#she's an antagonist turned ally she traveled to another universe AND through time she's getting her own movie!!!

[smileyobrien]

@pscentral event 20: antagonists

MICHELLE YEOH as mirror!PHILIPPA GEORGIOU in STAR TREK: DISCOVERY (2017-2024)

[mostlyponies]

Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness rewritten by ChatGPT

> Write a premise for Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness where Wanda is an ally and Karl Mordo is an enemy, but not necessarily the main enemy. Also take story elements from the comic storyline ""Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness"

In "Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness," Strange and Wanda team up to stop a powerful and mysterious villain who is wreaking havoc across the multiverse. However, their quest is complicated by the presence of Karl Mordo, a former ally who has turned against Strange and now seeks to use the villain's power for his own purposes.

As Strange and Wanda travel through various dimensions and realities, they encounter a multitude of threats, including monstrous creatures and malevolent entities. They also encounter versions of themselves from alternate timelines and dimensions, some of whom have been corrupted by the villain's dark magic.

As they search for the villain's true identity and motivations, Strange and Wanda must also contend with Mordo's machinations. Mordo, who was once a student of the Ancient One and a fellow sorcerer, has become disillusioned with Strange's use of magic and now seeks to restore what he sees as a proper balance to the universe.

Throughout the storyline, Strange and Wanda are forced to confront their own limitations and weaknesses as they battle against the forces of darkness. They also develop a deeper understanding of Mordo's motivations and past, as they discover that his fall from grace was caused by a tragic event in his past.

Ultimately, Strange and Wanda must use their combined knowledge and abilities to defeat the villain and stop Mordo's quest for power. Along the way, they learn that even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, they can achieve victory through cooperation and sacrifice.

> Who could the main villain be?

The main villain in "Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness" could be an incredibly powerful entity that has gained access to the multiverse and seeks to harness its energy to achieve godlike power. This villain could be a completely original creation for the film, or it could be an existing villain from Marvel Comics that has been adapted for the story.

Alternatively, the villain could be an established Marvel Comics character such as Nightmare, who is a demon that resides in the Dream Dimension and feeds on the fear of others. Nightmare has been a long-standing antagonist for Doctor Strange in the comics and would be a fitting villain for a movie that explores the concept of the multiverse and different dimensions.

Another possibility could be Shuma-Gorath, a powerful and ancient demon that is said to have existed before the universe itself. Shuma-Gorath has clashed with Doctor Strange in the comics and has the ability to manipulate reality and warp the fabric of space and time, making it a formidable foe for Strange and Wanda to face.

Ultimately, the choice of the main villain will depend on the specific direction and themes that the filmmakers want to explore in the film, as well as which characters from Marvel Comics they want to incorporate into the story. ------------------------ I also asked ChatGPT to think of what could happen if Wandavision had another season that continued right where it left off. None of them involve going on a murderspree to get her kids back. Multiverse of Madness is one of the worst Marvel movies made and destroys everything Wandavision set out to do. They had an entire multiverse but had to make Wanda the villain because they couldn’t think of anything else. - The season could start with Wanda trying to live a normal life in the aftermath of the events of the first season. However, her powers are still out of control and she struggles to keep them in check.

- Agatha Harkness could return as a villain, seeking revenge on Wanda for taking away her powers. She could team up with other Marvel villains, such as Mephisto or Nightmare, to try to defeat Wanda.

- Monica Rambeau, who gained powers in the first season, could become a more prominent character and help Wanda learn to control her powers. She could also play a key role in stopping Agatha and the other villains.

- Wanda could encounter other characters from the Marvel universe who are dealing with their own grief and trauma, such as Hawkeye.

- The show could end with Wanda finally learning to control her powers and accepting her role as a hero in the Marvel universe. She could join the Avengers or another superhero team and become a major player in the ongoing storylines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

- Wanda could face repercussions for her actions in the first season, particularly for the way she manipulated and controlled the people of Westview. This could lead to her being hunted by government agencies or other heroes who see her as a threat.

- The show could explore more of the history and mythology of the Scarlet Witch, delving deeper into the character's comic book origins and establishing her as a major player in the Marvel universe.

- The second season could focus more on action and adventure, with Wanda and her allies battling a new threat that requires them to use their powers in creative and exciting ways.

- The show could introduce new characters from the Marvel universe, such as the Young Avengers or the New Mutants, who could become key players in the ongoing storylines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

- The season could explore different genres and styles, with each episode taking on the look and feel of a different TV show or movie. This could allow the show to experiment with different storytelling techniques and pay homage to classic TV shows and films.

[avengershumanresources]

blood 1 - Strange/Stark!Reader

Relationship: Dr. Strange/Princess!Stark!Reader

Rating: M

Warnings: Adult Themes, eventual smut (like, wayyy down the line), adult language, implied sexual violence, general violence

Synopsis: Reader is the daughter of the legendary King Anthony Stark, Uniter of Lands, The Iron Defender, and leader of the realm. When the king disappears during battle, hope is lost and he is presumed dead.

When the late king’s uncle, Obadiah, takes the throne until your brother Peter is of age, he quickly arranges a marriage for you with a wicked king in a neighboring kingdom.

With the realms politics in question, and rumors of an upcoming siege to overthrow Peter’s rule before it starts, you quickly learn who is loyal to the crown and who is not.

Masterlist 

Chapter Playlist

1 - an empty grave

Cast:

The Royal House Stark:

King Obadiah Stark (Obadiah Stane)

King Anthony Stark (presumed dead)

Queen Virginia Stark (Pepper)

The Late Queen Alexandra Stark (your mother)

Princess Stark!Reader- you

Prince Peter Stark (Peter Parker)

Princess Morgan Stark

Knights:

Sir Samuel Wilson

Sir Steven Rogers

Sir Clinton Barton

Spellcasters/Master Sorcerers/Sorceresses:

Stephen Strange

Wanda Maximoff

Master Wong

Loyal to House Stark:

Natalia Romanoff (Natasha)- Assassin

James Barnes- her partner

Prince Thor- of Asgard, United with Stark’s kingdom

Prince Loki- of Asgard

Lady Brunhilde- of Asgard

Lady Sif- of Asgard

King T’Challa- of Wakanda

Princess Shuri- of Wakanda

(---) 

In a final twist of irony, the day of the funeral was bright and warm. 

You’d stood quietly while the priest recited his words, while candles were lit, while the Queen trembled silently next to you. You held Morgan’s hand, you listened while the choir sang, the ominous sound reverberating through your chest. 

The mourners in black whispered while the royal family walked up to an empty coffin. You touched the polished wood, fist tightening at your side. Pepper bowed her head, reciting a quiet prayer. 

How stupid. All of this was stupid. Praying to an empty box, crying over nothing. 

You kept your eyes down, lest you betray your own thoughts. Now wasn’t the time for rebellion. Not when your queen step-mother was relying so heavily on tradition and ritual to get through the day. It’d be borderline cruel to start antagonizing her in this way. 

No, you’d wait. 

Peter, your half-brother in blood but full brother in heart, touched your elbow, pulling you from your thoughts, and guiding you away from the coffin. He kept his eyes forward, expression stoic while he lead the family back to their positions in the massive cathedral. 

“They’ll pay for this,” he murmured low into your ear, as if reading your mind. The words were laced with a malice you’d never heard from the normally cheerful prince. 

You didn’t reply, instead you grabbed your younger brother’s hand and gave it a tight squeeze. A silent agreement. 

The attack had been a betrayal of one of the kingdom’s oldest allies, a neighboring kingdom ruled by someone your father had once trusted with his life. 

Apparently nothing was sacred anymore. 

The funeral ended somberly, mourners murmuring amongst each other, ladies fawning over Pepper, though the queen looked none too pleased with the attention. 

You searched the crowd for a pair of familiar of blue eyes, finding their owner tucked away from the crowd in a secluded corner. He was speaking quietly to the sorceress, Wanda, his eyes flicking up to meet your gaze. With a small nod, he signaled you over.

Weaving through the mass of people, you slipped into the conversation with Wanda regarding you, frowning in sympathy.

“I’m so sorry, your highness,” she whispered, bowing her head. “Your father was a good man, and an honest king. The realm is less for this loss.”

“Thank you,” your tone was colder than you’d intended, a reflection of the bitterness taking form within. Clearing your throat, you tried again, softer and more agreeable this time. “He truly was the best of us.”

Stephen sent Wanda a quick glance and the sorceress excused herself, parting the hall in a hurry.

“You’re angry,” he noted quietly. 

“Am I?” you hummed, quirking a brow up at your friend. “I thought I was supposed to be sad?”

“You’re allowed to be angry,” he replied, folding his hands behind his back. “It just means you understand the injustice of it all.”

“Peter wants revenge,” you stated, mimicking his motion and staring out at the sea of royals and court members. 

“Understandable,” he murmured. “I imagine a number of officials feel similarly.”

“He isn’t old enough to take the throne,” you supplied. “We can’t go to war without a seated leader.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time an heir succeeded in an unorthodox manner,” he noted before turning his head to look at you. “How are you, truly?”

You opened your mouth to reply, words catching in your throat. You felt hollow. You felt like you wanted to scream until you woke up from whatever nightmare you were caught in. Your heart felt like it had been ripped from your chest and stomped on. 

“I’m not certain,” you finally confessed, hands straining against each other behind your back. “Part of me wants to ride through the night and kill that traitor. The other wants to curl on the ground and fill the empty grave myself.”

He nodded in understanding.

“Grief is a powerful thing,” he replied softly, scanning the room before turning and giving you his full attention . “Would you like hide in the observatory a while?”

You looked up to him in surprise. The room was still full of mourners, citizens, and members of the court. Your duty would be to talk to everyone as they passed, pulling the burden off of Pepper.

“Can we?” you asked, voice cracking at the thought of having to converse any further.

Stephen gave you a mischievous smirk, nudging you toward a side door of the church. You followed his lead, slipping out of sight and tucking yourselves away from the crowds inside a small alcove. 

“They’ll want to focus on Peter and the queen anyway,” he noted casually, drawing up a portal with his fingers. “No point in dwelling. I’ll tell anyone who asks that you fainted from the stress and required immediate medical attention.”

“I’m sure they’ll all believe it,” you retorted with a matching grin, taking his hand and letting him help you through the portal with all of your heavy mourning apparel. 

The observatory had been a new addition to the palace after Stephen had arrived as its master sorcerer. Before, it’d been an abandoned archer’s tower, last used by the late king’s father, Howard, as a means of defense against the previously antagonistic kingdoms. 

After King Anthony had taken the throne and negotiated trade and peace treaties with the nearby kings, the reinforcements had largely been forgotten. 

Stephen had suggested it as an ideal place to study the cosmos above, and after some urging on your part, your father agreed to let the two of you repair the small space. When the foundation had been fixed to his specifications, Stephen added another enchantment to increase the size internally.

From there, the two of you worked to fill the space with objects of learning and interest. 

The walls had been lined with stacks of books, maps of the universe, and healing runes. Tables had been set with with all sorts of alchemical experiments, glowing amulets, and charmed quills. A small greenhouse had been established on one of the many turret balconies, where you helped tend to some medicinal herbs and enchanted florals. 

It was a place of peace and knowledge in a world of chaos and ignorance and in it, Stephen had taken the time to teach you the secrets of the universe. It was one of the few places you knew you truly could belong without judgement. 

“I’m not convinced this isn’t sabotage,” he stated once you were alone, the glowing orange portal snapping shut behind him. 

“What makes you say that?” you asked, lifting a book, flipping through a few pages in an attempt to distract yourself from his blunt words. You agreed there was some kind of malice involved in the attack, but sabotage suggested someone within the kingdom had betrayed your father. For such as honest and good your father was, your heart couldn’t handle such a reality.

“Whispers in the village,” he answered tersely. “Wanda was giving me her report when you approached. She is traveling to the next village over as we speak.”

“Rumlow betrayed his alliance,” you replied bitterly, refusing to look up from your book, though you couldn’t tell what the thing was about. Plants? Chaos magic? “What more is there to discover?”

“Why did he do it?” he asked. “What motivation does he have to sever one of the strongest military alliances in history?” 

“Greed? We’ve had a surprise in economic activity since the scholar agreement with Wakanda,” you guessed with a shrug. “This isn’t a smart man we’re dealing with. I’m met him once before. He’s ambitious and motivated, but not particularly clever.”

