#he’s good at killing politicians but is surprisingly nice to basically everyone else

[local-falsettos-obsession]

Erik is the type of villain to NOT care about you unless you’re an asshole. You just saw him on the news for killing 15 major politicians in DC but you run into him on the street the day after and he’s just like: “Your necklace looks nice”. “Did I just get complemented by international terrorist Magneto on the streets of manhattan?” Yes, yes you did. He’s also nice to non-mutantphobic politicians. He runs into a politician somewhere in DC and the politician thinks he’s about to get brutally murdered but instead Erik just says: “Nice suit Mr.Hicks” WHAT THE FUCK??? THATS A TERRORIST????

[alotsgonnachange]

Mystic Messenger Saeran’s AE Thoughts (.......And Prayers..) #Spoilerz

Hello, I just finished Saeran’s after ending and I have a lot of things to say and I am going to write it down while I'm still all keyed up about it.

First of all… Please DO NOT ask me how much money I spent to finish this as fast as I did…. I’m grown but my bank account is certainly going to have a good ole fashioned CHUCKLE at this….. It’s been a long quarantine I deserve a lil happiness as a treat methinks!

I have been playing this absolutely insane game since I think 2016? When I first started playing the deep routes had JUST come out I think? And I was just finishing up high school and am now a college grad...lmao

I’ve played all routes at least once except Jaehee but i’ve seen walkthroughs of her route (I’ve heard it makes you hate Jumin and he’s my favorite so um. hehe). V’s and Saeran’s routes I found to be so emotionally intense and just….a lot and I've been waiting a long ass god damn time for this after ending okay…. I would theorize and make up an ending in my head but i’m no writer so it was hard to figure out lol. I’m a Jumin stan mostly but I love everybody and yeah I should probably play that jumin dlc too but I need like a DAY to recover from Saeran’s AE. Enough about me HERE are my thoughts on it overall

Major Saeran AE Spoilers under da cut!

Can we please discuss V showing up to the C+R conference room with basically chloroform and made everybody Pass Out like??? I was alone in my room at like midnight just SCREAMING at my phone???? And the creepy ass CG ???? It’s like that gif of sarah paulson from ahs being like “I put arsenic in the wine….and the pasta”

Anyway I screamed at V a lot during this process!!

Loved RFA being sweet and kind to saeran (before V fucking drugged them…)

This is such common V behavior “I have to do it all myself...there’s no other way..” GIRL SHUT UPPP You do this every route....

SO many CG’s and I enjoy them a lot

Saeran’s sprite looks a little TOO crisp compared to everyone else but maybe its a glitch??? V next to him is in 480p while saeran is like 1080p

Hearing both Saeran and Saeyoung missing the other brother the whole time??? PAIN. All my homies know is PAIN

BOSS and his V for Vendetta ass guy fawkes mask??? I literally yelled “this game is TERRIBLE!!” several times at my phone

Their dad is so>??????? When he was sitting on the couch with saeyoung in that one CG while simultaneously telling him to kill himself?????????? Maybe chairman han is actually the best dad in this game somehow

When V and Rika were like we’re back together teehee teehee okay pack it up bonnie and clyde ..

When chairman han calls u and says hes jealous of u and saeran…..HUH????? I’m calling HR

When they go to the apartment and see boss and vanderwood and poor saeyoung is sitting there seeing his brother for the first time in years i wanted to D word sooooo bad like PAIN...PAIN….

Can we HAVE A DISCUSSION ABOUT JUMIN HAN BEING THE BEST CHARACTER IN THE GAME AND HE LOST EVERYTHING IN THIS AE……. he just took the blame and moved on jumin what the hell….. I love him so much r we serious? He watched his 2 closest friends betray him in the worst way and found out abt how Rika abused Saeyoung and Saeran???? I felt just AWFUL. Terrible ...Terrible….

Rika’s change in demeanor from Saeran's actual route is certainly a Choice. I find her much more bearable this time around and unfortunately i think I was too nice to her and ended up with a bad end LMFAO

I was happy to see Saeran stand up for himself and become stronger and confident. You go king!

