#i have very elaborate notes and plotting to get it naturally to a point of kara and lena sharing the cabin

[appropriatelystupid]

Below Deck AU, yesssssss

i cannot describe how desperate i am to actually get this one written

basic set up is as follows:

lena, upon gaining access to her trust fund, also officially inherits a ship lionel bought and remodeled into a yacht (basing it on bd down under s2’s ship)

in the interest of having nothing to do with the family business, lena studies environmental sciences for her many degrees and ultimately begins sailing the yacht to various parts of the world for research and running yacht seasons in route to help keep funding her work against climate change

the crew changes season to season but it’s mostly made up of our familiar faces

kara is still a journalist (no powers in this one btw) but she is determined to tell whatever story in the world matters so she’s very much a bit of a nomad and happens to be traveling (not for work) nearby when alex (1st officer) calls because they need a new deckhand

it would break from below deck in that, no one is filming them, but the structure of the ship and season would be the same

[dreamsicle262]

Dead Plate AU Information

This is a masterpost detailing my AUs for Dead Plate, which may soon become their own fanfics—if given enough time—since I plan on trying to write out a few. There's a lot of text so be warned: there's a long post underneath the cut. I tried to describe character designs when necessary because there's currently no images like character sheets/references yet. Hopefully I'll get there. This post might be edited if I have more AU ideas, or if I add pictures.

As a note beforehand, I do have a headcanon involving Vincent not having a sense of smell, since being able to taste goes hand in hand with being able to pick up on scents. If he can’t taste things, then he likely cannot smell anything either. This headcanon remains consistent with him in these universes, unless stated otherwise.

Vampire AU

Dead Plate, but Vincent is a vampire. That’s pretty much what this AU is.

At some point prior to the events of Dead Plate, Vincent got turned into a vampire. He has only been dealing with it for a short amount of time, and his fangs have been taking quite a while to grow in. He didn’t really think anything of it at first. He still couldn’t taste foods, his appetite generally remained low, and he usually didn’t experience hunger very strongly.

He does murder Manon still. It’s during this time that Vincent is suddenly aware that he’s able to smell blood. Naturally, he figures that if he can smell blood, then he might be able to taste it. However, he doesn’t drink any of Manon’s blood to test this; whatever she has to offer he’s not interested in. It’s at this point that his plans have changed, and figuring out if he can actually taste something aside from nothing at all becomes his main priority. The whole ‘cooking with love’ thing is put off to the side for the time being. This could be attributed to him being selfishly inclined.

It's only when Rody accidentally cuts open his finger the next day that things change, and he actually does take the opportunity he’s been given to taste test his blood. As expected, this is an awkward situation for the both of them afterwards.

I haven’t fully decided on where I’d like to go with this AU to make it any different from the main plot of Dead Plate, but maybe an incident happens during the dinner party or something. I’ll figure it out when I actually get to writing the potential fanfic for this one.

There are no design changes for this AU aside from me giving Vincent fangs. He looks normal otherwise, and his fangs aren’t visible when his mouth is closed. There’s general vampire lore that I use that’s different from what’s usually expected of vampires but that probably doesn’t need to be elaborated here. I’m always open to questions on my AUs for further clarification though.

Florist + butcher AU

Rody is a florist, and Vincent is a butcher.

Vincent wasn’t able to open up a restaurant in this AU, but was content with opening up a butcher shop instead, still providing quality service to his customers in the process. Despite his shop being popular, it isn’t as large as it could be. In order to not put as much pressure on himself, he does have a few employees managing the shop’s orders, which mostly consists of providing custom cuts of meat or preparing special deliveries since his business is still a fairly big deal. Vincent himself mostly deals with the actual butchering in the back, instead of serving customers directly. He’s very picky about where he sources his products from, only accepting offers from places with a track record of animals raised to be high quality. Sometimes, this makes his store’s selections limited, and because it takes time to get new shipments in occasionally due to the distance, the products rotate every two days. Vincent lives above his business.

Rody is a florist, having managed to open up a store by saving up enough money to rent out an available building right next to Vincent’s butcher shop. He did this in order to cope with his break up, and to hopefully impress Manon and get her back. Since he’s managed to start his own business, it’s working out for him, surprisingly. Even if his business is for her sake and not his, at least he’s making progress with some personal growth and success. Rody still has a few issues with sourcing his products if he can’t grow them himself, but is otherwise doing okay. It is due to this reason that he is unable to deliver flowers, and majority of his customers are walk-ins instead. The only exception is if they happen to live nearby and he can reach them that way with his bike. Some of the flowers he sells come from his rooftop garden, which is contained within a greenhouse so he doesn’t go out of business every winter. His new apartment is below this garden, but above his flower shop. It is still considerably messy, but he tries to make improvements where he can.

Manon never had a rebound with Vincent, and was only aware that Rody had opened up a flower shop when he happened to get an advertisement in the newspaper and she saw it. Since then, she has opted to stay in contact with him, and occasionally visits like she used to. She lives somewhat nearby both stores. Given how Rody is making personal progress instead of being too self-sacrificing for her, she’s been trying to encourage him to invest more into his business instead of worrying about her all the time. It’s worked a little bit so far. Sometimes, Rody gives her nice bouquets of flowers that have meanings behind them since he knows quite a lot about flower language now.

Plot-wise, Rody will be staying in his chosen location near Vincent's butcher shop until he has enough money to relocate, but during that time he will get to know Vincent more due to their close proximity to each other constantly. Vincent, while originally annoyed by Rody's presence, starts to become intrigued by him and wants him to stay just so he can observe him some more. Of course, this leads to problems when he catches wind that Rody will be leaving soon, and is later told by Rody himself that he'll soon be 'out of his hair' in another month or so.

In response to this, Vincent starts sabotaging Rody's business by messing with stuff regarding the building (electrical cables, etc etc) and killing off his most frequent customers in order to cook into meals for him as potential bribery to stay. All of this negatively impacts Rody's business, especially financially, so he has to remain where he is longer than expected. He doesn't even know that Vincent is killing his business (quite literally) right next to him.

Design-wise, Rody wears an outfit similar to his casual clothes, but with his shirt buttoned up. His undershirt is a faded mossy green. Over his shirt, he has a dark brown apron with small, white floral patterns embroidered at the bottom to make it more noticeable. He also has an upper left pocket in the apron that he uses to tuck one flower in every day. It is usually roses of varying colors, but can be other flowers that mean love as well. Sometimes, his hair is tied back in a small low ponytail.

Vincent's design remains relatively the same, save for a kind of yellowish apron that goes over his outfit as well, and a pair of black gloves. His apron used to be white, but, given the nature of his work, it ended up giving it a look similar to old and yellowed book pages. It definitely has a few stains on it, but that comes with the job.

Manon retains her usual design. Can't improve perfection.

Zombie apocalypse AU

I had the vague idea for this AU, and @dollsteaparty helped me out with some other bits.

This AU is after the Table for One ending.

The zombie apocalypse happens and Rody primarily remains in his apartment during the beginning of it. He doesn't dare leave, and he doesn't even bother to look outside. The prospect of it scares him shitless, and for good reason. However, at some point he starts running out of food, and he can really only think of one good place in order to stock up. This forces him to finally venture out of his safe haven of his apartment and go back to Vincent's restaurant.

Unfortunately, Vincent is undead by this time, and isn't in a very good shape. His mouth is all fucked up and generally looks kinda like that one doodle in the upper left corner of a page by one of the devs that looked like it was based on a game or something. To make matters worse, he regained his ability to taste when he got turned in the first place, but his jaw is weakened and he can't bite down as well as he'd like or move it as much as he wants to most of the time. He can taste just fine but can't eat well, which has the expected side effect of pissing him off greatly with how ironic it is. Other than that, he's pretty well put together as a zombie, aside from the obvious ravenous behavior and poor muscle control that comes with being one in general.

When Rody does find Vincent, he's in the freezer room, and while Rody is strong enough to hold him off, it quickly becomes annoying to have to do. Eventually he's able to come to a compromise with Vincent, since apparently he's able to be reasoned with even in his current condition. Rody stitches up the sides of Vincent's jaw to the best of his ability to make it look more normal, but his handiwork isn't the best since his hands were so shaky. He was just nervous about them being near Vincent's mouth and the possibility of being bitten that comes with that.

The two then enter a relationship of forced codependency due to Vincent wanting to reopen his bistro even though it's the apocalypse since he's dead set on continuing business as usual and he can finally taste food, and Rody needing a safer place to stay where there's a food supply available, not to mention weapons. In fact, Rody's return helps the restaurant reopen, since beforehand people were too scared to enter the place, and they didn't even know it was technically still functional. It's still clean and everything too, because there was no way in hell Vincent would let his bistro fall into ruin.

The place becomes tense neutral ground where no violence is permitted in the dining area, and people are advised to use their best manners. It's a fine dining establishment and they will act accordingly. Both alive and undead customers show up, but now there's a sign outside the bistro that has a set of rules that everyone has to abide by if they wish to live. Besides, Vincent is capable of either reasoning with or even outright threatening other undead people if they don't act nice to their living counterparts while inside or around his esteemed establishment.

No one can have their weapons out or in view, customers cannot fight amongst themselves, no one except for staff are allowed in the kitchen, don't ask about the screams coming from the freezer, no one is advised to make sudden movements like running (something about predator drive and sudden movements making even valued customers look like prey), no one is advised to send the meals back to the kitchen since they most likely don't want their scent on it (they'll be associated with the food and have to be killed anyways), and if anyone has a problem, they can take it up with Vincent personally in the freezer. True to his word, Vincent still doesn't serve human meat... to his human customers. Any undead customers will usually be consuming human meat in their dishes because they can actually appreciate it.

Rody is the only one allowed to serve the customers in the dining area because all of the cooks working for Vincent are also undead, with the exception of the one cook that was fired since they got rehired. They help to desensitize their undead coworkers to a human in their midst, and also are a familiar face, so they have a lower risk of getting attacked. The zombified cooks and their fear of Vincent overrides any instincts that they might have as zombies, so he's capable of keeping them in line and certainly isn't afraid to enforce his rules in the kitchen. Both Vincent and his employees are in a much better preserved condition than any zombies outside the establishment due to them having access to a functional freezer. Also, Vincent does still pay whoever works for him. Vincent's apartment just upstairs has largely not been used in awhile, so that is where Rody stays, along with people who are looking for a safe place to stay for only one night. Vincent gets oddly upset when there's guests and Rody has to stay with them, but he does know it's for the better. Rody is also responsible for going on resource runs for cleaning supplies or ingredients, and for also stitching up the cooks when necessary.

Speaking of the cooks, sometimes they are put in the freezer on meat hooks as a form of solitary confinement for messing up very badly. They look miserable through that window in the freezer room door and Rody can very clearly see them when this does occur. That one human cook isn't stabbed with the meat hook and is usually just tied to it instead. If Rody gets the same treatment, he is usually tied up and left to sit on the floor for awhile, but typically doesn't remain in there for long since he either has to serve customers or Vincent deems his expression too 'unpleasant to look at' and lets him go anyways.

Character designs aren't too different aside from Vincent looking a little messed up in regards to his jaw, and Rody looking a lot more unkempt.

I also don't know where I'm going with this AU and if I particularly want Rody to be zombified or not... but I did think about a scenario where that would happen, as a treat. He would be turned by Vincent personally if he was dying somehow, and he'd probably try to get to his heart to eat it first before Rody turns completely. Something about wanting to taste what love really tastes like since it's his heart... and for Rody, laying his heart bare (literally in this case) and being able to love in such a way that it practically seems like he's serving his heart on a platter. Very big fan of the character design and what it could mean or show about him. Also I think Rody should lose the ear he lost in the actual game too. Just because.

As for that one human cook, Vincent would probably just get another cook to make them into a zombie if they were on the verge of death. They're not worth his time.

Plushie platonic soulmate AU

(Disclaimer: I actually am not fond of soulmate AUs in the traditional sense (aka almost exclusively romantic in nature) so this is platonic. Vincent is aspec to me in some way to begin with, so there's that too.)

During his emotional turmoil following his break up, Rody receives a mysterious plushie at his doorstep that looks like someone he’s never met before. He doesn’t know who sent it. This plushie is Vincent, but Rody doesn’t really know that yet. He’s heard of him since he’s a world renowned chef, but he’s not very familiar with his appearance. Either way, he reluctantly decides to keep the plushie, before eventually discarding it after it keeps showing up in his kitchen despite him putting it on a shelf somewhere. Also, his utensils seem to move in different places every day, so it’s creeping him out. It’s during this time that he’s looking for a job, but doesn’t take up the opportunity to work for Vincent, and instead opts for a simple fast food job. The Vincent plushie keeps showing up despite Rody’s attempts to get rid of it, so he just gives up and lets it remain in his apartment. One day, he wakes up to a fresh lemon tart, but no evidence that it was baked using his kitchen, especially since he doesn’t even have the ingredients to make that dessert. Beside it is the plushie, sitting there innocently.

