#the next post will be very different tonally because I will praise them for their perfomance at GDA | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

superman86to99 · 4 years ago

Photo

Superman #84 (December 1993)

Superman takes a short Paris vacation! Like, one day short. What's the worst that could happen?

Oh, man.

So, for the past few issues, we've been hearing about children being abducted in Metropolis. Now we see that they're being kept inside a giant toy house by some creepy bald man in Quasimodo clothes who seems to be obsessed with toys -- a "Man of Toys," if you will. Side note: no wonder the children haven't been found... all the articles about them are just gibberish! (See clip below.)

The kidnapper thinks that these kids' parents don't deserve them, and that they're much better off here, in an underground hideout with a man who threatens to starve them if they don't play with him. (And I do mean literally play, with action figures and stuff.) Meanwhile, as these children cry for help, Superman is having the time of his life. While helping move a stranded ship with some huge-ass chains, Superman spots a sunken galleon with a treasure chest inside and fantasizes about keeping the booty...

...before turning it over to the authorities anyway, the big boy scout. Then, he wakes up Lois at 6 AM and tells her they should go to Paris right now, which usually means your significant other is having a mental breakdown, but in this case they can actually do it. And so, after deciding that he deserves to use his powers for fun every once in a while, Superman and Lois drop everything and fly to France with super-speed for the rest of the day/issue.

Anyway: back to the child abduction! Cat Grant and her son Adam attend a Halloween party at Adam's school, but there's a disturbed weirdo in a hideous costume lurking among the crowd. Yes, I'm talking about Jimmy Olsen in his Turtle Boy suit.

Shortly after that, a guy in a dinosaur costume (see, all the creeps are dressed as reptiles) lures Adam out of the party with the promise of "superb video games." What child could resist that? Of course, that turns out to be the kidnapper and Adam ends up in his hideout along with the rest of the missing children and, worst of all, not a single "Lextendo" console.

The kidnapper gets angry at Adam when he refers to the toys at the hideout as "old-fashioned junk" (he was REALLY looking forward to those video games), and even angrier when Adam tries to free the other kids. Adam is brave and puts up a good fight, but...

And those were Adam Morgan's final words. "Uh-oh."

Next, we have a pretty harrowing scene of Detective Turpin letting Cat know Adam’s body was found, and Jimmy and Perry White taking her to the morgue to identify the body (most people probably wouldn't bring their former boss to something like that, but Perry sadly knows more than most about losing a kid). As for Lois and Clark, they were gone so long that the Daily Planet had time to print a headline about the murders. The issue ends when the lovebirds walk into the office smiling like two people who just spent the night fooling around in Paris... only to feel like jackasses when they find out what happened.

To be continued!

Character-Watch:

And that's it for little Adam Morgan who, unlike the also tragically diseased Jerry White, didn't even get any post-death appearances. Adam went from a little kid scared of Superman, to a huge brat, to a character who was approaching likeability as of last week. That's why I hate it when DC kills off young characters like Adam or Liam Harper: in long-form storytelling, children represent potential. Look at how much Wally West or Dick Grayson evolved over the years compared to their mentors! Sure, there's a huge probability that Adam would have ended up disappearing from comics for 25 years anyway, but who knows, maybe we'd now know him as Teen Gangbuster or something. GangbusTEEN.

This issue also represents a turning point for the kidnapper, who is never named or seen clearly in the story itself but I don't think I'm shocking anyone by spoiling the fact that he's Toyman (it's in the cover, for one thing). In his last two appearances before this storyline, Toyman helped Superman save some kids from Sleez and looked genuinely sad to learn about Superman's death, so this is a pretty dramatic change for the character. We'll find out why he went from big softy to child killer in Superman #85 (but don't get your hopes up).

Plotline-Watch:

The most disturbing part of the issue, all things considered, is still the part where Toyman climbs into a giant crib and hugs a huge stuffed bunny. Look at serial killer Tommy Pickles here:

Don Sparrow says: “Even with the upgrade, Toyman is still just a man in a suit, a common complaint about Superman’s rogues gallery.” Funny you should say that, because I JUST shared an old Wizard interview in our Twitter in which Dan Jurgens talks about how Doomsday came out of his frustration with the fact that most Superman villains are dudes in suits (plus other interesting tidbits from the era, like how it was actually Roger Stern’s idea to bring back Hank Henshaw, so check out that link!).

Don again: “The entire Superman storyline of this issue feels like filler. Diving for buried treasure and soaring off to Paris -- it all feels like wasted time next to the Adam storyline.” I have a theory that the entire ship sequence is there as an excuse to put Superman in those big chains and make that Spawn joke (which I didn’t get until now, since I’ve always read this issue in Spanish).

Superman says that pulling that big ship was "a little easier than expected" -- that's either another hint that there's something going on with Superman's powers since he came back, or a subtle dig at the state of American ship manufacturing.

Another adorable "window tap" scene for the books, and this is the sexiest one so far. Is it me or has Jurgens started copying more than just Teri Hatcher's hairdo from Lois & Clark? (For anyone who thinks Lois has gotten implants, I refer you to this clip.)

While in Paris, Lois asks Clark if he's ever wondered what would happen if his rocket had landed in other countries. Don: “Clark’s conversation with Lois sounds like a bunch of concepts for Elseworlds stories. We eventually would see a Russian Superman, and a British Superman, but not yet the French Superman. (Hire us, DC!)” Yep, got my French Superman pitch ready, Jim Lee. Or just let us do Russian Superman again, since Red Son wasn’t even the first time you published that idea.

Don once more: “Another thing that makes no sense about the ‘new’ Toyman is his resentment of technological toys—when in previous appearances he himself had deadly high-tech toys to vex Superman over the years.” I especially resent his hatred of video game consoles. Incidentally, I wonder what types of games are available for Adam’s beloved Lextendo. Star Lex 64? Mega Man Lex? Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles & Lex?

No one is more upset at Lois and Clark for going AWOL than Whit. NO ONE. He's so furious that his usually grey mustache turned black.

Patreon-Watch:

As always, shout out to our patrons, Aaron, Murray Qualie, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Samuel Doran, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush and Raphael Fischer! Last month’s exclusive Patreon article was about the recently unearthed sequel to Superman 64 for the PlayStation, featuring Metallo, Parasite, and Lois looking even hotter than in this issue:

Hot damn. Find out more at https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99!

And believe it or not, Don Sparrow has even more to say about this issue. Read his section after the jump:

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

I should start off my section with a big caveat: I flat out hate this issue. There were several weird decisions made in the post-Death-and-Return era (most of them along the same lines of making the Superman titles more grim-and-gritty), and this story was one of the worst of them. My theory is that, despite the praise and record-breaking sales of the Death and Return storyline, the Superman creative team felt pressure to have more extreme storylines, perhaps in response to the wildly successful Image books coming out at the time. Between this story, and the upcoming “Spilled Blood” storyline, the Super books take a hard—but temporary--turn into more violent and upsetting storytelling—even though these stories are by the same writers as the previous few years. While death has always been a part of comics, and Superman comics was no exception, there is a jarring glibness and unfeeling toward the way violence is handled in these pages that is quite different from the stories that preceded it. It’s made all the more jarring by the fact that well-established personalities suddenly veer wildly out of character, Toyman chief among them.

We start with the cover, and while it is technically well-drawn (by the familiar team of Jurgens and Breeding) it’s also a very upsetting visual. I think they should have gone with the pieta type pose with Adam and Superman, OR the scary badass bowie-knife Toyman (who apparently has a Cheshire cat smile now) but not both. But the cover is a good hint at the tonal dissonance of the comic within.

We open with a splash of the now-extreme 90s looking Toyman, with his serial killer shaved head and spooky cloak, ignoring the pleas of hungry kids he has locked up in a tiny jail cell for days at a time (if that sentence doesn’t ring alarm bells for how wrong this is for a Superman story, I don’t know what will). For much of the issue Toyman’s eyes are obscured by glare on his lenses, further de-humanizing a character who was once one of Superman’s more empathetic bad guys.

We cut to Superman tugboating a huge tanker with giant chains and it’s a cool visual (one repeated in the Batman V Superman film). It feels especially out of place to focus on, given how upsetting this issue is otherwise, but throughout the whole comic, Lois is drawn smoking hot, especially on the two page spread on pages 9-10.

The scenes depicting the actual murder, while still wildly out of place in a Superman comic, are well done, and give a real sense of darkness and menace, which I suppose is the intent. Perhaps my least favourite visual is the Big Bird stuffie, silently bearing witness to what’s about to occur.

The edges of the panels on get more slashy and off-kilter (to me, looking very much like the layouts more typically seen in Image comics of the day) and I suppose I appreciate the restraint of how little Dan Jurgens shows of the death of a child, showing only a bloody slash on a black background. This is still a pretty baroque image for a Superman comic, but certainly less violent than it could be, given what is happening.

Cat Grant’s silent horror is well staged, and powerful in its way. Lastly, Clark Kent bending in sorrow and regret is a powerful image.

While this issue is handled marginally better, and more maturely than other comics on the shelf at this time, I still believe it is one of the biggest mistakes of the era. Giving a long-established character an unceremonious death for shock value is gross on its own, but making it a child definitely crosses a line for me. Making it worse is that, while the Toyman is a criminal and a killer, he has shown in past issues (a similar kidnapping storyline involving Sleez) that he genuinely cares for the well-being of children. So for a long-time reader, this also felt like a betrayal of a long-established, fully developed character. Adding to the ugliness of this is that Adam dies heroically, trying to free the children who have been caged, unfed, for days, but even in that regard, he fails. The headline at the end of the issue confirms all the children are dead. Adam’s death did not buy the other kids enough time to get away. It was all for nothing. Had Adam died, but the other children lived, maybe this issue wouldn’t leave quite as bad a taste. [Max: It’s weird because it’s all told in a way where it’s told in a way where it would make sense, narratively and within the story universe, that the other kids survived, but then it’s almost casually revealed that nope, they died too. A scene of one of the kids relaying Adam’s heroism to Cat in a future issue would have gone a long way.]

Superman doesn’t come off well in these pages, either. It’s honestly the type of story they should just stay away from, because the more you think about all the calamity that is going on around the clock, the less defensible the whole Clark Kent persona becomes. Superman carving out time to romance his fiancée directly led to the preventable deaths of innocent children—how do you come back from that?

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

I’m always looking for hints that perhaps Jimmy or Perry know Superman’s secret identity deep down, and Jimmy’s anger at Lois and Clark on their return to the Daily Planet offices would seem to give that theory some credence, as he’s as angry at them as if he knew Clark really were Superman. Either that, or he’s ticked that it fell to him, and none of them to escort Cat into the morgue. [Max: Has this issue finally converted you to the “Jimmy is terrible” side now, Don?]

I don’t think I’m the only one who disliked the new Toyman—SPOILERS BE HERE: years later, in Action Comics #865, Geoff Johns retconned this whole story, reverting Schott into the criminal who over-relates to kids, rather than the child-killer of this story. Apparently the infantile Schott, who speaks to “Mother” a la Norman Bates, is a robot so lifelike it fools even Superman, and the “Mother” he’s constantly replying to was the real Winslow Schott trying to recall the malfunctioning robot. [Max: That’s one Geoff Johns retcon I really didn’t mind, even if it felt kind of derivative of his similar “all the Brainiacs are robots made by the real Brainiac” reveal.]

#superman #dan jurgens #josef rubinstein #toyman #cat grant #adam morgan #dan turpin #whit #gangbusteen #super luthor fighter ii turbo championship edition

33 notes · View notes

princessmovieticket · 5 years ago

Text

Random, but.

My dad came over this weekend to drop something off, he said something (unintentionally) demeaning about one of my younger sisters and it lead to this discussion, as I was going through how he does this very often and he doesnt fully realize it's effects. He speaks in a guilting/shaming way, without even realizing it. My sisters/mom, we've all caught on, but it doesnt mitigates the effects it has on the way the family functions/we function as humans, and my youngest sisters are too young to realize this/not internalize it.

That's not even the post of this point, but anyway.

We got to a place where he was insisting prayer. The pray would really help me.

And I froze. I shut down as I began to search for a way to navigate this conversation.

Because I knew if I outright rejected him, and didn't tip toe around

I could just feel the reaction and consequences.

Ah, wait, this is related to what I first explained, lol.

I could see it. In the moment I knew if I said "Christianity, and your way of doing things, is not going to fix this."

Then he would then feel that he held the moral high ground. That the consequences my disability have on my life, could now be twisted back on to me because I can now be considered a person rejecting God with a pride that blocks any hope of things improving.

Something that would slowly grow, seeming to gain credibility, simply because I will continue to be disabled and run into the complications that arises from this.

Life happening to a person not devoted to God is some how proof of consequences,

Where as life happening to someone devoted to God, is...not....

I could see, things being used against me. Not just verbally, emotionally. Him leveraging "Christianity" against my limitations due to disability.

I'm on thin enough ice with using curse words in my comic and then including queer relationships. (Despite it's over all cartoony and..progressive/move forward, messages).

