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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 5 years ago

Note

Is it true that Mary Jane drove Harry to drug addiction?

Not it is absolutely not.

That is a common misconception that is often used to unfairly belittle or criticise Mary Jane.

It’s rooted in ASM #97. In the prior issue MJ was openly flirting with Peter in front of both Harry and his father. She continued to do this (sans Norman) in ASM #97, and Harry consequently went to a drug dealer and got high. He got clingy with MJ leading her to not at all gently make it clear to him that they were absolutely not exclusive. You could even interpret this as her dumping him, though I don’t and given how they were dating again later on, I think she was just setting him straight.

After arguing with Peter and coming down Harry takes an overdose of the drugs (we don’t know what ones they were exactly).

The simplest way to debunk the idea that MJ was the cause of Harry’s drug problems if to simply check out earlier pages in the very same issue.

Here between how Harry acts, Peter’s dialogue and the artwork depicting the very same bottle of pills Harry uses later in the issue, the message is very clear.

Harry was ALREADY a drug addict before MJ ‘gave him the gate’.

Furthermore, it’s possible (and in my view highly likely, especially after the retcons to MJ’s character) that MJ was both aware of Harry’s drug problem and might even have subtly referenced it in this issue.

Turn your attention back to the scene where MJ lays into Harry. Notice her dialogue when Harry first approached her.

How chipper we suddenly sound.

That emphasis wasn’t added by me, that was all Stan Lee.

I don’t think that was accidental, I think it’s intended to clue us into the fact that MJ at least suspects why his mood has so suddenly changed. The comic, in it’s foreshadowing of Harry’s pill bottle is already demonstrating a certain subtly in parts of itself so this isn’t exactly a stretch to make.

But we can dig deeper.

Stan didn’t exactly depict young people as they really existed in the 1960s (he was middle aged and the comics code wouldn’t have allowed him anyway), but he wasn’t blind.

EVERYONE knew drugs were being passed around in the 1960s and that college kids in particular were using them. Stan himself had been to a fair few college campuses for lectures by this point in time so he may well have clued into this himself.

I’m not trying to throw shade at MJ by saying this, but given how she was kinda sorta a hippie, a girl who was ‘with it’ and who liked to party, it made it unbelievable for her to have not clued in on what might’ve been going on with Harry and Stan through her dialogue may well have been trying to reflect that.

We might also speculate her casualness about it could imply this isn’t the first time she’s seen Harry high, which (if you accept that) further proves that she didn’t drive him to drugs in this issue, it’d been happening for a long time. In fact the canonically debatable Death and Destiny mini-series (set several issues earlier than this) heavily implies Harry to already be using drugs, specifically cocaine.

Furthermore to blame MJ for this is really, really unfair.

When it comes to drug addiction she’s not Harry’s keeper. She’s not responsible for what he does to his own body.

And if we really are going to attribute blame to her, then we should also attribute some blame to Peter for not noticing the obvious. We should also attribute blame to both of them plus Gwen and Flash for not being there enough for Harry to help him deal with whatever issues drove him to drugs.

And boy of boy should we blame Norman. He’s Harry’s father, shouldn’t he be held accountable on some level?

Now if you want to look at it from a position of hindsight when retcons have revealed more about everyone, the truth is MJ REALLY wasn’t to blame for Harry’s drug problem.

We could argue in pushing him away when she knew he had a problem she was being a bad friend but like...there is only so much any of us can do. Personal story: one of my friends in high school went off the rails a bit when he was 16-17. Not due to drugs but other stuff and my grandma insisted I be responsible for setting him right. But my parents, quite correctly, set me and her straight that that wasn’t my responsibility and my abilities to help him were limited anyway.

MJ is in an even worse boat than I was.

She had less financial security, she was dealing with a legal adult with access to a lot of cash and much more cash than her, her mother had died maybe a year-18 months earlier than this, she was dealing with leaving her sister and getting into the swing of city/college life, and that’s not even touching upon her knowledge of Peter’s identity and her deep rooted commitment issues.

Of all people MJ was not in a position to help Harry at this time and giving him the gate was the emotionally healthiest thing for her to do for herself in that situation, even if it arguably came from a place of her own insecurities regarding commitment.*

On Harry’s end, MJ could never have been the sole factor that drove him to drugs. At worst she might’ve been one of many contributing factors or even the straw that broke the camel’s back. But Harry was VERY LIKELY to have fallen into drugs or some other destructive habit with or without her.

Harry’s grandfather was an alcoholic, meaning there was a genetic predisposition towards substance abuse in his family. I know Norman isn’t a drug addict or an alcoholic, but he is a power addict. He’s so much of a power addict he literally became a super villain when he already had wealth and social power.

Speaking of Harry’s Dad....hoooooooo boooooooooooy....Norman screwed his son up bad.

He alternated between neglecting him, verbally abusing and belittling him and just straight up hitting Harry when he was a child, with arguably a certain underlying resentment towards Harry over the death of Lydia, Harry’s mother/Norman’s wife; she possibly died due to complications in giving birth.

Norman put pressures on Harry to ‘be a man’ and to also live up to his own massive shadow, and combined with the fact that Harry was desperate for Norman’s love and approval, yeah Harry was a very messed up little boy.

And he grew into a very messed up vulnerable young man. He was so messed up he’d repressed his memories of his awful childhood and rewritten them in his head to be much happier than they really were.**

So MJ or no MJ, Harry was always going to be susceptible to something like drugs. For all we know he might’ve been experimenting as far back as high school or as a result of Gwen dumping him for Peter.

Bottom line: No, MJ did not drive Harry to drugs.

*I know some people might bring up how she helped Peter deal with Gwen’s death, but that’s very different.

For starters, grieving someone, hard and painful as it is, is in truth a lot easier than helping someone overcome addiction. 90% of the time, eventually the mourning passes. With an addict, they often have to struggle every day to not fall off the wagon.

In essence MJ, a woman in fear of commitment, was looking at a longer term commitment were she to have helped Harry.

More than this, Harry was already clingy and a rather needy person. In a lot of ways he was looking for someone to mother him (hence why he married someone with nursing experience) which was a turn off for MJ in general. Add in the very real possibility that he’d come to depend upon MJ to keep him clean and it would’ve been MJ’s version of Hell.

Peter in contrast was someone she didn’t need to mother, but was someone who did in that moment need his help and she was at a place in her life where she was more able and willing to give it. It helped that, unlike with Harry, she was you know in love with Peter too.

**Incidentally, Norman basically rewrote his own memories too, believing himself to be a great Dad when he really wasn’t.

Harry’s delusions occurred BEFORE he touched the Goblin formula by the way, speaking to hereditary mental illness in his family.

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veridium · 6 years ago

Text

Short Story: Solas Helps Theia With Her Anger

Writer’s note: So, I have always wanted to write this depiction of Theia’s and Solas’s friendship, but I haven’t found the right niche for it. I realized that maybe it was a good standalone read, an accent to her main narrative. I know I’ve alluded to their friendship before, but I haven’t yet fleshed it out, so, here is some of that! It also comes with my personal interpretation of Mage abilities and some of it may very well diverge from canon, but, who cares! It’s all about the adventure, right?

Summary: Theia Trevelyan has come to her friend for assistance in a very personal matter. Solas, obliging for his keen and willing ally, instructs her in the process of unlearning some intemperate crutches she has fortified in her powers as a Mage. The ritual unfolds, and Theia learns more about what drives her viscerally to succeed as both a Mage and a leader.

“You are conflating temper with willpower, Inquisitor, and it will get you only so far.” Solas’s calm comment defied the energetic nature of the moment. There she lay, once again on her back on the floor of Solas’s study. While their outdoor sparring ground was useful for most anything, sometimes a curious discourse would provoke both the Mages into demonstrating under a roof.

Theia, panting slightly as she tried to recollect her breath after the latest trip-up to the floor, growled with undirected frustration.

“I swear by the Maker’s greased smallclothes that I am utilizing my willpower and not anger,” she grumbled, before using her legs to jerk herself upright and back onto her feet, rising from the squatted position and picking up her staff along with her.

“Then why am I so successful in countering? You are using your fury as a source of reinforcement. Willpower by nature is collaborative, and does not favor a single source of momentum.”

Theia paced, dragging her feet with a hand on her hip. “Fine, then, you caught me. I’m a ball of furious rage and there’s no hope for me.”

“You are too resigned to your own carnal nature. Being emotionally intuitive and in control are not mutually exclusive. Let us try again.”

Theia chewed on the inside of her cheek. Rolling her shoulders which were exposed after she had taken off her overcoat, leaving only a thick tank-top on her upper body for dexterity, she turned to face her friend once more. She tried hard to hide her disdain for the situation so as to show respect to him and the time he was taking, but they both knew she was growing more impatient by the minute.

“Again,” he commanded simply, folding his arms and taking a few steps back.

Theia took a stiff, though deep breath. Loosening her body deliberately, she held out her staff horizontally in front of her chest, both hands on gripping out at shoulder-width. She closed her eyes, feeling the tension slip out from her shoulders, down to her waist, then through her hips and thighs until it felt as though its slipperiness was like a silken nightdress let slip.

Then, through the darkness of her eyelids, she envisioned a slowly growing and brightening orb of light. It was blue at first, undominated by any one emotion. She felt excited when she saw it -- as if it were only a slight chance it would reappear, even with her tenacious conjuring. Her lips parted as she focused, and that is how Solas knew she could see it, too.

