#ooc: fun fact. i almost drowned when i was four

[noa-de-cajou]

Day 8 : Sharing / Wearing each other’s clothes / Sleeping in / Temptation / The Drowning

Faloi belongs to @corneille-but-not-the-author (might be a tiny little ooc but I had too much fun with the dialogue)

______

If you asked Faloi Frosilaen, he would say sharing a bed with Ether Nepheli is certainly an experience.

If you asked Ether Nepheli, she would not be this polite and say sharing a bed with that idiot can be a fucking challenge, and not in terms of fucking.

The annoying part came in when they started to sleep together randomly. Ether would fall asleep in his bed while reading and wake up in his arms, Faloi would collapse at 10 and wake up at 3am to her curled up next to him. No other activities involved. They talked, said they shouldn’t make a habit out of it, and proceeded to make a habit out of it. Like they always did.

That soon made some… issues more visible. And Ether and Faloi being Ether and Faloi, they'd talk about it in the most random of moments in the most random of ways.

“Ether, you should sleep in more clothes than just your underwear."

“... Huh?”

They were both sitting in his office, reviewing papers, and he just blurted that out. Ether blinked, then smirked.

“Why? Don’t like the view?”

“You know that's not what I mean.”

“Yeah. The thing is, I have no fucking idea where you're going with this. Care to elaborate?”

“Well, aren’t you cold at night?”

“Not… particularly?”

“Then why do you keep stealing all the covers?”

Silence. Ether blinked again, slowly. She could have argued that this wasn't the time to talk about this. But of course, she didn't.

“... Faloi. Your bed is huge. You’d need truly amazing hogging skills to steal all the covers.”

“You never cease to amaze me, then.”

“I- Why does it matter? You sleep fully clothed most of the time!”

“Just because I'm not cold does not mean I do not get sick.”

“Bullshit. I never saw you get sick, even in the middle of winter. What, are you too old, do your joints get fucked up by the cold?”

That earned her a sideways glance, maybe an irritated twitch of the eyebrow, but Faloi’s face remained almost as calm as usual. He didn’t reply, so Ether kept going.

“That’s very like you, hiring a thief then getting all petty because she’s stealing the sheets.”

“I am not being petty, I am merely stating facts.”

“Yeah, well you should be more worried about the fact that one of your Commissaries is stealing from the treasury. Because that's what we were talking about before you decided to bring up bed matters, remember?”

That was enough to make them both focus on work, until Faloi had to leave for a meeting. It lasted way longer than it should have, and the sky was already dark when he came back to his quarters. Where he was welcomed by Ether, sprawled out on the bed, reading, and wearing…

Faloi squinted.

“Ether? Is that my shirt?”

“Good evening to you too, Faloi. And I don’t know what you're talking about. You have glasses, use them.”

“Judging by your approximative obfuscation and blatant sarcasm, that is most definitely my shirt.”

“Look at you, answering your own question. I’m so proud of you.”

Faloi sighed and took off his coat. Too tired to be annoyed, and very aware that this is what happens when you let someone like Ether into your bedroom.

“Very funny. I don't really mind, either way, but what is this for?”

Ether shrugged, and closed her book with a satisfied thump.

“Well you did say that I should wear more clothes at night. So I picked up the first item I found on the floor.”

Right. They didn't tidy up the room after last night. Again, he should have expected this. 

“Who’s petty now?”

“I’m not petty, I'm just following your advice.”

She smirked at him as she took the pins out of her hair to let it down. Pins she probably stole from his bathroom as well.

“If you don't like it, you’re free to get it off me.”

Turns out he didn’t need to get it off her. At all.

Let's just say the both of them slept well that night… For a few hours, at least.

Around four in the morning, Faloi sat up, and he barely had the time to put his shirt on before a hand grabbed him by the sleeve.

It was usual for him to wake up around four in the morning, get dressed and start working.

It was a bit less common that Ether woke up exactly at the same time. 

He glanced back at her. She looked half-asleep still, but he did notice an unusually fast heart rate. A nightmare, maybe. 

“Faloi, it's way too early,” she mumbled.

“I need to get to work,” was his only reply.

“You got most of it done yesterday, I know it…”

“I still have unfinished business. Go back to sleep.”

“I’ll go back to sleep if you come back to bed.”

“Do you think blackmailing me into sleep will work?”

“Do you think I'm going to let you go to a meeting on two hours of sleep?”

Faloi squinted at Ether.

Ether squinted at Faloi.

Are we arguing? Is this an argument?

“Ether, if you try to get me to stay every day, you’re going to ruin your sleep schedule.”

“I’m sleeping in your bed, it's basically our sleep schedule at this point…”

She was interrupted by her own yawn and Faloi sighed deeply.

“You’re exhausted. You should really go back to sleep.”

“That's rich coming from the President of Exhaustion himself.”

He gave her a stern look.

“You’re not going to let go, are you?”

Ether gave the look right back.

“Well, I can't make you stay. But I think if you really wanted to go work, you’d have left already. I’m not that strong.”

“... Or maybe I just have enough delicacy to talk this out with you instead of pushing you away.”

“Well, if you’d have the delicacy to come back to bed, I’d be delighted,” Ether replied with enough sarcasm to fill a lake. “Weren’t you the one worried about me being cold?”

His exhaustion was plastered all over his face. He wasn’t even fed up with her. He rarely was.

Ether had to repress a small triumphant smile. He was tempted to just give in, she could see it, because he was not good at hiding it.

This isn’t an argument.

This is a game, and I'm winning.

But he wasn’t fully convinced just yet. Always that sense of duty, something she both loved and hated about him because of how often it was driven by guilt instead of actual duty. If she wanted him to actually rest, she might have to ease his worries first.

“Okay, how about this. Two more hours. Two more hours and at six I'll wake up with you to help with your work so you won’t be late on anything. How does that sound?”

Faloi lowered his gaze, something he always did when he was debating with himself. She waited patiently for him to finish, tried to not tighten her grip around his sleeve.

I can't make you stay. I can't make you take care of yourself. I can't make you do anything. But if it's true that I'm one of the few people you listen to, then please stay.

“That… seems like a fair compromise,” Faloi finally sighed. “I have a condition, however.”

Score.

“Do tell?”

He gave her a tired smile. Well, it was more of a little rise in the corner of his lips.

“Leave me some of the covers?”

She blinked, and chuckled with something like relief.

“Sure. I'll do my best.”

He slithered back into the bed, looking a bit hesitant still. Ether smiled silently at him. 

She knew that this was a rare occurence. She just wished she didn’t have to fight for Faloi to realize he couldn't go on like this for long.

Maybe he knew that.

Their hands were not even an inch apart when they fell back asleep.

If you asked Faloi Frosilaen what they were, he wouldn’t be able to answer. Colleagues? Friends? Lovers? None of those words seemed good enough then, they don't seem any better now.

If you asked Ether Nepheli what they were, she’d say she loved him. That she still does. That it was suffocating then. That it still is now. That they were both nothing and everything.

But the fact remains that as he was dying, that when she thought she would die, they thought about each other.

If you asked them both if they regretted it, their answer would be the same.

No. Never.

[mangosdoodles-moved]

(fIRST OF I'M sorry to hear what happened with you guys with the Eurovision thingy-) Do you guys plan to go to the beach this summer?

Ger: “Of course! It’s not summer until you get the chance to take a nice, proper swim in the ocean, right?”

*M pops in: “But the water’s so cold, that’s no fun! And the sand is too hot!”*

“Also, what if my toe gets cut off by a crab? Or if a huge wave manage to throw me off my feet? You always swim so far away, I’m not even able to catch up with you! I just don’t wanna drown, okay??”

Ger: “..You’re the indoors-type, as always.”

Swe: “..I think the right word ‘s the swimmin’-pool-type.”

[snapetrash]

so I wrote a crack fic where Snape and Harry smoke weed and talk about their problems. kinda.  It’s posted on Ao3 if you want to read it there. It’s pretty ooc and an adult smokes weed and tobacco with an underage student, so there’s your warning for moral ambiguity. Starts at the beginning of book 5, in an AU where everything is the same except Harry picks up a smoking habit to self medicate his slightly crippling anxiety and depression. Looking for a Beta so let me know if you’re interested!!!

