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tf-reconciliation · 5 years ago

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Prime Megatron vs. IDW1 Megatron analysis that no one asked for

This is really slapdash and was done in like an hour and a half this morning so there’s probably some incorrectness about timeline stuff (especially with IDW1 Megs), but this is pretty much all opinion. This is also really long, so I put it under a read more.

There’s some things to think about regarding Prime Megs vs other Megses with similar backstory (thinking primarily IDW1 [and this is all my interpretation based on what we get in MTMTE] Megs).

In Exodus, it’s implied early on that while Megs does want to reform the government of Cybertron he wants to do it with him at the top as “Prime.” My impression of this is that he has a thought process of “the government sucks, I could do it better, and I deserve to be the one in charge of doing it.”

Here’s Megatron’s speech to the Council in Chapter Thirteen of Exodus, without the narration unless it’s crucial for context:

“In the beginning I had not name. None of us did. We spoke to each other, down in the mines and the smelters, by electronic signature. We indicated each other by function. We assigned each other nicknames. I was D-16, named for the sector of mine where I conducted demolition operations. And then I saw my first match in the gladiator pits. That is where I first learned how life was for the lower castes that none of you ever take a nanoclick to consider. Each Cybertronian in that balcony has seen more Cybertronians die himself than the total of you in the rest of the gallery. Our lives are worthless!

Until--Until we decided we had worth. We, the lower castes. We, the bots who die in subsurface mills and factories creating all of the things that you up here take for granted. We learned that we were individuals by facing off against each other in the gladiator pits in Slaughter City and Kaon, and how did we know we were individuals?” He waited for a moment to let the question sink in. “We knew we were individuals because as we killed our opponents in the ring, we saw in their deaths the realization that they were individuals. And so we knew we were, too. In killing, we understood life. In being the most disposable of commodities--a gladiator, whose remains are thrown into the junkpile to be picked over and scavenged, the healthy pieces sold off to brokers in Iacon and Crystal City--in being disposable, we discovered that we had value. Someone would pay us for what we did. Someone would cheer when we killed, and roar in anger when we died.

So if our lives had worth--even to others just as worthless as we were--then we had the right to names. And that is how the sequence of events started that led to me being here before you today. My friend Orion Pax, I thank you for helping our cause gain this platform; and to the High Council, I express my thanks for your time and attention.”

This is your usual fare for miner-cum-gladiator-cum-revolutionary-cum-tyrant Megatron. The Council goes on to ask him about the bombings at Six Lasers (among others), and he says that he had nothing to do with it and that he “disavow[s] any act that does not ultimately herald a new and better era on Cybertron.” The Council then asks, “Are you not responsible if your rhetoric excites those unfortunates without your willpower, though? Do you not have the same kind of responsiblity that this Council and its members have, if your leadership position is to be taken seriously?”

Megatron does not directly answer the question. Instead he says, “What you have to worry about is what will happen if my leadership is not taken seriously.” I kind of see this response as a thinly veiled threat to the Council.

Now, this chapter is ultimately from Orion Pax’s point of view, so we get his views on things: “Orion Pax couldn’t decide whether to admire him or be scandalized that he could stand up in front of the High Council and ignore the truth.” Orion believes that Megatron is ultimately responsible for these bombings because of his rhetoric.

The plot moves on with Halogen, the main dude on the Council, calling for the Guilds to speak . Orion then gets up to speak, first insulting the Guild representative and subtly blaming the Guilds for loosing contact with the colony worlds. It is Orion who calls for the Council to choose a new prime: “Choose well, for a Prime might either lead Cybertron to a new golden era in history, or stand by as the dark energies of anger and resentment explode into planetwide chaose and war.”

We then move into chapter fourteen.

Halogen then goes on to say that these two have a point the caste system has already begun to be upended. Most of this is just plot and talking about Sentinel Prime and how he’s missing.

Orion has an epiphany: “We cannot count on anything. No existing structure can handle the problems we have raised.” And he realizes that Megatron has realized it as well, but has had a different reaction:

“Megatron looked as if he could gleefully have presided over the permanent and total destruction of every institution of Cybertronian civilization. Orion Pax wanted to be free. But if there were no Cybertron, if there were no Iacon or Hydrax or Sonic Canyons...then what good would freedom do?”

The Council goes on and on about the Matrix of Leadership, culminating with Halogen saying that it has bee lost for billions of cycles and according to Alpha Trion it might be found “in these turbulent times.” Megatron says, very softly, “yes” at this point. He thinks that Halogen is talking about him; he thinks that the council is going to choose him to be the next Prime.

And Megatron starts projecting, in my opinion. He’s angry, which he is allowed to be seeing as things didn’t go his way and anger is a natural reaction to that, he feels betrayed, though he hasn’t actually been betrayed. He accuses Orion of just wanting power. He begins to mock him: “Does Cybertron not call out in its hour of need and find...a data clerk?”

Its at this point that we get back to my earlier point of Megatron thinking that he should be in charge. He reminds Orion that he didn’t know the plights of the lower castes until he met Megatron. He learned from Megatron. I believe at this point that Megatron is having a moment of “Why should the student surpass the master? Why should this more privileged ‘bot be the Prime when I have lived this injustice first hand?” These are fair questions, and I do think that a good portion of why the Council chose Orion as the next Prime has to do with him simply being less confrontational in his speech.

To me, it seems that Prime Megatron wanted the power to change Cybertron himself, and when he was denied it, he resorted to violence. While he was a miner at the start, he is primarily a gladiator. He says it himself that he didn’t truly learn what life was like for the lower castes until he first saw, and began participating in, gladiatorial matches. He knows violent solutions to violent problems first and foremost. He also spends a lot of time in later chapters thinking about “when i’m prime…” and while some of that might be to blame on Dark Energon, I think it’s also a lot of his own thoughts. He first aspired to be the leader of the gladiators, which he became. What’s to stop him aspiring to be Prime?

Now, IDW1 Megatron is an entirely different beast (at least re: early early on ala “Births, Deaths, and Interventions” and Elegant Chaos). I’m not as familiar with him between the events of BD&I and basically the rest of anything. I don’t know how exactly he gets from miner to tyrant.

What I do know is that at the beginning, he does not want to be in charge. Terminus tells him that he has two weapons, his brain and his fists, and he must be prepared to use both of them. Megatron rejects being a figurehead. His job “is to articulate the injustice at the heart of the system in the hope that others might be inspired as one, to push against it.” Terminus is almost pushing him to be this figurehead that he doesn’t want to be.

M: “I’m not a figurehead.”

T: “But you may yet become one—and that’s why you need to listen to me. Never back down. Never compromise. Never bend. The moment you try to accommodate a rival set of interests, you subordinate your own. When your enemies realize they can’t corrupt you, or contain you, or appease you…that’s when you’ll have their attention—because that’s when you become a genuine threat.”

M: “You’re focusing too much on the individual. Lasting power rests with the collective.”

T: “Of course—but the masses need someone to rally behind. Someone to take point. And even after that, even after you’ve forced the world to be fair…the top table is set for one. You must be prepared to sit alone.”

Now. I have opinions about Terminus that aren’t…positive. But here he’s pushing—he’s pushing for Megatron to take control, to lead almost singularly; he’s pushing against what Megatron wants. I think it’s important to realize that at some point you might have to resort to violence of some sort, but I think it’s also important to encourage peacefulness until you get to the point where it is literally impossible to do otherwise.

In Elegant Chaos part 1, present day Megs has a conversation with Orion Pax (we love time travel shenanigans) and he asks, “Why rely on someone else coming along and doing your job for you—someone who may not actually want the job?” This question implies that at some point before the war properly started, he still didn’t want to be the one in charge. I believe that he was somewhat content writing and inspiring people to change the system. As evidenced in Elegant Chaos pt. 2 when Megatron is talking with Impactor: “Because the revolution will be about ideas. Taking a new step, uttering a new word…That’s what the ruling elite fears the most. Violence solves nothing.” Also, if I remember correctly he hides under the table during the fight in the bar.

#megatron #analysis #tfp megatron #idw1 megatron #mtmte megatron #i'm not putting this in the main tag bc honestly i don't care but also i don't want that drama

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f-117-nighthawk · 5 years ago

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More playlist meta bc I don’t wanna do homework and Jimmy kicked me out of the TA room saying I’d been in there for far too long for a Friday (it was four hours! Interspaced between classes! Workshop kit inventory is just an excuse to blast Gloryhammer to me, it’s fun)

Since I was talking about Ten Thousand Against One earlier, I’ve been thinking about the timeline and which event the songs are connected to. Long post under the cut

Turn the Lights Out is... sort of an odd case. It’s not like Remnants of Stars, which is about Galran and my philosophy about how we were created, what happens to us when we die, and the cycles that power the universe. Of course, Remnants of Stars is a little more than just philosophy. It actually describes (in a rather metaphorical way) the actual process of the marthinazik filtering quintesence into new stars, planets, beings, anything you can think of. It also has a very important lyric for much much later like, post Sticky Notes later. Now that I think about it, it actually defines a good chunk of that maybe-sequel-maybe-idea era in conjunction with Soul Extract’s Filaments.

Anyway, back to Turn the Lights Out. It’s an odd case because it’s sort of like Remnants of Stars in that it’s more about the philosophy, but it’s before Remnants of Stars because it’s also kind of an event. If you read interviews with Delain about Moonbathers, Charlotte states that Turn the Lights Out is about Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics, specifically the character of Death. I confess I haven’t read those comics, but my interpretation fits her rather well I think. To me, Turn the Lights Out is about a gentle god who accepts they will not always be seen as who they are but will give their everything to protect those within their universe. Now, who does that sound like? Which characters have been around since the birth of the universe, under various names, whether they be Ibeshganszá, ‘kibrraldíl, Marduzbazí, or Vôltrôn?

You can make an argument for Your World Will Fail to be directly after Turn the Lights Out, but I rather like it after Remnants of Stars too. Turn the Lights Out is the beginning of the universe, so naturally, it goes first. Sentient life needs to evolve for Remnants of Stars to truly fit, and even though Your Would Will Fail technically can happen at any point between the first Plank time and the next, it also happens when the comet that becomes Voltron crashes into Daibazaal. The Your World Will Fail/Dark Matter/Eater of Worlds trio is both a general, entire timeline-spanning idea, and a specific event.

(Your world will fail my love/It's far beyond repair/Your world will fail my love/It is already there)

(Bring me your soul/Bring me your hate/In my name you will create/Bring me your fear/Bring me your pain/You will destroy in my name)

(Can't imagine the violence/The rage and the love in my madness/I am the eater of worlds and I'm looking for someone to feed me)

And then, right after that event, or even during, you have Apocalypse 1992. The death of the dream, the final madness before the triumph of chaos.

You Keep What You Kill is very much the odd one out out of everything. Helion Prime based it off a book I forget the name of, but here it’s purely about Zarkon’s empire. The “Holy Half-Dead” have lost so much of their culture, of the family bonds that kept them together even when their mistakes threatened the destruction of all, but they still remember the songs of glory. And they do keep what they kill.

And then there’s a rather large time jump of about five thousand Earth years to The Seven Sisters. This song is pretty well encapsulated in Child From the Stars (Lost in the Dark) (which is a lyric from Closure, but Closure is later for Reasons), but the other half of it is connected to Memories of a Girl I Haven’t Met.

Who Will Save You Now has gone through so many iterations of what it’s connected to I honestly don’t remember what it actually is anymore. Given its placement between The Seven Sisters and Nobody Gets Left Behind, I think it’s related to the SFSS Genesis’s disappearance. But it could also be placed in conjunction with A Simple Plan and be about something slightly different...hm, I’ll think on that. This song has such a Dark Matter vibe to me, but it hasn’t found a home that sticks in my brain yet.

Nobody Gets Left Behind is really there bc it’s a fun song and when I found 1551 I immediately had to put something in. BUT it is a good song about family dynamics and, well, that’s Voltron in a nutshell right? (and then you get, right there in the first verse, “Don't even try to pretend/That you're rough and just as tough/As when you're missing a friend/Attack and take him back/Cause when the team isn't whole/You've got a hole in your soul/So step up to your fucking role/We might get hurt/We might be taking some hits/But when you're taking our friend/Then that's some personal shit” and you cannot tell me that’s not everybody’s mood post Battle in the Sarnan Nebula)

A Simple Plan is a new addition in the past few weeks. I rediscovered The Spiritual Machines a few weeks ago and the lyric “How long can we hold off ending/How long can we pretend we're ok” hit me right in the Keith feels. So this one is in conjunction with the first verse of Nobody Gets Left Behind. The entire song actually reminds me of Dark Matter with how it’s centralized at one event but contains hints of other things (The truth arrived too slow).

Memories of a Girl I Haven't Met is maybe one standard year (so six earth months-ish?) after A Simple Plan.

String Theory is... weird. It’s mostly there for the title, but the lyrics do contain themes found in other parts of the playlist that fit really well but don’t map to the event I associate the song with. It’s honestly about Shiro missing Adam and the rest of the people on Earth. Which, granted, given the point in the timeline the title is associated with makes a certain amount of sense but...idk. And the bit that begins with “You don’t believe in space” is about something entirely different. It’s confusing, but all inexplicably related to the title event.

Interesting fact: My Dark Matter drafts/ideas folder is actually split int pre- and post- String Theory folders. It was originally because String Theory is such a pivotal moment in the Coalition’s efforts, but it also ended up vaguely the middle of the timeline. It’s the point where things absolutely, truly, have no relation to what happens in canon. The butterfly effect stemming from the events of Shatterpoint (and an implied secondary shatterpoint in another fic) have changed things enough that apart from one general event, nothing happens the same way (and that event is for drastically different reasons). All in all, it fits the weird vibe of the song rather well.

Next is Belgrade, the Ultimate Klance Song, about three months later. Fun Shenanigans happen in conjunction with this absolute bop.

Here’s the surprisingly big gap of just over a standard Earth year, in which several important events happen that don’t have songs attached to them (Roentgen, maybe)

Then we get Birthright/Firewall, a set of songs about reclaiming yourself from the depths of hell with just a liiiiiitle bit of help from your family.

(It's time to take ahold of what belongs to me/It's time to walk away with no apologies/Voices in the mirror start quietly/And now they're screaming back at me!)

(This force knows what you can do/And what you can make/With your tattered shell)

Here Comes the Reign technically starts during Birthright/Firewall, but doesn’t come into full effect until a month later, and then even fuller around five months after that. Meanwhile, we have The Day the Earth Collapsed, which is rather self-explanatory.

A few months later there is Darker Matter. The fic connected to this is real weird, but also real important. Suffice to say it’s gonna be confusing, and a universe doesn’t like the Paladins for a while.

And then we have Closure. Child From the Stars (Lost in the Dark) is actually the first of four fics inspired by Closure’s chorus. (I also drew a picture for each fic. They’re combined into my desktop background, and the first one is still my phone background and my pfp) “I am the child from the stars/That got lost in the dark/Between heaven and hell/I am forced to live on/I am the cause when you sin/I am the demon you skin/But there is no more tears to beautify/This is my last goodbye”

Closure is a rather sad song actually, but the way I’ve interpreted it ends on a bright spot of hope. The first related fic I’ve already posted/talked about, the second would be around the time of A Simple Plan. The third is somewhere in the gap between Belgrade and Birthright/Firewall. I’ve placed Closure at the approximate time of the fourth fic. I actually just moved it while writing this, because I realized this makes more sense after Darker Matter and with the Fall of [Redacted]. I’ve chosen to interpret the last line as finally deciding to stay instead of the (probably more likely given the rest of the album) darker interpretations.

After Closure is Ember, which is actually super connected to Darker Matter which is why I originally had them next to each other. The thing is, all three of these songs are connected to very specific events, the latter two of which are in direct response to the first even if there is a month or two between them. Ember is on the playlist for two reasons: the first is the line “dark matter falling from the sky” that basically required me to put it somewhere; the second is the fact that I keep mishearing the lyrics. “chthonic” is not “cuthonic” (which is not a word, but I interpreted as meaning Cthulu-like) and it’s “riches to embers” not “witches to embers.” Make of that what you will.

And finally, after almost seven Earth years, we get to The Reckoning/This is a Call/World on Fire/Louder Than Words. The Reckoning sort-of picks up where The Day the Earth Collapsed left off, spanning at least a year before going full force into the frantic five days of the other three songs.

(In blood and tears/A thousand times/We rise against/We'll always hold the line/Of reckoning)

(This is a call to action/This is a call to arms/All lives for one, together/There are no false alarms)

(World on fire with a smoking sun/Stops everything and everyone/Brace yourself for all will pay/Help is on the way)

(We have the force to fight/We have the blinding light/A war is more than heard/Coming in louder than words)

#i am dark matter; your road to ruin #dark matter playlist #to the tune of sketchy galore: meta galore #god I hope the under the cut works this is so long #its also two am i'm going to sleep it's been a long few hours #DM Playlists

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lhs3020b · 5 years ago

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Boris And the Baddest of Bad Weeks

I promised an expanded entry on what’s going on at the moment in our national meltdown, so here it is...

Allow me, if I may, to walk back an earlier comment of mine. Some time ago, I was distinctly skeptical about the idea of an early general election. However, the situation has evolved. You see, there was one thing I didn't count on. I never imagined that Boris Johnson would be stupid enough to force nearly two dozen of his MPs out of his party.

That's right: I over-estimated his intelligence. Umm, whoops.

In my defence, what he did may well have been the single most utterly-stupidly self-defeating maneuver ever in British politics. The only sense I can make from it is that he's having a narcisistic breakdown. Actually, viewed in that very narrow light, perhaps it does make a little sense. If you've ever had the misfortune to have a narcissist in your life, you'll be aware that the thing they just can't cope with is any sort of rejection. The "no"-word tends to summon a meltdown - and of course BoJo faced a pretty major series of "nopes" from Parliament this week.

The other thing I didn't count on was that apparently yes, there actually are some things that some Tory MPs just won't do, even if the consequences of Not Doing The Thing runs to damaging their personal careers. This did come as a surprise to me - I'd assumed that blind partisanship and the desire for salaries would ultimately trump - or perhaps, Trump - all other concerns. But no, credit where it's due, it turns out that for at least 21 of them, there was a floor on the greed after all. Admittedly it's taken us three years of accelerating chaos to find it, but it was there.

