#here's this really great villain with a super complex backstory and motivation

[frenchgremlim1808]

Why Midori is such a breath of fresh air or how to actually write a Villain.

So the awaited essay, the winner of the FrenchGremlin polls of laziness finally has come! It took some time but it’s finally over. If your choice didn’t get chosen that’s okay! I’ll repost a new poll with old and newer options. Please reblog this one i put a lot of time in it, it's like, five pages long over a silly goose. Also sorry for the grammar i sucks and i'm not native. So let’s begin:

(also here is the link to the video format)

So first let’s make things clear, What IS a villain?

“A villain is a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot.” That is why I do want to make a difference between a villain and an antagonist, an antagonist is a character who are a plot devices that creates obstruction to the protagonist. That means that a villain is forced to be an antagonist while an antagonist is not forced to be a villain. For example shin is an antagonist but not a villain, he is driven by selfish desires which are themselves fueled by fear anger and loss, he is the protagonist of his own story and is a sympathetic character despite it all, and Midori is just a bitch. Midori falls under multiple stereotypes of villains. Such as “the mastermind”, “evil incarnate” (lmao),”related to the protagonist” etc. Midori is evil, there is no denying in this, he is purely evil, and he doesn’t have a sad weepy backstory, he doesn’t feel empathy towards other, he is a despicable piece of shit who ruined so many lives. I won’t list everything but here is a list of his crimes, murder, assault, domestic abuse, grooming, verbal abuse, and torture, crimes against humanity lmao, stalking, violent crimes, and participation in a cult. And his worst crime is being a pussy bitch of course. So now that we have put the bases up let’s really begin.

Hollywood has a hate boner against villains and I hate them for that.

Recently Hollywood decided that pure evil bad guys is actually a bad thing, so now they decided to do stupid side story with them, to give them ”””depth””” since I guess how could we like those villains since they are bad. A great example of this is the Disney remakes which I loathe so much oh god I hate them. So first they did a maleficient it was okay honestly, then they did a freaking cruella movie where her mom gets killed by Dalmatians, that’s not a joke, in the peter and wendy movie that nobody saw they decided to have made the captain hook be a lost boy who was abandoned by the lost boys and peter, oh also they decided that PETER CUT HIS HANDS OFF AND LEFT HIM TO DIE BECAUSE HOOK WANTED TO SEE HIS FAMILY. They are going to do a freaking mufasa movie, in no time I can’t wait to have a Ursula movie where it’s discovered that ariel killed all of her family in cold blood or something’s. So you might say what’s the problem? I mean isn’t that supposed to make the story more interesting. No, no it doesn’t, because first they take all of the character personality traits and throw them in the bin, second they are supposed to be the vilain in a musical animated movies, I am not against complex villain, I love them, but by doing this, the original character doesn’t exist anymore. Just create original content with new interesting characters instead of doing stuff like this. Also it’s kind of funny than in all of those interpretation they take all the fun and sucks it out, what do I mean by fun, the gayness, Disney vilain are fun because they are camp, they are fabulous extravagant extra in all the ways possible, and that’s the reason we liked them. Not every character needs something super deep, like “my family was burned down at the stake and my dog was eaten by my ex”, sometimes we just like bad fun people, they are the story, and Hollywood hating them so bad just bothers me a lot. Also now the new thing is to not have a villain at all which can works in some narrative but not all of them, it gets boring after a while. In the past people were angry that villains are bland, but now I kind of miss it. While I will critique villains who have no purpose outside of being evil that’s dumb, like for example Voldemort is bland like white bread because his only motivation is being evil, but evil people do exist compared to what some Hollywood writers think, they should know. So that’s why I will put a difference between evil villains and villains whose only purpose is being evil; we loved Disney villains but they still had motivations, goals, reasons that to them a least were worth everything. World domination isn’t enough, why do you want world domination, what is the true reason deep in your heart, is it an inferiority complex, is it a savior complex fuelled by xenophobic beliefs.

That is how to write a pure evil villain, evil people exist all over the world, but I have never seen one who doesn’t have they own reasons to be so bad, it doesn’t excuse their actions nor really explains them. We do not want justifications we want explanations. If you are justifying evil behavior then do it, but don’t claim that it is a pure evil character. A pure evil character can be fun, can be interesting, he can be deep, it’s all about balancing all of their traits to truly make them greats. Which is why midori succeeds while current villains fail. Current stupid remake/spin off try to justify the behavior because they feel like this is what the audience wants, but it’s not what we need. So I will defend to the grave evil villains.

Creating an evil villain doesn’t make them boring guys.

Why the heck does big budget movies have either the blandest protagonist or the blandest villains sometimes both, like I said evil people do exist but comically evil character only works in satire not in a serious multiple millions of dollar movie. Example that boring ass avatar movie, the one with blue people, none of the characters are interesting the villain is one note. The lords of the rings also suffers from that, but I don’t care because the protagonist are so awesome that sauron being personality less doesn’t matter. Also sauron is more of a force of nature villains so it’s not the same. The recent kingsman movie has a bland one note villain, there is nothing entertaining, funny, about him he’s just evil, borrrrring. Every Disney remakes depiction of the characters are boring. I just feel bored out of my mind. Atla one of my favorite shows of all time has a main villain that’s kinda one note, Ozai, but he is actually intimidating guy, azula is the superior character, but I wouldn’t consider her a villain she is an antagonist though. I honestly don’t get why Hollywood thinks that just creating a character with no personality and whose only goals is to be evil is good.

So back to midori for a second, here is my question, when midori was on screen did you ever feel bored? Never right! Because despite midori being an evil character he has an actual personality, he’s fun, you want to punch him in the balls. Because midori has other personality traits than evil, midori is petty, childish, extremely intelligent, controlling, a natural manipulator, he is a trickster, he doesn’t seem to get some social norms, he is narcissistic, easily angry, and fears death etc See how I counted a lot of traits, traits that in other character would works, midori has positive traits, and I think that is the best thing nankidai could have ever done, midori has traits that a regular person could have. Which is why if I put midori in any settings his character would work.

Example, instead of a death game the cast is under the sea to discover the insane wildlife and supernatural stuff happening, what would midori do in this situation? Well he would very passionate about finding all of what’s happening, he’ll do anything to find out, even sometime sacrificing others, not only will he try to find what’s happening, but he is also going to try to find a way to make this discovery favour him in the end. Or let’s imagine it’s a vampire situation, where a vampire attacks  the city, midori would try to stop it, not because he cares, but to experiment on them to get their biology and finds the real secret of immortality since he fears death.

Here is my second advice, after creating your character try to imagine them in another completely different situation, like normal life, or a fantasy world, ask yourself the question what would they do in that environment? If you can find a real complete explanation of their actions then yes your character has multiples dimensions if not try thinking about it again. Some example of questions I do want to point out are some like “if my character had all the power in the world what would they do first or”, “if my character had only a day left to live what would they do”

Why is Current media incapable of creating good threats like bruhhhh.

Okay so first of all let’s talk about stakes in a story, let’s say you are watching a slasher movie, slowly the cast gets slimmed down and people die in horrible ways, that should set stakes right ? Well if the villain is an absolute buffoon who makes the stupidest actions and decisions in the world, you wouldn’t feel intimidated at all because despite what the filmmaker might try to say the plot armor will NEVER make a character intimidating. It’s just like a detective character who just seems to know everything without a thought, well you won’t really fear the character failing. Worse is the the final girl, who is for some reason always escaping the slasher guy by pure luck every time, she is shown as incompetent but still she survives, which make the villain seem completely incapable so now you feel nothing.

To avoid this filmmaker often use techniques such has unpredictability, I mean good I mean good ones, for example instead of immediately seeing whose going to survive because the black guys always dies first and the virgin white woman is the last survivor, change the status quo, make us think that this character is obviously safe while they actually aren’t at all. Or actually make them menacing by SHOWING to the audience how horrible dangerous they can be. Which is why SHOW DON’T TELL is so important, telling us how dangerous someone can be only to see them get beaten to death at the end of the movie makes us feel nothing.

Midori felt like a impossible person to beat, he is smart, had twenty plans in advance, even in situation where the cast felt like they might have a chance he was always armed, just like the gun he promised to use or the rocket punch. When they felt like they were finally advancing, he put obstacle in their ways, such as the collar game or the moment he put the collar on explode mode for  ranmaru. The entire point in the murder game was to make time pass, it took a long time for the cast top realize that this whole time they were losing precious time not realizing that the dummies were the real problem. The characters that made you feel the most hopeless were the dummies, if you won by killing midori they would die, but if you lost you might lose people you love (keiji or gin). It felt hopeless because they were no solutions in the end. That creates tension so that creates stakes. If we were told how dangerous unpredictable sou was then it wouldn’t hit the same, we are shown that he is that terrible. There is a scene ingame where bbg shin ai tells us that midori tortured and like to destroy people. That’s exposition so TELL, but do you why it works, because we are SHOWN before his behavior. Midori felt unbeatable, so the fact that we were shown his weakness such has his petty behavior, hatred of minors, and fear of death, for the first time it feels like there is a chance that we might survive this. And still after he isn’t shown has an incompetent buffoon, he is one, but the narrative doesn’t show us that he is.

What is also consider is good to make the audience feel actual stakes is to first really develop well the main characters, how can we feel worry for a character if we don’t know them, the audience need to feels emotional connection to the main cast to actually care. You can use things such has moments where there is nothing special happening just character talking getting to know them. Make us feel why we need to care about them possibly losing, instead of being indifferent. Or I don’t know maybe make an entire spin off game where we get to have the cast talk to each other and seeing dynamics between character that died early to get them a chance to shine and make their death even more tragic, or even make mini episodes of characters who only got a single chapter to show off their characteristic, to get us to know them better? But that’s just a silly idea of course, wink, and wink.

My favorite thing about Midori is that he is actually pathetic, like really pathetic, but weirdly realistic?

Midori is the most pathetic character in the cast, yes more than shin, shin is leagues less pathetic. No I’m not saying that midori is not intimidating or scary, I would piss myself if I saw him. He’s a scary guy. But if you look at him more closely you can see that he is a baby brat in a big boy suit.

So let’s start by something clear, Sou Hiyori clearly displays antisocial behavior, or in common terms he is a psychopath/sociopath, this illness is very badly seen in medias, I am not saying that people who lacks empathy like him are inherently bad, he is, a lot of people with antisocial behavior actually suffers a lot and have a difficult life. Sou real issues is not his antisocial behavior, it’s his narcissism and god complex. Sou feels the need to HAVE CONTROL over others, he like the feeling of being in power, he sees the rest of the world has beneath him, toys for his pleasure. He says that he “really like humans” because despite it all he seems to put himself in a different categories than regular people, they are beneath him. When he loses control his calm and cool behavior disappears and we see his true face, a grown man who has throws a tantrum like a baby. One of the best representation of this is midori views on the cast:

Midori hates kanna, like no jokes he has beef with her, a fourteen years old, actually he has beef with a lot of people in the cast. Midori views emotional people has weak, people who are loving optimistic as beneath him and useless. He preferred when sara was cruel and horrible, that’s what he loved about her, he liked seeing her scary emotionless side. But Kanna, kanna is everything he hates. A crybaby who not only puts the group in harmony, is a source of hope in general, is the reason he near got to have closure with shin (killing him), he views kanna as “not fun shin”. We have many proofs for this, if you type the word kanna kizuchi he says this: “Poor Kanna'd weep! I think a more worthless name would be better for someone like me” He mocks her, but also himself (I’lll come back on this later), he calls her worthless. Also in the electric charge minigame, when he can choose who to shocks he chooses two people in particular, kanna who he hates and hinako who ruined his fun by giving the cast a chance in saving ranmaru. But he does also says mean spirited stuff to other people, qtaro and gin. He also says some sarcastic comments about nao and joe, saying that it’s such a shame that they died so young. But you might say why kanna especially? Because he is a petty baby who is jealous of kanna, Yes jealous, of kanna, a fourteen years old. Because he feels like she stole his hubby wubby shin away from him…. God I hate him. And you know what that make him a pathetic idiot, after the scene where kanna beats his ass, he’s all mad and like “uhh I’m going to pout I wanted you to cry like a lot, now I’m gonna cry”. An that’s actually god, because it humanize him, he wants need thoughts, he isn’t one note, and that’s the most important!

Sou is a villain but before that he is a character, a fully developed character, and THAT’S WHAT MAKE HIM GREAT, Sou works because he works realistically, I mean if you forget the robot part, it’s easy to imagine a narcissist man child who needs to feel in power towards other, so his main prey are young vulnerable people.Which leads me to my next point:

Sou is a failure like really, and we aren’t sad for him.

Sou failed everything he worked on, he failed to get the paper from alice, he failed whith shin since he had to leave earlier than he thought he would leave, because of his mistake he lost his position in the death game, then he failed to kill gin or keiji, and then he died like an idiot losing his cool and acting like a toddler. And he knows it that why he is a bit self-hating (he should be). And yet none of us feel any sympathy towards him, why? Because sou is one of the most despicable guy in existence. He is a disgusting pervert, sadistic asshole, and abusive narcissistic cunt who thinks he is better than everyone. From the bottom of my heart I hate him sooooo much he is literally the character I hate the most in existence. He abused shin, ruined keiji’s life, traumatized the entire cast, literally assaulted sara like he physically assaulted her. He mocked nao and joe and kugie life as useless. He is an obsessive jerk AND I HATE HIM. And you know what…… It’s good. Like I actually feel a lot of emotions when I think about him, he fuels me with anger and disgust, and if your characters can make me feel that much rage then you did it, you created an actual perfect character. Hiyori is such a shit person that I think about him a lot, writers shouldn’t be scared to make a character such hittable assholes, example bojack horseman in bojack horseman is the vilest man on earth and I love it, because I genuinely hate him. Just like I genuinely love kanna, like really I really love her, I in the same time despise midori so bad. We hate him because he is horrible to good people that WE KNOW AND CARE ABOUT, not random npcs. There is a lot of… disgusting implications in his story with shin that I will not talk about it makes me really uncomfortable right now. SO HERE IS A VERY TACKY TRANSITION TO TALK ABOUT WHY I HATE JUNKO FROM DANGANRONPA.

