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choicesenthusiast · 4 years ago

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Reconceptualizing Distant Shores

So it seems like y’all really liked my reconceptualization of The Nanny Affair so I decided to give it a shot with Distant Shores! Basically just me word-vomiting ideas on how the story could’ve went rather than writing a whole fic or a rewrite. This one’s a little longer though. Hope you like it!

So instead of making MC an actor (cause we’ve seen too many of the those celebrity professions here in the Choices multiverse), how about we make them a historian? Someone who is so enthralled by the past, especially the pirate era that they’re actually so baffled to be taken back in time to the period that they’ve dedicated their life to learning about. The time travel could be a metaphor for how they’re so stuck in the past that they are afraid of the future or something profound like that.

Edward’s a really horrible person. Like, a scummy pirate who sinks ships just for the fun of it. But you’re stuck with him because he holds the compass, the object required to travel back in time. You hate him, but in time you impress him with your historical expertise, and change him into a better person. He stops being the ultimate pirate warlord villain we all wished he was. At first you wanted to get as far away from him as possible, but by the end of the book you don’t want to leave him. Growth.

Oliver should’ve gotten Edward’s backstory. I think the reason why his writing was so bad was because his and Edward’s stories were too similar, and PB expended all the effort of this story on Edward, leaving nothing left for Oliver. Now imagine, Oliver’s character is properly morally grey; he still has the violent motivations that the Admiral raised him to believe were right, but they’re slowly wearing away in realization that he’s been raised evil. He wants the revenge on the Admiral, not Edward.

Charlie is Edward’s first mate, rather than just a quartermaster, and she’s pretty awful in the beginning as well. But she starts to open up about how she was always inferior to her father, the Governor, and how she’s inferior to Edward. She wants to captain her own crew and be in charge for once. The only reason she’s on the Revenge is because this is the best crew in the sea and she only accepts the best for herself. Like with the others, you slowly begin to positively influence her and it turns out you want to stay in the past for her too.

Upon landing in the past, you end up on the Poseidon’s Revenge, but instead of fighting the admiral, you’re boarding a random cargo ship. Really dark stuff, just to introduce how awful Edward and Charlie and the crew really are. Oliver, who deserted the Navy and stowed away on this cargo ship, ends up on the revenge as prisoner, because he’s the only one who put up a fight. This way, he’s also introduced in the beginning instead of, like, 6 chapters in. You also end up as prisoner, because “how the hell did they end up on this ship?”.

Before he’s forced to walk the plank, Oliver drops the bomb that he wants revenge on the Admiral. The crew is skeptical, cause that’s the hardest target in the seas. But Oliver knows the ins-and-outs of his ship, because Daddy’s Boy, y’know? So they agree.

The plan doesn’t go well. Oliver is confronted by the Admiral, with you, Edward, and Charlie also in the room, and he reveals that Oliver’s his son. The three of you are convinced that he betrayed you. The Revenge is still blown up, and the crew is all dejected on the ship, and on the beach, Oliver tries to regain your trust by stealing his father’s most prized possession: a second compass. Robert (don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about him), who doesn’t mutiny at all (because he’s living the dream, pillaging with the crew, and there’s literally no reason to mutiny) is suddenly more interested than you’ve ever seen him. The two compasses do their glowy thing, but there’s a third piece to the puzzle: you. You know that following the compasses will lead you back to your time. You just have to get there alive first.

Nobody knows what it leads to, but you suspect that it’s the greatest treasure in all the land (the “Pirate Queen” detail was pretty much irrelevant, so why leave it in?) because all of your historical knowledge. The Admiral is now out for you, because he knew all about the treasure but didn’t know about the second compass. He puts a bounty on your crew.

Throughout the story, the time rifts become more and more consistent, and one night, Robert confronts you in your cabin and interrogates you all about the future, and the compasses, and the treasure. And guess what? He’s from the future too. He says that he notices the time rifts too. Enter “tragic backstory”, where he tells you that the compasses are to be destroyed to set things right again, and why he wants you to stay out of his way. Instead of a sad, badly-written secondary villain, he’s like an anti-hero, just wants to mind his own business and let natural selection run its course.

In the temple, time is warping like crazy, and you know your own time is running out. You get to choose who kills the Admiral (imagine the power if it was Oliver). Your LI, who was hit by the poison dart, is halfway to death, and here is the climax of the story: choose whether to stay or return to the future. Staying means that your LI might die and reality as you know it may collapse because of the time rifts, but you get to be together. Leaving means that the timeline is set right again and your LI lives, but you’ll be apart.

If you leave, you say a tearful goodbye, give your LI one compass and keep one for yourself. Bonus points if there’s some sappy inscription on the compass that says something like “This, which leads you to the greatest treasure” and the treasure is actually your LI. Symbolism. You return to your job as a historian, but you see the second compass in the museum, ask the curator if you could look at it (for research purposes; you’re a historian, after all) and are able to return to the past for a Book 2.

If you stay, you say a tearful goodbye. Reality almost collapses, until it doesn’t. Then you see Robert, sword stuck through the compasses, and the timeline realigns itself. He saves all of you. You’re now stuck in the past, but you don’t mind, because you get to be with your LI. You leave the temple alive, ready for more adventures in a Book 2.

Either way, you get to choose your fate, and either way, the crew will return for a Book 2. The characters and their backstories/motivations make more sense and are more fleshed out, and the time plot makes more sense than it did in the book (I probably could’ve elaborated on things a little more but this post is already way too long).

I really enjoyed writing this one up! Feel free to add any thoughts or feedback. I’m really enjoying exploring the potential of what Choices’ flopped books could’ve been. More to come!

#playchoices #choices stories you play #distant shores #choices reconceptualized

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minhoslut · 4 years ago

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♡ summary: Reader is traded to a band of pirates in return for the safety of her village because of her plant magic. They are not like she expected, much more like her than she could even imagine in fact. This is a journey through their relationships and the high seas they sail on.

♡ pairing: superm x fem!reader, superm x eachother

♡ chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 | ? |

♡ series warnings: blood mention, injury mention, swearing, anxiety, death mention, depression, weapons, mxm

♡ series genre: romance, smut, angst

♡ series rating: Mature

♡ word count: 2364

♡ posted on: AO3

♡ chapter two: on board

You woke with a start when the boat lurched in some rough waves and were quickly reminded where you were. You sat up in the bed and surveyed the cabin. It was dark now, your eyes adjusted to the lack of light and you could make out the shapes of bodies on the beds. The rest of the crew must have come to bed once they finished their duties. You couldn’t fall back asleep, feeling restless in the bed. No one else seemed to be awake, so you carefully lowered yourself off the bunk, cringing when you landed harder than you meant to. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to wake anyone so you crept over to the door and opened it slowly before slipping out.

Walking through the maze of the hallways, you eventually managed to surface on the deck. There were a few crew members around who gave you looks but ultimately stayed away. It was odd, but so was the Captain so it didn’t surprise you much. You wandered to the edge of the ship watching the waves crash against the sides. The moon and stars were bright so it was easier to see then inside the ship. You were in the middle of the ocean now, no land in sight. It made you shiver. You had never been out this far before and it was nerve-wracking. The air tasted salty and there was a breeze in the cool night. You sighed lightly as you watched the reflection of the sky in the open sea.

You felt a presence behind you and turned to find the dark red-haired man, Ten if you remembered correctly, standing there. “I don’t think you’re supposed to be out here, hm?” He asked, a smile playing across his lips. “It’s not like I can go anywhere anyway. I couldn’t sleep so I came for some air.” You turned away from him again and leaned against the side of the boat with your arms resting on the edge. Ten leaned his back against the boat beside you and studied your face. You huffed, “Do you need something?” -- “Not particularly.” -- “Then stop staring at me, it’s annoying.” These men were so strange, it was frustrating the way they all seemed to know something you didn’t.

“You’re a strange woman, Y/N. You have plant magic correct? Show me.” You glared at him and grew a small yellow carnation in your palm. His eyes twinkled at your show and he extended an open palm to ask for the plant. Handing him the flower you returned your eyes to the sea. “Beautiful isn’t it? I love watching the night sea, that’s why I never mind when I get charged with steering at night.” You turned to him quickly, “Who’s steering now then?” Ten chuckled at the panic in your voice. “Don’t worry I put someone else on it to cover for me. It can be left for a little anyway, we aren’t in any hurry.” Slowly, you relaxed back into your previous position, feeling your eyes begin to droop.

“Let’s get you back to bed little one.” Ten said softly, standing up straight and walking towards the entrance to the lower levels of the ship. You followed after him, entering the room he opened the door to. Ten didn’t come in so you assumed he was returning to his post. You attempted to get on the bed again but found yourself unsuccessful just like you were earlier. Letting out a frustrated sigh you laid down on the wooden floor beside Taemin and your bunk, closing your eyes and letting the rocking ship lull you back to sleep.

When you woke up again it was when Taemin fell on top of you. “Ack, what the fuck?” He cried landing half on you and half on the floor. You groaned and tried to shove him off of yourself as he scrambled to get off you himself. Taemin offered a hand once he got up which you accepted with a huff. “Why were you on the floor?” Taemin asked letting go of your hand. You felt nervous suddenly, feeling the other men in the room looking at you. They all seemed to have changed into looser garb for sleeping, you noticed as you looked around at each of them. Ten was missing from the group as was Lucas and the Captain of course. You didn’t like being stared at, especially by these pirates.

“I couldn’t get back up on the bed, ok?” You admitted, looking at your bare feet. “Why’d you get down then?” Mark asked, raising his brow. You blushed, you honestly hadn’t even thought about it when you’d gotten out of bed originally. “How stupid.” Mark said, shaking his head at you, making you clench your teeth. You were learning that this Mark was extremely frustrating. You glared at him before pushing past Taemin and heading towards the door. Taeyong grabbed your arm, “And where exactly do you think you’re going?” -- “Anywhere but here.” -- “Too bad you’re confined to quarters until Captain says otherwise.” Narrowing your eyes at the purple-haired man, you shook yourself free of his grip and stomped over to Taemins bed and sat down.

“Baekhyun, stay with her while we check with the Captain.” Taemin said as he turned and exited the room with Mark and Taeyong in tow. Baekhyun sat on the bunk across from you, watching your eyes closely. “They mean well, they just like to follow Captains orders.” He said softly. Him and Taemin spoke to you as if you might break if they were to speak harshly. “I don’t care, I just hate being trapped, and I hate this ship.” You grumbled, turning away from his intense gaze. “Fair enough, I understand.” -- “No you don’t! You kidnapped me from my home and are keeping me hostage on this ship. I’ve never left my home before! This is terrifying, and you’re all acting like I'm overreacting to this.”

The room was silent after your outburst. “I’m sorry. I can’t change it and I’m not allowed to explain why we took you. All I can offer is my comradery.” His words sounded sincere but you weren’t sure if you should really trust him. He felt similar to the way Taemin did, somehow comforting and trustworthy despite the fact that they were pirates and had kidnapped you. You sighed, which you had done way too many times already since being taken, and gave a weak smile. “Ok, then can we get out of this room?” You asked with puppy dog eyes, which seemed to work because Baekhyun stood up and went to the door.

Following after him, you shut the door behind you. From what you remembered of the ship Baekhyun seemed to be leading you down to the galley again. Your guess was correct, you saw Lucas and Ten sitting at the same table from yesterday, which Baekhyun led you over to. He sat you beside Lucas and went to grab some food, which turned out to be some kind of porridge, then sat across from you beside Ten. “Eat, you didn’t have dinner last night.” Baekhyun said as he handed you a spoon. You accepted and took a tentative bite, surprised when the porridge was actually pretty tasty.

You didn’t like the fact that you could feel the three men watching you eat so you put your spoon down and just waited until they fell into their own conversation before continuing to eat. A shout pulled your attention and you lifted your head to see your roommates from earlier marching towards you with the Captain. “Baekhyun, she was supposed to be kept in the room.” Taeyong said, glaring at you and Baekhyun. “It’s breakfast Yong, everyone’s gotta eat, sit down.” Baekhyun said nonchalantly, eating another spoonful.

You saw the Taemin hiding a smile behind the Captain when he made eye contact with you. “But the Captain said-” Mark was interrupted by said man, “It’s fine, he was just doing what he thought was right.” Jongin said, making Baekhyun smile mockingly at Mark. The four men sat down after getting their own food. Taeyong slid in beside you and Mark beside him while Taemin sat beside Baekhyun and Jongin sat at the head of the table again.

Once everyone had begun eating Jongin looked at you, “So, Y/N, today you will be assigned to working with Taeyong while he does his rounds, then in the evening you will be with Mark.” You saw both men make a face at his announcement but hide it quickly and give him a nod. Staying silent, you groaned internally, the two who you dislike the most just had to be the ones he chose. Maybe it would have been better to be a prisoner left alone all day instead of integrated into the crew or whatever the Captain was doing.

When your table had finished eating everyone stood up, “Taeyong, once you’re changed come and get the Holder from my room.” Jongin ordered, then began to leave the room, making you scramble to follow after at his quick pace. He didn’t say anything to you as you followed after him, just continued walking to his quarters. You just followed, watching his broad back move through the hallways. Why did he even tell you to come with him anyway?

Reaching his room the two of you entered, Jongin shutting the door behind you. He gestured to a chair, which you sat in, watching as the Captain paced the room. “Would you show me your gift again?” He asked, looking at you expectantly. “Gift huh.” You scoffed under your breath, making Jongin raise a brow. Growing a yellow carnation and handing it to the Captain as he walked by and he studied it in his hands. “Is this all you can do?” He asked sitting against his desk across from you, “No, but this is the easiest display. What do you want me to do?” You questioned him, playing with your hands in your lap.

It was silent for a moment, you could feel Jongins eyes on you, making you anxious. “Can you make fruits? Vegetables?” Food. He wanted to know if you could make food. Well, you supposed that made sense. You grew a strawberry in your palm, “I can, yes. It takes more energy though, especially for larger things.” Jongin stared at you, unmoving. You ate the strawberry, letting the sweet taste take you back to your garden. You grew strawberries there year-round, it took less energy to grow things in the actual place they would naturally grow. Again you wished to be back there instead of on this wretched ship.

A knock on the door broke the silence, “Come in.” The Captain called, standing straight again. Taeyong entered the room dressed in some tight brown pants and a loose white button-up that was belted at the waist. Jongin waved his hand and Taeyong nodded, grabbing your arm and pulling you with him out the door. Stumbling after him, you tried to pull yourself out of his grip, “I'm coming, let go!” You growled at the purple-haired man, but you were completely ignored. Taeyong finally released you when you both reached the deck where a few crew members were mopping.

“Get to work.” He said monotonously, handing you a mop. You stared at him but decided a fight wasn’t worth it. You were still not sure if they would get violent with you, so you just settled with mopping whilst grumbling to yourself. This was all kinds of annoying, cleaning whilst being under the eye of an enemy and on a pirate ship at that. It was like doing the work you had to do at home minus the small bits of happiness you had found. Great. Someone kicked your knees from behind, causing you to fall onto your knees and drop the broom.

“Take a closer look, does that look clean to you?” You scowled up at Taeyong, the culprit behind your sudden greeting with the wooden deck. Standing up, you continued mopping, this time with extra vigor and a purposeful look sent to Taeyong. Fucking pirates. You continued to work for a while longer as Taeyong paced the deck observing your and the other people cleaning the decks work ethic. A soft voice made its way to your ears as you scrubbed the salt and grime from the boards, and you were surprised to find the source to be your watchman himself. Taeyong was singing softly as he leaned against the edge of the boat, watching the sea move by. How curious.

