#gary’s hellhole

[stokerbrothers]

tmatober day 2 ;; favorite episode!!

HI. IF ITS NOT OBVIOUS I REALLY FUCKING LIKE 160. its such a twist it hits you like a fucking truck. NO ONE i know who has gone in blind guessed it and its fucking wild man. like i went in thinking a ritual would happen but let down my guard and then got slapped in the face with “hello jon, the entire four seasons were me fucking with you and allowing for the apocolypse to begin. ta-ta!” AND ITS SO FUCKING CRAZY this episode makes me NUTS

This is for tmatober over on twitter!!

[xxtc-96xx]

Weren't Gary's cheerleaders called his girlfriends in Japan?

One take I saw (via "Suede's Pokemon Journey" before it was taken down) was that Gary losing the sports car and cheerleaders was meant to symbolize him taking Pokemon Training more seriously.

From a Doylist perspective, I think it's because the Pokemon anime became more "grounded" after Season 1, and 10-year-olds driving sports cars didn't make sense after they dropped Shudo's "10-year-olds are legal adults" plot point. (Context: Shudo wanted the Pokemon world in the anime to be a dystopian hellhole.)

well it certainly would explain why nearly everyone in the indigo league was an asshole, even Ash's own friends for the first half XD

[garysvault]

a little smopkins fic i’ve been working on, it’s still a work in progress… so sorry that you’re kinda gonna get left on a cliffhanger. i titled the fic "Where’s Gary?". i know it’s plain, but my goofy ahh couldn’t think of anything better. i will gladly take suggestions for what to call it

Jimmy was currently sitting in English class. He didn’t even know why he came, he completed all of the work. But that wasn’t what was bothering him. He hadn’t seen Gary in over a week. Not in the hallways. Not in the cafeteria. Not in class. Where could he be? Jimmy constantly eyed the door, hoping it would just fling open and Gary would walk in, but that never happened.

He sighed, he was beginning to accept the fact that the door was never going to fling open. "Mr. Galloway. Can I be excused?"

"Considering you’re finished with my class. Yes, you may be excused, Hopkins," Galloway responded, smiling as he did.

"Thanks, sir," Jimmy said, getting up off of his chair and walking out of the classroom.

The first thing he did was walk downstairs, questioning students if they had seen Gary anywhere. To his surprise, everyone said no. It made him even more worried than he was before.

But then it hit him. The only place he hadn’t checked was the dorm. He facepalmed. How could he be such an idiot? Obviously if Gary was nowhere to be seen in school, he would be in the dorm.

Jimmy walked out of the school and immediately headed to the boys’ dorm, knocking on Gary’s door when he finally got inside. "Gary?" he called out, hoping there would be an answer. He just wanted to hear his voice. Even if he was mad, sarcastic, or bitter. He didn’t care. Hearing his voice would make his day 10x better.

"Come in," Gary said. Although his voice sounded different. Too different.

Jimmy did just that. He opened the door and walked in. His face dropping. "Gary, you look-"

"I know, moron. I’m not stupid. I can see it. Infact, feel it!" Gary bitterly spitted out.

"Okay, man, chill," Jimmy sighed, walking over to his bed and sitting down on it. He looked at Gary, got a really good look at him. He was pale. Far paler than usual. At one point Gary was looking at him too, but he looked away. This kind of upset him. Despite their rough past, Jimmy wanted to help him. Gary didn’t have anyone else.

Gary had crossed his arms, giving him a glare before looking away once again. "I don’t even know why you care. Not like you can click your fingers and I’ll automatically be the way I was before,"

"Gary… I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but you don’t have anyone else. And I know that no one else in this hellhole would check on you, that’s why I decided to," he said, reaching out to grab his hand but stopped himself.

Gary quickly eyed him. He was getting suspicious. "Why? What could possibly make me more important than whatever shit you have left to do?" he stubbornly asked.

"Because you’re my friend! I don’t care about what happened between us in the past, I still care about you and I don’t wanna see you in bed looking half dead!" he hissed, not even realising that he raised his voice.

"We aren’t friends, Jimmy. We never were," he snapped, gripping onto his bedsheets.

Jimmy glared at him, "Stop lying to yourself," was all he said before grabbing Gary and pulling him in for a hug.

it’s not perfect, i’m still not entirely sure if i’m proud of it or not but whatever. i will gladly take any criticism. if things need to be changed and so on. it would really help for when i continue to write it :)

[thevalicemultiverse]

It's been a hell of a journey, that is for DAMN sure. Alice wasn't sure if she was going to make it sometimes. Just all the bullshit she's had to go through. . .the Voermans, the warehouse, the plague Downtown, the absolute HELLHOLE that was Grout's mansion, the disappearance of the sarcophagus from the museum, tracking down Gary, braving Chinatown, getting the sarcophagus back from the Giovanni, locating the missing professor who knew how to open it, braving Griffith park with all the fire and the fucking WEREWOLVES, battling her way to Ming Xiao and the sarcophagus key, and then finally up LaCroix's tower, only to do battle with his Sheriff. . .it's been a LOT. More than any new fledgling (new to vampirism AND to California) should have to deal with.

But Alice has dealt with it all, gone in swinging and come out on top. She's managed to fight and subdue and conquer. And she feels like a great deal of that success is due to having Madeline by her side. Rescuing her from the Voermans was one of the best decisions she's ever made. Maddie's been there through thick and thin, from the earliest days in Santa Monica to this moment, where the Sheriff finally plummets from the sky (in a Masquerade break SO large Alice has NO idea how they'll cover it up, but that's not HER problem). It's just been -- nice, to go through all this nonsense with a friend. Someone who has her back. Someone who is currently applauding her success --

And then going "However, your fight is nowhere near over, Alice." And when Alice turns to ask what the hell is going on, she finds herself blinded by a bright light -- and then Madeline is no longer there. What the everloving -- "Madeline?" Alice calls, looking around, suddenly tense. What's going on?

"Brace yourself, Alice," Cheshire warns, back arched. "Some friends are not so friendly anymore."

she's done it.

no, they've done it.

they've both made it through their journey. beginning with alice "rescuing" maddie from the voermans, then through many wild goose chases, missions, favors, all of the above. they've traveled throughout the greater los angeles area, and ended up here, on top of the lacroix tower, where alice finally has taken down the sheriff.

madeline watches his corpse fall down, down below, crashing onto the pavement. she stares at him for a while, giggling to herself. everything's going according to plan, she thinks, her giggling slowly evolving into full-blown laughter. soon i'll join you, sheriff.

she turns to alice, smiling wide. she gives a slow clap, walking away from the edge towards her new foe. " you've done it! " she congratulates, allowing her arms to fall to her sides. suddenly, her fingers look a lot more claw-like and her eyes burn with excitement. " however, your fight is nowhere near over, alice. "

maddie gestures with her head to a sudden bright light, then just as she looks away...

she's gone.

