#oh well. my opinion and tastes vs other peoples i suppose | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

bigskydreaming · 4 years ago

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Apropos of nothing other than fuyunoakegata making me think of it with that last post, I’ve gotten enough new followers lately that its worth a refresher slash introduction on one of my personal pet themes: that of the word ‘broken’ in regards to trauma/abuse/rape victims and survivors.

Again, nothing to do with them for using the word, but rather just an awareness of the many ways the word is used in those contexts in our society, and my personal opinion that a lot of those ways are very limited and could use some expansion beyond how we typically see these things talked about.

So the below excerpt is just one I think sums up my take on it all pretty well, and as such is a cornerstone viewpoint for a lot of the stuff I regularly express and/or circle back to, as well as being the scene I think I’ve probably gotten the most feedback/reactions to over the years out of pretty much anything I’ve written. Its YJ-verse, Dick and Dinah, utilizing the Tarantula storyline and the not-at-all-uncommon baby-in-the-aftermath trope, but stands fairly well on its own and doesn’t require any context or give any spoilers beyond that.

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In the end, it was Dick who finally broke the newly fallen quiet.

"Does Batman know yet?"

Batman, not Bruce. Dinah shook her head. They're one and the same, she wanted to remind him, wanted to shake him, wanted to scream in Bruce's face every time she'd watch him insist on the distinction over the past ten years.

"He's waiting back at Mt. Justice," she said. "But no, he doesn't know yet. He knows something is wrong, but I convinced him to let me come alone and speak with you first."

Dick snorted. "At least he actually listens to you."

"I think this makes the third time in the fifteen years I've known him," Dinah said wryly. "Don't go thinking I'm special. He only listened because I convinced him barreling in here would only make things worse. And the last thing your father has ever wanted to do is make things worse for you. He manages it sometimes anyway, but it's never his intent."

Not that intent matters, or is any kind of excuse for the harm or damage one actually causes, Dinah reflected. And normally it wasn't a line of thinking she'd ever open a door to at all, but with the past two years worth of tension between Dick and his father still a major source of the young man's turmoil, she figured it was worth it to see if Dick would seize the opportunity to defend Bruce. Lord knows Dick could hold a grudge against his father like no one's business, but anyone else trying it in his presence was usually a nonstarter.

To her disappointment - but not her surprise - Dick ignored the bait and instead just grunted. He stared at the floor, face alternately pale and purple under the neon glow that washed through the window via a strip club's signage across the street.

"I wouldn't have broken, you know," Dick said, never looking up. His lips twisted beneath the words, as if they tasted like something sour. "If he came too. I didn't...I don't want him here, not now, or yet, I mean. But it's not like. It wouldn't have broken me or whatever you're thinking. That's all I mean."

"I didn't say that it would, Dick," Dinah said carefully. But not so carefully as to lay credence to the idea she thought he was fragile. Not an easy line to traverse. Where's a tightrope walker when you need one? Oh, right. Crumpled up on the floor of his unlit apartment, afraid to even look at his own baby. Things were off to a promising start. "It's not either or. You're not broken just because you're not alright and you're not alright just because you're not broken. There's room for space in between."

She sighed and cast around the cramped apartment, dragging a chair from the kitchen table to settle down in front of him. The room was such a far cry from the opulence of Wayne Manor. She knew Dick had never been one to buy into the trappings of his father's wealthy lifestyle. She and Ollie frequently attended the same functions as the Waynes, and she'd smothered many a giggle at Dick and Jason's antics as the two reveled in shocking the Gotham elite with loud and pointed reminders of their impoverished 'low class' backgrounds. Still, looking around, she couldn't help but wondering how much of Dick's apartment and its placement was purely a result of not caring about things like wealth and status, and how much of it was a deliberate rejection of those things, of Bruce? Did it even matter? Or was she just stalling?

"You know, I've never really liked when people use that word," she mused. The baby in her arms stirred restlessly, his nose wrinkling. God. As a general rule, she preferred waiting until children were teenagers before interacting with them. She wasn't big on babies, usually - most people who cooed over their shrunken little faces and called them the most beautiful things they'd ever seen were just lying, in her opinion. But this one was a charmer. Or maybe he wasn't, and she was just already hopelessly attached because Reasons. Crap. Of all the times for a maternal bone to materialize.

"Broken. What does that even mean, really? It's just a description of a physical state, but people often use it like a judgment. As though it describes what someone is, instead of simply what state they're in at a particular moment. You can break something and then put it back together so you can never tell the difference, so what does it mean that it was broken? Why does it matter?"

Dick shifted for the first time since she'd entered the apartment. She might not be Batman caliber, but her own reflexes were nothing to sneeze at. Still, the suddenness of his movements were unexpected enough to catch her offguard as he reached over to the side and snatched up one of the escrima sticks he carried as part of his Nightwing ensemble. A slim but sturdy shaft of polished black wood about a foot long in length, it made a hell of a crack when he held it in both hands and brought it down over one knee, hard and fast enough to snap it in two. He tossed the two broken pieces onto the hardwood floor. One rolled over to rest against her foot.

"Can't fix that with crazy glue."

Dinah smoothed her features into careful non-reaction as she bent and reached down to pick up the broken stick, still cradling the infant in one arm as she rolled the shattered weapon in her other palm.

"No, I suppose not. But I bet you I could find a hundred other uses for this piece right here. Plenty of other things you could do with it, or things you could build with it. Use it as the foundation to make something else entirely, or even just carve it, turn it into a work of art, something beautiful. And whatever you end up with, could you describe it as broken? Yes, it wouldn't be your escrima stick anymore, doesn't do the same thing, have the same purpose, maybe what it was is broken. But what it is? What you make of it? Would that be broken?"

Dick jutted his jaw out, mulish, stubborn. A mirror of the expression she'd last glimpsed under Batman's cowl, not even an hour ago. They couldn't be more alike if they were blood. "I know what you're doing," he said.

"What's that?"

"Exactly what I should have known you'd do before I told Artemis she could send Wally to get you. Knew it was a mistake the second he left. I don't need a shrink right now, Canary."

She shrugged. "Good, because I'm done trying to be your therapist. I realized what a waste it was, on my way over here. I never caught a whiff of this brewing under your surface this past year, so obviously our sessions have just been a waste of both our time. I forgot that arrogant smart people make the worst patients."

That was enough to jolt a noticeable reaction out of him. Finally. It was a calculated gamble, one she already regretted as a swift flicker of hurt winged across his face, half-glimpsed and vanished as quickly as it came. It was a little harder for him to banish his gaping mouth. "Yeah, not your usual session starter," he agreed, in only the barest facsimile of his usual clever humor. But it was a start. "So I'm arrogant, now?"

"You always have been," Dinah said gently, trying to soften the blow of her harsh words. She quirked her lips in a half smile. "Just like your father. Difference is, you actually bother with social interaction and you're charming, so you can get away with it where he can't. And Dick...I'm not saying it as an insult. Or that it's a bad thing. I think you and Bruce are arrogant in certain ways, yes. I think you have to be. To do what you both do."

"You're both human, no superpowers, no magic, not even advanced technology giving you an edge. And yet you not only hold your own amidst heroes who have all those advantages and more, you take charge. You lead. You inspire. Mere confidence isn't enough to allow you to do that. You need something that goes beyond that, something that can only be called arrogance, because it's such a bone deep certainty that you can do all the things you profess you can do, that you are the right people to fight the battles you fight, that it's above questioning. There are a million and one reasons you both shouldn't be able to do the things you both do, and if there was even a second you doubted that you could, you probably wouldn't be able to. When you leap off ten story buildings with just a grapple line and your acrobatics to bring you safely to the ground, it's because you believe, no, you know, that you can defy gravity. Even though for seven billion other humans, gravity can't be defied. Dick, I'm an Olympic level gymnast. You don't see me leaping off ten story buildings if I can help it because I know I'm good, yes, but that doesn't mean I know in a battle of me vs gravity, I'm always going to win. You do. You know that. You believe that. And that is arrogance, yes. But it also happens to be justified, in your case."

He mulled that over, not looking thrilled, but at least looking engaged now, and she breathed a bit easier. Good. Engaged she could work with. It was a start. "Okay. Fine. So what about that makes me a terrible patient?"

"I never said terrible," she protested lightly. "I said the worst."

He glared.

She relented. "It's like Superman's invulnerability. Most of the time, that's exactly what he needs to keep him safe. It's all he needs. But in some specific, rare instances, even if it's only 1% of the time, the very thing that makes him so hard to hurt, makes him hard to help. All it takes is that one bullet that can pierce his skin, either because it's Kryptonite, or it's enchanted, or something else....and suddenly, that same invulnerability that keeps him safe 99% of the time is the very thing making it so hard to operate on him, to cut into him and dig out the one bullet that made it past his defenses. Dick, answer me this. What's the first thing you do when you're confronted with a problem?"

"I assess the situation and determine a course of action, I guess," he frowned. "Why?"

"Because when the problem is you, when it's something that's happened to you or something involving your behavior, the kinds of things that a therapist is meant to help you with, you do exactly that. You assess the situation, you assess yourself, your own behavior, and you come to a conclusion. Which means by the time you ever arrive at my doorstep for a session, you've already diagnosed yourself. You've made up your mind. That arrogance that gives you the strength, the certainty, the conviction you need to tackle every other obstacle you face without hesitation, it has you equally convinced that the conclusion you've already drawn about what's wrong with you or your behavior, it must be true. That you've got it already figured out. And so instead of our sessions being about me helping to guide you to a conclusion or helping you find the inconsistencies in your own logic or reasoning - that's not what you're actually there for. Because you're sure you already have the answer, and so instead of looking for it, you're really just looking for it to be validated."

She gave him a moment to absorb that, drawing a breath before continuing.

"And here's where you being so damn smart becomes a problem - because you're brilliant, Dick, just like Bruce is, you know how to read people, you know how to manipulate people, you can do it without even having to think about it. And so instead of telling me what you need to say, you tell me what you think I want to hear. And we get further and further away from actually helping you as you steer our sessions towards the conclusions you've made because of what's bothering you....instead of towards the conclusions you'd draw if you were ready to face it."

Dick leaped to his feet, face flushed in the moonlight. He stepped forward, aborted that when it drew him closer to her and the baby, features twisting in a heart-wrenching moment of agony for the briefest instant before he stepped away again. Carefully breathing in, making a visible effort to drop his voice despite his obvious agitation. Good. Awareness of his surroundings. Thinking beyond the moment to consequences of each action. Engaging more and more with his surroundings. She'd piss him off to Hell and back if that's what it took. Be angry, Dick. Rage. Scream. Yell. Hurt.

"So what?" He asked with a sharp, acidic laugh. He paced, arms buried in his armpits, hunched over, eyes on his boots as he wandered in circles. Pent up, restless energy. All the frenetic motion of Robin, of Nightwing, of a bird made for flying yet still stuck on the ground.

"You think I don't know what's bothering me? You think...I freak out a little and Wally runs to you and tells you something and you come back and find me all freaked out on the floor and you've got it all figured out from there, from just that, but you think I can't figure it out on my own? I'm brilliant, you said, but you think I'm all messed up because I can't face it, I can't see it even when its right in front of me?"

"That's not what I'm saying Dick," Dinah tried, but he just laughed again. Jabbed a hand towards the baby in her arms, took it back halfway.

"I know what happened, Canary," he bit out. "I was there. I don't need you to hold my hand and walk me through it so I can face it. Yeah, okay, I get it. I was raped. Tarantula raped me. I can say it. I'm not - I'm not in denial. I've been doing this since I was ten, I'm not...I know the statistics, I know it's not any different just because I'm a guy. I get that men can get raped, that they can be raped by women, that there's no other word for what happened to me. That it wasn't my fault, that I was in shock, that I can't be blamed for her taking advantage of me in that state. I know all that okay? It's not a fucking revelation to me, I don't need anyone's help to fucking face that!"

"Then what's the problem, Dick?" Dinah asked softly when he ran out of steam, or breath or both. His hair was wild in disarray, his stance a contradiction of defensiveness and a pending attack. His chest heaved like a bellows even though he'd yet to raise his voice past a low-pitched hiss. "If you know all that already, where's the problem? What are you having trouble with here? What reason does someone who's already faced all that have for hiding it from his friends and family for a year?"

"There's no problem, that's my whole point," Dick insisted, throwing his arms wide. "Fine, I freaked out for a minute because I just found out my rapist had my fucking baby, and I thought it was over and done with but....jesus. I'm not...it's not because I can't deal with what happened. God, nothing even happened! It was barely anything. I barely even remember it I was so out of it, and then it was over. She didn't hurt me, its not like it was painful or I was drugged or it left me damaged or something, okay? I told you, I've been doing this for ten years. I've SEEN victims okay, real victims, women and even men who are so fucking traumatized by what some sicko did to them they can barely get out of bed in the morning. I've seen victims left beaten and bloody by their attackers, who've...it was nothing like that, okay?"

Dinah nodded. "And that. That right there. That's exactly what I'm talking about."

Dick blinked and rocked back on his heels. Blindsided by her calm and her seeming non sequitur. "What do you mean?"

"I mean you misdiagnosed," she said with a helpless shrug. "You've been so busy reacting to what you thought was your problem, what you were convinced must be bothering you - whether or not you were able to admit that you were raped, that you could be raped even though you're a man, let alone an accomplished fighter able to protect himself - that you left yourself wide open to something else entirely. Tell me. What do you know about Impostor Syndrome?"

"It's a term sometimes used to describe over-achievers who have trouble internalizing their accomplishments. Perfectionists who think they're frauds because they don't know how to take credit for their own achievements and say its because of luck or timing or something other people did," Dick frowned, puzzling through both the question and the aim of it. He raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't sound like something that applies to someone as arrogant as me."

"Don't be a little shit, Dick," Dinah said with small smirk. "And you're right, I don't think any of that applies to you. However, it's also used in another capacity, to describe trauma survivors who are unable to internalize their own trauma. Who deflect from it, or mitigate it, treat it as less than it is on the basis that it wasn't as bad as what's happened to someone else. It's especially common in trauma survivors who are noted for being especially empathetic or who have caregiver personality types. People who are so used to self-identifying as someone whose role or purpose is in helping others, that they find themselves unable to identify as traumatized because it might shift the focus to themselves instead of people they feel need it more. Does that behavior sound a little more familiar?"

Dick hesitated, eyes on the floor and darting every which way as though looking for escape from a trap.

"It should," she pressed on. "Considering you've been doing that for a long time, much longer than just this past year. Pretty much as long as I've known you, in fact."

"What are you talking about?"

"What do you do whenever someone brings up your parents or their deaths?" Dinah asked softly. He flinched. Ducked his head to the side. Jaw tightened again. "You say it was a long time ago. Or that at least you have Bruce now. Or that you wish other orphaned kids could be as lucky as you ended up. Always shying away from the idea that you might need sympathy or comfort because of what happened to your parents and pointing instead to everyone else who needs it more. And it only got worse when Bruce adopted Jason."

"Don't -" Dick warned. His head snapped back up, fire in his eyes, but she refused to be deterred. Not when she finally had his full attention.

"You never allowed anyone to dwell on any of your myriad traumas once Jason came along. Not just your parents, but what happened with Two-Face, the first time you faced the Joker, nothing. You'd always deflect, always shift things back around to Jason. And what a hard life he'd had. So much harder than you, you insisted. At least your parents loved you. At least they didn't abuse you like Jason's father abused him, or were a drug addict like his mother was. Someone mentioned the time you spent in a juvenile detention center as an eight year old, all because some racist bitch of a social worker didn't like that you were Romani, and your response was that at least you didn't have to live on the streets like Jason did before he met Bruce."

"This has nothing to do with Jason!" Dick ground out, heated.

"It's not about Jason, Dick. It's about you. Because your brother had a hard life, yes. It's true. He suffered terrible traumas before Bruce found him and adopted him. And not a single one of those things are made less true, or invalidated or in any way threatened just because terrible things happened to you too. So why do you insist your pain was less than his? That yours didn't matter just because his existed?"

"It's not the same thing," Dick insisted stubbornly. "You can't compare what happened to my parents to the twelve years of shit Jason had to live through."

"I'm not though, Dick. You are. You're the only one saying one must be worse than the other. All I'm saying is both existed."

She sighed. "Trauma isn't a scale to be measured on. It doesn't require a minimum threshold, and it doesn't have a ranking order. It's not about how much harm was caused or how much damage someone did, because at the end of the day, trauma is transformation."

"What do you mean?"

Dinah held up his broken escrima stick, still cradled in her hand. "Trauma is force that causes change. It's not about the act of damaging. It's about what's left behind once the damage is done. I could break this stick into two pieces. It would take a certain amount of force, a certain amount of damage. And once that was done, we'd be left with two pieces here instead of this one. But then give me another stick the same size, same dimensions, only this one is made of metal. I could break that in two as well. But it would require a whole different kind of force, a whole different order of damage. But in the end, once it was done, we'd still be left with two pieces of that too, instead of the one we started with."

"Two different sticks,” Dinah continued. “Two different traumas. Two different applications of force. And the only thing in common is in the end....both sticks would be transformed. Neither would be what they were originally. Not less. Not more. But different. Changed by the trauma they endured. You want to quantify that trauma? You probably could. It'd be arbitrary, but you could do it. You could calculate the force used, define parameters for the damage it caused. But what would that mean? What's the outcome? What happens because you decided one trauma was greater than the other? How does that alter the fact, the reality, that in the end, the survivors of those two different traumas are changed? Something different from what they started as?"

"But it is different," Dick insisted. He looked confused though, rather than forceful. "Context matters. The situations matter."

"Yes, they do," Dinah agreed. "But it's a question of focus, not degree. Which trauma was worse only really matters when you're focused on the trauma. When you're looking at what the trauma leaves behind though? When you focus on the survivors? All that really matters is...how are they different? How were they changed?"

"Dick, you only started getting angry and frustrated when you compared what you went through to what other rape victims you've seen over the years have gone through. What they went through is terrible, yes. It doesn't mean what happened to you wasn't terrible as well. You said you weren't hurt, it wasn't painful, she didn't damage you physically. That doesn't matter though. Because rape isn't about any of those things. It's not about pain, it's not about how much it hurt. Rape is about theft."

He flinched at that, taking a step back.

"Rape is theft,” Dinah pressed forward. “It's betrayal. It's someone taking something they have no right to, something precious, something that can't be taken back. It's taking away someone's right to choose who they share their body with, its using someone's body against them, against their wishes. That's what Tarantula did to you. Whether it hurt or not, whether you remember it fuzzily or in full detail...she took something from you, something you can't get back, and in doing so, she changed you forever."

He shook his head, eyes back on the ground. Denial but not denial. Acceptance but not acceptance. She forged on.

"And the thing is, you're right. You haven't been in denial about what happened. You know that she raped you, that that's what it is. What you haven't faced though is that it's not about how much that hurt you. It's about how much it changed you. Because you're different now, aren't you? And you're smart enough that you figured that out as soon as it happened, that you're not the same anymore, because I'm willing to bet everything looks different to you now. Because you lost something you didn't even know you could lose until it was gone. A sense of security you took for granted, that something like this could never happen to you, except now you know that it can, and it did. We're all made up of our experiences and your experiences now include something they didn't before, something big, something that left a sizable impact, and the be all and end of it all is that you've changed, and you know that....and you keep looking for an answer as to why. Why is everything so different now? Why are you so different?”

She sighed softly.

“And the problem is the only answer you have for that, you decided wasn't good enough for you. Because it wasn't as bad as it could have been. As bad as what happened to other people. And so you've trapped yourself because you know something's different but the thing that caused it, the thing that changed you....it wasn't big enough to explain this change, you decided. You didn't suffer enough, it didn't hurt enough, and so it's not a good enough reason for you to not be who you used to be. And so you keep finding the flaw in yourself, deciding that it must be that you're weak, that everything unsettling you, upsetting you, it's not because what Tarantula did warrants those changes, it's because you can't cut it. That's what you've been telling yourself, haven't you? You're not a survivor, because you don't think there was anything for you to survive. You're not traumatized because the trauma doesn't count. You didn't suffer enough, so that can't excuse all the turmoil you feel."

Dick paced restlessly, all that frenetic energy he always carried with him ratcheted up in intensity until Dinah was half convinced he was going to shake himself to pieces if he didn't find an outlet soon. Unfortunately, she wasn't quite ready to stop.

"All those other victims you described seeing over the years. When you helped them, did you tell them you were sorry for what they went through?"

Dick paused and raised haggard eyes. "Of course I did. Why?"

"Why did you?" Dinah asked, arching a brow. "You didn't do anything to them. You weren't apologizing for something you caused. So what did it mean, to tell them you were sorry?"

"I don't know. It's just...it's what you do. It's a comfort."

"Why though? What about it makes it a comfort?"

"I don't know, it just is. It lets them know somebody cares, I guess," Dick raged. "What are you getting at? You have all the answers, you tell me!"

"Think it through, Dick," Dinah said, firm. "They don't know you. You're a stranger to them. What does it mean for a stranger to tell a victim they're sorry, that they care. What does it matter? What does it do for them?"

Dick stared at her. His face wide and open and searching as he hunted for answers in the shadows of his room, of his own mind. He looked like he'd run a marathon, his body limp and exhausted seeming, like he was only remaining upright by the barest of threads.

"When I tell someone I'm sorry for what happened to them. I don't know. It tells them I see them, I guess," he said hesitantly. She nodded, encouraging him to go on. "That I see what they've been through. That I'm sorry they went through it."

He focused his eyes on hers, with a little more clarity this time. "I tell them...they survived, I guess. That what happened to them...it didn't just happen, it wasn't supposed to happen. But it did. It mattered. What happened to them mattered."

"Yes," Dinah agreed softly. "And every victim you've ever helped, as Robin or as Nightwing, every survivor you've told 'I'm sorry this happened to you' - every time one of them looks in the mirror and recognizes that they aren't the person they were before it happened, that they've changed...they can hold on to that memory of you saying you're sorry. And they know. It happened. It mattered. It is the reason they're different. It is the reason they changed."

Dinah hesitated, and then she said: "I'm sorry it happened to you, Dick. I'm sorry it changed you. I'm sorry that you can't go back to the way things were. I can't tell you it will get better with time. You aren't injured. This isn't a wound that will scar over if you just leave it alone long enough. You can't heal a transformation. But you can decide what you change into. You can decide who you become, even if its not what you were. It'll still be you. A whole you. A complete you. Just a different you. Just like you became someone different after your parents died. I never knew you before that changed you. But that didn't make the you I met any less worth knowing."

He sobbed. Just once, like it was ripped out of him. A tangled, tormented wreck of a sound, his face contorted in a rictus of misery beneath eyes that glistened with a watery sheen, reflecting the wan illumination. It was all he allowed himself, before he found his usual iron control and slammed the gates shut, expression going blank, but it was enough. It was a beginning.

#rape tw

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coeursetcolores · 4 years ago

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What I Would Add/Change About: Dead or Alive 6

Hello internet! As you probably know, I love video games and I would talk about my feelings for the ones I’ve played for hours. Unfortunately, I don’t pay too much attention to the various gameplay and added content mechanics, so I don’t feel as though I’m qualified to give full-on reviews; my focus is usually on the story and characters, but I am learning to keep a more open eye. So, I’ve decided to start this series! On the anniversary of a game I’ve played’s release, I will talk about what I think a game could have included to improve certain elements or what I think they should have just changed all together about something in it. I will make sure to include what I liked about it as well to keep these from getting too negative.

This is all just my own personal opinion and if you disagree with me, that’s perfectly okay! If you’d like to talk about a point I made, please let me know, but please try to respect my opinion as I respect yours.

Fair warning, I won’t talk about online stuff. I’m not an online gamer, that’s just not me.

Well, with out further ado, let’s get started!

Today is March 1st. Two years ago in 2019, Dead or Alive 6 was released. Bet you guys didn’t know I was fan, did you?

Yes. Yes I am. And there is one thing I love more than that entire series all together.

Kasumi.

I love that woman.

I have yet to see any other woman that I would even consider loving as much as her.

Amazing main, best girl, gripping protagonist, top-tier waifu.

But back to the subject!

Almost seven years since Dead or Alive 5 was released and left it’s audience wanting more, today we ask: Did it live up to seven years of expectations?

For me...

YES!

...Mostly.

I had a real fun time playing when I could (I didn’t have constant access to the console I played it on, don’t ask) but even with how polished the series has gotten, there were a few things that left a sour taste in my mouth.

Let’s go over them, shall we?

SPOILERS AHEAD!

To keep a positive spin on this criticism, I’m going to talk first about all the things I absolutely LOVED about the game:

IT’S. STUNNING. The graphics look amazing, and the slow-motion and visible injuries along with DOA5′s sweat and dirt gives the fights such a weight, it’s brutally gorgeous and I love that video games have reached that level of detail.

