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imagitory · 2 months ago

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Review: Wicked (Part One)

Fellow Ozians...I am happy to report that as of five hours ago (yeah, it took me over four hours to write and edit this!!), my mother and I have seen the film adaptation of the first act of the Broadway musical Wicked! I have been both so excited and anxious anticipating this movie ever since it was first announced -- that excitement rose to a fever pitch seeing the footage released to the public, and at long last, I've finally seen the full movie!!

For those of you who wish a spoiler-free review, I will just say this film surpassed all of my expectations. And my expectations almost had to be high for something inspired by a beloved film like The Wizard of Oz, let alone for a musical that is so dear to my heart. This movie celebrated and embraced all of what Oz is -- not just the Schwartz musical, but the original book, the Maguire novel, and the 1939 classic -- while still bringing a fresh, new, and different kind of color to the material that makes it stand apart on its own merits. Its messages were timely, its visuals were incredible, and the level of talent in every conceivable area from casting to costume and scenic design is in the stratosphere. This film truly defied gravity...and everyone, theater fan or not, needs to see this.

For those of you who want to read a more comprehensive, spoilerific review, check under the cut! 💚

The Good!

+Maybe it's appropriate that we start the "good" section with our Good Witch, Ariana Grande as Glinda. I have to admit, I was initially skeptical when I heard she'd been cast, as I was afraid that she -- like Emma Watson, Pierce Brosnan, and Russell Crowe before her -- had been chosen for the part for her fame and not for her appropriateness for the role. After all, my main frame of reference for Ariana Grande was as a very talented mezzo-range pop singer with a great belt who often didn't enunciate her words very well. I had no idea if she could play a role that was designed for Kristen Chenoweth, the quintessential over-the-top, comedic first soprano. Thankfully after seeing the released clip of What is This Feeling?, all of my worries were laid to rest, and after seeing this film? Quite frankly, Ariana ate and left no crumbs with this performance. Her vocal range was only matched by both her comedic timing and sympathetic performance. Throw verbal slings and arrows at me if you want, but I actually think Ariana even did better than Kristen Chenoweth did in making Glinda a relatable character, rather than just a punchline. Glinda's resentment of Elphaba's relationship with Madame Morrible and longing to prove herself to the sorceress was really well accented here, and the instant regret Glinda feels upon learning Elphaba stuck her neck out for her with Madame Morrible and yet was just about to enter the Ozdust dressed in the "ugly" hat Glinda gave her was palpable. More excellent acting from Ariana came in the opening scene where Glinda returns to Munchkinland, and you can see the visible flickers of pain in her expression seeing everyone rant about how no one will mourn "the Wicked Witch" and the Munchkins pulling the wooden witch set to be burned into the town square. I always felt this subtext before while listening to the song and seeing the musical, but I felt Ariana embraced the interpretation I'd always had in my head that when Glinda sings of how "the Wicked's lives are lonely" and when the Munchkins sing that "the Wicked cry alone," Glinda envisioned herself as the truly wicked one...because now, in this moment, the two most important people in her life are gone, and she's left to mourn them alone, with no one else likely ever to know her suffering.

+Ah, but yes, I can't talk about our Good Witch without bringing up our "Bad Witch," Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba. I never had any doubts about Cynthia's casting after seeing her performance in the biopic Harriet and hearing her sing in the revival cast for The Color Purple, and as I knew she would be, she was absolutely fan-friggin'-tastic. Elphaba has been one of my favorite Broadway musical characters from the time I was in middle school, and Cynthia just brought so much passion, courage, sass, and compassion out of her. It just made me fall in love with Elphie all over again. When I was young, there was a period where I stopped singing solos in public -- it was right around the time when my voice changed, and to top it off, I'd had my self-confidence completely eroded by a Severus-Snape-esque Drama teacher, so I really wasn't up for putting myself out there for people to judge me. Point being, the very first song I sang at an audition in high school after this stretch was The Wizard and I, which was the one song that I identified with more than any other at that particular time in my life. Cynthia's performance of The Wizard and I brought all of those wonderful, soaring feelings rushing back to me -- I wanted to just throw my arms out and sing along with her at the top of my lungs. And yet no matter how good that performance was, it paled in the face of her finale, Defying Gravity. My GOD, GIRL!! Admittedly half of what made it so strong was Cynthia's heartbreaking performance as Elphaba realizing her whole image of the Wizard was a lie and that powerful righteous anger that bubbled up in response to it, but her vocal performance cannot be understated. I've listened to the CD track of Cynthia singing Defying Gravity a good five times just while typing this out, and I swear, my heart takes flight every time I reach the end.

+I have to put a separate bullet point attached to both of the prior ones just to point and scream at the amazing chemistry these two actresses had throughout the entire film. The casting of Elphaba and Glinda in particular is so crucial that anything wrong with their performers, either as individuals or as a pair, would've sunk the entire project. But in every single scene these two women were in, they both stole the show. They were peers and equals in every sense of the word. I never once felt like Cynthia was overshadowing Ariana or vice-versa -- they both shone like stars, separately AND together, and their rivalry-turned-friendship came across so believably. One of the single biggest changes I loved was in the Ozdust Ballroom scene when Elphaba starts dancing. In the show, it's oddly silent and uncomfortable, with Elphaba just looking weird as everyone stares at her, but in the movie, there's much more of a hostile, bullying air to how everyone surrounds her. There's actual mocking in their body language and lines, and yet Elphaba knows she can't run off crying: she's fenced in by this bubble her classmates have formed around her. So she just grits her teeth and dances to no music, pretending she doesn't care -- and so Glinda, rather than just stepping in and acting weird herself so as to show support, is also standing up to the others bullying her. Her "friends" even tell Glinda to stop and she says no. She isn't just using her own popularity as a shield around Elphaba -- she's really sticking her neck out, potentially sacrificing her own dignity and respect from everyone in the future, the way Elphaba stuck her neck out for her with Madame Morrible. Glinda had always envied Elphaba for being in the sorcerer's seminar, but Elphaba was willing to put that on the line for Glinda's sake -- now Glinda is willing to give up the social acceptance Elphaba had always envied on the line for Elphaba's sake. I believed that Elphaba and Glinda truly loved each other in this film. Without that, this film would never have succeeded.

+I have to give a nod to Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero too. Fiyero quite frankly is a character that I feel needs a really good actor to play him, because truthfully he gets much, MUCH less development than either of his female co-stars. In the wrong hands, Fiyero can come across as too much of a "boy toy" that Glinda and Elphaba fight over and that Elphaba gets as a "prize" over the more popular and traditionally feminine Glinda because she's "not like other girls." But in this film, Jonathan and the screenwriters did a nice job accenting how Fiyero -- unlike a lot of the student body of Shiz -- approaches Elphaba with no preconceptions. Elphaba's immediately defensive about her "verdigris" when meeting Fiyero, and he's just like "*shrug*" Later on, after Elphaba is "Galindafied," Fiyero tells her she doesn't have to act like that. And finally, when Elphaba puts everyone to sleep with the poppies (BEST! CHANGE! EVER, OH MY FRIGGIN' GOD, THAT IS GENIUS, WHAT AN AMAZING HOMAGE TO THE ORIGINAL BOOK AND FILM, WHY THE HELL DIDN'T THE OG MUSICAL DO THAT?!), Fiyero is the one who immediately busts out the lion cub and proposes setting him free. Yeah -- FIYERO does it! NOT Elphaba! AND THAT IS PERFECTION! Why? Because Fiyero is the rule breaker. He's the one who's been kicked out of multiple schools, the one who thinks nothing matters. Elphaba is the one -- at this point anyway -- who has always tried to color inside the lines: to be the dutiful older sister, to be the star student, to prove herself as worthy to Madame Morrible and the Wizard. And all of this is why Elphaba finds Fiyero attractive!! In the musical, this element can so often get lost -- oftentimes there's so much focus on why Fiyero chooses Elphaba over Glinda, but not nearly enough on why Elphaba loves Fiyero. And to soften this love triangle's edges further, Fiyero honestly never acts likes he's that romantically into Glinda. He doesn't actually act that romantically interested in anyone besides Elphaba, because in the beginning, he's so locked in his "nothing matters but knowing nothing matters" chain of thinking that he's sort of just breezing through and flirting casually with everyone. (As a side, Fiyero may have never been straight in either the musical or book, but here? This boy is a pansexual icon and I stan him so hard.) But yeah, Fiyero is kind of taken out of his laidback, playfully nihilist fog by Elphaba, and that's ultimately why he becomes smitten with her. He's not choosing Elphaba over Glinda, because truly, Fiyero never actively chose Glinda. He was kind of just shrugging through the whole "You're perfect; you're perfect; so we're perfect together" bit. But with Elphaba, she got him to care. She got him to engage, and think, and feel things strongly, and honestly give a damn about both himself and the real world for once. And Fiyero's display of this by wearing a poppy in remembrance of both Dr. Dillamond and the memory of bonding with Elphaba and then giving it to her before she left was really tactfully done.

+I bet you're thinking I'm going to talk about the Wizard or Madame Morrible next, but you're wrong! I'm actually going to talk about Dr. Dillamond. I completely forgot that Dillamond was voiced by Peter Dinklage until I saw the credits, but DAMN, were Dillamond's scenes powerful in this. Obviously Dinklage is a talented actor, and that helps, but there were also some really good new additions to the script in his scenes that just put them over the top. The first big change that I really like is that the song Something Bad -- a song I quite honestly never liked that much, compared to the rest of the soundtrack -- had its context changed from Dillamond talking to Elphaba alone in his classroom to a private meeting in his home with other Animals. To be honest, the original scene in the musical always felt a bit forced since I had trouble seeing a stately, sophisticated professor and mentor like Dr. Dillamond talking to Elphaba like she was a peer and confiding his fears about the growing fascistic state to one of his students. In this case, though, Elphaba merely overhears him talking with other adult Animals and then talks to Dillamond about it afterward, which makes much more sense. The song was also changed so that Dillamond now only lets out a "baa" by accident at the end, rather than twice, which makes it much more chilling, whereas in the original musical, it's played as both eerie and a little bit funny. But yeah, other additions include one of the Animals talking about leaving now while they still have a voice and Elphaba getting angry at her fellow classmates when they're not even going to say anything after Dillamond got ushered out...even earlier, near the very beginning of the movie, we see after Elphaba loses control of her powers that the carved image of the Wizard was put up to cover a collection of scholarly-looking Animals...and yeah, considering our current political climate, this couldn't be more relevant. I'm so friggin' delighted that a movie musical has decided to lampshade its relevant messages and themes for a change, rather than blatantly ignore them. *side-eyes the HELL out of Beauty and the Beast (2017)*

+Okay, okay, NOW I'll talk about the Wizard. I immediately loved the casting of Jeff Goldblum in the part, given that he does have that kind of approachable, adorkable quality despite being an older man, and given how many Apartments.Com commercials I've seen him in, I knew he could play a salesman, which is exactly what the Wizard is at his core. Goldblum did such a great job playacting as this artsy, paternal "Uncle Walt" showman-type who's become so eccentric and lonely because of the role he's placed himself in, but (unlike Elphaba) is not willing to sacrifice that role and the worship and acclaim he receives through it, even if it means he'll never be truly himself or loved for who he is. If anything, he's willing to double-down on that role and tell even bigger and more damaging lies just to hold onto the conditional "love" of Oz's people. His little replica of Oz with the TBD-colored brick road leading to the Emerald City was such a cool idea, as was his little replica of both himself and Elphaba, which I really hope will be played up for angst in the second part. >D Another great element of the Wizard in this film -- that yes, was largely from the stage musical but was plused so much here -- is that the Wizard's "magic" is in truth very mechanical. His mask is controlled by levers and gears; his model is full of electric lights; his entire Emerald City, in fact, is filled with electric lights. In truth the Wizard's "magic" is only a cold imitation, his servile monkey soldiers are all identical in appearance, and all of this comes from the mind of a man from a patriarchal, colorless world that's nothing like our beautiful, untamed Oz. This makes a perfect contrast for Elphaba, whose magic is borne of her intense compassion and righteous anger on behalf of the Animals of Oz. It is truly nature and traditional femininity at war with machinery and toxic masculinity.

+The supporting cast all around was pretty damn good. I might have one nitpick below, but acting-wise, everyone had amazing chemistry, and the script really did its best to add more material for all of the major relationships that still felt very true to the original musical. We see more of Elphaba and Nessarose's childhood, building up that there were good times and that some of Elphaba's "outbursts" were in defense of Nessa (which is something great to accent in Elphaba's character!! That her power often comes from righteous anger not for her own sake, but others!). We see Elphaba helping Dr. Dillamond pick up a broken vase of poppies and replant them after his interrupted lesson, touching both on why Dillamond takes a liking to her enough to trust her with his worries about Oz and on Elphaba's inherent compassion for the struggles of Animals. We see Morrible and Elphaba practicing magic together, with Morrible deliberately trying to encourage Elphaba's righteous anger, which ends up being the key to unlocking her powers. We see Boq not being the least bit uncomfortable about or coddling around Nessarose despite her being in a wheelchair, even while he's so clearly just spending time with her because Glinda asked him to, which explains part of why Nessa takes to Boq so much.

+On that note, I L-O-V-E how the filmmakers depicted Nessarose!! One of the aspects of this musical that has not held up over time is their rather ableist depiction of Elphaba's younger sister. In the original musical, Nessa's frailty and helplessness is emphasized just about every time she appears, from Elphaba originally being ordered to board with Nessa like a servant so she can tend to her to Boq just twirling her around to simulate dancing with her at the Ozdust. But here, Nessa has agency -- she wanted to "start over" at Shiz without Elphaba or her father around, and she starts up a conversation with some other students immediately after arriving. Elphaba's outburst in the musical was initially a bout of over-protectiveness in response to Nessa being taken out of her care, but here, it's Elphaba standing up for her sister after the headmistress tries to wheel her chair away without Nessa's consent and despite Nessa's objections. Sure, there's some tension between Nessa and Elphaba, and obviously there's a lot of favoritism by their father toward Nessa, but the film accents how sympathetic Nessa is, rather than how fragile she is. And to top it all off, they cast Marissa Bode, an actress who actually uses a wheelchair in real life, to play Nessa!! In just about all productions of the original musical, Nessa has been played by abled actresses who used a wheelchair as a prop, rather than as a real mobility aid, and this change is so beyond refreshing.

+The design of the practical sets in this film is -- for lack of a better word -- breathtaking. The level of detail, the mix of influences, the use of color and texture...all of this could only come from people at the absolute top of their field. And yet these choices were not skin-deep -- sure, it looked pretty, but there was function and feeling to every visual. From the stained glass reflecting different colors onto Elphaba's face when she dreamed over the Wizard "degreenifying" her to the old world influences in Shiz University's architecture emphasizing its age and elegance to the little circular window in the cafeteria door creating a "halo" around Glinda's head in What is This Feeling? to the swanky, illicit Ozdust ballroom being literally "underground" by being hidden under a lake full of fish...this all took a lot of vision and thought, and the finished result tickles both the creative and intellectual side of one's brain. I honestly can't wait to listen to audio commentaries from the scenic and costume designers about their creative processes for this film.

+Oh yeah, and can we talk about the costumes?! Obviously yeah, they look really pretty and it's clear that a lot of good materials and a healthy budget went into their creation (which is so refreshing *eyes TF out of Disney again because seriously WTF is up with the new live-action Snow White's cheap-ass Halloween costumes?*), but there's also so much character put into the costume design, even in the most minor, bit-part characters. One of my favorite aspects is how the Shiz students have a standard color palette (blue/gold/gray), but they can mix and match costume pieces to make everyone more of an individual. There are skirts, pants, shorts, pants with a half-skirt on the side, skirts with pants underneath, skirts with tights, sweaters, jackets, vests, hats, scarves, glasses, colorful socks, trainers, heels, Mary Janes...everyone can be comfortable and make their own statement about the character they play, even if they have no real lines, and I just LOVE that!! It accents all the more how Oz should be a very diverse and colorful place, and yet it's currently persecuting and marginalizing the Animals that once helped make it so diverse and colorful.

+The DANCING, HOLY FRIGGIN' SHEEZ. What is This Feeling? is where it shone the most, but I still have to scream about it, because the whole sequence is just so unbelievably good. The integration of step dance gave the whole number such an amazing rhythmic quality, almost making the ensemble the glue that sews Glinda and Elphaba's rivalry together. And yeah, from an allegorical sense, that's ingenious! Because think about it -- Elphaba wouldn't resent Glinda so much if she wasn't so universally praised and beloved by the public at large, while Glinda wouldn't feel she has so much to prove and feel like Elphaba is stealing her thunder and spotlight if it weren't for society's expectations. I was actually really bummed to find out the step dance rhythm isn't in the recording found on the Wicked film CD, because that element added so much to my love of the sequence. The dance choreography in the other scenes was impressive too, I just really had to gush about that main one.

+I knew this film wanted to do justice to the original musical, but I had no concept of just how much it would pay loving homage to the 1939 film and the Oz books too!! This film leans into the dark tone of Maguire's original novel more than the original musical ever did, especially in its political messaging -- I'm sorry, I don't see the musical ever having the Munchkins haul out a wooden witch figure to burn in effigy, and not just because doing so on stage would be dangerous. Besides that, though, we have some of the credits using the same font as the original Wizard of Oz's title screen; Glinda at one point yanking out some "ruby slippers" for Elphaba to try on in the Popular sequence; Elphaba smuggling the lion cub out of school on a bike that looks suspiciously like Miss Gulch's; and at the end of The Wizard and I, we see the Deadly Desert that surrounds Oz (referenced in the books), as well as a rainbow in the far-off distance! Oh, yeah, and did I mention that Kristen Chenoweth and Idina Menzel have cameos during One Short Day and they actually take a moment to embrace the girls playing their respective parts?! My heart!!

The Not-So-Good...

+There were a few points where I felt the music was stretched out a bit too much, just for the sake of either showing off the singer's voice and/or sets and costumes or for the sake of being different. I get changing the end of What is This Feeling? because you're trying to surprise your audience and any fans of Wicked will know how the original song goes, but there was no need to stretch out Popular with two extra "la la la la"s before the grand ending. I also feel the break in One Short Day with Kristen and Idina did go on too long -- as happy as I was to see them, that kind of cameo is best done in moderation, especially when one considers anyone watching this either now or in the future who don't know who the hell either woman is.

+Compared to their co-stars, Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible was the weak link singing-wise. She played the role superlatively from an acting perspective, and to be fair Madame Morrible is more of an acting part than a singing part in the musical, but compared to Cynthia, Ariana, Peter Dinklage or even Jeff Goldblum, her singing voice just wasn't on pier with her acting.

+Although the film decided to show Elphaba's childhood, which was yet another great idea, it missed out on the opportunity presented to them to introduce the Wizard supposedly being able to read the Grimmerie and being the Chosen One of the narrative earlier on. As devastating as it was for Elphaba to learn the truth about the Wizard not being able to cast magic or read the Grimmerie in the film, it would've been so much worse if the film established that this narrative was such a lucrative and prevalent lie that even children were indoctrinated in it.

Yeah, that's really all I can conjure up in regards to critiques! This film truly was an amazing, beautimous ride, and I loved every minute of it! Please, do yourself a favor and go watch this film! Watch it multiple times! I sure intend to! We need films like this -- ones with powerful, timely themes, chock-full of talented performers, and meticulously crafted by passionate artists that aren't afraid to buck convention. We don't have to accept limits because someone says they're so, and this film knows that. Big-budget movie musicals rarely make bank and almost never live up to their source material, and yet this film is proving this preconception wrong. That deserves to be celebrated! Celebrate it with your money at the box office, and let's shake things up in Hollywood! Let's prove that we don't want an artificial imitation of magic, but something real. Something with real sets, real vision, and real talent -- like this film. Jon M. Chu, I look forward to seeing the second part of this masterpiece next November, but in the meantime, I hope you know your future is unlimited! And to all of you, "thank goodness" you stuck with me this long to read all this...now please, fly off to your closest theater and watch Wicked! You won't regret it!!

Overall Grade: A+

#wicked (2024)#wicked #reviews #opinion #oh boy here i go #analysis

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lestwritewhilewaitingforajobcall · 4 years ago

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Tamed Seas - Poseidon x Reader

(A/N)

This is the very first post I’m making on this equally new account and also the very first time I am ever using a second person POV for the reader. Let me know your thoughts!

The following story is just for shits and giggles. I do not own any of the characters, they are the property of Shinya Umemura and Takumi Fukui and Ajichika. I also do not own you, the reader.

Warning: Swearing from my disclaimer.

Tamed Seas

Poseidon x Reader

They were never allowed to stare.

If Poseidon never looked anyone in the eye, deeming them unworthy of even a simple gaze, then anyone other than himself were equally unworthy in looking at his wife.

Just before the meeting had started about a decision to be made on humanity’s fate, Poseidon had entered in his full regalia, his wife walking alongside him. Of course, such a prestigious couple deserved such a special entrance, as Hermes, per Zeus’ request too, played his violin most ceremoniously, a proud smirk on his face upon seeing the royal feet step perfectly on the red carpet he had immediately placed upon knowing of their arrival. Zeus’ older brother held a record of never attending meetings, much more any simple get-togethers unless they were of real utmost importance such as this one.

Shiva’s eyes grew at the sight of the couple. Even though Poseidon’s wife had originally been a mortal who had ascended to godhood, you were glowing and looked as ethereal as Aphrodite. Was he seeing things? He blinked and leaned forward in his seat. The last time he saw you was at the announcement of your wedding, then after the ceremony he never caught a glimpse of you ever again and only heard stories of your new and impressive conquests. Were you always this godlike?