The CG of Yoosung laying in Zen’s lap is everything to me…

HOWEVER YUP I sure did get a bad ending and I was so mad fdsafdskfdhsf ! (I would be happy to clarify how I got the good one the second time.) MAKE SURE To SAVE EARLY in days 2 and 3 bc the branches on day 4 is where the bad end will show up. For me it was the first day 4 chat and then a story mode titled “SAVIOR”.... If you see that RUN FOR THE HILLS!!

I was so mad! But I had saved in day 2 and replayed and MANAGED to get good end

I’m obsessed with everyone calling V and Rika “that psychotic couple” like…..its true its true…

No those two are so toxic… V’s route was torture watching them go on and on about the sun like yo can yall just call each other babe like normal people.

I respect straight people but not V and RIka that shit was just wrong… Straight marriage was a mistake

Oh lord i also FULLY Forgot Rika killed the twins’ mother…. Yeah that scene was um Certainly a lot but it needed to happen eventually

Like it’s good they know but damn that storyline is just so bleak

I think it was satisfying TO A DEGREE….To see Rika understand where she was wrong, why she was wrong, fess up and even APOLOGIZE! I was very surprised.

Saeran and Saeyoung are Certainly twins with the amount that those two self sacrifice in every route MY GOD…..

The scene with Jumin talking to his father and the other scene of him praying oh my god I cannot tell you how happy I was to see him begin to understand and address his own feelings in a route that was not his own. My main problem with Jumin’s route has always been the trapping MC in his penthouse aspect.. This way Jumin understands love and emotions without being overly possessive !!! YAY also loved seeing him be on good terms with his dad who was surprisingly profound

That last Story mode was Really a Lot…. and Strange things occurred which I will get into in just a minute

Jumin becoming a politician is so funny but ngl … i see it.

Yoosung going to france to study pastries ok king I see u! (it made more sense to me than the vet thing anyway)

Lastly Zen FURRY ERA

MY BEEF With the AE

I was happy with how they handled it for the most part. I think Cheritz heard our feedback about V’s after ending and was like okay….let’s try something different

HOWEVER

Saeran…. Sweet kind saeran… IS SO AFFECTIONATE HAHA….

He must have said I love you like 300 times…..very mushy gushy flowery language...and maybe that’s just his personality but for me it was like eating cake with buttercream cake. It means well, but god damn is it sugary and going to cause a stomach ache later.

He was just… SO MUCH! SO forward and ON all the time in his affections. I honestly felt kind of smothered and by day 3 and 4 I was sooooo over all the compliments… King you’ve come a very long way, but ur still putting MC on a pedestal and probably need to see a therapist.

Nextly….Rika and V….. Naw that knock out gas really ...that hurt lol. Coming from “I would do anything to protect RFA” V? Idk like…. EYE felt betrayed reading that. It was just hurtful. I can’t even imagine how the members would have felt as they were passing out. It was just so cruel. I suppose I understand why but like?? Just TERRIBLE

Them being in cahoots with the agency and the prime minister..HUH??? Also too much

V just felt so irresponsible like I do understand that he ended up in a weird web of secrets that’s hard to untangle but he’s so fucking stubborn he’s SO stubborn it makes me insane. Like sir… It seems like in other routes he wanted to try to protect Rika and the RFA.. But in this AE it seems more to me that he was like yeah i’m protecting Rika and That’s It… so fucking hurtful to me. Both of y’all apologize ESPECIALLY to the twins and Jumin..

The forgiveness thing…… Okay so I think some people will not like that Saeran decided to “forgive” the people who hurt him (Rika, V, Saejoong, his mother). I would point out that I actually think this was approached somewhat well. He says at one point that he doesn’t think they’re good or bad, just people. I think he sounded mature and like this was the way for him personally to accomplish his healing process. Would I have loved for Saeran to flip V and Rika off and kick Saejoong off a cliff? Yea I really would. But like…. If that’s what HE needs to do to heal then who am I to judge?

