#oh and the music playing in the background is apparently a vital part cause he always has it up very loud

[notahorseindisguise]

basically. you should see the way he flings his toys around.

thanks to my little brothers aggressive play style, he accidentally JFK'd his sonic stuffed toy

[isolemnlyswearpevensie]

12:45 AM | Sirius Black x Reader

Warnings: major character death, angst 

Time/Era: Marauders era, Age 20 (and a smidge of 18)

Word Count:  2.8k 

Summary: Sirius will never forget that one night when he looked at the clock and saw 12:45 am. 

Request: yo, can I request a story where Sirius is dating Lily’s sister (twin/younger) and he realizes he likes her and they start dating and eventually get married and they’re both in the order but she dies on a mission and at the funeral Lily tells Sirius that she was expecting? Wow I’m kinda evil.

A/N: Thank you for the request and patience! Enjoy!

masterlist | sirius black playlist | read on ao3

“Evans!” James yelled, running towards Y/N. Y/N sighed, holding her books tightly to her chest and turning around. His Gryffindor tie flew across his chest as he came to a sudden stop. 

“I’m not Lily, Potter. Honestly, if you’re going to date my twin you need to be able to tell us apart.” 

James throws his head back with a loud laugh before shaking his head. “No, no, I know you’re not Lily. I just needed to talk to you,” He leans his hands on his knees as he struggles to catch his breath. “It’s insulting you think I can’t tell you apart. No offense, Y/N, but you don’t have the same….oopla that Lily has.” 

“Oopla? What is oopla?” Y/N asks, amused. Even after seven years of being friends with James, she never quite got over some of his strange analogies. 

“Something Lily has, don’t you listen?” James straightens his back and twists, cracking his spine. “It’s not that you don’t have oopla, it’s just different oopla.” 

Y/N shakes her head. “You know what, I don’t even want to know. Why do you need to talk to me?” 

“Talk to you? Why do I need to-” A lightbulb goes off in James’ head. “Oh! I know why I need to talk to you! Sirius was looking for you. Something about after graduation plans or something. I’m not quite sure, I didn’t ask.” 

“Do you know where he is?” 

“That’s another thing I don’t know,” A goofy grin filled his features as he spoke. 

“You don’t make for a very good owl, Jamesy.”

“Good thing I’m not an owl then,” James said, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Do you know where Lily is?” 

“No clue, you would know better than me seeing as you have a map and all,” Y/N’s grin matched James’ and she started to walk down the hall. 

“Don’t you have twin telepathy or something?! Just use that and tell me where she is!” 

“Bye, Potter!” Y/N called over her shoulder while walking towards McGonagall’s office. She remembered vaguely that Sirius had a career counseling session with her today, so she figured that the small chance of bumping into him there would be worth her while. 

Y/N pattered across the floor as quickly as possible without running. Thoughts swirled in her mind about what Sirius may need her for; they weren’t the closest of friends, nothing like him and the other marauders, but recently their relationship has grown rather flirty. Her stomach fumbled over itself as she thought of Sirius, but her feet only sped up towards the classroom. As Y/N rounded the corner, Sirius walked out of his meeting with his pearly white smile blinding all who could see it. 

“Oh, just the lady I’ve been looking for! Hello, darling,” Sirius said, walking down the hall with various papers clutched in his fingers. 

“Hello, Sirius. Career meeting?” Y/N asks with a subtle gesture to the papers. He waved the papers in the air with a dramatic flourish. Each paper held some grand title about being an Auror and going to the Auror Academy. 

“Good! Apparently Dumbledore put in a good word for me, so the Order is recruiting me!” Sirius seemed to bounce on his heels, the rubber souls of his shoes squeaking on the wooden floors. 

“I’m so happy for you! Oh my god! Congratulations!!!” 

The grin on his face grew exponentially, “You know what would make my day even better?” 

Y/N hummed. 

“If you snuck into Hogsmede for a drink with me,” Sirius leans in to whisper in her ear. “Unless you’re too scared, of course.” 

Y/N sucked in a harsh breath through her nose in an attempt not to focus on his hair tickling her cheek, or how his lips almost brushed her ear. She cleared her throat and nodded. 

“Not scared if you’re not, I suppose,” Y/N croaked. “I’ve done it, like, a million times.” 

Sirius pulled his head away, making Y/N yearn for the smell of his shampoo. “I can think of one time, and you were latched onto my wrist the entire time, rambling about how we could get expelled for skipping class.” 

A harsh red stained Y/N’s chest, cheeks, and ears, which only made Sirius’ smirk grow. 

“I was a different person then,” Y/N countered lamely. 

“Yeah? That was four months ago, love.” Sirius’ hands worked on his papers, folding them four times before shoving them into the pockets of his skinny jeans. Y/N’s eyes followed his teasing fingers, her gaze accidentally lingering on his pants. “Eyes up here, Y/N.” 

The boy made a small tsk noise, wrapped his arm around Y/N’s shoulders, and his hips swayed slightly as he started leading Y/N to the entrance to the Honeyduke’s cellar. His fingers found the bottom of her hair and started twirling it in and out of his middle and pointer fingers as if it were a cigarette. 

“I’m a different person than I was 4 months ago, aren’t you?” Y/N hesitantly snaked her arm under his leather jacket and wrapped around his waist. This was definitely further than they had ever gone in terms of flirting, and Y/N couldn’t wait for more. 

“Perfect four months ago, and perfect now.” Sirius laughed playfully placing a big kiss on Y/N’s temple. “I’m just taking the piss, love.” He turned to the statue blocking the tunnel and said the secret password. “Ladies first, darling.” 

Y/N hesitantly walked into the dark tunnel and cast a simple lumos charm; the damp pathway illuminated in front of the two teens before twisting into the darkness. Sirius returned to his spot next to Y/N and began to lead her down the path. 

“So, I was wondering,” Sirius began, kicking a rock into the wall. Y/N noticed this was a habit of his. “We’ve been friends for a long time,” 

Y/N snuggled into his side, the warm cotton of the inside of his leather jacket brushing her soft skin. 

“And we’re graduating soon…” Sirius let his voice trail before pulling lightly on Y/N’s hair so she would meet his gaze. “And I was wondering if you wanted to spend some special one on one time with me after we graduate?” 

“Special one on one time? Like,” Y/N took a deep breath and took a leap into the unknown. “Hooking up? Is that what you mean?” 

Sirius chuckled lightly, “Not exactly, but I guess that would be a part of it,” Sirius’s cheeky smile was illuminated by the light of Y/N’s wand. “I mean becoming official. I know there’s something between us, and I know you feel the same way, so it makes sense.”

“So, you’re asking me to be your girlfriend?” 

“Precisely. Will you be my girlfriend?” Sirius stopped walking and looked at the girl under his arm. She smiled happily and lightly punched his stomach. 

“I can’t believe you asked me out in the middle of a dark tunnel!” She laughed happily and brought her arms up to his neck to hug him. 

“Hey! I thought it was a good place! Is that a yes, babygirl?”  

“Yes, you idiot, I’ll go out with you!” 

~

Sirius and Y/N’s relationship blossomed quickly after the tunnel; after graduation, they moved into a small flat right in the middle of London’s hustle and bustle. Sirius loved to go out and explore every inch of the city with his girl, which usually resulted in a lot of adventures and long nights. During these times, the couple really took the time to grow their relationship and become closer as a pair. 