Hermione and the rest of the Weasleys had been here for weeks while he had to deal with his relatives, and fucking demetors- what a load of bollocks. Harry dumped his trunk and bags in his room and made a beeline for the attic of Grimmauld Place, grabbing his pack of menthols and lighter as he went.

 They’d arrived at the Order headquarters a little after 2 am, so he knew no one would come looking for him until morning. He’d told Remus after a brief hug that he was exhausted before he’d headed to his room. Harry climbed the rickety, spiraling stairs leading to the topmost floor of Grimmauld without so much as a glance behind him. 

Harry knew Sirius was in the house somewhere, and probably awake, but anxiety and anger had tied his stomach in knots. He would go see his godfather after his smoke. After. Everything had to come after he’d had a moment to himself, or he’d blow up and regret everything. 

As he struggled to wrench open the window, he briefly considered smoking inside, smell and lingering smoke bedamned, but as the thought crossed his mind the window gave a little shriek and popped open. Harry crawled out onto the dirty shingles and moved to sit beside the window, looking out onto the backyard of the house. 

He opened his pack, pulled out a joint and popped it in his mouth, lighting up and taking a deep, fortifying breath. Harry’s eyes fell closed as he inhaled deeply, pulling in air after his hit and exhaling, long and measured. As he went to take another hit, he opened the pack of cigarettes one more time to retrieve a menthol and tuck it behind his ear, for later. His hair was such a mess that it covered the white of the paper completely, and kept the fug from prying eyes. It wouldn’t be fun if he was caught and chewed out by Mrs. Weasley for smoking. 

The sky was dark and overcast, sounds of the city muffled by the powerful wards on the house. It was a fairly hot night, temperature perfect for Harry and his penchant for being chilly in all seasons. After three or four hits he could feel the tension bleed from his body, finally making way for bone deep exhaustion.

“ Potter, what on earth-” If Harry hadn’t been halfway through his joint, he would’ve startled at the sound of Snape’s irritated growl coming from the window beside him. But he’d been awake for more than 24 hours, and hadn’t had a decent meal for just as long. The energy to care about being caught smoking on a roof by his professor? He just didn’t have it at the moment. 

“Are you smoking pot?” The utter incredulity in the Potion Master’s voice prompted Harry to actually turn and look at the other man. Snape was leaning out the window, arms braced on the sil with his wand in a relatively loose grip. He was wearing what looked like a long sleeve tee and worn sweatpants- both black of course- but surprisingly muggle. It made the older man look softer, younger; the small part of Harry’s brain that hadn’t checked out the moment he lit up was shocked at how Snape looked, even as he glared at him. 

There were other things Harry noticed about him too; his paler-than-usual pallor, the way his body seemed wound tight like a spring and the heavy-lidded exhaustion in his eyes. Snape wasn’t staring him down, not like usual. No, he seemed like maybe he’d come for a bit of solitude too. In fact, when Harry’s gaze flicked down to the potion master’s hands he saw a wooden pipe, shiny and black just like the rest of him, clutched in his non-wand hand. 

It was 2 am and everyone else in the house was probably in bed. Harry realized he’d been staring, not answering, and Snape was looking tenser and moodier by the second.

“Are you wearing pajamas?” He blurted out, immediately regretting everything. Fuck, he was gonna get so many detentions. But Snape was wearing pajamas, it was beyond strange, and Harry had gone ahead and said the first thing that’d come to his mind like a complete idiot. 

Snape gave him a look of utter loathing, like he was thinking the exact same thing. Harry couldn’t help but notice the dark bags under his eyes, and again did something incredibly stupid. Marijuana in the wizarding world didn’t hold the same weight as it did for muggles, but still. He was sure there was a rule written somewhere that said ‘thou shalt not smoke cannabis with thy potions master.’ or something. 

Harry offered him the joint wordlessly. It was quite a normal gesture, in general terms; Snape stared at the offending apparatus in what seemed like numb shock, his eyes a little wide, his mouth drawn down into a tight line. It hung in the air between them, and just as Harry thought that maybe he really was going to die at the hands of his teacher that hated him, the older wizard reached out and plucked the burning thing from his fingers. 

The moment Snape took it, instead of watching him(his fucking professor!) Harry grabbed the cigarette from behind his ear and lit it up, just to have something to do with his hands. He looked up just in time to see Snape exhale a fat cloud of smoke and look at the joint with a thoughtful expression. After a moment they swapped; Snape had the cigarette and Harry had the joint. 

The younger wizard watched the other inhale and grimace, before his professor quietly muttered. “Of course you would smoke this muggle menthol crap.” 

Harry snorted. “You certainly aren’t the first one to give me shit for it.” 

This was probably the quietest, nicest moment he’d ever had in Snape’s presence. Who knew all it took was a little weed to win over the nasty dungeon bat? Harry had to force a cough, lest he giggle at the thought. 

The deserted city before them had infected both wizards with a sense of calm; no nightmares, or oaths or dark lords could reach them here. When Harry saw the joint going down, he pulled out another and put the other out in seamless rotation. Snape made a soft noise that might’ve been a scoff, but otherwise said nothing and took a long drag of the new joint. 

Neither man knew how they’d stumbled upon this fragile peace, but they weren’t going to go out of their way to break it now. Still, Harry couldn’t resist pushing his luck.

“I keep waiting to wake up from this bizarre dream, but it hasn’t happened yet.” He muttered with humor. 

Snape side-eyed him, blowing a bit of smoke out before fucking smirking “Why does it matter? No one would believe you if you told them about this.”

That had Harry fighting back horrified laughter, coughing a little on the smoke caught in his throat, because this was another level and who knew his evil git of a teacher could be so devious? In a funny way, not his usual ‘Potter, detention for breathing’ way.  Stealing a glance at Snape, he saw that he’d relaxed a lot more. He had an elbow on the sill, his chin propped up in his hand- and a little quirk on his lips that was almost a smile.

This side of Snape was completely new to Harry; but he vowed silently to himself that he’d try to draw it out as often as he could. Clearly the guy was under a lot of pressure, playing for both sides. Maybe he was a completely different person, outside of all the acting and playing the field he had to do. 

“You’re different, like this.” Harry’s brain to mouth filter had said sayonara at this point; the small part of his mind that was rational, and screaming at him to ‘shut up, Potter, you utter wanker’ was drowned out by his high and the strange night. 

“I know we have to keep hating each other- keep up appearances, I mean- um. But I wouldn’t mind doing this again. I just- I’ve been realizing how much you do for the war, for me and I- You’re not a bad guy at all, is what I might be saying. Who knows, I’m stoned. Ignore me.” Please, Harry, shut the fuck up now. 

Snape’s burning gaze bore holes into his forehead as he hurriedly stuck his fug in his mouth to silence himself. The younger wizard didn’t take his eyes off his own hands, cheeks burning, waiting for the end. 

“Why in Merlin’s name would you want to spend any more time with me than you have to? It’s not like I haven’t given you every reason to hate me that I could think of.” The older man replied, and oh god, both of them were way too tired and totally not sober enough to have this kind of conversation. If they were sober they would never have it in the first place. 

Harry didn’t say anything for a while, not sure how to respond. “Well it’s not like I didn’t figure that out eventually- and you’re one of the few people in this entire, fucked up secret society that treats me like a normal person. From everyone else it’s either hero worship, pity, or they hate me for shite I can’t control.” He paused and took another drag of his cigarette. “Or they expect me to be a carbon copy of my dad. I guess you also did that for a while too, but you have to keep up appearances for the all the kids reporting back to their death eater parents.” 

Snape turned his eyes on Harry again, showing a myriad of emotions across his face, all hard to decipher. He seemed almost angry. “Don’t be daft. I publicly humiliate you whenever I have the chance. I’m not a nice man, it wasn’t always an act!” 

“Well you just admitted that it’s an act now! Why are you so afraid to admit you like me, professor?” That shut Snape up pretty effectively, because all he did was relight the joint that had gone out in his hands. 

