#rinzler might be working with him for now

[rinzler-smoocher]

Flint falls asleep resting against Rinzler and he watches in perturbed silence as Flint's colored user mimicking circuitry shifts into hues of purples, blues, and greens, and back through a surge of cool rainbow colors at where he and Rinzler touch.

A small flush is plastered over Flint's cheeks, with his face tucked neatly on Rinzler's shoulder... and it's then the program begins to notice the warm breaths coming from Flint's lips as he murmurs nonsense in his sleep. His hand grips tightly to Rinzler's, even while fully unconscious, deathly certain not to lose his one remaining teather in this world.

Rinzler waits steadfast as his user's rock, refusing to move and remaining sentry... only allowing himself the pleasure of listening to his user's dreamy, drifting off voice play by his ear and relish in the random tighter grips that surge through Flint's hand clenching tightly onto his.

[murderbees]

hi, Tron hc that no one asked for

A programs height depends on how long and complex their code is. Being shorter doesn't mean you aren't complex, you might just be more efficient.

Implications? Why yes, here's a few

Tron is tall as hell. He has got some complex code and I think he continuously built it as different threats appeared. Learning security program, it makes sense. Dude won't stop growing, it's just gradual enough no one notices. At first.

Clu is also tall for the same reason. He starts the same as Flynn, they're meant to look alike after all. But as the grid grows so does Clu, and eventually Flynn looks at him and goes:

"Did you get taller man?"

"Yes, a program's height is based on the complexity and length of their code. As the Grid changes, I must change with it."

"No way man! That's how that works???"

Also is why Rinzler is shorter. I am pretty sure Clu deleted or changes some things, and Rinzler's height changed accordingly :D

This is also why most rectified programs look so similar in build. Their code is all very similar, so they all look more alike than your average program.

And, Isos are now tall. It's a side effect of their complex code, and contributed to people's distrust of them. Their proportions are a little different too. Programs were not appreciative of this additional difference. Of course, there's exceptions and ways to get around these things, but it's not easy.

[viaphni]

RUINED REALLTY SEASON THREE: CATALYST TRAILER ANALYSIS

I have to completely admit that the end of season 2 and its epilogue had me very hesitant for the way things are going, and I am still a little hesitant, but i DO BELIEVE THAT THEY ARE 1000% COOKING

First of all, that trailer was AMAZING!

The music, atmosphere, and cinematography were all done very very well (and great voice acting from Rinzler too)

But onto the actual trailer

It opens up on the results of the Soulstice's arrival, with Light alone, showing everybody's souls stolen away and their bodies on the ground. Light has lost it all. He immediately blames himself. It's also made apparent pretty quickly that Soullless is still present in some way, and is going to play a significant role again.

One of the first really interesting things to occur is Light taking the Soul Eater's weapon in his hands.

He stares at it for a moment before picking it up, the screen fading to black. But why would he be using his worst enemy's weapon? What benefit does it serve him? Mostly likely, I think it would have something to do with Soulless. Whether he likes it or not, Light now has a complete tie to the Soulstice itself. As he takes it, he says "And now, another threat is here..."

And Void's new reign of terror is displayed:

We are shown the Yellow Kingdom again, and the areas around it, completely overtaken by Darkness. Void must have taken complete control of the situation, as we just saw Seer with active dominance over their body in the epilogue. Maybe it was a defense mechanism to keep him alive after Corrupt's attack?

After these shots, we see what I think is the center tower of the kingdom—and there is a deep, bottomless pit surrounding it where the moat of lava once was.

It reminds me a bit of the castle entrance to the Depths from Tears of the Kingdom. Void might have something important down there.

A few more shots cycle through of the tower, and we see this—

The camera is descending into the chasm.

Next, we see a room maybe akin to some kind of lab?

It could also be a big machine. Somebody is standing there, but even with heightened exposure and brightness, it's hard to tell who it is. I'm sure it's Void, however, due to the chasm and darkness. This shot is really interesting, too--

--because it seems to be the view of the surface from this area underground. With heightened exposure, the walls look very machine-like.

Whether that or a lab, it clearly serves a primary purpose in Void's plans. (One of my first thoughts was likely a stretch, but I asked myself if it could be similar to the Soulstice--in the way that a machine was created to steal all souls, another would be created now to spread Darkness. Shadow Sabre did something similar in RQ.)

The next four shots emphasize what seems to be some of our new group of main characters.

We see the Purple Leader in his home. Him coming into the main cast will be very interesting, as I'm sure it will give us more opportunities to learn about the histories with people like the Sorcerer and Phantasia, strong links to the Soulstice. I'm sure this knowledge will be vital to the fight.

Now this next photo--I can't exactly tell what's going on here? It appears to be Corrupt's lab? When the exposure and brightness are edited, I can't see any details. But this is 1000% Corrupt is just is trust frfrfrfrfrfrfrfrfrfrffrfr Corrupt is alive

The shot then switches to an Indigo and an unidentifiable Aquamarine who seems to be imbued with light energy, given the white eye. I assumed this could be Aaron, but his soul got stolen. Who knows? The Indigo is the Doctor Indigo, I would think--given the coat and monocle, but he didn't have a design in Season 2, so I'm unsure. Both of these could be completely new characters.

And now, Dimension facing off with the Soulstice. It seems that Dimension will play a much bigger role now and actually put in the work for once. I guess that was his final straw? Or maybe the season will start and he will still show absolutely no concern.

A couple of interesting shots of Light and Soulless show up after this.

In a similar fashion to the Season 2 intro, Light walks towards the camera and glitches into his other forms, this one being Soulless. It only emphasizes his apparent new role in the season.

After this, we see a standoff between the main cast and the main opposition. Light, Professor, Dimension, Purple, and...a strange new variant of Assistant. It makes me think of the assistant robot from A Dark Soul, which was also themed around light. In the beginning of the trailer (and in the thumbnail), we only see the Assistant as a head. I guess he got repaired, and Light was a major factor playing in it.

I'd also like to point out how odd the new Sculk Steves look. They have gray streaks, like light energy. Since Corrupt was absorbed by the Soulstice, I imagine that the light crystal he held became of high use to the Soulstice, allowing it to power up these Steves like this.

The patterns on the ends of their limbs also look much bigger/brighter/saturated, or maybe its just the lighting--like soul flames instead of the typical sculk steve pattern.

The Steve standing above in the second picture catches my eye, though. It seems to be a "normal" being, and even appears to be holding something if you look closely.

Right by the head there. This figure is also standing closest to the Soulstice, so they must be important. Could it be Corrupt? Well if you watch a few more seconds--

Right there. We see Light fighting with who appears to be that figure. But that sword... We have seen that sword before!

Corrupt's sword.

We never saw Corrupt disappear when the Soulstice found him. It's more than probable that he simply could have just absorbed the light energy from him, used it to power up the sculk steves and other operations, and left Corrupt weakened. But what purpose would he have even leaving him alive? The Soulstice has everything it needs now, right?

Light found Toxin, too. And with a potion effect? He seems weakened. Perhaps Void has abandoned him and Light will team up with him? He already seemed to be cracking during his fight with Light in the forest where his prior identity as Soren was revealed. Is it finally time we get Soren back? Or will he still be evil?

The next few shots depict a battle between Light and Void, seemingly at his new base of operations. I'd put photos, but I'm almost out of space, and I want to keep this all in one post. Plus, there isn't a lot to analyze there.

The final shots of the trailer are some of my favorite ones.

There's a good bit to break down here.

We start out by seeing Light's cursed form, except his curse appears to have spread greatly. I've also just realized that he doesn't have his soul-afflicted eye in this form. Images of Purple Leader, Soulstice, Professor, Soulless, and Assistant are not surprising--we already know of their larger roles. I believe that's Corrupt again in the 5th shift. As for the 8th, I'm a bit confused. I don't think we know who this person is. However, the purple belt definitely brings up a few ideas, even if they're stretches. Could we meet a new Purple Steve--maybe even Phantasia?? I doubt that's the case, as it seems pretty outlandish. The Yellow Leader being present actually makes a lot of sense as well. His Darkness should give him resistance to the Soulstice.

BUT, I'm really focusing in on those last three. Louis, Cliff, and,, Seer.

We saw the Elites' souls taken. Clearly, they find their way back to the land of the living eventually (and with some sick new redesigns.) Louis doesn't change much, but Cliff appears to now be entirely a Light Steve. Which brings up another thought--if he is now 100% light, does this mean that he is completely purged of Darkness? Is his Shadow gone? Is his shadow the reason he had to become fully light?

And then there's Seer. There's no doubt that this is him. My friend @chaoticcyprus brought up this photo:

We saw this shot during the semi-finale when Void was battling the Soul Eater. The outfit aligns perfectly, except now his hood is down, and he seems to have been set free from whatever chains held him previously.

