#if you want to assemble a band of heroes and watch them grow and change and leave a legacy

[ember-ling]

The scent of saltwater, a subtle hiss... the crackle of electricity?

Shoutout to Wildermyth, my favorite game! When my friends and I play multiplayer and encounter technical difficulties, we joke that gorgons are chewing the wires.

(Character is a True Gorgon from @wildermyth-blog!)

[fifteenleads]

A YOI x Chrono Trigger AU fic from Ye Olde 2018-ish Era. Go figure.

I can’t even remember what the hell I titled this before. Welp.

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Chapter One: “That’s a Nice Band-Aid, Darling.”

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They say that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and that a hero's adventure begins with a cliché-ass wake-up call - something like, "Good morning, Crono!," perhaps. How that even made it on to TV Tropes, Yuuri would never understand. But it is on TV Tropes, and he is in bed reading it.

He's glad his mother doesn't wake him up that way, at least. But then again, he's always up before five a.m. anyway. Sadly, the daily deliveries won't take care of themselves.

Yuuri glances at the time on his tablet. 4:59. Someone will come knocking in three, two, one --

"Yuuri! Get up!" Mari's voice is accompanied by three sharp raps on the door. "Go with dad to the plaza and help him set up!"

This is the part where the hero typically groans at being woken up before grudgingly getting themselves out of bed, but Yuuri Katsuki does not groan. He shouts back that he'll be down in a minute while looking for that darned sock that has gone missing now, of all times. Phichit would surely laugh hard at seeing his best friend hopping frantically on one foot while wearing a poodle-patterned sock. It'll probably go viral on Instagram, too, but that's pretty much a given already. Someone has to part the boy from his gadgets long-term after the Millenial Fair is over.

The minute is up, so Yuuri gives up and gets another sock from the drawer. It is patterned with the face of a silver-haired man surrounded by snowflakes. He has no idea how that found its way into his pile of clothing, but for now, mismatched socks are better than being late.

Yuuri makes his way downstairs and greets his mother, who is busy in the kitchen. Hiroko sends him off with an allowance of fifty kin and packed lunch for him and his father. He ignores Mari's snickering as she musses his hair while glancing at his feet.

The ride to the plaza is pretty short. It is already bustling with people even at such an early hour, all the sellers trying to outdo each other in showing off their wares. Yuuri chuckles as his father joins in the fray, calling out to everyone about the best katsudon in town. Everyone is excited for Hasetsu Kingdom's first Millenial Fair, and with it, the hopes for a thousand years more of peace and prosperity to come.

Toshiya leads the way to their assigned spot, a quaint little corner by the northern area of the square. The tent had already been set up the day before, so all that's left to do is to arrange the food and drinks before the first customers come in. Yuuri passively observes the hustle and bustle around them. Much energy is palpable in the air, and the excited hubbub only grows louder as the sun rises. Some stalls have weapons and armor, others exotic trinkets and accessories. He even spots a merchant selling animals. Phichit would probably want to pick up a new hamster on the way home later.

His eyes wander to the secluded area beyond the main square. Yuuri hoped Phichit's solo exhibit would be a success this time, too. His friend loved tinkering with machines since he was little, and it brought him and his family great fortune as he won scientific contests left and right. His magnum opus, a two-machine teleporter, had impressed the university professors and the panel of judges alike, earning him the highest thesis grade and the first prize for the National Physics Summit.

Yuuri's hand stills when his father calls his name. He had been adding portions of garnish to the newly-cut fried pork cutlets. He instinctively opens his mouth to apologize, but Toshiya immediately pats his back and pushes a one hundred-kin note into his hand. "I'll take care of the stall. You go have fun." He winks at his son mischievously, and Yuuri pushes down the growing blush creeping onto his cheeks.

"Th-Thanks, dad," he mumbles, bowing slightly before making his way to the northernmost part of the square. Phichit would probably be busy right now, but he would never refuse breakfast and morning coffee. It had been their time-honored tradition as college roommates, after all.

Yuuri stops by a mobile café and orders two tall hazelnut lattés and a baguette loaf. He is turning to leave with breakfast in hand when he bumps into the next person in line, spilling hot coffee over his white shirt. The other person, too, recoils in pain, reflexively putting a slender finger into his mouth to nurse it.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so, so sorry!" Yuuri exclaims, setting aside the food and drink and beginning to fuss over the man. He searches his bag for the small bottle of salve he always brings with him, and proceeds to apply a small amount over the man's injured finger, covering it with a band-aid afterwards.

The other man chuckles as he lets Yuuri take care of him. "It's quite all right," he assures airily, waving the bandaged hand with a smile. "I was also too close to you in line, as well." His blue eyes crinkle beautifully as he smiles, and Yuuri fights yet another blush from coloring his face. "I love this band-aid, though!" the man comments. "Where did you get it?"

"F-From the kids' section of the pharmacy," Yuuri admits, embarrassed. He just had to use that one by mistake instead of the flesh-tones ones, did he? Why now, of all times? "The poodle-patterned ones were part of a limited edition series."

"Nice!" the man exclaims in delight, scrutinizing the design closely. "Thank you so much for giving me this one. I love it!" He winks at Yuuri and places a light kiss over his own bandaged finger.

Yuuri wishes the ground would swallow him whole right this instant.

"U-Um, I think I'll get going now," he excuses himself, retrieving the coffee and bread from the counter. "My friend is waiting uphill. I'm so sorry again." Yuuri quickly nods his head and goes on his way, but the other man takes a long stride and ends up beside him, taking the baguette loaf out of his arms.

"It's okay, I'll help you," he offers happily as they ascend the stone steps. "I'm alone today, anyway." The man cradles the food with his left arm and extends his right hand out to Yuuri. "I'm Binktop, by the way. What's your name?"

For an instant, Yuuri is tempted to laugh out loud. The funny name hardly matches the man's regal appearance at all. He must be a foreigner, like the many others who have come to Hasetsu Kingom to join in the festivities. As a citizen of Hasetsu, therefore, he is to show this man the utmost respect and hospitality he deserves, funny names or not.

He shakes Binktop's hand, the cool skin sending small shivers down his spine. "I'm Yuuri. It's nice to meet you, Binktop."

"A pleasure." Binktop returns the handshake with a smile, and they continue going up the stairs. "So, Yuuri, are you also alone here today?"

"Our family actually has a food stall down at the main square, but my dad told me to enjoy myself today," Yuuri explains. "I'm on my way to see my friend, actually. He's an inventor."

Binktop's eyes widen and sparkle in delight, and he accidentally climbs two steps at once. "Wow! He must be really smart!"

"He is," Yuuri nods fondly in agreement. "Phichit has a solo exhibit today. This project won him first place at the National Physics Summit last month."

"That's amazing!" Binktop gushes in admiration, his silver bangs parting to reveal twinkling blue eyes. "I can't wait to meet him!" Yuuri smiles back proudly in response.

They reach the top of the stairs in a minute. The miniature square is cluttered with various machine parts and wires of different lengths and calibers. The two main pods have already been set in their positions, though not yet fully-assembled as Yuuri remembers them. It's definitely like Phichit to cram at the last minute.

The soft whirring noise dies down as the two approach the left pod, and a brown-skinned young man in a bandanna and overalls comes out to greet them. "Yuuri! You're here!"

Yuuri shrugs good-naturedly and hands Phichit the cup of coffee. "I'd love to hug you, but you're covered in oil and soot right now." He smiles widely at his best friend. "Good luck with your exhibit today!"

"Oh my gosh, thank you so much! You don't know how much I need it!" Phichit downs the coffee in an instant, breathing rapidly through his mouth afterwards to cool his tongue. "I heard the prince is coming with the royal delegation to watch my demonstration! I am so nervous!"

This time, Yuuri pats Phichit's shoulder encouragingly, not minding his hand blackening with soot afterwards. "You'll do well, Phichit! You've done this before; you can do it again."

"Good luck, Phichit!" Binktop adds, sending a friendly wink and a thumbs-up of his own. Phichit is surprised at the additional voice, and notices the other man for the first time. His nervous expression immediately changes to one of teasing, instantly directed at his friend. "Yuuri!" he whispers loudly. "Who's the hot guy?!"

"H-He's not - I mean -" Yuuri splutters, coughing into his hand to stop himself. He doesn't even bother hiding his obviously-reddened cheeks anymore; nothing ever escapes Phichit's notice, anyway. Tonight's phone call is going to be a long one.

When Yuuri has composed himself, he turns to Binktop. "Phichit, this is Binktop. I ran into him in the square today. Binktop, this is my friend, Phichit."

"Hi there!" Phichit merrily extends a hand to Binktop. "Phichit Chulanont, at your service!"