On the other side of things, Vincent also receives a plushie of Rody that appears in his apartment one day on his living room table. He simply discards it, uncaring of where it came from. However, it keeps appearing again and again and it’s frustrating him to no end. At some point, he mutilates it with one of his knives, then trashes it again. When it comes back just as new, he puts it in plastic packaging and tosses it out of his window into the alley. When it returns yet again, he finally gets so fed up that he shoves it into the oven and sets it on fire that way. The plushie ends up coming back again and Vincent just puts it on his desk in his room, unwilling to mess with it anymore. He has no idea who the plushie was supposed to be because he’s never seen anyone like that before in his bistro. On top of this being strange, he also feels the strange urge to hide this plushie from Manon, since he doesn’t want her knowing that he has this. It’s unnatural and out of character for him to have something like that when it doesn’t serve any real purpose.

At some point, Rody and Vincent get to find the other person with their plushie counterpart and are both left thoroughly confused as to what it could mean.

Character designs for this AU do not vary.

Vincent forced therapy AU

Funnily enough, this AU came to me in a dream with one vague scene, and then it just went from there after discussing it with @vinylbiohazard. It's also exactly what it sounds like.

This AU is set after the Best Served Hot ending.

Vincent somehow survives after his restaurant was set on fire, but does have severe burns and some blood loss. The only reason why he doesn’t have severe blood loss is because the wound on his neck was cauterized by the flames, so it ended up not bleeding as much anymore. There’s still the glass shards that needed to be dealt with, though, so he does still need medical attention. One of the luckiest factors in this is how his restaurant was running out of cooking oil anyways, which is one of the reasons why he was even able to get out in the first place before his exits were blocked off.

Whenever the information of his bistro burning down becomes public, the general assumption of what happened is that he had been drunk, suddenly ‘snapped,’ and then tried to commit suicide while also taking his business with him. Essentially, his life is ruined, because he doesn’t seem too stable to the general population, and the media is having a field day with headlines. He does end up in the hospital trying to recover, and he’s not permitted to speak much for a while so his neck can heal. He technically still can since his vocal cords weren’t damaged, but it’s best that he doesn’t talk for some time. His neck is still in bad shape, but it could have been worse; the wine bottle that he was stabbed with narrowly missed the major veins and arteries in that area. By the end of everything, he does heal enough to look relatively normal, aside from the burns and scar tissue.

During this time, Rody is laying low at his apartment. He never comes out with the truth regarding his missing ear, and everyone just assumes that he lost it in an unrelated accident for being clumsy. While he would ideally like to stay away from the food industry, he does end up finding another job at a fast food place. When he learns that Vincent is still alive, he’s initially still upset, but since he’s had some time to cool down following the incident, he mostly just feels horrible. After all, he had expressed some concern about Vincent losing everything if something were to happen to his business. While not ready to approach him about it in the direct aftermath, Rody decides that he will try to talk it out with him at a later date.

As it gets closer to the day where Vincent can be released from the hospital, Rody shows up to talk to him, or, more accurately, speak his mind. He can talk to him without being interrupted, so he’s taking his opportunity to explain why he was so upset and why he acted the way he did. Adrenaline and trying to make rational decisions don’t mix well. Vincent has to sit there and listen to Rody rant for a little bit, all while he’s still not supposed to speak. At some point a nurse asks if the two were friends or something, and Rody has to awkwardly go along with it and say yes. Vincent is probably grumbling to himself mentally as this occurs.

Unfortunately, since Vincent’s apartment was above his restaurant, he doesn’t have anywhere else to go but Rody’s apartment following being released from the hospital. Rody’s not too happy with it either, but he’ll manage. In fact, he’s the reason why Vincent even gets to go to therapy in the first place. He’s the one to suggest it.

Vincent keeps taking Rody’s knives in his apartment because he doesn’t use them, they’re sharp, and he’s been considering killing Rody off anyways from being forced to live with him for so long. He has to keep getting them confiscated by Rody due to this. Whenever he’s scheduled to have therapy, however, he brings at least three knives with him and keeps them hidden. He doesn’t actually get to take them into the room where he’s supposed to have a therapy session and he has to begrudgingly give them all back to Rody beforehand. He may have been fully intending on using them to murder the therapist. It doesn’t look good for him, but he essentially has a mentality similar to ‘I’ve lost everything so why does it matter what I do now?’, so he doesn’t care.

There are no design changes for Rody in this AU, but Vincent has a few. There’s scar tissue on the right side of his neck from being stabbed there, as well as burn scars. There’s additional burns on most of his upper torso and arms. Any other burns aren’t as major, and most of them on his body healed over. In the hospital, he had bandages on over these while they were still healing.

[suzena]

Complete Dead Apple Explanation

Or: “The Ultimate Guide to Dead Apple”.

Warning: this is a long post! I’m not kidding, I worked on this for three months. There is a TL;DR at the end but it will only briefly cover the most important points.

I see posts about Dead Apple not being understood far too often and so I’m introducing: this explanation! I do want to preface this by saying that I can completely understand that this movie can be confusing. Or, as Fyodor said it:

But, as someone who has seen it many times, I’m here to shed some light on it! Hopefully after this post it’ll all make a bit more sense, and you’ll at least have different questions.

If you haven’t watched the movie yet and are wondering when to watch it, the story officially takes place between season two and three, though you’ll be able to watch season three with no issues if you haven’t watched the movie. Please do note that this post will contain light spoilers for the plot after season two, so don’t read it if you haven’t at least finished catching up to the anime.

I’ll try not to summarize the movie, but instead explain it. That means that this post does not replace the movie, but instead tries to elaborate upon it and tries to place it in the larger plot. Most of the early movie is therefore ignored, but please do not hesitate to ask if you have extra questions, comments, different interpretations or you want me to go into more detail about something. I may not know everything, but I’m always down to talk about this movie!

Alright, with all of that out of the way…

The Dragon Head Conflict

We’ll start at the beginning, which is to say, we’ll start at the prologue, which can be found as a permanent event in Mayoi (and also as a part of the Dead Apple manga). This is not technically needed to understand most of the movie, but it does give some context that will make it a little easier, since this is where it all starts. 

The Dragon Head Conflict, sometimes also translated as the Ryuuzu Conflict, is (as the movie states) the largest conflict in the history of Yokohama’s underworld. It took place six years ago, and originally was about five hundred billion yen an ability user left behind after they died, which various organizations were very interested in. It lasted for a total of 88 days, and involved conflict between eight different underworld organizations, including among others the Port Mafia, Gelhart Security Service/GSS (from Fifteen) and Takasekai (also from Fifteen).

Now as you can imagine, the government isn’t super stoked that gangs are shooting each other up all night and leaving corpses everywhere, to the point where the sidewalk is torn up from the bullet holes. To try to combat this, they thought that they could best fight fire with fire, and let a strong ability user from outside Yokohama settle this conflict all at once.

This new ability user, known as the “White Qilin”, unfortunately doesn’t really care about ending the conflict and kills other strong ability users left and right just for the fun of it, contrary to what the government had hoped he would do. Whether they are uninvolved parties or Port Mafia executives, it doesn’t matter to this guy. The White Qilin also ends up taking the money the conflict was originally about, but that doesn’t stop his murder spree. In this way, the White Qilin gains control over the entire conflict pretty fast, making him the main target to eliminate in order to put a stop to the killings.

Dazai approaches this problem similarly as to how he did during the conflict of Stormbringer, with a group of ability users to overpower the lone individual, but gets his plan twisted on him and gets kidnapped instead. Naturally, he predicted this outcome, leaving a hint for Chuuya where he left a transmitter for a tracking device so that Chuuya could come rescue him. 

This is then the first scene of the movie, where Dazai and Chuuya confront and defeat the White Qilin using Corruption, and the whole Dragon Head Conflict ends since the White Qilin is finally gone and all the money burned. This battle is so iconic in the underground circles that it gains them the name “Double Black”, or “Soukoku”.

A few small notes on the Dragon Head Conflict before we move on.

As can also be seen in the first scene of the movie, this is where Oda adopts all five of those kids you see during the Dark Age, which was also already stated in the Dark Age itself. 

“I heard all about it, Odasaku. You’re raising five kids, huh? And not only that, they’re orphans from the Dragon’s Head Conflict.” ―Dazai, Dark Age

Also, ever wondered why the Port Mafia is the only major criminal organization in Yokohama? There actually used to be five in total but four of them completely perished during the Dragon Head Conflict. Another reason why Dazai & Chuuya ending the conflict is so impressive, since because of that the Port Mafia is the only one to even survive it at all.

Shibusawho?

As you’ve probably guessed by now, the “White Qilin”, also named “the Collector” in Dead Apple itself, are both different names for our main antagonist: Shibusawa Tatsuhiko. The government had good reason to believe Shibusawa would be able to stand against the entire Yokohama underground and come out on top: his ability.

Shibusawa’s ability, Draconia, creates a fog around him, which separates other ability users from their own ability and makes non-ability users disappear as long as the fog persists. When surrounded by this fog, ability users are confronted with this version of their ability that is split from themselves. If an ability user is to die within this fog, their ability will be added to Draconia’s collection room.

There is decent evidence that it takes a while before the fog activates, so the effect isn’t immediate. This can be seen with Chuuya, who makes very short contact with the fog before he lifts up the building that he shoves in the Dragon’s mouth, but it’s seen even more clearly with Atsushi and Kyouka at the start of the movie. They spend a small while running around Yokohama wondering why everyone is gone before they’re finally confronted with their abilities.

To some extent the separated abilities represent the inner conflict in an ability user. This can of course be clearly found in Atsushi and his shaky connection to the tiger, or in Kyouka who has Demon Snow which is the last remnant of her parents but also murdered them in front of her. But the clearest example of this in the movie is actually Kunikida, since there is a visible change between him and his ability.

The notebook of Kunikida’s ability does not read its usual “理想” (ideals), but instead now says “妥協” (compromise). For Kunikida, a person so tied to his ideals, this version of his ability is an “abomination” (his words, not mine), and thus a source of inner conflict, since it represents a side of Kunikida that he carries within him.

“A copy of himself that didn’t follow ideals but made compromises was an abomination to Kunikida.”―Dead Apple (light novel)

If ability users manage to defeat their abilities in a physical fight, and then also accept these parts of themselves for what they represent, they will regain their ability. For example, Atsushi does not immediately regain his ability after defeating the tiger because he does not completely accept that the tiger represents that he has killed a person. For Atsushi, a person who connects his entire reason of living to saving other people, this is nearly irreconcilable. The only reason he probably is able to get over it in the end is that the person he killed was actively torturing and trying to kill him, so Atsushi had to kill to survive.

Shibusawa, then, is dead. Chronologically, his murder is the earliest you see of him. Fyodor has told Shibusawa that Atsushi contains something that “guides the envy of all ability users”, so Shibusawa, who feels like he is missing something, seeks to take this by any means. This doesn’t work out too hot for him, and Atsushi kills him.

Now a fun thing happens. Since Shibusawa is the center of the fog at all times, so to speak, and he’s the keeper of the abilities that die in his fog, his ability is separated from himself and lives on, nearly indistinguishable from his original body. Only one downside to this: he completely loses his memories.

I can only assume the government steps in at this point to take this strong ability user in his vulnerable state, and then have him solve the Dragon Head Conflict not long after. He most likely also survived Chuuya’s Corruption by being an ability, and having ability crystals in his collection to fall back on and recover, as he also does in Dead Apple. However, all of that is just pure speculation.

After the Dragon Head Conflict, Shibusawa spends some years abroad, casually killing thousands of ability users for the same reason as during the Dragon Head Conflict: just playing around and trying to fill that hole of something that is missing inside of him. The Japanese government mostly does a spectacular and spectacularly unethical job of cleaning up after him, since they learned nothing from the Dragon Head Conflict and still think that they can control him to protect Japan should it ever be invaded by foreign ability users.

Eventually, when the timing is right, Shibusawa gets invited back to Japan by Dazai. At the same time he is told by Fyodor (can you see the manipulation happening on both sides?) that Dazai’s ability is the ultimate ability that will finally complete him, and so Shibusawa eagerly comes to Yokohama. 

From here on out, as far as Shibusawa is concerned, it’s just a matter of covering the entire city in fog, killing Dazai and then taking his ability. Since Dazai cancels the fog itself with his ability, Shibusawa does need to kill him first, since the fog will work just fine on a corpse. Unfortunately, Shibusawa, however smart he is, is not in control of the plot in this movie. That control is left entirely to the combination of Dazai and Fyodor.

Intermezzo: Singularity Crash Course

Let’s do a lightning quick crash course on singularities before continuing, because you’re going to need that to understand what is happening in the next part. While Stormbringer was released after Dead Apple, I’m still going to be leaning heavily on and paraphrasing the information provided in that novel since it gives a really nice overview.

Abilities are bound to rules, just like everything else. No organisms other than humans, such as plants or monkeys, can possess an ability. Each human can only have a single ability, and when they die the ability disappears with them. Finally, there is a limit to the strength of any such ability.

But what if you wanted to go beyond that limit? What if you wanted to play with the natural laws of this world? What if you wanted to get really silly with it? Well, in that case, you can try your best at creating a singularity.

Singularities are defined as “the interaction of multiple abilities that develops into a higher-level phenomenon different from the original abilities”. This mostly exhibits itself in a massive release of energy, but rarely there are semi-stable versions of them. Singularities aren’t bound to conventional rules, and can be much more powerful for that exact reason.

