#like don���t get me wrong i love the concept but i’m literally so sure there’s a better god to cover all three of them

[wherethehellismysupersuit]

EP- 15 review

*slowly drags myself out of the gutter to pen a review*

Sorry bout that. I’m just sad that this is all gonna end tomorrow. So, uh, i’m not sure how much comedic relief i can give here, but i certainly will try.

We start off with knowing a crucial bit of info; Yurim was the one who told Yijin to portray her in a harsh light. I had an inkling, cause they never really elaborated on that scene in EP-14 and Yijin is the type of person who would cry after stepping on an ant by accident. Heedo, being the superwoman she is, comforts him and helps him get rid of the graffiti on the wall.

And then like till the last 10 minutes, it’s just Baek Yijin being a proud malewife. He makes fun of the reporter for not having a dating life. Switches departments cause he knows he can’t be impartial in sports. Takes heedo on a cliffside date on new years. gets drunk with her and cuddles (maybe the conception of minchae? jkjk i’m a clown). Both of them even lose sleep just to spend time together....sigh. This just makes me feel lonely lmao-

I like the fact that jaekyung likes yijin. Both of them congratulating each other and being proud of their respective daughter/gff was wholesome. But the dinner scene did make me nervous.

Now we focus of Yurim and Heedo. We see them settling down into their separate lives easily, until it’s not. Yurim feels the need to guard herself. Heedo feels the need to grasp onto the bits of Yurim that are growing distant by the day. This situation is further exacerbated by the PRESS (the analyser spits, looking disgusted). We love to pit talented women against women, don’t we. Yurim’s words are taken out of context, whether the translator intentionally twisted them or not idk. Heedo’s backing is mainly of salty fans who feel personally wronged by Yurim and pin all their hope on her. This is sadly the case in today’s world, where we see people who are famous as idols, rather than humans who have  the tendency to fuck up every once in a while.

Heedo refuses to see Yurim before the Madrid match. I firmly believe that it’s because  (in the wise words of a drunk Yijin) she doesn’t want to waver. Seeing her before the match would probably make her feel like she’s battling a friend, and not a competitor.

I was on the edge of my seat the entire time they fenced. Coach Yang was me and i was her. I jumped at each attack, even though i knew the outcome. My allergies acted up when everyone was hugging and crying. (Also Seungwan’s mum calling Heedo her loach baby was vv cute. Jiwoong being a supportive bf and literally  flying to Russia? My man u literally have no life plans except to be yurim’s trophyhusband and it shows lmao)

Heedo seems to be one of the lucky souls that's bagged herself two soulmates. Both can be platonic and romantic. i’m able to imagine a future with Yurim and Heedo as gfs and Yijin their poster boy and vice versa.

I’m sorry, and no hate to the actress, but Adult!Heedo never fails to make my bp shoot up. whY DO YOU FEEL THE NEED TO SAY MYSTERIOUSLY SAD THINGS? LIKE HOW LIFE AND TIME IS FLUID AND IMPERMANENT? I DON”T NEED TO HEAR THAT I’M TRYING TO FIND AN ESCAPE FROM MY WORLD GODDAMNIT-

Anyways, i don’t believe it’s a coincidence that the last diary is missing.

Now we get to the tragic part of the ep. 9/11.

Considered one of the worst disasters the world has ever witnessed, leading to the death and injury of millions, Yijin is immediately called into New York the day before their vacation. (I saw some ppl being hopeful about them laughing with suitcases....absolute clowns y’all are lmao...it’s me. i’m the clown.)

The constant death and grief can really grate on a person. before long Yijin has grown sallow. His skin is yellow, drawn and he rarely smiles unless he’s talking to Heedo. Dark circles are evident and he restarts smoking and taking pills to sleep. Heedo watches each of his broadcasts religiously, but she knows she’s growing distant from him. She’s far away from the grief he’s constantly seeing.

The preview- you know what? i’m not even gonna talk about it. nope. never occurred.

This episode, although honeymooney till the last few secs, had a consistently heavy undertone. So now i’m sad.

PS Kim taeri please sign onto a new drama/movie asap i’ll miss ur face-

signed,

your resident sadanalyser.

[itsclydebitches]

hey, thank you to responding to my asks abt bkg + mido fics!! i really loved your response. tbh you brought up most of the thoughts i had, but there's one that occurred to me after reading your response. imagine for a moment if bkg's bullying had been about literally anything other than quirklessness, which is like. ableism lite. imagine if mido was harassed to the point of sui-baiting for being fat or gay or trans or anything but fantasy ableism. imo, i don' t think we'd have bkg stans anymore.

Of course! 💜

I do wonder if we’d really lose any Bakugo fans though, if the ableism were 100% truthful to real life as opposed to a metaphor. Because it’s a pretty on the nose metaphor. The entire human population is now born with a particular, physical trait and if you fail to develop that trait “normally” — or don’t develop it at all  — then you’re ostracized from society, either subtly (it’s harder for you to get certain jobs) or much more obviously (the school bully gets your whole class to laugh at you). Insert “quirk” for any physical trait in our real lives  — the ability to walk, the ability to hear, the ability to see, etc.  — and it’s a near 1 to 1 comparison in regards to supposedly “lacking” something. Granted, quirks are a bit more complicated in regards to their breadth, but even that can be read as a metaphor for baseline “normalcy.” Inko’s ability to move small objects doesn’t give her a major advantage in life, but its existence ensures that a lack of a quirk never hurts her either, similar to how my build means I don’t really have a shot at the Olympics, but the fact that I have two working legs means I won’t be discriminated against for not being able to walk. 

So there’s a lot of discussion surrounding how well (or not) the story grapples with this metaphor. Whether, for example, it’s a problem that Izuku’s minority status is instantly “fixed” via All Might’s quirk, or whether we should read the passing of this quirk more like an assistive device. That’s a whole other, complicated conversation though. The takeaway for now is that the conversation exists and I think the majority of the fandom is at least somewhat aware of it. Even if we’re not versed in disability rhetoric, we understand the foundational concept of Izuku as an Other who is pitted against the rest of “normal” society. Our very first line of the series is “People... are not born equal” and Bakugo feeds that distinction in the worst way. Some aspects of how BNHA engages with disability may be subtle, but Bakugo absolutely is not. From beating up on Izuku for being a “quirkless wonder [playing] at hero,” to telling him to jump off the roof, Bakugo’s entire character revolves around how he considers himself not just superior for being “normal,” but also extraordinary due to privileges outside of his control. These issues are front and center... yet fans still love him, defend him, etc. I’m not sure the metaphor is hidden enough to assume that if “quirk” were replaced with a real life minority status, that fans would suddenly view Bakugo differently. Just because his flaw is already so incredibly prominent and its meaning already easy to grasp. It’s meant to be that way. 

As always, I want to re-iterate that there’s nothing wrong with liking a character  — they’re a character, they’re fictional, they exist to entertain us  — but in some respects those who really intensely defend Bakugo represent the very issues BNHA is (at times clumsily) trying to address. We wouldn’t have Bakugo stans if he tormented Izuku for being fat, gay, trans, etc.? Sure we would! Because those people already exist. They’re every privileged bully whose friends laugh along with their “jokes.” They’re the young employee who got there thanks to money and family connections, but who we praise for how talented they are. They’re the criminal who has committed the most heinous deeds, but who is let off with a light sentence because it was just a “mistake” and “they have their whole life ahead of them.” Bakugo represents people who already exist across the world and we excuse, justify, or even uphold them all the time. Though (as said) this is complicated by his existence as an enjoyable, fictional character, I still think there’s something significant in the fandom’s knee-jerk desire to defend the non-black, (so far) non-queer, (fantasy) able-bodied, good looking, talented guy with a bit of a sad backstory. We already have a problem of going out of our way to excuse people with those privileges, so why would that change when the person is fictional? The awful truth is that a situation where one kid terrorizes another for not being “normal,” gets away with that for years, has teachers who never step in, gets into a prestigious school despite their behavior, never has their prospects threatened because of how they treat others... that’s common. I personally think we’d still have plenty of Bakugo stans because the act of excusing that kind of behavior is already something that happens in everyday life.  

[diosefm]

THE OLD LION

when: very very late, right before the rebel announcement where: the gardens triggers: shitty dads mentions: minos valey, @virgobydcsign @pista-clearmark @deezeeashfrost​

DIOSE

She might have completely ruined the only good thing going on with her life, but at least she's got Virgo again. And she feels things are different now. There is now a silent agreement between the two. They're trusting each other now, they're actually acting like siblings. It doesn't matter if their lives are in shambles, because now they know they can both rely on each other. The newly-found softness between has been translated into physical acts. Diose and her sibling sit in the garden, Virgo's head resting on her lap as they exchange whispers and secrets. They mention Blythe, Pista. Silly yet important things. Things they couldn't discuss before. After the chaos that happened inside the main hall, Diose is at peace now. Sort of. But that's quickly ruined as she hears the familiar sound of her father's boots approaching the pair. "Virgo, we have to go."