"Binktop," he introduces himself, shaking Phichit's hand. "Yuuri here has told me a lot about you."

"Hahaha, good things, I hope!" Phichit laughs, before shooting Yuuri an expectant glare. Yuuri grins back before taking another sip of coffee.

Phichit shows them around the workplace, pointing out the different parts of the invention and which part goes where. His black eyes shine brightly as he rambles in tech jargon while explaining the principle behind the teleporter. Binktop nods excitedly while asking questions, while Yuuri merely watches them interact. Despite his "nerdy glasses," as Phichit had christened them, he is not really into scientific stuff, having taken up a sports major in university.

"Sure thing! I was about to give this thing a test run, anyway." Phichit beckons Yuuri to come over. "Yuuri! Could you kindly step on the left pod? Binktop wants a demonstration."

Yuuri opens his mouth to protest, but knows better than to interrupt his friend when he is in scientist-mode. He may have also wanted to impress Binktop with his bravery, but he doesn't know it yet. Huffing, he finishes the rest of his coffee in one gulp and does as he is told.

Phichit flips the switch, and Yuuri almost loses his footing as he feels himself being sucked away into a vacuum space. Black, wavy lines fill his vision for a moment before everything around him returns to normal. He steps off the right pod and flashes the peace sign at Phichit and Binktop from across the square.

Binktop immediately makes a beeline for Yuuri and embraces him tightly, while Phichit pumps his fist in joy. "Wow, amazing!" he exclaims as he cups Yuuri's face. "You actually teleported!"

"That's how it's supposed to work," Yuuri answers matter-of-factly, but even he has an undeniably huge smile on his face. Phichit's exhibit is surely going to be a massive hit amongst the fair-goers.

"Can I give it a try, too?" Binktop asks Phichit excitedly, still not letting go of Yuuri. "It looks like so much fun!"

"Of course, Binktop!" Phichit laughs, gesturing at the left pod. "Anything for Yuuri's friend!"

Binktop lets out a whoop and disentangles himself from Yuuri. He lightly steps onto the left pod and runs a hand throuh his silver hair. "Watch me, Yuuri!" He sends a playful wink in Yuuri's direction before nodding at Phichit.

"All right, let's do this!" Phichit flips the switch again. Nothing happens at first, so he turns the machine off and on while observing the monitors. Worry begins to creep into his expression as he starts fiddling with the controls, but still, nothing happens.

A gasp from the left pod directs their attention to Binktop, whose pendant is glowing brightly from inside his shirt. It seems to be resonating with the core machine of the teleporter, from which ominous sparks begin to fly out. Phichit shouts at Binktop to get off the pod immediately, but Binktop hears it too late.

A large wormhole, unlike the one Yuuri had seen briefly while he teleported, opens up in the space behind Binktop and appears to be sucking him in. Trying his best to hold his ground, Binktop cries out for help as he extends his hand. In a panic, Yuuri runs up to the left pod and tries to grab him, but his whole body disappears in a flash of light, and the wormhole closes in an instant. Yuuri is left alone on the pod, Binktop's golden pendant in his hand.

Phichit is the first to regain his voice after a few minutes. "What the hell... This wasn't supposed to happen..." Yuuri turns to his friend, who is kneeling by the controllers in shock. Long tracks of tears have washed away the layers of soot on his face.

He runs down to embrace Phichit, who is now trembling in his friend's arms. "Yuuri, I'm so sorry! I really didn't mean for this to happen!"

Yuuri runs his hands over his friend's back, ignoring his own swimming vision and the violent hammering of his own heart in his chest. Now is not the time to deal with an impending anxiety attack - not when Phichit needs his help.

"Phichit. Look at me," he instructs calmly. "Breathe with me."

Together, they go through the motions, inhaling and exhaling deeply in unison. Most of the time, it was Phichit who did this for Yuuri when they were still in college together. It always helped calm Yuuri down after an attack, and Yuuri is more than glad to return the favor now. They cannot afford to be too calm, however - they still have to find out where the hell Binktop went.

Some day this is turning out to be. Yuuri swears never to get up before five a.m. ever again.

Phichit looks up at him and nods determinedly. Yuuri lets go of his friend as he begins to go over his notes. "Either the telepod malfunctioned, or something else did it," he thinks aloud to the clearing at large. "I'm suspecting your friend's pendant had an unusual reaction with the core interface, causing a ripple in the space-time fabric or something."

Yuuri gapes at Phichit incredulously. "You mean, like, time travel?!"

"I don't know yet." Phichit bites his lower lip in deep thought. "That wormhole could have led anywhere. It's too dangerous to try anything at this point."

"We have to bring Binktop back, Phichit! There's no time!"

"I know that!" Phichit snaps, rubbing a blackened hand on his temple at the sudden outburst. "It's not as easy as it seems. We have to find out how to open that wormhole, for starters. There must be something about that pendant."

Yuuri lifts the pendant in his hand against the daylight. It is a small, round, golden medallion with intricate rose patterns bordering its circumference, hanging from a simple chain. The pendant also seems to be pretty old but well-maintained. He briefly wonders where Binktop must have gotten such a valuable trinket and how much it must have cost, but pushes these thoughts out of his mind.

A tiny spark jumps out of the medallion, causing Yuuri to drop the pendant onto the left pod in surprise. Immediately, it causes another reaction, violent gusts of wind forming around them as the wormhole opens once more.

"Well," Phichit laughs brokenly, "that was easy enough!" With a hand shielding his face, he struggles to walk against the wind's direction and tries to pick up the pendant off the ground.

Yuuri has other ideas, however. He uses his stronger body to his advantage and overtakes Phichit in a second, picking up the pendant and wearing it around his neck.

"Yuuri! What are you doing?!" Phichit shouts in alarm. "Get off the pod now!"

To be honest, he has no idea what he is doing, either. His body is already protesting his sudden decision, his heart rate going up, his breathing more rapid, and his hands slippery with sweat. But above all, Yuuri feels that it's the right decision. It's more reckless than heroic, by all means, but nevertheless the right one, just the same.

"I'll bring Binktop back!" he shouts at his friend. "I'll get us back home, I promise!"

Again with the stupid promises, but Phichit seems to finally support his decision. He nods determinedly and hands Yuuri a long, steel wrench. "It's my favorite one! Bring it back safely, okay?"

"Thanks, Phichit! I will." Yuuri waves the wrench nervously as he steps into the closing wormhole.

"Be careful, Yuuri!" Phichit shouts after him. "I'll try to follow you as soon as I figure things out!"

A chuckle escapes Yuuri's lips. It's just like his friend to jump at the call. If anyone is more suited to be the hero of this story, it would definitely be Phichit, and Yuuri, as the dutiful friend, would support him all the way. Funny how things have turned out the other way around this time.

For now, he, Yuuri Katsuki, will be the hero of this story, and he swears on his life to bring Binktop back.

Yuuri raises a thumbs-up to the fading image of his friend, not caring if he doesn't see it. He lets the distortion fill his senses completely until the black nothingness consumes him and claims his consciousness.

[duhragonball]

Luffa Story Arc Breakdown

“Ah shit, he’s talking about his OC again!   I told you not to wear that shirt!”

“Hey, sun’s out, guns out, my dude.”

I should have #159 up shortly, and this weekend I gotta get 160 figured out.   July is my next writing month, and I’ll be trying to add 30000 more words to this damn story.   But I still have to figure out what to do with the loose bits that I haven’t posted from the previous writing months.   It’s the same rigamorale I dealt with in 2019 and 2020, but on a much smaller scale.    So I gotta nip that in the bud before it gets worse.

Every year, I think I’m going to do proper chapter summaries on AO3, and I never go through with it because it’s just a big hassle.   By “hassle”, I mean I have to re-read the entire fic and catch all the spelling errors and plot holes that I missed the last time around.  

Honestly, reading my own work is kind of fun sometimes, provided enough time has passed that I can get some distance from it.   Someone will like an old post of mine, and I’ll check it out to remember what it was, and Tumblr Mobile will recommend other posts of mine, including my own fic, and I’ll check it out and go “Hey, this guy’s pretty good.”  

I need to tell myself that more often, because these recent chapters I’ve been posting just feel like noise.   I’ll read ‘em and they look right and I see nothing else that needs to be changed, but I just can’t stand looking at them, and I know that’s just Editing Fatigue because I had a blast writing all this Frieza stuff.   Back in January, I found a YouTube video that was just a supercut of the Frieza fight before Goku showed up, and I’d put that on and work out how to cram a time traveler into it.   Then I found another supercut of Frieza vs. Base Goku and did the same thing in April.      That may be what makes it so boring for me to read.   It’s not just that I wrote it, but I adapted scenes from another work that I already saw, and recently.   Hell, a few weeks ago I re- watched the Frieza Saga again, because I was hunting for Track M814 uses.   So it feels dull even though I know it’s hot stuff, so maybe I should re-read my older material for an ego boost. 

