversity behind the scenes. The Swan Princess tried to show some cultural diversity in the movie Kingdom of Music and it was clearly made by people who knew nothing of these cultures. They had racial stereotypes and stereotypes of people of different nationalities. I’m sure that their heart was in the right place and had ZERO intention of being offensive but the result was pretty offensive. This time, I want them to have experts of the cultures to make the outfits, hairstyles, jewelry, and make up be as accurate as possible. Besides, as much trouble as actors that are people of color have of finding work, people of color that work behind the scenes have an even more difficult time finding work, especially those who are women. I’m sure the people working behind The Swan Princess are willing to listen to this because they love their fans and hearing their ideas and concerns. So I’m sure they’d be willing to do all they can to be as inclusive as possible on screen and behind the scenes.

Organic Feminism

Okay, this is something that will be a bit difficult to talk about, due to it being a bit controversial. First of all, Odette was already a strong and feminist character. She was kind but had her limits, wasn’t afraid to stand up to Rothbart but could still show her vulnerability like any normal person, and actually was deconstructing fairy-tale cliches long before Elsa in Frozen ever did. In most fairy-tales, once the characters fall in love, they just get married and all that jazz. However, Odette, despite falling in love with Derek, wasn’t just going to jump into marriage right away. First she wanted to know what he loved about her besides just her beauty, which is very reasonable. She wasn’t just gonna let herself be seen as a prize to be won or someone who was just supposed to look beautiful. She wanted to be admired for her mind and personality, as well as to make herself be heard. You see the disapproving look her father gave her after she asked Derek if beauty was all that mattered to him, but she still didn’t back down, despite her father basically telling her to stop. She cared about her father’s legacy and the people of her kingdom, which is why she wasn’t going to give into Rothbart and would rather die than give him her father’s kingdom. It wasn’t just because she hated the man, even though she clearly hates Rothbart, she was thinking of others. During her year of being under Rothbart’s captivity, she never relented or lost her strength.

Some may say that she just waited around to be saved and could’ve just left to get help/find Derek. However, this statement is absolutely WRONG! She was in a situation where she really couldn’t do much. As soon as the moonlight left Swan Lake, she’d turn back into a swan and it didn’t matter where she was. She had no idea where she was or how to get back to Derek’s kingdom. If she were to try to run away, she’d get lost and turn back into a swan. Even if she were to use her ability to fly in her swan form, she’d be exposed to hunters that could kill her before she could find any help. In both her human and her swan form, she’d be vulnerable to predators, especially in her human form. She lived in a time where women, particularly a princess, wouldn’t be trained in survival skills, especially with her father being so protective. She was out of her element. Not to mention that she could only turn back into a human when she was on Swan Lake and the moonlight touched her wings. If she was lost enough, she’d have a difficult time trying to find her way back to Swan Lake and would have no way to protect herself from the dangers of the world.

She wasn’t someone who just had the mindset of waiting around in the hopes of being saved. She’s way too smart for that. She was just in a situation where she was trapped and didn’t have many options until she and Puffin thought of trying to steal a map from Rothbart’s castle. If she saw a way to save herself, she’d take it but she’s smart enough not to just rush into it without a plan that would just get her killed. In the hand-drawn sequels, she’s shown to take action when she had the resources to do so. She’d rather be making herself useful instead of just waiting around, she just had very little resources to help her in her situation.

This is all leading to the subject of organic feminism. The Disney live-action remakes have been trying to make their female characters stronger, even if they already were strong. For the most part it works but then there are some issues that come along with it. You have Emma Watson (Who I love) refusing to wear a corset and that resulted in the disaster of her yellow dress (Which isn’t feminist if you look as your costume history), Mulan already being incredibly skilled and pretty much magical, Nala losing all of the likability and emotion of her character (She doesn’t even act happy when she sees Simba is alive), Alice being made as a warrior and lost her interesting and curious personality, and the disaster that is the Maleficent movies that just are anti-men. Apart from the dress thing, Belle was well-done in the live-action remake and Jasmine was done very well too.

The point I’m making is that while I’m open to trying to make Odette appear even stronger than she was in the original, I don’t want it to be in a way that butchers her character. One of the reasons that many people hate the character of Alise in the CGI movies (Myself included) is that she’s a major Mary Sue. She succeeds at things too easily when she has had no training, seems to know no fear which makes her feel less human and hard to identify with, and she feels so forced and cringe-worthy. She says things like, “I don’t wanna be a PRINCESS princess! I wanna be a MODERN princess!” That’s so forced and sounds like something a middle school fanfic writer that hasn’t had much experience would write. They need to stay true to the character of Odette. They can improve upon her but make sure she’s flawed and has depth like a real person. Not just generically nice all the time and not perfect at everything.

Letting Fans Help Make the Film

One of the best things about the people that work on The Swan Princess movies is how they never forget to appreciate their fans. They interact with them in real life and online. They even follow me on Instagram, which is AWESOME. They do a lot for their fans, which is something a lot of companies don’t really do unless it means they can make money.

Anyway, something I think that they should do is allow the fans to be part of the making of the film. One example of what I mean is even allowing them to design the costumes, particularly the fans by the name of Nephi and Bethanie Garcia (Who are married to each other). They have made some incredible cosplay outfits that aren’t just good by the standards of cosplay but also by the standards of a big budget movie. They manage to make outfits that look accurate to the animated movies but also updated enough to translate well into real life. They would be the perfect team to work on the costumes of the movie. It would help them get more recognition and maybe get work in Hollywood as costume designers. Here are links to their social media.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thedesignerdaddy

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/designerdaddy_/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7bIF8t4eBP-zXhwmh8SDIg

Another thing is that they could include them as extras in the background, including as dancers and singers. It would show how they know they wouldn’t be anywhere without their fans and are showing their appreciation. I would personally love to be one of the directors (Movies can have more than one director) and writers of the film. I know that’s unlikely but if they are willing to let me, I would accept without hesitation. After all, I know that Richard Rich was a new comer when making the original film and I know that he would want to do all he can to help new talent make their dreams come true, especially when they are fans of what was his passion project known as The Swan Princess.

Casting

First of all, this is NOT me telling you who I would cast in the film. I have already done a post explaining that right HERE.

What I want to talk about with this is that I want them to try to cast actors that look as much like the characters as possible. While talent is what is most important, with a live-action remake of animated property we want actors that look like the characters as well because we want to see the characters brought to life. Don’t just choose actors based on bringing in the box office numbers, even though that is important as well. But base the casting on looks, acting talent, being able to capture the essence of the characters, sing talent, making sure that the two leads can handle the vocal demands of their respective roles, and that they are the right age or at least look the right age. They should also include cameos from people like Liz Calloway, Howard McGillin, and other cast members from the original animated movie. It would just be a fun thing to do for the fans and a way to honor these actors for helping to bring the original movie to life.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you guys like it and let me know what you think. Also, did you guys know that The Swan Princess has an OFFICIAL Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube?

Tumblr: @theswanprincessofficial​

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swanprincessofficial/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm_Q3k32sEVQbrANS7-vSjA

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/official.swanprincess/

You can even send an email to Odette@swanprincessseries.com where you can ask a question and it might be chosen for the monthly Chamberg Daily News (Chamberg is the name of Derek's kingdom).

[captainshazamerica]

If this Bruce doesn't adopt Tim I will! But I'm kinda scared for Tim I mean he's either gonna end up with Buce or the titans at some point, im afraid that something terrible is gonna happen his family and then titans/bruce takes him in? That boy loves batman and robin so much like even his family seeing the news knew how much it would upset him although I will say that for the brain that kid has he makes some pretty stupid decisions, hes driving around GOTHAM plastered in the bat-symbol that's not a good idea! the amount of lunatics that roam free in Gotham (and possibly have escaped from arkham) and hate the bat and hes driving around with the bat symbol on him KID be careful!

Some kind of Anti-fear toxin does seem more accurate cuz he's clearly taking something to not be afraid. Maybe it's something he found in Gotham and decided to try it and got addicted so he's using that lab place to try recreate it? and maybe he can't recreate it perfectly cuz in the crowbarring scene he seemed kinda anxious about his surroundings and he'd just taken that inhaler thing to overcome fear so I dunno?? Or maybe he went to arkham to see Crane for some reason and Crane has orchestrated the whole thing and told him about the drug but then wouldn't Crane have to know everyone's identity then? Dude I dunno I need more episodes even tho the low quality glitchyness is painful lol

There's probably an abundance of rooms to choose from at Wayne manor yet Jason takes Dicks old room and keeps the flying graysons posters up! I like to think that he does view dick as an older brother and just took his room to kind of have a connection to him and that he admires him hence the graysons posters being left up, yooo dick calling him his brother! I really want a nice family reunion with dick jason and bruce 💕

Babs was too mean to bruce when she went off like I get where she's coming from but yo lady his son just died dial it down like a notch yikes but also babs being like 'i wonder how long it'll take for bruce to replace jason and dick is all 'what no the last thing bruce is gonna do is rope another kid into this mess'. Cut to scene of Bruces potential robin folder 😅 but I also like that dick was trying to be considerate and compose himself for bruce but once he found out that bruce is idiot enough to pull another kid into this, that that's when he got mad and bruce so brokenly begging dick to come back and be robin 😢😢😢

I know the show is constantly trying to push bruce out/sideline him cuz it's a titans show not a bruce wayne show and I know they're going for a different portrayal of bruce which I'm not complaining about I do like this version of bruce (more than I thought actually) and this universe but I feel like they could have gave more cracks you know, I like that they showed him trying to avoid the reality of jasons death and just not stopping not even for a second and just immediately jump into another case and that breakdown verge where he's begging dick to be robin and then when he finally I guess let's the weight of jasons loss sit on him to the point where he whacks in jokers head with a crowbar just like he killed jason (he could have killed joker so many other ways like a less violent bullet to the head but oh no brucey crowbars him to death!!)

There's a lot of character stuff that i do like but that scene where he's in the cave on his knees scrubbing his sons blood out of the suit he died in, the suit that he only ever wore because of batman. 😢 I feel like they could have had him crack there and let out a gut wrenching scream and then just continue on doing what he was doing as if nothing happened and dick walking in on that should have had more of a reaction!? like he could have stopped in his tracks at the sight of his brothers blood all over his father and bruce screaming, dick could have like took a step back almost like he's gonna run but forces himself to stay there, because who wouldn't want to run from that and no matter how much horrible things you've dealt with before sometimes your brain does just take over against your will and makes you react, the rest of the scene just could have played out the way it did. Literally one ounce more emotion is all I wanted.

No one really emotionally cracked at jasons death. I get that it just happened and that people put walls up and denial can be such a prominent thing when a loved one dies but it couldn't have been that difficult to put in little mannerisms now and again to show that everyone is deeply hurt but holding it in. Honestly gar seemed more hurt to me than dick did. But I do like that dick reacted in detective mode and started trying to figure things out from jasons side so at least there's that.

