#the setting is very slightly grounded in reality so i did design the characters based on irl races

[whumpflash]

an approximation of Peter

[kentochronicles]

***SPOILERS FOR WANDAVISION EPISODE 6***

So I’m still processing everything but holy shite that ep was wild...

FIRST THINGS FIRST - WANDA, VISION, BILLY AND PIETRO ALL IN COMIC ACCURATE-ISH COSTUMES AND TOMMY IN A MINI QUICKSILVER COSTUME

PIETRO CALLING BILLY AND TOMMY DEMON SPAWN - GOD DAMMIT, IT’S MEPHISTO ISN’T IT? HOUSE OF M HERE WE COME

HERB ASKING WANDA IF SHE WANTED SOMETHING CHANGED

AGNES ASKING VISION ABOUT THE AVENGERS AND STUFF AND AT FIRST SHE SEEMED GENUINELY FREAKED OUT BUT THEN STARTED LAUGHING MANIACALLY AND I STILL DON’T TRUST HER AND AGNES BEING DRESSED AS A WITCH? AGATHA HARKNESS WAS A WITCH - COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT!

DARCY LOOKING OVER MONICA’S MED SCANS AND TELLING HER HOW THE HEX AFFECTS HER EACH TIME SHE GOES IN - IS SHE DEVELOPING HER POWERS?

PIETRO’S CORPSE - SCARED ME JUST AS MUCH AS VISION’S

MOVIES SHOWING IN THE THEATRE IN THE BACKGROUND - THE INCREDIBLES: A MOVIE BASED AROUND A SUPERHERO FAMILY AND THE PARENT TRAP: A MOVIE ABOUT TWINS WHO MEET AT CAMP AND TRY AND SET THEIR PARENTS UP

DON’T GO PAST ELLIS AVENUE - NOW I DON’T KNOW IF THIS IS A CONNECTION OR JUST A COINCIDENCE BUT ELLIS IS THE LAST NAME OF THE PRESIDENT DURING IRON MAN 3

TOMMY HAVING HIS SPEED POWERS AND BILLY HAVING HIS REALITY WARPING/TELEKINETIC POWERS - WELCOME SPEED AND WICCAN

A CALL BACK TO INFINITY WAR WHEN VISION EXITED THE HEX? SLIGHTLY DUSTING AND HE PROBABLY WON’T SURVIVE BEING OUTSIDE OF THE HEX - HE’LL JUST DIE AGAIN 🥲

I STILL DON’T TRUST HAYWARD - HE’S VERY SUS

DARCY BEING TAKEN INTO THE HEX WITH THE OTHER S.W.O.R.D AGENTS - HOPEFULLY WE CAN SEE THE OUTFITS THAT KAT DENNING’S WAS EXCITED ABOUT

I SWEAR THEY BETTER NOT STRAIGHTWASH BILLY AND TOMMY OR I WILL RIOT 😤

***FURTHER UPDATES***

So sit-com wise, it seems they were referencing Malcolm in the Middle as the twins broke the fourth wall and talked to the audience, like Malcolm did

However, the theme song has told the viewer to stop questioning the reality of Westview - which could be a little reference to Mystery Science Theatre 3000? - When Pietro first shows up in the title sequence, along with his name title card, the lyrics say “Though there may be no way of knowing who’s come to play” - Istg, I do not trust Pietro

Vision says to Wanda that he had to wear his Halloween costume because there were no other clothes in his closet, Wanda is trying to move the plot along and forcing Vision to play along

Evan Peters’ ‘Mom’ tattoo is shown, which is a tattoo he actually has in real life ! But could this stand for ‘Multiverse of Madness’ or some other red herring?

Pietro mentions to Wanda that if he had found ‘Shangri-La’ he wouldn’t want to leave either - Shangri-La is a real place on Earth-616 that was founded by a version of Vision

Tommy refers to Pietro’s speed as ‘kickass’ and then Wanda repeats that, saying ‘kickass’ again - Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Evan Peters (both versions of QuickSilver) were in Kick-Ass together

The ad for this episode was freaky af - the character on the beach who starved and decomposed could be a little nod to Indiana Jones, where a Nazi’s face melts in - and it could also be reference to Wanda being all alone and struggling to process her grief. The shark in the ad could also be Nightmare or Mephisto or just someone more powerful than Wanda offering her a new beginning with Vision or trapped her in some way - and is feeding off her magic? The flavour of the yoghurt is strawberry flavoured and strawberry’s are red on the outside and pink-ish on the inside - much like Wanda’s og costume and her magic being red 👀

Pietro and Wanda talk about their Sokovian accents at a point in the episode and how neither have them anymore. Wanda’s, as we know, has disappeared over the course of the MCU movies and Pietro’s just doesn’t exist - another nice little nod to Peter Maximoff from the fox X-Men films? Also, Pietro states that “I’m just trying to do my part, okay? Come to town unexpectedly, create tension with the brother-in-law, stir up trouble with the Rugrats (a 90’s cartoon 👀) and ultimately give you grief.” - in reference to the grief part, could Pietro be killed off again? Stir up trouble with the rugrats, being possible shards of the demon Mephisto’s soul, could this be Mephisto trying to influence them on a deeper level? It’s also many many common sitcom clichès

Pietro talks about how “I got shot like a chump on the street for no reason at all” - nice little nod to how Pietro was killed off unnecessarily and how we as a fandom still talk about how regular bullets shouldn’t have killed him

Herb is dressed as Frankenstein’s monster - Dr. Frankenstein created his monster and soon lost control over him, and he was created using electricity or lightning - much like Vision was created and brought to life by Thor using Mjolnïr to bring lightning down to his incubator thingy majig. Could this also be a reference to either Wanda slowly losing control over Westview or someone else controlling Wanda/controlling the citizens of Westview - we saw in episode 3 that Agnes told Herb to be quiet as it seemed he was about to spill the beans 👀

Vision goes towards Ellis avenue and is at a ‘crossroads’ of sorts - in folklore, crossroads are often used to speak to or summon the devil and are also used when an important character is making a decision that could change everything. He spots some citizens repeating certain actions and/or just standing completely still, could these be npc’s (non playable characters)? And now that the barrier of the Hex has spread, will those citizens now start to move? 👀 Also I know that all stop signs look like it, but the stop sign is also a red hexagon 🛑

Darcy scrolls through Hayward’s computer files and goes past a file called “Project C4-113” - it could reference Avengers Issue #113 in which Wanda and Vision both appear on the cover and she says she’s going to make the world pay for Vision’s death. There’s also another file called “Project M5-247” which could be a nod to Avengers Issue #247, which shows the origin of the Eternals and in the same vein, Scarlet Witch and Vision trying to help Captain Marvel. And when Darcy emails Hayward’s cataract plans, you can see the names of “James Alexander and James Gadd” - James Alexander is a visual effects producer on Wandavision and James Gadd works on post production at Marvel

Also: Agnes pulls as Mrs Hart and repeats the same phrase over and over again

After Wanda blasts Pietro, you can see on a fake grave stone the name of “Janell Sammelman”, Janell is a first assistant director on Wandavision

When Wanda moves Westview to save Vision, she turns S.W.O.R.D and it’s agents into clowns + a circus - I just love that the agents turned into clowns 😂 but there is a nice little plot line in the comics where Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Hawkeye join the circus - and this COULD be stretch, but earlier in the episode there is the number #22 which could be Avengers Issue #22, which is the Issue that they join the circus

As soon as Vision was brought back into Westview, he was healed - which means if he was to exit again, he probably wouldn’t survive 😭

The episode title is ‘All-New Halloween Spooktackular!” - which “All-New” is a designation that is often used on covers for comic books. And the first issue of the second The Vision and the Scarlet Witch series takes place on Halloween night - but the events in this comics didn’t influence this episode’s plot

Pietro points out that he has the “XY chromosome” - X for X-Men? Plus there’s the X gene 😂

He mentions “Uncle Peter to the rescue” - Peter is the name of Quicksilver from the Fox X-Men Franchise

Pietro and Tommy quote the movie Top Gun (1986) by saying “I fell the need, the need for speed”

Wanda almost seems hesitant to trust this version of Pietro (rightfully so, in my opinion) and is wary of him being around Tommy and Billy

Pietro says some very Mephisto/Nightmare-like things this episode - “Unleash hell, demon spawn!”, “The kids need a father figure”, “Damnit, if Westview isn’t charming as Hell...” - And if Pietro isn’t Mephisto/Nightmare, it HAS to be Agnes or her other half Ralph and Pietro is probably Ralph tbh...or could Pietro just be a scapegoat and Hayward is Ralph? 👀

The theatre in town, which is playing the Incredibles and The Parent Trap, is called the Coronet. There’s a classic poem called “The Coronet” written by Andrew MARVELL (Marvell, is also the true name of the first incarnation of Captain Marvel in the comics) and is about a guy who knows that the sins of mankind led to the death of Christ. He attempts to create a new crown for Christ’s head in an attempt to atone, but finds that there is sin in the crown as well, as the devil is within the crown and therefore he may achieve glory and success with his new creation 👀

Hayward’s confidential project “Cataract” included experimenting on Vision’s body, as was revealed by Darcy (my wife 💙 and Monica is also my wife 💚 and so is Wanda 💛, I just love women, you know? 😂). A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision - is Hayward trying to weaponise Vision? Or maybe even trying to bring Ultron back? Or do what Tony wanted to do in the first place, and make a suit of armour that’s around the world? Either way, it’s for nefarious purposes

Who is Monica’s guy? Jimmy and Monica are off to meet him - could it be Reed Richards (Mr Fantastic)? Or could it be Victor Von Doom (Dr Doom)? Could it be Hank McCoy (Beast)? Or even Adam Brashear (Blue Marvel)? Or if it is a woman, could it be the Skrull daughter of Talos that Monica befriended at the end of Captain Marvel? Could it be Abigail Brand (A major character in recent S.W.O.R.D comics and an Alpha Flight Member)? Or even Toni Ho (Iron Patriot, and could she be introduced to help lay the ground work for my other queen, Riri Williams/Iron Heart?)? Or could it even be Sue Storm (Invisible Woman)?

In the background of the episode we see a number of children and adults dressed up as many different characters, which includes: Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat, Jason Voorhees, with a sweater striped like Freddy Krueger’s and even a kid that looks dressed in an off-brand Charizard costume 😂 Pokèmon has always been popular, but saw an increase during the 90’s

Pietro and the kids are drinking “Kane Cola” which could be a reference to the 90’s drinks “Jolt Cola” or even “Surge” - it could also, with all the X-Men Easter eggs, be a reference to Garrison Kane, who was a member of Cable’s mercenary team “Six Pack” and is sometimes also known as ‘Weapon X’

The kid that Wanda mentions having a “skin thing” in the orphanage - could that be a reference to her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants co-worker Toad? Or maybe even Mystique? Maybe Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler)?

One of the houses has a sign up that says ‘Macabre Mansion’ - another possible reference to House of M?

During a flashback, it’s shown that the twins are playing Dance Dance Revolution, which came out in 1999. Also this might be a stretch, but the boys have a dog plushie in their room the right - which is coloured red and black - could this be a reference to Dogpool? 😂

I love this show 🤣💙

[shihalyfie]

The 02 epilogue and “realism”

While the following thoughts have been something I’ve been thinking about for a very long time, the official Kizuna Twitter posted some interesting tweets this morning about the 02 epilogue that made me feel very much like I wanted to talk about this in detail today, so I’ve written this up. Considering how historically controversial the 02 epilogue is (or having an opinion on the 02 epilogue at all, really), I’m probably standing on thin ice by even talking about it, but I’ll do my best.

I think there’s no way getting around the fact that the 02 epilogue was really sudden for pretty much everyone -- it pretty much jumps at you without warning at the end of episode 50, a sudden 25-year timeskip when we had just gotten out of Oikawa’s death (and a very chaotic finale in general). But there is another quirk about the epilogue, which is that a lot of what seems “illogical” out of it...is most certainly illogical to someone approaching it as a kid thinking in terms of media tropes, but gains a very different nuance when you become an adult and have a certain degree of life experience under your belt.

(Note: This post does not discuss Kizuna, despite being inspired by something from it, so no fear of spoilers.)

Before we begin for real, I just want to get it out of the way that I’m not trying to “defend” the epilogue in the sense of implying that people are unreasonable for being blindsided. Like I said, it was sudden, and it was a giant timeskip where a ton of incredibly massive changes happened, leaving the audience likely to be disoriented wondering what on earth happened in the middle there to lead up to that. On top of that, although the rest of this meta is basically dedicated to “analyzing the meaning behind the epilogue writing choices from the production perspective”, I will be very honest in that, yes, I do think that, regardless of good intent, it may not have been the best decision to go ahead and make these decisions in this degree of lack of thought as to how the audience (especially one that was expected to be largely comprised of children) would take it -- creativity is a two-way street, after all, and communicating with your audience and understanding how your work will come off is very important.

Still, nevertheless, I’m writing this meta because I think, well...now that we’re all adults, and now that we’ve gotten a plethora of development information over the past twenty years, especially in the light of Kizuna, it’s worth doing an analysis about why these kinds of writing choices were made, because even to this day you get a lot of people who feel completely blindsided about it.

Everyone’s careers

Actually, the reason I decided to make this post was that I was inspired a bit by this morning’s post from the Kizuna Twitter discussing why, despite being a lead-up to the 02 epilogue, some of the cast in Kizuna seems to be in careers or aspirations that are slightly off from the careers we saw them in during the actual epilogue. (Most notably, Sora still working in ikebana instead of fashion design, Mimi being into online shopping instead of her future cooking show, etc.) The official statement was that Seki Hiromi (producer for the original Adventure and 02) personally stepped in and warned them that, in real life, a lot of people will end up changing their career aspirations at this age, and that it wouldn’t hit close to home if everyone had it exactly figured out by this point.

Kizuna is a movie about the Sad Millennial Adult Experience, so of course it is very important that it be relatable to adults in the modern era. But, in all honesty, this principle applies to 02′s epilogue itself as well. Back when the epilogue first aired -- and for the last twenty years, really -- you got a lot of comments like “why didn’t Taichi become a professional soccer player? why didn’t Yamato go into music?” and such. The thing is, though...well, this is a personal anecdote, but I first got into Digimon when I was a preteen, and, having already had an experience where my childhood interests had changed completely, I actually severely disliked seeing people say that because it felt too straightforward. Even that early, that kind of thing felt unrelatable.

Kizuna as a movie, right now, would be impossible to make in the form it is now if it hadn’t been for the 02 epilogue setting that kind of precedent -- because of the idea of your childhood hobbies not feeling as appealing as they used to be and being very lost about what to do now, feeling that everyone lied to you about that whole “having things figured out by adulthood” thing, and maybe you’ll never really figure it out. But even taking out the fact that the 02 epilogue most likely wasn’t written with the idea they’d need to make an adult-relatable movie 20 real-life years later, I think it’s easy to glean that this philosophy was behind the 02 epilogue as well. Especially since, well...Adventure and 02 themselves were both famous for this kind of writing, for depicting the lives of children in surprisingly realistic and close-to-home ways that avoided generic anime tropes.

Actually, Kakudou said it straight-out:

There were a lot of anime normally made with the idea that a given rule must occur, but I decided to do them while having doubts about whether or not it was a good idea to take on such given rules without any detail. Even if we went on with these given rules, I tried to take appropriate steps in showing why such things had occurred through step-by-step arrangements and reasoning. That is why I tried to add a little bit of realness each time to the characters, despite the restrictions that they are from anime.

So yes, that actually was the point -- no using anime tropes unless they felt they could feasibly happen with these characters. Daisuke is commented on as having “the most anime-like” and idealistic personality, but as I commented in my earlier 02 meta, he still doesn’t quite hit all of the check marks on the shounen hero archetype. So after going for a whole series on the line of going into a grounded take on human mentalities and thought processes...it probably would be inappropriate to suddenly shift into an extremely idealized fictional trope-ish depiction of everyone just going into a more exaggerated version of their childhood hobbies.

Again, that doesn’t mean that some of these don’t come off as really sudden -- the most infamous being Yamato becoming an astronaut. This was eventually revealed in 2003 and several times later to be a holdover from the original beta concept for a third Adventure series, so in that light it makes a little more sense -- Yamato probably would be the most passionate about keeping up the fight as a Chosen -- but nevertheless, it’s ambiguous whether that actually still holds (especially since the actual, uh, “third series” was...a bit different), and since we live in a world where that hypothetical Digimon in Space series never happened, it still blindsides the viewer.

On the other hand, though, both the tri. stage play and the official Kizuna profiles only took less than a paragraph to explain the disparity of why Yamato isn’t doing music anymore: he wanted to keep it in the range of hobbies. Which, incidentally, is an extremely common thing for many who experiment with creative work in their youth -- many realize that if they make it into their job, they’ll actually start hating it. Conversely, while I haven’t talked to a lot of astronauts myself, I really do sometimes wonder how many of them actually knew they were going to get into it from childhood.

So that’s the thing. We have no idea what happened, we’re left with very little recourse as to bridging the gap (at least, until Kizuna came 20 years later and helped us out a bit), and that’s why it feels implausible to many -- especially for a kid in the audience who may not have had that experience of having their hobbies change or feel less appealing. In the end, like I said, I’m not sure that going about it this way was the best decision when the very target audience was likely to be confused about this, and since, after all, fiction does have to have some acceptable breaks from reality for the sake of being a followable story. But at the very least, it is very much in line with Adventure and 02′s philosophy towards writing and its characters -- that things would be the case based on what would be these characters’ likely trajectory as actual people, and not as what you might expect “because it’s fiction” or “because they’re this kind of character”.

That everyone has a Digimon partner

I have a very distinct memory of, as a preteen, going around the Internet and seeing a fansite where someone made their “better version” of the epilogue, where their favorite ships got married instead and everyone got the careers they thought they should have, but one major thing that stuck out was that it had the now-adult kids still keep the existence of Digimon a secret, and that it’s kind of a “secret club” that they still have. In general, one of the biggest arguments against the “everyone has a Digimon partner” thing is that this, allegedly, diminishes how “special” the Chosen are when they’re not the super-amazing sole people in the world to have a partner.

When you’re a kid, being the “Chosen One” sounds romantic. You’re a special selected hero with fated abilities to save the world. In the context of Adventure and 02, however, this would actually be very contradictory to the constant reminders given by both series that magical powers selecting you out of nowhere means absolutely nothing if you’re not the one with personal will and volition to do the right thing with what you’re given. In fact, I’d say it’s actually the opposite of what all of those people have said -- if you did something amazing because of fate or because some higher power said you should, it says a lot less about you than if you were given abilities and choices and actively made an attempt to do something good and change the world, by your own volition.

But the other very important thing about the epilogue is that people keep seeing this development of Digimon proliferating all over the world like it was completely out-of-nowhere, to the point I’ve even seen conspiracy theories that the epilogue was a last-minute decision. This is especially funny because the epilogue was one of the first things decided in the entire series -- “the entire series” in this case being not 02, but Adventure -- before they’d even finalized the characterizations for everyone! The 02 epilogue was, infamously, intended to be Adventure’s ending, before 02 was greenlighted and they postponed the plan there resulting in 02 ultimately taking the fall for it.

Because it was a new television series, without an original novel or manga to use as its reference, we had to cut back on the aspect of explaining the character to each voice actor, something that we would usually do under normal circumstances. We only described their basic personality during auditions because it was likely that those personalities would change drastically in the future depending on the plot’s developments. We did not omit the explanations because there were too many characters. I swear.

But in exchange, we began post-recording by saying just this: “This story is one that’s being reminisced on by one of the children in the group who becomes a novelist 28 years later. The narrator here is that child as an adult.” Those who watched the last episode of the continuation series “Digimon Adventure 02” would know that this was Takeru, but back then, that information was kept secret. At the time of the show, it was planned that the last episode of “Digimon Adventure” would end with ‘where are the characters now’ 28 years later. However, in mid-run, production for its sequel “02” was decided and its story contents were established to be juxtaposed to the previous show, so we carried over the 28 years later scene to the sequel series instead.

(From the afterword from Adventure novel #3, from director Kakudou Hiroyuki.)

25 years after 02. 28 years after Adventure. We calculated that very precisely. In 1999, there was Taichi’s group of eight, and there were also eight other people who didn’t appear in Adventure. Before that there were only eight total, and before that only four, and before that only two, and at the beginning, only one. If they were to double every year, then it would be 28 years until everyone in the world would be able to live alongside a Digimon. Threaded through both Adventure and 02 is a story about humanity’s evolution. For everyone to have their own Digimon partner is the final step of evolution. Because there’s not much left for our actual bodies to change in terms of evolution, it is a story about how the hidden parts of our souls use the powers of digital technology to manifest in the real world, resulting in humanity’s evolution.

Statement from Kakudou Hiroyuki, from the Digimon Series Memorial Book.)

About Digimon 10: The initial trigger for humanity receiving partner Digimon was the Hikarigaoka incident in 1996, but at the time the Internet network was not ready and it was too early for anything to happen. The following years resulted in two and then four people getting involved, and after that it doubled every year (twice, because digital and binary). About Digimon 11: Twenty years later, in the world depicted in the final episode of 02, all human beings have received a partner Digimon. This is the ultimate result of Digimon Adventure’s story of evolution.

Statement from Kakudou Hiroyuki, originating from Twitter and later moved to his blog.)