“Peter is almost of age, your father has prepared him for his new role thoroughly,” he continued, pacing the space. “It doesn’t make sense. Everyone is well aware he will be of age to take the throne in six months time, and now this just ensures his placement.”

“Not everything does,” you reminded him. “You taught me that. Or don’t you remember?”

You paused after a moment, peeking up from the book after letting his words settle.

“Maybe he plans to use Peter’s inexperience against him?” you suggested quietly. It wasn’t a pleasant thought, but even with the training and learning, Peter was a different person than your father, perhaps not in morals but certainly in other areas like strategy and planning. 

“I intend to get to the bottom of this,” he stated, his hand tightening at his side. You’d never seen Stephen so inflamed before. “At the very least, I can try to retrieve his body. Negotiate a dignified exchange.”

The words pierced your heart far more painfully than you’d anticipated, your hand gave a jerk and you dropped the book you’d been fidgeting with while he spoke. 

The mental image of your fathers head on a pike outside of Rumlow’s keep was enough to make you nauseous. 

“I’m sorry,” Stephen’s tone shifted at your reaction. “I’m getting ahead of myself.”

“Don’t apologize,” you assured him, clearing your throat and composing yourself. “You’re just doing your job. It’s why he trusted you to the position. You’re asking the questions that need to be asked.”

He watched you pluck the book off the ground and toss it on a nearby table with a low sigh. This was a precarious position he found himself in. 

On the one hand, he’d been appointed as the Master Sorcerer of this castle and this realm. He had an obligation to serve that role and ensure the safety of the kingdom’s inhabitants. Not to mention, his obligation as a peacekeeper in his position as Sorcerer Supreme at Kamar-Taj.

On the other, you were his dearest friend and companion, and the obvious hurt you were suffering made his other duties nearly impossible to focus on. It was no wonder Kamar-Taj frowned on intimate attachments, they did provide a distraction from the ambivalent roles sorcerers and sorceresses were bound to play. 

He wanted to serve as an unbiased judge in this troubling time, but his heart wanted him to seek justice and bring peace to your troubled mind. 

His eyes drifted to the telescope at the edge of the room and an idea hit him.

Perhaps a distraction was best for the time being? A small respite to pull away from the doom and gloom of the immediate future.

“Do you remember that star cluster I showed you last week?” he asked, hooking and arm over your shoulder and guiding you toward the window. “There’s a fascinating change that’s been occurring.”

It was still relatively bright out, though with the sun was just starting to dip over the horizon, there was enough darkness to point out the phenomena he’d discovered the night before. 

“Let me adjust-,” he tinkered with the measurements before signaling for you to lean in. “Do you see it?” 

“They’re changing color,” you noted with a small gasp of excitement. “That’s a promising omen, isn’t it?” 

Your expression had brightened considerably when you looked up at him. 

“It is,” he nodded. “The specific colors suggest a period of tranquility and prosperity after a short struggle.”

“Then maybe it isn’t all terrible,” you tried voicing optimistically. It sounded strange, like you still weren’t entirely convinced, but the evidence was clear before you. 

Stephen knew the stars never lied and had taught you as much over the time you’d spent together. 

You sighed sadly, giving the stars another peek and shaking your head when you pulled away. 

“I miss him,” you murmured, looking up at Stephen miserably. 

The sorcerer frowned sympathetically, before he moved toward you and pulled you into a tight embrace.

You pressed your cheek against his chest and allowed his arms to wrap around you. 

“I know,” he replied softly, resting his chin on your head. “Just know he loved you very much, and wouldn’t want to see you so hurt on his behalf."

That seemed to break something in you, and you buried your forehead into his chest, shaking with suppressed sobs and held back tears until finally you choked out a wave of emotions all at once.

He spent an hour sitting with you while you cried into his tunic, yelling about how angry you were to how miserable all of this made you feel. He listened, offering a handkerchief and when you started to calm down, summoned a fresh pot of herbal tea.

“We will find answers,” he stated, blowing gently over the steaming cup in his hand. 

“You sound so sure,” you noted with a bitter chuckle, eyes swollen and red from your tears.

“I’ve tampered with seeing the future from time to time,” he replied cheekily. “Perhaps I’ve had a vision?”

“And what did that vision show you?” you pressed, playing along with a ghost of a smile behind your own cup. 

“We win,” Stephen replied firmly, his expression falling serious.

“Doesn’t feel like it,” you confessed quietly. 

“Victory seldom does,” he watched you take a sip of your tea. You closed your eyes and relaxed your shoulders with the calming scent.

You opened your mouth to ask him a question when a knock at the observatory door broke the small spell of peace that’d fallen over the space.

“I’ve got it,” he gestured for you to stay seated, moving toward the door and slowly peeling it open. 

It wasn’t that he was overtly concerned for your safety, but given recent events, Stephen didn’t want to be lax in covering all possibilities. The world had gone mad and he wouldn’t put an assassin with a dagger outside the realm of potential visitors.

“Is the princess here?” Loki, Prince of Asgard, asked with a tone laced with annoyance upon Stephen’s appearance. 

“Loki?” you must have heard his voice and stood, setting your cup aside. “Stephen, let him in. It’s okay.”

With a glare at the prince, Stephen stepped aside and allowed the emerald clad royal through. 

He didn’t like outsiders in the observatory. Especially when you were around. 

It made him especially uneasy inviting another magic user inside, where they could potentially measure its wards and security for later aggression. 

“Peter mentioned you might be here,” Loki glanced around the room, arms folded behind his back. “I apologize if I’m intruding.”

That last part was directed toward Stephen with the smallest smirk. 

“No, it’s okay, we were just having tea,” you replied quickly, gesturing to the steaming pot on the table. “Could I make you a cup-?”

“No-,” he cut her off and cleared his throat apologetically. “I’ve come to say farewell. My father is ordering the borders to Asgard closed until Rumlow’s nation offers an explanation to this… tragedy.”

“I see,” your expression fell at the news. 

Certainly Asgard closing its borders was a worrisome sign. They were the kingdom’s greatest allies and largest trading partners. The effects of such a move would be felt for quite some time, both in security and in the local economy. 

“I’ll write,” he promised with a curt bow. “Don’t fall behind in your studies. I’ll be testing you the next time we meet.”

You smiled before he took your hand for a brief kiss on the knuckles. Rolling your eyes, you pulled away and threw your arms around his shoulder in a hug. 

“What a sad parting,” you laughed at his bewildered reaction. “And you’re going to kiss my knuckles like we haven’t known one another for years? On the day of my father’s funeral? Unacceptable.”

He barked out a small laugh, reciprocating the embrace with an arm before pulling away. 

“Stay safe,” he urged her before looking up at Stephen with a steely gaze. “Do well to keep her protected, Sorcerer.” 

“Always,” Stephen answered tersely, a little offended at the prince’s casual disregard for his abilities. He’d always kept you safe, and had absolutely no intention of letting that guard slip now. 

“Travel safely,” you called after him and he gave a final wave before pausing in the doorway when Stephen moved to close the door.

“Keep her close,” Loki warned quietly, the smirk disappearing completely. “There are whispers in the village of treachery and assassination. Do not let anyone have the opportunity to take advantage of the situation.”

“My associates are building wards around the castle and her quarters as we speak,” Stephen replied in agreement, a quick glance in your direction to ensure you weren’t listening. 

“The tea was a nice touch,” Loki noted with a hum. Stephen nodded curtly. 

The tea had a protection enchantment included in the mixture of herbs. Something small, but effective if you found yourself in danger without him, Wong, or Wanda nearby.

“Be well,” Stephen closed the door once Loki was out of sight, turning and finding you digging through his trunk of cloaks at the back of the room. “What are you doing?”

“I want to see Natalia and James,” you answered, pulling out a large blue cloak and holding it to your shoulders. 

“Absolutely not,” he crossed his arms. “Your father was just killed, possibly murdered. You’re not going to the village unprotected.”

“That’s why you’re coming,” you threw a crimson cloak in his direction, fastening the blue one over your shoulders. 

“Did you miss the part where I said murdered?” he asked in disbelief. 

“Then it’s a good think I’m friends with assassins,” you chimed back, pulling the hood of the cloak over your head. “They might be able to tell us something.”

“I’m sure Wanda and Wong have already talked to them,” he shot back, folding the cloak over is arm. “You should stay at the castle, at least for tonight.”

“You already know I’m going to go regardless,” you replied. 

“Because you’re a headstrong idiot,” he sighed, reluctantly pulling the cloak over is shoulders. “Who clearly has a death wish. What if your family comes looking for you?”

“They won’t,” you answered with a confident grin. “Mother is going to be with Morgan and Peter is going to lock himself away in the armory or training fields until the knights give up and make him retire to his chambers.”

“You’re so confident in your knowledge of the castle,” Stephen snorted, tying the cloak around him. 

“It’s what happens when you’re the eldest daughter of a king,” you replied, patting him on the shoulder. “You see everyone, but no one sees you.” 

“Poetic.”

“Also, you owe me an ale for enchanting my tea,” you quirked a brow toward him when he stammered back a response. “Didn’t think I would notice?”

“I’m losing my touch,” he sighed, waving a hand and summoning a bag of coin.

“No, you’re just turning into a fussy mother hen,” you grinned, the smile looking far more relieving than the grief he know you wore on the inside. “It’s endearing.”

Wha danger was a short outing for the evening? It was arguably safer in a crowd than alone in her chambers, especially while Wong was still working on the wards.

Besides, the assassins you’d found friendship in would do well to keep threats away as well.

And while Stephen pondered this thought, you were already part-way out of the room and headed toward one of the hidden passages in the hall. 

(---)

2 - a night at the pub

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[zachsgamejournal]

PLAYING: Breath of Fire 3

I'm not sure this game is as great as I remember. But while recently researching top PS1 RPGs, BoF3 was near the top. Ah-well, I think I'm nearing the end...

Last we left off, Nina just arrested the criminal Mayor while Rei was hunting for revenge.

Realizing the Mayor's connection to Syn City, we headed over there to arrest the boss only to find everyone dead or dying. We're told a giant Tiger (Rei) attacked and the boss has fled. Tracking the boss, we find Rei confronting the man, demanding revenge for Teepo's death. Ryu and Nina just want to arrest him. Rei, dissatisfied, attempts a killing blow. But the boss, wounded, turns into a monster (because this is a JRPG).

After we succeed, Rei seems a little down on how weak his tiger power is compared to Ryu and others. But he finds kinship in Ryu's dragon abilities and wants to join the crew to meet God and ask "what's up?"

Nina says there's a problem, her father the King doesn't like Ryu--thinking Ryu was responsible for the big messes that happened when they were children. Nina suggests we do a good deed to clear his name. There's trouble at the old plant.

We find Momo as she tries to keep the plant producing super-crops, but there's issues. Palet, the mad scientist that betrayed us before, is missing. In the game's "Resident Evil Mission" we wander the plant to find Palet is trying to use Chrysm and mad-science to bring his wife back to life. Momo's father invented the tech, trying to do much the same. But we tell Palet this is bad. We defeat him and unhook his wife from life support.

Damn.

We return to the king, but Nina asks Ryu to sit it out. Asking Rei in instead. She presents Rei to the king and queen as her savior and a bad-ass dude. But then they recognize him. The Jig is up and Rei and Nina flee.

Back to Angel Tower--but God does not appear. Garr is sad. We talk to the Urkan chief and are guided to another surviving Guardian who has recanted their oath.

Finding this guy, he insists on testing Ryu. Turns out he lost faith in the cause against the Brood before the war was over. We also learn that Deis--a powerful snake-lady--is being held captive at Angel tower. This guardian's death frees her, and he willingly allows his defeat.

We return to Deis and she punches Garr in the stomach for being a dragon slaying asshat, then asks us to meet her later. We do and get a flashback with her fussing at Guardians.

I can't remember the details, but the God that ordered Guardians to kill The Brood (dragons) is her sister. She says our answers lie across the sea.

Return to Rhapala to find our ship-friends, but the boat is missing again. We needed that! We travel to Junk town to find the ship needs repairs. Momo offers to do it, but needs parts. We go to Steel Beach to collect parts that continuously wash up on shore here.

No one knows where these parts come from, or how to make them. But they've been able to build some half-ass machines from them. There's an annoying mini-game here where you have to help someone haul in something big by following flag raising. Turns out to be a monster fish.

I struggled finding the parts. Firstly, they're pretty well hidden, and secondly, some were on the beach. Oh, and thirdly, you can't know whether you found the right ones without returning to Junk town...time consuming.

