#not to mention how many characters’ stories feel tied to the upper city

[snowberry-pie]

Upper city wasn’t cut. That’s a myth based on people misunderstanding a community update (the post mentioned the upper city and people interpreted it to mean it was an entire area when it was actually talking about the upper city being in the finale without spoiling it. When it wasn’t an explorable area people assumed that meant it was cut even though it would be impossible to cut an entire area in the time between that post being released and the game being released. The game would be literally unplayable, and I mean completely unplayable, not kinda glitchy) and none of the supposed evidence found in datamining actually exists (I’ve looked). The upper city is in the game, it just was never meant to be an area with quests like the lower city it was always going to be where the final battle took place. I mean feel free to wish it was in the game, I certainly do (fancy ball infiltration quest you would have been so good), but it’s a myth that it was originally in the game and was cut.

Oh I didn’t know that, I was under the impression that the upper city was unfinished and therefore never implemented in the game, at least not as the version that was originally intended (that’s what I meant by “cut”) so I suppose that makes sense yeah. But you’re right—personally I think an upper city zone of some kind would have made act 3 feel far less directionless and confused. There were so many loose ends and plot threads that I always thought were going to lead somewhere more only to be so hastily resolved, giving the entirety of act 3 this like. weird drop in quality inappropriate for the climax of your game.

[seldaryne]

"Wyll's quest regarding the Wyrmway is now a subquest instead of part of his main quest."

"Wyll's quest regarding Ravengard will now more reliably and frequently receive updates in Act III."

so mechanically speaking then, was the demotion of quest status in the first point required for them to implement the functionality of the second or??? because i genuinely don't understand why it became a subquest, especially when the game's structure already allows you to just ignore quests & move on to the next area if you want. most of the patch notes that directly mention wyll are bug-related or scripting flow, which i don't have a problem with (bug fixes are great, we love those). i'd love to hear any thoughts about this, though, because i really can't think of a reason why it had to become a subquest?

i also initially read that second point as planning for future updates to wyll's content but at a second glance i think it may just be referring to journal updates? i don't know, i'd like to believe my initial reaction was the correct one but... yknow. anyway i maintain that this is yet Another example of some really goddamn weird choices on the developmental end of things. if the companion quests exist on a sliding scale of 'most related to current main storyline to least,' wyll is very much at the top end of things. optimistic thought is that a lot of his scrapped content existed in the parts of act 3 that were cut, but i would think that as a studio you'd see that & make an effort to level things out with how much screentime the other companions have. at the bare minimum, your player base shouldn't be able to clock so many weird holes in his story arc where it's clear that something else was supposed to be offered.

i'm also not saying that the other companion arcs weren't clunky in some areas & didn't need a bit of help, but the disparity here makes deprioritizing those edits seem like a more logical course of action. like there's a difference between some slightly unpolished scenes vs. something that feels fundamentally lacking in a lot of structural ways, especially when you get into the finer points of the comparisons. act 3 imo is the one that feels the most bare-bones to me. like yes, there's Stuff there visually and quests too but it doesn't feel as lived-in as acts 1 & 2. i would say that the underdark to ketheric section feels the most dense, content-wise, and i don't think it's a coincidence that it's the bracket of the game i enjoy the most. i maintain that giving wyll's storyline the attention it needs would not only help with the character arc itself, but also pad out the quieter stretches of act 3. at this point i don't really see how they'd be able to add in the upper city without either completely changing the trajectory of the third act (so like, almost definitely something we Will Not See Happen & understandably so from a production standpoint. weird post-release editing aside, it is still a finished game.) & i'm also not sure what a DLC would look like here because the main story feels pretty complete too. off the top of my head, maybe one where you follow wyll & karlach into avernus would work, but that's worldstate dependent & probably wouldn't get made for that reason.

all that to say, from where i'm standing it really seems like giving wyll the same respect other companions are offered would by extension fix some of the act 3 issues, without having to release an entirely new area of the game (i'd love it i just don't think it's realistic lmao). like i know why/what the factors are that led to wyll getting the short end of the stick, it's bullshit but it's not the first time we've seen black characters handled unfairly by devs (& fans), but beyond that it's literally just. so confusing to me on the basis of writing alone. why wouldn't you use the character with that many ties to the titular city of the game more? why isn't he more integral to the story when it really seems like he has every reason to take the spotlight in certain areas?? like that's a fantastic resource of a character to use to move the narrative along and Yet.

idk. this started off as just a reaction to patch notes but it's so unbelievably frustrating to watch it keep happening every patch.

[lorewiththeo]

Fontaine and its Archon (theory/speculation)

Notice: This article is about the upcoming region of Fontaine, my speculations are clearly seperated from canon proof. You are more then welcomed to add information on any of my posts via dms/comments/asks.

Keyword: Irony

Name meaning and real-life reference

Fontaine is the French word for fountain/water spring.

The city of Fontaine is a French city located south east of France. Château de Fontainebleau is the name of a French palace (A/N: I highly recommend checking out this stunning piece of architectural art).

Therefore it is safe to assume this nation of Teyvat will be using France as its main real-life inspiration. Feudal France to be exact given Genshin's medieval like setting.

It is possible that Venice is a secondary reference.

“Venice has been known as the "La Dominante," "Serenissima," "Queen of the Adriatic," "City of Water," "City of Masks," "City of Bridges," "The Floating City," and "City of Canals."-Earth watching ESA

A city with many water canals sounds fitting for the hydro element, which Fontaine worships.

Water and masks(will be elaborated later) are the two most prominent concepts of Fontaine as of now.

The gadget “Kamera” originates from Fontaine in game. The inventors of cameras, the Lumiere brothers are French and early photography originated from France.

(A/N: If you know more parallels please let me know through an ask or a comment!)

The Hydro archon herself

Above is the gemstone required for hydro character ascentions. (Source: Honey Impact)

If you paid close attention to the wishful drop event(the quest that gives you Endora the mini-Oceanid), you can see that the Lochfolks like Rhodeia of Loch does not support the current hydro archon.

The Lochfolks are originally envoys, located in other six nations by the orders of the original hydro archon(one of the Original Seven). The original hydro archon wishes only to stay connected to the rest of the seven, therefore the Lochfolks mainly acted as messengers. But they do not seem to acknowledge the current hydro archon to be their boss.

The Lochfolk’s CN name is 纯水精灵, roughly translates to: “spirits/nymphs of pure water”.

“An assassin from our homeland? Or a fool who dares to tresspass the waters of Qingce?”

-Oceanid of Qingce, Rhodeia of Loch

The word "assassin". This implies that the current Hydro archon sees the Lochfolks as threats to her reign, and she had seeked/is seeking to eliminate them. Like Rhodeia, many of them have cut ties with Fontaine and is currently occupying bodies of water, waiting for their own demise. I suspect that politics and power struggle would be a heavy theme throughout Fontaine’s story quest. “Rhodeia of Loch” implies that there is/used to be a Loch clan in Fontaine. Albedo also said "we could bring in six Oceanids" during his experiment on the traveler.

There is also the title of the archon quest.

•The irony here being: Since the hydro archon’s title is the god of justice, then why is the archon quest of Fontaine called “Masquerade of the Guilty”? Maybe she obtained her position through unsavory means. (That is perhaps why the reason why the Oceanid refuses to recongize her as their god)

•Masquerade balls were quite popular in feudal Europe among the upper class. The attendees are obligatory to wear a mask, so their experssions and identity remains a secret.

•The CN title being “罪人舞步旋“, roughly translates to “The sinner’s whirling dance steps”

Both versions seem to imply this theme: someone had committed a crime, but said person did not recieved any punishment for it. Instead, they are enjoying a lavish, happy life. An outlaw who got away with their punishment.

The teyvat storyline preview lines about Fontaine:

“The god of justice lives for the spectacle of the court room, seeking to judge all other gods. But even she knows not to make an enemy of the divine.”

-Dainsleif the Bough Keeper

•It is a common tactic for someone guilty (of a crime) to accuse others to redirect attention. If the lochfolks are willing to answer to the Hydro archon, she would undoubtedly use them as eyes and ears to get dirt on the other archons. But she is not willing to go against the heavenly principles.

•My speculations on her true form: a mermaid/siren.

Sirens are mythical sea creatures, they appeared in several different cultures. They often have the appearance of breathtaking human women along with lovely singing voices. The word siren can be used in modern context if one wishes to describe "a woman who is very attractive but also dangerous"(Miriam Webster Dictionary).

Giving how frequent "guilty" and masks are mentioned, this divine lady of water seems to be a shady, trickster like character. And what's a water creature known for their deadly trickery? Sirens. Their singing attracted sailors and caused them to sail into dangerous water or toward rocks. Note that Sirens and Mermaids are not originally the same with seperate myths, see here. But popular depictions of them are often similar. In short, Sirens is commonly known to be a more sinister version of mermaids.

This could be symbolic to how Fontaine seems to be prosperous and peaceful on the surface level, but its fondation is nothing more then an enormous lie.

Fontaine storyline speculations

Some sort of revolution. Fontaine is based on Feudal France, so...

Rings a bell? Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France who is known for her ridiculous spending habits and "let them eat cake".

I do not think the hydro archon will get executed like the French Queen. Just stepping down from her divine position will be enough.

As formentioned, I believe politics and power struggles would play a big part in Fontaine's story arc. Agian, if you are familiar with the french revolutionary history, feel free to add to this!!

[dropintomanga]

The Evergreen Shonen Story

A short while ago, there were some online conversations about the popularity of shonen stories. Almost all of them are based around the experiences of youth and some adult fans wanted action-oriented stories based around their life experiences as adults. Reading stories centered on teens and kids as the main characters isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, I’ll admit that. But sometimes, I think shonen stories are somewhat of a reflection on what adults have been telling kids for years and how some/most of their advice has failed youth.

Life begins in the womb. We come out to a world of many possibilities. As children, we’re immune to bias until adults decide to tell us about the many differences of various people out there. Some adults may not care and have trouble dealing with their own pain, They may resort to substances like drugs and alcohol to cope. Under the influence of drugs or alcohol, these adults may start to abuse children and/or neglect them entirely.

There’s a term that relates to the overwhelming negative experiences of children growing up. It’s called ACE - “adverse childhood experiences.” Examples of such experiences include physical/sexual abuse, parent separation, physical/emotional neglect, and living with an adult with substance addiction. I look at a bunch of shonen flashback stories and many of the traumatic ones revolve around physical and emotional neglect.

Why is this important to acknowledge? Because some adults do a bad job in raising their children or guiding kids to become responsible individuals. We’ve seen examples of bad parenting in anime and manga. There’s also the fact that adults have been full of dreams themselves when they were kids, but have been fed advice on how the “real world” works. They’ve been told that they can’t make their dreams come true and/or they need to behave a certain way to get by. It’s a vicious cycle. A colleague of mine told me that when she sees young people with vision and a desire to smash the status quo end up being a part of the status quo themselves, she wondered if that’s due to those individuals seeing how hard it is and how long it takes to generate the change they want to see.

One of my favorite shonen characters in recent memory is Satoro Gojo of Jujutsu Kaisen. He was a student of Jujutsu High and ends up becoming a teacher there. Gojo is considered to be a prodigy, but he remains humble. He’s also willing to speak up to authority as he has gotten into disputes with upper school management over the fates of cursed students (particularly Yuji Itadori and Yuta Okkutsu) whose potential have yet to be realized. Gojo has once said that he needs to remind himself not to be a bitter old adult as he ages.

A good number of shonen stories drive the point that adults shouldn’t be bitter old ones. Or maybe more importantly, don’t be dismissive about teen experiences. I listened to a podcast a while back about loneliness and how much it affects mental health. There was a discussion point about adults ignoring teens that feel lonely with regards to dating. Here’s a quote from that discussion.

“The number one way that we do this (being dismissive of loneliness) in America is every single 30-year-old up completely dismisses the loneliness that a teenager feels about not having a significant other. Because once we hit 30, we realize that your 16 year old significant other is nonsense. It’s just nonsense. You’re gonna be in love so much in your life. You’re gonna love everybody. You’re going to date a million people. It’s gonna be fine. You’re going to realize how insignificant this relationship is. 

The key word there is you’re gonna realize it. It’s a future thing for them. So when every 30, 40, 50, 60 year old looks at the 16, 17, 18 year old and says, oh, you just broke up with your boyfriend? Yeah, who cares? That’s a meaningless relationship. I don’t care. That exacerbates the loneliness. It exacerbates the disconnected feeling because it really, really, really, really matters to them.”

I honestly think adults being dismissive towards teens’ current experiences is one reason why shonen stories still resonate with many. We’ve all been through those times where adults just shut us down because ultimately, it doesn’t matter. Yes, there comes a point where we have to move forward. But a good amount of emotional pain stems from adolescence and it lingers. Most mental disorders begin to happen around those years. Unfortunately, most of us don’t know how to give back in ways that stop the cycle. I do think mangaka are trying their best to give back the way they know how. 

Yet I think the biggest reason for the enduring popularity of shonen stories is friendship. We all know the Shonen Jump tropes - friendship, hard work and victory. All three are important, but friends are what really keeps us alive. The harsh truths are that hard work doesn’t always get you where you want to go and victories do come at the cost of important relationships. Over the years, I noticed that in my neck of the woods, friendship is frowned upon. When you’re ranking important relationships in life, first is your mother, then maybe your father, then your romantic partner, followed by your children. Friends are last. There was a nice read I found that listed a good amount of studies on the importance of friends (especially for those who are LGBTQ+ and faced stigma from immediate family). 

We don’t live on an island, contrary to what neoliberalism says. Families aren’t enough. Friends are what keeps us alive and helps build our sense of identity. 

Maybe the fans who want more mature/adult-centered stories with shonen action just want to see more nuanced stories about friendships in adult settings. Friendships are so hard to make and maintain as adults. There’s some glimmers of hope for those kinds of stories - in video games. Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a great example of an adult hero in a genre dominated by young protagonists, the Japanese RPG. The story is about a 42-year old ex-yakuza who gets exiled into a unfamiliar city and manages to make something of himself with the help of new friends he made there. It was refreshing because the whole cast were adults who were unemployed and/or stigmatized due to underworld ties. They managed to save Japan from a vicious political alliance with action elements that felt shonen at heart.

I’m all for more adult-centered mainstream shonen stories because seinen material can be a bit too blunt for some tastes, but there’s a lot of focus on the mindset of youth lately than in decades past since there’s concern on how they will manage in a world that continues to disappoint them.

