#live action was good but in a completely alien version of the original work

[scribbyizhere]

the pacing? shit. the melanin? this is the best we've got, that new guy over there doesn't know SHIT about melanin.

[unknown171204]

Starmania 1979

The French singer, author and composer Michel Berger one day heard about a surprising news item . Patricia Campbell Hearst, the daughter of a billionaire, kidnapped by terrorists ended up joining their movement out of love for one of her kidnappers !

This true story will fascinate him, to the point of starting an album inspired by this story :

This will be the “Angelina Dumas” project .

Ultimately the album never saw the light of day and only one song that remained of Berger's work remained that he recorded as a duet with his wife France Gall :

Frustrated by what he considers to be a failure, Michel will not let go of what he thinks (rightly) is a good artistic vein

thanks to his wife who will make him meet the Canadian singer Diane Dufresne, Michel will work with her lyricist Luc Plamondon with whom he created the most famous rock opera in France :

The story takes place in an undated future (despite a now outdated reference to the year 2000 and the 80s) Humans now live in underground galleries redeveloped into a huge city called Monopolis. The only mirage of happiness for ordinary citizens is the number 1 television show "Starmania" where everyone can become a star for one night .

We simultaneously follow the lives and actions of several characters :

Johnny Rockfort : A young anarchist leader of the terrorist group " les étoiles noires " ( the black stars )

Sadia : A transvestite student co-creator of " les étoiles noires "

Marie Jeanne : The depressed waitress who works at the " Underground café "

Ziggy : A mythomaniac and ambitious homosexual record store owner

Cristal : The host of Starmania

Stella Spotlight : A sex symbol on the decline

Zéro Janvier : An extremist politician running for became president

Gourou Marabout : An extremist politician also competing in the presidential election

Roger-Roger : the TV presenter

Brilliantly the duo Berger / Plamondon went out of their way to organize the broadcast of a special television program in 1978 in order to present the songs to as many people as possible :

The show was performed for a short month , only 33 performances at the Palais des Congrès , but it is considered one of the greatest French musicals

DISTRIBUTION :

Daniel Balavoine : Johnny Rockfort

France Gall : Cristal

Fabienne Thibeault : Marie-Jeanne

Étienne Chicot : Zéro Janvier

Diane Dufresne : Stella Spotlight

Grégory Ken : Ziggy

Nanette Workman : Sadia

Roddy Julienne : le Gourou

René Joly : Roger-Roger

Due to his short presence on stage, the show did not have the right to a complete recording (it is today considered a highly sought after lost media) but fortunately the audio of the show has available in its entirety !

To get an idea of ​​the visual identity of the show I had to dig into the TV archives :

The repetitions :

Full live audio of the show :

한국어 자막과 함께 :

Single :

Monopolis / Quand on arrive en ville / Le blues du business man / La complainte de la serveuse automate / Ziggy / Le monde est stone

But the most memorable song is " SOS d'un terrien en détresse "

A song renowned for its difficulty and which launched the career of Daniel Balavoine then, years later, that of Star Academy 2004 winner Grégory Lemarchal :

ANECDOTES :

The original album contains two songs missing from the final show :

Petite Musique terrienne Part 2

L'air de l'extraterrestre

This extraterrestrial is a deleted character who only appeared physically in two production ( Francis Martin in 1980 and Marc Gabriel in 1986 , in this last version we discovered that Roger-Roger was in reality an alien ) the song, or rather its theme, will be recycled in several subsequent versions .

The show also contains several unreleased and missing songs from the album that will never be reused !!

La serveuse et les clients

Jingle de Stella

Sex shops , cinéma porno

Les parents de Cristal

Le tango de l'amour et de la mort

...

Claude Dubois (the original voice of Zéro Janvier) is the only one of the singers present on the album who did not reprise the role on stage, unfortunately it was because of his drug addiction, he took his revenge in 1989 when he replaced Richard Groulx on stage ( thanks to miss-starmania for the archive picture and additional information )

...

Michel Berger abandons his role of Grand Gourou to Roddy Julienne without any explanation ?!

...

In this version, in addition to randomly attacking wealthy people in the street, scratching their cars and raping girls in parking lots, les étoiles noires of 79 are a bit more extreme than in the other versions … Roger Roger specifies that the terrorists deliberately disconnected the oxygen ventilation of an entire neighborhood, killing all the residents ! This free murder will be deleted from other versions

...

The name Johnnie Rockfort (a complicated pun to translate which can mean "strong rock'n'roll " or just the cheese of the same name ? ) is perhaps not a coincidence , the producer of the show Roland Hubert, not being convinced by Balavoine, completely unknown at the time, he fought (in vain) with Berger so that the role was offered to the rocker Johnny Halliday

...

According to the memories of France Gall, during one of the performances a disgruntled spectator had fun whistling throughout the show exhausting Daniel Balavoine who patiently waited for the curtain call to jump into the audience to beat him up while he was still wearing his bulky costume ( the one below )

...

France Gall speaks about the show :

For more Starmania or to discover other French musicals I invite you to follow the path of my main masterlist to learn more about French musicals and their stories :

[shawshankshadow]

my relationship with the sonic movies is that i adore the character designs they settled on, and really like how they’ve played with sonic’s personality and writing to give us one of the most vulnerable and kid-like versions of him we’ve ever had. almost everything else makes me :c

in no particular order:

their voices.

the fact that it’s live action

tom being a cop who aspires to work for the LAPD because he “wants to help people and make the world a better place” (DHEHDBFJSJJCJFJDJCJFJ)

the misogynoir

tom in general? like, he’s not a necessary character, there is nothing he does that maddie cannot do. we could have had a “vet finds an alien freak” storyline with a subplot exploring her relationship with rachel. the second movie having a plot line where he struggles to call tom his “dad” - wouldn’t it have been more moving if we’d instead had a plot about him struggling to call maddie “mom,” due to unresolved grief over longclaw? then we could have had a subplot where tails calls HIM “brother”, and juxtaposed his found family conflict with knuckles, who ALSO has unresolved grief over his slain tribe + family. we could have had themed n shit, about mourning and healing and letting yourself have family again. but no whatever okay WHATEVER

where the fuck is amy. how are you going to adapt the classic games and then ignore amy and skip straight to the adventure era. amy was a pivotal part of sa2. what happened to sa1. back the fuck up.

i know its supposed to be “the year of shadow” or whatever the fuck - and i LOVE him i GET IT - but shadow is not nearly good enough to warrant skipping amy’s introduction AND sa1 just to speed to the shadow debut. sonic 3 could have been adaptations of cd (introduces amy and metal sonic) and sa1 (tikal, chaos), while seeding foreshadowing and plot buildup in the background for the eventual lore drop and character-reveal of shadow in sonic 4.

i pirate everything anyways but the. industry support of idf. are you for fucking real

sonic was originally a subversive freedom fighter who hated the military and engaged in direct action against shitty people (blowing up eggman’s stuff, having zero respect for institutional authority). so what is this copaganda pro-military bootlicker shit. UM.?)

my god, animation is not “lesser cinema”, it’s perfectly possible to have an incredible kickass story without using live action. i promise it’s not “cooler” for it to be live action, spiderverse was the coolest shit ever and it didn’t need fucking live action to make it so. please. live action fucking sucks so much it’s so boring if i wanted to look at people id go outside why are you making me pay money to look at REGULAR PEOPLE I COULD SEE ON THE STREETS FOR FREEEEEEE

the child trafficking joke???????

how’re you gonna give us our most CHILDLIKE BABY SONIC EVER insofar as characterization and character profile, and then saddle him with the voice of an 18 year old high school senior. this guy should sound like those squeaky kids from the amazing world of gumball. he should sound like a kid who’s barely hit puberty but insists he’s got a beard. instead he is, writing-wise, dipper pines, but voice-wise, jean-ralphio from parks and rec.

i cannot believe they gave us maddie the vet and then made us experience meeting sonic through the eyes of tom. TOM. MADDIE IS RIGHT THERE

sorry i’m still not over the disrespect for amy. shadow’s fucking heel-turn in sa2 is directly because a conversation with AMY made him realize the truth about maria’s wish. AMY DID THAT. SHE TURNED THE TIDES OF THE PLOT. SHADOW WOULDVE JUST MURDER-SUICIDED EVERYBODY FULL VILLAIN-MODE. OH MY GOD.

R O U G E .

so yall just hate women. this bad. yall hate women so bad yall will make the perfect girl character and proceed to completely neglect her in favor of her white male police officer spouse. and make us watch you do that. tom could have been a footnote. an email.

what the fuck is this longclaw vs echidna tribe backstory. like these story lore drops are crazy, how are you gonna say that and then not go back and develop it fully. how are you gonna keep it vague about mobius and NOT develop it. i’ll kill you.

THE RING ZONE PORTAL THING????????????? HELLOO????

THE PLOTS WE COUOD HAVE GOTTEN. BUT INSTEAD WE STAY ON EARTH AND USE THE RINGS TO PORTAL AROUND LOCALLY. FUCK OFF.

can you imagine a world-domination!robotnik getting his hands on the portal rings. and using them to conquer planets in his quest for domination of the universe. and sonic having to protect the rings from him while evading detection from the humans. like, a real Classics robotnik, instead of the “formerly a government employee” plot line we got.

WHATEVERRRRRRRRRR

could have had a pom poko ass plot line where mobians are aware of earth but earth isn’t aware of them, and sonic has to lay low on earth while trying to protect the portal rings and work with other freedom fighters to try and save his zone/world from robotnik’s reign. that would have given us the earth plotlines from sa2 while allowing for the mobius plotlines from classics era.

blah blah blah “portalling mobians land on earth and return to their home planet while accidentally take away a baby!robotnik from his family on earth. they don’t know how to return him but decide to raise him. he grows up different, has a Grinch Villain Arc, and it combines with his incredible genius to make him a mad scientist bent on world domination so that everybody HAS to like me!!! the mobians accidentally portal to earth after their portal accidentally crosses paths with another portal (this one going across space AND time) which throws off their trajectory. the other portal is eventually revealed to be a time tracker using chaos control to do something - the set up for silver the hedgehog.

[elacular-kink]

Masturbatory thoughts on masturbation

So, below the cut will be me going on some long spiel about shame, Christianity, capitalism, and a bunch of other various shit only vaguely connected to the purpose of this blog. I'm also almost certainly completely preaching to the choir. So, for those who don't want to read through all this shit, tl;dr, self-love is an act of immense defiance against a system set up from the very roots to make us feel like we don't deserve to be happy, but we do. And jerking off is good, actually.

Short version out of the way, onto the long one.

So, I grew up in a very conservative catholic household. And unlearning shit has been a whole journey that I'm still on. I also live under capitalism, which we all know how much that sucks. But I've realized over time how well Christian conservatism and capitalism suit one another's goals.

One of the keystone ideas behind conservative Christianity is the concept of "original sin". Because Eve fucked up and ate the apple, everyone is fundamentally tainted from their very birth. It's only through baptism that you're cleansed, and after that, all you can do is get worse by sinning. You can get washed clean again by confession, but it's never long before you sin again. So you simultaneously start at 100% and have nowhere to go but down, and you are an inherently broken and damaged person who's only allowed to exist through the incredible magnanimity of god.

In capitalism, the concept is that everyone starts their lives at 0. You have no money, and you have to earn it all throughout your life. Obviously this is completely untrue, but this is the platonic ideal of what capitalism is "supposed" to be. Either way, though, the expectation is that you earn a living. And isn't that a fucked up phrase when you think about it? "Earn a living". You need to earn your very right to exist.

So put these ideas together, as they often are in American culture. You are born as a broken person who is given a chance at deserving happiness by God out of His impossible goodness. And you constantly fuck that up. Meanwhile, you also have to earn the right to exist by being "productive" within a system that alienates people from the results of their work so that they can't experience the pride of their efforts in a meaningful way. And in America specifically, all of this is slathered in a dense blanket of the just world fallacy. If your life sucks, it's because you suck. So sadness and self-loathing are compounded.

Now, without even getting into the moralizing around sex itself...where's the room for pleasure in any of that?

If you have to constantly be avoiding sin and also constantly be producing value (which, if you lived like I did, you were also often forced to see as contradictory things. The world is secular and evil, so don't be too worldly, and fight against it by trying to be more churchy, but also that's not how you make money), then when is there even time for self-love? For self-care? For granting yourself pleasure that harms nobody by participating in an action that, under most normal circumstances, only really causes positive feelings. But you can't. Because that time doesn't belong to you. It belongs to your bosses. It belongs to God. Every second of every day is stolen if it isn't spent praying or working. Pleasure is unearned, no matter what, because you don't even deserve neutrality. You don't even deserve misery. You deserve less than nothing. And it's only through the incredible kindness of God and the bosses that you exist at all. It could be worse. You could be like those poors down even lower on the ladder.

Add the anti-sex beliefs of Christian Conservatism into the mix, and is there any result other than self-loathing that makes any sense?

But just to be clear, FUCK ALL THAT SHIT!

We deserve to be happy. All of us. We deserve to exist, and to get the support we need, and to have what we need to be happy. And the fact that that's not the case fucking sucks. Instead we live in a cruel, capricious world, where not only outside factors, but other people harm us incredibly deeply. And our brains are designed to grant us control. It's how we survive. And if we're somehow to blame for our own misery, then that means we can fix it. Self-loathing is a way to maintain control over the world in our minds. It's a way to avoid admitting how fucked up things can be for absolutely no good reason. It's a way to avoid acknowledging that sometimes you're in horrible pain and there's nothing you could have done to avoid it. And that that sort of thing will happen again in the future.