Sirius proposed to Y/N in the middle of an ice skating rink on December 13th, 1978. It was perfect; the snow was floating down, gracefully sticking to Sirius’ hair and eyelashes, soft Christmas music was playing in the background and the entire atmosphere of the event was magical. It was a rather simple proposal, but it was more than enough for Y/N. The couple then had a stunning double Summer wedding with the Potters. 

Sirius did amazing in the Order, which Y/N later found out all the marauders had joined. Y/N grew used to Sirius being gone during the nights and coming back injured; this was something she would never wish on her worst enemy. The anxiety-ridden nights and the unbearably silent flat took a toll on Y/N’s mental health. The only thing that got her through these was her twin sister, who was in the same situation. 

The two girls often spent these lonely nights together in attempts to share the burden. The two waited into the early morning nights for something, anything, to ease their tired minds and let them know their boys were safe. Usually, one would send a patronus message or Remus would reach out with cryptic plans and whereabouts. Still, this didn’t completely resolve the paranoia in their minds. 

Sirius and James noticed this early on in their new careers. Sirius suggested they invite the two to join the Order, as you didn’t need to be an Auror to join. But, James disagreed with this idea because Lily was his world and he didn’t want her to get hurt. Without Lily, there was no James and he couldn’t risk losing her. Sirius countered that he felt that way about Y/N too, but keeping the two women in the dark was just harming their relationships and causing a mental decline in all four. It took some convincing, but James finally agreed. Thus, Lily and Y/N joined the Order. 

The two were brilliant additions to the group; both were extremely talented witches and they were beyond smart. They quickly grew to be vital members and went on increasingly more dangerous missions as time went on. The two were an unstoppable pair, and their near-identical looks only proved to be an advantage. That was until Lily got hurt. 

Lily and Y/N were on a mission to stop a group of death eaters from invading a small muggle village just outside of Cardiff. Lily got caught between the crossfire of two wizards and had a huge chunk of flesh taken out of her leg. Y/N had to make an emergency backup call and the two were apperated back to headquarters. That’s when James and Lily decided as a couple that Lily was not going to go on any more missions. 

Y/N, however, only increased the amounts of missions she went on. Specifically, she was after one person in particular.

“I don’t care, Y/N, you can’t go,” Sirius pleaded angrily from the couch. “You can’t go on a mission every day of the week. Just one night, love. Stay with me for one night.” Sirius stood and walked to Y/N, wrapping his arms around her waist and placing a kiss on her forehead. 

“Babe, I am so close to capturing Bellatrix and putting her in Azkaban. Please, I have to go.” Against her better judgment, Y/N placed her head on his chest. She wanted nothing more than to curl up in her husband’s arms and let his soft voice lure her cramped body to sleep. Y/N noticed she seemed to be more fatigued lately, but she placed blame on her heavy work schedule.

 “I need you here, with me, baby. Between your schedule and mine, I barely see you. I miss you.” Sirius’ hands massaged her hips as they talked, all anger and annoyance disappearing from his voice. 

“How about this, we both take the next two or three days off and lounge around here together.” Y/N pulled away from Sirius’ warm, inviting body and began to gather her things. “Please try to get some sleep tonight, I’ll be home by dawn.” 

“I promise, my dear. I love you so much.” 

A ghost of a smile played on Y/N’s lips. “I love you more.” 

~

Sirius was awoken by James’ magnificent stag patronus entering the flat to find him. Rubbing his eyes and sitting up, unable to distinguish what words James’ voice was repeating. Sirius looked at the clock: 12:45 am.

“Can you repeat that?” Sirius’ voice was gruff with sleep.

“Pads, there’s been an accident. You need to get to headquarters immediately, it doesn’t look good. We need you to make some calls.” James’ voice was filled with more panic than Sirius had ever heard in his life, and there was the faint sound of a woman crying in the background. The patronus disappeared as Sirius jumped up and magically changed into some clothes. 

“Thank merlin you’re here,” James pulled Sirius’ arm into the next room once he appeared. He had blood splattered on his face. 

Upon entering the room, everything started to fade. Y/N was laid on the floor, a large gash in her shoulder and head, with healers all around her preforming different spells and CPR.  To her left sat Lily, her fingers coated in the red substance and gripping Y/N’s cold hand. She was crying, more like sobbing, while she watched the healers work on her sister. Sirius didn’t know whether he wanted to cry, puke or faint. All three, his body screamed.

 On the outside, no emotion covered Sirius’ face and he stood frozen near the door. He felt as if he was watching the situation happen from outside his body, almost like he was playing a video game or watching a movie. 

“She’s not going to make it!” One of the healers yelled, preforming compressions on her chest. The healer to his right, who was working on the head gash, cursed loudly and punched the floor. 

“She’s going to make it, god damn it! I’ll be damned if she doesn’t!” 

James nudged Sirius with his elbow, and his soul felt as though it returned to his body. Jumping to her side, he grabbed Y/N’s hand and squeezed. 

“Y/N, I love you so much,” Sirius said through his suffering. 

Her gorgeous green eyes that were focused on Lily rolled to see him and her lips mouthed, “I love you too, Sirius.” 

Sirius swore a smile ghosted her lips as her eyes closed and a final gasp exited her lips. 

~

Sirius stood in front Y/N’s grave in a slightly wrinkled black suit.

 The funeral service had been beautiful; all of Y/N’s friends, family, and casual acquaintances had been in attendance. Her close friends spoke of her adventures and funny stories, her family spoke of her character and strong will, and her professors spoke of her intelligence and quick wit. It didn’t click for Sirius that she was really gone until Minerva McGonagall had asked him how he was holding up, and if there was anything she could do to help. Sirius had responded that no, there was nothing she could do and that he was currently staying at the Potters’ for company. 

Sirius looked at the grave in front of him; it was littered with flowers, chocolate, and everything in between. He looked to his side and found Lily, staring down at Y/N next to him. Her eyes were red and bloodshot, and her nose was rubbed raw. 

“I could have saved her, you know. I was trying to talk her out of going. I should have tried harder.” Sirius mumbled, his voice cracking every other word. 

“This isn’t your fault, Sirius. You couldn’t have done anything,” Lily sniffled. She had no tears left, but if she did, she would be crying. 

Sirius takes in a big gulp of air and stares down at the grave in silence. 

“This might not be the right time,” Lily took a deep breath and looked at her friend. His eyes were dry and his nose wasn’t red, but Lily knew how hard he cries at night when he thought James and Lily were asleep. “But you need to know.” 

“Need to know what?” 

Lily paused for a moment before reaching in her bag and pulling something out. 

“When James went to your flat to grab your clothes, um, he found this in the bathroom.” 

Sirius reaches out his hand for Lily to hand him the mysterious object. 

It was a muggle pregnancy test. A positive muggle pregnancy test.  ~~~

General Taglist: @petalevans @modern-m-a-g-i-c​ Harry Potter x Reader Taglist: @strangerpilot011 join my taglist!

[avengerscompound]

Legacy - Chapter 8

Legacy: A Hawkeye Fanfic

Series Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing:  Clint Barton x  F!Reader

Word Count:  1886

Rating:  E

Square filled:   @clintbartonbingo - Time Travel

Warnings:  Pregnancy, domestic abuse, post-endgame, angst, developing-relationship, hurt/comfort, smut, Laura and Clint have broken up.  Comic Clint/MCU Clint mix.