The next factor that I didn't count on was that the opposition parties got their act together. Bluntly, there was no hint of this over the summer. The speed with which it happened has left me a little dazed. The earlier failure to call a Vote of No Confidence, the weird shenanigens over ludicrous Governments-of-National-Unity, the generalised infighting and chronic myopia ... just two weeks ago, it was not looking good. I was basically starting to quietly accept that we on the pro-Remain side were finally defeated, and worst of all, we'd been defeated mainly by our own allies.

Then the prorogue happened.

It's fair to say that it's already backfired. The obvious cynicism of the strategy, the naked contempt for all the institutions of British government, the sheer gall of it all - it was meant to energise the pro-Brexit crowd. Instead, it appears to have driven everyone on the soft-Brexit/pro-Remain aisle into a state of thermonuclear rage. And if there's one thing that can bring unlikely allies together, it's a common enemy. By pursuing his grandiose "oh look at me being so Brexity!" cock-strutting routine, Boris accidentally made himself into exactly that enemy.

The other factor was that the prorogue has imposed a sharp time-limit. Consequently, Continuity!Remain just doesn't have the luxury of descending into factional infighting. The deep irony is that putting us on a tight deadline has actually helped us. It's imposed a focus that just wasn't there even 10 days ago.

Meanwhile, as for the wider country, well, Boris's walk-about up north yesterday seems to have been a complete disaster. Random people were basically coming up to him to tell him that it had all gone wrong. Then there was that bizarre speech he gave in front of a captive audience of police recruits. It was just weird - proper delusion territory, and entirely-incoherent. I'd like to compare it to Trump, but at least Trump can manage a consistent theme. Johnson was just rambling. There was nothing there, except possibly a desperate plea for attention. A lot of the political journalists I follow are openly-speculating about whether BoJo was on drugs during the speech.

(And wouldn't that be the ultimate post-2016 banter-timeline twist? If the Prime Minister - the Prime Minister! - got busted for snorting crack?)

Meanwhile, BoJo's narc-meltdown has accidentally undone Theresa May's one significant achievement.

Contrary to what many people think, Theresa May did manage to thread one single needle. That was, she (mostly) managed to keep the parliamentary Conservative Party together. Granted a few MPs jumped ship to Change UK earlier in the year, but it stayed in single digits. There was no big split - and, significantly, the Change UK crowd got wet feet about no-confidencing her. The advantage of this was that Theresa May avoided having the Tories fall into what we might call the 1922 Trap. Here's what I mean by that: in the late 19th Century, the old Liberal Party was increasingly-split on the issue of Home Rule for Ireland. The tensions only got worse as time went on. Then Asquith went and delivered the First World War and precious little else of value. (He was notably-slimey on votes for women, and seemed uninterested in doing anything about the property qualification that 40% of men still faced. The cynic might note that Nick Clegg's behaviour is not entirely new.) Lloyd George tried to put the party back on its feet, but the damage was done. During the 1920s, the Liberals were openly-split. At elections, Liberals ran against each other in numerous constituencies. Because of the way first-past-the-post voting works, in practise this meant that Tories or Labour got elected instead. (A constituency has - say - 46% of the vote for any Liberal candidate, but two run. Each of them gets 23% of the vote. A.N. Other Party takes 24% and gets the MP's seat.)

Theresa May's political strategy - yes, she actually did have one - was predicated on avoiding having Tories run against other Tories at elections. Given their divisions, it was a narrow needle, but she mostly managed to thread it. Boris Johnson has gone and exploded that. You see, of the 21 MPs he's sacked from the party, several are saying they'll contest the next election as independents.

It's hard to know just how big a problem the 1922 Trap will be - but, their vote is already split with the Brexit Party. And even the most optimistic opinion polls have the Tories around 10pts down on where they were in 2017. They're already in minority in the House - how many votes can they afford to lose, really?

Meanwhile, there's a further problem. The Tories' drift to the political right may have taken them too far. They assume that their friends at the Times, the Sun, the Telegraph and the BBC can plaster over the cracks for them - but, can they? The media was full-throated for May in 2017, and she still lost her majority. The newspapers are hysterical and shriekier than ever - but, who reads them? I can't remember the last time I bought a physical copy of one of the main papers. I suspect that's true of many other people too. There are signs that the socially-liberal/financially-conservative chunk of voters are starting to decamp to the Lib Dems. Again, it's not clear how big this movement is - but, as I said earlier, how many votes can the Tories afford to lose? It's possible that they could be facing the nightmare scenario of a general election where the right-wing vote is split three ways (four, if you count UKIP's still-slightly-tembling corpse, though they're close to a rounding error now). If the next election was still certain to be in 2022, all this would be somewhat academic. Two and a half years is a long time, they could find a way to turn things around. All things being equal, I expect they would.

But then BoJo had his narc meltdown, didn't he?

The so-called government is now in absolute minority in the House. While their opponents can't currently agree on an alternative prime minister, nonetheless the anti-BoJo grouping now has a majority of 43. They can stop him doing anything. No legislation is going to go through this house. Finance bills are basically dead on arrival. I really can't see how he could pass any kind of Budget. And also, if he does anything at all to irritate the Opposition, they can no-confidence him any time they feel like it. Quite simply, he's on death row.

My guess is that they'll leave him be during the prorogue period. The logic here is obvious enough - let him twist in the wind. He's doing a great job of destroying himself, so let him get on with it. This way, when Parliament returns late in October, they can do the deed and it will look like a mercy-killing rather than a gang-land execution.

Hypothetically, there are four ways Boris could get off the hook:

1) He could resign. This would arguably save him some dignity, and just perhaps it might leave a little room to revive his future career. But, he won’t take this option. He’s a narc. They don’t voluntarily quit. (Plus, uh, much as I’d cackle if he was forced to quit, it just leaves his successor with the same set of problems that he failed to address.)

2) He could try to simply ignore the anti-hard Brexit law. The problem here is, it would give the opposition a prima facie grounds for an immediate Motion of No Confidence. He might get some love from the rightwing press, but the ultimate result would presumably be his removal and a new Prime Minister. It would be the most pointless constitutional crisis ever.

3) He could arrange to lose a motion of no confidence in his own government. This would arguably be constitutional, and might be a way to trigger an early election. But, it would a) look utterly-absurd, b) be an unprecedented thing to do and c) would also require him personally to face the House telling him to fuck off. I’m not sure that a narc is capable of that. Also, there’s the issue that, as we saw in 2017, there’s no guarantee that he could win a general election. I’m absolutely not sanguine about the risks of an early GE but a) that’s democracy and b) if he runs his campaign the way he’s running being PM then he could well end up roasted.

4) He could reverse the prorogue. On the one hand, un-proroguing Parliament would buy him some extra legislative time. On the other hand, his opponents have control of the House, and a wobble on the prorogue would make him look weak. There’s not much upside for him here, though it’s the most “conventional” of the four options.

Basically the TL;DR is that while he has some choices, none of them are good and all of them could cause him considerable personal pain. The opposition have set up a proper four-pronged Morton’s Fork for him. Which tine will he impale himself on?

As for Brexit? Well, one interesting detail is that the underlying political question seems to be open again. It hasn't quite gained mainstream traction yet, but apparently people are starting to ask whether Brexit is going to happen at all. The Labour Party's position has moved visibly toward hard-Remain, albeit grudgingly. The Lib Dems are having their time in the sun again (though, I suspect that glomming up Philip Lee may help them less than they seem to hope). I don't know that I think it's going to happen, but I can now imagine a situation where at the end of October, the anti-BoJo constellation No-Confidences him then pushes a quick revocation bill through Parliament. (The "party line" here would be, "We wanted a second referendum but this man's scheming hasn't left us enough time.") Again, not saying this is at all likely, but I think it is now a possible outcome.

And if nothing else, BoJo's supposed golden hour is turning out to be quite the nightmarish turkey - and isn't that just delicious?

#diary of a disaster #UK internal politics #Boris's bad bad no good week #hahahahaha

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wirewitchviolet · 5 years ago

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RPG Campaign Setting Thoughts - The Origins of Magic

Previous entries in this series of posts:

The Planes

Alignment, Death, and Outsiders

The Actual, You Know, Setting

Today’s topic is something I think should really be the biggest preoccupation of any RPG campaign setting where it’s a concern, but one that most seem to gloss right over- Where the hell did all these spell casters come from? While I’m at it, I have officially decided that if I get a book out for all this, I’m going to include 4 PC classes (in addition to compatibility with all the existing options out there), covering the basics of Standard Party Composition and filling in some setting gaps here. Swashbuckler for a fighter type (never been happy with Paizo’s take on finesse-y fighters, might call it something else), single-school-focus wizards (gonna have to bust out the thesaurus for an unused name), divine casters who allow themselves to be possessed by agents of their deity (will likely come out like some kinda variant druid as a result), and something for the general rogue/bard 4th slot that’s a bit different that I’m tentatively calling The Party Mom Class.

Anyway, on with the magic origins. As I’ve already largely established, I think, most deities don’t really hold any direct sway over the prime material plane, and physical manifestation type stuff isn’t a thing. Divine casters of course open the door for all kinds of stuff, but you need to learn how to pray to your deity first, so as kind of a weird quirk I guess, every tradition of divine casters here is inherently rooted in arcane casters working out the whole astral projection thing, or people coming back from the dead having learned some things out there. The core deity list is something I’d really like to get some creative input on from practitioners of actual pantheistic religions, but I definitely want to get into the first follower of each once I get to listing them out, and how they came to be such.

So OK. Clerics come after wizards, but with wizards, there’s two things to worry about. They need some existing magic in the world to study, and they need a real good in-world reason to draw sharp divisions between different schools of magic. Well, OK NEED is a strong word. You could pretty much just merge everything together with no effect beyond it being a lot easier to look up spells by level and drop the whole school thing with little to no consequence, but I LIKE schools, so I need to rationalize them.

So my thinking is, every school of magic originally started as literally a different school, isolated from the others in a different part of the world, coming at the whole “magic” thing from a different angle. And this of course all only really applies to STUDIED magic. The whole concept of the prime material plane being painted with the inner planes used as a palette, coupled with the inner planes being inhabited just inherently means you’re going to have elementals and genies around from the beginning of time, along with dragons. And while I am writing out the whole concept of half-orcs and half-elves, all bets are off for people like ifrits and oreads and tieflings, so sorcerers are also going to be in play well before wizards.

So really, let me just put together a rough timeline on all things magic here:

Deities have just always been out there, with various outsiders forming as deaths happen and so on.

Elementals and anything else from the inner planes, while rare, have always been hanging out on the prime material, with half-mortal children following as soon as other creatures hit the table, really.

Dragons were probably one of the first types of creature to be created in the world, linnorms especially. And again, there’s some innate magic to them plus plenty of capacity for half-dragon children.

The first spellcasting class to really come about in the world though is going to be oracles. Oracles just happen after all. Mysterious circumstances of birth, ties to the great mysterious magic of the wold, no real teachers or questing or heritage involved. They’re rare though.

Sorcerers are next to hit the scene, because hey, after a few generations those half-genies and half-dragons are going to dilute down to bloodlines. Bloodragers come in at the same time, two sides of the same coin and I see it.

I’d go one further too and say all of the above predate even the basics of civilization. Which you do need at least a bit of to really get the ball rolling on the rest of the classes.

Druids come in next. A long secretive tradition of just trying to study and worship the natural world around them without bringing in any expectations, secretive order though, so they keep what they know to themselves. The more learned druids are probably going to work out some notion that there’s an afterlife thanks to reincarnate being a spell and all, but I don’t really see any other religious beliefs splintering off there. Just a weird thing to not think too hard about while you get used to being a dwarf woman or a boar or something

The first proper schools of magic I see springing up as people really start to settle down and invent systems of writing and social structures allowing for dedicated scholars are Evocation and Transmutation. Likely founded close enough together in terms of the actual date, but far enough away that nobody can really conclusively sort out the various calendars or lack thereof and be certain which came first. You’ve got raw elemental forces clearly evident as something magical because, again, elementals on the prime material plane are absolutely a thing, someone’s going to try to pin down how they work. Elves are out there routinely having their Doctor Who regenerations, along with the odd druid wildshaping, so, changing things around is equally likely to be stumbled across.

Alchemy begins as a tradition sometime after these, largely born out of a movement of skeptics seeing some of these early evokers and transmuters, trying to recreate what they do, maybe swiping some glances at spellbooks. Potions and recipes for them inherently spread around the world a bit faster than a bunch of nerds filling libraries in budding schools, too.

Next up, Necromancy. If humanity as a whole has people who can manipulate the elements, and make changes to people’s bodies out there, someone’s going to get it into their head to go all Full Metal Alchemist and work out exactly what’s so different about a living creature than a rock or something, and start some pretty depraved experimentation. Probably really focused on poisons and diseases at first, eventually getting some handle on the whole notion of souls and alternate forces that can animate a body, and eventually working up to the real serious game changer that is astral projection, and getting a handle on the whole notion of the outer planes.

One of the first proper divine casters is going to come along real shortly thereafter when some necromancer makes a new friend out there... and probably one of the nastier ones too. Like, when I have a pantheon nailed down and need to have a real proper “this is just the WORST deity who needs to seriously be fought against, probably the first to make contact with humanity.

So now we have this divine class I’m working on, followed shortly by clerics. And evil outsiders possessing people and corpses and generally making things less than great, along with giving the whole school of necromancy kind of a bad name for opening that up.

Tieflings naturally follow, and some more bloodlines of course.

Enchantment is the next school to be founded, because we have all these outsiders around now to give examples of how charms and profane gifts and such work to use as a model.

Illusion follows, kind of a parallel development, again, there’s a lot to learn from studying evil outsiders.

At this point in the history of the world, magic is going to have a pretty bad reputation in general, but hey, fight fire with fire, right?

Next out the gate though is bards and skalds. There’s 5 schools of magic out there in the world, so naturally you’re going to have people trying to pay them all a visit, learn a few handy tricks, pick up a lot of other esoteric knowledge as they go, and tell a good story. This also helps really spread the whole magic notion to any parts of the world who haven’t been paying it much attention.

So, the other schools are going to all spring up in bursts, as new eyes get on the whole magic concept. Abjuration to try and avoid dealing with the dangers of other forms of magic (and consequently, one with very few pure practitioners, nice to know at least a few other spells to know how to counter them). Conjuration largely as a fusion of the theories behind Necromancer and Evocation to see what can be pulled out of these other planes without the nastier baggage. Divination largely as a means of working out what’s up out there, and Psychic magic as a sort of alternate take on the whole thing, building up inner strength against these things, tied to monks culturally.

Other religious practices and paths to power are going to spring up along the way, fuzzier to pin down what crops out when without a full pantheon nailed down or major nations of the world. Shamans are probably about as old as druids, similar mindset involved. Witches probably crop up shortly after learning about some of the more powerful outsiders, with experimentation on how to get in touch with such without all the possession and astral projection and so on, and informed by some of the more naturalistic magic practices.

And while I do like the concept of the world’s first interaction with divine powers being on the grimdark side, I would think the rest of the pantheon would get in touch with people pretty soon after. Plenty of other necromancers to astrally project, learn what else is out there, make contact with other deities and outsiders. Divination is another gateway. Religious traditions that don’t involve spell-granting deities are going to precede all of this, and some practicioners on learning about this class I’m creating are probably going to try going receptive on blind faith, getting in touch with outsiders with similar sensibilities.

Then as we get closer to the present day of course, the trade in magic bards got started is going to get books on at least the basics propagating all over the world beyond these few founding schools so regular ol’ wizards with a full range of spells are now the most common by far, magi pick up enough to pair with swords. Arcanists to really go all turbo-nerd and try to break down theoretical fundamentals underpinning everything. Churches get big and militant enough for paladins, inquisitors, war priests. Anything I’m forgetting here?

Oh, and ironically enough, the creator god I’m calling Brin as a placeholder, despite having the most obvious visible impact on the world from the dawn of time is one of the last to really get a formal church. They don’t need mortal agents to influence things, they don’t have any reason to care what happens with anyone’s souls, and they aren’t based out in the outer planes, Really they’re a bit like Paizo’s Groetus in terms of ”why would anyone pick you to formally worship?”

#game design #worldbuilding #rpg campaign setting #d&d

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idexstuck · 5 years ago

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LBTW’s current outline under the cut. suffer with me

1.0 - the letterbomb initiative

1.1 - ceaseless flight (RnR)

1.1.1 - ruth awakens to find rich has gone missing, seemingly voluntarily. after going about his daily routine, he gets a dispatch from verne to kill mysthuntonium. after assuming that

1.1.2 - the party agrees to lay off accelerating for a while, so ruth spends a good deal of time looking around the dimension he accelerated into. while doing a solo search, he comes across a temple that's seemingly taken the place of where he and his boyfriend used to live. inside, he finds a scrap of paper with standard galactic on it.

1.1.3 - at solar edge, johanna and emerson have a surprisingly civil conversation (only because reese and ruth are there to keep johanna from getting charged with murder). emerson does ruth a favor, translating the SGA on the paper into english. it says 'NOCTURNE.'

1.1.4 - with this, ruth is determined to accelerate further. the party advises against it for his own health, but after insisting he's survived worse, ruth and reese accelerate while johanna says she'll tag along later. she has some choice words with emerson, but follows the party to their next destination. led only by the paper scrap, ruth returns to the site of the temple with reese and finds nothing. after consolidations, ruth's resolve to find his boyf is restored.

1.1.5 - in all of her wisdom, verne has done some extraneous scouting for ruth, and says that- in uncertain terms- rich is alive and well. ruth is relieved, but unsatisfied with the answer; verne says that this NOCTURNE is a threat that bears immediate neutralization. his goals slightly shifted, ruth asks emerson for more help. emerson makes it a 'date,' of course, but he does disclose that NOCTURNE isn't connected to the wireframe at all.

1.1.6 - armed with new information, ruth begins devising new severance patterns to break through the wireframe and neutralize NOCTURNE. johanna and reese say he's jumping the gun, and after hours of failed attempts, johanna invites him to deal with things her way. her methods are questionable, but ruth does relax a little, and promises to stop putting himself in jeopardy.

1.1.7 - it's been a week since accelerating into the current dimension, and despite it being the middle of october, the weather is strangely warm. johanna and emerson have an entirely UN-civil chat, and reality starts falling apart.

