#it all ends up to be a series of emotional/psychological gut punches | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

oddygaul · 8 months ago

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Your Name

I think I actually liked this a lot more the second time.

In particular, the ending worked a lot better for me this go-around.

I always get frustrated when character-focused works involving timeline / dimensional fuckery contrive it so that the people you’ve watched build a relationship over diegetic months or years have their memory of that relationship erased. Whether it’s someone planeswalking alone into an alternate timeline, time-travel-related amnesia, or even just your classic memory zapping gun, it feels like a gut punch to know a relationship you’re genuinely invested in functionally did not happen for those characters anymore.

Now, I understand that the usual idea behind this is the appealing, elegant notion that some people are simply meant to be together - that no matter what obstacles, physical or psychological, might get between them, they’ll find each other again and mean just as much to each other as they did before.

I am not that idealistic.

I think establishing a close bond (be it friendship or romantic love) with someone who was once a stranger is an incredible, mercurial series of events that is so hard to replicate, it’s a small miracle that anyone has found the friends and loved ones they have.

I regularly think about the decisions, chain of events, and random happenstance that led me to my closest friends, and how a different choice made any step along the way, even years earlier, could easily have led to me never even meeting that person. And then, even if I met them by chance years later, who’s to say we’d even get close? We’d likely be two drastically different people than in the initial scenario, not only because of the different course our lives had taken, but due to how differently we would have developed in absence of each other’s influence.

There’s no chance in hell I’d roll those dice, so for me it truly stings when I watch a friendship undone - and particularly when it’s not treated with the appropriate gravity. If your whole story is about it, fine, but if it happens for some trivial reason, or a character does it flippantly, or if the narrative treats it as a minor thing and doesn’t go into the deep fucking implications such an event would have, I’m gonna be upset.

And so, on first watch, I think I slotted Your Name into the latter category. Sorry, they just up and forgot? They went through the most formative emotional experience of their young lives, saw the world through another person’s eyes, and just fuckin’ forgot about it? what??

This time, though, I paid more attention to, *ahem*, the literal text of the movie, which explains that the time Mitsuha and Taki spend together is akin to a dream, with all the haziness and fleeting nature that entails. Viewed through that* lens, the two forgetting such an important relationship resonates a lot more. Part of what makes dreams extraordinary is how strongly they can emotionally affect you, even if the details don’t make a bit of sense. The fact that such a strong emotional response can stick around long after the events of the dream have evaporated is one of the most sublime things about them. I’ve had plenty of dreams where I’ve spent what feels like decades falling in love with someone, building a life with them, exploring our sick far-future underwater biosphere together, et cetera, only to wake up and have it all ripped away. In retrospect, the particulars are nonsense and I can’t remember a single thing about this imaginary person, but for that afterglow period, it doesn’t matter, because in my heart I still feel the desolation of having lost someone.

*again, glaringly obvious and objectively correct

When I look at the story of Your Name that way, as a beautiful, fleeting dream that two people managed to recapture against all odds, it’s easy to appreciate the sweet little love story it really is.

—

Other than that, from a craft perspective, this one really is pretty damn good. Tightly written, not a lot of fat, endears you to its characters and their quirks in record time, and solidly hits all the emotional beats it needs to. I don’t think it necessarily has a lot to say, but honestly, tell a story this well and I can’t really complain.

i ship it

The animation here is also truly night and day compared to Shinkai’s previous works. The environments and sense of place are all top-notch as always, but the animation team for Your Name was clearly built around incredibly skilled character animators and it shows. The little mannerisms Mitsuha and Taki show regardless of which body they’re currently in is proof enough of that.

true friendship is helping your friend bomb a power substation with no questions asked

I’m not even gonna pretend I have anything worth saying about the art and animation here, though, when kViN’s excellent Your Name writeups exist over on SakugaBlog. If you found this post cuz you just rewatched Your Name and you wanted to read people analyzing / gushing over it, these should absolutely be the next stop on your journey.

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Your Name Production Notes

A Door to the Future, on what Your Name means for Shinkai and the future of the industry at large

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#will's media thoughts / virtual brain repository #movies #anime #your name #makoto shinkai #long post

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spoilertv · 1 year ago

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#SpoilerTV

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alovelyburn · 2 years ago

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Just thinking about the Casca Apostle theory...

This is whole speculation, not a real prediction although I do think it makes sense with the story and would fit the tone of the story very well.

OKAY SO THE THEORY THAT CASCA WILL BE THE ONE WHO MAKE THE SACRFICE WITH GUTS’ BEHELIT AND TURN INTO AN APOSTLE

This is a theory that I hadn’t heard at all until my return to Berserkdom a few months back. At first I had a hard time with it for two major reasons:

1. In most theories it took place too early in the timeline to really work for me. Because the thing is, Casca turning into an Apostle would be a gut punch the likes of which Berserk hasn’t had since the Eclipse. That’s definitely a third act type of plot turn, and we seem to be sliding into the third act right now, so it would have to be later than right now.

and

2. I just didn’t think that there was enough going on to catalyze it without it coming off as kind of floppy. Don’t get me wrong, realistically she’s had enough bullshit happen to her, but I guess I was just having a hard time imagining what event could trigger it to get that deep.

The abduction plot obviously took care of the timing issue I had.

But what I have now realized is that it also provided the necessary “shit gets real” catalyst to trigger that level of drama.

Let me explain!

(Obviously I didn’t come up with this idea, it’s just the specific variant on the idea that came to mind because it works for me whereas others didn’t feel quite right, IMO.)

So as we know, Guts has had this behelit since the beginning of the series. That makes it essentially a Chekhov’s Gun - it has to be fired by the end of the third act. Someone is going to have to use it.

Meanwhile, the other thing that’s become a Chekhov’s Gun is this concept that Casca may not want what Guts wants -

Now of course we eventually find out the issue - she has her emotions and memories of the Eclipse (well really everything from leaving to rescue Griffith forward) locked up in her thorny heart. The thorns haven’t come off.

Which makes the potential return of those memories ANOTHER Checkhov’s Gun - it’s got to happen at some point.

So obviously as of now we’ve seen that a major catalyst for those memories returning is just looking at Guts.

It happens every time she looks at him, which is obviously why she can’t.

So now we have three major powder kegs simmering, all of which have to blow at some point before the end of the series. A behelit that needs an owner. A dread warning that what Guts wants may not be what Casca wants. And all of Casca’s worst experiences and memories locked up inside her heart, unconfronted, waiting to be unleashed.

Dramatically, it didn’t really “feel” right to me for her to just get her memories back, lose her shit and turn into an Apostle. Even though it’s psychologically valid, it doesn’t strike me as.... narratively satisfying? Because I feel like something that big needs to be teased and revved up to, not unlike how the Eclipse kept coming up and being referenced and hanging over their heads for like 6 or 7 volumes. Not saying they would need to foreshadow it for 7 volumes but just something more than occasional vague references to her perhaps not wanting the same thing as Guts, for example because without that it would feel kind of like it came from nowhere. This is especially the case for someone like Miura who always wanted everything to be as dramatic as possible - Casca and Guts only got together because he thought it would be more dramatic, etc.

NOW. When Guts asks Flora to teach him how to activate the Behelit so he can summon the Godhand and instantly be killed fighting them (lets be real here), Flora tells him that the behelit will activate for its intended owner “at the very moment that the owner craves their power.”

So, when would someone crave their power?

How about when they find themselves in a city with someone they dearly love and no memory of all the horrors that were inflicted on them, and then their former lover arrives to save them, but looking at him causes awful flashbacks at which point she realizes that she’s literally surrounded by people who have raped (or tried to rape) and traumatized her as well as the murderers of all her comrades?

-Guts, who she loved but who attacked her multiple times and tried to rape her.

-Griffith, who she loved and who had all of her comrades killed and then actually did rape her.

-The Apostles?! WHO ARE NOW GRIFFITH’S ARMY? Guys, if she’s in Falconia, she’s not just in there with Griffith/Femto, she’s in there with the Apostles who slaughtered the Hawks and gangraped her into madness. And they’re all reformed and largely trusted members of the regular army of Midland now? I can’t imagine how this would feel to her.

-Hell, even her son literally shares Griffith’s body so she can’t be with him AND get away from Griffith.

There’s no... respite for her. No safe place. Even Guts attacked her, so what’s she supposed to do?

Feel powerless?

This would also...

-Pay off all the Casca/Griffith parallels. Of which there are many - Guts’ resolution to stay with her because he didn’t stay with Griffith and as a result everything went to hell, for example, or even just her position as the “leader” of the Hawks even when there are no Hawks left to lead. But also:

-This sneaky reference to Guts’ departure from the Band of the Hawk in Chapter 359: A Wall, in which Casca is placed in Griffith’s position on the ground, looking away.

I also do think that panel is meant to indicate that Guts is ultimately going to have to do this alone, whether literally or metaphorically. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up leaving the rpg party behind, which would make sense as well since Miura had said it was time to focus on Guts and Griffith’s relationship again.

Oho, but you may say, she’s Branded, Branded people can’t Sacrifice.

NOT SO MY FRIENDS.

Not only does Flora specifically note that it could be Guts’ behelit, perhaps, but...

Slan suggests it, and given that she’s one of the Godhand I daresay she’d know how possible it is.

In fact, what if all these things with Guts being named as a potential user of the behelit (including that bit right there, as well as Flora’s comment, etc) is meant not to foreshadow Guts using it but rather to let us know that a branded person can in fact use it so that we’re not confused if Casca does it. We already kind of know it won’t be Guts because Miura had said that he didn’t want Guts to get a bunch of powerups or lose his humanity because that would defeat the point.

And if you know my commentary about how Casca is basically just used to spark changes in Griffith and Guts’ relationship which this theory may seem at odds with... But it’s not, because obviously if Casca ends up going apostle because of the Eclipse, it furthers the tension between Guts and Griffith as it’s Griffith’s fault that this would have happened to her. Also, it could put Guts into a position where he has to decide whether or not to kill Casca, which seems like a terribly horrible Berserkish situation to put him in.

Long story short(lol too late): Right now if I had to pick the person that is likely to use it, it would be Casca. That’s just based on where we are now, though, things can always change, thoughts can always drift.

And that’s all!

#berserk meta #ariel talks about berserk #im a bit nervous about posting this #for some reason #but hey live dangerously

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fuckspn · 4 years ago

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fuckspn’s mini deancas fic rec

i said a few days ago that i would write a mini fic rec list, and here it is! i tried to limit it to fics i hadn’t seen on other rec lists before, but there are a few that i couldn’t resist adding even though everyone and their mother recommends them. there’s a whole section for “dean pulls cas out of the empty” fix-it fics because i know what the fuck i’m about. also literally all of these are deancas because i don’t read any other type of supernatural fic, and they all have happy endings because i’m not reading supernatural fanfiction to make myself sad.

a quick disclaimer before we start: i generally don’t like explicit sex scenes in fic unless i feel like they’re really narratively earned, realistic, in-character, and necessary to the emotional arc of the story. so while there are explicit fics in here, all but the last two on the list are sufficiently character- and plot-driven that you can skip the sex scenes entirely if you want.

Finale Fix-Its:

(they’ll never break) the shape we take by ~ME~ (Teen, 9k) Yes, this is my own fic, but listen, I wouldn’t have written it if it didn’t hit what I wanted to see in a fix-it! I’m not gonna make any promises as to whether or not you’ll like it, but I do, and that’s what matters here. Read it if you want to see basically every wrong prediction about the finale rolled up into one fic, if you wish they’d kept the Empty as a morally neutral outsider instead of a villain, or if you just like somewhat uncanny, slippery dream logic and gratuitous callbacks. Also even though idk if I’ll ever finish or publish it, I’m working on a fluffy domestic follow-up featuring, among other things, fixes for both Jack and Billie’s endings. I’m just saying that so if you read this fic you know that even though it’s not mentioned, Jack does come back and get to be a normal toddler with his two dads.

my heart a compass by lagaudiere (Teen, 10k) Again, I REALLY hope you like uncanny, slippery dream logic because that’s in this fic too! Cas POV is such a rare and difficult thing and I think lagaudiere nails it. Literally my only complaint about this fic is that at one point Cas imagines Jack having missing baby teeth at age 4 and my immediate reaction was to worry about why Jack would be missing teeth that young. This is because my brain is broken. Your brain is presumably not broken in the same way mine is, so you should enjoy this fic fine.