Voice acting is good, and I’d have to give best performance to Karen Strassman’s Helena just for her after fight in Kokoro’s story mode because. My gosh. The way she begs Kokoro not to leave her is just heartbreaking, and to do all that while doing an accent is just amazing.

Funniest part of the game was definitely when Zack told Tina she couldn’t be governor. I love how he just shot her down in a whole series of her dad failing to drag her away from her wild dreams through fighting, Zack accomplishes it just by reminding her how the law works.

Kasumi is safe! ...Apart from all the evil clones sent after her. But Ayane is finally leaving her alone!

Helena in the ending. My gosh, the way she just shuts NiCO down and calls her out on failing to move on healthily is a good message about properly dealing with grief and really shows how much she’s grown in the series from the vengeance seeker she started as.

I genuinely liked the addition of Marie Rose. She had a cool design and her character was really charming. The team could easily have made her super annoying, but she was pretty solid, and I appreciate that.

Kokoro’s dress with the beret. It’s just too cute!

I still love kicking opponents off the stage.

Still glad the series hasn’t decided to sink into hyperrealism.

COLORS! ...Those are dying in video games. :(

The story for the most part is interesting and every character gets to shine in their own special way.

Diego was really cool, I always love the addition of an untrained street fighter keeping up with these professional martial artists, it really goes to show that in a fight anything can happen.

I really loved watching Tina and Bass become a tag team, aww! Tina does love her daddy!

The costumes, as always, are awesome.

Vibrant backgrounds, as expected.

The fact that it happened! I was worried I’d never see my sweet Kasumi again!

Alright! Now that we got all the things I unquestionably loved about the game down, here are some things I feel the game was missing.

ADD:

MORE KASUMI! If she’s your heroine, give her more screen time! (What do you mean I’m biased?!)

Have some more time with Kasumi, Ayane and Hayate, show just how conflicted they are by their tragic circumstances when they have to work together when they all know that they will never be able to go back home together. That ending scene was bittersweet, but I feel like they could have done more.

Bring Bayman into the alliance? I mean, he does want revenge on Phase 4. I get that he kinda works with them, I just think they could use him more.

Have Kasumi have a fight with the main Phase 4? I think it’d be interesting to have this clone weapon, who hates that she hurts people, face off against the original who’s now accepted the brutality of the world and will show no mercy to those who stand in her way. I feel like it’d give Kasumi some introspection and see just how much she’s changed; in a way, Phase 4 is a lot like how Kasumi started: she didn’t want to hurt anyone and make enemies, but she couldn’t do anything about it. The difference is Kasumi became the way she is because of her own choice and beliefs while Phase 4 literally can’t stop herself.

Have Lisa explain herself, geez! What is up with this woman?! What are her goals exactly?! Wait...how is she still alive?! Woman straight up had a building fall on her! Why are we just letting her walk away?! LISA!! GET BACK HERE!! WHAT’S YOUR DEAL WOMAN?!!!

So...I guess we still don’t get to beat the crap out of Donovan? Sigh...guess they’re saving that for 7. Hopefully.

And that’s all I think they could have added. And now, here’s everything I think they should have thought about twice.

CHANGE:

Really? You’re just going to bring Raidou back for the final boss? Really? Why not use prime Phase 4, that would have been interesting, a final boss who doesn’t WANT to be the final boss? Come on DOA, you’re better than this! You had seven years to make a final boss! If you couldn’t think of one, just go DOA2 and pull something random out! There’s even another tengu you could have used! Who even remembered Raidou at that point?!

LESS. HONOKA. My gosh, she’s annoying! I’m sorry, I’m sure she has fans, but she just irritated me! Not only was she shoehorned into the plot, but she’s also a total Mary Sue! And that voice, AAAAGGGGHHHH! This is not a knock on Kira Buckland, she’s cool and great at her job, but AAAGGGHHHH! With so many three-dimensional and interesting characters, she just falls flat (metaphorically, of course).

Was Nyotengu actually necessary? I get that the tournament itself is just a distraction now, but she honestly bored me.

Why does Helena’s mother need to come back to life? Seriously, what did M.I.S.T. see in reviving one of the mistresses/mothers of their rival? Is this supposed to like torture Helena or something? This was just unnecessary, there was no reason for this. Sorry Maria.

Oh, so Rig’s mind controlled now? Would have been great if they had foreshadowed that in 5. You know, so it wouldn’t have come out of nowhere and helped explain his whole 180 when he was introduced!

Does Jann Lee really need another rival? Just focus on Lei Fang, she’s awesome!

Bit more meta, but did Rig and Christie really need new voice actors? The new ones are fine, but it just seemed unnecessary.

I’m really mixed about how story mode is laid out in modern DOA. On the one hand, putting everyone’s stories in one playthrough really makes it hard to really get attached to one, which I think is a very important aspect of fighting games. On the other, doing it in this style really helps keep the general plot coherent and easier to follow. I think a good way to handle this would be to make different story modes; a campaign to follow the whole vs. Donovan storyline and a different one that has each character’s individual story outside of the main plot.

Alternatively, divide the story between the tournament and the fight against Donovan; ‘cause I don’t think the Mugen Tenshin clan and their allies are going to be in any tournaments anytime soon.

BRING BACK UNLOCKABLE OUTFITS! Outfits may be understandable for DLC, but it’s just so much easier to unlock them all! I’m not made of money!

Even with all these negatives, I still had a great time playing! It was great to see the cast I loved so much (with one in particular) come back and beat the crap out of each other and I can’t wait for the next one!

...In five years.

#Rambling #Dead or Alive #DOA #Dead or Alive 6 #What I Would Add/Change About...#New series #Criticism #Praise #My Silly Personal Opinion

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officiallallorona · 4 years ago

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AOS thoughts 3x08-3x18

the latest in opinions no one asked for

Hunter’s hacker persona when they break into the ATCU is fantastic. Love Daisy feeding him hacker jargon as Mack pretends to be the FBI hotline. Lincoln looks impressed af and honestly me too. The team just doing classic spy hijinks is my fave.

Oof. I KNEW Rosalind and Coulosn wouldn’t end well. I was hoping they’d just have a “sorry it didn’t work out” sitch that ended with her put on a bus. But of course they fridged her. *eyeroll* It’s not as if Team Coulson doesn’t already have 1000 valid reasons to kill Ward.

A taste of DIRECTOR MACK this early? In season 3? Be still my beating heart.

God, these Malick’s stay annoying, don’t they? Although I think Nathaniel will still prove to be the most annoying.

Fitz is so SOFT for Jemma, and it’s really cute. Homeboy’s heart is breaking trying to help her with Will but he’ll just do whatever. Fitzsimmons is still far from being “the draw” for me like they are with most of the fandom, but I do enjoy them.

Kinda sad they killed Will off. He had the makings of being a good character. Now it just seems like he was contrived Fitzsimmons angst that they neutralized immediately.

Omg OF COURSE Hunter tried an Inhuman fish oil pill. That’s one of those little character things just thrown in that I love.

I’ve seen the Spy’s Goodbye in GIF form but I didn’t expect it to hit so hard? I nearly cried! I already miss Bobbi and Hunter so much.

Oooh! Surpise Bethany Joy Lenz! Is Haley James Scott here to fuck shit up?

I have a lot of thoughts about 3x15 in particular because I love this damn episode.

I love Coulson having trouble not calling Daisy “Skye.” The fact that he slipped up for the first time in awhile in this ep when telling her to come home really emphasizes their father/daughter relationship. Skye is the girl he found out in a van and “adopted.” So that’s who he thinks of when she’s going off into a more dangerous than usual situation.

Great job, effects people. Those fleshy skeletons Hive leaves behind genuinely squick me out.

Fitz explains the concept of space-time SO MUCH BETTER than anyone in Endgame did.

May and Andrew have such a beautiful, tragic story. Ming-Na Wen and Blair Underwood’s acting is just top notch.

Oh, Lincoln has indeed grown on me. I no longer find him boring. I still don’t think that he’s Daisy’s soulmate or anything (I think they’re both too similar in letting their emotions get the best of them that they wouldn’t have worked long-term even if he hadn’t died), but I do enjoy them. And they are sweet/helping each other grow even among the chaos.

Fitzsimmons in the “snowy” ashes saying “I think we’re supposed to hold hands now...maybe some things are inevitable” is lovely.

This stuff with Daisy and Charles Hinton is really sweet too, if devastating. He’s just so HAPPY he finally made a difference. And she’s promising to protect his daughter (not unlike the agent who protected baby Daisy). I’m EMOTIONAL.

Damn it. So much for Bethany Lenz fucking shit up. Fridged for Malick. I swear, when they introduced her in the stinger, they were implying that she would be just as formidable as her dad. But nope. Disappointing.

Oh that’s nice that they got the same dude to be young Gideon in S7 as they did in S3.

Eww Malick dying was gross. This show goes pretty hard with gore for a basic cable show.

YoYo and Mack learning each other’s languages. She was practicing “nice to see you again. You’re looking well” specifically for him? GIRL I LOVE?!!!!

Also God, I love Daisy as the leader of the Secret Warriors. The show is NOT going to give me enough of this. I already feel robbed.

Bruh, 3x17 was fantastically suspenseful. Who’s the mole? The Inhumans feeling hunted by SHIELD and trying to regroup. And Dark, Brainwashed Daisy is one of the things I knew was coming, but my jaw still dropped.

Wow, the team really doesn’t like Lincoln, do they? They’re doing everything to save infected Daisy but Coulson is willing to nuke Lincoln the second he gets infected? I’m glad May calls Coulson out on it. Also, Lincoln saying that he bets they’d like if he died so “you three can go back to being a small, messed up, family.” While I like the emphasis on them being a family (and doing the classic “I don’t like our daughter’s bf”), it seems a little unwarranted. Lincoln’s volatile, but I don’t think he’s any more chaotic than Daisy. And sure, he’s there for his girl and not the cause, but such was the case with Hunter and the only one who gave him shit for that was May. In this case it seems like so many--Coulson, May, Mack--are kinda just dealing with Lincoln for Daisy’s sake and I don’t know that strong of a dislike/distrust is earned.

However, it does make me smile thinking of the future in which everyone is on-board with Daisy/Sousa.

Mack saying “If [Dr. Radcliffe] is the only way to cure Tremors, you know where I stand” when it comes to Fitzsimmons performing unethical surgery. Listen, I know it’s protagonist-guided morality with how the team would flame anyone else for staking so much on one person vs the greater good, but honestly Daisy deserves people who love her that much. Who say “fuck it. You do what it takes to get her back.”

NEEDLE IN THE EYE. I DID NOT NEED THIS. Also omg, it’s Jonathan from The Mummy!

#evan watches aos #agents of shield #mcu #long post

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borisbubbles · 5 years ago

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39. ROMANIA

Roxen - “Alcohol you”

youtube

Lol Remember when it was mid-Feb and we were all blissfully unaware of the dark Covid-tinted clouds looming just beyond the horizon? Well, around that time, Romania released their five Roxen songs and ESCUnited being as ESCUnited does, instantly annointed “Alcohol” you as their fave. “This selection is good but “Alcohol you” is great” “Omg I welled up when I heard “Alcohol you” ALCOHOLYOUALCOHOLYOUALCOHOLYOU. Obs, my interest was piqued, so

I sat myself down

Plugged in my earbuds

and listened

and wondered “Did this woman just sing “I I Will Call You When I’m Drunk???”

Am I listening to the same song?” Am I missing something here? Am I losing my mind? Am I in “A Beautiful Mind” and am I Russell Crowe? What the fuck’s going on?

Song Analysis

Unfortunately, while the brief Roxen reverence was lowkey fascinating, “Alcohol you” itself is a crock of shit and Roxen Fans have convinced themselves otherwise because... she bedazzles her face? There are strings present? It’s edgier than liking “Tears getting sober”?

First of all, the lyrics. SINCE people love to mention how profound and genuine "Alcohol you” is, here is the first verse:

The sun is rising ink For me it's hard to blink I'm falling I wrote some stupid words Before I lost my mind And called you A taste of bittersweet To chase the memories Blue heaven I need you but it hurts To feel like I deserve Your weapons

SO TOUCHING! SO DEEP! SO REAL! I... have no fucking idea what’s she’s singing, lol. Is this what the average reader of BorisBubbles.tumblr.com experiences with each passing entry? Is “Wrote some stupid words, before I lost my mind” a part of the writer brainstorm that accidentally made its way into the song? Like what do these words even mean. Random words strung together without context are just jibberish Roxen, I am *SO* sorry to tell you. A Few Lame Puns A Good Story Does Not Make. The only “profound” thing about “Alcohol you” is its ability to profoundly confuse the shit out of anyone who hears it. Shit be shallower than a puddle, yo.

Oh and as an aside: Drinking and drugs, and the abuse thereof is a massive issue with teenagers. So yes, I definitely welcome songs that serve as a PSA against this, but for some reason people (idiots) believe “Alcohol you” counts as one and, no? The song is about Roxen drinking to FORGET the abuse her love interest puts her through (I think? God this shit is more nebulous than Plath). This song does not warn against alcoholism. It actively trivilalizes it.

NF Corner

What the general opinion didn’t lie about however, was the qualité shown in Selecta Nationala. Naturally, as one could expect, Roxen torpedoed every song she didn’t like (read: the bombed with every song other than the pathetically easy-to-sing-and-emote-with “Alcohol you”), so what SHOULD’VE been an epic NF instead turned into a blatant coronation. Also, Natalia Gordienko was there serving some epic Abu Ghraib-like vocals, but more on that in a few updates.

Anyway, there fortunately was ONE song which could contest “Alcohol you” and that’s this one

Roxen - “Storm”

youtube

A burst of juvenile energy and self-empowerment that might’ve been a bit TOO big for Roxen. ‘HI I AM STORM’ is such a hilarious Pot Ledom-esque line and the duality of calm zen verses and an irresistable sassy chorus was a thing Billie Eilish (omg i made it this far without mentioning her. Props to myself, I guess) would pull off with ease. Seeing as both “Cherry Red” and “Beautiful Disaster” were... well... not-so-beautiful disasters, I would have gladly taken a “Storm” over what actually won? Meh. ESC was cancelled anyway, so I suppose I’m not that bothered anymore. Oh wellerz.

Romania 2020 vs Romania 2021

Bookmakers were CONVINCED that Roxen would have EASILY floated her way into the finale but I don’t know about thaaaaat (-- Sandra Diaz-Twine). Look, okay, Roxen’s biggest issue really is the lack of experience. She just doesn’t have finesse a more experienced performer, such as a Destiny or an Ulrikke (TVR inviting Ulrikke to SN was kind of a highkey PR disaster, as Ulrikke mopped the floor with *everyone* there, including poor Roxen) and well... “Alcohol you” is a bad song, lol? Yes, there was a lack of good lowtempo in semfinal one, but Romania didn’t have it, okay? Borderline at best. However, TVR have reselected Roxen and have a full year to work on her until she has the peform. Selectia Nationala was good - Romania just have to continue down the same paradigm, and they should have a good shot at reaching the finale.

FREAKY! FRIDAY! FACTOR!

Instead of going for a nationwide selection and living with the ~DRAMA~ that would have come along with it, TVR cut the crap, selected an artist and then provided a soft-rigged NF where their chosen song woudl be selected. This is a reskin of the usual Romania stuff, but I will be lenient given how bonkers the finale set up was. Roxen terminating her two best songs via an involuntary lack of energy actually turned into a brief twitter meme and I lived for it.

I will also give props for TVR’s choice of invited artists. Sandro is w/e, but Ulrikke completely dunked everyone present, but the REAL freak entry was Natalia Gordienko’s “Prison” and I don’t wish to spoil but... let’s just say it was a performance that was rather hard to forget. For these reasons, have a few senhitfaces:

Score: 2 Senhits out of 5

#Eurovision #Eurovision Song Contest #Eurovision 2020 #Romania #Roxen #alcohol yo

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tentpoletrauma · 4 years ago

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Transcript of our A Nightmare of Elm Street (2010) podcast

Unknown Speaker 0:10 Welcome to Tentpole Trauma, the podcast where we look at movies that came with hype and high hopes, but left with crushing disappointment, either critically at the box office are both. freed from the weight of expectations, we seek to examine these underperformers under a new light parsing through the good, the bad and everything in between with the hopes of gaining a better understanding as to why they failed to find their audience.

Unknown Speaker 0:41 Warning, there will be spoilers. So if you haven't seen the movie that we're discussing today, I suggest you stop the podcast and go watch it. Then when you come back and listen, you'll get more out of the discussion. This episode, we examine the 2010 remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Unknown Speaker 1:39 When West Cravens A Nightmare on Elm Street was released in 1984. I was a teenager, and though I did not see it in the theater, so my horror obsessed friends did and their reaction to it was nothing short of ecstatic. I caught up in video and saw the next two sequels in the theater. And though Michael Myers was more my slasher soon I was a Freddy Krueger convert. I lost track of the dream demon over my 20s but enjoyed the monster mashup between him and Jason for he's in 2003 Freddy vs. Jason. By the time a remake was announced in the late aughts, I was back into horror in a big way and was ready for more Freddy. And when Jackie Earle Haley, an actor I loved was revealed to be taking over for the iconic Robert England, and that the film was getting a decent budget to realize its fantastical dream sequences, I was hyped. Some months before the release, a friend of mine scored tickets to a preview screening of the movie, which I was only too happy to accept. There had been rumors of a troubled production as video director Samuel bear had never done a feature. But I was still hopeful it would be good. But the film we saw that night was a mess. It's hard for me to remember now 10 years later, what was different in the preview as compared to the official release. But I do remember the original opening scene took place at a high school party, and that the climax featured out of place religious imagery, and that at one point Freddy showed up in monk's robes. It was weird to say the least. When the film was released to the public, I saw it again out of curiosity and thought that improvements had been made, and that the movie had some redeeming qualities overall, but that ultimately it felt inconsequential, and that Jackie Earle Haley fell far short of the great Robert England. critics and fans were far less kind to it than I was another film made a profit it pretty much shut down the Platinum dunes remake machine for good. No sequel was ever announced. And Fred has been absent from our dreams and from movie screens ever since. So what went wrong? That's what we're here to discuss on this episode of Tentpole Trauma, the 2010 remake of the Nightmare on Elm Street.

Unknown Speaker 4:02 All right, I'm Sebastian and I'm here with Jennifer. Hello. And Rodney from the pod forsaken podcast. Hey,

Unknown Speaker 4:10 everyone. Hello,

Unknown Speaker 4:12 Ronnie. Why haven't you called? Have you ever thought of rebranding the podcast to rod forsaken?

Unknown Speaker 4:18 You know, I bring that up to my co hosts every episode before we record. And because there's two of them, they always outvote me. But I I'm with you maybe you want to have a word with them.

Unknown Speaker 4:28 This is why you kill your other hosts.

Unknown Speaker 4:31 Oh, is is that why there were seven hosts here at 10

Unknown Speaker 4:34 years to be more hosts for Tentpole Trauma, but they are gone now. They died in their dreams. Tell us a little bit about your podcast.

Unknown Speaker 4:43 Piper Sagan horror podcast is a horror podcast where we kind of do the opposite. I think of what you guys do. We specifically pick horror movies that most people have never seen or maybe never even heard of. And then we watch them. We tell you about them. We usually do a format where First, the beginning of the episode, we watch the trailer for the movie we're going to do next week, so that you can, you know, you can watch the trailer and decide if this movie is for you. And then, you know, we talked about the movie with no spoilers give you kind of a review, and then we dive in and just spoil the shit out of it. But the whole point is that like, as we were all horror fans, obviously, and after a certain point, you have to start digging deep to find good stuff, right? Like theatrical, hollywood movies kind of start leaving a bad taste in your mouth. And so we started the podcast to help horror fans find the really good shit that's either foreign or like independently made that you might not know about. It's just a passion project that I do with some friends. And we've had a very good response so far. Although no one's probably gonna look me in the eyes and say, I hate your fucking podcast, but you're welcome to.

Unknown Speaker 5:55 Well, I've been meaning to tell you.

Unknown Speaker 5:57 Now is your moment.

Unknown Speaker 5:58 No, no, I love your podcasts. Awesome. Well, that's great. We're talking about the 2010 Nightmare on Elm Street remake directed by Samuel bear. And the reason why I chose it is not because it was a huge financial disaster because it actually wasn't it actually cost about $46 million or something and made three times that worldwide so it's not a financial disaster, but I do believe that it effectively the fan and Critical response for it was pretty much toxic. And it pretty much stopped the whole Platinum dunes remake trend dead in its tracks and there hasn't been any more they didn't do any more. Friday the 13th they didn't do another Texas Chainsaw at all. They shut down Platinum dunes Michael Bay's production horror remake company. So I consider it a you know, Tentpole Trauma because it wrecked the party, so to speak. Let's talk a little bit about your own personal history with the franchise. Jennifer, what what is your history with the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise?

Unknown Speaker 7:11 Well, I saw the first Nightmare on Elm Street, pretty young, I saw a lot of are probably way younger than I should have seen the pattern. But I was just really into it. And I most likely saw it on I know there's no way I didn't know but didn't have a cool enough parents to take me to the theater to see it. But I did probably catch it either on VHS or on, you know, HBO or something like that. Not you know, whenever it became available, but I first you know, heard about it through friends who had seen it older friends, you know, so I already had an idea of who Freddy was. And, you know, like how kids do you know, you're talking it up and then this happens. And he's got knives for fingers and then he says this and so you know, that was all amped up and then I saw it and I liked it. I thought it was scary. And did you see the first film first? Yes, the original Nightmare on Elm Street. You saw that first? Yes, I have the the films of the franchise that I've seen the most are the first and the third. I've seen the dream warriors. That was on TV a lot. And I really I appreciate the first one I love the first one but I probably like especially when I was younger was more into three right? But yeah, that was that was my you know an initial history with the franchise. I it's not my favorite of the horror franchise. I mean, I do like Freddy, but it's not my go to you know, there's, it's for me, it's not as consistent as some other franchises are, as far as like having a number of films that I like to go back to and enjoy. There's some that are kind of tough to get through in this one. In my opinion. Rodney, how about you? How what's your history with the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise?

Unknown Speaker 9:02 Never seen any of them?

Unknown Speaker 9:08 Was I supposed to watch?

Unknown Speaker 9:11 Actually, I wanted to say first of all, thank you guys for having me on. I didn't say that. And I think your show is really great. And it's like I'm really pumped to be here and jazzed to talk about this. I'm we're pumped to have

Unknown Speaker 9:22 you run. Yeah, I can tell from my voice. This is my pumped voice.

Unknown Speaker 9:26 I can tell that you are really jazzed. I'm sort of like we're Jenna's. I, I don't remember what my first one was. I feel like at a sleep over. Someone showed me part three. I had parents who were very lenient. I remember seeing part four by myself in a theater. I think my dad would like take me to the theater. He bought me the ticket. And then like once I went in, he'd like, go to a bar and have a drink and be like, I'll see when it's over. Right? I've never like I like them. But Jen's right. These movies are so all over the map. There are really great ones. And they're ones that are so low that like I, they're barely movies to me. But in general, they have really creative kills. And Freddy Krueger is like one of the most iconic villains of all time. It's just that there's no consistency between the movies. That's my biggest problem, right? Like, I was showing my wife them, and we just skipped over part two. I was like, you don't need part two. It's not canon watch.

Unknown Speaker 10:23 Part two is amazing.

Unknown Speaker 10:24 No, part two is you

Unknown Speaker 10:25 can't get over it. No,

Unknown Speaker 10:27 part two. I did. Part two is amazing. Ronnie, I'm sorry. Wait, I've got it. I can't let you think that I don't enjoy part two. Okay, well, let's not go down the rabbit hole.

Unknown Speaker 10:36 Fair enough. Fair enough. But look, I I enjoy all of the Friday 13th movies. I've seen them all now multiple times. So, uh, I you know, I? I've always been a Jason guy. I hope that's not a problem. But Freddie's probably my number two. No, that's not true. He's my number three. Chucky would be number two.

Unknown Speaker 10:57 I'm a Michael Meyers guy myself, and he has some of the worst movies. So it's not really about who's got the best movies, just Who's your guy? You know, I will say about the nightmare series. What I do appreciate about it is generally speaking, even the terrible ones have a certain amount of imagination. Just the premise in itself is inherently imaginative. And I kind of have to give it to Freddie for that. There's always something even in the most terrible of them. There's always some crazy interesting nightmare scenario that makes either makes me laugh, or I really enjoy. But let's move on to the subject of remakes in general, because this movie was sort of the final nail in the coffin in some ways of the whole remake trend of the 20 Arts, the early aughts. So Jen, what is your feeling on remakes in general? Like, I know, you're a big Texas Chainsaw fan, and you're not a fan of the Platinum dunes, Texas Chainsaw remake, which sort of kicked off this trend. What is your general feeling on remakes?