So it's a choice you have to make. It's an active effort you have to partake in. To constantly be fighting against the firehose of bullshit reasons to hate yourself constantly being sprayed in your face. For me, it's involved going on a shitload of medications, doing a shitload of therapy, and actively fighting my own brain when I have thoughts that I know are unhealthy. Stopping myself, catching those thoughts, then replacing them with ones that reflect the reality that I do deserve to exist. And I'm unbelievably lucky to have few distractions and the help I need to do all that shit. But I hope that hearing that you deserve to exist can help in some small way.

[beautiful-basque-country]

Plan Zona Especial Norte

On December 3, 1982, PSOE formed its first government in Spain. José Barrionuevo was appointed Minister of the Interior, who just two months after he took office presented the so-called Plan ZEN - Zona Especial Norte (Special Northern Area) -, a counterinsurgency program aimed at fighting on all fronts against the Basque independence movement.

The project launched had been designed by Civil Guard General Andrés Cassinello, specialized in "psychological action and anti-subversive information" and graduated in counterinsurgency in 1966 from the Fort Bragg Special Warfare Center (United States). He had belonged to Franco's information services, from where he went to Spanish intelligence. Investigative journalist Alfredo Grimaldos - author of the book "The CIA in Spain" - was asked if the CIA had controlled the GAL. His answer was clear: «Not directly, but the brain of the GAL was a CIA man in Spain, General Andrés Cassinello. But he took off and in the middle when they implicated Rodríguez Galindo for fear of getting off badly ».

The Plan included laws that authorized, for example, isolated detention of up to 10 days and allowed opaque spaces of absolute impunity. Some of the measures of that first "Anti-Terrorist Plan" were even declared unconstitutional years later, but the evil was already sown. Some elements mutated and were incorporated into ordinary legislation, with which the comprehensive plan of the Spanish State was perpetuated on that same unethical ground.

As objectives to achieve, it established "to achieve the permanence in the Special Area of the personnel of the State Security Corps" or "carry out actions aimed at making the Basque population aware that the disarticulation of the terrorist apparatus entails greater public security and better defense of the Basque traditions».

Funny enough, at different times it refers to the particular idiosyncrasy of the Basque people, to culture and traditions, contrasting the "bad terrorist" with the "good Basque". On the one hand, the document places the perversion of those who live in the rebel independence alienation and, on the other, the docile, good-natured and hard-working Basques who live without contradictions with Spain.

In the text of the Plan ZEN, a fundamental idea was constantly repeated: «The Police suffer acts of violence for being an impediment to those who seek to impose by force a system contrary to the Basque cultural tradition and respect for the freedom and rights of others."

With regard to Basque society, it set objectives such as “convincing the citizen that the State Security Forces and Bodies are there to protect and provide security and that the common enemy is criminals and terrorists. Achieve the respect, support and collaboration of citizens towards the State Security Corps and Forces. Have citizen support to marginalize the Terrorist Organization isolating it from the rest of society. "Be especially wary of young people, especially if they wear a dark anoraks, jeans, sneakers and a sports bag," the text warned.

It also alluded to the relatives and friends of the Basque political prisoners, aspiring to "get the population (especially the relatives of the detained prisoners) to be convinced that the detainees receive dignified treatment." And this in a period (1980-85) that marked a peak of torture cases after Franco's death.

Of course, the ZEN Plan - whose original and complete version still remains as a secret document - placed special emphasis on "psychological warfare" and a prominent role was given to the use of journalists and the media, recommending the practice of lying, the manipulation of information, the spread of rumors, or even the purchase of journalists.

In one of its points it proposed "attributing part of the credit in the police successes obtained to citizen collaboration (...), giving periodic information, through third parties, that disseminates confrontations and discrepancies between terrorists, their foreign ideologies, their businesses dirty, their criticizable customs, etc. It is enough that the information is credible to exploit it.

The Plan, in a nutshell, advocated for lies in the media, denunciations, infiltrators, the creation of a network of informers, the promotion of the figure of the repentant, the extension of the concept "we/them", the criminalization of stereotypes according to aesthetics, clothing, the insistence that the treatment of detainees was correct... In other words, the entire catalog of what the Spanish State has been applying throughout these forty years since then.

All the names that appear throughout this text linked to the Plan ZEN have been related at some point to the dirty state war; some directly, having been tried and sentenced even though their time in prison was fleeting; others, such as the so-called "X of the GALs", go unpunished and are proud of the task accomplished.

Source

[atarahderek]

How to "diversify" Scooby-Doo without sucking out its entire soul--and the audience's souls with it

So as the entire internet already knows, HBO's Velma was a major flop. The only views it's getting are hate views. Conservatives find it hilarious because leftists are trolling themselves by accusing the show creators of being secret right-wing trolls. Well, if they are, they're bloody brilliant.

The premise of the show was never, "What if Mystery Inc. were more diverse?" It was always, "What if Mystery Inc. were super woke? Also, what if we sexualized characters aged 15-17 and targeted exclusively audiences over 18?" So really, the show's creators shouldn't be so baffled as to why even their target audience hates their show. I guess this goes to show that when you buy the lie that reason is "too white" to be permissible, you predictably start to act like an idiot.

But what if I told you that there was already a canonically established means of "diversifying" the cast in a way that actually retains the spirit of the original show?

The series finale of Mystery Incorporated revealed that that show and every previous iteration of Scooby-Doo is canon to the others (yes, this does include the live action films, so take that as you will). It also implied that all future iterations of the franchise will be canon as well. This provides the single most perfect opportunity to explore what Mystery Inc. would be like if they were from other races, ethnic backgrounds, nations and even planets. It would present different reimaginings of the characters in a natural, creative way that the audience would just eat up. All you would have to do is create a series where Mystery Inc. explores the multiverse and meets a variety of alternate selves. Just think of it. You could have...

a Japanese or Korean Mystery Inc. that flanderizes the heck out of every anime trope (and they 100% have permission to turn the tables on us)

an African, Afro-Caribbean or African American Mystery Inc.

a South/Southeast Asian Mystery Inc. with a MUCH less sexualized and angry version of the above woke Velma

an alien version of Mystery Inc., with lots of opportunity for worldbuilding

a version of Mystery Inc. from a completely different time period, such as the Victorian era

a Rule 63 version of Mystery Inc.

a version of Scooby that corresponds to the largest dog breed in each of the above cultures/universes

There would be no need to make each iteration of the gang particularly diverse within the gang itself, unless they were temporarily mixing up members across the multiverse to accomplish a mission (e.g. the Japanese team swaps out their Daphne for the original, or the alien team borrows the original Shaggy and sends theirs with another team). No one cares if a particular AU team is comprised of only black members, and in fact it helps sell the idea that this is the same team from a completely different universe. To reiterate, the Scooby gang does not need tokens!

Of course, the real key to making a good Scooby-Doo show is simple:

Absolutely NO virtue signaling!

It won't kill you to simply tell good stories with good humor and beloved characters. In fact, you'll probably find people actually love your work. If you do it right, audiences might even start begging for a spin-off focusing on one of the guest teams.

[thrythlind]

TORG

Torg is probably one of the earliest seeds of my interest in genre blender settings though it was eventually cemented by Fred Perry's Gold Digger and my own fanfictions. I was able to play a few games of this back in the 90s, short run games and one-shots that didn't go very far.

The basic premise of this game was that there were two cosmic forces, one of creation and one of destruction. And the force of destruction created Darkness Devices in order to tempt people to serve its cause by using them to slowly limit and destroy possibilities until things got to a point where the cosmic force could crush it all at once.

Part of how this would work is that the Dark Lords would anchor the axioms of their realities (called "Cosms") to the level of magic, tech, social, and spiritual development that they most desired with a handful of corollary side rules unique to each reality. And once they've succeeded in shaping their reality to their desire, they would begin to go out and conquer other realities and forcing it that image as well.

If a critical mass of residents from one region came into another one with the aid of the appropriate dark powers, then the invading realm would over-write the native one. Magic or tech native to the target Cosm would fail and residents would find their minds and memories rewritten to accept their position within the new Cosm.

The ultimate goal of these villains is to achieve enough power to claim the title of "TORG" (which I've heard is an acronym based on the working title of the game system)... but of course they're a pawn for destruction seeking to break everything, them included.

The original game focused on a version of Earth that was being invaded by several other Cosms:

Aysle - A fantasy realm of D&D style magic.

Cyberpapcy - A realm of advanced cybernetics and religious oppression.

Living Land - A realm of sentient dinosaur people and prehistoric or stone age action.

New Nile - A pulpy story of 1920s superheroes, gadgeteers, occultists, and a madman who believes himself to be a pharoah.

Nippon Tech - A near future (honestly, RL 2020s) realm of corporate greed and financial oppression. And because it was the 90s, cyberninja.

Orrosh - A realm of Victorian horror and colonialist invaders. Vampires, werewolves, zombies, white supremacists.

There were later one or two other Cosms involved, including a sort of "good guy" Cosm that still came across pretty pretentious.

The world of the original game eventually fought off their invaders and the world of the more recent version, Torg Eternity, explicitly features an Earth where things didn't go near as well.

The But...

I liked the basic idea here but there were things that bothered me at the time and bother me more now.

First of all, the fact that Social development was quantified.

Cosms had 4 axioms rated from 0 to 30 that rated the development of native magic, tech, spiritual involvement, and....social development.

On the one hand, they talk about the potential of these axioms fluctuating in different places and with enough people changing entirely. But it describes changing a rating by 1 point over 10 years to be very fast, with 1 point over 500 years being more likely.

(looks pointedly at real history)

Okay.

The very idea that there is a hard cosmic law that limits society from advancing is horrific to me and I hate it. And from a game play perspective, it is actively saying "you don't get to make real substantial changes to the world" to the players.

And yes, you can ignore that for your own game, but it does represent a rather horrific impression that that is the default.

To be clear.

I'm completely onboard with horrific invaders enforcing alien thought patterns, behaviors, and even natural or supernatural laws onto people. That sort of identity theft is a thing I dip into quite a bit.

Where I find it distasteful is that this hard limit of imposition is the default nature of the setting.

You can't share cultural points across Cosms. Unless you're one of those special Storm Knights who keep their own identity when traveling to other Cosms, then you hold tight to your own native-concepts and reject other concepts on a basic, cosmic level.

Which brings me to another problem.

You can't have healthy interaction between Cosms by default beyond a handful of Storm Knight envoys.

The most healthy way for different Cosms to exist is to stay separate and never interact with each other. And yeah... separate but equal is not a thing I like to deal with.

You can't have a character go around and acquire trainings and techniques from alternate Cosms... because their most base nature will reject that other Cosm.

Say you have a bunch of heroes from different Cosms finish the campaign by kicking out the invaders and even freeing the other Cosms from their tyrants...

Well the next thing is they all get separated not to mix again.

[a-really-cool-blog-name]

ADOLESCENT EVIL TURTLES

I finally figured out some more things about my version of the turtles so I have decided to make an updated post about them. (They won't leave my brain) I don't have any stories written about them (yet) but I do have several videos on my YouTube channel. All details are due to change.

My original intention were for them to be super evil but honestly I've had so much crap happen to them that it's kind of justified at this point but they still don't see themselves as good people (and they have done some questionable actions) so the title still works.

Warning! This is probably going to be rambly and probably cringy because I'm just getting my thoughts out, but I'm having fun and that's all that matters.

So without further ado,

Basic backstory outline:

All of the turtles weren't initially turtles, they actually used to be humans. However, their mom (Tang Shen) died shortly after Leo and Raph were born. Eventually (series of unfortunate events theme song starts playing) their dad (Hamato Yoshi) dies years later and unfortunately for them they don't have any more living relatives so they are going to be sent to the orphana-

Wait, where'd they go?

Oh no, I don't tell me... Guess what dumb butts tried to evade the law to try and stick together? These dumb butts. And now they are trying to live off the streets and not get caught. Uh oh, as it turns out living off the streets is really hard but they persevere anyway! After -somehow- evading the law for nearly a year, they decide to just steal some bread from this truck- Oh crap the doors shut behind them... I'm sure this ends well. After nearly an hour waiting the door opened and they were in a garage Bebop and Rocksteady immediately notice the "little thieves" as they call them and take them to their master. The shredder doesn't take well to them and immediately tries to kill them with a substance from an alien species that just watches humanity like bugs that live under a rock (the Krang) or more accurately he forces Baxter stockman to try to kill them with an unknown substance given by an alien species. He also slashes Raph's face just for fun I guess. Luckily for them, they aren't dead (YIPPEEE) however they are still

Extremely confused

In a lot of pain

About to be knocked unconscious due to said pain

And wake up later not knowing what's going on and not understanding why they're surrounded by monsters realize they are also a monster and then start crying, punching walls, trying to get off the weird armor on their backs that hurt, or D all of the above.

