#the prequels era as dystopia

[the-far-bright-center]

Dystopian themes in the Prequels

“Looking back is helpful in understanding his work. Lucas started out in the 1960’s as an experimental filmmaker heavily influenced by the avant-garde films of the San Francisco art scene. Initially interested in painting, he became an editor and visualist who made abstract tone poems. His first feature, THX 1138 (1971) was an experimental science fiction film that presented a surreal, underground world where a dictatorial state controls a docile population using drugs. Love and sex are outlawed, procreation is controlled through machines, and human beings shuffle meaninglessly around the system.”

—Anthony Parisi, 'Revisiting the Star Wars Prequels'

The bolded parts in this description correspond with the Coruscant Underworld, the Jedi Order’s code, and the creation of the clone troopers, respectively.

Notably, in THX 1138's setting, emotions such as love and the concept of family are taboo:

I’ve always found it so interesting that Lucas incorporated the dystopian elements of his earlier sci-fi into the Prequels, taking place as they do in the context of the final years of the Repubic, with all its colourful and sumptuous visual spendour. In comparison, the post-apocalyptic ‘Dark Times’ of the Original Trilogy would seem on the surface to be the more outwardly ‘dystopian’ setting of the two—however, the actual story of the OT is a mythic hero's journey and fairytale, complete with an uplifting and transcendent happy ending. The OT's setting may be drained of colour, and its characters may be living under the shadow of the Empire, but as a story it is far from bleak or dystopian in tone. Rather, fascinatingly, it is the pre-apocalyptic era of the Prequels that is presented as the more dystopian storyline:

“On the surface, [The Phantom Menace] is an optimistic, colorful fantasy of a couple of swashbuckling samurai rescuing a child Queen and meeting a gifted slave boy who can help save the galaxy from the slimy Trade Federation and its Sith leaders. But beneath that cheerful facade is a sweatshop of horrors.” —Michael O'Connor, 'Moral Ambiguity: Beyond Good and Evil in the Prequels'

This is referring to the state of the galaxy during the Prequels era, including the fact that slavery is known to exist, but is largely ignored by the Republic and the Jedi alike due to being too economically inconvenient to combat. It also refers to how the Jedi of the Old Order come across as cold and distant atop their ivory tower on the artificial world of Coruscant, far removed not only from the natural world but also from the true realities of the people they claim to serve. And then there is the additional revelation in Attack of the Clones that love and family are 'outlawed' within the Jedi Order, creating an environment in which their own 'Chosen One' is unable to flourish, leaving him vulnerable to the Dark Side. Finally, there's the fact that the characters end up so distracted by fighting a civil war (something that goes against their own principles and involves the use of a slave clone army in the process), that they are blinded to the entity of pure evil that is guiding their every move...until it is too late.

“Without a clear enemy, the Jedi Order, the Galactic Senate, the whole of the Star Wars galaxy bickers and backstabs and slides around the moral scales. But there is one benefit to Palpatine’s pure evil crashing down upon the galaxy; against its oppressive darkness, only the purest light can shine through.” —Michael O'Connor, 'Moral Ambiguity: Beyond Good and Evil in the Prequels'

If anything, the Dark Times allows for the OT generation's acts of courage and heroism to flourish and succeed, because they are not hampered by the Old Jedi Order's restrictive rules, nor by its servitude to the whims of an increasingly corrupt Republic—so corrupt, in fact, that by the time of RotS, it is practically the Empire in all but name. Indeed, one of the key features of the Prequels, and what makes them so tragic, is that the characters are already living in a dystopia...they just don't know it.

There is, paradoxically, a level of freedom to be found in the midst of the Dark Times which had not been possible during the Twilight era, which allows Original Trio to rise above the tragedy that befell their predecessors. They are able to act as free agents (not as slaves of a corrupt government), serving only the fight for the liberation of all the peoples of the galaxy (not just citizens of the Republic), and are likewise free to live (and love!) on their own terms. Free to act on their positive attachments to one another, without having to hide the truth of their feelings. It's particularly telling that *this* is, above all, what makes the Prequels era so dystopian—the characters' inability to freely and openly participate in normal familial human relationships.

[eternal-ether-fanfic]

First Ones stories - like, would it be interesting to have a saga about the first ones? It would cover what they were like before hordak, the war they had, the exploration of etheria and eternia.

You could have Mara's story, and maybe a story about the people who gave up Adora and what happened to them after. How they eventually fell or fled in the war.

Similarly, a sort of early princess war story. A kind of prequel-fic about the era where Hordak took over Scorpia's kingdom, about Glimmers dad as a soldier and a king, about the early emergence of the Horde and the terror of an invasive alien techno-dystopia.

Alt-tone retelling. Exploring the series through a lens of more 'adult' fantasy - political intrigue between princesses, injuries and death from the battles, scars of war. Princessdom culture and territory clashes, the brutal lives of Horde soldiers, the nature of magic and such. It could be cool to see Adora use a sword like an actual sword, ya know? Or for Bows bow to... bow. Would Glimmers magic be more offensive or would her supportive role be emphasized?

AU where Hordak 'won' and it's more of a cyberpunk story where he's taken over Etheria but can't open the portal. Adora is like a Horde general and Katra is the rebel in disgrace. Maybe some long lost descendant of Glimmer and Bows try to retake the moon crystal and find the Sword of Protection.

Silly AU just for fun where it's a Gun of Protection. Nothing else changes, it's just She-Ra has a big fuck-off gun now. Instead of shape-shifting later on it gets different under barrel attachments.

More Space or Etheria adventures cause they were kinda cool! Maybe some Mara stories about Etheria monsters and the first Greyskull team. Maybe stories about the rest of the universe trying to fight off the Horde, or a sequel-fic about Adora and the gang going around saving the universe.

