#the monster friend group ever (with the exception of Mask Clown)

[gabbbyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy]

Doodle Dump including 5 very specific and mostly underrated tnmn characters (ft. Peach)

[mst3kproject]

The Equinox

'Aleczilla51297′ appears to have made a tumblr purely for the purpose of telling me I need to review Equinox and Godzilla vs Hedorah.  I decided to do Equinox first because I’ve already seen Godzilla vs Hedorah, which is one of the preachier Godzilla movies but does have that hilarious bit where the big guy flies by using his atomic breath as a rocket.  If Equinox turns out to be a #fuck this movie entry, then Godzilla can act as a sort of a palate-cleanser.  And so, without further ado:

Something blows up, a woman called Susan dies, and a dude gets run down by a driverless car.  My Dad would feel vindicated – he finds the whole idea of self-driving cars untrustworthy.  The victim, whose name is David Fielding, ends up in a mental hospital, where he tells his story to a psychiatrist.  Seems that Dave, his pal Jim, Jim’s girlfriend Vicky, and Vicky’s friend Susan, headed up into the mountains for a picnic with their old teacher Dr. Waterman. These people are all idiots.

The four young people arrive to find Waterman’s cabin destroyed and a creepy old man living in a cave nearby, who gives them a locked book. Because the characters don’t know they’re in a bad movie, they don’t realize that the book is clearly the fucking Necronomicon, and decide to crack it open and read it while they eat their KFC. To nobody’s surprise, they’re soon being chased around the countryside by dumb stop-motion monsters.  At the end everybody’s dead but Dave, who’s in the mental hospital waiting for the fulfillment of a prophecy that said he would die a year and a day after the original events, but that’s not a spoiler because it was the opening scene.

Let’s go over the shit that happens when these four clowns arrive at Dr. Waterman’s.  The cabin’s destroyed and the park ranger who discusses it with them says his name is Asmodeus.  Does that sound like a signal you should get the hell out of there?  No?  Okay, how about when they find a castle they can’t remember being there before?  Still no?  Well then, on their way to the castle (which later vanishes behind a wall of invisibility, probably because they couldn’t afford interior sets), they come across a cave with Green Goblin laughter echoing out of it, and weird velociraptor footprints all around.  Would you leave, or would you light up some torches and go check it out?  What about when you find a partially-mummified corpse in the cave?

The whole first ten minutes of the flashback that comprises most of the narrative is a litany of things I’m pretty sure anybody would flee from in real life.  I don’t believe much in the supernatural but if I saw all that I would be sure that multiple crimes had been committed and that I wanted no part of it.  The characters of Equinox, however, insist on investigating themselves, and continue to make stupid, stupid decisions for the entire run time.  Yes, let’s all go in a group to check and make sure the monster is dead.  Let’s hang around and bury the bodies ourselves instead of getting back to civilization for a police report and a good stiff drink.  Let’s collect the picnic stuff before we leave because that basket cost at least $15 at Wal-Mart.  It’s the kind of movie where you start to get annoyed that the characters aren’t dying fast enough.  When we finally get back to the opening shot I mainly felt relief that the movie was almost over.

The MST3K movie Equinox most reminds me of is The Day Time Ended: there are people in the middle of nowhere and, for some reason, a bunch of random stop-motiony things happen that never actually add up to a story.  Stuff comes and goes without serving any purpose other than to be creepy.  Who was Crazy Cave Guy?  I at first assumed he was the missing Dr. Waterman but Waterman turns up later and immediately dies, so what’s going on with this other guy?  What’s about the cave mummy… who was that?  Was the man who showed up to snatch the book actually Dr. Waterman or just a demon in his form?  Why is there a random graveyard in the middle of the woods?  Why does the psychiatrist have a creepy monster mask on his wall?  What’s up with Asmodeus apparently trying to rape Susan without even unbuttoning his pants, and later possessing her so that she does the same thing to Vicky?

Dialogue specifies that Dr. Waterman was a geologist, which seems an odd choice for somebody to be translating ancient documents.  I mean, there’s no reason why a geologist can’t have a side interest in ancient manuscripts, but when a movie takes the trouble to tell you something like that there’s usually a reason why.  Geology is never important to the plot, even tangentially.

It must be said that Equinox makes slightly more sense than The Day Time Ended, in that we’re actually given a reason why these events are happening.  Dr. Waterman had acquired and translated the Necronomicon and could not control the demons he summoned (I am convinced that Sam Raimi saw Equinox when he was around twelve and thought, shit, I could make a better movie than this!).  A huge tentacle creature destroyed his cabin, and then there’s the sabre-toothed ogre, the giant green caveman, and of course, the devil himself.  These creatures have a motivation: they are determined to get the book back, whether through force or persuasion.  The events could still happen in any order, but it all has a common core, rather than being just a collection of Concepts.

In capable hands this story could be made to work (see previous parentheses), but sadly none of the hands involved in making Equinox were remotely capable.  The acting is abysmal, mostly just people standing around awkwardly reciting their lines. All the dialogue was then dubbed over in post-production, which makes it even more stiff and awkward.  There’s a bit where a guy reads a letter as if he has to sound out each word.  The direction and music are bland.  Even the costumes are awful.  You’d think it would be hard to fuck up costumes in a movie set in the present, but it looks like everyone just turned up to set in their street clothes and they went with that.  Good costuming can tell us a lot about characters but the outfits here say nothing. Also, both Vicky and Susan are blondes in blue shirts, and once Susan’s hair falls out of its bun they’re basically indistinguishable.

The characters have no discernable personalities.  How they react to things changes from scene to scene, with nobody’s motives clear.  The only thing that remains constant is Jim wanting to leave while Dave always wants to stay and take care of something or other.  Stuff happens that could result in character development but none of it is ever followed up.  The most notable example is when Dave feels terrible guilt over having apparently killed Dr. Waterman, but this is forgotten a few minutes later and we never even find out if the dead man were really Dr. Waterman.

The effects are uniformly bad, but not usually enough so to be entertaining in themselves.  The castle is an obvious matte painting and the stuff on the other side of the portal, whether it’s Hell or the Dark Dimension or I don’t even know, is just the same spot in the woods with an orange filter over it.  There’s a stupid spinning thing used to represent Asmodeus exercising assorted dark powers.  The devil and the sabre-toothed ogre are both stiff and shitty stop-motion puppets.  The animation is surprisingly competent for a movie with the budget of Jr. High drama club, but they’re still not good.  The one exception is the giant green caveman, which looks dumb but is quite convincing as occupying space and interacting with the characters.

One might expect that this movie would be about the temptation of evil.  The monsters in it are summoned using a book of dark knowledge, and in trying to get the book back Asmodeus offers Jim anything he wants – money, prestige, women, you name it.  Problem is, there’s never any sign that the main characters are in fact tempted.  The crazy guy in the cave wants nothing from the book except to get rid of it.  He passes it on to Dave and Jim with evident glee.  Dr. Waterman’s interest in it, according to his notes, was purely scientific.  He summoned demons just to see if he could do it, but he doesn’t appear to have gained anything thereby except the knowledge that it works.  The main characters never even attempt to use the book, even to get themselves out of this mess, they just run around trying to keep it out of the hands of the monsters.  I’d say it’s like if every character in The Lord of the Rings was book-Faramir, but only a colossal nerd would use an example like that.

Honestly, I think this movie was about the wrong characters.  Dr. Waterman’s process of discovering the book and learning to use it, only to realize he’s unleashed things he cannot control, would probably have been a much more interesting story.  The characters from this film could have shown up at the end to fish the book out of the mess, with the implication that they will be its next victims.  This would have been a much better way to explore the ideas of temptation, making a Faust-like character out of Waterman as he is tempted not by riches or fame, but by knowledge and power.

Equinox is not quite #fuck this movie bad.  In order to earn that tag, a film has to be unwatchably dull and/or morally repugnant. I didn’t have any trouble sitting through Equinox but I also didn’t really enjoy the experience.  As movies about demonic forces go, it’s pretty bland and nothing much really seems to happen.  I guess that means I have to forgive Aleczilla51297 for sending it to me, but I’m still looking really forward to a Godzilla film or two.

[theofficialstereklibrary]

Hi! You're awesome :) Since Halloween has come and gone, could you possibly do an update with any of the new/newer Halloween themed fics? Thank you so much!!!