I love shonen because I honestly don’t feel like I’m an adult due to my depression. My development felt stunted. I feel that I have more in common with 20+-year olds than people my age. I want to be around people who are youthful at heart. I wonder about those who still enjoy shonen past the target demographic - what still draws them to it? Is it due to them embracing their inner child more likely than most people? Or do they just like to follow simple action stories that have a lot of heart (something that some people don’t have)?

Looking at shonen’s enduring mainstream status does make me think about the the feedback loops between adults and teenagers. I’ll end this by talking about an incident that happened a couple years ago where a somewhat prominent Anitwitter figure (I am NOT going to mention their name here, but you may know who I’m referring to), who made a lot of friends with people in the anime/manga industry, was outed be a sexual predator who went after young naive anime fans at fan conventions. One of the reactions from someone that was once close with them was how can older anime fans better connect with younger anime fans when needed. I know from personal experience, I sigh on seeing the behavior of teens at conventions at times. But I learned that by saying things like “Kids are so dramatic,” “Boys will be boys,” “She’s being emotional.” gets harmful in a hurry where proper context is warranted. Maybe they are being so-and-so, but it doesn’t hurt to ask and give validation to their concerns. Teens are the lifeblood of anime conventions right now.

Shonen is a gateway introduction for youth on how to process pain in a way that helps themselves and other people with the help of said people. It’s an escape from the distress and trauma of reality. That reality, which has situations like the incident I mentioned, is controlled by adults who don’t always have it together, can’t admit their flaws, and sadly take it out on the world. That’s why shonen is still so powerful today despite all the criticism the genre gets. And that’s the evergreen truth.

[secret-rendezvous1d]

Could you do a blogmas piece around Alfie and Ellie like maybe a year forward from the miscarriage and maybe they have a baby now and are talking to their baby about the one they lost xx

Hello, hi!

Welcome to Blogmas 2020.

Many more blurbs, many more chats and a lot more festivities to come; my inbox willbe open all through December this year for blurb prompts for Blogmas so don’t feel afraid to pop in a prompt to get written for tis year; all I can say is that if you’re asking for a lengthy prompt, I’m not the right person right now, haha.

I’m welcoming absolutely anything for this year; any AU, any characters, any ideas.

Reblog, like, comment and share your thoughts with me. Please let me know what you think because feedback is always appreciated on here; much more appreciated now given that I’ve not written a lot in a long while. Please let me know what you think.

Enjoy!

* TRIGGER WARNING: MENTIONS OF MISCARRIAGE. *

“Peekaboo.”

Ellie looked up from her phone, her eyes adjusting from the bright December afternoon that had quickly turned into a dark and dismal December night, eyelids aching with every blink. She could see the faint silhouette of Alfie as he stood in the doorway to his bedroom, curls messy upon his head and a baggy jumper hanging down his upper body.

“You okay up here? Mum’s worried downstairs.”

“Yeah, I’m okay. I got a little tired,” she smiled.

The creaking floorboards signifying his gentle steps as he entered the room and walked towards the bed. His arm reaching out in the dark to flick on the bedside lamp on his bedside table, illuminating the bedroom into a deep orange light, causing shadows on the bedroom walls and revealing a cosy looking Ellie tucked under a blanket on his freshly-made bed.

“Did you sleep at all?”

“I closed my eyes for about five minutes but I couldn’t drift off,” she sighed softly, the bed dipping as her boyfriend climbed upon the mattress and laid beside her, elbow propping his upper body up and his head resting on his open palm, “I got bored so I went online.”

“Anything new?”

“Not really. The latest scandal, Twitter beef, all that kind of thing,” she gigged. A warming silence filled the room, his hand sliding underneath her jumper and cupping her hip, rubbing her skin with the pad of his thumb. Her phone, which had been sitting upon her clothed chest, fell from her body and onto the mattress as she rolled onto her side and nestled herself into his side. “Mum texted and wished us a Merry Christmas from Spain, tried not to make me jealous but, she did.”

Most Christmases, Ellie’s family would spend it abroad; somewhere hot, somewhere exotic and somewhere far from the dull and rainy English countryside they were used to for a good three hundred days a year. And, unlike this year, Ellie would accompany them with a suitcase full of bikinis and shorts and tank-tops that showed off the tan she’d been working on for the week - except the suitcase that she brought into Hampstead with her this year, to spend the Christmas period in Alfie’s childhood home, was full with thick jumpers and winter boots and the thickest socks to keep her toes from frosting on walks to the shops or on a wintery walk on a Sunday morning.  

“We’ll go next year,” Alfie grinned, pressing a kiss to her hairline, “I promise, we’ll jet off before Christmas and spend the day under the Spanish sunshine.”

“Don’t,” she whined, hiding her face into his chest.

“You make it sound like you hate being here,” Alfie laughed, “you live in a dull and rainy city for most of the bleedin’ year anyway so don’t you go complaining to me.”

“I’m not,” she huffed, shoving his chest with her fist and frowning up at him, “I love being here and I’m grateful for being here. Mum said it was best I spent this time with you, anyway, and I agreed because I couldn’t not take up the opportunity to see you for such a long while.”

Alfie cooed cheekily and brought her closer.

The bedroom silence brought all kinds of noises to their ears. Persephone was heard irritating Rose as they finished wrapping the last of the presents they’d hidden in their suitcases; Darcy could be heard playing ‘pat-a-cake’ with Persephone’s giggling baby; Harry could be heard grumbling outside because it was far too cold and far too late into the month to be putting Christmas lights up around the porch and YN could be heard encouraging him to hurry up so he could come inside and warm up with a cup of tea and a homemade mince-pie that she’d been slaving away over, that Ellie had started helping her with before she took time out and disappeared upstairs for a sleep.

Ellie took the time to really think about the year they’d had.

University had been a rocky start but she’d settled down just as well as she expected, met the friends she grew close to over the last few months and she gained a new routine that slowly became one of her favourite routines. She learnt how to cook ‘cheap uni meals’ and found her specialties in the cheapest food found in the corners of the cupboards, she found her alcohol tolerance and she found that when she was away from home,  she was a nightmare waiting to happen - and she rather liked that.

University had also started the journey of a long distance relationship that she hadn’t wanted to experience for a while - not with who she expected but with who she didn’t want to be apart from; her parents. She enjoyed being with Alfie, staying at his dormitory for most of her nights in the week and disappearing before he woke up for his own schedule to get to her morning classes, but she hated the fact that she wouldn’t see her mother making breakfast at the counter in the mornings or see her father at the kitchen table with the newspaper and a cup of coffee in his hand as he munched on toast before he set off for work. She became independent, spending most of her days in front of her computer and surrounded by notes and coloured pens until the early hours, running on cups of coffee and Redbull until she could feel herself waking up.

But, University had also started off as a fresh start for the two of them; having been a part of such a story as teen pregnancy, they had also been a part of a teenage miscarriage and it wasn’t something they took as easy as they wanted to take it, given the reasons why it wasn’t a good idea for them right now. Finding out she was pregnant before she was due to part ways in London and start her four-year course at University, and having it torn away from them, well... it was something they didn’t ever think about in the rush of excitement of a new chapter to their lives. A baby they would have spoilt rotten and taken everywhere with them to prove to everyone they could still parent and keep track of their lives. A baby that would have been the apple of their eyes, of everyone’s eyes, that would have brought joy to such a time in their lives.

“We would have had a baby to spoil this year, you know?”

“I know,” Alfie hummed, his heart aching because it had been a long while since he last thought about the possibility of being a father, “imagine that, Ells.”

“It’s not fair, is it? We would have been such good parents to our little bean,” she whispered, her voice cracking and her eyes burning with the refusal to not let her tears dribble down her cheek, “they’d have been spoiled rotten this year. Your dad would have been all over them, too. Seff’s little one would have a cousin to play with. Christmas would have been so different to what it’s like now.”

Alfie’s own eyes felt like they’d been slit with paper and he discreetly brought his thumb up to wipe his eyes, disguising it as a scratch to the curve of his cheekbone.

“We’ve got so much more time to have a little bean of our own though, baby. So much more time.”

“But I wanted them, Alfie. I wanted them.”

“I know,” Alfie moved his body and Ellie took that as a sign to sit up, leaning against the headboard of his bed and watching him as he twirled on his bum to look at her, “and we won’t ever forget them, okay? Our future babies, they’ll know all about them. And we’ll always celebrate them and think of them at Christmas and we’ll do everything we can do make them proud of us,” he smiled, linking his fingers with her fingers and squeezing her hand tightly, “they’ll be with us, guiding us to do the right thing, every day of our lives.” 

[ghostlycreatoruniverse]

This is not Dabi’s end yet: Touya and Anakin Skywalker

In last days I read that Dabi is basically over: he’s narrative purpose is fulfilled and now he could even go out with a bang in a blaze of glory.

I partially agree with this: we finally got to see part of his backstory and who he really is and now that Dabi considers himself satisfied he hasn’t much left to do. So he might as well... die here.

On the other hand this would reduce consistently Todorokis drama. In fact the role of an hero is to save and to win; as things are now, Dabi is ready to kill and thus Shoto hasn’t much choice in the matter.

Instead if Dabi were to survive Shoto will have to face the brutal dilemma with his own family. Dabi is a villain and has to be put down somehow, but they are brothers after all; can he really kill his own brother despite it all? Or maybe it’s worthy trying to incapacitate and save him?

Because this is the very core of being an hero. Doing the right choice. Being an icon. As matter of fact this ideology is brought up by Stain into the extreme: many heroes during this arc went for a kill, while All Might despite how he felt hadn’t even tried to kill All for One nor he demanded it. he even felt guilty towards Shigaraki and was desperate about him.

Having Dabi dying now would mean that Shoto has no choice in the process (Dabi has the upper hand, if he wants to kill he can as he likes; and he will) and the only reasonable outcome would be for him to go all along. That would mean legitimate defence and the Todorokis will end their purpose. Instead having him sticking around would mean for Shoto to go and face his family in the try of choose what to do when he will meet up with Dabi again.

This is something that was already seen in a very known franchise: Star Wars.

It’s common knowledge that Horikoshi loves Star Wars and in general and My hero academia contains lots of reference to it.

Even Touya’s old jumpsuit had a logo that resemble Rebel Alliance’s one. So I started to think about it, being a huge nerd of Star Wars myself.

All for One’s helmet greatly remind of Darth Vader’s; however his role is much closer to Senator Palpatin aka the Emperor. In fact Palestine sired many heirs like Darth Maul (The Phantom’s Menace), count Dooku/ Darth Tyranus (Attack of the clones) and the most known Anakin Skywalker, later known as Darth Vader.

I don’t think a precise parallel can be done, but it was specified that Darth Maul was kind of adopted and groomed by Darth Sidious/ Palpatine from a very young age. And we can even see that Palpatine baptise someone with their Sith name. So we can expect that Shigaraki Tomura’s birth wasn’t that different than Darth Maul’s.

Back to Dabi instead, his Star Wars parallel is tied to one of the most iconic identity revelation in the cinema history: Dart Vader telling Luke he is his father.

As I mentioned, you can see the Rebel alliance’s symbol on Touya jumpsuit; and in fact the Rebel Alliance was founded by three senators, Padmè being one of them. From day one, Skywalker’s family was a disaster, with a father who tried to killed the mother feeling betrayed by her and the two twins being separated for many years, until they grew up. Much like Todorokis family, Skywalkers are really messed up .

However maybe many of you might not know that Darth Vader’s identity wasn’t defined as Anakin from day one. In fact after the huge success of Star Wars (later renamed “A new Hope”)Lucas decided to write a sequel. For this purpose he hired a novelist, Brackett, and thus the second movie , The empire strikes back back, was written. Brackett chose ti described Anakin as a good father and a phantom who could aid and teach his son Luke. However she died before speaking to Lucas about this and he, without a script , had to do it all alone. This is the firsttime the concept of Darth Vader and Anakin being the same person was introduced.

This means that in the first movie, Darth Vader and Anakin were two totally different characters. Then suddenly they merged into one in the second movie.

This was a smart choice but it was brought by fate and thus created a great plot hole on how Anakin turned into Darth Vader, while he had already been described as a just and honourable Jedi.

Star Wars fans finally had an answer with the third movie , the Return of the Jedi, thanks to Obi Wan Kenobi’s ghost.

Later on, a complete story was given on-screen with the three following movies (The Phantom’s menace, Attack of the clones and The revenge of the Sith) in which the all story of Anakin was told from A to Z.

The point is.... Star Wars fandom was fine with being told Darth Vader was Luke’s father all along without any further explanation and totally out of the blue.

And this went on for many years until the Regenge of the Sith (2005).

Dabi’s revelation is similar to Darth Vader’s. Both the villains were towering above the hero, while the other were weakened. Both reveals were welcomed with total shock and denial by the hero. And in both cases Endeavor and Luke went numb and weren’t able to react anymore. Even Dabi’s clothing resembles Vader’s dark clothes, and beware Dabi and Tomura are the only villains who dress mainly in black (Toga and Spinner have colourful outfits, Magne was very casual, Compress is still very colourful and his black is rather an elegantblack and not a I’m-so-evil-black, while Twice has an half black half grey costume).

Another similarity both Touya and Anakin shared is how they died and how they alias were born: in fact while Touya’s death is still surrounded by mystery but overall is linked to Endeavor; Anakin was defeated and horribly mutilated by Obi Wan. More specifically Obi Wan cut off Anakin’s legs and one arm but more interesting, they were near a magma river in a vulcanic planet called Mustafar, the same name Horikoshi used for My Hero Academia’s main city. Being near such a burning river, Anakin’s body took fire and he basically burnt alive.

The last dialogue between Obi Wan and Anakin is very important too.

Obi Wan is almost crying, yelling that Anaking was supposed to be the chosen one, the one who would heave ended siths, not joining them, and who would have put balance in the Force. While fighting Obi Wan even said Anakin he was “his greatest failure”.

Obi Wan is a much beloved Jedi, but it’s obvious that, like Endeavor, he poured onto Anakin all of his hope for a legacy he couldnt conquer. Much like Enji, Obi Wan was a father figure for Anakin and a great mentor he respect a lot. It was Palpatine the one who put distance between Obi Wan and Skywalker with the intent of conquering the boy and never make him fulfill the prophecy.

