#is that they are beginning to act more and more like donnie personality wise

[aromacaque]

you want to analyze a cartoon that is something children can watch? ok here's the first and most important lesson ever.

have you ever heard of "suspension of disbelief?"

ok. next step. do you know what an unreliable narrator is and can you separate the character's perspective and opinions from the writers? because i promise you that the beliefs of the main character do not always reflect the writers and the point of analyzing media is to dissect that.

[tblsomedoodles]

Here's an art/info dump about this stupidly cute idea that's been rotating in my brain for three day.

(the first comic here is just how they first met. they ended up in the same alley, pestering the same cat without noticing. Then the cat left and they notice they're not alone lol)

(Second is Donnie 'talking' with Mikey for the first time. He only uses Mind Mend to communicate and is just as surprised as Mikey to find it worked on him. (it has only worked with Leo before this))

I'll put the rest under a break b/c i will be going off about this and i don't want it to take up your entire feed.

I'm jokingly calling this "Mikey's Imaginary Friends" though that might change if i continue this.

Basically it's this, the twins grew up with Draxum while Raph and Mikey grew up with Splinter. Neither set knew about the other (b/c splinter though they were dead and didn't want his two remaining kids to worry about it, and Draxum was too focused on fixing his lab to pay much attention to the twins.) So, imagine Mikey's shock when, at age 8, he's out exploring topside (having snuck out) and runs into two more mutant turtles (who also snuck out and are exploring.) Thus begins an ongoing sneaking out to meet up thing between the three b/c Mikey's excited to have new friends and the twins are just as fascinated with Mikey as he is with them.

And before you ask, "hey, why doesn't Mikey tell his family about the two other turtles?" he does. Raph thinks he just made up some imaginary friends so he plays along but doesn't believe they're real. Splinter, on the other hand, thinks he's talking to Hamato ancestors due to some very big miscommunications (that i'll probably draw out at some point b/c it's silly)

Twins background wise, i'm still thinking through a lot of it, but i'll put my thoughts down anyways.

Draxum knew that training the twins at a young age would be counterproductive, so he doesn't train them beyond some basics a few times a week. Other than those sessions, he leaves them alone with their less-than-stellar caretaker, in favor of rebuilding his lab. The caretaker doesn't do much for them beyond give them food and very basic school like lessons. Beyond that the twins are left on their own.

they come to the conclusion that the only people that will care for them is themselves. They discover Mind Meld very early as a result of this and will not talk verbally b/c they found out early on with their caretaker, that if they tried to talk, they were just ignored anyways, so what's the point.

(I'm also thinking Donnie might be deaf or hard of hearing in this, with the pair of them using Mind Meld as a way for him to temporarily hear through Leo and thus keep Drax from finding out. but i'll have to do some more research before i decide for sure/figure out the specifics)

as for Meeting Mikey

That's why they became so fascinated with mikey. B/c mikey was the first person that treated them like a person and not a job or an incomplete experiment. (He's also so happy and bright, they can't avoid getting drawn to him lol)

Mikey's probably the only one they verbally start talking to, even after they teach him mind meld. (though Leo's the one to pick up on that more than Donnie. Donnie doesn't do much talking at all outside mind meld).

They also come out of their shells (hehe) a lot as they interact more with Mikey. Before they met him, they acted more like automatons, even when alone. The more they socialize with Mikey, the sillier these two get. Leo learns about puns and starts going mad with them, Donnie starts happy stimming about thing (which he has either been suppressing or just never had the urge to do before.) Basically they stop acting like little creepy statues and start acting like kids.

Honestly, it's just a cute idea with the kiddos meeting each other and Mikey inadvertently socializing his not-well-socialized brothers.

(also, the twins wear masks b/c Donnie doesn't like the smell of the city and he's worried about germs. Not for any ninja reasons, what so ever.)

Alright, that's it for my info dump. maybe more later? Maybe not? Depends on how much longer these kids keep my attentions (though right now, they're doing a pretty good job at it lol)

[jasminegazer]

FINALLY FINISHED THIS ART PIECE

I cannot tell you how much I struggled but it was soooooo worth it. This is just a little wholesome angst for my version of MM!/Tottmnt Venus. On the left is Venus holding her little sister Lita. To the right is Dr Tyler Rockwell holding Venus (og post that explains story right here). I don’t know why I keep doing this trend of posting more stuff about these characters when I make artwork of them but I’m starting to think about starting another MM!/Tottmnt au after Difference Between the Appearance. So ignoring that random info dump. Here’s my opinion on how Venus acts like and what her relationship with each of the boys is like:

Her Personality: Venus is a very very very very VERY weird girl. Not like creepy wolf girl weird but like Luz(Owl House) and Marcy(Amphibia) weird. She doesn’t find disgust in the casual weird creatures she meets when her and brothers are getting into shenanigans. Part of this is formed because she was raised around yokai but it’s mainly because she tends to lean towards the bright side of things in very “Welp at least it’s not completely hideous” kind of attitude. But other than that she’s just your usual dorky K-pop loving artistic teenage girl(scratch that there is absolutely nothing normal about this chi overpowered weirdo of a turtle mutant . . . but she is a fellow kpop fan). But one thing that is definitely most unique about Vee that’s sets her apart from her brothers and Jennika is that she is very proud of and comfortable with being a mutant. She doesn’t care if society doesn’t think it’s ideal. She don’t care about society’s ideals period. If it means she gets to live as her true self, which was usually being shunned and forcefully molded into something different by Big Mama, she won’t mind being rejected or called weird. This concept is something that she has raised Lita in and she usually tries to get her fellow turtle mutants to understand as she is confused why they want to be normal instead of themselves.

Vee is a hug friend/family first make sure they’re ok later kind of gal. If you’re someone she cares about deeply and something goes down, she will immediately attack you with a bear hug. She is usually very physical about her affection towards others but can also be somewhat wise when it comes to self worth and personal issues that may be affecting them. But don’t mistake her for her huggable demeanor. If you mess with her or anyone she cares about, you are dead in the water and about to get your butt whupped sooo bad. She can be short tempered with enemies but patient with allies and people in pain who she understands far too well.

PS: Venus and the main turtles don’t become siblings immediately. Though she does live with them for a while she is not officially their sister until Splinter adopts her and Lita(which would happen a month or two after Vee and Splinter meet and Splinter trains her to join his sons in battle).

Anywho now for her relationship with her bros:

Pizza and Boba: Venus and Mikey tend to be the batshit crazy duo. Always think of new crackhead ideas that their siblings could never begin to comprehend. One would stand on the other’s shoulders as they would try and reach for a vent to escape or just to snag the last pop-tart. Though Venus will tend to be a little more mature and aware of when things are getting too serious for jokes and games. They’re the 2 silly goobers of the group giving enemies nicknames. Mikey is actually the one who came up with the nickname Vee when they first met and in response Vee deemed him as Miguel. Speaking of when they met Mikey completely ignored the fact of how weird it was that they met another turtle mutant and immediately threw his trust into her hands and tried to get to her know her as much as he could. They also both try to avoid fighting the most and try to end matter’s peacefully or with a good joke.

Tech and Turquoise: Donnie and Venus probably have the closest relationship with each other out of all the brothers. They are an unstoppable in sync duo on the battlefield. Yet also a peculiar combo. Technology a passion based on logic and strict reasoning and Chi the free flow of life with no boundaries and no clear explanation. Vee opens up to Dee more than she does with anyone(even Leo) and Dee does the same(similarly to how he does with Mikey). When they first met, Dee was the one who pried the most into her past and her life as he had noticed her wounds and scars first. They both love kpop, in different ways, but it still gives Donnie someone to info dump with who will actually understand what he’s talking about. They are definitely the most sarcastic of the group and will eat you up and roast you dry if they can and whenever you dare think about trying it.

Red Fire meets Blue Fire: Raph is the must reluctant to connect with Venus considering she’s technically Big Mama’s niece. When they first met Raph drilled her with questions whenever she messed up the facade she created to protect them from Big Mama. Raph tries to ignore her interactions with him as an attempt to prepare himself for another betrayal. Once Vee finally tells the whole true story of her harsh past, he feels even more conflicted feeling sympathy for her pain. When they do eventually work out their problems Vee and Raph are the sibling duo who tease each the most but still care about each other in the end. Kind of like Luz and Hunter(Owl House). Raph and Venus are also the most short tempered of the group.

2 Shades of Blue 1 Little Sis and 1 Big Bro: Leo is the one who is the most gentle with Venus. He worries his head off about her pain after she reveals how badly she had been beaten down and then shoved back up again. She appreciates it of course but hates how much of a hypocrite he is when he calls her out for saying it’s fine after erupting like a teal volcano of chi. They hold each other up when they reach there low points. Leo always insists that he helps Vee get home after using her chi in battle for fear of her overwhelming her body(which happens quite frequently when she strains herself). And Vee always immediately swoops in and hugs her big bro when he gets upset and needs to just let it all out.

(P.S. When the boys tell her that Leo has a crush on April, Venus thinks it is the most adorable thing ever and starts cooing at her big bro immediately, causing his brothers to tease him for being adorable😜(same thing when she finds out Rasey get together))

[kinniemikey]

I don't think you entirely get the point :,>

You gotta re-read what was written in the first post, they quiet literally said that they love the show and pointed out stuff that makes sense.

They also said that Splinter being messed up is the point because it's already bad that he sends his sons to go kill his enemies ect and he meant all Splinter's with this not just 2012 Splinter, which includes Rise Splinter, he literally done train his sons to become 'better' Ninja's and almost stripped away their personality with this because this is what he learned from his Hamato Clan and that's definitely one reason why he hates his clan, which makes him a very irresponsible role model aka why Rise Leo acts the closest to Splinter, especially with the irresponsibility.

If you put the past of Rise Splinter as a teen next to the movie Rise Leo, you instantly see how much they mirror each other, it's one reason why Splinter in a way does not like Leo, making Leo feel like he's the least favorite of his brothers to Splinter.

Let's look at the past, Rise Splinter is emotions wise more there with the turtles compared to Splinter 2012 because this is how he was raised by his single mom, the dad was not shown at all, he had no relevancy.

He took care of them, if they were hurt and didn't shy away to be affectionate.

However, he does struggle with depression the same way 2012 Splinter does but in different ways and Rise Splinter gives way too much freedom to his kids to the point it started to get neglectful to the extreme.

He literally just gave them the name 'Purple', 'Red', 'Green', there is a high chance the turtles were allowed to pick their own names aka have their own freedom to do what they please and Splinter always forgot, what names they picked because of this and riles back with the 'Purple' name instead.

His kids have to get to him, he is not the one engaging as much.

He is busy watching a lot of TV and going to sleep. Eventually he thought 'You know, my kids are teens now, they can figure things out on their own' because that's what Rise Splinter did in the past. He had no parental figure and made his own experience, it's not helping that he always thinks that his kids will just stay in the sewers and never go out. Basically he doesn't have to look out too much for them because he's right there and if his kids wants to spend time with him he joins or if someone gets hurt, he instantly comes to aid, else he doesn't do much with his kids because he wants them to have their own freedom.

I mean just look at the mess here with Donnie, he takes care of him but...he didn't question what Donnie was doing here, showing us this neglect started pretty early on.

The Rise Turtles figured, how to treat each other because Splinter is the reason for this, not in a positive way per se.

They crave affection and validation, they want to spend time with Splinter, they want to be treated with love from their dad but since Splinter didn't do that and only got to them, when they engaged with him.

They gave each other this treatment instead because they didn't get it from Splinter, it's why Mikey compared to 2012 Mikey is treated with much more care from each of his brothers in different ways.

Now to 2012 Splinter, obviously he still cares for his sons like any Splinter but prior doesn't have a good role model to begin with. when it comes to taking care of children, this is what the originally post was talking about and it did a good job pointing out Splinter's flaws.

2012 Splinter IS very loyal to his clan, he takes the responsibility not really for his kids but for his clan instead aka holds his tradition close to his heart and thinks this is the way to raise kids, that's a different extreme with him compared to Rise Splinter.

Splinter without a doubt has raised his kids more like Ninja's, he even told Leo to leave injured back to get to safety aka told him to leave his brother back, if they badly get injured to get back to safety. (If I remember correctly)

That's literally Ninja talk, he did not consider the fact that Leo is a minor and how badly this line alone will affect Leo mentally moving forward.

Rise Splinter as I said before is no good either for Rise Leo, he literally made him feel like his least favorite, this is what the original post meant with 'The Splinter in every iteration are messed up in their own ways' yes, Rise Splinter is messed up too, the reason why he might be more liked, is the fact that he attempted to be a better dad, after the 'Turtle-dega Nights: The Ballad of Rat Man' episode.

the oleeeeeee chip on the shoulder certain 12 fans have where if you say "12 splinter has physically and emotionally abusive tendencies and his sons arent mentally ok and heres my essay about why" they hit you back with "YEAH BUT WHAT ABOUT RIIIIIIISE SPLINTER HUH?!" and its like.

yeah i mean. no one was talking about him. but like. yeah. hes not great. hes neglectful and the show admits this fact VERY openly, and then lets him turn himself around later. hes never the best but he doesnt need to be cuz the show has already TOLD us hes not doing the best for his sons. and that that's why they get into trouble with outside authority figures ALL THE TIME! they seek out better ones! the show makes this SO OBVIOUS! rise as a show is all ABOUT the interpersonal connections between its family. it shows us constantly why they're like that and lets its own splinter apologize multiple times for it. the show never asks you to respect his authority it constantly asks you to question him! which you should! cuz he's not doing a good job!!!

so why are you so mad? why is that the gotcha?

idk seems like you dont actually care about if a character is or isnt abusive at all. it seems like youre just mad that the 2012 show should have handled it better. its childish. its rude.