As if reading his thoughts, he gulped upon finding himself at the receiving end of Poseidon’s cold and stoic stare. He shrugged his shoulders. Man, he had heard rumors of his sudden protectiveness towards his wife, but he never expected him to be this overly protective. He was merely trying to figure out if his wife was always glowing like this or not. Both figuratively and literally.

Alright, maybe he was checking you out a little bit.

Unlike the god of the seas, his wife greeted Zeus, and all the familiar gods with a warm smile. It had been ages since you had seen them all together, and the sight brought a sense of nostalgia to the days where you had first earned their favor, then their respect, and then their friendship. Although your story might not be as mighty (and as physically taxing) as Hercules’ was, you considered those ‘young’ days to also be one of your best apart from getting married to the man god who you had given your heart for and will continue to love and cherish for the rest of your life. Since you became Poseidon’s wife, you had not had much time to do leisure outside the palace, and correspondingly after heralding the title of ‘queen of the seas,’ you had taken it upon yourself to help your husband in matters concerning his own kingdom and the vast seas themselves.

“Master Zeus—” Zeus threw you a knowing look. “My apologies, Zeus, it’s such a pleasure to see you again!”

“Same here, little lady! Judging by the frequent calmness of the Atlantic Ocean, I trust you and my brother are faring along quite well?” The father of all gods chuckled, then wiggled his gray eyebrows. “Why, I must say, me and most of the other Olympians have been waiting for some new gods and goddesses to rule alongside us, if you know what I mean! Ehe he~”

Characteristic of your husband, Poseidon simply scoffed before muttering how gods such as themselves need not gossip. Blue eyes never left the Hindu god however, and unbeknownst to his wife, he lingered closer to you than usual whenever the both of you were in public.

This time, Shiva had had enough. He was sure he only looked at the direction of Poseidon’s wife only once, and admired you only once as well, yet he was being skewered by the god’s gaze for longer than what he had intentionally allowed. As if he had openly claimed you as his! He was the god of destruction for heaven’s sake, and would not allow this sacrilegious act, regardless of whoever he had to settle the score with. If it was with another prominent deity, then it would be a lot more fun. Golden eyes narrowed daringly, an equally challenging aura oozing from his form and startling the nearby gods.

“Lord Shiva, are you okay—”

“(Name). How many times do I have to repeat myself? You have no need to refer to other gods with honorifics.” Your attention whipped to your husband, who to your surprise, held a familiar, challenging stance. Unbeknownst to you but the other gods especially Aphrodite, Poseidon simply matched the challenge of the Hindu god. “You are the wife of the seas. All the other gods are beneath you, as they are beneath me as well.”

Upon hearing this, Shiva gripped his concrete armrests too greatly and it crumbled to dust under his strength. Pumped at where this interaction seemed to be heading−the thought of fighting, he stood up, arms on the ready to cause destruction. Despite being in the middle of the crowd and quite far away from the center of the stadium where the couple stood, he caught glimpse of the famous trident he would never be caught dead wielding. Now this was getting interesting!

“My rules are simple: you disrespect me, you die,” He pointed at Poseidon, which the latter found disgusting enough to scrunch up his nose.

“Should we put a stop to this, Lord Zeus?” Hermes asked behind a white gloved hand. Not exceeding any expectations, Zeus laughed after a stroke of his beard and clapped. He always was one to find entertainment in alike situations, especially after the fact that this was the only time, he and all the other gods had really felt Poseidon riled up. The expression on the god of the seas’ face remained calm but it was betrayed by the suffocating, dominating presence he emitted from where he stood.

“And after you die, your wife would become firsthand witness of realizing how your title betrays your strength,” Shiva stretched, but halfway through noticed Poseidon’s quick work of his trident. He took a stance and prepared for the parrying move.

Amidst the unexpected battle that was soon to happen, to everyone’s surprise, a whistling sound echoed along the tension-filled stadium. It was a tune most foreign to the gods, all except one. From your lips, a beautiful melody poured out as a soft gentle breeze seemed to have begun to blow. It was an old tune you had learned from one of your many lifetimes in the mortal world,

And the very same one you had sung to Poseidon that had sustained him in trying moments.

Poseidon came to a full stop, his muscles unmoving as he listened and slowly, put his trident down. What was he thinking? He should not have been swayed by a foolish taunt committed by a foolish god. He was perfection incarnate. His wife would never fall for a foolish antic, so why did he? Now he was both angry and confused with himself. How could he have allowed himself for even a moment, for others to see him angry over this? What even was this?

Without the need to look at you, relishing in your fine tunes reminded him of the initial catalyst to his reaction and an answer to his question. Whenever matters concerned his wife, his emotions, which he learned were out of his control, seemed to defy all rational logic, which, even at the very beginning of your courtship, bypassed his ego. Of course, despite these strong feelings, the one thing Poseidon had control over were his actions. Therefore, he had always had a grip on how he presented himself. Although it was still a slow progress to figuring out this foreign feeling with his wife, the only other being he deemed truly worthy to allow into his life, anyone else will never have a chance of being privy to this side of him−a sentiment that thankfully, his wife shared. Though he never admitted it, he was confused and left mulling over for some time when you had also told him before that you had meant a different thing.

“…Foolish. Gods have no need for wars, we are perfect beings ourselves. You are not the reason for my presence here and are not worthy of my time and attention.” Another long silence fell, finally broken by Poseidon, ignoring the mix of surprised and fearful stares. His legs started carrying him towards the direction of one of the high stage boxes in the stadium. “Come, (Name).”

Shiva, who had his fists out and ready to fight, blinked twice in confusion before grunting, scratching the back of his ear violently in frustration. “You Greek gods have always been boring! And here I thought I’d finally be able to cause some destruction again, this time in Valhalla…”

Other than the Hindu god himself, none would ever understand if he had riled up the Greek god on purpose for the sake of his own entertainment or, perhaps, for something more personal. Zeus, meanwhile, followed the sight of his older brother walking quietly alongside his wife. Aphrodite nodded her head in his direction, affirming his suspicions. He would never fully understand the concept of love, but hey, he did get the message that all would be damned if so much as a single hair went missing on (Name)’s hair. And it seems he was not alone in this thought, as despite Shiva’s aggressive taunting, he also managed to peak into the gravity of the god of seas’ feelings towards his wife.

After Shiva had been calmed down and more gods piled in along with the Valkyries, Zeus set his meeting in motion. From the stands, Poseidon and his wife occupied the two seats that closely resembled their thrones. Eagerly sitting beside the god, (Name) grinned. Every day she had to sit close to her husband or even at times on his lap, she always felt like her body fit snugly against his.

Blue eyes stared uninterested at the spectacle.

“Dearest?” Poseidon turned his head and met your gaze. Any dark smudges had disappeared beneath his eyes, and his mouth that was carved into a seemingly permanent frown softened. His lips went from a thin line to a gentle curve.

“Thank you.”

No more words needed to be said. Poseidon knew what you were thanking him for, and he responded by closing his eyes as though he was swallowing every ounce of serenity that emitted from you. And the taste was sweet…

Above the angry retaliation of the gods regarding the verdict of Ragnarok, Poseidon enjoyed an elusive peace. Even if it was just a simple moment like this, he set his features in calm lines and his shoulders sank−a truly rare sight, a special secret between himself and his wife.

“I don’t care about this. I am eager to go home.” Poseidon whispered under his breath.

A chuckle left his wife’s lips. “We’re going home soon, don’t fret.”

#poseidon x reader #snv x reader #snv poseidon #shuumatsu no valkyrie #snv poseidon x reader #record of ragnarok #record of ragnarok x reader #record of ragnarok poseidon x reader #snv thor

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katatonicimpression · 3 years ago

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Some thoughts about Monet’s writing during the X-Factor era

This would’ve been a high effort mini essay with screencaps and everything but I cba. So prepare yourself for a wall of text.

This iteration of X-Factor (the Jamie Madrox team - starting with X-Factor: investigations then later being folded back into the 1986 title) is probably the first comic series I ever got into. I still really like it to be honest… most of the time. It has comedy that’s genuinely funny, a really cinematic feel to it and (the key to my heart) a strong commitment to soap opera-style drama. It’s definitely a mixed bag in terms of quality and in my opinion it clearly gets worse as it goes on. A while ago, I saw a post where someone suggested that they make it into a TV show and honestly I think that’s a brilliant idea. It would make a really compelling series if adapted right, and they could use the opportunity to maybe smooth over some of the things that don’t work.

Anyway, this was the first thing I read with Monet in it and I absolutely loved her. I found her hilarious (I really gravitate towards mean-girl bitchy characters) and I also remember being drawn to her pain in the moments of vulnerability she gets. Let’s be clear, those things are still there when re-reading it. But I recently finished going through the whole thing again (skipping anything that wasn’t her or ricstar because I’m impatient) and I’m left with a bunch of thoughts.

There is something deeply weird about Monet’s writing in this series.

This weirdness isn’t there the entire time - it’s mostly in the latter half of the series. At the beginning her characterisation is good; we get a serious look at her trauma from what Marius did to her, her mental health is taken seriously, her family and backstory is referenced on multiple occasions in ways that really make it clear that the writers had read Generation X and paid attention to it. She’s drawn too pale, which is obviously a bad thing, but overall she still feels like Monet and the writing is pretty good. I’d say the strangeness starts shortly after her dad gets kidnapped. I.e. a little bit after when the boob outfit first appears (#215-ish). Okay, actually let’s put this whole thing on hold and talk about that for a second.

A Tangent about Sex and Race:

If for some reason you’re reading this and haven’t read this series (or if it’s been a while), here is the boob outfit for reference:

So that’s a pretty shameless bit of costume design right there. It’s very silly. It defies gravity and anatomy. It’s so silly that the characters even comment on it at one point… like lampshading the choice makes it magically immune to criticism. But okay, focusing on the point I want to make: Monet is sexualised in this series - heavily sexualised - and it’s done in a way that really doesn’t do it for me.

Don’t get me wrong, Monet is a sexual person and I think it’s important to include this in her character (I’ve talked about this before). Also I don’t want this to come across as a strawman “no boobies in comicbooks” thing either. That’s not what I think.

The pervasive idea in the art in the second half of this series is that Monet is sexy, but she doesn’t get drawn as pretty. Seriously, this girl is a fucking supermodel who is known for being hot, but rarely gets drawn with a pretty face in this series. Layla, Rahne and Theresa, on the other hand, get to be pretty all the time.

Similarly, Layla, Rahne and Theresa are drawn with more dignity than Monet is. They’re all still drawn sexy, often shamelessly so, but they each get plenty of panels where they’re drawn as hot, without it being so gratuitous. Moreover, they’re presented as earnestly desirable in their own right. This is important here. Monet is constantly portrayed as sexy - she’s tits-out in most panels - but not as a serious love interest. Guido likes her, but it’s a comedic storyline. Darwin loves her, but it’s supposed to be pathetic. Meanwhile, Jamie is uninterested after their hookup: he prefers Theresa then, later, Layla. Shatterstar comments that she’s hot, but prefers Layla. Pip the fucking Troll thinks she’s hot. Like… really?

A similar thing happens in 2016’s Uncanny X-Men. Betsy is portrayed as sexy, but with modesty and dignity. Meanwhile, Monet is heavily sexualised but only actually considered desirable to Sabretooth.

Make no mistake. This is racist. Sexualising a black female character while also portraying her as not somebody who a heroic lead could seriously, earnestly be interested in? The black female character is drawn with cartoonish, over the top sexual traits in every panel? The black female character is allowed to be sexual, but not pretty? That’s racism.

Back to the Point:

Right, so if it wasn’t obvious by now, the writing in this series develops a strong sense of hostility towards Monet as a character. She is portrayed with very little dignity and it feels very uncomfortable to read. This isn’t necessarily that surprising, right? And yeah, okay. No, it isn’t surprising but I noticed something weird about how they go about it and I just wanted to put it out there. There are some contradicting ideas going on here:

Monet’s anger is portrayed as disproportionate, irrational and annoying.

Her reasons for being angry are correct and reasonable.

Monet’s pain and humiliation is portrayed as humorous.

The reality and seriousness of Monet’s pain is emphasised.

As the series goes on, Monet’s characterisation goes from funny, bitchy quipping to full on just yelling at everybody all the time. She’s portrayed as incredibly quick to anger and unreasonable to be around, berating people constantly. This didn’t go unnoticed by readers. She becomes angry and shouty and the whole thing lacks development or even a sense of purpose. There’s no arc or storyline here; they just started writing her as a shouty rage-monster for no clear reason. She gets portrayed as a massive inconvenience to the group. Suddenly, none of them even seem to like her anymore, except Guido who… well he still hates her he just happens to also want to fuck her.

But, she’s right. Her reasons for being angry are right. This is the weird thing. She yells at Guido for being a soulless monster… but he’s being a soulless monster. She yells at Pip and Guido for saying creepy things about her body… but they’re saying creepy things about her body. She has a falling out with Theresa because (I kid you not) Theresa is upset that Monet didn’t tell her that she’s a muslim… but Monet rightly points out in an earlier issue that it’s frankly bizarre that everyone assumed otherwise. She yells at Lorna for ordering her around, threatening her, and making light of her abuse… but Lorna does all of those things.

So, now we’re at number 3. Monet is wronged, Monet is hurt, Monet is humiliated… but it’s a joke. Her reactions are ridiculous, over-the-top, clearly intended as comedy. Moreover, in universe, the other characters laugh at her pain. They literally think it’s funny when her body is taken over by a perverted troll who attempts to sexually assault her. Like, what the fuck? Do the writers hate the character that much?

That’s the obvious explanation, right? That the writers just hate her. It would explain why she gets violently beaten to death at the end of the series.

…

Although… She gets immediately resurrected, right? Which seems like a weird choice if it was all about punishing the character, right?

And I mentioned the gang laughing at Monet being possessed by Pip, but they don’t all laugh. Shatterstar doesn’t think it’s funny. He plainly explains that it’s a violation and no laughing matter. So, the writers definitely do see that Monet has a right to be angry here. Similarly with all the above examples. It’s not a subtle, emergent detail of the story that she’s in the right. It’s all there plain as day, very deliberately. But, nonetheless, she’s still acting in this cartoonish rage-monster way and not being given any dignity to her reaction.

There’s a scene when she talks to Layla about her decision to bring Guido back to life without a soul. It’s one of her few non-shouting scenes from the back-half of this series. It clearly tells us that Monet is consciously distancing herself from other people, that she finds comfort in doing so. It’s so empathetic to her point of view that honestly it feels like it came from way back at the beginning of the series. Even right up to the end, where they’re writing her so hatefully, they’re still putting in these moments of pathos. It’s just so deeply, deeply weird.

Conclusion?

The first time I read this series, I came away from it really liking Monet but re-reading it, I wouldn’t be surprised if it had the opposite effect on a lot of people. In fact, I know it did - I’ve read plenty of comments saying as much. But what’s interesting (to me) is that all of this weirdness - the contradictions in how her anger and pain are portrayed - is probably why I managed to form such a positive opinion of a character who is portrayed so negatively. So kudos to inconsistent writing, I guess.

While this has been a really negative rant, I want to reiterate that, when taken as a whole, this run of X-Factor holds up pretty well. I wouldn't have written this whole thing if this was just a generic call out post for the latter half of a decade old comic. I'm not in the business of call out posts anyway. Like I said, the first half or so has some great writing for Monet as well. It just has some gnarly things towards the end that I wanted to write about and if you’ve made it to the end of this, then I am genuinely surprised.

#oh my god this is nearly 2000 words i am sorry #rants #monet st. croix #monet st croix #penance #x factor

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al-hekima-madara-blog · 3 years ago

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Spring Equinox

During this time, light and shadow are in harmony. Day equals Night. It's a door between death of winter and spring of life. A portal to the future triumph of Light over Shadow.

pictures from my neighbourhood, have you notice as well the sudden change of season where you leave?

A little late for this post but anyway, few days ago was 20th of March was the Spring Equinox in the northern hemisphere. Our celestial journey around the sun continues. If you follow me few mouths ago I spoke about the Winter solstice and the death of light.

In many ancient tradition from northern hemisphere, the real new year starts at Spring equinox, when nature is coming back to life. Nowadays it's still a national holiday in Japan when people gathers under cherry tree's flowers which always blossom around this date. Their spectacular pinky flowers announce better days to come.

In Iran, the persian calendar is still in use to celebrate new year called Nowruz. In the table below, seven symbolic items traditionally displayed. They all starting with the letter Seen (letter s) (س) in the farsi alphabet. and associated with rebirth, growth, beauty, health, springtime ect...

In Christian tradition, equinox is important to fix the date of Easter. Usually Christian events follow solar calendar but for Easter their mix both lunar and solar system. Easter date is fix the first Sunday after the first full moon following Spring equinox...you get me😅? In other words let's take 2022. The Equinox was the 20th of March, now where is the first full moon after that date? Saturday 16th of April. Easter this year is the next Sunday which is the 17th of April.

Spring Equinox marks the end of Pisces to Aries. Pisces being the last zodiac sign and Aries the first one. Here again you have the same symbol of end of cycle to start a new one.

The moon calendar is changing every year, sometimes Easter is close to the Equinox, sometimes quite far away like this year, But I'll talk more about lunar Calendar with Ramadan month in Islam coming next week.

Western astrology is strongly connected with the four seasons, rather than the stars. The stars of the zodiac are just point of reference in the sky. What matters is the season and the influences of planets who rotate around Earth (in a geocentric point of view when someone is watching the sky at night). Asian Vedic astrology for example is based on the Equinox precession, here stars in the sky matters but story for an other time...

Aries or the Ram is an accurate symbol to represent this rushing sense of vitality which is Spring. You need a tremendous amount of energy for a tiny sprout to germinate from the dead ground, defying gravity. It's not yet the slow growth of Taurus...no It's Now ! immediately ! Instinctively ! It's the Hero in the frontline pushing through the enemy's line. It's a baby pushing with violence through her mother's womb, piercing through her Pisces water and finally coming into the world covered in blood, screaming. A battle for life. It's graphic but accurate image of what is Aries symbolically : Vitality, Fire, Violence.

Born the 28th of March, It's not a mistake that Sakura Haruno from Naruto, who is an Aries have this precise chara design emphasising the pink colour of the season. And her personality matches what Aries are : frontal, extravert, rushing sometimes into battle without deep strategy or thoughts, sometimes egocentric about her own emotion but also her incredible strength and her desire to excel and compete. No one can deny Sakura had work very hard with Tsunade for someone neither child of a prophecy nor descendant of an illustrious clan.

#Al Hekima post #Spring equinox #Nowruz #Easter #springtime #naruto #sakura haruno #Sakura #Pisces #Aries #the fact I mix all those themes together makes absolutly no sense but hey ! Aries energy😂

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clownd-aa · 4 years ago

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tw: mentions of religion and death

Okay, so I think a lot of us can agree that the duality in the series is pretty great! We have an entire cast of multi-faceted and complex characters. We see one side, think we understand them, and then suddenly we’re shown a different side of them that also exists. It makes us think.

The same holds true for Gogol, and honestly the entire Decay of Angels (i mostly speak of the main trio we were first introduced to, though!). But Gogol’s character is just a paradox on one hand, and appears to tell us the answers on the other. But a lot of the characters are also inspired by their respective authors and their work. Which means, I think by reading their work -- or at least, certain ones -- we can begin to understand better the aspects of their characters and why it is the way they think or do the things they do and say the things they say! Essentially: Why did Asagiri make them like this.

It’s especially interesting to take note and try to understand why and how Fyodor and Nikolai are connected, as well! There’s a lot to discuss so i’m just going to try and break it down the best I can without rambling too much.

When we first see Nikolai in his debut, he’s already this high-energy very ‘fun’ type of character. I mean, he’s a clown, so it would be weird if he wasn’t. He claims to enjoy killing people, and also talks about his desire for freedom and his love for birds in some very strange analogy that just makes his character a bit deeper. Likening his own mind to that of a prison. And then on the other hand, we’re shown that he feels guilt and remorse like any other person would and does have a capacity for empathy, and that his “monster” façade is merely that: a façade.

Empathy is merely a restriction in his eyes, and to beable to walk through life without restrictions (much like how the birds defy gravity) is the ultimate freedom.

He claims he’s sane. Is he? I think so. A person who is, by definition, considered “insane” normally doesn’t understand right from wrong or real from fake. Nikolai, however, has shown that he is very self aware.

But I think there’s something else going on. And this is where the real Nikolai Gogol comes in. I did some digging on the life and death of the author, and really, he was a tragedy and it helps me to understand his character better.

In BSD Nikolai, we already see a reflection of the real life satirist from the get-go. His brutal methods of murder and torture, are in reference and inspired by elements in the real life Nikolai Gogol’s work that were both realistic and grotesque.

But there’s more. Looking into his death, this is where BSD Nikolai’s mentality and belief of being trapped in his own mind comes into play. At least, this is what i’ve come up with and have perceived his character. So in no way am I trying to push this on anyone, but I do heavily headcanon what i’m talking about in my own portrayal.

you can read the information here, for anyone interested. I’m only going to touch base on some of the stuff mentioned.

Nikolai and Fyodor’s canon relationship in the manga is also important to take note, and I firmly believe there is some influence from the rl Gogol and a priest he had the misfortune to contact during a dark time in his life after someone close to him (a woman) had died.

The priest in question was a Russian Orthodox priest, and turned out to be a sadist who filled Gogol with a pathological fear of damnation and convinced him to burn most of his unpublished work (convincing him his work to be the Devil’s work).