In the same comparison, Touya is clearly Anakin. In the same dialogue he tells Obi Wan he will die and that to him Sith aren’t pure evil... Jedis are. Finally when Obi Wan beart him he yells murderous scream; “I hate you!”. With a murderous light in his eyes, much like Touya was totally crazy about the idea of killing Endeavor.

Many other traits of Sith and villain could be compared randomly, especially because Darth Vader was one of the main villain and most iconic character in Star Wars whole Dabi is and will be important but not as Tomura will be.

However if this comparison stand strong then few things might be speculated about Dabi.

The first is that we miss an important part of his background and we might have all of it much later then we could expect, quite like it happened with Darth Vader. And Star Wars fans got his full backstory after he died, so wether Dabi survive or not , this might be completely irrelevant. His story can go on.

The second one, Darth Vader was corrupted by the Emperor. He has a darkness inside of him, but Palpatine definitely broke him for good. Similarly, he was the one who cured Vader. I aspect someone at least cured Touya creating Dabi at the very least.

The third one is... that Darth Vader redeemed himself. At the very last, when the emperor is torturing Luke, finally Anakin makes his come back and kills the Sith to protect his son. While doing this, his armour is compromise and he will soon die. Later on we have the certainty of his redemption because Anakin take part to the feast for the fall of the empire as a ghost in Obi Wan’s and Yoda’s company. If Dabi will follow a similar path the only way out/ redemption for him probably will be similar and maybe he could save Shoto in one last change of heart before his own death.

Before anyone would comment about Dabi being a psychopath who never will do this, I’ll remind you that Darth Vader was a solid tyrant for approximately 20 years, he systematically killed all his fellow Jedis and Padawans, he cut Luke’s hand off, capture his own daughter Leia, killed his own beloved mentor and friend Obi Wan, he was about to smothering his beloved wife Padmé, he annihilated a planet or two and was building a massive weapon of destruction called “Black Death”. Twice. I’m confident Vader killed much more people than what Dabi could possibly had and eventually will do. And he was way more messed than Dabi was, still he got his redemption.

If he could make it, even Dabi eventually can.

[aion-rsa]

Best Thanksgiving Movies to Watch This Holiday Season

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This year marks a unique Thanksgiving, to be sure. With the pandemic carrying on, families and loved ones across the United States are testing out new ways to celebrate a national holiday that might be best described as food, football, and then, of course, more food. For some that means outdoor gatherings are the order of the day; for others it will mean the first time you might be cutting turkey while wearing a mask.

However you might wish to celebrate the holiday though, gathering with loved ones around a movie never goes out of style. For that reason, we’ve gathered the best Thanksgiving movies to choose from. Some of these films are truly beloved holiday classics, and others might be less obviously about Thanksgiving, even as they wear their affection for the holiday on their sleeves. And yet others still will offer the rare respite: a streak of cynicism for those who think Thanksgiving is for the birds. So pass the potatoes and enjoy a helping of good cinematic cheer below.

Addams Family Values (1991)

Addams Family Values might seem an unusual choice, but then everything about this one is unusual, right down to it being the rare comedy sequel that is superior to its predecessor. That success is in no small part due to the filmmakers realizing Christina Ricci, who made her big break playing the morbid Wednesday Addams, was devastating in her deadpan delivery.

Read more

Movies

How 1991’s The Addams Family Nearly Got Derailed

By Simon Brew

Movies

The Addams Family and Their Spooky New Jersey Origins

By Aaron Sagers

Thus Wednesday gets half the film to herself in this one, and we’re thankful for it. With Addams Family Values, she’s forced to endure the dreariness of summer camp and its middle class morality, right down to them holding a Thanksgiving pageant in July. Surrounded by smiling rich white kids who cast Wednesday as Pocahontas (who, it should be said, was not in New England or at the first Thanksgiving), Wednesday takes the opportunity to keep it real about Thanksgiving.

“My people will have pain and degradation,” Wednesday hisses in her last minute rewrite. “Your people will have stick shifts. The gods of my tribe have spoken. They say do not trust the Pilgrims, especially Sarah Miller. And for all these reasons I’ve decided to scalp you.”

The chaos that ensues is delightful. Happy Thanksgiving, folks!

Alice’s Restaurant

Alice’s Restaurant is an inadvertent Thanksgiving comedy directed by Arthur Penn, who re-envisioned Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow as counterculture antiheroes in his 1967 gangster classic, Bonnie and Clyde. Penn did the same with Arlo Guthrie, the son of folk hero Woody Guthrie, the committed anti-fascist who wrote “This Land is Our Land.” The film is based on Arlo Guthrie’s 1967 folk song “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” which was about Alice and a restaurant. The restaurant wasn’t called “Alice’s Restaurant.”

That’s just the name of the song, which is very talky, like the movie, which is also pretty violent and fairly drug-fueled. The film doesn’t start on Thanksgiving, but at an army recruitment center, where Arlo, playing himself, is trying to avoid the draft. Turns out he’s got no good reason to stay out of the war.

The Thanksgiving setting, however, gives the film its purpose, and main reason to be thankful. The main plot involves getting rid of some trash after a holiday dinner. Arlo and his friends load a couple months’ worth of garbage into their red VW microbus, along with “shovels, and rakes, and other implements of destruction,” and head to the city dump, which is closed for Thanksgiving. They’d never heard of a dump closed on Thanksgiving before, so with tears their eyes, they drive off to find another place to put the garbage.

It takes Arlo 18 minutes and 21 seconds to tell the plot in the song, in intermittent three-part harmony, but the gist is: he gets arrested for littering, and his criminal record keeps him out of the draft. With it, Penn turns Guthrie into one of the most mild-mannered antiheroes in counterculture cinema. He’s not moral enough to join the army, burn women, kids, houses, and villages because he’s a litterbug.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Perhaps not quite as iconic as the legendary A Charlie Brown Christmas or It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, the third Peanuts holiday special (and 10th Peanuts animated special overall) is still just as charming, wholesome, and satisfying as its predecessors. Once again written by Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz and directed by Bill Melendez, the show has been a November staple on TV for decades since first airing in 1973.

This time out, Charlie Brown (voiced by Todd Barbee) and his sister Sally (Hilary Momberger) are getting ready to go to their grandmother’s house for Thanksgiving when one by one, all their friends invite themselves over to his house—despite the fact that Charlie Brown can only make “cold cereal and maybe toast.” It all gets sorted out in the end, and it’s all the little jokes, the delightful voices, and the unforgettable music by Vince Guaraldi that makes this a perennial favorite.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

There isn’t so much as a mention of Thanksgiving in Wes Anderson’s stop motion masterpiece. Yet, somehow, it’s impossible to watch The Fantastic Mr. Fox and not have late autumn brought to mind. Is it the carefully chosen fall color palette that’s all sunsets and foliage? Is it the warm familial vibe of the Foxes and their neighbors that makes you miss big get-togethers? Is it the impeccably dressed cast of animal characters, all resplendent in corduroy, flannel, and tweed, quietly shaming you with their perfect sartorial choices? Or perhaps it’s simply their ravenous eating habits that puts you in the right frame of mind. 

With little resemblance to the Roald Dahl book it’s based on, The Fantastic Mr. Fox is instead one of the most perfect encapsulations of Anderson’s eye for (some might say obsession with) the little details. And it’s those little details, even more than its fuzzy animal characters, that make this perhaps the coziest of the director’s efforts. Alternately exuberant and melancholy (just like the holiday itself), and with numerous scenes of beautifully plated gluttonous excess, it’s remarkable that this movie hasn’t already been adopted as an unofficial icon of the season. Let’s start that campaign right here, shall we? 

Hannah and Her Sisters

The movie that won Michael Caine and Dianne Wiest Oscars, Hannah and Her Sisters is a story about family framed between two Thanksgivings and the year that connects them. With a meticulous insight about the highs and anxieties of upper-middle class life among Manhattan intellectuals, the film is really the travails of Hannah (Mia Farrow) and her sisters Holly (Dianne Wiest) and Lee (Barbara Hershey). There’s also the lust of Hannah’s husband Elliot (Caine), who pursues an affair with Lee, but the film is mostly told from the vantage of three women of varying ages struggling with how they see themselves and their lives in a year of New York living.

Writer-director Woody Allen is here too as a hanger-on in this family, who’s struggling with his own fears of death, but his and Elliot’s roles are ultimately as outside observers who arrive every Thanksgiving to watch the sisters and their parents renew their family ties… and close ranks.

Home for the Holidays

One that feels particularly timely as 2020 adults hole up in their childhood homes for Thanksgiving and beyond, director Jodie Foster’s underrated family gathering comedy wallows in the downsides of going home. The film stars Holly Hunter as a woman who’s lost her job and is growing apart from her teenage daughter (Claire Danes). But all of that pales in comparison to spending Thanksgiving with her parents (Anne Bancroft and Charles Durning), plus younger brother Robert Downey Jr.

Read more

TV

The Best Thanksgiving TV Episodes

By Alec Bojalad

Movies

The Long History of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Thanksgiving

By Gavin Jasper

It’s a familiar setup, but Thanksgiving is a time of being with those you’re familiar with, whether you like it or not. Plus, as a comedy it also has the still vital message of counting your blessings.

The Ice Storm

Based on Rick Moody’s acclaimed 1994 novel, director Ang Lee’s (Brokeback Mountain) masterful adaptation is a scathing portrait of upper middle class suburban life in the early 1970s, when all the experimentation in the world with drugs, alcohol, and sex couldn’t quite stop anyone from feeling like their lives and society were unmoored.

Like other dramas that take place around Thanksgiving, there’s very little to actually be thankful for: the characters (played with flair by Sigourney Weaver, Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Tobey Maguire, and others) are all trapped in emotional black holes of their own making.

Similarly, all the decadence and crazy fashions/trends of that surreal decade can’t replace the feeling that something has gone dreadfully wrong. Lee–before he became obsessed with the latest camera technology–charts this all with patience, empathy, and precision.

Knives Out

Okay, so Rian Johnson’s brilliant little whodunit isn’t actually set on Thanksgiving, but it sure feels like it is and was released around the holiday on Nov. 27, 2019 (God, that feels like a century ago). So… close enough. And while the family gathering at the center of the story is for a patriarch’s birthday, it certainly resembles the kind of large family assembly many hold at Thanksgiving, right down to feeling like it could end in murder.

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Movies

Knives Out and the Villainy of Privilege

By Kayti Burt

Movies

Knives Out: When Murder Makes You a Better Person

By Natalie Zutter

The murder in question, of course, is that of mystery novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), and it’s up to gentleman detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) to figure out which of his many bickering, backbiting, scheming descendants might have had a hand in it. Perhaps Harlan’s nurse Marta (Ana de Armas) can help since the clan insists “she’s like part of the family.”

All that’s really missing is the turkey. The knives are out, in abundance.

The Last Waltz

Perhaps no title card in cinematic history deserves to be heeded more than the one which opens The Last Waltz: “This film should be played loud.”

Not just the greatest concert film ever made. Not only the greatest rock documentary of all time. The Last Waltz may lay claim to being the only movie of any stature literally filmed on Thanksgiving. Martin Scorsese shot The Band’s farewell concert on Thanksgiving Day, 1976, where the audience of 5,000 was served a literal Thanksgiving dinner in addition to an unforgettable night of music by some of the most legendary performers of the 20th century.

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Culture

The Last Waltz: Martin Scorsese’s Ultimate Rock n’ Roll Movie

By Tony Sokol

Culture

New Deep Purple Album Whoosh! Coming in June

By Tony Sokol

But this is no mere concert film. Being treated to a document of such legendary musicians at the height of their powers would make this important enough, but when it’s shot, lit, and edited by Scorsese, and with The Band joined by towering guest stars like Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and many more, The Last Waltz becomes one of the most powerful musical statements ever committed to film. Scorsese breaks up the performances with members of The Band reflecting on their career, and even in these quieter moments, The Last Waltz radiates the power and danger of a life lived on the road, in seedy dives, and storied ballrooms.

When you’ve had your fill of football and family for the night, pour yourself a glass of something good and do exactly as that opening title card says.

Miracle on 34th Street

Yes, yes, technically speaking Miracle on 34th Street is a Christmas movie. But it is definitely worth noting that the film actually spends more screen time on the actual Thanksgiving holiday than Christmas Day. Indeed, the picture opens with the now legendary Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. In the ultimate stroke of product placement, Macy’s New York City shindig got nationwide attention on the big screen, even as the movie focuses on the department store hiring the wrong Santa Claus for its festivities.

Arriving drunk and disgraceful to Macy’s preparations, an inebriated mall Santa creates an opportunity for a man who calls himself Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) to step in. Kris is passing through, presumably doing some holiday shopping ahead of his own big day in December. But upon seeing his personage so besmirched, he demands to take Santa’s reins and in the process saves Thanksgiving. We also see how this affects the turkey time of the film’s central mother and daughter team, played by Maureen O’Hara and Natalie Wood.

Mistress America

Sometimes Thanksgiving can be quiet and intimate… and desperately needed. That’s the case of the end to Noah Baumbach’s effervescent Mistress America. A mostly successful attempt at emulating 1930s screwball comedy for literary millennials, Mistress America is a clever throwback set during autumn in New York City and, tellingly, a trip to the suburbs of Connecticut. But by movie’s end, protagonists Tracy (Lola Kirke) and Brooke (Greta Gerwig) find themselves alone and isolated in the big city on Thanksgiving. They also thus discover an excuse to reconcile after grievances drove them apart, breaking bread at a restaurant down the street. It’s downbeat, but emotionally cathartic for both the characters and film.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

As the late John Hughes’ masterpiece, Planes, Trains and Automobiles is the quintessential “get home in time for the holiday” tale. Steve Martin is Neal, a stressed-out marketing exec who picks up an accidental travel companion in Del (John Candy), a well-meaning but oafish shower curtain ring salesman. As the two struggle to get back to Chicago in time for Thanksgiving amidst a string of misadventures and transportation issues, an eventual friendship forms, leading to a moving conclusion.

Planes was a step forward for Hughes as he began to move away from teen comedies, and the movie’s balance of humor and heart was perfectly complemented by the dynamic comedic chemistry of Martin and Candy. The latter probably had his best role ever in Del Griffith, and it’s a tribute to both actors and Hughes that each lead character can be annoying yet is never unlikable.

Read more

Movies

Christmas Movies on Disney+ Streaming Guide

By David Crow

Movies

Christmas Movies: A Complete Holiday Streaming Guide

By Alec Bojalad

Hilarious and poignant, this mix of buddy picture and road movie is a near-perfect treat for the season—or any time.