The World At Large by cenotaphy (General, 4.9k) This fic is so sexy because cenotaphy was like “hey what if there were actual stakes for Dean in the Empty besides the threat of losing the love of his life? Like what if he had a time limit? What if he got fucking stabbed?” and then somehow turned it into the softest little thing about how much all the characters love each other. Truly incredible artistic decisions made here. Despite being relatively short and deancas-centric, Sam and Jack get a lot of screentime here too and they’re absolutely delightful. Tbh you should probably read all of cenotaphy’s season 15 fix-its but if you’re only gonna read one, make it this. (Or Bring Home, but I’ve seen that one on so many rec lists that I think statistically everyone on Earth has read it.)

Other:

You And Your Husband by mikaylamazing (General, 17.9k) 5+1, Dean and Cas getting mistaken for a couple, 80% fluff then 10% angst that genuinely hit me like a gut punch then 10% fluff again. Dean and Cas are at PEAK old married couple in this fic. Yeah they bitch at each other constantly, but they also will tool around the country in their car like a couple of retirees and Dean will indulge Cas’ random flights of fancy even when they’re for something he hates, like the original Starbucks at Pike Place Market. (I’m with Dean on this one.)

Command Me To Be Well by prosopopeya (Explicit, 28k) Not gonna lie, this one hits the “angst with a happy ending” trope hard. The author is NOT fucking around with the warning for internalized homophobia, and I damn near cried at how Dean and Cas clearly loved each other and wanted to be together but just couldn’t because Dean’s psychological hangups were hurting them both. But not only does the happy ending come, the fic luxuriates in it—this is no band-aid slapped over the end, they genuinely fix their shit. Also, this fic has my favorite “Dean coming out to Sam” scene I’ve ever read.

Bring Up the Deep by deathbanjo (Explicit, 22.6k) Okay. Listen. Yes, this is the fic I was talking about the other day, with the tags that make it sound way kinkier than it actually is. And yes, technically this fic does contain dom/sub undertones and sex pollen. But look at me—hey, look at me. This fic owns. It’s a horror case fic, so it’s mainly plot (and three brief sex scenes, but two of those are part of the plot). The monster is genuinely creepy and creative, the supporting characters are enjoyable to read about, the setting is well-drawn, and the ending is something I’m still digesting but in a very enjoyable way. As far as the kinky tags go, the fic basically plays out like Dean and Cas (who are in an established, albeit new, relationship) are slightly randier than normal due to case weirdness: the dom/sub undertones are so light that I barely noticed them, the “sex pollen” is a deliberately unnerving plot device, and both Dean and Cas have nuanced emotional reactions to the whole situation that they are allowed to process and talk through with each other. I’ve never read A Complete Kingdom and never will, but if you’ve ever wanted a Deancas horror casefic set in coastal Maine that won’t leave you a shattered husk of a human being, Bring Up the Deep is for you!

Though The Course May Change by imogenbynight (Explicit, 51.5k) I’ve seen this one on a number of rec lists, but I couldn’t not include it because it’s just so fun. Another case fic involving Dean and Cas staying in a cabin in a rainy, semi-isolated location surrounded by colorful OCs, but this time the only horror is the prospect of fake-dating the guy you’re secretly actually in love with. It’s a delightful read.

More Than Ever by Sass_Master (Explicit, 20.2k) Canon-divergent fic from 2015 about Cas choosing to become human and Dean being a real bitch about it. It’s very fun, but I’m mainly recommending it because it’s part 1 of a series and therefore provides the necessary backstory/buildup for the next fic on this list.

You’re There by Sass_Master (Explicit, 11.5k) This is part 3 of the same series (part 2 is not required reading, it’s just a short explicit fic set in between these two fics), and while most of it is about sex, it’s also a fucking A+, 10/10, award-worthy character study of Dean and his internal relationship to his sexuality. Literally I was reading it going, “That’s it! That’s the Dean Winchester who lives in my head!”

till the juice runs by deathbanjo (Explicit, 8.4k) The epic saga of Dean’s terrible knockoff-Grindr hookups while Cas waits at home for him like if you could see that I’m the one who understands you been here all along so why can’t you see you belong w— Listen, I’ll be honest here, this fic is completely not my usual speed (lots of sex, relatively light—but not nonexistent!—romance, zero Big Emotions), so it doesn’t have much in common with any other fics on this list besides a rotating cast of fun OCs. It is, however, the single funniest fucking deancas fic I’ve ever read in my life. Fun minigame: count how many times one of Dean’s hookups is described as having messy dark hair and/or blue eyes.

#fic rec #idk how 'mini' this is at this point it's 10 fics #but that's only a tiny fraction of the amount of deancas fic i've read in the last 100 days so

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writingquestionsanswered · 5 years ago

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hi, do you have tips/do’s & don’ts of killing off characters/ death scenes? (i was sure you wrote an answer to something like this but i couldn’t find anything on your masterlist, so sorry if you did)

30 Tips for Killing Characters in Your Story

Every decision you make in telling your story should be made in the best interest of the story, which means you need to understand what impact it has on the story, why that's important, and how best to go about it. Here are some tips to help you with that process.

Character Deaths Should...

Serve a purpose beyond creating drama or gut-punching the reader.

Serve a purpose beyond furthering another character’s development

Illustrate something important about the plot or setting (e.g., that your character lives in a bleak, dangerous society; that the war they’re fighting is brutal, or that the terrain they’re crossing is perilous.)

Add deeper meaning to the story by reflecting or illustrating story themes or pointing to universal truths that can be drawn from the story’s events.

Be somewhere between expected and unexpected. You don’t want the reader to know what’s coming, but you want them to be able to look back and understand why it happened.

Good Reasons to Kill a Character

to set off a chain of events or reveal an important clue or information

to motivate other characters or help them grow (just not this alone)

to illustrate a universal truth in relation to your story

to illustrate, subvert, or underline a continuing theme

because it’s the only logical way to complete the character’s arc

Bad Reasons to Kill a Character

for shock value

to liven things up

solely for the development of another character

because you don’t know what else to do with them

because you don’t like them

Create Impact by “Showing the Math” for the Reader

Use foreshadowing to create a subtle sense of doom for the reader in relation to the character that’s going to die.

Spend time building up the bond/relationships between the character who dies and the characters who need to be emotionally impacted by that death.

Give the reader reasons to care about the character and what happens to them. Get them emotionally invested in the relationships they have with the other characters.

Establish the stakes surrounding this character’s death so that the reader knows the answer to “what’s the worst that can happen if this character dies?”

Making sure the other characters are aware of those stakes and will feel some impact from the character’s death beyond just an emotional one. (In other words, what else do they lose besides the friendship? A great navigator? A protector? Important clues that died with them?)

Don’t Forget the Aftermath

You previously illustrated the stakes of the character’s death (the “worst that could happen” if they died.) Don’t forget to show “the worst that could happen” actually happening as well as how that impacts the other characters and how they cope with it.

Be sure to show the emotional effects of this loss on the other characters.

Be sure to show the psychological effects of this loss on the other characters. (Is one character afraid to use magic now? Is another character now convinced their journey is a mistake?)

Show how this character’s physical loss is felt... like, if they were the best archer in the group, show another character’s struggle with being the new best archer in the group. Do they feel like they can never be as good as the dead character? Do the other characters trust this person as much? Are they as good? How do they cope with falling short if they do?

Don’t let your characters forget the dead character completely. All too often, a dead character is quickly forgotten and never brought up again. Make sure that loss is felt--emotionally, psychologically, and physically--throughout the story and especially during the climax (if they died before that) and during the end.

Other Things to Remember

Character deaths can kick off a series of important events, just be cautious of using the death of a female character as the catalyst for a male character’s story. (See “fridging” for more information here...)

Make sure the character’s manner of death feels like a natural result of what’s happening in the story. In other words, your character is crushed by a boulder after using magic to move it off a mountain pass your characters need to get through, versus they’re walking through the village one day and are randomly crushed by a falling boulder.

Every once in a while, a random, harsh, meaningless character death may be necessary. It’s up to you to decide whether that’s the case with this character or whether you’re defaulting to one of the “bad reasons to kill a character.”

You’re in control of your own writing. If your “muse” tells you a character needs to die but you genuinely feel it’s not in the best interest of the story, don’t do it. It’s as simple as that.

If you’re not sure about a character’s death, write it out. Follow it to its logical conclusion in summary. If it’s not the right call, you should be able to tell if it’s not going to work.

Good luck with your story!!!

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Have a question? My inbox is always open, but make sure to check my FAQ and post master lists first to see if I’ve already answered a similar question. :)

#tw death #writing #writing tips #writing help #writeblr #writing advice #wqaadvice

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ordinaryschmuck · 4 years ago

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What I Thought About The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

Salutations to you, random people on the internet who most likely won't read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons!

Gonna be honest, I didn't think The Falcon and the Winter Soldier needed to be a full-length TV series. I mean, if Spider-Man can discover that he didn't have to replace Iron Man in a two-hour and nine-minute long movie, then the Falcon can learn he can't replace Steve Rogers in the same amount of time, right? I was excited, don't get me wrong, but I didn't know how they can fit a plot for a movie into a six-hour-long series. Unlike WandaVision, which needed to be a TV show to get those TV homages right for each episode, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier didn’t sound like something that would honestly work better as a film. But, once it started airing, and my excitement increased each week, I can positively say that it would not have worked as successfully if it wasn't a TV series.

Unfortunately, I'll have to get into spoilers to explain why, but trust me when I say that if you haven't checked it out yet, you definitely should. Because I'm about to dive in (or fly in) as I explain why The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is easily in the top tier MCU projects.

WHAT I LIKE

Sam Wilson: If WandaVision was about developing Wanda, then The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is about developing Sam. He might share the spotlight with Bucky, but this is so clearly Sam's story. It's his journey of becoming the new Captain America that gets more of a focus, and it is one of the best aspects of the series. And as I said, it's similar to Spider-Man's journey in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Sure, this time, it's more about stepping up to the mantle, but both Sam and Peter have to learn how to be their own hero rather than replace the one left behind. In Sam's case, it's more than just being the new Captain America, but also being the black Captain America. I'll talk more about the implications of that later, but for now, all I'll say is that it was so engaging seeing Sam accept his role. Plus, even though Sam tries to carry Steve's title, that doesn't mean he's Steve Rogers 2.0. He has his own ardor and personality as Captain America, on top of still representing the aspects of what that title entails. Partial credit for that goes to Anthony Mackie, who does a phenomenal job of portraying a man who's inspirational and charming in all forms of hell. I'd salute him as much as I'd want to have a beer with him...except not really because I refuse to touch a single drop of alcohol. But Sam Wilson would make me consider it! Because he's that good of a character.

Bucky Barnes: Much like Vision in WandaVision, Bucky takes the sidelines as Sam acts as the main face of the series. Unlike Vision, however, Bucky's story seems more like its own thing rather than something that's connected with his co-star. In a way, it's better, but it also seems worse. Because without having it be locked with Sam's story, Bucky's is still compelling as it develops him further in his own way. His journey may not be as engaging as Sam's, but it's still entertaining enough to watch his own narrative get continued in small spurts. Although, the fact that Bucky's story has little to do with Sam's does have the unfortunate side-effect that he doesn't need to be there. His inclusion is very much welcomed, but I feel like Bucky dealing with his own guilt and trauma as the Winter Soldier could be something that can fill up its own series rather than half of one. That being said, Bucky absolutely needs to be in this show. The emotional turmoil that Sabastian Stan portrays so well hits hard, and his dry humor works for some comedic highlights. Bucky's half of the story might be unnecessary for plot reasons, but it is unquestionably necessary for enjoyment.

