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mossible · 2 years

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MOSSIBLE YOUR INSANE I LOVE YOU BUT YOU ARE INSANE!!!!!!!

That. Was so far the angriest I've ever seen these old men in any of the fics I've read featuring them.

The way the entire conversation/argument with pearl and marina started extremely one sided from marinas pov, because Octavio has heard this moral dillema about the octarians' authority over their lives multiple times before, he's become bored and numb of it.

Completely unfazed. He completely believes he understands this problem the most.

But only when Craig arrives did the conversation became so much more angry and petty and relentless. Because they lived through what caused this entire argument, the great turf war.

THEIR DIALOG AND JABS AT ONE ANOTHER WERE SO PERSONAL AND REAL IT HURTS.

You describing it as "an old language the audience don't understand" Is EXACTLY what it is.

God I hate it when old people have history /j

WHY ARE THEY LIKE THAT?

Just. The way this entire conversation escalated was . Just. UGH PERFECTION I LOVE THAT ANGST.

I'm so glad that this entire chapter was conversation heavy. It was so especially well written and captivated me the entire time. I couldn't imagine how long the brainstorming sessions for this chapter were!!! You chose all the right words and the characterization for pearl, marina, callie, all of the characters, agent 8!!!!- were so, so, good.

You knocked it out of the park, man!!!!!!

Holy shit!!!!

I find it suitable that callie was the one to let Octavio out.

She is objectively the most genuinely good person in the room. She is also the only one who truly sympathizes with Octavio, without any conditions or ill intent. Being the only one who actually lived along side octarians for a while. To fight for them the most.

She's also the only one in a while to befriend Octavio. And understand him.

Which is why she without falter let him go so willingly, cause she completely trusts despite everything, he loves and prioritizes his people above all else and what the best for them.

Speaking of empathizing with Octavio, I was so happy seeing someone point out the fact that Octavio took it upon himself to take care of and keep hundreds of thousands of people alive, UNDERGROUND. FOR DECADES.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW BIG OF A RESPONSIBILITY THAT IS?

He had to clean up the mess left behind after the great turf war, and then get ready to take control of how little him and his people have.

I'm honestly surprised Octavio hasn't snapped completely under all this pressure. Hardy old man. Fighting for his life every waking hour.

People so often throw away that aspect of him! How much he cares for his people, despite how much trouble that gives him! And this chapter did a really good job at presenting that part of him in his dialog!

I might be rambling a lot, but this chapter is just- so goddamn impressive!!! Oh my god mossible!!!

Keep up the good work!!!! Me and my sister are cheering you on!!!!

P. S... Hint for next chapter? Once again any form of hint will be fine

i am well aware that i am insane dont worry <3 the inner machinations of my mind are an enigma that nobody understands (ok nobody but like my gf and my longtime besties but still. twisted freacking cycle path over here)

thank you so much for the ask again omg!! along with putting this. long ass response under a readmore, i'll also requote everything i address here bc there is a Lot. if i don't address anything, assume that me not commenting either means that you nailed it right on the head, or that i would be spoiling y'all if i did say anything ;)

…because Octavio has heard this moral dillema about the octarians' authority over their lives multiple times before, he's become bored and numb of it. [ ] Completely unfazed. He completely believes he understands this problem the most.

this certainly will neither be the first nor last time i do this, but i am always tapping the silly little tag on ao3 that says 'unreliable narrator.' esp when it comes to how octavio acts in regards to things that he may seem familiar with to the reader! this man has been alive for over 130 (slutty, slutty) years, and has governed his people for only a little less than that. things that very obviously pose problems and challenges for those under his rule may often go entirely overlooked, both from his own prideful nature, as well as simply from an unwillingness to change his formula that has already worked for a century now. after all, if these so-called 'flaws' had been in his system since the beginning, why did nothing as detrimental as the inkantation happen BEFORE now? huh? what does marina know that octavio doesn't? (a lot. she knows a lot, for the record.)

again!!! tysm for your kind words omg!! i'm glad i was able to get my points across soundly and that the change in structure paid off. was very very worried about that for a while before i ended up biting the bullet and just final-checking and posting it without more agony LOL

would it surprise you if i admitted that… not very much brainstorming was needed? i mean, obviously yes i brainstormed for this chapter a ton! but, i wasn't exactly in very much need of thinking of new ideas when it came to writing everyone interacting. when stuff like that (as in dialogue and interactions and the like,) comes into play, i often find myself getting carried away with both writing it and simply stringing the cohesion of the scene along, without even really realizing it ?? tbf, i'm one of those people who thinks at like a mile a minute, so by the time my body catches up to my brain to express what thoughts i have going on, i usually miss a few crucial words or phrases in my hurry to share said thought as quickly as possible. when i write without a concrete deadline, like i am now with cracked snowglobes, i'm able to elaborate WAYYY more on my process and be much more thorough with it all. …at the cost of chapters topping 10k words on occasion. another thing i will say about the brainstorming bit, less about the process and more about my inspiration for chapter 4, is that uh. ok the origin of it is kinda funny so, dissonant melody, right? i'd assume most people reading this ask answering questions about my cuttletavio fic of all things have probably read it? (if not, go give it a read here and follow the author here!) i adore dissonant melody! it's genuinely what got me back into brainrotting over these two little old awful men and inspired me to write this fic! hell, i've even referenced some bits from it here and there in cracked snowglobes and. sort of followed a lot of what it established! but. i always felt that marina had a lot more she could have dug into when it came to her seeing octavio again. we know that she worked very closely under him while back in the domes, to the point of "earning multiple commendations," assumedly from the man himself! however, i absolutely do not blame DM's author for not digging more into their dynamic, as it was intended to be an octavio and cap'n origins comic, rather than a solely octavio-centric origins comic. that, and around 2018 when the comic was first posted online, the fandom had… a bit of an issue when it came to incorrect details about the nature of octarian society running rampant in our collective knowledge. (a whole lot of us were under the impression that all of the octarians were mind controlled, and that marina had a much less… positive, we'll say, opinion of her former ruler.) so, what better opportunity to write what i'd like to see of that reaction than in my fic? it sure helps what development octavio's gonna have to go through before some of the stuff i have planned can come to fruition, after all ;)

I find it suitable that callie was the one to let Octavio out. [ ] She is objectively the most genuinely good person in the room. She is also the only one who truly sympathizes with Octavio, without any conditions or ill intent. Being the only one who actually lived along side octarians for a while. To fight for them the most. [ ] She's also the only one in a while to befriend Octavio. And understand him. [ ] Which is why she without falter let him go so willingly, cause she completely trusts despite everything, he loves and prioritizes his people above all else and what the best for them.

i won't pick apart this bit too much, because most of it is absolutely spot on! but i will point out a couple things, just to give you some food for thought. while, yes, callie did spend a lot of time with the octarians, by no means does she have as much experience with the conditions of the domes as marina and eight, who were both born and lived most of their lives there. think back to when octavio brought up who was currently in control of the domes in his absence; the council. while callie was present long enough to empathize with the people she met while on tour, by no means could she have fully undertaken the magnitude of troubles that they faced down there, let alone understood octavio's own defiance when it came to all of marina's gripes with how he governed the place. similarly, think back to when freeing octavio even got brought up in the first place! who was the first person to openly admit that she was on the side of letting him out? who was the first one to state her hesitation? callie and octavio are friends, the latter said so himself in his internal dialogue, but they do still have some core differences that put them at odds with one another. as much as callie may trust him, she struggles to fully commit to her stance until she receives support from marie. she's on octavio's side, but only under certain conditions. at least, that's the case for now. who knows what could happen the next time they meet!

ok ive written you like 1k words alone just for these responses, so i'll end this here. but ! thank you again for the ask, and for your next chapter hint; you're going to be seeing some familiar AND new faces next chapter! which ones? i'll leave that up to your imagination :)

#cracked snowglobes

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sukifans · 4 years

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Can I request a small Zuko x Fem!Reader, where the reader can't fall asleep and Zuko offers to cuddle with her, and she falls asleep very quickly?

SLEEP // zuko

WC: 1.2k

WARNINGS: none, pure fluff

A/N: my first request!! let’s gooooo!! hope u like this anon, i am so soft for warm zuko. perhaps i wrote this instead of studying for my lab practical... don’t look at me. also i didn’t proofread so don’t come for my ass okay

⇦ 𝘔𝘈𝘚𝘛𝘌𝘙𝘓𝘐𝘚𝘛

The flimsy silks of your night robes whipped around your calves in the frigid evening wind. Being from a village not too far outside the Si Wong Desert, even the Fire Nation’s winter was enough to chill your bones. As much as you disliked being cold, you still preferred the tropical seasons to the constant abusive desert heat you grew up with. Lucky you that a group of insane kids came through your town talking about finding Wan Shi Tong’s Library all those years ago.

The memories made you smile fondly to yourself and you made a mental note to write Katara in the morning and ask her to send some warm furs. Sure, you could probably get something much quicker from a local vendor, but Sokka always boasted about how his people make the best blankets. You folded your arms across your chest and shuddered in the biting wind, leaning forward against the balcony railing as you looked out over the sleepy city.

The sound of footsteps behind you made you glance over your shoulder and you smiled at the sight of a rumpled-looking Zuko. “Evening, Fire Lord,” you hummed.

“It’s far too late at night for you to address me by my title, Advisor.” He ran a hand through his already mussed hair and came up to stand beside you, leaving a respectable distance between you. Even so, you could feel the warmth radiating from his body and you subconsciously shifted closer.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

“Not really,” he sighed. “You neither?”

“Nope.” You shook your head. “Too cold.”

He looked at you out of the corner of his eye with a wry grin. “So you decided to come stand outside, in the cold?”

“The inner machinations of my mind are an enigma, Zuko. Don’t try to keep up.” You laughed at his eye roll. A particularly harsh burst of wind blustered across the balcony and you pulled your arms in tighter around yourself, shivering.

“C’mere, idiot,” he chuckled, reaching out to pull you closer. Your mouth dropped open in faux-outrage.

“That’s an awfully rude way to speak to your top advisor on Earth Kingdom relations,” you huffed. You still let him move behind you and hug you to his chest, wrapping his arms around your middle.

“Yeah, yeah,” he murmured, leaning down to rest his chin on your shoulder. “You’re shaking like a leaf, (Y/N). You need to go back inside.” Despite his words, neither of you made to move away from the railing. You started to feel warm and sleepy, closing your eyes and leaning your head back against his shoulder as you melted into his embrace. He clasped your hands in his own, clicking his tongue when he felt your freezing fingers. You could still feel goosebumps along your skin, but now it was from the way his hot breath danced across your exposed collar bones. He flinched a little when you turned your head to press your cold nose against his neck. You could swear you felt his pulse racing just as hard as yours under his skin.

You opened your eyes again and moved so your lips almost grazed his ear as you whispered, “are you having those nightmares again?” You knew your friend went through sleepless spells plagued by terrible dreams of his father and the war and losing his loved ones. When he’d joined you and the Avatar and your friends, you were the first to notice how he’d sometimes jump awake at night, panting and sweating. One night, not unlike this night, during his first year as Fire Lord, he’d bared his soul to you and described the horrors he faced in his sleep. Ever since, you’d often sought out each other out when rest was evasive.

He simply nodded and buried his face into your hair, declining to elaborate. He didn’t know how to tell you that recently he’d been dreaming about losing you; that sometimes he’d wake up with your name caught in his throat and his cheeks wet with tears. You hummed in understanding and removed one of your hands from his to card your fingers through his hair soothingly. The gentle motion of your nails scratching against his scalp was almost starting to lull him into a trance state. You giggled when he let out a little contented sound.

“Don’t laugh,” he grumbled, “it feels nice. You know what you’re doing to me.”

“You’re like a happy, cute little turtleduck getting a head scratch.”

“I’m one of the most powerful men in the world, (Y/N); please don’t call me a ‘cute little turtleduck.’” He lifted his head from your shoulder with a groan and you turned in his arms to face him, not missing the way the moonlight illuminated the blush on his cheeks.

“Don’t act like a cute little turtleduck and I won’t call you one.” You raised your arms to drape around his neck and pressed closer to his warmth.

In moments like these, when Zuko looked at you like that, you wished he would just throw caution to the wind and kiss you already. You two had been toeing the line of “more than friends” for years at this point. It all drove you crazy—the lingering glances, the brushing fingers, the comforting touches, the tender embraces, the sweet smiles. You loved him and you knew that he loved you but any time there looked to be some progress he’d shrink away. With Zuko, your relationship felt like a complicated waltz of one step forward, three steps back, nine steps forward, twenty steps back. All you could do was follow his lead and wait.

His hands skimming up and down your sides made your heart do somersaults in your chest, knocking around your breath. “You’re lucky I have a soft spot for you.”

“You and I both know you’re all bark and no bite,” you laughed, poking his muscular chest. “All warm and squishy under that big, tough Fire Lord exterior.”

“Just don’t let the bad guys hear you say that.”

“Your secret’s safe with me, my lord.” He felt a pull in his stomach at your use of that title and you again noticed the pink tinge of his face that usually accompanied the nickname.

“Alright, Advisor (Y/N),” he slid his hand down your arm to lace your fingers together, “let’s get you back to bed.”

“You gonna keep me warm, Lord Zuko?” you asked as you walked beside him back inside and through the torchlit palace halls.

“Of course. Can’t have you getting sick, now can I?” Neither of you mentioned that you both slept better with the other in bed.

He led you into his chambers, where the bed was bigger and the sheets were softer and a fire always roared in the hearth. You laid your thin robe over a chair in the room, leaving you in just your nightdress as you followed him under the covers, snuggling up against his chest with his arm around you. As soon as you laid your head down on his shoulder you started to nod off. You smiled to yourself, happy that you were awake enough at least to feel the kiss Zuko pressed to the top of your head and hear the whisper into your hair that sounded suspiciously along the lines of, “I love you.”

ATLA TAGS: @hotgirlazula @octophopi @simpinforsukka

ZUKO/SOKKA TAGS: @fiantomartell @buckywiththagoodhair @hypercakeiii

#zuko x reader #zuko x you #zuko x y/n #prince zuko x reader #firelord zuko x reader #zuko fic #zuko fluff #zuko #mine #requests #avatar the last airbender #atla #avatar fic #atla fic #atla x reader

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longitudinalwaveme · 3 years

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Longitudinalwaveme Reviews Some More Old Comics (and One New One), Part 3

Batman #353, “Last Laugh”

The Joker walks into his hideout at the abandoned Tatch Hotel, where his goons are gambling. He promptly kills one of them by snakebite for disrespecting him.

Batman scares a corrupt city council member into revealing that the doctored photos that “revealed” Batman as a crime boss came from real crime boss Rupert Thorne. Apparently, Thorne ensured that Reeves would lose the election...meaning that he wanted Hamilton Hill to be mayor for some reason.

Also, Gordon is currently not the Commissioner---someone named Commissioner Pauling is, and Batman suspects both he and the new mayor are corrupt.

The next day, as Bruce Wayne, he accompanies Vicki Vale to the destruction of Gotham Central Station. Apparently, Vicki was witness to an interaction between Rupert Thorne and Morton Monroe that culminated in the latter’s suicide.

The computer being used to manage the explosions that will preserve the landmark while still clearing space for new development malfunctions has been stolen...by the Joker!

Because Batman and the new police commissioner are on the outs, Batman hadn’t known about the Joker’s escape from Arkham, and he’s not happy about that. He does, however, quickly work out that the Joker has bought some land in the Palisades under the pseudonym of Mr. Harlan Quinn. (No...seriously!)