[leonardosfm]

FULL NAME: lorena rhiannon hamato-seara. NICKNAMES: lore, rena, lou DOB: june 4. AGE: twenty-one. OCCUPATION: princess / ex-ninja ZODIAC: gemini. ORIENTATION: bisexual. GENDER: female. PRONOUNS: she/her. PARENTS: leo hamato & eric seara. FC: isabela merced.

- when donnie couldn’t imagine a world without his brothers he decided to take matters into his own hands and clone them so that his brothers could live on forever. the only thing is that somewhere in his mad scientist doings donnie created daughters rather than sons and thus lorena was born. her parents were not expecting her. with two kids they thought they were done until donnie said sike here’s one more. the youngest of the hamato girls, lorena is, well, exactly her father’s daughter. the only thing is that unlike her father and uncles, lorena isn’t deeply traumatized. 

- little lorena is all gas no breaks. she jumps into situations head first and always expects to land on her feet. she was born with absolute confidence. she’s always loved being a princess. while she didn’t have to deal with all the royal responsibilities that her siblings did she truly enjoyed dressing up for balls. out of the three of them she was the one that stayed out of the papers. she grew up close to both of her fathers but was always a little closer to eric. she’d always beg her dad to take her out on his ships. her red slider dna thrived in water. it was also probably because eric didn’t have the same expectations for her that leo did. given she was to take his role in the hamato clan, lorena was trained hard from a young age. leo wanted the girls to be prepared in every sense of the word and also spare them from the trauma they went through. more importantly, he wanted his daughter to not go through what he did so he was stricter with her when it came to training. the thing was, lorena might have been leo’s clone and yes they shared traits but she wasn’t her father. sometimes she felt he forgot that and she had to remind him constantly. 

- because her father was leader, lorena assumed that the role would be given to her as well. it was only natural right ?  she was blue he was blue, the dots were connecting. however, her immaturity is what cost her the title of leader. she felt the title was owed to her in a sense so when it wasn’t given it felt like the rug had been taken out from under her when the title was given to rey instead of her. lorena asked her dad why and all he told her is that she wasn’t ready. which sounded like a bunch of bullshit to her but okay ! so in an act of defiance she quit ninja training and decided to put her energy elsewhere. quitting training meant losing her powers as well since they’re tied to the family. she hasn’t dealt with the consequences of her choice. yet. 

- currently lorena is just being a problem and she knows it. she’s at odds with her dad and it’s everyone’s problem because the hamatos are just very intertwined with each other. she’s been hiding out at uncle donnie’s place until her dad calms down but uh, she’s never seen him this mad so lowkey she’s shitting bricks !

- personality wise –  she’s very much her father’s daughter. very full of herself and dramatic. the only thing is lorena doesn’t hide behind jokes to compensate for anything. she’s not much of a jokerster to begin with but boy does she have those showboating tendences. adventurous, curious and chaotic she often gets herself into trouble for going into places she’s not supposed to be. she’s spoiled, no question about it. likes the finer things in life and isn’t ashamed about it !! absolutely stubborn. and while she can come off as a lot at first glance, lorena is very sweet. she has a big heart with a lot of love to give. she also got her father’s devotion. she’d do absolutely anything for her loved ones. except die !

INSPIRATION: kate bishop ( hawkeye ) , melody ( the little mermaid 2 )  bloom ( winx ) , anti-hero ( taylor swift ) ,  princess jasmine  ( aladdin )

CONNECTIONS: can be found here. THIS COULD BE YOU ! hit me up for connections.

[heyheydidjaknow]

I do not have a decent title for this. I’m also not even going to bother with an image (even though I know it would generate more traffic) because I’m not going to steal someone’s shit. It’s about 3500 words, so have fun with that.

Chapter 1

Dying is not fun.

I do not know if you knew that until last night. Maybe you figured that since it was romanticized so much that it would not suck as much as it so clearly and obviously did. Maybe you dreamed of dying relatively peacefully, surrounded by your loved ones. Alas, those dreams were dashed last night when you, oh so wise Y/N, decided that you were going to try baking and forgot the most essential step; taking the thing out of the oven. You remember that night so clearly, the screams of your family begging for their lives still bouncing around in your ears like a torturous golf ball that made a habit of forcing itself into your throat, the feeling of your hair catching alight as your skin bubbled and charred, and rational thought became a foreign concept. You do not remember if you had died from a heart attack or hyperthermia or smoke inhalation, but you had a general idea that, yes, that night had been your last on Earth.

So, where the fuck are you?

You pull yourself into a sitting position, your back pressed against something hard as your eyes struggle to adjust to the darkness. The air smells like rotten food and exhaust engines as you pull yourself off the concrete, looking around the alleyway that you had found yourself in. It’s small, narrow, unremarkable in every way, with graffiti covered dumpsters near the entrance. Dazed, confused, generally out of sorts, you make your way to the entrance, patting yourself down for injuries you did not seem to have.

You rub the side of your face with your hand. ‘My head is killing me.’ You slip your hand into your jacket pocket, feeling a key and a piece of paper. ‘God damn it is cold in this alley.’ You zip up your jacket, walking out into the open as you pull the note out, beginning to read.

“Dear Y/N,” you mumble as you read, “we are pleased to inform you of your acceptance into our transference program, yadda yadda yadda, whoopdeedoo…” You skim ahead of some introductory jargon before getting near to the point of the note. “From this point forward, enjoy your permanent residence at ten West.. fifteenth street… apartment number six two two… New York, New York?” You blink. ‘I… that’s not my address.’ You pull out the key. ‘Wait, hold on.’ Your eyebrows furrowed. ‘New York? Wait, I was dead, wasn’t I?’ Your eyes become unfocused. ‘I don’t live anywhere near NYC. Where am I?’ You look around for some sort of landmark, street name, anything to give you some idea of where you are.

You hear a car squeal to a stop on the street corner in front of you, snapping you out of your stupor. As identical men start climbing out of the back of the vehicle, all marching deliberately towards you, a fifteen-year-old girl, your immediate reaction is to run like hell. Unfortunately for you, apparently your speed was not comparable to that of the men who quickly apprehend you, scooping you up and dragging you kicking and screaming into a van. You hear vaguely familiar voices outside, but your focus is less on the mayhem and more on the more pressing matter of getting yourself out of the van. You pound at the door, feel for any sort of locks on the inside, something, anything to get you out of the van, still screaming your head off as you hope whoever was outside had the common sense to call nine one one. You feel your eyelids droop as your breathing slows, your voice dying as your pounding becomes less intense. You slide to you knees, eyes closing even as you mentally scream at yourself to get up, keep at it. You passed out.

--

You wake up laid on the floor this time, the pulsing of electricity above your head almost soothing as you open your eyes. You stagger to your feet, looking around your well-lit enclosure, pink florescent lights lining the ceiling and walls like arteries. After taking note of your new bruises and checking to see if you still have your few personal belongings—you do—you ran over to the door, eyes fixated on the mind boggling, ridiculous scene taking place in front of you.

‘Oh, for fuck’s sake.’ You back away from the slot in the door, trying to process the blatant larping headassery. You had not thought that you would honestly be able to say that, apparently, you were kidnapped by the mother fucking Kraang, yet, in some stroke of tomfuckery on behalf of whatever deity controls your universe, you have, obviously, been kidnapped by some seriously hardcore cosplayers. If nothing else, you must admire the obviously advanced set up.

You run your fingers through your hair, chuckling almost manically. “So,” you say to yourself aloud, “I got kidnapped by TMNT fanboys. Great. Fantastic, even!” You pace around the room, throwing your hands up in exasperation. “I guess this makes me April O'Neil, then? Cool.” Your voice is extremely tight as you shake with intense, mostly negative emotions. “So, I’m somewhere in New York, kidnapped by the Kraang in the worst convention ever. Let me guess,” you laugh, losing your mind a little as you speak to nobody. “I’m gonna have a run in with the Teenage Fucking Ninja Turtles next, right?”

As if on que, you hear laser blasts and shinking metal. The high pitched beeping on an alarm sounded as you heard people—‘Male, teenagers… fuck my life,’— talking about power or something as their footsteps approach your room. You pound on the door. “Hey! Over here!”

You see a brown set of eyes look in through the window. Your suspicions are confirmed; ‘Definitely TMNT larping.’

“We found her,” the owner of said eyes, the one cosplaying as Donatello, calls to the others. Lasers shoot by his head as he turns to stare death in the eyes.

“We’ll hold them off. You pick the lock.” ‘Leonardo.’ You breathe a soft sigh of relief; if nothing else, you are apparently on the side of the people trying to get you out in this game. You hear footsteps going towards the firing.

“Don’t worry,” “Donatello” reassures you, voice tight with apparent anxiety, “I’ll have you out of there in a second!”

“Thanks, Donnie.” You give him a half-hearted thumbs up, trying to see what he was doing through the window. “Take your time.”

His eyebrows furrow. “Wait, how do you know my name?”

You sigh. “Look, man, I don’t know the script for the first episode by heart. You’re gonna have to cut me some slack for not being off-book.”

“Off—what?” He stares at you blankly.

You purse your lips. “I’ll explain if you let me out,” you promise. “Just pick the lock before the blue one gives you shit.”

“Oh, right! The lock!” He nods, grasping onto the logical thing you say and leaning down to start working on the alien technology. He pulls the cover off a control panel by your door, starting to fiddle with the wires.

You lean against the door, watching him work curiously. You hear the battle cries of “Michelangelo” and the toppling of robots as he works, clearly focused on his task. You zone out again. “This is some serious shit,” you mumble.

He mutters in frustration. The one dressed as Raph marches over, more impatient. “Oh for the love of—get out of my way,” he snarls, proceeding to take a very real looking sai out and stabbing the panel with a very in-character ferocity. You almost feel the urge to applaud the acting, and you might if this weren’t such a high stakes situation.

The door in front of you and behind you open at the same time and, deciding against getting captured again—you remember something about hanging from a helicopter in that scenario and you want nothing to do with that—you run alongside the turtles like your life depends on it, stumbling to a halt once you reach outside and slamming the doors closed behind you, blocking it with your back.

Your feet scramble to gain some traction on the cement. “Donnie,” you snap, almost impressed by the force used to pound against the doors, “put your staff in the handles of the door. We gotta go ASAP.”

“Wait, hold up.” The one dressed as Raph jabs his thumb towards you. “How do you know his name?”

You groan. “For fucks- it’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, not fucking Happy Sugar Life. Get the thing in the thing before the vine thing kills us!”

“The what?” Donnie and Raph seem much more confused than before, staring at you inquisitively and angrily respectively.

“Uh, guys?” Mikey pointed. “I think she means that vine thing.”

From the shadows emerges a towering creature made of plant life, its vinelike limbs draping across the ground like roots as it rears its ugly head. Its exposed, pulsating heart pressed against what remains of the creature’s ribcage. “You did this to me,” It growls. “Now you’re going to pay!”

“It’s-“

You cut Leo off. “Snake guy. Mutated into a weed. If you wanna kill it, go for the heart.”

He looked back at you, joining the other two pairs of piercing stares. “Cut that out.”

“Then don’t monologue and kill it before it has mobility!”

“On it.” Raph charges at its lumbering form, and within moments, it falls to the ground in a heap.

The pounding against the door is getting more intense. “Donnie! Staff!”

“Right!” He runs over, sliding his staff in between the door handles.

You stumble forward, the pounding already starting to crack the wood. “Alright, now we can leave.” Without waiting for the others, you sprint away from the building like your life depends on it. The others, clearly confused, follow.

You got a fair few city blocks away before you slow down, breathing heavy and palms stamped with the outline of the key you were holding desperately onto. “You run really fast for cosplayers,” you pant, “with all the- the paint and all.”

“Yeah, about that.” Donatello stops next to you, a thousand questions apparently swimming around in his head. “How do you know our names?” His mouth moves a mile a minute. “How did you know the weakness of that vine creature? What do you mean, cosplay? Who are you? Who were they?”

You cut him off. “One question at a time, hot stuff. Deep breathes.”

His pupils dilate. “H-hot stuff?”

Leo cuts in. “How did you know what we were—uh—cosplaying?” he asks tentatively.

“Odd time to cut the act, but alright.” Your heart rate lowers to a decent pace as your mind still struggles to comprehend what had just happened. You slow your breathing. “I mean,” you explain, gesturing with your hands, “it’s TMNT. It’s iconic.”

“Iconic?” He nods. “Well, since you know so much about it, then why don’t we test your knowledge? To see if you’re a real fan..”

“Y-you think I’m hot?”

“I don’t see the point, but I’m down.” You shrug, deciding to ignore the melting turtle for a second. “Shoot.”

