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createandconstruct · 3 years

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can i ask about amarant coral? the monk in red himself~

Can you ask about Amarant Coral? *cracks fingers* Oh I insist that you do. Welcome to my Amarant Appreciation Post:

favorite thing about them: First off best thing about Amarant? His theme. The percussion and the guitar. It’s great and it captures him so well. People out here like “take Amarant out of the game he adds nothing.” EXCUSE ME? You remove the Amarant you remove the Amarant Theme my friend and that is something I do NOT vibe with.

least favorite thing about them: I wanna know more about him. Now Amarant doesn’t need a backstory or history in the game. In a sense, he already has one that connects him to Zidane and explains his motives and actions and eventual arc. But my issue is, Square never gave him anything else. If you look at Ultimania there’s additional lore about other characters, like Steiner for instance. You learn Steiner was a war orphan who was saved by the Pluto Knights - explaining his devotion to them. Amarant though? Square was like “uh... yeah he was born....? And then he uh got famous...? Idk then he met Zidane. You figure it out.” Square. I hate you. 18 years from his birth until he became “well known”. WHAT WAS HE DOING. WHY’D HE BECOME A SECURITY GUARD. WHAT WAS ON HIS RESUME. TELL MEEEE. Like, okay, what the actual in-game canon gives us on Amarant is sort of enough. He’s a purposely written mysterious “cool-guy” character so we’re given scraps to make him unknown but come on. In the published after-game canon, like Ultimania, we could have been given a bit more. He says he doesn’t remember anything about his origins or parents, but why. Was he another victim of Gaia’s wars? Probably. Was he born on a battlefield? Fighting for his life, living without comrades, taking scraps whenever he could? Was he betrayed when he was young? Is he a supposed to be a version of Zidane had he not been adopted into Tantalus by Baku??? These are questions I deserve answers to, Square.

favorite line: “’I can't just walk away. It goes against my nature...’ You're a real simpleton. Forget it, guys. There's no stopping this fool." I love this. Amarant figures Zidane out pretty quickly after Ipsen’s Castle. Zidane is hardheaded and also an actor. He acts cool and pretends his reasons for doing things are loose but when he’s decided something it’s always for a reason. You don’t need a reason to help people, but Zidane has his reasons for helping Kuja and while Amarant doesn’t give two shits what they are he knows Zidane won’t be stopped because, despite everything, Zidane saved a loser like him. Also this line “Tell me! Why didn't you kill me!?" Because I quote it all the time and it makes myself laugh. Amarant is such a drama queen and Zidane knows it. Zidane’s like “dude... what is your damage, it’s 5 pm on Tuesday in Madain Sari. I ain’t getting blood on my gloves cause you’re having a temper tantrum.” And then Amarant runs away to have an existential crisis. He’s 26 but compared to Zidane, he’s the real teenager with angst.

brOTP: I could talk about Zidane or Freya with Amarant but instead I’m gonna say the underrated dynamic of Amarant and Eiko (and also Vivi). Amarant with the kids is truly the greatest gift given by his presence in the game. Amarant has never known true suffering until he became a designated legal guardian of a group of minors. It also kills me how he’s the one to volunteer to carry Eiko and Vivi up the Iifa tree. He looks at Zidane and is like “you have seriously been the ‘adult’ of this group???”

OTP: Gotta say the Freya and Amarant dynamic. I really enjoyed their unlikely friendship in the game but then the content. The fan content. The Freya x Amarant fans out there, you win. Ya got me. You captured me and I am now imprisoned by their banter and begruntled allies to lovers story. Even if they’re not romantic I love them together and really wish the game gave us more of them. But even Lani and Amarant together are valid, though I prefer them as butting head bros. Not much content for my girl Lani out there either, she deserves more.

nOTP: Nothing I can think of. I tend to like platonic pairings for Amarant. The dude needs friends because he can barely define the word friendship.

random headcanon: Before Zidane returns at the end of the game Amarant wanders around a bit, unsure of what to do. He doesn’t feel any place with the others in Alexandria, Burmecia, or Lindblum. I imagine he goes off on his own for a bit like before but this time he’s not after Zidane or a fight. Instead he’s got no particular destination. Yet he somehow always finds himself running into people just like him - or the old him - friendless lonely people who are looking for a fight. He doesn’t go out his way to find these folks he simply runs into them and decides he might as well knock some sense into them. He does however make it his business to go after any murmur of people hatching any ideas of going after the far off little village on the Lost Continent. The home of the genomes and black mages. They were so helpless, so weak that anyone who’d want to mess with them is pathetic in Amarant’s book. Until Zidane returns, no one has the chance to even look at the Black Mage Village the wrong way because in the shadows Amarant lurks, making damn well sure of that.

unpopular opinion: I kinda love that he’s just there for most of the game? While I agree he gets the short end of the stick in the same way as Freya, not receiving additional individual character spotlight (which could have very well been supplied through discoverable lore in the world/npcs or through sidequests) I never considered his “standing off to the side” as a detriment to his character.

Many would probably agree that Amarant always felt like a bit of a parody of the loner character, or at least the stereotype of the loner character. Amarant is so easily paralleled with Squall and Cloud’s surface-level attitudes because his dialogue always felt like something to poke fun at. As the player we’re supposed to align with Zidane’s way of thinking and how he views Amarant. When Amarant loses to Zidane and pretty much grits his teeth and goes “KILL ME,” along with Zidane we’re supposed to kinda raise our brow at him and go “...really, dude?”

Amarant’s a character introduced as an antagonist who has more in common with the power hungry villains of the game. Like many of the characters in FFIX, Amarant is in search of purpose in life, which he has never found, because he was always looking in the wrong places - in places of violence and power. Very toxic-masculinity of him. Amarant is “cool” on an aesthetic level but in reality he’s the polar opposite of cool in terms of what FFIX states about the need for others to be intertwined in your experiences so that you can live a full life.

I sort of love that he’s like a grumpy pitball following a 16 year old and his friends around. Then he sits in the corner when they all meet up and discuss current events acting like he doesn’t care (not to mention he casually walks as everyone is running as fast as they can to escape Terra - made me laugh cry on my first playthrough) He is “just there” but that’s because he has no where else to be, no where else to go, he’s a man without a home. And until Zidane offers his hand, at the point where Amarant is most willing to take it at Ipsen’s Castle, he’s not truly a party member. He IS an outsider for almost the entire game but at Ipsen Castle he joins the party, becomes a comrade, and decides he’ll allow himself to change paths and start a life where he has friends and lives, as well as fights for them. Which is why after that moment, Amarant finally has a victory pose.

song i associate with them: I was scratching my head for so long trying to think of a song or track that had Amarant vibes until it hit me. Outskirt Stand by Tsukasa Tawada (from Pokemon Colosseum). Amarant is so chill, he’s not a bombastic guy, so he needs a theme that drops me in the rocky open desert of the Lost Continent like I’m just lumbering around looking for a monkey-tailed menace. Some other Amarant tunes: Pyrite Town, The Under, Snagem Hideout tracks from Pokemon Colosseum. This post is just an elaborate call to action for everyone to listen to the Pokemon Colosseum soundtrack. Tsukasa Tawada is so great and he has a YouTube. Check him out.

favorite picture of them:

Yoshitaka Amano’s Salamander Coral. I love him. He had too much power.

Also everything drawn by @crispy-ghee. Everything. I will think of this Comic forever until I die. Tattoo it on my flesh. The banter, the dynamics, the post-game content, the Zidane prince-consort outfit, the new Amarant outfit, the stuck-in-the-same-place relationship him and Freya have. Perfect. Go read it and consume Crisipy’s stuff. And also check them and their current art out, they just consistently get better and better. Here’s a first panel preview of my fav comic. Read it.

@hannahlady‘s Amarant art and their Freya/Amarant art is just ugh. *Chef’s Kiss* Here is another preview because you should go look at it.

Here’s a piece that deserves so much more love by @snackage. I LOVE how they drew Amarant. Here’s a little preview. It’s SO GOOD

Anyway TL;DR: Amarant is love and life and you’ll have to pull him from my little gremlin hands.

#asks #scriberat #amarant coral #ffix #final fantasy ix #amarant #final fantasy 9 #freya #amarant x freya #lani #zidane tribal #eiko carol

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theparanormalperiodical · 3 years

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French Nuns And Newspaper Clippings: The Real Stories That Inspired The Exorcist (1973)

The year is 1632.

We are in a remote commune in Northern France. The situation is bleak: an outbreak of plague has started snatching lives again, and King Louis XIII is ordering the walls around Loudon to be torn down. The locals are more divided than ever.