(Gosh, someone give them a warm blankie and a cup of hot chocolate and several painkillers. I would say "don't do this to me" but I'm doing it to myself) (at least the mutation healed Raph's injury so he doesn't bleed out?) (I would say I'm not being very nice to Raphael but I'm not being very nice to any of them right now unfortunately)

So yeah, they're dealing with all of that years before the main story even starts. ANYWAY-

Side tangent, "Sub-mutations":

"Wait a minute, what's a sub-mutation? Isn't that a thing that happens when you get-"

Shut up! None of this is realistic anyway. Sub-Mutations our thing I made to inject as much hurt-comfort I can forcefully into these poor unfortunate souls while making their designs more unique.

Essentially what a sub-mutation is essentially "Aftershocks" of the very early prototype of mutagen the turtles were hit with, you see, the mutagen itself being the first version that didn't just straight up kill the person it hit wasn't...super stable? But luckily the ooze isn't completely stupid and understands this fact (somehow despite it not being an actual living creature, though imagine if it was that would suck. Oooooh someone should make AU about that with one of the normal versions of the turtles like imagine a venom situation? Dang it, not the side tangent in the side tangent. Anyways back on track.) and stabilizes itself over time...Phenotype-ly.

So, basically these poor little guys got to deal with random permanent changes that happened to their bodies forcefully and painfully every year or so (it happened more often during puberty) Luckily Donnie is a super genius and has figured out how to create a preventative medicine that itself stabilizes the mutagen without the need for the painful situation. Important notes! This is preventative meaning it cannot undo changes that have already happened and it doesn't completely stop them, it just makes them significantly less frequent. It also needs to be re-administrated every month or so, cutting it off cold turkey could lead to... Consequences. (Sorry Raph)

Now on to the turtles themselves! 🧡💜❤️💙

This design depicts him at the start of an idea for a crossover I have in my head with him being 23. I admittedly should have drawn him as he would appear at the start of the story but I didn't feel like it soooooo just imagine him with less scars with less spots because he would be 18.

Personality: Mikey's just a silly little guy (or at least desperately tries to be). While he comes across as a jokester who pranks far too often (which he is don't get me wrong) he's still the oldest brother and worries a lot.

He's the type who holds a bunch of responsibility but tries to look like he's not holding on to a bunch of responsibility. He gets this out by pranking, mostly April.

He's the type of older brother tell his brothers that if they don't eat their vegetables a monster is going to come eat them and tell them that the paper strips in a Hershey's kiss are edible just because it's funny. Despite this he cares deeply for his brothers and wants the best for them. The people he cares about are the people that matter to him. He is willing to do anything to keep them safe. MEANS TO AN END MEANS TO AN END

If he stops telling quips on the battlefield say your prayers because you ain't going home tonight (best case scenario you're ending up in the hospital).

Random details:

5 foot nothing

Kandi kid (he made all of his brothers friendship bracelets) (trades kandi with Angel)

Absolutely no fashion sense (as you can tell)

The spots on his hands are meant to resemble drawing gloves. (Honestly all of them except for Donnie are the artistic type. You see he's the autis-)

His eyes are going to get a slightly more orange tint as he gets older

His spots are incredibly dry (I am projecting) and are the right texture to be able to light a match. (I just thought that be a funny gag)

He is the one to actually kill the shredder.

The Uno champion

He's the one who comes up with the idea of wearing masks to distinguish them better. (This was before the whole sub-mutation thing where they're all just kind of red-eared slider like)

He's a Mikey of course he has ADHD

He feels a lot of guilt over feeling as if he got off easy with the sub-mutations.

He's going to chill out with the constant pranking of April when he's in his later 20s.

The parentification is not treating him well, thanks for asking.

The only one to remember their mom a little bit, he misses both of his parents deeply. (Someone yeet this boy in therapy please)

Taught his brothers how to draw.

Gets into a new hobby every week and sees if it sticks, this week it's pottery for the sixth time.

Mikey feels like a great day is a day where his loved ones are happy because of his loved ones are happy, he's happy.

Misses hair the most

Voted second most likely to steal April's motorcycle. Not because he wants a motorcycle, but just to annoy April.

Woooooo~ cool transition line

Depicted at at the start of the crossover age 21. He is 16 at the start of the story. Once again didn't draw him at the start of the story just imagine him shorter with less scars. (And more mentally okay)

Personality: toss 2012 Donnie and rise Donnie into a blender shake them all around add a gallon more of mad scientist and moral ambiguity then put them into a turtle shaped crayon mold (you know the ones from the sets where you melt down different colors of crayons and you mold them into like Spider-Man or something) and you basically have AET Donnie.

He's very matter of fact when he's talking yet somehow incredibly sarcastic; it's really like a coin toss as to which you'll get.

MAD scientist like he's kind of off his rocking chair and into the lost and found bin filled with marbles. He experiments frequently on the ooze (or mutagen as he kind of pretentiously calls it) typically on people he deems to be "criminal enough". (Typically people who have harmed I don't know someone like a child or a pet) This is all an attempt to try to understand it better to help his brothers and himself. However if he's in a situation where it is most convenient for him, say goodbye to hear humanity sucker!

He cares deeply for his brothers even if he has trouble expressing it sometimes. (His specific method of expressing it is by making them stuff)

Random details:

INCREDIBLY TALL like I'm talking 6'10 when all of his brothers are around 5 ft tall

He struggles with back pain because of this (not like he admit that)

Despises Casey's guts like for no reason whatsoever. (Casey messed around with something in his lab really early on into knowing him and Donny decided that he "needed a mortal enemy anyway" Donny desperately wants to mutate Casey just to see what will happen but he can't because April and Raph care about him.

When the crossover that's in my brain happens Donnie is going to mutate 2012 Casey because his April and Raph don't care about him and he's quote on quote "the most annoying" according to Donnie.

When Don's like I don't know 26 he's going to walk up to Casey and be like "Congratulations! We are now only Petty rivals since I have grown to tolerate you." Casey was completely unaware that Donnie hated him that entire time he thought they were friends with a petty rivalry which when he finally realized that Donnie actually hated him (when Donnie directly told him to his face) it had already turned to that lol.

He is wearing a friendship bracelet Mikey made for all of them, I just didn't feel like drawing his hands so I put them behind us back.

His eyes are going to get slightly redder as the ages.

He's a Donnie of course he has autism.

Has the longest tail only beating out Raph's slightly.

Refuses to wear anything except for hoodies, sweaters, and lab coats.

Him and April are science buddies.

Cut the mask tails off due to them brushing against his shoulder and absolutely hating it.

Donnie thinks that the best feeling is finally finishing a product that will greatly improve someone's day to day life and finally getting to bring it to them.

Honestly glad he doesn't have hair anymore.

Would be voted third most likely to steel April's motorcycle but April would just lend the motorcycle to him so nothing would be gained from that.

I don't know how to transition lines very well 🧡💜❤️💙

Depicted at the age of the start of the crossover in my head being 18. At the start of he is 13. Once again, didn't draw his younger version just imagine him with less scars and less spikes.

Personality: You ever listen to the song Stick it to the Man from the School of Rock? Yeah, that's Raph most of the time. Adrenaline junkie with anger issues. (he's working on them though) Raph is the type of guy to leap first and then never think later, he's a doer and a dreamer not a thinker.

Random details:

5'2

Him and Leo are twins however Raph is older by approximately 30 minutes raph says it was both "the best and worst half an hour of his life"

The worst R.B.F you've ever seen, he's feeling absolutely fine in the image above.

He is the only one of his brothers to have a good fashion sense, however he chooses to ignore it most of the time because his clothes just rip anyway.

He's a total powerhouse when it comes to making clothes however: drawing the design, sewing, crocheting, or knitting it together? Raph's got you covered.

He critiques his brothers fashion choices randomly and has gotten through to Donnie at least because Donnie only wears three sets of clothes. He has not been successful with Leo or Mikey, especially Mikey.

Him and Leo's shared sudden heterochromia kind of freaks him out but he does like how intimidating they glow when emerging from the shadows, he kind of hates that they glow anywhere else.

Best friends with Casey, obviously.

He and Casey are the Branded Duo ™ for real (no I will not elaborate on that until I make a thing like this for Casey)

Has been taken by the EPF before (SCREW YOU JOHN BISHOP), and branded by them (that's what the tattoo on his arm is. It says T-9-84 as a reference to the year TMNT initially came out)

The EPF are also the reason he has a lot more submutations then his brothers due to the frequent experiments he had done on him during his time there. (You know the thing I mentioned earlier about the consequences of cutting the medicine off cold turkey? Yeah, that's also half of it.)

The chip taking off of his shell was taken for samples.

Out of all of the brothers he has the lowest opinion of humanity because of this. He doesn't think all of them are bad it's just that if he didn't know his human friends (mostly Casey) beforehand he probably would not have become friends with them as easily. (His brothers are still trying to work with him about that)

Raph doesn't like thinking about that time.

Raph has made or has at least resized him and all of his brother's clothes.

He most enjoys being in the presence of his brothers, AKA they both just sit in the same room doing separate activities. He absolutely adores this time.

Raph is never going to say directly how much he cares for a person but he will however spend multiple nights awake finishing a gift for them.

Doesn't really think about the fact that he doesn't have hair but used to, except for when he sees images of a mohawk where he instantly gets jealous.

Voted most likely to steal April's motorcycle.

You get the point 👦👦👦👦💥💥💥💥 🐢🐢🐢🐢

Look you get the picture at this point, him and Raph are twins so, 18 here and 13 at the start of the story. Just imagine his younger version to be less fish.

Personality:

Quick Leonardo recipe:

Prep time: 9 months. Cooking time: 18 years as pictured above, 13 years for the start of the story.

You grab yourself a BIG pot (I'd recommend a cauldron) grab 2 gallons of water and pour it into the pot (make sure to keep some in a swimming pool for later) then you wait for boil then mix two quarts of rise Leo, two quarts of 2012 Leo, two cups of all other Leos mixed together, a quart of painful denial about your true morality, and a cup of empathy into the mixture and cover with a lid and bring to a simmer let's sit for 15 minutes exactly before dumping half the concoction on ice in a round shape and using that as a bowl for the rest of your mixture. Season with turtle instincts, naivety and a strong longing for the sea to taste!

No but for real this time

Personality: Leo's kind of like if you forcefully mashed 2012 Leo and rise Leo together and combined them like Play-Doh. He talks big when comfortable and tries to act serious and intimidating when in tough situations. (kind of hard to do that while you're wearing sci-fi merch) Kind of naive in that he still thinks that they're "heroes" as scene at the beginning of the story (he's having multiple crises) also kind of a hypocrite but mostly unintentional. He's kind of the type to listen to "where is the justice" and not realize it's from the perspective of the villain. He still cares deeply and is typically a rather kind individual having the highest opinion of humanity.

Random details:

5'2 AND half

He holds that half an inch over Raph's head (LITERALLY LMAOOOO)

Strongest turtle instincts by far, also has the strongest mental changes from the sub-mutations.

Said mental changes is mostly an intense longing for water. (absolutely loves swimming)

Leo got gills from the sub-mutations (yay breathing underwater) don't worry, he still has lungs. He just can't breathe properly when panicking, which is most of the time. (uh oh) (He may be the youngest but he's not escaping the anxiety) Donnie made a little something something for when that happens, Leo just has to press the button on the back of his neck and bada bing bada boom proper breathing restored!

He cannot for the life of him tell if he likes or hates the extremely bright colored eyes even after all this time. He also can't tell if he thinks the eyes glowing are cool or concerning. He's not a fan of how intimidating (intimidating as in "glowing eyes from darkness" all intimidation factor stops once he comes out of the darkness) they can come across if he's not careful. (He kind of hates that he relishes in people's fear sometimes.)

Leather works, he made both Don's shoes and Raph's jacket. (He's currently trying to make a jacket that won't rip as much for Raph)

Tried asking Mikey if he wants anything made for him but Mikey just says he's fine because he doesn't want to burden Leo.

He likes tending the garden with Donnie.

He's probably fished with nothing but his claws and his teeth; not even bothering to cook the fish when eating it, he denies this but it's unclear as to whether he's embarrassed about this or if he literally doesn't remember doing this multiple times.

There's a lot of things he doesn't remember doing, but he's not going to let anyone know about that or how much it scares him.

When winter hits he'll just sleep for like 4 days straight wake up be completely fine for a couple days and then conk out again.

The biggest sci-fi nerd, if he's not wearing merch it's because Raph forced him to. (AKA told him the truth that he looks very tacky)

Mikey's partner in crime when it comes to pranking.

PUNS PUNS PUNS

Honestly, as much as he dislikes a lot of the sub-mutations his ability to make fish jokes almost makes up for it to him.

Leo's dream Day would be coming back after afternoon of swimming to a nice hot bath then cuddling up in some warm blankets with a nice cup of mint tea and rewatching a Sci-Fi show (I'm probably something from the Star Trek series) for the 17th time while he can vaguely hear the chatter of his brothers through the wall.

Still kind of misses his dad even though he can't remember him very well -Mike's stories are great and all- he just wishes he got to know the guy better.

Makes jokes about him and Raph's shell injuries matching, Leo doesn't realize this but this comforts Raph a lot.

Has been defenestrated once.

Doesn't care either which way about hair. He had hair? Chill. He has no hair? Still chill.

Voted least likely to steal April motorcycle

Why do I feel like I made so many more notes for Leo when it's not that much more, I don't think?

That's the basic ideas, I'm probably missing something that's going to keep me awake at night but that's as good as I got.