Parts collected, ship repaired, we sail back to Rhapala and are nearly rammed by "The Black Ship". The Black Ship was one of my favorite sequences as a kid, so I was excited to play it. But that's in the future...

Zig, who was once an antagonist, now wants to be a helpful ship captain and offers to sail use across the sea. But no one has ever left the bay. We try. We fail. There's rumor of a Legendary Mariner that sailed from across the sea. Supposedly, the mayor of some town knows about him. When we get there, it's a fishing town and he hates fish...

This is where I gave up a few years ago. It's one of those annoying JRPG fetch quests where you've gotta do a bunch of innocuous quests to scavenge a few items, and it's like--I just want to learn the secrets of the universe--THIS ISN'T FUN!

Goofing around with cheats, I gave myself every item in the game. So I didn't have to do this quest: HAH! But I still had to cook. Luckily they give you clear instructions. He likes the food and gives us a chart. I'm not sure the chart does anything but unlock an island. I still had to look up a guide to find it...

...

So the game, in the second half...or middle third...starts to lose some steam. You end up retreading a lot of ground. While it does tie up a few loose ends, it's a lot of busy work.

I think the problem is that the game gets to the "BIG" question too early. I mean, you start the game as a dragon. Dragons are supposed to be extinct. No one understands your power. So of course, the BIG question of "What's this dragon business about" is there. But it doesn't truly become a primary concern until Garr joins the party. At that point he says, "Lets head east to learn more about you". But heading east has a ton of road bumps. And instead of answers, you get a: "It's my life's goal to kill dragons: die!"

Nice twist, for sure, but when Garr and Ryu reunite, the primary question is set: "Why did God tell Guardians to kill the dragons?" And then it's just a bunch of bullshit!

Take Fellowship of the Ring. There's a lot of bullshit: dark riders, hobbit eating trees, mid-night attacks, horse chases through the woods, perilous mountain peaks, dangerous mines, a fire demon, dubious wood elves, corrupted allies, and orcs. But, even though the adventurers are constantly running into obstacles, they are always moving the ring closer to Mt. Doom one yard at a time.

Breath of Fire 3, on the other hand, is rarely gaining yardage, and very often losing yardage. It's a oppressively unrewarding experience. I mean, as a child you help train a weak guy to fight a strong guy over several "nights", wander a monster infested lighthouse, and then battle a trash talking dolphin all in hopes of getting a ship and they're just like: Nahhh.

It's much different than something like Elder Scrolls where you have a sort of "home base" and must travel around the world for tasks and clues.

Been trying to think of a better way to approach this...

Maybe Garr doesn't find adult Ryu cause he wants to confront God. Maybe he wants to apologize. As they leave, they learn about the Tiger (Rei). This leads them to McNeil--get Nina, and all that. Now it's time for Ryu to prove to the king he's worthy of a pardon. Missions include: Resolving the Plant Crisis, Fixing the boat, Stopping/Docking the black ship, and a few other tasks. All in the name of clearing Ryu and Rei's criminal record.

All the while, they're learning more clues about the Brood and the past. Garr admits that he's never spoken to God and doesn't know how. He's only goal is to make amends to Ryu as a servant/companion.

One of their quests leads them to the old guardian, which leads them to Deis, and that's when they first hear that God lives across the sea. Now, instead of a million distractions, we have a clear goal to hop on the black ship and sail across the ocean--which we do.

Now, all those mundane quests that prevented progress become a part of progress--because it's helping clear Ryu's name. AND, we don't set the final goal (meet God) until we're truly cleared to chase it.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

The Thief and the Samurai OCs [More Six Shot OCs, kind of]

Episode list here

In the world of Six Shots there is a TV show that is a joint animation project between British animators and Japanese animators. That show is The Thief and the Samurai, which tells the story of a young, blind wandering samurai girl and her unlikely friendship with a scarred, eyepatch-wearing middle aged thief. Together the two wander a bizarre Earth with elements of fantasy and science fiction thrown in, fighting evil and finding treasure as well as learning a great many things along the way.

Currently there are four seasons of 26 episodes each. Every other season is divided into two separate arcs, with seasons 1 and 3 being fully devoted to their stories while seasons 2 and 4 have two seperate storylines of 13 episodes each that come together for a grand conclusion.

The show is basically the equivalent of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure mixed with Samurai Jack in-universe, as neither show exists.

The show is filled with elements that would piss off the British regime, including positive portrayals of homosexuality and the Irish.

The time the show is set is very ambiguous, but it is similar to worlds such as Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI in that there is technology such as guns and robots alongside more magical elements such as demons and witches.

The arcs are as follows:

Season 1 – The Adventure Begins

Season 2A – Strange Eons

Season 2B – Wrath of the Demon King

Season 3 – Sakura and Michelle’s World Tour

Season 4A – Ghosts of the Past

Season 4B – My Master’s Keeper (currently airing)

THE SHOW

Seasons 1, 2A, and 3 are the most popular seasons of the show so far.

Season 2B is the most reviled arc, as many fans found Camazotz to be a far inferior villain to Doboro and they did not find the demons who went after Sakura and Michelle to be particularly entertaining, with the exception of Thot.  Doboro’s return in the finale of season 2 was met with great praise.

Season 4A was not well-received until season 4B began to air, as season 4B has so far provided more context for Jet’s actions in the first half of season 4. 

While very popular in Japan, season 3 has more mixed reception in other parts of the world, as it is very monster-of-the-week. However, despite this it still manages to consistently progress the plot, so many are more forgiving.

The show is most popular in America, Japan, Ireland, and Portugal. 

The show is banned entirely in Britain.

MAIN CHARACTERS

Sakura Miror

The daughter of the British pirate queen Rhiannon Miror and the ninja Hiro Hayabusa, Sakura was fascinated from a young age by stories her father would tell her of brave samurai warriors. At the age of eight she was blinded in a freak accident aboard her mother’s ship, and fell into a depression, until her powers developed. After that, she found a teacher and trained for years so she could become a great samurai and travel forth to protect the innocent.

Sakura has abilities very similar to Daredevil, in that she has a sort of radar sense. Her remaining senses are also enhanced.

She is 21 years old, six feet tall, and has red hair. All of these are traits she gets from her mother.

She wears sunglasses all of the time.

Michelle Kitt

A mysterious thief who saved Sakurra’s life during an ambush. She is completely covered in scars and has an eyepatch from some accident she can’t recall; all she knows is that said accident cost her the life of her husband and child, and since then she has turned to a life of plundering and picking pockets. However, since meeting Sakura she has tried to turn over a new leaf, and has more actively tried to help people.

She is 41 years old, five foot six, has dark hair, and has an eyepatch over her right eye.

She prefers to be called a “treasure hunter” than a thief.

She doesn’t have any superhuman capabilities like Sakura; she is just really incredible at stealing, picking pockets, and breaking locks. She could steal a wallet right out of your pocket while looking right at her and you wouldn’t notice until later.

She feels a bit insecure about her looks as she feels her scars make her ugly.

Rhiannon Miror

Rhiannon “The Red” Miror was one of the most feared pirate queens to ever sail the seven seas, known for her ruthlessness towards her enemies as much as for her kindness and graciousness to those she considered a friend. She fell in love with Hiro Hayabusa after a failed assassination attempt, and together the two produced a child: Sakura. She became semi-retired due to a freak accident on her boat blinding her daughter; racked with guilt over it, she decided to retire from piracy for the time being.

She is six feet and six inches tall.

Hiro Hayabusa

Sakura’s father. A renowned ninja, the only failed assassination in his career was when he failed to kill Rhiannon, instead impressing her so much that she took him as a husband. He is a kind, noble, and soft spoken man who very much loves his daughter and feels nothing but pride for her.

He is five foot six inches tall.

ALLIES

Brother Moon

A mysterious priest who runs a church in the British countryside. He may or may not be an alien. He first appeared during the “Wrath of the Demon King” arc of season 2.

Lady Kali

A four-armed woman from India who is seen as a holy figure there, Lady Kali is a super-strong master of hand-to-hand combat who dedicated her life to protecting her  people from evil spirits. She first appeared in season 2, before getting a major part in the India section of season 3.

Master Ishida

Sakura’s master, who trained her as a child. He appeared early in season 1 and had scant appearances until his major role in season 4, which featured him heavily and greatly expanded his backstory, revealing many other students he had taught over the years.

Kurtwood Armstrong

An American tavern owner with insane physical strength. He is incredibly loud, brash, and patriotic, and does not take well to insensitive and cruel people. Michelle and Sakura aided him in freeing his town from the wiles of Cyrus Lovelace in season 3.

Kristopher Kross

A gay German man with the power of magnetism who Sakura and Michelle helped escort through a perilous mountain pass during the German portion of season 3.

Lesedi

An African villager with the ability to shoot blasts of light. Sakura and Michelle aided her in saving her village from the wicked powers of Morrigan Maro.

Talia Ishtar

A young Egyptian woman with the power to make sand duplicates of herself. Sakura and Michelle helped her plunder an ancient tomb and fight off an undead pharaoh while searching for information on Orochi Overlong during season 3.

Vinny Pagliacchi

An Italian man with dwarfism and a bad temper who has the power to phase through objects. He enlisted Sakura and Michelle to help him take out some criminals during season 3.

MAJOR ANTAGONISTS

Lord Horatio Blackmore

An evil British inventor and criminal mastermind, Horatio Blackmore sought revenge against Michelle for stealing from him. While he has no powers to speak of, he has a brilliant mind and a massive airship which he uses to travel the world.

He has an eyepatch and a monocle. He used to wear glasses before he lost his eye.

He is a snappy dresser and also has a curly mustache.

He is a redhead.

He has several specially made canes, though he favors his cane sword and cane rifle most of all.

He was the villain of season 1. While he was defeated, he was not killed and has appeared several more times in the series.

The Triad

Three mysterious women named Faith, Hope, and Serenity. They seek Michelle, and serve the Man in Black.

Serenity is very ditzy and is a brunette. Hope is short, blonde, and irritable. Faith is extremely tall and strong, and has dark hair; she also is rarely seen with her eyes  open and without a smile on her face.

The three seem to have a wide array of powers, from incredible strength, speed, and stamina. As the end of season 1 reveals, this is because they are supernatural beings who serve the Man in Black.

They are not outwardly malevolent, and ease up towards the heroes at the end of season 1. Since then, they have even occasionally aided them, though their work requires they never stick around long.

The Man in Black

A mysterious man who seeks out Michelle for one reason or another. At the end of season 1, it is revealed  he is Death himself, and he was seeking Michelle out because he believed she cheated him; as it turns out, she beat him fair and square, and her family’s killer used some power to distort the truth. He forgave Michelle and allowed her to live to seek vengeance on her family’s killer.

He dresses in an all-black cowboy getup and resembles an older gentleman.

Camazotz

A demon king who resembles a giant, monstrous vampire bat. He was accidentally summoned forth in Professor Doboro’s attempts to awaken the Old Ones, and when he was banished before he could fully materialize by Sakura and Michelle, he vowed vengeance upon them, sending demonic forces to attack them. He is the villain of season 2B.

Hojo Doboro

A mad scientist who was kicked out of the university he once taught at due to his illegal experiments on the dead. He vanished for years, eventually coming back with an army of reanimated dead to seek the five keystones so he could summon forth ancient beings known as the Old Ones to re-write reality as he saw fit. He was the main villain of season 2A.

He supposedly stole a lot of his best ideas from other researchers. However, he is still incredibly brilliant.

He is heavily based on Herbert West and the Cthulhu Mythos. He also gets his name from one of the antagonists of the game Final Fantasy VII.

Orochi Overlong

A strange, lizard-like man who is also a powerful sorcerer. As is revealed towards the end of the season, he is actually the Yamata no Orochi trapped in a physical, human-like form, and his ultimate goal is to reclaim his original form so that he may rule over Japan once again. Using his considerably powerful magic, he blasts Sakura and Michelle halfway across the world and makes them travel across the planet to get back to him, with them only having 44 days to return to Japan before his plans are realized. He is the main villain of season 3, and the leader behind all the villains they end up encountering on their journey.

Jet

A former love interest of Samus from when she was a teenage student of master Ishida, he seemingly died when he fell off of a cliff during an assassin attack on the monastery. However, in season 4 he returned, and he returned seeking revenge against Master Ishida for failing him. He was apparently trained by a master known as “The Black Phoenix,” and with his newfound dark strength Jet seeks to destroy Master Ishida and all who stand in his way.