He thinks for a moment. “Who’s the main character?”

You shrug. “You four, I guess.”

Mikey jumped in. “What’s the theme song?”

“Gonna have to be more specific there, buddy.”

“Is it really a great idea to just talk out here in the open?” Raph crossed his arms across his front.

“Probably not.” You look around. “Unless you have a map on you, I’d suggest we go back to your lair.”

“Our—what kind of stalker—”

“Look, honey,” you sigh, “if we’re going to go over every aspect of their lives that I know about we’re going to be here for a long time. For our purposes, just assume I know everything I need to know, and if you’re curious about specifics, we’ll go on a case-by-case basis.” You start walking down the sidewalk. “I’m guessing you guys hang out in the sewer, right?” You feel almost tempted to say that they’re just flat out psychotic, their blatant conviction in their own characters almost frightening. ‘I’ve heard of kinning,’ you think, pulling up a manhole cover you see at the end of an alley and wincing at the smell, ‘but this is ridiculous.’ You blink at the surprising lack of weight.

“Yeah.” Mikey—no, the Michelangelo cosplayer—walked over, already hopping in. “Our show must be super popular, right? Who’s the favorite character? How long have we been running?”

“Oh, you guys are—” You stop talking. “Wait, what year is it?” You start climbing down.

“Two thousand and twelve. Why?”

You step off the ladder, starting to walk behind him as he lead the way. “Well, it’s not tweny twelve where I’m from. It’s twenty twenty.”

“Wait, hold up.” He turns around to face you as he walks. “You’re from the future? That is so freakin awesome!”

You rub the back of your neck, trying to ignore the smell. “I mean,” you confess, “being from the future would be cooler if I was from a better time, I think.” ‘I wonder where they—’ You shake your head. “But, If we were running on the same time, I’d only be seven, I think, so it’s pretty cool I get to be here, I guess.”

“Dude, totally!” He turns a corner. “Our first day up top and we meet a time traveler?”

“Technically,” a voice from behind you makes you jump, “if what she’s saying is true, she somehow also knows interdimensional travel as well.”

‘Mother fucking ninj—cosplayers, focus. Don’t let them pull you in too.’ “Well, I really wouldn’t say—”

“Guys, is there not a clearly bigger concern on our hands?” You were already getting sick of not hearing footsteps. “Like, say, I don’t know, the fact she’s claiming we’re fictional characters?”

“Look, man,” you roll your eyes, “I already said I’m more than happy to answer any questions I can. In fact,” you continued, stopping in your tracks as you stared the red—clad turtle in the eye, “I’ll even stay put until we sort this whole situation out.”

“Fine by me.” Leo and Raph both face you, eyes boring into your soul as you stand there awkwardly.

“Let’s start off with the basics.” Leo’s tone is awfully light compared to his blatant skepticism. “What is everyone’s name?”

You force yourself not to roll your eyes again. “You’re all Hamatos.” You point at the tall one with the gap in his teeth. “That one’s Donatello, the yellow one next to him is Michelangelo, you,” you point at the red one with the broader shoulders, “are Raphael, and the sensei appointed leader is Leonardo. Easy.”

Leonardo nods. “Okay, you got the easy one.” It is at times like these when you wish you could read people. “What are we?”

“Teenage mutant ninja turtles.” You don’t have to hesitate.

“How did we become the way we are?”

“Splinter had a Kraang run in and you got ooze on you. Last thing you touched before you transformed was a person, so you became turtle/human hybrids.” You rest a hand on your hip. “Oh, happy birthday, by the way.”

A sea of blank faces face you. “Wait, you know who those things are?” Donatello is the first to speak after a pregnant pause.

“Well, yeah.” You shrug, the reality of the situation not yet dawning on you. “They almost take over the world in at least two season finales.

“They what?”

“Yeah.” You stick your hands in your pockets, fingering the key and note, confused by their apparent horror. “I mean, I’m still on the season three finale, but alien invasion is this show’s bread and butter for the most part.”

“I- what?” Raphael appears to be having a stroke. “What- bre- I- huh? What the-“

“Is he okay?” You look, completely unconcerned, at Donatello, who is swaying on his feet.

“Alien.. invasion…”

You blink, walking over to him and placing your hand on his cheek. You were surprised at the feeling of skin under your palm. ‘Not face paint..’ You look his incredibly pale face over curiously. ‘Not a mask…’ “Oh.” Your fingers slide down and off his jaw, falling slackly. “You weren’t joking, were you?”

If nothing else, he seems less concerned than he did a second ago.

Leonardo—‘The actual—hold on a minute.’—grabs your shoulder. “This isn’t a joke.” His face is stone. “You’re being serious, right?”

You felt blood drain out of your face. “Sadly? Yes.” You force yourself to take deep breaths so as to not pass out. “But, on the bright side,” you smiled weakly, “I can guarantee your survival for at least a few months.”

“What do you mean a few months?” Raphael is shaking as he yells, his voice roar echoing in the enclosed space. “How is it only—what the hell?”

“The show only ran over the course of an in-universe year.” You fight to keep your voice steady as dread seizes your throat. “I don’t know what happens after the year is up, or if it even lasts the whole year.”

“So we have less than twelve months to live?”

“This is so not cool.” Michelangelo is having a bit of a mental breakdown. “So, so not cool.”

“Hey, it’s not a guarantee!” You put your hands up reassuringly. “That’s just how long the show runs. Besides, it’s a kid’s show. There’s no way they’d kill off the main characters.”

“The hell they—who the hell is they?”

“Nickelodeon.”

“What the fuck is Nickelodeon?”

You groan. “Look, I’m just saying that you four are definitely going to survive the next few months!” Your voice rises easily to his volume. “I don’t know what happens after those months are up! I haven’t gotten to that point!”

“Why the hell not?”

You ran your fingers through your hair, laughing incredulously. “What, do you think I knew I was going to meet the IRL Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and had a chance to plan accordingly? No!” You throw your hands up in the air. “I died last night and now I’m here! Hell, I don’t even know where the fuck I’m going to go, fuck knowing who’s going to get the fucking axe between now and the series finale!”

“Will you two both cut it out?” Leo snapped, shutting you two up.

You put your hands up, still fuming and glaring at Raphael. He responds in kind.

“What’s your name?” He looked at you.

“Y/N. Y/N L/N.” Your breathing slows slightly.

“Alright. Y/N, you said you’ve seen up to season three, right?”

“Yeah.” You nod.

“Meaning you know what’s going to happen in the next few months, right?”

You nod at the leader.

He thinks for a moment. “Then we need to stay in contact. If what you’re saying is true, your knowledge of our show could be extremely valuable to us.”

You rub your eyes with your hands, sighing, trying to cool down. “I can do that.” You put your hands down. “If nothing else, I’m more than happy to offer up emotional support. The next few months are going to be extremely physically and emotionally difficult for you guys.”

Donnie pipes up. “Do you have a place to stay?”

You pull out the piece of paper. “I have an address and key, but I don’t know my way around NYC.” You smile slightly at the unintentional rhyme. “Do you guys know where ten west fifteenth street—wait, it’s your guys’ first day.” You nod. “I forgot.”

“It’s alright.” Donatello is oddly quick saying that. “I-if you want, I—we can help you find it.”

You rub your arm, your previous indignance replaced with extreme embarrassment at your previous actions. “Nah, it’s alright,” you reassure him. “I’m sure I can find a map or something.”

“It’s really not safe to just wander around New York so late.”

You pause at that. “That is an extremely good point.” You nod. “Alright. But I owe you guys dinner or something for trusting me this far. Also,” you smile teasingly, “what you’re currently eating is legitimately revolting.”

“Amen to that.” Raphael, if nothing else, seems to have calmed down.

Mikey hopped in. “Oh, we just found this crazy awesome food—”

“I can order pizza,” you reassure him.

He punches the air excitedly. “Let’s go!”

“If you want, you can sleep on the couch for tonight,” Leonardo offers. “It’s going to get light pretty soon, and we really shouldn’t be seen.”

You shrug. “Works for me.

As you follow the teenagers down the sewer, conversating as you walk, you take a moment to reflect on all that has happened so far. A part of you, oddly enough, is almost excited by the prospect of spending time with these guys. But a stronger, darker part reminds you sweetly of the dangers you knew lay ahead.

You close your eyes. ‘I’m never going to see my family again, am I?’

How that is the least of your worries, you don’t know.

Table Of Contents

Chapter 2

[teetlesandnimjas]

What if in the explosion the brothers got separated?

This is a villain turtle au- if you don’t want to read it you can scroll past! I know it’s a cliche concept but it was fun! And I like doing my own spin on things.

(Note in this au when they’re mutated they are a little older, young kids, as this idea wouldn’t work if they weren’t SEMI competent. They’re still 13, 14, and 15 in modern times, but when they’re first mutated Mikey is 3, Leo and Donnie are 4, and Raph is 5)

Donnie: got scooped up by Draxum in the end, and works as his assistant first, son second. He has a similar position to Foot Recruit; despite being fully capable of actually being useful, he is treated with little respect and does mundane tasks like running errands and fixing random, broken objects. He is trained constantly but is told over and over again that he is “not good enough” yet. Despite this he puts his heart into everything he does. Broken clock? Sure he’ll fix it and it’s got LAZERS now! This causes him to accidentally make problems, and Draxum thinks that Donnie is “a complete and udder fool” which is further from the truth. Villain Donnie is a lot like canon Donnie personality wise but a bit more serious. He does not approve of Draxum’s use of mystic powers, and resents using them himself. He refuses the axe Draxum tries to give him. Draxum has little regard for what Donnie thinks and does, and therefore has an awful relationship with him. And yknow Donnie’s abandonment and self-worth issues? Yeah crank that up to 11. Basically Donnie hates Draxum and the Mystic City, and the Shredder going rouge is the last straw. “WATCH ME! ILL WIPE OUT THE HUMAN THREAT WITHOUT YOUR STUPID MAGIC! YOU HEAR ME BARON DRAXUM- I DEFY YOU!”

Leo: made his way to New York via Senior Hueso. Originally I was going to have him raised by Hueso but then realized it wouldn’t make a lot of sense- so Senior Hueso picks baby Leo up off the streets but ever the wanderer Leo walks right through the GIANT PORTAL IN THE WALL. From there Foot Brute, attempting and failing to find members for the clan, picks up this tiny, promising turtle off the street. “What is that thing?” “I dunno but he’s cute- and we’re in need of members” “That is an actual child” “so?” And then Leo is raised by his two dad- I mean sensei. I put raised lightly. He was treated better than Donnie but he was never given a lot of attention, and therefore turned to causing trouble to get attention. And not just from his dads, from anyone he can. Causing mischief in the city actually helped him in his training, as he became very skilled at sneaking, fighting, and stealing. He butts heads with Foot Recruit a lot because of his constant need for approval and attention. She finds him genuinely annoying while he just views it as “playful teasing.” That comes back to bite him the butt upon meeting Donnie, who comes along to help make form the Shredder armor, but he does not want to be there. Forced to work together, Donnie gets sick of Leo’s crap real fast but they don’t really hate each other, but in the moment they needed to play it off like they did and therefore gave the impression to the other that they DID hate them. Confusing, I know. Draxum tries and fails on multiple occasions to nab Leo but if he does he realizes it’ll put a major dent in his plans. So he forbids Donnie to speak to Leo. But no one stops Leo from talking to him. But Donnie’s coldness and Leo’s cruel banter really doesn’t help them get along. The moment Shredder goes rogue and the Foot Clan collapses, Leo flees in fear. “What if” this and “what if” that but mostly because he tried to take out Shredder and ruined his clan name. But even on the street, Leo remains the same annoying, much more cruel and dark humored mutant.

Mikey: Got scooped up by the Mud Dogs and taken to Big Mama, dragging only Lou’s glasses with him since even as a toddler he picked up anything shiny he saw. I plan to draw the interaction between tiny Mikey and the Dogs (and how Mikey got his name in this au) but that’s a surprise. Anyways pretty quickly he got entered in the Battle Nexus. Think about the appeal that fight would have! Just a couple years of training and then bam! “Introducing Hakka-gu! Our youngest fighter ever- only 8 years old!” And having natural talent and capabilities he was an instant hit. And he wasn’t treated horribly, after all Big Mama couldn’t risk one of her most profitable champions running away. But he is still treated as nothing but that- a profit, a marketable product. No one calls him his real name anymore, no one cares about him, just his capabilities. When he gets injured it isnt “are you okay?” It’s “is your body okay?” And sometimes he’s treated like an idiot- especially by Big Mama. He was never taught language and has very botched speaking patterns because “intelligence isnt important for a champion.” Well eventually he has enough of that, and through a bloodbath, he is able to escape to New York. Now he’ll get respect- he’ll make them respect him. But he gets quickly spotted by the Foot Clan and Draxum, as he’s in the way. Upon finding out about the plans to wipe out humans, he knows he has to stop them. Who can respect him if THESE GUYS wanna take over the world? He’s not getting mistreated again. But when the Shredder goes rogue he panics- he cant stop it but... he knows who can. He goes crawling back to Big Mama and strikes a deal. A better champion. Better than him. And she takes it, although in the end she makes some... alterations to the deal. But this doesn’t stop his quest for respect, and he ultimately heads back to New York.

