#interview with seductive female robot | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

addytheheartbreaker · 5 years ago

Text

"Meet Taquilla the Alien"

Name: Taquilla Chaska Gasparotto

Age: 28

Height: 5'5 ft

Weight: 46 kg

Mask singer belong to: La Toya Jackson

Friends with: all the female masked singers, Monster, Peacock, Rabbit, Pineapple, Dog and the Dog brothers, Doll, Vulture, Purple Peacock and Candle.

Appearance: light green hair with purple hidden highlights, square shape head, purple sharp eyes (with no pupils), eye bags (concealed with make up),long eyelashes, wrinkles, purple eye-shadow, purple lipstick, light tanned skin, long finger nails, slim yet petite body.

Clothing style: space suits or sci fi themed clothing, tight leather clothing and seductive clothing style, red colored clothing (main style), 60's or 70's fashion and formal dresses.

Fun facts about Taquilla:

•she has 7 sisters and 5 brothers. Taquilla is the middle of the family (fourth sister, 8th daughter of the family).

•Alien lived from a planet in a another dimension (beside Linette's dimension) that the planet is similar to Earth except the water is green, the sky is fuchsia, the animals and creatures are somewhat similar to pokemon and dinasours are living there but actually friendly.

•Taquilla's alien name is CT-469

•a singer, a model, actress, female police officer. A quadruple threat.

•Her favorite sibling is her second older sister and third little brother Mick (Peacock's best friend).

•Taquilla's family came to Earth for alliance of fame. The first famous family to be an ally is the Osborn family (Ronnie's family).

•childhood friends and allies with the Peacock.

•she loves the color red and has several red leather clothing in her closet.

•Alien's room is basically a sci fi themed with several 60's or 70's themed ornaments in her room.

•she has the power of levitation, laser beams, telekinesis and temperature sensitivity.

•Since she is a police officer, she was confused into why the Rabbit kept switching into avoiding her to hanging out with her. She isn't aware that Joen doesn't want to get in trouble to prevent of Taquilla arresting him.

•she has bodyguards with her when every she go outside or going at work of training with La Toya.

•While she can go shopping with the female masked singers. They are thankful for bring her bodyguards to carrying all of their purchased.

•Tequilla is the most sexiest female of the masked singer group alongside Lea. She even has been in a playboy magazine years ago (on her dark years)

•she likes wearing seductive, curved like and feminine clothing. Its because of the space suit aesthetic she's been felt on related to space and living in the galaxies. Also, it makes her feel easy to protect herself and warmed her.

•Alien is a very shy and clumsy alien girl (both her home planet and Earth) but when performing she is very confident to herself.

•A sweet and soft spoken voice, inherited by her ancestors along with her siblings.

•She is yearn to have a normal, peaceful and simple life because in her story and her famous known family has a disturbing and difficult life that she suffers along with her siblings.

•her unconditional love for her little brother Robot, Alien accused for his crimes because she doesn't want another criminal to kept silent.

•Been controlled, abused, sexually abused, tortured that didn't want to described, isolated, ruined and almost got insane a lot.

•She and Peacock has ups and downs on the aftermath of Robot. After the Masked singer ended, they hang out and start over.

•Taquilla has been around with Bebe and Linette because they are the ones who can heal her wounds from her trauma.

•She lives in Las Vegas as she and her family is a neighbor to Ronnie's family.

•Taquilla is aware that Joen's cousin is at the same police department that she has been working.

•dreamed of becoming a police or ace attorney.

•her hobbies is walking in the park, baking, writing poetry, doing chores at the garden, babysitting Ronnie's children or her siblings dozen children and going out with friends (especially the female masked singers)

•At her interview at River's (Raven) talk show, Ronnie (Peacock) and Taquilla once had a argument about Mick's (Robot) crimes that gave Ronnie a long deniel and trying to helping his best friend.

•Alien and Peacock both missed the Robot (Mick), even avoiding remembering the time he had commit illegal crimes.

•She wrote 4 albums since her teenage years then 8 albums in her early adulthood.

•Her favorite places to go on vacation is New York, Hawaii and Canada.

•Taquilla had suffered PTSD according to Linette (Unicorn).

•She met Lea (Lion) since High School. Both of them have well known families and one of the allies beside Ronnie (Peacock), Bebe (Bee) and formally Joen's (Rabbit) aunt.

•She has been in contact with La Toya before the events of the Masked Singer.

•Alien is deeply fond of children which is why she loves to babysit them, she is mostly babysits Ronnie's children.

•Taquilla likes Addy (Doll) for having the same body type and been to the Philippines before. When asked about her little brother Mick, Doll responds that she didn't knew about his crimes but knew his death.

•her little brother Mick the Robot had died the same year where his mentor Michael Jackson's after death.

#the masked singer human au #the mask au #masked au #the masked au #the masked singer #taquilla the alien

12 notes · View notes

nameofmymother · 6 years ago

Text

├ CODY FERN. MALE. HE/HIM. ┤you’re riding solo, MICHAEL LANGDON. their file names them a 23 year old ANTI-CHRIST from AMERICAN HORROR STORY. according to their old friend, MICHAEL has NONE of their memories. but what they do know, is their quintessence is captured within the lyrics of THE DEVIL WITHIN by DIGITAL DAGGERS.