This redhood is defo not an anti hero he has well and truly landslided into villian territory and I dunno how that's gonna be reconciled? they better not kill him off! and they better not just straight up keep redhood/jason as a full on villian! but if they do get through to jason and bring him back a little how the heck is that little man gonna deal with what he did to Hank?? I feel like they had a bond you know and for all Hanks talk about putting Jason down I really don't think that Hank would actually have killed him even if it came down to Hanks life vs Jasons I think Hank would rather die than kill Jason (but that's heavily biased cuz in my mind jason is my son and I freaking love hank sooo) but Hank to me puts on a hard front like 'yeah I'll get in your face I'll come at you b*tch' but internally he's like 'yeah I'll come at you to help you' 😅 like internally he defo has a lot of soft spots though that's not to say he'd be like this for someone like the joker or scarecrow or whatever guys like that he'd be like no screw you you die or go to arkham like byeee

Nevermind how jason is gonna come back from this though HOW IN THE ACTUAL SH*T is dawn gonna come back from this!!?!!

Random side note here but imagine Jasons first time in the batcave he would be so excited and trying to mess with everything and being like ohh what's that do and pressing random buttons and bruce having a hernia trying to get jason to stop before he accidentally blows the cave up 😅 also he has probably been caught several times trying to 'borrow' the batmobile, I can just picture him trying to sneak down the halls of the manor without the floor creaking and making it all the way into the cave and doing a victory dance cuz he didn't get caught and he hops on into the batmobile in his pj's and let's out a scream cuz alfred is sitting in the freakin passenger seat waiting for him and then they just hang out in the batmobile alfred had the good foresight to bring a flask of tea books and a blanket for jason

Speaking of Alfred I think it would have been more angsty and hurtful if Alfred died shortly after Jason and after a few days Jason claws his way out his grave and the first thing he sees is Alfreds headstone and that's how he finds out Alfred died : (((

This is so long girl I'm sorry I know it doesn't seem like it but I did restrain myself 😅 one more thing before I go maybe this Dick is the absolute worst mf and the reason babs feels betrayed by him and is so upset with him could be that he left her (or cheated on her) with Dawn cuz of that weird flashback thingy in the other season where dick dawn was a thing I dunno I hope not though that would be ughhh

Oh crap, you right about probably something bad will happen to Tim for Bruce or Titans to take him in, I was gonna say he could just demand to be in their lives to save Bruce/Dick like in the comics but he also has kinda shitty parents normally and these people seem cool so really it could go either direction, but like it’s Titans so it doesn’t look good lol. Also, I wonder if it’s gonna be Dick who is basically gonna adopt him this time since we already had a huge track record in just 2 seasons lmao. But I know right, true I like how his parents knew immediately how much the news would effect him 😭 I hope he goes down the making himself robin and forcing himself in Dick and Bruce’s life xD I love that route. Lmao, the kid is all book smart, very little street smart when it doesn’t have to do with outsmarting someone XD

I was also rewatching and that gas he takes def has to be some anti fear toxin cause he mentions fear so many times and flash backed to his near death fall, which he felt was probably holding him and back and thus had to prove himself and adds to whatever is influencing him. But ohhh he did seem pretty dang anxious at the carnival grounds, that’s a really interesting theory but recreating something he found hmm, I can see that.

Apparently according to a YouTube who got to see the first 5 episodes, we find out what his deal is a lot more in episode 5, so one more week hopefully

Brooo trueee, I couldn’t believe jason took dick’s room and like didn’t even change anything. Like Jason looks or at least use to look up to Dick SO much, like in his first episode in the first season, he went on quite a lot about how much he had always wanted to meet him and how much he looked up to him, which is probably also fueling his red hood rage, being hurt by your idol and brother like he did in S2 must have really just killed the boy. But yes omg, there freaking better be a dang family reunion scene like, after so much angst we deserve that 😭

And yesss, I loved seeing how mature Dick is getting and just how much he is growing as a character, the fact he was so calm and considerate with Bruce at first really shows that compared to s1 Dick, only breaking when Bruce tried to get more kids involved. That scene by Brenton was sooo well acted omg, the way he yelled that he doesn’t want to robin again, heartbreaking man. And Bruce begging like that omg

Yeah, this version of Bruce is def so different than any Bruce we have seen on screen before, like def the most emotionally constipated, and that’s saying something xD But I like how they are taking a risk, it also helps Dick’s character more and give him more of an arc, as he seems to be taking on Bruce’s normal role with Jason and red hood. Bro, you are so right omg, like the fact Bruce could have killed the joker in any way and he does it with the dang crowbar. It really shows how broken he really was and why the man shouldn’t depressing any and every damn feeling and emotion lol.

Omg, I love how you have the exact details of what you wanted to happen in that one Bruce and Dick scene 😂👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 bro if you dont already you should totally write fanfics cause that was so detailed, I love it

Yeah, I do wish someone cracked (other than Bruce lmao) a bit more, but I do think each character reacted in character though, like it is very Dick(at least this version of Dick, other versions may break down tbh) to put everything into solving the case and figuring out what was up, that’s more this version’s way of caring than just breaking down, like he rarely ever has broken down completely. I think dawn could have been a little more emotional about the death (tho she has enough coming for her lmao). Connor didn’t know Jason that well so it makes sense he would just be sad. Gar seemed pretty sad and in character about it, maybe could have had a bit more, same with Kori, tho she showed it by being almost angry and fiercely protective of everyone else, so I think that makes sense for her. It would have been interesting to see how Rachel and Rose would have reacted though (where did rose go btw?! She would so have a reaction to Jason’s death). But yeah, i wish there was more resolution and break downs for Jason, but also it may have just not felt real since they weren’t there? But I agree

You think? Idk, I think they could def still make him an anti hero towards the end, especially if it’s crane behind the whole thing. Cause if they don’t they are gonna have to go down the gosh awful overused villain gets redeemed while he dies/only to die right freaking after , and I will be so freaking livid if they do that omg. Like they better freaking not. But true, he would be broken by what he did to Hank, oh yikes. But I can see him then that leading to the anti hero path, like he would never go back to be on the titans cause he would feel too guilty, thus giving more of a reason for the anti hero life. But I know, I loved Jason and Hank’s love hate relationship 😭😭😭😭 You know Hank secretly loved the kid and probably saw himself in him.

Yikes poor dawn, you right. Like I have no idea how she is gonna be now like wow.

OMG GIRL, You are on a hc angst train today!!!! That scenario of Alfred dying right after jason and Jason climbing out to see Alfred’s?! Heartbreaking!

But I can’t believe they killed Alfred off so casually tho😭

Omg I swear if they freaking show Dick having cheated on Babs I will be so freaking pissed omg, he better have not! Im hoping they had a more high school romance thing/grew up together then got together type of thing

And omg don’t apologize I LOVED IT and reading your asks!!! I feel ya too!

[sweetsmellosuccess]

Sundance 2021: Day 4

Films: 4 Best Film of the Day(s): Mass

Mass: Predictably, Fran Kranz’ film opens with a shot of a church, but the title turns out to be a reverberating double entendre   —  both the religious service towards forgiveness; and a term commonly used in conjunction with a multiple-homicide shooting event. The church, Episcopal it turns out, is the agreed-to meeting place for two sets of grieving parents: Gail (Martha Plimpton) and Jay (Jason Isaacs), whose teen son Evan was killed some years before in a high-school massacre; and Linda (Ann Down) and Richard (Reed Birney), whose son, Haden, was the shooter, before killing himself in the school library. They have agreed to meet, long after the lawsuits and legal wrangling have been settled, to possibly provide answers and solace to one another. As can be expected, the atmosphere is fraught with tension  —  a setting Kranz, an actor making his directorial and writing debut, expertly mines before the couples arrive, with a kind but overenthusiastic church administrator (Breeda Wool), fretting about the details of the food arrangement  —  and the couples, wary, at first, of letting things get hostile, work diligently to avoid disagreement by staying mild (an arrangement of flowers Linda brings is speculated upon a great deal). Eventually, however, the four wounded parents get down to more brass tacks, Gail and Jay eschewing their therapist’s call for them to avoid “interrogation” questions, to get at the root of what they are after. In truth, as Kranz has the characters cannily come to understand, there are no details that shed new light, no explanations that help rectify what they’ve lost, only a grim understanding that, as parents, they are all subject to the laws of chaos and chance. Unsurprisingly, Kranz has an actorly sense of conflict and explication, but, despite the limited setting (this could easily have been an adapted play), he gives his actors plenty of room with which to work, and the quartet are more than up to the task. They are each terrific, and given opportunity to shine, but it’s Plimpton’s monologue near the end about her son that becomes the film's singular tour-de-force moment, a scene with so many hooks and edges, it sticks to you like velcro. Kranz is careful not to overstep his dramatic boundaries, difficult given the potentially melodramatic elements of the story, and allows his actors enough time to breathe so it avoids feeling polemic or preachy (an early scene with Gail and Jay in the car before they arrive is a scintillating bit of set-up, where words are spoken, but our attention, like that of the characters, is entirely elsewhere). No easy answers, thankfully, just brutal realizations that can’t be avoided.  

A Glitch in the Matrix: By this time, documentary filmmaker Rodney Ascher has carved out a sort of niche for himself: As with Room 237, and The Nightmare, he has gathered up fringe thinkers displaying a sort of group psychosis in order to explore other ways of seeing, and interpreting, our world. His docs don’t come down on either side of a given conundrum  —  are any of the far-out, would-be explanations of The Shining in 237 the least bit sensible? Is it possible in The Nightmare for people experiencing the horror of sleep paralysis to share in the same horrific vision?  —  but he carefully doesn’t contradict any of his subjects either. His new film, an exploration of what’s known as “simulation theory,” concerns a pattern of thought described back in 1977 by the heavily adapted science fiction author Philip K. Dick during an appearance in France, suggesting, Matrix-style, that all that we think we see and know is actually an intricate virtual reality, brought to us by an unseen technological force. True to his form, Ascher interviews numerous applicants to the theory  —  many of whom portrayed by VR avatars in their own homes  —  including scholars, practitioners, and skeptics, and bolstering their arguments with an assortment of other media, from Minecraft, Philip K. Dick-based films, and crude computer animations, to video games, and youtube videos. The views are intentionally conflictive  —  one subject suggests the very idea of such conflict is the basis of the simulation  —  and anything but conclusive, but, of course, that’s the very point. Less unsettling than The Nightmare, one of the few true horror movies of the documentary genre I’ve ever seen, save for the account of Joshua Cooke, who pled guilty to killing his parents in cold blood after cementing his belief that the ideas portrayed in The Matrix were completely real. Listening to his step-by-step description, from prison, of his descent into madness, and where those impulses took him, is to drop into first-person shooter psychosis.

Coming Home in the Dark: Both Australia and New Zealand are blessed with spectacularly beautiful land that is filled with wide-open, terrifying vast spaces in which any amount of evil may lurk. In dark, violent films like Wolf Creek and Killing Ground, all that beauty and space is turned on its head by far more chaotic inclinations, rendering brutally effective, and stomach-churning sadism as a means of displaying the horrible duality of the land. Kiwi director James Ashcroft attempts to add to this cinematic legacy with this film, a murder-abduction sort of thriller, in which a family on a camping trip in the wilds, is brutalized by a pair of killers they come across. In a twist that at least one of the killers, Mandrake (Daniel Gillies) would have us believe is a coincidence, it turns out the patriarch of the family, Alan (Erik Thompson), used to teach at the abusive orphanage school in which both Mandrake, and his partner, Tubbs (Matthias Luafutu) suffered as children. It’s not a believable conceit, which Ashcroft seems to readily admit, but because it makes the connection, the film attempts to work as a kind of metaphor for the violence which we didn’t perpetrate, but also did nothing to stop. Mandrake as an avenging angel, foisting Alan’s lack of empathy back onto him in violent spades. It’s difficult to fault a film for not being transgressive and shocking enough, exactly, but despite the theatrics of the situation, and Mandrake’s coldly comic engaging of the couple in “regular conversation,” it doesn’t have the heart to be as effective and unsettling as it needs to be. It plays it too safe, which saves the audience from being plunged into the all-too-realistic terror of, say, Killing Ground, but also dilutes the stronger point it wants to make about systemic brutality.