Eventually, Mark came along to collect you, thankfully he let you walk on your own, unlike some people who act like complete brutes. He didn’t speak to you at all, simply led you around the ship while he spoke with various crew members about the ships condition and various supplies that would be needed next time the boat was docked. It was mind-numbingly boring, you were tired of walking around being stared at by crew members and ignored by Mark. Why were you even following him anymore? Maybe you should just go back to the room or go explore the boat?

You stopped walking and watched Mark continue on his way for a few feet before he stopped as well. He turned to face you, “Why did you stop?” He asked, frustration lacing his voice. “You aren’t even speaking to me, why must I follow you around for nothing?” You countered, crossing your arms. “Captain asked me to show you what I do, this is it. My job as the boatswain is to make sure everything that makes the ship stay afloat is working and to find out what supplies we need when we get to land. I don’t want to have you following me around anymore then you do, but this is Captains orders and I will follow them as will you.” Mark said walking closer to you until he was barely an inch away, “Got it?” You nodded and he backed away, turned and continued walking. You begrudgingly followed after him, a scowl prominent on your face.

#superm #superm x reader #lee taeyong #byun baekhyun #kim jongin #lee taemin #mark lee #lucas wong #ten #high seas

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hopeduckling13 · 6 years ago

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A Wish Come True: Chapter 19

Summary: How quickly can your mood change from pure happiness to pure horror? In a millisecond.The day Killian and Emma found out they were true love, they were ecstatic. That is until, they were forced to say goodbye to each other. For forever. Or so they thought.Can they still manage to find their true love for each other after five years of seperation or is it too late?

Fandom: Once Upon A Time

Ship: Captain Swan

Rating: M

Setting: 5 years after 5x20 Firebird

Also on AO3, FF.net and Wattpad

Catch up on Tumblr: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6] [Chapter 7] [Chapter 8] [Chapter 9] [Chapter 10] [Chapter 11] [Chapter 12] [Chapter 13] [Chapter 14] [Chapter 15] [Chapter 16] [Chapter 17] [Chapter 18]