There’s a lot of talking: This seems like a misstep, especially since most superhero shows are bogged down by characters talking to pad out the run time. Although, the dialogue in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is more like the dialogue in the series Daredevil. There are more words than action, but nearly every line is so incredibly engaging that I do not care. Sam and his sister talking to a banker about getting a loan might not sound as entertaining as Sam being in an air chase against terrorists, but I surprisingly held onto every word being said due to how well-acted it was. Plus, these discussions help make these characters more human on top of making the world feel believable. I understand the argument of show don't tell, but to me, as long as the dialogue is written well enough and said convincingly, I can learn to live with it.

The Flag Smashers: The concept of the Flag Smashers intrigues me. The idea that a group of people believes things were actually better when half the world got turned to dust is a perfect concept for the MCU to explore. In fact, this is the third story in a row that dives deep into the consequences of what happened post-Infinity War and Endgame, and I'm all for it! The universe is forever changed by this one big event, and it's not going to be irrelevant anytime soon. For the Flag Smashers, they offer the most striking glimpse of how the world is forever changed. Now, I'll admit, after seeing doom and gloom in Avengers: Endgame, it would be better to see the benefits of the Blip that characters claim to have existed rather than told about them. But seeing how there were dozens of fans who made the audacious claim that Thanos was right, I don't consider it too far of a stretch to believe that the Flag Smashers could exist. Especially since the arguments that characters present do seem persuasive enough. It's only the actions that the group makes that derail any sense of the discussion. But in a good way...for the most part. But I’ll get into that later too.

The Reveal of the new “Captain America”: This was the dirtiest, sickening punch in the gut that the first episode could have ended on...and I love it!

John Walker: I often find the best antagonists are the ones I'm willing to psychologically analyze. That's John Walker in a nutshell. He is an arrogant ass who deserved to get slapped around when taking things too far. Yet, I always find myself coming back to those scenes where he seems conflicted about becoming the new Captain America. I get a sense that he genuinely wants to do the right thing and those moments when he asks if he is all but confirms it. John's problem is the constant support he's given by his friends. I'd argue that building his ego is the very reason why he gets frustrated so quickly by people denying him, as he often reacts like a toddler who throws a tantrum when a parent makes the "mistake" of saying “no.” This is why it's satisfying seeing people more powerful than John kick the s**t out of him because it results in his ego going through a well-needed deflation. Still, the constant frustrations he has for not being respected as the new Captain America makes his further descent into insanity all the more appealing to watch. Because him taking the super-soldier serum proves Dr. Erskine's theory is true: "Good becomes great. Bad becomes worse."

...And this is why the writers dropped the ball when trying to make John Walker redeemable. It's exceptional if that was the intention. After all, I did say there were glimpses of a man who wanted to become great, not worse. However, given what John does in later episodes, we're going to need more than glimpses to believe his switch from bad to good. Especially since his decision to set his anger aside to suddenly help people is a little too unbelievable for my tastes given how fast it happens. It's not an awful decision. It's just one that needed a bit more polish. I still find John Walker an incredible character regardless, but I don't blame people for being a tad more hesitant given how poorly paced his redemption arc came across as.

Readapting “Star-Spangled Man”: I adore this for two reasons.

Reason #1: It's a solid callback to Captain America: The First Avenger, which I will always stand by as my favorite Captain America movie.

Reason #2: It proves how much John Walker doesn't understand what it means to be Captain America. When Steve did this song and dance routine in his movie, he hated it. Better yet, Steve despised it. Because he wasn't helping anybody. He was just being a dancing monkey to appeal to civilians, and you see how much he regrets doing it with each show. For John, he relishes the whole thing, because of course, he would! John loves having his ego appealed to, and this routine is doing nothing but inflates it. It's a solid case of visual storytelling to prove to the audience just how disconnected John is from being Captain America. Steve or Sam wouldn't have done this, because being a hero is more than respect and adoration. It's about actually doing the right thing. A lesson that John desperately needs to learn.

Sam’s and Bucky’s bromance: You remember how I said that Bucky's dry sense of humor can be a comedic highlight? Well, that's only second rate to the times he and Sam bicker like an old married couple. Whether it's because of the writing, directing, or Makie’s and Stan's natural chemistry, seeing Sam and Bucky interact with each other is always a blast to see. And on top of being funny, there are these well-handled moments of drama shared between both characters that make their relationship convincing. It's why you can't have this series without Bucky, despite it so clearly being Sam's story that gets the more focus. Because without either character, we would miss out on some entertaining interactions that I wouldn't trade for anything else for this series.

Isaiah Bradely: Well, this character was a pleasant surprise. Although, "pleasant" might not be the right word because every scene with Isaiah is absolutely gut-wrenching in all the right ways. Carl Lumbly gives a phenomenal performance for a character that has been beaten down, with very little hope he has for any change that matters for his race. Plus, his backstory may not be as unbelievable as you might think. Between 1932-1972, America performed what is known as the Tuskegee Experiment. Scientists tested the effects of syphilis by injecting it into African Americans, telling them that they were receiving free health care when they didn't. So the idea that scientists tested super-soldier serums on African Americans, not knowing the dangerous effects, is not that far of a stretch. Neither is the knowledge that a black man was disrespected despite fighting hard for his country. If you researched African American history, you'll find that this type of horse s**t happens way more times than it should. It is heartbreaking, and Isaiah Bradley represents all of it. Thus making the little Isaiah exhibit in the Captain America museum all the more tear jerking just because of how sweet it is to see him get some semblance of a win. This level of discussion of what it means to be an African American is something I never expected with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but I greatly appreciate it nonetheless. What's even better is that these discussions don't end with Isaiah.

The discussions of racism: Again, this was something I didn't expect, but grateful for it nonetheless. I mean, I should have expected it given that one of the co-stars is black, but given how the story was about Sam being the new Captain America, I didn't think discussion of racism and racial injustice would come into play. Turns out that I was naive to think those things are separate. The burden of being a black Captain America is something that not many white people, including myself, consider a big deal. But looking at America's past and how others react to any African American in power, you realize that, yes, it is a big deal. Isaiah, and several real-life POCs in history, prove that America doesn't respond well to a person of color being better than the average white man. So it is easily reasonable to believe that there would be issues with a black man becoming a symbol of what America should be. Hell, I'm willing to bet that there were issues when this happened in the comics way back when. Not because of some bulls**t about how it doesn't fit with the character or story, but solely because they can't handle a black Captain America. And if you don't believe something like this wouldn't happen to someone like Sam Wilson, look back to that scene with the police who didn't know he was the Falcon. This crap happens every day, and it's The Falcon and the Winter Soldier that shines a light on it. Despite being something I didn't expect, the talks of racism are very much appreciated. And I'm as pale white as an introverted vampire. I can't even begin to comprehend how the African American community must feel about all of this.

Zemo: Who the f**k expected this guy to be one of the best things in the series?!

Seriously, from Captain America: Civil War, I wasn't too into Zemo as a character. I loved the idea that this powerless guy tore apart the world's greatest superheroes through intelligence and coercion. But his needlessly complicated plan and stale personality weren't enough to win me over. So when he returned, I expected to dread every minute of it. Little did I know that Zemo's comeback would skyrocket him into top-tier MCU villain territory!

Zemo is a character that, despite "helping" our heroes, still works on his own agenda. He might put them on the right path and occasionally assist in a fight, but only because he still won't stop at anything to make sure fewer super powered individuals are in the world. Because that's the thing about Zemo: His motivation was fine and understandable to a point, but his personality was flawed in Civil War. Here, I finally see how Zemo can work. Despite having no power, he uses his mind to look for any angle to control the situation, gaining an advantage even if it is for a short time. For instance, while he can't harm Sam or Bucky without risking his own life or jeopardizing his temporary freedom, he can still annoy the hell out of them. Like when he forced Sam into a situation where he had to drink literal snake juice. It's actually a ton of fun to watch, and I'm honestly glad that Zemo gets to live to see tomorrow. It means that he might make another return, and I can't wait to see what's in store for him in the future. Which is something I didn't think I'd say five years ago.

The Dora Milaje: It was actually pretty cool seeing these characters make an appearance, notably when they slapped around John Walker like it was nothing. Although, a part of me wonders that if Chadwick Boseman hadn't died last year, we would get to see T'Challa himself make an appearance. This lines up with the character, as I can see him dropping everything to hunt down the man who killed his father. Which would be just as awesome, if not slightly more so, to see. Still, we work with what life gives us. And what it gave are awesome cameos that make the MCU feel more inclusive about its characters rather than limiting them to their specific sections in the universe.

Walker killing the Flag Smasher: There is something so wrong with seeing that shield stained with blood. 'Cause here's the thing: Captain American can kill. He's a soldier. It's expected for a soldier to take lives for the sake of justice. What John Walker did isn't justice. It was vengeance. Vengeance that is fueled by anger rather than the need to do the right thing. Because when Captain America leads an army to kill the man who whipped out half the universe, that's fighting for a just cause. But when “Captain America” kills a man, the wrong man, for killing his best friend, that is an act of selfishness that no one would see your side on. And it was the final nail in the coffin that proves how John Walker does not deserve that shield.

Sam and Bucky vs. John: This might just be the best fight in the entire series. Not only is it so satisfying to see John Walker get everything that he deserves, but the whole thing was pretty intense to watch. After seeing what John can do with that shield, it makes moments when Sam and Bucky barely dodge his attacks with it all the more blood-rushing to see. Plus, Civil War's motif playing the background is another solid callback that fits well narratively since this is technically two superheroes fighting another superhero. It's an incredible scene that was worth the wait of four hour-long episodes to see.

Setting up Joaquín Torres as the new Falcon: I don't know if Marvel will follow through with this or even if they should. That being said, if they do, I'm all for it. Joaquín already seems like a pretty fun character, and his interactions with Sam show there's enough chemistry there to give Captain America a new wingman. I probably won't lose sleep if he doesn't become the new Falcon, but I'll still be excited regardless.

Madame Hydra: I know that she has an actual name, but I refuse to remember it due to how long and convoluted it is.

Anywho, we get a small glimpse of who Madame Hydra is as a character, but already I'm intrigued. She seems to have a fun personality, added by Julia Louis-Dreyfus' dry energy. Whether this is set up for the next big bad or just introducing a fun character, I'm interested. Madame Hydra was already a blast in the short amount of time she was in the show, and I can't wait to see what future installments have in store for her.

“Louisiana Hero”: Or as I like to call it, "Sam's Hero Theme." Because while this is the track that plays for the intro, it still shows up when Sam is training as the new Captain America. Not only is it insanely catchy, but I love that you hear a hint of the theme of Captain America: The First Avenger, yet "Louisiana Hero" is still very much its own thing. And that's another reason why I consider it Sam's motif because it fits precisely with the character. Sam is a person who has a hint of the good man that Steve was but still does his own thing when wearing the stars and stripes. Not a copy, but still heavily influenced by the original. So kudos to Henry Jackman for creating a musical piece that fits so well with a character far better than any other themes or motifs prevalent in the MCU. Because, let's be honest, there aren't that many.

Sam’s new suit: ...I mean, it looks cool. Kinda corny at times, sure, but points for comic accuracy.

Sam Carrying Karli: I mean, look at it.

This looks like something that should be painted and hung up on a wall due to how beautiful it looks.

Sam’s Speech: Two meaningful things are going on with this speech.

First, it proves once and for all that Sam Wilson is Captain America. He doesn't just fight for his country. He also believes the government that runs it should take accountability for any missteps before dealing with something worse than a person who took the term "rebellious teenager" into an extreme.

Second, it is so satisfying seeing Captain America tell government officials off about unjust treatment. Even if it does diddly-squat about anything in the real world, it's still a big moment that's effective because of the bulls**t that happens every day. It's far from an actual win, but it still feels good (I hope). And that still counts for something, right?