HOWEVER…. Everything Eye just said goes out the window when the scenes at the end with Saejoong come up… I was PERPLEXED. Like why did he HUG his deranged father who just kicked the shit out of him??? Also all the chat options that MC has with him r like blah blah you’re like this because no one loves you were so corny to me LMFAOOOO?

AND WHEN HE WAS IN THE ROOM LATER WITH SAERAN… i’m sorry but if that were me I would have called a nurse to deck his ass. Cool he turned himself in YOU SUCK SOOOO BAD AND I NEVER WANT YOU TO COME NEAR SAEYOUNG AND SAERAN AGAIN THANKS.

*scratches ass* I wish I got to see saeyoung and saeran finally sit down and have that first conversation after a long time and hug CG but the ending was fine I GUESS….. I dont care about ROMANCE I want those boys to be happy brothers together

Anyway that was really emotionally exhausting but I fr think I got it out of my system after literal years… And I can rest in peace knowing the choi twins are happy. THATS ALL I WANTED TO KNOW!!!!

[dcarevu]

DCAU #10: Be a Clown

“They don’t make straight jackets like they used to! (I should know…)”

After that last oddball episode, it feels nice to settle back into some familiar territory for this one, at least somewhat. Admittedly, even though we have been enjoying the show, it does have kind of a slow start, and to me, this episode isn’t really an exception. Next time things are scheduled to rise to the next level, but in the meantime, let’s look at why Be A Clown was passable, but a little underwhelming.

Villain: The Joker Robin:  No Writers: Red Pedersen, Steve Hayes Director: Frank Paur Animator: Akom Airdate: September 16, 1992 Episode Grade: C

Having the Joker disguise himself as a birthday clown and fighting Batman at an abandoned (or maybe it was simply closed?) carnival is an obvious setup for an episode, maybe a little bit too obvious? It didn’t make for much excitement, at least not until the end where Bruce Timm ended up storyboarding (apparently they had a freelancer leave before the episode was finished, so Bruce Timm had to finish it himself). I think this episode was another example of them not taking full advantage of their concept. But like I said, I did enjoy the ending, particularly when Batman was attempting to get the situation under control while on the roller coaster, and Joker is lobbing those “baby bombs” as Char called them.

The baby bombs were cool because it would be so easy to give the Joker some cornball 60’s-inspired clown weapons and call it good. I feel like the “baby bombs” in a way were partially that, but they also had a sense of weird and creepiness too, and work for a modern version of the Joker. We also see the return of Joker’s razor sharp throwing cards, along with a card that could somehow expel knockout gas. The razor cards are awesome, as they are a play on actual card throwing. A very real stunt among magicians, such as Ricky Jay, is throwing cards at such a speed that they can actually stick into objects such as a watermelon. The Joker is a dishonest manipulator, so giving him what is basically a cheater’s version of throwing cards, along with that being an actual weapon, makes sense with his personality. The knockout card was a bit weirder, neither Char or I really know how that would work. It jumped the shark a little, especially with how quickly it seemed to work on Batman. That must have been some strong stuff! Batman wasn’t super prepared for that one, and moments where he lacks the competence he usually has does stick out a little. But that’s more just nitpicking, and it didn’t really take away from anything.

I also thought that the Joker easily could have unmasked Batman when he was out cold, but maybe at this stage the Joker didn’t care so much about seeing Batman’s true face? The Joker is almost like a cat playing with a mouse sometimes, he doesn’t really care that much about what ultimately happens in the end, or even planning the next time they meet. He mostly cares about the in the moment plan, and having fun making life a living hell for everyone involved, including Batman. And I mean, he decided to set off a bomb at a child’s birthday party just because the mayor noted in an interview that he wanted to keep Gotham a safe place. As Char said, Joker may seem to have a high IQ, but his insanity level is also high, and they are constantly at odds with each other.