While the 02 epilogue taking place in the year it did sounds like it’s because they just wanted to add an arbitrary neat number of “25 years later” to 02′s finale, in actuality, the original goal was not for that 25 years but to specifically hit the year of 2028 (not 2027, actually), where, calculating the number of humans that could be partnered to a Digimon based on the global population, everyone would have a partner by exactly 2028. The “doubling every year” principle was only brought up in actual anime-centric canon in a drama CD, and even then it was in a context of speculation instead of being stated as hard fact, but it should be noted that even Kizuna is compliant with this principle, since To Sora states directly that the number of Chosen Children as of 2010 is over 30,000, which is the approximate correct amount you should be expecting by 2010 under this principle. (So yes, really, despite ostensibly not being compliant with his original concept, presumably thanks to the nail added by partnership dissolution and how that ties into his theory of Digimon being part of the soul, Kizuna actually goes out of its way to otherwise be compliant with even the more obscure parts of his lore.)

But the really interesting thing that this epilogue concept brings out is that “the adventure of the Tokyo Chosen Children” actually had nothing to do with the proliferation of Chosen Children around the world whatsoever. From the very beginning, even since the original conception of Adventure, the proliferation of Digimon was something that was going to happen whether anyone liked it or not.

In fact, let’s look at what Koushirou actually says in the aforementioned drama CD:

Yes. I’ve figured it out… The meaning behind the term “Chosen Child.” The number of “Chosen Children” has been growing at a steady rate. Having a partner Digimon isn’t really that special. Being a “Chosen Child” means… to cease the hostilities that break out and inconvenience the Digital World. In order to do so, that child gains a partner Digimon faster than another. In other words, we are children chosen to fight. That’s what it means, isn’t it? ... Oh, is that so? That’s surprising. I didn’t expect that not even you would know what countries the Chosen Children come from when they go to the Digital World… It’s Qinglongmon that’s helping you, is it, Gennai-san? Do the other Holy Beasts who have revived not know either? The Digital World is still so full of mysteries. I’ll do my best to look for them over here.

I think a lot of people tend to have misconceptions about the nature of a Chosen Child, and those who picked them, because the way everyone became “chosen ones” is actually very different from how most media usually would play the trope. In particular:

Homeostasis, the Agents, and the Holy Beasts are explicitly not gods nor omniscient. Homeostasis admits their own lack of abilities in Adventure episode 45, and there’s a recurring undercurrent of the “I don’t know” coming from them and the Agents not actually being because they’re deliberately cryptic, but because they really don’t know. In fact, the Digital World itself is depicted as being about as confused about this whole human contact thing as the human world is.

Note that Koushirou makes a distinction between “being a Chosen Child” and “having a Digimon partner”. If you’re deemed someone who might be able to do something important in this very early time when the Digital World is still trying to figure all of this stuff out, in a world where humans overall still don’t understand Digimon very well, you get first dibs because you’re someone who can be a valuable pioneer. In other words, just because everyone else will eventually get a partner doesn’t mean your contributions aren’t still historical, valuable, and important.

The Digital World was mentioned in Adventure episode 19 as being approximately as big in scale as the real-world Earth itself. That means the Digital World is huge. Of course, its time and space doesn’t exactly match up with the real world’s, as demonstrated multiple times in 02 when the kids abuse it to circumvent travel distance, but nevertheless, there is presumably a lot of the Digital World that neither the Adventure nor the 02 kids have seen in their lives. When they meet Qinglongmon in 02 episode 37, he introduces himself as being in charge of the Eastern side -- and we never meet the others. In effect, there’s probably a huge area of the Digital World that needs protecting that even twelve kids from Tokyo can’t cover by themselves. And that answers the question of what the international Chosen Children are there for -- what do you think they’re doing with those Digivices, twiddling their thumbs? The Tokyo Chosen’s adventures were the ones we were blessed with being able to bear witness to, but that absolutely does not exclude the idea that there were other kids going through their own tales of growth and adventure -- especially since, as I said, Homeostasis and the others protecting the Digital World are not omniscient, and there are a lot of known factors beyond their control.

On that note, you might notice that, by the doubling-every-year principle and by running a math calculation, in 1999, there were eight other Chosen Children besides Taichi’s group. This also tracks with the fact that Adventure episode 53 revealed that there were other Chosen Children prior to Taichi et al. who performed an incomplete seal on Apocalymon, ones that even Gennai wasn’t aware of (remember how I said that the Agents aren’t actually omniscient?). While the fact that such an ostensibly huge fact was dropped so casually is jarring for the viewer, in retrospect, the fact that this was dropped so casually was indicative of the idea of how...not very much of a big deal this was supposed to be. Taichi and his friends may have been instrumental in the selection process for Chosen Children back in 1995, but they weren’t the only ones who witnessed the Hikarigaoka incident nor to have contact with Digimon, and they weren’t even the first to save the Digital World, nor will they be the last. But the journey of personal growth they took was still important to themselves -- just because they weren’t the only ones who took it didn’t change the fact that such an important thing happened, nor that we got the benefit of being able to meet and resonate with these kids.

In fact, the Hikarigaoka incident wasn’t even the first point of contact with the Digital World. 02 episode 33 hinted very heavily that what humans have perceived as youkai and other spirits were actually Digital World contact, just not something actually noticeable until digital technology started connecting the worlds. Episode 47 revealed that Oikawa Yukio and Hida Hiroki had made contact sometime in the 80s via video games -- even though they weren’t Chosen Children themselves at the time. In short, the concept of the Digital World and its contact with the human one is something that spans throughout history, of which the Tokyo Chosen Children are only part of in very recent years.

And finally, one of the most important parts: the idea that the Digimon would stay a secret to the world for very long is inherently infeasible. The 1999 “Digimon in the sky” incident was international. It made international news. Everyone in Tokyo has clear memories of the “Odaiba fog” incident, and, as revealed in 02 episode 14, even a boy from America, Michael, has clear memory of seeing a Gorimon. Reporters like Ishida Hiroaki didn’t hesitate to get in on the scene and try to cover what was going on, and 02 episode 38 revealed that Takaishi Natsuko was doing intensive enough press coverage on the Digimon incidents that Oikawa actually sought her out for information on it. They’re probably not the only reporters around the world doing the same. One episode later, Gennai revealed that the government/military and scientific worlds had actually caught onto the existence of Digimon and did make active attempts to research it -- but, fearing that the world wasn’t quite ready to do that without exploiting Digimon for evil purposes, Gennai and the other Agents wiped out any data records so that they couldn’t do organized research or swap notes. But just wiping out data doesn’t wipe out the public memory, and, especially when the number of Chosen Children is proliferating, and with all of the Digimon-related disasters that happened around the world in 02 episodes 40-42, at some point the world is going to start becoming very aware of what’s going on with this whole thing.

And finally, about that thing where a lot of people claim that a world where everyone has a Digimon partner must be some kind of dystopia: I think this camp severely underestimates how adaptable the world is.

This is something that might not be as resonant to those who were very young at the time they aired, but Adventure and 02 were written in what was a very shocking and scary world for adults that were living at the time. The rate at which the world changed and adapted to digital technology in the late 80s and all of the 90s was ridiculous, and in some ways even terrifying. Many tech people have pointed out how much it feels like the entire structure of the world has changed in light of technological developments, AI, and the Internet in only the last few decades compared to centuries before. International policy has changed, daily life has changed, business structures have changed, in time much less than 25 years. Hell, I’m writing this post smack in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic; I think anyone reading this right now at this time can attest to how terrifyingly quickly the world changed itself in only a few months in response to such a thing.

Compared to that, a whole 25 years of slow burn where the Digimon partner rate at least had the decency to double every year and give people a chance to acclimate and make public policy seems practically luxurious. On top of that, while there will certainly be more people like the Kaiser out there abusing their power, Digimon evolution at least happens to be tied to human emotions (unlike many other weapons out there), and there is some stifling factor in less-than-pleasant people being a bit less likely to have the same access to overwhelming power as those who are more selfless and virtuous. That kind of limiter is something I wish modern technology could have sometimes.

So what is the Tokyo Chosen Children’s place in this narrative? At the forefront of such incredibly massive incoming changes were children who were living in a completely different world than that familiar to even people who were born five to ten years earlier -- much like the real children born in the world of technology in the late 90s. The Tokyo Chosen Children were some of the earliest pioneers in this regard, being the ones who had to figure out logistics and Digimon and the Digital World and what it meant to be a partner in a world that hadn’t figured any of this out yet, and arguably wasn’t ready yet.

Yet they did, and they saved both worlds with no precedent nor support on what to do. This, I think, is a massively more meaningful accomplishment than the idea that they were exclusively selected by some higher power.

On romance and marriage

I feel like this topic is one I’m setting myself up to end up with my head on a pike by daring to breach it -- there is pretty much no way I can cover this without setting myself up for some risk of this -- but I do want to talk about it. I really don’t want to make this post into a pro- or anti-shipping discourse post, so you’ll have to forgive me as I try to be about as diplomatic about this as I possibly can. For all it’s worth, I’m a firm believer in shipping and shipping headcanons being an integral part of the fan’s experience (heck, anyone who knows me knows that I often talk about my own ships more than I really should), and so, as I said before, I’m writing this largely from the perspective of elucidating “the most likely reason it was written this way”, and not “should it have been written this way” nor “how I think people should feel in spite of this”.

In any case, I’m going to start off this section by a statement from a friend that left a particular impression on me. I’d introduced them to Digimon recently, with both of us as adults, and one thing they commented was that the idea of shipping any of the characters felt a little too odd, because they were all elementary school kids. They, of course, understood quite naturally that I had been shipping some of these kids since I was their age (and that my current round of shipping usually was more about whether they’d get together later than whether they would during the time of the series), so it wasn’t an accusation of me being creepy or anything -- it’s just that, as an adult coming into this for the first time without a lot of preconceived attachments, it felt too weird for them to ship children at that young of an age, and it was something that made me think a lot about it.

As I said, shipping is often an integral part of the fan’s experience, even for those who don’t do “fandom” -- romance is such a huge priority that it permeates all of our media, and how it’s handled is often one of the first things deeply scrutinized. Part of the reason the 02 epilogue is so controversial is that it went pretty much against the face of the most popular ships in the fanbase, and the two that did go forward (Yamato/Sora and Ken/Miyako) weren’t ones that people would conventionally expect given what you’d generally look for when it comes to fictional relationship development.

But that’s kind of the issue here: remember when I pointed out earlier that Adventure and 02 were trying to stay away from anime tropes unless they found it to be particularly relevant to the characters’ arcs? In actuality, the way that people generally expect romance and romance tropes to happen in a series -- especially a not-particularly-romance-centric series like this one -- isn’t how romance generally works, and especially not for kids at the age we saw them in Adventure and 02. It doesn’t seem like coincidence that the first hard show of romance we get (Sora asking Yamato out during Christmas) is when the relevant characters were 14, which is around the earliest age you can imagine two kids actually taking a relationship seriously and having some depth of what they’re getting into. As if to drive this in further, Daisuke’s crush on Hikari is portrayed as a sign of him acting shallow and not having a good sense of priorities at the moment; the whole 02 main cast, as of 02, is probably still too young to entertain anything serious for at least a few more years.

If you look at actual couples, as romantic as “childhood friends to lovers” is as a trope, it’s actually not very common in real life, especially for “childhood” being defined as 8-12. There might be a slightly higher chance when it comes to the Tokyo Chosen Children, considering they’d gone through some shared experiences others might not understand, but even that gets slightly mitigated by the fact that more and more people around the world are becoming Chosen themselves. So while it can happen, and while it’s probably somewhat more likely for this group in particular, it’s not as likely as the average shipper would probably want it to be. Even those who support the canon ships don’t really favor the idea of them being in a continuous relationship all the way up to adulthood -- my personal experience as someone closely following Ken/Miyako fanfiction and comics in both the West and in Japan indicates a common thread of it being treated as a mutual pining ship until several years later, and the Yamato/Sora fans I’ve personally talked to have a very high rate of feeling that the two of them have experienced at least one breakup before getting back together. Or, in short, even people who like those ships have a hard time imagining a unbroken, continuous relationship all the way from elementary/middle school to adulthood, because of how much that generally doesn’t happen.

I promise I am not writing this as a treatise against the ship itself, I swear I’m just using this because it’s the best example I can pull out at the moment, but I’ll put it this way: I think the clearest example of this is Takeru and Hikari, the only pairing that has the unfortunate distinction of being explicitly confirmed as not being married (by Seki Hiromi in V-Jump), whereas everyone outside the scope of Yamato/Sora and Ken/Miyako is still technically in “believe whatever you want” territory. Takeru/Hikari is, depending on which scale of ranking you use, a ship that consistently ranks as one of the three most popular Digimon ships globally, and them not getting together is cited as one of the most common things disliked about the epilogue. But despite its overwhelming popularity to the point you’d think it’d be easy to cater to such a humongous fanbase by pairing them together -- and so few people would dispute it, really! -- not only were they not made an item, but they were explicitly confirmed as not being one.

Why?

Takeru and Hikari probably feel “baited” to anyone who’s looking at this from a romantic trope perspective. They’re constantly in each other’s company to the point where it almost feels like they like hanging out with each other more than they do others. Takeru is shown as having a particular investment in Hikari’s welfare in 02 episodes like 7, 13, and 31. They’re constantly associated with each other in promotional materials, too. But when you look at them in terms of their actual relationship as children...well, I’ll put it this way with another personal anecdote: I actually had multiple platonic friends like that back when I was their age in elementary and later middle school, and, uh...well, people did actually ask if we were in love with each other, and it genuinely, no-strings-attached, annoyed the hell out of me, because we weren’t, and I hated being pigeonholed into that.

In real life, platonic relationships happen a lot with kids in that age group, and it’s not actually all that surprising that 02 would have wanted to portray a healthy one without any strings attached -- the same way the series also portrayed other unconventional situations with kids, such as Iori being a nine-year-old who hangs out with kids much older than him (there are most certainly kids who can attest to being in that position!). I mentioned in my earlier 02 characterization meta that both Takeru and Hikari are actually rather inscrutable (especially in the first half of the series), and in fact, episode 13, usually quoted as a Takeru/Hikari episode, is actually centered around Takeru having difficulty reaching out to Hikari because, despite the fact he was closest to her at that point in time, she still was too closed-in to open up about anything. They almost never talk about what they actually think about each other, other than obviously having an investment in each other’s welfare and enjoying each other’s company, but, again -- this isn’t unusual for platonic friends at this age. And the fact that this is the one ship where there was actual official word putting a foot down and saying, no, this did not end up in marriage...everyone interprets this like it’s some kind of callous move made to make people miserable for no good reason, but I would say that, given the writing philosophy applied to the kids in nearly every other respect, the intent was likely to make a statement that this kind of relationship can exist without it ending up in inevitable marriage somewhere down the line.

We’re inclined to see “two people being emotionally close means a higher chance of being a couple” because this is how romance has been portrayed in media for as long as any of us have been consuming media, but in actuality, relationships are very multifaceted and complicated, and there are many ways to be “emotionally close” to someone in ways that don’t overlap with being “romantically attracted” to someone. This is especially once you start becoming an adult and end up needing to navigate the web of who’s a friend and whom you might have a crush on, and in actuality the person you start flirting with because you think they’re attractive might have been someone you just met last week, or at least someone you don’t know very emotionally intimately (which is why crushes can be intimidating, even in adulthood). This is also what I think fuels the disparity between why Taichi/Sora gained such a huge following and what actually happened with them, because many, many fans will testify that they felt baited by the ship, but if you look in the actual series in terms of what counts as “romantic attraction” and not just emotional closeness, there���s...not a lot; they happened to know each other before the events of the series (but so did Koushirou!), Taichi had a bit of a mental breakdown about saving her (because he’s not someone who abandons important friends), and in Our War Game! they had a bit of a spat with traces of tsundere (which, ultimately, are circumstantial and don’t necessarily indicate they actually have serious mutual feelings for each other). Official word implies that Yamato and Sora were planned since rather early in the series, and it doesn’t seem like coincidence that “pairing up the main hero and heroine” (Taichi and Sora) was given as an example of an avoided trope in an official booklet, so it lends further support to the idea that “not following typical romance tropes and expectations” was a significant priority.

Again, this isn’t me saying anything about those who ship it or those who have been able to figure out ways in which the relationship could work in some very wonderful headcanons I’ve had the benefit of reading over the past decades, nor those who are having a marvelous time with fanfic and headcanon and comics and being a bit more willing to indulge outside the scope of the series’s canon. (Nor the multitude of very good headcanons and meta I’ve seen about the possibility of Takeru/Hikari at least trying out dating somewhere along the line, even if it doesn’t end up anywhere permanent.) Nor does that mean I think that this was the best way for the writers to go about it -- as I’ve said in this meta already, there is an inherent fallacy of not paying enough attention to how writing will be taken and interpreted by people with certain reasonable expectations cultivated from years of media consumption, and especially by kids who aren’t going to pick up that nuance or don’t have the appropriate relationship life experience. Regardless of intent, there’s still a lot that can be criticized about its handling; in many ways, it could be considered a bit cruel that the series had things known to be considered romantic subtext in most other series that may not have been actually intended this way. But, nevertheless, I do feel very strongly that there’s a high likelihood that this is what they were at least going for, even if it didn’t come off that way to most of the audience.

Extrapolating this concept further, it’s also interesting to see how Adventure and 02 treat romance as a relatively insubstantial thing in the grand scope of things. I said earlier that it’s quite understandable that romance and shipping have become the main obsession for media -- and it’s probably been that way for as long as human civilization has even existed -- but when you really think about it, Adventure/02 treat romance as “a thing that is a big part of your life, but not the sole controlling factor”. Again, note how Daisuke’s precocious crush on Hikari manifests when he’s at his most shallow, and even after Yamato and Sora start dating in episode 38, we really don’t hear a lot about it -- granted, neither were in the lead protagonist cast by that point in the series, but whenever they do appear thereafter, it’s almost always about their work helping out as Chosen than it is about their relationship, which is presumably a private thing going on in the background. It’s a part of their lives, but it’s not the only thing going on with them. Of course, shounen anime with casts of these ages don’t tend to breach the topic of romance much at all, but it’s interesting how it touches on the topic and then leaves it in the background -- again, something probably frustrating and a bit too cavalier for those inclined to see shipping and romance as life or death, but from a real-life perspective, makes sense in the realm of friends’ relationships largely not being your business, even if it is significant.

(Ken and Miyako are a trickier matter because their pairing was allegedly based on their voice actors’ friendship, but considering that it has been cited multiple times across multiple Digimon series production notes that character outlines were often subject to change even mid-series based on impressions of the voice actors’ performance -- it happened in Tamers too, and it’s not even unusual for original anime in general -- it’s still ambiguous as to when in production this decision was made, and, considering the flip between Miyako having jealous pettiness over him in episode 3 to fantasizing over him and considering him exactly her type in 8, I would not be surprised if the decision were made somewhere in between there, especially since the fact the epilogue would eventually happen was already established in production over a year prior. Unlike with Yamato and Sora, we don’t get to see the two of them at a reasonable age to start doing anything serious within the scope of 02, which led to the unfortunate result of the reveal of them getting married in the epilogue being a very startling and sudden jump for many.)

In any case, I’m going to close this with yet another disclaimer -- I know I’m repeating myself too many times at this point, but I really, really want to make it clear that I am not, in any way, trying to imply that I don’t understand why people would be blindsided by the epilogue in any of the above ways (careers, the status of Digimon partnerships, shipping) because, as I said, I do think there is some merit to the philosophy that maybe they should have paid a bit more attention to how people -- especially kids -- would actually see the events rather than the writing philosophy behind why it should be written this way. (And, to be honest, I think I might have this complaint behind not just the epilogue, but both Adventure and 02 as a whole, for a multitude of different reasons.) Moreover, there are a million other cans of worms that could be feasibly discussed regarding the epilogue that I’ve only barely scratched the surface of here, because there are so many different topics to unpack when it comes to it, and I could go on forever (and further increase my risk of ending up with my head on a pike...). And of course there’s the wider issue of how to handle timeskip epilogues in general (they don’t really tend to be very popular, do they), so, really, there’s only so much I can cover in one post before dragging this on for too long. But in the end, even after writing all this, I understand that there are a lot of people who still won’t like it or don’t want to accept it, and that’s fine; it’s not my place to try and convince people to.

But, nevertheless, the reason why I made this post -- and what I hope the take-home can be -- is that, no, I don’t think this was made as a random off-their-rocker decision with the intent to make everyone miserable, nor some kind of fever dream that the writing staff must have pulled out while drunk, nor whatever accusations I’ve seen levied about it as a weird spontaneous idea (and the fact it really did come out very suddenly at people), but that -- regardless of how it landed -- there was some idea behind why it played out, and why, even 20 real-life years later, principles like “not everyone’s going to stick with the same career even in adulthood” continue to hold.

[magicalhideoutengineer]

We meet a younger Pickett in this movie: can you take us through how you went about de-ageing him so to speak?