“We’ll need a U.S. Agent”: Credit to Louis-Dreyfus for saying a stupid cornball of a name and making it sound...not that.

WHAT I DISLIKE

Still running that Marvel Studios logo in every episode: It's still a nitpick, but its still annoying. It's alright if you want to use the full fanfare for the first episode, but at least shorten it for the rest of the season. Please? For the love of all that is holy?

The CGI: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has some pretty...not great CGI. It's not as awful as the CG in the DC shows on the CW, but it is way too easy to tell what looks real and what doesn't. Failing to make CGI convincing has been a problem in the MCU for a while, as most of the time, characters barely look like they really exist in the scene. To me, I compare it to when Red vs. Blue switches between actual animation and Machinima. The CG models stick out like a sore thumb to the in-game models, but at least it looks cool. Because while I don't believe that I'm seeing an actual man with bird wings flying through a canyon while chasing helicopters...it still looks cool. Still, not many people would be as forgiving as I am to this type of thing, so it's onto the dislikes it goes.

The direction of the action: Now I want to clarify that I have no problems with the action itself. Some fight scenes are pretty cool while also added with some exciting set-pieces that kept me engaged the whole way through. It's just the direction of the action that I have issues with. The camera is always shaky with so many cuts that it's hard to follow half the time. It's an understandable technique to hide the stunt double's faces or to make it look like it really is the actual actor who's doing the fighting. The issue is that once you know a show like Daredevil exists, with its plethora of well-directed action, the cracks in the armor become much more noticeable for a series like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Karli Morgenthau: Karli...frustrates me. Because on the one hand, Erin Kellyman does an impeccable job at portraying the heartbreak, frustrations, and determination that Karli has when fighting for her cause. On the other hand, Karli's cause is so layered with hypocrisy that it's hard to understand her position. She wants to prove how the world was better during the Blip, saying that everyone was happier then. So why do things like blow people up and kill “Captain America?” I get the latter. The guy's a d**k. But to prove to people how better things were, is death and destruction really the best choice to get that point across? I get the mentality of how people respond better to a harmful fist rather than a tranquil hand, but really, has that mentality ever worked out either?

However, you could argue that her hypocrisy is fueled by the super-soldier serum, with the "good becomes great and bad becomes worse" theory that John all but confirms. Although, unlike John, we never got to see Karli pre-serum, so we don't know how much it really had affected her. With John, it's easy as many scenes indicate how close he was to snapping and murdering someone who disrespects him. We don't get that for Karli and are left to assume she was already crazy about thinking how intense violence can show the world how great things were during the Blip.

Then again, that could be the plan. Show how a person with the best intentions is ultimately wrong, given the lengths they go through to accomplish them. It worked for Thanos, so it should work here. And it would have...if not for Sam saying that Karli has a point. Because for the main hero to say that the villain is correct, you have to show them doing more good than bad. I understand the mentality Karli, and the Flag Smashers, have. But by doing nothing but committing crimes and violence, any point they have is discredited. Take note of the fact that nobody but nutcases on the internet says that Thanos has a point. Because he doesn't. He's a maniacal supervillain who does something so intense that nobody should be on his side. It's similar with Karli, but because we're apparently supposed to agree with her, she doesn't work as well.

...DO YOU SEE WHY SHE'S FRUSTRATING?! Because while I can see how she can be an incredible character, there are so many holes in how she works that I fail to appreciate any of it. And seeing how she's the main antagonist, a character who takes up a good chunk of the screen time, it's not a good thing that she tends to flounder more times than she should. I want to like Karli, but given everything that's wrong with her, I just can't.

Rewriting Sharon as the Power Broker: This is an intriguing idea met with a mixed execution. You see, I like the idea of a character who was once an ally becoming a villain, yet the heroes have no clue about it whatsoever. It creates solid dramatic irony, but only if done well. With Sharon, it's not really done well. It genuinely feels like her character was changed radically to give her this personality. A fun personality, I'll add, but one that comes across as really jarring when looking back at her previous appearance. Don't get me wrong, a character's current personality feeling so radically different from their previous one can work a treat, but only when we see them go through point A to point B. We're told about the s**t that went down with Sharon, but unlike understanding the mentality of the Flag Smashers, her personality change would have been more effective if we saw it. So while I like the idea of Sharon becoming another big bad in the future, I would have liked it more if we saw her decline into possible villainy.

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By using my usual scoring system for MCU shows and movies, I'd give this season of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier a solid 8/10. There are problems. Quite a lot of problems. Hell, even the stuff I like comes with a fair share of issues. It's just a matter of asking yourself, "Do I like some parts more than I dislike them?" For me, I find myself enjoying much more than I didn't. It's not perfect by any means, but while it definitely falters at times, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is a series that soars to great heights. You might not be in love with it, but you’ll have a helluva good time regardless.

Now if you don't excuse me, it's time I swap from one superhero series to another as I share my more in-depth thoughts on--

#marvel cinematic universe #the falcon and the winter soldier #mcu reviews #what i thought about

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girlsbtrs · 3 years ago

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Tying it All Together: Music in Film Part 2

Written by Peyton Lawrence. Graphic by Moira Ashley.

WARNING! Spoilers ahead for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Us, and Across the Universe

Welcome back to today’s installment of the film and music series! Last time, we talked about a film’s score and what makes it work psychologically when it’s part of a scene. We looked at a little bit of film history and how a well-crafted score can help set the tone of an entire film. It’s no secret, though, that the score is only part of a soundtrack. Today, we’re going to be looking at the other part- the tie-in songs.

So, what even is a tie-in song? While a score is a primarily instrumental collection of music composed specifically to be the background for scenes in a film, a tie-in song is a song that fits the more traditional “radio-friendly” definition of a song. By this, I mean a song that follows a standard contemporary song structure, with verses, choruses, and more often than not, a lead vocalist (or two, or three, you get the picture) singing lyrics. These tie-in songs serve many purposes in a film. They can fill the shoes of the score, setting a tone and heightening the emotions of a scene, but with the addition of lyrics, we now have a more concrete reference telling us about what we’re seeing on the screen. In the iconic training scene from Rocky III, we don’t just get inspirational, uplifting music, but we also get Survivor singing at us about how the character is, “Rising up, straight to the top, had the guts, got the glory.” Subtle, right? On a more pragmatic level, these songs can be used as very effective marketing tools. Get a big-name pop star to write an original song for your film, and you’ve essentially secured yourself an audience of that musician’s fans.

Let’s take a brief interlude to explain diegetic vs non-diegetic sound in film. It’s pretty straightforward but it’ll matter when we look at how tie-ins can help with worldbuilding. Diegetic sound is sound that exists inside the world of the movie, i.e. a song playing out of the radio in a car the main character is driving. Non-diegetic sound is things we, the audience, can hear but the characters can’t. It’s important to note that scores are almost universally non-diegetic. Tie-ins, not so much.

There are two main sub-categories of tie-in songs. There are songs that were written specifically for a film and those that existed as a piece of music but were used in (and in some cases, made popular by) a film.

One of the most famous songs written for a film is Cèline Dion’s My Heart Will Go On, used in James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster, Titanic. The main melody mirrors that of the track “Rose” from James Horner’s score but adds Will Jenning’s saccharine-sweet love song lyrics and pop ballad style percussion and guitar. The song became the main theme and end credits track for the film. The one-two punch of Cèline Dion’s popularity and the overwhelming commercial success of the film (it’s still the third highest-grossing film of all time) led to the song topping global charts and eventually winning many prestigious awards, including two Grammys and one Oscar. While this song specifically was written for the film, this is a prime example of a relatively common phenomenon- when a song becomes synonymous with the film it’s used in. Don’t You (Forget About Me) isn’t just another 80s pop success, it’s the Breakfast Club song. Eye of the Tiger is the Rocky training montage song. Can You Feel the Love Tonight is the Lion King song. When a film becomes a cultural juggernaut, its music often becomes inextricably linked.

I could write an entire article about the genius of the scoring and soundtrack of 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but I’m going to try to control myself. Daniel Pemberton is a master at establishing musical themes in his score that are then expertly incorporated into the tie-in songs. In my opinion, one of the most perfect examples of this is the establishment of the distorted elephant noise as a signifier of The Prowler, an antagonist who is revealed to be the main character Miles’ uncle Aaron. The revelation that a man he previously looked up to is actually working for his arch-nemesis and his subsequent death is devastating to Miles. Eventually, however, the Prowler musical motif is used in the song What’s Up Danger, a song that plays over the scene where Miles comes into his own both as an individual and as his own unique version of the Spider-Man. The usage of this motif is so powerful because it acknowledges and accepts that Aaron was both The Prowler and deeply influential to Miles’ growth as a person. Every single tie-in song in the film is an homage to Miles’ heritage as an Afro-Latino kid from Brooklyn, featuring prominent black artists like Denzel Curry and Jaden Smith. It’s really a beautiful example of how tie-in songs can be used to add layers of meaning to a film beyond just setting tone.

Now into the world of previously existing songs used in film. I’d be denying myself if I didn’t bring up a horror film in some capacity. One of my favorite contemporary horror films comes from only two years ago, Jordan Peele’s Us. The way Luniz and Michael Marshall’s I Got 5 On It is used is almost the anti-My Heart Will Go On. Remember how we talked about diegetic sound? The song is first heard playing on the radio as the lead characters, the Wilson family, drive to the Santa Monica Pier. This introduces us to the musical theme that is then repurposed for the score. (Whereas My Heart Will Go On was in the score first then turned into a tie-in song… get it?) Our first encounter with the song is one where the Wilson family is having a bonding moment before any of the action really starts. It lets us get comfortable with the song, to associate it with a sweet scene in the film. Before long, Peele metaphorically smacks us in the face with the same melody by using it (non-diegetically, I may add) during the apex of the story, the boss-battle between Adelaide Wilson and the main antagonist- her tethered, Red. The usage of this melody that we were led to associate with family creates some interesting questions about the nature of the film as a whole. Do the people who exist freely aboveground have some kind of familial obligation to the tethered, their clones? Did Adelaide rob Red of the life and family she could’ve had by switching their places and forcing Red to go underground when they were children? Philosophical questions aside, the adaptation of the song is a much more carefully crafted and impactful version of another relatively common phenomenon, when a tie-in song is slowed down or otherwise altered to create dramatic effect. I’ll try to avoid passing judgment on this tool, nicknamed “trailerizing”. You can see it in the trailers for films like 50 Shades of Grey using Crazy in Love or the 2015 movie San Andreas using California Dreamin’. I hesitate to even mention Us in the same category as these dramatic interpretations of well-known songs, because while trailerizing a song can be effective marketing, it often is just that and doesn’t add much substance. Us does it very intentionally in a way that adds value and depth.

Lastly, let’s talk briefly about a genre of film that’s taken off in recent years. I’m talking about the tie-in song’s theatre kid cousin, the jukebox musical. Jukebox musicals are films that take pre-existing music, often from only one artist or group, and create a story based on an interpretation of the songs. One of the most iconic is 2008’s Mamma Mia!, featuring the music of ABBA. A significant draw of the genre is the utilization of familiar music to tell an entirely new narrative. For example, in the 2007 Julie Taymor film Across the Universe, music from The Beatles is reinterpreted to tell the coming of age stories of an ensemble of characters in the late 1960s-early 1970s. While the film certainly has its issues, it provides an interesting perspective on some of the most universally known songs in history. For example, the song I Want to Hold Your Hand is transformed from a pretty standard love song to a song depicting the longing that a young woman feels for another woman, and how it feels like an impossible romance because same-sex relationships were still very taboo during the time period when the film was set. Jukebox musicals will often draw criticism from music “purists” who don’t want to see their favorite artist’s work be given new meaning, but I feel that as long as the music is handled with care, getting a fresh look at old favorites can be a good thing.