The Blazing World: Related to the 17th Century Margaret Cavendish novel in basic concept, Carlson Young’s feature debut walks a wobbly line between linear narrative, and neo-gothic opera  —  only with a soundtrack instead of singing. The story concerns a young woman, Margaret (Carlson), who loses her twin sister to a drowning accident as a child, but has imagined ever since that her sister lives in some alternate vortex of reality, heralded by a grinning demon, Leonid  (Udo Kier, of course). Coming back to her childhood home before her battling parents (Dermot Mulroney and Vinessa Shaw) move out altogether, Margaret meets some old friends, does some drugs, and finally enters the fantasia-like world that Leonid has been beckoning her to for most of her life in order to find her trapped sister. There, she must amass a series of keys, plucking them from demon versions of her parents, and confront her own guilt and pain in order to unlock her twin and set everyone free. It would be easy to say Young’s reach far exceeds her grasp, but the fact that she was willing to attempt such an audacious project says something about her artistic chops. And for every moment that hits wrong, there are several more that work in interesting ways. Her aforementioned use of music, and sound design invokes a kind of Kubrickian aesthetic, and her commitment to her vision is palpable. This likely won’t be the best film she ever makes, but it does portend to a filmmaker worth keeping an eye on, going forward.

Sundance goes mostly virtual for this year’s edition, sparing filmgoers the altitude, long waits, standing lines, and panicked eating binges  —  but also, these things and more that make the festival so damn endearing. In any event, Sundance via living room is still a hell of a lot better than no Sundance. A daily report.

[youngbounty]

Five Reasons I Won’t Watch the Anime, But Will Watch the Movie

I don't have many good things to say about the Ace Attorney anime and have my reasons for why I refuse to watch it. Admittedly, I have watched a few clips here and there to see how its version of some, if not many, of my favorite scenes from the game compare. As expected, it continually disappoints. Had it been just Manfred Von Karma adopting Miles Edgeworth that I hated from the anime, I would've watched it regardless. Even during the days I was into Yu-Gi-Oh, I was still willing to watch the worst season of that show, Capsule Monsters, because it still felt like Yu-Gi-Oh no matter how poorly done it was. The same can be said for Ace Attorney. If it feels like Ace Attorney, I will watch it regardless.

The Ace Attorney anime did not give me the same type of excitement the game had. Much to my amazement, much of the reasons why I absolutely refuse to watch the anime version of Ace Attorney is the opposite reasons why I am more than excited to watch the live action movie adaptation. Even when watching some of the spoiler clips of the live action movie, including some of the changes made, gives me the joy and excitement I never got when watching the Ace Attorney anime. To understand this, I will give you my list of reasons for why I refuse to watch the Ace Attorney anime and how the live action Ace Attorney movie differs from those reasons.

Changes From the Game

In any medium, changes are necessary in order to fit the medium. The Danganronpa anime, for instance, makes certain necessary changes during the day breaks. Instead of seeing Makoto meeting with each character and being given their underwear, after unlocking five or three friendship events, it mostly cuts to important scenes. Of course, this does mean sacrificing what bond he's made to the other characters, but that sacrifice is necessary in order to keep the story going. Some scenes from the game are cut from the anime for timing purposes. The Ace Attorney anime doesn't do either of those things.

I have complained about the anime's change in having Miles Edgeworth be the adopted son of Manfred Von Karma, but that's just the tip of the ice berg of changes done in the anime. Other changes I've also seen will go from giving Miles a dog named Missile – who was actually Dick Gumshoe's dog in the game, to having Maya gain the bullet from Gregory by stealing it from Von Karma's office – because that is totally not illegal or destroys the sacrifice she made to gain that bullet in the game, to making Celeste Inpax Adrian's older sister – yeah, because that doesn't destroy the symbolism of Miles Edgeworth's suffering, to the biggest disappointment of no psyche-locks, aside from that tease in Farewell my Turnabout that felt like the creator was sticking their tongue at us. There are more stupid changes, besides these, but I'd rather not list them all.

There were changes in the anime that I did like, but they were mostly additions that broadened the story and most of it was from the first season. Come to find out, the first season of the anime was done by a different studio, while the second season changed studios. It's pretty clear that the first season at least was putting love and care into the show, whereas the second season felt more like a lazy cash grab with no real potential. I'm not asking for an anime adaptation of Ace Attorney to be by the books, but I am asking for heart and the anime didn't feel like there was any heart. I felt more love for the show in Yu-Gi-Oh Capsule Monsters and even The Last Airbender live action movie than I did with the Ace Attorney anime. Not to say there wasn't anyone working on the anime that weren't Ace Attorney fans, but the ones that did work their best were not the ones in charge of orchestrating the project. I will say the voice actors and those in charge of the music did put their heart into it.

The live movie adaptation of Phoenix Wright do have changes from the game, but unlike the anime adaptation, these changes do feel like necessary changes in comparison. One of the major changes in the live action movie is the setting of DL-6, which is the Evidence Room and not the elevator. Because the film was low budget, it's understandable why they may've had to change the setting. Also, it would be hard to film in a closed space. While Miles passing out makes little sense in the movie, it also can be left up for interpretation such as maybe the shock of thinking he shot his father by accident. Another change was having Gregory wear his trench coat from Miles Edgeworth Investigations 2, which I find to be an excellent Easter egg. Another change was how Phoenix Wright obtained the bullet shot in Gregory Edgeworth, that being from inside The Thinker clock/statue. While it belittled Maya's sacrifice in the anime, in this one, it creates a connection between Maya's and Edgeworth's trial that is necessary for the film adaptation. A film cannot work in the same way as a game, since a movie needs to follow a single plot line. It also doesn't sacrifice Maya's sacrifice, since the tasing scene is still in the film, but at a different location with different circumstances.

Not to say the film won't have any flaws, but it's clear there was more heart put into it based on the changes. It never tries to change the relationships between the characters from the game, make characters do things they normally wouldn't do in the game or give things that originally belonged to another character. The live action movie kept to the game as much as it could. Because of how much heart was put into the live action movie, I had thought it was a fan movie at first. Heck, there are scenes where we see Edgeworth stand from the Defendant's Bench to defend himself. Sure, the anime had that too, but not until the very end. Even then, it wasn't as good as the  live action movie, where Edgeworth is heavily involved and not just sitting in his bench twiddling his thumbs, while Phoenix is cross-examining a bird. Not to say the game had Edgeworth do anything until the end, but there weren't enough graphics to see him respond to anything. Anyone that does an anime or movie adaptation is expected to show more than what the game provides. When you compare the responses from the characters in the anime and the movie, it's clear the movie shows much more responses from the defendant and the entire gallery, while the anime does not.

As I said, changes are sometimes necessary when doing adaptations to other mediums and the movie's changes feel much more necessary, while the anime's changes feel aggrivating.

Semi Futuristic, Conducting Trials and Presenting Evidence

The anime adaptation has a very lazy way of showing us that Phoenix Wright takes place in a semi futuristic world with 2000's technology. It does this by... showing us technology we already have in this day and age? Imagine if someone were to make a Back to the Future reboot where Marty McFly goes to 2015 and instead of seeing a Utopian future full of jaw dropping technology and hover boards, we get technology we use today. Sounds kinda boring, doesn't it? Well, that's what the Ace Attorney anime feels like.

There's nothing amazing or uniquely different about the Ace Attorney anime that catches the viewer's eye. What I liked about the game was that it introduced us to certain kinds of tech that were amazing and made us feel we were in another world. We were introduced to new ways of development and magic. Fingerprint analysis could be used by common people, you could analyze pieces of evidence without touching it, you can record data in a court record before the police arrive and, because magic also exists in this world, people treated it as something that commonly happened. In the anime, we get to see screenshots of evidence on TV, have Phoenix handling evidence even though he's not allowed to do that and watching a not Utopian future that feels too much like the real world today. Yay.

The Ace Attorney live action movie not only makes it known that this is a semi futuristic world, but shows it to us. You have evidence in holographic screens the Defense or Prosecution can pull up and push to the person they're showing it to. When the Defense wins, holographic confetti is released toward the gallery, which I find much more satisfying than Gumshoe throwing it. This makes it to where the Defense doesn't have to handle evidence and present it much more efficiently. Because trials are expected to last no more than three days, you really feel the pressure from Phoenix Wright. It feels like something that exists only in this world and not ours.

What the live action movie did was something asked and expected by the fans. They want Ace Attorney to feel like a semi futuristic world. They want the trials to feel pleasant to look at. The anime did do a good job with adding some wind effects to the objections, but that was the only cool thing done. There wasn't anything fresh and new beyond that. Also, no psyche-locks, which I felt was one of the biggest disappointments. It felt like a missed opportunity with what the anime could do with the animation in using the magatama to break the psyche-locks. Well... that and showing Phoenix throwing his phone to Edgeworth in Farewell my Turnabout in animation. Co'mon, am I the only one that wants to see the epic phone throw in animation!?

Pet peeves aside, with what I've seen the live action movie provide with presenting evidence, I am looking forward to seeing what else they bring to the table. Perhaps hinting the magatama?

Easter Eggs

The anime showing Easter eggs or not is irrelevant, because I see non. I asked someone, who had only seen the Ace Attorney anime if Gregory is ever seen with Raymond Shields or have any discussions about IS-7. The answer was no. We get nothing out of IS-7.

The live action movie gives us Gregory with his trench coat he used when investigating IS-7. It gives us Apollo Justice's Objection song that is used at the end of Phoenix's Objection song. The movie ends with Farewell my Turnabout, letting us know it's not expecting a sequel, but tells us that Phoenix Wright does not end with Turnabout Goodbyes either. The live action movie makes it clear there is no sequel, but shows us there is more to look forward to. This is something I never got from the anime.

The anime only tells the story it wants to tell us and no more. Many people ask for an anime adaptation of Apollo Justice, but I don't want there to be one. There was a huge split in the game, so in order to do an anime adaptation, that would mean the creators will have to put love and heart into it. Unfortunately, I never got that from the anime. Not even a hint of what's to come or even the events of Phoenix Wright Dual Destinies or Spirit of Justice.

You want to talk about change, how about instead of Miles Edgeworth being adopted by Manfred Von Karma, he's adopted by Raymond Shields? Then, when Miles gets older, he leaves to work for Manfred Von Karma and we get a heartbreaking scene of Miles saying hurtful words to Raymond Shields. Heck, how about instead of Phoenix giving Miles a dog named Missile, it's named Pess. Not only would it be showing love for the show, but acknowledging the creator's idea for the character. Another change fans would love is Miles Edgeworth eating a swiss roll with Gumshoe and Kay in Turnabout Beginnings. Maybe have Phoenix read a Newspaper about Miles Edgeworth revealing the Yatagaratsu to being Calisto Yew.