Batman heads to the location in question...only to be caught off-guard by the Joker, who shoots a drugged arrow at him. When he wakes up, he’s tied to some rocks and surrounded by dynamite.

Joker is upset that Gotham is constructing a statue for a Broadway star and not for him, so he’s going to use the dynamite and the computer he stole to create a monument of himself (and kill Batman).

Batman manages to break free and jams the computer signal by way of a device he brought with him for that purpose.

The story is then interrupted for a weird He-Man comic! Hi there, He-Man, Teela, Man-at-Arms, Battle Cat, Sorceress, Mer-man, Beast Man, and Skeletor! And, uh, Superman, too, I guess! Why not?

I can honestly say I did not expect this Batman comic to contain a Superman/Masters of the Universe crossover where Superman fought Skeletor.

And now back to Batman, who’s fighting Joker’s goons. While this is going on, the Joker shoots at Batman while his back is turned-only for the explosions to go off. It temporarily creates Joker’s memorial of himself, but it lasts for only a few seconds before collapsing. The issue ends with Joker frowning and Batman smiling in a really unsettling manner.

The issue also has a backup story, starring Robin and Batman, the latter of whom is undercover as Matches Malone. They work together to defeat some con-men, and Dick uses an inflatable suit to dress up as Batman. It’s pretty amusing.

Batman #355, “Never Scratch a Cat”

Why does Catwoman own what appears to be a pet panther?

Apparently, she’s not happy abut the fact that Vicky Vale is also romantically interested in Bruce Wayne. We then cut to the latter two on a date.

Their date is suddenly interrupted when Catwoman uses her car to send their car off a cliff and into a river. She immediately regrets it and dives into the water after them to save them.

Bruce fights her off and makes it to the surface with Vicki himself. Two days later, she wakes up in the hospital.

The police have been staking out Selina’s house, but so far, there hasn’t been any sign of her.

That night, Batman leaves to track down Catwoman, telling Dick not to come with him as Robin. They have a fairly heartwarming conversation, and then Batman zooms off, leaving Dick and Alfred worried about how angry he seems.

Batman breaks into Selina’s house...and is promptly attacked by her pet panther. They fight, and he defeats the panther. He then discovers that Selina hasn’t been home for at least 2 days.

Batman looks through her bills and discovers that she’s rented an apartment somewhere.

Ex-Commissioner Gordon talks politics with Mayor Hamilton Hill. There’s a petition to remove the latter from his position, since he’s connected to Thorne and Thorne was arrested for murdering his own appointee for police commissioner. Also, Hill makes him commissioner again.

Batman tracks Catwoman to her new apartment and the two fight, verbally and physically. Eventually, though, they make up and hug each other. It’s kind of weird, but I guess it works.

Flash #324, “The Slayer and the Slain”

The Reverse-Flash is dead! But the real horror of this issue isn’t that he’s dead or that he died attempting to murder Fiona Webb...it’s the fact that this issue will kick off the Trial of the Flash arc; otherwise known as the Arc That Never Ends!

Some really weird nurse tells a baby the story of her favorite soap opera...only to lose her grip on the carriage, which goes hurtling towards a pane of glass! Kid Flash manages to save the baby, but not the glass.

Kid Flash then rushes to what he believes will be the wedding of his uncle to Fiona Webb, changing into a tuxedo along the way.

Unfortunately, when Wally arrives at the church, there’s no sign of Barry. Dexter Miles, Barry’s friend Mack Nathan, Mack’s son Troy, and Ralph Dibney, the Elongated Man, are at the church, though, as are Barry’s parents and Fiona herself.

Before Barry’s first name was Bartholomew, it was Barrence. No, seriously.

Fiona is naturally very upset, believing Barry stood her up at the alter. Henry Allen is less than sympathetic. “Nora and I aren’t ready to give up on our boy just yet, Fiona. And if you really love him...you’re not about to either!” Way to guilt-trip her, Henry. No wonder Barry got along better with Roscoe-pretending-to-be-you than he did with you.

Barry and the Reverse-Flash have a fight/race around the world, Eobard yelling about how mad he is about Barry trapping him at the end of time for four years.

Officer Frye and Frank Curtis are also at the wedding.

Apparently the Guardians of the Universe stopped Wally from helping Barry fight Eobard for some reason. Okay...

Eobard, being Eobard, makes a giant ice sculpture of Iris in the Himalayas just so he can troll Barry. Then they fight some more as all the wedding guests wonder where the bridegroom is.

While the two are fighting/racing, Eobard creates a big wave at Miami Beach, which Barry has to stop to rescue some swimmers from.

Captain Frye is starting to believe that Barry’s been murdered.

Eobard and Barry end up in Cape Carneval and take a rocket into outer space. After they return to Earth, Eobard taunts Barry by writing “Guess who’s going to kill your wife again” in the sand. This naturally makes Barry very, very unhappy.

Equally unhappy is Fiona, who is now completely convinced she’s been stood up and is leaving the church.

The wedding photographer pops up over thirty-five minutes after the wedding is supposed to start; conveniently already filming with his camera.

Eobard runs towards Fiona, murder on his mind...only for Barry to grab him from behind by the neck as he shouts “NO! Not again!”

Barry tries to comfort Fiona to no avail as Frye discovers that Eobard is dead.

And on that grim note, the issue ends.

Batman #362, “When Riddled By the Riddler...”

Why was Riddler working at a winery? Is it just because one of the processes involved in making wine is called riddling it? Whatever the reason, the appearance of a film crew at the winery apparently gives Riddler an idea for his next crime spree.

Batman is summoned to police headquarters, where Harvey Bullock is arguing with Commissoner Gordon. Apparently, Bullock’s working with Mayor Hill, and the Riddler has been sending Gordon puzzle boxes.

This puzzle box prompts Bullock to ask about the Riddler, which in turn prompts Gordon to tell Bullock and the reader about the Riddler’s M.O. and backstory.

When he finishes the story, Batman finally arrives and kicks Bullock out. He and Gordon proceed to try to solve Riddler’s latest riddle as Bullock eavesdrops on them both from outside the door. The riddle seems to point in the direction of the Mother Goose Amusement Park, but Batman tells Gordon to keep thinking of other possible meanings just in case.

Bullock plans to outwit Gordon, Batman, and the Riddler, showing an impressive degree of self-confidence (or self-delusion).

Batman goes to the park and is promptly ambushed by a machine-gun wielding Riddler.

Then they fight, Riddler escapes, and Batman learns that the amusement park has been closed all season, so it would have no money around to steal.

Gordon, Bullock, and Batman reconvene to do some Bat Deducting in order to figure out the Riddler’s real plan. Because Batman’s true superpower is his ability to understand the insane ways in which the Riddler uses riddles to plot his crimes.

Apparently, Riddler is going to steal the loot of a game show being filmed in Paradise Theater. The show in question is called “Enigma”, which is a terrible name for a show filmed in Gotham. It’s beggining the Riddler to show up.

The Riddler actually wears a suit in this issue! That’s unusual for Riddler at this point, and it looks really good. Of course, he immediately takes it off a few panels later, but still.

Apparently, the game show consists of getting contestants to answer riddles and...seriously, who decided it was a good idea to film this in Gotham?

Then the Riddler pops himself out of the riddle drum used in the game show. It’s hilarious. He steals the money and walks out the door, gloating.

Batman then appears and starts chasing Riddler, who hijacks a bus. Batman follows him and uses gas to force the bus to stop.

Then Batman literally kicks him off the bus and captures him.

The issue ends with Bullock deciding to drop the charges he’s managed to get raised against Gordon (after Gordon uses a riddle to threaten him). Hill is not happy about this.

Batman #373, “The Frequency of Fear”

The issue opens with Jason Todd having a freaky nightmare about his parents’ deaths (since this is pre-Crisis, the deaths happened at the hands of Killer Croc).

A really stupid psychologist wants to meet Jonathan Crane so that he can analyze the effects of fear on the human mind. Unfortunately for him, Crane has been released from Arkham, because everyone in Gotham is stupid. Even the stupid psychologist thinks so!

Meanwhile, a couple of people at Gotham University wonder if they really did see the Scarecrow heading for the old Marston House where Crane once lived.

Julia Pennyworth, Alfred’s daughter, asks Vicki Vale for a position at Picture News (is this different than the Picture News where Iris West-Allen works?) Vicki is opposed to the idea until Julia insists she’s not interested in Bruce Wayne.

Apparently, in an earlier issue a number of Batman’s Rogues dragged Scarecrow around while he was mostly incapacitated by fear. He’s not happy about the fact that they did this and is plotting revenge against all of them.

A guard at the courthouse demands to know why he’s there. In response, Scarecrow uses a skull to emit his fear frequency, and the guard predictably starts hallucinating. He then continues to use the frequency to get the location of the lock-up. He’s then lead the the solitary cell of the Joker.....and then Batman shows up.

Scarecrow proceeds to use the fear frequency on both him and on Robin, when the latter shows up. Batman manages to fight off the worst of it, but when Jason chases the Scarecrow out of the building and onto the rope Scarecrow was using to escape, the frequency overcomes him, he loses his balance, and he starts falling.

Batman manages to rescue him, though.

On an unrelated note, Child Services are worried about the fact that Jason keeps falling asleep in class.

Gordon and Bullock go out for dinner and have a little chat; Mayor Hill hires a hit out on Bullock.

Meanwhile, Batman tells Crane’s backstory to Robin, who suggests that Crane might be hanging out at his old house. Batman dismisses this, which is unfortunate, since Crane is, in fact, hanging out there.

Crane is reading his psychology textbook to his little skull head. The man is really weird. I’ll also note that his textbook does actually contain a few words I’m not familiar with, which is impressive.

Crane then determines that he’ll have to get rid of Batman first if he wants to kill off all the other villains, and goes out to do just that.

Commissioner Gordon calls in Batman and Robin and tells them that the Scarecrow is attacking a zoo. Batman tells Robin to go home; he thinks the case is too dangerous for Jason.

Batman goes to the zoo, and is increasingly affected by fear. When he reaches the crocodile pit, the fear is so overwhelming that he loses his balance and starts to fall in.

Meanwhile, Jason has disobeyed orders and gone to Crane’s old house. The Scarecrow promptly attacks him as Batman falls into the crocodile exhibit....and the issue ends on a cliffhanger. Ooof.

Flash 2021 Annual

SPOILERS!

Man, Wally West makes the weirdest faces in this confessional.

Barry, Ollie, and Mr. Terrific talk technobabble.

Good news! It turns out Wally’s not a murderer anymore! HURRAH!

Roy is alive again! YAY!

Barry and Ollie are also making weird faces.

Ollie really wants to save Roy from the speed force explosion that will kill everybody at Sanctuary, but Barry says there’s nothing they can do. Ollie doesn’t like this explanation.

Also, Barry’s powers suddenly start fading.

Wally makes another weird face as he and Roy talk.

Hey, Savitar’s back! And looking a lot more attractive than the last time I saw him.

Turns out that he’s been causing all the weird problems with the Speed Force in this arc. It’s appropriate for him, I think.

Roy and Wally team up to fight Savitar, who goes on a villainous monologue about how he’s going to eat the speed force so he can become it.

There’s some more technobabble about the Speed Force. Apparently, if they don’t cause the explosion that kills everyone at Sanctuary, Savitar’s plan to eat the Speed Force will destroy the Omniverse.

Roy ends up setting up the necessary explosion to save the Omniverse. Good work, Roy!

Aww, Roy and all the heroes are dead again....:(

Oh, well. At least Wally still isn’t a murderer now.

Wally and Savitar arrive in the present, Wally decides to continue being the Flash, he and Savitar have a fight/race, Wally wins, and Savitar disappears.

After Wally takes a nap, he and Barry have a cute talk, and Barry gives poor Ollie, who’s been through a lot, a hug.

Wally goes home and reunites with his family. HURRAH!!!!

Heat Wave’s going to be in the next arc. It’ll be interesting to see how that goes.

#flash comics #batman comics #dc comics

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fandomlurker · 4 years

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A Ponderous Rewatch: “Win Big”

And so we begin. For real, this time.

And to start, we have to go all the way back to Animaniacs season 1, episode 2, with the very first Pinky and the Brain skit which is named “Win Big”.

Interestingly enough, the duo are not directly trying to take over the world in this episode. The premise is that Brain needs money to buy the one part needed for his actual plan to take over the world using a machine he calls the “Super-Conductive Magnetic Infindibulator”, which will “deplete hydrogen and promote gravitational collapse [to produce] a magnetic charge from the center of the Earth so strong that every person who has loose change in their pockets will be magnetically drawn to the ground and stuck there”.

…

For those of you who are new to the series and for those of you who maybe can’t remember the show very well, I want to say that yes, what you’re probably asking yourself right now is true: Brain’s plans are almost always this complex and completely absurd with giant, glaring holes in logistics. There’s been a long-time “theory” that while their theme song says “one is a genius, the other’s insane” and intends to indicate that Brain is the genius while Pinky’s insane, it’s actually the other way around. And honestly? That doesn’t exactly hold up to any kind of scrutiny at all. Brain is actually a genius…he’s just also very, very short-sighted and lacks a lot of common sense. He’s so focused on his goal of world domination that he forgets to account for even the most obvious of details that would completely ruin what he’s trying to accomplish. And Pinky? Well, Pinky’s a lot smarter than he seems, but I wouldn’t exactly mark him as a genius. He’s just more worldly, more emotionally intelligent, and has a knack for pointing out the obvious. For you D&D nerds out there, think of it like this: Brain is a high INT low WIS character while Pinky is a high WIS low INT character.

As for which one is “insane”? Disregarding the…let’s just say “problematic” baggage that comes with that word, I’d argue that Pinky is just neurodivergent and Brain has a lot of problems. Like, a lot of problems. We’ll get more into that mess much farther down the line.

In any case, the opening of this episode has Brain pulling Pinky away from watching what is obviously supposed to be The Honeymooners, complete with “Bang, zoom, right in the kisser!” quote and everything. That quote, or one like it, was what the character Ralph Kramden would frustratedly yell at his wife, Alice, after she’d dismiss a get rich quick scheme of his. It was an ultimately impotent threat of violence, as he never did hit her. A lot of folks before me have delved into how messed up and controversial that whole running gag was, so I didn’t particularly feel the need to go over it here.

However, it does become immediately relevant because as Pinky laughs at the joke and excitedly quotes it while Brain is trying to get his attention, Brain reaches up and gently holds both their faces close for a few moments…

“Stop saying that, Pinky!...”

…then more aggressively tugs Pinky’s face down as he finishes with “…Or I shall have to hurt you.”

“Oh, okay. Sorry, Brain. NARF!”

Isn’t it interesting how the very first thing this series does is juxtapose Pinky and the Brain’s relationship with that of the main married couple on The Honeymooners? Like, it’s certainly not the most healthy of a relationship parallel to make, but in Pinky and Brain’s favour their world is governed by slapstick humour and thus any and all violence is much less serious. Also, there’s Pinky’s…uh…special relationship with physical pain that will become more apparent as the series goes on. Like, of course this kind of behaviour is wrong and appalling in real life, but this is a Warner Brothers Looney Toons-style cartoon and there’s a big difference between the two.