Sure! Normally I only do 5 fics per post when updating a tag but I’ll make this one longer since it’s not usually updated outside this time of year! - Jeep

In Our Town Of Halloween by HaleHathNoFury (My_Trex_has_fleas) (12,908 | 3/? | E)

It's Halloween, the one night of the year the Hale wolves and their pack get to let it all hang out. Unfortunately for them, someone is on their trail and looking for revenge.

What happens next will change everything.

A Chopped Off Arm by Scared_Beings_in_the_Dark (4,131 | 1/1 | T)

Stiles drags Scott to the haunted house out in the preserve because last year, a total stranger asked him to cut off his arm while he was going through it. And while that was startling, Stiles couldn’t help but notice how cute he was in spite of looking like death's close cousin, so he has returned—not to dismember him but to get his number. Too bad the stranger has other plans. In other news, someone has poisoned Derek. Again.

Mockingbird, Can't You See? by waitingforjudas (3,662 | 1/1 | E)

The third time just might be the charm; if Derek can get out of his head and trust Stiles, that is.

Trick or Treat by aussiebee (1,635 | 1/1 | G)

Those trick or treaters Derek scared? Yeah, maybe he should have scared them a little better.

If You Wanna Be My Lover by acercrea (1,480 | 1/1 | T)

Stiles volunteers to do a Spice Girls group costume when Malia drops out and they all go out clubbing. Also, the dress is supposed to be that short.

Batman Meets Werewolf by Freshnonsense42 (2,713 | 1/1 | T)

While out trick-or-treating with his family, Derek meets Stiles. Derek isn't allowed human friends yet, but he and Stiles wind up spending the night together anyway.Stiles might be the best person Derek's ever met.

Halloween by Halevetica (1,744 | 1/1 | NR)

When the pack decides to tour a real haunted house on Halloween, Stiles is less than thrilled, but Derek is there to comfort him.

*Bring on the monsters (bring on the real world) by dearericbittle (dutchmoxie) (11,100 | 1/1 | E)

He was supposed to be making an impression on Lydia, but instead he’s making fun of a terrible werewolf costume. To be fair, those mutton chops remind him of Michael J. Fox in the worst way, and the guy didn’t appear to be too offended. He was too busy smelling Stiles for some reason. He really shouldn’t have forgotten cologne.

reminder (*) means Jeep has read and liked the fic

*totally worth it by EvanesDust (1,519 | 1/1 | T)

With his hand still clutching Cora’s in a death grip, Derek hunches over, trying to catch his breath. He looks back at his sisters to yell at them for making him come, except it’s not his sisters behind him. Directly behind him is the scary clown.

Oh shit.

Screaming, Derek yanks his hand free and falls back, landing with a dull thud.

The scary clown from the box rips the mask off its face and holds its hands out like it's approaching a wounded animal. “It’s okay! I’m not really a clown! I’m 147lbs of pale skin and fragile bones. Pretty sure you could break me, dude.”

reminder (*) means Jeep has read and liked the fic

Trick-Or-Treat (You look good enough to eat) by Jmeelee (1,389 | 1/1 | T)

"Trick or treat, smell my feet. You look good enough to eat.”

At first, Derek thought the statement was directed at him.

Better Off (Un) Dead by suburbanmotel (5,971 | 1/1 | M)

The night before the day before Halloween, Stiles loses a fight with a vampire, eats an unfortunate amount of candy, and falls in love with a newly turned zombie werewolf. Surprisingly, the candy thing is the worst part of the deal.

*Samhain by nightlight9 (20,136 | 1/1 | T)

The ghost of Talia Hale has been showing up in Stiles’ bedroom on the night of Halloween for years. Normally their conversations are pretty normal. But when she shows up screaming about how her daughter is going to be killed, Stiles knows that he’ll do anything to prevent that from happening.

reminder (*) means Jeep has read and liked the fic

[korejinnie]

The 7 Jungian Archetypes of BTS’ Consciousness

BTS has been hitting the idea of Archetypes and personalities since Fake Love era. And now, after MOTS: Persona, we can finally confirm that each member, along with the unique masks projected onto each member during the 2018 Japan MAMA Fake Love Intro, that each of the members represents a different archetype and character. 

There are a total of 12 Jungian Archetypes:

Ruler

Creator/Artist

Sage

Innocent

Explorer

Rebel

Hero

Wizard

Jester

Everyman

Lover

Caregiver

And these 12 archetypes are separated into 4 different categories:

And so from the 12 Jungian Character Archetypes, I found the 7 archetypes that best represents the 7 members of BTS and created the 7 Archetypes of BTS’ Consciousness. (*Note that I incorporated 2 other similar archetypes into 2 of the 7 archetypes because Yoongi and Taehyung are a bit more complicated).

So let’s begin with Hoseok.

- The Jester

This is the Jester/Clown:

"They are the masters who have no emotional connections or family but who cause a spark of interest in us and can have a deep impact on us if we meet one. Humour and wit equate power and with this archetype, looks can be deceiving."

This actually represents Hoseok quite well, as we know he has Munchausen's Syndrome. This is a psychiatric disorder where someone will make up events or illnesses to draw attention/sympathy to himself. All the pills Hoseok took and all the things he said about his illnesses, they’re not real. So in a sense, he lies and manipulates others to gain attention and sympathy from others.

He also has no family because as we know, his mom left him at the amusement park with a bar of snickers when he was really young. Hoseok copes with his illnesses by laughing it off. He is the sunshine, and he makes everyone happy, but that at the same time, drains him on the inside.

- The Innocent/Orphan

This is the Innocent/Orphan:

“The Orphan is the lost child, without a solid identity they have the opportunity to feel deep suffering yet see life for what it is without attachment. Its shadow is its likelihood of becoming the victim, consumed in its loss, much like the Magical child it will assume it will be ‘saved’ and that fate has more strength than its own actions.”

Though Taehyung isn’t actually an orphan, his mother died when he was young and his father was very abusive, which led him to become a lost child. Taehyung accidentally killed his father with an alcohol glass bottle when he saw that his father was abusing his sister and he wanted to protect his sister. Ever since then, he has become a victim of that incident. Taehyung has also been protected by his sister ever since his mother’s death. His sister acted as the mother figure, so for the most part, Taehyung had not much idea what his father was doing to his sister when he was young, nor did he know how to stop it.

This incident, along with his past of fatherly abusement, very soon became his shadow, as he sings about this in the WINGS short film “Stigma”. He gets caught by the police for vandalizing a garage door and every question the police asks him and every answer he replies with hits him like a punch in the face. He’s a lost puppy, and he has no idea what to do. In truth, he just wants to be happy. Taehyung, like a puppy, is innocent and all he wants is to be happy, however, the shadow of his abusive father and his murder incident makes him a victim. 

As we saw in the highlight reel, he actually has a kind heart and is good-natured. He wants to do things right. He attacked his father to protect his sister during “I NEED U”, and he caught the girl who was stealing the backpack in the convenience store and offered to pay for the things she stole for her instead of turning her in for what she did.

- The Explorer

This is the Explorer:

"The explorer leaves home to find themselves, battles monsters and then returns home to slay their own demons. As with all journeys, we travel far from home only to discover that what we were looking for was on our doorstep the whole time.” 

Namjoon, as we know Namjoon lives in poverty as a homeless person. The rest of the boys see Namjoon as a responsible adult that they admire, but Namjoon believes that he does not deserve to be perceived in such a way. Namjoon eventually moves away for a period of time, which is during the same time Taehyung got in trouble and tried calling Namjoon for help.

Namjoon’s fear is being lost in life, yet his greatest weakness is aimless wandering. Homeless people are usually seen as the “misfits” of society, and we see his weakness through this aspect of him as a person. Namjoon wants to experience a better, more authentic, and more fulfilling life. He has bigger dreams for his future... but he decides to forget about his dreams because they seem impossible to him. He has to work at a gas station to make ends meet... so how could he? In “I NEED U” we also see him get in trouble with Taehyung a lot, and this was how it was in HYYH. Taehyung looked up to Namjoon and they were very close together. They were happy together as the misfits of society.

- The Everyman

This is the Everyman:

As we know from The Notes and “SAVE ME” Webtoons comic, when Jimin was young, he witnessed the murder of one of his classmates by a group of gangsters at an arboretum. He then also suffers from a crippling illness that causes him to have seizures. It is unknown if this illness developed after the incident at the arboretum or previous to the incident, but either way, this crippling illness causes him to transfer schools a lot due to his long and regular hospital visits. After he met the rest of the boys, his mood and illness were stable again for a while, but this happiness didn’t last long and he eventually was sent to the hospital again and spiraled back into depression.