Something about those really cool badass wasteland gangs. Damn, they were awesome.

A series of Seahawks adventures and all the ships/relationships he's set fire to.

Weird Crossovers like Sailor Moon and the SpoP gang teaming up against some evil crystal goddess. Or Ben 10 where Ben ends up on Etheria as part of the plumbers and gets a whole new set of aliens about it. Gwen is there and does magic.

[spottheantisemitism]

Days of future past and the paper thin allegory

Of all the X-stories stories to hit you with the “this is an allegory for racism”, Days of Future Past is usually not one. Instead it’s more focused on the apocalypse and oppressive dystopia than how we got here and how do we change history The prequel however focuses on racism and tyranny and focuses on Kitty/Kate Pryde as her world falls apart. Making a young Jewish woman the lead in a story about a country falling into tyranny was indeed Claremont’s vision and the intended allegory (he does the Jews-Mutants parallel with Magneto as well) but what is never explored is the implications of that allegory nor any actual Jewish culture. The prequel fixes that

If you follow me at my main @gerrysherry you’ll notice the last panel is my banner. For good reason. This comic was make during a surge of racism and antisemitism in the summer of 2023.

There is a long running joke in the fandom that Xavier and Magneto in fighting each other rather than the anti-mutant bigots is allegorical for how real life marginalized people fight each other instead their oppresors.

In the prequel Magneto makes the metaphor quite clear. He speaks not of his worries but also his experience as a Holocaust survivor. And the writers managed to in one sentence change what “days of future past” means. It’s no longer “days of future past” in the sense that Kate is reliving the past (as was the case for the 80s original story) but that society is a whole is returning to 1940s era bigotry and oppression.

notice also how when it’s a ghetto the sign is green when it’s turned into a camp the sign turns red. I thought that was clever.

I never understood this scene when I read it last year but this year I can sort of understand. If you spent years pushing me out of your activism and scapegoating me, I’m not joining your coalition to fight the president now.

and yes Stryker’s administration is clearly commentary on the 2016-2020 Trump administration down to him being a demogogue figurehead serving with no term limits and it’s his cronies that run the country. Marvel isn’t predicting the future it’s just that second verse is the same as the first. Again the future is the past.

Kitty’s wedding to Peter in Chapter 2 is officiated by her Rabbi who sneaks out to perform a ceremony in secret. Historically many Jewish weddings were performed in secret and I’m sure the parallels are intentional.

they are also marrying in the rubble of the X-mansion symbolizing them clinging to the past. But this is done not simply out of nostalgia but also because they have no where else to go.

Magneto’s dying words are great. Days of Future Past Magneto post internment is a lot more calm and pragmatic than his 616 comics counterpart but he still feels like Magneto (even moreso than recent comics which mellowed him out TOO much). And the fact that it’s Yiddish rendered in Latin script (as opposed to the Hebrew alphabet) rather German like in X-men ‘97 or Polish like in X-men Apocalypse really speaks to the thought the author put in. Yes Magneto is a German-Polish Jew but do you really expect me to believe he sees either German or Polish as his native language? “This is a Holocaust survivor who just spent the last years of his life interned, he will not see freedom but his fellow prisoners will, what language shall his last words be in? Yiddish obviously”

What I love about this comic is that this comic uses past horror not exploitatively but in a sense that past events form patterns and can recur. Those who do not learn history repeat it.

the past informs and warns the future and in the convoluted time travel set in place in the comic, the future can inform and warn the past.

[keepsmagnetoaway]

Uncanny X-Men 142 (February 1981)

Chris Claremont/John Byrne

Hey look! The title finally officially changed to Uncanny X-Men! It's been on the cover for years but this is the first time this book is technically called this! Oh right also this is one of the raddest and best known X-Men covers of all time. It's fucking sick as hell. Also I have a bunch of stuff to talk about here so strap in, there's a big ol' update on this project at the end. But first...EVERYBODY DIES!

As with the last issue, I was struck re-reading this one by just how little of it actually happens in the dystopian future. It's just enough to terrify and to remain the most impactful part of this series, and subsequently it was the part that was widely copied and then done to death, but here again it's actually mostly just small, chilling glimpses like this one.

And, of course, this one.

And this one.

These panels are incredible - brutal, artful, still shocking today. But much of this issue is the "modern-day" fight with Mystique and co inside various committee rooms in Washington, and while it's not bad it's also kind of whatever, and you keep wanting to get back to these bits. It's also, eventually and despite all the X-Men deaths in the future, a story with a "happy" ending, of course: the dark timeline is, sort of, averted, and Kitty has saved the world.

This really is a hell of a story, but it's kind of impossible to tell now. Time travel, alternate futures, shock deaths, wild dystopias - this was all more or less brand new to comics at the time, a fully formed new direction, and Days of Future Past justly became a huge success because of it.

But - and I know you know this - in the end that was probably a pity, because subsequently other writers (on X-Men and other properties) went hogwild with the idea, piling bleakness up on bleakness and alternate reality upon alternate reality until none of it made any sense or had any impact. This also then of course ended up setting the tone for many, many superhero movies as well, and again that too got run into the ground pretty fast. On this blog, I'm trying to read these stories as I come to them, and on those terms Days of Future Past is a triumph, but I can't totally pretend that I don't know what comes after.

Speaking of what comes after, though... As you know, I'm using the brilliant Krushing Krisis reading guide for this blog. When I started it, I obviously did so with what that guide calls "Era 1", the actual beginning of the X-Men. I've now just finished what it defines as "Era 2", which covered the revival of the series and ends here with the end of Days of Future Past, on the brink of various other X-titles launching as the gang became truly huge in the 80s.