I'm going to make April and Casey's thing like this later I can't promise it'll be before next year but I will certainly try to remember to make them (I'm very excited to talk about them.)

Anywho, now you have context for some memes and videos I've made. (Check those out now that you have context btw) I'm fully willing to answer any questions if anyone has any.

Now time for the bonus for making it this far,

Shiny Mikey.

[sugirandom]

Ranting about Sonic X, a lot of critical stuff so feel free to skip if you like Sonic X XD, I might even go into some personal stuff later so yeah... this was longer than I intended ha ha

So, my best bro and I have been working through watching Sonic X and we’re nearly finished the season 3... Sonic X has frankly been a chore to get through at times...especially season 3

Of all the Sonic cartoons/anime I had the highest expectations for Sonic X because it was (and as far as I know still is) the adaptation that’s closest to the video games in terms of the original Sonic characters, the Japanese version having the original voice cast also helps.

But honestly the need to place Sonic in the ‘human world’ has always been very strange to me because there are humans in Sonic’s world in canon and this seems to be forgotten constantly, with Sonic X being the first offender of this and the live action movies doing their own version of the same thing.

So,there’s that and thanks to that most of season one was dedicated to getting us attached to the human characters, of which some are interesting, but the human lead, Chris, is not...he’s 12 but he acts 10 so I honestly flat out forgot 12 was his canon age. He’s a privlaged rich american kid who acts like he’s all alone despite his maid and butler doing a good job of raising him while his parents are pretty much absent because of their work and when tyhey are around spoil him...so yeah there’s that.

He forms a bond with Sonic and honestly the tone often feels kinda romantic, at least of Chris’ end. I don’t think they intended it that way but I mean...I’d take Sonic 06′s Elise over Chris any day (the one they actually acuse of pushing a relationship with Sonic and a human lol). I guess I’ll stop my rant about Chris here because there’s more that I wanted to say but... I don’t want this to all be about him...I just want to add one more thing...the end of season 2 ruined any chance Chris had of me liking him...

On ocassin they miss the mark with the actual Sonic characters too, often flanderizing certain aspects of them, for example, with Amy Rose...she has more to her than just loving Sonic obsessively but especially when we get to season 3 it becomes her entire character. I’m not saying the video games are completely innocent of this (see Sonic Heroes) but it’s a bit of a nitpick...

As much as I love Rouge being chaotic neutural by season 3 they seem to abandon any bond she developed with the other characters (except her bond with Shadow, which is great!).

There’s also a huge genre shift, season 3 is it’s own Sci-fi story with aliens they completely made up and a saving the galaxy from these aliens who are stealing the life force of other planets...for reasons (the main villain hasn’t revealed why at the point we’re watching this). I honestly think this idea may have come from another anime that the team working on Sonic X couldn’t get approved or it was a case of “make it Sonic” XD

Ironically I’ve had an idea forever for a Sonic fanfic...series that I have yet to write involving aliens but mine are humanoid and their focus is just on Earth so it really made me question why we were all longing to have Sonic fight aliens so badly lol

If you guys want to hear me rant more about Sonic X let me know. If I feel really brave I might share some of my story ideas too but...for now... I’ll list a few things I like about Sonic X so I don’t sound like a complete jerk.

Quick list of some positive points: Eggman’s characterization is, for the most part, interesting and close to the video games so I do like that, he’s evil but he has his moments where he’s more complex. 

Some of the supporting human characters are interesting but the plot doesn’t always know what to do with them

Sonic is hilarious and entertaining, I like the Engrish he uses, very memeable but not cringe and genuinely fun (applies to the Japanese version only obviously)

Some filler episodes did have good plot ideas (not all but a few)

The designs of the Sonic characters were done well

Shadow is badass but honestly for the most part you have to be trying to mess Shadow up. 

That’s all I can think of for now and I’m tired of typing but I wanted to get this off my chest!

[tiptapricot]

Some extended MCU MK system headcanons!

I’m probably going to be adding a couple more peeps/expanding on stuff already here, including coming up with some totally original characters, but the list rn only consists of canonic or semi-canonic alters. Some of my hcs are based on bits and pieces of general fandom discussion and meta, as well as discord convos. Ideas, suggestions, and questions abt anything here are totally welcome, I hope u like my thoughts >:-)

(Characters already in the show have less info as we already see more ab their dynamics and roles, and characters set up in comics will have a note for their source)

Marc

Main trauma holder, having the memories of Randall’s death, their mother’s abuse, and some of the system’s medical trauma

Physical protector of the system in most situations

Name and characteristics/self-perception are based off the body at the time of splitting

Has lots of internalized ableism to work through

Cohost

Positive triggers: Layla, Steven fronting, Frenchie, the Chicago Cubs, pizza

Steven

Emotional and spiritual protector for Marc as well as the system as a whole

Introject/fictive of Dr. Steven Grant from the Tomb Buster movie

During their childhood years he was the one to take their mother’s abuse, but doesn’t hold the memories of it

A caretaker also, often patching up the body’s injuries

Holds the good memories of their mother and father

Cohost

Positive triggers: Egyptology, Layla, Marc fronting, Wham!

Jake

Protector of the body in cases Marc can’t handle, AKA physical threats outside of their mother’s abuse during childhood, imminent life threatening situations when they’re older, and self harm/sui attempts

Also somewhat of a gatekeeper

Is there to get rid of the threat and then get the body to a safe place

Holds the memory of crawling out of the cave

Lives very moment to moment, no clear sense of time passing for most of his life beyond time working for Khonshu or when the others couldn’t front, getting most new memories outside of that from bleed from the others/moments of blurriness

Once headspace forms spends most of his time there

Eventually, once no longer needing to stay secret from Marc and Steven, becomes a more regular fronter, though never really considers himself a host

Positive triggers: leather, cars

Commander (Lemire, 2016)

Supernatural trauma holder/processor

Formed when Khonshu appeared to Marc as a child, and is the one to hold that memory specifically

Was only meant to hold that memory but came out of dormancy when Khonshu made the system his avatar

Introject/fictive of a spaceman version of Marc that Marc pretended to be and drew as a kid

Shares his childhood love for space as well as memories surrounding it

Lives near completely within a section of the inner world simulating a battle with space wolves for Earth, isolated from the rest of the system

Any interactions fronting he perceives as dreams, or a psychic connection to inter dimensional aliens

Started out as a more fragmented piece of Marc, but developed into his own person

Positive trigger: space

Inner Child (Bendis, Ultimate Marvel universe)

A little who both holds the system’s childhood whimsy and adventure, preserving the childhood they lost, and their sense of their mother’s innocence that was also lost

Trauma free

Started out as a fragmented piece of Marc, his younger self frozen in time, and still considers that to be her, but eventually felt more like a girl and presents that way in the headspace in present

The others refer to her as “child”

Doesn’t age

Maintains a passion for many of the things that have been tainted by trauma for the other system members, including rain, swimming, exploration, and make believe play

Doesn’t front often or fully and never by herself (unless Layla is there)

Really loves Steven because he’s got the same name as Dr. Steven Grant!!!

Positive triggers: action figures, puddles, hiking, kids shows the system watched when they were younger, dresses

Mr. Knight (Ellis, 2014)

Emotional protector for Marc and Steven, and physical protector for the system as a whole when Jake is unavailable

Formed off of Steven when he fronted post show during one of Jake’s missions for Khonshu

Holds most memories of accidental discovery that the system is still tied to Khonshu

Not a fictive, but formed with similar vibes to famous British spies and detectives, AKA a very good detective and fighter

Has a very gentle but firm British accent

Somewhat of a logician, but not completely

So calm, collected, and precise that he can sometimes make bad decisions

Never really gets ruffled or scared, but can get angry

Shares Steven’s suit, though his is slightly different, having a few more moon designs

Wry sense of humor

Doesn’t front much outside of filling his role, and never when the body isn’t wearing the suit, but does vibe in the inner world

Positive triggers: not having the body’s face visible, white cloth, Debussy

Dr. Harrow

Formed post Duat as a maladaptive protector/prosecutor

Was more of a fragment before, holding a lot of the system’s internalized ableism, but formed more solidly with the image of Dr. Harrow

Holds most memories of the system’s medical trauma (though is distanced from it, seeing it from the POV of their doctor), as well as ableist ideas about alter creation/personhood (stemming largely from Steven after finding out he was a fictive in the Duat, as well as Marc’s own struggle to recognize himself as an alter)

Initially is unaware that he is a headmate, very much seeing things as “I’m fine but you guys need help”

Formed additionally as a way to process separating from Khonshu’s abuse, somewhat clinging to/reinforcing ideas that Khonshu pushed on the system of distrust in reality and reliance on a caretaker figure

Continues to harm the system through digging up trauma memories and enforcing harmful ideas because that’s how he’s able to process the trauma he holds

Eventually and very slowly is able to discover and accept his place as an alter in a system, and starts trying to work towards a more constructive role

Is eventually (like after a lotttt of work) able to shift into more of a gatekeeper/organizer role, giving the system structure and support that it needs, and creating a safe internal space for headmates to process trauma memories and their own systemhood

Doesn’t front

Moon Knight (no specific source but is sometimes treated as or referred to as something more separate from other established alters)

A fragment that forms after the system separates from Khonshu, mainly displaying/spreading either feelings of anxiety and hopelessness, or feelings of anger

Formed from a piece of Marc that was always sure he was going to be stuck serving Khonshu forever, and who wasn’t able to move on after that reality was broken

He is solely Moon Knight, dehumanized from being anything else by his perception of being perpetually stuck in the role of Khonshu’s tool

He doesn’t think they’ll ever be free, and views himself as a monster, always stuck in the past, always stuck in Marc’s worst days in the suit

He rarely fronts, and doesn’t interact very often with other headmates, mostly sticking to himself or not really appearing at all, except in moments of either very high distress, or extreme joy at being free, where he can often blur with whoever’s fronting and either increase their anxieties, or pull back their enthusiasm

Jake is the one most aware of him, as he comes close to front pretty regularly while Jake is on missions with Khonshu

General trigger: in depth/extended talk of Khonshu

[classic80sand90smovieloves2]

Meeting and Dating Casper McFadden

(Not my gif)(Requested by anonymous)

- Moving into a new home was never easy. Oftentimes, it meant packing up everything you owned, leaving a bunch of good memories behind, and traveling across the country to a new town where you’d have to make all new friends and renovate old fixtures.

- But there was something about your new house that made it both easier and harder to live in: the fact that it was haunted.

- Obviously your family didn’t find out about the ghosts until after they’d signed the papers and even if they were warned about it, they probably wouldn’t have believed the realtor, but none of that mattered now. Now you were stuck in a old house with a bunch of spirits, stuck until your parents save up enough money to move again.

- So what made the manor easier to live in, you may ask. Well, the fact that it came with a friend….

- You and Casper meet the day you move into the Whipstaff Manor. You’re wandering around, exploring the home and trying to figure out which room you want to live in, unaware that there’s a specter following you.

- The minute Casper sees you, he’s head over tail. You make his undead little heart race and have him second guessing his every action. Which is the main reason it makes him a while to formally introduce himself, he’s too scared that he’ll ruin his first impression.

- Sadly for him, his first impression still doesn’t go over well, regardless of how much he practiced.

- In his defense, it wasn’t anything that he did, it was more the fact that you were suddenly face to face with a phantom. Anyone would have freaked out in response to that, and they would have freaked out to any ghost as well; no matter how friendly.

- So, like the rational young woman that you are, you scream and take off like a rocket, dashing out of the room and down the hall to find a more secure and safe looking room to hide in until your parents get back from the store.

- He follows behind, attempting to calm you down and feeling downright awful for scaring you. Once you’ve locked yourself away into a broom closet, he gives you a minute to breathe before he calls out to you, telling you that he’s sorry and trying to coax you out so that you can talk.

- It takes you another minute to be convinced and to trust him when he says he isn’t gonna hurt you, but eventually, you do brace yourself and open the door.

- Once you do, you find that he really isn’t as scary as you’d originally though he was. In fact, he was actually sort of cute; in a cartoony sort of way, and he’s friendly to boot; so you wind up feeling a bit silly for being so frightened of him. And after you begin to think like that, the two of you begin to develop a close friendship.

- While his uncles might be incredibly obnoxious and annoying, you can’t deny that you enjoy having the ghostly presences in your home; especially when school roles around and you find yourself feeling like an alien with no one to turn to. You might not have any living friends in your town but you at least have a few see through ones at home that ensure you’re not completely alone.

- But, compared to your primarily platonic feelings, Caspers feelings for you were a lot more complicated. He valued your friendship and enjoyed having you as a pal, but he also had more romantic feelings towards you. In simpler terms: he’d had a massive crush on you from the moment you walked in.

- And though he’d have loved to confess his feelings and see if you felt the same, he knew that it was practically impossible for the two of you to be together; at least until you’d died …or until he was alive again!

- The minute he remembers the Lazurus he immediately erupts into a fit of excitement and joy. If you could get it to work, he could be alive again and the two of you could be together for the rest of your lives, either as friends or as something more, he honestly didn’t care which; though he hoped it was the second one.

- So he tells you about the invention and the two of you get to work. You take the wild trip down to his fathers lab, search around until you find what you’re looking for, load the contraption up with it’s necessary elixir, and pull the levers with bated breath.