Again, going back to Yu-Gi-Oh Capsule Monsters, the idea 4Kids came up with was based on a game introduced in the manga. While the monsters were replaced by Dual Monsters, the game play was still the same. It may've been the worst season, but it at least was aware of what the fans wanted and looked forward to. The same can be said for The Last Airbender live action movie. Granted, it sucked and the characters were blander than a cardboard box, but it at least kept story and characters consistent with little to no changes in the flow of the plot and characters. I never got that from the anime.

I will admit, I liked how the creators did base many of the expressions from the sprites, but it felt like that these additions were from a simple google search. You can find sprites of the characters. You can also search on wiki for the summery of the game play and walk through. Again, the first season did feel like they were trying to follow the plot and characters, while giving the fans what they wanted. Though, afterwards, the animation and everything just stood on a straight line instead of improving.

If I had to choose, I will always be thrilled to watch an adaptation that feels like it was made with love and care by fans and for fans.

Cheap and lazy

The anime is lazy with its animation and what they can do with it. There was a clip of when Godot threw his coffee at Phoenix, then we see it magically disappear in the next scene. There were some people that thought I was nitpicking when I complained about it, but it had nothing to do with realism. It was because it was lazy. I would have preferred Phoenix turning the coffee into a rope and whipping Godot than using cheap tricks like that. That's aside from the fact that the animation feels cheap when compared to the game.

I know that with animated series, it is treated differently than a cartoon movie, because it's continual, but that's not an excuse when you consider what the live action movie did on a low budget. Cheap and lazy is different from low budget film. Despite being on low budget, the live action movie worked their hardest to make the movie as exciting as possible. Sure, there were goofy moments, but they were done for comedic effects to distract us from the dark elements. The characters showed much stronger emotions when compared to the anime adaptation.

Now, Maya's character in the film was one thing that felt like a fail and I would agree with that, but the rest of the characters showed such strong emotions that worked naturally off each other. Just from the trailer alone, I could see that the actress that played Maya tried her hardest to put so much emotion into her character that lost her sister and dealt with the hardships of a spirit medium. Phoenix Wright deals with the pressure of being a Defense Attorney and shows the emotions of losing his mentor, then is about to lose his best friend he worked so hard to become a Defense Attorney to save. You see the intense emotion and pressure with being accused of murder by his own mentor he worshiped like a god. Again, there's a reason why I thought this film was fan made.

The intense emotion shown in the live action movie reminded me of a stage play done at an Anime Con on Farewell my Turnabout where Phoenix is talking with Shelly De Killer. There's a moment he has with Edgeworth where he is in tears, because of Maya's situation, then hearing words of wisdom from his friend to not give up. That tugs my heartstrings and just watching the trailer of the live action movie did the same to me. Seeing Phoenix watching the ghost of his former mentor pulled on my heartstrings compared to the anime's version of it. Also, no I did not watch the live action's scene of Maya's ghost before the anime's; it was the other way around. Seeing Phoenix in the live action version looking like he's about to cry and struggling not to is much more heartbreaking than watching the anime's Phoenix on the ground in the middle of the courtroom doing the same thing and looking like a fool.

When you see a low budget movie touching hearts by doing their very best with what they have, it shows they're not just showing cheap tricks. I feel the anime could've done much more instead of using cheap tricks. Going back to my no psyche-locks complaint, when you have a two second scene of psyche-locks breaking in an imagery that shows more dimension than the game, it feels more like a middle finger than an Easter Egg. I don't want to see cheap parlor tricks, I want to see the best freakin' adaptation to a beloved game the world has ever seen.

Love VS Money

As I have stated, I do believe that the Ace Attorney anime was originally planned by those that genuinely loved the game. Many of the ideas placed into it like the Signal Samurai and giving Edgeworth a dog feels like something brought by a genuine fan. Though, at some point, the anime lost its way and it makes me wish it was like the Danganronpa anime and just stuck to one season. That being said, I don't think it was full of people that didn't care about Ace Attorney. There were certainly fans of the game in the development team, but there were those that I suspect cared more for money than love for the franchise.

The live action movie felt like it was done by fans. Even those that didn't know the game seemed excited about working on this project. I'm not going to say that people that work on a good movie adaptation are going to be full of fans, but it needs to be driven by fans. It's not going to feel genuine otherwise. The Ace Attorney anime didn't feel genuine and perhaps it's because Season 2 was done by a different studio.

Think of it this way, what if there was a trailer of a live action adaptation of Yu-Gi-Oh? Wouldn't you want to see holographic images projecting from a duel disk or watching the characters going inside a holographic box that projects different climates or environments with monsters that look realistic and 3D looking? What if instead of that, you got TV screenshots of the play cards and monsters in 2D pixels fighting and defeating each other as if you were at a Yu-Gi-Oh game Anime Con? Wouldn't that be disappointing?

I think you guys get the idea. In any anime adaptation of a game, I expect it to feel like it came straight out of the game itself. That's what the live adaptation of Ace Attorney feels like. It feels like they took the game out of its cartridge and placed it in the real world. Sure, there are changes, but they don't feel like a disappointment or  missed opportunity. The Ace Attorney anime feel like there were too many missed opportunities and changes no one asked for.

In any case, I look forward to watching the live adaptation of Ace Attorney, because it feels genuine, it feels like the kind of movie I looked forward to as a fan. When I finished the trilogy, I remember nagging about how Ace Attorney would be the perfect movie for Hollywood to adapt to live action, because there wouldn't be many scenes to shoot and the only chapter of the game to focus is Turnabout Goodbyes. If they want to go farther, then Turnabout Sisters and Turnabout Goodbyes with the other ones brushed to the side. Apparently, I wasn't the only one asking for this, because the live action movie did exactly that.

If there is any chance to give Ace Attorney another chance for a live action adaptation, I'd like there to be little to no changes and to give something to the fans that they look forward to.

[bigskydreaming]

Do Boone and Dick ever like, fully settle together or are they both just constantly stuck in a limbo where they occasionally meet up but never actually solidify anything

The latter! Not really just because of the angst factor, lol, they’re just one of those ships for me. Similar to what I said about how I view a Dick/Tiger ship in a post I made about them….I tend to think Dick’s best shot at a longterm, healthy functional relationship is with a partner who’s more similar to him than not. Its a large part of why Dick/Kory is my preferred canon ship, as I think they have a ton in common and value the same traits in each other, and why Dick/Kyle is my go-to noncanon ship for a happy ending.

Like, I talk a lot about how imo Dick is a lot more morally flexible and willing to work and even be friends and allies with people he doesn’t agree with on even very important topics….but things are a little different when you throw intimacy and emotional commitment into the mix. Because one of the most important characteristics that make him who he is, to me, is how much he is a self-made man. As in, he is the man he is with INTENT. He believes and values everything he does for very specific reasons, and not because of Bruce’s influence or a lack of alternative viewpoints…..some of his most formative, definitive years were in his early career as Nightwing or leader of the Titans, when Bruce was barely a presence in his life, and far more people than just Bruce have tried to influence or shape Dick in some way or another.

But he’s fiercely independent and not just for the sake of being stubborn….or maybe yeah, for that reason….but its not about just being contrary, its about standing up to the sheer volume of people and forces who have tried to mold him in specific images. The way he was forcibly derailed from the path his life was on not even because of his parents’ death, but because everyone AFTER that point ensured that wasn’t even an option….the way Cobb and the Court of Owls had a master plan for him since before he was even born, that he apparently doesn’t even get a say on….the way Deathstroke and multiple others have tried to make him their apprentice or turn him to their side or school of thinking….the many times he’s been brainwashed and made into a literal pawn like by the Church of Blood or had his agency violated physically and sexually…his core premise, to me, is that of a man trying to be himself, with intent, be the master of his own destiny and the one who chooses his own path in a world that repeatedly insists on trying to choose for him.

To me, the times he’s tried to get out from other Bruce’s shadow and build his own reputation and not be defined as just Bruce’s son or Batman’s sidekick, like….these are just one small aspect of what IMO is the greater issue for him and what truly motivates him at these times, why this is so important to him.

My point being….everything Dick is and that he holds dear to him is the result of deliberate, conscious choices made on his part….he is who he is and fights for the things he fights for BECAUSE he’s had options and been presented with alternatives and ultimately he’s decided that no, this is what he believes, this is who HE wants to be.

And because of that, as much as I fully believe he’s capable of empathizing with even extremely opposite viewpoints and understanding where other people come from, as much as he’s willing and able to get along with them and work with them and respect them in a variety of ways…..there’s only so far that could ever go, romantically speaking.

So for me, all my headcanons and views of Boone and his history with Dick, even expanded upon beyond what we saw in canon…I think Dick could easily be written as viewing the two of them having a fundamental connection that he doesn’t have with others, and understanding and relating to him in ways he doesn’t even with his canon romantic partners. He GETS where Boone comes from, he gets why he made the choices he did….and he does so BECAUSE he was literally there too. 

He literally held a gun on Two-Face before he was even a teenager, with Boone being the one standing RIGHT THERE AT HIS SIDE, urging him to give into darkest impulses and by extension validating them, promising not to judge him for them or ever leave him because of them even at a time when Dick felt Bruce had already abandoned him or cast him out BECAUSE of Dick’s inability to make the right choices and live up to what Bruce wanted him to be. In a lot of ways, pulling that trigger that night would have been the EASY choice for Dick, and by extension, choosing Boone and the choices Boone makes and wanted Dick to make too….would be the EASIER choice for Dick, a whole lot easier than constantly trying to live up to (and feeling like he’s failed to live up to) the expectations so many other people in his life heap on him.

I think no matter how much they clash in any given scenario, Dick will always understand and relate to Boone and all the choices he’s ever made, because he could see himself having made the same choices. Because at many times, I actually think, he’s wanted to make the same choices.

But ultimately, each and every one of those times, Dick has chosen not to. And that doesn’t just happen, it happens with intent. Deliberately.

And thus, no matter how much Dick relates to people with extremely opposite stances in a lot of ways and even could have a deep and emotional connection with someone like that…..I don’t think he could ever commit longterm to an intimate relationship with one of them, like Boone….because doing so ultimately is a tacit acceptance of every one of their choices, every time they also quite deliberately and with intent chose the opposite of Dick. And thus, by extension…..acceptance and condoning of these various choices in order to accept THEM as an equal romantic partner….is in a way, a kind of implicit rejection of Dick’s own choices in similar times and circumstances. It would kind of be like….Dick taking back the times he’s consciously made the opposite choice, and thus suggesting maybe he’s not actually okay with the choices he actually made at those times. 

Or at least, I feel like that’s how Dick would see it, at the end of the day, given how much he values and prioritizes his own decision-making and his freedom to make his own decisions at all AND have those decisions respected and valued.

So dramatic as it may sound, lol, in the end I think despite or even because of how much he may be drawn to a mirror image of himself like Boone, the person he could have ended up being or be very similar to if he’d chosen the path they chose back when their paths ultimately diverged…Dick would always view settling down with one of these particular potential partners as kind of settling for being less or even just other than the man he’s sculpted himself to be, by his own choices.

And I don’t think he can or is willing to do that. In fact, I think its completely anathema to everything that makes him so fundamentally Dick Grayson….moreso than even just killing someone would ever be. Because ultimately I think Dick’s views on killing and general resistance to it is just ONE aspect of his overall character, whereas his insistence on his own personal agency and choices is at the core of EVERY aspect of his character.