Jimin has a fear of being left out and not being loved for his true self. When he was a child his parents were never there for or with him, and he had no friends because of his illness and constant hospital visits. Especially since after the arboretum incident, he was pretty much scarred for life and because he was so terrified, ever since then he never told anyone about the incident nor and tried to forget what he saw.

All Jimin ever wanted was to belong, to feel normal, to be a part of a group. But the downside to that was he would lie in order to seem “normal”. He would lie so he could be liked, and so he could be accepted. This is evident throughout the highlight reels and Jimin’s WINGS short film “Lie”.

When Hoseok and the girl he liked was dancing together, Jimin secretly filmed them dancing. As soon as the girl realized that Jimin was filming them, she told Jimin to come and join their dance practice, but Jimin felt shy and embarrassed and instead refused the girl’s invitation. In “Lie”, Jimin knew about the aboretum incident, and he knew a lot more than he was telling the hospital, or whichever facility he was being put in. But when the camera pointed to him and the robot hand showed him a card, seemingly asking him if he knew something, he lied by smiling.

- The Caregiver

This is the Caregiver:

“The caregiver feels stronger than other people. They want to protect people from harm and try to prevent any danger or risk from threatening other people’s happiness.”

Jungkook, as the youngest boy out of the friend group, looks up to his hyungs a lot. As we know, Jungkook’s mother and stepfather ignore him when his stepbrothers beat him up, which leads him to have suicidal thoughts. But he soon found happiness after meeting the 6 other boys and he becomes very close with Yoongi. However, this happiness didn’t last long, because one day, after a teacher hit Jungkook for misbehaving, Yoongi stood up for Jungkook but unfortunately got expelled from school. Ever since then, Jungkook felt guilty for getting Yoongi expelled. 

Jungkook has a fear of letting his hyungs down and he hates to see his hyungs unhappy. He wants the best for his hyungs, but oftentimes he would end up sacrificing himself in order to make up for his hyungs’ happiness. Jungkook always wants to protect and care for his hyungs, and he is very compassionate and generous when it comes to the people he loves and cares about.

And we definitely see this in Fake Love and Euphoria. In Fake Love, everyone else traded an item that represented each of their fears for a positive attitude, except Jungkook. Jungkook recieved a key that would open the door to the Singularity room. Many Armys have theorized that this key would open a room that’s similar to Pandora’s Box, but in our case, Jungkook traded himself instead, for his Hyung’s happiness. We see later on, after he traded himself for the key, that he ran around the fake love house and had to experience every single one of his hyungs’ deepest fears in order to understand how they truly felt. At the beginning of “Euphoria” and in “I NEED U”, Yoongi tried to commit suicide by lighting his room on fire in hopes of dying in the fire. In “SAVE ME” Webtoons comics, we see that Yoongi almost always seems to end up either dying or getting injured in the fire that he caused within his apartment room. In Euphoria and SAVE ME, Jungkook was the one who runs into the room to help pull Yoongi out of the fire and save him. 

He tries to sacrifice himself and his happiness in exchange for his Hyungs’ happiness.

- The Rebel/Destroyer

“The rebel is a transgressor. They provoke people and don’t care at all about other people’s opinions. As a result, they like going against the grain and thinking for themselves. The negative side of the rebel archetype is that they can become self-destructive.”

Yoongi, as we know, used to love playing the piano because his mother taught him how to play. However, after his mother died in a fire, Yoongi was traumatized by that incident and ever since then, Yoongi blamed himself for his mother’s death and became suicidal and depressed. He would frequently smoke and drink as ways to help cope with his depression and PTSD.

And it’s because of this traumatic experience, that he started to become careless of those around him and how they felt. He would use self-destructing methods to harm himself because he feels guilty for his mother’s death. In the SAVE ME webtoons, during one of Jin’s time-traveling sequence, Yoongi tried to commit suicide. After Jin pulled Yoongi out of the burning apartment and called the ambulance to help rescue Yoongi from the fire, he blamed Jin because Jin was the reason why he was still alive and he asked them why Jin couldn’t just let him die in the fire.

- The Sage

“The Sage archetype seeks the truths that will set us free. Especially if the Sage overcomes the temptation of dogma, it can help us become wise, to see the world and ourselves objectively, and to course-correct based on objective analyses of the results of our actions and choices. The Sage is a seeker after truth and enlightenment and journeys far in search of the next golden nugget of knowledge. The danger for the sage and their deep fear is that their hard-won wisdom is built on the sand of falsehood.”

I’ve previously explained in my “BU Storyline Summary” why Jin is the only real character throughout the entire BU storyline and how the BU storyline is about his journey to finding his soul and learning to truly love himself, eventually reaching enlightenment.

Now, Jin has a fear of knowing the truth, but deep down inside, he has a strong desire to understand the truth (it’s kind of confusing but just think of it in this way: After taking a test, you have a strong desire to know what grade you got, yet simultaneously you also don’t want to know what grade you got because you fear you got a bad grade). This entire journey throughout the BU timeline consists of Jin, through his mental illnesses and obstacles, trying to break down the barriers and defeat his inner dragon (AKA his mental challenges). 

In a way, Jin represents all the boys, and all the boys represent Jin. The aspects of the Sage can be found in nearly all 6 other archetypes, and all 6 other archetypes can be related in some way or another to The Sage.

So, this theory took me a good 5 hours to make, and I have no idea why. This took way longer than it should have, but I hope it makes sense and also helps to clear up some questions you previously had regarding the BU timeline/storyline and theories uwu.

[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 1, Act 3: 110’37’’ (110 Minutes, and 37 Seconds)

Daily Life

Kaede was the last to enter the AV room, as she made sure to remind everyone to come down before making the trip herself. Kokichi was on Gonta’s shoulders making sure everything up there was hooked up the way Miu wanted it, while everyone else had taken what seats they could. The Monokub pads were still in the same order Kaede and Kokichi had previously agreed upon since this was their idea.

Kokichi had initially wanted to do the opposite order of who voted for what, so those who didn’t want to see the videos went first. Kaede couldn’t tell at the time if it was out of petty spite against them disagreeing with him or to give them an excuse to leave early if they really wanted to, so she decided to quietly believe the latter. That didn’t stop her from making her own changes to it, like being against keeping Ryoma’s last since he was most interested in what could be inside it.

It boiled down to Kokichi and Kaede first since they pushed for this, then Miu so she could go back to her projects if she felt she needed to. That did result in Kokichi pestering what she had commissioned from the inventor but he eventually dropped it in favor of focusing on the task at hand. Ryoma was most eager so he would be next, followed by Korekiyo since he was against it and they decided Maki would go last. After Korekiyo would be Kaito, Tsumugi, Kibo, Himiko, Tenko, Angie, Kirumi, and then Gonta.

“Why exactly am I the one going last?”

“So you can sit there agonizing about what we’re going to see! Duh. Nee-heehee~”

“No, that’s wrong! We agreed on this to try and respect your wishes best we could. This way if you really don’t want to see your own you can just leave without missing anything else. Angie and Kiyo still at least seemed curious about what their “motives” could be so I thought having them be earlier would be okay.” Angie was making a puffy face as she considered it before she reluctantly nodded in agreement, Korekiyo held his hand to his mask in thought for a while but eventually shrugged his own consent too.

“And so you didn’t try to kill us until after the show’s over!”

“Please don’t talk like that.” Keade scolded, but Kokichi couldn’t care less about the number of glares he got from that comment. “Is this okay with everyone?”

No one else had any objections or questions about when they were going, so when the lights went off everyone settled down to see what exactly Monokuma could have believed would drive them to kill.

“Alright! Back by popular demand, it’s time for the motive video~” Monokuma’s voice crooned out over a title screen proving it was indeed “Kokichi Oma’s Motive Video”.

As it went on it showed Kokichi and his fellow “DICE” members, all but himself in clown themed masks to protect their identities, and explained the nature of this group. How…Innocent his “secret organization” really was despite all of Kokichi’s earlier claims. Honestly, it sounds more like they were an overblown gang of pranksters than the sort of world controlling monsters he liked to paint it as being.

Only 10 members strong, indicating that the 9 masked figures seen here behind their “leader” really were just it. Sounds more like they were his best friends, maybe even practically family for him, rather than “goons” who disliked him as much as he’d claim they did.