We speak nothing of it, cuz, well, WASP.

.....though he has come around considerably of topics of POC.

......this is what I grew up doing, I grew up learning to defend myself. To not have holes in my story, to communicate it completely.

And with my family I can usually do it to a level that builds respect, and a tonal shift.

Which, has actually been great.

When I was young, I was told the devil was wrapping his arms around me because I like anime and manga.

Now, all my younger sisters can watch as much, and read as much manga as they want.

They can say the word "depression".

They can say the words "birth control."

......they can go from being subtly fat-shamed and accused of giving into anxiety, not trying hard enough with online schooling, and everything else about them ignored

To being diagnosed with a knot in their intestine and hashimoto's.

From being "it doesnt matter that she's half black, skin tone doesn't make a difference."

To "it really matters."

I normalized challenging things that were doing harm.

Kinda at my own physical and emotional peril.

And it has paid off in many ways, but there's some things words can't fix.

Things I can't question.

To oppose my dad's go-to christian solutions, is to oppose/reject him as a person.

It's much of his identity.

But I don't want to pander to "solutions" that are not true solutions. That do harm and kinda ignore what's actually happening.

Prayer, in the sense he was talking about, is just a way for him to feel better about the situation.

It's frightening, the idea of someone next to me having feelings of warmth and hope that mitigate the harsher reality.

It's a jarring situation. It makes things feel...like there's even less control, less hope.

Some things I just have to let be. It's not a topic to be handled out right.

After all, perhaps less about prayer, and more so what he's able to understand, empathize, and be aware of.

Same as his "guilt" language.

Then again, I see the effect the church bubble has had of my entire family, and it's kind of awful.

But it's not the church bubble, it's the ignorance that live within it, the same sort of ignorance you think you're being freed of when your in the church bubble.

(To someone, that made sense).

.....my older sister was sexually abused within the church bubble. She grew up into mental illness, addictions, more abuse, a mess of either guilting language or high praise. And my dad's solution was always to send her to a christian camp. (The same camps known for being horrible gay conversion camps, something I did not learn until 3 years ago).

My dad thought Obama not far off from the antichrist.

I was disabled, while living at home, and would see him maybe once a month.

.....He's not the worst. This shit is not great, but dad wise, I could do much worse.

But the effect power imbalance with such a person, not only emotionally when growing up, but certainly as a physically disabled adult,

Is intensely uncomfortable.

I can deal with the contradictions of the family better than I use to.

It's just....so much too process.

Especially when I'm disabled to the point of needing his help, but also too disabled to be able to make things better for my sisters.

Sometimes I wish I was healthy just for their sake.

...At least loving comics has now been normalized... Hehe. I will forever remember the moment when I told them I was starting a webcomic and would being putting it up on webtoons and they lost their shit.

because that was the moment I realized "well, now I gots to do it."

And it's nice. To know whatever I put out, will very very likely be read by them. And they might not know when I'm writing about something serious, or drawing something silly, that it's just for their amusement. But it is.

And It's the opposite of what my dad calls prayer.

It's trying to see things to the best of your ability and growing.

It's not visiting a family member who lives in the same house, maybe once a month.

Its saying "even when your alone I want you to feel loved. I want you to have a meaningful moments even in my absence. Scattering things that make life more liveable, for you to find. To restore a sense of being able to endure. Of feeling whole. The hope of working things out. You were thought of, on purpose, because you are that important, no matter what. You don't have to earn this love, you simply are loved."

I should get back to work.

4 notes · View notes

howlingmoonrise · 5 years ago

Text

Dear Yuletide Author

hello and thank you for signing up for yuletide, i hope you have fun during the challenge!

i ramble a lot so my letter is under a readmore (i put everything in one post so you don’t have to juggle links around). obviously you don’t have to follow any of the things i put in here, but hopefully this will help you out!

general things i like

PINING. I’M SUCH A SLUT FOR PINING ALL THE PINING ULTRA PINING SUPER PINING. i have SO MUCH FUN reading about idiots in love who aren’t together yet and i far prefer it to fics with already established relationships. this is also applicable to when they know the other is in love with them but they can’t act on it for some reason.

i’m down for either gen or romantic!! what really does it for me is the developing relationship, platonic or otherwise, and the character dynamics and interactions and all the little moments in between. stuff like developing trust and finding kinship and growing respect for the other and subconsciously learning to lean on the other over anyone else is far more important for me than any kissing will ever be (though kissing is also nice if you wanna go down that route lmao)

i love love LOVE enemies/rivals-?to-friends?-to-lovers and bickering pairs in general, as you can probably tell by my choice in character! it’s so much fun and it gives us so many opportunities for character and relationship developments :D

continuing from the above points, nothing kills me as much as characters that bicker all the time but in the end they rely on the other and go to each other before they go to anyone else, whether they realize it or not

i REALLY like the canon and characters for all the fandoms i picked, so sticking at least to their characterizations and the overall “tone” of canon is a huge plus!! “missing scenes” and “what if” canon-divergent situations are excellent, as are continuations from where canon left us! that being said, i also enjoy more conceptual AUs and i’ve put more details about those a little further below. rule of thumb is that i enjoy AUs where the focus remains more on the relationship itself and how it works on such a setting than on the worldbuilding for it.

fun tropes i enjoy (sorry, these are a bit romance-leaning but if you’re not into that they can probably be adapted somehow): fake dating, accidentally got roped into x and shenanigans of all sorts keep happening, misunderstood confessions, groundhog day au, one or both the characters having stupid levels of denial while technically in a relationship and just not realizing it like What Do You Mean We’re Dating??, that sorta thing.

TROPE SUBVERSION ALL THE WAY!

general things i dislike

kidfics. babyfics. next gen fics. pregnancy fics, or even pregnancy discussed in the fic is a major squick of mine. the one exception i make for kidfics is for petshop of horrors when it comes to chris and the pets, as they already belong in canon, but no babies or children otherwise please.

future fics in general, actually. what i enjoy is the relationship development, so huge time skips make me feel like we missed way too much. one exception to this is post-canon petshop of horrors, for obvious reasons.

i usually don’t like most angst stuff since it feels a bit gratuitous to me when it comes to most fandoms and characters. the one exception for this is psoh (see below if you’re picking this fandom - and wow psoh seems to be the exception to everything huh) or when it’s a more introspective sort of fic. as a result of this, i’d pass on most content with major character death, sexual abuse, self-harm, the like, though of course there are always exceptions to the rule and you’re free to write as you wish!

hard AUs are a bit ugh to me. by this i mean AUs that rely heavily on setting, such as high school AUs, harry potter AUs, that sort of thing. i DO however enjoy stuff like siren AUs and soulmate AUs, depending on the concept and on the fandom. more details in their own sections if you enjoy writing those!

i heavily dislike things involving cheating/infidelity, sickfics, and genderbending of any kind is a bit ehhhh for me, as are concepts such as ABO. hard pass on stuff like dysphoria and deep diving into most mental illnesses, too (with a possible exception for depression when it comes to psoh).

script-based or roleplay fic is not really my preferred format, i really enjoy prose instead of nearly all dialogue!

if you’re going for nsfw

kinks

moderate sadomasochism, uncommon forms of bondage (plants, stuck with strange substance or in awkward position, the shadows from p&tf as restraints, etc), choking/breathplay, xenophilia and tentacles/alien genitals (shadowplay in p&tf, non-human genitals for the staryk lord, etc), moderate degradation, edging/desperation play, ladies topping and calling the shots, bloodplay/knifeplay, long hair/hair pulling (staryk lord, leon orcot), sharp nails/claws (staryk lord, charlotte la bouff, count d; miryem mandelstam having them is actually preferable to the staryk lord now that i think of it), lowkey cannibalism imagery (count d re:leon orcot)

squicks

scat, vomit, praise kink, daddy or baby kink, vore, forced feminization, pet play, gore, abuse, abo, anything involving pregnancy at all

PETSHOP OF HORRORS

i’m usually not very partial to angst but GODS does psoh throw that out of the window, so feel more than free to run with it if you wanna go down that route. psoh is RIPE for angst. we got two people with abandonment and inadequacy issues: leon who decided to leave his whole life behind to chase someone who gave him life and then left and initially didn’t even bother to do it with any sort of goodbyes, and d who is supremely fucked up by his upbringing and had to push leon off the ark to continue his family’s mission and let drop one (1) single tear that he was not supposed to cry over a human. those fuckers. those idiots. i love them so much.

THAT BEING SAID, i also!!!! love slice of life shit for them!!!!!!!! GODS i love how much they bicker but then they turn around and the other is the person they rely on the most and who they trust implicitly above all others and how they keep roping each other into ridiculous shenanigans. neither of them are particularly communicative with a few rare exceptions, so there’s also a lot of room there for introspection and unspoken affection on both sides, which i LOVE. my son leon in particular is also super underestimated when it comes to his intelligence and tolerance for gay shit both in canon and fandom, and he performs ridiculous leaps of logic and instinct that somehow turn out to be right but that are super ???? for everyone else involved, and that’s always fun to see. hell, just another missing scene where leon brings d some cake and they banter fondly over tea is A++++ to me!!

nsfw???? bring it!!! this is the one fandom where you’re more than free to go super dark and kinky if you wanna, or if you wanna write tender loving reunion sex where d cries a little while leon is loving and disbelieving and so very careful that’s also excellent! i don’t have a particular preference on who tops either, it’s fun either way, but i tend to see leon more as a sub/masochist >u> i can also see it going a bit dark with those two, especially considering d and his kind (implied to eat human flesh and being predators more than once) so bloodplay and cannibalistic thoughts could be fun. re: d’s genitals (as are hotly debated in the fandom), i usually prefer either a dick or triple threat d, though some fun plant-man shenanigans also have their place here.

all in all, psoh is the most excellent genre triangle where i’d be super happy to receive anything on the slice-of-life/angst/smut corners! (also, slash is 3249823% acceptable if you couldn’t tell by my ranting, as is a hint of crack)

if you’re thinking going AU on this one, my suggestions are of slight universe alterations instead of major world AUs. examples could be soulmate AUs (trope subversion would be GREAT here, aka foreign script they didn’t initially recognize, or only Ds having soulmates while humans do not, or the same scenario as the last but leon DOES have it on his skin and just keeps it hidden because Normal Humans Don’t Have Birth Tattoos, or d never expected to have one because his kind is dead and yet when he pushes leon from the ark the soulmate bond is forged, etc), a different first meeting, or even missed connections when they did not know each other yet; something like papa being alive and brady bunch-ing it up with them and chris would also be both excellent and hilarious. epistolary form for those two is also fun! if you wanna go full universe AU, something like a vampire hunter leon could be very interesting >u>

SPINNING SILVER

WHERE DO I EVEN START. miryem and the staryk lord were my favourite part of the book; if the book was only their story i would have already been more than satisfied. the rest of the book is also excellent, but those two???? that story was far too great. enemies to allies to lovers is one of my favourite tropes, and this is one of the examples that just keeps proving me right. the slowly growing respect, the wariness when they both know what the other is capable of, the staryk lord getting hit with the hots for his wife when she manages the impossible and then miryem being unable to just let it go when he’s imprisoned and defeated. ACTUALLY lemme just grab that line of thought and bring up that moment when he was sorrowful and resigned when miryem didn’t argue further for the three rooms full of gold and he thought she would not succeed and that she would have to die for it. that, right there? those moments of renewed respect, those moments sudden longing for something they did not know they wanted? those are the things that kill me.

tonally, i love the sort of writing in canon too much to ask for anything different, though you’re by no means obliged to keep to it or to 1st person pov (i have a love-hate relationship with 1st person pov, ngl). missing moments from the novel or moments from the period of time they spent either courting or apart would be GREAT. for those two i actually don’t mind it too much if they’re already established, if it’s early on in the relationship when they’re still learning how to step around one another. the staryk lord flabbergasted or in awe of miryem is always Excellent(TM). bits of worldbuilding and staryk culture would be fun as applied to their relationship (such as the names thing, or courting habits, etc) as are AUs such as soulmates or alternate meetings and the like. if you’re wanting to go full universe AU, keeping some fairytale elements would be great!

if you’re going for nsfw? the name kink, holy shit that would be so goooood. the staryk lord being a bit of a masochist under miryem’s hands would also be great, and inhuman staryk genitals and erogenous zones/acts would be great to play with such as human body heat affecting them in different ways from normal, etc. bringing in his long hair would be a major plus. the build-up for the actual act is the best, so miryem and the staryk lord being super hot for each other while either denying it internally pre-relationship or being unable to go through with it post-relationship due to several factors (busy dealing with their people, no privacy, etc) would be EXCELLENT. so much fun can be had here!