This episode also gave us our first major look at Mayor Hill. We have seen him before, but I think the most we’ve seen of him was his appearance in On Leather Wings which I didn’t even note when I covered that episode. I had honestly forgot that he becomes a semi-recurring character. Like the series bible planned, going by this episode, he seems to be a wishy-washy man that has practically zero guts, zero spine, and zero ambition to do anything aside from making sure he is seen as good in the eyes of the public. It’s not really clear as to whether or not the ordinary citizens of Gotham appreciate him as a mayor, but with how phony he seemed, it wouldn’t surprise me if people saw right through him. Come on, there is no way anyone living in Gotham would believe that the police chase which interrupted his speech on the new apartments was an isolated incident, right? This is the main reason why The Joker decides to challenge him a little, and show just how easy it is to detonate a bomb and rack up a body count it is in this place. I like seeing some actual motivation for the Joker, even if for any sane person this wouldn’t be.

On top of a phony politician, the mayor seems to be a disconnected father who thinks that he cares about his son, or at least wants people to think that. His son seems to love his father, but get easily frustrated with how he behaves, projecting himself onto his son all too often, and not truly getting to know what his son likes or wants. He completely dismisses his son’s magic hobby, as an example, and he turns his son’s birthday into what is basically a meeting among people with power and people with money. Poor kid. At least his father did have the courtesy to hire Jekko the Clown, but not even that can go right as it ends up being the Joker in disguise.

As a child-focuses episode, something I mentioned not typically being very good before, a lot of the usual sins aren’t here. The integrity of the episode isn’t completely thrown away to completely turn it into a kids’ show. We actually do have some relatable emotional scenes as well, such as when the kid is returned to his father, or even when it comes to the father being so distant toward his son. Also the child voice actor is surprisingly pretty good! Basically, I didn’t find myself embarrassed to be showing this episode to Char, and that’s a main reason why I find this episode to be passable in my book, despite it being a recipe for disaster. The only thing about the kid that Char and I really didn’t care for was his design. There was another kid at the birthday party with the same design issue, too. They don’t really look like kids, they look like mini adults with high-pitched voices. I don’t know if it’s the suit, or the hair, or the proportions, or something else entirely, but the kids in The Underdwellers looked a lot more like kids to me. Yeah, maybe they were meant to be younger, but one thing about kids is that they’re god damn goofy looking, particularly when placed inside an adult-looking suit. This kid doesn’t. Oh, and that receding hairline didn’t help, either.

It is interesting to see the Joker interacting with a kid, though. When they’re at the party, the Joker doesn’t seem to put too much attention into the kid, aside from messing with a him a little bit. But then back at the amusement park, he gets a little bit more giddy at the thought of ruining the kid’s innocence, and he even abandons Batman to chase after the kid to get him to watch Batman die. That’s pretty messed up, when you think about it! Char thought that the Joker seemed to work off of a partner in crime pretty well, and that maybe in a sense he is lonely. But I think we’re also both on the same page where we think it more comes from his joy of manipulating people, brainwashing them, and molding them to fit his needs, much like what happens with another character that we all know and love. Other than that, though, I never really got the sense that the kid was in any real danger, at least not in the moment, but who knows what would have happened if Joker did manage to escape or take Batman down. I think that if Joker escaped, he would have left the kid at the park. Maybe even on the roller coaster. But if Batman was killed, I have a suspicion that Joker would not be able to ignore the opportunity to adopt him in his own special kind of way, and morph into something similar to what we see when we get to Batman Beyond. But that’s not until way later. This is probably my favorite bit of the episode by the way, when the Joker is exposing the kid to his madness, as Char and I both think that this segment contained some of the best lines in the episode. One of them is the first quote used in this post, and then we had others such as, “If it wasn’t risky, I wouldn’t enjoy it,” and “Quiet, kid, it’s a free ticket.” Mark Hamill’s delivery is probably 60% of why these moments were so funny.