VIRGO

They didn’t expect this to be so easy. That after everything they could go running after Diose (literally) and things would be okay. That they’re comfortable here, the delicate scent of their sister’s perfume and the way they bind her secrets to their own. Their eyes drift closed as they listen. Tiny details. Sweet, lovely things they never should’ve missed in the first place. Diose’s shift into panic and their instant understanding. 

 “No.” Virgo stiffens, surprised by their own resolve. They don’t move, their head a solid weight in Diose’s lap. “I think we should stay.” They’re tired of being scared. Shadows cast across their face as Minos comes between them and the light trickling out from the party, almost tempting them to look. Almost. His silence betrays nothing.

DIOSE

Diose has never been scared of her father. When she was younger, the older Valey idolized him, relished on the attention he gave her. While the appearance of Virgo did cause a rift between the two of them, Diose remained his favorite his favorite due to her younger's sibling inability to honor the Valey name despite being the one with actual Valey blood in their veins. As glad as that made Diose at the time, she stopped seeing her father in the same way. And now? She is not scared for her, but for Virgo. So, it's surprising that their younger sibling chooses to not flee and face him instead. Diose knows she can stand her ground when it comes to their father, but has her doubts in regards to Virgo. Still, she is no one to contradict him, so she nods and waits. 

 Despite his age, Minos Valey stills stands tall and proud. His presence is imposing, able to instill fear in the most powerful of men. Because no one can beat him, they're all below him, he's made it clear. And when he speaks, it's even worse.

"You two ought to be happy now. You've been given everything, you were set up to triumph and you've thrown all of that away in favor of playing stupid, childish games. Was your pathetic display last year not enough for you, Virgo?"

VIRGO

They’d be lying if they said they hadn’t been expecting that. Minos did well to hold his tongue this far with regards to their tragic debut. Granted, he’d made a few comments here and there over dinner, but those events had always had company and their father was cautious. Virgo finds the truth now doesn’t hurt them half as much as it ought to. The thing which does creep under their skin, unsettling what calm they’ve found with Diose, is the expectation. So much pressure to hold up archaic ideals of perfection. Being pitted against each other and then against the world because one arrogant old man believes his legacy trumps all. They didn’t ask for this. Neither of them have ever been given much choice. 

 “We haven’t thrown anything away.” Virgo cracks an eye, squinting up at their sister. Even now they look to her for guidance. “Feels like half the guests tonight are dressed in Diose, that’s huge. She’s all the style recaps are going to be talking about for weeks.” Okay, that’s maybe not quite true considering the Games really are coming. But they know their point is solid. If they had the guts to, they’d add that Diose’s work is better for the change in her. They see what she’s done for Nelly. 

 Minos’ expression is unreadable. The art of intimidation is all in the subtleties, the way he angles his chin to look down on the both of them. “What good will that do? After the display you put on for all these esteemed guests?” A weighted pause. “You mean to make a mockery of all I’ve built for you.”

DIOSE

Diose wants to tell Virgo to shut up. They've been dealing with Minos's parenting for longer than they have. They've lived with him, had his eyes follow her everywhere until she decided it was time to flee the nest. She looks down at Virgo and can only shake her head. She's thankful, really. Virgo uses their turn to speak to compliment her, help her appear like she is still flawless and can do no wrong. Maybe Minos saw her that way once, but when Diose looks at him, sees the way her father clenches his fists, she knows how he truly feels.

"Wearing your sister's designs used to mean something. I could hardly hide my disgust when I saw the kind of individuals who dared to don your sister's designs. Rejects, vagrants. People who are not up to our standard, who do not deserve to break bread with us." A pause. "Let alone sit beside you two when the eyes of the Capitol are on you two"

His words sting. They hurt because she knows he is know speaking directly to her. It's a wonder how Diose is able to lift her gaze and look him right in the eye, hand buried in Virgo's hair. "I merely stood up for myself." She does not dare to mention Pista. She doesn't need her father to think of him, have him on his sights. It'll do no good. "Should I have allowed that man to humiliate me? He is nothing but a drunk. I don't understand why you must give him such importance." As much as she hates DeeZee, mentioning his name is not an option either. Pista cares about him, obviously. She'll protect him this one time. Not that his father can't figure out who is who. Diose just wants to direct his attention somewhere else.

"You're pathetic. Both of you are. Pathetic children tainting my hard work, embarrassing me in front of my colleagues. That is not the way we do things, Diose. Discretion is of utmost importance when dealing with vermin."

VIRGO

Virgo may have taken their father’s chastisement with relative ease (at least the won’t think too hard on it until later) but the way he speaks of Diose boils their blood. They think she’s done the right thing in extending her gift to the people they want to call friends. Nelly looks beautiful; Pista is worlds away from toiling over trains. Just because they aren’t Capitol penthouse elite doesn’t mean they shouldn’t get to share in their sister’s perfection. Diose is showing a side of herself they’ve admired for years now, the one she likes to pretend doesn’t exist: true kindness. 

 “It means more now,” they say, softly. Virgo wishes they’d been bold enough to swallow their anguish and ask Diose to dress them, too. The point doesn’t hit as hard when they’d deflected elsewhere. “Weddings are supposed to be about unity. That’s what Diose is showing, collaborating with the people who worked harder than all of us to be here. Not vermin, victors.” 

 Virgo wants to cringe at how pretentious, how idealistic, they sound. Words influenced by the low-budget dramas they love so much but can’t quite capture the heroism of. Speeches aren’t their strong suit. They reach up to squeeze Diose’s arm, gentle reassurance that they’re on her side. After all that she’s shared with them they need her to know they’re on her side. No matter what they say, they know neither would get through to Minos alone. Chances they’ll do it together aren’t great either. 

”Save your excuses. You ought to know better than to stoop to their level. Don’t you realize the damage you’ve done? It’s clear all those years of education were put to waste if you can’t outsmart that halfwit.”

DIOSE

Diose's night has been absolutely terrible, but she finds solace in the fact that Virgo and her are closer than ever. Still, Diose wants nothing more than to put her hand over Virgo's mouth and keep them from talking. She appreciates their words, she really does, but the last thing both of they need is to provoke their father. Diose knows very well what he is capable of when he is upset and she doesn't want her father to target Pista or Nelly. "He provoked me, and I'm your daughter. Should you not be on my side?" But she knows better than that, knows her father is only on the side or those who are winning. With Diose being the laughingstock of the night, she knows the only support she has right now is Virgo's.

"Unity? The only people that you should be concerned about are your family. Your sister's designs are now almost as worthless as yours. Do you not care about my legacy, or your mother's? I knew she spoiled you too much. You're soft. It's sickening. I won't be on your side nor your sister's when you two are determined to spend your time surrounded by people below us. I've had my eyes on both of you all night. Have you forgotten whose blood runs through your veins? That woman you're with has done nothing but spit on your family's work for years."

She feels her father's insults will sting more now that they're getting personal. Diose is certain she can handle at least some of his poison with the help of her remaining grace and poise, but it's Virgo she is worried about. Father is right, they are softer than any other member of their family.

VIRGO

Their father’s words begin to fall on deaf ears. If they’re being honest, they don’t fully understand the concept of a legacy. They’ve heard the word thrown around so carelessly their entire lives that it’s begun to lose all meaning, absent the ambition they’re sure it’s supposed to ignite in them. With Diose, they can see how someone might pin their hopes on her to make them proud. They don’t give themselves the same credit—and for good reason. All the time and money in the world wasn’t enough for Ma to make them who she wanted them to be, a fact she’s begrudgingly accepted. Virgo isn’t surprised to learn their father can’t handle that.

 Virgo’s eyes widen and they push to sitting, angled instinctively toward Diose.  As if they’d stand a chance at sparing either of them this lecture. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” they snap. The tangled mess of rage, and pain, and fear they’ve tended since the hijack flares once again. “That’s—it’s— nothing to do with you.”

“Everything you do, either of you, reflects upon my name. There are eyes everywhere, children, do not think that any of your pathetic attempts at stealth render them blind. Money won’t buy their silence forever. What do you think happens when people begin to question why my daughter has been seen cavorting with some middle-district victor? When they question our loyalties?"

DIOSE

Instinctively, Diose grabs Virgo's hands. For support, and in case she needs to squeeze it so let them know it's time to shut up. Their father isn't the one to give up. And the angrier they make him, the worse the consequences will be. As much as she'd like to properly fight the man and get rid of him at once, Diose still needs him. And he is too powerful. And maybe, she is scared, fearful of what the man could do to her since she's not his blood. Both of her parents have always emphasized how powerful Valey blood is and how lucky she is that they rescued her from Ten. She doesn't doubt her father would be quick to turn on her now that his brainwashing has stopped working on her. Virgo is his biological child, which she sees as an advantage over her.

He says eyes are everywhere and Diose feels like throwing up. She knows this, obviously. Both Virgo and her do as they've been confronted with footage of their wrongdoings before. It was easy to deal with it back then just because Pista wasn't involved. Diose can only guess Virgo feels the same way given how protective they've been of their crush for months. "My loyalties are in the right place. Can you say the same, father? You seem to be losing allies while we've gained new ones. Regardless of who they are, you have always said there is strength in number, have you not?" It's a stupidly dangerous reply, but she is tired and won't have him hurt Pista. Her own self is fair game, but he is out of the question.