But I’m not gonna do that right now, because I’ve got a lot to do today.   Instead I’ll be trying to sort the chapters into “arcs”.   I’m hoping this will get me a step closer to whatever it is that I need to do.

Luffa #1-10: The origin story, to keep it simple.  I did a prologue in #1 to introduce the character, and I think I gave her a gold breastplate, like a Roman Soldier would wear, because I had this goofy idea about constantly switching her outfits that didn’t last.   Then we flash back to Luffa’s time on Dorlu Prime, her failed defense of that world from an invasion force, and her unlikely escape from captivity.   Also, the title character turns into the titular Super Saiyan, thereby fufilling the titular legend.

Luffa #11-16: Bigreen Arc.  Luffa can’t control her new form, so she ends up on a planet that specializes in medical science to figure out what’s wrong with her.   This one is designed to explain some of the disconnects in Saiyan lore.   Luffa’s not the first Super Saiyan, but she’s not even sort of familiar with the transformation, even though she’s heard tales of all the old heroes.   So this arc tries to fill in that gap. 

Luffa #17-23: Overnight Sensation.   Luffa has to figure out what to do with herself now that she has this Super Saiyan power.   She tries to go back to mercenary work, only to find it as boring as it is profitable.  So she starts asking herself what she really wants (revenge), and how she plans to get it (founding an interstellar Federation).

Luffa #24-28: Luffa’s increasing popularity frightens her old enemies and attracts the attention of new ones.   As Kandai flees in search of refuge from Luffa’s wrath, an old acquaintance shows up to reconnect with Luffa in an unexpected way.

Luffa #29-37: None So Blind.   As Kandai becomes entangled in the political upheaval on Planet Goldwall, Luffa is drawn away from her new Federation project by seductive new power, one that promises an escape from her old problems, but at the price of her very identity.   Meanwhile, the Federation is invaded by a powerful enemy from across the stars.   Can Luffa return in time to deal with this new threat.   Will she even want to? 

Luffa #38-49: Liberation of Extraliga.    Luffa launches a counterstrike on the occupied world of Extraliga, then takes the fight to the invaders.   Her offensive leads her to Kandai, but she also has to contend with the Shockmaster.   Can she defeat them both, or will she have to choose?  

Luffa #50-60: Training Arc.   Well, not just training, but I wanted a lull between the first Shockmaster arc and the second, and this is it.    I did a lot of fun stuff here.   Luffa drinks a whole bottle of waffle batter, Zatte gets into a Stand Battle, the characters from an old Dungeons and Dragons ad make a cameo appearance, the Shockmaster gets an origin story, and oh, Luffa might have gotten a little married somewhere in this mess. 

Luffa #61-69: Second Extraliga War.   The Shockmaster invades the Federation again, begging the question of why he should want it so badly.    This time, he conducts his business in person, but Luffa is read for him.   Or is she?

Luffa #70-76: The Luffa Way Arc.     Long story short, I needed an arc to explain why Luffa never taught any other Saiyans how to transform the way she can.   For one thing, most Saiyans are too afraid or resentful of her to want to learn.   In this story, Luffa meets a small band of Saiyans who accept her teachings, but it still doesn’t work out.  

Luffa #77-96: Pozet Arc.  The King of Planet Saiya finally reaches out to Luffa for reconciliation, and Zatte convinces her to accept the invitation.   But it turns out the King wants more than just friendship.   Rehval has a problem, one that concerns the entire Saiyan population, and he is convinced that only Luffa can help him solve it.  

Luffa #97-100: I’ll be real with you chief, this is just a collection of one-offs I wrote before moving on to the next arc.   First, Rehval’s wayward daughter, Princess Seltiss, has her own plans for the future of the Saiyan people, and she and her boyfriend take the first step in making them a reality.    Next, Zatte dictates a letter to her marriage counselor.   Then Luffa tries to figure out whatevr happened to Drang Dedruhn.    Finally, on the world of Archeo, Phyper Notro plots to deconstruct the legend of Luffa, only to discover the truth is much more dangerous than the rumors.  

Luffa #101-108: Trismegistus Arc.  While Luffa persecutes the Saiyans for any leads to track down King Rehval, a group of Saiyans searches for a mysterious alchemist rumored to possess a secret potion that will give them incredible power.   

Luffa #109-117: Jindan War, Part 1.   The Jindan Cult launches an attack on the Federation, and Luffa cannot take the fight to the enemy, since she doesn’t know where their secret base is.   Unable to defend multiple Federation planets at the same time, Luffa reluctantly accepts an alliance with Princess Seltiss, leader of the Saiyan Free Company.   Seltiss fears that the mysterious Trismegistus may unravel her father’s work to unite the Saiyan species, but her only hope of defeating the cult is to win Luffa’s trust.

Luffa #118-130: Jindan War Part 2.   The war continues, with neither side able to gain a clear advantage.  Luffa and her allies manage to repel the invaders, but are worn down in the process.   The Federation grows weary of Luffa’s inability to end the conflict, and the only one who seems pleased is Trismegistus, despite the high casualties and lack of tactical gains.   Eventually, his followers begin to question his motives, but do they have the courage to take action when they discover the answers?

Luffa #131-141: Jindan War Part 3.   Luffa learns the location of Trismegistus’ headquarters, and assembles a fleet powerful enough to crush him in a single attack.    Can Trismegistus survive her offensive?   And can the universe survive the outcome of this battle?

Luffa #142-146: Xenoversal.   In the distant future, a wish is made for a powerful warrior to defend time itself.    And so, Luffa is recruited to join the Time Patrol, led by the Supreme Kai of Time, and the mysterious swordsman Trunks.  But where is she exactly, and when?  Can she ever return home?  Is there even a home to return to?

Luffa #147-156: Ginyu Force Arc.   Luffa now knows how far in the future she’s traveled, and her Time Patrol work seems to be the only thing left that can give her life any purpose.  But can she even accomplish the dangerous missions that lie ahead?   Trunks has his doubts...

Luffa #157-161: Frieza Arc.   Uh, yeah, she fights Frieza in this one.    It probably speaks for itself.   I’m trying to remember a particular moment that happens in the Frieza conflict that would be of great importance to Luffa, but I’m drawing a blank.   Sorry.

[rivetgoth]

This is gonna be long, apologies in advance. Just wanted to type something up properly about all of my thoughts now that I'm home and decompressing 🖤

--

Last year, I took a late night flight back to LAX on the Monday after Cold Waves VII. My signed VIP poster was the most valuable possession I could possibly imagine, and I was scared of it getting crushed in my luggage, so I brought it as a carry on. I knew that if I listened to ohGr I would start crying, and I didn’t want to cry in the airport, so I waited, clutching my little rolled up poster that Ogre and Paul Barker and the whole ohGr crew had signed. Ogre had drawn a little heart and written “hugZ and much support Artistically.” I had picked a spot in the very back of the plane, because I thought it would be less crowded, and I was right. I had no one else around me, my row was empty aside from myself. I’ll never forget the feeling of looking out the window as the plane took off and I watched Chicago get smaller and smaller and turn to little specks of light in the night, clutching my poster like it was all I had to live for. I put on Sunnypsyop and cried myself to sleep.

There’s so much I want to say about Cold Waves and I don’t even know how to start, so I guess I can start at the beginning. Last year on September 20th I flew to Chicago for the first time in my life and met up with one of my best friends in the world, Trigger (Sylvan), to see Nivek Ogre, my biggest hero, and meet him for a second time (I was meeting both Trigger AND Ogre for a second time, actually). It was a life changing event for me. For starters, seeing Ogre is always life changing. The love and care and passion and kindness that he puts out into the world makes the whole planet a better place and lights up my life in a way that nothing else ever has. He’s the heart of the industrial scene for me, because it was through him that I got into this music and found this community. When I saw him, not only did he remember me from when we had seen each other before a year earlier, but he encouraged me not to give up on my art, telling me that not only was I talented but that he could see the work I put into what I did and could tell I was improving. He told me not to give up and gave me so many hugs and he drew me a puppy to get tattooed. Ogre was currently nursing a recently-broken jaw but he was in the cheeriest highest spirits, he was as warm and loving as ever and so excited about the tour, and he put on one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. His strength and resilience and passion for his art inspired me so much, and getting to see him alongside Trigger and even be able to tell Ogre that we met each other through our shared love of his work made the whole thing even more special. Over the course of the festival I also got to see the rest of the ohGr crew, Paul Barker, and Jared Louche, who were all incredibly sweet and fantastic. Many of them have been people I’ve had the honor to speak with either online or off various times since then and have served such a crucial place in my life as role models and figureheads of a community that means so much to me.