Junko is boring, that’s it, she is boring, not funny not interesting, she is a fetish, she is the biggest Mary sue on earth, she is a gross character made to make fun of people with disabilities and queer people. Her only traits is being crazy, that’s it. I wouldn’t call midori that crazy actually, he’s methodical calculated, and precise. Crazyness is a term for people who aren’t in control of their actions and delusional about reality, sou is not crazy, he knows what he is doing, he is in full control, while characters like shin should actually be consider crazy, like shin is actually crazy but sou isn’t.

Conclusion:

Sou is a breath of fresh air, because nankidai had the balls to write an actually interesting deep and threatening character AND make him a villain. He didn’t fall into the trap of making him have a sad backstory or good motives, sou is just selfish, that’s all he is. He make him a fun entertaining guy who you absolutely hates, he made him threatening and at the same time a complete doofus. He made him humane and pathetic.

But the thing that make me love nankidai the most is this

The fact that he actually killed him that takes courage as a writer to just end a character THAT WAY, which is why midori will never come back alive he is forever dead. And that take a lot of talents as a writer to just take one of the most important characters and just get him drilled to death in the anus, like dammn nankidai you are a savage. That fact alone makes him one of the best characters in game, I hate him as a person, but has a character he is a masterpiece.

Though Kanna could solo him

this was posted as a video on my blog this is mainly so people who don't want to stay there reading a 24 minute video of my stuttering can have a bit of quiet

[rorirevolutions]

World Building Pt. 3: Archetypes

So one of the big problems I have with some of these shows is how Black and White everything is. You're either a Hero or Villain, but the world isn’t like that its full of different archetypes, from Anti-Heroes to Mercenaries. Here is my little analysis of some characters that don't fit the standard:

Max Thunderman is one of the easiest to make sense of, for a majority of the time he is shown as a wannabe Supervillain but in the last season he suddenly switches to full on Superhero which I believe is unrealistic. Overall Max fits the Sympathetic Anti-Villain archetype (The sympathetic anti-villain is a character that the readers feel sorry for, and if some of their actions weren’t so villainous, the readers might even root for them. The character’s backstory is key here, as it must garner sympathy from the reader and tug on the heartstrings. It must reveal that the anti-villain is acting the way they do due to past circumstances outside of their control and because they don’t see any other options open to them.) An Anti-villain does good things for not great reasons and thats truly what Max does for a majority of the show. Him going full hero makes no sense, neither does him becoming a anti-hero(someone who does bad things for good reasons). He never truly has a reason for a change of heart, only a reason to tone down the bad a little.

However, with Henry Hart we see a genuine slide in his behavior over the course of Seasons 4-5. We watch him become uncomfortable in his role as not only a sidekick but also as a hero and getting in more fights with Captain Man. After he moves to Dystopia its very clear his role is not that of a hero and is now more so an Anti-hero or Mercenary. In fact he shows the same traits as a Classical Anti-Hero Archetype(A traditional hero is confident and intelligent, with few flaws and weaknesses. Therefore, the classical anti-hero is the opposite and is plagued by self-doubt and a lack of confidence. Readers enjoy the complexity that comes with a layered character who is flawed and conflicted. Traditionally, the story arc will follow the classical anti-hero conquering their fears and coming to terms with themselves and their faults to fight and conquer whatever is threatening them.) Its shown especially when he, Charlotte, & Jasper first come to Dystopia they do some good for a little bit until they face actual villains who are serious & terrifying, unlike the cartoonish villains they faced in Swellview. When they messed with the wrong people, Henry had a bounty put on him and he ditched town without saying anything. He ghosted Charlotte & Jasper who were worried out of their minds that he got killed. After that Henry, probably not wanting to move back to Swellview, chooses to stay in Dystopia. He doesn't have a superhero costume or codename thats shown and he doesn’t try to hide his face. He is also more willing to do non-heroic things such as the last time he came to Swellview he had Ray help him on a paid job to kidnap a literal child! He robbed a bank just to pay for a gift for his gf who told him she didn't want it. Anytime we see him in Danger Force he's doing something kinda sketchy.

The Bionic’s are an entirely different story from the others because unlike the others they don’t really have any choice in what they do. They were created to be Super Soldiers and even though they try to escape that, they still end up as soldiers. They are sent on missions by higher ranking forces to do tasks. When they have tried to break off and live as normal civilians they are penalized physically and emotionally, and have been forced to return. The missions they go on are morally ambiguous and they don’t seem to care too much as long as the mission is completed. Even the whole thing with the bionic uprising in S4, Sebastian believed that the Davenports destroyed his creator and stages a coup to avenge him. While it is the most motivation to do something other than take orders, that has been shown so far. The soldiers that follow Sebastian still take his orders, showing it to be more of a shifting of ranks instead of actual freedom. It's often stated that a true hero appears when they step up in a time of crisis to help. Soldiers can absolutely be considered heroes but the bionics aren’t Superheroes. Good comes as a byproduct of their missions it is not usually the initial goal. It only kinda changes for Bree and Chase when they are paired up with the MM crew in EF.

Overall while they tried to show this message in the shows I personally don't think it was done well and am hoping to change that. As always I welcome critiques and ideas <3

The little summaries of the different archetypes are from: https://jerichowriters.com/anti-hero-vs-villain-a-complete-guide/

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: The Wall

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Spidey Super Stories is what you get when you take Spider-Man from The Electric Company and give him a comic run of his own. It’s geared more towards kids, so there’s a lot wackier and out-there concepts on display, and is the originator of not only Spider-Woman (though not Jessica Drew), but also this:

And also this:

And, of course, the evildoer known as The Wall. Or more specifically, the Wicked Wall.

Now, here’s thing (and I ain’t talking about that other bricked-up superpowered Marvel character): The Wall is a villain in a Spidey series loaded with some of the wackiest and most bonkers one-shot villains ever put to page. Case in point: Thumper, the girl who dresses as Napoleon Bonaparte, wields a boxing glove, and is defeated by being gifted the pony she always wanted since she was a child, a villain who will definitely be getting one of these reviews someday soon. And then there’s the panels like the ones above, where we get the iconic Thanoscopter. How is The Wall supposed to compete with such iconic madness?

Motivation/Goals: My man Joshua here is, quite simply, a hater. He saw Spider-Man was having a day off, and decided, “Oh HELL no, if I gotta be a brick wall I’m making that his problem!”

And he does! In an impressive twist of fate, The Wall manages to get Spidey kicked out of the Mets game the poor hero was trying to enjoy! Sure, he’s kicked out too and he doesn’t seem particularly happy, but a Pyrrhic victory is still a victory. Kind of.

Final Fate: In a fate even the Kingpin would agree is far too cruel, The Wall… is kicked out of the Mets game alongside Spider-Man. They’re last seen moping outside the stadium together.

Best Scene: The guy’s on four fucking pages, let’s just say his entire existence is perfect. But if I’m singling out a tiny sequence, I think this one might be the funniest:

Of course, there's also the sheer comedy of his backstory, where he was a simple boy building a wall when suddenly it fell, somehow turning him into a monster. Maybe the cement was radioactive? It defies all logic in the best way:

Best Quote:

Final Thoughts & Score: The Wall is a great example of the weird, off-the-wall (heh) creativity utilized in comics at the time. He really has it all: A ridiculously punny name that kind of had his fate sealed from birth (Joshua Waldemeyer), no real reason for villainy, an absurd and nonsensical accident that created him that defies any and all logic, a ridiculous yet endearing design, and an endless supply of corny one-liners. This is what goofy one-shot villains should aspire to be.

Of course, that doesn’t leave me with much to talk about in regards to him; there’s no deep complexities or tragic backstories here, just a simple case of a goofy gimmick villain being a lot of fun due to an absurd design and a simple scheme. Unlike the last villain I reviewed, I’d say the relatively simple and straighforward gimmick of being a fucking wall was used to great effect, giving plenty of goofy puns and gags as well as utilizing his bizarre ability to be a nuisance. Like yeah, you could probably swap out The Wall with someone like Rhino or Juggernaut and get the same basic effect, but would it be nearly as funny?

A 7/10 is a fair score for this guy. He’s just a perfectly fun one-shot who, despite only a brief time in the spotlight, isn’t such a terrible idea he couldn’t work if brought back in some regard. Hell, they almost brought him back for Across the Spider-Verse, with his absence being the only thing holding the movie back from true greatness.

I think my only gripes with him are that he's only there for four pages, which while understandable is rather disappointing, but more importantly is that he's in a comic that seems filled to the brim with utter absurdity around every corner. After seeing the Thanoscopter, would you not be comfortably numb to a living mound of masonry? All in all, is he not simply another brick in the wall?

No you fucking goon, he IS The Wall itself. And nothing can take that away from him. If nothing else, I’m definitely going to have to look through more of these Spidey stories to see what other bonkers villains lie waiting for me.

[girl4music]

Well, for me. What makes a great villain - I don’t know about effective - but a villain that’s engaging - is that they have to have their own story. Not necessarily a backstory, although that does very much help. But a story where the villainy they’re doing is justifiable to them. As in, they think they’re doing good by doing what they’re doing. You know? It’s that whole belief of “I’m doing God’s work” where I think a villain really is engaging because they’re so corrupted and confused. Brainwashed to believe they’re the hero even when they’re doing things you could never call heroic. Awful, destructive, cruel things. It puts them on the side of villainy even if they don’t believe that they’re a villian. They’re the most engaging villains to me because of the complexity of their characters and how they act.

I’ve never been into villains that are only villains to be villains. I don’t really think the “I’m evil and I’ll destroy the world muhahahaha” vibe is engaging at all. But if they can have some sort of motivation or purpose to be like this then I may be able to watch them on-screen without rolling my eyes or gritting my teeth.

Some of the greatest villains I’ve seen on-screen a lot of people would take issue with me calling a “villain” because a lot of them are either characters that have redeemed themselves since being the villain and only have slip ups every now and again, or they’re heroic characters that have become corrupted to be villainous either out of their own free will or just out of insane circumstances that they couldn’t control.

But here are some examples of what I believe are engaging villains when they’re being villainous. Non-coincidently, they’re some of the most psychologically compelling and complex characters to me of all-time.

Callisto from ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’

Dark Willow from ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’

Spike from ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’

Vegeta from ‘Dragon Ball Z/GT/Super’

I mean the only character from this list you could truly call a “villain” is Callisto because she never redeems herself by her own free will. Her mortal enemy has to save her soul and she becomes good from then on. Which isn’t very long. Most of the show she is a villain and she believes everything she’s doing is justified - not necessarily good or right - just that she’s justified to do it because the person who has to sort it out did it to her once upon a time. And so it’s all on her hands. She is absolved from the crimes she’s committing because as far as she’s concerned - “Xena made me”.

Callisto is a very compelling and complex villain because the whole time she has you questioning whether she is the villain or the victim. I’ve come to my conclusion since and I’ve stuck with it. She’s both. She is a victim of circumstance AND she is an evil villain. I CANNOT pick one or the other with her. It’s impossible. She’s written and portrayed so well, so multi-dimensionally, that I cannot just call her one or the other. Her entire appearance and arc in the show is one of great depth and substance because it makes you question whether vengeance is ever justified.

As for the others in the list - well, one isn’t a villain to begin with but just has the tendency to act villainous and the others start off as villains but eventually redeem themselves by way of their own free will.

So I think what really gets me going is not so much a “hero” or a “villain” as such. It’s the grey area in-between. The moral ambiguity. The morally grey.

The area in-between is always what I look for and it’s the reason so many people have recommended to me to watch the show Arcane. And I will do so very soon.

[belliesandburps]

Followup with MGS4 Peace Walker and 5?

History has a funny way of repeating itself. :P

This one's actually gonna be long, so I'll cap it here to spare those uninterested in non-kink posts the burden of having to scroll past this fanboy rant. 'XD

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

3. It's Okay

Soooooo...not a controversial opinion to say that I don't think MGS4 is GREAT. I adored it when it first game out, and I still enjoy replaying it from time to time. But good lord, so many of the interviews shed light on a LOT of this games problems.

Some backstory is required. Hideo Kojima was done with MGS by this point. He planned to move on and leave the series to the younger generation. But then, there was a lot of internal conflict and struggle to determine what MGS4 should be after Fukushima quit (AND was rumored to have been murdered by the Yakuza...how that rumor started...and became a SERIOUS rumor that millions believe, I do not know...). So Kojima came back, course corrected, and the end result was kind of a giant mess.

I'm not talking story because, there's just way too much to unpack. But as a game, MGS4 can't decide what sort of video game it wants to be. It had a brilliant idea that had never been done before with its Battlefield Stealth, which were the best parts of the game. And then they get dropped two acts in, and what gets replaced in their stead is not nearly as fun.

The game had substantially less boss fights than its predecessor, and a lot of them were mechanically simplistic or just didn't let you get creative with how you fought them. And we later learned there were a lot more bosses planned, more gameplay sequences planned, and an entire other PMC group that got canned in favor of the Scarabs so Shadow Moses could be guarded by machines instead.

There's a lot about MGS4 that I love. I think the first two acts are amazing, ESPECIALLY Act 2. I think the mechanics are great. REX vs RAY is criminally fun. The sheer buffet of insane weapons gives the game a good amount of replay value. And the graphics still hold up to this day!

But what I finally realized is that the game juggles way too many ideas and doesn't give any idea the time they deserve to flourish. Battlefield Stealth could've CARRIED MGS4. But it gets dumped before we can get our moneys worth. A disguise sequence could've been really creative, having to juggle different identities with OctoMask every time one identity is burned. But it's only used once and wasted because it's only used for a terrible tailing mission that doesn't let you actually explore the European City. And too many of the action set pieces are kind of bland except the bosses and piloting Metal Gear.

MGS4 should've been MGS4. Not MGS's "Best Hits."

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

1. LOVED it!

I know this is unpopular to say, but I'll say it. Peace Walker is one of the best Metal Gear games ever made. I adored almost everything about it. The gameplay improves on MGS4 in most ways because it doesn't juggle a billion ideas all at once. It's MGS4 stripped down to stealth action from start to finish, and that's all I wanted. The level design is great. The insane volume of guns changes the entire feel of combat in later post-campaign gameplay. The mission select options mean you can jump into all the parts of the game you enjoy the most. There's TONS of bonus missions that are really inventive and fun to replay. And the story is one of the best in the series. It's straight forward, very tight, characterized well, and is the best iteration of Big Boss to date.