"Alliance?" An horrid, sarcastic chuckle fills the air. "Clearly your mother didn't do a proper job teaching you where your priorities should be. And you," he turns towards Virgo, eyes filled with rage. "It has everything to do with me. Defy me again and not even your mother will be able to save you from my rage. Neither will your sister or the fools you two have been sharing your time and beds with."

-------------------------------

We are headcanoning the rest because writing that man is exhausting, so bear with us.

Virgo and Diose continue arguing with their father. To give y'all some context, Minos keeps blackmail worthy footage of his kids. He is a producer and in charge of the propaganda you see everywhere, so he is omniscient. He has done this since they were both children and hasn't stopped. If anything, he has more of a reason to keep tabs on them now. He continues berating them about their recent choices and who they let his friends and colleagues see them with. By now it is pretty obvious Blythe and Pista are on his shitlist and he doesn't want them near his children. But do Virgo and Diose care? No.

When he implies he intends knows more than be is letting them know, the Valey siblings rightfully start worrying since if the man has managed to acquire footage of them on the trains, they're fucked. Diose is able to pretend she still has everything under control, but Virgo starts shaking.

Anyway, Minos grabs both Diose and Virgo and drags them towards the main hall. His intention is to take them home so he can fully unleash his fury without anyone seeing him, but Virgo and Diose are saved by the bell. Well, the rebel announcement. Everything is chaos. Virgo completely freezes. It reminds them of past announcements so they don't even react. Thankfully they got Diose who as we know is quick on her feet so she takes advantage of their circumstances, grabs Virgo, and heads straight towards her suite.

The spent the rest of the night having what is probably the most fucked up sleepover party you could ever imagine. Dioses tries her best to comfort Virgo while Virgo tries to fix Diose's cheek but they're both in such a weird state of mind they just stay up talking until they're so exhausted they pass out on Diose's bed.

[generallypo]

“I heard your voice, so I came... Aoba-san.”

Hooo-boy, if that doesn’t get me emotional every single time. Call it my bias for eccentric bundles of sunshine and softness, or my crippling weakness for the secretly-handsome-and-devastatingly-earnest type, but you can’t change my mind: Clear is, hands down, DMMD’s best love interest. Character development-wise, thematically, romantically, he nails every trial thrown at him, gets his man,  and proceeds to break your heart in the tenderest, sincerest way possible. I am hopping with Huge Fan Energy, so this post is gonna be unapologetically long and self-indulgent and grossly enthusiastic. Yeeeee.

———— 

Look, DMMD meta analysis has been done to death, I get it. This game is old. But I think it stands as testament to its excellent production that it’s still a game worth revisiting years later — especially during these times when social contact is so hard pressed to come by and we all rabidly devour digital media like a horde of screeching feral gremlins. (Have you seen Netflix’s stock value now? The exploding MMO server populations? Astonishing.) It’s pure, simple human nature to want to connect, to cling to members of our network out of biological imperative and our psychological dependency on each other. As cold and primitive at that sounds, social contact also fulfills us on a higher level: the community is always stronger than the individual; genuine trust begets a mutually supportive relationship of exchange and evolution. People learn from each other, and grow into stronger, wiser, better versions of themselves.

Yeah, I’m being deliberately obtuse about this. Of course I’m talking about Clear. Clear, who is a robot. Clear, who is nearly childlike in his insatiable curiosity regarding the human condition.

And it’s a classic literary tactic, using non-human entities to question the intangible constructs of a concept like ‘humanity’ — think Frankenstein, or Tokyo Ghoul, or Detroit: Become Human, among so, so many works in various media — all tackling that question from countless angles, all with varying measures of success. What does it mean to be human? To be good? Who are we, and where do we stand in the grand scheme of things? Is there even a scheme to follow? … Wait, what?

Jokes aside, there are so many ways that the whole approaching-human-yet-not-quite-there schtick can be abused into edgy, joyless existential griping. Nothing wrong with that if it’s what you’re looking for, except that we’re talking about a boys’ love game here. But DMMD neatly, sweetly side steps that particular wrinkle, giving us a wonderfully grounded character to work with as a result. 

Character Design — a see-through secret

Let’s start small: Clear’s design and premise. Unlike so many other lost, clueless robo-lambs across media, Clear does have a small guiding presence early on in his life. It takes the form of his grandfather, who teaches Clear about the world while also sheltering him from his origins. It means he learns enough to blend sufficiently into society; it also means that Clear has even more questions that sprout from his limited understanding of the world.

Told that he must never remove his mask lest he expose his identity as a non-human, Clear’s perpetual fear of rejection for what he is drives much of his eccentricity and challenges him throughout much of his route. As for the player, the mystery of what lies underneath his mask is a carrot that the writers get to dangle until the peak moment of emotional payoff. Even if it’s not hard to guess that there’s probably a hottie of legendary proportions stuck under there, there’s still significance in waiting for that good moment to happen. And when it does, it feels great.

His upbringing contextualizes and affirms his odd choice of fashion: deliberately generic, bashfully covered from the public eye, and colored nearly in pure white - the quintessential signal of a blank slate, of innocence. Contrasted with the rest of DMMD’s flashy, colorful crew, Clear is probably the most difficult to read on a superficial scale, not falling into the fiery, bare-chest sex appeal of a womanizer, or the techno-nerd rebel aesthetic that Noiz somehow rocks. Goofy weirdo? Possibly a serial killer? Honestly, both seem plausible at the start.

And that’s the funny thing, because as damn hard as he tries to physically cover himself up from society, Clear is irrepressibly true to his name: transparent to a fault. He’s a walking, talking contradiction, and it’s not hard to realize that this mysterious, masked stranger… is really just an open book. By far the most effusive and straightforward of the entire cast, his actions are wildly unconventional and sometimes wholly inexplicable. But given time to explain himself, he is always, always sincere in his intentions — and unlike the rest of the love interests, naturally inclined to offer bits of himself to Aoba. It doesn’t take the entire character arc to figure out his big, bad secret — our main character gets an inkling about halfway through his route — and what’s even better is that he embraces it, understanding that his abilities also allow him to protect what he cherishes: Aoba. 

So what if he doesn’t fit into an easily recognizable box of daydream boyfriend material? He’s contradictory, and contradiction is interesting. Dons a gas mask, but isn’t an edgelord. Blandly dressed, but ridiculously charming. Unreadable and modestly intimidating — until he opens his mouth. Even without the benefit of traversing his route, there’s already so much good stuff to work with, and sure as hell, you’re kept guessing all the way to the end.

Character Development — from reckless devotion into complaisant subservience, complaisant subservience into mutual understanding. And then, of course: free will, and true love. 

At its core, DMMD is about a dude with magic mind-melding powers and his merry band of attractive men with — surprise! — crippling emotional baggage. Each route follows the same pattern, simply remixing the individual character interactions and the pace of the program: Aoba finds himself isolated with the love interest, faces various communication issues varying on the scale of frustrating to downright dangerous, wanders into a sketchy section of Platinum Jail, bonds with the love interest over shared duress, breaks into the Oval Tower, faces mental assault by the big bad — and finally, finally, destroys those internal demons plaguing the love interest, releasing the couple onto the path of a real heart-to-heart conversation. And then, you know, the lovey-dovey stuff. 

Here’s the thing: as far as romantic progression goes, it’s really not a bad structure. There’s room to bump heads, but also to bond. The Scrap scene is a thematically cohesive and clever way to squeeze in the full breadth of character backstory while simultaneously advancing the plot. In this part, Aoba must become the hero to each of his love interests and save them from themselves. Having become privy to each other’s deepest thoughts and reaching a mutual understanding of each other, their feelings afterwards slide much more naturally into romantic territory. They break free of Oval Tower, make their way home, and have hot, emotionally fulfilling sex or otherwise some variation on the last few steps. The end. 

That is, except for Clear. 

Clear’s route is refreshing in that he needs none of these things — the climax of his emotional arc actually comes a little after the halfway point of his route. When Clear’s true origins are revealed, he comes entirely clean to Aoba, fighting against his fear of rejection but also trusting that Aoba will listen. It’s a quiet, vulnerable moment, rather than the action-packed tension we normally experience during a Scrap scene. 

That doesn’t mean it’s prematurely written in — it simply means that he reaches his potential faster than the other characters. Because of that, he’s free to pursue the next level of his route’s development much, much sooner in the timeline: he overcomes his fears of his appearance, he confesses his love to Aoba, he leaves the confines of a largely dubious master-servant relationship and allows himself to be Aoba’s equal. Clear’s sprite art mirrors his emotional transformation all the way through, exposing him to the literal bone — and Aoba’s affection for him doesn’t change a single bit. Beautiful.