Raph: Savage! He’s alone, a young child who doesn’t know where to go. He panics, and rampages all the way to New York. After a good, long, temper-tantrum, he finds himself in an alleyway, climbing into a sewer. And there he eats rats, he sets up a not-so-homely-home for himself. He flashes in and out of his anger, but he is almost always emotional and looking for some sort of control in his life. He gets that through rampages, causing destruction in any way he can. Usually he doesn’t make TOO much of a mess but he’s brought down a few buildings in his time. Eventually, upon seeing a rampaging demon-armor in the streets and seeing 2 figures trying to stop it (at this point Mikey is getting Big Mama) he realizes there are others out there like him. And then begins a struggle for control not over the world, but over himself too. There are times he gains control and although lonely, he knows he must learn. He learns English in flickers, and it isn’t perfect, but he can communicate. He can talk to them. Now he just needs to stop hurting them.

Extra notes:

In this au the only one with their weapon is Donnie. Mikey and Leo are skilled with the weapons they have in canon (the Ōdachi and Kusari-fundo) but they do not have mystic powers. Raph is... well... Raph. He can’t fight with weapons well but he can pack a punch.

Mikey is still a chef and artist, taking a liking to the ability to create, but just like with everything else he “needs to focus on his fights” so he can’t have interests. A kid like Mikey HATES this and any time he can he sneaks away to bake and draw. Usually this is at 2 am.

Leo has anxiety. The minute something not in the plan happens, or a loud noise, or having to talk to someone without a script, he goes into fight-or-flight mode. He often finds that the answer is to fight.

Raph is not necessarily evil- he is an antagonist but he is not evil. He simply has no control and lashes out at everything. That’s why he stays in the sewers. Nothing down there’s moves other than rats, bugs, and the water. But he has to get violent urges out some how.

April is a reporter-in-training in the au, as she never met the turtles until after the Shredder incident. She’s immediately interested in it, as she is everything “supernatural” and she gets dangerously close to some of their fights. I don’t know how they meet yet or if she becomes friends with any of them.

After the Shredder incident, the only thing stopping each turtle from destroying New York is each other. Seriously. They keep getting in each other’s ways because “I want to take over the world, not THEM!”

They all have certain villain stereotypes. Donnie is sort of a mad scientist, Leo is a teasing, monologging villain, Mikey acts like a nut case but has a certain intelligence to him, and Raph appears as a total destroyer.

In the end they get redeemed and find out they’re family, but it takes a while. Mikey is the one to hunt down Draxum, while Leo stalks him. Upon finding this out, having 3 out of 4 looking for each other, they find each other pretty fast. And there’s a big dramatic apology scene with all 3 of them, and at first Donnie thinks they’re conspiring against him and ambushes them but is only met with three harmless turtles who refuse to fight him. They tell him what the deal is and Donnie is shocked. And then he’s pissed. “WHY DIDNT DRAXUM TELL ME!? YOURE LYING! LIARS! NO!” In the end he realizes the truth, but it takes a little “talk” with Draxum. And then Donnie nearly commits murder. Don’t worry they stop him. But there’s no Draxum redemption arc because Donnie would continuously try to commit a felony. April is also somewhere in there and like gives the brothers goodness lessons but idk where that fits in I’m still working this out shajajajajaj

[quakerjoe]

For Christ’s Sake... literally.

Watching everyone frothing at the mouth, allowing themselves be lowered to the same status as a trump supporter just to back Biden is humiliating to the country and pitiful. It’s sad and even contemptuous. People I used to respect have been belligerent to me because I’m not part of the Blue-No-Matter-Who cave-ins who are willing to sell out and compromise my own moral compass for this. We watched “Christians” back trump, for fuck sake!

Real human trash is out there right now, bible in one hand and guns in the other, not realizing that they’re drowning in their own concoction of double-standards and pure, untainted hypocrisy, while they give, not sell, their souls to the worst element of humankind.

Now I’m watching the “Left” follow suit. Everything the Democrats have become can be summed up as this today: They’re the diet cola version of the GOP, NOT actual Democrats. Fuck, SANDERS was WAY MORE of a Democrat than most of the twunts in Congress OR the Senate today! And, in true diet-GOP fashion, they’ve been openly trying to show us who they are and Jesus fuckin’ wept, the blind masses just aren’t seeing it!

They were all screaming for due process when trump’s sexual assault allegations were in play during and after the election.

Based on hear-say, Al Franken was practically lit on fire and thrown into the street for rumorous accusations of impropriety during his SNL days and his career got a burn notice. A Progressive who really stood up to all the bullshit was shot down in flames in what turned out to be a bullshit story to begin with. Yes, the DEMOCRATS burned one of their own! BUT...

When the Tara Reade story broke... Crickets...

Stacey Abrams, one of the loudest voices chanting “Believe her!” and wanting due process to happen during the Kavenaugh Hearings turned her back on every woman on Earth and opted to jump on the Biden Bandwagon instead of either remaining neutral until the DUE PROCESS she used to demand completed its investigation OR to simply walk away from Joe because she “Believed Her”. Her tactics were formulaic GOP:101, pure and simple. The same could be said for the Klown-Kar-Kavalcade of former candidates who jumped on the Biden Bandwagon to literally work as a collective force against Sanders. Why?

Because the ONLY person the Democratic Party hated MORE than Donny the Angry Orange Trump, was Senator Bernie Sanders. You know, the one who has ALWAYS wanted to get you ALL affordable healthcare since his career began decades ago while Biden was trying to see to it that you NEVER get it?

That’s just it. If you’re gung-ho over Biden... you’ll NEVER get it. You’re so fucking angry at and scared of trump, you’ll sell out to literally ANYONE the DNC and the Media TELLS you to, and the above sure-as-fuck were all against not only Sanders but YOUR best interests. You’re going to lose either way, American, and that’s on you. You’re scared, sure, but for a country who’s selling points include “Land of the Free; Home of the Brave” you sure live up to that less and less every year. You’re not free if you need all the guns, kids, and the Dems are NOT OBLIGED to select their candidate for POTUS on YOUR VOTES. You can vote, just to make you feel good about the lie, but in the end, the DNC will select whomever THEY want on the ticket come November. You... DO KNOW THIS, right? If they dump Biden, you KNOW they won’t go with the #2 pick, Sanders, RIGHT? They’re going to stick it all in your ass until its running out of your mouth come election day. Do you even understand that?

So suck up to Biden. He’s a DIET COLA version of trump whether you want to look at his career and actual words, actions and policies or not. Lesser of two evils? Bollocks. There’s about a ZERO percent chance that he won’t put a conservative judge in RBG’s spot when she’s retired. Z-E-R-O. You’re a foll to think otherwise.

I do hope this whole thing with Tara Read is over soon, just so we can get back to focusing on how much of an unfit, non-Democratic, feckless asshole he is so hopefully the DNC will tip off more of how you, the voter, don’t matter and that they whole party needs a proper purge. That’s on you to make it happen, people. You’re either on board with the BlueMAGA or you’re going to get off your asses, oppose the shills in the (D) party and get things done for once instead of acting like Pelosi, giving you all the finger while she eats $12/pint ice cream from one of her two $1200 refrigerators. Choose wisely and good luck. You’re going to need it because I’m telling you now, for a “Christian Nation” we sure go out of our way and keep up the good fight to do exactly the OPPOSITE of what Jesus would have done.

[tserritella]

Crazy as closure

I think that in the movie One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Chief and McMurphy do not leave when they have the chance Because they feel bad for the other patients. I feel like in the movie, we could sense compassion building in McMurphy towards the patients.

Throughout the movie I think he has become somewhat like a role model for everybody else in the facility. From taking them onto the fishing trip, to helping them stand up to the nurse. This leadership aspect of McMurphy kind of puts a stamp on his place and role in the hospital.

Now as for Chief, I think he didn’t really want to leave the facility at the beginning of the movie as it was his home and where he felt comfortable. All of his needs were met and he didn’t have to really think about anything else. When McMurphy showed up, I felt as if he had his eyes opened up as to being in the outside world again. Both McMurphy and Chief were the somewhat normal patients at the facility. They could definitely think for themselves so that’s already one up on everyone else. Watching the movie I’m not too sure what her motives were. As for the dilemma, I would assume that could be described as why they were placed in the facility.

When Patrick Bateman closes off American Psycho with the provided quote, there is a deep meaning to that. The line ”I want my pain to be inflicted on others” is quite simple to interpret. By saying that he means that he wants the people of the world to suffer what he is going through as well. He wants them to feel the same pain that he feels every single day trying to control his emotions.

The meaning of the American Psycho’s ending is essentially mirroring what is happening now. Not many people know about mental health issues, so I feel like it is an underrated issue to focus on. Nowadays, there are a lot more groups popping up to spread awareness about mental health including “mental health awareness” month.

I think films like this play with and affect my mental health in both positive and negative ways. The positive side would probably be eye-opening to people with psychological instabilities. It would give an idea of what they go through to kind of understand their day-to-day pain, even though it is nothing close to dealing with the issue that they have personally. Now the negative effects of seeing movies like this would be judging the worse side of the mentally ill. I could definitely see myself judging some of the more violent acts that people do when they are mentally ill or have any disorder that affects their abilities. I don’t mean that in a bad way, just seeing movies like the “Joker” for instance definitely messes with your head not knowing what’s going on inside of their heads at any given moment. Films like this could give a positive stigma and/or a negative stigma towards the topic of mental instability. In this case, American Psycho did not give such a great depiction of disabilities. In most cases individuals with disabilities are very understanding and caring, meanwhile Patrick was very slapdash (no pun intended) dealing with his emotions and did whatever he thought would control them.

I empathize with Patrick Bateman because I feel he is very misunderstood by society. I mean the man is going through a lot and that is why he has taken such violent roads to try and satisfy his psychopathic ways of doing things. Now, this does not make his actions acceptable obviously, but it does kind of give a backstory/meaning as to why he is doing those acts.

Okay, so for me the movie Donnie Darko was pretty confusing. I never really understood the plot or why everything was going on but I do kind of have a concept of what happened in the movie. The ending of the movie implied that all of Danny’s predictions and visions were accurate. The world did in fact end… But not for anybody else apart from him. Physically he’s the only one that died that we know of in the end but his family members were no doubt affected as well by his death so you could see a world ending emotion happening within the family. As to why Donnie is laughing at the end of the movie I guess you could say it is because he knows that his predictions were true meanwhile everybody did not truly believe him. For him, the end of the world did indeed happen, meanwhile everyone else was left hopeless in terms of dealing with the loss of Donnie. All of the processes that he predicted were to happen, came true. The rest of the world may not have known that, but life moved on.

The connections between these films in terms of their ambiguous endings was that everything is not as it seems. So many people can think one thing about an event or a person, and then the next thing you know it is completely different. That just goes to show that you really do not know what is happening in anybody’s lives or inside their minds.

There is definitely a purpose to the ambiguity in the endings. It makes the viewer think. It creates a sense of wonder as to what actually happened or what the actual meaning of the events that took place either throughout the whole movie, or in the ending meant. It could also provoke the viewer to dig deeper into the plot and story of the movie. Or even better yet, inside the minds of the characters.

Another connection would be the theme between these movies. No doubt, the theme could be mental health awareness but it can also be to always be aware of what is going on in anybody’s life. No human should put down another human because of their financial status, popularity, or mental stability. This connection could help create an understanding of the rest of the world and their problems (society wise).

[seenashwrite]

14.12 Round-Up

I mean... okay.

This one is essentially what I would’ve posted had I live-blogged. No analysis, really, because there’s nothing to analyze. So, let us begin with my first thoughts whist gazing upon the first scene:

It's. Made. Of. Trash. Cans.

Yes, he's teary-eyed, and yes, and stellar Jensen work, and yes, and feels, and yes, and “Sam!”, and yes, and shit, but - and I can't emphasize this enough----

It's. Made. Of. Trash. Cans.

More importantly, like I said last week, he can imagine this scenario just fine, except it's the cosplay dude in there. Under the ocean of your mind is easier on the noggin than walk-in freezer, methinks. Tinier bangs, muffled screaming.

Clawed-up wall is very nice touch.

SERIAL KILLER?!?!  YASSSSSS!!! IS THIS AN ACTUAL CASE?!?!!? Oh and nice underwater visuals... kicking it this week, set design and cinematography!

Why is there no other way, Dean? I can think of three. But none of that matters - Sam and Cas, here's what y'all do, it's called valium. Slip five of those in his whiskey, his system can take it. Then I'd like to introduce you to two of my friends, intubation and a propofol drip. Stick him in a room - preferably Maggie’s, after you kick her out - and presto, time to figure out how to open The Cage and swap Michaels.

I know y'all hate Nick but that guard was working my nerves, so props to ol' Limpy, there. And again with the pretty color and nice shot. More props to the crew, yo.

What is this trip about? Y'all keep talking about what it isn't, so what the shit is it? Is it one last bro bonding for the road? Y'know, for the road on the road? Or are they on their way to dump him into the ocean? Then where's the casket*? The casket which, I feel it necessary to point out---

Is. Made. Out. Of. Trash. Cans.

.