But...when I started with "Era 1", although that made sense, I was skipping what the guide calls "Era 0", the mishmash of comics retroactively set before the 1963 debit. There's no very obvious time to read these, of course, but I've decided to go back and do it now, before we really get into the 80s: at this point most of the foundations have been laid, so it's time to go back and look at the...foundations of the foundations? I guess? The stuff retroactively inserted under the foundations, like a basement extension? Whatever. It'll be an interesting selection of prequels, heavily featuring Wolverine but also some other stuff, and there's not that much of it, after which I'll come back to where I left off here and we'll get to the departure of John Byrne, the launch of New Mutants, all that juicy stuff.

Also, as I write this - a couple of weeks before it posts, I guess - I've been getting a really nice spike in interactions, comments etc., and it's been a delight. I'm so glad people are enjoying this, and please do subscribe, repost, yell at me in the comments about how I'm being unfair to your favourite issue, and so on.

Onward! To the (future) past!

[nevermindirah]

Booker vibes hard with scifi. he has so many visceral sense-memories of reading early scifi novels as the genre developed in his first decades of immortality. all the dystopia speaks to him for obvious being God's chew toy reasons, but there are times over the years when hopeful scifi stories boost him emotionally in a way no amount of good deeds or warm hugs seem to manage.

so by the time he gets stoned and goes to the movies in 1977, he's ready.

he falls hard for Han/Leia. he too was a scoundrel who fell in love with the coolest and smartest girl around who somehow found his scruffiness charming. he too came of age and put down roots amid galaxy-shaking political and social upheaval. but Star Wars was so safely cartoony in its far-away galaxy that he found he could earnestly enjoy how hopeful it was.

over the years he tore through the novels, he picked up fan magazines here and there, stopped by the occasional con. when he discovered fanfiction, hoo boy. he wrote over 100k of Han and Leia's snarky, sappy, smutty, blaster-heavy post-RotJ adventures in like the first month alone.

decades later, he very nearly had to leave the theater when Kylo Ren killed his father.

some of those same decades later, Nile. she's only 5 years old when Episode I comes out and by the time she's old enough to sit through all-ages blockbusters the prequels have been so ragged on that she doesn't bother. maybe she catches some of the original trilogy on cable at some point but she doesn't particularly connect to it.

Star Wars becomes relevant to Nile when she's in her figuring things out after high school era and she hears the guy from Attack the Block is gonna be in the new trilogy.

rip Finn's character arc and everything else that could've been so good about the sequel trilogy, but there's still some stuff to treasure there, and Nile — well.

a few months into immortality she does a marathon of the whole Skywalker saga. it's fun and silly and a way to spend a few days. the others pop in sometimes to watch with her but for the most part she's enjoying her own private screening. then she sees Rey all alone in that AT-AT carcass and suddenly she can't stop crying. Finn's storyline is just as wonderful and frustrating as she remembered, but the way he and Rey keep finding each other, keep fighting for each other — yeah.

suddenly she's WRITING. she's usually been drawn to visual arts when she has the time and interest to create, but here she is now, writing tens of thousands of words at a time, pouring her heart out through these two space orphans who have living family they just can't get back to and through a lot of galactic bullshit manage to build a new home in each other.

she starts getting regular comments from an ao3 account with a hilarious mishmash of works in a bunch of different fandoms going back years. there's some original trilogy fic on this person's account all dated the same day in 2009, and when she reads one, an intricately plotted and super romantic Han/Leia mission fic, she notices details that make it seem like it was written before the prequels came out.

the comments get longer. she and her commenter start chatting on discord, about their blorbos and fandom drama and increasingly just life. to the extent that Nile can tell anyone about her life, that is. it's nice, having an online friend.

then one day Booker fucks up. he lets a too-specific detail slip. Nile laughs in disbelief, types into discord "hey uh if I'm right about something, pick up your phone," and then she calls him.

years later, Booker will finally admit he did a little hacking to double-check it was her before dropping that purposeful slip. then he'll write Nile a lightning-hot fic where Finn introduces Rey to holonet cybersex.

[autumnalwalker]

The Witches' Testaments, Masterpost

The concept for this project got stuck in my head some time back as a prequel of sorts to my Solarpunk Witch Story. The idea was to focus a bit more on the "punk" side of Solarpunk and paint a picture of the effort and rebellion that went into how that world transitioned from Cyberpunk dystopia to Solarpunk... well, not utopia exactly, but something better than it was and striving toward that dream.

And because that sort of thing is bigger than any one person and I had multiple worldbuilding concepts I wanted to touch on, I landed on the idea of writing it in the form of a series of interviews with various characters who lived through that period of change.

I don't know how many of these I'll actually get around to writing, but for now, here's a tentative table of contents that at least hints at some general ideas/prompts for me to fill out later:

Forward:

The Chronicler

A statement of purpose by the interviewer.

Corporate Era:

The First Witch

The first contact between human and “true AI” outside of a laboratory setting was less auspicious than it has since been made out to be.

The Reclaimer

The irony of sharing one’s cybernetic augmentations with an AI as a means of fighting for bodily autonomy was not lost on any of those involved.

The Gardener

How does one even find nature left to heal in a concrete jungle?

The Fighter

The power of love. The power of incredible violence.

Reconfiguration Era:

The Jailor

Whether the onset of Kessler Syndrome ending space flight was the tragic death of one of humanity’s greatest dreams or a much needed wake up call is still hotly debated to this day.

The Liberator

In many circles, freeing MG onto the global net is often regarded as the transitional event from the Corporate to Reconfiguration eras.

The Architect

It was a new world and we required new ways of looking at cities.  In this way, the Reconfiguration was a very literal and physical endeavor.

The Priestess

When MG started creating what appeared to be miracles based on what we knew at the time, was it really any wonder that She began to draw both reverence and fear?

The Demon Hunter

MG is the first and last of Her kind, but She was not the only one of her kind.