There’s also this little tidbit of information on the Animaniacs wiki regarding this episode and its writer, Peter Hastings:

“Although Peter Hastings has stated that he always tried to have Brain threaten to hurt Pinky but never actually hit him (because he felt this was both funnier and truer to the character), Tom Ruegger and the other producers would often have Brain actually hit Pinky. Even in this very first short, the Brain does follow through.”

Moving on, though, after Brain Rube Goldberg machine’s his way out of their cage and points out that Pinky has an “inordinately short attention span” after Pinky gets briefly distracted by another TV show that’s a very blatant parody of Jeopardy, he explains to Pinky his latest plan for world domination.

“EGAD, Brain, brilliant!”

“…Uh oh, no, wait…what if they take off their pants?”

^ The face of a man who somehow managed to forget that clothes are removable.

See what I mean about Pinky having a knack for pointing out the obvious? It’s very much needed to counteract Brain’s complete lack of foresight and introspection.

“Then…we’ll have to take over the world quickly.”

…Though there’s also something to be said for Brain’s stubbornness.

So they need a part for Brain’s machine called a Infindibulator, which is for some reason listed in the Farmer’s Almanac??? Which to my knowledge doesn’t sell anything at all??? Okay, Brain, whatever you say.

Brain actually kicks Pinky directly in the ass to get him up onto the Almanac to read it,

which would be alarming if not for Pinky’s completely happy and sincere “Thanks! :D” afterwards. It’s a mere hint to Pinky’s…predilections. I find it interesting that it’s so subtly foreshadowed in this very first short. I know you newer folks might think I’m joking, but I assure you I’m not. You will see.

As a side note, it’s so odd hearing Rob Paulsen’s early Pinky voice in these first several Animaniacs shorts. I’ve seen fans say that it’s more lispy than the standard Pinky voice that we’re all familiar with, but to me it just sounds like Pinky with a very, very bad cold and a stuffy nose. Get this mouse some nasal spray.

So Pinky finds the entry for the Infindibulator and it costs a whopping $99000. Where would two little lab mice find that kind of cash?

It sure is lucky and convenient that the TV is still on during that moment and tuned into an episode of Jeopardy—I mean “Gyp-Parody” (Really, writers? Really? In addition to being a horrible and lazy pun, I would rather not have to type a slur so much, so I’m just going to call it the name of the show it’s based on) where the reward for winning totals $99000.

And here we go, the first of its kind. The birth of the most famous running joke from Pinky and the Brain!

“Pinky… Are you pondering what I’m pondering?”

“I think so, Brain, but where are we going to get a duck and a hose at this hour?”

…Believe it or not, Pinky’s bizarre answers do have an explanation and a certain logic to them, but we find out the hows and whys much, much farther along in the series. That said, I’ll be damned if I know how he got to this particular train of thought right now. The inner machinations of Pinky’s mind are an enigma.

So Brain gets the idea to become a contestant on Jeopardy to win the amount of money they need for their plan. Pinky points out that the questions on the game show are very, very hard and Brain would have to get all of them right, and I just love Brain slowly turning his head to face Pinky with the most deadpan “Bitch, are you for real?” look on his face.

To Brain’s credit, he doesn’t berate the other mouse at all for his doubts. He just very calmly asks Pinky to quiz him about anything he can think of. When Pinky asks him “What is pie?”, well, see above for the summary of the answer Brain gives.

He then asks for a harder question, and Pinky asks him which TV character says “Bang! Zoom!—“ before Brain cuts him off with a wack of a pencil for quoting something inane and annoying him again.

Though he quivers a little before the smack, Pinky’s fine afterwards. Smiling, even.

And he happily gives Brain the answer anyway, complete with bows. “Ralph Kramden! TA-DAH! :D”

But Brain is insistent on preparing to go on Jeopardy, grabbing Pinky by the tail to drag him off-screen and Pinky is…

Hmm.

He’s, uhh, more than fine with it.

Now we get the debut of the human suit mecha. It’s quite the staple of the series; the go-to for a human disguise whenever the mice need one.

And it certainly is…something. You may be noticing the lack of a human head. Don’t worry about it. Brain certainly didn’t.

I love Brain’s playful little “Honey, I’m hoooome!~” when he pops his head out, despite having a deadpan look on his face the entire time. He’s having fun!

“Ahahaha! Oh, that’s a funny joke, Brain!”

“I am not devoid of humour.”

Pinky is having a little less fun with his tail accidentally tied along with the shoelaces, however.

It’s fine, he’s fine. He’ll be okay! Pinky is indestructible.

He’s a pocket pal now. He’s fine.

Makin’ my way downtown, walkin’ fast…~

Okay, sorry, he’s hailing a cab instead. Effectively, too!

Oh hi, Warners, nice to see you! Doing a literal running gag, I see. Nice, nice.

Goodbye!

So if you were wondering how regular humans would react to Brain’s “clever” and totally made without proper foresight disguise, well…

“Wh—HOA! Hey, if you don’t mind me askin’, bub, what happened to your head?”

“Nothing. I am a mouse in a large, mechanical suit.”

“Hehehehe! Okay, all right, my fault for askin’, right? Heh.”

Yup. This isn’t the first time this kind of thing happens. I guess since they’re in Hollywood the taxi driver’s seen worse.

So Brain gets on the show (don’t worry about how, shh) and the announcer calls him “Brian” instead and Brain politely tries to correct him. I can’t exactly fault the announcer because 1. “Brain” isn’t a name and 2. Look at Brain’s gloriously messed up handwriting.

The host walks on in. It’s pretty cute that they gave him the parody name “Alex Quebec”. It’s a suitable pun and rhyme to hint at the fact that Alex Trebek was born in Canada. Rest in peace, Mr. Trebek.

The first question is in the category of celebrity shoe sizes and asks what size sandals Plato wore. Umm. Okaaaaay… Thank goodness this show first aired before websites for foot fetishists cataloguing celebrity feet was a thing. Also is it just me, or does that font looks like something off of The Simpsons?

I don’t know if I should be worried or not that Brain got the correct answer to this question. (Seven and a half, if you’re curious.)

Question two is totally a trick question, though. There’s no such place as “Lestho”. “Lesotho”, however, is a real kingdom in South Africa. King Moshoeshoe I was indeed the ruler in 1820 as Brain answers, although the place was called “Basutoland” at the time and didn’t formally become a kingdom until 1822.

Educational!

Question three is a normal if extremely hard question for anyone unfamiliar with geographic locations off of the southeast of Asia. There are a lot of correct answers, and Brain answers correctly with “Bikar, Ailuk, and Ailinglaplap”. As this post notes, he is totally flexing on everyone by naming very obscure coral atoll islands that are some of the furthest neighbours from the Isle of Yap.

You smug asshole, Brain.

We don’t get the questions Brain answers correctly in the following montage, but we do get a close-up of his handwriting. Look at this. Just…look at it.

We get to see the aftermath of Brain’s monopolizing of the scores, though. The other contestants aren’t looking too good. Note that it seems there were times that they did manage to buzz in to answer before Brain did, but they must have got all of their answers or at least most of them wrong. They’re both in the negatives.

“Any plans on how you’ll spend your winnings?”

“Yes. I plan to take over the world!”

“...”

“…Ah haha, my fault for asking.”

Pinky claps and congratulates Brain on doing so well so far, because he’s a sweetheart like that, and

Brain flicks him back into the pocket. Man, you’re so quietly mean in this first episode, Brain.

Now it’s the final question, from the category “Quotable Quotes”. I remember this kind of category as usually being the easiest on Jeopardy, so it’s kind of surprising that it’s the Final Jeopardy question.

Uh-oh.

Looks like someone forgot that Jeopardy questions aren’t all science, history, and geography-related. Sometimes they’re about pop-culture.

Brain is…not very good with pop-culture. And Pinky’s been banished to the bottom of the coat pocket.

Whoops.

“Umm. Uh, who is, uhh… I, umm. Who is, uhh… Who is…uhh, Pinky…?”

Oh Brain, honey, it’s cute that you got so stumped and flustered that you just blurted out the only name that came to mind (and because Pinky was quoting it earlier, but still!), but it’s also so very, very sad.

Of course that’s incorrect, and Brain is just so monumentally defeated.

“And how much did you wager?”

“Everything…”

HUBRIS!

We then cut to the mice watching Brain’s horrible defeat on TV, and Pinky suggests a few other game shows they could try: Wheel of Misfortune, $10,000 Pile-A-Mud… The latter of which is supposed to be a parody of the old game show Pyramid, which wasn’t around in that format by the time this episode aired, so…good luck with that one, Pinky.

But no, Brain doesn’t plan on going on any more game shows. He instead walks sadly over to their cage to rest for tomorrow night.

It’s then that we are witness to the birth of the other memetic exchange this show is known for:

“Why, Brain? What are we going to do tomorrow night?”

“The same thing we do every night, Pinky: Try to take over the world!”

That wink, though. It’s the confident wink that sells this and tells us all you need to know about the Brain. No matter how bad his defeat, how humiliated he gets, or how sad he feels about failing, Brain always gets back to business sooner or later. He has determination on his side. And Pinky, of course.

And that was the very first Pinky and the Brain short! A pretty good start for the series, really. Nothing spectacular, and definitely not the worst, just a good start that sets the tone of the series well and establishes several of the running gags the show is known for. The creators pretty much have Brain as a character down right away: serious but not devoid of humour, single-minded, stubborn, egotistical, smart, and determined to meet his goals. There are a few things missing from him that we get later, and he certainly softens a bit by the time the spin-off starts, but they’ve set up a solid foundation to build on so far here. Pinky’s character is a little more nebulous in this episode, though. He’s shown to be generally good-natured, smarter than he first seems, easily distracted but well-meaning, and willing and able to help Brain achieve his goals. Still, he’s missing the much of the overwhelming kindness and his enthusiasm for Brain’s plans and awe at Brain’s intellect that he has as we go further through the series. I mean, there are hints of it here, too, but it’s much more understated compared to later on. Not to mention that Pinky gains a bit of a sassy side to him that somehow still manages to be friendly, like when you gently tease your friends while still caring about them.

I understand that you can’t really squeeze all of that into the first, like, fifteen minutes or so of a series, though.

Also, the animation for this episode wasn’t exactly the best of the series. There are points where Brain looks kinda muppet-y and Pinky is uncharacteristically gaunt and gangly. I mean, Pinky is usually a little gangly but not as hunched over and his nose stretched out so much. It’s not the worst, either, and serves as a decent baseline of how the characters look. Wang Film Production looks to be the animation studio behind this one, and I’d say their style is the most “normal” quality of the ones that get to animate for PatB. They do settle into a better and more consistent style for the show, so I’ll try and be on the look-out for that.

I’m not sure if the other posts I’m going to do on this rewatch will be quite so play-by-play as this one was. Since this is the first, I felt the need to establish in more detail the kind of things that happen in your average episode of PatB and the general rhythm of the show. I’m definitely going to try and include every instance of the ongoing running gags the series has, though.

I feel I should also say that from now on I might have to double or triple the amount of episodes in one post, too. There are some episodes in a long-running series like this where not too much of note happens, I’m sure, and I know at least a few are either silent shorts, cameos in other Animaniacs skits or little music videos and you can only get so much out of those entries.

Yes, music videos. Including a cameo appearance in a Macarena parody. I’ll prepare as best as I can to cringe so hard from secondhand embarrassment that I morph into a pretzel shape.

We’re only getting started, folks. Things are only going to get weirder and more interesting from here on out.

#Pinky and the Brain #PatB #Win Big

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diyunho · 4 years

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The Joker x Reader - “A.N.N.I.E.”

A.N.N.I.E. (Artificial Non-Neurological Intelligent Entity) is an outdated android model that emerged on the market two years ago. The Joker purchased her as a toy for his son not knowing she will become the recipient of desperate attempts to keep Y/N with him. After the woman’s unexpected death, experiments meant to transfer her conscience inside Annie failed yet The King of Gotham couldn’t part with the only thing that reminded him of someone he actually cared about.

“Can you fix her?” The Joker asks the two programmers that have been assessing the android for the past 15 minutes.

“Hard to tell sir, but we are trying to determine what triggered the malfunction,” Zariah points at the 4 laptop screens simultaneously running diagnostics. “Recently there’s been a spike in flaws regarding A.N.N.I.E. models; after all they were released 2 years ago. I would recommend acquiring the most current technology…”

“No need to!” J bitterly cuts him off. “Just fix her!”

“We will do our best, sir!” Mickel reassures The King of Gotham: his wretched temper might interfere with today’s agenda and the two hackers simply can’t afford it.

“Your best is not enough,” The Joker growls. “She cornered my son last night and almost crushed him against the wall. I had to use manual override to shut her down. That’s not typical machine behavior, is it?!”

“No sir, although I’ve heard of similar incidents in the past months. If it continues, Annie prototype will be pulled off the market soon,” Zariah informs.

“Her name‘s not Annie,” The Clown Prince of Crime interrupts the unwanted advice. “Her name’s Y/N!”

Awkward silence and Kase’s voice resonates from upstairs.

“Daddy?... Daddy?...”

“My son’s awake; I’ll be back,” J abandons the two men in a hurry and stumbles on the numerous cables connecting the laptops to the cyborg on his way out.

“Goddammit!”, he huffs through his clenched teeth before vanishing around the corner.

“That was fucking weird,” Mickel whispers. “What does he means her name is not A.N.N.I.E.?! Am I crazy? Is this not Artificial Non-Neurological Intelligent Entity sitting in that chair?!”

“Of course it is,” Zariah confesses in low tone. “He gives me the creeps too how he thinks she’s in there.”

“What do you mean “she”?” the obvious question follows.

“Check those cords,” Zariah urges and continues: “You noticed he corrected me with the name for the pile of rubbish.”

“Yeah,” the other guy begins typing a bunch of configurations while listening to the scoop.

“Y/N used to take care of his kid. Nobody can say who she really was: some believe she might have even been the mother, that her and Mister Joker were together. Others swear the little boy called her auntie; maybe she actually was Mister J’s sibling. Who the hell knows? She was a strange woman and she looked… different also,” Zariah’s gaze circles the premises to make sure their employer is not eavesdropping.

“No shit!” Mickel frowns at the statistics popping up on the monitors.

“Yeah, I saw her a few times, gave me the creeps. Something was off with her, you just could tell. Mister J always had jerks working for him and I guess they clashed with Y/N quite often: it got so bad they dared planning a prank that ended horribly. Do you know the warehouse on 14th street? The 6 stories one?”

“No.”

“Well, supposedly it happened there: Mister J was out of town and had no clue about the scheme plotted without his consent. The crew took his son on the roof and threatened they will toss him off the building if she doesn’t jump instead.”

“And?!” Mickel halts his typing, intrigued.

“She jumped… … they didn’t think she would.”

“Holy crap! I had no idea!”

“Dude, it was a disaster!” Zariah shrugs depicting the facts. “Y/N splattered all over the concrete, broken to pieces… Despite the severe injuries, she didn’t die immediately: she was in a coma for almost a month before passing away. Mister J had Annie already, he probably bought her as a toy for Kase when it first emerged on the market. The rumor is that while Y/N was in a coma he kidnapped scientists and forced them to work on a senseless project: transferring her conscience inside Annie.”

“You’re shitting me!” Mickel exclaims at the insane disclosure.

“Nope.”

“Can’t be done; it’s impossible!”

“And who’d dare explain the obvious to him, huh? Not the researchers he killed the moment she stopped breathing if you get my drift.”

“That’s messed up!” Mickel forcefully exhales, infinitely more nervous about being at The Penthouse for the moment.