“Good. Now, do not think of it as holding back. Think of it as organization, as cohesive input.”

Theia could feel her willpower and anger being intertwined like vines, a relic of her protective spirit. Her temper, her fury, was her source of power for so long, it felt nearly-impossible to revoke. That is what sparked her consultation with her friend in the first place -- she wanted to be more, be better, than this. Anger, after all, was a secondary emotion: its power was based on its corruption of the root of her nature, a symptom and not a foundation.

She grit her jaw slightly as her mind worked to entice her anger into relenting. It was a strong proclivity, and her temper was feeling entitled to her powers. She wanted to give in, to witness the strength of it. It viscerally thrilled her, but she knew that was what led to its dominion over her.

A low, willful growl emanated from her throat.

“Do not mirror it, counter it. Do not argue, debate.”

She could sense Solas starting his pacing of a half circle around her. Then, hairs around her face began to billow in a self-cultivated momentum of air.

There it was. Her anger, supreme and exalted. The redness, the purple, the kaleidescope of bruising. It was heated, pulsating in her chest.

You deny me what is mine? She could hear her inner voice ask.

Theia could feel the sensation of sweat gather on the side of her forehead. She was being disputed, and ferociously so. Her lips closed, jaw clenching with assurance but not aggression.

Solas’s voice, an echoing thing now, again: “It will utilize what it knows. Redefine the boundary.”

Theia’s eyes strained to remained closed. Her powers were seeking an outlet now, she had conjured and built up the energy in her body like a pressured bottle bomb. Now, it wanted expression, craved its release. Anger was the easiest kindling to use, and had always been.

You know I am inextricable, it hummed again, lurking and waiting for an exposure of spiritually weak flesh in its host body.

“No. I am your hands. I am your mind. I am your protecturate,” Theia said in her mind, teeth slightly gritting with her words.

Detestable, you disrespect me in my own domain.

“I am your domain because you are mine. Let us come to an understanding.”

I have kept you alive and this is how you repay me.

“I am saving you as you have saved me.”

Bullshit, you are nothing without my authority.

“I am everything because I am your authority. Now, a compromise, if you would.”

The quaking in her ribs was unignorable now. Her mana, her willpower, all of it, witnessing a standstill. She wanted to see it, wanted to visualize who she was debating. It had to have embodied something, or someone, to be so potent and dictatorial. She knew it had attached to a crutch in her psyche, but what? Who?

“Show me what you are, so we can debate this like women.”

Then, a chuckle. A familiar one. A crushing one.

You ask for me but you do not address me by name. Insubordinate.

Theia growled now, but tried her best to keep it with as weak of an emotional undertone as possible. She knew exactly, then, who would use such diction. Her closed eyes flickered side to side, up and down, searching for the source of the voice.

Then, feeling a cold breeze encapsulate her shoulders, like a ghost would extend their hands, she held her breath.

“Faustina.”

Then, like a blinking snapshot, her body appeared. The silver-haired woman, the mentor, the teacher, the sparring partner. Her curvatures, her stature. Her curls of hair framing her angular chin and cheekbones. She smiled, as if she had been enjoying a jubilant conversation all this time. It unnerved the Inquisitor, who had encountered one-too-many foes with betraying facades.

My apprentice, you have discovered me. Or, rather, the trace of me in your subconscious.

In the back of her mind, Theia wondered why Solas had grown quiet. Perhaps it was because he knew she had found the epicenter of her struggle, and now it was her battle alone to do.

“Faustina, why have you embedded into my power?”

Another chuckle, deep and warm, though slightly sinister.

My dear, you put me here long ago. You depended upon me to help organize your emotions and your abilities. It was only logical that you should encapsulate me here. Or, my likeness, anyway. I knew once you would become powerful to find me and untangle me from your web, you would.

“So you are the embodiment of my anger, that which has consumed my powers?”

I am one of them. The main source from which the rivers in your soul flood and drought dry. I helped you discover it, after all. Now, you must convince me to release myself from you. You are right, you are the authority.

“Okay. So, how exactly do I accomplish this?”

You must take all that you have learned and re-frame how you hold your memories in yourself. I am anger, that is true. But anger derives itself from injustice, and injustice is unrest and a hunger. Do you still hunger for it?

Theia could feel her shoulders tense, feeling all of the reasons all at once for why she did feel hungry for justice. She had always carried it, like a torch with an intemperate flame, relying upon it when it could only stand certain terrain. Her allies, her friends, her wanderings.

“What if I do? What if I hunger for it, but I also wish to turn my heart towards this new life of mine? Can I do both? Surely you would understand and know how,” Theia’s voice was not enveloped by her sentimentality for her teacher.

My dear, Faustina reached a hand to her, her fingers tucking under her former mentee’s chin, You are powerful, and almighty, but you also allow your body to be a conduit for something you alone cannot muster. Your anger protects you because it feeds off of your recklessness, and depends on your survival for its meals. Is that what you truly want? Mages have said yes before, and will do so long after we are gone.

Theia’s throat hardened as she felt the unfamiliarity of peace within herself. Faustina was giving her a taste of what it was like to unmesh the anger from all the deep caverns of her soul, and leave room for something different. It was tempting in the most melancholic of ways.

“How can someone like me ever allow peace in myself without falling short in my destiny?”

A pause of silence. Faustina withdrew her hand.

Theia, my dear, sweet, protective Theia. Keeper of an ice heart. Your peace sharpens your teeth more than any fury can.

Suddenly, Theia understood. She understood now why Solas was so intent on this process, and why Faustina’s smile seemed to mock her. Her fury was beautiful, ravenous, and powerful, but it was also negligent of the other sides of herself. Her peace, her determination, her resolution, brimmed with possibility.

For what was more menacing and fearsome than an angry Mage woman? One who felt contented in her polarities.

“I see now. I know, I know what I must do now.” She felt the ache of her strong grip on her staff begin to vibrate as the power in her limbs used the staff as an outlet.

Good. Now, follow your friend’s instructions, and convince.

She took a solid breath, feeling the webbing of her rage dance across her skin. She felt the static of it, interpreted via her electric powers. She felt half of her body enveloped in peace, and the other in her temper. It was like she would split apart in two, but she remained whole. Then, as if held in reservoirs, they crashed into one another like waves. She felt the tingling, the rush of adrenaline surging through her veins as she stayed still.

From the outside, Solas witnessed her oscillation, a satisfied grin on his lips as he witnessed his friend’s inner triumph. He did not usually take such a tutorial interest in people, but after months of Theia proving to be a precocious and optimistic individual, he felt more open to instructing her in ways he felt would empower her to be a better Mage and a better leader.

As the glowing dissipated in her skin and her staff weapon, he knew she had come to the necessary conclusion of it all.

Then, as if an invisible weight was released, she jerked forward, coughing as she hunched.

Trying hard to reclaim her breath, she held her staff in one hand.

“Well done, my friend. You have created a treatise within yourself.”

Theia, straightening her posture as she huffed quietly, put a hand to her stomach. “I can’t...believe...was that all real?”

“You know my answer to such a question, so my verbal reply is unnecessary.”

“Solas?”

“Yes, Inquisitor?”

Theia stood fully upright now, inhaling and quieting herself, before the casually switched the staff between her hands.

“Thank you. You have done me a great service.”

Solas, feeling the aplomb derived from a sincere friendship, was internally taken aback by her modesty and stillness. Surely, such a procedure could have easily yielded her manic. But, as she had done what was instructed, she was now able to collaborate her emotions and not hinder them.

“My pleasure, Inquisitor. It brings me satisfaction to know you, of all people, will salvage some form of peace in these days to come.”

#short story #theia trevelyan #solas #dragon age #dragon age inquisition #fanfiction #inquisitor trevelyan

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lexinthelibraryofdreams · 7 years ago

Text

Still here

Imagine: Part two of “Imagine Matt holding you close after you are badly injured”

Words: 1533

A/N: So, a continuation of “Stay with me”. I was thinking about this for a while now and I decided to go with this rout. Probably not the most accurate but I have no clue about the comics, so this is purely my own interpretation. Hope you enjoy

Warnings: -

Part one

Your body felt light, as if you were floating. There was no pain even though all of your last memories were filled with it. You opened your eyes but saw nothing. Suddenly, there was a presence behind you.

“Hello, Y/N,” a voice said and you turned around. “Dad?” you asked, voice unbelieving. Finally, your feet found solid ground in the black nothing and you carefully moved closer to the figure. A sad smile spread across the figures face, before it changed into a bodiless specter out of golden light. “No, unfortunately not. But I won’t hurt you. I’m here to help, actually,” they said and you looked around. “But where is here?” They only hummed slightly and moved closer to you. “Depends. Do you believe in the Afterlife? I could be that, if that’s what makes it more acceptable,” they said and a knot formed in your stomach. “I’m dead?” you asked and the figure seemed to think about it. “No,” they stated finally and you furrowed your brow.

“That’s the thing,” they started to explain. “For everyone else, this would be the place where they would decide where to go after death but you,” they hummed again, before adding, “you won’t because you simply can’t die.” A dry laugh escaped you and they turned to face you. “What? Don’t you believe me?” You simply shook your head. “No, of course not. You’re implying that I’m what? Immortal? That’s ridicoulus,” you stated and crossed your arms in front of your chest. “What about that car accident then?” the suddenly asked and you looked at them with a questioning gaze. “What?” you asked, unsure what they were talking about. They studied your face and then started walking. Even though there was nothing but darkness around you, you decided to follow, hoping something would make sense soon.