Synopsis: Nothing is the same after the events of Endgame.  When Clint has trouble returning to a life where his family hasn’t changed but he has lost everything, he moves back to the city and tries to move on as a single parent. When Nate finds you bruised and pregnant in the stairwell of his building, he decides that there might be another way that he can make Nat’s sacrifice worth something.

Chapter 8

The apartment was loud and Clint was feeling pretty good.  He’d taken down the wall in the kitchen and was in the process of sanding down the new drywall that connected the old apartment with the new one.  There was still a lot of work to do.  The floors didn’t match.  There were now two ovens and two dishwashers and two fridges and neither were connected.  The cupboards didn’t match or even connect together.  Plus he wanted to put in a floating island.

He had lots of plans really.  Taking out one of the staircases and replacing the remaining one with something in a polished hardwood.  Connecting the two upstairs bedrooms with a hall.  Making the two half bathrooms up there a full.  Painting the walls.  He had big plans to make this his new family home the way he had made the farmhouse his home when he’d bought it with Laura.

Right now, he was most worried about patching up the wall before the baby got here.  He still had four weeks, so he wasn’t worried.  He just relaxed and did the job while his music played and the kids tore around the room with Lucky.  It sounded and felt like he was finally home.

“You know what?  I might take these guys to the park.  They’re bouncing off the walls.”

Your voice snapped him out of his reverie.  He looked up to see you heaving yourself out of the couch.  “You sure?”

“Yeah, yeah.”  You said.  “We can get some ice cream or a pretzel or something.”

“Alright.  But bring me back something.”  He said.

“Come on kids.  We’re going out.”  You called as you went to grab the leash for Lucky.

Clint went back to focusing on what he was doing and singing along with the music.  He was vaguely aware of the commotion going on around him.  Lila chasing Nate to try and get his shoes on.  Lucky bouncing and barking as he waited for the kids to get ready.  It was all background noise though.  The happy chaos of his family.

“Dad… Dad!”

It took him a moment to realize that Lila was calling him.  It wasn’t until she came over and hit him in the arm that it sunk in that she’d just said dad at least 5 times in a row.  He looked up started.  “What is is, Lie?”

She pointed at you and he looked over.  There was a large wet patch on your pants and a pool of liquid around your feet.

“Oh shit!  Shit!”  He said putting his tools down.  “But it’s too early!  We’re not ready!  You’re supposed to be at your mom's when this happened.”

“Well, we’re not, dad.”  Lila snarked.

“Shit.”  He repeated and ran his hands down his face.  “Coop!  Call your mom!  Tell her the baby is coming.  Lila can you run down to Mrs. White in 3B and ask if she can watch you guys until your mom gets here.”

“Dad!  I’m not a little kid.  I can take care of Nate.”  Lila argued.

He shook his head like he was trying to clear it.  “I know, honey.  But we don’t have time to clean up the tools.”

“I’ll pack them up now.”  She said.

He went over to her and pulled her into a hug kissing the top of her head.  “What would I do without you?”   He asked.

“Completely fall apart apparently.”  She teased.

He chuckled.  “Well, you aren’t wrong.  Thank you, sweetheart.”

Lila went and started packing up the tools and pain and putting them up out of Nate’s reach while Clint approached you.  “Alright.  Let’s get you into fresh pants and pack a bag.  I guess you need to call the hospital?”

You nodded, still seemingly frozen in confusion, looking down at yourself and Lucky who was bouncing around on his lead.  Clint leaned down and unhooked him, making the dog give him the purest look of betrayal he’d ever seen.

“Sorry, buddy.”  He said, patting his head.  “The baby’s coming.”

“Clint?”  You said.  “It’s too early.”

“I know, honey.  But your water just broke. I think she’s coming.”  He said rubbing your back.

“But… there’s still four weeks.  We aren’t ready.”  You said.

“You’re telling me!”  He said.  “Come on.  You’re standing in amniotic fluid.   It’s gross.  Let’s go.”

He led you upstairs and while you changed and made a phone call to the hospital, he hurriedly threw things into an overnight bag.  He tried to remember what it was they had told them you’d needed in birthing classes and what was in the bag when Laura had Nate.  Changes of clothes.  Comfortable pajamas with button-up tops.  Maternity bra.  Diapers.  Nursing pads.  Maternity Pads.  They’d said things like candles too but he wasn’t sure if you even wanted that kind of thing.

You hung up the phone and looked up at him.  “They said to just come in but don’t stress.  I haven’t had any contractions so there’s no rush.”

Clint let out a breath.  “Okay good.  ‘Cause I have no idea what I’m doing.”

You laughed and got up, going to look through the bag at what he’d packed.  “She’ll be okay won’t she?”  You asked.

“Yeah, of course.  It’s all going to be good.”  He assured you, though he really had no idea.  It was still in the scary early point of your pregnancy and he wasn’t sure what that would mean.

You finished packing the bag and went downstairs together.  Lila had finished packing up the tools and even put the playpen you’d brought for the baby around the construction to stop Lucky and Nate from getting in there.

“Lila, you are a champion.”  He said.

“Mom’s on her way but it’s gonna take a couple of hours before she gets here,”  Cooper said.

“You guys sure you’ll be okay that long?”  Clint said.

“Yeah, we’ll be fine,”  Lila assured him.

“Well, if you need anything go ask Mrs. White or call Katie.  Okay?”

“Go, dad.  We’ll be fine.”  Lila said.

He kissed the kids goodbye and headed down the street and hailed a cab.  Your contractions started on the way to the hospital but only mild and minor.

When you got to the hospital they checked you over and put a fetal heart rate monitor on you and then you just had to wait.  The labor proceeded slowly and due to wanting to monitor the baby you weren’t allowed to move around a lot.  By midnight you were well into the painful part of the labor and exhausted.

“I can’t do this.”  You cried as Clint held you.

“You can take the drugs you know?  They might help you sleep.”  Clint soothed.

“I should be able to have a baby,”  You complained.  “People do it every day.”

“People have car accidents every day too.  They still take painkillers for their whiplash.”

You chuckled and another contraction hit.  You groaned and gritted your teeth as Clint massaged your back.

“You’re doing great, babe.  You don’t need to prove anything to me.”  He said gently.

After that, you got an epidural which actually let you sleep for a little while.  Clint couldn’t pretend he wasn’t thankful for that when your active labor started 12 hours later.

They backed off the drugs so you could push and you went from calm and pretty relaxed to breaking his left hand and crying in less than half an hour.

“I can’t.  I can’t.  I can’t do it.”  You cried as you pushed.

“You’ve reached the too late point, dear.”  One of the nurses said.

“Come on, babe.  It’s gotten to the really gross bit.  Her hair is showing and you’ve shat yourself a few times.”  Clint said soothingly.

“I’ve done what?”  You cried.

“Yeah, it’s a horror show down there.  So let’s get to the good part with the baby.  Okay?”  Clint said.

You scowled at him and he leaned over and kissed the top of your head.

“Alright.  Push.”  The ObGyn said.

You bore down, squeezing Clint’s hand and your daughters head emerged.  “So close, honey,”  Clint said.

“You can see her?”

“Yeah, it’s super weird!”  He said.

“Clint.”  You whined.  “You’re not helping.”

“Alright.  One more big push okay, mommy.”  The ObGyn said.