The whole weekend was incredible. Trigger and I made so many memories that I’ll cherish forever. I still laugh over so many little things. The show was amazing. I don’t know if I could ever envision a lineup cooler than Cocksure, Lead Into Gold, Chemlab, and ohGr back to back. So many heroes, so many legends. I was living in the middle of nowhere at the time and had missed a lot of concerts due to being unable to get to them. I was seeing people like Chris Connelly and Paul Barker for the very first time. I thought I would never see Chemlab, and yet there I was seeing them among so many incredible people who I had looked up to for so long. So many people who had changed my life and saved my life. But everyone was amazing, and I not only got to see other legendary incredible bands like Front Line Assembly (CYBERAKTIF!!), I got to discover new bands I relisten to all the damn time like ACTORS. I felt connected with everyone in the audience and I got to meet a ton of cool people who were so friendly and so accepting of me. Jim Marcus got on stage and gave a talk about how Cold Waves and the industrial community at large is like a family and I really believed it and felt it and knew it was true.

The craziest thing about Cold Waves VII, though, was the fact that I literally moved out of my parents’ house and to Los Angeles the very next day. When I landed in LAX in the middle of the night I didn’t go home – I met my parents at a little motel where they had brought all of my stuff, sitting in boxes in the back of their minivan. I had packed it all up before I left for Chicago. The next morning we moved everything into my dorm room and my parents left, and there I was living in Los Angeles, alone, away from my family for the first time in my life, at age nineteen. I had just been accepted to UCLA late that spring and classes started the Thursday after the festival. It was a huge change and a huge new beginning and I was so scared of what was to come. I was scared of being alone and I didn’t know if I’d be able to survive in LA. I didn’t know if I’d belong, if I’d be able to succeed, if I would be able to fit in anywhere. Cold Waves served as the opening to a whole new chapter of my life and I was able to leave the completely magical world of the Metro and fly to a brand new home and start my life with the knowledge that I had been surrounded just a day before by countless people who understood me and supported me and who felt the same love and passion as I did. The following month I got Ogre’s puppy tattooed, and I began going to local goth clubs and concerts and meeting up with various people and making friends nearby. It was a slow process that’s probably ongoing forever, but I feel like it all traces back to Cold Waves as a catalyst for a reminder that I would never be alone.

This year’s Cold Waves was a weekend I’ll hold onto for the rest of my life. With my venture into the Los Angeles goth scene and the world around it I met another one of my closest best friends, Angel, who’s now also my roommate. Funny enough I owe Ogre to our meeting as well, because our first conversation was about her going to see him. This time, she flew to Chicago with me to meet up with Trigger. Being able to add a third person to our little entourage was so fun and cool. I love both Angel and Trigger so so much and it was so cool to see our little group grow bigger and I felt like there was an instant ability to connect through shared jokes and shared passions and shared understandings. On the night that we got there, after a little bit of initial awkwardness just as we figured out what we were doing and settled into a workable dynamic between the three of us (and found food after a day of accidentally starving ourselves in the way one does when traveling), we ended up staying up until five in the morning doing “Chemlab karaoke” in our hotel room until we received a noise complaint (oops). Then we had to get up less than three hours later so we didn’t miss breakfast, and spent the whole first day of the festival running on about two and a half hours of sleep and weird tasting  hotel bananas. It was an amazing bonding experience and that night alone was some of the most fun I can ever remember having, just being able to hang out with two of my best friends and scream the lyrics to music we loved, so excited for what was to come. I was able to prove that I know EVERY lyric to “Jesus Christ Porno Star” before the noise complaint forced us to shut the hell up.

From here, I don’t even know how to start. How do I even begin to talk about the next four nights? For one, everything was perfect in a way that I didn’t know was possible. Absolutely everything went perfectly as planned. Everything worked out. It felt like we had entered a dimension where nothing bad could happen. Quickly discarding our failed attempt at continental breakfast, we got into a daily ritual of waking up, getting ready, loitering at the Starbucks by the Metro for a few hours, and then heading to the venue early enough that we were guaranteed a spot at the front of the theatre every single night (we didn’t do much Chicago sightseeing… we needed to sleep in with how late we were staying up each night, hehe). On the very first night Jared spotted us in line and came over to give us big hugs and say hi!! That was amazing, because we’d been looking forward to hugging Jared all year. And that was one of MANY to come!! We got to be front and center when Curse Mackey came on stage, who we’d been looking forward to since the release of his first solo album earlier this year. The album is completely fantastic as was his performance. Trigger and I had such a blast being able to scream along to every single song. When we yelled out “WE LOVE YOU CURSE MACKEY” he called back “I love you too!”, and he grabbed our hands so many times during the show. And then… fucking CHEMLAB!!!! Easily one of the best shows I’ve ever witnessed. It was so fucking perfect. The absolute chaos of the beach balls, Jared’s grand entrance, Curse’s return to the stage, the music, the paint, the feathers, Jared spitting water at us until we were covered in his spit, and then Adrian Halo, another friend I’ve made in LA who I love, was pulled onto the stage for the finale. And Jared gave Angel the painting he made on stage! I felt like I was going to cry just watching it all. It was so fun, so exciting, so thrilling. I never wanted it to end. After the show we got to meet up with Curse and Jared and they were both so unbelievably nice. It felt like talking to old friends. There was immediate acceptance of us as fans and as people. I can’t thank either of them enough for the kindness they showed. They made me feel like I belonged there and I mattered there and I was apart of something.

…And we WERE apart of something. We got to witness so much greatness. We got to cry in the front of the audience when Severed Heads ended their final song of their final set. We got to experience the raw, primal, intense excitement the moment Paul started blaring classic Ministry tracks from his Min-Dub Soundsystem. Acumen vs 16Volt were so fucking fun and cool and their backing footage at the end absolutely made me cry. Light Asylum was amazing and her return to the stage with Test Dept. (also totally mindblowing and so INDUSTRIAL) was so epic – As was her Leigh Bowery shirt, which was awesome (I love Leigh Bowery!). Every single band stood out and did something interesting, fun, engaging, creative, cool, etc. It felt like I was apart of something real and this community had carved a very real space for itself in the world of music and art. I got to meet in person people who I’ve known online for ages. People I’ve only ever chatted with through Instagram DMs and Facebook comments ran up to me and we immediately hugged and started talking and it was perfectly natural. We clicked immediately because we knew that we were all here for the same things. I got to make new friends while waiting in line or waiting for the show to start in the theatre. It felt like every single day I was making new friends or meeting up with old friends. I finally got to meet Jim Marcus in person and thank them for the times that they’ve been a pivotal role model for me in my life and give them the huge hug they deserve. I have so many memories that I’ll hang onto for the rest of my life.

I worry about being alone a lot in my life. Not necessarily physically alone – If anything, I love a lot of solitude and I’m not always very sociable. I’m definitely more introverted than extroverted typically. But I worry a lot about a more deep-seated loneliness, especially as an artist. I’ve always been drawn to artistic groups in history that functioned as, well, groups. Andy Warhol’s Factory and the New Romantic Blitz Kids have been interests of mine for a long time because I’m so fascinated in the idea of artists being able to form a community and be connected, even when there is a fallout or things don’t always go perfectly. I’ve struggled more than I care to admit with a sensation throughout my life of not belonging or fitting in with anyone anywhere. I’m good enough at putting on a friendly attitude and people tend to like me, it’s not even that I end up a social outcast. It’s internal, an inwards fear that no one will ever be able to understand me and people like me with the same passions as I don’t truly exist. But Cold Waves proves that they do. People “like me” in every type of way really do exist. It was completely amazing to be able to meet so many people, to be able to strike up conversations with just about anyone, to meet up with new friends and old friends and feel connected to so many human beings around me, all from different walks of life, from different parts of the country or even world, with different stories and hopes and dreams, but we all could be connected for that weekend to our shared love of industrial music and our shared love for Jamie Duffy and Chicago and everything that this subculture has built. The musicians themselves accepted us so quickly as apart of their world. We were more than just fans, there was a real exchange of energy and passion between creator and audience happening, a connection between everyone in the Metro.