Like I mentioned last time, there really is no way to fit all of film soundtrack history into one neat little package, and there are so many fantastic (and terrible!) examples of tie-in usage that I couldn’t possibly cover them all. Ultimately, music and the impact it has on us is so deeply subjective that the examples you find particularly successful in films you love will be completely different from the person who read this before you and the person who will read this next. And that’s a good thing! Every person brings their own experiences with them whenever they enter a theatre or pull up Netflix, and this allows for an infinite number of unique perspectives on how the film made someone feel or what questions it leaves them thinking about for days to come. Just like last time, I really encourage you to listen closely to the films that have stuck with you. Your sound designer friends will thank you for it, and in all likelihood, you’ll find something more to love.

#peyton lawrence

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darkarfs · 3 years ago

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my favorite WWE matches of 1997

Though I officially started watching wrestling in 1995 (my family famously first bought SummerSlam that year, which would be my first wrestling show ever, because it was $25.00. 1995 was a bad year for wrestling), I became a regular watcher of both WWE and WCW Raw and Nitro, and was able to buy my own PPVs, around summer of 1996, when Hogan turned. The first show I bought with my own money was In Your House: Buried Alive, though I kept up with weekly TV. And, for better or worse, I've been a fan ever since.

1997 was a REAL rollercoaster year for wrestling. The NWO was becoming a bloated mess in no time at all, Bret Hart was riding high, while he and Shawn Michaels publicly hated one another, a young Rocky Maivia was slowly transforming into the most charismatic wrestler of maybe all time, a young Steve Austin has broken his neck and can only work 5 minute matches but is somehow the most OVER wrestler in the company, and by the end of the year, the Screwjob happens, Bret's in WCW, Shawn's on handfuls of SOMAs (yet main-eventing). In a lot of ways, I'm grateful, because I side-stepped all of Hogan's WWF and WCW run. But it was a tornado of a year for a business always on precarious footing, as it ever has been.

And it gave us some CRACKING matches! - The 1997 Royal Rumble I love me a Rumble, and it's REALLY hard (but not impossible) to find a bad one (1993, 1995, 1999). And I personally love one with a storyline that runs throughout, and in this case, it's the ultimate heeling of Stone Cold Steve Austin. He visibly dominates the match until he hears Bret Hart's music, and then goes into panic mode. And it furthers the characterization of Bret's hand-spun narrative as being rightfully pissed that he's being taken advantage of by the roster, screwed by the company, and booed by the fans. Fun bonus: this is also the only Rumble appearance of lucha legend Mil Mascaras, who was so full of old-school carny spirit he famously refused to let anyone else eliminate him, so he eliminated himself, pissed Vince off, and was not spoken of again on WWE TV until the 2012 Hall of Fame ceremony, where he was inducted by his huge prick nephew, Alberto del Rio. - Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin, WrestleMania 13 This match is considered legendary, and for good reason. The greatest technical wrestler in the company vs. the best brawler, months of build, the world's most iconic (and off-the-cuff) blade-job (so much so that the visual of Austin bleeding in the Sharpshooter going "DAAAHHHH!" became the cover for his first VHS) and the wrestling world's most exquisite double-turn. It's fun, it's thrilling, it feels at once timeless and modern. Fun fact: there's a fun version of this match you can watch with just Austin doing commentary over it, and it's entertaining as hell. A true classic, and one of the greatest 'Mania matches of all time. - Ken Shamrock vs. Vader, No Holds Barred match, In Your House: a Cold Day In Hell Vader, famously, while a big teddy bear and a for-all-accounts lovely guy outside of the ring, had a reputation of being a bit "snug" with other wrestlers. Meaning he hit a little too hard, had little self-control, and took liberties with people, especially rookies and younger guys. It's supposedly why Shawn Michaels didn't want to work a world title program with him from summer to fall of 1996, because he was "too rough." But what never occurred to Vader is that trying that with a guy who's had 2 matches but has almost 5 years of MMA experience might not be the smartest or most prudent idea. Shamrock gives Vader as much as Vader gives him in this match, and there are moments where you can tell the guys are going into business for themselves. There's a moment where Shamrock is clubbing Vader with punches, and you can hear Vader, as he's turtling up and putting his arms up to block, yell "SLOW DOWN!" and then he rolls out of the ring to catch a breather. Vader, by the end of this match, is bleeding through his mask, a product of a broken nose, which is why I assume he gives Shamrock the stiffest short-arm clothesline I've ever seen. It's brutal, it's stupid, it weaves in and out of the script SO many times like a drunk man trying to stand up straight on a canoe, and I'm fascinated by each and every instance. - Owen Hart vs. the British Bulldog, European Championship Tournament Finals, Monday Night Raw, March 3rd Somehow, a workrate classic is stuck on a rinky-dink episode of Raw from Berlin, Germany. Smith and Hart blended some of their acquired WWE-style of work with classic junior heavyweight wrestling, complete with intricate reversals and fast-paced offense that was unlike either man's designed ethos of the time. Hart's shift toward his underhanded instincts as the match wore on provided enough story to balance the beautiful grappling from two men with impressive resumes. You can feel that these two knew one another, grew up together, and most importantly, wrestled together. An honest-to-God sleeper hit, but everyone who knows this match calls it a classic. - Shawn Michaels vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin, King of the Ring It's a concept that would be beaten into the ground in short order: Tag Team Champions that hate each other's guts. John Cena, seriously, has only been tag champions with people he's feuding with. That's

not even a joke. Austin and Michaels won the belts out of mutual dislike for the Hart Foundation, and then were programmed together for a wild match at the King of the Ring, one without a winner. Early on, the two actually pieced together a tremendous wrestling match full of nifty counters (prior to Austin changing his style after August for obvious reasons), before it degenerated into chaos after both men assaulted referees in the heat of the moment. Granted, neither man could really lose this one, so the screwy finish did serve its purpose. Until that point, it's a different type of incredible Austin match. You're never so happy to see a double-DQ finish. - Owen Hart & the British Bulldog vs. Shawn Michaels & Stone Cold Steve Austin, Monday Night Raw, May 26th And now we have a match set! The previous 4 participants in a brilliant and brutal tag team match. The Tag Team championship switch marked Austin's first piece of recognized gold in WWE, in a match on free television no less. That's not to insult the match any, as it was a pay-per-view quality fracas that barely slowed down. It is a mere 14 minutes long WITH entrances, but it moves at a clip, and everyone has their working boots on. It was a harbinger of days to come for this new period in WWE's history, and the crowd ate it up.

- Taka Michinoku vs. the Great Sasuke, In Your House: Canadian Stampede What happened here? Just when you think WCW had the cruiserweights cornered, WWE pulls this shit...and then kind of ignores it for a few months. But not before importing two of Michinoku Pro's finest to have a TakeOver-length exhibition. At first, the crowd in Calgary wasn't sure what to make of the undersized performers, but it wouldn't take long to win them over. From Michinoku's hands-free springboard dive to Sasuke's beautiful Thunder Fire Powerbomb, the expansive crowd was positively hooked on the daredevils with each passing minute. Although Sasuke wouldn't be long for the company, and Michinoku's run as Light Heavyweight Champion faded as 1998 wore on, the display at Canadian Stampede was a wondrous experience. This wouldn't have looked out of place in a Chikara King of Trios tournament. - The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart, Brian Pillman, the British Bulldog) vs. Team Austin (Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Legion of Doom, Ken Shamrock and Goldust), In Your House: Canadian Stampede I would have put this match on the list for the entrances and the finish alone. The crowd is at fever static for the entire match, seriously at the level of Punk/Cena at MITB 2011. And even though the Harts are the heels, they're in Calgary, and they get rock-star level ovations for merely existing. Everyone plays it mad and delighted, and you can tell they're all having a ball. Especially Pillman, who is just magically unhinged, a template for a young Dean Ambrose during their feud with the Wyatt Family. It is a magical, unreal main event, one of the best B-ppv main events maybe of all time. Well...other than MAYBE... - Shawn Michaels vs. the Undertaker, Hell in a Cell, In Your House: Badd Blood The very first Hell in a Cell match may very well double as the greatest of its kind. What stands out to me (other than how the match ends) is just how GREAT Michaels' selling is. When he's running away, he's constantly looking around for an exit, like a scared rat. When he finally gets caught and struck, he sells almost to the level he did for Hogan at SummerSlam 2005. But while he was doing that to make Hogan's offense look stupid, he's doing it here to make Taker's offense and anger look legit, and it somehow WORKS. But as fabulous as the match and the psychology is, it somehow takes a backseat to the debut of the Undertaker's monstrous little brother Kane, finally confronting his older brother in perhaps the greatest character debut in WWE history. - Mankind vs. Kane, Survivor Series I dunno what it is about this match that does it for me. Mankind's emotional lead-up to the match, where he's sad that Uncle Paul (Bearer) left him. Maybe the fact that Kane sells like Michael Myers, not so much that he's in pain, but as if he's never been hit in the face with a steel chair, a DDT or a piledriver. Maybe it's because Mick takes more horrific bumps than he needs to to make sure Kane looks like a legit monster. Maybe it's the broken Virtua Boy lighting. But it's genuinely unlike any other Mankind, Kane or ANY match I've seen before or since. It's a perfect somehow sympathetic serial killer vs. bigger, scarier serial killer that feels nothing story in a wrestling match. I didn't even know you could DO that.

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the-signs-of-two · 4 years ago

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Do you think there are still hopes for season 5? A lot of articles claim that there is no future for sherlock holmes and that we should give up our hopes of season 5. Thoughts?

Ouf.

Tough one. And a long one to answer. But I want to be truthful and thorough.

Based purely on advertising and how keen people are to keep audiences invested, I don’t think they’re allowing us much hope. It’s been almost four years and they’ve done very little to maintain any kind of hype or interest, perhaps with the exception of keeping the escape room going. The sad truth of it is that a show will rarely get picked up for a new series if the majority of viewers have moved on. And they’ve done very little to keep their viewers excited about the prospect of a series 5.

Then, of course, there’s the elephant in the room, whether you’re a hardcore TJLC’er or a casual viewer: the fact that series 4, on a surface level, was just... not very good. It looks and feels disjointed and very different from the previous series and casual viewers don’t want to spend hours and hours trying to figure out if it was actually better than its surface narrative. That sort of thing - taking a long hiatus, hyping a new series by saying it’ll be television history and then delivering a somewhat lukewarm product - drives viewers away. And like I said, if most viewers no longer care, chances are it won’t be picked up for a new series.

That’s one way to look at it. But what about the actual story?

The show is called Sherlock. And I think, putting my Johnlock-glasses to the side, you could actually argue that Sherlock does come full circle. In series 1, Sherlock is driven almost entirely by his logic. He’s arrogant, cocky and he makes a show of being disdainful and unfeeling, even if you get small glimpses showing that that isn’t actually who he is. With every series, Sherlock has moved further away from that and become a softer, more emphatic version of himself - a version of himself who cares more about making his close ones happy than about making himself look cool and mysterious. Series 4 does seem to complete that narrative. They made Eurus into the synthesis of everything Sherlock was and tried to be in the beginning of the show and turned that against Sherlock - and I actually really like that. I think it works. When Sherlock says that they’re “experiencing science from the perspective of lab rats”, we’re reminded of the time when he would do something similar: when he would pretend to be Ian Monkford’s friend to get information from his wife, when he would scare/traumatise the already traumatised headmistress to get information on two missing children, when he would compliment Molly’s hair to convince her to show him two bodies. In each instance, it was to do good, to get ahead in a case, but it was also a coldly calculated piece of manipulation, one which Sherlock showed zero regret for. The way he acted in first couple of series hurt other people - sometimes you wouldn’t feel any remorse for them, but sometimes it was Sherlock’s closest. Let’s take the most obvious example: locking John in a lab after (as far as he knew) drugging him, then providing him with sound effects and watching what would happen on the monitors. Don’t you think John experienced science from the perspective of a lab rat then? Sherlock is a different person now, but TFP also forces him to come to terms with the consequences of his previous behaviour. He has to confront logical problems - kill one man or three men, kill one man or two people will die, save Molly’s life etc. - but he has to face the emotional consequences of those logical decisions. He can’t just look away as he used to do. Seen in that way, I actually think TFP does provide a poignant culmination of Sherlock’s character arc. When Lestrade says that Sherlock is now a good man rather than a great man, it does feel earned.