Unknown Speaker 12:01 Well, with remakes I kind of feel like you know, I love horror. So I'm always gonna give it a shot. And my expectations are pretty low. When I'm when I'm watching these like I have nowhere to go. But up. Texas Chainsaw I'm just so particularly protective of because it's just, there's nothing like the first Texas Chainsaw where you don't really like the franchise you just like the first movie in the second one. I mean, I pretty much do. Yeah, that's that's a fact. I mean, I appreciate I mean three is okay. And I appreciate for for being you know, the weird version that it is. But yeah, that that's not one of my favorite remakes. I did like the Friday the 13th remake. I've seen I've saw that in the theater. And I've seen that several times sense. There's Yeah, I don't know. I mean, there's there's none that are really standing out that I'm like, Oh, this is you know, I've never once been like this was better than the first one.

Unknown Speaker 12:58 Look, there are remakes that I think are really good. I'll point to the ring. And the ring is an excellent remake. Agreed. I actually, I think it comes down to how much do you care about the original film and if you saw it, for example, I've and I know this might get me kicked off. But I've never been a big Texas Chainsaw Massacre fan. Like, I just never I saw it growing up and it never, it never impacted me the way that it impacts a lot of people. So when I saw the Platinum dunes remake, I was like, Hey, this is pretty good, right? Because I have no emotional attachment to it. But when I saw the Friday the 13th one or like the recent Child's Play remake, the Friday 13th one is okay. It's got some cool shit. But like in general, remakes just anger me because they're so clearly a cash grab, right? It's just like, yo, let's just capitalize on this thing. For money sake, when the original thing was actually a thing of passion. And every once in a while the remake is done by someone who is passionate, and you end up with something good, but it's rare. I mean, you point to like, Ocean's 11 as another great example. And that movie is fucking awesome. And that's a remake. But in general, if I see it's a remake, it's probably bad and I don't care.

Unknown Speaker 14:05 I am sort of weirdly optimistic about these things. I feel I'm in a sort of strange position there as a horror fan because I feel most horror fans are not like that. But I get kind of excited with with Texas Chainsaw I was I found I was very skeptical about that one because I feel that the original is such a specific thing that you can't recapture that you can't recapture that in the 2000s you can't recreate the 70s and the grime and just the atmosphere of the time that is so inherent in that film. Were something like Freddy Krueger or Nightmare on Elm Street. As much as I love the West Craven original and I love the West Craven original I like Part Two for its craziness horse. I love dream warriors. I generally think that's probably the most fun of all of them. You know, when when they announced that they were doing the Nightmare on Elm Street remake or reboot or whatever, they were pitching it as I was actually kind of excited at the idea of it because I thought, well, there's an idea that you could do now, it would still be just as relevant now. And with modern special effects, you might be able to really take it somewhere really crazy. So I was game for it. And, you know, I felt that most horror fans were definitely not.

Unknown Speaker 15:31 Yeah, I was I was up for it. I saw it in the theater. It was again, though, the way that I like I said, I approach remakes in general, where I didn't have the the optimism that you did. I was just kind of like, well, let's, you know, let's see what they're gonna do with it. Because I'm just, like I said, happy to get another horror movie. And, you know, it's, I do like, Friday a lot. And I want and I do like, Jackie Earle, Haley. And let's, let's see what's going to happen.

Unknown Speaker 15:59 So Jackie Earle Haley is Freddie was a draw was sort of a draw for you.

Unknown Speaker 16:03 Sort of because because I'm definitely a fan. Like, I like him a lot. I mean, there's several of his films. And he was this is when he was, you know, starting to make a comeback and do more stuff. And yeah, I was I was I was game.

Unknown Speaker 16:18 You know, it's funny. I'm with you, Sebastian. On this one. I was excited. I remember thinking, hey, platinum dunes has pretty much delivered above average contents to me so far, and it was rated R, and hey, they got Jackie Earle Haley, and he's done some great shit. I was jazz. I thought this was going to be a pretty good time, you know? So yeah, I saw that. I think opening weekend Jackie Earle

Unknown Speaker 16:41 Haley was sort of coming off of watchmen at the time playing roar shack, which, you know, has some similarities to Freddy Krueger. So I think people were excited to see him take on the role. If they were excited about it. They were excited to see him take it on because of horshack. And because of the other stuff he had done, he had done little children or something like that before, which had a sort of similar type of icky character in it. So it seemed pretty promising. Now the film is directed by Samuel Bayer. Do you guys know what his claim to fame is?

Unknown Speaker 17:17 Yes, I do now, but only because I looked it up.

Unknown Speaker 17:20 He directed the the Smells Like Teen Spirit video from Nirvana. And he also directed the bee girl video for Blind Melon. So you know, no rain. He's a guy who looked clearly has some visual talent. The weird thing and I remember thinking this at the time is, why isn't he directed any feature film until now, this was his first feature film, as a director, you would have thought coming out of you know, the 90s when Fincher and other guys who were video directors were sort of becoming big directors, you would have thought that this guy would have gotten his shot way before 2010 and Nightmare on Elm Street remake. But this was his first movie, I don't think most people knew that his of his pedigree going in. So I don't think it really made much of a difference to most people. You know, we get our sort of opening scene. You know, the movie sort of starts off I think like most horror movies of the era with a kind of creepy credit sequence where we get some flashes of little kids playing hopscotch and stuff. And then we get our sort of opening sequence, which takes place in the diner. We have the Twilight's Kellan Lutz as this tormented teen, and he sort of wandering around in the kitchen looking, you know, he clearly has gone into sort of a dream sequence and there's like, you know, hog heads and stuff. And we sort of get a glimpse of Rooney Mara as Nancy. Freddy shows up, and he wakes up. And Katie Cassidy, who's playing, I believe her name is Chris, but she's clearly modeled after the Tina character in the original. She was also in the show arrow, she shows up and they have this sort of conversation. He's initially just like, asking for coffee and normal serve them. So he's like being ignored. And you don't know at first, but he's dreaming. But then when he goes back into the kitchen, and it seems like he's in a boiler room, yeah.

Unknown Speaker 19:23 And then the all the gross like, animal heads and stuff, but not good. And then we see the glove swipe Adam, and then he then then we see him wake up, and his hand is cut. And so yeah, you know, it's 100% clear. That's what's going on. He was dreaming. And then he's talking with Chris, and she was also in some other remakes as well. She was in when a stranger calls and the, I think the black Christmas remake to where you see Nancy and she's talking to the guy from Jennifer's body, and there's like that's going on in question. Quintin Kyle gallon I think his name is Yeah. And yeah, so then we were that's all going on and then Dean has passed out again and then we get the him with the steak knife. And yeah, it's I don't know, I thought like, okay, we're starting off good here like this is like, I didn't see that coming Fred shows up and basically makes him stab himself in the neck with a steak knife. Yeah. And I thought that was I thought we were starting off strong.

Unknown Speaker 20:29 Overall, there's something weird about the scene, the way the movie starts. And maybe it's intentional that like, they want you to, they want to throw you off your foot right from the start because you're in a dream. But there's something about that whole opening scene where they just like they're cramming every character in the movie into this one diner. And the, the, the guy who kills himself, Dean, he's doing that thing in horror movies, where like, he can't just put a sentence together to explain what's going on. Right? He's just like, he's a mess. And he's like, Ah, man, don't close. Don't go to sleep, man. Don't you can't sleep. I'm like, explain to her why. And she's like, oh, you're just imagining things and, and like the hogs heads boiling in the in the pots and shit. This is going to be a recurring thing I'm going to talk about which is that the dream sequences in this movie are so lame and unimaginative. And I will give credit that when he stabs himself in the neck. That was awesome. It looks really good. Yeah. I also want to point out, did you guys catch that? I don't think went back because I went back and watch the trailer. This is clearly not the original opening they shot. He does in the trailer.

Unknown Speaker 21:33 Not only am I aware of that, but I saw an advanced screening of this movie. Oh, shit, yes. And it had a completely different opening sequence that this whole diner sequence was a reshoot the original scene that I saw an advanced screening it took place at a party. They were just they were just at a house party.

Unknown Speaker 21:55 That's what you see in the trailer. And so this diner scene feels like a reshoot.

Unknown Speaker 22:00 It totally is. 100%. That explains it. Yeah. So and I agree with what you're saying. It's, it seems like they're like, well, we got to get all the characters set up in the scene. And I think one of the drawbacks of this film, in terms of just its narrative is that it really sort of accelerates everything so that you can tell they're just like, Okay, we got to get the kids set up, you got to know who the kids are. And, you know, they're all having these dreams. And we got to know about the dreams and you know, like by the second scene, we're at a funeral. And now Chris is having more is having another sort of dream was that she sees her little self in front of the, in front of the coffin and for the Fred's glove comes out and slashes are. So you know, we're getting, we're getting thrown right into it. And we're learning about the gang and their dreams. And we're meeting Connie Britton and Clancy Brown as the parents. So yeah, I feel like there's definitely a sort of sweat Enos to the setup of the film where they're like, okay, we just got to get this thing going, like, let's go, let's go, let's go. This

Unknown Speaker 23:05 movie has no chill. That's what it comes down to. It's constantly, it's constantly trying to insist how cool and scary it is in every moment. And therefore it never has any dread. Again, there's, you know, the shooting of the diner scene, like, I like the lighting of it. I thought that was cool. I think

Unknown Speaker 23:21 it looks good.

Unknown Speaker 23:23 Visually, it looks good. Which I would expect from a music video director.

Unknown Speaker 23:26 Absolutely. Right. It's got a slickness to it. That is sort of in line with the Platinum dunes remakes in general. But I do think I think my primary disappointment in a lot of the dream sequences is really that they're just kind of rehashing what happened in the original film. And in some cases, they're doing it way worse. Yeah, like the porn Fred comes out of the wall. It's really underwhelming because it just looks like this CGI blob, peeling off the wall, where in the original Freddie? New notice I'm differentiating between Fred and Freddie. And that's because Jennifer and I own a Fred Krueger, action figure, his name? Krueger, and it's Jackie Earle Haley in his like gardener uniform.

Unknown Speaker 24:17 So you're the one who bought that.

Unknown Speaker 24:19 Yes. We go to Nancy's house and she's chillin with her iPod. She's doing like creepy drawings because she's a, you know, disturbed artist. That's when we get Freddie coming through the wall, which looks terrible. I think it looks so bad. And as I was saying, in the original, the effect is so cheap. It's just some tarp or something covered with paint. And in there, there's somebody pushing through the tarp. But it looks so much better than this CGI nonsense, which I'm sure was a lot more expensive. And just to put it out there. I'm not the you know, practical effects are always He's better guy. I'm just not I I like both things. I love a great practical effect. And I love a well done CGI effect. So I, you know, I'm up for them using state of the art computer imagery to accentuate Freddy and his powers. But this is just terrible. And it really sort of sets a bad taste in your mouth early on,

Unknown Speaker 25:24 right? But it's also like in the original there's like a creepiness the way it's slowly the wall slowly pushes in, right? Yeah. And this one is really like a blob that goes, ah, like as though they're trying to make a jumpscare out of it is the combination of the goofiness of the gras mixed with it's literally like the worst CG I've ever seen. It's tear it's like langdell lirs level in this one moment.

Unknown Speaker 25:45 Yeah, it's it's really bad. Well,

Unknown Speaker 25:47 I think also, it's it's not only is it doesn't look good, it's like it's such a forgettable moment. Whereas in the original it's, it's a memorable moment. Like this is it happens. So like you said, it's like rod happens so fast that it's like, if I would not have made a note of this. I would have forgotten it. Yeah, like that. That's and I've seen this movie multiple times. Now. Why? I don't know. But I have. Yeah, I don't know. I just think it's some it's it's such a blip on the radar. It's like really quick with her. She's like sketching this like Fred blobs out and then cut to where it Chris next where Chris like talking about to her mom about the photos. Like why doesn't she remember being in these photos? Because they had photos at the funeral? And where are more photos? Like I don't know. How do I know? You know, she's she's having the whole issue that she didn't think she met Dean until high school. Yeah. So like, how is she in these high kid photos? And mom's been super cagey about it. Yeah. So yeah, but it feels like that's that's how quickly it happens. Is this like blob with Nancy? Hey, Chris. Chris has questions.

Unknown Speaker 26:57 Yeah, it sort of plays into rod nice. This has no, this movie has no chill.

Unknown Speaker 27:01 There's so many, like, very forced, and sudden jumpscares you know, and like to be like when I was watching it. I genuinely was trying to watch it as though I've never seen A Nightmare on Elm Street film before I was trying to judge it as though it's just a movie called The nightmare killer. Right? And even under those criteria, it's so forced, you know, it's just like, there's so many moments of these just like a sudden CUT TO Freddy Krueger jumping out of the shadows with the loudest Stinger in the world. And then the scene moves on. Again, if I if I had if I use let me talk for an hour, I would just talk about how you shouldn't be allowed to make a horror movie unless you love horror movies. And if I'm sure you've done your research, but apparently Michael Bay offered this movie to Samuel Bayer twice and he turned it down twice. He basically had to convince him What a financial windfall, it would be for him. Right? And I gotta tell you, if you're a director, and someone offers you a smash, imagine someone said you can direct the next Freddy Krueger movie, would you

Unknown Speaker 28:04 say no, I would pop a million boners

Unknown Speaker 28:08 there's no say this. This guy said no. Thank you twice. So this guy doesn't deserve to be directing a Freddy Krueger movie. And that's what you end up getting is a movie that comes from someone who doesn't get what makes Freddy Krueger cool. And what makes movies scary, huh?

Unknown Speaker 28:23 Yeah, I mean, I mostly agree with that. But I do sometimes think we put too much of a premium on filmmakers being fans of things like, oh, if they're not a fan, they shouldn't do it. I don't really care if somebody is a fan of the movie or the property or not. If they can make a good movie, they can make a good movie. I would be more concerned about the fact that Samuel Baird never made a movie in general. Sure, let's add

Unknown Speaker 28:51 that on the pie like

Unknown Speaker 28:52 that. I would be more as from a producing standpoint that would give me pause more. But one thing I think he did a pretty okay job with is a cast. I think the cast is mostly pretty good.

Unknown Speaker 29:05 I like the cast. I like all of the kids. I'm like I said I recognized you know, a couple from other horror movies. And then of course, the like the adults like they've got some heavy hitters. I mean, Connie Britton's, a great actor, and so was Clancy Brown. I mean, those are the the two most recognizable to me. And of course, Jackie Earle, Haley.

Unknown Speaker 29:27 I did miss the drunken mom from the original

Unknown Speaker 29:30 Nancy's drunken mom. Yeah, I know this mom Connie Britton had it way more together. She was way more on top of things. She should have been into pills or

Unknown Speaker 29:37 something. You know, they should have had gotten her into oxy. Just to modernize it.

Unknown Speaker 29:43 Yeah. Missed up missed opportunity. I think

Unknown Speaker 29:46 weirdly, Rooney Mara kind of comes off the worst, which is too bad because she's our Nancy. I feel like the other quote unquote teens do pretty well. I like Kyle gulnur I actually like the actress who plays Chris. I think she does a pretty good job. But Rooney seems a little lost. She seems like she doesn't know what she's supposed to be doing. You know, her characters kind of supposed to be the dark one, I guess, because she does dark drawings. But she works at the diner, and she's kind of got, you know, a little sass to her. So it's kind of hard to get a bead on her. I think, you know, I think she's done some pretty good work over the years. But this, I feel like she seems a little a little lost here.

Unknown Speaker 30:37 You know, I see where you're coming from. I quit the whole time. I couldn't decide how I thought about Rooney Mara, for me. I think overall, she works because like, I believe she's in high school, and she's got a kind of a young face. And I yeah, I don't really know her as a character. But I get that she's like, she's tired and sad. And then she draws sad pictures, right? Yeah. For me. The problem for me, it is Chris. And it's not because of her performance. It's because she looks like she's 45 years old. And I did not believe for one second. She's in high school. Like, literally when she's like talking to her mom, I thought they were like friends, like at wine book club or something. I expected a scene for her to go pick up kids. And I couldn't understand why you would cat like she's clearly like 29 to 32 years old, and she made this movie. And I was like, why can't they just get actual, like 18 year old people to play 18 year old people. Having said that, if you can look past that. Yeah, she's okay. I don't think anyone in this movie is doing what I would call a good job. Everyone's doing a, an okay, job. If I had to give an acting award out. I'd give it to Clinton. I liked his performance the best.

Unknown Speaker 31:43 Yeah. Well, I mean, I think that's fair. But I also think that when you look back at pretty much any horror franchise cast, there are very few where you say, these are all award worthy performances. A lot of times the actors acquit themselves well, but it's not like I felt that these, this was all on par. They were all doing what they were asked to do and doing it. Well, but the big question is, Jackie Earle, Haley. Okay. Oh, boy, we are all pretty excited about Jackie, as Freddy or Fred, as it were. I remember seeing, you know, production stills of his makeup and I was like, Well, okay, I see what they're doing. They're going for like a legit burn victim look here rather than the stylized look of of Robert Anglin. And let's just get it out of the way. You know, Robert, England is iconic is Freddy Krueger, there's, you know, there's no way that anybody's ever going to play this character and not be compared unfavorably to to Robert England. It's his role, but I appreciated Well, they're going sort of a different direction here. They're trying to make it look more realistic. And you know, I did like his little tic where he he rubs his knives together. I thought that was a the one kind of cool thing he did. But I have to say, overall, I was fun kind of let down. One of my big problems is and this is not his fault. But he's a short man. And you can tell he's a short man. And a lot of the scenes, you know, you're, you're like, are we watching leprechaun? Is he? What are we doing leprechaun here? I mean, you know, he's just not a big guy. And it's kind of hard to make this little dude. be super scary. I think he has the attitude. He hasn't. I mean, he I wouldn't say he has the Freddie attitude, but he has an attitude. He has a very scary voice and a scary presence. But overall, I just found his stature and his look to be a little off putting.

Unknown Speaker 34:03 I had high hopes. Because I am such a fan. It's just it's this really, it just doesn't really work for me. Yeah, I

Unknown Speaker 34:12 don't have to apologize.

Unknown Speaker 34:15 I mean, but but I really wanted it to you know, and it's like even the semoran I was like, I don't know, it's just and i think it's it's just because Robert England is so iconic. I just that's who Freddie is to me and I know this is Fred Krueger cuz that's what we're referring to him is in the remake. And you know, I appreciate them trying to do something different and it's not his acting or anything like that. It's just I don't know, it's this the the character looks it just looks he looks strange. It's not scary. It's just it's not even like it's it's hard to look at or off putting or anything like that. It just doesn't I don't know. It just doesn't work for me,

Unknown Speaker 34:59 either. I'm totally with you, Jen. It's just wrong. And, and I am, again, trying to let go of the fact that he can't be Robert England, right? Like, you can't live up to that. So I kind of expected him to do something really different with the roll. And I'm with you, Subash. And the cool thing he does is when he like, rubs his fingers together, and they make that blade sound as like, yeah, that's cool. But that's it. I think the look of him. He looks stupid. Like, it's like, he's got these weird like, kind of buck teeth that make them look kind of dorky, right? And I know they're going for like a burn look, but like, he doesn't look disgusting. And he looks kind of gross, but he's not scary looking. And on top of that, what they do with his voice is like, he never sounds like he's in the scene. All of his his his dialogue has been recorded in ADR? Yes. And it's just like, it's like floating digitally on top of the scene. Yes. So it, I know that that's a choice to like, make it cool and creepy. But the whole time I was sitting there, I was like, why does this not work? Like, why is this not cool? And I was like, I don't know. He's just, he's just not cool. He's like, slow moving. His lines aren't very good. His delivery isn't really good. bad job, bad job. I was gonna say maybe you shouldn't hire famous actors. I'd rather just have no buddies playing my monsters. I remember reading a little bit about the production. And I think that the reason why his lines are so heavily ADR is because they rewrote a lot of his dialogue. They weren't happy with whatever the initial stuff was. And so they just kind of kept redoing it in post. And I feel like you can kind of hear a little bit of annoyance in Jackie Earle Haley, his voice, like, I've got to know, what's this line?

Unknown Speaker 36:48 Yeah, his lines are weird. Like, they're trying to be funny. But they're not really funny, cuz they're in this really tough, tough position of trying to live up to Robert, England's sort of famous one lines and taunting. You know, I think the only one I really liked is when he says like, Why are you screaming? I haven't even cut you yet. That one I'm like, yeah, that's pretty good. You know, but you know, he, you know, most of them are kind of creepy in a bad way. They play up the sirt, the child molester angle of the character that was only really hinted at and wisely. So I believe in the original. And so, you know, his lines are sort of coming from this perverted place a lot of the time, and I really don't think that helps sell the lovability of

Unknown Speaker 37:43 Freddie. That's kind of like what's I think doesn't sit well, for myself and sounds like you and probably Rodney as well as it's like, because we just knew him, you know, originally as a child murderer, and which is implied, you know, we don't there wasn't just killing there was probably other things that were going on that were terrible as well. However, now, it's all about the yuck stuff. And it's like, that's just that can't be funny. You can't have like, one liners and like be like creepy like that. And it's like, you just don't know what to do with that more. yuck, yuck.

Unknown Speaker 38:19 And less yuck, I think is the problem.

Unknown Speaker 38:23 You know what I think it is? Original Freddy Krueger, he there's a certain gleeful pneus to the fact that he gets to kill people in dreams. Even in the first movie where he has very few lines. You can tell he enjoys what he's doing. But this version is more like a suffering burn victim who's like condemned to this hellish fate. And he's, you know, he wants revenge, but it doesn't seem like he really loves being the dream Master, if you will, or whatever I know. He's not the remaster is actually that other girl but whatever, you know, I mean, yeah, yeah. And that's not even touching all the child molesters stuff, which I assume we're gonna go into more depth. Because that's like a major change. We're we'll

Unknown Speaker 39:01 save that for the last act because that's when it really comes into play. But I feel that it's in there even in these you know, opening sequences. He sort of leaning into this being creepy in a weird sort of subtly sexual way.

Unknown Speaker 39:17 Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 39:18 I did kind of think just because it's so weird. We moved into the second act. We have Chris, she you know, she's kind of freaking out. She's sort of learning about this past the shared past that they all have in this preschool. And you know, she really knew all these her friends, but they didn't. They don't remember each other. And there's this sort of dream sequence where she goes out and she's like, cheers her dog barking which the dog it was a really cute dog, but she goes out and the dog is Rufus. Yes. And but Rufus is dead. Fred has killed Rufus only in the dream, I think. I don't think Rufus is dead in real life unless Rufus was dreaming and He killed Rufus and Rufus his dream, in which case they should have definitely have had a dog dream. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 40:05 I wanted to see the dog dream go into a nightmare like the dog running around the boiler room chasing bones that keep running away from him.

Unknown Speaker 40:13 I have a bone to pick with the boiler room, but let me get there in a second. I did kind of like it in an ironic way when she goes out to find Rufus and Rufus is dead and Fred's like, I was just petting him with his claws, I was like, you know, for this movie, that was a pretty good line. But really, you know, a lot of these things that happen in this second act build up are just sort of replays of what happened in the original

Unknown Speaker 40:44 one thing I think that was different was I don't recall I don't think I've seen the first one a million times I don't think that Broadcom to Nancy's house in the first one. Like is the guy Jesse? I don't think so. I mean, I only remember Glenn coming to her bedroom window.

Unknown Speaker 41:03 No, I don't think he does.

Unknown Speaker 41:05 I don't think so either. So that was something that was a little different as we get Jesse like stopping off at Nancy's right, like it covered in blood and all of that

Unknown Speaker 41:13 the suit only comes in through bedroom windows, he doesn't

Unknown Speaker 41:16 know what front doors are for. Not at all, just all about the windows. And one

Unknown Speaker 41:20 thing I want to say about the Chris murder scene is in the original, it was done with the old revolving room trick. And you see her kind of climbing the walls, because they've shot it with a stationary camera. But with a room that goes around in this, it's very clearly, they probably have a set with no real ceiling and they've got her on wires. And they're like throwing around the room and wires and then digitally erasing the wires in the ceiling and stuff and it's not bad looking. It looks it looks fine. But when you compare it to the ingenuity of the original, it once again comes up short

Unknown Speaker 42:01 you're spot on like it again, the the original is so much like it's so cool the way that original scene is shot. And this one she's flying around, and it's just not as powerful because it's not shot from the perspective of the guy on the floor. Her death is cool when she gets like split down the middle and blood wells up like it. It's a violent scene and I was like okay, yeah, but can we just briefly talk about how much time we spend with Chris as like the main character like yeah, we're on Chris for I didn't time it but it felt like 30 minutes before we actually like I know you we meet Rooney Mara, but it basically it tries to do the psycho thing where it's like, this blonde girl is the main character, but gotcha. And I'm like, but Ivor I know Rooney's the main character's name is Nancy, why are we wasting all this time?