“The one that cost your father’s live. And also killed you,” the said after a long silence.

You stared at them with the cold feeling the memory brought in the back of your mind. “It didn’t. I survived. And I’m still feeling guilty.” Suddenly, your surroundings changed and you immediately recognized your room. Everything was just like it had been in the morning but one detail froze you in your place.

Incredulously, you stared down at your own body, lying on your bed in front of you. Someone had taken your armor off and washed off the blood but the cuts were still visible. What scared you the most was the missing rise and fall of your chest. You turned to ask the figure but they were gone. Another voice caught your attention and you followed it to the living room. On the couch there were Claire Temple, the nurse and a very beat up Matt. Claire gestured towards your bedroom. “I’m telling you Matt, something is wrong there. She’s clearly dead but by now she should have gone cold. You can still move her arms and legs, despite the lack of vital signs. I can’t explain it to you.”

“He loves you, you know,” the figure said, startling you. “He’s just pretty good at hiding it, not wanting to destroy your friendship.” You looked up at them, finding them staring at you. Their voice sounded warm and soft. “And you love him, even though you don’t want to admit it, even to yourself,” they continued. “But before you can go back to him, you will have to understand who you are.” The scene shifted again and you wanted to protest but they only gestured for you to look around.

You were in an ER. Nurses were walking by, taking in a new patient, a girl not older than twelve years old. She was pale, unmoving and there was blood on the side of her head. As she was wheeled away, one of the paramedics turned to a nurse. “Her father didn’t make it. When I first found her, I thought she was dead but we suddenly picked up vital signs. I don’t know how she survived that crash, it was brutal.” He shook his head and left after saying goodbye. During his explanation, your heart had picked up its pace. That had been your younger self after that fatal crash. A cold realization settled in and you looked at the figure. “I died,” you whispered and they nodded, wiping away the scene with a flick of their wrist. The darkness fell around you again. “Who are you?” you asked after a moment.

“Destiny,” the figure responded.

“Destiny? As in you determine who dies and who doesn’t?” you asked quietly. After what you just saw, it didn’t even sound crazy anymore. They chuckled and said, “It is far more complex than that but for now it is enough.” You looked at them in silence, hoping for a further explanation. “I’m only a part of Destiny, your part to be precise. But that has nothing to do with your immortality. Or your skills in the mortal world. Should you decide to leave it someday, you will join the cosmic powers as a Keeper of Life. To teach you about empathy and humanity, you were send to Earth as one of them.” Your mind was racing to process everything. “So, essentially you’re saying I’m some sort of a cosmic being?” you asked carefully and they nodded. “Correct. It may be hard to accept but with time you will get used to it. Now that you know about everything, your powers will start to emerge. Use them wisely.”

They turned around, ready to leave and you called out again. “What happens now?” They looked at you and you were back in your room. “You are free to go.” Then they vanished, leaving you alone in the darkness.

You opened your eyes even though you didn’t remember closing them. Taking a look around, you saw your room. Only now you felt the throbbing pain in your body and it never had been more welcome than now. Carefully, you sat up, taking a look at the stab wound between your ribs. It had closed, healed and now there was nothing more than a scar. You shoved your legs over the edge of the bed and pushed yourself into a standing position. Slowly, you made your way into the living area only to find it empty. How much time passed between now and the moment you had seen? As you were looking for a sign of Matt, the opening and closing of the front door made you jump. You turned to see Matt walk around the corner, clearly distracted and then he froze.

“Y/N?” he asked, his voice strangely shaky and you walked towards him. “Yeah,” you said softly, almost soundlessly. Whatever he was holding, he let go of and caught you in a hug. You threw your arms around you, ignoring your body’s protest. “I thought you were-” he said, cutting himself off as he brought some distance between you. You hummed quietly, stating, “It’s a long story. I still have to process it myself.”

He loves you, you know.

The melodic voice of Destiny echoed around your head and you looked at Matt intently. “What?” he asked, feeling your gaze upon him. “I love you,” you said, surprisingly calm. Now that you said it, you knew it was true. And for how long it had been that way. The surprise in his face was clearly visible and he swallowed, trying to regain his composure. “Really?” he asked and you had to smile. “Really.” Then he pulled you into a kiss. His lips were warm and soft against yours, carefully examining the new territory and possibilities. It simply felt right, as if it had to be that way. You broke the kiss as an idea formed in your head. No, not really an idea, more of a plan. You didn’t know how you were sure it would work but you just were.

“Is something wrong?” he asked and you shook your head. “No. I just want to try something,” you mumbled and he cocked his head slightly. Carefully, you grabbed his glasses and slid them off as he nodded. Your finger caressed his cheek as your other hand folded the glasses and put them into his pocket. “What are you trying?” he then asked. You pressed a kiss to his nose. “It’s a surprise.”

Softly, you took his hands into yours, never breaking eye contact with him. An electric feeling spread through you and it felt familiar and strange at the same time. You could see his eyes regaining focus and he blinked in surprise, which quickly turned into shock as he realized what was happening. He didn’t say anything and was only examining your face, taking in every detail. With tears in his eyes, he finally asked,” How? How are you doing this?” You ran your thumb across the back of his hand and smiled softly. “Honestly? I don’t really know. And unfortunately, it isn’t permanent,” you replied and he slightly shook his head. “That doesn’t matter. But I’ve seen you now and I will never forget your face again,” he whispered, leaning in to kiss you again, which you gladly accepted.

#matt murdock #matt murdock x reader #matt murdock imagine #Daredevil #daredevil x reader #daredevil imagine

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vrahno · 7 years ago

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Most dubs in my country are rubbish, cartoon dubs especially, and that goes for the four Bionicle movies too. I went through them to see how many translation screw-ups I can find, just to share my (and probably other Hungarian fans’) long-held frustration with an international audience. You may need a few years to spare cause it’s a lengthy list.

Mask of Light

The title, ”A fényálarc” (The light-mask) is already iffy, as in the movie the artifact is called “a fény maszkja” (the mask of light). They also had some trouble with character titles like Toa or Turaga -- in this language, titles usually come after a person’s name, but the dub kept the English word order. Interestingly, the local release of the books (written by one of the movies’ translators) did mostly pay attention to this.

Unity, Duty and Destiny are correctly rendered as Egység, Kötelesség, Végzet, yet in the sequels and the books, they become Egység, Felelősség, Kötelesség (Unity, Responsibility, Duty). As a side-note, the G2 webisode dubs went back to the original translation.

Not technically a translation issue, but Pewku’s name is always pronounced as “Pevku”.

For specific examples in the dialogue, I’ll quote the original lines first, then translate the dub’s lines back into English as accurately as possible, with their errors intact.

Hold your Rahi, I'm coming! Hold the Rahi, I’m going! - “Hold your horses” is not a meaningful expression here, but they kept it in the dub despite there being other animal-related idioms they could have used.

Your own Captain of the Guard... The new Bodyguard Captain... New?

Must I unleash those who should never see the light of day? Must I unleash those who must never see light? - Another expression taken literally.

Their unity can be poisoned, their duty will be broken, and their destiny I must shatter. Their unity I can poison, their duty I can break, and their destiny I can prevent. - Terry’s talking about the Rahkshi powers here, so the last should have been kept as “shatter”.

Shadows that cower in the depths. Exactly as foretold. The shadows cover the depths, just as the prophecy said. - Mishearings and mondegreens are a staple of this translator couple’s work (yes, there were two people working on this shit). Did they even have the original script?

“But you wander off every chance you get looking for stories. What about your story?” “I don't have a story.” “Only 'cause you won't stand still long enough to make one.” “But if you have the chance, you wander off looking for stories. What kind of story do you long for?” “I’m not longing for a story.” “Only because you can’s stay in one place for long enough.” - So Takua’s looking for stories, but he’s not, because he’s too busy looking for stories?

“Keep 'em busy. I'm…” “Running away and leaving me!” "Keep him busy. And I’ll...” “I’d rather run away.” - Maybe not a mistake, there’s room for artistic freedom after all (and I think Takua’s line is kinda funny), but given the other examples, it’s just as likely they simply misheard the line.

Lewa in this dub doesn’t use treespeak. Instead... Word is deep-wood that you seek the Seventh Toa. The world is a deep forest if one’s seeking the Seventh Toa.

If Toa Lewa helped on your search, might he be a... spirit-lift? Say, if Toa Lewa helps you search, will he also become an... elevated spirit? - I know he’s kind of an Indian-hippy mix in this movie, but the fuck is that supposed to mean? He’s only asking if his company would lift Jaller and Taku’s spirit, as in cheer them up.

Er, I've been a second! But, er, I've never flown one myself. Um, I’ve seen such a thing, but I’ve never flown on one. - MNOG is not canon in the dub. (Or perhaps Takua means the Gukko he rode didn’t look like the movie design?)

Your village has fallen to… Rahkshi! The Makuta's sons. Your town has recently been... attacked! By Makuta’s sons. - So how do T&J know what a Rahkshi is if they don’t hear the name?

Frozen? What could do this to them? They’re frozen, how could they harm us? - This is another habit this translator couple has, reordering the original words and inserting some new ones to get a different meaning out of them. At least in this case, the line still fit the situation.