1.1.8 - entirely unaffected by the strange happenings, ruth damn-near works himself to death conducting tests on the wireframe with severance patterns. emerson pays him a visit, somehow, and his true colors start to show. instead of watching ruth scramble to destroy the wireframe, emerson gives ruth the pattern that leads to NOCTURNE- but just before things start going xiang-liu levels of haywire.

1.1.8.1 - rich, entrapped by the NOCTURNE, reminisces on his time alone.

1.1.9 - ruth falls into the space outside the wireframe. encompassed by a wintry landscape on all sides, he begins his trek, and is quickly interrupted by a catatonic rich and what he can assume is the NOCTURNE, who appears now as a specter instead of its real form. ruth severs rich from the nocturne- or, at least, repels the nocturne, and they have a very cute and tearful reunite. the outside destabilizes without the NOCTURNE at full power, and ruth and rich fall into the septenary gardens. ruth delivers his letter, and the two of them make their way back to the nearest dimension.

1.0.10 - normalcy has, for the most part, returned- ruth gets his pay, rich gets sick leave for almost dying, and johanna and reese treat the main party to drinks on the house (emerson uninvited). even verne shows up!

1.2 - gridley and the septenary gardens (ruth)

1.2.1 - gridley zimmerman, on the brink of death from NOCTURNE, makes a 'tether' with one of the seven fundamental rules of reality: the septenary clocktower of consciousness. through her extreme faith in the goddess, she's granted theodora von ennekern's personal blade, forged with the purpose of being able to cleave anything in twain. training montage!

1.2.2 - gridley is getting used to her new powers, and tries to create an illusion in which her home was never destroyed. it ends badly, and, consumed with rage, she accidentally cleaves an entire timeline apart.

1.2.3 - focused entirely on vengeance, gridley travels around a few dimensions- one still engulfed by the mirror war, one archaic (theo cameo!), and one close to the present.

1.2.4 - ruth gets a notification from verne that a new threat is on the loose. he nicknames it neptuniomega-237. meanwhile, gridley is pulled back into the septenary gardens after a choice incident with 209 (not shown). while at solar edge, she talks to ruth one-on-one, and says something to the effect of 'i know who you are, and i know what you do, but stay out of my way.' ruth figures this is his target.

1.2.5 -

- show off the clocktowers

- gridleys out to find nocturne right? but like shes mad so shes destroying everything in her path (she doesnt know emerson is doing the exact same thing lol)

1.1.x - within the collapsing sixth clocktower, gridley and ruth have their final confrontation

1.3 - miranda and phoebe (reese)

1.3.1 - while mulling over a drink he can't consume, reese is approached by miranda cassidy and phoebe francis with a deal: he can go back in time and get a do-over of the incident that nearly ended his life- no strings attached.

1.3.2 - at the discretion of even emerson, reese accepts M&P's deal- in his eyes, he's got nothing to lose but his life for the second time. he meets up with M&P at phoebe's bar, and after tasting some of phoebe's house mix (bad idea), miranda and phoebe send him back a week before the incident.

1.3.3 - reese, restored to his old organic form, quickly remembers how the week before the incident played out, and begins to retrace his steps at the dis-advisement of phoebe and miranda (acting as the devil and angel on his shoulder in a sense). on wednesday- the seventh day before the accident- he tampers with the strange purple section of the wireframe he encountered earlier.

1.3.4 - thurs

1.3.5 - fri

1.3.6 - sat

1.3.7 - sun

1.3.8 - mon

1.3.9 - tues

1.3.10 - wed

1.4 - emerson (johanna)

1.4.1 - emerson and reese go on a 'date,' and when reese gets back to solar edge, he's nearly killed by johanna. johanna finally admits why emerson makes her so mad, but in vague terms at best. reese, determined to know why, presses further, but she avoids the topic by getting hammered and refusing to answer any more questions.

1.4.2 - while trying to visit an old friend in gracetown's hospital, johanna is stopped by emerson, and, constrained by social order, they catch up with each other. emerson is as slippery as ever when it comes to goals and motives, but johanna makes it 100% clear that her next move is ending his life.

1.4.3 - johanna asks ruth to help her in severing things from the wireframe. we get a lesson on wireframe mechanics, and a nice bonding bit between johanna and ruth. johanna is surprisingly competent, and ruth is a surprisingly good teacher.

1.4.x - within the wireframe, the party confronts 210, johanna leading the charge. in a final attempt to eliminate the neutralizers, emerson consumes the prime material plane. through sheer force of will, johanna survives, and severs emerson's connection to the wireframe, essentially killing him. his body collapses, and johanna is thrown into a (all things considered) pretty normal version of gracetown.

1.4.x - johanna and emerson (somehow still alive), have a chat about morals and stuff.

1.5 - reverse actor (RnR)

2.0 - catch you on the flip-side

2.1 - unit 12 & mirror stuff (reese)

2.1.1 - through a hole in the septenary gardens, the party finds themself on the flip-side, a mirror dimension from which the mirrors originate. they meet johanna's flip-side variant, and begin to explore this weird version of the world.

2.1.2 - while coming back from a scouting dispatch by verne, ruth is stopped by a strange man named unit twelve, who claims to be something called an observant. he says that ruth has tipped the cosmic scale of good and evil too far in the "good" direction, and before ruth can ask why that's a bad thing, U12 makes it clear that he's out to eliminate the neutralizers for good.

Unit Twelve Healing Chapter where he learns how to bake and Heals

do it like in HCDND i beg of you- u12 is concoting some runic shit to contact the nocturne directly and gain its favor- like, backstory then, etc etc

2.2 - marcia (main three)

2.2.1 - the main party wakes up in a gaudy ballroom, golden and clean, but inhabited by nobody. they quickly meet marcia, who has been alive and well this whole time, albeit under the dominion of the NOCTURNE. while showing them about the place, NOCTURNE sees it as a chance to strike. the group splits up- ruth with marcia, johanna with gridley, and reese with rich.

2.2.2.1 - ruth, while hiding from the NOCTURNE, gets some answers from marcia about NOCTURNE and the flip-side.

2.2.2.2 - johanna and gridley have found some kind of supply closet to hide in, and they find out that they're more similar than they thought.

2.2.2.3 - reese and rich share relationship advice (and cooking skills).

2.2.2 -

2.3 - nocturne (main three)

2.3.1 - the party regroups after sneaking around the NOCTURNE's shadow, and finally shows itself in its true form- a body double of ruth. it lets itself be 'defeated' by the party, but not before ruth is shown an illusion in which he becomes one of NOCTURNE's lackeys. afterwards, the ballroom returns to normal, and marcia seems mildly disappointed at the outcome of the battle. she offers to treat them to dinner, but specifically reese refuses, and they head back to flip-side solar edge.

2.3.2 - ruth and rich commiserate about missing home.

2.3.3 - over dinner, the party discusses just how they plan on getting home. verne contacts them with a call and ensures that she can and will bring them home- but the hurdles won't stop after that.

3.0 - zero mercy; red string

3.1 - the helena effect & more on the red string theorem (mercy)

3.1.1 - verne leads ruth and rich on a duo mission towards a woman named mercy helena, who is trying to deduce whether or not soulmates exist. through extensive testing, the answer seems to be no- but in a final gambit, she tests her experiments on ruth and rich. as it turns out, testing for the red string means that she has to sift through the entire story of how they met.

3.1.2 - turns out, ruth and rich met at solar edge!

3.1.3 - ruth takes a dispatch mission from verne, and runs into rich along the way. ruth comes clean about his true occupation, but rich seems to not mind.

3.1.4 - while on break, rich and emerson share relationship advice.

3.1.5 - ruth and rich go out, officially, at a nearby restaurant.

3.1.6 - after a particularly dangerous dispatch, rich patches up ruth in the med-bay. this is our first look at rich's healing magic!

3.1.7 - after another stressful day of dispatches, ruth and rich go out at solar edge.

3.1.8 - a few weeks after moving in with rich, ruth notices his boyfriend is acting a little on-edge as of late. when he tries to ask what's wrong, rich clams up and refuses to answer.

3.1.9 - rich, unable to sleep, makes tea and observes late-night gracetown. ruth, also unable to sleep, plays some tunes on his ol' guitar (gin blossoms, of course). rich simply requests that ruth stays with him instead of trying to fix his problems. ruth insists that rich's problems are his own, but rich is having none of it. the next day, ruth finds that rich has voluntarily gone missing.

3.1.10 - after intense calculations, helena determines that rich and ruth are indeed soulmates- and the whole backstory thing was just a tiny part of what she needed. as it turns out, the two of them are tethered to the zeroth and most enigmatic clocktower- that of which helena theorizes is human bonds.

3.2 - xiao lei and the zero

3.2.1 - a psychic woman named xiao lei asks gridley for help on her own time, and not because of a verne dispatch. gridley agrees to help, but for some reason, xiao lei can't be mind-read like anyone else normally can. she introduces gridley to the idea of the zero- a place beyond any '-side' that exists- the very edge of unobservable reality.

3.3 - anti-freeze

3.3.1 - in a strange twist of fate, ruth is the one that goes missing this time. he awakens in a strange laboratory, accompanied by a woman who calls herself "five" and claims to be part of an "anti-freeze initiative." they chat, and as it turns out, five has never heard of the clocktowers, and comes from an awfully odd place.

3.4 - macy and valentine's day

3.5 - vivian

- theo's whole thing

- alter-egos (main three)

- 209 proper (main three)

- who is R.Z. (RnR)

- astraea (theo)

- vernes backstory (verne)

- angelica (rich)

- vivian and more about the outside (main three)

- em alter (johanna and em)

- diagammathetium

- Girls' Frontline Healing Chapter Except It's Letterbomb! A Whole Part of Fluff!

- phoebe gets in lots of trouble for fucking w cosmic waste

- septenary clocktowers except its mirror temple b-side from celeste

- cass (oldie)

#textpost #NOTHING HAPPENS WHAT THE FUCK

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the-desolated-quill · 6 years ago

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Demons Of The Punjab - Doctor Who blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Let us now look at our first non-Chibnall episode this series. Demons Of The Punjab, written by Vinay Patel.

Curious about her grandmother’s past, Yasmin persuades the Doctor to take them to India in 1947 only to discover that the man her grandmother is marrying isn’t her grandfather, but a Hindu man named Prem. What follows is quite possibly the most well written and emotionally charged Who historical story I think I’ve ever seen.

Honestly this comes as something of a relief. I confess when the giant alien bats showed up, screeching and teleporting all over the place like something out of a tacky horror film, I was worried. Chris Chibnall and Malorie Blackman showed remarkable restraint with their episode Rosa, focusing solely on Rosa Parks and the oppressive society she was forced to endure without letting the sci-fi elements intrude or distract from the narrative. With this in mind, an amateur production of ‘Attack of the Killer Bat People’ trouncing all over partitioned India doesn’t exactly seem like a good follow up to me. Thankfully they don’t go that route. Turns out that the Thijarians (not the Vaginas, as I first misheard them) are just a massive red herring. They’re not alien invaders. They’re just travelling psychopomps comforting the dead. Presumably they’re the basis for the numerous death deities that have appeared throughout many cultures and civilisations. It’s a nice idea. Granted the episode would have worked just as well without them, but it’s still a good twist on the monster of the week format nonetheless.

Patel quite rightly focuses on the characters and historical setting. Demons Of The Punjab is refreshing in more ways than one. It’s a historical, but it’s not set in Britain or America. Some people (let’s call them idiots) may complain that the show is getting ‘too PC’, but I for one am quite interested in the history of India. It’s about time we delved into the past of another country and another culture. New Who has spent so much time in Victorian London in recent years, I’m surprised the Doctor doesn’t just rent a holiday home there. It’s also nice to have an episode that isn’t afraid to point out that the British Empire was... well... a bit of a bastard, to put it mildly. The Moffat era in particular was very much guilty of romanticising British history (the most notable example being Winston Churchill, presented as a cuddly leader and the Doctor’s bezzie mate when in reality he was a colossal racist and arguably the very epitome of British imperialism in the early twentieth century). Patriots and anglophiles can’t help but think of Britain in positive terms, seeing the British Empire as some kind of noble ideal. The truth of the matter is the British Empire wasn’t some Utopian peace keeping force uniting the world. It was a bunch of white colonialists taking other people’s land and resources and not giving a tally-ho fuck what the ‘alien races’ thought.

The partition of India is quite possibly one of the most petty and irresponsible things we as a country have ever done. Crudely dividing the country into regions before picking up their ball and going home, leaving the native Indians to sort it out for themselves. What angers me is that I was never actually taught this in school. I learned about the partition of India years later through fucking Wikipedia. And you’d think this is something we ought to know. Like the Atlantic slave trade, this isn’t ancient history. This happened relatively recently and the after effects are still being felt today.

So not only am I’m glad we’ve got an episode like this, I’m also glad that Patel chooses to explore the partition of India in a very intelligent and respectful way. Like with previous episodes, Demons Of The Punjab is very intimate and small scale. It’s not about the Doctor combating a massive threat. It’s about how a massive threat affects the lives of this one family.

Demons Of The Punjab has a stellar cast to play Yasmin’s extended family. Amita Suman does an excellent job as the younger version of Yasmin’s grandmother Umbreen. Something this series has been really good at for the most part is finding that humanity at the core of the stories. It’s not about the aliens. It’s about the people. Demons is not about the space bats. It’s about this young woman struggling to compromise between committing to her Hindu fiance and staying faithful to her Muslim faith in the wake of rising political and societal tension, and Suman portrays this perfectly. It’s an incredibly powerful and moving performance and it’s her character you feel for the most.

Then there’s Shane Zaza as Prem, quite possibly the nicest guy in the fucking world and definitely didn’t deserve his final fate. He’s appalled by the rioting and infighting, saying how this wasn’t what he fought for in the war. Despite being confused and scared by the ‘demons’, he still accompanies the Doctor and Ryan and protects them from harm. But most importantly, he clearly loves Umbreen dearly, preparing to share and adapt his beliefs to hers and vice versa. Throughout the episode, Prem and Umbreen’s relationship is presented as the ideal. A love for the ages. How the world should be, transcending belief systems and cultural barriers. This could have become quite sickly in the wrong hands, bu thankfully the episode never over-eggs the pudding. We like this couple and we like Prem, which is what makes his death at the end one of the most heartbreaking in all of New Who and the fact that this comes at the hands of his own brother makes it all the more tragic.

Hamza Jeetoa’s performance as Manish was exceptional. From the start you know there’s something not quite right with him as he seems to buy into the India/Pakistan border quite enthusiastically, but I assumed (perhaps in my naivety) that the Doctor would persuade him to accept his new sister in law Umbreen over the course of the story. Of course that’s not the case. Like I said, the aliens are the red herring. The real villain is Manish. Except... it’s not. While Prem was out fighting for the Brits, a disillusioned and confused Manish was left alone, leaving him a prime target for radicalisation. So as disgusting and horrifying as his actions are, it’s hard to truly hate him because he’s not a bad person. You do see occasional glimpses of brotherly affection between him and Prem, a brief window into their relationship before the partition, and it’s this that humanises him and makes him an effective antagonist. Yes he’s killed people, yes he killed his own brother, yes his views are downright poisonous, but he is in many ways just another victim of this turbulent time. He’s a cautionary tale about the dangers of rigid belief systems and how easy it is to indoctrinate and radicalise the young and disenfranchised. Jeetoa does a great job selling this character without tipping over into panto. He’s not some rabid bigot foaming at the mouth. He’s a confused young man who has willingly bought into this anti-Islamic dogma because of his own frustrations toward the British, He feels like an actual person. It’s this that makes the ending truly shocking.

I don’t think there’s any need to talk about the main cast. They are predictably good. Jodie Whittaker continues to blow me away as the Doctor. Her eulogy at the wedding, her excitement and enthusiasm when celebrating the night before with Yaz and Umbreen, and her sorrow and disgust when Manish shoots Prem are all memorable moments showing Whittaker’s range as an actor. Graham and Ryan don’t have as much to do this episode, although they do still have their moments (the scene where Graham hugged Prem and told him what a good man he was made me cry. God, Bradley Walsh can act!). This really is Yasmin’s episode and it’s about time too. My one complaint I’ve had throughout this series so far has been that Yaz has felt largely superfluous. She’s not a bad character by any means. It’s a problem common with many of the ensemble casts Doctor Who has had over the years. There’s always at least one cast member reduced to being the spare part. So it was great to see Yaz finally get a chance in the spotlight and Mandip Gill rises to the occasion as she portrays her character’s internal conflict. Obviously she doesn’t want Prem to die. He’s a nice guy and her grandmother clearly loves him, but he’s not her grandfather. In order for Yaz to exist in the future, Prem has to die. I love episodes where the Doctor and his companions can’t interfere as they often serve as great moral dilemmas as well as the means of exploring internal strife. Watching Prem die, knowing she can’t change it for risk of damaging her own timeline, is painful and gut-wrenching, and Gill gives her best performance to date.

Demons Of The Punjab I think is my favourite episode so far this series because it shows just how flexible the Doctor Who format is and what kind of stories you can tell. This is a very human story that packs a massive dramatic punch and has great relevance to today. As I said, the effects of the partition of India are still being felt today and the radicalisation of young people is something we’ve sadly become all too familiar with (see ISIS and the alt-right). It’s what makes this episode’s central theme, to love and respect everyone regardless of cultural differences, all the more poignant. If Demons Of The Punjab teaches us anything, it’s that we could use a lot more Prems in the world right now.

#demons of the punjab #vinay patel #doctor who #thirteenth doctor #jodie whittaker #graham o'brien #bradley walsh #yasmin khan #mandip gill #ryan sinclair #tosin cole #chris chibnall #bbc #review #spoilers

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son-of-the-omega-blog · 5 years ago

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#SL #PlayTime

#TriggerWarning #Abuse #Violence #Torture

Written by @Son_OfThe_Omega and @ToTheGrahve

Mentions @OffKeyDeviant @Qhuinn_BDBFM @Dehstruction

*~*~*~*~*

Grahve: Every breath hurt. Granted, that probably had something to do with the knife that’d punctured my lung like a fucking balloon. My blood was a flavor I was tired of tasting, but every rattled breath only pushed more of it up my throat. I wanted to hurl, but the gag in place made me fight the reflex. The bag over my head wasn’t much better.