@thevalicemultiverse

[crab-instruments]

Lock and Key Part 5

Master <Part 4 Part 6>

Pairing: Silco x GN Reader

Summary: After stumbling into a job with Silco as your new boss, you seek to prove yourself worthy to the Kingpin. Shenanigans ensue. As your relationship grows, so do the feelings you deny.

Warnings: truth serum like drug use, angst

a/n: I have a beta reader now, @unfocusedfish, so if my writing suddenly becomes more coherent, it's because she deciphers what I write into readable English.

Cold, harsh water hits your face, jolting you awake. Curled up like a snail, your cheek was pressed to the cool ground and your arms were criss crossed behind you in some sort of restraint. Your head reverberated in pain, throbbing from the blow that had knocked you out. You let out a grunt, unable to hide the pain.

“Oh good, you’re awake now.” That voice…!

You rolled up, sitting back on your knees to face him. “It’s you! You’re… you!” You focused really hard, thinking back to the conversation you had with Silco weeks ago. “Hank!” Proud of your achievement, you gave a lopsided smile before having it smacked off your face. You became even more disoriented.

Looking up at the man, he had the deepest scowl etched into his face. “It’s Gareth.”

Ears ringing, you tried to concentrate on the information your brain just received while humming like a bell. “Are you sure? Silco—”

Gareth scoffed. “Am I sure of my own name? Yes, it’s Gareth, Silco never bothered to remember. Hank was the one that stuck.”

Better than the one I gave you. You muttered to yourself. If Gareth heard it, he made no mention of it.

You pushed and pulled against the restraints. “Can’t pick your way out of that one, huh? Your stupid little tricks won’t work.” You sighed and rolled your eyes.

“Alright, let’s get this show on the road. Why am I—” you were cut off by the yell that escaped your mouth. A needle had pricked the side of your neck. “What the fuck was that?”

A woman walked around in front of you, an empty syringe in her fingers. Her accent was light but still present. “Truth shimmer, something similar to truth serum. Compels you to tell the truth. It’s… ehh… a work in progress, you could say. But it works fast.” As she spoke, you felt it spread through your body. It worsened your already weak, disoriented state. Unlike what shimmer was supposed to do, it didn’t give you any additional strength, but did seem to make it harder to think rationally.

“Why would you give me this?” You scrunch your face and shake your head, trying to rid the tight feeling running through your veins.

“You’re Silco’s right hand, I want information.”

At once, it was like the drug released you. Gasping for breath, you glared at Gareth and spoke through gritted teeth. “You grossly overestimate my position. I’m more of a problem than anything, messed up not that long ago.” You didn’t mean to say that when making your point. Just slipped out, like a slick fish in the gunk river water.

Gareth seemed unhappy with that response, his face showing as much. “Nat, I thought you said this serum would work within seconds. Why are they still able to lie?”

“It is working, but truth…” she waved her hand in the air for emphasis, “is relative, it’s not as… solid as you wish for it to be. If that is what they believe to be the truth, then that is their truth.”

“If you want the truth, you need to return that outfit to the deep, dark, psychedelic hellhole you dug it up from. It’s offensive to my eyes, ma’am.” You balked at what just came out of your mouth. “Shit, this is not good. I don’t care what you wear but that is an insulting use of pattern mixing.” You shook your head, trying to right yourself but were unsuccessful. “Well, Gary, you owe the lady an apology.”

“It’s Gareth.”

“I know, I called you Gary to make you feel small, you clown bastard.” You cursed under your breath. This was going to be difficult. Already working, the shimmer made you say the first thing that came to your mind. Luckily, that didn’t always mean revealing information, but it did mean being an asshole.

“How did you know the blueprint was forged?”

“It was real obvious, considering whoever forged it did a terrible job. It wasn’t even to scale. Plus, you scratch your nose when you lie. Gave away something was wrong. Is that what all this is about? Your terrible plan to screw Silco over failing?”

Gareth’s jaw tightened. “Wanted to hurt you for foiling the plan as well.”

“I didn’t. Not really.”

“You weren’t the one who broke into my office and stole the originals?”

“Oh no, that I did do for sure. It just wasn’t necessary. Silco knew before I had even brought it up to him, let alone gave him the originals.”

He huffed, obviously angry but it rolled off quickly. “No matter, I have a plan for him as well.”

“Because your plans always work out.”

“I’m going to hurt him by hurting you.”

“That’s… what’s the logic behind that?” You did your best to keep your confusion in your brain.

“You’re his favorite little pet. Cares for you. I’d say ‘loves you’ but I don’t think that rat knows how to love. He’ll be here, falling straight into this trap when he comes for you.”

You laughed, hard, wheezing. “You’re wrong there. Silco wouldn’t fall for that and certainly wouldn’t risk anything for me. Like I said earlier, you’ve got some misunderstanding.”

Gareth looked at Nat. She shrugged. “They could be oblivious to what’s right in front of them. Would be painful for them to come to the realization here.”

“Oblivious? No. One time, I hugged Silco spontaneously. He went stiff and asked me what I was doing. I told him and he then asked why. I said because I was happy and lost control of my emotions. He told me to control my emotions better and then removed my arms from him.

“Another time, I asked him if he was allergic to anything because I kept bringing him food. Didn’t want to give him something he was allergic to, didn’t seem like a weird question at the time. He pulled a knife on me and demanded to know why I was trying to find his weaknesses.”

“I think he’s allergic to affection.”

“That’s what Sevika said! But I think it’s mushrooms. I told him as much so he ate a mushroom in front of me and then stared me down until I left. No one saw him for 3 days.

“There was this other time—”

“Okay. Stop.” Gareth sighed, before muttering how stupid you were. “Since you’ve started working for him, his business has increased profits tenfold. You are an asset. But you’re also his weakness. He doesn’t have many, but you certainly are one. Everyone with eyes can see it. Maybe you can’t, not knowing what he says when you aren’t there.”

“I…” You closed your eyes and clamped your jaw shut. There were too many thoughts buzzing around for anything to slip out. Exhausted. Tired. It was becoming hard to keep yourself up right but you worried it might make it easier to say something that could hurt Silco. You did your best to keep focused and to hold your tongue.

“Even you should be able to see the special treatment he gives you. You know this much to be true.”

“I know this… much is… true.” Your eyes shot open, an idea popping into your head. “I know this much is true.”

“See? There ya go.”

“So true. Funny how it seems.”

Gareth squinted, not understanding. You continued, singing more and more rather than speaking the lyrics.

“Head over heels, went toe to toe.”