So this episode did have quite a bit going for it, but before we get to the spooky carnival stuff and the Joker/mayor’s son dynamic, there really just wasn’t that much which I considered entertaining. It’s hard to narrow down exactly why, but because there isn’t too-too much to complain about, I can hardly say the episode failed. It just turned out to be a little too forgettable for me. If they had gone further with the initial concept of Batman having a hard time saving the boy due to his frightening costume I think we would have had something much more worth watching (again, Batman Beyond). This is also our 3rd Joker episode, so he has made up 1/3 of the series so far. Maybe a little break from him would do some good? At least he didn’t trip and fall over a pit of something this time, but, yeah, he still fell at the end. Oh, Joker. You have gotta do something about that.

Char’s grade: B Major firsts: A close look at Mayor Hill.

Next time: Two-Face (Part 1)

Full episode list here!

[apocryphist]

@vault11overseer​ asked me to rank all of Palpatine’s looks, which was probably at least 40% a joke. Joke’s on them, I’m doing it anyways, starting with the absolutely most wretched of them: 

The classic throne room look

Yeah, I know -- this is The Palpatine Look, the one that defined our mental image of withered old bastards forever in Return of the Jedi. It’s a classic. But looking at it with the nostalgia goggles off, first doesn’t always mean best. There’s nothing regal about this look, nothing that screams Emperor, just a decrepit old man in his comfy clothes. 

Sure, it’s real menacing when the fabric kind of blends into the shadows, but when he’s just walking around?  It looks like he’s wearing evil cotton bathrobe. Even Dooku knew that if you were going to take a nap, you’d better be doing it in black silk pajamas. Next to Palpatine’s other looks, this one’s clear that he’s not trying too hard. 

Which, of course, is the point -- Luke Skywalker sure didn’t expect the bathrobe man reclining in his Death Star Lay-z-boy to summon fucking lightning from his fingertips. That, and Palps just doesn’t have anyone to impress at this point. Who the fuck does he need to dress himself up for? Nobody, that’s who. 

That said, this outfit has an unsung hero -- the cut of that hood. The way it’s draped like that, basically putting his head inside of a triangle, is way more evil than some round hood would be. Seriously, that hood is the reason we remember this look so well. 

Final Verdict: 6/10, a respectable showing in many ways, but his other outfits often take what’s good about this one and do it better. 

Next up...

Pantene-patine

Yeah, that’s not a great pun, but this guy clearly loves having hair a little too much for his own good. It’s like he saw male pattern baldness coming for his colleagues in the Senate, and thought “oh man, they’re all gonna be so jealous when they realize I can still style my hair like Nicholas Cage.” 

But it also gives him kind of the air of a doddering politician. Between the taditional Naboo clothing, unflattering haircut, and the particular brand of politeness he employs, this Sheev Palpatine can blend into the background until it’s time to let his actual personality shine through and steal the space presidency out of nowhere.  

Still not going to save it from a mediocre score, though. 2/10.

Space President, President of Space

Ol’ Palpy’s moving up in the world, so he can trim the weird wings off the sides of his haircut and stop wearing medium blues and purples to look nonthreatening. He doesn’t want to come on too strong, so there’s no hood or whatever, but he takes advantage of the opportunity to wear black and runs with it, only offsetting it with a brown top and sash. Palpatine can afford to look a little evil now; he’s space president. If he wasn’t at least a little evil, what would he be doing in politics?

But the ruffled brown-gold...sweater...? That’s not doing him any favors. 5/10.

Revenge of the Sleeves 

This one’s pushing it, Pal. This outfit might not quite scream evil, but it's at the very least stage-whispering it. All-red color scheme? Shoulder pads like an evil wizard? Sleeves wide enough to hold entire folders in the upper arm?? Also, now that he’s in animation, it’s a little hard to hide the fact that he looks like an evil puppet, but what the hell. The Senate voted him enough war powers that shit shouldn’t matter. 