Related to all of the above, but something of a separate matter….I think in his heart of hearts, Dick’s dream is to someday have children of his own, whether biological or adopted, and to build a family that’s fully of his own choice, with intent. I think he accepts his second family for who and what they are, but who and what they are will never be all that similar to his first family and the dynamics he shared with them….and I do think he misses those specific dynamics and craves having new versions of them in his life. And that he likely figures the only way that will ever happen is with a family he’s the patriarch of himself, and in the position of laying the foundational dynamics for.

And given that, for as much as I think Dick’s able to work with and even respect and appreciate people with extremely different ideologies and values….I can’t imagine him ever being willing to start a family with someone who ultimately doesn’t value the things Dick’s chosen to uphold as most important to him. Because which set of values do they pass down to their children then? We’re talking about fundamentally divergent views of right and wrong. The kind of things that Dick might be willing at times to compromise himself or his own values for in specific contexts, or for some bigger picture….but to compromise his own views in terms of supporting a partner passing down completely opposite views on right and wrong to his own children? That, I can’t see Dick ever being alright with, and so much like being with someone like Boone longterm would require him settling in other respects, I think it would also cost Dick the chance to ever build his own family, as I don’t think he’d ever fully be comfortable doing that with someone who wasn’t willing to settle or give up their own values to uphold Dick’s.

And for the very same reason Dick feels so strongly about making his own choices and being the man that results from them, I don’t think its in character for him to ever ask someone to abandon or betray their own choices or ideologies specifically to be with him. If they did that of their own volition, without his prompting or him making some sort of an ultimatum, sure. Its not like he doesn’t have a hugely influential presence himself, and there’s no reason someone like Boone couldn’t be written having their own doubts about their own choices and be predisposed or just willing to be ‘brought over to the good side’ or whatever. But I can’t imagine Dick ever ASKING that of them, any more than he’d be willing to do that himself if they ever asked it of him in order to be with them.

Thus, more often than not, I think a Dick/Boone relationship is one of those that will always be ships crossing in the night, unrequited or bittersweet…..two people who understand and relate to each other, respect and get each other….but are too fundamentally opposed to make the choices they’d need to be willing to make, in order to choose each other in the long run.

[humanitysbridge]

CHARACTER SHEET

repost. do not reblog.

𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

FULL NAME.                          Victor Malcolm Stone NICKNAME / ALIAS.               cyborg, vic, vickie, tin man/robo-cop/etc.,  GENDER.                                 cis male HEIGHT.                                   6′6″ AGE.                                        18-32 (verse dependent) ZODIAC.                                   cancer LANGUAGES.                          english (including aave), tamaranean (nearly fluent),                                                                        chinese (mandarin), arabic (conversational), python, c++,                                                                homebrew  language tbh this is just a coding joke 

𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

HAIR COLOR.                 dark brown with reddish tint EYE COLOR.                   organic eye: warm brown (cinnamon). cybernetic eye: red (crimson). SKIN TONE.                    rich brown. BODY TYPE.                    tall, muscular, partially steel. football player build. ACCENT.                          neutral american, but he can easily drop into a michigan/midwestern                                              accent. . VOICE.                              fluctuates between wildly enthusiastic and gently empathetic. though                                               vic may speak loudly and with confidence in group/public settings, he                                             also shows a softer,quieter version of himself to whomever needs it.                                               vic is prone to yelling in excitement or frustration. cyborg keeps his                                                 voice even and measured. DOMINANT HAND.           prefers writing with his left, but can use both hands equally.  POSTURE.                         vic felt self-assured in high school. he held his head up high and                                                   proud.  he chooses to invoke a similar attitude in his adult life (it                                                     helps with his confidence). he only hunches down to speak with                                                     people or to look at something. even when he is upset, he’s likely                                                   to maintain good posture. SCARS.                             the prosthetic material that looks like skin heals well. he may have a                                               few faded marks from major wounds, but for the most part his body                                               erases all scares whenever he regenerates. most of his scars are                                                    psychological.  TATTOOS.                          none. yet  BIRTHMARKS.                  an irregular shape just above his right hip.                                                                                        it’s only visibly when his cybernetics reveal the skin                                                                         underneath. for some reason, grid includes this mark                                                                       after every regeneration.  MOST NOTICEABLE FEATURE(S).    his prosthetics and booming voice.

𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 !

PLACE OF BIRTH.                     detroit, michigan HOMETOWN.                             detroit  BIRTH WEIGHT.                         10lbs (the nurses gave his mom a high five after he was born)  BIRTH HEIGHT.                          20.5  inches  MANNER OF BIRTH.                 c-section.  FIRST WORDS.                         'scope (microscope) SIBLINGS.                                  none PARENTS.                                  silas and elinore stone. PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT.     victor’s parents saw him as potential. even though they both                                                            loved him, they wanted to see what their combined genius and                                                     love could create. his mother tried her best to be involved in                                                           vic’s life, but was still vaguely detached. his father saw his                                                               interests as a waste of time and intellect. they got into verbal                                                           fights frequently, which made it hard for vic to confide in him.                                                          after the accident, silas tried his best to love and protect his                                                             son, but he still had a scientist’s curiosity when it came to victor.                                                     victor was plenty aware of that curiosity, and still has conflicting                                                     feelings about it. 

𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 !

OCCUPATION.                         superhero/vigilante. occasionally, he releases software for free. CURRENT RESIDENCE.          metropolis. CLOSE FRIENDS.                    garfield, kori, dick, raven, cliff. RELATIONSHIP STATUS.        single.  FINANCIAL STATUS.               he gon’ be alright.  DRIVER’S LICENSE.               since he was 16.  CRIMINAL RECORD.              ....being a hero means breaking the rules.  VICES.                                      software that simulates: dreams and intoxication. various forms                                                      of escapism. 

𝐬𝐞𝐱 & 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 !

SEXUAL ORIENTATION.                        pansexual (dated only women pre-accident and hasn’t                                                                    dated much since)  ROMANTIC ORIENTATION.                   demiromantic PREFERRED EMOTIONAL ROLE.        submissive | dominant | SWITCH. PREFERRED SEXUAL ROLE.                submissive  |  dominant | SWITCH. LIBIDO.                                                   mid-level. TURN ONS.                                            words of affirmation. his partner taking control. being                                                                      treated like he’s fragile. dirty talk (must be from                                                                                someone that has a deep emotional connection, or he’ll                                                                  roll his eyes). equal or greater strength/power 

TURN OFFS.                                          not listening. lack of empathy. degradation. snobs. LOVE LANGUAGE.                               cooking/baking for someone. quality time (video games,                                                                  mechanical projects, movie nights, etc.). physical touch                                                                  (vic is severely touch starved) RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES.             vic is relatively friendly to most people he meets. he                                                                        prefers to see the good in them. however, if someone                                                                      hurts/messes with his family/SO? he’s vicious. he is                                                                         fiercely protective of his found family and will do                                                                              anything to  make  sure they’re okay--even crossing his                                                                  own morals. 

𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 !

CHARACTER’S THEME SONG.           pa.s de deux (instrumental) , sy.re (lyrical)  HOBBIES TO PASS TIME.                    video games, cooking, learning, messing with his                                                                           cybernetics/system, spending time with his friends. MENTAL ILLNESSES.                           a form of disas.sociation personality disorder.                                                                                    body dys.morphia.  PHYSICAL ILLNESSES.                        none. LEFT OR RIGHT BRAINED.                  left-brained, but he’d rather apply it to more “right                                                                            brained”  activities. PHOBIAS.                                               rejection. losing his body to grid. death of his family. SELF CONFIDENCE LEVEL.                 medium. fake it till you make it bro. VULNERABILITIES.                                his mother, his first girlfriend, explicit details                                                                                     surrounding the  accident/his recovery process, and                                                                       his mental state (do not bring up grid). .

tagged by: @kcrivnd-r ❤

tagging: @supergenetics @strategiic​ @ofsteelandstardust​ --> ed   ---------------and YOU if you’re reading this (tag me so i can peep) !

[lycorogue]

Who Wants to Meet My OCs? (Part 3b – Glitches Reworks)

Who’s ready for part two (er... of part 3...)?

If you’ve missed it, I’m doing a series to introduce everyone to my main OCs (and no, I’m TOOOOOTALLY not doing this to procrastinate on writing my fanfics... why do you ask?)

In Part 1, I introduced the series, what I wanted to do with it, and gave some insight on the real world inspiration for my two worlds:

Gyateara

Glitches

Then, in Part 2, I talked about the IRL inspiration for my Gyateara characters:

Amara Yori

Natalie

Connor

Jolene Crisslebalm

The first half of this third part of the series - Part 3a - I talked about how characters are created for the Play-by-Post RP X-Future; the game that birthed Glitches. I also talked about the inspiration for my main four truly original characters: my husband’s character Chayse, and My Girls: Lia, Willow, and Trish.

In this final part of the introduction series, I’m going to talk about the adult characters of Glitches, the X-Men/Marvel canonical characters they were derived from, and how I have started altering them to create original variants to use for Glitches.

If this sort of thing strikes your fancy, feel free to read about these characters below the break. If you’re more interested in the actual individual character bios, the first one will be up next Sunday. Catch ya then!

Marvel Canon Reworks:

The next series of characters were all originally canon characters for the X-Men comics. They are all significant for the X-Future characters, and therefore would need an original counterpart for Glitches. I have yet to figure out anyone’s last names....

Matteo

Emily

Ryder

Keahi

Cody

Ignatius “Iggy”

Ready to find out who they were originally?

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Matteo

In X-Future, after Xavier dies in The Reaping, Kitty (Pryde) LeBeau and James “Logan” Howlett take over as the headmistress and headmaster of the school. Wolverine has a strong presence in X-Future because of that, and also because of family created by some of the players. Now, I don't have the IP for any of Wolverine's children/grandchildren/clone's children... (it gets complicated...), but I like the idea of Wolverine being Kitty's foil. A sort of Magneto to Kitty's Professor X. So Wolvie needed an overhaul.

Matteo is half-Puerto Rican, half-African American. His Latino features are more dominant though. And, honestly, the only real reason I thought of including the half-African American part was because it was a suggestion of a friend. His character Lucas is the son of Wolverine's clone X-23. Back when I was first thinking of creating Glitches, this friend was very much involved in helping me figure out what parts of X-Future should make the cut. We jointly reworked Lucas slightly so that he is instead a kid whom Matteo rescued from government experimentation. Lucas was Black, and so my friend thought having Matteo be at least half-Black would help Lucas see a connection that would lead him to trust Matteo and bond with him. A sort of Bruce Wayne/Dick Grayson sort of dynamic.

Said friend of mine sort of went radio-silent after moving a few states away, and so I no longer feel comfortable using Lucas in Glitches. Therefore, I'm not sure if I should just revert Matteo back to full Puerto Rican. It's still up in the air.

I needed him to have the feral personality and physical durability that Wolverine has, but he's now gruff and hardened less because of what had been done to him, but because his younger sister was killed in government experimentation. He is NOT a fan of humans and Glitches (my word for mutants) cohabiting. He no longer has the claws, but takes Logan's begrudging paternal personality and cranks it up a few notches.