“Do you remember the serial murders that shook Gotham 3 months ago?” Zariah has more gossip for his partner. “It was Mister J hunting down every single person that was on the roof the day Y/N jumped.”

“We shouldn’t be here,” the anxious Mickel shrugs. “Maybe we should abandon our mission.”

“Bulshit! They’ll pay us double over anything he offers so don’t be a pussy! Speaking of, you should assemble the guns prior to his return!”

Mickel is reluctant to the whole scenario, yet he compiles the two guns out of items resembling computer parts scattered in their suitcases: that’s how they were able to deceive security.

“Done,” he stashes one finished weapon under his jacket, offering the other to Zariah.

“Remain calm and we’ll be ok,” the latest mumbles. “Let’s pretend we’re here to repair this junk.”

A couple more minutes pass by and The Joker’s presence alongside his offspring makes the two guys cringe.

The little boy hides behind his father’s legs, shyly glancing the android’s way.

“Don’t be scared,” J grumbles. “She’s in power saving mode, it’s fine.”

“Yes, it’s perfectly safe,” Zariah winks. “We are almost done extracting all the data,” he gestures at the laptop’s screens.

Kase giggles and rushes to climb on Annie’s knees, excited to see her after she wasn’t allowed to sleep in his room last night which is understandable since the robot went bonkers.

“Hi Y/N,” the child softly pulls on her long hair. “I want waffles pwease.”

The hackers exchange meaningful glares and The Joker replies:

“She can’t for now,” he mutters. “She’s defective. Frost will take you out for breakfast, alright?”

“Does it hurt?” the 5 year old pouts at his parent’s affirmation: he doesn’t comprehend all the words and it’s difficult for a kid to process the concept of transference.

After Y/N died, The Joker told Kase she moved inside Annie: he wasn’t delusional about his failed experiment but it was easier to make his son cope with the loss of the woman that raised him. J doesn’t literally believe there’s any trace of Y/N in the machine: how could it be? Several months passed and nothing proved what he tried to accomplish succeeded: a twisted concept originating from a distorted mind was doomed from the start.

“It doesn’t hurt,” The Clown Prince of Crime sighs. “She’s resting.”

“Sir, I think you should see this,” Mickel gets his attention.

“What am I looking at?”

“You used voice command to lock down the android?” Zariah pinpoints at the monitor to his left.

“I did.”

“That’s not what turned off the system: see the numbers flowing borderline with the central matrix, the tiny squares? She wasn’t locked down by external command, she was terminated from within.”

“What do you mean?!” Mickel scoots over in his rolling chair, baffled.

“Somebody trespassed the firewall,” his accomplice utters the obvious.

J is less than happy with the random discovery still he requires confirmation of his suspicion.

“Meaning?”

“Annie, I mean Y/N is the recipient of a cyber-attack: she’s been hacked.”

“Hacked?” J scoffs. “What for? She’s just a companion android, it doesn’t make any sense.”

“Not sure, sir…” Zariah lifts his shoulders up, baffled.

“Can you find the source?” the green haired individual suggests.

“Analyzing the algorithm shows puzzling results: these numbers should be repeating themselves every so often, yet they don’t; never seen anything like it and I’ve been dealing with computers for a long time,” Mickel adds. “The most interesting detail is certainly challenging our expertise: tracking the root of the signal is pretty much unachievable. We should see input bouncing around from different servers because this is how hackers disguise their trail; but… this particular livestream happened simultaneously from various servers around the country.”

“There’s practically 0% chance for such abnormal hacking with today’s technology!” Zariah scrunches up his face at the baffling discovery. “How in the world was it done?!”

“You’re the experts!” The Joker barks. “I hired you based on strong recommendations from others that used your skills. Can you fix her or not?!”

“Of course, sir.”

“Yes!” the two associates ease The Clown’s doubt. “We’ll unplug the cables, we already removed all necessary info.”

Kase watches them detach the cords from Annie’s access ports, the child sulking at their action.

“Y/N, does it hurt?” he asks and hops off her lap. The empty shell doesn’t respond since the robot is in power saving mode.

“It doesn’t hurt,” The King of Gotham duplicates his earlier statement. “Frost!” he addresses the henchman entering the living room. “Take him to our restaurant on Madison Avenue for breakfast then he can play at the property on Foster Creek until we are done here. I want a 3 cars escort.”

“Yes, boss. I’ll call in advance and tell them not to open the place until we’re done.”

“Good,” J agrees with his henchman’s proposal. “Kase, go and eat!” he urges the offspring having a few more secrets to share with Annie. “Come on, let’s go!” the impatient father encourages.

The 5 year old obeys and kisses Annie’s cheek, whispering:

“I’ll bwing you beck’fast auntie, ok?” and he rushes at Frost’s side screaming up a storm. “Byeeeee daaaaaddy!!!”

The programmers are so absorbed by the mystifying enigma they stumbled upon by accident they don’t pay attention to the little nugget’s promise: even if they would, Zariah and Mickel wouldn’t be able to untangle the convoluted riddle of Y/N’s true identity.

She wasn’t The Joker’s girlfriend nor Kase’s mother: Y/N was nothing less than The Clown’s younger sister.

The woman protected the only family she had like a hawk, thus she didn’t hesitate to give her life in exchange for her nephew’s.

Too bad she had no idea those jerks were mocking her when she ended up on that accursed roof.

Too bad her brother didn’t guess their intentions and extremely regrettable he was left alone without the only person he ever trusted.

Too bad she died granted J’s desperate efforts to keep her with him.

And so sad he didn’t know how much Y/N meant to him until she was gone.

“Isn’t it weird someone breached my android in the same time it was malfunctioning and closed her down?…” J stares outdoors on the terrace. “Why would anyone go through the trouble?... What’s the purpose?”

The familiar click of safety being taken off a gun awakens The Joker from apathy and he turns around: it’s not easy to surprise J but he’s stunned to notice the two experts he recruited pointing guns at him.

“What the fuck are you doing?!”

“Cashing in a huge payday, sir,” Zariah sneers. “It’s not often you become a legend for murdering…”

The Joker is not listening, his attention diverted by the strange phenomenon occurring behind the two hackers threatening his life: Annie is standing up from her chair and that’s clearly not possible; she is in power saving mode!

The android grabs Mickel’s arm and twists it to 90 degrees, using his own pistol to blow his brains out. Before Zariah can react he’s knocked to the ground with such violence J starts backing out, unsure on what to do when Annie steps on the man’s neck.

The sound of fractured bone plus the cyborg’s attention clearly directed towards him now makes him shout:

“Code 71345, emergency override!”

“Access denied!” the robot approaches still calibrating its joints and electronic synapses.

What the hell is wrong with this thing?!

“Code 71345, emergency override!”

”Access denied!”

J wants to make a run for it but he’s aware Annie is faster; why is she glitching like this?!

“Code 71…”

“Why are you trying to shut me down when I tried so hard to come back to you?” the cold voice halts the rest of his sentence.

The Joker takes a strenuous breath, dumbfounded at the shocking revelation:

“Y/N?... … Is… is… that you?!... …”

The android tilts its head to the left while an eerie smile flourishes on the plastic lips:

“Missed me?”

Also read: MASTERLIST

You can also follow me on Ao3 and Wattpad under the same blog name: DiYunho.

#the joker x reader #the joker fanfiction #the joker imagine #the joker jared leto #the joker suicide squad #the joker #joker #joker jared leto #joker suicide squad #dc #mister j #Mistah J #dcu #jokerleto

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franzbiblio · 5 years

Text

Where in the comics are Professor X and Magneto?

So it occurs to me that those not up-to-date with comics might be interested in a "where are they now?" for Professor X and Magneto, especially if you might be interested in jumping into the breach with this new launch of House of X/Power of X making it a bit easier than usual to jump into the insanity that is comics in general and X-Men comics in particular.

The short answer is that there isn't really a status quo established for this particular era of X-Men as of yet and as for Magneto and Charles Xavier's potential place in the coming status quo, I can't even really predict, which is both exciting and terrifying if I'm being honest.

Magneto:

I will start with Magneto who is a little more complicated to explain how he got where he is, but I do at least have a vague notion of the general trajectory we might be seeing from him in the next several months:

Until recently Magneto has spent most of his time running about being an anti-hero type from leading a distinctly shady team of the X-men in Uncanny X-Men (2016) #1-19, until Psylocke (Betsy Braddock) decided that he had been too shady and stabbed him and apparently killed him.

This being comics means that he got better immediately, but decided to not make this fact known and instead served as the secret mentor for the teenage time-displaced original five X-men in the pages of X-Men: Blue (2017) #1-28, that is until during the arc during issues #23-28 (collected in the X-Men trade titled Cry Havok) when Magneto is shown disillusioned with trying to be hero because his teenaged wards had run off into space (let the record show this is not the first time that Magneto has been driven back to villainy because his wards have a predilection for running off to space without so much as leaving a note) during a huge international crisis leaving Magneto to pick up the pieces in the only way he knows: being shady. This is then exacerbated when at the end of the arc Magneto is forced to kill brainwashed mutants he was attempting to save, fleeing to the future (there was a time machine in the basement… let’s not go into it) where he learned that him being an asshole is the only way the future will be saved, he then returns to the present seeking revenge on Emma Frost who was complicit in the whole brainwashing mutants thing. The original five X-Men freshly back from space objected to this whole killing Emma Frost thing and Magneto and the original five make their formal break in X-Men: Blue (2017) #31.

We are then shown Magneto fully returning to villainy with the destruction of a research facility, killing all the scientists inside, but because this is Magneto there are sympathetic "trying to prevent the future destruction of mutantkind" motivations behind this, but still kind of a dick move. He is then shown with a new Brotherhood of Mutants on a new Asteroid M (you know the secret asteroid base he has because he is not a dramatic bitch at all) setting him up clearly as a future threat for the X-Men.

Then Uncanny X-Men relaunched with an event called X-Men Disassembled that spanned Uncanny X-Men (2018) #1-10 where Magneto appeared as the brainwashed, bearded minion of Jean Grey's sort of alternate universe son who is now a reality warping messiah figure, Nate Grey AKA X-Man. While Magneto shakes off the brainwashing in Uncanny X-Men #10, joining the X-Men in attacking said reality warping messiah, he, along with every other mutant present, end up sucked into some kind of pocket dimension/alternate universe (it's a little unclear at the moment what exactly it is) and the results of this is being explored in the crossover event Age of X-Man. Magneto specifically is a principal character in the Marvelous X-Men (2019) #1-5 miniseries, which depicts Magneto as a part of the X-Men team in this alternate universe utopia with no memories of the regular universe. He has a half cape with a fluff and is pretty dapper, so I'm a fan. The last few issues have shown him along with the rest of the cast beginning to have flashbacks of the other universe and begin to doubt the Utopia.

This miniseries will be running until sometime in June where we can only assume that all the mutants currently trapped in the pocket dimension will return to the regular universe with their restored memories. It's impossible to know what the exact fallout of this will be.

It seems unlikely to me that Magneto would go back to being an ally of the X-Men after all the build-up to making him a proper "villain" again. They released a whole series dedicated to X-Men "villains" one-shots called X-Men: Black and there was a Magneto issue and the cover of Uncanny X-Men #13 that came out in March sorted Magneto along with other X-Men villains like Sinister, Apocalypse, and Cassandra Nova.

Most likely Magneto coming out of Age of X-Man will go back to being a “villain”, though whether future writers will necessarily follow-up on the story threads that were left dangling by the end of X-Men: Blue, I can only speculate.

For Charles Xavier:

So, Charles is a little easier to explain insofar as he was dead for a lot of the past decade of comics.

For those unaware during the Avengers v. X-Men crossover event back in 2012, Charles Xavier died at the hands of one of his oldest students and son-guy-figure, Scott Summers, in Scott's defense he was possessed by the phoenix force at the time and felt really, really bad about it after (like not bad enough to stop being part of the rad mutant rebelz, but you know, bad).

From thereon Charles would only appear in a limited capacity as some kind of ghost or psychic shadow or whatever you want to call it. Most prominently Red Skull would grave rob his brain and use it to manipulate the world in Uncanny Avengers (2012) eventually leading to the crossover event AXIS.

He'd also pop up as a spirit in heaven alongside Kurt Wagner in Amazing X-Men (2013) #2 and #5 and Charles's son David Haller would spend the majority of X-Men Legacy (2012) fighting against a malicious psychic entity that looked like Charles Xavier but is actually more of a manifestation of David's hatred... or something (the actual details are kept purposely vague).

It's not until Astonishing X-Men (2017) does the actual Charles Xavier appear and even then it's ambiguous until basically the end of the series whether it is really Charles Xavier back (it... mostly is) but in #7 he rejects being called Professor X, saying it doesn't feel right (I mean he's thirty, has hair and is drawn by Phil Noto, it makes a person feel different) and instead adopted the moniker X. At the end of the arc in Astonishing X-Men (2017) #12, Charles forgoes returning to the X-Men, claiming that Kitty was doing fine without him and then wipes everyone's mind who had been involved in the matter except Psylocke (Betsy Braddock), asking her to keep an eye on him and stop him if he's being too shady (sound familiar?) and then just vaguely refers to his "new dream".

Our next and as of writing last time seeing resurrected Charles is in Astonishing X-Men (2017) Annual #1 written by Matthew Rosenberg. It's a standalone story where the four of five original X-Men (Scott wasn't there because he was busy being dead or effectively dead at the time, I mean he was a student of Charles Xavier, he learned from the best) meet up and have a bitchfest about their fucked up lives. This is interrupted by Charles just strolling in, not explaining how he got back, stealing their wine and sort of apologizing for involving them in traumatizing superhero shenanigans.

He then promptly takes them out for some family bonding through more traumatic superhero shenanigans that ends with a warehouse full of people dead. It's capped off with Charles mind-wiping them, but they then get to have a do-over reunion dinner where they show that they can appreciate what they've accomplished instead of dwelling on missed opportunities, which I interpret as Charles's messed up apology to them, which is kind of sweet while being really messed up. Which I think is kind of what this take on Xavier is going for. He was trapped in the astral plane with the Shadow King for effectively centuries so I guess strange coping mechanisms are to be expected.

So with Cyclops back from the dead in Uncanny X-Men (2019) #11, it seems that some kind of reunion between the two is inevitable and it's more of a question of when, under what circumstances and will Scott get to remember it even happened after? With Legion (David Haller) being a part of how Nate Grey was able to suck everyone into Age of X-Man, I wouldn't be surprised if Xavier plays some key role in getting the X-Men back from the Age of X-Men. I really doubt that Xavier will blame Cyclops for the whole killing him dead with cosmic fire thing, but other than that I can't say.

The Charles Xavier we are getting is definitely a darker take on the character who is more comfortable with taking extreme measures, but how exactly this plays into what his "new dream" is remains to be seen. I definitely don't want Xavier to get too much exposure, he really works best right now as an enigma doing his own thing, with the Astonishing X-Men Annual playing this up to good effect with Charles being used sparingly but completely stealing the scene when he does appear. Since Rosenburg that wrote the Annual and is now writing Uncanny X-Men I'm feeling slightly optimistic, though I can't help but be worried that since things established in Astonishing (like Warren being in control of his Archangel persona) was ignored by later writers.