They say you can tell a lot about a person by looking at their friends. If this video is accurate this means a lot of what he said has been lies, just trying to trick us into thinking he’s a worse person than he is. How could someone only interested in harmless, petty, nonviolent pranks possibly be enjoying a killing game?

Then the scene changed and the group of 3 girls and 6 boys were behind bars. It’s unclear how badly hurt any of them were but there was blood on their previously spotless (but still ragged) white outfits much like Kokichi’s own and at least one was lying on the floor. At the end Monokuma’s avatar appeared over that image mocking him over how little he knew about the “event” that happened to these people so precious to him, taunting him to try and find out as if graduating could help solve this.

“Well so much for being the Ultimate Evil Leader huh?” Despite his insensitive words Kaito was obviously taken aback by all of this, as if unsure what to do with this information. It made sense to her, as it shows Kokichi does understand the value of teamwork and companionship at least as well as Kaito does. His experience was just in a more close-knit, personal way than Kaito’s astronaut training opened him up to.

“Kaito! I’m… Sorry that your friends are in trouble like this Kokichi” Kaede reached out as if to try patting his shoulder but decided against it due to how closed off his body language became.

“Guess you were lying when you said no one outside would miss a little menace like you back then, huh?” (Seriously Tenko? Now is NOT the time for hateful wordplay! )

“I’m sure they’re fine, this has to be a lie! After all, if their crimes are as petty as it claims they couldn’t be in too much trouble for anything right?” Tsumugi offered to try and lighten the mood.

“Unless it wasn’t just the law they got in trouble with,” Ryoma mumbled as he stared at the screen as if he was lost in a memory of his own.

No matter what anyone said Kokichi just sat there impassively looking forward but Kaede could swear there was a sharpness in his eyes that wasn’t there before and his knuckles were nearly as white as his shirt. For all his talk he really did choose to hold off on watching his video until it was time to do it with everyone else instead of coming in with the upper hand.

As agreed upon as the second ringleader Kaede’s was next. Looks like every video’s going to start with Monokuma making explicit who the video was for by stating their name and talent, which made Maki in particular bristle for reasons unknown.

Next was an image of Kaede’s family, her mother, father, and sister smiling proudly at the camera in front of her favorite piano. She remembers when this was taken, right after her last big show before all of this happened. Then Monokuma starts talking about how close she is to them and how they’re all waiting for her to get back home. But as he starts talking about how worried they’re getting now that she’s been gone for so long without a word, the image changes.

The room’s dark, everything trashed, even her piano was broken now, but worst of all there’s no trace of where her own family has gone. He makes it sound like looking for her lead to them all getting into some sort of accident, and she’s just about ready to throttle him to find out what that is. But only Monokuma! She’d never hurt someone else over this, never her friends. (Except maybe the mastermind if I got my hands on them for causing everyone so much needless pain. For both the living and the dead. )

“Mom, Dad…”

“Wow, Kaede you really are boring aren’t you? Even your lines are sooooo cliche, I think you need to hire a better writer.”

“Oh so now the clown prince of crime has something to say? Leave her alone, this is no laughing matter!” Tsumugi came to her defense this time, only barely beating Kaito to the punch. And in a less literal sense at that, given how his fist is raised.

“But he doesn’t have any scars-” (Seriously Miu, that’s what you’re choosing to take from all this?)

“He wasn’t a clown, that doesn’t count-”

“Can we not ignore Kaede’s plight in favor of arguing about comics right now? This is serious you guys” Kaito managed to get everyone back on track. It was nice to see Tsumugi restrain herself from getting off topic while it lasted, particularly to try helping someone else for a change.

“Indeed, the loss of a family member is no small matter, even if it’s only a vague possibility. At the very least it didn’t show them in any kind of direct distress, that sort of damage to the room could be easily staged or done when they were gone. However I don’t recall you mentioning a sister before, is she your twin perhaps? You both look remarkably similar.” Korekiyo’s offered distraction of a more pleasant type of reminiscing was greatly appreciated so Kaede gladly took it.

“Y-yeah, we’re twins but she’s a bit younger. We get along great, even though I think she’s... kinda bitter she didn’t also turn out to be some sort of Ultimate like I am? Since it’d put me in the spotlight so much, and would end up with her either getting ignored or mistaken for me which is the worst. I mean it’s one thing when we’d want that to happen, but when it’s a genuine mistake it’s just frustrating and awful... We’d do the “twin switch” trick a lot when we were younger, but all our folks ever had to do to tell us apart was stick us in front of a piano, it didn’t even matter what type.”

“Aww, lucky I’ve always someone I could do that with! Hey, Tsumugi do you want to try it sometime with me?” Tenko eagerly asked, cooing about how “cute” it could be.

“Ah, you do remember the Cospox right? That won’t really work out I’m afraid, not unless we both dress up as the same fictional character. A bit of a shame since it does sound pretty fun. Maybe we can think of something similar to do with everyone later?”

“Oh, I think that’s a great idea! We could make a great big party out of it, and everyone can wear fancy outfits! I can do the decorations if Gonta and Ryoma will help me get supplies and put them up~” Angie said.

“I-isn’t that kinda random? And it sounds like a lot of work…” (Himiko says that but she does look interested. Maybe she’d like the chance to have us as an audience for one of her magic shows?)

“Well, it’s an idea for another time at any rate. With how the videos may be we might need this sort of random levity if we can find a way to get everyone involved. Maybe even show off what we can do for each other if we want.” Kaede suggested since it sounded like a fun way to get together for everyone.

“More work for me to do? Let a girl catch a fuckin’ break guys, my stamina's good don’t get me wrong, but even I have my limits. Speaking of let’s just get my vid started so I can leave already okay? Your little “talent show” can come later, just like-”

Right on her cue, Miu’s video did just that, Monokuma’s voice being appreciated for once as no one wanted to know how exactly she was going to finish that thought. (Please let her motive be cleaner than the rest of her.)

All that was seen was what looked like a workshop of sorts. All sorts of half finished projects and equipment could be seen but it’s hard to tell what any of it was supposed to do. Monokuma starts going on and on about how wasted all of her work’s going to be if she can’t leave and get back to them. How no one else cares enough to realize they even exist, much less how to make them carry on her legacy.

He even starts naming a few, a machine that can safely recycle those cheap plastic bags no one knows what do with into things like medical gloves or… Condoms??? Another that would help clean and regulate water supplies when resources are low. Even some that sound like they’re meant primarily for emergency relief efforts or helping the handicapped. But only if they’re finished, they’re useless like this. He goes on to claim she’s useless like this. And how badly the world might need some of these now due to an “event” going on that he refuses to clarify.

“... That’s it?” Tenko breaks the silence that followed.

“WHATT’YA MEAN THAT’S IT YOU BASTARD?! Those are my babies we’re talking about! Do you have any idea how many people I could help with those? I mean sure obviously my “while you sleep” series was my most recent pride and joy, but only because I couldn’t get the headway I wanted on any of those other suckers. I promise they are going to definitely blow those measly little “eyedrop contact” designs I sold way back right outta the fuckin’ water!”

“Wow, that’s really impressive Miu! I had no idea you cared about other people this much.” Kibo looks pretty proud of her actually. This was a surprisingly mature motive for an egotistical and rude girl like her. In a different sort of way than her fellow students were expecting her to be ���mature” at any rate.

“Well duh, why do you think I’m willing to let you fuckers give me requests without charging you out the ass for ‘em in this situation?”

“But… Aren’t you even a little concerned there wasn’t anyone in it?” Angie brought up, which was a good point. The only thing seen in the video were her machines, no friends, family, or coworkers.

“What’s that supposed to mean jailbait?”

“Yeah, everyone else so far had people they obviously cared a lot about and cared about them, so where’s your parents or anything?” (Tenko I’m not sure this is the best thing to be asking about now.)

“Who fucking needs ‘em? Barely do jack for me anyways except give me shit because I point out how school’s a fuckin’ waste of my precious time now.”

“Talk about an ungrateful brat.” Maki’s voice had a new sharpness to it, beyond her normal bluntness. Not that she wasn’t always honest, something just felt more personal this time. (I guess someone who never had any parents would be pretty upset hearing someone else complain about being cared about.)

“H-hey. Th-that’s not true, my work more than earned my keep. They’re the ones who-!”

Miu cut herself off as her voice cracked and Kibo tried to help calm her down. No one bothered asking why there weren’t any of her friends at that point. Given who she is this should have been obvious, but the idea she was this alone regardless of if it was by her own doing was a sobering reality nobody wanted to address. The only other sounds until the next video started was a quiet sniffling.