Reblog to be tagged in future chapters: @mcakers @mackietack

~~~ EMMA’S POV ~~~

After our fight, we settle down on the couch. I’m cuddled against Killian’s side with his arm tightly around me. We eat the rest of the onion rings and then the pancakes. I must admit, that it’s a weird mix, but not exactly bad. I like it a lot, actually.

Throughout our meal, Killian and I talk about everything and nothing - clearly trying to avoid everything that we still need to discuss.

But I think we’re good for now. The fight seems to be over. That’s nice since I hated every second of it.

Now we’re okay.

At least that’s what I thought. That changed though as soon as I sense, that Killian is still tense, so naturally I try to make him feel better. I want him to be happy even if we have to argue again in order to achieve that. It’s a risk I’m willing to take.

“You’re forgiven, you know that right?” I ask him gently, running my hand over his leg.

“I’m not sure I forgive myself.” He says sadly.

That’s not a surprise, actually. I imagined, that something like this is still in his head.

That’s where you can see how much he redeemed himself. He isn’t overconfident like everyone else. He still doubts himself at times. He can admit when he’s wrong. Not many people are capable of that.

He always wants to apologize and try to right his mistakes.

Ultimately that’s the definition of redemption - not just stopping to do bad things but to actually make up for your past and be sorry to the people you wronged.

He might’ve been a villain in the past, but now he’s a real hero - my hero.

That’s also one more reason why my mother’s opinion on Carter being better for me is ridiculous. Killian managed to turn his life around for me. That shows incredible strength and commitment. I don’t remember Carter accomplishing anything even slightly similar to this!

“I never should’ve considered abandoning you. I don’t even know how I could have thought it’s a good idea. I know how it feels to lose you, so I don’t know how I could – “

“Shush.” I put my finger on his lips. “You wouldn’t have lost me. No matter what.”

I smile at him and move my hand to his cheek. I caress it softly. “Either me or Henry would’ve figured out the ship’s missing. I would’ve gone after it and then I would’ve found you. Finding the people we love is our family motto after all.”

I never would’ve let someone take away the second most important thing to Killian. I would’ve raised hell on whoever even tried, so I know my previous statement to be true. I would’ve been the pirate Killian thought I could be when we were trapped in the past.

Also, the Jolly Rodger always reminded me of him, so there’s no way I would’ve let it go without a fight. It’s where I spend many nights - especially in the beginning. Sleeping there made me feel safe - like as if Killian was still there with me. Now I know, that’s probably because he lived on his ship in the Underworld.

So, technically we spend many nights together on his ship. We just weren’t in the same realm. But the same place nonetheless.

“You would have gone after my ship?” He says while a gasp escapes his mouth. His voice is barely above a whisper. His face is all soft like he can’t believe anyone would do that for him. That must be how I looked like when he told me about trading his ship for me.

I smile at the memory.

That was the moment I realized, that I was falling in love with him. I started to trust him completely. I wasn’t afraid of falling for him any longer. So, it’s when I first noticed, that I couldn’t run away from my feelings for him any longer - that I didn’t even have any reason to.

“Aye.” I mimic. I chuckle. “Of course, it was your home. It was a piece of you – one that I could still hold on to. And it means a lot to Henry, too. He loves that ship. I don’t even know how much time he spent there during the past five years. He got quite good at sailing. It’s his favorite hobby. I think it makes him feel connected to you in some way. He missed you a lot.”

Killian raises his eyebrow. “He did?” He asks like it’s the most unlikely thing in the world.

He really doesn’t know, does he? He still thinks, I’m the only person in this world, who cares about him. But that’s not true.

There are many people, who love him a lot.

“Of course,” I say. “He loves you.”

Killian smiles shyly. I chuckle at the gesture. It’s just so adorable.

I gently run my hand through his hair.

“You know, that many people care about you here, right? It’s not just me, Killian. You have friends in town and my family is your family, okay? No matter how stupid my mother is acting right now.” I say.

He doesn’t answer. Nor does he look particularly convinced.

I continue. “I mean, you really grew on my dad. You’re like his best friend. And to Henry, you’re a great father figure. He never really had a dad - except for that short time Neal was in his life - but now he has you. Anyway, the point is you belong to this family. It might not be official, but we both know we won’t break up. Neither one of us is going to let that happen. So, you belong here and that won’t ever change, okay?”

He looks at me with puppy eyes and eventually nods. After a moment, a smile starts to form at the corners of his lips. He leans forward and pecks my lips softly.

“I love you, my love.” He puts his hand on my mine and removes it from his cheek. He kisses the back of it softly, before interlacing our fingers.

“I love you, too. Never forget that.” I smile brightly at him. I hesitate then but decide to ask anyway. “Are we okay now?”

He nods.

Then, he pulls me into his arms. He rests against the back of the sofa. I cuddle into his embrace and put my head on his chest. I lie my hand on his heart and my ear right next to it.

The steady beat of his heart soon soothes me into a peaceful sleep - a good one for the first time in five years.

#a wish come true #captain swan #cs #Emma swan #killian jones #season 5 #post firebird #ouat #once upon a time #fluff #angst #fanfiction #ff #fanfic #fic

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abundantchewtoys · 6 years ago

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HS Epi: Meat p11 reaction

Is the resolution of the Masterpiece really going to fall in between pages about Jane & Jake's fake date?

Maybe not. Maybe we'll see something from John's perspective first, inside the house juju. Giving himself the retcon powers. Coming to terms about some things. But I suspect he won't be able to contact anyone. At least, it would surprise (and entice!) me if someone contacted him while he's hidden away so remotely in there... Speaking of contact, how did John intend to have read anything inside the juju without his glasses or contacts? You can only spend so much time squinting.

I also wonder what they'll do when they're let out. I mean, they haven't become any better at fighting, and LE has. John won't zap his friends, Vriska and Davepetasprite^2 away to confer in a more secure location, right? Assuming he still has his retcon powers by the end of his stay in the house juju.

---

"That’s that, you think. Your glasses are broken forever, and you totally fucked up and underestimated young Lord English. Rose should have known better than to trust this to you alone." Well, I guess having a mental breakdown is one way to pass the time. I'd rather he had some sort of breakthrough instead, though. As for the glasses... Maybe a non-final death will restore them? Or by ascending to his Ultimate Self god tier. Whatever that'd do to his personality...

"Rose, Rose... your smart, amazing friend Rose, you can almost hear her voice now.

> Listen closer, jackass." ... Ah, so Reload Rose and the others can still talk. Their jails neighbour each other after all - they represent the four blocks of the house - but I didn't think it'd be enough for them to confer. Though, I rather think they're limited in what they can do in here, right? Unless... Unless by being in the house juju, they can influence some things inside the plot, still put some things in place so some time loops are fulfilled and stuff is prepared for bringing down LE!

Pretty sure they're barred, narratively, from performing a jail break, though. :P

Ya know, I've talked about the sentiments behind the narrative prompts before, and I just now realized that the kind of intruisive, inflammable language they use are a throwback to Homestuck's narration, since now that we have this POV-type story, the language there in is more shaped towards the person in question.

"You’ve only realized right now that your cell has walls, because it’s awfully bright in here. It’s so white that nothing in the cell is casting a shadow. Looking around, you realize there is no apparent source to all this bright light, making it hard to tell where the floor ends and the walls begin." Oh, I figured it was dark for him, but yeah, the house is white. Maybe the jail cell looks to each as what their idea of being imprisoned in a house-shaped object should be like, and proportions of the space go to match that? Hence why John can't yet tell the floor from the walls, he's got only an inkling of an idea. :P

"JOHN: yeah, i’m here. ROSE: Oh, thank goodness. Everyone’s accounted for then." Hah, John spaced out while the others reconnected. Nice. I'm interested to see what ideas Rose will bring to the table.

So it all comes back to four kids, standing idly in separate rooms, huh. :P

"Are you okay? JOHN: what? ROSE: Are you OKAY?" Okay, either the walls muffle the sound of John is like "this situation does not warrant the use of the word 'okay', rose. 'okay' is definitely not how i would describe us being right now."

"JOHN: i think so. i can barely hear you though.

You can hear a thud from Rose’s corner, like someone slumping against the wall in relief. Well, that’s what you’re doing at least." That's pretty much all she needed to hear right now.

"DAVE: this is kinda dorky to say out loud but i dont DAVE: feel... time" ... They're cut off from all their aspects now, are they? That'd just make them ordinary people. :/ Or maybe it's in reference to time outside of the juju passing way faster, relatively.

"DAVE: thats not just me right you guys feel it too DAVE: or dont JADE: yeah JADE: i mean theres obviously space inside this box but i cant do ANYTHING JADE: its like im blind" ... Okay, so I'm left to wonder. Would the egg sword and Jade's First Guardian powers still be usable? I'm assuming Dave had it out, so even if their sylladexes are inaccessible they might be able to do something.

"The noise outside the juju grows. Something sharp and metallic splinters above and rains down on the top of the chest." That isn't something to do with the pirate party finding the chest in the dreambubbles... So then, what? Did the B2 kids do something with the chest after exiling (excorcising? ... INcorcising?) Caliborn into Lil Cal?

Blaperile has a good point. Do all the soul splices inside Lil Cal experience this in the same way? ... Do all the soul splices in LORD ENGLISH experience this in the same way?? In the sense that the mobster is just a prison they can't escape or influence?

"ROSE: What did my future self say it was we had to do? JOHN: erm... she never rea—" Oh this is going to be so embarrassing.

"The metallic noises rain down harder, drowning out Rose’s attempt at being loud." ... It's that the noises are metallic, otherwise I was almost beginning to think it was more like the white noise. And that would have made me think of the Scratch. That would sure be something though, if the B2 kids initiated a Scratch of Caliborn's session. Actually, what if that was how Alternate Calliope's timeline came to be...

"JOHN: NOW I CAN’T HEAR YOU! JADE: TRY USING LESS WORDS

The length of the silence coming from Rose’s corner communicates just how difficult a task that is for her." Pfffffffff. Incoming character development for Rose: being concise.

"JADE: WHAT????? JOHN: I KNOW IT’S ALL A BIT ABSTRACT, BUT... JADE: NO, I JUST CAN’T HEAR YOU! DAVE: JOHN YOU SUCK AT YELLING JOHN: UGH!" Pfffff, I thought John would be better at yelling coherently, being Karkat's counterpole. ... Blaperile points out the similarity with Karkat sucking at whispering. XD

"Now you understand defeating young Lord English was never supposed to happen. Not the way Adult Rose was implying it would. You surmise the other four teens remaining outside the juju were the ones meant to be tasked with his defeat." It just sucks that John has to come to these admittedly wrong decisions by himself and couldn't have been given more information to work with.

"And judging from the cacophony still emanating from beyond the walls of this house and its confining chest, they are taking the task seriously." Okay, so the B2 kids' fight is still going on. Still unsure what the metal sounds could be about though. Aside from Dirk hacking at the chest with his unbreakable katana.

"But what does this mean for the four of you?" John, don't lose hope, you said it yourself, you'll be unloaded... some time.

"You try to picture what’s going on in the battle outside, but it’s not easy.

> Use your imagination." Of course, the house juju's powers run on imagination! :P No, wait, he's just going to give us his idea of the proceedings of the rest of the Masterpiece. Sadly, he doesn't have any clay at hand. :P

"The coolness of the action in your mind’s eye is belied by the actual sound effects booming all around you, which you can only describe as vaguely stupid." Welp, guess the bar of wedgies is still being cleared only marginally.

"There’s a lot of hysterical screaming, which, if you’re not mistaken, is coming exclusively from the male combatants. ... Well, Dirk IS living and breathing anime. :P

"Almost as if an outrageous bubble of pure Hope were enveloping the stage, is how you would describe it if you didn’t mind sounding ridiculous." Hah, John still doesn't believe in the application of Hope.

"Then you hear... it can’t be. Horses?? No, not simple horses of flesh and bone. These horses are metal, if we’re to believe they’re horses at all." Oh! Right, Arquiusprite summoned those Metalhoofs. Well, that's what I picture they were, Caliborn represented them with metal horse figures... But perhaps he even created robo-centaur butlers and the like. *shivers*

"You figure no one will ever truly know what’s happening out there. You doubt anyone would even be able to handle how incredible the raw, unfiltered account of this teen brawl actually was, so it’s probably for the best." Welp, and we were doing so well just now. :P Eh, it seems the battle unfolded pretty much exactly as foretold, only with some of the more stupid details removed, curtousy of Caliborn's impatience with stupidity. Which in this case might not have been entirely bad. :P

"you overhear Dave from one of the rooms below you, raising his voice to speak to either you or someone else." Right, they are not all on the same level, since it's a house-shaped prison. Uh, but wasn't Dave supposed to be in the part of the house with the extra window? It's been too long, I probably misremember. Oh, wait, yeah, they went through the fourth wall via one of the bottom panes, and it stood for Dave. Never mind.

"Once more you ruefully reflect on these teen versions of your friends, and all the questions they must have for you. For each other. What would you even say to them?" The responsibilities of an adult, John never expected they'd be this hard. He must be growing more appreciative of what his Dad went through with him without even knowing it.

"You’re not even sure you could handle it, if you were Teen John. You’d have too many follow-up questions, which Adult John is in no way prepared to answer." Still, I wouldn't mind a little one-on-one between Johns. A John-on-John, I suppose. In a serious way, nothing from the animes.

"Would you tell them about Terezi..." Oooh, does he suddenly get an idea, thinking of Terezi? Can't say I think they can do anything to contact her from inside here. Hmm, but earlier, Blaperile thought about what the B2 kids could do with the juju chest, whether they might try to get the others out. That's assuming Caliborn didn't captchalogue the thing, though. Still, it would be something if they could defy what's been foretold and unload the house early, maybe load it with a real surprise for LE.

"For some reason her name feels like nails in your heart. Makes sense, you guess, cause there’s a lot of sharp letters in it. She had sharp teeth too, and sharp elbows. Sharp words." Ahhhh, so we get to see what black romance feels like to John. Looking pretty sharp, apparently. Still, her sharp intellect could've come in handy here. It's a good thing chances are good they'll meet again, I'm sure post-victory Terezi has an important role to play yet.

"Terezi Pyrope was a sharp girl, and maybe what these sharp feelings are trying to tell you is you miss her more than you realized." Well, John has already acknowledged his feelings about Roxy, guess it's time for the other side of the two-headed coin now.

"She wouldn’t have let you neglect relationships with certain friends for so long that you missed whole chapters of their lives. She wouldn’t have put up with you moping around with the salamanders for so long. She would have kicked your ass for being such a loser about everything. She would have poked you in the forehead and called you insufferably lame and told you to pick up the damn phone. You would have called her a weirdo and pretended you hated it, and maybe you would even have believed you hated it. But now, sitting here in this little white cubicle, contemplating your regrets, you don’t think you’d have hated it much at all.

Would you tell the teens that?" Oooh. Very good point, actually. Even if John really only knows that version of Terezi from talking to her on two separate days separate by three years, she had a real impact on him. Granted, they also kept contact on WhatsApp as well in Universe C, but during the session was when their interactions bloomed. It'd probably be a stretch for Meat to end with John retconning the post-victory timeline to include Terezi on Earth, with him, right? After they defeat Lord English first, of course. Oh, right, she was there for two years before leaving... somehow. I kind of forgot. Still, five years would've made a difference in where John ended up by the start of the epilogues.

"JOHN: am i... depressed??" ... Well. Well, as far as growing self-awareness goes, this might be a very big development! Yes, it does seem that John has become listless on Earth C. Mostly it seemed to have to do with the absence of his Dad. But maybe he'll have other ideas about that, like his misfortune in matters romantic.

"as it turns out, you are really fucking depressed. You’re just a giant, wet meat sack of self-involved misery, and all that big, wet, meaty ooze drips out your mouth every time you open it. All the time and space in the world isn’t making it better. It’s something you should have been doing for yourself, instead of waiting around for things to get better." Wow, John. I suppose things will get a little harder for him, now that he's realized this about himself, but I hope he'll find a way soon out of this mess. And so, that's what he's been doing on Earth C, just waiting for things to get better. And no-one picked up on it, not even the other people close to him that bordered on depression before? Like Jade? He really alienated himself...

"Well, screw waiting! It’s boring as hell! You are JOHN EGBERT, after all, immortal CREATOR OF WORLDS, the one and only man ever to completely transcend the partitions of CANON ITSELF. You’ve got these powers, remember?" Well THAT's a sudden surge of RESOLVE if I've ever seen one!

"You hold up your hands and form a rectangle with your fingers and reach outside yourself, outside canon, to the place your retcon powers come from. You focus. You strain. You contemplate with all your might a place you can zap to, any place but here." There's no place like home, there's no place like home! :p Kind of wondering if he'll succeed though. He might be cut off from his powers. But if not, canon is his oyster.

"You wait. And wait. And wait and...

Nothing happens.

You slump back down against the wall" Welp! He tried.

"JOHN: THE ONLY WAY OUT OF HERE... JOHN: IS FOR US TO WAIT FOR SOMEONE TO LET US OUT. JOHN: SORRY GUYS. ROSE: OH." Anyone up for a game of "I see I see what you can't see"?

"JOHN: ALSO... JOHN: I THINK I MIGHT HAVE DEPRESSION?" Well, at least they won't have a lack of stuff to be talking, sorry, yelling about. Rose might be partially delighted to pick at the brains of an adult John, in fact.

#homestuck #upd8 #homestuck epilogues #homestuck liveblog #reaction #spoiler alert #john egbert

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avoutput · 6 years ago

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Ulysses || Waterworld

Somewhere in 1996, a young boy and possibly his cohorts are sitting on a dirty couch or splayed across a carpeted den floor ridden with crumbs or something like it. In the VCR is a rented copy of an infamous film of one kind or another from the local discount video rental which ran a special every Thursday, 10 videos for 10 dollars. If a new film was considered especially bad, it skipped the “New Releases” and made its way right to the genre section. Children are especially gullible. Or inexperienced. Or stupid. But they do know a bargain and have more than enough time to waste. The stack probably consisted of a few new and repeat rentals: Thunder in Paradise, Surf Ninjas, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Twelve Monkeys, Billy Madison, Clueless, Bad Boys. Basically, anything our parents wouldn’t want us to buy. (My parents notoriously lacked the ability to understand the ratings system of both film and later games.) And yet, there was one special gem that stands out as being universally un-cult, un-loved, and yet known round the globe: Waterworld. Fast-forward twenty-three years and those same ugly kids are sitting on nicer couches and carpetless floors about to make the same mistake all over again. A recently rebuilt, full length, uncut copy dubbed “Ulysses” was released. A 3-hour cut made up of unreleased material and television edit made for a surprisingly nostalgic afternoon. It was like wasting time as a kid all over again.