Fyodor, being portrayed with heavy religious themes (going so far as to believe himself a God with his god complex) makes me think of the Russian Orthodox priest in the rl Gogol’s life before his death (which the priest was also responsible for. We can compare that to Fyodor ‘manipulating’ Gogol to die for the sake of the DoA’s plan to frame the Detective Agency)

Going back to whether BSD Gogol is sane or not, and my reasoning -- once again -- for why he is, is simply: A combination of religious trauma and mental illness are at work for him believing he’s trapped and his mind is a prison he must escape. And seeing as it’s implied that he is close to Fyodor (he refers to him as his ‘intimate friend’), i’m sure Fyodor has had a lot of influence over Gogol despite Gogol being one of the few who seem to follow Fyodor willingly and not under the guise of heavy manipulation and brainwashing; like that with Ivan and Hawthorne.

That is, until, Nikolai reappears after his “death”. He tells Sigma to kill Fyodor means to break free from the “brainwashing” that are emotions. And I believe here we are also seeing BSD Gogol experience a sort of break in reality as he realizes he’s been manipulated by his friend. And to break that manipulation and that trauma, he must kill the one responsible for it.

There’s also a very good meta written about Fyodor and Nikolai and how they’re two halves of a character called Kirillov in the rl Doestevsky’s novel “Demons”, and honestly! It’s one of my favorites as their relationship also seems to be built on one of understanding; as we see Nikolai mention that Fyodor is his one and only friend and the only one who truly understands him. A reflection of the rl Gogol’s lonely and messy personal life. I’ll leave that here.

This also touches base on Gogol’s idea of free will

#meta #headcanon #nikolai gogol #fyodor dostoevsky #h I IM CRYING THIS WAS SO LONG AND VERY SATISFYING TO WRITE #OKAY!!!

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alternatefandom · 5 years ago

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Hakugei, A Physics Meta, or: the physics of backspin on tennis balls

Back in the day when I read Tenipuri for the very first time, I possessed a combination of three unfortunate traits: 1. I was a high school student, 2. I was a physics nerd, and 3. I played tennis. All this means I ended up loving Fuji Shuusuke far more than I should, because his counters are a thing of beauty and look like something that could just pop up in my physics exam. I may or may not have spent weeks playing with ball spins and getting yelled at by my tennis coach trying to figure out Fuji's counters. I admit to nothing.

So now I will hold a little physics class on one of my favorite tenipuri shots. Several disclaimers before we start:

Bear in mind that I am in no way an expert in physics or tennis; do not read this meta for anything other than your own amusement, or the Gods of Tennis, Academia, and References will judge you.

While I will be talking about how certain tenipuri shots are physically possible, I will not be talking about whether or not a human being can hit these shots with a racket. That would require calculating force and rotation speed, and I’m not doing that because I hate math.

For ease of understanding, I will be oversimplifying certain things. That said, if you spot a mistake, please tell me so we can discuss how to fix it.

Considering the age of this fandom, I’m assuming most of you have learned about force and momentum in high school. If you haven’t, however, here is a short crash course:

Force is something that causes an object to move faster or slower in a certain direction. For example, when you hit a still tennis ball with a racket, your racket is applying force to the tennis ball. Force is defined as Mass x Acceleration.

Momentum is what an object has when it’s moving. For example, when your tennis ball is flying over the net, your tennis ball has a forwards momentum. Momentum is defined as Mass x Velocity

Applying force to an object causes its momentum to change. The longer force is applied, the more its momentum changes. For example, the longer you spend pushing a shopping cart, the faster it will roll after you let go of it. Momentum is defined as Force x length of Time force is applied

Okay! Now we can start with the meta. The first shot I will be talking about is my favorite Fuji counter, Hakugei. @sandreeen, this meta is dedicated for you.

Amongst all of Fuji's counters, I think Hakugei is actually the simplest, and easiest to replicate by hand. Below is an illustration of Hakugei, plus the explanation we got when Fuji used it against Akugatawa Jirou for the first time.

From this illustration we can summarize the movements of the ball as follows:

1. The ball was hit with a slice, resulting in a backspin.

2. The ball then flies in an upwards curve.

3. The ball falls back down.

4. The ball bounces back towards Fuji.

5. The ball is caught by Fuji.

Now let's analyze these movements one by one.

1. The ball was hit with a slice, resulting in a backspin.

A backspin is simply a ball that rotates backwards towards the player. Fuji slices the bottom of the ball to create this spin. It could be illustrated as follows.

For the rest of the meta, all illustrations will be drawn with the assumption that Fuji is standing to your left, hitting the ball towards your right.

2. The ball flies in an upwards curve

Have you ever seen a fast-moving train pass by a pile of leaves? If you have, you may see the leaves get sucked into the path of the train. This is a demonstration of the Bernoulli Principle. The fast-moving train drags the air around it along, causing the air to move very fast. As a result, the air pressure near the train drops. A bit farther away, though, the air is still, meaning the air pressure there is higher. The pressure difference causes air from farther away to rush near the train, taking the leaves along.

This is basically what happens to Fuji’s Hakugei. As the tennis ball moves rightwards with a momentum of p, the air around it moves leftwards (A). Above the ball, the ball’s backspin (LA) drags the air to the left, moving it faster (A + LA). However, below the ball, the air was dragged to the right (LB), so it moves slower (A - LB). As the air above the ball is moving faster (A +LA) than the air below the ball (A - LB), the air pressure above the ball is lower than beneath the ball. Thus, the ball is rushed upwards (FM). This is called the Magnus Effect.

3. The ball falls down.

Not much to say here. Because of air resistance and drag and all those pesky forces that we generally ignore in high school physics, the ball will eventually slow down, meaning the effect of the ball’s spin on air speed will fade. Therefore, the Magnus effect will grow weaker. Gravity will eventually prevail, and the ball will come crashing back to the ground.

4. The ball bounces back towards Fuji

Now this is the interesting part--how the ball bounces back. Note that for this part, we will assume that the effects of air resistance and drag is negligible, and thus can be wholly ignored. Now, let’s first examine the most important forces acting on the ball in the instant before it hits the ground.

On the vertical axis, the ball is accelerating down, thanks to the force of gravity. This force is represented by Fg.

On the horizontal axis, the ball is moving to the right. The ball is not being affected horizontally by any kind of outside force, therefore, it moves at a constant speed. We can say that the ball is moving rightwards with a momentum of p.

The combination of Fg and p causes the ball to move in the direction of A.

Speaking of movement, other than vertical and horizontal movements, the ball is also spinning. Again, the ball’s spin is not being affected by any outside force. We can say that the ball is spinning constantly with an angular momentum of L.

And then the ball hits the ground.

Newton’s third law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. On the vertical axis, we have Fg, which applies a downwards force upon the court. The court gives an equal and opposite reaction in Fn, which applies an upwards force upon the ball. This explains why the ball bounces upwards [1].

Meanwhile, in the horizontal axis, things get a little more complicated. We have the ball’s backwards spin interacting with the ground here. The ball’s spin produces an angular momentum of L, which gives a rightwards linear momentum of ps for the court.

Since the court is a stationary object and (hopefully) cannot move, the court’s momentum itself should stay at zero. We can now forget about the court. Any change of momentum will happen to the tennis ball, so let’s get back to that green fuzzy thing.

Newton’s third law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The Momentum Conservation Principle, which is derived from this law, states that in a collision, the change in the colliding objects’ momentum are also equal in magnitude, but opposite in directions.

According to the Momentum Conservation Principle, because its initial momentum (ps) is directed rightwards, after the collision, the ball’s momentum should change leftwards in the opposite direction. This change in momentum is represented by pr.

So when the ball hits the ground, horizontally, there are two different momentums fighting for dominance--pr and p [2]. To ensure the ball bounces to the left as Hakugei would, pr has to win this battle. Since pr is derived from ps, which in turn is derived from the ball’s angular momentum (L), the key to making Hakugei bounce back is to ensure that the ball’s angular momentum (L) is great enough to overpower its linear momentum (p). In other words, the ball has to spin quickly enough to overpower its own linear momentum (p).

Should pr be able to overpower p, the next direction of the tennis ball can be summed up by the following:

As you see, the ball will bounce back in the direction of B. No physics-defying magic necessary.

And now, let’s ask the real question: how great is the spin you need for the ball to bounce back? Well, not so great that you can’t achieve it by hand [3]. In fact, this was my favorite trick to do while running laps; the ball bounces back to me, so it’s easier to control, and I can maintain a slower pace without having to chase after recalcitrant balls. Of course, this only works on even grounds that can provide enough friction for the ball, such as tennis courts (if you’re using tennis balls) or basketball courts (if you’re using basketballs). On uneven grounds, the bounce is much less predictable, so beware where you try this trick!

5. The ball is caught by Fuji

To complete Hakugei, the ball must bounce back to the opposite side of the court and is caught by Fuji. Now considering that the ball has lost a lot of horizontal momentum when it hit the ground (in the battle between pr and p), it’s hard to believe that Hakugei could have enough force to return to Fuji all by itself. Therefore, Fuji cannot rely on the tennis ball itself to come back to him. Instead, he has to rely on another force: the wind.

How strong does the wind need to be to carry Hakugei all the way back to Fuji? Well, I honestly have no idea. Tennis balls are unexpectedly heavy, so I think it must be pretty strong, but I can’t say if it could reliably happen in your average tennis match. So, even though Hakugei should be physically possible, the wind factor makes it hard to use in an actual match.

In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, this is why Hakugei is not only totally badass but also obeys the law of physics. If you read all the way here, thank you; you’re brilliant, and I hope my explanations didn’t give you too much trouble. I have no idea why I was insane enough to write this. However, I hope now you appreciate Fuji’s Hakugei as much as I do. After all, it takes a certain kind of person to be a Badass Normal in a world of Ten’imuhou no Kiwamis, Devil Modes, and Pirates of the World--and Fuji Shuusuke may just be the right genius to pull it off.

————————

[1] The reality is more complex than that, of course, involving air pressure inside the ball and such, but it’s not quite necessary to discuss that to understand Hakugei.

[2] There are a lot of other things going on here, especially with friction, which helps turns the ball’s point of contact with the court into a ‘pivot’ for pr’s momentum. There are also things going on with the air pressure inside the ball, which affects the length of time the ball stays in contact with the court and may further help pr overpower p.

[3] Theoretically, hitting a Hakugei with a racket should require a greater spin than throwing a backspin ball by hand. This is because the ball needs to travel further from the racket, against a strong headwind, not to mention other things that will reduce its spin such as air resistance.

[4] Hakuryuu probably works with similar principles, but with an angled backspin/topspin, depending on the situation. If I had to guess, I’d say Twist Serve works the same way, too. However, I still reserve judgement on whether Hakuryuu is physically possible.

[5] Tennis ball image by freepik.

#fuji shuusuke #fuji syusuke #tenipuri #tenipuri meta #triple counters #meta #hope this isn't too heavy #mine

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duhragonball · 6 years ago

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Dragon Ball Z 049

Last time, Gohan rescued a Namekian child from Dodoria, and Krillin used the Solar Flare to cover their escape. Dodoria doesn’t have a scouter, and he can’t sense ki energy like the good guys, so he basically has no way to track his enemies if they drop out of sight.

I suppose it’s the overwhelming arrogance of Frieza’s group that’s their biggest weakness. The scouters were a cool concept when they were first introduced. They make Raditz look more science-fictiony, but by the time Zarbon and Dodoria are running around, it just seems really dumb. I guess that’s because by this point, the good guys have refined their ki senes to the point where they’re superior to the scouters in every way. So you end up with Dodoria uselessly tapping the button on his ear, and wondering if his readings are accurate, and then getting completely flustered when he no longer has the tech to rely upon. Without one, he got completely suckered by Krillin and Gohan, who should be way out of their league. But Dodoria can’t find them, and he just fell for the oldest trick in the book. He’s stronger than Vegeta was on Earth, but he comes across like a complete loser.

Frustrated, Dodoria decides that the heroes couldn’t have gone far, so he fires a blast at the water below to make a huge explosion. He assumes--stupidly-- that this would be enough to kill them. I mean, it probably would, but he doesn’t even know if they’re in range, and even if they were in range, there’d be no way to tell, because their bodies would be vaporized.

I wasn’t planning to go on a rant about how dumb Dodoria is, but geez. We’ve already established that these are no ordinary guys. He has no idea how strong or weak they are. Dodoria thinks they’re weaker because they ran away, but how does he know they aren’t luring him into a trap? Krillin already surprised him with the Solar Flare, so how can he be sure whether his blast would kill them or not? He’s taking an awful chance here, and he doesn’t even seem to realize it. Even if Gohan and Krillin can’t harm him, how pissed will Frieza be if they show up later, after Dodoria reported them dead?

Dodoria’s problem is that he’s so used to working with a scouter that he can’t adjust his tactics to working without one. He’s used to opponents who can’t raise or lower their battle power, to the point that he never bothers to consider what it would mean to fight enemies who can. Moori blasted the scouter right off his face, and then Gohan and Krillin sucker punched him. He was stronger than all three of them put together, but it didn’t even occur to him to be on guard for any of that. He’s used to the scouter warning him, and he’s so used to having it that he never imagined anyone would try to take it away from him.

Anyway, Dodoria heads back, and Dende thanks the boys for saving him. Krillin gives all the credit to Gohan, since Krillin was too petrified to even consider it. Gohan points out that Krillin helped when it counted, making up for Gohan’s reckless heroism. I like that. It would be easy to reduce Krillin to a fraidy-cat, or to reduce Gohan to a rash idealist, but instead they both work together to support each other. That’s important.

Back at the cave, Bulma’s taking a bubble bath in the capsule house she set up, and her father informs her that Goku is en route to Namek. That’s pretty amazing reception she’s getting, considering that she’s in a cave in another solar system.

Speaking of Goku, he’s having a snack during his long journey through space.

I like to think he’s gonna make a banana-and-fish sandwich. Good ol’ B&F, Goku style.

But he’s got the ship’s artificial gravity turned up to twenty-times normal, so when he flops on the bed it wrecks his quarters. Dr Brief stocked this place with a bookshelf and a giant TV. Goku was only going to be gone for twelve days, and he planned to train the whole way. The stero/cappucino machine made sense to me, but did Dr. Brief really think he was going to watch a bunch of old movies and read novels?

On Namek, Dodoria’s still sore about not having scouters, since it’ll complicate the Dragon Ball hunt. Really, why should he complain? They already have five of them, so even if it takes longer to get the last two, it could have been a lot worse? Besides, what else was he going to do today?

Then he gets ambushed again, and this time it turns out to be Vegeta.

Vegeta’s been monitoring their communications on their scouters, right up until the sound cut out when Moori destroyed them all. Then he sensed Dodoria moving on his own, and decided to intercept him. Dodoria notices that Vegeta still has a scouter--the last one on the planet, apparently-- and offers to let Vegeta go if he turns it over.

So Vegeta drops it on the ground and invites Dodoria to take it from him. Then he steps on it and destroys it. Wait, Vegeta’s foot is really tiny, isn’t it?

Dodoria is shocked, since this means Vegeta is giving up his only advantage, until Vegeta explains that he met enemies on Earth who could sense battle powers without a scouter. One of them was a Saiyan (Goku), which convinced him that he should be able to learn the same trick.

“Once you learn how to do it, it’s easy. But then, for those like yourselves or Frieza, who only set their sights on power, it would be impossible. Although up until now, I was the same way.”

This is an interesting line from Vegeta, and I noticed it wasn’t really duplicated in the dub. The part where he says that if Goku can do something, he should be able to do it too, that line carried over, and it always stuck with me. It’s a big reason why Vegeta has outlasted so many other characters in the franchise. If Goku learns a new ability or faces a new rival, there’s absolutely no reason for Vegeta to stay out of the picture.

But the part about Frieza and his men being incapable of such growth, that’s very important. It defines the whole Frieza/Namek saga, and maybe all of Dragon Ball as a whole. It’s not that the bad guys can’t learn to sense ki; they just never considered it was possible, and they never would have bothered to try. For all their power, they’re close-minded, cut off from new ideas and the possibilities that come with them. Guys like Cui and Dodoria honestly believed that Vegeta would never surpass them in strength, like it was a rule or something. Now, the rules of the game have changed, and Dodoria can’t keep up. His opening move in this confrontation was to threaten Vegeta, even though they both know he’s got the upper hand.

Dodoria accuses him of bringing Earthlings with him as some sort of alliance, but Vegeta has no idea what he’s talking about. Dodoria nervously “offers” him a chance to run away, but Vegeta knows better. This is just sad, really.

I mean, Cui was genuinely surprised to find out that Vegeta had gotten stronger, but Dodoria monitored that battle on his scouter, so he knows Vegeta’s too much for him. And yet, he keeps playing the same hand, like the universe is going to say “You know what? You called our bluff, Dodoria. Yeah, Vegeta’s not really that strong. Sorry about that.” No. It doesn’t work that way.

So Vegeta grabs Dodoria and puts him in a jointlock very easily. You know, I didn’t think Vegeta was this much stronger than Dodoria. I’m pretty sure a big explanation for this is that Dodoria doesn’t have nearly a much skill. He’s used to just mowing down his opposition with brute force, so when he takes on someone in his own weight class, with greater finesse, he gets overmatched immediately. It explains ho Krillin and Gohan held him off for as long as they did.

But Dodoria convinces Vegeta to let him go, in exchange for a secret about the Planet Vegeta. This leads to a... well, it’s not exactly a flashback. Really, it’s just random footage of Saiyans to accompany Dodoria’s revelation.

Is that guy Nappa? He looks like an off-model bootleg version.

And here’s a shot of some great apes breaking stuff. I’ve seen gifs of this, and I never could tell where they’re from. For the record, it’s Episode 49 of DBZ.

The Saiyans were never strong enough to oppose Frieza individually, but if enough of them joined forces, they could cause Frieza some problems.

On top of that, a number of Saiyans were beginning to show greater and greater potential. The fact that Vegeta just ate Cui and Dodoria’s lunch is proof of that. A year ago, that would have been impossible for Vegeta, and he’s the strongest of his species.

So Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta, wiping out the entire Saiyan race, well before enough of them could become powerful enough to openly defy him.

But Frieza thought Vegeta alone could still be useful, so he made sure Vegeta wasn’t on the planet when he destroyed it. I assume the meteor story was invented solely to keep Vegeta in the dark.

Couple of things here. First, I think this is the very first time the Japanese script mentions Vegeta being the Saiyan prince. The Funimation dub was referring to “Prince Vegeta” as early as episode 11, but I’ve been keeping an eye out, waiting for the Japanese version to establish it, and this seems to be the first time. Maybe I missed an earlier mention of it.

This is probably not a coincidence, as this whole episode seems to be laying the groundwork for Vegeta’s transition from villain to antihero. Before, he was just the boss of a small gang of space pirates. Now, Dodoria is describing him as a prince of a nearly-extinct warrior race. His revolt against Frieza now begins to resemble a quest for revenge. Yeah, Vegeta still plans to become an immortal space tyrant, essentially replacing Frieza’s evil with his own, but there’s still a sympathetic aspect to him now.

Plus, he’s got the whole thing where he learned something from his time on Earth. Vegeta’s nowhere near making friends with the Z-Fighters. He just threatened to kill them in this episode, for example. Still, he seems to recognize that losing that battle on Earth was more beneficial to him than any victory. There’s at least a glimmer of respect for what the Earth represents, whereas he only sees Dodoria as desperate and pathetic.

Second, I always found it ironic that Frieza decided to keep just one Saiyan alive to serve in his organization. Actually, it was three, but let’s face it, Raditz and Nappa were nothing to Frieza. My point is that he was concerned about a mass uprising of Saiyans, and he was concerned about individual Saiyans growing stronger over time. But he really only addressed one of those issues. Vegeta may have been isolated after his home planet was destroyed, but he’s been getting stronger and stronger ever since.

I think Frieza might have assumed that a single Saiyan would be more compliant than a group of them. Again, complacency seems to be the issue with Frieza’s organization. I get the impression that he conquered the Saiyans, much like he conquered other planets, and put them to work alongside his own forces, and just sort of assumed the dynamics wouldn’t change. Like, I don’t know if Frieza conquered a planet full of Zarbons or not. He may have only recruited Zarbon alone, because he was the strongest one. The rest would be no threat to him.

But with the Saiyans, the whole population is super strong, and they yearn to get stronger. After a few years, Frieza started to realize that they’d just get bigger and bigger until they became to big to handle. This idea gets explored in the Bardock special, but I think it begs the question of why Frieza didn’t just destroy the Saiyans from the start. I’m pretty sure it’s because he’s really lazy. The idea of a whole planet full of warriors was too enticing to give up easily. In the recent Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie, Frieza’s kind of desperate for soldiers, and there’s no reason to think that things were any different fifty years earlier. The Saiyans must have seemed like a dream come true... at first.

As for Dodoria, his entire plan is to shock Vegeta with his startling revelation, and then run away while he’s still processing it. Instead, Vegeta isn’t bothered much at all. He doesn’t care about his family or friends that Frieza killed. He’s only mad at himself for not suspecting Frieza in the first place, and he’s pissed at Frieza & Co. for daring to think they could manipulate him like this. Geets zaps him, and that’s the end of Dodoria.

The only thing Dodoria’s tip accomplished was to encourage Vegeta further. Now he nows that Frieza is afraid of the Saiyans. So no matter how much stronger Frieza is, there’s still a chance. A Saiyan can beat Frieza.

Speaking of which...

#dragon ball #2019dbliveblog #goku #vegeta #frieza #dodoria #gohan #krillin #bulma #dende #namek saga

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cosmiciaria · 6 years ago

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World of Final Fantasy Review! (Spoiler free)

I know the game is pretty old by now. It was released in October, 2016, before Final Fantasy XV wrecked the fandom. I've always wanted to give it a shot, but the apparent light-hearted approach didn't suit me well – so I waited for a decent discount in PSN, and I finally managed to get it in my hands! Disclaimer: this is a review of the vanilla version of the game. Saw there's a big expansion adding quite a a lot of stuff, including gameplay mechanics, so… either way, the game is quite enjoyable as it is, I don't deem an expansion necessary in my case to make me like the game more.