Akuma Kokuho

The Black Phoenix, an evil martial artist who was said to have made pacts with ancient demons so that he could be unstoppable and unkillable. He is the main antagonist of season 4. particularly part 4B where the full extent of his plans became revealed as well as his connection to Master Ishida: he was a former pupil who was rejected for his inability to reign in his violent tendencies, and became a disgrace to his family, who abandoned him. It was revealed that much of the mythology surrounding Akuma was nothing more than urban legend, but as it turned out he did have the ability to enhance his strength with dark fire and he also had a knack for coming back from supposed death.

MINOR ANTAGONISTS

Gemini

A creation of Professor Doboro, she was created when he stitched the halves of two twins killed by a serial killer together and brought them back to life. She serves as his bodyguard for much of his arc, though she ends up turning on him at the end.

Their original names were Sunny and Luna. Sunny was a platinum blonde, while Luna had black hair.

There is a line of stitches going directly down the middle of her body, from her forehead down.

Her stitches bleed if she becomes too stressed out. They are incredibly durable otherwise.

She has the powers of both sisters due to having both of their brains, or parts of them at least. From Sunny, she has fire powers; from Luna, she has ice powers.

Freya Darke

A young French woman who was turned into a steampunk cyborg by Horatio Blackmore. She acts as his bodyguard and the muscle for him for much of season 1. She abandons him after his airship crashes and goes off on her own; she has appeared antagonizing and helping out the heroes in equal numbers since then.

Morrigan Maro

A cannibal witch from the heart of Africa. She was tormenting a village with her black magic during the events of season 3. Sakura and Michelle were able to take her out with help from Lesedi.

She had the ability to absorb the power from anyone she has consumed. She had amassed quite a lot of power over the years.

Thot

A horny incubus and one of the many demons sent by Camazotz to kill Sakura and Michelle. He acted more as a minor nuisance than anything, and was easily dispatched almost every time he appeared on his own. By the end of the season, he had become smitten with Michelle and vowed to make her love him. He has appeared on a few more occasions to be a nuisance.

Kirk the Killer

An assassin with regenerative abilities from Romania. In his home country he is considered incredibly deadly, but he seems to frequently be on the end of absurd levels of abuse whenever hee appears. Debuting late in season 1, him getting comically slaughtered became a running gag in each of his appearances, save for his starring role in the Romanian episodes of season 3.

Cyrus Lovelace

A racist, homophobic preacher from the South who appeared in season 3. He had the power of a compelling voice, and could command people to do his bidding even against their will. He was a short, fat, mustachioed man.

Rika Ainia

A young warrior woman who was cursed by a witch whose husband she accidentally killed while sparring. The curse causes her to need to fight to the death with an opponent or else she will have to harm herself to ease the pain a bit; as her innate ability causes her to enter into a berserker rage when fighting, she more often than not would emerge victorious, having ended an innocent life. She ended up running afoul of Sakura and Michelle during season 4; however, as of the current episode her role has not entirely been revealed.

Giorgio Fuso, Dee Comporre, and Mr. Viticcio

The three deadly criminals who Sakura and Michelle helped Vinny take down. Fuso had the ability to generate magma; Comporre had the ability to shoot corrosive acid out of her mouth; and Mr. Vitticio could transform his arms into extending, flexible tentacles. All three were extremely dangerous foes.

Chicken Wire

An odd, cowardly man who appeared alongside Jet in season 4. Apparently Jet saved the strange man from dying; he gets his name because his mouth is wired shut as well as due to his cowardly nature. He seems to have some degree  of control over wires wrapped around his body, but to what extent is unknown. To all the world he seems rather unassming and buffoonish.

[thelogicalghost]

Hellboy (2019), a review

First, some background.

Hellboy is the title of a comic series centered around the character of the same name. Its core concept is a subversion of the Lovecraft genre: a demon (summoned by Rasputin working with Nazis, for extra evil) destined to bring about the apocalypse who, having been raised by humans, instead travels the world killing other eldritch creatures and preventing dime-a-dozen Lovecraftian apocalypses. Though it's been handled by multiple artists and writers, there's a definitively unique art style and tone that stays constant. Hellboy is a combination of antihero tropes, preferring to shoot things first and ask questions later, although how much his impatience and irreverence may be masking considerable intelligence varies from writer to writer.

In 2004, Guillermo del Toro directed and co-wrote a big-screen adaptation starring Ron Perlman as well as other highly capable actors such as John Hurt and Doug Jones (the latter of who played a fishman who likes to read, and then 13 years later would play another fishman for del Toro). While not perhaps the most faithful adaptation, the 2004 movie got a lot right, and del Toro helmed a sequel in 2008. The movies came just before and after another del Toro classic, Pan's Labyrinth (2006), and the aesthetic and atmospheric similarities do suggest that del Toro was maybe going through a bit of a "fairies but horror" phase. Neither movie was received well at opening, but they've slowly risen in popularity as the comic adaptation genre picks up new converts who now return to these movies and enjoy them as the dark demonic superhero genre-flip that they are.

So now it's 2019, 15 years after del Toro's Hellboy, and with superhero and comic book movies raking in big bucks even on R ratings and nostalgia for del Toro's vision still present, the movie industry has tried to revive the franchise. Kind of.

What this means is that this new movie not only has to adapt one of the trickiest kinds of source material, with a highly stylized feel of its own, but also has to follow two movies made by one of the most incomparable creatives in Hollywood today. Like him or not, del Toro's work is neigh impossible to copy. It also has to recast the equally unique Perlman.

The short version is, it doesn't succeed. Probably no one could have. It has a number of deep flaws, some of which are common to comic adaptations but some not.

I'll start with the plot, because the overall plot is, I think, a strong example of why I had to go through all this background.

The new movie begins with Hellboy as an established character, both to the universe he's in and to the audience, and I liked that. Hellboy's in Tijuana looking for a fellow agent but the rescue is derailed because the agent's been turned into a monster and Hellboy has to kill him. This is classic Hellboy, where all other characters are inevitably killed by the darkness and only the indestructible demon is left to finish the job and move on to the next. Except that Hellboy gets SUPER depressed by the death of this agent, going on a drinking binge for possibly weeks? Unclear dialogue? Anyway, okay, so it's a younger Hellboy. Oh, also, the movie quickly establishes that Professor Broom - Hellboy's dad - is still alive in this movie, and still parental.

This was, to me, the first warning sign. The 2004 movie did the establishing-universe-coming-of-age story, killing off Broom as part of that. So we're resetting the universe, but also not bothering to frame this movie as re-establishing Hellboy's character, assuming that the audience will already be familiar with the basic premise. It wants the easy access of an origin story but also getting to take the shortcut of building off previous incarnations. What that means is that the movie opens with a flashback to Arthurian times to set up the antagonist, but ALSO has to incorporate the re-tread flashback re-establishing Hellboy's origin as a Rasputin/Nazi experiment. We get the awesome sense of worldbuilding with characters who refer to a shared history, but then that history is blatantly exposited or flashbacked. The coming of age narrative has to share screen time and space with a plot that only really works when it's not the first in a series, so plot elements pop up and then are discarded or timing isn't explained or consequences are unclear.

Nowhere is this more keenly felt than in the character of Alice: her introduction is fantastic, implying that years ago when Hellboy saved her as a child they established some sort of relationship that sets up a great sibling dynamic between the two. BUT then in order to explain how a secondary villain is relevant, there's an extended flashback to how he saved her, as a baby, with no indication of further association as she grew up, which completely invalidates the previous worldbuilding and implied relationships.

I don't know exactly where the blame for this falls specifically, but I think it's indicative that the director, Neil Marshall, has to now mostly helmed the kind of blood-filled horror flicks where the quality of the dismembered body props is more important than the quality of the plot. Whether it's his direction, or the direction of producers (there are so many listed in the credits I don't know who to research first) or other creative controllers, it's clear that this new movie is intended as horror first and foremost, a sentiment supported by the excessive screen time devoted to redshirt humans being dismembered with unnecessarily vivid brutality.  This in turn brings with it the hallmarks of cheap horror: ignoring plot for the sake of blood and scares, spelling things out so the audience doesn't have to think and can just mindlessly consume, and generally mishandling pacing and tension because the ending is a foregone conclusion.

I understand WHY someone might get this idea from the del Toro movies, especially since I'm pretty sure the creative team also watched Pan's Labyrinth while putting together specific scenes. Unfortunately it's the most surface-level reading of the movies one could get, and it completely misses the point about what makes Hellboy an interesting character and property. They literally did not have his right hand DOING anything, which showcases how much they missed the point.

However.

Strip away the CGI gore and ham-fisted retreading (and cut the retelling of Broom's death, it would be effortless to replace that subplot), and there's actually a pretty awesome movie hiding underneath.

Someone on the writing staff knew what they were doing. The actors are almost all great. (Seeing Ian McShane as Broom here was weird, but I think that's partially because my feeds have been flooded with American Gods S2 trailers, so I had some strong "the fuck is Wednesday doing here" dissonance.) I love the lack of love triangle and instead the strong teambuilding with sibling-style chemistry with situational allies developing trust through necessity.

The main through-line of the plot is exactly what Hellboy should be: monsters, undead things coming back, an ancient evil threatening to engulf the world in darkness, and a determined attempt by the villain to appeal to Hellboy's demonic nature to draw him to her side. If the movie had been confident enough to position itself as a sequel to the del Toro films, rather than a reboot, the revelation of Hellboy's ancestry would have been a great development of his ironic destiny. 

Just take the secret society set up in the first act. An old boy's club of British gentlemen who ritualistically hunt down undead giants on horseback with electrified lance/spears and mount their heads in a Victorian trophy room? This is the world of Hellboy, absolutely. Love it. Baba Yaga! Bleeding trees! Whatever the hell those throat-ghosts are! A fairy ripping out someone's tongue and putting it in their own mouth in order to speak with the person's voice! Hellboy! (Granted that last point was utterly terrible in the context of the plot, but I already ranted about that.)

The movie is pretty optimistic about setting up further sequels, and while I don't know if the box office and reviews will make a sequel happen, I would love for the seeds planted by the good movie underneath the bad one to be nurtured into an actually good Hellboy movie. It just desperately needs to be taken away from people who prioritize cheap horror and its tropes, and given back to people who understand that Hellboy is a fantasy superhero narrative within a Lovecraft setting, the way that del Toro did. 

[tbogost]

Alex Garland as Auteur: Apathetic Existentialism

Film attempts to use emotion to reinforce the notion that mankind is the greatest product of the universe – that everything revolves around what we want and what we need. No matter the genre or the style, most film obeys a generic structure that, over its runtime, follows a hero’s ordinary life, a sudden conflict, and their overcoming that conflict so that the world can carry on either as it did before, or better. But filmmaker Alex Garland has a different perspective that defines his auteur style – one that is grim enough to be called cynical, but that might be intellectual enough to be termed apathetic instead. Garland’s films indicate that humans are so inherently materialistic that we cannot work together even when our own goals are the same. We are bound to turn to conflict, usually to find ways to be self-serving quickly, which ultimately leads to self-destruction instead. Garland’s philosophy combats the innate belief that humans cannot not exist, and instead offers up a different question: Is it really so bad that mankind, like all things, will eventually come to an end?

He may have only just begun to explore these ideas of existentialism as a director recently, but as a screenwriter, Garland’s themes reach all the way back to his first project, British zombie drama 28 Days Later (2002). Near the end of 28 Days, during a dinner scene in between zombie attacks, one soldier seems to dictate Garland’s philosophy out loud: “If you look at the whole life of the planet, we… you know, man, has only been around for a few blinks of an eye. So if the infection wipes us all out … that is a return to normality.” While this somewhat ominous line is not further explored in 28 Days, its message seems to glisten towards the end of Garland’s Ex Machina (2014), a film about AI succeeding humanity, and becomes the central theme throughout his most recent Annihilation (2018), which has a team of female scientists exploring a supernatural ‘shimmer’ that threatens to biologically modify the entire globe. Other aspects representative of Garland’s narrative style as an auteur are also rooted in 28 Days but become more fully fledged in these later films of his. Namely, unconventional methods of storytelling broken into a prologue, epilogue, and several sequences or chapters in between, unnecessary conflicts between characters who fail to intercommunicate, and unexpected feelings of nuanced hope in seemingly despondent situations.