First, a couple of thoughts on the new version that was released to give you an idea of the overall changes.The “Ulysses” cut of Waterworld seems to be some kind of fan created cut, including all of the cut material from the theatrical version, some scenes from the television cut, and an altered color palette that made everything more crisp and bright. It differs largely from the VHS version I had seen as a kid, obviously sharper with high definition, but jarring in that it had more than the 3 colors associated with the end of the world. Strangely, the new scenes somehow didn’t seem out of place. It was longer, but I couldn’t tell where the old content ended and the new content began, though there are some scenes edited in that were clearly never finished. You can see an island in the background that shouldn’t be there and there are a couple layers of post-production missing. What I can say for certain is the brighter color palette was not the best decision. While it made the ocean look a deeper shade of blue, it felt less gloomy. This was supposed to be a dystopian world covered in both water and despair. This new cut made it feel a bit more like a children’s adventure film without the fun, wonder, or sense of adventure found in films like The Goonies or Pirates of the Caribbean. It was like slapping some color on Twelve Monkeys and busting it down to a PG-13 rating. Still, it's the best the modern world has to offer.

The most memorable thing about this film for me has always been Kevin Costner and Dennis Hopper. If you can’t remember, the characters largely live by their titles and don’t have traditional names. Costner played the lead as “Mariner”, a mutated human with ability to breath underwater. The Mariner’s character arc is inadequate and unfulfilling. It confused me as much today as it did when I was a kid. Let’s take Terminator 2 as an example. Cyberdyne Model T101 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has more character growth in both action and attitude than Costner’s drift wooden Mariner. They both have similar interactions with their allies, but the Terminator actually gets along with both kids and mothers, like Kix cereal. In the 80’s and 90’s this was a pretty common character dynamic, stoic-seeming adults learning from kids. You might think Waterworld is going to follow this dynamic, but instead its sets a course on an endless desert ocean, drained of character and depth, and opts instead to make our hero as bland as his surroundings. The Mariner isn’t without his good points though. He does sail spectacularly and has some fun tricks up his sleeve both on and off the boat. But Costner appears to have absolutely no feeling in every delivery. Even when he's mad, it doesn’t feel right. I thought the extended edition would give me a deeper glimpse into his arc or growth, but it’s non-existent. Costner plays a truly mutated character.

Waterworld does have an ocean of visual treasures to offer, to borrow a washed out metaphor. The seafaring is entertaining and well shot. The props all have carved Styrofoam look that remind you of a swashbuckling children’s film, but oddly it doesn’t detract from the dystopian feel the production is meant to have. The floating sets really do feel like functioning habitats, but if you look to long, you get the feeling that the design department went a bit too far in trying to make the barges look like they were made from debris, to the point that it becomes a comical game of “I Spy”. This stage-like quality was especially present in the new “Ulysses” cut, which also has the added benefit of having the film upgraded to 4k (or visually adjacent) which gave definition where it was strategically vague in its initial release. The murky browns, greys, and blurred lines of the 90’s era VHS cinematic apocalypse have given way to the fine lines and details of technological advancement. Like human age, its both a service of time and largely for the better, but it has its downsides. Stunts that were hard to make out are crystal clear and even more impressive, although in its clarity, it looks like a professional stunt show from Disneyland or Universal Studios, which makes perfect sense. I think I read that Waterworld was one of the most popular attractions at Universal Studios despite the movie not being a hit.

Finally, the overall nature of the world our characters reside in is epic in physical size, the whole world (presumably) is covered by water, but quaint in execution. This level of focus becomes a strength. The actors get to take a stand in front of this expansive stage and put on their best pirate act. If you can imagine, spending lots of time on the water could be stressful, and you get the feeling that the actors felt taxed by working in this manner. There is an underlying tension to every scene, even the more lighthearted ones. The production was plagued with bad weather, lost time, rebuilds, and a lengthy edit that caused the director to quit. But from this hellscape, there is a salvageable adventure story that rides at the precipice of an ever crashing wave, teetering between campy fun and a bizarre wipe-out. There is even a faint religious reasoning to the actions taken by the villains that didn’t make much of the theatrical cut. The people of the barges breed a life for each one lost, but the raiders believe in a sort of manifest destiny, take everything they can see and living much more freely than their environment can withstand, evident by the large number of children living on their ship in terrible conditions. But even the films darkest moments play for bold laughs and bravado.

This was, in my mind, the story of a person, basically a god amongst the people of his world, who wanted nothing but to take. He could breathe underwater and dive so deep that he could get soil, the currency of the world on top of the water, pay for whatever he wanted, and leave them with nothing. Its true, he couldn’t help everyone, but he chose to help no one. Until of course he owed a debt. A debt he tries to renege on a few times throughout the film. There was something there to explore, but they only ever scratch the surface of the Mariner. Instead, we go a long way to see a man make a single grand gesture that absolves him of all of his sins. Ultimately, Waterworld is an excuse to make a sci-fi/fantasy action movie on the water, floating on an inflated ego and a bloated budget in the middle of a monsoon, and yet somehow, it stays afloat until the credits.

~* 6/10 *~

#Film #Review #Waterworld #Kevin Costner #Dennis Hopper #Tina Majorino #Jeanne Tripplehorn #Fantasy #Scifi #Cult #Cult Film #90s Film #Universal Studios #Jack Black

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rwdestuffs · 6 years ago

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How the show fails at being bad at power escalation.

Generally speaking, Power Escalation is what happens when you have a villain that has to be overpowered in order to defeat. So, by virtue of the heroes increasing their own power level, they can then defeat them.

If the series continues, in order for the next big bad to feel like a threat, the creator(s) typically introduce a new threat that is even more powerful than the heroes. This can eventually lead to the heroes going from Martial Arts to firing beams of energy that can destroy planets, or a show about people with magical ninja powers going to gargantuan avatars that can level mountains, to even something as simple and straightforward as a gang of pirates with a few interesting abilities turning into a series where having the power to destroy a mountain is normal. It basically becomes an absurd escalation of power that makes it harder to get invested because the series is likely to repeat the same formula until it becomes too crazy to follow the levels of power that the characters are throwing around.

In layman’s terms, it becomes: We just overpowered the big bad! Now we gotta do the same with the new big bad! We gotta get to a higher power level!

Now, rw/by is a show that succeeds at avoiding this for the wrong reasons. This isn’t like a franchise that started as a man trying to defeat undead foes with a magical breathing technique that eventually evolved into people wielding invisible ghost beings that punched things really hard and fast. This is a show that started as a group of schoolkids trying to save the world to……… a bunch of schoolkids trying to save the world on the road!

Unlike Jojo, which avoids this problem completely by starting each new part with a new protagonist (video detailing that here) in a new setting, rw/by fails at this because the villains remain at the same or similar power level as the heroes.

This creates a problem because they mentioned that Semblances can evolve. We have yet to see that sort of evolution in the show proper. Ruby’s semblance hasn’t evolved from super speed (or rose petals (whatever the f*ck that means)) to teleportation. Blake’s semblance hasn’t evolved from making shadow clones to making tangible clones. Yang’s semblance hasn’t evolved from turning physical pain into power into using preexisting pain into physical power. Nora’s semblance hasn’t evolved from lighting absorption into non-physical energy absorption. Ren’s hasn’t evolved from Emotion Masking to invisibility. Qrow’s hasn’t evolved from Bad Luck to probability manipulation. Raven’s hasn’t evolved from making portals to people she’s bonded with to making portals to anyone/portals to any location that she’s seen before. Emerald’s semblance hasn’t evolved from illusions to straight-up mind control/physical constructs.

In short; the characters’ powers have yet to evolve.

But you might have noticed that I didn’t include Weiss or Jaune on this list.- That’s pretty straightforward. Weiss learned how to summon, and that was an interesting jump in power. Unfortunately, that ability became completely negated and useless when Vernal destroyed her knight.

As for Jaune……… He just recently unlocked his semblance. There’s no real narrative reason for his power to escalate as of yet. Maybe in Volume 9, but we’ll see. But by that point, everyone else’ semblance should have also grown.

There isn’t even a growth in strategy. Jaune is as hotheaded as he was before, Yang’s fighting style only added kicks to her arsenal, and that’s about it. Weiss has completely forgotten how to use her rapier when Volume 5, and that’s a nerf.

Nerfing characters to make the big bad seem more intimidating doesn’t work. It doesn’t make the big bad look powerful, it just makes whichever character you decided to nerf look stupid.

Imagine for a moment, that a bad guy is about to sneak up on an innocent, and Spider-Man can’t get to him in time. In a normal situation, Spidey would use his webbing to disarm the bad guy, and deck him for trying to hurt a bystander.

But let’s say that Spidey instead tries to run towards his foe, and doesn’t make it in time. That doesn’t make the new bad guy faster than Spider-Man, it just makes Spider-Man seem stupid. Unless it was mentioned earlier that Spidey had run out of web-fluid and didn’t have enough time to reload, that scene would just make Spidey look like a total moron.

That’s what the current series feels like. Instead of the bad guys actually feeling like a threat, it just feels more like the good guys are just getting stupider.

Unlike having bad Power Escalation in the sense of “The big bad beat the city-block busting hero because they can bust entire cities,” it’s bad in the sense of “The big bad beat this character, because said character somehow forgot how to fight with their weapon.” There’s nothing at stake, and it makes the characters hard to root for when they make multiple stupid decisions after stupid decision.

Weiss once used her Glyphs to unleash what is effectively Death of a Thousand Cuts on a White Fang goon back in Volume 2. That hasn’t shown up again. She doesn’t even bother trying against Vernal in Volume 5, where it could have been a viable option. And even if it failed, it would showcase the difference in power that the two combatants had. It would showcase Vernal as a clear threat if one of Weiss’ better fighting moments in Volume 2 proved ineffective, and it showcased exactly why Weiss tried nothing but summoning. Would the summoning still prove to be useless?- Yes, most likely.- But at least then, it wouldn’t look like Weiss dropped a few levels in the intelligence department just to have Vernal beat her.

The very little power Escalation that we do get doesn’t even work properly. Despite being completely new to the whole idea of fighting, Oscar somehow manages to defeat Leo in a single shot!- That’s the villains getting knocked down a few power levels, not the heroes rising a few levels in power.

Escalation works in the sense of characters rising in power. Not a character being nerfed to ‘showcase’ another character’s progress. Imagine if Vegeta managed to beat Goku only because Goku forgot or couldn’t go Super Saiyan Blue!- Not only would that not be a victory in Vegeta’s favor, it would be a stupid way for Vegeta to win and a direct insult to his fans who want to see him surpass Goku.

Power escalation doesn’t even have to work in the way of characters getting stronger!- It could also work in the sense of creativity, but even that isn’t utilized as much as it should be. Imagine if Blake could use the momentum from her Shadow Clones to get in some extra speed for an attack. Imagine if Yang used the knockback of her weapons for a quick boost of power. Imagine if Nora developed a technique that would create a small tremor to shake the ground to disorient her opponents. How about Ruby using her speed semblance the same way comic speedsters do, and using it to create tornadoes? How about Weiss being more creative with the variety of Glyphs she’s got like we saw back in Volume 2?- While weapons themselves are dangerous, it has the potential to be even more dangerous depending on who is using them.

Take Okuyasu from Diamond is Unbreakable, for example. Having the ability to swipe things out of existence is deadly and dangerous. But because Okuyasu is an idiot, he doesn’t use it to it’s fullest extent. He’s still creative with it though, like how he uses the ability to erase the space and air between himself and his foe to close the distance between them and get in some melee strikes. While that is creative, it’s not dangerous, because if Okuyasu was smart enough to realize that he could just erase his opponents’ heart(s), well…

(Look, I wanted at least one image in this post, and this was the most natural place I could find for it)

Or take Chazz Princeton (Jin Manjome in the original dub) against his brother Slade (Chosaku in the original dub) from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Chazz using weaker monsters in creative ways so that he ultimately wins (spoiler?- It’s been over ten years since the episode debuted in the English dub (Dailymotion link)).

In a series about a card game can show off creative ways of using monsters that would be normally considered ‘weak’ and ‘unusable’ to win (Chaos Necromancer and Relinquished was in the well that he found for the restrictions that he had, what were the original wielders of those cards thinking?- Did they not have the required ritual for Relinquished or something?), a show about fights with interesting transforming weapons, super powers that are manifestations of the soul, and so many other things……… can’t be bothered to have the characters get creative with their movesets.

Where are the moments where Raven or Qrow use their bird forms in combat?

I mean, they showed a few faunus creatively using their faunus traits in combat situations, so why can’t the other characters do the same with their powers and weapons?

Ilia uses her color change to blend into the shadows (even though that really shouldn’t have worked for so many reasons), that bat guy (Yuma, I think was his name) used his wings to move around faster, that spider-lady pulled a Spider-Man and ensnared Blake with her webbing, and (most notably) Tyrian incorporated his tail into his attacks. I can understand faunus like Blake, Velvet, or Sun not using theirs (as they’re more or less useless in combat scenarios), but why can’t there be more characters like this?

This is what I mean when I say that rw/by avoids the Power Escalation trope poorly. Instead of the new big bad using different tactics, or having a different fighting style, the end solution is always the same: beat, cut, slash, and stab the crap out of them until they either surrender or are dead. Typically it is the heroes that need to change tactics, learn a new technique, or gain more power to defeat the big bad. But they just use the powers that they already have to defeat the big bad no matter what. There’s no change in tactics, nor is there any notable growth in power. They just beat them because they’re the Protagonists™.

#rwde

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wineanddinosaur · 4 years ago

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EOD Drinks With Steven Grasse, Founder of Quaker City Mercantile

In this episode of “End Of Day Drinks,” VinePair’s editorial team is joined by Steven Grasse, founder of Quaker City Mercantile — an independent advertising agency and distillery that specializes in strategy, marketing, design, and branding for the alcohol industry.

Grasse’s time working in the tobacco industry provided him with the knowledge and experience to launch two of the world’s most successful spirits brands: Hendrick’s Gin and Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum. Tune in to hear about Grasse’s extensive work rebranding some classic beer labels, as well as his latest venture, the experimental Tamworth Distilling.

Listen online

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Spotify

Or Check out the Conversation Here

Tim McKirdy: Hey, everybody! This is Tim McKirdy, staff writer at VinePair, and welcome to the “EOD Drinks” podcast. Joining us for today’s episode, we have Steven Grasse, founder of Quaker City Mercantile and the brains behind some of the world’s leading spirits brands. Welcome Steve, and thanks for joining us.

Steven Grasse: Glad to be here.

T: As always, I’m pleased to also be joined by members of VinePair’s editorial team, including executive editor Joanna Sciarrino, senior editor Cat Wolinski, associate editor Katie Brown, and assistant editor Emma Cranston.

All: Hey, everyone. How’s it going?

T: Steve, your track record shows that if I were launching a spirit brand tomorrow, you’d be the guy that I come to take that brand viral and ultimately make it a huge hit. Your previous or ongoing hits include Sailor Jerry, one of the world’s most successful and best-known rum brands, and Hendrick’s Gin, the label that pretty much ushered in what we might call the ‘Gin-aissance’ and the huge popularity the category enjoys today. Before we discuss those stories, I’d love for you to tell us how you got involved in the booze business and explain exactly what Quaker City Mercantile is?

S: Sure. We’ve been in business for 31 years. Prior to 2008, we were Gyro Advertising, Gyro Worldwide, and we got our start in the tobacco business. For about 20 years. Gyro was the agency for Camel, Winston, Salem Kool, and American Spirit. We were pariahs in the advertising business. We never entered advertising award shows, so we used our excess money to create our own brands. One of those brands we created was Sailor Jerry. We created Sailor Jerry as a T-shirt company. One of the few clients we had besides R.J. Reynolds Tobacco was William Grant & Sons, and we worked with them on Glenfiddich and they came to us and said, “we’d like you to create a gin and a rum for our portfolio.” We came back to them with Hendrick’s for gin, and for rum, we came back with Sailor Jerry. I thought creating a rum brand called Sailor Jerry would help sell more T-shirts. It’s interesting because we were smart enough to own the rights to Sailor Jerry but Hendrick’s we did work for hire. We’ve been with Grants now for, I think, nearly 28 years. We’ve been with him ever since. Even after we sold Sailor Jerry in 2008 to Grants, we’ve remained with them doing all the marketing for both Sailor Jerry and Grants and almost every other brand that Grants have.

T: That’s so interesting as well because it’s only 2021. I think that we’re almost in an era where we completely have forgotten about the tobacco advertising industry. I imagine there were some crazy budgets and a lot of things that you learned during that experience and influenced your later work. Is that the case, or am I completely wide off the mark with that one?

S: Well, we always say that tobacco was like the marketing Marine Corps, because you couldn’t use any traditional marketing or advertising. You had to find ways to get your name out and do things in a very non-traditional sense. I think with the tobacco industry, it was like being a pirate in the sense of having crazy budgets for photo shoots, and half the stuff they would never use. It was a very interesting time. One of the reasons why we stopped working with R.J. Reynolds was towards the end, after we sold Sailor Jerry, tobacco had rightfully gone under FDA controls. And all those crazy “Mad Men” days, prior to FDA involvement, it just became a game, basically working for a pharmaceutical company.