- You don’t know what you’d expected to walk out of the machine but it certainly wasn’t this. Perfectly done blond hair, shining blue eyes, and a face that made you suddenly flustered to be in your best friends presence. He looked like a Disney prince and you were captivated.

“How do I look?” He asked nervously.

“Perfect,” you responded a little too quickly. “I mean, human, normal …living.”

- His face broke out into a smile and he threw his arms around you, pulling you into a tight hug. The action caught you off guard and made your heart race but you didn’t mind in the slightest.

- Once you’d finished hugging, he pulled away slowly and you found yourselves locking eyes. His gaze flickered to your lips and before you knew it, the two of you were leaning forward and sharing a kiss.

- His uncles may or may not have interrupted you but the “damage” was already done. You were just as hooked on him as he was on you and neither of you could be happier.

- Casper loves pda. He loves being able to actually touch you and be out in public and show the whole town that the two of you are together; even though half of them are confused as to who he is. 

- He touches you and holds you close whenever he can. He’s waited to do it since the moment he met you and now that you’re together; and he isn’t ice cold and only semi-solid, he enjoys every little ounce of affection he can provide and obtain.

- Handholding.

- Cheek kisses. 

- Long, soft kisses. They’re sort of a contrast to his usual hyper behavior, which is why, if you ever need him to calm him down and focus, all you have to do is ask for a kiss or make it obvious that that’s what you’re going to do. He skids to a stop and happily complies as he gives you an adorable little smile.

- Pet names aren’t really his thing but he does call you by fun nicknames that he’s come up with; usually a shorter or longer version of your name.

- Cuddling is a must with Casper. He absolutely loves it, no matter how the two of you do it. Sometimes you’ll lay on his chest, other times you’ll spoon, and other times you’ll face each other on the bed and talk until one of you dozes off.

- Speaking of: he definitely watches you sleep every now and again, which sounds far more creepy than it actually is. Like, you’ll be talking late at night and you’ll fall asleep and he’ll just look at your peaceful face for a while.

- If we’re going with the assumption that Casper maintains some of the aspects of being a ghost, I think it’s safe to say that he’s occasionally at least a little cooler than a normal human, which makes him the perfect companion for hot days.

- Being carried and flown around.

- Sometimes; especially prior to him being in the Lazurus, he forgets that you’re not a ghost and gets you into some uncomfortable situations. And after he turns human again, he definitely has to get used to not being able to go through walls and have things go through him when they’re thrown or fall.

- Testing out exactly what he’s still capable of doing and if there’s any limits to his new life. Is he perfectly normal? Does he have ghostly powers? Do the effects occasionally wear off during certain times or seasons? It’s all stuff you have to figure out.

- For a while after he’s brought back to life, he spends all day experiencing everything he missed when he was still alive. All the smells, sights, and touches; he runs around like Jack Skellington while you sit back and watch with a smile.

- Going to the mall. It’s one of his favorite places to visit, he just loves the entire atmosphere of the place; especially since he wasn’t really able to go and enjoy everything about it before he turned human again.

- Tv dates.

- Playing different games with each other. Board games, pirates, video games, you name it, he’ll do it.

- Sitting on top of the lighthouse with him.

- Enjoying the view from outside of the manor. You have the perfect view of the ocean from your garden so the two of you can always throw a blanket down and stare out at the sea together.

- Just goofing off with each other. Running around the house together, sliding down the stairwell, having him push you in a chair down the halls, etc. You’ve got a huge house to mess around in, why not take advantage of it?

- Dancing together. He told you he was a good dancer.

- Late night conversations. You can always talk to him about anything you want or need to.

- Catching him watching you a lot. He always has such a loving gaze when he’s looking at you, just seeing his face when he’s watching you do something or speak is reassurance that he really cares about you.

- Always having a warm and excited greeting when you return home from school. He also probably occasionally goes with you or at least walks you there or visits during lunch.

- He loves making surprises for you. Throwing you little parties or coming up with different ways to make you smile or cheer you up after school or whenever he can see that you’re feeling down is one of his favorite hobbies.

- He wants to be with you like 25/7 so don’t be surprised if he’s constantly bothering you with his presence. It’s a good thing you love him because if you didn’t he’d become very annoying, very quickly.

- Him just appearing at random is commonplace so your parents and you definitely have to take some time to get used to it. I mean he lives in your house and now that he’s human again, it’s definitely a bit easier than when he was a ghost, but still.

- Getting chairs pulled out and doors opened for you. He likes being a gentleman.

- Him cooking for you. He definitely tries to impress you with his skills and all the inventions he uses; and he just likes doing something nice like that for you.

- Discovering all his dads inventions and letting him tell you about them. It’s really quite fascinating to see how they all work and how excited he gets while showing you how to use them.

- I have a feeling that he doesn’t like winter; for obvious reasons, and whenever it comes around, all he wants to do is stay inside with you and do indoor activities. If you were to want to go out, it’d take you a while to persuade him and even if you did; or were only going out by yourself, he’d spend forever bundling you up and making up a bunch of rules to keep you safe.

- Probably dealing with his ghostly self every now and again. I have a feeling that the Lazurus machines effects occasionally wear off for a little while from time to time so while he’s alive most of the time, you do have moments of spooky transparency as well.

- Pranking each other and other people. He might be a sweetheart but he also has a bit of a mischievous streak.

- Him always wanting to show you whatever cool thing he sees, does, finds, or hears about. Just being able to share things with you makes him happy.

- Listening to his stories from when he was alive or the decades he wasn’t.

- Fixing up his room for him and hanging out up there with all his toys.

- Being gifted some of his mothers things. Dresses, jewelry, stuff like that.

- His uncles bothering the two of you. They’re constantly harassing and teasing you; just try to pay them no mind.

- Standing up for him when his uncles are being more awful than usual.

- He might be the only person you can really bond with in your town, considering the fact that whenever you have anybody over, they’re almost always harassed by his uncles and scared away. Which Casper may or may not be sort of happy about.

- Casper gets jealous pretty easily. Anytime another guy takes interest in you, he always feels the need to mock them behind their backs or be passive aggressively not so friendly whenever they approach you when you’re out with him. It’s best to not bring up guys in your class unless it’s obvious that they only like you as a friend; but even then he’d wonder why you need friends (even if they’re girls) other than him.

- He’s sort of overprotective of you. He just got his life back so he certainly doesn’t want anything bad happening and putting yours in danger.

- He absolutely hates fighting so whenever the two of you have an argument, he’s always quick to try and settle it and apologize; even if he doesn’t really think he’s done anything wrong.

- Saying “I love you” isn’t really his forte. He prefers saying and doing other things to show you that he does.

- The two of you sort of just have to go with the flow and see where your relationship takes you. You don’t know how exactly the rest of his “life” will go so you just try to enjoy the present and what you have right now.

[feigeroman]

Thomas Headcanons: Hiro

Hiro was built around 1937, and was unique among the thousand-odd D51s for having been constructed to standard gauge - most of Japan’s railways were built to a gauge of 3′6″. This was because many of the country’s locomotive manufacturers had licenses to construct Japanese-designed engines for export to other countries - mainly those using the same track gauge.

However, one such manufacturer - nobody is quite sure which one - wanted to expand their business to countries that employed standard gauge, and so Hiro was built as a proof of concept to test the feasibility of adapting the design to the wider gauge. Other than this, and a few other detail differences, Hiro’s design is largely the same as a conventional D51.

At the time, there were only a few small pockets of standard gauge lines across the whole of Japan, and had Hiro been intended to work on such lines, he would have been of limited usefulness. That being said, he did spent a few months flitting between these various lines for test purposes. Unfortunately, this did not result in any sales, as none of the lines that tried Hiro out had the capacity to employ such a large engine on a long-term basis.

Hiro would end up seeing more use much closer to home, as his main role was to prove the merits of his design to potential investors and buyers. Sadly, this still didn’t result in any sales or export orders, and the manufacturers began to question the wisdom of their own ambitions...

Fortunately, in early-1939, someone did finally take interest in Hiro. Namely, some representatives from a British locomotive builder - again, we’re uncertain as to exactly which company they represented. Anyway, they were suitably impressed when Hiro was demonstrated to them, and an agreement was reached whereby they would be granted the license to construct a modified version of the design in Britain. As part of the deal, Hiro himself was to be shipped to Britain, in order to serve as a test bed for these new modifications.

The arrangements took time, and were put on hold following the outbreak of the Second World War. It was not until August 1940 that any serious thought was given to trying to ship Hiro out, and it wasn’t until that September that he actually left Japan on a ship heading to Britain. It was most unfortunate, therefore, that during the voyage, Japan should end up joining the Axis Powers, effectively putting them on Britain’s most-wanted list.

Obviously this blew all the plans for Hiro out of the water, and to make matters worse, he didn’t realize anything was amiss until his ship docked at Southampton, barely a day after the alliance had made the news in Britain. As a result, all the ship’s crew and cargo were taken into custody, and Hiro himself was kept in storage while the government figured out what to do with him.

Around this same time, the British government had been setting up internment camps to hold enemy aliens - that is, people living in the country who were from any of the Axis nations (Germany, Italy, and now Japan). By far the biggest and best-known of these camps were situated on the Isle of Man, but it is also known, albeit little recorded, that additional camps were set up on Sodor - sort of as an overflow, should the number of internees become too much for Man to handle on its own.

It should be noted that Sodor’s government were pretty much forced into this course of action by their larger neighbours. They weren’t proud of this at the time - and still aren’t, as a matter of fact - and while they’ve never tried to hide it from the people, they’ve never gone out of their way to draw much attention to it either.

Anyway, the point of mentioning all this is at some point, someone had the idea of sending Hiro up to Sodor to be stored for the duration of the War. It made sense at the time, as the island was far enough off the beaten track that Hiro could be hidden with relative ease, and hardly anyone would know he was there. And if somehow his cover was blown? Well, the rest of the network rarely paid attention to the North Western Railway anyhow, and they need never find out, right?

At the beginning of December 1941 Hiro was duly transferred up to Sodor under cover of darkness, and hidden on a siding off the old Ulfstead branch line (this is the line that branches off west of Maron, and is not to be confused with the later extension of the Ffarquhar branch). This line had never been particularly well looked after, and so it didn’t take long for Hiro’s hideout to become totally overgrown with trees, completely cutting him off from the outside world.

Incidentally, the timing of this operation couldn’t have been more fortuitous. Just a few nights later, Pearl Harbour happened, and anti-Japanese sentiment in Britain skyrocketed as a result. So, yeah, it was a good thing Hiro was forced into hiding...

It seems the government all but forgot about Hiro after hiding him away, and as a result he remained hidden for forty-odd years, and in that time, the old Ulfstead line went through many changes:

Having seen limited use even before the War, the line ended up being closed altogether, following the opening of the Ffarquhar branch extension in 1972. The tracks remained in situ, serving as an alternate route in emergencies.

In 1973, however, the line was reopened in order to serve the ill-fated Boulder Quarry. Needless to say, this didn’t last long, and the line was mothballed shortly after the quarry’s closure.

Finally, in 1976, the line was reopened again, to serve the Boxford family’s newly-constructed summerhouse (the one seen in Edward The Great). How Hiro was never uncovered during the house’s construction is anyone’s guess, though in fairness the undergrowth had gotten even worse by then.

It was not until early 1981 that Hiro was finally rediscovered, and like so many things on Sodor, he was found quite by accident (although his was an unusual case, in that nobody was looking for him in the first place). In 1981, the Duke & Duchess of Boxford decided to move to Sodor permanently, and had their summerhouse rebuilt and expanded accordingly. The Ulfstead branch was upgraded to allow Spencer to access the Boxford estate, and it was while clearing back the worst of the undergrowth that Hiro’s siding was uncovered - and Hiro himself with it.

Sir Topham Hatt was naturally intrigued when he heard Hiro’s story, and decided there was no harm in letting him stay and work on the NWR. However, he at least had the sense to check this over with the British government first, and they were only too happy to let him keep Hiro - the only real difficulty came in convincing them that they’d requisitioned Hiro in the first place!

Despite having been abandoned for about forty years, Hiro was still in surprisingly good condition - when he was first hidden away, he’d been prepared so that he could be returned to service at a moment’s notice. Obviously plenty of work still had to be done on him, but his overhaul was completed in much less time than had been expected.

It was during this overhaul that Crovan’s Gate managed to put together all the plans and drawings needed to make spare parts for Hiro. Although this would prove expensive in the long run, it was still much cheaper than having to order parts all the way from Japan.

Hiro officially entered NWR service in the summer of 1981, and was allocated to Barrow-In-Furness sheds. He has remained there ever since, and mainly works on the Main Line. While he has no personal preference, Hiro is much more likely to be seen hauling freight than passengers.

His current number, 51, is apparently the one found on his tender when he was rediscovered. He believes it was originally D51, and placed there by his builders as an additional promotional aid.

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Higurashi Gou Ep22

All of this ‘the culprit’s motives are super shallow and they’re just unhealthily obsessive’ discourse is giving me war flashbacks to . . . . basically every other part of the entire When They Cry franchise, lol.

Thoughts under the cut. [Plus spoilers for Umineko]

I feel like at the end of the day we’re all just gonna have to agree to disagree about how we feel about how Ryukishi is handling Satoko as the culprit here, since I don’t really think any amount of social media posts detailing our interpretations of her character are gonna change anyone’s minds, lol. But I’m still gonna give my thoughts on her anyway because it’s fun, even if I’m basically just preaching to the choir.