* ETA: I’ve been informed it was in a trailer on the back of Baby, which somehow I compleeeeetely missed. I zoned out a lot in this one, it was so damn repetitive between the heavy-handed comparisons in the subplot to Dean’s situation, and the identical-but-with-different-words convos between Dean and Sam/Dean and Cas that kept happening over and over and over and over and over and....

.

Blah-blah-blah Pharaoh's plague, first born, got it. And I assume he's another prophet since y'all blew that wad in the title and in the "Then" with the Donny stuff. And plus the whispery voices. And it's happening because he's brain-dead, not dead-dead. Watch. I'm right.

[mere moments]

Hey, girl. Yeah, you. You, in the mirror. You're hella good at the pedestrian scripting stuff. Mwah. Let's see if you're right about the rest.

(I'm right. I’m always right. #humbly)

Ahhh, half-time. Good. I need a brownie.

Ooooh Sam with the gritty voice upon entry (I absolutely meant that to sound dirty) and hey it's Gabriel wallpaper!

Welp. A choke, two punches, and a gunshot later, we are off to an exciting second half, I hope.

Oh.... ohhhh.... thank you Cassy baby for that scoop. [clears throat] Hey, girl. It's me. Me-You, again. You and your sexy brain that predicts the easily predictable deserves a second brownie. Double-mwah.

Nicky, you're about to get a case of the ghosties----- and damn, there we go! Oof, awkward. Or hell maybe it is Luci. Testing him. In a way, I hope not, I was hoping he'd be all skeletal and tarred. Minus the dollar store Terminator effect, of course. This is a good scene. It's well acted. Pellegrino just gives 120% with any material he's given, he's a gem.

YES, CAS. Give him the business. PS: I love whoever has the stethoscope on Misha like that, or if he did it I love him - my point is, somebody is close to somebody in the medical profession because we---- ER, UM, I MEAN THEY #secret identity--- don't just hang out with the 'scope like that. Hilarious. *chef's kiss* Perfect for Cas.

No, he won't die, dude. Why do they write Sam as the dumbest smart person sometimes?  It's a vent, not fucking bypass. Vents are for people who can't breathe on their own for whatever reason or because they're in surgery or whatnots, and Donny was making with the conscious. He was wide awake. It's all good, yo. Your bigger worry is D-Dog coming out of it and still being loopy and spazzing out and jerking the tube, jacking his trachea.

I would happily wake up to that mug in my face, btw. Hey, girl, he'd say. Look who's wakey-wakey eggs and bakey. Because he's Dean, and Dean would say something sexy like that because he'll be so swoony when his tired ass eyes met my bloodshot crusty ones. Supes romantic.

Are we really almost done with this episode? I feel like we haven't gotten a lot accomplished. Not Dean-Sam-Cas wise, I mean. There's been plenty of story, and a decently cool story, otherwise. The rest has been repetitive "Don't do it" - "Imma do it" dialogue.

He's not gonna do it.

Know how I know?

*Boop*

Yeah, yeah, I should separate real life and pretend, but to this I say: not all conflict and drama has to be life-or-death for the main players. It's actually kinda ridiculous to try to do it in modern times (at least, not constantly) with how tapped-in fans are with the industry, we know about contract renewals and such. You know the last best drama this show had? Dean waking up with demon eyes. You wanna talk about some cliff-damn-hanger motherfucking drama. The possibilities, all the unknown. Not only is he not dead, he's also *himself* - a different version of himself, a primal version. That, friends, is seldom done and even less frequently done well, and Ackles did it very, very well. Ah, Demon Dean, we hardly knew thee. I've digressed.

This ending scene is basically Jared's AKF drill, and I'm not shitting on it, legit, I'm truly not - my point is to say it's effective because he means it. Padalecki is at his best when they give him something of significance to work with, they should do it more often. And hey lookee there, Dean agreed. ::sigh:: But, I mean... what about... all that hard... all those five minutes you... I just.... what about the box? You know, the kickass piece of craftsmanship that, I would be remiss if I didn't remind us all -----

Is. Made. Out. Of. Trash. Cans.

Okay, that was largely uneventful, given the content. It's weird - the content means I shouldn't feel "meh", but I'm "meh". Opening scene by far the best, and again, set design and cinematography get high-fives throughout. See ya next week - that preview looked encouraging.

[kayincolwyn]

Mad World (reflection, 10/28/2018)

When I was about 19 or 20, after my parents had split up, for about six months or so and for the first and only time in my life, I was living on my own, in a rental room in this old lady’s house, in St. Johns on the outskirts of Portland, where I was working my first job at a McDonald’s, and that was when I first watched this now cult classic film called Donnie Darko, and when I got to the end of the film, sitting there alone on a bed watching a TV in some stranger’s house, and heard Gary Jules’ cover of Mad World (originally by Tears For Fears), I was so moved that I wept.

For those who haven’t seen it, Donnie Darko is the story of a somewhat outcast and antisocial high schooler (much as I was when I was in high school), played by Jake Gyllenhall, who, after an engine of a plane crashes into his house, and specifically into his room, when he is away, begins experiencing visions and other weird happenings in his life, and begins losing touch with reality as he tries to understand what is going on and what some higher power seems to want from him, all while he meets and falls in love with this girl named Gretchen.  Eventually events lead up to Gretchen’s death when she is hit by a car, and then everything falls into place, and he finds himself traveling back in time, and he realizes that he was meant to be there and die on that day when the plane engine crashed into his room, which will spare Gretchen’s life at the cost of his life and the cost of them ever knowing one another. In this scene, as Mad World plays in the background, we see shots of different people throughout his town that we see throughout the film, sitting in their rooms in the middle of the night, smoking or drinking or crying or just starting blankly into the dark, people who during the day pretend to be things that they’re not or wear masks or keep secrets, all while Donnie laughs alone in his room on that fateful day, knowing that death is coming for him, but embracing it to save someone he loves who will not know who saved her or that she was even saved at all. I believe he laughs as he finds the comedy in the tragedy, the joy in the sadness, the light in the madness...

Looking back, I think I was deeply moved by this not only because of that beautiful cover of Mad World by Gary Jules, but also because this scene showcased the sadness and, yes, the madness of the world, in how we say or do things in life that don’t reflect who we really are or who we really want to be, just to survive or to get by or to fit in or for reasons that we don’t even really know ourselves, all while under the surface and behind closed doors we feel empty or alone or broken or wounded, not even really knowing how to express how we feel... and yet it also showcased the beauty in knowing that we’re all in the same boat, we’re all human, so we’re not alone in all of this, in trying to cope and figure out this thing that we call life, and the beauty in love and relationship and giving to and sacrificing for others and how that can give our lives a sense of meaning and purpose in a world that otherwise doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense. In this post I wanted to try and talk about this, about how maybe we can find, or at least try to find, like I believe Donnie does in the film, some kind of meaning and purpose in this world that is so full of sadness and madness, or at least that’s my aim here... There have been times in my life when I have experienced nothing but sadness and madness, whether because of stressful or painful circumstances or because of internal existential struggles, times when I have been that person crying or staring blankly in the dark, empty and alone and broken and wounded, and yet I’ve also been someone who was comforted or encouraged by others, or has been someone who has comforted and encouraged others, and someone who has found some meaning and purpose in love and relationship (even in spite of its many ups and downs) and has both received from others and given to others, and all of this lives within me simultaneously, because, as poet Walt Whitman once said, “I am large, I contain multitudes”.

I recently discovered and have become a fan of the young Norwegian musician Aurora Aksnes (and I recently purchased a ticket to a concert here in Portland next February, which I will be looking forward to), whose music is as creative as it is thoughtful, and whose personality is very unique and refreshing, as she has a pure and childlike spirit while also having an intelligence and wisdom beyond her years. Many of her fans consider her something of a real life Luna Lovegood, who is one of the more popular characters from the Harry Potter universe (and who also happens to be my favorite HP character), known for her eccentricity and non-conformity as well as her wise and empathetic nature.  Of course Aurora is just a human being like you or me, and no doubt with her own fair share of faults and flaws, who makes mistakes and doesn’t know everything and doesn’t have all the answers, but she has an angelic or fey-like quality about her that is wonderful and attractive. She calls her fans ‘Warriors and Weirdos’, and I think she is a combination of those herself, a warrior and a weirdo, and I believe she encourages others to embrace those qualities within themselves. When you watch interviews with Aurora she comes off as very authentic, speaking and acting in sometimes strange and funny ways, but you can tell she is entirely herself without putting on any airs, which makes her very endearing and charming and magnetic, but then much of her music, which she writes herself, is thought provoking and heartfelt, clearly written by someone who has thought and felt about life, both the darkness and the light in it, deeply. I wanted to focus on a couple of her songs, which are among my favorites of hers, one from her debut album All My Demons Greeting Me As A Friend, and the second from her new album Infections Of A Different Kind (Step 1). Through The Eyes Of A Child, a beautiful and moving song that has a lullaby-like quality to it, was Aurora’s favorite song from her debut album according to an interview from 2016, and in the interview she said this of its meaning: ‘It’s a very important song for me that’s about getting older and seeing the real world and how cruel people can be. You discover this more and more as you grow older, and it gets quite hard on your shoulders knowing all of these things. So it’s about being able to see the beauty in everything and everyone, and innocence in the world, which I miss.’ Here are the lyrics to the song: World is covered by our trails Scars we covered up with paint Watch them preach in sour lies I would rather see this world through the eyes of a child, Through the eyes of a child Darker times will come and go Times you need to see her smile And mother's hands are warm and mild I would rather feel this world through the skin of a child Through the skin of a child When a human strokes your skin That is when you let them in Let them in before they go I would rather feel alive with a childlike soul With a childlike soul Please don't leave me here I remember when I first discovered this song I listened to it on my music player while walking home from work in the middle of the night and it moved me to tears as I resonated so strongly with it. Like Aurora I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older that life is full of pain and as humans it is so easy for us to hurt or disappoint one another, and then sometimes we find ourselves longing, as impossible as it may seem, for a world where it wasn’t like that, a world where there was only joy and where we just loved one another, a simpler and kinder world where we didn’t feel any need to hide ourselves from others for fear of getting hurt or being misunderstood, or where we didn’t feel as though we were just stumbling through the dark, or where we didn’t feel like we were alone. And tonight as I was writing this I watched a live video of Aurora singing this (which you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncG9zTzsisE) and when she sings that last line, ‘please don’t leave me here’, there is this look on her face afterwards that’s so real and moving and that brought me to tears, as it felt like she was putting her soul into those words, and because I have felt, ached, and prayed, those words at times myself... I’m reminded of Mad World, which I quoted above, where in the chorus it says ‘the dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had’, which certainly sounds morbid, but I have to admit there is a part of me that looks forward to death, not because I hate life or because I really want to die (and please don’t take this as me being suicidal, as that’s not where I’m at, though I have been there in the past no doubt), but because, in spite of my uncertainty about life beyond this one, I hope that if there is life beyond this one that it is more like that kind of life, life through the eyes of a child, that Aurora sings about.  And it’s not so much that part of me wants to die, but more that part of me wants to die to a world full of sadness and madness and instead find myself in a better one full of joy and light, if that makes any sense. But I don’t believe that we have to, or even should, wait for death to see if that might bring us into that kind of world, even if we may have hope for that, as we can also try to create that kind of world here, or at least as much as we are able. And I think that’s what people like Aurora are trying to do, and I suppose what all of us who are capable of love in this world try to do for those we love.