As for creating singularities, there are two defined ways. The most reliable method is to have two contradicting abilities clash with each other. This leads to fun mental exercises, think “unstoppable force meets immovable object”, or, two ability users who can both see a few seconds into the future fighting to the death (sound familiar?). As a second method, an ability can also contradict itself, essentially causing the same result, but it’s a lot more finicky.

“Dead Apple”

The latter part of the movie revolves around exactly the creation of such a singularity, as all planned out by Fyodor, and accurately anticipated by Dazai. Let’s lay out all the layers of this.

Shibusawa is after Dazai’s ability. Meanwhile, Dazai is trying to stop the fog to save Yokohama. As for Fyodor, we’ll get to him in a second.

Dazai “teams up” with Fyodor and betrays Shibusawa to put a stop to the fog. The idea of this is that Fyodor combines two abilities from Shibusawa’s collection, which Dazai can’t do himself without canceling them: the ability to pull abilities in a surrounding area close, and the ability to merge abilities together. When these two are merged, together they create an ability that will absorb Shibusawa’s entire collection, and then Dazai only has to touch this ability to effectively get rid of Shibusawa’s power source.

There is a specific reason why it has to happen like this, and Dazai just touching Shibusawa isn’t quite enough. Let’s mentally walk through the process if Dazai were to touch Shibusawa. The fog disappears for a bit (and Shibusawa with it, most likely), but Shibusawa now knows Dazai’s intentions. Fyodor will take Shibusawa’s side and now Dazai is at a large disadvantage. Ultimately, it doesn’t even solve the problem. We know from the Dragon Head Conflict that just destroying Shibusawa’s body is most likely not enough, and he will be able to resummon the fog (and his body) with time and energy. The problem needs to be cut off at the root, the ability crystals.

Unfortunately, Fyodor didn’t really team up with Dazai, instead choosing to team up with Shibusawa in order to get rid of Dazai. This is then where Shibusawa gets to kill Dazai, and discovers that wait, Dazai’s ability may not be what he’s seeking after all. However, the abilities are already merged, and Dazai’s ability joins them. This combines “the ability to merge” with “the ability to nullify”, which don’t exactly mix well. Does Dazai’s ability become part of the other ability? Does his ability nullify the merging ability before that can happen? It’s already part of it, but at the same time the merging can never happen. It’s contradictory, and thus a singularity is born.

Fyodor, meanwhile, hasn’t quite had his fill of betrayal yet, and decides to remind Shibusawa of what he is by killing him, reminding Shibusawa of his earlier death by Atsushi’s paw. All of this, killing Dazai and using his ability to create a singularity, having that power from the singularity then go into Shibusawa to create the Dragon, all of that was part of Fyodor’s plan. Shibusawa is only able to cover an entire city with fog because of the large amount of ability crystals he has collected, and so with enough power (like from a singularity) he can cover the entire world in this fog. Up until this point, neither Fyodor nor Shibusawa have seen a single ability user survive the fog, and thus it is the perfect method for getting rid of all ability users in the world, which does seem to be Fyodor’s end goal.

However, Chuuya swoops in and defeats the Dragon. Dazai was well prepared and had the antidote to the poison he was killed with hidden in his mouth, so he is alive and well again. That means that Dazai has his ability back and it cancels out the singularity space they both are in. It doesn’t completely get rid of the Dragon however, as some energy still lingers around the tower. 

Fyodor is still on the scene, and uses a part of the merging crystal that he saved which was used earlier to create the singularity to merge Shibusawa with the singularity, giving Shibusawa a very anime transformation into his final form.

At this point, as a result of Shibusawa’s transformation, the fog turns red. If this red fog then covers the entire planet as Fyodor is hoping, and you were to watch it from space, it would look just like a poisonous red apple. The name of the movie therefore refers to this plan of using Shibusawa to rid the world of ability users.

This idea of poisonous apples in this movie comes from two different sources. From Fyodor’s side, it is referring to the apple Eve ate in the Bible, the original sin. For Fyodor, there is poetic irony in this: the world will end with the same sin as it began with. The crime is the punishment. On Dazai’s side, it refers to Snow White, who bit the poison apple and died (temporarily). He already talks about this to Oda when he is sixteen, vaguely implying he knew all of this was coming as soon as he met Shibusawa during the Dragon Head Conflict. Since Fyodor was already around at that time and also had a hand in enabling Shibusawa originally, this may indeed be planned out this far in advance, but it’s always hard to tell with these guys.

Then the kids take over the fight for the rest of the movie, and Atsushi, Akutagawa and Kyouka work together to defeat Shibusawa’s final form in the form of a long, epic final fight. Shibusawa is finally defeated and it all ends happily ever after. 

The End.

Byakko VS The Dragon

…Or is it? You thought we covered the entire basic layer of the movie, so we’re done now, right? Think again! This is only where things start to become really interesting. Please note that this section will take some ideas that were already pointed out by other people, and build on those.

When looking at lore relevance of characters, Atsushi may not immediately spring to mind as one of the most important ones. Sure, he’s the protagonist of the main manga, but in comparison to the mystery surrounding Dazai or Fyodor he fades a little into the background.

Even in this post, an explanation about a movie that’s basically about Atsushi, I’m able to explain the basics of the movie without mentioning him much at all. And yet, the movie’s core conflict is not between Shibusawa, Dazai and Fyodor, but between Shibusawa and Atsushi.

While there isn’t a lot of information given about Shibusawa’s and Atsushi’s connection, what we do get is very interesting. Shibusawa is consistently referred to as a Dragon during Dead Apple, and while subtitles usually translate everything as “tiger”, Atsushi’s tiger is actually referred to as “Byakko” half of the time. 

Now what is the difference between any good ol’ normal tiger and the Byakko, I hear you ask. The Byakko is much more than an ordinary tiger, since it is part of the 四神 (shijin/ shishin), the Four Guardians of the Four Compass Directions, which the Dragon is also a part of. What you essentially need to know from this is that the Byakko belongs to the same group of creatures as the Dragon, and that this solidifies Shibusawa’s status as Atsushi’s foil in this movie.

It also allows us to make a direct comparison between Shibusawa and Atsushi. The thing is, I have been lying to you a little bit. So far, I’ve been calling the Dragon a singularity. The truth is, it may not be. I know, I know, if it’s not a singularity, then what was that whole Dragon thing about?

Fyodor actually specifically tells us that the Dragon isn’t a singularity, but instead it’s “the true form of the chaos born from abilities”. (Note here that the Dead Apple light novel talks about Fyodor as if he is “reciting some Oracle”. Did Fyodor get this information from someone else?) Is this related to why Fyodor wants abilities gone from this world? Is there another layer to abilities and other creatures that BSD hasn’t even touched upon (think Lovecraft)? It’s hard to say at this point. All we can say is that the Dragon gets referred to as something else, and… that the Dragon is similar to the Byakko.

The tiger ability we see that got separated from Atsushi in the movie actually doesn’t follow the rules the other abilities do. It has a clearly defined face, and the red gem is not on its forehead. The gem found on the ability tiger is also red, which is in line with the other extracted abilities we see, but what gets extracted from Atsushi by Shibusawa is this blue cube. The weirdness continues in the flashback we see of Atsushi being tortured by Shibusawa. 

We see Atsushi’s ability leave him, but then in a flash of self protection instinct, he partially transforms into the tiger, claws and all, while the blue gem is outside of his body. Earlier in the movie it is shown that if an ability is extracted from an ability user, they no longer have access to the powers of that ability. Then how is Atsushi able to use his tiger abilities here? 

Granted, there is a bit of conflicting information within the movie about this, since during the final fight with Shibusawa this blue cube is once again extracted from Atsushi, but now he does lose his tiger powers. Could he resummon the tiger while not in possession of the cube if the situation is dire enough? Is this just a psychological thing because Atsushi is aware of it this time? Who can say. At any rate, this blue cube is connected deeply with Atsushi, but the clues given imply that it may not be the Byakko itself.

“That’s not an ability! That is me!”―Atsushi, reaching out to the blue cube in Dead Apple

To be honest, the movie does very little in explaining anything around Atsushi, instead raising more questions than answers. For that exact reason, the rest of this section will mostly be speculation about one possible angle on Atsushi’s ability that personally makes sense to me, but of course this is only one potential theory.

I do also want to add here that Atsushi personally goes through an arc in this movie from seeing the tiger as something separate to something that is intrinsically part of him. This can also be a reason for this final exclamation of “that’s me!” when he reaches out to the blue cube, but it doesn’t explain everything, which is why we explore an alternate possibility here.

My take on it is that the Byakko and this blue gem that get extracted from Atsushi are not the same thing. With the side note here being that they are probably deeply connected, but not the same regardless. 

My reasoning for this is that everything Atsushi-related you see in Dead Apple makes a little more sense when you consider the Byakko and the blue cube as two separate entities. The Byakko’s gem is red, the cube is blue. The Byakko is framed as something separate from Atsushi, while he claims the cube is not an ability but he himself. Atsushi had access to the Byakko while the blue cube was outside of him. Shibusawa even makes a point of mentioning that the orphanage director, who correctly thought Atsushi was the tiger, had the wrong idea about Atsushi’s ability. The Byakko is definitely Atsushi’s ability, but this blue cube is… something else. 

And yet, the tiger is also deeply connected to whatever this blue gem is. Currently, one theory that makes sense to me is that the tiger is an ability that can be passed on, just like Demon Snow, that has the specific task of protecting the power of this blue gem. So, a two in one deal. Atsushi also gets referred to as “the one holding the Byakko ability” by Ivan, which would be in line with the Byakko being an ability that can be passed on as needed. Shibusawa makes a similar statement, calling Atsushi “the one clad in the Byakko”. Atsushi also has issues controlling his ability before joining the ADA, just like Kyouka and Tsujimura, who both also inherited their abilities. I would love to further speculate on this, but there is so little information on anything relating to this, so anything further would be completely baseless.

However, there is one more different clue given to us by the movie. Namely, what this comparison to the Dragon means for Atsushi as the one holding the Byakko.

Almost in the same breath as Shibusawa is recounting Fyodor’s words about the Dragon being the chaos of all abilities, the holder of the Byakko also gets its own description about its true form: the one opposing all abilities.

This relates to what the blue cube may really be. What Atsushi does to Shibusawa in his final moments is what I essentially believe to be this blue cube’s true power: it completely unravels an ability. The blue power eats up everything supernatural about Shibusawa until only his natural skull is left.

If you think this sounds familiar, it kind of does! I cannot ignore the similarity to Dazai here, though I do have to point out that Dazai can only cancel out an ability, and this blue cube power seems to… completely erase the ability itself, leaving no trace of it. The similarity to Dazai is further found the moment Dazai dies and his ability leaves his body. At first, his ability is white and vaguely similar to the blue cube before deciding that nope, this is just barely not it.

I have a hard time connecting this to anything larger simply because the series does not give a lot of clues on this subject. How did abilities come to be? How is the Book related to that, since it is not an ability or borne from an ability? And how does Atsushi factor into this? 

Shibusawa has been led to Atsushi since he believed Atsushi would grant him something special, something he had been looking for all this time. “That which every ability user desires.” 

This is actually a familiar story! This is not the first time Fyodor has led someone to Atsushi with the premise that he would be able to lead them to what they were seeking. The first two seasons of the anime follow that specific idea, of Fitzgerald wanting Atsushi so he can lead him to the Book.

The tiger as the guide to the Book is something emphasized again and again. While in English it gets translated as “guide”, the original manga panel said “道標（タイガービートル）”, or, “guidepost (pronounced: tiger beetle, in English)”. While this is partially just a funny pun, it also once again points to the tiger specifically as a guide.

It did leave me to wonder about the absence of a certain scene in the series. Fyodor has been sending other people to Atsushi for the entire length of the series, but has never interacted with Atsushi himself. For someone who claims to be looking for the Book, and knows that Atsushi is somehow the guide to the Book, isn’t that a bit weird? Is there a reason Fyodor won’t interact with Atsushi himself? Fyodor knew about Atsushi way before he joined the ADA, so it’s not like Dazai is particularly standing in the way here.

Regardless, this factor that makes Atsushi so special may very well be this blue cube. How does the power to completely undo abilities lead to the Book? Who knows. We simply do not know enough about the Book or the origin of abilities to say more about this. Maybe the true power of the blue cube is something else entirely.

What does all of this mean? Where will it all lead? Only the future (Asagiri) can tell.

The Unexplained and Weird

Welcome to the section I’d fondly refer to as “a collection of things I have no explanation for”. There is plenty of that in this movie, but I do want to touch upon them since not being explainable as of currently does not necessarily mean that they aren’t important in the future. Also, not having an explanation for these things is driving me insane and I need to share in my suffering. Let’s go! :)

Let’s get the big thing out of the way first.

Mukurotoride, my friend, my enemy. For those unaware, Mukurotoride is the name of the large black tower that Shibusawa, Dazai and Fyodor were chilling in for most of the movie. The name gets translated as “Skull Fortress”, but the kanji used gives the name more of a “Dead Man’s Castle” feeling, since it refers to a person long since dead more than a skull. My problem with this tower is as follows: it doesn’t make any sense. Whatsoever.