But things are about to get worse.

Way worse.

The local nuns are beginning to act strange.

It started when one young nun claimed she had a vision of a dead priest. Suddenly, all 17 clergywomen are reporting similar visions. They then begin cussing, shouting, and displaying more and more aggressive behaviour.

17th century nuns do not act like this.

Oh no, this was something unholy. This was demonic possession.

331 years later, this little-known historic tale would feature as one of the main inspirations behind horror’s most iconic movie.

Yep, the film that still gives you nightmares of young girls walking down stairs crustacean-style is based on a true story. But it’s worse than that. It’s based on two tales of alleged possession, several real-life people, and a demon many still worship today.

*nopes the f*ck out*

Let’s Talk About The Exorcist

Let me just clarify something: the exorcist is not the creepy, possessed ‘lil girl. An exorcist is a person that performs exorcisms - so here, it’s the priests.

The Exorcist was originally a book written by William Peter Blatty. Adapted to a film series (and a TV show) starting 2 years later, they both shared a close plotline. Well, to begin with, anyway.

A statue of a demon is found in an archaeological dig of northern Iraq. The discovery unleashes a mysterious spirit/demon/god called Pazuzu. On the other side of the world, a young girl begins exhibiting strange behaviour. Regan, a typical 12-year-old American girl, refuses to eat or sleep and becomes aggressive. All the while, strange things happen around the house.

The doctors provide no answers to her behaviour, so the mother of the supposedly-ill child turns to religion instead. She finds help in the form of a priest who is experiencing a crisis of faith and consequently doesn’t believe this is demonic possession. But a couple chats with the girl convinces him that yep, she’s bunged up with a demon. So, he asks the bishop if he can perform an exorcism. A priest fresh off that dig in Iraq is shipped over and they get to work. During the final exorcism, one of the priests opts to save the possessed girl by asking the demon to possess them instead. The possessed priest chucks himself out of the window and as he falls to his death, regains his faith in God.

The Exorcist is one of the most famous horror films - if not, the most iconic - of all time, from the traumatic FX makeup of a possessed Regan to sequences ‘80s America wasn’t ready for.

But The Exorcist was not a stand alone film. Contrary to popular belief, what followed was 4 (soon to be 5) sequels ‘n’ prequels that unravelled a deep, dramatic plotline. There’s a reason we don’t hear about them.

In the following films we see the aftermath of Regan’s exorcism and emerging doubts about whether she was in fact really possessed. Political and theological themes rise to the surface, looking deeper at the priests that conducted the exorcism rather than the victim. At the same time we take part in an archeological dig, meet a serial killer, and get a front row seat to a battle during WW2.

It’s a wild ride. But this ride is brimming with reality.

Blatty directly cited inspiration from a number of sources, most famously the 1949 demonic possession of Roland Doe that he first heard when studying at Georgetown University. But he has also claimed that many of the characters who navigated the possession of Regan were based on real people.

Take Father Merrin, the exorcist leading the exorcism: he was based on a British archaeologist that excavated the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls (ancient manuscripts written in Hebrew) had been found.

But the nature of the exorcism that filled out a majority of the film were informed by the work for Father William S Bowdern, a Jesuit priest who exorcised Roland Doe himself.

However, it wasn’t just the mortals that were inspired by real, historic figures.

Pazuzu Is An Actual Worshipped Demon

Without Pazuzu, there would be no possession. Without Pazuzu, there would be no exorcism, nor the need for an exorcist.

We only see the demon in flashes - but these moments inherit a history that takes us back as far as 3500BC. Pazuzu was an ancient Mesopotamian or Assyro-Babylonian god that was the king of the demons of the wind. He brought storms and drought, and although recognised as an evil spirit, he also drove away other evil spirits. He strives to protect us from plagues and misfortunes, and his rival, Lamashtu, causes harm to mother and baby during childbirth.

He is known as both a demon and a god, but in The Exorcist is recognised more as the former.

We do catch a couple glimpses of Pazuzu, but we only see his face clearly when he begins to take over young Regan. The pasty white face and blood red eyes don’t fit ancient lore: Pazuzu is traditionally depicted as having the head of a lion, the body of a human, the talons of an eagle, a pair of wings, a scorpion’s tail, and a ‘serpentine penis’ (I can’t work out if this is the penis of a snake or a penis that looks like a snake and like I don’t wanna know k).

The Exorcism Of Roland Doe

It’s one of the most famous cases of possession - and we don’t even know who the victim actually was.

In 1949, American newspapers began to pick up on the story of an exorcism in Maryland. A teenage boy was at the centre of mysterious poltergeist activity after the death of his spiritualist aunt. She was the one that first introduced him to an ouija board.

After typical paranormal activity took place, priests were summoned to exorcism him. During these exorcisms, furniture began to move by itself, the boy began to attack priests with rogue bedsprings, he began to speak in an unknown voice, the mattress he lay on began to shake, and words like “evil” and “hell” began to appear in scratches upon his body.

It was a very similar state to the one Regan was in during The Exorcist.

Roland Doe (a pseudonym, obviously) to this day has remained anonymous, and - if alive - he would be 86 years old.

Despite this being the most known case of alleged possession - rivalling only that of Anneliese Michel - it has received a large dose of skepticism and debunking. The supposed location of the exorcism and some personal details of Roland Doe have been contested. Plus, many believe Doe was actually a spoiled, attention-seeking bully who simply repeated Latin phrases heard at school in order to create some elaborate prank.

Regardless of whether it was real or not, it is a landmark moment in paranormal history.

And 300 years before a 14 year old lutheran began to growl Latin at his family members, a group of women began to show similar signs of a haunting.

The Possessed Affair Of Loudon And Aix-en-Provence

I’ve already introduced you to the possessed nuns of Loudon. But it turns out The Exorcist also took inspiration in another French convent: Aix-en-Provence.

The nuns of Loudon pinned their possession on the demon Asmodai and gave a number of different answers as to who summoned it. Some claimed it was either a priest named Peter or Zabulon (a biblical figure). But a week after this, a man named Urbain Grandier who had amassed a lot of power and a strained reputation in the community was considered the culprit.

Soon after the nuns first exhibited strange behaviour, they were hidden away and the symptoms stopped.

The accusations levelled against Grandier were clearly inspired by political motives as he had publicly attacked the cardinal’s work and the taking down of the wall. But locals say he would appear at random in the convent with no one sure as to how he got inside. It was even claimed that he had made a pact with the devil - from which a physical contract was supposedly uncovered - and that he had attended witch’s sabbat.

The priest was executed for sorcery and given ‘the boot’ (a method of torture).

Loudon and Aix-en-Provence are considered cases that fit in well with wider witch trials taking place across western Europe in the 17th century. The possession of the Ursuline nuns of Aix-en-Provence were similar to that of Loudon - but were just a tad more mental.

20 years before Grandier was convicted, a young woman, Madeleine de Demandolx, confessed to the superior of the convent that she had been intimate with the local priest. She was sent away to Aix-en-Provence to get some distance but soon began to do some rather out-of-character things.

She would have convulsions and soon the other nuns began to do the same. It appeared to be contagious.

But things got hella weird when the nuns gathered together in a holy cave that Mary Magdalene was meant to have once lived in (Sainte-Baume) to be exorcised. Instead of just shaking, they all tried to outdo each other in symptoms of possession.

Once would cuss fervently; another would speak in a deep, demonic voice.

A political story soon unravelled full of accusations, executions, and even Madeleine being released from jail at 77 for her alleged witchcraft.

So - are you ever going to watch The Exorcist after this?

(Me neither.)

If you liked this post, go on and let me know with a like ‘n’ a reblog. And if you want to hear somethin’ spooky every Saturday, go on and hit follow!

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daimonhalos · 3 years

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Aight this is the second time I watch it but I'm gonna do a commentary on the latest bad's lore stream! Just for funsies, I might have honestly already forgotten some stuff so I wanna keep my thought process :3 let's go, commentary under the cut.

There's also some small theories/analysis in some points but nothing too much, just me rambling cause pain.

The pre stream song. Faster and Bad never change please.

I love so so so much the ominous soundtracks he puts as background for lore man it's just so coooool.

Reality check pre/post lore my beloved 💜

that little meh eh eh. is everything

he's just on a boat at night and but can already see he's got shaders on, this means PRETTY VISUALS AHEAD. Also i really like bits beginning with the character alone heading towards their destined direction, it's just pleasing

HIM TAKING DOWN ANTI EGG POSTERS. KING SHIT

Can't believe I got to hear "muffinhead" in lore voice.