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Emily

Kitty “Shadowcat” Pryde, as mentioned above, is the headmistress of the Institute, and she's Chayse's very involved mother. I couldn't leave her out if Chayse was transitioning into Glitches. So, she became Emily. Since Chayse has both parents' powers in equal parts, it was a touch easier to manipulate both Shadowcat and Gambit so that Chayse still had the same power set, but the Glitches version of his parents SHOULD be different enough not not be blatant rip-offs.

I started off by giving Emily Gambit's powers, sorta. Instead of Gambit's ability to create kinetic energy, Emily can MANIPULATE kinetic energy. Not only can she build up or create kinetic energy out of potential, she can also instantly pull kinetic energy out of an object in order to drop it back into potential energy. This means, for instance, if she were to catch a ball, she wouldn't need to follow through with her arm; it moving with the kinetic energy transferred from the ball once it's stopped in her hand. Instead, her skin simply absorbs the kinetic energy and the ball stops instantly, as if it were gently lobbed over to her. Likewise, if she concentrates, she can make her skin impenetrable: instantly withdrawing the kinetic energy from things such as bullets, cars, blades, etc., before it can puncture or otherwise injure her skin. No skin injuries also tends to mean no internal injuries.

Of course, the main use of this kinetic manipulation is the way Gambit uses it: adding or building up kinetic energy in an object. This can be used to add force to an object, such as hitting harder with a bat or bo staff without added effort, jumping higher or running faster, or building up enough energy the object explodes. Emily and Chayse also figure out how to use the kinetic energy very similarly to The Flash from the DC comics. Namely, build up enough kinetic energy within their own cells that they vibrate fast enough to pass through other particles. This makes them intangible and capable of phasing through solid objects. It takes a LOT of practice to keep their feet particles on top of the ones that make up the floor/ground. Even more practice allows for “air steps” where they can actually climb the particles that make up the air itself. This brings things back full-circle to Kitty's phasing powers.

I have been so focused on Emily's backstory, ideals, and new powers, so I don't really have a mental image of her that is vastly different than Kitty Pryde's. I still need to work on that. The only real big thing is that Emily has eyes similar to Gambit: unnatural colored irises and sclera. Normally, Emily has the naturally occurring white sclera, and magenta irises. When she's using her powers, however, the magenta bleeds into her sclera. That's it. That's all the physical description I have thus far...

Personality wise, however, she is much more stern and focused than Kitty is shown in most canonical iterations.

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Ryder

Gambit is just as much of an involved parent as Kitty, so it's only natural that if Kitty has to become Emily, then Remy becomes Ryder. My biggest problem, though, was how to make a suave, Cajun, con-man with powers NOT feel like THE Cajun: Remy “Gambit” LeBeau himself. Granted, not having the ability to blow things up helps, but there's so much more to Gambit than just that.

I wanted to keep him suave, a reformed con-man, White with a non-American accent, and have a love of play cards. That's just TOO Gambit to not include. At the same time... it's SOOOOO Gambit to NOT be recognizable. So, I started off by changing the Cajun accent to one I find equally sexy: Australian. Next, Ryder is more a con-artist than a con-man. More of a manipulator than a thief. He still loves his cards, but he's more likely to play Three Card Monty with them than blow you up with them.

One of the side-effects to Gambit's kinetic powers is the “accidental telepathic manipulation.” He may not even realize he does this, but Gambit can mess with the kinetic energy WITHIN SOMEONE'S BRAIN! He can make certain parts of the brain fire off, making his target much more susceptible to believing his lies, manipulation, and over-all charm. Gambit also always has a kinetic shield around him that continuously shifts erratically. This makes it extremely difficult for telepaths to break through the kinetic field and attack Gambit's mind. Effectively making him highly resistant to telepathic attacks and/or manipulation/suggestion.

So, I figured I'd take this commonly overlooked part of Gambit's powers, and make it Ryder's main mutation. He has a “silver tongue” and has the telepathic ability of verbal suggestion, manipulation, and hypnosis.

Ryder looks like a normal human, albeit a gorgeous one. He has brunette hair instead of Gambit's usually auburn, and he has intense “baby blues” that helps him hold eye contact, which elevates his powers. I don't have much more by way of physical description.

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Keahi

On the one hand, Keahi is a major rework of her canon counterpart. In the comics, Amara “Magma” Aquilla is a blonde haired, blue eyed, White girl from the Roman-like society of Neo Roma. They wear togas still and everything. The Amara from X-Future is the version we see in “X-Men: Evolution” in which she's just a typical Brazilian girl of tan skin and brown hair and eyes. I shifted her again so that Keahi is Hawaiian. A bit of a change.

On the flip-side, you can only do so much with “woman who can manipulate tectonic plates and magma, can create fireballs, is immune to fire/lava/breathing in ash, and transforms into a humanoid walking ball of magma.” Lia has all of those powers, so her mother has to have them. Which means I can't really do much with Amara's powers to alter them for Keahi.

Since Keahi doesn't actually show up all that much in Glitches – ya know, since she's MIA – I didn't spend terribly too much time on her. I still need to sit down and figure her out a bit.

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Cody

Jamie “Multiple Man” Madrox is too much of a helicopter parent to not have him follow Lia over into the Glitches rework. The main reason he could be a helicopter parent to such an extreme is his ability to create duplicates. That way he can literally always be with Lia, except for when she needs privacy, such as when she's in the bathroom and/or changing.

In Glitches, Jamie is now Cody, a man who can still create clones of himself out of fresh drops of his own blood. Slightly different than Jamie's impact-created duplicates. The funny thing, though, is for someone whose powers requires bleeding, he's as Edge Lord as a middle-aged man with diabetes. Cody gets viciously protective of those he loves, so he can get some of that badassery his comic counterpart has, but... it's not wholly evident.

In order to use his power, I had Keahi design a special wedding band for her husband. It's similar to (Spoiler alert?) Annie's ring from “Attack on Titan.”

It has a spike hidden inside it that Cody can flick out to puncture or slash his skin whenever he needs blood in a hurry. Normally, he does keep a sleeve of sterilized sewing needles in his pocket, and pricks his fingers on those, but the wedding band is used in a pinch, and has helped him in the past.

Cody still needs some more work as well, but his build is mostly “generic over-protective dad.”

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Ignatius “Iggy”

Iggy started his life as St. John “Pyro” Allerdyce, aka: Devon's father. I was actually largely inspired to create Iggy after watching the anime “K.” Specifically, Iggy is largely designed after the Red King Suoh Mikoto. I mean, look at this guy!

(Sorry, I no longer have the artist credit after my computer crashed. If you know who put this together, please let me know.)

(Same deal; the file I had that listed where I found this fanart got corrupted when my computer crashed. Please let me know if you recognize the artist)

(There's just something about a fit man juuuuuuuust barely showing off his stomach that is just so yummy for me.)

Anyway... Throw in a little Billy Idol and flame-ombre hair, and you have the basic aesthetic for Iggy.

Iggy's personality is more manic than Pyro's. He can be calm and calculated, but also be enraged out of nowhere and go on a rampage; the same qualities his protégé Trish possesses. I wanted Iggy to have a “sexy British-derived accent” still, and with the red hair, I figured: go Irish. So Iggy is an Irish immigrant. The Brotherhood is now a street gang that Iggy turned into a terrorist group. So... again, semi-inspired by Suoh from “K.”

He still has the power to manipulate flame, without the ability to create it. However, there are so many fire manipulators/pyrokinetics throughout pop culture that I'm hoping Iggy doesn't feel like a Discount Bin Pyro.

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In the end, there's not much that I've really done with these character re-works yet, but you'll get to meet them further in later posts.

Until then, thank you for taking this time to see a broad look at my character creation process. If you have any notes on how I can make these characters more distinct from their canon counterparts, feel free to drop me a DM or something.

Thank you, and I’ll see you guys again next week for the first of my individual character profiles. I’m going to start with the “most vocal”: Willow.

[itstimetowatch]

Normal is the Watchword

So Veronica is working a normal, almost certainly less potentially lethal job. Makes sense. If my last job had me almost burned alive or killed via smoke inhalation, I probably wouldn’t want to do that job anymore either. However, it was made pretty clear during Season One that Veronica was a fairly vital part of Mars Investigations, that she would often handle a lot of work for her dad while he was out running down bail jumpers. How is Keith managing to either do all of this himself or pay all the bills with a reduced workload? Veronica’s minimum wage plus tip sharing almost certainly isn’t offsetting the work she was doing at Mars Investigations, especially given that Keith ended last season in the hospital.

It feels strange to see Veronica turn down a case. I mean, I can only assume it’s just a tease, but it’s still weird.

So in addition to losing his Nancy Drew, Keith has also spent time away from his detective work writing a book? Like that’s some easy thing to do in one’s spare time? The spare time that a hard working PI obviously has a lot of? Sure, the advance would have potentially been huge (A-list celebrity murderer, sex scandal, institutional incompetence… y’know, all the things that made it a compelling season of television). It would have been huge, that is, if Keith was in any way an established writer, which he wasn’t. Once again, Hollywood writers don’t understand how money works.

Also, there’s no way something like that gets written, edited, and published over the course of a summer.

Does Julie Chen as Herself on a fictionalized episode of her show count as me recognizing a guest star from something else? Feels like a cheat to me.

So it wasn’t Wallace at the door. Why on Earth is Logan not at the hospital?

Did we finally get a name for the bike gang? Did he say PCHers? As in like Pacific Coast Highway? Or does it stand for something else?

Okay, fleeing the scene of a murder? Well, that would certainly be a reason not to go to the hospital but going directly to your girlfriend’s house isn’t the best place to hide. So this is the new season-long mystery, I assume?

Wallace is back to his Afro. I think it’s a better look for him, anyway. And a conspiracy of failed drug tests is the mystery for the episode.

Dick and Beaver are in the main credits? Ugh! You guys could have warned me.

As is Tessa Thompson (from Dear White People and Creed and Westworld and soon to be Thor: Ragnarok), apparently.

So how is Jake allowed to leave town while under indictment? Oh, wait, of course, he’s a billionaire. Nevermind.

So I think Veronica’s being a little self-centered there, thinking she’s the sole reason for Duncan and Logan’s strife. I feel like Logan’s father murdering Duncan’s sister probably plays a slightly larger part in their beef.

So Veronica has given up her life of crime-solving but she still carries around her enormous PI camera, what, just in case?

WHAT? Veronica and Meg are feuding? Over Duncan? *Sigh*

Glad Keith and Alicia are still going strong, though.

Um, nosey-ass Veronica doesn’t know that Clemmons has a son who’s a classmate of hers? That seems unlikely. I mean, I guess he’s an underclassman, a sophomore to Veronica’s senior, but still, he would have been at Neptune last year. Last season, she seemed to know (or at least know of) almost everyone at the school.

“I avoid knowing freshmen” seems fairly arbitrary, but I guess she didn’t know anything about Justin in “Meet John Smith” last year either, so arbitrary or not, it is at least consistent. 

I wouldn’t necessarily expect Veronica to know this but a dose of a drug so small that you never feel the effects of the drug would almost certainly not show up on a drug test.

So is Shelley Pomroy named after a family member of one of the writers or the crew? I only ask because they seem to love mentioning her name without ever actually making her an actual character on the show. I think she’s had one scene during the flashbacks in “A Trip to the Dentist” and she was a non-speaking extra.