Takua’s grumpy “Tunnels.” line is missing.

Makuta originally says “They will not disturb you.” to Mata Nui, but the dub reinterpreted the line to refer to the three new Rahkshi. Some other dubs also did this.

Do you think the Turaga were right about us? What do you think, was Turaga right? - “Turaga” is not the name of a single character.

But, united, our power defeated the Rahkshi! But if we unite, we will defeat the Rahkshi! - Beyond mixing up plural and singular words, these translators also have a hard time interpreting past, present and future tenses.

I have but one destiny. Yours lie with the Matoran and the Turaga. We don’t share our destiny. Yours is tied to Matoran and Turaga. - The intended meaning is somewhat there, but sounds hella awkward.

Summon the Matoran! Conjure up the Matoran! or Subpoena the Matoran! - Yes, “summon” can mean those too, but the relevant meaning here is “gather”.

My duty is to the Mask of Shadows! My doom is the Mask of Shadow! - Eh. Both lines sound random, but I guess they sort of make sense if you consider Makuta’s originally intended characterization as a well-meaning guy who has been corrupted by his mask. To be fair, the ending scene of the movie is a mess even in English, so whatever. But it’s still not a correct translation

The city of the Great Spirit, my island home, refound. The city of the Great Spirit, my island home, has recovered. - I think the translators didn’t get Vakama was talking about Metru Nui here. Seems they thought he was referring to the villages on Mata Nui being rebuilt.

Legends of Metru Nui

The translated title has “legend” in singular. Not a big deal. What is a bigger deal is that titles like Toa and Turaga are now correctly placed after the character names... but they went overboard with it, as even the Toa Suva becomes “Suva Toa”, which makes no sense. It’s not a Toa named Suva, it’s a shrine dedicated to the Toa.

Pronunciation-wise, Dume is not only spoken aloud as “Duma”, he’s even called that in the subtitles. Nuju became “Nuyu”.

Prove yourselves worthy Toa. Prove that you are worthy for the Toa. - Again, it makes some sense but sounds awkward like that. Why not “for the title of Toa”?

Mask maker, you saw Toa Lhikan last, right? Mask pourer, you saw Lhikan Toa last, right? - But Vakama carves masks, he doesn’t pour them into molds.

... we sought out, found and recovered these Great Disks. ... to find and discover the Great Disks. - Great redundancy.

Cross the sea of protodermis, and be honored as Toa. Cross the protodermis, so we may greet you as Toa. - Since the word “sea” is missing here, Makuta’s callback at the end loses some of its context.

“Do you thing they went this way?” “Why do I bother?” “Ah, do you think they went this way?” “What does it matter?” - A joke died here. Nidhiki’s supposed to be lamenting Krekka’s stupidity (the Toa hopped into a one-way transport chute, so they couldn’t have gone any other way), not responding to him with a nonsensical answer.

Matau’s “Check out these wings.” line becomes plural in the dub, even though he’s only talking to Nokama.

“Stock boy” is translated as “numbskull” (I guess Onewa would say such a thing, but it’s still incorrect) and “record keeper” as “record holder”. The word “record” of course refers to “records of the past”, what with Whenua being an archivist, not “record achievement”, which is what the translators thought.

Look beyond your history, and see what is. Look beyond your past, and see what it is. - The exact opposite of what Lhikan meant.

You (singular) shall help both your brothers (plural). You both (plural) shall help your brother (singular). - Onewa is a single person and there’s two of his brothers there, you fucking shits.

I believe it is time to depart. I think it is time to split up. - But they don’t split up. They just leave the cell. He said “depart”, not “part”. This is another line multiple dubs misinterpreted.

"Follow me!” (in singular, since Krekka’s talking to Nidhiki only) “Hmm. No. Get down!” “Follow me!” (plural) “Hmm. Fools!” - The fuck happened here? Why are both Krekka and Nidhiki suddenly multiple persons each?

It's amazing what you can learn when you're not always speak-teaching. It’s amazing how much you can learn when you’re not being taught. - Nokama’s a teacher. She is the one doing the teaching, not the one being taught. Again the line completely changed its meaning.

Maybe he sneak-passed! Maybe he snake-sneaked! - Can’t decide if it’s “snake” or “sneak”, so just go with both?

“Hey, Nokama, I see us taking a romantic ride-drive.” “And you believe Vakama has odd visions!” “You, Nokama, do you feel-see what a romantic journey we’re on?” “And do you still think that Vakama’s visions are weird?” - Another joke lost. Matau’s fantasizing about a future ride that only he sees. Not only that, Nokama’s retort is worded wrong, as the emphasis is placed on “do you still think” instead of Vakama’s visions.

As mentioned, Dume doesn’t say “sea of protodermis”, so Makuta’s callback becomes the following: Perish in the real sea of protodermis. Die in the protodermis’ really-big sea!

Without the Mask of Time, it will take a lifetime's journey to find both our destinies! Without the Mask of Time, both of us can spend a lifetime searching for our lost destinies! - But their destinies aren’t lost. It will just take a long time to find them.

In MoL, the line “This is they way of the Bionicle” was translated as “This is the rule of Bionicle”. Here, it becomes “This is the law of Bionicle”. The third movie will have a third variation because another thing this translator couple hates is consistency.

Web of Shadows

The title on the DVD cover, “Árnyak hálója” (Web of Shadows) differs from the one they actually use in the movie, “Árnyak hálójában” (In the Web of Shadows). That’s a warning sign right there.

I gotta say this is one of the worst dubs of anything I’ve ever heard. Sure, there are dubs that are far worse on a technical level, and this one at least has passable casting and the dialogue mostly matches up to when the mouths are moving (or flashing). But there’s a thick aura of uneasiness, the line delivery sounds awfully stilted and forced throughout, and you can tell none of the people involved wanted to be anywhere near the recording booth. The translation is an even bigger mess than ever, and the VAs under and overact at all the wrong spots. There’s a few moments where the dub actually sounds great, but as a whole it’s a cringeworthy experience. I guess they were really fed up with these movies by this point.

Titles are again arranged in the English word order. As for pronunciations, Sidorak is for some reason called “Sidoraak” and Keetongu becomes “Keeetongooo”. And as if to make up for ditching Lewa’s treespeak in MoL, Matau’s chutespeak is cranked up to eleven, to the point where he ends up sounding like a fucking Gungan.

The Toa united in a dutiful pledge. They made a pledge to the Toa Metru vow of obedience. - The what? It’s also of note that the dub actually calls them Toa Metru, which never comes up in the original. In fact there’s lines not only in this dub but other as well that can’t be heard in the English version, so I wonder if the translations were based on some preliminary script.

“Well, that stunk.” “It would appear there was an error in our transport. Pilot error.” “Wow, this is smelly.” “It seems that an error has slipped into our transportation. A grave error.” - Fuck you.

Well, there goes the old neighborhood! That there is an old acquaintance! - Another expression interpreted too literally.

The Onu-Metru Archive houses a specimen of every Rahi beast ever discovered. At least… it used to. The Onu-Metru Container is chock full of the widest varieties of Rahi monsters. At least... the discovered ones. - Yet again they remove the main point of a sentence.

We go to the Coliseum, we rescue the Matoran, we leave. We go into the hall, finish our work, leave. - They said Coliseum in LoMN, so why not here?

I assume your telling me this without twitching uncontrollably means the Toa have already been captured. I assume when you talk about this event you have already trapped the Toa. - Leaving out chunks of sentences that can be tricky to translate is another forte of this couple.

“Well, fire-spitter, we can't say you didn't show us the city. 'Course, we can say that you got us captured, poisoned, and, seeing as I don't think we've been brought up here for the view, imminently smash-dashed.” Onewa barely audibly muffles „not Vakama's fault”. “He agrees!” “We can’t complain-say you didn’t show us the city. And perhaps nor that it’s your fault we got catch-caught, poisoned, and because we haven’t been brought here for the view, it’s your fault we die." “Baloney.” (clearly audible) “I agree!” - I agree too, but this is more than baloney, this is bullshit. How did “of course we can say” become “perhaps nor can we say”? Well, at least they got “we” and “say” right.

When Vakama starts mutating, the dub has the others react with: Whenua: “Hey, ho, ho, be careful already!” Matau: “Wow, that’s so dangerous!” Ruining what was meant to be a serious, disturbing scene.

Even now their broken bodies are being brought to me. And their broken bodies have been brought here to me. - “Even now” and “are being” are not past tense.

What do you say, mask smelter? What do you say, mask pourer? - Again with this pouring. Maybe they misheard “smelt” and thought it was “melt”?

Unity, duty, destiny. It starts with unity. Unity, responsibility, duty. Starting with duty. - Reminder that two translators got credited for this.

I'm sure it could have helped our old Toa selves, but… now? It obviously helps us reacquire our Toa selves, but...now? - The meaning is yet again changed to complete nonsense. So the Temple helps them change back, but it doesn’t because they’d have to change back for that first? And why is “it could have helped” translated as “it obviously can help”?

“You're not worried they're going to tell him you said that?” “They are loyal to me.” ”Right. Like you are to Sidorak!” “… Yes.” “Aren’t you afraid these are going to tell him what we’re talking about?” “They are loyal to me.” “Of course. Like you are to Sidorak!” “... No.” - The subtitles actually do say “yes”. So watching the dub with those turned on is an experience onto itself.