Ryoma’s video started the same way as those before it, but something clearly went wrong. All that was there when his name and talent were stated was a Monokuma in a yellow hard hat in front of a black screen with yellow “under construction” tape running along the top and bottom. And when he spoke again-

“Unfortunately there is no one in the world who is important to you.”

It didn’t matter what “sympathies” or “apologies” Monokuma gave after that sentence, the damage was done. (It doesn’t even matter if this is real or a lie this time.)

“... I don’t know why I expected anything else.”

“Holy shit. I’m… I am so sorry Ryoma, I had no idea.” Kaede was too stunned to say much else. It was her fault he had to see this.

If only they looked through the videos first, then maybe- No, Ryoma wanted to see this too much for anything to be done barring them trying to make one up, and who knows how that would have gone. Some leader I'm turning out to be, doing my friends more harm than good again .

“Hey, at least this means if you do have people outside that means they’re completely safe from Monokuma!” Tenko tried giving this her own positive spin, but all she was doing was kicking up dust.

“Atua agrees, and wants to remind you that you aren’t as alone as you fear. He says she’s still watching over you and everyone’s wishing you well from the other side-”

“Tell your god to shut up and mind his own business.” (What the hell Angie, what were you expecting him to say to that?! What are you even talking about? You’re as in the dark as the rest of us aren’t you?)

“Well, you do still have your cat right? The Russian blue you talked about before? I’m sure they’re waiting for you and Monokuma just overlooked ‘em because it’s a cat!” Even for Kokichi this attempt at a kind lie sounded pretty weak, and he realized it too, but he was still trying to help the best way he knew how.

I wonder if it’s because he’s feeling just as guilty about this? He was more likely to have peeked at these than I was and we both knew it. This was his plan. How could we have known not all of these videos would be “motives” to get us to commit a murder?

“Are you sure a familiar wouldn’t be enough to count? Miu’s didn’t have humans in it either-”

“Come on man, it’s a fuckin’ cat! That’s way harder to find than my glorious resume, of course this sad sack of shit couldn’t find ‘em. Why’d you think guys have so much trouble finding puss-” It was nice to see Miu managed to bounce back to normal at any rate. Kibo was still holding her hand but she sounded as strong and assured as she always did. Just not nice enough for Korekiyo to let her finish her sentence.

“Do not forget, we all promised to remain friends when we leave this place did we not? Regardless of those who are gone you do still have us here for you should you find yourself in need of our support.” His words here were rather unexpected, normally it’s Kaede to be the first to push the value of this promise. (He was the one that said being a bit insensitive was useful for “avoiding suicidal thoughts”, wasn’t he? Is... Is this hitting too close to home for him too? What if Ryoma’s video isn’t the only like this?)

“Aren’t there some prisons that let you have pet cats too? For therapeutic purposes as I recall. If you must return to prison when this is over we can all try to give a good word for you to have you transferred to one if you’d like.”

And with that, any progress towards a lighter mood they may have been making was gone at Kirumi’s words. The uncomfortable truth hung in the air, souring any positive notions for what’s “outside”.

“Oh fuck. Right, prison’s a thing ain’t it? We’ll be sure to visit you too, as much as we can, okay man?” As well-intentioned as Kaito’s words were it didn’t seem like anything being said was helping Ryoma that much.

But his eyes weren’t as hopelessly empty and blank as they had been when the film first ended, hearing how many people here tried to speak up for his sake, so Kaede considered it a small victory and made a promise to herself to spend more time with him from now on. (Will that make things better or worse? Will it be seen as concern or pity? Will there even be enough time for this to matter anymore?)

That awkward silence stayed until Korekiyo’s video started up. There was something already a bit off about this one, as Monokuma started off talking as if he found this, rather than make it himself, and is making it sound like he’s doing Korekiyo some sort of favor by showing it to him.

This video is an actual video for a change, not the static images with basic animations and voice over of the previous. Ironic the history nerd’s motive is technically the most high-tech, as low as the quality the film may be, as he might have appreciated the more Kamishibai-esque natures of the others. (That’s what that was called right? The thing with the traveling picture based storytellers who’d give candies to children to get them to listen. Maybe not the best comparison, not exactly my field here.)

A young woman appeared in some sort of hospital bed, and this time she’s the one doing the talking rather than Monokuma. She’s clearly addressing her little brother, but something feels very off here. It starts normally enough, she’s repeating some of what the doctors told her, how it isn’t looking good, and that she doesn’t want him to feel guilty over anything since he can’t be there right now. Sounds like they might even be the only family they have right now too, as she doesn’t breathe a word about any parents or other relatives. (But that wouldn’t explain where the money came from for the equipment or his trips.)

But then while it’s like she’s trying to give him advice to stay calm despite how bad her situation is, it almost feels like she’s coaching him on what to do to. “You mustn’t” this, “You mustn’t” that, all in order to hide how he’s feeling from others. And it takes no time at all for him to try and start doing what she says too, though all it really does is keep him quiet at the moment.

He did mention she made his current “uniform” too because she didn’t think his previous one “suited him” right? This is feeling… A bit more controlling than I previously thought. I mean no one would blame him for being upset, none of us have been told our loved one is dying no matter what we do. What sort of motive is this?

Right as it seemed like she was just about done with what she wanted to say, finishing with telling him how much she loves him and how no matter what she’ll always be looking out for him best she can, she’s interrupted by her own coughing.

Her fits’ nearly as violent as Korekiyo’s own shaking, which only gets worse at the sight on the screen. The sight of blood on her hands. Her blood on white sheets.

It’s as doctors start to rush in to try and help, alerted by the machines going off, that the visuals of the video finally cut off. But it isn’t a Monokuma avatar with a vague warning that appears at the end here, just his sister’s voice one last time over the black empty space.

“But remember Korekiyo. Most of all... You mustn’t forget your promise to me. ”

There’s almost a chill in the air at those words, regardless of what this “promise” may be. Even so, despite everything Kiyo’s still clearly trying to maintain his posture and keep quiet like she told him to, even if it isn’t working that well. It even sounds like he may be on the verge of hyperventilating under his mask as Kaede tries nudging his arm to get his attention. It’s not clear if he notices thanks to the layers he’s wearing as he just keeps hugging himself tightly.

“I’m so sorry Kiyo. I had no idea your sister was doing this poorly. No wonder you wanted to get back home to her as soon as you could.” Kiyo starts a bit at Kaede’s words, it looks like he nearly forgot he wasn’t alone.

“I-... Yes, I had mentioned that already hadn’t I?”

“At least we can see the creepy’s just a thing that runs in the family, eh Gimpy?” (What the fuck Miu?! Even if you’re just trying to help lighten the mood that’s uncalled for right now!)

“ I beg your pardon? ” (Yikes. Okay, note do not risk insulting his sister to his face. Ever. He’s scary enough when he doesn’t look ready to kill someone thanks.)

“She did come across as a bit... Intense, didn’t she? B-but I don’t think Monokuma would use this as a “motive” for you if she wasn’t still at least a little okay, right?” (Oh god Tsumugi why, this is Not Helping.)

“Being so spirited in such a state would appear to be a good sign for her overall health and recovery, even if that ending was… Ominous. How long has she been like this if that’s alright to ask?” (Okay thank you Kibo, that helped calm him down a little somehow, his breathing is more even now. Less ragged.)

“She’s been prone to illness since she was a child, some of my earliest memories of her were from visiting her at one hospital or another. This case was rather… different than most of her previous conditions however.”

“What exactly was the promise she talked about?” Angie has an odd look on her face, like something’s troubling her more than the tone that came up with this “promise”. As if she’s only half listening.

“... She was always lonely and often bedridden, so she wanted me to help her… Make new friends while on my travels. So she wouldn’t need to be so alone anymore, even when I was away. Only female companionship though, she was rather adamant on that part, and I’m more than happy to help her.”

Then why did this sound so much more serious than that? That’s kinda a weird thing to make be her parting words, is Monokuma trying to guilt him by making it sound like she thought he hasn’t kept that promise? If she is gone and I’m the first person he’s asked who agreed to it that might be true  He’s got some light back into his eyes now at least, he’s even sounding more like himself again.

“At least she has excellent taste! Limiting herself of the stresses and troubles degenerate males cause will surely help her get better soon. I could try visiting if that might help her too, I’m often told my energy’s “infectious”!” (I don’t think that was meant as a good thing Tenko. Given how his mask twitched it must have been a good enough pun to get a smile from him at least. Unless that’s a grimace. Still progress!)