Peace Walker's also the FUNNIEST MGS game by Kojima as well. There's so much more personality and levity to everything, to the point where Big Boss often feels like an MCU character. That might sound bad, but it's really not. That corniness fits MGS PERFECTLY, and I'd argue is tonally spot on for this series. MGS doesn't need to be dark, gory or explicit. It's a silly series that's about giant robots, corny bad ass super agents with an anti-nuke message.

The only downsides to Peace Walker are the QTE's and the boss fights. This was a feature that only ever appeared in this game and for good reason...it was fucking terrible. So basically, you had cutscenes that forced you to do various QTE's or else get dinged on your ratings at the end, even if you played perfectly. Fairly minimal, but then, you get to Strangelove's torture. And this is the single most rage-inducing part of any MGS game ever made. It's an insanely physically painful button mashing sequence that will leave your fingers raw and your PS3 triangle buttons jamming. And the ONLY way you can replay one of the best missions in the game (the prison escape where you have no items) is by redoing that sequence over and over. And the boss fights? While inventive, they're all just grindy bullet sponges with no personality, no stealth tactics, and no room for creativity the way you can get creative with every other MGS game's bosses. This was the biggest disappointment for me because the stealth and combat mechanics of PW are great and would've been SO good against human enemies like what Portable Ops had. Instead, every boss is a mini-Metal Gear all voiced by the VOCALOID AI from the mid 2000's, and each one takes forever to destroy. It sucks because PW had a TON of bosses, but only a few of them are any fun, and that's only if you have weapons that are strong enough that they don't take ages to destroy.

But asides from the bosses, the REST of the game is so damn good that I don't even care because that's just one element to a much larger, grander game. Which is even more impressive when you consider PW was originally on the PSP before the PS3 port. And this game has more content and replay value to it than most games I've played since.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

1. LOVED it!

Hooooooookay...so, I've rambled about my storybook romance with MGSV for YEARS now. (Just ask @twistedtummies2, he's been subjected to my fanboying of this game more than anyone in existence XD) But there's a reason I regard this game as one of my all time favorites and the best MGS game to date.

It's REALLY freakin' fun.

Kojima had been re-energized by the time he got to MGSV. He'd been working on the game around the time he finished Peace Walker in 2010. He KNEW it was his final MGS game and wanted to do something completely different...

...He wanted to make a game where the central focus was on...waaaaait for it...the gameplay...

MGSV was designed to be, what he described, as a toybox. You have these missions that all take place in structurally unique outposts like any level in MGS. And the missions are designed with the structure needed so that they all feel different, but all remain so open ended that you can play them countless different ways.

MGSV's game model is everything GTA SHOULD'VE been. It fully embraces the open world freedom and incorporates that into the missions flawlessly. And it plays in such a way that stealth and combat both feel like they were the primary point. In MGS, combat is usually a last resort. But with MGSV, you can fly into an outpost blasting away on your helicopters mini-gun, shoot up the bad guys, rescue your target, throw them back into the chopper and fly away while "The Final Countdown" blares on your choppers loud speakers.

Every method of gameplay is valid and the controls, the enemy AI responsiveness, it's all, bar none, the best I've experienced in ANY video game. Sneaking around feels tight and tense and combat makes you feel like Jack Bauer on adrenaline. (I mean, he IS the voice of Venom Snake)

And I really like the story for the most part too. Its weaknesses are really glaring. Namely, the "Fun" of MGS is completely devoid in the story (which is really odd since it's FRONT AND CENTER in-game). Venom Snake only has maybe six minutes of dialogue in the entirety of this 30+ hour long game. And the way Skull Face gets completely undercut right at the home stretch is something I have NOT stopped bitching about for almost six years, and my friends can personally attest to that.

That and the ending feels too abrupt.

We know that Kojima got fired by Konami's VP and said VP scorched the entire production company after that and made a series of dickheaded decisions that pissed off a LOT of fans, burning much of the good will Konami IP fans had towards the company. But that had nothing to do with MGSV's abruptness. That was the plan from the start because only Kojima would think to end the entire series on a plot twist like that.

And I think the issue isn't the twist at all. In fact, I LOVE the twist. The issue is that the game should've continued beyond it so Venom Snake could cope with the truth and realize how badly he'd been screwed. I think even people who hated the twist could've been won over if there was a little more to the games epilogue than Episode 46.

Also, the games boss fights were a tad underwhelming. Not the fights themselves, I LOVED all five of the games bosses.

Oh? There were twelve?

No. I meant what I said. Because so many of the games bosses are rematches against the same bosses. All MGSV has is the Skulls, Quiet, Eli, The Man on Fire, and Metal Gear. They're great bosses that do everything the best MGS bosses always did; give you tons of options, incorporate combat AND stealth, have varied attacks AND even have multiple methods to sneak around the boss and avoid the fight completely. But for a game as long as MGS, you need more variety. And frankly, the bosses NEED more personality. Skull Face should've had more XOF assassins acting as the bosses in the game along with the ones we have. Elite assassins like Quiet, with their own powers and specialized weaponry so the fights feel completely different from the ones we have. And oh yeah, SKULL FACE HIMSELF SHOULD'VE HAD A GOD-FUCKING-DAMN BOSS FIGHT!!!!

Buuuuuuut those issues don't even matter if for all the games issues, I still replay it frequently when it's almost six years old.

So yeah! There's the massive rant you totally didn't ask for! :D

[musclesandhammering]

Loki (2021) Positivity from an Anti

Ok so all of my mutuals know I’m extremely anti-Loki (2021), anti-sylki, and anti-sylvie. But at a certain point, even we antis get tired of all the negativity. So! Here’s some Loki series commentary in the opposite direction! This is a list of all the things about the show that I loved :)

Also adding a disclaimer that all of this is just my opinion and some of my fellow antis (or even people who liked the show) might disagree, and that’s fine! I’ve been planning this post for awhile. I always say in my other posts that I don’t entirely hate the show and I wanted to be a little more specific about what I think are its good aspects. Feel free to leave your thoughts!

• Mobius is a gem (Owen Wilson owns my whole heart) and his relationship with Loki is so so great. He’s not one-dimensional at all, he has conflicted loyalty and is morally complex, and he has the tragic backstory- which makes him a perfect choice for eventually becoming Loki’s first genuine friend.

• The casting was really really great. Lots of women and people of color. Most of the female actresses (as well as the males) are over 30, which isn’t very common and is fantastic!

• Superb acting all around. I can’t think of a single scene where the actors under or oversold it.

• Beautiful set design, incredible cgi, and gorgeous cinematography overall. It looked more like a movie than a tv show, which is really good.

• Kang being the big bad was a huge plus for me. Johnathan Majors was perfect in the role, his vibes were immaculate, and I was honestly pretty worried that the man behind the curtain would end up being another Loki variant, which imo would’ve been boring and predictable and counter-productive, so it was a big relief when that didn’t happen.

• I like that it sets up a bunch of future marvel movies, rather than being contained to its own little world. It gives it more importance and (hopefully) will encourage writers to not just toss Loki’s character aside in future projects.

• All the Loki variants were delightful. All of them except Sylvie. Kid Loki has my heart. Boastful Loki is a fashion icon. Alligator Loki is a savage. President Loki is the superior variant. Classic Loki became my fav character in less than half an episode.

• It showed some more variety in Loki’s magic. A lot of his powers we’ve seen before, but it feels like they were portrayed a bit more blatantly in the show. The energy blasts, the telekinesis, the teleportation… Outstanding.

• It also implied that Loki has the potential to be waaaay more powerful than he knows he is right now, which? Yes.

• Some of the quotes- and the themes behind them- are just profound as hell. Such as:

“I think we’re stronger than we realise.”

“It’s never too late to change.”

“You can be whoever you wanna be, even someone good.”

“We’re Lokis. We survive. It’s what we do.”

“Loki, God of Outcasts.”

“The universe wants to break free, that’s why it manifests chaos.”

• Technically Loki was Marvel’s first canon lgbt (bi) character, which is a win. His genderfluidity is also technically canon, even if it wasn’t really acknowledged on-screen.

• There were a lot of throwback references to Thor 1, Avengers, and Thor The Dark World. Which I loved.

• Sylvie’s so pretty. Her hair and makeup and costume were all perfect.

• Big fan of Loki finally getting Laevateinn.

• Sufficiently slutty imagery, courtesy of a female director (Loki in a collar, kneeling to Sif, President Loki looking down into the bunker, the hair flips)

• The music was Excellent Wonderful and Superb.

• I love that Loki being a good singer is now canon.

• I love that Asgardians having their own language is now canon (even if it’s basically just Icelandic).

• I also love that they disproved all of those “Loki was a shy nerdy wallflower pre-canon” theories in Episode 3. The drinking/eating/singing scene was fun, if a bit wacky.

• There’s a million different reasons why Loki does what he does, especially in regards to the New York attack (I’m literally writing a huge meta on them), but somehow I never considered that Loki being desperate for control was one of them. It makes a lot of sense, and I always love getting new insights into his motivations.

• I love that Loki finally outright acknowledged that he doesn’t enjoy hurting people. We Been Knew™️ but it’s still nice to hear it out loud from his own mouth.

• The TVA outfit wasn’t as hideous as some people make it out to be. It could’ve been A Look, even. You know, if he’d just accessorised a little better. And kept the jacket on. And not gotten sweaty. And not gotten dirty. And maybe had at least one other costume change… But it had potential, though!!

• Even though I despise the Obvious One, I did actually like some of the other romance crumbs they tossed us (sifki, Loki x the flight attendant).

• The whole DB Cooper thing was iconic idc idc.

• Loki’s hyper sort of overly excited puppy attitude in episode 2 was actually pretty refreshing and funny (for awhile). And now I can headcanon him as adhd, yeehaw.

• “We’re all villains here.” That quote was iconic, my favourite one in the show. And the entire theme that it summarised was really great as well. When you think about it, every single main character in this series has been the villain at one point or another. I mean, I know all marvel characters do bad things etc, but none of the Heroes are ever narratively categorised as Bad. This show did just that with all of them, though. . Loki was framed as the psychopath that attacked New York. Sylvie was framed as the murderous fugitive. The TVA/Ravonna/Mobius were framed as the murderous fascists. Kang was framed as the crazy totalitarian. It’s made clear that all the Loki variants were the villains of their stories.

However, every single main character in the series is also framed as the Hero at a certain point. Loki is framed as the main protagonist who throws a wrench in the TVA’s dastardly plans. Sylvie is framed as the persevering freedom fighter who wants to take down the fascists. The TVA/Mobius/Ravonna are framed as the ones who maintain order for the greater good. Kang is framed as the weird but ultimately benevolent wise man who’s just trying to prevent something worse from happening. The Loki variants are framed as generous allies who befriend the main character and help him on his journey.

Everyone in this equation is openly acknowledged by the narrative to be morally corrupt, but not entirely morally bankrupt. There are no Straightforward Hero Figures (like the Avengers) in this entire scenario at all, and that makes for a super interesting dynamic that marvel has never done before. So yes: “We’re all villains here.” But also: “No one bad is ever truly bad, and no one good is ever truly good.” I loved that.

• Even if it wasn’t really enough imo, I still treasure the crumbs we got of Loki being competent and capable (him putting the collar on B-15, him figuring out Sylvie’s hiding place, him teaching himself to enchant on the fly while fighting a giant cloud beast of eldritch proportions).

• I love that B-15 was the one who stepped in and saved the day in Episode 4, when we all thought it was gonna be Mobius. What a queen.

• Marvel usually has a bit of a problem with creating compelling and memorable side characters. But aside from Sylvie, I genuinely got attached to every single character in this show. Like Casey, C-20? I was seriously emotionally invested in them and they were only in like 2 episodes. Wtf.

• Introducing the TVA storyline in the Loki series specifically was a really good move. I’m not saying they executed it well, just that it had a ton of potential. A lot of people have wondered why marvel even thought to put those two (the TVA and Loki) together, when they had literally nothing to do with each other, nothing in common, and essentially no connection at all. But when you think about it, it’s a really interesting twist on both of those stories. Forcing the embodiment of destructive chaos and the pillar of rigid order to interact could make for some seriously entertaining and compelling television. And as far as meshing these two completely unrelated entities together goes, I thought they did it pretty well- at least just the bare bones of the story (loki being arrested by the TVA and being one of their most common variants).

So that’s it! If you guys (fellow antis) wanna add stuff you liked, feel free. If anyone wants to discuss (or debate) my list, feel free to do that too!

[peacesmovingcabaret]

Ok so I think it’s time we talked about Laurent. Specifically his widely unknown backstory and the fact that he’s a con artist with a savior complex! 

I took a bit of inspiration from both @edaurents and @ikbonbon excellent posts here and here and here involving Laurent’s elaborate role in the plot, a little bit on his backstory, and his past/current habits. So I’m gonna incorporate some of their theories into my meta. (Also if you already came up with some of these theories, I don’t mean to copy you and I’m sorry if it seems like I am.) I just might end up breaking this into multiple parts since it’s probably gonna be pretty lengthy. 

So without further ado. Spoilers Ahead!!!!!!

Great Pretender is a comedy/heist anime about a group of con artists or “confidence men” as they put it. Whose stories involve conning several corrupt figures out of their money with some really elaborate scams. 

And the mastermind behind those schemes is none other than our lovable, French bastard Laurent Thierry. 

Now off the bat, we can sum up this guy as this suave, charismatic, conniving, smug, super intelligent, ‘always three steps ahead of any and every one’ and ‘makes 5-6 different plans for the job while in his sleep’ kind of con man. He also has a Robin Hood complex, in that he only targets the rich and corrupted, robbing them blind and then exposing crimes to authorities. While helping honest and underpriveleged people who were victimized by those corrupt targets.  So he he clearly has a conscience and a good heart underneath. 

Now his backstory, however remains an enigma. In all three of the cases presented in the show so far, Laurent’s is the only one out of the main four characters that isn’t explored. The only tidbit of information we get from the show is that one line he says towards the end of episode 14, while holding up a ring on a chain.