Unknown Speaker 42:48 Yeah. Well, you know, I guess they're trying to fake out the younger crowd who is not familiar with the original, totally fair. But as somebody who is a fan of the series, it does sort of feel like they're being weirdly too slavish to the original, at least in that first half of the second act. Now, as the second act goes on, we, you know, we get things that are sort of new additions to the story, in the whole preschool backstory is not in the original, they have a vague sort of implication of stuff like that, and the original, but they really lean into it here. I don't mind that. I think it's, you know, it's I'm just glad that they're doing something kind of different, at least at that point.

Unknown Speaker 43:36 I will say that, out of all the things they could have named the preschool, they call it the bad ham squad. And I was like, Yeah, I know. It says bad, but that's bad ham. Yeah. Which is a really weird name. The name did anything. But the one the one thing I will give this movie some credit for, I mean, there's a couple others, but the fact that they all knew each other when they were kids, and they all went to the same school and interacted with Fred Krueger when he was alive. It makes more sense why the parents would be dismissive of their their nightmares, right? because they'd say your, your they would think you're having traumatic nightmares of that guy that molested you. That makes sense to me. As opposed to in the other vert in the original where it's like, That's funny. My daughter's dreaming of that man I murdered that she never met. Right? Yeah. So I and I do like the the idea of like, Rooney or Chris, whoever you want to say discovers it that like finding out that they're all connected and finding the photograph, and I do give credit for that because it does create like a breadcrumb trail for her to follow. Yeah, I didn't mind it at all.

Unknown Speaker 44:43 I actually also wanted to bring up there was something that I had forgotten about, and that I saw on this watch, which takes us to the bad ham school. It was that you know, Nancy's in the tub, and you know, you see Freddie's glove. Come on. But I'm like, and I was like, here we go, you know, we're just going to do what we did with that before. And they did a little differently, which I appreciated that. And also, they brought some technology into it because she had a cell phone alarm to wake her up now, which that wasn't available

Unknown Speaker 45:18 cell phones, which felt really outdated. Now they like they're super outdated 2010.

Unknown Speaker 45:24 Man, when I see outdated cell phones and movies.

Unknown Speaker 45:29 Those phones are so old.

Unknown Speaker 45:33 Anyway. Yeah. But yeah, I appreciated the addition of the school and that that whole thing, because I really did like that from the original as well, like in which they didn't go in as deep. But you know, just that it's a creepy, the creepy concept. So then after that,

Unknown Speaker 45:51 after that whole scene, like Quentin, basically, she wakes up in the tub, and Clinton calls and tells her Jesse is dead. Then we get this pre reg requisite scene and every horror movie where Quentin is researching. He's running low on his pharmaceutical speed, but he's researching on gigablast. All about dreams and stuff at the like coffee shop library. He and Nancy gigablast. The batum preschool. You know, how is fat ham? Bad? I mean, I'm like, maybe it's a reference to john batum, the director of Saturday Night Fever and the 1979 Dracula, but that's probably a stretch. And you know that I believe this is when they set up the idea of micro naps where you can you can just be so sort of fall asleep just for a few seconds. I have a feeling we might have saw an argument about this. So I'm excited. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 46:56 I feel it's growing.

Unknown Speaker 46:59 I feel the opposite of whatever you I

Unknown Speaker 47:02 kind of like the micro naps idea. What do you think about that? Rodney? Do you like my

Unknown Speaker 47:11 fuck micro naps, bro.

Unknown Speaker 47:13 I think this is the dumbest mugging thing in the entire movie. And from this point forward, it becomes such a laughingstock of a film because of the introduction of this concept. I I literally hate it. I it basically is an excuse to have non stop jumpscares from this point forward. Yeah, I do like them?

Unknown Speaker 47:36 Well, first of all, it ups the stakes a little bit. Because you know, we're not just waiting for them to get tired and fall asleep. Now things can kind of happen at the at like any moment. And at one point there, they're back at the high school, I think. And that's when we get Nancy seeing the Chris character in the body bag, which is another visual reference to something that happens and the original one, again, not done as well. I totally agree with you. And you definitely are right, that now they've got licensed to throw jumpscares at you at a dizzying pace. So I'll give you that, that that is a noxious byproduct of the micro naps. But I do think that there's some fun to be had with them. And it allows things to happen, like, you know, one character to walk down a hallway and see, you know, scary vision and, and whatever. And it also allows for Quentin to have a micro nap. As he's at his swim meet. I really appreciated how pasty or Kyle Kyle gulnar or whatever it was, he's like really pasty. And you can tell that he's probably doesn't swim. And he's looking really uncomfortable in his little Speedo suit. But you know, he has a micro nap. And he wakes up in like a pool in a warehouse district. Like he just wakes up in this pool. And it's like outside. I mean, I guess it's a dream, so whatever. But then we're sort of treated to the origin quote, unquote, of Fred, where the parents are chasing him into this warehouse room, and they throw Molotov cocktails in the room and burn him alive. And as he's burning alive, he rips off his jacket to expose the striped sweater. Which I felt was it was a real forced reveal of the sweater.

Unknown Speaker 49:44 I'm like, bro, I've been watching your movie for an hour. I already know what his sweater looks like. This is not a reveal. Obviously that's the bad guy. Wait, I need to park on this moment real quick because I know you want to talk about the origin but that swim meets is the worst scene I've seen in almost any horror movie and it The scene I referenced whenever I talk about this to anyone the guy falls asleep while swimming. He's in the middle of a swim meet and he falls asleep. Someone wrote that and they like put it in a movie. It makes no sense, guys, come on. It's

Unknown Speaker 50:16 it's a micro nap right

Unknown Speaker 50:18 now, he's he just nodded off for a second in the middle of swimming.

Unknown Speaker 50:24 That's how powerful they are.

Unknown Speaker 50:26 You know what I'm gonna stay awake for three days straight just to see I want to see if I can fall asleep while I'm making a sandwich and then just wake up with the sandwich in my mouth. That's actually way more believable than swimming. All right, I've said my piece about this.

Unknown Speaker 50:38 But you guys we didn't we we forgot to talk about this is right before we get into the how Fred was burned with the Molotov cocktails or whatever. We did have that flashback. And I think we would we have to take a moment for this. Where we get to see Fred Krueger as a gardener. Mm hmm. Yeah, he's not. He's not burned. No, Lacy's looks very, very nice. And I got it. He's got like a kind of a strange Southern accent. And he's he's, you know, living in the basement of the preschool. Yes.

Unknown Speaker 51:13 Nothing, nothing weird about that. I mean, you know,

Unknown Speaker 51:16 be there.

Unknown Speaker 51:18 And just the gardener. He lived in the basement of the preschool. And boy, he loved you kids.

Unknown Speaker 51:24 Kids were his life. And we see him just so happy with all the kids.

Unknown Speaker 51:29 You have a job get an apartment. Why are you living in the basement of the school? And how come everyone is okay with this?

Unknown Speaker 51:34 Right? Like, how why were any parents okay with sending their kids to a school where the weirdo gardener lives in the basement? And it's okay. And he he like, it's okay that they go down there and do like art projects with him or

Unknown Speaker 51:50 whatever. Honey, did you fill out that application for the bad ham school? You know, they have their own on premises gardener slash caretakers slash kid blodger. babysitter?

Unknown Speaker 52:04 Yeah. So yeah, it seems a little seems like, you know, Fred got caught doing some stuff. So so they burn him alive. There's a really sort of bad moment where he runs out of the burning building, and he's on fire. But here's, here's my real problem with all of this is, throughout this movie, both before and after this scene, we get boiler room imagery. There's no friggin boiler room in any of this origin. Like he's not in a boiler room. Is he supposed to be in a boiler room and they burn them all? I mean, in the original movie, they burn him alive in a boiler room. And that's why the boiler room is sort of his primary dream, hunting ground. Like that's why he's always drawing people into the boiler room is because that's where he died. This isn't a boiler room. It's like some sort of like relay room. There's like, it's not a boiler room. And this always really bugged me about the movie, like why does he bring children? Why does he bring these teenagers into his dream boiler room, he didn't die in one

Unknown Speaker 53:09 because when he was alive, he always wanted a boiler.

Unknown Speaker 53:15 Like one day, I'm gonna move out of this preschool basement, the boiler room and My dream is

Unknown Speaker 53:21 to a suite boiler room.

Unknown Speaker 53:24 And your parents denied me that I'm gonna kill you all.

Unknown Speaker 53:29 You're totally right, it I it makes no sense in this movie, because because the answer to your question anytime you have a question, it's because that's what happened in the original right, I'll just do it again. But I come back to the point that the director doesn't actually like the movie. So he doesn't care about answering these things with any detail.

Unknown Speaker 53:47 Yeah, it really even when I first saw the movie, and I think I was a lot more forgiving on the movie than probably either view and move upon my first view. Well, no, actually, no, my first viewing I was not forgiving of it because I saw a test screening and it was pretty much resoundingly terrible. And we all gave it terrible marks. But then I saw it again, when it came out, however many months later, and I was like, Well, okay, they kind of improved it like, this is better, you know, good. I'm glad you took my notes.

Unknown Speaker 54:15 If I've learned anything from your from your podcast, it's that instead of just watching good movies, if I just watch the bad ones over and over, I'll start to like them.

Unknown Speaker 54:23 Yeah, I call it force feeding Rodney.

Unknown Speaker 54:27 Yeah, I've seen the Wolf Man 42 times now it's pretty good.

Unknown Speaker 54:32 It's It is hard in this movie. I'll give you that. We then we move on to Nancy watching a video blog because those were pretty hip back then. 2010 we get the Asian actor from the Friday the 13th remake I don't remember his name so I'm sorry.

Unknown Speaker 54:49 it's um it's it's an it well, I don't know what is his name in the I wrote down his name was Martin neon. I think that was his character names character that is Yeah. I don't know what his real name is off the top of my

Unknown Speaker 55:02 head. Anyway, he's in the Friday the 13th remake his main characters, and he's pretty good in that. You know?

Unknown Speaker 55:08 Yeah. No, he's He's good. He's like, kind of this kind of a stoner in that, right? Yes.

Unknown Speaker 55:13 Yeah, I think he's the dude, he gets the screwdriver. And

Unknown Speaker 55:16 here, he just talks into the screen. And then he's, you know, talking about how he can't sleep. And now he's being tormented by Friday. And then he like, smashes his head against the screen. So it's basically a snuff blog, because we are going to assume he's dead after that. And then we sort of get this, you know, Clinton comes back from his dream and he confronts Clancy Brown, who's his father, who is he a guidance counselor, he, he's a teacher at the school, but they never make it clear. There's

Unknown Speaker 55:49 I thought there was a line about him being the guidance counselor.

Unknown Speaker 55:52 That's what I thought, too. That was the only thing I could grasp on to for all i know, he was the principal, I'd have no idea. He and in Nancy confront dad about killing Fred. He says they might have made it up. This is also a frustrating moment in the movie, because at that point, I'm like, Oh, that's a good twist. Like they did it just didn't even happen. Like he was a he was a falsely accused. I feel like if they had gone in that direction, and I'm sure there is a draft of the script, where they did go in that direction, and then they chickened out. But I feel like that was a potentially a good twist that Freddy could have Fred could have been innocent.

Unknown Speaker 56:36 Even though I've seen this before. I'd forgotten that until when it popped up this time. And I was like, Oh, yeah, they're doing a whole like the McMartin trial, you know, type thing that what was that the preschool where you know, that the owners were accused of something? Yeah. Like, they were doing that the satanic panic stuff or whatever. Yeah. Which was all bullshit. So I yeah, I was like, oh, they're gonna do this now because that was the, you know, Quintin and Nancy were, you know, saying to Clancy Brown, we were just kids, we could have said anything, why didn't you go to the police? And I thought, okay, yeah, let's let's get this makes it even better that, you know, he wasn't a creep. Like he was unjustly murdered by the mob.

Unknown Speaker 57:17 Well, and it gives gives Fred a real reason to come after them, which I'd never really felt that he had even in the original film. He's like, why is he it never really made total sense to me. Why Fred is after the kids. And I felt like this cuz

Unknown Speaker 57:34 he's like, you guys totally stop my murder spree. And I'm pissed. So I'm gonna kill your kids. Like,

Unknown Speaker 57:41 I guess that's as good of a reason as any to come back from the dead.

Unknown Speaker 57:46 That's enough. That's sometimes that's all you need.

Unknown Speaker 57:48 Well, I yeah, I just think it would have been a nice layer two, you might have actually sympathized with Fred at that point that you know, when he's coming back for vengeance, because they really screwed him over. But they back out of that the climax, which is kind of lame. Okay, so now, here's where we're going to resume our fight about the micro naps because quainton has run out of his pharmaceutical speed. So they go to the pharmacy. And so that we had get this whole sort of set piece that takes place in the pharmacy where Quentin's trying to get his drugs, the pharmacist isn't going to let him have his drugs, Nancy's having micro naps in the car, and she burned, you know, she's got to burn herself with the car lighter, to stay awake. And then she goes into the pharmacy. And I think this is the best scene in the movie, for one reason, because it's not doing anything that was done in the original and doing it poorly. Because I think it's really cool despite the presence of the boiler room. I think it's really cool when she's sort of toggling in between. As Fred's coming down the the aisle and he's swiping in the dream and stuffs falling off the aisles shelves as he swiping. I feel like they really use the micro nap idea really effectively there to make a cool scene. Something we haven't seen before and A Nightmare on Elm Street film Rodney Tell me why I'm wrong.

Unknown Speaker 59:17 Because the scenes not really that good, because like, I like that she's attacked at the drugstore. But first of all, she knows she's being hunted by this like, vicious dream killer, but she keeps refusing any kind of drugs that will keep her awake, which is really weird. And then on top of that, he's like, I'm gonna go into the well lit drugstore. Do you want to come with me? She's like, now I'll just sit in the quiet dark car where I totally won't fall asleep. So it's already not making sense. But it also is when she gets attacked. Oh my god, how you know, like, it's the it's the way the editing is right? It's again, it's that opposite of being subtle. It's it's like cutting back and forth between the reality and the dream. Yeah, it's quality swipes and like knock some shit off the shelf. It's just like i don't know i think that i think the movie is so mediocre up to this point that you're just happy that Freddy Krueger slash nadder Are you

Unknown Speaker 1:00:10 saying me personally? Are you saying yes you know I honestly I honestly think there's some like clever filmmaking there I think it's a clever conceit it just i think it's it's got a level of ingenuity to it that I appreciate and so desperately craving in this movie.

Unknown Speaker 1:00:31 Well actually, I think I said to you when we were watching this I was like, Oh, I this is this is like the one thing that I remember from watching this before is because I remember the the scene I remember with the with the cigarette lighter in the car and everything. And I do also I have to tell you Rodney I was frustrated as hell the entire time with her not partaking in some sort of drugs of some sort. Because Yeah, thank you. Come on. Like Yeah, no that that was frustrating for me as well cuz I'm just like, I you know, I don't know what your deal is as to why you won't do this. And I trust me I get it. I come from a place of that as well. But we're dealing with Fred and micro naps. Well at least Nancy in the original she's like popping like no sleep or whatever like yeah

Unknown Speaker 1:01:17 oh don't know dose or whatever. All it's not on Naka. Nagas. Yes. Funny. Yeah, but I forget what it's called, like, no sleep or can't

Unknown Speaker 1:01:27 sleep. Yeah. Or something. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 1:01:28 So yeah, she should least be doing like five hour energy drinks like crazy or whatever. Isn't that what the kids like to do? Get all hopped up on those, like snort Red Bull. Yeah, they should have done that.

Unknown Speaker 1:01:41 You forgot to mention important thing, which is that they tell you if you if you if you don't sleep for like 70 hours, you'll go into a coma that lasts forever. And then that's important later,

Unknown Speaker 1:01:52 I totally forgot that I that's one of those things that is just glossed over me even though I've seen this movie more times than any human being should be legally allowed to see it. But it does come back later. But I did not read forever register that they set that up in there. It's

Unknown Speaker 1:02:09 like when they're doing all their research, right? Okay, when they're using when they're using gigablast.

Unknown Speaker 1:02:14 I was just so hyped up on gigablast and micro naps that I just went right over my head.

Unknown Speaker 1:02:19 I kind of want to do like a comprehensive listing of fake search engines for movies and like what's the best what's the what's the champion? It might be gigabit and

Unknown Speaker 1:02:28 then start it like may do it as a start up and beat Google become masters of the universe.

Unknown Speaker 1:02:34 To be fair, I don't want to shit all over this drugstore scene. I'm going to go back after this and just rewatch that part because like maybe it's maybe I'm being a little harsh on it. You both seem pretty, pretty excited. And there are parts in the movie that are cool. Maybe this is one of them. So I'll I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt here. Even though I watched it last night and can't remember it. I appreciate

Unknown Speaker 1:02:52 that you're giving this movie any props at all, because I expected this to be a bloodbath. Or now we're down to our final two Quinten and Nancy, she gets cut and they so they go to the hospital. And did you did you recognize the nurse from the hospital do Did either of you recognize who this is?

Unknown Speaker 1:03:10 I had that moment of like she looks familiar, but no idea. She

Unknown Speaker 1:03:13 is the actress who played the original April O'Neil in the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie that Oh, yeah, she was the original April how exciting. I wasn't, I wasn't a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles guy. But I did put those together. They go back to give Nancy pain meds because the mom signs as Connie Britton signs off on it. Right and let me ask you this, What is she saying? She's like signing her over to like a mental institution or something? Or is it just to give her pain meds?

Unknown Speaker 1:03:47 It didn't seem like that, because like, they kind of do like a long shot on the document that she's signing. And I was looking at it and I'm like, it just I don't know. I mean, if that's what they were implying is like we're going to let you commit her something right? It said, I hereby swear that I did not burn a man alive for molesting my daughter

Unknown Speaker 1:04:07 20 years ago.

Unknown Speaker 1:04:10 No, it is the top something like permission to administer medical care. Yeah, I assume it's basically like I hereby give permission for you to like forcibly inject my daughter with sleeping meds

Unknown Speaker 1:04:20 right which Why do we need to have a shot of the document there? It's so they put emphasis on the document which was strange because if that's all it is, then who cares? We don't need to see this document. But then we get the moment where former April O'Neil goes to injector and she lifts up her hand and knows she's got the Freddie claw. Which

Unknown Speaker 1:04:40 micro nap

Unknown Speaker 1:04:42 Yeah, we'll see good use of micro nap there. You don't get that without a micro nap. No serie Bob.

Unknown Speaker 1:04:49 Yeah, Quinten like, grab some adrenaline out of a drawer. And like, dude, I watched this movie like 24 hours ago, and I don't remember what happens. They like yeah, they run in the car. And he's like, no, they

Unknown Speaker 1:04:58 just didn't even show them right Now that just shows them in the car when they come back to the room Nancy's gone CUT TO they're in the car and Winton's busting out the adrenaline to shoot it up, right. Like we don't even know how they get out.

Unknown Speaker 1:05:09 It's one of those like, I don't worry about it. There's we just need to get to the next scene. They get away. Okay, yeah. Yeah. So he quit and juices up in the leg up. And of course, I mean, you guys picked up right? His name is Quentin Quentin Tarantino. Epic shot. I don't understand the reference. There's a director named Quentin Tarantino who directed some pretty famous films over the last 25 years or so. And one of them featured very prominently in adrenaline adrenaline shot sequence, you should check it out. It's called Pulp Fiction. It's pretty good.

Unknown Speaker 1:05:45 Oh, interesting. Oh, yeah. I'll put on the list. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker 1:05:47 Yeah, yeah. So Clinton shoots up in his leg. They have their sort of tender moment where they're driving to the abandoned preschool in Quint Nasser out on a real date. And I liked this line, she sort of puts him off and he says, Well, why don't you sleep on it? And I was like, Alright, clever writing there. But then Fred shows up because they micro nap, I guess for a second and then they drive off the road. They've got to walk the rest of the way to the school.

Unknown Speaker 1:06:17 How did Quinten micro nap after he just shot himself up with adrenaline? Like, yeah, that was my one thing was I was like, I mean, maybe he's just that tired. I don't know. I mean, I'm not going to nitpick things. But I really, that was my honest thought was like, didn't he just take this adrenaline?

Unknown Speaker 1:06:34 Yeah, I'm gonna nitpick too, because the same thing happens when she burns herself with a lighter, like, your arm would hurt so bad that the whole point of doing it is so you can stay awake for like maybe 20 more minutes. So why go through all this? Like they get adrenaline in the injection his leg? If it doesn't have a purpose,

Unknown Speaker 1:06:49 fair enough. I think they're just trying to sort of set things up and then do reversals and then set things up. You know, I get it. It's definitely doesn't make total sense. But I also see they're trying to keep you engaged, like with things so but yeah, it doesn't really make sense. What also doesn't make sense is that this creepy fucking school is not been turned into like Kultury condos or something. It's still there. With the paint peeling off the wall and like creepy kid artwork all over the wall. You know, look, it's a horror movie. We need to have our climax take place in someplace creepy. You know, they set it up that this preschool was the place of you know, where all these terrible things happened, but it's sort of ridiculously art directed in that way that would never happen in real life. And then they find Fred's molesting cave, like they find his bedroom first, which still has his bed in it.

Unknown Speaker 1:07:48 Here's the thing that I don't understand, right? Because they make a big point about how they never went to the cops. And they just like, assumed he was molesting their kids. So the implication is that this place was closed down because you know of what Fred Krueger did. But from the perspective of reality, Fred Krueger just disappeared one day didn't come to work. So wouldn't have done the maintenance crew go downstairs and they like his like, his knife glove is still sitting on the table. Right? Right. It. It's literally like they're like, how can we run this place without good old Fred Krueger doing the lawn, close it down, just close it down? Shelly, they locked the front door and left,

Unknown Speaker 1:08:27 right, one of one of two things would have happened. One, people would have found out about these horrible things, and they would have torn the place down. or two, no one would have found out about these things. And they would have just kept the place running and turned his bedroom into another classroom or you know, it would still be a school. What wouldn't? It doesn't make sense that now it's the haunted town haunted house or whatever. It's not the Michael Meyers house, you know, I mean, it's like it shouldn't. That doesn't make sense. Because you're right, they don't go to the cops. So nobody should know that this was a horrible place.

Unknown Speaker 1:09:02 But I'll just assume that like they didn't pay their county taxes on time. And so the county just kicked them all out and chained it up.

Unknown Speaker 1:09:08 So they, they they find his bedroom, which still has his gross bed in it, which will actually come into play later. And then they find his creepy molesting cave, which is sort of another room in there. You know, and and just to put it out there, you know, we're making light a lot of this but we do are not making light of, you know, child abuse in any way. This is what makes the movie. I think, ultimately, no fun. I mean, I can deal with this in a horror movie context, if we're talking about something that's, you know, really hard and serious or whatever, but we're trying to have fun here with the thing about Freddy Krueger is that there's a fun element to him. And when you introduce this into it, like the fun is gone. Now he's just a disgusting creep, and I'm not on his side in any way, the way that you are with your favorite horror franchise characters where, you know, you secretly are on Jason's side and you're secretly with me at this point, you're just not on his side. And I think this is truly the tragic flaw of this film.

Unknown Speaker 1:10:16 I 100% had that same feeling and this is also your, your so you're possibly on his side, because only of what was mentioned earlier or alluded to that this was like, the kids had lied about it, right? Yeah. So then, like, at that point, you're like, fuck him up Friday. Like, you know, these kids lied like you were you were wrongly murdered by this mob. And then now, here's the like, the pitchers yuck, that are you know, he, he didn't do it. Like he's after them. Like the lion Clinton says, it's like, he's not after us. Because we lied. He's after us. Because we told the truth. And that just yeah, it's just that whatever you were hanging on to that this film was going somewhere, like, you just really feel like the wind just go right out of the sails. So it's like, and to make it even worse, Fred wants them to remember his abuse of them. Like that's specifically cited as his motivation that he wants him to remember. So it's sort of gross layer upon gross layer. So much gross. And just so like, just it's like there's nowhere to go. You can't go nowhere to go from here.

Unknown Speaker 1:11:32 A tiny detail earlier in that when you see the flashback of the Miss kids. There's like a shot of young Chris the blonde girl and you see that like her back has been like clawed and she's got scars on her back. So this this notion that like maybe they made it up is fucking nonsense cuz like she clearly came home with her back carved up, and you know, her dress torn up. So like, it's like the movies not even sure if it's trying to pull that joke on you or not. But Sebastian, you're totally right. I'm with Jason. I want to watch Jason murder a bunch of people, right? But like, it's hard to root for the dude that like raped a bunch of little kids. Like, that's messed up. And, and I'm a big fan of messed up content, like, give me the messed up stuff. But like, this movie just feels like it's going a little too far. And the fact that he keeps like bringing it up, it's just like, it makes it feel so icky. That you can no longer have fun. You're totally right.