To be honest, this feels pretty much in line with how Ryukishi already wrote characters like Takano and Beatrice, in terms of them having unhealthy obsessions that lead them to mass-murder. The amount of violence Satoko has caused is arguably worse than either of them, but they’re all pretty awful if you think about the reality of what they all did as villains.

Sorta like with how a lot of the old-school Umineko discourse went, I think people are too focused on the whole idea of Satoko hating studying, and ignoring everything else about her character and her circumstances. Although even then I feel like people are being kinda unfair toward Satoko about how strongly she feels about academics, but maybe I’m just biased because of my own history with schooling and the intense levels of anxiety and self-hatred that can go along with it.

Plus the fact that Satoko already has a long history of sever abandonment issues, and has basically always had HS that amplified her feelings of paranoia and persecution. It’s pretty obvious at this point that she never really got ‘cured’ in the first place, though it’s less important to think about HS as an in-universe fictional disease with it’s own rules, and more important to just think about it as a representation of real-life mental illnesses which aren’t bound by the rules of made-up brain-worm parasites and aliens or whatever.

Also, the Satoko that started all this looping in the first place was one who never dealt with Teppei returning to the village, and thus never went through her whole character arc related to that. The series is kinda ambiguous about how it handles the idea of people’s character development carrying over between loops, but it explains a lot about Satoko’s attitude here if you go with the idea that she never really had to overcome any of her trauma or coping mechanisms in the “good ending timeline”, and this is the consequence of that taken to it’s logical extreme. The idea of her view of the world being skewed by the fact that she only remembers the “good ending timeline” is also kinda lamp-shaded by the part where she hears about Rika’s looping and is like “oh yeah, that’s the month where we had that cool action movie stand-off with the Mountain Dogs :)”. By the time she really got to understand exactly what was going on beyond the specific timeline she had experienced, she was already way over the edge.

I get why people don’t like the idea of Gou ‘tainting’ the VN’s happy ending, but I honestly like the idea that it’s examining the consequences of how Matsuribayashi was such an overly-specific timeline where basically nothing bad happened and everyone just banded together to beat Takano. It kinda glossed over a lot of the personal problems that the main cast had in the rest of the series, and this really goes to show the effects of some of that stuff not getting properly addressed. It also reminds me that Minagoroshi is a timeline that even in the VN, Rika completely lost her memories of, so I can see how even post-Matsuribayashi she might have never let Satoko know about the details of that one timeline where she overcome her abuse.

I also feel like it only really got to this point because of Featherine’s meddling. In the original Matsuribayashi timeline, Satoko just started drifting away from Rika and ended up wandering into the Saiguden and meeting Featherine before anything actually serious happened in that timeline. I think that if she had just been left to her own devices and that timeline had just kept going, Satoko probably would have either found a way to reconnect with Rika, or they would have just slowly drifted apart for good. But then Satoko got given the power to time travel, and only started going off the deep end after going through another five years of identical suffering.

And on that whole note, it reminds me of how in Umineko, Lambda had a whole conversation about the idea of an abused person becoming an abuser themself if they’re given the power to lash out. Which is basically what’s happening here. Satoko is being given the tools to completely detach herself from reality and try as many times as she likes to get what she wants.

Which also reminds me that this episode in particular REALLY lays the Umineko parallels on thick, lol. Particularly the whole ‘Satoko is turning into Lambda’ thing, which feels just about 100% confirmed now. They straight up have Featherine bring up the exact same ‘monkeys using a typewriter’ analogy to explain Rika’s situation that Lambda uses in Umineko to explain Bern’s situation.

I know a lot of people don’t like the increasingly blatant Umineko tie-ins, and that a lot of people still think it might just be misdirection, but considering how much stuff in Gou has been surprisingly straightforward and predictable, I think it’s pretty much exactly what it seems to be.

Though to be more specific, this is probably more about the start of Lambda and Bern’s relationship, and their appearances in Umineko, rather than the very first origins of them as individuals, if that makes sense. Obviously the concept of Bernkastel as an identity has been around since Higurashi itself, and we’ve known for a long time that Lambda was the one who originally gave Takano her blessing of certainty, but we’ve never known the full details of how those two started their relationship, and Featherine’s whole series of name-drops in the last episode makes it seem like Lambda as a meta individual more or less already exists, with Satoko being an iteration of her. So I think they both technically already exist, but this is how the two of them come into contact and start their whole unhealthily obsessive relationship.

I guess it’s still possible that, even if she’s already existed for a long time as a meta individual, she hasn’t actually come up with the name ‘Lambdadelta’ for herself yet, and this might be where she does so. Even with the list of names Featherine referenced, she didn’t technically bring up Lambda’s name directly. So in that sense this might be ‘Lambda’s’ origin story, even if she already exists.

Considering how basically the entire story at this point seems to be acting in service of setting up the whole LambdaBern relationship dynamic no matter what, I’m becoming increasingly convinced that this will end with Satoko and Rika fully embracing their codependency and mutually ascending to the meta plane so they can stay together once and for all. There might still be human versions of them that stay behind in the real world and continue living normal lives, though.

At the very least, it feels like that’s the logical outcome of the whole Chekov’s Sword Fragment plot device that’s been hanging in the background for ages now. I think it’ll just be the in-universe explanation they use to show the mechanics of how exactly that process works. It’ll probably be used to ‘sever’ Satoko and Rika’s meta consciousnesses from their physical bodies and allow them to basically become witches.

Mainly I just can’t really see this having a ‘happy ending’ at this point, aside from the whole idea that maybe the severing process leaves behind ‘normal’ versions of the two of them who stay in Hinamizawa and go back to their normal lives. I dunno if that’d make people happy, but it’d at least be a way for Ryukishi to have his cake and eat it too, lol.

I just don’t think that there’s any real chance of this ending with them just talking to each other and agreeing to put an end to all this, though. For one thing that’d just feel kinda anticlimactic and honestly make Gou’s story feel even MORE pointless, if it just ends with literally the exact same ending as the VN with nothing really being changed. But I also feel like Featherine wouldn’t be willing to just let Satoko ‘give up’ without having one of them definitively win their current game. In general I just feel like Ryukishi should just commit to the story he’s setting up at this point, instead of just backing out at the last minute and circling everything back to the same ending we already had like nothing in Gou ever happened. If we’re gonna have this whole new story to begin with, it should at least have some lasting consequences.

Anyway, I think in the next episode we’re finally going to loop back to the Damashi arcs and see how they played out. At this point I don’t care too much about getting answers to the ground-level mysteries of those arcs, and I doubt the story will spend much time on that, but I’m curious to see how it progresses Satoko’s whole development through these loops, since I think she goes through some changes with her motives and methods over the course of them.

Specifically I think that the actual experience of being physically present in her own set of loops and causing so much pain and suffering started to get to her, and she might have almost given up in her own way during Tataridamashi and wanted to just stay in that arc, but things went south anyway. Maybe, if that’s what happened, Featherine basically let her know that she won’t let her give up, and will force her to keep looping until one of them ‘wins’ no matter what. Either way, I think that arc was a turning point for her. Like how she asked Featherine to arrange things so that Satoko can make sure that she and Rika’s loops are synced up, she probably asked Featherine after that arc to change the rules again so that Rika will start remembering the details of her deaths. At this point it’s pretty obvious that the Hanyuu fragment Rika was talking to earlier in Gou was more or less just Featherine putting on an act and manipulating her, so the scene of Hanyuu giving her the power to remember her deaths was probably just Featherine telling her about the rule change.

And going by how the Nekodamashi arc went immediately afterward, I think that rule change was related to Satoko becoming increasingly desperate to put an end to the loops as soon as possible. And considering how she was willing to spend so much time reviewing Rika’s hundred years of looping just to prepare for this, it’d make sense to me if she becomes desperate because she basically gives up, but realizes that she isn’t actually allowed to give up, so she has to try and make Rika give in as fast as possible. Either way it’s pretty obvious that Satoko’s methods start becoming more violent in that arc, and she basically tries to brute-force Rika into submission, leading up to the loop where she just spawn-camps her and straight up starts screaming at her to just stay in the village while tearing out her guts. It’s still possible that her attitude in that loop was just one big act, but I think that was the result of her being genuinely desperate to just have Rika give up once and for all, and her starting to crack under the pressure of doing all of these things with her own hands across so many loops. 

So now we’ll just have to see how the confrontation between them at the end of Nekodamashi plays out once we get back to it. In the long run I just think it’ll lead to the ending I talked about before, with them using the sword on each other. The exact nuances of how that sorta ending might play out are up in the air, though.

Either way, I think there’s probably enough time to wrap up all that in two more episodes, but there’s still reason to believe that there might be some kind of sequel in the works. I don’t really want to bet on it, though, so I’m just gonna assume that there’s two episodes left and base my theories on that. In which case I think the next episode will go over the Damashi arcs and end with Rika and Satoko’s confrontation at the end of Nekodamashi, and then the final episode will wrap everything up. Considering that they both more or less know exactly what’s going on with each other by that point, there isn’t really that much that needs to be wrapped up. I think that will be the final loop we get, so it’ll all just come down to how their confrontation plays out, and what decision they come to about how to handle each other.

I honestly don’t really know how I think a full sequel would go, if it’s at least one cour long. Assuming that it’s not just a new Umineko anime that more or less continues Rika and Satoko’s arc via Lambda and Bern, but is a straight up ‘Higurashi Gou Season 2′. It just feels like there isn’t really that much that needs to be done to wrap things up, now that everything’s being laid out in the open, and Rika and Satoko are both aware of each other’s looping. They might switch it up so that they both end up teaming up to take down Featherine, but I kinda doubt that’ll happen.

I’m still hoping this is leading into some kind of new Umineko anime though, lol. That feels like it’d be the main reason for putting so much effort into this whole elaborate LambdaBern origin story we’re getting here.

I’ve heard rumors that there’s been listings for a 25th episode of Gou, so it’s possible that rather than another full season, there’s just one extra episode at the end. I’m not exactly sure what the point of doing one extra unannounced episode at the end would be, though. It might end up being a bridge between Gou and a new Umineko anime.

At the very least, if it’s just ‘Satokowashi Part 8′, it makes me wonder why they haven’t announced it yet, and why they didn’t just split that arc into two BD volumes with four episodes each, instead of having it be one big volume with seven episodes, and one random episode at the end for some reason. But if it’s more of an epilogue or a bridge of sorts between Gou and something else, with Gou’s story concluding with episode 24, then I guess it’d make some sense to do it that way.

We also know there’s gonna be a panel for Gou at a convention around when ep24 comes out, so if anything gets announced it’ll probably happen there.

Anyway, this whole episode can be summed up as “Satoko does a gay little psychological torture that pisses Rika off”, in the most morbidly entertaining way possible, lmao.

[davidmann95]

How about those JL storyboards?

In case you haven’t heard, Zack Snyder is putting on display the ‘storyboards’ - i.e. a rough plot summary accompanied by some Jim Lee sketches - for what would have been Justice League 2 and 3, or as this puts it 2 and ‘2A’. You can see them here (I imagine better-quality versions will soon be released), and read a transcript here. This is evidently a very early version: this was apparently pitched prior to the release of BvS and Justice League being rewritten in the wake of it, with numerous plot details that now don’t line up with what we know about the Snyder Cut, plus it outright mentions it builds on the originally planned versions of the Batman and Flash movies. But it’s a broad outline of what was gonna go down, and while I initially thought it was Snyder throwing in the towel, the timing - paired with the ambiguity left by the necessity for changes, including that this doesn’t factor whatever that “massive cliffhanger” at the end of the Cut is - says to me he’s hoping this’ll be a force multiplier behind efforts to will sequel/s into existence. He’s probably right.

I’ll be discussing spoilers below, but in short: with this Zack Snyder has finally lived up to Alan Moore, in that like Twilight of the Superheroes I wouldn’t believe this was real as opposed to a shockingly on-point parody if not for direct, irrefutable evidence.

Doing some rapid-fire bullet points for this baby to kick us off:

* Folks who know the subject say a lot of this is a yet further continuation of Snyder doing Arthuriana fanfic with the League reskinned over those major players, and I’ll take their word for it.

* I don’t know whether I love or hate that in Justice League 2 the Justice League are only an extant thing for the first scene, and then it’s Snyder giving everybody their own mini-movies. It’s compressing the entire MCU “loosely interconnected solo stories leading to a single big movie later” strategy into a single movie!

*  Funniest line in the whole thing: "Even Lantern has heard of the Kryptonian, worried that he's under the control of Darkseid. He heard his spirit was unbreakable." Hal what fuckin' Superman movie did YOU watch? Second funniest being “IT WILL GIVE HIM POWER OVER ALL LIVING LIFE”

* 90% of the plot I have nothing to say about, it’s generic stage-setting crap. That to be clear is the ‘shocked it’s Snyder’ element, it feels so crassly commercial in a way I can’t believe is coming from the BvS guy.

* Most of what I have to say is unsurprisingly gonna be about a handful of characters but Cyborg’s happy ending being “he isn’t visibly disabled anymore!” is not great!

* The Goddess of War battle with Superman...never pays off? No clue why it’s there.