Why is it there? Fifteen establishes it’s there seven years before the current timeline, so a year before Shibusawa dies. I would’ve accepted it if the tower was a weird side effect of Shibusawa dying or something, but the current facts point towards this tower not having anything to do with Shibusawa at all. It’s also very decayed. How long has it been there? Who put it there? Is it relevant that it’s right next to Suribachi? Or in the Yokohama foreign settlement? (Side note: foreign settlements have not been a thing since 1899. What’s up with Yokohama having a foreign settlement?) No one seems to know anything about this tower, not even in the Japanese community. And then in-universe, everyone also seems okay with this wildly out-of-place tower that looks like it’s made out of human bones being there in the middle of the city? It’s giving me Sky Casino vibes.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, we can talk about Fyodor’s ability.

I want to start this part by explaining my personal stance on the current Fyodor theories, since it influences how I talk about what is shown of his ability in Dead Apple. There are a bunch of theories about Fyodor having an insta-kill ability that only works on non-ability users. Personally, I don’t subscribe to this theory, and I have multiple reasons for this.

First, I don’t think we’ve ever seen Fyodor’s ability being used. At the end of Cannibalism a cop dies as soon as he touches Fyodor. In the manga abilities don’t have a special shine effect, but in the anime they do. However, in the anime there was no ability-shine here.

A stronger argument, perhaps, is that this happens right in front of Dazai, and Dazai immediately afterwards says he has no clue what Fyodor’s ability could be. He could be lying, of course, but since this is a common enemy he shares with Fitzgerald, who is the one asking him about Fyodor’s ability, I don’t see any reason for him to do so here. The whole murder reads a little bit like Fyodor just putting on a show for Dazai.

Finally, from a narrative viewpoint, killing with a touch is a little… useless? Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it’s convenient, I guess, when you’re a terrorist who seeks to exterminate part of the global population. But there are many ways to kill a person, and Fyodor has shown time after time that he doesn’t need to rely on an ability to murder people.

The strongest argument for the insta-kill ability in my opinion is Fyodor himself saying “this is my true ability” before killing that kid who was enslaved by Ace. However, this may also be part of something else that is going on with Fyodor, in a way that is perhaps very similar to Atsushi.

Alright. Whether you agree with that or not is up to you. To get back to the movie, there are a few interesting clues provided about Fyodor’s ability.

The first is of course Fyodor’s iconic line when his ability shows up on screen: “Crime and Punishment are close friends.” Everything he says after that point is already referring to Shibusawa again, so this is the only clue he himself is willing to offer up. If we consider that the abilities that get split from their users represent inner conflict, all he is saying here is that he apparently has no inner conflict. Does he know something else about the world? Does he just know who he is? Honestly, I don’t think we’ll get anywhere talking about Fyodor’s mental state.

Then there is the “I am Crime”, spoken by Fyodor holding the skull, and “I am Punishment”, spoken by his ability holding the apple. This one is slightly more straightforward. The ability user being the crime, and the ability the punishment. I’m not 100% sure if this is actually referring to Fyodor himself, or if it’s just about Shibusawa again. The skull (Shibusawa, an ability user) being the crime, and then the apple (covering the world with fog through Shibusawa’s ability, thus punishing ability users) being the punishment makes sense when viewed like this, but it could be that Fyodor is somehow also referring to himself during these lines.

Okay, if Fyodor is apparently not willing to open up, we can gather some more info just from what we can see instead of what we’re told. Most of what this part covers is taken from these excellent posts, but I’ll summarize it here for the sake of completion. Fyodor’s ability looks different compared to most other abilities. Most of the abilities shown in the movie have a blank face without any features, and have their gem on their forehead. The exception to that first part, interestingly enough, is Elise, Mori’s ability. This is most likely because she has physical form as an ability to begin with. Which then raises the question: does Fyodor’s ability also have a physical form outside of the fog? His ability looks identical, so that would imply some sort of clone ability. Next to this, Fyodor’s epithet is “The Conjurer”, which would be in line with him being able to create another copy of himself. (Though I should add here that the Japanese seems to just refer to him as “魔神”, which can be any type of evil spirit. However, if I’m not mistaken, the “Conjurer” should be from the official translation, but let me know if I’m mistaken on that.)

Finally, there is the position of the gem on Fyodor’s ability. Nearly all other abilities have their gem on their forehead, but for some reason Fyodor’s ability has his on his hand. The only other ability that has its gem not on its forehead is… the Byakko. I don’t have an explanation for this one, but the weirdness should be pointed out, since it’s another way in which Fyodor’s ability deviates from the others.

Next to the above, there are two other weird details I want to quickly touch upon.

First, the knives in the apples in the dish in Mukuroride, as well as the apples with a knife in them in general, as they are the theme of this movie. I believe this to be of a more metaphorical touch, so we won’t read too much into it, but it does have physical consequences that tie back to the title as well.

This exact shot is used four times throughout the movie, but with a varying amount of knives stuck in the apples. It starts with one, then two, then three. The room starts with just Dazai, then Shibusawa enters, then Fyodor. With each of them showing up, another knife appears in an apple. This is then a metaphor for these three being the instigators behind the Dead Apple incident. These knives in the apples can also be seen as their calling cards, as they were left both at the bar and at the scene of the crime where that agent was killed who was supposed to meet with Kunikida and Tanizaki. 

In a later scene, it cuts again to this frame, but a knife and the skull has disappeared. These both get taken by Fyodor. The knife is used eventually to kill Shibusawa, but Shibusawa also took one of these knives to kill Dazai with. Either way, these knives that have been in these apples are used to murder, once again corroborating the connection between death and apples.

And finally, the relevance of the moon. 

There are a few impressive shots of the moon in Dead Apple, where the moon is shown to be enormous, to the point where even the light novel points out how extraordinarily large it is. The novel also points out that the blue cube crystal holds a similarity to the moonlight. Just symbolism to show that it’s connected to Atsushi, or something more? The other side of the page in the main series will also only be written on the night… of the next full moon.

The Point of It All

I hear a lot of “Dead Apple doesn’t matter to the plot, just watch it for the Soukoku scenes and move on”. And while I do agree that it’s not mandatory viewing to understand the storyline that corresponds with season three onwards, I do think there is more to Dead Apple than most people give it credit for.

I always like to ask myself after reading a book or watching a movie: “Okay, so what was the point of that? What was I meant to take away from this?”

For example, in essence Stormbringer is a case study on singularities. Likewise, BEAST is a study into the limits of the Book, and all other side stories similarly have a message, however big or small.

So what does Dead Apple establish? Why bother?

I hope by now you agree that Dead Apple seems to be the introduction to explaining more as to what is so special about Atsushi. This seems to go deeper into chapter 28/29 of the manga, or season 2 episode 8 of the anime, where Atsushi also has some weird things going on with the tiger. What this exactly is, or where this seems to be going is unclear for now, but the Dead Apple definitely emphasizes Atsushi’s importance as well as the concept that there can be something more than just abilities.

In-universe, there are also reasons for this conflict to happen.

Most likely both Dazai and Fyodor knew the end result long before the conflict ever started. It’s their reunion in a way, so I suppose they are both seeing how the other’s condition is at the moment. They may even have gathered some intel somehow? It’s almost like collecting metadata, they won’t have a direct conversation about important things, but they try to collect information just by seeing how the other acts, to see if the other lies within prediction.

Aside from that, on Dazai’s side, except for foiling Fyodor’s plan and keeping Yokohama safe, the Shin Soukoku dynamic also gets strengthened, something Dazai is actively working on. On Fyodor’s side, next to giving the whole “eliminating all ability users” a good honest shot, he also gets to collect a lot of intel on the opposing side. For example, Fyodor in Dead Apple gets to see Corruption up close, which may potentially be relevant.

Finally, from a storytelling perspective, it sets up a lot for the third season, especially in character interactions and relationships, e.g. Atsushi & Akutagawa, Dazai & Chuuya, Kyouka, Fukuzawa & Mori. It should be noted that some characters literally have been intentionally regressed to make the ending make more impact. Whether that was a good decision or not is not why I’m here. You should just know that it’s intentional. You could chalk it up to Atsushi losing his ability impacting him and his behavior a lot, if you wanted to justify it somehow. The Order of the Clock Tower also gets its first anime appearance, showing Agatha Christie on screen, who will most likely play a more important role later on. Likewise, Dead Apple is the introduction to Fyodor as a villain, where you get to see him for more than just a few flashes.

Trivia and Fun Details

I suppose this section is skippable. But who doesn’t love trivia? This is by no means an exhaustive list of everything included in this movie, but rather an overview of what I personally caught, understood and thought relevant to include.

The “Dragon Head” in the Dragon Head Conflict refers to a Qilin, which are said to have similar heads to dragons. Since the conflict centered around the White Qilin, this is where that name comes from.

At some point Akutagawa and Kyouka use a mafia code to refer to a passageway. The code “0505” refers back to Atsushi’s birthday.

The symbol ᛟ found on the outfits of the Mukurotoride squad refers to inheritage, since Shibusawa inherited his own ability. More information about that here.

Dazai at some point meows at Fyodor. This is a very sassy way of telling Fyodor that he will personally eradicate all of Fyodor’s rats in Yokohama, including Fyodor himself. (The light novel calls it a “tedious” meow. Lmao.)

The music from Dead Apple seems to be recycled in season three of the anime. I’m guessing to save on budget?

Atsushi’s door that he eventually opens to unlock his hidden memories has its own music motif that shows up every time he thinks about Shibusawa, the fog or his memories associated with killing him. Try to pay attention to this, it’s really cool.

The motif of the door is also a tune that sounds a lot like the track named Dead Apple, further showing Atsushi’s relevance in his movie.

The lyrics of the soundtrack tell their own story. When the Dead Apple plot first takes off and Dazai is at bar Lupin, a song called My Prince plays telling of Snow White who is sleeping and waiting for her prince. However, it seems to be a spin on the classic, where indeed Snow White chose to knowingly bite the apple knowing it was poisoned, in much the same way as Dazai knew he was going to be poisoned in Dead Apple. Le Cheval Noir tells of how bored the singer is, and how nothing is special to them anymore. This plays during the scene where Dazai talks to Shibusawa, showing Shibusawa’s apathy towards everything. Mein Prinz, the song that plays as Dazai gets backstabbed, is nearly exactly the same song as My Prince, but now more dramatic and in German. This is a clue that Dazai saw this coming from before the Dead Apple conflict even started, and it’s now up to Chuuya again to save him. Overall, Dazai is leaning into the Snow White aesthetic hard in Dead Apple.

And finally, a list of everything the light novel insists refers to the theme of poisonous red apples: the red apples with the knives in them, apple suicide, the merged abilities producing a red sphere, the singularity that results from that in all its forms and the planet covered in red fog. If it’s red and spherical, you can just assume it should represent a deathly apple.

TD;DR

Recapped extremely briefly:

The Dragon Head Conflict introduces Shibusawa as a villain who was kept by the government but went off the rails. Shibusawa’s ability is a fog that splits ability users from their abilities. If ability users die, Shibusawa obtains their ability. Shibusawa died and inherited his own ability, also causing him to lose his memory. Therefore he wants to obtain Dazai's ability in order to gain what he feels he lacks. Dazai betrays Shibusawa together with Fyodor by combining abilities. However, Shibusawa kills Dazai first, adding Dazai's ability to the merged abilities creating a singularity. Fyodor kills Shibusawa, causing him to regain his memory of being previously killed by Atsushi. A dragon is created and defeated, and Fyodor's plan is revealed to be the covering of the entire planet in Shibusawa's fog, killing all ability users. This plan is foiled, but Atsushi is shown to have potentially another power next to his ability (the tiger). This power is possibly the ability to completely unravel abilities, and may be what makes Atsushi the guide to the Book. Mukurotoride is completely left unexplained in the movie, but there are clues given about Fyodor's ability that point away from an insta-kill ability, and more towards a clone type ability.