PRINCESS AND THE FROG

i am 100% aware this is a weird-ass pairing but gods, the possibilities. it has so much potential. there are few things i like quite as much as a villain and a good person developing a strange sort of kinship with each other. this doesn’t have to mean in a romantic way, obviously! as i said, for me it’s the building understanding and reluctant respect that i really love, far more than the actual romance.

ideas, ideas, ideas. i’m aware this is a rare relationship to either portray or ask for, so i’m gonna try to give some more concrete-ish ones for you to build up on if you have no clue as to how to approach this. we could have canonverse with charlotte dealing with the shadowman in some other matter while the main plot is occurring, making him feel somewhat guilty about the whole marriage plot with laurence-turned-naveen; cue introspection or an entirely different outcome. or a post-canon sort of hades&persephone plot, with charlotte curious despite herself and tempted to listen to a shadow/dead/whatever!dr facilier when she’s the only one that can hear him, or her being dragged Beneath as well in a freak accident and then charming him into helping her back to the surface/living world (very, veeeeery reluctantly on his part, at least at the start, he might have even be thinking of tricking her but then change his mind when the time comes to do it). i think dr facilier wouldn’t be sure how to deal with charlotte’s particular brand of personality and good humour, and it’d throw him off his rhythm a lot - that sort of thing is always super fun to write.

soulmate au in canon would work pretty well, but with this pairing? FULL WORLD AU IS YOURS FOR THE TAKING. keeping to the shadowman sort of thing to her normal bougie self would be a major plus; it’s one of her charms. also, charlotte thinking that she wants one thing (her prince, for example) while keeping getting drawn to him time and time again could work on pretty much any era or setting. vice-versa for him, thinking he wants to be rid of her but coming to realize he’d actually miss her if she were to be gone. OR, charlotte deciding she wants this sullen manipulative bastard and manipulating HIM into taking her out and hanging out with her would be hilarious.

if you wanna do nsfw, i have only one major request: charlotte calling the shots/topping. i think this arrangement would be entirely in character for both of them (dr facilier would prob also enjoy having someone else do all the work lol) considering her go-getter attitude, but keeping in mind his manipulative personality i’d be more comfortable if she had some control over what was happening. ASIDE FROM THAT, dyou know what would be fun? a little darkness, and by that i mean consider dr facilier’s shadow joining in on the fun. shadows would also be an interesting sort of constraint. also i know i said charlotte calling the shots, but she can be constrained by the shadows while being amused by it or being used for it to happen (the latter case implying it’s not the first time that they’ve used it in bed play), or charlotte could team up with Shadow to do it to facilier instead. charlotte using her nails and facilier being a bit of a sub/masochist would also be pretty good!

(actually in general it’d be really fun if there was some complicity between charlotte and facilier’s shadow in general, regardless of nsfw or not. the shadow being wrapped around her little finger is an excellent concept, especially if facilier isn’t too fond of her just yet lmfao.)

thank you for reading all my rambling, and i hope you have fun!

#howl rambles a lot #yuletide #yuletide 2019 #dear yuletide author

1 note · View note

texanredrose · 6 years ago

Note

I want to preface this by saying that you will not like what I'm about to say, but I do want to know your honest opinion. I somehow stumbled upon posts discussing how Winter is actually a terrible person since she never unlearned the abusive tendencies present within the Schnee household. What are your thoughts on this?

Oh, I think they have a valid point! Because of the tonal shift between Winter’s appearances in V3 and what we learn about the Schnee household in V4, I can definitely see where people are coming from in that regard, and it’s one of my criticisms in how that shift was handled; it muddles the waters, so to speak. However, I have a different take because I have different life experiences and I take a step back to look at the show overall rather than specific points out-of-context.

This got much longer than I anticipated, so I’m putting it under a cut, but the bottom line is: I totally understand why some people might be critical of Winter’s actions and character. I just don’t think that’s the whole story, more of a reaction to a specific part, and that the entirety paints a much different picture.

If we take Brawl in the Family and Lessons Learned on their own, it paints a certain picture of Winter. She’s obviously still young and impulsive, in the same way we see Weiss act in V1. She’s harsh, she’s strict, and she’s an idiot- it’s why I’ve always believed Winter was only 1-2 years past graduating, if that; she acts like a dumb Private or a green officer. No question. However, beneath that, she does genuinely care about Weiss’ well being, being more concerned with her health, hobbies, and friends than her grades. She cares about Weiss as a person, as her sister, above her status as the next in the Schnee line. One will note that she sends away the Knights accompanying her during their initial conversation; everything before that moment is some variation of negative or cold and what follows is positive. It’s almost as if she’s not to publicly praise her sister; even the cadence of her speech is different. The negative and cold stuff? All direct, to the point, no superfluous words. The positive stuff? A bit more language- I wouldn’t call it flowery, but certainly more than needed to get the point across. However, Ruby’s standing right there the whole time, so it wasn’t the presence of others that separates this shift; it’s the presence of the Atlesian tech. It’s a small detail but one that feels like it has some weight to it. She’s a conflicted character, obviously in the process of unlearning bad habits but also not breaking them quite yet. And, in the context of the episodes, the first smack she delivers to Weiss is played off as a comedic moment, what with Ruby’s nonchalant reaction and physically pushing in the… whatever you call that animation trope where an injury gets a ridiculously big knot that disappears almost immediately. At a time when the show was trying to become more serious, this was… a really confusing moment to witness; frankly, I didn’t find it funny but I do recognize that, in a world where they’ve made it clear what actual injuries look like, this isn’t meant to be taken seriously. On the other hand, I can see where some might, especially with the second slap in Lessons Learned. A more serious moment, no comedic knot, but following behind the previous instance so closely, one could argue it was some manner of maintaining a consistent characterization while others could say it’s a sign of abusive behavior. The fact it’s to the back of the head, which… was considered a lot less bad a decade ago than it would be today, also makes it difficult to read, purely because of the animation trope used previously; people say “tropes are tools” but tropes do pass in and out of vogue as time goes on, and the physical abuse that was commonly seen as comical during the time when that animation trope was used is recognized as abuse today, and for good reason. Ultimately, she’s portrayed as a big sister who genuinely cares about her little sister and wants to see her succeed but hasn’t quite learned how to do that most effectively. She’s a complicated character who hasn’t quite broken free from the mold, though she does have the potential and encourages Weiss to break free as well.

However, with V4 and V5 came a few complications. The scene where Jacques slaps Weiss and Weiss’ short add a lot more context to their relationship, but people tend to focus on the former because, obviously, it happened first and has a lot more weight within the story. With the confirmation that physical abuse is present in the Schnee household- as well as emotional abuse- Winter’s previous characterization is skewed a bit. It definitely looks like she’s more a product of her raising and she abuses Weiss in the same manner as they experienced growing up. However, the fact that the following episode also includes a slap which is played off as comedic just puts the whole thing into this confusing territory of four instances where some manner of physical abuse is used, and the question of which are genuinely comedic and which are used to show abuse is never really addressed. Seeing as three scenes involve Weiss, and one could see the progression from comedic action to serious action, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that this was intended to show how even well meaning abuse is still abuse. That could as much be a commentary in general because, again, ten or so years ago, there’s no way Winter’s actions would’ve been read as abusive- not saying that that’s right, of course, but remarking on the culture change- or it could be specific to the show, we don’t know. But then, we see Winter very clearly hold back in the V5 short. Winter has multiple beowolves summoned and is obviously testing Weiss’ fledgling combat abilities; the fact that Weiss disarming herself was immediately met with a potentially deadly situation could be read as Winter being unnecessarily harsh. However, take a step back and we see that that isn’t the case; Winter’s other summons could’ve attacked at the same time and genuinely injured Weiss, as a means of ‘teaching a lesson’, which is a similar context to how Jacques’ abuse is portrayed- or even the fight against the knight from the White trailer, where Weiss actually bleeds because of the fight- but she didn’t. Instead, a single beowolf overpowered Weiss until she, essentially, cried mercy. Winter’s lines warning Weiss that she must develop quickly in order to fight for her freedom show that the beowolf attacking was a means of proving to Weiss the dire consequences of miscalculating in a combat scenario in a safe manner. A scare tactic, yes, but this is a teaching moment; like learning how to swim, there will be panic that something genuinely bad could happen to the student, but Weiss wasn’t drowning, yet. Just scared she might, and instantly aided when she acknowledged that. Winter’s dialogue in Lessons Learned indicate that Weiss acknowledging her limits is important to pushing past them and further developing- not only as a Huntress but as a person, too. This call back ties together the moments when Winter is acting as a teacher to Weiss, and we can see very clearly that Winter has much more empathy in Lessons Learned and addresses Weiss in a softer manner. Not quite the softest, of course, because she’s still a bit harsh for normal standards, but as far as she’s been characterized, she’s a lot nicer in V3 than she used to be.

So, overall, we have Winter, a character who can be cold and harsh but also warm and caring, though the latter is less frequent than the former. Every action she’s taken has been for the express purpose of motivating Weiss to seek her own path and arming her with the skills and knowledge to do so. She’s flawed, yes, but also clearly attempting to help Weiss in whatever way she can. This obviously resonates with me, as someone who is an older sibling. Now, I’d like to say I’ve never been abusive towards my little sister- and for someone who calls me out for being an idiot as often as she does, I’m pretty sure she would’ve told me by now if I had- but I know damn well there were times I wasn’t supportive enough or was too supportive- and by that I mean, I covered for her in instances where I absolutely should’ve confronted her, for her sake. In those times, I failed as an older sibling to look out for my sister; I wasn’t the teacher she needed me to be. I remember those moments keenly; she does, too. Ergo, I have a bit of empathy for an older sibling who is trying to be the best she can be but, ultimately, falls short of that, either in her own estimations or to an outside observer.

In the end, I can get why people would say she’s terrible. There are some aspects of her character that are either muddled or outright bad from an objective standpoint, and those aspects could remind a person of someone in their life, someone who didn’t have their best interests at heart and were genuinely abusive. There’s nothing wrong with disliking a character for personal reasons or pointing out behavior that could be potentially harmful. Again, even though the first slap was obviously intended to be comical, I didn’t find it funny or excusable; just because I was raised on that sort of slapstick humor doesn’t mean I enjoy it or justify it.

But looking from the other side, I can also see where she’s obviously trying to do better, trying to be a better older sibling, trying to connect with Weiss and encourage her. The method she does that might seem harsh but, after seeing what they had to contend with growing up, I’d argue it shows just how far Winter’s come to be a genuinely good person and sibling rather than a bad one. Yeah, she’s obviously not there quite yet, she’s got a long way to go, but, really, don’t we all? And in the times that Weiss needed someone to help her grow, Winter was there to help her accomplish that- except for in V5 with the whole getting captured thing, which, we can’t really hold against Winter, since we have little idea where she is or if she’s even aware Weiss left Schnee manor.

And, I think it’s significant to note that while the crew has outright stated that Adam is abusive- and I think they commented on Jacques being abusive, too- they’ve not made the same statements on Winter. As someone who grew up in a time when physical abuse between family members was pretty common in sitcoms and the like, I can recognize that some tropes simply don’t age well or were absolutely wrong in the first place, and this could be as much a result of that as just a simple misfire of intent. Not every joke lands, as the saying goes, and this one never did.

In conclusion, there is no perfect character, and that some people are critical of Winter, in and of itself, isn’t bad. As with the whole cast, I love these characters because of the potential they all have- the potential to grow past their troubles, to overcome their flaws, and to rise up. But, for a character to grow, a character must first have flaws, and the nonlinear telling of Winter’s small section of the story somewhat makes it difficult to see how much she has grown. I do hope that we see more growth in the vein of Winter being warmer and more compassionate when next she appears- (if ever, seriously, another volume with no Winter, yet plenty of snow, what fives)- and I would love for a conversation between Weiss and Winter where they are supportive towards each other and worry over each other and just… get to be sisters. At this point, I’m pretty firmly attached to my characterization of Winter- where I do acknowledge, usually more than once per universe, that Winter and Weiss didn’t have the best relationship but Winter worked to improve it, and reached the point of being a genuinely good big sis- so what happens in canon doesn’t concern me, but if there’s any manner of physical abuse when Winter and Weiss cross paths again that isn’t immediately addressed then, yeah, that’s definitely a move in the wrong direction. As much as I love Winter as a character, I know damn well when she’s being a shithead. I’m just in the corner of believing she’s learning how to not be one.

#TRR asks #TRR Opinion

31 notes · View notes

loremaster · 7 years ago

Text

BNHA 167 SPOILERS

Many people think this chapter is a red herring. I don’t, and here’s why. Prepare for a lot of words.

First off, I love Aoyama very much, if you couldn’t tell already. I think his weird flashy persona is hilarious, especially combined with the way he tries and fails to get attention. He’s been effective comic relief (for me, anyway) and he’s often the butt of the joke, but he bounces back and puts his persona back on anyway.

The audience is also made to sympathize with him at key points during the story so far. During the training camp arc, he is frozen in fear but finally wills himself to act against his cowardice to save Tokoyami’s life (and almost Bakugou’s as well). During the hero license arc, he experiences a similar dilemma, overcoming his insecurities to help his classmates in a big way (and at his own expense). Both times, we actually get a glimpse into his internal monologue, so that the audience can relate to his struggles.