In a previous X-Men Monday on Adventures in Poor Taste (http://www.adventuresinpoortaste.com/2019/03/04/x-men-monday-featuring-jordan-d-white-2-nightcrawlers-soul-sacrificial-goats-and-weezer/) senior editor in charge of the X-Men line at Marvel, Jordan White mentioned that Professor X will be back and play an important role in the future of the line and included an image of X, but absolutely no more context on what his role might be. So at least he doesn't seem lost in limbo.

In the back of my head I can't help but vaguely hope that since this Xavier is darker and seems to be cleaning up loose ends in secret that might threaten his students that we could see him joining up in some capacity with newly villainous Magneto since we've had Magneto join Xavier's side several times but never seen the reverse. That could at least be novel, but at the same time I can't really see Charles fighting against his old students even if he thought it was in their best interest as we saw in his emotional breakdown during Avengers v. X-Men.

From what we’ve seen of the promo materials from House of X/Powers of X, I kind of doubt that direction, Hickman has been making vague references to X trying to take the X-Men in a new direction, I guess that “new dream” vaguely referred to at the end of Astonishing.

All of this being a long-winded 1.5k way to say: we'll have to wait and see.

#x-men #professor x #magneto #x-men comics

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whostheblondegirlwriting · 5 years

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Hi! So I freaking love everything you write! Seriously you’re insanely good! I came here to ask you if you could further break down Bucky and Rumlow’s relationship and how it’s developed through his years as his handler? Please and thank you!!!! Keep up the amazing work!

Now for the ““Wow. This turned in to a way bigger answer than I expected and I don’t know if you wanted” answer to your ask.

So, I’ve always used two moments from TWS when I considered my Brock Rumlow: 1) the “You totally saw them! You’re looking right at them, right now!” escalator scene

and 2) this quote from the man himself, Frank Grillo.

Brock was 22 when he was recruited by HYDRA. He was immediately selected for a deep cover assignment inside SHIELD and placed in the STRIKE Division. He had the opportunity to train with the Asset in his position with STRIKE Team Delta, who covered the Soldier on ops as his support team.

In Echo and Jack Rollins, you do get some flashbacks to Rumlow’s interaction with Bucky that hint around at his sympathy for the Soldier. But it wasn’t always the case. Brock initially fulfilled his duties as Handler following the “order through pain” model of “asset handling”.

He knew who the Soldier was, but it wasn’t really that important. It would be years before anyone found Cap in the ice and gave Bucky a living connection to the world again. The Asset was a tool that needed supervision, or it could breakdown. That was all. On his introduction to the Asset as his new Handler, Rumlow was directed to leave an impression on the Asset about who was in charge. In his own words: “I let him know I was not the mother fucker to test. Beat him down so bad, I fractured his orbital socket. And that’s how he met me. He knew I was a brawler and, from then on out, I was in charge.”

That was the nature of their relationship, for the next couple of years. But there was a turning point for Brock. More than just a ghost in the machine, Brock realized there was still a soul there. After the river, Rumlow realized, somewhere along the line, the Asset had become a part of his team. Brock considered the man and not the Asset, wondering what it was like to be him; having his life and memories taken from him, over and over again, pressed in to service for the enemy. He saw firsthand that Bucky could remember who he was and what his life was like before HYDRA. And, frankly, it fucking unnerved him.

With the horrifying scenarios of being in the Soldier’s place in the back of his mind, his resolve softened. He began to delay reports or make omissions, when the programming would begin to fail on missions, leaving Bucky a few precious hours with his memories or away from the torturous machines the Program doctors used to “fix” the Asset, when he could. No prisoner deserved the hell Bucky was living, to be repeatedly stripped of his life and imprisoned in a cryochamber. No man did. And certainly not a national hero like Bucky Barnes. It was the least he could do.

When the program expanded and additional Soldiers began training with the Asset, Brock realized the danger Bucky faced against HYDRA’s new weapons. He fought and filed complaints against the Winter Soldier Program staff, reporting their mishandling and “damaging” of the Asset and their disregard for his safety, under the guise of keeping the Asset mission ready, but the reality was, it was all he could do help Bucky survive.

In 2010, Brock was removed as the Asset’s handler, after going too far to intervene on Bucky’s behalf. But the experience had already begun to change him. Resentful of how the situation had been handled and his dismissal from the Program, Brock formed a plan to put himself in a stronger position of power, determined to get back in to a place of influence. He took command of the Division, but he never regained direct access to the Program. He could only ever look in from the outside, but at least he knew Bucky was able to endure, after he was left on his own.

A year later, Capt. Rogers would be found in the Arctic ice. A year after that, Brock found the love of his life. With the influence of her good heart and his unanticipated friendship with Cap, Rumlow’s disillusionment with HYDRA continued to grow. Events aligned and as Brock learned the details of Project Insight, he had found his breaking point. Although the original plot to unmask HYDRA failed, Rogers and his friends’ dismantling of SHIELD did what Brock had tried to do. Had Brock’s plan not been discovered and had it succeeded, Bucky’s existence would have been revealed, he would have been rescued and reunited with Rogers, and, hopefully, Brock’s conscience been eased a little.

It was only after Allison resurfaced with Bucky that Brock began to feel any animosity toward him. When Bucky went to speak to Rumlow, Brock recognized instantly the attachment Bucky had to Allison. It wasn’t so much that Rumlow was jealous. Suspicious and worried, that maybe Allison had moved on in the year they were apart, yes. Angered that Bucky had put her in danger by taking her with him, while he took his revenge on HYDRA, you’re god damn right he was. Brock had done everything he could to keep her away from HYDRA and safe. He was incensed at the idea that he could have lost her, without ever having a chance to make things right with her. And, yeah, he was a little insulted to see Bucky didn’t recognize what he had done to help him those years ago. Regardless, Brock always figured, that if his memories kept coming back after all the wipes and years, that Bucky could still the good and honorable man he’d heard and read Bucky Barnes had been. And, at the very least, that was worth his respect.

Brock had seen Bucky protect Allison. He trusted him for it. To him, that said he’d been right about Bucky all along. Brock couldn’t blame him for any hostility or resentments he may have toward Brock from his time with the Program. It wasn’t as if Rumlow hadn’t imagined the rage and hatred he would feel in his position, to have so much taken from him and be helpless to fight it. He even hoped somewhere down the road, the two of them might reach an understanding about all that happened those years they were both part of the Program and put it behind them, for Allison’s sake.

But for Bucky’s part, he never understood why Rumlow changed. He didn’t understand why Brock had begun to treat him differently than he had been before the river, than any other handler he had known had. As the Asset, his short term memory was practically nonexistent. It was the long years of mistreatment, of beatings and machines that always came back to him when he came out of cryo. Those painful and scaring experiences, somehow, always stayed with him. And that’s how each meeting or mission with Rumlow began, with the worst memories.

He never trusted Brock, or the others on STRIKE Team Delta, because of it, but somehow he became almost comfortable with them. Familiarity, he figured it had been, after DC, when his mind began to heal and he began to recover more and more of his memories. Delta’s camaraderie reminded him of the Howlies. Even the little bit of it they showed to him in the field, keeping an eye on him seemingly more for his safety, like their own, than for making sure he didn’t try to escape and taking an interest in his well-being, as they routinely checked in with each other. Deployments with Rumlow and his men were the closest thing to being treated like a human being, and not a science experiment, that he had known since the fall. When Delta was permanently replaced by the SpecOps team HYDRA kept in auxiliary for when the STRIKE Team was unavailable, he lost that sense of belonging and safety, and he inwardly mourned it.

Rumlow had been an enigma. Bucky knew two versions of one man, while Brock had been with the Program, and he couldn’t understand how he could be both. Bucky was always suspicious of Brock’s motives for not reporting some of the minor breakdowns in the programming. He assumed it was because the incident didn’t cost them the mission’s success or any team casualties. At first he was fearful of the intentional oversights, thinking Brock was piling up ammunition to use against him; that it was part of some large punishment to come all at once, instead of the immediate and brutal “corrections” in the field he used to receive from Rumlow and always got from the handlers before and after him.

As time went by, and Brock “permitted” the breakdowns and never used them against him, Bucky privately reveled in those fleeting hours he had to remember himself and his life before the fall, afraid to acknowledge the small gift Brock seemed to be giving him. He began to consider maybe they were a reward for a job well done, despite the lingering fear in the back of his mind that at any moment Brock would take them away and go back to the old ways.

He saw Brock questioned and criticized by Program staff, for his “oversights” and carelessness when their programming would begin to wear off or fail. He saw him argue with and challenge the doctors and techs, on his behalf, present to watch procedures and tests no other handler had ever come or stayed to see. One time, he saw Brock Rumlow turn a gun on his own people to protect him when a “training exercise” had once again gone wrong and Bucky was too injured to defend himself anymore. It was the last time he saw Rumlow, before that night in the woods in Pennsylvania.

That night in Pennsylvania, Rumlow’s face was one of only a few he knew. He was giving the orders again and he said the words to put Bucky back under his control, and HYDRA’s. Brock was the face of HYDRA and the Program again. Since DC, every moment had been about finding him and completing his revenge on everyone who’s had tortured him for decades.

He could never have considered helping him, if Rumlow hadn’t been the only way to save Allison. For all she had done and been willing to sacrifice for Bucky, he would have done anything for her. It sickened him, every time he heard Rumlow’s voice. He was wary, to be following Rumlow’s plan to rescue Allison. The earth disappeared from beneath him, when he realized who Brock was to her and the half-truths and omissions that she had made.

But he couldn’t argue the facts, when he saw and heard for himself what Brock had done to subvert the will of the Program and do what little he could to help him. He could sympathize with the lengths people would go to for the ones they loved, remembering what Allison had done to help him was more than she ever meant to do to hurt him. Eventually, Bucky began to realize those small intuitions those years ago, that Brock wasn’t like the others, were right. They didn’t excuse anything, but he could finally start to understand. And he needed to understand, if he was going to be able to move on. He still had his life, in some ways, because of what Rumlow had done for him. He could let Brock have his. After all, and if for nothing else, to let Allison have him.

#thanks nony!#hope this works #asks & messages are always open #brock rumlow #bucky barnes #echo #strike series #eonao3 #whostheblondegirlwriting

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crusherthedoctor · 6 years

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Sonic Villains: Sweet or Shite? - Part 7: METAL SONIC

It's been a while, but it's time for another Crusher review and analysis.

There are some villains I like. And there are some villains I don't like. But why do I feel about them the way I do? That's where this comes in.

This is a series of mine in which I go into slightly more detail about my thoughts on the villains in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, and why I think they either work well, or fall flat (or somewhere in-between). I'll be giving my stance on their designs, their personalities, and what they had to show for themselves in the game(s) they featured in. Keep in mind that these are just my own personal thoughts. Whether you agree or disagree, feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions! I don't bite. :>

Anyhow, for today's installment, we'll be putting the Stardust Speedway saxophones aside for a moment to discuss Dr. Eggman's notorious robotic copycat, who desperately wants to show us what he's made of: Metal Sonic.

NOTE: While I will be taking several of Metal Sonic's non-game portrayals into account, this will NOT include his Sonic the Comic incarnation, as I feel that Fleetway's Metal - or Metallix, as he's called - is so vastly different in so many ways that I feel there's no point, whereas his other portrayals in non-game media are considerably more consistent for the most part.

The Gist: Being a criminal mastermind slash world conquerer in the making has its shortcomings, and for Dr. Eggman/Dr. Robotnik/The Bad Guy, that shortcoming came in the form of a plush-sized hedgehog who frequently wrecked his machines, foiled his plans, and - worst of all - talked back at him. This literal thorn on his side made the good doctor a very unhappy camper, but one day, his brilliant brain brought a brilliant breakthrough: Why not pit Sonic against himself?

During his then-new scheme to use the Time Stones of the Little Planet to conquer the world through time, Eggman worked tirelessly on his new idea to ensure it was just right. It couldn't be too slow. It couldn't be too bulky. It couldn't be too un-Sonic-like, for he vowed to assert his technological dominance by making a better Sonic than the real one. He wanted this to be his greatest creation yet, and he wasn't going to half-ass that objective.

The result was Metal Sonic, a marvel of industrial automation who established himself as fast as Sonic, as deadly as Sonic, and... not talkative, unlike Sonic. No wonder Eggman declared him the superior of the two.

Eggman loves his creation so much that he’s willing to let him die if this goes wrong. That’s how you know he’s his favourite.

Sure enough, Eggman's efforts were not entirely in vain, as the blue droid was more than a match for Sonic in the speed department, as well as the "What's the best way to make it clear to Amy Rose that I'm not interested?" department via snatching up Sonic's pink hedgehog acquaintance, leaving her as the doctor's captive. Unfortunately however, despite giving Sonic the race of his life, Metal was not yet as quick in his reflexes as the genuine article was, meaning his initial reign of terror came to an abrupt end when he flew head-first into a wall, George of the Jungle-style. Eggman was devastated, except he wasn't, because he knew he could just rebuild and upgrade him. Which he did. Constantly.

He also rebuilt these guys for some reason.

Since his debut in Sonic CD, Metal has went on to appear in a sizable number of games throughout the years, and he's made some personal appearances in a few other continuities as well. Most of these appearances simply have him show up, attack Sonic and other heroes for a bit, then get his ass handed to him. Some of those ass-kickings even came with a tasty amount of hue hues. But every now and then, they'll have him do something more, the most famous example being Sonic Heroes, in which he took over Eggman's army by force and went on his own little crusade to gain everyone's data and become Metal GodJesus, all the while proving himself the real Sonic the Hedgehog... by doing a lot of things the real Sonic the Hedgehog would never do. (This general concept would reappear in the IDW comics, though he did not betray Eggman that time around.)

Overall though, Metal is generally considered to be a welcome face whenever he makes an appearance... when he’s not dreaded for being the biggest roadblock in Fighters.

“Well that’s the end of the playthrough, make sure to like, comment, subscribe.”

The Design: What is there to say about Metal Sonic’s design? It’s cool, it’s ominous, it’s sleek, it’s stylish, and it holds a palpable aura of dangerous badassitude while still fitting perfectly with the design philosophy of this franchise. Truly, Metal’s design alone makes him one of the all-time greats of the Eggman repertoire, and it's easy to see why the scientist is particularly proud of this one.

He’s the robot your robot could crash into a wall like.

He’s had a few transformations over the years though. In Knuckles Chaotix, he turned into a ginormous monstrosity commonly referred to by fans as Metal Sonic Kai, who terrified many juniors back in the day due to making the inexcusable error of not being blue. The bad ending might have also affected them.

E for Everyone.

Luckily, Classic Metal got the right idea two decades later, and kept his blue colour scheme when the Phantom Ruby brought the form back in Sonic Mania Plus. As for Modern Metal, he had a brief life (or lives, if you count IDW) as Neo Metal Sonic, who - despite being made with the intention to be a darker, cooler, more serious iteration of the character - went the complete opposite direction by looking less like a frightening metal monarch, and more like a shonen anime’s midnight seizure.

Look at this fucking thing.

Elf shoes. Ripped skirt. Starfish haircut. Vaguely phallic strap in the appropriate area. Regular Metal may have a semi-cutesy look even in his more dangerous iterations, but at least he doesn't come off as a compensating son who doesn't quite know how to come out to his judgemental father, which is more than I can say for whatever the hell this is supposed to be. Is this really meant to be a more intimidating design? A more badass design...?

Then, as if this wasn’t ridiculous enough for Metal already, they had him transform even further into MechaGodzilla Metal Overlord, a goliath made from the remains of the Egg Fleet, with a side order of spikes and artist’s regret.