I could still see the look in his eyes. The sheer, unparalleled delight as he’d buried that blade to the hilt, savoring my shock and horror. My fists clenched in the chains holding them above my head, the soft rattle the only sound other than my labored breathing. Fury licked through me, and only half of it was toward the male who’d trapped me. The other half was all for me.

How could I have been so stupid… I wasn’t sure what was worse; the fact I’d become so emotionally compromised and entangled, or the fact it had led me to make one poor decision after another. Until I was here, in what had to be a Lesser hideout, if the smell was anything to go by, bag or no bag. Yet the male who’d lured me, flirted with me, had definitely ‘not’ been one of the Omega’s minions. No matter how emotionally blind I was, there was no masking that rot.

Which meant…

I closed my eyes beneath the bag and tried not to sag in the chains, my mind turning over the only possible conclusion and feeling my dread curdle into nausea.

Lash.

The son of the Omega. The one who hounded the Brotherhood and sought to destroy them. The one who’d helped corrupt Blaylock. The one who’d kidnapped and tortured an angel.

No wonder he’d looked so pleased with himself as I’d choked and struggled. I’d never seen his face before. Never known his scent. A trainee so oblivious to who he was had wandered into his web. And now here I was. Helpless. And furious.

Lash: [Watching the male hang as each breath cost him valuable energy, I gave myself a pat on the back. Ever since my little encounter with Queen Beth, the Brotherhood has been totally ghost on the streets of Caldwell. And it left me quite bored. When I'd walked into the club tonight, I hardly expected to come out with such a prize. Granted the male wasn't a Brother, but still, a trainee was better than offing civilians all night as a draw.

The look of shock on Grahve’s face was worth the effort as the knife incapacitated him, but it didn’t stop the male from trying to get his own pound of flesh. Even unarmed, the male had made a formidable opponent based on pure spirit alone. The few hits he managed to connect with would have been enough to loosen the teeth of any civilian, but I didn't have time to waste playing the games of posturing young.

The struggle in the alley lasted less than a minute before I had tucked the half-conscious male into a stolen car, courtesy of some halfwit human who’d left the vehicle not only unlocked but with the keys tucked into the visor.

The longer than necessary ride looped around the south of Caldwell, dumping us at a dead end road turned narrow deer path that led deep into the woods. Steel chain link fencing surrounded the new compound wasn't just to keep the wildlife from setting off the motion sensors and cameras; any errant nosy human who happened to get too curious for their own health would have found themselves on the business end of a shovel, six down. Not that it would be hard to disappear a body out here, but time was a commodity I didn't want to extend if I didn't have to.

The few Lessers I had around the place served as my watchdogs, the beyond-pale fuckers that had been inducted many decades ago were the last of my Prime squads, well seasoned and hungry for Brotherhood blood. New recruits were being added weekly, courtesy of the Omega, the last of the more experienced Lessers in charge of their training.

Leaving the knife in the male's side during transport was a game; he wouldn't have been able to dematerialize regardless, but it was fun to watch him squirm and pant for breath each time I reached over and gave the blade a twist. I upped the ante and added the element of darkness via a black hood over his head. One more sense of his compromised. Even more so as I strung him up in chains and lifted him until he was barely balanced on the balls of his feet. I was letting gravity do the rest of the heavy work on Grahve's muscles. The pull would only serve to weaken him further, and unlike the angel, sunlight wasn't going to miraculously bring him back to near full health. No, the male would need a female's blood for that.]

Tell me. How's mine cousin, Qhuinn. Still besotted with the fair Chosen Layla? Or has he turned to finding new bed partners?

[Circling the deadweight with a grim smirk, I reached out and jabbed the male's wounded side with a hard fist.]

Grahve: Holy. Fucking. Hell.

The pain that erupted up my side threatened to send me night night, right before it caused a spasm to tear apart my lungs. I coughed, spluttered, the gag and the hood catching a mouthful of blood. My body struggled to cope as I pulled back against the chains keeping me up, away from where the hit had come from. But with the hood, I was helpless to predict Lash’s next hit. Not that I thought I’d be conscious after a second hit to my ruined lung...

By the time the agony had faded to a dull roaring throb, his question finally registered. I’d never felt my fangs grate against a gag before, the sensation uncomfortable even as a weak growl rumbled in my chest. Which I also regret. Immediately.

I tasted more blood and forced myself to calm down. But the idea that Lash was still gunning for Qhuinn made my blood boil. Regardless of how I felt, of what had happened between him, me, Crhis… all of it, I’d die before I let this miserable prick hurt them. And hey, whaddaya know, if he kept sticking me like a pin cushion and hitting the flesh around it, that death was all but guaranteed in a very short timeline.

I could feel his amusement, his utter delight at my helplessness, and if anything it fueled my rage, my defiance, until I was straightening and clenching my fists in their manacles. My chest hurt like a mofo, but it was all I could do until the gag came out and I could tell him a hearty ‘fuck you’.

Lash: [So, /that/ little query got a reaction from the trainee. Qhuinn must have been tapping more than one ass if this male was so reactive to mere questions. Did this hanging piece of meat know my oversexed cousin had impregnated a Chosen, I wondered; he had to have known. Layla paraded that swollen belly around like the trophy she was. She must have certainly had the young by now. Or dropped into the Fade on her birthing bed. Pacing around the dangling and gagged bit, I had to give him a small props for ‘hanging’ in there.]

Oh, wait. [Leaning in close to the male's ear, my voice was a harsh just-above-whisper.] Let me see if I'm reading this sitch right. Qhuinn gave the fair Chosen more bed time than you, so you turned to bedding another… [Inhaling deep only confirmed the stronger scent of another, a male.] … male.

[Just a guess, even with the scent of the trainee Qhuinn had been making eyes at all over Grahve, it wasn't too much of a stretch because I knew Qhuinn to be a possessive male that liked to take things too far.]

And mine cousin didn't appreciate the turn of your.. [Grabbing the back of the hood and jerking it off the male's head, the cold anger blowing off him in waves, hurt evident in his eyes as he twisted, bloodied and bruised before me.] .. attention to another. So you decided to drink away your broken heart. [Reaching out and cupping the male's face in a firm grip then patting his cheek hard, I slid fingers back to loosen the gag.]

Grahve: Layla. Hearing a Chosen’s name on Lash’s filthy lips made my skin crawl, but I wasn’t about to correct him on the little scenario he’d invented in his head. Especially if it kept my partner off his radar. Instead I narrowed my eyes at him as the hood was torn away.

It didn’t seem fair that someone so evil had a face like that. I’d never wanted to break something beautiful so badly in all my life. The memory of his lips on mine, of the way he pressed down my body and made me ‘feel’...

I spat out a wad of blood and spit the second the gag was gone, and whatever self preservation instincts I had left kept me from spitting it ‘on’ him. Though the temptation was definitely fucking there.

“Congratu-fucking-lations. You have it all figured out. Go you,” I sneered, wishing I’d had a lot more to drink. Maybe then it would numb the pain that was sure to follow. “I’d pin a gold star on your collar but I’m a little tied up right now. So how bout you fuck right off and do it yourself? There’s a good lad.”

In my head I ran down my list of options. Insulting Lash for as long as possible definitely made the list, and pretty close to the top I might add. Holding out for a rescue, though, was pretty far /down/. The nausea in my gut curdled into a dread realisation as I recalled the Lockdown, the fact that no one was supposed to be out on rotation at the moment to even notice me not showing up, and that after everything with Crhis and Qhuinn? No one was going to be looking for me…

A spark lit up my nerves. The realisation was so bright I struggled to keep it off my face, out of my eyes, so Lash didn’t see the kindling of hope.

Adrian.

The angel would surely notice I was gone… right? I’d made a promise to stay put and broken it. Sure, he might look for me back at the manse, but if I didn’t turn up he’d raise the alarm. The Brothers… they’d at least know the scent of Lash. Realise, maybe, what had happened. And even if they didn’t find me before I died… it soothed something jagged in me to know they’d at least be looking. That someone, somewhere, cared enough to notice I was gone.

“Considering how fancy you like your clothes,” I tried again, looking around, “I thought maybe you’d have a nicer place. Dad not covering your costs?”

Lash: [Pacing behind the male, my hand snapped out to grip the male's throat and tip his head back, his breath staining from the tension as I spoke.]

Oh I got more than a gold star. [My tongue slid up the side of his neck tasting anger, anguish, and a fainter hint of fear. Now that he'd figured out who /I/ was, most of the arrogance had been knocked out of his sails. Hence the hint of fear.]

You were more than willing to give it to me, weren't you… you cannot deny that scent of fucking you were giving off. The male you'd been fucking must have been quite the tasy little treat. [A slow, hard bite to his ear, fangs drawing that much more blood, coupled with a rut of my hips against his ass for emphasis and I stepped back around to face the trainee, brushing my hands off.] And yet you went to the club looking for more ways to drown yourself.

[I hadn't missed his initial outburst made, I barely contained the giddy feeling inside, and grinned fiendishly at the way his body tensed and grew cold at the mention of the Chosen and his sappy broken heart. I knew I'd hit a low sore spot that I could use to against him.

Ignoring his baiting comments about my attire -mental note to swap out to leathers once I'd returned to the compound, no sense in ruining an Armani- I delivered a hard fist to his fine nose, the burst of fresh coppery iron wafting across the breeze as it dripped in rivulets down his chin.]

See? We're going to have lots of fun.

Grahve: The feel of his tongue against my neck earned a disgusted shudder, my stomach revolting even as I swallowed down a fresh wave of bile. I barely felt it as his fangs pierced my ear, blood scenting the air. His hips bucking against mine brought to mind all the ways we might’ve tangled in the sheets, when I’d been willing, and the reality was so much worse. What would the Brothers say? I’d been about to fuck the enemy… Sweet Scribe… and all because I’d let myself fall for and give a shit about the males in that manse.

What had I become?

Trying to shake off the darkness that flooded every molecule of my miserable being, I adopted a sneer, forcing myself to remember the times I’d been completely alone in the world and survived. I could be that guy again.

“Next time I’ll just look for ways to actually drown. Probably a better outcome than ‘this’ one,” I point out coolly.

My last smart ass comment. Right before he broke my nose.

My head snapped back. I tasted blood. As I blinked through the haze and the pain, I sagged forward and spat a fresh mouthful onto the floor. Well, mostly the floor. Pretty sure a nice bit of it landed on his pants. And shoes. N’awwww…

“No wonder you weren’t in the training program long…” I panted and heaved in a breath with a broken, bloody smile, “what with a weak ass punch like that…”

Lash: Think you're funny? [The mangy fuck had the audacity to chuck a mouthful of blood at me. Growling low, I spun the male around and drove my fingers into the knife wound, pushing deep until his body swung off the ground and something popped and the male cried out.

Movement at the doorway barely registered enough to draw my attention away and only served to piss me off even more. The growl that tore from my throat spoke only one word to the brainless fuck that had the balls, -figuratively-, to interrupt me. Death.

Liquid energy rolled down my arm, pooling in my bloodied hand as I turned to decimate the motherfucker that dared interrupt my playtime. The lesser stood his ground but the fear dripped off him like a sliced carotid. In his hands shook a female body, a black canvas hood bunched around her head and shoulders, doing nothing to staunch her whimpers.]

You're fucking lucky, you know that. [The immediate impact of the sudden additional present hit me, a smirk kicking up the corner of my mouth as I glanced at the strung up trainee. Oh yes, this was going to work so much faster this way. She wasn't a Chosen, but female blood was female blood.]

String her up. [Pointing with just a look, the Lesser nodded without a word and did as told. The female's struggled, nearly freeing herself when her body suddenly slumped, loose-limbed, the lesser having knocked her cold with a fist to the temple. A hoarse growl and muffled rattle of chains fueled my smirk.]

Oh wait. [I glanced at the male dangling by his wrists and then at the female and back to the hanging meat.] My bad. Where are my manners. Are you thirsty?

Grahve: I didn’t know pain like this existed without unconsciousness following. As Lash buried his fingers in my flesh my whole body jerked and twisted to escape it. I wasn’t even aware I was doing it, every animal instinct in me screaming to get away when something gave out. Probably a lung.

The room swam as blessed darkness crept into the edge of my vision. But it didn’t linger. As Lash withdrew, my mind returned. It was just in time to catch the whimpers of a woman - a female. My spine stiffened, my fingers curling into fists in their chains.

Of course. The lock down. With no Brothers on the street, Lash had free reign on the species. Nausea coiled in my gut as I watched him tie her up, and when she resisted, the demon struck. She crumpled as a snarl bubbled up my throat, wound be damned.

“You don’t seriously think I’d take blood from some helpless female?” I growled, glaring, furious at my helplessness. How was I supposed to help her when I couldn’t even help myself right now? It didn’t matter if her blood would heal… me…

I closed my eyes and dropped my head.

It doesn’t matter if I don’t want to… He’ll force feed me if it means he gets to keep playing. The idea is revolting.

“…it doesn’t matter if I say no, does it?” I mutter blackly, disgust laced through every word.

Lash: [Ignoring the trainee’s disgust, though I don’t know why, the female wasn’t bad on the eyes except for the fat lip and swollen eye and she smelled fucking delicious, I indicated to the Lesser he needed to make sure she was easily within reach without having to loosen her bonds. There was little chance of her finding escape, but it was better to overly cautious. Past experiences were still biting my ass in the form of the Omega each time we had those sire-son talks.]

Absolutely, I think that you’ll do it willingly even.

[Stalking over to the female and gripping her chin, tugging it up enough to confirm she was still indeed alive, I let the supple slumping of her unconsciousness hang from her place near the trainee and stepped back to admire my haul without giving anything away. This was going to change my plans only slightly, in the manner that I’d be able to keep the trainee longer than I first anticipated. If my Lessers could obtain another female within a few days, unharmed enough to be of use, I’d be able to send the Brotherhood quite the set of messages. Piece by fucking piece.]

And if you want the female to live beyond the next rising sun, I suggest you feed when you’re told to.

Grahve: I wanted to curse, to snarl my disbelief; as if he wasn’t going to kill her - fuck - kill us both, but what other option did I have? If I refused… he killed her now. If I took her vein, maybe I got enough strength to get us out of this. Maybe I buy us both time.

Biting back the slew of responses, all of which would probably go down about as well as a lead balloon, I went with the smart option. Even as my insides shrivelled in repulsion and shame.

“Fine.”

The word tasted nasty as I dropped my gaze to the blood spattered floor. My blood. It dribbled down my side as I heaved in a breath through the agony of a burst lung. And my broken nose.

“But let’s not kid ourselves…” The words slipped out even as a small part of my brain screamed to STFU. I met his gaze again. “How long are you gonna do this before you get tired of me? I’m just a toy for you to play with till I break, right? Then let’s get it over with. Just do it.”

Lash: [Strolling back to face the male, I gave a minute nod to the Lesser that had positioned himself behind the trainee. The pale fucker began cutting away the male’s clothes, starting with his shirt.]

Looks like it hurts.

[Grinning, I eyed the jagged edges of the bright red and purple wound as he was stripped down. And thought of the angel Lassiter. How his scars were MY mark on his body. Scars I created, a signature of sorts. What kind of signature could I put on the trainee? Mentally waving it off, I knew it would come to me when the time was right.

The male’s body was definitely impressive, well muscled and lean, as a fighter’s body should be. Once he’d been stripped of all his clothing, the bloodied pile on the floor.. wait, was that.. Tipping my head a bit, my grin pulled the smirk routine. He was blushing! Face flushed, aside from the fact of how pale he was starting to look from blood loss, there was no mistaking the traineed was embarrassed at being so exposed.]

Oh come now. [Chuckling darkly, I hardly ficked a finger toward the hanging female and the Lesser that had bared the male’s body of annoying restrictions now worked the same effortless theme on the female.]

I’m sure she’s seen a naked male before, though maybe not one of your particularly appealing form. She’ll be honored to offer you her vein. If she wakes in time.

Grahve: Being left bare before the Brotherhood’s greatest enemy brought whatever blood I had left to my face. I tried not to shift in the restraints and give the game away, but as his eyes raked over me like I was a meal, he smirked and knew. Fuck. Like this could get worse…

My lip lifted in a snarl that bared my fangs (probably the last thing of me that had actually been covered) as the Lesser set about stripping the female.

“Leave her alone. Whatever you wanna do to her, do to me! She’s a /civilian/, right? Not a fighter. Not a warrior. It’s beneath you to hurt her,” I bit out, somehow averting my eyes as the female body was bared, every curve and slender muscle. “Or are you so low I should be shocked you don’t slither and crawl?”

Hey, provoking him probably wasn’t my best idea, but if it drew even a lick of attention away from the female, I’d do it again. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go; me helpless and watching some poor female be strung up and humiliated.

Lash: Who do you think I practice on? [I spoke without taking my eyes off the male, the illborne wickedness boiling under the gossamer surface of my form. Even without being consciously aware of what fueled the process, John Mathew had been my first directive. I had paid, and was still paying, for fucking that one up; the Omega never forgave for incompetance no matter the reason.

So I put into practice what I gleaned from each call ‘home’ to my sire. While it was never a fun visit, I did take away new skills to cultivate for my own use. It took too much energy to reanimate my own Lessers in the beginning, so I used whoever they, or I, managed to capture. Like the Chosen Layla. Now /she/ was one that never should have escaped. The Lesser that gave her the opportunity still decorated the wooded copse I’d blasted his carcass across. Or the more frequent random males and females of the species. Human rats were overlooked for the obvious reasons that they would never survive the capture. Let alone a single day/night under my hand.

Realigning my thoughts with the here and now, I waved a dismissal to the pale fuck who was eyeing the naked female with too much drool dripping down his chin at the malicious hunger brewing in his mind. With a sneering smirk, the Lesser skulked back to the corner of the room to await further orders. Just because they were impotent, didn’t mean that the desire to cut and kill died off as well.

The trainee’s compassion for the female negated his own need for survival. But this wouldn’t do. He needed to make the choice to fight to live. Even at the expense of another should the choice come to it, which I’d make sure it would. Many, many times.

Stalking back to the work bench along the far wall I picked up a long flat blade and returned to stand before the female, keeping the male at the edge of my vision. The sharp steel glinting under the lights as I held it up, admiring the razor honed edge before pressing it to the female’s throat deep enough to draw a nice, slow but steady rivulet of blood to run down her neck between her ample breasts.]