[Laughs] That was an interesting one because we initially had other Bowtruckle in the tree that was based on the same design as the first movie when we saw a smaller Bowtruckle tree so the idea was that Newt, the one he had in his case, was based upon one he had as a child. Initially, we had other Bowtruckle designs but there wasn't that connection with Newt or the audience so we thought, 'What if we have a young Pickett?' and discover that he had him at school, basically. So, we just looked at the design and decided because he almost already kind of a sapling look and was quite green, so we greened him up even more and proportioned him so it appeared he had a bigger head and slightly longer limbs so he is a bit more baby-like and maybe again in his performance, slightly less confident. It was nice to be able to do that. 

Grindelwald's escape is a lot of fun so can you tell us about the work that went into creating that sequence?

Well, that was a journey and one of the things in an early version of the script that stuck throughout. First, in terms of storyboarding and pre-vis. So, David and the storyboard artists came up with various ideas because it's those sorts of things, script-wise, that [J.K. Rowling] is generous enough to let David develop with us rather than it being too detailed. David wanted it to feel very real and visceral and we wanted, after the first film, to come up with something that had a little more sense of reality to it in terms of look and feel. From there, we went into pre-vis where we're constructing the story with animation and we're creating the whole sequence as an animation shot for shot figuring what lenses we're using and working out all the different story beats. 

For example, I think in the boards we had Grindelwald filling his carriage up with water from a storm in the air but as we began to construct it as a pre-vis sequence, we thought 'Well, wouldn't it be more interesting if we pull the carriage down to the river for a bit' and we filled it from there. So, we had the three beats of the initial escape from MACUSA through the city and then down on to the river and up into the storm. Then, once we got that whole sequence pre-vized out and a blueprint of what we're going to film that David is happy with, you're also working concurrently with the stunt coordinators so we came up with the idea of using riders on brooms and developing a rig that was called the tuning fork rig that people could sit on and have them throw their weight around rather than them being on a fixed point and made them feel like they were actually flying. 

Niffler was a breakout creature from the first movie, so what was it like bringing him – and an entire family of Nifflers – back for the sequel?

Oh, it was great. The Niffler is still my favourite really as he's such a great character to be able to play with. In terms of the adults, it was trying to think of what else we could do that would make us laugh and certainly when we got him out in the square for him to help Newt, we wanted to show what he would actually use him for and why he has him in the case like his tracking skills when Newt produces a gold spell that attracts the Niffler to certain areas. But as soon as the animators came up with the great thing of him rubbing his belly across the ground and rubbing his back everywhere, immediately, you're like that's just funny and charming. 

As for the babies, they were initially bald but when Tim progressed that work with Method, who did the finished shots, they began to think of them as little duckling versions of Niffler and they came up with some great concepts and some great names for the little red furred one and the black and white furred one. That whole sequence in the kitchen came from that idea of, 'Oh God, they've got out again' and what would they be doing. We went into the set with Eddie quite early on in pre-production and looked at what props were there, what they could be up to, and what they could be stealing. It was that real moment where you get that connection with Eddie, Newt, and his animals and I just love the moment when he's shoving the little weight into his belly and it's brilliant because they're in the film for minutes but those really sit with the audience and make Newt relatable. 

[tomyoungwrites]

Adventures in backloggery with Homefront: The Revolution

To say the first Homefront left me lukewarm after playing it would imply that I was left feeling anything after that game finished. Painfully derivative with nothing to say about it’s interesting premise, I left that game fully understanding why so many people dismissed it. 

For those unfamiliar with the premise of Homefront, here it is, fresh from the wikipedia page: “The game tells the story of a resistance movement fighting in the near-future against the military occupation of the Western United States by a Korea unified under Kim Jong-un.”

Sounds interesting right? Telling a guerrilla warfare story based on American soil gives you a chance to take a lot of war-story tropes and twist them into new, interesting forms. Turning America into the occupier instead of the occupier offers a lot to explore. Sadly the original game does nothing like that - instead opting for a very simple “We wanted to take back America and we did” story.

So when I overheard through my gaming circles that the general perception of Homefront: The Revolution was hovering around the 6/10 mark, I was under the impression that while it was an improvement over the first game, it was still not a title that was worth my time. I assumed it was a decent yet uninspiring corridor shooter just like the original game.

Imagine my surprise then when I watched one of the latest videos from Jarek the Gaming Dragon and discovered that my preconceptions about shooting dudes in corridors were entirely wrong! This was an open world shooter, in the vein of Far Cry. And not only that, but the story actually has things to say this time!

Instead of North Korea invading the USA due to them being weakened, North Korea becomes a tech powerhouse. Due to poor decisions by their government, the USA slowly goes into financial ruin while they opt to purchase military technology from North Korea.

North Korea provides aid to the US, but this is just a pretence to establish a foothold and exploit the natural resources within the continent. This is presented as the real reason behind the occupation - because we all know that only evil governments invade foreign countries in order to exploit their natural resources, right?

It’s important to note when talking about the story of this game that playing Homefront: The Revolution in the apocalyptic year that is 2020 makes it hit much different than it would have in 2016. For example, the USA neglecting it’s citizens while spending billions on military weaponry is far too close to reality to even be called satire at this point. However, the he game is very ‘gung-ho’ in it’s expression of American values and honour - which clashed with my current view of the country.

At this point in time, seeing America do things wrong is something that happens on a monthly basis - and seeing people who want to shift the blame for that onto other people is an equally common occurrence. So seeing America ruin itself definitely removes a lot of the sympathy I have for the country as a whole - I of course still sympathise for the common citizen underneath this new regime, but seeing America complain about a foreign power using military might to seize their natural resources isn’t something I can sympathise with the American government suffering through at this point.

Speaking of regimes, seeing Americans actively fighting against a regime who happily deploy lethal force against American citizens (who resist and go against their military police enforced status quo) has also sparked many comparisons to recent events in the US in my mind. I mean, how can it not at this point?

The game does make some effort to comment on the fact that you’re creating more bloodshed and destruction through your actions, but that voice is drowned out by two of the main characters - who’s attitude is “Fuck you, this is America and this is war.” Seeing these characters passionately talk about standing up against the exact evils that America is committing right now makes the whole thing smack of hypocrisy - which isn’t the games fault, but I’d be disingenuous if I didn’t admit it has coloured how I viewed the plot heavily.

Overall, I think the plot does more to explore the themes of the setting than the original Homefront did, but it’s still bogged down in presenting America as the flawless and eternal hero who channels the ‘American Spirit’ through their actions. And this absolutely smacks of hypocrisy in the nightmare-world of 2020.

Also, there is an area of the game where you have to wear a gas mask to survive, but none of the other characters do. They’re expressing their freedoms to breath deadly toxins, I guess?

When it comes to gameplay, it’s not quite true to say that Homefront: The Revolution is a open world game - rather the game is split into a number of open world areas that you unlock as you progress. Keeping different parts of the world silo’d off from each other definitely has benefits from a programming point of view (you don’t have to account for players deciding to go from one side of the map to the other without a loading screen, for one) it also has interesting design implications.

Instead of having to level-gate certain areas of the open world, the game can properly pace each area to your current skill and gear level. You’re also introduced to the different types of zones in a more natural way, and their different mechanics are able to exist separately.

There are two types of area in the game - red zones and yellow zones. These both behave differently in how they express the thematic oppression through gameplay, but I was impressed at just how effective the systems in both areas are at making you feel oppressed.

And that brings me to one of the best things about Homefront: The Revolution - the sense of oppression it expresses through gameplay. It’s important to note that I was playing the game on the hardest difficulty, so this might colour my perception slightly, but I always felt outgunned during almost all my time in the game.

The red zones play similarly to a Far Cry open world, with objectives to complete, collectables to hunt and roaming enemies to attack/get attacked by. Unlike Far Cry however, the environment being full of ruined buildings adds a degree of verticality to the encounters and exploration that makes the smaller world feel much denser than the jungle floor ever did. Here, the game expresses the oppression of the player character through the constant vigilance of patrols and ever-present seeker blimps. These patrol the sky and scan the ground (think the flying drones in Terminator) and will always call in enough reinforcements to kill you. Having to hide under the ruins of collapsed buildings to avoid their search light as they slowly flew overhead always felt tense.

The yellow zones play more like the open world sections of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, with a bigger emphasis on stealth and avoidance of security cameras etc. These areas are typically much more dense than the open red zones, with plenty of corridors and corners to help you break line of sight with enemy patrols. The sheer density of enemies and ways to get spotted in these areas makes you feel constantly on edge, especially when fighting your way out is often a risky option.

And while it doesn’t have as much of an impact, even the health system helps contribute to this sense of oppression. Gone is the regenerating health system, now replaced with a more traditional health bar that must be topped up with healing kits. When you get spotted and enemies take some of your health away, they’re actively chipping away at your resources. This makes each encounter far more threatening, because even if they can’t kill you, they can still whittle you down.

I’m not really a gun guy when it comes to games. It usually takes a game going above and beyond, like in DOOM (2016), to make me actually notice the guns in a game. And oh boy, did I notice the guns in Homefront: The Revolution. Not only do they sound amazing, but they’re extremely well animated and customisable.

The coolest gameplay mechanic in the game is by far the gun customisation mechanic. To summarise, each weapon has two drastically different alternative modes that effect how the gun performs. For example, you can change the stealth-enabling crossbow into a room clearing flamethrower should the need arise. And you can do this on-the-fly while you’re in the game.

Hoping behind cover to change my assault rifle into a sniper rifle in order to take out distant enemies never stopped feeling cool. Seeing the detailed animation of you customising the gun yourself went a massive way in that feeling of coolness. You can also add attachments to your weapons such as silencers in order to adapt to situations as they arrise.

Having you perform these actions yourself adds a lot to the feeling of being a scrappy resistance fighter, having to create your own tools for the job at hand.

Despite all this praise, I can still see why this game sits at a 6/10 rating. Numerous times during my playthrough I would get hard crashes that would require a complete exit from the game. At one point, an NPC blocked a doorway and I needed to reload from a recent checkpoint to escape my new NPC created prison.

I’ve heard that on launch the game was even worse technically, and while the game is definitely good in my eyes, I can see how technical issues could make you easily lose patience with it. It doesn’t quite reach the levels of praise where I’m willing to fully overlook the crashes I’ve experienced, and if it was worse I could see that effecting my view of the game.

Also, the stealth system leaves much to be desired. Despite coming out 4 years after Far Cry 3, the game does nothing to improve on the basic stealth system that game established of “If I see you, my triangle is going to get bigger until I really see you”. This under-baked stealth system led to me mostly abandoning stealth once I’d gained enough gear to handle encounters, despite me being a big fan of stealth options.

Overall, I’m glad that I gave Homefront: The Revolution a shot after all these years of it sitting in my Steam library. At this point, open world titles have a long list of ‘must haves’ thanks to the ubiquity of Ubisoft titles refining the genre. When looking at these titles then, it becomes a case of looking at what is done differently, and the gun system, feeling of oppression and divided world have definitely left an impact on me as a game design nerd.

If you’re looking for an open-world game and don’t mind the occasional crash, it’s definitely worth looking past those 6/10 reviews for the 7.5/10 game that is lurking underneath.

[tsarisfanfiction]

Acquisition (Tales From The Heart)

Fandom: One Piece Rating: Gen Warnings: None Characters: Penguin, Shachi, Law, Bepo

One of the first questions a new crewmember always asked, without fail, when joining the crew, was "how the hell did you afford this?" The question was accompanied by some sort of gesture, from wild flailing to a simple point depending on each person's general response to something big, shiny and obviously expensive, towards the Polar Tang. The submarine sat proudly in the water, the bright yellow (well maintained, of course) and identifying marks (with their jolly roger and the captain's DEATH emblems how could it not be theirs) gleaming in all its considerable glory.

A submarine was rare, expensive, and far beyond the treasure hoards of any rookie crew, and that was before they entered it to see the state of the art infirmary.

"We didn't." The admittance would always come from either Penguin or Shachi, whichever one was in earshot at the time. Sometimes they'd answer in chorus. The full story would always wait until they were out at sea, buried safely beneath the waves as the Polar Tang once again proved its invaluable worth.

Setting out from Swallow Island in a small, stolen, fishing boat (it had belonged to the father of a boy Penguin and Shachi really hadn't got on with), the four of them had very quickly realised that if they were going to travel together, let alone have any viable shot at this piracy thing they seemed to be heading for, if Law's half-answers and nervous glances were any indication, they were going to need a better boat. Without so much as a cabin to keep them dry in the rain and snow (they had to pull a stray tarpaulin over themselves when such weather occurred), it was impractical at best and suicidal at worst. Winter was reaching its peak, and if nothing else they would freeze to death without somewhere sturdy to shelter from the elements.

Penguin and Shachi had wanted to go to Minion Island, always on their horizon but never before in their reach, reasoning that as a pirate base (former, apparently), there should be something there. Law had vetoed that so fast they'd got whiplash, so rather reluctantly they had instead changed course for the other island in their triangle. Law hadn't been much more impressed with that one, apparently, but they needed provisions at least, and a sturdier boat. Not designed for long journeys at sea, their current vessel had begun to buckle and more often than not there were dredges of water in the bottom, around their ankles. It was likely that that, resulting in eternal lethargy for Law, had persuaded him to cave.

The large, grey metal boat they had seen as they docked caught all of their attention. It looked unlike any boat the four of them had ever seen, riding low in the water with minimal deck space and a thick, heavy door.

"So cool," Shachi had sighed, Penguin wolf-whistling behind him.

"How much to you reckon that'd be?" he'd wondered, despite realising that a boat that large would be too much for the four of them to control. Even as adults, rather than their teen selves, it would be a huge ask.

"We're taking it."

Law's declaration was totally absurd, but the conviction in his words had made it sound almost believable. Almost.

"Unless you've got some hidden fortune you've not told us about, we've barely got 100 Beri between us," Penguin had pointed out. "How, exactly, do you expect to afford that?" Law had looked at him as if he was an idiot.

"I don't recall saying anything about paying for it."

Oh, right. They were pirates, weren't they? Well, kinda. Penguin and Shachi didn't know if it counted when they didn't have a boat, a name, or a flag. Also, the whole piracy thing… Law's charisma had got them that far, but their resolve was beginning to waver in the face of reality. Crazy ruffians they might have become, but they'd never actually stolen anything before (they conveniently forgot that the dying ship they had just tied to the shore hadn't been taken with permission).

"So we fight for it?" Bepo had asked, finally contributing to the conversation. The mink cub had been content to remain silent for much of their time, offering himself as a bed where possible to keep Law out of the water at the expense of his own comfort and occasionally changing the course when he thought they were going wrong.

"If that's what it takes."

Fights Penguin and Shachi knew, and the prospect – plan – had calmed their jittery nerves against the idea of actual piracy. Law's own calm, measured response to the situation helped to further ground them, effortlessly taking on his duties as captain as if he'd been born to it. As far as Penguin and Shachi knew, he probably had been. They'd certainly never met such a ruthless thirteen year old before.

Luck had been on their side that day. It transpired that the strange yet alluring boat had only just been finished, and was in the dock awaiting its christening by some important official or other. The quartet hadn't hung around to find out who.

While subtlety wasn't Penguin or Shachi's preferred method of doing things, their inexperience was more than covered for by Law and Bepo's own stealth as they had silently taken down the numerous guards on the walkway from the ship to the shore and slunk on board the ship. It had smelt of fresh oil, the last hinges still settling into place. Within the narrow corridors were more guards, easily caught off guard and subdued – Penguin and Shachi weren't entirely sure what to make of them alive yet in pieces, and Law had seemed almost as surprised despite being the perpetrator – and, leaving Bepo on guard just inside the ship's entrance, Law had led the other two through the maze until they found a control room.

For all the complicated controls (hopefully there was a manual somewhere), someone had very helpfully labelled a couple of the buttons – THRUST; LOCK; DIVE. It had probably been for the self-important official to use on the maiden voyage, but the thieves had not been about to look a gift horse in the mouth. The third button in particular had brought a gleam to Law's eyes.

"A submarine," he'd breathed, looking far more excited than they'd ever seen before. "This is perfect. We're definitely taking this."

Why a submarine was perfect – and what that even meant; Penguin and Shachi couldn't claim to know much about anything more than a fishing boat – was a question for another time, as Law had pressed the button labelled CLOSE, watching the steady green light by it flash for several moments as an accompanying klaxon sounded before turning red. That done, he had then pressed THRUST, and the sudden roar of the engines deafened the four of them – Bepo having run to join them with breathless reports that the outer door had "just suddenly shut, Captain!" – before they'd felt a lurch as the ship pulled away from its berth, tugging some of the dock with it.

Unable to see what was going on – there were no windows, just screens showing indecipherable graphs talking about things that Penguin and Shachi couldn't even begin to understand – they had clutched at each other as Law waited, watching the screens with apparent comprehension, at least on some level, before deciding to press the button labelled DIVE.

For several moments, it didn't appear as if anything had happened. The ship was still moving forwards at a steady pace, and the horrid thought struck them that something was wrong.

Then their bodies told them very firmly that something was wrong – the metal beneath their feet wasn't level, as it had been, but very slightly slanted downwards and felt as if it were falling away from them. Either that, or they had suddenly lost a lot of weight and were about to float. It had not been a reassuring feeling.

It had only stopped when Law lifted his finger from the DIVE button, gravity catching up with them all at once and buckling their knees so that they fell to the floor.

"What the hell just happened?" Shachi had gasped, deciding against trying to get up. Law, sat in a chair and looking decidedly unruffled by the whole thing, had turned to look down at him with a satisfied grin on his face.

"We just stole a submarine. Now, what should we call it?"

[ninjakittenhaswords]

Found the Time

Author’s Note: Not really based on my Multiverse AU, but I had idea when I was talking with my friend.

Amanda belongs to @alena-1987

Phoenix and Dr. Kitty Saunders are mine while the other characters (don’t deserve to) belong to LEGO.

-

He hadn’t ever expected this outcome.

He been through this countless times but it always ends with the same result. He ripped open time, going in and out of existence before he finally found a way to come back, only to be thrown back into this blank lifeless void.

He was getting tired of it all. Losing hope at every nonexistent second he spent in the empty space. He forced himself to try one more time. He had to.. He at least had to try to go home... to spend whatever time he had left to make amends with his brethren and with their mother.

He ripped time once more, pulling the Time Windows to different timelines he usually looked through open for him to go through. One of them opened up and he was surprised to hear someone yelp and see someone land right in front of him.

“Ugh... Dad’s adventures were always in Ninjago. How come mine always starts with portals?” She grumbled, sitting up and rubbing her head. Her green eyes looked up to the armored man before her. “Oh hi!” She smiled while greeting him. He looked surprised and confused at her. “This never happened before.” He mumbled.

“Uh hello?” His tone remained confused. She began the conversation with such ease. He ended up telling her his story, or enough of it for her to not question further. Her face went from questioning to determination.

Something told him he should’ve just made her leave but... he liked the presence of another that was genuinely concerned for him and not someone who would deceive him like many others have.

“Come with me.” She kept at those words. He tried to refuse, to give her a reason to stop, but she was just as stubborn as his old friend was. He gave in, trying to not cry at her stubborn kindness and followed her into her timeline.

There was peace.. For once, the world he knew was at a calm and he didn’t have to throw himself back into a long forgotten war only to be forgotten again. He gripped her hand tightly trying to be certain that he was actually there and he wasn’t going to fade like so many times before. You couldn’t blame him, with him knowing that he didn’t belong to this timeline. He was a part of another... Plus this present was the future of his own, so it wouldn’t be surprising if time was going to spit him out just to keep it from tearing apart.

“I’m... Im really here.” He spoke so softly that his voice was almost recognizable. “I’m here... I’m here!” He let out a chuckle before sobbing broke through. “Yes you’re here.” She nodded and smiled. He wiped at his tears, messing up the green and black face paint, smearing it across his cheeks and nose.

“I’m going to help you get home.” Her words almost broke him. He had to lean on her for support while she led the way.

-

He was unsure what to make of their reactions, but it broke him a little more when he heard “who is he?” from the older time master. To think he was once so close to these two and yet he was forgotten about everywhere.

“His name is Phoenix and he needs a place to stay and I just happened to come this way.” The little girl said. She had an innocent air but with the way the gray haired man groaned, Phoenix could guess she’s done this before. “Amanda, you cannot just bring a stranger here without consequences.” Phoenix gave a pained grimace beneath his large green scarf and gripped on her hand a little more.

“He’s not a stranger. He’s a friend and I can’t exactly bring a grown man into my own house without my dads overreacting. He’s been through a lot and I don’t want them to overwhelm him.” She spoke back at him. The younger man with a dark mane nodded. “She has a point, brother.” Phoenix tensed up at the familiarity of the word. “We are not letting him stay.” Krux glared at Acronix. The younger twin let a grin spread on his face. “You said the same thing about Kitty.” Krux huffed. “This is a person. Not an animal.”

“Who’s Kitty?” Phoenix questioned with a cocked eyebrow. Acronix gasped in horror. “You haven’t met Kitty?!” Amanda let go of his hand just as Acronix took it. The guy let out a surprised “whoa!” Acronix ran with a head start with Krux following, “Acronix do NOT bring him in! Nooo-!” He got ignored with a door slammed in his face. Aggressive knocking sounded out before it was followed by the clinks of keys. Phoenix looked to Acronix who only shrugged at Krux’s antics. “He’ll be fine after looking through his keys for a while. Now Kitty time!”