Not even inside the room and HOLY SHIT they covered it all with the red bricks block IM AAAAH IT'S SO PRETTY. Like before the vines were all put at random but now they're neatly placed and it's actually aesthetically pleasing? I love it

DANCEFLOOR DANCEFLOOR DANCEFLOOR

The table. is . so. is so . it's so prebby,,, help like i'd live there man

Bad being overwhelmed by the egg's voice and lowkey scared. FINE IM FINE

No other choice. And the way he repeated it like a mantra? Kind of like to convince himself? AHHH

SKEPPY. SKEPP

small,, small egg staircase

haha fuckign pain. p a i n. just pain it sounds a lot like Skeppy before actually stayed with Bad cause it annoyed him how much he wanted to hang out like old times,,,,, my heart pangs

IM JUST WORRIED ABOUT YOU

I CARE ABOUT YOU *passes out*

bad scared the egg is skeppy's bff now /j (have to joke through the pain,,)

BADBOY i swear to god he knows his audience. he just does.

Bad doing whatever he can to even just hang out a few minutes with skeppy. Bro, the tears inside

"I'm comfortable right here." "Skeppy I know you are-" THE WAY BAD'S VOICE BROKE HERE HOLY SHIT LEMME CLIP IT.

He talks to chat. HE TALKS TO CHAT THIS MEANS WE ARE CANON THUS we are either little angels or demons around him or a mix or, we're particles that make up Rat ♥

"All of this is for him" okay stab me next time it'll hurt less

BADBOY STARTING TO BE CONFLICTED BECAUSE HE NEVER HAS A FUCKING BREAK

s- w- skeppy kept the egg alive? okay so ive been thinking about the fact that skeppy became completely red and like wow what if it kinda is that hes literally become a small part of Egg? like, i wonder if someone breaks it, if he feels pain

Skeppy so dry with his responses. stop i will cry

bad. bad why are you bringing up selfies to a lore stream bad-

"why are you still talking to me" "okay..." stop stop PLEASE STOP-

smol growls, he's getting frustrated

idk why but skeppy talking about the perimeters made me laugh it was just funny how far away he was and just started talking about it randomly

"i think it looked a little bit better before" thoughts being thunk

"what's it gonna take for you to stop talking to me?" literally i am deceased s t o p

STOP STEPPIN ON THE MAGMA BLOCKS SIR YOU'RE HURTING

Bad shouldn't be so happy about just having "one last walk around" with skeppy so he "stops bothering" him tHIS HURTS SO MUCH the egg has fucked them up so much

Skeppy doesn't hear it huh? Maybe it whispers different things to everyone

"I like how it feels" nooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO STOP HURTING TOURSELF

so no dance? *slams phone on the ground*

When skeppy says his line about never seeing anything close to a party there, idk what it is about it but his tone just hits, man he's so good preesh

HE CALLED HIM ANT. BAD PLS YOUR BEING BAD AT NAMES IS SHOWING

"Oh my goodness you're going back to the egg" HE'S SO SAD. HE'S SO SAD CAUSE HE COULDNT KEEP HIM WITH HIM A LITTLE BIT LONGER HES S

"you know what? i invite you" i wanna read this in a certain way. The egg was feeling like bad was so frustrated he started doubting the egg, so it was like alright let's use skeppy to get it closer to I can manipulate this bad boy better :)) motherfuck

are they about to kiss-

egg cockblocker

"okay don't come back" end me rn

ngl when sapnap joined I got real scared for a moment.

"it's not about power! it's nor about control! i'm you friend skeppy!" "I mean ... you can think that" FUCK U NO IM NOT DEALING WITH THIS RN

"We're friends, right?"

"In your head we can be best friends, we can be whatever you want" BDI ANYONE??????? also whatever- whatever he wants? :eyes: okay sorry no ill see myself out

"We're m- we are friends sk-" M- MARRIED WAS HE GONNA SAY MARRIED DID HE PULL A QUACKITY OH MY GOD I HATE THIS GUY OH MY GOD /pos but also like in a bawling my eyes out way

the egg is more than just a friend? skep u good there pal do u have smth to tell us

"You don't know what it's like." OH HERE HE GOES. HERE HE GOES HERE IT COMES OH NO.

The way Bad stutters i really thought he was gonna say something REALLY IMPACTFUL

"I have done so much for you, for our friendship and now you're trying to tell me we're not friends anymore?" LEAVE ME ALONE

I JUST CAUGHT THE BLOOPER HE SAID ON ME INSTEAD OF HANG OUT WITH ME IM CRYING OH MY GOD BAD HOW DID U FUCK THAT UP oh my god I imagine him mentally going like oh my gosh out of all the things that could be messed up THAT WAS SO FUNNY

ahaha my dads are fighting help

"You think you've done anything? You seriously think that?" *looks at my fic where bad feels worthless because the egg said so* ahah... I'm sorry?

"You left me for a long, long long time before you even checked up on me, okay?" he's not wrong,,,, he's not wrong why does this hurt sm,,,,, "and now all of a sudden you care about me?" OH MY GOD PLEASE I HATE THIS EGG

I see them... i see them approaching the lava blocks..

"the past doesn't matter" the egg wanting to erase their relationship so much,,,, i wanna cry because then if bad doesn't have skeppy he just has nothing right and then,,, then he can be another empty vessel for the fucking egg I hate this mI hate this so much

Also!!! little things I noticed!! Bad taking away part of the vine and also mining a red block? Without being affected at all? MHHHH

"I just wanted us to hang out like we used to" BAD'S VOICE CRACKING AGAIN STOP I WILL CJRYSD

"I did all of this for you and I didn't want the egg to take that away" you see how fucking tragic this is. Like Skeppy sacrificed himself so his friend could stop being infected. Bad sacrificed literally the whole server himself included to get him back. And then it comes down to this. The egg separating them a thousand fucking miles away. I hate this it's so sad

the selfish bit please no stop

THE LAVA BAD THE LAVA PLEASE IT'S TOO CLOSE

the fucking shaking with rage thing got me BROOOO I LOVE WHEN BAD DOES THE LITTLE THINGS IN GAME

"IT'S JUST A STUPID EGG" FUCKING FINALLY YOU TELL HIM BAD but then oh no oh no would you look at that huh. cant fucking have shit in dsmp. the way he immediately just screams for him right after

YOU CAN HEAR THE TEARS IN HIS VOICE and also mine hi I'm sobbing again

BDI FUCKING CANON LET'S GOOOOOOO WE CALLED ITTTT

(Dreamscape?)Skeppy being actually concerned with him haha this doesn't hurt at all!!!

*stares at black screen* I'm fine.

Thank you for listening to my ramble I am hurting so much bestie

#dream smp #dream smp spoilers #badboyhalo #bbh #skeppy #death tw #mind control tw #ask to tag

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incarnateirony · 5 years

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The start of a gallery regarding Belphegor and the guys, but including a great deal of meta and extra gifs behind the cut, including relevance explicitly to Dean and Castiel, as well as Belphegor’s mythological relevance.

Edit: Since this post is making the rounds I’ma drop in my Belphegor meta-fanvid too. The meta/extra gifs are below the vid.

youtube

Yeah I know I’m a day late, no I don’t know if anyone has beaten me to this, I know some people beat me to talking about belphegor beyond me vagueblog screaming about him showing up on twitter with livetweets. For those who haven’t seen:

Belphegor - a Moabite god absorbed into Hebrew lore and then Christianity as a major DEMON. The name Belphegor means “lord of opening” or “lord Baal of Mt. Phegor.” As a Moabite deity, he was known as Baal-Peor and ruled over fertility and sexual power. He was worshipped in the form of a phallus. -- that giant rock he talked about worshipping, there you go.

In the KABBALAH, Belphegor was an angel in the order of principalities prior to his fall. He is one of the Togarini, “the wranglers.” He is an archdemon who is part of the demonic counterparts to the angels who rule the 10 sephirot of the Tree of Life; he rules over the sixth sephirah. He sits on a pierced chair, for excrement is his sacrificial offering. In Christian demonology, Belphegor is the incarnation of one of the SEVEN DEADLY SINS, sloth, characterized by negligence and apathy. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, all sins that arise from ignorance are caused by sloth.

Belphegor also rules misogyny and licentious men. He emerged from HELL to investigate the marital state among humans. For a time, he lived as a man to experience sexual pleasures. Appalled, he fled back to hell, happy that intercourse between men and women did not exist there.-- here’s the big block that I find fascinating.

