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artzychic27 · 8 months

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Batraculous East➡️

Austin A (Glam Bat): Austin A sticks to the daytime crimes, but mostly joins his squad in tackling the crimes happening at night. His hairspray is amazing at keeping his hair in place, and it's strong enough to make criminals freeze in place. His Pink Bat suit allows for excellent mobility due to its lightweight, and he has tons of hair-care-inspired weapons in his belt

Austin B (Bat Byte): Austin B prefers to stick behind the scenes when it comes to stopping crime due to some breathing problems, and often sends his avatar to assist his teammates while he takes care of things at the Bat Cave. Bat Byte, controlled by Austin B via tech goggles and wearable sensors, is capable of teleporting, hacking into any database, and sending electric shockwaves

Austin Q (Shark Bat): Austin Q handles aqua crimes, such as bastards dumping oil into the water. His sharp teeth always send people running. His Shark Bat suit allows him to breathe underwater, and it can withstand the pressures of the sea

Austin T (Bake Bat): Austin T also handles daytime crimes, usually domestic disturbances, and he's not entirely gentle when apprehending abusive partners and parents. The scents of fresh-baked pastries he releases from his suit help to calm victims down, and that function comes in handy when someone's having a panic attack

Lotta Jameson (Stunt Bat): Lotta's entire suit comes with shock absorption technology, so she can get hit as many times as she'd like without issue. She'll handle any sort of crime you throw her way, no matter how dangerous

Kendra Anne Gundersun (Upside Down Bat): A nighttime hero who handles stealth missions. She's extremely flexible, and her suit is made to contort with her. It comes with an invisibility function, along with one that allows her to scale walls (Though, she prefers ceilings)

DJ Detwiler (Prank Bat): DJ's suit is made to fit her love of pranks. It comes with an invisibility function, a voice changer in the mask, x-ray goggles, and more. His Prank Bat suit is made to blend into the night, which is when a lot of crime happens and makes for the perfect opportunity to test out a few of his best pranks on criminals

Austin Spinelli (Grace Bat): Spinelli's Grace Bat suit is inspired by male ballet outfits, lightweight and breathable, but it still offers plenty of protection. The ribbons tied around his arms act as grappling hooks or binds for when he's apprehending criminals

Gia Griswald (G.I. Bat): Gia focuses on defense when out in the field, but once she's up against a criminal, she puts her training to use and takes down someone twice her size in under a minute. Her suit with shock-absorption and bullet-proof fabric

Victoria LaSalle (Hoop Bat): Do not underestimate the wheelchair, Victoria as Hoop Bat will still take you down. His bat suit, lovingly created by his boyfriend, Gerard, is capable of creating plasma orbs, which she throws like they're basketballs, and with excellent precision. They can electrocute anyone they hit and momentarily incapacitate them

Gerard Grundler (Genius Bat): As the name implies, he is a genius. Like Austin B, he also works behind the scenes and sends his avatar, Genius Bat, to fight in his place from time to time, but mostly goes out on the field. His suit comes equipped with a badass labcoat

Mindy Blumberg (Harmony Bat): Mindy, like Jean, also has a voice amplifier in their batsuit, but when they don't feel like singing, they occasionally throw a mean punch thanks to their weighted gauntlets

Rochelle Weems (Blackmail Bat): Rochelle's got dirt on everyone. Zir batsuit mask comes equipped with technology that allows them to hear even a pin drop from miles away, and ze can filter out certain sounds to focus on only one. Ze usually handles undercover missions with Mason

Mason Ewing (Info Bat): As Info Bat, Mason can decipher any sort of code created by criminals, and he can figure out passwords in five seconds flat by using his tech goggles, which project all sorts of info before his eyes. Her suit comes equipped with a holographic screen for her to log any information she comes across

Beck King: (Bat King): A veteran of Batraculous East and the best older sibling figure they've had. They've gone solo, but occasionally stop by just to be around their old teammates. Their suit comes with a hover function, almost making it look as if they're gliding through the streets, and allowing them to perform some excellent parkour moves

Batsuits

Austin A's Batsuit: A sleek suit with a pink and black color scheme and a sparkle emblem on his chest. His utility belt comes equipped with numbing spray, lipstick taser, and a comb knife, and his cape comes with a hood to protect his gorgeous hair from the rain

Austin B's Batsuit: A tech-inspired suit with a yellow and black color scheme and a pixelated bat emblem on the chest. Byte Bat's mask connects to Austin B's goggles, allowing him to see what he sees. So far, the only thing in his utility belt is a pair of handcuffs

Austin Q's Batsuit: Very Shark Boy-inspired. A slate blue and grey color scheme with a shark emblem on the chest. His batsuit is similar to a wet suit, and his mask is hooked up to a small but long-lasting oxygen tank built into it. The vision settings adjust the further he goes underwater, it can release pheromones that scare off predatory fish, and he has claws built into his gloves that are just as strong as a shark's teeth

Austin T's Batsuit: So. Much. PASTELS. Pastel green with white, and a pastel green bat on the chest. His batsuit is not all too intimidating, but that only gives criminals a chance to underestimate him and not put up much of a fight so he can deck them. His utility belt comes with a taser, pepper spray, a collapsable staff, and capsules filled with deconstructed baked goods for him to give to kids (Don't worry, he replaces them every day) His cape acts as a blanket for kids because he's sweet like that

Lotta's Batsuit: A sleek, reinforced, and lightweight suit with shock-absorption technology, allowing her to parkour and get into fights with no fear (Not that she ever had any) Lotta's suit is green with hints of brown, and a black bat emblem on her chest. Her utility belt comes equipped with a collapsable staff

Kendra's Batsuit: As bright and pink as Austin A's with a white bat emblem on the chest. Her suit is lightweight and not too bulky so she can perform some of her contortionist stunts. The protective material absorbs any blows and her utility belt comes equipped with several mini spy cameras for her to place where people would least suspect

DJ's Batsuit: A bright green color with hints of orange, and a smiley face emblem on the chest. His suit is almost like a Batsuit version of Miss Joke's hero costume, and there's a smile painted on their mask. Their utility belt comes equipped with laughing gas spray, a small jellybean can that releases a net, itching powder, and ink bombs

Austin S's Batsuit: A lightweight red and black suit reminiscent of a male ballerina's costume with a red bat emblem on the chest. The ribbons around his arms act as Aizawa's capture weapon. No one knows how they work. His cape comes with a hood that shadows his face but only shows two glowing red eyes, making for some haunting performances.

Gia's Batsuit: Gia's suit is reinforced with Kevlar. Her suit is an army camouflage print with a black bat emblem on her chest and comes equipped with weighted gloves that can knock someone out with a single punch. Her utility belt contains non-lethal hand grenades that give off small blasts when activated and incapacitate anyone standing too class. Her cape is bullet-proof for added protection

Victoria's Batsuit: Athleisure-style Batsuit with a green and yellow color scheme and a basketball with bat wings emblem on the chest, and her cropped cape comes with a hood. His utility belt is equipped with a grappling hook and taser, and his gloves are capable of making the plasma orbs. His wheelchair has voice-activation settings, only responding to his voice alone, and the wheels can fly off on their own and strike a criminal. (Imagine Go-Go's wheels)

Gerard's Batsuit: A high-tech suit colored a light blue with hints of white and a beaker emblem on the chest. His utility belt comes with tracking chips, capsules containing gaseous forms of his elixirs made to either heal his teammates or knock out criminals, and a taser. The hologram wristlet displays maps, records, the locations of his teammates, etc.

Mindy's Batsuit: Imagine badass Juliet Capulet. Her suit is a pastel purple with hints of white and has a music note with bat wings emblem on her chest. Poet sleeves. Her belt is equipped with a whip, and, like Jean, a device that's able to throw her voice. Her cape also comes with a hood because... Dramatic.

Rochelle's Batsuit: Rochelle's suit is dark blue with black accents and a black bat emblem on the chest. Zir utility belt comes with a tranquilizer gun and small microphones to leave in certain areas and pick up any conversations. Zir mask covers zir mouth and allows zir to hear anything from miles away. Zir cape also functions as an invisibility cloak

Mason's Batsuit: A lightweight suit colored blue with hints of black. Her mask is equipped with tech goggles that project the entire internet before her eyes (Even the dark web) The bracelet on her wrist can open up a holographic screen for them to take notes on, and their utility belt comes with an audio recorder pen, whip, and ink bombs

Beck's Batsuit: Beck's suit is black with some hints of blue and red. Their leather jacket is covered in graffiti and has a crown emblem on the back with bat wings. Their utility belt comes equipped with a grappling hook, collapsable staff, and throwing stars. Built into their gloves are brass knuckles and right at their fingertips are tasers. Their boots have hidden blades in the heels and allow for them to scale any surface

Base Rooms

The secret basement of the Tomassian estate is used as their home base

-The Main Control Room: The main center of the Batcave, equipped with all sorts of holographic displays built by Gerard and Austin B that track criminal activity and show maps of the city. There's a table-like touchscreen that controls the whole room- lights, furniture, and music. This is where DJ organizes each mission

-Garage: Their garage is filled with their own personal vehicles

-Armory: Gia, Gerard, Austin Q, and Kendra keep the room stocked with many different weapons ranging from hand grenades to DJ's prank supplies

-The Lab: This is Gerard and Austin B's territory. If you see the red light outside the lab is on, it means they're working on something, so do not disturb them. There are five supercomputers, a massive chemistry set, a 3D printer, a testing area behind indestructible glass for the others to test out any functions of their Batsuits, and three robot assistants

-Training Room: The training area comes equipped with state-of-the-art workout equipment, virtual training simulations, practice dummies that track their progress, and a wall of traditional weapons. Gia, Victoria, Kendra, Beck, and Austin Q run that very room with iron fists.

-The Library: It's full of massive shelves filled with paperback books and some Kindles (Mostly used by Gerard and Austin B), and the backroom contains records of the city, known criminals, and gangs. Gerard, Spinelli, Rochelle, Mindy, Austin B, and Mason frequent the library the most out of the others

-The Infirmary: Mostly frequented by Lotta. Austin T, Mindy, and Gia oversee the medical bay equipped with all sorts of medical technology and supplies. Gerard created Med-bots designed to safely carry anyone injured into the infirmary

-The Lounge: A comfortable space for the team to relax, watch movies, and grab something from the kitchen where Austin T. and Victoria cook every meal. It's also where the couples like to make out... A lot. If you see Austin A and Spinelli making out on the couch, just don't disturb them, alright? Seriously.

Vehicles

-The Batcycle: A tech motorcycle used by Beck that can move swiftly through any crowd. No one dares to ride it, because Beck will know and give the disappointed look

-The Bat Boards: Kendra, Austin A, Lotta, and Spinelli's hoverboards, used by them for patrols and surveillance through the city. The Bat Boards can travel at high speeds, and someone who's not used to riding one may find themselves a little shaken up

-The Bat-Tank: A reinforcement manned by Gia in the event the team is facing the occasional robot army or villain in an indestructible suit. for even the harshest terrains. The Bat-Tank comes with a cannon that should only be used in dire situations

-Victoria's Bat Chair: ONLY to be used by Victoria. A high-tech wheelchair with voice activation technology. The wheels can be thrown or shot off on their own like disks and can flip over horizontally to make the Bat Chair hover

-The Bat Jet: A high-tech smart jet piloted mainly by Austin B and Gerard. It can hold the entire team, is equipped with cloaking technology, auto-pilot, a long-lasting battery, and a fully stocked fridge for long-distance traveling

-The Bat Pack: Jet Packs used by Austin T, Rochelle, and Mason for surveillance missions. The Bat Packs are light-weight and battery-powered, barely making a sound. They also come with small grappling hooks to easily get from one spot to another

-The Bat Vespa: DJ and Mindy's Bat Vespa is built for two, comes equipped with motion centers so they can detect if someone is following them at night, can dispense smoke bombs, and is even able to hover

-The Bat Convertible: Operated primarily by Austin Q, this is a sleek sports car that blends in with the night. It comes with auto-pilot settings, can be driven from the Bat Cave using a tablet linked to it, and has an underwater function in case Austin Q drives it into the water... Again

Night in Paris

Glam Bat: Glam Bat was getting his hair done at his usual salon when an armed robber burst in and held a beautician at gunpoint, threatening to fire unless everyone handed over their valuables. Not missing a beat, Glam Bat flung his comb knife at the robber's hand, making him drop the gun, and then he sprayed him with his numbing spray

Bat Byte: A string of cyber crimes has been hitting the city for quite some time now. Phones were blaring random alarms for national disasters that never happened, and computers were suddenly short-circuiting and losing all sorts of important date, so Bat Bye put on his tech goggles and did some digging. After looking through the Dark Web, he tracked the offenders down and sent his avatar to apprehend them

Shark Bat: While making his rounds through the water, he was about to resurface when an anvil dropped into the water with a rope tied around it, and the other end was tied around a man's ankle. Shark Bat tore through the rope with his claws, offered the man his mask to breathe, and swam back up the surface where he then proceeded to knock out the bastards who were trying to dispose of the man so he couldn't testify in court tomorrow

Bake Bat: While doing some surveillance in a neighborhood, Bake Bat was keeping tabs on a home that many people have reported regarding child abuse. Just when he was about to leave, he heard something coming from the backyard and found out that the shed was holding three children captive. After handing the children over to the police and giving them some cupcakes, he gave the "parents" a lengthy and graphic threat

Stunt Bat: Stunt Bat was hired as security for an actress who was being stalked by an unknown person. While guarding the hotel room, Stunt Bat heard a scream coming from the actress' room and found her in the middle of being kidnapped by the stalker. Stunt Bat barely stumbled when the stalker threw a barrage of punches at her, and easily knocked him out with one punch

Upside Down Bat: While staking out a mansion linked to several civilian disappearances, Upside Down Bat finds out that the owners are auctioning off human beings to rich buyers. She easily sneaks in undetected, takes out a few people who manage to spot her, and leaves several mini-cameras where the auction is being held. In just a few seconds, the auction was being broadcast all over the city

Prank Bat: Prank Bat often frequents a comedy club in the evenings when he's free. While up on stage and making the audience burst into laughter, he caught a guy hitting on a girl who was clearly underage and uncomfortable. She then proceeded to heckle the guy and turn everyone's attention toward him. To further humiliate him, Prank bat threw a couple of ink bombs the guy's way, covering him in an array of colors

Grace Bat: While giving instructions at a dance studio for children, Grace Bat heard some commotion coming from outside. Two very angry parents were questioning the whereabouts of their son who they forbade from taking "sissy dance lessons." He apprehended them with his ribbons when the two began harassing people, and quickly called the police. According to them, the boy's aunt and uncle took out a restraining order on them a year ago

G.I. Bat: G.I. Bat was doing a few patrol rounds one evening when she saw two guys trying to force a woman into a car. Not wasting a second, she hurried over, easily defeated the two very muscular men, and blocked gunfire from the driver before taking him out. Apparently, the woman escaped from an organ harvesting organization and led G.I. Bat and the police right to their base

Hoop Bat: He occasionally teaches kids and teenagers how to play basketball. While at their usual court, Hoop Bat noticed a well-known street gang occupying it. When they refused to comply, and even whipped out a few bats, Hoop Bat shot a few plasma orbs at them and knocked them out cold

Genius Bat: The avatar was doing some surveillance when he came across a hostage situation at the bank. Genius Bat got his gear on and hurried over. He maneuvered his way through the vents and dropped a few capsules on the criminals, causing their body's to go completely numb and allowing the officers to easily apprehend them

Harmony Bat: Harmony Bat was working undercover, singing in the choir for a cult hidden in plain sight. After collecting all of the evidence they needed, showing the cult leader harvesting the organs of children, they immediately sprung into action and temporarily deafened everyone in the room, leaving the children unharmed since it was only at a frequency adults could hear. The cult and several other sectors were raided and put to an end

Blackmail Bat: Blackmail Bat, like the name implies, blackmailed several government officials who have done... Less than wonderful things. Orphanages are being renovated, there's better health care, and abusers are actually getting arrested. This went on for a few more weeks until Blackmail Bat decided ze was satisfied, and exposed every single crime

Info Bat: A string of kidnappings has been going on all across the city, and the perpetrators always leave a clue behind in the form of a strange note with some sort of code just to taunt officers. Info Bat easily figured out the codes and tracked them down to an old apartment building where the kidnapped people were being held

Bat King: This was their last mission with Batraculous East before going solo. Spotting a group of armed gunman in a massive estate, they stealthily made their way in, easily disarmed the gunman with only their staff, and saved the family that was held hostage

@imsparky2002 @msweebyness

#batraculous #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #mlb au #batman #recess class #mlb ocs

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shallahi-and-snowflake · 7 months

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Musharna Malice:

A dream that is not yours, or rather a distant memory long forgotten. The dreamer does not remember, but somehow it has found its way to you.

You are overseeing a group of people in strange outfits watching over something in a large tube of amniotic fluid in a monochromatic, high-tech laboratory facility. A woman then barges in, interrupting the convocation, a look of horror upon her face. A man tries to console her to no avail.

“Isn’t she beautiful? A culmination of both our life’s works come together.”

“What have you done…what have you done to our daughter?!”

She screams. The other scientists in the room try to hold her back from seeing the figure floating in the chamber. It is connected to various wires and machinery but it is still of flesh and blood.

A grotesque combination of man and beast. The child had scales the color of its dark amaranthine hair, a small prehensile tail adorned with, and its hands and feet ended in wicked talons.

“You turned her into a monster…”

“Oh, [DATA LOST], you must remember that we fear the things we don’t understand.”

The figure within the chamber of fluid writhes unconsciously to the sound of the commotion. All eyes are on this thing that lay dormant.

“Please remove her from the facility at once. She is not permitted to be here.” The man spoke coldly. More scientists came in from behind and apprehended her, despite her protests.

“You bastard! You’ll pay for what you’ve done!” She cries out again. She struggles to reach out her hand to the thing she called her “daughter” one last time before automatic doors slam in front of her.

You are still in the room bearing witness to this happening. Your eyes are transfixed on this freak of nature. It did not ask for this. It did not ask for any of this. It was only a child.

It was only a child.

…

Mgh. Ghg. Gt… tgh.

Still in Wonderland.

…Another like Sword?

#shallahiposting #rotomblr #pkmn irl #answered asks #rotomblr in wonderland

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ask-mortarion-the-death-lord · 1 year

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finally got a look at dawn of fire: iron kingdom. why would i look into this one when i havent otherwise bothered with dawn of fire? iron kingdom has marines malevolents in it and im a sucker for even the scraps [make that marines malevolent book series kymes, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO KYMES!!] as kymes seems to be the only one interested in touchin on the baby bastards.

AND! ... its nothing we haven't seen before from kymes unfortunately. renyard is basically lorkar if lorkar had gotten that promotion, all cynical outlook on the world and everyone in it but a sort of grim hollow enjoyment out of the bloody work he does to cover up his thoroughly misanthropic beliefs on humanity and his own nature. aka the other end of the spectrum of marines malevolent behavior compared to vinyard who got a kick out of liquidizing the innocent.

other then that though, a very minor part of the wider whole. he kills some stuff in a callous manner, proves hes a competent commander in taking out an imperial knight and its amrigers and generally succeeding in his mission of 'fuck shit up', and then gets ganked in a duel with a storm reaper who got offended enough by his behavior to challenge him, though with his own lil konrad moment of 'i told you so' even as hes coughing up blood.

continues the trend on how kymes uses the MM though, in that well they get a lot of 'kicking the puppy' moments to contrast any of their insightful commentary on the reality of the imperium and what it does. the ugly mirror of truth as it were, further compounded by how much of renyards internal dialogue is on how ridiculous he finds his contemporaries obsessions with pomp, ceremony and honour when war is inherently brutal and honourless in his view. his commentary on the storm reapers hesitance to attack a civilian target not in pulling rank or authority in that instance or anything but in simply humorously noting 'oh you'll do it when ya get into combat, thats what your designed to do'. as an inevitability of their design effectively. and how kymes positions the marines malevolents as part of the fleet admirals plan sanctioned in their brutality by a macro scale imperial machine, accompanied by renyard musing about how desperate the situation must be right now if bastards like him and the MM are getting actual support and primaris tech and its like well concluding that 'shit be fucked you'.

cements in my mind that the MM are night lord descendant if they are of traitor stock [personally i prefer to HC them as just more ultramarine descent myself] atleast as far as kymes is concerned. their tactics in iron kingdom are 'terror guerilla fighters', as mentioned reynard gets his own lil konrad moment of 'i told ya so' in the end, and their general attitude rings very night lordy to me in general.

#warhammer 40k #warhammer40k #marines malevolent #night lords #dawn of fire: iron kingdom

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voluminous-violet · 2 years

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V, The People (so probably just me) gotta know: what are your Fallout faction takes. Just Generally I mean

Oh really? This is a fun question I really wasn't expecting but I'll take it!

So we're gonna start with my most controversial take probably and then work randomly from there lmao

Brotherhood of Steel: Ok I'm gonna be honest I REALLY like the BoS a lot, in almost all of their depictions, minus like fallout 4. I think it makes a lot of sense that some former military types would go nuts with trying to prevent the over use and reliance on old war tech and take it way too far while also being over the top sanctimonious about it. I also like that there's small pockets of Brotherhood who seem to realize that they're in a much better position to help people and actually try makes them a more dynamic faction. I'm ok with them being a more lawful neutral faction of not really giving fuck, rather than the big bad monsters like Fallout 4.

NCR: Boy howdy is this faction a cluster fuck of "Guys hear me out we have REALLY GOOD IDEAS TRUST ME" and then fucking up everything nonstop. Probably one of the most realistic factions in terms of wanting to do good but being so far up their own in bureaucracy and self importance that you get basically all of their problems in New Vegas. They WANT to be lawful good but end up being neutral good mostly.

Followers of the Apocalypse: Probably the only faction that has an idea of what they want to do and ACTUALLY gets it done even if it's on a smaller scale than they would want. One of the few factions you can openly say you're part of and not get shot on site by someone lmao.

Caesar's Legion: Oh noooo the bastard clan is bastards??? Yeah I'm not a fan, though I do like the touch in the writing where you hear reports from places the Legion has conquered talking about how like "Life sorta sucks but there's a sense of normalcy at least?" Like no one says they're GOOD but some at least appreciate the safety it brings. It's a nice touch in my opinion to give the player that absolutely TINY moment where they think "MAYBE I could hear them out" before seeing all the crucifixes and immediately ignoring anything they say.

The Enclave: Ok so I'm glad they're basically done with, but I wouldn't mind hearing that there's like tiny squads scattered across the wastes trying to keep the factions ideals alive. Honestly, I wish they weren't in Fallout 3 because I think they would've made a GREAT foil in Fallout 4 for the next faction...

The Institute: Ok so this was actually the final faction I sided with in my playthrough to get the platinum trophy in Fallout 4. I usually LOVE the super high tech factions and the neat futurism they bring, I mean ffs I'm a BoS simp, but god is there just... almost nothing redeemable about The Institute? They literally just do things because they can and think the rest of the world should just go with it because everyone is lesser than them? And don't get me started the synth debated because that's something that really shouldn't have even been a thing but HERE WE ARE I GUESS.

The Minutemen: Honestly just... why are they here? I know they're supposed to be the Yes Man for Fallout 4 in case you fuck up literally everything else, but they're just SO BLAND. Preston is annoying, Mama Murphy is just there to make the game easier for new players, and the rest of them have like no character beyond angry, depressed, or mechanic.

I know I'm leaving a bunch off but this is getting long winded so if you agree, disagree, or want a specific faction mentioned, just send another ask!

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from-ultra-space · 7 months

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Musharna Malice:

A dream that is not yours, or rather a distant memory long forgotten. The dreamer does not remember, but somehow it has found its way to you.

“Isn’t she beautiful? A culmination of our life’s works come together.”

“What have you done…what have you done to my daughter?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO OUR CHILD?!”

She screams. The other scientists in the room try to hold her back from seeing the figure floating in the chamber. It is connected to various wires and machinery but it is still of flesh and blood.

A grotesque combination of man and beast. The child had scales the color of its dark amaranthine hair, a small prehensile tail adorned with, and its hands and feet ended in wicked talons.

“You turned her into a monster…”

“Oh, [DATA LOST], you must remember that we fear the things we don’t understand.”

The figure within the chamber of fluid writhes unconsciously to the sound of the commotion. All eyes are on this thing that lay dormant.

“Please remove her from the facility at once. She is not permitted to be here.” The man spoke coldly. More scientists came in from behind and apprehended her, despite her protests.

You are still in the room bearing witness to this happening. Your eyes are transfixed on this freak of nature. It did not ask for this. It did not ask for any of this. It was only a child.

It was only a child.

[It’s another audio recording, one of Nori’s Dream Logs presumably. Although this one starts straight away with the sound of Nori’s voice.

“I do not think the recorder picked up my mumbling throughout that dream but it was not a very pleasant one. Apologies I seem to be disoriented, this is Nori Phoris once again. This dream was… unsettling. In it I think I was some form of a lab assistant although I do not think I was me, as in I had taken the place of someone else. The experiment was…was… a person? A child? At least she used to be. That’s right! It was someone’s daughter, although the mother had to be forcibly removed and restrained after seeing the ‘test subject’.” Nori stays quiet for a while although the rhythmic tapping of his finger can be heard. “It was horrific. All of it. I hope the dream doesn’t come back. End log.” ]

#nori’s asks #pkmn irl #Nori’s Dream Log

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flooficandii · 4 years

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It's all fun and games til your ex-fiancee decides to thermobomb all your powerboxes :]

heehee im glad i finally got to do a full art piece, honestly i got really motivated to do this one- i started yesterday and finished today, which is kinda,,,,, cool i guess

for one im glad i finally got to do a serious full body of tech, and two im v i b r a t i n g after drawing @starstainedtea's bomber. just,,,look at this fine piecea meat

bomber and tech are canonically on the same team,,,but venting your frustrations via crossfaction counterparts? hm :]]]

#tf2 tech #tf2 bomber #tf2 tenth class #tf2 10th class #tf2 oc #tf2 ocs #bomber #tech #god i love them #theyre both bastards in their own right #tech has more of the bastard scale #aha #whats the term for rivals #rivaltonic #my art #floofis brain worms

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mostlysignssomeportents · 2 years

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The FTC takes aim at commercial surveillance

The biggest fallacy in the online privacy is that there is a difference between “state surveillance” and “commercial surveillance.” Bizarrely, it’s a fallacy that is widely held by both government snoops and Big Tech snoops.

Many’s the time I’ve spoken to a DC audience about privacy, only to have an audience member say, “I’m OK with Uncle Sam spying on me — after all, I’ve already given up every sensitive scrap of information about my personal life to the Office of Personnel Management when I applied for security clearance. But I don’t want my money going to Google — those bastards would sell their mothers out for a nickle.”

Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley, I hear, “I don’t care if Google has my data — they just want to show me better ads. But the US government? Hell no! Those govies and their profiteering private contractor pals are all too stupid to get jobs at real tech companies and who knows what they’re going to do with my data?”

Both groups are gripped by the delusion that state surveillance can be disentangled from commercial surveillance. In a just world, companies would be barred from undertaking mass-scale surveillance for their private gain. After all, this is a practice that imposes vast risks on the public — humiliation, identity theft, extortion, and more — and is only profitable because the companies that create this risk can privatize the benefits of spying and socialize the costs of leaks:

https://locusmag.com/2018/07/cory-doctorow-zucks-empire-of-oily-rags/

How is it that the government hasn’t stepped in to force companies to end the practice of spying? Worse, how is it that the government abets spying — for example, by reinforcing the risible fiction that clicking “I agree” on a meandering, multi-thousand word garbage legalese novella constitutes “consent”?

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/10/be-reasonable/#i-would-prefer-not-to

It’s because the project of mass state surveillance depends on mass commercial surveillance. Remember the Snowden revelations? Remember how they started with #Prism, a program whereby Big Tech had secretly colluded with the NSA to conduct illegal, mass surveillance?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data

The companies denied it at first, but they changed their tunes — and squealed like stuck pigs — when another NSA program called “Upstream” was revealed. “Upstream” was the NSA’s practice of wiretapping the fiber lines between Big Tech’s data-centers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-nsa-intercepted-data-those-not-targeted-far-outnumber-the-foreigners-who-are/2014/07/05/8139adf8-045a-11e4-8572-4b1b969b6322_story.html

Prism turned out to be a way to trick the tech giants into thinking that they were in control of the NSA’s harvesting of their users’ data. But what was really going on was that the NSA was capturing everything, picking out the stuff they wanted, and requesting it via Prism (this is called “parallel construction” and it’s used when an agency does not want to reveal its methods to its partners or adversaries).

The NSA depended on Big Tech collecting and retaining everything, and it depended on the companies recklessly transmitting data between their data-centers without encrypting it. The NSA is also the agency charged with defending Americans from foreign surveillance, the risk of which also increased thanks to Big Tech’s overcollection and sloppy storage. If the NSA took its defensive mission seriously, it would have been screaming its head off, demanding an end to commercial surveillance and hardening of internal communications. Instead, it exploited both.

The public-private surveillance partnership is very old, and it’s key to monopolists’ strategy. It took 69 years to break up AT&T, because every time trustbusters came close, America’s cops and spies and military would spring into action, insisting that the Bell System was America’s “national champion,” needed to defend it from foreign enemies. The Pentagon rescued Ma Bell from breakup in the 50s by claiming that the Korean War couldn’t be won without AT&T’s help:

https://onezero.medium.com/jam-to-day-46b74d5b1da4

But it’s not just powerful federal agencies that rely on commercial surveillance — and who aggressively cape for the tech surveillance industry. Local cops rely on Amazon’s Ring doorbells to conduct off-the-books, mass scale street surveillance. Despite Amazon’s repeated false claims, police can do this without Ring owners’ knowledge or consent:

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/13/amazon-gave-ring-videos-to-police-without-owners-permission-00045513

Hard to overstate how sleazy this is, even leaving aside the creepy public surveillance part. Amazon sells you networked surveillance cameras, encourages you to put them inside and outside of your house, promises that you will have control over the footage they capture, then secretly hands it out to cops. In a just world, Amazon would face stiff penalties for lying to its customers about a matter this sensitive. In our world, nothing happens — because local cops across America go to bat for Amazon every time the issue comes up.

Google deceptively captures your location data. It is effectively impossible to opt out of Google location collection. You have to uncheck a dozen or so boxes in different places. Even the senior Googlers who ran Google Maps couldn’t figure it out — they thought they’d opted out, but hadn’t.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/01/you-are-here/#goog

In a just world, Google would face stiff penalties for deceiving billions of people who thought they had explicitly told the company not to track their location — but in our world, Google is left alone to do so. I mean, of course — why not? Without Google’s mass harvesting and indefinite storage of surveillance data, cops wouldn’t be able to use “reverse warrants” to go after Black Lives Matter protesters:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/16/geofence-warrants-reverse-search-warrants-police-google

(If you think that reverse warrants are good because they were used to prosecute the 1/6 insurrectionists, please consider that the vast majority of reverse warrants are used against progressive protesters).

Facebook deceptively captures your personal communications. You may think your private messages are private, but actually Facebook collects this data and retains it forever. In a just world, Facebook would be punished for this. In our world, Facebook turns over teens’ private chats about procuring a medication abortion to cops seeking to charge an underaged girl as an adult with multiple felonies:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7zevd/this-is-the-data-facebook-gave-police-to-prosecute-a-teenager-for-abortion

Republicans talk a big game about tech companies being too powerful — but they mean that tech companies shouldn’t be able to do content moderation.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/07/right-or-left-you-should-be-worried-about-big-tech-censorship

They don’t mean that tech companies should stop collaborating with latter-day Witchfinders General in their hunt for formerly pregnant children to imprison on behalf of the forced birth movement.

A federal privacy bill has been working its way through Congress all year, but it keeps getting watered down to the point of uselessness — or worse, because the bill will preempt good state privacy laws and replace them with a weak federal rule. But that might be moot, because I hear there’s no chance of the bill passing.

This isn’t regulatory capture — it’s legislative capture. Congress and the Senate are thoroughly dependent on the big tech companies, as well as other surveillance giants like the credit reporting bureaux and the military contractors who build and maintain government surveillance systems.

https://doctorow.medium.com/regulatory-capture-59b2013e2526

All that might piss you off. It should. But here’s the good news. The great news. When it comes to digital surveillance, America no longer has a regulatory capture problem. That’s because personnel are policy, and the brilliant, fearless Lina Khan is running the FTC.

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/09/rest-in-piss-robert-bork/#harmful-dominance

Khan rose to prominence just five years ago, when, as a law student, she published the earth-shaking law review article “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox,” which demolished 40 years of right-wing orthodoxy that insisted that monopolies were efficient and beneficial and should be encouraged by governments:

https://www.yalelawjournal.org/note/amazons-antitrust-paradox

Today, she is chair of the FTC, and she’s taking no prisoners. Instead, she’s instituting new stringent merger guidelines, aggressively pursuing monopolies, and proposing sweeping new regulation that would allow the FTC to step in on privacy where Congress has failed us.

The FTC’s just given notice of a future rulemaking on digital privacy, called the “Commercial Surveillance and Data Security Rulemaking”:

https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/federal-register-notices/commercial-surveillance-data-security-rulemaking

They want to hear from you on a series of hard-hitting questions, including

Are there some harms that consumers may not easily discern or identify? Which are they?

How should the Commission identify and evaluate these commercial surveillance harms or potential harms? On which evidence or measures should the Commission rely to substantiate its claims of harm or risk of harm?

Which areas or kinds of harm, if any, has the Commission failed to address through its enforcement actions?

Has the Commission adequately addressed indirect pecuniary harms, including potential physical harms, psychological harms, reputational injuries, and unwanted intrusions?

Which kinds of data should be subject to a potential trade regulation rule?

Which, if any, commercial incentives and business models lead to lax data security measures or harmful commercial surveillance practices? Are some commercial incentives and business models more likely to protect consumers than others?

How, if at all, should potential new trade regulation rules address harms to different consumers across different sectors? Which commercial surveillance practices, if any, are unlawful such that new trade regulation rules should set out clear limitations or prohibitions on them? To what extent, if any, is a comprehensive regulatory approach better than a sectoral one for any given harm?

As Thomas Claburn writes for The RegisterI “the agency’s decision to use the word ‘surveillance’ rather than a euphemism like ‘data gathering’ or ‘personalization’ suggests the FTC is already inclined to change the status quo.”

https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/11/ftc_personal_data_rules/

You might have heard about the Supreme Court’s ruling in West Virginia v EPA, where Trump’s illegitimate judges used their stolen seats to twist procedure and overturn decades of precedent to say that the EPA was not allowed to take action on climate change unless Congress specifically wrote them a mandate instructing them to do so:

https://www.npr.org/2022/06/30/1103595898/supreme-court-epa-climate-change

Commentators have focused — rightly — on the environmental consequences of this decision. As Justice Kagan wrote in her dissent: “The subject matter of the regulation here makes the Court’s intervention all the more troubling. Whatever else this Court may know about, it does not have a clue about how to address climate change. And let’s say the obvious: The stakes here are high. Yet the Court today prevents congressionally authorized agency action to curb power plants’ carbon dioxide emissions. The Court appoints itself — instead of Congress or the expert agency — the decision-maker on climate policy. I cannot think of many things more frightening. Respectfully, I dissent.”

But the impact of this decision goes much farther. Expect the commercial surveillance industry to go after Khan and the FTC here, arguing that since the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 didn’t mention the possibility of mass internet surveillance, the FTC can’t do anything about it. By that reasoning, of course, the FTC should limit itself to policing the business practices of 1914 and previous. Look forward to a future Republican FTC chair opening an investigation into the build-quality of the Packard Six Phaeton.

The fusion of commercial and state surveillance is baked into the companies’ business models, which rely on the state’s dependence on commercial surveillance data, which, in turn, makes the state unwilling to regulate commercial surveillance.

As my EFF colleague Corynne McSherry said, “The best way to protect your users is to minimize the data you collect, delete what you do collect whenever possible, and encrypt private messages end-to-end as a default. Don’t build it, don’t keep it, and the cops won’t come for it.”

The corollary: if you build it, if you keep it, the cops will defend your right to do so. Chairperson Khan needs all our support. We need to flood that docket — and our reps’ ears — with rejections of commercial surveillance. Because there is no mass state surveillance without mass commercial surveillance — and vice-versa.

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[Image ID: A floating room whose fall and floor are composed of Matrix-style 'code waterfalls.' On the back wall are the logos of Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix, Airbnb, Tesla and Uber, each superimposed over the glowing red eye of HAL9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Standing in the foreground is a character created by merging an old trustbuster cartoon of Roosevelt wielding his 'big stick' with a picture of FCC chair Lina Khan's head. Her head is set amid a 'supernova' effect that halos it with blueish light.]

#pluralistic

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opal-owl-flight · 2 years

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Ngl its kinda funny how in a lot of fan content Susie is still a villain deapite her being a star ally

You try to be a magic space overlord and backstab poor tiny kirby? Eh its ok everyone deserve a second chance

You are a capitalist? KILL KILL BITE BITE

I think not even Kirby himself trusts her too much, expecially since she hurted Meta Knight

The thing is, Mags failed his initial conquest, and (says he) turned around. For the most part, it does appear that hes changed. Hes probably still a manipulative little bastard in canon (going off of the novels here) but conquering the world? If he is to be believed in Kirby Clash, hes given up on that. He just wants money and attention now (if not friends). Its a second chance that hes…mostly doing good on. On a universal scale, anyway. (My personal interp has him legitimately grow into a better person. Any mistrust towards him does have valid grounds…he was still a jerk in the past. But its not really wise to do that now after everything hes done to prove his change.)

Susie? Fam shes still conquering planets. Still mechanizing (cough colonizing cough) parts of the galaxy. For money. Shes still a threat and honestly I have NO IDEA why shes a part of the allyship. Is it so that she wont conquer Popstar? A formal alliance…I can see the Allies needing her help with her advanced tech, but on a personal level. I dont think they trust her. (Similar situation with Marx and Mags assuming were following a more canon-leaning interp. Where the two arent trusted bc of their manipulative/mischievous ways/are probably just jerks in general, Susie isnt trusted bc shes a FUCKING THREAT)

Why did she ask for an Allyship? Maybe bc she knows that Kirby would woop her ass, despite all the advanced tech. Its an agreement to not kill each other. Idk how canon that is; it is NOW A PART OF MY INTERP

#opal owl hoots #magolor #susie haltmann #kirby #legacy arc #susie neg #i guess. im just stating stuff from canon here lmao

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kinsey3furry300 · 3 years

Text

So how the heck do the Avengers pay for stuff, and how rich are they?

So, in the wake of “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” There’s a lot of debate about why Sam didn’t seem to get paid well for his work in the Avengers (at least in the MCU continuity), and this has got me thinking: we’ve got no evidence that the Avengers are, financially, anything but a hot mess. So lets break it down, Avenger by Avenger, using real-world pay scales for the ones who have jobs.

Tony: a billionaire, so clearly he’s a financial genius, right? Well….. his actions say otherwise. He’s shown to be wildly irresponsible with his money. He inherited a lot of wealth form his parents which was managed by the first Jarvis, Obadiah, and Pepper for him, he buys and then gives away not just woks of art, but entire collections by major 20th century artists on a whim, destroyed his own cars and home without concern, he tanks the value of his own company in the first Iron Man with a bad press interview, gets kicked of his own bord of directors, and ultimately, in Iron Man 2, gives control of his company to Pepper. He’s insanely rich, and insanely smart, but man, he’s not smart with his money. So all the cool stuff, his suits, the Avengers tower, the facility up-state: that’s all paid for by him, but Pepper is holding the purse-stings. So, does he pay the others? We have no evidence for most of them… but we do with Spidey. Peter Parker is in the Stark Internship Program a euphemism to hide the fact he’s training and mentoring him as a super-hero, but I find the wording interesting: he refers to Spidey, his surrogate son and chosen heir, as an intern. I.E., Unpaid. I’m guessing this is Howard’s influence over him, some sort of ‘make you own way in the world, son’ attitude, but if he’s not paying Spidey, is he paying anyone else? He certainly pays for stuff super heroes suits and things, equipment, fuel, the base, but does he pay anyone a wage? No one ever mentions it. You think it would come up.

So, if he’s not paying them a wage, where do Avengers (and thier allies) get their day-to-day money from, and are they rich? Using google and https://www.federalpay.org, lets find out.

Cap: Well, before Civil war, he’s a shield operative, and he presumably still holds his military rank: he’s a US Army captain, with (well) over 40 years service, so USD$88,142.40 per year, with $237.71 drill pay (pay per drill you have to do on weekends, on leave or outside of normal service) and $175.00 per month hazard pay (which I bet is interesting) on top of that. As a WW2 veteran, he’d be eligible for a war pension if he:

Was not discharged for dishonorable reasons; and,

Served 90 days of active military duty; and,

Served at least one day during wartime ("wartime" as determined by the VA); and,

Had countable family income below a certain yearly limit; and,

Is age 65 years or older; or

Regardless of age is permanently disabled, not due to wilful misconduct.

As he’s still receiving 90k per year, he’s ineligible for a pension as his countable yearly income is above the limit. So if shield pays him in accordance with his rank and years of service, about $90, 600 per year incuding hazard pay.

After civil war, he’s a fugitive on the run, so presumably flat broke. I’d asume he gets his pension returened to him after the snap.

He’s also just gone from the 40’s to the present day, so 70 years of inflation probably makes buying things very confusing for him: everything would seem insanely expensive at first. He’d also not know what the correct prices are for anything invented after 45. You might get used to how much more expensive food and coffee is, but how much is a smart-phone worth? $200? $2000 $20000? Who knows? I bet the others have to facepalm a lot when he either refuses to pay for what he sees as clear price-gouging, and at the same time regularly pays insane amounts of money for goods and services because he doesn’t know better. He also has no known assets other than his pay: he rents an apartment making him one of the few American males in his age-group who isn’t a home-owner

Thor: Does Asgard even have currency? It’s depicted like a “Crystal spires and toga” type utopia with no poverty: even working class Asgardian’s like Scourge seem to be pretty well-off and want for nothing, so he’s from a post-scarcity society where actual magic is a thing. His “Another” coffee cup smashing and the fact he doesn’t have a computer of phone in Ragnarök might indicate that, no, he just doesn’t have, need or understand money. Splitting a bar tab with him must be a nightmare. His breakdown post snap indicates he’s got some cash, but not a huge amount, and is probably skiving of Valkyrie and the other Asgardians.

Banner: Okay, so a PhD could make you a lot of money from patents… in pharmacology or engineering. Theoretical physics? Not so good. And if Banner did have any patents, they’ve probably been seized under eminent domain by the US military. At the start of The Hulk film, he’s working a entry-level factory job at a botteling plant in Brazil. The minimum wage in Brazil is 1069.62 Real per month, that’s 12,835.44 Real per year, or around $2437.79 US per year, before everything goes wrong for him! He then runs off to India, works for Tony for a bit and then gets shot into space. Spidey may actually make more in allowance than Banner does, and Banner is a gown ass man with bills to pay: I’d imagine he loses a lot in ripped clothing.

Natasha and Barton: Pre Civil-war, both are government spooks, so how well does that pay? The salaries of CIA Intelligence Analysts based in the US range from $25,838 to $685,701 , with a median salary of $125,340, so let’s assume that Shield pays in a similar range: $685,701 per year for Director Fury, around 125,000 for Natasha and Cliff, which explains Cliff’s nice, middle-class mid-western home. Post civil war, presumably not great: we know that Natasha spends a lot of her savings running and hiding all across the world, and Cliff takes a deal and presumably lives of his savings, pension and his wife’s income.

Rhodes: Full USAF colonel with over 10 years service? $105,562.80 per year, plus $293.23 drill pay per drill and $175 per month hazard pay, and because he’s team Stark and not Team Cap in Civil War, he’d not lose any of that. He presumably also gets an injury pay-out after his accident. After T’challa and Stark, he might be the best paid avenger.

Dr Strange: spends all his money he made as a surgeon on trying to cure his hands: spends literally his last dollars heading to Nepal to train. Wong even jokes with him about their lack of worldly money when asking for a tuna-melt. But, can use illusion to make people think he has money, and his home and clothes etc. come with the job, so in the same boat as Thor in that he has no money, but needs none AKA, he’s a bastard to try and split a restaurant bill with.

Wanda and Vision: No know source of income, just sort of live in Tony’s hose and eat his food, and on top of that Wanda goes on the run after civil war… yet they can stay in fancy hotels in Edinburgh, a relatively expensive city, and Vison apparently bought them a house to retire in, so one of them has some source of money. Maybe Tony gave Vision years of back-pay form when he was still Jarvis, or maybe the vison has a day job, which is, frankly, hilarious. Could you imagine him as a barista? I can, and it makes me very happy.

Scott Lang: I’d assumed he’d be super, super broke, but apparently the average pay for a private security consultant in the Bay area is $85,430 per year. Not bad. Pity he gets sucked into the quantum realm just as his business is taking off, so presumably, flat broke again.

Bucky: no known income, and I doubt Hydra paid him for being the Winter Soldier so he probably has no savings, but he should, technically, qualify for a military pension. As a single veteran, he’d be eligible for federal tax-free pension of up to $1732 per month, or $20,784 tax free per year. Not much for someone who lives in NYC. He may also be eligible for medical benefits over the loss of his arm. Whether or not he got to see any of that money given how confused his life has been over the past 10 years is unclear, but on paper he’s eligible.

T’challa: He is, quite possibly, richer than Stark, and as an absolute monarch pays no tax and has access to his Nation’s vast wealth in vibanium. It’s good to be the king!

Captain Marvel: USAF captain, and a test pilot; the test pilot school only accepts applicants with a service length of less than 9 years 6 months (10 years six moths of helicopters) as they don’t want older applicants. With 8 years service, $79,538.40, plus drill pay and hazard. However, no know (human) pay since 1990. Flat broke.

Guardians of the Galaxy: no data, but I’m assuming “Cowboy Bebop” levels of perpetual never-ending poverty given the way they choose to live. I’d also assume Rocket has taken all their cash into some sort of Ponzi scheme of his own creation, because just look at him, of course he has.

Spidey: he’s got about $10 of his aunts’ money at any given time, so he can buy lunch… which may in fact be more than Banner or Lang, and we know it’s more that Strange or Thor.

So, here the big one: how rich or how broke is Sam?

Sam Wilson: annoyingly, we’re not directly told what rank Sam held in any MCU film. USAF pararescue “Maroon berets” are generally NCO’s (but there’ are officer-ranked pararescue) , and he’s seen working on his wings at one point, where as officers don’t generally work on or maintain airframes. He’s shown wearing a Nation Air guard grey while jogging at one point to confuse the matter further. The general consensus on redit is he’s a former USAF tech sergeant (E-6). But how long was he in the air force? With six years service (the minimum sensible time he could have served to work in pararescue based on his age), that would be $41,464.80 per year, plus drill pay and hazard. As Anthony Mackie, the actor that plays him, was 36 as of Civil War, and assuming the character is the same age, and assuming he retired from the air force that year, and he joined the USAF at 17, the youngest you can join, he’d have served 19 years, giving him a pay of $51,566.40, the maximum pay you can get at this rank before promotion to Master Sergent, but meaning he left just before he’d qualify for the 50% final salary pension you’d qualify for after 20 years. Which seems weird. So let’s assume the character is one year older than the actor that plays him and served 20 years (ages 17-37), that means Sam has a military pension of $25,783.20 per year (20,784 of it tax-free), plus any injury benefits. He councils other veterans, but doesn’t get paid for that. He also chooses Team Cap in Civil War, so would become a wanted criminal, and so lose his income between 2016 and 2018, and then gets snapped and has no income for 5 years, which would destroy his credit rating. Like the rest of Team Cap, he presumably gets his post snap pardon, and goes to work for the US government at his former pay and rank. However, given how Captain John Walker treats him as an equal, it’s possible he’s been promoted to a captain when the hired back, giving him a pay of between $54,176.40 to $88,142.40 (with 20 years experience, depending on if they take into account his prior service or not, and how much prior service he has), but either way, he’s just starting this as a new job after being legally dead for 5 years: no savings, and no credit.

Commercial fishing vessels cost about 10% of their total value per year in maintenance alone. I can’t identify what sort of boat the Wilson’s have, but some quick googling indicates that the cheapest 15m long wooden in-shore shrimp trawler costs around $140,000, so that’s $14,000 per year in maintenance costs alone, minimum. And that’s a lower estimate, assuming the rest of the business is sound, which we know it isn’t.

So, in concussion, yes, Sam is in some serious financial trouble until he can re-build his savings and credit, but the scary bit is he’s not alone in that: he’s probably better off than Lang, Banner, Danvers, Strange, Thor, Bucky, Wanda and Parker. Only Clint (if he gets a full pardon and gets his full pension), Rhodes, Stark and T’challa aren’t in some sort of potential financial problems. That asshole bank teller was right: despite the fact it seems to pay well on paper, with a few exceptions, the Avengers financials are probibaly a mess. EDIT: Rocket is running the Ponzi scheme, if that’s not clear from context. The others know they have money somewhere, but not where it’s gone. And It’s been pointed out to me that as he’s technically a POW while he’s the Winter Soldier, Bucky is owed over 70 years back-pay, equal to over 3 million dollars, details in the notes.

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fencecollapsed · 2 years

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Out of curiosity, if you had to rank the Nightmare Time stories on a scale of 1-12 (because that's how many there are), how would you rank them?

mmm okay I did do this before, right after Yellow Jacket first premiered in November, buuuuut I am a fickle pickle and my opinions very much change with time SO. this'll be my new one! I'll give some commentary too cuz why not (the commentary got long woops)

Honey Queen. GOD this story is great. Something about it not getting supernatural until the very end but still being wild and intense throughout, it carries itself through the character conflict really well. The sacrifice reveal is foreshadowed excellently. I like the depth added to Linda and I fuckin love. That this is another one of those "gleefully fucked up" type stories there's just something really great to me about watching these two terrible people - who are terrible for different reasons but they are Both Awful - fuck each other up for an hour and they both die terribly. Fantastic, I love it. The class commentary is great. The pageant commentary is great. The ending is my second favorite ending in all of Hatchetfield, behind TGWDLM, it has that effective dread and inevitability that hooked me into the series in the first place. It's really good. Honey Queen is really fucking good.

Watcher World. Bill Woodward my BELOVED this story is excellent. I know people say Yellow Jacket would make a great movie and I agree but god, Watcher World with the right budget? I'd kill to see it. The setting has a really great atmosphere I would LOVE to see visually depicted, it would add so much to the tone. I love the deeper look into Bill and Alice's relationship. I love how nuanced it really is, how - again - character driven this story is and how that's what carries the fucked up horror aspect. I love every moment you can feel Bill really trying, and his frustration not being able to reach Alice, and Alice's stress and bitterness and frustration at not being understood. Not feeling in control of her life because she had to be wrapped up in their divorce. I think they could've given her a better moment of showing that she really does love her dad, just so it didn't feel quite as one sided, but it still works. Alice is an angry teenager and her feelings are complex and misdirected. The way they butt heads feels realistic, it feels like a real, difficult father/daughter relationship. I love that the story doesn’t paint either as “in the wrong” because they’re both just. Flawed individuals stuck in a tough situation. They don’t know how to navigate it. They picked the Worst Possible Place to try and navigate it in. The way the building tension between Bill and Alice coincides with the building feeling of danger in the setting as the story goes on is just. Excellent. I Iove it.

Forever and Always. I'm accounting for my biases here, when I really think about it I do have mixed feelings on this story writing-wise but I'll admit I'm a weak man, my love for Paul Matthews in any capacity overpowers me. I genuinely like the clone/android concept - I've said before that I think Paul and Emma are the only characters you could do that with, it Makes Sense to me. I like the bits of Real Emma we get (she’s great) and I like how they show that Emdroid and Emma aren't the same person but they definitely think alike. I like the way it connects to Time Bastard, I like the murder couple. Buuuuut I get that the addition of clones and androids kinda muddies the overall lore - s1 ep2 in general is a lot more tech/sci-fi vibes than anything else in the Hatchetfield canon I think. It's a complicated concept we're not likely to see again, and if we did it'd take away from chances to explore the real Paul and Emma, and nobody wants that. Also the clone Pauls REALLY feel tacked on last minute. It's not built up to at all there's no foreshadowing for a reveal like that, it feels like they added it so the ending would make a little more sense. They really could've executed that part better. I still think it's fun though! I know my biases.

Jane's A Car. Tomothy Carfucker Houston I'm not sorry for making fun of you actually cuz it's still funny* BUT this story is genuinely Really Good. Like. It's a really solid character study, it explores Tom and his grief and his relationships really really well. I liked getting a glimpse at Jane, I'm really curious about her and how she was when she Wasn't stuck in a car for a year, because that absolutely affected her psyche. Becky and Tim's interactions are really sweet, I like their budding little family and I'd love to see it grow more. The sweet, soft moments in this story really really work. I like the running theme of happiness and how Tom is almost afraid of it, but right on the verge of allowing himself to be happy. It makes the uncontrollable downward spiral once Jane comes back really work. My only real critique is I think this story would've benefited from Emma's presence. At least a scene or two. It would have to be longer to fit her in but I think adding her would've given the story more compelling (and kinda necessary imo) layers. Still, I like it! JAC is great. (**I'm allowed to make fun of the car sex okay I played Tom in a liveread of JAC once I've Performed the car sex I have the right-)

Abstinence Camp. God this story is fucking ridiculous, it's so fun. The Jerries are an unhinged riot, Jon and Kim as a repressed horny duo is a gift we did not deserve and I like their characters in this more than I should. They're so wild. Steph and Pete are pretty cute. I'm a big fan of the subversion of views on sex in slashers, it's fun and it's clever. I have a Few qualms with the Axe-Man himself, I think if his portrayal was just a little different it'd be better, but that might just be me.

Yellow Jacket. Good story! Very cinematic! I love more of a look at the California Trio's dynamic. Hannah and Ethan are great, loved seeing more of them. I completely understand why Lex was separated for most of the story, there's a good reason for that definitely but. God. I wish we could get more of her. Every bit of her is so good every glimpse at her relationships is So Good and there's never enough. It's almost a detriment, that every story with Lex in it never feels like it has enough of her and just leaves me a little disappointed. I want more of her. I want more of her and Hannah actually together. The lore is interesting, Otho's a little bitch he's so creepy it's great, and I am so interested in Webby and why she operates the way she does. Good story.

Killer Track. I love this concept and I love the execution, this story really sold me on Holloway and Duke, they're both great characters, I love their relationship, I cannot wait to see more of them. They could’ve done a little more with Rose, she’s a bit flat and I wish she wasn’t, I love her vibes. Bryce sells it regardless, she’s great. Otherwise I don’t have much else to say on this one, I enjoyed it, it’s good.

The Witch In the Web. A solid lore story! Great expansion of Hannah's powers and what she knows and sees, but I wish it explored her as a person a little more. The introduction of Miss Holloway is great, she was so compelling right off the bat and she's only gotten moreso. This one would make a great movie, too. It works super well in expanding the world building and town backstory and setting up what more is on the way. I do have... slightly complex feelings on how complicated the lore of Hatchetfield has gotten, and they started here. Not negative feelings, exactly. Just complicated. Also on first watch I was disappointed that Lex was written out, and as much as I understand why she was, that never really went away djskfnd that's another bias thing, I miss her.

Time Bastard. Another good "gleefully fucked up" story <3 I like Ted as a punching bag I like when he suffers djskjfd sorry to the Ted fans out there, yall are valid and I love ya but. I think it's funny. The ending is the strongest part of it to me, though, and sitting through the whole thing as a singular story is less appealing imo. I can't put it into words really, it's just not one I'm really interested in. Again, I like how it ties together with F&A, they do that very well, those two are most fun to watch as a unit.

The Hatchetfield Ape-Man. It being this low might give the impression I don't like this story but I DO it's definitely the funniest of them. Hidgens is a fucking riot, I was personally much more entertained by him in this than in TGWDLM. His and Ted's dynamic is fucking hysterical. Conceptually it's just. Ridiculous. They just did Tarzan but made it more murdery it's so funny. It's strongest comedy wise for sure, it's just another I don't think about much.

Daddy. Honestly I don't dislike this story, again, conceptually it's ridiculous, but it the execution worked fairly well and I like how it genuinely expanded Frank as a character, he's way more compelling than he was in BF and I Liked him in BF. He's good here, I like him, I'm invested. I simply. Do Not like Sherman. At all. He's fucking annoying and he makes me uncomfortable and he sure is a big presence in this story. My biases are negative too.

Perky's Buds. I wrote an essay on this one yall know how I feel.

#hatchetfield #nightmare time #nightmare time 2 #nightmare time spoilers #into the mailbox #anonymous

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whoaffle · 3 years

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Today a person of my family was complimenting and admiring Bozos' stupid-ass fucking penis-shaped rocket...

They kept talking about how it's "amazing" and "genius" and whatever... They were really impressed by the whole "show" and by the technology used and I GET that on one hand, because it IS something different and new and it is impressive (which doesn't mean it is good, I'll develop later), and this person is much older than me and they kept insisting on how, for them, in the past, this would have sounded impossible and how it's amazing that it's happening! That one person would manage to fund that by himself and not a whole country! (which again, impressive, NOT good. The fact that ONE person has the same amount of money as a large country, while others are poorer and poorer every day... The slow erasure of a middle class as social inequality becomes more and more severe every day... The fact that all this money was conquered by exploiting several poorly paid workers in shitty jobs with bad conditions... All those are symptoms of a DEATHLY ill economic system that not only has gone WRONG already but still insists on pretending to be functional while dragging down everyone along with it to the absolute limit before it collapses entirely on itself, leaving a painful scar on the people it took advantage of AND on the planet it has exploited for so long).

Going back to the point, I get it that "space travel" is a magical sci-fi dream for many people, both young and old, and that older people who think differently from most of us young adult Tumblr users would be super impressed by it, BUT... This is still so... So bad! Most of it - if not everything about it - is such an absurd scenario!

Well, knowing by previous experience that criticizing Bezos' amount of money and how he acquired it would be useless and that he'd end up defended anyways, I tried criticizing the ecological aspect of the whole thing first! But the answer I got was "Hah! A lot of stuff pollutes the world much more and no one talks about it", which, like... 1- Your point being?? That's no excuse to ignore absolutely useless shit like this polluting the earth even more just so billionaires can feel special because they can go to space while millions of people starve, die and suffer. Besides the fact that insisting on investing in this kind of technology instead of trying to prioritize Eco-friendly technologies and research is PRECISELY why a lot of other things pollute so much more - because every time someone comes up with something new they insist on not giving a fuck about the environmental aspect of their tech... So both the issues are correlated, this is not a "different thing that is less important" this is ONE of the symptoms. And 2 - Yes we DO talk about it, very often, all the time, and we hate it, and criticize it, and wish it would change. How many younger people are legit extremely worried about the environment and about the several ways governments, industries and other large-scale processes like that damage the environment? Damn, we DO complain about those!

But OK. Didn't wanna argue, so I started just using my phone instead... Then another person joins the conversation. The two of them are now like "This technology may not be put to good use now, the Space Tourism is a bad idea and it's stupid... BUT they could use the same device for other kinds of travel! Something from the technology used here could be used later for useful projects! Imagine, we could use the same rocket type tech to make commercial international flights, for example!" and I was silently thinking "Yeah right and emit even MORE useless pollution just because people wanna get to other places EVEN faster! And just because some idiots who have the money would pay THAT MUCH to be able to go faster to Paris or whatever!"

That is NOT NECESSARY and it is not SUSTAINABLE, it is not viable in long-term! Why would we use this kind of shit that is MORE expensive and MORE pollution-emitting?? Because it's faster?? Well let me tell you something then! Being faster is not only unnecessary but in this context we are living right now, it's A BAD IDEA, because our society is ALREADY deeply sick about the need to speed up literally everything and everyone has anxiety and is unable to wait a single second for anything, and so they expect faster and faster results every time, and companies - who LOVE not giving a shit about workers' mental health and well-being - expect more and more and more in less time! And this adds up pressure and stress on people's lives - which, by the way, is one of the things THIS very person from my family always complains about 'modern days'... The fact is that if traveling between continents FASTER became an actual accessible thing, that would probably just become another stupid insane standard for our already impossible-to-keep-up-with lives! Because if you travel abroad so quickly, then you are expected to get back to work on the same day and fuck jet-lag... Or anything similar! I don't know!

Anyway, I did go on a tangent here because I'm so angry and I started ranting over my rant. Let me go back to the POINT.

I was silent all the time as they kept talking about it, because honestly, no matter what I replied, they'd be like "You're too radical!", "don't exaggerate", "there are much worse things" and SPECIALLY "but the scientific advancement!"

And my WHOLE POINT HERE is that this is NOT "advancement"! It is scientific creation, development even if you will, but not "advancement"! Because it emits ridiculous amounts of carbon and other kinds of pollution in a planet that is already suffering so much environmentally and literally CANNOT HANDLE that anymore!

It is not advancement if its so expensive that only the 1% people (who hold most the money in the world) can pay for it, while billions of others just watch and starve and die in floods and fires CAUSED by that sort of shit!

That’s not "advancement"! That is fucking technological masturbation coming from egocentric morons who only want to get more money and show off!

Advancement would be coming up with actual, real solutions that help people in their daily lives! Advancement would be coming up with technologies and solutions that would work BETTER for everyone and not just to fill billionaire's asses with MORE money! It would be to find new ways to do what we do today without destroying the environment, or finding new cheaper ways to produce products and services so that more people can have access to them! And this is the absolute OPPOSITE of that! It is insisting on a way of doing things that is outdated, unsustainable and destructive, and that doesn't FIT our reality anymore and should be left BEHIND while we still have time to change!

BESIDES scientific advancement has been happening ALL OVER the world for CENTURIES and all we need is that the RIGHT technologies get attention and investment. Eco-friendly technology EXISTS we could clean the seas, we could generate free electricity for all, we could invest on lab grown meat, we could do SO much that would be actually useful and nice and helpful, but instead those sons of BITCHES only want to play in space and maybe some day run away when the planet is too sick to be fixed, leaving us - the poor ones - behind to die.

The fact is that we don't need cocky, bastard, exploitative billionaires to have scientific advancement! It would exist anyway, perhaps in better ways! And people should STOP considering technologies that are more harmful to the world than helpful as "advancements"! Because they are not, they are a problem, they are like if a man invented a flamethrower inside a house that is literally on fire and everyone found it amazing because "now we can set fire on stuff more easily and faster" yeah like, AWESOME but can we solve the PROBLEMS caused by that instead??

And honestly, I hate the excuse that "space represents hope for many people in a world that is bound to destruction" like, there would be NO need to go to space to begin with if we focused on fixing what's wrong instead of that ridiculous bullshit disguised as research or whatever when it's obviously just two things: showing off their horrible amounts of money and making MARKETING of an unnecessary service that will only benefit those who already have the easiest lives of all of us while causing issues to all others! JUST so that these billionaires can make MORE money. It's DISGUSTING.

There is NOTHING wrong about space travel as a concept, nothing wrong with researching and developing technologies that may allow us to explore space! Space exploration would be AWESOME! BUT if we're gonna work on something like that, we have to develop it in a way that doesn't harm the world EVEN MORE. We have to have priorities! We have to focus on NOT destroying this planet, for FUCK'S sake! And if the only way we have to explore space right now is by damaging our already fucked up environment even more, then NEWSFLASH, BABY - this is not the TIME to do space travel yet! AND SPECIALLY NOT FOR BILLIONAIRE SPACE TOURISM.

#RANT #long post #angry as fuck #my opinion #honest-fucking-ly #tired

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callioope · 4 years

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HEY GUYS! I watched the livestream of Rogue One with writers Gary Whitta and Chris Weitz. I took notes. Because that’s what I DO. I jotted down some of my takeaways. Please note I was watching RO, watching the stream, taking notes, and also doing a few other things so these MAY NOT BE PERFECT. Please feel free to correct me if you see something I misrepresented. That said I tried to be accurate.

YES they DO TALK ABOUT the romantic chemistry between Jyn & Cassian but that is literally at the end, but feel free to peruse the rest of the points because there’s some pretty interesting insights (some good and some bad O_O like Cassian’s original storyline, yuck)

ANYWAYS let’s go

Inglourious Bastards inspired the Lah’mu scene (Gary Whitta wrote this scene, although he admitted it changed a lot but a lot of the structure and ideas stayed in)

In the original version of the script, Lyra was a Jedi in hiding, but this was one of the first things that got killed

Mads thinks he plays a bad guy, but Gary thinks he played a good guy

They talked about how Galen originally wanted to use kyber crystals for energy, but it got weaponized (which is talked about Catalyst)

stormtrooper doll is a gareth edwards touch

idea was that there’d be good people on the Imperial side and bad people on the rebel side

Cassian’s first scene on the Rings of Kafrene was written by Tony Gilroy (who wasn’t present in the stream) later. In the earlier versions, the DS is something that Jyn goes and finds. It was much more like Zero Dark Thirty where she was putting together the clues, and it was a battle for Jyn to get the rebels to take it seriously, but that was too much of a slow burn. So the Tivik scene was to replace that and introduce the idea that Cassian can be dark. Everyone admired Diego’s beautiful bit of acting as he's just lost a little bit of his soul in the fight for justice, the morality is the first victim. It’s very subtle but it’s one of Gary’s fave pieces of acting in the movie

Chris said for awhile they had Ord Mandell, then shifted to the notion of something more like in Casablanca, so a bit of a flavor of that, a part of the Empire that has been taken over that is under violent oversight

Gary said in the original, Jyn went to Ord Mantell (mentioned in Empire?) to find an arms dealer to help her find Saw, then went to another planet where Saw was living on a moon called Yarid

Budget realities played a part in the decision making to scale this back; they wanted to put so much more but just couldn’t fit it in

Originally we were supposed to see the rebels evacuate Dantooine and move to Yavin 4, but it didn’t really accomplish anything in the story accept to nod to SW fans. It didn’t move the story forward and would have cost too much

It was Tony Gilroy writing with Jyn getting freed on Wobani. Some original ideas had toyed with possibilities that she was a deserter or Rey-like scavenger, but obviously you can’t do that once you learn what the the Empire does (chris)

Only time they didn’t use a title card was Mustafar bc they wanted fans to go OH SHIT IT'S MUSTAFAR, also worked bc Mustafar would have been one of those off-the-map planets

Gary was responsible for getting Mothma in the movie

How much did the Yavin 4 briefing get worked on? A lot. sort of inspired by a scene from Apocalypse Now.

“I think this movie really beautifully bridges the gap between the original and prequel” and one of the ways it does that is JIMMY SMITS

Lots of gushing over Yavin. “Gareth just shot the shit out of this movie.” so much praise for Gareth’s vision. “Gareth can compose a shot unlike anyone I know.”

The Yavin 4 set was fully contiguous; you could walk from the inside all the way outside in one continuous shot.

K-2SO is a great example of how one character can have many fathers. John Knoll originally came up with him and he was originally a rebel logistics droid envisioned to be a “black C-3PO” (whatever that was supposed to mean - Gary wasn’t sure). Gary proposed that he could be an Imperial droid that was captured by the rebellion and reprogrammed. K-2 was really limited with what he could do working for the Empire, but once he was liberated, he was going to speak his mind. Chris and Tony and Alan all gave him more life, everyone has a little piece of K-2′s parentage.

Only ever one casting choice for Saw, which was Forest Whitaker. Gary also knew Ben Mendelsohn would be cast as krennic, but no one else was cast at that point -- he knew it was down to 3 choices for Jyn, but wouldn’t say who

Chris brought Bodhi into the story (Gary said so but Chris wasn’t sure)

For Tarkin, they took shots from the ANH and unused takes. There was also a mold of Peter Cushing that had been sitting in a prop shop for decades (I didn’t get what movie it was, something where he needed a large prosthetic eye or something), and they scanned that.

Binoculars that Jyn and Cassian look through on Jedha were inspired from the scene in ANH (like when luke looks through them on Tatooine)

Chris was responsible for Jedha, Temple of the Whills, and Chirrut’s connection to the Force. And Bor Gullet, I think. They said Bor Gullet delights in traumatic memories (more delicious to him). There was a cut idea/scene: Bor Gullet made Jyn trade her traumatic memories for information she wanted.

They talked about the two dudes Jyn runs into that are also in ANH and how they survived the destruction of jedha only to get killed by a Jedi the next day - they must have needed to get a drink at a cantina after narrowly leaving Jedha. Puts their presence at the cantina in a new light.

Screenwriters would tell you this [Jyn saving the girl on Jedha] is a classic “save the cat moment” so that we like that character that otherwise we might not -- like jyn [RUDE, but I think they were joking] [also i took beginner screenwriting in college and YES the “save the cat moment” was like lesson 1 lol

They wanted this war to look like a proper war, and [Jedha] really looks like something you might see happen. Wanted people to feel like it wasn’t just about stormtroopers hassling the guy on the street corner but there were real lives at stake

Commentary on Jyn’s Awesome Fight Scene: this is the first moment Cassian really realizes that Jyn is no one to be messed with

They guessed that Tony came up with the K-2 gag after Jyn’s fight sequence

Lots of good commentary here about how action scenes need to serve a purpose, they can’t just be fighting: they gotta reveal character and story -- don’t write the specifics of the fight, but write what the action is supposed to mean, let choreographers make it look good

Chris said Gareth kind of requested a character like Chirrut, and Chris had been messing around with a Force priest and they became the same guy. Baze was originally a murderer and criminal, and Chirrut was his confessor figure, and they had a weird codependent relationship in which Malbus would commit crimes and Chirrut would forgive him for it. But in this they are both Guardians of Whills. Baze saving Chirrut reminds Gary of Indiana Jones shooting the guy with the sword. Good example of action sequence having a purpose: showing Chirrut & Baze’s dynamic

Coming up with names in SW -- no real formula, you just know it when you hear it

Lots of freedom to come up with new stuff as long as it doesn’t grossly violate canon. Two Tubes was Tony Gilroy or maybe someone just before him

Allegedly Bib Fortuna’s cousin is in scene at catacombs

Someone wanted a Tusken Raider to leave Tatooine to be one of the rebels, but that was vetoed bc they don’t leave Tatooine

“you don’t want every star wars movie to feel like a remix of your greatest hits” - gary [me: LMAOOOO not everyone got that memo!!!]

Guardians of the Whills: Chris said when he came on board, he wanted to go into some deep George Lucas stuff so he looked at the OG screenplay of SW which is pretty “cuckoo bananas” but it’s unfilmable because it’s so gigantic. but there were so many cool things in it. Originally the Force was known as “The Force of Others" by Lucas so he had Chirrut often referring to it as such

There had to be physical tapes because that’s what was mentioned in ANH. Similarly, Tarkin said it was the first time they destroyed a planet in ANH, so they had to do a smaller test that didn’t conflict with canon but we still get to see the DS do it’s thing

Gary said he got sick of everyone on the internet saying “If the empire’s so smart how come--” so he wanted to make it happen for a reason

Chris said - John Knoll, who apparently has some kind of engineering background, said a project the size of the DS, there’d be hundreds of flaws that would bring down the station. Gary responded - it makes sense that there would be a flaw, but it’s more interesting if the flaw would be there deliberately

They went back to the idea that SW was a fairytale and “only one key that the lock fits in in a fairy tale”

They talked a bit about the “nerdy stuff” and technical details, like how fast does a Star Destroyer go, how fast is travel through hyperspace,” but they were pretty insistent that Star Destroyers go at the speed of narrative. Hyperspace moves at the speed of plot. They don’t think about the gritty details. Story always wins. You try to hide those bits. If tech stuff comes into conflict with story, the story has to win. If you can make it work great, but story should win otherwise. [MY TAKE: I think it’s lazy and you might as well try to make it work if you can, BUT I agree that it shouldn’t necessarily hang up the process, per se.]

They talked about Jyn & Co witnessing the test on Jedha and how it’s important that Jyn & Co witnessed the terrifying destructive power of this weapon, so they know better than anyone how important it is to stop this thing

They said Saw always died in the weapon test. Originally it was on a different moon, but always planned for him to die like that.

Gary mentioned in ANH, there’s more than one empty chair in the DS conference room, but Gary wished there had been only one chair so it could have been Krennic’s specifically and he wasn’t in it.

The idea was that Mothma and other Generals were desperately trying to avoid a war and trying to find a political solution to this crisis, but Palpatine is stringing them along long enough for the DS to be ready. So the Rebels have been strung along and played for fools by Palpatine, but once we realize the Empire has built a genocide weapon, the Rebels finally wake up to the idea that the only solution now is war. Empire has forced our hand. the movie is about the idea that tyrannical regimes always fall bc they go too far and they do something so terrible that people are forced to stand up and fight back. If the empire had never built the DS, Gary thinks they could have won the war and ground the Rebellion down. but bc they got greedy they forced the entire galaxy to take the war seriously, so the DS was really the Empire’s undoing

The Rebellion was like the equivalent of the Second Continental Congress, with squabbling factions and not able to get anything done, and the Empire was able to win in the beginning bc they are authoritarian, unified top down

Gary came up with Eadu, but it was originally in the first act. The whole movie got restructured. Originally they went to Eadu very early and discovered they were building the giant dish for the DS. That was the first scene that Jyn had the clue that the Empire was building something terrible. Later it became less a place where the dish was built and more just where they were harvesting and refining the kyber crystals.

It was originally Saw’s X-Wings that attacked Eadu

“rain = mood” idk who said it but that line popped

originally there were local people called Eadui who told story how facility had poisoned rivers and valleys and farmland. Gary wanted to put a face on the crimes the Empire had committed

Mads doesn’t believe that what Galen did absolves him

In Gary’s version, Krennic came to inspect final version of the dish

Cassian was always meant to be compromised in both Gary and Chris’s versions. He was a double agent: for a long time, he was working for the Empire. Chris added: he had lost people who had been killed by Saw Gerrera, and all he wanted from the Empire was the go ahead to kill Saw rather than Galen. That transmogrified along the lines post-Chris and post-Gary into a rebel intelligence officer who had done terrible things. In the original idea, he changes heart after seeing the Death Star bc it wasn’t what he signed up for, and he had to win back Jyn’s heart bc that DS reveal happens after his double agent ness is revealed.

In the original, Jyn actually gets Galen back to the rebel base, but he’s beyond saving, but his whole speech he gives Jyn in his last moments happened in a medbay

They talked about the score instead of the awesome fight scene after Eadu so BOOO on that. I mean yes the score is brilliant but still I wanted insight into this scene.

I blanked out a little because I was mad they didn’t talk about the Eadu fight scene argh

They were talking about Krennic standing his ground against Vader. and then someone said it was probably something among the Imperial officers that “you haven’t really made it until you’ve been choked by Vader.” O_o sorry we could be talking about Jyn and Cassian DAMNIT

the debate scene on Yavin 4 was recontextualized. always this idea that the rebellion is not one monolithic entity, it’s a collection of worlds all of whom have own leaders and own opinions. rebellion historically messier because it’s democratic and harder to get things done.

briefly toyed with a Leia appearance (chris) at the big conference scene, but best for Jyn to give the most rousing speech here.

Who wrote the hanger speech? Spirit of it might be Chris’, but Chris thinks it’s Tony Gilroy. Big difference from version Gary wrote: Jyn convinced the rebels. But he thought it was cool now that Jyn goes rogue and it’s only when Mothma finds out she’s committed to that that she makes the decision to back her up. But in the original she convinced Mothma, and everyone got around the table and said here’s the plan. Chris thinks it was in one of his drafts that they went off on their own.

in Gary’s version Jyn was Rogue Leader.

Chris had grunts complaining all the flyboys create dramatic names for their squadrons but that got nixed

Gary had idea that K-2 had scraped off his markings but had to have them painted back on to go to Scarif and K-2 hated it

Mothma talking to Bail is one scene that survived word for word form Gary’s original script

They talked a little bit about the decision to have the characters die, but I was drafting a question and missed it

They talked about how they came up with Scarif and decided to make it tropical -- what sort of place hasn’t been seen before? sort of coming from production and gareth. but also building these places to fulfill the needs of the story -- like building a walkway that only one person can get across

a lot of extras in Scarif were real ex-military, and Gary said a couple of the X-Wing pilots were real-life RAF tornado pilots

didn’t have Blue Squadron in the ANH bc it interfered with the blue screen

Gareth said “give me a mon calamari that looks like churchill’ and that’s Raddus

Chris and Tony killed pretty much everybody. Sounds like Gary just killed K-2? Unclear bc I missed the main part of that when they were talkinga bout it.

They commented on how RO is one of the darkest tonally movies but also so colorful, beautiful blue sky

They wanted to pay tribute to Battle of Endor

they couldn’t remember who was responsible for ‘stardust’ but it wasn’t gary or chris

who’s idea was it to cut off the “I’ve got a bad idea about this”? gary had a different version of it, Jyn said “I've got a good feeling about this” (which ultimately got used in Solo)

Someone asked about the footage in trailer that wasn’t in the movie: Chris heard on good authority that the TIE fighter in front of Jyn was actually never intended to be used, was always a trailer-specific moment. he said he didn’t know how she would have gotten out of that one. k-2 died on the beach. chris wasn’t sure but as the scenes get cut together in production and post, the narrative necessities can change bc of logistical needs. but some shots were so cool they were perfect for trailers. Some talk on how trailers and movies are very different things in general.

Gary said originally there were two separate facilities on Scarif: vault and comm tower were separated by stretch of beach. so needed to liberate plans from vault and get across beach to tower. as they looked at what they had, there were too many moving parts and they wanted to simplify, so they put vault and tower in same complex.

did they ever consider letting Chirrut pull the lever using the force? NOPE.

“I am one with the Force and the Force is with me” was Chris. it goes on, it’s supposed to be like a psalm for Jedi, but eh wanted a sort of lord’s prayer type of thing.

HELL YES someone asked about the romance between Cassian and Jyn! Was there any romantic potential in any script? YES!!! they said!! yes!!! And Chris said he wouldn’t be surprised if a kiss was shot either!

BUT they went on to say they wanted to side-step the trope that every male and female hero have to be involved.

But clear GARY said yes early on, there was definitely romantic chemistry that got scaled back to a mutual respect, but they’ve obviously grown close. Gary doesn’t think there was anything romantic and they said people found that refreshing. ‘what they’ve been through is the meaningful part” and “‘the stuff that is happening around them is too important" and “it speaks to their character that they wouldn’t let that intrude”

someone said it was like they were walking into a sunset but it was a mushroom cloud and THEN someone QUIPPED that it was sorta like the sunset walking into them RUDE

There was more after that but that was pretty exhausting to keep up with!!!! so i’m wiped. anyone else get any fun takeaways that I missed?

#rogue one

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norabrice1701 · 4 years

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An Offer Received - Part I

A Jaguar Villain Tom Hiddleston Character (Thomas Conrad) fanfic

Pairing:Thomas Conrad x Fem!reader

Summary: You were just doing your job. It wasn’t your fault you did it so well that your boss, Thomas Conrad, wanted to recruit you in his plan for world domination. And what Mr. Conrad wants, well…

Rating: Part I - an F-bomb or two (later parts heat up, but gotta start somewhere)

A/N: This is rather the hopeless result of watching "High-Rise", "Crimson Peak", the British Villain Jaguar commercial series, and "The Night Manager" over the last few weeks...so, here goes nothing! Planned to be 5 or 6 parts when all’s said and done.

GIF credit to the original poster via the Tumblr search!

Part I - 5 Minutes

You dropped to your office chair with a sigh, plugging in your laptop. Today’s department head meeting had passed uneventfully for once. Robert Stark, Head of R&D, and Chris Rogers, Head of Operations, constantly jockeyed for more allocation of your production resources. It was challenging, you’d admit – finding the balance act between supply and demand while planning for the future. But you were the youngest Head of Production for the largest tech giant in the world, Lok Industries – better known by the LOKI brand splashed on phones, watches, tablets, computers – for a reason.

While youngest as your particular department head, you were hardly the youngest on the senior staff. And that was to say nothing of the CEO himself. The youngest man in corporate history at the helm – an engineer with the aptitude for business strategy and the political savvy to chart a meteoric rise to the top. In fact, Thomas J. Conrad’s nomination for CEO five years ago passed unanimously in record time.

You’d never met him, never even seen him around the office despite your department head position. Plenty of others had, though, with stories to tell and scars to prove it. You tried to stay above the office gossip – especially when it concerned your senior boss – but it was intriguing. For all the press release photos and official portraits you’d seen – Mr. Conrad looked pleasant enough. Intelligent, sky-blue eyes; well-coiffed, gold-brown hair that betrayed just a hint of natural curl; a dashing smile. But that’s all it was, according to the hearsay – just a well-crafted facade. No one should be fooled by those eyes that could cut men in half; by that clever mind operating with ruthless intent; or, by that sharp, cold tongue that knew no mercy.

It sounded like such a cliché. The handsome, suave boss who was secretly-not-so-secretly a heartless bastard. A vicious predator in a bespoke suit. Albeit, a gorgeous one.

That’s why you didn’t care for the gossip. It’d be far better to meet the man and form your own opinions – but you’d been sufficiently warned that you’d only be brought before Mr. Conrad when you royally fucked up. “Not if you royally fuck up,” Scarlett Romanov had helpfully clarified with a coy smile, “but when you royally fuck up.”

Well, four years in and it hadn’t happened yet. And today was no time to start.

Turning to your laptop, you tended to the business at hand – reviewing production data, answering emails, assigning resource allocation. All in a day’s work. At one point you glanced at the clock, realizing there was just an hour left in your day. Perfect.

Perhaps tonight, you’d break the stalemate with Sebastian Barnes, Head of IT, and text him. He was quite handsome in his own right, easy to converse with, and even easier to fall into bed with. Even morning coffee at his apartment had been pleasant. But work got in the way for both of you – between server upgrades and production outages, there always seemed to be some excuse recently.

The desk phone beeped twice, flashing red, followed by another set of two beeps. An internal caller. You glanced at the ID on the screen, brow furrowing as you hit the speaker button.“Afternoon, Mrs. Brunhilde.”

“Good afternoon.” The pleasant voice of Mrs. Willamina Brunhilde – a relic of the former CEO and still glorified secretary of the CEO’s office – suffused your name with warmth and professional detachment. “Mr. Conrad would like to see you. He has an opening for the next hour, and I’ve just reserved the time on your calendar. Are you in a position to come to his office in 5-10 minutes?”

You knew the question was largely a polite formality. When Mrs. Brunhilde called and Mr. Conrad wanted a meeting, there was no excuse to say no. Your heart rate accelerated as you swallowed. “Of course. I’ll be right there.”

With a few more perfunctory pleasantries, the call ended. You exhaled deep, fighting to reign in the sudden nervous energy that pooled in your gut. This was no different than any other meeting you’d attended – you were smart, you were capable. You were the Head of Production, and you didn’t get this job for being a pretty face. Brushing your slacks, adjusting your blazer, and smoothing your bangs, you exited your office for the trek across the sprawling building.

Mr. Conrad’s office suite overlooking the city harbor matched much of the building aesthetic – sharp lines, glass and chrome, a study in clean whites and crisp greys with hints of the company’s bold green signature color. Mrs. Brunhilde greeted you with a smile, ushering you forward to the dark, partially cracked double-doors. You rapped on the wood, exhaling deep.

“Enter.” His velvety, British drawl had always been appealing.

You opened the door further, stepping inside. He glanced up from the slim folder in hand as he sat in the white, leather chair at his desk – the picture of perfection with straight posture, a black tie knotted tight at his throat, and the crisp white sleeves of his dress shirt on display.

He inclined his head ever so faintly, face devoid of a smile. “Thank you for coming.” Your name rolled off his tongue in the most pleasing way.

You tipped your head in return. “Of course. Thank you, sir, for taking the time.”

He reached to his laptop, pressing a button on the keyboard before looking back to the folder as audio started to play.

Your stomach sank to your feet as you recognized it.

Your voice carried clear. “Our control limits are holding – 23 defects per 1,000,000 units. Our department has set an improvement goal to drop that number from 23 to 5 in the next four years –.”

Robert’s voice interrupted. “Oh goody, but perhaps, more importantly, you can tell me when Lane 5 will be restored?”

“The investigation into Lane 5 is still ongoing,” you said, voice even, “the code has been scrubbed, and we’re looking at retooling options.”

“Retooling options?” Robert scoffed. “Need I remind you that it’s been 33 hours since you canned my primary production line? That’s 33 hours of lost time, to the tune of – oh, say a 9% drop of market share come holiday season if we don’t finish the dev on these new marine products.”

You didn’t miss a beat. “As opposed to a 21% loss in market share if we let our control limits slip and start producing a higher percentage of defective products? Consumers know the LOKI brand is reliable – the highest reliability of any of our competition – and reliability makes or breaks on the production floor. Sacrifice quality control limits and you might as well kiss your cushy retirement goodbye.”

“Then, scale back – temporarily – on Rogers’ orders. He’s meeting quota, check the box for market supply. And if it does get tight, well, a little more demand for less supply usually helps -”

“Robert,” you cut him off, voice tight, “this is my call. I’ve looked at the same numbers you have – with Lane 5 out of commission until we can bring it up to spec, it’s a hit to our bottom line. It’s my job to minimize that hit. While never desirable, we can weather a 9% loss without permanent damage to the brand. Even Mr. Conrad would agree to that. But, if you don’t like that answer – then, by all means, let’s do discuss with Mr. Conrad.”

The room fell dead quiet, broken only by the faint squeak of a shifting chair.

“Well,” Robert started softly, “I don’t know that we need to go there just yet. What’s your projection on the investigation conclusion?”

“Retooling should complete in the next 21 hours, then we’ll move through start-up.”

Conrad’s hand floated back to his keyboard, pressing a button to cut off the recording. You didn’t dare speak as silence fell. If he was displeased, you would know soon enough. And if he was pleased, well…no one ever said they were called to Mr. Conrad’s office because he was pleased.

Your heart raced as he drew out the moment, but you wouldn’t let him see you sweat. You wouldn’t let him unnerve you.

Cold, crystalline eyes darted up to yours, pinning you in place. “You have absolutely no authority to speak for me. Making baseless statements about my assumed inclinations is not part of your job. Your job does include resolving those inter-department squabbles without leveraging my involvement as a threat. Now, if you’re incapable of standing behind your own decisions, incapable of defending the trajectory that you have set for your department and this corporation by extension – then, tell me now and spare me further disappointment.”

You responded on instinct, hiding the sting of his words.“No, sir. I’ve watched the company’s production numbers for almost four years now. Every metric is higher across the board than when I assumed the position -”

“Yes, including budget. Your department’s costs have increased, not exactly commensurate with your outputs. Diminishing returns often plague the pursuit for perfection as one approaches the pinnacle.” He glanced down idly to the file in his hand. “Your department walks that razor’s edge now. It would be well within my interest, perhaps, to cap you there.”

“Sir, the quality of our production is unparalleled –.”

“But you wanted to bring the discussion to Mr. Conrad, did you not? Well, here you are.” He closed the folder, tossing it idly to his desk before rising. Despite the late hour, he looked as pressed and polished as if the day had just started. He crossed around to the front of his desk, bracing against it as he rested his hands inside his trouser pockets. “There’s only one solution in this case.”

You debated asking but thought against it. Asking would be redundant. He wouldn’t have brought you here without a purpose, without something to gain.

He gestured at the nearest leather armchair opposite his desk. “Do have a seat.”

You paused, hesitating in consideration of his words. Sitting as he indicated would place you in a physically submissive position to his tall, lithe figure. Not that you were short in your heels – standing just over 5’9” – but you weren’t exactly keen to meet your senior boss on unequal footing.

His gaze hardened, mouth pinching with irritation. “If you’re stalling for time, my patience is not inexhaustible. And when I make an offer, I expect it to be received.”

Steeling yourself, moistening your lips, you crossed around to sit as indicated. You squared your shoulders and held your head high, refusing to fully angle back to look up at him as he spoke.

“Mrs. Brunhilde’s time at LOKI has come to an end. As you know, she was installed to her post by my predecessor who tailored the position to suit his needs. Needs that no longer align with my own or the corporation. The position is now evolving to meet the ever-evolving environment in which it must function.”

You nearly whiplashed from the change in conversation. Hadn’t he just questioned your ability to successfully do your job…?

He continued to speak softly yet there was no mistaking the hard, commanding edge. “The new terms for the CEO Administrative Executor now require someone with a working knowledge of the business and its trajectory; a willingness to stand in defense of that trajectory while keeping a clear head for the larger vision,” he pitched slightly forward, voice dropping with the barest hint of a tease, “and, of course, leveraging the power of one’s boss with explicit authority.”

It sure sounded like a tease, but you couldn’t be sure. You were too busy reeling from the implications. “Forgive me, sir,” you looked up at him, “but…it sounds like you’re suggesting….” You didn’t finish. Couldn’t finish. The thought of being removed as Head of Production and reassigned as his personal secretary, office administrative whatever repulsed you. Had he already judged you incapable? Was this punishment for one fucking meeting?

“I’m more than just suggesting.” He reached behind him for a loose sheet of paper. “Take the rest of this week as transition, and start in earnest on Monday.”

“The rest of this week?” You couldn’t stop the outburst. “I couldn’t possibly – you’re giving me just three days to transition out as Head of Production, and into the role of your office executor? Who’s my replacement? I need time to prepare the turnover, oversee the transition – and, surely, I should be involved in determining my replacement.”

A wolfish smile ghosted his face. “Welcome to your first objective in your new role. In addition to learning the expectations of this office and implementing goals for your redefined position, of course.” He held out the paper in your direction and you stared at it, wishing it would burst into flames.

The official notice of transfer with authority granted by the one and only Thomas J. Conrad.

Well, you wouldn’t be texting Sebastian tonight, after all. Not when your workload just quadrupled. You reached out for the paper, gripping it tight as you sighed.

“You needn’t look so glum about it,” he scolded lightly. “Consider it a promotion. If you hadn’t caught my eye – or ear, more accurately – you wouldn’t be here now. At least, you’ll find I’m rather adept at managing my own schedule; my valet manages my personal affairs; and, the café staff is well aware of my expectations for coffee and tea service.”

You quirked a brow. “Isn’t coffee delivery standard to every assistant position?”

He leveled you with a stern look in return. “If you ever bring me a cup of steaming liquid, you’ll find your pay docked by 60%. You’re in this position to be eyes, ears, and perspective on this company. Someone adept at managing the razor’s edge and surviving.” He straightened from his desk, extending a hand. “Are we understood on your priorities?”

Another challenge. Another opportunity. And if it didn’t pan out…well, how many others could say they worked directly for Thomas J. Conrad on their resume?

You rose, taking his hand. “Understood, sir.”

His answering smile, predatory and self-satisfied, sent shivers down your spine.

Up Next: Part II - 5 Weeks

#tom hiddleston #villain #the art of villainy #hiddlesedit #good to be bad #world domination #loki #avengers reference #fanfic #an offer received #wannabe writer #tom hiddleston x reader #tom hiddleston x you #not rpf

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inkribbon796 · 3 years

Text

Street Art

Summary: Yancy engages in an old favorite of his and reminisces about his childhood.

A/N: Visitation Day, and Robbie’s birthday.

Curse my lack of using Robbie, making it so he never has a consistent tone!

Yancy didn’t know how he felt about Robbie.

He’s been with the heroes for a while now, and he’s always felt weird around Robbie. Yancy felt uneasy, and guilty because he knew it wasn’t Robbie’s fault.

Everyone had kinda heard the story, how a tech-savvy apprentice was turned into a shell of his former self. Yancy knew that he shouldn’t be avoiding the guy.

So he went looking for him. Robbie wasn’t that hard to find, if he wasn’t with Marvin then he was with Henrik. And Marvin had been out of town for a couple days now.

Henrik and Iplier were discussing something when Yancy walked in. Robbie was just sitting, watching some movie or show with a vacant stare.

A pang of unease hit Yancy, like he was staring at some corpse rather than an actual person. But the ex-convict swallowed down those feelings.

That if Yancy still counted as a person, then so did Robbie. Yancy was just . . . he didn’t know what he was being but “unfair” was certainly one of them. Robbie was a person and he deserved to be treated like one.

No matter what!

Yancy would never be able to forgive himself if he couldn’t do that.

“Hey, uh, Robs?” Yancy spoke up.

Robbie slowly turned to look at him, quiet and unblinking.

“Wanna[1] hang out?” Yancy asked, glancing over at Henrik who seemed to be staring at Yancy, much like an overprotective mama bear.

But Robbie smiled at him, something warm and almost bubbly. He nodded slowly.

“Cool, come on,” Yancy motioned.

Robbie was slow to follow, but Yancy did his best to slow down for him.

Henrik followed them for a bit, Yancy heading back to his room to grab a backpack he’d already prepared, “Vat[2] are you two going to do?”

“Got permission ta[3] do a mural on the side ‘a[4] the base,” Yancy said. “Next ta the smoke shack.”

Henrik hummed, hand braced in his hip, “Very vell, be certain zat you are careful out zere.”[5]

“Yeah, we’s[6] will,” Yancy promised as he continued at his slow pace. They eventually made it outside and Yancy took two of the chairs from the smoking area for him and Yancy and pulled out a sketch pad from his bag, rooting around past all the spray cans inside.

At the light clattering, Robbie listed his head to the side and stared at the spray cans.

“Pretty colors,” Robbie told him.

“Yeah,” Yancy smiled and started just making random doodles. “I’s was thinkin’ somethin’ cool like a bird or a tiger.”[7]

“I like birds,” Robbie smiled.

“I’s[8] like birds too,” Yancy agreed. “Soft ones?”

“Hawks,” Robbie told him.

“Alrighty then,” Yancy smiled and started working on doodling how he wanted the larger hawk wings to look and resting out paint and colors on smaller hawks around the planned mural.

Robbie wasn’t much for conversation and eventually Yancy asked something that had been gnawing at his mind for sometime.

“Are youse[9] really Robbie?” Yancy asked, working on the larger wings and using his magic to scale the building a bit.

Robbie was quiet for a bit and at first Yancy wasn’t sure if he’d heard or understood him. But after a bit he shrugged. “I Robbie now.”

Yancy frowned, “Do youse[9] wanna[1] be Robbie?”

There was another pause, but Robbie nodded.

The ex-convict wound up working on the mural a little bit more, trying to engage in some small talk and he planned on getting a drink or a sandwich or something like that when he looked over and saw Robbie. He looked a little more spacey and not present than before.

“Hey, let’s go back inside,” Yancy jabbed his thumb at the base.

It took Robbie a bit longer than before but the zombie nodded ever so slightly.

As Robbie stood up, Yancy glanced down the alleyway to see a man in red standing barely fifty feet away, just watching them. Robbie passed in front of him and when he was out of his way, the man was already disappearing into a puff of black smoke.

Yancy felt ice down his veins. “We’s gotta go!”[10]

“Bad guy here?” Robbie asked, looking down the alley.

“No, someone worse, come on,” Yancy told him. He dumped all the cans into his bag and pulled Robbie along with him to get inside as quickly as possible.

While Yancy was raising the alarm in the base, one that the other heroes would be unable to answer and face the Actor at this moment.

But the Actor walked over to the half finished mural and the huge frame of hawk wings splayed out across the wall. He smiled as he looked at the smaller hawks that decorated the empty spaces, some only half finished or barely started. “Not bad.”

His smile became sharper, “Maybe I should have him paint some of my sets.”

“Or perhaps the Actor shouldn’t waste his time and just leave the city,” the Host spoke up, not too far behind him, standing a little bit into the alleyway.

Marc turned and chuckled, “I always hate it when you come out of your little box. Voice overs should be read or heard, never seen.”

The Host took a deep, calming breath, before he smiled, “The Actor is a shallow, two-bit modern Disney villain and there are better characters to focus on.”

That immediately made the Actor gasp in offense and send him into a rage, lashing his aura out at the Host.

Thankfully for the Host, rage made the Actor sloppy.

The Host braced his aura against the Actor’s a stalemate for the moment. “The Host suggests that the Actor exit stage right, before his grand entrance is spoiled.”

“You bastard!” Marc spat.

“Hmm, incorrect but the sentiment is what is important, the Host supposes,” the Host smiled.

The Actor disappeared into a puff of black smoke as Silver flew out of the base. The Host almost fell flat on his face from his opponent vanishing into thin air.

Immediately the Host was taken to Iplier and Henrik to get his wounds treated. Dark and Illinois would rush to the base but the Actor would be long gone and Dark would be furious.

But for now Marc’s pride was insulted, he would lick his wounds and plot petty revenge. The Host would endeavor to be prepared, as pieces continued falling into place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Accessibility Translations:

1. Want to

2. What

3. to

4. of

5. Very well, be certain that you are careful out there.

6. we

7. I was thinking something cool, like a bird or a tiger.

8. I

9. you

10. We have to go!

#superhero au #masks and maladies #visitation day #birthday post #footnotes #ahwm yancy #yancy the prisoner #robbie the zombie #henrik von schneeplestein #dr. iplier #the host #the actor #actor mark #Yancy just wants to be a good person #Robbie is a good bean #overprotective Henrik

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