Next thing he knew, he was surrounded by kittens while Acronix had set the main cat right in his lap. Amanda snuck in through the window to join in on petting the cats while Krux had unlocked the door. “You are in such deep sh-.” “Shh. Brother. It is Kitty time.” Acronix shushed him while Phoenix laid down, letting the small kittens crawled all over him.

“Grr...” Krux let out an annoyed sigh, “Fine. Just a few nights alright?” Acronix grinned. “Yay I have new friend to join the Kitty Club now.” Meanwhile Phoenix was still on the ground, now sitting a kitten up and playing with the little toe beans. “So this is bliss.” He muttered. Amanda gave a soft laugh while petting another small kitten on the head. “Yes it is.” The tabby calico mix mewed at him messing with the toe beans. A small smile grew on his face behind the overly large scarf.

-

Questions were unavoidable. He learned that many times over and over. Who was he? Where did he come from? How did he get here? He answered with, “I’m Phoenix. I clearly don’t live around here and I got pulled here from the void by a very persistent little girl.” They took the last answer very well. What the heck does this child do in her free time.

And then that one question got pulled up. Why was he wearing armor that looked like theirs? Seems like anywhere he went, that question always got repeated. “It’s... complicated.” He forced the answer out of himself. No matter how much he wanted to explain, he had to avoid this one. He couldn’t just tell why then and there. It’d confuse them. He knows it would.

Amanda could see the expression he made when the subject got pushed further and decided to stop it before it overwhelmed him into a breakdown. If he was anything like Krux breaking down then she wanted to avoid it if she could. “Well if the armor bothers you how about we get you some other things you can wear?”

“Hmm?” He looked puzzled for a moment. Amanda sighed, “Come on. Uncle Acronix and I were planning to spend time anyway.” The little girl pulled him up to his feet. “You’re heading out with him?” Krux asked, crossing his arms. Acronix rolled his eyes. “We’re going to be fine. It’s Amanda who’s taking us out.” The older looked over to Phoenix. “It’s not her I’m concerned about.” Acronix only chuckled. “You worry too much. You’re gonna end up adding more wrinkles to your face.” He poked his cheek, making Krux pull away at that with a huff. “We’ll be fine. Besides it’d be two against one. You know the odds would be on our side.”

Krux sighed. “Fine.” Amanda pulled Phoenix out the door. “Come on. Let’s go.” Acronix followed, looking back to Krux. “I’ll give a call if something happens, alright?” The older twin only looked away with a small hum.

“See ya, big bro.” Acronix called back to him, shutting the door.

-

The building was larger on the inside than it looked on the outside. ‘Guess this is the more advanced look to the usual marketplace.’ His eyes looked around to see people of all kinds walking around. Last he remembered being in a marketplace, it was mostly humans but now there was.. what was the word? Diversity.

There was a diversity of humans, some Serpentine and a few mechanical looking people called Nindroids were acting as security. A smaller Nindroid sat on a taller one’s shoulders. The taller one didn’t seem to mind. In fact it looked like he was used to it from the shorter.

Phoenix kept himself between the younger Time twin and Amanda, trying to avoid any stares. None of them were really turning an eye to him. In fact, it was as if the world had seen the worse than him. They didn’t understand that he could be terrible but he never wanted to go through another timeline and bring ruin to it like he did others. He pulled on his scarf slightly, fiddling with it between his fingers before he gripped on it tightly, making his knuckles turn white.

“Hey... Hey man... Phoenix. Phoenix!” He heard Acronix’s voice break through his thoughts. He let out a small almost silent gasp when his train of thoughts were thrown off the railing. “You alright, man?” A hand firmly held his shoulder, as if he tried to keep the other grounded to reality. Phoenix glanced at his hand for a second and nodded. “I’m alright.”

“Ooh let’s try this place first! It’s not as crowded as the other places.” “Pfft. Not yet.” It seems like this will be quite a while.

What happened next was a mix of “try this” “no this” “let him pick” and a lot of clothing getting thrown at him by the more chaotic time master. He almost got buried by the multiple designer shirts and heavy multi pocket jeans. “You two please... Please stop. I’m stuck.” He managed to get his top half visible. “What’re you doing? Are you trying to throw the whole shelf on me?”

Amanda chuckled at him. “More like throw an entire wardrobe.” Acronix shrugged. “Ey, whichever it is. Go try it all on.” “You sure you’re not just grabbing things for yourself too?” Phoenix raised an eyebrow at him. “What? No. Nonono. Not at all.”

Phoenix rolled his eyes at that and mumbled. “You’re still as obvious as ever.” Acronix hummed. “Hmm? What was that?” The armored man got himself out of the pile. “Nothing. Nothing at all.” He huffed. “Just help me carry some of this you two.”

So basically a whole lot of it got subtracted and put up. Acronix was at first a little disappointed that he couldn’t get a few things but nonetheless still got to purchase something for himself.

Phoenix had let out a soft laugh at Acronix’s excitement. “Hey you actually laughed.” Amanda pointed out. He pulled his scarf up on his face, hiding himself. Acronix pulled on his scarf. “Oh get back out here. She means it’s nice that you’re letting loose.”

“Right?.. Shouldn’t we head back?” He questioned the two. “No way! I said were spending time together so we still have other things to do.”

“Well what did you have in mind?” Amanda gave a grin at them. “I know exactly what.”

-

“Absolutely not! I’ve been stuck in the void for a long time. I do NOT know any of this music.” Phoenix was quick to respond. Amanda, as he found out, was still as stubborn as her grandfather Ray. “Just do it. You need to have some fun.”

He gave her a serious look. “You will not make me.” Acronix grinned at this opportunity “You’re right. She won’t. I will.” He grabbed him by the shoulders. “Set everything down. We’re going up on stage!” Phoenix tried to keep his ground, but Acronix was still able to push him while Amanda took the bags off his arms. “Wait! no!”

“You’re going to do it!”

“Noooo-.” Acronix chuckled at him. “You sound a lot like Krux.” Phoenix froze a little at that. He ended up on stage anyhow. The small luxury he got is what he wasn’t alone and Amanda helped pick the song.

“I can’t do this. I mean how am I supposed to know when to start?” He whispered. “Stop being dramatic. You got this.” Acronix smiled at him. ‘Dear FSM. Don’t smile at me like that.’ He thought just as the music started. “Let’s go. We got some karaoke to do.”

Thankfully it started energetic, except with a piano contrasting to some of the music that he heard on the way here. “Goddammit Amanda. Did you have to pick this band? You know some of their music ain’t my style” Acronix stared at the so called cinnamon roll of the group, who only smiled and snickered up at them.

“It has to be this one.” Acronix hissed softly. “Oh well. Let’s do this. I call the first verse.” Phoenix smiled at his demeanor. He missed that so much.

“I'm sorry, mother, I'm sorry, I let you down / Well, these days I'm fine; no, these days I tend to lie / I'll take the Western train, just by the side of Amsterdam / Just by my left brain, just by the side of the Tin Man” His voice still had that roughness, but he really was trying to go along with the tune. The long haired man looked to the other.

It was Phoenix’s turn and boy to say he was nervous would be an understatement. “I'm sorry, brother, I'm sorry, I let you down / Well, these days you're fine; no, these days you tend to lie / You'll take the Western train, just by the side of Amsterdam / Just by your left brain, just by the side of the Tin Man”

“Your time will come / If you wait for it, if you wait for it / It's hard, believe me / I've tried, but I keep coming up short”

“I'm sorry, lover, I'm sorry I bring you down / Well, these days I try, and these days I tend to lie / Kinda thought it was a mystery, and then I thought it wasn't meant to be / You said yourself fantastically, "Congratulations, you are all alone!"” He kept up with the younger Time twin even though he faltered at the end.

“Your time will come / If you wait for it, if you wait for it / It's hard, believe me / I've tried / Your time will come / If you wait for it, if you wait for it / It's hard, believe me / I've tried!” Apparently Phoenix was able to hold the note better than Acronix did and honestly Amanda and the other time master were actually kinda impressed.

“But the rain won't fall for the both of us / The sun won't shine on the both of us / Believe me when I say / That I wouldn't have it any other way!” It was at that moment it happened.

It appeared that he got so lost in the moment that he ended up pulling his scarf right off. The younger Time Twin could actually see his face. He had the same skin tone and hair color. His face shape looked so identical to his and Krux’s. Heck, even his eyebrows and the creases were so alike to one another.

“Your time will come / If you wait for it, if you wait for it / It's hard, believe me / I've tried,” Phoenix smiled so broadly and by FSM, even the way he did it was too hauntingly alike to his own. “But I won't wait much longer / 'Cause these walls, they're crashing down / No, I won't wait much longer / 'Cause these walls, they're crashing down!”

“And I keep coming up short” It was at the last lyric that the other realized that Acronix was dazed at him. He was confused for a moment before he realized that he had pulled off his scarf. He pulled the fabric back on and dropped the mic, turning tail and running.

“Phoenix wait!” Amanda somehow got her leg hooked on the chair leg and tripped herself all over the bags. “You alright, Amanda?” Acronix stood still her side. “I’ll be fine. Go get him!”

He nodded and chased after him. “Come back here! You need to explain!” He screamed after him. “I can’t do that right now!” Phoenix turned his head and yelled back at him with the same exact amount of vigor as Acronix. The Time Twin skidded to a stop and let out. “Phoenix look out!”

“What-.” He turned his head back ahead and in a moment of stupidity, smacked head first into something wooden. “Gah!” He fell back and rubbed his forehead for a moment, feeling a little lightheaded. “Oh fu-.” He mumbled and felt himself beginning to faint. “Phoenix!” He could barely hear Acronix yell. His vision got fuzzy but he could see Acronix running fo his side. “A... Acronix...”

“It’ll be alright. You’ll be fine... Let’s just go home. Krux will know what to do. Amanda, we need help here!” Phoenix couldn’t catch the last bit, but he did manage to see Amanda running up to them. ‘Home...’

-

A groan sounded from him when he awoke. “Oh so now you wake up?” Krux crossed his arms at him. “After fifteen minutes of making Acronix freak out and Amanda worry, you now decide to wake up.” Phoenix covered his eyes, groaning in pain and annoyance. “Shut it, big bro. It’s not like I intended it to happen.”

“Excuse me?” Krux questioned. Phoenix felt himself suddenly pale when he realized that he let the words slip. His hand slid down from his eyes to his nose then his chin. He looked down, seeing his scarf wasn’t there. He supposed that the scarf would he off for his breathing but the more important thing was his- oh no.

He sat up quickly, regretting the action but not caring for his temporary blindness or the headache. Nothing was more important than his treasured object. “Where is it? Where is it?” He could hear it clicking so it wasn’t far, so maybe- “You looking for this?” The ebony haired man looked over to see the older man holding a gold watch with a matching clip attached to a red ribbon. “Give it!”

“Calm yourself. I hadn’t done anything to it.” Krux huffed. “Not like it would let me open it anyway.” He grumbled. Phoenix got up from his spot, stumbling a little on his feet and almost falling forward again. This time, instead of being inconsiderate like he could be, Krux got up in time to catch him. “Stop. You won’t exactly get better if you try to start walking now.”

Phoenix only sighed and held onto him. “Mmm... give me back my watch...” Krux raised an eyebrow. “Why should I? It looks a lot like mine.” The other dug his nails into his outer jacket. “Please... It’s important to me.” He spoke lowly, almost sounding pathetic. The older time master sighed. “Fine but only if you explain..” he looked at him up and down, noting the features, “this whole situation.”

Phoenix took his watch pendant back, clicking it back around his neck. “Huh?” Krux huffed at him, “Don’t give me that shit. I’ve dealt with enough of it throughout the years. Now explain yourself and don’t be vague like Wu.” The younger huffed back at him. “Fine, but don’t blame me when you get confused afterwards.”

So he ended up telling him his whole story. From the moment he lost his arm to being torn out of time, getting forgotten, going through multiple timelines, snatching his arm back from an old friend-now enemy, thrown back out of time again, and everything starts all over. Krux found he was right about being confused over the whole thing. It made too little sense and all the sense in the world, but then-

“Why didn’t you just say so at the beginning?” Krux crosses his arms. Phoenix was quick to mimic him. “And how was I supposed to say it? That there are three hands on the clock but the third hand broke off so the clock doesn’t work right anymore even after trying to put the hands back together?” He sat down with his head in his hands. Dear FSM he looked too much like him with that upset expression. Phoenix sighed softly. “I was stuck there for who knows how long anymore... I’ve had to watch you and Acronix fail every time. There was one time where you two actually took over Ninjago but neither of you were happy..”

He gripped on his pendant watch. Krux could see it glow in a rhythmic beat, almost like... a beating heart. “I.. I was going to try something different.. one more time. If I allowed the plan to go in motion, I could’ve used the Iron Doom to go back a little more.. to stop Chen from ever deceiving us and Clouse from using his spell... If I could’ve done that, I would’ve been there with you two... I could’ve gone home to our Ma and tell her we made it out okay and that Pa missed her so much.”

Acronix looked into the room at that. “Pa?” He questioned. “Yeah.. I saw him for a moment.. Looks like us but.. battered and older. Definitely could tell that he’s seen so much in his years... and still so sad that he can’t ever see Ma again.” The room felt all too gloomy. The third hand decided to change that. “So... how is she?” Krux went to answer. “I know she’s gone now but.. was she okay? At least in health? Anything?”

“Truth be told, she was sad too, but I at least made sure she was better in her later days when-.” Krux began and got interrupted once more, “you mastered your Saunders disguise.” Phoenix nodded and sighed. “Seems like tragedy likes to follow every villain around huh?”

Acronix huffed at them. “Enough sadness. I’m grabbing Kitty and their Minis!” He went out of the room and came back a few seconds later with the fluffy gray tabby cat. “Meow!” “Meow yourself! We need the sadness to leave and you’re always able to make it go away!” Phoenix chuckled at Acronix arguing with the cat. “Oh my god, you were the same way with Sandy.”

“You knew our first cat, Sandy?” Acronix perked up at that. “Of course I did. Fluffy tabby cat that always felt so sandy up in her fur no matter what you do. I wonder if Kitty responds the same way.” Phoenix patted his chest. “Come here, Kitty.” The tabby responded but setting their gloved paws on his chest and rubbing their face on his chin. Phoenix let out a happy gasp. “They do! Oh that’s so precious.”

Acronix chuckled at him. “Kitty likes you already.” “I guess they do.” Phoenix laid back with the cat settling on him. “You fool. You’re not going to be able to get up with the cat on you.” Krux warned him. “Then I’m stuck. That’s it. This is my fate.” He responded while petting the cat. “... You are so much more nicer here than any other timelines I tried to stay in.” He cooed at the kitty. “Acronix, did you forget the little fluffy bean babies?” Acronix responded with “No. They’re coming. Amanda’s getting them.” Amanda came on with kittens crawling over her back. “Help. They climb.”

Krux sighed at them. “Yes they do climb, Amanda. They’re assholes in training.” They mewled at him just suddenly grabbing them. “Don’t argue with your grandpa. I’m not in the mood.” “Mew~” “Do one good thing for me and just keep this one stuck with your parent.” Phoenix gasped. “No wait.” “You started this. You’re gonna remain stuck now.” Acronix smirked at Krux. “Don’t you mean you’re gonna remain stuck meow?” Krux turned his head at him with the most unamused face you’d ever see. “Do NOT ruin this.”

Phoenix chuckled at him with Acronix. “That’s it. I’m leaving.” Krux left. “Amanda you have to get home before Kai decides to come to the door.” The young brunette smiled. “Alright. I’m coming back tomorrow though.” He could hear Krux give an audible sigh, “Fine.”

Kitty remained seated on Phoenix, purring underneath his pets. “Yeah. You’re already fitting in nicely. Krux will probably keep you too.” He looked up to Acronix. “You think so?” “Probably because he doesn’t always want to hear me rant about Kitty at three in the morning.” Phoenix smiled. The younger Time twin smiled too, matching his. Phoenix let out a chuckle and, for once, he felt that maybe it was going to be a grand time... even if he forgot that the time was limited to him.

-

Part two - coming soon

You heard me. I had to split this into parts. Mostly because I need to relearn how to write the Twins and this is mostly an AU from my friend (I’m calling it Redeemed AU because well her OC has the ability of a cinnamon roll and is able to befriend just about any and everybody including the villains) and then I just stuck my OC right in there so this is gonna be a while.

[ofnifflersandkings]

Title: Roses are Red

Character: Miles Morales

A/n: Happy belated Valentine’s day from your favorite spiderboi

•

You looked down at your desk with a look of pure anguish on your face. In a fit of rage, you tossed you pencil off to the side and sat back to look at your work with a huff.

To put it nicely, it looked horrible.

You picked up the sketchbook you bought from the art supply store on the way home. You held it an arm’s length away from your face, seeing if maybe some distance would increase the quality.

When that proved useless, it took all of your will power to not shove open your window and throw the whole thing out of it.

You pressed your back against your chair, catching a glance at the evergrowing pile of crumpled attempts sitting in your wastebasket. And you could’ve cried right there.

Tomorrow was Valentines Day, and hear you sat trying desperately to make a decent picture for Miles.

The two of you weren’t necessarily dating. It was more of a let’s very clearly have a thing for one another but ignore our emotions till we die sort of situation.

You didn’t expect Miles to do anything in return, but you thought it would be nice to draw him something special as a token of your affection.

Only the problem was that you weren’t anywhere near as good of an artist as he was. Everything you put on the paper just seemed so ugly and nothing looked good enough.

As time crept mercilessly onwards, your frustration only grew. You could feel your anxiety settle in at the base of your stomach and you contemplated forgetting about the whole thing.

What if he took one look at your pathetic drawing and laughed?

The rational part of your brain told you that you knew he’d never be so cruel, especially not to you. But the doubt in the back of your mind was coming in and making itself comfortable.

It certainly wasn’t for a lack of trying. This had been the second sketchbook you’d purchased to try and create him something that was good enough for him.

But you were really falling flat.

You looked over at a framed photograph of the two of you, the happy expression on both of your faces made you smile.

Miles was just so sweet, and you liked him more than you probably should’ve. Heaven knows if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be stressing about a simple present as much as you were.

You closed your eyes and took a deep inhale to calm yourself down. Maybe you were just thinking too hard about this, so you decided to approach this from a different angle.

•

“You don’t think she’s mad at me do you?” Miles asked, staring up at his phone screen.

He had tried messaging you a couple of times since classes ended that day. This had been the fourth day in a row that you had skipped hanging out at lunch or during your free time at the end of the day.

Any time he would ask you to go see a movie with him or hang out on the school grounds and let him show off his new designs, you’d give him a half handed excuse about how you had too much homework to catch up on.

Miles knew you well enough to know that something was up. Sure, you would procrastinate on your work from time to time. But this felt very off, you were usually never this behind.

Yesterday, he even offered to help you finish up your assignments. But you quickly told him you had it under control before you took off without another word.

Truthfully, Miles was beginning to worry. Did you not want to hang out with him anymore?

He looked over at your gift sitting on his nightstand and suddenly felt very self-conscious about giving it to you tomorrow.

This would be his very first Valentine’s Day with someone to show his affection towards. And if he was being 100% honest, he had been very excited to spend the day with you.

But now he was just worried.

“You know (Y/n) better, probably busy with something and can’t get to the phone.” Ganke chimed in, turning away from his monitor to give Miles a reassuring smile.

“Yeah,” Miles said, scrolling back on some previous text messages between you two, trying to see if he had said something to make you upset with him. “I do know better.”

•

You came into school the next morning with a skip in your step and a smile etched onto your face. Somehow, someway, the stars had alligned and you had managed to make a gift you were happy with.

Class Committee had gone into school early that morning and taped flowergrams to people’s lockers. When you got to yours, you were surprised to see a red rose taped onto the door.

You beamed, gently pulling it off and twirling it in your hand. You knew it had been from Miles, he had tried to casually ask you what flowers you liked for no reason in particular.

You placed it in the very top shelf of your locker, setting it right on top of Miles’ present for safe keeping until the end of the day.

The rest of the day passed by as normal, the only difference was that Miles was now the one absent from lunch. He had missed a Physics test from the beginning of the week, so you had no time to explain your sudden disappearances.

“You really threw him for a loop there,” Ganke said, attepting to catch a grape he tossed into the air in his mouth. “I actually felt bad, almost revealed your whole surprise right then and there.”

You looked up from your math homework. “He was worried?”

Ganke nodded. “Miles thought you were mad at him so that’s why you kept bailing on lunch.”

You snorted, “He’s such a dork.”

“A dork you looove.” Ganke cooed, breaking off into a cackle when you chucked one of your own grapes at him.

“Don’t think I forgot about you though,” You said, reaching into your bag and sliding a giant pack of gummy worms over to him.

Ganke gasped dramatically and pulled them to his chest. “You know the way to my heart.”

•

Miles stared at the clock in his final class for the day, it felt like the bell would never ring. Ganke had told him you definitely weren’t mad at him, so now all he wanted to do was see you.

As soon as the bell rang, he was at the door and in a full on sprint to get to your locker before you had a chance with leave without him.

He turned the hallway and saw you just as you pressed your locker door shut. Your bag was already on and he saw the carnation he had gotten for you in your hand.

The sight made him equally relieved and flittery in his stomach. Relieved for fact that you were holding it was solid proof you really weren’t mad at him. And the other because he had never gotten flowers for someone he liked before and the reality of it made his head want to reel.