The whammy of incredible moments doesn’t just stop there, though. I don’t exactly recall the order the routes DMMD is ideally meant to be played in, but I believe Clear’s is meant to be last. And if you do, I can guarantee that it becomes a hugely delightful gameplay experience — in order to achieve his good ending, you must do absolutely nothing with Scrap. It doesn’t just subvert our player expectations of proactively clicking and interacting with our love interests; it grabs the story by its thematic reins and yanks it all back to the forefront of our scene. 

In every route besides Clear’s, Scrap is a tool used to insert Aoba’s influence into and interfere with his target’s mind. Using his powers of destruction, Aoba is able to prune whatever maligned thoughts are harming his target; in any conventional situation, using Scrap is the right choice. 

But one of the central problems in Clear’s route is his conflict between the impulses of his conditioning and his desire to live freely as a human would. Breaking free of Toue’s programming is what initially made him unique; growing beyond the rules imposed by his grandfather is what makes him human. In the final conflict scene, Clear’s decision to destroy his key-lock is an action of true autonomy, made with perfect understanding of the consequences and a sincere, selflessly selfish desire to protect someone he loves. In order to receive his good end, you have to respect his decision. It doesn’t matter which option you pick — by using Scrap, Aoba turns his back on every positive choice he made with Clear and attempts to exert his authority over him. This is Aoba becoming Toue; this is Aoba trying to reinstate himself as ‘Master’ right as he approved Clear as his equal. That’s blatant hypocrisy, and it doesn’t matter if Aoba is trying to do it for Clear’s ‘own good’ — that’s not Aoba’s call to make. If you truly wish to respect Clear’s free will, you will stand by. This is the truth of the moment: Clear has no emotional blockages that Aoba needs to fix. Believe in him, just as he believed in you.

The path to his heart is, and always has been, clear. Scrap was never needed from the start.

While Aoba might be the main character, Clear is undeniably a hero in his own route just as much. Tirelessly earnest and always curious, he leaps headlong into the unknown and emerges with his newfound enlightenment. He’s unafraid of weathering trials, even to the point of accepting death, and returns anew from oblivion to a sweet, cathartic ending. That’s about as textbook hero’s journey as it gets — if that doesn’t make him unquestionably, certifiably, unconditionally human, then I will scream.

And only finally… there is the free end. The final CG is like a throwback to our first impression of him: indistinct, purposefully obscured from proper view. But this time, we know better — and so does Aoba. Looks were never what mattered in Clear’s route. If you were patient, and you were open-minded, and you listened… well, what we realize now is that Clear was doing the exact same thing for you, too.

From a carefree, aimless robot-man with only the gimmick of “eccentric ditz” to carry him forward, we get a supremely more interesting character by the end: a man who has graduated from the well-intentioned but claustrophobic conditioning of his childhood; a weapon who has defied the imperatives placed on him by his creator’s programming; a wanderer who has, through unconditional patience and empathy, discovered love, and striven to become a better person for it. Who was it that ever doubted Clear’s character? He’s the goddamn goodest boy that ever wanted to be a real boy. Of course Clear is human. And in fact, he does it better than every single one of the actually human love interests. You can’t change my mind.

The Romance — kindness is really fucking attractive, okay.

Like I’ve said earlier, I have my Big Fan Blinds stuck on pretty tight. I might be conjuring sparks from thin air. But I think every choice was a deliberate creative decision on the writers’ part, and they deserve all the kudos for it — I’m just the lucky player who gets to enjoy it. But aside from Noiz (who I also think is a perfect darling as well — I could go on and on about him), Clear’s route is a model example for consent and healthy relationships in VN storytelling. This is reciprocated on both sides: never does Aoba infringe on Clear’s boundaries, and neither does Clear. They’re sensitive to each other’s needs and concerns; they ask for permission and stop when it isn’t granted (and when it is, boy do they get frisky — I’m not complaining!) I don’t need to say much more, because I think that consent is both fantastic and yes, incredibly hot (the scene in DMMD is tons more sad, go play Re:connect!). Good writing shows off the massive erotic potential enthusiastic consent puts into intimacy, and Aoba’s and Clear’s relationship is honestly a dream playground. The point is, I think Aoba and Clear genuinely do find equal balance in their relationship by the end of his route (and certainly through Re:connect). If you follow through Re:connect’s storyline, there’s even more thematic richness that comes through in the form of Clear’s greatest asset: communication. The couple get to discuss the long-term implications of them being together; they both offer concerns, points, and assurances to the other, and it’s just a soft, honest moment not so unlike the worries of a real relationship. Hearing is kind of Clear’s motif sense, but it’s really great to see that Aoba also subtly picks it up, really flexes his own communication skills to better engage with Clear. 

Point is, Clear’s route spoke to me on a lot of little levels. Design-wise, he’s already got a ton going for him, and his story builds upon it rather than against it, enriching his development and grounding him a little more solidly in the DMMD universe (and in my heart). His route, aside from being emotionally ruinous, carries a pretty solid chunk of world-building (only beaten out by Mink’s and Ren’s, probably), and the romance feels organic, healthy, and realistic. He’s not the only one with an excellent route, but he’s my favorite. If you read through all of this, you’re a real trooper and I’m extremely impressed. Thanks for tuning in. Peace.

[alteregowo]

Hi! I love Dan and Phil, individually and together, but I think they're not trying to hide a romantic relationship. Don't you think that after ten years, they'd finally come out if they were? I mean there are a lot of gay couples on youtube and it would not be that big of a deal today than it was in 2007. Just wanted to hear your opinion on that. Have a nice day!

before i answer, disclaimer: i have ADD and this post might get messy since i find it difficult to concentrate and phrase myself properly (and english isn’t even my main language!)

well, i’m not gonna try and force my own views down your throat or anything but let me ramble a bit about why i wholeheartedly believe dan and phil are in a relationship;

i think i’ll start with the very fact that they recently moved to their third shared home together. say whatever you want to say but if they were indeed just friends, considering they’re in their mid 20s and 30 dont you think they’d want to move out separately and get going with their lives? and dont you think they wouldn’t be so keen on making comments about keeping living together in the long run (or forever….  a forever home say whaaaat). 

now, you might argue with the good ol’ “but they benefit from living together regardless of relationship status”. fair enough. however, let me point out that it has became as clear as day especially in 2017 that they share a bedroom. i don’t know about you but i don’t think two strictly platonic friends who just moved into a duplex would want/ need to share a bedroom unless they’re uhhh mayhaps in a relationship and love to cuddle? i know a wild concept…….

and i’m sorry but if you want to argue against the shared bedroom fact with the shoebox phil claims is “his room” i have nothing to say but shake my head. no way phil actually lives in that room that has no windows and no space to move around and why is the entire room crammed in this one corner… where is the rest of the room……. and why is that room has no personal touch to it…. it’s literally just AmazingPhil props and things……… feels much more like a set to me than an actual bedroom. (also we saw phil’s mirror and hair straighter in the moon room aka “”dan’s bedroom”” which i think we can all collectively agree is simply “the bedroom”)

another thing that strikes me is how dan joins phil’s family vacations (especially in 2017) and how he seems to become part of the family much more than anyone who’s classified as “platonic” to phil would have. dan is just as much of a lester as cornelia is? dan joins the lesters just as much and as frequent as a spouse would. in fact, dan joins the lesters so much on their adventures that if im not wrong, the longest dan and phil spent apart in 2017 was not more than a weekend? that’s whack!

now these were just three things that were very prominent in 2017 regarding the belief whether dan and phil are in a relationship or not that were “behind the scenes”as in going on in their personal lives, kind of? i mean sure we see the  shoebox on AmazingPhil and the moon room in some liveshows and we get pictures from their shared vacations but now i will move on to what we see on screen across their channels

i’ll start this with a throwback to the boncas bc i think that damn speech is enough to debunk any “uwu platonic” argument, ever. i don’t think phil would have done THAT if dan didn’t mean a whole lot to him and i think saying the universe would rip in half in they go apart is a concrete proof that they themselves can;t and don’t want to imagine a life in which they are not joint at the hip. 

moving on to gamingmas, which i will forever find so significant?? they broke a lot of boundaries during that month regarding of invading personal space, a bit of a more mature humor (esp on phil’s account), casual touching and a whole lot of flirting and a lot less (almost none at all) looks straight into the camera to show they are aware this is filmed or to do a “wtf is this lol” kinda thing. gamingmas was a turning point. i will forever firmly believe they did all of that in an attempt to normalize this kind of behavior on screen (and it definitely worked!)

dan and phil continued the vibes of gamingmas well into 2017 and the casual touches, lingering gazes and flirting (as well as expressing affection towards males in specific) is now the normal running theme over at dapg to a degree where we don;t even lose our shit anymore. we joke and meme but nothing strikes us as overwhelming bc we are “used” to it, which i think dan and phil aimed for i genuinely think they wanted to get to this stage of showing more comfort and more intimacy on screen without everyone and their mothers going whack over “pHaN iS rEaL!!!!!1″ and for it all to come across as oh so casual and chill! 

so now you ask, “they go through all that why not just come out lol”