Harry sighed, pulling his legs to his chest and resting his head on his knees, facing Snape. “You’ve always reminded me of my muggle teachers in elementary, kind of. The ones that knew from speaking to Petunia that I was a delinquent, but were still determined to teach me. It gave me a sense of normalcy amongst all the magic, in a place where suddenly I was popular and sought after for a glorified tragedy I don’t even remember. I dunno.” he laughed bitterly, remembering his first year. The months after his letter came, wondering if he’d go to sleep after classes that night and wake up in the cupboard. 

Snape looked very tired, as if every word Harry spoke took what little energy he had left. “You’re not anything like your father was, as your age. How could you be, you’ve never met the man.” He mumbled the last sentence, but Harry heard it anyway. 

“Exactly! You understand. Fuck.” The teenager took a shaking breath, and then the joint when Snape passed it to him. They fumbled for a second when he nearly dropped it, hands brushing in the dark, but it made its way into Harry’s shaking hands and he hit it once, with feeling. 

After a few minutes of silence in which they finished the second joint, and Snape lit his pipe(which to Harry’s surprise) actually had weed in it. They passed it back and forth for a little while longer. 

“Albus wants me to teach you Legilimency this year. You’ll come to my office once a week after class, and call it remedial potions when anyone asks.” 

“Cool, we’ll be able to hang out more without anyone around to ruin it.” Harry replied absently. When he realized that he’d just indicated, verbally, that he’d enjoy hanging out with Snape(and his mind was really blown at that one) he looked up to see Snape staring at him with his eyebrow raised, a picture of unimpressed. 

“You realize you’re going to actually have to learn to be a Legilimens, right Potter?” 

“Oh yeah. It might just be the weed, but I’m feeling much better about it now than I would’ve if we hadn’t had this conversation.” The teen replied with good humor. It was true; he was feeling much better about Snape in general. Harry remembered how much of a hardass his professor was, and was quick to reassure him. “I’ll do my best to learn all I can from you.”

Snape’s face softened a little. “See that you do, Potter.” He straightened, Placing his pipe in his pocket and pulling himself back into the attic. The older man reached a hand out for Harry to help him inside. “Come now. It’s bedtime for wizarding saviors.” 

Harry smiled, caught the larger, rougher hand in his own and allowed himself to be lightly manhandled back into the attic. He felt beyond tired. When he stumbled on the stairs, Snape dropped a heavy hand on his shoulder and left it there. 

“To the kitchen first, I have a vial of dreamless sleep for you.” Snape said quietly. The younger man grunted a wordless acknowledgement and they made their way together through the house. The potions master beelined to a high cabinet in the corner and pulled out two small bottles, uncorking one and downing it and passing the other to Harry. 

“Thanks, professor. Good night.”

“Goodnight, Potter.” Snape was rewarded with a blinding smile as Harry made his way upstairs. He went to his room, and fell asleep quicker than he’d had in years.

[astro-break]

Quick first thoughts on the first ep of the Hypmic Anime. Spoilers beware (and im writing this as I watch so :p)

Otome’s speech is.... questionable from a persuasive point of view. Manga did a great job of introducing her (which you can read here) but they really cut out the more terrifying parts of her speech and how she uses force to show people that she's not to be messed with

Its cool seeing everyone in their respective environments though. thats cool. Though they could have added Sasara and Kuuko (shhh i know why they didn’t let me dream)

I love how poppy the typography is. Its amazing how the visuals just leap out at you. The OP does a great job of this. The first few seconds before the title really gives me Persona 4 OG OP vibes with the influx of information given. The rest is a clear concise and streamlined way that still gives character. Animation is sparse but still carries across a general idea of each character and shows off each character object. Rendering is really nice and pays a bit of homage to the posing artwork thats done for the MVs. They also do their division hand signals and thats cute

Love how the OP has blatant HifuDoppo and DRB matchup foreshadowing

so far I really like what theyre going for. BB is about brotherly familial bonds and they show the goods and the bads. Jiro and Saburo bickering right out the gate really cements the fact that they get along like cats and dogs but you can still see that they love each other, working together when the situation calls for it

Now the 3d models. Theyre... not great but usable if you don’t look too hard. They serve their purpose and don’t actively detract from the viewing experience.

Visual typography in the rap itself are fun and poppy but they dont.... speak to me? like theyre there yes and I appreciate them but the only ones that got me excited were from Ichiro’s rap

I take my words back the group portion was kickass and I apologize

I love how they interpret the Hypnosis Speakers though. Esp. Saburo’s organs. That was super creative and I love it! If there was one thing that I felt was missing from the franchise was a deeper exploration of the speakers but the anime puts a new and fresh spin on it! Love it, especially with their attack patterns!

If the production team ever feels inclined to, Id love to see those info sheets on Otome’s desk released. There seems to be very interesting info and stats written out about each member (like capabilities, personal status etc.) They all seem unique too so I really really really hope they release images of those sheets

OOOOOOOOKAY MTC. I have such a big biased for them so Im very torn to see what unfolds

Rio striking out on his own is interesting. Out of everyone in MTC hes the biggest team player yet here he trusts his teammates to go ahead. This either displays Rio’s willingness to trust his teammates or it becomes very OOC if the anime wants to set him up as a lone wolf like character

I love how they specify its a drug deal. It means that Jyuto surely will show up and it also shows that Samatoki knows Jyuto’s motives and willingly gives black market info that he knows aligns with Jyuto’s goal. Thats A+ detail writing there and a great establishing characteristic for both of them

OOohhhhhhhhhhhhh man Asunama-san’s voice acting is god tier his work as Samatoki is phenomenal. He pulls of Samatoki’s threatening voice so well with those almost calm words before his voice becomes loud and confrontational. Those rolling syllables in contrast to Komada-san’s almost lyrical and airy speech and Kamio-san’s strict and enunciated words is such a delight to hear. It just speaks to how amazing and great these Seiyuu’s are in order to pull of such amazing work

Im so biased but MTC has such a better rap than BB im so sorry. Just by watching Samatoki’s part, the imagery is amazing. Even the arrival of his Hypnosis Speaker was awesome and sent a shiver down my spine. using the lyrics to form blades and blood was such a great thing to do. Theres so much more variety that just him standing there and shots of his hypnosis speaker. The old fashioned vignette shots, the four panel spread, the nods to old Kurosawa era films are great and I love these small details. Even the typography looks better.

Again, the interpretations with the speakers is fresh and new. Its great and I love the different imagery and attack patterns. Each one is so unique but carries across each different style of rap.

The 3d modles aren’t any better tho lol

(Hi this is Astro who is reading over their assessment again and making a note. Yeah I’m a bit harsh on BB’s rap. I’m not going to change it since I still stand by it and this post is supposed to be a documentation of my first impressions. I think one of the reasons why I’m so harsh on BB is because of their dynamic as a trio of brothers. They Have to have a more uniform approach than the other divisions. Which in of itself isn’t a terrible thing, it just doesn’t catch my eye as much as MTC did. Thats all! I definitely don’t hate BB, they’re maybe my 3rd favorite division out of the current lineup [not including TDD era teams like Kujaku Posse, MCD, and Naughty Busters] its just that their rap was pretty meh)

Samatoki crouching like a real gangstar and the cigarette kiss killed me

sadjkhfjkasdghsadjkcsdjhsdfsjhf im dying i love these trio of dumbasses so uch oh y fod someone save me aaaaaaaa (Astro note here! yeah i died when the jyuto and samatoki’s stomach growled im weak please. Samatoki’s face is just so precious and funny I might set it as a profile pic somewhere)

But also my initial assessment of Rio possibly being characterized as a lone wolf is very much jossed and im very thankful for that. It seems that Rio was simply trusting his teammates to carry out their part of the plan while he carried out his own. I like that, it really shows how much of a team these three are and that they genuinely trust each other. He’s also comfortable enough around them to invite them to dinners after work casually and not just for special occasions.