PRIOR TO MEMORY LOSS

as foretold by billie dean howard, the child of a union between a spirit and human would bring about the anti-christ, the ender of days

michael was born of such a union. though his birth parents were tate langdon and vivien harmon, his true father has always been satan himself

don’t let his appearance fool you as it��s not what he truly looks like. michael, in his true form, has a pale white face and black eyes. he’s referred to as the white face demon by two individuals

he has the mark of the beast behind his right ear

taken in by constance langdon, the darkness began out in small little things. small animals would show up dead, as gifts to his grandmother, who would end up burying them and planting rose bushes. eventually things begin to get worse and as michael grew as a young child, he began to kill the sitters put in charge of him

as a young child michael was unaware of just how wrong all of this was. and then one day, when constance came to check on him, michael had grown a decade in a single night. though he had an older body michael still had his childlike innocence and couldn’t understand why the dark deeds he did were wrong

then came the day that michael tried to strangle constance in his sleep, which prompted her to bring a priest into the home who was ultimately killed by michael

these events prompted constance to realize michael would eventually kill her as well, and to avoid having him be the one to kill her, she went to the murder house and killed herself to be rid of him

once michael realized what had happened, he went to the house and broke down upon seeing her body. that was when ben harmon appeared and informed michael that constance didn’t wish to see him. this only caused him further grief and ben offered to help michael through it. he began therapy sessions with ben and the two slowly began to develop a father-son relationship.

it was at this point in his life that michael had begun to take a shift and turn away from the darkness, desperate to be good

at least until the fateful day he met his biological father, tate, who rejected him. this only had michael spiraling down once more, the darkness enveloping him once again

ben, finding michael mutilating the ghost of the black dahlia and killing the new residents of the house and destroying their souls, told michael that he could have never helped him

then the fateful night came when a group of three satanists arrived at the house after witnessing the events that foretold the arrival of the anti-christ. they kidnapped a young woman and performed a satanic ritual in which they killed the girl and had michael eat her heart. that moment a demonic shadow appeared and it was then that michael truly became one with his father. and the night that vivien chose to attempt killing her son

michael, aware of her coming upon him, attempted to destroy her soul though tate managed to save her in time. he was gone that morning from the house, instead going to live with ms.mead, one of the satanists that had come to the house

ms.mead became his mother figure and the two became incredibly close. one day at the supermarket when the butcher wouldn’t sell her a goat’s head, michael killed the man with his magic

after the incident, michael was taken into custody and pleaded that he hadn’t meant to kill the man. the interrogator only continued to push and Michael lashed out, killing the other man with his dark magic

a video of this incident fell into the hands of the head of hawthorne academy, a school that trained warlocks. ariel, the head of the school, visited michael in jail and took him back to the academy to study

only after a month of studying at the academy, he was tasked with completing the levels, his instructors hoping that he would reach level 4 which would put him on par with the supreme. michael passed every single test with flying colors, proving he was as powerful as the supreme

a meeting was set up with the witches to demand that michael be given the test of the 7 wonders in order to determine if he would be the next supreme. this test was only given to females, as only females were granted the right to be the supreme

in order to prove a point, michael set out to save queenie from the hotel cortez, a feat cordelia couldn’t manage herself. he also brought back madison from hell. that was when the decision was made by cordelia for michael to take the 7 wonders, which he passed with ease despite her wanting him to bring back misty from hell during the final test

though michael passed the 7 wonders, cordelia was suspicious of him and sent two people to the murder house to learn what they could of michael, and it was there that they came across the knowledge that michael was, in fact, the anti-christ

the witches quickly found out that two warlocks and ms.mead had killed another warlock, and the three were sentenced to burn to death. when michael learned of this, he completely broke down and refused cordelia’s offer to come with her and refuse his destiny, determined he would kill all the witches

lost, alone, and doubtful, michael came upon a satanic church where a woman he met offered to give him food. he revealed himself to her as the son of satan, and she brought him back to the church and revealed it to all of the followers

michael, still uncertain of what he was going to do next, was offered an opportunity to bring ms.mead back through robotics and ai by two followers.

in order to get revenge for ms.mead’s death, michael went to the school the witches occupied, effectively killing all of them but a few

though he had the only person he cared about back within his life, michael still wasn’t certain about how he should bring the end of the world. and that was when the cooperative was brought up, a group of world leaders, influencers, and the most powerful people in the world who had all sold their souls to his father.

a nuclear war began, missiles launched, and the end of the world had begun.

fast forward over a year after the Apocalypse, michael makes his way to outpost 3 where he informs the occupants that he is there to determine whether or nor any of them would be going with him to the sanctuary

he interviews the occupants, messes with their minds, and then has a plan he had concocted through the robot ms.mead to kill everyone through poison

it was then that cordelia, madison, and myrtle arrived at the outpost, bringing two of their withes and the voodoo queen back to life. a battle breaks out between him and the witches, and michael effectively kills most of the witches attempting to stop him

desperate to kill cordelia for himself finally, he was denied the privilege when she killed herself in order to ensure mallory was powerful enough to complete the spell to go back into time.

back in time before the apcoalpyse and before he knew what he was, Michael was kicked out of the house after killing the priest, and as he stepped into the street mallory ran him over with a car three times. it was there that michael died, alone and abandoned by his grandmother, the timeline of the Apocalypse and all he had done erased

PERSONALITY

child: innocent, unaware of the reasons why the things he did was wrong. he was just desperate for his grandmother to love and accept him

teenager: still has a childlike innocence and is very emotional. he has a desperation to be loved still and to feel like he belongs somewhere.

hawthorne academy: more calculated and is slowly beginning to grow in confidence. michael is very sassy and willing to do whatever it takes to prove his points. his motions are more fluid now, his hands moving gracefully like a ballerina when performing magic. upon the death of ms.mead and the two warlocks, michael became uncertain and doubtful of himself. he slowly began to build himself back up again with his confidence once planning the apocalypse began

outpost: extremely confident and calculated. michael is very skilled in manipulation, though he never lies. he is very seductive, calm, cold

AFTER MEMORY LOSS

raised by his grandmother, michael never knew his parents. for a while things seemed to be good until he had reached his teenage years and began to act out more

when he pushed too far and his magic was revealed, his grandmother kicked him out of the house and michael was left alone and abandoned, uncertain of where he should go next

not too long after he was approached by a group of people approached michael, claiming they had felt his strong magical presence. he was taken in by the group, learning how to control his magic and finding a new family and home

content and happy in his life years after, it was then that everything changed. chicago became different, empty. and michael was left without the only family he had ever really known

now alone he is uncertain of what to do or why this has happened

michael often has images of a woman with dark hair and the feeling of being accepted. he can’t quite recall her face or name, but the image is constantly in his mind

he has more violent urges that pop up that he always pushes back down. michael has no idea why he has these urges

still has the mark of the demon behind his right ear but has noooo idea

PERSONALITY

he’s not quite to the point that he was in the outpost, though michael has confidence and the graceful nature that comes with his magic. he is still sassy and more calculated but without the makeshift coven he grew up in, michael has once more began to become uncertain and doubt himself. he’s lonely

WANTED CONNECTIONS

friends: perhaps people he has met before or after things began to change in the city. he’d be close to them and wouldn’t feel as lonely

coven members: maybe charries who have lost their memories too and have false memories of being a part of the little makeshift coven

someone who senses his darker nature and maybe realizes what he truly is ??