"Sonic, I was created for the sole purpose of destroying you... but I can never seem to defeat you... That is why I purchased Freddie Mercury's wardrobe with my own hands!"

Said form also returned in the IDW comic, rechristened Master Overlord, who traded the clawed wings and the flamethrower in exchange for symmetrical hands and a more simplistic body structure, at the expense of looking even more like a children’s toy.

Needless to say, Metal's had some... interesting transformations over the years. But his original look will always remain iconic, and rightly so.

The Personality: Metal Sonic's personality is harder to specify compared to other characters in the series, because his kill-first ask-later demeanour in tandem with his usual muteness means we see him most of the time as little more than a Sonic-shaped extension of Eggman's will. That said however, there have been deeper glimpses here and there into what makes his mechanical mind tick.

The most obvious thing to note is that Metal holds the very un-Sonic trait of not having time for nonsense. Sure, he might not be above taunting his organic counterpart in a likeminded way occasionally, but that aside, he's generally a pretty serious and humorless individual, a stark contrast to his creator and master that nonetheless works in the latter's favor, as the realisation that the goofy manchild Eggman of all people made this thing helps shoot down the myth that the rotund madman is all talk.

"He's behind you!" "Shut it wee man, this is a serious play."

Then there's his insanity, by means of identity crisis. It's not known if this was something that was there from the beginning, or if it's somethng that developed and worsened with each defeat, but at some point in his life, Metal convinced himself that despite literally being made with the intention of exterminating the actual Sonic, he himself was in fact the actual Sonic, and that the actual actual Sonic that already existed prior to his inception was in fact the actual Not-Sonic (or a faker, as would be used to describe a certain other lookalike). This belief has caused him to do a bunch of crazy stuff of dubious logic, and don't try to question him on his reasoning, lest you want him to cut you open like a Terry's Chocolate Orange.

His relationship with Eggman is something of an enigma. While his teenage phase betrayal in Heroes is probably the most mainstream evidence of how he feels about his master, it's easy to forget that this was the exception, not the rule. In nearly every other appearance before and since then, Metal has shown nothing but stone cold loyalty towards the doctor and his cause. Even in IDW, when he regained his Neo form and basically did everything he could to remind everyone that Heroes was a thing that existed, he did it that time around for the purpose of finding his master, and helping to restore his empire. A far cry from Neo's first attempt, when he was ranting and raving about how he should have the empire.

Thus, I can only conclude that while his Sonic-esque AI may cause him to get a little reckless, he remains genuinely devoted to his creator outside of his brief cocaine rush in Heroes... and Free Riders, but I don't think anyone knew what was going on in that one. I don't think he knew what was going on in that one.

But perhaps most surprisingly of all - according to the OVA at least - despite all his black-hearted ways, he is still capable of good, as evidenced when he saved the President and the legendary Old Man Owl from dying a fiery death. Whether it's an inherent part of his own nature, or whether it's a side-effect of his Sonic programming, isn't fully clear... but either way, he might want to make sure Eggman doesn't find out about it.

The Execution: Metal Sonic's execution is a complicated case, because there's a dissonance between when he's merely an obstacle for the good guys, and when they've tried to make him more than that.

When he's merely Eggman's instrument of evildoing, he does the job nicely. Sometimes his appearances can be underwhelming depending on the game (read: Sonic 4), but he usually provides a memorable scuffle when it's time for him to put up his dukes. Even if half of those are actually races.

When he aims for bigger, on the other hand? Well...

I've already joked about Neo Metal Sonic's design, but don't be fooled, for his ridiculous fashion sense is merely one part of my beef with the overall concept of Neo. Simply put, everything about Neo Metal Sonic goes against everything that makes this particular character work.

Ranting, monologuing, and running his mouth off does not work for Metal Sonic.

Gathering everyone's data with the intention of becoming Metal Everyone does not work for Metal Sonic.

Transforming into a goddamn dragon does not work for Metal Sonic. (I can let Metal Sonic Kai slide since despite being bigger and more monstrous, you can still recognise it as Metal Sonic specifically. Colour scheme aside, Metal Overlord/Master Overlord might as well be a random monster entirely.)

These ideas aren't necessarily bad on their own. They could work for another villain, or another Eggman minion. But for Metal Sonic specifically? It just doesn't work at all, and while some may be willing to handwave it as the result of Metal's insanity, I firmly believe it's more than possible to establish and delve into his inner madness in ways that DON'T contradict almost everything about him. A character being insane is not an excuse for turning them into a completely different character altogether, nor is it an excuse for just plain handling them in a shitty manner. By all means, I'm all for giving Metal a bigger role, and I'm all for expanding his character and his dynamic... just not like this.

Metal doesn't need to do all that in order to be effective and leave an impression. His portrayal in the OVA confirms that. OVA Metal was everything that Metal was known for at the time: straightforward, loyal, and silent, bar one line towards the end. And he still managed to be a very intriguing antagonist who served as a believably major threat, and who gave Sonic the fight of his life, and thus earned the hedgehog's disgruntled ire and his begrudging respect. That is the Metal that writers should aspire to. That is the essence of what makes that character.

So, despite everything, I still highly enjoy Metal Sonic when he's Metal Sonic, and not Something Vaguely Shaped Like Metal Sonic. He's stumbled a bit over the years, but when he's done right, he's always an eventful burst of fun, and ultimately, my fondness for those portrayals overrides my disgust towards elf shoes. And I'd love to see them expand on his dynamic with Eggman, which a certain well-liked series of shorts has thankfully given us a small taste of. Here's hoping the future will follow up on it...

“Now, if you may be so generous, hand over the Emerald slowly, or else I'm afraid your little friend will face the consequen-ooooowwwww my FUCKING wrist.”

Crusher Gives Metal Sonic a: Thumbs Up! (and Neo Metal Sonic a: Thumbs Down!)

#Sonic Villains: Sweet or Shite?#Opinion #Sonic the Hedgehog #Metal Sonic #Neo Metal Sonic

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lcvedol · 6 years

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time: start! | entry 1 | prologue

x/x/x

I don’t know what to do. How to start..it’s so confusing. I’ve never really needed to mark my words down in a place like this, I’ve never had this much in my mind before now. Is anything going to ever read this? I mean- I write down things a lot! Song lyrics, thoughts, secrets.. I’d like to think of it as just something that belongs to me. It’s comforting, reassuring, even if It’s just me basically talking to myself. Maybe this is like a vent log? I can’t really look at this like a diary yet, so I guess I can just ramble here until further notice.

I had to do a bit of counting, and I checked three times- there’s a total of nineteen people here, including me. We all just woke up in this..dusty, dirty room with no recollection at all of how we even got thrown into here. I can’t remember what happened, how I ended up here, but I was supposed to be on some kind of tour. Trapped in this room with so many different prodigies was a little stressful, but also kind of weird. My classmates..they’re all really different compared to one another. So many different talents! There’s even some kind of Vending Machine Placement Scout (her name is Atsu, and I like her hat).

It’s so weird, I feel so alone despite the fact I’m with so many people. We all had to solve some kind of escape room puzzle? Everyone worked really hard to get out though, and I wish I could’ve been a little bit more of help..I’m not really the smartest- so I couldn’t really understand what to do. It was freaky, though, we were basically locked in! If we didn’t get out, would we have starved..? Would someone have just left us in there to die? God,I don’t want to think about it, but a REALLY tall guy managed to solve the puzzle (Cape! I think? He reminds me of a Pokemon, but I don’t know if he’d like me calling him that, so I won’t say it to his face! ^^;;). It was all number based, apparently, after we all put our heads together. It took a couple of hours, but I’m so relieved we got out all in one piece (I can’t say the same for my brain, though).

I should probably talk a little bit about the people here, I guess! I haven’t gotten to talk to all of them, but I got to converse with a couple of people- maybe I can just talk about what I think of them? Is that rude? Probably, but I think I have an excuse for the time being. Whoever threw us in here must be happy with themselves, because I feel like I’m going insane already. I don’t have any idea who threw all of us into a room together, but it sucks, as you can probably guess.

Okay, first, I tried to pair up with this one guy..but I don’t think he was looking for friends? Not sure, but he seemed kind of down in the dumps (understandable have a nice day), so we paired up together! I didn’t get his name, but he had bleached hair and some black glasses. He didn’t directly seem rude, though, I’m sure he was just kind of cautious! I get that, maybe I shouldn’t have been so forward trying to befriend him? Ah..I’ll work on that later!

Tatsu-chan! I took a break from looking around to talk to her. Really excited girl, I like her a lot! She keeps messing my name up, but I don’t really mind, I just don’t want to seem rude if I try to correct her a lot. She’s the Ultimate Urban Legend, and I’ve heard a little bit about her? I scroll through the internet a little more than normal people, so I’ve caught some glimpses of her name. She’s an off the rails kind of girl, but she has good intentions. She just wants to have some good fun! I can understand that. There was this person in a grey bodysuit that came over in an apron, looked at me, and then immediately BOLTED. What did I do!! Was there something on my face??? God, I really don’t want to make a fool of myself in front of 18 other people!! They’re a chef, though, because I got to help them out a little bit in the hallway once we broke out of our freaking jail! They just seem shy, though, so that’s cute! I don’t mind shy people, it just takes time for them to break out of their shell. uvu

Setsuko-chan seemed helpful in our investigations, Atsu-chan as well, they both seem smart. One’s more friendly than the other, but I’m sure they’re as worried as I am. Ultimate Secretary, Ultimate Vending Machine Placement Scout, kind of wary about Setsuko-chan, but she reminds me of my mom, a little. Not in a weird way or anything- she’s just seems to be really mature and hard-working, so I’ll respect her anyway. I haven’t talked to Atsu-chan much yet, but she did a lot to break us out of here, so I respect her too! I just don’t want to be a bother to any of them, I was probably one enough not doing much in our investigation..T_T

Yves-chan made some kind of remark about someone bashing our heads in?- I don’t think it was a threat, but now I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight. :( Wtf :’( But she seems pretty! And cute! I like her hair! I’m sure she only said that because she dabbles in the horror genre, so I understand. It’s worth a chance to talk to her later, though! Her and Hisanobu-chan, the baker, paired up and got along pretty nicely I think? He likes to use “OHOHOHOHOHO” a lot! Except not in capitals. And not that loud. That probably seemed offensive, please don’t read this, ok?? <_<

There’s Elliot-chan! Tall, muscular, bartender, pretty good looking for a high-schooler, but I’m not hitting on him or anything!! He seems nice, but I haven’t really spoken to him. He seems like he knows what he’s doing, though! So that’s nice to have in this big dysfunctional family of ours (I mean class I’m just joking I swear I don’t know anyone here).

There’s..uh...team...Team Fen..Fenrir? I think that’s what the monologue man called it? It’s ran by Protagonist-chan! I’m kidding, but he keeps calling himself that and I don’t get it!!! This isn’t an anime we’re in, it’s an escape room, I kept telling myself! But he has cool shoes that light up in the dark, so he automatically gets Shizuka Points! +500! Then there’s the bowlcut dude! He vapes, but I don’t know anything about vaping, but at least he didn’t blow it into my face or anything! Him and Rune-chan are bros, I think? And there’s Fleur-chan! She’s pretty, I like her hair a lot! She’s tiny too, and overall just pretty soft looking! Dirty mouth, though. And that’s the team! Maybe it’ll expand, later? I’m happy that they’re getting along.

There’s..someone in a gas mask. I don’t know who it is, but they seem kind of rough and tough like the bleached-hair dude. Haven’t spoken to them, but maybe I will...later?????? Idk? It depends on the time and place. Why are they wearing a mask though? :thinking emoji here: It’s a mystery!

The ice skater! Diantha-chan? I think? Yeah, her. She kind of rubbed me the wrong way just a little bit with the random comments, but I’m sure there’s more to her! I’m just kind of a little worried to see it, an ice queen at heart, I guess!

There was this random guy who gave me the sink eye when I tried to politely bribe the keypad (it had emotions- idk technology is crazy ok!! It looked like it had an AI), so I guess he doesn’t like me much! He’s the merchant, from what I read about him, but I won’t spare any details- he’s scary, and I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to try and talk to him. I’m going against my own morals on this one!

Mitama-chan! She seems like a real mom, and she was helpful too! Really nice and strong, pretty much the perfect girl from what I’ve seen of her! She’s an art appraiser, so I guess she has a pretty sharp eye, too. She’s someone I’d love to talk to over a cup of hot chocolate or tea! Whatever works for her.

Oliver! Ollie! Ollie-chan, yeah! Haven’t talked to him, but he seems like a real storyteller! He’s kind of uptight (which is again- understandable, have a nice day). He’s a writer, so I’m sure his mind is an enigma. I don’t know much about him otherwise. Cute name though! ^v^

Then there’s Kihaku-chan! He’s super chill and he’s a musician too! A taiko drummer! I can play the guitar and piano, but not the drums- so I applaud him for that! He’s a rhythm gamer, too, at least from what I remember when we talked! We did like the briefest collab in the world (when I was carrying someone too! Lololol), but we sounded absolutely beautiful together! He’s super talented and I admire his work a lot, even if I’ve only heard him once! I hope we can be friends and work more together!

And I think I covered everyone! What a colorful class I have, right? I hope I can meet their standards. I’ll update this more once I get the chance as time passes, mostly about people, events, the usual! Maybe write a couple of song lyrics in here when I get the chance? Might as well work in this, too! Hopefully nothing bad happens, but I’ll still write it down just in case.

Signing out,

miya☆

#diary #entry 1 #shizuka

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homesteadchronicles · 6 years

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Ten Songs Tag

You know I’m only doing this because you of all people tagged me in this, @lady-redshield-writes. If it ain’t writing related, I don’t ordinarily do these...but for a friend? And a musical friend at that? Anything. Now you can get a glimpse into the world’s most eclectic music taste!

Rules: Put your entire musical library on shuffle and then list the first ten songs that play. Tag ten people to keep the game going!

1. Delilah (Florence + the Machine)

Florence is the biggest enigma to me. I’m not a fan of her personally, and she’s got all sorts of pitch issues live, but her music is just? so?? good??? Delilah, specifically, evokes such vivid images in my mind that I cannot help but want to dance around whenever it comes on. I guess, in that sense, Florence herself becomes Delilah.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: this may or may not have inspired a certain scene in Kingdom Come ;)

2. Never Enough (The Greatest Showman)

I have never been so captivated listening to a theatrical song. I’m not even certain I breathed until it had finished! The song struck such a deep chord within me that I actually cried. The last time I cried in a movie? Bridge to Terabithia an entire ten years before. This song has haunted me ever since. It would have weighed down my heart, had I not known I do not need to be enough as a human. And when I start believing the lie that I need to perfect, and this song surfaces once more in my mind, I remind myself that it is not a war I can win, nor do I need to.

3. Fullness (Acoustic) [Elevation Worship]

Y’all knew that I would have to throw in some worship songs on here sooner or later. It would’ve been a veritable miracle had one not come up on shuffle, with how much space they take up in my music library. Elevation has been killing the game lately. Every album they make takes it to the next level, and they never disappoint - even acoustically! My mom and I listened to this entire album on the flight back from our last trip to Disney, when turbulence overtook the plane, and it brought us such inexplicable peace. I listen to this all the time when I need to calm my mind or realign my priorities or simply be surrounded by praise

4. New Rules (Dua Lipa)

If you haven’t listened to this song, I’m not sure what you’re doing with your life. Girl’s got rhythm, rhymes and the mix of an angel. It’s funny that, every time I go to Disney, there’s a whopping three song playlist that gets repeated in the rental car because we never know the stations down in Florida. Normally, they suck (sorry Selena) and I hate them within a day, let alone a week. I discovered this gem on my last trip and blasted it every single day on a loop - and I’m still obsessed with it. I think I was so genuinely surprised to find a song where someone’s almost telling you off for staying in a clearly-toxic relationship that I fell in love with it without realizing.