With this newfound reassurance he bounded up to with a big smile and placed his hands over your eyes to block your vision.

“Guess who?”

He felt you chuckle and it made his smile beam.

You pretended to contemplate it with a few very dramatic hums before a funny idea came into your head. “Is it Spider-Man?”

If a sentence could kill someone, Miles would’ve dropped dead on the floor. He truly couldn’t get his brain to form a sentence but he realized if he didn’t something soon it would make things worse.

Miles faked a laugh and released his hands. “So now we’re playing games? I see how it is.”

You turned around to face him and smiled. “I just wanted to see your reaction. It’s not like you could actually be Spider-Man.”

A thought ran through his mind, ‘This is great, this is your get-out-of-jail free card, take it and run with it,’ but the more prideful side of him couldn’t help but feel slightly offended and curious for your reasoning.

“What makes you think I couldn’t be?” He asked, trying to make it sound as casual as possible.

Your brows furrowed slightly as his sudden question and you laughed. “I don’t know?” You posed as a question more than a statement. “Probably because your Mom would kill you before any supervillian could if she found out.”

Miles couldn’t hide his laugh. “Alright, you got me.”

You looked at him and the nervousness over giving him your gift was starting to settle in again. Should you wait? Should you just get it over with now while there was still time to run?

“I got something for you,” You began, before stumbling over your sentence. “Well not really got, I made it.”

Miles felt his face get all warm. “You made something for me?”

You got flustered and felt to shy too say anything else, so you nodded. You had been holding the sketchbook against your chest, so you held it out to him.

“It isn’t very much, but I tried to make it personal if it couldn’t be good,” You said, undoing the leather strap that held it together.

Miles flipped through the pages. Each page from cover to cover was filled with doodles, some were of the two of you, and others were just funny little comics that you knew would make him laugh.

There was the time when he convinced you take old sheets and cut them up to make ghost costumes you could both wear around. But because Miles never ties his shoes, he tripped in his costume and fell smack on his face.

Normally you would’ve rushed over to help, but seeing this giant blob of white hit the floor with a shrilly cry was too much, and you laughed for about ten minutes instead.

You watched Miles flip through it. Each time he’d laugh or smile, you felt a tiny bit of pressue ease from your shoulders. Maybe you hadn’t done too bad afterall.

When he got to the final page, there was a small message written on it along with a picture of the two of you taped to the inside of the back cover.

For the very best person I know,

It isn’t much but I tried to put in all the thought and love I could muster

Happy Valentine’s Day

Miles just stared at the final page, his fingers running along your handwriting as an almost overwhelming amount of emotion ran through him.

The silence was starting to make your anxiety build up again and you rolled back and forth on your feet. “It’s alright if you don’t like it.”

He looked up at you like you were crazy. “You’re kidding? This is now the most important object I own.” He stated proudly, closing it up and holding it close it him.

You laughed and it made his chest feel light.

“Really though, thank you for making this for me.”

You bashfully shrugged your shoulders. “It’s the least I could do for you.”

“Gonna make my gift look like nothing.” Miles said, taking his bag off of his shoulder so reach inside and pull out a wrapped package.

You looked wide-eyed at it and then looked back at him. “You got me a gift?”

“Well yeah,” He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “What kind of valentine would I be if I didn’t. I have a reputation to uphold.”

You smiled and took his gift, slowly peeling off the wrapping paper. It was a painting on an art board of the two of you, ironically of the same photo you had taped to the back of his book.

It was beautiful, his art always was. The colors were super bright and you could help but trace your fingers along the visible brush lines.

“I think we compliment each other well,” Miles teased, looking down at the painting with you. “You know what, that was genius, I should make cards or something.”

You laughed and turned to him, placing your hand on his shoulder and reaching up to place a kiss on his cheek, right near the corner of his lips.

“It’s wonderful, Miles.”

He froze right on the spot, his face felt

so warm he worried he might burst into flames right on the spot. When he felt your lips leave his skin he actually let out a giggle.

Miles immediately cleared his throat to cover this and suavely leaned in close to you, taking your hand in his. “Let’s see if we can catch that movie we missed earlier.”

[colorofmymindposts]

The Deviance of Two English Gentlemen Chapter Three

Chapter Title: The Unyielding Interim

Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (Ritchie films)/Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Mary Morstan/John Watson Characters: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Mary Morstan Rating: Teen and Up Status: Incomplete, chapters are posted weekly Word Count: 1514 for this chapter, 4291 for the entire work thus far Summary: Set post Game of Shadows. When Sherlock Holmes is given a case by none other than Mrs. Watson, he has no idea that he cannot fix the unsolvable for the couple. Intimate truths are exposed in the process, leaving all three irrevocably changed. Tags: Case Fic, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Secrets, Bickering Notes: The entire work can be read here on ao3. You can also read chapter one here and chapter two here. Note that this is not Brit-picked, but I tried my best.

Story:

The next two weeks passed in such an odd succession that Holmes began to wonder whether he was indulging too much in the comfort of his seven percent solution. After that first night, Watson had not come down for many hours, not until late afternoon, all dressed in clothes appropriated from Holmes’ wardrobe, though neither of them addressed the subject. He had given a curt thanks and goodbye before departing.

The next time Watson deigned it worthy of his time to visit, Holmes had just finished conducting his experiment on the potency of various chloroform formulas. When Watson burst into his rooms, unannounced, he scolded Holmes for not leaving the flat in a span of time which had lasted four days apparently. In a fit of frustration, Watson left in search of food, insisting Holmes was going to “lose half a stone at this rate” if he continued in his totally reasonable, reclusive behaviours. Later, they chatted over dinner about the day’s newspaper, Holmes’ findings in the last seventy-two hours of intense dedication to the differences between trichloromethane and ether while Watson contributed an anecdote here or there about an unruly patient in the clinic.

They did not talk about Mary. They also did not speak of Watson’s domestic, precipitating him to storm off and drown his sorrows in cheap ale. Holmes had suspicions, however, even if he didn’t voice them.

One possibility was infidelity. “Three continents Watson” would imply to a simpleton that he was dissatisfied in marriage, but Holmes knew his Watson better. A man as loyal as he, who followed Holmes into the thoroughfare of the European criminal underworld with revolver in hand and no questions asked, would not be a husband who would lie with another woman. Especially not when Watson was clearly enamored by his Mary’s charms and said wife was understandably in love with Watson, a phenomenon Holmes could not explain but inherently knew was truth.

The second situation was problems with money, hypothetically. For some unknown reason, Watson had adopted a rather Draconian ideal of finances and women’s place within that (being nonexistent) much to Holmes’ chagrin, particularly as he knew undoubtedly Mrs. Watson would manage transactions far better than that gambling boy. But for such a violent reaction to occur those six nights ago, when Holmes had repeatedly criticized Watson’s handling of his funds in the past, this hypothetical seemed, just as the previous one, highly unlikely.

The third scenario Holmes could not feasibly wrap his head around without feeling prone and ill inside. Simply put, the consummation of marriage...was known to have its difficulties. The desired product of a match between man and wife as desired by a Christian God would only solidify the reality of Watson’s world apart from Holmes’ own isolated one, never again to amalgamate together but at short, infrequent intervals. If this were really the case though, some kind of disagreement had brewed between the Watsons, interrupting idyllic sentiment leftover from honeymoon bliss. The baseness of sex could very well have that effect on a standard English gentleman and lady.  

Watson’s eyes had been upon him for some time, he could tell. He met his friend’s gaze head-on, finding concern and something else indescribable mingled in between. Upon reflection, he should make a study of Watson’s eyes, if nothing else than for his private records.

“You haven’t spoken in two hours,” Watson remarked casually.

Holmes blinked rapidly, readjusting to the settings. Seated in his chair, tea gone cold. Disposed of his waistcoat, Watson slouched in what was once his designated chair, brown suspenders rolling off his shoulders slowly but surely, his top button undone. Thoroughly distracting. Holmes sniffed the air.

“Have you been smoking?” He inquired, recognizing the scent as that of a Cuban cigar circa 1889, approximately.

“Yes, I thought it might make you more alert. I fear it may have made you fall deeper into that stupor of yours you just came out of,” Watson admitted as his fingers idly tapped against the cigar resting in the ashtray on the table. “What has addled your brain so?”

“Watson, you know my methods. My periods of introspection provide clarity to my work. My thoughts are in perfect working order.”

“Mhmm,” he hummed back. After straightening his braces, Watson began to loop his arms through his coat previously draped across the back of his chair. “Perhaps I should leave you to your thoughts, in that case.”

“Back home again?” Holmes mused.

Watson, as ever, corrected him. “To Mary.”

Perhaps the lovers’ quarrel was not as serious as he supposed at all. Nonetheless, he felt he had to offer: “My door is always open.”

An affirming smile answered him with a quality of sadness to it, the only thing preceding Watson’s familiar tread on Baker Street.

Another week was to be endured before Watson’s presence graced him once again. In this particular instance, Watson seemed more at ease. He suggested to Holmes that they go for a stroll in the city. Watson always liked it when Holmes would make and share observations of passersbys, one of their favourite activities to engage in from the earliest point in their friendship. If Holmes himself was in worse spirits he would have refused such a triviality, but knowing it might help his friend, he acquiesced cordially to the offer, fortunate enough to still spend time with the man as he was.

There was nothing out of the ordinary at first. An oversized clerk bumbled down Manchester Street obviously having taken too late a lunch break; an older American couple conversed loudly about the spectacles and filth of London to distract from the all too personal topic of the wife’s dying father; a paperboy shouted the newest headlines, limping as he did so due to a factory accident which likely cracked most of the bones in his left foot that never healed properly. Watson smiled along to most of these descriptions but frowned at the last, almost bent on offering his services to the boy, but by Holmes’ observations the accident had occurred years ago and no doctor’s attention would help him now.

At last, they reached Hyde Park, a perfect spot for observation of both animals and nature alike. As it was a Sunday, many families were out and about, relieved to send their children to attend to their own amusements. Their shrill cries and laughter was certainly no symphony to Holmes, but Watson appeared slightly perturbed, glancing at his fob-watch for the time and requesting that perhaps they roam somewhere else. Holmes himself was growing tired of this charade his friend was putting on and scoffed loudly.

“Really, you could just tell me that you prefer the company of your wife to my own, and we’d be done with it,” he ground out, kicking his one boot against the pavement as he did so.

“What?” Watson had the audacity to appear flummoxed. His attempts at treating Holmes with decency were driving the detective mad.

“I know you’re inventing excuses to be around me now that you’re married and yet still feel obligated to maintain our partner—pardon me, friendship,” explained Holmes, in a manner not unlike when he told Lestrade off for one of his idiotic theories. “But you’re bored because there are no cases for me to amuse you with, so you’re regretting the whole outing. I’d prefer that you just be honest with me instead of relying on me to deduce it for the both of us.”

He refused to look Watson in the eye after his statement and proceeded down the footpath without his friend in tow. It thus surprised him as he was about to turn out of the park when running footfalls made their distinct approach. Watson’s all too familiar ragged breaths were there behind Holmes, on his neck, and then he was being spun around by his shoulders, Watson having a firm grip on both his arms and a dazzling intensity in his gaze.

“For once Holmes you have no idea what you’re driving at, but my problems with Mary actually have nothing to do with you this time. I can’t explain. It wouldn’t be right to you or Mary—”

“Sirs!” The voice of a young lady, no older than in her twenties with a crying babe in her arms. “Please, if you’ve anything to spare good sirs, my child’s life be saved. You’re honorable gentlemen, fathers? Think of the poor children, gentlemen.”

Damn her timing, just as he was getting something out of Watson. Though much as Watson’s readers of The Strand might have insisted otherwise, he was not heartless.

“3 shillings, madam,” he said as he withdrew the change from his pocket into her grateful outstretched hand, pins and pricks visible on her fingertips. A factory seamstress then, paid a pittance for her work.

She issued great thanks, politely scurrying away in the opposite direction from whence they came. He likely would have mused more on her upbringing, physicality and motivations too, had Watson not suddenly fallen out of consciousness into his arms, helpless as a babe.

[justasimone]

黒死牟 - The tale of the Six-Eyed Demon (spooky story fanfic)

By justasimone

This is a fanfiction based off of the series Kimetsu No Yaiba. This is based on Kokushibo, a character from that series.

If you get through this (yeah, it's super lengthy of a read) I will be astounded! 

I've written too much

Disclaimer:

This is a story that contains no spoilers nor

gives away any canon information on this

character. This is a creative interpretation in

the form of a short story. There may be more

tales to be unveiled.

Edits and writing by justasimone

黒

死

牟

Kanji: (Kokushibo)

 ʟᴏꜱɪɴɢ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ɪꜱ ᴡᴏʀᴛʜ ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ

 𝐘e𝐭

ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ɪꜱ ᴡᴏʀᴛʜ ʟᴏꜱɪɴɢ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ.

【黒】

【死】

【牟】

ᴛʜᴇ ꜱɪx-ᴇʏᴇᴅ ᴅᴇᴍᴏɴ

𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒈𝒐, 𝒂 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒙-𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒗𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔.

It was said that this entity had walked the earth at night in search of human blood. The villagers were quite terrified, noting that strange things had begun happening all over the country that could not be explained. The appearance of demons had thrown the city into silent, deadly chaos that many could not escape. Since then, others had begun to see a pattern with them. Some folks claimed that one man was behind the horde of them, claiming that he used them all to fulfill his wishes. Others believed that they could be working for more sinister reasons outside of just one leader. Although there were many stories for the reasoning behind it, the most popular belief had to do with a hierarchy.  

There were very few who tried to piece this horrifying story together. One was a man who claimed that he had witnessed his brother being transformed by the six-eyed demon. The man insisted that he was a deadly adversary that embodied evil itself. The tale began with the man waking up to the sound of a ruckus outside. He heard someone scream and noticed that his younger brother was missing. He opened the sliding door ever so slightly, so he could see what was going on outside without being detected. Believing that the shadows of the night would conceal him in the darkness, he looked out into the abyss before him. By a dim light coming from one of the house’s lanterns, he saw his brother hunched over with a sword. It laid shattered on the floor in pieces while the mantle stuck out of the ground. It was then that the man saw the demon.  

He described him as a creature with an uncanny yet warped human appearance. The man’s skin crawled when he saw six eyes and a mark of fire along his face. He studied his fallen brother, who gritted his teeth as blood ran from his mouth. He was so shocked to see a warrior as powerful as him easily defeated. The man knew at once that this demon was far more terrifying and disturbing than the rest of the demons, he had the rare chance of witnessing. His brother coughed up blood, muttering something inaudible to the demon. The man watched the terrifying demon stare into his brother’s eyes as lightning struck as if it was splitting the sky into glass shards.  

He held his breath and tried to hear what his brother said. Finally, he heard a bit of his dialogue. “Please…Don't do this to me. I cannot be one of you. I swore to him…”  

The six-eyed demon’s eyes lit with a dangerous rage akin to a burning flame. “You cannot take back your promise, Kidou. You will become a demon to serve my master.”  

“Please, I beg you! I no longer want to live forever, living the violent, brutal life I have been trapped in. I would rather die with honor in my heart than to live with the sinful bloodlust for immortality. I dare not give in to the darkness of my heart any longer.”  

The six-eyed demon narrowed his eyes. “Do you think I will allow this? You will not forsake me now. You are a warrior designed for the bloodshed that must be used for my master. You cannot break an oath to me nor to him.”  

“Please!” The young man cried out in anguish as he knelt before Kokushibo. “I don’t deserve to serve anyone; I would rather perish!”  

Suddenly, before the man knew it the demon grabbed Kidou’s face and made him look into his eyes. The lightning continued to burst with an electrifying pandemonium. With the quick flashes of lightning, the man saw the demon’s eyes glowing in the dark while it scowled at Kidou. “You will pay with your family’s lives. Nevertheless, you will become a servant.” Suddenly, the lantern by the house flickered in the wind while Kidou screamed. When the light was refocused, the man saw his younger brother hit the floor with blood dripping down his mouth. Except, something told him that it wasn’t his blood. Kidou laid lifeless on the ground for a few moments until he suddenly sprang up like a puppet. His movements seemed unnatural and rigid as if he were being controlled.  

“You will come with me,” said the six-eyed demon. As the man looked on in horror, Kidou turned his neck and faced him. Another burst of lightning revealed a terrifying expression that the man could never forget. His younger brother Kidou looked vile, staring into his eyes like a hungry beast. The six-eyed demon smirked and looked over its shoulder at the man. The tale ended with the man running into the forest and hiding into a ditch. He had managed to run from his brother, who he figured was turned into some sort of monster like the one he had seen before. It is said that the man only lived for two days until he was never seen again.  

Another tale was told by a father of two twin siblings who disappeared. He said that before his children disappeared, his son had complained to his wife and himself about two demons. The story began with their daughter Chinatsu wandering into the forest. She had been determined to find supernatural creatures and believed the legends she heard from her grandparents concerning these creatures. Her twin brother Chihiro, however, did not believe any of it. He merely dismissed the tales as silly myths to entertain children of the same age as them. He rolled his eyes whenever he heard his grandmother speak of mythical demon slayers, demons, spirits, deities, fantastic creatures and reincarnation.  

One day after his grandmother told a specific tale of a man who was cursed to live forever after eating a forbidden fruit, he went out to play as usual with his sister. This time, his sister was thoroughly engrossed in the tale and claimed that she would find this mythical man that day. They wandered through the forest as she wandered about, holding what looked like a jade coin with a quartz centerpiece that could show the forest from a fish eye’s view. His sister Chinatsu claimed that this coin would allow her to find him, just as her grandmother claimed. Her brother warned her that their grandmother had said only to use it if danger was approaching.  

Chinatsu laughed and shook her head at her brother. “No, no, silly! We’ll use it so we can help the man who is cursed!”  Her brother Chihiro glared at her with dissatisfaction. “Right. We should be avoiding someone that unlucky instead. If he was actually real, all he would do is give us bad luck.”  

Chinatsu shook her head again. “No! He would be saved because we can help!” She laughed and continued to wander through the forest with the coin as her guide. She looked through it and continued to wander, turning every so often down a different path. The sun was setting and Chihiro had a bad feeling about this. Soon the two twins found themselves deeper in the forest as the sun disappeared under the mountains. “Great, now we’re lost. Good one. Now father will scold us and mother will worry!”  

His sister was completely unfazed and kept wandering. “This coin will get us out if we need to.” His sister stopped in the middle of the forest. Her eyes lit up as she stared a bit in the distance. Her brother was just pushing away some branches from scraping him when he looked and saw what his sister was staring at.  

He nearly jumped when he saw a man with red eyes and a suit watching them. The man smiled gently at them and walked towards them.  

“Are you lost?”  

His sister nodded. “Yes, but first I need to find someone. Have you seen him, sir? I’m looking for a man who is in trouble.” Chihiro glared at her while she spoke. “Stop making things up,” he said while grimacing.  

“Are you? Do you need help finding him? What does he look like?” The man looked empathetic, yet Chihiro felt uneasy around him. He sensed a strong, negative energy emitting from him.  

“He ate a blue fruit and got cursed because of it. I want to find him so I can try to help him. My grandma says he got changed from a human into a demon because of it.”  

The man’s eyes grew wide as Chinatsu continued narrating the story her grandmother told her. After Chinatsu was finished, she smiled. “I was hoping to find him today so I can help him.”  

The man stared at her in silence. Somehow, he seemed troubled by the tale, yet oddly moved by the girl’s opinion of the cursed being in the legend. Chihiro cut into the silence with an apology. “I’m sorry, my sister is a fool. She only listens to stories from our grandmother and doesn’t know the difference between reality and fiction. I sincerely apologize for disturbing you.”  

The man looked surprised and his pupils seemed like they changed for a minute. The man then smiled and laughed. “Don’t worry, she has quite a healthy imagination for her age. Let me help you two find your way home. Your parents must be worried about you!”  

Chinatsu smiled and took the man’s hand while Chihiro took hers and followed. In a short amount of time, they found themselves back at their small village. Chinatsu and Chihiro bowed to the stranger. “Thank you so much for guiding us home,” they exclaimed gleefully.  

“No problem,” the man responded as he waved. As his sister was out of earshot, Chihiro heard the man whispering. He thought he heard him say something odd. Later, his sister would confirm what he heard. “The man you speak of in that tale is right here, young one.”  

When the twins got home, everything seemed normal at first. Then Chihiro noticed his sister looking out the window like she was waiting for something. The more he asked her about it, the less responsive she was. As they were about to go to bed, he heard her whispering to herself. “I get to help him…” she said before closing her eyes to sleep. Later that night, Chihiro awoke to the door of their home left open as the cold winter air seeped in. He dressed and went outside, looking to see a trail of footprints that matched the size of his sister’s geta. Nervous, he followed them until he saw her sleepwalking in the forest. Her eyes were open and she was smiling. “Where are you going, sister?”  

She turned and smiled at her brother. “To give our souls to the man. That will help him,” she said while giggling. The boy was so alarmed that he tried to drag his sister back home. He told his father about it as he struggled to keep his sister from out of the forest. No matter what he or his parents could do, his sister wouldn’t stop screaming and trying to fight them to go outside. She even tried to bite them at one point while screaming non-stop. Her mother finally let her go in fear and Chinatsu ran into the forest. Her brother ran right after her without warning.  