[coldresolve]

squeezing mm through the danish lit meat grinder

so i know ive joked about mm having a boiling spaghetti plot structure where we start out mild and let that thing sit there until the whole thing boils over. and thats true, but if yall want a more in depth ramble about tension beats ive tried to hit, lemme introduce you to the narrative tension model thats been beaten into my head since i was 8 by the danish education system. presenting:

the narrative model

aka the hollywood model, aka the whale model (it supposedly looks a bit like a whale)

note that this isn't exactly a model for plot structure, as you see with ex. the hero's jurney, save the cat, etc - it's a model that can be laid on top of any plot structure and serves to illustrate narrative tension. and thinking about narrative tension this way is incredibly helpful in my experience. i feel like its pretty self explanatory, but in case it's not:

the impact refers to the "hook", or the inciding incident;

the introduction is where we get to know the characters and conflict;

the elaboration is where the story starts to get moving;

the turning point, or the point of no return, is where something major happens that alters something, whether it be the stakes, the nature of the conflict, etc. this is typically found around the midway point. i prefer calling it the turning point because point of no return implies things can go back to the status quo for a while before this, which they usually can't once the conflict has been introduced

the escalation is the build-up to the climax in which tension rises exponentially

the climax is where shit hits the fan. it ends with the revelation of the story's main theme

the fade out, or the resolution, is where characters settle in their new (or sometimes old) normal

the thing about this model is that you can put literally all stories into it and it checks out. sure, the length and position of each "phase" shifts around a lot depending on the underlying plot structure. sometimes the change in narrative tension is barely pronounced until it takes off for the climax, sometimes the escalation takes up 90% of the story, sometimes the fade out is literally just a single sentence. but thats the beautiful thing about models: who gives a fuck, do what you want

ive had this vaguely in mind for moneymakers and finally sat down today and applied it (ik its not done yet but shush). and honestly im kinda surprised with how well it fits. these things are pretty subjective, so you can make the argument that the turning point includes ratio, or the climax starts at the last stream or after The Confession, etc etc. but heres where i'd draw the lines

note my immaculate excel skills. also note that blue = conrad's pov and green = renee's pov, and that one pretty nicely fades into the other. im very proud of that switch okay. im a writing god is what im saying

anyway yeah i dunno. this is all pretty basic but i like it a lot, so

happy saturday. insert peace sign emoji

[solasnotes]

anora; stripping down a character

from beginning to end, sean baker’s ‘anora’ drops the viewer onto a 140 minute rollercoaster packed to the brim with static character dynamics, honest dialogue, and thoughtful storytelling. ‘anora’ is a masterclass in the subtleties of detail that propel a character's motivation continuously forward. 

the performance given by mikey madison’s titular character– or ani, as she prefers– immerses the viewer into an entirely new world. outwardly characterised as cheeky and confident, ani is a driven and expressive woman. she knows what she wants and how to get it, all while maintaining her sense of self-worth. while the way she dresses and presents herself is very 'in your face', it is complemented nicely by her softer vocal tone and numerous tattoos that are described as 'classy' by her peers (a butterfly on her fingers, and a ribbon on each of her hamstrings). the complexities of ani are perceived from the get-go.

it is worth noting that anora as a name has various meanings in different languages; sweet, honour, and grace to list a few. madison’s portrayal of the nuances in her character is far and away the strongest selling point of the film and embodies the many different meanings her name has. ani feels raw and honest; she tips toes the line of youth and maturity easily- carrying herself to a high demeanour all while refusing to be called by her real name, anora. 

within the first ten minutes of the film, we are introduced to mark eidelstein’s vanya, a young russian man whose wealth matches his youthful demeanour and who quickly finds himself intoxicated by ani's very being. both characters stand to gain something beneficial from their time spent together. 

not much can be grasped on his character from a surface level past his fun-loving and wealthy characterisation. he spends most of his free time playing video games, partying, or under the effects of some form of drug. this is the first major direct contrast between him and ani. while it is clear immediately through her physical language and tone of voice that ani is assured and driven, vanya’s awkward nature and quirks paint a blurry image of what to expect- framing the viewer in the same position as ani.

what i find to be a core point of interest between the development of the two is the usage of colour, primarily blue & red motifs to elaborate on the movement of their relationship. ani is often in blue and cooler tones, whereas red is common in vanya’s styling. however, these colours do not bind the characters, nor is it only their clothing that represents these motifs. a primary example is their first time in vanya’s mansion; ani is brought to a world she is unfamiliar with and starstruck to be in, she is an outlier and this manifests in how the blues of her dress are drowning in the red ocean of blanket, slowly sinking into it. as their romance progresses, ani is decorated slowly in more red accents, whether that be in accessories, background, or lighting (red bouquet, pink/red nails, vegas’ red casino lighting). by the climax of the film the relationship takes its inevitable reality check and we see ani styled with a red scarf around her neck, almost symbolic of how vanya and the issues he introduced to her have been suffocating.

baker’s directorial prowess is unique and difficult to replicate, he places a focus on qualities of realism and uses the emotions of the character and the actor playing them to amplify that to create a real world within the screen. his ability to understand when the right time is to use close-ups, wide shots, and choreographed blocking is not to be understated– especially during the middle block of the film. arguably the shining jewel of the plot, a perfectly stressful and scripted ordeal that sees ani & vanya’s home broken into by his father's comedically incompetent henchmen. this marks a kick in the stomach for ani- the reality of the situation dawning, with feelings of confusion written all over her face. the differences between her and vanya come to light. with ani, it’s evident that her whole life she has had to fight for survival, even if they never outrightly tell you that- it is felt in the way she talks and carries herself. on the contrary, vanya has never had to fight in his life, point blank. in their joint moment of need, he runs away because he is incapable of accepting the responsibilities of growing up which results in her being left tied up and gagged by a group of strangers (who- although incompetent- are still strangers that could easily pose a dangerous threat). madison’s portrayal of defiance, anger, and frustration in this scene are strongly felt. lines of dialogue are spewed from across the screen by 5 different people and none are heard by the other. why wouldn’t somebody want to yell at the screen? 

after a wild goose chase around new york city, anora accepts defeat in the final scene and removes herself from the cinderella story she believed she was embarking on after a confrontation with vanya and his family. being dressed in shades of black, brown, and beige, in an environment devoid of colour is a deliberate choice that showcases the removal of all life in ani- a far cry from the lively and confident woman we were introduced to. what was left in the aftermath is an empty, bitter & narcissistic shell of a character incapable of disguising her rudeness anymore. even going so far as to question why her only supporter in the films climax wouldn’t sexually assault her while she was at her lowest- accusing him of having the eyes of a predator, and then later breaking down to him in the car before being dropped back off into her old brooklyn lifestyle- the most cutting scene of the film.

‘anora’ represents sean baker in his prime, a marvel in the engineering art of filmmaking that rightfully deserves to be rewarded. possessing the ability to filter 140 minutes of substance into a film without any of it feeling like filler, or having it be misrepresented by the cast is thrilling to witness. for those who seek stories that are full of life, unadulterated and emotive language, and generous usage of meaningful camera shots- look no further. 

-t.

✰✰✰✰½

[zoobus]

I'm not normally a victim of FOMO tactics, nor do I usually let being late to the party stop me from chatting about a piece of media but I'm genuinely sad I didn't get into Obey Me/Nightbringer earlier. It makes me want to write a million essays but the disposable and decentralized nature of gacha kind of makes it feel like you missed your chance to talk about it. I keep coming across years old, unrepliable comments that I want to jump on sooo bad but I can't because the moment is gone and most of these people have likely moved on to less overtly money-hungry games.

Which sucks! because one essay I want to write in particular is how this game is extremely skilled in arousing your desire to create, to actively engage with the characters and worldbuilding, to do fandom shit, and I find this enormously fascinating in itself. The story isn't good but to a certain extent, it's not supposed to be; it functions as an elaborate set of writing/art/rp prompts for its audience to expand on and tailor to their needs.

And I think Obey Me does this well! Amazingly well. I find discussion of narrative structure fascinating, the study of how we define writing as effective, good, or as failures, so I'm drawn to this story full of contradicting lore, one-note characters, and half-finished plots. The story isn't good but that hardly matters because it's not here to be a good story; it's here to throw you into imagination boot camp. It compels you to speculate what it could be, what this character could be, what a slightly different tone would look like, what other people think about it. It feels distinct from the average popular show fandoms where, to an extent, creators congregate simply because that's where the people are. Creating for your own sake is nice and all but validation is usually a stronger force. Usually.

I keep coming across old high effort researched posts about abrahamic religions and occultism from fans setting themselves up for inevitable disappointment. I keep coming across creators leaving notes on their work like "I haven't written a thing in ten years, but,". I keep losing it over heartfelt posts defending x and y canon story decisions with their whole chest, oblivious to the fact that they're misremembering their personal tweaks/headcanons as what happened in the game, like it's seriously so cute when they're so passionate and completely wrong.

I have no idea if fandom actually plays a role in the lucrativeness of a franchise (though as a personal anecdote, I 100% started Obey Me after a single piece of horny Mammon fanart crossed my dash), but it makes more sense to me now, less a projection of wishful/haterful thinking from those with strong opinions about Fandom. Maybe it really does matter.

---

Other essays I missed the boat on:

A Casino Right in Your Home: goddamn is the pre/sequel's gacha obscene

Satan: how to put a mid character into S-tier with one simple trick (make him insane)

Sorry Belphie defenders but you're imagining a better psycho than you were given

Solmare added a shiny new rhythm game but didn't fix the now four year old coloring error on Levi's hands lmfaooo the disrespect is crazy

Remember when you saw the Nightbringer trailer of them glaring in bdsm gear with freshly blackened wings, and you thought "ah, so this takes place right after they fought god and lost. After they went to war to protect their sister only for her to die anyway. After one brother in particular saves someone, but not her, the focal point of the war. They will finally take these to their logical, guilt despair rage pain and grudge filled ends." And you were correct until that very last sentence? lol

Remember when the Ruri-chan event gave you the option to tell Levi you're not cheating on him and then the rest of the event was just making out with his brothers? Then it ends with you kissing him in front of them? Bring that energy back!!!

[anoteofcalcium]

Someone get this poor frog boy transferred to Naranja / Uva and away from the overly competitive nature of Blueberry Academy please-

>HC "'"Elaboration'"" and minor spoilers (for Kieran's Indigo Disk Team, mostly, but some plot points) below;

*And for Christ's sake give him his furret back GameFreak!!

*Unrelated, but does anyone else find Kieran's team going from Poliwrath -> Politoed to be adorable? Like, First big team has Poliwrath - a not quite full frog - and Second definitive team has full froggy Politoad?? Love that Kieran is not only designed frog-like, but gets emphasized with them, A+ character design choices, very *chef's kiss* 🤌🤌

*Anyway so...

• "<player> has everything I've ever wanted!...She’s/He’s got strong Pokémon! She/He can go anywhere she/he wants, and she/he can be friends with anyone!...I loved Ogerpon since forever ago! But even Ogerpon chose her/him over me!...Even YOU, Sis! You were being all nasty toward her/him at first, but then boom! You were like best friends in no time

...The kid obviously has insecurity issues strengthened by an abrasive relationship with his sister, minimal positive outlets to let himself flourish in a healthier way, and an inferiority complex he falsely believes strength will compensate for,, like, a school (Blueberry) whose main (whole? tbh) shtick is to make their trainers good at battling and centers the majority of its social AND curricular (that the player as an exchange student can observe, anyway) interactions around competitive Pokémon battles is NOT helping to do anything but strengthen any unhealthy thoughts and feelings about such concepts he has

•Note: when confronted with the reality that he's not as strong as he *perceives* he should be / earned the right to be (i.e. player beats him despite him being the "top" trainer at Blueberry), the cognitive dissonance it creates sends him into a panic attack....and the Blueberry kids just. scoff?? Immediately throw out their favor?? Very healthy mindsets and social hierarchy at Blueberry Academy, perfectly conducive to friendly and healthy competition, clearly (/sarcasm)

•Compare it to the variety of tracks of Naranja / Uva (2 of which - STEM and Humanities - have nothing to do with battling) and the Treasure Hunt, which encourages *independent* study into a variety of topics: i.e., allowing one to explore and experience a variety of things of personal interest in order to learn about one's self at one's own pace, bound by nothing but their own personalized limits...can you imagine how much that atmosphere would improve and expand Kieran's mental framework and ideas?? He can get everything he his desire "to be like [player] so, so badly" emphasized in his quote above - Strong Pokemon, going anywhere [he] wants, being friends with anyone (Carmine included)...and probably whatever attracted Ogerpon, for that matter - by being like the player and going to the Academy that the game emphasizes as being what gave the player opportunity and experience to have BECOME what Kieran admires / envies.

•Also, him transfering would give him some freedom / independence from Carmine - and nothing against her (...much), but I genuinely think Kieran would benefit a lot in an environment where he didn't have (to be forced) to rely on and compare himself to his sister's ideals and prowess...which Kieran very much mimics and absorbs when "stronger"...not a coincidence - they're seem pretty co-dependent in the Teal Mask at times, if not have a very neglect / enable type feedback aspect to their relationship. BUT that's a story for another post never

*Sprigatito would be Kieran's starter choice (or more like it would choose him, tbh) - and not just because it makes sense in my cannon (i.e. Florian w/ Quaxly, Juliana w/ Fuecoco) lol; sprigatitio is legitimately perfect for him:

•It desires attention and companionship, to the point it's first description was how it's, "capricious and attention-seeking, and it tends to sulk if ignored by people" and the trait continues all the way throughout it's evolution (/i.e. growth "phases"), with Meowscarada being described as, "sensitive and prone to jealousy. It can often be very attached to its Trainer, and it will become upset if its Trainer gives attention to other Pokémon". Sounds like Kieran towards both the player and Ogerpon, lol (Kieran: . Somewhat unrelated, but Florgato's being the edgy teenager (as Carmine referred to Kieran's "mood swings") phase of Sprigatito's line involved it's *mood* effecting its "edge" / "hardness" ...of it's fur, but still - Kierans a "moody teen", right? Anyway, imagine Kieran with a Pokémon that would be as obsessed with him as he was with Ogerpon, lol (/jk)

•It's a grass type, which tend to suit Kieran, and he seems to have an affinity for (Ogerpon, Dipplin line, Shiftry, etc.). It developing a dark type as it evolves reflects Kieran's arc - it's final evolution is also both MASKED (reflecting Ogerpan hyperfixation and Kieran's family's history), and Jester / Mardi Gras themed, which goes along with the festival theme Kieran exhibited during the Teal Mask DLC ( like with his Dipplin). Both Kieran and Meowscarada have those cute droopy eyes too, which is a fun design element to connect the too, if nothing else, lol

•Getting further out with the idea, though: It's lines shiny is, fubckin' oURPLE!! Purple cat for the ourple boy, thank you,, (and how shiny!Meowscarada has a purple cuff and an invisible "leash" [its flower bud] around its neck is vaguely similar to the purple chain of the Loyal three...okay I'm really reaching now but still. teehee... ). Hey, anyone notice how purple is a complementary color for yellow, which happens to be Kieran's eye and main acccesory (headband / bag) color and -- I'm going anywhere with this, I just think its neat 👍

•Honestly just replace his current cat (Incineroar) with Meowscarada - Incineroar suits Carmine a lot better imo...which is why it's my theory it's on his final team, but that's. Also a different post I'll probably never make :^)

•Like, I get why they wouldn't have given Kieran a Paldaen starter for his team (for a variety of reasons, honestly), but,, Think about it •Sprigatito using its kneading on Kieran's (fluffy, sowwy ponytail!Kieran fans) hair for impromptu aromatherapy would probably be good for this kids anxiety tbh

*IMAGINE Kieran picking up mask-making in Hassel's art class - IMAGINE the positive energy and outlet art (not battling) and a professor like Hassel would provide this kid!!