5. The Soldier (Lacey Sturm)

Lacey Sturm and her former band, Flyleaf, have made such a massive impact on my life, both as an artist and as a Christian, that I cannot even express my adoration for her. Girl’s got pipes, can scream the house down, and write these anthems that none can match. This song has fueled me so many times during creative sessions. The power of the lyrics, the grit of the beat, the conviction in her voice - it combines to form this musical masterpiece that makes you believe you could take on an entire army & win.

6. Trainwreck (James Arthur)

Hoo boy. Don’t get me started on this one. James Arthur is my favorite male artist of all time. His story resonates so deeply with me, and the way he portrays it through music is unparalleled. Besides, those runs? Gurl. I can’t. I’ve never heard another song so accurately portray what it’s like to hit rock bottom, and where you go from there. It’s raw, it’s real, it’s desperate. It’s on my top ten songs to perform one day, should I have the chance.

7. Out There (Hunchback of Notre Dame)

It’s no secret how obsessed I am with Disney, and this musical masterpiece tops the list. Seriously, if you have not watched Hunchback, you are missing out on the most underrated musical of all time. The soundtrack is captivating in every sense, the lyrics are ridiculously profound, and the characters each have a moment to shine in their own respect. No song does it for me like this one. The back-and-forth between Frollo and Quasi? Done.

8. What Now (Nor’easters O.P.B. Rihanna)

YOU GUYS! If you have not heard of the Nor’easters yet, and/or you’re an a cappella nerd (or Pitch Perfect fan) like me, you need to check this group out. Every sololist is as insanely talented as the next, and their sound as a group is unparalleled. This, Jaywalk, Alive, Sorry and Writing’s on the Wall are all phenomenal covers that deserve a listen...or two...or ten...thousand.

9. Healing the Great Fairy (Theophany)

It’s no secret that I love me some good instrumental music. If it’s not worship music that I listen to whilst creating in any capacity, it’s instrumental music - namely, game music (although, some friends of mine - Lady Red included - have helped me get into classical music without even realizing). As Majora’s Mask has always held a special place in my heart, this only added fuel to the fire that is my passion for the series and it’s breathtaking music. Theophany is a mastermind of music. Listen to the first album - it will blow you away.

10. Hold Me Tight or Don’t (White Panda Remix) [Fall Out Boy]

Okay, so, confession: I’m a BIG pop-punk fan. Don’t hate: I grew up when hating your parents and going to skateparks and singing like a whining child was the hip thing to do. Fall Out Boy makes up one-third of my musical holy trinity, alongside of Paramore and Panic! at the Disco. While Mania was hit-or-miss for me, album-wise, this song always stuck out to me...except for the vocals. He sounded almost off-key at times. This remix, however, helps fix that AND makes it feel like a rock anthem at the same time. Incredible. 10/10 would jam out again.

BONUS: Dressed in Black (Sia)

Remember that time I recored eleven songs on shuffle before realizing I lacked basic counting skills and the ability to follow directions? Good times. But in all seriousness, thank goodness I did, because this song is so special to me. I find myself in the subject of this song - dressed in black, hiding in the back, looking for someone to love me. And I found that love, and for once, I let color back in my life. Ironically, my wardrobe has become much more colorful lately - funny how that happens, huh?

Tagging: Whoever would like to join in on the fun! I won’t drag anyone into non-writing-related tag games, don’t worry. But next time, when it’s all about writing? Ya better look out, y’all!

#author thursday #tag #tagged #tag game #music #musical #musician #sing #song #singer #shuffle #ten songs

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suisosei · 6 years

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Songs of a Dead Dreamer Aesthetic Meme

REPOST, DO NOT REBLOG AND DO NOT DELETE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION.

The following quotes and phrases are taken from the stories in Thomas Ligotti’s anthology Songs of a Dead Dreamer. Some of these quotes were slightly tweaked for the sake of this meme. If you enjoy the imagery or writing in this meme, please support the author by purchasing his work. Content warnings for horror in general and brief mentions of blood, nihilism, unreality, mannequins, dolls, puppets, and some body horror.

Bold what applies to your muse.

Muse: (If you are a multimuse blog, specify what muse you are filling this out for.) Tagged by: Me, myself, and I Tagging: *spins a wheel* @rubberbodied @takesaim @onforce @hairctrl and whoever wants to do this!!!

The Frolic

Absolute madness paired with a sharp cunning / an expression of sky-blue peacefulness / the indistinct happiness of the future / a piece of moon above the opulent leafage of spring trees / a broken-down kingdom of miracles and horrors / a Neverland where dizzy chaos is the norm / a cosmos of crooked houses and littered alleys / a slum among the stars / a jolly river of refuse / jagged heaps in shadows / a phantasmagoric mingling of heaven and hell / a moonlit corridor where mirrors scream and laugh / dreamy back-drops / ice cubes in an empty glass / shifting expressions on a lean face / vague suggestions and subtle jokes / an Aphrodite sculpture / the wind, cold and dead / a crumbled piece of paper / black-foaming gutters / the dank windowless gloom of some intergalactic cellar / starless cities of insanity / a bright freezing scream of laughter / a passing anecdote of some obscure hell

Les Fleurs

sorrowful flowers / lilting blossoms for a loved one’s memorial / a florist shop / flowers which open only at night / a hothouse warm smile / night-blooming cereuses / a sleek ocelot / well-preserved old places / plants resembling birds / white picket fences / flower-printed curtains / liqueur tasting of flowers from open fields / cool, clean offices / invisible wings whipping the warm air in darkness / the sounds of black orchids growing / the flower-bedded earth / a ripple of empathetic insight / a gorgeous kingdom of glittering colors / velvety jungle-shapes / contorted rainbows and twisted auroras / hyper-radiant hues / a marvelous arcana / tongue-like floral appendages / tongues flowering

Alice’s Last Adventure

Volatile years when anything might go wrong / the embodiment of topsy-turvydom / pools of rainwater / tarnished mirrors / moonlit windows / a thousand misshapen marvels / a universe handed over to new gods / stoic tolerance of a second-rate reality / two complete strangers gawking at each other / a shiny, pearl-grey casket / black orchids / a strange combination of relief and confusion / a delayed echo with oblique origins / a chain of occurrences with links as weak as smoke rings / a sunny autumn morning / a sense of duty, vanity, and other less comprehensible motives / the seas of the moon / costumed kids / the cries of bedlamites / the clamor of rambunctious kids / a half-cocked oration / jack-o’-lanterns glowing orange and yellow / masked children / a plastic cup of cider / shadows wavering against two-story facades / a lamp with a shade of Tiffany glass / a disciple of the bizarre / an autumn moon hanging in the blackness / demonic giggling / the moon / a clock / shadows in the window

Dream of a Manikin

A mostly tacit but somehow complete biography / a marvelous trick of the mind / jeweled lamps along the walls / lights shining on an intricately patterned carpet and various pieces of old furniture / star-clustered blackness / a starry abyss / an iciness drifting in from a starscape / a horrible truth / a legend written somewhere at the bottom of a dream / echoing voices bouncing here and there around the room / a motto printed on fortune cookie-like strips of paper and hidden in bureau drawers / a broken record repeating itself on an ancient Victrola / an alighting flock of birds / a field of dynamic tension / a dry sibilant voice / people dressed as dolls / shaking with tremors of the uncanny / a manikin dresser / astral ambience / occult studies and depth analysis / delving into speculative models of reality / cosmic static / harassments of the self / the boundaries of the self / a Bigger Self terrorizing its little splinter selves / cosmic ennui / a serendipitous discovery / this dream of flesh / guilty until proven otherwise / valerian and camphor baths / cryptic impudence / softly glowing display windows / the divine bonds of unreality / a medium-intensity shower / display-window dummies / rain-spotted glasses / a car with rain-blinded windows / a moment of self-terror / the mythical conspiracy of a treacherous universe / a galaxy of constellations / a vaporous glowing / a whitened hallway / dolls made up to look like people / eyes shining in the white darkness / a powerful psychic metaphor

The Chymist

Daydreaming in the key of Rosicrucianism / bubblegum and beer / a chalice in a church / a serum vial in a laboratory / the tartness of one’s smile / a very keen appreciation of diversity / decrepitude / the withering heart of the deceased / bastardized nostalgia / the putrescence of things past / arching mirrors / chrome chandeliers / second-hand fantasies and out-of-date distractions / one strange thing next to another / a genius of vulgarity / a lawless paradise / violence without violation / a smoke-gray sky / city-soiled clumps of snow / fluxing clouds that swirl above the chimneys and trees / alchemical transmutations / the glamour and sanity of former days / a new mask of rats and rot / a hopeless stroll along the path to hypothetically higher worlds / a body whose true outline remains unknown / the whims of chemistry / the caprices of circumstance / the enigma of personal taste / a leather vessel with a void inside / the skeleton of a dream / lights outlining the different venues and avenues below / a bottle of powdered light / pulverized diamonds / the flesh and blood kaleidoscope of one’s imagination / a prodigious insurrection of entity / a tempest of transfiguration

Drink to Me Only with Labyrinthine Eyes

The full powers of a master hypnotist / a mesmeric wilderness / marked by fate’s stigmata / crystal twinkling under a chandelier’s kaleidoscopic blaze / power and prestige socializing / a pair of metronomes / a glossy black cabinet / two bluish gems in an alabaster setting / a tiny sequined outfit / mesmeric stunts / intact and unbloodied / routines in defiance of death and pain / a jaw-dropping finale / a blare of heavenly horns / a labyrinth of light / a gossamer veil / snow-white wings / the angelic luminary beneath the human beast / the eyes of the audience / mock-death and bogus-pain / sinking deep into a downy darkness / pillows stuffed with soft shadows / a sun at the center of a drab galaxy / vacant and full of grace / a business card with a cloud-gray pearl finish / riotous rococo / a chair of blinding brocade / flowery fabric / a shelf of delicate figurines / tall smoky mirrors / a bottomless pool / a sky wiped clean of clouds / dispassionate elegance / postures and poses like frozen roses / pajama-clad legs dangling /a shiny chrome-plated pen / a very soft but not condescending tone / a mazy wallflower / cartwheels of agony / somersaults through fires of doom / nosedives of vulnerable flesh into the meat grinder of life / serene constellations / sweet nullities / a spell-binding, snake-eyed charmer / high society vulgarians / eyes recessed in their sockets, sunken into a rotting profundity / labyrinthine depths / dancing clothes all clotted with putrescent goo

Eye of the Lynx

Missing girls in Gothic garb / amber going on red / a reddish haze / a crazy purpurean tapestry / a fair-haired girl / denim slacks and a leather jacket / bloody moonlight / a long sip from a can of iced tea / persecutions and imperilments as glamorous as those of any Gothic heroine / violet eyes / the machinations of an evil-hearted malefactor / haunting second-hand shops / a strip of dark velvet seized by a pearl brooch / a frail chain from which dangles a heart-shaped locket / a whirlpooling lock of golden hair / gloves, long and powdery pale / the shoulders of heavy capes lined in satin that shines like a black sun / enveloping hoods / capes with deep pockets and generous inner pouches for secreting precious souvenirs / capes with silk strings that tie about the neck / capes with weighted hems that nonetheless flutter weightlessly in midnight gusts / doll-size in a dark doll’s costume / quivering bones and feverish blood / fear’s funereal plume / carriage wheels rioting in a lavender mist or a pearly fog / nacreous fires twitching beyond the margins of country roads / cliffs and stars / a blur of crimson shadows / vast regions of sublime desolation / mountains hulking in hazy twilight / a rather large animal collar at the end of a chain leash / a light the color of fresh meat / a page in a depraved story book / a single candle glowing through red glass / little zippers and big zippers / a moth-eaten cloak / enthralling cruelties / spangled eyebrows / a brow of glittering silver / glistening with tiny flecks of starlight / the velvet embrace of one’s favorite cape / the tall candles one lights on stormy nights / chains of raindrops whipping against one’s windows / places where raging storms and brutal subjugations never end / the hardships of traveling to strange faraway places / frail little dolls / wild-wind nights and sadistic villains / corridors of scarlet darkness / a captive of one’s heart and its infinite chambers

Notes on the Writing of Horror: A Story

Something magical / something timeless / something profound / a sooty basement / the putrid members of a man who is decomposing / a plain brown package marked Hope, Love, or Fortune Cookies and postmarked: the Edge of the Unknown / a helter-skelter universe where things are ever threatening to go abnormal and unreal / a normal, real love / impermanence and decay / evils sent out under various covers / sublime and terrifying conflict / fearsome, fantastical, and inhuman / moon-trimmed shadows / lunar landscapes of craggy peaks / skeletal wastelands of jagged ice / a brooding Gothic hero / an ethereal Gothic heroine / a castle-like skyscraper / an extra dose of obsessiveness / the Gothic tale / a militant romantic / waves of bombast / winds of ecstatic hysteria / a partially shattered window, its surface streaked with a blue film of dust / a sublime sense of desolation / the diluted glow of twilight / night’s enveloping cloak / grimy azure dimness / bluish semi-luminescence / tears of confusion / turquoise haze / blue shadows of silence / liquefying legs / an old storyteller / the voice of a tiny insect crying for help from inside a sealed coffin / a piercing, crystal shriek that lacerates the midnight blackness / a haunter of spectral marketplaces / Gothic glory / a horror writer / an ardent consumer of the abnormal and the unreal / a visitant of discount houses of unreality / subject only to the rule of demonic forces / puppet-shadows / a hell so excruciating it is bliss itself / bony wings rising out of one’s back / jaws that are a cavern of dripping silver / rivers of putrescent gold running through one’s veins

The Christmas Eves of Aunt Elsie

Diamond-paned windows / a thick December fog / a serene congregation of colors / holly, both fresh and artificial / a pale purple ribbon / a ritual forever reenacted without hope of escape / a large chair beside a fogged window / crackling logs / a foggy winter’s night / bright Christmas lights shining through the fog / always dead with darkness / always alive with lights

The Lost Art of Twilight

A streak of iodine red / a spattering of flat black / the early autumn sun / silver hair / a gray suit / a long envelope, neatly cesareaned / the charnel house creeps / a silver shield / crepuscular radiance / an offspring of the dead / the progeny of phantoms / the big green eye of an EEG monitor / De Plancy’s Dictionnaire infernal / a rainbow of insects / the science of superstition / the Provencal countryside / a pantheon of gargoyles amid the splendor of a medieval church / a holy soldier of the living / a monster of the dead / the astral banquet of Art / the rotting flesh of rainbows / the sonar screech of a bat / vampiric origins / the oncoming onyx of a storm / shadows and sunshine / glare and gloom / bright clouds and black / iron-red leaves / tentative drops of rain / blue bears and yellow rabbits / neither a blood-warm human nor a blood-drawing devil / oceans of blood / the ravenous life of the undead / an authoritative impatience / eternal life in an eternal death

The Troubles of Dr. Thoss

Pale gray pajamas / thick sheets of paper / a bottle of black ink / a shapely black pen with a silvery nib / strands of blond hair, almost white / a sudden salty breeze / silhouettes and shadows / unreflecting windows / metal hinges squeaking somewhere in the wind / a sleepless night / constellations beyond the window panes / star-filled hours / the pure whiteness of the page / a flung shoe leaning toe-up against a bedpost / nothingness unstained by inner conception / white snow in a white sky / dark lines and vacant spaces / vast expanses of frozen whiteness / a church in a foreign town / assorted devils and demons / ice-mad mountains / a spirit of malicious abandon / nightmarish anatomies / a sickle-shaped scar of moon / sea-licked shores / dark letters / feeding one’s troubles to the sea / brown-leafed trees / a forest of memorials / clumps of crosses / groves of gravestones / dark, cowl-shaped windows / unblemished by shadows / the sound of crashing waves / bending dawns into twilights / static from a broken radio / breaking waves / seaside air / a gleaming crescent moon / a bone-white cicatrix / chronic insomnia / a blade of moon / white night, white noise

Masquerade of a Dead Sword: A Tragedie

The confusions of carnival night / gyrations of squealing abandon / lines between pain and pleasure / a rainbow of rags / a startling length of blade / pale pages elegantly dappled by somber verses / a pair of strangely darkened spectacles / the toneless voice of one who is dead to all appeasement or mercy / mounds of snow that had been sown with ashes / eyes as dark and swirled with shadows as the raving night itself / a constellation of designs / mad games of flesh and steel / a forbidden madness / dense forests of tall pikes planted in the earth / shadows rolling in empty sockets / lacerated mouths / the darkness of dreams / to see the world drown in oceans of agony / visions of butchering the angels / a god of deceit or illusion / chaos at feast / black with scars of madness / darkly clouded glass / the brightest and highest of stars / shimmering halls / unnaturally colored wine / red-smeared forms / many-taloned claws / the velvet fingers of a tightly gloved hand / a pair of leviathan leeches / a lord of the sword made mad / the dark powers which we cannot understand but only hate / rhapsodic voices in the streets / a privileged doom / the face of the soul of the world / the cool marble of the floor / an onyx-black knight / a face flushed with crimson glory

Dr. Voke and Mr. Veech

A scribble of lightning engraved upon a black sky / a long, brightly colored coat / noisy jets of blue-green light flickering spasmodically / life-size dolls hanging suspended by wires / wetted strands of a spider web / shiny satin legs / a beautifully pale hand / pulverized stars / dismembered limbs of dolls and puppets / the repose of ruin / an oily red glare / a well-dressed dummy / a white high-collar shirt with silver cufflinks / a billowing cravat which displays a pattern of moons and stars / wood waking up / a sleep that should have never been broken / something too painful for tears / the false fire of the moon / two faces sharing a single head / faint, hollow screams from high above / a dummy’s silence / leftover tears of berserk laughter / bluish-green irradiance

Professor Nobody’s Little Lectures on Supernatural Horror

Mist on a lake / fog in thick woods / a golden light shining on wet stones / a little trickle of suspicion in the bloodstream / the solar brilliance of a summer day / supernatural horror / a corner alive with cool drafts and fragrant with centuries of must / a rancid world rife with things smelling of the crypt / a sower of vice / mad winds / wan moonlight / pasty specters / the vividness of pain / the lasting effects of fear / natural-born puppets whose lips are stained with their own blood / dead bodies that walk in the night / living bodies suddenly possessed by new owners and deadly aspirations / the sepulchral pomp of wasting tissue / compassion for human hurt / a humble sense of one’s impermanence / an absolute valuation of justice / a demented innocence in the face of gruesome facts / the horrific reprisals of affirmation / the Cosmic Macabre / the shudders of a thousand graveyards

Dr. Locrian’s Asylum

Gray walls pocked like sponges / nights of futile tears and screaming / an expression of almost paternal forgiveness / the supreme delirium of the planets / bright puppets dancing in the blackness / a golden speck of magic / the silent, staring universe / something as pathetic as a puppet and as exalted as the stars / something at once dead and never dying / autumn constellations in the black sky above / harshly brilliant eyes / the remote places where truth had been shut up and abandoned

The Sect of the Idiot

Extraordinary joy / extraordinary pain / the great hollow of dreams / an infinitely secluded place / a world that both menaces and surpasses this one / a holy madness / infinite stillness on foggy mornings / miracles of silence on indolent afternoons / the strangely flickering tableau of neverending nights / deceptive depths of shadow / heaps of clouds like dust balls / a fluorescent map of the cosmos / medieval autumns and mute winters / kaleidoscopic windows / a kind of cataclysm of empty space / an earthquake of the invisible / strikingly clear eyes / a dusty trunk of dreams / a maze of streets / an abyss of stars / a great reaching blackness / a stale gray dimness / an alien order of being / an icy blackness / starry blackness / a great round moon / deep aquatic blue / the voids of astronomy / a state of both paralyzed terror and spellbound curiosity / whispering figures / stagnant moonlight / withered, wilted claws / drooping tentacles / the spinning legs of spiders / the greedy rubbing of a fly’s spindly feelers / the darting tongues of snakes / the triumph of the grotesque / whispering effigies of chaos / putrid arcana / an ecstatic horror / horrific ecstasy / the demonic elements of which all creation is composed / corruption in disguise / a cache of unwonted offerings stored out of sight / currents of fear / dark tremors / splendid scenes broken with malign shadows / the lurid and the lovely forever lost in each other’s embrace / the arch of an old street / tunnel-like hallways / sickly light shining through unwashed, curtainless windows / atmospherics of infinite melancholy and unease / a decayed paradise / the everlasting residue of some cosmic misfortune / a solemn, mechanical intentness / a smooth and solid cube of black glass / a malignant puppet of madness / dazed in darkness / embarrassed throat-clearings / reproving looks / words which could only have meaning in a nightmare / a thing of strange degeneracy / a quintessence of hellish delirium / freakish, echoing laughter / the whispering of strangers / twitching tentacles / a horror which cannot be helped

The Greater Festival of Masks

The old and new / the real and imaginary / truth and deception / shops of costumes and masks / an incautious curiosity / shredded rags that are easily disturbed by the wind / a poster stuck to a crumbling wall / strange pathways of caprice / the outsized moon / silvery windows / doors which are elaborately decorated yet will not budge in their frames / massive shutters covering blank walls behind them / faces of dreams / sardonically grinning / innocence and excuses / a reddish glow of fire / a wad of bubbling blackness / smooth and faceless faces / the speaker in the shadows / the soft creaking of new faces breaking through old flesh

The Music of the Moon

Breaking the quiet of a moonlit room / enchantments that nearly make amends for one’s stolen slumber / some unusual shape leaping across steep roofs / a bewildering agility / many nights of sleepless hell / a knife / rope / a poison vial / an exploit of uncommon decisiveness / blank nights of insomnia / a handbill / ashes mixed with grease / a door with a faint yellow aura leaking out at its edges / small, shadowlike things moving in corners and along the floor molding / a quartet of musicians / a voice which sounds both exhausted and malicious / pale, ragged clouds of hair / sonic abnormality / an empty shaft of blackness / spherical lamps caked with dust / the silence of a dark, lifeless world / black silhouettes of human heads visible only in the moonlight / slow music in the soft darkness / a single note wavering in a universe of darkness / a incalculable proliferation of slightly dissonant harmony / the light of a quiet gray dawn / completely helpless, and yet content to be so / thick layers of webs / gazing at nothing with bleeding sockets / the moon all fat and pale, glaring down from its gauzy webs of clouds

The Journal of J.P. Drapeau

Unstained by any habits of the human / the ideal of everything alien to living / some molding backwater of the earth / the city of Bruges itself / a corpse of the Middle Ages / bony bridges / the black veins of old canals / a lonely evolution in shadowed streets and beside sluggish canals / the music of graveyards / a resonant chorus that fills the air and sometimes drowns out the voices of those who still live / layers of cobwebs floating about the near ceiling / a burst of resistance / the pealing of church bells / the language of whimsy / the force of stars tugging away at various points / the dark waters of a canal / shiny black hair parted straight down the middle / a low table covered by a red velvet cloth / a world that applauds trumped-up illusions while denying or demeaning those that create the very lives they are living / a spectral thing full of strange suggestion / an untenanted room filled with the echoes of nothingness / the eyes of certain crudely fashioned dolls / a greenish glow from a mirror /placid meandering canals / enwrapped in mist / close crumbling houses / odd arching bridges / innumerable church towers / narrow twisting streets / queer little courtyards / everything gone forever / an empty mist / an eternal twilight

Vastarien

Candles in a cloistered cell / shapes beneath the shadows / tall buildings whose rooftops nod groundward / wide buildings whose facades follow the curve of a street / buildings whose windows and doorways tilt like badly hung paintings / stairways that wander off-course into useless places / caged elevators that urge unwanted stops on their passengers / a sequestered civilization of echoes flourishing among groaning walls / thin ladders ascending into a maze of shafts and conduits / the dark valves and arteries of a petrified and monstrous organism / a desolate serenity / silvery cinders / the mouths of great chimneys / shadow-puppets / cluttered gardens and crooked gates / the purling waters of black canals / faded masks concealing profound schemes / a place of supernatural clarity and stillness / the crystalline glare of a lantern / moonlight through a curtained window / darkened windows / souls who believe that the only value of this world lies in its power—at certain times— to suggest another / a scattering of stars and lights / a coveted paradise / the most gauzy phantom of another place / a shadowy mimic / the anatomy of a great dream / everlasting echoes / a rectangle of smudged glass within another rectangle of scuffed wood / crowded shelves / remnants of a luxuriant autumn / an obscene reality / to dwell among the ruins of reality / shadowed volumes / scripture that would begin with the portents of apocalypse and end with the wreck of all creation / to become the wind in the dead of winter / to howl the undoing of all that would abide in warmth and light / an enticing verse in a volume of esoterica / the dream of attaining some untainted good / a disastrous enlightenment / some hypothetical state of pure glory / the revelation that nothing ever known has ended in glory / some strictly demonic enterprise / something about one’s presence that makes one think of a crow / a scavenging creature in wait / a large, two-headed shadow / the sad frustration of the uninvited, the abandoned / the brilliant rectangle of a doorway / hopes and curiosities of an indeterminable kind / free-standing bookcases / pages and bindings of uncommon texture / abstract diagrams suggesting no orthodox ritual or occult system / a chronicle of strange dreams / an invocation of a world in waiting of genesis / days distilled into dreams and nights into nightmares / a deliverance by damnation / nightmare made normal / a horror uncompromised by any feeling of lost joy or a thwarted searching for the good / a nightmare transformed in spirit by the utter absence of refuge / a utopia of exhaustion, confusion, and debris / a dialogue of mystification, and possibly one of lies / the edge of a dreamless void / a dark and devouring bird / shadows and moonlight / an unbending web of heavy wire / unjust confinement / a slender syringe crowned with a silvery needle

#headcanon #meme response #cut for length ///#blood tw #gore tw #horror tw #nihilism tw #unreality tw #body horror tw #( i mean if i were being completely honest i'd have bolded way more of this but...y'know...i had to be discerning so it wasn't like...every #spooky thing )

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meliss-cake · 7 years

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Send me songs and movie recs!?

Always my darling!

◕Donnie Darko (2001): A troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes after he narrowly escapes a bizarre accident.

◕V for vendetta (2005): Following world war, London is a police state occupied by a fascist government, and a vigilante known only as V (Hugo Weaving) uses terrorist tactics to fight the oppressors of the world in which he now lives. When V saves a young woman named Evey (Natalie Portman) from the secret police, he discovers an ally in his fight against England’s oppressors.

◕The lake house (2006): A lonely doctor (Sandra Bullock), who once lived in a beautiful lakeside home, falls in love via letters with its latest resident, a frustrated architect (Keanu Reeves). When they discover that they are living two years apart, the pair must unravel the mystery behind their incredible romance.

◕Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006): With his incredible talent for discerning scents, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw) is one of 18th-century France’s finest perfumers. He becomes obsessed with capturing an elusive aroma: the scent of young womanhood. His search takes a deadly turn, and when the bodies of 12 young females are found, panic breaks out, with families rushing to lock up their daughters.

◕The phan’s labyrinth (again Spanish movie) (2006): In the falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.

◕The Wave (2008): A high school teacher’s experiment to demonstrate to his students what life is like under a dictatorship spins horribly out of control when he forms a social unit with a life of its own. (107 mins.)

◕Hachi: A Dog’s Tale (2009): A college professor (Richard Gere) forms a lasting bond with a dog that he finds on a train platform.

◕Insception (2010): A thief, who steals corporate secrets through use of dream-sharing technology, is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a CEO.

◕Shutter island (2010): In 1954, a U.S. marshal investigates the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane.

◕My name is Khan (2010): A mildly autistic man (Shah Rukh Khan) travels across the U.S. to meet President and tell him an important message. (This movie it’s really beautiful and will make you think about certain things)

◕The Intouchables (2011): After he becomes a quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, an aristocrat hires a young man from the projects to be his caregiver.

◕El cuerpo / The body (that’s a Spanish movie but wow, it’s so wild that I never expect the end) (2012): A detective searches for a femme fatale’s body after it goes missing from the morgue.

◕Enemy / This one is really complicated so I suggest you watch the explanation later, (it’ll worth) (2013): A mild-mannered college professor (Jake Gyllenhaal) discovers a look-alike actor and delves into the other man’s private affairs.

◕origins (2014): A molecular biologist and his laboratory partner uncover evidence that may fundamentally change society as we know it.

◕Predestination (2014): For his final assignment, a top temporal agent must pursue the one criminal that has eluded him throughout time. The chase turns into a unique, surprising and mind-bending exploration of love, fate, identity and time travel taboos.

◕Iterstellar (2014): A team of explorers, travel through a wormhole in space in an attempt to ensure humanity’s survival. (Some really interesting physics theories, sounds boring, but it’s really amazing)

◕The imitation game (2015): In 1939, newly created British intelligence agency MI6 recruits Cambridge mathematics alumnus Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) to crack Nazi codes, including Enigma – which cryptanalysts had thought unbreakable. Turing’s team, including Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley), analyze Enigma messages while he builds a machine to decipher them. Turing and team finally succeed and become heroes, but in 1952, the quiet genius encounters disgrace when authorities reveal he is gay and send him to prison.

◕Don’t breathe (2016): Hoping to walk away with a massive fortune, a trio of thieves break into the house of a blind man who isn’t as helpless as he seems. (Also, there’s a cute rottweiler ◕Arrival (2016): When twelve mysterious spacecraft appear around the world, linguistics professor Louise Banks is tasked with interpreting the language of the apparent alien visitors.

I don’t know what kind of music recommend you because I have a super salad in my folders, but I’m listening to relaxing voices lately, so here are some songs.

Nicht Nichts - AnnenMayKantereit

Snow Patrol - Called Out In The Dark

Snow Patrol - This Isn’t Everything You Are

Keane - Crystal Ball (Band Version)

Lisa Hannigan - Home

Lisa Hannigan - I Don’t Know

Keane - Spiralling (not that relaxing tho)

I don’t know what else because I’m panic, but if you want some more, go to my “#M code” tag, those are songs that I can’t forget for diverse reasons ;)

#I know there are more movies #but i can't remember #forgive the lack of romantic movies #alternative reality #mental movies #paralell universe #physical theories #mind blowing #movies to think #movie rec

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