But how would Seer and Void separate? I assume it would have something to do with Corrupt's final blow on Void.

Corrupt dealt an absolutely MASSIVE amount of power onto his opponent. I'm sure that the sheer amount of light energy could be enough to somehow split Void and Seer apart. It would explain Void's sudden spike in power and authority that he seems to have in the next season.

As for any final thoughts,,, I can't think of much else for now.

But I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone else has to say, and also what the team presents for Catalyst!

[roykleinberg]

Oh now you have me curious about your spicy takes! 👀

hooooo boy okay, some of this is about the franchise and some of this is about the fandom (which I love with all my heart okay please no one throw rocks at me lol)

90% of program/user ships give me the ick

continuing on the shipping train of thought, I don't actually find the Encom trio (Alan/Lora/Flynn) all that compelling as an ot3. and a lot of it is a personal pet peeve I've come across in a number of fandoms, but honestly most m/m/f ot3s feel like they're just a way for people to focus on the m/m dynamic while patting themselves on the back for "including" the female character instead of sidelining her completely........ even though said female character is rarely if ever a major contributor to the dynamic or a focus of whatever fanwork. but on a less meta side eye note I just find the perceived sexual component of Alan and Flynn's relationship to be the least compelling thing they could've had going on

and I know she's barely brought up in canon outside of Betrayal but uhm Jordan exists??? and perhaps it is an unpopular opinion but I would like to see more of her in things instead of relying on Lora to be the only human woman in the Tron universe

once again I might not be so harsh on Uprising if there was more to it, but taking it for what it is and how much of it exists -- a lot of the episodes were boring filler to me. also I don't like how they drew Tron

actually I don't like how Tron has been drawn in any rendered/animated media with the exception of maybe Kingdom Hearts

I don't think of Rinzler as a standalone character, and he's not at all interesting to me when removed from the fact that he is Tron with the serial numbers filed off. I feel like I've increasingly seen people portraying Rinzler as his own thing and it simply does not work for me. I think the whole point of his character / existence is that he doesn't have thoughts or feelings or any real personality of his own. he's a backflipping blank slate whose only real character moments are when Tron's overwritten personality peeks through

to that end I can't conceive of an ending where Tron or anyone around him would allow him to remain as Rinzler, and I can't imagine that Rinzler's capable of forming an autonomous opinion to not want to be Tron again

the fandom collective spends too much time talking about how hot the live action and animated men are and not enough time talking about how hot the Sirens are. or how hot Yori is especially in the deleted love scene. or how hot Paige is. or

Daft Punk (rightfully) gets a lot of hype for the Legacy soundtrack, but Wendy Carlos's soundtrack for 82 is unfairly slept on. love that those funky robots got to cameo, but we should be giving Carlos just as much credit for her work

for as much as it pains me to say it, I don't think Tron ever would've been a tentpole franchise for Disney even if they had treated it better. and it's mostly because of the sad fact that the general public has never been that into Tron. I see it tossed around a lot that Disney ditched Tron in favor of focusing on Star Wars and Marvel. A New Hope -- an original sci fi movie that had absolutely no brand recognition, so to speak -- made over $400 million in 1977. the original Tron made $50 million in 82. the first Iron Man movie -- which sure had comic fan recognition but was still a very early comic blockbuster -- in 2008 made over $500 million. Legacy made just over $400 million in 2010. and Disney advertised the shit out of Legacy, they didn't set it up to fail. yes it sucks that things like Uprising were dealt a bad hand (a garbage release schedule that lead to poor viewership that definitely killed the show), yes it sucks that capitalism impacts what art gets made, but the fact of the matter is that Tron has always had niche appeal, and niche appeal does not a successful franchise make. and while it'd be nice to live in the universe where Tron blew up, I look at what's become of Star Wars and Marvel and maybe I don't lament it all that much

[fights4users]

We would’ve made a great team-

Sark’s borderline obsession with Tron is so interesting. He both admires and fears him, understands him perfectly but misunderstands him on a fundamental level. Both stand on opposite sides of the extreme, similar to each other in strength and ferocity but departed on a base level. The idea of them teaming up brings a interesting au to mind and several things to explore, however It would never happen unless Encom! Rinzler would become a thing. Teaming up with Red Elite would never be done willingly on Tron’s end while for Sark it might begrudgingly work with Tron.

There has to be a way to break him-

Sark has a morbid fascination with finding Tron’s breaking point. He keeps upping the stakes and throwing him into games more often, unwittingly making the weapon that would be his doom.

While he enjoys testing him there’s almost a jealousy to it, Tron hasn’t died yet and he hasn’t given in. Surely he must give in , toss aside his ridiculous beliefs and take what’s offered. Why isn’t he taking the obvious path for survival? How dare Tron be better than him. “I broke, why won’t he?” Holding on so tightly to morality when you tossed aside everything for power… how dare he be a better person.

Sark treats Tron as a plaything while acknowledging how powerful he is as an adversary. (The match we saw him in was 4-1) He battles with wanting to kill him outright and wanting to face him himself. It took most of his resources to capture Tron- going against him would be a actual challenge, as we see in the beginning of the movie he’s getting bored.

While they share combat prowess their thought process could not be more different. Everything that he’s put Tron through has only succeeded in strengthening his beliefs. Where Sark thinks he should break down , he sees confirmation of the User’s power. It’s fascinating (I really recommend the novelization- that’s my thing at this point lol but it adds a lot).

Chosen warriors-

It’s easy to forget that Sark too is a gods chosen warrior. The MCP is a god to him and on the path to literally becoming one in their world with the power it accumulates. He has been bolstered up and admired by his side, though his position is one built more on fear than equal admiration. We see again they’re on the opposite sides of the two extremes.

The loyalty, drive and sense of justice etc that’s naturally apart of Tron’s code had to be forced into Sark. He had to build upon what was already there, it’s implied that the only reason he’s a command program is the MCP just like Dillinger without it he is nothing. There’s that jealousy when he sees someone else naturally have this sort of power. His belief in the MCP is not inherent , he believed in the Users once and deep down he still does- the new belief comes from where he can gain that power. Like Dillinger he is desperate to get to the top by any means, and he did that. He’d rather die than return to nothingness- a state of unimportance- where as Edward is much more fretful. He doesn’t want to loose what he has but jail still scares him.

He is also physically dependent on the MCP - getting a high from the power and I think now he has to get a constant stream to survive. The amount put into him on a regular basis is far to much for a regular program to take in and keep online… if he stops getting it I can only imagine. He’s being held captive by his god and I think he can resent Tron for that- for still having the “pure” relationship with his.

Power, fear and relevance-

I talked about it above with how Sark has done everything in his want for power tossing away all morality for the sake of being important. It makes me wonder what his original function was, with the way he is I can imagine it being a good position but not enough for him. He relishes in the destruction of User believers and finds crushing them on the game grid entertaining, again to parallel Dillinger taking others work, crushing and absorbing smaller companies into Encom with glee.

Tron is a direct threat to that importance, that position and acclaim he had destroyed so many for. He was loyal! He did all that he was asked and here struts in a program naturally strong and exacting— he knows if Tron ever chose to join them he is done for yet his pride and curiosity keep him from outright killing him to save his own skin (how unlike him in any other circumstance).

This fear doesn’t extend to Alan as Ed is well aware… good guys rarely win in the real world. He’s cocky, he knows a guy like that is a straight shooter, he follows the rules and wouldn’t dare stoop to his level to stop him. What he didn’t count on was Kevin Flynn.

[solar-siren]

Angstpril Day Twenty-Two: Shadow of Former Self

Muffled screams sound from the hall as Clu seals the door shut behind him. There’s a sound like shattering glass, and then the guards outside fall silent. 

There’s nowhere left to run.

He retreats a few steps further before a disc slices through the door. No program should be able to do that. The encryption here should be too heavy. 

The codes gives out with a final shower of sparks. It crumbles, and a figure in white ducks through the wreckage, through the smoke.

“Greetings, program.” The voice is filtered, but feminine. Her face is hidden by a helmet. He knows who she is, though; Tron’s emblem blazes over her core. She’s armed with twin discs.

“Rinzler,” he says.

“You remembered.” Her voice turns softer as the discs light in her hands. “What an honor for me.”

Another shadow approaches behind her. Her Renegade looms like a ghost—an imitation, and little more—but that might be enough. 

Clu certainly isn’t getting out the way he came.

“Tron wouldn’t recognize you now,” he says. She prowls closer.

“Well. If only he were here to stop me.”

Another miscalculation.

“He wasn’t supposed to die that day,” Clu tells her. “He was supposed to be brought to me. I would have repaired the damage.” 

“ I’m  repairing the damage.  You caused it.” 

He backs away as he draws his own disc.