“What are you do—”

“THIS IS THE SOUND OF MY—” You were abruptly cut off with a few bashes to the face. Well, the stupid plan worked for a moment of relief.

A door burst open, you saw a flash of gold and purple but everything was spinning. The effects of the shimmer were draining you of energy and the head trauma wasn’t helping. You felt something softly touch your head, someone calling your name. It was difficult, but you opened your eyes.

Silco looked… distressed. It was the most emotion you had seen on his face since… ever. Worry and fear. He was speaking. Oh, he was speaking and you should try and listen to it.

“What did they do?”

“They gave… me something like a truth serum… but with shimmer. I didn’t… I don’t think I gave anything away. It really only made me say what came to my head first before I could think of it.”

“So, not much change from normal.”

“I was a little bit more of a dick, I think.”

He undid the restraints and stood. You could tell he was speaking again, probably telling you to get up but your energy was spent on trying to stand. “I… I want to say that I can walk out of here on my own and show how strong I am, but I can’t get my legs to work so I’ll need help to leave quickly.” You looked at him sheepishly, expecting an eye roll in return. It was only met with a caring gaze and it dug deep into your chest, reminding you of the earlier conversation. You also expected him to get someone else or at most, support you under one arm, but he lifted you up with ease, carrying you bridal style.

He looked forward, he may have been talking and giving commands, but you couldn’t focus, your heart beating fast. You tucked your nose close to his neck, finding comfort in the velvet of his jacket. He always wears nice clothes.

You could feel him chuckle and you realized the last part had been said out loud. “Do you know how unfair this is?” You pathetically punched his chest. “I barely have a filter to stop my thoughts but now I don’t even have that. Nothing to stop me from saying how badly I want you to notice me. How I want to be near you all the time. How handsome you are. Scars are thought of as ugly, makes you scary but there is beauty in danger. I lose myself to the all-consuming chaos in your eyes. I feel a sense of accomplishment when I’m rewarded with a smile from you, especially the ones you hope no one sees. I’m so happy you came but I also feel crushed because I failed you again. Hurts so much. Or that’s the shimmer.” You stopped to take in a few breaths, feeling winded. “Maybe both but likely the drug. I’ve never felt so strongly about anyone… before…”

Silco’s voice became distant as your world faded to black once again.

Part 6

*****

Note:

The song referenced is True by Spandau Ballet. If I could direct the scene, the song would also be played through the rescue. *Silco opens the door* Ah ah ah aahhhh ahhhh

Requested tags/continuation: @imalovernotahater @distinguished-jeseter-things @thesinoflust1103 @mochi-clouds @jinxs-monkey-bomb @grapegirly @marine-captain-deku @huang-the-geek @ohworm-writes

Tag not working: @d0nutkaky0in

[adamsdice]

trapper for the character ask 😯

send me a character and i’ll list:

favorite thing about them: He was elected crum boy, so nothing can compete with THAT. But on a more serious note though, probably the fact that he was arguably Hawkeye's ENTIRE support system while he was on the show.

least favorite thing about them: As relieved as I was that he'd left the hellhole that is the M*A*S*H unit, I NEEDED MORE TRAPPER GDI.

favorite line: ( LINES ) " I haven't even got a hanky, and I left my panky in my other suit." , " Somebody sneaked in here and committed a neatness! " , " I peeked at the end, Frank. The devil did it. " and of course, " You give me one more 'sir' and I'm going to perscribe a 24 hour enema. "

brOTP : PIERCINTYRE OFC ( but I like to think it's queer-platonic ;) )

OTP : Trapper x Margaret . . . I JUST THINK IT'S WHOLESOME.

nOTP: Anything problematic, but other than that I have no idea.

random headcanon : Not a hot take or anything, but I think he's more mature than he lets on. I mean him and Hawkeye walk around wreaking havoc in the unit and all, but we p much know it's both a coping mechanism and a way to raise morale around the 4077th. But there are times in which he shows maturity over Hawkeye; I guess that comes with being a father. But yeah, imo he has better judgement than the other.

unpopular opinion : idk if it counts, honestly, but I liked him more than BJ. So like in opinion terms, I think he was better. I like BJ a lot, but I just ADORE Trapper.

song i associate with them: " Everybody Loves a Clown " by Gary Lewis & The Playboys and " Sadie Hawkins Dance " by Relient K

favorite picture of them: As of today, it's:

enjoy the absolute epic-ness he radiates here

[boopsandbaking]

it’s done. Bobby is gone. I have one more day in this godforsaken hellhole with Gary and honestly I just feel so empty inside

[gordvendomewhore]

BULLY OC MEME [CHRIS KATO]

hey!! so i meant to post this uh. MONTHS ago, but...later is better than never LMAOO

if you’ve been following me for awhile, you might’ve heard me mention chris and hollis before!! they are my ocs, and they’re actually from an original story of mine lmao they weren’t made for bully.

this is chris’s template!! hollis’s will be posted right after this!!

also fair warning im not,,, japanese so her japanese dialogue might not be 100% accurate and maybe even cringey but im basing all my info on google translate (ew i know), japanese websites, my friend who speaks the language, and my own experiences with mixing foreign languages into english lmao.

anyway, have fun reading this if you do!! and feel free to ask any questions you might have about chris uwu (photos of her are at the end!!)

[INFO]

Name: Christine Konami Kato (加藤 琥波 Kato Konami)

Gender: Female

Pronouns: She/Her

Sexuality: Lesbian

Clique: Non-cliques, but on good terms with the greasers

Personality: Blunt, indifferent, critical, philosophical.

Weapon/fighting style of choice:

- Chris can hold herself in a physical fight, but not well enough to actually win without any major injury (unless it’s against the Nerds, Bullies, or Non-Cliques).

- However, she is incredibly fast and has insanely accurate aim, which fuels her preference for projectile weapons.

- In fights, Chris will run away from her opponent and turn back to throw whatever weapon she has at them; It gives her the advantage of distance.

- Chris doesn’t really care about beating someone else up to the point of them passing out, she just wants to cause chaos and escape without a busted lip.

- While she’ll use any projectile weapon, Chris prefers firecrackers. She’ll also occasionally use marbles.

[DIALOGUE]

Greetings:

- Hey, Hopkins.

- What’s up?

- Nice seeing you around, Jimmy.

Saying Goodbye:

- I gotta go. My girl’s waiting for me.

- Hate to cut the conversation short, but there’s better things I have to do.

- Someone’s calling my name. See you later.

Chasing:

- Idiot, you really think you can outrun me?

- My parents had to run all the way to Japan to escape me, Hopkins!

- Can’t you run any faster? You’re making this too easy, Hopkins!

Out of Breath:

- God...maybe...I should cut back on the cigarettes...

- ちくしょう。。。(Damn it...)

- ...Whatever. There’s better things to do.