T: You caught the tail end of the Don Draper days of tobacco.

S: It was also the other movie. “Thank You for Smoking” is very similar to that, too. It’s interesting. It was morally ambiguous to do work on this, but at the same time, we learned how to get brands or get the word out without any visible means of support by being in the tobacco industry. The other client we had besides Grants and R.J. Reynolds was Puma sneakers. We took them from being a $30 million, nothing brand up to the point where they sold to Gucci for $7.8 billion. They were a brand where we could do anything we wanted, but they had no money.

T: It was the opposite of the tobacco industry.

S: Yes. We had to find ways of creating excitement and drama for Puma without having the advantage that Nike had. Tons of television, an outlet.

T: I was just going to say it sounds like you have both ends of the experience there, almost the yin and yang of advertising. No money, but you can do whatever you want, and all the money in the world and you can do nothing. It’s a very formative experience for a professional.

S: We are the Harry Houdini of marketing, because we could escape out of anything to get anything done without having to ever do television or print.

T: That’s awesome. I want to talk not exclusively about Sailor Jerry and Hendrick’s. But for me as a drinker and someone who loves alcohol, from a branding standpoint, they seem like two very different concepts. I was wondering if you can give us an idea of the timeline and a bit more in-depth info on how both of them came about. It’s my understanding that Sailor Jerry was first. Is that correct? Also, how did you really grow that brand in the beginning?

S: No, they were created, literally presented, the same day.

T: Oh, on the same day. Wow.

S: We presented them both on the same day. I think it’s interesting when we first launched Sailor Jerry, it hit with a magnificent thud. It did nothing. Even to the point where Grants was going to kill it and hand it back to us and say “this brand isn’t doing anything.” However, what happened with Sailor Jerry was interesting. Pre-internet, we also had the clothing company, and we would have all these bands stopped by our store. We would load them up with cases of rum, and they would drive to the next city and spread the word. That was always a very early form of viral marketing or word-of-mouth marketing. What also happened with Sailor Jerry, which was really good timing, was Diageo was being formed at this time. When Diageo formed, Schieffelin & Somerset and Paddington forming together, there was suddenly a bunch of distributors that lost the distribution rights for Captain Morgan. Suddenly, all these distributors were hungry for a replacement, and Sailor Jerry happened to be there, ready to go. Usually, brands grow in New York City, San Francisco, the places where the influence is, but Sailor Jerry grew spontaneously out of Madison, Wis. It was our first big city where it exploded. Things don’t really explode in Madison, Wis., but it gained a foothold. Then, it spread through Minnesota, the Dakotas, all the Rust Belt areas. Even to this day, I think 98 percent of Sailor Jerry’s sales are off-premise. It’s a very different business model than the rest of Grant’s portfolio. That’s the story of Sailor Jerry. Do you want to hear more about Hendrick’s?

T: I think Joanna is going to jump in now with a question.

Joanna Sciarrino: I am going off with what you said about Sailor Jerry and how you presented both Sailor Jerry and Hendrick’s on the same day. They clearly had success with different markets. Was that your intention when you presented those brands?

S: No, I would say what’s interesting is, I don’t think there is any intention. I think the ideas were very strong. Hendrick’s launched first in the U.S. before it was in Europe. Again, it was met with mild success in the U.S., but where the brand took off was in the U.K. For brands to work, you need to find a champion within the organization who really takes it under their wing. With Sailor Jerry, for instance, when I said it took off out of Madison, Wis., that’s because there was a salesperson at a brand and a distributor in that region that really embraced the brand and took it over and said yes. That’s what happened with Hendrick’s in the U.K. At the time, there was a brand manager named June Hirsch, who really took Sailor Jerry under her wing in London and pioneered a lot in taking our brand world that we created and bringing it to life with these outrageous experiential events. The brand started taking over. The brand was created in the U.S. with Scottish provenance, but it became big in London and then came back to the U.S.

T: I think that’s incredible to note as well because it definitely feels within that time the gin category has really evolved. Can you recall what it was like back then and maybe even gin’s reputation? I feel Hendrick’s really played a role in making gin more accessible to people or changing the image where people previously had notions of it. Gin and tonics weren’t even that popular back then. Is that something you can remember?

S: Oh, yeah. Back then it was just Beefeater and Tanqueray. That’s all that was on the market. Hendrick’s, it’s interesting because obviously the liquid magic of Leslie Gracy, the master distiller for Grants, mixed with our naivete about what gin should be. I think Grants wasn’t in the gin business, so they were very open to it being something different. But when it hit the market, there was nothing else like it. It was totally unique.

T: Can you tell us as well — because I know you have a great story about how the idea for that brand was born and a specific trip to Scotland that you took yourself? I think that’s fascinating and also speaks to the kind of the work that you do in launching brands.

S: I was asked to go to Scotland with Sir Charles Gordon Brown, the owner of Grants, and he wanted me to come to see his gin palace. I’m thinking it’s going to be a palace, right? We fly to Dufftown, see the Glenfiddich Distillery. Then, I drove with him in a camper van through Scotland to Girvan. Girvan is an industrial town on the outskirts of Glasgow. We get there, and it’s the dead of night, I’m sick as a dog, right? He’s kept me up every night eating haggis.

T: That wasn’t making you feel better?

S: I’m like, “OK, so show me this gin palace.” It’s a little garage with these two ancient stills in it. So it’s not a palace at all. I guess it’s what they call it, where they make gin. With these two ancient stills, the Carter Head and the Bennet still over in the 1840s. I see it, and I instantly think of Jules Verne. This starts a whole stream of consciousness with Jules Verne equals Victorian apothecary, Victoriana. That then sends us on a stream of consciousness where I sent my assistant to go find antique poison bottles, because we knew that we wanted it to feel like it came from an apothecary shelf rather than being a spirit, based on the idea that it felt like a Jules Verne story. It’s how we create all of our brands. It’s inspiration, story, stream of consciousness that somehow all end up making sense in the end.

T: That Hendrick’s bottle is just very iconic and really does stand out on the shelf, and I’m sure even more so then than it does now.

S: We also create very intuitively. It’s informed intuition, meaning that I spend the majority of my day researching arcane information. I’m a total history nerd. All the ideas that we pull from come from me reading old books and things like that. For every client we work with, the ideas don’t come from trends. We don’t follow what’s going on in the market. We really create things based on this notion of history and informed intuition.

Katie Brown: Going back to what Tim mentioned earlier about how iconic the actual bottle itself is, especially for Hendrick’s. In your opinion, how important is design aesthetic for the actual bottles that you’re creating? You once said that you like to make things ugly on purpose. I’m curious as to what that means to you, and why is that? Do you still feel that way?

S: Oh, totally. We purposely don’t enter awards shows, because it influences the work you do. I think you end up creating things for your peers, rather than creating something that is authentic to the idea of the product. Again, something like Hendrick’s, the idea was when I thought of Jules Verne and Victorian apothecary. This is pre-internet, so doing research was a little more difficult. I also spent a lot of time in antique stores going through and finding old bottle forms and knowing what their intended use was. Also, when we created Hendrick’s, I didn’t know how gin was made. I asked Sir Charles, how do you do it? Well, there is this basket, and botanicals go in there. It really gives you this idea of, when you think about it, apothecaries. And the origin of spirits were therapeutic. It starts leading you down this stream of consciousness where it led us to Victorian poison bottles. The idea of the Hendrick’s bottle fits the idea of the brand. It becomes the epicenter, a nucleus from which the rest of the brands pours out. That’s always the key. The bottle needs to be the epitome of the brand idea. When I say it’s ugly on purpose, it needs to fit the overall concept of the brand. And to achieve that authenticity, it can’t be trendy. It can’t be of the moment. It needs to be of the period that it emanates out of, if that makes sense.

K: When you mention brand authenticity relating to the bottle itself, I’m so curious because Sailor Jerry is sourced from the Caribbean, right? But the bottle itself has a Hawaiian feel.

S: Yes.

K: What’s the story behind that? Do you still feel that that brand is authentic?

S: It’s authentic to itself, because the whole thing started as a clothing company. I always like to talk about bands, because I always market myself, my agency, and my brands as if they’re bands. I’m a big music freak, but if you think about it, I always like to bring up the example of Led Zeppelin. Their music is more or less Southern blues, but then they start singing about Tolkien, Gollum, and dragons. And somehow it all makes sense, it all works together. It’s this weird mash-up of different influences that create something totally unique. Sailor Jerry’s totally that, because Norman Collins was the godfather of American tattoo, tattooed the entire Pacific Fleet during World War II Hawaii. On top of that, we layer all of this punk and garage music. The whole thing doesn’t quite make any sense, but it totally does when we mash it up into something totally unique. It’s authentic to itself, and to its intent.

T: Some of the other work that you do, beyond creating brands, is also what you would describe as resurrecting brands or rebirthing them. Can you tell us about some of the work you’ve done there and what that looks like as well? Because you’re not starting from a blank canvas in that instance.

S: Our greatest example is Narragansett Beer. It’s funny, my client from Puma, Tony Bertone said, “you need to meet this guy, Mark Hellendrung, who’s trying to resurrect Narragansett.” We all met together in Boston, and in the course of a two-hour lunch at Legal Seafood, we mapped out the entire brand. The trick with resurrecting an old brand is you can’t make things too authentically “old” all the time. When I talk to my wife about history, I literally see her eyes glaze over, and she fades away. If I’m really interested in the book I’m reading, I know I can’t talk to her strictly about the book. I need to bring another element into it. With Narragansett, for instance, the lager can, which feels like it’s always been around, it’s actually a mash-up of two or three different areas of Narragansett classic packaging. We tend to take things from the past, mix them up, and it’s all authentic, but it’s still new at the same time. I think that we make history digestible for the average person in a way that intrigues them and brings them into it, as opposed to scaring them away.

T: Let’s talk about some of the other work that you’re doing now. You have another distillery project that is far, in some respects, from the mainstream. Some of the things that you’re doing there might not strike someone as something that’s going to be this incredible hit like a rum brand or a gin brand. Can you tell us about the work that you’re doing at Tamworth?

S: Yeah, so Tamworth, is it a business, or is it a performance art project? I mean, it’s profitable, so I think it’s a business. In Tamworth, what we wanted to do was — after we sold Sailor Jerrys — I wanted to not just be a guy who creates brands and then finds a distiller who has to make it for me. I wanted to actually own my own distillery and create things, meaningful things, from scratch. Tamworth is actually a larger experiment. The big idea in Tamworth is, can a small distillery revitalize a small rural community? Tamworth, N.H., is in Carroll County, N.H., which is I think one of the poorest counties in all of New Hampshire. Tamworth Village itself is very small, and they’ve always had a problem keeping young people staying in town. The first chance people would run away and go live in the city. In Tamworth, I think, we have 20 employees, and they’re all from the town of Tamworth or adjacent towns. We’ve also been able to work exclusively with local farmers to supply our grains and botanicals. We always say it’s a test kitchen for our bigger clients and projects. So up there, we’re really experimenting with how far we can take things with them. We’ve done things like Deerslayer, which is a venison-infused whiskey. We’ve been working with creating gins using wild hops and all sorts of interesting ingredients. We have a whiskey made of beaver castoreum, which is the anal gland of the beaver. We have a cordial made of black trumpet mushrooms and blueberries. Here at QCM, we have full-time historians who work with us, because we’ve learned a lot about the TTB rules. And there is something called the GRAS list. What’s interesting about spirits versus other categories, even beer, there are very few ingredients on the GRAS list. Our experimentation is limited by what the government says we can and can’t put in spirits. When we have a full-time historian on staff, if we can prove ethnic or historical usage of an ingredient, then we can lobby the TTB to allow us to use it as a flavor. There are all sorts of weird things that we do to try to see how far we can push where the realm of spirits can go.

T: I definitely think the venison-infused whiskey is not the average spirit that you come across on the market. You said you run a profit, so it’s a business. But ultimately, you also mentioned that it’s a think tank for your bigger projects. Is that the end goal, or is it a more creative outlet? What do you see as the end goal there?

S: Well, it’s interesting, because it seems weird to say we’re not driven by profits, because we are. There’s a much bigger component for us because we’re enjoying the ride, the story, and the ideas that we create. Creativity is why we do it. It makes money because we enjoy doing it. I guess I could build a giant rectifying plant in Tamworth and then source the liquid somewhere. But really, we’re having a lot of fun. What I think is amazing is, I really thank the Grant family for giving me this opportunity for 28 years of that stability. I think when we sold Sailor Jerry, it gave us the financial stability that we can do a project like Tamworth, and really enjoy where it’s taking us. There is a burden to make a profit up there, but the greater burden is to have a fantastic story to tell in the process. That’s really the purpose. I gladly work for my corporate clients in Philadelphia to be able to do what I’m doing. That’s what motivates us.

J: Steve, to that end, Aaron Goldfarb recently mentioned in an article that Tamworth produces the most gins of anyone on planet Earth. With all of these experiments and all of this creativity, how personally invested or attached are you to these creations?

S: I’m very invested in the ideas and stories, and it’s so fun for us to come up with a concept of it. They’re led by a story I want to tell or they’re led by an ingredient or a process. I’m an enlightened despot, so I allow other ideas in, but ultimately, it’s going to be what I approve of. I think we’re very aggressive in what we’re doing, because again, we want to see how far we can take it. I only get frustrated that we can’t be faster with far more ideas than we have to pass through.

J: Just a follow-up to that, then. I know you’re motivated by profits, of course, but also by creativity. Is the goal to have any of these ideas catch fire?

S: In Tamworth?

J: Yeah.

S: No. We purposely set up Tamworth in a control state. It’s counterintuitive, but we’re big fans of control states. Because I have one buyer, and that one buyer has a local mandate to buy my product. So I want to be the biggest thing in New Hampshire, which I think is the third or fourth biggest buyer experience in the world. Well, I’m already the biggest. Eventually, the other thing that’s interesting with this is, I’m a creative risk-taker, but I’m financially risk-averse. We don’t borrow money. To build the entire distillery, we did not borrow a single dollar. To take this to the next step, we’re currently scouting more land because we need more barrel houses. We need a place to build a bigger strip still. We have scouting land, and then we’ll buy it in cash and then we’ll build with cash. Again, the Grant family is a good teacher. They’ve been doing it for generations. I think that what I am attracted to by the spirits category is that they take a generational approach to it.

T: That’s wonderful. To the Tamworth end looking forward, Steve. You mentioned that you have some of these positions on staff that are historians. I don’t know whether most distilleries would have them on staff, maybe some that have stretched back longer. I think some of the bourbon distilleries do because they want to know more about their own brand history rather than ingredients. I remember having spoken to you before, you mentioned these TTB guidelines, and maybe the ultimate goal is to one day have a distillery in a country with no laws, so that there are no limiting factors. I’m not sure whether that is a possibility. But as a final question, I wanted to ask you, what does the future look like? What’s on the horizon for you, for Tamworth, and new projects coming up?

S: I think it is funny. What if you built a distillery in a country that allowed you to use different ingredients? It’d be very interesting. For the future? I mean, we look at things for so long. Sailor Jerry was fascinating when we did that because every year my account would say “shut it down, you’re losing money.” I would say “one more year, one more year.” It’s interesting because, with Tamworth, there’s no exit strategy, because we don’t want to sell it. We just want to keep going with it. I think the future would be repeating the experiment I’ve had with Tamworth in other communities. Because the transition of positive agricultural-based jobs and tourism has had a profound impact on this small, rural town. Wouldn’t it be great if I could do this in other communities? I noticed Bill Gates, you are now America’s biggest farmland owner, give me a call and we could do something together.

Cat Wolinski: Hi, Steve, this is Cat. I know that you have written a few books and you mentioned being a bookworm earlier. What’s happening with your next book, and why are you writing it?

S: We have two books coming out. One is a cocktail book for Art in the Age and that one has just been put to bed and looks fantastic. That’s called the “Cocktail Workshop.” I wrote that one with Adam Erace, who’s a writer in Philly, and Lee Noble, who was my star mixologist. That was going to be based around the Art in the Age brand. Then, the second book is called “Cultivating Curiosity.” I’m working on that with Aaron Goldfarb. I met him when he wrote an article about how to make sports brands go viral.

C: Wasn’t that for VinePair?

S: Yeah, I think it was. It’s interesting, I made good use of my time during Covid because at first, I said “I’m going to work on another book.” I wrote a proposal, and then I handed it to my agent. She said, “Who would you like to work on with this?” I said “I think I’d like to work with Aaron.” I do weekly calls with Aaron, I just got off the phone with him to talk to you guys. I think we’re almost towards the end of our process.

C: Wow, that’s awesome. He must have been a very charming interviewer.

T: Aaron Goldfarb, for those folks listening who may not be familiar with the name, is a regular VinePair contributor, writer-at-large. Check out his work, it’s fantastic. I’m looking forward to reading the book myself. Knowing Aaron and hearing a little bit about how you work, Steve, I’m sure it will be fascinating.

S: Our creative process is interesting. We’re not a typical ad agency or marketing firm. We approach things in a very organic, artistic way of working. I’ve always said there are only so many people in the world that will ever hire me, because who will understand me? Right? My job is to find every single one of them. The book with Aaron is my attempt to explain that. To go through and try to articulate this process that’s been very successful, what it’s been.

T: From the conversation today, it sounds really fascinating. Looking forward to reading more there.

S: When we get hired by people, we don’t really pitch anyone. We don’t do pitches. You give me the gig, and then you understand that I’m going to create something for you.

T: I believe your mantra is to “say yes to everything.”