On the last day of Cold Waves I wore a pig costume, partly because I love PIG and had been looking forward to seeing Raymond live since I saw him tour with Killing Joke the year before, but also partly just because I fucking adore pigs (the animal) and thought it would be fun. It was goofy and I almost didn’t do it because I was worried people would think I was stupid, but I love the idea of dressing up and wearing fun costumes and I wanted Raymond to see! It ended up being the perfect ending to the festival and it tied everything together so well. Everyone loved it. So many people complimented it and took pictures of me or with me. I’ve seen Instagram posts from strangers talking about me, mentioning the “devoted young fan in the pig nose in the front row.” I’ve seen Facebook posts that mention me. It sounds conceited, but it’s not that I care about popularity or attention, honestly – Most of these people will never even know my name. It was just so fun to be able to dress up in a fun way to support music that I love and represent something that means a lot to me and have such a hugely positive reaction, all these people who love it and accept and embrace it. Raymond reaching down to poke my pig nose during the show was the absolute highlight of the night, and one of the big highlights of Cold Waves altogether. I had a stranger come up to me after the show and say, “You know, you were a really important part of the PIG concert!” It totally made my night. I got to meet so many great people that night. I met up with Logan, who’s a total sweetheart and I’m SO glad we had the chance to connect in person after talking online, I also finally talked to another Angel who lives in LA who I had seen around and they were so so so sweet as well. I got to speak to Jim Marcus, as I said before (they’re my dad now), I got to say hi to and hug Paul Barker for the third time, I got to meet Raymond Watts for the first time and tell him about how much I love his work and hug him, I got to chat with all the people I had already met in line and in the front row the past few days for a final time. It felt so connected. I felt so connected to everyone. When Jim gave the talk on stage about our community and how much it matters and how we’re all there for each other, I really started to cry right there at the front of the audience. It’s so true in such a real and profound way that I’ve never felt anywhere else but in the industrial community. I was there hundreds, thousands of miles from my home in California, surrounded by people who were mostly more or less strangers, but I felt so connected to them and so accepted by them and I loved all of them so much and I felt like they loved me.

It’s so sad to leave Cold Waves and be back home. I love LA but there’s nothing like Cold Waves. There’s nothing like being in the Metro surrounded by everyone else like that. I can’t wait to go back. I feel so reinvigorated in my art and my projects, I want to create and I want to bring to life my own passions so that I can share them with others and give back to this community. I wish I had a way to properly thank everyone – All of the unbelievably talented musicians who are all so sweet and so humble and so amazing, all of the people in the audience who chatted with me and befriended me, all of the friends I made there and all of the friends I already had, the security guards, doormen, managers, everyone who helps keep the place together, Darkest Before Dawn, everyone who works tirelessly to put this event together each year. I don’t know where I’d be without it. Thank you so much for the most incredible time, I’m going to try to keep the spirit of Cold Waves alive in my art and creation even now as I settle back into my home. And I can’t wait to be back next year!

[umbrahighpriestofgiratina]

Heroes After All Chapter 7

Oof, five months. Worldbuilding June and Artfight ambushed me and made me lose track of fic stuff. But I've got a chapter here anyway! Hope you enjoy:

Chapter 7: Encounters

Aaron had taken some time to himself to explore the monastery. Partially because he was bored, and partially because the monastery was just that huge - there were various facilities and nooks and crannies, spiraling towers and sprawling courtyards, that he was certain he hadn't uncovered all of yet. It wasn't long, however, before he got a bit lost. In his hapless wandering he turned a corner and bumped straight into a Scyther. The Scyther let out a startled buzz and brandished its scythes as Aaron yelped. A pale, dark-haired boy quickly approached. "Easy Rook it's just the dweeb." Rook blinked and then shrunk back from Aaron sheepishly, clacking his scythes together. "Er, sorry about that," said Aaron. "It's not you, for once," said Louis. "Rook's startled pretty easily." "Don't worry," said Aaron. "I... I wasn't scared." Louis raised an eyebrow. "You sure?" "Positive!" A mischievous smirk appeared on Louis' face. "Is that so? Well then, why don't you take a gander at... Him?" Lewis pointed dramatically over to a patch of grass by the greenhouse. Upon that patch of grass sat a snoring Rhyperior. "See him? That's Andalas. Legendarily grouchy Rhyperior. If you're not afraid of a Scyther surely giving him a poke isn't too scary." Aaron gulped. "That's... That's diff-" He shook his head. "I can do that! Just you watch!" "Good luck," said Louis, snickering. "You're gonna need it." Rook just nervously looked between Aaron and the sleeping Andalas. Aaron looked at Louis again, then to Andalas, then started slowly creeping toward the latter. He eventually got close enough that he could see the fine details of the massive creature. He was still sound asleep, his rocky body subtly heaving with each breath. Aaron reached out a finger. It would be OK, he thought. The Rhyperior's rocky hide probably wouldn't even feel it. He touched it. It felt like rock yet somehow... warm, and alive. He quickly drew the finger back. Andalas was still asleep. He looked backward. Louis and Rook were gone. He looked back to Andalas. Still asleep. Aaron almost sighed in relief, but held his breath to avoid waking the Rhyperior up. Then Andalas' eyes snapped open anyway. A rocky paw lunged itself in Aaron's direction. Aaron instinctively yelped and raised up his hands, an Aura barrier forming. The paw bounced off the barrier harmlessly, but Andalas' other paw swung around and grabbed him from behind. Aaron screamed as Andalas yanked him upward and brought him close to his face, dangerously close to his two horns. Aaron whimpered. "I'm so sorry mister Andalas! Please forgive me!" Andalas opened his mouth.  For a second Aaron thought he was going to swallow him whole. Then Andalas started making Pokemon noises at him - a careful mix of "rhy"s, "perior"s, and strange high-pitched whinnying bleats. Aaron almost felt as if the massive Pokemon was scolding him. ~Put him down.~ Andalas turned, pulling Aaron around with him, letting Aaron see that Polly's Metagross was standing next to the both of them. Andalas gave a bleat and a "rhy" at Metagross. ~He's my responsibility.~ Andalas grunted in annoyance, tossed Aaron in front of Metagross, then stomped off. Aaron lay on the ground in shock for a few seconds before picking himself up. "T-Thanks..." ~Don't mention it. Andalas wouldn't have hurt you but he probably would have kept lecturing you for several hours.~ "...Really?" ~He's like that.~ "...Huh." ~Anyway, I'm not just here to save your ass from Andalas. Class with Polly is soon.~ "Oh! I forgot! Thank you for reminding me!" He made to move off, then stopped and turned back to Metagross. "Which way?" There was a long, drawn-out mental sigh. ~...Follow me.~ And Metagross led Aaron off. ---------------------------- Aaron was sitting at the back of the class. As usual. People were less likely to notice and pick on him back there. Polly arrived at the front of the class and looked around at the assembled students. "Alright. Today's lesson... well, let me get something out real quick. She dug within a desk drawer and pulled out a strange, crystaline flower. Aaron leaned over his desk, curious. "This... Is a Time Flower," said Polly. "It actually gives the monastery its name." Aaron raised his hand. "This place has a name?" Polly gave him a look. "Yes. This place is called the Time Flower Abbey. You didn't pick that up?" Aaron did not reply, just lowered his hand sheepishly as the other kids giggled. "Anyway," said Polly. "Ought to show you how these things work..." She waved her other hand over the Time Flower as her palm glowed with Aura. The Time Flower immediately responded, projecting an illusion of Polly giving a similar lecture to a different class. The class oohed and aahed. "Time Flowers are crystalline life forms that bud from a bigger crystalline life form, the Tree of Beginning. They grow through this whole area and are a major export - precisely because they can generate Obscuric illusions that record sound and images. At least, if you have a human on the Auric spectrum or Pokemon to activate them." Callie raised her hand. "Are the illusions like a Zoroark's?" "Yes, precisely. Why they react this way to Aura is still unknown. But they take root anywhere there's rock and their illusion abilities are useful for messages, so they're worth a lot of money." Polly chuckled. "In the old days me and Metagross used to go on Time Flower runs." "How did you meet Metagross anyway?" asked Eve. "He seems so strong..." Polly thought a bit. "Metagross has been with Time Flower Abbey as long as I can remember. His species lives a very long time. I... I didn't actually choose him as my partner Pokemon. He chose me. After-" She shook her head. "We're getting off-topic. Right, we were on the Tree... It's not just a resource. People make pilgrimages to see it in the name of Xerneas and Mew, though they never go inside for... reasons I mentioned before." Aaron gulped. "You see, the people of Kalos and Galar and nearby nations had their own Tree, not too far away. They made pilgrimages to that instead. Then the Demon King AZ came into power and fired his Ultimate Weapon. The weapon devastated that tree to the point most thought it was dead, and so refugees headed off across land and sea to this Tree, as I mentioned before eventually forming Rota. Eventually a band of heroes found the old Tree still clung to life and saved it, but the Rotans remained, and the Genesis Mountain Aura Guardians made this monastery to aid them, as well as..." Polly looked around and sighed. "Alright kids, time for the awkward part. Which of you are Obscurics?" Dead silence. Then slowly kids started raising their hands. Aaron did not - he was a Fighting Auric apparently. "Right," said Polly, "I'm not gonna ask you all to share your stories just yet. But you all know about discrimination. Aurics, Psychics, it depends on the place but most of us can at least survive. Obscuirics... They're hunted. Executed. Slaughtered. And that's why we're here. To protect all people on the spectrum." Aaron was taken aback. He had dealt with enough being an Auric, but apparently the Obscuric kids had it even worse? As Polly changed the subject to the abbey's architecture Aaron resolved to ask his Obscuric bunkmates about it. ------------- After class, Aaron looked around for two people in particular. Eventually he found them - Callie and Atta, talking with each other about lunch. Munchkin and Stabby were arguing about... something. "Hey? You two?" he asked. Both girls gave Aaron puzzled looks. "Yes?" said Callie. "This better be good," said Atta. "Remember what Polly mentioned in class about Obscurics having a hard time?" said Aaron. "What was that like for you guys?" "Oh! The Necrozma cult loved Obscurics!" said Callie. "They were good vessels for the Blinding One because they canceled out the Psychic energy!" She frowned. "But... Some mean people... They killed most of the cult... Took me... The Aura Guardians had to rescue me..." "Same here..." said Atta. "Parents abandoned me because I was Obscuric. Bisharp took me in, raised me with his Pawniard pack. Aura Guardians found me, Bisharp sent me and Stabby with them." Munchkin and Stabby, overhearing all this, lowered their heads sorrowfully. "O-oh," said Aaron. "That's... not good." "What happened to you Aaron?" said Callie. "My dad died... I don't wanna talk about why," said Aaron. "But other than that I've mostly been bullied." "Chump," said Atta. "Atta you can't just say that!" said Callie. "N-no, it's fine," said Aaron. "You both have been through a lot..." He gulped. "We should probably go get lunch now." "Sure!" said Callie. The three, as well as Munchkin and Stabby, headed off to lunch. Even so, Aaron thought to himself. Guess I'm not the only one who wanted to escape... but... things haven't changed much... ----------- Polly was winding down at the end of the day, heading to the back of the kitchen to get a snack. As she did, however, she noticed a rustling in one of the bags of apples. Sighing, thinking it was probably a Ratatta or a Bidoof, she grabbed a broom and lightly thwacked the moving lump. What emerged from the bag, however, was decidedly not a Ratatta or a Bidoof, but a smal purple creature with a large pointy head, which buzzed and sprayed sticky goo in Polly's direction. Polly, just barely stepping out of the way of being sprayed, gaped in shock. "Hey! You're one of those portal varmints!" The purple creature snickered at her distress and flew off. "Oh no you don't!" Polly gave chase, running after the creature until she emerged in an open courtyard, the setting sun barely illuminating the scene. "Damn it... where did the little brat go?" She saw a flickering. "Aha!" She swung the broom at the flickering. With lightning speed, Polly's broom was knocked out of her hand and she was pinned to the ground. She could make out a cloak, a mask, something almost... tasting her. Then the being let go, faded from corporealness, and was gone. Polly lay on the ground gaping for breath. "That... Definitely wasn't one of the portal varmints." After a bit she got up, grabbed her hat, and booked it to Ryan's quarters. This could be a lead on the killers. But she wondered. If that was the case why did they let her live? -------------------- Riolu walked down the streets of the busy human town, the roofs and bricks seeming to stretch far beyond what he expected. His Aura feelers flared and eyes peeled for any sign of danger. So far there were none, but the humans and Pokemon here alike sometimes gave him funny looks. Speaking of the latter, Riolu was astounded by the variety of Pokemon on display, countless species he had never seen in the mountain forests. One Pokemon that seemed to be a chunk of solid ice with a head and limbs trudged by him, giving him a chill. That chill gave way to a rumbling stomach. Riolu realized he needed food. Looking around, he saw some apples sitting at a bazaar. Surprised they were just laying there, he reached out to grab one. "Hey!" said a human. "You gonna pay for that?" Riolu paused. The food was right there. But apparently he had to do... Something for it. "Pay? What is pay?" "Don't yap at me!" said the human. "Pay up!" The human couldn't understand him? Weird. Different Pokemon could understand each other, apparently humans were an exception. How could he communicate with this human? Then he had a realization. His kind could communicate via Aura... Maybe if he tried that with a human... ~What... Is... Pay?~ The human jumped a bit. "You can talk? You don't look like a Psychic type. Anyway pay is money. You got money?" ~N-o?~ "Then you can't take the apple." Riolu paused, looked at the human, then at the apples, then at the human, then at the apples again. Then he grabbed one and ran. "Hey!" said the human, giving chase. Riolu ran through the streets, dodging left and right as if that Charizard was still chasing him. That said, that human didn't look too tough. No claws, no fangs, what could it even do to him if it caught hi- "Maurice, get him!" There was an unholy screech of "Hey! That's my human's apple!" as a Staraptor swooped in from overhead. Riolu's eyes widened as he booked it further. The Staraptor lunged as Rolu ducked out of the way, just in time, taking cover under a shop stand. Crawling desperately while still clutching the apple, he emerged on the other side and kept running. "Hey! Over here!" said a voice. Riolu noticed a strange orange lizard Pokemon gesturing to him from an alleyway. Riolu ran toward him, ducking behind him. The lizard grabbed him and pulled him inside a barrel as the Staraptor flew past. Seconds passed before Riolu punched and kicked at the lizard, trying to get out of the barrel. "Woah woah woah buddy," said the lizard. "I'm not gonna eat you, or your apple. Looks like you came straight from the woods." "...I did," said Riolu. "It doesn't work that way around here. No predator-prey stuff. Pokemon help each other, and humans take care of food and shelter." "They... do?" "Yeah! Listen, you did a good job nabbing that apple. I know some folks who'll like you." "Oh?" "Come on." The two climbed out of the barrel and headed off. ---------------- Eventually, Riolu and the lizard reached an abandoned building. It was crumbled, worn, with eaves falling inward, and a door hanging ajar. The lizard slipped in, Riolu following. Inside were an assemblage of different Pokemon; a froglike Pokemon counting Berries, a green and white biped cutting vegetables with his scythes, a monkey with a flaming head reading a book, and a smaller monkey with a flaming tail watching. "Hey!" said the lizard. "I found someone interesting!" The others turned to look at Riolu. The large monkey in particular scrutinized him with his green eyes. "Aww, it's a little puppy!" said the frog. "Meh. Do we have to clean after it?" said the biped. "H-hi," said the smaller monkey." "Hmm. And you are?" said the big monkey. "I'm... I'm Riolu. What are you all?" "I'm Grog! I'm a Toxicroak!" said the frog. "I'm Vallant, the Gallade," said the biped. "I'm Shifty the Scrafty!" said the lizard. "I'm... I'm Nicolas the Chimchar, nice to meet you," said the small monkey. "And I am Koba the Infernape, the leader of this little band. We call ourselves... The Wonderful Fighting Thieves." "The humans provide and we take anything we want!" said Shifty. "And we work together to do it!" said Grog. "It's a good gig, I suppose," said Vallant. "Dad makes sure everyone's taken care of..." said Nicolas. "This Riolu was doing some nice work nabbing an apple from old man Victor and his Staraptor Maurice," said Shifty. "He could do some nice work for us!" "Hmm... He probably has a lot to learn, but I'll allow it," said Koba. "Riolu, you'll get food, shelter, company for your services... If you're willing to stick with us of course." Riolu stared at the others, feeling their Auras carefully. He took a moment to look down and think to himself, clutching the apple, before looking back up. "...Sure." ***

[mst3kproject]

617: The Sword and the Dragon

We're back in Aleksandr Ptushko land!  The title of this movie in its homeland was simply Ilya Muromets.  Like Sadko the Sailor, Ilya Muromets is a hero of Russian folklore, the subject of much poetry, art, and opera.  He is thought to be based on Saint Ilya Pechersky, a medieval knight-errant who became a monk later in life, and what we see here in the movie is only a sampling of the stories told about him.  He's supposed to have once fought off a band of robbers, using no weapon but a boot – now that is a scene I would have liked to see in the movie!