* What I’d originally heard was that the Codex in Superman’s blood was the last key to the Anti-Life Equation and that’s why Darkseid was coming to Earth. It’s not like all of this wouldn’t have already been averted by Kal-El’s pod smacking into an asteroid on the way to Earth so it’s not as if this makes it any more Superman’s fault, and it would have at least tied all this back to the beginning of the movies, but I suppose that was either fake or from a later draft.

* I have NO idea how this was reimagined without the ‘love triangle’, it’s the central character thing and the entire climax flows directly out of it!

* Darkseid’s kinda a chump in this, huh

Anonymous said: So: Does Zack Snyder hate Superman?

Look: the hilarity of this when Cuck Kent has been a go-to Snyder cult insult towards ‘inferior’ takes on Superman for years cannot be understated, yet at the same time I can almost wrap my brain around where Snyder’s coming from with that as the end for his take on the character. He talked in that Variety piece on how his interest in Superman is informed by having adopted children himself, and Deborah Snyder is the stepmother to his kids by previous relationships, so I can see where he’d be coming from, and I can even imagine how he’d see this as ‘rhyming’ in the sense of “the series begins with Kal-El being adopted by Earth, it ends with him adopting a child of Earth!” In the same way as MARTHA, I can envision how he would put these pieces together in his head thematically without registering or caring what the end result would actually look like. In this case, Superman raising the kid of the man who beat the shit out of him who Batman had with Clark’s wife, who earlier told Bruce she was staying with Clark because he ‘needed her’, suggesting if inadvertently that this really honest to god was a “she’s only staying with Superman out of pity, she really loved Batman more” thing.

But Clark is nothing in this. He’s sad and existential because of coming back from the dead I guess, then he’s corrupted, then time’s undone and he woo-rah rallies the collective armies of the world (interesting angle for the ‘anti-military/anti-establishment’ Superman he’s talked up as) as his big heroic moment in the finale, and then he stops being sad because he’s adopting a kid. So his big much-ballyhooed, extremely necessary five-movie character arc towards truly becoming Superman was:

Sad weird kid -> sad weird kid learns he’s an alien, is still weird and sad, maybe he shouldn’t save people because things could go really wrong? -> his dad is so convinced it could go wrong he lets himself die -> ????? -> Clark is saving people anyway -> learns his origin, gets an inspiring speech about being a bridge between worlds and a costume -> becomes superman (not Superman, that’s later) to save the world, albeit a very property-damagey version, rejects his heritage he just learned about and space dad’s bridge idea -> folks hate him being superman and that sucks though at least he’s got a girlfriend now -> things go so wrong he considers not being superman but his ghost dad reminds him shit always goes wrong so he should be good anyway, which sorta feels like it contradicts his previous advice -> immediate renewed goodness is out the window as he’s blackmailed into having to try and kill a dude but the dude happens to coincidentally have some things in common so they don’t kill each other after all -> big monster now but superman keeps supermaning at it because he loves his girlfriend and he dies -> he’s brought back, wears black which apparently means now he likes Krypton again? -> he has work friends now but he’s still sad because he was dead -> evil now! -> wait nevermind time travel -> rallies the troops -> his wife’s having a kid so he’s not sad anymore -> Superman! Who gives way to more Batman.

Do I think Zack Snyder is lying when he says he likes Superman? No. I think he sincerely finds much of the basic conceits and imagery engaging. But I don’t think he meaningfully gives shit about Clark as a character, just a vessel for Big Iconic Beats he wants to hit. Whereas while for instance he’s critical of Batman as an idea (at least up to a point), he’s much more passionately, directly enamored with him as a presence and personality. So while Superman may be the character whose ostensible myth cycle or arc or however it’s spun might be propelling a lot of events here, it’s a distant appreciation - of course the other guy takes over and subsumes him into his own narrative. Of course Batman is the savior, the past and the future (though if he’s supposed to be Batman’s kid raised by Superman there’s no excuse for him not to be Nightwing), the tragic martyr to our potential. Admittedly the implication here is also that Batman can apparently only REALLY with his whole heart be willing to sacrifice his life to save an innocent, for that matter apparently his great love, once said innocent is a receptacle for his Bat-brood, but he and Clark are both already irredeemable pieces of shit by the end of BvS so it’s not like this even registers by comparison.

Anonymous said: That “plan” Snyder had was utter dogshit. Picture proof that DC & WB hate Superman. Also I love how you’re like Jor-El: Every single idealistic take you had about Snyder, his fandom, and BvS was wrong. Snyder’s an edgy hack, his fanbase just wants to jerk off to their edgy self-insert Batgod as he screams FUCK while mowing people down with machine guns, and the idea that BvS said Superman was better than Bats was completely wrong. You know what comes next SuperMann: Either you die or I do.

In the final analysis, beyond that mother of god is there sure no conceivable excuse for the treatment of Lois in this? The temptation is to join that anon and say as I originally tweeted that these were “built entirely to disabuse every single redemptive reading of the previous work and any notion of these movies as nuanced, artistic, self-reflective, or meaningful”.

...

...

...yeah, okay, that’s mostly right. Zack Snyder’s vision really was the vision of an edgelord idiot with bad ideas who was never going to build up to anything that would reframe it all as a sensible whole. He’s a sincere edgelord genuinely trying really hard with his bad ideas who put some of them together quite cleverly! But they’re fucking bad and the endgame was never anything more than ramping up into smashing the action figures together as big as he could, the political overtones and moral sketchiness of BvS while trying to say something in that movie reverberated through the grand scheme of his pentalogy in no way beyond giving his boys a big sad pit to rise out of so when they kicked ass later it’d rule harder, and all the gods among men questions and horror and trappings were only that: trappings. Apparently he’s really pleasant and well-meaning in person, but at his core his art as embodied in a couple weeks in his 4-hour R-rated Justice League movie meant to be seen in black-and-white all comes down to that time he yelled at someone on Twitter that he couldn’t appreciate Snyder’s work because it’s for grown-ups. He made half-clever, occasionally exciting shit cape movies for a bunch of corny pseudo-intellectual douchebags, folks latching onto and justifying blockbusters that at least acknowledge how horrifying the world is right now even if the superheroes are basically useless in the face of it if not outright part of the problem until a convenient alien invasion shows up to justify them, and a handful of non-asshole smart people who vibe with it but...well. ‘Suckered’ is a harsh word, and definitely doesn’t apply to all of them re: what they’ve gotten out of it up to this point and would (somehow) get out of this. But it doesn’t apply to none of them, either.

[twentiethcenturymoviesandtv]

Star Wars and the Space Opera

In 1941, a writer by the name of Wilson Tucker coined the term: ‘Space Opera’, used to describe what he called the “hacky, grinding, stinking, outworn space-ship yarn”.  This derogatory term followed in the footsteps of words like ‘Soap Opera’, a familiar term used even today, and ‘Horse Opera’ a less-used word referring to a cheap western.

However, in the years following this initial term creation, the words ‘Space Opera’ soon became associated with a different connotation.

Today, well, we’d probably call it ‘Soft Science Fiction’.

The term ‘Space Opera’ as we know it now refers to a story set in an unfamiliar galaxy, full of space faring civilizations with access to wonderful technology that isn’t terribly important to the story. Space Operas are epics, action/adventure stories spanning solar systems and galaxies, full of political intrigue, romance, huge space battles, sprawling empires and planets, and larger-than-life heroes and villains playing out the age-old good vs. evil conflict.

The total opposite of hard science fiction, Space Operas are concerned with characters and stories, rather than how the warp-drive works.  In the years since its original examples in the days of Buck Rogers, the term has lost nearly all of its negative connotations.  No longer looked down on, many writers and moviemakers have come to embrace the Space Opera.  Science fiction author Brian Aldiss even wrote a poem describing the steps that every self-respecting Space Opera must take in order to be an example of it’s subgenre:

The world must be in peril.

There must be a quest,

And a man or woman to meet the mighty hour.

That man or woman must confront aliens and exotic creatures.

Space must flow past the ports like wine from a pitcher.

Blood must rain down the palace steps,

And ships launch out into the louring dark.

There must be a woman or man fairer than the skies,

And a villain darker than a Black Hole.

And all must come right in the end.

There have been plenty of Space Operas in recent media history, ranging from the Dune novels to television shows like Battlestar Galactica or Star Trek.  However, easily the best known and most recognizable example of a Space Opera ever created is obvious: George Lucas’s science fiction epic from 1977: Star Wars.

Star Wars was more than a film.  Like Star Trek, it was a cultural phenomenon, sweeping the world immediately and paving the way for stories like it to find success in the future, as stories either inspired by it or intending to cash in on it were created in the years following.  While hailed as the start of a renaissance of Science Fiction in film, it was more accurately the start of the Space Opera in modern popular culture.  While set in space, the film states its scale firmly from its opening words: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

Star Wars wasn’t concerned with telling a story about science or logic.  It was a story about heroic rebels rising up and fighting back against an evil empire.  It was about big H heroes, Cool Starships, and Saving the World.  Star Wars was the shift in connotations for the Space Opera.  It was Star Wars’s thouroughly ‘space fantasy’  nature that changed the term ‘Space Opera’ from an insult to simply a genre.  

As such a game-changer, it bears some discussion.

Star Wars was the template used in countless science-fiction films after it, whether outright copied by films like Starchaser: The Legend Of Orin or spoofed in films like Spaceballs, creating a series of characters, scenarios, locations, and technology that has inspired multiple stories since it’s release over forty years ago.

The fact that Star Wars has become such a codifier of Space Operas makes a lot of sense, considering that it almost follows Aldiss’s poem to the letter.  While it does put an entertaining, fresh spin on a lot of fantasy and science fiction conventions, it doesn’t stray from those conventions.  In fact, it embraces them.

Hence our discussion.

Today, we’re going to be analyzing the 1977 film Star Wars in the context of the Space Opera, using Brian Aldiss’s poetic criteria above to analyze how George Lucas, whether knowingly or not, managed to create the perfect Space Opera, starting with, of course, point number one:

The world must be in peril.

To start, let’s look at the opening crawl.  Spoilers below!

It is a period of civil war. Rebel

spaceships, striking from a hidden

base, have won their first victory

against the evil Galactic Empire.

During the battle, Rebel spies managed

to steal secret plans to the Empire’s

ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an

armored space station with enough

power to destroy an entire planet.

Pursued by the Empire’s sinister agents,

Princess Leia races home aboard her

starship, custodian of the stolen plans

that can save her people and restore

freedom to the galaxy….

The story of Star Wars begins in an era of galactic unrest.  The evil Galactic Empire rules with an iron, tyrannical fist over the planets under it, squashing attempts at resistance, but stubbornly, the Rebellion fights on.  However, even their attempts are hopeless in the face of this new weapon: the Death Star.

The stakes for the story are established immediately.  By introducing the idea of a weapon powerful enough to destroy a planet, the audience, themselves only confined to one planet, immediately understand the threat that this weapon holds.  Billions of people extinguished in one shot, and the people with the only hope to stop them are on the run, in danger.

It looks grim for the galaxy.

At the beginning of Star Wars, it’s the End of the World as We Know It, and it’s not just an idle threat.  The Death Star is fully operational, and we see its effects as it destroys the homeworld of Princess Leia, Alderaan.  Billions of people are destroyed instantly, and the weapon won’t stop there.  

The galaxy is definitely in peril, and in order to prevent its destruction, the heroes must obliterate the weapon first, which, of course, answers our next line:

There must be a quest.

The quest is twofold.  The immediate quest is a small-scale one, a quest as old as fairy tales: rescue the Princess.

After Princess Leia is captured by the Empire, she sends the plans for the Death Star, and a message pleading for help, in a droid, R2-D2, trying to get them to an old Jedi Master, (The Mentor and Wizard of the story) Obi-Wan Kenobi.  Unfortunately, the droid (along with fellow robot, C-3PO) end up in the hands of farmboy Luke Skywalker.  Luke, recognizing the name, takes them to the Jedi, and ends up whisked away, determined to rescue Leia.  As he finds out more and more, the second part of the quest, the larger one, becomes clear:  Destroy the Death Star.

In order to prevent the destruction of the Rebellion, Luke must go on a journey, traveling through interesting places, all while learning the secrets of the Jedi: a power known as the Force.  Throughout this journey, he learns and grows, becoming better equipped to complete his quest along the way.  As Luke passes through criminal-infested cantinas, the Death Star itself, and the Rebel base on Yavin 4, he gains new understanding and perspective, all while focusing on his main goal: Rescue the Princess.

This version of The Quest storyline falls under the ‘Overcoming the Monster’ quest, a single-minded one focused on the end goal of the story.  Rather than focusing on a series of smaller quests that tie into the large one, the story of Star Wars revolves around the final act, with the characters pushing to Rescue the Princess and destroy the Death Star.  It’s concise, simple, but solid enough to work, propelled forward by the characters in the narrative.

The Quest directly overlaps with the famous Hero’s Journey narrative, seen in countless stories on the page and screen.  The combination thereof gives us a story where the focus is on the Hero’s growth and development as Luke finds his destiny, reacting to events pushing him forward, all while striving towards the end goal of the story.  It’s a very compelling narrative, traditionally done as a fantasy story, which naturally makes it perfect for the standard Space Opera story.

Which brings us to our next point:

And a man or woman to meet the mighty hour.