I really love MTC guys

Oooh! we get Ramuda on his design process which is really cute. the inside of his studio is super cute and retro and i love it. the poppy old music you would hear in a cafe or 90′s resturaunt is also really cute (astro note: yeah i know that in ARB you see the interior of Ramuda’s office but its kinda different seeing it animated)

the translation i have has gentaro speaking in early modern english (Shakespearian english for those who aren’t english nerds like me) but from what I can hear, he doesn’t speak in a particularly old fashioned way? Its more formal than old? and hes speaking without any of his character persona lying thing that he likes to do (as he refers to himself as “Shousei” throughout the segment where hes in Ramuda’s office which is kind of his default pronoun of choice). so its kinda odd for the translation to go in that direction but im not complaining

Gendice banter is gold but it feels... flat? a little? it doesn’t have the same impact as in the drama cds or in the manga? i feel? Also Ramuda using gratuitous english is??? idk how to feel about that

kjshf thats against the rules Ramuda omgggg,,,,,,,, (astro note again: while watching i was under the assumption that using your hypmic for monetary gain such a as buskering [which is what FP is doing] is against the rules. May not be the case but whatever)

FP’s rap might be my favorite in terms of tune and lyrics though. It’s a nice laid back bop and really gives of chill vibes. the integration of 3d and 2d is really nice and i love how they play off each other in the rap. The wordplay is so fun with little nods here and there and the beat is poppy too so it really energizes me.

Ramuda’s rap concerns me slightly since he makes very subtle and small nods towards his past (being created in a laboratory, warfare, and his overall very unpleasant life experiences) but spins it into something cutesy. It could be a coping mechanism, it could be me overthinking it. But it does make me worry a bit. Gentaro and Dice’s rap really play off each other with Gentaro sticking to stories and Dice taking up the baton by carrying on that same imagery but putting his own spin on it.

the self awareness of how scattered they are as a team is interesting though. It doesn’t seem like something you’d speak about in a rap? but i guess since its not really a do or die situation they can afford to be looser on things like this.

Right off the bat, i don’t like how they handled Hifumi and Doppo in relation to Hifumi’s fear of women. Slug made a post once talking about this and I echo many of his sentiments. Hypmic has never been very tactful about tackling this particular issue and while I didn’t have high hopes that the anime would be any better it hurts to see Doppo take away the one thing that allows Hifumi to function within society.

Doppo’s breakdown mirrors a lot of my own mental state when I spiral though its shown a lot quicker than what happens to me oof. that hits close to home. though Jakurai’s advice is. Questionable. Its not the best advice to give to someone but we have no idea what kind of doctor Jakurai is so ill let it slide

Jakurai’s pose looks like hes going to do a mahou shoujou transformation lmao

I don’t have many thoughts about the rap though again. How they visualize the rap is interesting. the different imagery is quite interesting for each of them and the typography is nice a distinct but im still on the fence about the visuals here

The sound is in the same boat. The sound effects either drown out the rap or are too quet but some parts are nice at least. When they talk about Tokyo’s beating heart, the heartbeat sound is a but distracting especially since its only played once. But the imagery is at least nice

I wonder if for the eds they’re going to take a similar approach to what Enstars did and have a four different endings, one for each division. I love the blend of styles here and it really accentuates that although they’re different they mesh well together.

Ramuda’s silhouette though is hilarious. Love it.

:p and thats it. Uh not bad for a first episode. Established all 12 characters really nicely and their dynamics. I had some problems with it but then again nothing is perfect. I look forward to what they show us next week

[heloflor]

A Matter Of Principals : why Discord feels regressed

After the episode “A Matter Of Principals” aired, a lot of people complained about how it regressed Discord's character to his old self, and I won't hide that I told myself “This episode would have been awesome...back in season 4...”. But for those who don't understand this point of view, here's a personal list of things that make Discord feels off in this episode.

Note : This is just a personal opinion that you have all rights to disagree with. Also, be aware that, despite the way Discord is in this episode, I still found it very entertaining with good jokes and with especially a Spike who was on point in his supporting role, especially by not defending one character because of his affection but because he felt like the person is in the right (the best example being before Starlight banishes Discord because we actually see Spike defending both of them). Finally, this post will contain spoilers for this episode but also from previous Discord episodes and from the comics.

Now, without further addue, here's a list of things that gave me the feeling of a S4 Discord :

WARNING : VERY long post ahead !

1. Fluttershy : Remember when in season 6 Discord was ready to go in a changeling hive without magic just to save Fluttershy ? Remember how one season later he was ready to act completely normal because he feared for his relationship with the pegasus; and that behavior almost destroyed him ? Remember how Spike mentioned the possibility of Discord being in love with Fluttershy, and the draconequus barely defended himself ? Well here, Discord sends the mane 6, including Fluttershy, on a fake map mission; and in the end, Pinkie talks about worms that may have been deadly, meaning that Discord was ready to put Fluttershy into deadly danger just so he could run a random school he never showed interest into. I think you can easily understand what's so off here.

Heck, to add even more into this, when you think of it, in “Discordant Harmony”, Discord was ready to be completely normal, which means giving up his chaos, the thing he had been doing all his life, just for Fluttershy. In a way, it could mean that Discord loves Fluttershy more than he loves his own chaos, which is again what he always did and what defines him (let that sink in for a moment...yes I'm a Fluttercord shipper; just ignore that remark if you don't care about shipping or dislike this one). But in “A Matter Of Principals”, he's ready to put her in danger. I mean, sure, the others are here; but she could still be hurt, so his behavior doesn't match with his over-protectiveness from the season 6 finale.

2. Spike : This one hurts even more with “The Breakup Breakdown” being only four episodes ago. Thing is, in “The Breakup Breakdown”, Spike and Discord are shown to be like best bros, being all snarky towards each other with even Discord not getting mad at some of Spike's comments (like when after Discord fails to make Big Mac feels better and Spike calls Discord's methods off; all the draconequus does is rolling his eyes). But in “A Matter Of Principals”, there literally is some Spike abuse. I mean, he gets hurt by the thunder-bees bugs (sorry I forgot their name), splashed by a giant smelly cheese, is the one to get rid of Discord's mess (in the background for example with the fire extinguisher or the paper bin while Starlight is talking with Discord), gets the artifacts falling on him and gets “hugged” against his will. And I swear, thinking of previous episodes, I only remember two times in which Discord was a jerk to him, excluding the murder attempt in “Dungeons and Discords” (the two times being putting him in a bubble that goes up in “Twilight's Kingdom” and putting dirt on him in “What About Discord ?” but it's possible that I forgot another moment). And the worse with this point is probably the fact that, throughout the entire episode, Spike keeps being nice to Discord and even defend him at some point. But on the other side Discord couldn't care less about him, which really feels OOC; again, especially after an episode like “The Breakup Breakdown”.

3. Children : I know some people refuse to see them as canon, but since there are the only thing I have for this point : in the comics, there had been some stories featuring Discord with the CMCs (Friends Forever 2; Main issue 24; Friends Forever 20 and a mention in the main issue 50) and in those, he really shows a friendly side, being kind of a goofy uncle (and heck, in the friend forever 20, he even says at a point “Fluttershy and the kids”, the kids probably being the CMCs; and considering some people believes that by “the kids” he means that in his dream he has some kind of fantasy in which he's married to Flutters and they have children, it shows that Discord can act kind of like a parent for the trio). So in short, in the comics, Discord is good with kids.

Now, in the show, he barely interacted with the CMCs (sadly) but from the little we have : in “Make New Friends But Keep Discord”, the worse thing he does to them is scaring them and two seconds later it's Applebloom who's being kinda rude with him (although he should have seen it coming); and in “The Breakup Breakdown”, when Big Mac yells at Sweetie Belle, Discord is as shocked as the others, which may show he knows there's a line not to drown when it comes to kids.

But in this new episode, Discord is ready to put children into direct danger to get his ways. And these children have nothing to do with his problem ! And yet he lets a bugbear attack them and put two of them in quicksand (although I guess it can be debate whether or not the quicksand was deadly; the same way I didn't include the ursa Major because it only scares the students off and then Discord makes it quickly disappear). Reminder that this is supposed to be a reformed character who, even if he's not perfect, is still shown to have some standards; and if you base yourself on the comics, he would never bring himself to hurt innocent children when he knows what it's like to spend time with some.

(by the way, unrelated note but where were the CMCs in this episode ? I mean, didn't Starlight say that they are better teachers than students in “Marks For Effort” ? Then why weren't they the substitute teachers ??)