You squeezed his hand again and with a large push, your baby girl slid into the world.  Squalling as she took her first breaths.  The medical staff moved in around her, checking her vitals and Apgar, giving her her first shots.  Making sure she was breathing.  You watched them with a fearful expression on your face, and when you passed the placenta they moved her right away from you.

“What’s going on?  Is she okay?”  You asked. 

“She’s just early, they just need to make sure she’s breathing on her own and her heart is beating fast enough.”  One of the nurses said.  “Can I get you some toast?  You have been through quite an ordeal.”

You nodded and she disappeared leaving you and Clint alone to watch the medical staff fuss over you and the baby.

“She’ll be fine,”  Clint said.  “Listen to her cry.  She’s got good lungs.”

You nodded, but you didn’t look very convinced.  He rubbed you back.  “She will.”

It was another fifteen minutes before she was brought to you.  “Here you go.  Just a brief cuddle, okay?  She’s going to need to go into the NICU.”  The doctor said.

They put her on your bare chest and you held her.  “She’s sick?”  You asked.

“Just needs a little help keeping warm.  She’s doing pretty good really.  Her APGAR is 6 which is low but not unexpected.  She’s going to be fine.”  The doctor reassured you.  “Do you have a name yet?”

You shook your head.  “No.  Not yet.”

She wrote on a card and little pink bands that she attached to the baby’s ankles.

“You really don’t have a name?”  Clint asked.

“I keep thinking I want to name her after Natasha.  But Nate is named after her.  It would be strange having a Nate and a Nat wouldn’t it?”  You said.  “Besides, I wanted you to have a chance to change your mind about all this.”

“All what?”  He asked.

“You know.  Being her dad.  The birth certificate thing.”  You said kissing her head.

Clint ran his palm down his new daughter’s back and kissed the crown of your head.  It still broke his heart a little that you thought like that.  Back when everyone had been returned from the dusting he had kept thinking about he would use Bruce’s time travel machine and go back, switch places with Nat so that she would be one that came home and got to live her life.  That she wouldn’t have to be as ashamed as he had felt not being able to hold his family together after she’d given her life to make sure he got to be there for them.  He hadn’t thought those things for a long time.  He hoped that she would be proud of what he had done.  What he was doing.  But in a way, it didn’t matter. He was in this.  You were his family too now.  She was his daughter.  He took a deep breath, inhaling you both.  “Don’t worry,”  He said.  “I’m not going anywhere.”

// NEXT

[stuartledrew]

Neat Thought...

We're viewing our pasts, from our presents, as we step into our futures.

That is to say:

When I look at you, I'm seeing where you were, not where you are.

The speed of light Doppler effect...The “light barrier”/screen...Am I on yet?

Anyway...

Be nice.

Be happy.

Be you.

How?

We're a light/dark energy/matter, double rainbow...Well, we will be...

Once you find the “you” that you were born to be.

Balance, harmony, diversity, eternity...Life.

Or...

An eternal, double, infinite, single wave length (...-1.0.1...)...Life?...

Take your pick.

Some interesting things start to happen, when you think in terms of the speed of light, being directly connected to, the number of beings on the network. - Truly just beings there are.

The more of us who join, the more harmonic we become.

We begin to think as one mind, not the same thought, just the timing of...We begin to beat...And all time exists at the same time.

Just a thought.

https://stuartledrew.tumblr.com/

Another neat thought:

Given that I'm viewing my past on a slightly convex screen (time plane), with a very concave retina, + rod/cone placement + transmission speeds = 3D = Evolution (Hunting)

Oops...Got a bit lost there myself...

We're the present, a singularity of time.

We're centered.

So...

Simpler biology...Concave, to concave, flipped...

Anyway... Enjoy...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAEppFUWLfc&list=RDMMNAEppFUWLfc&start_radio=1

“Stone walls do not a prison make,

Nor iron bars a cage.” Richard Lovelace

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkgkThdzX-8&list=RDMMNAEppFUWLfc&index=2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTTAPCUtbc8&list=RDMMNAEppFUWLfc&index=5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpoP4YSFKGA&list=RDMMNAEppFUWLfc&index=4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZA5heWazIQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGJuMBdaqIw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCorJG9mubk

P.s.

This will be my last post, tweet, comment...ANYTHING!!!...On this subject.

In 2008 I got a “tap on the shoulder”. That night I was run through the gamut...I was once Jesus...No, apparently I was Satan...Nope...Wait...I was God...Until I screamed out into the darkness, “NO!!! It just doesn't work!!!”. Then I got to thinking...

I told the doctor (I was “told” to), and ended up being diagnosed as schizophrenic, and being hospitalized. Tip, unless for some reason you wish to be hospitalized, don't tell a doctor that you were once god. Anyway, whilst hospitalized, I briefly lost my temper with my psychiatrist, and got assigned an interview with another psychiatrist, to confirm that I was bipolar too...WHAT?...

Anyway, at that meeting, things got a bit emotional. The psychiatrist's student, started crying and had to leave...And I got a confirmation of bipolar disorder...WHAT?...

I made an RCMP officer cry once too, a male one. He was left to “watch over me” in a room at the hospital, on one of the occasions that I had been told:

“This is a big thing! A REALLY BIG THING!!! You understand that, right? Well the only way they're willing to get you guys together, at the moment, is in a controlled environment. Get yourself checked in to the hospital.”...Phone RCMP...Say “This is Stuart Graham LeDrew I live at...I used to be god, and I fear that I may do harm.”...BINGO!!!...Hospitalized, but no meeting!...No kidding!...Nearly 13 years!...Anyway, back to the RCMP officer I made cry...We talked for a bit and I asked him, “If it isn't, EVERYBODY, what's the bloody point?”, and he began to cry.

Long story short:

Either I'm pure probability, and simply mad.

Or I'm right, and we all win!!! But if so...Where is she? It's the communications era! I'd have been there the next day.  If I hadn't been told, that I have to wait here. Katy has to choose to come to me. I must just be mad! The next day!!! I'd probably have been arrested and detained, but I'd have had to!!!

The way I figure it...

If I'm just mad: I have hyper-inflated lungs, and COVID's on the rise, shouldn't be long now.

If I'm right: Maybe I have to go through all of them, one-by-one, for some reason, and I'm just losing again. C'est la vie.

If I'm, right, right: It has to work, first time. Otherwise,  it's just a trick of sorts, possibly unjust, and personally unacceptable. Something may be back...BUT IT WON'T BE ME!!!

And I'm not “Going long”, that's just the same thing, a trick.

If anyone can hear me...You can't mess it up! Why? Because I'm still here!

HELP!!!

Or not...Your choice...That's the point!

Well, one more.

I WILL FIND A WAY!!!

I'm back, but then again, I did say that I'd find a way.

Perhaps it would illustrate my point, “Stuff like this doesn't 'Just happen'!”, if I give you a few examples.

I was 'told' to go upstairs 'right now!', and watch a video...”Which one? 'You will know.'. I did so. The video was:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCorJG9mubk

Which is basically a synopsis of this whole thing.

Then, one evening at 10:10 on the 10th, I wondered, “What is 101010 in binary?”. Turns out it's 42. Douglas Adams' “The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything”.

In the video, “This is the part of me”- Katy Perry, at 2:23 Katy is wearing a watch. It's 10:10, and the minute hand is pointing to the 10 on the outside dial. I only just noticed this fact, and I've been watching it for years.