“Think this through,” he warns. “The system needs an Administrator. If you derezz me, who will take my place? You? Flynn?” [ Flynn who ran, ] he hisses. She shakes her head, fending off the intrusion. “You may not like me, but my survival is necessary. The system will collapse without me.”

Her cohort stands a little taller. Almost smug. “That’s the plan.”

“What?”

“We’re going to reset the system,” Rinzler says. “All of your work, all of your corruption, will be gone in one move.”

Clu gapes. “You can’t be serious. That would destroy  everything .”

“Exactly.”

“The Grid is too far gone,” Rinzler says. “If we kill you, and nothing else, we create a vacuum. Someone just as petty will try to rise up and take your place. Flynn doesn’t  deserve to take his power back. He didn’t use it when we needed him. And I doubt many programs would respect him if he did return.” She shrugs, as if discussing the weather. “The ISOs are gone. Tron is gone. You killed them while the rest of the Grid sat back and watched. We don’t see anything else worth saving.”

“But maybe what rises from the wreckage will be better,” the Renegade adds.

They’re both leering over him now, discs raised to strike. 

“How is this any different than what I did?” he asks, desperate.

“That’s easy,” Rinzler laughs. “This time I’m going to enjoy it.”

That’s the last thing he hears.

[evecolourshock]

Tron wrapped his arm around Clu, watching their boys play. It was adorable to watch - Beck was not only teaching Rinzler in a way that was fun and full of praise, but was also letting the younger Program win against him more often than not - and if Beck started pulling out some of the fancier or more difficult techniques without realising, he slowed down and showed Rinzler step-by-step how to do them and where the difficult parts were.

"B's good at that, isn't he." Tron murmured, pressing a kiss to Clu's hair. "You know, I caught him in the Archives a few days ago, pestering Hal for youngling games from both the Grid and the User world. Didn't let him know I was there - he acts like the Archives are such a punishment when he's around me, but he's in there about as often as he is the mechanics' bay. Slash's one, not Mara's, though they're actually working together - I think he's avoiding Paige, and she keeps on hanging around Mara trying to catch him. He's made up with the rest of his friends now the whole... excitement of his reveal has worn off, but... from what little I can gather, Paige tries to handle him like she would a suspect, and he's fed up of every conversation with her being a thinly veiled interrogation. She might mean well, but... it grates on him."

******

Trick, true to his word, had stayed on the ground. It was... almost concerning, how easily he'd managed to lose Tesler, but then again he supposed he was playing with a home advantage. Keeping that in mind, he stuck to the more open areas - making evasion a priority, rather than hiding - to even the playing field.

******

Eve had never understood how someone could be described as begging to be punched so well as she did looking at this Dr Floyd. The innate urge to wipe that smug look off his face with her fist was nearly overwhelming, and Eve wasn't violent by nature - only when she had to be.

But this Discovery One mission...

She delved into it, instincts screaming that it was far more important.

The mission reports, what little had been leaked to the public, were horrifying. Eve had trouble reconciling the sweet Program she knew to that terrifying creature depicted in them.

There was something more here. She kept looking.

The less varnished truth, though Eve doubted that was all of it, was no less horrifying for different reasons. All of Dr Chandra's protests, desperately trying to protect his Program - his son - and Dr Floyd overruling every last one. A transcript of a diary log from the ship itself - a space ship, looking for non-human life but the Users on board weren't allowed to know that - the person in question (a Mr David Bowman) saying he was worried for Hal because his friend was acting strange. And Dr Floyd's own audio diary - she had to find the Program that had leaked that, they needed some serious congratulating - saying what he'd done and how he had known it would affect Hal. How he hadn't cared, treating Hal and his fellow explorers like things instead of the people they were.

How, faced with an impossible choice, Dr Chandra had managed to hide Hal away before the server bank that had once housed the massive and gentle Program had been fried. Had sent him off, to keep him safe - a good thing too, as less than a week later his house had been raided looking for any trace of Hal's code. Hal's siblings had only just escaped persecution themselves simply by being similar Programs.

All this and more, she logged it into the blank datapad she held.

Floyd was not getting away with this. For Hal, and his family, and all those who had been murdered by the odious human who'd twisted the narrative so the sweet Program would take the fall. This Eve vowed.

🔪 (for Clu - it's fake!)

"Act scared - there's an Occupation patrol less than a block away, I'm using a chromatic distorter to hide our circuits so we're less distinctive but neither of us wants them to catch on so for sparks' sake play along! What are you even doing here, anyway!" - Eve, System Resource Allocation Monitor

"What the-Who the frag even ARE you and what do you want with me!?" He didn't need to act, he actually was scared.

[not-that-dillinger]

Glass spirit. (What would break you, Ed?)

"I... I used to think that losing my job would be what would break me," Ed admitted to Clu, one quiet night.

They both had a rough day, and while Sonic was thankfully blissfully asleep, Clu had woken up screaming from a nightmare, and went to visit Ed. He barely rezzed into his User's home, when Ed stumbled into him, having woken up from his own nightmare and about to go visit Clu.

They were sitting on Ed's small back patio, staring up at the night sky, and sipping lavender camomile tea that Ed made.

Out there, under the stars, even as dim as they were in the city, everything felt... soft. Peaceful. Ed stared at the sky, feeling the cool, coastal breeze through his thin shirt, and the warmth of the mug in his hands.

"I used to think... well, my father still wants me back under his control. Sure, I know there are plenty of small start-ups that would gladly hire me, but my father could very easily absorb them into fCon. The other big tech giants that could stand up to fCon? I'm too much of a liability to be worth hiring. I worried that my only choice would be to crawl back to Father and beg him to let me work for fCon."

Ed stared down at his tea, then hesitantly took a sip, listening to the hum of the city beyond his quiet neighborhood.

"Now?" Ed laughed. It was funny how two souls (his to beloved sons that brought light to his world) entered his life, and suddenly everything changed. If he lost his job... he would survive. He would figure it out, even if it meant working for his Father. And now that Flynn was back from Costa Rica, and there were rumors that he might try to take back the company....

"It's almost comical how trivial losing my job would be. Losing my job at Encom would be nothing."

He took another small drink. "I keep having nightmares that he regains his memories. That he kidnaps me and finds a way to do to me what the Occupation did to Tron to create Rinzler. That he makes me hurt you. Or if not that, that he traps Sonic in a cage, and uses him to power the Grid.... And he traps me and makes me watch while he tortures you until you beg for deresolution.... Until that is the only mercy I could possibly give you, and I'm powerless to grant you even that."

Ed's voice cracked near the end. He took another drink of his tea to try to clear his throat. "I'd go crawling back to Father in a heartbeat, I'd beg his forgiveness and for a position at fCon, I'd do whatever he demands of me, if that's what it takes to keep you safe from your abuser."

He took a shaky breath. "I'd do it because I don't think I could ever recover if I lost you or Sonic."

[clonewarsarchives]

IN PURSUIT OF PERFECTION (#133, JUN 2012)

Film director and editor Duwayne Dunham is best known to Star Wars fans for his editing work on Return of the Jedi. He returned recently to the saga to direct two episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Interview by J. W. Rinzler

Star Wars Insider: How did you come to work on The Clone Wars?

Duwayne Dunham: George Lucas wanted to have guest directors from live-action come in to bring a different sensibility to the animation process. George is always saying, “Oh, give me that shot, but do this...” and the guys who create the story reel animation sometimes don’t understand what is needed, so I would become almost an interpreter. I would try to learn how they’re doing it, but do it as if it were live-action.

The first episode you directed, “Pursuit of Peace” for the third season, features more intrigue than action. Was it a tough episode to direct?

The way I look at things, everything’s hard to direct. Sometimes you think, Oh, I wish I just had a story with four people in one room; but when you get one of those you think, I’ve got to have something else! That script that I got was very dialogue-heavy and had very little, if any, action.

Did you add any action to it?

Yeah, I did. The whole speeder bike chase wasn’t in my script. There was also a conversation in a dark alley and I said, “No, I don’t want the conversation in a dark alley! I want that bar. Give me a bar or a nightclub!” So we did that nightclub scene with the dancers and saxophone players. Then I said, “These guys will jump Padmé, and there’s a fight, and then they’ll get on this speeder bike, and then the guy’ll shoot his rocket-hand-thing and it’ll blow the other off his feet!”

I worked with Dave Filoni to change it to bring it to life, and add entertainment. It’s funny, because when I was doing that, I’d be doing these shots and quite often the guys would turn to me and say, “We’ve never done a shot like that!” I heard that when we changed it, George said “This is the model for how we do this kind of story in the future,” because he wanted more episodes that were character driven, and not just endless action.

You weren’t told to stick with what was on the page?