The hero license arc is perhaps the biggest chunk of information we’ve gotten about Aoyama’s story so far. He flashes back to receiving his precious belt as a gift, while he thinks the words “Mama… Papa… why am I so different from everyone else?” This could mean a lot of things, but a popular theory (that I personally subscribe to - I even made a comic about it) is that Aoyama is secretly quirkless.

We’ve never seen him without his belt. During the entrance exam and the sports festival, it’s stated he took the time to fill out the necessary paperwork so he could use his equipment in the arena. We don’t know how his Navel Laser functions without it… or if it even does. It’s entirely possible the quirk itself is contained within the belt, and without it, he is useless. Either that, or without the belt, his quirk is unstable and a risk to himself or those around him, but I think it’s more interesting to believe the former.

To my knowledge, Deku is the only major character at this point to have been born quirkless. (at least in the main story - we have Knuckleduster in the Vigilante spinoff.) Other characters have had their quirks taken away, sure, but if 20% of the world is in fact born without superpowers like Deku… it’s a little strange that there hasn’t been a single other quirkless character. I think being quirkless is an important part of Deku’s heroic journey and his identity, and having another quirkless character go about it completely differently would provide an excellent foil to Deku.

(On a side note, Deku and Aoyama’s surnames seem to be parallels of each other, corroborating the idea of them set up as foils. “Green valley” vs. “Blue mountain” …? Horikoshi puts a lot of thought into his characters’ names and what they mean, so there’s no way this is a coincidence.)

So in Chapter 167, we see that Aoyama is not quite what he seems. After a display of hilarious and unexplainable behavior at lunch time, Deku’s internal monologue from the future kicks in and says “Aoyama was someone I could never understand… until his true nature started to reveal itself.” We see Aoyama with an uncharacteristically grim expression, with no silly sparkles to be found, looming over Deku from outside the balcony as Deku sleeps. Yeah, this is ominous - too ominous to be the setup for a bait-and-switch, in my opinion. It doesn’t seem tonally cohesive to go back on all this buildup suddenly, especially since we’ve been waiting for a traitor reveal since Present Mic first pitched the idea after the training camp fiasco. Deku’s monologue hinting at understanding Aoyama’s “true nature” is also ominous… but vague enough to not be entirely condemning. More on that later.

Some people have brought up the idea that this Aoyama we’re seeing outside Deku’s window is in fact, not the real Aoyama, but Toga disguised as him using her quirk. I won’t deny this is a possibility - yes, the wine glass earlier in the chapter could possibly be filled with Aoyama’s blood, which could be a reason to insist on eating alone - but, again, unless Horikoshi is less straightforward of a writer and more of a troll than I thought he was, I don’t think this would be tonally consistent with the buildup in the narration. Deku also says “Aoyama is a man whom I could never understand” … If it’s Toga as a doppelgänger, that wouldn’t make sense, as this statement applies to both Aoyama’s present and past behavior. Toga didn’t get involved with the League of Villains until after the Stain arc, whereas Aoyama’s mysterious absence during the USJ arc before that is one of the things that makes the idea of him as the traitor all the more likely.

When Horikoshi drew up a chart of each student and major villain’s location when they get split up at the USJ, both Aoyama and Hagakure’s locations are unknown. I don’t think this is without reason. Both of their absences are played off as jokes - Hagakure claims to be near Todoroki, who is unable to confirm either way because she’s invisible, and wonders how she escaped being frozen, and Aoyama, after failing to get attention several times in a row, proclaims his location is “a secret.” The Hagakure traitor theory is already very popular, and there are many posts and videos about it already, so if you’re curious, please look it up. Not many of those posts have discussed the idea of Hagakure and Aoyama being partners in crime, though. I think that’s very possible at this point.

So, if Aoyama really is a criminal working for the League of Villains, what is his motivation? Based on everything we’ve seen, I think he is being manipulated by the League, and All for One in particular. Why? Because All for One can give out quirks.

What if Aoyama was born quirkless, but isn’t quirkless anymore? All for One would have the means to give this insecure boy what he wants in order to feel “equal” with the rest of the world, and use that as something to lord over his head and demand loyalty, as he could just as easily take that quirk away. This quirk could be the Navel Laser quirk, or if the laser is contained entirely within the belt, it could be something completely different - a second quirk we haven’t seen yet.

This would mean that Aoyama, while being the traitor, wouldn’t exactly be an unsympathetic character, which fits with the things we’ve seen directly from Aoyama before. He’s an incredibly insecure and cowardly young teenager who sees himself as unequal to his peers, and covers that up with a flashy persona to get attention. Up until now, he’s been annoying (to others, maybe) comic relief who knows how to stand up for himself and his classmates when it really matters. His past actions and the way they’re framed wouldn’t really make sense if he were entirely malicious and the entire thing was faked. I think he’s really bad at faking things! When someone pokes holes in his sparkly facade, he visually reacts! He gets nervous! He hasn’t been very competent at much of anything, not quirk tests, or grades, or even getting the attention he so clearly craves. If every part of that is an act, color me impressed.

But even though I think he’s sympathetic as a whole, that doesn’t mean I think he’s innocent either. Remember how he got to participate in the last section of the sports festival? He was in dead last during the race, but Shinsou brainwashed him and rode on his back for the cavalry battle, carrying him to victory (pun intended). Ojirou and Shouda, who had also been brainwashed, both dropped out of the final round because it wouldn’t be honorable to participate without having relied on your own strength to get there. Aoyama, however… sees nothing wrong with this, and participates anyway. This seriously calls his morality into question. He clearly thinks getting attention is more important than honor or skill. So he participates, only to be absolutely humiliated in front of thousands. Butt of the joke indeed.

Something else I have thought was odd about him was during his introduction at the UA entrance exams, when the teachers are describing various ways students can be strong and succeed. They indirectly describe Aoyama as someone who can “remain calm in any situation” �� but this isn’t quite true, from what we’ve seen later. This could be something I’m reading into a little too much - I don’t know what it means, but it stood out to me.

The running gag of Aoyama breaking the fourth wall and always looking at the camera/the viewer is also something notable about him… at this point, it seems a little creepier than it did before. Maybe it’s symbolic of his constant unsuccessful plots for attention, maybe it means he’s aware of something his other classmates are not. I always thought it was endearing and funny, but others probably thought it was creepy. This latest chapter seems to confirm that.

His behavior - his “true nature” - really is unexplainable at parts, though. Especially during the cheese scene during this chapter. What’s up with that? I don’t think he was trying to poison Deku at all - that’d be way too obvious. My guess is he was just trying to make friends and win Deku’s trust in his own weird way… but then why is he so awkward about it? Why is he so unsuccessful at getting the attention and praise he wants? There’s still a lot more to be discovered here.

Some people have also suggested that Aoyama’s creepiness and upfront behavior in this chapter is because he has a crush on Deku. Again, not entirely out of the question, but I’ll be surprised if it happens in canon. Aoyama has read as very flamboyant since the beginning, but at the same time… I’m not sure I quite like the idea of the Gay Character being a creepy stalker. We’ll just have to see with this.

So what do I think is going to happen, then?

I think this next arc will be about uncovering Aoyama’s secrets, of course. We, the audience are aware that there’s something darker going on with him now, as is future Deku given his narrations… but the Deku of the present is still sleeping soundly as he is being observed. I don’t think this will lead to a confrontation immediately - I think Deku has to work for his suspicions to be confirmed. Quite possibly, he will be the lone doubter of our sparkly boy until some more evidence comes into play.

Iida, especially, will be an obstacle Deku has to overcome. In this chapter, he is incredibly trusting of Aoyama and willing to pardon his strange behavior without a second thought. He likely feels a kinship with Aoyama after their struggles together in the Hero License arc. He, unlike Deku, saw Aoyama’s display of brilliant bravery - and vulnerability - in that moment. He understands more of Aoyama’s true feelings… or at least he thinks he does.

In addition, none of the students know about Present Mic’s (and therefore the other teachers’) suspicion of a traitor within the school. Because of their shared trials together, I don’t think Class 1-A would be so willing to cast doubts on any of their classmates - their friends - unless given irrefutable evidence. (Given what we know about Iida and how he gets when he’s emotional, it’s possible he might take even longer to convince.)

So I think uncovering these truths will take a while to happen. Perhaps Deku will approach Aizawa about it, someone who does know about the traitor theory.

After that though, I don’t think it will be resolved right away. As much as it pains me to say, I think Aoyama’s time in Class 1-A will be coming to an end. Horikoshi did say Shinsou would be getting some major character development soon, right? The fan consensus seems to be that he will replace whoever ends up being the traitor.

But then what happens to our beautiful sparkly boy? Does he hang with the League of Villains? I can’t imagine him getting along with that crowd very well at all. Especially not since he helped fight against them during the training camp to save Tokoyami… it’s possible he’s entirely unrelated to the League and merely working with All for One… who is in solitary confinement. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of him at all, but the only way for AFO to get out is to be broken out with help from someone from the outside. That could end up being Aoyama… somehow.

As far as Aoyama’s relationship with Deku, though… at some point I think he will confide in Deku and share his weaknesses so we can understand his real story and his motivations fully. Whereas Deku worked hard to do his best as a hero even without a quirk, Aoyama clearly has trouble with that, and will try to coast by on the backs of others. He relies on gadgets, and I don’t think he studies for school at all. But at the same time, Deku also understands what it’s like to feel completely hopeless and worthless, and I think he will end up connecting to Aoyama even despite everything, and help him become a better person. Nobody can solve all their problems by punching them in the face, not even All Might, and I think a true future Number One Hero would try to look for a better way.

So, yes, I think Aoyama is the traitor we’ve been looking for… but I don’t think this makes him a bad person. I think the audience is made to feel bad for him. He’s weak, cowardly, and pathetic, but when it comes down to it, he has a heart of gold and has been willing to put himself in danger to save his classmates on multiple occasions. I think anyone would have to be a true evil genius to fake that much, and I really don’t think Aoyama is an evil genius… just being manipulated by one.

All in all, I’m really excited to see where this arc will lead. I’ve loved Aoyama since the beginning and I’m so excited to see more character depth from him, no matter what that means. I could be completely wrong about all of this! (If you see a hole in my argument, feel free to point it out!) So either way, here’s hoping the rest of this arc is something great.

#bnha spoilers #bnha 167 #seriously major spoilers #this is like 2k words though #meta

27 notes · View notes

hanksterhillingtonexplained-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Big E.T. in Arlen

Let’s start off with my very first video Big E.T. in Arlen. This video actually predates the Hankster Hillington channel, and was originally posted on a very different channel all the back in October of 2014. It never achieved more than a few hundred views, and when I decided to launch the Hankster Hillington channel a few months later, I reposted the video (along with the truly new Hank’s Waifu and You Only Dale Once), and for most people it was a brand new video. The opening joke of this YTP is simply “What if the opening of King of the Hill was boring?”. Basically, rather than having a time-lapse where many things happen, in this version nothing happens other than Hank, Dale, Bill, and Boomhauer looking all around. Truly, the pinnacle of clever comedy, I know.

The next joke, and the first proper bit of humor in this YTP begins with Hank exclaiming, “I heard a funny joke the other day.” The idea here is that Hank is reminiscing about the joke he heard, but isn’t going to tell his friends (or the audience) what it was. Really, this scene is just in here to set up the gag of Bill being destroyed by the ball. You think something will happen, but you aren’t sure what, so when Bill goes flying it should come as a big laugh, even if you have seen the real episode before. We see the ball fly past Hank, but it’s on screen for only 3 frames before cutting to Bill getting hit with it. This is quick enough to give the viewer the information they need so that the cut to Bill getting knocked over isn’t abrupt, but still fast enough that it feels instantaneous. Inside we get an assortment of more or less random jokes. We have Bobby lusting over Peggy’s giant breasts, “Warm Bulging Rains”, and Bill being pathetic before getting hit by another ball. There’s not much coherence to any of this. This was well before I started focusing on narrative driven humor, so these things are simply there to be funny without purpose. No more, no less. In the next scene we get our first of many sex jokes. This was well before I was comfortable showing any sort of real nudity in a video, so we have the brightness and coloring turned way down to simulate a dark room instead. It looks visually poor, but I think the dialogue works well despite that - especially Hank falling asleep instantly after giving up on trying to pleasure Peggy.

“So what do you do? You just flick it?” The “Little Sister” song sequence that follows is nothing more than an excuse to showcase an underrated song I quite like. If there’s any joke here, it’s the unexpectedness of Bobby having a beautiful singing voice, perhaps juxtaposed against him holding a “black power” type fist pose. The scene of Bobby’s head expanding like a balloon before popping is supposed to be a physical manifestation of his ego. When Dale praises him it blows up, but it’s too much for him to handle and he “explodes” - quite literally. Dale sheds two tears here. Two are for Bobby’s beautiful song, and the third is for the death of Bobby himself. The “Joseph d-u-u-u-u-u-d-e” scene that follows is tantamount to filler. I couldn’t think a funnier follow up scene, so I stuck in this trite of Joseph’s vocals repeating quickly when he tries and is unable to correct himself from calling Peggy “dude”. Peggy’s reaction is supposed to be one of annoyance, and she quickly shuts Joseph without saying anything to him, but the whole scene doesn’t play well, and isn’t that funny. Luckily it’s over quick. The “Warm Buldging Rains” scene was supposed to be a little gag along the lines of, the YTP was bleeding into the actual real episode for a moment, before going back to the way it was. Or to put it another way, Big E.T. in Arlen is an alternate reality of the episode “Of Mice and Little Green Men”, and the other reality was peeking through for a moment. The joke doesn’t quite work however, and the typo doesn’t make it any better.