TL;DR: DLC where Kieran transfers to Naranja / Uva Academy when GameFreak.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. The more you know 🌈

[fisheito]

What are you hopes and dreams for Yakumo? What kind of event theme would be your dream event? Any kinks or anything in particular you want to see in his rooms? Anything plot-wise you would like to see?

You know, I never thought about that

While playing , i suspend all my worldly desires. Then i take whatever I'm given like a good little F2P 🤣

Tho now that you bring it up🫨🤔..hmm...

Hopes n Dreams: a WIP , it seems . But for now...

- he needs to be in a dress. This is part of my agenda to have everyone put on the dress at LEAST once. No fakeouts like kuya's hakama pants. I want his legs sleeveless. Ready access. Destroy eiden while wearing a breezy skirt or smthh. Follow Blade's example , bc Blade is performing gender VERYwell.!!

Event???:

- yokai event with all three little beasties LOOKIN beastlier?? Yes???? Please??????????? I want them UNSETTLING and FERAL but with sharp beautifusful eyes.

in line with my desire for a snakular yakuhebi, i want him more monstrous. Covered in scales and the tail and the fangs with the dripdrop .which, yesyes probably never will happen but I'm gonna think about it anyway .

- I'm not creative when it comes to event ideas. The devs are way ahead of me on that. All i can think about is restaurant, but we've already had several forms of that. Barista yakumo..maid cafe...valentines parlour.... ahahahh I'm only ever thinking about eating...sorry... ...

- new jot note, new chance, becausr now i am DETERMINED to think of an event i wanna see. *scrunches brow* gmm..hmmm.......!!!! Does it count if i say some sorta winter event. One that requires yakumo to actually exist in cold weather. And he's wearing the giantest puffiest marshmallow of an 800layer coat because he's so very cold and will fall asleep in the snow if you leave him out there too long. Like, his silhouette is just a blob. There's nothing sexy about it. Covered head to toe in industrial arctic expedition protective gear 🤣🤣🤣 yakumo visits penguins. Wait what

-nononono JOT NOTE: TAKE 3! I *WILL* COME UP WITH AN EVENT! A CONCEPT! NOT JUST AN OUTFIT!. . . . . GOD but i just want an excuse to put him in the dorkiest/ most mundane outfits. He's just wearing farming clothes and helping his grandparents feed chickens. He's wearing a stupid little khaki uniform while catching bugs with a net like an amateur. Wait no he's the slutty glittery assistant in a leotard waiting to be cut in half by Magician Eiden where was i going with this i cant actually!!!--- move on to the next qursiyon

The ROOMS?:

- why has yakumo not hit it from the back yet. ? (Not counting FA R5..) Probably because doggystyle would deny him access to eiden's mouth, which is apparently a fate worse than cult sacrifice. Yakumo probably prefers to stare lovingly(🙄) at eiden's face while they're boinking so......

.

But *I* want them to throw it back. Just once. Eiden ass up face slightly-less-to-completely-inaccessible. Have garu as a guest instructor. I request this specific new angle just once kudapleas

- you mentioned kink and idk about elaborate kinks but '*slaps the roof of the car* TIE HIM UP. SUBJUGATE HIM. MAKE HIM WHINE AND CRY AND COME THE SECOND EIDEN TOUCHES HIS DICK. OR COME UNTOUCHED. THE POINT IS ,I WANT MORE OF THAT BULLYING FROM DARK NOVA R2

- it didn't occur to me to mention this bc i thought it was natural;assumed;common knowledge; but i shouldn't assume whatever i want is group consensus. So, explicitly stating that i am waiting for the snake hemipenes. I would love the non human look but it doesn't look like we'll get that. So I'll settle for 2 human dicks. Incredibly gracious of me iknow.

((Taking a break to thank all the fic authors who fulfill fantasies i know will never show up in game. The mind is a powerful tool but i still need kindling and these writers are made of dry sticks))

Um, ploT? Maybe?:

- the only thing I'd like for plot yakumo is to keep on showing his char development! He's changing ever so slowly!but steadily! Like how in his first interaction with rei, i was expecting him to get cowed by rei's blunt wording, but nope... he... understood what rei meant at base level and responded with a level of Spine and Emotional Awareness, instead of pure panic. Huh. Well whaddya know. Surprised me, fo sho. So I'd like to see him doing his best as time goes on ahhaha👈👉👈👉👈👉🤜

- i have NO idea where they arw going with the plot. Once again i must reiterate that i am like a child in front of a shiny screen re: consuming media. I have All belief. I am just going with it. There are no predictions or criticisms ongoing in my brain unless something is like... egregiously heteronormatively painful. So.

[jay-avian]

Hellooo, I've been off tumblr for a while, but I'm peeking back in and Morgensturm has caught my eye.

Apologies if you've already been talking about it at length previously, but what can you tell me without giving too much away?

Story Rambles: Morgensturm

Thank you for giving me the excuse to talk about my work! I haven't talked much about it at all here actually (which was what prompted my previous post on this WIP).

Title Note

The title in German translates to "Morning Storm", which will eventually be the name of Harelan's own ship. This mainly ties into his storm-related powers, and also just sounds cool and "piratey". I want to also play around with the idea that a morning storm would come under the cover of night (since storm clouds are dark as well). Idk yet

The original title was Kraken's Bane, but that will be the title for the sequel when I end up writing it. (No, I will not elaborate)

General Plot Idea

The story starts with the young dragonborn boy named Harelan Junizenti. His clan own the biggest trading company across the seas, The Dragon's Wings. His clan, of course, want him to stay and help with the business at home, but Harley (shortened name) wants to sail with the traders instead and experience the world. At some point, he escapes on one of the merchant ships and travels with them for some time.

One day, their ship gets attacked by pirates. The fight gets to the point where they are at a standstill. Harley attempts to deal with the captain, Caspian Barrack (human character), by challenging him to a duel. Not entirely sure the outcome of this yet, but either way, it ends with Harley having to "work" for the pirate crew as the merchants goes free.

For the remainder of the story, the two travel together and go on adventures, eventually becoming friends (sort of). Their main end goal is to search for some fabled divine treasure or land of the ocean goddess. This gets them into trouble which I will not spoil quite yet.

Character Tidbits

I want the story to focus on Harley and Caspian's character relationship and "growth". They're dynamics greatly oppose each other: Harelan growing up wealthy and dignified, Caspian growing up poor and spiteful. I want them to essentially change the way the other acts, which will lead into some potentially negative character growth (but isn't that more interesting?).

Harley's culture of being a dragonborn also ties into his character arc because his race prioritizes the clan and bringing them honor. They are also very strong-willed and passionate people. I also want to play with the idea that, though his clan was very dignified (for lack of a better word), Harelan's arc has something to do with the animalistic nature of his race. Take from that what you will for now.

I don't have too much about Caspian's character yet. I haven't gotten to his part of the story yet. More details to come when I get to that

[fangirlinglikeabus]

been a while since i've done one of these but under the cut are my thoughts on the novelisations of doctor who, season 8

doctor who and the terror of the autons by terrance dicks this is one of those early actually pretty decent dicks novelisations. it's the little details i think, like having a lot of What Characters Think of Each Other (without stating the obvious) that gives it some substance, or the physical effects of action like the ropeburn being paid attention to. MY personal favourite added detail is yates encountering the master (who he doesn't know is the master) and as a result briefly fantasising about what HE'D look like with facial hair. also we get an evil auton energy octopus, which is a nice added detail. there are recaps of several different stories when they have bearing on this one's plot, but the mention of liz is cut altogether, which means that the novelisations as well as the tv series are lacking in any clarification as to her departure. to my great regret the other thing that's cut is jo going 'oh! hello :)'. in terms of actually bad bits, there's a relatively minor but pretty glaring issue in not only the master being consistently referred to as foreign looking but the evil doll subsequently being described as having 'a slant-eyed oriental face', both of which seem to link the human(oid) foreign/other to the villainy of aliens invading england. there's also a line about jo and women's intuition that bothered me a bit but not nearly to the same extent. overall: i think it manages to differentiate itself enough from the tv version to be an interesting skim at least, but go in forewarned at the handful of dodgy bits.

the mind of evil by terrance dicks i have NO idea if this is worthwhile. for the record i'm not too big on the tv serial (i like it well enough until the missile plot comes to the fore, at which point i almost completely lose interest) so keep that in mind…but i think the novelisation is this weird mix of legitimately good and frustratingly half-arsed, with some racism sprinkled on top. i can't speak on dicks' rendering of hokkien, which is presented from the brigadier's point of view ('it sounded like…') so i'm assuming is not a 100% accurate transliteration. however the bit i REALLY have an issue with is the description of barnham having a 'low bulging forehead, protruding jaw and huge powerful hands' like…why are we reviving victorian criminal science in my little sci-fi book. there's also a really gross line comparing the master's black chauffeur to the car he drives. the narration also really doubles down on what i SEEM to remember as a mike line from the original about chin lee's attractiveness by describing her face as 'marred' by a near permanent scowl. sorry she's not constantly performing beauty for you guys! the final bit i have actual beef is that the doctor thinks of jo as 'this feather-headed child' which isn't problematic so much as it feels mildly mean-spirited. ON A LIGHTER NOTE there's a cute bit where benton pretends to be james bond, and there's lines like 'naturally, the master was lying' which made me laugh. i also think it's got a really strong opening, which builds up to the keller machine experiment by describing it to prisoners' reactions to executions throughout the ages. we get a greater elaboration of the fear visions than seen on tv too (the benefits of not needing to worry about budget!). overall…i think there are interesting points to this one, but also some Very Dodgy Bits, and it does kinda fizzle out by the end which disappointed me given i enjoyed the opening.

doctor who and the claws of axos by terrance dicks ok i need to open with this because 'author describing character's hair as a colour i would never consider it' is becoming a recurring Thing so for the record jo's hair is described as brown in this. tardis wiki has a whole List of changed things in this serial but tbh i think a lot of them were so small that i didn't even pick up on them, so for that reason i'm not certain if its worth it, personally. a brief rundown: as per usual the violence/body horror is a bit more pronounced than on screen, and the special effects are improved on in prose. i quite liked the opening wrangle with chinn and the brig, not least because it tells us that the brig forgot to establish the doctor's official existence and i found that funny. chinn's 'britain for the british' argument with the doctor is cut, and while i SORTA get that for space reasons, i think it also diminishes the critique of his character if his general behaviour/philosophy no longer so explicitly tied to xenophobia. there's a nice new closing scene where jo goes to join everyone arguing how to get the tardis down for some rubble while thinking 'it was nice to see things were going back to normal'. there was also a line i liked: 'in the space/time continuum axos traced an unending spiral course, whirling forever in an endless figure-eight'. but overall….i'm kinda 'eh' on this one.

doctor who and the doomsday weapon [aka colony in space] by malcolm hulke the most significant change in this is PROBABLY that its position in jo's time as companion has been moved: she's now in her very early days at unit (just become the doctor's assistant, hasn't met the master) which is understandable given this was one of the early novelisations where hulke perhaps felt the need to have an excuse for providing necessary context and easing the reader in - he does a similar thing by expanding the prologue bit with the time lords, positioning one as a trainee who doesn't have knowledge of the doctor's life - but i was disappointed that as a mechanic it's dropped very quickly. this is not a story that lends itself well to exclusively focusing on jo, given that she gets sidelined in the second half; still, i felt it was a missed opportunity, especially since she knows the doctor less well than on tv and is understandably thus a lot more combative when this comparative stranger whisks her off to another planet, before the plot snaps back into the path the tv version takes. in terms of that path: if you're looking for a novelisation that addresses some more questionable aspects of the original then i'm afraid this isn't it - if anything it exacerbates any issues of racial coding and its relation to the real world that a story about the colonisation of a planet inhabited by a 'savage' race already has, with lines like 'a few primitives, who, if handled properly, would be no trouble.' there's also a few minor moments that suggest a pretty gender stratified society among the colonists that hulke is depicting unquestioningly, which is frustrating but not unexpected. on the other hand, there's actually quite a lot of detail about the imc men and life back on earth that i appreciated being included. we also get a few funerals that weren't depicted onscreen. ashe has some jesus imagery surrounding him that MAY be making a link between christianity and morality (since in this horrible grasping future the bible apparently isn't very well known) but it's not so explicit that i can say that definitively. there are a few lines that jump out to me as cuts - 'i want to see the universe, not rule it', the gag about the brig saying 'come back at once' and, most tragically, 'wiggle away'. we do get a dr who pun to make up for it though. aside from that, the moment where the doctor finds out jo is tied to a bomb is reduced to summary, which seems an odd dramatic choice to me but i do also realise that hulk had to cut a six part story down into 40k words, so something had to go. final point: dent makes a comment about how imc never break the law and the narrator immediately contradicts him, and personally i feel it would be more interesting if that was TRUE - what does it say about a society where THEY'RE not actually breaking the law? anyway i realise this might sound like i'm complaining a lot but after the last two i found this one quite refreshing in how much detail there was to it, and i do generally enjoy reading hulke's novelisations. it's probably not his best, but it's interesting enough to check out even if it does maintain the original serial's flaws.

