#screwing everyone over and is essentially confirmed to be a monster

[reignbowarbiter]

also i havent finished s5 yet but i really like melanie i think because she has such a strong resolve, ive seen people say she has strong morals and such but i think its more her resolve than morals specifically… shes extremely stubborn ESPECIALLY when it comes to jon

[esther-dot]

I always find it weird that d&d sprinkle the jonsa clues in last 3 seasons only to left it out. Jonsa had equal weightage with dark Dany to the narrative and I don't believe that they didn't make it happen to appease people. Jonsa also answer the stark succession. Even critics didn't have problems with this. If books and show ending are same then how jonsa will happen? Did we misinterpreted the clues in books? Why would D&d left the Jonsa? Its not like fans going to stop watching if it happens.

It is weird! Just so you know, the majority of the Jonsas I follow don’t accept the show ending, and tend to believe that D&D cut Jonsa in favor of Jxnerys so that they could hide Dark Dany + offer fan service as everyone was expecting The Hero™ and The Heroine™ to get together. I think that’s possible. Their dialogue in the cave was lifted from someone else’s chapters (link) which isn’t conclusive that D&D made it up, but it does fit their pattern of taking what belongs to one character and placing it over another, as if that doesn’t have big ramifications (they did this by giving Sansa Jeyne’s plot). I even pointed out (jokingly) that it was Sam and Gilly who had sex on a boat, so really, boatbang was stolen from them, and it’s Aemon who believes Dany is their only hope in the books so maybe that was where they got s7-8 Jon (link). 

I don’t think they left Jonsa out for fear people would stop watching if it became explicit, but the Jxnerys romance was used to hide Dark Dany, and that was something they were dedicated to. They wanted Dany burning KL to be a shocking moment, damn everything else, and that was a big problem with s7-8. A lot of critics and fans say that the show needed another season, but unless D&D were willing for people to realize what Dany was, that wouldn’t have helped. I’m sure the self-contradictory mess we got was a result of trying to write to deceive the audience and also give hints of the “real” story. Right after s8 I mentioned The Six Sense as a movie that told two different stories really well in that, we watch with one understanding, experience a revelation at the end, and can rewatch it with that new understanding and it makes total sense. I’m guessing that’s what they were aiming for, and something happened that altered those plans so we didn’t get the revelation. 

IMO, the way the writing was in s7, D&D were planning to totally condemn Dany as the monster she was (that’s what the field of fire 2.0 and burning of the Tarlys was prep for), but there was a tonal shift in s8, and they used Tyrion and Jon to defend her in the finale even when she had just committed a far worse act (burning KL). Honestly, I don’t think D&D liked Dany, I don’t think they liked the fans enough to do something just to be nice, I assume there was pressure from HBO to not destroy all interest in Targs because of their hopes for other shows, and they softened her ending as a result. All speculation, of course. 

I agree that Jonsa was prepared in the same way Dark Dany was, and I agree that it is as essential to the end of the story, so it puzzles me that it didn’t happen, anon. Or rather, that they continued to hint at it while not confirming it. We have all absolutely misinterpreted the “clues” because literature is art. It isn’t a neat tidy thing and literary analysis very easily becomes more about who we are than what the author is saying, so I’m sure we’ve picked up on lines and made too much of them or missed important bits because of what we’re drawn to or don’t like, but I am certain Sansa is getting a romance, and Jon is basically the only candidate for marriage as @istumpysk had pointed out (link). I am also pretty sure Jon’s kids will be Cat’s grandkids to answer that particular fear of hers, so to me, the question isn’t will Jonsa happen, only how. 

As in, just how much did D&D screw Jon and Sansa over? Did they take a secret marriage away from them? Did they take a wedding demanded by the North from them? @you-are-2-me says both (link). Did they take a silent, but mutually known, love from them? A calm domestic life? A Queen Sansa and her affair with the Lord Commander or Captain of her Queensguard? I’ve read it all, I’ve thought it all, and I haven’t made up my mind.

D&D changed a lot in earlier seasons even when they had the books to work with, and Martin still said GoT was a faithful adaptation, so it’s very possible that any of those scenarios happens in the books and D&D just didn’t care. But, if Martin is to be believed that the endings are the same (and not just same-ish), I’m guessing there will be a Jonsa secret marriage and a child, and Jon will agree to exile or the Wall to achieve peace (I know it’s dumb). 

[newsies-and-the-nutcracker]

Newsies but it’s French (Canadian) pt.2

(aka me just getting increasingly frustrated the longer it goes on until I’ve completely lost whatever bits of sanity I had left lol)

~ king of new york scene ~

“We’re in the papes??” “You’re in the papes.” why do I find this so funny help-

“For the good of Jack, we can stop complaining...” not the whole thing but that sounds so out of character for Race I can’t-

After a quick google search, I can confirm that Race says “The world is at our boots.”

The newsies are very confused

Apparently he was meant to say feet.

“I’m talking about our feet!”

…

hOW IN THE WORLD IS THAT EVEN CLOSE TO ‘THE WOILD IS YA ERSTER’-

Okay I’m done

“My own face on a piece of wood!” good for you ig

“I’m respectful. I’m looking at you.” please-

“I am pretty, am I not?” yes race you’re very pretty

“My own bed and an indoor toilet!” wait… does that mean you literally have a toilet outside?? In the open???

“Nothing more normal for a famous journalist!” Irdk how I’m supposed to process this-

“Leave, idiot! It’s her, the king of New York!” guys is this actually what he says in English?? Race why are you so m e a n

“Some…” *checks notes* “depressive defeatists” ?? I just want to know how you got that from “Buncha wet noodles”-

“We were on the verge of drowning ourselves in alcohol.” WHY AM I ONLY NOW FIGURING OUT WHAT SOME OF THESE LINES MEAN AS I’M WATCHING IT IN F R E N C H ???

They cut out a lot of the background comments during the dance break and now I’m sad

After Katherine’s little dance: “It’s a joke, I hope.” wow

“You’ll see what the Delancey’s do in their pants!” that sounds so wrong I-

“Friends can leave, let them be!” I don’t think that’s what they were trying to say but okay

~ letter from the refuge scene ~

“There’s guards here, they’re mean.” WOW JUST TEAR MY HEART OUT WHY DONTCHA-

“If they tell us to jump, we obey, if not we’re screwed.” ow

“The rooftop misses me.” I give up.

“It’ll go. I’m in shape.”

“End.” the only time they decide not the put ‘the’ unnecessarily in front of something-

“Good, that’s enough.” how rude

yeah that’s all for that song. I hope you guys weren’t actually expecting me to find much humour in that one

~ watch what happens reprise scene ~

“You are a love.” ??

Guys where I live if you say “tant mieux pour vous.” it means “Too bad for you” and that’s literally what Jack just told Davey-

“Stop. I understand. It’s useless.” eh close enough

“Good blood, where do you have to go to avoid you guys?”

“It’s impossible. We are inevitable.” since when did Davey actually become Thanos?

“And this here girl, Sally, she’s great.” :(

“We say that you wrote a good article.” “You seem horrible.” they’re much more salty in this version-

“Yes, it’s true. And, he is dead.” uhh guess who’s not going to Santa Fe-

“We can forget that and go back to work?” the person who wrote this had a real passion for butchering Les’ lines lol

“Be positive. No one is dead.” mmmmmmmmmmm-

“Is that what you’re hoping for??” MMMMMMMMMMMMMM-

“There’s no question of cents, Jack!” yk what? sure. i don’t even care at this point-

“We’ll do what?” he sounds like he doesn’t even want to win.

“We’re already winning.” “Agreed.” ABORT ABORT THIS ISN’T WHAT YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO S A Y JACK-

“And ‘voila’ why I think that Joe is an idiot. It’s a rattlesnake.” “... Yes.” you heard it right here, guys. if it’s a rattlesnek, it’s an idiot

“And you know why a snake whistles?” WHAT

“He is scared.”

“Go see, the poor of the head that’s spinning.” This is shredding whatever bits of sanity I had left-

“Why send the brutes?” idk why Davey

“You have maybe reason!” “Thank you!”

“And I have an appointment!”

no but when you say you have a ‘rendez-vous’ here where I live, it means you have like a doctors appointment or something lol

~ the bottom line reprise scene ~

“After his release, I surprised him myself!”

“If that’s the case, we’re going to bring him in... in softness.” nice of them

“... or the little thief?” I’m really starting to think that they lack like 99% of words in the French language-

“I was fighting in a war.” “And that turned out well for you?” get wrecked joe

“Rally as much as you want, no journal in town will talk about it.” guys I don’t have enough serotonin for this-

“Everyone here knows you’re horrible!” they made Jack sound like a little kid in the translation, and honestly I’m not even disappointed lol

“We’re missing time, little.” I don’t even know what to say-

“Your abject surrender was always the bottom of the problem.” sure why not

“Gentlemen, escort our guest to the cave-” well isn’t he nice?

“Be happy you’re alive, little. That’s the essential.”

“Yeah, so go!” ?? how is that even remotely close to “Yeah, so behave!” ??????

“I exercised my favourite American punch!” uhhhh good for you?

“You can sleep here, on this old press! It’s very firm.” help I’ve fallen and I can’t get up-

~ brooklyn’s here scene ~

“The sellers need our help! The sellers need our help! Tell them that Brooklyn’s arriving! Tell them that Brooklyn’s arriving!”

“We’re from Brooklyn, we’re the sellers from Brooklyn!” UHHHHH EXCUSE ME???

“We just learned that our friends are going wrong!” please you heard they were ‘going wrong’ like five days ago-

“You know we’re there for you, since always.” oH rEaLlY???

“Brooklyn is there!”

“Strikes aren’t nice, but they’re passionate!” well I’m glad you think so

“Let’s shout it, Brooklyn is there!”

“Aaaaand sooooooo!!” “Sooooooooo!!” “Soooooooooo!!!” “We will send you half road, just to Queens!”

“The pigeons are going to get soaked!” aaaaaand we’re back to the pigeons-

“What sad way to finish your career!” they sound so sarcastic I can’t-

“They’re not serious, but if they think we’re laughing…” i feel low-key threatened-

“Let’s shout it!” well if you try hard enough, you can make it sound like “loud and clear!”?

“Manhattan is theeere, Flushing is theeere, “Richmond is theeere, Woodside is theeere, and the Bronx too!!”

“Sorry, little. No news of him.” I just… why does it translate to “little”?

“You are alone, we could say.” “No.” “Yes.”

Medda really isn’t taking no for an answer-

“The sellers of journals of New York!” I’m crying why is it such a mouthful-

“You want to be treated like an adult? Act like an adult!”

~ something to believe in scene ~

“It’s Specs!” wow kath throw specs under the bus like that-

“And if I was a boy you’d be looking at me with a butter black eye!” I’ve officially given up on the French language I’m sorry-

“You win a fight when the other guy bites the dust.” and another one gone and another one gone-

“If there’s a way I could grab hold of something,” has literally been shortened to ‘if I could.’ IF I COULD-

“If I could stop time.” I’m so mad

“Really?” “Really.” ahhHHHHHHHHHHH

“But it’s going. It’s going.”

“... who didn’t even know she gave me a hope.” WHAT EVEN IS THE POINT IF THE TITLE ANYMORE??

“But it’s going. It’s going.” The thrilling sequel

“No. I’m scared of you.” “No!” yeesh-

“I believe in something.” good for you

~ once and for all scene -

“He is with us.” but like… how much?? only 99 percent????

“We could hold a hoedown here.” I feel like the person translating this just gave up by the end of the show-

“Happy to have found you again.” what did you like lose him or something

“The close.” ok yes that’s funny, but it gets even funnier when you realize it could also be translated to “the farm.”

“A little grease, and she’ll be like new.”

“This is for the guys who kill themselves at the factories.” w h a t

‘THE BANNER OF SELLERS OF JOURNALS’ I’m still not over this

~ everything that comes after that ~

“Anyone who doesn’t act in their own self interest is an idiot!” ey watch it-

also what the heck is ‘quiconque’ I swear I’ve never seen that word in my life

“We will find a way, but let’s seize the moment.” first it was “the chance” and now it’s “the moment” google translate are u okay-

They really went and changed ‘bully’ to ‘monster’ didn’t they

“You can make it.” he really makes it sound like Jack is about to die or something-

“It’s disgusting!” you’re disgusting sir

“And the world will know, we’ve been taking notes.”