WELL, in my honest opinion, dan and phil will never officially come out as a couple. and you know what, maybe things would have been different if The Video didn’t leak and get spread around (twice, mind you.) but things happen and one thing lead to another and after all they have been through and how they were shaped as people and their experiences with guarding and protecting themselves and their privacy any sort of statement about whether or not they are a couple or just friends or even paid actors  (let alone labeling themselves and their sexuality bluntly) is highly unrealistic. so if you are waiting for a coming out video or whatever to convince you that won’t ever happen i’m afraid. 

dan and phil value their privacy and they have every right to do so.

so yes, maybe in the early days of 2009/10 they were very flirty all across social media and on camera and maybe just maybe you need to consider the few following things regarding why they stopped with that:

The Video leak. like honestly? can’t and won’t find any more justified reason to feel the need for privacy and shielding yourself and making comments on how ‘het’ you are  for instance just to brush off the most intimate thing imaginable that since has been glorified and memorized by millions(?) of people who were never meant to even know this video and that declaration of affection even exists. is it scary. and i fully understand the “no homo howell” phase and how awkward they appeared together on camera for awhile, very very proud of how far they;ve came esp in 2017 though. 

the radio show! is it a little tied to The Video leak since the second leak happened when the radio show was still fairly new but before they moved to london (into their second shared home coughs) they weren’t all that big, you know? but with the popularity of the radio show came the increasing popularity of their youtube channels and their followers/ subscribers count went up and up and their content became exposed to a much larger range of audience and these new audience/ fans were not familiar with the past (at least not at first glance) and dan and phil needed to leave “good” impression (not that being flirty and dumb wasn’t good impression but it wasn’t all that professional and now they’ve grown big enough to be in need of professionalism.)

these two things were a turning point to how dan and phil view themselves on camera and their content itself (phil sticking to the AmazingPhil PG persona) (dan with his struggles with creativity and integrity zzzz) and really, considering their story  (and how well known the early days are, and how dan and phil are aware to that…) it suddenly makes perfect sense why dan and phil aren’t in any sort of rush or need to ever come out.

however though, i think that the “post baking universe” as in the halloween 2016 baking video, the boncas speech, the european leg of tatinof, pinof 8, and gamingmas were a prep to this switch in dynamics we have seen in 2017 and that keeps very steady so far. feels as if late 2016 was so “wild” bc they were testing the waters and our reactions to see if they wanna pull through with this change. 

so, even if they will never officially come out, their dynamic both on and  off screen screams that they are literal boyfriends and they don’t need to spell it out for us to know and see. anyone who cares enough about their relationship status and look at their content with it in mind can very obviously and easily see how in love these two dorks are. same love from the early days of 2009/10 only now it has shifted into a steady, secure, safe, most wonderful thing and you can see that their love towards each other in filling their hearts with pure joy.

so yeah, dan and phil are definitely in a relationship and that doesn’t seem to change anytime soon, if ever at all.

(THAT WAS SO MESSY IM SORRY BUT I HOPE MY POINT CAME ACROSS?)

[batslime]

So on Circus of the Dead ( now that I’ve actually watched it )

Content warnings ahoy for lowly-to-moderately detailed discussions of acts including rape, torture, murder, cheating, ableism, reproductive violence, cannibalism, necrophillia, and general violence. That’s right, all that in more in one clown movie! Also pretty long.

 I've talked about this briefly but as a sake of an example, even if he tortures them Pennywise isn't genuinely "evil"..... it literally exists to consume, it was created that way, it's not BETTER but humans are like day-old ants to this timelessly old entity. I don't know if I can really even find the focus on preying on mostly children since it's easier prey for it, and in nature, the young aren't spared. Because Pennywise ISN'T human, it's a primal beast that far PREDATES humanity. It only tortures them because it says it makes them taste better, and it feeds off their fears, not their bodies. It doesn't kill just to kill, and I'm kind of even on the fence about being able to call it malice. IT isn't good but I still wouldn't consider IT evil. This stuff is genuinely just its nature.

 Papa Corn from Circus of the dead is what an EVIL character is. Papa Corn kidnaps, rapes, physiologically and physically tortures people before murdering them, sodomizing their corpses, and mutilating them, or letting one of his other clown goons eat it. And he does it all gleefully, he LITERALLY gets off when meditating it, he jokes it off because he doesn't even see it as more than a day's work ( "What are you gonna DO to her?" "I'm gonna do what I always do. I'm gonna rape her, I'm gonna slit her throat, I'm gonna feed whats left to my clowns." He starts this reply out shrugging, and uses a tone talking about his plans for the day going on a walk or mowing the lawn ). 

 One thing early in the film that fades in comparison to all this but that still sticks out to me is when Don, the main character who's held hostage by Papa Corn and the clowns at the expense of his family, is backstage with them after having his seat drawn for a prize. He doesn't actually suspect anything is wrong yet, but Papa Corn already slipped in a chipper "I'm going to kill your ENTIRE family!" that the clown brushed off as a mishearing, and is putting off creepy vibes. So in his discomfort Don makes a short joke about one of the other clowns played by a little person. Papa Corn goes off on a little passive-aggressive rant at this, using language not only that would be considered "politically correct" but actual medical terms. "Ah! I see, you've made a JOKE at my coworker's expense based on the fact that he's OTHERED from you! Well, I will INFORM you that Mr. Jumbo suffers from a genetic hormonal deficiency called DWARFISM. However, his sense of humor is quite intact, so I'm sure he'll still be able to appreciate the joke." That's heavily paraphrased, but what he says here is undeniably recognizing and chastising Don for mocking somebody's disability and going to the length of teaching him about it. This is even what I'd call a very good way to point out bigotry in a way to not start a scene, had it been in earnest- because Papa's next line after Don apologizes and tells him shamefully he didn't consider how disrespectful it would be Papa says "But he's a dwarf, so who gives a flying fuck what he thinks." And then forces out a very theatrical guffaw straight into Don's face.

 Again, that bit is insignificant to all the shit that comes later in the movie ( and even some scenes beforehand ) that this character isn't "craaaaazy" or just saying and doing whatever, he's FULLY aware of right and wrong even to an extent a lot of people in our society aren't; the thing is he really DOESN'T care and really DOES find dehumanization and faking people out, misleading them to think they're safe or he's not evil, funny.

 This is kind of solidified again in a pretty early scene where he's broken into Don's house and caught his wife, Tiffany. Tiffany is screaming "let me go! I wanna go!", and Papa Corn actually puts on this calmed down facade and the panicky music stops, in a now very average tone, "Oh. You wanna go?" "Y-yeah, let me go!" "Oh. You want to go. Well, I'm feeling generous today." He actually SHOOS Tiffany away, doing so again when she glances back several times in disbelief, before abruptly screaming and running after her again. He then laughs as he waves his crotch around in her face, sticks his gloved fingers up HERS to scold her on her cheating, then slicing her neck open in the following scene. This really solidifies two things: 1, Papa Corn really does just fucking love giving his victims a tiiiny bit of hope then just yanking it away from them, and 2, the writer is SOMEHOW aware of some horror tropes and manages to challenge them in a genuinely funny way, just to be totally unconscious of all the others he shoves into the rest of the movie. 

 And what makes this a BAD character ( not a bad person, he's already that and more ) is that despite practically BOASTING all this, when his hostage who he's forced into a night of watching him do all this shoots him at the first chance when the two are finally alone and Papa Corn is about to violate another random teenage girl who got dragged into this shit at the blink of an eye, Papa Corn pulls this "you're just like me" bullshit that I hate sooo much.

 "Don. You shot me. Were you just going to leave me here to die? You tried to kill me... I'm so proud of you." Nothing makes a villain I hate more, and not in a good way, than being untouchable. I hate that he's written to still be smug and have the upper hand even after taking bullets through the chest ( and somehow lives, presumably without going to the hospital? To my further infuriation ), I hate when villains who are so PROUD of their villainy until somebody finally raises a hand against them try to use the "but I'm not that bad, because you are too". T's SO lazy, it's SO out of character, specifically for this guy who laughs in people's faces as he skins their face or watches his goons gut a pregnant woman or fuck a guy's wife's mutilated head in front of him while he talks about how she'd been cheating on him.

 Papa Corn is a villain who's a prime example of a horrible, irredeemable, inhumanly EVIL person, who does what he wants not just with no regard to others, but to revel on their agony on every level he can possibly inflict. It's far, far overdone and this makes the film cheesy and almost even LAUGHABLE despite all the awful content, but this is what makes him a good VILLAIN- somebody who IS evil, not just really doing what they were made to. 

 And then he defends himself as "not that bad, because who isn't?", which shows total incompetence on the writer's part, and that that entire concept of what's actually evil about his character has gone totally over the guy's head, that it really is just all shit that he wanted to film people doing.

 It's not the low budget, poor sound and picture quality, the admittedly ( slightly ) better than expected writing, and mostly amateur cast that makes Circus of the Dead a bad film, to me, it's all that shit. It's that all in all the "psych challenging message" here that it tries to play is that even people who admit they're evil and have fun doing it aren't ACTUALLY evil because everyday average people who do good and bad as part of their life do bad things sometimes too, but they're still going to suffer at the hands of the evil-not-evil characters BECAUSE of their wrongdoings.