At both the beginning and the end of 28 Days, not counting Garland’s signature prologue and epilogue scenes, the main character wakes up in a hospital bed, creating a symmetrical structure throughout the story. The middle of the film is vaguely divided up into two sequences, one inside London, and the other outside the city at a military house. Conflict between allies is introduced in the prologue when a scientist fights with animal activists to keep an infected chimpanzee quarantined, in the middle when survivors argue over whether to remain at or leave their current hideout, and near the end when the protagonists and the military clash with each other rather than uniting against the zombies. In all of the situations, each respective party thinks they are doing what is necessary to survive, but each is also guilty of failing to reason with the other. Every time conflict arises, no one is capable of stepping back, analyzing the situation, and communicating individual logic to placate it. Instead, chaos reigns supreme. While some might angrily disregard this as an example of lazy character design, that would be missing the point that Garland is trying to make. We are so quick to defend our actions that we do not care to be proven wrong. In tense situations, humans are prone to act on impulse, something that makes us not much smarter than a zombie anyway. It is for this reason – that humans are too selfish and too foolish – that Garland hypothesizes we should not expect to last forever.

Ex Machina and Annihilation take Garland’s narrative structure to a whole new level by using actual transitions to divide and title sequences onscreen as if they were part of a storybook. While this design choice might add a certain artistic flair to Garland’s films, it also acts to underline the significance of the beginnings and endings of his stories. If the titled sequences are the individual chapters of a novel, the first and last scenes are the hard book covers. The most important function of these sequences is to either divert from or highlight the events that take place at either end of both films. Each prologue takes place in medias res, acting as a hook to draw the audience in, and each epilogue is ambiguous and open-ended, meant to provoke controversial discussion. For example, the majority of Ex Machina focuses on Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), an amateur programmer, performing an advanced Turing Test on an AI, Ava (Alicia Vikander), over the course of about a week. White font on a black screen orients the audience during Caleb and Ava’s meetings together: “Ava: Session 1,” “Ava: Session 2,” etc. But it is the first and last scenes, not the sequenced meetings, that embody the message of the film as a whole. The former introduces us to Caleb’s departure from life and his arrival at Ava’s birthplace, the research facility hidden in the mountains. The latter presents the inverse, with Ava escaping from her home, replacing Caleb in the helicopter, and potentially replacing humanity on the Earth. Like Ava tricks Caleb into helping her escape, the title sequences trick the audience into viewing Ava as a harmless test, allowing her to pave her way into their hearts and thus into a new civilization where AI are the rulers of the modern world.

The same exact style is used for transitions in Annihilation, but of course with more relevant titles such as “Area X,” “The Shimmer,” and “The Lighthouse.” In this case, the purpose of the titles is almost the opposite as in Ex Machina: not to divert audiences, but to assist them instead. Annihilation is so nonlinear, confusing, and obscure that at times even it seems unsure of what it is trying to say. Lest audiences get frustrated with the apparent lack of progress that the characters in the film verbally acknowledge, these titles help emphasize that there is a final act with a sufficient payoff coming in the future. Of course, this could simply be keeping with the theme of sequences that Garland employed in his previous film, but perhaps it is a continuation of his writing off the human race as ignorant and needy instead. Perhaps Garland thought that he could not hold general audiences to the end of Annihilation without offering some trail of breadcrumbs to nibble on as they anticipate Lena’s fate in The Shimmer.

Another way that both Ex Machina and Annihilation expand on themes from 28 Days is through their use of time and lighting. Both films follow a particular day/night cycle, with important exposition moving the story forward and building tension during the daytime so that one simple conversation or discovery can instantly initiate a climactic dispute amongst allies at night. In this way, Garland evolves his original theme into more than just a narrative device, but a visual one as well. The Day represents a time when new discoveries and relationships invoke fascination and wonder about the changing world, but The Night represents a parallel perspective when those same discoveries can seem unnatural, wrong, or downright evil. In other words, the day/night cycle indicates that there are no true protagonists or antagonists in either film, but that the changing surroundings and circumstances of the characters distorts their perceptions of each other.

In Ex Machina, Caleb asks Ava questions, exchanges friendly banter with her creator Nathan (Oscar Isaac), and explores the environment during the day, but it is during his intense discussions at night with Nathan that the audience feels most anxious, like they, along with Caleb, are the ones being watched and interrogated. The gradual shifts in lighting play a large role in distorting that feeling too, with the audience feeling more trusting of characters flooded by daylight or fluorescents and more anxious when pale tungsten or bright red highlights the space. In fact, the only times when Ava’s motives are directly indicated are when she turns off the main power and activates the red glow that is representative of the iconic HAL 9000. Nevertheless, Caleb is too in love with her to notice. When Nathan and Caleb finally realize that they have been meddling with each other while Ava has been playing them both, it is too late to go back and readjust their perspectives to make amends. The sheer feelings of conflict between them evoked by the surrounding circumstances have already overpowered any logic, and Caleb’s impulses to free Ava rather than to tap into his knowledge on the danger of AI leads to his unfortunate fate, even though the ethics of his decision might have seemed moral.

Correspondingly, in Annihilation, Lena (Natalie Portman) and the other scientists struggle to differentiate between their relationship with their surroundings and with each other. They travel deeper and deeper into The Shimmer during the daytime, witnessing both the strange beauty and the horror of a space with otherworldly biological rules, but at night, when darkness hides the contours of each other’s faces, the scientists cannot help but turn on one another. Garland is extremely conscious of the tone of his conversations, stressed by the overwhelming amount of scenes containing silence instead. Dialogue which begins as purely expositional gradually shifts into the realm of confrontational as the film progresses. While Lena and the other scientists do have a few run-ins with monsters, it is their failure to trust each other that ultimately destroys the team. In one particular instance, for example, a terrific beast clearly inspired by Cronenburg shrieks with the exact voice of its dead victim, the anthropologist Cassie (Tuva Novotny). As the beast kills Anya (Gina Rodriguez), the paramedic who had just turned on her own allies in a frenzied state, the triumphant screams of a Cass-long-gone remind the team that it is not the monsters, but their own inability to work together, that is leading them towards death.

Some aspects of Ex Machina and Annihilation that point to Alex Garland as an up-and-coming auteur have less to do with his fatalistic themes on the human race and more to do with the stylistic choices acquired by means of his consistent use of similar cast and crew. The director of photography Rob Hardy, production designer Mark Digby, costume designer Sammy Sheldon, set decorator Michelle Day, and musicians Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury, for example, were all employed in both films, and their expertise comes together nicely to create atmospheres that manage to feel melancholy yet warm and dystopian yet beautiful in each. Ex Machina is filled with juxtaposition, taking place in an exquisite home that is also a horrifying research center, surrounded by rivers but imprisoned by mountains. Likewise, Annihilation explores contrasted wildlife where stags can grow flowers on their antlers but alligators can develop the teeth of a shark in their mouths. Subtle visual effects are important aspects of Garland’s film too because they enhance a world we live in now to create subjects that are nonexistent but not implausible. Ava moves more realistically than any artificially intelligent robot known today, but we would not be surprised to see a major corporation like Amazon or Google unveil a model just like her at any time. Garland addresses this in an interview with IndieWire: “’When is this taking place, I’d say it’s 10 minutes in the future’” (Whale). Similarly, there are no actual creatures or plants on Earth like the ones in Annihilation, but the film never presents something so alien that it would be immediately dismissed as unbelievable. The only thing that is purely extraterrestrial is the meteorite itself; everything else is a product of crossbreeding between objects from our world made possible by another.

The most refined relationship on set is clearly between Garland and his DOP, Rob Hardy, since the most comparable technical aspect of the two films is the pattern of the camera. Close-ups point to the ‘threat against humanity’ in each film – Ava’s brain in the first and the cells duplicating inside The Shimmer in the second. Important artifacts like these are placed in the center of the frame as the camera slowly moves closer and closer to them, almost seductively. In a style similar to that of David Fincher, slight movements of the camera continue in other scenes as well, like a person’s slow breaths, following characters as they sit, move, or speak in order to track them without drawing too much attention to the presence of a camera itself. In fact, the only times when the camera stays immobile is during wide-shots of nature that link the main sequences but provide a bit of breathing room in between important moments in the narrative.

One of the most evident similarities bridging the connection between Ex Machina and Annihilation is through actor Oscar Isaac, who was utilized in both films for more than just his stellar acting, but for his significance in Garland’s underlying themes as well. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Isaac functions as a metaphor for higher power in each of Garland’s films: “In Ex Machina, Isaac’s Nathan likens himself to God, providing his ability to create true artificial intelligence pans out. In Annihilation, it’s once again Isaac, this time portraying Lena’s husband, Kane, who opens up the subject of the divine and leads Lena to state, without hesitation, that ‘God makes mistakes.’” (Newby). It is ironic to consider films penned and directed by someone who identifies as an atheist as being religious, but Newby has a point that can be sufficiently validated by the intense saturation of Eden-like paradises and the open-ended epilogues of all three Alex Garland films discussed in this essay. No matter how cynical Garland’s beliefs about mankind’s future might be, a certain theme of hope – not the kind of hope one expects or wishes for, but hope nonetheless – is persistent in all three endings. At the end of 28 Days Later, the protagonists finally signal their location to an overhead jet and anticipate freedom. What exactly is waiting for them outside of Britain is ambiguous (the film ends before we get a chance to see); for all they know, the rest of the world could be infected too, but there is a possibility that life still exists somewhere. The final scene in Ex Machina depicts the AI, Ava, abandoning Caleb and blending into mundane human life at an ordinary crossroad. While this image definitely provokes a feeling of existential dread at the thought of a robot transcending the role of mankind, it is also pleasing to consider that some evolved form of being might replace Homo Sapiens in the future as we did the Neanderthals before us. Annihilation’s final shot of Lena and her husband as potentially alien or genetically mutated beings conjures up a similar notion about existentialism that actually seems to reject Darwinism: it is not evolution that exists, but simply adaptation.

These films hypothesize that eventually, the world as we know it will likely come to an end, replaced by science, technology, evolution, or a divine power. But who are we to know? Perhaps the details of the next step do not matter. Of course, it is up for debate whether this apathetic ambivalence about the future of mankind is unethical. After all, should we not preserve our own species by fighting against current world dangers such as artificial intelligence and global warming? Some would say yes, and Garland might even agree, but it is clear that he believes his purpose is to raise these questions, not to answer them. In his films, just as in religion itself, the prospect of abandoning the present and moving on to some new reality, whatever that might be, is inevitable, and to Alex Garland, there is nothing wrong with that.

Newby, Richard. “'Annihilation' and 'Ex Machina' Are a Double Feature in the Making.” The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Feb. 2018, www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/annihilation-machina-are-a-double-feature-making-1088109. Accessed 8 March 2018.

Whale, Chase. “Interview: Alex Garland Talks Lo-Fi Approach To 'Ex Machina,' Auteur Theory, And Much More.” IndieWire, 7 Apr. 2015, www.indiewire.com/2015/04/interview-alex-garland-talks-lo-fi-approach-to-ex-machina-auteur-theory-and-much-more-265335/. Accessed 8 March 2018.

[mittensmorgul]

Situations in s6 in which Dean prayed to Cas for help (and the two times that Sam tricked Cas into helping... these episodes are marked with *) (oh, and also that handful of times that Cas’s war spilled all over Sam and Dean in ways they never asked for, and he STILL refused to tell them what the heckeroo was going on anyway...these episodes are marked with **):

6.03: Three police officers are dead in what appear to be small-scale recreations of the Plagues of Egypt. Because of the “biblical” nature of these deaths, it’s logical that they would want to talk to someone who, you know, witnessed the original Plagues of Egypt for advice.

It’s noted that Cas hadn’t spoken to either Dean or Sam in over a year despite Sam having prayed repeatedly to Cas after he “mysteriously” returned from the Cage. It’s also noted that the entire case involved another angel trading Heaven’s weapons to people in exchange for their souls. Enter Balthazar, old friend and ally of Castiel, and his cache of stolen “nukes.” Also enter Raphael, general antagonist who is anti-human and pro-apocalypse. Both Balthazar and Cas flap off to points unknown without giving Sam and Dean any further info about what the heck is going on.