So yes, this is a GUD game. Even GUDER than I'd thought it would be. Like REALLY. Real good.

I'm not explaining myself. You see, this game seems made for younger generations. It was the result of the 30th Square Enix Anniversary, and it's the cocktail boiling in the cauldron every Final Fantasy fan wanted to have. It's a crossover, it's the perfect fanfiction across all the universes we've learned to love and care in this franchise. It's a love letter to fans, and I want to stress this idea, because… this game is great, is awesome, is moving, but only if you're an FF fan.

I mean, you'll still enjoy it for what it is, but… there are a thousand nods and references to the previous FF games that you won't get if you at least are not familiar with their premises. I, for instance, haven't played many of the mainline FF, including I, II, V and XI. I knew about their characters and some of its most characteristic thingies (like Gilgamesh being from FFV), so I still could get some of the references, but it's not the same.

It's not the same, because, like I said, this game is a love letter to fans. And it shows.

But – wait, are those chibis? Is this a children's game? What are you talking about? I know it's hard to take chibis seriously, but hear me out – this game is more serious than it seems at first sight. I expected nothing but RPG tropes and I did get many of those, but DUDE (pun intended) did I had a great (TRAGIC) time with those twists and turns!

So we follow Lann, a fifteen year old ginger boy who goes to work at his usual café. He doesn't seem to notice the Pokémon – I mean, the Mirage on his head, a cute white little fox that seems to defy the laws of gravity by gripping to his hair. In the café, Lann meets Enna Kros, a mysterious woman who asks for a very sugary coffee. Minutes later, we meet our other protagonist, Reynn, Lann's twin sister, who crashes into the place to tell her brother that there's nobody anywhere. Lann is like, hey, there's this woman over here, but truth be told… the neighborhood is empty.

So this woman, Enna Kros, introduces herself and tells them that she's a goddess of some sort (her nature is, eh, well, never fully explained and that's fine). She reveals they are in a place called Nine Wood Hills, a land that looks like it's stuck in time and space. Lann and Reynn had forgotten what the hell they're doing there, or who their parents were, or anything, so Enna Kros gives them (or more like, reminds them of) the Prismariums: the ability to imprism Mirages, like the little fox I mentioned, and bend them to their will. The purpose, she says, is to catch as many Mirages as they can, across Grymoire, the world she's the goddess of, and collect memories about their past. Then the little fox is introduced as Tama, a very important Mirage that is going to accompany the twins for the rest of the journey.

Off they go to Grymoire, and this is where the crossover starts: here people are tiny (chibis) called Lilikins; Reynn and Lann remain normally proportioned (Jiants), but they can turn into Lilikins whenever they want. Jiants had disappeared from this world a hundred years prior, so the twins kind of attract everyone's attention. This only feeds the mystery that shrouds this pair.

Grymoire is full of towns, regions and dungeons. Across all these places, the twins will irremediably come across the chibis we all know and love: the FF characters. Their storylines are so well intertwined that you forget that they belong to an original game, for their personalities and backgrounds fit this story very well. We have a Bahamutian Federation who's conquering everything in its stride, except for a few kingdoms that still fight against it. The League of S, the resistance group, wants to recruit as many people as they can, and it's up to the twins to help this insurgence grow. But this is not everything: it seems that in the Federation there's a prophecy, a Crimson Prophecy, that foretells the arrival of two Jiants twins who are Mirage Keepers…

The story gets more and more complex, until it reaches a point where I couldn't believe my eyes. And this was a game for "children"! But I won't spoil it for you. Instead, let's talk about the gameplay first!

I said Pokémon earlier – It's the closest approximation and I'm not lying. If you wanna be the very best, you gotta catch 'em all. Mirages will appear as your ordinary enemies in dungeons, and every first time you encounter one, Enna Kros will give you a new prismarium to imprism them in it. But to do this, you first have to create a prismunity: a chance that leaves the Mirage vulnerable to the imprism. This prisminuty is quite easy to achieve in the early levels, but they get more and more difficult and specific to attain as you progress. Each Mirage has an ability tree to develop, in which you'll spend SP points, and most Mirages have also evolutions (is it Pokémon enough yet??) that you'll be unlocking once the requirements are met.

Catching Mirages is not everything, though. Mirages are actually useful: you can equip them. Since we don't have equipment or ability tree for the twins, the Mirages are our only source of power, so their stats and their abilities become our own when we fight. Each twin in Jiant form can 'stack' on their heads a Medium and Small size Mirage, and in Lilikin form, they can stack on a Large Mirage and still have one Small Mirage on their heads. The stack becomes your shield in battle, and at first it looks ridiculous, but once you understand how it works, you can create MAGIC out of its mechanics. Careful because the tower you form can topple and your Mirages can fall from your character's head in a quite funny animation.

Twins don't have ability trees, I said. Well, that's partially true. You see, in the ability trees of the Mirages, every now and then you can come across a Mirajewel: this is the equivalent of a skill card in the Persona franchise – meaning that you can equip that Mirajewel into Lann or Reynn as you please. The Mirajewel doesn't lock to just one character, you can switch it between the twins as you like. The slots for these Mirajewels take a while to unlock, though, and it's related to the twins's levels.

Battles are your good old friend turn base combat. And it's great. IT'S GREAT. Like really. They can STILL do this and it's still loved, I don't know why people say that turn base combat is outdated and old fashioned. It's pretty slow paced, but fear not, because there's an ACCELERATOR button that lets you fast forward battles. Isn't it convenient? In fact, everything in this game is so convenient it makes me wanna cry: you wanna leave the dungeon? No prob, just use this unlimited teleport stone; wanna change your Mirages for others? Never fear, you have a save point every half hour. You wanna fast travel to this place? Nine Wood Hills got it covered for you. You're not enjoying this minigame? You can skip it and still advance in the main story! You kinda not dig this new menu we created for this game? Try the old style FF menu and play like you did in the old FF titles!

Really. Everything is there for you, at your disposal. The option to choose how and when you play is available, and it's kind of heart-warming they did this. I just wish every new FF could work like this one, on terms of gameplay! This game is SO Final Fantasy that I wanna cry a river.

Alright! Too much gameplay. What about characters?

Lann and Reynn are just hilarious. Their interactions are natural and casual: they truly make us believe they're twin brother and sister who deeply care for each other. Each of them has their own quirks, like Lann being quite slow, always saying "dude!" and protecting his sister at all costs; and Reynn being determined, direct and fearless, but also hiding her nervousness behind blurting trivia into the void whenever things seem to get nasty. There's one particular funny scene in the game where Reynn is angry with a Cactuar and she wants to, basically, punch it to death, which she can't, because Cactuars have their agility skyrocketed to high heaven more or less, and her hysteria is so relatable that you want to get yourself inside the screen and pat her on the head.

On that note, voice actors for the main protagonists were a delight. I was kind of surprised to discover that the guy who voices Lann also voices Shiro from Voltron: I couldn't recognize my favorite gay spaceship leader anywhere in this upbeat character, but there were moments where Lann became serious and angry, and damn, did that Shirogane emerge! All the other FF characters that we know have their original actors returning –not only that, but also we hear some characters from the older FF games that had never ever had, in any other media, voices. I swear my control almost fell to the floor when I heard Vivi f*cking SPEAK.

The FF characters remain in their personalities and they're never out of character. They bring about a thousand references from their original games, that are not forced at all. The script is clever enough to blend these moments inside the main story in such a way that you never see them coming, and more than once I was at the verge of tears, specially with Tidus and Yuna who belong to, I may very well say it now, my favorite Final Fantasy game (Oh I never wrote a review for FFX, even though I played like six times). I won't tell you, just play the game and discover these scenes for yourself. They make the game ten times more loveable. There are also instances of 4th wall breaking so beware yourself for a good laughter. Read the Mirage's Manual, I fully recommend it.

The game has all the RPG tropes you can ask for: the mandatory ice, fire and water levels, the really really bad guy you can tell he's bad because of his demoniac appearance bad villain bad oh bad he's bad because reasons, treasure chests, chocobos, cactuars, tomberris, flans, malboro menaces and anything you can expect from an FF game. But this isn't a copycat of previous installments. Towards the second half the game shows its true colors and we're faced with an original story, with huge twists that left me open mouthed, and you forget about the first few hours of the game that seemed taken straight out of any other FF, because, you know it, honk's got real. (Oh, btw, Lann used 'honk' every time he should've used the f-word, it was so funny, once he says 'shut the honk up' I'm cryinggG)

On the music department, I just couldn't really get into it. There were some boss fights that caught my attention but that's all there is to it. Nine Wood Hills background music gets under your skin after a while of continually listening to it, and sometimes it plays during important sequences, so I guess it's the most memorable piece of music. On the other hand, we have remixes of all those FF's themes we liked so much that play during certain characters' arcs and they may bring more than one tear to players' eyes (I did NOT cry when Suteki Da Ne started playing I did NOT). Visuals are nice and all – you can tell it had less production than, let's say, FFXV, its contemporary companion in release dates, but damn, some places were vivid and realistic! And lighting and shadows were real enough! And who cares about an anime appearance or chibi characters when everything SHINES and the story is good either way!

This game made me for some reason ship Cloud with absolutely everyone? What the honk?

All in all, this is a Final Fantasy game in all its glory, and it shines bright in many aspects I believe it was done even better than most of the newest games in the mainline. I just wished it had a more 'independent' story, in the sense of what I first mentioned: that this is a game for fans, that the experience would be very different if you haven't played the majority of the FF titles (and even some spin offs!). Still, the main story holds up well and at the end of the day, the main characters are the twins, not Cloud or Squall.

I do have one or two tiny complaints: there are some FF titles vanished to oblivion in this vanilla version. Firion from FFII only appears in the expansion and Balthier from FFXII, although he is a free dlc, he's not part of the story and he doesn't even have a page in the people's compendium, his appearance being the only silent presence of that title in the game. Also there's something spoilerish I wasn't really fond of – I'm just gonna say, without revealing anything, that I don't like how certain character was handled. And no, I'm not speaking about the masked woman. Anyway, that's all I can complain about, actually.

I think credit must be given where credit is due. And this game is due a lot of credit. For its amazing gameplay, giving us a taste of what we've been asking for years, and for the good use of the Extrauniverse to weave this story for us. Interactions between characters are a delight because of how well written they are. And there's a lot of post game content so, here I go, the route to platinum!

If you enjoy FF, then you'll love this game.

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clothing-references · 7 years ago

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@repeteoffender53 Okay so I am honestly still trying to figure that out. ^^; Let’s see what I can do, though!

Okay so I’m assuming when you write it like that, you’re referring to Madoka when she gets that white dress, right? I’m gonna try and post some image refs first and I’ll leave my own little commentary. I’m probably gonna babble on about the skirt since you kinda have to know how that works since... Well, that’s probably what you’ll be drawing when you’re drawing inner parts of the dress. At the very bottom will be links to skirt and ruffle tutorials so hopefully those also help! If that wasn’t what you were hoping for... Just message me and I’ll see what else I can do for you. ^^

Edit: And if you just wanted tips on that little starry sky affect, scroll down and you’ll find some tutorial links for that as well.

Okay so this first one looks like the second layer just... Continues under it. Don’t do that. It’s just cropped too short. I found other images where the cropping went lower and that part of the skirt did split down the middle. It is still important to use actual official art as a ref because it’ll give you the best idea on how to properly draw things like how the skirt might ruffle up. When you look at the figures below, they give you a more in depth idea of what the entire dress looks like, but it kinda bunches up at the end of the skirt and creates more wrinkles than originally intended. Granted, most figures are kinda supposed to do this, but drawing it more loosely gives it a more genuine feel, it’ll look much more like fabric and less like... Stiff plastic. It may not seem like a huge detail, but we all start off with that weakness of not drawing wrinkles in clothing correctly because we all kinda overdo it. Try your best to avoid that. Her dress isn’t held together with stretchy or super bunched up hemming.

This is a great ref to use when trying to figure out how to space the layers of her skirt. The first layer kinda just sits on top like a... Cupcake. Then, kinda starting from the middle, the second layer starts. They kinda split apart and flow to the back and underneath that, the third layer starts with what seems to be a different fabric all together that hangs much more loosely than the rest of the dress. Even in other images I found, this is still the case. Make it looser, don’t draw any ruffles. Add the little bumps at the edges though and still allow it to kinda float since.. Well, she’s a goddess at this point and everything about her defies the laws of gravity. The inner parts of it seem to have this pretty galaxy look to it, but it’s still just fabric. So when you draw it, try to keep that in mind!

Also enjoy my bad edit for more reference. Keep in mind where the layers would probably be sewn as you go further up and also that they probably don’t actually meet all the way in the middle. They’re not attached to the top half of the skirt, they’re attacked to the torso. That third layer probably starts off a little further to the left and right but I couldn’t edit that in MS paint without it looking weird.

This is a pretty good angle to get an idea of things like skirt length and the overall shape it should be taking! The top two layers kinda curve inward. The top one does this more adamantly since it uses much less fabric. It doesn’t weigh as much as the other two layers since it doesn’t have any fabric layers on top of it, too. So it looks kinda poofy and it has more shape. The second layer also has an inward curve, but it slowly starts to defy gravity a little less than the top layer. It has clothing on top of it and it has way more fabric so it weighs a lot more. It still looks really flowy though, so be careful not to make it drag too much!

The last layer is not only weighed down by other fabrics, but it has A LOT more fabric AND it’s made out of something different, as previously stated. Whatever it is, it definitely has a lot more drag than the rest of her dress and it seems very intentional, too. It kinda flows out like a regular long skirt. It’s still gravity defying like everything else, but it also has nothing holding it up and in some places, it even curves a bit more outward instead of in. You could honestly get away with a decent amount of wrinkles, but only depending on how and where you draw this skirt. If it’s something where it’s intentionally touching the floor, go for it. Gravity now exists and that skirt is kinda heavy. Otherwise, don’t go overboard. Let it move, but give it weight. Also keep this in mind when drawing the inside of the skirt because it won’t just look like an endless starry sky. Am I making sense? I hope so.

I don’t have much to say about this last one, just keep it in mind when you draw her dress.

(source)

I said this before, but try remember that even though there’s a literally galaxy in her skirt, it’s still just that. A skirt. Give it those fabric lines, don’t forget to give it shape according to how the skirt should be acting. Don’t make it infinite unless you’re going for an illustration with that affect in mind. If you’re going for accuracy, do your lineart first and just stay in the lines. Below, I’ll also link some tutorials on drawing starry skies and galaxy art.

(source)

That last link isn’t exactly a link to the original art (the original can be found in this art book which is over like 100 bucks) but it IS a link to where I found the images and it is a blog dedicated to offering tidbits on animating, so do what you will with that.

These images alone are actually pretty helpful.. I myself learned a lot just trying to type all of this up. I hope this was enough! The computer I post Tumblr content on and the laptop I draw on are two different machines and it’s not exactly easy to go back and forth to doodle over these or offer my own art as a ref. I did look around for more refs though and I’ve found some tutorials on things like drawing ruffles and skirts and whatnot along with starry sky and galaxy tutorials, so just check them out in your free time. I still don’t think it’s necessary to draw tight ruffles, but you can choose to do so as an artistic choice. On top of that, it might help with drawing the loose ones that Madoka’s dress has since it’s... Well, harder to find refs for that exact purpose.

How to draw complex folds and ruffles in fabric (tutsplus, whatever that is)

Explore How To Draw, Ruffles, and more! (pinterest)

Explore Easy Drawing Tutorial, Drawing Tutorials, and more! (pinterest)

Simple pleated skirt tutorial (deviantart)

Ruffles (pinterest)

An AMAZING and brief tutorial on animating flowing skirts (blogspot)

Galaxy drawing tutorial for SAI (youtube)

Galaxy tutorial for MediBang (youtube)

Starry Sky Tutorial (deviantart)

I hope this helps! ^^ Stay creative, friends and please let me know if this was enough!

#puella magi madoka magica #madoka magica #madoka kamane #skirts #tutorials #skirt tutorials #skirt references #skirt ref #ruffles #dress ref #dress #dress reference #ask #answered

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minijenn · 7 years ago

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Clipped Wings

It was days like today that made Lapis Lazuli truly feel at home. The sky was a nice mixture of red and yellow, the temperature outside was just right and the blue Gem was perched up on her favorite spot on the silo that was nearby the barn. Lapis had made some considerable progress with Peridot ever since she had moved in to the barn. While the Homeworld refugee may have had a difficult time adjusting to the shared housing with her former detainer, she eventually grew to be amused by the green Gem’s wild antics. Still, she did enjoy the times when she could go to her little spot and get some rest. While the blue Gem thought the concept of sleeping to be rather confusing, Dipper was kind enough to teach her the benefits of the human ritual.

Lapis sighed as her thoughts returned to the inquisitive boy. Ever since that fiasco at the lake, she often found her thinking about both Dipper and Steven. Ever since she was trapped in that damn mirror, those two boys had been there for her throughout her struggles. Of course, she did realize that Mabel had also been there to help as well. It wasn’t that she didn’t care any less for the rather hyperactive human, it was just that she didn’t quite resonate with her on the same level as the boys did. Those nights out on the lake with Dipper a month ago were the first happy memories she had on this planet, and for the first time, she was beginning to have value over another being other than herself. And when she was finally free from Malachite, Steven was instantly there to convince her that she deserved a place on Earth, free to do whatever she pleased. To Lapis, those two humans had single handedly improved both her state of living and her self-esteem. She was determined to spend the rest of her days repaying those two back by protecting them from whatever the universe had to throw at them.

But she was about to discover that someone else had the exact opposite plan for Dipper and Steven.

Lapis slowly opened her eyes, still feeling a bit sluggish from her nap. She had expected to see the beautiful rural landscape that she had come to adore. However, she instead got another rather familiar sight: the cold reaches of space. This immediately put the blue Gem on full alert as she began to fully examine her surroundings. She appeared to be floating in the Earth’s upper atmosphere; as she could see the planet’s blue oceans and green landscape below her. Her wings were outstretched from her gem, which was obviously the only thing keeping her from plummeting to the ground. Above her were the hundreds of twinkling stars that had always graced the Earth every night. Lapis was finally able to grasp her new location. The only question was that how did she end up here?

“Wait, how did I get here?” she asked herself. She wasn’t expecting to receive an answer to her question. “Well, I thought I would put you in more familiar environment!” a high-pitched voice suddenly announced itself behind her. Lapis was startled by this sudden voice and moved away from the source. When she turned around, she was rather shocked to see where the voice had originated from. A bright, yellow triangle with an eye in its center floated before her. It had rather short black sticks for arms and legs and appeared to be wearing some type of hat and formal wear.

Lapis was about to press the triangle for further questioning, but it seemed to be one step ahead of her. “Well, well, well, it’s about time that I have a nice one-to-one with you, Water Wings! Guess I should probably introduce myself. The name’s Bill Cipher: genius, dream traverser, and overall one handsome devil, wouldn’t you think?!” While at first the blue Gem was totally confused at this creature’s presence, the pieces in her mind finally started to click together. The water Gem was told that she had missed a lot ever since she trapped herself at the bottom of the lake with Jasper. Some things, like the return of that one human she had briefly encountered on Homeworld, were rather obvious. Other things however, had to be explained through descriptions based from the kids.

One event in particular hit the water Gem rather hard. Not long after her self-imprisonment, Dipper had spent many a sleepless night trying to find a way to save her. While Lapis was very touched by this selfless endeavor for her freedom, it quickly turned into dread as she discovered its terrible consequences. Dipper had admitted that in his restless search for an answer, he struck a bargain with a dream demon by the name of Bill Cipher. What followed was a domino effect that led to the boy losing his body to the demon, watching helplessly as it maimed his body and almost ended up losing his life. A near waterfall of tears were shed when Lapis learned to what had happen to Dipper all just to find a way to fix her mistake. So, after a long period of time involving tears, hugs and promises to never do something that reckless again, Lapis was determined to never let something like that happen to the boy who filled her with such care and affection.

But now this demon was right here, simply conversing with the gem in a rather casual mood. And Lapis certainly had a few words to say to him.

“Y-y-you!!!,” she began, fists starting to clench at her sides. “You’re that thing Dipper told me about! You’re the one who took advantage of him when he was trying to save me! You’re the one that took over his body and went and mutilated it! You’re the one that almost killed him!” Lapis wished that she was close enough to the planet so that she could manipulate the water into something to appropriately express her rage.

“Ah yes, good old Pine Tree,” the dream demon began. He held out his right hand as the symbol that was on Dipper’s hat appeared, gulfed in a blue flame. “I sure had a blast run around in that body of his! Shame that I was kicked out of it so early, could have done a lot of interesting stuff while in that meat sack! Of course, he wasn’t the only one that I played mind games with.”

The demon held out his other hand, this time it was something Lapis was able to recognizes as the symbol of Rose Quartz. Watching the emblem engulfed in the same blue blaze, Lapis was able to realize who the triangle was referring to: Steven.

“Yeah, you remember that time Rose Bud was able to talk to you in some dream-like state while you at the bottom of the lake? Well not long after that, I decided to go over to him and lay down a few hard-hitting truths. He probably didn’t tell you cause I don’t think he likes talking about it. You should have seen face, all terrified and confused like that! It was absolutely hilarious!” Bill laughed out. Lapis was rather stunned to hear that this demon had went and tormented Steven as well. Steven was one of the most kind and generous beings she had ever had the pleasure to meet. He in no way deserved to be in the same company as this mental sadist.

Lapis was growing more and more irritated. Bill had just admitted that he had tormented both boys like it was just another part of his routine. She was getting tired of him just admitting to these atrocities like it was nothing. “Why,” she asked. “Why are you doing this?! Those boys have done nothing wrong to deserve this kind of treatment! Are you just doing this out of some sick, twisted pleasure?!”

The demon gave the water Gem a rather serious look with his singular eye. “Normally, that would be the case! But Pine Tree and Rose Bud are a rather special case.” The gestured over to the burning tree. “Pine Tree has become a special kind of annoyance as of late. Always trying to stick his nose in places where it doesn’t belong. It’s interfering with carefully designed plans that are years in the making! If I have to break a few limbs to stop him from finding the truth, then I’m all for it!” The demon then gestured over to the burning Rose Quartz insignia. “Now with Rose Bud, that’s a little more personal. While it’s true that I have some other associates that are also interested in him, I have more important matters with him. Quartzy caused me some real problems back in the day. She practically defied and humiliated me every step of the way! But before I could properly deal with her, she had to go and give up her existence for a whining brat. So, seeing Rose Bud’s agonizing face as I teach him his real place in this sham of a universe will just have to do!”

Lapis was completely appalled by the dream demon’s twisted reasoning for wanting to hurt the boys. Dipper didn’t deserve to be tormented for simply wanting to uncover the truth that surrounded Gravity Falls and Steven certainly didn’t deserve to face the demon’s wrath just for his mother’s actions. Before the water Gem could retort against these remarks, Bill decided it was time reveal his grand scheme. “So, I think it’s time I finally deal with those two once and for all! You wanna know how I’m gonna do it? Well, that’s the whole reason I decided to call you up! You see Water Wings, I was thinking, and you’ve been a huge inspiration for my plans for those two. Let’s just say that instead of wasting time and energy dealing with them separately, I think I’ll deal with them when they’re MASHED together!”

Bill suddenly smashed the two items in his hands with great force. When Lapis looked back, she looked at the new item that was in Bill’s hands in complete terror. The pine tree and the insignia had morphed together into a distorted combination of the two. The twisted amalgamation was still engulfed in the bright blue flame Bill had conjured. It didn’t take long for Lapis to realize what the dream demon was planning. Painful memories of Jasper and Malachite began to flood her mind. Those memories and feelings were some of the worst she had ever experience. It was only made worse when her thoughts began to process what would happen if Dipper and Steven had to experience those very feelings.

“No….NONONONONO!!!” The blue gem was past maintaining a calm demeaner and was on the verge a complete mental breakdown. “You CAN’T do that to them! It’ll destroy them, it almost destroyed me! YOU CAN’T MAKE THEM FUSE!” When Lapis had heard that Dipper and Steven fused, she was a little surprised. Fusion was still a sore subject for her at the time, but that didn’t stop her from feeling genuine pride for the boys. And now this demon was going to turn that experience in to something terrible.

However, the dream demon simply ignored her pleas. “Oh that’s the plan Water Wings! Those two are really going to find out what happens when two minds are stitched together permanently! Gotta say though, I can’t take all the credit for this revelation. No, I think some of the credit should go to you and Stripes! That little lake stunt you two pulled off was hilarious! Not to mention that constant mental suffering you two went through during the process!” Bill then turned his back to the Gem, looking out into the cosmos and folded his arms behind him. “You see Water Wings, I’ve been in this dimension for a while now. With that time, I’ve learned how to twist the arms of both humans and Gems alike in many ways. But THIS is something entirely new! Using fusion as form of torture is so brilliant, I can’t believe I have thought of it sooner! All the opportunities I can have with Pine Tree and Rose Bud makes me all giddy inside! They’re gonna wish they were dead when I’m through with them!”

Lapis felt like she was dying inside. Bill was planning to unleash the absolute hell that she had experienced for so long on two children that had guided her to a life worth living. The demon was going to turn a magical experience for the boys into something that could end up killing them. It only made it worse that she appeared to be the catalyst for this disaster. “Please,” she practically begged him. “You can’t do this to them! It’s not fair, it’s not right! You don’t have to do this!” The blue Gem was sounding desperate at this point, but she hardly cared.

Bill simply floated there for a moment and then turned around toward the water Gem. “You know Water Wings, you’re actually right about that! I really don’t necessarily have to do this to Pine Tree and Rose Bud.” The dream demon then floated around Lapis, then wrapping his arm around her shoulder. “It’s perfectly plausible for me to leave Pine Tree and Rose Bud alone for the rest of their measly lives. But nothing’s free in this world, everything has a price. But for you Water Wings, I think I can make a fair offer! All I really ask for is a small FAVOR in return!” Bill’s eye converted into a shade of blue and his spontaneously erupted in the blue flame he had summoned before.

Lapis just eyed the demon for a second before finally coming to her senses. “What?! After what you did to Dipper when he took a deal with you?! I’d never make you with you! Even if I wasn’t aware of that, I still wouldn’t be stupid enough to trust you!” she shouted at the triangle. Bill rolled his eye and floated back in front of the water Gem. “I don’t know Water Wings, Pine Tree sure thought that it was worth it to save you. You’re telling me that you would pass up an opportunity like this?! Hmph, maybe Stripes was right after all. I guess you really are just a monster. It would probably be safer for everyone else if you were still trapped in that dinky mirror!”

Lapis bowed her head at those remarks, wishing that there wasn’t any truth to them. The words that Jasper had said on the lake were still fresh in her mind. Being called a monster by a violent Gem right in front of the kids was not one of her best moments. She had always tried to push those thoughts away, but they always seem to return stronger than before. And now the dream demon was using them against her to further threaten Dipper and Steven. For a second, she almost considered taking the demon’s offer. It wasn’t like it was the first time she had made a deal that ultimately hurt her to save others. She was practically an expert at it by this point.

But then she remembered that promise she made to Dipper.

After Dipper had explain the whole possession scenario, Lapis quickly embraced him and made him promise something. She made him promise that he would never do something that would threaten his life just for her sake. She said she could never forgive herself if something were to happen to him. Dipper eventually agreed to this promise, but only on one condition. He said that Lapis had to promise the same thing to Dipper. The Malachite situation had been hard on the boy, and he couldn’t take losing her again.

So that was her answer. “No,” she said defiantly. “I don’t have to make a deal with you to protect both Dipper and Steven! I’m tired of being used as just a tool by everyone! I won’t fall for your tricks and let you hurt the boys I love!” Lapis was standing her ground now. She wouldn’t be fooled by the demon’s proposition, no matter how tempting it is.

Bill just stared at her for a few moments and put his arms at his sides. “Hmph, suit yourself Water Wings. I’m just giving you an easy solution to this. You’re the only one who can be held responsible for whatever happens next. But don’t worry, no matter how bad things get, I’ll be here, ready to make a deal!” Bill then began to float in to space before turning back around to face the blue Gem again. “Hey by the way, you ever heard of the story of Icarus?”

“Who?” the water Gem ask, clearly not familiar with the old human tale. Bill responded with a chuckle. “Oh, it’s great story. Personally, I can’t help but be reminded of you whenever I read that story! Why don’t I help relate to the main character!”

Bill then snapped his fingers, only to instantly disappear and be replaced by what could only be a miniature version of the Sun. Lapis had to shield her eyes from the sudden brightness, but then she realized that was the least of her worries. Her beautiful wings that had kept her afloat this whole time were beginning to boil. Steam was rising off her wings and they started to shrink smaller and smaller. Before Lapis could even consider fleeing from the sudden heat, it was too late. Lapis wings were sizzled up into useless numbs and she began her downward fall towards the surface of the Earth. For the first time in water Gem’s life, she was falling to her death. All she could she was flail her arms and scream as she plummeted to the ground. The last thing that she heard was the demented laughter of Bill Cipher.

“LAPIS WAKE UP!”

The blue Gem suddenly raised her head of the ground with a startled scream. She then quickly swiveled her head around to see where she was this time. She was back at the silo, although in a rather different position. Instead of on her back at the top of the silo, she was face down on the ground next to the silo. Once she was sitting on the grass, she looked to the rural landscape that painted the sky every night. The water Gem then turned to Peridot, who was looking more frazzled than usual. “Peridot, w-what happe-“

The former technician suddenly interrupted her though. “Oh my star, Lapis thank goodness you’re okay! I was going out to check on you and I saw that you were face down on the ground! At first, I thought you were just sleeping but I know you usually like to sleep on top of it! So, I thought you fell and I went over to check that your gem wasn’t cracked! Then I tried to wake you up and-“ Peridot was interrupted when Lapis suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace. Her cheeks became flush with a dark green since Peridot was not used to this kind of affection from the blue Gem.

Before Peridot could further question this, Lapis finally uttered something. “I’m never sleeping again, Peridot! I’m never sleeping again.” The green Gem was rather taking aback by the water Gem suddenly giving up one of her favorite pass times. “W-what,” she said. “But, I thought you said that helped you calm down? You just had a bad dream, Lapis. Steven says that everyone gets them sometimes. It doesn’t mean that you should give up sleep completely.”

“NO!” cried Lapis. “I can’t go back to sleep. I’ll be safe from him if I don’t.” Lapis sobbed into Peridot’s shoulder.

Lapis had to escape from Bill. She couldn’t face the dream demon again. He had hurt her and he threatened the two most precious people in her life. She had to stay in the waking world so that she could protect them at all cost. She needed to stay away from that triangle at all costs.

Because deep down she knew, the more time she was in the presence of the demon, the more tempting his bargain would be.

#universe falls #sumbission #submission #OH FUCK MY HEART #YOU BROKE IT YET AGAIN #DAMN #AUGUGHGHGHGH LAPIS ANGST IS SOME OF THE BEST ANGST #FUCKKKKKKK BILL YOU BASTARD #BLAZER YOU MAD GENIUS!!!!!#DAMMIT NOW I GOTTA WRITE MY OWN ANGSTY SHIT AFTER HAVING BEEN HURT BY THIS #FUCK #uf fan fics #blazer's oneshots

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kitsoa · 7 years ago

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Lyric Comic Q&A

So it turns out when you work on a project for half a year, you get a lot of Thoughts and want to express them whether people are actually curious or not. Without further ado, your un-requested Birdmen Lyric Comic Q&A

(Warning: I’m long winded)

*Why a Lyric Comic?

Dude, lyric comics are cool. I’ve always been fascinated by the beautiful, multifaceted artistic experience they provide, because of my love for music and art. Furthermore, I am often plagued by cinematic trapped in my head, spurred by the movement and lyrics of my favorite songs. Since I have no means or experience in the animation category (which would free these phantoms from my head) the lyric comic was a godsend of a medium for this inspired idea of mine. Kiki-kit of the Gravity Falls fandom and Tides-miraculous’ lyric comic in the Miraculous Ladybug are my main inspirations, I’ve adored their sense of motion and emotional savviness. It’s quite the powerful medium.

It’s also a good medium for me personally. I am a ‘looper’ with my music, allowing me to listen to something over and over without tiring. This is useful in the drafting stages! I loved the challenge (though I definitely didn’t anticipate it’d take this long).

*Why this song?

“Out of Mind” was one of those songs that spoke to me, in an overly cathartic, heart-yearning-- almost funnily sardonic ways. Birdmen being on the brain, I started to easily see how much the singers voice reflected that bombastic frustration our Eishi is so known for. The Pre-Chorus “Are you kidding me?” speaks to me the most, reminding me of his cry of frustration during his first blackout, screaming against his fate as he fell from the sky (this exact image did not make the final cut in the end, but I certainly vied for it until other themes overtook it-- let’s face it, there are many screaming Eishi’s to choose from).

This period of time between Takayama’s disappearance and the inevitable reunion is super intriguing to me. Eishi’s in the role of the heartbroken singer, hopelessly betrayed and unable to get over the good thing they had.

*Breakdown the story:

The progression goes like this:

Eishi’s loneliness consumes the first verse, Takayama’s empty seat, Eishi standing alone… all the while peppered with Takayama’s broken promise, which culminates with Eishi’s defiant Death Tweet. The Refrain then serves as these hallmark moments that define them. This is what they had. Every rescue, every proclamation or venomous defying of fate-- it’s what made them. And you’d have to be out of your mind to think that these moments could be forgotten.

Verse 2 is all about that shift in Eishi to follow him. Wistful memories drive Eishi as he chooses to leave and depart from everything he knows, just to get him back. Meanwhile, that opinion of Takayama is still weighed down by that grating irritation (like hell he’s in touch reality, how could he do this?) culminating to his call for him in the Himalayas. The Refrain fires again with the same point as the last but this time I tried to go for a more fervent angle, some of the scenes actually focus on Takayama’s feelings for Eishi and ultimately the pull they have towards each other.

The Bridge is where things get desperate. The moments in the manga where Eishi is in physical pain because of the Whiteout shake me so much. It reminds me of a straight up panic attack. I let this crescendo with the music, making the black void swallow the chaos in a quick snap. Building to the final chorus.

The whiteout is special because Eishi both yearns after this figment emotionally (his friendship with Takayama) and intellectually (what the hell is it and what does it mean?). It represents his unique position in the realm of the story being able to see it, but it ultimately captures the almost divine force behind the relationship of Eishi and Takayama. The outro then brings us back to Eishi failed call at the Himalaya’s, the whiteout ripping him up and forcing Takayama to save him. All the while calling back to that first interaction between them. A mysterious moment that obviously held more weight than any world shaking rescue. And I cap it off with a warmer depiction of their reunion.

*Are you shipping in this comic?

Despite the romantic song, my affections for the pairing, and any other subtext I’ve provided, I went in with the project with a platonic angle. Like I’m not lying. I’m on the ace spectrum or whatever so I kind of interpret every strong bond in the same realm. So that means, if you think it’s a romantic interpretation-- then you’re right. If you think it’s not, you’re also right. Love comes in many forms. Have fun kids.

*What was your process?

Storyboarding

Listen over and over and figure out where to phrase the panels. I then divided the lyrics up accordingly in a draft and reviewed the pacing over and over again. Does it flow? How many words would comfortably fit with each panel?

Determined the thematic arc. At this point I already had a few anchoring moments so I wrote a description of the panel in the draft. I went with the formula of Verses= move the ideas, Refrain= emotional accents, and the Bridge is like… the climax with an epilogue of an outro. This was tricky step. I debated a lot of ideas and some lyrics didn’t feel like a good fit until I really sat on it for a while.

Fill in the draft. This is where I sketch the general shape of panels. This is also where I look at the gestalt of the thing and make sure the composition is easy on the eyes. I tried to make it dynamic and zig-zaggy so as not to be boring. This is the step where one gets really excited about the project. Cause it’s no longer trapped in your head.

Sketching

Gathered references. Surfed the web, made some myself.

Made time to sketch, I did a lot of them at my summer job, made sure to draw about 2 or 3 a day. I had the time then because it was before I took on my day job. I was very surprised to find that I rarely went back to edit a picture or dispose of a draft. I went through with the mantra that I was going to finish the picture no matter what.

Stayed disciplined with said time. I would not let myself take a break from drawing because half the success came from the fact that I was on a roll.

When I finished them I then went through the process of scanning them (my scanner broke between the first 20 panels so RIP)

Coloring Stage

...Good lord. This is where I probably went the most wrong. Make sure you have a good process in place before starting out this stage. I was not one to digital art much as of late so my familiarity with my program was lackluster (and it also is literally the worst program in the world), and my laptop couldn’t handle more than 10 panels. So hurray for a very desperate fix. I did everything from my brothers computer, in his room. Sometimes at terrible hours because that's the only time I’m home.

Color planning. I rushed this process but I pulled up the textures and color pallets and reference images from internet searches and stock piled them. While planning I approximated the overall ‘tone’ of each pane; (is it a dark shade, a light shade, blue, or red in hue…) and then I adjusted that so the colors didn’t repeat or blend unless the panels where connected in the same scene. There was a lot of problem solving in the actual coloring so some of this was not as smooth and I paid for it later.

Sketch Editing. I was able to go back in, move around things and edit certain aspects of the sketch without compromising the entire work. This was a life saver.

Actually coloring. Because I color sketches it’s actually a painstaking process where I can’t use a wand or a fill. I’m not familiar with certain masking and coloring methods that would have sped the process up and I wanted to be consistent. This would take 3 to 5 hours a panel which I would do in small bursts.

Type-setting

Deciding font. I was hunting around for a good font for ages until I just decided… to use my own handwriting. This meant that I had to makes sure my tablet pressure specs were up to date and I had to practice my style. It’s not perfect but its cool.

Apply font to panel. There were moments when I literally said ‘screw it’ and left my handwriting a little more sloppy than standard.

Consultation. I worked with my graphic designer friend on improving the placement of text and the color choices. This was an interesting step she is a saint.

Finalize

Every single panel is extremely large. I had to resize each one. Before this I had many tests in the drafts to see how certain sizes would load or format.

*Will you make another?

Probably. Like, there is nothing more satisfying than getting something stuck in your head out of it. I have a lot of tunes I am fond of but barely any qualify for lyric comics (need to have a good pace, easy to latch on musical phrases, thematic content that works etc.) The fandom is important too. Now that I think about it I have storyboards for an old DCMK ‘lyric comic’ idea to Imogen Heap’s “A-ha” (it was like some hidden dark side!au shit I still come back to it). I can’t let my interest wan or it straight up dies. Birdmen is a really unique series for me because its held on for a remarkable amount of time and strongly at that.

Fun Facts:

I colored a total 77 panels, 11 of which were scraped versions of the core 66 because perfectionist tendencies.

It took me 3 months to sketch all the panels out, sometimes drawing 3 a day. I would often cradle my sleeping kitten while I drew.

Panel 54-- the final chorus, whiteout splash page-- took three days to draw. At first it was two pages taped together, then it was three. I had my friend mend the images together into a massive pic for me to color, then break it apart for blog distribution. The full version is used in her video edit of the lyric comic.

I didn’t use pressure sensitivity on my tablet until I got to the last chunk. RIP

It usually took me over a day to do one picture.

I do not have a computer in my room that utilizes the art program I need. I literally did every panel after #10 in my brothers room. Sometimes hella late at night too. Props to my generous brother, he tells me he likes the company.

I took a few notable breaks. All of Inktober was used on the art challenge. The weeks leading up to Birdmen Week. And at least half of the Christmas season was spent on coloring hiatus.

I like adding a ring around the pupils of the seraph eyes. This is not canon, but an error that I really liked. You can see it as a sort of glow.

I am having my friend edit the panels into a video for your convenience. I have no idea how long it will take but I’m tired.

#lyric comic project

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correspondencearchive · 4 years ago

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1. Hong Hong & Alex Paik

Hong Hong and Alex Paik discuss paper, the exiled body, and resistance vs interdependence

Hong Hong, Composition for an Emergent Brightness and Its Lesser Return, mulberry bark, dust, hair, pollen, fiber-reactive dyes, repurposed paper, water from Lake Erie, and foliage: Milkweed and Winged Sumac, 87 (H) x 90 (W) x 36 (D) inches, 2020

Alex Paik (AP): One thing I am especially drawn to in your work is your commitment to paper, a material that we are both deeply interested in. Paper is its own living and breathing material that bears the scars and memories of anything it comes in contact with -- the leftover grooves and scratches from graphite, the slight buckling and warping from being exposed to water, or even fading as it is exposed to light. You talk about this quality as it relates to the body and the experience of diasporic and exiled bodies. Can you speak a little more about this relationship?

Hong Hong (HH):

The process of making paper relates to three different kinds of bodies.

The Biological Body: In papermaking, the body is a soft machine. Papermakers use their bodies to transform different materials into paper by intentionally exposing them to heat, weight, water, time, and gravity. Hand paper formation involves a specific sequence of steps, which are repeated each time paper is made. Like choreography, it is an act that vanishes. The surface of paper is the sedimentation of these movements and gestures. It gives form to the biological act of living. You speak of leftover grooves of graphite, and the slight buckling and warping from being exposed to water. There are also often lines where each sheet has been folded and unfolded. These qualities, over time, reveal how we touch the world and how the world touches us: existence is additive and reductive.

I also think about the horizontal and vertical axis a lot. We defy gravity to walk upright. We give into gravity during rest: our bodies are prone when we sleep. We can say the same of our bodies during the process of dying. The floor and wall components in recent work reference these two distinct states of being: 1) The horizontal (intuitive): where we acquiesce to physical circumstance and where we dream 2) The vertical (rational): where we attempt to assert our agency and make decisions

My Own Body: I was the first grandchild born to my grandparents. I was a girl, but they were not disappointed with me. My mama, apoor, gonggong, and I all lived together in the same apartment. This is not unusual in China. My grandmother used to make me stand against the wall, so she could mark my height once a week. It was always a joyous occasion.

My grandparents are no longer with me. I wonder nowadays: How can I perceive and understand my own changing boundaries without them? How does a single body locate itself in a room or in a landscape? So, I work outside daily, on a surface that measures a little less than 12 ft x 8 ft. These dimensions are the exact distances I can reach without losing control of my balance. The lengths have changed over time: I’ve lost about two to three inches in the last four years. They remind me of time and of life, as the effort it takes in order to cross both.

There is an intimacy to making paper: I think about my apoor measuring my height against the wall. This is not legible to others. But that’s okay.

The Exiled Body: There is an old Chinese myth about the beginning of the world. In a time before time, all that existed was an egg and a giant who slept inside of it. His name was Pangu. His repose was the universe. His stillness was the one and the all. His body was an origin and an end. One day, he wakes up. In darkness, he swings his axe to separate the sky from the earth. He slowly pushes the sky away from land. After thousands of years, he dies. His hair becomes forests and trees, his eyes are the sun and the moon, and his voice is thunder. I’m fascinated by notions of world-building and stories of how we came to be. I don’t think that this is surprising, given that I immigrated to the US when I was young.