“I wonder what's taking the Rahaga so long, I mean how hard is it to get directions?” “Well, when they're to a creature that has not been seen since the time before time… hard.” “How hard can it be for Rahaga to discover-find the direction?” “As in the case of creatures that hasn’t been seen since before the beginning of time... hard.” - This doesn’t even make grammatical sense. However, maybe I’ve misheard a particular word (amit - amik), so just in case, here’s a different interpretation: “As in the case of creatures that haven’t seen since before the beginning of time... hard.” - Does this make more sense perhaps? It’s grammatically more correct, but it suggests that these supposed “creatures” are blind. In either case, the sentence is totally wrong, since the word “creature” in the original line is singular, not plural. Unless they meant that there’s more than one Keetongu, which is just as wrong. Or maybe they meant the Rahaga? That’s even more wrong.

Because of you, the Rahaga will be put where they belong: in a cage. Thanks to you, the Rahaga have been put where they belong: behind bars. - On one hand, I applaud the translators for taking advantage of Sidorak’s extra lip movements and fitting the words to them. On the other, the line still isn’t accurate.

What I applaud them even less for is their wrecking of Matau’s speech to Vakama at the end. In the original, the writers wisely held back his chutespeak to make the speech that much more convincing and serious. But in the dub, they stuff it full of these stupid made-up words that just make it laughable. I won’t attempt to type them all here. Just imagine it’s Jar Jar in Matau’s place or something.

Still, there are yet more things wrong with that scene. In English, Matau brings up the three virtues woven into his speech in succession, reminding Vakama of his life as a Toa. In the dub, both duty and destiny are translated as duty, meaning there’s only two virtues. Also, there’s this: You're our leader, Vakama. You're my leader. You’re our direction-leader, Vakama. Our leader.

Not strictly an error, but throughout the film, the terms “defeat”, “strike down” and “destined to fail” are all translated as “destroy”. Also, “elemental powers” never come up. Instead, they’re “special powers”.

In light of all you've given, you owe us nothing. Despite that I know you’ve given so much, you owe us nothing. - Again they turn part of the line completely around. Keetongu owes them nothing because he’s done so much, not in spite of it.

He wants to know why you'd want that. Seeing as you've made peace with the beast within. He wants to know why you wish that. Have you made peace with the beasts within you? - And yet again. The second sentence is not a question, it’s a statement.

The Makuta! He is gone. Makuta! He’s gone from here. - As usual, the wrong part of the sentence is given emphasis. The point is that he truly has escaped, like Norik claimed. Not that he’s gone “from this specific place”.

As for this line, the delivery is just as bad as the translation. I’ll attempt to convey it through writing: We'll find a way to defeat him. Because that's what Toa do. We find a method to defeat him! That’sthee... Toowah’s... faith. - And no, they didn’t choose the Hungarian word for “faith” because it fit better to Vakama’s mouth movements. Translating the line literally (”Mert ez a Toa dolga”, instead of “Ez a Toa hite”) would, on the other hand, have perfectly fit. But they didn’t. So they got both the translation and the lip sync wrong, and as a result the delivery is shit too because the VA had to make these silly pauses and needlessly extend the words where necessary.

“This is the way of the Bionicle” is rendered here as “This is the way of life in the world of Bionicle.”

So the couple who localized these movies are actually some of the most prolific translators working in the country’s industry, with decades of experience and thousands of scripts, books and comics to their name. Yet their grasp on both the English and Hungarian languages just keeps deteriorating further, and to this day they continue to wreck every almost dub they touch. I’m gonna stop fucking around and name them: László Katona and Zita Csányi. The former also translated the few Bionicle books we got in this country, and while they have plenty of issues, the translation is much more competent. Most people mainly have a beef with Csányi, whose dubbing scripts for animated productions are consistently some of the worst in the industry, and she’s especially infamous for the wretched translation work she submitted for the Ben 10 and Steven Universe franchises. I’m a fan of neither, but as a mere casual cartoon watcher, I’m appalled by the sheer stilted-sounding nonsense I keep hearing whenever I come across any of those shows on tv. Mishearings, taking foreign idioms literally, constantly confusing past-present-future and singular-plural, or just straight-up rewriting the dialogue into something completely detached for their original meaning.

But moving on to everyone’s favorite Bionicle movie (note: this sentence was translated by Zita Csányi)...

The Legend Reborn

Now, at the time Lego’s Hungarian website advertised this as “A legenda újjáéled”, until the web team got notified that the DVD is actually called “A legenda újjászületik”. A red flag already. The dub was produced by a different company and a different translator who was somehow just as bad. With this film, they didn’t even try to sync the dialogue to the mouth movements, so that’s the level of quality we’re dealing with here.

You never hear the word Glatorian in the dub. They’re just called gladiators, which gives me vibes of all the European DBZ dubs that avoided saying the word Saiyan at all costs. Also, the Skopio is merely a scorpion. Yet they kept everything else. The Great Beings are inconsistently called “Giant Beings” or just “Giants”. I take it the translator thought the Great Spirit Robots were supposed to be GBs? Not that the movie makes it clear.

Its name echoed my rebirth – the Mask of Life. My rebirth can thus be summarized as such: the life born from the mask. - That’s one way to overwrite a simple sentence.

You just won me a lot of bets. You won me heaps of money. - Bets in this case referred to Kiina’s conviction that there’s life on other planets. Maybe there was money involved (does Bara Magna even have currency?), but the translator probably just thought Kiina made a bet on Mata Nui’s arena fight. Which would make little sense as he wasn’t even scheduled to fight.

The Glatorian are headed for Tajun. The gladiator is headed for Tajun. - Ah, good ol’ singular-plural confusion.

Those Bone Hunters are gonna be eating Skopio belly for weeks. The scorpion’s stomach is gonna be digesting Bone Hunters for weeks. - This is the fucking opposite.

Not an error, I just think it’s amusing that instead of calling him a “filthy thief”, Kiina calls Berix a “goddamn thief”. I call him worse.

I like fixing things, and I'm good at it, too. I mean, c'mon, who do you think got the lights working, huh? I like tinkering with things, and I’m pretty good at it. Who’d have thought the lights here work? - Maybe it’s just me, but this doesn’t give me the impression that he was the one who patched them up.

Wait, what you did with the Vorox tail and Click, could it work with these? Wait, what have you done Click and with the Vorox tail, could you do it with this? - Did this translator speak either of the two languages required for his job, I ask?

Of course! Fire is your elemental power. The Mask of Life has simply ignited it. Of course! Fire is your elementary element. The Mask of Life simply recognized this fact. - This just sounds stupid.

Guess it's a stand-off. I think this is a dead-end. - I guess technically. But there’s more suitable expressions he could have used.

I told you, Raanu, pitting Vastus against Tarix would pack 'em in! I told you, Raanu, it’s a mistake to pit Vastus against Tarix. - That means the opposite you dumb fuck.

I saw them being dragged away. Through the hot springs. I saw that they dragged them away to the hot springs.

Did you ever think maybe you weren't the only one that needed to believe there was something more? Did you ever think that you were the only one who wanted to see more with it? -Huh? With what?

I am closer to becoming the warrior I must be if I am to reclaim my empire and free my people. If I reclaim my empire and save my people, I will become the warrior I wanted to be. - No. He has to become a warrior because he wants to save them. It’s not that he has to save them because he wants to become a warrior, you mongrel piece of fuck translator. To be fair to him, TLR sucks. Technically, the others do too but the dubs suck more.

If anyone’s wondering, or I should say if anyone even made it to this part of the post, there’s only one major translation goof I recall from the 2015 webisode dub: they called Skull Basher Skull Grinder. Oh, and the introduction episode just plain wasn’t dubbed at all, if you count that as a goof. The Journey to One wasn’t dubbed or subbed either cause Netflix’s online content still hasn’t been localized here.

#Bionicle #translation #Hungarian dub #Mask of Light #Legends of Metru Nui #Web of Shadows #The Legend Reborn #errata #mistakes #long post #Bonkle #Pevku and Nuyu #dubs

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sazvariboy · 5 years ago

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Guardian of the Crossroads, Gatekeeper to the Orishas, Keeper of Mankind's Secrets, even Father Of Destiny, Eshu has many names and many reasons as a primordial God of Old Africa. Thought to have been born from the original mother, long before she created her husband who we know as YMHV, Eshu came from the ancient darkness of the cosmos, long before any physical world or light. More powerful than most African Gods, though childlike and youthful, it has been said Eshu must be called upon before any God simply because he knows their secrets too. That means he knows the paths of all God's as well as humanity. Eshu, sometimes called Papa Midnight in the Deep South, is a deity of unparalleled power and knowledge, though he readily makes himself available to humankind. Many say that this his charm, he understands what it feels like to live in skin, it's limitations and weaknesses. Usually worked with at the crossroads, Eshu has many interpretations or 'brothers and sisters'. Wether digging up goofer dust in a grave yard or burying a trick at a lonely country crossroad, Eshu is always to be given his due, five copper pennies, a shot of dark rum and a cigar for good measure. ---------+------------+-----------+-----------+--------+---------+---- #spirituality #africanspirituality #spiritualenergy #spiritualawakening #wearegods #divinelight #ori #ifa #orisa #orisha #sankofa #santeria #lukumi #voodoo #vodun #vodou #candomblé #conjurewoman #conjureman #conjure #lawofattraction #lawofvibration #manifestations #iyaamiaje #aje #witchesofinstagram #readersofinstagram #divination #divinersofinstagram #ase https://www.instagram.com/p/B-QrvGCFgCI/?igshid=64tyr9ozo7pt

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deathchrist2000 · 7 years ago

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The Herpes-Like Persistence...: On Fight Club 2, Grant Morrison, and the Dark Enlightenment

AN: For some of these comics, the pagination is reset at the end of each issue. As such, the in text citations will be done as follows: (Authors’ Last Name, Issue Number (if applicable), Page Number(s), Panel Number(s)).