 All in all, after everything I've heard about Circus of the Dead, it didn't really challenge the low expectations I had for it, nor did it challenge all the bad horror/ "mindfuck" genre tropes it set itself up for. It feels like a chore to watch with little to no reward ( Don and his whole family DO all end up dead, and the whole clown gang gets away more or less unharmed. A 2nd one is confirmed to already be written but I really hope for at least the sake of realistic forces at least one of the clowns are killed in the next one ). If I do have anything to praise, it's definitely Papa Corn's snd Pepe the mime's designs, I really do love them and it makes up for the other clowns being ass ugly and tacky. Quite a few of Papa Corn's lines really did make me laugh too, when he's not the filthy example of the lowest form of shat you can still call a man, and even admittedly when he's killing actual assholes, he is pretty funny in his total indiscreetness. 

As a sidenote though, genuinely, HUGE props to Bill Oberst Jr. for his sensational portrayal of this role. I've read a lot of reviews before seeing the film describing him as having a "switch" needed for playing Papa Corn's fickle and unpredictable sense of calm before the storm, and I agreed even just seeing the trailers, but there are some parts of the film it really feels so RAW and it kind of yanks you around in a sense. I've seen interviews with him and he's such a down to earth, proudly and happily religious guy with so much obvious humility and sense of bettering himself, it's kind of awe-striking hearing him talk about how he looked through the script and said "I NEED to play this". He's a phenomenal actor and even if not necessarily for this film I hope recognition for him skyrockets.

[back-and-totheleft]

Love it or loathe it, no one has ever seen anything like it

Over the last quarter century, it’s hard to think of a movie more polarizing than Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers. Most people fall into one of two camps. Either they think it’s hyper-violent, repugnant garbage, or conversely, they believe it to be brutally prescient satire. Even Quentin Tarantino – whose script the film was based upon – took issue with the final product. When asked about Natural Born Killers after its release, Tarantino said, “If you don’t like it, that’s Oliver. If you do like it, well, that’s Oliver too.” It takes a lot for Tarantino to find a cinematic vision too extreme, and maybe he didn’t. Maybe he just felt it was too far from his original idea. Whatever the case, Tarantino had his credit on the film downgraded from screenwriter to “Story by.”

Regardless, what if there’s another way to look at Stone’s singular achievement – whether you like the film or not. What if everyone is right? Furthermore, what if that was the point in the first place?

When Natural Born Killers was released in 1994, Oliver Stone was coming to the end of one of the more remarkable ten-year runs in the history of filmmaking. Starting with Salvador and Platoon in 1986 and culminating with Nixon in 1995, every Oliver Stone film was an event.

To call his films “lightning rods” is to insult the force of nature he was for a decade. Over that stretch, Stone made ten films. Three of them received best picture nominations form the Academy. He took home two best director Oscars for Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July. Only the third film in his Vietnam trilogy, Heaven and Earth could be considered a misfire – albeit an honorable one.

Hell, let’s just list off the films. Salvador, Platoon, Wall Street, Talk Radio, Born on the Fourth of July, The Doors, JFK, Heaven and Earth, Natural Born Killers, and Nixon. It’s a staggering stretch of work. Pauline Kael once said that Oliver Stone directed Platoon “as if he had a gun to his head.” You could probably say that about all of these films. Each one a searing, very personal piece of work. He was a man on fire.

In some ways, Natural Born Killers is an odd film in that group. The other nine films in that series of productions seem lifted from Stone’s psyche. They dealt with the war he survived, his memories of his father (Wall Street), presidents who shaped his world view (JFK and Nixon), the band he fetishized (The Doors), or personal dramas played out against a political backdrop that he was very familiar with (Salvador and Talk Radio). You can see why he made all of them.

For Stone to pick up the script of the hottest “it boy” in Hollywood and turn it into his own thing perhaps spoke of a man who made a film because he wasn’t sure what to do next, but he wanted to do something. As if the stories he had left to tell – those burning to get out of him – were all but exhausted.

There’s a hilarious story in producer, Jane Hamsher’s memoir (Killer Instinct) of the making of the film where she and co-producer, Don Murphy, get into a van and ride out into the desert to scout a location. The farther into the New Mexico wasteland they drove, the more the two producers got nervous. Where the Hell was Stone taking them? Suddenly, Stone tells the driver to hit the brakes. He gets out of the vehicle, looks around, and says, “This is a good place for the Indian scene.” At which point, Hamsher looks at Murphy and says, “What Indian scene?”

I guess at this point it’s not hard to see how Tarantino felt like this was Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers and not his. Tarantino’s original script was supposedly more of wickedly funny road movie about two serial killers. At times, Stone’s film is that too. But all the social commentary in the film likely comes from its director, not its writer.

And what thundering commentary it was. Stone was never known as the most subtle director, but on Natural Born Killers he abandoned the concept of a light touch entirely. Every moment in the film is punctuated as if a hammer striking a flat hand on a table. As electrifying as Stone’s technique is (the editing, camera movement, and use of multiple film stocks are dizzying sights to behold), much of what is onscreen is vicious and ugly. As Mickey and Mallory – think Bonnie and Clyde turned up to eleven hundred – Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis (both astonishing) make no effort to be liked. Their two killers are largely unrepentant, vile monsters. Their behavior is grotesque and irredeemable.

The funny thing is, their actions and perspective is not what Stone is really interested in. Despite one or both leads being onscreen almost every second of the film, what Stone is truly focused on is, well, us – the viewer. Long before there were Kardashian’s on our television and a game show host in the White House, Stone was looking at the psychology of the American people and our love of infamous celebrity. Coming right on the heels of the OJ Simpson murder case, Stone intended Natural Born Killers to be a horrifying reflection of perhaps who we were, but maybe even more likely, who we were becoming.

The character of Wayne Gale, played by a wondrous, scenery-scarfing Robert Downey Jr., is our avatar in the film. He’s our lens into this world where nothing is more important than getting headlines – no matter what those headlines are. “Family of six murdered by crazed gunman. Tune in at five.” Basing his character on Geraldo Rivera and two Australian producers of the tabloid TV hit, Inside Edition, Downey’s Wayne Gale has a lust for blood that matches that of the protagonists. He simply can’t get enough. And as Mickey and Mallory, in this barely fictional world, become more popular among the masses, we realize that we are chasing the same thing Wayne Gale is  – only at a safer distance. We want what he wants. Sensation, stimulation, blood. The more, the better.

If what I’m describing sounds like a lot to take, that’s because it is. Stone does not insinuate, he bludgeons – relentlessly. That he does so as a director at the top of his craft doesn’t change the fact that watching Natural Born Killers is a bit like getting punched in the face for two hours. The thing is, I mean that as a compliment. It’s a wild, transgressive work of art. It makes American Psycho look like a Saturday morning cartoon.

Even the hiring of Trent Reznor to curate the soundtrack speaks volumes to the filmmaker’s vision. Dire tracks from Nine Inch Nails, Leonard Cohen, and most famously, The Cowboy Junkies version of Sweet Jane, weave in and out of a nightmarish landscape that never lets you breathe. Not even when the action slows for the occasional very brief moment. It’s as if the intent of the film is not so much to keep you on the edge of your seat with suspense (although it does do that), as it is to keep you on the edge of walking out.

Perhaps no sequence in the film illustrates that point more than the sitcom “break” mid-film which depicts Juliette Lewis’ home life with her lecherous father, played by Rodney Dangerfield – complete with laugh track. Watching Dangerfield track Lewis around a crummy sub-Married with Children set while canned laughter bursts from the soundtrack is just about the queasiest thing I’ve seen in a movie theater. I don’t know how to rationalize or defend it other than to say it works perfectly with the rest of the film. Take that however you want.

Love it or loathe it, no one has ever seen anything like it. And even if you are in the “love” camp, you might be glad for that fact. Random, horrifying murders. Brutal, sadistic violence. Their is an unrelenting rancid psychology at play. That is Natural Born Killers. It is beyond the pale. It is a depiction of the American psyche shot against the backdrop of a funhouse mirror.

As the film closes, there is no relief. Mickey and Mallory escape. They continue on as folk heroes. There are no good guys, only criminals, victims and rubbernecking viewers. It’s a horrifying vision of America that few were ready for. But as we look around the times we live in, where children are kept in cages, our environment is literally on fire, a racist revival well underway, and the leader of the free world is a stupid, repugnant, half-assed celebrity whom nearly half of the American voting population cheer for as he declares up to be down and wrong to be right, it’s hard not to wonder about us.

The money shot in the film is the moment an incarcerated Mickey looks into the camera and responds to the question posed by Wayne Gale. The question of “why?” What made you like this? Harrelson screws up a perfect smirk and replies, “I’m just a natural born killer.” And the audience at home goes almost as wild as the ensuing jailbreak that brings the film to an unhinged crescendo.