Exile, for me, has always been about the irrevocable distance between myself and something else. Distance is blue. That’s why this color surfaces a lot in my work. Blue is also the sky,, which is everywhere, no matter where I am. The sky is a taciturn blue passing over everyone. There is something sad and comforting about its ubiquitous silence. Exile is also about the legibility of my body and experiences. Abstraction is anything that is mediated by symbols. The body begins as a collection of material, the same way that landscapes do. I think identity is both an experience and an image, read or seen by others.

I travel to faraway places to make paper. These journeys to make paper in different locations are attempts to reimagine my own experiences in border-crossing. In some ways, it is also tied to ideas of navigation and a continuous sense of movement from place to place. A lot of my recent work consists of four different sheets of paper tacked together to form a floor and ceiling work. They reference the cardinal directions. I work outside. All the work puts my body in spaces where I am estranged from myself and separated from my identity. This is somehow necessary. All work is the work of this body. All work is a search for this body. Therefore, all work is always the same work.

AP: This is so beautiful. When you talk about the horizontal/vertical shift it makes me think of Yi Fu Tuan’s Space and Place, where he talks about babies going from prone to walking and how that relates to a baby’s sense of agency and place in the world. I certainly feel this conversation between agency and acquiescence happening in your work and your process, especially with how you are manipulating paper/letting paper be manipulated. You are working with paper not so much as a metaphor for the body but as a body, and the intimacy of seeing the record of your body in relation to the paper’s body comes through quite clearly: a marker of time, and a measure of your body as it shrinks over time.

Hong Hong, documentation of complete environmental pour, Vermont 2019

AP: Was there ever a shift in your work when you went from using manufactured paper to making your own, or have you always made your own paper? What is important to you about the papermaking process?

HH: I’ve never worked with manufactured paper the way that I do with handmade paper. Manufactured paper functioned, for me, as a substrate. I’ve always been interested in drawing and painting as processes of accumulation, where each action has the potential to become an abstract temporal measurement (like a breath or the swing of a pendulum). I also love materials that can hover between object and image. I like the flattening that happens in representation. I also love dealing with gravity. I don’t think these processes are separable or different: they are ultimately about the transformation of energy into form. I think I was able to make the jump between painting and papermaking because of these interests.

I learned how to make paper when I was in graduate school. I went for Painting (long story short: had to go to grad school because of visa issues). In graduate school, I felt alienated from the history of painting, as it was presented by a primarily white institution. Papermaking seemed to offer something different. It seemed to say that what I was learning about and exposed to, is not the only narrative. I also kind of loved that my painting professors hated it! I love that paper, before anything else, is an object. I loved that I had my own memories of burning holy paper at temples when I was young. I believe objects have the capacity to materialize complex beliefs into concrete things (value) that are tangible and exchangeable. They carry tacit values about specific moments in time. The conditions for the production, usage, and erosion of objects are both personal and collective.

Hong Hong, The Mountain Which Does Not Describe a Circle II, mulberry bark, sun, dust, hair, pollen, fiber-reactive dyes, repurposed paper, water, and foliage: Loblolly Pine and leaves from an unknown tree, 91 (H) x 128 (W) inches, 2021

AP: This idea of something hovering between object and image is something I think about, too. My geometric units function both as images and as the material with which I build each installation. In terms of composition the temporary nature of each iteration of my pieces resists the idea of a static composition and links the image to the potential of the materials (the folded painted geometric units).. When I was making paintings I never felt comfortable making an image out of thin air -- I always needed some sort of resistance (like projecting old video game screenshots) as a way of having something to work against. The white of a canvas is very different from the white of paper (even if it is manufactured). To me the white of a canvas feels like starting from zero, while the white of the paper already has a sort of history and aliveness to it to respond to.

When I decided to move to only working with paper over ten years ago it felt like I had come home. I was especially drawn to the way paper softened the geometric forms I was working with. Looking back now I think it has to do with never feeling like I quite belonged in the (white) history of art and painting specifically and wanting to find a way to approach and relate to this history from another perspective. I still love and appreciate a lot of Western painting, but I don’t think I can ever go back to it. It’s so funny how people talk about paper as a “humble” material, only because it makes me think about how Euro-American painting is perhaps, by extension, the opposite lol. Our work is fragile and easily damaged. I am ok with my work having a finite lifespan, and I think about how presumptuous and egotistical it is to be a painter who wants their work to live on forever. To me the idea of paper being “humble” is more the product of wanting to privilege other materials and traditions than any sort of inherent humility in paper itself.

HH: My partner, Jamey, is a painter. He’s reading a book called Almost Nothing. It’s a collection of writing about precarious practices. He told me a phrase yesterday that is really beautiful: “the syntax of weakness.” Openness to touch is the first condition of any object’s creation. Mark-making is only possible when a material chooses to absorb a gesture or a movement. In some way, it is about acceptance. A sheet of paper is the same as a boulder or the moon: they are changed by heat, pressure, impact, and time. Their malleability and porousness leads to material instability. In this way, all things engage with the act of writing their own histories. To live is to disappear: form records this disappearance.

Making paper is an arduous, physically demanding process. It depletes my resources each time it occurs. Something is born, as I die. For me, manual labor is a way for time to enter into my body. It returns me back to matter. This quality of impermanence is also in the body of the work. I, like you, was largely uninterested in the plasticity of paint. I also wasn’t necessarily interested in its immortality (I say this, and I love the work of so many painters). I didn’t know it at the time, but I wanted to work with something that is alive. This is also why I choose to work outdoors. You speak of resistance, and I feel that too, when I make paper. Limitations are wonderful. They tell me where I am.

I feel it when it rains on my work. I feel it when I go to new places and the object cannot come into being the same way it did in a previous location (do you sense this, when you create installations?).

AP: I do! Each space has different lighting conditions and a different scale, which I unconsciously and consciously adapt to as I am onsite building the installation. Sometimes I literally have to work around/against awkwardly placed outlets and “architectural features.” At other times there are even time constraints -- if I am traveling or only have a certain amount of time to finish due to childcare/scheduling/etc.

Alex Paik, Partial Diamond (Slice), gouache, colored pencil, paper, nails, dimensions variable, 2019, installed at Praxis New York, 2019 (approx. 5.5 x 6.5 x 11 feet)

HH: Everything changes due to season, humidity, weather, and millions of other factors that sort of seamlessly flow together to become landscape, and our tactile and sensorial understanding of it. For me, making paper separates experience into its distinct, constituent parts: sun, heat, collision, water, foliage, weather, gravity, etc. And the paper, once dry, stitches these segments together to form a whole. When I make paper, I feel something pushing back at or rising up against me. In a way, I’m fighting it. But I want to be accepted by it too. There is a simultaneous sense of absorption and alienation. In a recent interview with Artmaze, Bridget Mullen was talking about painting and they said that alienation teaches us empathy. Now I think of that when I work.

I love painting. I also love what you said about painting being the process of creating something out of thin air. I think of what I do as painting, if painting is a depository process and not a creative one. I think that life can be irrevocably difficult, but there are moments when the world is still and beautiful, like a drawing. That’s what I love most of all. A lot of my work is about erosion, alienation, exile, etc. But it is also about pleasure and happiness. I always wake up early in the day and start working at dawn, in the blue-dark. I feel the sun on my back and the coolness of the water between my hands. I feel the temperature rise. The wind shifts. Parts of me can disappear in those moments. Like painting, papermaking unfolds within quotidian time. Sometimes time can be unwavering in its perpetuity. But sometimes time becomes significant and bigger. It touches on the eternal and transforms into something unfathomable and long, like the sky. I am free here. I belong here. No one can take that away from me.

Can you speak more about resistance, as it relates to your work? There is a sense of vibrational geometry in your improvisations and installations: how is this related to the imagery you were working with in your paintings? Can you also tell me more about the temporary nature of the work? How do the compositions come into being (you speak of feeling)? Do they only come into being once and never again? Are parts disassembled and reassembled (reincarnation) to become other pieces? What perspectives did your decision to work with paper bring you?

I wrote a lot! It’s a nice day here.

AP: I love it! So I’ll answer your questions in reverse order. My modular installations are made up of hundreds of the same geometric form, which are then hung up with nails temporarily on a wall when I have a show. Now that I think about it, in a way I am also making my own material like you are making paper. Each resulting composition is a unique iteration or performance of the same piece that will never be repeated in exactly the same way. In other words, the piece itself (a collection of individual units) has no static form or image but rather only has the potential to combine and recombine into almost endless combinations. I saw this great quote by Sanford Biggers recently that talks about how the basic logic of patchwork/quilt making is “to constantly be rebirthed in a new form, using the same materials.” And that is a very succinct way of describing what my work is about. And although these new relationships and forms are on the surface primarily concerned with shape and color, they become metaphors for speaking about other types of rebuilding - whether it is the way that a nation can reassemble itself with the same flawed individuals or how we as individuals can rebirth ourselves constantly using the same elements of our identities, either through code-switching depending on the social context or through sustained unlearning/relearning.

I think less about resistance in my work but more about interdependence. That resistance of paper as a living material can also be described as an interdependent relationship -- I can coax it into certain shapes by folding/gluing/painting but then the paper also responds by warping, sagging, etc. The installations themselves have an interdependent relationship with the walls and the lighting -- the forms need walls and lights to reflect their painted colors onto. What is most visible when looking at my work is actually not the material itself (the paper and folded forms) but rather the results of this interdependent relationship: the reflected, hazy color.

HH: I love thinking about the work as “a collection of individual units that has no static form or image”, but rather as “potential”. It breaks down barriers between the inanimate and animal, object and art, as well as the past, present, and future. I also love thinking about resistance in the context of interdependence. This is a helpful framework with which we can not only consider and approach ourselves, but also larger systems: political, social, geographical, mythical, etc.

Alex Paik, Partial Equilateral Triangle (Two Right), gouache, colored pencil, paper, nails, dimensions variable, 2020, installed in studio, 2020 (approx. 4 x 8.5 feet)

Hong Hong is a visual artist whose practice spans craft, painting, and earthwork. Born in Hefei, China, she immigrated with her family to North Dakota in 1999 and earned her MFA from University of Georgia in 2014. Hong has exhibited at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Georgia Museum of Art, Real Art Ways, Art League Houston, Penland School of Craft, and Jewett Arts Center. Her projects have been reviewed by Art21, Hyperallergic, Virtual Asian American Art Museum, Art New England, Southwest Contemporary, and Glasstire. Hong is the recipient of fellowships and grants from National Endowment for the Arts, MacDowell, Yaddo, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Connecticut Office of the Arts, and Foundation for Contemporary Arts.

www.honghong.studio @honghongstudio

Alex Paik is an artist living and working in Los Angeles. His modular, paper-based wall installations explore perception, interdependence, and improvisation within structure while engaging with the complexities of social dynamics. He has exhibited in the U.S. and internationally, with notable solo projects at Praxis New York, Art on Paper 2016, and Gallery Joe. His work has also been featured in group exhibitions at BravinLee Projects, Lesley Heller Workspace, and MONO Practice, among others.

Paik is Founder and Director of Tiger Strikes Asteroid, a non-profit network of artist-run spaces and serves on the Advisory Board at Trestle Gallery, where he formerly worked as Gallery Director.

www.alexpaik.com @alexpaik

#honghong #hong hong #alexpaik #alex paik #honghongalexpaik

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isakthedragon · 7 years ago

Text

Super Sonic Thieves Chapter 10

Chapter 10 - When in Rome...

The Set Up:

Sly, narrating: “The Thievius Raccoonus warned us that another Cooper had been lost, this one being Augustine Cooper. Somehow, he was the inventor of being able to defy gravity, staying in the air for days at a time with no effort. Of course, as a Cooper, he used it to rob people at his leisure, especially the kings and guardsmen. To others, his gift seemed to be a gift of the gods, but actually… well, no one knows, and he was very secretive about it in the book too. In any case, it seems that Eggman has captured Augustus for his own nefarious plots, and it looks like we are going to have to go rescue him.”

*The camera pans among some marble columns, until it stops on a few that get chiseled out to say the title: ‘ When in Rome ’.*

-----

Hub Layout:

Sly and the gang have made their hideout in the smaller homes of the poor side of Rome. In the center of town is the famous Colosseum. Surrounding it are the large palaces, then the marketplaces and the smaller homes. A large mountain stands to the far North, home to ‘Mt Olympus, and to the far South is a deep chasm the locals have referred to as ‘The Underworld’.

Enemies:

Goats: Guards on the lookout for sneaky thieves. If they spot you, expect horns in your backside with a fast charge. Carries/drops 12-14 coins and has 10% chance of treasure to pickpocket.

Wolves: Grey wolves on the prowl for thieves. Be wary of provoking them, as they will bite and scratch endlessly and chase after you. Carries/drops 16-18 coins and has 25% chance of treasure to pickpocket.

Lions: Big cats with an even bigger bite. They will seriously make an attempt to keep on your tail to maul you, so get them quick. Carries/drops 16-21 coins and has 50% chance of treasure to pickpocket.

Rhinobot: Those charging rhinobots have gotten an upgrade in size and speed, making them a bit more dangerous than before. Still, a good whack shall smash them good. Drops 16 rings when smashed.

Roman Pawns: Toga!!! It’s Egg Pawns in togas and head wreaths, of course. Don’t let their simpleness fool you, as they can fire lightning bolts from their hands. Drops 18 rings when smashed.

Helmeted Egg Hammers: Egg Hammers that have gotten into the time travel spirit wearing Roman helmets and gladiator armor (on top of their regular armor, for some reason. :P ). They attack the same as regular Egg Hammers, but they have even more armor to make destroying them tougher (Defense over attack, you know?) Drops 20 rings when smashed.

Egg-Cerberus: Eggman’s gigantic loyal guard ‘dog’ has come back, but has now gained 2 more heads to fit the Roman theme. It still has the same weakness of being controllable to careen into walls and other things.

Treasures:

From Guards:

Small Necklace: Worth 75 coins and 38 rings.

Medium Necklace: Worth 95 coins and 48 coins

Large Necklace: Worth 115 coins and 58 coins

From Pedestals:

Golden Head Wreath: Near to the front gates to Mt. Olympus. No booby traps. Worth 1500 coins and 750 rings.

Hercules’ Shield: Near to the gate of the Colosseum. It’s extremely heavy, so a strong character has to take it back. Worth 1750 coins and 875 rings.

Hermes’ Sandals: Tucked away around the palaces. No booby trap. Worth 2250 coins and 1125 rings.

Lightning in a Bottle: Near to the canyon going down below. Damage sensor trap and will zap you dead if broken. Worth 2750 coins and 1325 rings.

The coins have a lightning bolt design on them.

Secret Clockwerk Sighting: A marble statue stands in one of the plaza’s that looks just like him. But is he underneath that marble coating? Hmm...

-----Jobs-----

Roman Recon

Recon Rome

Sly: “Well, this doesn’t look good. Rome’s empty, and this is supposed to be a bustling city.”

Blaze: “I’d guess that Eggman’s helper here scared them all away. But it sure is odd when there is no damage anywhere at all.”

Bentley, over the binocucom: “Just be careful in case they should rear their ugly head around here.”

Sly, sarcastically: “Don’t we always?”

Bentley, over the binocucom, smugly: “Unless the ‘head’ is Carmelita, then you go basically blind.” *An audible high five is heard.*

Sly: “Ouch, Bentley. But at least that head is very pretty.”

Carmelita, over the binocucom: “Sweet save, Ringtail.”

*The player heads of to take recon photos of the Colosseum, the group of palaces, Mt Olympus and the Underworld.*

*Upon taking a picture of the Colosseum.*

Sly: “Odd, these gates seemed to have been blocked before everyone ran off, considering the feet prints.”

Blaze: “Does it look a little off in general too?”

Sly: “Hmm, yeah. Bigger and more recently built, which is impossible. Hmmm…”

*Upon taking a picture of the palaces.*

Blaze: “Sure are a lot of Eggman’s mechs walking around here to be doing nothing in particular.”

Sly: “Do you think they are looking for something?”

Blaze: “That, or just waiting in general.”

*Upon taking a picture of Mt. Olympus.*

Blaze: “Such very odd gates, tempered with very high heat that I’ve ever seen.”

Sly: “So we won’t be able to get in this way.”

Blaze: “No, at least, not forcibly. We need to find a way in somehow…”

*Upon taking a picture of ‘the Underworld’.*

Sly: “Wow. That’s a deep chasm if I’ve ever seen one. And dark too.”

Blaze: “I could light the way, but we have a problem.”

Sly: “What, getting down there? There are some stairs there.”

Blaze: “Someone has made a magical barrier or something to stop us. We can’t get in without finding an object to pass through.”

Sly: “We better keep an eye out then.”

*Once done.*

Sly: “Hmmm, good intelligence, but not a lot to go on.”

Bentley, over the binocucom: “Can you guys return to the safehouse? Silver says he’s got an idea where Augustus is.”

JOB COMPLETE

-----

Palacian Bash

Listen in to the guard’s conversations.

Find Augustus.

Sly: “So where do you think is Augustus, Silver?”

Silver: “I have to admit it’s not a certainty, but I think I may have a location. Ever since we got here, I’ve felt a strange psychic power at work, and after some divination, I believe he is hiding in the palaces to the East.”

Sly: “That does sound like how Augustus’ powers work, so it may be him. And we just came from there; there are many pawns and guards patrolling there. Let’s go.”

Bentley, over the binocucom: “Hang on, Sly. If you don’t mind, I’d like to go. His psychokinesis intrigue me… and I have a feeling I may be able to get us more information on what’s happening around here.”

Sly: “Fair enough then.”

*Sly returns back inside the safehouse, and Bentley comes out.*

*The player heads on over to the palaces, and in the first one, find a Wolf guard and Lion guard chatting to each other next to a well.*

Silver: “They appear to be talking, but how do we hear them?”

Bentley: “Leave that to me and my grapple camera. It can listen to them and play it for us here.”

*One short grapple cam moving later.*

Wolf Guard: *Some stomach growling can be heard.* “Grrr… I’m annoyed the boss scared away everyone. Now with no one trespassing, there’s no food to eat!”

Lion Guard: *His stomach growls as well.* “I know, but what can we do when our boss is 20 feet tall!”

Wolf Guard: “Might as well loot the food stocks again…”

*They both walk away.*

Silver: “20 feet tall? That’s a giant! And we don’t know any giants.”

Bentley: “Hmmm… we better listen in to more guards then.”

*The player moves on, entering a second palace and finding a goat tinkering with a Rhinobot like a mechanic. They grapple cam over, and listen in to the guard.*

Goat: “Bah, good-for-nothing Saturn making us have to work on these stupid contraptions. If Saturn weren’t so big, I’d give him a piece of my mind.”

Bentley: “So the big guy is named Saturn, like the King of the Titans in Roman myths.”

Silver: “Then he’s clearly not from our world. It makes no sense.”

Bentley: “Yeah. Well, that’s the way it is. Little bits of information for the whole picture.”

*The player goes to the third temple, and for once, find a Roman Pawn talking to an Helmeted Egg Hammer. They must come in from behind them because the robots can detect the camera from the front.*

Roman Pawn: “NO SIGN OF AUGUSTUS COOPER FOR OUR BOSS FROM THE CITY.”

Helmeted Egg Hammer: “WELL, WE WERE ORDERED TO KEEP LOOKING FOR HIM AND CAN’T RETURN ‘TIL THEN.”

Roman Pawn: “HOPEFULLY WE FIND HIM SOON. I NEED AN OIL CHANGE.”

Silver: “Huh, I never thought Eggman programmed his badniks to speak, unless whoever’s here tinkered with that.”

Bentley: “I think the more important thing is that Saturn has not found Augustus yet, which means we got a good shot finding him. Is he close?”

Silver: “Yes, very close.. Just a few rooms away.”

*A bit further on, the duo end up finding a room with a vault door at the end. Clearing the guards away with darts, bombs and psychokinesis…*

Silver: “He’s here… but where? I think he’s hiding visually from us with his psychokinesis.”

Bentley: “It’s not like a Cooper wants to be found. But I think I got an idea how to lure him out. Let’s open the vault. I’ll tell you what numbers to turn it to.”

Silver: “Okay.”

*In a bit less annoying safe-cracking game, Bentley listens for the numbers and the player has Silver twist the knob with psychokinesis to the correct numbers. The vault opens and shows the gold and jewels inside. And as expected, Augustus appears from his hiding spot.*

Augustus, rather unemotionally: “It took a few days of waiting, but it’s finally paid off with all that treasure. Now to get rid of the witnesses.” *He attempts to psycho-kinetically kick out Silver and Bentley, but is unusually stopped. With a bit more emotion in his voice:* “Huh? Why can’t I grab you guys?”

Silver shows he’s using his psychokinesis too. “Not when I can do the same. Now, please stop, cause we’re actually looking for you.”

Augustus: “Looking for me? Daresay you be friend or foe?” *He tries to raise his power…*

Silver matches it however. “Friend, obviously. Please, just stop and listen.”

Augustus, with a bit more emotion: “I was listening, you know. You mentioned Coopers. You sensed me! How can I trust you?!”

Silver: “Well, like I said, I use psychokinesis too, and I was able to sense yours here.”

Bentley: “And, it may be a bit hard to believe, but we are from the future and are friends to your future numerous-greats grandson.”

Augustus: “The future? Well, it’s not the weirdest thing I can believe, but I do.” *He lets his psychokinesis go, and so does Silver.*

Bentley: “Come on and follow us back. We can explain more in safety.”

JOB COMPLETE

----

Augustus: “My, what a group of quirky characters, I dare say.”

Sly: “Quirky, but we get our jobs done well.”

Augustus: “I can believe so, if your friends are anything to go by.”