However. Then there’s... well, everyone else. I’m pretty sure I could tell you what John’s character arc was all about in HLV. If this is the end, I no longer know what his character arc was. John makes horrible decision upon horrible decision in series 4. A cynical reading would be that he’s “stupid for the plot”. They needed to drive a wedge between Sherlock and John for TLD, so they didn’t care that John’s decision to blame Sherlock for Mary’s death in TST makes absolutely no sense. Then there’s the morgue scene, which... To be fair, it has actually been foreshadowed that John is a violent person. That he has very bad aggression issues and that he deals with a lot of anger in a physical manner. Sherlock isn’t perfect, but John certainly isn’t either. And I actually think the morgue scene could work in that light. Hear me out. Sherlock has done bad things to John, he really has, and all those things have been in line with his character and a reflection of his flaws. John beating Sherlock up could work in the same way. But it HAS TO BE ADDRESSED. When Sherlock does something morally reprehensible and psychologically scarring, it’s not presented as acceptable. When Sherlock locks John in the lab, you FEEL that what he did was unacceptable. John calls him out for it and it’s discussed. And this happens a number of times and each time, Sherlock shows more and more regret for his actions. He begins to apologise. He begins to try to change. If the morgue scene is going to work as a low point in John’s morality which prompts him to feel regret and try to change, it needs to be presented that way. It needs to be presented as bad (it is), it needs to be presented as a low point (it is), but it also needs to be presented as unjustified, unacceptable and inexcusable. No matter how you feel, beating up your best friend is never okay. Just as no matter how badly you need to solve a case, experimenting on your best friend by subjecting him to a terror-indusing drug and locking him up to examine the effects is never okay. But John isn’t called out for this and it’s never discussed. That leaves John with no incentive to change, no moment of remorse and regret, no need to make amends. So, in a way, the series leaves him at his absolute lowest. Which isn’t a character arc, friends.

Then there’s Molly. After the most heartbreaking betrayal of all time, the series just... ends. Like, she’s there at the end and it’s all fine. The part where the man she loved told her to tell him that she loved him FOR AN EXPERIMENT and then she took the opportunity to make him say it in return, clinging on to those three words like her life depended on it... yeah, that happened, but he presumably told her that he had to do it and it was all fine. No lasting emotional damage or mistrust there.

You could argue that Mycroft does come full circle too. In TAB, he decides to relinquish control over Sherlock and instead tells John to take care of him in his place. In TFP, he goes all the way and decides to die to let John live. In doing so, he acknowledges that Sherlock needs John more than he needs Mycroft, but also that John is better for Sherlock than Mycroft ever was. After a lifetime of controlling and watching over Sherlock against his will, he finally decides to let Sherlock go live his own life and make his own decisions. And he proves his love by being prepared to die to give Sherlock happiness with John.

So... yeah. I think some character arcs did actually come full circle, while others definitely didn’t. I just took the most obvious examples here.

As a background story for the Holmes family, I don’t really think it works. To me, it doesn’t explain why Sherlock and Mycroft are the way they are - and it certainly is weird that their parents seem so normal and unconcerned about the whole thing. Buried trauma is definitely a thing, but there doesn’t seem to be any obvious correlation between what happened with Eurus and who Sherlock was at the beginning of the series. As for Mycroft... I honestly don’t know how he feels about Eurus, apart from the fact that he’s scared of her.

Then there’s the part where John flat out tells Sherlock that a romantic relationship would complete him as a human being. This goes completely unresolved. Are we meant to assume that Sherlock called Irene after this conversation and they got together? 1) Why should we assume this? And 2) effing straight culture, let him be gay, because he is.

To summarise... I don’t think TFP works as a conclusion. Some things are resolved, some are not. I think there’s so much story and plot left unresolved that a series 5 would definitely have story points to work with. Also, once you’ve said that a character needs a romantic relationship, you need to go through with that or it turns into a major hole in said character arc.

Getting a little more tinfoil hat-y, I think the television history, gut-punch moment could be a recreation of the circumstances around The Final Problem. The Final Problem seemingly finished the Sherlock Holmes stories by having Sherlock die. People were outraged and deeply upset. It took ten years for ACD to undo it and reveal that Sherlock had actually survived. Trying to recreate the atmosphere surrounding a beloved piece of literature in 1893 - that sort of thing has never been attempted before and would be television history. And in that light, it would make sense that they aren’t encouraging the rumours surrounding series 5. They need to make people think that Sherlock is “dead” if they are going to resurrect him. That’s the tinfoil hat speaking, but I can’t help but find it an intriguing idea. And I would be DOWN.

Still, they didn’t need to make series 4 bad for this to work. They could have just made it end sadly. Series 4 being bad and difficult to understand lost them a lot of viewers. And sadly, viewers are what make shows happen. In that sense, I think it could backfire very severely if that is their plan.

So there you have it. I haven’t lost hope. I think there’s still story and plot and characters that would make series 5 worth making. And of course I’ve only discussed surface narratives in this post. If some of the theories proposed by us (EMP) should turn out to be correct, it could fix a lot of the problems with series 4 and make for a fantastic gut-punch moment in series 5. But I will admit that I’m concerned it won’t be greenlit because people have lost interest. If it’s no longer likely to have a large audience because series 4 was bad, they may not be able to make it even if that was their original intent. Or they may need to really amp up the hype when and if they make series 5.

I hope this long ramble answered your question.

#Sherlock #BBC Sherlock #S5 #my thoughts #anon asks

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sabre-tooth · 4 years ago

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Wolverine: Weapon X (2004) Novel Review

Wolverine: Weapon X Author: Marc Cerasini Published: 2004

If I had thought about the fact that Wolverine: Weapon X was almost certainly going to be one long, slow, unpleasant session of mental torture and brainfuckery I probably would have stuck it at the bottom of the pile and started with one of the other Wolverine novels. But I didn’t think about it; and it was the first novel in the omnibus. And the omnibus arrived in my mailbox before any of the other novels. So I started with Weapon X.

Weapon X is a long, slow, unpleasant session of mental torture and brainfuckery. I didn’t enjoy most of it. I staggered forward through the text with the attitude of a soldier slogging his way through hostile foreign territory, constantly under threat. So I guess you could say that the book is a success.

Frankly, that’s how I would describe the novel. A success. It is successful at what it sets out to do, which is to pull you into the abjectly grim and psychotically horrible world of the Weapon X project.

Do not read this novel if you are looking for a novel where you get to spend time with Logan being Logan, or Wolverine being Wolverine. This book is not a spy thriller. It is not a science-fiction adventure. It is not a story of the savage frontier, or the lawless honor of 1980s Japan. It is a story about a bunch of scientists attempting to torture a man until he stops being a man and becomes a mindless, programmable killing machine.

Since our ostensible protagonist is willfully robbed of all perception and agency throughout around seventy percent of the novel, the narrative instead follows the point of view of the scientists and security personnel running the torturous experiment. Broadly speaking, we follow the Professor, Dr. Cornelius, Ms. Hines, and Culter; getting a peek at each of their internal narrations and backstories, understanding what it was that drove them through every moral barrier to work on this morally reprehensible experiment. Each of them has a, broadly speaking, tragic backstory, some of them working better than others. Except Cutler. Cutler the security guy is just kind of there because he’s there.

I can’t decide if I like the inclusion of each of the scientists’ tragic backstories. On the one hand, obviously trauma can set people on the path to great evil. On the other hand, sometimes evil is very mundane. I would say that I am broadly satisfied with the handling of Dr. Cornelius’ backstory, and less so with the professor and Ms. Hines. Ms. Hines backstory particularly deals with some themes and content that is not only extremely dark in an unexpected way, but it’s also tropey, cliche, and borderline misogynist.

The Professor, meanwhile, I don’t think ‘deserves’ a tragic backstory. I say ‘deserves’ here in that I don’t think it serves the character or the narrative for his evil to stem from such a graphically and emotionally horrific incident. The Professor is without a doubt the least sympathetic character in the narrative and I don’t think his present evil behavior and his past traumatic backstory tie together in a way that is interesting or narratively satisfying. I suspect that the author was trying to attempt to shy away from the idea of simply being evil for evil’s sake, but I think that the narrative would have been served better either by leaving the Professor’s POV out of the narrative and keeping him as a more distant figure, or by suggesting the Professor’s tragic backstory rather than spelling it out in graphic and gruesome detail.

The bulk of the action in which we do get to share point of view with Logan are a series of flashbacks to a particular black-ops mission. While I was pleased to spend some time with Logan during these interludes and get away from the truly horrific medical horror happening in the rest of the book, the problem is not just that it's bog-standard--even bad-- spy thriller fiction in these sections; the problem is that the particular mission that we relive with Logan doesn’t have any bearing on or connection with the ongoing action in the present, barring one arbitrary detail. Arbitrary, I think, is the best way to describe it. It's a breath of air, breaking up the other narrative segments, but it's stale air, not fresh.

Speaking of the black-ops segments, I unfortunately can’t get through this entire review without mentioning the most uncomfortable part of these segments. Logan’s mission takes place in Korea, and the segment is absolutely full of ever-present casual orientalist racism towards Koreans and the Japanese. Skin is referred to as ‘yellow’, and two significant characters are straight-facedly given nonsense names the equivalent of naming an American character Stallion McBurger or something. Even as someone only casually acquainted with Japanese names and culture, reading the character’s name threw me out of the story every single time as I was forced to ponder if it was a fake spy name. Regrettably, it was not.

Overall, the novel mostly consists of long descriptions of medical and psychological torture as the narrative plods towards its inevitable, gory climax. I will give the novel this, though, when that gory climax hit, the blood, guts and revenge really did feel satisfying. Cathartic, even. The author manages to put you through a slice of the Weapon X program yourself, and through the other side with Logan.

The author’s prose is serviceable for what the novel is. It's gritty, and pulpy, occasionally cheaply poetic, and it put me in the mind of Max Payne. I didn’t hate it at all. Additionally, the author manages to pull off one great gut punch of a reversal that I won’t spoil. I will however say that this twist doesn’t significantly alter the emotional payoff, which is good. Like I said, Weapon X the novel is successful at what it sets out to do.

I’m not certain whether or not I’m pleased to have read this novel. On the one hand, I don’t regret the time that I spent with it. On the other hand, I’m definitely ready to move on to something that isn’t deliberately sledgehammering me with medical and psychological horror. In the end, I think Wolverine: Weapon X, like the Weapon X project itself, is an unpleasant but ultimately strengthening experience that’s best regarded in the rear view mirror.

#wolverine #weapon x #logan howlett #book review #marc cerasini #personal thoughts #not reblogged

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capricornus-rex · 4 years ago

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Someone Left to Save (8)

Cal Kestis x Reader

Requested by Anon

Summary: The Mantis crew arrives to the capital of Ulfin, in the planet of Pevera, under siege. They meet the local rebel cell spearheaded by the former Republic admiral, Jax Beneb, who seeks to destroy the Empire’s occupation that was aggressively imposed upon while exploiting the planet of its natural resources. A plan is devised to destroy the Imperial’s main base of operations—as well as their influence—in the planet; however, it was a do-or-die mission that you and Cal had gotten yourselves caught in.

A/N: My computer just died on me twice now. Whatever bullshit it’s trying to do, it’s not helping my anxiety at all lmao I’m just outliving its usefulness until it actually dies for good... that is until I get a new SSD and HDD.

Tags: Force-Sensitive! Reader, Inquisitor! Reader, Jedi! Reader, Fake Death, Jedi turned Inquisitor, Seduction to the Dark Side, Turn to the Dark Side, The Dark Side of the Force, Aftermath of Torture, Torture, Psychological Torture, Redemption Arc! Reader, Possible Redemption, Premonitions

Also in AO3

Chapters: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 | Previous: Part 7 | Next: Part 9 | Masterlist

8 of ?