Unknown Speaker 1:12:25 They have like a moment in one of the flashbacks where they show Jackie Earle Haley holding up gardener claw like that's where he got the idea to make the claw and I don't know or maybe he was climbing them with that not the knife hand but then they find the knife hand which is also not really set up in this movie. In the original movie. That's the weapon he used. And he right he put those in the furnace of the boiler room that he was burned in and they find you know, I think the mom still has them in the boiler room, their boiler at home or whatever so they really set up the knife hands whereas in this is Did he really have that knife hand glove in real life? Or is that just part of his dream persona and it was the gardening tool in real life? It's not made no

Unknown Speaker 1:13:21 because because when they go down into the basement Quinten and Rooney are sorry Nancy. On the on the table there's like one of the knife fingers as though he was like in the midst of assembling it like it was his life like he was like pretty soon my knife glove will be ready to go wherever those meddling at all.

Unknown Speaker 1:13:39 Right, so maybe he never got to finish his night knife glove project. And

Unknown Speaker 1:13:45 I think I think that's what it is.

Unknown Speaker 1:13:46 Okay, okay, well, that that tracks

Unknown Speaker 1:13:49 I think even in the original or I think it's the original though don't we actually see him making his

Unknown Speaker 1:13:54 glove? It's the opening looks like

Unknown Speaker 1:13:56 it's a whole thing. Yeah, that's what I remember with like the fire and he's like putting his glove together. Yes. So yeah, I see exactly. I mean, like there's so much care and detail going into like the glove history. Yeah. And the original that it's just to be so like brushed over now. And just yeah, it's it's it falls short to also mention more talking about the yuck going into once these Polaroids are found and that whole thing happens like the yuck gets dialed up so high, like all the up lines just start coming.

Unknown Speaker 1:14:30 Yeah, I emphasize that. It's hard to offend me. And this this scene really offended me like there's like multiple moments. I was like, that's gross like that. Take that out.

Unknown Speaker 1:14:40 Well, And to make matters worse, we go into the basic setup of the climax which is similar to the original, or Nancy, as you figured out earlier in the pharmacy. She pulled out a little piece of Fred's sweater, so she knows that she can bring some corporeal element of him out into reality. So she's going to go into sleep. Quentin is going to watch her. She's gonna grab Fred and pull him out. So she goes to his gross molester bed, goes to sleep. Quentin grabs a paper cutter blade off of an old paper cutter that's lying around to do some Fred killin. But of course, you know, it's stupid Clinton falls asleep. So we go into this big final dream sequence. We're both Nancy and Quentin are both sleeping. So they're sort of both dealing with the dream world. Quinn ends up in the boiler room that Fred never was burned alive in and he throws him around and he slashes them pretty bad in the chest. But then Nancy calls out and because Fred has kept telling her you have always been my favorite. You know, so he's really got a mad boner for so he goes chasing after and, you know, there's we get sort of a replay in some ways of the climax of the original film. At one point, she's in the original Nancy's running up the stairs and her feet sink into the stairs. And this time, she's running down a hallway and then she falls into like the rug and it's all bloody water, whatever.

Unknown Speaker 1:16:18 I like this part. Because Because Because he has one of the better lines here and he goes, how's that for a wet dream, right? And I was like, okay,

Unknown Speaker 1:16:26 that's one of the only lines that sound like an OTG Robert Anglin line, you know, that's something I could he would definitely have said. But so she falls into that falls into the water and falls through the floor and into her own bed at home. And now she's wearing the little girl out dress that she used to wear and this is where it really for me. This is where it gets really gross. No,

Unknown Speaker 1:16:54 I like the part where she falls through the ceiling too. It's a little CG. But this whole sequence with the bloody hallway while it's brief, I will give credit where credit's due I was like that part was well done.

Unknown Speaker 1:17:05 I also know I just was also I like the sequence with the hallway I like when she falls into her bed. I also appreciated that Quentin fashioned a weapon out of one of those giant paper cutters because those things have always anytime in an office or whatever. I'm like this thing is crazy. I'm just glad to see somebody using it as a weapon because it is and then totally like the Glenn before him. You know he did the Amash comes back again or you know that that'll happens. But I was here for all that it was fine. It was Nancy in the baby dress, where I just was like, I just can't, I can't and this is one more grow. Like, I actually took notes of the things because I was like, these are all so gross. Like, your mouth says no, but your body says yes. And I just wrote barf. Because it was just like, it's just so yuck. It's so yuck. And then he she, when she first runs into Friday, she says fuck you to him. And he says, that's a little fast for me. Why don't we just hang first and

Unknown Speaker 1:18:08 it's just like, and then he shows her bodies hanging on in the boiler room. That's just terrible. And I like it. And I like puns, you know, but this is just not it's not okay, none of this is okay. And he you know, he's running his one of his knife fingers like upwards skirt. And they it's it's really I won't say shocking, but it's it's surprising that this was a creative decision that they decided to go with because to rod knees point of director, whoever not really understanding the what people like about this series. You know, this is not what people like about the Nightmare on Elm Street series. This is not what they want to see Freddie doing.

Unknown Speaker 1:18:55 I think they really are just trying to be like, yo, let's like, we're gonna earn that our rating so hard, people are gonna love it. It just has aged really poorly. Also from like, I mean, this, why I brought up the coma thing is because the implication that he basically says here, right is like, I basically have kept you awake for all this time, specifically, so you would fall into a permanent coma. And I could just like, have you for eternity in your dream state? Yeah. Which is like, really creepy. But also, I have a I have a question I have to ask. That's a little icky. But like, if Fred Krueger is into kids, why is he into 18 year old Rooney Mara, right? Like, that doesn't really even make sense within the logic of the film.

Unknown Speaker 1:19:40 Yep. And that sort of occurred to me too, although I did, like I did. That was when he says that, about having her trapped there forever. That at least was a moment in the movie where I kind of got a little bit of like, Oh, you know, I mean, just because the idea I get sort of Things like that where I you know, concepts where people are going to be trapped like, find murder me stab me with a fucking machete cut off my head. It's all good. That's gonna be like two seconds and we're over but the idea of, you know keeping me in your dream world for forever and you know tormenting me is that that actually gives me kind of a bit of a chill. But yeah, it doesn't you're right it doesn't really track with the whole child molester idea that he be just as jazzed to do it to her now, I mean, they could have had her regress to a younger age in the dream like Why does she have to be that age and the dream but I I'm sure that was a bridge too far that they weren't even willing to go to go for

Unknown Speaker 1:20:47 even you hearing you describe it is making me uncomfortable. Yeah. Right. Like, well, there's maybe you should have directed there's no,

Unknown Speaker 1:20:54 there's just nowhere to go with that idea. Unfortunately, you know, I mean, I think they just they, it was a bad idea. They shouldn't have gone there at all.

Unknown Speaker 1:21:02 Like, I feel like if they thought that they were going to be edgy, or try to let you know, it's 2010 and we're just going to really, you know, earn their rating, like you said, or, you know, just try to have like a shock value. It just, it just came off dislike this. This this really poor taste like it just doesn't. It doesn't work. It doesn't work with what this film is.

Unknown Speaker 1:21:23 There's a little part of me that applauds them for trying to be gross. Yeah, they just fail at it.

Unknown Speaker 1:21:29 Yeah, it just doesn't work.

Unknown Speaker 1:21:30 I think that what they're what they misunderstand, and what a lot of people misunderstand about this slasher genre, especially when you're dealing with sort of supernatural characters, or supernatural adjacent characters like Freddy, Jason and Michael, is that it's more a fantasy thing in when you become a fan of these movies, you end up becoming a fan of the characters, even though they're reprehensible and horrible murderers. It's sort of similar to the way you feel about superheroes or you know, other fantasy characters. You don't want them to tethered due to the terrible horrible things that really happen in real life. It's fine for them to stab people and hack them apart. That's the craved part of us that is satisfied, but we don't want to see really horrible atrocities occur at the hands of these characters. They are in some weird way fantasy figures to us and we don't want to see that.

Unknown Speaker 1:22:34 Well said you some that are very well

Unknown Speaker 1:22:37 basically, you know, Nancy stabs Fred and then I with something but you know, he can't die in this world. If we do get the line. I'm, I'm your boyfriend now. Which you know, of course is a call back to the original question tries to wake her up, she won't wake up. So we get this scene where he shoots her in the heart with the adrenaline calling back to pulp fiction. This wakes her up and she drags Fred into reality. You know, they fight in reality, which is you know, pretty satisfying. At that point. She cuts off his hand with the paper cutter blade, and then slashes his throat and she says you're in my world now bitch. Which decent line I feel like that might have been said in one of the other movies but I'm not sure one of the other nightmare movies but I'm not sure yeah and that's basically it they burn the the creepy school and

Unknown Speaker 1:23:37 again Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 1:23:39 like learn from your fucking past. Also, why like they now have proof of like the burned dream killer that they fought in recount reality. Why don't they like take pictures call the cops be like, Look, we found Fred Krueger. Right? Like, it would help explain anything that they might need to explain right in case they're gonna be accused of murder. But they're like not let's just burn it all

Unknown Speaker 1:24:02 will not only So wait, so his body is still there right after they kill him.

Unknown Speaker 1:24:07 Yeah, she like cuts. She slashes his neck up and he like bleeds to death. And he's just dead body on the floor.

Unknown Speaker 1:24:13 Right. So like for the sequel? They should have not burned down the building. They should have called the police. They should have explained to them. Look, this is a guy that's been dead for. I don't know how many years? Like 15 years right? I guess there'd be no way to way to prove that because they never I guess found his body to begin with.

Unknown Speaker 1:24:33 They could do like carbon dating, I guess.

Unknown Speaker 1:24:35 But then you could do a whole sequel where like now we're dealing with a reality where you can like pull people out of dreams. Like what does that mean? Then you've got your dream warriors and all that. So yeah, missed opportunity there. But uh, so yeah, that's basically it until we get our Stinger seen where Nancy and mom returned home. And there's a mirror and Freddie's in the mirror. In the mirror, and he throws his claws out of the mirror and and they go right through mom's the back of mom's head out the front of her face. And her her eyeballs are on the tips of his fingers and it's really dumb. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 1:25:16 it's literally just like the movie ends with a sign that says fuck you go home. Like, so. It's so like, to be fair, I think most nightmare I know she'd films and with like, this ridiculous Stinger that sort of like non canon,

Unknown Speaker 1:25:29 you know, a first movie has a terrible one. It's terrible. Yeah. So I mean, it's no worse than that. If we're being brutally honest.

Unknown Speaker 1:25:39 The first one is now the one where she gets like, sucked through the door. No, that's when she gets in a car.

Unknown Speaker 1:25:43 Yes, yeah. Oh, right. Mom does

Unknown Speaker 1:25:46 right. She gets in the car. The car like is a convertible that closes up

Unknown Speaker 1:25:50 with that has dried in there. It's got Freddie's sweater painted on it basically, on right comfortable roof.

Unknown Speaker 1:25:57 And then mom gets sucked through the What do you call it like the people

Unknown Speaker 1:26:01 know, it's like the, it's like glam. And

Unknown Speaker 1:26:05 it's a fancy name. I don't know, the glass above the door. That's like super small. So it's like, it's not for a person to be pulled through.

Unknown Speaker 1:26:13 Yeah, she suddenly becomes like an inflatable sex doll. And then,

Unknown Speaker 1:26:17 yeah, yanked through the tiny window in the door. So it's not like they had a lot to live up to here, because that's pretty terrible. But this is terrible, too. And then we get dream by the Everly Brothers or whatever, for the end credits. And that's basically the Nightmare on Elm Street remake. So let's move on to closing thoughts. Let's start with the positives. I'm going to say that I think this movie looks decent. It's decently you know, the production values are good. We forgot to mention the scene where Chris is in the classroom. And she has her dream. It's mirroring a scene from the original, which is done more gritty and better. But you know, there's suddenly she's in this dolt, you know, dilapidated, post apocalyptic classroom. And that's when we first get a good look at Fred at the chalkboard, there are some moments of nice computer generated imagery, that sort of hint at the potential of what a movie like this could be. Just in terms of production, design and production values, I think it's fine. Although I do agree that none of the dream sequences are as good as they could be. I think the actors overall were good. I think the film looks good. There's, you know, it doesn't look like it was, you know, poorly made. I don't mind the callbacks to the original. I mean, they're, they're, you know, beat for beat there at some spots. But you know, it's, it's fine. It's a remake. It's not, I'm not upset about it. But that's, that's what they're doing. You know, that those are, those are the positives, there's the scenes that stood out, like the pharmacy scene. I do like the scene that you just mentioned, as well with when she's learning about Sparta and and in the classroom, and we get to see Fred for the first time and his fingers on the chalkboard and all that stuff. Yeah, I mean, I'll go into what I didn't like, but there definitely are things that I like about it,

Unknown Speaker 1:28:23 you know, I think it's a case of liking by default. Right? It there's nothing in this movie that I will like want to show to somebody and say you've got to see this scene or this moment or this shot, because there's nothing in the movie that rises to excellence. Right However, there are there are things that are not bad or need to be shit upon like it is shot very professionally, this is clearly a they had a budget they had a good dp. The director has a pretty good eye, I would say half of the movie, there's some good stylish shit like some of the boiler room sequences the way the framing in the framing is done. I thought the the partner she's in the bloody body bag look great. Some of the kills wealth too fast, are very gory and violent. And I applaud that because that's sort of the reason you come to these movies. Right? And, and again, there were a couple one liners that I liked and, and having Clancy Brown in your movie is a plus for me every time I've he literally can't be in a bad Well, he can be in a bad movie, but he's never bad. So I think on my second viewing this time, it was a lot less offensive than I remembered it being I can I can say that, you know, but again, I don't think there's anything about this movie except maybe the part of the dude cuts his throat at the beginning that I thought was truly badass.

Unknown Speaker 1:29:41 What do you think went wrong here? creatively, I feel like I've sort of my main gripes with it creatively or the decision to back out of the idea that Fred is after them out of revenge because they lied. And then to go full child molester like, you know Go full child molester.

Unknown Speaker 1:30:01 I was thinking about was watching the movie. And I kept thinking I was trying to put my finger on. Why is this movie bad? And part of it falls under the category of like, just it's so bland. It's forgettable, right? But I, I now know what the problem is. And the problem is, in all the other Nightmare on Elm Street films, the dream sequences are these set pieces to themselves. They're like little short films, right? That you look forward to? Yeah, it's like, oh, you realize that person is dreaming. Some dread comes, Brady gets them turns into a fucking worm, or he like turns into a TV set. You know, like, the turns the one dude into a puppet with like, you know, the veins and shit. And that's why you come to the movie. But this version does away with that, because of the micro naps. It says we're not doing dream sequences. We're just here to have like, a scary guy with knives jump out of shadows. And so you are actually undoing the very thing that everybody wants. Right? Like, that's, that's all you actually want out of a Freddy Krueger movie. I don't care about his backstory, I don't even care about him killing people with the glove. I'd rather he doesn't kill anyone with the glove. And in this movie, it's the only way he kills anyone. And I think that's the biggest sin the movie makes is that it it takes the premise of a man who gets you in your dreams, and basically just turns him into a dude who stabs you with his hand in your dreams. Like, that's lame, guys. It's lame. What is our argue, I think in arguably the greatest horror movie killer premise of all time that a guy kills you in your dreams because that you can't not sleep. So there's, I mean, there I don't think there's ever been a better initial premise of a slasher movie. And I and I agree, I will maybe back down from the defense of the micro naps, just because you make a good point there. I think if they had done new dream sequences, and done the micro naps, I think there could have been something at least to make this stand out and be a little more memorable. Yeah. And, and again, I acknowledge, I acknowledge what you're saying that they put the micro naps in to try to up the ante and make it be like, Oh, he can come anytime I get that I just, I just think that they it's a missed opportunity. You know, like, you're gonna have a whole sequence in a swimming pool where the kid falls asleep. Let's make it a big sequence, you know, like really bad at it. But instead, it's over like that all the dream sequences start and then the person wakes up or they get killed. I understand that you want to recreate the first movie, but like, you're you're totally right, there is no better idea for a slasher film. Like, sooner or later, you're gonna fall asleep. And this guy is going to get you and going all the way back to the beginning this conversation when I said that all of the Freddy movies are like, up and down. And some of them are really bad, and some are really good. They all have really great death sequences. That's the thing. Even the worst of the movies have these nightmare scenes that you're like, Oh, that's twisted, you know? Yeah. And, and this movie is just like, I don't care about that part. I care more about telling you the backstory of how maybe this guy was a pedophile. But wink wink, he was so big shocker. Like, like, whether he's whether he was a pedophile or not. He's still murdering people from the beginning of this movie. So he's clearly the bad guy. So why are we making a mystery movie out of it? You

Unknown Speaker 1:33:30 know, if they announced, which I imagine one day they will, that they are going to try this again. I'm sure it won't be with Jackie Earle Haley or anything like that. Or Platinum dunes if they even exist anymore. Would you be interested in seeing it, Jennifer? Absolutely. Always. Neil got a hope for the best expect the worst and hope for the best. That's that's how I roll So yeah, I would totally go see reboot of this again in the theater. Absolutely. Give it a shot now. Just when they announced this movie, apparently he did. Screen tests with Kevin Bacon as Freddy Krueger before Jackie Earle Haley, which I actually think could work in a weird way at least Kevin Bacon has the sort of build and you know he's lanky and and you could do cool stuff with his makeup in his face. I also remember people banding around the name of Ben Foster, from you know, six feet under and he's actually in 30 days of night and stuff. I think he could have been he could be a good he's got a good creepy vibe. I think he could be a good Freddy Krueger. Rodney, would you be up for another attempt at this? Are you just gonna dig in your heels and say don't ever try to do this again?

Unknown Speaker 1:34:53 No as a like, Look, I I'm a horror fan. I I go see everything right like always Honestly, I have no idea why these large franchises don't just make make a new one every year. Like if I ran the studio, every fucking Halloween, maybe every 18 months, you would have a new fresh Nightmare on Elm Street film and a new fray a 13th. at like, like saw did it for like eight years in a row. Right? And like, Dude, it's not that hard. Like, I promise I'll come up, I'll come to your mediocre dream killer movie every fucking Halloween. Why is it take so long? Yeah, I'd like it to be a little better. But yeah, I will go to the next 10 remakes of this film franchise. I was

Unknown Speaker 1:35:34 just gonna say it is utterly baffling that they can't get these things. I mean, I think a lot in the case of the Friday the 13th series, it's because there's some sort of rights issues like going on. That's fair. I mean, that one's a no brainer. I put a guy in a hockey mask. I mean, what is the big deal?

Unknown Speaker 1:35:55 Three of us. If the three of us were arguing over the money, I'd be like, Look, guys, can we disagree every year that we argue we're not making any so how about we just split it three ways, right? We make we make one every year. Let's just churn them out. They act like everyone doesn't like Freddy Krueger, because they had a bad Critical response to this movie. Right? And it's like, No, we didn't like your movie. Try again. Do it again. Right? Yeah, you can start over be like Spider Man. Just keep starting over until you get it right again. Right. However I disagree with I read some articles about Kevin Bacon being interested in the role. And I gotta tell you, I think the misconception is that everyone thinks of Robert England is Freddy Krueger, but he became famous because of the role. Right? He wasn't a famous actor. And I think the minute you put a famous actor in the role of Freddy Krueger, the audience can't stop looking at him as the actor I kept seeing Jackie Earle Haley, just finally someone I don't know and make that the new Freddy Krueger and fill the rest of the cast with famous people.

Unknown Speaker 1:36:56 I think there's a sort of middle ground where you could get a character actor, somebody like Ben Foster, who most people don't really know who he is. I mean, Robert England was a character actor, he would been in other movies. It's not known. I mean, he's in, you know, a galaxy of terror and all sorts of stuff before he became Freddy Krueger. So I mean, I think Will anybody ever live up to Robert England? Probably not.

Unknown Speaker 1:37:21 That that's, that's the problem. It's it. They're, they're such big boots to fill, you know. And it's impossible to play that role without inviting everyone to compare you to Robert England.

Unknown Speaker 1:37:33 But but it I mean, I think it with the right person, it can be done where you can have, you know, both versions, both actors, you know, living in a world where you you can just enjoy both of them. Like I feel that way about having Bill skarsgard play Pennywise you know, it's like, first new Penny wises Tim Curry through the miniseries. And that's who just how I pictured him. And then here comes Bill skarsgard. And I'm like, I love him. And I think he also, you know, at least at that time, was probably toeing that line of not being, you know, super well known, but had done some notable things. And so he was able to slide into that and do his own take on it. And I am now you know, I like both versions. So I think it can be done. I think that that comparison is pretty good. But I also feel that, you know, there was only one attempted it before they made another one. Even though people were kind of hung up on Tim Curry's version. It wasn't like Nightmare on Elm Street where we got you know, six or seven whatever movies with one guy I think it's you know, the more more movies you make with one person, the harder it is for people to shake that I think people of our generation will never get over Robert England, I don't think there will there will ever be a version that will be able to compete with him. But I think it's such a strong idea that the temptation to not reenter introduce this character to a new generation is, you know, it's way too too much. You know, they're going to try it again. Because it's just such a good idea. And you know, I know those movies still exist and and young people can go and find them and watch them but like, Come on, let's let's be real. They don't want to do that.

Unknown Speaker 1:39:26 So there's money to be made in them Freddie and that Freddy sweater. That's basically what I'm saying.

Unknown Speaker 1:39:32 Yeah, I I'll back down on this, they easily could find a more well known actor who still just does a different version. I think you got to just get away from the Freddy Krueger. I'm so used to like I remember thinking, Heath Ledger was the worst idea ever to play.

Unknown Speaker 1:39:47 Oh, I did too. I was like, What?

Unknown Speaker 1:39:49 Really? Yep. And then we all saw the movie and we all went I apologize. I'm really sorry. You You're amazing. So I genuinely think someone out that maybe it is kevin bacon bacon. Maybe it is better. Foster well I guess we'll find out one day because they're gonna make another one that there's no way they just leave this where they left it.

Unknown Speaker 1:40:07 Well let's hope they do a better job but anyway thank you guys for being on this episode and I want to wish you both the sweetest of dreams.

Unknown Speaker 1:40:27 That about does it today for Tentpole Trauma. If you like what you heard, check out our social media presence on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Just look for Tentpole Trauma. That was easy, wasn't it? If you like us, hit subscribe, and leave us a sterling review on iTunes. If you dare. If you really like us, head over to patreon.com and get involved in one of our fabulous tears. You'll be glad you did. Want to communicate with Tentpole Trauma, send an email to Tentpole [email protected] we'd love to hear from you. And who knows, one day you may even get your email read on one of our shows.

Unknown Speaker 1:41:15 Thanks for listening, and we'll see you real soon.

#movie #remake #jackie earle haley #freddy krueger #film #dream #platinum dunes #horror #horror movies #texas chainsaw #podcast #nightmare #noes #a nightmare on elm street #robert englund

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ofieugogyshz · 5 years ago

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otoya + idol sister hcs

featuring all my idol daughters!!! which is like, 4 main ones currently but five or six if i include nozomi who i’ve lost interest in and yoshiko, who i’ve gained interest in.

this wound up SO LONG and if you read all of it then you get a shiny gold star!!! featured idols are Rin, Mari, Hanamaru, and Ai Miyashita!

Otoya + All the girls

he loves having so many vibrant and awesome little sisters!!! they love to hang out together and play

Otoya, Rin, and Ai are usually the ones down to play sports together!!

Mari and Hanamaru are the ones he has a little difficulty connecting interests with, but they all still manage to get along and have fun together!

he’s also a little scared of them

because they work so hard to achieve their goals

and because they’re only school idols and have to do a lot of work more work themselves rather than thru an agency like he does

he is often in awe of them and he supports them and loves every single one of his sisters!!!

they all like to help out at the orphanage from time to time!!!

him and ai are the best at handling the little kids! ai is like a big sister and the most down to earth one of the genki girls trio

mari is a little too..... encouraging of the kids’ outlandish ideas and also sometimes likes to scare them with silly-weird stories! to which all the kids go running crying to their oniichan and otoya has to tell her to not scare them! they’re just little kids!

rin would color/craft with the kids and while she can be mature for the little kids she would also often get caught up in their excitement/energy and basically be the one who would be yelling mcdonalds! mcdonalds! with the kids

hanamaru would be the quietest one there, helping the kids read from time to time or quietly cutting crafting paper and talking to all the little shy ones who she happens to notice staring at her.

when they quietly ask her if they could become an idol like her and their oniichan, she tells them, “I used to believe that I couldn’t become an idol, too. But then I met great friends, and they believed in me, and pushed me. If you work hard, and find yourself surrounded by people who believe in you, then you can become an idol too!”