Walking around talking to themselves:

- I miss Japan.

- Can’t wait to see this place go down in flames. Metaphorically and literally.

- 彼女はとても可愛い。。。(She’s so cute...)

- Gotta check up on Hollis later.

- I miss おばあちゃん。(I miss grandma.)

- Don’t the jocks have better things to do than hunt me down?

- Do I have my lighter?

- Everyone in this 不浄な地 thinks they’re so great. (Everyone in this shithole thinks they’re so great.) (Note: the direct translation of 不浄な地 is “unclean land.”)

Conversing:

- You hear about Gary’s new pet? Now he has another weasel to go along with that runt, Kowalski.

- I hear Johnny Vincent’s having trouble keeping his relationship together. And his mental stability, but everyone already knows that.

- Ever light a car on fire?

- You hear about Gary’s big, bad plan?

- I’m not an arsonist! It’s not like I burnt down my entire middle school!

- Word on the street says Peanut has it real bad for the boss. Seems like every second in command does.

Conversation Response:

- I hope not.

- You did what?

- Yeah, no.

- Sure.

- Karma’s coming your way.

- Sure, doesn’t sound too bad.

- Mhm, yeah.

Complaining:

- I wish that Northwick kid would stop bothering me.

- Johnny’s just pissed because my girl actually wants me.

- I love Hollis, but I cannot stand another four hours of posing for one of her paintings.

- They couldn’t just take me back with them. They just had to send me to this hellhole.

- God, I need another cigarette.

- The greasers are so clingy.

Unknown/Cut Dialogue:

- Yeah, yeah, my girlfriend will pay you.

- くたばれ！(Fuck off!)

- ...Naked twister?

- Maybe the tooth fairy will give you a few dollars for the teeth I knock out.

- Who knew I’d be coming to you for help, huh?

- Don’t...drink hand soap? I feel like I shouldn’t have to tell you this.

Starting fight with Cliques:

[Bullies]

- Don’t make this any harder for yourself.

- Let’s make this quick, yeah?

- Your mom hit me harder in bed last night!

- Don’t you think you’d look so much cooler in a neck brace?

- ああ, 黙れ. (Oh, just shut up.)

[Preps]

- Pretend I’m daddy’s black card and run faster!

- Let’s see if your blood’s actually blue.

- Inbred freak!

- Boxing rules don’t apply when you can’t even touch me! [Laughs]

- 青鬼! (Blue demon!)

[Greasers]

- Come on, we smoke together, I’m basically one of you!

- I hope your hair products aren’t flammable.

- Is this because I don’t slick my hair back?

- Is this because I don’t wear a leather jacket?

- くたばれ! (Drop dead!)

[Nerds]

- I’ll let you take your glasses off before I break your face.

- You don’t want a repeat of Alexandria, do you?

- Roll that D20; It’ll decide how many of your bones I’m gonna break.

- 弱虫! (Wimp!)

- Maybe you should start taking that saying, “Hit the books,” more literally.

[Jocks]

- You can’t break my spine if you can’t catch me!

- ‘Roid rage alert!

- Work on your cardio, 下衆野郎! (Asshole!)

- You’re supposed to avoid the firecracker, not catch it with your face.

- とんちき！(Meathead!)

[Townies]

- Save your bitching for someone who cares.

- We’re both poor! Shouldn’t there be some form of solidarity?

- ばかげた! (Flunky!)

- Hit me if you can!

- Chase after the preps instead! They can get you free healthcare if you beat it out of them!

Requesting an errand:

- Hey, Jimmy, got a second to spare?

- You owe me, Hopkins. You know that saying, an eye for an eye.

- I have a favor to cash in. Uh-uh-uh, don’t try backing out of this.

Friendly Comments:

- Woah, you look half-decent for once, Hopkins.

- Maybe you can finally get a girlfriend now.

- New wardrobe, huh? Doesn’t look too bad.

- You finally fixed your looks! Now you just gotta fix your personality.

Unfriendly Comments:

- You make me want to light myself on fire.

- It’s cute seeing you follow in your mom’s footsteps, やりまん. (Slut.)

- Don’t even try making eye contact with me.

- [Loud Snickering] Oh, sorry, I wasn’t laughing at you! [Sarcasm]

[EXTRA]

Demanding flowers:

- Come on, you gotta prove you’re worth my time.

- You got something special for me, don’t you, Hopkins?

- Don’t you think it’s time you pay me back for my kindness?

- A little something would be nice...

After receiving flowers:

- Thanks, my girlfriend loves flowers.

- Such a gentleman, James. Too bad I’ve never had a thing for men.

- ...Are these from the Girl’s Dorm?

- It’ll be fun to burn these, thank you.

Before kissing:

(No matter what, Jimmy can’t actually kiss Chris)

- [Bad Japanese Accent] Uh, sorry, no English.

- I’d like to avoid getting cooties if possible, thanks.

- I got a girlfriend, Hopkins.

- Sorry, I’m allergic to boys.

@video-space this is 4 you....

[statichvm]

Ayyyyy mutual Gary, Indiana hate 😎

it’s such a fucking hellhole lmao. driving through for any reason i’m just

[inkmemes]

last  podcast  on  the  left  sentence  starters,  pt  8 ↪ taken  from  various episodes.  alter  as  you  see  fit.  trigger  warnings  for  death

“do ghosts wear shoes?”

‘THAT’S EXACTLY HOW AGENT DALE COOPER TRIED TO SOLVE THE MYSTERIES OF HIS DREAMS IN ‘TWIN PEAKS’!’

“michael j fox was in it, before he became a human drink mixer.”

“there was no good way to die back then, huh?”

“it’s also known as ‘the scooby-doo gambit’.”

“it was, uh, traumatising.”

“i spent most of the time focusing on the whataburger outside the window.”

“you are just a human cart!”

“most bellhops are naughty.”

“i didn’t go to high school. i was smoking weed out of an apple.”

“it just sounds like me getting off a leather couch.”

“that sounded like robin thicke’s son doing another rape song.”

“they made a mistake. they tried to get him drunk. little did they know … that makes him stronger.”

“last night i dreamt of an old man who just kept saying over and over again, ‘pussy? i’ve had my fill.’”

“the worst thing you can do is to do something you cannot take back.”

“a crime of passion is when you go to a publix and steal subs.”

“i spent all my time just staring at gravestones.”

“did i mature too much too fast, or did i not mature at all?

“you went from baby to teenager to young man to fester from the Addams family.”

“these youths … they are not getting funnier.”

“no one should use jesus as a bat.”

“cops walked into the house and walked out just like ‘um … there are straight-up demons in there.’”

“it was … mildly arousing.”

“he’s really in tune with, uh … with other men …”

“no human can do what that little boy just did.”