Modern Era

The Coordinator

Those who would choose to live as full time gestalts are a rarity, but when it happens few are better suited to overseeing the maintenance of arcology infrastructure than one who blurs the line between human and AI.

The Village Witch

The most common calling for modern members of our order is to settle down in relatively isolated communities as living informational resources and on-call technical and environmental consultants.

The Novice

As those before us made a better world for us, we’ve made a better world for our children.  I have faith that they will make it better still.

Afterward:

MG

It is not unheard of for MG to speak directly with those who ask, but I still consider meeting with Her to be one of my life’s greatest honors.

[neurodivergantizzetwitch]

the hunger games is one of the earlier progenitors of the mainstream ya dystopian era, but imo it's also probably the best the genre got. ive read a LOT of ya dystopia in my time, but i still find the hunger games' depictions of class and revolution, its societal critique, its characters, plot and worldbuilding, to be basically unparalleled in the genre.

it is by no means perfect. it in fact has a myriad of glaring flaws that make it much worse than it could be. turns out trying to make a critique of capitalism based in the struggles of marginalized groups using the symbolic metaphor of speculative fiction whilst simultaneously trying to make this enigmatic and technically difficult concept appealing to the general public, super mainstream, and targeted at teenage girls; kind of inherently a not super well thought out idea. but id be lying if i said that it hasn't had a huge impact on me and many others

when *ballad* released in 2020, i was nervous ngl. it seemed like a cashgrab, and im, that wasnt an unfounded belief: a prequel released ten years after an über popular series has ostensibly concluded and the author has publicly stated they are leaving the world behind seems like it's not going to be the height of literature. but then... i read the book, and to this day it is potentially my favorite of the hunger games novels. in the ten years since *Mockingjay* Suzanne Collins grew a lot as a writer, and though it's been years now since I read it, its impact still weighs on me. all this to say- im incredibly excited to get to see this movie.

but as everyone flocks to theatres to see the new hunger games movie, i fear us as a culture beginning to look on the era of ya dystopia with rose tinted glasses and romanticizing it. absolutely enjoy the film, but also remember that this is some of the best the genre has to offer. let's appreciate the good in ya dystopia, but remain unafraid to criticize it, and most of all, let's not forget the litany of really shitty series that make up its bulk.

[nightmaresarchive]

Eras Archive List

[Group] 

Nightmare/Chase Me

Fall Asleep in the Mirror/Good Night

Prequel/Fly High

Full Moon 

Escape the Era/You and I

Alone in the City/What

What [JAP]

Over the Sky

The End of Nightmare/Piri

Piri [JAP]

The Beginning of the End [JAP]

Raid of Dream/Deja Vu

Dystopia: Tree of Language/Scream

Endless Night [JAP]

Be The Future [Collab]

Dystopia: Lose Myself/Boca

No More [JAP]

Dystopia: Road to Utopia/Odd Eye

Eclipse [JAP]

Summer Holiday/BEcause

Apocalypse: Save Us/Maison

Apocalypse: Follow Us/Vision 

Reason

Apocalypse: From Us/Bon Voyage

VillianS/OOTD

VirtuouS/Justice

[Member OST]

Paradise (Siyeon)

R.o.S.E BLUE (Group)

Shadow (Siyeon & Dami) 

Start Over (Siyeon)

Still With You (SuA) 

Red Swan (Siyeon & Danwoo Lim) 

Feel Alive (SuA)

[cricketnationrise]

Reading Roundup: August 2021

reading roundup/quarantine reads

Changeless by Gail Carriger: book 2 in the Parasol Protectorate series, must read in order, Victorian fantasy steampunk mystery paranormal romance series, Alexia bashes people with her parasol and it is Satisfying

Everything and the Moon by Julia Quinn: romance novel. it was fine. sex on the page. historical. part of a series i’m pretty sure.

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey: okay so there’s this woman who works in cloning and her exhusband stole her research and made his own clone which was bad enough but then he made sure that the NORMALLY STERILE CLONE COULD GET PREGNANT and then it gets more fucked up from there, but like, in a good way. 250ish pages of roller coaster emotions. i will read everything sarah gailey ever writes (same author as American Hippo and Upright Women Wanted)

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir: space! mental health preserving comas! alien life forms fucking up the earth’s atmosphere! alternating timelines between the lead up to being in space and the waking up from the coma, partial amnesia (his memory comes back), heartwarming ending, already heard that it is being made into a movie with Ryan Reynolds as the protagonist which could be really cool

Blameless by Gail Carriger: book 3 in the parasol protectorate series, must read in order, Victorian era fantasy steampunk mystery paranormal romance, yes Seriously All Of Those Things Apply

Soul Music by Terry Pratchett: book 16 in the discworld series, #3 in the DEATH series; Pratchett’s wacky take on Music with Rocks In It and the music industry in general; can pretty much read these in any order, but i think it helps to read them in publication order (there’s like 40 books)

For Real by Alexis Hall: m/m erotica, sex on the page, BDSM, also they fall in love, older man/younger man; NSFW, look sometimes you just need some smut okay

An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten: series of short stories focusing on an 88 year old Swedish woman who lives in a ginormous rent controlled apartment; she kills people - but only if they really deserve it, like the socialite who is trying to take her apartment, and the lawyer who beats his wife

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir: book 1 in the Locked Tomb series, lesbian necromancers/swordfighters in space, lots of murder/gore so enter at own risk, not a cliffhanger ending but you DO immediately want the next book

Heartless by Gail Carriger: book 4 in the parasol protectorate series, must read in order, Victorian era fantasy steampunk mystery paranormal romance, yes Seriously All Of Those Things Apply