Do you think you can stop it before she bleeds out? [I mused to myself, turning to the feral-eyed fury that was the male strung up in chains and licked the blade clean.]

Grahve: As the blade cut into her flesh I felt two things. One, that I hated myself for wanting her blood, and two, that I now knew such hatred that I would gladly lose almost every limb if it meant the last one could plunge a knife into that bastard’s heart.

Her blood perfumed the air the longer it ran, from her throat, all the way down to her naval and down her leg to her toes. My body hungered for it in my injured state, and with sheer force of will alone I made myself focus on Lash. He watched me, watched every emotion that played out on my face, and I found myself wishing I was more like Vishous, or Zsadist, two Brothers who knew how to hide every thought, feeling or desire. Why couldn’t they have taught a fucking class on /that/?

“What, with my tongue?” I glanced at the red river with a flash of panic and wanted to punch something. Pulling at my own restraints - and boy, didn’t that remind me of the whole gauntlet my body had already run - I leant in closer to the female, breathing in her scent. “She won’t die. It’s not enough…”

I somehow managed to regret the words the instant they were out of my mouth. Because even a statement of fact, or a general denial, would undoubtedly seem like a challenge to the demon spawn. The fresh burst of anxiety, the fear that he would suddenly pull that knife back up and whip it across her throat until I was sprayed in blood, opened my mouth.

“Forget it, you’re right. Let me stop the bleeding!” I pulled at my restraints until I could put my lips to the wound, and even as a mouthful, or two, slid down my throat, I lapped my tongue over the wound, trying to seal it.

I closed my eyes, trying to ignore Lash, ignore my body and the need that was burning inside it, even as the blood started to slow. My fangs scraped against her skin and my stomach snarled, a growl bubbling up my throat. Then I was trying to pullback, my tongue running over the wound.

Lash: Come on, you can reach her. Come on. [The encouragement was sincere enough, I /did/ want to see if he could make it on his own; the pulley system which they’d both been rigged to was movable to any place in the building with the right adjustments. The trainee didn’t disappoint. But I had doubts, I really did. For all of five seconds. And I’d been ready to follow through and gut the female from chin to belly if the male hadn’t stepped up when he did.

I shuffled around the two in a macabre dance, watching the male’s throat work the blood down as quickly as he could, his efforts trying to stop the flow in spite of the need, his body’s need, to keep drinking. I could have played this out far longer than was formally necessary, but I did so enjoy a little drama after a long dry spell. This was merely play time, a warm up session for when the Royal family came to visit. I absolutely could /not/ disappoint King Wrath upon his arrival.

As Grahve’s throat slowed, the working of his jaw indicating he was finished, though I knew he would need more than a few little sips to heal properly, I reached over and patted him on the shoulder for effort.]

Such a valiant effort. Bravo my friend. Bra-vo. See? It wasn’t as difficult as you made it seem. [I paced around the pair once, twice, the female slowly beginning to come to with mumbled whimpers and moans.] Are you sure you’ve had enough?

Grahve: Feeling Lash’s hand on my skin in a fashion that wasn’t torturous was, in itself, a kind of torture. My skin crawled as I shifted away from him, not wanting the contact, the camaraderie sensation. Crhis was my partner. The Brothers my allies. I didn’t want Lash’s praise.

I ignored his question to stare at the female, leaning in slightly.

“Hey, are you okay? My name’s Grahve. Can you hear me?”

I shot Lash a filthy look as the female mumbled and groaned, barely coherent as she struggled in her restraints and shifted in the puddle of her blood on the floor. She seemed to notice that - notice that she was naked straight after. A shudder went through her, then a kind of sob. My chest ached for her; that she’d been dragged into this shithole.

“Hey, it’s okay. You’re gonna be okay, I’m here with you,” I murmured, wishing her blood wasn’t still on my lips, helping seal the hole in my lung. “Can you tell me your name?”

Lash: Looks like she’s not that into you, Grahve. [Doing a back n’ forth between the two, I wrapped an arm around both waists, ignoring the fact that the female was starting to really wake up now. The weak tugging on the chains was indicative of the minor blood loss and likely the blow to her head and the trainee’s encouraging tone.]

But don’t worry, I’ll send my boys out to find you something a little more fresh and easier on the eyes. [With that promise, silent shock painted the male’s face, his half-strangled cry caught in his throat as the hot red scent of iron dripped down his face, his chest and thighs. The female’s struggles were more erratic now, twitching really.]

Grahve: Red. It had a smell. I was covered in it. The taste of her was all over me. Her body writhed in front of me. Her throat was a gaping hole. Blood spurted, oozed, trickled and spilled.

“Shit…”

It was the only word that came out. She looked at me, the light in her eyes dying. Betrayal flickered there. Why was she dying. Why was I alive. Why was Lash still holding me…

Bile rose in my throat as I tried to wrench away. From him. From her. I’d failed her. As she gasped her last breath I knew I’d remember the sound until I died.

Hopefully it’d be soon…

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lovetheangelshadow · 6 years ago

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N'Pressions: How to Train Your Dragon 3

Considering this year is like 80% remakes or sequels (maybe 90% but Nocty can’t math) there are very few films falling into that category that I have been genuinely excited for. And unfortunately Toy Story and Frozen aren’t high on my list of must see movies mostly because I feel that Toy Story should have stayed with the shorts and specials while Frozen is just…it’s okay but not really something that has stuck to me. Admittedly DreamWorks has always kind of a mixed roster of films for both good and ill. I do appreciate that they do try to toy outside the box as opposed to Disney and Pixar that have kinda felt safe over the last decade even if DW bombs it. The Dragons series has often been one of the most beautiful look and epic franchises of the studio even if it often feels like its Shrek who’s the face and Dragons (and Panda to an extent) are the little brothers that pull more work but aren’t really the standard the studio reaches for (looking at YOU Bee Movie).

Anyway Hidden World is the final film of the Dragons trilogy and is a mostly satisfying conclusion. I am not saying like there is giant Green Death sized plotholes or anything, but the journey felt like there could have…should have been more to it. Anyway, the plot is that Hiccup is now chief and is trying to balance responsibility between being the leader and saving dragons from hunters and enslavers. Of course his idealistic concept of humans and dragons living together in harmony is hitting snags since the village is getting overcrowded with dragons and it making them a bigger target. I don’t fault Hiccup too much for this as he wants to do what is right between the two races and kind of brushes off legit concerns from others. As if on cue, dragon hunters hire a top notch mercenary named Grimmel who has a hate for Nightfuries. And I might as well get this out of the way. There are quite a few comparisons at least for me between Dragons 3 and King Fu Panda 3. Both protagonists have to learn what it means to be a leader/chief/teacher, have side characters who don’t really serve the plot a whole lot, and kinda forgettable villains that had a lot of potential to stand out but don’t. And share a connection to someone the protagonist cared about but is now dead. Don’t get me wrong, I get what they were trying to go for-essentially a Hiccup who killed the Nightfury without hesitating and while isn’t physically strong like the other Vikings has the strategic knowledge and tool arsenal to get the job done. Basically an Alternate Timeline Hiccup in a way that Drago was a Hiccup who used force and intimidation instead of empathy and compassion to train dragons. And that is not a bad concept to work with. Except he was largely forgettable for me. Heck it’s been years but I will remember Alvin the Outcast, Dagur, and Vigo. That is not to say that Grimmel doesn’t push Hiccup to his limits physically and emotionally; hell when he has Toothless entrapped Hiccup’s self-worth practically goes off the New Berk cliff, but I actually had to look him up to remember his name.

And there is the side crew of other dragon riders. Again it’s a mixed bag. The best in the bunch is definitely Astrid who can both kick tail and be Hiccup’s emotional support when she feels she needs to. I’ve mentioned this before with my Trolls series review, but I appreciate how they’ve both built up and complement the relationship between these two. Astrid is the warrior who sometimes needs to stir up Hiccup into action or confidence and Hiccup is the strategist who will pull Astrid back when he feels like she’s going too far. Admittedly I rolled my eyes at the romance in the first film (then again same for Trolls), they have actually did go and show why these two are meant for each others and is handled a lot better than Panda or…She-Ra. Yeah sorry DreamWorks, I keep taking that shot at you, but only because I know you’re capable of doing better. The others…I sweat to Nox I don’t know why they are here. At least in the 2nd movie they were off on a separate mission to track down the dragon hunters while Hiccup was investigating the mysterious ice spewing beast and had their shining moments; but here…not so much. And what the Nox is with Snoutlout hitting on Hiccup’s mom? Who thought that was endearing or funny? Yes, Snotlout was always an arrogant asshole with daddy issues, let’s face it, but at least he was tolerable. Even the twins who’ve had funny moments in the series annoyed me. And then Fishlegs, don’t get the baby gag either. Also, as I’ve said before, they don’t really acknowledge the series. Heck you didn’t necessarily need to make new charqacter models. Maybe have Hiccup and the team receive a letter or something from Dagur or Heather saying they were attacked and just barely escaped and then have Grimmel strike Hiccup’s home to prove a point, but still. I get that now everyone necessaily had access to Nickelodeon or Netflix, but you could like say release the series on DVD when you put this out for Home Video? No? For something big on continuity, that was kind of miffing. And don’t worry, Digimon Tri, I WILL get to you someday. Don’t think I will ignore that slight.

But let us get back to positives. If there is one thing that DreamWorks has had a strength in with one or two exceptions, it’s the animation. I love the varied designs of the dragons, the dragon armor, and the new locations. Granted we really don’t see much of the Hidden World and it doesn’t really serve much to the plot otherwise being a catch all ending with Hiccup and Toothless going their separate ways to be the leaders their tribes need. Speaking of Toothless the dialogue-less interactions between him and Bright Fury are totes adorable and even sweeter than Wall-E and EVA. Also even if death, its neat to see how much of an influence Stoik had on Hiccup. Maybe I am reading too much into this but in the flashback when Stoik is talking about the Hidden World and how he wants to find it and seal it up so humans and dragons don’t have to fight anymore, suggests that maybe he took his wife’s ideals to heart after he saw her being snatched up by Cloudchaser that he wanted to end things a bit more passively compared to the first film where he wanted to find the dragon nest and raze it to the ground. Makes you wonder that over time, constant disappointment and death made his hopes of fulfilling some aspect of his wife’s wishes just fizzed out. Hell it would have been interesting to see Grimmel mock Hiccup saying Stoik thought like Hiccup did once and look where it got him. That might have given some more credence to his character or hell have some desire of twisted vengeance against Hiccup and Toothless.

Overall the film is still an enjoyable conclusive adventure even if it doesn’t end things with a bang and pulls a Bye Bye Butterfree on us (yes I cried!). Still I am pretty satisfied with how things ended and pray to Nox they don’t milk this like a certain other franchise. I know about Kung Fu Panda: Paws of Awesomeness but at least the premise of that actually makes sense for a continuation and no I am not paying for an amazon prime video service. I am still having trouble with Crunchyroll for Nox sake. That and there really isn’t much forward you could go with the Dragons franchise. Maybe a spin off with other characters as the focus with Hiccup and team cameoing? Hey I’d be down for that. But as it is, I’d be cool with it if they left it alone. I’m Noctina Noir and I should go and find a way to fit my dragon toy because I accidentally broke it.

#how to train your dragon 3 #n'pressions #how to train your dragon

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tomeandflickcorner · 6 years ago

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OUAT Episode Analysis- Leaving Storybrooke

Well, folks, here it is. We’ve come to the final episode of Once Upon a Time. In spite of everything, regardless of which characters and ships you liked or disliked, regardless of which plotlines or seasons you might have felt were bad, I think we can all agree that this was an experience. One that has probably changed us forever.

The final episode ends where the last one left off. Robyn and Alice have traveled to Storybrooke to try and gather up some reinforcements to help Henry and company in Wish World. And the first people they run into are the Dwarfs, Granny and Archie. Of course, there’s the slight issue that, as far as the people in Storybrooke are concerned, Henry has only just graduated High School, which means Alice and Robyn have to explain that they’re from the future and have traveled back in time via Gothel’s curse. However, their explanation results in the Dwarfs and Granny acting with hostility, with Granny even aiming her crossbow at the two young women, forcing them to run for their lives. To be honest, this part really bothered me. While I can appreciate how the people of Storybrooke have had a long history of a new Big Bad popping up every other week and all, Alice and Robyn were clearly trying to ask for their help. And it wasn’t as if villains were the only people coming into Storybrooke. Remember that when Ariel first appeared in town, she was there asking for help. And Elsa also was not a threat when she arrived, either. So their less-than-gracious welcome was rather uncalled for. While I get that the notion that Alice and Robyn had come from the future when Henry was an adult with a wife and daughter might have been a big pill to swallow, it wasn’t that unheard off. I’m sure everyone in town has heard of Emma and Killian Prime’s time traveling adventure by now. So what was their deal with trying to attack Alice and Robyn?

Fortunately, after they’ve escaped the angry mob, Robyn spots Past!Regina’s car driving by. Speculating that Regina would believe their story if they told her Henry was in trouble, they approach the car. Only to find that the car was being borrowed by Past!Zelena, who was in the process of driving a much younger Robyn to daycare. Past!Zelena explains that Regina was out of town, as she and Emma had taken Henry on a post-graduation trip. (So, Henry didn’t immediately leave on his soul-searching quest after he graduated?) Not deterred by this, Robyn proceeds to try and convince Past!Zelena that she’s an older version of the five-year-old sitting in the car, using her knowledge of her mother’s quirks to back up her claim. This seems to convince Past!Zelena, as she digs out the old magic bean she had stored away for a rainy day.

Incidentally, isn’t brining Past!Zelena into this going to create a significant timeline issue down the road? Because this means the Zelena we’ve seen throughout the season already knew that all of this was going to happen. Unless she drinks a forgetting potion like the way Past!Rumpelstiltskin did during the CS movie.

Back in the Wish World, Henry Prime, Rumpelstiltskin Prime and Wish Killian have found themselves within the Snowglobe prison, where Henry Prime is reunited with Parallel Ella and Lucy. As the three try to figure out how to stay warm, Rumpelstiltskin Prime admits that when Wish Henry used the Author’s pen to strip Alice of her mantle of Guardian, it somehow ended up taking away Rumpelstiltskin Prime’s powers as well. Not sure how that worked, but at this point, there’s no point in questioning it. Either way, it means that Rumpelstiltskin Prime is just as susceptible to the cold as the rest of them, and has no way of freeing them from their snowy prison. Wish Killian, however, refuses to give up and insists on continuing to try and find a way to break out of the Snow Globe by testing different areas of the glass siding periodically for weak points.

It’s here that Wish Killian and Rumpelstiltskin Prime have a moment of some sort. Rumpelstiltskin Prime basically admits he’s always secretly admired his former advisory’s unwavering determination and good heart, stating that that’s why he kept Wish Killian as his partner in the Hyperion Heights police force even after waking up. He even states that he feels that Wish Killian was the closest thing he ever had to a friend. Which is kinda nice, if not for the fact that he tried to kill Killian Prime and the people he cared about on more than one occasion. Then again, maybe the only reason why this scene is even believable is because this isn’t Killian Prime. It’s rather convenient that they can use that detail to brush over everything that went down between S4-6.

At that moment, out of nowhere, Maui’s fishhook appears in front of them. When Wish Killian uses it to free them all from the Snowglobe, it’s revealed that Alice and Robyn were responsible for its appearance. Not sure how they managed to locate Maui’s fishhook, because I seem to remember Gothel confiscated that particular item. So how were they able to find where she stashed the thing? It’s also shown that Past!Zelena ended up tagging along when they portal jumped to Wish World. However, there’s no time to celebrate their escape, as Robyn, Alice and Past!Zelena had found a notice posted on a tree outside, announcing that Wish Henry plans to execute Regina at dawn.

Meanwhile, Regina was being confronted by Wish Henry, who makes it very clear that he intends to make sure she pays for murdering Wish Snowing. Regina tries to explain that it was all a mistake and that she didn’t mean to kill them, which is rather stupid. What, she just accidentally crushed their hearts? Even if she hadn’t figured out at the time that Wish Snowing were real people (which was extremely moronic to begin with), she still knew exactly what she was doing. Just saying, Regina. Instead of trying to make excuses, maybe you should try and own up to what you did and apologize to Wish Henry.

Regardless, Regina goes on to try and beseech Wish Henry to look inside himself and find the brave and kind person she knows him to be. She even states that, in another version of reality, she is Henry’s adoptive mother. And because of that, she doesn’t want to see anything happen to Wish Henry. As one would expect, Wish Henry isn’t swayed by Regina’s words and announces that she will die in the morning for what she’s done.

Later on, Regina is, I guess, having some sort of dream sequence where she’s visited by the spirit of Robin. In the dream, Spirit Robin gives Regina a bit of a pep talk, stating that perhaps she can find a way to convince Wish Henry that no one’s path is set and that he can let go of his desire for vengeance. The topic then turns to the sorrow that their lives together was so short. Now for the record, I was overall okay with Outlaw Queen. At least when Robin wasn’t being reduced to Regina’s glorified arm candy. But this scene seemed to come out of nowhere. I might have forgotten, but I don’t think Regina mentioned Robin once during this whole season. Not even when she was starting to get into that whole quasi-relationship with Facilier. Not that Regina seemed all that upset upon learning that Facilier died, of course. (How did those two even meet again? They never explained.) Personally, I think it would have made more sense for Robin’s spirit to come to Robyn. After all, we’d already seen her discussing how much she wished she’d gotten to know her namesake in 7x14. So why couldn’t Spirit Robin drop in to say hello to the daughter he never got the chance to know? It’s a bit annoying how Robin is once again being reduced to being nothing more than Regina’s love interest. Not to mention I’m kinda miffed how we never got to see Roland again. Why can’t Robyn get the chance to meet her half-brother?