“that’s not real; that’s not human.”

“these are gary, indiana’s ... fattest, finest officers.”

“the demons probably felt at home, ‘cause that place is a hellhole.”

“it’s a bad town.”

“let’s not do that again.”

“you’re stupid, [name]. you’re stupid!”

“i heard that wade boggs never blinked.”

“i eat like every cartoon hippo eats.”

“you can’t do something that evil when you’re listening to ‘boston’.”

“no such institution exists.”

“i’m getting a weird signal on my phone.”

“every tragedy is a benefit for somebody.”

“that is not a good point, [name]!”

“it’s IRONY, [name!]”

“we’re all purple when we’re dead.”

“are you telling me it’s gay if you have sex with a male corpse?”

“how do i even get over there?”

“who is that guy, and why doesn’t he ever say anything?”

“tonight is the night that they come for you.”

“i used to drink whiskey in the cemetery.”

“i got some stinky finger there in high school.”

“privacy is a thing of the past.”

“a nude just woman walked past me.”

“i don’t know if i love it or hate it.”

[darkshadow90]

Joker: My thoughts on Arthur Fleck

Hey guys. I’ve made a few posts about Arthur already, but I wanted to make another one. I love the Joker movie. I think Todd Phillips and the writers did a great job at writing an intriguing character that works as part of a Joker story or a possible origin story for the Joker. I think Arthur is an interesting take on the Joker because he’s so different from other interpretations. I think he can be really hard to pin down sometimes. I don’t think Arthur was maliciously evil, at least not at the beginning. I saw a post from @another-day-in-chuckletown talking about Arthur’s morality and I thought it was interesting. So I thought I’d share my thoughts too. But she’s probably better at putting things into words than I am. So anyway here we go with another meta post. Yay!

So in the beginning we can see that Arthur has a lot of issues. He’s dealing with mental illnesses and living in dire poverty. Neither one of those things are easy to live with, but both combined are no doubt a fucking nightmare. He’s trying to get help. He’s doing everything he can. He’s taking his medications and going to therapy. He knows it’s not “normal” to do the things he does. Things like stalking, and, well, killing people. As odd as it might seem to read this from me, but one of the most interesting things I find about Arthur is he seems somewhat childlike and doesn’t understand social cues, but at the same time he’s aware that his behavior in social situations is creepy and weird to other people. So I do think he’s somewhat self aware.

Arthur doesn’t know how to approach people so he just stands there awkwardly or he follows them. And it makes sense because he’s clearly been socially isolated for most of his life. He had no one to teach him proper social skills and boundaries. But I do wonder about his past experiences socializing with others because he’s aware he makes people uncomfortable. I think Arthur is smarter than he lets on. He apologized to Thomas Wayne because he knew he crossed a line. He even said he didn’t mean to cause trouble or make him uncomfortable he just wanted answers. And he also knew when he imagined Sophie coming to his apartment asking if he was following her that she would be creeped out when he said yes. He had a look of guilt when he said “yeah” He knew it wasn’t the best way to go about talking to her. Like I said, I think he’s smarter than he lets on. But even with all his struggles and all the bad things that happened to him, I don’t think he’s particularly a good person.

The only people we see Arthur kill are the people who hurt him or wronged him in some way. We’re not really meant to feel sorry for them because most of them are just assholes. I do feel bad about Penny that one upset me. Regardless of the context, of wether or not she lied to him and allowed abuse to happen or not, it was still upsetting that he killed a helpless person. In general, I don’t like scenes in movies where animals and helpless people are killed. That shit is really upsetting to me. So yeah didn’t like that part. Anyway, it doesn’t make him the well meaning guy we think he is. I actually thought it was pretty fucked up that he was opening up to the clerk in Arkham about what he did. It’s fucked up because he knows what he did was wrong and he’s happy about it. He knows what’s right and wrong.

For most of the movie, Arthur doesn’t hurt random people for no reason. He doesn’t do bad things for the sake of doing bad things. He has a code. He only hurts “awful” people or people who wronged him. I think he would feel bad if he hurt an innocent person. He didn’t hurt Gary and I’m very glad for that, but he felt bad that he scared him so badly. He felt bad that Gary saw him kill someone in such a brutal way. He knew Gary would be even more upset if he saw Randall’s body. So he said, “Don’t  look, just go.”  And then he jumped out and scared him so he wouldn’t look at the body as he was leaving. That scene makes me think Arthur doesn’t like to see innocent people hurt or upset. Up until the end of the movie, I was thinking this take on the Joker was kind of like an anti hero. He only kills bad people.

I find it interesting when Arthur is about to go on the Murray show he tells Murray he doesn’t believe in anything, but then when he confesses to killing the Wall Street guys, he rants about how society treats poor people and mentally ill people like shit, and hold the rich up on a pedestal. He talks about how no one has any empathy for other people, and he’s upset about it, rightfully so. So he clearly does care about and believe in something. Why else would his rant be so passionate? Also, Arthur killing Murray isn’t quite as spontaneous as we think. If you look and listen closely, after Murray tells Arthur not everyone is awful, Arthur says, “You’re awful, Murray.” He literally told Murray he was gonna kill him.

I write different stories about Arthur. I write both fluff pieces and I also write darker pieces where he’s further along his transition into the Joker, and I’ve written a few based on the persona we see in Arkham (I like to call him Arkham Joker because he is the Joker at that point.) My fluff pieces are based on what Arthur would be like if he had someone positively affecting his life and he was getting the help he needed and didn’t become the Joker. My darker pieces focus on the darker aspects of his personality and the persona in Arkham because I like to explore those aspects of his character. I feel really bad for Arthur. I want to believe that if he had just one person aside from Gary who cared about him in his life he would be the person he was in the beginning, but unfortunately he isn’t that person anymore. I feel bad for him, but I hate what he does.

Now, I’ve talked about the persona we see in Arkham and the end of the movie a bunch of times. That scene fucks with me every time I see it. I love it because it’s pure Joker, and it’s probably the best Joker moment in the whole movie. It makes my anxiety skyrocket, too. @another-day-in-chuckletown touched on it in her post. I’m so glad I’m not the only one who noticed the sudden change in his personality. It was jarring to see Arthur like that. He was suddenly much more malicious and had a dangerous presence that he didn’t have at any other point in the movie.  He was genuinely laughing without pain which was unsettling and when he suddenly stopped laughing and said, “You wouldn’t get it” I got very, very worried and immediately started shouting in my head “Get out of there! You’re not safe!” And then as he’s singing That’s Life and the way he’s staring at the psychiatrist and grins at her with those cold, dead eyes, I was like “Why are you still sitting there?! Go now!” I was scared for her. I was and still am genuinely afraid of him in that scene. The look in his eyes and facial expressions are the look of someone who is about to do a very bad thing or he’s thinking about about doing something bad to her. Wether or not he killed the psychiatrist is open to interpretation. I think it’s possible he did. He is full on Joker in that scene. It’s glorious and terrifying.