After farmer's son Ilya Muromets is cured of his paraplegia by drinking the dew of the magic grass, he takes up the sword of the hero Invincor and sets out to do some questin'.  His first heroic deed is to defeat a wind demon, which impresses the royal court and wins Ilya many friends – but also some powerful enemies, and his fall is as meteoric as his rise.  His wife, whom he'd only just rescued from the Mongols, is recaptured, and Ilya himself is accused of treason and locked up without food.  Years pass, and Ilya's son grows up in the Mongol court, adopted by the Khan.  Finally, with the Mongols at his very gates, the Prince goes to let Ilya out of the dungeon and finds he has not starved thanks to his wife's magical tablecloth.  Ilya comes up with a plan to waste as much of the Khan's time as possible so that the Prince can assemble his armies, but that can't last forever.  When the fighting finally begins, Ilya realizes his son is among the Mongol forces, and the two reconcile.  It looks like the Khan is due to get his ass kicked, but he's got an ace up his sleeve: a three-headed dragon!

As a first impression, I have to say that this movie is absolutely beautiful.  It's full of intricate costumes, stunning scenery, and magnificent cloudscapes.  There are creepy forests of giant trees, the bone-littered wasteland where Ilya meets the Wind Demon, fairytale cities, fields of wildflowers, ice-choked rivers, sheer cliffs (frequently with people falling off them)... it's spectacular, and the crappy print MST3K used does justice to none of it.  The movie must also have been unbelievably expensive, especially when one considers this was well before computers allowed animators to create of legions of Uruk-Hai that never actually existed.  Some of the scenes in this film would have required hundreds, if not literally thousands, of extras (one poster offers the stupefying figure of a hundred and six thousand for the whole film), all of whom would have needed costumes and prop weapons!

Sets, costumes, props, and cinematography are uniformly excellent, but the quality of the special effects varies wildly.  Some of the more subtle ones are fabulous: the way the Wind Demon's cheeks puff up, for example, works beautifully and it's not until you've seen the movie a couple of times that you consciously realize it's an effect. The shots of the demon blowing things away in the city are also very well-executed, even if one of them is very obviously a piece of film being played backwards.  A shot of a Mongol being held in the air by multiple spears through his body is viscerally brutal, especially when the actor screams like that.

The more spectacular The Sword and the Dragon's effects try to be, however, the worse they're likely to look.  The scene of Mrs. Muromets singing with the forest creatures contains a variety of puppetry and stop motion as well as actual animals – some of this is very good and some is dreadful.  The dragon never looks remotely real, and its mobility is severely limited.  It's a beautiful puppet, but it never feels as threatening as the movie wants us to believe it is. Even in these cases, though, you really want to give them points for ambition.  No matter how you feel about the result, you can't deny that they gave it everything they had.

The problem with this is that the movie's visuals kind of overwhelm everything else.  There's lots to look at, but the plot feels like barely a sketch.  Beauty can go a long way towards saving a lousy plot, but the story and characters are what leave an impression that lingers – Avatar was gorgeous, but never developed the kind of personal investment among its fans that, for example, Harry Potter did.  The same is kind of true of The Sword and the Dragon. It's pretty, but not pretty enough to distract you from a couple of glaring problems with the story.

Most obvious of these is the timeline.  A traitor among the russians sends the Mongols a signal to let them know Ilya has been imprisoned... and yet they wait around for eighteen years, until Ilya's son is grown, before they actually invade.  The movie, at least in its English cut, offers no explanation for this.  Everybody at the Mongol court seems pretty satisfied that it's time to go, and yet they wait. I suppose it's also possible that Ilya's son miraculously grew up in a short time, since the makeup people didn't try to make anybody else look older (not even the horse), but if so it's never remarked upon and it doesn't seem like Ilya would realize the boy is his son if he encounters a grown man a few months after leaving his pregnant wife.

Another gaping plothole occurs when Ilya's son realizes that he is face-to-face with his biological father.  Why does he immediately switch sides?  He claims to have never known any parent but the Khan, so why suddenly turn on the man who raised him and with whom he seems to have a strong familial bond?  Why reject that in favour of a foreign culture he has always thought of as wicked and savage?  It's necessary for the plot, sure, but in terms of human psychology this development makes no sense.  The viewer feels the kid would be more likely to be horrified that he comes of this barbarian stock.  Some time really ought to have been spent on this, and on the friendship that develops between Ilya and two other knights, who swear an oath of loyalty as BFFs on the first day they meet.

The geography is a little questionable, too.  An awful lot of people seem able to cross the six thousand kilometers from Kharakorum to St. Petersburg in an afternoon.  A couple of them even do it on foot.

Characters also kind of fall by the wayside in this movie.  A lot of them are mere sterotypes – the Mongols are uniformly cackling evil, and the traitor within the Russian court is a snivelling coward. Ilya's wife never evinces any real personality.  The movie tries to set her up as brave and spirited with her use of a bow against the invading Mongols in the opening, but her archery is never important to the plot and once married to Ilya she is completely subservient to him.  Her son is quite bland and his sudden change of loyalties doesn't give us a great impression of him.  The Prince is generous but proud.  Alexei likes to kiss girls.

Ilya Muromets himself is never a very complex character, either – we're supposed to take it for granted that he's always right and always good.  We don't ever really identify with him, but I don't think we're supposed to.  Ilya Muromets is more an ideal we should strive to live up to than a human being in whom we can see ourselves... yet he's not quite a paragon of goodness, either. He's got a bad temper and he's often an arrogant jerk, which comes close to undoing him completely when he is accused of treason.  He enjoys showing people up, as when he embarrasses the man who claims to have defeated the Wind Demon himself.  I found myself wanting to see him humbled a little, but this never happens.

Fairy tales generally have morals, and The Sword and the Dragon is no exception.  Most obviously, it contrasts Ilya's desire to do good for its own sake with the courtiers and their jockeying for the Prince's favour.  On a slightly (but only slightly) more subtle level, it also juxtaposes good and bad rulers in the form of the Prince and the Khan.  Neither of them are 'nice' people – they're both spoiled, egotistical, and hate to admit they're wrong – but they relate to their subjects in completely different ways.  The Prince is constantly engaging in acts of generosity, distributing money, gifts, and food not just to his favourites but to the populace at large.  The Khan, however, is almost always shown as literally sitting on 'lesser' people.  His throne is supported on the backs of prisoners, and in one scene he orders his soldiers to make a human pyramid so he can survey the countryside, and then he rides a horse up it.  The Prince sees his people as something to care for and protect, while the Khan sees his as literal furniture.

While we're on the subject of 'meaning,' it also occurs to me that by choosing the road that leads to death, Ilya actually found both riches and a wife.  This probably has some significance, perhaps related to the idea that all roads lead to death when you think about it, but if it was supposed to be explicit it seems to have gotten lost in translating the movie into English.

So far I've liked all MST3K's Aleksandr Ptushko movies a lot better than I remember liking them in their episodes.  This is true of The Sword and the Dragon, too, but not so much as the other two.  It just doesn't hang together the way The Magic Voyage of Sinbad and The Day the Earth Froze do – it spends too much time on things, like the making of the magical tablecloth, that aren't that important, and not nearly enough on the things that are.  It wallows in beautiful imagery, but neglects its plot and characters. Yet it's easily the most ambitious movie ever to be on MST3K, and well worth a watch in its unriffed form.

[pawprintcooper]

This is the TechSummit Rewind, a daily recap of the top technology headlines.

Apple Q4 earnings: Revenue of $52.6B, Income of $10.7B

A day before Apple’s most important product launch in years, the company has released its latest round of quarterly earnings. As usual, Apple’s fiscal Q4 doesn’t include a full three months of iPhone sales, so it’s hard to tell how the launch of the iPhone 8 and 8 Pus affected the company, let along the iPhone X.

Apple had a strong quarter from top to bottom across the company’s major product lines: managing to sell 46.7 million iPhones in the last three months, good for a slight 2.6 percent growth compared to a year ago. The combo of new iPad Pro models alongside a more affordable iPad led to 10.3 million tablet sales for Apple. Meanwhile, updated MacBook Pro models helped move 5.3 million Macs, up 10 percent from a year ago.

The services business continues to be Apple’s second-strongest unit, reporting $8.5 billion in revenue. That’s up 34 percent from a year ago. On a call to investors today, CFO Luca Maestri noted that the services revenue included a one-time $640 million adjustment that worked in the company’s favor – still leaving a 24 percent gain in the services division. Maestri also mentioned a few highlights: Apple Music subscriptions are up 75 percent year-over-year, App Store revenue set a new all-time record, and iCloud continues to grow in the “strong double-digits” range.