Gully, Rosemary. 2009. The Encyclopedia of Demons and Demonology. New York: Visionary Living, Inc., pp. 27-28.

(For more discussion of Belphegor’s history and mythology on this blog, click this link (x) but I’m mostly narrowing it down to what’s relevant for address here.)

With that out of the way, I refer you to the gallery above, which is only a fraction of what I’ve clipped from the episode.

(Edit: As new things have come to light with a rewatch, or as new thoughts come up, I’ve been reblogging this post with additions; however, at the end of the post, I’m going to make headline titles for update thresholds and include it in here as a sort of Belphegor introduction masterpost. Any time I get to glance at part of this episode again it just gets LOUDER.)

The camera work is uncanny. Castiel and Dean are repeatedly cast not only as a unit, or Sam blotted off, or divided, but of a point of focus. A few more examples:

Oh wow Belphegor really just staring at them.

Think I’m just choosing frames I like? Check back at the scene. Whenever Sam engages it’s literally from a different, peripheral shot as so:

This filming style isn’t single shots, but the entire scene. Oh, I don’t mean the entire scene, I mean the entire episode. The only place this rule wavers is when literally everybody is packed in the Impala, including when they save the mother and child, and until people decompress it’s impossible to do such controlled shots.

But then there IS when they decompress as I put in the original gallery.

Belphegor sits witness to the pain and upset over Cas, unable to look at him. And, shortly after talking about the giant penis he used to worship and flirting with Dean, asks who the child was to them after Cas has stormed out, finding out about it being their son.

At this point both Castiel and Dean have had their standoffs with Belphegor, which I side by sided in the top gallery. But Dean’s integration with Belphegor goes an entirely extra level.

We’ll handwave any deep readings about the heart of a man being needed -- but the simple fact is, as we know, this is when Dean and Belphegor encounter the white woman.

That alone is a fascinating point;

Whether you take Sam’s encounter as his serial killer fetish, or his clown phobia, or some people’s read of toxic parenting, or a combination of these -- the first two more likely to tickle the general audience -- this is clear.

Whether you take Cas’ encounter with Bloody Mary as the secret about Jack and guilt over Mary, or the secret over the Empty and general guilt over failing Jack, his connection is loudly clear.

The woman in white was a spouse betrayed by her partner and driven to madness where she killed her children and then herself -- something fairly clear if we remember the metaphorical ledge Dean was on at the end of the season that he steered away from, but the argument continues.

Blahblah *heterosexual handwave* just subtext just interpretation only the other two matter for Reasons(TM), we know how that will go. This, or the random divorce drop from the victim girls for totally inoccuous and random reasons aside, is just a worthwhile note to put in here as we consider the framing of Belphegor.

Throughout the episode, Sam has no identifiable major exchange with Belphegor. He happens to be in the vicinity, occasionally mediating Dean and Cas, or in the same car, but there is no forward led conversation, there is no personal tension or banter, and most of all there isn’t even any attempt at directorial focus. If anything, directorial blotting. Sam’s plot shines more in being a forward moving, smart hunter mediating the two here, but if we’re here to look at Belphegor--

As Castiel sadly watches the rescued mother and child go to the school, in the wake of the death of his son, Dean only tersely checks on him. It’s strained, and Castiel is left staggered, only for us yet again to find Belphegor framed into the conversation, observing, as he has through the previous shots.

Belphegor’s placement is right between Dean and Cas, leaving it almost inevitable that as we move forward, he will annex emotional territory if by trust or nuisance to dig a deeper wound and antagonize the marriage he observes dissolving in front of him, a very personal and living manifestation of their struggles for these two to overcome, and inevitably part of what will send Castiel away briefly in 15.3 as he feels himself growing more and more detached from the Winchesters -- particularly Dean, as Sam is actively still engaging with him as is typical of them but like Entertainment Weekly recently put it, Castiel does has his favorite Winchester, and they’re totally-not-going-through-divorce-waves here, just totally heterosexual brovorce, of course.

Given considering my position of the overt and present canonicity of their relationship please note I’m only writing sarcastically towards the inevitable stupidity that haunts this fandom via anti dialogue and those that internalize it, but here it is, folks.

If anyone wants to even try to challenge me, I invite them to find Sam drawing belphegor’s focus on any front or being framed in the shots as Castiel and Dean are here. Belphegor is ... going to be a ride, folks. Buckle up. He’s literally been observing the hunter husbands, wracked with pain over the loss of their child, in active conflict despite their lingering stance as a unit, having held his ground with both of them to feel out their pain and rage each to themselves, and left to sit, and watch, and find what dark humor he may watch from them.

“Wanna talk about it?”

(Suggested reading: check out @tinkdw‘s post about them dividing Cas from his humanity *ba dum chink* and focusing on his angelicness this episode)

----

UPDATE 1

A belated addendum a few hours late I forgot to include but intended to: It has not escaped me that Dean and Cas also were both part of Belphegor’s spell casting. The aforementioned heart of a man with the trivial second ingredient of salt (truly not trivial at all in the alchemical scale of it, but that’s a topic for another time--just in SPNverse it seems weirdly easy; breaking down the alchemy in the last few seasons and the use of the salt in spell is its own essay), and the other common graveyard dirt and very conveniently angel blood. These things both created intensely powerful deus ex machinas that fall back to other points I made in the OP that are incredibly suspicious about the arrangement, and I’m more curious on if we should expect multiple parts of a spell eg reverse trials if you will or what.

I don’t consider these things a lack in SPN spellcasting integrity in writing. I consider these warnings.

UPDATE 2

Along with updates in the original post, someone posted this clip on twitter giggling about Dean’s expression, and something else I somehow missed the first time caught my eye.

youtube

Every time Belphegor opts to observe people or turn, while he comments on beauty and appearance (or stone penises or Dean being gorgeous), beyond his individual compliment of Dean – he is turning his head at couples. Or, well, we assume couples. At Units Of Two People. The two people units are:

A woman and a woman A man and a woman A man and a man.

Outside of the vehicle Belphegor is not taking any particular time paying attention to individuals. Only duos. The two women pass in front of the hearts, and one (the woman in khaki) even gestures at it to sort of make the woman in green look.

The man and the women walk by, vaguely locking arms.

Belphegor looks straight between these units. He leans forward, discussing people on earth being attractive. He turns and looks out the window to observe the two men now walking past the window with hearts.

Drops the comment about worshipping a giant penis, and so forth.

But the direct observation of duos, potentially queer ones literally framed in hearts in case anybody misses it for not being hetnorm, is… well, in lieu of the OP, this is. Yeah. It’s a whole thing. Holy crap.

UPDATE 3

This one isn’t necessarily big enough for a central update, and isn’t even entirely Belphegor focused as Belphegor adjacent. A friend ( @tarend ) had asked passively why bikes were so prominently featured in this episode, so here’s what I’ve found.

The green and blue bikes feature predominantly in the clown victim house from the first scene we see the garage, fairly early in the episode and every other showing until they’re extracted from the house. Often central, doorway, access, or backshadow in most shots. Trying to pin it on a single character would be ignoring the broadness of it, but the presence was enough to take note of.

Various two people units roll around with bikes of different and more muted colors.

The two dudes, one of them has a green bike and one has a grocery sack which I imagine ISN’T fruit from the tree of life.

I do find it weird and, especially since the green and blue bike collectively manage to get several shared minutes of screen time in a busy episode, I have to wonder, but I can’t find anything meaningful here without jumping to the common “green and blue” thing and a random joke-reach towards Queen which isn’t really my flavor of meta despite it even kind of matching the people passing by. The overlap is there and tangible, regardless, and passes in the background of Belphegor, so I’ll leave that here as a general sentiment.

Compared to the above gold mine of far more overt material, if this ever was intended to be an intentional nod of some sort, I feel like it’s been overshadowed entirely by the other content which might as well have been blasted from a bull horn, but maybe someone else can find use in it in association. Aside from the street highlights in the car while Dean sits by with Belphegor, the prominent double bike placement is best witnessed rather than screenshot into eternity in any scene involving Clown House Garage.

Though I may point out the dynamic impala shot with the paired bikes in the background is immediately followed by a stroller that colllectively haunt the three people in the car, but whether I’d swear to that being intentionally syncretic, I’m unsure. But I do feel it’s worth notating.