GIMMIE MORE AHS CHARRIES FROM ANY SEASON.

maybe a romantic interest or someone interested in him. he’s never quite been interested in things like this before so it’d be curious to see how that would work out

if anyone wants to plot or wants to do any of these connections you can shoot me an im or like this post and i’ll message you!

#solosintro #this got so long oh my god #but ye if you're interested in any of the connections shoot me an im or like this #murder tw #fire tw #violence tw #basically there's a lot of triggering shit #so be warned

3 notes · View notes

velvet-apricots · 6 years ago

Text

harutemu replied to your chat: Me, lying seductively on the floor of SCP-049′s...

SCP-AFN

Item number: SCP - 4932 - J

Object Class: Keter

Special containment Procedure: SCP-4932 is to be kept in a 6 m x 3 m level 5 secure humanoid cell. Cell is to contain one bed, several shelves for figure collection, one gaming laptop with no internet access, one handheld gaming device, a tv with blue-ray player, comfortable chair, a desk, dresser for clothing, and vanity for make-up. SCP-4932 should also be provided with art supplies to keep it entertained and prevent breakouts. Games bought, and possible subsequent “mods” added must be approved by Dr.██████. SCP-4932 should be provided with an appropriate diet and made to exercise for 30 minutes once every other day to combat obesity. Ignore complaints. Once a week it may eat what ever it likes for a whole day, within reason. Subject is allergic to Penicillin and all penicillin related products.

After incident on ██/██/██ SCP-4932 has been grounded and is not allowed to play video games for 3 months.

Description: SCP-4932 is a 28 year old caucasian human female of 150 pounds and stands at 1.5 m. She has light brown hair. Despite insistance on being called ████, SCP-4932 shall be referred to as number only. She is friendly and talkative, tending to over explain and ramble about things. She also makes jokes, and enjoys puns. Her humor is generally crude or fatalistic. Despite her friendliness, the nature of her abilities means she is to be kept at Object Class Keter.

SCP-4932 has the ability to break out of, and into, SCP cells of any level of containment with out jeopardizing the containment procedures of the other SCP. She appears to only target other SCPs she deems attractive and will attempt to flirt with them. SCP-4932 does not care about the danger involved, citing that “Either they [REDACTED] me or I die. Either way I win.” It is to be noted that SCP-4932 is not suicidal and simply uses fatalistic humor common with those in her age group.

SCP-4932 seems to have the ability to sense a SCP that fits her aethstetics and is drawn to them, and has knowledge of them. She is avoidant on the subject of just how she gets to them.

SCP-4932 seems to be uncharacteristically lucky with her meeting of the SCPs she finds attractive, as instances have yet to react negatively to her presence despite multiple break ins to meet them. Even those which have in all instances of previous contact seemed single minded in their destructive goals (See Incident Report). Testing is required.

Addendum 4932.1: Discovery

SCP-4932 was discovered in SCP-049′s cell on [REDACTED] laying on the floor and insisting she was ‘infected by the pestilence’ and needed to be treated with a ‘special injection’. Her tone indicated she actually meant she desired to [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]. SCP-4932 was fortunate to not be deemed infected by SCP-049, who in turn seemed oblivious to her seduction attempts, politely telling her she was mistaken. it is unknown how SCP-4932 knew of the ‘pestilence’.

SCP-4932 was contained as a D-Class personel, but broke out and infiltrated the cell of SCP-2662, again attempting to flirt. SCP-2662 was relieved that for once it was not being harassed by would be worshipers, and seemed mildly surprised a human would desire to [REDACTED]. (Please imagine this part is in pictographs, i dont feel like drawing them myself right now) SCP-4932 was elevated to SCP status when she intentionally summoned SCP-2521 by describing it verbally, and then saying flirtacious things to it once it appeared. SCP-2521 seemed to recipocate, however, it did not abduct her like it had the previous D-Class personel ordered to describe it. It is unknown how she knew what SCP-2521 looked like, or why she was not taken. (thats all fot the pictographs)

Addendum 4932.2: Interview

Interviewer: Dr. ██████

Interviewee: SCP - 4932

Dr. ██████: So, SCP-4932-

SCP-4932: My name is ████.

Dr. ██████: its simply procedure to refer to you as such.

SCP-4932: Uh... Okay. Listen. I get the vibes I’m going to be staying here a while so, think you can go to my house and get my things? I live in ███████, California. I can give you my address if you want. I really want my Transformer figures and my-

Dr. ██████: Your level of amenities depend on how cooperative you are, I’m afraid. Now tell me, why are you here?

SCP-4932: Oh well, I heard that you guys keep things here. Like, monsters and stuff. Robots too, maybe?

Dr. ██████: I’m not at liberty to disclose what-

SCP-4932: I will take that as a yes. Any way, I just want to date a monster... You know? Something not human. Ive always been drawn to that, ever since i played ████ ██████.

Dr. ██████: What is that?

SCP-4932: Its a video game. I just love ██████. He is my favorite. I’m like, head over heals. I know its dumb cause he is not real but I can’t help it.

SCP-4932 suddenly gets a bit emotional, sniffing a few times and wiping her eyes

SCP-4932: Sorry I just remembered the game. Always makes me emotional. I like it so much, you know?

Dr. ██████: Why were you interested in SCP-049? Where did you learn about it?

SCP-4932: I like plague doctors. I think the whole get up is pretty attractive. As for where I learned about him, I’m not really sure? I just know. Like i just knew about this place. And how I know about uh.... SCP-4932 attemtps to pantomime but soon gives up and looks embarassed.