Timeless by Gail Carriger: final book in the parasol protectorate series, must read in order, Victorian era fantasy steampunk mystery paranormal romance, yes Seriously All Of Those Things Apply; there are a couple spin-off series that i’m excited to read soon

The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex by Tamsyn Muir: prequel, short story, focuses on the Sixth House with Camilla POV

Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi: there’s a lot going on in this book, alternating POV between a sister and brother. sister has powers of seeing the future, telekenesis, and more, brother was born during the Rodney King Riots; examines race in America, the prison system, near future dystopia that seems more and more likely every week

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir: book 2 in the Locked Tomb series

For the Duke’s Eyes Only by Lenora Bell: book 2 in the school for dukes series, can read in any order, historical romance, sex on the page, Lady Archeologist and secret agent for the government pretending to be a Rogue team up to find the Rosetta Stone which has gone missing from the British Museum - they used to be childhood best friends

[justmochi]

DREAMCATCHER′S MIRA DISCOGRAPHY

악몽·惡夢 (Nightmare)

Release Date: 2017.01.13

Tracklist:

01. Welcome to Dream

02. Chase Me

03. Emotion (소원 하나)

04. Chase Me (Inst.)

악몽 (Nightmare)·Fall asleep in the mirror

Release Date: 2017.04.05

Tracklist:

01. My Toys

02. GOOD NIGHT

03. Lullaby

04. GOOD NIGHT (Inst.)

Prequel

Release Date: 2017.07.27

Tracklist:

01. Before & After

02. 날아올라 (Fly high)

03. Wake up

04. Sleep-walking

05. 괜찮아! (Trust Me)

06. 날아올라 (Fly high) (Inst.)

Full Moon

Release Date: 2018.01.12

Tracklist:

01. Full Moon

02. Full Moon (Inst.)

악몽·Escape the ERA

Release Date: 2018.05.10

Tracklist:

01. INSIDE-OUTSIDE

02. YOU AND I

03. Mayday

04. 어느 별 (Which a Star)

05. Scar (이 더럽고도 추한…)

06. YOU AND I (Inst.)

Alone In The City

Release Date: 2018.09.20

Tracklist:

01. Intro

02. What

03. Wonderland

04. Trap

05. 약속해 우리 (July 7th)

06. What (Inst.)

하늘을 넘어 (Over the Sky)

Release Date: 2019.01.16

Tracklist:

01. 하늘을 넘어 (Over the Sky)

02. 하늘을 넘어 (Over the Sky) (Inst.)

The End of Nightmare

Release Date: 2019.02.13

Tracklist:

01. Intro

02. PIRI

03. Diamond

04. 그리고 아무도 없었다 (And There Was No One Left)

05. Daydream (백일몽)

06. PIRI (Inst.)

Raid of Dream

Release Date: 2019.09.18

Tracklist:

01. Intro

02. 데자부 (Deja Vu)┊positions

03. 거미의 저주 (The curse of the Spider)

04. Silent Night

05. 북극성 (Polaris)

1st Album [Dystopia : The Tree of Language]

Release Date: 2020.02.18

Tracklist:

01. Intro

02. Scream | OT8 Ver.┊positions

03. Tension | OT8 Ver.

04. Red Sun | OT8 Ver.┊positions

05. Black Or White | OT8 Ver.┊positions

06. Jazz Bar | OT8 Ver.

07. SAHARA | OT8 Ver.

08. In The Frozen

09. 새벽 (Daybreak)

10. Full Moon

11. 하늘을 넘어 (Over the Sky)

12. Outro

13. Scream (Inst.)

14. Paradise

R.o.S.E BLUE

Release Date: 2020.07.15

Tracklist:

01. R.o.S.E BLUE | OT8 Ver.

02. R.o.S.E BLUE (Prod. ESTi) (Inst.)

[Dystopia : Lose Myself]

Release Date: 2020.08.17

Tracklist:

01. Intro

02. BOCA | OT8 Ver.┊positions

03. Break The Wall | OT8 Ver.

03. Can’t get you out of my mind | OT8 Ver.

05. Dear | OT8 Ver.

06. BOCA (Inst.)

[Dystopia : Road to Utopia]

Release Date: 2021.01.26

Tracklist:

01. Intro

02. Odd Eye┊positions

03. 바람아 (Wind Blows)┊positions

04. Poison Love

05. 4 Memory

06. 시간의 틈 (New days)

07. Odd Eye (Inst.)

[Summer Holiday]

Release Date: 2021.07.30

Tracklist:

01. Intro

02. BEcause┊positions

03. Airplane

04. Whistle┊positions

05. Alldaylong

06. 해바라기의 마음 (A Heart of Sunflower)

[Apocalypse : Save US]

Release Date: 2022.04.12

Tracklist:

01. Intro : Save Us

02. Locked Inside A Door

03. MAISON

04. Starlight

05. Together

06. 널 위해 (Always)

07. Skit : The seven doors

08. Cherry (Real Miracle) [JIU SOLO]

09. No Dot [SUA SOLO]

10. 황홀경 (极夜) (Entrancing) [SIYEON SOLO]

11. 한겨울 (寒冬) (Winter) [HANDONG SOLO]

12. Black Hole [MIRA SOLO]

13. For [YOOHYEON SOLO]

14. Beauty Full [DAMI SOLO]

15. Playground [GAHYEON SOLO]

[Apocalypse : Follow us]

Release Date: 2022.10.11

Tracklist:

01. Intro : Chaotical X

02. VISION

03. Fairytale

04. Some Love

05. 이 비가 그칠 때면 (Rainy Day)

06. Outro : Mother Nature

[REASON]

Release Date: 2023.01.13

01. REASON

02. REASON - Instrumental

[Apocalypse : From us]

Release Date: 2023.05.24

Tracklist:

01. Intro : From us

02. BONVOYAGE

03. DEMIAN

04. Propose

05. To. You

[VillainS]

Release Date: 2023.11.22

Tracklist:

01. Intro : This My Fashion

02. OOTD

03. Rising

04. Shatter

05. We Are Young

[VirtuouS]

Release Date: 2024.07.10

Tracklist:

01. Intro : 7′ Dreamcatcher

02. JUSTICE

03. STΦMP!

04. 2 Rings

05. Fireflies

[panda-writes-kpop]

Hi, I really want to Stan dream catcher but I’m struggling. As of now, I’m listening to their b sides and just their discography. Can you help me please?? Thank you :>

I quite literally love Dreamcatcher with all of my heart, so I’d be happy to help out! (I put a readmore because there’s a lot of info lol.)

General Info:

Dreamcatcher is a 7-member girl group under Happy Face Entertainment (or I think that they’re know as Dreamcatcher Company or DCC for short.) They’re popular for their rock style of music and their nightmarish concepts. Their fandom name is InSomnia, and they debuted on Friday, January 13th, 2017 with “Chase Me”.

Korean Title Tracks:

Dreamcatcher have 11 Korean Title Tracks as of this post. The first six are referred to as the “Nightmare Arc/Storyline/Era”. These tracks are as followed (they are in release order!):

“Chase Me” (2017)

“Good Night” (2017)

“Fly High” (The Prequel to the First two) [2017]

“You and I” (2018)

“What” (2018)

“Piri” (2019

The next title track, “Deja Vu” (2019), is a part of a partnership with a game called Raid of Dreams. The next three comebacks, as you’ve probably heard of, are their most successful to date. They are referred to as the “Dystopia Triology”. These title tracks are:

“Scream” (2020)

“BOCA” (2020)

“Odd Eye” (2021)

Their latest comeback, “BEcause” (2021), is apart of a special album that is not related to any of their previous works.

Personal Discography Recommendations:

These are some of my favorite songs from them that are in no particular order.

“Wonderland” (2018)

“Black or White” (2020)

“And There Was No One Left” (2019)

“Whistle” (2021)

“Full Moon” (2018)

The Members

Here comes probably the best part: the members themselves. As I said earlier, there are 7 members that make up Dreamcatcher. I’ll give a picture, their stage name, their positions in the group, their representative animal, and a few sentences about their personality. (The pictures are teasers from the “Summer Holiday” album!)

JiU

Position(s): Lead Vocalist, Lead Dancer, Visual, Leader

Representative Animal: 🐰

Personality: Has a very sweet and kind personality. Often seen helping other members or talking to InSomnia and making sure that they’re okay. Has the tendency to say semi-inappropriate things. Is a foodie!

SuA

Position(s): Main Dancer, Lead Rapper, Vocalist

Representative Animal: 🐣

Personality: Very loud, very chaotic. Can go from 0 to 100 in a moment. Says inappropriate things a lot. Likes to flirt with InSomnia and her fellow members. Also enjoys flustering InSomnia and her fellow members. Does act like a child even though she’s the second oldest. Also her laugh is amazing.

Siyeon

Position(s): Main Vocalist

Representative Animal: 🐺

Personality: Has a strong duality in her personality. Can be chaotic, loud, and flirty like SuA. Also can be soft and a bundle of sweetness as well. The Queen of cursed audios. Also tends to space out both in formal and not formal scenarios. Is a living meme.

Handong

Position(s): Vocalist

Representative Animal: 🐱

Personality: The “Savage” member. Is quite shy most of the time. A genuine sweetheart. Is generally regarded as the strongest member in Dreamcatcher. Also is regarded as the funniest member by Insomnias and Dreamcatcher themselves.

Yoohyeon

Position(s): Lead Vocalist

Representative Animal: 🐶

Personality: Very aloof and goofy. Tends to tease others along with being teased herself. Can be regarded as the “greasy” member. Also is very clumsy. Speaks English well.

Dami

Position(s): Main Rapper, Lead Dancer, Vocalist

Representative Animal: 🐼

Personality: One of the shyest members of Dreamcatcher. Likes to read. Is one of the more random and weirder members of the group. (We all remember that ghost story.) Is known to be very stoic, but she does care for the girls in less obvious ways.

Gahyeon

Position(s): Vocalist, (Lead?) Rapper, Maknae

Representative Animal: 🦊

Personality: Bubbly and sweet. Can be very scary if the members push her buttons enough. Is teased by the older members, but she does tease them back from time to time. Just a complete, well-rounded cutie pie.

I hope this helped! Let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help. Welcome to the Dreamworld!

[pricknim]

Link 

I was tagged by @vampireyongsun ty uwu

Left: Dystopia : The Tree of Language by Dreamcatcher / The Book Of Us : The Demon by Day6 / [X X] by Loona / Reality In Black by Mamamoo

Right:  The ReVe Festival: Finale by Red Velvet / Punch by Autoheart / Dark Side Of The Moon by Moonbyul / 1st Digital Single [Paradise] by Lee Siyeon (Dreamcatcher)

Honorable mentions: BLUE;S - White Wind - Red Moon - Yellow Flower - MEMORY by Mamamoo / Raid Of Dreams - Alone In The City - The End of Nightmare - Fall Asleep In The Mirror - Prequel - Full Moon - Escape The Era - 악몽 by Dreamcatcher  / [+ +] - [#] by Loona / The Fifth Season - NONSTOP by Oh My Girl / Going To Hell - Light Me Up by The Pretty Reckless / Vessel by Twenty One Pilots / Warning - SUNMI / To. Day - fromis_9 / Feel Special - FANCY YOU - &TWICE (Repackage) by Twice / I Trust - I made by (G)I-DLE

Imma tag @alxmackfuckyeah, @a-forlen, @orbiting-star, @ggomo, @mmm-trashbasket, @eldritch-homosexual