I’m sure you all know I’m guarded about things like this fandom’s build on key colors and don’t apply it in meta outside of standard lighting theory, and generally even props are things I ignore unless they’re actual framing and blocking focuses, but the bikes do ride a line. They just lack the overall thematic story use most things I talk about do, like mystic symbols and the ilk. I would probably completely disregard this were it not for the other elements above, but now I’ll be keeping an eye on it.

UPDATE 4

Yet another thought more from @tarend than me, but his ass just about never posts so I might as well plug it into the viral post with some credit.

There seems to be painstaking effort to frame Belphegor with stop signs.

Cough

Crack aside it’s just some angle play that could be coincidence but I’m going to be throwing that out there for meta fodder for others while this spreads around until I can truly rewatch since life is seriously climbing me right now.

Tarend also points out the school was named after The Great Dissenter (Link).

I’m going to have a bit of a comparative study on Belphegor’s and Chuck’s mannerisms for consideration but life didn’t even give me 30 minutes for a video edit today much less a rewatch.

#supernatural #spn #15.01 #final season #belphegor #directing #divorce #15x01 #15.1 #15x1 #back and to the future #destiel #deancas #meta #my meta #mine #tree of life #thagirion #tiphareth #art

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geek-gem · 7 years

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Bendy And The Ink Machine Chapter 3

Now I've made my post about chapter 2 about my opinions okay wasn't much. Yet wanted to say more stuff here. Including forgot to mention this spoilers in case.

I enjoyed this chapter. It's very nice from the first chapter and just remembered this might as well mention it.

What I noticed in chapter 1 the jump scare with the Ink Demon and my encounter with it. It has more of an animation. While in the original it mainly stands there. Including Boris of how he looks. So I'm guessing the creator had updated the game even in chapter 2 well mainly the ending with Boris I think he has more moment.

But back to this. Seeing as the chapters progressed you get to do more stuff. Honestly that makes sense yet it makes playing the chapter worth it with more gameplay. This time and this took a while too.

Just getting this out of the way I died five times. From what I remember being attacked by enemies when having the shot whatever. Also the Ink Demon about three times. Including one time me being behind him and seriously he's fast he really is. Also the Butcher Gang being one of my deaths in the

Okay random shit my bro came in here singing some song some rap of fucking a girlfriend and he's going to work with my dad. Also just nothing much just I was surprised. Including when told him be safe he said say sexy. Okay the middle part he said good morning because I said good night first because he was sleeping sorry.

Yet yeah five deaths the 5th one being first time fighting the Butcher Gang and this time avoiding them more to give me time to heal.

What's interesting this one and just wanna say. Their just something that feels special of just in the game being with a cartoon character that's trying to help you. I was surprised of him following me. I'm talking about Boris. Including difficult a bit to look for soup that stuff that was in the earlier chapters. At first I thought I was gonna have to protect but that doesn't happen good.

Yet during the course of the game I'm like stay safe even though he's in elevator most of the time. But also one time I seriously said I love you man or whatever. Including telling him it's okay when he gets scared. Just it was nice. Including to have another character around and it's seriously a cartoon character brought to life.

Including I even said that's adorable or something seeing that him and Henry actually played games while in the safe house.

So I'll talk about this. Basically throughout the whole chapter mainly well your going there. You are helping out Alice Angel or yeah in a way.

I'm gonna reveal this before playing the chapter Alice Angel is basically my favorite. That's a whole other topic. Yet your getting things for her and her even calling you her errand boy.

Along with having different weapons and....to be honest okay some are more powerful. I'm guessing well their different weapons to kill enemies but not used much for anything else.

Now remembered this. I was excited to get the Tommy Gun turns out it won't hold or she's just fucking around with you. Seriously I said oh come on twice I think whatever.

Because I had seriously thought after all the work I did using different weapons and this last task possibly with a weapon I would feel comfortable with and I can't use it. Also maybe it might be difficult to program but I sound stupid saying that.

Was thinking basically I feel like just now I might be badass and have more of a chance to survive.

Including at one point I realized the last Bendy cut out and also at one time destroying a cut out the Ink Demon yet managed to make sure he didn't see me.

But realizing the last cut out was at the elevator and thought how am I gotta get there. Turns out I forgot to jump. So I got that down and yeah Boris was becoming scared and supposedly the Ink Demon was close when I destroyed that last cut out like just him being pissed.

What else to say but just the Projectionist I didn't die yet really had to be careful yet was never seen.

Now remembered this. This surprise and just I didn't watch the video remember I didn't wanna see any video of chapter 3. But Jacksepticeye saying he was in the game or whatever on one of his videos well the thumbnail.

I thought it might be someone who sounds like him and I even thought I might of heard it in chapter 1 or 2. But seriously hearing that voice I thought it was hilarious and laughed I think a bit during the recording or after. I listened to it a 2 time but didn't listen to the whole thing.

Yet it was honestly hilarious to actually hear Jack's voice in the game and basically part of official lore now. It's just something I feel I don't see or hear much shit like this.

Including the credits were interesting and confirmed that was Jacksepticeye but even DAGames was in there too and even fan songs. Honestly I didn't find those songs or whatever. Including some contest winners.

Now the ending and the after credits thing. Me I forgot or might of been me just saying Boris his name. Including me being weird can or just is the 4th chapter basically operation rescue Boris or something. A weird bro thing and just the only other thing in this game that didn't try to kill me or scarifice me.

Honestly again I really enjoyed that chapter as I think about it. Including I'm caught up now. Got tag done but yeah wanna reveal this.

Last night but whatever okay last night would make sense. I talked about how I wasn't obsessed with the game and just it's concept. Honestly I felt like I was but I didn't wanna spoil anything huge.

So yeah last night was watching those videos and think it was two nights ago I don't know sorry.

Basically catching up now I'm feel so took off the sentence of the night I played and or as the start of the looked when I said last night as the first thing. Basically glad I'm caught up and feel I can safely be in more of this fandom and shit like that.

But I think the best way to way the last two nights. I was slowly evolving as a fan of this franchise

#bendy and the ink machine

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gameridernews · 7 years

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Ex-Aid review: Heisei Generations

Time to review Ex-Aid's first movie: "Kamen Rider Heisei Generations: Dr. Pac-Man VS Ex-Aid & Ghost With Legend Riders". Long, long title. Since I've not done a review for a movie yet, how do I format this...

Well, for starters, some preliminary timeline placement: The movie came out when Kuroto Dan was still pretending to be sane, and there was still a bike among us. The Kamen Rider Genm spinoffs would tip you off to that since those take place after this movie. It's a nice early "In case you're new to Ex-Aid" timeline placement.

Also, since this is post-finale Ghost, Drive, Gaim and Wizard... I won’t hold back on spoilers for those shows!

This is a real treat, I tell ya. For those who don't know, I love crossovers in general. And when it comes to Kamen Rider, I usually get some kind of enjoyment out of the crossover movies. I say this because, well, they're not usually... logical. Due to trying to work in this show and that show with their crazily distinct styles and lore, it gets hard to make crossovers actually make sense.

But the ones that have come out since Gaim have been doing a better job of that. Generally I'm talking about the spring movies in this context, but what I should be talking about are the winter movies. These are typically movies where the current show gets its own plot, the previous show gets its own post-finale plot, and the two plots merge in the final act... or final 10 minutes.

Ghost/Drive did something impressive with this format: It ditched it entirely. Instead of having two shows meet at the end, this movie realized that a movie about Ghost and Drive should really be about Ghost and Drive having some adventure that affects both of them. I'm glad to see this movie follows that notion with Ex-Aid and Ghost meeting within the first few minutes, and even Drive gets to be involved in continuity with the aforementioned Ghost/Drive movie. I'll talk about the cameos as they come up.

So right away, things are falling into chaos as we meet our villains, Dr. Pac-Man and his three lackeys, who I'll call Robol, Dragol and Giril since that's easier to remember. This is because they steal the Proto Gashats from Kuroto Dan, along with the Bugvisor, and the lackeys use Proto Gashats to transform much in the way Graphite did to gain his black recolor form.

I appreciate that, from the moment this movie starts, you know that you're in for a wild time. The lackeys themselves all do some fun fighting even as civilians, in particular Giril who literally brought a sword to a gun fight even before getting a Proto Gashat. Dragol, the tall lanky one, also does a good performance. And Dr. Pac-Man... boy, that outfit and mask combo is so 70s it hurts. I can't hate it.

I should take some time to talk about Ghost, shouldn't I?