doctor who and the daemons by barry letts what is there to say about this one, except that it's a very solid rendering of an already solid tv story? one minor quibble in terms of the process of adaptation is that the scene near the beginning where the gang are watching tv is something i found less interesting when we're not watching with them - because it's prose, we lack that moment of complete identification where we're ALL watching tv together. but otherwise i think the writing is lively, and while it may not diverge significantly from the tv version it does flesh out what's already there for the prose medium. a personal favourite for me was azal being 'as amused as a man warned to leave his own home by a kitchen mouse' when the doctor tells him to leave the planet. it's been a while since i've seen the tv version but i did a brief skim of the transcript and i THINK most of what goes on with the villager (and at some point cult member) stan is new to the novelisation. various minor heads' up: there's a character in chapter three who's a bit self-conscious about his weight, and a bit later on a brief mention of a child being hit as punishment; the inside of the barrow has carvings of the "old witch religion, literally thrust into the darkness of the underground by the light of christianity" which is a characterisation of christianity-as-civilising-influence that i suspect originates in the genre dr who is cribbing from here; barry letts describes azal as having a hooked nose which isn't necessarily INaccurate to his screen depiction but i do think letts is still unconsciously drawing on cultural assumptions of what (racialised!) facial features signify evil. also there's a bit where stan acts to help jo 'as quickly and as naturally as one might reach out to prevent a child from falling' which just minorly irritates me - jo is an adult, please don't compare her to a child here. other than that…i'm a big fan of letts' 'trying to teach the kids road safety' bit where jo falls out of bessie and the doctor thinks 'if only she had put on her seat belt!' oh and jo is wearing that white robe OVER her clothes and therefore wasn't stripped by any of these men, thank you very much. on the minor edits level, letts keeps the mary had a little lamb joke but he rewords 'five rounds rapid' and the brig's response to mike asking him for a dance. but he also says the doctor's name is doctor who so i win! this is longer than i meant it to be but i think my overall conclusion is that this is maybe marginally less of a must-read than it was in a time before home media and the internet made the daemons easy to watch - letts makes more tweaks than i've listed here but i think they're mostly minor - but i never felt that he was phoning in the process of turning it into a novel, and AS a novel it's largely enjoyable.

[i-love-klim]

12-year-old brother played through 999 recently. some notes on the experience

* he picked it up because we were both bored as fuck and 999 was one of like 3 games I had on my phone. for a while initially he had to borrow my phone (up until he got his first ending/I was able to set up retroarch on some lucky-not-to-be-ewaste laptop). which I would class as an 'ipad kid arrangement'

* he had some vague awareness of the funyarinpa going in so whenever it showed up ingame we shouted FUNYARINPA!!! FUNYARINPA!!! back and forth

* "this game is yap central. I mean I guess it's interesting, but like..." - quote from his first go at door 4

* after safe end (but before true end kicked in) he guessed akane might be zero. when asked to elaborate he replied "cuz zero's been with you the whole time... otherwise it doesn't make sense". his more confident guess around this time was santa (naturally)

* he didn't like clover very much I think. said clover was mostly kinda stupid which corroborates my thought about clover just not having a lot to do in VLR moreso than being flanderized into stupidity

* ending order was coffin (per my recommendation) -> sub -> axe -> knife -> safe -> true. I tend towards coffin as the first ending because it's what hooked me and the setup/payoff with the morphogenetic field is good and makes the plot make more sense but he thought it was a "boring" end & only really got excited once he got sub end... I guess if I ever get anyone else to play this game I'll recommend sub end first. also I was like "hmm you can maybe skip knife cus you don't learn anything that doesn't come up in other routes" but he wanted to see everything so he went ahead and I think it paid off. there are some interesting discrepancies in door 8 & door 6 if you pick door 4 first, and apparently the "red/white/black santa" rant is knife end-exclusive? I'd forgotten about that

* related to the last bullet point he was pretty insistent on taking it slow and rereading dialogue, for the most part. when he was en route to safe end he ffw'ed through a bunch of repeat dialogue but that was about it

* favorite escape room was door 7, he liked the puzzle where you add up the atoms in each compound listed

* I did not get to watch his live reaction to the elevator scene. but at one point he approached me and said "ummm... if you say 'she was afraid of being locked up with a boy' you get some weird dialogue". which is imo funnier

* he MIGHT play VLR. he's about an hour in now and he hasn't been nearly as into it as he was with 999 partially because VLR's opening act is vastly less intriguing than 999's but also just because he has more stuff to do now. like watching bluey and playing fortnite. I guess

also we're using the same dogshit laptop to play VLR and it only barely runs the PC port. you have to crank the resolution down if you don't want the game to lag and the CPU to run crazy hot when ~3 or more models are on screen at once, lol. maybe I'll drop the pretense and just replay VLR on my own...

[arsene-fixates]

Misc. SN character rambling (Gordon Byron)

I very few screenshots for whatever I’m going to ramble about on another character in seekers notes so you’re going to have to take my word for it. This is not an analysis btw i just want to talk about this guy for a bit

There’s this character, Gordon Byron, or Hyperion <- name he picked for himself I will elaborate later.

His family (made up of him, his mother, and his cousin) is a descendant of one of the founders of Darkwood (the city) and though I didn’t read too much into him, I thought his character development was quite interesting

going to be a bit long since i'm running through him as a character, spoilers under the cut

Backstory was that he had run away from home with his beloved that went missing when the curse fell upon the city but returned after realizing that he had responsibilities being the family's heir and such.

He's very quiet as a character, kept to books and nature and is a pretty big romantic but when he came back, and through the story he started getting invested in his family's history, aka. one of the founders named nostromo and his powers etc etc and also taking more initiative to help the city via. paying funds for damages and suggesting new things to keep the townspeople safe

okay to be honest theres some collecting crystal infinity stone level thing going on in the story and there's this section in the plot where gordon and i had to dive underwater to look for a stone tablet depicting one of the missing steps to getting one of the crystals

and some explosion happens and i get shot out of the water, leaving him underwater and the other characters and i are all panicking because the water breathing potion we took had some timing to it and he was about to die or something

but he emerges soon enough, with the gauntlet belonging to the founder equipped in his hand, and you can tell that this power was getting to his head

at this point, i was filling philiah in on the lore and i told her 'i think it would be really profound if he let the power get to him and influence him negatively' and lo and behold.

anyways carrying on, he started really embracing the name hyperion (a pseudonym he made up himself because if i can remember right, all the other founders also had one themselves) and having his own group of specialised guards.

then some attack happened on the city again where ghostly creatures appeared (summoned by the antagonist), and after gordon fought them off, he decided to set a curfew & interrogate all the townspeople because they could be people from a crime organisation (called the shadows) in disguise

cough cough side note, informant was telling me about how his guard kept going trying to capture him and he was frustrated that not only did he have to run from the crime organisation but he also had to run from the guard too lol.

and holy shit theres this section that especially got me where he was asking me for an update on the crystals and i told him it was going alright, letting on a little more detail than i liked and he then asks me to find more of this truth potion for him and then he says this

he slipped a truth potion !!! !! !! !!!! unknowingly!!!!!! to me!! HOLAY MOLAY!!!. and when i went to talk to charlotte, she tells me about how some of the people who took the potion were down with pretty bad illnesses and fevers. THAT IS SO WILD.

he had to be suspended of his role and his guard operations after he nearly endangered the lives of the members of the crime organisation

THERES A LOT OF STUFF THAT HAPPENS INBETWEEN BUT ITS PRETTY BIZZARE BECAUSE HIS ANGER GETS THE BETTER OF HIM (and they really did show that he gets angry easily)

holay molay this guy.

i like what they're doing here, it's really interesting ^_^ LOVE THAT THEY DID ACTUAL BUILD UP INSTEAD OF WHATEVER THEY DID WITH INFORMANT!!!!! love to see what happens to him later because currently the city is going through YET another world ending disaster and i (the seeker) have to save them.

[tea-with-evan-and-me]

"the entirety of this message is a problem and a projection - he doesn’t look pissed at natalie. no one was forced to be there. they did not look “distant”. they looked like two people with cameras shoved in their face and a whole mass of fans screaming for evan. i want to give you the benefit of the doubt, but please be serious and use not even critical thinking, just basic reasoning."

Admin, I really love you and I mostly agree with everything you say, I find you a breath of fresh air and reason in the fandom, or any fandom for that matter, because you remind me that truly funny and reasonable Evan fans exist and have a whole life of their own.

But, I think that you might be going to hard on the anon here 🥺 What they were trying to say, maybe, is that he seemed pissed. He did, what can you do? Maybe he wasn't,all they say is that he did seem pissed. As for the distant part, I don't know, they looked normal to me, but hey, I am not them,so how would I know. And how do we know that he was not forced to be there? Not by his gf of course, I don't think so, but by an agent / a deal? A deal he couldn't say no to because, you know marketing ties and everything? I'm just listing a couple of possibilities that may or may not be true. An anon a couple days ago in here ( I cannot find the post lol) has said that we don't know anything. I cannot say that Evan is happy, because I don't know. I can only say that he looks happy or he seems at a good place and hope for the best. We can only make assumptions, so why go hard on someone that insinuates anything that might actually be possible even by a tiny winiiiiee little bit?

Sorry for the long post, I hope my point is clear 🥺

Oh and I loved the new content from today, he does look uncomfortable but that's regular Evan in social situations I guess ✨ I loved his gf's dress too ❣️

first of all, thank you 💗 i hear you, and i genuinely do appreciate your perspective on this. but there’s a few things i want to expand on and be crystal clear about: there is no scenario in which it’s okay to make, nor entertain, entirely baseless accusations of domestic violence. this is not, and never can be, something we treat as a “let’s hear both sides” type situation. everyone who wants to play softball needs to remember how very quickly their words can sprout wings and start doing the rounds on social media, destroying an innocent persons character. some people may actually BE acting in good faith out of concern over the discourse they’re seeing about natalie potentially becoming violent with evan - again, based on dust. nothing. it’s already happening, and this is not okay. those that don’t want salacious and harmful rumors persisting must shut this down immediately and relegate those who play into it to the fringe parts of the fandom that no one takes seriously.

please take a moment to reflect back on the damage done during the worst of the brigade some fans started on frances. i literally spent hours debunking an elaborate plot where people photoshopped nude images of “evan” and his privates, fran’s tumblr page, AND patreon so that they could sell a story where she victimized evan and posted revenge porn. before that, these fans created a made up story about frances selling evan’s phone number to fans, and it STILL gets repeated years later. i’m sorry. i have thousands of people on this blog and with the audience i have, i DO have a responsibility to use strongly worded language to denounce people attempting to, or unwittingly going along with character assassination against a woman some hate simply due to her dating evan.

on a lesser note, i don’t find it appropriate to analyze every facial expression or movement actively looking for reasons to say they’re unhappy together, when we are quite literally discussing something that’s by nature, uncomfortable and unnatural. posing for photos in front of flashing lights, screaming fans, socializing with strangers… again, please place yourself in their position and try and imagine if you’d look jubilant and at ease. if you’d look like you were having fun and wanted to be there. now imagine you’re socially anxious as a person. i am asking people to stop seeking out negativity and projecting it onto these people - it’s not fair, and whether or not you are purposely trying to be problematic, it’s honestly just not necessary to paint every interaction in a negative light. as i said, i want to give the prior anon the benefit of the doubt that they got swept up in the negative commentary and baseless allegations.. and that’s why i responded to them directly. sometimes, we just need to take a breather and think critically before we put serious stuff like that out into the universe. i really hope that makes sense and you understand where i am coming from. 🫶🏼

[aotopmha]

Back to FFXVI after a little bit of a break:

I finally saw all of the extra side quests preceeding the finale and I adore the Jill, Torgal, Gav and Dion ones (w Tomes).

Blackthorne's and Mid's were okay.

The town-related closures and especially the Rosfields' wierd cult side quest were weaker.

I think the ship-building remains the weakest section of the story next to the cult side quest because the slavery and Blackthorne quests at least span most of the story and are thematically relevant, however unnuanced and awkward they might occasionally be.

You could also cut out a bunch of the running around at the Hideaway.

You can skip the side quests, it's the more minor stuff placed within the main story that grows to be droning and didn't need to be as long as it is sometimes that I think is the issue.

As said, for example, the ship-building before Odin and some of the roadblocks to Titan and Bahamut.

To put it simply, I think some of these side quests should've been the connective tissue between the big story quests (or of similar nature) because they are much more relevant to the main cast than almost any of the actual downtime quests they chose to include as connective tissue. More actual character material with the characters you love as opposed to new characters you just met.