Anyway, Henry and the rest of the New Nevengers come up with a plan to rescue Regina from Wish Henry’s dungeons. The plan involves Wish Killian and Robyn creating a diversion so Henry can sneak in and free Regina. During this scene, we get a rather endearing interaction between Wish Killian and Robyn. It seems that the curse on Wish Killian’s heart is getting worse, leading him to think that his time is almost up. So he asks Robyn to look after Alice for him after he dies. This leads to Robyn admitting that she’s planning on marrying Alice when the time is right, and she asks for Wish Killian’s blessing to propose, with Wish Killian gladly granting it. In gratitude, Robyn informs Wish Kilian that she refuses to accept that he’ll die, stating that no matter what, he’s going to be around to walk Alice down the aisle. With that said, Wish Killian and Robyn initiate the distraction, with Wish Killian charging at Wish Henry’s soldiers with his sword drawn and Robyn firing off a few arrows.

Down in the dungeons, Henry manages to locate Regina’s cell, but before he can get her out, they’re discovered by more of Wish Henry’s guards. For a few tense moments, it looks as if Henry is in a real pickle. But then, out of nowhere, Snow and Charming appear. I guess they were told about Robyn and Alice’s brief appearance in Storybrooke and, unlike Granny and the Dwarfs, weren’t so quick to dismiss their claims. And as such, have come to provide some backup. Although, this brings up another issue. Because Snow and Charming now know that Henry and company will eventually wind up here after Young Henry leaves on his soul-searching quest. If that’s the case, how come Emma, Killian Prime, Regina and Zelena were caught unawares by all the stuff that went down throughout the season? Just saying, Snow doesn’t have the best track record in keeping her mouth shut.

Time Travel Paradoxes aside, Snow and Charming convene with the New Nevengers in the Wish World equivalent of their old war room, where they discuss the matter of how to defeat Wish Rumpelstiltskin and figure out how to free Wish Henry from his grip. It’s here that Wish Rumpelstiltskin’s ultimate plan is revealed. Basically, he’s taking advantage of the fact that Wish Henry also holds the position of the Author. Apparently, if the Author’s heart is filled with enough anger and malice, it can trigger some kind of spell that can trap people within their own personal Prison Book. Once inside the Prison Book, the captured person is doomed to an eternity of isolation. And Wish Rumpelstiltskin has a Prison Book for everyone. (I wonder. Were A&E making an intentional reference to the Myst game series here, or is this just a coincidence?) There’s also a scene when Wish Rumpelstiltskin tests out this Prison Book spell on Wish Blue Fairy. Because, yeah, Rumpelstiltskin is racist against fairies no matter which version it is. Once Snowing and the New Nevengers learn of this plan, they set off to find a way to stop him. Snowing decide to go off and try and inspire the people of the surrounding villages to not lose hope. Not sure what that would accomplish, to be honest. Maybe they felt that, if the New Nevengers couldn’t find a way to prevent everyone from getting trapped, then the trapped people would still have hope that they could escape and therefore not give into despair. Either way, I can’t help but think this might have resulted in a lot of confused villagers. After all, in Wish World, Snow and Charming were not only dead, but had also been considerably older. Wouldn’t seeing a younger version of the dead monarchs lead to a lot of confusion?

Regardless, Wish Killian, Henry, Alice and Robyn head off to try and find Rumpelstiltskin Prime, who has been off doing his own thing (which involved him revisiting his memories of Belle via dreamcatcher and being morose over the fact that he probably won’t be able to rejoin her in the afterlife now that the Guardian no longer exists). And Regina goes off to face Wish Henry, in the hopes that she can convince him to let go of his anger so the Prison Book spell couldn’t be cast. Can’t remember where Parallel Ella, Lucy and Past!Zelena went during this whole thing. They just kinda disappeared from the episode at this point. Maybe they went with Snow and Charming? Who knows?

When they locate Rumpelstiltskin Prime, he reveals that he’s discovered Wish Rumpelstiltskin has managed to squirrel away a bit of backup magic in case he ever found himself of need of it. Rumpelstiltskin Prime decides to utilize that bit of magic in order to rip out Wish Rumpelstiltskin’s heart. If he can do that, then it will all be over. (Wasn’t that what they tried to do with Evil Queenie Poo when Regina drank the Jekyll Juice? Look how well that one went over.) However, it doesn’t matter, because Wish Rumpelstiltskin makes his appearance known at that point and proceeds to gloat that he’s already succeeded in corrupting Wish Henry’s heart. To prove his statement, he conjures up the Prison Books for Henry, Wish Killian, Robyn and Alice. And because Wish Henry is, at that very moment, engaged in a duel with Regina, the Prison Book spell begins to activate, with the five of them getting sucked towards their individual Prison Books.

This scene gets rather nail biting, as Henry, Robyn, Alice, Wish Killian and Rumpelstiltskin Prime are all trying to hold on to a nearby long table for dear life, but it’s clear that they won’t be able to hold on forever. This is driven home when Alice starts to lose her grip, much to Robyn and Wish Killian’s horror. In desperation, Wish Killian, disregarding his cursed heart, maneuvers himself close enough to Alice to grab hold of her just as her grip on the long table fails.

However, in the nick of time, Regina manages to get through to Wish Henry, stating that he isn’t alone that his life means everything to her, etc. etc. This apparently works, as Wish Henry relents, allowing Regina to embrace him. To be honest, this seemed a bit anticlimactic, but I guess Wish Henry was already starting to second guess himself, since he’d realized Regina willingly approached him despite knowing that he probably wouldn’t have listened to what she had to tell him. But the moment he gives up on getting revenge on Regina, the Prison Book spell stops.

Unfortunately, it seems like it’s too late for Wish Killian, as the effort involved in keeping Alice from getting sucked up into her Prison Book resulted in his cursed heart completely giving out. As a devastated Alice cradles his body in her arms, Rumpelstiltskin Prime has a final confrontation with Wish Rumpelstiltskin. They pretty much go back and forth for a bit over which version of them is the strong one, with Wish Rumpelstiltskin stating that Rumpelstiltskin Prime has become a pathetic shell of his former self and Rumpelstiltskin Prime stating that he’s actually evolved into the strongest form of himself. Eventually, Rumpelstiltskin Prime reveals he’s finally learned the moral of the story- that doing good doesn’t count if you’re only doing it for the reward. You have to do the right thing just because it’s the right thing. With those words, he uses the magic he got from Wish Rumpelstiltskin’s backup stock to rip out his own heart so he can place it within Wish Killian’s body. This ends up killing not just Rumpelstiltskin Prime but Wish Rumpelstiltskin as well. Okay, that’s great and all. But I’m still scratching my head over how Wish Rumpelstiltskin’s life was somehow tethered to Rumpelstiltskin Prime. It’s not as if they were connected through Jekyll Juice the way Regina and Evil Queenie Poo were in S6. Just saying, it’s not as if Wish Killian would die if Killian Prime died.

Also, how would this magical transplant thing help bring Wish Killian back to life? It didn’t exactly help Victor Frankenstein’s brother. Or Daniel. The only known case of this working was with Snow and Charming, when they performed the heart spilt. And it was pretty much stated that this only worked because Snow and Charming were True Love. So how exactly would Rumpelstiltskin Prime’s heart bring Wish Killian back to life?

Regardless of how it doesn’t make a lot of sense, it still works. Not that I’m complaining, of course. Especially since it means that Wish Killian is no longer affected by the Curse of the Poisoned Heart, which enables him to properly hug Alice at last. And because Rumpelstiltskin Prime died doing the right thing for the right reasons, and without caring about the reward, he ends up being granted a reprieve. Which allows him to reunite with Belle in the afterlife. Those of you who know me know that I’ve been more or less opposed to Rumbelle since the start of S4. But to be honest, I guess I can live with this. After all, it really seems as if Rumpelstiltskin FINALLY learned his lesson this time and realized that good deeds don’t count if you’re only doing them to earn brownie points. That’s kinda on par with Christian teachings. Even someone who repents of their sins at the last minute is granted forgiveness. The ONLY thing that bothers me about how this turned out is the fact that we’re told Rumpelstiltskin’s happy ending doesn’t in any way include his LIVING SON! What’s poor Gideon supposed to do now? He’s completely alone in the world now.

Also, I noticed something during this episode. Wish Henry seems to have a scar above his eyebrow. And in that scene when Young Henry was fighting the dragon at the start of the last episode, he ended up getting a nasty cut in the same place. Does that mean that was actually supposed to be Wish Henry in the opening scene of last episode? If so, why was Wish Rumpelstiltskin saying he came all the way from the Wish Realm? Wouldn’t the fact that we were looking at Wish Henry mean we were IN Wish World? I’m so confused.

And now, we’ve come to the aftermath. An undetermined amount of time later, Henry Prime and Wish Henry both approach Regina, who has been off on her own reflecting on everything that has happened. It’s here that Regina reveals she’s got an idea. She’s found the Wish World version of the scroll she’d used to cast the original Dark Curse (because Wish Regina never got the chance to utilize it.) She states she plans on using it, but with some drastic alterations. Instead of crushing the heart of the thing she loves the most, she plans to combine the love of all the people she cares about to turn the Dark Curse into something else. Basically, instead of bringing people into the Land Without Magic and separating everyone, this new twist on the Dark Curse will essentially merge all of the magical realms together. In other words, all the different realms in the entire multiverse will be joined together into one gigantic realm tucked away inside a pocket dimension located in a secluded corner of Maine.

Okay, to be perfectly honest, I’m still unsure how I feel about this. I mean, at face value, I can see how that might be cool. As Regina points out, it would mean that nobody would be separated from one another by dimensional barriers anymore. And you wouldn’t have to worry about locating a magic bean anymore to realm jump. (Though I suppose that’s going to put Anton out of a job.) Not to mention the obvious pros. This would mean that Emma would now be able to visit her friend, Elsa, at any time. And it’ll be that much easier for Ruby to swing by with Dorothy to see Granny and her BFF, Snow, during certain weekends.

But there are some pretty significant problems that I don’t think they bothered to address before they came up with this idea:

1) What if the people who lived in the different realms didn’t want to be directly linked to Storybrooke? Granted I got the impression during, that whole flyby of the newly established United Realms, it still looks like each realm is still granted their own designated area. They’re not made an actual part of Storybrooke. I guess it could be compared to the United States, in a way. Texas and California are technically part of the same county, but they’re still able to be treated as separate from one another. But even so, it’s rather presumptuous of Regina to make the decision to combine all the realms together without bothering to see how the people in all the different realms felt about it. Considering the way Grumpy and the others greeted Alice and Robyn when they first arrived in Storybrooke, I can see the people in the other realms wanting as much distance between them and that town as possible.

2) Wouldn’t this introduce a lot of new dangers to Storybrooke and the other realms? If you’re going to connect all the realms together, you’re kinda making it easier for ogres, the Jabberwocky, and people like Blackbeard to have limitless access to areas they didn’t have before. Not to mention the fact that there might be certain diseases that could now spread rampant, leading to possible epidemics. Just saying, think of how many Native Americans died from things like smallpox when the Europeans brought the disease over with them. In much the same way, there might be a particular illness that the people of Oz have developed a natural immunity to while denizens of Wonderland might have never been exposed to it before.

3) The fact that Wish World is being included in this whole plan is going to potentially lead to a lot of confusion. Because there’s now going to be two versions of practiclly everybody. We’re talking two Grannys, two Augusts, two sets of Dwarfs etc. The only people in Storybrooke who won’t have a doppelganger are Snowing and Geppetto, since Wish Snowing and Wish Geppetto are dead. And of course Emma, because I think we’re now supposed to conclude Wish World and its entire history was created around Emma. On the other hand, there’s probably going to be THREE Reginas running around- Regina Prime, Evil Queenie Poo (who had settled into Enchanted Forest Prime with Wish Robin) and the now elderly Wish Regina. I’m sorry, but do we really need that many Reginas? To quote Killian Prime from 3x05: ‘I can barely stomach one.’

4) The obvious time paradox going on right now. If this whole ordeal in Hyperion Heights and Wish World have been taken place in the past, around the time when Young Henry left home in 7x01, then wouldn’t this mess around with the timeline? So, you’re telling me that Henry Prime was off adventuring in Parallel Enchanted Forest at the same time that Post-Adventure Regina was merging all the realms together? If that was the case, shouldn’t Pre-Adventure Regina have already known everything was going to happen? Not to mention that this probably means Robyn has to share legroom with her five-year-old self. Show, you’re not Doctor Who! You don’t get to throw this Wibbly-Wobbly-Timey-Wimey crap at me!

Regardless, this plan of Regina is put into effect. And in the big fly-by over the new United Realms, we see quite a few cameos. While I’m sure I’m missing some, I believe I spotted the Nautilus, Tinkerbell, the Queen’s Castle from the Enchanted Forest, Camelot (I think), Oz, Arendelle, the Beanstalk, Agrabah, and the Land of Untold Stories. We also catch a glimpse of a dragon. According to an off-camera conversation between Regina and Zelena, the dragon we see is Lily. Indecently, we FINALLY get acknowledgement that Lily tracked down her Dragon Daddy. Turns out that the mystery father was Zorro. Because apparently Zorro can turn into a dragon in this universe. Interesting choice.

But that brings us to the final epilogue. Zelena is bringing Regina to Snow and Charming’s castle in the Enchanted Forest Prime sector. (Wonder where Chad was during this scene. Didn’t Zelena end up marrying him?) It’s revealed that they plan on crowning Regina as the supreme ruler of the United Realms. Ugh, yeah. Don’t get me wrong, because as I’ve said before, I’ve mostly been okay with Regina throughout this season. But why should she get to be the Supreme Ruler? Why does there even need to be a Supreme Ruler in the first place? You can’t tell me all the other royals were okay with this. People like Tiana & Naveen, Elsa, Jasmine, Rapunzel Prime, Guinevere, Merida, Thomas & Ella Prime, Abigail & Fredrick, and Anastasia and Will from Wonderland Prime. Are they all supposed to defer to Regina now? You can’t seriously tell me that they all were okay with that. But that’s what Snow is claiming, so whatever. Which reminds me- we get a brief appearance of Little Neal during this scene. He’s actually stopped being a baby. It looks like he’s now….maybe five or six? I’m not really good at guessing the ages of little kids simply by sight. But the point is that he’s actually not stuck as a baby anymore. So kudos to him.

And so Regina gets crowned as Supreme Ruler of the United Realms. Although, there is a much welcome interruption to the proceedings. Namely Emma and Killian Prime, who come bursting in after arriving late. (With Emma announcing that she’s sorry that she’s late, which was obviously meant to be a callback to how Regina crashed Snow and Charming’s wedding in the Pilot.) The explanation is that their newborn daughter was being fussy and that’s what had delayed them. Even though I knew it was coming, it was still such a joy to see Emma again, looking as gorgeous as ever. She even was wearing her trademark red leather jacket over the pretty pink dress she wore for the occasion. And Killian Prime (who apparently still has his pirate regalia) really did look like a slightly disheveled first-time father. Even though there were moments when the baby he was carrying was so obviously a doll. Also, I can’t tell you how thrilling it was to hear Emma actually refer to Killian Prime as Henry’s stepfather. Yeah, I realize that’s what he was all along, but to just hear it verbalized was wonderful. And yes, we learn the CS baby was named Hope. While it’s not the name I would have picked, since I think that’s a bit too flowery, I guess it makes sense. Especially considering the lives Emma and Killian Prime led before they found each other, and how their love story unfolded.

Once the excitement of Emma, Killian Prime and Baby Hope’s arrival has died down, the coronation of Supreme Ruler Regina continues. Again, why was Regina picked for this role? Wouldn’t Emma have been the better choice? Not only was she the one who originally brought everyone together through her role as the Savior, but she was also the one who was robbed of her royal birthright. Wouldn’t it have been more satisfying to see Emma finally being recognized as the ruler she was always meant to be? Look, I get that Regina was the one who came up with this whole idea of the United Realms and all. But as much as select Regina fans would like to think otherwise, Regina wasn’t the main character. Emma was. So why is the final episode so focused on Regina? For crying out loud, she wasn’t even the focus of this final season. This season was supposed to be predominantly about Henry, and he barely did anything in this series finale. But I guess it’s pointless to harp on it, as it’s already said and done. At least the ending montage was beautifully done. Yeah, during Supreme Ruler Regina’s coronation speech, in which she talks about how there are sure to be many more adventures, we get an amazing montage sequence that exhibits various moments from the show’s entire run. I won’t deny that I LOVED that moment. It was so nice to be able to look back on how far this show has come. At the same time, this montage really drove home that this was it. This was the final episode of Once Upon a Time. And if that wasn’t enough, the episode even ends with one final glimpse of Storybrooke, including the Yellow Bug (which is thankfully not encased in stone along with Stone Troll), ending with a shot of the green road sign that reads ‘Leaving Storybrooke.’

And that’s it, folks. Our show has come to an end. While I knew this day would come eventually, and I’m glad it came when it did, it still feels surreal. We’re never going to see our favorite characters again. This will be the last time we see them grace our TV screens. Sure, we still have the novelizations, which I will probably read at some point. And I believe Jen and Colin said they would not be opposed to making a Captain Swan movie at some point. But even if that movie never gets greenlighted, I think it’s safe to say that this is a show that will live on in my heart, in spite of the issues that sprung up throughout the years. And I will always be grateful to the show’s seven years, and the friends I made within the fandom.

(Click here to read more Episode Analyses)

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robbyrobinson · 7 years ago

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A preview of what I will be discussing for May 21st on the cleanup forum regarding Final Space. WIP.

What is the work?

Final Space is a 2018 animated television series created by Olan Rogers. The series concerns the misadventures of a young man named Gary Goodspeed who was sentenced to five years in a prison ship after he had impersonated an Infinity Guard (a member of an intergalactic organization) in order to impress a young woman named Quinn Airgone. The prison ship Gary is sentenced to is dubbed the Galaxy One, which is managed by an artificial intelligence called HUE. While living out his sentence, Gary discovers a bulbous alien and names it Mooncake. Except this cute little blob is actually a planet destroyer. Along the way, Gary meets different people such as Avocato, a humanoid cat alien among others. When a tyrannical force arises to harness the power within Mooncake, Gary rises to the occasion to save not just the Earth, but also the universe.

Who is he?

In the original pilot, a blatant parody of an evil overlord who is Played for Laughs. Here? A cold-hearted, megalomaniacal psychopath who is played seriously. The Lord Commander is the Big Bad of the series who is slowly dying because he was continuously abusing his telepathic abilities. He sees the answer in Mooncake and would do absolutely anything to achieve his goal. The Lord Commander is also interested in opening a portal to the titular Final Space for reasons I will get into later. A breach in space-time had formed which is causing a gravitational disturbance which if left unchecked, could potentially destroy the universe.