6.06: Sam and Dean believe that they may have stumbled across another of those Heavenly Weapons, Gabriel’s Horn of Truth, and Dean prays to Cas to let him know. It turns out it’s NOT Gabriel’s Horn, and Cas flaps off after a short conversation with Dean. Dean is upset because he’d apparently been praying to Cas for days, and Cas only bothered to show up when he thought Dean had one of the Heaven Weapons. As far as we know, Cas and Dean haven’t seen one another since 6.03. All Cas tells Dean is that “I'm at war. Certain... regrettable things are now required of me.” This is not new information for Dean, and leaves Dean feeling just as frustrated over wanting to HELP Cas with his problems. Cas tells Dean he’ll “make inquiries” about what might be wrong with Sam, but tells Dean he has no information for him now.

6.07: After Dean gets confirmation that something is seriously wrong with Sam from Veritas in 6.06 after spending six episodes growing ever more suspicious that Sam “popped outta hell wrong,” including Sam letting Dean be turned into a vampire so they’d have an “in” to kill the entire nest and hopefully capture the Alpha, he calls in Cas, desperate to get a concrete diagnosis and make sure that what came back from the cage was really Sam. Cas diagnoses Sam’s complete lack of a soul, and goes with the Winchesters to Samuel’s compound to see if Samuel (who was resurrected around the same time Sam was) suffered from a similar problem. Cas confirms Samuel still has a soul, and then flaps off without any further explanation of what the heck’s going on.

It’s noted that this is the episode where we learn what Samuel is up to with the Alphas, and that he’s working for Crowley to discover the location of Purgatory. Crowley implies that he can return Sam’s soul, but only in exchange for the Winchesters’ help in capturing the Alphas. With no other hope of retrieving Sam’s soul, they’re kinda screwed into working for Crowley.

*6.10: When Meg captures the Winchesters and demands information on Crowley’s location, Sam makes a deal with her. They’ll help her take Crowley down, in exchange for her help getting some information out of Crowley first. Sam wants Crowley to tell him how to get his soul back, and tells Dean they’ll just kill Meg and her goon demons when they’re through... but Sam, still completely soulless, knows they’ll need some help.

This time it’s SAM (without Dean’s knowledge) who “tricks” Cas into showing up (making him think they’ve run across another of those stolen Heaven Weapons from 6.03). He essentially DEMANDS that Cas help him, because Cas “owes” him, Sam threatens to “hunt you down and kill you” if Cas refuses to help him now. Sam then proceeds to lie to Dean about how he convinced Cas to stay and help, framing it as a gesture of friendship... >.>

Sam overhears Cas FINALLY giving Dean some actual information about the state of Sam’s missing soul, that just happens to sound pretty horrifying... and Sam decides he might not even want his soul back. The fact that Cas believes Sam’s soul is a lost cause, and that Sam’s soul eternally suffering in the cage with Lucifer is an acceptable fate, is frankly disturbing in itself.

Cas ends up banished and Samuel tries to feed Sam and Dean to ghouls, but they both escape/survive, rescue Meg, and capture Crowley. Crowley confirms he can’t return Sam’s soul and seems to back up Cas’s fears about doing so. Cas shows back up (nice timing) with what he claims are Crowley’s bones, which he supposedly burns. Cas agrees to dismantle Crowley’s collection of caged monsters.

(From what we learn later, that Cas DIDN’T torch Crowley’s bones, and that Cas was the one responsible for abandoning Sam’s soul to that eternal torture in the first place even if it had been entirely accidental, AND that Cas was in cahoots with Crowley and his plans for Purgatory all along... his horrific guilt over EVERYTHING that happened in 6.10 combined with the fact that he STILL didn’t confess any of it to Sam or Dean... and Cas is STILL desperately trying to fix ALL of this... he’s got to be feeling even more isolated and burdened and helpless to make any of it work out. And to think all of this is the result of him missing that first sign more than a year ago, that something was ~very wrong~ with Sam when he first brought him back from hell... Cas just needed a win... and he kept doubling down on every losing hand all season long)

*6.12: After Dean restores Sam’s soul, Cas swings by to examine him. He tells Dean that he’s not sure if Sam will ever wake up, because of the damage to his soul, then leaves again. Later, Sam prays to Cas and tricks him into giving him answers.

**6.15: After Balthazar shows up and throws Sam and Dean into an alternate reality without warning and against their will, Dean tries praying to Cas for help but it doesn’t work in that universe. They manage to find their own way back, when Cas shows up to make a threat display to Raphael, then boops Sam and Dean back to Bobby’s. After being used as bait and telling them he’d have done the same thing if Balthazar hadn’t, Cas reminds them that he must win against Raphael, and Dean shouts back that they KNOW that, but that’s ALL they know. Dean is tired of being yanked around by a situation he literally knows nothing about, and again Cas refuses to tell them anything more before he flounces yet again.

**6.17: The entire episode takes place in an altered timeline in which the Titanic never sank, and Atropos was trying to clean up the resulting mess by killing all the descendants of the survivors who never should’ve been born. They discover Balthazar was behind it (him again). They never once pray to Cas for help on this one. Sam and Dean are literally frozen in time in the background with a huge air conditioner thing about to land on them and crush them, as Cas, Balthazar, and Atropos work out their issues. They talk about how Cas is trying to “make power” for himself by creating souls to “power his war machine.” In the end when Cas “allows them” to remember the alternate timeline they experienced, he flat-out lies to them about why it had happened at all (nothing about souls or war machines, blaming the deaths on Fate), and blaming the entire alternate timeline on Balthazar for hating that Celine Dion song. Then he disappears before they can ask any more questions. (he was acting really shifty there too...)

6.18: Dean prays to Cas because they’ve finally found a weapon that can destroy Eve (aka the creature they believe is the season’s Big Bad), but the only way to GET the weapon is to travel back to 1861 when what was apparently the last living Phoenix was killed by Samuel Colt with his nifty magic gun. Cas’s lieutenant Rachel shows up instead and delivers this infamous line:

RACHEL I think you call him when you need something. We're fighting a war. SAM We get that. RACHEL Clearly you don't, or you wouldn't call him every time you stub your toe, you petty, entitled little pie-- CASTIEL Rachel. That's enough.

Out of context it really makes very little sense. We know Cas has barely been in contact with Sam and Dean all season long. Every time he’s seen them he’s been rushed to get back to his war. Yet Rachel seems to think he’s been flitting off to help them out constantly... hmmmm. I WONDER WHERE HE’S BEEN FLITTING OFF TO CONSTANTLY?! (I mean... he’s got this entire secret plan going with Crowley that he’s keeping from EVERYDAMNONE so maybe...) Cas cuts her off and dismisses her before she can say anything else, but she’s suspicious enough about Cas’s dismissal there that she does a little digging...

Cas sends Sam and Dean to the past and gives them a 24 hour window until he fetches them home. Meanwhile, Rachel’s digging has uncovered a TERRIBLE TRUTH about what Cas has been up to. THIS INFORMATION IS STILL BEING KEPT FROM US, THE AUDIENCE, BUT POST 6.20 WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT RACHEL UNCOVERED CAS’S ENTIRE PLAN. And to understand that he hadn’t just been lying to the Winchesters, but even to his closest lieutenants, about the entire Purgatory plan, Crowley, everything.

He’d presumably been telling Rachel that he’d been “helping the Winchesters” while he’d been off working on the Crack Purgatory With Crowley plan. THAT’S WHERE HER BASELESS ACCUSATION AGAINST SAM AND DEAN CAME FROM.

RACHEL Castiel, I've been hearing things. Things I don't want to believe. Just tell me if it's true. CASTIEL If what's true? RACHEL You know. Your dirty little secret. CASTIEL I have to defeat Raphael. RACHEL Not this way, Castiel. CASTIEL Rachel. RACHEL We put our faith in you, and...look what you're turning into. CASTIEL I don't have a choice. RACHEL Then neither do I. (Rachel stabs Castiel with her blade)

Cas is forced to kill her, and then hides at Bobby’s. He’s too weak to bring Sam and Dean back, but Bobby offers the power of his own soul to give Cas the energy to save them. Just when they think they’ve failed, the package shows up from Samuel Colt with the bottle of phoenix ash, and suddenly they’re hopeful again that they can defeat Eve.

6.19: Cas, get outta my ass... (BOY OH BOY HE SHOWED UP FAST! I mean, like he was standing right there all along and just had to un-invisible himself or something... like we see him do in the very next episode.. so maybe he WAS watching over the Winchesters some of the time he’d been telling Rachel he was, but they certainly didn’t know about it.) Now that they have a weapon that can kill Eve, they need to know where she actually is. Cas can’t sense her because she’s blocked him, but he brings the vampire Lenore from 2.03, because she CAN sense Eve. She gives up the information and then begs them to kill her (Cas obliges, to everyone’s horror). He then boops everyone to Eve’s location and immediately realizes that she’s also blocking his powers, so regardless he’s stuck there until Eve is dealt with.

(pause for the horrifying interlude where Sam and Dean are so “desperate for a win” they fall into Eve’s trap with her “perfect monster” that even hunters (and even ANGELS can’t detect... and Cas horrifyingly torturing a guy for info on Eve’s location... and Cas put into a situations where he’s defaulting to torturing people-- bearing in mind he brought Dean in to torture Alistair in 4.16, Cas has fallen a looooong way since then-- will become relevant again in 6.22 so keep this in mind)

Eve reveals that Crowley is still alive (instigating everyone’s suspicions about Cas again, and if that means Cas has been lying to them), and we get confirmation at the end of the episode that Cas and Crowley are working together (and have been all along).

(AN: Looking at the season-long arc as if it were a cop drama, Eve getting taken down with three episodes left to go proves she was a red herring. Sam and Dean, up to this point, believed she was the Big Bad. But the audience should certainly know better by now...)

**6.20: *cries forever* All the betrayal comes into the light. Even Dean can’t defend Cas after this. Cas shows up unasked for in Dean’s car, tells him he has no idea how Crowley is still alive and that he has no idea where Crowley is currently. Then boops directly to Crowley’s lab... >.>

We see that Cas has been hanging around the Winchesters, invisible, ignoring their prayers, “But I didn't go to them...Because I knew they would have questions I couldn't answer...Because I was afraid.“ 

But then he’s compelled to reveal himself, in order to save Bobby, Sam, and Dean... after which Dean again comes to his defense. “Wonders never cease. They trusted me again. But it was just another lie.”

*6.21: Sam summons Balthazar to question him about Cas’s involvement with Crowley after demons kidnapped Lisa and Ben to keep Dean from interfering in Crowley’s plans. Cas had demanded that Crowley not hurt Sam and Dean, so instead Crowley went after people Dean cared about. Balthazar confronts Cas, tries to talk him out of his plans, and then agrees to play “double agent” for Sam and Dean.

Sam then prays to Cas on Dean’s behalf, because Dean’s going off the rails torturing demons for info on Lisa and Ben’s whereabouts. Crowley told Dean to stand down and not interfere with his plans, and Lisa and Ben would be fine. Dean refused. Cas makes the same deal with Dean, stand down and not interfere, and he’d retrieve Lisa and Ben when they’ve completed their plan. Of course Dean refuses, because that’s the same offer Crowley had made him.

“Dean, I do everything that you ask. I always come when you call. And I am your friend.“ Well, Cas, one outta three ain’t exactly great in Dean’s book here... He has NO IDEA the extent you’ve suffered in the name of your “friendship” with him over the last year and a half or so... Cas tried to give Dean peace when all Dean had ever fought for was freedom. Cas has done all of this just to keep Dean safe, and Dean never asked for ANY of it. And with the situations that Cas’s choices have brought down on all of them, Dean’s got no peace anyway. Ask him any day, and Dean will ALWAYS choose freedom. Which means not being lied to, not being betrayed, not having his choices taken away from him in the name of some false sense of peace (helloooo “paradise” parallel).

Balthazar agrees to take Sam and Dean to where Lisa and Ben are being held, and the rescue mission goes sideways when Lisa is possessed by a demon. Cas suspects where the Winchesters learned their location and confronts Balthazar. Rachel uncovered his true plan in 6.18, and Cas killed her for it. Balthazar discovered his true plan here, and Cas killed him for it. But he was unwilling to kill Sam and Dean. He’d done all of this to protect Dean in the first place, but the deeper he dug, the more danger he’d inadvertently heaped on them.

He offers Dean the only sort of “peace” he has left, wiping Lisa and Ben’s memories of Dean. THIS IS POSSIBLY THE WORST THING EVER. OMG. This is the lengths Cas was willing to go to in order to give Dean that peace...