“If you mean to insinuate my own presence causes her issue I must strongly disagree on that front, as I’m the most consistent company she’s ever had by far. I believe her reasoning was less about worries towards her physical safety as much as it is cultural norms regarding social interactions between genders and her definite lack of female contact in general beyond that of medical professionals.”

“Wow. This explains so much. The weird girliness, the creepy face mask, the sister comple-ow” For Kokichi’s safety Kaede cut him off with a warning jab and a glare. Thankfully Korekiyo missed what he was getting at towards the end, so for now Kokichi gets to live to see another day after all. (Hopefully. If he’s lucky.)

“I could do a show at her hospital… That tends to bring spirits up. Not sure if her problem’s something my level of cure spells can cover at the moment though, sorry…”

“If there isn’t anything too wrong with it we could all give her a visit! She can’t mind some guys stopping by once in awhile right?” (Okay even if boys could be okay you might be a bit much for her Kaito.)

“... Thank you all for your consideration. Shall we move on to the next video now?”

Kiyo definitely seemed less distraught than he did at the start now, but something still felt off. He was still only speaking of his sister in the past tense, made more concerning by how his sister’s footage makes his video feel older than the others have so far, but at least he was making future plans. Albeit only ones that can happen if his sister’s still stable when everyone gets out, and not ones that directly involve him.

It does feel less awkward to think of him as “Kiyo” now, so at least some of this as a bonding experience is working right? Or maybe it’s because of how wrong his name sounded when his sister was saying it. Not really looking forward to meeting her anymore, but I can’t really afford to tell him that yet. Too soon.

Kaito’s was next to come. A photo of him in his astronaut gear standing between an elderly couple appears that Monokuma identifies as his grandparents. It changes to the couple sitting on a couch looking concerned, and like Kiyo’s this is actually real footage of them, though it’s less grainy than his video was.

They talk about how all they want is for him to never give up and keep on living, not just for himself but for them too. Monokuma’s voiceover then cuts in and claims the two got into some kind of accident right after this interview, but as is typical he refuses to go into any more detail than that.

“Oh, wow Kaede I’m sorry. Really I am! Kaito’s is waaay more boring than your video was.”

“OI SHUT THE HELL UP YOU BRAT-”

“Easy there Kaito, you’re fine and I’m sure they are too. They certainly looked safer than other examples so far yeah?” Kaede put a hand on his shoulder and helped push him back into his seat, saving Kokichi’s face from a punch to the jaw for at least a few minutes longer. Hopefully. For a boy with such a cute face he sure doesn’t care much about keeping it that way.

“If they don’t know about the killing game, why would they be so concerned about you “surviving”?” Maki’s voice cut in like a knife. “Is there something you aren’t telling us?”

“Jeez Maki Roll, you worry too much. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate it and it’s pretty cute for you, but it’s not like that. It’s just astronaut training’s very stressful and the job itself is dangerous ya’know? They’ve always been a coupla worry warts, no biggie.”

“What have I told you about calling me that?”

If looks could kill, his grandparents would be very upset with all of us right now. But she isn’t objecting to the fact she cares which is a lot of progress for her! Great job Kaito. Now PLEASE stop trying to make your way to an early grave for once?

“Oh gawd, please take this weird flirting elsewhere so we can move along already, okay?” (Kokichi why does it feel like I’m putting more work into keeping you alive than you are!?)

One strongly restrained but furious Maki and a securely duct taped Kokichi later everyone was indeed ready for the next video. Time to see if Tsumugi can win out in the contest for “least interesting motive video” or if for once she won’t be able to claim to be the plainest person in the room.

Its opening was as plain as one could expect for her, an image of Tsumugi with one of her cosplaying groups with Monokuma talking about how much she loves working with them. Sounds like they even did other types of fanworks too, something about writing and designs.

Most of the references flew of Kaede’s head since she couldn’t really identify “who” anyone was meant to be or if this was what they genuinely looked like. Then came the transition to a shot of where they worked in tatters, much like Kaede’s, with one of their abandoned buttons with a streak of blood on it in a way Kaede’s fairly certain she’s seen on a graphic novel cover somewhere before. (I don’t recognize this logo though. Is it DR as in “Doctor” or an abbreviation for a multi-word title? That red mark feels familiar, like it’s on the tip of my tongue, but I just can’t place it.)

“And here comes the “oh no some event happened! Find out what, next time on Monokuma’s mystery theater!” teaser at the end just like all the others, see? Nothing special.” Tsumugi says this but she’s clearly nervous about what she’s seen. It’s impressive what a brave face she’s been able to keep, though it may help unlike the rest of them she has had time to process this already.

“I’m suddenly grateful he didn’t actually try to call them that.” Kaede joked before asking, “Still, aren’t you worried more about them? It looked to me like seeing that button freaked you out a little.”

“W-well of course I am, I mean there was blood on it and everything! But I’m a part of a lot of groups you know? So if one of them was in trouble I’m sure one of the others would be trying to help them out, since there’s a lot of loose connections like that with us. I don’t think Monokuma could have possibly done something to all of my close friends since a bunch of them aren’t even in Japan, so I’m just… Choosing not to think about it.”

As she didn’t look too worried about all of this the group quickly let the topic drop. Avoidance may not be the best response to have in a situation like this, but at least it isn’t anything more dangerous.

As the videos had hit an almost pleasant lull in their severity everyone decided to take an intermission, to stretch their legs and whatnot. Despite earlier concerns though no one decided to stop watching with the others though, even Miu claimed she wanted to stick around to at least see Kibo’s since her workload wasn’t that bad now that she thought about it. (I wonder if that means she’s nearly finished already?)

On the way out to the hallway, Kaede pulled Ryoma aside.

“H-hey, listen about the video-”

“I’m not going to do anything stupid if that’s what you’re worried about. Nothing’s really changed for me after all. I won’t be putting everyone’s lives in danger over something like this.” (Ouch. I wasn’t really thinking about what might happen if a body was found without a murderer. That could be dangerous.)

“I wasn’t- I didn’t think you were going to. I just wanted to make sure you know how much we really do care about you. You may try to keep all of us away but you’re still our friend here. Nothing you’ve shown to us indicates you are a bad person, no matter what you may have done in the past. So please, why not let us get to know you? This might sound selfish or arrogant but… Maybe we can become your reason for living if you can’t find one on your own.”

“You’re right, that does sound pretty selfish. But in an honest, naive kinda way. I… Appreciate what you’re trying to say. Thank you. I’ll think about it. But I promise I’m not going to do anything drastic. I’m not sure Kiyo can say the same thing. He’s weird, and something about him has never really felt right to me, but you might want to check in with him next if this is going to be a “thing” for you right now. I don’t think he’s a bad kid, and I may be reading things wrong here, but his motive seemed more like mine than one to lead to a murder if you know what I mean. And unlike Miu, he isn’t all that close to anyone in particular from what I’ve seen.” (Well with how creepy he is that is kinda expected. But he’s right.)

“Yeah, I thought as much too. Thank you, Ryoma. And if you ever need to talk I’ll listen, okay?”

He gave a bit of a smile as he walked away. Far from a happy grin but less melancholic than those before, probably meant to comfort Kaede more than anything else. It looked like Kaito was running up to him too, probably with something similar to say. She overheard the word “training” but not much else, so it sounded like maybe he was setting up a way to spend more time with the former tennis star. Kaede couldn’t really focus on that though as she tried finding where Kiyo’s gone off to.

She didn’t need to go very far as it turns out as he was muttering to himself in the library across the way.

Looking around in the corner Rantaro died in. It’s still a small comfort the books were put back to how they probably were originally rather than in that death tr  No. Not. Now. This is much more important.

“You okay there Kiyo?” Kaede softly asked, but the answer was obvious as he nearly jumped and seemed to wipe away some tears before he turned to face her.

“A-ah, hello! I hadn’t heard you come in, my apologies. I’m doing better I believe, nothing to be overly worried about I assure you.”

Nope, he stuttered and I was the one able to sneak up on him for a change. That’s enough to be at least a little worried about, even if he didn't look like he's been crying. Not that I haven’t heard him when he’s come up to me before nope, definitely have never been spooked by a certain creepy too tall ninja man. Which is kinda weird come to think of it, with how good my hearing is and the fact that he’s always wearing those heavy boots  FOCUS KAEDE!

“Well if you’re sure. I just wanted to let you know that if you need someone to talk to or anything you can always come to me about it okay? I’m sorry you had to see something like that.”

“Thank you, that is very kind of you to offer. But I’ll be alright... I was just getting a book to read later, in case the films to come make sleep difficult to reach tonight.” (More like the one you've already seen, but okay.)

“Hmm, that sounds like a good idea. What exactly do they have here?”

The ten-minute break passed by pretty quickly like that, since there were a lot of books to look through and most of them looked dreadfully boring. Kaede did find a cute looking romance novel though, which would hopefully come in handy. She couldn’t really tell what the book Kiyo found was about, as the title was in Russian or something. The mood in the AV room certainly felt better now than it did before their intermission, as everyone began coming back in to see what else Monokuma had in store for them.

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[reapersmacabreundertaking-blog]

What Happened to Haunted Houses being fun?

Am I a disillusioned adult? Were haunted houses fun when I was a kid, only because I was a kid? Is it because when I went in high school I paid with some cash my parents gave me and not my hard earned freelancer (half the year I work, half I’m unemployed) paycheck, that I am so hard on haunts now? Honestly my last post was on October 18th prime Halloween season so what happened to all my other horror posts?! I went to a horror movie all nighter at The New Beverly which was great. Then I went to two more haunted houses and that’s when I started to get disillusioned about this season and haunts in general (which is what this blog will be about), then I went to a Halloween party dressed up as Herbert West and no one knew who I was, but then again I know I need more horror buddies. That was the end of my Halloween season, a bit of a bust.

When talking about CreepLA I wanted something more authentic to the Halloween spirit. Monsters, frights, blood, tension, gore that’s all this girl wanted. So I decided to ditch the LA atmosphere and go to Orange County to see what they had to offer. My first stop was Sinister Pointe. While waiting in line the guy doing line patrol was telling us that there were 4 mazes and that each one had different “escape room” activities – I put the parentheses for a reason. My friend and I showed up rather early and the line was short, but they only allowed a few people in at a time so that each group got “their own experience”- also parentheses.  We get in after waiting too long for that short of a line, we take a picture, then we go to a tarot card table to pick which maze we get to go to, all good. Then the atmosphere….. black painted wood boards for walls, with random symbols painted on them, nothing very imaginative and as plain as can be. Or first “escape room” was us crawling under fake barbered wire, the second one was us walking under a suspended fake body, the others were so not special I forgot what we did, it says a lot that I remember we walked under a fake body and forgot the rest. As for the solo experience by the end of the maze we were following about three other couples, so why did we wait so long? Most of the population that inhabited the haunt and was supposed to scare us were men in black wearing paintball masks, or people in robes with no special make up, aka more boring stuff. There wasn’t much smoke used so you clearly saw how shoddy the set up was. After we we were done, one maze was enough, no need to waste our time on something that will most likely be the same drabness.

Haunts don’t need to be multi million dollar Hollywood productions, to be effective. I loved the park district haunted forests when I was a kid. Why was the kid friendly haunted forests better? CREATIVITY! Different sets, different characters, I actually saw effort in the production. Giving me plastic gory bodies, and blood for 20 minutes doesn’t peak my interest it’s all just one note. Colors, noises, props they all add to the experience, just like the reason I go to horror movies- I want to see some familiar aspects but then I also want to see something new. You can’t shroud something in darkness and have people jumping out every so often and call it a haunt, it takes effort - let me see some heart (figuratively and literally- of course). This makes me wonder who creates haunts, do they like horror? That’s a question for another time. And well I thought that Sinister Pointe was going to be the worst on my trip... oh silly me.

 My friend departed and since I was in the area I decided to go to another haunt. This one is called 17th Door. I walked in and in the lobby you have to sign a wavier. To me that meant “Alright they mean business” the scare business that is. Then you read the wavier: triggers like bullying, abortion, implied child and sexual abuse, eating disorders etc. are present in this haunt. To me I was like hmmmm, have I never notice those things before in other haunts? That seems like a strange concept but I’m sure it’s minimal. My warning DON’T spend money on any haunt that has that in a wavier DON’T DON’T DON’T!!!! The storyline is not fun nor should be used for fun purposes. Actors showed a girl getting bullied online, a girl (same girl, the story was about one girl) getting beat and yelled at by her boyfriend, then the girl trying to have a coat hanger abortion, and in the end the girl suffocating her baby and throwing it in the trash. I paid to be entertained, these themes are not entertainment they are depressing, offensive and sick in this context and not scary. The only surprise I felt was how far they took those themes and how anyone thought this was a good idea. Yes I did sign a wavier, and it said those things on the wavier. But haunted houses are supposed to be fun, why would this concept ever be considered? Looking on Yelp they still have high reviews. I will say they had two good rooms but out of 17 that’s not worth my money. People who said this was fun or scary I don’t understand.

  Yes I’m a girl that likes horror films that usually include gore, sfx, violence, I can handle that because I know what I am getting into, I’m settling in, to be grossed out and scared. Haunts are the same, they are supposed to create a safe space for imaginary scares. Instead the 17th Door abused that privilege and created a space that exploited themes just because they could. In the wavier it says that the haunt follows a troubled girl. Why troubled? Using it first you are describing the girl so is she unsettled? Is she disturbed? Is some imaginary evil hounding her? NO. Instead she is a girl in distress, a girl that needs some help, a girl in trouble. Her “trouble” was not entertaining, nor done with any respect at all. The only reason I am glad I went is so I know that horrible haunts like this exist and I will be more prepared next year, and aware about reading those waivers closely.

 I went to Chicago and I decided to try some more haunted houses. I bought tickets for House of Torment and 13th floor. Both haunted houses were produced by Thirteenth Floor Productions and they have haunted houses across the country. After experiencing what I did in LA I cannot recommend those haunts enough. They get it! Great set design. Honestly there were times I would stop in the haunts and just gape at the beautiful lighting design. So with great set design and lighting they gave you an experience! There were a bunch of lighting tricks and room setups that I had never experienced before. On top of that they throw in some ghouls and monsters, thank you; this is fun, this kept my attention, got me excited, made me nervous for what could be next, and made me smile because I had fun, mostly because the atmosphere allowed me to have fun. Both haunted houses had different stories so I didn’t regret going to both. Seek these out if you want a true haunted house experience. They helped to restore my faith for next year.

 So am I a disillusioned adult? Maybe. I feel like haunts don’t respect the need to have monsters, a spooky atmosphere, scary clowns (scary clowns are always a hit) basically the pure joys of what Halloween is – scary, offbeat, creative and safe; and a bit bloody. Or haunts think that we are so screwed up and desensitized that anything can be entertainment. I feel like I need to discover those companies and people that want customers to have a good time, sadly those seem to be few and far between, but I won’t stop searching. 

Please next year be good.

NOTE: I will say Halloween Horror Nights is pretty fun, not scary it’s pure camp, (except for the extremely well done Texas Chainsaw Massacre- HHN surprises me time to time) just go early and not on a weekend to miss those lines!!

 NOTE: Also from now on I will read the bad reviews for haunts on Yelp first, they seem a lot more truthful than the others and more attuned to the experience for people that love haunts.

[stacks-reviews]

Must Reads Part 4

Sorry for the late posting. This week has been fairly crazy for me. And I’ve been addicted to Horizon Zero Dawn lately.  This week contains the everyday life of a super girl, music that can summon monsters, cloning, toys that come alive, and much more.

--A Song for Quiet (Persons No Grata #2) by Cassandra Khaw (8/29/17) Deacon James, a rambling bluesman with a saxophone that now refuses to call up his audiences. It summons monstrosities from across different dimensions. According to a stranger named John Persons, Deacon has a seed in his head that could destroy the world if it grows. The music in Deacon’s head is growing stronger and he won’t be able to hold it back for much longer. This is actually the second book in this series but as far as I can tell you do not need to read the first book before reading this one. The first book; Hammers on Bone, follows John Persons which we’ll get into more a bit further down the list. He will make an appearance in this book but I am not sure how much of a role he’ll play. What made this one a must read for me was the description makes it sound really good and I like reading books where music is some form of magic.

--The Adventures of Super Girl by Faith Erin Hicks (6/27/17) “What if you can leap tall buildings and defeat alien monsters with your bare hands, but you buy your capes at secondhand stores and have a weakness for kittens?” The everyday tales of a super girl as she saves people, as she updates her family on how she is doing, and as she tries to keep a part-time job but forgets to remove her mask before work. With an arch-nemesis who’s only superpower is letting our hero know she is doing the superhero thing wrong. This particular version of this graphic novel is a expanded edition. It was originally printed in 2013 but has been reprinted a few times since. This edition will include two new stories and new art. I have never read it before but I really wanna give it a try. 