Yes, this is Ghost's return after the show ended, and to be honest? Not much has changed for this cast. Takeru is in school making up for the time lost, but everyone else... is about where they were when the show ended, which is fine. The monks and Kanon also appear briefly, and of course Makoto/Specter and Alain/Necrom, but I am disappointed that Javert didn't get to show up - I wanna see what his monk training has led to, man.

The Pac-Man Bugster Viruses end up taking away Takeru’s ability to transform for some reason... but then we learn why later! Pac-Man's weakness is ghosts! I shouldn't be surprised that was actually a plot point since that's a line in the trailer, but it's still absurd in a way that made me smile. Apparently Kuroto Dan is being trusted with his Eyecon to work on a new Gashat, which sounds like A VERY BAD IDEA but y'know, at this point Kuroto Dan was actually a trusted supplier.

The three lackeys go on to use Proto Gashats stolen from Kuroto Dan, transforming into what are essentially reuses of the Collaboss Bugsters from the show, sans the Gashat lodged in the head - ironic since they transform shoving the Gashat into their body ala Dopant Memories. With that and the white outfits I can't help but imagine this is Foundation X related...

The undersuit of the Collaboss Bugster is colored a bit differently, but to me the main attraction is Dragol since Drago Knight Hunter Z never got used this way in the show. It's a nice design, too! It's a thing that makes me go "Oh I should use that in fanfiction..."

The movie mainly revolves around a high school student who becomes infected, and in a twist I kinda wasn't expecting so early, they make a Bugster from a game HE created - a game not associated with Genm Corp, Hatesate Puzzle. Kind of a neat twist. They tie this Bugster's powers into the villain's ambitions in a way that is kind of nonsensical to me, though.

What I do like is the way they handle the kid. Sure, it's mostly an Ex-Aid plot, but Takeru's respect for enjoying life comes into play since the patient really enjoys making his game, and the two of them, despite some minor differences later on, both want to see him be happy once it's over.

While this is going on, we do get an interesting subplot with Dr. Pac-Man and crew. Takeru, Onari and Akari go to Shinnosuke/Drive of the Metro PD to find out who these villains are, and the plot thickens when he reveals that they were part of some shady business shrouded in rumors and mysterious deaths.

Shinnosuke's life sucks during this first half of the movie. It's become apparent to him that he can't be a Rider with his gear being put away and all, so he's feeling pretty powerless. It's a bit of a random stroke of luck how he is reunited with Belt-san to become Kamen Rider Drive again, but I will get into that once I talk about Gaim. Yes.

Hey, wait, I've seen that scene in the show recently...! Let's talk about this now even though they reveal more about it later.

Perhaps there were detailed synopsis' available way back when the movie came out, I dunno. It's hard to come across this stuff in English unless you follow the right people, and even then you might only learn bits and pieces.

But I did not know the movie actually reveals that Emu is patient zero AND Parad was created from his Bugster Virus! And I bet a lot of folks outside of Japan were not privy to this reveal either, since I'd always seen/received theories about Emu possibly maybe being patient zero. I even theorized it at the end of December when the movie had already come out. I feel dumb but at the same time, that's what happens when you can't be there to see the movie when it comes out.

I'm talking a bit out of order, but I will say that there's a double edged sword to this reveal. On the one hand, we the viewers learn about Emu being patient zero because Ghost's sporadic touch-someone-and-see-memories power triggered when he put a hand on Dr. Pac-Man. On the other hand... bro, you should've probably told Emu something this eerie. Perhaps not the best way to reveal it.

Anyway, just thought that was real interesting for a movie that contains the name "Dr. Pac-Man".

Back to the plot at hand, the new Hatesate Puzzle based Bugster causes some trouble for Takeru as it just about kills off Akari, or at least badly injures her. It's easy to say she was killed since it's Ghost. But we'll get to him near the end...

Oh yeah, Makoto and Alain show up around this time. Just... kind of slide into view during a fight since they read the script.

Sadly I don't really have much to say about them in this movie since their dialogue literally consists of saying "You'll pay for this!" in slightly different ways each time they speak. We do get to see that they and Kanon return to the Ganma homeworld at the end, so... that's still a thing.

The movie then proceeds to provide the kind of fight porn you enjoy from one of these movies. Giril, Robol and Dragol take on Specter, Necrom, Brave, Snipe and Lazer (cause hey he's still alive), all while summoning Bugster Viruses that are themed after their Gashats; Samurai, futuristic soldiers(??) and fantasy soldiers that may or may not be using costumes from Wizard's summer movie. Fact-checking is for kids.

And of course, the new Gashat from Kuroto Dan has arrived for Ex-Aid to use. After he and Ghost start working together to take on the giant CGI Pac-Man, Ex-Aid uses the wonderfully colored Ghost Gamer form while Ghost uses the uncanny Ex-Aid Damashii form he now has (an Eyecon obtained at the end of his show because crossovers), and the two defeat the giant Pac-Man.

The day is saved. Wait, weren't there more Riders in this?

Yeah, that shocked me when I was watching - we're only halfway through and we've gotten the big crossover fight out of the way! If I wasn't already so aware of what happens in the movie, I'd be left wondering what comes next.

But Emu is still affected by all that happened. The other doctor Riders came to help, and are even caring for the Riders from Ghost who are injured, but Emu couldn't save his own patient. Not only that, but the villains have said patient, and are using him to create a new form for Dr. Pac-Man. Standard toku movie villain stuff.

Is there any hope left for our hero?

No, but at least we have our donuts.

So this cameo is a bit out of nowhere for a couple reasons. One, it just kind of happens suddenly. Two, holy crap they got Haruto's actor to come back and his hair is perfectly on point. But alas, much like Wizard's show, his involvement here isn't living up to its full potential. He doesn’t say much beyond catchphrases and the fact he’s a mage, and doesn’t explain why he’s here. I have a way this could've worked, which will be addressed when I talk about Gaim. Yes.

There is also a kinda funny scene where he convinces Dr. Pac-Man into letting him be a bodyguard with no trouble at all. It was funny but not for the right reasons. He and Dragol also don't get along and that's funny because theming.

Once Emu, Takeru and Shinnosuke know where to go, they see the new bodyguard Haruto... who says he's here to escort them in - okay. The three engage in some fun out-of-suit fighting with Dr. Pac-Man's lackies, and arrive to a familiar part of this abandoned office set that led me to wonder how he was going to make his entrance...

Turns out he just kind of crashes the party and lands like a badass. I can dig it. Okay, so NOW I talk about Gaim!

Gaim's a glaring part of this crossover. Whether the actor was busy with another role, or disinterested in returning, he never appears out of costume and there's not even a voice credit.

Gaim DOES talk in the movie, and he sounds on point, but one thing you'll notice is he never says anything too specific. It's believed that his dialogue is just recycled audio from previous media, and sadly, as the resident Gaim fanatic, I could not even begin to find transcripts that would lead me to having properly spelled Japanese dialogue that would lead me to previous instances of said dialogue existing. Just wanted to explain how much dumb work I was doing for this one paragraph of the review.

But what I can tell you is this: Gaim has dialogue that’s real teamwork-y, so it’s probably from previous crossovers.

Anyway, I had two things to address with Gaim. First, they do a cute thing where Gaim retrieved Belt-san for Shinnosuke, to which he acknowledges that Gaim DOES have god powers that make it easy for him to just warp into the Drive Pit and snatch him up. That's a nice way of getting Drive to transform.

A shame they didn't think to have a flashback where Haruto is warned about Dr. Pac-Man by Gaim, thus explaining why either of them are here to begin with. I mean, Gaim's probably privy to movie villain plots, since he's got god senses.

As a real specific thing, I would have also liked if Gaim explained away his lack of out-of-suit appearance with "By the way, I'm on another planet right now, so this is just an avatar." If you don't follow Gaim then I'm sorry for throwing these spoilers out so crazily, but y'know. I gave the appropriate spoiler warning.

There's a lot of lovely fight porn where Wizard, Gaim and Drive each take on the lackeys and their Bugster Virus grunts, who happen to fit their motifs, going through their various forms while their respective themes play. It's beautiful. Also Gaim has a real out-of-place line delivery when he gives a final blow, lending credence to the theory this is recycled dialogue.

When Ghost gets insultingly overpowered by the puzzle themed Bugster, making his supposed infinite potential form look bad, Ghost receives an out-of-nowhere visit from the spirit of Nobunaga who decides to fight alongside him with two other rulers of Japan who unified the nation. Tenka Touitsu Damashii represents three historical figures, and I gotta say, I'm glad to see it get used in a movie.