4. Behavior and evolution : I kinda started this point in the previous one but when you think of it, Discord have been mostly less deadly with time. I mean, the last time he tried to actually kill someone was in season 6 (in “Dungeons and Discords”), and even so he had to get truly mad before starting to hurt (after all the first thing he did before getting to death was to show what was a guys night to him. Also here I say “season 6” because let's be honest, if it wasn't for the ex-machina throne, Discord would have gotten on a changeling rampage considering his rage when he learns Fluttershy has been captures). Then, in season 7, he gets mad at two shopkeepers but in the end he remains relatively polite and doesn't do anything drastic (and for the firth one he even comes back saying “I'm sorry do you validate ?” or something, showing he really started to learn).

For this part, I would also like to point out two other details : Twilight and the people Discord hurt :

- About Twilight : she had always been the one that Discord seems to like hurting the most (“Three's a Crowd”, “What About Discord”, “Celestia Advice”) but with time, when you think of it, he went from “giant murdery worm” to “terrible feeling of rejection all day” to “stress for a few hours” so yeah, he chilled quite a lot here.

- About his targets : when you look at previous episodes, aside from “The Return of Harmony”, Discord has always targeted people who actually bothered him. I mean, sure, in “Princess Twilight Sparkle” he let people be put in danger but he wasn't really reformed before the end of the season; and in “Three's a Crowd” he did wished to piss Twilight off and also led Cadence into danger, I won't deny it. But after season 4, he stopped hurting random people : in “Make New Friends But Keep Discord”, he only targets Tree Hugger, and the Smooze being all over the room was only an accident (that he did take use off to try blaming Fluttershy for not inviting him, I won't deny it); in “What About Discord” he apparently didn't mean to make Twilight feel that way but it's true that he used the situation to have fun; in “Dungeons and Discords” he only aims at the duo annoying him; in “To Where And Back Again” he only gets mad at Trixie because she's provocating him (and like someone mentioned : in the end of the episode, he actually admits that Trixie earned his respect but she's the one telling him that she still doesn't consider him much);...in “Celestia Advice” he's again being a jerk to Twilight (seriously the episodes with her are the only ones in which he's an ass just to be one), in “Discordant Harmony” he only gets mad at the shopkeepers telling him how weird they feel about thinking he's friends with Fluttershy and in “The Breakup Breakdown” he doesn't get mad at all.

But then comes “A Matter Of Principals”. And in it, not only does Discord put people into a deadly situation; but he also hurt people who did nothing to him (and children nonetheless). Not only is this a regression to S4 from how he's acting towards others in term of his ways to handle magic (since in season 4 he couldn't care less about other ponies' lives) but it's also almost OOC for him to aim at innocent people like that.

5. Apologies : Alright, here, I won't talk about his ways of apologizing (like how he has no trouble when it comes to Fluttershy but when it's to Tree Hugger and his O&O buddies he feels way more awkward) but about why he apologies. Alright so, if I'm not wrong, Discord apologized in four episodes : Twilight's Kingdom; Make New Friends But Keep Discord; Dungeons and Discords; Discordant Harmony.

In “Twilight's Kingdom”, it's not much of a surprise. After all, he kind of hit rock bottom, betraying Equestria, making Fluttershy cry...Furthermore, the “bubble” scene is not only the moment for Twilight to find her key but also Discord's true redemption moment (which is probably why when we see the mane 5 Fluttershy is shown alone at the center of the screen when we see the bubbles at first and we they are put down; because it's both Twilight's and Discord's point of view, and the latter is more focused on the pegasus) so it's no surprise to have him apologizing to Fluttershy and later on giving Twilight the necklace (that I see as a way to apologize too)

In “Make New Friends But Keep Discord”, not much to say. Fluttershy is the one telling him to apologize, although we can see him not understanding at first that he has to say it to Tree Hugger.

In “Dungeons and Discords”, things get more interesting in terms of character development. Indeed, I rewatched the episode some time ago and realized how the scene after the murder attempt was made : the three guys have a small talk about why Discord was invited, followed by Discord feeling bad and deciding to go, with the other two being happy about that. Then, after he exaggerate his exit, Spike and Big Mac start to feel bad for him and call him back, and that's when Discord apologies to them. What's interesting about this scene is that, when you see Discord's behavior towards others, it's obvious that he sees himself as superior to all of them, at the exception of Fluttershy (and possibly the other mane 6 ?) and he clearly states it in his apology. But despite feeling superior, the point is that he apologies, but not because someone asked him to. If you watch the scene, you'll see that neither Spike nor Big Mac asked him to do it; and that's a big improvement ! Again, in season 5 (title too damn long...), he was asked to apologies by Fluttershy; but in this scenario, she's not here and doesn't tell him anything; apologizing and saying what he is sorry for, showing that he knows what he did wrong, was his own choice. And that's some major improvement  coming from him (and that's also the reason why I consider this episode to be the last one in which Fluttershy plays the role of a guardian for Discord since she was the one behind him being invited. After it, she becomes just a friend).

Finally, in “Discordant Harmony”, as said before, after getting mad and mocking the pony at the tea shop, Discord disappear, only to come back one second later and actually saying “I'm sorry”, showing again that he knows what apologizing really is and when to apologize.

But in “A Matter of Principals” ? Not only does he not apologize, but Starlight apologizes for not considering him, while he was the one who started to change the school the moment he arrived. So again, this kind of throw off a character development that may feels rather important considering Discord is a reformed villain.

6. Karma : The final point (considering the last one is more of a bonus), aka probably the reason why the scene with Starlight blasting off Discord feels so satisfying. If you look at every other Discord episode (with the exception of “Celesta Advice” but we can't really say he was much of a pain in it), each time Discord do something bad, karma strikes him. And to prove my point, here's the list (yes I'm that kind of person who needs to justificate everything; if you haven't noticed the wall on text that you already read...) :

- The Return of Harmony : Discord turns the world into a chaotic mess; he gets turned to stone (although yes I know he was a bad guy and needed to be stopped).

- Keep Calm and Flutter On : Discord uses Fluttershy's kindness to get his way through; he ends up realizing that she does matter to him and feels terrible when she rejects his friendship.

- Princess Twilight Sparkle : Discord is happy about the situation and clearly wants Twilight to go back in the Everfree forest to get killed with the others so he could be free from the elements (I'm sorry but that's how I interpret him waving as Twilight goes back); Discord has to keep being a “good” person despite the elements gone and has to help cleaning.

- Three's a Crowd : Discord ruins Twilight's and Candace's day by faking an illness; Discord ends up being truly sick.

- Twilight's Kingdom : Discord turns against everypony including Fluttershy that he started to really consider as close; Discord is betrayed and has to face Fluttershy's sadness.

- Make New Friends But Keep Discord : Discord spends the episode trying to get Fluttershy attention; he gets her attention at the worse moment (aka while about to get rid of Tree Hugger).

- What About Discord : Discord makes Twilight feels like shit for an entire day; he has to face the same feelings for a short time.

- Dungeons and Discord : Discord puts Spike's and Big Mac's lives in danger; he feels terrible and gets rejected for a while (and feels the need to apologize).

- To Where And Back Again : Discord gets all boastful about his abilities at the beginning and screams in the hive, leading for the group to be detected; he gets captured by changelings disguised as Fluttershy while he felt unable to do anything (btw, not related but when you think of it, if he hadn't scream her name but something else, the group may have been detected and able to find their way like in the episode but as a bonus the changelings wouldn't have known how to capture Discord so neither him nor Trixie would have been captured. Because yeah let's be honest here if it wasn't for him Trixie wouldn't have had to sacrifice herself).

- Discordant Harmony : even though he was trying to be a good person for once, Discord completely changed himself; he almost disappeared/died.

- The Break Up Breakdown : Discord claims not to believe in love and encourages Big Mac to break up with Sugar Belle; he sees how sad the others are when they start thinking love is a lie and he has to help fixing things.

But in “A Matter Of Principals”, not only is Discord not punished for trying to murder children but he also got awarded for it (even though it doesn't last) ! I suppose some could argue that it's because he's dealing with Starlight who never got punished for anything so she wouldn't see the point of acting differently towards him but still, it just feels weird to have him awarded for such acts.