The next song, Infections Of A Different Kind, the title track and the final track of her new album, was, according to Aurora in a recent interview, the most personal song on her new album, which came to her in the middle of the night and was the seed that inspired her new album.  I feel like this song in some way addresses that desire to create a better world (and here’s a link to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bdasfyaPjA). Here are the lyrics: It's a feeling growing old with time Like a restless in the leaves coming down The world is a hole and we all seem to fall Down and down And the universe is growing tall And we all are caving into dreams of this space Unfolding her arms cannot do any harm Violent contractions And if there is a God, would we even know his name? And if there is a God, I think he would shake his head And turn away So belong to us all Be God in the shape of a girl Who walks this world And I beg, I beg to be drained From the pain I have soaked myself in So I can stay Okay, and more than okay for a while For a while, for a while Infections of a different kind The world is being attacked by your pain If I am the world then why would I hurt All that is living? And if there is a God, would he then believe in us? And if there is a God, I think he can't hear all of us Belong to us all Be God in the shape of a girl Who walks this world And I beg, I beg to be drained From the pain I've soaked myself in So I can stay Okay, and more than okay for a while For a while, for a while This is the breath, this is the breath... There was a discussion on one of her Youtube videos that I was reading tonight that came out of a fan wondering if this song was questioning and even jabbing at belief in God and I can understand why some people would take it that way (though as far as I can tell Aurora seems to be a very spiritual person, if not particularly religious), but I resonated more with what another fan said: ‘For me, I would say that she is rather asking us to be reflective on what we've done for each other so far, and how much more we can do in the years to come. "I think he would shake his head" and "Would he believe in us?" are powerful statements that make us realize that the only one causing our pain and distress is ourselves. To me, she's not saying that there isn't a God, she’s saying it doesn't matter if there is, because he is not responsible for our problems that we created.’   I can agree with this for the most part, and I would add that I felt her line where she says ‘Be God in the shape of a girl who walks this world’, rather than being some blasphemous statement as some might take it, is referring to that spark of the divine in every one of us (or the image of God as it is referred to in the Bible, or the inner light as Quakers call it), including herself, and then to how we have the ability to be a kind of divine presence (where one might say that God is working through us) in one another’s lives if we choose to be. This reminds me, putting this into a more Christian context, of this quote from Catholic saint Teresa of Avila: “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.” Now as I’ve said elsewhere I no longer consider myself Christian, at least not in a traditional sense, but I can resonate with this idea of our being a channel or conduit for the divine in one another’s lives, and I believe this is kind of what Aurora meant or was trying to say through her song, and there can be truth in this whether one believes in a God or not. Even the end where she says ‘this is the breath, this is the breath’ reminds me of the Greek word pneuma, which means both breath and spirit, so she could also be saying ‘this is the spirit, this is the spirit’.  Of course I’m not really sure whether that was what Aurora was getting at here (would love to pick her brain about this song by the way), but in the context of the song I think it makes sense. I admit that I don’t feel as though I am really a channel or conduit for anything like a divine presence much of the time. It’s something I aspire to be, and maybe sometimes in spite of myself I can be that, but much of the time I feel that I fall short of that. I often find myself feeling irritated and annoyed by people, and I often feel numb and apathetic to others and their lives. I have my bad habits and negative tendencies, my faults and flaws, and I certainly don’t feel very angelic or Christlike or whatever one may call it much of the time, and if anything I often feel like something of, well, an asshole. I know there are people that love and care about me that would disagree with this feeling I have, which I appreciate, but it’s something I often feel regardless. I feel like I contribute my own share of sadness and madness to the world you could say, and though that may not be my intention, or any of our intentions really when we do that, it is what it is and there’s really no way around it save for me to try and balance that out by bringing more joy and light into the world, as I believe Aurora and many people, or maybe even most people, are trying to do. As author George Eliot (aka Mary Anne Evans) once said, ‘ What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?’  I think this is a question that we all have to wrestle with, especially in times like these where there is so much division and fear and uncertainty, where that sense of being in a world full of sadness and madness is all the more acute (or at least that’s how it feels for many of us) and it’s not an easy question when many of us, like myself, struggle just to deal with our own problems, let alone anyone else’s, but it’s a question we have to ask ourselves because we all share this world, and in large part I believe how we choose to live our lives in it, or what we choose to bring into this world, can add either to its sadness or joy, to its madness or light.  In Donnie Darko, Donnie was willing to give his life to save the life of someone he loved. Aurora, like many artists out there, gives her time and energy to her music to hopefully bring some more joy and light into the world. What can I do to make the world better, to make it a simpler and kinder one? Honestly I’m still trying to figure that out.

Last weekend I spent most of the day with some of my family on my grandpa Allan’s side, including his wife Miriam, my aunt Angela, my aunt Shannon and her husband Jeff, and my cousin Andrea.   My grandpa Allan passed away from cancer in March of last year, and he would have been 82 years old on October 21st, so we observed his birthday by visiting his gravesite. I remember as we gathered around his grave I felt awkward and uncertain, as I imagine all of us did to some extent, because death can’t help but leave us feeling awkward and uncertain on some level I think, and yet I know that we all felt, and feel, love for him, and we tried to, and continue to try to, honor him, being grateful for the part that he played in our lives, for the ways in which he loved us, gave to us, and brought joy and light into our lives. We went to lunch at Shari’s and I remember talking with my aunt Shannon who was sitting next to me much of the time, and I remember telling her how Allan’s story of how he found his faith resonated with me, the story of being a foster child who was often abandoned and rejected, who then had an experience where he felt that God told him that he would not abandon him or reject him as others had, and it resonated with me because it had a message that was so universal and childlike, so basic and primal, and uncomplicated by theology and doctrine, that I believe almost anyone could connect with it, that desire and longing to be unconditionally loved and accepted where you are and as you are, and that that desire and longing can be answered. Perhaps, much like Aurora, through that experience Allan learned to see through the eyes of a child. Maybe at bottom he had the faith of a child, and even if he may have built different theology and doctrine around that experience that he had over the years, that experience, and the message within it, was still somewhere at the heart of his faith, and I can resonate with that. After lunch I was at Allan’s house, and Miriam and Angie gave me some of Allan’s things that they wanted me to have, including a tie and some cufflinks and some of his rocks from his rock collection (he was a big rockhound), and I spent some time with my cousin Andrea, connecting over music (including some music by Aurora, which she liked), and I remember looking at pictures of Allan on the walls and thanking him for whatever hand he may have had in helping me to connect more with his family, and I remember telling Andrea that I felt like maybe that was his final gift to me. We didn’t really discuss politics at all throughout the day, although it is something that Allan’s family has had some conflict over from what I’ve heard as there are some in the family who are more conservative and others who are more liberal, and since the 2016 election there has been some tension among some of the family members. The only time it ever came up in any way was when Angie, who is a little more conservative herself, pointed out a letter that acknowledged Allan’s service in Korea that was signed by President Trump, and she wondered what I thought of that and if I would like a copy, and I told her that even though I don’t like Trump myself that if it’s something that is meant to honor Allan then I’m okay with it as that’s what really matters to me, and not who signs it, and I would be okay with having a copy. I think it’s safe to say, being the elephant in the room, that politics causes much of the sadness and madness in this country and in this world, and I think this is something that people on both sides of the political spectrum can agree on. But my day with Allan’s family was a reminder to me of a potential answer to much of the division and tension, the sadness and madness, in this country and this world, that being the awareness that we’re all in the same boat, that we’re all human, that we’re not alone in this, that love and relationship is what matters most of all, and a desire, and really a choice, to try and find what brings us together rather than what divides us. I may not completely agree with Allan’s family when it comes to politics or religion or when it comes to this or that, but at the end of the day we all loved and love Allan and we all miss him and hope to see him again whenever we cross the veil, and that is something that we all have in common in spite of whatever differences we may have, and while as human beings we may all be capable of bringing more sadness and madness into the world, we are all equally capable of bringing more joy and light into it as well, and into one another’s lives, just as Allan did. And just as Donnie Darko left an impact on the world after his death, I believe Allan did as well, just as he did in life, and maybe we can all do that.

A couple weeks ago I watched the Netflix series The Haunting Of Hill House, which I really enjoyed and found equally frightening and moving. The basic premise of the series is there is this family, the Crains, who move into Hill House for a few months and begin having strange experiences which lead to the mother’s suicide, and as the season progresses you find out what happened in the house from the perspectives of each of the family members in flashbacks as you also see how their experiences in the house have continued to impact them as adults, leading to different ways of coping with the trauma, and effecting their relationships with one another and with others. The two children who were impacted most by the events that took place when they were in Hill House were the two youngest children, Luke and Nell, who were twins and have a psychic twin connection. My favorite scene in the whole series was in the last episode when Nell (who is found dead in Hill House after a nervous breakdown not long after the death of her husband, presumably killing herself) reunites with her siblings in spirit and reassures all of them, forgiving them for however they let her down in life, and letting them know that she is not truly gone. When Luke, who was closest to her, tells her that he doesn’t know how to go on without her, she responds tenderly:  “There’s no without. I’m not gone. I’m scattered into so many pieces, sprinkled on your life like new snow.” I remember being really moved when I heard this, thinking of Allan and others that I’ve lost in recent years. While my own beliefs about life after death may not be in line with this in a literal sense, as I believe, or hope, that a consciousness, or a soul, continues somehow after death not just in the memories of those who loved them but also in some other dimension that is beyond (if also in some way connected to) this one. But I interpret this as the impact that that person had on us (and continue to have on us even after their death), all the different ways that they loved us and gave to us, all the ways they brought joy and light into our lives, sprinkled onto our lives like new snow. And whether you may believe in a God or not, whether you may believe in life after death or not, I believe the impact you leave, the legacy you leave, matters. Even my mom, who is a self-proclaimed atheist, hopes that when she dies that she will be have made a difference in the lives of people she loved, and maybe in the world too, and that she will be remembered well.  I believe she hopes, as many of us do I think, that she will leave this oftentimes sad and mad world just a little better for her being in it, that she can do her part to take away a little of the sadness and madness and bring a little more joy and light into it. While I don’t consider myself as an atheist, I can resonate with this desire and this hope, as I share it, even if I may also desire and hope for some kind of life beyond this one where I am reunited with Allan and others. In short, if in living our lives we made life a little less difficult for others than maybe we have lived life well...

It’s only a few days till Halloween, one of my favorite holidays, when children, and children at heart, dress up in costumes and go trick or treating or simply party and have fun, embracing the spooky and creepy, and in some small way answering darkness and the night and death with laughter as Donnie Darko did, bringing joy and light into it, seeing the world through the eyes of a child, and maybe being channels and conduits of something, well, holy, in what some may see as unholy, being divine sparks in the night, and I think it’s kind of wonderful. The world is kind of wonderful, and it’s kind of horrible, the world is kind of funny, and it’s kind of sad, the world is kind of beautiful, and it’s kind of mad, and I dream of a better world, a simpler and kinder one, beyond this one, but I also dream and hope to help make this world I am living in a better one if I can, even if only in some small way, and it’s hard to know how to express everything that I feel about this world, and it’s hard to take everything that I go through in it, and people are running around and I’m running around, and it can feel pretty crazy sometimes, that’s for sure. But like Donnie I will keep trying to find some kind of meaning and purpose in this world in which I live, and like Aurora I will try to hold onto my childlike soul and be open to being a channel and conduit of the divine in the world, and like Allan I’ll try to hold onto those experiences that help me to feel unconditionally loved and accepted, as I hope like him to make an impact on the lives of others, even after it is my turn to cross the veil, hopefully leaving a little more joy and light behind me in this world than sadness and madness, leaving pieces of myself sprinkled over other’s lives like new snow. And I know that this world can be very very mad indeed, but I know it can also be very very beautiful, because, like me, and like all of us, the world is large and it contains multitudes. 

[the-head-scratcher]

Game Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Out Of The Shadows (2013)

Introduction - dive into this sewer, familiar or not!

Welcome to New York, a place where four legendary heroes call home. No, not the Fantastic 4. They dwell deep within the sewers. Hidden in secret. Shadows to the outside world. Trained as ninjas in martial arts from childhood. Still not with me? Ok, simply put, they're four oversized teenage turtles raised by a giant rat. Together they battle their ultimate nemesis, Shredder, and his ever-loyal Foot-clan, who try to rule the city with a steel grip. Still with me? Tubular!

Now let's drop through the manhole, into the sewer and see what’s what…

Overview - plenty of pizza toppings! 

TMNT: Out of The Shadows (not to be confused with the Michael Bay movie abomination of the same name) is based on the 2012 Nickelodeon show, a CGI cartoon based on the original comic book stories created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird way back in 1984.

The game was released on 28th August 2013 by Red Fly Studios and features a hack and slash gameplay style like the Batman Arkham series of games.

It was available on Steam, Xbox 360 and PS3 but is no longer available digitally due to Activision not renewing the licence back in 2017. It is possible to find PC copies via the internet so there’s still some hope if you're interested.

The game has the following features:

Story - an adventure over four chapters.

Survival - fight and survive rounds of enemies until all four Turtles are defeated

Battle - choose your Turtle and battle foes in a four-round match

Arcade Mode - side-scrolling beat-em-up style mode for up to four players

Dojo - a training area to learn all the moves

Donnie's Workshop - unlock special weapons for each character

True Ninja Mode - attack indicators are turned off (for the true Ninja Turtle only!)

On release, you could play online with four players and two-player split-screen but these modes are a bit unpolished, to put it mildly. Multiplayer matches are very rare nowadays.

 Story - pretty standard but a nice distraction.

Taking a stroll around town, our testudinate heroes: Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello, spot a group of thugs known as the Purple Dragons stealing some serious tech. But to what end? Of course, the Turtles investigate and inevitably the Foot clan and Shredder are involved.  

In general, it's a story about some dudes who are up to no good, which becomes more than first meets the eye, leading to a final showdown with a familiar villain.

It's straight forward but you'll get a few hours of enjoyment from it and the humour is quite fun. There are some great one-liners from Mikey which will raise a smirk or two for the die-hard fans but may irritate others.

There are also plenty of collectables to be found which may see you coming back from time to time.

Replayability - where’s it at?

Whilst the story won't keep you coming back too often, the Battle & Survival modes are where it's at for replay value.

Completing objectives grants you points to spend on the Turtles and how you use those points affects how each character plays. Your choices can't be undone so choose wisely!  

I've played through these modes countless times to find the skill set I prefer for each character but there could be more depth of customisation for each Turtle.

 Graphics - better on PC (once adjusted), but on consoles, you’re out of luck.

In general, the subtle background touches to the scenery, buildings and the weather effects create a satisfying version of the Turtles' New York. I found myself stopping now and again to admire the detail on the buildings and to look down at the busy city below whilst jumping across the rooftops.

If like me, you love taking screenshots of the action, you'll get some cracking ones, believe me (I took all the shots shown in this review)!

The lighting can be a bit too bright so you'll probably find yourself dropping the brightness down to get that more mysterious ninja feel.