“It’s a joke!” nope lol

“Goodbye, fool!” I’M LAUGHING WAY TOO HARD ABOUT THIS-

“Well you already work for my father.” “Yes.”

“Super, Jack Kelly!” I CAN’T-

“So, Jack, you’re staying?” yeah sure close enough-

“Sellers of journals on a mission!”

Das it ‘my friends’ lol. Hope you enjoyed.

[bang-tan-bitches]

MONSTER MASH 2020 ENTRY 3

Room Service

Waves hit the shoreline as Y/N scuttles quickly down the sidewalk that borders the beach. Her front desk job at the Hotel Corll is waiting to meet her at the end of the walkway. Light posts slowly line just ahead, then besides, and then behind her, flickering on as the sun sets and the icy fog rolls inland. Out of the corner of her eye, Y/N catches a glimpse of a freshly printed missing persons poster, with bold Arial black letters in contrast to the young pretty redhead with a coy smile, blue eyes peering back. She considers the expense of printing in color ink then moves on. She was already late getting out of her clinicals as it were. As she rounds up onto the hotel property she takes in the sleek lines and wooden facade of the luxury hotel, hoping tonight isn’t as busy as yesterday. She could barely keep her eyes open during her clinicals today, earning a scolding from her nursing professor much to the amusement of her fellow classmates. Bunch of morons.

​“Took you long enough!” A voice rings out as Y/N steps into the lobby. Her coworker Soohyun is waiting with a grin, coat on and purse in hand, for her to approach the desk so she could finally go home. The lobby is as intimidatingly large as it is cold. Cream marble floors lead up to the dark oak front desk, with wooden columns lined in neat even rows between the entrance and where Y/N will be standing for the rest of the night. Vaulted ceilings seem to encase the room, a remnant from the hotel prior to renovations. Though the fireplace casts a glow from the sitting area, it is difficult to penetrate the natural draftiness of the building, though its easy to blame it on the shoreline the hotel sits on.

​“Jungkook is actually already here, just had to go use the restroom,” Soohyun scoots to let Y/N place her schoolbag into the employee cubby under the desk. “Was pretty quiet today, so should be an easy night, though I’m surprised you didn’t just call off sick. You look…how do I say this, ghastly?” Y/N stands back up, pouting at the comment.

​“I would, but rent’s comin’ up soon, and you know my roommate always slacks on her half,” she says as she logs in for the start of her shift. “I’ll survive. Besides, I’m off tomorrow. I’ll just sleep in then.”

​“Alright, your choice,” Soohyun responds. “Any case, I’ll see you in the morning! Good night!”

​Her heels clack on the floor as Soohyun struts her way out of the building, posh bag in hand and not a hair out of place despite the end to a long shift. Y/N looks positively bedraggled in comparison, her flats scuffed badly on the sides and a small stain on her shirt from her attempt at chugging her coffee before getting on the bus. As she swipes in with her master key, Jungkook steps behind the desk, returning from the restroom.

​“Hey Jungkook, how’s it goin’?” Y/N asks. Jungkook just nods his head and grunts in response, doe eyes half-lidded as he quietly prepares for the shift. He is a quiet man who attends the same school that she does, though he is studying photography. Stoic and observant, he only speaks as needed, but is a hard worker and is always at the ready to tend to guest needs. Standing at his computer station, his lean height towering over Y/N, he prints out the list of remaining check ins for the night.

​“We have two VIP guests tonight. Looks like Mr. Jung extended his weeklong stay in the Hindley Suite for another night. He requested extra towels for his stay tonight. Kim Namjoon has not checked in yet though he did call to let us know he will probably be checking in late.” Jungkook reads off monotonously from his computer screen.

​“Looks like Miss Lim left a note, she says the Holmolka suite is not available to be rented out? Ah geez, did somebody trash it last night?” Y/N crumples up the pale-yellow post it that was stuck on her computer screen and tosses it in the trash.

​“Seems so,” he deadpans.

​Miss Lim is the long-time owner of the Hotel Corll, a heavy smoker with too strong Chanel No. 5 seeping from her body and too red lipstick trying to make up for lost time. With a plastic personality that matches her new nose and lips, she is a real piece of work. At least the job pays well. That reminder has served Y/N well in her comparatively shorter time working at the hotel. Nothing like the hospitality industry to suck the life out of everyone that deals with it. Miss Lim’s gaudiness reflects in her property from the gold painted- furniture to the overly lavish light fixtures that look like a Versailles fantasy from hell. However, this seems to not be a detriment to the establishment’s business. In fact, despite appearances, the hotel gained a small, loyal, and wealthy following due to the hotel’s strict confidentiality code. It has done well for Y/N’s pockets.

​About an hour after the night shift began, Seokjin, the head housekeeper, and Yoongi, the live-in handyman, walk into the lobby wearily. Their eyes are drooping in exhaustion. Seokjin’s blonde tresses gleam as several pieces of hair are left in disarray. Yoongi takes his cap off to run his well-worn hand through his hair and then returns the hat to its original position. They both make their way to signing out of work, looking as if they were both asked to run a marathon.

​“Are you two just leaving now?” Y/N asks. She looks a bit puzzled that both employees are still on the clock even though their shifts usually ended two hours earlier.

​“Had to finish essentially rebuilding the Homolka suite,” utters Yoongi. “Took damn near all day to complete.”

​“The guests from last night absolutely decimated the room, you’d have thought they were raised with by wolves!” Seokjin exclaimed. His irritation was agreed upon by Yoongi with a harumph. “Now if you excuse me, I’ve got to get home and soak my feet,” he continues. “I think they have earned their reward. Good night!” And with exhausted feet, he slowly wobbles out of the building. Yoongi simply waves his hand goodbye and makes his way to one of the two elevators to go up to his small room.

​As the evening wears on, more guests straggle in through the hotel doors and up to the front desk. The quiet mumbles of guests checking in, ringing credit cards through the clerking system to confirm their reservations, and authorizing payment becomes the soundtrack to Y/N’s evening. The monotony and false smiles are what’s getting her through the evening. At nine o’clock the long-awaited VIP guest Mr. Kim Namjoon steps through the hotel’s door. He walks up to the front desk with an even and patient gait. A false smile sits on his plush lips though it fails to reach his eyes. Like cold fisheyes Y/N thinks. Jungkook and Y/N both stand to attention, almost as if preparing to be disciplined by the school principal. With stillness and silence, Mr. Kim reaches Y/N’s section of the front desk. He always did prefer young women. The more impressionable the better.

​“Good evening Mr. Kim, how may I help you?” Y/N asks. A shiver of trepidation slithers up her spine. His handsome face just serves to accentuate the fear.

​“Just checking in, and how are you this evening?” Mr. Kim responds, the partial smile never slipping off his face. Y/N voices her learned pleasantries and decides at that moment she never wants to be caught alone unawares by this man. She takes the black card from his proffered hand to finish the check in process, the sooner the better.

​“This is the Lalaurie suite, correct?” he asks. “And to confirm, can you please make sure the complimentary room service is added to my reservation? There was a mix-up the previous time I stayed here and wouldn’t want a repeat of that, would we?” His tone says amicable and easy going, but his eyes say otherwise. His eyes convey zero tolerance for mistakes.

​“Yes, of course Mr. Kim, anything for our most loyal guest. Is there anything else you would like added to the reservation?” Y/N weakly inquires.

​“No, not at all. Oh, and I have a guest with me on this reservation, though she will be arriving later. Please call my room when she does.” And with that, Mr. Kim takes his room key and makes his way to his preferred suite. Y/N releases a sigh of relief as Jungkook’s shoulders visibly relaxes. He still says nothing.

​The night continues as a typical and quiet one for both front desk employees. Jungkook receives requests for extra towels and bathroom amenities which he delivers every so often while Y/N begins the night audit for the hotel. That is until the two figures enter the hotel and disrupt what was supposed to be a normal evening. They are covered in head to toe blue, their badges visible as is their handguns on their waists. Both men step up to Jungkook’s side of the desk. Great, the cops are here.

​“Officer Park, how may I help you?” Jungkook asks with the usual lack of enthusiasm. Of the two policemen in the hotel, Officer Park Jimin is a recognizable face amongst the staff as he is an acquaintance of Miss Lim. Or one of her many lovers as Soohyun loves to put it. Between his cocksure expression, his flirtatious demeanor, or an ass designed to fill out tight pants, the sentiment is not too far of a stretch for Y/N to believe. As for the other cop, neither Y/N nor Jungkook have ever seen the officer before. With a knowing glance between the hotel employees and Jimin, this does not bode well. And they all know it.

​“Hello, I am Officer Kim Taehyung, and apparently you seem to already know Officer Park,” Taehyung supplies with a suspicious glare thrown Park’s way. “We’re here as we’ve received an anonymous call about this place yesterday. Seems some folks happened to have been walking outside the hotel and happened to hear screaming and pleading from an open window. Would either of you happen to know anything about it?” Taehyung shifts his gaze between Jungkook and Y/N in expectation. They are more screwed than they previously thought.

​“No.” Jungkook replies as succinct as possible.

​“No,” Officer Kim straightens up and forces his shoulders back, eyebrows furrowing. His demeanor is growing more aggravated by the second. “That’s it huh? Hey, what about you?” He throws out to Y/N, who makes it a point to match Jungkook’s countenance closely. “You see anything suspicious at all?”

​“Nope, I wasn’t even working yesterday. Been off all week,” she lies through her teeth. “But, if you need to speak to the owner, you can give us your name and number and we can relay the information to her.”

​“See I would, but the girl who we came to speak to yesterday gave me the same bullshit and now I’m here again. So, I will ask one more time, what do you two know about whoever that was screaming bloody murder on your property?” says Taehyung.

​“We don’t know anything,” supplies Y/N. “Now unless you got a warrant or something, I going to have to ask you to leave. Now.” Her lips purse in barely retained frustration. She squares her shoulders and lifts her chin defiantly. She refuses to be cowed by this fool. She has encountered much worse than the likes of him.

​“You know you two could get in big trouble for lying to an officer of the law, right?” Taehyung encroaches into Y/N’s space, face molded into a sneer, dark eyes peering into hers. He was a man used to getting what he wanted. However, before he could go any further, Jimin steps in.

​“Hey, come one Tae, she’s got a point, no warrant not much we can do. And besides, you know Chief told us to drop this. Let’s go.”

​Although Officer Kim looks prepared to argue, with his partner standing down, he knows he will have to leave and regroup before anything further happens.

​“Fine,” he relents, “but I will be seeing you again. The both of you.” And with heavy steps he exits the building, fury pulsing through his body. Jimin hangs back.

​“It might be time for the boss lady to start pulling her connections for that one,” he throws his thumb over his shoulder, pointing at his partner. “Could be trouble if it isn’t nipped in the bud.” Park tips his hat, winks at Y/N, and leaves, easygoing and stride confident. Perv.

​Jungkook picks up the phone as soon as the officers leave, speed dialing Miss Lim with the update. She picks up on the first ring, fully aware of Officer Kim’s previous visit. Her words are difficult for Y/N to hear through the receiver. Despite not hearing the words, she can tell her employer is instructing Jungkook to navigate through the clerking system to look up the previous occupant of the suite. It was the Holmolka suite. With a few clicks here and there, it looks like the Mrs. Ushakova that rented the room on the aforementioned date is added to the Do Not Rent list, all her guest privileges cleared and an alert placed on her account. Mistakes as done by Mrs. Ushakova are not allowed by establishments such as the Hotel Corrl, where silence and confidentiality are sacred dogma. Her indiscretions come with repercussions. Jungkook hangs the phone up.

​With the hours flowing by, the previous lethargy felt by Y/N has now been replaced with worry due to the police’s visit. She hopes that the remainder of the night shift can continue as normal. Though that remains to be seen, as Mr. Kim’s guest now arrives. Y/N has seen her face before. In fact, she just saw her this morning, at St. Francis for her clinical rotation. The girl giggled particularly obnoxiously, in-light of Y/N’s reprimand via their professor. She just can’t seem to remember the girl’s name for the life of her. She must be more tired than she realized.