(I’mma just shove that gif in there bc that’s it that’s the scene)

sometimes they like to practice their routines together, so they can all get feedback from people with very different points of view, since they’re all from different groups and backgrounds.

otoya tries to give them a few pointers from what the academy taught him, but he’s mostly just like “wow!! you are so amazing!!” or something. Most Supportive Big Brother award when?????

he does provide constructive feedback though! it’s usually just after his usual surprise at how awesome his little sisters are already!

he’s best at providing feedback for dance movement since he loves to move around.

if a fight starts to break out among the girls somehow, he tries to step in and ask everyone to take a deep breath

the girls enjoy listening to otoya’s music! They find it very refreshing and it’s nice getting to listen to him sing and play on his guitar!

Otoya + Rin

omg sports siblings

basically anything he does with syo would also include rin

they love to play any sport together obviously but soccer is their fave!

he’s really sad to hear that she thinks she can’t wear any cute, girly clothes

[and is also understandably confused when he points out that she has no problems wearing the cute idol clothes her and her friends make?]

but he does his best to cheer her up and make her believe that she can!! He just... tells her that she’s the cutest little sister he could ever ask for and for her to please believe in herself!!! because he doesn’t know what else to say or do to show his support

of course rin is just flustered and storms off upset because she feels like no one is understanding the problem she’s having! and basically everything else follows like it does in s2e5 of love live

they love to go for runs! especially at parks!

if they pass by pet shops they will both wanna go in but they can’t stay long because rin is allergic to cats, nya :(

rin makes them cat earbands and he happily wears them with her because if that’s what will make her happy, then so be it!

orange + red hair siblings = best siblings

Otoya + Mari

oh my god. the chaotic energy.

mari is probably the one he feels most awkward with

i mean, for starters, she’s hella rich and has some detachment from reality that the rich boys in starish don’t seem to experience

she probably also has a lot of fun teasing him

especially about his s/o

oh my god don’t let her know about his s/o

you know the >;3 face? she makes that face. all the time. any and every time s/o’s name comes up

she also probably ‘helps’ push them along by buying him two tickets to something ridiculously elaborate or expensive. because she can. she can do what she wants with her inheritance from the Ohara family

he is just a poor boy who grew up in an orphanage and hasn’t forgotten his roots mostly. he does not understand the freedom she has in spending money. he’s amazed when she arrives in a jet the first time they meet

Otoya probably feels bad for Mari when she manages to finally open up to him about her problems with her friends with the original Aqours and why they split. he probably tells her something like “that’s a toughie” and to be more honest with her feelings and maybe if she explained everything, they can all go back to being friends again!

ofc that doesn’t happen

and i forget what happened in s2 or whatever that got mari worried again bc sunshine was just that bad but i digress

When Mari makes her Stewshine, he is very intimidated by her and suddenly feels like he’s going to experience Natsuki’s cooking again

(it, fortunately, seems to taste better than Natsuki’s cooking)

Otoya + Hanamaru

this sister is so quiet, so sweet!

otoya usually does most of the talking, but hanamaru doesn’t mind! it’s nice to listen to him be so excited about stuff, and it reminds her of her best friends a bit, too!

if he doesn’t know what a word means or has trouble understanding some difficult text, and tokiya isn’t answering, he’ll go and ask her for help!

he feels a little bad about it bc he’s supposed to be the one that’s helping her, but she doesn’t mind and never makes him feel bad for it!

he cheers for her the most when it’s workout time! he helps her learn to do some breathing exercises to help build her stamina or something

i honestly don’t have much for him and hanamaru bc she’s the only one that isn’t an energetic child, but they are still very sweet to each other!

he tries to help her sometimes when she’s working the library but he’s too loud and impatient and distractable to help with some of the busywork. maybe he can help reshelve books.

Otoya + Ai Miyashita

He is scared of Ai the most!

i’m not sure how to phrase it or point out specifically why, but maybe because she’s just as excitable as he is!

she’s very energetic, so both of them can go on talking forever and ever about things!

she’s a lot more fashion-conscience than he is, so he’ll sometimes ask her for her opinion on stuff

he also probably would ask her to help with rin’s character arc re her feminity, but love live canon would not make it so. except maybe in that all stars app but i don’t have enough room to run it between llsif and shining live......

while they don’t have many interests in common, ai is still good at school and athletics, so she probably joins him and rin from time to time for a game of soccer! or something.

i’m p sure ai mikaze vs ai miyashita comes up in a conversation at some point early in. like

like how she’s really loose with her language and informal and energetic and stuff, while he’s very quiet and formal and cautious and calm. the stark contrast between the two ais!

also ai probably makes a pun about it? can you make a pun about it? I wouldn’t know I’m not a japanese speaker.

puns. so many puns

a lot of them fall short of their mark with otoya? maybe?

like, he probably is just like “Eh?” when she busts out into laughter at her own bad puns.

despite them not having many similar interest outside of idol work, they both get along very well! they both have very ‘easy’ and relaxed personalities, despite their big energy!

they both are very big helpers!!! so ai would be the one that he would ask for help from the most when it comes to the preschool orphanage

ai helps out there the most of all of the girls, because she really loves helping!

he probably helps her brainstorm her call sign! because they’re both very friendly individuals, he probably helped her come up with the high five part of her call by accident when they high-five’d sometime!

if you made it this far, congrats!! that is about all i have for my idol children!!! well the two actual idol series. I guess i technically have two more from tokyo mirage sessions! but it’s not the same as an actual idol series!

#i have to specify ai miyashita because there's an ai already in utapri lfmckmkf #-#--#---#----#-----#my idol kids #aidol daughter #book daughter #zura daughter #nyan daughter #my idol son #sonshine #shiny daughter #look i usually don't cross the fandoms that much among my kids and especially not between my idol kids and my husband #but i can have a little crossover hcs #as a treat

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asktheheirofslytherin · 4 years ago

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🦡 anon) Hello Tom /Voldemort , I just wanted to ask you guys about your opinion on bullying since I was a victim for it for a very long time , it's so hard to me to deal with it , some of the reasons was because that my academic grade were nearly always an A , others because they didn't expect from a Hufflepuff to have marks like that , to me a person house doesn't determine there academic grades, one must never judge a book by its cover. (Admin Be safe , from your Hufflepuff friend )

Upon seeing me for what I am now, I find that many people speculate I was a bully in my youth. This is partially false. At Wools, I was bullied as a small child, though it became incredibly hard to catch me, so I did not suffer physical violence at the hands of other children, and I did not preform physical violence in return, even as I grew. My magic retaliated, however, sometimes in gruesome ways I initially could not control. As I grew older, I learned how to control it, how to instill fear in the other children through it. I suppose then yes, you could have considered me a bully starting at around, oh, nine or so; the age around when I learned what I was doing and how to make it so.

This was a habit I did not take with me to Hogwarts. I felt much safer, physically, you see.

In my first and second years, I was teased a fair amount. I was scrawny, underfed, parentless, uneducated in wizard culture and history. Slytherins were more friendly in their teasing in an almost sibling like way, so that was tolerated. Gryffyndors were the worst, followed by the Ravenclaws. To my knowledge, I was never targeted by a Hufflepuff.

Still, it was nothing compared to what I feared at Wools, and while at first I waited for it to worsen, I realized it likely would not. I respected my peers at Hogwarts unlike the children at Wools, so I decided my life simply depended on becoming the absolute best. I studied my way to the top of the class, joined dueling club in second year, and became renowned for my skill at wizard chess. By the start of my third year, I was no longer bullied save for the traditional Gryffindor vs Slytherin conflicts, and I was very well liked indeed.

It was an image I knew I had to preserve, and so I was, in many regards, a very agreeable student. I treated all Slytherins like brothers and sisters, despite my personal feelings for a few. Oh, sure, in my final few years at Hogwarts I made it clear to my group that I was in charge, but it was all very childish compared to how I interact with my followers today. Still, I never used threat of violence - my style in Hogwarts was a veneer of charm and manipulation, seeking people who were useful and plying them with favors and kindness. Is that bullying? I do not think so. No one seemed to notice or resent me for it.

I slipped a few times. Gryffindors brought out the worst in me, though they asked for it, really. I got the Hagrid boy expelled. I dueled a few of them in empty classrooms late at night, and used some hexes I shouldn’t have. A well-placed confundus charm during an exam once, a snide remark in a corridor. I stole a few of their objects, as well, though I stopped that when I became a Prefect. The stakes of being caught too high. Nothing too bad, save the incident with the basilisk. I had only meant to petrify mudbloods, you see, still young and scared to kill outright - Myrtle was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. I had no quarrel with her.

As for my advice to you. Your marks are admirable, and whilst Hufflepuffs tend to be overlooked, you must be proud of your achievements. People may simply be surprised that a Hufflepuff is in the spotlight, but it does happen. Wasn’t it a Hufflepuff I had to kill in the triwizard tournament? I was astounded when I found out his house. I should not have been, but I fell prey to old stereotypes I suppose.

You seem incredibly useful in many regards. You will have no problem getting by in the world. Your classmates...they may be jealous, or afraid you are making them look bad. They may simply not know how to deal with difference from the standard, and thus feel the need to attempt to hem you in. Do not let them. Instead, gather a few close confidants; you need not make everyone like you. Vet these friends carefully. Hufflepuffs can be too kind and trusting. Then, thrive. Let your success be a bitter taste in the mouths of those who dared oppose you. Seek power, and hold it high.

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officialthiamlibrary · 5 years ago

Note

Any recommendations for enemies to friends to lovers fics or something along those lines? I would really appreciate it.

Get ready because Thiam is basically the personification of this trope so there are a lot.

tear out all your tenderness by @crownedcarl

There’s a quiver in his voice when Liam leans his head against her shoulder and says “I hope it’s love. I’m trying really hard to make it love.”

[TeenUp / 5.2k / complete]

Handle With Care by @AttemptedEloquence

chi·me·ra, noun. Definition: a single animal or plant with genetically distinct cells from two different zygotes

chi·me·ra, noun. Definition: a thing that is hoped or wished for but in fact is illusory or impossible to achieve.

chi·me·ra, noun. Definition: a monstrous creature with parts from multiple animals.

chi·me·ra

noun.

Definition: a boy who's done too much bad to be considered good and too much good to be considered bad.

alternately, Theo's back from hell and there's a lot of shit to sort out. Liam helps with that, sometimes.

[Mature / 56.8k / wip]

The boy I shouldn't want to love by @dan13la-blog-blog

Liam comes back to Beacon Hills after years, when his mother decides to get remarried. His big shock is finding out that his new step-father's son is the same guy that back then in elementary school used to bully him, making his life a literal hell...

[TeenUp / 92.1k / wip]

My Nemesis by @bookwyrm07

Super Wolf and Chimera have been assigned to be nemeses by the organizations that manage these things. Things were going great, until it was time for Liam and Theo to take off the masks and help their friends move in together.

Can they maintain their friendships and working relationship without killing each other?

[Mature / 4k / wip]

I won't die for you (but maybe I'll stand beside you) by @iwritefanfictionsometimes

Liam is an idiot who can't keep his mouth shut and now his mother is expecting a boyfriend for Christmas.

[Mature / 14.4k / complete]

Vacancy Signs by @lovelylittlegrim

Theo and Liam are on the opposite side of the United States when the apocalypse breaks out. Now, they have to find their way back to Beacon Hills without getting eaten by zombies or killing one another.

It’s hard.

[Explicit / 89.6k / wip]

Rivals AU by @thiamlife

they don’t even play the same sports, but both teams don’t take the other really serious and they constantly prank each other and make fun of each other. Theo, captain of the Football team, and Liam, captain of the Lacrosse team, and they both claim they can’t stand each other and it would be all so easy if it weren’t for the fact that both find their counterpart more than just attractive and maybe one of their screaming matches on the field ends with them furiously making out under the shower after everybody else is gone. And maybe it becomes a regular occurrence from then on; first, they fight and bicker and then they make out. And maybe it’s getting harder and harder to pretend they hate each other’s guts because there is far more between them than just attraction. Oh, well, nobody has to know, right?

[NR / 89.9k / complete]

Man of my dreams by @louis_wife505

Liam struggles with his sexuality after being plagued with wet dreams about Theo. Theo just wants to help Liam... Any way he can.

[NR / 20.1k / wip]

Mirror of Origin by @formerprincess

Liam is a young, reckless archaeologist who loves nothing more than to climb into old tombs and find out about ancient cultures, as well as retrieve lost artifacts. On his hunt for the Mirror of Origin, he meets a mysterious group of people claiming they have the same agenda as Liam himself: Rescue old artifacts from the ruins around the world and exhibit them for the people to see them or keep them locked away to avoid them falling into the wrong hands. Especially one of their mercenaries, Theo, makes it hard for Liam to accept working with them in order to get this one special artifact cause Theo and Liam butt heads since their first meeting. When things turn for the worst, however, both have to work together to literally save the world from getting destroyed by an ancient power and maybe, just maybe, they realize the other isn’t as obnoxious as they thought…

[NR / 16.8k / wip]

of hate and stronger emotions by @marauders-mess

He hates faes.

That's it, there's no pun, just a fact.

[TeenUp / 3.2k / complete]

What should have happened at the zoo by @fandomtastic

Everybody sees it as Liam makes Theo a better person. Liam brings out the good in him. Liam helps him be a good person.

But it wasn't a one-way street.

Theo helped Liam control his anger. He knew what it was like to be angry. He let him be angry.

[TeenUp / 704 / complete]

You painted blood on my stars // all I want is to keep you warm by @tenthousandfireflies

Liam doesn't understand why he always gets angry at Theo and feels the need to punch him whenever he's around. Which is a lot of time since Scott keeps sending them away in the woods to "check on things".

[TeenUp / 15.4k / complete]

Scars of the Heart by @katzaren

When Liam rides into the Wild Hunt, Theo's soulmark reveals Liam's name in white scars. Theo thought soulmates were stupid before, but he’s in love with the idea of Liam being his soulmate. First step, get Hayden out of the picture. Second step, get Liam to believe in soulmates. Next step, romance? All while a supernatural vs. hunters war is going on. What can go wrong?

[Mature / 19k complete]

All the quads are my friends by @teen-wolf-af

Liam and Theo go to Figure Skating Worlds in Milan, ready to prove themselves to the skating world and end up falling in love along the way.

[TeenUp / 10.8k / complete]

Apparition Love by @Oxycodone

It's been a couple months since the last standoff with Monroe and the Anuk-Ite. Liam has gotten a job at the behest of his parents and the majority of the pack has left for college, leaving behind only Mason, Corey, and Liam. A certain chimera goes missing and Liam has a difficult time coping with his sudden disappearance...until he finds a special visitor sleeping in the stall of his job's bathroom.

[Mature / 6.4k / wip]

It is what it is by @athenaeums

He can feel his heart hammering, his skin itching to explode and all he can see is Theo’s face bloody and bruised, it’s all he wants. But something is holding him back, something is trying to push his energy away from Theo and back inside. His body is screaming to beat the life from the arrogant, selfish boy below him but his mind – his mind is fighting every move he makes.

[Gen / 5k / complete]

Unsatisfactory Situation by @Anonymous

Where Scott’s pack are the supernatural ‘police taskforce’ of Beacon County, defeating evil, one bounty hunt at a time.

A murderous hunter? Easy. A troublesome Kanima? No problem. An evil fugitive chimera? Ah.

Well, Scott doesn’t have a beta for nothing. Time for the aspiring alpha to prove himself leader worthy…

[NR / 7.4k / wip]

Expiation by @lovelylittlegrim

Theo thought he had more time to make up for his wrongdoings, but he doesn't. So, he makes a list.

[Mature / 4.1k / wip]

All you wanted was right in front of you by @laheysmythes

the one where after Liam realizes that he has been in love with Theo for the better part of 11 years, he looks back on their life together and wonders how he never realized it before.

[TeenUp / 6.1k / complete]

Leather Bound by @lovelylittlegrim

Liam should have known it was a bad idea in the first place.

AKA: The fic where Liam tries to prove Mason wrong and ends up with an unwanted companion.

[TeenUp / 1.8k / wip]

Guardian by @kb928

After the defeat of the Anuk-ite and the disbanding of the hunters, Beacon Hills was quiet...too quiet in Liam’s opinion. Only three things remained a mystery.

1. Why did he decide taking AP Biology was a good idea?

2. What was Theo spending all his time doing, and why did he show up to weekly pack “meetings” looking like some high end model, fresh off a magazine cover shoot?

3. ….why did he care so much about what Theo was doing?

[Mature / 43.1k / wip]

Astripta by @marauders-mess

Liam saw black and white since he had memory.

Theo see things, feels things, taste things the way they’re not supposed to be.

[TeenUp / 3.5k / complete]

Coup de Foudre by @teen-wolf-af

When Theo Raeken is the only member of his pack left standing, he goes to find the True Alpha that everyone had always talked about. Scott McCall's pack is not what he expected: they are against violence and Scott listens to what the other members of his pack have to say. Most importantly, almost none of them speak Theo's language.

[TeenUp / 3.4k / wip]

#officialthiamlibrary #thiam #ficrecs #thiam fanfic #enemies to friends to lovers #enemies to lovers #enemies to friends #mod: janna #otlansweredask

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readersguidetotheuniverse · 4 years ago

Photo

Beach Read, by Emily Henry

Beach Read was a ridiculously well written view on the tragedy of losing one’s father and dealing with a very well-kept secret.

Cover-content

Alicia: Okay, so let’s start with the name. How delusional of me was it to expect an actual beach and people reading in it? Also, the cover does not help at all to make you think you’ve got another thing coming. I don’t think this cover fully represents the concept of the book, to be honest. I mean, spoiler alert, they do read in a beach. At the very last chapter! If you have to read the whole book for the cover to make sense, maybe it’s not the right cover.

Ariadna: I found it quite misleading. I expected sand, sunscreen and ice lollies, but it turned out to be… a lake. A bit underwhelming (the cover, not the book). A romance novel coming out in May, expected to be a Beach Read. Ok, marketing team, we see what you did there!

Marina: I expected a summer romance on a beach in, say, Florida and got an enemies-to-lovers on a lake. I get that they live right on the beach (lake-shore more like) but they barely spend any time (reading or otherwise) there except for the last chapter when they read each other’s books. I guess they must have chosen it because of the title.

Past- vs. Present-January

Alicia: In my opinion, past January was a bit too naive for her own good. She sees the world through rose-colored glasses and that’s okay while you’re young, but at some point you have to grow up and see that life is not that simple. Happy endings don’t just happen to everyone. Not everyone has the luck to have good supportive parents, a career in something you love, loving partners or friends… people are a spectrum and sometimes you just lie there in the grey middle and that’s just how it is. Now, I think the change in January’s ‘personality’, or just her way of interacting with the world, is simply the consequence of life hitting you with the worse it’s got. She has not only lost two of the most pivotal people in her life, she has also found out that she has kind of been living a lie, and also she’s stuck in her career and money is starting to run low. That changes you whether you like it or not. And even though I would not wish that suffering and pain to anyone, I think she really needed it to finally grow and find herself.

Ariadna: Me being a single, unemployed, 28yo romantic booknerd born in January whose father died a bit more than a year ago, January’s description in the first chapter felt almost like a personal attack. Overcoming her emotional turmoil post her father’s death, all the doubts, the anger, the sadness… Imho, all that makes the new January much more plausible character-wise than the “rose-colored glasses” Janie from before. I really liked her evolving through the chapters into a less naive, more realistic and emotionally intelligent adult.

Marina: Even January says it during those first few chapters: she was living in her head, a life that could be but never was. I can only imagine what it would have been like had she not lost her father or never discovered his affair. Then again, she was wound to find out eventually as he writes in one of his letters. This “new January”, as she keeps calling herself, to me is a medium point between the January that believed her life to be a romance novel and the January that knows her life is not perfect and that’s ok. Throughout the book January explores herself, the character development is there, though subtle.

The families

Alicia: It was a bit hard for me to relate to January’s family issues. The same way I don’t believe in perfect love stories, I also don’t believe in perfect families, so the fact that January’s family is represented as such a perfect unit just makes it a bit too unreal for me. And I don’t need a cheating husband, which felt a bit too shoehorned in the story, to know that it just couldn’t be that good. It’s definitely a ‘too perfect to be true’ kind of situation that only really happens in novels. And I know romance novels are labeled as ‘fiction’, and this is not supposed to be an accurate depiction of any real family. But still this kind of perfect people with perfect relationships makes me not connect as much to the story or characters, ’cause I don’t believe in perfect anything. Gus’ family, on the other hand, seems painfully real, damaged, abusive,… which is not nice. But family is not always nice.

Ariadna: Even though both Janie’s and Gus’ family stories are crucial to the plot, both “alive” families seemed too artificial to me, put there by the author just to help move the plot forward, as could have been any other character. I felt the relationship between January and her mother could have been explored a great deal more, and it would have helped her make sense of her father’s secret without the deus-ex-machina in shape of letters. Gus’ aunt and her wife felt a bit neglected to me too. I understand the journey of mutual understanding and openness between the two main characters, but I think Pete’s big mouth could have been a greater catalyst for the big fight… which actually wasn’t either. Too random, too vanilla for my taste.

Marina: Can I just start by saying I think it would have been way more realistic if the author had introduced more interactions between January and her mother and Gus and his aunts. The reader barely gets any context on what’s going on with January’s mother. She is also a grieving person and I feel like the author centers too much attention on January’s feelings about being betrayed by her mother and too little time exploring how to deal with those emotions, or how THEY dealt with those emotions.

The romance

Alicia: I’m about 0 percent romantic. I don’t like romance. I don’t believe in it. I believe in love but not fairytale romance. So I am always a bit dubious when I read romance novels ’cause it just doesn’t seem realistic to me. And this was a beautiful love story, there’s no denying that. And I’m a sucker for an enemies-to-lovers story. But this one in particular felt, maybe, too cliché? Maybe. For starters, what was the chance of her moving next door to her college enemy? This is the US we’re talking about. Over 300 million people. My scepticism was too strong for this. Cliché #1. Then, turns out, he loved her basically from the get go. She thought he hated her so she ‘hated’ him as well but they had been ‘thirsty’ for each other the whole time.. The ‘I look at them all the time but they never looks back at me’ type of thing. #2. Then little clichés all over the place. Confessions and kissing in the pouring rain. Notes through the window Taylor Swift style (I did love this a lot to be honest). Letting her go because she is too pure for this world and he doesn’t deserve her… Anyway, this book kind of failed at making me believe in romance, but still made me root for them and their love story which is a lot.

Ariadna: Maybe I’m a bit cynical –which I am, why lie– but I found the romance between January and Gus to be a bit forced, for the sake of the plot. Nemesis turned lovers, both writers, both living next to each other, both developing feelings the second they see each other… I think it would have been nice to use the family stories, the secrets and subplots, to make them connect more, and not fall in love because they already fancied each other but because they really came to understand the other in depth and fell in love with that “new” version of them.

Marina: Not going to complain about this, enemies-to-lovers is one of my favourite tropes in romance fiction. Though at times it felt like reading YA, not Adult Romance because January acts a bit like a teenager at times. For example, when she hides from Gus at the bookstore. And ALL THE DRAMA, by God, the drama! That reads YA through and through. But, oh well, if there weren’t drama it wouldn’t be a romantic novel, would it? Even though the romance is a bit weird, to be honest. The reader knows from the beginning that January is halfway in love with Gus and that’s not really an enemies-to-lover theme, is it? I would have liked it more if January actually despised the guy and then, slowly, came to the realization that “oh, this guy is not so bad!”.

Light & dark personalities

Alicia: There is this part of the novel that especially resonated with me, in which Gus describes his parents as a black hole and a bright light. It took me a moment to digest this ‘scene’. First ’cause I think the concepts of black hole and bright light as types of personality are really good metaphors and I was a bit wowed. Second because I sometimes see me as a black hole myself, and this hit too close to home. It made me reconsider some aspects of myself I do not like very much. I have doubted myself and my relationships with other people one too many times because of this. And seeing a character go through the same process and describe himself in a way I can see myself in, it was hard. I have bright lights in my life and day after day I think ‘one day they’ll get tired of me, one day their light will outshine me forever’. This book, in some way, made me feel seen and understood. And somehow that made me feel better. Gus sees himself as a black hole, but I could definitely see the light in him. January is a bright light but I could definitely see the darkness in her. This book gave me hope that it is possible to find someone that sees my darkness and doesn’t reject me for it, but finds light in it. I’ll hold onto it.

Ariadna: At first, I identified with January because of all she was going through. But as soon as I saw her “real” personality, all rosy and bubbly and outgoing, I fell out of love with the character (see above). However, it hit right in the heart when Gus opened up about his feelings, specially about how he felt about himself. I’ve personally felt like a black hole so many times in my life that, well, I literally cried while reading that. I think that passage is what really made me root for the love story and specifically for Gus. It made him much more realistic than “early-thirties-crisis” Janie, and I love how Emily worked their story and developed both characters to the point where they realise that “bright light” and “black hole” coexist in a person, but don’t actually define them, as a sign of emotional maturity and a glimpse of hope for those who feel lost and broken. Repeat after me, those feelings do not define us!