Not much is known about the Lord Commander before he became a tyrant. What is known is that he was once a member of the Infinity Guard named Jack and served as the co-pilot and best friend to Gary’s father --John Goodspeed-- having worked under him for 29 years. On one eventful day, John leaves Gary because he had a mission regarding a gravitational disturbance. John’s father ends up dying, and the resounding explosion causes a wave of energy from Final Space to hit Jack, granting him telekinetic abilities. From that day onward, the old Jack died in the explosion, becoming known simply as the Lord Commander.

What has he done?

Let’s start chronologically. As revealed in Chapter Six, Avocato was once the right-hand-man to the Lord Commander and served him without question at least until the Lord Commander decided to test his loyalty. The Lord Commander gathered his top lieutenants one day and demanded that they kill their firstborn as a display of loyalty to him. While most of the lieutenants obeyed, Avocato refused to follow through and instead kills the guards before turning his weapon onto the Lord Commander. Enraged by his insolence, the Lord Commander takes his son hostage and threatens to murder him if he rebelled against him again. Sometime afterward, a ship named the Scarlet Lance discover a gelatinous alien lifeform and name it Specimen E35-1. However, the ship's transmission is interrupted by the Lord Commander and his fleets, ending with the Lord Commander massacring the crew.

Plot wise, the Lord Commander makes his debut in Chapter One when he interrogates a man, believing that he has some information on Specimen E35-1 (having since been named Mooncake by Gary). When the man failed to provide him with the information he was looking for, the Lord Commander uses his telekinetic powers to painfully contort the man’s body before breaking his neck whilst claiming that it would be rude to kill him. He then allows one of his minions to eat the corpse. The Lord Commander learns that Specimen E35-1 was on the Galaxy One and sends several of his henchmen to invade the prison ship. Even though this would add onto his sentence, Gary orders HUE to advance the speed of the Galaxy One to escape.

In Chapter Two, as a way of evading a bounty hunter, Gary and Avocato travel to Tera Con Prime. Avocato finds his son Little Cato only to fall into a trap set by the Lord Commander. Whilst angrily reprimanding Avocato for failing to retrieve Specimen E35-1, Gary arrives to save Avcoato. Realizing that Gary was the person that Avocato ratted out, the Lord Commander uses his powers on Gary which leads to Gary’s arm getting telekinetically severed from his body. Unfortunately for the Lord Commander, blood from the severed arm sprays into his eyes, disorienting him. The team manage to escape, and Avocato volunteers to surgically replace it with a robotic arm.

After being confronted by Lord Commander’s fleet once again, Avocato suggests that they hide Mooncake on a planet known as Yarno. Meanwhile, the Lord Commander goes to visit a group of alien beings named the Order of the Twelve to extract some information from these renowned “eyes of the universe.” One of the representatives of the group, Helper Hula, informs the Lord Commander that because he was continuously misusing his “light” he was edging closer to death. When Hula proved to be “unhelpful,” the Lord Commander uses his telekinesis to forcefully destroy Hula’s eight eyes. The Lord Commander learns of Mooncake being made to fight at a Colosseum and travels there to retrieve him. After fighting with Gary and Avocato, the Lord Commander reveals that Mooncake was the key to opening Final Space. The battle, however, renders the Lord Commander weakened, and he is last seen being beamed up by his ship.

As for Episode 4, there isn’t much to be said there. The only thing of note in this episode is that Little Cato is given a device and a chip by a mysterious helper which he uses to try to send a message to his father. The Galaxy One traces the gravitational disturbance to a bioluminescent planet. Gary speculates that the Infinity Guard is behind the disturbance only to be ignored by Quinn. However, Gary’s suspicions prove to be correct as the majority of the Infinity Guard had deflected to the Lord Commander’s side. It is revealed that the Lord Commander had overseen the creation of a laser, intending to use it to widen the breach in Final Space even though this would spell destruction to reality itself. The team meet a few obstacles, but they succeed in destroying the laser and the space station. Little Cato manages to send a message to his father only for the mysterious figure to reveal itself as the Lord Commander and that the whole thing was a gambit to lure the Galaxy One into his clutches.

The Galaxy One receives the message immediately afterward, and after some hostility between Avocato and Quinn, Gary agrees to accompany Avocato to a prison planet named Zetakron Alpha. The two friends face the Lord Commander who reveals that he had overwritten Little Cato’s mind and forces the possessed Little Cato into attempting to murder his father. As for Gary, the Lord Commander uses his telekinesis to forcefully read Gary’s mind since Gary would refuse to cooperate. The Galaxy One arrives to save the gang, the Lord Commander getting repelled by Mooncake’s laser blast. In an act of spite, the Lord Commander telepathically plants a sticky bomb on Little Cato’s back. Avocato notices the bomb and throws himself onto it, killing him (Avocato, NO!!!). There isn’t much to get into with Chapter Seven other than the mysterious backer of Gary and the team being revealed to be Quinn from a future timeline going by the alias “Nightfall.” According to Nightfall, in each timeline she traveled to, the result was always the same: The Lord Commander murders Gary when he tried to take him on by himself; Mooncake – in grief – goes on a revenge-filled rampage, destroying planets; this action would cause Final Space to open, thus allowing eldritch abominations known as the Titans to be released, culminating in the subsequent destruction of the universe. As such, Nightfall opts to kill Mooncake before Gary could potentially get killed. However, Nightfall decides to give Mooncake a second chance due to Present! Quinn’s urging.

Episode Eight reveals that there was one benevolent Titan – Bolo – who had broken his ranking among the Titans and sealed the portal to Final Space from seeping into our universe. As punishment, he was sealed away in a cube. Gary is chosen to speak with him, and Bolo sends him into a closed time-loop. Gary ends up being on his father’s ship the day he died, but he was able to bond with his father. The two even take advantage of the freezing of time and deliver a very satisfying beatdown on Jack. Unfortunately, Gary is made to watch his father detonate the anti-matter bomb, sacrificing himself to seal the breach in space-time. Before sacrificing himself, John informs Gary that there was another anti-matter bomb in New York.

Galaxy One arrives to Earth in Chapter 9 to find the anti-matter bomb, however because the breach was absorbing the Earth, they had little time to retrieve it. Along the way, the team reunite with Tribore who had become the leader of a resistance group that formed when the Lord Commander infiltrated the Infinity Guard. The gang eventually find the bomb and manage to escape the Earth’s destruction. The Lord Commander sends them a transmission offering to let the team live if they were to hand over Mooncake to him. Naturally, the team refuse, so leads to the final confrontation.

In Chapter 10, the Lord Commander makes it his goal of preventing the Galaxy One from sealing the breach to Final Space as he believed that he was chosen by the Titans to release them so that he could become a Titan himself. His fleets proceed to effortlessly destroy most of the resistance, but Little Cato manages to get onto the Lord Commander’s ship and attempts to kill him. However, Gary propels the Galaxy One into Lord Commander’s ship, unwittingly causing Little Cato to drift into space. Gary tries to reason with the Lord Commander by bringing up his original name only to cause the Lord Commander to angrily use his powers to cast Gary adrift. The Lord Commander puts Mooncake into a painful laser machine, and successfully creates a portal to Final Space. A Titan’s hand emerges from the portal, but instead of granting him the godhood he expected, the Titan instead grabs the Earth and pulls it into the portal. Quinn succeeds at detonating the anti-matter bomb, but at the cost of her getting absorbed into the portal rendering no foreseeable ways of her returning. The Lord Commander is last seen edging closer to death, enraged that his feeble attempt at immortality failed.

Mitigating factors? Freudian Excuse?

Now at first glance, it is easy to disregard the Lord Commander especially when it delves into what little we have of his backstory. He was what you could consider a “Nice Guy” seeming affable enough around John Goodspeed, one time offering to take him out to eat taquitos when they finished their mission. Upon being exposed to the energy wave created from Final Space, it seems pretty evident that this would throw his moral agency into question. However, Chapter 10 clarifies that the Lord Commander believed that he was chosen by the Titans and as such, the Lord Commander actively discarded anything to do with his life prior to requiring this “purpose.” Lord Commander is very aware of what he was like before the accident, but he vehemently refuses to acknowledge it. When Gary tried to speak some sense to the tyrant, he enrages the Lord Commander by mentioning his former name, citing the That Man is Dead trope by claiming that the old Jack died the moment he was chosen by the Titans to release them. In addition, the Lord Commander harbors no affection for John Goodspeed currently. When Gary informs him that he was John’s son, the Lord Commander seems to consider it for a moment, but ultimately decides to kill Gary anyway despite that knowledge.

As for any other potential mitigating factors, the Lord Commander is presented as a genuine threat to the universe. The threat of the breach opening is treated with upmost severity, especially when it’s revealed that Titans inhabit Final Space, possessing the power to destroy the universe if they were ever released. Now, the Lord Commander does have some moments that can be humorous. For instance, in Chapter 3, as he was having a pity party for himself, the Lord Commander viciously strangles a subordinate to death…because the poor guy had the misfortune of giving the Lord Commander the wrong kind of snack. Or in Chapter 6, Gary and Avocato travel to the prison planet to save Little Cato. The Lord Commander tries to make the prison into some big presentation only to be met with little surprise by either two. The Lord Commander gets irritated by Gary and Avocato insulting his work, claiming that several of the inmates were murdered for the sake of the surprise. However, with these moments, rather than detracting from his villainy, they instead accentuate the Lord Commander’s insanity. Beyond that, they’re relatively minor and the Lord Commander returns to being dangerously serious.

Heinous standard

Oh, yes, absolutely. With the Lord Commander you have the many murders that he had committed, some being downright gruesome. Or then you have moments where the Lord Commander takes the time to slowly mutilate and contort the bodies of his victims for the sake of sadistic gratification. However, what pushes the Lord Commander beyond this is his plan to expand the breach to Final Space which would spell destruction for the universe. The Lord Commander knows about the potential horrors that could be unleashed if his plan were to succeed, but he doesn’t care as long as he achieves his goal of becoming a god.

For the most part, the Lord Commander is the only recurring threat to the series as other antagonists would often be immediately killed after their introduction. As for the Titans themselves, they do not count on the grounds of being a group, and their destruction of the universe in other timelines is offscreen.

Conclusion

In short, I would highly say to definitively keep this little dickhead, but at the same time, I am slightly tempted to say “wait and see” since the Lord Commander didn’t actually die at the end and there is some indication that there could be a second season, but if you really think about it, after everything is said and done, would the writers really try to sympathize the Lord Commander at that point since he basically threw away any potential sympathy by choosing to become who he was? Besides, we have voted some candidates up when their arcs weren’t necessarily finished, and if anything changes over time, his potential writeup can be altered to make adjustments. So ultimately, I would personally say keep the “Fun Sized Devil.”

Thoughts?

#final space #tbs #tbs network #finalspace #cartoon #tv tropes #robbyrobinson #effort post #lord commamder #david tennant #complete monster #monster

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newyorkprelawland-blog · 3 years ago

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Vaccinations: Education in a Post-COVID World

By William Biederman, Cornell University Class of 2022

July 7, 2021

As many colleges and universities across the United States look forward to welcoming their students back to campus for in-person instruction, there is still an issue of what public health measures should be put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Public health authorities continue to encourage vaccination against the virus. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, vaccines are the best way to prevent hospitalization and death, while reducing community transmission. At the same time, it is common knowledge that colleges are often prime locations for spreading diseases, given the proximity that students are living in, whether that be in classrooms, dining halls, or off campus parties. To protect students living on campus, many colleges have announced they will be requiring their students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning in the fall. While to some this might seem completely understandable and reasonable, to others, who are skeptical of the vaccine, it is unacceptable and could, in their opinion, be illegal. In this article, I will attempt to address the question of whether or not it is legal for schools and other educational institutions to require COVID vaccination, with attention given to how education institutions can move forward in the safest, most considerate way possible in a post-COVID world.

Over the past 17 months since January 21, 2020, when the first case of COVID-19 was discovered in the United States [1], more than 33,425,231 Americans have been infected and 600,859 have died, as of June 23, 2021 [2]. Since the first vaccines were administered, new cases and deaths in the US continue to drop to record lows. Undoubtedly, the United States has made tremendous progress with its vaccination program and according to the CDC, as of June 22nd, 2021, 177,342,954 persons (53.4% of the total US population) have received one or more doses of the COVID vaccines, and 150,046,006 (45.2% of the total US population) have been fully vaccinated [2]. The decreasing prevalence of the virus has allowed many Americans to return to normal life, others continue to resist getting vaccinated. Due to this group of people who refuse to get the vaccine, the American government is at a crossroads with how to approach their public health policies moving forward -- should we cater towards the minority of persons who will not get vaccinated to keep them safe from the dangerous variants (especially delta)? Or should we force all persons to get the vaccine, regardless of their personal or religious reservations? Such a dilemma is difficult to resolve, but the question becomes quite a bit more complicated for incoming university students.

In Amelia Nirenberg and Kate Taylor’s article, “Can Colleges Require COVID-19 Vaccines?”, they discuss the legal and political challenges to this requirement that many colleges are mandating to maintain public health and safety. As they explain, “[Although] most U.S. colleges and universities already require on-campus students to show proof of vaccines for illness, like bacterial meningitis, that can spread rapidly in close quarters… COVID-19 is a much more complicated story” [3]. Vaccine requirements are nothing new -- they have been in place for decades to stem the spread of preventable diseases that, if an outbreak occurred, would cripple a student population and could potentially expose the institution to legal consequences. As we observed in the previous school year, “College outbreaks...led to waves of infections in the surrounding communities… [and] found that deaths in some counties where college students comprise at least 10 percent of the population had risen disproportionately fast” [3]. Although we are most certainly in a different phase of this pandemic than many months before, it is important to recognize that dangerous, highly transmissible variants of COVID-19 continue to circulate and without a significant portion of the population vaccinated against the disease, the progress we have made is threatened. Like mask-wearing at the beginning of the pandemic, requirements for vaccination and vaccine documentation have become a political issue. Despite the suffering incurred by many at the beginning of the pandemic, the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ solution, vaccines, are being denied and in jeopardy of losing their effectiveness due to a select group of persons who believe that, for one reason or another, these vaccines are used to surveil them, or will intentionally harm their health.

This discussion around political and personal objections to the COVID-19 vaccines brings us to the core question this article attempts to answer: can vaccination against COVID-19 be legally required? As with any legal question, this question is more complicated than you might think. In Sarah Fujirwara’s 2006 article from the AMA Journal of Ethics on mandatory vaccination, she focuses on the legality of potential public health measures (which were ultimately not put in place), principally vaccine requirements, during the severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS, epidemic. Fujirwara uses the example of a hypothetical student, ‘Joseph’, “A 21-year-old student at a state university in Illinois, is spending 3 months in China for a summer study program abroad. While he is there, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) breaks out in Canada and is traced back to China” [4]. In this fictional situation, Joseph claims that “He is willing to submit to a physical but does not want the “experimental” vaccination and its side effects. He also feels that this mandatory vaccination affronts his bodily integrity and violates his 14th Amendment rights” [4]. To contextual this hypothetical argument, which is likely to be made this fall when many colleges and universities will resume in-person instruction, Fujirwara draws upon the 1905 Supreme Court case, Jacobson v. Massachusetts, a dispute about smallpox vaccine requirements. In Jacobson, the court ruled, “The police power of a state absolutely included reasonable regulations established by legislature to protect public health and safety” [4] and that “such regulations do not violate the 14th Amendment right to liberty because they fall within the many restraints to which every person is necessarily subjected for the common good” [4]. Despite this case being over 115 years old, the court has not had a legal challenge since this case was decided. And as is clear from previous my previous analysis, the legal precedent established in Jacobson continues to be applicable, especially in the post-COVID world. The court made clear that while the 14th amendment broadly requires due process and liberty generally, there was a compelling governmental interest to protect the health of the larger community and the application of the law was narrow in scope. Thus, because the law satisfied these standards, and there existed a threat to society (smallpox) that necessitated government action to intervene and neutralize said threat (even though some freedoms would be diminished), the court decided this was an acceptable compromise.

In addition to the established legal precedence in Jacobson, there is a long history of guidance issued by both state and federal health and occupation agencies. According to Dr. Howard Forman, the director of the Yale University MD/MBA program, “Schools are allowed to require vaccinations to protect both the students and teachers. And there are reasons for that,” he said, noting that, “my mother was a school teacher in New York in the 1950s and 60s… And in the 1950s, she was exposed to rubella during the second-to-last rubella epidemic” [5]. Dr. Forman explains that his mom’s accidental exposure to Rubella as a school teacher is precisely why schools are granted more broad authority by public health officials and legislators to implement policies that protect their student body, even at the cost of some freedoms that the rest of the community enjoys. Furthermore, Renee Mattei Myers, an attorney, and contributor to CNBC explained that “Under everything that we’ve seen, and the guidance from agencies like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Education, it’s been stated that just like how [colleges] can require other vaccines like meningitis and measles and hepatitis for incoming students, that they could require this vaccine as well” [5]. And despite the legal precedent pointing towards educational institutions having the ability to require vaccines, or mandate other public health measures to protect their students, state and local governments are still trying to stop these schools from requiring the COVID vaccines. Whether for political or other reasons, it is clear that the intervention of numerous governors around the country in these institutions’ ability to protect their students, will ultimately harm more people than restore any kinds of ‘freedoms’ that would potentially be lost. Unfortunately, in a world where a highly transmissible and deadly virus is spreading around the world, there is a need for greater measures to protect persons in vulnerable situations, and colleges and universities are perfect, vulnerable targets for a virus such as COVID-19. And while there have not been many recent legal challenges, higher education institutions will likely mandate these vaccines no matter what but expect many lawsuits this fall.

______________________________________________________________

William Biederman is a rising senior at Cornell University, majoring in History and minoring in Law and Society. He has a strong interest in healthcare and criminal law, and the medical sciences.