“Men are such miserable creatures. Isn’t that right, Dorothy?”

Now, who is Dorothy? You might ask. Well judging by the ring, our best guess is maybe an old flame, lover or some type of significant other. Whoever she was, she was a woman who clearly impacted Laurent’s life (if him carrying what I assume was her ring on him is any indication). And I think it’s safe to say that she is no longer among the living. So this is really the only piece from the show that gives us any direct bit of info about his past.  

However, there are elements in this show that do give us some clues on his background, the type of person he was in the past and even his motives. 

And they include: His profession as a Scam Artist, this ‘Dorothy’ woman and his relationship with her and finally, his strange fixation on Edamura. 

Now judging by how intricate his schemes are along with the amount of resources and people he has on hand for his plans, we can say that he’s been doing this for a while. Like no one is this skilled and this talented at conning rich, influential people out of their money with these super elaborate plans after only a little while. No, these are skills he’s been honing for years. However, I don’t think he obtained these skills from Dorothy. I think he’s been a scam artist way before he met her.

Here’s the thing: The overall idea of scam artists is pretty scary. You’re essentially exploiting people, taking advantage of either their trust or ignorance and stealing their money. With Laurent, he takes it to another level. He doesn’t just steal money from his targets, he gains their trust, gives them a false sense of security and satisfaction, then he psychologically torments them by exposing their crimes and fucking bankrupting them. And sure all his victims were bad people, but imagine if they weren’t. Like Laurent is lowkey terrifying, his character’s like a Bond villain on the light side. Which leads me to believe that Laurent had some pretty dark, fucked up shit going on in his past in order for him to turn out that. Maybe involving some dark corrupt figures he dealt with that turned him bitter and even broken. Especially if these pictures from the Case 4 preview are anything to go by:

Now these pictures could mean a lot of things. But what’s important to note is that this is clearly a low point in his life. He’s sitting in the garbage smoking, he’s visibly drunk, and he looks roughed up a bit. He’s also noticeably younger so likely this took place in his past. Clearly he went through some tough shit. @ikbonbon Brings up in their post that Laurent possibly had a drinking problem when he was younger (in which they speculate based on some of his current lack of drinking habits in the show). I think it’s possible that some type of trauma (maybe as a result from those corrupt rich figures I’m mentioned before) took a toll on his mental health which caused him to resort to drinking and other self destructive tendencies.

Enter Dorothy.

I kinda speculate that he’s speaking to her in the first picture, but I don’t have enough evidence to back that claim. But she was someone who became a positive influence on his life (If him becoming some vigilante type who uses his cons to help others and carrying around the ring of his likely deceased lover with him is any indication). I think it’s likely that she was the one who encouraged him to help people, not only with the money he earns from his cons, but also via a sense of closure from past traumas and current struggles. Like with what he does with Edamura, Abbie and Cynthia in the three cases. It’s also likely that she got him out of that slump and played a part in his schemes to take down some corrupt, rich assholes. And after Dorothy’s supposed passing, he decided to continue with his mission in her honor.

So we now have clues on Laurent’s motives and a little bit on his backstory. Alongside who Dorothy was and Laurent’s relationship towards her. But I think there’s more evidence in the show that delves into his backstory a bit and kind of supports my theories that I’ve presented here.

And it involves his odd fixation on Edamura in the show and how he goes out of his way to recruit and incorporate him into his plans. Which I’m going to discuss in a different post because I’m gonna be in full tin foil hat mode and it’s going to be too damn long to incorporate in this post that I’ve already started.

Part 2 is here.

[yetanotherbuffyblog]

The End has come

THIS IS THE END

So after killing Caleb at the beginning of this episode, Angel gives Buffy a magic doodad that’s supposed to go to someone more than human but with a soul, and Buffy tells him not to join her in this fight because he’s got to hold the line in case it fails. He’s also a bit upset that she’s into Spike, but accepts it and buzzes back off to his own show.

The magic amulet goes to Spike, who is upset about seeing Buffy make out with Angel, but she sort of gets together with him? In the middle of the night she’s bothered by a vision of the First, and in their conversation, she comes up with a plan. And then they go do it.

I’m going to condense a lot of Plot here but I don’t know how else to sum this up.

Basically, they go invade the Hellmouth, go down in there, while Willow uses her magic and the Slayer Axe (STILL NOT A SCYTHE) to awaken every single Potential Slayer. Then the Potentials have the power to defeat the oncoming Uber Vampires. Which they do, and it’s Awesome. The rest of the cast, the non-Slayers wait out in the school to take down the ones that get by the Slayers.

Once the spell is cast Kennedy gets the axe back to Buffy and she continues kicking butt. In the ensuing fight, Buffy gets wounded, but gets back up despite the First taunting her. Also Anya dies saving Andrew. Wood also gets wounded but survives. Spike’s amulet thing glows, and he sort of… glows with light, and then starts to explode and wipes out the Uber Vampires. The Scoobies all evacuate while the Hellmouth collapses, and pile into the school bus while SUNNYDALE SINKS INTO THE GROUND WOW.

Anyhow, that’s… kind of a cool, but very definite, ending.

-“Okay I’m basked, what are you doing here?”

-I was right! Buffy should have taken off Caleb’s head while he was down--made sure he was dead. THAT is how you check for a pulse.

-What the fudge she cuts him in half from the groin up? I mean that’s kind of awesome but it’s also crazy.

-I complain that Caleb doesn’t have much of a backstory that makes sense; I suppose he doesn’t need a complex motivation, but I would have liked to have had a better idea of who he was and how he got there. I’m told that he was a last-minute addition to the story, so I get there maybe wasn’t time, but for a character so major he’s just kind of… there.

-Buffy’s language turns a lot more casual around Angel. I like their interactions after their breakup much better than back when he was the main love interest. He feels less like ‘Tragic Vampire Boyfriend’ and more like, I don’t know, an actual person.

-The vampire super senses kind of depend on plot/drama. It makes sense that Angel can smell Spike on Buffy, but I don’t know how often we see the vampire super-senses.

-Spike has a bad drawing of Angel’s face stuck to his punching bag.

-It’s good that Spike tells Buffy straight up that he has overheard the conversation with Angel, rather than stewing on it for the rest of the episode. Then again, this IS the final episode.

-Maybe the First, being, well, the First Evil, doesn’t need motivations relatable to humans, but I can’t help but think: why does he want to take over the world? What does he get out of it?

-Is the First even a ‘he’ I suppose? More of an ‘it’ if we’re being honest.

-I was worried that Willow’s full-on evil mode last season would be forgotten when I started this season, but it keeps coming up and Willow is constantly trying to make sure she doesn’t go back to that place. And I like that! It’s dark that she asks Kennedy to kill her if things go badly.

-A reference to Trogdor the Burninator? In Buffy? It’s more likely than you think.

-It ends where it begins: in Sunnydale High School.

-Dawn takes no crap these last few episodes and I am here for it.

-This one bit where the original four are standing together, and split up as they walk off to go and do their own separate duties? That’s cool.

-Buffy deciding the time of the final showdown, rather than it being part of a prophecy, or something that the villain chose in order to enact the evil plan and they have to rush to stop him--I like that we do it this way, this time, this final time.

-That is an awful lot of uber vampires.

-Could they not have had Willow do her spell before they go down into the evil hole?

-Yes, them being stronger helps, but Uber Vampires are not nothing--they’re resistant to most attacks, even by Buffy at the ordinary level. She struggled with them. The Slayers are seen taking them down pretty well, which shouldn’t be what’s happening right now. I get that they have had training and briefing on the things, but really, it shouldn’t go THIS well.

-Willow goes blonde for a bit. And then collapses, which seems like it could be a prime point for the villains to attack her.

-Andrew, Giles, Wood, and Anya with swords are really not going to be much against Uber Vampires, are they? I mean they are in the episode, but from what we’ve seen thus far I don’t know why they would be? Although maybe this proves that swords are better than most of the weapons they use. They should ALWAYS be carrying swords.

-It’s AWESOME that Buffy gets back up after being stabbed. But I don’t really know how she did it.

-The amulet and Spike’s whole ‘shining and destroying the Uber Vampires’ thing is kind of a deus ex machina. But it does feel like a natural end to his character arc on this show. So even if it doesn’t make that much Plot sense, it makes Character-sense, and so I can’t hold too much against it.

-High School is collapsing, as it should because it sucks.

-Of course Andrew has survivor’s guilt.

-Did ALL of Sunnydale collapse?! Is the Hellmouth just… gone? That’s a fitting way to end the series, but I don’t know how that works, exactly? Good thing nearly everybody got out of town.

-It is VERY impressive that Buffy was able to hang on to the top of the bus while they were racing out of town.

-Okay it makes character sense for Spike’s ending, but it also feels a bit weird that at the end of the day, the world is saved by Spike, when we’re sort of gearing up for this big female empowerment thing. Not that it undermines it entirely, but that it does feel a bit off.

-Also that Anya dies? Look, the whole ‘people providing backup in the school with swords’ thing doesn’t make that much sense, considering that it’s during the day. Makes for a great dramatic final battle, but not really a lot of sense.

-TV Tropes claims that Joss was more concerned with making an emotionally-satisfying and thematic finale than worrying about continuity, and I get that--hence the Uber Vampires going down easily to the awakened-Slayers. 

-Giles’s pronouncement that there’s another Hellmouth in Cleveland made me think of the tourism video.

-TV Tropes ALSO says that this episode was meant to be the length of two episodes, or a two-parter, but that the network denied them the necessary amount of episodes. Those goofballs!

-There will probably be a post or two talking about my thoughts on having finished the series, and where to go from here.

[herpronuonsarefemslash]

Unpopular Opinion Tuesday: "The Cursed Child" is interesting

Disclaimer: Cursed Child is not good.

But is it so terrible that it's worth the fan screeching that means no TV Show/Movie is going to want to go into the epilogue era again, ever? 

Why isn't there more fan fiction? It's wacky that truly sloppily written TV shows like Supergirl have oceans of fanfics (35500+) and The Cursed Child has 3600 or so. Out of 350,000+ on Archive of Our Own alone. Snape/Hermione as a "romance ship" has 5800+ and put together, Bellatrix/Hermione and Voldermort/Hermione add up to nearly as many as anything at all based on The Cursed Child.

Was it just because Hermione was Black? I doubt it because that seems to have become a far more widespread thing partly because of The Cursed Child. How did it boost the profile of Black!Hermione but not enter the fandom in other ways? Same with some ships involving the Golden Trio's kids (Teddy/Victoire) that were mentioned in the play. Those ships remain popular but the play is just...ignored? I can't figure it out. There are valid criticisms.

1) Cedric becoming a Death Eater is amazingly stupid.

2) I would argue that Harry Potter being a neglectful parent is amazingly stupid. He wouldn't be perfect, but with his childhood and temperament, he'd put in the work so that his kids didn't suffer what he did.

3) I need to hear more about why time travel here works differently than in Book 3 when no one could tell and nothing changed, which is itself different than from the Eloise Mintumble incident where she went back 500 years (people could tell, stuff changed). But the core idea of Voldemort's daughter being curious about her origins is...perfectly plausible. I really like it. Having her seek to learn more after being radicalized by propaganda is a good, complex villain motivation. Better than most of the villains in the original books, actually. Voldemort just is a villain. He seems to be a villain when he's at the orphanage, to a degree that would require a tragic backstory about his tragic backstory! Time Turners exist, or they have existed before. Someone could make a new one. I doubt the Unspeakables could resist for long. That place has to be packed with Ravenclaws who make Luna look super pragmatic. Canonically, someone once used one to go back 500 years. They died because they re-aged 500 years when they were captured and brought back, but that means that a twenty-something woman hopping back 30-50 isn't a stretch at all. She'd be...Bellatrix or Narcissa aged when he came back. Given their slow aging, that's well within a witch or wizard's prime years. Delphini has potential for the same reason Luke Skywalker or Robb Stark or any similar "generational conflict" character does. She raises the specter that the war is never going to be over. She brings back ghosts best left buried. She's the counterpoint to Harry/Neville: the dark side child born in unusual circumstances to exceptional parents. It COULD have been a really great story and she could have been a cool, much less two-dimensional villain given that wanting to know herself was the jumping-off point, not ethnic cleansing. I kinda want someone (not JKR, Jesus) to take the risk despite the fan outcry and write a proper story with Delphini. Make it a show, novel, book, podcast, play, radio serial, whatever. We bought tickets to watch Johnny Depp play an abusive luna...wait. We bought tickets to watch Johnny Depp play himself in Crimes of Grindelwald. Fantastic Beasts is better as a story and Newt and Tina are awesome new protagonists. But it suffers from all the same "disqualifications" that supposedly are so terrible they un-canon Cursed Child. JKR didn't write it alone. It wasn't written as a novel. It retcons in new people like a previously unheard-of Dumbledore.

LASTLY Why is "Voldemort couldn't have kids! He can't feel love!" such a common complaint?

First off, let's not think that "we would have noticed" because the HP universe is loose enough that stuff can slip through the cracks. Harry is an unusually unobservant POV character. I feel like calling the Harry Potter canon canon is a stretch, given the worldbuilding's quality. There are canon events and canon behaviors of notable characters. But the world overall is incredibly squishy (centuries old magic spells and devices like Veritaserum and Pensieves suddenly exist when plot-convenient) which is atypical for a fantasy or sci-fi universe, which usually give some nod to their being "rules" that make it feel like a real world despite not being our world. “Muggle technology doesn't work at Hogwarts”...but cars can be made to fly and the train has electric lights. 