Marina: When January first started telling her story I saw her anger. Not just towards her parents but the world she had had to survive in. Those first chapters shaped her to be almost embarrassed to have felt that way. I think growing up and seeing how much her parents loved each other and then to suddenly discover that her dad had been cheating on her mother the whole time must have been a huge shake to her world-view. Emily Henry made a wonderful job describing the reticence of losing that last part of your loved ones, the last thing you have that belonged to them. Meanwhile, there’s Gus: a morally grey character who failed at showing his emotions towards January when they were younger because of the way he was brought up. And this brings me back to what I was saying about the families: there’s not a whole lot of background even if at the same time you get parts of their lives before they met.

Overall

Alicia: It is a pretty good novel. It was definitely enjoyable, relatable, funny, dorky… It’s not a novel you have to take seriously word by word. But at the same time it does touch some dark topics and it can be a bit painful to read at times. It surely was a bit overwhelming to me at some points. But I think the tougher themes and the lighter ones are well balanced, and these darker topics give the story a depth that many romance novels do not have. I liked it quite a lot.

Marina: Would recommend exactly for what the title says: as a beach read. It’s funny, it’s light and you can easily read it in a couple of days while sunbathing and/or drinking your favorite cocktail!

#beach read #emily henry #book #book rec #romance #group reading #book club #feel good #book recommendations #book review #rg2universe #rg2u #readers guide to the universe #goodreads #group read

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tobashiarg-blog-archive · 6 years ago

Text

Turns Out Being a Super Hero Is Actually Really Gay! - Chapter 7

*nervously sweating* Heeeey guys, it’s been a while huh? I’ve been busy with a lot of shit and my mental health has not been the best for my motivation. But I’m kind of sorta back on that grind and am going to try my best! So like I have a Ko-fi now so can go support me there if you’d like or if you’re interested I’m Open for Commissions! Once more I would like to thank the wonderful @sugarglider9603 and @ask-spiderverse-virgil for their endless inspiration, you two are the best! ENJOY!!!

Logan’s Suit

Patton’s Suit

Roman’s Suit

Virgil’s Suit 1 Virgil’s Suit 2

(TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of anxiety and anxiety attacks, nothing bad happens though I swear!)

Master Post

Beginning

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter

“It’s true!” Roman huffed.

“No, it isn’t!” Logan groaned, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

It was training time again and the boys plus Thomas had gathered on the roof of their usual abandon building to stretch out. They have been training for about two and a half weeks now and Thomas had to admit they were learning pretty fast, a few tweaks and bumps but nothing they wouldn’t be able to catch up on. The boys were all a very smart and hard-working bunch, they complained sometimes like most teenagers do especially if Thomas punished them by making them do extra laps or push ups or something, but they did them anyways and then some. Sometimes they got a bit rowdy but they always knew how to settle down when things got serious. Of course, they still bickered a lot with each other (mainly Roman vs Logan and Virgil) but most of the times it wasn’t anything serious, like today’s topic.

“Yes, it is!” Roman said as they continued doing jumping jacks “Almost every queer person like or know the same songs!”

“Look, obviously if the song is popular most people are going to know it,” Logan scoffed “but you’re not accounting for different taste in music. It’s stereotypical to put us all under the same metaphorical umbrella because the majority know the same trashy pop song.”

“Okay, one: pop is not trashy…most pop is not trashy,” Roman stated “and two: I’m not grouping everyone into the same category, I know people have different opinions, Einstein. I’m just saying that isn’t it kind of funny that when a particular song starts to play almost every gay in a hundred foot radius will turn around and be like: Oh my god, I know that song!”

“A lot of non-queer people do that too,” Logan argued as he bent down to touch his toes “they might like that certain song as well, it isn’t exclusively for a single community.”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying,” Roman groaned, stretching out his arms “it’s like…you play a certain song, right, and you attract certain people. The Beatles are either gunna get you those classic rockers or people raised in that era, same thing with Elvis or Selena. Play an intro to an anime and you’ll attract a lot of otakus or a song from My Fair Lady, more then likely gunna get a lot of musical geeks.”

“Is there a point to this?” Logan asked, brow arched and arms crossed.

“Hold it, Nerdlock, I’m getting to that,” Roman quipped, stretching upwards “all I’m saying is if you’re lost queer youth walking the streets of New York in a shady part of town and hear Cher’s Do You Believe In Life After Love coming from one direction and I Walk The Line by Johnny Cash coming from the other, you’re gunna more then likely follow Cher. And it may not be because you particularly like her but it’s the least likely possibility that it’ll lead you to a country sports bar full of conservative, homophobic, Trump supporters. And it’s not to say that Johnny Cash is a beloved icon among conservative, homophobic, Trump supporters but unfortunately that’s usually the crowed you attract with that type of music.”

Logan paused for a moment, frowning deeply, “But not all conservative, homophobes, Trump supporters like country music.”

“Oh my god, that’s not what I’m saying!” Roman groaned, rubbing his hands over his face.

Virgil snickered from behind them, “Forget it Princey, Logan isn’t really all that into music OR social media so most of this stuff is just gunna go over his head.”

“It just doesn’t make sense why most believe that certain groups of people like a certain genre of music,” Logan explained honestly “music is supposed to be a widespread thing that all kinds of people can listen to and enjoy.”

“Well, it’s good that you think that way Lo, music really is something that should be appreciated by all kinds of people,” Patton smiled sweetly “unfortunately not everybody thinks that way and our society has placed stereotypes on to certain types of music.”

“If we’re done questioning the morals of society and it’s god awful social norms we should continue on with our training,” Thomas pipped up, having been amused with the conversation but they really needed to get started “we’re stamina building today.”

A collective of loud groans and Virgil pipped up as their voice, “Of course, it’s fucking stamina day.”

Thomas chuckled, pulling down his mask and jumping towards the next building, “Five laps!”

---

“It seems like so long as the material makes contact with your skin it’ll turn invisible too,” Joan said, fascinated as he looked over the schematic on the computer “I wonder if it’ll work on a larger scale?”

“Let’s try baby steps first please,” Virgil murmured, nervously fidgeting on the stool he was once again sitting on with suction cup wires on his head and neck “I don’t even know how I turned myself invisible let alone other things.”

“Right, right, sorry, I’m getting a head of myself,” Joan apologized as they turned to Talyn “Any readings that may help us determine what triggers Virgil’s invisibility?”

“Hmm, so far all I’ve got is spikes of adrenalin,” Talyn informed them “which makes sense, if coming from a spider DNA then these powers would most likely be used as a defense mechanism when put in danger. Though it be useful to know if the invisibility could be triggered when not in destress or if Virgil could falsely trigger it.”

“Well, I’m always in high destress so that’s no problem.” Virgil chuckled nervously, feet swinging back and forth.

“Wait, that’s right!” Talyn exclaimed in sudden realization, though what it was Virgil didn’t know “You have anxiety right?”

Virgil corked an eyebrow, curling a bit into himself, “Yeah…why?”

Talyn stepped back a moment before continuing with a much calmer approach, “Sorry, got excited, it’s just that Thomas has anxiety too and it sometimes has a lot of effect on his powers. Over the years he’s been able to over come it and get a lot better as well as being able to use it to help him with his powers.”

“I don’t follow?” Virgil said honestly.

“When climbing walls,” Joan butted in “you have to tense your muscles a bit to help trigger the hair follicles that help you stick to things, right?”

Virgil nodded and Joan continued, “Tensing is a form of physical stress, usually the body does it when it feels stressed or in danger. But you and the others to it willingly…most times, at controlled points on your body.”

“I still don’t follow.” Virgil sighed, starting to feel very stupid right now.

“Your invisibility is triggered by a spike in adrenalin,” Talyn explained “which is due to stress, caused by being in danger. If you can artificially conger up that feeling of stress, of being in danger, you can trick your brain into that spike and maybe turn invisible.”

“But what if I can’t?” Virgil asked meekly “What if I…”

“What if you what?” Joan urged on “If you’re concerned about something please tell us Virgil, we don’t want to accidently hurt you.”

Virgil fiddled with the sleeves of his hoodie, “What if I…accidently…stupidly…trigger myself to have an anxiety attack?”

“Don’t worry,” Talyn assured him, a soothing hand on Virgil’s shoulder “that’s another thing we’ll be working on as well. We’re gunna need to know your limits and what you’re comfortable with so that we can help you. But for now, me and Joan have created a temporary aid to help better control your invisibility powers.”

Joan had left to rummage through one of the work benches and came back with a metal case, carefully opening it and turning it towards Virgil. Inside siding atop spongy black foam was a Rainbow Weaver mask but this one was white with purple accents around the eyes. Talyn had been maneuvering around Virgil and removing the suction cup wires before gesturing towards the mask in the case. “Try it on.”

Virgil hesitantly reached forward, gently cradling the mask in his hands because this was most likely more then a mask and worth more then his life. He didn’t want to risk braking it and ruining all of Joan and Talyn hard work. He peeked through the opening and saw that it was just fabric, plus the lenses for the eyes. Virgil corked a suspicious eyebrow but didn’t say a word as he pushed back his hair and carefully slipped on the mask.

“How is it?” Joan asked.

Virgil shrugged, “Fine, I guess. Am I supposed to see something?”

“Not yet,” Joan replied, grabbing a nearby tablet “I have to activate it first.”

Virgil tilted his head in a very Patton like fashion, “Activate?”

Talyn nodded, “Thomas’s mask has a lot of features: telecommunication, police scanners, heat vision, night vision, and a lot of other things. You’re and the others will essentially be the same, give or take a few unique features.”

“Like helping with my invisibility?” Virgil asked dumbly, because of course he would.

“Precisely,” Joan said “what we’ve done is added a sort of mini electromagnetic pulse wave scanner to your mask. It’ll activate the exact brainwaves needed to trigger your invisibility just like we’ve been doing here with the computer but portable. Which you can activate at anytime with this button here.”

Joan carefully took Virgil’s hand, making sure it was always in Virgil’s line of sight, and guided it up towards the side of his mask. There Virgil felt tiny divots against his mask which he had not felt while holding it or while putting it on. Joan lead his finger towards a certain divot and stepped back, gesturing for Virgil to press down on it. Virgil took a breath, preparing himself for what was about to happen, closing his eyes shut and pressing the button. He didn’t really feel anything happen but by the excited noises Joan and Talyn were making he guessed that it worked and that was enough for Virgil to crack open his eyes just a bit.

“This is great!” Talyn cheered, a wide smile displayed across their face “How do you feel Virgil?”

“Uh, okay, I guess,” Virgil replied distantly, looking down at his hands and seeing nothing “kind of sort of freaking out a bit to be completely honest.”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Joan said gently “you can turn it off if you want to, we just wanted to see if it worked.”

Virgil didn’t need to be told twice, hands trembling just a bit, he quickly found the button and deactivated his invisibility. He sighed out a long breath of relief, hands on his knees as he lowered down his head between them. It was still very, very disorienting not being able to see yourself and essentially not existing in the visible eyes of others. It was all very existential and Virgil really didn’t want to think about it all too long.

He felt a gentle hand rub against his back and Virgil looked up to see the smiling face of Joan and Talyn, peeking out from behind their shoulder. “You okay?”

Virgil smiled thankfully though they probably couldn’t see it through the mask so he nodded instead, “Yeah, I’m good. Just got a bit freak out is all.”

“It’s all fine,” Joan assured “you can always duck out when you need to.”

There was a pause and awkward staring, as if waiting for something.

Then Virgil giggled, “I was half waiting for Patton to say: quack-quack.”

Joan and Talyn nodded, laughing along, “Same.”

“Anyways,” Talyn continued, a fond smile still on their face “now that we’ve brought up the mask, we should tell you that the rest of your costume is almost complete…kind of.”

“Kind of?” Virgil asked, taking off the mask and ruffling his hair back to maximum messy floofness.

Joan clicked away at his computer and brought up a hyper real 3D replica of a plain white full body suit with minimal purple spiderweb accents. “We have the concept of how the interior design will be, mask software as well as heating and cooling for the body. But we don’t really have a design for the exterior. We thought it be too plain to give it to you like this so why not change it up to fit your taste. Within reason of course.”

Talyn handed Virgil a tablet with a stylist pen and gestured towards the screen, “Add whatever you want.”

Virgil chewed at the inside of his lip, looking down at the tablet then back up towards Joan and Talyn before meekly asking, “Can…can I add a hoodie?”

---

Thomas had let the group to a nearby abandon construction sight where they were quickly weaving in and out through open walls, vents, and cement tubes. The whole thing was basically a giant jungle gym, great for working on dexterity and quick reflexes. They were basically playing follow the leader, if Thomas was being honest, he maneuvered around objects in a certain way and the boys would mimic his movements as they tried to keep up.

Currently they were taking a breather and leisurely walking across large metal beams and swinging across dangling hooks. It was quiet and kind of peace, then Roman started singing, “Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want!”

“So, tell me what you want, what you really, really want!” The group replied without missing a beat.

Roman laughed triumphantly, poking at Logan’s shoulder, “See, see!”

Logan huffed, crossing his arms in annoyance, “That doesn’t prove anything!”

Roman slightly lifted his bootleg Rainbow Weaver mask to stick out his tongue, “Party pooper.”

---

“Think of your empathetic powers as a metaphorical muscle,” Talyn explained “it’s something that should be worked on and trained so that it can get stronger.”

“How do I do that?” Patton asked curiously “I thought it was just like I touch someone and feel whatever their feeling?”

“It’s a lot more then that,” Joan said thoughtfully as he rapidly typed away at his computer “without think about it you can just barely touch the surface of someone’s emotional state. Of course, if this person’s emotional state is heightened, be it negative or positive, it’s much easier to read. But you really concentrate and focus you’ll be able to get a deeper, more complex reading.”

“Hmm, I never thought of it like that,” Patton said “but how will I be able to practice if I have to constantly be in contact with someone? Won’t that be a little suspicious and weird?”

“Try doing an air scan.” Talyn suggested.

Patton tilted his head in confusion, “What’s that?”

“You’re an empathetic person by nature, even before the bite,” Talyn said “how were you able to tell how people felt before?”

Patton shrugged, “I didn’t really, it’s just…people sometimes have this air about them. I mean, sure there’s facial features and body language but sometimes people are good at hiding those so you have to be extra aware of them. Like you enter a room and you can feel the air tense up or feel relaxed and airy. Kind of like an aura…geez, I kind of sound like a hippy.”

“No, no, you’re right,” Joan reassured “people do have auras, just like all of you do. I’m sure you’ve noticed the waves of colors surrounding each of you. That is your aura and spider sense which you all can see because you’re on the same frequency. Everyone else is sort of invisible but you can still feel it, in a sense.”

Patton hummed thoughtfully, “I guess…can I ask you two a question?”

They both nodded, Talyn seeming particularly curious, “What’s on your mind Patton?”

“Well, I mean…” Patton began bashfully “I don’t really…get my powers.”

“You don’t get your powers?” Joan replied in a confused tone “I’m not sure I follow.”

“Like, I don’t understand why I have them,” Patton corrected before back tracking a little “I mean, I know why I have them, cause I got bit by a mutant creepy, crawly death dealer. But I don’t under why I have this power specifically. It’s kind of…not really spider related.”

Patton had originally planned to say that these powers weren’t very useful for anything hero related. Don’t get him wrong, it’s great to know how people are feeling, he liked knowing when people are having a bad day or feeling sad so that he can help cheer them up. Very useful in dealing with stubborn friends who don’t really know how to let their walls down and talk things out. But other then that it didn’t have very much use in the super hero business.

Admittingly, Patton knew he wasn’t the best here (yet) even if he did try his gosh darnest every day. But Patton knew where his abilities were and none of them were on any use to being a hero; Logan was smart and new a lot of strategy, Roman was brave and great at adapting to new situations, and Virgil stealthy and flexible. Patton was a crybaby, clumsy, naïve, scared of spiders and the dark, was way to sensitive, and honestly not that bright. He could barely keep up with the training that they’re doing plus everyone else had cool and (most importantly) useful powers to help them become heroes. All Patton could do was tell if you were happy or not and really that kind of bummed him out a bit.

Both scientists nodded in understanding, Talyn quickly typing away on their tablet, “It has to do more with your spider sense then anything else. It tells you when you’re in danger but it can also alert you to when others are in danger as well. With you it’s been amplified a bit more and is able to pick up more than just distress.”

“Remember, humans are naturally emotional and empathetic beings,” Joan explained carefully “and god only knows what the hell else Oscorps put into that thing. Being that you’re a very sensitive and empathetic person by nature the spider’s venom latched on to that trait and mutated it because it thought it best for survival.”

“Survival?” Patton asked, very, very confused now.

“Prime animal instincts is to survive,” Talyn filled in “they either adapt to their environment in order or evolve using the traits they have. Animals and insects are very sensitive to emotions since they don’t have any other way of communication other then body language. So, your empathy is actually really natural and could potentially become a great asset in missions.”

“Really?” Patton said excitingly, a fiery determination in his eyes.

Joan smiled at the teen’s enthusiasm, “Absolutely, if you can build up your power strong enough to the point where you don’t have to be in physical contact with someone to sense them, you can essentially use it as a sort of echo location. Great for stealth missions.”

“What can I do to help build it up faster?” Patton asked enthusiastically.

“Take it slow,” Talyn warned “you could really hurt yourself if you push yourself too far. Like I said before: think of your powers like a muscle. You slowly build it up over time so that it can properly and safely carry the weight you want it to. If you dump that weight all in one go you could end up hurting yourself.”

Patton bit his lip ashamed, “Sorry, I, uh, got excited.”

“It’s fine,” Talyn soothed “it’s fine to get excited but you also have to remember that you all are still training. Still new to all of this, so you have to be careful because not only could you hurt yourselves but you could also accidently hurt others around you.”

“We just want to make sure that everybody is safe,” Joan added “there’s no need to rush into things. Take it at your own pace and I can guarantee you that your powers will flourish naturally on their own.”

Patton gave them both a small appreciative smile, their words did make him feel a little better about himself. He found comfort in knowing he’ll be able to contribute to the team even just a little, but even so he’ll work extra hard to be the best hero he can be. “Where should I start?”

“Try to sense the people in the house,” Talyn suggested “take a deep breath, close your eyes, and try to focus on the energy around you. See if you can try and distinguish each person from their aura, though it might be a bit harder to catch on to mine and Joan’s aura since we’re fully human.”

“I’ll bring up the security cameras on screen to see if you’re right or wrong,” Joan said “though knowing their location isn’t the important part, it’s weather you can sense them or not.”

“Alright, let’s try it.” Patton said with a determined nod, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath just like Talyn had said. A few moments passed before Patton peeked open an eye, “I don’t think it’s working.”

“It’s gunna take a minute,” Joan explained “remember you can’t rush into it, take your time and ease yourself into it.”

Patton nodded again, reclosing his eyes and taking a much slower breath, in for four, hold for seven, out for eight. The world became dark and quiet around him but Patton wasn’t scared, he instead focused on the energy curled up inside his chest and let it seep out in every direction. It stretched and curled around the room, not really sure where it was supposed to go, until it finally hit something, two somethings actually. They were a bit fuzzy but Patton was soon able to see a warm, bright orange figure with swirls of soft browns stood a few feet in front of him, along side a neon magenta figure with electric pops of black, neon green and blue.

“I can see you guys!” Patton exclaimed, excitingly wiggling in his chair “You’re so colorful!”

“What else can you see?” Talyn’s voice urged on curiously.

Patton focused a bit more, his energy stretching out and winding up stairs in endless directions until it hit something else. Swirls of dark blues with dots of bright grey that light up like a galaxy of stars, humming like a soothing melody, it was so beautiful. Patton cheeks warmed and a smile appeared across his face, “I think I found Logan, he seems to be in the living room, probably reading. Thomas has a little reading nook by the window that he likes to occupy when he isn’t busy with training or homework.”

He heard a fond chuckle from both of them before Joan asked him to continue, “Can you find the others?”

Reluctantly, Patton pulled himself away from Logan’s aura, his mind still tingling with buzzing warmth as it moved on towards other places. He felt it stop at the kitchen where it bumped into two more figures, one a bright sheen of white with streaks of red and gold, dramatically dancing and singing, the other a dark storm of blacks and purples and white lighting that felt cozy to listen to. Patton giggled, “Roman and Virgil are in the kitchen, more then likely arguing about something or another. Their auras seemed pretty riled up so it’s more likely they’re arguing about Disney again.”

“All that leaves is Thomas,” Joan said “you think you can do it? Or would you rather take a brake now?”

“No, I’m fine,” Patton assured “I think I can find him, let me see…”

He let his energy freely float around the entire first floor but still he could not find Thomas anywhere. After collecting himself a bit Patton twisted himself towards the second flight of stairs up to the second floor. He spread himself out once more looking through every nook and cranny each room and hallway had to offer but still no sign of his mentor. Collecting himself once more Patton decided he should try going further up, weaving through the attic and up to the roof where he was hit with a burst of technicolor.

“Found him,” Patton announced, giggling at the rainbow light show displaying behind his eyelids “he’s like a homing beacon you light up when it gets super foggy. I was wondering why I hadn’t been able to find him sooner, turns out he’s just on the roof. He feels…a little down.”

“It’s like that sometimes,” Talyn sighed sadly “he’ll sometimes go up there to clear his head. Don’t worry, he’ll be fine when he comes down, just needs a bit of space right now. You can open your eyes now, be make sure to ease out of it slowly. The state you’re in is very open and delicate and we don’t want you to get overwhelmed by all your senses.”

Patton nodded, his energy collecting back into himself and slowly slinking his way down, down, down, from the roof, the attic, the second floor, the first floor, down the stairs, and back to the basement. He took another slow breath; in for four, hold for seven, out for eight…and slowly let his senses fully comeback to him. He could feel the world around him move once more, becoming more lively and clear instead of a muffled echo. Carefully and slowly Patton opened his eyes to find Joan and Talyn in the same spots, staring at him curiously.

“Did…did I do good?” Patton asked shyly.

“You did amazing!” Joan smiled, stepping aside to show the computer screen which displayed which displayed different sections of the house through black and white security cameras. Three of them were brought forward for closer inspection and as predicted Logan was in the living room reading by the nook, Roman and Virgil were in the kitchen and looked to be in a very heated debate about something, and Thomas was lounging on the roof, looking off towards the city skyline. “Even better we previously predicted!”

“And that’s because your powers are fairly new and haven’t been practiced on much,” Talyn added proudly “imagine what else you could do with them, even just a little bit of training.”

Patton flushed a deep crimson, shyly coving up his smile with the neck of his shirt, “I mean…I did okay, I guess.”

“Hey,” Joan said softly, placing a firm hand on Patton’s shoulder “give yourself credit where credit is due. You can do this Patton, you’re capable of so much more then you think.”

“Aw geez, thanks you guys.” Patton muttered bashfully, fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

“Now, on to more fun business,” Talyn clapped their hands excitedly as they reached for another tablet along with a styles. The computer behind them displayed a 3-D design of a plain white spider suite with pink web accents. “We’ve finished calibrating all the equipment you’ll need fitted for your suit but we decided that each of you will design the exterior. Put in a little bit of yourselves in the costumes you’ll wear, add on anything you want. Within reason of course.”

“Can I not have a spider logo on it?” Patton asked hesitantly “I mean I’m fine with the spiderwebs but not with the spider.”

Joan nodded, “That’s fine, anything else?”

Patton thought for a moment before beginning to doodle over the image on the tablet, “Can I wear a hat?”

---

They moved on to wall climbing now, nothing too fancy, very much like running laps except that they’re climbing up and down the side of a building. First, they climbed forwards, then backwards, then sideways, just to make sure they were proficient in every angle. It was actually really boring but Thomas told them it was something that was necessary so that they can get use to sticking and unsticking to stuff. He told them that just like walking wall climbing should become second nature to them so they’ll have a much better time controlling what they’ll be able to stick to.

Right now, they were learning how to walk up the side of the building without using their hands. It looked much easier than it actually was, your body had to be stiff and tense so that it could hold itself up because gravity wanted to pull the rest of you down. It had the same feeling as if you were climbing up hill with a ton of rocks strapped to your back.

But even with all the moaning and groaning that came with the strain of walking sideways up a building, Roman still had enough energy and focus in him to sing, “I get so emotional, baby!”

“Every time I think of you!” The group sang back, almost instinctively, even as some of them momentarily lost their balance.

Roman snickered while Logan rolled his eyes as he re-centered himself, “It’s a popular song Roman, of course a lot of people are going to know it!”