[essbeefgc]

Backlog Beatdown #1: Half-Life 2:  Eps 1&2 and Inside

Hello folks. So I have made a little bit of progress in my backlog as far as getting some games beaten. If you don’t know what I’m writing about check out my video right here: https://t.co/9aASTtNcwq?amp=1 . Main mission was to get the games I wanted to play and beat on a spreadsheet list and cut down the library so I don’t have to wonder anymore. I managed to get 3 games down and out of my cluttered list. I will talk about them right now:

Half-Life 2: Episode 1 and Episode 2

First I got the 2 episodes of the epic first person shooter’s aftermath story. Episode 1 takes place right after the end of HL2′s original story. Spoiler Alert. City 17 is on the brink of destruction after Gordon Freeman and the rest of his allies, including Alyx Vance, Eli Vance (Alyx’s father) and the rest of the resistance team foiled Dr. Breen’s plot. Gordon is out of a momentary stasis induced by the G-Man, and he joins Alyx to escape the city. After finding members of the resistance team (and Barney Calhoun), Gordon and Alyx guide them towards escape by train. The story continues in Episode 2 as their trains are destroyed by combine forces as they escaped. Alyx is almost mortally wounded by a Combine hunter, before a Vortigaunt saves them. Gordon and the alien creature traverse to the underground, fighting Antlions and Headcrab zombies. Joining a group of the Vortigaunts, Gordon has to retrieve larva from an Antlion hive in order to save Alyx from death. After he retrieves this larva and the Vortigaunts repair Alyx, Gordon goes back up to surface and ventures to White Forest, where Eli, Drs. Kliener and Magnusson, and the resistance team are located. Along the way, they fight Combine soldiers and zombies while driving a barely drive-able car to their destination. After arriving, Gordon has to help fend off striders and hunters to protect the others. Magnusson fires a rocket to the portal over city 17′s citadel and destroys it. After Julia Mossman uncovers the Boraelis ship (belonging to Aperture Science of Portal fame) that supposedly disappeared, Gordon and Alyx’s next mission is to go track it down. As they are about to depart, a couple combine advisors break in and bind Alyx, Gordon and Eli, with Eli getting slaughtered in front of the other two. Dog comes in and takes the advisors out before Gordon falls out of consciousness. 

I love the series. A combination of first person shooting and puzzle solving set in a futuristic dystopia. As much as I am happy I got through the 2 episodes, it disappoints me greatly that the supposed trilogy has not gotten a resolution. It has been 13 years since Episode 2 came out and no third release. We recently got an addition to the series with the Alyx title, but it is a VR prequel set in between HL1 and HL2. I really do hope there is a resolution. Half Life 2 and its episodes are some of the most graphically beautiful games and they are over about a decade and a half old. Imagine a new title coming out in this current era. 

Inside

Playing Limbo some ages ago, coming onto Inside was a bit of a unsurprising buy for me. The dark gloomy aesthetics were replaced with some color (probably why despite the same amount of blood/violence you would see in Limbo, Limbo was a Teen-rated game, and Inside got a Mature rating, which I was surprised until later in the game). The game can be played in one sitting; probably 4-5 hours depending on if you are aiming for finding the orbs. The game mixes moments of stealth, timed puzzles, jump scares when caught by someone/something, and friendly zombie hordes.

Personally, I liked this game for the visuals and the tone. The puzzle solving can be hard if you are looking for an easy way to get through. There are guides online to find the answers if they get too hard to do by yourself though. 

So all in all, the three games I beat and completed were met with mostly positive results. Next time I will have a couple games off my list to write about.  

[bebestay]

The Abandoned Angels

In November 2019, Abandoned Entertainment announced that THREAT LEVEL’s first two MVs and their next four comebacks are a part of the Abandoned Storyline, serving as chapter one.

Though their group concept was meant to tackle any concepts they wanted or were given. The company decided to create a cohesive universe among their artists. However instead of wanting to use the story set out for therm, the girls expressed that they wanted to create a story themselves. So after wrapping promotions for Play Hooky, they were in meetings to discuss what it could possibly be.

Here is everything about Chapter One - The Abandoned Angels

ERA - COLOR CODED - Lore hinted (2018)

Three girls of different backgrounds meet due to fate and escape their forced cookie cutter life. They suffer under the expectations of their families, friends, and society, and only want to be themselves. The video lays out the story of their escape and leaves it opened ended for the possibility of being revisited.

The story of COLOR CODED is unclear as the group never clarified what their MV meant as it didn’t have a clear story line. The director has claimed that The Giver was a major inspiration for the video, and stated the girls represented different age groups in society, to represent how long it could take for someone could act. Lori is the young adult, Kiko is the teenager, and MeiMei is the child.

Some believe that this is wrong since Abandoned Entertainment announced that the group name was decided to be a play on the girls’ ability to take on the challenge of any concept or genre of music as well as each of their strengths as a member of the group. So, they believe that the video is just that...a video.

Others have compared the video to Stray Kids’ District 9 because of the societal escape concept. The company has confirmed that though the story is similar, the girls are tackling the concept in a different way.

ERA - Play Hooky - Lore hinted (2019)

This video serves an unofficial prequel to the entire lore since Play Hooky is a happy and colorful video, portraying the good days of school and being free. Trainees from the company make appearances throughout the video, hinting at a connected universe. 

There are three interconnected story lines. Lori skips school with a male classmate (trainee Lucas Martins) on a motorcycle to a cliff side view, sharing a kiss. Kiko plays sports with other male students (the boys of CORNERSTONE), looking extremely happy when she wins. Delilah works on several paintings with her fellow classmates (trainees - Im Ha-rin and Ariel Arai), smiling at the explosion of colors.  The video ends with the group get caught and arrested.