7. Episode could actually never had happened : Yes, you read that right, there were actually easy ways to have this episode differently, if not not at all. For the difference in episode, let's just say that, if Discord and Starlight had talked at the beginning of the episode about how Discord could help and improve the school, instead of having him doing shit first hand, we could have had a completely different scenario and, to be honest, even though I have no idea how this could have been in terms of enjoyment, I have to admit that seeing the end of the episode with Discord putting the stuff back but still leaving “a few surprises” makes me feel a bit sad because an episode with Discord making stuff more interesting while remaining harmless would have been great (and could have lead to some cute interactions with the students; heck, this could have been more focused on the students. Also, come on ! Seeing Silverstream react to meeting Discord properly would have been adorable between her excitement over new things and his high self-esteem !) !

As for the episode not existing at all ? Remember the arguing scene between Discord and Fluttershy in season 5 ? When you think of it, in addition to the lesson Fluttershy taught him about multiple friends, Discord probably also started to learn to open up with good friends to avoid bad situations. And when you look at “Discordant Harmony”, if Discord does put some kind of mask with his new personality, in the end, he really easily opens up to Fluttershy and their relationship, which is clearly a big deal to him (also the beginning of the episode shows that he has no trouble showing her his emotions so, personally, I don't consider that he refused to open to her but more that he was trying his best to stay in his new character in hope to please her more, even while disappearing). So if you think of it, why would Discord have trouble telling Fluttershy, the element of kindness, the one he seems to know he can tell anything to, that he feels left out with the school ? I mean, I guess Fluttershy sometimes talks about her new job during their tea parties. Also, yes I know Discord is a prideful character but again, he accepted to open up about his relationship with Fluttershy, which seems to be one of his biggest concerns considering how he behaves in the S7 episode. So mentioning the school shouldn't be too much trouble to him, which would lead to a situation in which the episode isn't necessary.

So here's my way too long rant about this episode. And again, I said at the begging, I overall liked the episode. If you forget about characterization, it's still a fun episode to watch with one pretty powerful moment (not only Starlight blasting him off but also Discord calling her “power hungry”)

Now, if I had to say two last things : the first one would be to make the promotion of a fanfic from FIMfiction which is an rewriting of the episode and that I find really interesting and that really brings a different view on Discord's actions while still keeping a part of the main picture. It's called “Entropy Arc : A Matter Of Principals”. And please, for those who don't like episodes rewrittings (that this person wasn't the first one to do), please don't go look up for this story just to insult it, this is just a dick and useless move to do.

And finally, I wanted to say that maybe another reason why I wasn't that much invested into how the episode turned out was because I read the synopsis of it (yes I spoiled myself the entire season...) and expected a very different kind of story so, for those who are interested (for those who aren't, know that this is the last part of this post so thanks for taking time from your life to read such a long post and I hope it wasn't too much of a waste), I imagined that :

- The point of view would swap between Discord and Starlight

- Twilight would be called to go to Canterlot for some Princess reason

- Spike would either go with her or stay

- Starlight would be put in charge with the mane 5 staying as teachers (because I didn't know if there would be substitute teachers in the episode so didn't know how it would work without these five in; although the episode did turn out to not have other teachers and having Starlight find some)

- Discord would probably hear Twilight's leave from Fluttershy during a tea party or something

- Discord would want to make a mess at the school for some reason (to be honest I haven't really put much thought into that...but hey ! I was just basing myself on a synopsis so...)

- Instead of doing big, because the mane 5 and especially Fluttershy are in the school, Discord would do small changes that could disturb the class without being to obvious to be him (like making stuff fall for no reason or scaring the students off or changing gravity for a short time, this kind of discreet stuff)

- At one point, Starlight would realize Discord is being the fuss and would call him (like Spike in “The Breakup Breakdown”) to ask him about it. He would probably either plays innocent and later on make a bigger mess to make it clear it's him and piss her off or he would taunt her and make a bigger mess (and by bigger mess I mean something he would do while the mane 5 aren't around)

- Starlight would probably get tired of it and go in Fluttershy class, pulling her out with her magic while being like “Excuse me can I borrow your teacher for a minute ? Great ! She'll be  back in an instant !” and explain her the situation

- Fluttershy would call Discord and ask him about it. He would play innocent

- At that point, I gotta admit, I didn't really know how to end things up so it may not be much of a great scenario and goes away from Starlight.

- After a short time of thinking, Fluttershy decides to believe Discord, thinking it may just be an misunderstanding but Starlight insists

- There would be an argument between Starlight, Fluttershy and Discord that would lead into Fluttershy getting upset and running away, out of the building because she doesn't know who to believe since she trusts both

- Starlight and Discord feels bad about it, especially Discord since he's the one causing a mess

- Starlight would probably be called to do something at that moment, leaving Discord in his thoughts

- Fluttershy is sitting outside, maybe half crying, and Discord suddenly appears and talks to her

- She tells him about how she panicked because didn't know who to believe and he confessed to be the one at fault and apologies to her while probably saying while he did it. She accepts to forgive him if he promises to behave himself. He promises (possible Fluttercord shenanigans)

- Fluttershy says that they both need to apologize to Starlight and that after it she needs to go back to her class

- Either apology here plus moral told or the apology isn't told and the moral is in a conclusion scene

- Conclusion : Twilight comes back and sees that things are good in the school and probably that Discord is helping Starlight while Fluttershy is proud of both of them (+ moral time)

Soooo...pretty sure this sucks but at least you can see why this episode was quite a surprise for me considering how different it is from a perspective made of a single sypnosis (and also of how I kept repeating “oh no come on !” when I saw that all the mane 6, including Fluttershy, were called by the map...the magic of being shipping trash ^^;  )

[ask-a-w]

[OOC: Long ass recap of RE: Vendetta]

The more I drafted the post, the more my review became a recap with my own personal snarky comments. So here is my recap of Vendetta for those who can’t see the movie yet and want to spoil themselves lol. Spoilers will be under the cut.

Let’s talk about the characters.

Leon is no longer the person we know. He’s ten times more cynical and jaded, an alcoholic, and really doesn’t care any more. He has essentially lost the drive to keep fighting. It’s a stark change from his RE6 self. In fact, he asks Chris, “How long can we keep doing this?”

Poor guy needs a long break or at least retire. IMHO, he needs to see a psychiatrist. He has issues. There’s a very brief line about his childhood which is like, the first attempt in RE history to have one of the main characters talk about what they were as a kid.

I don’t like Leon in this movie so it is relieving that he doesn’t have a lot of screen time. Focus is more on Chris this time.

Chris may look and have a different VA but he’s still Chris in terms of personality. Boulder Redfield shines in one instance when it should have killed him lol. Oh and Chris utilises Leon’s suplex move for one of the action scenes. It’s fun to watch.

Rebecca is surprisingly the voice of reason and raises so many good points! Too bad she doesn’t get to fight much in this movie.

Unfortunately, the RE characters succumb to a dose of stupid by not killing an infected person ASAP and instead, hesitate for many seconds until said infected is already on them. I can forgive Rebecca as she transferred from field ops to science work so it’s been years since she’s been on the front line. But Leon and Chris need to be smacked in their heads for their slip up.

The villain Glenn Arias, has serious issues. He should be BFFs with Carla and Simmons, if they were alive. Oh and he would make a good sparring partner for Svetlana. The villains lately have gone to the school of martial arts. It’s written in his wanted profile that he’s a master in hand to hand combat.

Enough about the characters, let’s talk about something else. The animation and music are beautiful, as usual. I have a dislike for slow-mo in movies and thankfully it’s minimum here. The slow-mo scenes in the movie are cringe worthy.

It’s more violent this time with generous amounts of blood and disembodiment galore so it’s not suited for kids.

So yeah, flawed characters, a beautiful looking/sounding movie, and now let’s jump to spoilers ‘cos I want to talk about the story! It’s gonna be lengthy so grab a drink while you’re at it.

The beginning of the movie has Leon walking into a morgue. He has a internal monologue about how when he was a kid, he wondered what he would do when he grew up and did not expect his life to end up like this. I feel a little sad for him and I have no issues there.