---

“Let’s try something,” Joan said as they lined up a few glass bottles on a table a few feet across where Roman was sitting, once more attached to suction cup wires. “Your vocal projection powers are very spread out, when activated the sound disperses throughout the entire room. But I want to see if you can train it to focus on one point, that way you can have a little bit more control over it.”

“How would I go about doing that?” Roman asked, absentmindedly tugging on one of the suction cup wires. Talyn gently swatted his hand away and gave him a friendly smile, “Taking a breath first would do you well, you seem a bit nervous.”

“Whaaaat? Me nervous? Never!” Roman scoffed flippantly before meekly ducking his head when both scientists gave him an unconvinced look “Okay…maybe a little.”

“It’s okay be to be uneasy Roman,” Joan said soothingly, walking forward to place a hand on the teen’s shoulder “these are brand new things happening to your body all at once. It’s okay for it to be a little scary, just know that we’re here to help you through it. Which means we need to know when you’re uncomfortable so we know where your limit is. The absolute last thing we want is to unintentionally hurt you.”

Roman bit his bottom lip nervously, eyes down casted as he fidgeted in his chair, “I mean, isn’t the whole point of this plus the training about me being able to go past my limit? Superheroes aren’t meant to have limits or walls and stuff, right?”

“Yeah, no, unfortunately that is a very common misconception,” Joan said with a frown “remember, behind the mask heroes are still people just like everybody else.”

“Plus, weather you like it or not, you’re still a kid,” Talyn added firmly “you’re still growing and learning about things and how to live life. This responsibility you boys have is going to make you grow up so fast it’s not even funny. So, you’re gunna have to be care in everything you do, know your limits and learn when to duck out if needed.”

“It’s absolutely okay not to be perfect at everything,” Joan said gently “you’re still human.”

“Thomas said that people don’t take too kindly when heroes make mistakes,” Roman mumbled nervously “I just…I don’t want to let anybody down. Even if I am young and stupid and reckless, I want to show people that they can count on me and that I’m able to do things without fucking them up.”

“That’s another unfortunate truth to being a superhero,” Joan sighed tiredly, rubbing the back of their neck “though I don’t think Thomas said that to discourage you, more as a warning. He doesn’t want you boys to get hurt, be it physically or emotionally, the public’s words can be…harsh.”

It was quiet for a moment, Roman chewing at the inside of his cheek as he thought over their conversation. He wasn’t an official superhero yet but as time when on and their training progressed Roman, admittingly, was getting a bit nervous. Thomas, Rainbow Weaver, both, were these huge inspirations to the world. One brought joy through entertainment and activism and the other saved lives on the daily, both were idols and had enormous shoes to fill. Though Roman knew he shouldn’t be comparing himself to Thomas since the older man had a lot more years under his belt but it was still difficult. Roman wanted to be a hero that everybody would be proud of, that Thomas would be proud of…that his dad could be proud of.

“Do you think…” Roman took a deep steady breath, calming his racing mind before asking “…do you think everybody will hate me at one point?”

“Probably,” Talyn said with a melancholy smile “like Joan said: public opinion can be very harsh. But so long as you know that you’re doing good that’s all that should really matter. It’ll be difficult but thankfully you boy all have one advantage.”

“What’s that?” Roman asked curiously.

“You have each other,” Joan helpfully provided, a bit of enthusiasm behind their voice “you’re not alone in this, remember that.”

Roman shrugged, a soft smile appearing on his face, “Eh, I guess so.”

“Shall we move on to our experiment?” Talyn asked gently “Or do you need a bit more time?”

“Mmh, I’m good to go if you two are,” Roman hummed thoughtfully “plus, I think I thought of something that might help.”

“By all means, go right ahead.” Joan said, stepping away from the table lined with bottles and standing next to Talyn behind Roman.

Roman stared at the bottles with full concentration, taking a couple of deep breaths before a sharp high-pitched whistle was heard. A gust of wind blew in their faces as the sound traveled right through the center of the table, shattering three bottles. Roman grimaced, “Sorry, I tried to aim for just one but…”

“No, no, this is great!” Talyn exclaimed excitedly, patting his shoulder “We totally forgot that pitch and range have a lot to do vocal precision. Whistling is a much more easier to controlled then vocal range, which is why the last time you used these powers it got a bit out of control. You were dispersing the sound waves all over the place because you sang in a much wider range of sound unlike right now where it was more controlled.”

“Oh, well I was just kind of thinking that whistling was more like…” Roman gestured forward with his hand “…an arrow that could shoot straight ahead while riffing was more…earthquake-y?”

“Yeah, that’s basically what Talyn was saying,” Joan chuckled, ruffling over Roman’s hair “but the fact that you were able to come up with that conclusion on your own is very impressive.”

Roman smiled shyly, a swell of pride bloomed throughout his chest, “Yeah, well, I was mainly just thinking back to my vocal lessons in theater class and how Mr. Bell used to teach us about projection and controlled range.”

“Well, there’s another thing we’ll need to study up on,” Talyn said with a weary smile “maybe Thomas can help us, he did double major with theater.”

“True,” Joan nodded before turning back to Roman “you think you could try hitting the rest of these bottles?”

Roman nodded with confidence, “Absolutely.”

They spent the rest of their time running more test with Roman and how wide of a range his sonic wave could be. It could go from bullet precision to catastrophic earthquake levels of damage. They also tried to figure out what triggered would trigger the power to activate but were unsuccessful in their findings. So they left it dormant once more until Roman could have enough control over it so that he won’t accidently blow out the speakers in the theater or cause a building to collapse while singing in the shower. By the end of it Roman was able to shatter each bottle individuating and was very proud of himself for accomplishing that goal.

“I think we have sufficient data for today,” Talyn said as they reached over to grab another tablet and styles pen “now for the fun part.”

Roman was handed over the items before being gestured to look at the computer screen in front of him which displayed a 3-D model of a white spider suit with red web accents. Roman wiggled in excitement, “Is that my suit?”

“Not quite,” Joan said with an enthusiastic glimmer in his eyes “the internal structure is finished but the outside still needs to be designed. So long as it’s within reason you can add anything you want.”

“Anything I want?” Roman smiled mischievously with a tone that sounded like trouble.

“Within reason.” Joan repeated with a raised eyebrow.

Roman thought a moment before that mischievous smirk returned to his face, “Boots?”

“Sure, why not?” Talyn shrugged, though they knew that wasn’t the end of it, not by a long shot.

“Gold boots with red accents?” Roman asked.

“Doable.” Joan nodded.

“Roses?” Roman hummed, tapping his chin with the styles pen as he doodled over the blank canvas that would soon be his suit.

“Real or designed on the suit?” Talyn questioned.

“Designed on the suit, duh,” Roman said as he sketched out another idea “what am I gunna do with real roses?”

“Throw it around like confetti?” Joan chuckled.

“Don’t tempt me,” Roman smirked “what about a cape?”

“Why do you want a cape?” Talyn asked “It’s like the least useful accessory you could ever have!”

“Thomas has a cape.” Roman countered.

“They’re gliders!” Joan exclaimed, irritation clear on their face “I’ve been arguing with people for years on this, I’m not gunna start again! They’re gliders end of story.”

Roman huffed out a laugh, “Okay geez, but still can I have a cape?”

“I draw the line at capes,” Talyn said firmly “they serve no purpose what so ever! Absolutely useless!”

“Come on!” Roman whined “They’re super cool though!”

“Have you not seen the Incredibles?” Joan said desperately “Those things are a fucking death trap!”

“Then I’ll die looking fabulous!” Roman said stubbornly.

“Look,” Talyn sighed tiredly “how ‘bout we replace the cape with a vest that has a long-ish tail and throw in an anime scarf, deal?”

Roman frowned, silently thinking over his options before a sly smirk slid across his face and he stuck out his hand to shake, “Deal.”

Joan and Talyn glared at him suspiciously, “You bamboozled us, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I kind of did.” Roman giggled.

---

Thomas has slowly been teaching them how to use the web shooters, there apparently was a lot more to them then just shoot and swing. They had projectiles, pre made netting, extra sticky, different densities, and even an exploding one! (Thomas said that it was only to be used in absolutely desperate situations) In other words, it was much more complex then the boys had previously thought. Since Roman and Virgil could produce their own webbing they only had to work with the web shooters about half the time, the other half working with their natural webbing. But Thomas had told them that it was better for them to use artificial webbing instead of their own because they’d tier out quicker otherwise.

Currently they were doing what Thomas called reverse rope climbs, where they’d shoot a string of web up on the ceiling and retract it back in to pull themselves up before letting it back out and slowly lowering themselves down. Again, seemed simple enough but it was actually hell to do in real life. Still, the boys were getting better as their training continued on, shooting with more accuracy then when they first started out and a bit more muscle on them so that they could hold on longer.

And of course, this was absolutely the perfect moment for Roman to burst out into song, “Let’s have a kiki, I wanna have a kiki!”

“Lock the doors tight!” They all replied.

“Let’s have a kiki!” Patton chimed in.

“Motherfucker.” Virgil mumbled.

“I’m gunna let you have it!” Thomas sang.

Logan gave a sideways glare towards Roman who smiled haughtily in his direction. He merely shook his head in reply, ignoring the theatrical teen’s antics and continued to climb up his web rope. Roman pouted, calling up to him, “Just admit I’m right!”

“I rather chew off my own foot!” Logan called back.

---

Logan didn’t really have much to work on power wise, which he was fine with, night vision didn’t require a lot of training. Though it did make remembering to turn ON the lights at home a bit difficult, his parents have caught him reading in the dark a couple times. But other than that, there wasn’t much for Logan to work on, so why did Joan and Talyn call for them to meet one on one?

He knew about the other’s extra training with them so that they could better understand and control their new powers. But as far as Logan knew he was perfectly fine in that area and Thomas could probably teach him all that he needed to know. Yet still they called for him.

“So,” Joan began, wiggling a finger in front of Logan’s face “a little birdy told us that you hacked into the US Pentagon when you were in 7th grade.”

Logan flushed pink, nervously straightening out his tie, “Technically, it was me AND Morgan but…who told you that? Was it Virgil?” Logan muttered under his breath “Asshole, I swore him to secrecy! And so did the FBI!”

“Don’t worry, we have our own way of finding out things,” Talyn chuckled “but that’s quite impressive, even if you did have help. Me and Joan couldn’t hack the Pentagon until senior year of high school.”

Logan shrugged, “Everybody has hacked the Pentagon once in their life, they have a very flimsy security system. You’d think they’d learn to beef up their security after being hacked so many times but sadly no. I have no idea how they keep functioning like this.”

“I’m pretty sure Tony Stark had something to do with it,” Joan theorized “he’s hacked into the Pentagon enough times to know what’s going on in there. Probably installed a secret security system to encrypt the REALLY important stuff.”

“It’s possible,” Logan said thoughtfully “unless the Pentagon is just a coverup to distract from the real secrets hidden away elsewhere.” He paused, remembering the question he previously wanted to ask “Other than discussing the Pentagon’s atrocious security system, uh, why was I called down here. Have I done something wrong?”

“No, not at all,” Talyn assured “on the contrary, we brought up the Pentagon situation because we thought you could help us with a little…project of ours.”

“Project?” Logan asked, a small hint of excitement in his voice “What kind of project?”

“Well, remember when we brought up Tony Stark?” Joan said as he rapidly typed away on the large computer, bringing up the Stark Industries’ website.

Logan’s eyes widen in shock, “You want me to hack into Stark Industries?”

“Not exactly,” Joan said “we’re using Stark Industries as more of a back door to enter into the SHEILD data base and using that as a back door to enter into the Avengers’ data base.”

“Why go through all the trouble of hacking through Stark and SHEILD?” Logan asked curiously “Wouldn’t it be easier to just head hack into the Avengers’ data base since up front? I mean it is the end goal to all of this is it not?”

“We thought so too,” Talyn began to explain, bringing up a diagram of sorts on screen “at first we had thought that all three industries were separate since they were three different companies. And that used to be the case until that whole Hydra fiasco a few years back, long story short they now all function with Stark technology.”

“And we all know how well Stark’s security system runs,” Joan added, gesturing towards the diagram, a large circle with a smaller circle inside going inside of smaller circles and so on “I can’t believe I’m going to say this but think of it as an onion and we all know that onions have layers. Before we can even think about snooping through the Avengers’ files and data logs, we have to go through Stark’s security system then SHIELD’s security system then finally the Avengers’ security system.”

Logan nodded in understanding but he still had more questions, “Why do you want to look thru the Avengers’ data base?”

Talyn gave him a forced smile, irritation clearly visible on their face but it was not directed at Logan, “Let’s just say that Tony Stark has a way of pissing off the wrong people-”

“They mean us.” Joan said honestly.

Talyn continued without waiting, “…and he sometimes has to be reminded that his actions have consequences and he’s not the only genius in the world.”

“He hacked into our system and copied some data about Rainbow Weaver so that he can file and save it for SHEILD and maybe the Avengers protocol,” Joan filled in “honestly, he could have just asked us and we probably would have given it to him because it’s the Avengers. If they ever need an extra set of helping hands we would have been on tab for them but no! Tony Stark can’t ask for ANYTHING to be handed to him so he has to be a little shit!”

“So, this is a revenge plan?” Logan questioned, trying to see if he had all the facts right.

Talyn shrugged nonchalantly, “Yeah, pretty much. We understand if you don’t wan-”

“Okay.” Logan cut in with a small shrug of his own.

“Okay, what?” Joan and Talyn asked tentatively.

“I’ll help you.” Logan replied coolly.

“Really?” The duo exclaimed in surprise.

Logan shrugged again before giving them a mischievous smile, “Truth be told I’ve always wanted to see what the inside of Stark’s security system looks like. Figure out how everything works and all.”

Talyn fist pumped the air, “Yes! We’re coming to get you Stark! You Gucci sunglasses wearing mother fucker!”

“I’m pretty sure it’s Prada.” Joan said.

“Actually, it’s Chopard.” Logan corrected, already having rolled up his sleeves as he rapidly typed away at the key board of the large main computer. “I see that he’s been using the Lava Lamp coding technique, so this is going to take a while.”

“You’re telling me,” Talyn replied, sitting next to him with their own tablet connected to the computer “there’s not goddamn pattern with this type of coding, it’s a pain in the ass!”

“Don’t you two use a similar kind of coding with your system?” Logan asked “How was he able to hack into it?”

“That’s another thing we’re trying to find out,” Joan said, sitting on Logan’s other side with a laptop “though I’m pretty sure he had that stupid AI of his do it for him.”

“Ah yes, he has an AI controlling his system,” Logan said thoughtfully “that’ll be even more tricky to get around. I had read an article discussing his AI and how he programed it and the article said that it was the most advanced AI in the world, it even passed the Turing test.”

“No need to discourage us even more.” Joan half joked.

“No, not discouraging just…” Logan paused a moment, thinking deeply “…what would you think would happen if an AI and an AI stopped to talk to each other.”

“Not sure I’m following.” Talyn admitted.

“Yeah, I’m kind of lost here too.” Joan added.

“We could go at it from all angles and it would still be able to catch us,” Logan explained “but if we have, say, an AI of our own Stark’s AI will be forced to overt all of it’s attention towards it because it’s supposedly a major threat. Meanwhile, we would have a chance to sneak passed it, find an encryption key and bypass all the barriers with ease.”

“I guess that could work,” Joan said “but that means we’d have to build an entire AI from scratch that is equal to that of Stark’s AI. And that’s another tedious thing all by itself.”

“And that could take months, maybe even years, to code and build,” Talyn added “at this point I think it’s better to make a mess of ourselves and cause chaos throughout Stark’s system then take on a task that’ll slow us down immensely.”

“Not quite,” Logan said distantly, rapidly typing over the key board once again “if I can find the base coding Stark used to build his AI I can ultimately use it as a structure to make one for ourselves.”

“How would we even go about doing that?” Joan asked curiously.

“Fake virus,” Logan said simply “the system will pull me in to be terminated but of course it won’t work at first so I’ll have time to look around until the system updates itself and finds out how to properly get rid of me.”

“Then why couldn’t we just use that to hack into the system?” Talyn asked.

“Because the coding I use for it is pretty weak and flimsy since it’s only meant for quick in and out missions,” Logan explained “I wouldn’t be able to make a strong enough overlayer to disguise us long enough without rising a lot of suspicion and having the entire AI’s security system on my ass.”

They both nodded and waited for Logan to continue, “But if I’m able to find at least the majority of Stark’s AI’s base coding we’ll be able to use it as we’ll be able to use it as a structure to build our AI around and have it done in, say, a few weeks.”

“So, essentially, we’ll be using his own work against him?” Talyn asked.

Logan smiled slyly, “Essentially, yes.”

Talyn slung their arm over Logan’s shoulder and gave him a hardy squeeze, “You absolute, evil little genius! Where have you been all my life?”

“It’s no wonder you’re on the FBI watch list.” Joan chuckled good-naturedly, ruffling Logan’s hair.

“Speaking of which, this won’t be going on my record right?” Logan asked pointedly.

“Oh, don’t worry we’re government funded,” Talyn explained “technically we’re higher ranked then the FBI so you’re good so long as you have our permission and we’re here supervise.”

“Excellent,” Logan cheered softly “this’ll take but a moment. And afterwards…may I ask a favor from both of you as well?”

“If you can help us do this, we’ll get you anything you want,” Joan offered dramatically “you want access to Area 51? Boom! We’ll get you that access!”

Logan chuckled softly, shaking his head, “No thank you, though the offer is tempting. I was just wondering if you two could help me with a little project of my own.”

“Sure, what is it?” Talyn asked.

“Uh, well,” Logan kneeled to rummage through his backpack, coming back ups with a worn-down spiral notebook stuffed with notes “so, I heard that we would be personalizing our costumes and I was wondering if I could add something?”

He opened the note book and flipped through several pages before stopping at a particular set of notes. There was a sketch of four robotic spider limbs coming out from a mechanical looking back pack, along with more notes that explained how it would function. Joan and Talyn took turns looking over the notes as Logan silently continued his work, unknowingly holding his breath in anticipation. Once he was finished and had gotten all the data he needed Logan turned back towards the two scientists who’ve been suspiciously quiet the entire time.

They were still looking through Logan’s note book, past his spider leg design and skimming through the rest of his notes from different projects. Logan fidgeted nervously, they both seemed so intense while looking through his notes and Logan couldn’t help but wonder if they were unimpressed by them. Most of his projects were theoretical because he would never in his life have the funding to actually build them, so he wasn’t sure if any of them were even possible. That included the spider leg design he made, he had spent weeks rewriting the design and scale and mechanisms that would go with it. He wanted to make absolutely sure that they would be possible to build, but he had no way to test them so he only had his mind and imagination to help him through it.

Joan and Talyn were world renowned robotic and biological engineers that were government funded to help their best friend watch over Manhattan. They were creators of amazing technology they built themselves that take inspiration from many other famous scientists but is still uniquely theirs. They were just…really cool and Logan kind of sort of looked up to them just as much as he looked up to Thomas, so he really, really wanted to impress them.

Joan was the first to speak, smiling big and wide, “Logan, these are incredible!”

“Did you design these all yourself?” Talyn exclaimed, eyes glittering in awe and excitement.

Logan blushed, bashfully rubbing at his wrists as he tried to give a nonchalant shrug, “Yes…but I haven’t really built or tested most of them so I’m not sure they’re even remotely possible.”

“Oh, anything is possible if you’re stubborn enough,” Joan quipped “what I’m more impressed with is how accurately structured these are, especially since you haven’t tested any of them. Like, we can’t even come up with stuff this precise without fucking up a few prototypes.”

“How were you able to do all this?” Talyn asked “Did you run it through a program to test it through at least digitally?”

“Uh, no,” Logan said, a shy smile appearing on his face “I just kind of, think about it in my head and write down how I think the structure and dimension would be like.”

“All in your head?” Talyn gasped in awe, Logan nodded and they squealed in excitement “Logan, that’s amazing!”

Logan didn’t think his face could get any redder, nor did he think the fluttery feeling in his chest could get any warmer. He wasn’t really used to being praised so openly and with such enthusiasm, it felt…nice. Really nice, and Logan just wanted to hold on to that feeling for as long as he could.

---

They were taking a brake on a nearby roof, Thomas having provided drinks and snacks like always. The weather was starting to get colder as September reached its peak but thankfully today was just the right amount of breezy to cool down their over heated bodies. It was quiet, nothing but the breeze and bustle of the city as background noise while the group munched away on their snacks and silently enjoyed each other’s company. It was nice, very relaxing.

And of course, Roman had to ruin it, “You are my fire!”

“Oh my god!” Logan groaned, flopping onto his back.

“The one desire!” Patton chimed in enthusiastically.

“Seriously!” Logan said, exasperated.

“Believe when I say!” Thomas sang with a laugh.

“It’s Backstreet Boys!” Logan exclaimed “Everybody knows Backstreet Boys!”

“I want it that way!” Virgil cackled while Logan glared at him in betrayal “Virgil, I trusted you!”

Roman jumped up to his feet to strike a pose, “Tell me why!”

“Ain't nothin' but a heartache!” The other three joined in with him and Logan could only lay star fished on the ground hoping he look dead to the world.

“Tell me why!”

“Ain't nothin' but a mistake!”

“Tell me why!” Roman pointed an invisible mike down towards Logan who sighed and mumbled in reply “I never want to hear you say…”

“Whoa!” Roman cheered.

“I want it that way!” They finished with a dramatic group pose kneeling around Logan.

“I hope all of you know that you’ve officially wasted thirty whole seconds of my life,” Logan grumbled “I’m thirty more seconds closer to death, are you all happy?”

“Drama queen.” Roman snickered.

---

Thomas watched amusingly as Joan and Talyn moved back and forth between the boys’ suits, putting on the finishing touches. He was brought in to provide a third opinion on weather or not the boys would like them. Obviously, they would and Thomas said just that but for some reason Joan and Talyn kept fretting over them, adding this or recalibrating that or “do you think it be a bit too constricting in the chest area for Roman?” or “Virgil gets cold really easily, make sure the thermal software is working properly!” or “make sure the pants on the suit fit Logan well, that boys got legs for days and I don’t want him to feel uncomfortable!” or “I noticed that Patton’s feet are a bit flat so I added extra cushion in the shoe to help him out a bit!” And so on and so forth.

“What’s with the face?” Joan asked, as they fiddled with the pack attached to Logan’s suit which held four long, metallic spider legs.

“Oh nothing,” Thomas replied smugly “just irony.”

Talyn gave him a raised eyebrow, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that you two are a bunch so hypocrites,” Thomas snickered “you guys kept giving me shit for being maternal and being manipulated by puppy dog eyes yet here you two are giving them state of the art suits that are probably MUCH more advanced than mine.”

“Yeah, well they’re kids!” Talyn countered “Didn’t we want them to be safe? We’re just upgrading the suits a little bit and adding a few extra safety precautions.”

“Does Roman really need that long ass anime scarf and tail coat?” Thomas asked with a smirk.

They were quiet for a moment before Joan dramatically exclaimed, “He bamboozled us!”

Thomas stuck out his pinky and twirled it around, “Wrapped around their little finger, all of us, we never stood a chance against them.”

Talyn sighed in defeat, “Tell me about it. Anyways, I think we’re about done with the suits. What do you think? Think the boys will like them?”

Thomas could definitely tell who each suit belonged too, they were all so uniquely different and specifically fitted to their person. Virgil’s suit was a mix of violet along his arms, legs, and waist, and white with a hint of lavender. The top part was like a baggy hoodie but still meshed flawlessly with the rest of the suit and of course the shoes were purple ballet slippers tied up with ribbon. Patton’s suit was mixed with various shades of pink, minimal web design and absolutely covered in hearts. There was a pink baseball cap attached on top of his mask, a ribbon tied around his waist, and a pink cardigan wrapped around his shoulders. Roman’s suit was just as dramatic as he was; white with accents of red and gold, ruffled sleeves, and of course the long tail coat and scarf. He had an intricately designed half mask which didn’t cover over his hair and held a reddish gold feather on the side of his head. Logan’s suit was the most technologically advanced and also the most formal looking, with mixes of dark blue. Of course, he had a tie and a practical half mask as well, and the spider legs attached to the back reminded Thomas of that little alien from Invader Zim who had a similar looking set.

Over all, these suites were absolutely amazing, Thomas smiled proudly at his friends, “They’re gunna love them!”

Songs Sung:

Wannabe by Spice Girls

So Emotional by Whitney Houston

Let's Have A Kiki by Scissor Sisters

I Want It That Way by Backstreet Boys

Tags: (sorry if it doesn’t work, Tumblr is stupid)

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#thomas sanders #sanders sides #logan sanders #patton sanders #roman sanders #virgil sanders #prinxiety #logicality #tw mentions of panic attack #tw anxiety #spiderverse au #Spiderverse #tobashiarg!

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