I first encountered Katy with the release of the “I kissed a girl” video. I was walking through the living room, and the video for it came on tv...Our eyes met...I walked away thinking “Oh well, just another talented, pretty girl, they'll “throw away” in a couple of years.”. I mention this because as I said, our eyes met...Then, I walked away at the end of the video. But what happened between those two events...(blackout)? It was odd, but I didn't think much of it at the time (loads going on). Now, did I see Katy, then get my “tap on the shoulder”, or visa versa? I couldn't tell you, it was all too long ago now.

In late 2010 there was a forum called “The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything”, upon which I was posting. It was the usual stuff...Drunks in Florida, “Killing time”, and people only interested in their own theory's. So there really wasn't much point, but one day, a 12.5 year old girl, posted a link to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGJuMBdaqIw&list=PLNNEgHxrnU5xrECkqd-mbgyOf6X7_6W9p&index=95&t=0s

And asked, “Is this the sort of thing that you mean?”. I told her that it was basically exactly what I meant, but thought nothing more of it. That's not strictly true. What I meant by it was that I made no connection to Katy or the “I kissed a girl” video. I don't think that I even noticed that they were the same person. If I had, I'd probably have thought something along the lines of, “Oh, still going...Gosh!”. As to the song itself...That has saved me countless hours of thought...We're all on our own “perfect road” leading us all to our own “perfect door”. No need to keep 'checking'/cross referencing etc:. BRILLIANT!!! Anyway...

All of this had fallen into the background, for a couple of weeks or so. It was odd, but nice, a quiet mind. Then on 3/14/2018 Stephen Hawking died. Within 4 hours of his death I had a basic understanding of how all this works. I explained it all on physics forums. My model fixed all of the various problems/oddities in their model, but they would have none of it. Got banned!

Christmas 1987 my mother asked me what I'd like for Christmas. I usually got her to get me a record, but this year the really wasn't one that I had my eye on. So I said “Pop goes the world by Men Without Hats.”, because I thought that the girl in the video was cute. Turned out, I never really listened to it, I didn't really care for it much. But!!! Now, the anomaly in the video that has been bugging me for years becomes clear. What anomaly? What are those floating bubbles with the red bits on them? Do they mean anything? Because, again, the video is pretty damn on-the-nose!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zUUtf7gOe8

Or the video for “Imagine” - John Lennon, he was a tad over zealous, here and there, but, imagine. Why do they zoom in on the window that has “THIS IS NOT HERE” printed on it? I'm demonstrating that it isn't, so...

And finally, well for now anyway, in 1994 Elastica released “Connection”. Huge amounts of this process have related to music videos. “Connection” was one of those “instant fav's”. The original video is a masterpiece, but could cause epileptic seizures due to the quick cuts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY2s4hJ8kuA

“Another heart has made the trade, Forget it, forget it, forget it, I don't understand how a heart is a spade, But somehow the vital connection is made.”

I have to know this! How is a heart a spade? It's ridiculous! It could be anything! Oh well...

Then two days ago, for no reason the thought Juice Newton “Queen of Hearts”, so I played the video. 35 seconds in...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0DK-0fIKCw

I could go on. My day, everyday, is just a continuous “coincidence” stream. Stuff like this doesn't “Just happen”!!! Well technically it does, but...

I will find a way...I mean, what else ya' gonna do?

Especially after the most powerful moment of this whole thing...

The weekend before my birthday in 2017, Katy had a “Witness Weekend”, four days, on air 24 hours'ish, a day. I'm not entirely sure why I watched, Katy was “relevant” by then, “Firework” had saved me so much time. I watched probably 3-4 hours, or so, each day, but I have a problem with, “I may be wrong...”, so I didn't want to feel like a stalker.

Katy had a psychiatrist come in to the theatre, to have a session with. As the session progressed, Katy started to cry, and Katheryn came out. Our eyes met...And it was literally like a double laser out of her eyes! Then I knew! Her image was burnt into my soul...She must “Meet her Prince Charming!”, it doesn't have to be me, but she has to be happy...I hear tell...

“Friends describe Katy and Orlando, as 'More than in love'.”...

Then there's Daisy Dove...

I think it's wonderful. Orlando's a really nice guy (he played himself on “Extras” with Ricky Gervais), life's complex sometimes, and it's a big house...Anyway, I'm either quite, quite mad...Or right...

And it REALLY SUCKS not knowing for sure, for sure, because I am ya’ know?

[naoko-world]

OK I don't know you but I read your post about Encanto and I absolutely need to answer.

"First of all, it was written by 6 persons and it shows. It was like they were given a part and they tried to put it together with the songs. Maybe I didn’t paid enough attention, but the worldbuilding seems weak to me."

First, most movies are written by many people. Coco, you apparently love, was too written by 6 people. It's not new and it's not an argument.

Then, you actually probably didn't pay attention.

"For example, why does the candle exists in first place? Is some colombian thing? I doubt it, but there’s no logic explanation. They could’ve found the candle in some place, get it with magical words, something. But there’s nothing. The candle exists just because the script says so."

Are you complaining about the candle Pedro was carrying when he and Alma flew their home? The one who was, apparently, the same candle from their marriage day? What do you mean it appears from nowhere? Pedro had it to see in the dark, the gave it to Alma. Then the miracle (which doesn't need any explanation, it's why it's called a miracle) appeared on the candle and protected Alma and the others townspeople to-be.

"I don’t like Maribel, she tries to be likeable to her family so hard, I just can’t like it, she’s just the ugly duckling."

Mirabel. Her name is Mirabel. Not Maribel. Well, what can I say? Too bad you can't like her, I found her endearing.

"“She tries to prove she’s worth just as any other member of her famil—” Shut up. And why does she uses glasses? Doesn’t her mom cures every disease with food? Really, if she can cure everything why does she uses glasses?"

But she's cute with her glasses? Why should she be "healed"? Especially since it doesn't seem to bother her that much? Maybe she likes wearing glasses (I know I do). Also do you mean you can't like a character with glasses? That's rough for you buddy!

Oh and maybe Julieta can't heal birth diseases? We are not really sure how her powers work.

"Her travel is underwhelming, they HAD the chance to make a great thing if they were bragging about the film’s story being placed in Colombia but no, they chose to tell the story mostly inside the house in their rooms. They could’ve avoid using Colombia as a pretext to target latinos again, they could’ve made rooms about, literally, everything, excusing Casita’s powers or whatever the house does. I guess they wanted to play safe, just like they played safe with the music. I have to ve honest with you and a lot of folks know I don’t like musicals, the songs in Encanto are all Broadway, they didn’t took the risk unlike Coco (for example). They made the main song, why not make the rest of the songs (the big ones, not background music) in colombian rythms?"

Huh? Would you have preferred Mirabel to go to every room for no reason? They had a story to tell so she went to the rooms she needed to go to. Like Bruno's, where she went because she had to fetch his vision.

Are you complaining about the music there? Funny because first thing I thought when watching was to notice the latino music pace which was pretty fast comparing to previous movies. Which is confirmed by this behind the scenes.

It also needed not to be too fast because we needed to understand what it was saying.

"Now, their powers, OK. Maribel’s mom’s power seems vital to me (even if it can’t prevent a birth defect I guess), Luisa’s strength is actually very helpul for the town, but the rest of the powers are just there to remark Maribel is the only one that doesn’t have one, even if theirs are useless."

Ah! Nice! You're saying there it could be Julieta simply can't heal birth defects!