S: Within reason.

T: Yes, within reason. Well, Steve, thank you so much for joining us on the show today and giving us a glimpse behind the scenes at the creative process of these brands that I’m sure so many people have enjoyed and know. It’s been really fascinating. Thank you so much for your time today.

S: Sure thing, thank you. Thanks for arranging it.

T: Also, thank you everyone for joining us on the show today.

The article EOD Drinks With Steven Grasse, Founder of Quaker City Mercantile appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/eod-drinks-steven-grasse-quaker-city-mercantile/

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johnboothus · 4 years ago

Text

EOD Drinks With Steven Grasse Founder of Quaker City Mercantile

Listen online

Listen on Apple Podcasts

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Or Check out the Conversation Here

Steven Grasse: Glad to be here.

All: Hey, everyone. How’s it going?

T: You caught the tail end of the Don Draper days of tobacco.

T: It was the opposite of the tobacco industry.

S: Yes. We had to find ways of creating excitement and drama for Puma without having the advantage that Nike had. Tons of television, an outlet.

S: We are the Harry Houdini of marketing, because we could escape out of anything to get anything done without having to ever do television or print.

S: No, they were created, literally presented, the same day.

T: Oh, on the same day. Wow.

T: I think Joanna is going to jump in now with a question.

T: That wasn’t making you feel better?

T: That Hendrick’s bottle is just very iconic and really does stand out on the shelf, and I’m sure even more so then than it does now.

K: When you mention brand authenticity relating to the bottle itself, I’m so curious because Sailor Jerry is sourced from the Caribbean, right? But the bottle itself has a Hawaiian feel.

S: Yes.

K: What’s the story behind that? Do you still feel that that brand is authentic?

J: Just a follow-up to that, then. I know you’re motivated by profits, of course, but also by creativity. Is the goal to have any of these ideas catch fire?

S: In Tamworth?

J: Yeah.

Cat Wolinski: Hi, Steve, this is Cat. I know that you have written a few books and you mentioned being a bookworm earlier. What’s happening with your next book, and why are you writing it?

C: Wasn’t that for VinePair?

C: Wow, that’s awesome. He must have been a very charming interviewer.

T: From the conversation today, it sounds really fascinating. Looking forward to reading more there.

S: When we get hired by people, we don’t really pitch anyone. We don’t do pitches. You give me the gig, and then you understand that I’m going to create something for you.

T: I believe your mantra is to “say yes to everything.”

S: Within reason.

S: Sure thing, thank you. Thanks for arranging it.

T: Also, thank you everyone for joining us on the show today.

The article EOD Drinks With Steven Grasse, Founder of Quaker City Mercantile appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/eod-drinks-steven-grasse-quaker-city-mercantile/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/eod-drinks-with-steven-grasse-founder-of-quaker-city-mercantile

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charlienozaki · 7 years ago

Note

I enjoyed your rankings very much, would you mind doing one for their kindness and also for their fashion sense XD?

Thanks! Okay, sure! Though I think, for kindness especially, my answers will be entirely subjective, but I’ll give it a go!

(Disclaimer: This got long, so if you read it all, then you get—nothing in return. 😂 But thanks for doing so!)

Okay, so, kindness. It’s kind of difficult to rank this tbh, because I think, for some of the Straw Hats, their expression of kindness differs a lot when they’re dealing with strangers versus people they care about. I’ll try and consider both. And in the interest of keeping the word count below 10,000, I’m going to stick their fashion ratings at the end of each little entry. xD I’ll include my favorite outfit of theirs too.

1 - Sanji - This one’s tough, and I have a hard time choosing between Chopper and Sanji, but I think I’m gonna have to give it to Sanji by a small margin. It’s kind of expected, given everything that’s been said in the manga recently, but honestly, out of everyone, he’s the most likely to help someone out, even if they’re an enemy, as he’s proven. Of course, there’s the whole male enemy versus female enemy thing too, but he’s always gonna feed anyone, no matter what, and we’ve seen him unable to let his family die despite the terrible things they’ve done to him. So, gotta give it to him.

Fashion rank - #1 (TOP TIER. WELL EARNED IMO).

I freaking love his Whole Cake prince outfit, with the cape. And his wedding outfit. And all of his outfits. :’) But I think my favorite has gotta be the dorky, oversized sweater from Strong World.

2 - Chopper - Chopper’s bumped out of first, but juuuust barely. I think we’ve seen him give a little more apprehension about treating enemies in the past, but ultimately, like Sanji, he’s going to help anyone in need, even if it means healing people who’ve hurt the crew. World’s best doctor has to be able to help anyone!

Fashion rank - #6 (He wears some cute things, and bonus points for being able to keep them on when he transforms. :|…)

Again, another movie outfit, but my favorite’s the fucking cow from Film Z.

3 - Usopp - This boy takes third, I think. He’s fiercely protective of his crewmates and the ship, even more so after the timeskip, and we’ve seen him show concern and emotion for plenty of people outside of the crew as well.

Fashion rank - #5 (I fucking love Usopp’s fashion sense though, even if it’s wacky. Just everything he wears, his hats, his crazy costumes. My god).This one from Movie 6 is simple by comparison, but it’s my favorite because HIS HAIR.

4 - Nami - She actually has the potential to be very kind and compassionate, I think, and the potential to be caring and nurturing, particularly to kids. She’s very empathetic, so long as people don’t act like complete doofuses around her. And we’ve seen her dedicate herself fully to causes before even the rest of the crew did, i.e. the kids at Punk Hazard or forgiving Hatchan and not blaming Jinbei for what went down with Arlong, one of her best character moments ever, in my opinion.

Fashion rank - #2 (She could, arguably, be number one, considering she definitely shows the most active interest in looking good. I’m just partial to Sanji. xD)

Picking a favorite of hers is hard because I love so many…..I’ll avoid movies this time and go with her Thriller Bark outfit. She always looks cute with her hair up, and this outfit was pretty unique compared to her usual fare.

5 - Brook - I’m gonna say Brook’s kindness comes next, considering the whole Laboon thing, and also because he generally is polite and tolerant of others…unless he’s asking to see their panties… He’s even polite to enemies.

Fashion rank - #4 (I mean, he’s hella fab. Ya got the suits, you got the rocker outfits. Dude’s got style).

Bless this outfit that he wears for like 0.5 seconds in Film Gold.

6 - Luffy - Aaaahh this is getting tough, and honestly, these last few could change around. I ranked his kindness low, comparatively, but Luffy honestly doesn’t give a damn about most things unless it affects his friends, so I think that’s why he got bumped down for me. Of course he is kind. He wouldn’t have all these people on his crew if he wasn’t. But until something affects him or his friends directly, it’s not of much concern to him.

Fashion rank - #9 (HA. We’ve seen him wear fashionable things, sure, but not of his own choosing really. He clearly does not care about fashion one bit. xD He’s over here wearing sandals with suits - which is adorable - but he just doesn’t caaare, so that’s why I put him dEAD last).

I love all the ridiculous T-shirts and stuff he wears, but….come on. Future Pirate King here. He’s gotta look the part. So Strong World is my favorite.

7 - Robin - UGH, but see, she has proven herself to be a kind person! Especially post-timeskip, now that she’s opened up a lot more. She fucking loves the crew so much and is so sweet and motherly and playful with them. And she’s even begun to show that side to others too. With Law and Momonosuke and Koala and even freaking Barto and Cabbage Cavendish. I guess she just got bumped down because of how heartless and closed-off she used to be before she started trusting people again. It’s a (relatively) new thing to see her so uninhibited, so that’s the only reason I didn’t rank her higher here. Also she cried over fucking Ryunosuke for fuck’s sake. (#1 saddest OP death).

Fashion rank - #3 (She’s not as openly into fashion as Nami, but damn, does she know how to look good. I love her sophisticated style.)

Her Movie 6 outfit with the big hat is fabulous. And her Film Z dancer outfit with that leopard-print skirt. And I also love her original cowboy hat get-up in Alabasta. But everything with her striped sweater dress from Strong World, the glasses, the ponytail, the cute necklace, how her sleeves cover her hands. Just kill me.

8 - Franky - Again, I feel bad he ended up so low too because he’s not unkind. He can be super chill and cool with people outside the crew, but I don’t think we’ve really seen him make too many bonds with, or show much interest in other characters, aside from the Water 7 crew. At least none that instantly come to mind in this hardly-researched, rambling post. xP He’s a good guy, and he’s obviously there for the Straw Hats 100%. He’s just not as openly compassionate as some of the others (despite his tendency to get emotional over things xD). HE’S A ROBOT FOR GOD’S SAKE.

Fashion rank - #7 (He’s got an idea of what he likes, so I gotta give him points there, as compared to just throwing on whatever burlap sack is available. And I also have to give him credit for somehow working clothes around all his post-timeskip modifications. But I wouldn’t exactly say he cares too much about looking….normal and polished. Bahaha.)

I still love his outfits for how absurd they are. The freaking braids in Dressrosa. The JKLMNOPQ shirt. And the one in Zou that just says I ☀ HT. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?! (Seriously though. What does it mean). His outfits make me laugh so much. In the end, I gotta go with this one from the Heart of Gold special because I just lost it at that goddamn hair.

9 - Zoro - SIGH. SIGH SIGH SIGH. We’ve seen him be kind. We have. We have, we have. With Chopper. With Usopp. With kids. WE’VE SEEN IT. We know he is. But he’s also Zoro, and he does things his way. And even if he’s obligated to help out because it’s what the crew is doing, he’s not usually going to show any emotion one way or another, or go out of his way to do some philanthropic thing. He wants the booze for himself! He’s similar to Luffy in a way, but Luffy has such an infectious personality and is outwardly passionate about helping the people he cares about. So our local former demon pirate hunter who not-so-secretly turns to mush when it comes to the crew must come last. Tbh, he just got lost finding number one.

Fashion rank - #8 (And this poor child is losing the fashion race too. xDDD He’s at least got some clue of what clothes are functional and practical for moving around in, but other than that, he and his captain give no fucks. I mean, in the Episode of Luffy special, when the crew does their adorable little fashion show, they gotta practically fight him to get him to wear something ridiculously normal. Can only imagine how it went down to get him into suits.)

But the suits. THE SUITS. Goddammit. Now, see, Zoro’s my favorite until death do us part, so everything he wears I will instantly love….. Anything from Strong World is good, and his Armani suit in Film Z. THE GLASSES. The glasses. The dad outfit - camo shorts and stupid baseball cap - from Film Gold. His Skypiea outfit with the tank top and goggles. And the Dressrosa mustache disguise. His skull hoodie from the Kaze wo Sagashite opening. His Zoro White dress from Marchen Time. (I have to include it). SHIRTLESS. I mean. I could go on.My favorite has to be his suit from Film Gold though. I just think it’s so hilariously Zoro - to wear the fucking suit jacket and vest and shit….but over the battle outfit for later. Everyone else gets all nicely dressed and he’s over here, finally having had enough of the dumb formal wear shit.

IT’S OVER. Sorry it got so long. I hope you survived the length. Thanks for the question though!

#ask #anon #opinions #straw hat pirates #fashion #kindness #rankings

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terramythos · 7 years ago

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Review: Myst III: Exile by Presto Studios (2001)

Genre/Tags: Puzzle, Adventure, Parallel Worlds, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Atmospheric, Strong World, Silent Protagonist, Gender Neutral Protagonist, Sympathetic Antagonist, Multiple Endings

Warning(s): References to genocide and torture.

Playthrough Notes: Nothing specific; played this with my sister @mistressofmuses . We managed to get both “good” endings and one of the bad ones, but there’s apparently about ten variations. These are fun games to play with another person!

My Rating: 4 / 5

**Minor Spoilers and My Thoughts Follow**

Twenty years, Atrus! Twenty long years alone! They tied me to a post. They burned their Myst Linking Books in front of me. They took everything I had! My wife! My two baby girls! And then, when I finally made it back to Narayan, and I saw... I saw... it would have been better if I had died.-- Saavedro

My Summary: Some time after the events of Riven, the player makes it back to Atrus and Catherine. Atrus has revived the D’Ni culture; he spends much of his time writing a new Age-- Releeshahn-- for his people. You’re about to see it together, when the unexpected happens; a strange man attacks his study and steals the book. Atrus’ library in flames, you follow the man into the world he came from with no way to return.

You soon discover that this world-- J’nanin-- houses a series of “lesson Ages” Atrus created for his sons Sirrus and Achenar. You know, the sociopathic antagonists of the first game? You gradually learn that the man who stole the book, Saavedro, watched his planet die at the hands of the two brothers and was exiled to J’nanin, suffering long years of isolation and torment.

Swearing revenge against Atrus, Saavedro rigs the lesson worlds so that they must be solved to reach him. Over the course of the game, you learn more about Saavedro and the world of Narayan through journal pages you find scattered through the worlds. But with Releeshahn and its people in the hands of Saavedro, you are working against the clock to get to him and save the D’Ni.

The Good:

Unlike Riven, this entry uses a very similar structure to Myst. J’nanin serves as a “hub” world with access to four other worlds. The story itself is different enough, however, that it doesn’t feel like a wholesale ripoff. It’s a nice change of pace to see lots of different worlds rather than exploring a single one, which was a big appeal of the original game.

The four ages were all very creative and distinct. My favorite was probably Amateria, which had a steampunk China aesthetic to it. The puzzles in that world were difficult but ultimately satisfying to solve, and the payoff at the end was great. The existence of the “lesson Ages” makes sense, explains some things (maybe your sons were so messed up because you lorded over them like a god and trapped them on puzzle worlds, Atrus!), and ties into the final solution in Narayan, the last world. I genuinely enjoyed my time in the different Ages.

This entry was less arcane (and, let’s face it, less frustrating) than Riven. Some puzzles were tricky, yes, but there were no hidden pathways or buttons in this one. You also had more of a sense of direction than Riven ever provides. There were no “well that was stupid” solutions to puzzles; something that plagued the previous entries.

I realize I’ve said this with the previous two games, but Exile looks nice. This is the first entry with a free-roaming camera, which adds a lot to the experience. The backgrounds still look fantastic, especially for 2001. Real person mo-cap is still used, and (for the most part) still looks great. It aged better than 3D models of the era.

The most notable thing for me in this game was Saavedro. He’s probably the most interesting, sympathetic antagonist yet in the series. He has real justification for his actions. This is in stark contrast to Sirrus, Achenar, and Gehn, all of whom are ultimately motivated by self interest. Saavedro wants revenge for some genuine wrongs. And he’s played by Brad Fucking Dourif and I somehow did not realize this until after I beat the game? Anyway, cool character.

The Neutral:

The game doesn’t really establish anything… new? It feels much more like a side story than anything; there’s nothing massive lore-wise that you didn’t already know from the previous games. Whereas Riven felt like a major expansion of stuff hinted at in Myst, this didn’t have much to set it apart.

I said earlier that the 3D mo-cap looked great… for the most part. There are some bits that really do trigger uncanny valley, which is weird considering you’re looking at real people. There’s a part where Catherine is holding a baby and sitting on a bench, and another where Saavedro walks through a door, that weren’t rendered especially well. It’s a shame because the rest looks fine. I think this is a case of being a little ambitious for what the technology could actually do; attempting to render a 2D projection in a 3D space.

The Bad:

In a lot of ways, this felt detached from the previous games to me. It could be the fact that a different studio produced it. At the end of Riven, you’re stranded in the Star Fissure. But in this game you’re… suddenly back with no explanation on why or how. Sirrus and Achenar tie in, yes, but only by mention, which is odd to me when they’re such a big component for the conflict. If someone hadn’t played Myst or Riven, they would have no idea what the hell is going on.

Good. Luck. Getting this game to run. This isn’t just a modern compatibility issue; even on old systems this game has bugs that keep you from continuing past a certain point. Getting this to run on a modern system is nearly impossible because Ubisoft like… lost the patch that allows that to happen? Their official website only goes to patch 1.30, which doesn’t actually work. You have to pirate the actual patch, 1.32, and find a website that isn’t going to riddle your computer with viruses. I DID find one, so let me know if you ever need it...

Overall:

A cool game with some minor issues. The world design, visuals, and antagonist were the strong points of this entry. It was definitely entertaining to play, if not completely mindblowing like some things in the previous entries. In that vein, you probably won’t get much out of this entry if you haven’t at least played Myst (and probably Riven). The game assumes you know a lot of the world and lore already.

I love revenge stories, so this one did of course appeal to me. Saavedro is one of the most interesting things about this entry, as I’ve mentioned, and Brad Dourif did a fantastic job. He’s apparently a Myst fan, which is why he agreed to do it? Pretty cool stuff. I think that visually the worlds were imaginative and stunning, so the game was nice to look at while puzzling through it. Good visuals and solid gameplay makes for a solid game. I recommend it to people who have played previous entries and want more from the universe and characters. As mentioned, though, you should really start with the earlier games or you’ll be pretty lost.

#taylor reviews #taylor plays

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orionredstarr · 7 years ago

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Close-Up: Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio on 'Dead Man's Chest'

I stumbled across this old article from 2006 when potc2 was first released and found it a very interesting piece -- how the writers described the characterization and concept of Jack Sparrow, the actor Johnny Depp how he was playing Jack, and in relation to Kiera Knightley who plays Elizabeth Swann. There were some interesting nuances you might like to read in this potc ‘time capsule’ so have fun reading!

:) ORS

article by Scott Holleran

During a recent interview about Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean series—including next year's installment—writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio demonstrate clarity, intelligence and a flash of the randy humor that's made the franchise a hit.

Meeting at the Walt Disney Studio in Burbank, the brains behind the spectacle that now opens Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest are a couple of pals who grew up in Orange County with frequent trips to Disneyland. Three years after Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl took Hollywood by storm, its writers are ready to go another round.

Box Office Mojo: Is Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest exactly the movie you wrote?

Terry Rossio: It's not an easy question. There are things I would change. But there are aspects that exceed what we wrote as well. The trade-off is probably worth it— Ted Elliott: —life is full of these little trade-offs— Terry Rossio: —and there are relatively few. They amount to quibbles. I'd say it's 90 percent of what we wanted.

Box Office Mojo: Did you choose the darker tone?