Sections:

I. The Only Sensible Way II. Abstraction and Radiant Chaos III. Short, Boring, Insignificant Lives IV. Powers and Destinies V. The White Lie VI. Hello Babies VII. I Was Angry

“Rereading Final Crisis makes it so clear that “comics history as a wizard duel between Alan Moore and Grant Morrison” makes perfect sense, and moreover it might just be the only sensible way to interpret ANY of this stuff.”-Sam Keeper, 2017

In 1996, author Chuck Palahniuk wrote Fight Club, a novel about, among other things, the relationship between toxic masculinity and fascist patriarchy through the lens of mental illness. In terms of plot, the nameless narrator tells us of his relationship with a man named Tyler Durden, an anarchist who starts Fight Clubs (where men can punch each other in the face while nearly naked) throughout the US, which grow into sleeper cells for his cult, Project Mayhem. The twist is that Tyler and the narrator are one and the same, ending with the narrator shooting himself to symbolically kill Tyler. It was adapted into a motion picture by David Fincher in 1999 and was acclaimed when it arrived on DVD inspiring many people to start their own Fight Clubs. In 2015, Palahniuk, along with artist Cameron Stewart, created a comic book sequel to his novel, which was aptly called Fight Club 2: The Tranquility Gambit. The sequel tells a purportedly simpler story of a semi-dysfunctional pair of parents trying to save their son from a madman with plots of world destruction. To help them along the way, Chuck Palahniuk inserts himself and his editors into the comic to push the plot forward when it gets stuck.

There are many ghosts that haunt this text (including the reaction to both Fight Club and Fight Club), but one in particular holds the key to understanding what Palahniuk is doing with his comic. In her reviews of the series, Emma Houxbois cited several instances within Fight Club 2 where the influence of noted comic writer and professional wanker Grant Morrison was felt. Specifically, she talks about the way in which Palahniuk inserts himself within the narrative to do the opposite approach of Morrison’s self insert characters, “portraying himself as being dragged into the story by late night calls from Tyler and the kidnapping of one of the dogs owned by a woman in his writing group. When Marla walks into the writing group Palahniuk is reading aloud a version of that scene where Marla enters the room and asks him if he’s God, but she doesn’t do that in this conversation.” (Houxbois)

This is of course not the only invocation of Morrison within the text; in fact one could simply create a collage of images from Fight Club 2 and connect them to various works of Grant Morrison (most obviously, Fig. 1 where, if one reverses the dialogue in the Morrison panel and reads it phonetically, they both essentially say the exact same thing). But there is more to the text and its relationship with Grant Morrison than a mere interest in similar ideas.

Indeed, to anyone familiar with the work of Morrison, the elevator pitch of a person with mental issues trying to salvage a life in an ever growingly mad world might sound eerily familiar. It would be easy to spend this essay going through the anxiety of influence and highlighting where these influences show up the most. But that wouldn’t answer the question of why use this anxiety of influence over, say, the work of David Fincher. As such, Fight Club 2 uses its anxiety of influence towards Grant Morrison (via nicking one of his basic plot lines (among other things)) to reflect the ways in which society has shifted because of the release of Fight Club and Fight Club. But to do that, we must first understand what exactly a Grant Morrison story is.

“We live in a world of abstraction and radiant chaos, and meaning and symbolism is the mental trick we use to make sense of it all. Life is performative living, and we all have our own masks to wear and plays to act out.”-Josh Marsfelder, 2016

Or rather, what kind of Grant Morrison comic this is, and to find out what that is, we must first look at a work by Grant Morrison himself. In many ways, Fight Club 2 has the feel of Morrison’s early work, with its interest in direct metafiction and bravado. One could argue that the aforementioned cited Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery1 would fit the bill, as it also deals in themes of the power of ideas and masculinity. However Fight Club 2 deals in the grotesque in ways that Flex Mentallo does not. One Morrison work that does is that of The Mystery Play.

Released in 1994, The Mystery Play is notable for being considered the most willfully obtuse text in the entirety of Morrison’s oeuvre. As Greg Carpenter describes in The British Invasion! Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, and the Invention of the Modern Comic Book Writer, “The book is a carnival for the intellect—combining literary playfulness and subtlety, implying thousands of meanings while dictating none,” (Carpenter, 246) a more celebratory reaction compared to his compatriot, Patrick Meaney, who claims ”The Mystery Play has some interesting themes and exciting moments, but ultimately it fails to coalesce into something more than the sum of its ideas.” (Meaney) This is despite having a relatively simplistic plotline compared to most of Morrison’s work: an actor in a small town representing God in a play has been murdered and a detective must solve the case.

On the one hand, this confusion could be due to the structure of the text. Rather than a straightforward detective narrative where each clue leads into the next until a criminal is revealed, The Mystery Play takes on a more anthropological approach wherein “…everything that happens in the vicinity of a murder has some significance” (Morrison and Muth, 23, 3). Such things include a perverted mayor who has sex with a mannequin, a minister dealing with the realization that God is dead, a town that’s on the brink of madness, an abandoned house in the middle of the woods, and the detective himself, who is not who he says he is.

Combined with Morrison’s status as “the confusing author” within the comics community, and it becomes apparent why people have found this to be a discouraging text to follow on a surface level, despite in actuality being a very simple story to follow. Large chunks of the story, for instance, are hallucinations on the part of the detective. Take special note to Fig. 2, where the detective interviews the actor playing the devil. Note especially the first panel in the given sequence, where the detective is portrayed with the proportions of a small child while still appearing to be an adult, indicating aspects of his mental state within the text. Also, over the course of the sequence, the actor turns from a human being (Morrison and Muth, 33, 3) to the literal devil (Morrison and Muth, 34, 1). As such, we are clearly dealing with a person with some level of mental health issues as our viewpoint character, and thus some scenes (like the one with the woman who has eyelashes for eyes eating a giant spider (Morrison and Muth, 44-45)) are to be read as such.2

Alternatively this confusion could be due to the art of the book. Unlike most works written by Morrison, where even works like The Filth take on a more pop aesthetic3, The Mystery Play has a painted quality to it. Unlike most painted comics such as the work of Alex Ross that take on a realist approach, Jon J. Muth’s art takes on a more expressionistic style. Take for example, Fig. 3, where the two lead characters are walking to an abandoned house. The characters themselves appear to be drawn with the least amount of details. They blend into the background, like a drop of paint. The world that surrounds them is murky and low on color (a quality shared by Fight Club 2, though in different ways), as befits a mystery about who killed God.

Note also the framing of the characters within the panels. Where the panels remain basic boxes, the characters are framed in every panel save the last one at odd angles. This is especially notable in panel 3, which has the characters framed in a crooked window that blots out the edges of the panel and turns it into the panel. This is especially notable considering what is being discussed in these panels: the detective is talking to a reporter about why he is involved in the case. It turns out that he isn’t a detective at all, but rather an escaped mental patient who is using this murder to figure out who he truly is. “I was somebody else once. I… I… don’t think I was a very good person” he claims “I’m trying to put the smashed pieces of that bad man back together again, to make a good man. If I can solve the murder it’ll prove I can do it.” (Morrison and Muth, 57, 1)

And that line is where the main crux of a Grant Morrison story lies: one of the core narratives of his work is that of a person with some mental issues (be they literal, like his Batman work, or metaphorical, as is the case of Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight) working through them via throwing themselves into a strange mad world. This can lead to various outcomes ranging from the optimistic “Sod this Sci-Spy bollocks, I just want to take care of my pet cat” ending of The Filth to The Mystery Play’s more cynical “You’re a fucking pedophile and child killer who needs to be crucified.”

“Humans just lead short, boring, insignificant lives, so they make up stories to feel like they’re a part of something bigger. They want to blame all the world’s problems on some single enemy they can fight, instead of a complex network of interrelated forces beyond anyone’s control.”-Raven Molisee and Paul Villeco, 2014

So how does all of that apply directly to the plot of Fight Club 2? To begin with, let’s look at our nameless protagonist, predominately referred to as “Sebastian” (fig. 4), and his alter ego, Tyler Durden (fig. 5) (note the distinction in how they look. “Sebastian” looks to have aged poorly, balding prematurely, and paler due to the placebos he’s taking. Tyler, meanwhile, looks to have not aged in the 10 years he’s been gone). The thing about Tyler is that most readings of the text of the original Fight Club novel and the motion picture Fight Club have him be a split personality of “Sebastian.” In the sequel however, for reasons we will get to, Palahniuk opts for Tyler to be more of a metaphor for a mental illness than a straightforward mental illness.