"Where do I start? Pepa control the weather, specially, she controls a cloud over her head, why? To make her fun because she’s emotionally unstable I guess. If the storm in her wedding was caused by her, good, I guess? I don’t think it can be called strenght when it’s tied to her emotional state."

Well no. She can control the entire weather. This is even why she was so mad at Bruno for making her stress out so much she made rain come on her wedding day. I guessed it comes into a cloud on her head first, then influence the sky? Again we're not sure how it works.

Also about it being influenced by her emotional state...Well, it's indeed something bothering especially for her but I guess it could have been she actually never learned to control it another way? It's still very powerful and a strenght since she can zap you if you gets her angry.

"(And, Pepa? Really? Did you know that, in some places of latinoamerica, the vagina is called pepa? Pepita was already picked, ok, pick another name, there are plenty of names)"

Oh? Really? If it's true then it's pretty funny XD Probably a coincidence though. Or it can means something else entirely like seems like in Colombia it means "Spot" or "Dot". It only means Vagina in Mexico.

"Antonio can talk to animals, OK, I guess he can talk to the donkeys now and ask them to go their… donkey place (barnyard, IDK) instead of carrying them around the town. Hope everyone in town is vegan, otherwise they’ll need a psychologist for the poor kid."

Well, he got his power at the start of the movie, then Abuela was starting to think about how his powers could be put in good use. But then the cracks got the family busy.

Also it's worrying you want to put a 5-years old kid to work.

"Isabel can make flowers grow and just that, not crops or some other plant, just flowers. Why? Because she’s perfect, perfectly useless. (I hope she can make grow something more useful after that traumatizing hug she gave to the ugly duckling)."

Isabela. Not Isabel. Isabela.

I don't know where you got she could only grow flowers? Is it because it was said in the movie and we only see her grow flowers in the first half of the movie? But then in her song, What else can I do, she found out she can actually grow every kind of plants. I say this is useful! But well she probably started by growing flowers and then everyone assumed she could only do that because, as you said "she's perfect so she can only make perfect plants like flowers." It's part of her arc.

Also many cacti are edibles, and it's the first thing she grows when she discovers herself.

"The other guy, the shape-shifting one. I guess he’s funny and that’s pretty much the only remarkable thing about him??"

You mean Camilo? What about him?

Actually no, it's the the only remarkable thing about him. He's funny, a prankster, but you can also see he takes good care of his mother. He's funny, and a very good boy!

Oh and at the end of the movie you can see him turning pessimistic and, when Bruno comes back, he seems pretty shocked. I can mean he was using his gift to make people laugh and keep being optimistic but now that he can't hide behind it anymore he's turning more honest. Or it can mean something else, I saw many possibilities. That boy hides something deep!

"Some other things I find plain dumb is how the rest of the characters are just fillers, for example, Antonio’s character development ends when he get’s his power, after that we can forget about him , fuck Maribel, now he’s… cool, I guess?"

Again, her name is Mirabel. Not Maribel. Mirabel.

Well, Antonio is the closest member of the family from Mirabel: He was worried about having or not a gift, Mirabel helped him get to his door, then he's having fun with his animal friends. Then he comes back to repay her and lend his room to Mirabel and Bruno. Eventually at the end of the movie he leads her to Casita's door, her door! That's so cute and makes him actually useful!

So...No, we don't forget about him.

"We never see any interaction between Maluma (idk his name, Isabel’s fiancé) and Dolores, why should we care for them and their relationship? I guess he just accepts her because, after all, he’ll fuck either way and be part of the most respected family of the town just because."

For that point see my analysis on Mariano.

And, again, it's Isabela. Not Isabel.

"Dolores can’t keep a secret. Fine, she’s a gossipy girl. Why she didn’t said anything about Bruno never actually leaving the house?"

But she actually say he's there in We don't talk about Bruno. Nobody listens to her though and we can imagine it's the case since he went to hide in the walls 10 years ago.

"AND BRUNO, Oh boy, why do you like him so much? He’s pathetic! And if the family doesn’t cares for him, why should we? I know I use that as argument a lot but, really, Why should we? When I was watching the movie my first tought (After seeing the useless powers of theirs) was “Man, if SOMEONE could see the future, that would be so cool and actually useful”. But when you’re presented with that character they kick him out of the house? And he never actually leves?? AND he spies on his family? Is not sweet, what a creep. (The only thing that I liked about him if how he touches wood, throws salt over his shoulder and that stuff, nice detail)."

Well as you can see in my bio, on my posts, and on my profile picture I'm a big fan of that rat man. However I feel getting into my feelings for him won't probably works with you so I'll stay with facts.

First "kicked out of the house"? Wow! It confirms you actually didn't pay attention to the movie. Because it is pretty often said he disappeared. He wasn't kicked out of the house, he left by his own decision. Nobody told him to leave, he was expected to come back with a vision and preferred disappearing instead of showing it to protect Mirabel.

Also where did you see his family didn't care about him? If they didn't care do you really think they'll have a rule "We don't talk about Bruno"? They care about him, we can see that at the end when he's being hugged by his mother and his sisters.

Eh! Mirabel cares about him, she's interested in knowing him because of the cracks appearing and, when she finally meets him, they bond and Mirabel even promises him to get him back into the family. Bruno's arc is about how we discover him at the same time as Mirabel, I don't know the problem it's a very usual narrative thing? I mean, same as in, for example, Coco where we discover Héctor at same time as Miguel.

Also are you reproaching him to be attached to his family and not having the heart to actually leave? It was the only solution between staying with his family and protecting Mirabel from his vision. From him. "I'm Bruno so everyone always assume the worst.", after all.

About his gift...Well that's called "shooting the messenger". It's unfortunate but it's a natural human behavior when something happen to reproach it to the one who brought the bad news. Like when someone dear dies in the hospital, some people blame the healing staff.

" And I don’t even want to talk about Manuel Mirada because gringos use it to every thing they need when they think of making something with latinos. And I don’t want to talk either a lot about the colombian things in the film, but my appreciation is, they didn’t wanted to risk anything so they just put little references, (A Coffe joke here, a lot of capibaras there, an arepitas con queso joke over there (OH GOD I HATE THE AREPAS PART SO MUCH, IT DOESN’T FEEL ORGANIC AT ALL)) nothing very relevant, just enough to show “we did indeed put some colombian things” (I’m not colombian, so that’s on colombians to decide)"

What's the problem with Lin Manuel Miranda? He's not colombian but he's latino (portorican), he's successful in broadway, he's skilled in writing songs, they decided to hire him.

Also are you not complaining about the Colombian references? I thought you said earlier it wasn't focused enough on Colombia.

Oh well, I'll let Colombians talked about it, starting by @carlaerosie blog (Rest in peace...I miss you a lot), that review by a Colombian man, and part 1 & part 2 of a young colombian girl reaction to Encanto.

"A very personal take is, in the Spanish, the songs are… Hard to understand. The diction is bad, they sing very rushed in some parts. It’s a very bad thing when your songs have to explain half of the movie. And I also have a problem with the dub and their choice of voices. Disney (I Guess) picked star talents and it also show in how strong their accents are, and not colombian accent, but like rich kids (is most noticeable in the women). But again, that’s a very personal take."

Well, it's a problem with the spanish version then, as you said.