Sly: “So, what’s been happening?”

Augustus: “Sorry, future son, but I’ve been too focused on that vault to notice what’s been happening outside. All I did notice was the people changing to those weird, noisy things a few days ago, but that’s it. You understand, right?”

Sly: “Yeah, a big job can really mess up any other plans.”

Bentley: “Never fear, Silver and I have learned a bit of what’s been going on here. It seems that one literal giant, a Mr. Saturn, is controlling these robots and guards to do his bidding. They’re still looking for Augustus, so that should buy us some time.”

Dimitri: “Pardon my history, but wasn’t Mr. Saturn in Roman myths many feets tall?! Why haven’t we seen him?!

Bentley: “I can only speculate that he probably is spending time in Mt. Olympus, waiting for news from the badniks. I think it may be best to go out now and get things done to attract him out, and find a way to open the gates to Mt. Olympus.”

Blaze: “I think Sly and I should go back out there and find a way down that chasm. Whatever’s down there must be important, and might just attract Saturn out of his hiding spot.”

Sly: “Yeah, and we can handle whatever’s down there.”

Silver: “And Augustus and I have talked, and we might try to divinate the gate. Maybe we can find a way to open it.”

Augustus: “This adventure of yours intrigues me, and I want in.”

Bentley: “Wow, didn’t even need to ask.”

Sly, smugly: “We know our place by now.”

Bentley: “Well, let’s get to it then.”

-----

Going Down…

Find a way into the ‘Underworld’

Destroy the Energy Power plant.

(Blaze and Sly return to near the gate and a Lion guard walks through to Rome.)

Sly: “Huh?”

Blaze: “What is it? See something?”

Sly: “Yeah. I saw a small glimmer in his pocket that wasn’t money. I think it might be our way down there.”

Blaze: “Go get him then.”

*The player has Sly sneak after him and pickpocket the Lion of his item, a green orb.*

Blaze: “An orb?”

Sly: “Yeah.” *They walk up to the barrier and it drops for them.*

Blaze: “Such an odd little key, though there are orbs in our world that do similar things.”

Sly: “Hmm. Well, we better hurry up before anyone gets wise of who we are.”

*The player travels down the long stairs and to the bottom of the canyon. The place is bathed in an eerie green, but Sly notices something more in the dark as Blaze alights herself.*

Sly: “I smell, and see, smoke clouds.”

Blaze: *Cough* “So that’s what I was smelling above.”

Bentley, over the binocucom: “I knew I was sensing abnormal energy readings! It must be a crude energy production facility!”

Blaze: “The smell reminds me of Eggman’s smog, but it’s tinted green. But he’s had a dramatic flair for theme, so it’s probably to scare people away.”

Sly: “Whatever this is, we better shut it down.”

Bentley, over the binocucom: “I suggest just destroying everything. Subtlety will just take too long.”

Sly: “Way ahead of you.”

*The player goes and destroys all the machines by either hitting them, or using Blaze’s flame aura to ignite the clouds to explode machines. Once done...*

Sly: “And there it goes, back to dust and broken pieces.”

Blaze smiles wide. “Heh he, that was fun!”

Sly: “Let’s hurry back before someone notices.”

JOB COMPLETE

----

Home of the Gods

Find a way to open up the gates to Mt. Olympus.

(Silver and Augustus stand in front of the gates to Mt. Olympus, and attempt to use their psychokinesis to ‘divine’ the gate open, but their efforts fail.)

Silver: “I don’t think this is working, Augustus. Something is preventing these gates from being opened.”

Augustus: “Indeed, this is a waste of energy.”

*They both stop.*

Silver: “I think it the source of it is inside. But how do we get in?”

Augustus: “We float, of course. We make our own paths, as psychokinetic users.”

*The player has them just float themselves over the gate to the inside. As they float to the objective...*

Silver: “Where did your powers come from, Augustus? Were you born with it?”

Augustus, sounding a bit defensive: “Well, yeah, of course, I mean, where else would you get it? Like from the gods or something? Heh…”

Silver, getting a bit saddened when he starts to trail off: “I was just asking. I was born with it, but of course, we need to be taught to use it correctly, lest we… well…”

Augustus: “... Screw up royally?”

Silver: “... Yeah.”

Augustus: “Looks like we both know that… and maybe I need a little more training…”

Silver: “I’ll help you with that when we get a chance.”

Augustus: “Thank you. Now, ahem, let’s go find the gate opener.”

SIlver: “Right!”

*The player heads through Mt Olympus’ huge temple halls, either being sneaky or fighting off guards and badniks while making their way to the back of the building. Out in the backyard are rows of electric generators, connected to the fence and keeping the gates shut.*

Silver: “Aha! Some generators that produce electricity to hold the gate closed!”

Augustus: “Electricity?”

Silver: “It’s what people use in the future to power things.”

Augustus: “A future thing, I see. Okay.”

Bentley, over the binocucom: “Well, you don’t need to understand it when I’m going just simply ask you to destroy this electric farm. It’s only really helping the enemy, and it doesn’t belong here.”

Silver: “You got it, Bentley!”

*The player has Silver and Augustus destroy the generators with badniks, guards, and anything else they can grab with their psychokinesis.*

Silver: “Okay, Bentley! We’re done!”

Bentley, over the binocucom: “Excellent. That ought to make it easy for us to get in later.”

Silver: “Sure, we’re on our way back- Agh! Wait! Who are you?! AH!!! S-SATURN!!!”

*Screams of Silver and Augustus can be heard, which slowly fade away to nothing.*

Bentley: “Silver? … Augustus? … Oh crap.”

JOB COMPLETE(?...)

-----

Studying Saturn

Follow and listen in on Saturn.

Bentley sighs: “I screwed up. It seems I let Silver and Augustus be captured by Saturn by the sound of it…”

Sly: “No one could have predicted that Saturn was just waiting for them in Mt. Olympus. It wasn’t your fault.”

Bentley, very saddened: “I should have. It’s my job to predict the risk of everything, and I didn’t even think that.”

Tails: “You can’t predict everything the enemy is going to do. Even we get surprised by Eggman and his tricks sometimes.”

Bentley, a little surprised: “Really? You guys don’t really see Eggman as much of a threat.”

Sonic: “Oh, we do. We just snark and make fun of him to not give him the satisfaction of stroking his ego, which is massive as it is already, heh.”

Bentley, getting a bit more back into it: “Maybe… you’re right guys.”

Saturn’s massively booming voice blasts across the city. “To the mighty annoying thieves who are hiding in the city: I have your friends and demand that the rest of you turn yourselves in to me. Reveal yourselves soon, or else your two friends will have a very unpleasant time…”

Bentley covers his ears: “Ugh, the taunting. Quite the salt in the wounds. But… I mustn’t let this get me down. Knuckles, shall you accompany me on listening to Saturn unknowingly?”

Knuckles: “I’d be honored too. And don’t worry, I’ll keep you out of trouble.”

*The player leads the turtle and echidna sneakily as close as they can to Saturn, and send the Grapple Cam as close as possible to it.*

Saturn: “Heh, who am I kidding? This is Sly, Bentley, Murray, and the gang. Of course they aren’t going to show their faces. Let’s see… I’m supposed to destroy more stuff in this big mech suit to get them out of hiding, I guess..” *He moves elsewhere in the level.*

Bentley: “It’s a mech suit? I guess that does make sense with the energy plant we found in the ‘Underworld’.”

Knuckles: “I wonder if Eggman designed it, since he’s made mechs like that before.”

Bentley: “Let’s continue listening.”

*The player moves on to Saturn’s new location.*

Saturn: “I’m surprised Bentley sent Augustus and Silver straight into my hands. He really didn’t know I was there? Anyhow, they may have gotten the gate to Mt. Olympus open, but Bentley doesn’t know that, I think. Aw, well. I hope I didn’t leave him crying like last time. SInce I had to work with Eggman, I hope he will be pleased that I got their data or whatever.” *He moves on.*

Knuckles: “Well, it’s not Eggman in there, that’s for certain.”

*Bentley oddly stays quiet, just pointing for them to move on.*

*At the next location.*

Saturn: “Ugh, I see why Sonic and his critter friends don’t necessarily like Eggman. You have to do things as he says, or expect to die! If it weren’t for that robot army of his, I’d give him a piece of my rodent mind. I’m pretty smart too, you know! I’ve built RC cars, and even that time machine with him! … At least he let me build this mech suit. Heh he, Bentley is going to be jealous of this.”

Knuckles: “Uh… whoever’s in there seems to know you.”

Bentley, with worry in his voice: “I think I know…” *Does a breathing in and out to relax and his voice goes back.* “But I need to make sure… We got some work to do, Knuckles.”

JOB COMPLETE(?...)

-----

Saturn Loses His Cool

Force Saturn to go and recharge at Mt Olympus.

Break out Silver and Augustus.

Knuckles: “And what sort of work is that?”

Bentley: “Well, we got rid of Saturn’s power supply, so whoever is in there is having to rely on backup power right now. We have to drain Saturn of whatever power he has left so that whoever is inside will be forced to get out. We’ll know who is reigning here then.”

Knuckles: “I see. And how do we do that?”

Bentley: “We force the mech to run around to do meaningless things, make it overheat.”

Knuckles: “Aha. I can do that.”

Bentley: “Then let’s go.”

*The player, while still keeping out of sight of Saturn, must go around the city and cause noisy distractions (like knocking over pillar dominoes) to lure Saturn to move around, raising its heat level. Once it fully raises, Saturn complains about the heat.*

Saturn: “Ah! Heat levels are too high! I gotta get out of here! But not in town, gotta hurry to Mt. Olympus, or he’ll see me!”

*Saturn runs off and the player follows him back to Mt Olympus. Just out of sight, the player sends the Grapple Cam from behind cover to show who comes out…*

*A light purple dutch mouse in a tracksuit suddenly pops out of the chest of the machine.*

???: “Ah! Whew! Finally out of that mech! Any longer and I would have suffer hyperthermia. *Sigh* I better get to work on fixing the problem…”

Bentley: “P-p-p-Penelope… How could you work for Eggman? He’s not going to help you…”

Knuckles: “She might have been tricked by Eggman. I should know, he’s tricked me before.”

Bentley: “He has? Hmmm…” *With determination in his voice.* “Come on, Knuckles, we’re getting Silver and Augustus out.”

Knuckles: “Okay, but where-”

Bentley: “Just follow me, I think I know.”

*The player heads into the huge temple area, and find the psychics surrounded by badniks and guards in a cage.*

Knuckles: “Woah, there they are. How are we going to get them out?”

Bentley: “As much as I dislike confrontation, we got to fight them.”

*The player fights the badniks and guards, and free Silver and Augustus from their prison.*

Augustus: “I’m free! Phew.”

Silver: “Thanks, Knuckles and Bentley!”

Bentley: “Let’s get back to the safehouse. An operation cannot wait any longer.”

JOB COMPLETE

-----

Sly: “Are you alright, Bentley? You seem… worried.”

Bentley: “Yeah, I’m worried. I’ve seen Penelope. She’s our villain here.”

Sly: “Oh… can you go on? I know you left on a better note back then, but I’m worried about you.”

Bentley: “It’s fine. I… I need to go out there, and talk to her.”

Murray: “How are you going to do that when there’s a three-headed dog on the loose in town?”

Sonic: “Huh? Does it look like a mechanical dog?”

Murray: “Yeah, looks like it’s sniffing around for us.”

Sonic: “Ah, I see she has called the Egg-Cerberus. I can handle that mutt. And I guess you want to come with, Bentley”

Bentley: “If it won’t be too much trouble, yeah.”

Sonic: “It won’t be.”

-----

Operation: Turtle and Mouse

Defeat the Egg-Cerberus

Defeat Penelope

Sonic: “Alright, time to go after the Egg-Cerberus.”

Bentley: “We’re going to lure it to the Colosseum and fight it in there.”

*The player uses Bentley’s grapple cam to lure the Egg-Cerberus into the large Colosseum, and then head inside to defeat the Egg Cerberus. Bentley can stun it with bombs, but like with the old one, Sonic must grind onto its middle head and force it to ram into a wall or pillar to severely damage it. The dog should soon go down.*

Sonic: “Hah! It’s still a lousy robot mutt.”

Bentley: “No time to celebrate yet… she’s coming.”

*Soon, Penelope in her Saturn suit breaks the entryway to reveal herself.*

Penelope: “Aw! How come you guys had to destroy the Egg-Cerberus? I was starting to love the robot dog.”

Sonic: “Sorry, but if it’s Eggman property, I gotta smash it. I don’t trust anything he makes.”

Penelope: “Fair enough. And I see that Bentley is here too.”

Bentley: “Penelope… how could you work for such an evil man?”

Penelope: “I unfortunately had to, Bentley. He offered a deal… and it was really hard to refuse…”

Sonic: “What, did he point a gun to your head?”

Penelope: “Yeah, his whole badnik army’s worth. And his deal was quite hard to say ‘no’ to as well.”

Bentley: “What was so worth throwing away any last bit of your decency from what Le Paradox left you?!”

Penelope: “I told you already, Le Paradox showed me I could do greater things than just working for a ragtag gang of thieves and an officer who are just busting the villain of the day. And now, Eggman gave me a similar chance. Look, I even got free reign to make this mech suit. How is that not worth it? I get to not waste my talents on the small things.”

Bentley: “...Was it like this ever since I met you?”

Penelope: “Yes, Bentley. I did love you in the beginning, but I thought we were going to go off and do great things together, and not just sit around waiting for the next big job Sly had in mind. I just… don’t want my talent squandered…”

Bentley: “... If that’s what you felt… then why didn’t you tell me?”

Penelope: “Because you seemed like you were too far in with Sly, like he clouded your judgement. It always seems to be for the good of the Cooper clan.”

Bentley: “Well, he is my best friend for many years now, and I am their brains, so I do have to work for Cooper… but if you really wanted to expand and do more, you could have just asked. I mean, that’s why we made the time machine, so we could do a project together.”

Penelope: “... It wasn’t really made just for Sly interests in case he returned?”

Bentley: “I mean, yeah. I asked you what you wanted to build, and you asked for a time machine. We made it together. We could have went on dates with it on any time, if we had the right object.”

Penelope, saddened: “... … I’ve been a fool. Unfortunately, I have an obligation to Eggman now to defeat you…”

Sonic: “Don’t, Penelope. He says he wants to advance you further, but he doesn’t care about anyone but himself. He will toss away anyone he works with once he gets what he wants from them.”

Penelope: “He will?”

*As if on cue, Eggman appears in the mech cockpit to stop the interaction.*

Eggman: “What the heck are you doing, Penelope? Why haven’t you killed the blasted hedgehog and the Cooper Gang yet?”

Penelope: “I-I-I don’t know! I can’t get myself to want to defeat them… I don’t... want to hurt him…”

Eggman: “Then allow me to do that myself! You thought you had free reign of your mech, but in the end, it’s all MINE!!!”

*Eggman takes control of the mech from wherever he is and forces the mech to do a kick at Bentley.*

Bentley freezes up. “Ah!!!”

Sonic: “No!” *He jumps and pushes Bentley out of the way, but gets kicked himself into the Colosseum wall. He collapses, unconscious, but not dead.*

Bentley and Penelope: “No!!!”

Eggman: “Grrr… no matter, I’ll get back to him. I have a problem with you, Bentley, and I’m going to kill you personally!”

Penelope: “Hey, what’s going on?!”

*The mech suit closes up on her, and he tries to attack again, but this time, Silver and Augustus appear on the Colosseum roof and grab Bentley and float him to their level.*

Silver: “Trying something evil, Eggman? It isn’t going to work here!”

Augustus: “I can’t believe that this metal man is alive, but I shall defeat you all the same.”

Bentley: “We gotta save Penelope from that mech!”

Silver: “Already planned on it. Let’s go.”

*The Saturn mech mostly attacks with either its laser eyes across the roof, or pinpoint shooting, punching and throwing its hands down to smash you, or missiles in an attempt to scare you. To be able to defeat the Saturn mech, Silver/Augustus should throw either a missile or any flying piece of debris Eggman shoots up, and toss it back at the mech. Other than just hurting it, it will also stun the mech for a time and make it fall forward to the roof. In that time, Bentley can go over and bomb the power core of the mech. The mech will jump back up again after a bit and repeat the process over. As a note, the arms can be destroyed while it is leaned over to lessen the number of attacks the mech does. Just keep up the bombing on it, and it will soon fall down.*

Silver: “Yes! We did it!”

*The mech starts a self destruct sequence of 60 seconds, but also opens up its head section where Penelope is, collapsed from the shock.*

Bentley: “Penelope!”

*While Silver and Augustus psychically lift Sonic up, Bentley jumps down and rolls and grabs Penelope and puts her on his lap. Silver notices, and then grabs them both too. They all escape off the roof, just as the mech explodes into pieces.*

JOB COMPLETE

-----

The Getaway:

Penelope opens her eyes to see the Cooper and Sonic gang. “Huh? You guys saved me?”

Silver: “Well, Bentley was the one who went to the mech and grabbed you before it exploded.”

Penelope: “Really? After all I’ve done to you, Bentley?”

Bentley: “Y-yeah. I-I just had to. I… um…”

Penelope: “Same here… I don’t know anymore either.”

Sly: “Um, Sonic? Tails says your friends have sent us something.”

Shadow, on Tails’ Miles Electric: “I can’t believe I have to ask this, but we need your help right now. Some strange villains have come through a portal and started taking over our world. GUN and the rest of us are trying our best to take them, but they’re using some powerful robots that look to have been made by Eggman. These are what they look like.” *He shows pictures of the villains who look quite familiar...* “Hurry, we don’t know how long we can last.” *The transmission ends.*

Carmelita: “What the heck? They said they were reformed! I knew they were lying and just waiting to be free of prison totally!”

Murray: “All the past villains we put away are running around in your world, Sonic!”

Sonic: “Not if I get a say with them!”

Sly: “We’ll help you, Sonic. We’ve dealt with them before… and I’m thinking this is not just a point of conquest.”

Bentley: “I smell revenge. Why else are they all there?”

Sly: “Exactly. We have to deal with them.”

Penelope: “Was I just… a distraction for him? Hmph, I’m not going to play that game. I’m helping too!”

Sly, narration: “It looks like our adventures through time are over, and a new adventure to begin in a different world altogether. How did the villains we put away escape, and could we do it again? In any case, we better deal with them before they mess up all time in a new world.”

Next Time: We return to Sonic’s world to deal with an ‘artsy’ bear.. in Prehistropolis City Zone.

#Isakthedragon's fanfiction #Super Sonic Thieves #Super Sonic Thieves Chapter 10 #SST #SST: Chapter 10 #The last Cooper that we visit.... Augustus Cooper #Hope people like him.#And we also got the city of Rome here #And... a certain mouse makes an appearance.

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autumn-in-phandom · 8 years ago

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Dan&Phil (with no space)

SOLVE THIS CRIME- Dan and Phil play: ‘Layton's Mystery Journey!’

Which I think is very cute, has great banter, cooperation, a sassy Dan, a flirty Phil, with no space between them and is definitely worth a re-watch.

Timestamps below the cut because they are lonnng.

0:01 “Hello Dan and Phil Games ‘detectives’"- Phil 0:03 Magnifying glass hand thing, Tomb Raider sound effect and Phil humming Sherlock theme combined 0:11 "Professor Layton, what what"- Dan with hand motions 0:13 Phil holds his composed angelic face while Dan gives the background info. 0:20 Dan sitting by a rainy window pretending to be intellectual. What an image. 0:27 "Lady Layton"- high pitched Dan (find a guy who can do it all) 0:30 "So today I think I'm going to be Sherlock Holmes and you're going to be Watson" -Phil 0:34 "Whatya sayin?"- Dan with that look.

I don't know how they actually feel about Johnlock. They've both referenced it before but have been kind of vague on their stance. Personally I love the show but don't ship them. But the implication of shipping definitely seems to be present and Dan is at the very least feigning disapproval. That or he just wants to be Sherlock. See below.

0:35 "Well I mean, I'm like the Benedict Cumberbatch, I look like Benedict Cumberbatch, I'm more superior at mystery solving."- Nice try Phil.

Watching Dan's face here is funny, his feigned grumpiness, transitions to a comical frown with a shrug of agreement when Phil says he looks like BC, then a funny scoff to smile at Phil suggesting he's superior.

0:45 Dan bursts Phil's bubble shooting down Scooby Doo 0:49 Woah what a jump cut between happy open mouth Phil to, what do even call that? Is that Phil's resting bitch face? 0:50 Zoom into Dan talking to give Phil a moment to recover. 0:55 "A sneky prev"- Dan 1:00 Playing in Nederlands would add to the mystery or we could test Dan's French.

1:05 "’Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy’. Dang."- very dramatic Dan 1:09 "I'm already hooked cause there's a little dog outline."- Phil 1:13 "That's all I need to sign up for an app."- Dan 1:19 "Dan&Phil with no space" (what this video should actually be called) 1:24 "Dan question mark Phil?"- strike a pose

(The iPad also assumed it was a typo as it offers Dan&Phil as a suggestion. Earlier suggestions were "Dance" and "Danisnotonfire")

1:33 Phil's monocle/magnifying glass returns with an "aha". Dan claims Phil is "repeating a joke I made at the beginning of the video", not likely Dan. Phil is all joyous laughter. 1:45 "Stop getting paranoid. Not everyone hating another person is about you, Shirley"- Dan (watching Phil's reaction to Dan's rant is hilarious) 1:50 "Are you ready for a video?"- Phil (aka "are you done?") 1:53 "Yeah."- Dan

2:00 "A misty town, in yesteryear." Dan high voice. "I'll stop ruining this." 2:05 They are both delighted by the anime style art 2:12 ‘Daddy!’ "Daddy"- Dan "Daddy. Is the first word you hear."- Phil "Daddy Layton"- Dan nods knowingly. 2:18 "No, this is not Dream Daddy."- Dan 2:29 Sad, guilt, "just a dream." 2:31 "She's got a house plant, which is a lot more alive than all of ours" 2:37 "She opens the curtains, that's why her house plants are alive."- Dan 2:40 "Ohh, that would make sense."- Phil (see Dan's ls) 2:44 Dan supports unpractical fashion choices 2:46 Phil knows a thing or too about diseased English pigeons. 2:53 "I'm going to see some corpses!"- Dan 3:00 London is not a wholesome town 3:05 "Phily's detective world. Mysteries solved for free."- Phil 3:10 "Please I just want company."- Dan after cracking up.