**6.22: And the piece de resistance. The crowning moment of Cas’s utter downfall. He broke Sam’s wall in a last-ditch effort to MAKE Dean stand down and let him crack Purgatory. He helped Crowley torture Eleanor Visyak for the information on the ritual to break into Purgatory. He then breaks his deal with Crowley. Crowley returns having made a deal with Raphael, but it’s too late. Cas has already done the ritual, gained the power of the Purgatory souls, and explodes Raphael. Crowley flees. Dean begs Cas to put the souls back now that he’s defeated Raphael, and Cas refuses (because he’s really really not entirely himself with not only all the monster souls inside him, but the Leviathan as well...).

BONUS: *7.01: Even DEATH tells Cas he’s a walking time bomb, and that he MUST return the souls. HE LITERALLY MOVES THE DAMN MOON TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE. Cas rapidly loses control under the influence of all that power and FINALLY comes when Sam, EVEN SUFFERING WITH HIS BROKEN WALL, prays to Cas, “Hey, Castiel. Um... Maybe this is pointless. Look... I don't know if any part of you even cares, but, um, I still think you're one of us, deep down. I mean, way, way, way off the reservation, but... Look, we still have till dawn to stop this. Let us help. Please.”

SAM was the one, after EVERYTHING, who begged Cas to let them help him, and he finally did admit he needed help. In those few minutes between returning the souls and the Leviathan taking over, Cas’s only concern was admitting his guilt, admitting to Dean that he’d been wrong, and repeatedly assuring Dean that he would find some way to redeem himself. And then it’s too late...

Now that we’ve covered all the stubbed toes and papercuts that Cas was summoned to fix for no reason in s6, lets take a brief look at the sorts of things Sam and Dean dealt with on their own, without summoning an angelic assist:

6.01: After a year at Lisa’s, desperately trying to research a way to save Sam from Hell and trying to live up to Sam’s dying wish for him, a group of djinn shows up and targets Dean. He learns that Sam’s been alive for a year and neither Sam nor Bobby bothered to tell him.

6.02: Sam calls Dean for help while he’s working a shapeshifter case and finds himself saddled with a baby... who turns out to be a baby shapeshifter. When Daddy Shapeshifter comes knocking looking for his baby, and none of the standard weapons work on the Alpha, things go very very sideways very very fast. Still, they don’t call for Cas.

6.04: The monsters are all out of whack, but Bobby’s trying to reclaim his soul from the “loan” he’d made to Crowley in order to get Death’s location in order to stop the Apocalypse. Dean is equally concerned about what the heck’s wrong with Sam, but they help Bobby find Crowley’s bones and hold them for ransom until Crowley releases Bobby’s soul. Funny they didn’t even need an angelic assist on any of that...

6.05: DEAN IS LITERALLY TURNED INTO A VAMPIRE. Kinda a little bit worse than a paper cut. Didn’t bother to phone Cas up for a quick healing.

6.08: Pressed into Crowley’s employ, thinking Crowley’s still got Sam’s soul, they discover the packs of skinwalkers that have infiltrated towns across the country and are growing in numbers. They kill this town’s pack, but the threat that there are more hidden everywhere looms large. Apparently that’s not something they think Cas needs to help with.

6.09: Dean is literally abducted by fairies and taken to a faerie realm. When he escapes, they set a Red Cap after him, while Sam has to find the banishing spell to send the faeries all back to their realm before they can kill Dean. Even soulless, Sam pulls it off without having to call Cas for help.

6.11: Dean bargains with Death, desperate to retrieve Sam’s soul and tired of being at Crowley’s mercy and getting no help from Cas or anyone else on how to help Sam. He learns a bit about Cosmic Consequences, and Death gives him a vaguely unhelpful warning about the dangerous road Cas is going down and hints that it’s about the Souls. Meanwhile, Sam is desperate to keep his soul from being returned, and gets advice from Balthazar that leads him to attempt to kill Bobby. None of this is apparently alarming enough for anyone to consider giving Cas a quick lil shoutout.

6.13: Against everyone’s advice, Sam starts “scratching the wall,” and uncovering memories of his soulless year. We learn some of the horrifying things he did (Sam’s horrified, Dean���s horrified, we see Samuel was horrified, the audience was horrified by giant spider people...), and still they don’t need Cas for this one.

6.14: ehhhh, a simple salt and burn... kinda-sorta... even when everything goes sideways, Dean nearly gets run down by his own ghost-possessed sex doll car, and the haunted item in question is a woman’s transplanted kidney that her sister’s still using, they don’t think to call Cas to maybe help deal with the haunted kidney situation. In this case, it may actually have saved said woman’s life, but whatever. They couldn’t have known until it was too late anyway.

6.16: The monster situation is coming to a head, leaving a trail of victims so obvious that MULTIPLE hunters independently converge on Eve’s location, almost as if they’ve all been lured there like the “victims” in a certain Agatha Christie novel... ANYWAY, they find themselves trapped in a situation where it’s impossible to know who’s possessed by the monster worm, when calling Cas could’ve solved all their problems with a quick lil boop-n-smite, but no. They deal with Eve’s special monster spawn on their own, losing Samuel, Gwen, and Rufus along the way. *cue horrific guilt*

For anyone who is still somehow confused about season six, this is why our tongue-in-cheek tag for the season is “we don’t talk about season six.” Not because we shouldn’t talk about it, but because nothing was beautiful and everything hurt.

Cas proved to be the season’s true Big Bad. But it wasn’t because he set out on some evil plot to ruin everything. It all started for one simple reason: Dean had lost almost everything to give the entire world freedom, and Cas wanted to give him peace as well. That conversation at the end of 5.22, “Which would you rather have, peace or freedom?” Cas realized in that moment that in winning for Free Will and stopping the apocalypse, Dean would never have peace, and in trying to save the one tiny bit of peace Dean did have, he nearly destroyed the world again anyway...

Yes, Cas’s plan “worked.” Raphael died. The second apocalypse was averted. BUT AT WHAT COST?! *cue the Leviathan and a fate at least as devastating as the apocalypse* So no, it really wasn’t a win. Cas hasn’t won. He hadn’t been right. He’d ignored every warning sign begging him to turn back, begging him to stop (and not just from Dean-- from Balthazar, Rachel, Atropos, and even Death). All because he’d fallen so deep and painted himself into that corner, all because he didn’t go to Dean way back when on that day he watched him raking leaves. And then he was too afraid and too ashamed of everything he’d done along the way to turn back, to ask for Dean’s help, to even tell Dean what was really going on and just how bad the situation was.

Who knows if they could’ve found another way. Maybe there really wasn’t another way. But at that point it was moot. Dean (and Sam) had given him endless opportunities to help him, or even just to listen to what he was going through and offer their support, and at every turn he chose to lie to them, to betray their trust to ignore them when they called on him, and to hide from them. All in the name of doing everything to protect them both, to keep them safe. Which (by the time he broke Sam’s wall) had been narrowed down to protecting Dean alone... all the while Dean never wanted Cas to sacrifice himself that way. Dean never wanted to be “protected” from Cas’s difficulties. He would’ve eagerly helped Cas, the same way Cas had always helped HIM.

Maybe we really need to start talking more about season six. Though I’m fine if we can all collectively ignore the spiders, the haunted kidney, and the weird dog episode. Aside from those, there’s a hell of a lot of important stuff that seems to have been conveniently forgotten or ignored that lays the groundwork for every bit of Cas’s personal growth that happens after his return in 7.17.

[furederiko]

Time is of the essence here! That's why we shouldn't waste another day, and hurry ourselves for the recap-view of Kyuranger episode 25!!!

- Why is the Horologium Kyu Globe so important? According to Tsurugi, it governs TIME throughout the Kyuranger's universe. With said ability, it will enable the team to travel back in time and figure out what truly happened in the previous fight against Don Armage. Basically, it's the most powerful Kyu Globe of all, right? - As shown in the preview, this episode also serves as a Kotarou focus episode. And it doesn't waste time to get into that side as well, as the young boy immediately shares to his big bro Stinger about his desire to see a special person from the past: his mother Akemi Sakuma (played by Mizuho Hata, who previously portrayed Mugi Grafton... a.k.a. the third former yellow in this show!). He reveals that she had passed away not long after his little brother Jirou was born... Aaaaaaaw -_-. Dang it, do we really have to start an episode in such a melancholic way? Even Stinger is on the verge of breaking down... NOTE: For the record, Kotarou's mother is never addressed by her actual name throughout the episode. Her name Akemi is featured in the credit, thus I'll be using that for convenience purposes. - Remember the closing bit of episode 24, with Spada and Raptor alerting the ORION to follow them to Planet Tocky as soon as possible? Is it because Tecchu has already arrived and is attacking them? Not really. The 'distress call' was more about solving the planet's peculiar 'system'. Which is where this episode gets really NEAT. NOTE: Starting this episode, I'll be writing the name of the Rebellion spaceship in all capitals. Just to further separate it from Tsurugi's comrade Olion, the other survivor of the legendary battle in the past. Beside, I just found out that 'ORION' actually stands for 'Offensive Resistance Interstellar Orbiter of RebellioN'. Yes, took me 25 episodes to land on that information! LOL. - Apparently, the flat-shaped planet contains 12 keys placed in 12 different, clock-wise locations. Basically, it's a giant CLOCK when observed directly from above the ground. These levers need to be activated within 30 minutes from one another, in order to make it work and bring out the hidden Horologium Kyu Globe. Failing to set them up on time, means restarting from scratch. Yes, as if borrowing that pesky time-based puzzles from the "Tomb Raider" rule book! Clearly Spada and Raptor alone are TOO shorthanded to get this job done. No way they can each trigger 6 keys in time. Hence they have no choice but to call on the other members! Fun fact: Horologium is the Pendulum Constellation, which is usually depicted in form of a giant clock. The planet's name Tocky/Toki, is clearly derived from the Japanese word 'Toki', that literally means 'Time/Hour'. As a verb, the word 'Toku' also means 'To Solve/Untie', which itself plays out as a nice pun for this episode's clock-themed contraption. Over-Time might be using Tocky as their choice of translation, as a reference to 'Tick-Tock', the onomatopoeia or sound produced by a pendulum clock. - Each Kyuranger departs towards their respective hand number, which is a truly neat little touch. So Lucky goes to #1, Stinger to #2, Spada to #9, Kotarou to #11, and so on. Unfortunately, things might not be as easy as it seems. How so? Because specters from their past/memory begin materializing to confront/distract them from their goal. Sort of like mini-bosses, if you prefer to compare it to video games. - And they are? In order of appearances: Eridrone for Lucky, Scorpio for Stinger, Gonessy for Hammy, original Madako for Spada, Kuervo for Tsurugi, Supreme Commander Big Bear for Commander Xiao, Virgo-Garu for Garu, Naga for Balance, Professor Anton for Champ, Otome game-esque Suitors for Raptor (nope, NOT kidding XD), and last but not least... Akemi for Kotarou. The last one shouldn't be a surprise, considering the boy was indeed thinking about her just before they arrived on the planet. - Before we proceed, let's do a quick analysis. There are THREE type of 'Memories' that come into play in these scenes. Pure comic-reliefs, in the case of Garu and Raptor. Clear cut antagonists, like the case of Lucky and Stinger. And the third is important/precious people of the past, like what's happening with Xiao and Kotarou. Some intersect one another. Intriguingly, there are TWO specters that are acting... somewhat oddly out of character: Prof. Anton, and also Kuervo! We know that both should've been allies, yet they end up attacking Champ and Tsurugi as if... they are antagonists. I know this might not mean much, and it can very well be a plot inconsistency at best. On the other hand, I also can't help but wonder if it's actually... foreshadowing about future developments? Just think about it. Perhaps, one of them (particularly the latter) might have been the true face of Don Armage all along? Hmmmm.... - Leo Red, Scorpius Orange, and Chamaeleon Green are the first to eliminate their obstacles. The others begin to follow suit one by one, through various kind of difficulties. For example, while Balance pretty much gets to his key without ANY resistance, Dorado Yellow is having tough luck due to Madako's regenerating ability. Ouch!!! To make things worse, Tecchu sends out another actual clone of the Octopus assassin. Precisely, Otaku-Madako (the version that I think is everyone's instant favorite... LOL) to basically 'annoy' the team with her... devoted love for Moe-Hammy (and later the whole team). How on Earth Tecchu was able to obtain her body part, is beyond me. But that can't even be compared to Naga, when it is revealed that NOBODY showed up in front of him. It's a personal heart-breaking situation for him, who immediately wonders if his lack of heart is the cause to that. This one's clearly foreshadowing to what's going to happen to him... soon. Which once again... brings the case of Prof. Anton and Kuervo into question. - Kotarou is having a different kind of dilemma on his own. He can't turn on the key, because that means his mother is going to be gone again! Aaaaawww. I think anyone who has a heart, would have no trouble relating to this situation. I mean, what will you do if you're given another opportunity to spend a second chance with the loved ones you've lost, right? Tsurugi notices this, and his response is admirable. He's leaving the decision in Kotarou's hands. And boy oh boy, not only Kotarou steps it up by fully understanding what he must do, he also proves his strong resolution for it. Seriously, Kotarou might be the youngest member of the team, but he is certainly one of the stronger (if not THE strongest) character in this show. He might be small, but what a big heart indeed! And it helps that his actor truly sells it organically. As I've said over and over again, this boy is going to be HUGE moving forward! - Time for a 12-members transformation and roll call scene then! Yep... it might be a tad long (from 14:25 to 15:29), but also as grandiose and thrilling as one would expect. I personally love how it shows a close up shot from both side of Reds. Really stylish! Moreso, to think that it's already happening in episode 25 when previous seasons saved it for the last few episodes, only makes me wonder: what else will Kyuranger have in store for its second half?!! NOTE: For comparison sake, Kyoryuger waited until episode 39 to debut their glorious all 10-members transformation scene. While Zyuohger saved its 7-members transformation until episode 45. - The team is then separated into two. First half (Reds, Orange, Black, Green, and SkyBlue) deals with Tecchu. While the second (Commander, Blue, BN Thieves, Pink, and Yellow) sends Otaku-Madako back to where she truly belongs... the Comicket. Ahahahaha. And then everyone join hands to put down Tecchu for good, with their "Ultimate All Star Crash!". WHAT. A. COOL. FINISHER! All the while, Akemi watches as her son gallantly fights as savior for the universe. She might not be real, but I'm sure she's feeling really proud nonetheless. - Of course, why stop right there, eh? The great Kyutamajin is summoned, and this time around, EVERYONE gets to be brought onboard. Yes... just the way it's supposed to. And yes, it's undoubtedly a glorious and exciting sequence that would make any Super Sentai fans geek out and lose all sense of sanity. Just look at how those Kyu Globes light up, while their pilots can be seen behind them. STUNNING! The formation is 'effective' now, as different limbs can perform even stronger feat thanks to each cluster governing them. The Kyu Globes can also detach to their own Voyagers to give air support. Don't forget its over-powered "Ultimate Meteor Break! Super Galaxy!" finisher move. Suffice to say, this is one great mecha battle! Definitely the best one that the show has delivered so far. Farewell Tecchu, we barely knew ye... - We got our thrills, and a heavy share of amazing action... so it's time to end the episode, in a sentimental note. Yes, Kotarou needs to turn his key as the last piece of the contraption. Which means... it's goodbye time. His mom entrusts her eldest son to the team, asking them to watch over him. At this moment, I'm sure all the mellow-hearted audience (like yours truly) is beginning to lose their ability to hold back the tears. Rightfully so, because it's nothing short of a moving scene. Dang it, first Stinger and now Kotarou. Why does this season keep on giving us all these feels? - Horologium Kyu Globe is finally obtained, so what's next? Discovering the truth. It won't be easy though, because Don Armage has decided to send out... not one, but BOTH of his remaining Vice-Shoguns, Kukuruga and Akenba. Looks like dark times are about to loom over the Kyurangers fairly soon...