The next scene has a joke I really like. A man comes up to Peggy and asks, “Excuse me, is that seat free?”, and Peggy ever-so-slowly moves her purse into position before slamming it down on the empty chair. It’s unfortunate that the animation is so choppy here, because Peggy being a total bitch (and smiling at the pissed off guy) to a random stranger for basically no reason is pretty funny if you ask me. The cutaway to The Simpsons is a joke I would think twice about doing now. It’s funny as hell, but it feels like a bit of a tonal shift. Still, even if I would think twice about it, I would include a scene like it in a future video if I thought it was funny enough.

“Can you send a 13-year-old flowers?” If you look closely in this scene, you can see that Dale’s pants have some black lines, and a yellow spot on them. Likewise, his shoes have metallic stripes on them as well. The reason for this is because although this Dale was in the perfect pose to put in this scene, he was partially obscured by some objects above him (he was originally on a mower, I believe) and I simply left those details in and hoped no one would notice. If I were making this video now, I would simply Photoshop those imperfections away, but I was young, naive, and needed the money. (•﹏•) After a brief scene of more bitch Peggy (”Are you as nervous for Bobby as I am?”) we encounter that weird “Taters” scene that I for the life of me don’t recall how I came up with. It’s as bizarre to me as it is to all of you. I think it my thought process was something along the lines of “Wouldn’t it be funny if Peggy took a picture of Bobby, but it came out all real and grotesque”, and “Then the second time it comes out all real and cute”, but I honestly don’t remember for sure. We then come upon the “Go, Joe, Go!” scene, which isn’t really funny at all. The zoomed in Nancy face I thought was hilarious at the time, but now after having worked on so many YTPs and seeing so many off-model KotH characters, it just comes across as ordinary and boring to me.

So after another groan-worthy “Joe” joke, Dale and Hank get to talking, and Dale admits that Joseph isn’t his sus. This joke probably flew over the heads of most people, but the idea was that Dale calls Joseph his “sus” as a reference to all those older KotH YTPs where everyone would say “sus” and “yay”. Hank doesn’t respond, because he doesn’t understand what Dale means, before Dale corrects himself, by saying “son” instead. Luckily, this is followed up by an always hilarious gasp by Hank as he looks nervously back and forth, with Dale then stating, “Well, I didn’t impregnate Nancy’s pussy. So who did?” The word “pussy” fits so well into that sentence, you’ll almost wonder why it was never there to begin with. Okay, maybe not, but it feels more natural than having a character say “cock” out of nowhere like in some older YTPs. Anyway, the whole point of this scene is to imply (correctly) that Hank had an affair with Nancy and is in fact Joseph's father. Hank pulls the word “spacemen” out of his ass to try and cover his tracks, and Dale ignorantly believes him. Yet somehow Hank is completely right. Joseph is an alien, and he attacks Dale when confronted about this. Personally, I always like to think of Joseph lifting Dale up and breaking his back Bane / Batman style, but you can interpret it however you like. Next is a Big Wolf on Campus parody. I use the term “parody” lightly, as it’s basically just the theme song set to a bunch of clips from King of the Hill. It’s not a parody; it’s an AMV. You wouldn’t be surprised to see Vegeta powering up to Linkin Park at this point. To make matters worse, I didn’t have many episodes to work with at the time, so the clips in the sequence are all mostly from the same episode. It’s boring as hell in my opinion. I’ve never even seen Big Wolf, I just like the song. But unlike the earlier Rufus Wainwright tune, I feel this song was a mistake to include. The only positive that came out of it was Joseph’s scream at the end as he pops up in front of the title card, which I liked enough to keep as the thumbnail.

Some music from South Park plays as Hank enters the hospital. There’s this weird little scene where Hank talks with the receptionist that goes absolutely nowhere. You would be right to assume she’s talking with Dale, based on what happens in the next scene, but considering Dale is on his deathbed, I doubt he has the strength to even use the phone. Dale admits to knowing about Hank’s infidelity, and Hank apologizes before he dies. Hank then oddly smiles and walks away silently upon seeing his best friend die. This isn’t a joke. I just forget to add in footsteps and the sound of the door closing. I probably should’ve edited his face too to make him look more glum about this whole thing. But it turns out that Dale Winchester isn’t actually dead, but is now a demon! We see an extended sequence of fan girls reacting to the Gribble heartthrob dying and being resurrected as an agent of darkness. Personally, I think the whole thing goes on a little too long, but it was hard to trim it down, as it’s all buildup to the final scene where the two girls majorly overreact to Dale’s death. Funny enough, the girl from that finale clip actaully found out about this YouTube Poop and approved of her appearance in it. Who’da thunk it. (If you haven’t figured it out, those are actually reactions to the Supernatural season 9 finale, but with Dale taking the place of Dean who died and became a demon.)

“I don’t like this show anymore.” Dale uses his newfound second chance at life to live out his best Charles Whitman, in probably one of the funniest scenes in the episode. He blows off Bill’s head mid-sentence leaving a peeved Peggy on the other line to ponder Bill’s rudeness in hanging up on her. There aren’t any jokes in this scene. It’s just an excuse for Dale to be badass as he takes on the police and everyone in town. And honestly, I wouldn’t cut it for the world. I love this scene. It’s followed by a weird little snip of one of the Gun Club members saying “The police aren’t trained for this”, followed by them leaving, which seems like it’s going to set up another scene. I wish I could say that I put it in as a red herring so the ending would come as a surprise, but I actually forgot I had it in there, and didn’t remember to resolve the Gun Club subplot. Not that there was any story there to begin with. We then get a scene of Dale killing an unseen hostage (I probably should’ve put her body in a later scene), followed by the police shooting knockout gas at him. Cue shocked reactions from the cast. The idea here was that this would be a Dragon Ball Z-esque moment where all the characters are speechless by Dale’s new form, in which he’s able to withstand the police’s most toxic fumes, and they’re forced to think what they’re feeling instead of stating them aloud. It’s all very silly, but I feel like it works.

“The Dale we knew no longer exists.” Another funny little note... In the scene where the gas canister is shot into the tower, you can see Dale talking to someone, but we can’t hear his words. Perhaps he’s talking to the demon inhabiting his body? Perhaps he’s truly gone crazy? Or perhaps I simply forgot to put dialogue in that scene. It’s up to interpretation, and I think scholars will be debating it for years to come. In the finale, we get Hank slide-whistling his way up to try and talk Dale down. The scene takes itself fairly seriously, which is completely intentional. If there’s even a core of real emotion in this, it’s in this brief moment where the music kicks in, and Hank admits to his wrongdoings. It’s all set up to contrast what comes next. Curiosity gets the best ol’ Robert Hill, and in the ensuing struggle, the gun discharges shooting Hank, and causing him to fall to his death.

Hank’s dead. The end. We don’t get a resolution to the story. Much like life, it simply ends when it ends. I actually play (almost) the entire credits sequence set to Blue Öyster Cult’s 1976 hit song “Don’t Fear the Reaper” to try to give it the feel like you were watching an actual episode of the show. This includes showing the production cards and 20th Century Fox logo with even a voice-over at the end of Bobby saying “Taters” and Joseph screaming his alien scream to mimic the actual show replaying a quote from the episode at the end. Honestly, I feel now that no one will actually watch the entire credits to the end, and most people will jump to another video or exit, so after this I shorted the credits when I used them before doing away with the idea completely (only bringing it back one last time for Metal Dale.) And that’s it. The first video that kicked off the Hankster Hilington channel you all know and love today. Ye-ep.

#King of the Hill #KotH #Hank Hill #Dale Gribble #Hankster Hillington #Big E.T. in Arlen #YouTube Poop #YTP

3 notes · View notes

kaesaaurelia · 8 years ago

Note

oh hey how about Alphys and Sans' chat in your "When Life Hands You Enantiomers" fic for that fic meta ask?

OH MAN so this was my first Undertale fic ever! I originally started noodling around with writing Sans and Alphys genfic for Yuletide, the small fandom exchange that happens every Christmas – at the time of nominations, Undertale was still a small fandom! and I got into it during the writing period, so I hadn’t thought to ask for or offer it.

I’d wanted to write a treat, but I ended up looking at all the Undertale requests and none of them quite were what I wanted to write, which was mostly chemistry puns and friendship. So I wrote it, figured I might gift it to someone if it happened to suit their letter, and… it didn’t, really? I figured I’d just post it.

Anyway, that’s the fic background. Onward!

“You look like you need a break,” he said, decisively, going past her into the lab. He paused at her desk, evidently looking for somewhere to put the box of donuts and finding nothing but her vast mountains of clutter. "I like what you’ve done with the place,“ he said finally.

Basically this was my dad’s reaction to my first apartment every time I tried to show him how clever I’d been making furniture out of cardboard boxes. Eventually I got sick of responding with “oh fuck off” and made him drive me to Ikea to get a desk.

“It’s, uh. S-sorry, it’s kind of a mess. I’m just really busy with – with Royal Scientist stuff?” she finished hopefully. "You – you know how it is, I g-guess.“

"Yeah,” he said, tonelessly.

and this is the start of me not being able to decide whether or not Alphys remembers that Sans used to work with Gaster in some capacity in this fic! I think I eventually decided it comes and it goes. I like to keep things ambiguous on the topic of What The Fuck Is Even Up With Sans??? in my non-AU Undertale fics – I find the ambiguity interesting, I like that everyone has their own theories, and other people have covered that ground better and more thoroughly than I will.

“Anyway,” he said, a lot more brightly, “let’s relax and have some donuts.” He pulled a picnic blanket from literally nowhere and spread it out on the floor of the lab.

So one of the things I appreciate about writing from Alphys’ POV is that it feels completely tonally appropriate to have her say she facepalmed, or use the phrase “literally nowhere,” and other diction I guess I associate more with informal internet communication.

“Does, uh. Does Muffet know you made off with all her donuts?” Alphys asked.

“Eh,” said Sans, waving a hand dismissively.

Again, I really like leaving Sans’ bullshit ambiguous, and kind of shady.

“So. You still working on that horrible tile puzzle?”

“It’s. …yeah! It’s going really well. It's….” She sighed.

“You’re stuck, aren’t you?” Sans asked.

“Yeah,” she admitted.

“You know you don’t have to do it, right?” he said. "I mean… Papyrus knows you must be really busy, he’s not gonna be upset. Plus, I have to say, I’m not real excited about fishing him out of the middle of it if he gets stuck on a puzzle.“

I like how Sans assumes Alphys’ real concern is letting Papyrus down.

"Ha,” she said, joylessly. "F-funny you should mention the, uh, fishing.“

To her horror, he took this entirely the wrong way. "Aw, come on, Undyne’s not gonna hold it against you either,” he said.

“N-no, that’s, that’s n-n-not what I –” Words failed her and she just buried her face in her hands for a moment.

“Although, now that I mention it, Undyne did seem kinda worried about you,” he said. "You’re not answering your phone, or something? She said maybe you were mad at her.“

"Oh no,” said Alphys, diving for her phone. Those four texts. "Augh, I am the worst kind of trash, I’m a terrible friend, I c-can’t do anything right!“ she moaned.

Oh god. Please tell me I’m not the only person who leaves texts unread because what if I forget to respond to them when the notification is gone? and then don’t ever look at them out of crushing guilt and anxiety, until people start to worry. Please.

(Another note on diction: I actually really, really don’t like it when people call themselves “trash.” I grew up unironically – and really shittily – using the phrase “white trash” to describe certain cousins of mine, and it’s too loaded down with those classist connotations for me to read it as just harmless self-deprecation. This may just be because I am An Old, though. Anyway, Alphys uses it – and it’s definitely how she actually thinks of herself – so I kind of gritted my teeth and used it too.)

Sans was managing to make a perma-grin look dismayed.

I have to say, I was impressed with the unhappy-smiling Sans sprites in the game! I try not to ever describe Sans as frowning, but probably something’s slipped through at some point in the vrillion words of fic I’ve written.

She brought up the texts, ignoring him for the moment.

hey, was wondering if you wanna do a human history movie night with me and Pap tomorrow???

Then the next day:

super last minute, sorry. watched Cooking w/Killer Robot marathon. maybe next week? something w/giant swords??? YEAH!!!!!

And then:

Is everything ok? Miss you.

And finally:

Did I do something wrong?

"Oh no,” she moaned.

“That bad, huh,” he said, sympathetically.