“Thestrals can only be seen by those who've seen death”...but not only can Harry not see them when he should be able to, only Luna can? Statistically, more than one student would've witnessed someone falling off a ladder, or getting eaten by a hippogriff or whatever. It's supposed to be this huge secret. Everyone thinks they're horseless. Has no one seen them in nearly a millennia and started a rumor? Despite some nice saves (probably making the diary a Horcrux after the fact), JKR obviously mostly invented things as needed because we have key plot devices in Book 4 (Pensieves, Veritaserum) that invalidate the entire he-said, he-said problem faced in the climax of Book 3. Harry not just summoning the egg in the First Task could be hand-waved away by things like tournament rules or not wanting to get a bad score. But these are obvious solutions to important problems and grown-ups wouldn't just forget they exist! We lose track of Bella for way longer than nine months while Harry, Ron, and Hermione are camping around. The Death Eaters are sitting pretty at that point, maybe getting bored, hanging around a house with lots of bedrooms... Draco didn't know about Delphini when she comes up later. Why's that a problem? The Malfoy's aren't exactly high on Voldemort's trust list. Bella may have told Cissy but she might not have passed it on to her son. PLENTY of people in shit relationships have kids. Plenty of people in loveless marriages have kids. I don't think the cellular division of human cells, uterine implantation, and so on cares about such things! That's never been the part that confused me. You don't have to love someone to impregnate them. Bellatrix might well have some sort of obsessive crush. Voldemort could've just humored her. He could've assaulted her. Any number of things. If the explanation that he was infertile was "reincarnation" or "loss of nose correlates to low sperm count" or something...sure. But not being able to love? Bad relationships exist. Children are born into bad relationships. Children are born of rape. And even why we are told that Voldemort can't love is stupid. Given that date rape drugs are sold in joke shops, if "being conceived via love potion" makes you Voldemort, their society would be about 30% Voldemorts. He's a sadist and a genocidal poser. That's why he's a bad guy. Not some "side effects may include" about love potions which AGAIN, we see multiple not evil characters use or consider using...

[im-the-punk-who]

Can I ask your opinion on Woodes Rogers?

Oh boy. Oh boy, howdy. I mean you can.

So, uhhhh the first time I was really thinking about Woodes Rogers as a character besides just being a little bitch boy was after I read Sage Street’s meta where he talks about the ways in which Rogers mirrors James in the early seasons/pre-series. And that’s pretty much how I see him. 

(On a side note, while I don’t agree with everything he has to say, I highly highly recommend Sage’s meta because it brings up some really interesting parallels and scenic cues, and particularly the meta on the S3 finale just....makes me scream a lot. Some of the painting stuff can get a bit reachy because as someone who works in theatre and has friends in film, some of the parallels is likely more ‘the set designers thought this would be cool’ than a directorial choice but like, it’s still awesome to see.)

But back to Rogers. So, personally, I think he’s a little bitch boy, but that has more to do with the fact that the show sets him up as the upholder of civilization and oppression, in direct opposition to Flint - who seeks freedom and an end to persecution based on society’s morals and whom I personally vibe much more with. Character wise I actually think Rogers is pretty interesting in that, like all the Black Sails villains, he is a complex character. He is sometimes humorous, sometimes charming, and sometimes straight up unwilling to listen to anyone’s voice but his own - hello, Eleanor! (And, yeah, I’m aware that’s how a lot of people describe Flint. It’s purposeful.) While I don’t like him, I appreciate that about him.

He has a backstory that makes it clear what his motivations are and how he reacts when faced with adversity - he hates chaos and wants order and is willing to compromise his own civility if he thinks it will bring an end to those things. In my personal opinion the reason he wants so badly to bring Nassau back in line could be that he thinks it will help him get over the loss of his brother - who died in a random act of chaos and cowardly violence. (And whose name was Thomas....) Like Flint, he is fighting in the memory of someone he idolized. 

The show underlines the similarity between them when Rogers says “All I have done here is finish what you began. I am now what you were then. And without you there would be no me.” 

Here, he is setting himself up as the continuation of James McGraw. Which is super hella rad, since we know that Flint views himself as at least partially a wholly separate persona from James McGraw. And that we’re led to believe that ‘James’ died or was buried when Thomas was taken. While I don’t think Rogers knows the full story I think it’s likely he has a pretty good picture. I’ll direct you to this post where I bring up the fact it’s likely he and Peter were working together on the pardons(and also because I assume Eleanor told him about James being McGraw as she found out during the Charlestown plotline).

Also:

“Everyone is a monster to someone. Since you are so convinced that I am yours, I will be it.”

“If you insist on making me your villain, I will play the part.”

Rogers!! Stop!! Get your own lines!!

I know a lot of people like to compare him to Thomas, and while I think we were meant to see the parallels(hi, they’re both put in green!), I disagree he is meant to mirror what Thomas would have been. In fact, if anything, he is Thomas’ foil, even as he mirrors James. 

Flint even points out this difference: 

“No one is being hanged. No one’s even being tried. Just as you wanted. Just as Thomas Hamilton wanted. So what is it that you’re fighting for that I’m not already offering?”

“Thomas Hamilton fought to introduce the pardons to make a point. To seek to change England.”

Aside from the classic “I want my Thomas back you sonofabitch.” vibe of Flint’s full answer, this is the difference between Rogers and Thomas. While it would ultimately have the same effect as Rogers’ actions - to bring Nassau back to heel - I think it’s important to recognize the intentionality of both characters as it illustrates not just who Rogers is, but also Thomas.

The reason Thomas wanted to offer the pardons was to make a point that pirates are still men deserving of forgiveness. To “offer forgiveness to any man who would seek it.” He is not coming from a point of control, but of freedom. To offer to these men a way forward.

Rogers is offering the pardons as a way to bring Nassau and the pirates back into civilization but we never actually hear him offer a suggestion of what they’re to do afterwards. And indeed, with how he runs Nassau when he has it, it seems he’s much more concerned with keeping control than in offering any meaningful change to the people he governs. 

Rogers is, in essence, exactly what James was talking about all those years ago when he said “Put a man on an island, give him power over other men and it won’t be long before he realizes the limits of that power is nowhere to be seen. And no man given that kind of influence will remain honest for very long.”

This is underlined in so many ways, from his scene with Berringer about ‘dark men’ to where he wants to accept the pearls he knows are from the Spanish gold, to when he straight up threatens Madi with the death of someone close to her in order to try and force her into surrender.

So, I think he’s a really cool character in that he underlines things about so many of the other characters.

However, Rogers is also a little bitch boy and I hate him because he’s is both a little confused and does not have the spirit. :) 

He is everything Thomas and James were fighting against instilling in Nassau - the very thing Thomas realized isn’t the way a good leader should act. Rogers falls very much under that Hobbesian view of The Social Contract - that a monarch or person in power has absolute sovereignty without needing to give value to individuals needs or wants(literally every interaction he has with Max, hi!), whereas Thomas falls much more in line with John Locke, who says that in supporting the needs of the individual, we support the state by default.

(And I can and will go on another whole tangent about this view of Locke vs Hobbes and how it’s a theme throughout the whole show, I can, I will, please don’t let me.)

Rogers is a fantastic villain for S3 and S4 because he illustrates all the ways that civilization puts down revolution and keeps people in line - right up to how his actions ultimately cause Silver to betray the cause and sell out his own friends for a personal safety that is only marginally implied - and still leaves those on the outskirts oppressed! 

Wow! Black Sails! Stop!!

And even though he as a character was eventually defeated, Rogers’ motives and ideas were actually instilled by the very rebel leaders who fought against him! It’s his treaty Rackham and Silver get the maroons to sign! It’s his version of civilization that is imposed on Nassau and the Maroon island even as he himself is ‘defeated’. 

And isn’t that a kicker? 

That Rackham in particular thinks he’s victorious because they’ve defeated the bad guy, but then he goes ahead and uses his plans, proving that it wasn’t the revolution or freedom or Charles’ idea of living free he was supporting at all but his own personal narrative of victory! What a sellout! What a direct parallel to how even progressive-seeming leaders will almost always sell out the ideals of their constituents for their own benefit! Boy, howdy!!

And I know fandom likes to throw him under the bus as all that is wrong with civilization - call him a little bitch boy and cheer his defeat. I know that he and Alfred Hamilton(and Peter, to an extent) get to be the villains in the narrative so our ‘heroes’ Silver and Rackham and even Flint can be put in opposition to them but like - that’s not the point. That’s not the point, that’s not the point, that’s not the point!

The point is that these men were tools of the empire - tools that were incredibly effective! They succeeded! Rogers succeeded in bringing civilization to Nassau. And in doing so he forced the pirates to choose between their own loyalties - he divided the camps until victory seemed hopeless and that is exactly how history generally works in terms of continued oppression. 

Hell, that’s exactly how current political events are happening right now. It’s a tried and true method of oppressive governments to pin things on one particular person (Woodes, or, y’know, Trump?) and say ‘if you defeat this person, your revolution has been successful’ while silently just going ahead with the plans of those people’s ideals anyway. It’s not the people who are the villains. It’s the ideals they perpetuate. 

All this is to say that I don’t feel particular malice towards Rogers other than that I feel towards all the characters who ultimately uphold oppression because I think Rogers is another great commentary by Black Sails on how we get so distracted fighting for what feels good that we can ultimately end up becoming exactly what we thought we were fighting against. 

(”A man casts his vote for the same reason he does anything in this life. Because it feels good.”)

And finally, he’s definitely a little bitch boy for how he treats my girls Eleanor and Madi (and Max) and I would absolutely cross the street to punch him for that alone. :)

[eriklivesinmybasement]

Rise of the Guardians: Is it as good as we remember?

(Oof! I’ve been working on this one for a long while! Buckle up buttercup, this is gonna be a long one!)

(Before I get into this, I want everyone to know that I’m not claiming anything to be fact. This is just my personal opinion).

Back in November of 2012, we were greeted with Rise of the Guardians. This movie, based on the books entitled The Guardians of Childhood, written by William Joyce, gave us a new and unique take on our favorite childhood characters. This included Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Jack Frost, and more.

While it didn’t do so well at the box office, it seemed to explode in popularity. It spawned a fandom fairly quickly, even spawning a couple fandoms that branched off of it. For a long while there it seemed that, wherever you looked, you saw cosplays, fanart, tribute videos, fanfiction, etc. Loads of people seemed to absolutely love this movie, and I, as a twelve-year-old at the time and thus a part of the target audience, was no exception.

Even now eight years later, I still claim to love this movie. Even though I haven’t seen it in a long while, it left a huge impact on me as a writer and artist, which is why I am sad to see the fanbase slowly dwindling away. So I went back and watched it again, and as I sat there ready to press the ‘play’ button, I began to wonder. 

Will this movie be as good as I remember it?

And the answer? Yes and no.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I still really like this movie, and I still stand by it being one of my favorites. But just like everything else in life, nothing is perfect. And while still amazing, this movie does indeed have some flaws. 

And as I like to save the best for last, I’ll start off by diving into some of the movies flaws.

Flaw #1 - Pacing

The pacing in this movie can be a little awkward from time to time. Nothing super jarring, but enough to make me go, ���I’m sorry, what?”. 

Some scenes seemed to just jump from one to the other without much warning. Either that, or the transition from one scene to the next seemed a little off. One example of this is when North, Bunny, Sandman, and Jack Frost set off to the Tooth Palace. There was nothing inherently wrong with these scenes, but the transition between the two seemed a little awkward. One minute we were having a nice, calm moment between North and Jack, and then all of a sudden we get a quick, action-like sequence with the sleigh.

Another moment that felt awkwardly paced was the introduction of the movies villain, Pitch Black. It seemed like there should’ve been more buildup to him. We got a bit, but moments of buildup seemed quite few and far between. When he was introduced it felt almost a little random, him just appearing for a few moments and disappearing just as quick didn’t seem to work or do him justice.

There are other scenes, but I won’t go over those now, as I guess I’m probably already bugging some hardcore RotG fans.

Flaw #2 - Unexplored Questions and Backstories

Alright, before I get people shouting me down about how, “If I want backstory and questions answered I should read the books”, hear me out.

When you make a story, whether it be in the form of a movie or book, you’re going to want it to make sense. You’re going to want everything to tie together. It’s true that the original books do this, but it’s not seen in the movie. So for those who watch the movie, they may walk out confused about some aspects of it. The two parts I’m going to focus on here are Pitch Black’s backstory, and how Sandman came back to life.

Every story needs a good villain, and Pitch Black is certainly a well-defined villain. But here’s the problem. We get no backstory or explanation as to how he came to be. We do get a quick flashback to Pitch during the ‘Dark Ages’, which gives us his motivation as to why he’s doing what he’s doing. But that’s it. We get no other real backstory to how he came to be. Actually, we don’t get that for any of the other Guardians besides Jack Frost. But again, the other Guardians lack of backstory could be forgiven, as none of them are the main characters. But it’s important to tell a villains backstory because it gives the audience something to connect with.

Onto the next question. How exactly did Sandman come back to life?

This is a question that’s actually been on my mind for a while now. How exactly did Sandy come back? In the movie we clearly see him die, so how did he come back from the dead? The only lead I got is that maybe the kids somehow brought him back. During the final confrontation with Pitch, Jamie touches some of the black nightmare sand and it turns gold. It’s later on after that that he looks to the other kids and says, “I know what we have to do,” and they run offscreen for a little while, only for Sandy to show up soon after. Did Sandy come back through the kids believing in him again? Did they preform some sort of ritual to call him back from the dead? Who knows. It’s a dumb nitpick, I know, but I still wonder.

Well, now that I got that out of the way, and the RotG fandom is probably coming after my head, I’ll go over the strengths of this movie. And trust me, these really help the movie stand out.

Strength #1 - The Characters

All the characters in this movie are phenomenal! But to be honest, Jack Frost was the reason I originally wanted to watch this film when it first came out. Growing up I never really heard any stories about Jack Frost, and the only Jack Frost I ever saw in the media was of a withered old man. So seeing him portrayed as a teenager seemed pretty interesting. And the character was handled and written very well. His backstory was intriguing, he had a fun and enjoyable personality, but that’s not all.

One thing that was really great about Jack Frost’s character was his struggle throughout the story, and it’s actually a pretty relatable struggle as well. In the story, Jack Frost starts out not knowing who he really is or why he’s even alive. Not only that, but it seems that no mortals can see him, effectively making him invisible to the entire world. The story follows him as he looks for answers to his identity. 

This can be a very relatable situation, especially for preteens and early teenagers who are still trying to figure themselves out. And most all of us get to this point. We reach a time in our lives, often in our youth, where we start to wonder exactly who/what kind of person we are. Along with the desire to discover ourselves, there is also the fear/feeling of being invisible and isolated, not understanding where we exactly fit in. Again, everyone reaches a place like that as well, where we feel invisible to the world. Just a passerby. Like we have something amazing to share, if only we could get someone to see it. 