​“Call Mr. Kim’s room, he should’ve mentioned that I was supposed to be arriving.” she hadn’t even made it all the way to the front desk before she starts haughtily commanding the employees to do her bidding. Jungkook takes this as his cue to simply crouch low under the desk as if he were searching for something. He isn’t. As the girl reaches Y/N, she lays one well-manicured hand on the large oak desk while leaning on the other one. She examines her nails as though she was contemplating different acrylic shades that can replace her current pearlescent one. Y/N hesitates for a beat, a sliver of concern for her classmate becoming more discernible after another second. Unfortunately for her, the girl notices, her eyes flicking upwards.

​“Hello? I said I was expected, shouldn’t you be notifying him?” she asks, her snobbishness a blatant fixture on her person.

​After another missed beat, Y/N clicks through her computer program. She is aware of exactly who this girl is, and as such, dithers her way around the clerking system. She can’t just let her classmate go to Mr. Kim’s room, can she?

​“Sorry, he doesn’t seem to be checked in, are you sure this Mr. Kim is staying here?” Y/N asks. Jungkook side-eyes her from below, still looking for nothing.

​The girl narrows her stare, scrutinizing the female operating the front desk. Realization dawns on her as she smirks. She fails to read the near-imploring gaze her classmate working the computer gives her, a sign of precaution.

​“Oh, I know you. You’re that dumbass from this morning! At St. Francis Hospital? The one that went into the wrong patient’s room and tried to give her the wrong medication? I remember you,” the girl’s smirk expands. “Now you see, I know my date for the night is here, I have it right here in his texts,” She brings her phone up as if to show Y/N the incriminating evidence. “And I don’t think it would do so well for your job here if I just call him and let him know that you of all people are stopping him from getting my services for the night, would it? How about this, you don’t stop me from doing my job and I will make sure you don’t lose yours!” She flips her hair with a flourish. Y/N pauses for a moment, a sickeningly sweet smile appearing on her mouth.

​“Ah, it seems I have made a mistake, he has already checked in.” A few extra clicks on the computer and a newly scanned room key later, she picks up the hotel phone to make a call up to the Lalaurie suite.

​“Mr. Kim, your guest is here, shall I send her on up?” With Mr. Kim’s confirmation delivered, Y/N delivers her classmate to his suite, hospitality in full swing.

#​#​#

​ A few minutes after 3 o’clock in the morning, the front desk phone rings. Y/N is reading a chapter in her textbook about proper bedside manner whereas Jungkook is playing solitaire on his computer. Like second nature he picks up the receiver. Mr. Jung is calling. With little being said, Jungkook turns to his colleague.

​“Hey, Mr. Jung wants his extra towel service now, you think you could do it?”

​“Sure, gotta get away from this book or I might go cross-eyed.” She replies. She takes her master key and walks towards the elevator down the hall. She presses the glass button, standing in front of the elevator doors, a tacky reflective emerald green coating the doors as she waits. She looks up at the electronic number screen above the doors, the numbers still descending, five, four, three, two, one. A ding sounds out as the doors slide open and Y/N steps in, pressing for the twelfth floor, where the most important guests stay. When the doors reopen, this time many stories above ground, she takes a left down the hallway where in a small corridor next to the elevator is a well-maintained utility closet. To provide Mr. Jung his towel service, she grabs a laundry bin, a couple plastic tarps, several bottles of bleach, gloves, and many white fluffy towels made from the finest Egyptian cotton. Only quality at the Corll. Bin in hand, Y/N rolls the container down the hallway, past the elevator to one of the only three rooms on this level. Arms going jiggly from pulling the cart to its designated location she finally stops in front of the Kemper suite, Mr. Jung Hoseok’s room. She knocks on the door three times, and before a fourth one rings out, Hoseok swings the door open, blood coating his clothes and body, from his hands to his neck, splatters across his visage.

​“Oh! Thank you! You can put that over here,” he says appreciatively, pointing to a corner of the room next to the flat-screened television. Y/N rolls the bin full of supplies past the lean black haired man, across the blood soaked carpet, past the cold blue corpse lying in a pool of his own liquids, past the California King euro plush mattress to the corner of the room.

​“There you go sir. Now you do know that because you are staying in our Kemper suite you have complimentary room service, right? Are you sure you just want the extra towel service?” she asks doubtfully.

​“No, no, its fine, I always preferred doing my own disposal, I can get it just right that way!” Mr. Jung smiles enthusiastically. With a smile and a nice hundred-dollar tip in hand she looks over at the redhead splayed on the floor, blue eyes staring wide eyed at the ceiling, fear frozen in their features. She looks smaller than she did on her own poster Y/N notes, before tucking the money away and leaving the room.

​She shuts the door behind her and turns towards the elevator when she notices something at the other end of the hall. Someone is crawling. Y/N lets out a deep sigh, tucks her tip into her pocket, and stalks down the hall in exasperation. As she gets closer, she sees its her classmate from before bleeding profusely, begging for help.

​“Please, please help me! I’m- I’m dying!” she gurgles out, sobbing in between her words. Y/N bends down, and huff expelled, grabs the girl’s long hair soaked in her own blood before she starts dragging her back down the hall, back to her client’s door. She screams and cries and begs for her life, but Y/N is unphased, continues dragging her classmate to her doom. Three door knocks echo through the hallway. Namjoon opens the door, perplexed by the sight before him. He is freshly showered, a towel slung low around his hips, water still dripping down his built chest. Cold fisheyes looking back.

​“Sorry to bother you sir, seems you almost lost one.” She calmly says, as she lifts up the girl’s hair as she screams.

​“Ah, my apologies,” he then reaches down into his bag sitting by the door. “I thought I had finished with her. It seems I was incorrect.” With deft fingers he grasps the handle of a large hunting knife from the front pocket of his bag.

​“No! No! Please!! Don’t-!” and with one swift slice, Namjoon swipes the blade through the girl’s throat. She falls forward, death rattle sounding out between her lips.

​“It’s fine Mr. Kim, she couldn’t have made it far anyway.” Y/N asserted.

​“Eh, I still pride myself in thoroughness,” He wipes the knife clean on the towel slung across his hips. “Could you make sure room service comes tomorrow after I have checked out?”

​“Of course, sir, I will make sure to notate that for the morning shift. Have a good rest of your stay.” She bows her head a bit in deference and turns to make her way down the elevator.

#​#​#

​As the morning sun rises, Yoongi makes his way to the hotel lobby for the free coffee and continental breakfast served there. He yawns into the air before grabbing an apple fritter in one hand and black coffee in the other. He turns to Y/N and Jungkook still manning the front desk, counting down the minutes until they can leave. He acknowledges the both of them but before he could go finish his treat Y/N stops him.

​“Yoongi, before I forget, make sure the Lalaurie suite gets room service after Mr. Kim checks out. Its his special request.”

​“Seriously?” he grumbles, “He is always ruining our mattresses! And we then we have to replace them! Last time, the new housekeeper accidentally walked into his suite before he left and he was honest to God cuddling the body! Who does that?” Y/N shrugs in response, her eyes bloodshot. She’s ready for the nap of a lifetime. Before she gets any more exhausted, Soohyun comes in for shift relief. Thank God. Jungkook offers a short update on the cop debacle and after not much longer both employees pack up and walk out the lobby doors.

​Y/N shuffles towards her bus stop down the walkway, adjacent to the beach. She makes it past the light posts fading off, one by one as she walks past them. She walks by the missing persons poster and takes in the crisp clean air. She decides she is going to go home, sleep, and then wake up for a study session. If she wants to eventually be a top-notch nurse, she needs to act the part. She feels the tip money burning a hole through her pocket reminding her of a job well done. It gets messy but the pay is nice.

[qsdblogging]

Why It Makes Sense: The Whedonverse Theory

When people say Joss Whedon, my first thought has always been Buffy the Vampire Slayer (followed by Angel, obviously), Firefly (and Serenity), and The Cabin in the Woods. After those, it’s up in the air if I remember his input as director of the 2012 film, The Avengers. But, that one isn’t included in this theory.

Growing up on Whedon’s creations (courtesy of my dad), I got invested in the stories he told.

Now, this theory (for me, at least) surfaced in 2015 and I liked the idea of it. It’s summarized in a format through pictures, the year, and what happen during that year to follow the timeline of this theory.

If you aren’t aware of it, continue on reading, or if you are and just want to see if a fresh pair of eyes has anything new to offer in regards to a fan-favored theory, continue on.

But, fair warning, this is going to include spoilers if you haven’t watched any of the listed shows and movies.

This theory essentially starts off with Whedon’s works: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, as it is it’s spin-off series. As it takes places the earliest amongst the bunch, in the late 1990’s and early 2000's.

Buffy’s lore is the main focus of the thoery as the biggest point of all refers to active Slayers (and the Potentials, before they were activated for the most part). In the last season of Buffy, they round up any Potentials and in the final fight, get their Slayer abilities activated to turn the tide of the fight in their favor.

It broke the tradition (AKA, the magic behind it all) that the Slayer line followed. One died, a new emerged with the powers and got thrust into a world they didn’t, most likely, know about with a giant burden to bare.

Buffy, having died twice and come back both times, kept her abilities and instead of one Slayer, there were two. First, Kendra, who later got killed after meeting Buffy. When Kendra died, as she was the current activated Slayer, Faith emerged. So, when Buffy died the second time around while still being a Slayer, it didn’t cause another to emerge as she wasn’t the latest activated. Make sense?

But a while later, after all the Slayers were activated, Angel ran into his own amount of issues that had been piling up in Los Angeles.

During Angel’s final season, which is just around a year later after Buffy’s show came to a close, Wolf Ram and Heart defeated and destroyed the Circle of the Black Thorn. This causes a lot of destruction in the process and Angel’s series finale ends with those left standing ready to die fighting whatever is coming their way (including a dragon, apparently).

According to the theory, this event esstentially kickstarts the awakening of the Senior Partners. Hoping to appease them and prevent an apocalypse, The Initiative, a group Buffy deals with during her fourth season, began to give sacrifices.

That leads us to the events of The Cabin in the Woods, which takes place in 2012, barely even a decade after the events of Buffy and Angel.

A ragtag group of misfits who think they’re just taking a small trip to Curt’s cousin’s (who may or may not exist) cabin in the woods. Once there, find a few odd things and a lot of weird and strange items littering the basement of the cabin.

It’s a suspenseful scene to watch, as you get the feeling it’s what is going to make things go sideways for the group and eventually, as everyone is playing with their own chosen objects, Dana reads from a notebook and doesn’t realize the consequences the group will face from doing so.

The Buckner family, an undead redneck family, attacks the group later on in the night.

In the Initiative, who is watching everything go down on the cameras, is hoping it’ll work out for the best as they are the last chance of appeasing the Senior Partners. All of their other locations have failed in their tasks for the year of sacrificing a group.

The group members who are left, in efforts to save themselves, try leaving and run into a wall. Literally. As the movie goes on, you learn that this branch of the organization follows the five person sacrifice that most horror and thriller films seem to follow.

The Whore dies first, followed by the Jock, then the Brains. The Fool is assumed dead this time around, but we learn that this movie’s fool isn’t quite dead. The last death, the Virgin, is optional as long as she (or he) is the last to go.

Dana, the coined Virgin, is saved by Marty, the presumed dead fool. He brings her to what he found to be an elevator that the Buckner Family had crawled out of. They find themselves amongst many other elevator cages, filled with monsters and creatures alike.

It’s Dana that realizes they picked their own fate down in the basement.

Eventually those in the Initiative find the cage the two are in and try to bring them around to kill them (but, Marty has to go first). However, the two are a force to be reckoned with as they take advantage of the severed arm of a Buckner member attacking the guard and find their way into the control station for the cages.

They press a button that releases all of the creatures and monsters in their cages on the security team sent after the two remaining sacrifices. After a while of bloodshed, the two make their way around the base in hopes of finding a way out.

Along their way, they find themselves in the sacrifice room, where the Director at the time, meets them. A lot of arguing and explanations, followed by a betrayal here and there, ultimately ends with Dana and Marty saying screw it all and refusing to finish the sacrifice as the Director planned.

With sacrifices unfinished, the movie ends with the Senior Partners being unleased on the world.

But of course, that didn’t mean there was no way the Initiative ever planned for something like this, right?

Well, the Initiative planned for something like this to possibily happen because you always need to plan for the worst.