Each of those character-specific side quests give the trio leaving for Origin either "reasons" to come back or "reasons" to die, contributing to variance in how to interpret the ending of the story.

Jill and Clive have a super sweet moment where her prayer to Metia is basically reiterated. This quest is probably brought up the most when discussing Clive's survival.

"Dawn will always come..."

One element I don't see people mention about the quest from Tomes at all is that it is actually a Dion quest.

Tomes gives Clive a quill at the end of it to write a story once it is all over, but what I don't see mentioned almost at all is how the quest also explains more about the flower that you see used as a symbol in relation to Dion and his family.

It actually gives Dion a "reason" to return too, to accept the flower as his redemption from his former teacher and recontextualises it as a symbol of basically putting someone in their place because the crystal Dion protects ends up looking like it and the flower is actually poison.

It's actually another symbol of oppression put in place by Ultima. One of the neatest ones in the story, I think.

I think the Torgal quest is actually just a super, super sweet note to end off on with him. All that time Clive was gone, Torgal kept looking for him. Best boy.

Finally, the last of the notable ones to me is the one where you just get a little bit of time to hang out with Gav.

This one is another one with a death flag for Clive because during the quest Clive leaves the title of Cid with Gav were he to not return from the battle. I thought it was another super sweet point to leave off with a character.

If the story intends to play all of this for tragedy, I feel like it would have different framing.

I feel like Dion should return to Tomes and accept that flower after what he did during the final battle.

I feel like Clive should return to Jill and write that book.

I even feel like Gav should end up as Cid.

And even that the little treasure hunt Mid set up should also somehow come true.

And then there's also that Leviathan crystal in the background.

It's all suspicious plot threads left hanging with the potential to be elaborated on.

If that Leviathan crystal is still there, magic might not actually be "completely" gone.

I'm very, very sus.

Obviously they said DLC will come if there is demand and there clearly seems to be, but I really feel like these final quests actually are set-up for the potential opportunity to make more of the story.

They stay as they are if the game doesn't do as well as expected and they can be elaborated on if it does do well.

I think DLC might come with epilogue material that might add that Leviathan battle and particularly playable Dion and Jill, which in turn might also come with new endings tied to these side quests.

It's perfect fanservice because the base game can stay as it is and read as it is, but those truly invested can have their playable faves (and perhaps those happy endings so many seem to want for these characters).

Or maybe not.

But for now it's super interesting how you can read the ending so differently based on the side quests you did or didn't do because games usually have their good endings and bad endings and true endings.

It's an interesting narrative element to this game and another element of the game among others that gives some food for thought, I think and I love these kinds of narratives that give food for thought after they're done.

[roosterbox]

Fic Rec Friday 6/23/23

Title: My Apologies Your Father is An Incompetent Bastard

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Category: M/M

Fandom: Inception (2010)

Relationship: Arthur/Eames (Inception)

Characters: Arthur (Inception), Eames (Inception)

Additional Tags: Mpreg, Kink Meme

Summary: Arthur and Eames are on the run from a job gone wrong when Arthur goes into labor.

———

Ah, mpreg. Probably the strangest trope I love. But this has always been so - when I started reading fic, it was a much more rare plot to see (and of course ABO wasn’t a twinkle in someone’s eye yet), but every time I found it, I loved it. These days I like to joke that mpreg is the gateway drug to get me to like a ship, which to be fair… is accurate. I could probably list off several ships that I was indifferent towards at best before stumbling upon a cute mpreg fic. But today, I’m talking about a ship I already loved, that just so happened to have a great mpreg fic written for it.

The characterization in this story is spot on. Arthur and Eames still feel close enough to their canon counterparts, but with a unique artistic flair, which I always appreciate (with how little actual canon there is for them, you kinda have to get creative). One aspect that rings so true is the state of their relationship, and how they both feel about it. More than one person has compared their canon dynamic to bitter exes who may or may not reconcile by the end of the movie, and that feeling comes across in this story very well.

I think Arthur’s characterization is my favorite. Eames is of course as amiable and jocular as always, but Arthur is much more bitter. And angry. Which is understandable given the, ahem, “state” he was left in by Eames. But there’s also a silly side to him, such as him refusing to acknowledge that he’s in labor because if he doesn’t acknowledge it, it isn’t happening, right? Oh Arthur - honey bear, boo child - that’s not how that works, lol.

As stated by the little preview I gave last week, the fact that the pregnancy isn’t explained is another thing I love. Oh sure, we know HOW Arthur got pregnant (you see, when a Forger and a Point Man love each other very much…), but just how men in general can get pregnant is open to interpretation; you’re left to draw your own conclusions, which I greatly appreciate. Same with the birth itself - how exactly the child came out of Arthur and into the world is not super elaborated upon, other than, obviously, it was a natural birth. Fill in the blanks as you see fit.

And, of course, happy ending. Maybe a bit ambiguous (there is still danger afoot), but for at least a moment, they can just exist as a family of three. It’s very sweet.

Last note, for one of my all-time favorite lines in any Inception fic ever:

Sometimes (most of the time) Arthur just really wanted to punch Eames in the nuts.

Beautiful.

———

Next Week: How about some Cherik again? And this one is a nice little non-mutant AU, featuring paralyzed soldier!Charles and catatonic Holocaust survivor!Erik. It hurts before it gets better, but the hurt is so good.

Until next time!

[sabrinatvband]

A Simple and Incomplete History of Comic Rough Layouts Before Computers

I made a previous post here [Warning: NSFW] that briefly discussed doing rough layouts for comics. I mentioned that doing rough layouts has become increasingly common over time, and that it wasn't very common in the past.

[This picture has nothing to do with layouts; I just needed something before the page break.]

[Note: Apparently Ed Piskor is a massive creep. This was not public knowledge when I wrote this post, and so apologies for all the references to Cartoonist Kayfabe.]

I also included a link to a great Cartoonist Kayfabe video [embed below] on layouts which included a few examples. I believe the oldest example in the video was some roughs done by Harvey Kurtzman in the 50s.

Anyways, this introduction is getting a little gnarly and inelegant . . . but I'm basically going to repeat myself again, for everyone who isn't looking at the old post, but with a lot more detail and elaboration.

In the past, it was less common than it is today for artists to do rough versions of a page before making their final version. Most artists did everything "on the board" as they went along for a variety of reasons, the biggest one being a lack of time.

Back when residuals and sales bonuses didn't exist in the comics field [up until some point in the 80s], most professional artists were drawing at least two 20~ page comics a month. Prolific artists like Jack Kirby did even more than that, and most artists who worked for Marvel or DC couldn't make a living doing only one book.

Guys working at DC, and most other comic places, worked using "full scripts". Which is to say, basically a screenplay, but for making comics. Since most DC books used conventional and strict grids, and all of the pacing had already been worked out by the writer, there wasn't much reason for a confident journeyman to do any layouts.

The guys at Marvel, who worked using the "Marvel Method", basically had to plot the stories themselves off of a simple, often verbal synopsis of what the plot would be. [If it sounds like the comic artists also basically wrote the comics themselves, you'd be correct.]

Some comic artists were natural intuitive storytellers, like Jack Kirby. Others, like Gene Colan, had trouble pacing their work. The stories would flow just fine initially, and would then conclude with a few 12~ panel pages as the issue started to reach an end. Even Jack Kirby, when ending his Madbomb Captain America opus, had a few awkward overstuffed final pages to wrap things up.

[From Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics. Image source. Upscaled for readability by me.]

These Marvel artists probably wished that they could do rough layouts in advance, but the aforementioned time restrictions usually prevented that. John Romita Sr. produced the thumbnails above for Savage Tales #1, published in 1971. Romita Sr. was an artist with a notably clean look to his work; he eventually became the art director of Marvel. Just for fun, I've included a side-by-side layout/finished page comparison below.

Going into the 80s, some smaller independent publishers like Eclipse and Pacific started to emerge that let comic artists own all of their work, get the bulk of profits on their books, and receive residuals. In response, Marvel and DC started to give residuals to artists [but obviously not ownership over any new characters they created].

I believe it was at this point that it became a lot more common for comic artists to devote more time to roughs, because this is also when it became more common for an artist to only do one book a month. This is simple and reductive math, but basically, 30~ days to draw 20~ pages.

I mentioned Harvey Kurtzman as a guy who was doing layouts in the 50s, and it's not a coincidence he seems to have been a particularly early guy to do them. Kurtzman was very valued by EC Comics, and subsequently Playboy Magazine, and so he was paid a lot to write comics in layout form, mostly for other artists to do the final artwork on. Here are two examples of his layouts:

Scott McCloud was doing intense layouts back in the 80s with Zot!. He describes his layout process as being excessive, but it honestly doesn't look too far removed from what a lot of artists do these days.

[From Tips From Top Cartoonists by Eclipse Books. Photo credit TotalEclipse. Upscaled for readability by me.]

In the illustration below [from Understanding Comics, an essential text] we can see that Scott McCloud kept a two-page layout above his drafting table on a clipboard. I've seen other comic artists do this in a handful of old photographs; I imagine that somebody at the Marvel or DC offices came up with this and it spread throughout the industry, much like Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work.

The 22 Panels were a tool that, for a time, was taped to an upper corner of every comic artist's drafting table in America. This allowed artists to draw by the seat of their pants with a little more style. The 22 Panels aren't super relevant here, but Wally Wood was doing layouts in the 60s for Daredevil. It's possible he started doing layouts because he worked from Kurtzman layouts back in his Entertaining Comics days. It's also possible that he hated doing revisions, and made these layouts to get an all-clear from Stan Lee before starting his work [Wood inked and pencilled].

[Image source]

I particularly like this rough / final comparison because there are some notable differences between them. Wood realized that having the final panel part of a three column row didn't give it enough space, and so he shifted around the preceding four compositions, one of which was discarded and replaced entirely.

May as well earn the "Mature: Sexual Themes" rating I've given this post. Here's a later rough / final comparison Wood did for a porno comic.

[Image source]

Don Simpson was doing layouts as far back as the early 90s, and presumably much earlier. As noted in the image below, the initial sketches were done on 8.5" x 11" sheets and enlarged to bristol board size [more on this momentarily.]

Don Simpson has a lot of great information about his working methods on King Kong on his blog; here are two especially relevant posts [warning: some NSFW stuff] Link 1 Link 2

Artists were able to enlarge their work back in the day using a photocopier, something that I had assumed wasn't possible to do with consumer equipment before computers existed.

[image source]

I assume that the percentage needed to enlarge a full 8.5" x 11" page to bristol board size was always the same, but for enlarging random isolated sketches for implementation in a comic a proportional scale could be used.. From what I've gathered, it was very common for comic artists to draw complex perspective stuff at a smaller size and then basically trace an enlarged version for the final comic. [For the unaware, it takes a lot of space to draw 2 or 3 point perspective stuff that doesn't look noticably distorted.]

As I've been watching Cartoonist Kayfabe and their "artist edition" videos lately, I've been discovering that artists had ways of working around the limitations of drawing without layers back in the day.

The relevant stuff in this video is the amount of alterations he did to his art as he went along [there were many creative differences with inker Klaus Janson], stuff he seems to have lightboxed or photocopied off of drawings done on scraps of paper, etc.

Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns had a creative process about as labor intensive and fastidious as you'd expect, considering the 4x4 grids used throughout the book. Miller claims that he illustrated about 100 pages of rough material for every 48 pages of TDKR, and that he cut out individual panels and presumably pasted them onto a page of "master rough bristol board", which he then possibly lightboxed or merely referred to while drawing [possibly using a setup similar to the one Scott McCloud had above his own drafting table].

[Text from Comics Interview #31. Image source, upscaled for readability as usual.]

The trade I own of TDKR says that the first two issues were full-scripted, and Miller did the last two issues using detailed synopses he wrote. When this is considered in conjunction with Miller's comments above, some questions are raised [he was in the middle of issue three when doing the interview above.]

It's possible that the full script included further refinements that weren't in the rough layouts, acting as a penultimate draft. It's also possible that the full script was created mostly for dialogue-related additions.

Below is the first page of a "Marvel Method" style text breakdown Miller used in some capacity for the last issue of TDKR. Unlike the Stan Lee Marvel method approach, which usually consisted of a brief verbal prompt or a few sentences of text, Miller provided himself with a very comprehensive document [I often wonder what guys like Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway gave their writers]. I do wonder if this was meant for editors moreso than Miller himself, and I wonder when he made this document during the creative process; he includes some sketches of Batman that look nothing like the Batman that would appear in the final book. [Certain elements of this document notably deviate from the finished story.]

You're probably wondering why I have such a fascination with this stuff. A big part of it is that I'm a comic artist myself, and so any kind of process stuff is very interesting to me. It's inspiring and frequently educational, because the solutions that old masters used often still have some relevance today. Any modern comic artist who doesn't know what creators did back in the day attempting to do everything "on the board" directly is going to have some trouble.

The other reason is that I think the iterative creative approach a lot of newer comics use is what makes them more enjoyable to read than a lot of manga, but that's a discussion for another time.

Anyways, to hopefully end things on an interesting note, here's a rough from an old comic I never finished. Every panel was drawn seperately on sketchbook paper, photographed, and the final layout was assembled in software.