Terry Rossio: I'm not sure it is darker. You could just as easily say it has more slapstick. Maybe it extends further in each direction—maybe there are occasionally darker alleys. Hopefully, those are balanced. Ted Elliott: We didn't intend to have sequels. The first [movie] is a story in and of itself, a sort of capital 'r' romance in the Prisoner of Zenda sense that ends in an idealized love between Elizabeth and Will. So, what happens after that? Ideals are very difficult to [achieve] in this world. It's much more interesting to watch somebody struggle, where it's not so easy to know what's the right thing to do at all times.

Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Terry Rossio: In the first film, Jack Sparrow wants to get his ship back, and that's what he's focused on. Though he does some underhanded things, he's aligned with the heroes for the most part. That's kind of uplifting. In the second [movie], Jack Sparrow is more desperate. His needs put him at odds with pretty much everybody—his crew, Will and Elizabeth and, obviously, Davy Jones. His desperation is magnified, and that may go a long way toward that impression that it's darker.

Box Office Mojo: Davy Jones talking about death is definitely darker.

Ted Elliott: Well, we're using the same palette that we used in the first movie. But we're definitely using different values in different combinations and, yeah, we actually do set out to suggest the world of pirates is darker. The darkness was implied in the first and we're making it more apparent in the second [picture] because we are ultimately leading to this climax [in the third picture]. It's a far more interesting type of drama to see people operating in this morally ambiguous world.

Box Office Mojo: When did you first ride the Disneyland attraction?

Ted Elliott: I was seven or eight years old. We grew up in Orange County [California], so Disneyland was always about 15 minutes from the house. I spent a lot of time there. Before we started working on the movie, I'd probably been on the ride at least a hundred times. It was my favorite ride. Number two was Monsanto's Adventures Through Inner Space—I just liked the idea of things getting really tiny and walking around in that environment—but number one was Pirates of the Caribbean.

Terry Rossio: My experience was similar. I'd been on it maybe a hundred or two hundred times before we even contemplated doing the movie.

Box Office Mojo: Were you drawn to the attraction's horror features?

Ted Elliott: It was the totality of the experience. That ride begins with what is a dark ride feature. It really does—the skeleton, the cursed treasure—it's always been part of the ride. Right at the beginning, the skeleton warns you to keep your hands and arms inside [the boat] and says that Davy Jones is waiting for those who don't obey. It always had this supernatural aspect of legends that we all associate with the sea. But there had never been a movie that tied pirates to it. Terry Rossio: For me, what the ride accomplishes so well is that sense of a fully realized fantasy. It's a tip of the iceberg feeling—like [you are entering] a world that has its own rules and is its own reality. It's like going into the world of Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. The ride felt like little vignettes or episodes that feel as if they have a larger story behind them. I was curious to find out: how did those guys get there? How did the dog get the key? What's going to happen? The fun of doing the Pirates of the Caribbean films is that you get to create a world. I think that's what audiences like—they want to go visit that world. They want to visit those characters and look around corners and see where that path leads or where that ship came from. Box Office Mojo: Is there more gunplay in the sequel?

Terry Rossio: No. There's more pet violence perhaps. But don't overlook the rather brutal moment [in the first picture] of the butler coming to the [governor's residence] door and being shot. Ted Elliott: Also, the first death we see in the first movie is Will throwing an axe into somebody's back—when the pirates are invading Port Royale—and he doesn't know that the pirates are unkillable. From Will's point of view, he is the first person to commit actual violence.

Box Office Mojo: Is the third picture done?

Ted Elliott: No. We still have a couple of months left to shoot. We shot the location work simultaneously with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest but the plan was always that we would have something left to shoot.

Box Office Mojo: Is the title Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End?

Terry Rossio: That's what we're campaigning for—but it's not set. Ted Elliott: I like it because then you could say 'POTC: AWE.'

Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Box Office Mojo: Johnny Depp has received widespread praise for his portrayal of your character, Captain Jack Sparrow. How much of your writing remains in that characterization?

Ted Elliott: We wrote a very specific character and Johnny played that character but his performance was one neither of us could have imagined. We wanted to create this trickster. If you go all the way back to [Robert Louis Stevenson's novel] Treasure Island, we kind of borrowed the moral ambiguity of that story. The whole thing comes down to [young boy] Jim Hawkins making the call as to whether [pirate] Long John Silver is a good man or a bad man—that's the emotional crux of that story. Silver does kill people—he betrays everybody—and this moral ambiguity is inherent in the pirate/swashbuckler genre. To that regard, the trickster archetype seemed appropriate. That's what we wanted to do with Jack Sparrow. Whether Johnny identified that consciously, he definitely found a perfect performance. Terry Rossio: The world wants there to be movie stars and, in a sense, the story becomes Johnny Depp—because people want that. In terms of understanding why he's [created] an iconic character, the story becomes 'Johnny Depp is brilliant' which of course is true because Johnny Depp is brilliant. People are not necessarily as interesting in pedestrian reality. You still have a storyboard artist who comes up with a visual of Johnny first stepping onto the dock as the ship sinks. We wrote that [scene in which Jack Sparrow is introduced]. We wrote lines like: 'you're the worst pirate I've ever heard of—' and [the response] 'but you have heard of me.' People quote those lines. If the character had walked on screen and just stood there and said, 'hello,' it wouldn't be the same. So, clearly the screenwriting goes into the creation of the character. And I have to credit Gore Verbinski's direction. Ted Elliott: When we were writing and making the first movie, [we had in mind] the Sergio Leone [spaghetti] Westerns like The Man With No Name [movies]. The Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef characters are essentially gods compared to all these mortals. They can shoot better, they can ride better, they're smarter, they're faster and they don't say much. To some extent, that's what we were playing in the first [Pirates], that Jack and [Captain] Barbossa [played by Geoffrey Rush] are kind of pirate gods. They come into the lives of these two mortal characters— Terry Rossio: —and we continue that into At World's End— Ted Elliott: —and, to some extent, Jack is the demi-god, the trickster. He straddles both sides. Is he on the side of the gods—is he opposed to the gods?—is he on the side of the mortals? He's on his own side. Terry Rossio: You can also track the dialog in those [spaghetti Westerns]: the less words you say, the more god-like you are—and, in Pirates of the Caribbean [pictures]— Ted Elliott: —pirates talk. Terry Rossio: —the less Johnny says, the more truthful he is. The more words he uses, the more you should mistrust him. Ted Elliott: So, yes, there is some conscious thought given to the behavior of Jack Sparrow.

Keira Knightley and Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Box Office Mojo: Does it concern you that Jack Sparrow will be perceived as less likable in this movie?

Ted Elliott: More interesting, not less likable. I can't say what everybody's going to feel, but, certainly the intent here was for people to be surprised by what Jack is doing. My argument against making him more likable is that he [ought to be] understandable. Everything he does is perfectly within character and, in a way, all we're doing is revealing greater character depth. His character in the first movie included things that were less than admirable, less than likable.

Terry Rossio: The most important commandment is to sustain interest—if you do that, everything else follows; you can move people emotionally, you can make them laugh, you can do all sorts of things. It's most important to demonstrate character complexity or to let characters do things that create interest, because that's how we live our lives day to day. Same thing with complexity. For some reason, there's a focus when people talk about movies about the idea of somehow 'getting it,' like things should be easy or clear. What really goes on in movies is that things are beguiling or intriguing and interest is sustained by seeing glimpses of a world or a story. That's what happens in real life. People have to navigate the world based on incomplete information. That can draw people into a story. Yet, for some reason, people don't understand that and they're resistant to that technique. Luckily, we get to do it in these movies, which I think actually works. Likability and simplicity are not all they're cracked up to be.

Box Office Mojo: What is the meaning of the series?

Ted Elliott: It's a study of what is a pirate. How free can you really be? What are those trade-offs? Jack kind of represents the ultimate free man—he really has no obligations to anybody, and, obviously, if you make an obligation to somebody, you're limiting your own freedom. But, if you're not willing to limit your own freedom, you can't have those relationships. If you look at Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest from that point of view, you kind of see what really leads to Jack's ultimate fate and why Elizabeth does what she does.

Box Office Mojo: Jack Sparrow's an anarchist?

Ted Elliott: Essentially, yes, he really is. Terry Rossio: I wouldn't say he's a complete anarchist— Ted Elliott: —he's opposed to social structures, he's opposed to government— Terry Rossio: 99 percent of that's correct but Jack has his own internal moral landscape. The choices he makes are not necessarily inconsistent with forming relationships.

Box Office Mojo: Is there an inner goodness to Jack Sparrow?

Terry Rossio: No. Jack says it clearly [in the first movie:] there's what a man can do and what a man can't do. Those words encompass his inner contradictions—that's what's so beautiful about them—he's saying you cannot generalize, you cannot philosophize, you cannot come up with a simple [moral code]. It's almost saying each situation calls for its own resolution; there is simply what you will do and what you won't do. Ted Elliott: He's also saying, judge by deeds, not words.

Box Office Mojo: Do all the characters return in the third movie?

Ted Elliott: Yes.

Box Office Mojo: What are the mechanics of your writing partnership?

Terry Rossio: We do the back and forth exchange of files. One of the techniques we learned while working in animation [on Shrek] is to work in sequences. For me, it's easier to attack a three-page thing than the entire script. Ted Elliott: I know writers who actually work in the full draft and I can't figure out how they do it. If you have a hundred pages, if you want to get to a scene in the middle, you have to go through all that other stuff. Whereas, if you've broken it up into sequences, you only have to deal with exactly the part you need to work on.

Box Office Mojo: How do you take a step back and look at the big picture?

Ted Elliott: That's why the cards are up on the storyboard. We work out the story on index cards to break it down. Terry Rossio: Truth be told, sometimes, you don't get that view of the Big Picture until opening day. Also, it's a very immersive job; you wake up and you're on a set and talking to actors and going to story meetings and, with the amount of time you spend understanding how a story should work, you don't necessarily have to go to the boards. You're living the film as it's being made, and you can sometimes tell [what to write] because you know that world so incredibly well. You [already] have the context of the larger movie.

Box Office Mojo: How do studio pressures affect the writing process?

Ted Elliott: You're ultimately trying to create a physical object. It's wonderful to imagine, but once you start rendering the script as something physical, you have to deal with the physics. It really comes down to the physical constraints on what's mostly intellectual. The reason I became a screenwriter is to make movies. If I just wanted to write screenplays, that's all I'd do. If I just wanted to be a writer, I'd never write screenplays. There is much more satisfactory work than writing a screenplay because it's not the final work. You're not actually writing to communicate with your intended audience; you're writing to communicate with the people who are making the movie. Terry Rossio: Sometimes the physical constraints on a movie are the people working on the movie and Ted's much more able to navigate that. Ted Elliott: I come at it from the point of view that, if Terry, for example, doesn't get my idea, I'm not communicating my idea—not if it's really a great idea—or, it may not be a great idea or, in Terry's subjective opinion, it's not a great idea for the movie. [Director] Gore [Verbinski] may initially disagree with an idea [in the script] and we may have arguments. But what eventually develops is a new idea that we're all satisfied with.

Box Office Mojo: Can you give an example of an idea you refused to compromise?

Ted Elliott: In the very first meeting we had on Pirates 2 and possibly Pirates 3, we kind of pitched to Gore, [and producers] Jerry Bruckheimer, Mike Stenson and Chad Oman how the movie ends—I don't want to spoil it—with Jack, Will and Elizabeth. We said 'this is what we want and then in Pirates 3, this happens.' They were like, 'nyahh.' But we've learned an important lesson, which is that the right idea at the wrong time is a wrong idea. So, we stopped and said, 'alright,' and talked about what more we wanted to do with this movie. A couple of weeks later, Gore had come back to those [same] ideas and, now, they're there. There is a point where the writer has to be allowed to take responsibility for the work—or not take responsibility for the movie.

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Read full article here {X}

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lifelibrariesandlemontrees · 8 years ago

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NetGalley Book Review: Assassin’s Fate

Guys. Guys. GUYS!!!!! Look! Look at this! Isn’t it beautiful? It’s the one, the only, the FINAL installment of the Fitz and the Fool trilogy. Which is in turn, the final installment (as far as I know) in the Realm of the Elderlings series.

If nothing I just said made any sense to you, I recommend going to your nearest source of books and looking up Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb. It’s the first book in the series and, as such, is wonderful and amazing and just trust me, you need it in your life. Go do that now. It’s the kind of series that will emotionally destroy you in the best possible way.

Click HERE to read my review of Fool’s Assassin

Click HERE to read my review of Fool’s Quest

Synopsis:

The final book in the Fitz and the Fool trilogy. Prince FitzChivalry Farseer’s daughter Bee was violently abducted from Withywoods by Servants of the Four in their search for the Unexpected Son, foretold to wield great power. With Fitz in pursuit, the Servants fled through a Skill-pillar, leaving no trace. It seems certain that they and their young hostage have perished in the Skill-river. Clerres, where White Prophets were trained by the Servants to set the world on a better path, has been corrupted by greed. Fitz is determined to reach the city and take vengeance on the Four, not only for the loss of Bee but also for their torture of the Fool. Accompanied by FitzVigilant, son of the assassin Chade, Chade’s protégé Spark and the stableboy Perseverance, Bee's only friend, their journey will take them from the Elderling city of Kelsingra, down the perilous Rain Wild River, and on to the Pirate Isles. Their mission for revenge will become a voyage of discovery, as well as of reunions, transformations and heartrending shocks. Startling answers to old mysteries are revealed. What became of the liveships Paragon and Vivacia and their crews? What is the origin of the Others and their eerie beach? How are liveships and dragons connected? But Fitz and his followers are not the only ones with a deadly grudge against the Four. An ancient wrong will bring them unlikely and dangerous allies in their quest. And if the corrupt society of Clerres is to be brought down, Fitz and the Fool will have to make a series of profound and fateful sacrifices. ASSASSIN’S FATE is a magnificent tour de force and with it Robin Hobb demonstrates yet again that she is the reigning queen of epic fantasy. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

Review:

It was everything. Literally, this book takes all of the trilogies and quartets that comprise the Realm of the Elderlings series, and bring them all together. So if you haven’t read them or thought they might not be important to the Farseer story? I’d advise you take some time and do that now. This is both a weakness and a strength in my opinion, and let me tell you why:

On the one hand, it was really awesome to see all of the other characters from The Liveship Traders and the Rain Wilds. It was really interesting to see the way in which the stories all converge and to know how everyone ends up. On the other hand: I really just want to read about Fitz.

I don’t think there has ever been any doubt that Fitz is my favorite character. I’m thrilled that his story is the primary one for the Realm of the Elderlings, because his is the most interesting. He’s the character that I’m bonded to and whose story consistently makes me cry. The other series are good, and you should definitely read them, but for me it’s always been a story of Fitz and his life, with the other stories on the side, kind of supplementary. For example, the first time I read them I went straight from the Farseer Trilogy to the Tawney Man trilogy, completely skipping over The Liveship Traders. I did go back and read them afterwards, and knowing what I know now about Amber, I would probably have read them in order. But, I digress.

I think I will enjoy it more on my second reading, not only because I’m able to better relate to the story and characters with a physical copy, but because I know the full story now. I know how all of Fitz’s interactions with the Fool and Bee and everyone else go, and so I won’t mind so much when they go off about the other characters. But the first time? It was actually a little stressful. I was here for Fitz and this book kept giving me page after page with other characters. I can appreciate the closure in retrospect, but at the time? I wasn’t here for that.

That isn’t to say that there isn’t plenty of Fitz. Don’t worry. There’s Fitz, and the Fool and Fitz and the Fool and Bee and even some Nighteyes and Ketricken and basically everyone. Like I said, everything converges. And the characters make progress, and regress, and it an be infuriating at times (here’s looking at you Fitz) but ultimately they’re the characters that you love. They’re damaged and broken but they’re together and, for me at least, that’s the important part.

I don’t know how much more I can say while keeping this spoiler free, but I will say that everything is tied up in the most Robin Hobbsian ending I can imagine. Imagine holding up three fingers, each finger representing something that you, as the reader, wants from the story. Your fingers may be similar or different to mine but regardless, you’re probably only going to get one of them. And you will be so thrilled over the one that you get, and crying over the two that you don’t, and everything will be wonderful and heartbreaking and so, so appropriate, and that’s what this book is like. That’s the adventure, and that’s the end to it all. And honestly, what more could you expect from this wonderful, emotional, series?

As a final note, however, I will say that this ending took less time for me to come to terms with than the original. As some of you may know, the series was supposed to have ended with the Tawney Man Trilogy. When I first read these books, she hadn’t decided to write the Fitz and the Fool trilogy yet, and so the end of Fool’s Fate was the ending that I had, for everything. And I was happy, and yet simultaneously dissatisfied and it took me a few weeks (I’m ridiculous, but also ridiculously attached to these characters) to come to terms with the ending. And even then I would have moments of dissatisfaction, where I would play out what if scenarios in my head for things that might happen after the final page.

I don’t do that now. This final conclusion is the closure that was needed. It’s the end of an era and the end of my favorite book series.

The End.

Re-readability: 5/5

Rated: 5/5

Recommended for:

1. Everybody. Seriously, everyone with eyes. Go read this series. Read the entire Realm of the Elderlings series. It’s the best and most amazing, wonderful, heartbreaking series I’ve ever read. it will emotionally destroy you in all the best ways. Go read it now.