A shame they gave it to Ghost since the toy Eyecon is literally only capable of playing Specter's standby music. But I guess I can't feel too bad for Specter since he got his own movie with a final form?

It's a nice idea, looks good, and the fact that it makes use of the three Riders' weapons is cool. Maybe in a world where Ghost made more Eyecons, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu would've been forms used by Ghost and Necrom.

Things are not so hopeful for Emu. He's been given a legitimately-painful-to-watch beating by Dr. Pac-Man in his new monster form, and is pushed to the ground. The kind doctor decides to give Emu a taste of what it's like to go through death by Bugster Virus by basically forcing Mighty Action X into his belt alongside Proto Mighty Action X (since Proto Gashats have been established to be deadly), which doesn't work out quite how he wanted.

Instead, Emu inexplicably (but we know why now) connects the two Gashats to form the Mighty Brothers XX Gashat - which appears to be lacking in some paint here for some reason, gonna guess it's an error. With a very ominous and emotionless persona overtaking him, he transforms into the separate Ex-Aids, Double Action Gamer Level XX.

It's a real interesting way of giving you a taste of what's to come in the show in a way that's different. Ghost/Drive did this as well with Ghost's Toucon Boost Damashii form, and there's also Hibiki which kind of... created its own crazy origin for Hibiki's final form which is completely ignored in the show.

Point is, I find it interesting the way they pulled it off. By the end of the fight, the villains have been defeated and Ex-Aid's double Gashat turns back into separates, with him having no memory of what he did - cleeeverly avoiding continuity problems with the show, I see.

With that, the movie is just about over, but wait! It's a Ghost movie where Takeru doesn't die? Of course not, that'd just be silly.

Yes, as the cast of Ex-Aid and Ghost are meeting up again, Takeru randomly passes out. Apparently all the beatings he endured today was just too much for him. It seems that he's really dead this time! No pulse or anything! Tears all around!

You know what's coming, though. It's a crossover with a doctor. In a scene that's strangely reminiscent of the fakeout CPR scene in episode 1 of Ex-Aid, Emu brings Takeru back to life. He then thanks Emu for giving him another chance at life, fulfilling Ghost's other requirement of being sugary sweet.

The credits roll as we see what everyone is up to now. Haruto is on a rooftop eating donuts just as you'd expect, and Shinnosuke is dealing with coworkers congradulating him on his new kid way too early... not sure if that's a Drive Saga 2 thing or not, since that's on my list of toku to watch.

And finally, the last scene has Parad with Kuroto, holding the Pac-Adventure Gashat that will be used in the Genm spinoff which doesn't make anymore sense now that I've seen the movie. Oh, and a nice shot of Perfect Puzzle's title image, teasing at Parad's future Rider status! Neat.

So... that's a lot of text I'm gonna have to edit. But that's also Ex-Aid's first movie. How was it?

Well, I generally enjoy crossover movies for the fun things that can happen, and within the last few years they have gotten really good at telling a story. Especially Ghost/Drive which I have referenced several times here, since it and this movie have its format in common.

That being said, this movie is kind of an oddity of its own. It gets the Legend Rider-y crossover form stuff out of the way halfway in, and goes on to do more stuff later that feels reminiscent of the spring crossover movies as of late - even using returning actors, and directly acknowledging previous crossovers to give a legitimacy to them. These 4 returning heroes felt like they'd met before and were reunited, which is probably the most pleasant surprise of the movie.

I know a lot of folks out there hate these kind of movies, or even ignore all the toku movies, but I think this is promising. Kamen Rider crossovers have been getting better at character writing with each movie, and I am excited to see the spring movie once it hits DVD.

With that all being said, I'll see you all in... a week maybe? With Ex-Aid taking a week off, I should use that as an excuse to catch up and actually talk about May's crazy bunch of episodes.

#kamen rider exaid #reviews #feed

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crazyfangarlady · 7 years

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Sildy I know like little of the windy son I drew for you please ramble about him to me 💙 also how's the green bean

my boy my man my love ZACH I’m calling it right now this is going to take me the night if I don’t try to keep it short.

Imiel is doing good!! Kind of in a lore pause while he waits for his boss’s new dragon to be born. Jeez, Ono.

nOW for proper rambles under the cut~

Most of that can probably already be found in his tag on my blog, but honestly I don’t even remember what’s in there anymore or how accurate it is. Though it’s probably still mostly good, if you wanna check it out for details I might skip here~(sidenote: after checking out his tag myself I realized there are interactions with some people you do Not like in there so. While the info is good and there is no connected lore, be wary some not-nice names are included. ;v;)

I am tORN though because there’s this huge shift between how he’s been for most of the time I had him and his current state due to Recent Lore Happenings. So whiCH ZACH DO I TALK ABOUT?? …the answer is probably to start from the beginning. More rambles for your soul. This will be too long and I am slightly sorry

Zach’s a wind mage, and part of my pirate crew, as the helmsdragon - basically, he makes the ship fly, up to creating artificial winds when needed to steer it where they want to go. That’s basically all he does- he doesn’t even take part in any of the the fighting or plundering (when the rest of the crew’s busy doing That, he’s still flying the airship). Our man doesn’t much like fighting, you see.

…which might sound weird coming from a pirate, but he’s not always been one. It’s quite a recent thing, even. He was born to a family of very rich merchants from the Cloudsong, and lived most of his life basically free from trouble. Good living environment, a family that loved him more than anything - he has a twin sister, named Adara, and they grew up real close. Best sibs.

The only thing that sets him apart from the rest of his fam is his proficiency at magic. And the man is crazy good at it. It’s innate. Heck, he could make things around him and himself as well fly before he even knew how to walk or how to speak. He was quite a handful as a child. Thankfully he was well-behaved.His parents tried to hire confirmed mages to teach him to make the best out of his powers, but it???? didn’t yield anything. Mostly because he didn’t understand the methods they wanted him to apply, and also because he didn’t want to try much… So he just kept on going with whatever he could do on his own, and not much understanding why or how it worked. Why would he?? It felt more natural to him than so many other things that were already effortless.

(People who know his powers like to joke that to be this talented, he must be the windsinger’s own son. But they’re not that far from the truth… His sister was an only egg, and a fragile one- the others had been created lifeless. Their parents prayed to the Windsinger that she’d live, and Winddad heard them. He also heard how sad they were that their other eggs did not live, and so he was like. “Yknow what, I’m gonna do y’all a favor”, and while strengthening Adara’s own egg, created a perfect copy of it from his own magic, out of which Zach would be born.)(An identical copy of his sister, created from pure magic, by his god’s own hands. Come on, he’s made of the stuff, of course it’d flow naturally to him.)

ANYWAY. Sadly, good times have an end, he has to end up on that pirate ship somehow.

See, his family’s business was well-established, making lot of money and all. But some people didn’t like that, or certain new decisions they’d made. And one rousing scandal and some carefully planted ‘evidence’ later, their name was that of traitors, and the heads of the family, imprisoned. So our man Zach, who’d been enjoying life half doing his own thing, half helping out with said business, found himself homeless, money-less, and with everyone he used to know turning his back on him, either believing the lies or not wanting to associate with him to save face.

I think he left the Cloudsong for a little while, maybe went to his sister’s… But eventually he came back, because it was all that he knew. Maybe to see if things had changed? He’s a stubborn one. Well, they had not, and he ended up finishing his day in some random tavern in the not-so-well-frequented area. By which I mean, most of the patrons being outlaws of some sort. The only place where people would serve him anymore without at least a handful of people giving him weird looks.

That’s where he happened upon my pirate crew, and most specifically its captain, Eydis. They’d met once before, but in very different circumstances (still good though). But all that Eyds remembered basically boiled down to “this guy is a good mage, and I need a new one of those, hEY GUY OVER THERE WANNA WORK FOR ME?”

(She’s not very subtle)

(And he was kind of in a reckless mood so he was like “A friendly face? Sign me up”)(…he just did not remember that she was a pirate. Only that he didn’t associate any negative things with her, and in that moment, that was all he needed.)(...he still has trouble explaining his reasoning from back then now. If someone asks him, he say he just followed his instinct- maybe it was a little push of fate? But hey, things turned out for the better!)

So he became a member of my pirate crew. Befriended most everyone quite easily, tbh, he’s a very sympathetic guy, and a very valuable asset to the crew too. Things went so well he ended up falling in love with Eydis, they even had some kids... At some point down the line my man Cenric comes back to the crew too, falls hard for Zach, who also loves him quite a lot, and Eydis is like “if you don’t both confess I will personally make this happen” and now they’re dating too. Its generally just Chill for a good, long time period. Happiness up on a (pirate) airship.