Some of humanity manages to escape the destruction on Earth that was and formed the Alliance (with heavy influences from the Initiative, we should assume).

Which brings us to the events of Firefly and Serenity.

Hundreds of years have passed before a child is born. You wouldn’t think anything of it, children are born all the time. However, the remaining remnants of the Initiative inside of the Alliance recognize her for what she is.

A Slayer. Or, at least, a Potential.

River Tam is lured into a school that is meant to challenge her intellect, but according to the theory, the experiments they held on River were attempts to trigger her Slayer abilities.

After her brother, Simon, manages to get her out after a letter in code telling him they were hurting her, the two find themselves on Serenity, a Firefly class spaceship run by essentially, space cowboys. Now, a string of events in the first episode lead to the crew deciding to go on the run and reluctantly keeping Simon and River on board.

But, as the two siblings stay on for longer then Mal had planned and originally wanted them on for, attachments are formed and the need to do the right thing takes over.

The first, and only, season of Firefly gets cut short (and aired out of order, but that’s a whole other thing) and there’s a lot of loose ends that didn’t get tied up.

With one last chance to tie things up, Whedon puts out Serenity, the movie surrounding the crew’s adventure on figuring out what exactly River knew that the Alliance didn’t want her to know.

Originally, River and Simon were meant to leave the crew in the beginning of the film, but some things lead to another and a few extra details are revealed. The crew was made well aware of River’s uncanny ability to shoot a gun without even looking at her targets, but watching her fight and take down multiple people bigger than her was a strange occurence, I’m sure.

It’s the first moment you see her supposed Slayer abilities.

By the end of the movie, things are revealed, some deaths happen to beloved characters, River has finally tapped into her Potential and is an active Slayer, and you get an explanation of who and what exactly Reavers are.

But, for this theory, it’s been mentioned that maybe the Reavers are simply Vampires who managed to get aboard the escape from Earth after the rise of the Senior Partners, and driven to extremes in order to survive in space themselves.

A Slayer had been born again, restarting the Slayer cycle, and there was a chance that things could go back to how they used to be.

Not sure how it would happen, but the basics of the theory make sense. Obviously there are specifics that are harder to include and most likely make sense of in regards to all of this, but in the grand gist of it all, it makes sense.

It’s a fun little theory that can connect multiple works made by one person.

Now, obviously this wasn’t a shortened version of the theory. And there have been some portions of the theory put into question, especially in regards to some of Whedon’s other works.

Dollhouse, Fray as a character in the comics, and The Avengers.

Personally, I don’t include the Avengers in this. It’s Marvel and Whedon was the director of the film for it, but I don’t see it fitting in with this particular theory in any way. People have included it (mostly S.H.I.E.L.D being with the Initiative became, but it just doesn’t make any sense to me given Marvel as it’s own identity), but I prefer not to.

As for Dollhouse, I never actually watched the show. My dad did, but I was too young at the time to be allowed to watch it and I was just never interested in it. Maybe one day I’ll get around to it, but this meant I had to do a little bit of digging to understand this a bit more.

For most of the takes on this theory that have mention the show, mention it may just take place in the parallel universe. They, as in parallel universes, were confirmed to exist in Buffy, Angel, and the comics that continue after them, it’s a plausible theory.

This also means that this theory could follow a majority of the canon information from the shows, films, and comics mentioned, before dividing into it’s own events. It simply means that some things that were difficult to explain in specifics may just be different in this theory’s parallel universe.

So, Dollhouse could take place in the same universe, but events could have differed greatly by universe. We don’t know for sure.

That, in all, also explains the comic series by Whedon surrounding Melaka Fray, a Slayer from a future timeline where things are a little post-apocalyptic on Earth. Monsters run amock and eventually, Fray emerges. Now, it could mean there’s a parallel world where the Avengers and Buffy take place in the same world, but I still don’t like that idea, so I ignore it.

Parallel universes are just a lot of fun to imagine, and in worlds like these, could mean a lot in the grand scheme of it all.

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 11 March 2019

Quick Bits:

Age of Conan: Bêlit #1 expands Marvel’s Conan franchise further with the beginning of this limited series featuring the early days of the notorious pirate Queen of the Black Coast. Tini Howard, Kate Niemczyk, Jason Keith, and Travis Lanham deliver a compelling story setting up the tragedy of Bêlit’s early life and her one-track mind for adventure on the high seas.

| Published by Marvel

Amazing Spider-Man #17, after two preludes (one branded, one not) and a simmering sub-plot of Taskmaster and Black Ant kidnapping the villains running for months, finally gives us part one of “Hunted” from Nick Spencer, Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba, Edgar Delgado, and Joe Caramagna. And it’s essentially more set-up. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still great, building anticipation for the hunt to really start in earnest, but it’s a slow build.

| Published by Marvel

Animosity #19 starts trying to pick up the pieces after the fall of the Walled City. There’s some very interesting questions raised regarding survival and existence from Marguerite Bennett in this one, as both the animals and humans try to figure out a way to bridge the divide.

| Published by AfterShock

Asgardians of the Galaxy #7 concludes this arc with Sera and the Ravagers, as they team up to help refugees and Ego, the Living Planet. I still think it’s weird to see essentially the movie version of Yondu in present day 616 continuity, but Cullen Bunn keeps this fun. I suspect that Sera/Angela fans will still be disappointed, though.

| Published by Marvel

Assassin Nation #1 is the exciting debut of this action thriller, somewhat in the vein of Skybound’s other title Die!Die!Die! mixing elements of extreme violence, action, and a bit of humour, from Kyle Starks, Erica Henderson, and Deron Bennett. It’s a damn good set up, immersing us into a world of assassins jockeying for a number one spot, screwing one another over and turning on them for the highest bidder, with two interesting hooks of “Chekhov’s Gun” trying to figure out who’s trying to kill him and Bishop searching for who killed his husband. Phenomenal art from Henderson, with some very inventive death sequences.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Avengers: No Road Home #5 takes it up another notch as the Avengers continue to battle against Nyx and her children, this time narrated by Scarlet Witch. The fight on Nightmare’s front gets particularly interesting as we see how scary Hulk has really become, along with a humorous fight between Hawkeyes. Sean Izaakse and Marcio Menyz really turn in some incredible artwork here. And the final scene is pretty savage.

| Published by Marvel

The Batman Who Laughs: The Grim Knight #1 isn’t something I was going to pick up, but I saw some gushing about it from people I trust and decided on a last minute purchase. Like the rest of the Batman Who Laughs mini-series, this is dark, giving us a “Batman” who picked up the gun that was used to murder his parents, and, though technically proficient, isn’t really for me. What I do really appreciate, though, is the artwork from Eduardo Risso and Dave Stewart. It is gorgeous, with Risso continuing to explore some of the softer, painted style that he’s used in Moonshine and Hit-Girl. It really is worth the price of admission.

| Published by DC Comics

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #3 continues to be one of my favourite comics each month. Jordie Bellaire, Dan Mora, Raúl Angulo, and Ed Dukeshire are presenting a story here that so perfectly captures the spirit and fun of the television series, while also just being a great original tale. It’s fun to see the old faces in new situations, but it’s also an enjoyable story in its own right, introducing us to the characters and tossing them into the chaos.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

By Night #9 gives us Jane’s mom’s history with Charlesco and more or less the origin of the portal and the experiment. It’s particularly interesting as John Allison, Christine Larsen, Sarah Stern, and Jim Campbell tell the story in the visual style of an early ‘90s comic. There’s even a nice little nod to the Marvel Bullpen in there.

| Published by Boom Entertainment / BOOM! Box

Calamity Kate #1 introduces us to Kate, Vera, Jade and a world of monster hunting in this debut from Magdalene Visaggio, Corin Howell, Valentina Pinto, and Zakk Saam. Between this, The Girl in the Bay, and the forthcoming Dark Red, I’m loving the higher profile that Howell is carving for herself. She’s a great artist with excellent versatility.

| Published by Dark Horse

Catwoman #9 is a fill-in issue from Ram V, John Timms, and Josh Reed that’s one part revenge tale and one part heist, resulting overall in one hell of a good single issue. There’s a nice sense of rhythm and pacing to the story that fits with the theme of the heist, with some great artwork.

| Published by DC Comics

Cover #6 brings what has been one of the most unique, ambitious, and inventive uses of the comics medium I’ve seen in a long time to a close, with a bit of conversation and some gorgeous art from Brian Michael Bendis, David Mack, Zu Orzu, and Carlos M. Mangual. It get even more meta this issue, along with the usual multi-layered storytelling that delves into the comics world.

| Published by DC Comics / Jinxworld

Cyber Force #9 more or less completes the gathering of the team, presenting a bit of a quiet moment to collect themselves before setting up a confrontation with Cyberdata. There’s some interesting soul-searching between Dominique and Ripclaw on whether or not with the change they’re still them. And, as usual, the art from Atilio Rojo is pretty much worth the price of admission on its own.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

The Empty Man #5 has some gorgeous artwork by Jesús Hervás and Niko Guardia, especially among the repeating cycles of the opening and closing scenes.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

The Flash #66 brings back the single issue Rogue profile format for an origin story of the original Trickster, James Jesse, from Joshua Williamson, Scott Kolins, Luis Guerrero, and Steve Wands. Great art from Kolins and Guerrero.

| Published by DC Comics

The Freeze #4 concludes the first arc, with a very satisfying reveal of the serial killer and confirmation on a few other ongoing plot threads that nicely serve as a hook for future arcs. I’m really enjoying this one. Dan Wickline, Phillip Sevy, and Troy Peteri are telling a very compelling story here about essentially rebuilding society from a very different form of cataclysm, with some wonderful character-building and enough intrigue to keep you on your toes.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Grimm Tales of Terror #13 is one of the better recent issues, with Joe Brusha, Umberto Giampà, Fran Gamboa, JC Ruiz, and Fabio Amelia diving into the story of a true crime writer investigating a serial killer in Detroit utilizing the signatures of other famous serial killers. There are a few really nice twists throughout the tale.

| Published by Zenescope

Gunning for Hits #3 throws a few wrinkles into Martin’s plans for Stunted Growth and Brian Slade as Slade’s bodyguard, “Mr. Gladstone”, causes problems while trying to extort Martin. This continues to be a dense, but satisfying, read every month. It feels like Jeff Rougvie, Moritat, and Casey Silver are just packing in as much content as they possibly can.

| Published by Image

Hawkman #10 features a larger than life confrontation between Hawkman and Idamm. Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, and Jeremiah Skipper deliver nicely on that widescreen epic feel of the assault on London.

| Published by DC Comics

Hit-Girl Season 2 #2 gets up close and personal with the uglier side of Hollywood as Kevin Smith, Pernille Ørum, Sunny Gho, and Clem Robins continue their arc featuring the adaptation of Hit-Girl’s side of the story from Kick-Ass by the film industry. Things get a little complicated.

| Published by Image

House Amok #5 concludes what has been an excellent, mind-bending series exploring truth and delusion and the power of family, from Christopher Sebela, Shawn McManus, Lee Loughridge, and Neil Uyetake. This finale doesn’t give any easy answers and actually raises a few more questions, all with some gorgeous artwork from McManus and Loughridge.

| Published by IDW / Black Crown

James Bond: Origin #7 begins “Russian Ruse” with Ibrahim Moustafa and Roman Stevens taking over art duties, joining Jeff Parker and Simon Bowland in this tale of essentially piracy in the Barents Sea. Nice set up of the Russians’ duplicity here and an inept Commander not listening to Bond’s observations.

| Published by Dynamite

Justice League Dark #9 unleashes the Lords of Order against pretty much everyone, causing death and destruction as they try to “cleanse” reality of the chaos they think infests it. Between them and the Otherkind, things aren’t looking particularly cheery for existence. Incredible artwork from Alvaro Martínez Bueno, Miguel Mendonça, Raul Fernandez, and Brad Anderson.

| Published by DC Comics

Little Bird #1 is an experience. Darcy Van Poelgeest, Ian Bertram, Matt Hollingsworth, and Aditya Bidikar launch a dystopian future where a theocratic America seems to rule with an iron fist and a pocket resistance holds out in the Canadian Rockies. There’s a bit of a feel of Akira here, and Grendel: God and the Devil, maybe even a little Martha Washington, but still with its own unique elements and some seriously awesome art from Bertram and Hollingsworth.