Prisoners

We wouldn’t exactly call Prisoners ideal holiday viewing. It’s set at Thanksgiving and immediately afterwards, although there isn’t much cheer during most of the film’s harrowing 153 minutes. The movie opens with a Thanksgiving dinner involving two Pennsylvania families, a pleasant ritual that soon turns nightmarish when two little girls—one from each clan—go missing. From that point onward, the story becomes a downward psychological spiral in which the search for the girls takes a terrible toll on all caught in its wake.

The first Hollywood studio film directed by French-Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (who has since gifted us with films like Sicario, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, and next year’s Dune), Prisoners is a brutal, emotionally complex thriller that maintains a high level of suspense and dread over its formidable running time.

Featuring excellent performances from Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Terrence Howard, and others, it may not be the kind of cheery escapism we often seek out at the holidays. But it will leave you deeply thankful for the good things in your own life.

Rocky and Rocky II

“To you it’s Thanksgiving, to me it’s Thursday,” Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) tells Adrian Pennino (Talia Shire) as they hit the streets for their first date in Rocky. That date wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the tougher than tough love of Adrian’s brother Paulie (Burt Young). He gave them no alternative but to go out when he tossed the Thanksgiving turkey his sister slaved over all day out the side door. What followed was one of the best first date scenes in film.

It doesn’t seem like Rocky and Adrian have a lot to be thankful for. She says her daddy told her to develop her brains because she’d never get by on her looks. Rocky says he’s so dumb he couldn’t hope to be anything else but a fighter, which is halfway to being a bum.

While the scenes surrounding the ice skating rink date aren’t only some of the most romantic sequences captured on celluloid, they culminate in one of hottest. This is all before Rocky is even approached to fight the heavyweight champ of the world. The battered underdog Rocky stays on his feet until the final bell, and an almost equally bashed Apollo Creed, who barely held onto his title belt, swears he never wants a rematch.

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Culture

Could Rocky Balboa Really Have Gone the Distance?

By Tony Sokol

Movies

The Top 10 Carl Weathers Movie and TV roles

By Wil Jones

Apollo takes that rematch when he defends his title in Rocky II. The fight is set for Thanksgiving Day, and Rocky knocks the stuffing out of that turkey, and laps up the gravy. Many of the Rocky movies, including Creed, opened on Thanksgiving weekends, and are perfect “date movies.” The main bouts may focus on two fighters, but the love stories, starting with the one between Rocky and Adrian, are tenderer than the bird Paulie tossed in the alley.

Spider-Man

The original Spider-Man really is a superhero movie for all seasons. With its romantic and old-fashioned photography of New York City in the spring and autumn, the picture runs the calendar’s gamut in its storytelling of the webslinger’s first year on the job. But it also pivots on a rather eventful Thanksgiving dinner.

Read more

Movies

Why Spider-Man 2’s Train Fight is Superhero Cinema’s Greatest Action Scene

By Mark Harrison

Movies

Sam Raimi Spider-Man Trilogy Writer David Koepp Reveals Original Plans

By Joseph Baxter

Fresh off Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) refusing to team up with the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), and after a blow up at a not-Macy’s Day Parade in Times Square, the pair’s alter-egos unwittingly meet up for Thanksgiving in Peter Parker’s apartment. It’s a swanky bachelor pad he shares with Harry Osborn (James Franco). But even with Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) and Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) there to give it some holiday warmth, things get frosty when Dafoe’s patriarchal Norman realizes the kid passing him the cranberries is his mortal enemy. Awkward.

And yes, nearly 20 years later this strangely does feel like a holiday movie, doesn’t it?

ThanksKilling

This film is terrible. An exploitative C-cheapie horror where a turkey possessed by a demon with a smart mouth hunts and murders coeds. But if that’s your jam… well, it exists.

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The post Best Thanksgiving Movies to Watch This Holiday Season appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[writersstareoutwindows]

In the pursuit of my Ambition I learned, the hard way, why they tell you not to seek the name of Mr Eaten...

As a watchful individual, it was not a good moment for Kate.

(The story she mentions to Lloyd is based on this song, as Kate is inspired by the character who sings it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS190Nf7gbw)

-

North.

The word that has always been with her. When she was a child, her father took her to visit his parents in Shetland. She woke the first night in her father’s arms as he held her fast from the edge of a cliff where she had been standing, fast asleep, gazing north. On the next night, he barred the door.

On the third night, he tied a bell around her ankle.

Kate McKnight lies on the floor of her room above a gambling house. She hears the mass of voices through the wood, and feels thumping music, out of tune, pushing against her bones. She cannot stop sobbing.

The tears dried up some time ago, and she was glad. The saltwater in her mouth tasted like nightmares and sand. Made it hard to be in this world. What has she seen? Why did she do that?

The Honey Addled Detective had once poured her a glass of wine and told her to sail beyond the known waters. He had told her, with some envy and some pride, that she may have surpassed him. What powerful secrets she had seemed to know then. How proud she was to know them. The Duchess sold the Second City. The Provost of Summerset killed a man.

Little child, standing on a cliff at the edge of Shetland. Bell on her ankle. Sharp stone in her hand. Grown child, lighting a candle in her flat. Secret held tight in her fist. Secrets have substance down here. Secrets burrow in and warp the mind. But she didn’t know candles could do this.

She cannot stop sobbing. What she had is gone. What she learned, what mattered, the deep and hidden things that pulsed in the lacre-heart beneath the Bazaar, in the Duchess’ bright eyes, in the softly ruined edges of the Forgotten Quarter. All that was secret and familiar and precious to her. She opened her hand and let them be eaten, by the creature in the North, and by the need to know.

The Detective warned her, so long ago, when the stakes were so very different. Perhaps you are no more than the pursuit itself. After all, you have already sacrificed, for it, so much that once defined you.

But how is she to pursue anything when her head is reeling so badly that she can’t see straight? When she no longer knows how to pilot her zubmarine, or walk safely in the Forgotten Quarter, or read the Correspondence? When she can’t remember even the name of the person she loved?

The pursuit. The need to know. To play the game, to know who would have won. To win her heart’s desire.

‘Get. Up.’

That voice, unfortunately, she still recalls. How he came here, and now, she doesn’t know or care. She pulls herself more tightly into a fetal lump.

‘Kate. Get up.’

Lloyd crouches over her. She winces away from his shadow, thinking for a moment that it’s a mirror reflection.

‘You’re better than this.’

‘I’m not! I’m not anymore!’

It’s childish to scream, but she does it with relish. He’ll only shake his head and claim his upper hand, but she doesn’t care.

‘You’re acting like a child who can’t have her way. How many times are you going to make yourself suffer like this? Your first death, the Last Constable’s game...as if you’re only realising for the first time. But you knew, didn’t you, from the moment you left the Surface? That you are willing to give and to do whatever it takes? That you are, as you say, a monster like me?’

‘I am not like you.’

‘No. You’re not. If you were like me, you wouldn’t be like this.’

He waves his hand over her grieving form. And then he drops forward, supported on one hand, his eyes burning on a level with hers.

‘What is your heart’s desire, Kate?’

She closes her eyes, but behind them sees the dream. The vision. The one Lloyd left for her, on Christmas Eve. Billions of endless miles of stars. Robed things with strong, glorious wings. The language of suns, on her tongue, in a mouth that had changed—a body, a being that had changed beyond all knowing.

‘You know the story,’ she says. ‘The gambler, the monk. The game that doesn’t end.’

‘And all that you want, in this world and beneath it, is to know who wins? You sold half your mind for something that petty?’

He’s baiting her, and he wants her to know it. She pushes herself upright, puts her back to him.

She sold half her mind because she thought it was better than selling the Bazaar another city. She sold half her mind without knowing the cost...a price too steep, and you will not know until after you’ve paid it. And it did not even earn her that which she needs, that which she’s heard at the bottom of wells, that compass-point in her dreams, no, the price is even steeper yet. One day, she knows, she will go North...

But it is not that which she needs now. There are other ways, other means, to take from the Masters. She is learning to think like them, even if, for the moment, she has forgotten their language.

Her heart is beating fast. In a letter she never sent, she’d written, Whatever my heart desires, I don’t think it’s good. She thinks of the absconding devil, and the comtessa, and Alice. Thinks of the Last Constable facing her father across a row of poisoned cups. Of all the people placing bets in the gambling hall below.

‘I want to be the one who deals the cards,’ Kate says. ‘I want to be the one who decides.’

She’s facing her mirror now. In its reflection, she sees Lloyd reach out and touch her knee. She doesn’t feel his hand, because on this side he isn’t touching her, but she does feel his satisfaction.

Because she feels it too.

[blackjack-15]

Not Horsin’ Around — Thoughts on: The Secret of Shadow Ranch (SHA)

Previous Metas: SCK/SCK2, STFD, MHM, TRT, FIN, SSH, DOG, CAR, DDI

Hello and welcome to a Nancy Drew meta series! 30 metas, 30 Nancy Drew Games that I’m comfortable with doing meta about. Hot takes, cold takes, and just Takes will abound, but one thing’s for sure: they’ll all be longer than I mean them to be.

Each meta will have different distinct sections: an Introduction, an exploration of the Title, an explanation of the Mystery, a run-through of the Suspects. Then, I’ll tackle some of my favorite and least favorite things about the game, and finish it off with ideas on how to improve it. Unique to this game is a section in between The Mystery and The Suspects titled The Historical Background, as the background in SHA is so important and takes up nearly a third of the whole game that it deserves its own section.

If any game requires an extra section or two, they’ll be listed in the paragraph above, along with links to previous metas.

These metas are not spoiler free, though I’ll list any games/media that they might spoil here: SHA, non-spoilery mention of TRT, non-spoilery mention of CAP, non-spoilery mention of DED, non-spoilery mention of SPY.

The Intro:

Secret of Shadow Ranch is one of those games that invariably ends up in every “Best Of” list of Nancy Drew games. Unlike another mainstay of those lists (watch this space for the next meta, where I will Make Enemies), SHA actually deserves to be on it without reservations.

Unlike a few other “Best Of” games, SHA doesn’t actually do anything new with its story — there’s no beat, no bare-bones plotline, no mystery that hasn’t been done in the previous 9 games – but it just does it more completely. There’s more effort, more time, more thought, and more care obviously put into SHA (which itself is one of the most popular Nancy Drew books) than a lot of the other games. This isn’t to say that the other games are bad, just that SHA has a uniquely huge amount of care and detail put into it.

I should take the time to note here that I don’t believe that SHA is the best Nancy Drew game of all time, nor is it my favorite game of all time. The first designation shifts according to time, and the second is wholly dependent upon my personal style of play, so elevating a game based on that is less than pointless. When I say SHA deserves to be on “Best Of” game lists, it’s because it genuinely ticks all the boxes to make a fun, challenging but not hard, atmospheric, and honestly engaging experience.

Any introduction to Shadow Ranch would be incomplete without addressing the largest visual change it brings: the full-screen visuals. The bulky 2/3-of-the-screen interface is retired here and instead a (relatively) sleek task bar is added at the bottom, allowing SHA to look, as well as feel, bigger than any other game that came before it. Not only does this result in a smoother visual (especially as Nancy turns around) style, but it allows for more visual puzzles (significantly, the puzzle at the end with the stones marking the correct (and incorrect) path for Nancy to take).

While I won’t go too much into the Historical Background (as it’s significant enough in this game to get its own section in this meta), it’s impossible to talk about SHA without mentioning its wonderful historical setting and story. There are few other games so entrenched in the past (SPY, GTH, and TMB are a few others that fall into the same category), and it’s a joy to play through.

All in all, SHA is an honestly just wonderful, solid game that owes much of its well-deserved praise to a fantastically executed historical background, solid (if not showy) characters, and enough simplicity on top of its moving parts to encourage the player to go steadily and happily through the game.

The Title:

As far as the title for this game goes, they stuck exactly to the book to ensure that readers would know that one of the best-loved mysteries was being adapted to video game format, which was a pretty good idea.

The Secret of Shadow Ranch is also just a pretty great title; it indicates a mystery, a location, and sort of tells you the type of mystery you might get based on the location (historical; revolving around the Wild West). It’s not fussy, and not overly evocative, but it’s also not a “haunting” game (despite the ghost horse on the cover), so the simpler title is acceptable.

The Mystery:

Nancy’s just off to visit Bess and George’s Aunt Bet and Uncle Ed in their ranch (Shadow Ranch, to be exact) when the two cousins get delayed (why they didn’t all fly together…well, the plot demanded it) and Nancy arrives alone and immediately gets sucked into the strange happenings at the ranch.

It wouldn’t be a Nancy Drew game if something wasn’t hinky right off, naturally.

Uncle Ed and Aunt Bet are currently in the hospital after Ed was bitten by a snake that showed up in their bedroom, so Nancy’s left to deal with the ranch hands as she tries to help the ranch to run smoothly and investigates exactly how Ed might have gotten hurt.

The game ditches the plot of the original book and takes two-thirds of the plot of the revised yellow hardcover version, focusing around a strange phantom horse that seems to leave accidents and misfortune in its wake and around the historical plotline of the famous outlaw Dirk Valentine’s hidden treasure.

While it would have been cool to deal with the original mystery of Shadow Ranch — involving a missing father found with amnesia and an NPC in the form of another of Bess and George’s cousins — HER didn’t really have the resources nor the writing to deal with such a personal plot yet, and they instead (wisely, in my estimation) chose the plots that could be dealt with in what had become typical Nancy Drew PC Game fashion. This decision made Shadow Ranch one of the most tightly plotted of the early games and allows the player the time (and space, with the new layout) to explore the beautiful Southwest visuals as a trade-off.

As is commonplace with Nancy’s “vacations”, she soon finds herself embroiled in two mysteries where everyone has motive and opportunity, where the “means” belongs to everyone, and where no one will tell her the truth until she exposes them. Because Nancy can’t really contact the only victims of the accidents (Bet and Ed), there’s overall less to do on the phone in this game and Nancy has to make do with four suspects.

As far as mysteries go, Shadow Ranch isn’t the most involved that HER has ever attempted, but it is fairly complex for the Classic and Expanded games, and it takes pride in being easy to follow and engaging. The Dirk Valentine plotline specifically is tightly plotted, well-delivered, and…well, as perfect as you could get, really.

The Historical Background:

Normally, the Historical Background of a game is covered in the Mystery section, but SHA’s historical background is so far at the forefront of the game (not to mention so well done and memorable) that it would be a travesty to try to include it in another section.