The other characters don’t come off as deep or complex as Jack, but that doesn’t make them any less enjoyable. Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and Sandman were all very creatively designed and portrayed. A lot of the fun from this movie actually came from all these strong, drastically different personalities clashing with and bouncing off of one another. It made for some fun dialogue and hilarious moments which had me laughing off and on throughout the beginning of the film. 

Strength #2 - The Villain

Pitch Black is, without a doubt, one of my favorite DreamWorks villains. I loved everything about this character. From the voice, the design, the aesthetic, it’s all wonderful! But the one thing that set this villain up above many others was that he straight up killed an important character onscreen.

Reminder, I was twelve when this movie came out, and up until then, I wasn’t often exposed to death scenes like this in animated films. I grew up majorly on Disney animated movies and shows, and when a character died, it was usually offscreen. And on the occasion it was onscreen? The villain only indirectly killed a character. For example, in the Lion King, Scar pushed Mufasa into a gorge where a stampede was taking place. Scar killed him indirectly, as he’s the one who put him there, but the stampede is what really did the work.

But in this case it was much different. It’s not like Pitch took Sandy off to the side and killed him there. No, we legit saw this whole scene happen and play out on screen. When I first saw it, it blew my mind! This was actually kind of new for me! We saw Pitch take that shot at Sandy, and we actually saw Sandy’s final moments as he died. When you have a villain physically kill off a beloved character on screen, it sends a message. It sends the message that this villain isn’t all talk. That this villain really does have great power of their own, and that they are serious about getting what they want. That they aren’t going to let anyone get in their way. They mean business. And that was perfectly executed in this scene. (No pun intended).

Strength #3 - The Creativity and Art

I think it goes without saying that this movie is unbelievably creative! Everything from the locations, animation, and the characters themselves in both personality and design are just bursting with creative energy! The animation is incredibly detailed, and for DreamWorks as an animation studio, I think this has to be some of their best work. The colors, textures, details, and everything in between are just so beautifully done. In terms of creativity, two of the locations I want to talk about are the Tooth Palace and Pitch Black’s lair. 

When it comes to the Tooth Palace, the artists and creators were given a lot of creative freedom. In media there is no set idea of a place where the Tooth Fairy lives or operates. We all know Santa lives in a workshop, and it makes sense to think that the Easter Bunny lives in a Warren, but no one really knows what to expect when it comes to the Tooth Fairy. When we saw the Tooth Palace, we were treated to some highly detailed and stunning imagery, all with a lovely color scheme of soft pinks, purples, and blues with accents of gold. Not to mention the design of the structural design was a spectacle itself to behold.

And then we have Pitch Black’s lair. As a lowkey goth at twelve years old in the early 2010s, the aesthetic here made it one of my favorite parts of the movie. This set here is similar to the Tooth Palace in that, the creators had a greater level of creative freedom, as we never really think about where exactly the Boogeyman lives. I mean, we know he kinda lives under beds, but that doesn’t sound as cool as living in a spooky, gothic underground secret lair. (But in all honesty, I do really enjoy the detail of the entrance of his lair being under an old, broken down bedframe. It’s a very good nod to the old stories).

It’s like a maze. A labyrinth full of shadows, and looks like the interior of an old, gothic castle that’s somewhat tilting into an abyss. It’s color scheme is predominantly full of grays and blacks, and the surprisingly elegant-looking cages hanging from an invisible ceiling really helps to establish a more gothic look. And since the lair is very dark and shadowed, it fits and aids Pitch black perfectly, in that he can morph in and out of shadows as he pleases. This gives him plenty of places to hide as he’s making an effort to mess with and get into Jack’s head.

The last piece of creativity I want to touch on is how the characters are presented. And holy crap after this movie this is the only way I can view Santa, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, etc.!

They take these beloved characters that we are already familiar with, and, while still somewhat showing them as we know them, present them in an entirely different way. 

We all see Santa Claus as this huge, lovable man with a big belly who’s always jolly. And while that is what we get from this Santa, or North, as they call him, it’s very much flipped on its head. While still jolly, North is very eccentric, high-energy, and is strong-armed, duel broadsword wielding Russian warrior with tattoos. Seriously, who thinks of a Russian warrior when they think of Santa?! Well, now I do! Also the fact that he’s not always super happy like other incarnations of the character. We get to see that he’s very capable of getting both upset and frustrated. It’s a pretty interesting way to humanize such a beloved character.

We then have the Easter Bunny, who is played by Hugh Jackman. Say that out loud. The Easter Bunny is being played by Hugh Jackman. Growing up, me and many other kids saw the Easter Bunny as a small, cute little critter who hopped around the world leaving baskets and painting eggs. Not a tall, boomerang wielding fighter from the Australian outback. Not only that, but giving him a small rivalry with North was interesting, and snot something I ever really thought about. As well as the idea of a the Easter Bunny having somewhat of a temper.

In terms of character design, I feel like both the Tooth Fairy and Sandman had the most creative freedom. We don’t see these two characters often portrayed in media, so they were able to receive some really cool and unique-looking designs. Especially the Tooth Fairy. Did you ever think of the Tooth Fairy looking a like an elegant cross between a beautiful woman and a hummingbird? No, of course you didn’t. But Rise of the Guardians gave us just that, and it truly set its place for it’s own individual take on this childhood legend. 

Pitch Black is a fairy creative villain as well. When you hear about the Boogeyman, you don’t get very scared. The name actually sounds a little silly when you say it out loud. And even then, because of the success of The Nightmare Before Christmas, you usually think of their incarnation of the character when you hear that name. But this version of the character is actually much different. He’s not this weird, in-your-face kind of monster. He’s a very subtle, yet terrifying character. When I first saw the movie in theaters, there were kids in the room crying at moments when Pitch Black came on screen. It’s also interesting the way his powers work. We all grew up knowing the Boogeyman as someone who just hid under beds. We had no idea what magical powers he may or may not have had. So giving him the ability to morph into the darkness and into shadows was a pretty cool concept, but also solidified that he had a weakness. Light.

So, In Conclusion...

As I have gotten older, I admit that this movie does look a little different to me now, versus when I saw it as a preteen. I’ve noticed some interesting flaws here and there, but I’ve also been able to remember why I fell in love with it in the first place. It’s a very different kind of movie, but that’s part of what makes it so much fun and interesting.

The characters are delightful, the villain is intimidating, the story, while awkwardly paced, is still pretty solid, and is all tied together with a great lead character. And as you get invested in the story, you’ll find yourself getting really into the all artistry that went into creating this movie.

At the end of the day, it makes me sad to see the fanbase for this movie slowly dwindling away. But I feel there are always going to be people out there who enjoy this movie. And you know what? You never know what the future holds. Perhaps there will be a movie in the distant future. Or more likely a animated series on either TV or Netflix. And for the hardcore fans, go and read the original books. 

All I can say here is that, every now and again when it starts to get a little nippy outside, I’ll sit in my living room with hot chocolate and give this movie another watch.

[th3okamid3mon]

Spies in disguise, weirdly wholesome (Spoilers)

This movie was so freaking weird. I thought Blue Sky Studios was so dead, the only movie I´ve seen from them was Ice Age and Robots, and Ice Age went downhill after the 3rd movie. But this??? This could be their revival.

Sinopsis: 

Lance Sterling is one of the best spies in the agency. He loves his job and does it really well but when a bad guy starts harming different people across the world using his face, Sterling has to clear up his name in any way possible with the help of a young scientist called Walter Beckett. Problem is, though, the same scientist tried a very complex experiment on him by accident which result on him turning into something everybody hates: a pigeon. 

Animation: 

I´m sure Blue Sky has made more animated movies than just Ice Age, but being completely honest I literally only knew that one. I loved that movie, I also like Robots, but the rest they´ve made aren´t as striking to me. 

As an animation studio they know what they are doing, it is really good. The details in the water and rocks, all the backgrounds? They all look awesome!

It´s no Klaus though. In comparison to other movies, this is pretty much blends with the rest of the CGI movies there exist. Ice Age and Robots had a very distinctive style, but this one? This looks like something Pixar would do (they kind of went a bit downhill, Toy Story 4 was not needed and The Incredibles 2 felt off and incomplete, animation was fine, writing meh. I hope Onward and Soul are better. Fingers crossed.) I also thought Dreamworks made it. It´s not very... original as in the style of the animation. 

The lighting was cool as hell!! The first scene in Japan WAS SO FREAKING AWESOME. It had amazing highlights and it was perfect blend in the atmosphere. The darks werent so obscure you couldnt see anything and when a certain light hit the character it was a great contrast. 

The design of the characters were really great, the background characters looked kind of the same though. It was like the main characters were anime protagonists in this case, not only because of the design but because they use more striking and hotter colors in them while the background characters had really opaque palettes. 

Story and Characters: 

So.. Disclaimer: Spy movies taken seriously is not my thing. I HATE Mission Imposible. I HATE JAMES BOND 1, 2, 3, INIFINITE WHATEVER. I hate them, they are boring and the main characters are worst than Superman (Who, by the way, I also HATE. not the animated one, just the live action one. LIKE BATMAN I HA-). That´s because they portray them as all mighty, powerful, type of card of all traits. Making them too useful and too able makes it boring and it makes you question Why do they even have a freaking team with them?

In this case you have the all mighty, hella cool and able Lance Sterling. He works alone, he is able to do everything and anything, right? Well, at least he is charismatic and such. Of course you have to add something to him so he isn´t just a cocky super human spy. What do you do? GIVE. HIM. AN. OBSTACLE. AND. MAKE. IT. HILARIOUS. Thank god this is comedy. 

It was a really weird premise for the super spy to become a pigeon. From all animals, a Pigeon? Uh... Yeah, sure? This director and writer do know how to make this shit work. And BOI was this really interesting. 

So it goes like this: Sterling goes against a bad guy who isn´t even the main bad guyTM. He does his cool fighting montage during which POOF, GLITTER! Glitter..? Da fuq? And he rolls with it because if he doesn´t he COULD DIE. (I know there´s the flashback montage for Walter at the beginning but bare with me). He gets the briefcase, which had a very dangerous and powerful machine which in spanish is called LITERALLY ASESINO (MURDERER) , LA-DI-DA-DI-DA he goes back to the agency and... The briefcase is empty and some agent comes all of the sudden and has some recording where it is shown HE stole it and killed some guys in Japan with it.

But he escaped, relax. 

Now, previously he had fired Walter because he got into Sterling´s things and put the glitter bomb, which actually did his purpose: distract and make everyone happy. 

Walter is actually a curious character to me. He has good intentions, he just wants to make a safer world and all his inventions in comparison to the rest are to minimize damage and to protect not only the spies but also the villains. Now days we have characters who are mostly all in favor to not kill, because killing is wrong. It´s not a new thing, its a pretty old concept, but it is mostly seen in TV shows (at least from the movies I´ve seen, even if the hero doesn´t want to kill, the villain still ends up dead somehow). From all the movies I´ve seen, there were several that didn´t killed the villain but... I didn´t like them at all because the villain didnt even made sense (IM LOOKING AT YOU FROZEN 1 AND THE INCREDIBLES 2, FUCKING WASTE OF MONEY AND VILLAINS, SO HELP ME GO-) 

I dont know why Walter stick to me so much more than any other characters in other movies. His motivations were always for the greater good even as a kid. The biggest inspiration in his life was and is his mother, and I think because of her dead that motivation became even stronger. His whole personality and genuine care into his work to help others leaks in everything he does. It´s in your face, ALL THE TIME, but in a good way? It isnt at the point of being annoying, it´s weird how they manage to make such a nice character with certain points that are quirky without making him annoying. 

Ok, back to the story without spoiling much and going to the point, they both start working out how Sterling as a pigeon can do his spy work and Walter works on an antidote while also helping Sterling with the spy work. Question: Is it original? I dont know. Does it matter? No. 

Look, the concept of a character turning into something is not really original and as spy movies we all KNOW in all 9 levels of Mictlan that Spy theme movies are not original at all. Spy Kids? That was slightly more original than any other spy movie I ever seen AND I LOVED IT. The important manner here is and will always be the characters which... Well... Will Smith acted as Will Smith, or well.. I watch in spanish... wait... 

Ok, I already knew Mario Filio was the official Will Smith voice Actor... 

HOLY SHIT, EMILIO TREVIÑO IS MILES MORALES TOO?!?!? 

Where was I...? Ah, yeah. 

As a plot, it had pretty much a lot of dark themes and several heavy spots. For example: The talk between Will- I MEAN Sterling and Walter in the boat, where they talk about how to fight the villain we saw a bit more of them. We already knew the motivation for Walter, but Sterling? The cocky cock has feelings? WHO WOULD´VE KNOWN! He really doesnt want people to get killed and it gets to him, because that form limits him a lot. Walter is so stress too, they both want the best for the people and they argue but in a manner that makes it a bit heavy. Walter is still young and too dreamy, Sterling has worked in the battle field, he tells Walter  you have to fight fire with fire and doing it Walter´s way is not gonna work because bad people doesnt care about the good people. Walter replies that there are no good or bad, only people. (UM... I HAVE A BIT OF A PROBLEM WITH THAT?? But I will discuss it later.) 

There some scenes i did not expect to get emotional and it quickly returns to comedy but not as awkwardly as I would thought. It´s a fun movie, if it wants too it gets a tad heavy and if it wants to it becomes extremely dumb. It´s a weird blend, the concept is super dumb but the plot and the characters teaches you certain things like: People still get hurt even if you acted with the best intentions. Sometimes to solve a problem you need to think in another way. Kindness is a powerful weapon. And most importantly: Weird is good. 

Conclusion: 

So... It was a really fun movie. Weirdly wholesome, weirdly good! Pretty good actually, it didn´t get me much as other movies but it did stick to me. It has good animation, the characters are enjoyable and charismatic, the super good boi is Walter MY GOD, HE DESERVES THAT JOB HE GOT. Sterling is a good pal once he sees the value in Walter. That part with the egg was strange but Walter made it have sense and they both rolled with it and it was pretty cool.