| Published by Image

Livewire #4 concludes the first arc with a nice bit of soul-searching as Amanda comes to terms with what she did during Harbinger Wars 2. Between this, Age of X-Man: Prisoner X, and this week’s Shuri, Vita Ayala is definitely on fire right now. They’re doing some great character-driven work and it shines in this finale. Also, Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín can do no wrong. The layouts on this book are stunning.

| Published by Valiant

The Magnificent Ms. Marvel #1 is the beginning of a new era for Kamala Khan from Saladin Ahmed, Minkyu Jung, Juan Vlasco, Ian Herring, and Joe Caramagna. Using a kind of fable narration, setting up something new for the future while dealing with a continuation from Kamala’s current status in the presents, is a nice approach from Ahmed. It also marks a good jumping-on point for new readers as it recaps more or less what you need to know about Ms. Marvel’s history. Beautiful art from Jung, Vlasco, and Herring.

| Published by Marvel

Murder Falcon #6 is an epic, face-melting issue. Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer give us a bit of a tearjerker as Anne comes to terms with her situation with Jake and finally finds her voice. It’s really incredible. Also, giant monsters and metal.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Oblivion Song #13 jumps ahead three years for a new status quo, a few shuffled faces, and new situations for many of the cast of characters, providing an excellent jumping on point for new readers. There are some interesting bits about harnessing the flora and fauna of Oblivion for medical advances and the growing mystery about what the Faceless Men are doing. Gorgeous art as always from Lorenzo De Felici and Annalisa Leoni. De Felici really does some amazing reaction shots.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Old Man Quill #3 advances the Guardians’ story a bit further as they celebrate what little hope they’ve brought to the Wastelands, while hell in various forms circulates around them. It certainly pretty bleak, even in the good times.

| Published by Marvel

Outer Darkness #5 drops hell on the crew’s head as they crash on a relatively inhospitable ice planet with an ancient evil prowling and the crew at “Each Other’s Throats”. Also, naked cat girls. John Layman, Afu Chan, and Pat Brosseau are doing an incredible job with this mix of sci-fi and horror and the stakes seem to have been raised this issue.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Shuri #6 begins a two-part guest arc from Vita Ayala, Paul Davidson, Tríona Farrell, and Joe Sabino as Shuri travels to New York in search for the Lubber. Great art from Davidson and Farrell and Ayala has a wonderful feel for Miles and Shuri’s voices.

| Published by Marvel

Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #6 continues to suss out a new role for Gwen now that her identity is public and she’s returned to her own Earth. The character building that Seanan McGuire is doing here is pretty spectacular, especially given how strong the interpersonal relationships in the series were to begin with under Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez. Also, the art from Takeshi Miyazawa and Ian Herring is perfect.

| Published by Marvel

Star Wars: Age of Republic - General Grievous #1 is the last of these Age of Republic one-shots from Jody Houser, with Age of Rebellion coming next from Greg Pak and a rotating team of Chris Sprouse, Marc Laming, and others. This one focuses on Grievous and is a nice look into what he traded of himself in order to become the even worse monster that we see in the prequel trilogy and Clone Wars.

| Published by Marvel

The Stone King #4 concludes what has been a wonderful light fantasy adventure Comixology original series from Kel McDonald and Tyler Crook. There’s an interesting throughline in the story of responsibility for family versus responsibility for the greater society that comes to a head here, along with misunderstandings continuing to cause conflict. It’s not exactly a happy ending, but there is a set up for something more down the road that I’d love to see. Beautiful artwork from Crook.

| Published by Kel McDonald

Supergirl #28 concludes her jaunt with the Omega Men and the Supergirl clones, opening up more questions about The Circle and the destruction of Krypton. I’ve enjoyed the circuitous route Marc Andreyko has been taking us on to advance Supergirl’s mission, tossing bits of side adventure in growing out of her search, but it feels like we’re going to get down to brass tacks soon. Great art again this issue from Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira, FCO Plascencia, and Chris Sotomayor. Pansica does some great horror and creature work and it shines through in the Kryptonian monstrosities. 

| Published by DC Comics

Superman #9 tells of Jonathan’s ordeal trapped on Earth 3, tortured at the hands of Ultraman. Great art from Brandon Peterson and Alex Sinclair during the Earth 3 sequences. It’s also interesting to see that dream still haunting Superman.

| Published by DC Comics

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder in Hell #2 continues to be revelatory. Mateus Santolouco, Marcelo Costa, and Shawn Lee are doing some incredible work as Shredder continues to be plagued by nightmares, demons, and the undead as he tries to figure out his way through hell and his status as a vessel for the dragon god’s spirit. Over the years, Santolouco has grown exponentially as a storyteller and this is just a masterpiece.

| Published by IDW

Titans #35 continues the team’s nightmare excursion to Unearth, fighting a possessed enraged Beast Boy, Raven’s angry aggressive side, and Mother Blood as we head into the series conclusion next issue. This is a very entertaining story from Dan Abnett, Bruno Redondo, Christian Duce, Marcelo Maiolo, and Dave Sharpe, really putting the team behind the 8-ball wondering how they’re going to get out of this mess. If they get out this mess.

| Published by DC Comics

Tony Stark: Iron Man #9 continues the “Stark Realities” arc, nicely advances Controller’s assault on Stark Industries, the eScape users causing havoc, the mole within Stark, and the corruption causing Tony’s current simulation, from Dan Slott, Jim Zub, Valerio Schiti, Paolo Rivera, Edgar Delgado, and Joe Caramagna. Some really interesting possible revelations about Tony during this issue.

| Published by Marvel

Transformers #1 begins a new continuity, a new universe, a new era for the Transformers, from Brian Ruckley, Angel Hernandez, Cachét Whitman, Joana Lafuente, and Tom B. Long, as we start off some time in the past of Cybertron, before Autobots or Deceptions, as Bumblebee watches over a newly-forged Cybertronian as he makes his first decisions. We also get bits of an uprising of “Ascenticons”, though their ideals and motivations aren’t really explained, just showing a disagreement between longtime friends Megatron and Orion Pax (not Optimus Prime yet). It’s not bad, with some nice bits of humour, and there is an interesting mystery for a cliffhanger, but it is slow. The art is nice, but like the story there’s nothing flashy about this right now. I’ll certainly give it a few more issues, but there’s really nothing “bold” about this new era. Don’t expect something radical out of the first issue, this one plays it pretty safe.

| Published by IDW

Winter Soldier #4 delves into RJ’s father, Richie, attempting to get back into his life. It’s heartfelt and bittersweet, with Kyle Higgins, Rod Reis, and Clayton Cowles delivering a gripping tale with one hell of a set up for the final issue. Reis’ art remains absolutely incredible.

| Published by Marvel

Wonder Twins #2 is more fun from Mark Russell, Stephen Byrne, and Dave Sharpe. There’s some nice commentary on the state of corporate run prisons in the United States in amongst a humorous send-up of z-list villains in the Legion of Doom’s farm team, the League of Annoyance. Great art from Byrne.

| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics

Other Highlights: Accell #19, Auntie Agatha’s Wayward Home for Rabbits #5, Blackbird #6, Dark Ark #15, GI Joe: A Real American Hero - Silent Option #4, Go Go Power Rangers #18, The Goon #1, Head Lopper #11, House of Whispers #7, LaGuardia #4, The Life and Death of Toyo Harada #1, The Long Con #7, Marvel Action: Spider-Man #2, Marvels Annotated #2, The Maxx 100 Page Giant, Prodigy #4, The Punisher #9, Radio Delley, Rick & Morty Presents Jerry #1, Riverdale: Season 3 #1, Runaways #19, Spider-Man/Deadpool #47, Star Trek: Discovery - Captain Saru, Star Wars: Han Solo - Imperial Cadet #5, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #42, Wonder Woman #66

Recommended Collections: Astonisher - Volume 3: Black Hat, Batman vs. Deathstroke, By Night - Volume 1, Defenders: The Best Defense, Infinite Dark - Volume 1, Mata Hari,  Moonstruck - Volume 2, Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons, Shadowman - Volume 3: Rag & Bone, She Could Fly, Sleepless - Volume 2, Star Wars Adventures - Volume 5: Mechanical Mayhem, Strangers in Paradise XXV - Volume 2: Hide and Seek, Trout - Volume 1: Bits & Bobs, Vampironica - Volume 1, The War of the Realms Prelude

d. emerson eddy knows a muffin man.

[mittensmorgul]

I've got Pac Man Fever on in the background for the meta rewatch, and one of the first things we learn is that the bunker isn't trackable to within a 20 mile radius. And all I can think is that like Dean with the Colt, trusting too much in it because it's apparently invincible.

Sam and Dean continued trusting in the security of the bunker because it was so incredible this way. We know the Colt still had five things it couldn't kill (and not WHAT those things are), yet Dean trusted it to kill an at-the-time unidentified god in 12.18. And nearly got himself killed by a plain-old human, because there's still the factor of reliably being able to point it at the thing and shoot it.

Even after 12.17 and how they missed Dagon with it...

It's just a tool, but they'd put ALL their faith in it...

Overconfidence is... a form of hubris.

And all season I’ve been yelling about how hubris is bad.

It seems like they’d put way too much trust in the security and sanctity of the bunker. You’d think they’d have learned after pretty much EVERYONE invaded the place at one point or another in the last few years...

Yet they STILL trusted in the building they’d come to think of as “home.” Even after finding the MoL’s listening devices. They brought Toni back there, even after hearing her prattle on about how the MoL was responsible for all the hunter deaths, even knowing that they killed Mick for being “too sympathetic” to the Winchesters’ views, and even after Mary’s warning phone call that they had a problem followed by their complete inability to find or contact her since that warning. Even knowing that the bastards HAD KEYS TO THE BUNKER.

That’s hubris, and hubris is bad.

Despite the pileup of subtext pointing to Dean’s instinctive mistrust of these people, the fact that he’s been so on-the-nose RIGHT about so much this season, he certainly has a couple of blind spots big enough to drive the Impala through.

He never even questioned how the MoL came by the Colt? Possibly because he was simply too relieved or pleased to have it back at all.

That’s hubris, and hubris is bad.

They trusted in Mary, who they don’t even really know. And who definitely doesn’t really know them. She thinks she knows them via John’s journal, and since the beginning of the season we’ve seen Dean resisting telling her the worst of the truth about their lives. He hadn’t wanted to overwhelm her. He hadn’t wanted her to feel like he was blaming her for what happened after she died. It’s not like she knew all of that stuff would happen-- that John would be consumed by revenge for her death, that their entire lives would become devoted to the one thing she never wanted for them because of her death. It seemed unfair to Dean at the beginning of the season to burden her with that knowledge when she was still adjusting to suddenly being alive again at all...

12.18 invited us to ponder what Sam and Dean’s legacy would be. In an episode where a horrifying family legacy of murder and greed had been buried and ignored for 20 years resurfaced and doubled down on the horror and greed. The sheriff had tried to bury and ignore the root of his family’s evil deeds while fixing up all the “surface level” wrongs his family had inflicted on the town they essentially owned. He sold it off to the people who lived and worked there. He even gave his half-brother the company that had been the backbone of the town, and he himself took on the mantle of justice for the people by becoming the sheriff.

Yet even when faced with the evidence that his family’s long-buried legacy might be coming back to haunt him, he passively ignored the threat. Yes, he eventually experienced doubt and went to check to make sure Moloch was still safely locked away, but while he’d been busy trying to ignore the monster’s existence, the other surviving member of his family had uncovered the secret for himself. His brother was lured in by Moloch’s promises, and a desperate, selfish drive to have the life he felt he deserved but had always been denied.

In his fervor, he not only capitulated to the monster’s desire for blood, HE FREED IT from the prison where it had been contained for more than a hundred years. Suddenly it wasn’t one death a year to appease the god, it was a string of deaths. Like the god had extra leverage over him because he hadn’t seen the bigger picture.

This is Mary, who was so desperate to make the life she’d intended to for her family, the life she felt she’d been denied by circumstance. But she didn’t have all the facts-- either about her own family’s history OR the Men of Letters. Yet she signed up to work with them anyway. Despite her doubts, despite the fact she instinctively, on some level, knew it was wrong enough that she hid her mission from Sam and Dean in 12.12, and then STILL didn’t tell them the truth when she discovered how shady the whole operation was.