THEN Carver, his son, happens to die. That’s hard blow #1. He kind of bottles it up, because he’s not good at dealing with things and if he just stays positive he can do as if nothing happened, right? right??TheN, within only a few months, some heck happens over with his other two children. That’s hard blow #2. This one is a little harder to shake off. On top of Carver’s death, the emotional toll becomes kind of heavy. He’s having a bit of trouble right now tbh, not to mention that Eyds is not doing her best either- and with their captain in a bad spot, the entire crew can feel it. That’s two of their most energetic people down. The mood is just Not That Great..

AND THEN more stuff happens but this is hella long so imma cut it there bc it is Not Official Yet (and once it is it’ll probs come out in a pseudo-update that’s just Bad Writing: Discord Update Edition bc i Cannot Hecking Write)

BUT!!!!! Some Bulletpoint Zach Facts for you still, in no particular order:

When I say he was born an identical copy of his sister aside from the magic powers, I mean it. He’s a trans man~

He “befriended” a Crowned Roc once. Which is to say, it tolerates him. He gets to ried on its back sometimes. By sitting on it and keeping himself stable with magic.

Said Roc is the one he got almost all his Windbound feathers from. Blessed them himself. In my lore, they are good luck charms and magic catalysts popular among wind flight mages

I’d talk about his approach to magic more but I found some posts instead

The jade jewelry he wears means a lot to him, and he gifted some to both his SOs, so have some very short things I wrote about those bc im a sappy shit

He almost never sleeps full nights, instead taking several short naps throughout the day. It takes a little while for other people to get used to it.

He’s, as of now, probably the most powerful dragon of my lair. And he doesn’t even realize it. This man is all potential... but almost only that.

He loves his family so much it is literally The Most Important thing to him ever. Family goes before anything else

His hair looks so ridiculously good all the time, he takes good care of it. He enjoys doing other people’s hair, too

He can’t fight to save his life

He’s almost killed a man once, though. Without even lifting a finger. I’ll need to tell that story someday. It was terrifying.

I’m cutting his hair off in future lore. It will be missed.

I love him so much but don’t do enough with him and also it’s sUPER LATE so I might stop here?

Oh wait look its theme songs time

That’s all I think?

If you have any more questions feel free to ask

Thank you so much for reading QvQ ♥

#cityofinoue #Sildy answers #c: zachariah #THIS GOT SO LONG THERES LIKE 1.5K WORDS THERE AT LEAST #im so sorry but also not really #WELL #THERE YOU GO

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geek-gem · 7 years

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The First Rampage Trailer

So after months of waiting and their being silence. We now have an official trailer for the movie based upon the Rampage video game franchise.

I've made a text post talking about this before oh stomach. Including my last reblog I well reblogged the trailer. But also just I saw the trailer again and two times rewinding the last half of the trailer mainly towards where the helicopter part is at to see the monsters.

Basically seeing that a few times made me think I wanna play Rampage Total Destruction after months well ever since my birthday.

Also I've read the notes. Some people are freaking out and about the humans becoming monsters. I did talk about this in the post probably. Even before the story was revealed I had wonder about that route.

Basically in the video games themselves spoilers in case. Ever since the original the three main mascot monsters themselves George the gorilla, Lizzie the lizard, and Ralph the wolf were are originally people. Because of a company named Scum yes their called that. Also the origins have changed in games at times. They are these people who transform into these monsters and they go around destroying shit and eating people.

Basically well originally an arcade game with sequels and also on consoles now.

While I'm not the biggest fan of the franchise. I've always liked it. Including last time I was in Kaiju mood or sometime when we got those first pictures.

I found the trailer to be nice. Yet understandable about the serious part. But their seems like comedy will be there still. Okay I was out of my room a bit to see if my parents needed help none for that front mail boxes then my cousin T's girlfriend calls face cam and I answer it and tell about what happened and give it to my mom who's holding my cousin T's girlfriend's baby girl. Then got some soap for my bathroom and washed hands whatever.

I'm sorry got off topic but about the comedy part. That helicopter that's nice yet didn't really laugh because was mainly excited about the monsters.

Including I didn't talk about more on the human part. Honestly I had this thought and I think I mentioned this in my posts and one time on Deviantart. Maybe it's because the idea of having humans still be the monsters would take a lot of time for development. Including even said in my head a waste sorry random negative bullshit yet I mean like I feel like they went with the route of animals instead humans becoming monsters. Probably because they might not wanna focus on development and their would not be much time.

Yet Rampage wasn't a very lore based game despite some of the story. From what I remember it's usually very simple. Despite the additions of aliens and time travel. Yes their is that stuff.

Including on a silly note I mentioned in that post of mine. I hope I see cute fanart of basically Dwyane Johnson's character being like a dad to these monsters. Weird idea no doesn't suck head no stop it meh head yet seriously his character basically being this guy who protects animals going against poaching. I can't remember his name but that's basically what his character is about. Honestly even the monsters in their regular forms.

I don't mind the monster being regular animals or well George in this case his hair being different and he's a rare gorilla of some kind.

Yet honestly my main negatives are just me being picky about designs and shit.

For George I was kind of expecting something similar to Kong and how he was in Kong Skull Island which was released this year. I know they can't make him look exactly like Kong. But I was honestly hoping it be similar to that. Including George is basically a parody of Kong himself.

For Ralph while his design is unqiue I was hoping something similar to like a werewolf even a wolf man I'm being weird. Instead of sticking to what an actual wolf looks like yet with added details showcasing his transformation. While I know the monsters aren't people anymore. I was hoping they some how have them gain anthro forms was gonna say human like forms too. But anthro makes a lot more sense even if it's weird.

Basically them standing on their two legs mostly like in the games.

Now we have Lizzie who is a crocodile and I'm guessing she's mainly gonna be a huge crocodile with added mutations and shit however it's spelt.

I was seriously hoping they try to stay with the well original looks. Then thought honestly they wouldn't because as the series went on they've become a lot more cartoony. Yet what I mean is basically scarier and okay I almost left more realistic yet what I mean is. Them not looking as cartoonish but their features would like faces and skin might be realistic and stuff like that.

Basically this weird grown up version of Rampage where the monsters are kind of more disgusting looking. Honestly discussing might not be the best word but basically designs that respect and honor the original looks while being their own designs.

Including I just want to mention this. Since I've mentioned this about George being a parody of Kong, Lizzie is a parody of Godzilla. While Ralph is a parody of basically well werewolves but with so right now took some time to look on Google. The game Rampage 2 Universal Tour theirs a reference to London because Ralph is held there. Basically also a reference to An American Werewolf In London and I wanna say that I've seen that film before when I was young. Good film yet it will kind of scar you for life in a way.

Honestly those were my biggest gripes because I basically wanted the monsters to be huge. While not as huge as let's say I've been thinking the Legendary version of Godzilla or even others versions Shin and the anime one too. Theirs also Kong in Skull Island yet he was still big too. Yet I kept thinking of that size and the monsters growing to that size. Including if you want them to well eat people. That's something you can do in the games.

So was looking on Wikipedia and that's where I've been getting this information yes not the most trust yet usually right I was checking Universal Tour and World Tour and Universal Tour and now the movie.

As of now it has a new thing for the plot. Also Dwyane's character is named Davis and so the thing is a rogue experiment actually. Honestly looking at the device even with Jeffery Dean Morgan's character talking about what it was. I was thinking of aliens. Including Universal Tour I know sorry if I'm wrong is the one game that deals with the alien part the most.

Honestly hope or just wait if it gets a sequel. I want to see if they can do that shit. Along with having monsters that appear later down the games. Even Total Destruction where theirs a shit ton.

Seriously I wonder if they make a joke or how people would react to a company or organization whatever named Scum. If the name is still there lol. Seriously I wanna know.

Really I liked the trailer kicked ass heard in head. In fact was thinking will this play before Justice League tomorrow. So I looked at Wikipedia a bit and it's New Line Cinema and their with Warner Bros so possibly might see it hope so man would kick ass oh head and had to keep retyping kick and just typos I'm typing too fast.

But honestly I liked this. Also I'll talk about Justice League and I haven't seen Rotten Tomatos yet lol

Got tags done lol and no other tags relating to this. Thought of making my own but just.......fine. So made two new tags if they were already made sorry if I took credit sucks ass. Also first time using a tag for Dwyane Johnson lol ha missed post I'm just smiling a bunch

#rampage #rampage game #rampage movie #dwyane johnson

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