Now, the messages are good. I understand people are people and such. You shouldnt kill because its wrong. I mean, the villain DID kind of had second thoughts after Walter saved him from falling after turning the droid off, which was SO COOL TO HAVE KILLIAN LOOK LIKE THAT. He didn´t had to say shit, just that look of ¨Huh... That kid did save me even after I tried to kill him...¨ Yes, give me more shown not tell. THIS MOVIE HAD A LOT OF SHOW NO TELL, THANK YOU. 

Still, bad people not always want to change. Some bad people stay bad, and sometimes we will have to fight back. We had movies like The Incredibles 2 or Steven Universe: The Movie shown what should we do and what happens to the villains. They had a backstory, they had their motives, as heartbreaking their backstories were what they did was wrong and at least one of them in those examples were punished for their wrongdoing. Steven in the movie fought back instead of getting himself hurt. 

In this movie, the villain was kind of kept a mystery, his backstory wasn´t a flashback or anything, it was told by the character but I think that was a good thing because the pain in his eyes and the anger he felt leaked from his explanation to Sterling. Even when he was explicitly a bad guy from the beginning, before even the movie started, we can see that those bad guys, in fact, are people too, and as the good people they can get hurt too because they have families, friends, pets, interests, hobbies and more. Walter does have a point, they are just people so we shouldn´t kill them. I guess the problem I have with the saying ¨There´s no good or bad, just people¨ is that the people who do bad things, people like Killian, they hurt and murder so many people and I am not fine with those kind of people. I say Eye for an eye, but then again ¨Eye for an Eye and everyone gets blind¨. 

I dont know why or how they manage to get somehow complex in movie where a person LITERALLY TURNS INTO A FEMALE PIGEON. Oh, yeah, by the way. Sterling becomes a female pigeon because Walter uses a feather of his female pet pigeon. 

I had low expectations and came out impressed and howling with laughter even after getting home. I do recommend this movie for his whole ridiculousness and for his weird but wholesome character development, bonding, different characters and final message. 

Weird is good and we need weird to make the world a better, safer place. 

-Sincerely weird, T.O.D 

[keen2meecha]

Novel Prep Tag: gifted

Thanks for tagging me, @aziz-writes! You’re a gem as always!

Note: I’m talkative, so most of my side comments are crossed out don’t mind me

First Look

1. Describe your novel in 1-2 sentences (elevator pitch)

After nearly failing the application test, a young girl rejected by a superpowered society for not having a superpower* of her own is accepted into Falks, a school that teaches kids how to be superheroes. But after an attack on the school nearly kills her and her classmates, she must learn to work with her new friends before one of her oldest friends is lost forever. 

(*’superpowers’ in this universe are called Gifts, and those who have them are called Gifted. The minority who don’t have Gifts are called Ungifted. The title is ironic and also a reference to a running joke Sofia has with herself)

2. How long do you plan for your novel to be? (Novella, single book, book series, etc.)

It’s the first book in a series! Right now I have four books, but since I’m a chronic overwriter, that may or may not have to be extended to five books.

3. What’s your novel’s aesthetic?

Honestly? Aesthetics aren’t really my thing, so I’m not sure. Maybe soft warm colors, that surprised flutter in your chest when someone gives you a thoughtful present, the ache after yet another workout, that scratchy feeling in your throat when your right on the edge of crying but no one else can tell? This started out as a lighthearted superhero story I swear-

4. What other stories inspire your novel?

If you’re an anime fan, you’ll probably look at the general premise of this and some of the basic details of some of the characters and go “Wait a second, that’s a lot like My Hero Academia” and listen. I know. It’s not the same plot though, I promise! Really, at this point, I’d like to think that it’s undergone so many changes that the two are pretty decently removed, but *shrugs*. I’m not as pressed about it anymore. 

I was also loosely inspired by Harry Potter, simply because my book also takes place throughout a school year, so I’m using Harry Potter as a frame of reference for pacing (theoretically). That being said, trans rights and fuck JK Rowling am I right?

5. Share 3+ images that give a feel for the novel

For the sake of saving space, I’ll not do that this go around. But imagine fireworks, a freshly brewed cup of tea, and an overwhelmingly expensive weight room and you’ve got a pretty good image of three important things in this book.

Main Characters

6. Who is your protagonist?

Sofia Smith! The Ungifted girl with a chip on her shoulder! Also an utter jock who usually wears athleisurewear and trust me, I’m as thrilled as you are about that. I don’t work out! I don’t even know what a healthy workout routine looks like! What have I done-

7. Who is their closest ally?

I’d say it’s a toss-up between Leona Kita, a girl she meets during the application tests who quickly becomes her new best friend and is not all that she seems, and Romilly Quirke, a teacher at Falks with whom she develops a close mentorship and is not all that she seems

8. Who is their enemy?

In the beginning, it’s Kyran ‘Kruze’ Cinege, Sofia’s childhood friend-turned-enemy. However, the turning point of the novel is when it’s revealed that while she and Kruze are always fighting (physically or not), there’s someone out there who’s actively trying to kill her and that person might be a more pressing threat than Kruze.

You may also see me occasionally mention The Prophet’s Daughter, who, like all of the important antagonists in this series, hilariously still doesn’t have an actual name. It’s fine. Everything’s fine.

9. What do they want more than anything?

To become the top Hero it’s not bnha you weeb

10. Why can’t they have it?

She’s Ungifted, so no one believes she can do it. Not only that, but also every single other person in her class at Falks is highly qualified - they’re the most promising kids in the country, after all - and also highly motivated to do the same, so she’s got... a lot of competition.

11. What do they wrongly believe about themselves?

That she can hold up the weight of the world on her own - worse, that she has to hold up the weight of the world on her own. Among other things

12. Draw your protagonist! (Or share a description)

Not an artist, but I can freely say that Sofia’s face claim is Amandla Stenberg (especially Hunger Games era Amandla Stenberg because, you know, high school).

Plot Points

13. What is the internal conflict?

She’s desperately lonely, but to admit she needs other people is to admit weakness, and to admit weakness is to admit defeat - something she absolutely cannot do. I mean, not really and it’s okay to ask for help, but she doesn’t know that. We’re working on it.

14. What is the external conflict?

Sofia is fighting the entire world to become a Hero and also someone is trying to kill her and her classmates. 

Oh and each book revolves around her relationship (platonic or otherwise) with one of what I call the ‘core five’ changing and developing in a radically game-changing way. In this book, it’s her and Kruze struggling to come to terms with elements of their past and maybe overcome their conflict to become friends again...? Except their both stubborn assholes and have been fighting for so long they can’t remember how to exist in the same room without one of them blowing up eventually (literally, in Kruze’s case) (I’ll probably talk more about the core five in a different post tbh)

15. What is the worst thing that could happen to your protagonist?

Oof. Well. If someone died on her watch, that’d be pretty bad for her. Good thing that’ll never happen though! Haha...ha...hm.

16. What secret will be revealed that changes the course of the story?

Of this story? Shit maybe they weren’t after me after all. The story as a whole? Wait, you’re my what?

17. Do you know how it ends?

I actually have the epilogue of the last book already planned out! I will cry when I actually write it. But the end of the main plotline? Eh... I know who all is involved, and what all of the characters have evolved into at that point. But how Sofia and co. actually defeat the BBEG? I am... less sure.

18. What is the theme?

In this book specifically: it’s okay to step back and ask for help when you’re struggling - just because you can’t do it on your own doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be where you are.

In the overall series: something something found family something the power of friendship.

19. What is a recurring symbol?

Oh damn, this is a really good question. In fact, since I’m still in first draft mode (although I did write maybe a good quarter or so of a zero draft) I don’t think any have really emerged that I’ve noticed yet? But I guess I’ll come back and update this if I think of anything.

20. Where is the story set? (Share a description!)

It’s set in a very fancy, very modern private school that’s on the edge of a city somewhere near Washington D.C. I’m... not great at describing environments/settings, though, so that’s all you get haha

21. Do you have any images or scenes in your mind already?

Oh yeah, plenty. I have this whole book outlined, actually, on a chapter-by-chapter level! I got excited and also bored during my three-hour-interim between classes, and there was a whiteboard just asking to be filled... I even have some disconnected scenes from future books floating around in my mind - some incredibly emotional and poignant, some glorified shitposts. Ah, writing. It’s such a magnificent hobby.

22. What excited you about this story?

The characters! No joke, there are sixteen kids in the Falks class including Sofia, and every single one of them has their own complex backstories, motivations, and character arcs - not to mention I’ve spent a significant portion of time outlining each of their Gifts and figuring out how exactly they work. I could ramble about any of them for hours.

And that’s not even mentioning Sofia’s family, the villains, the teachers... I just really love every single character in this book!

23. Tell us about your usual writing method!

Step one: watch or read something. Anything. A movie, another book, a commercial, a music video, a tiktok, I’m not kidding just about anything will do. Step two: think ‘oh, I could do that better’. Step three: jot down some early lines or general ideas. Step four: leave it to stew for a little while as you think ‘oh jeez maybe I can’t do it as well as I thought’. Step five: get suddenly inspired on it and feverishly carve out several rough chapters. Step six: let it stew some more. Step seven: get newly inspired, realize how much has changed in your mind about that earlier draft, call that the zero draft, and actually do an outline this time. Step eight: ...Write it for realsies this time!

Whew, that was a doozie! Super fun though! So, according to the rules, you’re supposed to tag the same number of people as questions you answered. So there are 23 questions, and it turns out I’ve got exactly 23 people who (I don’t think) aren’t opposed to tag games, so here, have something besides a last line tag for once! Enjoy!

REMEMBER! You are under no obligation to do this - especially since this one can seem overwhelming. I’ll be thrilled if you do it, but I won’t be disappointed or upset if you pass.

Anyways, tagging: @alcego-writes, @alanwrites, @ajbrooks-writes, @evergrcen, @jewellsfrommaruss, @brookswriting, @signedjordan, @writhoelogy, @the-violet-writer, @dustylovelyrun, @linarious, @cookiecutterwrites, @honeyprincerising, @acaptainandhisrunaway, @angelolytle, @dogwrites, @mxxnwishes, @magicalwriting, @bisexual-in-progress, @writerfae, @ocmaker, @fullydevoted, @hanboggsbooks

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis Mother’s Day Special: Sephiroth & Norman Bates

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Ah, Mother’s Day, a perfect day to celebrate all the moms out there in the world… And I can tell you two guys who will be doing that more than anyone. Finally, after years of putting this off, here is the Psycho Analysis Mother’s Day Special! And considering who one of the villains we’re talking about is, this is also quite literally a Psycho Analysis!

I’m pretty sure these two radically different guys need no introduction, but for those who aren’t pro gamers or cinephiles, they are Sephiroth, the sword-wielding mass murderer with a god complex who tries to destroy the world with a giant meteor in Final Fantasy VII, and Norman Bates, the seemingly normal motel owner who has a rather murderous split personality. While you could not pick two more insanely different characters to toss together into an analysis, they do have one very important thing in common:

They’re doing pretty much everything they do because of their mothers.

Motivation/Goals: These two could not be more different if they tried.

Norman is just your average guy. He really just seems to want to live in peace with his mother, maybe find some semblance of happiness someday, but he’s living under her oppressive rule (in his own head, no less). Whatever the case, he goes to murderous extremes to protect his mother from even the slightest hints of danger, and that’s what lends him into the situation he winds up in.

Sephiroth, true to his JRPG nature, has an intricately crafted backstory informing his goals. To dumb it down, Sephiroth was a genetically-engineered super soldier who had an evil alien being named Jenova’s cells spliced into his fetus, turning him into said alien's evil avatar essentially. He came to believe this being was his mother and one day snapped, razing an entire town before being defeated and falling into the lifestream. Unfortunately for everyone, Sephiroth is such a hardcore badass that instead of being consumed by the lifestream he instead managed to accumulate power and knowledge so that he could merge with the lifestream itself and become god in the name of his supposed “mother.”

It’s a JRPG, what do you expect?

Performance: Anthony Perkins is, quite literally, perfect as Norman. He injects him with just the right levels of charm and awkwardness that he really does seem like a normal guy. And, well, he is, he just happens to have a murderous alter who doesn’t like when anything comes between them. Perkins is great at portraying a slight eerie offness to Norman that a lesser actor could never hope to capture… And I guess this is where I should mention that Vince Vaughn tried to do just that,capture that brilliance. And he fucking failed miserably. Vince Vaughn looks like a fat, sweaty sex offender and has none of the sweet, innocent charm Perkins exuded. Why the hell Gus Van Sant ever thought Vaughn could pull off a character like Bates is beyond me.

Sephiroth had no voice actor in the original game, but from Crisis Core until Kingdom Hearts II he got the voice of Superman himself, George Newbern. Only a man with the massive talent of Newbern could convincingly pull off a villain of this caliber after voicing arguably the greatest hero of all time. Funnily enough, his replacement for the remake (Tyler Hoechlin) has also played Superman; I guess to truly understand a great villain you must master a great hero first.

Oh, and for some reason (that reason being insane amounts of stunt casting to help sell the game), Lance Bass of all people voiced Sephiroth in the original Kingdom Hearts.

Final Fate: Norman ends up getting caught, and is locked up for his crimes. Sephiroth wishes he got off so easy; Cloud kicks his ass and finishes him off, and he does it every time Sephiroth tries to come back too. My man may never be a memory, but he’s also not ever gonna be the winner as long as he keeps picking on Cloud.

Best Scene: These two have more iconic scenes between them than you can hope to shake a stick at.

For Norman, he has the often imitated but never surpassed shower murder, a scene that has gone down as one of the most iconic moments in horror history. That score is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here, I can’t deny that, but the way we aren’t really shown much in the way of violence or gore onscreen also helps a lot, as our minds must fill in the blanks.

Sephiroth… Well, this man has a plethora of amazing scenes. Should I go with his infamous murder of Aerith, a scene that lives in infamy and is one of the most heartbreaking moments in video game history? Perhaps the final battle against him, or within that battle anytime he uses his ridiculously long Supernova attack? Maybe one of the ten thousand times in the game and other media that he has decided to fight Cloud?

For my money, there is no better moment than when he turns and walks into the flames at Nibelheim. It is a moment so terrifyingly badass that they just had to make it his victory screen in Smash Ultimate. The scene with Aerith may cement Sephiroth as one of the most ruthless and evil villains of all time, but his walk into the flames is what cemented him as one of the baddest motherfuckers to ever walk this Earth.  