Even if that was the whole story, it’s been a fantastic quarter for Apple. However, it gets even better: the “other products” category which includes hardware like the Apple Watch, AirPods, and Apple TV had revenue of $3.23 billion that’s up 36 percent year-over-year. Granted, the “other products” category is Apple’s smallest revenue category so it’s easier to make big percentage gains.

Overall, revenue was $52.6 billion, up 12 percent from a year ago. Meanwhile, net income of $10.7 billion was up 19 percent year-over-year.

The company is projecting a massive quarter to start 2018, forecasting revenue between $84 and $87 billion compared to $78.4 billion for the same period this year.

  YouTube Kids adds multiple profiles tailored to children’s ages & parental controls

YouTube Kids, the filtered version of YouTube first introduced in 2015, is getting a notable upgrade. The updated app is getting profiles that are customized based on the kid’s date of birth and additional security controls for parents and kids.

Parents can now sign in with their Google account to create customizable profiles for their child. Based on the kid’s age, YouTube Kids will change the way it looks. This’ll be useful for parents with multiple kids and it’ll help YouTube Kids adapt to a school age crowd. According to YouTube, younger kids will see an interface that uses less text while older kids will get more content on their homescreens.

Kids with siblings can also set their own passcode to keep peeping toms out of their own account. (Parents can override this if necessary).

The app also introduces a new setup process for parents with more detailed information to help them make the right decisions related to parental controls, and help parents be more informed about the app in general.

For instance, a longer intro explains to parents that YouTube doesn’t manually review the videos in YouTube Kids – meaning that inappropriate content could slip through the cracks in its automated filters – along with how to block and report those videos.

A final setup screen offers a longer explanation on why parents may want to turn search on or off, letting parents better assess that risk.

YouTube is also working on a way to let parents add more content to the app, and building out the experience for tweens with a focus on categories that appeal most to that older demographic.

Qualcomm sues Apple in California court, alleging Apple breached licensing contract

Apple Park in Cupertino, Calif. (Image: Apple)

Qualcomm has sued Apple, alleging that the company violated a software license contract to benefit Intel for making broadband modems.

In a lawsuit filed in California state court Wednesday, Qualcomm alleges that Apple used its commercial leverage to demand unprecedented access to the chipmaker’s software.

Qualcomm says that Apple was contractually required to ensure that its engineers working with Qualcomm didn’t communicate details about Qualcomm chips to Apple engineers working on competing chips from Intel.

Qualcomm alleges that Apple emailed Qualcomm to request “highly confidential” information about how its chips work on an unidentified wireless carrier’s network. Apple copied an Intel engineer in the email for information.

In another case, Qualcomm claimed that an Apple engineer working on a competing chip asked an Apple engineer working with Qualcomm to get technical information from Qualcomm.

Justice Department identified over six members of Russian government involved in DNC hack, could charge them next year

The Justice Department has identified more than six members of the Russian government involved in hacking the Democratic National Committee’s computers and swiping sensitive information that became public during the 2016 presidential election, according to a report published by the Wall Street Journal.

The report claims that prosecutors and agents have assembled evidence to charge the Russian officials and could potentially bring a case next year.

HTC debuts U11 Plus with 6-inch 1440p screen, Snapdragon 835 processor

HTC’s U11 flagship has been upgraded and enhanced with a new Plus model. It squeezes in a larger six-inch display in a footprint that’s only slightly bigger than the U11 thanks to smaller bezels, along with a significantly larger battery.

Let’s talk about that screen. It’s a 1440p panel with an 18:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 2880×1440 on a front face that has an 82 percent screen-to-body ratio. HTC also promises future support for HDR10 video with a software update.

The battery was bumped up to 3930mAh, up 31 percent from the U11’s 3000mAh cell. That will make the device noticeably heavier than the U11 at 188g (compared to 169g on the U11), and it loses the predecessor’s tapered edges. HTC also doesn’t give the U11 Plus wireless charging, instead settling for Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3 fast-charging technology.

The U11 Plus is IP68-rated, giving users yet another ounce of protection when things get a bit damp. Beyond that, the spec sheet is nearly unchanged from the U11: a Snapdragon 835 processor, the same rear camera system from the U11, and either 4GB of RAM with 64GB of storage or 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

In terms of wireless audio, this phone is set with Bluetooth 5, Qualcomm’s AptX HD, and Sony’s LDAC. The U11 Plus’ speakers are also 30 percent louder than those on the U11. The fingerprint sensor has also moved to the back of the phone just below the camera.

On the software front, both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa are supported and work with HTC’s Edge Sense squeezing action. You can assign one to activate with a light squeeze and another one with a stronger squeeze. It has also become a remappable button in any app of your choice, with Edge Sense able to do things like zoom on Google Maps or send you straight to your subscription feed in YouTube. HTC has also added a new radial menu that can be triggered with a squeeze. It’s a rotatable wheel that looks like a palette of apps under your thumb.

HTC will bring the U11 Plus to Europe, Asia, and areas of the world that aren’t the US. The 6GB of RAM version will be available in the UK on Nov. 20 for £699 ($914). It’ll set you back €799 ($928) in Europe, and will be available in ceramic black and a semi-translucent finish that won’t launch until early next year.

GoPro will launch entry-level camera in 2018 after first profitable quarter in two years

After two years of layoffs, closing entire departments, discontinuing certain products, reintroducing a recalled product, and announcing a new flagship camera, GoPro has achieved its goal of returning to profitability.

Q3 2017 was the company’s first profitable quarter in two years, with the camera company claiming $14 million in profit from $330 million of quarterly revenue.

However, challenges do still remain in the short term. Slower than expected Hero 5 Black sales and declining availability of the Hero Session are limiting GoPro’s guidance for total 2017 revenue, which is $1.32 billion – up from $1.19 billion in 2016, but well short of the $1.6 billion pulled in during 2015.

The company is also projecting fourth quarter revenue of $470 million, which would be GoPro’s worst holiday season in two years.

However, company CEO Nick Woodman was confident on a call with investors:

“We’re actually feeling really good about our guidance for Q4. Our goal is to enter 2018 with a bang.”

GoPro CEO Nick Woodman

According to Woodman, the current entry-level GoPro – the Hero Session – will be replaced next year.

“Demand for GoPro’s entry level Session was much higher than anticipated, and will result in a sooner than expected end of life for this product, but [this] identifies a significant opportunity for us to expand our market with a new entry level product slated for 2018.”

Nick Woodman

Chief operating officer CJ Prober added that the new camera will be in “an even better form factor for that price point.”

AP uses Secureworks & finds data showing Russia’s Fancy Bear targeted 4.7K Gmail users worldwide with 19K malicious links

A previously unpublished digital hit list obtained by the Associated Press has found that the hackers that disrupted the U.S. presidential election had ambitions that targeted the emails of Ukrainian officers, Russian opposition figures, U.S. defense contractors, and thousands of others of interest to the Kremlin.

The list exposes an operation that went back years and attempted to break into the inboxes of 4,700 Gmail users, ranging from the pope’s representative in Kiev to punk band Pussy Riot.

According to Conflict Studies Research Center director Keir Giles, the data was a “master list of individuals whom Russia would like to spy on, embarrass, discredit, or silence.”

Google to shut down QPX Express API for airline data on Apr. 10

Google will shut down its airfare search feed QPX Express API next April after picking it up in the $700 million acquisition of ITA in 2010.

The final shutdown will take place on Apr. 10. Between now and then, it won’t take on new users, and existing users will get a reduced rate on any API calls. The usage fee will now be $0.02/query, down from $0.035, after the first 50 queries, which are free.

Google is also shutting down OnTheFly, ITA’s mobile flight-search app. It will stop working in December, with the company suggesting that users move to either Google Flights or ITA’s legacy flight search page Matrix.

In other news

US President Donald Trump’s Twitter account was wiped from the site for roughly five minutes Wednesday evening because of the actions of a rogue employee on their last day on the job.

Seattle-based data visualization company Tableau Software reported earnings per share of eight cents on $214.9 million in revenue.

Activision Blizzard reported earnings per share of $0.60 a share, with revenues of $1.9 billion.

Pandora reported an adjusted loss of seven cents per share with revenue of $351.9 million.

Singapore-based chip manufacturer Broadcom is moving operations back to the U.S., pending shareholder approval.

Alya Networks has received a $60 million funding round to help simplify the process of the backend support infrastructure for connected devices.

The week ahead

Today-Nov. 9: Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal; Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference in San Francisco

Nov. 7: Snap reports earnings

Nov. 8: Square, Match Group, and Twilio report earnings

Nov. 9: NVIDIA reports earnings

TechSummit Rewind 202 This is the TechSummit Rewind, a daily recap of the top technology headlines. Apple Q4 earnings: Revenue of $52.6B, Income of $10.7B…