Now, look at a rally being held by the current occupant of the White House – if you can stand it – where a bloviating fool makes fun of minorities, women, and the disabled in a hideous display of ego and cynicism. Watch the crowd around him as they froth and rave in their red hats and t-shirts.

Now, tell me, was Natural Born Killers all that extreme, or just a little early?

-David Phillips, “Reframe: Natural Born Killers,” AwardsDaily, Aug 29 2019 [x]

[twentysomethinginorlando]

MegaCon Part One: But First, Cosplay

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MegaCon Part One: But First, Cosplay

For some reason this year literally everything that could be happening on Memorial Day Weekend is happening on Memorial Day Weekend. One would think without the Disney 24 Hour Day, Orlando might get some peace and quiet but one would be wrong. This year we have Pandora, Volcano Bay, MegaCon, Pirates of the Caribbean 5, and SeaWorld’s new bubble show, just to name a few. Now you might be thinking, “One of those is a movie, that’s not really an important thing happening this weekend.” My friends and I dressed in full pirate garb for Gasparilla, a pirate festival in Tampa, in sixty degree weather, a new Pirates of the Caribbean movie is a very big deal.

To be fair, I really only care about one of these things:  MegaCon. MegaCon is the Southeast’s largest nerd convention and brings in thousands of people each year. I’ve been attending every year since 2014. I will admit, I preferred when it was a three day convention that was not held on a holiday weekend, because as someone who works in the hospitality industry it was hard enough to get a three day weekend when it didn’t involve Memorial Day, but clearly the holiday weekend strategy is working for them, since they broke 100,000 guests last year.  I originally planned on doing the four day pass for $99 since it was a good deal, but the closer it got to the convention the less time I realized I would have. With only Thursday/Friday off, and my friends wanting to do Pirates Thursday night, I settled on just spending Friday at the con.

Also in my original plans, I was just going to wear my Korra cosplay that I’ve had forever. My friend Polly made it in 2012 for a parody we were working on at the time and since then it’s been to MegaCon twice, Magic Kingdom three times and Hollywood Studios once. I also have a Jedi Korra that’s been to Star Wars Weekends twice and Tampa Bay Comic Con, and Gryffindor Korra for Harry Potter Celebration. If I could have gotten away with making my pirate costume Korra, believe me I would have, but at the time I was on a tight budget and then I came up with the whole mermaid backstory anyway. There is one Korra crossover I’ve been dying to do for years, but never had the resources to do the way I wanted: Kingdom Hearts Korra. Basically what Korra would look like if she appeared in the Kingdom Hearts series, complete with keyblade. My friend Melanie and I were talking about new cosplays I could do, and I tossed out the Kingdom Hearts idea. I did my best to describe to her what I had in mind, since I don’t draw, and it wasn’t like I could do it very well myself. Next thing I knew, she had drawn up concept art for me and it looked amazing. We went fabric shopping and she got started on it the next week. Then our work schedules decided to be polar opposites right up until the con and she had to finish it without me, so we decided I’d pick it up literally on my way to MegaCon.

Robert, Victoria, Jay and I had tickets for the 7 pm showing of Pirates on Thursday night at Disney Springs. Jay and I spent the day at their place working on a variety of costume pieces. I told the boys almost three weeks out I needed a keyblade built, and they of course left it to the last minute and I “only gave them five hours to build it!” Not true at all, I gave them twenty days’ notice. Not my fault they didn’t manage to get together sooner. Okay, it’s probably partially my fault. While they worked on the keyblade, intermittently with working on Jay’s Sith cosplay, I hung out with Victoria and made new hair pieces. I’ve had three different sets of them over the years for different costumes, but I have absolutely no idea where the original ones are, so I just made new ones. I tried something different this time and I’m not sure I like the effect. I usually use cut PVC pipe for the small ones and a coupling for the big one. This time I used couplings for all three of them, and fur for the trim instead of cord. The effect was much larger this time around and while it worked for Kingdom Hearts, I’m going to have to make another set before I break out my standard Korra cosplay again.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for us!

Around five I told the boys the keyblade was as good as it was going to get, and that it was time to get ready. Victoria had already done my hair and make-up out for the full mermaid effect, and I was borrowing an actual steel-boned corset from her instead of my usual one. Ooof. For once I was really grateful AMC Disney Springs had gone to reserved seating, as it worked out very well in our favor.

Except I accidentally put us on the front row of the balcony, which I love but I’m not sure everyone else liked it. I was really sad Disney didn’t do more for the premier. When Rogue One came out they had droids and characters out at Disney Springs, but we were the only pirates there. At least we looked fantastic.

It was almost eleven by the time we left the Hangar Bar, and I was supposed to be at Melanie’s by 8:30 the next morning. I knew that wasn’t happening, but I managed it by 9:00. I did my make-up in the car, which would have worked great if not for the construction that made eye-liner very difficult. Jay was planning on wearing his Darth Valice cosplay (Valice is an original character he created many moons ago), except we discovered one critical flaw in our planning: most of the Sith had been left at Robert and Victoria’s where they had been working on it while the paint on the keyblade was drying. Whoops. I don’t know how. I thought we got everything. So Jay donned his pirate costume for the second day in a row.

Melanie was in the process of doing her room-mate Liah’s body paint for Ursula, but she was still nice enough to stop to help me with my hair. It takes me about forty-five minutes to do Korra’s three pony tails. It took her about twelve. I love having super talented friends.

With a quick stop at Chick-fil-a for breakfast and a Walgreens for bobby pins (because I forgot them), we were on our way at last.There were shuttles running from the parking garages, but we chose to walk.  It was just faster and easier and I didn’t really feel like taking my keyblade on a bus. Getting through doors was hard enough.

We ran into my friend Paul on the walk in. He’s a member of the Improvengers, which I had heard of previously but had no idea he was in until he posted about their show on Facebook. I wanted to stop by but I completely lost track of time and missed it. Then we had to go through prop check. I was really worried because I had read online it would be a sticker and I thought it would take paint off, but it would up being plastic string they could tie around the handle. Jay was mad I wouldn’t let him bring his guns since he painted over the orange tips, but they weren’t checking that closely. I think it worked out though since it meant we could put his phone in the holster instead. I love all the pouches on the pirate costume. Korra has no pockets and nowhere to put anything!

Where I have been to MegaCon for four years now, Jay had never been. He went with me to Tampa Bay two years ago, and he’s been to plenty of other cons around the country, but this was his first MegaCon. I think he had no idea what he was getting into.

Picking up our tickets took no time at all and we headed onto the floor. We were in the middle of the vendor booths, which I like to a point but for the most part you can find all that stuff online pretty easily at major retailers. We had a sword we were looking for that Robert wanted, so we swung by the first sword booth we found with no luck. We had been there for all of five minutes before we got stopped for our first photo.

It is something we’ve gotten very used to over the years, and I try really hard not to say no when people ask for photos but sometimes it’s so hard when you’re in a hurry.

Artist Alley is my favorite part of MegaCon so that’s where we headed first. Melanie and Liah were letting me join them for their photo op with James Marsters and Nicholas Brendan from Buffy (Spike and Xander), but that wasn’t until 12:45 and we still had plenty of time first.

I have been strategically hoarding all my cash for the last several months specifically for MegaCon and spending in artist alley. A lot of the vendors can take credit cards but it’s easier for everyone if you can just pay cash. It also keeps me from overspending because once I’m out, I’m out.

We popped out of the vendor section about a third of the way into Artist Alley. I insisted on going to the far end and working our way down each row. My plan was to look first and then decide what I thought was worth coming back to buy. I’m really bad at impulse buying at cons, and I always feel bad when I look at an artist’s work and then don’t want to buy it. I worry about hurting people’s feelings because you know they poured their heart and soul into whatever they made. So I try to take business cards for everything I really like, and plan to comeback for the good stuff. If I still want it an hour later, it seems more worth it.

In theory.

This quickly got thrown out the window. The aisles were wider this year, which was wonderful, but it made it harder to look at both sides at once. So there were things I missed obviously. Jay stopped me to point out a Moana print and then I froze as I recognized the art. It was Moana as a Waterbender! There’s an artist that I have followed for years that does art of Disney character crossovers as benders, and other crossover art. Moana was the last piece of art so I had to backtrack a few steps to see the rest of the display. It was all the art I’ve been following for years!

“Are you Robby Cook?”

“Yes I am!”

I had to hold in a squeak. I am bad at talking to celebrities and artists. I am so bad at it. I apologized and said, “I’m just trying really hard not to fangirl right now.” Then I told him I’d been following him for years and I approached him about a commission once and he was super awesome and nice, but I couldn’t afford it and I felt bad. I told him he probably didn’t remember me and that was okay, and I didn’t even mention what the commission was in case he did. I’m worried how my last reply came off. He had two prints for $20 so I picked up his Kida/Korra crossover and his Guardians of the Galaxy/Disney crossover, which features Flynn Rider as Star Lord and Stitch as Rocket Raccoon.