Best Quote: “Well, a boy’s best friend is his mother” and “We all go a little mad sometimes” are Norman’s iconic lines, ones you may have heard even if you’ve never seen the movie with how often they’re referenced.

For Sephiroth, no matter what your opinion of Advent Children is, it’s hard to deny that “I will… never be a memory…” is one of the most raw, chilling villain lines someone of Sephiroth’s character could say. And the fact he has pursued Cloud through spinoffs, two Kingdom Hearts games, and even into a massive crossover platform fighter shows that he is not fucking kidding. Cloud Strife is never going to forget this guy.

Final Thoughts & Score: I don’t think it can really be overstated how important these two are for their respective mediums.

Norman Bates is the Ur-Example of the slasher, and in his footsteps every slasher movie villain would follow. I’m not exaggerating here; John Carpenter’s Halloween is quite explicit in its love for Hitchcock’s classic, and that film is what kickstarted the slasher craze we all know and love. Villains like Freddy and Jason may owe a lot to Michael Meyers, certainly, but they wouldn’t even exist if not for Bates (and Jason’s mama’s boy tendencies might not be as pronounced). He also manages to dodge bullets other, later villains did not, as though it would have been incredibly easy for this film to demonize the mentally ill and trans people, the info dump at the end goes out of its way to say that his violent tendencies should not be ascribed to a trans identity, and it takes pains to point out Norman is an entirely different persona from his alter. It is very forward-thinking, and keeps Norman from falling into problems later movie killers would.

Sephiroth, while most definitely not the first JRPG villain, is still pretty much the JRPG villain. He is literally everything a JRPG villain should be: Cool, mysterious, dangerous, has a gigantic sword, has a complicated backstory, has a deep-seated rivalry with the main character, has super insane magical powers, has like fifty different forms that can unleash incredible attacks… And let’s not forget how the man sprouts an angel wing in a lot of his appearances in outside works, which is sick as hell. This man is the Anime Swordsman to rule them all, and far too many villains have tried to get out of his shadow and failed miserably.

Both of these guys are clear 11/10 material. They are incredible, influential, iconic, and awesome villains who changed the game for all villains who came after them in their genres. Still, while plenty of slashers have managed to become just as important and iconic as Norman, I can’t say there’s any JRPG villain who came after Sephiroth who really comes close to being as groundbreaking and memorable to the point they really make a huge impact. Whatever the case, these two are the top of their class and two of the most important villains ever made.

Oh… I guess I should rank Vaughn’s Norman while we’re here.

You see and hear him whack off during the peephole scene. Norman ‘bates, alright. 1/10.

[calisotadreamin]

PKNA Issue 0/3 “Xadhoom!”

Script/plot: Alessandro Sisti and Ezio Sisto

Pencil art: Stefano Intini

Inking: Sandro Zemolin

Inducks

Index post to my entire essay series about PKNA.

We reached the third and final issue numbered 0, and it is also an introduction of another ally to PK, a very special one:

The villains remain the same, the evronians. We actually start with a few pages all about them, the first longer such sequence in the series. I really like the design of their leader Zotnam:

The head on his tail is doing the talking, I love it!

Anyway, the purpose of the sequence is build-up to our big introduction of the title character. They have identified DA as their major threat, but when sending out their ships, they’re attacked by a mysterious entity. It is not even made clear what the attack consisted off, which builds suspense rather effectively.

The evronians send out these weird droid things to search for the Duck Avenger, who probably describes them best:

This leads to a trap, the alley is filled with evronnians. Donald prepares to fight them as usual, but:

I love this little twist, for here Donald’s personal life and his life as the Duck Avenger intersect. Because he was so tired after being exploited by Angus in his job as caretaker, he forgets to take his weapons with him as DA. This feels very realistic and very in-character for Donald.

Anyway, he is saved by:

Oh hell yeah! This is how you introduce a character. Just have them burst through a wall and kicking ass.

Xadhoom’s doesn’t explain her backstory until the end of this story, but I’m going to skip ahead a bit because I want to do a little character analysis. I try to keep these things in the order the story presents them, but this essay might work better by starting from her story’s beginning. She is the person from the very beginning of issue 0/1, and the race that was conquered by the evronians was hers, the xerbians.

Xadhoom was once just Xado, one of their great scientists. When they first heard of the evronians, she believed in them and urged her people to welcome them:

Despite objections from Xari, who is heavily implied to be her romantic partner, she held fast to her policy and blissfully goes on to perform a great experiment:

She takes off on a spaceship and goes near the planet’s sun. And It works, but when she returns to Xerbia:

The planet has been swiftly conquered by the evronians and their inhabitants seemingly made extinct

Blaming herself, she swears to take revenge and drive the evronians to extinction. And thanks to her successful experiment, she can. Now, lets return to her introductory fight with the evronians. It doesn’t explain who she is, but it does a good job of establishing just how powerful she is.

She can resist their weapons easily and is even able to reshape her body at will.

And she can just overload the evronians with energy.

She is able to do this because she has effectively become a sun in a humanoid body thanks to the experiment, as she explains.

She is the powerful character in the whole comic, essentially a goddess. She can take on pretty much everything the evronians can throw at her and her goal to destroy them all is not that far-fetched for her.

I can’t deny thinking she is very cool, for she is. But what I really like about her character is that the comic explores the impact of her transformation on her personality and goals, in conjunction with the traumatic loss of her species and home.  She is certainly the most complex and dynamic character in the whole comic.

As Xado, she is a peaceful and kind scientist, kind to the point of naivety.  And when that naivety is cruelly taken advantage of by the evronians, she blames herself for the people’s defeat. Being Xado, with her kindness and trustful nature brought ruin to the xerbians. Thus she entirely disavows that identity and its entire personality and beliefs. She instead becomes Xadhoom, an avenger, determined to take violent revenge to the evronians.

She is not even kind or altrustic anymore, for Xadhoom’s  at this stage is entirely motivated by revenge, or at least so she claims. This is interesting thematically, because she breaks the simple binary of good vs. evil. Is a character a hero only because they fight the bad guys? Doesn’t heroism involve altruistic motivations? The very question Xadhoom’s story asks, is kindness always a good thing?

Interestingly, as angry as she is, because of her powers, she does have to keep her emotions in check:

Yeah, that would be bad….

Also apparently Donald doesn’t know what a nova is, he doesn’t understand what Xadhoom says here until One explains it. Of course, the purpose is to explain what a nova is to kids who don’t know.

Speaking about One, this comic really establishes One’s ability to hack into anything, any time. It’s ludicrous and the comic seems to know it:

Anyway, back to our star: unlike Xado, Xadhoom is very distrustful. DA wins the trust of One and Lyla relatively easily, but Xadhoom is a hard sell. She takes the Duck Avenger for an enemy at first and fucks up 313:

This by the way is the comic’s way of introducing DA’s new epic flying car that replaces 313 as his main vehicle in PKNA. It’s super cool:

Donald only wins her trust by proving himself to be an enemy of the evronians, which he does in a fight that also establishes the powers of his new ride.

She then accepts him as an ally in her fight against them. Of course, Donald is such a loveable duck that not even Xadhoom can resist him. I love the cute moment where she explains that getting energy from thermonuclear processes sometimes hurts and he gives her baking soda.

Best of all, it actually works.Just look at her eating baking soda straight from the can, so cute.

I love their friendship, it seems to provide a hopeful answer to Xadhoom’s cynical attitude. The problem with Xadhoom’s distrustful nature is that while she might not be taken advantage of, it makes her very lonely. It’s only when Donald trusts her to be good, despite what she initally does to him, and she trusts him in return that she can escape that loneliness.

The comics would later explore Xadhoom’s feelings of loneliness. Without the xerbians, she is all alone and with her transformation, it’s doubtful if she is even xerbian anymore. Her friendship with Donald then understandably becomes important to her. But that is only implied here.

I realize that so far I barely talked about the story itself, but the story is all about introducing Xadhoom and she is an awesome character, for reasons already explained. And the story does that really well. It is a mystery story, that builds up a sense of suspense about who and what Xadhoom is that persists almost to the very end of the story. Is she friend or foe? It is only relieved when Da builds enough trust with her to reveal her backstory. A great issue of PKNA, and a great character. Join me next time for Issue 1, finally.

[themattress]

My Top 11 Danganronpa Characters

I love many characters in the Danganronpa series, but these ones are truly the Ultimate.

11. Monomi

Don’t get me wrong, Usami is a sweetheart and all, but on her own (as seen in DR2′s Island Mode) she’s pretty bland. While her forced conversion into Monomi caused her no end of grief in-universe, it made her a much stronger and more memorable character outside of it. Her interactions with Monokuma and position as his good counterpart / “little sister” are just perfect, as is the voicework done by Rebecca Forstadt. She, like her “big brother”, is iconic.

10. Sakura Oogami    

I may love Nekomaru and Gonta too, but neither of them hold a candle to the original “tall, muscular giant who looks scary as Hell but is actually the nicest, most loyal friend you could ever hope to have” in the franchise: Sakura Oogami. Her lower placement on this list is only because she kind of recedes into the background among the cast until the reveal at the end of Chapter 3 (which is fitting given the nature of that reveal), but once Chapter 4 centers around her she easily steals the show as a powerful, noble and tragic figure who is nonetheless such a beautiful human being that she successfully ends the Killing Game.                             

9. Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu

A textbook case of a character you hate at the start and love by the end, Fuyuhiko’s development from a perpetually angry wannabe-thug who refused to be friends with his classmates and routinely threatened them with violence as a cover for his insecurities to a humble, honorable, brave, supportive team player was amazing to watch unfold, and Derek Stephen Prince sells it magnificently with his most touching performance since Ken Ichijoji . He may still be rough around the edges, but Baby Gangsta has always got your back.

8. Byakuya Togami

If you merged Sherlock Holmes and Seto Kaiba, and in the process filtered out all of the redeeming qualities, you get Byakuya Togami: an elitist prick of the highest order who has a dangerous intellect to back up his ego. As despicable as Byakuya is, he is also fascinating: I both hate hanging around him due to his constant insults and love it because I’m drawn to watching him work as he displays just how well the Togami family-sponsored education has served him. He’s as useful as an ally as he is formidable as an enemy, and once he learns there are some things beyond his sociopathic grasp and that it’s best to stick with those who know it, he mellows out into a reliable anti-hero. So yeah, awful person, fantastic character.

7. Chiaki Nanami

Hey, hey! Chiaki, as portrayed in DR2 anyway, is such a lovable character, at first seeming like an anti-social girl who would rather play video games and sleep than converse with people, but steadily revealing just how big a heart she really has and what a great friend she is once she connects with someone. As naive and weird as she is, she quickly picks up on things once she learns them, and is consistently one of the most perceptive people to have around in a class trial. And just when it seems like she’s becoming a tad too perfect to be realistic, we find out that she isn’t real and suffer one of the biggest emotional gut-punches in the series as she is cruelly taken away from us...except that even then, the bond she and Hajime forged is strong enough to keep her digital spirit alive within him. And Christine M. Cabanos brings it all home with her vocal performance. Chiaki, we will never forget you.

6. Nagito Komaeda

Who would have thought that a guy who at first seems like a weird, equally bland retread of Makoto from the original would end up being one of the franchise’s most famous characters? But it’s super easy to see why - when he shows his true colors it is bone-chilling, and the creepiness factor that Nagito brings with him only keeps on growing from there, as he shows how far he’s willing to go in order to create despair just so that hope can triumph over it. The story of DR2 would not nearly work as well as it does without Nagito in the role of the arch-antagonist for the other characters, all while he develops as a character too in a deliciously negative way which ends up culminating in what is probably the best class trial in the series.

5. Celestia Ludenburg

In a mystery-solving game like Danganronpa, Celestia honestly stands out as one of the most complex characters because she herself is a mystery. The game doesn’t really spell out her backstory, motivations or character arc given that as the Queen of Lies she has to keep a poker face about all that, but does allow the player to decipher it by themselves. While those unwilling to indulge their minds write her off as “crazy evil gambler lady who just wants money in order to become a vampire queen”, the people who pay attention to everything she says and does across the game (including / especially in her FTEs) can separate the truth from the lies and uncover the sad, pitiful reality of the character, a reality that haunts her all the way to her final moments. Call her Celeste or call her Taeko, that kind of depth deserves respect.

4. Gundham Tanaka

That’s right, my favorite DR2 character isn’t Monomi or Fuyuhiko or Chiaki or even Nagito - it’s GUNDHAM TANAKA! This man is a fucking legend, with Chris Tergliafera’s voice-acting perfectly capturing how endearing he is with his persistent delusions of villainous grandeur. But as funny as Gundham may be, he ends up not being a purely comic relief figure, playing a serious, emotional and noble role at the end of his run that gets me and many other players choked up. He may play at being evil, but in actuality Gundham is too good for this Earth.

3. Junko Enoshima

Do I need to explain myself here? It’s Junko fucking Enoshima! One of the most unique Big Bads in recent video game history! From the fact that the ultimate evil is a teen fashionista to the bizarre way she keeps changing her personality just to keep from getting bored to her ungodly despair fetish that has no rational basis for existing but simply does, Junko is less like a human being and more like a force of nature: gleeful, nihilistic despair incarnate. And though it’s true that she wore out her welcome past DR2, in her prime she is magnificent.

2. Kyoko Kirigiri

As far as I’m concerned, Kyoko Kirigiri is the real main character of the original Danganronpa. Makoto is just the POV character; the Watson to her Holmes. And what a character she is; truly one of the greatest female detectives in all of fiction. What I love best about Kyoko is what a unique take on the Emotionless Girl / Ice Queen trope she is. It’s made clear quite frequently that she isn’t really emotionless and that she’s just really good at masking her feelings as a necessary part of her job, and that this doesn’t stop her from being a kind and compassionate person toward others in her own straight-faced way. The narrative doesn’t condemn her for the way she is and she doesn’t have to change it either; what she has to change is her distrust toward others and reluctance to rely on friends, plus her hypocrisy regarding that and her personal goal vs. everyone else’s. It makes her such a rich, nuanced character and I love her for it (fuck the Danganronpa 3 anime though, it did her so dirty).

1. Monokuma

I think I’ll just conclude this post with a screencap: