#that’s really a common trope and the BIGGEST indicator of a character sexuality

[yascaret]

really LONG CHARACTER SURVEY.

(I edited/removed some of the questions to make this more FFXIV-friendly)

RULES.  Repost,  don’t  reblog  ! Tag  10  !  Good  luck!

TAGGED BY.  No one, I just wanted to do it lol

TAGGING. @gvnbreaker @wood-warder @necrologos @finishing-touch @glory-bound @vysaldhe @violet-warder @whisperingdawn and anyone else who wants to do it!

BASICS.

FULL  NAME :   Lofn Yascaret

NICKNAME :  None (yet??)

AGE :  Appears around 30 by hyur standards 

BIRTHDAY :   Midwinter 

ETHNIC  GROUP : Viera (Rava)

NATIONALITY :  Ivalician (?)

LANGUAGE / S : Common

SEXUAL  ORIENTATION :  Homosexual

ROMANTIC  ORIENTATION : Homoromantic

RELATIONSHIP  STATUS :  In a relationship with Aja Hyskaris & Pjel Qoet

HOME  TOWN / AREA :  Yascaret, Golmore

CURRENT  HOME :  A small, cluttered house in Shirogane

PROFESSION : Disaster lesbian, whiner

PHYSICAL.

HAIR : White with faint violet undertones. Thick, heavy bangs that partially obscure her eyes. Her hair is very dense and wavy, and it reaches her waist when loose.

EYES :   Violet, but the left is considerably paler than the right

FACE :   Pretty, if melancholy. Pronounced cheeks, prominent nose, striking profile. 

LIPS :  Small, but full. Usually painted a dark brown.

COMPLEXION : A dark, barely warm brown. Mottled with white “freckles” in places (nose, cheeks, shoulders, breasts, lower back)

BLEMISHES : None of note

SCARS :  A few old, faded scars here and there from a life long left behind her

TATTOOS :  None

HEIGHT :   Nearly seven fulms

WEIGHT :   Average

BUILD :   Slim, but more bottom-heavy. Her upper arms are the only indication of muscle left from the Wood.

FEATURES :   Feminine, pleasant (by viera standards, at least). Has a very defined nose and a striking profile. Heavy-lidded eyes that naturally lend to melancholy expressions.

ALLERGIES :   None of note

USUAL  HAIR  STYLE :  High, messy ponytail. Dense, thick bangs that almost completely obscure her eyes

USUAL  FACE  LOOK :  Melancholy, aloof, heavy-lidded eyes and faint, pensive frowns

USUAL  CLOTHING :   Loose, comfortable blouses, leather trousers, tall heeled boots. Browns, whites, silver, violet

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR / S : Abandonment, loss of loved ones, loss of her senses

ASPIRATION / S :  To find some amount of meaning in her life outside the Wood, to find her calling

POSITIVE  TRAITS :  Resourceful, passionate, resilient

NEGATIVE  TRAITS :  Aloof, anxious, self-destructive

MBTI :  ISFP-T (Adventurer)

ZODIAC :  Menphina (Aquarius in real world)

TEMPERAMENT :  Melancholic

SOUL  TYPE / S :   Artisan (I have no idea what this means??? I googled it and took a buzzfeed quiz for her lol)

ANIMALS :   Rabbit

VICE HABIT / S :   Pining, infatuation, brooding, oversleeping, stress eating

FAITH :  Belief, sure--faith, not really

GHOSTS ? :  Why not?

AFTERLIFE ? :  Why not?

REINCARNATION ? :  Why not? But probably more likely than afterlife.

ALIENS ? :   Probably

POLITICAL ALIGNMENT : Zero concept of politics outside the wood and she intends to keep it that way, being a selfish bitch

EDUCATION  LEVEL :  Average education level of the average rava viera

FAMILY.

FATHER :   lmao

MOTHERS :  Dead to her, all four of them 

SIBLINGS :   One older sister (that she knows of)--their relationship was not great

EXTENDED  FAMILY :  Countless cousins and half-sisters, none of which she knows anything about

NAME MEANING / S :  Lofn, from the village Yascaret

HISTORICAL  CONNECTION ? : It matters not

FAVORITES.

BOOK :  She’s the type of freak who reads instruction manuals and spellbooks for fun, so probably one of those

DEITY :  She tries not to think about them

HOLIDAY :  Moonfire Faire (does that count as a holiday?)

MONTH :  The warm ones

SEASON :  Summer

PLACE :  Her bedroom, or the Azim Steppe

WEATHER :  Thunderstorms, though she is growing more fond of snow

SOUND / S:  Rain on the roof, thunder in the distance, the sound of wind through flowers or trees

SCENT / S :  Honeysuckle, cedarwood, leather, girlfriend ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

TASTE / S :  Honeysuckle, orchid, girlfriend ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

FEEL / S :  Soft moss, clean sheets, sheepskin, girlfriend ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

ANIMAL / S :  Cats

NUMBER :  3

COLORS :  Violet, brown

EXTRA.

TALENTS : Picking up new things (especially technical things),  singing (though she doesn’t sing anymore, ever), 

BAD  AT :  Getting her shit together and keeping her shit together

TURN  ONS :  Shitty smirks, sweet smiles, pet names, fleeting touches, romanticism

TURN  OFFS : Men

HOBBIES : Drawing, writing, gardening, tinkering

TROPES :  Lipstick Lesbian, Insecure Love Interest, Marry Them All, One True Threesome, I Have No Son!, Traumatic Superpower Awakening, Mad Whisper, Country Mouse, Affluent Ascetic, Lady and Knight, Eye Colour Change, Sky Pirate, Combat Stilettos, Dark-Skinned Blond, Statuesque Stunner, Wrench Wench, You Can't Go Home Again, The Gift (I have to stop or I will be on TV Tropes all day)

QUOTES : "Oh no”

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1 :   If you could write your character your way in their own movie,  what would it be called,  what style would it be filmed in, and what would it be about?          

A1 :  It would probably just be Mulholland Drive but everyone has rabbit ears

Q2 :   What would their soundtrack/score sound like?          

A2 :  Dreamy and melanchol, like The Duke of Burgundy’s OST if it sounded less sinister

Q3 :   Why did you start writing this character?          

A3 :   Because when viera came out I knew exactly what I wanted my viera to be--a physically strong, emotionally stable badass warrior lady who doesn’t afraid of anything--so naturally she became the exact opposite of that because at all times my subconscious is trying to sabotage me 

Q4 :   What first attracted you to this character?          

A4 :   My grubby little gay hands wrapping around Final Fantasy Tactics Advance in 2003 and seeing a viera for the first time. Also, my grubby little 1999 gay brain struggling to comprehend why I thought Ultimecia was so hot

Q5 :   Describe the biggest thing you dislike about your muse.

A5 :   Sometimes writing her is stressful because I channel my own past experiences with depression and anxiety a little too hard I think. Also her overarching themes I want to eventually bring out via RP storylines are so ambitious and complicated that I feel entirely too stupid to write it well so I’m always at least a little bit stressed about that

Q6 :   What do you have in common with your muse?          

A6 :   Crippling depression lmao

Q7 :   How does  your muse feel about  you?          

A7 :   She’d probably not even acknowledge my existence because I’m a human and what good is that

Q8 :   What characters does your muse have interesting interactions with ?        

A8 :   I feel like Pjel and Aja are the obvious choice so I feel a little shitty saying Pjel and Aja, but...I really love playing Lofn off both of them, I feel like they perfectly compliment different parts of her personality that I really enjoy writing (mainly her pettiness and her gayness) and I feel like Lofn also prods at both of their insecurities just by being her terrible self, and it’s fun for me to watch them squirm lol

Q9 :   What gives  you inspiration  to write  your muse ?        

A9 :    Um, premenstrual syndrome?? Lmao but for real if I’m struggling I’ll just go watch some Gentleman Jack (Lofn is literally Ann Walker, sorry) or listen to some FF8/FF9 music, or dick around in FF12 for a bit. Basically I identify a handful of loose inspirational touchstones for a character and fuck around with all of them until inspiration strikes

Q10 :  How long did this take you to complete ?          

A10 :  About a week, off and on...

[calsmusecollection]

RULES.

repost ,   don’t  reblog !    tag 10 ! good  luck !

TAGGED. Found it on an old blog TAGGING. Whomever wants to

For The Outsider

This has been in my drafts for SO long, and I just am tired of it being there. So I just filled out any easy questions I’d skipped and crossed out the others. I’m sorry it’s not done but it’s been avoided for like a year so... yeah...

BASICS.

FULL  NAME :

 The Outsider, Sanct

NICKNAME :

 Black Eyed Bastard, Black Eyed Devil, Black Eyed Groom, Whale Satan

AGE :

17/4000+

BIRTHDAY :

 The calendar was different than. Roughly speaking it’s the 20th day in the Month of Rain that he was born human and the Fugue Feast when he merged with The Void

ETHNIC  GROUP : ///// NATIONALITY :  Pandyssian LANGUAGE / S : Yes. All. As a human he only knew one and it has long since died out SEXUAL  ORIENTATION :  human: Homosexual, Void: Demisexual (generally only his Marked) ROMANTIC  ORIENTATION : human: Homoromantic, Void: Demiromantic (Generally only his Marked) RELATIONSHIP  STATUS : Single CLASS : human; destitute, Void; beyond such human designations HOME  TOWN / AREA : The town’s name was lost to time. It was on the Southern part of Pandyssia CURRENT  HOME : Void- seems to be taking a particular interest in Dunwall/Gristol PROFESSION : Boredom.

PHYSICAL.

HAIR :

human; yellow-going toward white, Void; Black, Post-void Human: Black

EYES :

human; clear blue, Void; Black including where the whites should be. Some people imagine specks of light, or fire in them. He’d deny anything that wasn’t pure black, Post-void Human: Light blue green

SCARS

pre-void-human; too many to count, Void; none, post-void-human verses; a scar that goes across his neck as though to sever both arteries, scars on either wrist indicative of being bound

TATTOOS :

Nope

HEIGHT :

5′6″ (short Void is short)

((I looked up the average height of people in 2000 BCE which would be roughly 4000 years ago if I can do math, and in fact the number I came up with was 5′3″ for men but the sample size is small. The average for the Roman army was 5′7″.))

WEIGHT :

120lbs??

(I dunno I’m really bad at weight...)

BUILD :  

Slender

FEATURES :

Nothing special

ALLERGIES :

None really

USUAL  HAIR  STYLE :

Messy. Not in a deliberate way. More of a ‘what’s a brush?’ sort of way...

USUAL  FACE  LOOK :

A neutral expression that airs on the side of criticism or confusion.

USUAL  CLOTHING :

Dark pants and dark boots and a dark jacket over a white shirt. He wears rings on some fingers. Silver. Which he is loath to contemplate parting with.

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR / S :

 He’d tell you he’s beyond such emotion. But he is rather scared of no longer existing. Death maybe. But more than that.

ASPIRATION / S :

None

POSITIVE  TRAITS :

NEGATIVE  TRAITS :  

MBTI :

ZODIAC :  

TEMPERAMENT :  

SOUL  TYPE / S :  

ANIMALS :

Whales. Rats

VICE  HABIT / S :

Stalking the Marked, Being needlessly ominous, sweet food

FAITH :

He once worshiped the Leviathan. He’s learned to worship nothing

GHOSTS ? :

Eh. Trapped spirits maybe

AFTERLIFE ? :

Nope. Just Void

REINCARNATION ? :

 Nope. Just Void

ALIENS ? :

 Why not? Though he’s not seen any

POLITICAL  ALIGNMENT :

 Humans are so... stupid. To think such things last

ECONOMIC  PREFERENCE :

 He’s beyond such things

SOCIOPOLITICAL  POSITION

Annoying god-like being

EDUCATION  LEVEL :

Zero... or... all of eternity? It’s hard to pinpoint

FAMILY.

FATHER :

 Unknown

MOTHER :

Unknown

SIBLINGS :

none

EXTENDED  FAMILY :

Unknown

NAME  MEANING / S : Outsider-  a person who does not belong to a particular group.

Sanct- Ghost 

FAVOURITES.

BOOK :  

The Young Prince of Tyvia

MOVIE :

5  SONGS :  

Drunken Whaler 

DEITY :

 Himself. He loves himself the most.

HOLIDAY :

 Fugue Feast is always entertaining

MONTH :

 Month of Rains probably

SEASON :

Summer

PLACE :  

Seaside

WEATHER :

Stormy, just before the sky opens up and it starts to rain

SOUND :

 Whales singing, Steal clashing,

SCENT / S :

 The sea on a warm day, fruit tarts

TASTE / S :

 fruit tarts, sweet drinks

FEEL / S :

Ocean waves crashing on the shore, the feel of a breeze, the warmth of touch

ANIMAL / S :

Leviathan and rats

NUMBER :

8

COLOUR :

 Blues

EXTRA.

TALENTS :

BAD  AT :

TURN  ONS :

 “You Fascinate me”

TURN  OFFS :

 Predictability

HOBBIES :  

TROPES :

AESTHETIC  TAGS :  

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1 :   if  you  could  write  your  character  your  way  in  their  own  movie ,   what  would  it  be  called ,  what  style  would  it  be  filmed  in ,  and  what  would  it  be  about ?

A1 :

 The Outsider doesn’t deserve a movie. But if he had one it would have some sort of one-word title that helped no one guess what it was about. Like.. “Time” or “Forever”. It would be some sort of ridiculous indie film that is trying so hard to intellectual that all concept of linear storytelling is lost. Symbolism takes the place of narrative. And you leave the theater feeling as if you’ve lost days instead of a mere hour. It’s supposed to be about what it’s like to be him in the Void. And maybe it is. No one can be certain.

Q2 :   What  would  their  soundtrack / score  sound  like ?    

A2 :

 Ethereal for want of a better term. With that sort of undercurrent of creepy as shit. The sort of music that either has no lyrics or the lyrics contain no chorus. It’s just this story that’s being sang in airy tones over deep music.

Q3 :   why  did  you  start  writing  this  character ?

A3 :

  He wouldn’t leave me alone. I tried to get my bff in rl to finish the game and save me from The Outsider but they never did and I had no choice but to find someone else to satisfy him.

Q4 :   what  first  attracted  you  to  this  character ?

A4:

 He’s.... neat? I dunno. I played the first game and I think I only got through some levels because I kept telling myself that there would be another shrine if I could just get to it. How I get my muses is dumb. They show up in my head and declare themselves deserving of my time >.<

Q5 :   describe  the  biggest  thing  you  dislike  about  your  muse.

A5 :

How disconnected he is. Like he can seriously upset someone and not even register that he did. And that’s the antithesis of me and it hurts me every time.

Q6 :   what  do  you  have  in  common  with  your  muse ?

A6 :

 We think people are interesting? That’s... about it...

Q7 :   how  does  your  muse  feel  about  you ?

A7 :

 He tells me I play him wrong. No matter how I play him. It’s always wrong. And he hates his backstory. And he wants me to be more cryptic. And. And. And. -_-’ He’s a judgmental little brat.

Q8 :   what  characters  does  your  muse  have  interesting  interactions  with ?

A8 :

 Everyone? I think I really love him dealing with people who don’t have marks a lot.

Q9 :   what  gives  you  inspiration  to  write  your  muse ?

A9 :

 I rewatch the clips of going to the shrines for one thing. And I have a few songs that remind me of him. And I I just... I guess you’d call it meditate? I zone out for a few moments and try to clear my mind of anything that isn’t void.

Q10 :   how  long  did  this  take  you  to  complete ?

A10 :

.... shhhhhh... some questions need no answers....

[crimsonfluidessence]

REALLY LONG CHARACTER SURVEY.

RULES. repost ,   don’t  reblog  !  good  luck  !

TAGGED. Found off @bloodsworn-marshal and I was like CHALLENGE ACCEPTED TAGGING. I will not be that cruel

BASICS.

FULL NAME: Esredes Rosemond

NICKNAME: Esrey

AGE: 33

BIRTHDAY: the fuck are birthdays

ETHNIC GROUP: Ishgardian Elezen

NATIONALITY: Ishgardian

LANGUAGE(S): Common Eorzean, Dragonspeak, does ishgard have its own language idefk

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Heterosexual

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Heteroromantic

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single as fuck

CLASS: Gladiator

HOMETOWN / AREA: Ishgard

CURRENT HOME: The Coerthan Wilderness

PROFESSION: Heretic Commander/Ishgard’s Most Wanted

PHYSICAL.

HAIR: Swept back and crimson. Noteworthy for the way it splits into tips at the ends.

EYES: Orange

NOSE: ....a fucking nose what do you expect me to say

FACE: Nasty looking

LIPS: Never anything but a black line in my art style so who fuckin knows

COMPLEXION: Light brown.

BLEMISHES: idk

SCARS: A lot in various places on the body.

TATTOOS: None

HEIGHT: 6′0

WEIGHT: idk how to do weights

BUILD: Sturdy

FEATURES: uh... he exists

ALLERGIES: None

USUAL HAIRSTYLE: As presented. He rarely combs down the tips.

USUAL FACE LOOK: Vaguely pissed off or emotionless.

USUAL CLOTHING: Either the Haubergeon outfit or his red tabard outfit.

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR(S): Drowning, Being Captured, Failure, Strangulation, Dying in an embarrassing manner

ASPIRATION(S): Taking over and fixing Ishgard.

POSITIVE TRAITS: Loyal, Brave, Confident, Ambitious, Unyielding

NEGATIVE TRAITS: Manipulative, Brutal, Reserved, Hate-filled

ZODIAC: Fuck the zodiac.

TEMPERAMENT: Choleric

SOUL TYPE(S): what

ANIMALS: Rabbits

VICE  HABIT(S): Over-exerting himself

FAITH: None.

GHOSTS?: Yes

AFTERLIFE?: Yes

REINCARNATION?: Maybe?

ALIENS?: Dragons already exist

POLITICAL ALIGNMENT: He’s like a conservative evil liberal its weird

ECONOMIC  PREFERENCE: what?

SOCIO POLITICAL POSITION: Anti Ishgard, pro heresy.

EDUCATION LEVEL: High School

FAMILY.

FATHER: Unnamed but he exists

MOTHER: ^

SIBLINGS: Seraphiaux Rosemond What siblings? I guess there’s Ysayle, it’s not like he has any biological ones who still love him...

EXTENDED FAMILY: Who knows?

NAME MEANING(S): Esredes doesn’t meant anything. I made it up. Ezredes means colonel in hungarian though, and that’s a neat coincidence.

HISTORICAL CONNECTION?: Not related to Durendaires.

FAVORITES.

BOOK: Probably that one epic heroic tale that’s actually realistic out there somewhere

MOVIE: If they existed, he likes action movies.

5 SONGS: Idk, but he sometimes likes humming them to himself.

DEITY: Fuck you.

HOLIDAY: eh... I guess All Saints Wake is pretty decent

MONTH: September

SEASON: Autumn

PLACE: Idyllshire

WEATHER: A slightly cloudy day with a nice, mild breeze.

SOUND: The soft ambience of a forest.

SCENT(S): uh

TASTE(S): Meats

FEEL(S): The hair of someone he cares about when he’s trying to comfort them.

ANIMAL(S): Rabbits

NUMBER: uh

COLORS: Red and Gold

EXTRA.

TALENTS: Swordfighting, Strategic Thinking, Manipulation, Flying

BAD AT: People, emotions, cooking, anything involving engineering

TURN ONS: Assertiveness, Confidence

TURN OFFS: Stupidity, Miqo’te

HOBBIES: Flying and hunting

TROPES: Dark Skinned Redhead, Frontline General, Ambiguously Brown, Magnificent Bastard

AESTHETIC TAGS: I can’t aesthetic but like, besides dragon and blood and swords, his aesthetic boils down to regal and elegant but tough

GPOY  QUOTES: ?

FC INFO.

MAIN  FC(S): Nope

ALT FC(S): Nope

OLDER FC(S): Nope

YOUNGER  FC(S): Nope

VOICE CLAIM(S): The voice he has in my head

GENDERBENT FC(S): Nope

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1: IF YOU COULD WRITE YOUR CHARACTER YOUR WAY IN THEIR OWN MOVIE, WHAT WOULD IT BE CALLED, WHAT STYLE WOULD IT BE FILMED IN, AND WHAT WOULD IT BE ABOUT?:

Villain protagonist film where Esredes has to stop the Even Worse villain while still being unapologetically evil himself, teaming up with morally gray problematic good guys that don’t give a shit about his evil. General rule of thumb, if you want him to be the protagonist, make the villain the equivalent of Dolores Umbridge atrocious.

It has to be filmed in a way where the visual parallels clearly indicate nobody is in the right, that he is little less atrocious than the other villain. Give it enough of subtle intelligent cinema film style, not enough so that it’s confusing and prone to missing everything. Let the film have an element of pretty cinematography that can be contrasted with the more brutal scenes.

Call it “The Exception, The Guardian, and The Monster.”

Q2: WHAT WOULD THEIR SOUNDTRACK / SCORE SOUND LIKE?:

Esredes’ song aesthetic is somewhat orchestral, but intense in nature. It has to reflect the battle heavy lifestyle of his, all while making time for the more elegant and sophisticated parts.

Q3: WHY DID YOU START WRITING THIS CHARACTER?:

I wanted to make dragon characters for my friend’s roleplay group because generally no one gave a shit about all the human characters I came in with. His idea had the most inspirational energy and I went with a character representing everything I hate.

Q4: WHAT FIRST ATTRACTED YOU TO THIS CHARACTER?:

I first began to actually like him because of his dialogue. So much fun to write, like holy shit.

Q5: DESCRIBE THE BIGGEST THING YOU DISLIKE ABOUT YOUR MUSE:

I mean, I find a lot of his personality atrocious in general. I don’t like his abusive tendencies, even though I love writing them because of how it defies the idea of him being the local sad man you can just befriend with sunshine. Really, I don’t like that he has to default to murder as a solution and call it for the greater good. He could be genuinely heroic if he tried to find another solution. And that is why he should never stop doing that.

Q6: WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN COMMON WITH YOUR MUSE?:

Desire for quick and snappy change. Generally being the one who can think when no one else can. Thinking nobody likes us while blatantly ignoring all the people directly around us. And both of us have a desire to use our powerful presence, but only one of us can actually pull it off.

Q7: HOW DOES YOUR MUSE FEEL ABOUT YOU?:

He’d probably just call me out on all my weaknesses. Try me, Esrey. So has everyone else before you. You know what it feels like too, don’t you?

Q8: WHAT CHARACTERS DOES YOUR MUSE HAVE INTERESTING INTERACTIONS WITH?

All the kids are fun because each flavor of Esredes trying to work with a disaster is beautiful. I love the absolute purity of Clover, the therapy of Dione, the chill of Rev, snark of Bellona, constant anger of Alastor, etc. The parents are also adorable for their emotional support to the character. Agatha and Esrey are fun because of how awkward but friendly they’re trying to be. Oh, and B’ahm is hilarious because the man is just trying to exist and be friendly and is STILL getting all over Esrey’s nerves.

Q9: WHAT GIVES YOU INSPIRATION TO WRITE YOUR MUSE?:

It’s not hard to get inspired to write him in general, since I have a puppetmaster approach and not a muse approach to writing characters. I usually just have to put on epic sounding music and absorb myself into the mental imagery of him it produces.

Q10: HOW LONG DID THIS TAKE YOU TO COMPLETE?:

Like forty five minutes. Git gud.

[twh-news]

Welcome to Skull Island: on set with Tom Hiddleston and the biggest King Kong ever | The Guardian

The director and cast of Kong: Skull Island, including Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson, discuss filming opposite an 85ft ape – while using as little green screen as possible.

“Apologies for the shirtlessness,” says Tom Hiddleston. “I didn’t want to show off.” The world’s most impeccably spoken Marvel baddie is looking awfully embarrassed. I’ve caught him emerging topless from his trailer, late at night, with female company. The makeup artist has been in with him, carefully pawing at his torso. Hiddleston is shooting a movie in Hawaii and, as it is, his skin doesn’t look sufficiently sun damaged. Muddier stuff is slathered on, and our star is good to go.

This dramatic tan is part of the latest, and perhaps most adventurous, step in Hiddleston’s ascent to the A-list: the lead role in a grand new reboot of the King Kong franchise. It is why we are both standing in mud in the middle of the night on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

The question arises, though: do we really need another movie about King Kong? Ever since the romantic giant ape landed in New York in 1933 with a giant crush on Fay Wray, he has cropped up in at least another six films, most recently Peter Jackson’s handsome 2005 remake. In the latest reincarnation, Kong: Skull Island, he is getting the origins treatment – his story beginning again, ready to be continued in future films. Reassuringly, any reservations one might have about such a project seem to be shared by the film’s producers, who chuck around words such as “fresh” and “current” as casually as Kong juggles biplanes.

“I went in and pitched a movie I would want to see and my friends would want to see,” says the director, Jordan Vogt-Roberts. “I honestly thought they were going to laugh me out of the room. Then they responded really well and we started building that story.”

One can understand this initial concern. The 33-year-old has just one full-length credit to his name: the low-key coming-of-age indie The Kings of Summer. The only thing that film has in common with this one is that trees feature. Vogt-Roberts also looks every inch the indie director – gold medallions, heavy hipster beard – not a guy you would automatically trust with a reported $190m (£152m) budget. But maybe it is because of his indie credentials that the vibe on set seems so relaxed. There is an army-like camaraderie between the actors playing soldiers and those playing non-military folk.

So what is the movie that Vogt-Roberts and his pals would want to watch? Well, it’s set in 1972: the Vietnam war is almost over and the Landsat programme is dawning. For the first time, satellite imagery is able to capture the Earth as a whole and shine a light on previously unknown areas. A voyage to discover what really lies on a mysterious island is launched with a ragtag crew, all with conflicting missions.

“In the early 70s,” says Vogt-Roberts, “the world was in chaos, and I love the idea of using that as an access point for the characters, taking people who are in the middle of sexual revolutions and racial riots and losing wars for the first time and political scandals – people who are watching the world crumble around them – and sending them to an island untouched by man. There’s a sense of catharsis to that.”

But don’t be fooled by the film’s vintage feel. The producers are keen to position this as a contemporary adventure. Recruiting Hiddleston, hot off award-winning TV show The Night Manager, is indicative, and he is surrounded by an eclectic and self-consciously contemporary ensemble. There is 2016’s best actress Oscar-winner Brie Larson, franchise addict Samuel L Jackson, character actor John C Reilly, Straight Outta Compton breakouts Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell, plus John Goodman, fresh from his terrifying turn in 10 Cloverfield Lane.

“It’s a pretty big family to be travelling around the world with,” Larson says, mid-midnight snack. We are in an open air tent and she is ploughing through salad, surprisingly energetic and awake. She has just done the umpteenth take of one especially draining scene; there are many more to come. “Usually, I’d be done by now,” she says with a grin. “Most films I’ve done are 20-, 30-day shoots. So I keep thinking this is the end and we’re not even a quarter of the way in.”

To create a place of unique otherworldliness that could conceivably exist on Earth, three locations – Australia, Vietnam and Hawaii – are being amalgamated. There is an emphasis on bricks–and-mortar sets rather than a CGI overload, which is reserved for the big man himself (a Kong record height of roughly 85ft/26 metres) and a host of nasty creatures with whom he shares his ecosystem. “Jordan always insisted that we should be in real places,” Hiddleston says. “There should be as little soundstage or green-screen work as possible. He was location-scouting for nine or 10 months.”

Despite the hour, he is animated and enthusiastic as he talks to me between takes. This scene involves the characters arguing over whether Kong is friend or foe. It is intense, but what is initially thrilling to watch from the wings becomes notably less exciting the 30th time round. While Hiddleston and Larson remain upbeat (she does an improvised workout with a prop gun whenever the camera stops rolling), Jackson is starting to feel the strain. “How many times have we done this?” he asks. No one seems to know.

When it comes to my chat with him, I’m gathered with a handful of other journalists and his weariness seeps through.

“Why do you think this King Kong is different from the other King Kongs that we’ve seen,” asks one journalist. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen it,” replies Jackson.

“When we spoke to the director and the other actors, they compared your character to Captain Ahab. Is that something that inspired you too,” asks another. “No,” says Jackson.

Still, at least Jackson made it to Hawaii this time. In 1992, he was due to head here to film his doomed role in Jurassic Park when a hurricane destroyed the set before his scenes were shot. His work on Steven Spielberg’s dinosaur thriller was consequently based in LA. His biggest challenge for both projects, he reports, remains the invisible co-stars.

“The first lesson I got on green screen was from George Lucas years ago: the more you do, the more we have to draw,” he says. Do the practical sets help? “No, because you still have to ask the same questions. How big is it? Where is it? How fast is it moving? Sometimes they don’t have the answer to that.”

At least his Avengers co-star is living and breathing, right? “Tom’s got his fans,” he says with a smile. “A lot of girls. It’s good to work with people you know and trust. I guess he’ll be going back into the Marvel universe and put that green suit on again. Hopefully, I’ll be back with my eye patch and we’ll be together again.”

The love is mutual: Hiddleston waxes on about how Jackson is “a consummate professional … just a very fine actor”. But that, surprisingly, is about it when it comes to romance in the film. Despite Kong’s penchant for women, in this version, he is all business, no pleasure.

“This is not a traditional Beauty and the Beast story,” says Vogt-Roberts. “I personally don’t want to see a damsel-in-distress story and I don’t think the rest of the world really wants to see that any more.”

This was a deal-breaker for Larson, too, who added tenacity to a victim narrative in Room and will next be squaring off with a warehouse full of gun-toting blokes in Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire. “We’re in a really interesting time when we’re interested in seeing something different,” she says. “I’ve seen women who have found their way to continue to be feminine but still exert a sense of force and a sense of strength, and that’s important to me.”

Kong: Skull Island, then, is dodging some familiar tropes. But it is also part of a very modern trend: not just a kickstart to one dusty franchise, but a way of breathing life into a shared universe, a world also inhabited by another giant of the screen: Godzilla. The breadcrumbs have already been dropped online, and there are easter eggs in the film to reward the hardcore monster fans. But, on set, everyone is tight-lipped about the upcoming face-off, scheduled for 2020.

“I don’t know much about it,” Hiddleston says. “We’ve got to finish this one. I obviously know it’s a plan and that’s what Legendary [the company in charge of both properties] wants to do. It’s exciting and something that hasn’t been done in a long time. If it’s done in the right way, then it could be cool.”

Godzilla 2, with its rather leading title, King of the Monsters, is next, with Millie Bobby Brown of Stranger Things attached. Might a Kong sequel be on the way, too? Vogt-Roberts shrugs off talk with a lightness befitting his roots, rather than his reality: “That’s a little bit above my pay grade.”

[books-secretgetaway]

Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy Book Review

Star Rating

Far in the future, mankind has retired the planet Earth and moved beyond to new galaxies. And every person depends on the Mercer Company for every little thing, from useless trinkets, to water, to even oxygen. Ari is the sole refugee of the planet Ketch, a planet barricaded from the rest of the universe after Mercer quelled their attempted uprising. After finding Ari in space debris, she becomes the adopted sister of Kay, but this results in his moms being arrested by the Mercer Associates. When Ari accidentally alerts Mercer to her location, her and Kay hide out on Earth where she discovers a sword stuck in an oak tree. The moment she frees the blade, she reawakens Merlin and Morgana, and starts the cycle of King Arthur once again. In order to defeat the great evil of Mercer and unite mankind, Ari, Kay, and Merlin gather the new knights of King Arthur. 

Once & Future is one of the biggest disappointments I’ve ever read. I was so excited for a retelling of King Arthur in space, with the diverse cast it represents. Unfortunately, the story itself took a backseat while the authors focused on the characters’ relationships/sexuality/lecturing about being more PC. For an epic space fantasy, this is a huge letdown. I wish that Capetta and McCarthy had focused on the story and authentic character development and let the diversity of the cast just be instead of reminding the reader every other page. Ari’s correction of “mankind” to “humankind” induced a major eye roll. And when the gang jumped on Merlin for mistakenly referring to Lam as he instead of them was uncalled for. I have absolutely no problem with someone using the they/them pronouns, but I do have a problem with the “Did you just assume my gender??” nonsense. The mistaken pronoun can be corrected in a respectful manner, not by aggressively correcting an innocent mistake. The fact that Merlin immediately refers to Lam only through they/them shows that he respects Lam’s gender identity and meant no ill will in the mistake. 

The back cover of the book boasts that the novel will explore identity, yet it really doesn’t. There’s no hindrance to anyone’s sexual orientation in this universe so the fact that Ari and Gwen get married barely bats an eye. She’s a Ketchan without a home and yet this theme is never delved into. No one looks at her like she doesn’t belong or fit in so there’s no racial obstacle. And the biggest identity of all is the fact that she’s the reincarnation of King Arthur. This revelation is hardly dwelt upon by Ari or any of the knights. It’s accepted rather quickly and we never see her come to terms with this part of herself. We see the aftermath which is a huge problem this book seems to have. All of the important scenes take place ‘off screen’. The beginnings of the uprising happen when Ari and Merlin are both unconscious, Ari’s message to the universe, essentially setting the rebellion into motion, is relegated to the background while Merlin and Val flirt, and Ari’s training (and subsequent character development) is skipped over with the cheap “one year later.” This feels like lazy writing, as the authors sacrificed story for more useless scenes of characters wanting to make out with one another (mostly Merlin and Val, which does make for a good subplot, but when this takes away from scenes that actually drive the main plot, it just brings down the story. Don’t even get me started on the damn kissing scene mid-battle). 

The characters as whole just feel flat and uninteresting because they lack any kind of substance. A major character dies, yet it hardly elicits a response because this character doesn’t change or grow so that the reader feels connected to that character. And the tension that’s presented between Ari and Gwen in the beginning is a lazy attempt at creating the ‘I hate you/I love you’ trope because all it just melts away so quickly. There’s not really a ‘will they/won’t they’ feeling about the two of them. Even the spat they do experience is resolved incredibly easy. Merlin is the most useless magician (even below Aziraphale). Even though he’s aged all the way back to being a teenager and hormones can be a bitch, there’s no indication that he’s lost any wisdom or magic in the process. Yet, he never seems to have any magic. He’s able to fly himself to the Moon, but when the gang’s in trouble, the only thing he can ever seem to manage are some fireworks. The villain is the big Mercer Company, with the Administrator at the head. While this does make for an interesting adversary, what’s a girl with a sword supposed to do against a company? Unfortunately, the whole Medieval aesthetic is forced throughout the story in an attempt to meld the King Arthur in space aesthetic. It’s so contrite and just shows a lack of world building. I still don’t understand the planet Lionel and just why it’s set up like a Medieval Times restaurant. And one of my biggest pet peeves about sci-fi stories that take place far into the future is the idea that knowledge of today’s world is ‘lost’ to the civilization (unless this has a valid explanation that’s built into the world of the story, which it isn’t). The domes on the Moon are “named after ancient vehicular gods” like Dodge. I find it incredibly hard to believe that with our technology today and the way information is stored so that it’s accessible even as the technology changes that no one would know that Dodge was just a car brand. It just feels like a lazy attempt at the ‘we’re so far in the future that we don’t understand common every day things from the old Earth so that makes this funny’ cliche. It doesn’t develop the world, it just follows the formula that so many sci-fi books has done time and time again. 

The plot itself had so much potential but you have to do more than just throw in a bunch of diverse, PC characters to make a good story. They have to drive the plot, they have to grow and develop (on scene), and they have to struggle.