This is really early in the episode to have figured out the mystery. Okay, the connection is circumstantial right now, but this isn’t a procedural show, it’s a mystery show. Once the mystery is solved, then you have a limited amount of time that you can continue the story before it becomes tedious. Are we going to spend fifteen minutes of episode working on the season-long mystery? And if Logan’s already cleared, isn’t it a job for Sheriff Shithead?

So, Class Warfare has now turned into Actual Warfare over the summer? Well, that’s… terrifying.

That is Charisma Carpenter as (one assumes) Dick and Beaver’s step-mom? Or their dad’s girlfriend or something?

Okay, so they played the pronoun game with Veronica’s love life to avoid revealing that Veronica is back with Duncan rather than Logan, okay fine, but now that previous scene with Veronica and Wallace seems a lot harsher in hindsight. Duncan missed the first day of school to go visit his father (who’s presumably in some white collar jail because his lawyers negotiated him a sweetheart deal). Veronica and Wallace said they didn’t understand why he would want to do that, because they were trying to imply that they were talking about Logan and his dad, who slept with and then murdered his girlfriend, as opposed to Duncan and his father, who attempted to cover up said murder because he thought he was protecting his son from prison or an institution. See the difference?

And it’s Krysten Ritter! From Breaking Bad and Jessica Jones.

Why is Logan getting defensive about the fact that someone has already been killed in this clash of classes? It wasn’t an 09er who died.

What has this bus trip got to do with anything? Did they forget they were an hour long show and suddenly write a half hour worth of material? They’ve worked out the mystery. The bad guys have been caught. What’s going on?

Steve Guttenberg? Where on Earth did they find him?

Where was this field trip to? Last season Neptune was right outside of San Diego which (at the time) had the Padres, an MLB team which was name-checked often last season. Now they’re visiting a team called The Sharks at what appears to be a really nice stadium. This is no minor league team… especially not in the immediate suburbs of the major league club’s hometown.

So is this meant to be, like, LA? But then Guttenberg is running for mayor of Neptune? This all makes no sense.

And what does any of this have to do with anything?

Also, Krysten Ritter as the vapid, girly girl? HA!

A fortune cookie? That’s what wins Veronica over?

And they have to stop for gas? In a school bus? That is designed to drive all over town, making frequent stops? Where the hell is this baseball stadium and how does the team owner get to run for mayor of Neptune if he doesn’t live or work in Neptune? I mean, I guess technically he doesn’t have to live near the stadium to own the team, but in most cases, the owner is expected to be a frequent fixture at team’s home games.

Um, Lilly’s ghost? Okay, first of all, they wrapped her story up at the end of the last episode. Is she going to keep showing up?

Ah, Weevil’s not too pissed at her. You’re still a good man, Eli.

Um, holy shit!

Okay, so that’s was the point of the bus trip. It still had nothing to do with anything else in the episode. 

I don’t know about Veronica’s comment that nothing happens by accident in Neptune. I mean, just off the top of my head it’s a lucky accident for Aaron that the Kanes thought Duncan killed Lilly and covered up Aaron’s murder for him. I take the comment to mean that this is also going to be an ongoing investigation this season.

This episode is very poorly constructed. Like they should have established the field trip much sooner, and honestly, it really should have been the entire plot this episode (or at least the frame on which to hang all of the flashbacks) and then save the Wallace’s Failed Drug Test plot next episode that way you get at least episode out of the “I’m not a detective anymore” storyline, instead of having her give in immediately. 

As is there are two distinct parts to this episode and they are completely at odds tonally and content-wise. It’s really jarring and after having finished it, the first two-thirds of the episode now feels almost completely irrelevant… which, generally speaking, is a bad thing, especially for season premieres.

Also, the thing where Lilly’s ghost saved Veronica’s life? Veronica had several interactions with Lilly’s ghost last season but it was always either a dream or it was a fairly obvious manifestation of her subconscious. It’s never provided her information she didn’t already know, so this is weird and inconsistent. I mean, she could have just looked out the window, seen Weevil for herself, and then decided to go talk to him.

Then there’s the whole Veronica/Meg thing. I loathe with the power of a thousand blazing suns the tired cliche of female friends fighting over a boy. First of all, I don’t buy it from Meg. She started dating Duncan when he was Veronica’s ex without so much as an “Are you okay with this?” and now I’m supposed to think that she’s going to pull this on Veronica? Secondly, I don’t really buy Veronica trying this hard to make things okay between them again. That’s not really her thing. This all feels like out of character behavior to create forced drama just as an excuse to keep Meg on the bus... because apparently, Veronica can’t have female friends. (I mean, seriously, Dick and Beaver are fulltime but not Mac?)

Is Tessa Thompson going to be the next version of Miss Dent? The black woman whose name is in the credits but almost never actually appears in the show?

[saijspellhart]

Bleach Emblem

Fandom: Bleach

Character: Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki

Setting: Medieval Royalty AU

Genre: Romance and Humor

Summary: Rukia is a badass war General and Ichigo is an uppity spoiled Prince who’s pants are a bit too tight for Rukia’s liking.

This is an excerpt from my newest Bleach short short. 

000000

What kind of assignment was this?

His Majesty, Isshin Kurosaki, was so impressed with the improvements she made in their military that she was bestowed with a personal assignment from the King himself. A  service to the royal family. It was no surprise that she whipped Kakarra's military into shape. Could they possibly expect any less from her? 

But this assignment.

The King wanted her to train his oldest son, and heir, in preparation for the day that he would succeed the throne. The young man was eighteen! What backwards kingdom let the heir to their throne get to the age of eighteen without any military training?  

Rukia tried to recall seeing the crown prince. He wasn't present at her induction ceremony, that she was sure of. In fact the only child of the royal family that she remembered meeting was the daughter that didn't marry her former King. Yuzu, was her name if she trusted her memory, and she did. She knew it was supposed to be an honor to train the crown prince of her country. That she should feel gratified for the experience, and maybe she was; just a little. 

General Rukia stared at her reflection in the tarnished looking glass. The cold sharp gaze of a Kuchiki stared back. With one last sigh of resignation she began suiting up in her armor. Usually when she trained it was in leather protective equipment. But this instance was different. These would be a series of formal lessons, and all proper lessons started with good first impressions. She would ride to the castle today in nothing less than a full suit of armor. That prince-ling needed to know just who was tutoring him. 

The sun glinted radiantly off her polished plate mail when she exited the dilapidated hovel she called home. So caught up in her duties to the Kingdom, Rukia had forgone acquiring a proper house. She spent many nights at the barracks just sleeping in her office where she passed out after her paperwork was finished. The task of procuring a decent living space just seemed so infinitesimal at the moment. 

From head to foot Rukia was decked out in armor, this included but was not limited to, gauntlets, pauldrons, breast plate, hip guards, greaves, boots, shamshir, and helmet. There was nothing aside from a full set of plate mail that made her feel this powerful. Tall even. It made her feel tall, at the very least. Even if her boots only added an inch or two. 

Kon, her companion and finest bred stallion to ever come from a Mandalian stable, was waiting for her outside. She was expected at the castle today, and therefore attendants had been sent to prepare her horse. He was a Clydesdale, a bit unorthodox for a war horse. Most mounted soldiers selected a faster and sleeker breed. Rukia on the other hand favored the raw power and size that this particular breed offered.  

It was love at first ride. Kon didn't have to be subjected to a life of farm labor, and Rukia got the steed of her dreams to make her feel larger than life. She wasted no time mounting Kon, and directing him toward the castle.

00000

The crown prince turned out to be a bitch.  

Of course he was.

Why did she ever expect him to be anything but?

Prince Kurosaki certainly looked the part. He was tall, and lean, and foppish. He arrived in the training yard wearing an orchid tunic with gold embroidery and trim. His dark breeches tailored to fit his shapely long legs like a second skin. A traditional bastard sword hung from one hip attached to a gold plated belt, and a baselard slung over his other hip. 

The most outrageous thing of all though was the ridiculous mane of blonde-orange hair that sat atop his head. Rukia actually thought it might have been a stupid wig at first. But no, it was his natural hair color. He either didn't have a fashionable sense of style, or his hair was just chaotic by nature. Either way, he looked like a prince and oh did he act like a prince.  

Rukia road into that yard astride her high horse, head held high, and pride intact. 

Prince Kurosaki managed to break that down in all of two seconds. 

"Oi, the new general is a child." He remarked. The two retainers who were present stifled polite chuckles. They were caught between humoring the Prince and his witty insult, and respecting their new general. It was obvious that the prince was the higher priority.

Rukia bit back the grimace that threatened her features. 

"Are you sure this isn't some game?" He called. "What could this brat possibly teach?" 

"So I'm a brat am I?" Rukia growled under her breath. 

"Boy nothing gets by you." He teased. 

This insolent little brat. To refer to her in such a way. Rukia stepped down from her horse and unsheathed her shamshir. With steps so calculated that they were mathematically precise she marched up to the prince and pointed her sword to his unguarded chest. He didn't so much as flinch or draw his own sword. He just stared down the steel blade at her, and even adopted an amused smirk.  

"Your Father, his Majesty Kurosaki, has given me complete permission to beat your ass in whichever manner I see fit in order to prepare you for the throne." She asserted. "I may appear young to you, but I have served in the military for nearly two-thirds of your life. I would kill you on the spot for your insults if it were not against my orders, so you little brat, be grateful."

Prince Kurosaki's grin dissolved into an irritated scowl at her words. His jaw set and his fists clenched, temper seething beneath his refined exterior. "You've got some nerve." He growled over her sword. 

"And now." Rukia continued as if he hadn't spoken. "If we are through dick measuring, which by the way mine is bigger," she added with more than a little sass. "I think it's time we start your first lesson." She ran the tip of her shamshir delicately over the fabric of his tunic till she reached his belt. The prince followed it with his eyes but made no attempt to counter her. So Rukia gave her sword a quick flick, and severed the clasp on his belt. 

Her purpose was to cause his breeches to fall, and give warning that he should never let his guard down in such a way, but it didn't work out as planned. Those expensively tailored pants continued to cling to his legs despite any lack of assistance, so she only managed to make his weapons clatter to the ground. But she destroyed that gaudy gold-plated belt in the process. So it was still a win in her book. 

"What was that for?" He deplored. Prince Kurosaki bent to gather his things from the ground and grumbled the entire time. 

"I didn't like your belt." Rukia stated matter-of-factly. "Next time you show up for lessons I expect you to loose this dandified get up and report wearing proper training clothes. That includes protective equipment." She stopped to glower at him for a moment while he cradled his expensive weaponry against his chest. "And I don't care how heavy or bulky the gear is, you are gonna wear it like everyone else until it feels like a second skin." 

Speaking of second skins, she wasn't quite sure why the tightness of his breeches bothered her so. Those would have to go too. There was no room for irritating distractions during these lessons. If it annoyed her she would have to do away with it.

The prince decided he had enough of her haughty behavior. He brandished his bastard sword, tossing aside his baselard and sheaths in the process. Then he swung the impossibly heavy sword at her, his steel looking to connect with her breast plate. The shear weight of the blade alone gave promise to his swing. The attack went wide. Rukia saw it coming before he even started. The sword was obviously too heavy for the Prince, it showed in the way he strained his arms and his lack of control through the motion. She was going to have to include extra strength training lessons along side his fencing, riding, and strategy lessons. But still, it was a bastard sword, and for a man with no formal training in the fighting arts he showed potential. 