[END]

Interviewer’s note: SCP-4932 devolved into awkward rambling and would not answer anymore questions after this, preferring to ask for advice and talking about ██████. After interview was ended, SCP-4932 apologized saying she tends to hyper-focus on things she is interested in and hoped the next interview would be more productive

Addendum 4932.3: Incident on ██/██/██

A lighting Storm on ██/██/██ resulted in an instance of SCP-060-Alpha. SCP-4932 inexplicably appeared in the area despite the large distance between Site ██ and the grove, and tried to flirt with Instance SCP-060-Alpha. She had acquired a high grade flame retardant suit from an unknown location. SCP-060-Apha quickly seemed to grow aware of her intentions and seemed incredibly confused to the point its rampage stopped. The confusion allowed for personel to nullify the entity. SCP-4932 seemed to find the confusion cute stating that “i don’t think anyone has ever reacted in a way other then terror. How sweet.”

It is not know how she broke out of Site ██. Containment procedures are the be elevated and SCP-4932 is to be reprimanded and have her laptop taken away to discourage further breakouts.

#harutemu #scp foundation #joke scp #idk what this is but i made it #shit posting

13 notes · View notes

briangroth27 · 7 years ago

Text

Kingsman The Golden Circle Review

I finally got to see this two weeks ago and really enjoyed it! I’m glad I caught it in theaters; despite some missed opportunities, it was a good, solid sequel that naturally grew out of the original while telling its own story. I was surprised it was as closely tied to the original as it was and that so many relationships were informed by the first movie. At the same time, it didn’t feel derivative or repetitive. I love the original and while I think it’s better and has more to say, The Golden Circle is definitely worth seeing!

Full Spoilers…

I really enjoyed Eggsy’s (Taron Egerton) evolution. I’m glad that even though he’d become a master Gentleman Spy, they still paid attention to Eggsy’s home life and kept the connections to that side of his character (though not nearly to the extent the first film did). The balance he found between his job as a Kingsman agent and his grounded life with his friends (Tobias Bakare, Theo Barklem-Biggs, Thomas Turgoose, and Calvin Demba) was great, and it was refreshing that Tilde (Hannah Alstrom) seamlessly fit in with them without becoming a caricature of a princess who disapproved of his lower class friends. Though we don’t see him with them very much, I absolutely bought into Eggsy’s circle of friends and was sorry when he lost some of them. They also managed to recapture the class divide even with Eggsy being one of the posh Kingsman agents by playing him against Tilde’s literal royal family, which was a nice payoff of the gentlemanly lessons Harry (Colin Firth) taught him. I’m interested to see how Eggsy continues to navigate the upper class in the proposed third film now that he’s married to a princess and how he handles being a married man and a spy. It was cool that they had Eggsy remain true to Tilde rather than allowing him to become a ladies man who didn’t care about anyone and got a new love interest in each film, subverting that portion of the Gentleman Spy trope. Making him actually worry about what Tilde would think about the seduction portion of his job was a great surprise. I also liked that they wrote against the stereotypes of Eggsy’s lower class lifestyle by not making him an expert on drugs or dosages (despite Harry referencing his use of them before the first film started); that drug users in the film came from all walks of life and professions rather than just being criminals and minorities was another cool bit of subversion. I was taken aback by just how much personal loss Eggsy suffers in this film; Egerton absolutely sold his sorrow over losing so many close connections and the agency that had become such a big part of his identity. Both in terms of the character and Egerton’s performance, it was impressive that even though Eggsy was clearly shattered by the losses he suffered, he didn’t lose his charm or engaging charisma, nor did his quest to stop Poppy (Julianne Moore) become a depressing revenge mission.

I thought Eggsy and Tilde had a well-written and believable romance, for the most part. I was surprised to see her back at all; I’d totally expected Eggsy to follow the Bond tradition of leaving his love interests between movies, so him actually striving to build a life with her was great. One of my few criticisms of the original movie was that Tilde was reduced to a sexual reward for Eggsy saving the world at the end, so giving her a much-expanded role here was awesome. That said, I didn’t quite believe her being OK with Eggsy sleeping with a target as long as they were going to be married. I wish we’d seen the two of them discuss that aspect of spycraft more, because it would have a serious impact on their relationship and the trust between them would have to be immense (particularly as it’s not a mutual arrangement, like on The Americans). Since they brought it up I wish they’d explored it more, but I give the film credit for having Eggsy tell her about it immediately and refuse to go further with Clara (Poppy Delevingne) than he had to (planting the tracker on her was an uncomfortable scene in its own right that I don’t think the film needed). However, I still think we needed more reconciliation between Eggsy and Tilde than what was essentially “Eggsy saved the world (and her life), so he gets forgiven for everything.” Even if she really was OK with the seduction part of his job because she had the security of their impending marriage (perhaps I simply haven’t seen enough of her character to say whether her choice was in-character or not), I still think that’s a big enough relationship roadblock that it deserved more attention than Tilde responding “what was I, target practice?”, ignoring his phone calls, and getting high. In addition to digging deeper into relationship issues like that, I’d definitely like to see Tilde’s role expand even further in a potential third film. Since she has real power, I’d love to see Tilde’s attempts to save the world in her own way rather than just staying at home, and how her style contrasts with Eggsy’s efforts within the Kingsman organization. That could so easily intertwine with whatever caper Eggsy is on, it’d be foolish not to incorporate her ability to influence the world for good. If they envision this as a trilogy, perhaps Eggsy leaving Kingsman to be head of her personal security as she tries to save the world through political means could be an exit strategy for him.