The man sitting there is a mystery. I always find myself wondering who he really is because he so different from Arthur and even the Joker we saw on the Murray Franklin show. The psychiatrist doesn’t refer to him by name, so Arthur might not be his real name. So I agree with Catherine’s post. It’s almost like the man we came to know over those two hours is a persona he made up and the man we see in Arkham is the real Joker, who he actually is. Smug, condescending, calculating, detached, malevolent, vain, petty, and narcissistic. I just get the feeling he’s a huge asshole, not as sympathetic as Arthur.

I’ve talked with some of you about this before and I know we have our own opinions and that’s totally fine. It’s what makes the ending so great. It’s whatever you want it to be. I still don’t see Arthur in him. Arthur wasn’t like him. It’s possible he could’ve been on drugs in that scene, but I doubt it. I think it’s safe to say since Gotham is a shit hole, Arkham is an underfunded hellhole. It’s understaffed, and there could be people working there that shouldn’t be. They probably don’t have enough resources to properly treat patients, and “Arthur” could be being mistreated. But I think he was actually pretty lucid in that scene. Given that he’s the Joker, I think that psychiatrist would’ve wanted him as lucid as possible so she could interview him. It would’ve been a huge career opportunity for her. I don’t think her using the Joker as an opportunity to advance her career would bother him. The Joker loves being in the spotlight and talking about himself. The whole movie is about him and told from only his perspective, so he’s probably okay with it. But whatever the case, I still think the man we see in Arkham is not Arthur. He’s the Joker. God, I love how this movie fucks with me and still makes me question everything even though I’ve seen it so many times. Best ending ever.

[stokerbrothers]

tmatober day 4 ;; the eye !!

IT STARTED OFF AS ME GOING “ok what am i gonna do for this” and then i was like “oh haha what about chess” and this happened. i love elias bouchard

[theredlanternavenger]

imagine:escape from planet earth but with 💙thrawn💙

(this is for entertainment purposes, not that i have a planet-sized crush on the man) 

okay but:imagine thrawn crash-landing on the original home planet of the human species aka earth, only to be punched in the face by some nerd who takes him home and offers him a cold soft drink, not knowing he’s armed and dangerous. thrawn gets brain freeze and attempts to murder his captor but then the fragile male human’s equally nerdy girlfriend shows up and begins bad mouthing thrawn causing him to get mad-mad. just then, some strange guys break in, tranquilize our favorite grand admiral and haul him away to area 51. 

and so, poor thrawn ends up in the cold clutches of general shanker, who is after the most powerful source in the galaxy known as "blubonium". turns out ar’alani is actually shanker’s beloved fiancee who sent him a buncha blubonium, and thrawn later learns that through new unlikely allies he made at the facility, namely doc, io and thurman. but since this is thrawn we’re talking about, he finds the solution a lot faster than gary supernova did and shanker’s crazy plan to destroy all aliens w/ the blubonium is revealed. thrawn goes totally bonkers and just blows the evil general’s head off, while the nerd’s girlfriend, having had a change of heart, turns up w/ her boyfriend and their truck to rescue thrawn. 

back in space, ar’alani dies of a broken heart after learning that shanker’s dead, and the rescue force sent to retrieve thrawn comes back, having secured him w/ a few others in tow. now an official resident of the empire, the nerd marries his girlfriend w/ thrawn, io, doc and thurman in attendance. 

i know it’s not perfect but this is everything i’ve managed to get outta my hellhole of a brain, please forgive me

[dontcallmecarrie]

Are you planing on ever making By Dawns Early Light into a full blown story? ... And is Thanos an issue in this AU? I think you havent mentioned him in it so well, I wondered?

UMM. *looks over what I’ve got in that tag, and winces*

geez this thing’s longer than some of my actual fics, when did that happen?

Here’s the thing, though: this AU’s meant to be a writer’s-block-buster. Which, if the current evidence is anything to go by, has been a resounding success. 

However. 

As of right now it’s just that, a thought-and-snippet-writing exercise, because there’s a lot of things that’d need tweaking before I’d even consider posting it on AO3 [aka my inner perfectionist strikes again]. 

Again, this is mostly just me messing around with a fluffy tumblr-exclusive [for now, anyway] AU because this feels smaller stakes than if I were to round this up and make it into a full-out fic.

Also, in regards to the second part of your ask: not exactly. By Dawn’s Early Light is, at its core, a fairly fluffy self-indulgent AU, which for me is also code for ‘nobody dies if I can help it’ and ‘if the MCU can have a Gary Stu villain then I can do what I want, Deus Ex Machina-levels of fixits included’.

How? Simple. By nerfing the heck out of him, while also unfridging as many other moms as I can, with a side of I-have-yet-to-forgive-the-writers-for-pulling-this-bs-seriously-what-kind-of-writing-was-that. 

Here’s how the entire Thanos situation would go down, in By Dawn’s Early Light (spoilers for a fic I have yet to write):

First, let’s take a step back, shall we? This is, among other things, a timeline-crunch AU. There’s a lot going down in a very compressed time frame [originally just because I wanted Howard to still be around just for Tony to be able to punch him, but now I’m invested in this so time go the full nine yards, buckle up everyone].

So. The entire situation around Maria Stark and Tony and Bucky’s been covered fairly well, but to sum up: when Howard turns out to be an abusive asshole of a husband, his wife smiles at him and promptly turns around and burns both SHIELD and Stark Industries, revealing HYDRA and Obadiah Stane’s double-dealing ahead of schedule [unintentional fixits ftw]. In the chaos, Bucky manages to escape and joins up with Maria and Tony as they go in hiding. 

Ripple effect that didn’t get mentioned: Hank Pym sees this shit going down, realizes that the most famous missing child in the country is about the same age as his daughter, and decides to not aim to be Absentee Father of the Year. He ends up being a tad overprotective, sure, but is way more involved in his kid’s life and Hope Van Dyne grows up with at least one (1) parental figure in her life, so…there’s that. 

Things happen, and the timeline for bringing Janet back gets moved up somehow, right around when the Avengers assemble.

Note to self: adjust part of Scott Lang’s origin story in this? Compare whistleblower laws of that time era, alt. entrance for him could be him somehow helping Tony hide because BDEL!Howard’s the type of petty and vindictive asshole who’d pull some strings if he found out this rando interfered with his search somehow. 

Bonus for giving Scott and Hank something to commiserate about, later on, and would also have Tony and Co. feeling indebted to him [which would result in a lot of shiny prototypes and records being expunged, later on, probably]

…though that might be a bit much. Hmm.