Next is Chris and his team infiltrating a base/mansion that Glenn aka weapons merchant of death is holed up in. Glenn has also taken over Tricell and Neo-Umbrella. Chris is asked for advice by a soldier. Chris says “Be willing to kill friend or family when the choice comes down to it.”

He doesn’t give the advice of shooting the undead in the head and also killing the undead right away. So, it’s no surprise his team gets killed by a kid zombie because they made the dumb move of asking a shuffling human being if “he’s okay”. *sighs*

Yep, we finally see a kid zombie! But the kid is there because his mom from the BSAA went under cover in Glenn’s mansion. Why would you bring a kid along to a house that has a known merchant who deals with BOWs??!

Also the kid can talk/respond coherently while infected. He’s the only that does so throughout the movie and it’s never explained why.

Oh and everyone but Chris wears helmets. I don’t know why. Maybe Chris’s head isn’t squishy like the rest.

There’s a female zombie that is crawling with just her spine and the rest of her body is gone. That’s some Evil Within inspired shit right there.

Anyway, Chris is naturally the only one that survives the mission. Two of his soldiers run into a supposedly empty corridor but there are wires criss-crossing everywhere so they get cut into pieces. That’s kind of impossible IMO but they’re obviously paying homage to the first live action movie with the infamous laser corridor.

Chris fights Glenn outside the mansion and the villain gains the upper hand before boasting that his new virus is so good it can discern friend from foe. Glenn also relieves Chris of his handgun but instead of shooting Chris’s unprotected head, he shoots in the general direction of Chris’s armoured back but Chris somehow ends up with an injured leg. Eh, I swore Glenn was pointing straight into Chris’s back instead of pointing down.

Glenn gloats some more and walks away with his minions that includes a blonde leather clad femme fatale whom I shall henceforth call FF because I can’t remember her name and also a Nemesis-Ustanak monster who used to be a human named Diego. Glenn then instructs the zombies to kill Chris.

BSAA helicopter shows up to save the day and the pilot doesn’t die. That’s a plus! Explosions ensue whilst Chris holds the body of the BSAA undercover agent and screams “Nooo!”

There’s a flashback of Glenn’s wedding day and his bride’s facial features as well as silhouette eerily looks like Rebecca. A fighter plane comes by and drops a bomb on the garden party. Yikes. Scene ends with Glenn bloodied and holding his wife’s disembodied arm as he screams “Nooo!” Oh boy, if any more characters scream no, this could become a drinking game but thank goodness it does not repeat.

Scene transistions to Rebecca Chambers in a lab running test simulations on which vaccine combination works best on the new virus spreading throughout the US in the past four months. Yeah, four months have past since Chris’s failed mission at Glenn’s mansion. A post doc student that looks much older than her comes in with coffee for both of them, kinda flirts with her, and Rebecca uses her Professor status to ask him to go check on something. I should note that Rebecca is breaking lab safety by drinking her coffee in the lab. RULE NUMBER ONE OF LAB SAFETY, YOU DON’T CONSUME ANYTHING IN THE LAB!

Glenn’s FF from before proceeds to kill the post doc student, infects the campus with the mysterious new virus via the airborne route through the vents. Rebecca is infected but thank goodness her lab test simulation is complete and one of them contains the perfect formula for a vaccine which gets manufactured immediately in another room within the building! So she stumbles out of lab, goes into another lab and injects herself with it and is cured. Of course, all her colleagues and friends have turned into shambling zombies. She blungeons her zombified post doc student with a fire extinguisher and stabs another undead fella with a pair of scissors. I shall attest that we do keep scissors in the lab so plus one point for that lol.

Rebecca hides in her lab and is apparently so thirsty that she lunges for a water bottle and drinks it with so much gusto. I’ve never seen someone drink water with so much vigour. FF tries to kill her by causing an explosion that shatters the protective glass barrier between her and the rest of the zombies. But Chris and the BSAA swoop in just in time to save the day. Chris and Rebecca are reunited after a long time.

So, the outbreak is contained and in the aftermath, Rebecca asks Chris why she is casually sitting outside beside a BSAA van instead of being in quarantine since she had been infected. OMG this is the first time I’ve seen a character speak sense! Chris brushes it off and says he needs her expertise and since she cured herself, quarantine isn’t needed. *facepalm* Rebecca makes a joke later in the movie about Chris being the brawn and she being the brains.

Rebecca has been mapping out the outbreaks and knows which populations are infected. She also suspects that the virus is linked to the Plaga used by the Los Illuminados years ago since the undead can be somewhat controlled and know friend from foe. It is one of the reasons why FF targeted the campus because Rebecca is too darn smart and knew too much. So, they go on a field trip to "consult with an expert”.

It’s time to go back to Leon aka the expert where he is currently on vacation in a random tavern in the Rocky Mountains. Leon is obviously not happy that his vacation is interrupted by Chris and Rebecca. His personality is a complete 180 so he’s a rude asshole that doesn’t give a fuck any more. The reason for drowning his surrows is that he was leading a team in DC for an op regarding the recent outbreaks but someone from the inside ratted them out so the whole team except him died. So, Leon doesn’t want to help any more as he is tired of losing everything. Hey, looks like the writers are touching upon that aspect of his life which the fans have pointed out long ago! It only took them 6 games and 3 movies to get there…

Chris and Leon almost come close to duking it out but don’t. Chris merely grabs Leon’s bottle of alcohol and Leon responds by pulling out a hip flask from his belt. Okay, that was funny to me. Chris makes a comment about Leon spending the rest of his week drowning his sorrows while Leon says “He doesn’t plan that far ahead.” At this point, I feel a tiny bit sorry for Leon after his bout of rudeness.

In the end, Rebecca is tired of both their shit, gives them a sample of her blood and tells them to get their act together to save the lives of the citizens at risk across the various states in the US. Apparently this new virus is lying dormant inside of everyone and is waiting to be triggered. They’ll explain more later. She leaves in a huff and heads to the washroom to calm down but that’s where she gets kidnapped by FF. Oh yeah, did I mention Glenn managed to track them all the way to the Rocky Mountains and is spying on them?

Chris and Leon talk about Glenn. Our villain ended up on the US government’s hit list for a lot of shady shit so the government dropped a bomb on his wedding day. I was a little WTF at this revelation… Leon makes a point on why he should help Chris take out Glenn when the government was the one who killed Glenn’s family. Wow Leon, I don’t know either, why don’t you tell me since you’re a government agent?

Their conversation gets interrupted by a random man barging into the tavern and Leon goes ape shit upon seeing him. I shall christen this dude as RM 'cos I can’t remember his name either. There are too many minor characters in this movie. RM is the rat who sold out Leon’s team to none other than… Glenn Arias. RM begs Leon to save his family 'cos Glenn has held them hostage. Leon doesn’t give two shits about saving RM’s family but Chris attempts to persuade Leon to do so since RM has been inside Glenn’s operation so he knows some secrets.

Before anything else happens, Diego arrives with a minigun and a small team of armed soldiers. No prizes for guessing what’s next, they shoot up the place. RIP tavern waitress. RIP RM as well. Leon and Chris have plot armour so they survive without a scratch. Oh and Chris notices FF carrying Rebecca away during the shootout.

Where do they go next? According to Rebecca’s map, it’s New York so off they go~ It’s unclear if it’s NYC and I know New York is pretty big so I’m not gonna say it’s NYC. But wait, RM passed Leon his phone before the gunfight which contains a memory card full of information about Glenn Arias. His phone rings and Leon gets freaked out upon seeing the name on the phone. He answers the call and surprise, it’s RM’s wife on the other line asking her husband if he found the man that would help them. A little girl squeals on the line and asks to speak to daddy. Leon remains silent throughout the whole conversation and RM’s wife becomes really suspicious and demands to speak to her husband which makes Leon hang up. The phone call somehow makes Leon agree to help Chris. Leon’s weakness 101, helping women/family members in distress.