I was working within the parameters of the production and I was very conscious of the schedule. I would just say, “Do we have musicians?” “No, we don’t have musicians.” If you look closely, they’re not playing instruments, they’re playing bottles. They just look like instruments. We didn’t have instruments!

We used whatever assets we had. Each episode gets a few new assets, and that’s Dave Filoni’s territory. I was very happy with how it turned out. George was very happy. He never says too much, but I was a little nervous and excited to be in the editing room with George again. Sure enough, about two minutes into it, he’s flying around with these new ideas!

Do you remember anything in particular that he changed?

The second episode I directed [Season Four’s opening episode, “Water War”] had a lot of changes! I think you’re allowed around 300 assets per episode. That means props or things that actually animate and move. We had 1,500 and I’ll bet you there’s more in there now. There were three episodes to that story. I had the first. Dave and I did a huge amount of work on the script because it didn’t work, so we worked to improve it. I also helped the editors, because it’s the start of a three-part story arc. What didn’t work was the main character, the kid [Prince Lee-Char].

So you were creating a kind of template?

Yes, and I was very happy to do that. When I was given “Water War,” it was really interesting because Ackbar hadn’t been seen since Jedi. It was all underwater, so we were able to develop water cameras like you might find on a diver or scuba-gear, so all the characters would be moving independent of one another in this liquid space. It was mostly about plotting out those battles. And then of course there was the “shark,” Riff Tamson. We wanted him as much like a shark as possible. We tried to figure out what his outfit looks Like, how big it is, what he does, and so on.

I ran that episode for Dave early, and when he saw the first act he just went “Whoooooa!” when he saw how big it was. He said, “Just do it. Keep going. This is good. Don’t worry about how many assets you have in it.”

Did that come back to haunt you?

Oh, yeah! In two different ways. I remember sitting down with George the first time. George is on my left and Dave on the right and the editor, Jason Tucker, was running the machine. George said, “Take that dorsal fin off Riff. He’s a man, not a fish!” The very next thing I said was, “Can he still swim around, like this?” and George says, “Of course he can! He’s a fish, not a man!” Dave and I just burst out laughing—that’s just George’s way!

What did George change editorially in this episode?

He changed a lot! I thought that I really had nailed it, because I’d paid attention to George when I was working with him on Jedi. But George kinda tore apart the very first scene in the Senate. It was too talky for him, too much dialogue, and so I watched what he was doing. He sees something and his mind puts it together in a certain way and he’s just absolutely genius at it.

He took whatever development we had done with that main character to the next step. I thought we had pushed it as far as I dared, but then George pushed it even further.

One of the things that I had to do, which was very difficult, was to take out around 600 assets. After all the work we’d put into that thing, now I had to go back and take out massive amounts of moving parts. I started by saying, “Okay, I’ll get rid of 10 here and 15 there...,” and of course it gets down to, “I can’t get one more out anywhere!’ But you’ve still got 200 to go!

The next time I saw it, George had done some inter-cutting at the beginning, when they’re trying to almost coronate the prince, where it had been pretty linear. The battle starts and they escape through these tubes and I can remember Dave saying, “I never would’ve thought to put anybody in those tubes!” But to me those tubes were the greatest things; I was putting speeders in them and everything.

The shark attacking them was like Jaws.

That’s exactly what it was. George and the editor, Jason Tucker, had done some inter-cutting to the beginning when the battle starts and they wind up at the frontlines with Ackbar. He just made it less linear, more interesting, and therefore more entertaining.

Were you pleased with the finished episode?

Yeah. My only regret on that one was that I personally didn’t have enough editorial time. That’s my comfort zone. I loved working with Jason Tucker. That’s what I love about making these episodes: You’re kind of doing the three phases of filmmaking at once, writing, editing, and directing. It’s a great way to work.

I keep telling the guys that I’d love to come back! I just had so much fun, because you just don’t get to direct that much and this is so instant and it’s exactly like live-action! We’re not using real people, but doing the shots is exactly the same. It’s the same kind of rush when you break it down into individual shots and pieces, and then you cut it together. If it doesn’t work, you can just go back and have the guys tweak the shot a little bit. It’s really great!

FIRST FETT!

“Way back when production designer Norman Reynolds first brought the Boba Fett costume to George during preproduction on Empire, I just happened to be the right size to put it on; it was all white then (above, right).

“Decades later, when I was working on my first episode of The Clone Wars, I was sitting in a room with all the guys when the new Star Wars lnsider was delivered. We’re busy and we didn’t even look at it, but then 20 minutes later, there’s 10 people lined up at the door all with these magazines and pens! Someone said, “Can I get your autograph?” I opened up the magazine, and there’s a photo of me in that white costume standing next to George. We threw Boba into the sarlaac pit all those years ago, thinking we got rid of him—but he still won’t die!”

[featheredtrex]

Matthew Stower on EU dark side vs Lucas-canon dark side

https://www.theforce.net/jedicouncil/interview/mattstover.asp

Interviewer: Can you discuss a little about the Force as it is described in Traitor? Where did the revelation about the Dark Side come from? How does it impact the Star Wars Universe?

I've often been a little bit bothered by the "deification" of the Force in the EU. The Force is not God -- it's not something "out there," a unitary entity with its own will and intention. It's right here. A Jedi is part of it -- and so is everything else. Its "will" (to use an inadequate word) is expressed in existence itself.

Stower didn’t pay attention to the fact that the Force is indeed “God” in the sense that it is a “metaphor for God” and the “greater mystery” as George Lucas put it “and God is essentially unknowable.” Lucas explained his views on life, God and spirit in 1999, saying, he believes in a collective spirit, life force and consciousness, both immanent and transcendent. This is very much the Force, a metaphor for his views on God, a reservoir, unified reality to life, what was said to be more pronounced in Buddhism. Thus, despite Stower is right in that the Force is not God in the Western sense, but it is in the Eastern sense.

And I don't see that there's any revelation about the dark side, either. When Luke is about to enter "The Cave of the Dark Side" on Dagobah, he asks Yoda what's in there. Yoda replies (if memory serves): "Only what you bring with you." That's a long way from anything resembling a Dark-Side-is-the-Devil kind of perspective; it was always clear to me that it wasn't intended to be a supernatural force of evil.

Stower did remember correctly and he is absolutely right. One should notice that Stower just said, he spotted a severe contradiction between George Lucas’ Star Wars and the Expanded Universe.

I'd like to quote here from something I wrote to one of the prominent members of the Lit Forum who was somewhat troubled by Vergere's teachings about the Force. He goes by the handle JediMasterAaron, and he asked me some pretty penetrating questions, that I think go right to the heart of this theme. This was part of my answer:

"It can be argued that Yoda trained Luke the way he did specifically to defeat the Emperor -- NOT because that's what JK were in the Old Republic. In fact, we now know that Luke would scarely qualify as a Padawan by Old Republic standards.

From my point of view, what Vergere teaches Jacen to become is far closer to what the Jedi are SUPPOSED to embody. Even Luke, remember, doesn't end up DESTROYING the Bad Guys -- instead he allows his mere presence to "save" the one who can be saved, and destroy the one who can't. (By my recollection, anyway -- it's been a few years since I saw RotJ.)

A war of Good v. Evil is better in concept than in execution. The division of reality into Good and Evil is a disease of modern civilization -- it's even infected our secular politics. It's okay for our armed forces to kill innocent civilians in Afghanistan, because we're "rooting out the Evil." From bin Laden's point of view, it's okay to kill innocent civilians in the USA (and elsewhere) for EXACTLY THE SAME REASON.

It is the responsibility of those who CAN look deeper to do so. I say: by the end of TRAITOR, Jacen is a better Jedi than he has ever been, because he has learned to LOOK DEEPER... I think SW is more about dealing with the darkness in your own heart -- Luke had to do that, in order to face Vader and the Emperor; and then instead of killing Vader he could lead him back toward the light.

I should also point out that "the Force is One." The darkness inside is reflected outside, and vice versa. What Vergere is really teaching Jacen is to seek truth within, because it will reflect truth without. To trust his feelings, you might say..."

That about sums it up.

Stower’s position on Yoda is not entirely clear, however, it’s important to notice that Vergere’s philosophy is the mainstream Jedi philosophy in George Lucas’ works: dark side is one’s own anger, fear, aggression, hate. Also, Luke acts in accordance with Yoda’s teachings in Return of the Jedi, not against it:

“There are already people sending me letters saying Jedi don’t take revenge; it’s not in their nature; it’s just not the way they are. Also, obviously, a Jedi can’t kill for the sake of killing. The mission isn’t for Luke to go out and kill his father and get rid of him. The issue is, if he confronts his father again, he may, in defending himself, have to kill him, because his father will try to kill him. This is the state of affairs that Yoda should refer to. And then Luke says, “I don’t think he’ll kill me because he could have killed me last time and he didn’t; I think there is good in him and I can’t kill him.” (Lucas to Kasdan 1981 IN: Making of Return of the Jedi by Rinzler, 2013)

The impact of Vergere's perspective... well, that depends on the other writers. I can't really say. We'll see where they go with it. I'll only say this: the Expanded Universe is a living thing. Like other living things, it must either grow (learn, adapt, change) or die. Fans grow up. Star Wars can grow with them. There'll always be room for Ewoks and Young Jedi Knights. There'll always be room for the headlong happy-go-lucky space-opera of Daley's Han Solo trilogy. The Expanded Universe can also offer stories for fans who want to move into a more challenging realm. It's a big place. And it's still getting bigger.