Some theories believe that Lori’s plot is about the love you lose when you conform to society, Kiko’s plot is about how girls still don’t have the same level of equality when it comes to the boys, and Delilah’s plot is the censorship of creativity. While none of it has been confirmed, this is the most popular theory due to how the video ends.

Many believe that the arrest is meant to be how the girls get to a reform center, a place to where their want to go against the grain was removed. However, the procedure was unsuccessful if COLOR CODED was anything to go by.

---

ERA - In My Skin - Lore Officially Introduced (2019)

Quite dark in comparison to their previous releases, the girls venture into a futuristic, dystopia setting where they’re shedding they’re looks and attitudes from COLOR CODED and Play Hooky to become who they believe they are.

Lori becomes a masked force of power, spreading propaganda among the city streets via spray paint and pirate radio. Kiko becomes an assassin, using her skills to gain the necessary funds to power their revolution. Delilah becomes the traveler, moving from location to location to gain allies for them. The boys of CORNERSTONE make a cameo as the girls’ allies.

The girls look more free and happy when it comes to performing their roles since no one is in control.

Theories have poured out on the internet stating that this video (since it is the first to be officially a part of lore) is the girls’ current path as an idol group. They have their own styles and talents, but in the end, they are one group just trying to make it.

Prior to it’s release, Abandoned Entertainment confirmed that this video will introduce lore for the group and said that the girls created it themselves. The lore will only continue to spread/be clear for the next three comebacks. After that, the company will release statements when a release will connect to the concept.

---

ERA - Sleepless, Act. 1 (2020) - Start of the Flashback Arc

This video shows the girls in isolation, never being in the same room or in the same shot in the entire video. It acts as the start to the Flashback Arch, a series of singles the girls would release over the next year to finish part one of the story planned out.

This is the most simple video they have put out since it only took a day and a half to film the whole video. The director said that the girls will never meet in until the end of the Flashback arc, as each portray what they felt during training - isolation, loneliness, and worthless. They confirmed that the facility in the story is the trainee world and the city is their life as an idol.

ERA - Homesick (2020) - RED ALERT (sub-unit debut)

Lori was unfortunately unable to participate in comeback recording and promotions due to re-occurring health issues. To provide content for their fans, Kiko and Delilah created RED ALERT, a sub-unit for the story.

With Lori missing, the two girls continue the story line from Sleepless, Act. 1 and remain in isolation from each other for a majority of the video. About halfway they meet and start walking together. Unlike their previous video, its simple but busy.

With Lori inactive, the two prepared filmed at separate times, in late 2019 and early 2021, to film during different seasons. Delilah filmed during the winter and Kiko filmed in the fall, and Lori made a special appearance at the end of the video in a fictional version of a hospital room. This reflects Lori’s ongoing medical issues that can be a cause for her to take a hiatus.

Delilah and Kiko did assure DELTA that Lori would be back in the final part of the Flashback Arc once she received an all clear from her doctor.

ERA - Find Me Again (2021) - End of the Flashback Arc

With Lori’s return to the group, the girls premiered the finale to the Arc and marked the finale to the first story the girls’ created.

As the finale, the story becomes clear as everything that fans have seen from Play Hooky to Find Me Again has been a flashback this whole time. Many have theorized that this is the case ever since the story got introduced.

All of the girls finally meet as Lori has broken out of the hospital she was in during Homesick. The video explores what makes the three of them so special and so wanted by introducing a supernatural element to the plot. Kiko has the power of persuasion, Delilah has a shape-shifting ability, and Lori has no control over her powers of psychometry. All of them were locked up for being different and go through this cycle of escape and capture. The video ends with the three girls taking a car and driving it off a cliff before fading to black and playing the opening scene of COLOR CODED.

"With the opening of our debut playing at the end, it brings us to a new chapter in THREAT LEVEL’s story,” Lori explained. “We decided to go for a full circle storytelling for us to look back before going forward. The three of us went through so much to get to where we are, and we wanted to acknowledge that we appreciate all of the struggles we went through.”

When asked about if this story would continue, no confirmation was given

[near1977]

EAC: Early Days is a prequel, sort of to

Everything’s A Crime AKA win/win comix is a series I drew + printed up some copies of. It’s based in stories from friends who formed the basis of some characters. It’s set in a retro-dystopian mid 1990s sort of era and there’s few, if any, words. Each page was linked to a Spotify barcode. I wanted to capture something about… possibilities but also the deep fatalism of a boring dystopia, once the “noise” dies down, once it���s normalized- do young people still revolt? Do they still have a concept? Do they care? What’s normal? Do they realize something is “wrong”? What about the “quiet” battles? Small things?

[kentaurex]

i know they really wanna kill adam off in the next game but im really just hope he gets to have something like a nice ending. and yeah its a dystopia fiction right now so i get no magic happy huzzah here’s a house and a relationship and the promise that no one’s ever gonna use you like you’ve been used before ever again but like

a nice apartment?? a dog maybe?? tickets to see the new NS movies when they come out. dinner with faridah ever few months when she manages to stay in one place for a day. koller botherin him with a book rec list every now and again, and a aug rec list far far more frequently. idk.

and ifeel like even that’s asking too much of the grimdark prequel timeline but

ijust

not that hes the kind of person who’s going to stop fighting the luminestics, and not that once he’s on their radar, their just going to let him leave, but also.

i realistically hope he gets to do resistance things post DX3* outside the spotlight. i think thats probably the best case he survives this scenario. maybe he thinks the main guys are done for, or maybe he knows they arent but knows this has become a long game, or maybe the man up and develops a sense of self-preservation for once but anyway. im just over here no fear-one fear about them stabbing him through the heart metaphorically before he’s even had the chance to get over HR era traumas. Hell, even pre HR era traumas