“Oh nooo,” she repeated. "Oh no, oh no, now she probably thinks I’m terrible and –“

"Alphys. Wow. Relax,” said Sans. "I came over to check on you and make sure you hadn’t been, I don’t know, eaten by lab rats or something.“

Sometime I really need to write the companion piece to this, where Papyrus and Undyne come up with this terrible idea for a puzzle. And I have to work in a scene where Undyne is worried about Alphys and goes from dashing off carefully carefree-seeming texts to VERY CAREFULLY PUNCTUATED TEXTS BECAUSE WHAT IF ALPHYS THINKS SHE’S A BIG DUMB LUNK??? but it never occurs to her that Alphys might be anxious about replying to her.

"Eaten?!?” she asked. Did he… did he know? Augh, when had she last fed the amalgamates, anyway? Two days ago, maybe? Ugh, that was too long, they were going to be all grumpy when she went downstairs next. She tried to keep breathing and not panic.

He held up his hands to pacify her. "Hey. Hey. I don’t know why but everything I say’s making you panic.“ He nudged the box towards her. "Look, have a donut. Everything’s better with donuts. It’ll make you feel hole again.”

Hole puns are the hole reason I included donuts in this fic.

Alphys winced despite herself, then sighed. "Okay, yeah. Sorry. I’m. It’s – it’s been a hard few days.“

"Yeah?” he asked.

She nibbled at the donut half-heartedly. "So uh. You mentioned the tile puzzle thing? I’m having trouble with the piranhas.“

Sans snorted. "I’m sorry, just – there are piranhas? Why are there piranhas?”

“They were in the specs Undyne gave me!” Alphys said, trying not to get defensive.

“Sounds very fishy to me,” said Sans. "Anyway, why not just make robot piranhas? I mean, that’s your forte, isn’t it?“

man, Alphys hasn’t told Sans about anything in this fic, and he apparently doesn’t tell her about anything either. I like how they’re friends who lie their faces off to each other on the regular.

Oh god, robot piranhas would be about ten times worse. "It’s not making the actual piranhas, as such,” said Alphys. "It’s getting them to distinguish between lemon scent and orange scent. Because, see, the request was to make sure they go after anyone who smells like oranges but be repelled by anyone who smells like lemons.“

Sans stared for a moment, and then, to her dismay, started laughing. "What? What? You’re serious. Oh man, I bet Papyrus came up with that one. He’s – he’s pretty picky about his cleaning products, I guess that little difference is important to him.” His grin widened a little. "Papyrus is so great at those little details, you know?“

He’s laughing, but this praise of his brother is totally in earnest. Sans may be the one who pays the bills, but I’m pretty sure Papyrus is the only reason their house isn’t disgusting.

"Sans, this isn’t f-funny!” said Alphys. "Have you ever tried to train killer fish to distinguish between d-limonene and l-limonene when all they care about is smelling blood?!? Because I have!“

"Yeah, that sounds like one l of a problem,” said Sans. "A terrible knot you have to d-tangle. Orange you glad I stopped by?“

"Sans,” said Alphys, beginning to lose patience.

There are several naming conventions for enantiomers, and originally this was S-limonine and R-limonine, with corresponding puns (I forget what they were, I just remember it was a pain in the ass coming up with new puns) but I think I googled and the d- and l- notation was more popular for limonene.

Like I’ve said elsewhere, this whole fic was largely an excuse for chemistry puns.

“It sounds like you need this problem like a fish needs a by… cyclohexane! Lemon know if you think of anything I can do to help.”

“Sans,” she said. It was starting to become more of a whine.

“Citrus me, I got this. I don’t rind helping you at all,” he said, because he was a merciless bag of bones.

She glowered at him. Then she took the box of donuts away from him.

CAN YOU BLAME HER THOUGH.

“Hey! I was eating those!” he protested.

“Tough,” she said. When he leaned over to try and reach them, she harrumphed and stood up. Getting to his feet was apparently too much for Sans, because after one last halfhearted sitting lunge, he gave up and sat serenely on the picnic blanket.

Alphys carefully balanced the box of donuts on top of a stack of papers on her desk, then slid an empty mug underneath it for added support.

If you have never done this with a stack of papers, ….I envy your tidiness. And if you’ve never done that dumbass thing where you try to lunge for a thing just out of your reach and then try to spontaneously develop telekinesis to bring it over to you… you’re fucking lying.

With a few keystrokes, she brought her computer out of sleep mode and was drawing up her data on the piranhas. "I’m not really sure h-how you can help?“ she said. "I-I mean, if you can it’d be great, obviously, b-but… don’t you do, uh, physics?” Her memories were kind of fuzzy on this. Why did she know Sans again? When had she met him? It wasn’t that important, was it? Everyone knew Sans.

AND AGAIN, I can’t decide what Alphys knows about Sans in this fic.

“Yeah, but, everything’s physics in the end, right?” Sans said, a shrug in his voice.

She finished her donut before saying, wryly, “That’s what physicists tell themselves. I g-guess if it helps you sleep at night…”

For whatever reason I was fortunate not to hear this much from the physics majors in school. (The math majors, on the other hand….) But I’ve seen them do it a lot on the internet and so I have to admit I’m kind of fond of writing chemists and biologists being dismissive about it.

“I sleep all the time,” Sans said cheerfully. She wondered if he was ever going to get up and come over here eventually.

“Undyne has mentioned,” she said. "So, uh, w-what exactly do you think is so physics-y here?“

"Well. It’s not so much the physics, I guess,” he said. "It’s just that I’m really good at cheating.“

She reached absently for another donut, opening the box without looking at it and reaching inside. Her claws closed on something rubbery, and before she could stop, it was making a ridiculous farting noise.

She pulled the whoopee cushion out of the box, and turned to look at Sans. He hadn’t moved an inch from where she’d left him, and was snacking on a donut he definitely hadn’t had before.

She sighed. "Y-yeah, I can see that.”

I think at this point I’d seen a lot of Sans-being-badass art, and kind of wanted someone to react to him with an eyeroll. Not that I don’t think Sans isn’t badass! Just, you gotta have that one friend who will call you on your bullshit.

She turned back to her computer screen and skimmed the data she had on her attempts at training the piranhas. Ugh. No statistically significant difference between any of the training methods she’d attempted and the control groups.

Sometimes she wished science worked more like it was presented in fiction: less waiting around for something to happen, more moments of genius and day-saving. On the other hand, as it turned out, horrific abominations of science were a real thing. Who knew?

notice how I carefully avoid references to specific anime! because I’d pretty much only watched Ouran High School Host Club in full! I think I remember double-checking with @thinkatoryprocess that horrific abominations of science was a thing in anime?

I have since learned many things about Fullmetal Alchemist, and in particular why I wasn’t supposed to watch it just after my dog had died.

“So, h-how exactly were you thinking of cheating?” Her mind wandered to some of those weird diagrams she’d come across deep in the lab files, presumably belonging to the previous Royal Scientist. "Are you thinking, um, t-time travel? Because if I could find some way to breed selectively for citrus recognition they could evolve to–“

MY THIRD INSTANCE of “what the fuck does Alphys even know? why bother making it consistent?”

"No,” said Sans, and she leaped back with a squeak of shock, because suddenly he was standing right next to her and he was speaking in a freaky hollow voice, and also the light in his eyes had gone totally dark and, and, what the fuck, Sans?!? "…Heh, sorry,“ he said, and the little glowing dots returned, and the grin looked more natural. "Just. Trust me. Time travel, not a good idea.”

She knew she shouldn’t ask, but she kind of had to. "…Why?“

"Time flies,” said Sans. When she frowned at him, he added, “They’re even more annoying than fruit flies. And they get stuck in your teeth if you go faster than light. It’s a real problem.”

Okay, yeah, she wasn’t gonna get a straight answer out of a guy who wore bedroom slippers everywhere he teleported. Fair enough.

This last sentence is still one of my favorite summations of Sans as a character.

“Out of curiosity,” he said, “why didn’t you make robot piranhas?”

“Ugh,” she said. "You know, I thought about it? B-but then I’d have to invent the scent organs and I’m n-not sure I’m up to it.“ She wasn’t up to a lot of things, honestly. She wasn’t sure why Asgore hadn’t noticed. Or Undyne. She was really surprised Sans hadn’t noticed, though. He was weirdly observant.

So I did like no research on robots for this. IIRC machines that do something similar to smelling are a thing, but I have no idea how they work.

"Nah,” said Sans. "Just think lazy!“

A favorite motto of my boss, weirdly enough.

"But I don’t want to leave the piranhas out! Then Undyne and your b-brother will be d-disappointed and I won’t be the ‘g-great Dr. Alphys’ anymore, I’ll just be a f-fraud. They s-specifically requested piranhas!”

“So give ‘em piranhas,” said Sans. "But play to your strengths.“

"I d-don’t know that I have any strengths,” she pointed out.

“Sure you do. I mean, right now you’ve only been using biology. Maybe you wanna get down to the nuts and bolts of the matter. You made Mettaton, right?” he said. She tried not to wince. "And if you can make that guy a star, you’ve gotta be good. Plus, I can’t help but notice you’re, uh, pretty good with optics.“

She blushed. "The c-cameras? They’re for – uh, for scientific observation?” she said.

“Riiight,” said Sans. "I know what you’re up to. You just wanna steal all my best knock-knock jokes, don’t you?“

"There’s no s-sound!” she insisted, but Sans was chuckling. "…is that what you do at the door all day?“ she asked, frowning. "I just thought you were, uh. T-testing the structural integrity of the door. And… talking to someone?”

“Nah,” said Sans. "Who would I be talking to?“

"On the other side of the d-door?” she suggested.

both of these people, liars. I’m not sure Sans will be wholly surprised to find out Alphys didn’t make Mettaton, but the robot body’s still pretty damn impressive. And in the true pacifist ending Alphys didn’t seem real surprised there was someone behind that door.

He shrugged. "Anyway. Just some suggestions. But if you wanna give up… hey, I can’t blame ya. Papyrus will recover from his disappointment. Undyne probably knew it was a crazy idea in the first place.“ He reached around her to grab another donut. "Anyway, I gotta go on my lunch break before she finds out I’m slacking off here. Text her back, though, she seemed pretty worried. And try to do it before she and my bro burn the house down with her stress-spaghetti-ing?”

And obviously when all else fails, Sans’ go-to solutions are 1. taking a break, and 2. giving up. Not always in that order.

“Thanks,” said Alphys, half-heartedly. She turned to ask another question, but found she was sitting in an empty room. "…I think. …well, hey, at least I have donuts.“

Having donuts means she’s definitely better off than where she was at the beginning of the fic! Also I appreciate Sans having the ability to just vanish, because for whatever reason describing people walking to the door and saying “goodbye” is really boring to me and always trips me up.

#electricitytrick #so yes this one got long too #i probably should've just done the whole fic #but i don't know that i had much else to say?#idk hopefully this one wasn't disappointing #dvd commentary meme #undertale #alphys #sans #toby fox games

8 notes · View notes

thesinglesjukebox · 6 years ago

Video

youtube

CARLY RAE JEPSEN - NO DRUG LIKE ME

[5.38]

Waiting for the Carly to kick in...

Jonathan Bradley: Love is the drug, as pop music knows well, but Carly Rae Jepsen has never before needed the metaphor to evoke the intoxication in infatuation. And if she had never before sighed "starry eyes" over skin-glow synths, the cause could only be errata; that particular exhale has swirled since time immemorial in the primordial plasma from which all Jepsen music is formed. On this new single, she dives into inkiness on lines like "you say you love me but you wouldn't dare" and "a little history of us in there," but, for the most part, "No Drug Like Me" sticks to its tried fundamentals. These ones are quite fundamental. [6]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: "Party for One" was a boring rehash of CRJ tropes, but "No Drug Like Me" is worse: a half-baked idea stretched thin. Jepsen's at her very best when she's able to allow a specific emotion to feel like the single most important thing in the world, the instrumentation working hard to keep pace. On "No Drug Like Me," Jepsen's vocal melodies stifle the intent of the lyrics, and the beat is just as confused about what she's trying to accomplish. The verses' bubbling pulses and silky synth pads hint at a foreplay that never reaches climax. In the awkward, wobbling funk instrumentation is a revelation: Jepsen's been able to make all-caps EMOTIONS feel limitless, but her approaches to doing so have always been extremely limited. [3]

Will Adams: Maybe it's the titular drug that's causing all this unnecessary haze (hey, here's a downtempo Carly song that doesn't sound like it's been smothered in gauze), or maybe it's just a fluke. Then again, the other co-single, while upbeat and glittery and generally better written, is little more than TV spot fodder. The lasting impression from these three songs of the past six months is less the impactful Emotion type and more perplexity about when exactly Carly Rae Jepsen stopped sounding like Carly Rae Jepsen. [5]