You might notice that Stower explicitly said the fate of his contribution to the Expanded Universe will depend on “other writers” not George Lucas and his vision.

(Around 2002)

[riinzler]

The explanation offered him more insight on an incredibly ineffective method. Why the need for separate types of energy, why not just direct it to reserves or alternate subroutines for longer term use? It didn’t make sense. Rinzler added the data to his archives for future reference, though that didn’t change the fact that he thought it was a waste of resources and processing space. Did Users have processors? They had ventilation systems so they must have them.

His attention was quickly diverted to Kevin_Flynn as the User’s face did an interesting hue shift, causing the program to lean in closer to better observe it. He cut his gaze away at the sound of the bowl scraping across the tabletop, examining the contents like he’d be able to tell if they’d been tampered with. He looked up at the question, eyes narrowed.

Might as well just answer in order to prevent more inquiries in the future. “My audio output is damaged.” That, in combination with the strain on his processors was the source of the noise he produced. He’d thought it was obvious.

It was something not even the healing chamber could repair, not that it was much of a surprise. The most it did for him was patch over old wounds, making the pain temporarily subside so it didn’t threaten his structural integrity or performance. Both sets of damages were things he’d learnt to work around thousand of cycles ago, but it was still and likely always would be irritating. There was nothing to be done for it. Why the User thought otherwise, he didn’t know. It was strangely cordial and it set off Rinzler’s internal alarms. He knew the User’s type and wouldn’t be fooled or won over by the behavior.

“What do you gain from this arrangement?” It was asked in enough of a neutral tone to disguise the underlying suspicion and distrust. While he highly doubted the User would admit a motive that easily he had found that occasionally an unusual approach worked when done correctly.

Rinzler went back to prodding the food, internally debating the upcoming decision gate.

If he took his helmet off he’d be violating Clu’s orders. The portal had removed that barrier, but if the Admin found out Rinzler had disobeyed him the moment he’d been left alone, right after having tried to shoot Clu down no less, he’d be very, very displeased. Rinzler didn’t want to disappoint him.

At the same time if his energy reserves were depleted he wouldn’t be able to transport Kevin_Flynn back to the Grid. Would the completion of the mission objective make up for that transgression? He’d just have to find out, there wasn’t much of a choice.

Rinzler tried to derez his helmet with no success, not even an ‘access denied’ notification. The second attempt yielded the same results, which was…disheartening. He’d have to use the manual release and keep track of the helmet since it wouldn’t immaterialize. He hadn’t seen any Users do anything similar outside the Grid, maybe it simply wasn’t possible here. At his command the helmet detached from the collar of his suit, allowing him to remove it. There was no click or pressure release, nothing to externally signal any change before Rinzler reached up and pulled it off.

The pieces of brown hair in his peripheral clued him into the fact that the masking effect Clu had installed had been disabled, something he’d already suspected. His scar hurt less, which was extremely strange. Upon closer inspection he realized that the entirety of his wound had been sealed, from the edge of his hairline to the underside of his jaw, now replaced with some odd mottled texture. Why had it changed?

Regardless, the sooner he finished this task the sooner he could put his helmet back on. He hated having it off, it left him too exposed, too vulnerable. The chairs remained ignored even as a utensil was retrieved from the center of the table, having observed the pair of Users closely enough to replicate its use. The feeling of a foreign object in his mouth set off an array of alarms, his system all but throwing a fit at the prospect of ingesting it. He was focused inward, analyzing the texture as best he could for any anomalies. To an outside viewer it looked like he was staring absently into the middle distance. Just think about the mission.

The sensation of swallowing somehow managed to be even more revolting than he’d predicted and had to resist the urge to immediately dispel it. He’d gone this far, backing down now would defeat the purpose. There was a pause as his system stuttered on how to process the object before it was finally broken down and dispersed like any other type of energy. He pulled a face, nose scrunching in a way that pulled at his scar uncomfortably. Rinzler was going to deep clean all of his energy lines once he returned to the Grid, his system already felt contaminated. He knew it wasn’t, but that didn’t change the fact that it felt disgusting.

/* went for the continuing the previous thread scenario... —@spaceparanoids-highestscore */

Flynn had been meditating when the beacon lit, and so when he finally became aware of it, he had no idea how long it had been.

He ignored it. When he fought back, Clu only got more powerful, and he could not afford Clu's forces finding him, or getting a hold of his disc while the portal was open.

He ignored the beacon, and the news of a user in the datastream up until he found out the other user was Dillinger's Kid, but what could that tiny kid he'd seen Dillinger's wife dragging around between court hearing before the company'd been passed to him.

...Except that had been five years before he ended up trapped on the Grid, and a thousand cycles since. And if the kid was anything like his father...

Flynn was overcome with the sudden need to get the kid off the Grid, because he thought Clu was bad, but Dillinger's kid was anything like his father, things were about to get so, so much worse.

.........

And somehow that had led to a chase to the portal, and Flynn handing Dillinger's kid his disc and telling him he'd deal with Clu and Tron.

...Except that Dillinger's kid didn't listen, and instead dragged Flynn to the portal, squeezing his hand so tight that it might it might fall off.

"Like hell you're doing the noble sacrifice thing," Dillinger's son growled. "I'm so fucking tired of Bradley waxing poetic about the good ol' days and how much he misses you, and maybe if you're back your son will stop his obnoxious pranks on the company and I can get some damn sleep for once."

And before Flynn could process what the kid had said or the sensation of someone latching onto his other arm, they're in the portal, and then suddenly everything goes very dark.

Flynn was back in the real world, for the first time in twenty years.

He was so shocked, he didn't notice when Dillinger's kid turned off the computer, just that when he scrambled over to fix twenty years worth of chaos, it was off.

"What—what did you do?" he asked.

Dillinger's kid rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, everything's saved. I didn't delete your evil clone, but at least now he can't somehow make anything worse. It's late. We should both go home. Deal with it tomorrow."

As much as Flynn was skeptical, he did have a point, and now that the adrenaline rush was over and he was feeling every bit his age.

The Grid was shut down. He could deal with the aftermath tomorrow.

Except... now without the hum of the computer, he could hear another noise, somewhere between a purr and a growl, and realized that Dillinger's kid wasn't the only unexpected visitor to the arcade for the night.

Coming to the real world alone had never been the plan. It had been a spur of the moment decision once he’d scaled to the top of the portal tower. He saw the Users, saw that they were going to escape, and moved before he could register that he’d done so. That might’ve been a mistake.

He would’ve regretted the choice more had it not put him closer to achieving Clu’s goals. Kevin_Flynn and his coveted disc in one place, in the open and undefended. As soon as they’d arrived Rinzler had tucked himself into the darkness under the desk, using the fact that the lights hadn’t been activated to his advantage. He held in his rattling growl for as long as he could while waiting for the secondary target to exit. He didn’t require oxygen but the way the audio output was connected to his processor made it difficult.

Waiting for two equally insufferable Users to finish their idle exchange wasn't his idea of a productive use of his time but he couldn’t rush it, he needed to be patient and wait for an opportunity to arise. At least he knew the Grid was safe for now.

As soon as the other User left the room he latched into Kevin_Flynn’s ankle, pulling it with enough force to take the User to the ground. With that done he lunged out of his hiding spot and pinned him to the ground, scrambling at his back for the disc.

It was about more than just fulfilling his standing orders, now that Kevin_Flynn had done…something to try to make him think of firing on the Admin it was personal. Rinzler’s own discs had been left behind on the Rectifier but he could still fight without them, he wouldn’t fail.

…It wasn’t there.

Why the fuck wasn’t it there? Where had it gone? He’d been watching the entire time, the disc hadn’t been set down! Now that he was looking he could see that the User’s doc was missing too.

Rinzler would’ve screamed in frustration had he been capable of it, but he wasn’t so he was just going to have to settle for removing pieces of the User until he gave up the disc’ location. Normally he was against torture as it rarely leant itself to favorable results, but this was a difficult circumstance. Keeping his grip tight enough to not facilitate an escape he leaned in, Kevin_Flynn’s reflection staring back at him from the shiny surface of Rinzler’s helmet.