#lifelibrariesandlemontrees #librarian book reviews #librarian #librarians #book reviews #robin hobb #it's the end of an era #fitz and the fool #Assassin's Fate #l3bookreview

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maneaterwithtail · 5 years ago

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youtube

The politics are the cough. the disease is flooding to chase the trend of personal brand building. Events and confusing communities and arguably the arrangement of the direct market itself. No simplicity and lots of expense with shakeup one after the other.

And some transparently business or out of story disrupting existing (in humans versus mutants)

Starting Marvel, as an example, is harder than figuring out where to come in on the Fate series. I mention this because Comics are often compared to manga and yet however convoluted in silly may get for the most part you buy one collection, or let's not kid ourselves pirate, or wait until an animated adaptation comes out realize that it's pretty much faithful, go back to the core comic and so long as you start from the beginning you can follow to the end. Even if it's based off of a visual novel chances are everything will progress from beginning to end. It's usually when that models messed up with that something becomes destructive and difficult to follow or deal.

Unlike with manga where if you're having trouble following where to start with, like the Fate series, you can at least enjoy the latest Nasu verse offering. especially if you can turn your brain off and just engage with one example. Or if you don't want to deal with that you can just go to an entirely different property from a similar publisher that scratches a similar itch.

Like the premise of America Chavez buts I think she did it wrong? Well it's not like you can just switch over to Champions because that's a mess as well along with Miles Morales Spider-Man and ms. Marvel or spider woman.

it's expensive, patchy, filled with all sorts of weird continuity that you end up having to buy just to start. As such only the dedicated fanbase could possibly tolerate it but that also is exclusive in the sense that it's so to them with a history that it feels kind of off-putting.

I like the comicsgate comics I have heard of. I can also understand why we try to move away from that. Such as very obvious p*** tracing. And so on. Yes supposed diversity has basically led to a similar story of we're here now we're going to f*** the status quo too strongly relating to the audience or the author's pandering.

But it's not just they're going to have a trans person in an announcement. Which is a pretty major character trait I imagine that they want to talk about that or include it in the announcement.

the discontinuity does not help you build upsetting characters characterization and Circumstance. This is what I mean you're following themes story and events building to something then a new author will come in and he or she will wreck all that up so that they can go in an entirely different direction. Okay maybe you don't like the homosexual overtones of Eddie Brock and Venom. Maybe you want to stick it to all the slash shippers on Tumblr. But they've been the people who been following the comic and there's been a multi-year build up with sleeper, Eddie Brock and Venom's son.

going no now Eddy has a son he doesn't know about. oh and he was in the car that killed a child and him and Venom hate each other? Basically says f*** that other story we're going back to this story because I liked it better when I was young and I like it this way. And this kind of hostility is constant with every Changing of the Guard which can happen almost every two to three years. This keeps happening right when things are starting to get good or conclusion is reached. this undermines any death any major event or twist especially when it's in the headlines as if it's going to be meaningful

we can't even engaged in the illusion that someone has a plan charting something out when it feels like it's always fly by the seat of the pants the slightest whim can blow off the direction. We know in our conscious nothing that happens matters or at the very least when things end and we don't move on to something else then realize that there was a change but it seems seamless. Or at the very least it's a damn good seem that makes a very likeable and unique and distinct quilt. Again comparing and contrasting with manga

basically constantly ragging on the Politics as if that's what's causing the problem as opposed to Poor practices is off. yeah the customer service is definitely a no-go. But let's not kid ourselves Fanboys started it

I can straight up say that if you had a book that was straight up gay. like it starred the gay couple that once was Rescued by Captain America including his childhood hero And they were joined by the gender-bending exiled courtesan. you know those girls that always hang around in the background of Thor comics and everybody talks about winching and all that stuff? What if we actually focus on one of them and we threw in some mythological deviant queerness with the idea that men who practiced a certain form of Witchcraft had to be ladies. Now in practice this often meant anything from cross-dressing to performing ceremonies with a freaking dildo. But this is Comics so instead I can just go with the idea that after he uses magic so much he can turn or does turn into a lady. At first it's inadvertent but then he Masters the power so much that can transform into any lady. So he can go from weak little nerdy witch man to a Vanir (super durable pretty strong) or she giant.

It gets even more so when apparently he can change not just to a generic woman but any specific one. so he can literally clone an individual lady alive or dead. If she's dead you can act as a vessel for her soul so effectively while he might be booted deep within he can resurrect anyone's female loved one. Until changes back. The Twist is that while he won a beauty contest to be one of Odin's many many side pieces due to the politics and sociology of the time and the setup Odin didn't like admitting that they were both men or equals. Now the crossdressing courtesan isnt necessarily the nicest person. In fact the number one thing that characterizes him is that he hates the alpha male warrior culture or at least what he perceives of the negatives of it of Asgard. But that doesn't necessarily mean that he provides a good alternative. This will be a total retcon. not only would this make Odin effectively bisexual -although it's long since established that it seems like he's banged about so much he has had a child with everyone but his wife- but the idea that Loki and Thor grew up exposed to this weird gender-bending courtesan who tried to compete with the affections of their Queen Mother just so that that way he could get ahead and hated showing the absolute loyalty and Devotion to Asgard seeking glory in battle and death as opposed to conniving Gatling favor and trolling for booty while having to serve drinks for the Warriors that came by and were celebrated in the castle Hall.

Probably make up all sorts of relationships with other lesser-known Danny's that haven't been as much part of Marvel Thor but are important or at least well-known for the tradition. I would also shamelessly ripoff @gumon and her take on Norse mythology. With giants that just naturally produce children whether male or female. anyway ignoring all the continuity just so I could bring in the mythology that I want I would have it so that he was ultimately exiled because he got set up on a failure assignment. He got assigned to the Blue Mountain the traveling planet or set of rocks now that was the home of one of the Warriors Three the blue guy well the guy who wears blue and looks kind of like Angus Khan

The entire point of this is to get a different eye view of the Marvel Universe. What was it like to be one of those disposable pin-up girls. What is the gay population in gay culture and gay people been doing and light of the world that's been invaded from the ground been in a Perpetual fight with remnants of terrorists from World War II. And of course how they've been in for you property and making their lives and how are they responding to the fact that New York finally recognizes their marriage and of course life in the Twilight years as a gay couple that's constantly facing mortality. Also with the usual hey I'm an immortal mystical being who's having to relearn how to be human after having lived a life with a God's but neither being loyal to them nor a particular loyal to my own people. Along with the issues of the shapeshifter gender Dynamics and identity and all other sort of things. Pretty damn gay book. But I read it

Kids like imitating what they see so ripping the idea that someone's going to take some of the more iconic X-Men looks and style themselves after them when they know that their mutant doesn't seem wrong. I like the idea that we're going to open with someone who manages an online community for mutants. I like the idea of Trailblazer I like the ladies thick and I like the fact that she has a more utility power that she's going to have to work with and around hopefully being clever though that backpack does run the risk of becoming the Omnitrix and having the solution for every problem that you need.

Basically I like the children of the atom a bit more than the whole lineup of the new Warriors. I think people really should give the characters a chance so if you're turned off by yet another set of incest siblings in Marvel ya no problem or argument here.

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sassafrasx · 7 years ago

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Hello my dearest yuletide author! :D

Thank you so, so much in advance for writing something for me. Please feel free to ignore all of this if none of my ideas work for you; I’m really flexible and enjoy most everything, so please go with whatever inspires you! I would never want anyone to feel forced to write something.

My requests this year are particularly queer-focused (as in they all involve canon queer characters, which \o/) and I have a lot of love for all of them; so if you get stuck on the fandom we matched on, the other two may also be up your alley as well. Both The Get Down and American Gods have only one season, and Captive Prince is a trilogy which is a fairly quick read.

Things I enjoy (in no particular order and organized in a way known only to my brain):

Humor, banter, wit, sass, dialogue, intelligence, competence

Worldbuilding, plot, action, shenanigans/ridiculousness, sense of adventure, wonder

Most genres, fluff, angst, smut, really anything but too much focus on H/C (I’ve had enough of that IRL in the past few years)

ALL the AUs, all of them, I’ve never met one I didn’t like: magic, fantasy, scifi, space, historical, modern, mundane, college/university, fairy tales, dystopia, D/s, movie/tv/book fusions, daemons, canon setting or divergence AUs, urban fantasy, magical realism, magical/mythical creatures, time travelling, coffee shop/any kind of shop/restaurant, etc (tl;dr if there’s an AU you’ve always wanted to write, I’ve definitely always wanted to read it)

Friendships, families of choice, queer themes, awesome women being awesome, equal relationships, relationships that are earned and have a long and winding road, relationships that just flow together naturally from the beginning, loyalty

As with the AUs above, I have great love for most any trope you can imagine as well: friends to lovers, enemies to friends to lovers, UST, pining, pretend relationships, ‘didn’t know they were dating’, slow burn, bets & wagers, obliviousness, road trips, travel of any kind, cats and other animal companions, epistolary, texting/messaging, case fic, clothes sharing, sharing a bed, forced proximity, quests, soul bonds/soulmates/soulmarks, a/b/o, age difference, etc

Trope subversion, particularly of the soulmate and a/b/o type tropes, or anything really that generally subverts or inverts expectations

Absolutely anything relating to mythology

The little details that speak volumes about characters even when nothing is said at all, realism, especially moments of realism grounding things in the midst of something fantastical or ridiculous or funny, and vice versa — those quiet moments of humor while everything else is going to shit

Kinks sold separately (so you may ignore more easily or zero in on them, depending on your smut-writing inclinations — I will be equally as gleeful whether I receive g-rated gen fic or the kinkiest PWP):

Rimming, comeplay, manhandling/athletic sex, switching, pegging, intercrural, oral sex, masturbation, dirty talk, all kinds of sex toys, sex magic, edging, bondage/restraints, spanking, phone/webcam sex, dubcon of the sex pollen/magic/aliens made them do it variety, crossdressing, lingerie, I could go on but I will spare you. Suffice it to say I enjoy most things of the porny variety ;)

My only DNWs: explicit noncon or major character death, as well as pregnancy, infidelity, character bashing or humiliation, animal harm/cruelty.

(Having said that, if dark fic is really your thing, I am definitely open to those sorts of themes; I’m just much more careful about what/when I read noncon and character death. But outside of that, please feel to go somewhere dubious or dark. Fics that get into morally grey areas and make you think are great. Ambiguous or open endings instead of outright unhappy ones generally preferred in this case; bittersweetness has always hit me in the gut more than complete tragedy.)

If none of the prompts below are working, please feel free to pick and choose from the top section here and write whatever inspires you! Fantasy AU fic, PWP, 1k of light-hearted domestic fluff, any weird experimental piece you’re dying to write, most anything at all, please have at it. Or ignore everything on here completely; optional details are optional and I will be unbelievably excited about anything you write for me. <3<3

I added this last year, but honestly it still applies: if recent events have you wanting to write all the dystopian AUs or dedicate queer, filthy porn to a politician of choice, I will be here with my chin in hands.

Captive Prince (Damen, Laurent)

Ahhhhh, I just have so many feelings about these two and their impossible, slow, perfect development. SO MANY. They’re the sort of pair whose relationship is just so satisfying and well-earned and who complement each other so perfectly, despite rubbing against each other in all the wrong ways through so much of their relationship. It’s the sort of thing where I could read their story in a thousand different ways through a thousand different AUs and be totally, wholly content. And I want all of those stories! All of them! So a lot of my ideas listed below here are heavily AU-centric, both canon and non-canon based.

Some ideas to throw against a wall:

Mermaids, selkies, daemons, that mysterious witch in a blue dress that people in the city keep whispering about

I know this is already a fantasy series, but I kept craving more fantasy elements while reading, so add some dragons, high fantasy, whatever have you to the canon universe and I will be pleased as punch

MYTHOLOGY - whether adding in some mythological elements to canon (there was a surprising lack of any sort of folklore or mythology in the series) or a total AU I am all here for anything with a myth-type twist

The stereotypical modern AUs: coffee shop, university, we live in the same building and your cat keeps sneaking in to steal my underwear, WHATEVER, I’m always down for meet-cutes and ridiculousness

Urban/modern fantasy, magical realism, all that jazz is my jam; my love for urban fantasy has no bounds

Non-traditional a/b/o - while I love a/b/o in general, any sort of twist or subversion is basically my ultimate iddy happy place - Damen/Laurent alpha/alpha AU anyone?? Or any other way you’d like to imagine it.

Porn. Anything from the top section, porn is always happily consumed.

Rival space pirate clans, because space pirates.

For the more canon-inclined, that’s awesome too! I realize a lot of my random ideas above are complete AUs, but I love canon fic as well. I particularly love divergence scenarios — not just major ones of the Auguste Lives type, but what if some small moment in canon happened differently, or didn’t happen at all? So much good stuff to explore there. Role reversal canon AUs, outsider POV and missing scenes are always awesome as well. Whatever sandbox you find most fun to play in really :D

As for side characters and whatnot, the more the merrier generally speaking! Nikandros, Pallas, and Lazar are particular favorites in this corner over here.

The Get Down (Dizzee)

I also requested this last year, and after the second half of the series, my request is still largely the same. One of the things I love about this show is that sense of the city in the 70s, the visceral feel of it, and how it was so well-done and it left me craving more — particularly more of Dizzee’s story.

(Confession: I am a New Yorker, which is part of why I loved this so much, but I was born about a decade after this takes place and in a different part of the country than where I now call home — so please don’t worry about me nitpicking historical details ;))

While we did get to see more of Dizzee in the second half of the series, I’m still hung up on that one scene with him from the first half of the series (the one where he goes with Thor and the other girl to the club) and that is probably completely responsible for this request. It hit me like a pound of feels straight to the chest. Queer culture in the 70s, the underground balls, the music, the voguing, drag, and everything else. GAH. And watching Dizzee navigate all that, open his mind to everything around him and recognize himself, so much love. And the way the scene fits in with the shows overall themes, how so much creativity and how new genres can come out of oppression, the way all these different groups and sounds interacted and fed off each other, which is so rarely acknowledged anymore. Anything that explores any of this will be loved forever and ever.

I didn’t specifically request Thor because Dizzee is my main interest here, but I think he’s great too! Or the girl from the club — or both! However you want to approach it, my queer heart will be excited. You could write a continuation scene (porny or not porny), Dizzee getting deeper into queer culture afterwards, some introspection, or just the scene from the show as it happens from Dizzee’s perspective, anything really. Same with the scene from the second half of the season where Thor and Dizzee paint each other. And I have no drug or alcohol triggers, so if you really just wanted to write 1k about Dizzee rolling his ass off tbh, I’d love to read that too.

Much more so than I usually request, this one really is a lot about the setting for me. Having said that, if you wanted to do it as a some sort of dystopian AU with similar themes and Dizzee as the focus, I’d read the shit out of the that. So much. (As an example — feel free to insert other AU compulsions if that’s your thing.) And I think there are a lot of awesome characters in the show, particularly the moral greyness of so many of them, but the queer themes of Dizzee’s story admittedly resonate with me on a much more personal level; please do feel free to include as many or as few of the others as you see fit!

American Gods (TV) (The Jinn, Salim)

I have been an enormous fan of the book since it originally came out and have reread it many times over the years; needless to say I am so unbelievably happy with the show so far and how they’ve chosen to expand upon and approach the original canon. Particularly, I love how they filmed the scene between these two characters, and then decided to give them a larger role in the series, which they didn’t have in the book.

For these two, I would love anything that explores their relationship, maybe what Salim was feeling or thinking when they met, how that sort of transcendent experience touched him, what his life was like afterwards as a cab driver in his new identity. Or something about his journey to find the Jinn again! How does he get there? What does he find at the end? What is their happily ever after? I’m so thrilled they’ve decided to go that route on the show, and can’t wait to see how it connects to the larger story. (As I’ve read the book, there is no need to worry about spoiling me if you would like to include details from future plots based on it; or go wild and go somewhere completely different! I’d love to read it all.)

The Jinn’s perspective would also be amazing: he’s been alive for so long, the things he’s seen, and he seems lonely when we meet him on the show? What has his experience/existence been like as a god, how has he seen history, particularly from a queer perspective, what does it mean to him when he meets Salim?

It would also be really interesting to see something that explored the mythological aspects of the show more -- or a complete myth AU! I think these two also lend themselves well to a lot of AUs and tropes in general and I’d love to read about all of them; if you wanted to raid any of the AUs or tropes above and go crazy that’d be amazing. Some kind of soulmates universe (with or without the mythology of canon), magical creatures of some kind, some sort of normal/modern AU, anything at all and anywhere you want to go, have at it!

Please feel free to include whatever canon characters you like; while I selected these two, I enjoy all of them and would be happy to see anything involving them. And while these requests lean more shippy, please make it as gen (backstory for either of the characters would be awesome) or as shippy as you’d like.

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