3:13 "Lady and a Tramp." "Nice." 3:15 "Is she gonna eat some sensual spaghetti?"- Phil 3:16 "She's gonna kiss a dog."- Dan 3:19 "The dog's here!"- Phil 3:20 "ADOPT HIM!"- Dan 3:21 "Pet the dog!"- Phil 3:22 "ADOPT HIM RIGHT NOW!"- Dan (okay boys) 3:24 "The dog has a very strange tail."- Dan 3:26 "It's defying gravity." (Wicked on the mind Phil?) 3:30 "I mean okay, I'm sorry, sign me up for talking dog."- Dan 3:45 "Please help, I'm hallucinating talking dogs."- Dan 3:55 "Is it just gonna secrete a cake through the iPad? Cause I'm down for that."- Phil 4:10 "Presuming that we actually ever *mumble mumble*."- Dan

4:19 "Spoilers abound."- Phil 4:20 "Protection."- Dan 4:27 "Give me a cake!"- Dan 4:29 "Use more of a baker voice."- Phil 4:37 "The Power of Triangles!"- Dan (nice self reference there) 5:01 "What is wrong with you?"- Dan says with fondness 5:10 "That looks less like a K than miine did."- Phil teasing and so close 5:14 "Delet this."- Dan 5:24 "You need to stop saying 'floppy ding dong'."- Phil (um. truth.) 5:35 Phil thinking outside of the box, inside the box, very literally. 5:40 Dan gets really excited by Phil's idea of negative space. Phil gets excited by Dan moving the shapes around. 5:55 The best iPad sharing here. 6:05 Dan starts to get discouraged just as Phil figures it out. 6:10 Dan’s face 6:15 "Mmm (high five) boom."- Dan 6:26 "Well done Phil."- danisasupportivepartner 6:35 "Don't pay me in money, pay me in cakes, that would be a Dan and Phil's detective agency."- Dan 6:40 "How do you like that doggo?"- Phil 6:41 "Up to scratch. Haha ha ha hm."- Dan 6:45 "A bit of a sexy scratch there wasn't it?"- Phil 6:47 "That was a bit weird there, the dog doesn't support that."- Dan 6:48 "Sorry."- Phil (quick, soft, low, subtle banter)

6:55 "I love her voice it's like Hermione Granger meets Beatrix Potter."- Dan 6:59 "What can I do for you?"- Phil imitates her voice, because not only does he look like Voldemort, but he *is* Hermione. 7:15 "I love his ankles rolls because of his floppy skin."- Dan (talking about the dog of course) 7:18 "Aw it's so anime, I love it."- Phil 7:25 "I wanna solve that mystery. That's an ancient civilization?! That looks like a terrifying dystopian future where mantid lizards exist."- Dan 7:36 "Hello. Is that the Watson in this? That looks like you. I'm Lady Layton, you're that guy."- Dan who apparently is fine with the Johnlock dynamic so long as Phil is the Watson character and Dan gets to be a sassy femme Sherlock. (See below)

7:44 "Ernest."- P 7:45 "Ernest Greeves."- D 7:46 "That's a strong name."- P 7:46 "Amazing."- D 7:47 "I wish I was called Ernest."- P (I think that's what he says) 7:48 "I ship it!"- Dan says all intense and growly 7:55 "Pugsworth." 8:05 "Sherlock exists in the same cannon as Layton."- Dan 8:07 "What"- Phil 8:10 Phil gives the role of Katrelle to Dan. Phil takes Ernest. Dan takes the dog of course and Phil voices Inspector Hastings. 9:30 "In the 'ole of Britain!"- Both in sync, shaking their faces, having fun 9:51 "Frickin slapped. Ernest and Sherl in the corner of Lady Layton's priorities."- Sassy Dan

10:07 "The Hand That Feeds" (weird fist motion from Phil) 10:12 "Someone's stolen a hand!"- high pitched Dan 10:17 "That's a whole diddly operation."- Dan 10:19 "It was Spider-Man. Tom Holland wants more attention."- Phil 10:21 "Honestly what a fiend(?)"- very quiet Dan 10:34 "Do the lamppost."- Phil (not innuendo just what Dan should be investigating, Phil is trying to get him back on track but is very amused.) 10:39 "Come on, Kat, what are you dawdlin' there for, eh? The case, woman! The case!"- Phil saying dawdlin' and woman in a northern accent is great. 10:40 "Woman."- Dan echos with attitude. 10:49 "Hmph, teachin' Grandma to suck eggs, are ya?" (more things I didn't know I needed to hear Phil say)

10:55 "What bag?"- danisexcited 10:59 Oh my god both their faces right before they say: 11:00 "Wardrobe!"- Both "Yes!"- Phil 11:02 "We found the content!"- Dan Some simple puzzle solving 11:47 "Wait! I want to go in the bag. This is very important."- Dan 11:50 "Wardrobe!" (Sing it Dan!) "Yes!"- Phil 11:54 "Coatless!"- in sync 11:57 "Dating dress"- Dan "Oohh"- both "Oh hel-lo!"- Dan 12:03 "Tomboy. Equestrian ensemble!"- Dan's over the top gestures and Phil's excited face. 12:05 "I want my ensemble to be that."- Phil (of course you do) mirrors Dan's hand to chest movement. 12:07 "Slay me. Jesus."- Dan 12:12 "Sky blue, statement."- Dan 12:14 Phil with the game info. 12:19 "That's me."- Phil 12:20 "Daddy's girl."- Dan 12:21 "Okay that's not me."- Phil laughs

12:30 "He's shady AF"- Phil 12:35 "'Top o' the mornin' to ha!' Its jacksepticeye"- Phil 12:37 What the hell Dan? Calm down. 12:46 "Investigatink"- Dan 12:47 "I can't do an Irish accent."- Phil, belly laugh 12:48 "This is regional dialect reading test the game."- Dan 13:03 "aforementionedly"- both 13:25 "Stachenscarfen"- Dan 13:26 "That's you."- Phil 13:29 "Auf Deutsch"- Dan 13:38 "In a vay, yes. In a vay, no."- Dan (sounds more Austrian) 13:55 Dan yells into the iPad "Out after midnight are you Stachenscarfen? We're onto you!" (simmer down son)

(I love Phil's hands. They are big yet elegant.)

14:53 "You like twiz the..."- Phil doing circle motions 15:14 "Waiting until its midnight."- Dan says somewhere between cocky and uncertain 15:41 "Yeah. I don't- I mean, sure. Why not? It's like you have lives. Do you have lives?"- Dan 15:46 "Yes!"- Phil "YES!"- Dan 15:49 "But was it for the reason that I said?"- still unsure Dan 16:11 "Oh you want to see a dead body do you Earnest, you want to get real, you want to see crime up in your face? I don't think you can handle it Earnest!"- Dan being extra again 16:38 "Nick Booker" pun 16:48 "Wait I can do this one."- Phil 16:50 "Okay go on Phil, do it."- Dan 16:55 Pause that pose 16:57 "I live for the positive reinforcement of Lady Layton being happy that I'm assembling the clock hand."- Dan 17:03 Phil is distracted momentarily by something off to the side.

17:05 “Hello copper.”- Dan 17:07 "'Ello 'ello 'ello, Miss Layton.'"-Phil 17:09 "That is exactly what he-"- Dan 17:10 "That's what his face looks like"- Phil 17:11 "With his tiny face!"- squeaky Dan 17:12 "It's so squished."- Phil 17:29 "Yeah get in there."- Phil (what was this about? I forget. Context.)

17:38 Danispanting 17:45 "'Magnificent'."- Dan (inside the clock face) 17:46 "That's just what we were saying."- Phil says so sweet. I think they were admiring the art design but it got cut. 17:52 "I know what gets you going Earnest."- Dan (enormous cogs) 17:58 "Like a corpse."- Dan 18:00 "I wanna do it!"- AssertivePhil (not a corpse mind you) 18:02 "Okay Phil, find the cranny. How good is Phil at finding that spot? He found it. There we go."- danisnotappropriate 18:08 "REDDISH WRISTWATCH!"- x12 nice reference 18:26 "UH CLOCK"- both groaning 18:36 "Get that self esteem, yes!"- high pitched Dan

19:17 "Do you know what you're doing or-?"- Phil with the biggest smile 19:19 "Yeahyeahyeahyeahyeah!"- Dan 19:20 Jumpcut to zoom in on the terrified children and away from a flirty Phil. 19:28 "Woyah!"- Dan 19:32 "Oh no. Oh we f***ed it. Impasse."- Dan 19:42 "You reckon?"- Dan (then “I reckon”) 20:05 "King of Bubbles."- Dan 20:06 "I would not have been able to do that."- Phil 20:07 "Really? You play a lot of uh, of um, shape popping apps."- Dan 20:11 "True. Maybe. Maybe."- Phil's eyes

20:17 “Who do you think stole the hand?”- Phil 20:21 "I think it was the dog."- Phil 20:36 "I feel like that's a good taste of the mystery solving experience."- Dan 20:38 "Yeah. You've given it a little lick, but you don't know the full answers. Cause you could go find out yourself-"- Phil 20:43 "You just ruined the nice... description..."- Dan 20:46 "Like you've got the flavor."- Phil 20:47 "Why do you- no, no!"- Dan 20:48 "Like a lollipop."- Phil 20:49 "Stop with the licking!"- Dan 20:50 "Sorry."- back to innocent angel faced Phil

21:00 Price and Promo 21:16 "I'm just here for the anime to be honest, like a show I just started watching."- Dan 21:20 Phil tongue 21:21 "A lick of the Layton Lolly."- holy hell Dan, looking at Phil while saying that was indecent 21:31 "Clicking our buttons."- Phil 21:34 "For more vids, last vid."- Dan 21:38 "I'm gonna go kidnap a talking dog."- Dan 21:39 Sherlock theme outro and eye hand thing by Phil.

#phan #dapgames #dan and phil #dnp games #dnp timestamps #d&p #dan&phil with no space

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mushbabe · 8 years ago

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Mass Cartoon Crossover AU

heyyyyy its uhhhhhh another fucking au writing from me

ties into this comic i did here, which i am making a sequel to

so if you wanted to hear my explanation for how shit like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, CN City, and canon crossovers might possibly work, clicky that readmore friend it’s about to get deep and overly thought-out

so like. basically: when a creator creates something, the universe for this something exists on another plane. the characters are all real, just more or less materially inaccessible to people on our plane. there are points in the various planes of existence where our plane and their plane meet, be the points natural or artificial. these points of meeting were used to film things like Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Space Jam, where visceral, fleshy organisms like ourselves could stand alongside the 2-D manifestations of our own minds. both humans and cartoons could enter the opposing side’s realm, but by no means is it natural or healthy for the state of the worlds, not to mention for the individuals crossing dimensions. as such, the scenes in both WFRR and Space Jam where any one person was not in their respective domain were filmed in intervals...

so now we’ve got two planes: ours, and the plane of our creations. like previously stated, each creation has a universe in which it exists and lives, a place where it is given purpose, a story, stuff to do, etc.. compared to our universe, these worlds are all incredibly small. though the sizes can vary wildly: from the universe of Ed Edd ‘n Eddy, which is more or less encompassed by the cul de sac that they live in, to the universe of Adventure Time (which feels expansive, but really is only made up of the places shown or mentioned in the show, and is by no means infinite like that of our own.) lets imagine that all of these universes are kind of tied together. think about wreck-it ralph when i say that there is a central location, a city probably, that they can all converge in and exist within.

to keep things homogeneous and as easy to digest as possible, lets assume the only universes that are inherently tied together are the universes from the same kind of media. 2D televised cartoons would all be tied into one place. 3D televised cartoons would converge in a different place. Anime/Video Games/all that good shit would tie in somewhere else respectively. We could imagine that this is because these similar universes are close in proximity as a result of being similar. and because they’re all so close, they all have an established point where they all meet. contrasting this, the convergence of two different kinds of media would be extremely rare and hard to achieve, but is do-able, and has been exploited by characters before (cite the Jimmy-Timmy Power Hour). for the sake of keeping with the natural order, these ties are temporary and will break off easily.

to illustrate this converging of similar universes, we could imagine this structure as a large central bubble with a bunch of other smaller bubbles surrounding it, each of them connected to the middle one by a thread.

DIRECTLY CONNECTED WORLDS

but !! these small, individual worlds can also be connected to each other directly! some of these connections are inherent, as they were part of their design upon their creation. a good example of this: the universe of Gravity Falls and Rick and Morty would have a natural thread connecting the two.

some of these connections can also be forged. these connections are typically the result of a crossover episode, and would exist between the worlds of Futurama and The Simpsons, and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and Codename: Kids Next Door since they all had crossover episodes with each other. In all likelihood, the lifespan of these connections is probably dependent on factors like the earnestness of the episode(s) in question (whether they were done for a cheap cash-in or because the writers were genuinely invested in these characters meeting) and how compatible these universes are (things like similar visual styles and how much sense the crossover makes. the crossover between The Jetsons and The Flintstones makes way more sense thematically than the crossover between Kim Possible and Lilo & Stitch.

THE HUBWORLD:

this is best understood when you think about the old Cartoon Network City bumpers that CN used to play in between commercials. They were large, semi-realistic urban environments where all of the characters from the programming of the time would interact with the world and with each other. CN City could be thought of as a district of this larger city where all these worlds converge. this is a place that, regardless of art-style or compatibility, everyone can just exist alongside each other.

so not all of the cartoons live here. lots of them live in their respective worlds for their own reasons (their show may still be ongoing and they need to actually be there for it to happen, or maybe they just prefer their own world) but they may make trips into town to run errands, visit, attend university or even commute to their city jobs. however, after a character’s show has run its course, plenty of them make the decision to move permanently to the city.

we know that each character can leave their original universe and travel to the central connecting one, but can they leave the central one to visit another person’s universe? i would say yes. probably not for extended periods though. unless there is an existing connector between the two character’s worlds, visiting wouldn’t feel comfortable, and the characters probably just wouldn’t want to. i imagine that, while it’s not exactly illegal or impossible to visit, staying for a long time is frowned upon. again, we can refer back to wreck-it ralph for comparison. visiting is fine, but eventually you need to go home.

IMPORTANT FIGURES:

a character’s role in the city and to others is determined by a lot of things. usually, one would find a job they can perform with their unique skills and/or powers. I’ve headcanon’d the roles of a lot of characters already. some ideas I’ve had:

The Powerpuff Girls are easily the ones in charge of protecting the city. They head Homeworld Security, the various police departments, and have a lot of people working under them. They can often be seen patrolling.

the city is headed by a City Council and a Mayor (there is also a Head Judge in charge of the court system, but they don’t determine any legislation, they just enforce it.) The Mayor is kind of shadowy in the au at first, but it’s pretty obvious that it’s Mickey Mouse. He’s concerned with corporate interests for the most part.

the Council is made up of elected representatives, each coming from different big names in the cartoon world (Nick, WB, Disney, Hanna-Barbara, etc.) The Council Chairman tbh has to be Bugs Bunny. he’s iconic, charismatic, and experienced, and so has a lot of sway in how things operate; it only made sense that he go into politics. a crucial part of the “plot” of this au is that Bugs and Mickey are bitter rivals. It’s understood by most that Bugs should be the de facto mayor, but through underhanded means, Mickey stays one step ahead of him. while Bugs isn’t exactly innocent either, he certainly stands for different ideals. Bugs is definitely a man of the people.

Professor Utonium is the dean of the university as well as the head of its robotics department, their most successful STEM department. he teaches a few robotics classes. Dexter, Edd, and Phineas would have all studied under him at one point

Without a doubt, Warden from SuperJail! is the warden of what’s probably the largest and craziest prison in existence. Only a mind like his could contain the biggest threats to the hubworld’s wellbeing.

i’ve thought about the placement of a lot of other characters too, but i only wanted to list here the one’s integral to the structure of the city.

with that said, all of the villains original to the connected worlds are very much still real and still able to wreak havoc on this metropolis. some won’t have a reason to concern themselves with it, while others will certainly make it a target. this includes extradimensional entities like Bill Cipher, Him, and Aku, who wouldn’t exactly be contained in the city jail. a main concern of the city government is how to protect the town from these major antagonists.

CITY DISTRICTS:

i was talking about districts of the city earlier. another district i was thinking about is Toontown, a space relegated to old fashioned, classic “toons”. Like, Animaniacs / Tom & Jerry / Merrie Melodies / Steamboat Willie / Roger Rabbit -esque toons. the one’s we all understand as the physics defying characters who can pull material from nothing (hammerspace) as well as take a shotgun shell to the face and live. The nigh-indestructible, goofy-ass, slapstick, foundational characters of animated comedy. this is gonna be one of the few districts that is actually somewhat segregational. I imagine that society views toons in a weird, kind of split way. on one hand, the Old Toons are to be respected. they forged a path and laid a foundation in entertainment and have helped bring all of this into existence. on the other hand, Toons are also considered outmoded. classic slapstick has largely reached the end of its run. the iconic white gloves, cigars, and dynamite have all come to represent a bygone golden era full of its own problematic ideals. their shows are analyzed now much like modern psychologists would analyze Freud: no one can doubt the significance of the impact they’ve had, but the faults are widely acknowledged. (for example, modern cartoons would probably criticize older toons’ shows’ lack of diverse protagonists, rampant themes of racism / antisemitism / blatant use of tobacco / objectification of female characters, for being unfunny or unchallenging to the viewer, or for just being visually unappealing as some newer cartoons might believe.) as a result of this mindset, older Toons are the target of some prejudice but also some high respect. it depends on which group you’re talking to.

List of City Districts

New Townsville (the one filmed for the CN City Bumpers). town hall, banks, business hub.

Toontown (the one filmed in WFRR) - area reserved for Toons

Endsborough - slightly evil, run down part of town. bars, gambling, etc. hangout for the unsavory.

University District - the campus, dorms, student accommodations

Hillwood Metropolitan Area - expansive, unspecific urban area, main marketplace, apartments, schools. underground cultural haven.

Jump District - upscale part of town, nice stores, ritzy condos. opposite of Endsborough. favorite hangout/residence of hero-types.

Middleville - suburban residence area, lots of families living here.

Jellystone - large park

CITY GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

I am also going to list my ideas for these:

Mayor - Mickey Mouse

Chief Justice - MENTOK THE MIND-TAKER (he’s from Harvey Birdman and he’s a great judge ok google him)

City Councilmen:

Warner Brothers / Chairman - Bugs Bunny

Cartoon Network - Grim

Metro Goldwyn-Mayer - Pink Panther

Nickelodeon - Phoebe Heyerdahl

Hanna Barbara - Top Cat

Disney - Stanford Pines (not Stanley)

Adult Swim - Dr. Mrs. The Monarch

THE GUILD OF CALAMITOUS INTENT

as one might imagine, the hubworld is going to be full of both heroes and villains. to manage the inevitable carnage, i thought i’d borrow an organization from The Venture Bros. the Guild of Calamitous Intent’s purpose (in this au anyway) is to fit villains with their arch-rivals and contain the amount of collateral damage their conflict creates. heroes and villains can only fight one villain/hero at a time, respectively. this is to prevent things like all-out fights between huge numbers of villains and heroes, which would destroy a good portion of the city. as well, there is a limit to how much destruction one pair of arch rivals can cause. charges are incurred otherwise. certain areas are entirely off-limits (schools, hospitals, etc. basically they follow the Geneva Convention here). the presence of the Guild would also be a good explanation for why villains only tend to target one hero most of the time. once one villain/hero is defeated, another one can take be fit to take their place. villains and heroes are both ranked in order of power and resources, and a villain is always paired with a hero of equal rank to allow for the fairest fight. arching outside of guild regulations is strictly forbidden and the Guild will hunt down a rogue villain/hero. groups of villains/heroes that are always together (the Teen Titans for example) will count as a single arch-able entity and will be ranked according to their combined power. So in this universe, Slade would be labeled as the Teen Titan’s arch-enemy.

while the Guild is originally a service for evil characters run by evil characters, they generally play a neutral role in the struggle between good and evil.

but there are bound to be evil doers who are too chaotic to follow guild regulations. these characters have to act in the utmost secrecy or simply be too powerful to be taken out normally; otherwise, the Guild will act upon them. the heads of the Guild are totally anonymous, and, while they’ve worked with the City before to impose certain regulations, they are independent of the government. All villains and heroes must be properly registered, but registered villains ARE NOT guaranteed safety from Homeworld Security. heroes and the police often work together to take down bad guys, and its a hero’s responsibility to keep their respective villain in check.

ANYWAY that’s what I’ve thought up so far for the overarching premise. I STILL NEED A NAME FOR THE CITY

i could just call it Big City a la Sheep in the Big City, but thats.... kinda dumb. idk i’ll think on it.

#mushysays #crossover au #crossover #mass crossover #cartoon crossover #cartoon network #nickelodeon #warner brothers #hanna barbara #animation #tv animation #spongebob #rick and morty #gravity falls #hey arnold #the grim adventures of billy and mandy #fusion fall #animaniacs

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