Mary’s hubris has led to the loss of her free will, now subsumed by the Men of Letters’ agenda. She realized too late that she’d put her faith in the wrong place. She’d pinned her personal hopes and desires to an evil force because on the surface they seemed to share her end goals, and was willing to turn a blind eye to their blatantly obvious faults. To the hubris of the underlying agenda itself.

This is also Crowley, whose motives for diverting Lucifer from the cage in the first place seem like pure hubris anyway, A hubris compounded by his willingness to deal with the Men of Letters and his repeated tormenting of Lucifer. And Crowley’s hubris has led to him seeking refuge from the fate he’d made for himself by literally becoming a rat and being tossed out with the trash. Not fucking subtle, bucklemming.

So Sam and Dean have ended up trapped within their own “legacy,” the bunker that they’d gradually made their own without knowing the full extent of the baggage that came along with it, that some portion of the Men of Letters survived Abaddon’s slaughter in 1958 to become even more secretive and radicalized in their isolation. Sam instinctively wanted to trust them, because nothing he’d found in the bunker had made him believe that the Men of Letters might have evil intentions. He desperately wanted to believe the best of these people despite the evidence of his own experiences at their hands. He didn’t trust HIMSELF over their self-proclaimed superior knowledge and goals. Now that’s all come back around to bite everyone in the ass.

Dean’s been ignoring or suppressing his own instincts all season, despite being confronted with confirmation that his instincts were right all along. But his lack of faith in himself has a lot of baggage attached to it and THAT is what I believe he’s been working through. In the past he’s tried to enforce his will over that of others (see: his instincts about Ruby and how he pushed Sam away by trying to enforce his will, his instincts about Cas in s6, his own poor choices in s8 and s9 that culminated in him practically destroying the universe because he tried to enforce his own will by thinking it was a good idea to slam the gates of Hell... which led to the COSMIC CONSEQUENCES (i.e. cavalcade of dominoes falling that ended up releasing the Darkness and nearly ending the universe), and then having God himself rest the burden of looking after the Earth in Dean’s hands in 11.23. But he blames himself for ALL of it.

I’m watching 8.22 right now (hello, Dabb), watching Sarah Blake die because of his choices.

I can’t honestly say this loud enough. EVERYTHING THAT HAS HAPPENED ON THE SHOW SINCE 12.09 IS THE COSMIC CONSEQUENCES. Really, everything that’s happened since Mary was resurrected at the end of 11.23 has been a cascade of increasingly dire consequences. Billie had tried to set the natural order to rights SEVERAL TIMES over the early part of the season, asking Mary to choose to go back to Heaven where she belonged, but it had still been her choice at that point, and she rejected the offer.

In 12.09, Mary was ready to accept her own death in the fulfillment of Dean’s deal with Billie, but Cas spared her from paying the price. Honestly, he didn’t do it for MARY, but for DEAN. What would it have done to Dean at that point to have Mary pay the price for his own failure? Because that’s how it would’ve felt to him. It would’ve broken him. Instead, Mary’s been given a free pass to continue existing, and to continue screwing with the Natural Order.

COSMIC CONSEQUENCES.

Dean still hasn’t found the balance in himself that he’d helped bring about in the universe. The balance between trusting in his own will versus forcing that will on anyone else. Trying to bend others to his will has a long, long history of failure attached to it. And yet standing all the way back like Chuck and just passively observing these consequences unfolding despite that itching instinct to intervene hasn’t actually resulted in anything good either.

COSMIC CONSEQUENCES.

Cas felt like he’d failed Sam and Dean in 12.09 by not being able to find and save them from prison. He doubted himself so much that he wasn’t even able to carry out a normal hunt on his own when we know he’d become a shockingly effective hunter in his own right over the last few years. Self-doubt, lack of self-worth, all over the loss of Sam and Dean... led directly to the events of 12.12 where he nearly paid the price with his own life (except for the interference of Crowley, he would have).

(Heck, I’m watching 8.23 right now. This isn’t a new theme for Cas...)

He’s still trying to atone from his decision to say yes to Lucifer in 11.10. That’s the genesis of an awful lot of the cosmic consequences we’re dealing with now, after all. His failure to protect Sam and Dean in 12.08, however, is a driving force behind his current spate of terrible choices in a misguided attempt to protect them from paying those cosmic consequences on his behalf.

The tricky thing about cosmic consequences is that you simply can’t walk past them and ignore the inciting incident that kicked them all off in the first place. Like the Barrett family’s buried secret-- the literal god buried under their basement floor, the foundations of their entire lives, or even Dean refusing to kill that little girl in 6.11, our original introduction to Cosmic Consequences-- you can push them down and try to ignore them and hope they’ll go away. You can run around trying to clean up the resulting chain reaction of terrible consequences as they erupt into flames all around you, but until the original imbalance is corrected and the truth is unearthed and dealt with directly, that’s all they’ve been able to do.

Cas’s self-doubt, like Dean said in 12.19, has blinded him to the danger he was in. He’d said yes to Lucifer in 11.10, voluntarily handing his free will over to Lucifer, and he’s never really had a chance to reclaim that agency. It seems that everything he’s tried to do since then has been a rather futile effort to reclaim that agency.

I’ve said it so many times this season, but Cas “wished” for faith, and he was slammed with it. And the wishes turn bad. The wishes turn very bad. I think one of the main reasons it was so easy for the nephilim to inflict its will on Cas was that he’d surrendered that will in 11.10 and never fully reclaimed it. He hasn’t asserted it for himself again, instead acting on his own, scrambling around blindly trying to put everything else right while the original act of surrender remains unrevoked.

COSMIC. CONSEQUENCES.

That’s all any of this is, really. That’s the whole story right there.

It’s not about who has to pay the price, it’s about going back and reversing the entire original story. It’s about getting a second chance to put right those original wrongs. It’s about realizing that we can’t just have what we want, because that’s not how life works. Back in 4.08 Sam and Dean were in a very different place to where they are now. Even back in 6.11 when Dean began learning this lesson on a cosmic scale. It’s not just about cleaning up their messes, it’s about finding balance between the natural order and free will. And remembering that no one person’s will should decide the fate of the entire universe at the expense of the natural order.

[mister-69]

CAPCOM'S INJUSTICES TO THEIR FANS

Many beloved franchises came from Capcom. They started the fighting game genre with Street Fighter. They gave us everyone's favorite blue bomber, Mega Man. They popularized the horror game concept with Resident Evil. They gave us Monster Hunter, which has a large cult following because of its online playability.

But in all of their success and growth, Capcom has lost touch with its fans and became an incredibly greedy company. They have abused DLC, released incomplete games, forced current games to become obsolete with re-releases, and seriously mishandled their franchises.

DLC

DLC has been at the center of Capcom's greed, so it is the best place to start. Capcom is not the first company to utilize DLC, but they were certainly one of the pioneers who invented its widespread practice. 

Alternate costumes or skins have always been an additional paid item, so I will not fault Capcom for creating hundreds of costumes for their games—even though many of them were developed pre-launch and used as a pre-order incentive. What I will fault them for however, is taking away a portion of a complete product on the disc and selling it as DLC.

First, in Marvel vs Capcom 3, retailers leaked that Jill and Shuma-Gorath would be DLC characters. This was before the game came out, and before the full roster was even revealed. For news of DLC characters to come out this early meant that the characters have already been completed but are being sold for extra profit. This was confirmed by data miners once they got their hands on the game.

Data miners also exposed Capcom's DLC tactic in the notorious case of Street Fighter x Tekken. They discovered that the 12 characters who were planned to be released as DLC were already on the disc! In other words, players were paying to unlock content already on their disc, instead of paying for content that was developed post-release.

Naturally, fans were outraged and demanded an explanation. Capcom replied with several poor excuses but the biggest one was "We wanted to save hard drive space on your consoles." In reality, developers don't care about how much HD space players have, and players don't ask developers to make their products take up less space. This is Capcom's poor attempt at disguising their greedy tactics as a favor towards the player.

Fast forward to Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite, and it's painfully clear that Capcom doesn't care about their reputation anymore. Their games have grown so big in communities and popularity that they know it will sell. Half a year before the game's release date, Capcom announced that there would be a season pass for 6 DLC characters. One of which is actually in the main storyline, causing fans to wonder if the character was already complete before release.

Judging by our experience with Street Fighter x Tekken, it's guaranteed that these characters will have already been developed by the time the game launches. And unlike SFV, there will not be a method to earn in-game currency to unlock these characters. In other words, Capcom is going full speed ahead with making players pay for a roster. Keep in mind that Infinite's initial roster size is smaller than Marvel 3, and Marvel 3's definitive version with extra characters is still smaller than Marvel 2's. So if you've been supporting the series, you’re getting less but paying more. 

RE-RELEASED GAMES

No one does re-releases worse than Capcom. The second iteration of Street Fighter IV, Super, was released as a separate disc rather than an optional upgrade for players who already own the original disc. So players who have kept up since the original release would have to pay a total of $100.00 to continue playing. This was the same case between MvC3 and Ultimate MvC3.

But for later iterations of SFIV, Arcade Edition and Ultra, players were given the option to upgrade from Super via DLC. And it's entirely possible with SFV, since that's how new characters are patched into the game. Capcom justified Super SFIV by saying that a separate disc was needed because of how much the game has changed between the different versions. However, this is yet again another poor excuse. Unless the game's core assets are changed, there is no reason to release a separate disc. You don't even have to understand how game programming works to know this. Just look at all the mods for PC games like Skyrim— everything can be drastically changed in a patch.

When SFV was announced, Capcom promised their fans there not be a re-release of the game. They intend to support the game over a long period of time with seasonal DLC characters. Not even a year later, the game has already begun to decline because players are not satisfied with the game’s balance and design. This is an opinion shared by both the casual and competitive gamers of all nationalities. The game is in dire need of a “rebirth” so we shall see if Capcom will break their promise and release Super SFV.  

INCOMPLETE GAMES:

Developers will try to be subtle with DLC and insist that it's to "add" to our gameplay experience, to "prolong" our enjoyment. Often times, what fans really find out is that the game is incomplete in terms of playability or content. And the "extra content" being sold as DLC, is actually an essential part to having a complete experience of the game, rather than a continuation of the experience.

There is no better example than Capcom's SFV. SFV was released with only 16 characters, no Arcade mode, a dysfunctional online mode and a barebones story mode. Yes, the fighting game genre has grown to the point where much of the playability is now in tournaments and online play, but this is hardly enough for newcomers who are spending $60.00 for an incomplete game!

Secondly, the price of DLC characters far exceeded the ease of earning in-game currency. In-game currency could only be earned once each mode, and once each character. In other words, there was a cap on in-game currency that can be earned. And very few people would be willing or able to complete Hard mode Survival with all of the characters.

In-game currency could also be earned by playing online, but players would have to grind it out despite Capcom saying you only have to "play a few hours here and there." But with dysfunctional online gameplay and constant server maintenance, players had even less time to play online. All in all, you'd have to invest a large amount of time to earn any of the characters if you want to avoid paying extra money for DLC characters.

The entire point of having an option to buy DLC characters for free was to compensate for the small starting roster, and their long-term goal of adding characters to the game. But they limited the ability to earn in-game currency so that players would be more inclined to purchase season passes. It wasn't until Season 2 that Capcom finally released more options to earn in-game currency, but they do little to help the costs of purchasing a DLC character.

With SFV, Capcom became a little more clever with their tactics. They come off as doing players a favor by having an in-game method of earning currency. But an average player would not want to put in so much time playing the game just to earn enough, so they would end up purchasing season passes anyway.

Even more than a year later, players are still unsatisfied with SFV as a product. It still lacks an Arcade mode, the cinematic story was a disappointment, there are numerous balance issues, and Capcom has still yet to address the many complaints of the game.

With Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite on the horizon, many feel that Capcom will not change their methods. First, Capcom has already announced a Season Pass for 6 DLC characters. Second, there is no in-game currency to purchase any of these characters. So right off the bat, MvC:I's complete roster will be monetized because of Capcom's greed. Even if players are interested in the game, they would have to shell out maybe twice or thrice the retail amount to have all the characters.  