We moved on. A spray painted painting of Jack and Sally caught Jay’s eye, and I promised we could come back if he wanted. There were a few booths I was specifically looking for and I just like to browse, you never know what you’re going to find. There was so much amazing stuff, but I’m really REALLY proud of how responsible I managed to be. By that, I mean that I managed not to spend all my money. My only problem is I feel horribly guilty when I look at an artist’s work and I like it, but not enough to buy it. I hate getting their hopes up and it usually leads to me buying things I don’t really want, but last year Kimberly taught me to take business cards and it worked out so much better.

Ashley of Valerious.

We got to the end of a row and saw a large group of cosplayers taking a photo together, and then I realized I recognized Moana as she handed the photographer a business card. It was my friend Ashley, who makes the skirts I wear when I do RunDisney. Better yet, I made those business cards for her!

Her cosplay group Valerious needed them so I volunteered my services. We swapped cards because now I have my own too, and took a quick photo. She looked amazing, but she always does.

I got a text just after noon from Melanie asking me to meet her at 12:30 for the photo. We finished two more rows and then headed towards the celebrity photo op area. We beat her over there, despite getting stopped for multiple photos along the way. Jay and I were taking pictures of each other’s costumes when she caught up to us, and we were second in line for the non-VIP photos. Several people came to take their photos, you don’t see a lot of Ariel and Ursula together, and some of them even wanted me even though I didn’t match. We waited a bit, and waited some more. It was already after 12:45, but the line hadn’t started moving. A man came out to tell us that James was running late, but he was finally in the car. It wasn’t until he stepped behind the curtain we realized it was Xander himself! A moment later we saw James walk by and the VIP line started moving. Then the lady in front of us was up with her baby, and it was super cute because the… I want to say character attendant but this isn’t Disney, handler I guess. The handler was trying to get the baby’s attention with the flashlight on her phone and Nicholas had to ask them to take the photo over because he realized he was looking at the phone instead of the camera. I thought it was really sweet he cared.

We were up in no time at all, and there wasn’t much time to figure out how we wanted to pose. Of course we hadn’t discussed how we were standing previously because that would make too much sense. Melanie wound up in the middle between them and Liah on Xander’s arm, while I got Spike. I was hoping for hugs but I got a hand shake from James before the photo, and Nicholas afterwards, and he called me “darlin'”. Internal squeak. I actually really like the photo ops because they’re so fast they don’t give you time to talk and I can’t make a fool of myself. They had the photo printed immediately as we left and it turned out super well. Liah was sad she hadn’t wound up next to Spike and I felt really guilty since I sort of crashed their photo, but I was also dying slightly of happiness inside.

Me, Spike, Melanie, Xander and Liah.

We went out to find Jay who was waiting with my keyblade. I had elected not to take it in because I just knew I would accidentally hit one of them with it and die of embarrassment. I don’t know if you can kill a vampire with a keyblade, but I just didn’t see it ending well. I met a couple of Melanie’s friends and then we split back up so Jay and I could grab snacks. I wound up taking the photo because we were the only ones with a bag to put it in and we slid it securely between the two Robby Cook prints.

After some rather overpriced snacks and bottles of water, we headed towards the Cosplay Park, a set of themed backgrounds you could take photos with for free. It’s an absolutely brilliant idea and I loved it, but there wasn’t a single background that worked with either of our costumes. I still probably should have taken a few, but I was distracted by the Pikachu bug. That’s probably not its official name, but speaking as someone who has her own nerd car, I was very impressed. (Although admittedly Pikachu merchandise is easier to find than Appa.) I took a picture with it, and I am determined while it might not be my next car, I will own a yellow bug in the future I can Pika out.

We saw the Batmobile which was a photo op for charity, then the Droid Builders area with all sorts of R2-D2s. We had seen several of them beeping around throughout the day, but there were seven or eight all together. Then we found a booth with the TARDIS, a few Daleks, and I squeaked out loud when I saw K-9.

K9 and the Daleks.

From there, we made our way back towards Artist Alley. We knew where we had stopped before, at the fine art cats, and now we were just going to work our way back until we got to that point. I tried to make note of the booths that most interested me so I could find them again. There were some cute Disney parks style buttons, an independent comic that Jay was particularly interested in, bookmarks, and tons of awesome prints. I had my photo taken plenty of times and even found an Aang cosplayer, complete with glider.

A meeting of the Avatars.

Check back for Part Two: Some Heroes Are Worth Meeting in which I talk about the awesome James Marsters panel, meeting my favorite artist Karen Hallion, and talking to the girls from the Hillywood Show. Also I got interviewed by a YouTube gaming channel.

[horrible-monstrosity]

whats the first five minutes of the episode anyway let's just waste it on this fucking nonsense Didn't they do this with the last Lapis and Peridop episode too, with the art "I'M PRESSING THE META JOKE BUTTON AND THEREFORE IT'S GOOD!! I BET NO ONE'S EVER MADE FUN OF MODERN ART BEFORE" bullshit. reeeeeee Best of all this actually would have been an okay episode concept on its own. Peripot and Lapis facing their own shortcomings, Steven getting to give some of his odder powers a spin, a lighthearted episode where the characters get to fluff around and learn valuable life lessons about friendship and pet ownership. Overall probably pointless but it'd give my heart the warm fluffy feelings, you know, like some of the earlier episodes...

And I suppose this actually shows one of the few remaining traits of SU that I actually somewhat like- they cut right through the bullshit. Sometimes. Steven doesn't keep going with the lie that they not him made the pumpkin pupper, and he realises pretty quickly that he traumatised the poor thing for life with his jackolantern carving and swiftly decides to pretend it never happened. It's the same as in the episode with Peridock and the roller coaster and shit, where she starts bitching about how shapeshifting is herp a derp derp but admits she's just salty grapes immediately when confronted. It's a great way not to dwell too long on stupid shit and keep your comedic bullshit out of your drama. It's refreshing.

Apparently Steven's healing spit is what makes vegetables come to life now. ... Okay, I think we might have seen this before with the watermelons, but it's long since been eclipsed by the healing thing, so bringing it up again now is just a bit... weird.

and oh look there's the plane. are you ready to burst a kidney in pure RAGE, kids?? because I know i am!!!

tiny peridogdjgifshyub's shrieky voice going HEY DON;T YOU TOUCH OUR THING when she and lapis have completely fucked up a barn that wasn't really theirs oh boy i'm feeling the CRINGE already and he just said "A MAN'S JOB" but i have literally no idea what he even said in the first half of the sentence. might be because i actually have this thing on like x1.25 but fuck it i don't feel like figuring it out i'm entirely sure it's not worth hearing anyway frgrgrrrr Perigot and Lapis instigating violence on some poor random human. OUR FUCKING HEROES EVERYONE Yes. Slam him into the ground. This makes me like you.

Okay, can I just say I fucking LOVE how Steven's family name is fucking... Demayo. De mayo. He is of the mayonnaise. He is fucking a white male. Amazing.

"If he's my family, he's your family too!" "Gems don't have family. At least, not before we came here." So, you do or you don't? If you do have family now what's the point of saying you don't? Attack on Logic. the cooking montage is giving me flashbacks to the bismuth bonding ritual sequence of my god "This is going down in flames." you mean this show is going down in flames right steven steven cooking on his shield what the fuck

And... Pearl brings out the wedding cake. I get that this is supposed to be "oh lol the alines were told to combine the celebrations but they don't know how to humans!! oh no" but it's just... you know how the (stereotypical) conservative opinion on gay marriage or whatever is that it's ruining marriage and an affront to the sacred tradition? At least two men or two women marrying each other vaguely resembles the usual type of marriage. A bunch of aliens, two adult men and a kid, the latter three being relatives, getting "married" is... you've become a parody of yourself. What is this shit. Also I could have sworn that in one shot that cake had a bunch of grooms in tuxedos on it but only one bride, despite there being slightly more women ("women") than men present... you know, because the gems are proud gender-defying people of gender or something and steven's the one in a dress... or something... what the fuck garnet passes greg with the cake slice and goes straight to andy

holy shit awkward as fuck table discussion about putting corn in a mirror. hey guys this is what inside jokes look like, this is how anyone has conversations "Thank you, Andy, for showing up!" And... you know... for letting ("letting") them use the barn and the plane... if they'd said that right then it might almost have made up for something in this fucking episode, but apparently they just near immediately forgot what he'd been complaining about in the first place. "Did we do somthing wrong?" YES

and then steven's float powers don't work because he might as well not have those huh and then pumpkin boi barfs up a cake person thing and the episode just fucking ends

Overall this episode was... bizarrely less offensive than I expected it to be. Mostly because it was just meh. Like, Andy was halfway between a strawman of the conservative mindset or some shit and somewhat... reasonable. Like in a few scenes once the gems buggered off he cooled down about whatever offense they'd just committed against himself and his family's property while he was just with Greg and Steven. Which brings up the question of what he was even upset about... what, the mayonnaise family fell apart entirely offscreen? Who gives a fucknuggets. I was expecting a "oh you don't actually disagree with us you're just saaaaaaadd (oh and we get to keep your stuff)" schick but instead Andy... doesn't even really oppose the gems. What was even the point of any of this?