“Hey, get up! It’s time for your daily exercise,” a Stormtrooper grumbled on the other side of the ray-shielded prison cell.

You sit there inside—eyes closed, in a meditation position on your knees, hands on top of them. Purposefully ignoring the guards, they tagged you as stubborn, dismissive, and ignorant. They can’t comprehend how you’re perfectly unmoved by the shouting and the banging of their weapons against the walls to draw your attention.

You can hear them, alright. You just chose not to listen.

A lie. Your mind spoke.

Ever since they saw your display against the Second Brother, the so-called “daily exercise” is a kind word they used for the gladiatorial training they throw you into. Everyday, they’d force you out of your cell—which, ironically, is the safest place you could ever be in this predicament—and each time you resisted, a strike on the head or the first body part they see is what you get in return. Once in the dojo, you face a wave of enemies; at first it was a batch of Scout Troopers—they were quite easy to fight—next they started mixing it up with Scout and Purge Troopers, and eventually they used Purge Troopers for your duels, the latter persisted for the rest of your days in the prison.

Sometimes no one knows who is whose training dummies—regardless, the fights went on and the Purge Troopers treated it like a breath of fresh air every time.

“HEY!” the Stormtrooper, impatient of your unresponsiveness, punched the wall at you. Your reaction defeated its purpose. “Do you hear me?! I said stand up!”

“Hey, don’t cause such a ruckus. It’s just one kid,”

“Are Jedi always this stubborn?”

The second Stormtrooper made an incoherent, indifferent grumble as he shrugged his shoulders, wanting to end the small talk and just wait until your budged. When there was nothing but silence, spare the muttering complaints of the guards in the midst of the silence, you relished the peace again.

“Well, finally,” you quietly tell yourself and hung your head down.

There were worse things to worry about.

Visions revolving in hate, anger, and even death—these were the images that you cannot purge from your mind. Not even the purification of meditating proved to be of any help. Something was clouding your mind in the Force and bent them to their malignant will.

Much later, the ray shield died down at the push of a button. The same, irate Stormtrooper enters your cell, but you remained still as a stone. His boot harshly bumps into your knee.

“Hey,” he nudged. “Stand up!”

Nothing.

Again, he kicked your knee, hard enough for it to bruise in a few minutes.

When he’s had about enough, he kicked you in the stomach—he made it precise for the tip of his boot to rupture your gut. As you were weak—which he took advantage of—you curled up, hugging yourself with your arms coiled around your torso, you writhed in pain while supporting your entire weight with one hand planted on the floor.

“Don’t make me hit you again—though I wouldn’t even need a reason!“ he snarled.

You sharply, nasally inhaled; fingernails scratching against the dirty metal floor of the cell as you wait out for the pain to alleviate. Your eyes flicked open and your head jerked up, shooting the Stormtrooper an unwelcoming, hateful look in the eye—he didn’t want to admit it, but he flinched when he saw your bloodshot eyes: dark circles framing it, and the linings swelling in a burning pink hue.

“Come on, Jedi, we got a long ahead of—”

A soft rumble in the air hummed around the cell. Apathetic eyes stared at the Stormtrooper, watching him gag, desperately gasp for air through the barely-breathable helmet, and claw at his neck. He submitted to his knees, in the same level as you sitting down leisurely in the middle of the room, and it’s as though you two saw eye-to-eye—through that black tinted visor, he catches an arrogant smirk curling at the corner of your mouth, and he realizes too late that he’s crossed you.

You were neither a Jedi nor an Inquisitor. For now, you were something in between. Your madness is basically limbo.

You slowly raise your hand, your fingers are curled in a chokehold but there was still a gap around them, though it didn’t stay that long because with an abrupt closing motion of the hand—a popping sound came from the Stormtrooper, his head had twisted to an abnormal angle, and then his corpse made a loud thud that alarmed his companion.

“Hey, what’s going on over th—?”

Horrified, the Stormtrooper choked on the last words of his sentence. He stood there frozen in the hallway, contemplating whether to step inside to pull the dead Stormtrooper out of the cell; his course of action was to contact the maintenance assigned to the prison block to get you. The crew was equally afraid of you, but since they know in themselves that they’ve never crossed you, they’ve got nothing to fear—although it’s the way you look at people is what scares them, it’s rather more of an upward glare than a look.

Minutes later, the Second Brother strolls into the prison block as if it was some kind of leisurely pastime. At his command, the ray-shield disappeared and he let himself in your cell.

“Hello, little thorn, can’t be late for your daily exercise,”

“Says who?”

“Says me, the Seventh Sister, the Fifth Brother, and the Grand Inquisitor,”

“I’ve never seen the Grand Inquisitor. Though, none of you have autonomy over me.”

The Second Brother stood still for a brief second, his shoulders rose as he took in a big sigh. The hand behind his back hoisted to his helmet, the duraplast clicked and the mechanisms of the mask hissed as it loosened up. This was your first time seeing the bare face of the Inquisitor.

A human male, his fair skin was an open book written with scars and bruises—a few of which were by your own hand during the exercises—a pair of brown irises twinkled but you detect the apathy in them—the expression in them was a dramatic contrast to what you imagined him to be without that mask. He seems to be growing out his shaven head, there was a short yet noticeable length of hair. From his complexion, you wagered he’d be in his thirties. He bent down while keeping his helmet in one hand and tried to parlay with you in getting out of your cell.

“While you sit in these sorry walls, we have perfect autonomy over you,” he raises his free hand, a single finger extended. For each word or two, he poked your forehead to make sure you got the point. “No matter what you think.”

“You’re still not going to make me,”

He did a series of facial expressions to highlight his mock pensiveness: rolling his eyes, bobbing his head as he made a squeaking noise with his tongue against his teeth.

“Well, we don’t have the time to be very difficult, little thorn,” he clicked. “Unless, of course, we can ask your sweet Cal Kestis to make some arrange—!”

In the blink of an eye, you repeated the same action with the Second Brother, only this time you’re using two hands to choke him using the Force. They’ve exploited your mind by using Cal and whatever predicate they can come up with to trigger you—and they loved it when you’re easily stimulated by the mere mention of his name.

They’ve fashioned you into their personal time bomb and plaything altogether, saying the “magic word” to make a puppet of you and your emotions.

“Provoke me again with his name and what you plan to do with him—it’s your neck I’m snapping next!” you angrily growled.

The Second Brother tried to fight your chokehold, but he did it with more grace and dignity that he can afford. It was never your intention to instill fear, but your aggression is what cements it to everyone in this fortress. You expected him to gag, but you heard hints of snickering while he claws at his neck; regardless, you continued choking him.

A few more minutes lapsed before you decided to let him go out of your own volition. He coughed as he fell lower to your level, you’re practically looking down on him right now as he catches his breath.

Look how pathetic… you thought.

Over the Second Brother’s shoulder, you spotted the Fifth Brother standing in front of the door, unamused and grumbling like a freighter’s engine. You shot him the same bitter look you gave to the Stormtrooper and the Second Brother.

“One last time, [Y/N], I personally don’t like repeating myself—or anyone else, for that matter.”

The Second Brother regained his composure, dusted off his armor, and stood by. When you didn’t obey the Fifth Brother, he took matters to his own hands—literally. Shoving past the Second Brother, the other Inquisitor dragged you out of your cell.

“Get up and follow.”

The Second Brother hooked his arm around yours and followed the Fifth Brother.

“Where are you taking me?”

“No questions. Just follow.”

They escorted you to the dojo again. Waiting at the center of the room is the Seventh Sister, this time she wasn’t wielding an electrobaton, she was holding her own red haloed saber. The Second Brother shoved you away to face her; she raises her hand, in it was a weapon and she tossed it to you.

Your fingers trembled, you reluctantly wrapped them around the hilt. The steely coldness eventually warmed up around your palm. The glossy, dark grey finish distorted your reflection when you held it level to your face. The female Inquisitor stepped back—so did her two other companions—and ignited her saber. Your heart dropped to your feet when you heard two more buzz in succession. All of a sudden, your knees felt wobbly, you spun around, looking at the crimson rods of light glowering over their sinister faces.

“Go on and fight us,” the Seventh Sister initiated.

She didn’t want to hear anything from you. She immediately put herself in a stance, and then the two other followed. Having no choice, you did the same—one push of a button ignited a single beam, until you spotted the second switch and the latter half emitted out of its cylinder.

The three of them ganged up on you, but it was the Second Brother and Sixth Sister who were more aggressive with you. The Fifth Brother fought with great calculation and precision, conserving his strength for the next attack only to overwhelm you while assisting the other two. Lost in the thrill of the fight, the same burst of energy returned to you.

It was addictive. You didn’t know it was poisonous, and yet you kept on using it to your advantage. You know it to be wrong, but you cannot will yourself to break away from it. Like a leech, you’ve bitten into it.

And you liked it.

“Raaarrgh!!” the Seventh Sister roared as she swings down her saber.

You deflected the two with both ends of your given saber and pushed them back. You recompose yourself into a much more proper stance, then fixate on the Seventh Sister; you’re able to match her strength—if not her caliber—and equal your odds in this duel. However, you still have the Second Brother to deal with.

“Whoa, look at her go, Sister!!” the Second Brother cackled.

The Seventh Sister comes charging right towards you, but she was blocked at the last second, and before she could even pull away to afford an attack—you planted your sole of your shoe flat onto your stomach. She staggered and clutched her torso with one hand; quickly, you turn your attention to the Second Brother, who was evidently much feistier than Seventh Sister. He took most of your time—a pair of dual-ended sabers cutting through the air, their lights curving as they’re swung by the wielders, and sparks flew to light up the rest of the room.

“I guess the tough girl is back now, huh, little thorn!? Cal Kestis would be so impressed! You could practically kill him for abandoning you!”

That did it. Relying again once more on that intoxicating energy that granted you the strength of five Jedi Masters at best, a massive push of the Force sent everyone flying—even the hulking, six-feet-or-so Fifth Brother wasn’t spared by that immense wave of energy!

Only you remained standing in the circle, you looked around—there were so many targets to choose from! You had a vendetta for each one of them. You strode towards the one who gave out the taunt first—the Second Brother—while he was still shaking off the nausea, he reacted at the last minute and lousily deflected your hits.

Left end, right end… they all flung to his direction and he could not keep up with the speed of your wielding while suppressed of fighting space. He could only block you for so long.

When you sensed his sword arm becoming weak, his jawbone met the hard sole of your shoe and rendered him incapacitated. Next was the Seventh Sister, she was just about to hoist herself up back on her feet until she saw you sprinting toward her—she had time, albeit little of it, to evade you but your sabers still clashed. She kept up with your pace—all the twirls and flashy footwork, she matched it all—but she was overwhelmed by how heavy your attacks dealt. You bore your weight on her as she deflected you and never has she ever felt so intimidated in all her life! Your eyes—now devoid of empathy and flooded with rage—blended perfectly with the redness of the saber. You were satisfied when you saw the Seventh Sister struggling, it’s plastered all over her face!

“Oh, look at you, the shrewd sister is overtaken,” you taunted, basically parroting the Second Brother’s trademark singsong. “By a damn prisoner! Hah! How does it feel to have your pride stabbed right into its gut, huh?”

Before she could even react and respond, you staggered the female Mirialan again and this time she stayed down—your fist to her cheek made sure of it. The third and final enemy: the Fifth Brother. It was brawn against brains. Strength versus dexterity. After all, what good is brute strength if you can’t even utilize it efficiently?

“Come on, big guy—I’m wide open!”

The Fifth Brother wasn’t a fan of being taunted. He charges on like a deranged Reek, his saber brandished up in the air, ready for an overhead strike but you slipped away in the blink of an eye and slashed him from behind. All three of them exchanged glances with one another and then nodded in agreement, as if they’ve had a Plan Z all along; three Inquisitors come charging towards you, but before they could lay a finger on your hair, you planted your fist hard into the tiled floor—your knuckles swelled and then bled the same time the tiles cracked.