When his attack whiffed and caught only air, Rukia brought her own sword around and disarmed him by striking his wrist and fingers with the flat of her blade. Kurosaki let out a startled yelp and dropped his sword. He also managed to lose his balance in the process due to the pull of his blade and managed to find himself on all fours with Rukia standing over him. 

"Let us continue with the lesson monsier~" She crowed with a devil smile alighting her features. 

The prince just scowled at her from the ground. "You'll pay for this." He grumbled. 

I am going to enjoy this. Rukia decided to herself. At first she had been confused when his Majesty, King Isshin Kurosaki gave her permission to speak and act freely when tutoring his son. Granting her permission to subject the prince through any kind of regiment and lesson she deemed necessary. But now, now she understood. This prince needed an attitude adjustment before he would be mature enough to take the throne. 

Speaking of attitude adjustments, Rukia had to remind herself to cast her eyes away from Prince Kurosaki's shapely posterior while he picked himself up off the grass. It was those damn skin tight breeches again. Those would definitely have to go, she decided.

Here’s a link to the full version if you are interested: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10975736/17/Ten-Ichigo-and-Rukia-Short-Shorts 

There is also a Part 2. 

[askthedespairkids]

The Probability of Success

*Northern Kyushu. A metallic trapezoidal structure emerged from the middle of an otherwise uniform grassy plain. The entrance to a bunker*

A bunker… sure, that’ll help. *Maverick Storm approached the wall, and placed a device against it. He pushed a few buttons, then fled a ways back, covering his ears and waiting for the explosion.*

*The heavy metal doors flew off their hinges and into the long, empty stairwell leading into darkness. The explosion echoed both down the tunnel and across the empty plain. There was strangely no alarm in response nor warning in response to the breach.*

Hel-loooo… anybody home? *Maverick yelled into the darkness.* I brought cookies… admittedly they’re to eat after I blow your brains out, but I still brought them… *Maverick took out his keychain, clicking the button on the penguin flashlight he had attached to it and beginning to descend the stairs.*

*The tunnel seemed almost completely empty. Nothing but sheet metal walls. Not even empty shelves were left. There were, however, long cords running along the ceiling, leading down further into the darkness*

*Maverick hums, tapping on the wall as he does so, causing an echo to sound.* Oh, Hayase… come out come out wherever you are…

*At the end of the long hallway, a door slide open, letting out a bright glare of blue light*

Ah, bright, bright! *Maverick shields his eyes best he can, while still keeping an eye out for potential threats*

Umenko, over the intercom: Well, well, welly, well, look who it is. It’s the dick-meister, the master bastard, the certified soul-sucking son of a bitch himself! Maverick Storm! There was only an 56.7482% chance you’d be here today. Congratulations on beating the odds.

*Maverick bows, smirking as he does so* N'aww, I’m glad I could be here… mind showing your face so I can put a few holes in it? Let me see… so far I got Etsugo, Chikatilo, Asari, Hirotada, and Reizo… I took a lesson from Nakamura and started getting tattoos… You think I should include the triplets on there as well? I mean, I didn’t get to kill them personally, which sucked, but they still died…

Umenko: Maverick, why are you telling me things I already know? I told you, I can see the future. I’m took the liberty of planning ahead, so now I’m afraid there are only 452 ways this meeting is going to end.

Maverick: That few? *he whistles* How many of them end with you with a bullet in your brain?

Umenko: Only 13, surprisingly. I was expecting at least 67 or 68. But anyway, if you want to see me that badly, just step through the doorway. Trust me, it won’t teleport you to antarctica or anything.

*Maverick wanders through, not seeming wary at all*

*The room at the other end of the corridor was a large dome-shaped chamber lined with blue lights. Hanging from the ceiling was a large cylindrical device, which all the wires in the corridor lead to. Beneath it was a short, orange-haired girl in brown a vest, with a cybernetic implant attached to her right temple. Umenko Hayase, the Ultimate Quantum Physicist* Umenko: Welcome…*TO MY LAIR*. It’s cool, isn’t it? I think it is.

Maverick: Fancy. *He shoots one of the wires connected to the machine*

Umenko: Meh, I didn’t need that one anyway.

Maverick: What about this one? Or this one? This one? *he begins shooting wires at random*

Umenko: You know, if you keep doing that, you’re just gonna end up blowing us both up. That’s 78.92385% certain.

Maverick: Oh. All right then. *he shoots one more, but then stops, choosing to reload his revolver*

Umenko: Anyway, let’s not beat around the bush. I know I have a bad habit of doing that, right? Right, you don’t have to tell me. You want me dead, don’t you? That’s it, isn’t it? You wouldn’t have brought a gun if that wasn’t the case. Unless you wanted to sell it to me and are planning to live a live of peace and happiness while I take all the blame and get sent to debter’s prison! Oh wait, do those even exist anymore? *She went on rambling for several minutes*

*Maverick actually seems to be actively listening to her, then once she’s done* So… you mind if I ask a few questions before killing you?

Umenko: Huh? Oh, yeah, sure, what’s up. *She doesn’t seem at all concerned*

Maverick: First off… will my goal of taking over the Ultimate Despair movement succeed?

Umenko: Oooooh, you want me to give you details about the future, is that it? Well…let’s see…out of 11,756,833 possible outcomes concerning the battle with Ultimate Despair, you succeed in about…107 of them. Although it depends on what you mean by succeed. Do you consider being the last human on this Earth a success? Like literally an Omega man, last survivor, everyone else is dust in the wind kinda thing.

Maverick: No… that wouldn’t be any fun…

Umenko: Oh, okay, then it’s just 92 chances for success.

Maverick: Hey, better than none. Next question… Is Enoshima telling the truth about this? *he shows her a photo with a message attached*

Umenko: Hmm? Who’s that girl?

Maverick: I wish I knew.

Umenko: Sorry, can’t say much about people I don’t know. But I can say there’s a 54.8711% chance she’s not lying.

Maverick: Right… *a dark look appears on his face* Tell me, Hayase… did you see this coming? *he raises his pistol and fires*

*Umenko disappears in a flash of light and reappears a few feet away* Considering it’s you, 100%. Also, I invented teleportation, motherfucker!

Maverick: I was counting on that. It’ll be useful when I get my hands on it… *he fires again*

Umenko: *She teleports again, this time on a console a few feet off the ground* You know, speaking of mothers, there’s a 95.4476% chance your mother drank when she was pregnant with you.

Maverick: Eh, I wouldn’t be too surprised. After all, my grandfather was a bit of a douche… couldn’t keep his belt on, whether he wanted to hit his kids or find a new person to screw…

Umenko: There’s also a 96.981% chance your mother was a dirty slut who sucked just about every kind of dick for meth. Or was it crack?\

Maverick: I see your strategy, Hayase. It’s not going to work.

Umenko: It doesn’t make you want to kill me more? I mean, more than you already do?

Maverick: Well, it does, but I’m not gonna get cocky and stupid about it…

Umenko: Pff-ha! You’re only doing this cause you’re cocky and stupid.  Do you really think a pansy-ass punk like you can kill all of us? Even when I told you your chances of success are literally below 1%

Maverick: Oh, I know the odds are low. But, you see, it wouldn’t be entertaining if I just sat on my ass and plotted around on how to kill Enoshima all day. I mean, I’ve got something else I’m managing… but so far, my success rate is five out of six, not counting you, so I’d say I’m doing fairly good… really, I have a feeling Nakamura’s gonna be the only significant challenge…

Umenko: Well now I just feel insulted. I mean, after all, I already beat you.

Maverick: Oh? How?

*She teleports back beside him* Umenko: Don’t think you got in my bunker without my permission. No, no. I let you in here. Why, you might be asking? Well, that’s an easy answer. Shoot me and you’ll find out.

Maverick: Let me guess… you rigged the place to blow, didn’t you?

Umenko: Of course not. Explosives were Chikatilo’s specialty, not mine. You came here to do it, so why not just do it?

Maverick: Well, if you’d stand still…

Umenko: *strikes an exaggerated pose, but remains still*

Maverick: *shoots her in the knee, choosing not to kill her… yet.*

*The bullet passes through Umeko’s leg unimpeded and ricochets off the floor as her entire body shimmers and distorts* Surprise! I’m not even really here.

Maverick: Clever. Very clever.

Umenko: Yep. The Umenko Hayase you see before you is just a hologram. I left this bunker days ago.

Maverick: Can’t say I blame you… I meant for this to be a question I asked when I had you down on the ground and the pistol to your temple, but instead I’ll just ask now… who, exactly, do you think will kill me?

Umenko: Well, I guess I could tell you…but that would ruin the surprise, now wouldn’t it? Nobody likes spoilers.

Maverick: Hmm, true enough. It’s been fun, Hayase. Can’t wait to find you in real life. *he turns to leave, but then turns around again*  Is the teleportation just the hologram moving from place to place, then?

Umenko: See, with the despair that’s been going on, I decided to spend some time down here looking through alternate universes. I’m sick of being caught up in this world and its people, tired of being caught up in the tangle of their lives, so I left for one less complicated. And I love it here.

Maverick: An alternate universe? Huh… well, I suppose I can’t get you there… but that works out well for me. Maybe not the best case scenario, but it still works.

Umenko: That big machine back there? That was my teleporter. It opened the rift between two words, and you shooting the wires guaranteed it would remain closed. So thank you! You’re probably never gonna see me again after this. Anything you want to say?

Maverick: Nah, not really. Other than enjoy your life… and if you find another version of me, please make them end up in an awful “accident”. I like being unique.

Umenko: I will enjoy my life. You wanna know why?

Maverick: All right, I’ll humor you.

Umenko: Because I found a girl who loves me. One who appreciates me for who I am. You remember all those times you said I’d be alone forever? How you were apparently the only person who could accept me for who I am? Well, I proved you wrong. And I’m going to spend the rest of my life with her. Hugging her, kissing her, making love to her, marrying her, all where you’ll never find us. So remember that, Maverick. Remember that, even if you do manage to succeed in your questionable quest, I still beat you. I’m going to live a happy life far away from you.

Maverick: Heh. You’re luckier than Takei, Hayase. You ever thought of taking up writing? Because I think there’s a wonderful story to be told around here… *his voice sounds sincere, no mocking tone present at all* Who knows, since you won’t know the ending, you can make one yourself. *He persists with the sincerity* I do wish you luck.

Umenko: Well…thank you. You’re oddly sentimental about all this, but thank you.

Maverick: Well, Umenko, you’ve just made my job easier. After all… *the kind, sentimental tone of voice drops, replaced by the usual nasty edge.* you left our universe for that one on your own, didn’t you? You didn’t take anyone else with you. You didn’t offer anyone else an escape.  You could have saved quite a few people… Remember that when you’re spending time with this girl you love so much.

Umenko: Well, I was stuck in this bunker, alone, for weeks. With barely enough power for me to get across. It wouldn’t have mattered even I did bring everyone over. But it doesn’t matter. Do you wanna know why?

Maverick: Hmm?

Umenko: *her face darkens as her cheery tone changes to a much more sinister one* The odds of one of them beating your ass are 99.99981%. Compare that for your odds of success and see which one seems more likely. *Suddenly cheery again* Anyway, gotta go. Bye! *her holographic image fades away*

Maverick: Well, I might as well add her to my tattoo list… not as if anyone will know any differently. *his face darkens* Now, I need to resolve the issue of these pictures… and I think I know who to turn to.