MISHANDLING THEIR FRANCHISES

All of the above is proof that Capcom is mishandling their video game franchises. But no franchise has been treated worse than the Mega Man series. You will never see another franchise this popular and have no games made for it. Anniversary re-releases and mobile games don’t count.

It all started with Mega Man Legends 3, one of the biggest video game announcements of its time. Developers constantly updated us on Twitter and involved the fans with polls. And yet somehow, Capcom screwed up everything as usual.

Several months into development, they announced that a Prototype version of this game would be released. Essentially, it was the game’s prologue chapter released as a demo. Fans were pretty excited that they were going to get a taste of the game in the near future... except there were two problems.

First of all, fans would have to pay for it. That's right folks, what's supposed to be a free sample to the game is being sold as a product. Secondly, Capcom announced that development of the game hinges on the success of the Prototype’s sales. When you think about it, this is not that different than a ransom. Mega Man Legends 3's future is being held hostage by Capcom, and fans have to pay up money if they want to see the whole game.

Not only is this one of the worst video game development decisions ever made, it is also the only one of its kind. No other developer has ever done this before. The decision to sell a beta of the game in order to gauge interest only shows how incompetent and greedy the company is.

Mega Man is one of the most popular franchises in video game history and one of Capcom's earliest successes. The franchise itself is branched into many different series, and Legends is one of the more popular ones despite having only 2 titles. When Mega Man was announced for Super Smash Bros. 4, the world erupted with excitement. So for Capcom to use the Prototype to gauge interest is really just a lie to hide the fact that they were trying to monetize the game even further.

But the fans never even got a chance to prove their loyalty. 10 months after Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune mysteriously left the company, Capcom announced the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3. Outraged and confused, fans demanded an answer and Capcom said that the game did not receive enough support from its fans. But wasn't that the entire point of selling the Prototype? To see if its sales justify finishing the game?

The 3DS had sold 11.4 million units worldwide in the same year the game was cancelled. You don't need to do the math or be a statistician to understand that a popular franchise on a popular console would have been a huge success. So why did Capcom pull the plug on guaranteed profit?

Because they couldn't finish the project without Inafune. Like Sakurai, Inafune is the kind of director who oversees all aspects of the game. He may not be as involved as Sakurai is with Smash Bros., but his contribution to the game is large enough to be essential in the game’s development.

Most likely, Capcom tried to impose their greedy business tactics on Inafune’s creations, starting with the Prototype ordeal. Inafune disagreed, and eventually was let go or quit voluntarily. To control the damage, Capcom assured fans that MML3 would continue, but ultimately realized they could not finish the game without Inafune's vision. When the game was finally cancelled, their only excuse was "lack of fan support" because it's better than coming out and saying "We needed Inafune."

Ever since MML3's cancellation, Capcom has underutilized or misused the Mega Man brand. In SF x Tekken, they released "Bad Box Art" Mega Man as an actual character. This version of Mega Man is an obese, old, and pathetic version of Mega Man. It was meant to poke fun at America's terrible box art of the first Mega Man game, which has become a meme, but it was also a bad move on Capcom's part. Fighting game fans don't want a joke character, and Mega Man fans wanted to play their favorite blue hero again. This fad was only amusing to people who didn’t play SF x Tekken or don’t care about Mega Man. 

It might have been hilarious, but in light of MML3's cancellation, many felt it was an abusive mockery of the character Mega Man. In Marvel vs Capcom 3, many felt Capcom would be fools to pass up an opportunity to add Mega Man X. And Capcom proved them right— they instead added Zero and released a DLC skin for Zero to look like Mega Man X. Although Zero's presence in MvC3 was welcomed, fans also wanted to play as Mega Man X with his own voice and move set.

It was only until recently that Mega Man appeared favorably in crossovers. He was in both Project x Zone games, made a huge splash in Smash Bros. 4, and now he's back in Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite. But if you exclude his crossover appearances and re-released ports, you will realize that Capcom has not made an original Mega Man game ever since MML3's cancellation.

This further proves that Capcom does not know how to make another Mega Man game without its creator, Inafune. The Mega Man brand is wasted on Capcom, and could be utilized to do so much more. With Mega Man's inclusion in Smash, many have even entertained the idea of transferring ownership to Nintendo, who did a great job of portraying Mega Man in Smash Bros. 4.

CONCLUSION

Anyone who kept up with Capcom within the past decade would know all of this. They know Capcom has a bad reputation when it comes to DLC and their greed, and they know that Capcom gets a lot of hate for how they approach their games. And most of all, they know there is no defense to Capcom.You can't say "They're a company who needs to make money" because all that does is state the obvious. Nobody denies that a company should make money, especially if their games are supported by DLC over the long term. But there's justifying DLC with post-development expenses, and then there's painfully obvious greed- and I shouldn't have to explain which one Capcom falls under.Take a look at Nintendo with Fire Emblem Awakening, Mario Kart 8, and Smash Bros. 4. All of these games have DLC that you have to pay for just like Capcom's games, but there are two major differences.

First of all, their games are complete. Fire Emblem Awakening is a lengthy RPG full of side quests, and a full army of recruitable units. DLC is not an essential part of the full experience. There is only one supplementary story DLC, but the rest are bonus maps that help with EXP growth and earning currency.

Mario Kart 8 comes with a full roster of characters and still has 8 cups with 4 race tracks each. The game improved on the popular kart customization and online gameplay. Their DLC consists of characters and tracks that were developed after the game's release. Even if there were no DLC, there would be no complaints about the lack of content or how incomplete the game feels.

When it comes to content, very few games can match Smash Bros. 4, pound for pound. The roster size increased from Brawl's 39 to a whopping 51 characters at launch. They added a mode where 8 players can play at once. Every stage now has a "competitive" version for the more hardcore tournament players. And the game was released on both the Wii U and 3DS. With so many modes, characters, and options to play, you’re definitely getting more than your 60 dollars’ worth. 

All of the game's DLC were also developed post-release. Many of the fans strongly favored DLC characters to see new faces or old personal favorites come back, and Sakurai delivered on both. Even in ARMS, developers have announced that all of their future DLC would be free. Nintendo a great example of how DLC should be done. Their games are complete, delivered on time, and any ideas that couldn't make it into the main game are sold as DLC.

Let's take a look at SNK, a fellow fighting game developer like Capcom but with even less popularity and a smaller budget. On launch, the game had a full roster of 50 characters and a complete story mode. 7 months later, they released 4 DLC characters that fans wanted the most. Their two new stages were also free, unlike Capcom. On top of that, some of their DLC costumes were temporarily free to download. And even though their game had awful visuals, SNK released a patch to improves its textures and now the game looks significantly better.

How is it possible that SNK was able to release a more complete product and provide better support than Capcom? It's because of Capcom's greed, incompetence, and complacency. In their greed, Capcom sacrifices the quality of their game to make a profit. Because of their incompetence, Capcom can't even properly balance their fighting games, leaving their competitive community frustrated. And because their brand is so popular, Capcom has become complacent and therefore puts less effort into their games.

I cannot support Capcom as a consumer, even if their games are enjoyable, I cannot give them money in good conscience knowing how many times they screwed their fans over. Unfortunately, many fighting game enthusiasts grew up with Capcom games and developed an emotional attachment to them. Even if they have their complaints, it’s difficult to let go of Street Fighter and Marvel. They reluctantly stick with the games or convince themselves to enjoy it. Either way, they are enabling Capcom's behavior, so Capcom will not "learn from their mistakes." They will continue sacrificing the integrity and quality of their game to make a profit. Someday, I hope the magic of nostalgia and loyalty runs out, and that they brand burns to the ground. 

I hope for a future where their franchises are bought off by other companies who can utilize them better. I hope for a future where the trend of overtly greedy DLC is punished by boycotts. I hope for a future where the integrity and content of video games are no longer sacrificed for a quick buck. 

[hellsbells91]

Black Sails 4.06 Notes

I think I died during that episode. Black Sails seems determined to keep one-upping itself over the course of it’s last season in just how far they can push the characters into tragedy. Remember when Randall was spitting in Muldoon’s bowl, or when John’s ‘cooking’ gave everyone the shits... Or when Captain Naft was arguing with Mr. Fraiser over the details of two paintings...  Ahh good times.

I will say though that if 4.06 has an overarching theme it’s about everyone having to live with the choices that they have made. 

“You chose. Live with it.”

Billy is answering for the suffering he caused the slaves through finishing the raid on the Underhill estate, Silver is living with the consequences of choosing Flint and Madi, Max is having to live with betraying Jack and Anne, Eleanor with her own choices, Rogers (still living unfortunately) with letting the Spanish indiscriminately destroy Nassau etc. 

Eleanor’s plan might have worked if she hadn’t been married to bloodthirsty psychopath of the century. I don’t know if i’m angry at Eleanor for being so deluded about Rogers despite evidence pointing towards the contrary or just overwhelmed by how tragic the whole thing is. Flint’s the one who leads Eleanor and Madi to Miranda’s house, a previous sanctuary. The house and all its contents that Charles had claimed was so fragile. It used to be bright, warm and welcoming but now the interior is quite dark.

“One can be happy that way can’t they? A life of isolation and uncertainty as long as it is lived with someone you love... And who loves you back.”

You could take this to mean so many different things, I wonder if Eleanor was planning to leave and raise her child somewhere away from everything, away from Rogers. Spoken in Miranda’s house as well it calls back to how for the longest time she and Flint only had each other to rely upon, only each other who knew the truth about everything that happened in London. For Madi it could have also meant giving up the war, running and hiding, that it would have been okay because John was enough for her.

HOLD THE PHONE FOR A SECOND. Didn’t Zethu say in an interview that Silver asking Madi if he was enough for her would be re-addressed? How can they do that if she’s dead? Arrhh I don’t know what to think. It seems so unlikely that she made it out, I don’t want to believe she’s dead but I don’t want to get my hopes up.

Unless Madi’s reply to Eleanor’s question, “it is”, was supposed to be the confirmation that if it came to it she would leave with Silver, and she’s not just referring to her and her mother living in the Maroon camp. Following this line with a tiny smile to herself, possibly taking a moment to imagine living somewhere peacefully with John. Which just makes everything just that tiny bit more tragic doesn’t it? *Excuse me while I go grab more tissues*.

I love that Jack still manages to throw a tiny element of humour into the mix, telling everybody to leave because there’s a Spanish invasion in such a nonchalant way. Jack chooses to wait and see if any of their allies survive instead of running straight away. For all his flaws, Jack does have his occasional moments of unselfish-ness.

And now to broach the uh... the scene. You know the one I mean. That did upset me. It was unforgivably brutal in the way the soldier relentlessly attacked Eleanor. The way it was framed though... The fight is two against one, he’s already been shot/stabbed by the British guards, Eleanor manages to shoot him again but two of our main female characters still manage to be killed off in one fell swoop. That is if Madi is dead, there’s a tiny chance Madi did escape but I doubt she would have left Eleanor. I get why people are angered by this, I am angry too, especially for Madi whose end seems to be so senseless. I thought maybe Eleanor would use the last of her strength to save Madi... but she couldn’t.

Eleanor survived one Spanish raid on Nassau, but she does not survive the second. A place she gave so much up for, a place that she refused to give up on, it’s tragically poetic almost how she dies in the sand that would never love her back. Flint’s lie is a final mercy to her.

My faith in the writers though isn’t totally destroyed. They have a track record of treating everyone brutally yes, but they’ve never made a habit off killing off main characters just for the sake of shock factor - these things usually come with consequences. I wonder if Mrs. Hudson will tell Rogers that Eleanor was pregnant.

For someone with no experience of war or fighting, John seems to be handling the battle pretty well. Oh God Flint’s face when John asks where Madi is. These two are killing me in this scene. In this moment... It’s like everything is over for John, what’s the point in fighting anymore? BS is laying the tragedy on thick. I wonder how Flint managed to convince John to leave with him rather than just stay at the estate.

Jack adding “It will take some time before we fully know all we have lost today” is another one of those lines that carries so many different meanings for everyone.

FUCK YOU ROGERS. JUST... FUCK YOU. YOU ARE A MONSTER. This whole thing is actually sort of reminding me of something Abigail wrote when she was onboard the Walrus:

“What happens if that man decides the theater no longer serves his purposes and he lets the monsters loose?” Which is essentially what Rogers has done, he’s been playing a part, others have commented on the idea of Rogers putting on a sort of stage production during his time on the show, and it seems it’s come to the point of screwing the facade and just letting the ‘monsters’ in to indiscriminately burn it all down. Great plan Rogers, great plan *sarcasm*.