The history behind the game centers on an outlaw, Dirk Valentine, and his forbidden romance with the sheriff’s daughter, Frances Humber, who lived at Shadow Ranch. Frances’ father Meryl disapproved of the match and relied (unbeknownst to her) on his daughter’s knowledge to find and arrest Dirk.

Dirk is then hanged for his general outlaw-ery, but not before mentioning a treasure that he wanted to give to Frances in a letter to her before he died. After his death, Frances left her father and headed east, leaving Meryl regretful of hanging Dirk and wishing to have his daughter back with him again.

The only remaining bit of Dirk left behind is his treasure, which Frances has no interest in and tells her relative about and which the Wild, Wild West finds an intense desire in. Since then, many have tried to find his last legacy to Frances, but all have failed…

Dramatic ellipses aside, the best part of this background isn’t that it involves outlaws and treasure and family drama and all that — it’s that it is all told via narrated letters and diary entries that Nancy finds hidden around the ranch. While this story would be effective on its own, the fact that it’s told to Nancy (and via Nancy, the player) makes it even more gripping than it would be on its own.

The biggest reason why the historical background gets its own section, however, is that it’s one of the best historical backgrounds in the entire series, and certainly the best of the series so far (even though I prefer TRT’s, SHA’s is told more effectively). SPY is up there, but it cheats a bit by having its backstory tied directly to Nancy, so I won’t count it as high on the scale. The only other game (once again ignoring SPY) that gets quite as somber and effective without being melodramatic is CAP, which presents the backstory through another character and thus works just as well.

(As a side note, I’m not including DED here, since it’s less “historical background” and more “incredibly recent background”.)

The only thing that this background sours for me slightly is the present-day plot, as it’s not quite as tight, but that’s to be expected since that plot has to last the whole game. That, and the fact that it makes me bitter that we don’t get all of our historical background narrated for the rest of the series.

The Suspects:

Tex Britten is the surly ranch hand that assumes authority while Ed and Bet are at the hospital. He dislikes “city folk” (though after ASH, one can hardly call Nancy anything but “upper-middle-class suburban folk”) and trusts Nancy so little around the ranch that she’s not allowed to do anything without him hovering — except for be responsible for the horses’ nutrition and survival.

Not really circumspect, but I wouldn’t trust this 18-year-old who claims to be a friend of the family’s with anything fun either.

Gruff, rough, and difficult to deal with, Tex is set up as the “mean” suspect from almost the first moments of the game (though after Dave shows up at the airport in assless chaps), and he plays the part par excellence. Never is Tex any warmer than barely civil, and he doesn’t need to be “reformed” by the end of the game because, well, he’s just grumpy.

As a suspect, Tex is a pretty good one, and honestly my preferred suspect. Not because he’s mean or gruff or anything like that, but because it would have been a great analogue between him and Mary and Frances and Dirk (more on that below). While it would be boring to have the “mean suspect” be the culprit every time, at this point in the series (with only MHM boasting a “mean guy” culprit) it would honestly count as a subversion, and would add a bit of depth to his character beyond “mean guy with a soft spot for the women in his life”.

Shorty Thurmond is the cook at the Rawley’s ranch and is voiced by HER’s resident pinch-hitter and man of a thousand voices Jonah Von Spreecken. He’s a money-grubbing lazy cook with more interest in yelling at those helping him than in doing actual work.

Shorty, to no one’s surprise, is the culprit (what?? the get-rich-quick guy wanted to get rich quick????), and does make for a decent suspect in that you could say he’s “lazy” because he’s actually working hard to find the treasure. He’s creepy enough to set the player’s teeth on edge, but ultimately not sinister enough to really convince the player that he’s up to no good.

Dave Gregory, snatcher of panties and quickener of libidos, is not only the Figure of Sexual Awakening for fans who came in after FIN, but is also one of the canonical “love interests” for Nancy — aka, boys who show an interest in her while she alternately doesn’t or feels-like-she-shouldn’t reciprocate. Nancy can even not really tell him about Ned, for bonus “good girlfriend” points (points that really start appearing from TRN on). His aunt is the relative that Frances told about Dirk’s treasure, and so he’s been looking during his downtime on the ranch.

He’s also fairly smitten with Nancy to the point that he helps her the entire game, asking nothing else in return. But, since I’m not really commenting on realism right now (in any of its forms), I’ll let that one slide.

As a suspect, Dave doesn’t ever qualify. The game never sets him up to be suspected, his “gotcha” moment with Nancy is so piddling as to be inconsequential, and he aids and abets Nancy the entire time. It’s probably a good thing, honestly, as Tex and Shorty are set up from the start to be the most suspicious, but I do think it would have been better to at least play along with him being suspicious until the one-third mark, especially since Mary is such a non-player as well.

Rounding out our cast is Mary Yazzie, who sells art and stones near Shadow Ranch and is banging Tex like a drum in Secret. Her area of interest is in the Pueblo people, and has tried repeatedly to purchase some of the land of Shadow Ranch in order to, according to her, look for more petrified wood artifacts. Ed and Bet refuse to sell, however, which sets them at odds with Mary.

As a suspect, Mary isn’t fabulous. Other than her offers to buy part of Shadow Ranch (and her taste in men), there’s nothing sitting against her. The game doesn’t bother to really implicate her in anything, and she more serves a helping role (if not The Helping Role). Her presence does open up the game to include Native American themes and stories, but other that that Mary’s really only there to make the numbers fit.

While Mary is the only female suspect, she’s not the only woman in the cast, which includes Charleena, Frances, Aunt Bet, Bess, and George (of important/speaking roles, 6 females to 8 males, by my count, making this an average-sized cast).

The Favorite:

Charleena Purcell is a delight and a treasure here and one of a small number of reoccurring characters. I’m a sucker for author characters since they’re usually slightly unpleasant (and I value that in a character who gives information to a detective), and everything from being a great phone character to her voice acting is A+. Jonah Von Spreecken’s additional role as Charleena’s assistant should also get a mention here. Honestly, what can’t that man do?

A big — possibly the biggest — thing that HER gets so, so right in this game is the voice acting. While Lani is her usual early-game self (quasi-invested and missing some native inflection, but not yet the incredibly old-sounding voice that happens a bit further down the line), Rob Jones’ Joe Hardy, Jonah Von Spreecken (as mentioned above), Max Holechek’s Meryl Humber, and above all Gary Hoffman’s superlative Dirk Valentine elevate this game far above the sum of its parts.

It’s a very lucky thing that this game was released before the (misguided, in my estimation) feature that lets you skip dialogue, because if you could, I truly believe that SHA wouldn’t be half as memorable or well-beloved as it is. Hearing Dirk’s assurances and Meryl’s increasing sadness is far, far beyond anything that reading them could give you, and I honestly believe that HER knew this and planned accordingly. 

Sure, it was more expensive to record that dialogue rather than simply read it, and additional voice actors had to be hired, and more time had to be spent — but the end result is the main takeaway from SHA, and that is to the game’s incredible benefit.

My favorite moment in the game, to no one’s surprise, then, is the reading of Dirk’s letters. It only takes a few sentences to get wholly invested in him Frances, and their love story. It’s the height of Americana to root for the outlaw of the Wild, Wild West, but it’s taken one step further with Dirk who has been given some of the best lines in any HER game. 

It’s a simple moment, but effective, and it stays with me not only every time I play but even when it’s been a few years since I’ve cracked open the game.

My favorite puzzle is the horse-trivia-on-a-horse one, as it tests the player’s thoroughness in exploring and reading, and also is incredibly hilarious to see Nancy riding around a pen while an angry ranch hand spits questions at her like he’s investigating her for murder. It’s fun and side-splitting in its absurdity, and I do love good-natured absurdity.

The Un-Favorite:

           For a book famous for introducing Bess and George, I can’t help but feel that it really was a missed opportunity not to include them more in this game. Sure, it helps Nancy to be on her own so that she can investigate without being hamstrung by anyone else, but this was a perfect opportunity to be able to play as another character for a while and to see more of Bess and George than witty puns and suspiciously prescient clues, so I will count this missed opportunity as a least favorite thing in the game.

*metal piece picked up* *metal piece put down* *metal piece picked up* need I say more??

My least favorite moment in the game is the “Heeeeere’s Shorty!” bad ending. It’s breathtakingly unnecessary, creepy as all get-out, and makes you stare at a Shorty face that looks like it was rendered with Windows 1 running on oatmeal for processing power.

My least favorite puzzle in the game isn’t actually the metal maze I mentioned above (though that would get an honorable mention, definitely) — it’s the arrowhead hunting. If you’re looking all along (and know to be looking all along), it’s not too tedious, but if you have the bad luck to miss one or two along the way, what follows is a half hour of pouring over every spot in every location to find them. Generally, my least favorite things in games tend to be those that are essential yet easily missable, and the arrowheads fit that bill exactly.

The Fix:

So how would I fix The Secret of Shadow Ranch?

First, I would honestly remove the Hardy Boys from the game. They don’t get the time they need to shine, and the game is busy enough to not need them. Move them to CUR and you get at least two characters I care about in that game.

As mentioned above, I would make the connection between Mary/Tex and Frances/Dirk clearer (rather than sub-sub-subtext) and switch him and Shorty’s position as the villain.

Make Shorty guilty of being exactly what is he is — a man obsessed with get quick rich schemes — and have some of the incidents be his fault (the snake is a good one to hand to him, as any cook in the desert on a ranch knows how to catch and cook snake) so that he has room to look for the treasure, but maybe stop him from finding a few key things (like the secrets in Dry Gulch) and take out his bank robber connections (which is easily the silliest part of the game). Maybe Tex uses him and slowly siphons off information that Shorty leaves lying around until he knows All.

Meanwhile, Tex is a gruff man who cares about his sister and his girlfriend and is thankful to the Rawley’s about his job…but he’s also a man who needs money to pay for his upcoming engagement/wedding to Mary Yazzie, who’s helping support his sister, who’s a bit angry that the Rawleys fired his sister, and who figures that if anyone can find a cowboy’s treasure, it’s another cowboy who knows the land like the back of his hand.

His expertise with horses makes it easy to coat one in phosphorus and safely release and get it back, his omnipresence around the ranch makes it easy to sabotage, and his natural reticence gives him a reason never to have an alibi — he just doesn’t like to be around people. Tex is, in fact, so perfectly set up to be the villain that it doesn’t feel like a twist that he’s not, it feels like a mistake.

For the finale, while Shorty chasing Nancy down is scary enough, the image of Tex doing so is even worse. This fix strengthens motive, adds multiple narratives, and spreads out the guilt enough to make most characters interesting. It would also give Mary more of a presence and add in the possibility of her being an accomplice (which I would love), and firmly sets Nancy at odds with three-fourths of the cast.

I’d also include Bess and George more heavily in the game. Since they handle the beginning of the Charleena Purcell line already, I’d have that whole storyline shifted over to them. You play as either Bess or George finding the novel, calling Nancy, and taking the lead to wheedle their way in past Charleena’s assistant (definitely a Bess-type job, but George attempting it would be hilarious with Bess whispering instructions) and get the information Nancy needs. The airport itself would be easy enough to limit to a small explorable area, and HER could even pass the contacting Ed and Bet to their actual nieces.

These changes would expand the game slightly and add to the runtime, but it would also help SHA to be even more of a landmark game and to be an appropriate end to the era of Expanded Games.

[iexbie]

My Country

This is a really long and biased summary of Seon Ho/Hwi  mostly for my friends please don’t @ me. I won’t be talking about Hui Jae or Yeon or Bang Won. I’m a busy woman I had to get down to business.

Our characters:

Seon Ho is the illegitimate son of a high standing political advisor (or something) and a woman he enslaved. When his older half-brother dies, his father takes him from his mother and raises him. His mother kills herself because of this. Seon Ho hates his father (obvi), and believes the best way he can achieve vengeance is by gaining political power. His wig is God Tier.

Hwi is Our Primary Hero. He's an orphan who has raised his younger sister since childhood. Their father (a well respected military man) is publicly executed for a false charge made to cover Seon Ho's father's real crimes. His major goal in the story is protect his sister, Yeon. You know his life is extra hard because his lips are always covered with concealer. He has ambidextrous eyebrows so he can both be >:( and <:(. He’s usually <:(.

They become best friends, bonding over their status as outsiders and their hatred for Seon Ho's dad. Hwi's sister has a crush on Seon Ho, and Seon Ho treats her with kindness and affection. Seon Ho and Hwi find themselves both looking to the same solution to their problems. They want to take the State Exam and climb the ranks of the military. Seon Ho wants to do this to gain political power. Hwi is just desperate for money. They are very supportive of each other at this point. They know only one of them can come in first place, and they promise each other not to hold back. ThEY DON'T. 

Hwi wins the fight after he and Seon Ho BRUTALLY beat each other up. Immediately following Hwi being declared winner, a punch drunk and desperate Seon Ho clobbers him across the head. The main judge declares that ACTUALLY Seon Ho is the winner and Hwi is taken away.

This is the least covered in blood he will be for the next seven episodes.

Seon Ho realizes that his dad bribed the judge. When he confronts his father, his dad challenges him, saying 'If you really want to, you can tell the world I bribed the judge and we'll both lose everything.' Seon Ho is unwilling to give up his chance for power, and agrees to keep the position, even though it will ruin Hwi's entire life.

The face of a man who has realized he’s not shit.

Even a stopped clock...

When it becomes clear that Hwi KNOWS about the bribe, Seon Ho's father makes plans to kill him.  Seon Ho suggests an alternative: Send Hwi away to the frontline of an unwinnable war.

This is how you know a sad bitch is going to die in a historical drama.

Soldiers come to pick up Hwi, saying he's been drafted. During the ensuing fight, Hwi's sister, Yeon, has a seizure and he's unable to reach her. He is sent away without knowing if she survives. Yang Se Jong acts the SHIT out of this scene but his face is COOOOOVERED in blood. I can’t screencap that.

Seon Ho was WATCHING Hwi get taken away from the shadows, and runs to save Yeon.  He manages to get her back to his place, where he stands up to his father for he first time and DEMANDS they help her. Meanwhile, Hwi begs someone to tell Seon Ho what's up.

This is still a lot of face blood.

FLASHFORWARD THREE MONTHS

Hwi wakes up in the midst of a giant battle. He's now one of hundreds of men just trying to survive. The fight scene extremely rules. He's a great fighter and becomes an unofficial Lieutenant among the advance forces.