Days later, Chinatsu and Chihiro’s parents found a note next to a Sakura tree. It was written in scrawled writing, signed by the first few letters of their son’s name. The note read:

Running from people in the night. They aren’t normal. They have sharp fangs and have ungodly strength. We slipped past them until we saw a man with three pairs of eyes. He caught Chinatsu. I tried to fight him, but I lost. I am looking for her now. I’m following the man. Please find me before he takes her away.  

Chinatsu and Chihiro’s parents never saw their children again.  

Perhaps the most famous tale came from a retired demon slayer. The old man claimed that he knew much about demons and told many townsfolk to avoid them at all costs. He watched several towns with such a watchful eye that the townspeople never witnessed a single demon inside their town. This time of peace would not last eternally, despite the old man’s skill and great prowess as a former demon slayer. The man claimed that many great comrades of his were slaughtered by demons, but most notably of all were the attacks from what he called the upper moons. He had told his story once in an inn when the townsfolk celebrated his success, claiming that they were all too naive.  

He claimed there was one demon in particular that had made him the most uneasy. This demon was the most conniving, ruthless and calculating being he had ever known. The man called this demon Kokushibo and had nicknamed him the harbinger of death. He claimed that this demon took not only the lives of many innocent people but that he also posed the biggest threat to his entire team, including the most skilled of pillars. He described Kokushibo as very powerful with an incredulous amount of strength and great skill. He claimed that Kokushibo could bend his power in the form similar to nature using breath techniques that he never thought any demon would ever understand.  

When the old man was pressed for more information, he refused to disclose any other specifics. Even his younger comrades were left in the dark, questioning the existence of this elusive demon. The last thing the man was quoted saying was that he felt that he had known this demon’s true identity due to his family crest. He felt that he knew which clan he was from yet did not confirm it with certainty. He warned his last student before he died of Kokushibo. The old man stated that if his student was to discover Kokushibo's true origins he should never disclose this information under any circumstances.  The old demon slayer died with that secret a year later due to a heart attack.  

Since then, more tales have begun to surface of this demon. While many narratives have not been confirmed to be firsthand accounts, many elders believe in his existence. The younger townsfolk who even doubt the existence of the supernatural still shiver with fear when they hear of him.  

It is said that to this day, Kokushibo roams this very earth.  

(End)

(I decided to add some haunting edits...muhahhaa of the "six eyed angel".)

➡️Note:

Tales and legends from word of mouth are often edited with multiple variations added on from many years through various storytellers. This would lead to some information or firsthand accounts of demons to vary greatly and contained exaggerated, even warped versions of the original accounts (such as the blue fruit version instead of the actual story). Hence why I thought of writing this based on that perspective without any spoilers or worrying about how canon it is.

(I will soon post this story on fanfic.net when I get the chance.)

I deleted my amino account to protect my mental health so I no longer use the alias of Solar Eclipse. Hence why I removed the amino link.

[thecartoonarchivist]

Weekly Spotlight #3

Alrighty!! Onto week 3 of the Weekly Spotlight!

In honor school starting up for many individuals all around the U.S. in the next week or two, I’m going to be discussing the TV show--- Drum roll, please!

*a very vibrant drum roll*

Class of 3000!

When I first decided to do a Weekly Spotlight on this show, the only thing I could really remember about this show was part of its theme song. Not the intro itself, but its theme song. To be completely honest, I often find myself humming it or playing it over in my head when I’m doing tasks that don’t require a whole lot of thinking. I also remember an old flash game that Cartoon Network used to have on their website but... that’s not really conducive to this Spotlight.

I have the distinct feeling that when you hear the theme song, a lot of you will start to remember it too. Warning! This theme song is will get stuck in your head if you’re not careful. You have been warned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSpEd7XI1Fg

To give a little bit of background into this series, this show was produced in a joint venture between the Tom Lynch Company, Andre 3000, and Cartoon Network. Some of you may know Andre 3000 (a.k.a. André Benjamin) as a famous rapper, part of a duo known as Outkast. For those of you who don’t know who this individual is (like me,) Andre 3000 is the musical genius behind the famous hit, “Hey ya!” and worked with other famous individuals in the hip hop genre such as Drake, Jay-Z, B.o.B., Lil’ Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, and many others. To say that Andre 3000 is talented would be an understatement. Of course, going into this, I was a bit skeptical since a lot of series based on famous personalities not only tend to age extremely poorly, but also because the entire foundation for the series itself ends up being built on very shaky ground in the first place.

That being said, rewatching a couple episodes of this series, I ended being shocked at how charming and unique this series was. I actually could believe how much of this show I had ended up forgetting and instantly started to wonder whether or not I realized how good it was when it was still airing.

So! The premise: Sunny Bridges is a famous musician that has many individuals that look up to him as an idol, including a local Atlanta, Georgia boy named Lil’ D. However, having spent so long in the music industry with its main goal to make more money, Sunny has lost his love of music and decides to quit the music business. Lil’ D, having lost both his idol and his school music teacher in the same day, is completely heartbroken along with the rest of his other musical classmates. Desperate to find a new music teacher, the class band together to help raise money for a new hire. After a series of quirky events and shenanigans, Sunny becomes aware of their plight and decides to become their new music teacher. And that’s the basic situation that sets up for the rest of series. The show then follows the wacky situations and crazy solutions that Sunny and the rest of the music class come up with in order to solve their outlandish problems.

And honestly? This show was fantastic. For a show that premiered over ten years ago, I’m completely shocked by not only how relevant the show continues to be, but also how well all of it has aged!

I think one of the things that works in its favor is the strangely unique character designs. Sure, they have the iconic noodley arms, lack of ten fingers, and very exaggerated defining features. But all of it is done in such a way that leaves an imprint on your mind that these characters are their own thing. It’s their own style and their own personalities that even simple “archetypes” fail to do justice to their own individuality. And I absolutely loved it.

One of the things about this series is that it prioritizes fun over everything else. And when I say that, I absolutely mean it. Everything about this series absolutely screams experimentation: from the hand-painted, messy, watercolored backgrounds, to the bizarre, psychedelic, music sequences, you can tell that the creators of this tv show just when hog-wild with it and simply had fun. The jokes are corny, yet surprisingly real. The situations are over-the-top and ridiculous. The dialogue is quick-witted and snappy. I even caught some insane subtle 80′s pop-culture references, such as references to Jumpman (the original Super Mario game) and Flashdance, complete with their own water scene and references to Michael Sembello’s hit song “Maniac.” And the craziest part about all of this? I had fun too.

Did all of it age great? Certainly not. The music sequences constantly made me question: Am I high? Did someone slip something into my drink? 

(Yes. This all came from the same exact show. No, I am not joking.)

Some of the music absolutely screamed early 2000′s. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZhXkq9kTNk&index=5&list=PLBB2FE6AE00856C63

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn_EGLtOVGU&index=6&list=PLBB2FE6AE00856C63

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XBRMpvW_mQ&list=PLBB2FE6AE00856C63&index=11

At times, some of the jokes and the writing felt predicable. But honestly, when you put “fun” first and foremost in this series, those flaws don’t seem as completely egregious as your first impression lets you believe.

The music, overall, was extremely catchy. The comedic timing was spot on. Even the situations, although blown completely out of proportion, felt so realistic that I was reminded of my own headaches and frustrations living through music class in high school. Honestly, this series was just fun, interesting, and a great breath of fresh air after watching so many cartoons that use the same episodic formula with no love in what they do. 

So from a musical standpoint, how does it fair? Is it actually, you know, accurate?

The thing about this series is that it didn’t focus on musical lessons per say. Yes, they did have lessons that hearken back to my high school days in the band room with my director standing at the podium, waving his baton like there was no tomorrow. But really, these lessons were more life lessons wrapped up in musical clothing. The pilot opens up with the idea that you shouldn’t forget where you came from; you may want to leave this place behind and throw away all the things that you considered “boring” and “uneventful” but when you get out into the real world, you start to appreciate all the things that made you who you are now. And that lesson? In a kids’ tv show?!  That’s crazy. I could feel myself reflecting on each moral with every passing episode, and I just was surprised on how real it was. I never felt like I was being talked down to, or that the production team was cutting corners, just for the sake of putting out another episode; really, I just felt this outpouring of love and passion into a crazy project that felt like the creators never thought it’d see the light of day. 

As a musician, however, I’m able to notice a few inconsistencies here and there that make the magic less ever so slightly. I was a little disappointed to find that a lot of times whenever the character Madison, a derpy, blonde violinist with a heart of gold, it wasn’t played by a true violin; in all reality, a lot of the music that was supposedly played by Madison was actually just a synthesizer. (In English, that means that they had a violinist play each individual note from lowest to highest; record it; and then use those recording on an electronic keyboard, so that they can play it as if you play a piano. It’s very hard to spot the difference, but as a violinist myself, the difference is rather stark for my ears.) I can understand why they did this--- hiring a violinist for every small violin sound that your character makes just doesn’t make sense on a cartoon budget. Still, it saddens me how little there was of actual violin audio. Speaking of violins and “faking” sounds, I also found that the music that was playing and the music that the kids were supposedly “making” had a surprising disconnect. Often, I see scenes where Tamika, a sassy harpist, Madison, and even Eddie, the rich clarinet player, were all playing and yet... those instruments were clearly absent from the song. Again, the rule of fun first, but still... it always urks me as a musician to see instruments playing when they are obviously not playing in the song. It just looks so stupid. 

There were also a lesson or two that I felt were very important life lessons but were a little... lacking in the musical department. Take “Peanuts! Get Yer Peanuts!” for example. Sunny opens up with a question on what he should start teaching as a music teacher, as he has never done it before. Kam suggests that they do finger exercises, as that’s what their old music teacher used to do. Sunny, instead, decides that he’s going to have the kids be “artistically free” and just... play what calls to them. Have fun with it! Play what it feels like to be in a cave, or on a busy street, or to knock the walls down! What Sunny fails to realize in this situation is that, although having fun with your instrument and feeling what the music is trying to tell you is important, “finger exercises” are the foundation of good playing. Are they boring? Absolutely. Are they tedious? Oh, sweet Macy, yes! But are they important? You better bet your bottom dollar they are! If you can’t play at all, how are you supposed to play challenging music? How are you supposed to play what you feel when you can’t even play with good form? Having fun with your playing is important; you aren’t going to even pick up your instrument if you aren’t having fun. But if you don’t have a certain level of discipline, there’s no way in hell that you’ll ever succeed on a professional level as a musician. That’s just how it works. Of course, the lesson in this episode is focused on working together and how important communication is when working as a group, but I still felt that this... inaccuracy gave a false representation on how being a musician actually works.

But at the end of the day, this is a show about having fun with your art as well as learning some life lessons on the side.

Overall, this show is extremely charming. The jokes were extremely clever and enjoyable. (Tamika: Are you sure you saw Sunny Bridges go this way? Lil’ D: Unless I mistook him for a bear driving a Jaguar. *Bear speeds off in a sports car* Lil’ D: That was a Lamborghini!) And the art was something interesting and stunning to look at. I was surprised over and over by the limits that they tried to take with this show (how many new and interesting was can you draw caricatures of your own cartoon drawings?!) and honestly, this show was just some good wholesome fun. 

Rating this show, I’d have to give it an 8 out of 10. 

It was great. A little weird at times, sure! But that’s the cool thing about experimentation--- you get some weird stuff sometimes. This series is going to the top of my rewatch list because, really, I remember so little about it and the show was so enjoyable that I absolutely want to sit down to relive all the silly adventures that the Class of 3000 will bring me. 

I highly recommend you give this show a chance and see what it’ll give you. You never know--- you might just have a little fun while you’re at it.

[Edit (8/23/2018): I forgot the read more tab... *deep sigh*]

[Edit (9/22/2018): How the fuck did I miss tagging this as the Weekly Spotlight?!? I am so sorry!]

[Edit (11/21/2018): Fixed a broken tagging system.]

If there are any corrections you’d like to make in regards to this post, please feel free to send me a message with your corrections and I’ll get back to it as soon as I can!

Do you remember a cartoon your friends have never heard of? Got a scene from an animated film that you’re dying to know the name to? Send your questions to The Cartoon Archivist and I’ll see what I’ve got in the vault!

[animalslifestyle]

Strangers Imprisoned Must Pick Who Lives And Who Dies In A Disastrous Extraterrestrial Experiment | Circle 2015

Circle doesn’t appear to have much going for it at first sight. It’s low-budget, with corny, simple dialogue, and its idea leads to rather a generic genre entertainment. Set almost completely in one room, while a circle of individuals votes on who to take off one by one until only one remains, it appears to be the type of glorified game show you’d find in the depths of a bargain bin or deep on Netflix.

But Circle is much more than its simple appearance. It pulls current identity politics full circle, shocking us with some ingenious sci-fi twists along the way. It’s ruthless, revelatory, and enormously important.

Circle hits a lot of my interests and preferences very directly, thus my enjoyment of the film may be skewed. Narratively, it falls nicely between two of my favorite Doctor Who episodes: Bad Wolf (which features future twists on famous game shows) and Exam (a single-location psychological thriller with sci-fi themes and one-by-one elimination). Circle doesn’t quite live up to the impact of my favorites on first watching, but its proximity in subject matter is enough to get me through even the most cringe-worthy lines (“c’mon, dude!” / “No, you c’mon, man!”).

Circle’s unpoetic language is undeniably one of its major weaknesses, and the lack of time for character development and the black-and-white simplicity of its ideas may be a little too theatrical for some, but I, for one, believe its obviousness is its greatest strength.

The cast of characters consists of 50 individuals, each of whom votes every few minutes on who should be murdered next, with the expectation that just one will survive. It’s unclear how they got there, but given the terrible reality of their predicament (they can’t move, so it’s vote or die), a masochistic survival-of-the-smartest seems unavoidable.

The ingenuity of this design is not in the game itself but in the interaction between the players. The group is obviously designed to reflect typical American demographics, with about equal numbers of men and women, representative proportions of each major racial group, and a wide range of age, sexuality, religion, occupation, and personality type. The majority of these characters are given less than a minute of screen time, with the structure of the film typically giving them the most of their conversation during the round of the “game” in which they are eliminated.

Of course, there are a few people whose roles are slightly more important to the game’s dynamics, such as a collaborative husband-and-wife duo (Matt Corboy and Julie Benz), a pregnant woman (Allegra Masters), and a little girl (Molly Jackson), none of whom anyone wants to vote off, and a rich man (Daniel Lench), who brashly tries to control proceedings, claiming his worth is greater because. When all of these personalities collide, Circle becomes a crucial dissection of identity politics, with every character — given just seconds to introduce themselves before their life is actually put up for a vote — reduced to obvious, shallow stereotypes and judged purely on those traits.

The film is a powerful examination of mob rule, minority identity, and our perceptions of one another in the age of Buzzfeed and Twitter. Circle, an incredibly obvious microcosm of an all-too-obvious universe, is precisely the stupid sci-fi picture 2015 requires. It covers nearly every headline topic of our day — illegal immigration, police brutality, ageism, sexism, racism, homophobia, classism, pro-choice vs. pro-life, religion vs. science — and succeeds precisely because it is so simply constructed and clear-cut.

Circle is rather low-key in terms of technology, but the production qualities are high for the budget level. The photography and editing keep up with the fast-paced action, and the picture avoids seeming cheap by employing CGI only when absolutely required. There are a few predictable plot twists, but what happens is far less essential than how and why it happens in this.

The conclusion of Circle indicates that the events of the film are the consequence of an extraterrestrial invasion of Earth. A number of the cast members reportedly recall being taken by alien entities early in the film. After winning the game, Eric spots UFOs in the sky. Circle’s creators, on the other hand, designed an open ending for the picture. It is possible that the survivors will be forced to participate in another “game” of the Circle.

The Circle is essentially an experiment in which the fittest are rewarded with a chance of survival. It is based on Darwin’s ‘Survival of the Fittest’ principle. Surprisingly, in the film, a person’s fitness is determined by their wit rather than their physical power. When it comes to ethics, though, the concept of survival of the fittest can feel cruel and nasty. While many individuals in Circle confirm Darwin’s hypothesis to be correct, many others are observed striving to follow a moral code.

They are clearly reluctant subjects of alien experimenters. But what is the experiment’s purpose? Is there an escape route? Should they strive to work with or against the men and women around them?

Heated discussion denotes a hive-mind argument that sets some (questionable) ground principles before debating tactics. Things rapidly become personal, as they always do when you realize you only have 60 seconds to determine which of the individuals you’re looking at will die. Should we be guided by prejudices based on race and class, or should we focus our rage on authoritative figures? Is self-sacrifice noble or irrational?

Long lengths of bullying and philosophizing occasionally tax our tolerance, and it’s difficult to imagine that the characters who commit them aren’t promptly zapped by their peers. A little dark humor would have gone a long way here, but the directors and cast keep things very serious. Still, the film keeps the suspense alive by having us predict how this will all play out, leading up to a concluding tableau that, silently, reveals nearly as much about human nature as all the discussion preceding it.

The narrative is the most serious flaw. It’s not riddled with flaws or anything; it’s just very, very predictable. You get the full “hey, what’s going on” phase, the “let’s attempt to beat the game” portion, and ultimately the societal commentary that was unavoidable. Racism, homosexual parents, religion, privilege — if it’s a hot-button issue (and there seem to be a lot of them these days), it’ll be brought up. The film takes no position on any of them (more or less), but attempts to portray all sides of the debate. That’s all well and good, but since I tend to hear this drivel every time I put on the television these days, I’ve had enough and don’t really want it in my entertainment.

The cast is decent; no one really leaps out as outstanding, but no one strikes out as rubbish. They’re all skilled and, for the most part, unknown (the only person I knew was Julie Benz, although I’m sure some viewers will have lots of “ooh ooh, I’ve seen that person someplace” moments). They also did a fantastic job of casting a diverse range of people of various creeds, ages, and so on to reflect a broad cross-section of society.

Aside from that, it’s a short film, so at least they didn’t drag it out, the effects and location (for what they are) are adequate, and the conclusion is executed flawlessly — as predictable as the film is throughout, I definitely didn’t see the last minutes coming.

So that’s the end of Circle. This film is for high-concept fans who prefer their entertainment in a new way, and the mystery of who will survive will keep some people engaged throughout, and the running duration was wisely kept under 90 minutes. If you have some free time and want to watch something unusual on Netflix, you could do worse.

Circle, written and directed by Aaron Hann and Mario Miscione, is both the product of successful cooperation and an examination of how we utilize collaboration to manipulate others for our own advantage. It’s far from flawless, yet based only on thematic need, this might be the most significant picture of 2015. Unfortunately, that significance does not appear to be going away anytime soon.

Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIUvYQqHaJulahGrU942ONQ

Playlist:

Sexy Love: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIUvYQqHaJulahGrU942ONQ

Horror: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLru4FE1-1keyyqd1rYJnlwpqE8ysUn2uv

[aion-rsa]

Squid Game: Best Deadly Competition TV Shows & Movies to Watch Next

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Chances are, if you’ve started watching Squid Game, then you’ve finished watching Squid Game. Netflix’s Korean social thriller is highly suspenseful, driving viewers through its nine episodes to its chilling conclusion with an anxiety-inducing urgency. The story of 456 desperate people who play a deadly game for the chance to win a ₩45.6billion ($39 million) prize, Squid Game is a familiar premise executed masterfully, which means that if you’re looking for more stories like Squid Game, then you’re in luck; the “deadly competition” trope is a very popular one. Like other standouts in the subgenre, there is nothing quite like Squid Game, but there’s still many, many TV shows and movies worth watching if you’re looking for something that delves into some of the same themes and scenarios as the addictive Netflix drama. Here are our recommendations…

Death Race 2000 (1975)

Not technically a live-action adaptation of Hanna Barbera cartoon Wacky Races with a deadly twist – though that’s very much the vibe – this Roger Corman camp-fest is a cult favourite. The film stars Kung Fu’s David Carradine as the mysterious champion driver of the Transcontinental Road Race, an ultra-violent race across America designed as an outlet for the population’s simmering violence under a totalitarian regime – much like sports day at school, but with muscle cars instead of eggs and spoons. Health and safety guidelines are very much unobserved on the road, and the bodies soon pile up, as does a conspiracy that goes – you guessed it – all the way to the top! Brrm brrm. – LM

Das Millionenspiel (1970) & Le Prix du Danger (1983)

Two films, in two languages, from two different countries in two different decades, but both based on the same 1958 American short story. Robert Sheckley’s ‘The Prize of Peril’ is a prescient vision based on a television show where citizens volunteer to be hunted by trained assassins for the chance to win a life-changing sum of money. (Yes, there’s a chance that Stephen King, or at least his alter-ego Richard Bachman, read it before coming up with The Running Man). German film Das Millionenspiel was a TV movie that reportedly had viewers call in post-broadcast to volunteer to take part in the deadly televised contest, but perhaps that’s best taken with a pinch of salz. – LM

The Running Man (1987)

What’s more fun than a dystopian action movie based on a novel by Stephen King and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in his 1980s prime? Nothing, that’s what. Arnie stars as a former police helicopter pilot named Ben Richards who is framed for a massacre he didn’t commit and forced to compete in a televised game show where prisoners are mercilessly hunted down by mercenaries. On top of that, the obstacle course is basically an even more fucked up version of Sasuke/Ninja Warrior. Fortunately, Arnie isn’t alone in his hatred of the totalitarian government that has doomed him to death just to entertain The People, and that’s how the revolution starts. Yes, it’s a campy movie with some very cheesy lines, but good for a few Friday night laughs. – JS

Battle Royale (2000)

Battle Royale is one of the most beloved examples of the “deadly competition” genre, especially for nerds like Den of Geek staff and readers. Based on a 1999 novel by Kōshun Takami, Battle Royale made an impression for its brutality and stark social analysis when it burst onto the international nerd cinephile scene back in 2000. The story follows a busload of school children who are knocked out and wake up on an island. Each is given a random weapon—from guns to household items, like a paper fan or pot lid—and they must fight to the death until only one remains. – KB

Series 7: The Contenders (2001)

The early 2000s were… what’s the term for a golden age of something terrible? A high-low point? The eye of the shitstorm? Either way, for the reality television genre, the early 2000s were it. The world dug its mucky snout into the honey pot of dehumanised abs, boobs and therapy bills waiting to happen, and decided it liked the taste. Some good though, did come out of it – satires like Danial Minahan’s 2001 feature debut Series 7: The Contenders. The film shows six American strangers picked by national lottery, armed with guns and forced to hunt each other down while the world watches in nightly instalments. It’s pacey, well-acted, darkly funny and carries your basic screaming ‘what have we become?’ message of many others on this list. – LM

Doctor Who, “Bad Wolf” (2005)

OK, I’m cheating a bit with this one, which isn’t a series or movie, but rather a single TV show episode, but it’s Doctor Who, so I’ll allow it. It’s hard to remember more than 15 years later, but, when Who relaunched in 2005, head writer Russell T. Davies was reinventing the wheel, resulting in some conceptually ambitious installments. This definitely includes “Bad Wolf,” which has a pretty strange premise for the first half of the season-ending two-parter. 