Stop it Luke Arnold. Stop it. This scene with Flint and Silver is gorgeous. The way Flint says ‘I’m sorry’ the same way Silver has done about the deaths of Thomas and Miranda - completely honest and open. The way Flint so carefully chooses his words before gently speaking. The lingering shoulder touch that communicates what a thousand words cannot. It speaks volumes about how close the two have gotten, and how they’re probably going to be tied up in this until the bitter end (their bitter end I suppose I should say). 

“It’s not your fault.” 

I honestly can’t tell who Silver is trying to convince here. It’s just as likely that he’s trying to convince himself that it isn’t Flint’s fault that Madi is dead (we think) as he is Flint. One other way I’m starting to look at it though is that Silver is in fact addressing himself, trying to force himself to believe that despite the warnings he received, it isn’t his fault.

Billy’s words from earlier must be coming back to haunt him: “live with it.” Billy did warn him about Flint being a risk to Madi, and it’s not difficult to believe that John is now going over and over that warning in his head, conflicted over who is the one at fault here.

What was that line I love way back in season 1 about making guilt go away? This is just a baseless speculation, but we might be getting a glimpse into one of Silver’s long-used coping methods here. Again I am insatiably curious to find out what happened to Silver prior to season 1.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but it seems as if in the last scene in the Maroon camp, there’s something about the Queen’s expression that suggests she has hardened herself to the idea that Madi might not survive. She is an experienced leader, her duty is to her people, and she does not ask where Madi is. Maybe she knows. Or maybe this is just going to be one of those times BS skips over what might have been a significant moment. Maybe they know we’ve had enough tragedy.

I also love the way the episode ends on the look exchanged between Flint and Silver at the news of the revolution being underway. After all they’ve been through, when every part of Silver wants it to be over, they need to keep fighting. This war he’s been swept up in shows no signs of stopping, and I have a bad feeling that Silver is going to grow to resent Flint over it.

Extra thoughts:

- Wait so where’s Billy gonna go? He doesn’t stay with the pirates, he must escape the estate, so I guess he’s just going to find somewhere to run and hide?

- So what does Max plan on doing? Obviously she’s going to tell Eleanor’s family what happened and then use their influence and standing to what, see Rogers arrested? Driven out of Nassau? This would be probably as close to a victory as they’re going to get. I don’t appreciate her shouting at Jack about it though, at least he gives as good as he gets xD

- Ah so Madi’s mother never let the cache leave the island. So it’s not just currently chilling in the middle of the ocean. How would they have even known where to dig it up though? 

- Thank you for about 3 minutes of Anne. More next time please.

[whatdoyouexpectthistime]

Her Love In The Zombie Apocalypse: Goodbye Goto

Author’s Note: This is the result of a dream I had, and I am absolutely unapologetic for dropping the Instructors in a zombie ridden Tokyo. Who knows... maybe this won’t just be a oneshot?

Happiness doesn’t last, does it?

In the perfect world, we grow to be strong, learn to believe in ourselves and to have the courage of our convictions, and finally meet someone with whom we can be that person – in both strength and weakness.

When you find that person, don’t let the small, the insignificant things come between you.

Embrace.

Embrace your differences and each other and don’t let go. Fight hard and with everything you’ve got.

Because you never truly know when the dream will end.

Panting and laboured beneath the weight of my backpack, I struggle to keep pace. Kaga and Soma are already pulling aside our barricade at the east end of the academy, while Shinonome and Ishigami stand alert for approaching threats.

At my side – always at my side – Seiji remains in step.

His face is smeared with the horror of his narrow escape, much like the rest of us.

But one of us fell, one of us didn’t really escape at all, the others just don’t know it yet.

Seiji doesn’t know it yet.

“Get the hell in here!” Kaga barks, but his curt urgency is no exaggeration now.

The threat is real, however disbelieving we were at the beginning, the truth has well and truly sunk in.

“Christ,” he huffs as Seiji and I pass him, and he and Soma begin to reassemble the barricade protecting our fortress home. “Could you possibly find a smaller pack?”

“Screw you,” I gasp, stumbling into the foyer and sliding the bag from my aching shoulders.

It hits the floor with a heavy clunk, the cans within part of the bounty we’d retrieved from several convenience stores much further from the academy than we have ever venture since the incident. Those closest to the academy have already been stripped bear, and it was the necessity to eat, and to provide for those who also shelter with us, that prompted a much more dangerous run to distant sources.

Roaring in my ears, my pulse refuses to slow, and Seiji looks me over with worry.

“Are you all right?” he asks quietly, leaning against the wall beside me, peering at me with those gunmetal eyes haunted by deep concern.

“Mm,” I nod, giving him a weary smile.

Anything to ease his troubles.

Anything to lighten this heart I love.

Anything to protect it from breaking.

But I can’t.

“That was intense,” I add, as Ishigami joins us.

“Everyone okay?” he asks, the blandness of his expression a stark contrast to the dangle of gore hanging from the left side of his glasses.

“Yeah,” Seiji confirms, and I nod also.

Liar.

But they take my word for it, this trust is what has kept us alive this long.

There are untold numbers of dead in Tokyo, some permanently, some now roaming, shambling, looking for prey – because it all happened so quickly, and people didn’t know how fast the infection spread, how virulent it was.

We still don’t know how it started. Even law enforcement was woefully unprepared, and communication came too slow, too late.

“Let’s get this stuff to storage,” Seiji prompted, shouldering his pack, before collecting mine.

“I’m not completely useless,” I argue, but I’m playful in my scorn.

Oh how many small things has Seiji done for me? When was the exact moment his selflessness won over my heart? I have no doubt, he would gladly give his life in exchange for mine – but this time, he can’t.

 When twilight drifts, everyone goes to their posts. We check our defences, reinforce each barricade, look for weaknesses and plug them, and check night-watch rosters.

Glancing down the list I note who is meant to be at each guard position. It looks as if I’m just doing my job, but in reality I need to know who is where for a very different reason.

Shivering, I pull my jacket more closely around me, and eventually meet up with Seiji in our room.

Our room.

It was going to be a little house, with a yard big enough for a dog and a small vegetable patch. That was our shared dream.

Now, he is all that I have left of that dream, and…

“You look tired,” he tells me, gently taking my face between broad palms. “You’re cold.”

“It’s a clear night,” I point out, leaning into his touch, trying to memorise the sensation. “It’s freezing out.”

“Well, it was a long day,” he smiles, carefully sliding his fingers into my hair and running them all the way to the tips. “Early night?”

“Gladly,” I exhale, hoping he can’t tell I’m gritting my teeth behind this smile.

He doesn’t know I organised a pack of bare essentials while he was showering, and hid it from sight. He’s treating me like he always has – the centre of his world.

Mouth dry, maybe from the gathering nervousness of what I must do, or maybe… I can’t tell if the jackhammer pounding against the inside of my skull is part of my transition, or the spread of guilt and grief and emotional pain so potent it’s a wonder I can stand, let alone smile like nothing is wrong.

And everything is wrong, because the throb in my forearm, hidden by the long sleeves of my flannel pajamas, is a harbinger of my imminent death, and horrifying resurrection.

And I can’t be here when that happens.

Just the same, I snuggle under the blankets, and as Seiji is reaching over to turn off the lamp, I wrap my uninjured arm around him, and press myself mercilessly against his back.

I want to feel the imprint of his body against mine, my fingers, my hands, I want to remember every taut undulation of his chest, and the steady rhythm of his breath.

“Your hands are still icy,” he grumbles, but hugs my forearm tightly.

And I pray he doesn’t hear my breath catch and stick in my throat, or feel the desperation to withhold a sob in the tension of my muscles.

“You always warm me up,” I whisper, hardly a breath at all, and he gives my hand a squeeze.

Nothing in the world would give me greater peace, than to remain here – but if I stay, even until morning… I might truly destroy him. Instead, I listen to the sounds of him, inhale the scent of him, until he falls asleep.

And then I have to exercise the absolute, utmost of my willpower to separate – softly so as not to wake him, when all I really want is for him to wake suddenly, grab me, pull me down and wrap himself around me.

I am my own person, but I would gladly let him consume me like tht.

Cautiously I cover him back up, but the slight motion of Seiji’s head causes his fringe to flop over his closed eyelids.

So innocent.

And yet so fierce in my defence – and this is why I have to go.

He would make excuses, drag it out, maybe even beg me to stay even while knowing my fate is a foregone conclusion.

Go. GO! You have to go. For his sake.

As quietly as I can, I retrieve my backpack. There is hardly anything in it, because let’s face it, I’m not going to be needing human supplies for much longer.

Then there is the letter.

Saying goodbye, face to face, seeing him break… I can’t. And it’s not arrogance to think he will, because his heart and mine are one and mine…

… is being torn apart.

On the pillow, still fresh with the impression of my head, I leave my final missive to him, and bite down so hard on my lower lip, it bleeds. These feet won’t move but they have to.

Go.

My insides are hollowed out, a gaping, weeping wound very nearly prompting a sob when in my retreat from out room I spy Domo-kun.

It’s so stupid that Domo-kun should symbolise our love somehow, but for some reason that gift to me left a lasting impression. And even in the chaos, he stayed with us as a constant.

“Goodbye Domo-kun,” I whisper, slipping out into the hall and closing the door on all I ever wanted.

BONUS:

 “Cold,” Goto murmured, rolling over and groping across the bed for his favourite source of warmth.

It was not so jarring an awakening, for he didn’t yet know the truth. His wife could be any number of places by far more obvious than having snuck out in the night to meet her grizzly fate.

So he clutched at the blankets and tucked them under his chin, and in doing so disturbed the piece of paper beside him.

Rubbing his eyes with the back of one hand, he plucked the missive from the pillow and unfolded it.

And dread began to form, dread that turn swiftly into a panic without description.

(Author/Narrator’s note: I blame @nitelotus​ for the following recording, after she made fun of me for crying as I wrote this. At least I don’t charge stupid amounts for voiced stories right?)

-Click to LISTEN to her letter-

My dearest Seiji,

We said, till death do us part – but, I’m not sure where undeath fits into that.

I am sorry.

I made a mistake and now… the cost of it must be paid. And this is the one time you can’t save me, no matter how many times I call you name, the enemy now inside me cannot be defeated.

You will be angry that I didn’t tell you, that I didn’t… give you a chance to say goodbye, but leaving like this is the lesser of two terrible evils.

I will turn, it’s inevitable, and I don’t want your last memory of me to be as a monster.

Please remember the brush of my fingertips against your forehead.

Please remember the warmth of my body curled against yours.

Please, remember the passionate heat, and the bliss of our every union.

And let me save you this time – let me stand, even at this distance, between you and having to see me as anything other than the woman you took to be your wife.

That woman will soon be consumed, but until the very end I will fix you in my mind and heart, grip you relentlessly, because you have taught me what it means to be loved so unconditionally, so completely; I will not be afraid.

Loving you, and being loved by you, has been a privilege I’m not sure I ever really deserved, but you have been the absolute, the most precious gift I ever received.

I love you.

Your dearest wife.

 The bed beside him was cold.

When in the night had she left him?

He knew she was gone but could not control his panic. It exploded inside him, could not be contained, and it drove him from their room in his pinstriped pajamas. With abandon he threw himself down the corridor, blind almost but for a target in the distance he had no way of seeing.

Morning greeted him with a slap of winter, but Goto struggled through the haze of his desperate breaths lingering in the air, and staggered like a drunkard to the outer most manned position.

“Did you see her?!” he shouted.

“Lieutenant?” the young man queried, looking very confused.

“My wife!” Goto gasped. “Did you see her? Did she leave this way?”

But the pair stationed there could tell him nothing, nor could any of the other outer guards, and finally, her last words to him clutched in his bloodless fist, he sat, in the dirt, trembling.

Why couldn’t he see her face? Why could he only see the back of her, her retreating figure moving with laboured steps through the undead who paid her no mind?

Losing her was… there were simply no words, but to know she had gone alone with such pain in her heart was a wound to him like no other.

 And all he could do was sit, and stare off into the distance.