Seon Ho is now a military official. The General Lee Seong Gye now trusts him and he's able to give council on war decisions. One time he sees a guy who looks like he might be wearing Hwi’s wig and he runs over to him desperate to see his friend.

He’s makes such bad decisions, but he’s so pretty.

The General Lee Seong Gye wants to turn back to the capital and start a revolution, but he doesn't know what to do with the advance group. Seon Ho (baby evil) proposes they send a team to kill the remaining 75 men, so no one can question their decision to turn back. He’s pretty mouthy about it, so the General has him go in with the Murder Team.

He really does think he’s a bad bitch.

Seon Ho gets the advanced camp and starts fighting when he makes eye contact with his enemy and....it's Hwi.

This is so many screencaps but C’MON.

Seon Ho sees his second in command attacking Hwi from behind, so he jumps in front of him and takes the life threatening hit himself. Hwi unlocks Beast Mode in vengeful rage. This clip is on youtube.

Hwi and his friends nurse Seon Ho back to health, despite his trying to MURDER THEM. Seon Ho wakes up and behaves like a snot. It’s sweet actually.

Just like old times before I sent you away to the frontline of an unwinnable war :’)

This is fucking. like. It’s like. Jane Austen shit.

Seon Ho shits on the moment by asking why Hwi hasn’t mentioned the fact that Seon Ho sent him to the frontlines. Hwi evades the question. Seon Ho continues on by confessing to both sending him to the frontlines AND bribing the judge (which he did not technically do so it’s extra juicy that he’s taking the fall for it here.) Hwi tries to get him to stop talking. Seon Ho then confesses it was his idea to kill the advance troops. Hwi yells at him to stop and says that if Seon Ho was there to kill him, why did he save his life? Seon Ho says he was just indebted to him but now they’re even (obvious lie!)

Hwi asks Seon Ho about Yeon. Seon Ho flashes back to his father saying that if anyone finds out they're harboring Yeon he'll kill them, and tells Hwi that Yeon is dead. This could have been executed more smoothly tbh.

Hwi says he’s going after Seon Ho’s dad, and Seon Ho tells him he can’t!!!!

Also the room is on fire.

Hwi leaves Seon Ho and returns to the city. Turns out Yeon IS alive!!!! But she has amnesia (l.mfao.) He agrees to work for Seon Ho & his dad as a means of insuring Yeon's safety. This next portion fo the story is EVEN MORE POLITICS, so in short: during this arrangement there are several instances where Hwi is in mortal danger and Seon Ho (self proclaimed prince of darkness) COMES OUT OF THE WOODWORK to save him even when it messes up his plans:

Hwi is not moved by this and even double crosses Seon Ho, leading to Seon Ho being brutally beaten by like idk  the palace special inspectors? Something like that. I will also save you from screncaps of his bloody face though I will confess I was personally into it.

Hwi just looked handsome here idk.

Hwi and Seon Ho are for real really broken up, and Hwi seems pretty firm on his resolve to not care about Seon Ho (which is definitely fair.) When Seon Ho learns that Hwi is going on a suicide mission for his father. He runs to stop him but he's too late. 

This is only like the fourteenth  most romantic thing to happen on the show. That’s BONKERS. I’m literally deleting more pictures of Seon Ho on the ground sadly staring at Hwi, because I know you get it, but like. Wow.

Seon Ho’s dad shows up and appears to finish killing Hwi. Seon Ho sees Hwi unmoving and has to be physically restrained from going to him, even though he’s already all tied up.

THIS IS PRIMO TRAGIC ROMANCE CONTENT.

He decides to run away with Yeon. As he's escaping they're surrounded by his father's guards, who have been ordered to kill her.  Hwi's friends to save them and reveal that Hwi is alive waiting for her. Turns out he was playing dead, haha. Jokes on Seon Ho!

My soul left my body like that Winnie the Pooh gif.

Seon Ho realizes his father won't let Yeon and Hwi leave so he goes to warn them.  He and Hwi fight off his father's guards, but Yeon is killed despite their best efforts (Every man in this show would survive getting hit by a meteor but it just takes one stab for Yeon to go down. I have longform thoughts about this, but now is not the time.)

SIX YEARS LATER

Hwi has aligned himself with a prince (THE PRINCE imo) looking for the throne. Seon Ho is Team Current King.  Their ultimate goal is still to kill Seon Ho's dad, but they have different plans for how to accomplish this.  Hwi wants to destroy Seon Ho's dad's dream of power before killing him, while Seon Ho wants his father's treachery to be made public and then kill him himself, so that he's remembered as a traitor killed by their own child.  Potato Potato, I say.

Hwi gets the upper hand and stabs Seon Ho through the gut. 

YOUR SWORD

STILL FEELS AFFECTIONATE.

Ultimately, this relationship is characterized by one man (Seon Ho) who believes he can do anything to get what he wants, and another (Hwi) who might really be able to do anything to get what he wants. It's effed up man,  I can't get enough.

Seon Ho survives that by the way. Just a flesh wound. He walks it off.

[redorblue]

The Story of a New Name, by Elena Ferrante

I just finished reading The Story of a New Name, the second part of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels, and I’m completely blown away by how good this book is. The first one, too, and I can’t wait to read the third and fourth part, but this one genuinely makes me want to bow down to Elena Ferrante and promise her my firstborn child. I’m not saying that it doesn’t have its lengths, but the amount of detail that she puts into the settings and the richness of the characters’ inner lives makes me want to read twenty more of its kind - it’s just that good. It even makes me want to freshen up my Italian because the difference between speaking standard Italian and the Neapolitan dialect is an important part of the book and would probably add a lot more depth, but... I can’t wait that long.

The first two installments of the tetralogy are mostly set in Naples in the 1950s and 1960s, in a poor neighborhood at the outskirts of the city. This is where Elena and Lila grow up: two girls with very similar backgrounds (working class fathers, stay-at-home mothers, miserable living conditions, a lot of domestic and street violence), but with very different personalities. Lila is a very extroverted person, direct to the point of rude or aggressive, courageous, impulsive, sometimes manipulative, very passionate, and gifted with a very creative and astute kind of intelligence. Elena is more of an introvert, a very diligent, responsible and disciplined person who tries to avoid conflict at all cost and has a good eye for unwritten social rules, with a rich emotional life but an aversion to sharing it with others. She’s also gifted intellectually, but rather as a result of hard work; she’s what you’d call booksmart as opposed to Lila’s intuitive intelligence that’s mostly focused exclusively on her rather volatile fields of interest.

In short, in many regards they’re each other’s opposite, which makes their friendship incredibly fascinating from the outside and alternately fortifying or toxic from the inside. When things are good, they ignite each others’ brains with ideas and they support each other no matter what; when they aren’t, Lila manipulates Elena into things that hurt her (or both of them really) and intentionally ignores her discomfort, while Elena distances herself, judges Lila and tries to assert her own superiority. The competitive streak that runs through their friendship at times inspires both of them to surpass themselves, but it also leads to them constantly trying to outdo each other - and let the other know. No matter how fraught their relationship gets though, they are always the most important person in the other’s life, both the anchor that stabilizes them as well as the benchmark that they measure themselves against. It’s a defining element of both the main characters’ lives, even as their paths drastically diverge: Elena, because of a combination of luck and hard work, gets the chance to continue her education after primary school and even goes to university, while Lila, who has the talent but lacks the luck, is not allowed to go to school any longer and is ultimately forced by circumstance to get married at 16 - which, considering her personality and the society she lives in, obviously does not go well. All in all, it’s a fascinating portrayal of a lifelong friendship under (at times) incredibly difficult circumstances that shapes both of them at their very core. It doesn’t romanticize or trivialize a bond like that, but shows it in all its ugliness and glory, and what’s more: it makes this friendship the central relationship of the book.

But the story is not only a brilliant examination of female friendship (and it is very distinctly female: both characters can never escape their roles as girls/young women in a heavily patriarchal society), it’s also a very observant analysis of the ways that class and gender intersect to shape and constrain the paths and personalities of Elena, Lila and their friends and neighbors. I’m tempted to add ethnicity to the mix, too; I’m not sure if ethnicity is the right term, but I can’t think of a better one, so I’ll stick with that. I’m not exactly knowledgeable about Italy’s demographic makeup, but if I remember it correctly, there is a quite distinct divide - culturally, economically, socially, linguistically... - between the North and the South, with the North as the economically stronger (and possibly less corrupt) part and therefore in a position to look down upon the South. This is an especially important aspect of Elena’s story in The Story of a New Name, when she goes to Pisa to study and feels forced to hide her Neapolitan background as much as possible. However, in the neighborhood where Elena and Lila grew up and where most of the first and second book takes place, ethnicity plays less of a role. Externally, within the framework of greater Naples, the main dividing line is class, expressed as income, way of speaking, access to education, clothing, and general display of wealth. The neighborhood itself, on first glance, is more homogeneous: even the local bigshots, who own a car, give out shady loans to the entire neighborhood and maintain ties to the mafia, aren’t particularly educated or refined in comparison with the Neapolitan upper classes. What they do have is money, and that’s one of the observations that I love about this book: money, no matter how much of it you amass, can never be the same as being born upper class; it can buy some privileges, but it can’t buy parity with the truly powerful. Within the limited domain of the neighborhood, however, money is one of the main mechanisms of stratification, the other being gender.

Toxic masculinity plays an important role in the story, and it shapes the lives of everyone in the neighborhood in different ways. We don’t meet many of the older men (= parent generation), but that’s a statement in and of itself: many of them are either dead, dying, or in prison. Those that are left are characterized by submissiveness and resignation to those with more power, and they channel their feeling of powerlessness and the resulting emasculation by beating and abusing their wives and children. The older women have lived too long under such circumstances: they do care about their children in some way, but the methods they use to make especially their daughters conform to patriarchal expectations and thereby protect them from male wrath end up doing just as much harm as the fists of the fathers. Female solidarity and close personal friendships such as that of Elena and Lila are rare because of the women’s feeling of disempowerment, trauma from a lifetime of violence and general economic hardship. And so the vicious circle repeats itself, with everyone caught up in it absolutely miserable, but unable to do anything about it, since class limits make it virtually impossible to get out.

This is equally true for the younger generation. The boys are taught from a young age to associate male behaviour with violence, aggression, a very prickly sense of honor, and a superiority over women that allows them to possessively watch over them and use violence against them to keep them in line. This holds true for rich and poor neighborhood boys alike, which proves that it is not an issue of class alone. The author further supports this argument by giving counter-examples like Alfonso, who in theory is just as predisposed to toxic masculinity as all the other boys: a violent father, (temporary) economic deprivation, violence in his peer group... What makes Alfonso different from most of the other boys is his personality on the one hand and his advanced education on the other. I think the author is saying that education is the key to overcome at least the worst outgrowths of violent male behavior. Of course education is contingent upon the class a person is born into, but with Alfonso, and partially Enzo (and Nino, too, much as I hate to admit it), she proves that neither class nor gender automatically make a man violent - and that neither one is an excuse for toxic masculinity. This claim is strengthened further by a counterexample, namely Bruno Soccavo, the son of a rich industrialist who leads a privileged life and still thinks it his right to sexually exploit the female workers at his factory.

But since the focus of the story is on Elena, Lila and their female friends and frenemies, this is where we get the most intimate insights into what toxic masculinity and economic deprivation/dependence together do to f**k up the lives of girls and young women. The girls mostly display a pretty thorough understanding of how things work: they know what they can and can’t tell the boys in order to avoid violence among the boys and towards the girls themselves. I’m pretty sure that even Lila knows how to avoid offend the boys’ sense of honor, but between her recklessness courage, her desire for freedom and her self-destructive streak, she just doesn’t care very much. But even this understanding, the result of a lifetime of studying the behavior of the men around them, does not help them very much because it doesn’t leave them enough room to put their feet down, let alone breathe. Lila is the best example of this: after being denied further education and blossoming into a beautiful teenager that attracts the attention of every male around her, including a rich mafioso, she really has no other option than to marry the (seemingly) most acceptable of her suitors at 16 years of age. But of course, he turns out to be violent and controlling, too, and since he’s more powerful than her brother and father, she really has nowhere to turn to. And as I mentioned already, neither the older women nor the girls have enough emotional or material capacities to meaningfully help each other. Some of them also simply don’t want to (the author doesn’t romanticize anything here, either), but I dare say that even that is a result of economic deprivation plus toxic masculinity: from a very young age they’re drilled to think of marriage as their only way to relative economic security, and their future husband’s affection as the only way to avoid being beaten or even killed. So it’s natural that female solidarity, as desirable as it’d be, is not very wide-spread in the neighborhood. Basically, what the book says about toxic masculinity and patriarchal systems is this: yes, it hurts both men and women, young and old, rich and poor; but in the end, it’s always the women, and especially the poor women, who end up with bruises on their face.

[chaotic-caffinated]

The Everything Guide to Worldbuilding #1 The Basics

Every sci-fi/fantasy or other expansive fictional world needs several basics to appear fully fleshed out the reader.

SETTING

Every good story needs a clear setting. Your setting can be:

- A small/large town

- Any sized city

- Kingdom or landmass

- State or Territory

- Country or Countries

- Global

- Galactic or Universal

You simply need a clear understanding of where your characters and story take place. Names and a basic layout of the area, or a simple map can help you keep a handle on where your characters are and where they go as the story progresses.

DEMOGRAPHICS

Depending on how large scale your setting, your characters will likely encounter a diverse cast of other people. From other human beings to aliens and fantasy creatures, you’ll need a vague idea of who and what lives in the area. Later posts will discuss how to create in-depth surrounding civilizations for those interested in greater demographic details. For the basics, however, some important things to keep in mind regarding demographics are:

- The People/Aliens/Races

- Their cultural practices

- Any language barriers

- Political ties. Peaceful or warring, or otherwise.

TECH

Every world has it’s innovations. From wooden carts to high-tech speeders. Even in the basics, every writer needs a good grasp of the technology of their world. How much the characters encounter it are a good indication of how much detail is needed. Some general tech to consider thinking about is as follows:

- Vehicles

- Communication

- Payment methods (not always tech)

- Entertainment

- Timekeeping

- Anything to made life easier/aid work

DAILY LIFE

No matter the type of world, the surrounding worldbuilding will affect your character's daily life and routine. Thinking through some activities and necessities that affect their day to day life can help strengthen the reality of the world around them. Stuff to consider:

- Work - do they work, if so what jobs are provided?

- Education - how is the school system set up and what ages does it affect?