______________________________________________________________

A timeline of covid-19 developments in 2020. (n.d.). AJMC. Retrieved June 25, 2021, from https://www.ajmc.com/view/a-timeline-of-covid19-developments-in-2020

CDC. (2020, March 28). Covid data tracker. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker

Nierenberg, A., & Taylor, K. (2021, April 7). Can colleges require covid-19 vaccines? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/07/us/college-covid-19-vaccines-passport-requirement.html

Fujiwara, S. (2006). Is mandatory vaccination legal in time of epidemic? AMA Journal of Ethics, 8(4), 227–229. https://doi.org/10.1001/virtualmentor.2006.8.4.hlaw1-0604

Hess, A. J. (2021, February 3). Can colleges make students get Covid vaccines? Here’s what experts say. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/03/can-your-college-make-you-get-a-covid-vaccine-what-experts-say.htm

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sfdfmoviereviews · 7 years ago

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Star Trek: Discovery Teaser Trailer Breakdown Reaction Thing

In recent months, it has been hard to maintain optimism regarding Star Trek: Discovery. Barring a few casting announcements and that ‘production teaser’ we’ve had little to go on since the comic-con teaser that announced the show’s name. Bryan Fuller has departed the show while the air date has remained uncertain, and the franchise’s fiftieth anniversary has come and gone in the meantime. Now, we have a teaser proper:

youtube

So let’s see what it tells us.

We get a few establishing shots. Of a starship:

Of the dune planet Arrakis:

And of Sonequa Martin-Green’s Michael Burnham in a spacesuit:

We then get some confirmation of the show’s setting:

Because the trailer doesn’t, I should clarify that this series takes place in the Prime timeline- the one with Shatner, not the one with Chris Pine. As the title plate says it takes place ten years before Kirk/Spock/The Enterprise, which would be after the events of the start of the 2009 film that splits the timeline. I suspect that this would resolve the legal tension between CBS and Paramount over rights issues- Paramount own the movie rights, CBS own the TV rights, and the twain don’t always get along- but I’m no lawyer. It’s notable that Bones doesn’t get a mention here, but that’s likely not too significant. The rule of threes must be obeyed, and the hammy captain, the guy with the ears, and the starship are the three most iconic parts of the original series.

Moving on, we find out that at this time there was discovery:

There is some grammar at play here. While the show is called Discovery and we’ve seen the USS Discovery, it is unclear what is being referenced here. We just heard about “the” Enterprise, so it’s likely not the ship. That means the discovery in question is likely the act of discovering things. This may sound very tedious to distinguish, but we’ll find out why it’s significant in a moment.

But first, Sarek:

“You will never learn Vulcan, you’re tongue is too human”. That seemingly trivial sentence tells us far more than the expected dickery of Spock’s dad first indicates. We’re so used to universal translators that the very notion of having to learn a language puts us a long way from the Star Trek of the past. Furthermore that assertion that humans by their very nature cannot understand such an important part of Vulcan culture flies in the face of the convention that that infinite diversity can be made into infinite combinations. The final frontier is hard here, so hard that clever people declare parts of it impossible to master. So STD appears to be eschewing the effortlessness of previous series in favour of the challenge, which should be good to watch.

Turns out Sarek is talking to a young Michael Burnham:

We can therefore conclude that Burnham spent a good chunk of her childhood around the Federation Ambassador from Vulcan, and perhaps saw him as a (dickish) mentor figure. There’s a chance therefore we’ll get an appearance from young Spock and Amanda Greyson as well.

We then get more of Dune:

“Great unifiers of history are few and far between” states Sarek, as we get a shot of the bridge:

It’s a little dark, and Burnham is standing in front of the helm and operation stations rather than sitting behind them. I suspect this is simply for the sake of cinematography. I quite like the unifrom design; it’s got simple lines that are in keeping with the aesthetic of the original show while not being overly retro. It’s a shame the red/yellow/blue coding is absent though.

“Often such leaders will need a profound cause” continues Sarek, in what we now know to be a hologram with a bad connection:

To an intrigued Burnham:

We then get a ship bursting out of some clouds:

That doesn’t look much like the ship from the comic-con teaser:

But it does look like this wireframe from the production announcement:

So either the Discovery herself has undergone a major redesign, or this is another ship, possible the Shenzhou. The later is likely, as we next see Michele Yeoh’s Captain Georgiou:

There’s also an alien dude in the background, and that guy in the foreground has some distinctive but toned down Trekburns. :What am I looking at” asks the captain:

“object of unknown origin” replies a redshirt, as we see a weirdly blurred out Thing:

“We’ve come all this way captain, it would be... irresponsible to leave whatever that is unknown” asserts Burnham, while looking super intense:

And then we see Lobot:

This guy says “I sense the coming of death, I sense it coming now”:

That could well be Doug Jones’ Lieutenant saru. We’ll have to wait and find out how portentous his sensing is.

Burnham meets a Klingon in space, likely on that thing from before:

I’ve no idea what that is, but it looks like a big old space church to me. I’ll wager that that Klingon wants to keep it for himself, but I could be wrong.

It’s coming in Autumn!

So that’s some nice certainty.

Alarm bells sound and Captain Georgiou says “Contact Starfleet Command, we have engaged the Klingons”. We then see a Klingon:

That’s one fierce dude, and he gets some fancy vanity shots.

It wouldn’t be Star Trek without some cosmic nonsense that floods the bridge with light and sound:

I think these might be more Klingons? I’m really not sure, we don’t often see up their nostrils:

“We target it’s neck, cut off it’s head” says Burnham, as that Klingon from before roars to the heavens to let them know a Klingon warrior is coming:

“Starfleet doesn’t fire first” asserts Captain Georgiou, “We have to!” retorts Burnham:

The Thing starts doing some wacky stuff:

“What have you done out there on the edge of federation space?” asks Sarek, and “I’m trying to save you, I’m trying to save all of you” replies Burnham.

We end on a Dutch angle of a space suited Burnham:

We then get those four great notes and a better looking logo:

And that’s that.

It’s important to note what we don’t see here. We don’t see Jason Isaacs as Captain Lorca, and we likely don’t see the Discovery. Furthermore, Sarek is very prominent here, but James Frain is only credited in one episode on IMDb. So what we’re seeing is either from one episode (i’m guessing the pilot) or is edited together from disparate dialogue. I’m guessing it’s the later.

So STD is ostensibly about some space artifact that holds the attention of both the Federation and the Klingons, but there’s reason to believe that’s not the whole story. We do know (or at least are being led to believe), that our hero Michael Burnham is some one who believes in shooting first, and therefore isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty to save people. She likely has some relationship with Sarek that defines what she does. We’ve been told that STD will portray some formative event in the Federation’s history, and so it is likely that whatever Burnham does will have a lasting effect on everyone else we’ve seen go boldly. That should result in some good Star Trek, as it means the moral foundation of the show will be questioned, and should give us some cool mysteries and space fights. If nothing else, it passes the Bechdel test.

Finally, a word on continuity, because of things like this:

The incomparable Emily Asher-Perrin made the case that Star Trek Discovery should continue the franchise’s tradition of social progress and inclusiveness, and that is surely a laudible goal. However, a complication presents itself; if the Starfleet of 2256 is able to, say, use “ text rendered in different fonts for officers with dyslexia”, why do we not see such text in any of the Enterprises to come? No doubt an explanation could be conjured from somewhere (in later ships the text renders differently depending on who is looking at it, that’ll do) but to do so is to miss the point. Star Trek is about the future of humanity, not as a plausible outcome of historical forces but as a striven for ideal. To bog Star Trek down in the minutiae of continuity is to divorce it from it’s purpose. While Star Trek has to contend with the need for consistency with what has gone before, it cannot easily go where no one has gone before.

Granted, Discovery is hamstrung by it’s place in the middle of things, after Enterprise but before everything else (indeed, it appears to be portraying itself as the prequel that Enterprise was meant to be, and may in practice ignore that series altogether). That will make any continuity errors- which are distracting, at least a little- much more apparent, and the series will have to be that much better to succeed in spite of them. But between a show that strives to bring us a new Trek fit for the 21st century that urges us to go boldly and show us how great we can be and one consistent with five decades of TV production decisions, I know which I want to see.

So that’s Star Trek Discovery. It’s coming in Autumn, and there’s a lot more to come.

Tim

#Star Trek #star trek discovery #sonequa martin-green #michelle yeoh #bryan fuller #nicholas meyer #tim #james frain #doug jones #jason isaacs #emily asher-perrin

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cometladyicarus-blog · 8 years ago

Photo

A piece of Mass Effect fanart.

This is also a work in progress, and I had scribbled a ton of notes for this one.

Basic story summary - A Spacer Shepard left the Alliance Navy/Marines/Military after Akuze and joined C-Sec. As a C-Sec officer, she gets partnered up with Garrus after the guy has already locked up or shot previous partners for, well, being criminals.

Longer Summary- Jane Shepard had quit the military life she was expected to lead as the second child of a minor Alliance Hero Hannah Shepard, because the events of Akuze meant her left leg was too infected to save and had been amputated.

She was also the sole survivor, and when promoted after Akuze, she learned that there was a short period of time on the audio recording between her CO’s death and everyone else being dead or missing, there was someone still alive who she outranked, thus was promoted.

Weird logic, but shush.

Out of guilt for being incapable of doing anything for anyone who could have survived, Jane quit active duty after finished N7 training to prove that she could do the job, but did not want to anymore. Between Akuze and N7 training, Jane was on the Citadel where there was research of Thresher Maw toxins to build her a new leg and to heal her scars.

To escape from the dreary after psych counselings and physical therapy sessions, she would wander over to a club out near the main C-Sec facility. She eventually was unofficially hired on as an extra bouncer to keep the overly drunk patrons from harassing others by playing “extremely drunk Human soldier” and shuffling the undesired patron out the door.

Except she hadn’t been living in strictly Alliance granted zone, instead renting a cheap hotel room, so her dear over-protective mother had somehow managed to get C-Sec to start looking for her, and she meets a specific Turian.

Some months or a year later, she was moved from Active Duty to Reserves, and signed up to join C-Sec. She and Garrus are known as “Team Shakarian” after a drunken celebration night for some other officer’s retirement.

Years later, Eden Prime is attacked by an unknown ship and Geth and Lieutenant Commander John Shepard was arriving at the Citadel to deliver a report on what had happened, and why a Spectre died on an Alliance world. Where he finds his little sister and a Turian arguing with another Turian who seemed to be their boss for more time to investigate, except the case was already decided.

This variation of Garrus is a bit more like his ME2 self than the nervous fanboy we saw in ME1. On the other hand, in this picture we see him working with a Shepard, so he would have gotten over his fanboy-ing pretty fast with Jane telling stories about John doing goofy, normal, kid things. This Garrus is not as dark or hell-bent as ME2 Garrus, but he’s certainly more willing to just shoot the bad guys.

This Jane is a Renagon, while she won’t balk at using threats or force or bullets to get information, she has a set of standards, and isn’t a xenophobe or Human Supremist. And ME2 really messed up her alignment, however, because a lot of Renegade choices would have meant compromising her desire for revenge over Akuze. Which led to her playthough of ME2 to have her be a Paragon. ME3 let me fix that for her, though she wound up trying to save everyone because she couldn’t save anyone on Akuze and had been taught from youth to be a nice pleasant person to the media folk. She specialized as an Infiltrator.

The unseen John Shepard is the King of the Boy Scouts, as Jack would call him, though he does have some points where he will snap and have a Renegade moment. But he’s the oldest child, and had unwillingly placed a great deal of pressure on his sister (”Why can’t you be more like your brother, Jane, and work just a little harder on your studies?”), but his true passion is ships, having lived on ships for almost his entire life. He specialized as an Engineer.

Like I said in my scribblings, I know omni-blades on weapons was an ME3 thing, but I had already decided to meddle a bit with the timeline by bringing in heatsinks from the start instead of them magically being commonplace, with the cool-down weapons from ME1 being more experimental and less common than in the game. So John frequently will be shoving his weapons into the freezer for years, while Jane never stopped using the heatsink tech arguing that her rifle overheated quickly enough anyway, and the cooldown was too long to be practical.

And I couldn’t recall a C-Sec turian out of armor, so I made a Turian-like uniform based off of regular clothes and colored like C-Sec Human’s uniform (always wondered why C-Sec humans wore the same uniform as the Alliance, personally, so I altered that a bit too).

N7, according to the lore was supposed to be some big huge hoopla that I never quite saw in the games, so I have in my version of the Mass Effect world a law in the Alliance to visually mark N7-trained people with similar rules of lessening strictness for N6 and N5s. This is to try and keep other people alive, because N5-7s are highly trained to kill, and are often sent out into extremely violent situations, so they could come back as “not-themselves” like the guy in ME3 - I forget his name because he offended me by killing people I like. So Jane Shepard has the red and white stripes that are default on every armor Shepard in the games wears, and has an N7 badge of sorts on her other clothes.

#Mass Effect #G-WIP #Sketches #Art #Team Shakarian of C-Sec #work in progress

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fyeahnewwarriors · 8 years ago

Text

History of the NW (part 1)

Stamford.

That’s what most people think when they think about the superhero team the New Warriors. It’s a shame, since there was a time where the Warriors were the New Teen Titans of Marvel. They have a history, they had a pretty successful run in the 90s that even gave birth to spinoff comics. They are one of Marvel’s most underrated concepts, and they deserve to have their story told. So that’s what I will do. I will read every single NW related comic from Nova’s first series to the 2015 series and tell you the tale of the New Warriors.

First off, lets figure out who this guys are, and what they did before they became a team. Let’s start with the oldest member:)

Namorita is the daughter of Namora, Namor’s cousin. After her mother's death, Namorita(or Nita among friends) has lived on the surface world, since Namor entrusted her welfare to his longtime human-friend, Betty Prentiss. Nita is proud of her Atlantean heritage, but she also has a great deal of happiness with her life on the surface world, where she is also getting her college education. We later learn that she is actually a clone of her "mother" who were sterile, and therefor had a foster-clone of herself, with DNA from all Atlantis dead heroes, operated into her by a mad Atlantean scientist.

... You know, I would have settled with adoption, but hey, I’m weird like that.

Besides the natural abilities of an Atlanean, she has, like Namor, the mutant ability to fly, can breathe on land, and her strength is superior to full-blooded Atlanteans. And she will later mutate into a blue super-Atlantean with extra abilities… but gets turned pink again, because: Screw you, character development!

Speedball’s background... is kinda boring, really. His series from the late 80′s was kinda bland. Sure, his powers are unique, but that was the only thing that didn’t make him forgettable. Thank god he became a New Warrior and had his character evolved. He was the same whiny teenager who gained powers from a freak accident, and then he was all boo-hoo about it... which was fair, since his power is that whenever he is hit, he creates a protective field of balls made out of kinetic energy that will make him bounce around like a rubber ball. And he has NO control over his movement at all, meaning that he had to rely on dumb luck. Eventually, he accepted his role as possibly the clumsiest hero of all time, and fought a couple of strange super-villains in his little hometown and even tried to join the Avengers... Without luck:)

You probably know Firestar from "Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends", but in the comics, she is... different.

Angelica Jones(or Angel among friends) was one of the not so lucky mutants. Instead of being offered a place at the Xavier Institute, she was offered “help” from Emma Frost. Angel took the name Firestar, and she quickly became a very powerful mutant with an outstanding control over her mutant ability to control and project microwave energy. Emma Frost planned to make Firestar her personal assassin, and did everything she could to turn her into a social outcast, like letting her have a couple of tragic event, such as the death of a horse she cared a great deal about, and letting her have as few relationships as possible, in order to make her asocial… HOW THE HELL DID EMMA FROST BECOME A MEMBER OF THE X-MEN? SHE IS FLIPPING EVIL!!!

When Angel finally realize that Frost was the cause of all her misery, and her true intentions with her “education,” a very peeved Angel destroyed Frost base, kicked Frost's telepathic ass, and made her swear that she would get the hell out of her life, and leave her friends and family alone too.

BADASS!!!

Angel had no interest in being a superhero, so she came home to her father, and lived a normal life.

Vance Astrovic possibly has the strangest origin of all the Warriors. As a teenager, he was contacted by his future counterpart, Major Victory, who wanted to save Vance from a future the Major had to suffer, including living the rest of his life in a containment suit. But, unintentionally, he ended up screwing up the poor boy’s life.

BTW; I dont know much about Major Victory, besides that he is the founder and leader of the team named Guardians Of The Galaxy, so please tell me if it is a good series.

After Major Victory made the boy give up his dreams about becoming an astronaut, Vance mutagen, who granted him telekinesis, activates much earlier than Victory’s did, and this gave birth to two timelines, where the teenage Vance belonged in the 616 one (the mainstream universe). Vance's father, who abused him physically, now had an extra reason to beat up his son. Vance ran away from home and joined a wrestling-show under the name “Marvel Boy.”

He met and became friends with the Thing, who was a wrestler at the moment too, and Ben Grimm convinced the kid to go home after a serious talk with Vance's parents(that didn’t do squat, but more about that later).

Richard Rider was a normal teenager. He lived a normal teenager life(with the exception of having a little brother smart enough to build his own robot) and he would probably end up with a normal life(or as normal as possible, living in the Marvel Universe) if it wasn't for the Nova Corps, an intergalactic peace-keeping force that was based on the planet Xandar (kinda like the Green Lantern Corps). The planet Xandar was destroyed (get used to that, it’s a bad habit Xandar has), and with it, the Nova Corps. The dying Nova Prime was in need of a successor, and he picked Rich to receive the Nova Force, which gave him super-strength, durability and the ability to fly at high speed. He was also granted an alien-tech helmet. Rich started a superhero career as Nova, the Human Rocket where he had some adventures on Earth fighting a couple of pretty creative villains and even had a couple of adventure in space that ended after he helped restoring the planet Xandar (long story) by giving up his Nova Force, becoming a normal human once more. He did so gladly as he had been in space for over a year and he wanted to go home to his family and friends. A decision he would later regret, since being in space for a year meant that he had missed his chance to get his high school education, had to get a dumb job as burger flipper, and his girlfriend Ginger was now engaged to, what would soon be, a very abusive husband.

... Bummer.

These are 5 of the six original New Warriors. In part 2, we will be introduced the the sixth member Night Thrasher and take a look at the Warriors’ first adventure as a team.

I'm Waezi2, and thanks for wasting time with me.

#new warriors #nova #richard rider #speedball #robbie baldwin #marvel boy #vance astrovik #angel jones #angelica jones #firestar #namorita #comic #comicbook #marvel #marvel comics #major victory #namorita prentiss

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