Rebecca wakes up handcuffed in a room, dressed in a wedding dress. The room’s walls have gardens and flowers projected on them. There are a few guest tables in front of Rebecca and all the chairs have coffins on them which are shaking/shambling within. Glenn walks in wearing the same outfit he wore at his wedding. He comments on Rebecca’s intelligence on figuring out the virus and how much she looks like his dead wife, Sarah. He uncuffs Rebecca and remarks that he managed to reanimate all his dead guests in the coffins but since his dead wife was blown to pieces, only the arm remains.

Rebecca is understandably weirded out and proclaims her friends will stop him. Super long virus explanation time! In short, the infection contains three components: a latent virus that was spread via drinking water which was why Rebecca was so eager to drink from the water bottle earlier, a trigger virus that will… trigger the latent virus via a gas, and a vaccine that will nullify the effects to make the undead calm and obedient. Essentially, Glenn can control everyone more effectively than Saddler, I guess?

If it’s not obvious yet, Glenn wants to destroy/control the whole world 'cos the government killed his loved ones. I told you he would be BFFs with Carla 'cos one event made them really pissed… And his fixation with Rebecca can also make him friends with Simmons. So there you have it folks, the vendetta-vengeance-revenge plot is finally revealed.

Glenn points out that Rebecca is wrong and thanks to her blood sample, he managed to make the “A virus” stronger… through the power of RE science. Believe me, I was befuddled upon listening to his words that I have to re-watch the movie again to make sense of what he’s saying. Anyway, we have gone down the ATCG DNA sequence in naming the viruses! How “clever”.

Glenn takes Sarah’s arm and pulls off the wedding ring, intending to marry Rebecca. Of course she resists and he slaps her, saying he will replace Rebecca’s arm with Sarah’s… This man seriously has issues which could have been healed via therapy. Oh and it is also revealed that his two friends at the wedding, Diego and his daughter, FF, were brought back to life by Glenn. Apparently being brought back to life either makes you a big hulking Nemesis-Ustanak or a super sexy femme fatale with superior fighting skills.

At the same time on a BSAA chopper heading to NY, Leon and Chris read through the info in RM’s memory card which reveals that Glenn has the airborne vaccine in gas canisters labelled with a green symbol. Said canisters are hidden in Glenn’s hideout duh. Only a select few have already been vaccinated. They have to find the canisters to save the rest of NY’s populace. Oh and everyone on the chopper has been vaccinated with Rebecca’s concoction which would keep them safe from infection. I like Chris’s new team, there’s a guy with a mohawk, a dude with sunglasses, and a badass lady sniper. They need to show more female SOAs in the games and movies.

The trigger virus have been hidden in disguised water trucks. Needless to say, the gas is deployed on the ground via the trucks and shit goes down really quickly. The BSAA have to destroy the water trucks as well and they can conveniently be wrecked via explosives… I don’t know how an explosion won’t make the gas disperse quicker but it’s RE science at work once again. So, the BSAA has four objectives: Destroy the trigger virus trucks, find the vaccine, find Rebecca, and nab Glenn if possible.

The BSAA chopper finally touches down where Leon, Chris, and I think mohawk guy disembark. Sunglasses dude and lady sniper remain on the chopper to provide aerial support. The BSAA kindly loans out a Ducati motorcycle and a jeep. Leon calls dibs on the bike 'cos it’s the only vehicle in the franchise that he has not destroyed so far lol cool-looking. And surprisingly, he does not crash the motorbike at all for the rest of the movie. xD

It’s a long sequence of them destroying trucks and zombies. There is one moment where I want to smack Leon and Chris in the head. They find a van that shakes and growls. Who do they send to open up the back of the van? Mohawk guy. Who dies? Mohawk guy. What’s in the van? Two undead dogs that Leon and Chris can’t even land a hit on. Seriously, why would you open a growling van?! Why do you send an inexperienced person to open the doors?! That’s a death wish right there.

Leon decides to let the dogs chase him while Chris continues to fulfil the other objectives… If you’ve seen the teaser video of Leon on the highway, Leon does let two innocent drivers die when he shoots down one of the dogs. Those are NOT Glenn’s men at all. I guess it’s all part of the collateral damage.

Chris makes it to Glenn’s NY hideout and is joined by Leon on a motorbike. Apparently Leon rode up the stairs with the bike. Err… okay then. Again, if you’ve seen the teaser video of the corridor fight, that’s what you get along with a few more minutes of extra action of them shooting zombies in many stylish ways possible. That’s where Chris suplexes a zombie.

Both men eventually split up so Chris goes to find Rebecca while Leon goes on a zombie killing spree. Instead of getting her arm replaced, Rebecca has been injected with the new virus and only has twenty minutes before she turns/dies. I guess Glenn had a change of heart…?  

Chris finds her with minutes to spare, they go up to the rooftop office where Glenn is keeping the vaccine. Of course, Glenn doesn’t let them pass. It’s a re-match between Chris and Glenn. Both end up in a stalemate and land on a glass fixture where Glenn proceeds to smash Chris’s head against it approximately three times, causing the glass to shatter. This should have made Chris’s head crack open like a nut but this is Boulder Redfield who didn’t need a helmet when we first saw him. Chris throws Glenn through the opening in the glass where he falls down many floors and lands on the ground with a splat.

Thinking that all is over, Chris supports Rebecca and leads her to the office but villains don’t die easily as per rule number one of Capcom lore. Diego finds Glenn’s broken body and Diego activates his final form which are plaga-like appendages on its back. It is implied that Diego and Glenn merged to become that hideous monster that screams “Redfield!” in the trailer. I shall call this monster Glego.

Chris attempts to face off with Glego and looks like he’s about to lose when Leon comes charging in on his motorbike. Glego turns his attention to Leon and Leon keeps forgetting to aim for the big pulsing red heart that is conveniently located on all tyrant-like creatures. It is a pain watching Leon waste his bullets as he gets tossed around like a rag doll. Glego is about to land a final blow on Leon with his extendable finger-claws when he gets saved by Chris’s aerial support. In the mean time, Chris has found the vaccine canisters and more weapons… Oh goodie.

Badass sniper lady uses a brand new laser-ish weapon that punches a hole through Grego and five buildings. I’m not kidding about the five buildings. Who builds this kind of weapon?! Do you not care about civilians any more? Glego jumps and lands on the chopper, punches a hole through the chopper with said finger-claws and nicks sniper lady’s shoulder. Chopper starts losing altitude (as always), Leon revs up his motorbike and sends it off the rooftop into Glego. He shoots the gas tank in a big fiery explosion but Glego still lives. Pfft, you should know that fire and tyrants don’t mix.

Chris shows up with what I think is a grenade launcher which finally finishes off Glego. The chopper and its two occupants miraculously survive. They have broken the helicopter pilot curse! Rebecca inhales the vaccine and with seconds to spare, is cured.

The BSAA load up the vaccine canisters into the chopper and spray it all over the city. And for the very first time in RE history, the infected are cured and are turned back to normal. Well, they weren’t killed in the first place since they turned upon inhaling the trigger virus so I guess the vaccine reversed the effects. I’m not sure about the dead though. It’s never explained…

All of our heroes get on the chopper and fly off. Leon asks Chris how long they can keep doing this to which Chris replies with “I don’t plan that far ahead”. Haha, very funny. So err, I guess Leon renewed his drive to keep fighting? It’s really unclear. It’s not even said if he’s gonna save RM’s family anyway! Jeez.

You know, we are forgetting someone. We see FF finding her father’s mask on the floor. She looks into the camera and the movie ends right there. Great, I guess it’s a no brainer who is taking over Tricell & Neo-Umbrella.

There are no post-credits scenes and the credits aren’t as catchy as Damnation’s.

And there you have it, what I remember of Vendetta. If I left out some scenes, I found them either mundane or I really forgot them. 

Are there a lot of plot holes in the movie? Oh yeah. Should they end the series and let the characters retire? OF COURSE. Can’t you see how messed up and tortured Leon is? Is it mindlessly amusing and entertaining? It’s Resident Evil, when is it never cheesy and stupidly entertaining?

I still prefer Damnation and Degeneration over Vendetta though. 6/10 for me if you want me to rate it.

And boo ‘cos there’s no Jill, Barry, any of the characters from Revelations, Ada, Hunnigan, or any one from the DSO.