In the Davies-penned “Bad Wolf,” Rose, the Doctor, and Jack wake up to find themselves not only separated from one another, but in incarnations of various British TV competition shows like The Weakest Link, Big Brother, and What Not to Wear. Though these shows may seem similar to their 21st century counterparts, the stakes are not: the losers are killed. Honestly, this premise was a bit ahead of its time. Sure, this was five years after cult classic Battle Royale hit the scene, but three years before the first Hunger Games novel would hit shelves. The scenario is not only compelling and fresh, but Davies doesn’t linger too long before explaining how it is relevant to the season-ending mystery. – KB

The Hunger Games (2012)

A list of this kind would not be complete without The Hunger Games, one of the most popular and successful modern incarnations of the “deadly competition” trope. Like Battle Royale before it and Squid Game after it, The Hunger Games succeeds because it uses its violent premise to explore contemporary social anxieties. Suzanne Collins famously came up with the initial idea for The Hunger Games while flipping through the channels between competition reality shows and footage of the Iraq War. Given the massive success of both the novels and movie adaptations, it’s obvious that this story is tapping into some serious and unaddressed collective social trauma. The Hunger Games gave young people especially a chance for temporary catharsis through the guilt, fear, and pain that came with growing up post-9/11. – KB

3% (2016)

The thing about deadly competition stories is that most, if not all, of them are particularly class conscious. When one thinks of the type of person who would choose to participate in, or be forced into, a life and death game, it’s not usually rich people. Deadly competition stories are often about the exploitation of the poor. Perhaps no other entry into the genre understands that as deeply as Brazilian series 3%. This tale takes place in a dystopian near future in which the impoverished residents of the “Inland” can compete in a mysterious event known as “The Process” and potentially be granted access to the upper ranks of society. The Process is rigorous, with many of its participants eliminated and some even killed. How many actually make it? Well, check the title of the show again. – AB

Alice in the Borderland (2020)

There’s a reason why Alice in Borderland started trending as soon as Squid Game binges began: the 2020 Japanese science fiction show based on a manga of the same name, has a lot in common with its Netflix cousin—at least on the surface. Directed by Shinsuke Sato (who also helmed Gantz, another great “deadly competition” story example), Alice in the Borderland begins when three friends are abruptly and unexpectedly pulled into a parallel Tokyo where they must compete in a series of deadly games. The difficulty of each game corresponds to a playing card and, if they lose or refuse to play one of the competitions, they will be killed by lasers from the sky, naturally. 

While Alice in the Borderland’s initial premise has some things in common with Squid Game—notably, the shock of its characters upon realizing the deadly stakes of the artificial competition—the respective shows are not only grounded in different cultures (Japanese va. Korean), they also hail from different genres. While Squid Game is very much set in our own world, Alice in the Borderland is much more science fiction in tone and execution. (I mentioned the sky lasers, right?) Both are good shows, but their comparisons quickly fade once you look past the surface. – KB

High-Rise Invasion (2021)

The concept for High-Rise Invasion is as enigmatic and compelling as any anime can be. The anime (or original net animation as this is sometimes dubbed) picks up with our hero Yuri Honjō suddenly on top of a skyscraper with no memory of how she got there. Yuri soon discovers that she’s stuck in a world made up of entirely high-rise buildings and the bridges that connect them. What’s worse is that these high-rises are patrolled armed individuals wearing masks who seem hellbent on killing everyone who isn’t masked. High-Rise Invasion is slightly atypical from your usual “death competition” genre in that it’s not clear if this is even a competition. At the end of the day, however, the goals remain the same: survive at all costs. Until things get a little more complicated of course… – AB

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

What are your favorite examples of the deadly competition trope? Let us know in the comments below…

The post Squid Game: Best Deadly Competition TV Shows & Movies to Watch Next appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2XUifin

[wazardhazard]

A Wizard101 Fanfic (Another Wizard)

Hey, first time writing a fanfic here! This fanfic is based off of the SAO anime/manga, but Wizard101 style and definitely some different twists and turns in it. I kind of made it my own but in the style of Wizard101. If y’all enjoy the beginning of this fic, I’ll make sure to post more! (This chapter is full of information about the changes and more information will gradually be found out later on through it.) unedited

Chapter One: A Game

A game. This was just a game I had played since childhood. There was nothing special about it at all; it was just your average MMO. A harmless game created by Kingsisle, a family game, and now this family friendly game wasn’t family friendly or even a game.

This all started when I was sitting at my desk, it was just another night online. I was in my usual choice of comfy clothes; I was relaxing. There was nothing to do but quest on my wizards. This was a usual night for me. I thought this until something weird happened. My video camera light went on.

Now, I was taught growing up hackers and online stalkers are everywhere, and that is why I didn’t take this lightly. When that light came on, I froze. My eyes slowly rolled up at the camera. I definitely was creeped out. Typically my computer never glitched this bad to where the camera light would come on. My solution was to set a sticky note over the camera and cover my speakers with socks. Then Wizard101 started to act up, which wasn’t anything out of the usual. People often experience lost connection for no reason or your character glitches into a sitting down position, but this particular glitch froze my screen without my character in it. I was puzzled. My screen froze on numerous occasions, but my character was always there regardless of the freezing.

“Huh,” my mouth dropped slightly. First the camera and now the game. A thought had crossed my mind that someone could have potentially hacked into my laptop, but from two virus protections and firewalls running on my computer it would have taken at least a mild amount of effort. Plus what would be the point of doing that? I’m a college student who studies all day just to sit down and play on an online game. I was definitely not someone of importance and my bank account even more so.

My thoughts lead me to the off button. Typically when Wizard101 freezes, it won’t let me click out of it. So the normal thing to do was hit the power button and wait a few minutes to start it back up. The webcam light started to flicker as my hand grazed across the keyboard. It was so bright, I could see it through the sticky note. My immediate response was to shut my laptop. Before my last thought ended another light blinded me. It was blue and the brightness level replicated a truck’s headlights. I winced. When the light dimmed, I opened my eyes. I was looking downwards. I saw a pattern of blue boxes on my body. I was terrified. I shot my hands across my keyboard towards the top of my laptop to shut the lid, but a pain like no other shot through my hands and down my legs. I cried out hitting the laptop onto the ground. I fell off my chair in the process. My fear was paralyzing my movement, but my laptop’s screen shown black.

When I could feel my movement come back to me, I slowly rolled over onto my stomach. My body felt like jelly, but my head hurt even worse. How did this happen? I thought. This didn’t make any sense, I thought to call 911 or any place that could help, but who would believe what was going on? My mind was made. I would call someone for help.

My phone was across the room and my body was in no shape to move that far. I had to wait. The laptop however didn’t. The webcam light lit up brighter than before.

I covered my eyes with my hands. The pain I felt was even more crippling. I became light-headed until my body collapsed into sleep.

“Hey sleepyhead! Are you dead?” my eyes opened to a young man. I immediately flung myself upwards and held my ground. The man obviously looked confused to what I was trying to do. Heck, even I was.

“What are you doing?” a higher pitched voice rang behind me.

“I’m checking on another. She seems to be in a state of delusion.” the man was probably right. My body felt heavier and I was no longer clothed with pants, it was a dress-like attire. I was ultimately confused. Someone, else could have changed me or I forgot what I was wearing previously, but that didn’t seem right. That lead me to even more confusing thoughts. I could have been kidnapped or drugged, and I have no idea where I am. This is scary, what’s going on? How could someone get into my apartment? Everything was locked! I gave my head a break, it still hurt. I let my eyes wander in this moment. Nothing was familiar. There was green grass surrounding me and a body of water.

“Where is this?” I mumbled.

“Where do you think?” The higher pitched voice screeched.

“Don’t bother her, Jeffrey.”

“Isn’t it obvious, though? We’ve all played this game and that’s why we’re all stuck in it!” Obviously Jeffrey wasn’t having a nice day, but neither was I.

“Jeffrey, knock it off. We’re all going through shock still. There is no exception.”

“ Fine, Wolf! I just want to go back home. I hate this stinking game!” Wolf rolled his eyes and looked down at me once more before offering a hand.

“Is he always like this?” I asked.

“Well, I’ve only known him for a few minutes so I can’t really say anything yet.” Wolf seemed pretty genuine for the name he had.

“So, what’s going on?” He pulled me to my feet, but my feet felt weird. This gave me an opportunity to look down. I was wearing shoes. These shoes looked very familiar however, and they had little cute leaf designs on them. My face immediately went blank. “Allison wears these shoes.” my lips blew a raspberry after that.“No frickin’ way!” I turned to my right and saw the common’s tree and a bunch of other players looking as puzzled as I was. Wolf chuckled a little at my expression.

“Your reaction has made my day, Allison!” I turned back towards him.

“My name isn’t Allison.” I regretted saying those words immediately. I have no idea who this person is, and I said something unnecessary.

“Well, obviously.” He laughed. I wasn’t as amused as him, in fact I was puzzled out of my mind. How could an online game be first person, when it wasn’t first person to begin with? Unless you count seeing the back of your character as first person, but I didn’t.

As soon as I started to look around, the more I saw people crying and freaking out. What happened next drove certain people over the edge. A voice so loud it could make your ears ring, came from all over. The words they chose sent chills down my spine. They explained the new shops and categories added to the game, including a news clip of what was actually happening to us. This clip showed people passed out by their laptops, desktops, anything that could run Wizard101. It stated these people were unresponsive and should not be moved away from their electronics by all means necessary. They found by doing this, the person’s brain would be shocked by an electric wave sent from the electronic that would ultimately kill them in an instant. This sounded preposterous and struck fear in everyone. My ears rang as the explanation continued, their words that followed up the video became even darker. If we died in the game whether by combat or another player the same waves of electricity would trigger and kill us. This was too cruel even for my ears.

Immediately I saw players stabbing themselves with their own wands and jumping into the water trying to escape from this virtual reality. Many were non-believers of what was being said, but I believed it. My heart sank for others that didn’t. If I thought my heart was sinking then, my heart would most likely implode from what was to happen next. The voice urged us to check our handbooks. However, we would have to check them in a different way. A tap anywhere to the right would allow our books to appear. Again, we would have to tap to open it. The book then would somehow levitate right in front of us; we could flip through the pages with a drag of a finger. It was definitely an improvement compared to the normal MMO. The voice then went silent.

As everyone opened their books, the same bright light that was so familiar to me shined on them as they screamed in agony. It started happening all around me, but I was too caught by the light. The pain ripped through me until I fell to the ground. I was exhausted. “Are you okay?” the same voice that I heard the minute I arrived here was speaking to me, but it wasn’t the same face. A man that represented a forty year old stood in front of me. His eyes were no longer blue, and his hair certainly wasn’t purple. I mostly say this because he didn’t have any hair, and his eyes happened to be brown instead. That was when I realized everyone I had traced over before the bright light began, looked completely different. Their heights, facial features, hair, down to their very shoe sizes were different. This made me worried about what I would look like. I scurried over to the pond and stared at my own reflection. I looked like me! How exciting. However, if I looked like myself then everyone else looked like themselves. I quickly realized this was bad. Everyone knows my identity now, but even worse, I noticed Wolf’s name wasn’t Wolf. It was Henry. I turned around to look Henry in the eyes.

“Is your real name Henry, Wolf?” Henry nodded in amazement like I had guessed a very big secret of his. Poor Henry didn’t realize his position either. He went from charming young man, to kind old fart. It took him a few minutes before he too, looked into the pond. This was a disaster. Since I knew Henry’s name, then my name would be on display as well. Especially because our names are located right over our heads. How creative.

“So, what now?” The squeaky voice screeched again.

“We survive.” an unfamiliar voice suggested. I wasn’t too fond of people after hearing PVP is no longer an extra hobby you can choose to do on here, but rather something you can do without asking as long as it is not in a safe area. If in a safe area, you cannot hurt anyone but yourself. Luckily, we were in a safe area but I didn’t want to make any friends. Afterall my character was a max life wizard, so I was set for surviving the obstacles that were set for me.

“How can we survive at level 1!?” the squeaky voice that hurt my ears so much gave me a reason to be concerned. My body went into full panic mode. I tapped and tapped until my book appeared open in front of me. I kept flipping until I hit my character stat page and realized he was right. My stats were stripped from my clothes and wand, and my level was stripped from my character. As for my pet, he was nowhere to be seen. This was devastating; I would have to join a group to survive.

“We can if we work together.” this positive person came into view. They were early twenties. If I had to describe them, I would say they had very fluffy hair and they were super tall with kind eyes. Their name was Harley.

I didn’t know what to say to their positive attitude. Negativity consumed me, and I just wanted to get out of this game. My dog and cat would starve if I didn’t get out. They probably are already hungry. My thoughts made me sad. I accepted this reality, but how was I going to make it with these people? I have a forty year old troll, and very squeaky guy who seems to be pessimistic, and a guy who seems very okay with everything that has happened. Honestly, I really didn’t want to join up with either of them.

“What do you say?” Harley asked us, as if we were already a group.

“I don’t know about that.” the squeaker added, and Henry was dumbfounded. I took this upon myself to decline his offer.

“Thank you for the offer, Harley. I just can’t see myself in a group right now. My main focus is to learn more about these newly added categories.” Harley looked disappointed, but he unexpectedly smiled. He then sent me a friend request. The least I could do was accept, and so I did. Everyone around me looked shocked. They all were going into groups to survive, but that just wasn’t me.

I teleported to my dorm. It was empty as if I truly was a beginner. However, I proceeded onwards and looked into my handbook about the categories that were added. There was cooking. A newly added category for our energy as a wizard. We would have to eat 5 times a day to maintain our energy. Three full meals preferably and three snacks as well. I frowned at this news. No one had gold to buy food, not even me. The second newly added category was blacksmith. You could train like crafting, but specifically for wands, weapons, and gear. It wasn’t really a newly added thing but the changes they made to it were. There was no longer crafting in a vast majority like before, there were now sections you could choose to advance. One was blacksmith, the other was making food, and lastly a pet tamer. A wizard no longer had the ability to train their pets to be good unless this ability was achieved by rigorous study, same with the other categories. It took money and effort for each and every one. So instead of wizards trying to achieve all of these things, which was nearly impossible to do, they would pay others for these things. To be more specific on these categories, a chef would be able to plant plants, mix and make things fast, and be able to alter the energy each meal gave you depending on the ingredients. It would also be easier for them to acquire plants and ingredients in battle the more they trained this ability. Food and ingredients also had an expiration date on the game. It would disappear from your inventory the day after the expiration date.

As for the pet tamer. This ability is very great and hard to rank up in. This ability allows you to train pets to heal, shield, and fight for their wizard, However there was no longer a mixed pet, a pet was dedicated to one thing alone. Either healing, taking damage, or doing damage to the enemy. If this ability was not trained, you would not be able to have a pet. The abilities different levels determined if the pet would listen to you and help you in battle. If you did not focus on the ability, you would lose it over time, and run into difficulties keeping your pet. It could fly or run away from you if not trained properly or to a certain rank.

Regarding being dedicated to blacksmithing. It was one of the hardest abilities to keep. You had to work at it day by day to be able to forge even one thing. This ability was also very hard to rank up in. As you ranked up, it would become easier for you to forge things. You could potentially forge high level gear in just a few minutes. They are also able to affix jewels to make gear stronger. Blacksmiths would become some of the wealthiest players in this game. That was it for abilities. The other newly added categories consisted of how battles were designed, teleportation, dungeons, secondary schools, safe areas, pvp, realms, drops, the crowns shop, and unlocking things at new levels.

Battles were no longer magic circles that allowed you to draw out your spell, but instead just like a real battle. A flick of a wand was all it took to cast your spell. You now would have to think about what spell you wanted to cast in your deck, for it to be casted. Pips were no longer a thing, but instead a drainage of your energy. The stronger the spell the more your energy would decline. In this combot you could also enchant your weapons. If you had a sword for a wand, you could enchant it and just battle with the sword. It was the same for bows, slingshots, harpoons, and anything unwand like. Your pet’s health could also decline in battle. Imagine it as a battle in real life, the enemy could hit anywhere it wanted to resorting in injury, among broken armor, or even kill your pet. In fact, just by battling your energy would drain. But as you leveled up it would drain less with every level. Fizzling was still a thing. If your energy was not where it needed to be for a spell to be cast, a fizzle would occur. Depending on a wizard’s school, your energy would vary. Storm’s energy was the lowest of them all. In battle you would have to dodge things like you would if someone threw something at you. The faster you could dodge was dependant on your level and gear. Your health would also depend on your gear and school. Battling was now a thing to be worried about.

Teleportation now showed a map with a circular light blinking showing where the wizard was at. To access teleportation you would need a crystal. This crystal was automatically given to every player after the voice shared with us these changes. It would allow you to teleport to your dorm, the commons, and anywhere you had access to at your level, among teleporting to your friends. This crystal is located in your book.

Dungeons no longer had siduals. They were now just big doors a wizard or group of wizards would push open to begin. You could no longer port into a dungeon, not even one.

Secondary schools cost gold. A lot of gold. Only the wealthy could train in another school. The others would have to fend for themselves when it came to their schools. The level system for spells however stayed the same.

Safe areas were one of the scariest things added yet. Only a select few areas in every world were safe from monsters and other wizards from harming you. These areas consisted of common areas and shopping areas. If not in a safe area another play could kill you. This plays into how PVP is no longer a hobby. It is a player against another player without consent and someone could die.

Realms were also taken off the game. There was only one realm that everyone was in at all times. Just like real life.

Enemy drops to even boss drops no longer gave as many things as they used to. You would possibly get some gold and one item. The drops depended on what abilities you have and what rank they were at. Gear drops were random and selective due to last hits or the most damage done, but specific bosses still could drop specific things you were looking for.

The crowns shop became an actual shop ran by a NPC. Crowns is the shop’s currency, but you didn’t have to pay in crowns. You could trade things for equal value or even pay in jewels you’ve acquired. NPCs are not the only things that can run shops. Many players if they have enough money can buy a shop and start selling things they’ve acquired from battle, made, or even cooked. There are many restaurants all over Wizard City.

Unlocking things was not new to Wizard101. Specific gear was only allowed to be worn by a specific level or school. The same system is still around, but now you can unlock specific wizard abilities to your school. Fire can light a path of flames where one once walked to find their location. Storm can activate a different level of eyesight in the dark, lighting up their way or finding someone hiding in the bushes. Ice can now freeze time for a select amount of seconds with each level they rank up. Balance now has the ability to mimic other schools, meaning they could camouflage themselves in a fight. As for the other schools, they are unknown still. There are also more abilities for each specific school to acquire depending on their level and if they are strong enough to keep their ability. If they are not strong enough, it will disappear with time.

My head hurt from all this new content. I feared for what was to come out of all this. How many people would have to die for the end goal of escaping? The end goal set for us was finishing every world including Empyrea. If only one person got that far, we would be freed, but this was going to be a long few years. The majority of people would like to focus on their abilities and make a life for themselves. Plus the bosses and enemies were improved upon and became much more of a challenge. Assuming that with our new abilities they acquired new ones themselves. Not many would be willing to die, and some could even take this as a game by ending another’s life. As for me, it was time for me to start farming specific areas in Wizard City. My emotions remained neutral in this place. I didn’t know if I could survive this, but I would try.

[midnightroseprincess]

Your fandom is... TMNT! :D

Woot woot! A peep has sent me what was probs my first and most enduring fandom. Answers down below.

Be warned that though I’ve read so many of the comics and seen a lot of all the different incarnations, a lot of these answers are gonna be answered with examples from the 2003 series, the 1990 movies, the classic comics, and the IDW comics, since those are the ones I grew up with (and thus more attached to) and in the comics’ cases, more familiar with/knowledgable of.