The Turtles look more like the original 1990 film than they do their 2012 versions which is a nice choice in my opinion. The animation detail is great, with different styles of movement for each character and the way they navigate their surroundings and engage in combat is well executed and their fighting styles are impressive to look at. The first time you see Mikey doing taunt dancing while talking about his first nunchuck related black eye is also highly amusing.

There are limited customisation options but on PC at least you can go into the config file to remove the awful motion blur, which I did. I hate when games apply this effect as it often destroys the experience. Cranking up the anti-aliasing doesn't hurt either. Sadly consoles don't get that option - bummer!

Voice acting/characters - pretty good but beware the Kari!

I don't recognise who any of the voice actors are but I thought they were all pretty good and the Turtles all fit their personalities, even if the jokes begin to wear thin after a while.

Shredder sounds gruff and not too silly like the old ‘90s cartoon and when he mocks you it actually gives you the drive to beat his ass.

Splinter's voice was interesting but not quite as satisfying as I'd hoped - the original voice actor of Kevin Clash would have made for a nice treat.

The Foot soldiers are all mostly silent ninjas but it's funny when they try to sound tough and the same goes for the Purple Dragons - did these guys all train at the same place as the Batman games’ thugs did?

 My only gripes, in particular, are April and Kari. I just didn't care for April's character in the entire story and she could easily have been removed from the story without making any difference. Kari’s repeated "come find me Turtles, dance Turtles" taunt as she darts around dropping smoke bombs is a steady incline of annoyance to the point you'll crack and be like "let's just kick the bejesus out of her to keep her quiet!".

 Gameplay - this Arkham City clone needs some polish…

The main fighting mechanic is quite similar to the Batman Arkham series. There's a block meter for parrying attacks and a special bar that lets you unleash some awesome attacking power. Each Turtle fights differently and has their own specific perks and you'll soon have your own favourite.

On console, the frame rate maxes out at 30 fps which can affect the fluidity of fights but this increases to 60 fps on PC, a big improvement.

Whilst navigation in the game is somewhat open, there is still typically a set route which makes the game fairly linear.

 The option to sneak around and stealth KO a foe or run in and administer a fatal dose of Turtle Power is a nice touch during the campaign but in other situations, you have no option but to stand and fight.

 The first chapter of the story mode works as an on the fly training session to learn attacks, countering and the gnarly jumps and flips - you can practice more in the Dojo.

As far as the controls themselves go, the combination of keyboard and mouse is horrendous as the keys are so far apart. Thankfully you can connect up your favourite gamepad (I used my Xbox 360 controller) so it’s the same layout as console and easy to catch on.

The controller at times feels a bit delayed and if your inputs are too fast during combat your character may start doing random things like attacking an enemy then attacking thin air in the wrong direction. Sometimes trying to use your special will end up in it happening twice, ending your combo and suffering a blow from an enemy - shell shock!

 AI - unfair enemies, glitched brothers, weird camera - consider it Shredded!

*facepalm and sigh* Alright, my biggest gripe about the whole game, is the AI. Red Fly have laid the basic groundwork but there are issues like only being able to counter two enemies at a time and being completely open to attack while the animation plays out so a loose enemy can leave you on your butt. Enraged.

Sure there’s colour coding to show imminent attacks but that doesn't stop the game from disrupting your experience by ignoring your commands at the most inappropriate of times. I want to quick evade! No! Controller! Don't make Leo jump sideways into that thug's club… dammit!!!

At other times your brothers in green will just stand motionless after you switch between them quickly. In an intense battle, uppercutting a guy into the air, switching to Raph and smashing them to the ground just to see the previous Turtle taking a pummeling and not defending himself is seriously frustrating! You're just like, what the hell dude? Counter! You have to quickly switch back just to rescue his stupid ass from a beating.

Camera control can be quite wonky but from what I’ve played, most of the time it stays with the action, and believe me, I’ve played this game to death. On rare occasion, when executing a complex array of moves, the camera will jump completely off-screen to an empty void then suddenly snap back to the battle. I've only had this happen a few times but it’s jarring and you'll be panicking about getting hit.

Teamwork - when the AI works it can be radical.

Even though the AI enrages me, there are times with your Turtle brethren where they actually do come to your aid and aren't completely stupid. Sometimes they will even ask for a "little help!?" when holding an enemy at bay, a Krang for example, and you can join them for a tandem attack on the comedy mascot!

When you want to use a stealthier approach, they will listen to commands, so you can ask them to wait until it’s safe to proceed or get them to take out a foot soldier while you tackle the other. Knowing that the second the guy sees your green, baldy face, your bros are busy sending him for a snooze is quite. The stealth AI seems a little smarter which is a nice surprise and it seems Red Fly did a good job here.

 Nice tributes give a little nostalgia.

The game contains some nice Easter eggs. You can unlock the red bandanas, there's a classic black and white mode, tributes to the original 1984 turtles and Eastman and Laird's pictures are hanging in a pizzeria in the first chapter. Even some of the conversations the Turtles have pay tribute to their TV show and voice actors in a funny, knowing wink to fans. Loading screen tips often have references to things like "second time around" the shop where April lived in the comics and the 1990 movie. True fans will pick up on many of these details.

 Pros - pizza delivery!!

The combat is decent, the Turtles look and act as they should, the weapons for each Turtle are upgradeable, the skill advancement system is good, visually the game looks beautiful and the story mode is fun to battle through.

The physics are great, you can knock weapons away from foes and there is a good variety of enemies with different difficulty levels. The maps are challenging, there's the Dojo to hone your abilities and the True Ninja mode to really put your skills to the test. Arcade mode is a fun local multiplayer option to compete with your friends.

 Cons - you’ve been Shell-Shocked!!

The AI is lousy for both the Turtles and the enemies and needs work to improve the combat overall.

The motion blur and weird camera angles are disappointing and some of the dialogue is repeated ad nauseam.

Split-screen and online multiplayer is a nightmare and needs more testing and work done.

 Room for improvement?

Some TLC and more time spent on testing would have helped the end result. They could have been more ambitious too but back in 2013 where GTA and other more popular titles were ruling the market, I can see why they played it safe.

Changing the game to be a bit more open world with the ability to go underground or run around the rooftops more (think Batman / Spiderman on PS4) would have boosted playability tenfold and added the option for side quests (stopping crimes in the shadows for example).

As long as they don't make the same mistakes Platinum Games did with "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan" - check it out - it’s one of the worst open-world/action games I have ever come across. It makes my eyes bleed.

 Final verdict - heroes or zeros in a half-shell?

Despite all its flaws and glitches and the frustration it leaves me with, I still have a lot of LOVE for this game. I'd say if you can get a copy, like, I mean anywhere, then you should give it a shot.

As a big TMNT fan, I highly recommend Out of the Shadows. There's loads of replayability in the battle mode and it even made me better at games like Arkham City - I know I've compared them a lot but they are similar in how they feel and play.

There are some major letdowns and it had the potential to be so much more, but I still keep coming back to this game over and over again and in all fairness, there isn't another TMNT game that fits the bill in terms of combat.

For Turtle fans, I’d give this a solid 8 out of 10 but for non-fans maybe a 7 is more appropriate as some of the shortcomings are frustrating. Give it a shot, though, and maybe you can forgive those flaws as much as I did, make it through to the final battle and give Shredder the Ninja Bro Shellbuster!

So, I'd say that's a wrap…Cowabunga?! Too cliched? Nah.

COWABUNGA!!!!!

Big thanks to James for writing this review. He’s an old best friend who does a bit of gaming and comedy. This is his first review and hopefully he’ll continue with some more: Oddworld New and Tasty perhaps?. His other work is the BCP podcast, youtube gameplay videos and cosplay, photoshoots and charity work at comic conventions under the name of the Spider of Moray. Links to all his other stuff are in this bio here.

[reactingtosomething]

Solo Reaction to Orphan Black Episode 510: “To Right the Wrongs of Many”

Well Done, Show.

The Setup: This is it, Clone Club. The final ride has ended, and I for one loved the hell out of it. Check below for my final Orphan Black solo reaction. Spoilers for the last five years, basically.

SARAH: Art knows what they need and is not the one who is Helena’s twin, clearly she should go be with Helena and he should get the medical supplies. I mean I know it had to be Sarah vs. “PT” at the end, obviously. But in-universe I’m right about that logic. But yeah, Sarah killing him with very little ceremony and none of his acolytes to watch was pretty appropriate.

OH GOD they pulled no punches with that suffocation visual.

This is EVOLUTION. More on that later.

The Sarah/Mrs. S parallels during the births, though. Sarah (and all the clones) are moving out from under the control of their lives and destinies. They are not S’s to watch over or Neolution’s to control. They are the adults. They’re raising each other and their kids.

Sarah and Helena’s joyful laugh/cries after the birth(s) are just lovely.

Is Sarah getting her GED?? I’m so proud! She’s turning into such a grownup, but is also still herself. Well done, show.

Honestly I do think that Sarah should sell the house. She needs to become her own version of an adult, not just step into S’s shoes entirely. Like, don’t move away to wander the earth apart from the whole support system, but get an apartment instead maybe.

Sarah. Get your ass back in there and take the GED test!

“I don’t know how to be happy. There’s no one left to fight and I’m still a shit mum.” There is SO MUCH here. For one thing that language is super telling—Sarah may not always be good at being a mother, but she’s far from a shit one compared to Coady, the other person who’s been described as such. There’s no question about Sarah being wrong here. (Admittedly she has not always been a good mother but she has been improving and she does always have Kira’s best interests at heart.) For another thing, this is very important and realistic. Ending an all-consuming battle and returning to normal life is never simple. Sarah was good at guerrilla warfare, essentially. Those skills don’t immediately translate to healthy coping mechanisms or finding a day job. Sarah is still Sarah. They’re all still the people they were before and during this shitshow. Alison is still the woman who sold drugs and hot glue gunned her husband. They’re all still just people and they can’t go from living one life to living a totally different one with no bumps, even a normal/“easier” one. Just because Sarah can’t do it immediately doesn’t mean she can’t do it at all.

None of them are perfect and they’re all in it together and it’s the most mellow but effective multi-clone season ender ever. No one look at me.

HELENA: This is basically a nightmare birth situation and I am NOT a fan.

Helena is preparing for vengeance even while ACTIVELY CONTRACTING and all I can say is damn, woman. Props.

OH MY GOD Art and Helena are such a good team! That was highly effective tag team murder.

It’s a boy. Of course they’re boys. Kira was (nearly) exploited the way Kendall and the Ledas' birth mothers were. Kira and Charlotte are the intermediates, the ones who are part of the Leda story but won’t grow up entirely within it, but these boys are the true next generation. They’re not just repeating the script over again, they’re a departure from the Neo controlled past.

That is the cutest and creepiest mobile ever.

Orange and Purple!! Ok, but babies lose their socks ALL THE TIME. This is an imperfect method.

“Always when I eat, he poops.”

Super into her Hawaiian shirt over overalls look.

“Where does this sand come from?”

They’re still not going to explain the black part of Orphan Black, are they?

I’m touched by the significance of naming the boys after Donnie and Art, but doesn’t that get confusing? Sure, call the baby Arthur instead of Art, but there’s nothing that far away from “Donnie,” sound-wise. And at least for now they live on the same property. (The one bit of Judaism that has managed to enter my psyche the most is the custom of not naming kids after living relatives, so I’m a little weird about this kind of thing.)

RACHEL: Is Rachel coming? Is that the secret person Felix is expecting? Yesssss. Even if she can’t be a part of the happy family, she is still a part of this and the show/Felix acknowledges it.

So we’re just straight up discussing this in front of the uber driver?

She gave them the list of Ledas. Rachel’s final redemptive act saves the rest of the clones she helped to subjugate, and is a final screw you to the people who made her do it for so long.

General Rachel thought: Rachel needed redemption. She was cruel and a part of the structure that controlled and killed a lot of people. She was a product of a deeply abusive situation that made her that way, but she still was that way. She still stomped on the potential cure, she still ordered the deaths of clones and others. In a way she and Helena are a better “two sides to the same coin” comparison than Helena and Sarah are. Both were raised largely without love or proper socialization. Both were made “self aware” while fairly young. Both are taught that they are the special one, and can only continue to do they terrible things they do by believing that fact. Both self-harm. Both learn that their extremely black and white world views are limited primarily by being exposed to the family of their clones, primarily Kira. Helena made the change much more quickly, but they are both on that arc.

ALISON: “I was a drug dealer for Pete’s sake” is peak Alison Hendrix.

The Hendrixes have joy and laughter as a part of their sex lives and I am happy about this.

I know this is not from this episode, but it’s amazing

COSIMA: Cosima is curing the Ledas!! She is doing it! And of course she feels like it’s not enough because she’s Cosima, but she’s doing it!

Science monkey! I love this.

Cos, you don’t have to be good with kids if you don’t want to be. Although she actually is excellent with kids, just not babies. So I guess the point is you don’t have to be maternal if you don’t want to be. You can love the children in your life without wanting your own. And if you do want children, being scared doesn’t mean you can’t do it.