Overall: This was the kind of episode that made Kyuranger such a fun show to follow. It had great action, thrilling spectacle, the right amount of humor, but more importantly, it had heart. It boldly showed why a large set of characters just simply works. But at the same time, it still managed to include a powerful heart-tugging moment for the youngest member of the team. Whom, in case you forget, also serves as the surrogate for its intended audience. I came expecting this episode to be a total tearjerker fest, but I got a rollercoaster of emotion instead. That's wonderful! Also, this episode was all kind of smart. Debuting a Clock-themed Kyu Globe as some kind of celebration to having 12-members (who can represent each number)... was undeniably brilliant. Yes, it could've been more 'perfect' had it took place in episode 24 (get it? 24 hours?), but we know the circumstances that prevented one (remember those Golf delays that happened twice?). So it's an amazing feat nonetheless! Interestingly, and I've repeatedly said this before: we're only at the halfway point of the show (coincidentally, only around 48 out of 90-plus Kyu Globes -around half- have been used in the show/movie until now). Yet it feels like so many things have happened! Naturally, the major question would be: what more can we expect from this show? I guess we'll just have to continue tuning in and find out... Next week: Is having emotions truly a good thing? Go ask Naga about it...

Episode 25 Score: 8,3 out of 10

Visit THIS LINK to view a continuously updated listing of the Kyutama / Kyu Globes. Last Updated: August 15th, 2017 - Version 2.10. (WARNING: It might contain spoilers for future episodes)

All images are screencaptured from the series, provided by the FanSubber Over-Time. "Uchu Sentai Kyuranger" is produced by TOEI, and airs every Sunday on TV-Asahi. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners.

[zerot0m-blog]

Lamentations: Stargate Destiny

This is just a thought I’ve been having lately that’s been making me sad. Several months ago, before my original account got removed, I had a secondary blog detailing the in’s and out’s of an RPG game I was DMing called Stargate: Destiny. 

Basically, it was my own take on Stargate Universe, a series I felt never got a chance to flourish. And I wanted to add some new twists to the story to make it really stand out. So I got to work devising several campaigns, all of which were basically “seasons” that took place in different galaxies. 

The first one was a fun one. Set in a galaxy besieged by a race of aliens that had the technology to snatch up races from across the universe. The Destiny crew, having access to the stargates, had a unique advantage in that they could help enslaved aliens escape various “game worlds” where they were hunted for sport. This was so that players could come up with their own alien races and join the Destiny on its journey. My game also allowed you to play as Tok’ra who were part of the Icarus mission, Goa’uld and Jaffa who were stolen by the aliens before the start of SG-1, and even Asgard. Sadly, the game died before we even got to midpoint of the season. So I managed to fail harder than the show ever did.

In either case my plans entailed a ton of ideas I thought would’ve been interesting to see in the show. Such as the idea that someone else had arrived on Destiny before the Tau’ri. This character, named Sim, was a former researcher under Ba’al who was interested in investigating the ninth chevron. However he betrayed Ba’al and escaped to Destiny. Trapped there he eventually went mad through a combination of isolation and the neural interface chair. He would spend the series being haunted by visions of his dead sister who had a link to the ship. This allowed the crew control over Destiny’s core systems as Sim had already broken the code years beforehand (but dwindling supplies caused him to retreat into a stasis booth until the Destiny crew fixed the ship).

The season would follow the Destiny crew trying to reach a massive space station owned by the main evil race of aliens that they used to drag people to their game worlds from across the universe. They would meet the numerous alien races who had become stranded in the galaxy and unite them in fighting the main bad aliens and try to get back home. However, the players would be forced to destroy the outpost to prevent a full on invasion of the Milky Way. So their journey home would take much longer. Which takes us to season two...

Second season would’ve taken players to a galaxy ruled by Cthulhu-esque monsters and they would have to contend with dealing with their own crumbling sanity as well as trying to find a way to get the ship back after these aliens stole it from them. There would also be alien races who were trying to keep these Old Ones from fully awakening and unleashing untold nightmares throughout the universe. They worship the stargates, which legend says were instrumental in stopping the Old Ones before, so it was up to the players to unravel the mystery that tied the gates and Destiny to the Old Ones. These benevolent aliens would eventually turn out to be the evolved remains of a long dead Old One and would soon be reintegrated into a planet eating abomination.

With the crew suffering from both sleep deprivation (they all begin to experience vivid nightmares of the Old Ones once Destiny arrives in the galaxy) and slowly encroaching madness some of them are forced to come to terms with demons from their past. The commander, for instance, is struggling with the guilt over losing their chance to get home from last season, and she is doubting her command skills. Other players wouldn’t be effected, like Sim who was already crazy to begin with, and they’d be forced to help those who were.

The endgame would’ve resulted in a heroic sacrifice by the commander to save Destiny (which is used to activate all the galaxy’s stargates much like the Dakara superweapon in order to kill the Old Ones). The surviving crew would finally leave the galaxy all while finally getting peaceful night’s sleep. Though the events have really taken a toll on them.

Season three would’ve addressed Earth’s attempts to get the Destiny crew home. In my game, the Langarans (encouraged by Jonas Quinn of course), agree to send a single relief team to the Destiny along with supplies to help fix her up. The relief team would also bring Col. Shepard aboard as the ship’s new commander. I also wanted to do more light hearted stuff to ease the tension after the nastiness of the second season.

Season four would see some time travel shenanigans taking place, much like in the series episodes “Common Descent” and “Epilogue.” With one of the player character (a child genius with serious skills in tech) being sent back in time several thousand years and being forced to survive by slowly integrating technology into his body. Eventually he’d be nothing but a cybernetic skeleton trapped in a suit. 

The result would’ve been the series’ main antagonist for the rest of the series, a twisted cyborg, alternate timeline double hellbent on exacting revenge on those who abandoned him while his desire to discover the power in fulfilling Destiny’s mission drives him to commit numerous atrocities and effectively becoming a religious zealot. He’d have a heavily upgraded, and bastardized, version of Destiny and a galaxy of cybernetic followers who see him as a prophet. The end of the season would see select few characters actually managing to gate home but with the fate of the rest of the Destiny crew left uncertain.

Season Five would’ve been the grand finale. Set three years after the last season the few characters who returned are adjusting to life back on Earth, which has seen a big change as the Stargate Program has finally been revealed to the public. In the intervening years the Tau’ri have established a thriving intergalactic civilization. The stargate was moved to the Moon at Luna City (a central hub of sorts) while SG teams conducted missions via the Alpha site. However, the players who returned home end up getting visited by the ascended version of the original commander (who died at the end of season two) who tells them that Destiny’s mission needs them if it is ever to be completed. Also the crew is in great danger and needs their help. So they must join the Lucian Alliance in an attempt to gate back to Destiny and help their friends.

Meanwhile, Destiny has been submerged under an ocean planet to stay hidden from the Big Bad and his army. Things are worse than ever, as the crew use the gate to gather supplies and allies whilst planning a big escape. Eventually the plots would mesh with the Lucian players returning to Destiny and eventually fulfilling the ship’s mission. 

That mysterious message in the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation? It was yet another Nine Chevron Address! I even made an effort to embed each Chevron into the game like a little easter egg. A hint at what would come. Destiny’s efforts in decoding it also required the ship to use the crew’s minds to help in the process, hence why the crew who returned to Earth were so valuable. It also gave the Big Bad a reason to go rooting the character’s noggins and upping their mental instability (one character would’ve had a hallucination version of the Big Bad taunting him a’la Farscape).

At the end, Destiny would face it’s alternate future self in an epic battle where the alternate Destiny crashes onto a planet with a stargate capable of dialing the ninth chevron. The big bad and the players would fight for control of the gate, and then gate through and find themselves in a sort of nexus point in time and space. Here a man who appears to be God, but admits he’s just an advanced human from the distant future, congratulates the players on getting this far and tells them that he was the one who set the events of the series into motion.

He planned for Destiny to be created by embedding the message in the Cosmic Background and has been low-key manipulating events so that the crew would go around saving galaxies from the forces of evil. And how it is because of Destiny and its crew that humanity would eventually become a truly benevolent force in the universe. At the end a choice is presented: return home or continue to travel the universe righting wrongs and being the universe’s champions. 

Some characters would die, others get to go home, and some decide to continue the journey. At that point I planned to hand off the game to another DM and let the game continue from there without much involvement. 

Sadly that never happened. The players eventually stopped playing due to random reasons (life really loves getting in the way of fun it seems) and I was stuck with a dead game. And it really made me sad because this was a real passion project for me. I had tons of concepts done up, new tech, both Ancient and alien, that the players would encounter. New alien races, crazy shit you’d never seen in a Stargate work before. I wanted to take Stargate Universe and really make it feel like you were exploring truly alien worlds. 

Alas... that never happened. And then I lost the blog, and soon I became so depressed I soon shut down the game. Though I really do like some of the story ideas, I do hope to one day take out the Stargate elements and write them as my own original stories because I’d hate to let such cool shit go to waste...

Anyways, yeah I just needed to get that off my chest apparently. Thanks for reading.