- Homelife - how has home life changed or is family set-up different?

- Shopping - streamlined? Requires extensive travel?

- Friends - How many friends do they have, or how many people are they in contact with regularly?

- Entertainment or extracurricular activities - What kind of outside activities exist that might impact the MC’s life outside of work and school?

- Living situation - what kind of class do they live in and how does that affect their routine?

STATUS

As mentioned in the last point of Daily Life, status plays a large role in worldbuilding. No world has just one class, and everyone has different statuses. Considering where the MC fits into the world can affect a lot about how they are treated, how they function, and where they can do. Every writer is free to come up with their own status system, but the good old class system of today’s world always works just as well. It can be tweaked, however, though. For example, in my trilogy, I have a similar elite vs. working-class dichotomy however instead of men having the upper hand as many do in today’s world, the women are the leaders and rulers who have higher status, flipping the script on its head. In creating a status pyramid consider:

- Who’s at the top. What makes them the leader?

- Who and what make up the lower statuses? 

- How easy is it to go from bottom to top

- What other ties might status have? Religious ties? Family ties? 

ECONOMY/GOVERNMENT

Depending on the story, different cultures or even planets will have different economies and governments. This means different currencies and methods of transferring or expecting payment as well as differing leaderships and governmental powers. Unless of course the US or Europe took over the whole of the universe, it would be unlikely to see Dollars or Euro’s floating around in space alongside Prime Ministers and Presidents. (Not saying it can’t happen). Regardless of the mention or usage of either, it’s important to have a general grasp of:

- Current Leaders and their powers

- Type of Government 

- Currency (names, types, values)

- System of money transfer.

- Type of economy

RELIGION

Every group has a belief. Be that in a person or in a deity, or even in nothing, people believe. There’s plenty of real-world religions to work from, tweak, or simply incorporate. (e.g. Christianity, Buddhism, Atheism, etc.) However, creating religions for non-earthly beings or even late earth humanity is possible too. All that’s needed is:

- Someone or something people believe in

- The tenets of the faith, no matter how strict or loose

- A couple of core beliefs

- Rituals (optional)

- Hardcore believers and softer believers. Possibly different sects.

That’s the basics! Everything needed to get a new fictional world on its feet and breathing. Feel free to use in stories, DnD campaigns, any fictional world. Go forth and create. It’s for the good of every fictional world. 

[legionofpotatoes]

Okay then, since both of y’all are just delving in I’ll try to keep things (relatively) spoiler-free and stick to story sense and semiotics! Few caveats:

Have not had prior experience with Kojima’s body of work and if that’s a prerequisite in how I “should feel” about it then yike on a bike (just getting this out of the way based on what I’ve had talked at me)

My read excludes the entire context of moment-to-moment gameplay; I basically watched chronological story cutscenes stitched together with NPC interaction vignettes sprinkled in-between. 9 or so hours in total. 

I did this because the gameplay does not interest me at all - and not in protest of chill social games (I adore both No Man’s Sky and thatgamecompany stuff, for example, and try to champion anything without Gun in it), but because the setting and length did not align with my expectations for something to invest so much time into. Still, I was super intrigued by the story, and, to a lesser extent, the plot.

also I have a hard time writing in condensed English, so this may run quite long. I’ll put the rest under a break. Second language, sorry!

I’m trying to think of a good way to start this. Like I said, the story, or what the thing was ABOUT, was infinitely more interesting to me than whatever wacko packaging Kojima thought up for the narrative. Which was a complicated, thought-out piece of fiction shattered into many disparate pieces and fed to us in a mystery-box-filmmaker kind of way, making us reverse-engineer what essentially was a rather simple interpersonal uhh. family tragedy, I guess. 

But to its credit the lore is visibly built solely to support whatever thematic messaging Kojima would want to weave in there - something I can respect. Meaning it gets as wacky and as nonsensical as it needs to be in order to reflect the high-concept allegories at play, aaand then it does so to a fault. I adore works of fiction that don’t give a shit about “tone” - I hate that word more than anything in modern media - but effective symbolism in storytelling, IN MY OPINION, requires a deft hand, nuance, strong authorial position, and a good grasp of social context. 

I want to like, go through these four points individually and nitpick my problems with the game in their lens, because I think they cover pretty much everything I feel like saying:

1. A deft hand - to me means to selectively dramatize correct themes and plot points as you go so that shit makes sense in the end. I felt this was incredibly lacking here. It was like a symphony going for hours without a crescendo. The absolute wrong bits of soulless exposition would be reiterated THRICE within a single cutscene while necessary context of, hell, character motives or even plot geography would be left vague. Intentionally vague, some would argue, but their later function would never arrive. Other times, what would visibly be conceived as wink-and-you’ll-miss-it foreshadowing could overstay its welcome to the point of inadvertently spoiling a later plot point. My girlfriend sniped the (arguably) most important reveal of the game, which is left for the tail end of the final epilogue (!), in the first hours of watching. The symbolics and allusions were just too plentiful where they should have been more subdued. I am DYING to provide examples here but I’m keeping it spoiler-free. Again, if this is a Kojima-ism, too bad; but it’s not a catastrophic failure of storytelling by any means. There are very few masters of this thing working today. But what can be easier to navigate, I think, is...

2. Nuance - this kinda goes hand-in-hand with the upper point but is a bit more important to me and applies to what SPECIFICALLY you decide to heighten in order to slap us across the face with your deeper meanings. Certain characters - not all of them - feel like caricatures. The silly names and overt metaphors (wearing a mask means hiding something! connected cities all have ‘knot’ in their name!) are honestly, genuinely FINE as long as their function isn’t betrayed, but the lean into metaphor worship can sometimes wade into SERIOUSLY shitty territory as contemporary implications are ignored altogether, and that ties into my fourth point, which I’ll address before looping back to the third; needless to say, approaching sensitive subjects with broad strokes is not exactly the way to go. But broad strokes is almost exclusively what this game does, forgetting to incorporate...

3. Social context - and I feel like avoiding examples here will be difficult lest I end up sounding like a dogmatic asshole; but there is a right thing and a wrong thing to do when co-opting IRL concepts to fit fictional messaging/storytelling. I feel that a character “curing” themselves of a phobia by experiencing emotional growth that vaguely corresponds to what the disorder could have symbolized is a wrong thing. And I don’t even want to get into all the wacky revisionism the lore ended up twisting into, which was mostly honestly entertaining (the ammonite will be a good hint to those who’ve played it), until it decided to, again, lean a bit too hard into painting today’s reality as a crisis of human connection and imply some questionable things about why, uh, asexual people exist, for example. Yes it makes some sense within the context of the lore and what’s happening in the plot, but it’s completely lacking in social know-how of the here and now. In other words: a Bad Look. To me, this type of wayward ignorance is a much more serious issue that can historically snowball any piece of writing into a witless disaster. I don’t know if it quite does it here, but it’s not really my place to say. Still, you can have wacky worldbuilding that has no sense of dramatic tension, nuance, or awareness towards the audience, and yet containing one last vital glue holding it all together, and that would be...

4. Strong authorial position - or intent I guess, to speak in literary terms - and I still have trouble pinpointing how and where this exists in this game. A bullshit stance you say, and I hear ya; cause this here is a video game very pronounced in its pro-human-connection messaging, painting the opposite outcome as an apocalyptic end to our species. And as I understand the gameplay is all about connections too - leaning into that theme so hard it even renders itself unapproachable to most capital-g Gamers. I honestly respect the balls of that. But really, as an author who headlined the creation of this thing, what was it really about? What were you trying to say?

And beyond “human connection is real important to beat apathy” I got nothing, and I think that’s because of points 1 and 2 failing in succession, and then point 3 souring the taste. It just had to be apparent the moment the curtain fell, is what I find. You just have to “get” it immediately, get what it was trying to say, but that will happen only if it’s been articulated incredibly well up to that point. Maybe the entire punch of that message REALLY depends on you spending dozens of hours ruminating on the crushing cost of loneliness as you haul cargo across countries on foot and connect people to your weird not-internet? If so, I’ve missed a vital piece of context, and with this being a videogame and all, it’s honestly a fair assumption. But otherwise.. it felt like a hell of a lot of twisting and turning and plot affectations that only led to more plot affectations and sometimes character growth (which had its own bag of issues from point 3) and not a hell of a lot to say about human connection beyond the fact that it is. good and useful. It felt like a repeated statement instead of being an argument. Does that make sense? I understand the story optics here are zoomed waay out and set on targeting the human condition as a whole, but like.. if you’re committing to a message, you have to stand by it.

Why is connection good? it’s a dumb question without a DOUBT but since the game has set out to answer it then it.. should? Did I miss the answer? I may have, I honestly can’t exclude the possibility. My lens was warped and my framework of consuming storytelling is a bit rigid in its requirements (the four points I mentioned), so maybe I’m just too grouchy and old to understand. 

I just think Pacific Rim did it better and took about 7 hours less to do it! And yet, it, too, involved Guillermo Del Toro. Curious.

If you made it this far and are interested in my thoughts on the technical execution of it all as well, uhm, it’s pretty much spotless? Decima is utilized beautifully, the Hideo vanity squad of celebrities all do their very best with the often clunky dialogue, the music is great, the aesthetic and visual design is immediately arresting, and it certainly does an all-around great job at standing out from the rest of the flock. I fell in love with the BB a little bit. It is also a game that is incredibly horny for Mads Mikkelsen, which almost fully supplants the expected real estate for run-of-the-mill male gaze bullshit. It is. A change.

That’s all I got folks

[professional-anti]

Chapter Nine: The Circle and the Brotherhood

Okay, we start out a little stressful bc Jace says they’re gonna take the subway back to the Institute and Simon jokes around like “you guys take the subway but you’re demon hunters haha” and this happens:

Jace was scary-calm. His face was expressionless, but something burned at the backs of his eyes.

Um, are we not supposed to be worried about this? Jace should be working on this problem!! Why is he so mad at Simon? Oh, that’s right, he thinks that Simon is competition for Clary. And that’s enough for him to get this angry at Simon. I’m sure everyone can tell why this is unhealthy.

Simon proves to be an actual idiot when they get to the Institute. The Institute is housed in an old church, and for some reason Simon can’t comprehend that old buildings can be used for something else.

“It’s the Institute,” Clary said . . . “I thought it ws a church.” “It’s inside a church.” “Because that’s not confusing.”

This is New York City!! The home of remodeling!!! My aunt’s apartment used to be a house! My brother’s camp used to be an apartment! Things can be other things!! Oh my god!!!

They meet Isabelle in the kitchen, where she’s stress cooking. Oh, I remember this! She sucks at cooking but does it when she’s stressed. It’s actually really cute. I stress cook too! Once I made soup from scratch at 3 AM. (My psychiatrist said, verbatin, “That’s worrisome.”)

But then of course we get the typical annoying thing, where Simon stares at Isabelle “rapt and openmouthed”. I think I speak for most people when I say that someone staring at you with their mouth open is creepy. And weird. When was the last time you looked at someone like that? Hopefully never! Blergh, it’s like the way creepy men stare at you on the street. And then Clary gets jealous of Isabelle. So, that’s fun. Love that girl-on-girl hate. I’ve never felt the urge in my life to hurt a girl bc she was prettier than I am. I can’t imagine feeling that way. Sometimes I’ll say jokingly “she’s so pretty, I’m mad”, but I’ve been trying to cut back on that bc I don’t mean it, it’s something that’s been programmed into me to say. But Clary literally wants to throw the soup over Isabelle’s head. Okay.

There’s a tiny bit of worldbuilding that’s also kind of cute, which is that Isabelle “got the recipe from a water sprite at the Chelsea Market.” Well, most people would just say “Chelsea Market” without that article in front of it, but I still like it. Idk, maybe I’m just a sucker for magical New York. Vampires on the Upper East Side? Give me. Werewolves taking advantage of Central Park? Hell yes! Magicians in Greenwich Village? Duh, sign me up. So, little mentions like this make me happy. The worldbuilding is still shit, but this is some nice stuff.

Jace snarks at Clary for eating all the sandwiches at Dorothea’s, and it’s maddening. Those sandwhiches were the first thing she ate for a whole day! Let women eat their fill without judging them!! Arggghhhh!!!!

For some reason, Jace isn’t sure if they should tell Hodge that the men with Luke were the ones that killed his father. I guess bc he thinks that Hodge won’t let them go out and investigate? Idk. Like, we all know that Hodge is Evil Giles, but Jace doesn’t know that. He tells Isabelle that they’re going to Hodge, but they might not tell him about the men being his father’s killers, and this exchange happens:

[Isabelle] shrugged. “All right. Are you going to come back? Do you want any soup?” “No,” said Jace. “Do you think Hodge will want any soup?” “No one wants any soup.” “I want some soup,” Simon said. “No, you don’t,” said Jace. “You just want to sleep with Isabelle.” Simon was appalled. “That is not true.” “How flattering,” Isabelle murmured into the soup, but she was smirking. “Oh, yes it is,” said Jace. “Go ahead and ask her—then she can turn you down and the rest of us can get on with our lives while you fester in miserable humiliation.” He snapped his fingers. “Hurry up, mundie boy, we’ve got work to do.”

So much. So much. I’m short-circuiting. First of all, it’s so incredibly disrespectful to Isabelle for Jace to talk this way. If I were her, I’d be so uncomfortable. And I know that Jace knows her and her comfort limits, but it’s still disrespectful. Secondly, Jace is so mean. And Clary does call him out for it, but who even knows what she sees in him. He’s so fucking mean. And mean characters are fine. They’re great. But I’m just confused why everybody is falling the fuck in love with Jace. It makes zero sense to me. Jace is set up as this paradigm of a romantic partner and it’s like,,, what??? This Jace???

Clary calls Jace an asshat. An asshat. In our year of the Lord (checks copyright date) 2007. Actually, makes sense. Fandom was Like That. Everyone being vaguely British. I wasn’t technically on the fandom scene for anything back then, but in my fanfiction phase, I did some serious digging into the past. And all this fandom dialect makes sense when you remember that CoB is repurposed HP fanfiction.

Jace claims that he was trying to save Simon from heartbreak bc “Isabelle will cut out his heart and walk all over ti in high-heeled boots. That’s what she does to boys like that.”

Clary APOLOGIZES to Jace for snapping at him. Like, the Jace who was so brutally mean to Simon just now? The Jace who is constantly rude to her? The Jace who talks down to her and is so freaking patronizing? Is she apologizing to that Jace? Mmmmmkay.