Reason to bring Janet back: I do what I want also I think the MCU fridged moms because otherwise they’d be too powerful 

Ripple effect that didn’t get mentioned, the second: since this is also the AU where moms get unfridged, Frigga’s going to be derailing the plot from her corner of the galaxy.

Also, since I finally watched Ragnarok but was a mythology nerd as a kid and have a passing knowledge of the comics, time to revamp how Hela fits into this universe.

Okay, she’s still murderous and powerful and ruthless. 

Only, turns out there’s a very good reason for it: she was one of Loki’s students [iirc she’s his daughter in the myths, that’s the best I can come up with atm] before Odin saddled her with the thankless duty of being the watchkeeper of Asgard’s enemies and prisoners. As in, Odin just straight-up went ‘hey you look pretty talented, here, I now hold you responsible for this entire goddamn realm of assholes and creeps, if any get out we’re all screwed’. 

Which is something Hela absolutely did not sign up for, but she’s now just about the only thing standing between said realm of undesirables and her home so she stays put […also maybe Odin sealed the only way back? Maybe? Idk].

It didn’t help that in the early days, these ruffians thought they could overpower her and escape to wreak havoc. So she had to kick everyone’s ass six ways to Sunday, until they finally accepted her as the head honcho of this dump and as someone Not To Be Fucked With.

Thus, why Hela’s known as the goddess of death and ruler of Helheim.  

…and it’s also why she accidentally came to Thanos’ attention.

(Because why the hell not, as if her day wasn’t bad enough Odin you owe her big time—)

Thanos, of course, is in love with her carnage and seems to be the kind of guy who doesn’t take no for an answer. Hela just wants to be left the alone but can’t tell him to fuck off because if she did, she’d risk leaving her home open to attack from enemy agents, which is how we get the story behind why Thanos is known as the madman who courted death. 

[Hela: fuck you and the horse you rode in on shoo you bastard and take your stupid flowers with you—]

Thanos was on one of his especially annoying ‘let me woo you with the ashes of this one civilization!’ kicks [Hela: ashes. How romantic. Not. Leave me alone already.] when some of the Dark Elves snuck out and killed Odin. 

Hela…is only pissed she couldn’t have done it with her own two hands. Also slightly embarrassed that the Dark Elves escaped in the first place, and relieved that it was only Odin who’d kicked it because his wife had seemed pretty nice, the one time Hela’d seen the lady before she’d been drop-kicked to this hellhole. 

Also— apparently she now can leave this place? Sayonara, bitches. 

.

Thanos is very displeased when he doesn’t find her standing guard over Helheim when he returns.

Displeased enough to get creative, as far as courting gifts go, and think that if she didn’t like rings or jewelry, well, maybe this Lady Death would appreciate a shiny, fully-assembled Infinity Gauntlet instead.

well…let’s be honest, if it weren’t for his ‘don’t take no for an answer’ thing, you’d have to give the guy props for trying. Nothing says ‘I love you’ more than ‘here have this item of absolute cosmic power’, amirite? [just kidding]

.

Hela now has mixed feelings about Asgard. Before she was crowned Queen of This Dump, she’d been a student of magic, had been used to certain things. There’s quite an element of culture shock to be had, now that she’s back. It’s the first time she’s seen sunlight in thousands of years, and also there’s a lot of systemic changes going on now that some of Odin’s dirty secrets are coming out at last. Turns out she’s not the only one who’d been pressed into duty: some of Loki’s other students[/children in the myths] came back with stories of the same. Fenrir was apparently voluntold to be the guardian of the Reality Stone, Jormungandr had apparently been busy on Midgard […which now had a school of Mystic Arts? Pfft. Overachiever], and the more Hela thought about it the angrier she got.

Especially when it turns out that her teacher had been mocked for suffering a breakdown and was also tortured by the creep who’d been flirting with her for millennia [Everyone: wait what Hela: I am going to KILL THAT BASTARD NEXT TIME I SEE HIM]. 

However, thanks to Frigga being Frigga and having a crazy-high charisma stat, Hela is still mostly willing to play ball with everyone else on Asgard. Despite her not being happy with how ungrateful the general populace acted [oh, magic’s just ‘tricks’? Here, have a fireball TO THE FACE I FOUGHT MONSTERS WITH THESE TRICKS FOR MILLENNIA]. 

So when Thanos shows up again, he gets one-shotted by Hela, who’s very very pissy about her vacation being interrupted.

Because this planet has sunlight and hot chocolate and punk rock and she’s got centuries’ worth of time off and she is damn well going to enjoy it.

.

…aka why Thanos is a bit of a non-entity in this one. Again, fixits are the name of the game for this AU.

[lovely-lovelin]

hue likes making really corny dad jokes. ava and fox are the only ones who genuinely find them funny. gary, ash and little cato are just annoyed and find avocato's commentary more entertaining. kvn is locked in the closet, sheryl is in gay baby jail, mooncake is trying to eat a cookie despite lacking hands, and quinn's still recovering from spending so long in the final hellhole. discuss

[batmandarknightrisise-blog]

The Dark Knight Rises: Film Review

The real world threats of terrorism, political anarchy and economic instability make deep incursions into the cinematic comic book domain in The Dark Knight Rises. Big-time Hollywood filmmaking at its most massively accomplished, this last installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy makes everything in the rival Marvel universe look thoroughly silly and childish. Entirely enveloping and at times unnerving in a relevant way one would never have imagined, as a cohesive whole this ranks as the best of Nolan's trio, even if it lacks -- how could it not? -- an element as unique as Heath Ledger's immortal turn in The Dark Knight. It's a blockbuster by any standard.

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The director daringly pushes the credibility of a Gotham City besieged by nuclear-armed revolutionaries to such an extent that it momentarily seems absurd that a guy in a costume who refuses to kill people could conceivably show up to save the day. This is especially true since Nolan, probably more than any other filmmaker who's ever gotten seriously involved with a superhero character, has gone so far to unmask and debilitate such a figure. But he gets away with it and, unlike some interludes in the previous films, everything here is lucid, to the point and on the mark, richly filling out (especially when seen in the Imax format) every moment of the 164-minute running time.

the dark knight rises full movie in hindi filmyzilla

In a curtain raiser James Bond would kill for, a CIA aircraft transporting terrorists is sensationally hijacked in midair by Bane (Tom Hardy), an intimidating hulk whose nose and mouth are encumbered by a tubular, grill-like metal mask which gives his voice an artificial quality not unlike that of Darth Vader. What Bane is up to is not entirely clear, but it can't be good.