“Where is your disc, User?” His voice was so distorted it was difficult to understand what had been said, not helped by the loud growl he was emitting though the murderous intent was clear.

[computerwarrior]

I’ve written out Ark’s backstory below the Keep Reading. I’m not sure if I’ll alter anything, but I might.

-Ark is based on the player character from the Tron: Evolution DS game, however, the events in the game aren't canon to her backstory.

-Ark somehow survives all eras so that I can play with her in any era.

-Her backstory is probably Too Much, but I like the idea of a female Program getting to be awesome, so I'm torn on whether to tone it down or not.

Betrayal (Early Grid)

-Ark is programmed as a System Monitor around 1985 - right around when things start getting bad between the Basics and ISOs.

-She's probably uploaded with three other System Monitors. Because things are getting bad, Flynn tried to program them to be ISO-friendly, but that's a little hard to do, so he's not sure how successful it was.

-It worked on Ark, she's ISO-friendly and gets a reputation for being fair when it comes to solving disputes between Basics and ISOs.

-Clu doesn't exactly like this and offers her a better position/job/location, but only if she stops associating with the ISOs. Ark declines.

-She is very proficient with her staff and tends to favor it. She enjoys competing in the Games and has an average record in most of the different Games - she's good, but doesn't quite hit great. However, once the Games start turning deadly, she stops competing in them.

-Ark's circuits are based on one of the ones you can choose for the player character System Monitor in the DS version of Evolution, so I go with that they're an older and outdated System Monitor style by the time of the PC version of Evolution. She can use the newer circuits, she just chooses not to most of the time. She likely does use them when she's doing something important, though.

-Ark worked with Tron on a couple of occasions, probably in a team with other Programs, so they know each other.

Evolution

-When the Abraxas disaster first happens, she's stationed outside in an area away from where Abraxas entered, so she doesn't know what's going on until Programs start running out in panic.

-Ark and the other System Monitors do what they can to get Programs to safety.

-Ark starts investigating things, but when she hears that Clu is rounding up Programs for the Games, she goes into hiding, figuring that she'd be targeted if she's caught. She's assumed dead by anyone who thinks to remember her.

Uprising

-Once things calm down and settle in under the Occupation, Ark feels guilty for hiding so long. She carefully sneaks around and gets an idea of the situation. Once she realizes how the Occupation's got things under their control, she starts doing small vigilante things carefully to try and help save and protect Programs.

-Sometime after she's started doing this, she comes across Tron, who was maybe trying to figure out who was also doing vigilante stuff. He remembers her from before and teams up with her. With the timing, she's one of the early Renegades that something terrible happened to, probably like the second or third one.

-Ark does a decent job as a Renegade, but it doesn't last long. The Occupation sets up a trap that Tron has a bad feeling about, but Ark insists on going to check it out anyways.

-She puts up a good fight, but is ultimately captured. Because she's wearing Tron's circuits as a Renegade, they torture her to try and get information from her about his location. She refuses and takes refuge in her programming - she's to do what's best for the Grid and giving up Tron is Not That.

-Ark's tortured for many cycles, until they either get bored of it, or the timing works out. Since she won't give them Tron's location, they decide to try and use her in another way to draw him out. She's rectified in a manner similar to Rinzler - she's mostly just a mindless weapon. (I'm not sure how much sense it makes, but I like to think that Clu names her brainwashed form "Mars" - Flynn always talked about Rome, so Clu probably picked up on the name from the stories - naming her after the Roman god of war.)

-Depending on the timing, she's either locked away for later use or immediately put to work. Either way, when they start using her, Beck's been the Renegade for a while.

-Tron's assumed that she's been dead for quite some time now - after all, if she was rectified, surely he would've seen her before now.

-So, it's a complete shock when the Occupation sends her out with some Sentries to fight him just to get his attention. When a brainwashed Ark retreats, Tron yells her name and she gasps - it almost sparked a memory.

-The Occupation uses her to try and slowly lure Tron into a trap, but, he works with Beck and they manage to grab Ark and run.

-Beck and Tron secure Ark so that she can't escape while they try to fix her. They find out that her disc got damaged in her torture - her power processor is fried and the Occupation programming is somehow bypassing it - if they remove the programming, she won't be able to function properly. Beck eventually comes up with a different power bypass - he used the technique on a malfunctioning light cycle before, but it's still partially connected to the Occupation programming. After working on it some more, they eventually find a way to lock the Occupation programming out of default, so it's still there, but Ark's back to normal.

-Once she's back to normal, Ark immediately joins the Resistance and goes back to being a Renegade. This continues for as long as it can.

Legacy

-By the Legacy era, Tron's been turned into Rinzler, so the Resistance probably fractured or fell apart at some point. There's still Programs resisting, though, and Ark continues to oppose the Occupation. She likely still uses the Renegade circuits sometimes.

[mewtwowarrior]

Under the Keep Reading is a janky fanfic that got way away from me and contains spoilers for Tron: Legacy and Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance.

I’ve been on a Tron kick lately and yesterday I was reading about the Tron: Legacy world in Dream Drop Distance and came across something that struck me as so fascinating, I had to write about it.

Apparently, at one point in the game, Clu offers to trade Sora Rinzler in exchange for the Keyblade. Sora, of course, says no, but it got me to thinking...

Things to keep in mind:

-I haven’t played Kingdom Hearts in forever and I haven’t started Dream Drop Distance yet, things will definitely be wrong. I read a little bit more, and I know things don’t play out even partially like I’ve written them, but I loved my original idea so much I had to keep it.

-I haven’t seen anything Tron in forever, except for playing some of Tron: Evolution lately, so character voices are probably super wrong

-Ark’s just a placeholder name for now, I don’t have a dedicated Kingdom Hearts OC, except for generic self insert nonsense, so I just put in my Tron OC’s name because it fits.

-Probably need to tweak some of Ark’s dialogue, I don’t really have a solid personality for her yet, but it started coming out as I was writing more of the story.

-I’m not completely happy with parts of this, but overall, I think it’s okay. It needs a better beginning (possibly going back in the past more and fleshing things out) and a better/actual ending (I’m not sure how to resolve the conflict just yet).

-I don’t know what happened here, the story got away from me, I had a rough outline last night, and when I started writing it, details kept coming up more.

-I’ve been wanting to write something about Rinzler for a few days now and this is what I finally hit on as working.

-I probably need to go back and most of the italics I was intending to be there, I wrote it in Notepad, so I didn’t have that option and forgot about it when posting, whoops.

-I feel like I should somehow apologize for this, so I’m sorry.

Part 1/Prequel 1st Draft

Part 2/Original 1st Draft (You are here)

Part 3/Finish 1st Draft

All Combined Revision 1

All Combined Revision 2

All Combined Revision 3

All Combined Revision 4

Circuitous Pathways (Final)

---

Even though this world was different, he was different, Ark had recognized her dear friend.

The problem was, he didn't recognize her at all.

She had called out to him and had hurried closer, but he had walked on by like she wasn't even there.

It had taken some time, but she had finally started getting to the bottom of this mystery.

Someone named Clu had taken over The Grid and seemed to have something to do with the transformation of her friend.

For some reason, he had approached Ark, her friend at his side.

He called him Rinzler.

She knew his name as Tron.

Clu had a solution, because he also had a problem, one that only Ark could solve.

"I've been watching you as you traveled The Grid. Your Keyblade is capable of some amazing things, isn't it?" He gestured to the weapon she had in hand, a movement that made her grip tighter to it.

"There's a...door, that I need open, your Keyblade can do that." He tilts his head ever so slightly, "You have something I want, and I have something you want, right?" He casually gestured towards Rinzler.

"I'll give you Rinzler in exchange for your Keyblade. That way, everybody gets what they want. It's a simple deal."

Clu changes his stance, putting both hands behind his back as he patiently waits for her response.

Ark gasps at the offer, it's one of great magnitude. She was chosen to weild the Keyblade, to fight the darkness and put things right. It wasn't something you gave away lightly.

But, Tron was her friend, and something was wrong with him. He needed her help, and that was something that needed put right.

Before she can consider the offer, Ark has one question, "How do I know you'll keep up your end of the deal."

Clu smirked in response, "I control The Grid and everyone who lives in it. If I wanted to, I could take your Keyblade by force. But, that would cause a lot of trouble and likely the loss of a lot of Programs. I'd much rather skip all of that and make a deal that would save us both the time and trouble. The fact that I haven't already made a move for it should be trust enough."

That wasn't exactly a comforting answer, but it was all that Ark got.

What did he need the Keyblade for? She had a feeling that he wouldn't be forthcoming with the answer, he had already been vague about it. But, it likely wasn't good.