Of course, the man of the hour in Star Wars is farmboy Luke Skywalker, whisked up seemingly by accident into this world of Jedi, Evil Empires and Rebellions.  As with most Space Opera/Epic heroes, he isn’t terribly complex.  There are no moral struggles for Luke Skywalker, he knows what he has to do, and with determination, he strives for it.

In many ways, Luke Skywalker is the quintessential Hero archetype.  When we first meet him, (stage 1 of the Hero’s Journey), he is living on a desert farm that he desperately wants to get away from.  He craves adventure, excitement, and information about the father he never knew, constantly badgering his aunt and uncle for a chance to leave the planet Tatooine.

Luke is a big H hero, good and pure, bent on achieving his goal.  He’s an archetype, as old as stories themselves: the Ideal Hero, determined to finish the quest, stop the villain, and rescue the princess.  He’s new to the galaxy at large, serving also as the audience surrogate as the other characters explain and teach him about the more mysterious elements of the galaxy, but he proves a quick learner, also able to (clumsily at first) wield the powerful Force to assist him in his quest.  He even inherits the lightsaber (the science fiction equivalent of a sword) of his father, further adding to his Knight in Shining Armor role in the story.

Despite his good qualities, Luke isn’t perfect.  He’s inexperienced, and naive.  He’s a good shot with a blaster, and a better pilot, but he has problems with patience and anger, and has to be reigned in by other members of the cast.  He also doesn’t always get along with everyone else on his team, as evidenced by his arguments with reluctant partner and Lancer Han Solo.

Oddly enough, Luke’s motivation to start this journey is mixed.  While it would seem like he must want to Jump at the Call, when initially offered the chance for this adventure, Luke turns it down, citing his aunt and uncle as reasons not to go.  Unfortunately, the Empire, in search of the droid in Luke’s possession, burn down his homestead, killing his aunt and uncle in the process.  With nothing left of his home and family, Luke embarks on the adventure he seems to have always wanted, being pushed into the role of unexpected Hero.

While initially starting the story in a role akin to The Load, it doesn’t take long for Luke to go through some Character Development to rise to his full potential.  When dragged into the belly of the beast, trapped within the Death Star where Princess Leia is being held, it is Luke who assembles a plan, convincing the pilot who brought them, Han, and his copilot, Chewbacca, to assist him in rescuing Leia and escaping the Death Star.  Later on, it is Luke who exploits the Fatal Flaw of the Death Star design, destroying the weapon and saving the galaxy (for now).

Throughout his Hero’s Journey, Luke inevitably fulfills the next part of our criteria:

That man or woman must confront aliens and exotic creatures.

While most of the characters are examples of Human Aliens, not all of the beings in this galaxy are.  Good Space Operas tend to have interesting aliens to populate the planets the characters travel to, further spicing up the environment.

For Star Wars, one need look no further than the cantina sequence in Mos Eisley.  The scene is filled with odd looking creatures, some of which even assault Luke.  Earlier on, there are the Jawas, a species of scavengers who are responsible for C-3PO and R2-D2 ending up in the hands of Luke in the first place.  But both of these examples are minor in comparison with the token alien of the team: Chewbacca.

Chewbacca is Han Solo’s copilot, and a Wookiee.  Large, furry, and unintelligible, Chewbacca’s contribution is invaluable, being the decoy prisoner, and the Big Guy of the team.  The Bruiser with a Soft Center Mr. Fixit, Chewbacca is presented as more than an alien, but a character who happens to be a different species as the rest of the cast.  He serves as a constant reminder of the ‘otherness’ of the galaxy, a constantly present ‘exotic’ creature to drive home the Space Opera atmosphere.  As the co-pilot and mechanic, it is also part of Chewbacca’s job to keep the iconic Millennium Falcon running, and fly her when Han is needed in the gun turrets.

Speaking of the ships:

Space must flow past the ports like wine from a pitcher.

The galaxy is a big place.  In order to move the plot forward, the characters need to get around, fast.  Unfortunately, space is so large that characters would likely die of old age before reaching anywhere interesting, so a faster method must be developed.

The problem of slow space travel has long been ‘fixed’ in science fiction stories since the ‘60s, with Star Trek’s warp drive being a prime example.  In Star Wars, a similar idea is used: that of the hyperdrive.

In order to get anywhere, the ships in Star Wars travel faster than light, enabling them to hop from location to location speedily, as well as engage in high-speed chases and dogfights.  Indeed, it is due to this that the Death Star is such a threat.  Being able to travel quickly, it could destroy multiple planets that much faster.

Using the hyperdrive, the Millennium Falcon is able to travel from Tatooine to the ruins of Alderaan, to Yavin 4 quickly, adding to the urgency and allowing the characters to keep moving.  As useful an invention the hyperdrive is, though, there’s more to the use of speed in space than just travel.

Star Wars ends, not with a sword fight or shootout, but with a dogfight.

The battle of the Death Star is a tense action sequence making up the climax of the film, reliant entirely on the forces of the Empire (flying TIE fighters) versus the Rebels (flying X-Wings and Y-Wings).  The fast pace and high stakes combine to make a tense ride, and an unforgettable ending.  Neither the Death Star trench run, nor the escape from Tatooine would be possible without the Handwave to physics, but in a Space Opera, it doesn’t matter.

All of this talk about stakes leads us right into the next line:

Blood must rain down the palace steps,

Victory does not come without a price.

Throughout Star Wars, lives are lost.  Owen and Beru, Luke’s Aunt and Uncle, are the first notable victims, although the death toll is surprisingly high.  Princess Leia’s entire planet is wiped out with one blow.  Obi-Wan Kenobi is killed, sacrificing himself to allow Luke and the others to escape the Death Star.  And the final Death Star trench run ends with a victory for the Rebel Alliance, but only after all but three of their ships (and pilots) are killed.  These deaths are not without purpose within the narrative, demonstrating the severity of the Empire’s threat, as well as serving as reminders that more peoples’ lives are at stake.  These horrible events push our heroes on, forcing them to always consider the cost as friends are lost.

There may not be a palace, but there certainly is bloodshed.

And ships launch out into the louring dark.

Spaceships, like mentioned above, are absolutely essential to the quintessential Space Opera.  They are beyond forms of transportation, they are characters in their own right.  From the Empire’s menacing Star Destroyer to Han Solo’s beat up freighter, each ship has its own unique look and ‘personality’.

Star Wars coded it’s ships in a very specific way.  The Empire’s ships are shiny and sharp.  They are grim and foreboding, all greys and blacks, well-put-together and dangerous looking.  From the tiny TIE fighters to the imposing Star Destroyers, the Empire’s fleet is both foreboding and numerous, a frightening force pitted against the small Rebel Alliance.

The Rebellion ships, on the other hand, look a bit different.  From the Tantive IV vessel to the tiny X-Wings, the ships of the good guys look a little more worn down, a ragtag assembly of ships that are utilized to the best of the Rebel’s ability to fight the Empire.  The X and Y-Wings are small but fast, evocative of our own fighter planes, bringing home the imagery of the space-dogfight.

But no ship says ‘personality’ like the Millennium Falcon.

The Millennium Falcon is, to quote Luke Skywalker, a ‘piece of junk’.  She looks awkward, clumsy, cobbled together, and at times, she doesn’t seem to work all that well.  The ship is easily recognizable, with a unique design, and she seems to have a personality of her own.  A faithful ship, despite her flaws, the Millennium Falcon is fast, very fast, and maneuverable.  It is her speed that makes Obi-Wan and Luke choose to hire Han and Chewbacca to pilot them, as the Falcon turns out to be quite a match for TIE fighters, and is able to outrun the Empire’s forces.  It is Han and Chewbacca flying this trusty hunk of junk in for a last-minute rescue that enables Luke to destroy the Death Star, cementing the Millennium Falcon as a ‘Hero’ ship.  In fact, it’s the Falcon’s speed that made a lot of the rescuing possible.  Speaking of which:

There must be a woman or man fairer than the skies,

This one depends on how attractive you find Han Solo, but in the story proper, the ‘fairer than the skies’ part seems to land to Princess Leia, the Damsel in Distress who is the one giving the quest in the first place.  However, Leia is a subversion of the typical Damsel and Quest Giver character, as being a leader in a Rebellion, she is no stranger to battle, and once rescued, takes charge, and gets in on the action.  Leia is beautiful, and it is remarked upon by Luke, but her royal station and her position as a prisoner does not stop her from being a Royal Who Actually Does Something, and is quick to take up a weapon to help fight her way out of the Death Star.  In the end, she is the beautiful Quest Giver, but Damsel in Distress?  Only slightly.

But we can’t talk about heroes, quests and battles without talking about the other side.

And a villain darker than a Black Hole.

Every Epic story needs a villain, and the bigger, the better.  The Dreaded Evil Overlord is a staple of the Space Opera genre, the very epitome of villainy.  In the case of Star Wars, thankfully, the villain bases are covered.

Besides the overarching evil that is the Empire in general, there are specific villains in the story for our heroes to overcome.  Grand Moff Tarkin, a cunning, proud military leader, is in charge of the Death Star.  He orders the destruction of Alderaan, and is a cold-blooded killer, also willing to terminate the captive Princess Leia.  He presses in on the Rebel Base with the Death Star, intending to wipe them out, and it is his pride and arrogance that keeps him from being concerned about his superweapon’s fatal flaw.

Despite how horrible Tarkin is, he is not our villain ‘darker than a Black Hole’.  That would be, of course, Darth Vader.

Darth Vader has long been heralded as one of the greatest villains of all time, and with good reason.  With an iconic, unique look (dressed head to foot in black armor, with a mask obscuring his face), Darth Vader, much like the rest of the Empire, is unquestionably evil, the epitome of darkness to contrast with Luke’s light.  Despite the fact that Tarkin commands the Death Star, Darth Vader’s power is greater.

Like Obi-Wan, Darth Vader is also a Force user, but one who uses its power for evil.  It is Darth Vader who tortures Leia for information (which she resists), and Darth Vader who strikes down Obi-Wan in the Death Star.  He is a foreboding enemy, and his skill with the Force, the lightsaber, and as a pilot is a triple threat to the Rebels.  He also plays a large part in the Death Star trench battle, picking off many Rebel pilots and nearly finishing Luke off as well.  Only Han Solo’s last-minute entry into the battle stops him, sending Vader careening off into the galaxy, defeated, but not destroyed.

Unlike most variations of the villains of Space Operas, Vader does not stick close to his base.  He ventures out, actively hunting down and destroying the Rebels.  He commands his officers, but seems to answer to the Emperor himself, setting up the idea that he may not be the Evil Overlord he seems to be (revealed to be the case in later films).  Darth Vader is incredibly dangerous, however, cunning and powerful, and it is telling that, at the end, he is not destroyed with the Death Star, but merely taken out of action for the time being, indicating that he will return.

But although Darth Vader isn’t entirely vanquished, the day is still won.

And all must come right in the end.

Although Luke’s family is gone, Leia’s planet destroyed, Obi-Wan dead, most of the Rebel Fleet destroyed, and Darth Vader still out there, there is still a Happy Ending.  The Death Star has been demolished, proving that the Empire is not invincible, and Grand Moff Tarkin has gone with it.  The Rebel Alliance survives to fight another day.  Luke Skywalker has found his destiny and become a hero, pulling together his band to do so.  Han Solo managed to find a selfless side, joining the fight as well.  Leia has been rescued and can return to helping lead the Rebellion’s fight against the Empire for the future.  There is a New Hope for the galaxy.

Star Wars, like most Space Operas, is an idealistic story.  The villains are defeated, the heroes are triumphant.  Good wins over evil.  It’s a good ending, a happy ending, well-earned by our heroes.

The ending doesn’t feel saccharine, either.  It is a hard-won victory, and many lives have been lost.  It is an against-all-odds victory, one not without cost, but thanks to the courage and sacrifice of people who believe in freedom, the Rebellion has a fighting chance, and the Empire is that much closer to destruction.  It’s a Happy Ending, and more importantly, it’s the right ending, perfectly matching the tone and characters of the rest of the film.

Star Wars is not about how the hyperdrive works, or the technology required to build the Death Star.  It’s not about how humanity contends with it’s own creations, or how we live in a technologically advanced society.  In fact, it’s not really about ‘humanity’ at all.  It’s just about people.

Star Wars is a fantasy epic set against a backdrop of stars, set a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.  It’s about good vs. evil, about the defeat of tyranny.  It’s about a heroic farm boy, a rogue smuggler, and a brave princess.  It’s about heroes and villains, magic and battles.  It’s a fairy tale.

All of the above comes together to make Star Wars the definitive Space Opera.  Every point is perfect, every element in place, so much so that it seems paint-by-numbers.  But it’s not.

Star Wars relies on tropes that are almost as old as stories themselves, but it all feels fresh and new.  By developing interesting worlds, compelling characters, and a moving conflict, Star Wars managed to rise above the standard, taking the term ‘Space Opera’ and turning it into a defining subgenre, rather than an insult.

Star Wars single handedly changed a genre thanks to its earnest storytelling and characters, proving definitively that Tropes Are Not Bad, and that any story, no matter how ‘old’ it is, can still be made something fresh and beloved.

Don’t forget that the ask box is always open for anything from suggestions and discussion ideas to questions and conversations!  Thank you guys so much for reading, and I hope to see you guys in the next article.