Before I saw the film, I didn’t think Harry needed to come back and after seeing it, I still kinda don’t. I like Harry a lot and Golden Circle established how much he meant to Eggsy perfectly—he could barely talk about Harry without tearing up—but I’m not sure he brought as much to the film as his return could’ve (or should’ve). I felt like his purpose had been served magnificently in The Secret Service, so I was worried reviving him would be a step backward into safe territory instead of forging ahead. I liked the role reversal of Eggsy and Merlin (Mark Strong) trying to bring back Harry’s memories, even if I was also wondering if it’d be happier for him to not remember his life and get a second chance to live out his pre-Kingsman dream of becoming a lepidopterist (a fun character aspect). I’m glad they didn’t let Eggsy settle back into his old role as Harry’s mentee, but I also don’t think they did enough with Harry’s head wound-inflicted dementia (even if Firth played what he did get well). They gave Harry a cool, believably high-tech resurrection, but his mental haziness gave them the perfect opportunity to play him as getting too old for the job and they didn’t take it. He came back a little too perfect when it really mattered, so all his craziest actions—even shooting Whiskey (Pablo Pascal) in the head—were the totally correct things to do despite how addled his brain was supposed to be. Instead, they could’ve made Eggsy confront and deal with the idea that his father figure wasn’t the same man he’d remembered (another personal loss for him, even after recovering Harry), forcing Eggsy to be the “mentor” to Harry for one last mission, which would’ve been a stronger arc and a better parallel to growing up (as well as a continuation of their role reversal). They could’ve even wrapped the lepidopterist aspect back in as part of Harry’s retirement, with Eggsy having to let him go once again because he’s unable to continue as an agent. As it is, Harry suffered no real consequences or changes from his near-death experience except his lost eye, some temporary mental fogginess, and the need to regain Eggsy’s trust (which was really Eggsy needing to trust him all over again).

Merlin had a good showing in the field this time out and it was nice to see him and Eggsy on equal footing instead of trainer/trainee (or even boss/agent, like in the climax of the first movie). In behind-the-scenes interviews from the first film, Strong mentioned that he and director Matthew Vaughn took care to craft Merlin as not just a tough drill sergeant, but as someone who truly cared about the recruits. I think that shows here and playing him fully as Eggsy’s equal instead of a judgmental former instructor worked very well. The two of them having a drink (or several) for their fallen comrades was a great moment, as were Eggsy and Merlin’s reactions to the Statesman way of doing things. Merlin’s sendoff was very well done, referencing Eggsy’s father’s (Jonno Davies) death perfectly. I’m glad he also got to take out several of Poppy’s (Julianne Moore) guards in the process instead of just saving Eggsy’s life.

Poppy was a fun villain and I liked her 1950s-styled sensibility a lot! Moore played Poppy with a genial and friendly demeanor that was authentic and unsettling without ever undermining the believability of how deadly she was. It was also cool that Poppy was far more bloodthirsty and self-centered than Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson); most films would probably invert those traits in their male and female villains. Valentine was probably the better-conceived villain, but Poppy’s argument about the unfair drug laws and her desire to have her business acumen acknowledged by ending the US’ War on Drugs gave her a solid drive too. Despite Poppy’s goal of legitimizing her own drug trade, I love that these films give their villains social commentary that—if they weren’t murdering people—might make sense. Poppy’s loyalty-proving cannibalism was too much for me, but I liked the other aspects of her organization, such as the solid gold tattoos and her robot dogs. Her jungle-based lair was a cool, classic Bond villain locale (as was her mountaintop virus cure facility), while her 50s theming gave “Poppy Land” a definite Kingsman twist. I would’ve liked them to do a little more with that theme than just her demeanor and the architecture of her base, though.

My biggest disappointment was the total waste of Roxy (Sophie Cookson). I appreciated her being Eggsy’s best friend and that they continued to avoid the clichéd trap of making her his love interest; it would’ve been simple to use her and Eggsy’s common spy experiences to bond them as lovers who “only understood each other,” creating a love triangle between the two of them and Tilde (even her codename Lancelot implies a love triangle, now that I think about it). While I’m glad there was no animosity or jealousy between Roxy and Tilde—and Roxy coaching Eggsy through his dinner with Tilde’s royal parents was a fun moment—I wish we’d seen more of her and Eggsy’s friendship. I liked her a lot in the first film and was hoping she’d have an expanded role here, so I was very disappointed she died after just two scenes; her death hit me the hardest (though I was most shocked they killed JB!). There was a major missed opportunity to comment on sexism in the spy world (and spy movies) through Roxy, just like the first film spent a lot of time exploring classism. They could’ve had Eggsy championing Lancelot’s equal standing against the American machismo of the Statesmen just like Harry fought for him despite his lower class background. I will give both Kingsman films credit for always treating Roxy as Eggsy’s complete equal (and arguably, superior, given she did shoot her dog in the final test; a willingness to do whatever it takes that was never capitalized or even commented on, beyond being used as a jab to emasculate Eggsy), even if she wasn’t given much to do. Poppy’s love of retro culture—particularly that of the 1950s—could’ve absolutely provided the perfect basis for commentary on sexism too, given the gender expectations of that era in America. Furthermore, Poppy’s desire to have her business skills acknowledged could’ve paralleled Roxy’s desire to be seen as an equal among the Statesmen perfectly, which would’ve recreated the hero/villain parallel from the first film wherein Valentine also wanted to save the world. Aside from Poppy and Tilde, Golden Circle’s female characters in general lacked agency, as they’re killed, used as oblivious trackers and then killed, and stuck behind computer screens due to the whims of men; that seems to be the one area where the Kingsman films follow tropes in the classic Bond films too closely without subverting them. It would’ve been awesome for Roxy to fight Poppy alongside Eggsy, Harry, and Merlin and to go on to rebuild the agency with them; with his lower class origins and her being a woman, it would’ve represented an entirely new and modern iteration of the agency. Perhaps Eggsy can train a female replacement candidate for Roxy in the potential third film, but I wish they’d done more with the character they already had.

Charlie (Edward Holcroft) was a great surprise return from the original film! Surviving Merlin detonating Valentine’s implants due to Eggsy electrocuting him was a twist I never would’ve thought of. It set the stage for his evolution perfectly; I loved his robotic arm! Poppy calling it “ARMageddon” made me laugh (hey, I love a good pun!). Charlie’s personal vendetta against Eggsy and the Kingsman organization was played excellently. If he’d taken over his family’s resources, he could’ve worked as a main villain to reinforce the class struggle theme between him and Eggsy (as well as the fact that he would be going up against his old trainer and the man who killed his parents, Merlin). As it was, his history and connection to the heroes made him a great secondary villain and henchman for Poppy.