Ugh, apparently Maryse, Isabelle’s mom, is usually the cook. So it’s the women who like cooking in this book. Got it. Usually 7 people live here, right? Isabelle, Alec, their brother, their parents, Hodge, and Jace. Two women. Five men. And the only people who cook? The women. Cool, cool, cool. Okay. Got it. Thanks.

Wait, this is weird. Apparently Maryse never taught Isabelle how to cook because, according to Jace:

“Isabelle never wanted to learn. She’s always been first and foremost interested in being a fighter. She comes from a long line of women warriors,” he said, and there was a tinge of pride in his voice. “She’s one of the best Shadowhunters I’ve ever known.”

So, huh. A lot to unpack. Isabelle likes to cook, right? So why wouldn’t she want to learn? And why are cooking and fighting mutually exclusive? There’s so much weird stuff going on here. Clare writes the women as the only ones who cook. I don’t like that because she’s basically saying, “Cooking is something that women do, not men.” And now, because it’s a traditionally feminine thing (which it doesn’t have to be anymore now that most men aren’t out hunting all day), Isabelle doesn’t want to do it. And the narrative accepts that as normal, that women should want to divorce themselves from traditionally feminine things, which in my opinion is still sexism. Except that Isabelle likes to cook. So why wouldn’t she let her mom teach her? Does any of this make sense, you guys?

I AM CONFUSION

For some reason, Clary desperately wants to know if Alec is a better Shadowhunter than Isabelle. Not sure why. Jace replies that Alec has never killed a demon. Interesting. Not sure how that’s possible, but okay. They meet Hodge in the greenhouse, and the prose is truly awful:

Clary exhaled. “It smells like . . .” Springtime, she thought, before the heat comes and crushes the leaves into pulp and withers the petals off the flowers.

Slow down there, Emily Dickinson. Anyhow, Jace tells Hodge about their adventures, except for the fact that the warlocks were the ones who killed his dad. Still not sure why, still don’t really care.

“And [the warlock’s] names were . . .” “Pangborn,” said Jace. “And Blackwell.” Hodge had gone very pale. Against his gray skin the scar along his cheek stood out like a twist of red wire. “It is as I feared,” he said, half to himself. “The Circle is rising again.”

There are so many other quotes like that from HP, but I’m not about to reread all 7 books to find them.

Neither Jace nor Clary knows what the circle is, and Hodge ominously leads them to the library. There’s some annoying, edgy description about the libary. Then Hodge pulls out the Death Eaters’, I mean the Circle’s, manifesto. He reads some creepy stuff from it about swearing his life to the Circle “in order to preserve the purity of the bloodlines of [Elba]”. So, you know, creepy. He explains that he used to be part of a group of Shadowhunters that followed Valentine. They wanted to kill all muggles, ahem, Downworlders when the Downworlders arrived in Elba to sign the Accords. For some worldbuilding reason, they have to be signed every fifteen years.

I’m going to cry. I just can’t. A group of magical supremacists who follow a leader whose name starts with the letter V. Please, someone set me free from this hell. Jace recognizes this story; apparently, this was the Uprising. Somehow the Clave managed to wipe out every mention of the Circle, though. Not sure how. Sounds a little bit like a scary place to live, if the government can just wipe out information like that. A healthy government would say, “This was something terrible that our country did. Nobody forget. We must do better.” But apparently Elba is some sort of fascist hothouse. Also, I’m confused what the point of erasing the Circle was if everyone still remembers the Uprising. Whatever.

Hodge finally admits that he used to be part of the Death Eaters, and even helped write the manifesto. Double bombshell, Clary’s mom used to be in it to.

“My mother would never have belonged to something like that. Some kind of—some kind of hate group.” “It wasn’t—,” Jace began, but Hodge cut him off.”

Okay, tell me what it wasn’t, Jace? It wasn’t a hate group? They wanted to kill all the Downworlders bc they were just so full of love? No, tell me. I’m interested.

Anyway, Hodge triple-bombshells Clary by telling her that Jocie wouldn’t have much choice in the matter bc she was Valentine’s wife. Let’s just ignore the fact that Jocie still is on the hook for being part of a suprmacist organization and end part one. That’s right, guys! Part one is finished, finito, finis. See you on the flip side.

[sicsemperserpent]

Lauren Addy: Waking Up Running

“‘Fail faster’... The truth is, you are only going to get to the place you want in life by doing, and by doing, you're going to fail, especially in the beginning. So rip off that band-aid and get those first failures out! Know what it's like and learn to recover.”

[Auto by Lauren Addy]

One of the most passionate and kind artists we’ve had the pleasure of interacting with, Lauren Addy’s art is a child’s delightful imagination given life. On some level, all of her work takes the realism of life and warps it to some degree with a cartoonish touch. But rather than making a shadow of the real thing, Lauren’s work springs right off the page and into your heart as powerfully as any photorealistic image. The features she exaggerates or stylizes never feel cheap, but rather imbue the level of emotion appropriate for the desired effect. It was a wonderful process we enjoyed getting to know better.

“To me, life is animated. Reality has so many exaggerations that it's all cartoony in my head. When I lean one way or another [with my work],  it's really about the feeling of the piece. My ‘Jelly Lady’, for example, needed more of a realistic touch because the thought of something like her existing added to the horror. Think of it: you're alive and paralyzed as she slowly digests you, and everyone can watch it happen because she's transparent.”

[Jelly by Lauren Addy ]

“The opposite of that spectrum is ‘Overload’ which is a self portrait of how I feel when I've overtaxed my brain. The cartoony style lets me exaggerate the noodliness of the arms, and made the frothiness of the opened head more funny than horrifying.

[Overload by Lauren Addy ]

If these two pieces don’t show the breadth of Lauren’s skills, we don’t know what will. Both pieces provide a very distinctive mood, and while both are animated to some degree, we can see purpose and decision where it comes to how heavy a hand to use. With such an expert touch at conveying thought and meaning, you’d expect that Lauren has been drawing her entire life. You’d be mostly right, though you might be surprised about the journey.

“ I've been drawing [since I was little]; it was a way for me to get my anxiety out. However, when I was a kid, ADHD and medicating for it was all the rage and the medication completely took away my creativity. I stopped drawing. I got into math and science and went to College to be a geneticist. In college I stopped taking the ADHD medication and noticed my interests taking a dramatic turn. Freshmen year I cared less and less about my major and doodled more and more during lectures. It was like I was waking up from a coma. I broke down and realized I hadn't been me in a lifetime and I was only in my 20s. My skills in art were bad. REALLY bad. But I couldn't stop. I remember the day I switched my major to art and I've been drawing and painting ever since. It took me a long time to come to terms with my creativity coma, but I don't regret it. It's made me truly value and respect my process and the process of others.”

[Harry Hart  by Lauren Addy ]

From the finesse you show in your work, it’s hard to imagine a place that you could ever have been that bad, Lauren. Though with a motto like “fail faster”, it’s no wonder you’ve been able to find the kind of mastery in your work that we can see here. It sounds like you already have a good idea of where you’ve come from to get here, but we’d just like to take a moment to commend you again. Your story is absolutely an inspiration.

While a lot of Lauren’s work is piecemeal, we did notice some recurring characters and themes throughout Lauren’s portfolio. We wanted to know a bit more, so we took a chance to explore the world of Unit 418 a little more closely.

“Unit 418 was inspired by a perfect storm of a few things. I am a huge fan of 1984 and the silent film Metropolis by Fritz Lang. This story embraces a lot of details of these two worlds; the undercity workers supporting the upper city [in Unit 418],  for example, comes from Metropolis. [Additionally], when I was growing up, I went to school in Europe and became fascinated with the Holocaust. It wasn't a happy fascination, more of a curiosity of what drives a people to commit such atrocities to another people? I came back to the States to finish school and noticed how incredibly divided all the social groups were...and what scared me was how similar it was to how things like the Holocaust started, the complacency and normalization of it all. I began writing Unit 418 in 2016 when all of those previously mentioned things came together in a script writing class I had taken on a whim, and haven't stopped writing since.”

[Lineup by Lauren Addy]

The original idea for this world was an art deco cyberpunk kind of style, but it morphed as I wrote it. The country is called Anemoi and it has been under civil war for almost 300 years. Most have forgotten what they're even fighting for, and for some, that they're even fighting at all. The story focuses primarily on the City State, Central, which is completely surrounded by war. The citizens of Central, however,  would tell you the war has been over for generations due to how sheltered they've been. Due to Centrals finite amount of citizens, they began manufacturing super soldiers to fight for them. Central also has an underground slave labor force that do all the hard labor that keeps Central running without a hitch. The city has a ‘democratic’ government with very heavy religious ties to a group known as The Eternal Following. The twist is this religion is based in technological growth and artificial intelligence.”

If Anemoi, Central, and Unit 418 interests you as much as it does us, you’re in luck! Chapter 1 is already available and chapter two is well under way. If you’re eager to know more, join Lauren at CONvergence this July, or check her out below!

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[thenightling]

Thoughts about The Dreaming (Sandman Spin-off comics)

There are so many things I don’t like about the writing of The Dreaming.  My biggest complaint being Nuala and the false empowerment thrust upon her hiding under a glamour again when the apex of her original storylne was her showing up in Faerie without the illusion, and truly being herself despite the consiquences.   

Sending me Tumblr replies that are nothing more than long winded “But this time it’s her choice so that makes it empowering!” doesn’t change my mind.

  Uh... No. Not really...

I actually don’t really mind her ending up with Lucien at the end, that part I’m okay with, but the reasoning behind it bothers me.   It’s to “Show that she has finally moved on from her unrequited love for Morpheus.”   No, no, honey, no.  That’s not healthy.  In fact most relationships started with that in mind fail.  You don’t “move on” by choosing a rebound boyfriend.  Especially one who showed no sign of sexual interest (or romantic interest) at all in the original comics.  Lucien doesn’t even know how to literally sit down without looking awkward (See “Season of Mists”).

Literally!

   That’s not healing.  That’s perpetuating the idea that a woman needs to be in a relationship to be happy.  “But she’s no longer pining for someone who didn’t love her (and is dead) so that makes it happy!”

So not only is she happily conforming to hiding her true self based on what her society originally expected of her but she is in a relationship so that’s a happy ending.   And the author has no idea how ironic and cynical this actually is...

Please, for one moment, before even TRYING to reply to me, understand that I am speaking of the symbolic significance.  A Glamour spell literally means “Hide your true self”.   A character who had a whole story arc about self-acceptance is “empowered” by hiding her true self?!?

  Now let’s look at that metaphorically - A gay person choosing to be in the closet, a Trans boy who was forced to wear a dress now chooses it because it’s easier than trying to defy stereotypes and culture norms, a gender-non-conforming girl forced to wear pink ribbons, ties them herself...  Do you understand YET?!?  It’s the ugliest thing written in a Neil Gaiman inspired comic.  

It’s like the author mistakenly associated the Glamour spell with the accouterments of a Trans woman to make herself look in a way that she considers beautiful but in reality the Glamour spell by it’s literal meaning is to hide who you really are and be what others expect of you.  It’s closer to a Trans boy being forced to wear a dress... 

With being Trans and posing as your birth-sex to appease social norms, that’s essentially a glamour spell- living up to what others expect of you instead of being your true inner self.  Finally being the gender of your heart is the removal of that glamour and self-liberation.  I don’t know how the author doesn’t see it for what it is. 

A Trans male friend was hurt by Nuala’s plot line and I am not over that.  

Don’t pretend this has to do with my preferring a certain hair color or body type. It’s about hiding who you truly are, literally, and figuratively.  And to make that a message of “empowerment” that she is back under the glamour is frankly hideous.  Nothing - no amount of justification will ever make it okay. 

Side note:  Are you aware the sapphire Nuala had that the faeries were after is literally just the Gaelic word for “Plot”?  That’s how lazy the writing is!   You might as well have named it McGuffin.   “Nuala has the McGuffin!”   That’s literally what they were saying!  It’s not subtle.  It’s not cute.  It’s not funny.  

Want to know how that sort of thing is done right?  Go back to the first issue of Sandman.  There’s a grimoire mentioned that’s just the Latin words for “Yellow pages.”  Alexander Burgess found Dream of The Endless listed in The Yellow Pages.  Now that was funny.  And it wasn’t a major plot point repeated over and over and over again to the point of annoying.  

My feeling that Echo is woefully under developed is just the tip of the iceberg of things I don’t like about The Dreaming spin-off comics.

How about Merv Pumpkinhead using sleeping mortals as slave labor and one of them mistaking him as a God and attempting suicide, resulting in brain damage- and Merv is oblivious to what happened to him!  Speaking of which, Good God, there’s a lot of suicide and attempted suicide in The Dreaming!  Sixty issues and there are at least six different suicides and / or suicide attempts, possibly more than that.   

Cain’s banishment by a Nightmare judge (who really shouldn’t have that kind of authority even if he is a borrowed DC horror host).  And the idea that the human race “needs” Cain to murder Abel as a subconscious outlet for our violent tendencies... Maybe you (the writer) should have re-read a Parliament of Rooks first? (Issue 40 of Sandman).  It’s implied that Cain and Abel (these versions anyway) predate The Human race.  

Consistency!  

One of The Dreaming comics explains that the reason Dream (Daniel) doesn’t get involved more often is because “It’s like living in New York City and expecting to run into a celebrity because they just happen to live there.”  Well, no. But the mayor of New York would probably have shown himself if a literal civil war was declared between The Lower East Side and the Upper West Side!  “I didn’t want there to be any martyrs.” doesn’t cut it, Daniel.  You’re the king!

This just makes Daniel look incompetent that he does nothing when his land goes to war like that.  The Dreaming was on worse shape with Daniel in charge than it was when Morpheus was being held prisoner for seventy-two-years.

And don’t get me started on Matthew’s death (”Third time’s a charm.”) just to give Daniel a matching white raven and that painfully cheap “The Wake” knock-off, right down to Echo and Corinthian’s use of “You can be me when I’m gone” where I’ve come to hate that phrase and that poor, guiltless poem it originated from.

And Daniel giving that great speech (I actually mean that.  It was a good speech) about the importance of memory and how our memories define us, only to alter Lucien’s memories anyway!   WTF?!   There’s no charm, whimsy, or depth.  It’s just a cynical and pale imitation of something that actually was good.

Also when you’re a spn-off from a semi-dark comic book and most readers complain that it’s too dark... MAYBE THEY’RE ON TO SOMETHING!