There are, of course, multiple ways the comic coveys this metaphor. Most obviously (besides Tyler) is in the way we see the comic. For the most part, Cameron Stewart organizes the panels in a straightforward manner of rectangles and other basic shapes, however they are typically overtaken by various household items such as roses, pills, and sperm, which in turn cover up various pieces of exposition and images. Take, for example, fig. 6, wherein various members of Project Mayhem, the cult Tyler started ten years back to bring about a massive social change, have taken blood-thinning drugs before heading to a museum where they will slit their wrists upon various pieces of art as a form of protest. One of the pills they have taken cover each of the members faces, dehumanizing the characters from us, and in turn showing us how a person like Tyler sees the rest of us.

Additionally, Fight Club 2 argues that Tyler Durden is a sentient idea that has infected generations of “Sebastian’s” male ancestry into being sex-crazed hedonists who would breed over countless generations to create the purest form of Tyler Durden4 (Palahniuk and Stewart, 8, 2, 1-2). Aside from being one of the methods through which Morrison conveys the concept of mental illness, this is also an example of a mystical concept Morrison coined known as the “Hypersigil.” “The ‘hypersigil’ or ‘supersigil’ develops the sigil concept beyond the static image and incorporates elements such as characterization, drama and plot. The hypersigil is a sigil extended through the fourth dimension… The hypersigil is an immensely powerful and sometimes dangerous method for actually altering reality in accordance with intent. Results can be remarkable and shocking.” (Morrison, 21)

The Hypersigil is a concept that Palahniuk tangles with throughout the comic. Though only implicitly, as when confronted with the idea of Tyler essentially being unkillable in the book (because of course Palahniuk is a character in this book, this is a Grant Morrison pastiche after all), he responds by banging his head on the table and declaring “I can’t. Try removing Santa Claus from the cultural landscape.” (Palahniuk and Stewart, 8, 2, 4-7) In fact, this is not just an idea Palahniuk leaves to the world of the comic, as there is an explicit attempt to differentiate the comic characters from those of the film (even in parts that are explicitly invoking scenes from the film (Palahniuk and Stewart, 10, 25, 2)). None of the returning characters have the likenesses of Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter, Meat Loaf (though that one’s easy considering he has no head in the comic), Jared Leto (also easy because he looks like Jared Leto should look like if we lived in a fair and just world: “His skin was encrusted with dark-red scabs, each barely clinging to cover an oozing sore. This is who Sebastian would be if he’d gone to Fight Clubs each week for the past decade” (Palahniuk and Stewart, 4, 20)), or Rachel Singer (perhaps the easiest since she looks like a child with Progeria Syndrome in the comic). By rejecting the surface level invocations of actor likenesses, Palahniuk is able to highlight the ideas that the hypersigil of Tyler Durden represents.

And yet, the comic also explicitly invokes the film at several points. One example of which can be found in fig. 8, wherein Marla and Chloe, “Sebastian’s” wife and a fellow faker of terminal illnesses respectively, go out to find where various possible emanations of Fight Club could be (including Bite Club, Film Club, and Raw Fuck Club), each of which, while not being what they needed to find, were inspired directly by the original Fight Club (“Wait-- There was a book?” one of the characters, who bears a striking resemblance to friend of Palahniuk, Kelly Sue DeConnick, asks (Palahniuk and Stewart, 10, 13, 8)). But a more direct example comes during an explanation of Tyler being a sentient idea (a synonym for a hypersigil) with deadly results (as told via a parable called “Werther Fever,” where countless young men committed suicide after reading the book The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Palahniuk and Stewart, 7, 6-8)), which is via a showing of Fight Club and what it inspired (fig. 9), thereby showing the power of the sigil. This, of course asks the question: Who would be infected by the hypersigil? Or, in other words: What kind of people would go around and start a Fight Club?

“I stole Vauung’s name because it was unused, on the basis of an exact qabbalistic entitlement. Yet, at least ‘up’ here, Vauung still confuses itself with me, with ruins and tatters. This might change. Names have powers and destinies.”-Nick Land, 2007

Coined by Curtis Yarvin under the pen name “Mencius Moldbug,” the Neoreactionary movement is essentially the intellectual end of the alt-right. They argue “…for things like the reestablishment of absolute monarchy (Moldbug suggests Steve Jobs would be a good choice of kings) and slavery (he also suggests that black people are genetically predisposed towards making good slaves).” (Sandifer, Haunt) The movement, germinated over the course of 30 years of the Internet being dictated by men whose idea of interesting stories consists of the technical specs of spaceships and massive amounts of violence and vile cruelty done by childhood heroes like Batman, Captain Picard, and Pinkie Pie, is notable for their successful ventures including hijacking a minor literary award5, terrorizing various women over the course of a few years6, and electing a real estate mogul into the office of President7. Aside from Moldbug, their main intellectual through line comes in the form of academic philosopher turned Cthulhu cultist Nick Land. Unlike Moldbug, who views the movement in a more “utopian” light, Land sees the movement as not so much “… ‘correct’ in any sense, but rather a sort of cynical pragmatism that views reactionary tendencies as an inevitable force that can be harnessed productively for his larger goal of accelerating toward the bionic horizon where we all grow face tentacles.” (Sandifer, Haunt) In short, the neoreactionary movement is perhaps the definitive proof that the imagined future we are living in isn’t so much 1984 (as argued by people who have never read 1984), The Handmaid’s Tale (as argued by more sensible people), or Neuromancer (as argued by less sensible, but somewhat more accurate, people), but Southland Tales8.

Indeed, the medium of film appears to be a massive influence upon the movement, as shown by its two most obvious invocations. The first of which, and perhaps the most blatant, would be that of The Matrix9.

But perhaps less obviously, and more pertinent to this essay, would be the influence of Fight Club. The influence comes from the film’s “assertion” that society is flawed and needs to be destroyed; specifically, elements that try to suppress the more masculine aspects of men like punching each other. This leads to a violent rebellion on the part of the members of Fight Club, culminating in the destruction of western capitalism. Though the neoreactionary movement isn’t completely a sausage factory, the appeal of society not giving you what you want and responding with cruelty is an apt, if simplistic, description of one aspect of the neoreactionary movement.

It is this reaction towards Fight Club that pushed Palahniuk to write Tyler Durden into a sentient idea in Fight Club 2. The fact that many people saw Durden as a revolutionary symbol to tear down western democracy terrified Palahniuk and so he wrote a story about how the idea of Tyler Durden infected the world and turned it into what it is. Durden recruits several newer members via a video game company known as Rize or Die, much like the army does (Palahniuk and Stewart, 3, 20, 1-4), expanded the organization to include female members10 (Palahniuk and Stewart, 4, 9-11). Additionally, there is talk of how they will be kings of this new world (Palahniuk and Stewart, 8, 14, 3) with the implication that the imperfect, lesser races will be exterminated (Palahniuk and Stewart, 9, 22, 2). To do this, Tyler plans to launch a series of nukes across the world, killing everyone, save his acolytes, protected by a series of salt mines. This will leave a fascist paradise sprung from the collective imagination of the neoreactionaries (well, without the face tentacles, but it’s still very super villain evil).

Of course, given that the neoreactionary reading of Fight Club is perhaps one of the poorest surface level readings you could make of the film, this is all a feint. In actuality, Durden simply takes the structural and surface level appeal of the movement (a tactic used in the past to create Fight Club in the first place out of the structural and surface level appeal of support groups, but with lots more punching (Olson)) to lure the kind of people such an organization would appeal to, “…like a roach motel. Genocidal Neo-Fascists check in, but they don’t check out.” (Palahniuk and Stewart, 10, 9, 4-5) This is accomplished by having the castle11 under which the salt mines were blown up, causing a cave-in that would kill everyone hiding beneath them. This, in turn, makes the comic’s argument one in which neoreactionary politics must be exterminated.

"While things and connections should be encouraged to become clear, they should not perhaps hold out expectations of becoming, once and for all, 'perfectly clear'- an idiom which has all too often served as a code for the white lie."-Avital Ronell, 1994

And yet, Fight Club 2 doesn’t kill everyone. In the final chapter of the comic, after Palahniuk explained to his friends and fellow writers his idea for the ending, a swarm of angry Fight Club fans that are not terrible people, come over to Palahniuk’s house to collect his head. They liked Durden because “He’s a sociopathic killing machine… But in his nihilistic way, Tyler is a big-time optimist.” (Palahniuk and Stewart, 10, 12, 11) And, there’s an appeal to a film that ends with the toxic ideal form of manhood being shot in the face, leading to a more healthy form to inherit the world, newly freed from the chains of late capitalism’s excesses.

Palahniuk retorts that Fight Club had a different ending. There was no great apocalypse that razed the world, no flaccid penis cut in between frames, no Pixies song: just a person who thought he couldn’t be redeemed, being forgiven by those he hurt and given the opportunity to be better. The response of the crowd is surprise at there being a book in the first place, much to the chagrin of Palahnuik’s editors. The fans and Palahniuk’s cohorts agree to forgive Palahniuk for his crap ending and make a better one, where everyone lives on to be better people12.

In a way, this is how most Morrison stories end as well: an appeal for the belief that no one is unforgivable (fig. 11), that we can all be better. Sure, I personally prefer the ending Palahniuk provides in theory (mainly because I don’t care for racist assholes who want to kill me for being, among other things, autistic (that, and watching Dick Spencer being punched in the face is hilarious)); thematically the “true” ending works better for this story because the alternative is too rude to bare. In the end, Chuck Palahniuk gets the last word on this whole sordid affair, which implicitly state (in his own words) that we are all at the whims of the ideas/hypersigils that surround us: (fig. 12).

“Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you’ve got a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of babies- ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’”-Kurt Vonnegut Jr., 1965

Then again, there’s fig. 13 to consider. In the final pages of the story, Palahniuk reveals that Marla’s pregnant with Tyler’s child, indicating the truest form of Tyler, plausibly free from the chains of toxic masculinity and neoreactionary ideologies. Tyler is ecstatic after hearing the news, looking forward to the immortality humans are allowed. However Palahniuk, a bit too cocky for his own good, cites a deleted scene from Fight Club, where Marla says, “Someday, I want to have your abortion.” (Palahniuk and Stewart, 10, 25, 2) He even tells this to Tyler… before he’s gotten around to writing it.

Tyler retorts by shooting his creator in the back of the head, evoking a previous page where “Sebastian’s” head explodes with items of modernity. Unlike with the previous page, the narration complains about “All his secondhand set-ups, his yard sale pay-offs, and cheap Ikea plot twists…” (Palahniuk and Stewart, 10, 26, 1) The superior readings of Fight Club trump the “authorial” intent of an easy ending where everyone is forgiven. Instead, all things are subject to change. Redemption comes not from being forgiven, but from working to better yourself afterwards. Ultimately, these are the consequences of working from a Grant Morrison structure: change is inevitable and will eat the old. But there’s a level of optimism to change within a Morrison text. For if the structure of a Morrison story has anything to say about being compared to Fight Club 2, it’s that the new idea of Tyler Durden will be better than the old one.13

“Of course I was angry. I didn’t understand how anybody could look at the world and not be angry”-William Blake, 2014

Footnotes:

1) An autobiographical work about Morrison’s first bit of magic where he turned a bottle of pills into M&Ms. 2) As for the murder of God, note the lines “Sometimes I look at the world, you know, and wonder if God put us here to be the instruments of his death. Like we’re his death wish. He can’t stand the horror of what he is and what he’s done. He can’t feel pain or remorse. He… He’s just waiting and praying for us to grow strong enough to kill him and make him feel what we feel…” (Morrison and Muth, 58, 5-6), which is a common theme of Morrsion’s work twisted into a cruel interpretation of itself. Two years later, Flex Mentallo would be released, in which a fictional character comes into the real world and meets his creator, who is on the verge of dying of a drug overdose. There was no note in the comic, just a few comics lying around. 3) Though in The Filth’s case, it’s more Diamond Dogs than Labyrinth. 4) Consider fig. 7, where Tyler details the process by which “Sebastian” was bred. In the background of the page, we see a dead tree, with branches cross cutting each other, invoking the imagery of a family tree as well as indicating how the breeding tends to end for the parents (the comic already established that the idea of Tyler would have the kid he was possessing burn down the family home while the parents were asleep). Surrounding the tree are various panels of the life of “Sebastian’s” ancestors, which tell of the life they led before their untimely death. There are also various covers created for the series, connecting what Tyler did to Sebastian to the experiences of his ancestors. Also there are various amounts of sperm raining down upon the comic. Given that the sperm dietetically affects the page via degrading the color of the page, indicating both the sexual nature of Tyler’s conception and invoking the mystical concept of sigils, a form of mysticism used by Morrison wherein one focuses on an image in order to bring it into existence, sometimes involving masturbation (Morrison, 19). 5) 2015 and 2016 Hugo Awards 6) #gamergate 7) Peter Thiel, a key member of the presidential transition team, has been linked with the neoreactionary movement (MacDougald), though the expectation was that the current president would be a signal boost to see who the neoreactionaries should call when their real candidate, presumably Thiel, would be ready to run against Clinton in 2020. Evidentially, we live in the worst of all possible worlds. 8) The aspect of the film invoked by the neoreactionary movement is that of the Neomarxists, a tech based organization that simultaneously plots to destroy the government while also being connected to one of the government’s technology advisors, a private eccentric multi-billionaire7 (Marcus). 9) Specifically, in the form of the concept of the “Red Pill.” Nicked from Men’s Rights Advocates, red pilling refers to “the idea that the neoreactionary argument is an inevitable process, and that once you take the pill you cannot be unconvinced.” (Sandifer, Basilisk, 72) (This is of course, quite humorous (especially the MRA angle), given that if one actually pays attention to The Matrix, and especially to those who created it, it becomes apparent that the red pill is, in fact, estrogen. Equally, the invocation of The Matrix brings us back to Morrison in that, along with Snow Crash, Ghost in the Shell, and an undergraduate level philosophy course, many have claimed the film was partially inspired by the Morrison comic The Invisibles. In a web chat interview, the sisters claimed that, while they did like the comic, it was not an influence (Wachowski).) 10) Note fig. 10, which highlights how the house Quilt Club takes place is near identical to the headquarters of Project Mayhem, if cleaned up a bit (Houxbois). Equally, they’re still extremely and predominately white. 11) Because of course an evil super villain would have a castle. You have to keep with the aesthetics. 12) In a cheeky moment, they walk all the way there, much to Palahnuik’s annoyance, who at least wants some good weather, to which Cameron Stewart obliges (fig. 14). 13) Yes, I said The Mystery Play ended cynically, but there’s an optimism in that it’s unclear in the comic as to whether or not the detective actually died or if he ran off to be a better person while everyone else was busy crucifying his coat.

Works Cited:

Carpenter, Greg. The British Invasion: Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, and the Invention of the Modern Comic Book Writer. Edwardsville, IL: Sequart Organization, 2016. Print. Houxbois, Emma. "Fight Club 2 #4." The Rainbow Hub. The Rainbow Hub, 26 Aug. 2015. Web. 13 Apr. 2017. <http://www.therainbowhub.com/fight-club-2-4/>. Keeper, Sam. Then Eve, Being A Force, Laughed At Their Decision. Tumblr, 23 Mar. 2017. Web. 27 Mar. 2017. <http://sam-keeper.tumblr.com/post/158744796290/rereading-final-crisis-makes-it-so-clear>. Land, Nick. "A Dirty Joke." Fanged Noumena: Collected Writings 1987-2007. Falmouth: Urbanomic, 2014. 629-34. Print. MacDougald, Park. "The Darkness Before the Right” The Awl. The Awl, 28 Sept. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2017. <https://theawl.com/the-darkness-before-the-right-84e97225ac19>. Marcus, Ezra. "How a Dystopian Film Moby Scored in 2006 Predicted the Post-Truth Future." Thump. Vice, 02 Mar. 2017. Web. 19 Apr. 2017. <https://thump.vice.com/en_us/article/dystopian-moby-post-truth>. Marsfelder, Josh. ""Ghost Train": Emergence." Vaka Rangi. Blogspot, 10 May 2016. Web. 28 Mar. 2017. <http://vakarangi.blogspot.com/2016/05/ghost-train-emergence.html>. Meaney, Patrick. "Grant Morrison's Day-Glo Years: The Mystery Play." Sequart Organization. Sequart Organization, 12 July 2012. Web. 17 Apr. 2017. <http://sequart.org/magazine/13616/grant-morrisons-day-glo-years-the-mystery-play/>. Molisee, Raven, and Paul Villeco. "Keep Beach City Weird." Steven Universe. Cartoon Network. Atlanta, Georgia, 30 Oct. 2014. Television. Transcript. Moore, Alan. Interview by Pádraig Ó Méalóid. Slovobooks. Wordpress, 9 Jan. 2014. Web. 27 Mar. 2017. Morrison, Grant, and Frank Quitely. Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery. New York, NY: Vertigo, 2014. Print. Morrison, Grant, and Jon J. Muth. The Mystery Play. Saint-Laurent-du-Var: Panini Comics, 2010. Print. Morrison, Grant. "POP MAGIC!" Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult. New York City: Disinformation, 2003. N. pag 16-25. Disinformation. Disinformation, 08 Oct. 2014. Web. 15 Apr. 2017. <http://disinfo.com/2014/10/pop-magic-grant-morrison/>. Palahniuk, Chuck, Cameron Stewart, Nate Piekos, and David Mack. Fight Club 2. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Comics, 2015. Print. Olson, Dan. "Fight Club and Toxic Masculinity." YouTube. Folding Ideas, 13 Nov. 2014. Web. 15 Apr. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td88z08a_4c>. Ronell, Avital. "Trauma TV." Finitude's Score: Essays for the End of the Millennium. Lincoln: U of Nebraska, 1994. 307. Print. Sandifer, Philip. "Haunt the Future." Art Against Art Winter 2016/17: 16-21. Art Against Art. 05 Mar. 2017. Web. 15 Apr. 2017. <http://www.artagainstart.com/p/haunt-future.html>. Sandifer, Philip. The Last War in Albion: The Early Work of Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. Vol. 1. Ithaca, NY: Eruditorum, 2016. Print. Sandifer, Philip. Neoreaction a Basilisk. Ithaca: Eruditorum Press, 2017. Print. Wachowski, Lana, and Lily Wachowski. "Chat with the Wachowski Brothers." What Is the Matrix. Warner Brothers, 6 Nov. 1999. Web. 15 Apr. 2017. <http://web.archive.org/web/20100213041503/http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/cmp/larryandychat.html>. Vonnegut, Kurt. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. New York: Delacorte, 1965. Print.

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