The Statesman agents were fine, but I wasn’t enamored with them. Tequila’s (Channing Tatum) demeanor was wildly different from Eggsy and Merlin’s, which made for good conflict between them, but he didn’t get much to do and his character was taken out of action for most of the film. Since he’s joined Kingsman by the end of the film, his recruitment may be setting up a new culture clash between his American style and the British standard, which could be fun. I liked that Whiskey (Pedro Pascal) had an agenda of his own that aligned with Poppy’s plan and the President’s (Bruce Greenwood) goals while also selfishly serving the Statesmen, but I wasn’t invested in him and didn’t feel betrayed when his true motives were revealed. Champagne/Champ (Jeff Bridges) felt like the trustworthy American version of Michael Caine’s Arthur, but they didn’t subvert that to make him stand out. Similarly, Ginger Ale (Halle Berry) was fine as a tech agent whose career was sidetracked by Whiskey, but it didn’t feel like she had much to do. That said, I’m glad she finally got promoted to be an agent in the end and I wouldn’t mind her returning. I think my biggest problem with the Statesman was that they just seemed like the American version of the Kingsman agency and nothing more. While that produced some funny comments like Eggsy’s “skipping rope” line, it felt like the impact of losing the entire Kingsman organization had been lost. If Merlin and Eggsy can relatively easily enlist the help of a nearly identical spy organization right after losing their own, what’s the point of destroying Kingsman? Sending Eggsy, Merlin, Harry, (and if I were writing it, Roxy) off against Poppy on their own without support would’ve increased the stakes dramatically. Perhaps not introducing the Statesmen until the end of the film—only having the surviving Kingsman agents encountering Whiskey as a tertiary antagonist with mysterious backers in the field—would’ve worked better. Or, maybe Eggsy and Co. could’ve been dismissed by the Statesmen, only to have Whiskey go rogue to “help” them. That way, the agents we’re invested in would’ve had to really scramble against the odds to stop Poppy while preserving the means to rebuild their agency through the now-helpful Statesmen at the end.

The President of the United States wanting to let all the drug “addicts” in the nation die while pretending to care was great. That was clever social commentary on the ethics of drug use and how society judges those who use drugs regardless of their reasons for doing so. I don’t think people would stand for the literal cages he put people in—there’s no way someone didn’t sneak a camera past the military helicopters somehow and film the interior of those stadiums—but otherwise I liked how hypocritical he was. Elton John had a highly entertaining extended cameo that I didn’t see coming at all, but fit in perfectly. I also liked the connection to the first movie, wherein Poppy kidnapped him when Valentine was rounding up celebrities, so no one suspected her. I didn’t get a grasp of Michael Gambon’s Arthur from his brief scenes, so I don’t know how he was different from how Caine’s acted; did he also disrespect Eggsy’s background, or was he more enlightened?

The retro spy tone paired with modern sensibilities from the first movie seamlessly fit into this sequel; it felt unmistakably “Kingsman.” I love that the movie never took itself too seriously, like most modern spy films have tended to do (as the first Kingsman pointed out), instead continuing—and even heightening—the already-heightened reality of the series. The use of classic and iconic spy gadgets continued here as well and I absolutely loved the over-the-top technology in the film! Moving into cybernetic limbs and robots felt like a natural evolution from the weaponry in the first film, especially Gazelle’s (Sofia Boutella) prosthetic sword legs. If they make a third film, I’m all for the technology continuing to escalate; these movies fearlessly digging into comic book science fiction is awesome! Aside from some noticeable CGI in the opening car chase (which even then wasn’t too distracting), all the effects were great. Charlie’s retractable robot arm looked totally real, which can’t have been easy or cheap to do. The fights were very well choreographed and varied, and I liked that the redone “Manners Maketh Man” scene echoed the original while highlighting Harry’s impairment. The pop soundtrack was just as fun as in the first film while Henry Jackman & Matthew Margeson’s score again invoked classic Bond films while remaining its own animal. I also loved the ads for the film, which took credit for the solar eclipse and launched a fake, 90s-styled Kingsman board game! What an A+ promotional department!

While The Golden Circle certainly misses opportunities to dig deeper into the themes and characters it introduces, it’s still a fun roller coaster and a solid action film. I definitely think it’s worth seeing and I really hope we get a third Kingsman!

#kingsman #the golden circle

3 notes · View notes

klstheword · 8 years ago

Link

SPOILERS BELOW

“As I’m writing this, the seventh and penultimate episode of Season 1 of Legion has just aired on FX. It answered a lot of baffling questions, brought together several plot threads, and set up all the players for a final showdown next week. For those of you who gave up on the show midway through its eight-episode first season—or never bothered to start the series in the first place: now is the most important time to tune in. The series is at a creative high, and could beautifully stick the landing next week. It could also stumble at the finish line. But either way, you don’t want to miss out. So turn off those other, subpar comic-book shows: this is the series you should be bingeing.

If you’ve managed to avoid any information about the series whatsoever, the gist is this: Legion is a loose (very loose) adaptation of a Marvel comic-book story about a mentally deranged young man, David Haller (Dan Stevens), who discovers that his disordered mind also houses a tremendous number of uncanny powers. He’s the son of Charles Xavier—though this show is about as far away in tone from the X-Men cinematic universe as you can get. It’s also (probably) divorced almost entirely from the world of Professor X, Storm, Jean Grey, Magneto, and the rest. It’s from the very thoughtful mind of Fargo creator Noah Hawley and is, for my money, the most inventive and entertaining show currently on television.

Unshackled from any of Fargo’s realism constraints, Hawley on Legion is like a kid in a candy shop, packing each episode with boundary-pushing visuals. The show flirts with but never achieves alienating levels of disorientation as the camera whirls upside down or shifts into gummy slow motion. Inspired by creative freedom of both his protagonist’s subjective reality and the comic-book medium, Hawley is free to insert a Bollywood number, check in on Jemaine Clement grooving out in a space ice cube (really), or, in the latest episode, switch to a black-and-white silent film (complete with dialogue cards) while a scorching version of Ravel’s “Bolero” plays.