--The Alchemist of Loom (Loom Saga #1) by Elise Kova A society oppressed by the Dragon King when the Five Guild’s resistance fell. Ari lost everything when the Dragon King took over. Now she uses her gift for clockwork machinery to oppose the Dragon oppressors to the highest bidders of the underground organ market. Dragon Cvareh would prefer to see his sister take the throne from the Dragon King. To overthrow the King he seeks aid from the Alchemist Guild and Ari will be the one to take him there. For a price. A wish of her greatest desire. Particularly drawn to this title because dragons. Not sure yet if they are people just called dragons or if they can turn into them. And it sounds a little steampunk. I’m curious as to what kind of clockwork machinery Ari can do.

--Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children #1) by Seanan McGuire Children always disappear. They slip through shadows under the bed, fall down rabbit holes, and into old wells into magical lands. At least until the magical land no longer needs you. Nancy disappeared once. And now she is back at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children. Every child there longs to find a way back into their fantasy world. But with Nancy’s return things start to change. There’s more darkness than before and it is up to Nancy and her friends to find out is going on and to stop it. I’ve always enjoyed the idea of what happens to the hero after the battle is over. When the world no longer needs saving. It has become a trend lately among anime, manga, graphic novels, and books lately. But it remains an interesting idea to pursue. I haven’t read very many books that follow this idea but I have found that it feels a little lacking in some areas. I get the feeling that I’ve missed something along the way. Like jumping into the middle of a long running series. But this children’s (?) novel sounds like it will do a better job since there is a new problem to handle after the fact.

--The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth #1) by N.K. Jemisin “This is the way the worlds ends...for the last time. A season of endings has begun. It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world’s sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester. This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no return.” It was the description. Pure and simple. I’m really intrigued and would like to see what happens.

--Hammers on Bone (Persons Non Grata #1) by Cassandra Khaw Private investigator John Persons is a being ancient and magical being. He has been hired by a ten-year-old boy to murder the boys stepdad. The stepdad in question is an abusive and abominable monster. No problem for a monster killer like Persons. Except it isn’t just social evils the stepdad is carrying. He hosts an alien presence and is spreading it everywhere he goes. Persons has to stop him without releasing his own horrifying potential. I heard about the sequel (A Song for Quiet) before I heard about this one. I do like the sound of this one but I think I am more excited for the second book. 

--The Management Style of the Supreme Being by Tom Holt (6/20/17) The Supreme Being and his son decide that they no longer wish to be supreme. So they decide to sell. Our new owners; the Venturi Brothers, have a few ideas how the world should really run. They don’t care for Good and Evil and decide to rid the world of right and wrong. But one of the old gods didn’t want to move out and he needs to know if you’ve been naughty or nice. I was first drawn to the title and I like the idea behind it. That our universe is more or less run like a company and can be sold. Not really sure how Santa will play into or why. Especially considering that this comes out in June. Unless this is for the paperback edition. Which I forgot to check when I looked this book up. But it still sounds good.

--Mechanica (Mechanica #1) by Betsy Cornwell Nicolette’s stepsisters have nicknamed her ‘Mechanica’. But a name chosen to insult her, fits Nicolette quite well. Her mother was an inventor until she passed away. One day Nicolette finds a secret workshop in her house and starts to imagine that she might be able to build herself a better life with the help of a mechanical menagerie and a tiny metal horse. The upcoming royal ball may just be the place to make her escape. She may even find her prince there but what if she doesn’t want a fairy tale happy ending after all? A retelling of Cinderella. What sold me here was that Nicolette might not have a traditional fairy tale ending. That you don’t always need a prince to make it happen. Whether or not that will be the case, we’ll just have to wait and see.

--More of Me by Kathryn Evans To the world Teva appears to be a normal teenage. But she holds a secret. Because of a genetic abnormality, Teva unwillingly clones herself every year on her birthday. The former Teva is then stuck at home, forced to give up her life. Forced to lose friends and boyfriends. And each year home becomes more and more like a battleground. Soon this Teva will be forced to give up her life as well. Desperate to hang on to her life, Teva starts to find out more about her past in order to set herself free. What really drew me to this book is each time I read the description I am reminded of Doctor Who. Of the line, “I can still die. If I’m killed before regeneration, then I’m dead. Even then, if I change, it feels like dying. Everything I am dies. Some new man goes sauntering away...and I’m dead.” Except for in More of Me, Teva gets to watch as a new; slightly older, version of herself takes over.

--Ollie’s Odyssey by William Joyce To become a child’s favorite is the highest honor a toy can achieve. Billy’s favorite is a bear with rabbit ears named Ollie who was made by Billy’s mother. But not all is happy within the world of toys. Zozo, a toy clown who was never chosen by a child seeks to capture all the favorite toys until they are forgotten by their children. Ollie is taken by Zozo when he was accidentally left under a table by Billy. It is up to Billy to sneak into Zozo’s lair to rescue Ollie and all the other favorites. I first picked this up because I thought it was a children’s graphic novel; it is not. But the story sounded really good so I bought it. I haven’t read it yet. 

--The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente Six interconnected stories about female superheroes, wives of superhero’s, and girlfriends of superhero’s. How they have been abused, killed, brainwashed, and generally used to progress a male superheroes story.

--Renegades by Marissa Meyer (11/7/17) The Renegades are a group of super powered prodigies who helped establish peach and order to a crumbled society. They are a symbol of hope and justice. Except to those that they overthrew. Nova hates the Renegades and wants vengeance for what they’ve done. I really enjoyed Marissa Meyer’s Cinder Chronicles and am interested in trying out something new by her. 

--The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson A linguistic helps translate some mysterious documents for a shadowy government agent. The documents provide clues that magic once existed on Earth but the scientific revolution and Age of Enlightenment weakened it; if not wiped it out completely. Now they will try to bring it back into the modern world. When I first read the description I immediately thought of Arrival (which is a really good movie). I’m curious to read just how scientific advancement affect the flow of magic and how they might be able to be used in tandem together.

--Strange Attractors by Charles Soule and illustrated by Greg Scott (6/20/17) Dr. Spencer Drownfield claims to have saved New York City from itself in 1978. Ever since he has been tinkering with the people of New York to keep the city afloat. A young mathematician is chosen as his successor. Is there truth to Dr. Spencer’s claims about how the Butterfly Affect and his complexity math applies to the city’s patterns. Or is it simply the raving of a broken man as he tries to make sense of the world around him. I like the idea of a person secretly ‘tinkering’ with people in order to save his city. And at first I thought it would be done on a real power but now I am not so sure. It may end up being more on a reflection of how we interact with the world and try to understand our place in it. Either way, the story sounds good.

--Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein “Valentine Michael Smith is a human being raised on Mars, newly returned to Earth. Among his people for the first time, he struggles to understand the social morals and prejudices of human nature that are so alien to him, while teaching them his own fundamental beliefs in grokking, watersharing, and love. I’m not sure on the setup here. If it’s a human who grew up on a Mars inhabited by Martians or if he grew up on a Mars populated by humans. My guess is going to go more toward the first option. I really like the idea of this kind of culture crash.

--That Inevitable Victorian Thing by E.K. Johnston (10/3/17)  Set in a world where the United States never existed. Victoria-Margaret is the crown princess and direct descendant of Victoria I. Margaret will soon be married due to an genetically arranged matchmaking due to imperial law. Before her marriage, she will have one summer to spend incognito in the far reaches of her empire. There she will meet Helena Marcus, daughter of the empire’s greatest placement geneticists. And August Callaghan, the heir of a powerful shipping firm currently being attacked by American pirates. Together they share an usually bond and will find a way to change the world and get what they want.

--The Waking Land by Callie Bates (6/27/17) Lady Elanna Valtai is fiercely devoted to her King who raised her like a daughter. But when he mysteriously dies, Elanna is accused of murdering him and must flee to her homeland full of magical legends. And to her birth father who was branded a traitor. Now she must confront the powers that have stirred within her and seem to grow as she connects to the natural world. Now Elanna must stop the threat that has chased her to her homeland and rebel against the kingdom she once called home. It reminds me of Uprooted by Naomi Novik and I really enjoyed that book.