Also please forgive any typos.

Give me a fandom and I’ll tell you…

Favorite Male Character

Leonardo Hamato has been and always will be my favorite. Even when I was little, I could sympathize with Leo because we both had fears of failing and were burdened by the pressure to be perfect. Seeing Leo overcome these things inspired me to stick it out and overcome them to an extent, too. 

He’s also just such a good character. An encouraging older brother who would do anything (within reason and his principles) to protect and guide his family. A level-headed and strategic leader who is one of the best ninja of his generation. A humble, honorable warrior who gives opportunities to former enemies to redeem themselves and get out of abusive situations. A dork who can drop his serious brooding to goof off with his brothers and friends. His benign, deadpan sense of humor. His so-proud-of-you-even-if-you-worried-me-into-frustration pride in his little brothers. His trust in April and Usagi to the point that he allows himself to be vulnerable around them. On that note, his moments of weakness that are so realistic. He’s such a multi-layered, engaging character and I adore him. 

Also his character development helped me grow as a person… more details on that below, under Saddest Moment. 

I’ll add that my favorite version of him is the 2k3 version. 

Favorite Female Character

April O’Neil, no contest. April is a freaking delight. A professional technological programmer and hacker with knowledge of antiquities to boot. No matter what incarnation of her you pick, she’s such a likeable, reassuring presence in the TMNT universe. She grounds the turtles in a reality they were previously alienated from (aka the human world). She’s their family, and has fought tooth and nail for them (15/10 would do it again). 

I adore her relationship with the Hamato Clan. She’s this mature presence that can sit with Splinter and just say “Kids” together with him at the turtles’ antics. She’s this bird of a feather with Donatello, who has an equal in intelligence to talk to and work with. She’s this amazing older sister to Michelangelo, who answers all his questions on the human world and doesn’t expect him to keep optimistic all the time. She’s this amazing confidant to Leonardo, who can’t pull the big-brother-card on her and is so thankful that he can’t because it means he can talk to her about anything. She’s this strange mix of sister and mother to Raphael because she doesn’t shy away from his struggles with his inner demons and helps him through them. Her romance with Casey, though different in every incarnation, manages to be heartwarming and hilarious.

My favorite version of her is also from the 2k3 series, since it let her keep her technology skills. IDW April is super precious though. 

Least Favorite Character

Hm… Hard to say. The villains and secondary characters come and go, and even the most annoying villains can have a really good, terrifying episode or comic issue dedicated to them. 

All that comes to my mind are the Ninja Tribunal (who were freaking jerks) or Cousin Sid from the 2k3 series and Walker from the third live-action movie. When I think of the comic characters, all the villains and secondary characters had pretty amazing arcs at one point, so I’m cool with them. 

Favorite Ship

Capril (April O’Neil/Casey Jones) in any incarnation, pretty much. As for the others… I’d say I lowkey ship Raphael/Mona Lisa. Leonardo and Usagi go back and forth between a brotp and an otp for me. 

The love interests from the comics, I’m neutral on, because the classic TMNT writers weren’t actually all that interested in exploring the turtles’ sexuality and romance. The only one I can think of is Radical (Leo’s love interest) and her characterization was… slightly problematic. In the IDW series, they have a character named Alopex and I do like the ship tease between her and Raphael, but I’m waiting to see where it goes. 

Leorai (Leonardo/Karai) is the classic, star-crossed ship, considering one is the dutiful son of Splinter and the other is the daughter of The Shredder. I did ship them when I was growing up with the 2k3 series, but then, well, Karai tried to kill Leonardo’s entire family while he was out of the country and very nearly succeeded and destroyed their home. Talk about a ship sinker. She eventually sort of redeemed herself at the end of 2k3 but like had a romance going with Chaplin, a scientist of hers. So… I don’t know where I stand on it right now. On one hand, their dynamic is still incredibly interesting and on the other, a situation where they’d work in a healthy way would have to be an AU or the like. So I’m neutral on it a majority of the time.   

Favorite Friendship

Gosh, any of the turtles’ friendships with April, as detailed above. Otherwise, any of the kindred-spirit friendships the turtles make are all equal in my eyes. Mikey with Leatherhead, Donatello with Professor Honeycutt, Leonardo with Usagi, or Raphael with Casey. All are amazing. 

Favorite Quote

“In this life, we only have each other. If one of us goes down, we all go down. So focus.” – Leonardo. It sums up their family extremely well. 

Worst Character Death (if any)

Oh man.

SAINW. Same As It Never Was. From the 2k3 series. Just… SAINW. Everyone except April died or is presumed dead in that alternate universe by the end of that episode. On a minor note, Nano. Both times. Poor robot baby.

From the classic comics, Splinter’s death is up there, along with the death of Klunk, Mikey’s pet cat.

From the IDW series, the turtles’ death in their previous (human) lives – getting executed via beheading by The Shredder in front of Splinter (Yoshi Hamato). 

This made me so happy you have no idea Moment

The moment in the 2k3 series in Return to New York Part 1, where Donnie can’t hack into the Foot Clan’s HQ because Baxter Stockman designed the security and April just: “Too bad you don’t know anybody who used to work for Stockman,“ with that raised eyebrow of hers. Donnie just smiles back and allows her the chair to sit at the computer, she cracks her knuckles, and then hacks it in under 5 minutes. Not many of the Aprils get to keep her classic comic-self’s computer skills and that moment was SO. GOOD. The turtles even mention in following ‘previously-on’ segments that they’d have never been able to get through the building without April’s skills.

Any time Mikey shows he’s not JUST the goof but is actually the MOST interpersonally AWARE and INSIGHTFUL of all of them. An example from the 2k3 series in which he sticks up for Leo: “I think all of you should just lay off the poor guy. I mean, it can’t be fun, being the responsible one. And we’re the ones who really benefit. Raph’s free not to think ‘cause Leo does all the thinking for him. Don’s free to dream, and I’m free to take it easy, all because Leo’s busy being responsible enough for all of us.” 

The moment in the 1990 live action movie where Mikey and April team up to take down a Foot Clan ninja and it’s cemented that she’s family to the turtles. “You’re a natural, Sis!” “Thanks.” Also the turtles reactions post-battle to the Big Damn Kiss between April and Casey in the same movie. “All right April!” (Raph) / “All right Casey!” (Mikey) / “9.95!” (Donnie) / “Yeah, that’s the way to go!” (Leo). The turtles ship them so hard, you guys. 

Saddest Moment

Gosh… from the 2k3 series… the moment during his solo training where Leonardo just breaks down from the aftermath of the Exodus episodes. “I’m sorry. I’m… I - I did the best I could. I DID THE BEST I COULD! There wasn’t any more I could have done!!” and the Ancient One asks, “Then why do you blame yourself so?” And it… clicks for Leo. And at that same moment, it clicked for me too. And I started to work to get healthier coping methods for my own anxiety. Sometimes you have to realize how low you are to start building yourself up. I learned that as Leo did. It’s weird how the timing ended up working but… it did. 

In the classic comics when Raphael is turned into a normal turtle and just… everyone’s reactions to it. Especially when they go off to battle and hopefully find a way to return Raph to normal and he can’t go with them. 

In the IDW comics when the turtles realize that not only was Casey (who they’ve recently taken in out of an abusive home) nearly killed by a gunshot at the ambush at the docks, but that in the commotion of escaping, Leo was captured by their worst enemies. 

Favorite Location

Tough one. I love their second lair in the 2k3 series that has the cool cone shaped interior with cool tech makin it up that leads to the garage upstairs. They have purified water along with a working plumbing system, a sweet television set-up, enough room for everyone to live and hone their skills… it’s one of the sweeter set-ups for a layer they’ve ever had in any incarnation, which is why it was such a shame to see it destroyed. The following Reservoir Station Lair was okay but not as cool. 

That said, I still really love the underground, abandoned, and antique subway station from the second live-action movies. I adore the idea of Splinter taking the ticket station as his room and the turtles picking from the carriages. I imagine that that center carriage car is like a guest-room/sitting-room for their human peeps but the other cars are like walking into a different world based on which turtle’s room it is. The stain glass windows and antique tech lying around, the cool stairway…. the place, once free of cobwebs, is an awesome lair. 

This got REALLY long, whoops. Kind of to be expected though given how many versions of the TMNT there are. Thankies for sending it though.

[entergamingxp]

Riot Games’ Project A is called Valorant, and it plays like a Counter-Strike killer • Eurogamer.net

If there can be only one thing taken from my time at Riot Games’ vast, lavishly fitted LA campus, it’s that the mega-developer is desperately keen to prove they know what they’re doing. Riot’s pitch for Valorant, its upcoming tactical shooter seemingly named after a kind of industrial carpet cleaning fluid, is one based almost entirely on competence: the game will have the best infrastructure, the best attention to detail, the most committed, communicative ongoing support, and the most rigorously balanced gameplay of anything like it – even if it comes at the cost, seemingly, of character and heart and anything else like it. I’ve played about four hours and moment-to-moment it really is brilliant, right across the board. Exacting, oddly approachable, tense. The potential is there for Valorant to be the pinnacle of tactical shooters – but it also feels a bit back-to-front. This is a game that exists purely to excel, like the child of two parents who only agreed to conceive so their kid could ace its homework. A game that’s very good at doing what other games have already done, but better.

Valorant

Developer: Riot Games

Publisher: Riot Games

Platform: PC

Availability: Summer 2020

Perhaps that impression is just a result of the way in which Riot has chosen to introduce Valorant. At times it’s felt almost comically self-conscious, the developer obsessively anticipating every gripe and grizzle before it comes about. Recall the initial teaser reveal, amidst Riot’s multitude of ten-year anniversary celebrations, where lead producer Anna Donlon talked at length about “Project A”‘s ambition to eliminate such essential woes as “peeker’s advantage”, and bless the world with 128-tick servers. Sexy! Dedicated servers are old news, it seems. The schtick of schmucks. Such is the world of games, in this time of subreddit megathreads and so many direct lines from community to creator, that one of the largest developers on earth announces a massive new game by correcting their audience’s complaint-jargon before they’ve even used it.

From the moment you equip your knife to move faster, you know Valorant will feel incredibly familiar to Counter-Strike fans.

Still, Valorant is impressive, and as weird as it is to lead with the technical firefighting stuff, so is that. If you buy it, Riot’s promises are hugely encouraging. In opening presentations at the studio, developers cited twelve games as inspiration, ranging from the obvious, like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to Crossfire and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (curiously, and perhaps cheekily: no mention of Overwatch), and the game itself feels like a surgical piecing together of the best of them. Each game’s minor gripe or community grumble extracted and eliminated before it ever came about. To describe it in brief, imagine Counter-Strike in a just slightly more colourful world, with better attention to the little touches, from a nice little ping system to slightly more playfulness in the maps, with things like fixed teleporters allowing for baiting and flanking. Above all though, its standout addition is the highly strategic abilities, each tied to your characters (“Agents”) that sit between the rigid grounding of Rainbow Six Siege’s Operators and the more cartoonish skills of Overwatch.

The abilities themselves are quite Overwatch though, as much as Riot wants to avoid saying the name. The main difference is the intention: with Valorant the aim is to be a “tactical shooter first”, with everything else in service of that. That means all the Agents still deal damage primarily through shooting (disappointingly, with real-world guns, which lead designer Trevor Romleski told me was in order to preserve a sense of inherent, “intuitively satisfying” feel and recognisability), and Agents’ abilities are always in service of that, whether it’s through zoning, or scouting, or debuffing, or just bluntly walling off entrances. Even the Agents that feel especially out-of-this-world or Overwatch-y, such as the Hanzo-like Sova (renamed from Hunter mid-way through my time there), who can fire off a scouting pulse arrow and a larger ultimate that can pass through walls, still rely on gunplay first – and the same guns as everyone else.

Combining abilities ostensibly for one purpose – like that green wall – with position and tactical play like this will be essential for the more advanced players.

Those guns are also at the centre of the in-game “economy”, which is very similar in concept to Counter-Strike again, or indeed the gold-based shopping of League of Legends. Games are played in a first-to-twelve format, which takes a good half an hour, or longer if it’s a close one. Matches are attack versus defence, with one team trying to plant a bomb and the other trying to prevent them. The maps, of which there’ll be four at launch, Riot says, will have a mix of two or three points to attack and defend. You win a round by either killing all five of the enemy team members or successfully planting a bomb and seeing it through to detonation – or defusing it once planted, if you’re on defence. And you play the game in chunks, so you’ll be defending for several rounds then attacking for several and, coming back to the economy, it’s between these individual rounds where you have a chance to buy weapons, armour and – crucially – more charges of your abilities. That economy is intended to be “team-based”, so the better your team does in a round the more money you have to spend before the next one, on those bigger and better guns and the like. In a nice touch that you’d hope would encourage teamwork, you can also ping a weapon from the menu and another teammate can buy it for you with a single click, helping the wealth trickle down from that one ringer on the squad.

As an aside on modes themselves, it’s just this one at launch but Romleski did say the team was “interested in exploring” other, faster or more casual modes, and that the core one’s length may change slightly if the community deems it necessary. Anna Donlon also added it’s “definitely” on the team’s list. “The team has been very focused on the competitive part… The questions we’ve been kind of debating amongst ourselves is: would you hold that back to wait to establish the more casual mode or would you put competitive mode out for the audience we think it’s for, start building that audience and start building a community – and then also at the same time be working on something that could be maybe a little bit more broad reaching or something that you would just want to play to decompress? … Do we wait to launch the game so we have that? I think the answer is probably no. Do we prioritise that work? I think the answer there is probably yes.”

Maps are crisp and readable, but that’s at the expense of them looking a little flat.

Looking for lore

Character and lore might not be the first thing on people’s minds when a hardcore shooter launches, but it’s been a key part of games like Overwatch’s success in particular. So why the silence on that compared to everything else?

Valorant creative director David Nottingham said he’s “a big believer in environmental storytelling”, and so the plan is to introduce it in-game, rather than via the “incredible” CG trailers of games like Overwatch – although they may do something similar “at some point”.

One in-game example: “You’re playing a map and you’re like, “Oh, there’s there’s a billboard up,” it’s maybe a sort of recruitment poster for Kingdom, right? Kingdom is a big faction, a company that exists in this world… and then you come back on a Tuesday and you log in and you’re like “Woah!” – someone’s gone in and defaced it. So for people who are paying attention it’ll be like, “Oh, there’s actually dialogue happening, and things happening within the world that I’m seeing play out in front of me.” And so for those who want to discover that stuff it will deepen their understanding.”

Back to the economy, and successfully gaming it will be what sets the top players apart from the merely skilled. I’d expect deep strategies and metas and all that malarkey to appear pretty fast around what you spend your first bits of cash on and who buys what for the rest of the team. The other side of that, of course, is that I expect the ubiquitous lone wolf players will probably refuse to share. Playing in the cocoon of Riot’s in-house “PC Bang”, on teams of five who speak the same language – and are happy to even use the game’s built-in voice chat in the first place – it would be easy to say that Valorant feels wonderfully tactical, with cooperation and character synergy baked in. The reality is that while, yes, the Agents’ abilities synergise quite beautifully at times, I’m sure that’s also down to having the right people to play with. The ringer on our team was Riot’s David “Phreak” Turley, for instance – a well-known professional League of Legends commentator who mains the support role when he plays. In other words: an unusually supportive, communicative environment off the bat.

Without a squad of chatty friends or some particularly good luck with online matchmaking, it’s very easy to anticipate an issue with toxic communication coming from such an incredibly tense, competitive game with both text and voice chat. As much as it might seem like a laboured point, this is something that many see as inseparable from League of Legends, and that Riot has already had to work enormously hard at combating. It’s arguably failed to really fix the issue, ten years on, and that’s despite League only featuring text chat in-game. Voice chat’s issues, most notably with the exclusionary effect it has on female players in particular, have been well documented. When I asked about this, game director Joe Ziegler promised to draw from Riot’s “centralised efforts” at battling the issue and apply some “specific salves around certain features,” but wouldn’t go into more detail during our chat. You can read more of his thoughts in our full interview with Ziegler and Valorant’s lead producer, Anna Donlon, but a suggestion would be to axe the voice and text chat altogether and go with Apex Legends’ nuanced ping system (something League of Legends itself made good early strides with). It’s also worth noting Riot’s already promised to improve on the pings they have. As Romleski put it, the implementation I saw was “not the grand vision” of the ping system: “we want to make sure players are comfortable if they don’t use voice or they don’t [feel confident in] calling out all the right information at the correct times.” Fingers crossed.

This is one of the zones where you’ll need to plant or defuse a bomb. Riot placed huge emphasis on its work with verticality, sightlines, cover, map-knowledge and more, and they’re all evident here.

Toxicity notwithstanding, Valorant’s intense competitiveness is also one of its greatest strengths. If you do get a good team, or just a good group of pals to play it with, I found there was a remarkable thrill to most of the rounds I played, especially so when we swept ahead to lengthy leads before almost throwing matches at the final round, or clawed matches back from the brink. Games frequently built to a natural climax of tension, and some higher-level plays – last-gasp, “clutch” one-versus-three kills or team-wide strategies coming together – can be incredibly satisfying. The game feels built to surface those particularly vivid, Rainbow Six Siege-style moments in particular, when there’s one player left and somehow they pull it off, turning things around with nothing but spit and hope and a little John McClane gumption.

It’s hard to pin down a single, quantifiable thing that brings that sort of heightened tension about, but Riot would argue it’s all in the basics. To go right back to their initial pitch, this is a game built on competency first, and apparently what that means is a tangible difference to all the little things. The art team emphasised their creation of a “clean zone”, for instance, where anything within the playable height range of the maps was slightly more muted and stripped back, whilst the areas above (roofs, skylines, and the like) was allowed to pop. Other elements are illustrated in accordance with a “readability hierarchy”, where Agents stand out above the playable space, which stands out above the visible parts of your gun, which is above the non-playable stuff altogether. Cover, on the maps themselves, is allocated with great precision, forming a curated spaghetti of “long lanes” of clear sniper paths and intentionally obstructed sightlines. All characters have equal-sized hitboxes. There’s tagging, and specific walls you can shoot through, and on and on and on it goes with a seemingly infinite string of minutiae that Riot has thought about (and talked about) at exhaustive length.

This balcony, and its longer sightlines to and from the room you’re trying to attack ahead, is a key spot for snipers.

Above all of that, though, is a technical effort that on paper sounds quite remarkable. As we all know by now, Riot boldly claims to have eliminated peekers’ advantage, something that I’d expect no-one but the most ardent of CS:GO nerds to have heard of or cared about until now, but makes a demonstrable difference to how long-term players will play the game. In most shooters like Valorant, you can briefly pop out from behind a wall to “peek” at what’s going on and quickly dart back with the shimmy of a button, and do so with no risk of getting picked off, because the delay between you performing the peek and the enemy seeing you is too high. You’re back behind the wall before it’s humanly possible to react and shoot. It’s become a time-old part of playing tactical shooters at a decent level, but in Valorant it no longer flies. Riot seems to have tackled this entirely by cracking open one of those League of Legends coffers, that I imagine they have lying around the place, and simply throwing vast amounts of money at the problem.

To get briefly technical, as I understand it Riot claims to have struck a deal with internet service providers that will route internet traffic directly from you to Riot’s servers, via service called Riot Direct, which it says means an average of 35ms ping for at least 70 percent of players at launch. I can feel the eyes glazing over, don’t worry, so in basic terms: much less lag, regardless of where you are. At the top end of the scale, competitive players and streamers that have been known to move across the continent of North America to get physically closer to servers, so that their ping is low enough for high-level play, can breathe a sigh of relief. For myself and most others, it’s just another quiet reassurance.

As well as the peeker-busting 128-tick servers and promise of super-stable ping for (almost) everyone, Riot’s also built Valorant to be playable on a huge amount of machines. David Strailey, who works at Riot in the netcode and software engineering side of things for Valorant, said that a $120, ten-year-old laptop with an i3-370M CPU (which equates to 88 percent of current League of Legends players) would be able to play Valorant at 30 frames-per-second, while 66 percent of LoL players could play it at 60. Slides were used to show off some apparently remarkable strides to improving the accuracy of hit registration. Riot even showed footage supporting a promise to upscale players with low FPS and lag, through some special server magic, so that even if they jittered about and jumped all over the place on their own screen their movement would appear entirely smooth on yours.

Wind all that back into the important stuff – the gameplay – and it raises interesting questions around where true originality and fun really comes from. Sometimes players coming up with clever ways to work around things that are technically problems or imbalances can actually lead to the most interesting gameplay. To go back to peekers once again, in Romleski’s words: “Let’s say we’re playing against somebody who’s peeking, you might ‘jiggle peek’ yourself as like a counter-way to deal with it, and I think it’s good that players are being ingenuitive and trying to come up with ways to deal with it.” The difference in Valorant, he says, is that Riot wants to build the “tools” for breaking sightlines and using space to your advantage into the game intentionally, so you can “find your own way to break that puzzle of some people holding that position,” rather than relying on server delay to do it for them.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/03/riot-games-project-a-is-called-valorant-and-it-plays-like-a-counter-strike-killer-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=riot-games-project-a-is-called-valorant-and-it-plays-like-a-counter-strike-killer-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net