All this experimentation with form is saved from feeling overly precious and exhausting simply because it’s anchored by the emotionally honest performances of its leads. Given his mental condition (or at least years of mental abuse), David Haller could be a slippery character to latch on to. But in Stevens—who has been both cuddly and appealing on Downton Abbey and dangerously seductive in The Guest—Legion found the perfect leading man. When Stevens makes his enormous blue eyes go wide with innocent confusion, viewers are instantly sympathetic. When those same eyes then gleam with manic evil seconds later, audiences may cringe in fear. Very few performers could contain such multitudes.

A steadier sympathetic figure is David’s would-be girlfriend, Syd Barrett (yeah, that’s right), played by Fargo Season 2 alum Rachel Keller. Syd is given a more typically X-Men-esque mutation-as-curse plotline. Like Rogue, she can’t endure skin-to-skin contact—the lightest touch will force her to temporarily swap bodies with the other person. This puts a wrinkle in her dating life and, eventually, is revealed to be attached to some serious childhood trauma. But though she’s a guiding light for David, Keller doesn’t play Syd as victim or sap. She’s complicated, dark, brave, and, despite the genre setting, one of the more nuanced female characters currently on TV.

All of these very human portrayals—seen also in the somber serenity of Jean Smart’s psychiatrist-to-mutantkind Melanie Bird—are countered by some zanier performances. Famous physical comedian Bill Irwin gets to play it straight until he doesn’t, bending and clowning through some of the later episodes while Clement gets a chance to go full Conchord. But best of all is Aubrey Plaza, who gives a dark, gonzo performance so stunning not even her most ardent Parks and Recreation fans will recognize her.

So, why catch up with Legion now, versus some months from now? That has as much to do with potential spoilers as it does with me simply wanting you to experience some great TV. Certain mid-season twists—like some additional information about Plaza’s character—may have already leaked onto your radar, via various unavoidably porous social-media outlets. And there’s another big twist on the horizon. As Legion star Jean Smart said in an interview with The Independent:

Oh my goodness, when we did the seventh episode we were sitting around saying, “How is this going to tie together? They’ve just one more episode. It’s just impossible,” and of course, he does it. In his own way. And then there’s a twist at the end and I mean the end—the last seconds of the show. We were like, “Oh my God.” I wouldn’t want any viewer to be held hostage by spoiler or twist culture. These twin trappings of modern TV shouldn’t dictate when you watch any given show. But I also wouldn’t want that final twist—or more pertinently, any groupthink reaction to that final twist—to ruin your Legion experience. Hawley isn’t one to not stick a landing, but there is a real danger that Legion won’t deliver on its promise in those final seconds. Like most shows with a mentally unsound protagonist (::cough:: Mr. Robot ::cough::), there’s a slight possibility that this season and all the characters we’ve met are merely a projection of David Haller’s troubled mind. If anyone can execute a concept that high, it’s Noah Hawley—but the show also runs a risk, à la Westworld, of souring the audience in its final moments. I’d rather that reaction not distract any viewers from the creatively dazzling eight hours of television that precede it.

But that’s not the only reason the days between now and next Wednesday’s finale are ripe for a Legion catch up. (Nor should it be.) Both FX and Noah Hawley may disagree with me, but I’d argue that Legion is actually a better experience when binge-watched. (This is not true of all shows. Some reward a week in between episodes, and space to catch your breath and meditate.) Legion is the kind of series that sends a lot of information at its audience very quickly and also one that, at first, fosters an intentionally disorienting experience. The show wants to put audiences in the mentally unbalanced shoes of its protagonist.

But having just re-watched the series in one fell swoop (after taking it in episode by episode), I can attest that little threads, visual hints, and narrative links make much more sense to the viewer when watched very close together. (Of course, re-watching in general doesn’t hurt either.) Episode 6 in particular—which is a looking-glass retelling of the season premiere—is even better when watched fairly shortly after Episode 1. In short, Legion can only benefit from the binge-watch model, which encourages viewers to be more accepting of confusion when they know an answer is just a few episodes away. (In this case, Episode 5 serves as a big “a-ha!” moment.)

Unlike some of its comic-book series brethren, Legion isn’t quite as easily accessible to stream. (FX is famously more elusive than most networks for cable-cutters.) But all seven episodes of Legion can be found on demand via your local cable subscriber, or on the FXNow site/app. The first six are currently available on Hulu, with Episode 7 going up on Sunday. And, as far as bingeing commitments go, seven hours is relatively light. In fact, other comic-book shows should take a page from Legion’s economical episode order: the Netflix Marvel shows, in particular, have a considerable amount of fat to trim.

Ultimately, I appreciate that TV watching shouldn’t come with so many rules and provisos. We should watch what we like when we like it and not worry about external factors like timing, twists, spoilers, bingeing, etc. But, reasonably, this is the TV-watching culture we live in. So, for your own good and for the good of this distinctly creative show (and the incredible performances of Stevens and Plaza), make Legion your weekend plans. Other comic-book shows can wait.

#Legion #Dan Stevens #Vanity Fair #well-deserved acknowledgement #spoilers

39 notes · View notes

mrmichaelchadler · 6 years ago

Text

Blade Runner 2049 and the Disposability of Virtual Females

This review was originally published on January 18, 2018 and is being republished for Women Writers Week.

During Phillip K. Dick’s research on Nazi Germany for The Man in the High Castle, he came across a cache of Gestapo documents stashed in the closed stacks at UC Berkeley’s library, including the diary of an SS officer stationed in Warsaw, near the Jewish ghetto. One entry was the man griping that his sleep was being interrupted by the cries of starving children. Shaken, Dick later reflected in an interview “It is not human to complain in your diary that starving children are keeping you awake ... There is among us something that is a bipedal humanoid, morphologically identical to the human being but that is not human.”