"Maybe I’m biased because I don’t like musicals and I’m not a Disney kid like a lot of you, but I just find it plain and dumb. And again, liking something doesn’t automatically makes it good. Disliking it neither. And I never said my opinion were more important than other’s opinions. If I say Bruno is pathetic, ok, that’s my opinion, some people find him endearing, but the writing is lazy and that’s a fact that most people don’t want to see because they’re blinded by their love for the film."

Oh! Yes, maybe you're biased because you're not a fan of Disney and dislike musicals. So this is why you didn't like it. Maybe you should give it another chance.

Also there you didn't explain why the writing was lazy, during your entire post you only nitpicked about the characters and their gifts, which I answered to, and you talked about the Colombian references you first said there wasn't enough, then complained there was too much of them.

I clearly think you just didn't pay enough attention to the movie.

@hectic-hector​ I’ll make it as a post because I would have to write like one hundred replies. (Bad english ahead, pictures don’t add a thing)

First of all, it was written by 6 persons and it shows. It was like they were given a part and they tried to put it together with the songs. Maybe I didn’t paid enough attention, but the worldbuilding seems weak to me. For example, why does the candle exists in first place? Is some colombian thing? I doubt it, but there’s no logic explanation. They could’ve found the candle in some place, get it with magical words, something. But there’s nothing. The candle exists just because the script says so. “Oh, the candle is a miracle given to save themselves—” Why didn’t appeared before? Because the grandpa had to die to give some dumb reason to get the story going, but I couldn’t care less for the grandpa. Kill him one hundred times, he doesn’t matter.

I don’t like Maribel, she tries to be likeable to her family so hard, I just can’t like it, she’s just the ugly duckling. “She tries to prove she’s worth just as any other member of her famil—” Shut up. And why does she uses glasses? Doesn’t her mom cures every disease with food? Really, if she can cure everything why does she uses glasses?

Her travel is underwhelming, they HAD the chance to make a great thing if they were bragging about the film’s story being placed in Colombia but no, they chose to tell the story mostly inside the house in their rooms. They could’ve avoid using Colombia as a pretext to target latinos again, they could’ve made rooms about, literally, everything, excusing Casita’s powers or whatever the house does. I guess they wanted to play safe, just like they played safe with the music. I have to ve honest with you and a lot of folks know I don’t like musicals, the songs in Encanto are all Broadway, they didn’t took the risk unlike Coco (for example). They made the main song, why not make the rest of the songs (the big ones, not background music) in colombian rythms?

Now, their powers, OK.  Maribel’s mom’s power seems vital to me (even if it can’t prevent a birth defect I guess), Luisa’s strength is actually very helpul for the town, but the rest of the powers are just there to remark Maribel is the only one that doesn’t have one, even if theirs are useless.

Where do I start? Pepa control the weather, specially, she controls a cloud over her head, why? To make her fun because she’s emotionally unstable I guess. If the storm in her wedding was caused by her, good, I guess? I don’t think it can be called strenght when it’s tied to her emotional state. (And, Pepa? Really? Did you know that, in some places of latinoamerica, the vagina is called pepa? Pepita was already picked, ok, pick another name, there are plenty of names)

Antonio can talk to animals, OK, I guess he can talk to the donkeys now and ask them to go their… donkey place (barnyard, IDK) instead of carrying them around the town. Hope everyone in town is vegan, otherwise they’ll need a psychologist for the poor kid. Isabel can make flowers grow and just that, not crops or some other plant, just flowers. Why? Because she’s perfect, perfectly useless. (I hope she can make grow something more useful after that traumatizing hug she gave to the ugly duckling). The other guy, the shape-shifting one. I guess he’s funny and that’s pretty much the only remarkable thing about him??

Some other things I find plain dumb is how the rest of the characters are just fillers, for example, Antonio’s character development ends when he get’s his power, after that we can forget about him , fuck Maribel, now he’s… cool, I guess? We never see any interaction between Maluma (idk his name, Isabel’s fiancé) and Dolores, why should we care for them and their relationship? I guess he just accepts her because, after all, he’ll fuck either way and be part of the most respected family of the town just because. Dolores can’t keep a secret. Fine, she’s a gossipy girl. Why she didn’t said anything about Bruno never actually leaving the house?

AND BRUNO, Oh boy, why do you like him so much? He’s pathetic! And if the family doesn’t cares for him, why should we? I know I use that as argument a lot but, really, Why should we? When I was watching the movie my first tought (After seeing the useless powers of theirs) was “Man, if SOMEONE could see the future, that would be so cool and actually useful”. But when you’re presented with that character they kick him out of the house? And he never actually leves?? AND he spies on his family? Is not sweet, what a creep. (The only thing that I liked about him if how he touches wood, throws salt over his shoulder and that stuff, nice detail).

And I don’t even want to talk about Manuel Mirada because gringos use it to every thing they need when they think of making something with latinos. And I don’t want to talk either a lot about the colombian things in the film, but my appreciation is, they didn’t wanted to risk anything so they just put little references, (A Coffe joke here, a lot of capibaras there, an arepitas con queso joke over there (OH GOD I HATE THE AREPAS PART SO MUCH, IT DOESN’T FEEL ORGANIC AT ALL)) nothing very relevant, just enough to show “we did indeed put some colombian things” (I’m not colombian, so that’s on colombians to decide)

A very personal take is, in the Spanish, the songs are… Hard to understand. The diction is bad, they sing very rushed in some parts. It’s a very bad thing when your songs have to explain half of the movie. And I also have a problem with the dub and their choice of voices. Disney (I Guess) picked star talents and it also show in how strong their accents are, and not colombian accent, but like rich kids (is most noticeable in the women). But again, that’s a very personal take.

Maybe I’m biased because I don’t like musicals and I’m not a Disney kid like a lot of you, but I just find it plain and dumb. And again, liking something doesn’t automatically makes it good. Disliking it neither. And I never said my opinion were more important than other’s opinions. If I say Bruno is pathetic, ok, that’s my opinion, some people find him endearing, but the writing is lazy and that’s a fact that most people don’t want to see because they’re blinded by their love for the film.

Same energy

[iownmywiiulegit]

Metroid Prime 4: #1- The Lay of the Land

This is the beginning of documentation representing my journey through the Metroid franchise by Nintendo.  First, a warning: This next little bit is a flashback that leads up to now.  

When Nintendo first mentioned that Metroid Prime 4 was in development I thought man, I really should beat the first Metroid Prime.  Back in the days before the Wii I worked my Metroid Prime all the way up to the Ridley battle and then set it down for a few years.  I got into different games like Soul Calibur II and Tales of Symphonia.  Soul Calibur was a great bro bonding game and I still think it is.  The next few years were spent focusing on college and then I bought a Wii.  I thought the Gamecube was obsolete at this point since my Wii could play Gamecube games, but man was I wrong.  Buying the Wii U proved this to me.  I wanted to play all discs on one system but I couldn’t do that.  I wanted (and still want) purity with my consoles.  This resulted in my going hard into my Gamecube again and getting the hardware peripherals that made it stand on par with the Wii, if not debatably better.  I bought the digital component cable for a wildly discounted price on eBay, and the Gameboy player and disc.  I got super lucky in finding the component cables at the price I found them at and I think the seller was in a pinch because it WAS around the holidays and I was just randomly checking the listings and was like “holy crap.”  No bidding, just buy it now.  Can’t say, won’t say.  It was also around this time that Nintendo announced that they were starting development for Metroid Prime all over from scratch.  Hearing this news felt like hearing a referee pistol.  If Nintendo was going to give me a fair warning that shit was getting real about Metroid Prime 4, then it’s up to me to get on the ball and meet Nintendo and Retro Studios in stride.  My instincts told me to go beat my original Metroid Prime file, finally.  My hardware was excellent and Nintendo sent the official signal; let’s go.