Cosima is coming so close to meeting all of these women, but not quite. That’s beautiful and sad in its own way. She’s always been the one to embrace sisterhood the quickest, so I imagine she loves each of these sisters a little bit. But she’s not destroying their lives by telling them about all of this when there’s no need to. There is an argument to be made about not making the decision for them by keeping the info from them, but telling them would also be making that decision for them. I’m going to choose to believe that they leave a semi-conspicuous web trail so that any Ledas who start to become self aware can find clone club if they’re looking.

Also, can we talk about how gorgeous this artwork is and how I’m now obsessed with it? Please illustrate all of their adventures around the world.

TONY!!!! Guys, Tony has at least been acknowledged again! He and Krystal are cured and that is good.

EVERYONE ELSE: Goddammit Coady why are you so resilient?

“PT” (AKA JOHN) losing his grip is both terrifying and delicious. I was honestly hoping he would die of a heart attack—none of his cruelty or his science could save him from a simple failure of the body. But again, it being Sarah’s action was probably necessary.

Honestly, this was an underuse of Enger after they set her up to be such an interesting character in such small moments earlier. Clearly the focus here is on the Ledas more than their subjugators, but come on. I wonder if she had anything that ended up being cut for time? I’m excited to follow the actor’s career.

I know I already used this one, and it wasn’t from this episode. But look at how compelling she is! And this ^ isn’t even as good as the toothbrush scene!

There really is a kill them in the throat theme this season.

Art calling people sestra is adorable!

274??? Living or total ever? That’s so many!

I’ve done a lot of discussing parenthood as a sign of adulthood, and I certainly don’t want to say it’s a 1:1 situation. I think it has come up a lot this season especially because the show is a discussion of both family and evolution. It’s hard to have evolution without future generations, so there is a lot of kid focus. I don’t think the show goes to far in the direction of accidentally suggesting that motherhood is essential for adult womanhood—that’s the beauty of having a lot of women in your show. You can tell multiple stories, and multiple versions of the same story without suggesting that it is The Story.

I have no idea how intentionally Fawcett and Manson created this discussion of feminism and bodily autonomy. I think the later was the main intent and the feminism came out of the realization/acceptance of what they were already in the midst of creating. By making the lead a woman, they made most of the leads women, who all had to be different from each other. They couldn’t fall into the tropes many writers do when it comes to female characters. And when they began discussing This may be wrong and ungenerous of me—they may have had exactly this intent from the beginning!—but two things: 1) I think if they had a huge focus on feminism from the beginning there would have been more than one director who was a woman in the entire run (Helen Shaver, 3 episodes) and 2) Honestly, them learning the lesson as they went and freaking going for it is kind of great. Without meaning to (from the beginning—I’m not suggesting they were totally unaware this whole time!) these guys made a show that is all about women reclaiming their bodily autonomy from a big-for-tv version of forces that are very real in our lives. Realizing that that was the story and leaning into it effectively and without becoming a morality play is impressive and it gave us the show we have known and loved.

Ok, “this is evolution.” So true, on the science side and the personal side. Sarah and Helena have always been the outliers. It was a quirk of biology that lead to twins. And then their birth mother was willing and able to keep them safely away from Neolution. And they are actually able to conceive. None of these facts were intended or planned for. Evolution comes from gene mutations. Sometimes mutations are harmful, but sometimes they’re beneficial or neutral, and they get passed on and help the species become something new. If that happens enough times, you get a whole new species. There’s nothing intentional or graceful about it. You can’t plan for it, and you can’t do much to control it. “PT” tried to, and it never worked out for him. There were always other changes, or not enough change, or the small detail of people being people and thus not entirely controllable. He was beaten by the results of the uncontrollable parts of evolution, an unexpected twin who unexpectedly became a mother. And Sarah has evolved as a person because of both of those things, as well as everything else. In killing “PT" she completes the final step of not just no longer running from her problems, but truly stepping out from underneath them.

Finally, let’s talk happy ending. Finishing this was hard—I’ve had trouble taking a long view of anything this weekend, in light of the events in Charlottesville, VA. This is the first time I’ve sat entirely still in at least a day. It’s made me even more glad that this show, which has always contained darkness and some shocking violence, let the “core four” of clones and most of their nearest and dearest survive. There were deaths along the way, and a shit ton of suffering, but they could have gone much darker about the ending for the sake of Realism and I’m damn glad they didn’t. The show was about finding the light and hope and family amidst all of this darkness. Sarah has been trying to be allowed/allow herself to be a part of her family since she got on that train. It doesn’t look like what she thought it would, but neither does she anymore. This is the version of family that works for this version of Sarah, and it works for the show too. Everything’s not perfect. S is dead, Rachel will never be a part of the family. They’ve all suffered massively. But they made it, and they have each other for support moving forward. Bad things can end. Good things can endure. That hasn’t always been an explicit message of the show, but it is the one they chose to build to.

That’s all, folks. For more weekly reactions, check out Kris’s GoT series. For more ass-kicking genre women, check out Wynonna Earp. For more of Miri have a lot of feeling, check out The Bold Type (and I guess this blog in general).

[ikkegoemikke]

A pilot battles to save his family and the planet after an experiment for unlimited energy goes wrong.

Genre : SF Country : Netherlands/USA

Cast : Dan Stevens : Will Porter Bérénice Marlohe : Abigail Vos Kasper van Groesen : Donny

Director : Tim Smit

My opinion of “The Ticket”

“This is Will Porter. Mission log three. I can now confirm that the jump was successful. My location is the echo.”

In a future world, the multinational Alterplex designed an everlasting energy source. Thanks to the M-theory and the duplicate-matter theory, they’ve succeeded in creating a parallel universe. Believe me, the whole theory will be explained a bit in the film. Not that I understood much of it. Eagerly they use scientific terms such as space dimensions, quantum particles and gravity portals. The only difference between our universe and the duplicate one, is that there are no organic compounds present. It’s actually a huge lifeless battery. And our modern society can gain energy from it endlessly. A necessity since the energy consumption on our planet has risen phenomenally.

Is this agreement a poisoned gift?

Will Porter (Dan “The Ticket” Stevens), a physicist who used to work for NASA, is being recruited by Alterplex as a solution in case of a problem. If an instability is detected, he’ll be transported to the parallel universe, where he has to place a cube-shaped object in the duplicated tower. Alterplex does everything to get him on board. Even relocating his sister (Charity Wakefield) and her son Donny (Kasper van Groesen) won’t be a problem. Included in the agreement is also medical treatment for Donny. So, it’s an offer Will can’t refuse. Even though he initially has no idea what to expect.

Want to change your life? Buy that ticket!

Apparently, his training wasn’t thorough enough, because the moment he goes through that portal into this other universe, he doesn’t know what is going on most of the time. Even the message “Redivider” on the cube doesn’t mean anything to him. Dan Stevens actually runs around the whole movie pretty confused and helpless, meanwhile wondering why there’s still human life present and why all kind of objects are falling from the sky (in the real world those objects disappeared without a trace). He even claims at one point that he’s not a copied version of himself. I didn’t think that was quite logical.

It’s like watching a PS4 game

The story isn’t so impressive. It’s the FPS (First-person shooter) perspective that gets the most attention. But gradually it got more on my nerves as the story progressed. Maybe PS4 fans are excited about this, but I still don’t believe in this concept. The same thing has been used in “Let’s be evil” and “Jerusalem” and wasn’t really appreciated by yours truly. If I feel like playing an FPS, I’ll plug in my PS4. At least I’ll be in control when it’s about the course of the story.

So expect back and forth swirling images, with all kind of statuses popping up on the display. Also Dan’s monologues seem to be stuffed with the same recurring calls all the time. He’ll be shouting continously “Oh my God”, “What’s the hell is this”, “Lets go!”, “Come on” and “Run!” Run! Run! “. And he’s running a lot of miles, trust me. I’m sure there’s less running in “Chariots of fire”, than in this movie.

Again based on a You Tube hype?

The acting isn’t so overwhelming either. Dan Stevens wasn’t very long on the set I guess, since you don’t see him so much in the movie. And the moment he appears, you’ll see that amazed and questioning look mostly. Bérénice Marlohe generally tried to use her most photogenic part of her face (her deeply cut decolleté on the other hand demanded the most attention at the beginning). And most likely an over-enthusiastic employee from the schmink department was assigned to her (the amount of used maskara is living proof of that).

Nothing positive about this movie? Yes there is. I was quite impressed by the used SE’s. No, they aren’t comparable to the extremely expensive SE’s of “Star Wars” or “Avatar” (you won’t be blown away this time) and sometimes the images clearly look computerized. But still, the images weren’t bad. And the used location was a surprise. It all takes place in Amsterdam. “Kill Switch” has the same shortcoming as “Lights out“. Both movies are preceded by a shorter version on “You Tube” and was a hype there. In both cases, the result is a film with a strong concept but it feels as if they did the utmost to stretch the short story as long as possible. So after trying to make a movie based on a PC game or a book, it may be wise not to use a “YouTube” hype as base for a feature film as well.

My rating 5/10 Links : IMDB

Your Score

[Total: 0 Average: 0]

The post Kill switch (2017) appeared first on Opinion as a movie-freak.

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[ikkegoemikke]

Kill switch (2017)

A pilot battles to save his family and the planet after an experiment for unlimited energy goes wrong.

Genre : SF Country : Netherlands/USA

Cast : Dan Stevens : Will Porter Bérénice Marlohe : Abigail Vos Kasper van Groesen : Donny

Director : Tim Smit

My opinion of “The Ticket”

“This is Will Porter. Mission log three. I can now confirm that the jump was successful. My location is the echo.”

In a future world, the multinational Alterplex designed an everlasting energy source. Thanks to the M-theory and the duplicate-matter theory, they’ve succeeded in creating a parallel universe. Believe me, the whole theory will be explained a bit in the film. Not that I understood much of it. Eagerly they use scientific terms such as space dimensions, quantum particles and gravity portals. The only difference between our universe and the duplicate one, is that there are no organic compounds present. It’s actually a huge lifeless battery. And our modern society can gain energy from it endlessly. A necessity since the energy consumption on our planet has risen phenomenally.

Is this agreement a poisoned gift?

Will Porter (Dan “The Ticket” Stevens), a physicist who used to work for NASA, is being recruited by Alterplex as a solution in case of a problem. If an instability is detected, he’ll be transported to the parallel universe, where he has to place a cube-shaped object in the duplicated tower. Alterplex does everything to get him on board. Even relocating his sister (Charity Wakefield) and her son Donny (Kasper van Groesen) won’t be a problem. Included in the agreement is also medical treatment for Donny. So, it’s an offer Will can’t refuse. Even though he initially has no idea what to expect.

Want to change your life? Buy that ticket!

Apparently, his training wasn’t thorough enough, because the moment he goes through that portal into this other universe, he doesn’t know what is going on most of the time. Even the message “Redivider” on the cube doesn’t mean anything to him. Dan Stevens actually runs around the whole movie pretty confused and helpless, meanwhile wondering why there’s still human life present and why all kind of objects are falling from the sky (in the real world those objects disappeared without a trace). He even claims at one point that he’s not a copied version of himself. I didn’t think that was quite logical.

It’s like watching a PS4 game

The story isn’t so impressive. It’s the FPS (First-person shooter) perspective that gets the most attention. But gradually it got more on my nerves as the story progressed. Maybe PS4 fans are excited about this, but I still don’t believe in this concept. The same thing has been used in “Let’s be evil” and “Jerusalem” and wasn’t really appreciated by yours truly. If I feel like playing an FPS, I’ll plug in my PS4. At least I’ll be in control when it’s about the course of the story.

So expect back and forth swirling images, with all kind of statuses popping up on the display. Also Dan’s monologues seem to be stuffed with the same recurring calls all the time. He’ll be shouting continously “Oh my God”, “What’s the hell is this”, “Lets go!”, “Come on” and “Run!” Run! Run! “. And he’s running a lot of miles, trust me. I’m sure there’s less running in “Chariots of fire”, than in this movie.

Again based on a You Tube hype?

The acting isn’t so overwhelming either. Dan Stevens wasn’t very long on the set I guess, since you don’t see him so much in the movie. And the moment he appears, you’ll see that amazed and questioning look mostly. Bérénice Marlohe generally tried to use her most photogenic part of her face (her deeply cut decolleté on the other hand demanded the most attention at the beginning). And most likely an over-enthusiastic employee from the schmink department was assigned to her (the amount of used maskara is living proof of that).

Nothing positive about this movie? Yes there is. I was quite impressed by the used SE’s. No, they aren’t comparable to the extremely expensive SE’s of “Star Wars” or “Avatar” (you won’t be blown away this time) and sometimes the images clearly look computerized. But still, the images weren’t bad. And the used location was a surprise. It all takes place in Amsterdam. “Kill Switch” has the same shortcoming as “Lights out“. Both movies are preceded by a shorter version on “You Tube” and was a hype there. In both cases, the result is a film with a strong concept but it feels as if they did the utmost to stretch the short story as long as possible. So after trying to make a movie based on a PC game or a book, it may be wise not to use a “YouTube” hype as base for a feature film as well.

My rating 5/10 Links : IMDB

Your Score

[Total: 0 Average: 0]

The post Kill switch (2017) appeared first on Opinion as a movie-freak.

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