That compassion is what’s supposed to separate us from androids, and the collective human failure to always pass a Voight-Kampff test is the knife’s edge (blade’s edge?) paradox that’s part of what makes the original "Blade Runner" such an intriguing cult puzzle. Conversely, "Blade Runner 2049’s" philosophical themes are more elusive, if not downright murky (like its cinematography) and let’s let Ridley Scott say it: “[That movie] was fucking way too long.” The only recurring theme that’s crystal-clear is the expendability of women. "Blade Runner 2049" is extraordinarily brutal to female bodies. (Maybe that’s why it bombed at the box office, with only 29% of ticket sales going to women.) What begins as a egalitarian attitude to nudity (there are flaccid penises on some inert replicant bodies on display in a lab morgue) quickly turns into the same-old acreage of female flesh, usually as a prelude to maiming, objectifying, or taking a bullet to the head.

That’s the hardest and ugliest scene in "Blade Runner 2049": Rachel, digitally recreated as a young Sean Young, marching on screen, tilting her head a little bit, mouthing a few lines of dialogue and then getting shot in the head, execution style. OK, it’s not Rachel. It’s another clone in the Rachel model made by the Tyrell Corporation. But it’s still hard to take. And it’s the most shocking example of an ominous trend of the new technology of virtual actors treating actresses more callously than actors, both on and off-screen.

To be fair, isn’t every actor eventually a virtual actor? Just a couple bouncing photons, first off their god-given cheekbones onto raw negative or digital plate, and then from the reflective surface of the screen into our dark-dilated eyes. There’s a scene in "Blade Runner 2049" that acknowledges that truth, when the holographic girlfriend Joi consummates her relationship with K by projecting her image overtop the prostitute Mariette’s fleshy replicant body. We cheer for Joi and K. One might be a robot and the other an AI, but the movie takes great pains to emphasize how their love is real. The biggest irony is that a movie explicitly musing about how synthetic humans deserve empathy and inclusion is blind to the antithetical practice of using virtual actresses to speed up the expiration date on their already perishable careers.

For the sake of narrowing this article’s scope, let’s clarify that a motion-capture actor like Andy Serkis is not a virtual actor. Serkis is paid as an actor is paid, he wears a costume as an actor does (in this case, a digital costume) and Gollum’s presence on screen still contains Serkis’s performance. (The chrome form of the T-1000 in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," recreated in a computer from reference footage of Robert Patrick, can also be considered this way for our purposes.) We’re only going to discuss the descendants of "Rendez-vous à Montréal" (1987), the computer animated short starring 3D approximations of Marilyn Monroe and Humphrey Bogart. This definition of a virtual actor can range from compositing a face or head onto a stand-in’s body (Brad Pitt in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Brandon Lee in "The Crow," Oliver Reed in "Gladiator," Jeff Bridges in "Tron: Legacy") to using age smoothing software (also Pitt in "Benjamin Button," Robert Downey Jr. in "Captain America: Civil War," Kurt Russell in "Guardians of the Galaxy") to creating an entire virtual body (Ryan Reynolds in "Deadpool").

Every example cited above is of a man, and every one of those actors got to appear in other scenes in those movies as their usual, sometimes wrinkly, unaugmented selves as well. (Wrinkly and unaugmented is how Peter Cushing’s avatar appeared in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," too.) Actresses barely get to appear wrinkly in movies anyway, and now with the advent of virtual possibilities Hollywood has jumped on the chance to find another way to exclude them based on age. I’m not the first critic to notice this— Nate Jones pointed it out in an article in Vulture in October of last year, touching on the other egregious example of a young virtual Carrie Fisher in "Rogue One".) When it came to creating the virtual Rachel, Young did have some involvement (presumably with her consent, and was presumably financially compensated. As much as Robert Downey, Jr. was for "Captain America: Civil War"? Probably not.).

The Rachel that appears on-screen was recreated by British effects house MPC from archival photographs and footage, with Young coming in to have her present-day face scanned digitally and give body stand-in Loren Peta some movement consultation. But that’s not her body on screen, it’s not her voice, and that’s not her face. And if it’s not her real self in other scenes of the movie, like it was for Downey, Jr. or most of the other actors on the list above, it’s not her payday. To paraphrase Rachel in the original "Blade Runner," ever since she got old and “difficult,” that death-knell slur for actresses, Sean Young’s no longer in the business ... she is the business. And the sadism with which Rachel is treated in her 180-some seconds of screen time is utterly cold-blooded and unnecessary, almost as jarringly cruel as the way the bitchy assistant Zara in "Jurassic World" was subjected to a virtual mauling and death totally out of proportion to her "crimes."

Let’s play Tyrell’s advocate for a moment here: is Villeneuve merely accurately ... well, replicating the disposability and callousness of the original "Blade Runner" towards its replicants, especially Pris and Zhora? Is the point that all replicants are disposable, and do we merely notice the way the equally callous way female replicants are dispatched because it twinges at our chivalry? (It has crossed his mind. As he put it in an interview with Gizmodo: “Cinema is a mirror on society. Blade Runner is not about tomorrow; it’s about today. And I’m sorry, but the world is not kind to women.”) But this argument isn’t about one female character in one dark and dystopian movie. It’s about Young, Hollywood exile, and all the other young actresses who are at the brunt of a new way to make them disposable. Rachel in "Blade Runner 2049" is a stand-in for all of them, given the merest morsel of time in the sun before she’s shot in the head.

Rachel has always been special, and not just because she’s the most advanced replicant ever made. In the seduction scene (or rape scene, as can be equally argued) in the original movie, she is reluctant to the point of tears to go to bed with Deckard because she doesn’t trust whether her feelings of love are real. In the moment she quavers “Put your hands on me,” she is taking an unprecedented leap across the uncanny valley, trusting that this new feeling that has germinated inside her—something not included in Tyrell’s niece’s childish memories, that rogue wild thing called love that a lab cannot yet make—is true, the first real feeling she’s ever had. To have her dispatched so brutally sends shockwaves that resonate beyond the narrative into the strange and merciless new world actresses must now negotiate thanks to its thoughtlessness. Hey, "Blade Runner 2049": You know that Voight-Kampff test of yours? Did you ever take that test yourself?

from All Content https://ift.tt/2mMPv4r

0 notes