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Although it's only been four years since the last Batman film, eight years of dramatic time have elapsed since the climactic events depicted in The Dark Knight. Batman and Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) have been in suspiciously simultaneous total seclusion, much to the consternation of loyal valet Alfred (Michael Caine), who, upbraiding his boss for inaction, accuses him of “just waiting for things to get bad again.” They do, in a hurry. But in the interim, Gotham has scarcely missed him, as he's publicly blamed for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent and hasn't needed him anyway since organized crime has virtually disappeared.

Bruce begins being dragged back into the limelight by slinky Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), a spirited cat burglar who lifts his fingerprints and a necklace from his safe while pulling a job at his mansion. It was always a question how this ambiguous feline character (never called Catwoman herein) would be worked into the fabric of this Batman series, but co-screenwriters Jonathan and Christopher Nolan, working from a story by the director and David S. Goyer, have cannily threaded her through the tale as an alluring gadfly and tease who engages in an ongoing game of one-upmanship with Batman and whose selfishness prevents her from making anything beyond opportunistic alliances.

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Commandeering the city's sewers with his fellow mercenaries, Bane begins his onslaught, first with an attempted kidnapping of Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), then with a brazen attack on the Stock Exchange, which, at the film's 45-minute mark, has the double effect of luring Batman out of hiding and bankrupting Bruce Wayne. The latter catastrophe forces the fallen tycoon to ask wealthy, amorously inclined board member Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) to assume control of his company to squeeze out Daggett (Ben Mendelsohn), who's in cahoots with Bane.

Nolan has thus boldly rooted his film in what are arguably the two big worries of the age, terrorism and economic collapse, the result of which can only be chaos. So when virtually the entire Gotham police force is lured underground to try to flush out Bane, the latter has the lawmen just where he wants them, trapped like animals in a pen waiting for slaughter. And the fact that Gotham City has, for the first time, realistically used New York City for most of its urban locations merely adds to the topical resonance of Bane's brilliantly engineered plot, in which he eventually takes the entire population of Manhattan hostage. Nolan has always been a very serious, even remorseless filmmaker, and never more so than he is here.

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Inducing Selina to take him to Bane, Batman gets more than he bargained for; physically, he's no match for the mountainously muscled warrior, who sends the legendary crime fighter off to a literal hellhole of a prison, with the parting promise of reducing Gotham to ashes. Seemingly located in the Middle East, the dungeon resembles a huge well and has been escaped from only once, by none other than Bane, who is said to have been born there and got out as a child.

Here, as elsewhere, there are complex ties leading back to the comic books that link characters and motivations together; with Bruce and Bane, it is with the League of Shadows, which occasions the brief return of Liam Neeson's Ra's Al Ghul, last seen in Batman Begins (in 2005). A solid new character, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's resourceful street cop John Blake, is a grateful product of one of the Wayne Foundation's orphanages. Many of the characters wear masks, either literal or figurative; provocatively, Batman's mask hides his entire face except for his mouth, the very part of Bane which is covered. This is just one of the motifs the Nolans have used to ingeniously plot out the resolution to their three-part saga, which involves at least one major, superbly hidden surprise.

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While Bruce Wayne languishes in the pit rebuilding his strength for an escape attempt, Bane spectacularly and mercilessly reverses the entire social order of Gotham City: 1,000 dangerous criminals are released from prison, the rich are tossed out of their uptown homes, the remaining police hide out like rats underground, and a “people's court” (presided over by Cillian Murphy's Scarecrow) dispenses death sentences willy-nilly. With virtually all bridges and tunnels destroyed, no one can leave the island, which is threatened by a fusion device, initially developed by Bruce and his longtime tech genius Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) as a clean energy source but now transformed at Bane's behest into a nuke, which he promises to use.

Some of the action scenes, such as multiple chases involving the armed motorcycle Bat-Pod (mostly ridden by Selina) and the cool new one-man jet chopper-like aircraft called The Bat that zooms through the city's caverns like something out of the early Star Wars, have something of a familiar feel. But the opening skyjacking, the Stock Exchange melee and especially the multiple explosions that bring the city to its knees -- underground, on bridges and, most strikingly, in a football stadium -- are fresh and brilliantly rendered, as are all the other effects. The film reportedly cost $250 million, but it would be easy to believe that the figure was quite a bit more, so elaborate is everything about the production.

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But the fact that all the money has been put to the use of making the severe dramatic events feel so realistic -- there's not a hint of cheesiness or the cartoonlike -- ratchets up the suspense and pervasive feeling of unease. One knows going in that this film will mark the end of Batman, at least for now and as rendered by Bale and Nolan, but for the first time there is the sense that it could also really be the end for Batman, that he might be sacrificed, or sacrifice himself, for the greater good.

Needing to portray both his characters as vulnerable, even perishable, Bale is at his series best in this film. At times in the past his voice seemed too artificially deepened and transformed; there's a bit of that here, but far less, and, as Bruce becomes impoverished and Batman incapacitated, the actor's nuances increase. Caine has a couple of surprisingly emotional scenes to play and handles them with lovely restraint, while other returnees Oldman and Freeman deliver as expected.

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Bane is a fearsome figure, fascinating in his physicality and blithely confident approach to amoral anarchy. With the mask strapped to his head at all times and his voice altered, Hardy is obliged to express himself mostly through body language, which he does powerfully, and at a couple of key moments his eyes speak volumes. All the same, the facial and verbal restrictions provide emotive limitations, and his final moments onscreen feel almost thrown away; one feels a bit cheated of a proper sendoff.

Hathaway invests her catlike woman with verve and impudence, while Cotillard is a warm and welcome addition to this often forbidding world. Even though Nolan and Bale have made it clear that The Dark Knight Rises marks their farewell to Bruce Wayne and Batman, the final shot clearly indicates the direction a follow-up offshoot series by Warner Bros. likely will take.

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As before, the production values are opulent and sensational; nothing short of the highest praise can be lavished on the work of production designers Nathan Crowley and Kevin Kavanaugh, cinematogtapher Wally Pfister, costume designer Lindy Hemming, visual effects supervisor Paul Franklin, special effects supervisor Chris Corbould, editor Lee Smith, composer Hans Zimmer and sound designer Richard King, just for starters.

The only conspicuous faux pas is a big continuity gaffe that has the raid on the Stock Exchange take place during the day but the subsequent getaway chase unfold at night.

Nearly half the film, including all the big action scenes, was shot with large-format Imax cameras and, with both versions having been previewed, the 70mm Imax presentation that will be shown in 102 locations worldwide is markedly more vivid visually and powerful as a dramatic experience; the normal 35mm prints, while beautiful, are somewhat less sharp.

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Despite all the advanced technology deployed to make The Dark Knight Rises everything it is, Nolan remains proudly and defiantly old school (as only the most successful directors can get away with being these days) when it comes to his filmmaking aesthetic, an approach indicated in a note at the end of the long final credits: “This motion picture was shot and finished on film.”