At first, the cracks stayed only within the radius of your fist, until they multiplied and spread. From thin crosshairs to actual breakages along the surface, the marble broke into shards and was sent flying with the current of the Force energy that sourced from your punch—like seashells tugged by the waves as they’re beached to the shoreline. The shards cut through the Seventh Sister and Fifth Brother’s cheeks, they had to shield themselves with their hands—consequentially getting their palms and fingers nicked as well.

It was too strong for them to fight, rendering you untouchable until the wind died down. The loaned lightsaber which you used so skillfully fell from your grasp and clattered to the floor.

Silence. Soft, tired gasping of air. And then a single, slow series of applause followed.

Everyone searched for the applauder.

The Grand Inquisitor.

He was hauntingly terrifying, alright. Ashen as bone, blood-red streaks painted on parts of his face, and a pair of topaz-gold eyes. He walked past the felled Inquisitors and stood in front of you—his height obviously lumbered over you that you had to step back to fully acknowledge him and look him in the eyes without breaking your back.

“Well, well,” he cooed, bringing his hands behind his back. “It seems that we have a new face among us.”

You panted one last time, and used the Force to bring the haloed saber back to your hand. You poised your demeanor in front of the Pau’an, and with a dark, sinister grace—you bend your knee, the black, weathered saber is presented in your hand to the Grand Inquisitor. A smirk curled along his ribbed skin, showing a corner of his jagged, pointed teeth.

“Welcome to the fray, Twelfth Sister.”

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spoilertv · 1 year ago

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#SpoilerTV

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latin-dr-robotnik · 5 years ago

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Netflix’s Castlevania Season 3 - final thoughts (spoilers ofc)

Last night I finally finished up watching the newest season of Castlevania, and I think it’s probably my favorite so far, just for a simple reason: the suspense.

After season 2′s big fiery climax, life in a post-Dracula world could’ve gone wrong pretty easily in this season, either by being too boring (due to the main force behind the first two seasons being resolved) or by bringing the old man himself back too early (showing a potential lack of identity for the series beyond Dracula vs Belmont). Season 3 does neither, and instead opts to take the (mostly) happy ending of season 2 (except for Hector and Isaac) and twist it so fucking much throughout the season in such a way that it felt like psychological horror in some places. Take the whole “Visitor” thing as an example, the beast itself is more of your typical big demonic baddie, yet it’s shown only during a flashback, and then is hidden for most of the season while the characters wonder about what’s going on with that thing, and the reveal is so stressful due to a lot of suspense built up from the monks’ secret agenda, their awfully unsettling looks, and a wonderful sound direction (that theme used for The Visitor reminds me of the synths used in Celeste to show Madeline’s panic attack, and here it’s just as distressful as there). Stuff like this make you feel the dread of lots of bad things coming by the end of episode 8...

...and bad things came indeed.

The lenghty buildup pays off in a two-episode long climax that fires on all cylinders from the start. And while season 3 as a whole isn’t as violently graphic as previous seasons, the climax gets brutal really quick, mostly through psychological means. That’s not to say this season isn’t violent, hell no, it’s still fucking nasty (which is par for the course for a series that started its runtime by burning Dracula’s wife by the fucking Inquisition and showing the entire process), it’s just that the psychological component is way stronger in this season, specially the way they used sex as a manipulation conduit. That’s a big highlight to me.

Another example: Isaac’s attack on the magician’s tower isn’t nasty because of sheer violent power, but because the sole thought of the magician controlling all the people and “turning them into ants” is scary as fuck. The same goes for Hector and Alucard, who went through a lot of emotional pain and manipulation (they have two of the biggest top 10 anime betrayals moments ever), and then, well... let me unpack first.

I can safely say that the climax blew my expectations out of the water. Although I saw some things coming (like Saint Germain’s purpose being fulfilled by the end of the season, or Hector ending badly, again), most of the stuff I predicted was overshadowed by the actual twists of the climax. The fight with the monks and The Visitor is the usual Castlevania epic demonic fight climax I’ve grown used to by this point: it’s flashy, hyping and it’s once more a “we almost didn’t make it but we did” type of deal; yet Trevor, Sypha and Saint-Germain’s victory is immediately undermined by the biggest twist of the season: the Judge’s secret. I mean, I think we all knew there was something up with that man and his apples, but I never expected it to be that disturbing. That’s some Witcher levels of fucked up (it reminded me a lot of the best sidequests from the games, that’s why I mention the series :P), and another one of the “people are fucking monsters” moments this series has always had. It’s also the second biggest gut punch of the season (you already guessed what’s the biggest one). With that twist presented, the heroes’ victory is no longer a thing to celebrate, but a “let’s get the fuck out of this village and never return” situation, something I really like to see for a change. Sypha herself is a perfect representation of this season: from a happy-go-lucky adventurer to a tired, upset woman that has seen some of the most disturbing shit so far. She’s fucking pissed, and Trevor is too, his closing "we’ve been living your life, now we’re living mine” is just fulminating.

That’s not to say this is a perfect season, though. My biggest gripe is that the big season 2 cliffhanger (Carmilla betraying Dracula and looking like the next big baddie to beat) went this entire season just setting itself up for the future, something that -admittedly- was interesting as ever to see (the character arcs and motivations are so well done), but underwhelming to find out the big plan is still being, well, planned. Isaac’s journey in this aspect was way better developed, but I’m still thinking about how it ended pretty abruptly. Idk, I feel like I don’t get it yet, or that we are supposed to be left with that weird empty feeling.

Another thing that I didn’t like was how Dracula was teased. I mean, I miss the old man, I really do. I miss his drama and melancholy. I miss his wonderful acting. But like I said earlier, bringing him back at this stage could’ve potentially set this season up for failure. Still, I got hyped when I saw him, embracing his wife once again on the hellish representation of their burned down house. I screamed and I cheered when he looked back at us, and when it seemed he was going to reach the portal back to Earth, he got instantly denied, and Saint-Germain’s purpose was fulfilled instead. Why tease him like this? Just to remind us how far we’ve come from the series’ original plot points? I felt jebaited so hard.

But I think that’s it. All in all season 3 has been a great time once again. Well, actually it’s a mostly painful and sad to see experience, just for the shit the characters we grew to love went through (our poor boy Hector hasn’t made a good choice since, idk, he originally joined Dracula I think? And, oh boy Alucard is in such a hurtful moment to be), but I loved it. Lots of drama and suspense, with a bad ending that is perfect for this moment in the series’ life, and with a healthy amount of questions to answer in season 4 (except for Carmilla’s season 2 unresolved shit). I can say season 3 is a worthy experience to watch through.

(also, is it me or is Lenore setting herself up for something bigger? I mean, I don’t fucking trust her “hey sisters if you put this magical ring you’ll control Hector and his beasts like I currently do, and it’s not like I’ll totally screw over all of you and subject you to my will.” I know she’s loyal to her sisters and they all already have rings of loyalty and yadda yadda, but idk, I don’t have a good feeling about her. That could be a cool S4 twist tbh.)

#castlevania #netflix #castlevania spoilers #the thing about bringing dracula back at this point in the story is that #what would he do?#i mean i don't think he would return to his old 'kill all of humanity' plan #nor do i think he would pursue revenge towards alucard trevor and sypha #the old man just wanted to be left alone in peace #and also with his wife #so i don't know what we would get in return should he return to earth #also i think this season is trying to set up alucard for something #but i think our boy will just craft himself a coffin to sleep through once again #and not have to deal with more human scum #he looks very emotionally hurt though #and who wouldn't?

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battlekidx2 · 5 years ago

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Infinity Train Book 2 Thought/Review

I wasn’t sure what to think when I saw Infinity Train will return at the end of the first season. I felt that it was a really good self contained story that didn’t really need a continuation to feel satisfying to me and I was nervous that they would try and churn out more and more episodes and seasons and maybe lose what I initially loved so much about the show, but I have never been so happy to be wrong. Infinity train book 2 managed to, in my opinion, be even better than the first season. Lake’s journey was one of the most real, emotional, and heartfelt I’ve seen in the past year. They took what worked with the first season and expanded on it. They took the heart and willingness to explore real and painful emotions as well as expand on the world of the infinity train.

Lake was such a strong character that I haven’t been able to get her out of my head since watching the season. The way the show portrayed her journey and existential dread over not being her own person just a reflection was phenomenal. The last few episodes of the season where she is left to struggle to find her own way out and growing despair were the strongest of the season. They were, in essence, a character study. My personal favorite episode was “The Tape Car”. The scene where Lake fails to get her own number and grabs onto the robot begging it to look at her, that she is a real person, and then breaks the robots in the midst of a breakdown was so full of raw emotion and desperation. I couldn’t help but feel sad for her situation and want her to escape the train just as badly as she did. The whole scene felt like an emotional gut punch and I had to rewatch the scene quite a few times afterwards because I couldn’t get how it made me feel out of my head. And that’s what I like the most about shows, having a character, episode, plot point, or scene that blows me away and sticks with me after the show is over. I like it when a show is able to evoke strong emotions from me and make me look back on it positively and this season managed to do that with Lake. Her question about whether she needs a story like the dead lizard struck me because she has suffered and struggled and grown. Her struggle has been real and just because the robots couldn’t see it and she doesn’t have a number doesn’t make it any less true. She’s had to fight to experience even the simple things that people take for granted and yet she wasn’t allowed a number or a way off despite working to grow unlike many others on the train like the people on the mall car. When she is finally free after all her struggling and finally able to look at her reflection without fear it felt validating in a way. She is finally free of the constant fear for her life and freedom and she can finally embrace her initial identity as a reflection and make it her own.

Lake’s relationship to Jesse was another strong part of the show’s season. I really liked the dynamic that they had with each other and how it made them grow as people. Lake made Jesse stop giving into peer pressure and do what he wants and what he thinks is right despite the fact that other people may not like it. This is a characteristic that Lake starts out with, alibi a bit to the extreme, and she is able to teach Jesse this lesson because of it. Jesse is more open to people and get Lake to first open up to him and the possibility that she doesn’t have to be alone, that connections are another part of life that she has the right to experience. They both had to find a way to define themselves outside of the expectations and pressures of others. It’s hard not to be devastated when they get separated and be happy when they finally both get off the train together.

This season just seemed to hit more emotional beats for me than the first. And that’s saying something because I thought the first season was really good at addressing the problems that it dealt with and conveying the frustration and denial that Tulip was going through. This season spoke more to me personally. Both Jesse’s struggle to not give into peer pressure and be who he wants to be not who others will like and Lake’s struggle to find validation in her identity and carve out a path of her own outside of expectations that were forced upon her.

This season was also darker than the first, especially when it comes to Lake’s story. Lake has the mirror feds chasing her and actively trying to kill her, she experiences existential dread over being her own person, and goes through what could be considered psychological torture at times. A show doesn’t have to be dark to be great, but this show handled these dark themes well and made them compelling by attaching them to a strong main character like Lake. Jesse is a strong supporting character/part main character. He does take a backseat to Lake in the latter half of the series and Lake is introduced as our perspective character. I really liked this choice because it keeps the initial concept of the infinity train while attaching it to deeper themes like what it means to be “human”/ be your own person.

I also want to give props to everyone who worked on the show. From the fantastic performances of Ashley Johnson and Robbie Daymond to the writers of the show like Owen Dennis and Alex Horab to the animation which seems to improve with each episode of the show.

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this show since the finale. I really hope it gets a third season and gets to explore more of the train and the deeper themes it likes to tackle. The setting is rife for potential and the showrunners clearly like to push boundaries. They constantly push the envelope on what they can show and cover in a cartoon that is aired with a rating of TV-PG. I’m really glad that shows like infinity train exist that are willing to try and one up itself and keep growing and expanding instead of playing it safe.

#infinity train #infinity train book 2 #infinity train season 2 #book 2 #season 2 #lake #jesse #i loved this season #props to infinity train #ashley johnson #robbie daymond #owen dennis #alex horab

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