Turning on Metroid Prime for the first time in years with my original save file still intact, I expected to me extremely rusty at the controls and traversing the landscape.  Surprisingly it came back fairly quickly and before I knew it I was blasting different colored Metroids away no problem.  What I didn’t realize was exactly how close I was to actually beating the game.  The final boss was all I had to defeat.  Really?  17 years just for that?  If my memory serves me correctly, I simply just didn’t want the game to end.  I do that.  Leave books unfinished, leave movies before the end, compose music and leave the ending open, and I don’t know why.  I want time to soak into the experience and really savor it.  Perhaps I’m not so much a voracious consumer of entertainment but rather an appreciative connoisseur.  Back in 2004, I remember being at a drummer’s house that I was in drum corps with, and he was a stupid competitive type that turned everything into a pissing contest.  Once he found out that I had gotten all the way up to Ridley or something he set out to beat that game asap.  It was when he was at the final boss that I got my first glimpse of the future 15 years later.  Damn.  

Anyway, I beat Prime but I still have this amazing fully loaded Gamecube that has the OEM digital component cable, and Gameboy Advance player.  My next move was obvious.  I wasn’t done with the original Metroid Prime yet, not by a long shot!  If you’re a fan of Metroid, you love finding secrets and collecting all de tings.  To get the full original Metroid Prime experience, I had to play and beat Metroid Fusion for the Gameboy Advance.  I eBay-ed it up asap.  It’s kinda funny- Fusion showed up in the mail right on the day or day after I beat Prime.  Pretty cool.

Getting into Metroid Fusion was something I wasn’t ready for but always wanted.  It was Super Metroid that turned me into a fan.  The music, the beautiful colors, the crunchy explosions, and the search really got me looking in every nook and cranny in each level.  I wanted more and Fusion was it but I didn’t have a Gameboy Advance and wasn’t going to shell out even more money if I wasn’t going hard into games back then.  At that time I was so into music and rocking harder than life could offer that I just could not afford to allocate money toward a handheld that still was not backlit.  Fuck that.  When I saw pictures of Fusion all I could think was that it was Super Metroid 2.  After playing it, man, was I right about that.

Metroid Fusion is so amazing.  I love 2D Metroid-style games.  Hell, I spent a large part of 2018 playing through the indie game A Robot Named Fight on Steam and currently have a thoroughly played but not beaten Axiom Verge save file on my Wii U.  Again, Nintendo gave the signal and I had to run with it so here we are.  What I love about Fusion is quite a few things.  I love the graphics.  The colors are so vibrant and all the sprites look lively.  Even though the Gameboy Advance’s resolution is apparent on a 480p screen, it still plays amazingly.  The controls are tight and intuitive.  I did get lost a lot and backtracked often to find that random wall that needed to be blown through to progress to the next area.  I love how the security levels kept me from progressing just enough to experience the game unfold before me.  Oh man, I loved hiding from SA-X.  What a cool addition.  I swore a lot at the spider boss because it took me the most tries to defeat.  It was somewhere around that point where I thought that this game wasn’t for amateur platform players.  You really had to have a handle on things to get any further.  The moment Fusion Stole my heart was in chapter 11, at Plant Core X.

In Metroid Other M, there were oftentimes feelings of isolation and maybe even mild claustrophobia.  The same could even go for the final boss in Metroid Prime.  There’s something really gross-but-in-a-cool-way about destroying a slimy bug hive in a dark triple sub basement, especially if you have to spelunking your way to perform the extermination.  In Fusion, it’s sooo different, but the feeling is eerily similar in a way that I absolutely love.  When I first experience Plant Core X, I didn’t think I would be emotionally attached to my character.  I didn’t think I was Samus.  But then I kept getting dragged into the poisonous flower swamp that released deadly spores into the air in a wide horizontal sine wave pattern.  The music was minimal and just a little quieter than the rest of the game.  I kept trying to jump out of the swamp but I couldn’t get out.  It frustrated me because it interrupted my flow.  I felt helpless and that my situation was serious, even over my head.  I was suffocating.  I felt connected to Samus and like I had entered an extremely deadly area.  If Samus is an exterminator, this place was ground zero for the cause of everything in Fusion.  Don’t get me wrong- all the other bosses are vital to making up the game but at Plant Core X, Samus gets into deep shit.  Imagine that you’re stuck in a poisonous swamp or quicksand and you keep trying to jump out but the sludge keeps pulling you back in.  Now imagine all that while the air around you is raining poisonous dandelion seeds.  There’s no way you can’t get hit or sucked into the swamp.  What an amazing experience.  I couldn’t believe what I was feeling.  Here’s a YouTube link to this experience but it’s not me playing.  Whoever played in this video did way better than me but I think you can get an idea of what I’m talking about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=347poZRrbrQ

Just last week I beat Fusion but didn’t do so well in collecting all the little things in the game. The final boss was cool and well drawn for the time period and hardware imho.  My main goal was to unlock the original NES Metroid in my copy of Metroid Prime on the Gamecube.  Since I have a Gameboy Advance that my dad found on a school bus and no kids claimed, I used it to link up to my cube with the Fusion cart and unlocked Metroid.  

That brings us to the current moment.  Today I figured out how to save my original Metroid game on the Gamecube.  This was a little confusing because the Gamecube controller doesn’t have a select button like the original NES.  Instead it’s the Z button.  To save while you’re playing the game, you need a second controller, just like in the original Legend of Zelda, and while paused push UP and A to initiate the save screen without dying.  

I can’t wait to get into it.  When the original Metroid screen comes up on my HDTV in a somewhat aliased 480p widescreen picture, I am immediately in a time warp.  Since I never played the original Metroid as a kid, my only memories of that game are from looking at strategy guides that didn’t show you everything.  I didn’t think much of it then because Mario was it.  I used to watch the title screen to Zelda II: The Adventure of Link over and over again as a kid and look into the stars on the screen and just wonder endlessly about anything. It cast a spell over me or something; I was captivated.  With Metroid, the original, it is now happening again. The game is brand new to me and I couldn’t give a care to anything modern as far as gaming and technology if I tried.  The stars in the background, the blinking letters of METROID, the fairly quick opening sequence loop-  all of this shows me that I’ve never grown up from being a kid after all.  I’m still the same after all these years.  The world can only help me build character and deep down I’m just the same kid that gets filled with endless wonder when 8 bit Nintendo does it’s thing.  Amazing.

For a current side note, I’d like to add that in Fusion, you can hear sound effects that are similar to those in the Virtual Boy’s Galactic Pinball.  Although the composer for Fusion was not the same as Galactic Pinball, Galactic Pinball’s composer was the same for Super Metroid and Mike Tyson’s Punch Out: Kenji Yamamoto.  You can hear similarities everywhere like Yamamoto was consulted often.  And if you’re not aware, Galactic Pinball does have a miniature Metroid space shooter game as a bonus easter egg on one of the tables. I like to think that only the hardcore Nintendo fans know this.  

Anyway.  I’ll report back as soon as more progress is made with the original Metroid.  In the meantime, here is my most recent Twitter post with a pic documenting where things are at.  

https://twitter.com/VeryBadTim/status/1100219464585490434