Katherine St Asaph: Between this and "Party For One" I am genuinely worried about Carly Rae Jepsen's voice. The problem this time isn't shitty comping so much as a general smear of processing; the result isn't distracting, until you compare it to her vocals on Kiss, or even a few years ago. Did the label hire a new, terrible vocal producer? Is it some ill-fated attempt to sound breathy and R&B -- particularly weird, considering the genre's full of singers like Kehlani and SZA with clear, bright voices? Did she blow out her voice on the "Cut to the Feeling" chorus? She still writes swooning lyrics -- "if you make me feel in love, then I'll blossom for you" should, well, blossom. But Jepsen's voice always made every lyric feel urgent, exquisitely pained, almost piercing; flatten her vocals and and you get a flattened affect. It is a very strange feeling to wish Carly Rae Jepsen were singing a Carly Rae Jepsen song. [5]

Alfred Soto: The big fat bass serves as guard rail, arm rail, and anchor -- I can't hear CRJ because I'm alternatively clutching or clinging to it. I can call this experience intoxicating or rote -- there's no drug like Advil after a night of mixing cocktails, but I wouldn't call it one of a kind. [4]

Danilo Bortoli: Truth be told, Carly Rae has her own, very unique grasp to pop music. Not only because Emotion perfected and encapsulated a then ongoing trend, the nichification of pop, a world that album treated so specifically and absolutely that it is no wonder some people inside the bubble reacted to it being some sort of "Bible" for the modern era pop music fan. And absolute is a proper word for Jepsen now: her own narrative of love is so intense, so full of gimmickry, it is hard for critics not to confound her posture for extreme ingenuity. This wholesomeness has become her brand, a place of guaranteed safety which could often suggest something dangerous hidden below, both lyrically and sonically ("I have a cavern of secrets/None of them are for you," culled from "Warm Blood", are the best lyrics she has even written). The thing is, "No Drug Like Me" borrows from that strategy, which is ideal actually: While its twin is perhaps unduly sugarcoated, the latter is a bit more pensive, almost hypnotic. "No Drug Like Me" is not overproduced per se, but her approach to love as an ideal, lacking tension, has started to sound tiring. Which is to say: if Emotion was great partly because of its production on a sound design level (yet was transcendental to the point of becoming pop music), then "No Drug Like Me" tries to no avail to compensate its lack of tension with sound design. That offers an "interesting" sound, as a sound designer would say. But not enough from the queen of love itself. [5]

Pedro João Santos: This Jeppo dual release is yet another day of #JusticeForEmotion, padded out with the praises of newer, more tangible love, and with a micro-backlash. Languid, glistening deluxe track "Favourite Colour" is brought to heel by a speed-up, a rubbery bassline and tighter songwriting, not to mention some sort of psychosexual vibrancy not unlike that of "Warm Blood," but though excellent it may be, no surprises rest to be found. It's interesting how these new songs are supported by sonic options. Those teasing, dizzying arpeggios buried in "Party for One"'s hook, the batshit hi-NRJ bric-à-brac of "Now That I Found You," the deep groove of this one? Yessir. How I wish they went hand-in-hand with some sort of compositional or lyrical sense of innovation. [7]

Iris Xie: "Take me to the limit, hold me down" is a promising intro, with a little bit of direct beckoning in a quiet space that pulses a bit in anticipation. But that's where it ends, and afterwards, it all stalls. The chorus sounds stilted and forced, while not containing any of the expansiveness or wildness that usually would come from making a highly-tempered statement like "No Drug Like Me." There also is an issue where the throbbing synths accentuate the dryness of her timbre, which doesn't flatter the thinness of her voice. It's a strange decision to make, considering how Emotion's production hid it quite well with the level of reverb applied to her singing, which brought out the luminosity of Jepsen's sentiments. Additionally, in comparison to "Run Away With Me," where the instrumentals focus on heightening the sensation of breathlessness that is the gap between her desires and her acting on them, "No Drug Like Me" and its inert bassline swallows up Jepsen's usual heartfelt proclamations and makes her sound frail. Overall, "No Drug Like Me" exposes Jepsen's weaknesses as a vocalist when not hyped on 4000 per cent joyful vulnerability and cavernous synthpop, and sounds like the start of her Side C album. Still, the little parts that call back to a quieter intimacy are not bad, especially in the part of "Why would we risk it for another try? (Another try, come alive)." But that sounds like the post-chorus, or bridge, of another, better song, and is not this one. [5]

Thomas Inskeep: That synth bass on the chorus is PHAT. The rest of the song is a bit more lightweight than I'd like to hear from CRJ; there needs to be more there there, y'know? [6]

Vikram Joseph: Everything seems to be in its right place here -- a shimmering electro-pop pulse that bubbles gently under the surface, a chorus that fizzes and sparks just as you'd expect it to -- but this doesn't land for me; it feels just a little rigid, forced, even. Perhaps it's familiarity, or perhaps Sigrid and Tove Styrke are just doing this kind of alt-pop better right now, but Carly Rae Jepsen sounds short on flair and personality here, and "No Drug Like Me" struggles to get through Phase 1 trials. [5]

Stephen Eisermann: Although tonally much of the same, "No Drug Like Me" feels much darker than most CRJ songs and it's a welcome departure. This song takes a pretty tired metaphor and makes it feel new again, with the pulsing beat and CRJ's smooth vocals doing a lot of the heavy lifting in creating a feeling of mystery being unfolded. It's thrilling, sure, but more than that it's CRJ's best outing and is hopefully indicative of a different vibe for this next album. [8]

Josh Love: I'm not the first to point out that Jepsen's music is the YA of pop -- readily enjoyable art made by an adult and largely consumed by adults that taps into the feelings and experiences of being a teen, the outsized romance and the innocence being dramatically (though usually safely) punctured by illicit thoughts and deeds. Its simile linking the effect of substances to the sensations of love without naming or describing a specific vice, "No Drug Like Me" embodies Jepsen's earnest thrills. [7]

Edward Okulicz: While I'm not the Jukebox's biggest CRJ fan, even I can appreciate the delirious joy she exudes when she's the subject of a good pop-crush story. I think she's got a fine voice for the excitement of being awestruck in love, but her songs don't quite hit the spot. On this one, the song's worse than usual, I can't even hear the aspects of her voice that I like through the treatment, and she's lacking that bubbly enthusiasm she wears well as the subject of obsession. As the object, I don't even believe her. [4]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

#Carly Rae Jepsen #pop #music #music review #writing

0 notes

usaokay · 7 years ago

Text

Rebooting a Series

Around March 2005, I began Servers on a whim in Concerned. I always wanted to create comics, but with my self-confidence in drawings, I decided to tackle Garry’s Mod. At the time, I loved anything Rooster Teeth and other webcomics such as Ctrl+Alt+Del (before the controversy) and MegaTokyo.

I thought, “Making webcomics. How hard could it be?”

When it took me several years to finally get up to Season 3, the answer was, “Very.”

I initially approached Servers with the intention of being short and comedic. Once I realized that the team needed to go out of de_dust and explore the world, I created the Game Helmet, a social gaming world where the user can interact with others. For the antagonists, I chose the internet’s most hated type of people: Trolls. To better fit them in gaming, they became hackers. After all, no one likes hackers.

Around Season 2, someone suggested I should make the comic longer as the plot got more serious with higher stakes.

Even though I had the intention of the series going up to Season 4 with the plot beats involving a fallout of the team due the villain doing villainy, and the rise back into greatness as the team defeats the villain, as time went on, I changed a lot of the general plot, characters, and world.

A ton of factors could be attributed to why I haven’t really finished the series yet:

Perfectionism.

Growing up in a first generation Asian family, I’ve been taught to always strive to be the best compared to everyone else. Sometimes I think that my work is so good, I release it expecting another hit, but it ends up with people hating it without any constructive criticism. While I end up going over a lot of details, there are a lot of things I miss and I do like to see praises, but what I want more is criticism.

Laziness.

The more I felt that people have higher expectations of my work, the less interested I get because not only do I receive some sort of positive stigma, but also why break my back for perfectionism when I could just thrive on the positivity I just received? It’s ironic.

Finding the right idea.

As time went on for Servers, a lot of world events occurred in the gaming industry. Coincidentally, the PSN hack involved hackers breaking into Sony’s PS3 servers and obtaining customer information, which nearly mirrors the hackers’ goal in Servers.

Garry’s Mod is boring.

After sitting in front of a computer all day trying to get that stupid ragdoll in the right position, with the gnawing fear that the game might crash and you have to spend 5-10 minutes starting the game back up and another 5+ minutes setting up the scene (if I didn’t save). My patience and interest wears thin. With the growing standard for quality work, I have to focus intently on also providing such well-rounded settings in my comics. It’s tiring.

The long wait time caused several issues that I needed to address.

Other similar stories coming out and being popular.

Ready Player One and Sword Art Online both have similar worlds involving a VR MMO where there is way better interactivity. While Servers is very different as it tackles personal character issues, there is a gnawing in the back of my mind that readers will think that I was inspired by those properties rather than setting out to be original in some regard.

I get older and wise up about my stories and writing.

I consider this a self-improvement, but when you compare recent Servers works to the very first, it can cause some tonal and writing issues. If I was going to tackle character drama, I need to first get rid of Frank being a pervert all the time.

I can’t obtain all of my files.

Around the development of the first and second season, my computer’s hard drive went kaput. I lost everything, but thankfully I managed to go back to areas around the internet where I posted the comics. Of course I can’t get them all, but I managed to get some of the most important. I learned from this by using trusted image hosts (DeviantArt), a flash drive, and a portable hard drive to save past and future work almost every month or so.

New ideas = more story implementation = longer wait time.

Sometimes stuff occurs in my life that I want to address in Servers. It could be something that still bothers me to this day or something that I would like to praise. Sometimes I write myself into a corner and need to find a way around it.

During Season 3′s development, I realized that not only I want to end the story on a high note, but I also want to stop making Garry’s Mod comics altogether to pursue my dream as a writer. Thus, S3 became the final act, which oddly fits the entire story as some sort of trilogy.

This grew into another issue. As I was making Part 22, I wanted to give people a refresher on the story so far. I tried a small synopsis of the characters and story so far; and an actual comic that added way more to the plot than I intended.

Looking back on it, I don’t consider it to be a good way to present the story as people would rather go back and read my earlier work; but it’s crude, immature, and just bad. Really bad.

I tried to do a small “remake” of Season 1 that somehow still fits into the narrative of Season 3′s plot, but I eventually became disinterested as I felt that the quality wasn’t up to par.

So, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, I want to get Season 3 over with and be done. On the other hand, I want people to fully enjoy the story, and with something as crude as the earlier comics with some pages missing, it may put them off.

Time went on. I focused on other comics such as further developing Team Fortress 2 Originals and a non-canon Servers work. Eventually I met a fellow Garry’s Mod comic creator who was making his own site. We got to talking about implementing my work into his site, until he said that I should find a way to update my own work to better tell the story.

I agreed.

As I knew that I once attempted to remake the first season, it was high time to tell the story I initially wanted to tell while also keeping in line with the plot, world, and tone that was the culmination of almost a decade worth of work.

I turned the remake into a reboot and began implementing and polishing up story elements I felt needed fixing.

I actually tried to fully do a remake of the old season, such as Frank buying a helicopter and crashing it, but it didn’t fit too well with the tone I wanted to set. However, I do and try to retain some element and important plot beats that may come into play in later parts.

While I called the rebooted series, “Servers Redone”, it’s still very much the original Servers as the previous version has been retconned in favor for the revamped tale. Think of it like Star Wars’ difference between Legends and Disney’s version. You can still enjoy the old story on its own merit and to experience the journey of my trial & error into getting where I am now.

It does seem weird in itself to reboot something when I think that Season 3 is still in development. As I plan to also redo Season 2, I’m not sure if Season 3′s two parts (and Hartman’s Journal) will have to be retconned away or slightly remade to better fit with whatever story I want to include in the future.

With the rebooted story, I could have more freedom to implement whatever I wanted in order to help build up the world. This eventually lead to the inclusion of what I always wanted to do: Reveal that TF2O is set in the Servers world. The Servers world is continuing to grow thanks to its reboot and I hope that readers will find it enjoyable.

Up next: Servers: Part 6 - Of Monsters and Men.

#Comic Blog

0 notes

hauntedladycherryblossom-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Listening Post #4

Confusing Tears for the End of Days

The first movement is a stark, bleak combination of all four voices - the cello, the violin, the clarinet, and the piano. What makes this movement so interesting is the superposition of the clarinet and the violin. While the cello and the piano are both playing they are mainly background supporters, which we can see mainly by the length of their notes in comparison to the violin and the clarinet. Also, their lower registers place them in near silent contrast to the violin and clarinet making the clarinet and the violin seem more out of place. Because the two parts don’t align whatsoever “Crystal Liturgy” creates the illusion of chaos and a hectic reality without boisterous overbearing sound. This idea is also produced by lacking the qualities we would traditionally associate with “music.” It kind of gives the listener a bit of a headache which helps create the sense of confusion that Messiaen is seemingly attempting to produce.