But, could he even use the Keyblade? You had to be chosen for it, right? Plus, he wouldn't know how to use it, at least, not at first. And, he hadn't bargained for Keyblade lessons, just the Keyblade itself. She knew a few of the Keyblade's tricks, in face, there was one that might come in handy for this exact situation...

Ark looked down at her Keyblade, while in the grand scheme of things, she was a rather new Keyblade wielder, but she and it had been through a lot together. How many Heartless had she slain? How many worlds had she helped? What did her future as a Keyblade wielder look like?

She glanced to both Clu and Rinzler, Clu waiting for her answer, and Rinzler standing there cold and motionless, nothing at all like the Tron she remembered.

That was enough to make her waver.

Ark's decision was made before she had realized it herself. She had to save her friend, there wasn't any other choice she could make.

However, she had a plan, and, if it worked, then maybe everything would be okay after all.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, tightening her grip on her Keyblade for the last time.

Ark exhaled and swung her Keyblade up so that she could hold it in both hands, feeling its weight and presence and taking a moment to remember everything that they had been through together.

The moments she takes are quiet and reverent, she's solemn as she takes it all in.

Finally, she looks to Clu with tears starting to well up in her eyes. She knows what she has to say, but the words won't come out.

Clu meets her gaze, "Have you made your decision?"

Ark can only close her eyes and give the slightest of nods.

"Very well." Clu reaches over and takes off Rinzler's Identity Disc. He taps a few things and makes a few changes before attaching it back to his back.

Rinzler himself walks over and turns around to stand next to Ark.

Clu gestures to them both, "Rinzler is yours now, he will only answer to you."

He then holds his hand out to Ark, "Now, for your end of the deal."

Ark gasps softly, she didn't think it would go this quickly, she hadn't even been sure who would make the first move. At this very moment, she had both Tron and her Keyblade, she could make a run for it.

But, a deal was a deal.

And, if Clu was right and he controlled the whole Grid, she wouldn't get far without her Keyblade, even with Tron fighting for her.

Trembling, she adjusted her grasp on her Keyblade so that she was holding the blade in both of her hands and offering the hilt out. She clings to it for one final moment before lowering it to rest right above Clu's outstretched hand.

There's no such hesitation on Clu's part.

He grabs the Keyblade and carefully takes it out of Ark's hands, she gasps and flinches as he does so.

Clu holds the Keyblade up, admiring it, "Magnificent. It's even more impressive than I had realized." With a swift motion, he holds it down at his side, seemingly already comfortable with the weapon.

"Now that our transaction is done, I have things I need to attend to. You're both free to go." He quickly turns and strides off, no longer concerned with either of them.

Ark stands there in shock, never keeping her eyes off the Keyblade, until both it and its wielder are long out of sight.

Finally, she manages to look over at Rinzler, her dear friend she had just sacrificed so much for.

Was it worth it?

Before she had given up the Keyblade, her answer had easily been yes. But, now that the Keyblade was gone, she felt its loss as an ache. There was a part of her missing that was now in the hands of someone else. Someone who would likely do a lot of bad with it.

Tron was safe, yes. Or, Rinzler was. The Tron that she knew didn't seem to be anywhere under that cold black mask. Would she be able to restore his memories?

But, after her shameful action of giving up the Keyblade, did she even want Tron to remember? She knew he'd be disappointed in her, as she was disappointed in herself.

There was still her plan, the one scrap of hope. But, she was no longer confident in it. The act of giving up the Keyblade had been much more serious than she had imagined.

Ark closed her eyes and held out her hand. She'd always been able to summon the Keyblade before, and counting on that fact had been one of the reasons she had made her terrible decision.

She tried to feel for the Keyblade, in that space wherever it went when she wasn't holding it. Reaching out deeper and deeper, through her heart and the light and the darkness.

Ark came up empty. The Keyblade was no longer hers, it did not answer to her any longer. She had given it up, betrayed everything she and it stood for, and it reflected that fact.

She sunk to her knees, sobbing her heart out as the full magnitude of what she had done washed over her.

Ark had given the darkness everything it had wanted. She had handed it this world on a silver platter, and who knew what else. Clu had wanted to open some kind of door, was it the door between worlds? He so easily commanded this world, would he conquer the next and the next and the next?

She sobbed for a long time, while Rinzler, ever silent, stood next to her.

Finally, she wiped her eyes, trying to clear her vision so that she could think.

She had a few things in her pockets, some Potions and supplies she had picked up before travelling. Like everyone else in this world, she had an Identity Disc, which could be used to fight. And, she had Rinzler. He wasn't Tron, not yet, but he was a fierce fighter.

Ark didn't have a lot, but it was better than nothing.

She looked up at Rinzler, "Me and you against The Grid, huh? What do you think of our chances?"

Like always, Rinzler didn't respond, he just stared straight ahead.

Ark laughed coldly, more of a bark than a genuine laugh, "That's what I thought." She picked herself up and dusted off her knees, a reflexive gesture more than anything.

"It doesn't matter what the odds are, I know what we have to do. I'm glad I'm not going to have to do this alone, but I have to wonder, if you were still Tron, would you be proud of me?"

No answer came.

"I didn't think so." She shook her head, "It doesn't matter what Tron thinks now, or you, I guess. I'll deal with that if we get out of this alive."

Ark looked Rinzler up and down, "The Grid's changed a lot since I've last been here. It'll be a lot easier if you still know your way around. I don't know what he did to you to transfer you over to me, but if you still remember..."

She took a deep breath and looked straight at Rinzler, "Take me to Clu. I've got to set this right."

There was a moment where nothing happened, Ark was afraid that Rinzler's memory was wiped again or that he wouldn't actually listen to her. She held her breath until he looked around for a moment, then headed off in a specific direction.

She exhaled and followed Rinzler further into The Grid.

Ark knew that even if they were able to stop whatever plan Clu had, the Keyblade likely wouldn't come back to her. But, that didn't matter. All that mattered was keeping Clu from using it. Once she did that, she could deal with no longer having a Keyblade.

She looked again to Rinzler, who was walking with a single-minded determination. After they stopped Clu, she stil had to find a way to bring back Tron. Like the Keyblade, he probably wouldn't want to have anything to do with her, either, but, she still owed it to him to try and fix him. He had been her friend, one important enough to sacrifice the Keyblade for.

Ark had no idea if they would be successful, but she had to try. That's all she could do.

Her and Rinzler traveled through The Grid and to their, and everyone else's, destinies.

---

Behind the scenes:

My rough notes I hastily wrote in my phone before bed last night:

-Some kinda past friendship -Oh noes Rinzler -Make a trade -Trade with intent to take backsisies -Rinzler ownership transferred -Get away fast -Tries to take backsisies -Nope -lol accidental Bequeathing -oh crap what have i done -maybe it's best Rinzler has no memories because he would be disappointed -Gotta Fix This -No Keyblade, Disc Only, Final Destination

The story doesn’t have a name yet, but I saved it under the name “Meow Meow I Make Bad Keyblade Choices”. (My sister has a saying about a cat that visits, “Meow meow, I make bad choices” and it just seemed to fit.)

Continuation here!

[cellard0ors]

Drabble: End Of Line

I, honest to god, have about a million other things I need to write...but this won’t let me go. So! Just a little fun! Shyan!Tron!AU (Mood Music Tron: Legacy - Rinzler Theme)

This can’t be real and he can’t be here.

Ryan knows this and yet…and yet here he is – watching in stunned horror as what appears to be a person – a person – standing next to him shatters into a million pieces. 

This is not a euphemism. 

They shatter like glass, glittering shards spilling down to the dark, glossy black ground – spreading out like a sea of diamonds. And he knows what they are…bits. It’s bits and coding and…the person wasn’t a person.

They were a Program.

A Program…he’s on The Grid. 

A space, a whole world, inside interlinked mainframes. Waves of data and microprocessors and an entirely different universe. Ghosts? That he can handle – being in another technological dimension?

Yeah, not so much and oh – yes, best not to forget that the person (correction: the Program) next to him was just destroyed thanks to what should pass for a fucking frisbee.

But he knows that’s not what it is. It’s an identity disc. He has one. It was strapped to his back before he was shoved out here into this goddamn arena, where a bunch of flipping ninjas are fighting and oh shit! 

He dodges, barely avoiding the burning disc that sliced that Program in two. He might not shatter, but he sure as fuck can bleed and far across the arena is another Program.

This one garbed in all black, bright green lights illuminating his shoulders, the hollow of his throat and the sides of his sleek black helmet. The program rushes forward and Ryan – like a total spaz – falls backwards, landing roughly on his ass.

He knows he’s not fast enough to get away and sure enough, he’s on him, lunging over top of him and ready to strike. The Program has his disc raised, ready to strike down with a no doubt killing blow, only to stop, to tilt his head as if in recognition.

The Program rises up to his full height and as his helmet drops away Ryan’s jaw drops, “Shane?”