All of that evil looks good, but those sleeves really do lose this outfit a lot of style points. Still, I guess he just had to do it to em. 4/10 

The murder machine

We all have days where we want to cut lose and just be ourselves, right? Well, this is what Palpatine wears on rare occasions when he can put aside the busy schedule of leading both factions in a galaxy-spanning war, and just be what he is in his heart: a goddamn Sith Lord. 

This doesn’t just scream evil, it screams evil and loving it! He spends his time in this outfit doing two things: cackling, and styling on absolutely everyone he encounters. It’s got that same classic comfy cut as his original Return of the Jedi look, but with a little more class. The texturing is great, the balance of black and red is on point, and it’s got a nifty sith clasp thing. Also, accessorizing with two lightsabers is a risky choice, but it really works out here. 

Honestly, this look is hard to beat, a great combination of old and new.   9/10.

Leather car upholstery from the 90s 

You know, this has a lot going for it. The cut of it is great, with angles seamlessly transitioning into round forms in a way that kind of suggests a business suit. This really says Space President in a way most of his looks don’t. That said -- this texture is just too much. Space leather is nice, but this is just distracting.

Also, I just noticed this, but -- are those loafers? Fucking evil loafers? Sheev, come on. 

 It looks good in darker lighting, though, so I’m gonna give it 7/10.

The Coronation Gown

Motherfucker shows up like “okay, the Jedi tried to kill me, gave me some weird scars, but i’m good. Don’t even pay attention to those scars, I’ve got this sick red robe aND A NEW EMPIRE, SEE YA DEMOCRACY WE’RE GREAT.” 

Also? This is a fucking sith robe. Dude’s just wearing it in public because he knows he’s eliminated the only people who would know what he’s doing. What a fucking power move. 

Is this a little too regal? Maybe for day to day wear, but come on, let Sheevy have his day to wear crushed velvet and unholy symbols of the dark side. 8/10

Classic 2: The Sequel: Redux: Fresh New Emperor Edition

What’s old is new again. right? Mostly. While this is a good look, it’s not as striking as the look he sported in the Clone Wars, and it’s not as creepy as his original look, either. Also: he gets flipped over a chair by Yoda. 

Surprisingly underwhelming, 6/10. 

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain 

Is it cheating to count two looks as one? Probably. But the juxtaposition of his original Space Satan look with Kindly Old Grandpappy Palpatine was fucking incredible. 

You never forget that he’s a bad guy, but you understand the Empire a little better just looking at Hologram Palpatine -- this is the face he presents to the public, a charming and diplomatic wartime leader turned the greatest champion of peace in the galaxy. It’s a hell of a trick. 

Plus, the animated version of the costume is a little more put together than the 1983 version, while still maintaining everything that made the original great. 10/10.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast

Is this our old pal Sheev? No, technically not, it’s a recording of him being projected by a droid after his death. 

Still, I like to think he picked this look out for the Sentinel Droids. Red leather, poofy sleeves, classic Sheev Palpatine material. Also, the faces on top of droids? Very spooky, very necessary, and very Palpatine. A post-mortem message isn’t quite the same with your dead boss staring you in the face. 

However, I’m sorry to say, these sentinel droids look cooler without Palpatine’s face being projected in them. 

They have a really neat look all of their own, and a dead dictator in a fishbowl doesn’t really add much. 7/10

So classic you don’t even know it’s classic

This is how Palpatine appeared in the original release of The Empire Strikes Back, before Ian McDarmid was even cast in the role. And, if I may say so, this is clearly Sheev’s best appearance. Big spooky hologram, lighting so dark you can’t tell where the shadows end and the black clothing begins, eyes that are probably sunglasses with putty on them -- need I go on?

No. No I don’t. Sheev was facetiming Vader from the fucking Coruscant runway where he was showing of his Sheevy Collection. Everyone else in the galaxy, eat your heart out, you’re never gonna look this good. 1,980/10.

...That applies to everyone except Lando. I can’t even joke about that, the man wears capes as fashion statements, and can turn the most painfully 1970s look into something acceptable. Sorry, I don’t make the rules; that’s just how it is.