The second movement starts of just as bleak sounding as the first movement with rapid chord progression by the piano, but quickly demonstrates a more typical “musical” sound. We hear a bit of fugue between the violin and the clarinet very early on, but as the piece moves forward it quickly slows down and the clarinet mostly fades away. Then we move forward as if we are slowly, but surely rolling down into a dark pit as the dynamics are tiered to lower and softer volumes. As the volume decreases so does the sharp tone of the violin until the cello can barely even be heard and the rhythmic padding of the piano becomes almost non-existent and all we hear is the quiet cry of the violin. The second movement ends with a screaming dynamic change from all four voices as if the listener was rolling down a hill and then… Messiaen dropped them off a cliff. It is violent rapid and expressive.

“Abyss of the Birds” is an oddity to me. It clearly is meant to say something but what exactly that is I am not entirely sure. The beginning of the movement is rather plane. It seems as if a clarinet is just warming up. This is until the clarinet has its own steamroller of sorts and starts out even more quiet than it began and crescendos all on the same note. Then each subsequent measure line displays more vigor and hoping about the notes, until once again the clarinetist needs a breather and he begins the steamroller all over again. This movement seems to be all over the place, but the fact that the clarinet is unaccompanied establishes a lonely, desolate quality, like a child wondering through the forest. This makes sense with the circumstances under which the piece was written., as Messiaen and the rest of the quartet were POW under the German army. There is little progression of ideas, more just sad “spewing” of notes that are both high, low, long, and rapid. The clarinet is sharp sounding in all cases, but the quiet nature of the sound leads the listener to listen carefully despite sounding mostly nonsensical.

“Interlude” is actually super frickin’ cool, because we get a bit of a break from the confusion that the first three movements presented us with. It actually sounds like dancelike music. The only really confusing parts were these runs that the clarinet had that were first heard in the “Abyss of the Birds”. The movement has several sections of unison between the clarinet, violin, and the cello. The part that is most appealing is still the maintained tension in the movement, this time created by the call and answer between the clarinet as one voice and then the cello and violin as another. They finally come together in a rapid, equally as stark section toward the end. Here all contrast is felt in the rhythmic style, at one moment long and flowing and the next detached and staccatoed.

The fifth movement, “Praise to the Eternity of Jesus,” is just the cello and piano, which I find the most beautiful of all the movements. There isn’t much of a melodic directive per say but you can hear the passion behind the cello especially in this movement. The piano is merely just accompanying the cello on a journey. It was about halfway through this movement that I began to think each instrument represented a group or persons experience, because each instrument keeps the same style throughout the quartet. For the cello, in this movement there isn’t always an underlying beat, but it’s playing is long and sad with a bit of vibrato. The piano dictates the dynamics of the section and as the too get higher the music gets louder. Again, the sense of confusion is maintained in that it is difficult to follow the direction of the notes. When you think the cello is going to go up it may go down or vice versa.

The sixth movement is in unison between all four instruments. It demonstrates syncopated rhythms and rapidly changing patterns. This one returns a bit to each of the ideas already mentioned but for the most part the movement says something different because of the tonal quality created by all instruments expressing the same idea together. It does not embody loneness the same way that the other movements do. Rather, this movement seems to suggest collective despair! Yay!

“Tangle of Rainbows, for the Angel Announcing the End of Time” is mainly about the cello again, accompanied by the piano, as it was in the fifth movement, but only at the beginning. After some mumbo jumbo and hullabaloo, it becomes about the violin and the clarinet, also accompanied by the piano. In the sections where all four instruments are participating it is rapid, jumbled, and confusion, but when there are two or three it flows easily and peacefully. It is as if three is a party, four is a crowd. This really helps drive home the idea of the instruments as characters, because in the times when all four parts are involved it is almost as if the piano is unsure of who to assist by accompanying, so instead it defaults to wandering up and down the staff on its own. All instruments are a part of a “family” but the characters operate on their own.

The 8th, and final movement is just left to the violin (and yeah the piano but it really does almost nothing). It is reflective, slow, and quiet. From the violin we see that notes mostly get higher and higher as we progress through the piece. Naturally the dynamics follow with a slow but deliberate crescendo. The piece finishes by the two instruments fading out into thought provoking silence together.

Part 2

Movement 2

“Abyss of the Birds” closely matches Monday’s reading in that it was very reminiscent of the sound birds would make in the morning, which exactly matches Pasquier’s description of what the group mostly bonded over. While the clarinet starts off quiet it slowly but surely increases in volume until we reach a point with no clear pattern, varying rhythmic ideas, low notes, high notes, and generally just a chaotic combination of many ideas. This reminds me of the birds in the morning and of what Pasquier describes. The first bird starts off quietly and it progressively gets more rapid and “messy” when all the birds join in. When the clarinet begins it’s crescendo again it signifies a new day. The tone also seems to match what we would expect of a caged bird, which in a sense Messiaen is now that he has been captured by the German army. His homeland, France, seems out of sight, so he, as a bird, is calling out in search of help. Symbolically he may be represented by the first bird, that is alone.

Movement 7

Messiaen’s description seems to match the movement almost to perfection. When we think of “blue-orange lava” or “swords of fire” what comes to mind is vibrant and perplexing, but as Messiaen seems to suggest it is meant to do, the colors of the rainbow are tangled in a “roundabout compenetration of superhuman sounds and colors.” This seems to suggest that what he experiences is in a sense beautiful, but it is so fast, perplexing and “tangled” that his experience is actually depressing. He can now longer enjoy the beauty of the world he lives in because his experiences (represented by individual colors) are sloshed about into a mess of a whole, so that one cannot focus on the few bits of beauty that actually exist in life. This makes sense in relation to the music because it is hard to see a clear path in the music. This listener is always left asking, “What note is coming next,” similarly to how Messiaen would be asking of himself and his own situation. The sharpness of the cello’s sound is also characteristic to this symbolism in that it demonstrates the pain that one experiencing such confusion might feel.

Movement 8

The second movement is to drive home thanks to God for sacrificing himself to the pain of being human despite the fact that he doesn’t need to, and although he will live eternally by visiting Earth and creating people he will forever be burdened with the knowledge that he created something so, in some peoples’ eyes, terrible – people. While we can only suffer through the pain of life for a limited amount of time he must always reflect upon the atrocities he help create. The violin solo is meant to thank him more than praise him, for in the higher register of the violin it is more symbolic of a weeping grateful person.

My Perception of the Work

Overall I find the story of this work’s production interesting and compelling. While the work on its own seems a bit bland and strange to me, once we begin to speculate on the nature of its creation it does develop a divine beauty that causes reflection and a humble look into my own situation. The pain felt in the music is relatable, but simultaneously foreign, which allows me to more heavily consider the burden others feel by life alone. The story that gets us to “The Quartet for the End of Days” is painful, chaotic, and scary, but it is those glimpses of hope, like Akoka or Pasquier’s involvement, that make living worthwhile for Messiaen. Overall, the thought and symbolism behind the work is very compelling to me.

0 notes

juliandmouton30 · 8 years ago

Text

"Poetic and powerful" proposal by Scottish designer wins £1,000 Brexit passport design competition

Scottish graphic designer Ian Macfarlane has won first prize in Dezeen's unofficial Brexit passport design competition with a cover that transitions between the burgundy EU passport and the dark blue of the old, pre-EU British passport.

The London-based designer's winning proposal features a tonal gradient between the two colours, with the blue upper half seeping over the maroon lower half.

Judges praise simplicity and power of winning design

The competition judges described the simple design as "poetic," "powerful," "elegant" and "ambiguous".

Dezeen founder and editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs, who chaired the jury, said they were all struck by the simple power of the submission, which communicates Brexit in an ambiguous way.

"It can be read as representing a smooth transition, a nostalgic return or an ominous darkening," he said. "This makes it a worthy winner, since the brief called for a design that would represent all UK citizens."

Fairs described the winner as "an artistic statement that is ambiguous, powerful, simple and beautiful".

Ian Macfarlane's winning design features a transition between the burgundy EU passport and the dark blue of the old, pre-EU British passport

"It represents the 52 per cent spray-painting over the interests of the other 48 per cent," said Guardian architecture and design critic and jury member Oliver Wainwright. "It is suitably sinister, like an overcast sky."

"It is very poetic and elegant" added graphic designer Margaret Calvert. "This is a passport I would actually like to have. It is open to interpretation too."

"It feels like part of history because it incorporates the colours of the current EU and the former UK passports," she said. "That is very important."

"It talks about going back to pre-EU times," said Anita Taylor, dean of Bath School of Art and and chair of the Council for Higher Education in Art and Design, who described the design as "concise and elegant".

Macfarlane, 48, hails from Glasgow in Scotland but has lived in London most of his life. He described the competition as "a nice thing to think about".

"It was a good idea for a competition," he said. "It's an important issue given the situation".

The judges were all struck by the simple power of Macfarlane's submission

In the statement accompanying his entry, Macfarlane wrote: "Britain needs a visual metaphor to honestly reflect the pre- and post-referendum spirit of the country and all those involved".

Macfarlane wins a cash prize of £1,000. His design, along with other shortlisted designs, will be exhibited in the Design Museum in London and will be part of a display of more entries at Clerkenwell Design Week in London next month.

Second place and £500 goes to Special Projects' iridescent proposal

The judges awarded second prize to London product design studio Special Projects.

The design reinvents the traditional passport for the clubbing generation, giving it an iridescent cover, a shoulder strap and visa pages featuring personalised foreign phrases generated from biometric data contained within the passport, which the holder may find useful overseas.

Special Projects' iridescent passport design was awarded second place by the judges

The aim of the design is to help travelling Brits fix friendships that have been damaged by Brexit by providing a trigger for conversations while travelling.

Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic said it was the "perfect thing for Magaluf".

"I like that it talks about the chatty nature of British people and the British obsession with queuing," said Wainwright.

"It says something about passports themselves," said Calvert. "There is always a panic that you go through with your passport: 'where did I put it?' It's the same with your glasses. But with this one you have it there, round your neck."

The passport is designed to be worn around your neck, where it acts as a conversation starter

"Our design sheds the dark and austere colours of previous passports and instead uses iridescent coatings to signal the openness and willingness to chat of each Brexit Brit abroad," wrote Special Projects in its statement.

"Passports are normally hidden in a hotel locker but we want people to actively use them, spreading happiness and laughter through human interactions."

"Brexit has made the UK unpopular among its European counterparts and as a multi-European design studio who did not support it, we decided the UK passport should act as a tool to mend relationships post Brexit," it continued. "Our passport encourages UK citizens to engage with locals as they travel throughout the world, making friends and exploring mutual connections."

Each visa page acts as a conversation guide specifically designed for that country, providing translations of friendly phrases, such as "Would you like to watch a football match together?"

The visa pages feature handy translations of foreign phrases to help linguistically challenged Brits make friends abroad

The passport makes use of the personal data captured inside to customise the phrases, so every single UK passport will have unique topics of conversation, such as "Did you know I was born 103 years after Albert Einstein?"

Each passport has a loop of string which enables it to be worn over a shoulder for easy access. Our design sheds the dark and austere colours of previous passports and instead uses iridescent coatings to signal the openness and willingness to chat of each Brexit Brit abroad.

Tim Gambell and Alfons Hooikaas win £250 third prize for individualised solution

Third prize goes to graphic designer Tim Gambell and Dutch designer creative director Alfons Hooikaas, co-founders of research platform Emblemmatic. Their project "uses computational techniques to explore symbols and their meanings".

The duo's aim was to do away with the notion of nationality. Instead, they used the Emblemmatic toolkit to generate heraldic-looking imagery for passport covers based on the hometown of the holder.

Third prize is awarded to Tim Gambell and Alfons Hooikaas for their hyper-local passport design

Meanwhile the visa pages inside are similarly personalised and decorated with imagery culled from the holder's social media profile.

Fairs described the approach as "devolution gone granular" and said it showed up Brexit as a "black comedy".

The duo proposed using an algorithm to generate heraldic-looking imagery for passport covers based on the hometown of the holder

Wainwright said: "This tells a much stronger political and global story about the progressive isolationism and breakdown of nation states and unions, of bigger political ideas into inward-looking, insular elements. It is the ultimate extreme of localism, which can be read as a positive or a negative."

Sudjic said: "It takes the Dutch to show us how stupid we are."

Over 200 entries from around the world

The Brexit passport design competition was organised by Dezeen, which also provided the prize money. The purpose of the competition was to provoke people into thinking about the UK's identity after Brexit. The brief called for designs that represented all UK citizens while presenting a positive view of the country to the rest of the world.

The competition received over 200 entries from 34 different countries. The youngest entrant was 12 years old and the oldest was 83. Blue covers and designs featuring the Union Jack were by far the most popular themes among entrants, even those from overseas.

The shortlist of nine entries, revealed last week, received huge media attention and was featured on BBC TV and by publications including The Daily Mail, The Telegraph, The Guardian and the Evening Standard.

The post "Poetic and powerful" proposal by Scottish designer wins £1,000 Brexit passport design competition appeared first on Dezeen.

from ifttt-furniture https://www.dezeen.com/2017/04/11/brexit-passport-design-competition-winner-ian-macfarlane-1000-pound-prize/

0 notes

jeniferdlanceau · 8 years ago