The Program – or Shane – or the Program that looks exactly like Shane, merely puts away his disc and draws back. Ryan can only blink, bewildered as he hears a very familiar voice remark dryly, “Well, well, well…looks like the download was a success.”

And on top of all the shocks today, this one has to be the greatest. Because Ryan is looking into his own face. Or more like a dark distorted mirror of his face, one he can only gap at. This Program with his features, who continues speaking, “Tried to delete me, didn’tcha? But, eh, guess that didn’t work out quite like you thought, now did it?”

Ryan’s lips feel numb even as they move, “Ricky?”

“In the gigabytes,” Ricky flashes his pearly whites and there’s an awful clarity about him, a sort of lunacy that’s more than just visible, ”Created me to run some algorithms, get some spooky data and true crime stats. The works. Then, when I wasn’t useful anymore…” he holds open his empty palms and how such a benign act can be so threatening Ryan will never know.

“RG…”

“Oh,” Ricky winces, “That’s the shortened file. I’m your program, Ryan. You wrote me and named me ‘RG’, short for your ol’ persona ‘Ricky Goldsworth’ as a laugh. A joke. Though…I suppose it coulda been worse…coulda been ‘Night Night’…”

“Ricky,” Ryan tries again, “You’re…you’re just…”

“What?” Ricky advances closer, dark eyes hot, “What am I? Just some lines of data? Just a Program?”

Ricky draws out his own disc and it blazes bright white, “I’m what you made me, Ryan. I’m you. But the better you. I’m your desires made manifest and you were just going to erase me.”

The last comes out so quietly, so viciously. Ryan can only swallow, “You’re…corrupted…”

Ricky gives him a baleful glare yet Ryan can’t stop, “…that’s what the computer told me. The-the tech guys…”

The smile that illuminates Ricky’s face is manic, “The tech guys. Yeah, ‘cause they know soooo much…” 

He advances on Ryan, who edges back even as Ricky continues to menace forward, “…what with the amounts of porn they get through backdoor procedures and info they hack, but they know a corrupted Program when they see one, huh? These the same guys who didn’t bank on me being able to find a way to digitize you? To download you? To bring you HERE!?”

He punctuates the question with his disc driving down, sparks skittering off the ground and it’s close to Ryan’s right foot. Too close. Ryan shrinks in on himself, continues to crab walk backwards even as Ricky grows more frantic, “To bring you to me?”

“Ricky…”

The unexpected interjection stops Ricky and makes Ryan’s eyes grow wider. He’d forgotten all about the Program who looks like Shane until just now. That Program comes closer, “Ricky…he’s a User…”

Ricky actually rolls his eyes, “You gonna start with that shit, Xander? What’re you? Religious?”

Xander (?) doesn’t answer. Just looks at Ryan with that same, dopey soulful look Shane gets sometimes. The thoughtful one that Ryan can’t read and hates that he can’t read. Ricky dismisses Xander with a swift shake of his head, “User, Program…doesn’t matter. He tried to derezz me, but guess what?”

He rears his arm back, disc glowing bright as a star, “He’s the one who’s going to be-!”

Ricky doesn’t get to finish. Xander whips out his own disc and slices Ricky’s raised arm off cleanly at the elbow. Bits of code and data spill on to the ground and Ricky wails, clearly not expecting such an action. 

Xander’s helmet rises to cover his face even as he charges towards Ryan, grabs the collar of his skin tight suit and draws him back, draws him up, even as he smoothly, deftly, summons his light cycle.

Xander shoves Ryan on to it, even as he climbs on behind him and then they’re off. Gone. Zooming at the speed of light down a long, swirling line of…fuck, Ryan doesn’t even know. 

His head is spinning. 

This is all happening too fast and all he can process is Xander’s soft whisper, “I fight for the Users…”

[systemadministratorclu]

It didn't take him long to finish. In fact, he did the final two rows of images and completed the newest panel of his History. He'd been working with his abilities too, and now lifted it without touching it to hang on the wall in the space they had set aside for it. Satisfied, he let Rinzler lead him by his hand to bed.

They had reclaimed the safehouse successfully (Clu had woken up once to find that any picture of Flynn had been slashed through by a disc and thrown on the floor) and it had long since become theirs instead of his. They had even found a nest of wild Bits living nearby, which was a nice thing to see, and sometimes left energy out for them. It was indeed their haven, their little secret spot on the Grid, where only Tesler MIGHT drop by, but usually he just commed Clu on a private channel the two had (Clu had added Rinzler to it, just in case of emergency.)

Clu hated the Games anymore. Hated having to watch his people killing each other, and no one caring about so much death. It hurt him inside, and he always felt sick afterward. As soon as he could, he ran from the sky box, his cape fluttering behind him. Not that anyone would care, the event was over. He could leave.

But he also wanted to be alone. He didn't really know where he was going, but he ducked into a dimly lit room and shut the door behind him. They wouldn't search for him for a while he knew.

A sound made him freeze where he stood. He was not alone in here.

"H-Hello?" He called softly into the near darkness.

The enforcer's broken purr was the only sound in the room, something he couldn't stifle or hide, constantly rattling in his chest. He'd just come from the games himself, though of course he'd been on the other side, the architect of the death Clu was so hesitant to witness. Not that he had any choice. Rinzler rose fluidly to his feet, unsure why Clu was there but bowing slightly to the admin anyway, his posture cowed. His body was shaking slightly, though, just barely noticeable in the dark. It wasn't often anyone so much as touched Rinzler in the games; he was far more skilled than any of the strays and nobodies the Occupation threw at him for execution. But this time they'd tossed in a captured member of the resistance, and something about them had made Rinzler hesitate. A flicker of recognition, maybe, and it was just enough for them to land a blow before Rinzler derezzed them, too. He was injured, but even after the match was over they never healed him - just left him to figure it out.

[amoralto]

Before the [Lennon Remembers] interview was published, Wenner told Alan Rinzler that “Lennon Remembers” might make a great book and that Rinzler should “put it up for bids” once the interview was published. But there was one little problem: John Lennon had specifically said he didn’t want the interview published anywhere but Rolling Stone. In fact, Lennon told Wenner that he owned the interview. And Wenner had agreed. Rinzler waved away the promise, unmoved by Wenner’s handshake deal. He told Wenner that the book was a surefire moneymaker for the 1971 holiday season, mentioning a publisher that would offer big money for the book rights. John Lennon had every expectation that Wenner would submit to his demands. That had always been the deal: When Lennon said jump, Wenner said how many column inches. […] But when Wenner tested the bounds of the partnership by forwarding Rinzler’s letter about a publishing advance, Lennon chided him for “jumpin’ da gun.” “I don’t think you should have approached publishers,” he wrote to him. But Wenner kept pressing. In April 1971, he flew to England and drove to Lennon’s estate in Ascot to try developing the book idea with Lennon. But when he arrived, the couple had flown to Spain, evading him. Lennon quickly made clear that he wouldn’t do the book, writing on the stationery of a Spanish hotel that he was “not interested at all really, so that’s that.” For Lennon, the damage was done. “At the time it was a big triumph and he was happy he did it,” said Wenner, “but then he expressed his regrets by not wanting to see it circulate further.” Wenner’s interests, however, now diverged from his idol’s. He went ahead and published Lennon Remembers in the fall of 1971, collecting $40,000 from a publisher. The interview, he reasoned to Lennon’s angry lawyer, was “a traditional journalistic property,” and Rolling Stone was a journalistic enterprise—so that’s that. Lennon was apoplectic. “By then, we felt that Jann was our ally, and we could trust him, so John had a big surprise,” said Yoko Ono. “There was a phone call from Jann to our hotel room. He said something like ‘We’re putting out this book, and I’m gonna send you six copies.’ So John just hung up on him. He was furious.” (Wenner sent Lennon a copy inscribed, “Without you, this book could never have been done.”) In a letter to Lennon, Wenner described a phone exchange of “some fairly harsh words and bad thoughts of each other,” which Wenner said were “probably an inevitable result of the various karma that went with the interview.” Hoping to smooth things out, Wenner invited Lennon to a “quiet dinner at my house” with Ralph Gleason and Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. To which Lennon responded with a scorching letter to the editor in late November 1971: As your company was failing (again), and as a special favor (Two Virgins was first), I gave you an interview, which was to run one time only, with all rights belonging to me. You saw fit to publish a book of my work, without my consent—in fact, against my wishes, having told you many times on the phone, and in writing, that I did not want a book, an album or anything else made from it. Wenner sent Lennon a telegram asking if they could discuss the matter further. “Print the letter,” replied Lennon, “then we’ll talk.” Wenner never printed the letter, and Jann Wenner and John Lennon never saw each other again.

Joe Hagan, Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner & Rolling Stone Magazine. (2017)